Once. We'd only met once before I officially became a Hashira. And even then, just like now, he still felt like all the colours of sunset, at full brightness.
A twelve-year-old Tsubasa, only at the Hinoe rank and still using her Water Breathing solely, was on the prowl for a nearby demon that had been terrorizing the town. "Where are you?" she thought out loud, seriously having trouble.
Is that who they sent to beat me? She just a child! I should feel mocked! But no matter, I'll just devour her and be on my merry way. Tsubasa froze. Those weren't her thoughts. Neither were they of anyone in the town because all of them were asleep. Oh. She thought. I can hear him. I almost forgot.
The child rolled her eyes and tried to pinpoint the exact location. Once she did she wasted no time in attacking relentlessly.
Water Brething, First Form:
Water Surface Slash!!
She sliced off a limb because it dodged just in time. "Tch," she made an annoyed noise. "Why won't you just die already!?"
Had anyone who knew the purplette seen her as she was now, they would've thought they'd mistook her for someone else. The light she usually had in her eyes was nowhere in sight during her early years of being a Slayer. She was irritable and took no pride in her gift.
The only person who made her feel as though she was special had been taken from the world by the same creatures she had to kill. She'd have no mercy on them for doing so! The child had the demon cornered and was just about to finish it off when suddenly....
"Well! I had been sent here to take care of the demon making a mess of things here! But it seems the job is about to be done for me!!" a jovial voice boomed form an unknown source. Tsubasa froze again- not quite sure she'd ever get used to these new overwhelming presences. Sunset. All the colours of sunset. That was the only way she could describe this new feeling.
She turned around to see a man with hair several shades of orange and yellow, with a white hoari that had a flame pattern at the bottom. She narrowed her eyes at him. This new person seemed way too happy to slay demons. How could she be sure he knew what he was doing. "Who are you?" she asked, paying little mind to the demon before her.
"I am Flame Hashira, Kyojuro Rengoku, and I am a Hashira who was sent to take care of the demon you are about to lose sight of, young girl!" he answered with just as much enthusiasm as his being gave off. "Now, allow me to help you!"
Before she could respond, Tsubasa saw fire. A lot of it. And next thing she knew, the demon's head was rolling on the ground. Out of the flames came the man who introduced himself as a Hashira. He wads beaming. His energy was enough to make even Tsubasa feel giddy inside.
"I could have handled it," Tsubasa told him with a glare.
"We worked together, it was more efficient!" was Rengoku's reply. "You distracted and weakened it while I gave the final blow! Excellent."
"I don't work with anyone!" the child sneered. At least.... not with anyone else, anyway. There were only two people Tsubasa willingly worked with. And one was currently the Water Hashira while the other was...no longer with her. The thought made her sad. But she covered it with anger. "Just leave me alone! You feel like the sunset!" she snapped.
The Pillar tilted his head. "I feel?"
Tsubasa clasped her hands over her mouth. She never told anyone what they felt like. Her feelings were to be kept bottled up. That's how she worked and that's how she would always work. "Nothing." She bagan to walk away but the Flame Pillar was quick to fall into step with her.
"I am intrigued, young lady!" he beamed. "What ever did you mean by 'felt'?"
Tsubasa could feel his persistence. It was enough to give her a headache. She made an annoyed noise and sighed. "I can feel people. And read minds. And predict people. They're all so obvious," she growled out the last part. "I put the way people feel to me in childish descriptions. That's how I was taught to. So, you feel like the colours of sunset. All of them."
Now Rengoku was even more interested in this child. "That's quite a remarkable gift you have!"
"It's not a gift! I can't stay around more than ten people without passing out. It's annoying."
"Have you ever considered using your gift to slay demons? It could prove quite useful!" the Pillar suggested. "To the point you could even create your own Breathing Style! Wouldn't that be something!?"
"I'm fine with Water Breathing, thank you."
The thought had crossed her mind. Making her own style of breathing. But that was when she was still training. Training with Sabito. It was meaningless now. But she could feel it herself that if she truly only stuck to Water Breathing solely, she wouldn't last for long. It didn't matter anyway. If she died she'd be with him again sooner.
"May I ask your name?"
"......Tsukishiro. Tsukishiro Tsubasa." she finally said after a moment long debate in her head. "A Hinoe ranked Demon Slayer."
"Hinoe at your young age?" Rengoku raised a brow. And irk mark appeared in the girl's head. She absolutely hated it when she was underestimated. But instead of him underestimating her.... "That's remarkable! Truly you do have potential! Even to become a Hashira!"
"Sure." She rolled her eyes. "And how exactly do you propose I do that?"
"Take pride in your gift." The Pillar's response was straight and clear. "Use it to its fullest potential and enjoy what you do. Enjoy brinigng better to the world by ridding it of demons and you'll surely reach the top!!"
"There's nothing to enjoy or take pride in." Tsubasa was resistant but couldn't not admit the fact that his words made sense. But.... Enjoy demon slaying? Demons took away Sabito. She was out for revenge, not to enjoy what she did! "Demons are evil and my so-called gift is really a curse."
"You say that now but try and I'm positive you'll see the difference!" Rengoku's fire could not be dimmed, even by her cold demeanour. Eventually they reached a fork in the path. "I believe this is where part ways!"
"Yeah," Tsubasa mumbled. "Bye."
"I look forwared to working with you again! Future Hashira, Tsubasa!" And with that's the Flame Hashira disappeared.
The colours of sunset disappeared. The night was dull again and Tsubasa couldn't help feeling disappointed. Even though she didn't show it, she quite enjoyed his company. "I'll never work with you again!" she yelled to the empty night. "I don't do partners! I work alone!"
*****
"Tsu-chan?"
"Tsukishiro-sama?"
Tsubasa was snapped out of her thoughts by her partner and the accompanying demon slayer. She looked at them, as though she just woke up. "Huh? Did you say something?"
Rengoku smiled. "You were lost in thought yet again, Tsu-chan. You know it's dangerous to do so!"
"I know!" Tsubasa beamed. "I just randomly remembered.....How I used to act. Keeping everything to myself. Bottling up my emotions. Hiding by acting cold." She deadpanned. "I wasn't really the best by then."
"Ah," the Flame Pillar recalled his memories. "You truly were a different person from who you are now. You had me quite intrigued our first meeting."
The two had brought the Bento to the people servicing trains that had gone out of service. And Tsubasa had zoned out while handing over one to a person. Now it was just small banter between the two Pillars.
"I was so rude and rarely talked. I never even used to cry." Tsubasa shuddered. "I can't imagine how I used to live without showing how I feel."
"If you kept yourself locked up you'd have never reached your full potential. Never created your own breathing style and never become a Hashira. Whatever made you so closed up in the first place?" It was the one thing Rengoku didn't know about the Emotion Hashira. He knew about the cold Tsubasa before she accepted herself. But he didn't know why she was that way in the first place.
Tsubasa was in a bright mood. Might aw well tell him. "Oh, that was just because...." The Pillar trailed off and froze. Rengoku felt it too and was immediately on his guard.
"A prideful lion...." Tsubasa repeated the line for the third time that night.
"He's here."
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Hi hi!<3
So, this chapter was kind of like a look into Tsubasa's past. Like, how her and Rengoku met and how they came to know each other. But it's also intertwined with the main story line with her in it. SO yeah, as the story goes we'll continue getting to see little glimpses of her past and how she developed as a Hashira and as herself.
So, yeah! I hope you enjoy reading just as much as I enjoy writing! And I hope you enjoy the story as it progresses and goes on.
Happy Day, Afternoon or Night and Happy Reading! <3
~✨Blu<3✨