Requested by ShaneAngeliLising !
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Upper One.. You hold your breath, grasping the hilt on your sword. You narrow your eyes, the demon looking very familiar to you. "Father?" You spoke, standing your ground still.
Upper one paused, standing there with his eyes halfway wide. "You.. look familiar." He spoke calmly, approaching your way. You stumbled back, though he's your father, he's still a demon. "Y/N L/N. I think I'm your daughter." You said with slight certainty.
"Y/N.." He repeated your first name under his breath, looking up again as it clicked in his mind. "Oh, Y/N." Kokushibo blinked, removing his hand away from his kanata, some of his eyes locked on yours. "Hm. Y/N, you have the choice to either become a demon, or behead me." Upper one said out of nowhere, catching you off guard.
You stood there for a moment, taking deep breaths. "I.. father, I don't know I.." You lower your head, the grip loosening on your sword. Kokushibo slanted his eyes, letting out a soft grunt. "I see.."
"I thought I'd never see you never again.. I missed you but.." You paused, dismissing the thought. Kokushibo gave a nod. "I understand." Upper One exhaled, looking at the visuals of your body for a bit. You shook your head to yourself, launching yourself towards the Upper One, using your breathing technique.
Just like Kokushibo's your breathing technique was Moon Breathing, so it did surprise him at first to see that same type of breathing. "Moon breathing.." Kokushibo repeated under his breath again, swiftly dodging your quick attacks.
"I'm sorry, father." You paused again, lifting your head. "This is the only way. By beheading you." You took your fighting stance again. "Hm. I see." Kokushibo drew his sword, taking a sharp breath before attacking you. You quickly block his attack with your sword. You loose your grip a bit on the handle, struggling against his incredible strength.
You take a shallow breath, getting out of his grasp, backing up a bit. You both don't take long to catch your breath again, only focused to get the job done as soon as possible. The fight was a bit silent after that, no more words were shed for a while.
Many minutes are spent as you almost stumble to the ground due to your huge fatigue around your body and limbs. You slowly watch Upper One heal a bit with an annoyed huff. You lift your sword up, attempting to strike at his neck. Kokushibo blocked your attack with his blade with quick reflexes.
Upper One took a quick glance at your arm, attempting to slash it. You quick rise your sword, getting one of your hands slashed off clean in the process. You couldn't help but yell at the tense, sharp pain, pushing your body fowards. Kokushibo kicked your side a bit, making you launch backwards.
You cough up a bit of blood as you stumble to the ground, eyeing your fallen hand, washed in a red liquid. Kokushibo stood above you with his eyes slanted. He didn't finish you off, due to the family relationship between you two. You were grateful for that, at least.
You clench your chest, gasping for air and coughing constantly. Kokushibo watched you struggle like a animal on the brink of death silently.
"Hold still.. I'll stop the bleeding." Upper One puts pressure on your bleeding wounds, rising back up to his height. You looked up at him with confusion swirling around your face. You knew he wasn't giving it his all with his attacks, but helping you have an advantage? It probably didn't change anything for him, though.
You struggled to get up once more, eventually getting on your feet again. Your stamina hold was impressive. Kokushibo blew cold air from his mouth, grabbing the handle of his eye-covered kanata. You repeated his action, but you were the first one to strike. You knew you couldn't possibly behead Upper One, right under Kibutsuji by yourself. The only important thing was one of you had to at least die in this restless battlefield.
The sound of a faint instrument returned again, bringing at least two slayers into the same battlefield. You lost your balance a bit, getting slashed near your chest area a bit. You glance over to your right, noticing those slayers were gone already. Kokushibo lowered his head, along with his eyes. "Hm.." He said to himself, quietly tapping his sword hilt.
You caught your breath again, moving one of your legs, Upper One rose his sword, moving his body in a heartbeat. He attempted to slash your chin, closest towards your neck area. You rose your sword, hoping to block his quick attack. There was another sword clanging against Kokushibo's, which wasn't yours. You back away a bit to spot Obanai infront of you with his snake-like shaped sword blocking the Upper One's.
"Y/N, go now!" Obanai yelled over to you which you stood frozen for a moment. Obanai? I don't want to leave him alone.. he.. he saved my life. A lot was going through your head that moment, making your limbs not move in the slightest. You touched your chin and neck, finally getting the strength to flee away from the battle for now.
The second slayer appeared to be Mitsuri behind a black, stable pillar. Mitsuri's face lit up instantly. "L/N! You're alright! I'm sooo happy!" Mitsuri cheered a bit, hugging you tightly. It didn't help your wounds, but it felt pretty nice.
"Oh, right, sorry." Mitsuri loosened her tight hug. "Are you really okay?" Mitsuri questioned. You couldn't tell if she was talking about the current relationship between you and Obanai, or your condition right now. "I'm fine." You gave a small smile, hoping she was referring to your condition.
"Are.. are you sure?! Your hand is missing!" Mitsuri's eyes flew open, eyeing your missing hand in a panic. "No, no, don't worry. It doesn't.. hurt anymore." You quickly replied, calming her down. It did hurt, though.
"Ack- right! We've gotta help Iguro!" Mitsuri hopped on her feet, going between the slim, black pillars quietly as you followed. As you two got a bit closer towards the fight, Mitsuri covered her mouth, her face showing absolute disgust. "Ew! A demon with six eyes? That's so not cool!" She almost rose her voice, shaking her head in disturbance.
You patted her shoulder. "Don't worry. I've... seen worse." You chuckle to yourself as Mitsuri gave a wide smile. You two decided Obanai not to let him handle this by himself by following his lead as well. Obanai wasn't in great condition at that time. A few long and thin slashes on his face and body, his haori was definitely beat up, along with a few minor injuries on Karabumaru.
The fight was dreadful. Each minute felt like a day. At least, Upper One had some deep injuries as well, and needed time to heal and regenerate. You three didn't let him have any time, though.
The last thing that was heard was a swipe from your blade, across Kokushibo's neck. You swiped the leftover blood off of your blade against the air. Returning back to reality for a moment, you had no feeling in your legs once again. Watching Upper One, known as your father fall and crumble to the ground, you covered your mouth, clenching your eyes as small tears began to fall.
You let go of your sword as it hits the ground with a loud clanging sound. Your sobs began to grow bigger and a bit louder to catch both of the Hashira's attention. "L/N! What's wrong?" Mitsuri kneeled down beside you with a frown. You lowered your head. "Father.. father.." You muttered under your cries.
Mitsuri gave you a side hug, trying to calm you down as soon as possible. "What's going on? What happened?" Mitsuri's voice got very soft as you calmed down a bit. Obanai slowly made his way over towards the two of you, kneeling beside you as well.
He took a breath. "Y/N..?" Obanai called your name. He was a bit cautious around you still, due to the fact of that argument in the past. "Father?" Mitsuri repeated, looking at the crumbled body infront of all three of you. She caught her gasp a little. "L/N.. was that..?" Mitsuri closed her mouth, putting her hands up to her mouth empathetically.
"Upper One.. he was my father." You paused, stoping your body from trembling a bit. "I had no choice anyway. Either kill him or loose my humanity." You sniffled, rising to your feet. You put your hands together, lowering your head. Rest in peace, father. You stood there for a moment with your eyes closed in grief.
"Let's go.." You mutter, dropping your hands and dragging yourself to find an exit. Mitsuri tried her best to comfort you, so he Obanai in his awkward ways. "Oh.. L/N, I'm so, so sorry.. I never knew.." Mitsuri looked like she was about to cry with you. You shook your head. "It's alright. Really." You gave another faint smile.
~*~
Its been two months since your father had passed. It was still painful to even think about it. You keep it a secret between the love and snake pillar. For now, you just wanted to be alone.
You told your swordsmith to reforge your sword to a different pattern. But, it needed some work on anyways due to the bad quality of the kanata.
You were told it'll arrive today, which it did. You stood outside in the butterfly garden again, the calm weather washing away some of your stress as you saw your swordsmith slowly walk towards you with a protective cloth around the new kanata.
"Thank you." You gave a small bow, taking the new sword from their hands. They gave a small bow back, quietly leaving the garden's mansion. You unwrapped the cloth, the sword appearing to be just like your fathers.
You gave your kanata a soft hug up to your chest. As every time you use, or every look at it, you'll always have a part of your father somewhere close to you, never to be forgotten.
Father...
I hope I made the right choice.
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This was deep, even for me. I had fun writing this, though. ^^
Have a great day!