Third Person's POV.
She didn't expect this before. Uzui Tengen is paying her a visit, together with his three wives. She knew that Uzui was also injured because of defeating the upper moon six, so she wasn't expecting any visitor from him.
"Hanabi-chan, are you alright? We heard that you were seriously injured and poisoned!" Suma asked her, inspecting her whole body with worry.
"Suma! Don't talk like that! Don't you see, she is in a bad condition! Lower your voice!" Makio scolded her.
"Huwaa! I was just worried about Hanabi-chan, yet Makio-san is scolding me! Tengen-sama help me!!" Suma nagged at her husband that is watching his wives fighting with a blank expression.
"Well, well, don't create such a fuss, Makio, Suma. Look, Hanabi-chan is having a troubled expression on her face," Hinatsuru arbitrate both of her co-wives. She approached the injured Nature Pillar, "Good morning, Hanabi-chan. How are you feeling?" She asked with a warm smile.
"Ah, good morning. I'm alright now, but I can't move too much right now, so I'm sorry that I can't sit properly in front of you all," she said to them.
"Don't worry about us, you should have focused in you recovery," Uzui speak up on his chair beside the bed, "I heard that you flamboyantly defeated some kind of force that is similar to Twelve Demon Moons?" He crossed his arms.
"Yes, I did. On their eyes, it craved 'First Eclipse' letter. I supposed, the new force is called 'Eclipse'. The First One's said that he devoured his fellows 'Eclipse', so by me and Giyuu defeated him, that means there should be no more from that force," she explained.
"There's no guarantee, it is possible that Muzan is hiring another demon to filled up the position, but what I flamboyantly more curious about is what's Muzan's intention with this 'Eclipse' force? Why is it different from Twelve Demon Moons?" He lifted his right hand to his chin.
The Nature Pillar glanced at his decapitated left-hand, and then to his left eye. "Uzui-san, are you okay? I heard that it's been not that long right? From the the battle I mean," she glanced to Tanjirou's bed, "even Tanjirou here is still not regaining his consciousness."
"Eeehh!? Tanjirou is in the other side!?" Suma gasped loudly and rushed to opened the curtain. "He's here!!" She screamed.
"Shut it, Suma! Don't make a fuss! You will only disturbed the other patience!" Makio scolded her again. Makio approached Tanjirou's bed and inspecting him with sadness written on her face. "He had gone through so much trouble, if it's not because of him, we wouldn't be here right now."
Hanabi is surprised by Makio's words. "Huh? Is he that strong?" She asked curiously.
"He is," Uzui answered her, taking her attention, "he was flamboyantly strong. He definitely will grow into a flamboyant swordsman, I am flamboyantly approved him," he smirked to her.
She is surprised by Uzui's behaviour. "It's not usual for you to praising someone, Uzui-san. So I assume that he is really strong huh?" She smirked at him. 'I knew it, he is no ordinary child.'
"Indeed. And I can flamboyantly guarantee you," he nodded with approval.
"Hanabi-chan," Hinatsuru's voice catching her attention, she glance at the woman, "here, open your mouth," she shoved a piece of apple and she gladly munched it.
"Thank you, Hinatsuru-san."
"Ohh, here, here, eat this too Hanabi-chan!" Suma gives her a whole pear.
"Suma, don't just gives her a whole pear like that, you need to peel it and cutted it into pieces," Makio take the pear and and grab a knife. She started to peel the fruit.
"Ahh, I wanted to give it to Hanabi-chan! Don't just take it, Makio-san, I wanted to peel it too!"
The Nature Pillar chuckled along with Hinatsuru who is still feeding her pieces of apple.
She realized that she haven't given an answer from the Sound Pillar, she looked at him again. "Uzui-san, how are you going to wield your sword now? You used dual handed sword, correct?"
The man looked at her in silent, his wives stopped what their doing. "Haven't you heard?" He asked
"Heard what?" She asked innocently.
"I quit being a pillar," he said.
She was taken aback. "Whaaat!?" She gasped loudly, disbelief of what she just heard.
"I am retiring. I already flamboyantly defeated an upper moon, therefore I will continue to flamboyantly live peacefully with my wives."
She still widening her eyes. 'Well, I can understand that he don't want to take a risk and continued to live peacefully, but this is too sudden,' she thought. "Does anyone know about this?"
"Yes, everyone knew it. Well, I am flamboyantly not surprised that you don't know, you still in a weak state," he said, inspecting her injuries, especially her left leg that is casted tightly.
She looked down, narrowing her eyes to her injured body, smiling sadly at the sight. "Well, I think I always showing my bad states after a battle in front of you. I'm sorry."
Uzui is taken aback by her response. "Wait, no! Don't just sullen like that, you brat! You are still flamboyantly alive right here, so that means you are flamboyantly strong. The winners stay alive, you are alive right now is a sole prove that you are the flamboyant winner, so don't look down on yourself like that, am I not your flamboyant teacher!? Don't put a shame on me by looking down on yourself!"
Those pink orbs widened in surprised. Her smile creeping back to her face. "Thank you, I'm sorry, I won't looked down on myself again."
Uzui silently sighed and smiled. Seeing his disciple growing and gaining her confident like this is putting quite a pride to him. He remembered the young girl with braided hair and determined pink eyes was asking him to teach her. Remembering how she was actually not confidence in her skills and anxiety was always seen in her pink orbs, he can't compared them to the present young woman in front of him. She is not the same anxious and doubtful girl, she has grown into a fine young swordswoman, and he can't describe how proud he is towards her.
"Hanabi-chan, open your mouth again~" Suma offered her a slice of pear and she took it gladly.
That day continued with Hinatsuru, Suma, and Makio spoiling the Nature Pillar with fruits.
※※※
The next morning, she was about to try to take a walk with her cane before the door is suddenly opened, revealing a black hair man with stripes haori. She stared at the Snake Pillar that glaring at her, she opened her mouth to greet him, but she was cutted off by the cheerful Love Pillar.
"Hanabi-chaaan! Are you alright!?" The Love Pillar rushed to her bed and inspecting her worryingly. "You are severely injured! There are cuts everywhere! Waaah! What happened to your leg!"
"Mitsuri-chan, I'm alright, I don't feel any significant pain other than my leg. I can walk with my crane now, so don't worry," she said, calming her fellow pillar.
"Huwaa, is that so!? I was so worried! Are you feeling any better?" The woman asked her, still fidgeting in worry.
"Yes, I am all better now. Shinobu is an amazing doctor anyways, I will be better in no time," she assured her.
"Good then, I hope that weak body of yours can recover quickly from those injuries of yours," Iguro said. 「You're taking too long to recover, you weak-ass.」
An irked appeared on her forehead. "Well good morning there, Kaburamaru. Seems like you must endure the cloudy weather even though the sun is clearly up in the sky," she said. 「Why you must ruined the beautiful weather with your resentful comment?」
The snake on Iguro's shoulder hissed happily from the Nature Pillar's greeting, but the man is not happy at all.
"Woahh, you are really close with Kaburamaru huh, Hanabi-chan. Most of people just scared of Kaburamaru, but he is actually cute!" She patted Kaburamaru's head, and the snake happily obliged.
'Well, the other snake is not happy with me though,' she smiled nervously from a glare from the Snake Pillar. She can feel his intense glare telling her to stay away from the Love Pillar.
"Who is it that you were fighting with? An upper moon?" Iguro asked, still annoyed by her presence.
"No, it's not. It is another force of demons by Muzan. The carving on the demon eyes said 'First Eclipse', I suspect that even though all the demons in the hierarchy of this 'Eclipse' is gone, there will be another one," she explained.
"And how do you know all of this 'Eclipse' demons are dead?" Iguro retorted.
"Well, the 'First' one said that he devoured his fellow 'Eclipses'. So by me, killed the 'First', means that there's no one sitting in their position right now."
"Ehhh...? He devoured his comrades?? That's horrible," Mitsuri said, frowning.
"So the sit wasn't taken even until when you faced that demon?" Iguro asked, crossing his arms.
"Yes, that is what that demon told me. Well I guessed that is the truth. Demons can't shut their mouth sometimes, so they ended up spilling something," she smirked at the heterochromia man.
The man is staring at her quietly, but the Love Pillar is taking the conversation to continue. "How horrible, to think that there's more than Twelve Demon Moons out there, I hope that we can pull through this," Mitsuri prayed.
"Don't you two have a mission? It's noon already," the Nature Pillar asked.
"Waahh, you're right! We have missions at the village in the north-east far away from here! Let's go, Iguro-san! We need to arrived in the afternoon!" Mitsuri said panickly and panicking to rushed out of the room.
Iguro still stayed in his place, unmoving. "Do you need anything else, Iguro-san?" The raven haired woman asked him.
"You really are a snake," he stated. "How did you gained all of those informations in the Pillars Meeting? Is it from demons? Have your worked with demons?"
She smiled at his comment. "Well, I am. But don't worry, I am not a poisonous snake, rather I am a snake that killed their prey by choking them. Thus, I won't betrayed the Demon Slaying Corps," she give him an assurance smile.
He continued to glare at her. "You're not denying it, so it's true."
"Well, only a snake that can recognize its fellow snake, am I right?" She smirked teasefully.
"Just stay away from Kanroji, if you dare to influence her innocent character, I'll ripped those unsightly face of yours!" He said with veins visible on his forehead, and then he left the room.
She sighed. 'What a pain in the ass.'
※※※
Shinobu just about to leave Hanabi's room after doing a check up before she stopped in her track because of an unexpected guest is at the doorway.
"Shinazugawa-san? What are you doing here?" Shinobu asked in surprise.
"How is she?" He asked shortly.
"Eh? Do you mean Hanabi? She is good, she can even walked around right now, even though she still need a cane to support her," Shinobu answered.
He hummed in response and entering the room, approaching the Nature Pillar. Those pink eyes of hers are widening in surprised by the presence of the scarred man in her room.
"Sanemi-san, it's been so long. How do you do?" She asked happily to the man. But he ignored it and standing close to the Nature Pillar, leaving her in question. He lifted his hand in front of her forehead and flicked her. She groaned.
"How come you are asking about myself when you are still on the bed!?" He yelled at her.
"I-I'm sorry...?" She responded with confusion.
"Good," he crossed his arms and put himself on the chair beside the bed. Shinobu giggled at the scene and quietly leave the room. "Tell me what happened back there."
'Of course, he must have wanted to know about it,' she smiled tiredly, 'why must I repeat this three days in a row?'
Hanabi started to explained in the chronological order. Sanemi listened carefully to her story and to her opinion about the existence about this 'Eclipse'.
"Do you know why this force exist even though there is already Twelve Demon Moons?" He asked.
She smiled at him in response. "I do, but let's wait until the next Pillar Meeting. I will report it first to Oyakata-sama before that for some confirmation. For now, I won't tell you the reason, I'm sorry," she gives him an apologetic smile.
The Wind Pillar sighed. "Fine, rest well and recover quickly," he said, closing his eyes.
"I will, thank you," she smiled again. There's an awkward silent after she gave her gratitude. 'The atmosphere is so awkward, why isn't he saying anything?'
"Um, Sanemi-san, do you have anything else to say? I wanted to take a stroll for a bit, so my muscle won't stiffen up," she break the silence and catching the Wind Pillar attention.
"You can walk?" He asked.
'This is strange, he hasn't yelling nor shouting from the moment he arrived. Does he finally know that yelling is prohibited in here?' She stared at him with confusion. "I can with a cane," she pointed to her cane that is leaning on the wall.
"Then I'll come with you."
She widened her eyes in shock. "Eh? What?"
"I'll accompany you in your stroll. What if you stumbled down and hurt yourself more?" He insisted.
"Well, fine. But, what's with the sudden action? You were never showed any attention to other's," she glance at him.
"Huh!? What do you think of me!? An arrogant bastard!?" He yelled to her, causing her to covered her eardrums.
'Yup, that's Sanemi-san that I knew.' Sanemi brought her cane to her and helped her to stand on her right foot. She walked slowly with Sanemi besides her, watching her steps closely.
'It's not that I don't appreciate his help, but I can't get used to this. He is being exceptionally care to me this day and that's really unus5ual,' she smiled nervously.
They are walking to the garden of the Butterfly Estate. When they stepped there butterfly are everywhere, and Hanabi shrieked but immediately hold back because there's Sanemi besides her. 'I forgot that this place is full of butterfly, how stupid of me,' she nervously continued to walk.
Recognizing her sudden difference in behavior, the man asked her. "What's wrong? Did you finally hurted yourself or something?" He asked, leaning down to meet her face.
Embarrassed with her own situation, she refused to tell the Wind Pillar. "No, it's nothing. Maybe a little tired after walking with only one foot," she lied.
The Wind Pillar is not satisfied with the answer. "Huuh!? Really? You? The one who can kicked me in the face with both of her hand on her back is tired just because walking in one foot!? I am disappointed," he scoffed.
She still smiled nervously, keep walking forwards without giving him a glance. The Wind Pillar narrowing his eyes at the Nature Pillar.
"Seriously, Pinky, what's up?" He called with her nickname that he gave to her because of her eyes. Usually she will fretting about the nickname, but this time she stayed quiet.
"Nothing, just...let's go back inside," she said, heading towards the entrance again.
'Inside? What's wrong? Don't women like flowers and butterflies?' He stared at the woman who still keeping her gaze on the ground. 'Why is she gazing down? What's up with the sky? Is there anything that she doesn't wanted to see? There's only clouds and butterf-' he halted. Smirking menacingly, he called out the raven haired girl.
"Oi! Pinky! What is it? Too afraid of butterflies?" She flinched at his questions. She stopped her track.
He grabbed one butterfly and walking towards her, he shoved the butterfly to her face, causing her to jumped back in surprise and fall down. He laughed. "Hahaha! Seriously!? And you befriended that Insect Pillar who wore a butterfly haori everyday!" He laughed, releasing the poor butterfly.
The Nature Pillar is embarrassed by his words. Irks are visible on her face, her cheeks are red from embarrassment. "Shut it, Sanemi! Fine! I am afraid of Insects! Happy now!?" She shouted at him who is laughing even louder by her statement.
"So it's not just butterfly!? You are also afraid of Insects!?? That's amusing! Does that Insect Pillar know about this!?" He is holding his stomach that is starting to ache because of the laughter.
"Don't you dare tell her about this!" She threatened him.
"Oho? Then what? I'll just gives you some grasshopper if you tried to do anything," he cackle, causing her to groaned.
"Ughh, fine! Please don't tell her, I don't wanted her to feel bad or anything, afterall that haori is her sisters," she gazed down, looking upset.
Sanemi stopped his laughter and stare at the raven haired woman. 'That Flower Pillar, huh?' He remembered Kanae, his fellow pillar when he was just became a pillar. "Fine, I won't tell her, just get up from the ground," he offered his hand to her, and she took it. He helped the Nature Pillar stand with her crane and walked her back to her room.
"Thank you, Sanemi-san. Umm, please keep your word about not telling Shinobu about it," she smiled brightly at him.
He is actually mesmerized by her smile. That bright smile of her is actually giving him a struck nostalgia about his past, about his mother. He clenched his fist. 'No, there's no point in remembering that now. I killed her, and that's fine. Genya is still alive, that's what's important.'
He turned his heel to left her room, but before he walked out from the doorstep, he turned his head towards her.
"Get well soon, Pinky, I'll be waiting you on the training ground," he said and walked off.
Her expression turned bright as soon as he spoke those words. "Of course! I'll use both of my swords next time!" She shouted, making sure to let him hear her words. Unknowingly to her, the man heard her words with a smile on his face, but not menacing nor mischievous, but rather a smile of joy.
'It's been so long since I laugh with sincerity like that,' he thought, thinking aback the previous scene.
She glance at her right side bed and gladly sighed. 'Sorry for the noise, Tanjirou-kun. I hope you can rest well and soon gained your consciousness.'
※※※
A/n: *bonus innocent smile of sanemi
Trivia : Makio, Suma, and Hinatsuru are exchanging letters with Hanabi. They have been closed since Hanabi asked Uzui to teach her when he hadn't become a Pillar yet.
I ended up writing this chapter too long, even though it's just a filler...oR IS IT?