XXII
B u l b s O f M e m o r i e s
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Third p. o. v
The battle ended in favour to the demon slayers. Upper Moon Six was now officially defeated. An accomplishment like this was worth the celebration as too many years passed by since the last death of a member.
Grave injuries traded for the definite win of the five swordsmen. They all deserved long and assured rest and relaxing treatments.
After Tanjiro made sure of his friends' safety and wellbeing, he and Nezuko made their way towards where they heard lots of voices, three of the four in which consisted of women crying. Tanjiro saw the wives of Uzui Tengen trying to desperately save him, but suddenly thought of one person who he still hasn't seen nor heard from since receiving a blow from Gyuutarou.
He wanted to make sure that everyone who participated in the battle was safe and alive but he knew he had to tend to the people in front of him first as he explained to Uzui and his wives that the flames Nezuko used was for healing purposes. As the older women and man calmed down and relaxed at the fact Uzui was not dying, Tanjiro made a sign to Nezuko that he wanted to see the last person who was injured.
Tanjiro didn't mind that Nezuko was carrying him knowing that she was perfectly stronger than most people would think at first, but couldn't help but feel sorry as he depended on Nezuko for transportation.
As Tanjiro and Nezuko arrived at the last spot the former saw Mashiro, he could then detect the strong scent of Mashiro mixed in with blood. He wanted to run- to push himself into searching for her and seeing her alive. But he didn't want to burden Nezuko anymore than she already is with his injured body and told his sister where to go next.
They ended up looking at destroyed parts of the stores they were battling on the roofs.
Tanjiro stared at the parts frantically, "Mashiro..." He looked down at Nezuko, "Nezuko, I hate to ask you for more but can you dig up Mashiro?" Nezuko hummed and nodded, gently putting her brother down and began her brother's request.
After a moment of digging, Tanjiro could see Mashiro's bloodied hair. After Nezuko lifted Mashiro's limp body up, Tanjiro began to see if she was alive.
His eyes glistened with tears,
"I can't hear breaths... I can't feel her heartbeat..." Tanjiro murmured softly, closing his eyes tightly as well as pursing his lips.
He felt deja vu. It was like watching Kyojuro say his last words to him once again... Tanjiro clutched Mashiro's bloodied face into his chest with his right hand as his left laced with Mashiro's unmoving one.
Nezuko watched with pitiful eyes, only slightly pricked with tears. Tanjiro didn't know if Nezuko could heal a dead person.
The two Kamado siblings heard footsteps. They turned to see Zenitsu and Inosuke. Inosuke didn't dare say a word but Zenitsu watched with a very concerned face.
"Hey Tanjiro, didn't you say that Nezuko could heal people with her flames as she did with Inosuke?" Zenitsu asked worriedly, wanting confirmation as he received a nod from Tanjiro, "Then we could still heal her!"
Tanjiro sniffed as he lifted his head to look straight at him, "What do you mean?..."
"I can still hear her faint heartbeat... It's low but... she can still be healed right?" At this announcement, Tanjiro felt hope. He glanced at Mashiro's bruised but peaceful face as he forgotten about Zenitsu's incredible sense of hearing.
"Nezuko-!" Before Tanjiro could even complete his request to Nezuko, Mashiro's body was in flames with Nezuko hugging her side, nuzzling her head against Mashiro's cheek.
After a minute of healing, Nezuko stopped as Mashiro produced a grunt from her throat. The four stared at her with hope as their superior managed to open her right eye slightly. She flinched at the pain and so decided to stay still as she noticed the group of people crowding her. She sent a small smile,
"A-Are... y-you all oka-okay?..." She barely managed to choke out but eventually succeeded in the end.
They all burst into tears, relieved that Mashiro clung strongly to her life. Tanjiro chuckled a little as it was ironic for her to ask that question. Nezuko hummed happily as she continued to cuddle with Mashiro even if there was blood in the way.
After a few good moments of crying, they all calmed down as Mashiro asked, "Wh... Where's... Te-Tengen?..."
"He's okay. His left hand is gone but Nezuko healed him and gotten rid of the poison in his body." Tanjiro answered.
"I see..." Mashiro murmured softly, closing her briefly with a small smile. This action panicked the younger slayers as Zenitsu began to cry out once more. Mashiro opened her eyes back, "I'm... not dying." She sighed lightly, "Can... y-you take... me to T-Tengen?"
Tanjiro nodded as he gestured for Inosuke to carry her. At first Inosuke refused but gave in the end. Tanjiro would have carried her himself but he couldn't move his legs. Zenitsu would have also loved to carry her but he would keep complaining about the pain.
Uzui brightened up as he saw the rest of the slayers he worked with in the battle. He frowned slightly at the sight of his fellow Hashira who seemed like she took a blood bath. Inosuke did as he told as he put Mashiro down in front of Uzui and his three wives who were wondering who Mashiro was due to her bare face.
"G-Glad you're... alive, Tengen..." Mashiro smiled slightly. Uzui smirked as he too was thankful that the Breath of Snow user lived.
"Who are you?! Who is Tengen-sama to you?!" Suma cried out.
"Shut up for a sec! You're too loud around the injured!" Makio slammed her hand against Suma's mouth.
"Who is she, Tengen-sama?" Hinatsuru questioned politely.
"Do you remember Matsuyuki Mashiro?..." Uzui asked his wives in which they nodded in response, then they snapped their heads back to the snow-haired woman with tears pricking their eyes once more.
The three wives embraced the Snow Hashira as Hinatsuru asked, "Why didn't you come see us?"
"Leaving us in the dark- You're too cold, Shiro-chan!" Suma nuzzled her cheek against the girl.
"Idiot! At least tell us that you were alive when you went for your two-year mission!" Makio ruffled her sticky hair.
Tanjiro, Nezuko, Zenitsu and Inosuke stood at the sides, watching Uzui's wives and Mashiro interact; The four smiled at each other and began to talk amongst themselves just a few meters away, rejoicing at the fact they beat an Upper Moon.
Mashiro could only give the three a nervous look and a small light chuckle, "I... m-miss you three t-too..." Mashiro admitted.
Hinatsuru sighed as she ripped out a piece of her clothing to wipe Mashiro's face of the blood, "We're finally seeing you without the mask but it's all bloody and bruised..." She smiled.
"You have the most beautiful eyes, Shiro-chan!" Suma squealed.
"You're so cute~!" Makio gushed herself.
Uzui watched his wives fawn over Mashiro with a poker face, Do they love Mashiro more than me?
Iguro Obanai appeared, ignoring the chattering of Uzui's wives, he approached Uzui. It became silent as Obanai began to assess the situation to Uzui. Suma, Makio, and Hinatsuru grew annoyed at the Snake Hashira.
"The six thing aside, you and Mashiro beat an Upper Moon. We should actually be celebrating. I should praise you two or something..."
"No, I don't need your praise..." Uzui sweat-dropped.
"That's right!"
"You're pretty late..."
"Y-Y-You're so late! Were you actually coming?! You're so late!"
The three women ranted but Obanai's snake hissed at them causing them to cower closer to Uzui as he grunted from the pain. Then Obanai began to criticise Uzui's injuries for a fight against the weakest Upper Moon.
"Leave him, Obanai..." Mashiro sighed as she settled herself on Obanai's back without him noticing. She used Silent Night to approach and her remaining energy to move on his back. Her throat was feeling slightly better too, "Since you were very late... Your punishment for your tardiness is to carry me to Shinobu's mansion."
Obanai slightly blushed at her request but moved his criticism onto her next, "And I thought you were stronger than this, Mashiro. But you're empty of energy and lost a lot of blood."
"I was poisoned though..."
"I thought your body was trained for that when Shinobu gave you the poisons to consume three years ago. But clearly you need to consume more." Obanai moved her body on his back so that he was comfortable to piggyback her.
"Hey... I consumed at least two litres of poison from this fight..."
"I'm disappointed in your strength, Mashiro..."
"I know Obanai, I know... But my power got the best of me this time..." The Snake Hashira perked his ears up at this.
Kagaya and the Hashiras were the only ones who knew about this 'power' of hers which enabled her to gain increasing strength to match the enemy's and provide a high boost of her other abilities whenever her eyes had a tint of red. Of course, since she had her mask on, no one saw the strange addition to her usual sun-coloured hues but it was the increasing strength coupled with her hand-to-hand combat skills that drew attention. It was as if-
She was a demon herself.
There was a Hashira meeting about this once but none had a clue why this was. Kagaya had his speculations and ordered for Shinobu to analyse Mashiro's blood. When the analysation was complete, there was nothing wrong with her.
The Hashiras and Kagaya were confused by the result, but all managed to come to one conclusion- a curse. It wasn't impossible to have a curse upon a family but it was very rare. Barely any information was contained about curses but it was something that was often left as it was.
Nothing could be done about them if someone was born with it and it continued down in the family, but since demons were around, it was possible to get rid of it by killing the demon who cursed them. It's the same when blood demon techniques disappear after the demon's death such as the Tsuzumi demon Tanjiro fought.
However, Kagaya was fascinated by the closeness of her power compared to demons and encouraged Mashiro to train using this power often and to report to him if anything peculiar.
Mashiro continued, "... I blacked out. But I woke up when I felt the intense pain from the poison taking over..." She fell asleep. Obanai sighed as he now had to carry her all the way to the Butterfly Estate.
Uzui stared as he processed the information, "Does this kind of thing happen with curses? Getting out of control?..." His wives looked confused at the conversation but stayed quiet to respect the seriousness of the matter.
Obanai sighed, "I don't know, but it needs to be controlled as soon as possible..."
~ • ~
??? p. o. v
Hm? What's happening?...
Where am I?
"My little snow bunny... I'm sorry your Mommy has to do this- but I have no choice..."
The voice was familiar and soothing, was she my mother?
"It's up to me to protect you my little snow bunny... It's the two of us against the world."
Are these memories?
"I'm sorry to have to act so harshly towards you when people are around... But I just don't want people's attention on you... Not when I'm working as a prostitute."
She was a prostitute?
"Your eyes are one of the greatest treasures anyone could want... Bad people will want them- Take you away... So hide your eyes and never show them to anyone..."
But why?
"Or else a bad man called Kibutsuji Muzan will take you away..."
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Strike day five! I'm sorry for my absence of this story. Also I have decided to change a few things about the story so if there are parts that do not link then I will fix it or explain it. I have already written these past five chapters a week prior to this but I decided not to update them all at once as I wanted people to be caught up on the chapter just for a little while. Thank you for sticking with this story even though I haven't updated for around 5-6 months I think? And also thank you for the votes and comments, I really appreciate them! 💛