Sinja: First of all thank you so much for all the positive comments, I read every single one of them and they make me very happy.
So let's continue, shall we?
(＠'ー')ﾉﾞ
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After running as fast as possible the Kakushi and Mitsuri made it to the Butterfly Estate in the matter of hours. At this point you were barely breathing and your body temperature was lowering by the minute.
Since Mitsuri was way faster than the Kakushi she got in first looking for help from anybody within the manor. Luckily she found Aoi who wasn't busy at the moment "Love Pillar-Sama!? What are you doing here? Are you looking for Shinobu-sama?" Aoi asked her to which Mitsuri couldn't say anything and instead pulled her to where the Kakushi were carrying your unconscious body with all the caution in the world.
"W-What happened..?" Aoi asked nearly going into shock seeing you in such a bad shape. You were sweating, almost purple since you couldn't breathe and not responding to anything in your exterior. Aoi then led the Kakushi to a different bedroom where you could be treated urgently. Mitsuri on the other hand couldn't answer the question since not even she knew what was going on.
"I really don't know what to say, we were patrolling. After a while of being alone I found him in this state near a small number of houses" She was explaining nearly crying because she felt responsible for this. Aoi then analyzed you but still couldn't find anything wrong.
It wasn't until she opened up your uniform and shirt that she saw. Every vein on your right lung was visible showing the damage of the attack the Demon had done to you. Sadly enough Aoi truly didn't know what to do in this situation.
"W-Where's Shinobu-chan?" Mitsuri quietly asked. "She went out shopping with Kanao.. I don't know how long she will take" Aoi said now wanting to cry as well.
This was something unknown to her until now, even more, the attack wasn't any type of poison like she knew it. It was really baffling to understand what was going on with you, the best thing both of them could do was to wait for Shinobu to arrive.
Mitsuri on the other hand was also terrified of what her friend would think of her when you were supposed to be under her care.
Mitsuri sent her crow in urgency towards wherever she was.
Luckily she was returning and was already nearby. "We urgently need you..." Mitsuri's crow said. Shinobu noticed it was hers since it has a clover shaped crown and is nervous and fidgety as well.
Shinobu then connected the dots easily since you were supposed to be with her, so Kanao and her ran full speed back to the estate. It was way quicker than they expected since in a moments notice they were in the main gate of the house.
Mitsuri was waiting nearby nearly crying and feeling bad. Shinobu's heart almost dropped seeing her reaction since it had to do with you.
When she entered the room where you were she nearly had a panic attack seeing the damage of whatever attack had done this to your lung. Not only that, your almost purple skin as well.
"Mitsuri-chan... What happened?" She calmly asked trying to figure out how to get you to a stable condition. "...I don't know what happened.. I just found him in this condition near many bodies and a Gunsern Fan" she sadly and nervously replied.
"Gunsern.. Fan..?" She very silently asked not showing her face but her eyes showed that she was terrified. "Yes, yes!" Mitsuri replied very sad. "Naho-chan, please take Mitsuri to rest to a room. Aoi you're helping me!" she gave orders very quickly and precisely. Naho pulled on Mitsuri to guide her out the room while she prepared for whatever was necessary to save you since she had a minimalistic idea of what could've happened to you.
Aoi then got every tool, every medicine, every antidote Shinobu instructed her to get. "This might not be poison, but the resistance he's been building is what's saving him right now.." She was explaining to Aoi what kept you alive.
She then got a big syringe and carefully put it directly in the affected lung with care trying to extract some blood to see what exactly was killing it. "Aoi, please make sure he's stable or at least not in a worse condition."
She quickly diagnosed the blood that was mixed in with yours proving her biggest fear true. After analyzing it under a microscope she realized it was the same Demon that had killed Kanae that did this to you.
Meanwhile Aoi was monitoring you Shinobu was actually starting to tear up very badly afraid of losing you as well by the hands of the same Demon. This was making her extremely angry knowing that there was nothing she could have done to be there.
Right now the only thing going on in her head is that she has to save you no matter what, so she started making different types of antidotes that could work positively on you.
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During this time of suffering you felt as if you were dreaming.
You woke up on a metal bed wearing your uniform and mask as well so you got up. You noticed that all your surroundings, including you, were all in black and white for some reason. When you started walking you noticed a small floating light guiding the way.
When you left the room you were in, you entered a large hallway that was too dark, even with the light you could hardly see anything. After walking a distance you started to hear faint sounds coming from the darkness which you immediately followed.
"It's okay to stay like this forever, you know?" You heard the voice of a male say very quietly. "You don't have to suffer anymore if you just stay". This was actually starting to get to the point where you were believing the soothing voice. Then out of nowhere a side of the hallway lit up and you then saw one of your memories.
It was of you and your dad cutting trees in the mountains, you were a young kid during this memory. "Remember son, those who are strong have to protect the weak". The memory then faded to black and the hallway was dark once again.
You remembered the reason why you joined in the first place, you wanted to get stronger to protect those in need.
You then started walking straight once more only to hear the voice of the male once again "You aren't strong at all, if you were you wouldn't be in this situation. You would have saved all those girls" This voice was confusing you, making you feel bad. It was right though, if you were stronger you could have saved them all.
Another memory came up in the shape of a wooden statue of your mother "I'm sorry i didn't give you any brothers or sisters, so make sure you make a lot of good friends anywhere you can, and appreciate them" she said. She was right, after you lost everything you held dear in the world you started making acquaintances and friends along in your journey. You were entrusted with many things by your different teachers, by Shinobu and by Oyakata-sama after all.
"They all took you in because they felt sorry for the pitiful excuse of a man you are." The voice resonated once again getting more aggressive every time it spoke. At this point you felt as if you had been walking for days nonstop. You didn't know where you were headed but you kept on going forward.
It was a constant struggle between wanting to give up or keep on going.
As for now you kept on walking.
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Two days had passed and luckily you were stable enough to stay alive. Your innate capabilities had a very important part to play in this.
During these two days neither Shinobu nor Aoi had slept at all making sure you would survive. Aoi was taking your temperature, heartbeat and pressure every now and then to make sure that you wouldn't get worse. Meanwhile Shinobu was trying to make a drug which could be directly injected into you. This was an extremely hard task at hand but she never gave up.
After 3 more days of sleeping a maximum of 2 hours she developed 3 different drugs that had a heavy dose of wisteria in them. Aoi had to change places with Naho, Sumi and Kiyo as well because of the exhaustion.
The most important part was removing the fluid within your chest since it was slowly but surely killing you. After that it was the application of the drug and the rest was up to you. The problem is that Shinobu was exhausted as well and could hardly stay awake now.
But she wasn't going to give up easily on you, she grabbed a needle and put it through the chest wall into the pleural space. The pleural space is the thin gap between the pleura of the lung and of the inner chest wall.
She required all the help she could get from the girls while doing this since it was a lot of blood she removed from your lung. After this she directly injected the drug into you and quickly did effect, she could see how you slowly started breathing more and how the veins were slowly fading back to normal as well.
She quickly sat beside you wanting to cry hoping you would recover from this as soon as possible, after a good while she fell asleep in her spot meanwhile the girls left her food and a blanket for her.
As for Mitsuri, she had to return back to her home even though she didn't want to. But she had to return back to her house and designted area as well.
She even told Iguro about what happened which he scoffed and thought you were weak if you couldn't survive this and keep on fighting.
This was now your own battle, deciding to stay alive or not was your choice in the end.
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After walking for what felt like forever, the infinite hallway started to light up more and gain some color, you could actually notice where you were heading for once. You didn't know what was going on but you felt as if you were stronger now.
"You should've given up when you had the chance" The voice suddenly had such a malicious intent to it that started making you feel nervous in a way. Right after you heard a loud noise behind you and when you turned it was a fire bruning everything in it's path quickly approaching you, so you decided to run as fast as you could, even though it hurt like hell since you were still had the injury. Suddenly all the walls and floor started cracking as well.
"You're always running boy, always running.." The voice resonated once again, only this time the floor infront of you completely broke off and now there was only a hole in it, so it was either jumping in or getting caught in the debri and fire behind you, so you decided to go with the first option and jumped unkowing of what could wait for you inside.
After a long fall you landed unharmed which was weird especially considering the duration of the fall. This place was dark as well but you could tell that you were inside a colosseum like structure full of different swords all around, some buried, others nailed into the ground others broken as if many had been in this mysterious place before.
You were very confused as to what was going on where you were then a strong breeze flew by and built two statue like figures of bloody sand in front of you. One was of a swordsman that was visibly a human and the other of a demon made out of the sand on the floor. It showed the exact moment the Demon beat the swordsman with no effort whatsoever and the sword flying out of his grasp while he slowly died. You hurried in a worry to see if you could save him in any way.
There was an eerie breeze surrounding the colloseum. When you quickly approached him, he was turned face down on the ground so you pulled him from the shoulder to see get a glimpse of his face, but this was a big mistake once you realized that the swordsman you had just turned was you. It was your body that you were seeing.
In a moments notice more sand statues appeared all around you and when you looked at them you noticed that they were all the people you weren't there to save. Screams of pain and agony could be heard throughout so you closed your eyes terrified. When you looked back at your body it had opened it's eyes "You could've saved them" it said.
This one sentence made you lose it, you started getting so angry all you could do was yell and hit the ground for being so useless. Once you did this all the bloody sand started falling in place but what you didn't notice was that your anger started summoning your own Demon behind you.
"NO..! NO..!" You were yelling as you were slamming the ground with both fists. Unlucky for you your Demon would feed on your own bad feelings only growing stronger by the second.
It was slowly coming out of the bloody ground behind you summoning with it a great katana.
You had your eyes closed in desperation but when you heard the metal clashing on the floor you opened your eye only to see it in a battle stance. "Poison breathing. First Form: Ricin Air" It said now charging in such an incredible speed, but your reflexes were faster as you grabbed your sword and another one that was on the ground to block the incoming attack
Once the blades clashed the darkness raised up as if it were a gas revealing the whole place which was a cave with many sculptures of fallen swordsmen. The clash was so violent that it raised a lot of sand from the floor as well.
While blocking you noticed the Demon in front of you was in fact, another version of you. Only that this one had your mask as a monstrous skull with enormous horns and teeth that could rip off any limb it wanted. It's body was far larger than a normal human, it had red colored skin and long black hair falling from to it's shoulders. This was the Demon you created with all your self doubts, your thoughts of being weak, fear of dying and many other things.
"You couldn't save them! You couldn't!" This is when you realized the voice you were following was your own as well. Only that the Demon was making it far more malicious than the previous time. It was pushing his sword towards you with strength, with this you noticed that his sword was a larger than average and was blood red with black hue covering the sharpness of the blade with certain characters engraved in it that you've never seen before. The sword started glowing and charging up some kind of energy.
In the blink of an eye it appeared behind you and you almost fell forward due to the amount of strength you were putting in blocking it's previous attack. You took advantage of the quick momentum you gained "Water Breathing. Fourth Form: Striking Tide" you then blocked two consecutive slashes from it with this water technique but it kept on appearing, disappearing behind you and attacking in such fast succession you hardly had time to change breathing form. The worst part was that you were holding your breath since you clearly heard it using Poison breathing.
Each slash that you blocked would push you back a bit by the sheer strength it would pack. You heard him change form again "Poison Breathing. Fifth Form: Biting Toxins" it then took a second before charging at you full speed trying to directly stab you in your throat. You used the other blade to try and cover it only accomplishing to parry the attack, sadly it was coming with such force that the blade broke with ease and sent you flying back hitting the wall of the colleseum.
You quickly got up noticing the broken blade and looked up only to find the Demon jumping towards you looking to slash you vertically. "Poison Breathing. Third Form: Sarin Wind Slash" It yelled as you yelled too waiting to embrace the attack. You used the hilt of the broken blade to parry the attack and throw off the Demon keeping his sword in the process.
"I've been entrusted with many things. I can't die here and i won't listen to you ever again.." You calmly said while you extended each sword to each of your sides as you prepare for your final attack
"I was born from eternal night, by infernal right, I'll return and I won't be alone, Carrion" He silently said.
You took a moment and inhaled all the poison he had used in his previous attacks. It was very painful at first until you managed to get it under control using Total Concentration Breathing Technique.
"Poison Breathing. Tenth Form: Sealed Fate" You said as you now prepared both swords crossing them near your chest and in the blink of an eye you charged towards your inner Demon cutting it's head clean with a double slash from each blade in an X-like manner.
Right after such a long time stuck in that world and a hard battle your surroundings were lighting up with a bright white light surrounding everything until you slowly returned.
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You woke up in the middle of the night covered in cold sweat and coughing up all the left over blood that was still stuck around in your throat and lungs almost choking in the process. This woke up Shinobu who was sleeping on a chair right next to your bed always making sure you were alive.
She quickly got up worried like hell patting your back to make sure you wouldn't choke on it. "A-are you alright..!?" She asked with such a sad tone in her voice, when you turned to see her you noticed that she was about to cry. "...I'm fin-" You were cut off by a great pain coming from your lung. You may be cured but you still have to recover from the injury after all
"...I'm fine." You said smiling hiding the pain so she wouldn't worry about it too much. She hugged you very tightly which you responded by holding her tightly as well. "I am not dying yet. You told me to stay alive so that's what I'll do" You whispered in her ear.
She separated a little from you, so you took the chance to clean up the tears from her beautiful face, you smiled while doing so which made her blush and flustered as well. "Come here" You said moving to a side to make more space in the bed. At first she didn't want to but she slowly got in the covers next to you.
"For now let's rest, shall we?" You said quickly falling back asleep.
She stared at you for a while wondering if you were going to wake up again, or if she was imaging what just happened there.
Regardless she fell asleep next to you.
When morning came she woke up only to find that you were no longer in bed with her which made her worry like crazy. She immediately called Aoi to the room she was in.
"Have you seen (Y/n)?!" She asked showing her calmed demeanor in front of her. "He woke up already!? Where is he!?" She was confused about the fact that you had awoken in general.
Meanwhile you had left the estate in your bad shape to retrieve your stuff that you left with Mitsuri. You had sent Okashi to her so she could get a head start and find you halfway there.
After an hour of the way you were sweating tired since breathing had become something very painful to do and you had to use a walking stick as of now.
When Mitsuri found you walking all by yourself in the middle of the road she hurried over and hugged you. "I-i-I'm sorry.. This is all because of mee! I'm sorry (Y/n)-kun" She said frantically crying, "It's not your fault Mitsuri-chan, really. I'm better now" You said while being in such a bad shape where even walking was a hard task to do. "Did you bring everything?" You asked. "I brought everything except for your sword. It's broken so you're going to have to send your swordsmith a letter about it" She explained while still sobbing.
"More importantly, what are you doing out here in such a bad shape!?" Her expression quickly changed from sad to angry. You smiled awkwardly before being picked up by her, she then carried you all the way back to the Butterfly Estate.
When you both arrived she put you down slowly, you then found Shinobu and Aoi out in the garden. When Aoi saw you she immediately started crying, meanwhile your girlfriend had a friendly smile but a visible vein popping from her face and had her hands clenched in fists.
You knew that this meant bad news when the two of you were alone. Regardless you walked back to the room where you were sleeping with the backpack Mitsuri brought you. She followed you helping you move.
"I Was Asleep For 30 Days!?!" You yelled asking. "I've been bedridden for so long! I need to get back to work immediately" You said trying to stand up from the bed before feeling an incredible pain coming from your lung, so you just sat down again.
Shinobu looked at you with a serious expression. "(Y/n), The Demon that did this to you.. What was it like?" Her eyes showed immediate concern.
"I didn't get to see it's face but it was very charismatic, had ice blood art technique, and used two gunsern fans as a weapon. I could tell that it couldn't feel anything, not a single emotion. I only managed to cut off it's hand but it grew back immediately and that's when i passed out" Shinobu's eyes widened realizing that it was the same one that killed Kanae.
"...You're lucky to have survived.." She said with such a sad tone of voice. You knew this, especially after what you had just passed the night before. "What you encountered was no normal Demon. It was an Upper Moon.." She added
Everyone's eyes widened after she said this except yours. You knew this was one of the Twelve Demon Moons, but you didn't have an idea that it was an Upper Moon.
"I really can't waste time right now.. I have to get back to training so I can go back out there" You impatiently said.
"NO! You have to rest until your recover more!" Shinobu scolded you while Mitsuri felt happy by seeing this. She knew she didn't have to worry about you having Shinobu with you.
After a small argument Shinobu won so you went back to the bed to rest some more.
Shinobu went to the main gate to see Mitsuri off, "Why did he go back to your house?" Shinobu asked in an intimidating manner. "P-please don't take it in the wrong way. But believe me when i say that you should ask him personally" Mitsuri said. After this small interaction they said goodbye and Shinobu went back to your bedroom.
"So why did you leave without telling me?" She said smiling but you perfectly knew that she was angry about It. "Well i wanted to wait for the perfect moment, but i guess celebrating my survival is a good reason" You jokingly said, but these types of jokes made her angry.
"Please pass my backpack over to me" You said and she did just that. "Okay, now close your eyes and trust me" You said smiling while sitting on your bed. You then took out the Kimono and the very big pharmaceutical book you got her. "Okay.. Now open them"
When she opened them she was immediately surprised by what you did, she was expecting anything but this.
"What's this all about..?" She asked, "Well I wanted to give you something nice... Though I'm pretty sure you could get them anywhere any time" You said kind of sad because it was true. "You idiot.. I love it!" She slowly approached you then hugged you. You could feel that her emotions were true which made you feel very emotional.
"I'll bring you some food, you must be starving, so please wait" She said leaving the room with the things you gave her. You actually hadn't thought about it, but it was true, you were dying of hunger. After some minutes Naho, Kiyo and Sumi came to the room with a tray of food for you.
They all went around your bed happy to see you better since they didn't want you to die.
"Whoa.. This food is delicious, did you guys make it for me?" You asked with your mouth full while eating at an incredible speed which surprised then. "Yes, yes. We hope you can get better soon" Sumi said while serving you some tea. "We were all worried about you" Naho said tearing up. "But it's all okay now, right?" Kiyo asked. You loved spending time with these girls, they were incredibly adorable and nice to have around.
"While I eat let me tell you what I dreamt about while I was passed" You told them knowing that they wouldn't think anything weird about it and instead find it interesting.
"So you defeated yourself using a new Breathing Technique?" They asked. "Yes, it was weird but I want to learn how to do it myself here" You said clenching your fist "But i don't know where to start" You added
"Why don't you ask Shinobu-sama?" Naho asked "Yeah, after all she made her own, didn't she?" Kiyo added.
You felt very stupid since this was true, she was the creator of the Insect Breathing since she was too small and weak to handle Flower Breathing like Kanae and Kanao.
After eating you gave them the tray back "Thank you so much for the food" You said happy to feel full and with more strength than before. The three girls left the room happy to have seen you and once they left Shinobu was entering the room. When you turned to see her your jaw dropped seeing that she had put on the Kimono you had gotten her.
"So.. How do I look?" She asked being embarrassed about showing it to you. She looked so beautiful you couldn't describe the way you felt, it was a mix of butterflies in your stomach and happiness that you could pass away very grateful for this to be the last thing you ever saw. "You.. Y-y-you look perfect" You said blushing very hard seeing her like this. She then got closer and closer to you making your heart beat incredibly fast.
Before you knew it her lips were locked in with yours, you thought that this is what heaven must be like.
When she separated from you she was blushing covering her mouth with a hand, you were dumbfounded by this. You then grabbed her by her hand and smiled gently while lightly blushing.
"Are you staying here tonight?" You nervously asked. "Do you want me to?" She then replied. "O-of course" You said pulling her towards you wrapping your arms around her waist. This made her feel nervous since she had never felt this before.
When she sat next to you on your bed you looked at her beautiful purple eyes and slowly approached to kiss her one more time. "There's something I need to tell you" You said seriously. "It has to do during the time I was sleeping" She then looked at you willing to listen to anything you had to say.
You explained what you saw as well, and everything that happened during this time.
"I'm pretty sure that if I lost during that fight I would have died here for sure..." you said in wonder. "It could be true that your inner self could want to rebel itself but the way you put it is... Very weird to say the least. Poison breathing? I'm sure something like that hasn't been done" She replied.
"I'm considering learning it and making it my own. So for this i would need all your help" you slowly said. "I also know that it wasn't a ghost story but I'm sure it was entertaining for you" you said joking around. "You could've died! But.. It was interesting hearing about this" She replied, you just laughed it off.
"I know you're impatient to go back into service but for now you need to rest" She said grabbing your hand "Your lung nearly collapsed so you need to slowly recover from this or you could get hurt badly" she added. You knew this was true so you simply sighed and laid back. "Well you're right about that, but I need to get some training done, I've been in bed for a while now." You said "Well you can go back to the recovery training with the girls. Kanao's final selection is coming soon so it would be a good time to train with her" She said smiling.
You were surprised by this. "How long has it been since you first found me out there?" You curiously asked. "Almost two years ago" she replied, this surprised you even more, you've been so immersed into training that you had completely forgot the superficial stuff like birthdays and more. "It was in winter, right?" You asked, "Yes, why?" She asked looking at you curiously. "So that means your birthday is in a matter of months.. In that case I need to recover fast to be able to do something for you!" You said very decided and full of determination. This was a trait you got from Rengoku, and it was very clear that you were influenced by him.
She just laughed at this happy to see that you're well enough to be thinking about these things, she then laid down and put her head on your shoulder then quickly fell asleep. You truly were lucky to have this, and you fell asleep as well soon after.
After this you started to train slowly getting to breathe without feeling pain, to do this you walked all around the estate for hours non stop while waiting for your sword to be forged once more, but this time you asked for another one besides your main one. You repeated walking around during the day and during the night you would meditate to get to control your breathing in a calm demeanor while resting your body.
This went on for fifteen days until you could breathe once again without feeling pain. Now the problem was to wait for the physical pain to leave and recover the stamina lost from being bedridden for such a long time. Luckily for you Kanao was training under Shinobu even more during these times, before her final selection.
So you took the opportunity and trained with them to recover some stamina. The other thing that you would do was to recover via the recovery training the girls would do.
In your free time you would put in practice smaller trainings like the great grip of the sword by swinging and slashing in a repetitive motion with a wooden sword.
You were quickly getting back into shape, not as great as before but you were slowly and steadily making a great progress. Now all you had to do was to wait for your swords to come in so you could learn how to do your own Breathing Form.
Another fifteen days had passed and you could do 500 push-ups carrying each girl on your back again. You were in peak condition and ready to set out for your next job, all you needed was your Nichirin which still hadn't arrived.
Meanwhile Shinobu was checking up on you every once in a while making sure that no long term injuries could result from you training so soon again. She was happy seeing your progress but the fear of losing you was growing quickly too. This was the only big thing of being in the Corps, you could die any day.
Luckily for you that same day Kozo Kanamori came by with a bigger box than last time. "(Y/n)-san I'm very sorry for the wait, I just had a hard time finding out how to make a perfect dual sword for you" He said handing you the big box. "Don't worry about it. The good thing is that during this time I recovered from my injuries and ready to go to back to work" You replied happily.
"Please open it up, let's see if your other blade changes to a different color as well" He added. You opened it up excited to see the new blade. You noticed it was a little bit larger than the other one which you found perfect. "How does the grip feel? Since you asked me to make it larger i think this was the perfect way. Also last time i made a mix between the two hilts. This time the normal sized one has a flower hilt like Shinobu-san's and the other one a Moon" He was explaining while you took your time inspecting then, looking at every marvelous detail put in them.
"Kanamori-san, i really love them. They're perfect for me, and beautiful as well" You said pulling out your right handed blade which turned to it's usual black with purple teeth. Tou slowly removed the other one from it's sheath, when you did it turned black as well but these showed the teeth in the same way as the other, the only thing is that this one was a red color. Not crimson but more blood red. You suddenly felt chills crawling up your spine remembering what you dreamt.
Only this time you were wondering if it was actually a dream. "Ahhh this truly is a very interesting take of colors it did. I hope these are more resistant than the last one. But for now I'll have to leave, thank you once again for trusting me as your swordsmith and good luck in your missions" He said while he stood up to quickly leave.
For about 30 minutes you just stared at your swords very happy and excited like a young boy with a new toy in his hands. After this initial excitement you went to Shinobu's office where she was talking to Kanao about the Final Selection Process, Kanao was silent as always, just having a gentle smile like her adoptive older sister.
You stayed outside listening attentively since you yourself didn't go and was wondering what kind of things the selected had to go through.
"During the selection me and Kanae went through out of 28 only 8 made it" She finished by saying this, your eyes widened after listening to this and rushed into the room worried about Kanae. "You're comfortable with sending her there!" You asked. "She's been training for a long time and I'm sure she will come back unharmed" Shinobu said surprised by seeing you. "Ahhh i feel bad for not going now.. I would've tried to save everyone i could have" you said with a sad expression. Shinobu stood up from her chair towards you putting a hand on the side of your face.
"I know you would have, and I also know that you are worried about Kanao. But you should trust in her, after all she's my Tsuguko" She said, you put your hand over hers, "Yeah.. You're right." you replied vaguely.
"Can I see you in the roof after you're done here?" You simply asked. ".. Of course" She answered. You left the room and head over to the roof where you two usually sat down. You took both you're swords with you.
After five minutes she appeared behind you without making any noise. "Is something wrong?" She asked. You gave out a small sigh "Well, I just think a lot about how I almost died without being useful for the Corps, or for you." You simply stated while she looked at you with worry.
"But now, I think I'm going to be more useful." You then stood up showing both swords hanging from your waist.
"But I need you more than ever now. Both as a teacher and as my partner"
You grabbed her by the shoulders looking directly at her beautiful purple eyes, this surprised her and made her blush. You on the other hand were showing her the most vulnerable side of you.
She embraced you in a hug while you started to tear up after all you've been through, you finally got the time to let it out. After this you went down to go get some tea for both of you. "After all this time I still felt useless, like I haven't helped or saved anybody at all.." You said as you took a drink of your tea. "Every single individual Demon you have hunted would have killed an innocent human being, thus you saved many people from that fate." She replied "More importantly.. You saved me from the swollen hate I have bottled up inside. With you I feel better, happier and I want you by my side always.
You turned and looked at her slowly, she turned to look at you as well. You were extremely surprised by what she just said so you got closer to her and she put her head on your shoulder while you were holding hands. "I need to become stronger, like you." You said, this made her laugh a little bit. You both relaxed and enjoyed your time together until you were interrupted by Okshi which angered you.
"North! North! Head to the Temiya Railway Facilities. Many workers have disappeared! Find this Demon, and kill it!" It yelled "Go to Hokkaido tomorrow, Go!" It kept on yelling at you. Both you and Shinobu looked at him it very annoyed, he then just flew away.
You stayed outside a while longer holding each other.
The next morning you prepared to depart from the Estate once again fully recovered from your injuries. But first you went to see Kanao, "Kanao! I'm going on a mission and I'll take at least 8 days, and i know you are leaving to the Final Selection tomorrow. So please come back alive and let's go on a mission together" you said smiling to which she didn't say anything but she accepted as well.
After that went to Kanae's alter once again to pay respect and luck in your next mission and hurried back to see Shinobu in her office where she was working on a new poison to put in her scabbard.
"Shinobu, I'm leaving to Hokkaido now, I'll probably be back in 8 days. I promise I'll come back to you unharmed" You smiled gently looking at her while she was sitting on her chair. "You better or you know what I'll do to you if you come back harmed" she replied. You loved how she coddled you, you felt loved.
(Pic of Shinobu Coddling you)
"I promise" You said as you got close to her and kissed her forehead. "I'll send you a letter when I get there" You said before you left the room.
"...I love you" It sounded from the room. You didn't know if you heard correctly, but you couldn't go back to ask since you were already late to departure from the Estate.
So you left running the first few miles, since Hokkaido was up North a half a day away from where you were.
You're Mission had started.
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Sinja: Welp, I hope you enjoy this one. I took some time writing it since I get distracted by Worlds 2020. Please tell me what you think about it.
Next chapter will be a quick one but you'll start to practice your new breathing style too. You'll also have more time with Shinobu (⌒▽⌒)♡