16.

I was 16 years old when I met him. I practically searched for him. I wasn't exactly sure who I was looking for. What exactly he would look like. I didn't know. I just had a name. And the vague details provided to me by the various different people I ran across along my journey. But even though I wasn't quite sure who I was looking for. Or what exactly he would look like. When I saw him, I knew it was the right person. I don't know how. I simply had a feeling. There was just something about him. And it wasn't only in his more than shocking appearance. Which to be honest, and not to be rude...

Was horrid.

To be brief, he had medium length, straight, jet black hair that arched up slightly at the roots and fell delicately to the sides to frame his face. The inky black strands just about reached his shoulders with the ends cut perfectly straight all around. Surprisingly, his hair alone was enough to serve as a stark contrast from his skin complexion; which was of an impossibly pale, paperwhite color.

I genuinely considered the possibility of him never seeing the sun. Much less the possibility of him being able to "see" at all; his eyes were a light shade of lavender with pupils that seemed like no light could ever enter.

Regardless of the hair and the distracting paleness of his skin. The most overwhelming aspect of his appearance of all was the horrid patch of wrinkled, purple, vein, and crater ridden skin that seemed almost to be rotting and took over the majority of his face. From the nose down had been spared. Or so I would assume. For all I knew, the man could have had the same patches covering the entirety of his body. He looked like a corpse risen freshly from the dead. If it wasn't for this...scar I guess you can call it, the man would actually be a very good looking man.

Even still, he smiled as though there was nothing wrong. It wasn't a wide toothy grin. It was small and subtle but offered all the kindness in the world.

It was quite a shocker, to be honest. It rattled me and was enough to make me stumble. He hadn't even spoken yet, and I felt his genuine care and calm nature. Despite him never having met me.

I wasn't alone when I met him. My wives were with me of course. I had left home with them after all. So when I met this man, my wives were just as shocked at his appearance and personality as I was.

Kagaya Ubuyashiki was his name. The leader of the Demon Slayer Corp.

That day, I must have spoken to him for hours. Or maybe it was more him talking to me. And strangely enough, I could barely find it in me to open my mouth to say anything in return for all that he did for me and my wives. He gave us a place to stay, after all, got me into the Demon Slayers, and pushed me to become something far greater than what I thought I was capable or worthy of being.

It was strange. I figured that given his circumstances, I expected him to be bitter and angry. But, then again, I've made a terrible assumption like that once before. And I refused to do it again.

At this moment, however, I, Tengen Uzui, am 18 years old and am currently the sound hashira of the Demon Slayer Corp. I've been in the demon slayer corp about a year now. Or has it been a year more than that? Whatever. I've been told that I progressed at a far greater speed through the ranks than most, but after having been in a couple of battles and fought alongside some of the other hashira I knew exactly where I stood when it came to skill and ability. As much as I liked to boast, I was not top of the line. And I am very aware of that.

But I digress.

I had come home one day to my wives from a mission. As usual, they panicked and jumped me as soon as I opened the door. Well, I should just say Suma. Suma jumped me at the door. It was a practice she had gotten into since we left home. It didn't bother me. It just would hurt... like hell. Most often times she'd just jump to hug me without even trying to see if I was hurt in any way. I knew she never meant to hurt me, but it would tick me off just a little at times. Usually, I wouldn't get hurt, and It was pretty difficult for me to ever experience soreness in any way after a battle. But I had made a particularly dumb mistake in my battle today.

Let's just say, I got a little too cocky once I realized the score was complete. There was an opening in my offense, and I got cut. Bad.

Well, It wasn't that bad...in my opinion, at least.

Once I wrapped it and let it heal, and as long as Suma didn't attempt to give me any hugs for a little while. I'd be fine.

"Come Tengen-sama," I heard Hinatsuru call from the kitchen, "We've prepared you some dinner."

I told them I'd be over in a moment but, Makio insisted I'd come now.

"Come quickly," she urged, "It'll get cold. I'm sure you need it after your mission today," She made it seem like it was a severely important matter. As if I'd die if I didn't eat at that very moment.

Suma nodded enthusiastically as I sat down and watched them present me with various different foods. I was so surprised by their amount of care and worry for me that I couldn't help but smile as I placed my hands on their heads.

"Thank you," I told them.

Suma blushed and quickly ran off to wash the dishes. While Hinatsuru and Makio stayed beside me at the table.

As I looked at the food my wives prepared, I began to think. Or should I say, I began to remember.

On the same night that I had carried her brothers home. Mizuki's brothers I mean. The dual-color haired girl had stopped me short. We must have been halfway to Tengan's house by that time, and I really rathered to just continue with our travels. Contrary to what you may think, the boys were very heavy despite not having the same exact physique as me. Thankfully I'm strong enough that I could still carry them without much difficulty. So accidentally dropping them as a result of stopping didn't concern me. It was more or less my rather bad attitude at having to carry them that did. I didn't want to say anything mean or condescending to the girl out of my annoyance at the situation.

So I stopped.

I want to say that responded rather nicely to the girl. You know without snapping at her. But my voice had come out more strained than I thought it would.

"Why in God's name have we stopped?"

She didn't respond to me, she simply kept her back turned to me and reached into the bag that she was carrying with her. I was about to just keep walking when she asked me to get on my knees.

I wanted to strangle the girl. I was carrying two grown men on my back. Her brothers?! And she expected me to kneel?!  Of course, I wasn't doubting my ability to do it. I just simply didn't want to. And I was sure if I moved too fast and my body jerked in even the slightest I'd have a very unwanted pair of claws dragged through my back. In fact, I was preparing myself to drop the boys if I had even an inkling of the chance of that happening.

Regardless of all this, I kneeled, dropping down to one knee. It was easier than getting down on both.

Mizuki then looked at me, and it was at this moment that I realized just how much taller I am than her. I always knew I was taller. It's impossible not to know that, but just to kneel brought me to be at near eye level with her, maybe a little lower. Of course, I wasn't exactly her height on my knees. In this position, she hovered just a few inches over me.

She leaned down and looked at me. A gentle smile curling her plump rose-colored lips. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and she reached out over my head with her hand. I followed her actions as closely as possible without moving. She leaned over me and gently, taking the strands of my white hair in her hands, pulled my hair back into a single messy ponytail. Once she was finished with that, she raised a cloth into view, and just as gently as she cared for my hair, whipped the grimy, blood-stained surface that was my face.

Never before had she ever been this gentle and kind with me. Of course, she has been, in her own way. But never like this. To so silently and gently make this display of care and...affection I guess you could call it, was quite jarring. Need I remind you that I nearly tried to kill her brothers not too long before that. Yet here she was, wiping my face and fixing my hair in such a manner that it almost seemed that she was afraid to damage me. Like I was something fragile.  Or perhaps a sacred statue. More important than any fine china or silken material, diamonds or silver and gold. 

More important than the jewels I wore on my head.

And I could only think of one thing at that moment.

Why...?

Before I could even try to consider a few options for why. Mizuki had brought me up to stand. I stood back up with ease, still balancing the two boys on my back. Surely they were unconscious. At some point along the journey, they had fallen asleep. This undoubtedly made my work 10 times more difficult, because I now had the burden of carrying their full weight. Again, not that I wasn't strong enough to do it. I just didn't want to. But I had to out of courtesy. Or at least that's what I told myself.

But I reconsidered all the things they had done for me and I, with a strong reluctance I might add, sucked up my pride and kept walking. It should be more than just a simple act of courtesy. 

It wasn't long till we got to Tengan-sensei's house after that. The newfound inspiration to keep walking now fueled by Mizuki's sudden actions and close proximity to me drove me to walk faster.

Mizuki opened the door, Tengan let us in and from there the boys were awoken. Unsurprisingly, Tengan had offered for me to stay the night. A custom I had gotten into the habit of. Especially being that Tengan had somehow managed to talk my father out of trying to kill me for not returning all the time. His excuse was that he'd tell my father that something came up, or he'd lie about training me at his place, and he shouldn't worry because I would be back with the items he asked for by tomorrow morning. When my father brought up the fact that I was not allowed to eat, Tengan simply laughed and turned his back before telling me I was allowed to eat whatever that I wanted. I gladly took him up on his offer.

"As long as yer in my house, you can eat. Understand?"

I thanked him, again with reluctance to damage my pride, for his hospitality. He gave me the option to sleep in the same room as Mizuki and her siblings, and again I gladly took the offer.

While I stayed in her room, waiting anxiously for her to enter, I took the opportunity to remove a few of my dirty articles of clothing and make myself at least slightly more comfortable. I smirked at the possible reactions she'd have upon realizing I was not going to leave that night. And suddenly, I became less concerned about my father and more elated at the possibility of messing with the dual-color haired girl. 

There was a brief moment where I internally interrogated myself on the reasons why I should feel this way, but I quickly suppressed the thoughts and told myself I'd just have to enjoy the stay without question.

When she did finally enter the room, I watched her gracefully walk in. Her eyes were closed as she dried her hair with a cloth. She wore a dark purple kimono that was decorated with vague images of white floral designs. Over this, she wore a long, tan-colored haori jacket that reached just about her ankles. The sleeves of her haori fell loosely over her shoulders as though it were a few sizes too big. Which I wouldn't doubt it if it were.

I stared at her for a moment, unable to remove my eyes from her form. Her skin seemed to glow in the soft white moonlight which peaked through the windows, and I abruptly tore my eyes away from her. When she opened her eyes I could feel her staring at me and not long after did she race out of her own room. Then, moments later, she peaked her head back through the doorway and fixed me with a gaze that said...

Who are you to send me running out of my own room?

I chuckled, leaned back against the wall, and propped my arm up on my bent knee.

"You seem to be making yourself quite at home," She told me, still very careful.

I must have flashed her a smile because she immediately turned her face away from view.

"It's impossible not to. Besides, I've decided that I simply can't stay away from this place. I've tried, believe me, and it's not easy."

She looked at me, shock clear in her widened heterochromia eyes. I shifted over and patted the space next to me, "Come. You didn't think I'd completely take over your room did you?" Again, she glared at me, although this time I wasn't sure why. I assumed it was along the lines of how comfortable I had made myself in her room.

Regardless of my offer, well it wasn't quite an offer, I more or less told her to sit. She turned and walked out of the room quietly telling me that she would return soon. 

And she did. 

Another few moments later, she returned with a small tray of food. She sat the tray in front of me, and regardless of her obvious hesitance, sat down in the space I left for her.

Then, I watched in utter perplexity as she grabbed the chopsticks, picked up some of the still steaming hot food, and lifted it to the level of my mouth.

She simply looked up at me with wide expecting eyes. Her cheeks flushed and hands slightly shaking.

"H-here..." she stuttered, "Tengan made it for you. I told him you should eat something after all that walking and carrying Yuu and Ryuichi like that for so long."

I was still shocked, now completely hesitant, and doubtful of the reliance I once had on my ability to speak and dominate effectively.

"Do you not want it?" She asked.

Once again, my eyes lingered on her form as her words slowly became an incoherent slur. Her lips were slightly parted, and she looked so flushed she might as well had been carrying her brothers home from that town by herself. The haori was set even lower on her arms, and her now drying hair cascaded down her shoulders. The silk-like strands formed a wavy black and white frame around her round porcelain face and stopped...just below her breasts.

"If you don't want it," she stopped looking at me, "I'll give it back to Tengan."

She started to stand up and gather the tray to take it with her. And for a brief moment, I felt a surge of emotion similar to panic. I had to keep her here. I had to keep her with me, I thought.

 But how...?

Then, without thinking, I quickly reached out and grabbed her wrist before she could have gone too far for me to even graze her skin with my fingertips. Surprisingly, she didn't pull away. Taking this as a signal, I leaned over, plucked the tray from her hands, and placed it back in front of me. She still refused to meet my gaze, so I gave her a sharp tug on her wrist, and she fell back, quietly, into her seat beside me. Only this time, she was much closer.

Finally, she looked at me.

"I never said I didn't want it, now did I?" She opened her mouth to speak but I wouldn't let her, "Tell me. Is it not a fair reason to say I was distracted by your astounding beauty?"

Her body stiffened against mine, and she sharply turned away from me. Her face was even redder and her body hotter against my own than before.

 "J-just hurry and eat...before it gets too—"

I abruptly got up. 

The urgency with which I stood, quickly caught the inescapable attention of my wives. And in moments they were beside me.

"Tengen-san are you ok?" Makio asked.

"I'm fine," I replied absently, "Is something wrong?"

"Y-yes actually," Suma stammered nervously, "Y-you stopped eating, and then you started to stare off at nothing..."

Hinatsuru took my hands her own, "You're sweating and you're very warm."

For a moment, I just stood there, staring blankly into Hina's eyes. 

I shook my head running a hand through my white locks as my other hand fell from Hinatsuru's loose hold, "I just need to shower," I explained, "So save my food for me..."

"I'll eat it another time."

A/N- I'm soooo sorry it took me so long to update this chapter!!! But I hope you enjoyed it!! I really was struggling with it at first to figure out how I wanted to write it. I would start writing then have to stop midway because I didn't know where I wanted to take it, but here it is!!!! I'm really please with how it turned out, and I hope you are too!

See ya next update!! and please be patient with me! You've all been so amazing thus far, so let's keep these reads going up!

WORD COUNT- 3,037 || 8.4 PAGES (approximately)