"How are you feeling?"

Kyojuro is already sitting upright, wide awake when you walk into the room, breakfast on a tray. The rays of the early morning sun stream in through the open window, highlighting the edges of his face.

You realize he's absolutely gorgeous.

"Wonderful now that I've had a good night's rest! How about you, (Y/N)?"

You hand the tray to him and sit down on a stool by his bedside.

"I'm good, thank you for asking. More importantly, how are your ears doing?"

"They feel as good as new! All thanks to you, (Y/N)!"

You smile. "They may feel fine, but they're not fully healed yet. You'd best follow my advice unless you want to end up back here again."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Eh?"

You look up at him and resist the urge to laugh. There are grains of rice all over his face and his cheeks are stuffed like a chipmunk's. It's so cute that all you want to do is squeal like a little girl.

"I mean, most people don't like going to the doctor's since they think it's scary, especially those who have sustained serious injuries since they know I'm going to be slicing them open. Some people also think it's a waste of time since they could be training or improving their swordsmanship."

"But being treated by a girl as cute as you... I don't think that's a bad thing! Besides, how can you hope to get better if you're injured? You need to heal first, after all!"

You feel a blush crawling up your neck and ears. You nearly choke at his words.

Does he have any idea what he's saying?! Maybe he's just a flirt or something... Or maybe he's just really dense.

"I-If you say so, Kyojuro."

You notice he is done eating and you the dishes from him. Taro, who is waiting at the door, accepts them and brings them to the kitchen to be washed. You take a seat at your desk and begin writing something. Kyojuro follows you with his eyes, curious as to what you are doing.

"This is just a reminder of what you need to do," you say as you spin around, handing him a slip of paper.
"Remember, take your ear drops twice daily. Make sure you keep your ears dry whenever you are bathing. Also, try to avoid loud sounds. That can slow down the healing process."

"Understood!"

After checking him one last time to make sure everything was in order, you nod in approval. He's fully dressed in his uniform now, sword at his side.

"You're all set to go. Be safe out there."

"I will! Thank you for all you've done!"

He waves goodbye to you before running off into the distance. You wave back until he is out of sight, disappearing against the blindingly bright rays of the rising sun.

Sighing, you step back inside and lean against the door. You had just gotten to know him and you already missed his presence.

Your house feels empty without him.

I have the day off today. I may as well spend it productively. I'm running low on some medicines, so I need to pick some up in the city. While I'm there, I may as well go window-shopping and see if there's anything that catches my eye.

You make your way to your room, where you get dressed for the day. Within the Corps, you were known as the most stylish woman and you were determined to keep that reputation.
Slipping out of your nightgown, you pull out your outfit for the day. A sage green kimono with a pattern of water lilies and reeds on the sleeves and a hakama that started as a pale lavender before darkening to deep violet, creating a pleasing ombre effect. A vine of wisteria flowers was sewn at the base of it.

You finish the look off with an oversized white bow at the back of your head. Nodding in satisfaction, you grab your kinchaku handbag, which contains money.

Upon hearing your footsteps, Taro pokes his head out of the kitchen.

"You're heading out, (Y/N)-sama?"

"Yes, there are a few errands I need to run."

"Be safe then," he calls out as you slip on a pair of Mary Janes and leave. The air is still a bit chilly, but the rising sun is warm.

It hasn't even been ten minutes since you've left your house when you're stopped by a group of female slayers. There weren't that many within the ranks of the Corps, so you looked after them the best you could if to make their lives a little easier.

"Looking cute as always, (Y/N)-sama!"

"Where did you get your bow from?"

"That hakama suits you perfectly. Where did you get it from?"

After giving them the address of the department store you got your clothes from, you bid them goodbye and continue on your way.

It doesn't take long before you're in the heart of Tokyo, where the city has already come to life around you. Vendors are already shouting out the prices of their wares along the sides of the streets and students are rushing to class, food shoved hastily into their mouths as a makeshift breakfast. Telephone poles tower high above your head. A streetcar makes its way down the street, wheels cl-clanking against the rails. You pause to let it pass before crossing the street and making your way to your destination. The sun is fully above the horizon now and you can tell it is going to be a warm day, free of any clouds.

You realize you haven't had any breakfast yet as your stomach rumbles loudly. Flustered and a bit embarrassed, you search for something to eat before settling on some miso soup from a street vendor nearby.

You're sitting on a bench nearby, watching the crowd go by when a loud voice startles you so much you almost spill piping hot soup onto yourself.

"Hello there, (Y/N)! Fancy seeing you again!"

You splutter and wipe your mouth with the back of your hand. Turning around, you see Kyojuro standing there in all his fiery glory. He doesn't seem even a bit affected by the early morning blues.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" you ask. He beams, plopping down next to you.

"My next mission is here, but it seems as if I have arrived before all of my other teammates!"

"A mission? So early in the day? What for?"

"I'm accompanying some people to gain more experience! What are you doing here, (Y/N)?"

"I'm running low on medicine and I have the day off. I might as well spend it productively."

You smell something sweet and slightly charred. Looking down, you see a roasted sweet potato in his hand.

It smells... nice.

He follows your line of sight. With a knowing grin, he splits it in half and hands you a part of it.

"Here, take it! Food always tastes better when you're sharing it with a friend!"

"A-Ah, thanks..."

Honestly, what are the odds, you think to yourself. We say goodbye to each other, thinking that'd be it, only to run into each other not even an hour later.

This feels almost like a... date.

You feel your face instantly heat up.

You shake your head and avoid eye contact with Kyojuro. He blinks at you owlishly.

You hesitantly take a bite of the sweet potato. It is sweet and warm, driving away the early morning chill lingering in your bones and body.

"Umai!" shouts Kyojuro next to you, his mouth full. You giggle at his enthusiasm and wish you had his energy.

"Umai!" you shout too, a smile tugging at the corners of your lips and a blush coloring your cheeks.

He was right. Food does taste better when you're sharing it with friends.

You can't remember the last time you felt this carefree.

»»————-　♔　————-««

"Wow! Something like this existed this entire time and I never knew about it? Intriguing!"

You smile to yourself as Kyojuro takes in his surroundings like a curious little kid. You stroll down the street with a sense of familiarity and say hello to the vendors who recognize you. Currently, you were in a wholesale medicine district*. It was a little bit out of the way, but you couldn't get medicine for this low of a price anywhere else.

"What're you planning to buy today, (Y/N)?"

He's bouncing around you like he's on a sugar high. You pull a list out of your bag and show it to him.

"I need to pick up some more painkillers since I used up the last of it when I treated you. I also need new syringes, some books, and more."

You stop in front of a shop and push the door open. A chime signals your entrance. The man behind the counter looks up, surprised that anybody would be visiting so early in the morning. Upon recognizing you, however, his face breaks out into a grin.

"Ah, if it isn't (Y/N)! What can I do for you today?"

"Just the usual, please."

"Gotcha. Just give me a second."

He disappears into a back room. Kyojuro notices some medical books displayed on a shelf. Curiosity piqued, he takes one and flips to a random page. Upon seeing its contents, his expression morphs from one of childlike curiosity to one of sheer and utter confusion.

I don't understand any of this... he realizes. Yet (Y/N), who is the same age as me, somehow can. Superior vena cava, corpus callosum, third ventricle, fourth ventricle, vitreous humor, hyaloid canal... what is all of this?

He stares blankly at the wall of text and anatomical illustrations staring right back at him. Not to mention that some parts of it were in another language.

Is this English?

"Thanks for waiting. Here's your usual, as requested!"

He places the book back on its shelf and turns around to see you handing some money over to the man.

"Is that twenty percent discount still standing?" you asked.

"Of course! It's my way of saying thanks to my most frequent customer!"

You say goodbye to him before dragging Kyojuro to your next destination.

Kyojuro was a new slayer, but still a slayer nonetheless. That meant he was stronger and faster than the average person from all the hellish training he had to endure. But even so, he found himself struggling to keep up with you. You were just so fast, like a hummingbird or butterfly. One moment, you were here and the next, you were there. You flitted and darted across the place as if you had wings that would carry you along with the wind.

Not to mention, how did you walk in those shoes? To Kyojuro, they looked so uncomfortable.

He noticed that one particular shop you walk into has extra locks and bolts across its doors. Thick metal bars surround the products on the shelves and the overall atmosphere is heightened and tense. He noticed you also had to provide some form of identification before you made your purchase.

"What was that?" he asked as you walked out of the store. You showed him the contents in the bag. It didn't look like a lot, just two brown bottles, but they were to you and had to be used with extreme caution.

"Morphine and chloroform. The latter is used to knock patients out during surgery and the former is a painkiller administered to those who are suffering from extreme pain, usually given post-surgery when the chloroform wears off. It is like alcohol: highly addictive and capable of ruining someone's life."

"Ah, I see."

Of course he would. He'd understand better than anybody else; what addiction could do to a person.

The walk back is silent, until he is spotted by the rest of his teammates.

"So that's where you've been, Rengoku! We've been looking for you for ages!"

He turns to them, a sheepish smile on his face. "Sorry! I got caught up with something else!"

"Honestly! You were wasting your time on a date with a girl while on duty? How unprofessional is that?"

You turn towards them, a serene smile across your face.

"Hello, boys."

You watch as horror plays out across his face when he realizes who you are.

Kyojuro is looking at him as if he'd grown another head.

"H-Head Doctor! (Y/N)-sama! I am deeply sorry for my rudeness and not knowing who you are!"

"It's alright," you reassure. "I was the one who dragged Kyojuro along so if anything, I should be the one at fault."

"I-Is that so? I won't be taking up any more of your time, so goodbye!"

He grabs Kyojuro by the collar and yanks him along, despite his shouts of protest. You chuckle. He looks like a carp banner flapping in the wind, eyes wide as he gasps for air.

"You idiot!" you hear his teammate scream over the wind. "Why are you acting so familiar with her?! She's the head doctor of the Demon Slayer Corps, do you understand?! Say one thing wrong and she'll degut your innards and preserve them in the name of medicine!"

"From what I've seen, she's not like that at all!"

"Yes, she is, you dimwit!"

"I can assure you, I'm not!" you call out to them. Kyojuro looks at his teammate with a smug look on his face.

"See? Told you so!"

"Shut up!"

The smile fades from your lips as soon as they're out of sight. Hesitantly, you turn away and continue your walk through the city. You make up your mind to go back home, as you have bought everything you needed.

You ignore the stares you get from some people as you backtrack through the wholesale medicine district. To some, especially the vendors, you were a familiar face frequenting this place whenever you had the day off. However, to some others, you stuck out like a nail that needed to be hammered down.

The stares from much older men dig into your back as you stare straight ahead. They burn and sear and you can practically feel their disapproval and disgust. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw one such person scrunch up his face in disgust before turning up his nose and walking away.

You know what they are thinking.

Why is a girl here?

She can't possibly be a doctor.

Was she sent by someone else?

Maybe she's a nurse?

A disgrace to the name of medicine.

What is she thinking?

Who is she kidding?

You resist the urge to roll your eyes. It is the Taisho period, where women have more career opportunities than ever before, but it seemed as if some people had not realized that yet. They were still stuck in their prehistoric ways of thinking; that only men could hold down respectable jobs. Such ideas have been tossed out for the new and you wonder if they too will be lost to the unfaltering hands of time and progress.

The caramelized scent of sweet potatoes hits you, dousing your anger. You turn and see that it was coming from the vendor Kyojuro had bought his sweet potatoes from.

Finding yourself craving another one, you check to see how much money you have left.

"Excuse me! I'd like one sweet potato please!"

»»————-　♔　————-«

The air is growing cold as you sit outside on the patio sipping your tea. You are flipping through the pages of one of the books you bought earlier today. Its diagrams and explanations seem to blur in front of your eyes. You can't understand any of it or maybe you're just too exhausted to continue any further.

Groaning, you set it aside and rub your eyes. Your eyeglasses bump against your knuckles and you glare at them.

"(Y/N)-sama?"

You hear Taro calling you from the patio door. Putting your glasses back on, you turn towards him.

"What is it?"

"There is somebody who wishes to see you."

"Very well. Bring them in. I'll be staying out here."

He nods and disappears back inside. In the meanwhile, you pick at your fingernails and examine your flower garden of wisterias, roses, and sunflowers, wondering who would want to visit you so late in the evening.

"Good evening, (Y/N)!"

Speak of the devil.

Kyojuro's loud, booming voice scares the ever-loving crap out of you and you nearly have a heart attack. You fall out of your chair and your book tumbles to the ground.

"Ky-Kyojuro! Good evening to you too!"

You pick yourself up and re-adjust your glasses. Your heart is pounding, but it's not due to the surprise you just received.

"Did you just finish your mission?"

"I did, in fact! When I was coming back, I saw this and I immediately thought of you!"

He pulls something out of his back pocket. With growing interest, you realize that it is a pair of silver dangling earrings that are shaped like beakers, similar to the ones in your laboratory. There is a heart cutout in the corner, adding a cute appeal to them.

"Ah, thank you so much, Kyojuro!"

You take off the pearl studs you are wearing and put them away, before putting the new ones on.

"Well?" you ask. "How do I look?"

"Amazing as always, (Y/N)! They look like they were made for you!"

You feel your face heat up at his compliments. You play with your fingers and fidget awkwardly, wondering how to break the silence.

"H... How are you feeling? Do you have any injuries?"

You mentally slap yourself for your stupidity. Of course he wouldn't have any, he was accompanying others in broad daylight. No demons were out yet.

"No injuries today, (Y/N)! But thank you for your concern!"

You tuck your book under your arm and stand up, teacup in hand. Your glasses are beginning to fall down the bridge of your nose and you have the urge to push them back up. The sound of chirping crickets and twittering birds echo in the background.

"Kyojuro, it's getting late. If you don't have any injuries, then I'd suggest you go home before it's too late."

Your dove, eavesdropping in on your conversation from the roof, swoops down and pecks your shoulder. You wince in pain and are about to chastise him when you notice the slightly crestfallen expression on Kyojuro's face.

"O-Of course, if you're feeling too tired to go back, you're always more than welcome to spend the night here," you stammer out, trying to make up for your mistakes.

You don't miss how his expression instantly brightens at your words. It rivals the full moon hanging in the sky behind him, free from any cloud cover and illuminating the night sky.

An emotion you can't put a name to pulls at your heartstrings and a wistful smile tugs at the corner of your lips.

"Taro-kun," you call out. "Kyojuro is staying the night here again. Please prepare a bed and some dinner for him."

"Understood!" he calls out. You momentarily catch him dashing across the room with a towering basket of laundry in hand. He almost topples over and it's so ridiculous you can't help but chuckle at it.

Kyojuro's eyes light up.

"Hey, you laughed! That's the first time I've heard that. It sounds nice!"

Your laughter abruptly stops as you try to resist blushing. A choked sound comes out of your throat at your efforts, embarrassing you even further.

"S-stop..." you whine, covering your face with your hands. His mirthful laughter rings in your ears and all you want to do is for a hole to open up beneath you and swallow you.

"But your laugh is pretty. Say, (Y/N). Why don't you laugh and smile more?"

"Why don't you laugh and smile more often, (Y/N)-chan? I don't like it when you frown! Your nii-chan wants to see you smile!"

The smile fades from your face.

"I... don't know, Kyojuro. That's a good question. Maybe it's because... I feel as if I don't deserve to?"

Why should I feel happiness? I don't deserve to.

After all, I couldn't even save them from death despite my skills.

You