𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞

⊹₊┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ✿ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈₊⊹

＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚　　˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

Well, let's refresh our minds on the events that have just occurred.

I was wandering through a forest after a mission, getting called to another, where I happened to meet three other slayers.

One was sweeter than candy, but had been towing around a demon who was his sister.

The other was an absolute scaredy cat, but insisted he was a lady's man.

And the final one I don't even want to acknowledge.

All three boys together proved chaos an understatement for.. well.. chaos. Constant arguments, and I mean constant. Which constantly led to the doctor coming around to patch more injuries on them.

There were footsteps around the room when I was woken up. Emphasis on woken up. Of course, demon slayers were meant to wake early and be productive, but can't a constant night of fighting leave a girl to get her beauty sleep? No? Fine.

I could only guess my hair was disheveled, and there was dry drool on my lips. But that was the least of my worries when my vision became clear and I watched as Zenitsu jogged in circles.

Following the demon. Oh, great.

A real lady's man if you ask me.

And like clockwork, Tanjiro stood in between the little chase with a firm intent to end it. "Stop chasing my sister already!" His cheeks were puffed out and red. Too much like a hamster. Those beady red-hued doe eyes weren't helping either.

"Tanjiro!" He cooed for longer than he should've. "Let's be best friends!!" If the thunder-breather swooned any harder I promise flowers would've started to circle his head. Now he had both Kamado siblings running away from him.

Again, I tried to fight the smile threatening to make an appearance. It was no use. These boys were unintentionally funny, it had charmed me.

Loud snoring had found it's way to control my thoughts now. I had to turn my head to see Inosuke sprawled out like a starfish, a snot bubble coming from his nose and wet drool falling from his open mouth.

Gods above, how are they even alive?

Well, my morning was well spent breaking up more than a dozen fights between the three of them before even getting to wash my face and change back into my uniform.

The bandages were changed again by the doctor and he advised to change them in a handful of hours once more. Broken bones never went away, and a broken rib would put me at a great disadvantage for future fights.

Lucky me.

My thoughts were interrupted by another kasugai crow. To my surprise, it wasn't Hoshi, but Urara. Urara was Kanroji's messenger, her personality was meek and shy, but she always showed up fashionably. Her little hats are more than adorable.

"Kanroji sent for you. Back to the mansion." Of course, the female crow's voice was hushed which just earned her some breadcrumbs for coming all this way.

"You've got it, pretty." I gave her a few pets before letting her back up in the air to return home.

It was sooner or later I'd be called back to the love mansion. Kanroji always got so worked up after I'm back out into the field. I can't blame her, of course. But I am more than a capable demon slayer. I fear she tells master to give me not as harsh assignments. Not fair at all.

Right, I was on my way to tell the boys I'd be departing. It was rude to not say goodbye to my new friends.

That felt good to say. There wasn't much time in this line of work to consider anyone a friend.

"Excuse me," The sliding door was pushed to the side and I stepped halfway into the room, "I'm expected back with my teacher. So, uh, I'll be going now. I wish you all the best of luck in your journey."

Pen pals. Something the corps liked to do to keep in touch with slayers you've met. Or just simple communication. All you really have to do is let your crows meet each other and they know where to go just like that.

Those bird brains don't get as much credit as they deserve. However, I could not say the same for Hoshi.

So our crows met. Oddly enough.. actually, not odd at all, Inosuke's crow was absolutely nowhere to be found. Perhaps he was terrified of the beast. I couldn't blame him, or her. Not even the pretty-faced boar knew the name of his crow.

I think he was the bird brain instead.

On my way out, I went to say farewell to the caretaker of the mansion. That old lady that was creeping out Zenitsu from how fast she was moving. It was quick, and she had given me some rice balls for the road. I thanked her and accepted a small blessing she was willing to give me.

Along with sneaking a small favor to take a couple of flower seeds with me back home. I couldn't help it. I was a sucker for everything green. And the garden would need it since there was a large chance Kanroji had gone and touched the flowers when I asked her not to.

It honestly put a little pep in my step. Some food, a blessing, and seeds? Definitely count me lucky. More on the food, though.

Which sort of reminded me to stop to eat somewhere on the way back. I was sure I'd pass through a small town. Noodles sounded like heaven.

Though, my small day dream about large servings of sea food and noodles was put to a halt when a heard a handful of shouts behind me.

"Miss Y/n!!"

"..What in the world." Nothing could prepare me for the sight. Or, well, maybe I should've expected it. Scratch all of that, this was expected.

Inosuke was getting dragged by both Tanjiro and Zenitsu by his legs, while he grasped at the ground like a feline who knew it was going to get a bath. Took the meaning of beastly to a whole other level.

"Go on! Say what you were gonna say!" Tanjiro set the boar-headed slayer onto his feet.

Steam came out of his mask, and he had his arms folded across his chest as if he was refusing to spit out whatever magical words the other two wanted him to say so badly.

"I have to—"

My words were shushed, and my face contorted into slight annoyance. I had to sit through another bicker before Inosuke finally spat it out.

"Listen M/n!" Mispronounced name. "Next time I see the back of your dumb head I'll be so much stronger! And, um.. what was I going to.. oh, yeah! I'm gonna fight you to the death! The death, you hear me?!"

I would've deadpanned if it weren't for the insult. My fist would've been at his face again if it weren't for the other two holding me back. The code of conduct was a last thought.

"The death," I repeated with an amused tone. "Whatever you say."

We shook on it. And he tried to crack my hand. Anyone would've guessed he was unsuccessful. The beast was on the ground again, huffing and puffing about getting stronger.

Hopefully, that was true.

Hopefully, I did drive them to be better.

That's what a superior should do.

Maybe it was something different than a superior, though. They didn't treat me with the obvious nervousness from the kakushi, or the blatant cockiness from some of the newer recruits. Well, Inosuke sort of fell under that. And Zenitsu for the other one but it was more flattery.

Anyway, my point is that I feel more like an older sibling.

This oddly found family was comforting. I found myself praying these boys would live. That they'd be able to become pillars, retire, live a good life. A safe one. That's what we were here for. To keep other safe.

It was a fresh reminder. A nice one of the cause we were fighting for. Every slayer needs one.

"I'll be sure to send letters so we keep in touch. Don't be strangers, alright?"

They all nodded and waved me off. Departing felt harder than other times. But, I had a gut feeling I'd see them again. Right now, it was off to meet Kanroji who was most likely wanting to see me before she went patrolling.

"You have to be the worst kasugai crow out here."

"I'm taking a small break, be quiet!"

The only thing that would fill the silence while covering a large distance was the bickering between me and Hoshi. This bird stressed me out like no other.

At least, I thought no other bird could annoy me so deeply.

"Are you always this loud, pumpkin-head?"

The sentence made me pause. Who the hell said that? It was such a high-pitched and aggravating voice. Do they just let anyone into this organization?

"Excuse me?" My tone came out flat and in near disbelief. "Oh, like hell you're going to say something like that and then hide. Come out, coward!"

"You think I'd listen to someone like you? You're not even a pillar! And more specifically, you're not the Mist Pillar!"

I had to keep whipping my head around to even find this damn voice. Turns out, it was a crow. Cooked bird wasn't sounding too bad, I'm starting to understand Inosuke.

"Oh for the love of the gods." My annoyance was clearly displayed, "You're another bird!"

"I'm not just any bird, I'm Ginko!" Like I could care. She flaunted her huge eyelashes as if it made her any less stupid. "The personal crow to the Mist Pillar! You should be grovelling at my feet!"

"Ginko, huh? Like.. like a ginkgo tree?"

That seemed to have ticked her off more. Which was, of course, more than my intention. But it turned sour when she started to attack me. Attempting to peck my eyes out wasn't the best first impression. Especially when she belonged to a pillar.

I haven't met too many of them. At least, not the ones I didn't have to interact with. Mist, Wind, Stone, and Serpent. The more difficult pillars to get to were them.

And yet, here I was, face to face with who I first thought was a very pretty girl, turned out to be a boy, practically the same age as me.

Sure, Kanroji had mentioned brief descriptions of them. But when she said young for the Mist Pillar I was expecting at least an adult.

"Could you get control of your bird?!" I complained while trying to keep her fat beak away from my eyes. Hoshi was helping by pecking her too. A good bird. For once.

His voice was light, so disinterested. As if he didn't care too much for the near blindness I was about to recieve from his damn bird. Oh, well. There wasn't any talking back to the pillars unless you wanted a beat down.

"Ginko."

It was a single call for her too, and instantly she was cooing and fluttering her fake eyelashes at him. The Kasugai crows had strong personalities. This one might've been the strongest. It did more than tick me off when she stuck out her bird tongue at me.

"Does she do that to everyone?" I fixed my uniform. "So much for not harming other slayers."

All I got in return was a cloudy stare. So, what he got in return was a harsh one. Don't tell me I was going to run into another nuisance. Compassion was starting to seem more like a chore every day.

Yet, he seemed so untouchable. If I reached out to grab his arm or something, he'd surely disappear. Just like mist would. Cold and oddly comforting. However, this one didn't seem too big on the comforting part.

"Are you just going to stare?" My voice came out again. Again, absolutely nothing was said back.

Then, he turned to leave. To leave! Not a word besides addressing his arrogant bird! It was broad daylight there was no way he didn't have a second to spare to say something like "farewell", he just walked off. Did everyone with a cute face have a bitter personality?

No, of course not. There was Kanroji, she was more than pretty. Kocho, the same thing. I'm getting too worked up over it.

A defeated sigh escaped me. "Hoshi, let's go home. I'm beat. Everything's confused me today." My crow gladly agreed. We complained about the interaction with the Mist Pillar all the way back to the mansion.

Just who did he think he was?

A pillar, of course. I hate how that justifies everything they do.

Home was right in front of me by the time the sun was painting the sky orange again. Apparently it was feeling flushed as pink began it's mixture into the sunset as well. It was nice, reminded me of both Kanroji and Rengoku.

The gate pushed open with a creak. I'd be sure to tell the tending kakushi to fix that. It's been that way since I left for the mission which sent me to the butterfly mansion.

My shoes were left outside, "Kanroji? I'm back!" It was a loud enough greeting to make sure she had heard me. Soon enough I heard rushing footsteps, and down the stairs she came.

The Love Pillar was in her uniform, sword on her belt and her haori was already on. She'd be departing for patrol sooner or later.

"Oh, Y/n. Is my student okay?! Urara told me you had more bandages, I was so worried!!" She cried out like I had died. That wasn't ever going to happen. Kanroji was simply dramatic.

It made me smile each time I came home, though.

"I'm alright, I'm alright." I patted her back, and she couldn't see my playful eyeroll. Which, was good. Otherwise she'd reprimand me. "I'll check in with Kocho tomorrow. Stop worrying yourself. You'll age more than you already are."

"Me?! Aging?! Where?!"

Kanroji was near sniffling, it only made my deadpan face worse. Was there a moment she wasn't crying? Either way, she followed me as I went to put my sword on its stand, wanting to know every little detail about what happened.

I mentioned the boys, of course. They were the highlight of the whole mission. Each one more unique than the last. Nezuko was kept a secret, for obvious reasons. Not that I didn't think Kanroji would understand. It was a matter to be discussed much later.

My interaction with the Mist Pillar also became of note. Which, had be complaining non-stop while making tea. And made Kanroji coo. She always say the most horrid situations to be love-dovey. It made me gag.

"I bet he was just admiring your cutesy little face!" She squished my cheeks, which was more than hard to get out of. It always resulted in a bear hug.

"Quit it! You're being clingy, Kanroji!" My complaints were drowned when she squeezed me harder. At this point, I was going to bread another rib. She could be a bit much sometimes, but my appreciation for her never wavered.

She was my big sister. Someone I looked up to every day. I couldn't imagine what I'd do if I lost her. Most likely, I'd be lost too. Then again, Kanroji was strong. That was never going to happen. Her technique was the coolest.

"If you don't go to Kocho's first thing I swear I will make you train until you drop!"

She was scolding me, as she always did before she left for a mission.

"Yeah, yeah. Believe me, I know. I promise I'll go first thing. Stop worrying, I already told you."

"Alright. If you insist. There's more than enough food in the house, I made sure. Send a crow if you need me."

For how much she worried, I was afraid she was going to get a whole head of grey hairs before her next birthday.

＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚　　˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

word count 2613

edited 1/9/25