~*~

TWO MONTHS LATER ~ (Sanemi's pov:)

Blood drips down my arm, my arm throbbing painfully while mustering a stoic expression. Yet, I couldn't help grimace at the slightest movement, when I didn't want to collapse just yet. Walking towards the house with my body feeling like lead, and the scent of my blood coaxing the air, I just wanted to sit down. 

"Hi, Sanemi! Injured again, huh?!"

Lifting my head I notice Masachika standing at the front of the building, face bright and filled with energy i didn't want to deal with. "Shut up," I bluntly reply, not giving him a chance to say another.

I could feel his eyes on my gaping wound, that was ghastly and split open when I used my marechi again. Not even caring whether he can see or not, my face shows discontentment towards him, "What are you doing here?"

"Just got back from a mission," Kumeno replies, while his eyes lingered on my wound and exhausted figure. "A kasugai crow told me you'd finished yours too, so I figured we could get a bite together. You used your rare blood again, didn't you? I told you, you have to stop cutting yourself up all the time."

My jaw clenches tightly, "That's none of your business," clicking my tongue sharply, brushing my tousled hair away from my face still sweaty and uncomfortable. Seriously, why can't he just give me, I don't know, forever to just have a break and sleep. Overwhelmed for a moment, Hayami slowly comes into mind. I wonder what she's up to? 

Would she be on a mission or at her brother's estate? Maybe I could see her and rest them, so Kumeno can't find me.....

Trying to push past the loudmouth idiot wanting to go inside, I felt a tight grasp around my arm, "Stop right there. We're going to the butterfly mansion," his voice was more stern, which irritated me more.

"Excuse me?"

Kumeno clicks his teeth, "You need to get that wound treated," he gestures to my arm, before a teasing grin. "You also may need a good scolding from Kocho while you're at it."

"No, you've got to be kidding me," my eyes glare at him, as I step up to Masachika with our noses almost touching with a threatening glance. Me being used everyone else being scared of my fierce scowls put the fear in the hearts of the demon slayers and even the kakushi. It would even make the older demon slayer's flinch. However, Hayami or even Masachika were never effected by my scowls. 

Well for Hayami, she used too.......

"I'm not kidding," said Masachika, his eyes met his firmly. "Not over this."

A subtle growl emanates from my throat, "I told you it's none of your business, Kumeno,"

"Is that so?" Seeing him arch an eyebrow, with a condescending look. "I'm the one who introduced you to our master, Sanemi. I'm basically your big brother."

With an exasperated sigh, "Sanemi this, Sanemi that. Don't call me by my first name like we're friends,"

"You can call me by my first name. Then we'll be even, right?" Kumeno grins ear to ear, his eyes still not moving away from mine. "Ma.Sa.Chi.Ka. Go on, give it a try--"

"You don't get it!!!!!" I snap in frustration, while I attempting to yank my arm from his grasp. But, his fingers dug into my flesh like a turtles beak. Within moments we had a stand off, trying to fight each other to see who will stand. Yet, my body felt heavy and sluggish the more I moved, and how fatigued my body was. Though not many blows were shared, my body suddenly blacked out mid-struggle.

~*~

BUTTERFLY MANSION

"Seriously, he pushes him too much," 

Hearing a few things clink and clank around. A soft familiar chuckle leaves her, "That's how he is, reminds me of my big brother,"

"Hmm not quite, and I know Ryuji well enough he doesn't do this," before feeling something touch my wound, causing a hiss to leave my lips. Opening my eyes for a moment as my vision fades from blurry to a clear view of the ceiling, I take a moment to regain my memory. Turning my head there was her, and Kocho.

"What.....?"

Why is Hayami here? Why now?

"I see you cut yourself again," Kanae frowns, while studying me realising I was back in the examination room like last time. With a disgruntle groan, my eyes fall back to Hayami to avoid Kocho's eyes.

"Get off my back," I snap bitterly.

"The injuries from your last mission haven't fully healed yet, but you insisted on pulling your bandages off," She begins to lecture me, while she give her a embarrassed scowl in response to her annoying pestering. "Those wounds are going to fester. And your face is so swollen I barely recognise you........."

She reaches over the small table near where Hayami sat, while she quietly studied my sorry state while I grimace. Grabbing some disinfectant to clean my wounds, I avert my eyes with a short snarl of disdain, while even avoiding Hayami's. Why did that brat have to be here, just when I look this awful?

"It's not all the demons' work," I told her, with a mutter. "That piece of shit Kumeno wasn't exactly gentle when he dragged me here."

Hayami chuckles softly, "And who's fault is that? You know Kumeno worries about you, and you know it,"

Hating that fact that she was indeed right, I still had my pride and bit the bullet.

"I didn't ask him to care. I mean, come on. What's his problem?" My voice raises with more frustration and anger, remembering all his words in the past.

Don't cut yourself...

Don't be so reckless in battle.....

Have you eaten?

 Try to get along with people....

Take a bath....

Stop glaring at everybody.....

It was never ending and I was sick of it, and all I wanted was for him to stop going on and on about us being brothers. Always telling me what to do, and how to act, and what to fix when I'm perfectly fine. Avoiding Kanae's eyes, I met with a pair of concerned ones. My chest felt tight in that moment, and all I could do was snarl and grimace.

She soon walks over and kneels down, taking his large hand compared to her smaller ones, "Maybe.....try and accept his friendship, I've known him long before you and I know he's got no one but you," She spoke softly, with slight pain in her voice. All I could hear was the tenderness laced in her voice, so soothing.

Inhaling sharply for a moment, I avoid both the girls eyes. Hayami or even Kanae were both the ones he couldn't continue to argue with, especially Hayami. 

Hayami lets go of my hand but all I wanted was to take her hand, and hold onto her. But why do i want to hold on? The two girls share a nature of a tenderness that reminded of my own mother, and it made me almost vulnerable. The way Kanae tends to my wounds, was delicate and careful while shielding the pain for me. 

Hayami soon took my hand again, wondering why before seeing see Kanae taking out the sewing kit and began stitching my wounds tight. 

"You know, Hayami is right.......Kumeno cares about you, Shinazugawa," She spoke softly. "He worries that you're too kind for this line of work."

For a moment I had to process that last sentence, before being sucked back to reality, "Huh?" bursted into a short laugh. "How am I kind? I'm a jerk. That brainless dolt's the one who acts like a puppy begging to be kicked."

Kanae's eyes flickers over to Hayami, with a subtle shrug her eyes seem to talk with Hayami quietly.

"You might not see it that way now, but someday," Hayami breaks the awkward silence, her thumb grazing over my knuckle causing a slight chill to run up my spine. "It's best to at least know someone, than no one...."

Feeling Kanae finish gauzing my wound neatly and securely, the faint aroma of wisteria mixed with a strong scent of disinfectant wafts in the room. Sitting myself up only to realise Hayami released my grasp, as she sat on the medical bed on the other side of the room. For a moment I was questioning her company here, when Kanae seemed to understand the lingering silence between both Hayami and I.

"She was brought to me, after being wounded on her previous mission," She gestures to her collarbone, gauzed and held up right. Taking a brief moment to check for further injuries, dark bags rest beneath her eyes and hair slightly disheveled. Wanting to stay out of my concern, I didn't have the time waste here any longer. Storming out of the examination room with my haori swiftly wrapping around me, I heard a voices ahead in the hallway. 

Dammit, it's Masachika talking with another Demon slayer. 

 Seriously his persistence and drive to continue pestering me, with his sunflower kind of personality was pissing me off. Walking closer I could soon see her delicate facial features, the familiar butterfly hairpin worn high at the back of her head, that it was Shinobu Kocho. Kanae's younger sister talking with Masachika. 

That's right, siblings were much rare in the Demon slayer corps. 

What's more, I knew Kanae's traumatic past and knew nothing about Hayami's. With Kanae witnessing her parents slain by demons, having being rescued by Himejima Gyomei, the stone Pillar, and soon became a slayer in the corps. Whatever she's been through has been unfathomable, yet she allowed her younger sister Shinobu to sign up.

If my own little brother, Genya said he was going to join the Corps, I would do anything in my own damn fucking power to stop him.

However going back to Hayami's past, all I knew she had an older brother that was the water dragon Pillar. Though their breathing technique was a long title and not a pure nature, it was a branch from water breathing. Ryuji was always a bright guy, the perfect guy for any woman to fall for and he chose Kanae. Wouldn't that risk getting too attached?  He seems so confident, that balancing his life with romance seems too much. 

A fantasy.....

Yet, what does Hayami want? She is a slayer herself, so what is her goal out of all this?  Some days she seems gloomy, but days she's so bright as if placing a shield over that. Not knowing her past puts me in a bind, to know  what her thoughts are...

But for me......I'm determined to walk this bloody path alone.....

"......and the Stone Pillar's flute was so loud that some old lady chased him around town, hitting him with a broom!" Masachika laughed at the end of his story telling, as I neared him seen the exit was his way.

Shinobu seemed to be stifling her laughter, but her expression soon settles back into a solemn expression. Clearing her throat her pale violet eyes meet Masachika's, "I didn't know Himejima played the flute..."

"You wouldn't think it to look at him, right?" Masachika agreed, with a wide grin. "You know what else? He's a huge cate person. When the neighbourhood cats see the stone Pillar, they all...."

Furrowed my expression for a moment, I couldn't make out what they were going on about? 

Masachika soon caught sight of me, making me growl lowly beneath my breath. Great. "Oh Sanemi!" raising a hand. "All fixed up?"

Shinobu held a relief sigh, "Oh good," her eyes flicker to mine, before bowing quickly to us both of us. "I need to talk to my sister and Hayami, see you later," before she walks past me, towards the examination room. 

Soon I felt heavy weight against my shoulder, "See, you had everybody worried. Better not get yourself injured again, right?" my cheeks burn furiously, embarrassed and annoyed. "Hey, are you blushing?"

"Shutup!!!" I barked sharply, with a slight growl in the base of my throat.

His grin only broadened as I shouldered him out the way, as I walk away from him, only to hear him trailing behind me. "Hey wait up!!!"

Scowling with a frown I tried to ignore him the best I could. Typical!

"I was just chatting with Shinobu about the Stone Hashira. He's really something, isn't he? Tough and reliable," Masachika sighed, seeing a deeply moved expression on his face. "So cool, just like Ryuji! You know, Ryuji is such a strong Pillar! He may seem oblivious, and dense sometimes....."

Clicking my teeth together I roll my eyes, wondering what flutes, cats and being dense. How is that cool?

"I want to be a Pillar someday," Masachika claimed, dancing around me. "You do too, don't you? Don't you?"

Just ignore him, it's only added fuel to the fire....

"We should bet on who becomes Pillar first," Masachika continued on, just answering for me like I agreed. He soon clicked his fingers together. "I've got it! The loser can buy the winner dinner. But no cheap eats like soba. That's hardly worth a bet. It's gotta be fine dining like sukiyaki. Ah, that simmer meat and tofu, and the sauce.......A prize worth training for..."

Grimaced I shook my head, "Not interested," I spat.

Masachika blinked a few times, with such a blank face that made my blood boil, and my jaw clenched.

Look at him! Playing the fool as usual. 

Why would a clown like this risk his life to hunt demons? How could he possibly hate them as deeply as I? 

"Why not?" Masachika arched his eyebrow. "Don't you want to be a Pillar? Girls will fall over you. I can just see it..."

"Even less interested--"

"You don't want girls to like you?" He pressed further. "You sure you got your head on straight?"

Turning on my heel sharply, "Shutup!"glaring heavily towards him.

Seriously this is getting annoying and annoying every second, minutes this guy. I'm on my last nerves with him, and it won't be a pretty sight if I blow a fuse. "Seriously! What is with you? You keeping babbling on and on and on!!!!"

For a moment Masachika came to a halt, and fell silent. Suddenly, I felt this guilt setting in my gut that I hated. "Listen, Sanemi," He spoke up. "No matter how desperate you get, don't give up hope. I mean, even if no girl is giving you a second look---......well one I know.....you've gotta tell yourself that someday a woman will come along who sees something in you. Keep your chin up, okay?"

I was suddenly was confused, "Huh?"

Was he referring about Hayami? 

"You can do this!" He patted my shoulder, acting like mister high and mighty. Alright, he's really pissing me off. I was really gonna explode out of frustration.

Swatting his hand away from me, I take a step back away from him."How can you talk about this meaningless drivel when we're putting our lives on the line?!" 

Masachika shook his head, "How can I not? You've gotta enjoy life. Yeah, we could face death at any moment, but lost of Demon Slayers find love too. Some even start families. I mean, the Sound Pillar has three beautiful wives! Imagine that! Three! Wow, that's a lot. Three wives...." he chuckled to himself, in disbelief. "One would be enough for me. Just one woman I can love from the bottom of my heart....man I even envy that you spend time with Hayami....."

"Tch, All I want is to kill as many demons as I can," I interject coldly. "Life's not for fun....and she doesn't deserve someone like me......."

I've given up up everything that even resembled a normal life years ago, when my mother became a demon and I killed her by my own hands.  All I could be driven is a boundless amount of hatred of demons, a hunger for vengeance. That was all, but.......why is Hayami in my thoughts just now? Why is she even in the conversation?

Shaking my head, my face burning red with anger boiling beneath the surface.

No, if I had any dreams left to speak of, they were for my younger brother I left behind. Genya would fall in love, get married, have a bushel of kids and die at a ripe old age with a smile on his face. I would do anything and everything in my power to make that happen, and if the demons threaten him, well they would go straight to hell by my blade. 

I don't want any fucking happiness, whether it's love......but why is that girl keep invading my mind now?

"....Got it?!" I snapped. "Now get the hell out of here, and stop hassling me!!"

A frown forms upon Masachika's lips and falls silent for a moment, "Oh," his voice sounding strange. "I get it."

Finally, it's gone straight through his thick skull. He's finally listening!

Suddenly he grabbed my wrist which was too fast, "What the....?" before feeling him dragging me away. "Get your hand--!"

"We're going to get some ohagi," He declared.

"Huh?"

"Don't sweat it. It's on me!" He yanked me again, causing me to almost stumble forward but I caught myself with foot. "Scarfing down a mountain of ohagi will cheer anybody up."

"You don't get it all!!!!" I shout back at him, my face filled with anger and frustration. "You stupid ass!!!"

"Fine," He rolled his eyes, with a sigh. "I'll throw in some matcha."

"Like hell you will! Why ohagi anything?"

He smiled, "It's your favourite, right?" he assumed brightly. "I've seen you eating it. You weren't glaring for once, and I might've hammered Hayami about it.......so I figured you must love the stuff."

"Wha--? Come on, don't go demanding stuff about me!" I snapped angrily, more angry that he hammered Hayami. She swore she wouldn't tell, but soon this dumbass had to annoy her to get the information. "You're a creep, ya know that?! You screwed up!!!!" before I continue cursing and thrashing against him.

"Yeah......I know," Masachika said softly, sounding vulnerable for the first time. Taken back by this, due to being out of character, I soon stopped fighting back. Within moment he released me, and resumed walking. "I get worried about you, okay? Risking your life is one thing. That's what we do....but....."

Something didn't feel right, as if I wasn't used to this side of him. A different man. Staring at the back of him, the kanji for 'ruin' imprinted across his uniform, shook.

"I just.....don't want you to give up on your life," with a slight strain in his voice, his raven hair ruffling in the gentle wind.

My breath slightly hitched in my throat before seeing Masachika's eyes, glancing over his shoulder paused in his steps. He held a calm even smile, yet somehow it felt like I was watching a man cry beneath that ray of a smile.

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