☆•Yashimi POV•☆

"?..!!"

The light graze cuts short as someone's hold on my wrist unwrapped itself, letting my hand freeze in the air.

Shock and surprise fills me as someone pulls themselves away from me as I let the short moment fill in my head.

"Did.." My heart bangs on my chest as I let air come in and out heavily. Tomioka-sama adjusts my mask down, revealing my shaking different irises. Shaking in shock.

"Did you..?" Words stuck at my throat, preventing me from speaking or breathing, yet air flows perfectly fine.

"Tomioka-sama..?.!" I look up, glancing at his usual emotionless eyes, except this time. It isn't emotionless on the inside. I can see deep fear and anticipation covering his blue irises.

My irises meet with deep blue eyes filled with uncertainty yet kept it hidden.

"Kissed.. me?" My words finally, finally, come out, and I feel a gust of air leaving my mouth. "You should go home now, Yashimi. Don't overthink it." He says and disappears so fast I couldn't see which way he went or if he went inside his home.

"Did Tomioka-sama really just.. kiss me?"

That question lingers longer than I'd expected. I had walked towards the Butterfly Mansion, where Tanjiro is still healing. Kochou-san said that I could live there for as long as I wanted.

Which surprised me, so I refused, but she kept insisting, so in the end, I agreed. Kochou-san also said that I could be her tsuguko and assist alongside Aoi-chan, but I refused as I love spending time with Tomioka-sama, spending time as in training with him.

And she agreed. But I also wanted to work alongside Aoi-chan. That's something I definitely want to do, and although Aoi-chan said she'll be fine, I kept insisting so I could be more busy.

~~•~~

I lay in my bed as I preferred it that way instead of a usual futon. I had already changed into my sleeping pajamas, and my mask was on my tsukue beside me.

I let out a relieving sigh. As if all my burdens had disappeared, but instead, they grow even larger.

My mind still lingers on that one specific question,

"Did Tomioka-sama really kiss me? It was just a light graze, though.."

A part of me wished that he did, but another part of he wished he didn't. He's just my master and I'm just his tsuguko. We aren't allowed to return our feelings to each other because it is against corps rules.

Maybe I should've been Kochou-san's tsuguko or something.

~~•~~

Whoosh.

I drive my sword through a male demon's neck, my hair being behind my movements, and my wisteria hairpin waving.

My feet land roughly on the ground. "Finally." My annoyed voice says. I sheath my sword back, leaving a soft click in the air before it disappears, feeling less burden than before.

"Kaw! Kaw!" Itsukori flaps his wings over to me. I look up diagonally, my face softening. "Fujimura Yashimi. You are to travel to the Northwest, to Kawagoe Village," My feet start stepping away as the demon's body starts to fade and burn away like burnt paper.

Itsukori flies and lands his twig-thin legs on my shoulders, and with a loud voice, she says, "There, you will investigate the disappearance of adult men."

"With Tomioka Giyuu!" Her last sentence made my heart possibly and actually stop for a second. "Tomioka-sama?" I turn my head slightly to Itsukori, feeling perplexed yet an energetic shock fills my veins.

I'm finally gonna see Tomioka-sama after two whole damn days since he did.. whatever he did.

"I don't want to assume that it was a kiss. Maybe it was a mistake, yeah, a mistake." A voice in my mind speaks with sadness lacing in its tone.

"Well, let's not let him wait for me any longer." I cheerily say and sprint towards the direction. Itsukori clings closer to me as the wind blows faster.

"Not too fast! Not too fast!" Itsukori caws

~~•~~

"TOMIOKA-SAMAAAAA!!"

The familiarity of a mismatched red and green-yellow haori, midnight black hair fitted into a low ponytail, and deep blue orbs looking to the side catches my attention, making a burst of happiness fill my bored head.

Tomioka-sama turns his attention to the source of the usual cheery voice, and I throw my hands in the air as if celebrating.

His blue eyes meet with mine, and I swear that a white dot flashes his eyes for a minute before suddenly disappearing.

"You're here fast." He comments nonchalantly. "Yeah, Itsukori told me that I was assigned to go to Northwest Village. Boys have been disappearing, and they must suspect that it's an upper demon." I wave an index finger then let it fall to my side.

"Right. Let's go." He steps aside, and I walk ahead as if I'm the one who knows the exact direction.

Spoilers, I don't know the direction.

~~•~~

The white, gray clouds cover the blue hue, giving us a chill breeze that seeps through our hair and dances with it.

The color of midnight black on the ends of my hair playfully twirls as the wind catches thin strands of it, lifting them and my haori slightly up.

The black smoke-fluffy hair of the water hashira waves with the wind, also seeping through his mismatched haori.

Two footsteps stomped on the ground, crushing the dirt under their feet, yet only light sounds were heard.

Amidst the foggy view, the silhouette of a village stands strong and tall as the moon continues to illuminate and tower over everyone, asleep or not.

•
  >
•

☆•Yashimi POV•☆

"The moon is so lovely tonight. Don't you agree, Tomioka-sama?" A smile appears from the corners of my pink-tinted, thin lips behind my mask.

We sprint through the woods, seeing the village straight ahead as the wind blows faster from our sprinting. My hair fastly waves and follows all of my movements.

I swiftly jump up, turn slightly, and take a glance at Tomioka-sama. His expression is, as usual, strict and stoic, and his hair is still jet black as it can be as his hair copies his up and down movements.

"Yeah, the moon is lovely.." He lightly says. My eyes widened, and my lips parted from his low mutter. He agrees?

"?" He mumbled something I couldn't hear.

"We're here. Come down." He says, his tone mix with command. I jump to another branch and land gracefully on the ground next to his side.

The fog lays over like a blanket on Kawagoe village, making the distance hard to see, and the eerily quiet sound made it more creepy than it already is.

"Stay low and quiet. Watch your stepping, Fujimura." Tomioka-sama instructs in a low voice, his hand swiftly grabbing onto his saya (where the sword is in right now) as we enter the entrance of the village.

There were historical houses, many shops, and yet not one soul uttered a sound.

My ears catch a rustling sound in the bushes. "Why's there no one here? It's only 7 p.m., right, Tomioka-sama?" My head turns slightly to the black jet colored hair. "Yeah.. patrol in this area, I'll go and search around." He instructs.

My head was about to turn away when a sudden force pulled me closer to Tomioka-sama.

And with a very low and dark tone of his voice, he bents down and whispers, "Run, no, sprint and yell for me immediately once you see a demon. I'll be close enough to hear, then I'll come for you."

Something turns in my stomach, but I push it away before I could realize what it is and nod to his order.

  "Yes, Tomioka-sama." His tight hold on my wrist unfortunately leaves, and he disappears without a sound.

"Right..!" I start looking around, my hand gripping tightly on my sword, which was placed on my disguistingly curvy waist, ready to attack any unidentified sounds and creatures.

A source of heat touches my nape. "What the–" I swiftly turn around, heightening my vision and senses.

"Ara ara~"

A voice echoes as the heat on my nape doesn't disappear. "Oh, come on, don't tell me, you're too much of a coward to show yourself." My eyes make a circled motion, annoyed.

"I should call for Tomioka-sama..!" My thoughts ran to him immediately after the heat started to be more noticeable

"Hmm, no, I'm too afraid you might be too captivated by my beauty. It'll make your heart go off in flames." It giggles. Not just an 'it' but 'she' has a female, young adult kind of voice. An annoyingly matured one at that.

"TOMIOKA-SAMAA!! THERE'S A DEMON HERE!!" I yell as I quickly unsheath my sword and sprint to the demon's voice behind a tree.

"Ah, you're a little tattle snake, aren't you?"

A sudden, heat force slams me into a nearby closed shop. My hand unfolds itself from my sword handle, and I hear its metal blade clang onto the ground a little far.

My body weakens from the impact as I stand. My knees and elbows feel a little wobbly and shaky as I try going to my sword. My body is fortunately not too heavy.

"Fuck.." I mumble. "My body is getting worse." My inner voice softly speaks. "It shouldn't hurt as much as this. It's just a slam.."

I hear swords clashing onto each other. "Tomioka-sama." I said when the movements of black spiky hair and mismatched haori sways like a river.

A new shock of energy surges through me as I grab my sword that was finally near me. I let out a heavy yet calm breath and hold onto my black handle as Tomioka-sama pushes himself away from the demon's sword.

"I hope I didn't miss anything." I say when he perfectly lands next to me.

I observe the demon's appearance. She has a kitsune mask only covering her upper face. A wolf-like mask colored purple, thin arms on each wide of her body, and she has a flame-like design on her blade.

She wears a black uniform of the demon slayer corps' uniform. Her uniform is a tall dress that hits her knees, and the sides of her thighs and down to her knees are revealed. Her hair is a high ponytail with thick locks of strands on the side of her mask.

Is she also a late demon slayer?!

My eyes widen at her appearance. She looks like one of those demon slayer survival I had encountered when I first came to the final selection.

Her next words shocked me to the core as my memories of her came back.

"Ah, Fujimura Yashimi. Remember me? It's been a long time."

"..."

"Koshiko Itsuyushi."

•

•

•

She's Daisuke-sama's late daughter.