☆•Yashimi POV•☆

"She's.." The word comes out as breathy as I heavily breathe in and out. "Gone." Tomioka-sama says and twists his head to me.

He walks to me, making our distance smaller, and then quickens his footsteps when my knees bring itself to the ground.

"Are you okay? You look more hurt than you seem to be." His sharp eyes and blunt voice worries over me, making something twist in my stomach.

"Yeah.. I just.." I wince at my throbbing arms, "I need to heal. I'll be fine, Tomioka-sama." I lift my mouth into a small, weak smile.

"Okay. Let me carry you, Fujimura. Your body seems more than exhausted." He says, wrapping his hand around my head and pulling it against his chest.

"E-ehm.. Tomioka-sama, we should keep an appropriate distance!" My voice lowers down as one droplet of sweat rolls down my neck, and a pink tint spreads across my cheeks.

"Don't be stupid, Fujimura. You're tired and injured." In one effortless move, he puts his arm underneath my knees and another behind my back, carrying me in a bridal-like position.

"Ahh.. Tomioka-samaa.." I sink my face onto the crook of his neck as the pink tint deepens, stuffing my arms around myself.

"..." I could a slight change in Tomioka-sama's aura. Is he smiling, perhaps? This is so embarrassing! I swear he's doing this on purpose..!

".. come on, let's go." He walks outside of the village as we past a few Kakushi. Feeling my wisteria clip flow with Tomioka-sama's footsteps makes my shoulders and head finally relax into his chest.

•

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When we arrived at the Butterfly Mansion, Tomioka-sama immediately called for Kochou-san. He really does care for me.

Kochou-san tended to me and made Tomioka-sama sit in another room, but he insisted that he wanted to be in the same room as me.

I told him that I'll be okay as Kochou-san continued to tend to me, and after minutes of trying to persuade him, he finally went to another room.

He was held back and dragged by nine Kakushi because he wouldn't leave me.

"Tomioka-san cares deeply for you, doesn't he, Fujimura-san?" Kochou-san's gentle voice makes my body jerk straight in response. "I.. I guess he cares deeply because I am his tsuguko." I reply with a hidden smile behind my mask.

Deep beneath my stomach, something churned the moment I said those words. They felt.. unreal. Fake. As if it was hiding behind a fake façade.

Kochou-san wraps my back with badges and finishes it with a tight tie. I place my back against the wooden wall, letting a heavy sigh, yet it's hard to fully breathe as the pain would greatly increase.

"How is the medicine doing? Are.. are you healing?" Kochou-san's voice comes out as low and steady yet hesitant and full of worry. Her eyes trail to mine and then to my white locks down to my black tips.

Half of my hair up is heavily covered in emotionless, white snow with my original black midnight hair holding on the tips.

"Yes, it is, but my condition is getting worse and worse every day. Maybe even every goddamn hour if it's possible." I wrap my small hands around my somewhat small torso.

I was never a tall or big child. Instead, I was skinny, tiny, and considered weak by other kids my age, but I'd prove them wrong by being a demon slayer. And now? I'm stronger than them.

The air starts getting thinner, giving my lungs less air to breathe. I pump my lungs but only pump it halfway as pain would shoot spikes.

"I'll think of some other way to make the medicine stronger. For now, keep resting until you can move better." Kochou-san instructs in a gentle tone with a soft smile as she makes her way towards the door.

She slowly swings it open and then turns around to face me, catching me off guard. I turn up to her. "Oh, and don't forget, Fujimura-san," she tilts her head a little to the side as faint tints of pink spread across her peachy skin.

"Yes?"

"Keep me updated!" Her giggles dies down as she quickly walks out, closing the door behind her.

My shoulders jerk up as my mind understands the meaning behind her words. "Kochou-saaan!!!" I drag my words as a blood boils on my cheeks. This woman certainly knows how to make me blush!

"Fujimura." A deep, serious, and familiar voice pops when the door opens with a single click, and a pair of deep cobalt eyes stares deep into my different shade of eye color.

Black ebony hair walks forward to my bedside, sitting down on where Kochou-san sat.

"Tomioka-sama." I state firmly as if speaking to the head of the demon slayer corps. I quickly repositioned myself but then let out a tight breath at the quick, sharp pain that poked through my skin.

"Be careful..!" Tomioka-sama grips on my shoulders tightly, his voice commanding and his eyebrows slightly frowning, showcasing a strict face.

"Yes, yes, I'll be careful. Don't worry about me too much, Tomioka-sama." I wave him off as he officially takes his seat near the blankets above my waist.

He lets out a heavy sigh as his shoulders finally seem to drop in relief, closing his blue orbs.

Something bad twists in my stomach, I have a feeling he's been too worried over me. It feels like a heavy weight thinking he's carrying a heavy weight because of me.

He slowly opens his eyes, gently placing his hands on his lap. Eyeing me deeply as if piercing through my soul.

Awkwardness fills the air as I chew the insides of my cheeks, and my eyes wonder anywhere, but his deep blue irises.

"..."

"Who was she, Fujimura." The question brings me back to reality. My eyebrows shot up from surprise at his calm and low voice, as if telling a secret.

"Who do you mean?" I readjust myself, shifting slightly far from him. My body immediately noticed change in his demeanor when I pushed myself back. It started to crave his heat and comfort.

He must've noticed the change in my aura as his sharp eyes pierced through my body and back to my eyes. His eyebrows seem to frown slightly.

"You know who I mean," he places a hand closer to the side of my thighs. "That demon. She knows you from somewhere, and," he hesitates, his eyes searching something in mine.

He seems to be looking for some kind of reaction or a slight change in my pupils, but it never did. How am I supposed to react to someone I had betrayed?

"And I know something is bothering you. I can feel it, Fujimura. So, tell me," he scoots a little closer to me, and I can feel my pink lips parting, "what's bothering you?" His question makes my tensed shoulders drop.

I let my eyes trail down to my hands in my lap, feeling somewhat guilty and sadden that I still hadn't opened up.

Not that he needed to know. It was confidential, of course.

"She's.. Koshiko Itsuyushi. She's the blood daughter of.. Daisuke-sama, my late master, and his late wife, Koshiko Tsukori." I quickly pop the words and throw it out my throat.

It awkwardly circles around the room as Tomioka-sama's eyebrows jump in surprise. "Blood daughter?" His voice lowly gasps out, a little shock.

"Yeah.. uhm," I gulp down the lump in my throat. A familiar sadden feeling swirls in my stomach again as I recall what I had known for years.

"I was just a kid back then when Tsukori-sama found me in the ruins of my small home," my voice slightly trembled, but I kept going on, "she was the best wind breathing swordsman I'd ever seen, and when she took me to her home, I knew that I instantly wanted to be just like her."

I breathe in and out, steadying my breaths. "That's when I met.. Itsuyushi. We trained together, ate together, and laughed together." My lips slowly curls up as images of young Itsuyushi, and I laughed after pranking Daisuke-sama.

"She was.. my everything.." My finger starts playing with each other. I can feel Tomioka-sama's stare piercing deeper into me. What is he thinking? Why so quiet? Please say something. Anything.?

"Did.. did you like her, Fujimura?" Tomioka-sama's voice comes as lowly as his body seems to move a little closer. "Of course, I did. She's like my," My breathing trembles as I try to speak, "my sister."

"But you loved her, didn't you? Loved her more than a sister."