CAT || Kimetsu No Yaiba Fanfic

Cat Chapter 41

Ever since their first exchange after she woke up, she started ignoring him.

Kyoujuro doesn't know if he did something wrong, or if he said anything she doesn't like. He's currently at least twenty meters away from her as they watch Urokodaki and Shinjuro train the slayers, because everytime he tries to get closer, she would shift into a cat, scaring the junior slayers and hissing at him with claws ready to pounce. He'll back away of course. He knows that Hotaru won't hesitate to scratch someone, even if its friend or a foe. Or him.

She once scratched Sanemi's arms for scaring her with an orange but that's a different story for now.

Kyoujuro's only concern now was trying to talk to the shifter without getting his remaining eye scratched out.

Urokodaki switched out with Kyoujuro with a raised finger to Shinjuro, and the masked man saw how Kyoujuro gave Hotaru a hesitating glance before he instructed the junior players, covering his look with a huge smile.

"What's with that?" Urokodaki asked, sitting next to her on the engawa and chugging a drink.

Hotaru, in her human form, took a glance at his visible mouth and chin before respectfully looking away. "What was what?"

She can visibly feel the aimed deadpan even without turning around or fully seeing his face. "You just woke up and you're already fighting. Where did the lovey dovy go?"

"There's no lovey dovy," she hissed. She paused, before she laid on her side with her head on Urokodaki's thigh like she used to do before with a grumble. "I'm just really angry..."

"That's really childish, Hotaru."

"You don't understand, old man." Hotaru curled to herself, burrying her face into her arms. "He's so fucking reckless and stupid. I don't know what I'll do if the worst happened."

Urokodaki sighed, ignoring the nostalgic feeling remembering how she used to sleep like that. He ruffled her hair roughly. "You better talk it out, Hotaru. Just ignoring him won't do you any good."

She didn't say anything, only nodding her head quietly.
 

"Hotaru?" He called as she passed him as she walks toward Tanjiro and the others resting. Hotaru halted, lowering her head. His heart sank, remembering how upset and vulnerable she look when she was talking with Urokodaki. "Can we talk?"

She exhaled a breath. Finally, she turn her head to look back at him. "Not now, Rengoku. I don't think this is the right time. Maybe later."

And with that, she continued on her way, not catching his crestfallen look.

"Hotaru-san!!!" The three boys proceed to tackle her on the ground. She didn't bother struggling, only patting their heads and ignoring how they're crushing her.

"You missed me that much?" She mused as they finally sat up on the ground.

"Of courshe! You've been ashleep longer than Rengoku-shan!" Zenitsu cried, his words a bit muffled by the tears but she manage to understand him anyway.

"Seee?! I'm stronger than youuu!! I can wake up any day!!" Inosuke said, swinging his fist around and hitting her back. He's still upset for what happened, but he's relieved now that she's awake.

"We're really glad you're okay now, Hotaru-san." Tanjiro said softly with small tears in his eyes, expressing what his friends are all feeling.

Hotaru's expression flattered, her eyes softening.

The boys were suddenly collected in her arms. Said boys was frozen stiff from the sudden contact, still processing what was happening.

Tanjiro was the first to snap out of his daze. "Hotaru-san?" Tanjiro melted on her arms, Inosuke snuggling closer and Zenitsu scooting further and clutching her sleeves.

"I'm proud of you brats," she whispered. "Thank you." 'For fighting by that idiot's side.'

"You two, too. I'm proud of you." She added as she look up to Kanao and Genya. Though caught eavesdropping and not knowing what she was talking about, Genya look away flushed and mumbling that it's not a problem, and Kanao nodding with a smile.

She let go of the boys. "Where's Nezuko?" She asked.

"She's in your room, Hotaru-san." Tanjiro answered, rubbing his cheeks with his palms and trying to get rid of the blush that appeared even though he doesn't know what happened.

"I didn't noticed," She mumbled, already standing up and patting their heads. "I'll be with Nezuko then. Make sure not to suffer too much because I'll be making something later."

They perked up, along with Genya and Kanao, and Urokodaki, and Kyoujuro who overheard. Basically the whole group who knows her personally. 'Hell yeah she's gonna cook.'

Shinjuro, who have no idea what they were getting excited about, said, "Break's over! Get your asses back up, you pieces of trash!" He yelled, making the slayers jerk in surprise.

Hotaru walk away with a deadpan. 'When did Shinjuro started training others? Why is he training them anyway?'

The truth was that Shinjuro doesn't really want to lose to Urokodaki on how much slayers they can train, but they don't know that.

"Hotaru."

The woman pause, her hand just barely grasping the door of her room where Nezuko was. She look behind her to see the Water Hashira already walking towards her. "Heya, Ginyu-san. What's up lonely ma–"

Her words were cut off when he suddenly pulled her in a hug. Hotaru blink once, blinking twice, before chuckling with a small smile. "Were you lonely without me?"

His body was frozen and his arms are stiff around her. That doesn't stop her from appreciating the gesture and hugging back.

"I'm not lonely," he mutter, before slowly pulling back. He look away, retracting his arms and avoiding her eyes as best as he can. "It's good that you're now awake."

She nodded, patting his shoulder heavily. "Yeah. No worries, I won't sleep that long again so you won't be lonely."

"I'm not lonely."

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Well, here comes the major writer's block. I'm not that much active in wattpad as I was before, so I'm sorry if updates and replies will take long like this. Good news though, I'm slowly catching up to my studies.

Also, unfortunately I don't have any birthday special for Inosuke and Rengoku (May 10? I have self trust issues–) as I absolutely have no idea what to write.