At Nightfall, An Akaza x Reader

25. Fragments

"Akaza, come look at this," you beckoned the upper moon to you as you crouched over a flower you had sprouted with your demon arts. You looked over your shoulder, but did not see him there. An eyebrow quirking, you turned away. In that moment, you were scooped up bridal-style and spun around. "Agh!"

"Did I startle you?" The demon hummed, smiling mischievously before looking over your body at the flower. "Is that what you were trying to show me?"

You nodded a bit as you brushed stray hair from your face. "I don't think I've ever seen one of these in person. I believe it's a white hydrangea." You murmured before being let down.

"I see. Do you think your flowers have anything to do with the strength of your attack or something else?" Your husband inquired as he rested his chin on your head and wrapped his arms around you.

"I'm unsure. But they're pretty, right?" You shrugged as you turned your back on it and lead Akaza towards the path out the clearing.

"Of course," he nodded slightly, taking your hand into his as you walked.

There was visible damage in the forest from your fight with the upper moon prior to you studying the flower, but neither of you paid it any mind. The only thing that existed in this moment was you and him.

"That man seems to be pleased with your efforts," Akaza murmured as he looked over at you, studying the number four marked in your eye. "I believe you weren't four when I last saw you."

"That is correct. I was five. I defeated the one in this rank prior a few days ago. They didn't last too long against me," you shrugged a bit, a smile playing on your face.

The upper moon snorted before lifting you by your waist, "As they should, it would be a shame if my spouse weren't able to wipe the floor with those weaklings!" He bolstered as he twirled with you.

"Ah, that's right. Not only that, I've defeated countless demon slayers," you hummed, playing into his pride, which only made him smile wider.

"And you will defeat countless more," he kissed you gingerly as you placed your hands on his shoulders.

-

You sat in the home you and Akaza currently occupied, your eyes round as you stared off at nothing. On the short table beside you was your ink, pen, journal, and a bouquet of black roses.

"Hairo has been defeated," was all that slipped from you. Your hand moved to cover your engraved eye, as if to hide from the man who gave you immense power to begin with.

The pink haired demon who had been meditating near the table opened up an eye. "What rank was he?" He inquired, his head tilting at your reaction to it. It wasn't as though the lower moons lasted long. 

"Two," you swallowed thickly, slowly turning to him.

He sighed softly as he moved to you, legs knelt on either side of your body as he cupped your face and tilted it up. "There is no reason you should be worried, Y/N. There's no way you will be defeated in such a way. This just means you'll have a smoother move upward. You're already lower rank 3.  We will simply train and fight more to make sure you won't be taken out by a pathetic human," he reassured you.

You wrapped your arms around him as you hugged him close and nodded quickly. "you're right. Of course."

-

"Y/N. Y/N."

How long have you been spaced out?

You blinked your eyes into the present. Time seemed to just fly by when you're a demon. You turned your attention to your spouse, "I apologize, what were you saying?"

He rolled his eyes as he took your hand into his, making you form a fist before he fixed your positioning. "I was saying that you'll be able to have a more explosive impact with your iris blizzard if you stance like this. Drawing your strength from your core and focusing every fiber of your being into your next move will ensure you're at peak performance."

You listened intently as you listened to him. You pushed your feet against the ground beneath you, cracking it in the process. You focused your everything on your blood demon arts and attacking before launching forward and releasing the large, snowy iris moments after moving. The flower burst it's petals in front of you and ripped through a nearby tree.

"See?" Your spouse called to you, smirking as you had proved his words right.

"Yeah, yeah, I see your point." You snorted. In a blink of an eye, he was looking down at you with his golden ones.

"Your attention today has been split." He gently tapped your forehead with his finger. "If you want to get stronger, your mind has to stay sharp too. It's a whole body experience."

You huffed as you pulled your head away from his finger. "You don't think I know that?" He quirked a brow at your irritability

"Y/N, what is bothering you, really?"  He inquired.

You tsked as you looked up, then left, then right. "I didn't know you could stop advancing. Stop getting stronger. What if this is the end of the road for me, what if I stop pleasing our master. I mean I advanced so fast, what if I can't-"

Pale hands cupped your face and forced them to look up into golden irises. "You won't stop. I know you won't." He withdrew his hands from your face to place one on his chest.

"Our bodies will keep getting stronger because we are the few chosen to advance and survive." He moved his hand to rest on your chest, "And I know I didn't choose wrong either. My spouse has managed to reach lower one for a reason. Why wouldn't they keep advancing forward?"

You smiled softly as you took his hand into yours, pressing it to your cheek. "You're right. We're different, aren't we? I have nothing to fear about that." You hummed before he pulled you into his arms.

"You're correct. We were made to survive."

An: lot of time skippage here oop. From this point on we are in line with the anime and eventually the manga 🥴 just thought I should put that out there.