let me be the fire that sets your heart ablaze

ch16 acceptance

i blushed a bit from hoe close his face was to mine i could feel his breath against my face, then i realized what he had said. he saw them before when? then i had a sudden realization. it was all the way back when i was still in the town with tamayo a few years before i had left i was practicing masking myself to blend in with humans when i heard someone near me.

sen:" back in that forest... 5 years ago"

kyoujurou:" that was me i had already known about you for a while now"

sen:" so you already knew"

kyoujurou:" i was there on a mission when i saw you in a distance in that forest and thats when i saw, i watched you protect a human from a demon i was sent there to hunt i was captivated"

my tense shoulders dropped and tears started to form as i realized he had already accepted me long before i met him in the corps, he didnt care yet he still treated me like a normal human like a friend in the corps, i started to cry as he held m: and wiped my tears away.

kyoujurou:" you dont need to try so hard to hide them from us everyone in corps has already accepted you and nobody cares whether you are a demon or not you already proved yourself that you aren't like the demons that we protect from humans"

after hearing his words it felt like years of burden and fear of being rejected was lifted,but even so i was still afraid of hurting everyone but i will make sure that doesnt happen.

after that i stopped worrying when i would revert and honestly it made it easier to control, i still use my human form most of the time but at night i embrace my demon form, kyoujurou brought me a mirror to see one time and i have come to like the way i looked. unlike morphed demons i still looked relatively like a human it wasnf disgusting like how i imagined it to be.

i have recently started rehabilitation training after weeks of resting though i relied on my healing ability i still needed to be treated.misturi san would drop by sometimes and help my body become flexible again and i would sometimes spare with her , she really is strong.

crow:" CAW CAW SEN KOCHO SHINOBU TOMIOKA GIYUU COME TO THE UBUYASHIKI ESTATE"

is there a new mission? so soon after my recovery as well. i went back in to my room to get changed before heading to the estate, i met shinobu outside waiting for me with the same smile she always had and we began heading towards the estate.

shinobu:" how are your injuries sen san?"

sen:" they are all better now all thanks to you and aoi"

once we arrived at the estate giyuu was already there i greeted him but he just ignored me.

shinobu:" this is why nobody likes you tomioka san"

before giyuu could reply the two girls escorted us in we knelt down waiting for our orders.

ubuyashiki:" thank you for comming here on such a short notice, i would like you three to go patrol near mount sagiri there has been reports of demon slayers going missing"

the three of us:" orders recieved"

the three of us immediately departed towards the mountain along the way shinobu constantly taunted giyuu, i cant tell if she cares about him or just hates him. before long we arrived at the scene we split up to cover more ground, the place was cold and covered with snow making it hard to run in i decided i should probably move by jumping through tree branches to fasten the pace. along the way i saw multiple frozen slayers, it must be from a blood demon art i unfroze one of them with my own blood demon art but it seems they have been frozen for too long to be saved. " this is troubling i wonder if shinobu and giyuu encountered the demon yet". i continued my patrol when i heard a clashing of metal, to my surprise i saw inosuke fighting a demon, various parts of his body was frozen.

inosuke:" GUAAAAAA STOP THROWING SNOW AT ME ILL RIP YOU'RE HORNS OF"

sen:" inosuke are you alright?"

inosuke:" hah? you- you're the one back at the butterfly estate"

sen:" my im surprised you remembered me fufu"

inosuke" huh? of course i do who do you think i am, GAH SHES THROWING SNOW AGAIN"

me and inosuke both dodge the rain of ice fired by the demon

snow demon:" tsk a hashira huh thats perfect if i kill you ill be able to join the upper ranks and get more blood from muzan sama!"

sen:" sorry but that wont be happening"

i grab some extra cloth and walk over to inosuke wrapping his open wounds, he retaliated quite alot while i did.

sen:" inosuke if you dont stop the bleeding you'll freeze to death"

i glared at him after he still refused to listen causing him to flinch, finally i finished wrapping his wounds. we both continued to confront the demon, the demon shot barrages of ice swords towards inosuke i rushed over to help him " soul breathing second from waltz of the maiden" i unleashed a swirling like attack deflecting the swords away for him, smoke began comming out of his boar hat before he started to get annoyed.