My Beloved (Demon Slayer Fanfiction)

#7

~3rd P.O.V~

There was a brief moment of silence in the abandoned clinic both Aki and Rengoku used as a shelter; after Rengoku asked if he could kiss Aki, they stayed stiff as a board. "W-what?!" Aki yells out as her face explodes in the deepest shade of red, "you want to k-kiss me?!" Rengoku blinked three times before his face erupted in red; he quickly let's go of Aki's face and looks away.

"No!" Rengoku blurs out, "i mean, yes! Well, no! I mean...forget what I just said!" Rengoku peeks at Aki once more before he gets up and rushes out the room, leaving Aki sitting in her futon with pure confusion. She lays back down on the mattress, stares up at the damaged ceiling, and covers her face with her hands.

~Rengoku P.O.V~

I splash my face with cold water for the twentieth time; I raise my head and see there is still a deep red on my face. Slumping my head, I then bash it against the nearest wall. "Idiot!" I yell at myself mentally, "how could you let something like that slip?!" I soon start to feel my face heat up again once I picture Aki's smiling at me, or just whenever her excitement peaks, she's so mesmerizing.

I slap myself across the face and start splashing cold water again; I think I just ruined everything. Now my beloved Aki will never want to be around me, and even when she is, it's just going to be so uncomfortable! Geez, can I even continue calling her "my beloved?!" I take a few deep breaths before calming myself down; where do Aki and I go now? Our mission is over, and our birds haven't delivered any new messages, so do we wait?

I walk back to the small room and slide open the door; I slightly open my mouth to speak, but the words don't come out as I look at Aki. She's standing up while wrapping my cape around her waist; since her skirt was so torn from the battle, I know she wouldn't feel comfortable walking yet.

Aki looks in my direction and averts making eye contact with me as she starts to talk, "my skirt is short," she says, "I, um... Hope it's okay if I use your haori like this. But when I move, the skirt only seems to go higher; I'll take it off if you don't like me using it like this." I clear my throat, "it's fine," I say, "use it however you like."

There was a long, awkward, and uncomfortable silence.

"Oh!" Aki exclaims as she walks towards me with my black outer shirt, it was neatly folded as she held it up to me. "Thank you," Aki says as she looks at me, "thank you for everything, Rengoku." Before I could talk back, Aki's blackbird flies into the clinic; it must have squeezed through one of the holes in the walls, considering how small it is.

The red-winged bird lands on Aki's left shoulder and rubs its head against her jaw, this made Aki smile, and she scratched its neck ever so gently. I had to turn away as her lips began to curve; I may repeat something stupid. "Rest!" The bird chips as it lightly bounces, "you both have time to rest at a nearby inn!" He flaps his wings and comfortably sits on Aki's head, "there are no more demons in the area! Rest!"

Aki and I look at each other, "are you hurt?" Aki asks me, my eyes widen a bit. Why is she concerned with me? She's the one covered in now dry blood, dirt, and sweat, not to mention the scars and torn-up clothes too. "Don't worry about me," I say as I wipe some dirt off her cheek, "my health is not important right now."

Aki's eyebrows furrow, she grips my wrist tightly with her left hand, "it's important to me!" She says, "it's important to me every day!" There was another silence in the room, but it lasted only three seconds before Aki realized what she had just said. "Uh!" She says as she lets go of me, "that came out wrong! Uh, what I meant to say was...um..."

Aki begins to scratch the back of her head quickly. Does she think doing that will help her find the right words? I put my hand up to my lips and chuckle, "what's so funny?!" Aki says as her face reddens from embarrassment, "stop laughing at me!"