Butterflies? Or something telling me to run away? || GiyuShino

Chapter 10 | Longing

An eternal cycle of love and hate, undergoing the trials of longing.

Longing for a peaceful life, longing for love and warmth, longing for a different result.

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They set out on daybreak. The road to their destination was long, but Kocho didn't mind. She kept herself occupied by bugging Tomioka every 2 steps, and analysing the various neutral expression that he exhibited. She discovered that despite his general stoic demeaner, it was definitely possible to tell apart his different moods. Though it would take time for her to fully grasp the details in between his different facial expressions, which led her to question why she even bothered to begin with.

It certainly was entertaining though, the different ways she annoyed him would lead to minute differences in his expressions, and Kocho took great joy in trying out all the ways she could think of to fully get on his nerves. By the time she was pretty much out of ideas, it was getting dark and she noticed that they were nearing their destination.

"This is it" Tomioka looked at the eerie forest ahead of them, many demon slayers in white uniforms lay lifeless on the ground, there were even some red uniforms mixed within.

"Do you think its one of the Lower Moons?" Kocho asked while crouching down to see if she could figure out how the demon slayers sprawled across the ground were killed.

Tomioka crouched down next to her and examined the body as well, "probably, if it killed so many white ranked demon slayers and even some red ranked ones then it's decently strong."

The two stood up again and made their way into the forest, the air surrounding them became thinner even though they hadn't made their way too far up. "Should we split off and see what we can find, Tomioka?" Kocho looked at the expressionless Water Pillar next to her who ended up nodding in agreement.

"Stay safe Kocho."

"You too."

❀❀❀

Kocho jumped along the branches of the trees in the forest, hoping to find where the demon was hiding. In the midst of all the demon slayers lying limp over branches or on the ground, she spotted signs of life.

Jumping down from the tree branch, she approached the boy in a red uniform who appeared to be grieving over the loss of his friend. "Are you alright?" she smiled at him with that perfect smile of hers, and peered at the body he held in his arms. Her eyes widened slightly at the sight of the girl who was also in a red uniform in his arms, lifeless, there was a big slash over her chest and blood continued to ooze out of it, blending in with her uniform.

Tears rolled down his face as he heard Kocho call out to him, "She's n-not moving a-anymore" his voice cracked as more tears fell "W-what do I do?" he looked at Kocho, but it seemed to her that he was more talking to himself.

"Boy, let me see her" she quickly got to work, her pulse was weak and was diminishing by the second. C'mon... live, live. The girl's wounds reminded her of her sister's wounds, perhaps now she could save this young girl. The young boy handed the girl over to Kocho, and she proceeded to lay her down on the ground.

"Can...can you save her?" he seemed to have calmed down a little, but Kocho knew that it was unlikely that she would be saved. She arrived too late, and the medical supplies she had on her likely wouldn't be enough to save her.

"I will certainly do my best" after thinking what the best way to reply to his question would be, she gave him a comforting smile and an ambiguous answer. It was all she could really do after all.

She worked in silence with the boy hovering over her, sniffling every now and then. The wound was too deep, and the girl had already lost too much blood despite Kocho's best efforts to stop the bleeding. After stopping the bleeding, the girl started to stir a little. The boy's eyes widened, and he quickly knelt down to hold the girl's hand. She opened her eyes a little, looked at the boy and gave him a weak smile. She raised her hand in attempt to touch his face, but was too weak to do so. It pained Kocho to watch them, so she stepped aside to give them a bit of space.