Icy Flames- Rengoku Kyojuro-Demon Slayer/ Kimetsu no Yaiba

29

"How could you love if you were trained to kill..."

I thought to myself as I sat on the roof of a garden pagoda's tiles overlooking the luscious gardens before me. The pink sakura flowers looked like speckles on an oddly shaped brown pebble that floated in the waters below.

Aside from the flowers, the body of water remains well-kept; algae and water lilies litter the water surface I couldn't help but unconsciously smile at the beauty of it all while pondering on my emotions and what the hell just happened before getting here. I shouldn't have been acting that way! I should have pushed these petty feelings to the side by now...similar to how I had pushed them away when I am up north but when I see him I get butterflies...

My eyes glared at the still water before me and my smile dropped.

The stare was a cold one - not empty, nor evil, but cold. Uzui once told me how my cold, amber gaze usually struck fear into the hearts of many and would make it impossible for me to ever find a suitor... and if I did they would have to be the luckiest guy in the world. It was probably my attitude and my appearance that distance him from me...then again I only worked with him once...

I sighed as the wind blows eagerly in my direction swaying strands of my hair that were left out of my ponytail yet my ears were fixed to the comforting sound of the koi swimming and splashing in the pond and my eyes were looking into the murky water and saw little orange, white, black, and gold speckled fish swimming around.

For a heart to break it must first be whole. From the start of conception, the heart is one of the very first organs to develop in the womb. The human heart, however, does much more than pump blood creating that ever-so-familiar drumming sound.

I continued staring off into the distance pushing my hair back as it blows into my face as the breeze changes directions. If this was back in the clan, I would have been scolded for showing such emotions and even crying-that was absurd.

Emotions were for the weak and all in the span of a year and a half I was crippling in it.

I stared out into the horizon contemplating all the things that had turned life upside down as well as made it better.

"I should take Makio, Suma, and Hinatsuru, here. How did you even find this place?"

"Hm." I simply stared and answered. I knew he would find me...he always seems to nowadays.

"When we rid the world of demons then we could do that...just swim around in our pond without an intention to do anything, and eat it without question...or worries."

He knew I was listening even if I didn't look towards him.

"Maybe you would be free to love and take them here."

"Don't start," I simply voiced to Uzui who was now beside me laced with a mixture of soothing and cold tones.

Uzui chuckled. He was going to tease the crap out of me with this.

"For you to cry...you must be in-love deep."

My eyes narrowed in front of me."If you are going to mock me, please leave before I do something rash."

"Calm down, I need you to come on a mission with me."

"Your wives are capable of helping you." I said coldly, "Ask them."

"It is best if a female Hashira capable of working alongside me assists me."

"There is Mitsuri and Shinobu."

"It's best that it is you since people in this region believe that I publicly have a wife that looks similar to the Kuraokami."

"What does having me pretend to be your wife have to do with the mission?" I questioned looking at him a bit quizzical at his statement. Honestly, he had three kunoichi wives, all with similar training to me...with 5 years over me...why did he need me?

"Our little mishap at the bar made a rumor of me having a wife very similar in appearance to the Kuraokami," he repeated, "It just so happens that west from here, there have been reports of a faceless demon that have been stealing women and leaving their bare corpse behind with their own face torn from their body."

"So you want me to be bait," I said while glaring at him.

"Yes, I need you to lure the demon out especially tonight since there will be a festival tonight and knowing that you are a very skilled kunoichi and a Hashira, I know that I wouldn't have to worry as much about one of my wives or the other female Hashiras or demon slayers."

"Hm."

"It was also reported, that the demon indulges in "pleasures of the flesh" so the more skin displayed on a woman, the more the demon would be prone to kidnapping the target."

I simply moved my eyes at him to see that sly smile on his face with something in his hand causing me to glare even more.

"Uzui-"

Without any warning, I was knocked out instantly... the only thing I heard was a low "sorry" from a female...probably one of his wives.