ayame's flower realm . JUJUTSU KAISEN

thirty nine . bloodthirst

ayame felt warm.

not the kind of comforting warm you'd chase during a cold winter day, nor the comforting warm of an embrace. no, not those.

the kind of warm you'd get after you had just finished exercising, and sweat is all over your body, making your clothes stick onto your skin. the kind of warm that makes you want to do anything but lie down on the ground, hoping the air would somehow cool you up.

ayame wasn't sweating, though. she only felt warm. so warm as if her body was heating up, her blood was boiling in her veins and her brain was on the verge of melting. she had half the mind to rip off her uniform jacket, but before she could unbutton it, something caught her attention. her eyes glanced down onto her hands.

they were painted red.

ayame blinked once, then twice. then, she subconsciously brought her hands up to her mouth. her mouth felt... cramped, if she was to describe it. it was full of a metallic taste, and something thick.

it was too much.

tilting her head to the side, she spit out whatever it was in her mouth, hoping to have some kind of space in there. then, she walked away, crossing over a stone bench and never looking back.

what was left behind, she'd find out when the sun was up.

a small distance away from her, a certain area of a forest was covered in dust and smoke.

unhurried footsteps approached the area, crushing the dried leaves underneath. the owner had his hands in his pockets, walking through the forest without a care in the world. the footsteps abruptly stopped near the head of a girl. thankfully, the head was still attached to the body.

the man knelt down, his red eyes half open as he scanned the girl. then, he clicked his tongue before standing up straight.

"quite a mess. there's only the container left behind."

in front of him, several trees had been cut down, whether by cursed techniques or the blade of a sword. two bodies sprawled on the ground, one a rotting corpse, the other barely breathing. calamity's edge was stabbed into a nearby tree that had holes pierced through it.

the man stepped over the corpse, nearing the sorcerer who was balancing himself in between consciousness and slipping into a deep sleep. the sorcerer, yasuhiro, could only move his eyes, staring into the shoes in front of him. his clothes had multiple rips and holes which revealed his wounds, some of which were still dripping with blood. his skin was splattered with purple bruises, dirt and the lot. the previous fiery gaze he had during the fight had died out, leaving behind tired, yellow eyes.

"you're not too bad." the man squatted down, brushing yasuhiro's bangs away to have a better look at his face. "you're not too bad, indeed. but that one wasn't for you to kill. to think yoshimura would bring another one in here, when i was hoping to see the bloodlust in action. though, i suppose i shouldn't scold her too much when i've found a better one."

as soon as he finished his words, the man looked towards yasuhiro's hands. he narrowed his eyes. only one of yasuhiro's hands remained, his right hand. his left hand was gone - all that was left was a bleeding wrist that seemed to have been patched up quite sloppily.

the man sighed,"so you're a defective. that won't do. hm, is there anything..."

"...wh."

the man's words were cut off by a weak whisper which could have been carried away by the wind if he wasn't paying attention. raising a brow, he turned towards yasuhiro, whose lips were moving slightly. it seemed like he wanted to speak, but all that came out was grunts of pain.

the man tilted his head as if he was trying to understand. then, gently placed to fingers on yasuhiro's forehead.

"it must've hurt so much," the man said,"it's alright. it's all over now."

the man's fingers glowed a bright cyan as cursed energy began to gather around his fingers tips. yasuhiro could only weakly grit his teeth, doing nothing else but stare into the man's eyes as he -

yasuhiro watched the man stumbled backwards, and in the next second, he heard the sound of something stabbing into a tree nearby. the man brought a hand to his neck and felt a shallow cut that had appeared, blood trickling down and soaking into his dress shirt. he turned his head, and the fury you would expect from someone after getting injured did not appear on his face.

no, his lips widened into a smile, his red eyes glowing like a beast hiding in the darkness.

"perfection." the man muttered, his eyes twinkling like a child in a candy store. "i knew you were the right one."

ayame stared him down as she flexed her right hand that had thrown calamity's edge into the man's way. her face was void of emotion, as if the thing she was looking at was simply an insignificant everyday item.

"ohashi ayame." the man glanced at the mess of blood painted on both ayame's mouth and hands. "i see you enjoyed the meal that i brought you. my intuitions were correct - you truly are a beast of the ohashi. the same as her."

as if her ears were deaf, ayame began walking towards the man in slow steps.

"you both are almost the same, with that same look in your eyes as if you'd done nothing wrong. what will you do now? will you kill everyone here like her? to satisfy your bloodthirst?

"did the hearts of your family members taste that good, that now you want more?!"

as the last syllable left the man's mouth, ayame shot forward, her bloodied hands in front of her like an animal going after its prey. the man's crazed smile never left his face as he whipped out a small blade, planning to meet her head on. the man stabbed the blade into the girl's neck.

ayame, however, didn't want to fight him just yet. she dodged the incoming blade, swerved to the right, grabbed yasuhiro by the waist, ran and stopped at the tree holding calamity's edge. the man watched ayame gently set yasuhiro down, letting him lean against the tree. she mumbled something into his ear, before pulling calamity's edge out of the tree.

when ayame turned her head, the man finally got a good look at her.

the mark on her forehead was a blazing red, giving off the illusion that it was burned onto the skin. her brown eyes had now adopted a tinge of red, and her pupils looked like they were on the verge of splitting up, barely holding onto its circular shape.

the two stared each other down for a good moment before ayame charged forth.

clangs of metal against metal echoed through the forest. cursed energy of the sorcerer and curse user began bubbling up, filling the air like poisonous gas as they clashed against one another. around them, water and flower petals swirled around in a dangerous dance, grazing through the flesh of their opponents.

after a short while, the man had had enough, and unleashed a cursed technique. water droplets formed in the air, and an invisible force began beating down onto ayame.

the force felt familiar; it was the 'heavy rain' she had felt back then in the alleyway.

realizing this, ayame's eyes couldn't help but wander around, searching for the man's partner - the other man in monk robes. all she could see in the dark night was sakura petals from her cursed technique and the moonlight which was reflected by the water droplets around her.

noticing the moment of distraction, the man shot forward and slashed -

ayame watched two of her fingers drop onto the ground, sliced clean from her left hand. however, her expression remained the same. as if she didn't feel any pain, ayame moved her left hand to grip calamity's edge with both of her hands.