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

54

I lifted my face, letting the light and shadow dance across my skin. Cicadas singing in and out of the pennyroyal.

The night stars peeped down at us like silver asters, glinting and shimmering. They looked happy in their solar-silver isolation. We could see wild basil growing freely on the clumpy, mossy mattress of the floor. The simpering wind carried a fragrance with it. It was spirit refreshing to smell the mulchy mix of the forest's perfume.

I inhaled its minty smell and continued on, delighting in the sound of my feet sliding through the leaves.

The forest glade looked freeze-frame perfect in the enhanced light of the full moon.

"You have grown stronger since we first met."

I stopped walking and turned around to see three sets of eyes meeting mine. Though he showed mercy today, his sclera is in deep hues of red with yellow irises never cease to scare me.

"Yet a newfound weakness has presented itself."

I blinked he disappeared instantly before I can question him. Even he knew that there was a weakness. I sighed and turned back around focusing my attention back on my way to headquarters.

"Damn..." I mumbled.

Demons were able to read that my mind is troubled by this. Even though I had confessed my feelings to Rengoku it was still seen as a weakness. Was it possibly seen because it would make him a target? But he is a Hashira so I wasn't as worried...but for Upper Moon 1 or even Muzan to go after him would be something.

"Maybe I should end it before it pursues into anything serious..." I muttered.

I glance towards the night sky.

Stars light the sky like snowflakes in the night, yet appear still, like an old photograph. The night's aroma pervades the air, woven into a soft net, covering all the scenery inside. The pale full moon shone like a silvery claw in the night sky. I looked up at the blanket of stars that stretched to infinity.

Sometimes it can be calming. Sometimes it can be centering. And other times, when the world just seems so heavy and I want to escape.. the night sky can become my safe place.

The stars are my light... and that's not a bad thing...it was for the best that they remain, my samurai, rather than put these newfound feelings into the hands of another person.

Rather than falsely promising each other the stars and moon, Rengoku and I should realize that the dark sky is the only thing we have in common.

I could walk through this forest and contemplate how beautiful and simultaneously daunting night can be, yet could never fully get the answer on it.

The dark sky is beautiful to look at. But however mesmerizing it may be, it showed the reality of never being able to light up the world. Just like Rengoku and I won't be able to light up each other's lives. The memories of that night before I left for the mission will be stuck like the stars in that sky, but they're just memories: beautiful to look at, but dead just like the stars.

I continued to walk through the forest. I guess demons decided to not act on their blood lust tonight. I knew they were here watching as I walked by but weren't acting. Was it due to Kokushibou or Muzan or were they afraid?

So many questions today and no answers to them. It was quite frustrating.

But one answer was quite vague...tonight...

The realization hit as I continued on. It was possible that maybe...just maybe some nights are only meant to stare into nothingness, and maybe some people are only meant to be loved from a distance.

A huffing wind rose up then, stirring the flaps of our tent. A tinkling sound came to our ears as the first pearls of rain dropped onto the leaves. The sound was like the glassy clinking of a champagne flute, lilting and clear. A sheet of rain passed over me and the sound intensified.

And as the rain became more intense, my clothes began to soak.  The fabric of my clothes became a deeper hue, bringing my shoes to a glossy water-shine, becoming a kind of natural cocoon. I was caught in it and drenched but it didn't matter because I knew I was close and also...

In the rain, there is a serenity, a sense of peace that offers to resonate with the peaceful elements of the soul.

My hair, drenched in the rain, covered my eyes and slightly clouded my vision ahead.  Lacerating rain stung my bare arms like ice burn.

Once I was out, I was back in town. Villagers were running to and from to get out of the rain.

Yet, through the crowd and through the rain, it was clear as day. A great tremor overtook me. A tightening of my throat and a short intake of breath... I couldn't believe what I saw before me...but it was inevitable.

It was going to happen but I couldn't do anything about it. I knew I would see Rengoku and that waitress arm in arm at some point. But not when I had returned to my mission...under an red umbrella casually talking in the rain.

She looked up at him, her eyes were filled with happiness and surprise. Through the light fog, his lips were teasingly close to her as he just stared into her eyes with vibrancy. Here I was was just watching them in the rain as it came down in light droplets, rolling off the sides of the large red paper umbrella they shared and glittering like crystals in the moonlight. She was laughing and he was smiling back. She leant up a little to close the already small gap between them. As she inched closer, my heart tighten.

I didn't want to see anymore...seven months and it was clear that he had moved on...besides he seemed happy with her. Just as he did when he brought me to the noodle shop.

I simply sighed and turned around away from them. I didn't need to see him closed his eyes, savoring the feeling and the taste of her lips. I didn't want to know what happen...

"Is something wrong Rengoku-kun?"

Before he can respond to her question, I had long been gone.