𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐛𝐞 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐮𝐬 - 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐛𝐮 𝐊𝐨𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐮 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟒

A/N: I'm coming back to Wattpad after almost a year of disappearing </3

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They say life is the most precious gift that a person could possibly achieve. A delicate sheet of glass that we call 'happiness' is spread across its horizons like a warning, or a threat. The way I've always seen it, it's more of a reminder that the world is nothing more than a long, intricate thread of a lie. That sheet of glass will break if you tread the wrong direction for even a single second, and that is something people just don't fear enough.

I had a vision.

It was a wide room, decorated in floor-to-ceiling windows in every arm's stretch. The curtains that draped over them were a deep color of crimson, a sultry velvet akin to that of an estranged heart. A heart beating on the wrong side of the chest, a heart slowly falling apart. The light outside was bright enough to swim into the room and flood it with golden illumination, but not enough to tell me the time. The world felt wide. The ceilings were wide, like arches from an angel's bow that dripped crystal chandeliers.

In the corner of the room was a little golden gramophone. I think it was broken, but it sang harmonies sweeter than a winter songbird's melody. And there was a mirror, too, that stretched on the wall across the one with windows. I couldn't see myself, but I could see me. 

With them landed a little butterfly, in the form of a dainty woman. Her wings were torn, were shredded, were shattered. But she danced like the floor was made of bubbles that she, too, was too afraid to burst. She swept the floor with the length of her dress, twirling in absolute ecstasy. The smile on her face was wide enough to be described as real, no matter how thick and dense the mask truly was. Though, I don't think it was a mask at all. It had no flaws, no cracks to its delicate porcelain that I almost doubted what I was thinking at all.

No. I knew what I was thinking. I always did.

Even if my mind went blank and my bones had turned to dust, I would always know. In soil and in stardust, I would always, without a second beat of the heart, know. My eyes can lie to me as much as it wants, can alienate and distort my brain as much as it wants. My flesh can betray me. 

But not my heart. Not my soul. And every piece of my soul right now tells me that the woman in front of me is Kochou Shinobu.

"Your movements are growing weary, Y/N," She halts her gesticulations from the other side of the room, smiling brightly at me. "Is everything alright?"

I snap out of it, shaking my head at her. "Yes, everything's...just fine. I was just thinking about something. Sorry, I shouldn't have gotten distracted."

"If you're feeling unwell, I can stop today's training and leave it at this," She clears her throat, squinting her eyes in suspicion of an incoming fever from me. Even now, in this strange coalition of destinies, she's still the most beautiful woman I had ever laid my eyes on.

My eyes dart down to the sword in her hand. Err, sword? A thin saber of some sort...that I just can't place my finger on. 

"The fencing club prioritizes it's members' well-being above anything else," She reminds you, "It would not be very ethical of us if you were to continue with any sort of injuries on you, be it visible or not."

I sigh. My jaw seems to know how to speak even when I have no words to say.

"It's just that we're going to be graduating in a few months, you know?" I seem to say, "I'm worried about where I'm going to go after that. I don't think the path for me is very clear."

That felt like a lie. Even if it did come out of me, it doesn't feel like it. It feels like a blatant, horrendous attempt at a lie. I shrug that weird tingle at the back of my neck. Whatever is happening right in front of my eyes right now, just aren't real. 

That's not a dress on her. But I could have sworn it was. And we weren't dancing, either.

"The path is definitely bright for Y/N-san," She smiles comfortingly, "Even if you don't know where you'll end up, just remember that you'll always have a place beside me."

"I don't know if that path will be forever," I sigh wearily, diverting my gaze from her bright lavender eyes.

"Don't worry about it. It will be."

Ah. 

So that's what it is.

I had read about something like this a while ago. That your heart has feelings all across the universe, transcending time and space. There is a past with your ancestors that you carry even right now, and a future that you pass down to whoever takes the torch and the mantle. I wonder if it ever becomes a loop — that the end is the beginning, that the beginning is the end. It's all threaded together like a string that tangles all around the world a time or two,  and wraps it up like a pretty little bow. 

Or perhaps a linear collision, a parallel line that will never meet but exists solely alongside you no matter how much time has passed. Truly, how magnificent the world is.

Shinobu-san. If the end of this war comes at the price of either you or I or the both of us, then at least I want you to know this much: I'm glad to have known you. That we've held each other's hands at a segment in time, that we were together for a beautiful chapter. 

I'm glad to have known you. I want you to find that happiness forever.

If I were to die tomorrow, then I want you to promise me that you'll never allow anyone to say that I'm in a happier place. Because I know, with every inch of flesh in my rotting body, that I would have rather stayed here with you.

Can you promise me that?

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Word count: 1029

A/N: Hello everyone! I'm sorry for disappearing for a very long time. My life has become a turbulence and I went through a little bit of a mental stump. But I'm back now, I think. I'm not sure how much my writing has changed over the past 10 months, (or so) but I think there's a little more here that I need to explain.

Explanation: 

This 'vision' is more of an exploration into Y/N's character, who I think hasn't been receiving much attention in terms of depth. I really like the idea of the multiverse or parallel universe(s) that exist alongside ours, so I decided to write something about that instead of following the story plainly now that season 4 has been completed, too. 

What's happening here? I don't know. I pictured it to be the same room that reflects Y/N's heart. It's like the empty sky and water scape that belongs to Tanjiro. Usually, other people don't appear there, so let me explain that, too.

The heart is a really complex place, and I like to picture that it is the only thing that never changes throughout the period of a person's life. That being said, what Y/N is seeing here are parallel existences where they exist with Shinobu, but not with demons like in the current AU. Shinobu is the only person that they've managed to love to the point that it bleeds into other universes, hence why I first wrote them as dancers, and then as fencers, and then into the high school reincarnation. Y/N sees Shinobu in their heart, no matter where they are or when they are. And I wanted to elaborate that they know it'll eventually just come to an end; the story, the war with demons, etc. But never their love for Shinobu.

I wanted just to write them as people. Feel free to picture it as their future reincarnations. I just wanted to make Y/N dream of a world where love is not the price for victory. Or a few worlds, actually.