Blood in Flame and Water

The Kindling of Friendship in the Oddest Form

Notes:
Warning

Human death
Hinted domestic abuse
Gore & Blood
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A faint tweeting came from the trees high up in the mountains of Nantai. Songs of birds and insects buzzed around in the tall trees and shrubbery, echoing off each other. The sun high above barely penetrates through the vast canopy of green trees, ripe with life from the summer climate.

At the base of the mountain, the lone mansion belonging to the Stone Pillar lay in solidarity ashore of the lake surrounding the mountain. In the back of the large estate, up stream, the Hashira was hard at work training with his pseudo tsuguko. Due to the child's lack of Breathing Technique, Himejima Gyomei couldn't take Genya under his wing as a student, but he could train him as best as he could so he could thrive as a Demon Slayer.

However, further down the stream near the cliff face, a stairway leads to a quaint cabin overlooking the lake. The cabin was run down from lack of use, faded colors muted by green and brown weathering while vines climb up the East facing wall. Within that cabin, two figures lay in wait for the moon to rise. One was chained down due to security, while the other was free to roam, yet acted as they were the individual chained to the floor.

After receiving a tie vote from the Hashira, it was up to Master Kagaya-ojiisan to break the tie. When he voted in the favor of Mitski and Yasha, there was discourse between the Hashira. To ease his childrens' reluctancy, he came up with a compromise, one that both pissed off and shocked the demon and child. The compromise happened to be Yasha being tied down to the cement slab on the floor, chains strapped to his wrists and ankles weighed down by weights only the largest of the Hashira could lift, hanging off the cliff face. Yasha would only be free to hunt at night, but he must be chaperoned by one of the other on duty Hashira.

Mitski tried to deny the compromise, saying it was inhumane to trap Yasha like some sort of taxidermied carpet, but Kagaya reasoned that it was either this or execution. Yasha had reasoned with Mitski, saying that he was fine with it, but he'd turned to Kagaya and explained if he didn't have free time he'd be good as dead for starving. Kagaya-ojiisan had asked if one of his children -which Mitski found impossible really- and asked if one of them would be willing to watch over them during the night.

Crickets. Anyone could have heard a crow's feather drop. Mitski had turned to the guy with the half and half haori, thinking he would be the one to watch over them since he was partners with the Flame Pillar guy. Yet he turned away, head cast down, eyes left astray. Mitski frowned, sighing heavily while the woman with the odd combination of pink and green hair offered to watch over them. She seems nice enough, so Mitski wasn't going to complain. At least not too much.

So here they were, Mitski sat kneeling beside Yasha's head as the demon lay on his stomach with his arms and legs chained down. The child didn't know what to do outside of just sitting there, petting the oni like some sort of captive animal. They were even running out of jokes to keep the demon chuckling and from spiraling into a depressive ravine. Yasha never liked being confined in an enclosed space, being a demon and all, he never had anyone besides his master telling him what to do. To go from that amount of freedom, to being held down by chains during the day, and being monitored by the enemy at night; it was hell on earth.

Recently, Mitski had convinced Yasha to go to sleep, the sun being high in the sky helped lull Yasha into unconsciousness too. The oni snored away, his back rising and falling slowly as sleep carried him away into his own dream land. It was quiet, save for the faint chirping from the birds and insects outside in the trees. This is why Mitski was able to hear the near silent footsteps coming towards the cabin along the stairway on the cliff side. Mitski's eyes narrowed, and they moved quickly to sit in front of Yasha perpendicular to the archway entrance.