Hashira Loving Demon

Seven - Experiment

Mura Fuji

Two months had passed since the incident with Tomioka. Shino worked tirelessly trying to find the cure to being a demon. I tried not to take offense to it, I knew she did care for him, and he was a close friend. I supposed now I knew how Enkyo felt.

I decided to distracted myself while I was waiting for my next assignment by going to visit Rika and her family. I had heard Enkyo was out on assignment, so a visit would be great.

I approached the house and could hear Rika calling out for Tenjuro. Now that he was getting around, he was everywhere, and very curious.

I entered the house and found Rika running from the sitting room to the hallway, chasing Tenjuro who was running down the hallway.

"Get back here, you!" She called.

He giggled, and I could feel the happiness coming from him. I could tell how much he loved making his mother chase after him.

"Run Tenjuro!" I shouted.

"Mura, be quiet!" She said.

I laughed and continued to watch as he tried to escape his mother.

"I said you're going to have a nap, and you're going to. You can't escape me!" She said.

She scooped him up and took him to his room. I went to the sitting room while waiting for her to return.

"Mura, it's good to see you, it's been at least a month since you've visited me. Why so long?"

She came to the sitting room, and sat at the table.

"Shino has needed some extra help. She's exhausting herself, working to find a cure." I said.

"Oh. And you haven't... seen him?" She asked.

I shook my head, and then came to a realization. I tilted my head, and stood. I opened the door and looked down the hallway, but the strange energy I felt was in the room.

I turned to Rika and watched her in confusion. The energybwas coming from her. I had become familiar with hers, and it seemed different today. Detached. Yet... I still felt her usual energy. It was more like something clinging to her.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

"Yeah, I must be losing it. Everything is alright. And no, I haven't come across him. Enkyo has told me he hasn't either. Rika, he might have just... let himself burn."

She shook her head, and I knew that this conversation was going nowhere. It was the same last time I was here. She would insist he was alive, and that Shino would cure him.

"How have you and Enkyo been?" I asked.

"Great! He's been visiting Senjuro a lot, and I think he's starting to accept that his father has died."

Her gaze moved to the wall, where a rack was placed, and a sword rested on it. I would have assumed it was Enkyo's but since he was out on assignment, he had it with him.

"He still won't talk about it though. I think it's painful to think about. They had fought last time they spoke, and he feels a lot of guilt."