Cold hearted (KyojuroxReader)

Chapter 57:寒

~*(y,n)'s POV*~

     My breath goes ready to strike sharp into my lungs, the breeze of the blizzard, but I don't take it with all my heart and mind. Not all of it, not with the lantern of this night taking me by my hips and pulling me closer to its beauty. it moves me with haste, twirling me underneath its hand and dipping me over an arm when the glory intensified. 

     For once, I'm the one who lights it, a bluish pale, fluttered with white. Even with the slight abrasion on my skin, I get the full extent of such a shine in my own (e,c) irises. It's only in the places where the deep navy has sat for years, straying from my (s,c) complexion. My tattoo... I haven't looked at it in so long. It's been there for years, I forgot I even had it...

     I remember when sensei Chikaradzuyo etched it into my skin, blessing an unflinching canvas to that single kanji mark. Our steps never slipped across the ice we danced on afterwards, our icy faces hidden by the paper talismans tied to our heads. It's been long since I first earned it, she said it was something that only few of us Ice Slayers actually achieve in our careers. It's a symbol of our dedication, to show we are still alive.

寒

'ᶜᵒˡᵈ'

     It brightens the vines ever still as they close in on me and my comrade's efforts, thinning the space of this final breath. "2nd form, numbing cold!" And it won't stop shining as my hands move around my weapon's handle, doing all that I need to stop this narrow corridor from continuing. I keep to my own mind and tune out the screeching of the monster around me, shrieking in unison to meet their untimely end.  Mitsuri is behind me doing her own thing, saving my back from what vines may try to double back on  me.

     All my inhales stay at my mouth, no risking what might happen if I do otherwise. I never thought this would be the thing that saves us all. Sure, it's not what I'm used to, but it's better than not being able to see what's happening in front of me at all. No seeing, no hearing, and possibly even no feeling. I'd meet the ground in not time if I tried to use my nose right now. 

     The moon finally returned to where it belongs as the green, amputated limbs rolled off the shingles of the roof, bequeathing the view of Shutsuga back to us women. I cut the view of my face off with my blade when faced back towards him, seeing his confusion while the light on my arm died out. Must be the spores in the air making this happen, it's hard to separate fiction from fact. At least I don't have to question who's my target anymore, these games have been played long enough.

     "I know... you might not believe me now, but I actually meant it when I said we could do great things together! We could've been unstoppable... I was even debating on using someone else as the accused!" The man tried to sway me as I weeded away the other whipping vines, freezing those that buzzed to shock me with their pollen. I titled my head with the cast of his uncertain smile- such a hazy pride in himself that he can't even hide his doubts.

     "Keep me amused, I might freeze your mouth shut before I chop your head off. You've been choosing your cards ever since we got here." Oh, how easy this puzzle has been all along, it was only a matter of looking at it from a different angle. Hoshino and I were the keys needed to make magic happen; a coincidentally suspicious man, and a Slayer with more Skepticism than she can handle, it was all there.

     "It was your goal all along to stand in the background, but you didn't expect for one of us to figure out your rules!" Even with all the poison we've had to breathe in, our guts never failed us. One of us actually found the right way to view the scene, and it was my trust that meant getting everyone to learn the truth too. We have to make it up to Iguro for his efforts.