The One We Couldn't Save

.+* Chapter 17 - No, Impossible *+.

PoV: Aoi

Aoi was sat quietly, scribbling notes down in her journal. Next to her on the couch, leaning against her, was Inosuke. He was snoring softly, his right arm secure in a cast, his weight agasint her comforting.

Kanao had fallen asleep at her desk, her head down on her arms, glass bottles and test tubes discarded next to her. Yushiro was stood at the other desk in the room, holding Wisteria flowers at arm's length with a fabric mask over the bottom half of his face and long, rubber gloves.

He was grinding up the purple flower, carefully adding small amounts of other poisons and medicines he and Kanao had been working on.

His cat, Chachamaru, was curled up atop one of the shelves at the end of the room, its ears twitching at the sounds of crickets chirping outside.

The only light in the room came from a few candles, the flames flickering gently, the shadows swaying along the floor and walls.

She looked down at Inosuke, smiling softly. It was rare he was ever this calm, in fact, the only reason he was so calm was because she'd sedated him.

He'd had a particularly nasty encounter with a group of demons, and had snapped his arm in the process. Once the cast was secured, he went mental, and Aoi had no choice but to sedate him to ensure he wouldn't hurt himself further.

She brushed a stray curl off his face, leaning down to peck his lips, her smile widening when she felt him unconsciously lean into it. He mumbled inaudibly as she pulled away, weakly grabbing her hand with his free arm.

Aoi clasped it gently, rubbing her thumb along his knuckles a few times until she came to the ring on his finger. She placed her thumb on it for a few moments, thinking of when she gave it to him.

It was her first mission as a Hashira, five years ago, and quite honestly it was terrifying. Her and Inosuke ended up encountering a Kizuki demon.

Of course Inosuke managed to behead it, but not before she had been knocked uncon from a mixture of blunt force and blood loss.

She hadn't seen it herself, but apparently Inosuke cried until he threw up. She wasn't sure if she wished she'd seen such a thing or not.

Aoi also remembered waking up to him asleep next to her, holding her hand. She could remember clearly the butterflies in her stomach when that happened. 

She remembered clear as day when she bought the rings. Two matching ones. 

When she had gotten down on one knee and asked him to marry her, she was beyond thrilled when he said yes. And then felt slightly stupid when he asked what a marriage was.

And of course after explaining, he accepted. And she still felt those butterflies in her stomach whenever they held hands. 

They'd been engaged for five years now, together for seven. The best seven years of her life.

"Try this batch."

Aoi jumped at the sound of Yushiro's voice, forcing her out of her thoughts.

She nodded, taking the glass vial and standing up, holding it carefully as she walked over to the desk where Kanao was asleep.

She gently nudged her sister's hands off a microscope, sliding in a petri dish of blood before pouring in the indigo coloured poison Yushiro had just developed.

She peered into the lense, watching carefully.

"This one is pretty good, is there a way to make it faster?" Aoi asked without turning to look at him.

She watched as the wisteria poison slowly absorbed and destroyed the aggressive demonic cells in the blood sample.

"Maybe, I'll give it a shot." Yushiro responded with a stifled yawn.

She picked up the petri dish and moved the sample to another glass vial, plugging it and placing it in a holder with the other samples that had been made this week. 

Aoi yanwed, stretching.

"Go to sleep, I'll take care of this." Yushiro flashed a sympathetic smile at her. "Your eyebags have their own luggage at this point, take a rest."

She frowned, crossing her arms. "You haven't slept I'm two weeks." She raised an eyebrow.

"I don't need to," He responded dismissively. "Now go to bed, doctor's orders."

"You're not even a qualified doctor." Aoi grumbled as she sat down on the couch, positioning herself comfortably between Inosuke and the cushions.

"Neither are you." Yushiro mumbled, now focusing back on his work.

She rolled her eyes, laying back to get comfortable, feeling her fiance unconsciously wrap his arm around her. She smiled, slowly closing her eyes. As much as she wouldn't admit it, she was grateful to have a rest.

She could feel her consciousness slipping away as she gave into the fatigue, when she jerked awake and the sound of frantic tapping on the window.

Before she was even up, Kanao was awake and opening the window to a rather disgruntled looking crow. Specifically, it was Aoi's crow, and it looked as if it were about to cry.

"Thunder Hashira, Agatsuma Zenitsu, is missing. He has been presumed dead." 

The room was quiet, the three awake staring wide-eyed. Aoi could practically hear her heart beating

"... What."

Kanao's voice wavered as she spoke, Aoi couldn't even muster up anything. Her mouth was drier than sandpaper.

"I'm sorry Tsuyuri-San, Kanzaki-San. It's been a week since he was last seen."

It seemed as though in that exact moment, all time stood still.

Zenitsu… Dead? No, impossible. Maybe when they were kids yeah, but now? Absolutely not… He couldn't be.

Aoi wouldn't belive it, she refused.

"My condolences, all of you." And with that, the crow left, leaving them all alone with their thoughts.

A/N: WOO!! New chapter! I am so sorry this took so long to come out, I'm hoping to get into a regular upload schedule of every week or two. Expect more chapters soon!

I've been rotating this story around in my head like a rotisserie chicken  for several months now, hope you enjoyed this chapter! :)