In His Place

Chapter 2

   "Well, it's nice to meet you," I smiled, putting my hand back to my side. The ashes from the deceased demon flitter away in the wind as the boy, Shinazugawa, stares me down.

 "Why do you have a sword?" He finally asks, nodding at my green blade.

 "Hm? Oh, this?" I asked, pulling my katana out of the sheath to show it to him. He looks the sword up and down, clearly fascinated by it.

 "Isn't this, y'know, illegal?" He asks skeptically.

 My eyes widen and I instinctively fumble the sword and sheath it. "Okay, yeah... um..." Shinazugawa just looks at me with his eyebrows raised judgmentally. "It's for my job, man, please don't tell anyone," I finally cave, placing my hands together.

 Shinazugawa rolls his eyes, "I won't tell, I'm not a fucking snitch. You saved my ass earlier, so... I guess I owe you this one," he grumbles, scratching the back of his head. I watch as little flakes of dried mud and blood flutter from his long hair.

 I sighed and gave him a slight bow, "Er, thank you so much."

 "No problem," he sighs, "what is your job, anyway? Most jobs don't require monster killing and a fancy sword."

 "I'm a demon slayer," I smile softly, "those monsters you're fighting are called demons. They're evil creatures that will eat people..." I pause and look down at his bloody arm. "But you probably figured that out already, huh?" I chuckle, trying to make some light out of this situation.

 "Yeah, I figured," the boy says, looking down where I'm looking. He looks off to the side, suddenly looking a little shy, "So... you get paid to kill these beasts?" I nod. "Huh," he mumbles, trying to not let curiosity get the best of him.

 "Hey look," I finally speak, breaking the silence. "Your arm looks pretty messed up... I have a makeshift first aid kit if you would like to patch that up." Shinazugawa glares at me and puts his arm behind his back, not trusting me in the slightest. "I'll answer any question you have about my job if you let me put a bandage on—"

  I'm interrupted by a loud, dramatic huff. "Fine, I'll trust you," he grumbles. I can't help but smile, I'm honestly surprised he agreed to my request with a simple bribe. I guess curiosity really is getting the better of him.

  I snap out of my daze and look around. "We should probably sit down... a place with a well would be preferable..." I think out loud. When I make up my mind on a spot, the white-haired boy follows me. I go to a nearby restaurant that's friendly with corps members and sit down by the small well it has.

 Shinazugawa props his mangled arm on his knee while I frantically fumble with my wrap of bandages and cheesecloth. "Okay, put water on the cheesecloth... and..."

 "Don't put water on the gauze, you idiot," Shinazugawa interrupts, "it's for absorbing liquid from a wound, not for cleaning it." I look at him, slightly surprised. I suppose I wasn't expecting someone with so many scars to be even remotely accustomed to medical care.

 "A-Ah, right," I chuckle, pretending like it was a minor mishap. Though he could tell that I'm not good with health care myself, he rolls his eyes in my direction with a scowl.

 I found a sturdier piece of cloth wrapped up in the small first aid kit. I wet that piece of cloth and came over to Shinazugawa. I press the cloth down on his wound and immediately loads of blood and grime come up from his arm. I wince for him, the wound looked nasty, but this boy didn't even flinch.

 "You have a high pain tolerance, huh?" I ask to lessen the silence around us.

 Shinazugawa nods, looking down at his torn sleeve against the clean gray cloth. "I wish I was like that," I chuckle, starting to place the cheesecloth on his drying wound to keep it somewhat sanitary. "I wouldn't say I have barely any pain tolerance, but it's definitely lower than average. I'll cry if I stub a toe," I joke while laughing.

 The kid smiles a little bit, amused by my sense of humor. "It's a blessing and a curse," he says ominously. I wait for him to elaborate, but he never does.

 "Okay," I sigh after a couple of seconds of silence, "this bandaging should do for now. Obviously, I'm no doctor, though." I chuckle while looking at his unimpressed yet somewhat soft gaze.

 Shinazugawa gives me a short nod. "Thanks," he says, moving his arm in the bandage to see how it feels. "So now you'll answer my questions," he says in a forceful tone, looking me straight in the eyes.

 I nod and smile, "That was the deal. I'm not one to break something like that."

 Shinazugawa stays silent for a while, his raggedy hair fluffing in the light breeze. "So, what is your job, exactly?" He finally asks.

 "As I mentioned earlier, I'm called a demon slayer," I say proudly. "I kill those demon monsters that you saw for a living."

 "And you get paid for that?"

 "Yup."

 "Huh..." Shinazugawa says, looking to his bottom right. "And the sword?"

 "It's supplied by the corps, it's made of a special metal called 'nichrin'," I explain, pulling out my sword. "It's actually pretty cool. It changes color based on your breathing style."

 "Breathing style?" Shinazugawa asks mockingly, "Demons aren't just gonna get flown away by your fucking breath."

 I laugh loudly at his observation, even though I know he wasn't joking. "Honestly, I have no clue why it's called 'breathing' either. It's just a nickname for different sword techniques we learn." I place a finger on my chin, thinking out loud, "Though... we do learn some different breathing techniques to help us with said sword skills... so that's probably where the name came from."

 "Weird," Shinazugawa says bluntly. "And... this organization "demon slayer" thingy... it's approved by the government?" He asks this like he already knows the answer, raising his eyebrow.

 I look at his judgmental gaze and chuckle softly out of nervousness. "N-no... it's not... it's completely underground," I sigh and look up at him, "but most people don't even know what demons are, and we want to keep it that way." I smile, proud of my justification, "We're like warriors from the shadows, ya know?"

 Shinazugawa cocks his head to the right, "I suppose that makes sense." His eyes travel back to my sword.

 I don't know what his next question is going to be, or if he's even if he's going to ask another question, but I decide to overshare anyways. "You know already that demons dissolve in the sunlight, right? So the metal in this sword will somehow intimidate that to demons. So if you cut a demon's head off with this metal, then they'll die." Shinazugawa nods, he's clearly interested, but trying not to show his curiosity.

 We sit around in silence for a while, trying to regain our energy. I'm honestly surprised that he never leaves or offers to leave, he sits by me the entire time. When I see small beams of the sun rising over the horizon I look over at the boy.

 "Hey, that bandage I made you isn't going to last for long..." I say awkwardly, "There's a doctor that works for the corps a couple of miles from here. I don't have anything to do, so I can bring you there."

 Shinazugawa looks at me for a while, and I can practically hear the gears turning in his head as he processes what I'm asking. He finally looks down at the dirt below him, "why do you care so much?" He mumbles, his tone sounding harsh.

 I smile sympathetically, "I guess that's just the type of person I am," I lie. I stand up and brush the dirt off of my uniform. I lean down and offer him a hand. "You coming?" I ask, smiling.

 Shinazugawa hesitates, still looking at the ground, but he finally takes my hand. "I guess I will," he sighs, "I have nothing better to do anyways."

 I grin widely at his words and enthusiastically March in front of him. "Alright then!" I exclaim happily, "Off to the Butterfly Mansion!" 

Art Credit: @YuNkrU2 on twitter