In This Life And The Next.... (kokushibo x y/n)

•9•. Frustration

"Am I really that fish?"

You turned around carefully, to see the man you liked so much. He was standing there, hand on sheath, a dominant expression on his face, as he looked down at you.

He seemed to notice your flowing tears and twitched his eyebrows ever so slightly, eyes still fixed on you. You looked up at him, eyes filled with sadness.

"Am I really that fish, you looked so desperately for?" He asked again.

You couldn't think of a response to that and decided to ignore him and started walking away. As you took your first two steps, he grabbed your wrist tightly. With that, he grabbed you back, so fast you fell over. But he didn't catch you, instead he pulled you up with the same hand, so fast you didn't even realise you fell.

"Answer me."

"I hate to admit..."

He nodded slowly at your response.

"Mhm."

You turned to walk away, secretly expecting him to stop you again, but he doesn't. You walk away as fast as you could toward your house. You could feel his eyes on your back.

Michikatsu later left for the woods, his sword with him. It was already sunset when he left, and it wasn't until late in the night when he decided he'd come back.

He unsheathed his sword and held it tight in his right hand. It was a standard katana, which shined bright under the moonlit night. He started training, striking fast and strong blows on nearby dead trees, being careful to hit the dead trees only. His breathing was controlled and enhanced his physical strength to an extent.

Long after the sun set, it gave him a strange feeling of hope. A feeling that he had somehow forged a connection with the night. He trained harder and harder, until he'd reached his limit.

He hated it. He hated that he'd gotten so tired so quickly, when his younger brother could keep it up for days. He hated that he couldn't keep up with his younger brother, the one who should've died. He hated never being a match for him. With these thoughts in mind, he striked a blow so hard, he heard a voice scream.

Shocked, he immediately ran to see who it was. He sees a person, or what looked like a person, who had his arm cut off. He caught his breath. He'd hurt someone. He'll definitely be demoted.

"A-Are you okay?" He asked carefully.

The other 'man' turned around slowly. Michikatsu noticed he had long canines and blood flowing from his mouth. He looked down a little lower to see his hand. It was growing back, and fast, at that. In his other hand, was a human head, seemingly half eaten. At his feet was a body, torn to shreds, like some animal's doing.

The other man's revival alarmed Michikatsu. He pointed his sword at him and spoke, in a monotonous, yet intimidating tone.

"What are you?"

The other 'man' started laughing.

"I don't know about myself. All I know, is that you're now my dinner for tonight."

The 'man' charged at Michikatsu, but luckily, the samurai was fast enough to dodge his attacks. The man started attacking faster and more like a rabid animal. The samurai kept dodging and attacking him. He hit the man with blows so severe, it would've killed a normal human in an instant. Alas, he figured that his opponent was no regular human, but something much stronger than him, with an unlimited strength, stamina and limbs at its disposal.

Michikatsu kept fighting the man till the crack of dawn, as he only possessed a regular katana, which was ineffective on demons. The man started feeling more and more hungry for battle, while Michikatsu kept getting exhausted and forcing himself to fight till the end.

The first rays of sunlight broke through the tall trees and hit the man. He screamed out in pain and anguish as he slowly disintegrated into dust. Michikatsu watched as his opponent faded away upon contact with the rays of the sun.

He slowly got up, but tripped and fell over. He layed there on the ground for a few minutes, thinking.

He felt horrible, as even after reaching his limit, he couldn't eliminate his target. He doubted his skills and criticised himself for not being able to fight.

As his mind kept flooding with thoughts, his vision got blurry and he eventually blacked out.

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A/N : Michikatsu just came across a demon. Though not one of the 12 demon moons, the demon had enhanced speed and strength due to the demon king's blood in him.

Even though he was a strong samurai, he couldn't kill the demon as he had a regular katana and not the nichirin swords used by demon slayers. The nichirin swords and the sun are the only things that can kill demons and due to neither of these being present during his battle, he couldn't kill the demon.

Stay tuned XOXO~~ <3