Dancing in the Mist (Demon Slayer / Kimetsu no Yaiba: Tokito Muichiro x OC)

Chapter 4

    "Damn b**ch f**king tries to blame me when she was the godd**n wuss who f**king hightailed it at the first f**king sign of a damn demon?" Kasumi ranted in a monotone as she marched her way up the mountain, her iron grip on Muichiro's hand not loosening in the slightest. "I should've kept the demon alive to eat her ungrateful a**," she sighed, fantasizing about all the ways she could have made the girl suffer.

    "...You sure have a foul mouth," Muichiro commented, a little surprised. Kasumi, if you only looked at her face, looked like a well-bred noble girl who never lifted a finger in her entire life. When she opened her mouth... she sounded like a seasoned yakuza boss.

    "I just hate people who blame other for their own..." Kasumi trailed off, looking into the distance. Her face contorted slightly as she looked like she was in pain. After a short silence, she shook her head and hastened her pace. "What were we talking about again?" she asked, genuinely sounding confused. "Whatever. The summit is right there. I hope there's some fruit left..."

    "..." Muichiro was admittedly confused about her change of subject, but yet again he didn't care enough to pursue the topic. Besides... he, of all people, understood the best how powerless you could be to the whims of your own mind.

    The two amnesiacs walked in silence for a few more heartbeats before their curiosity couldn't take it anymore.

    "What was your name again?"

    "What was your name again?"

    "..."

    They stared at each other blankly before pointing at themselves.

    "Muichiro."

    "Kasumi."

    Reintroductions now past them, the two children then looked at their entwined fingers.

    "Why were we holding hands again?" Kasumi asked, forgetting that she had initiated the gesture.

    "To not get separated?" Muichiro guessed, also forgetting the origin of their situation.

    The pair continued to walk upwards, neither of them being able to muster the willpower to let go. Kasumi was deep in thought, for she was troubled by her inability to remember the name of the boy right next to her. Muichiro... Muichiro. Muichiro. Muichiro, she chanted in her mind, trying to make the name stick. Unconsciously, she reached into her obi and pulled out the black paper fan given to her by Kiyomi. She rubbed her thumb against the wooden frame, reminding herself of the family she needed to get back to no matter what.

    A reminder...

    Kasumi slipped the fan back into her obi, instead drawing out her notebook. Letting go of Muichiro's hand, she grabbed her pencil with her other hand and flipped through the first few pages of the notebook.

    "What are you doing?" Muichiro asked, realizing after a moment that his hand was free.

    "I have a really bad memory, so I need something to remind me of you," Kasumi muttered absent-minded, her tongue sticking out of her lips slightly as she scribbled on an empty page. Her pace slowed down as her pencil flew across the page, eventually stopping altogether.

    After a few awkward moments of Muichiro just staring at Kasumi do her own thing, he looked up and began to cloud-gaze as well as he could at night. Thankfully, dawn was close, so he could see the outlines better. That one looks like a fan... he thought, as his eyes wandered the sky. That one... what was it called again? It looks like a small animal... I wonder if I should ask her. "Kasumi?" he asked, not turning his head from the sky.