My Brightest Flame (Rengoku X Reader)

Chapter 37 - Judgement

A/N: This was the only way I could think to have y/n interact with all the hashira xD I hope it worked out.

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The sky was slightly lighter, the sun tempted to peek out. Both y/n and Kyojuro had almost made it to the headquarters, which were quiet. It wasn't usually this quiet, but they must have been really busy lately. It felt awkward for y/n, killing slayers definitely didn't help them...

Worried about the reactions of people around them, y/n looked to the flame hashira for security. His jaw was clenched, his expression tense as he didn't dare to meet her gaze. Frowning she looked ahead, trying to see if there was a threat he had noticed that she didn't see yet. The most movement she saw was the leaves slightly moving in the wind, nothing compared to the snowstorm they had previously fought in. Crickets chirped as they continued in silence.

Snow was hard to walk in and part of y/n was grateful to have left the mountain area they just were at. She was able to detect more, although right now she couldn't see anything that would be of concern.

"Are you okay?" Y/N spoke, the confusion clear in her tone as she watched his expression again. He only turned slightly, enough so she couldn't see what he was feeling.

"Yeah...Fine."

Moments before they crossed over into the safety of the corps headquarters, y/n learned that everything was not fine. Due to her blind trust in Kyojuro, she reacted too late as her face hit the dirt below her. The impact removed the air from her lungs as she gasped, cringing at the pain that burned through her. What was going on?

"Was that amount of force necessary, Shinazugawa?" Y/N remembered enough to know who the hashira's were, the monotonous voice of the water hashira shocked her still. What scared her more, however, was that the wind hashira was the one who had her pinned to the floor. That explained why it was so painful. She was sure, no one hated demons more than him...

"You want to go easy on demons? That's why no one likes you!" The wind hashira yelled back, pushing the demon further to the floor, effectively making a dent in the ground.

"...What?" An argument continued after that the demon chose to ignore, finding herself entirely stuck. Feet were the next thing she saw as she attempted to look up to the guilty expression of the flame hashira.

"I'm sorry, y/n. Please comply, it will be okay." He reassured, his voice a pathetic attempt to be soothing compared to what it usually was. "There was no other way."

Rage boiled inside y/n as she growled at him. How could he say that? "You-"

"Who said you can talk, scum!" The only person angrier than her was the wind hashira, lifting her just to push her to the ground with even more force. The pain overwhelmed y/n's ability to talk, her anger fading to the pain of betrayal as she silently obeyed the hashira around her as they forced her forward and into a completely dark cell. There were no windows and the bars were polished with wisteria infused chemicals. She was trapped.

At first y/n had wanted to cry, scream and let out all the rage and pain she had felt from being betrayed. She had agreed to come peacefully, she had no intent of hurting anyone...After a while however, she began to think clearly. Of course they wouldn't want to take any chances. Even so, understanding that...Why could Kyojuro just have been honest?

Hours passed by, feeling like forever. Y/N paced back and forth, bored out of her mind as she tried to understand why Kyojuro would have done this rather than just tell her. The fact that they didn't try to kill her right away meant that what happened to her was up for debate...She had to form a plan of what to say in her mind. If she wanted any hope of surviving then she needed to think of the best things to say. A shaky breath left the demon as she tried to imagine what questions she might be asked...The fight with Akaza, they would definitely ask about that. They might ask what happened after, if she came into contact with Muzan. What would she say then? They'd ask for his location but she couldn't share that.