Love me as i am (Genya x OC) (Light in the dark remake)

2

[Two weeks after the events of chapter 1]

Third person

     Death, thats what Saori thought she was feeling. She felt... safe. Her pain, while stil present was manageable. She opened her eyes slowly, confused to see that she was inside in what looked like an infirmary. She slowly slid out of her bed, she limped to the wall leaning against it for support so she didnt fall. She walked towards the muffled voices of what she assumed was people, she just prayed that it wasnt the voices of cult members that had found her and brother despite how far they had traveled from the temple just to get away from the possibility that they could be found.

     She came to a shoji door that opened by a crack. She leaned out from the wall, looking through the small crack of the door. She saw two women, on was a short girl that looked to be around her sage maybe a bit older. She wore a white haori with a butterfly like design going down the bottom, the leg warmers had the same patterns. Her hair was short, black faded to purple at the ends and held up in the back by a butterfly clip. The other one was slightly taller, she looked... kind. Her eyes were a deep red eyes, her was long, jet black with dark red streaks in them, her hair was tied into two braids. 

     The taller woman looked away from the smaller woman to the shoji door, she must've seen Saori peaking through the door cause she started walking towards her. Saori started moving as quickly as she could to an empty room, she tripped over her own feet which were starting to go numb, running into a table and hobbling over the other wall to keel over in pain. "Why are you out of bed, you're nowhere near healed enough to be on your feet." The woman said, helping Saori up. She sounded so much like the woman who they heard in the cave, she tried shying away but her feet were so numb she couldn't walk. The woman helped her back to her bed, sitting her upright so they could talk eye to eye.

     "Are you feeling alright?" The woman asked, sitting on her bed. Saori nodded, still to not sure if she was able to speak. "Im glad, when i found you and the boy you two were quite injured. Im surprised the kakushi got you two back here so quickly." She said, patting Saori's shoulder. Saori opened her mouth as if to say something but stop just short as she had not been given express permission to speak. "You dont have to be afraid to talk, you can speak if you like." She said, placing her hand on Saori's cheek. 

     It was like a switch flipped, as soon as she was told she could talk she asked her first question. "Where's my brother?" She asked, looking around the roommate and not seeing him. The woman didn't answer, she just seemed a little shocked that Saori felt as if she couldn't talk unless permission was given. She got up and walked to the other side of the bed and pulled the curtain to the side to  reveal Isamu, who was still asleep with bandages around his head and his foot hanging off the bed and submerged in warm water.

     Saori got up immediately, rushing over, and pushing the table holding bowl of water to the side, knocking it over. She sat at his side, holding his face and checking if her was still breathing. To her relief, he was. She just hung her head, before remeber the bowl of water she so carelessly knocked over. Her brain immediately kicked into overdrive and she started profusely apologizing as the girl with the butterfly clip came in, hearing the commotion. "Im sorry! Im sorry! I didn't mean to, i can... i can clean it up!!! I fix it! I promise!!" She said repeatedly, down on her knees and covering her head.

     It was becoming painfully obvious to the two other women that whatever these kids went through had traumatized them deeply. "It's alright! Its alright! It was an accident, you're ok." The shorter woman said, pulling Saori closer to her, holding her face in both hands. Saori noticed the woman's eyes, they looked kind but behind them... was anger. This caused Saori to flinch, and hide behind Isamu's bed. "Shinobu, let me try to calm her..." the now only unnamed woman said, walking over slowly and sitting down on the bed empty bed beside Isamu. Saori pushed away from the woman, scarred that she would be punished like she was in Divine United. 

     "My name is Akari Kamado..." she said very simply, gesturing to Saori to speak knowing she wouldn't get a word out of her otherwise. "My name is Saori Hayashi..." She said, standing up quickly and pointing to her brother who was still unconscious. "Thats my younger twin brother, Isamu Hayashi." She said, still feeling as if she had done something wrong. "Sit, you do not have to worry. You have done nothing wrong." Akari said, patting the spot next to her. Saori immediately sat down, not making eye contact... she only looked at the ground. 

     Akari couldn't help but feel sorry for her.God knows what these poor children went through, for all she knew they could've been dragged through all 9 circles heel and back up again by their hair. These kids were traumatized, she could tell just from what she's seen from Saori. "Saori, i want you to know that you do not have to be afraid. We arent gonna hurt you here, and you can ask whatever questions you like." She said, cupping the young girls cheek to make her look up at her. "Is my brother gonna be ok?" She asked, truly very worried about him. 

     Akari looked to Shinobu, who was placing Isamu's foot back into a fresh bowl of warm water. "He will be fine, he sustained frostbite. You did as well but yours wasnt as bad. Since he was waking in the snow for so long, his feet were starting to turn black, i am simply trying to get them to a point where he can walk on them. He sustained a head injury, likely from a fall from high up, it doesn't look like he sustained any brain damage. The worst of part of his recovery is over, but he has sustained permanent nerve damage in his Achilles tendon and likely will suffer with foot pain for the rest of his life." She said, it put Saori at ease to know her brother would live.

     "Where are we?" she asked, very curious to know. "You are in the butterfly mansion, the recovery house for demon slayers and people who are critically injured due to demon attacks." Akari replied, leaving Saori confused. Butterfly Mansion? Demon slayer? Demons? She had never heard of such things, anything not approved by the cult for teachings was strictly banned and forbidden. Saori had so many questions, and Akari and Shinobu answered every single one of them without hesitation.

~Maybe Saori and her brother were gonna be safe here~