Strange Feelings // Mitsuri x Fem Reader // ON HIATUS

New breathing style

I stared confused at the strange man before us as Mitsuri squealed excitedly and greeted the mysterious figure. I smiled softly at her cuteness for a moment before regaining my cool, but not before this caught the eye of the man in front of us. I looked away, pretending I wasn't staring at Mitsuri.

"Wow, so cool! You are Rengoku's friend, Uzui Tengen, right?" She said excitedly as the man let out a cool laugh and struck a pose. Luckily, he seemed to brush off my awkward glance earlier at Mitsuri, who obliviously didn't notice, again. I let out a silent sigh of relief.

"Why yes, that's me! The flashiest Hashira, Uzui Tengen!" He proclaimed proudly as he crossed his arms. He was very muscular and flamboyant, but in a good way. I smiled as I approached him cautiously and stood beside Mitsuri.

Before I could introduce myself, a loud laugh from our master Rengoku was heard as the doors to the estate opened with a large burst of flames around it, and a proud smile appeared on his face.

"Ah! Uzui! You finally arrived. I see you have met my tsugukos, allow me to introduce you!" He stated excitedly as he came behind Mitsuri and I, placing on his hands on each of our backs. "This is Mitsuri Kanroji and this is Y/N L/N. I'm grateful for you coming to assist me in my teaching of our newest demon slayers!"

Tengen let out a smile and properly introduced himself to us. I smiled as he used what I assumed was his gentlemanly charm, but I just wasn't interested in such things. I pulled my hand away before he could kiss it. He let out a smug smirk before redirecting his attention back to Rengoku. I looked at him a bit suspiciously from his smirk, wondering what on earth he could be thinking. 

"Well then, now that introductions are out of the way, how about we get started?" Tengen shouted while crossing his arms flamboyantly. Rengoku smiled proudly before going to his porch to observe us from afar for our special tutoring session.

Mitsuri and I both nodded seriously as Tengen asked us to demonstrate our current skills with flaming breathing. Tengen jumped backward a good distance away as Mitsuri and I picked up our new katanas. We faced each other in our fighting stances seriously and nodded when we were ready. I tried to control my rapidly beating heart as I stared into her bright green eyes.

 We demonstrated just as Rengoku showed us, but it felt like I could do so much more somehow. Still, we did our best and were able to show off all forms of flame breathing. We also sparred briefly causing our katanas to let out a loud clash. When I looked over at Mitsuri, she had a slight frown as she was staring at her now slightly chipped katana. 

"Well then, I'd say that is quite impressive for a couple of newbies, but no doubt it could be improved upon. Tell me, how do you feel when you perform flame breathing?" Tengen asked us as he placed his hand under his chin, listening closely to our responses. 

Mitsuri looked up at him excitedly as she started to move her hands in strange circles and dance around while explaining her feelings while using flame breathing. 

"It's like CHIIII then it goes WEEEEEEEEEEE until I feel like my lungs are about to explode and I hear a WHIZZZZZ and CRACKLE CRACKLE CRACKLE until my entire body is aching!" She exclaimed as we all just stared at her blankly for a moment, trying to process what just happened.

I was the first to break the awkward silence as I saw Mitsuri suddenly blush deeply in embarrassment for her childish ways of explaining her feelings using flame breathing. I laughed happily as I saw her turn to me with a shy smile, but I couldn't help but feel my eyes well up with tears at how adorable she truly was.

"T-that's one way to put it!" I managed to spit out while laughing before the other men started to laugh too. Mitsuri turned her head in shame as I regained my composure. "For me, it feels like I could do much more. It's like I am missing a 'click' that feels right, instead of just okay."