𝗕𝗥𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗗𝗘

20

ıllıllı 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙥𝙞𝙣  ıllıllı

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

A week later, she woke up feeling as if something had been physically ripped from her body. Her entire being felt muted. Dulled. Half-empty.

Like something was missing.

She felt the continuous hum of pain as she lied in the recovery room of the Insect Hashira's estate. Her head was fuzzy, and she couldn't make out shapes in the distance. Her head couldn't make out the words she was trying to think. Her hands couldn't make out which way to move. She blinked a few times, trying to clear the disarray, the fogginess, the perplexity.

"Kyojuro..." she grunted in pain. Her entire throat felt like it was on fire. And then, it all came rushing back to her.

Akaza.
The battle.
Kyojuro.

How he held her hand and kissed her forehead before she passed out. How he felt so cold and lifeless. No one else was in the room with her. And it hit her like a boulder to the head.

Kyojuro Rengoku is dead.

Her lips trembled and her body began to heave. Silent, hot tears slid down her cheeks, and she attempted to roll over in bed to bury her face in the pillow. With the pain in her back, it was almost impossible. But that didn't matter now that he was gone.

She wanted to curl up into a ball and drown in her self-loathing. She hated herself.

I wasn't able... to save him. I should've moved faster. I should've jumped in sooner. I should've just picked him up and ran like hell out of there. I should've done something. But now he's...gone. And it's all my fault.

Everything is my fault.

She couldn't even bring herself to think about it. She cried and cried for what seemed like hours, holding herself in her own barren, cold arms for comfort.

She had lost her first friend. Her first ever friend that had cared for her. They had known each other for a month and a half, but that was the most attached she had ever felt to something— or someone, for that matter, in her entire life. And now she felt dead without him. Like a moth to a flame, but now her flame was gone. And she didn't know where to go next. He always was the one who guided her here.

He was the one who showed her the Corps. He was the one that encouraged her to become a Hashira. He was the one who believed in her, and set her heart ablaze with a new passion. He was the first person she ever... fell for.

So she cried.

She cried until her eyes felt dry and her body a withered husk. She cried until her throat burned like acid and her body shook no more. She cried until she closed her eyes and dreamed of a life she wished she was able to live.

A life with him.

•••

Y/N awoke again two days later. She got out of bed, and looked herself over. She had bandages wrapped around her chest, and patches on her face and arms. She had multiple bruises and cuts on her skin that would leave scars. She knew the one on her face, which went from the right side of her eyebrow down to the hollow of her cheek, would scar especially. But maybe Shinobu had something to help with that.

Walking was difficult. But she still had her stamina in check. Moving was easy. Sure, it was extremely painful, but she could still move. She could sprint (aka teleport), jump, and crouch. She did notice that the wound on her back would reopen easily. The glass really did a number on her.