longing | tomioka giyuu

01

TWO YEARS AGO

"I'm sorry, I cannot take your daughter to be my wife." The girl peaked through the sliding door and saw her fiancé- well, ex-fiancé speak to her mother as he bowed down in respect.

Her eyes began tearing up and she covered her mouth so no one would hear anything.

"She's very clumsy, stubborn and dumb, I can't possibly make her my wife, I want a responsible partner." He continued.

Her mother just sighed in disappointment and nodded, well what else could she say? The girl was basically raised like a princess by her father until he died. Not like she had a strained relationship with her mother, but now she wanted to marry her daughter off as soon as possible so she could settle down. She was the eldest with two little siblings, a brother and a sister. Her mother didn't want the burden of an elder sibling fall on her, so she wanted her to settle down as soon as possible.

This is the 5th time she was turned down because she would always cause some accident. For instance, when one of the suitors came to see her, she spilled hot tea on his father's clothes because she couldn't hold the tray properly.

Such accidents kept happening. This was her second fiancé, the first one didn't even want to marry her because he was in love with someone else.

What happened with this one? Well, she saw an old woman being robbed by men and she went without thinking and caused a fight, her fiancé ended up taking the hit for her, he kept telling her to mind her own business as it could cause problems, but you didn't listen. How could you see an old woman like that? That's when he realised that trouble will only follow him if he marries her.

"I hope you understand." He bowed once more, and left. Her mother just sighed. Her siblings were in the hallway, seeing her sister silently sob on the floor. At this point, she was convinced that she wasn't made for love.

That night, was the last night she ever saw her family ... alive.

As she was sobbing in her room, she heard screams and crashing sounds outside. she immediately got up to see what happened, the whole house was dark, only her mother's room was lit up, and it was eerily quiet. She slowly went there and slid the door open to see her mother, little brother and sister brutally murdered, there were tears in her mother's eyes. That wasn't even the worst part, someone was eating them, She couldn't even comprehend what happened, the thing looked at her, his skin was pale in color, he had three horns on his forehead, and long purple hair. He hurriedly approached her. She screamed and closed the door, running for her life. The thing just busted the door down like it was nothing and chased after her is such fast speed that he was above her head in seconds.

She fell down and accepted her fate, tears streaming down her eyes.

"You must be still young, a young woman is more nutritious than anything else."  The thing manically laughed and approached her. Suddenly, another man showed up with a sword in his hand. The thing immediately backed off and cursed.

"They sent a demon slayer, fuck." A swamp opened on the wooden floor, and the thing fled. The girl was still shocked and started screaming. She thought she went insane. The man turned around and faced her distressed state.

"You're alright now." His voice was so calm, it could put her to sleep.

"What do you mean, my family is dead!!" She screamed on top of her lungs. She broke down and started punching the floor, her life was over. Her siblings were so young, her patient mother, who did everything in her power to make sure her daughter can go to a good home was now gone. The man looked at her in pity, it reminded him of another boy who had lost his family like this, he was lost just like her. He clicked his tongue, how many more innocent people will have to suffer ?

He left the girl and went to look for the deceased so he could bury them.

As both were praying for the dead, the man saw that the girl was still in utter shock, he decided to break the silence.

"Run away from here, it's not safe for you anymore." The girl looked at him, ready to punch him but as she placed her eyes on him, she thought she saw an angel. She didn't notice anything before as she was still in shock. His beautiful blue eyes, his demeanour, everything a man is supposed to have. She was in awe. The man waited for an answer as he saw her staring with wide eyes, he was ready for her to come at him from the way she was looking at him, but unbeknownst to him, she was admiring him.

"W-where will I go...?" The man didn't expect such a calm reply.

"I don't know." The girl looked back at the graves of her beloved family and smiled. She accepted her fate.

"I see. But... What was that...?"

"A man eating demon, they always target at night as they can't stand the sunlight. Since you were targeted, there's still a chance that it might come back for you." He explained.

"And you are supposed to kill them?" She asked. He nodded in response. The man then decided to leave.

"W-wait!" The girl walked after him. The man stopped in his tracks not facing her.

"I-I want to be one of you." A feeling of rage lit up inside the man, he clicked his tongue. In seconds , he was in front of her, she lost her balance and fell. He was looking at her with disgust and anger.

"Look at you, you're pathetic, all you did was run from that demon, you can't even keep your balance, how will you fight a demon??? All you did was shout and cry." He screamed at her. The girl was shocked.

"You're so weak, have you seen yourself?? The weakness is all over your face. You can't fight demons, they'll laugh at you." He continued. He didn't want more people to die, this was his way to discouraging her, and he was right, the girl was physically weak. Tears streamed down her eyes once more, making the man sigh.

The man left, he didn't even tell his name, leaving the girl with no words to express herself.

She was only 16 years old back then.

PRESENT

Now, she's 18 years old. She changed herself. Her long and beautiful hair were no more, now they were short, almost touching her shoulders. She was wearing some sort of uniform along with a blue haori and carried a sword with her.

"Caw Caw!! Caw Caw!!" She looked at the blue sky looking at a crow approaching her.

"North-East!! North-East!! Rumours of a demon lurking around." The crow sat on her shoulder and screamed right in her ear, making her scream in return.

"Got it! You didn't have to do that..."

She headed to the destination with her crow.