I Feel You - Gyomei Himejima

Chapter 11

"Kaw! Kaw! Attention!" Gyomei's crow came down from the sky, landing on his shoulder. Reluctantly he pulls away from my shoulders with a small sigh.

"What is it, Zenna?"

"Oyakata-Sama calls for Kuza-sans' presence!" It yells flapping its wings, "Hurry! Hurry!"

Gyomei and I exchanged looks. What could it be that Ubuyashiki would want from me?

"Would you like for me to accompany you?"

"It's fine. I'll be back." I pat his chest as I stood up, "I hope it's nothing serious."

He didn't want to part just yet, but he had no choice; it was the Master's orders.

---

I arrive at the footsteps of Ubuyashiki's open room where his wife tends to him as he stays seated on his bed.

"Kuza." He greets me with a small, gentle smile, "Or shall I refer to you as Hamito here?"

"I'm fine with both." I say kneeling one knee down right at his door, "You called for me?"

"Yes... although it took me a while. I have a gift for you." Ubuyashiki held his hands out and a crow flew in from the window, landing on his fingers, "It's a Kusagai Crow. Your Kusagai Crow."

"That's.... thank you..." I bow my head looking up at the crow.

It looked small compared to the others.

"I named him Mato. He's one of the newest generation of crows and well-trained. However, he was born weak, I will provide you medications for him to intake day and night."

"So you're giving him to me to take care of him?" I raised an eyebrow.

He chuckles, "Yes... I thought it might be a good start to your new life. You have reunited with Gyomei-san, right? After all those years ago..."

"H-How'd you know?"

"I have ears everywhere, Hamito." He smiles softly, "You have daddy issues and mommy issues, and you also lost the ones you tried to raise and protect. Mato will be under your care, and depending on his condition it reflects on whether you have grown from your past or not."

"Geez, right through the heart." I laughed, that's what I like about him, his humor, "Very well, I'll show you that I can take care of a sickly crow."

Mato flew over to me, landing on my arm that I held up for him.

"One last thing," Ubuyashiki speaks, a more serious tone, "I'll be sending you off to your first mission as a Hashira now."

"Right now?"

"Yes, we received urgent news just a few moments ago, there was a demon attack last night in a village a bit far from here. I need you to take care of it. I've prepared a horse for you and Medicine kits. As well as your newly-forged nichirin blade.."

I felt my heart race at the thought of killing a demon. I've only killed one, which was a lower moon, but I did it out of pure hatred. What now if I do it just for a contract? Will I still be able to kill it?

In a few minutes, the horse arrives outside; I make my way over it, determined to follow through with the mission, with a hint of fear behind the facade. Before I saddle the horse, Ubyashiki speaks once more.

"Doubt harbors in your eyes. Remove it. It'll be a hindrance to your mission."

I look at him with a surprised look, as if he could see right through me and what goes through my head. I nod, the fear I had in me slowly drifting away as I took off with the horse rapidly galloping through the air.

It took me the rest of the day until I arrived at the location, the sun was already setting, a perfect time to face a demon. People in the town began shutting their doors as I walked through the streets with my horse. A townsfolk comes up to me with a warning, "You need to leave right now. The sun is about to set."

I hold up a hand mid-air, "It's fine, I'm from the Demon Slayer Corps. Do you know any whereabouts of where the demon last struck?"

"It terrorized everywhere, we believe it's hiding in the abandoned church up the mountain."

I nod, offering a smile, "Thank you. Go and hide along now." I say eyeing her kids back in her house, waiting for their mother. My heart tears a little at the sight of the family. Reminding me of what I once had as well.

I gaze up at the church, taking in a deep breath as I make my way towards it; once I've arrived at the stairs, the sun has set, and the lamps turned on one by one. Revealing a large 2-meter-tall silhouette standing boldly up the stairs.

My eyes are narrowed as I get a better look at this man...

"You're one of those slayers aren't you?" The demon asks mockingly as he holds up a finger, pointing at me.

"Yeah, you're a lucky one running into me." I mocked as well, grabbing my katana out.

"You make me laugh. Humans really are so cute."

"You were once a human as well." I scoff, "Now, are we going to settle this, or are you going to keep yapping?"

He growls in anger and gets on all fours as he rushes towards me, lunging at me. I rolled to the side, standing up, but he slashed his claws at me. He pushes all his strength against me causing me to fall on one knee while I block its claw with one katana.

I took this chance to take out my second sword, which was a bit shorter but designed for sneaky attacks. I use the dagger to stab him in the knee. He roars and tumbles back, limping on one leg.

"Come on you gotta do better after all that big talk," I smirked, closing in on him and slashing consecutively as he dodges and blocks. He growls and launches its claws at me but I stabbed my blade through it, causing it to get stuck.

The demon used this as a chance, moving its claws deeper into the blade, and he yanked it away from me.

"Now you have nothing to fight me with." He laughs.

Mato flies down, hitting and pecking the demon's head to distract him.

"You're truly insane," I smirk, then in an instant, my presence disappeared. My signature finisher. I appeared behind him in thin air and slashed my dagger across his neck, decapitating him. I watch as he chokes on the ground cursing at me as he slowly disintegrates. I huff, he didn't put up much of a fight.

Mato comes and lands on my arm, "Shall I go report to Master Ubayashiki that your mission is finished?"

"Listen to me, Mato, don't ever do that again," I tell him sternly. The crow looked like it shrunk a little.

"I was only trying to help..."

"You risked your life when it's only your first day of work," I say.

"I'm sorry... I won't do it again..."

I sighed, at least he understood, but he was sulking and pouting. Something reminded me of my dead younger brother. My heart tears again...

"Tell Ubuyashiki I'll be back before sunrise."