twenty-nine

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°。

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°。

tengen had let kazemi down after a bit of hassle, and her sword was now safely sheathed. the hashira, and the four accompanying slayers were now about to leave. the wind seemed to grow more vigorous by the second, blowing through everyone's hair.

tanjiro politely cleared his throat, warranting the attention of the sound hashira. the man in question raised a brow, but didn't turn around just yet.

"tengen-san, where are we headed?" the kamado asked, staring curiously at the superior, fixing the straps of nezuko's box in an absent-minded manner.

silence. then, uzui grinned, turning around. he struck a pose. kazemi stared quietly, still upset about what he did to aoi. her brows were subtly furrowed, and she didn't seem to enjoy the nonchalance exuding from the three boys whojjust witnessed that.

tengen began to speak.

"the flashiest place of japan, of course!" he shouted, scaring zenitsu, before continuing, "full of festivities, flashing lights, and girls." he paused for suspense.

zenitsu flushed, while tanjiro and inosuke seemed quite oblivious. zenitsu yelled at them for not knowing. the kinoe, however, was dead silent, figuring out what those words implied.

as kazemi processed that, her expression slowly contorted into something unreadable.

"..."

her heels subconsciously dug into the ground. they didn't feel like the soles of her fighting wear anymore, they felt like zori all over again. floppy, impractical zori. 

her throat felt tight.

no, oh, god. please don't say it. please. her throat tightened bit by bit. she subconsciously held hope that it was another place he spoke of.

"the red light district!"

her mouth ran dry.

as zenitsu filled his two comrades in, uzui watched in amusement. he watched, until his ears caught onto the symphony of strong grief.

"hm..." he mumbled, glancing at the source.

except, it wasn't there.

kazemi was missing.

tengen scowled.

"shit."

°。

after yelling at the three to stay put, he quickly left, less than a blur to untrained eyes. it took a few minutes of mapping out the nearby forestry to find her.

"the hell was that...?" he mumbled to himself, now catching up to the signature he could sense. at last, he jumped down beside it.

he fell silent, a bit-no, immensely confused.

he stared quietly at the curled up girl, raising a brow. he could hear that this wasn't just fear of a mission, it was a lot more. he nudged her with this foot, deciding against outright kicking her while she's like this.

it was a rare sight, really.

"you crying?"

no response. god, uzui needs to rediscuss having children once he's back into contact with his wives. he sighed, continuing to watch her tremble. her head was burrowed in her arms. 

he could hear her erratic heartbeat, as well as the hyperventilating. she was out of total concentration breathing most definitely. he didn't really know how to approach this.

kazemi slowly began to speak, still refusing to show her face.

"find someone else."

uzui sighed, a mix of annoyance and hesitance. not exactly concern, but he didn't wanna say anything to make her worse.

"you're the best option at the moment, believe it or not," he grumbled out, rolling his eyes. more at himself for giving out praise than at the crying teen.

she cuts him off before he can say anymore, raising her head slightly. she glared at tengen. it wasn't a petty glare. no, she was frustrated. despaired.

uzui knew that look. he felt a nostalgic twinge, but ignored it.

"don't care. find someone else." 

she looked to the viridescent blades of grass under her feet, just wanting him to leave. uzui wasn't gonna leave, however. 

even if it absolutely sucked to admit it, she was the next best option after the hashira, since obviously none of them were available. he didn't have documentation or anything, but he would say that she was the best non-pillar in the corps at the moment. 

"why're you so pissy about it, anyway?" he questioned, irritated. he didn't have patience with these damn kids. he never really needed patience in his life, and he most definitely had no idea how to approach stuff like this.

there was silence. uzui couldn't really hear her thoughts, no matter how close he stood.

she spoke up again after a bit.

"i'm not going there."

uzui truly didn't know what to say anymore. what he deduced from that was that she had some sort of experience related to the red light district. he tried not to grumble too loud, for once.

"you gonna avoid it forever, or what?" he made an effort to tone his volume down, but his voice was still in no way soft. kazemi paused, just staring at the verdure, refusing to make eye contact. 

she couldn't explain how helpless she felt right now.

"listen," he continued, internally cringing. it was not his fucking job to coach a little girl about trauma. he kept his tone steady, though.

"practically every slayer has gone through some level of suffering. it's what powers our resolve to kill kibutsuji muzan." he started. 

kazemi remained dead silent.

"what happened to you isn't my damn business, and i frankly don't care." he rolled his eyes again, hoping that some of this was going through.

"what i do care about, is that you don't avoid a battle, just because it's related to whatever the hell you're bawling about."

he huffed, slightly proud of his monologue. 

"so, get up, face your issues, and dice em up with a flamboyant finish."

he waited for a reaction. after a little bit, kazemi stood up on shaky legs, wiping her tears hastily. she kept away from eye contact.

"..."

she got back into the routine of total concentration breathing, adjusting her haori. uzui let her take some time. finally, she slowly spoke up.

"...i'll go."

a smile gradually spread on the hashira's face.

°。

lmk if ooc pls

hi guyss

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what do yall think kazemi is feeling rn? i tried my best to write her reluctance and i hope it wasn't rushed

her full backstory will be in a chapter soon trust

byeee

unedited

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