A Pretty Face (KNY x Reader Fanfic)

Chapter 24

Daki panicked.

After ripping you away from the screaming samurai, she panted as she tried to figure out how to subdue the crowd that would start screaming at any moment. People were beginning to slowly open their mouths, building something in their throats.

If civilians from outside heard any other source of distress, they'd come flocking. Then, Daki would have no choice but to find somewhere else to live. She liked the Entertainment District. It was familiar. For the last hundred years she had been comfortable in his place.

What if Gyutaro abandoned her for being so reckless?

"My eye! She stabbed my eye!" he screamed, stumbling from side to side. "I can't see...I can't see..."

You were a shaking mess. Daki could barely hold you still. In your hand, you grasped the bloody hairpin and tried to keep swinging it. Splatters of red stained the golden fabric of your kimono.

And then, she felt the presence of her brother. He was watching from the walls. So much anger. For a moment, Daki thought it was directed at her. But then a sudden gust of wind brushed past her shoulder.

More blood sprayed in the air but their bodies dropped too quick for anyone to notice. Even when everyone felt a 'thump', no one knew where it came from. The surrounding samurai had just disappeared.

In the corner, hidden by shadows, Daki laid eyes on her brother. She couldn't ever remember him being this mad. Those two sickles he harbored were completely coated in the sticky substance. Swirls of purple could be seen rising to the skin of the dead samurai. Their bodies had been pushed into the same corner.

As the singular samurai was still screaming, cupping his bleeding eye, Daki felt you shift in her arms. Your shoulder became free as did your hand. The hairpin was raised back into the air, swinging back down towards the same eye.

"Y/N, stop it!" her demon strength was failing. Why was she having such a hard time holding a human still? "Everyone is watching! Do you have any idea what the chaos you've wrought will do?!"

Catching your arm midair again, Daki could feel herself trembling as you continued to fight. Glancing back to Gyutaro, eyes wide and pleading, she desperately signaled for help. Tears brimmed at the surface.

"Everyone, out! We're done for the evening. Go home!" Her loud and commanding voice silenced everyone into listening. People had yet to move. If her they wouldn't listen, and her brother wouldn't help, she'd just slaughter everyone and hope for the best.

Slowly, the crowd dispersed but the whispers grew louder. They still gawked at the injured samurai. He had now began to slouch against a wall, quietly sobbing in pain. What a wussy, Daki thought. You still kept trying to attack him while in her arms.

A few bystanders meekly tried offering help to him, but Daki would snap at them to go away and leave. With their heads bowed, they did as they were told.

When the last guest left, flashing a concern of worry over their shoulder, the doors closed. It was now only the geisha left. In the corner, they stood shaking as fear overcame them.

"You all..." the Oiran shoved you to the ground. Then, she pointed to the geisha. "Go to bed. Retire for the evening. Don't speak of this altercation unless you don't want to speak at all. Am I clear?" She snapped her fingers.

Little murmurs of 'yes' could be heard and then the pitter patter of their retreating footsteps. Now alone, with no witnesses, Gyutaro stepped from out the shadows. His feet kicked at the dead bodies.

"Why didn't you help me, big brother? I-I kept calling for you, and you just—!"

"You had it under control, Daki. Stop overthinking it so much..." Gyutaro walked right past his sister. Crouching down, he helped you rise to your feet. He carefully picked the hairpin from your bloody clutched hand.

"At least thirty people saw that! What if they report this to the authorities?! Lord Muzan won't let this slide." Her true disgust was aimed at the wailing samurai. As if he could feel her staring at him, he turned to face the wall.

Her brother wasn't paying attention at all. Rather, he looked at the bruises beginning to form on your arms from where Daki had shoved you. Even after only happening a minute ago, the purple began to bloom like flowers. He grit his teeth.

You had calmed yourself, but stayed quiet as Daki continued to ramble on about the consequences. It surprised you how she didn't blame you at all. Honestly, now that you were thinking rationally, you weren't sure why you took the leap like that. Something had set you off.

"Why are you crying?" his voice, while still raspy, held a soft tone to it. Using the tip of his nail, he collected a single tear.

"I don't know." Was your reply. Ringing filled your ears. Your fingers felt stiff. They needed to fold back around the hairpin or something sharp.

From down on the first floor, you could fear the creaking of the floorboards upstairs. The geisha were being nosy, listening to who Oiran Warabihime was talking to. None of them even knew who you were. While you fit the part, they could tell something off.

Both you and Daki always felt off to others.

"Why did you do that?" Pertaining to the samurai, you watched Gyutaro shift as if he wanted to walk towards him. But he didn't.

"He reminded me of my place in this world. Not to mention him insulting Daki."

At the mention of her name, Daki halted her continuous rambling and began to stare at the samurai. Closing her eyes, and then reopening them, she saw flickers of a life she didn't want to remember.

He had been standing over her that morning, innocently smiling as he gave her the hairpin. You had left just a few weeks before that. Taking the hairpin, Ume smiled in return.

Hearing her brother's name come out of that samurai's mouth led to the same violence you had resorted to.

Feeling her eyes burn, Daki blinked several times and wiped the pain away. She then looked back to her brother who was still holding you upright.

Her jealousy dissolved as she heard the sound of the geisha upstairs whispering and gossiping. They were too ugly to remain here, anyway. Rats needed to be uprooted from the source.

Glancing back one more time at her brother, she honed in at the sharp look in his eye. It was directed at you.

And then she thought nothing more of it.