liquid smooth | mha x kny

OOO. THE IN-BETWEEN ?

Pain surged through Makomo's entire body. Her blood boiled within her before spilling out from her torn leg and ripped left arm. Her cries of agony, for help, were ignored as the demon continued to laugh maniacally. Her pain seemed to fill his sadistic desires.

She couldn't die like this! Her life as a Demon Slayer had barely begun. Not yet, not yet!

Panic washed over her body, adrenaline pumping through her lungs. She breathed in, throat aching for hydration. She couldn't bear the pain coursing through her body, but she had to remind herself it would just be a bit longer. She just had to cut off his head. She had to; to exact revenge on the beast that killed her lost brothers and sisters, to avenge the wandering souls of Urokodaki's children.

She gripped her sword tighter, though it was difficult given the sheer agony she was in. Her hands trembled, the steel of her blade glistening beneath the moon. "Wa..." She strained, "Water Breathing! First... First form; Water Surface—"

Unable to finish her sentence, the manic demon laughed hysterically, ripping off her last arm. Makomo tried so hard not to succumb to the pain and death that was knocking at her door. An ear-piercing scream was pulled out of her guts. Still, she slipped in and out of consciousness, barely keeping her lidded eyes open. She was done for.

"Urokodaki..." She muttered subconsciously. Her left eye fluttered shut as her body began failing due to the extreme blood loss. "I... love you."

The last thing she heard was an insult to her beloved master. "What a repulsive name," the demon huffed, distaste seeping through his tone. He clenched his fist tighter, watching as her bones cracked and shattered. She promptly gagged, choking up the last of her blood as she screamed, falling to the ground, unable to stop herself from splattering and passing on.

The pain wasn't kind, but the warmth of Death's embrace as it consumed her entirety was a relaxing type of touch. It welcomed her warmly as her soul shrunk away from her mortal body and beneath the grass of Mount Fujikasane.

Pitch darkness filled what appeared to be her vision. The only way to describe such a tranquil place was to call it still. Not the space, the air, nor time moved; only Makomo stirred, breaking the particles of the frozen world.

Flames erupted on one side, yet a gentle zephyr blew on the other. Makomo sat upright, confused. "Is this... the in-between?"

Urokodaki once told her a tale of a young swordsman who brushed hands with Death. He found himself in a space he called the in-between.

"A place bordering life and death," she mumbled. "A place between both Heaven and hell."

Death was a gentle soul.

Makomo stood up, watching as her astrophysical body reconstructed its lost limbs. She lifted her arms, clenching and unclenching her fists to check her motor skills. She gazed around, taking in the beauty of the in-between.

A world on its own, bridging the two most complicated concepts of the universe together.Why were we born? And why do we die?

Makomo wondered, pondering silently as she stared out into the great unknown before her.

Hell, filled with raging flames and demons, was a thought that made her shudder. It was a place for the souls of the wicked to rest, wreaking havoc in their dimension.Heaven didn't seem that exciting either. It was filled with warm souls with open arms. She could imagine a field of the purest flowers, grown from the droplets of the most sterling water with angels soaring above.

Makomo stared at her hand again.

She wasn't fit for either place.

She wasn't a sinner, who deserved to rot in solitude to atone for her misdoings. She had a kind soul emanating sunshine and did virtually no wrong to deserve such a gruesome fate. On the other hand. in her endeavours to pursue the end of demonkind, her hands were painted red.

While it was true that she was slaying those who were man-eating creatures and a threat to humanity, it didn't erase the fact that the souls she'd ripped out of their bodies were human. Her hands weren't clean from the blood of her tasks.

She pondered her decision for a little bit, but it was as though the in-between chose for her.

Her body, made of air, began dematerializing. Stunned, Makomo attempted to regather the particles missing from herself, frantically trying to piece herself together.

It didn't work, and after moments of futile attempts to keep herself together, she let her arms fall to her sides.

"Let's see what's in store for me," she whispered.

Then, it all went black.

[ authors note ] my girl makomo is sooo underrated despite being a decently strong water breather and i think she deserves some recognition. for context and plot reasons, time in kny and time in mha flow differently! 1 year in mha = 60 days in kny. in this fanfic, makomo is killed around 9-ish years before tanjiro begins training, so the kny universe won't be affected by her disappearance. also, most of the taisho secrets are gonna be headcanons because my baby doesn't have very much written abt her :((

TAISHO ERA SECRET!

Makomo and Urokodaki took time to paint her fox mask together. She designed it after a flower from her family shop she grew up working in. Urokodaki even put small flowers into the rope that tied the mask.