NON LEMON-SFW
The sun cast its last golden rays over the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters, the muted sounds of distant training routines fading into an echo. I often found solace in twilight; it felt like a brief moment in which the day whispered its secrets to the night. My name is Frost, a Hashira renowned for my Ice Breathing techniques. At twelve, I was still regarded with wary respect or utter disbelief. The others viewed me as an anomaly—the child prodigy cloaked in icicles who moved faster than light itself.
The moment I stepped out onto the training grounds, my thoughts drifted towards a quote from Dostoevsky: "To live without Hope is to Cease to Live." Hope had become a fragile concept after my family was torn apart; it was easier to rely on my abilities and logic than to build connections with the very people I fought alongside. I preferred solitude, relishing in the cold embrace of silence. But today, something felt different in the air. A tempest was brewing—an inevitable encounter that would shift my icy perspective.
As I practiced my scythe techniques, I barely registered her entrance. Peri burst into the training grounds with all the confidence of a blazing fire, her crimson hair flowing like flames behind her. There was a vibrancy in her movements that contrasted sharply with my stillness. She never walked; she glided, a predator stalking her playful prey, which in this moment was me. The vivid patterns on her uniform twisted and turned, intricate like the very sins she harnessed in her attacks.
"Hey, Ice Queen!" she chirped, drawing close, her voice an intoxicating mixture of mockery and allure. "What's got you looking as cold as the surface of the moon? Need me to thaw you out?"
I barely turned to acknowledge her. "Water freezes at zero degrees Celsius, whereas one's aim in battle shouldn't be good-natured teasing," I replied, my voice as frosty as my techniques. But of course, she continued undeterred.
The warmth of her presence danced around my aura, which I had grown accustomed to shunning. Peri's playful antics teased the corners of my lips, but I fought against such reactions. Emotions were a complication I had learned to sidestep. Yet, she approached me again, inching closer until the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.
"Let's warm up with a little practice," she winked. "I promise to go easy on you... for now."
Before I could respond, she lunged from behind, wrapping her arms around me with the vivacity of a summer storm, startling me out of my focused state. My heart raced—both with surprise and an unfamiliar warmth. "Wha—" I started, but she tightened her grip, and I unwittingly stood still, unsure of how to respond.
A smirk graced her lips. "You know, I can see right through that icy demeanor of yours. Underneath it all, even a glacier might feel a little warmth, don't you think?"
In my moment of vulnerability, I knew I should break free, push her away, but the enigma of her character entangled me. Peri's confidence ignited an involuntary tug at my core—a warmth that felt alien and wonderful.
"Your kind of warmth often leaves burns," I replied cryptically. Dammit, I was falling into her trap; she elicited these riddles out of me, and I cursed my own intimacy of thought.
Finally, she let go, spinning me around to face her. The arrogant gleam in her piercing gold eyes left me questioning the boundaries of my own crafted defenses. Then, almost in slow motion, she leaned in, nearly teasing my resolve into submission.
"Here's something to melt the glacier," she said, and before I could grasp the implications, she leaned in and pressed her lips against mine.
I was utterly unprepared. Time slowed to a crawl, the clamor of my thoughts spiraled as I tried to comprehend what was happening. Every logical reasoning fell away, leaving an expanse of bewildered exhilaration. Fire met ice in a breathtaking clash—a paradox I had never anticipated but one that ignited a fervor I couldn't articulate.
