My Sun and Moon (Akaza x OC)

Chapter 22: Ive Been Waiting, Waaaiting

She hadn't known where they were walking to, Nagano merely followed behind Akaza as they had left the area where she had won the challenge the sixth moon had demanded. Akaza hadn't spoken much either after the fight either, other than a few nods of approval and congratulations on how she fought, he remained silent. There was an odd air about him, that much he sensed. Like a rumbling storm settling just over the horizon, the looming of it all had felt threatening enough. It wasn't as if she didn't want to talk to him, ask for pointers on how she might have bettered herself, but everytime she had opened her mouth there had been a hesitation. That perhaps now wasn't the right time. Hell, it hadn't properly felt right to talk so lightly with him the past several days, the tension had never seemed to settle. It was obvious something had been bothering him, perhaps something more than the length of the conversation she had with Giyu. Her questions about his mood had always gone unanswered when she asked him, he'd dismiss her with a wave of the hand and just tell her he just hadn't been in the mood. Which in all fairness, he had his right to. Nagano knew well enough that someone couldn't be happy all the time, there were moments where someone might have a surge of sadness, an unknown anger sometimes might arrive. But eventually, those emotions settled. With this, and what Nagano could perceive by watching him, whatever had tormented his mind was longlasting, as if giving him a constant reminder. He had seemed better when watching her fight, and the few moments after that followed. But with one proper look at her as she talked, she could watch the blanket of the same almost anger-like look flow over his eyes.

Had this mood been her fault?

Had she done something wrong to upset him?

Nagano's hands grabbed at the end fabric of the male kimono she wore, the thoughts one after another nagging at the back of her mind. There was a desperation she had felt, a desperate need to fix it, to make him laugh and smile again. To see the eagerness in his eyes that had been there as they walked around. She was not blind to see the change in his eyes since her stunt with the sun, as if a part of him had changed. Something she had hoped would pass. Though looking at him now, perhaps it might have been the start of all of this.

So perhaps it was..

Forcing the thoughts out of her mind, Nagano instead looked around at all of the rooms as they continued descending flights of stairs or walking along ones that seemed to go sideways. The further they walked in, the more the rooms seemed to be more and more filled. Each of them contained a mass amount of demons, when she had been in the area she had been summoned, it was just out of sight that the rooms could be seen. But being so up close, she was able to get a better look at all of them. How some of them had a look of impatiens in their eyes, eager and waiting. Others she could tell were more eager to get back to killing humans, the hunger in her eyes. The animalistic look that each of them held caused a shiver to run down her spine. If she hadn't won the test of wills, she'd be no different than them. Winning had gifted her her sense of self, her own mind to think and choose on her own.

A gift she would be most grateful for.

She continued following him until she watched him curve to the right entering a larger room, not only different in size but in design. This one looked exactly like that of a large Dojo. It hadn't surprised her when she looked at it all, honestly it only amused her the more. Of course his room would be a large Dojo. stepping away from him, Nagano began wandering around the room, taking in the sheer size of it.

Stopping midway through her examination, Nagano finally pushed past her hesitance and spoke up. "It's been quite some time since we last sparred." Her offer lay hanging in the air, untouched. She narrowed her eyebrows in frustration as she watched him sit down with his back facing her. After his mood had begun to sour, not once had he looked at her. Seemingly acting as if she hadn't been there to begin with. "Would you like to spar? I would honestly like a talk over on things I might have messed up on in-"