My Sun and Moon (Akaza x OC)

Chapter 27: Always

The closeness of him grows ever shorter the faster she dodges and weaves through the opened rooms and never ending staircases. Just a little farther. She only needed to run a little farther. She would have gotten there a lot sooner if she hadn't gotten stopped by a few of the lower ranked slayers she had come across. The fear that had wafted off of them being in not only her presence, but within Akaza's as well had been temporarily intoxicating, the animalistic part of her demonic form demanding her to drink it all in. To savor every scent and morsel. Sucking in and tucking away the desire, Nagano pushed off of the ground and lept over them as the two panicked in terror, one nearly fainting. She'd have to apologize for that in the future, if she ever came across them again in the near or distant future. With Akaza not too far behind, Nagano pushed on, closing the distance between her and Giyu with every step.

Digging her heels into the wood, Nagano halted herself just a few feet behind Giyu who seemed locked in combat, his back turned to them as two demons stood in front of him hungrily walking forwards. She watched as his head angled only slightly at the sound of her footsteps, there had been no fear coming off of him. As he always had, he remained ever calm, ready to strike. She watched as the gleeful look in the demon's eyes turned to the two of them, their excitement only brimming at the belief that they had come to aid them in the fight. Based on the already disintegrating corpses beside him, and the other two fighting Tanjiro off to the side, the two of them had been dealing with a small horde of them. These two hadn't been the only ones. Two that she could very well help him kill, turning to face Akaza she watched his eyes narrow as if knowing what she was about to do. With a heavy sigh, Akaza merely returned a look in kind, a reminder that her doing this had a very high chance of not going unnoticed. That she was aware of, he was connected to every single demon that he made. He wouldn't stop her though, the warning had already been given before everything exploded into what it was. This was her choice to make.

Drawing her nichirin sword at her hip, she watched as the demon's eyes changed. The excitement now changed to recognition and then loathing. Some might have the intelligence of a river rock, but these were smart enough to recognize the sword at her side and what it would do.

Snarling in anger, the demon on the right turned his full attention to her, his bright red eyes brimming with hatred. "You would dare turn on us? On your own kind?"

Now it had been her time to snarl, "You have a lot of nerve comparing me to you as if you and I were the same." Beside her she heard a small snort coming from Akaza as he merely watched with the same disdain. Crouching down, Nagano quickly yanked out her sword leaping forwards. "Fourth form, Striking tide."

With two quick strikes, Nagano sliced them in two, their anger roiling as their bodies slowly turned to ash. The one that had demanded her reasoning remained in the world only a few moments longer, the spite keeping him so that he may speak one final sentence. "You traitorous pile of dung."

Scrunching her nose in disgust, Nagano lifted her foot and stomped on the remaining pieces of the demon's face causing the ashes to scatter into the air leaving nothing of the demon behind. With a satisfied huff, Nagano turned to the amused look on Giyu as he raised an eyebrow in their direction. Giving him a shrug in response, Nagano swiftly walked towards him pulling him into a tight embrace.

"Glad to see you're still ok," Nagano had been the first to talk, turning to Tanjiro who had finished killing the ones he had been fighting, she continued. "Both of you."

"Same," Giyu tightened the hug briefly before releasing.

"What's going on? How'd you guys get here?" Nagano asked as she took a step back, Akaza in turn slowly walked to the space beside her.