Heart Of Fire; Veins Of Ice | Kimetsu No Yaiba Fanfic (Kyojurou's POV)

Chapter 14

He wakes up in a soft futon, eyes wide as he breathes heavily before he calms himself down. Ren pecks at his hand.

Wait. Ren?

He looks down at his crow, who sits on a blanket over his lap, a warm towel over his neck and forehead. Ren wore two splints on his wings, with white bandages as well, and he knew that his crow had been injured.

He gazes from Ren to Masahiko, who sat at a table, and he realises that their location had changed. He was laying down on a futon on a carpeted floor, as he pulled the towel off of his neck and limbs with his hands, only to realise how cold he had gotten. His own skin was icy to touch, and the towel felt like it was burning in his hand. He wrapped one around his neck, as he leaned against the small pile of pillows he had found beside him.

"You are alive!" His crow speaks. He smiles, and with a hand, he reaches out to pet Ren. Masahiko moves from his chair down to him, carrying a glass of water as he kneels down and sits next to him.

"Drink. I have to tend to your wounds," He states softly, as Kyojuro takes the glass from him. He would ask him about the Wisteria incense. And he would hold off drinking the water for now.

"What did you put in the burner?" Kyojurou asks, voice low and dangerous. Masahiko purses his lips.

"Would you believe me if I told you that I never put anything in it?" No. That was impossible. Wisteria was not a flower that that was poisonous to humans. He had never had any allergies to it, and it was only demons that were vulnerable to it. Only demons. Demons. Demons.

Ren looks at him worriedly.

"No...." He mutters, as he fumbles for the bandage over his left eye. Masahiko gently takes hold of his hands, and pulls them away. No. No. No. NO.

But what else could explain how he survived?

"Your left eye is smashed, your ribs are broken, and organs wounded. You can't recover from this anymore. If you were a demon, you would be cured in the blink of an eye. If you were a demon, this would just be a scratch."

Akaza's words ring in his head.

He doesn't even realise how Masahiko picks him up and carries him to the washroom, and lets him sit in a wheeled chair before the mirror and the sink. 

It's cold, and smells of antiseptic and the light scent of Wisteria. He feels like throwing up at its scent. Ren sits on his shoulder bobbing his head as he nestles himself into his hair.

"I was hoping that it wouldn't be the case, but you managed to keep your human side," Masahiko speaks softly, kindly as he lays a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

Kyojuro stares at the mirror, as he tries as much as he can to brace himself. His reflection stares back at him, cold, distant, pensive and waiting. His fingers are cold, as he holds his left in his right, left feeling so much colder than his dominant hand. His bones ache, and each movement is stiff as he wills himself to move.

Masahiko removes the bandage.

He looks at himself in the mirror.

His left eye is of a deep grey, slitted with the faint trace of a silver snowflake in his pupils.

A demon's eye.

The other, irises ringed with gold, his humanity.