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

Chapter 21

Warning: Gore, Mentions of self harm and violence. You may skip to the end of the chapter, in which a summary of what happened will be provided.

He requests a blade from Masahiko, who calmly accepts his request without question.

He's glad for it.

He knows he needs to think through his plan for more thoroughly, and he finds the blade by his bedside in the morning.

It's a silver wakizashi, with a carved wooden hilt, and a sharpened blade. Its cold, light and yet strangely heavy in his hands. A short sword, and its hilt is made of reinforced lacquered wood, he draws the blade out as the light glints off of the blade in a sharp glare.

He knows this is going to be the worst thing he's ever done to himself.

If he reopened his wound, and forced his body into a survival mode, the regeneration should kick in, and heal his wounds.

He takes the blade and stabs it into his left hand in one swift movement. 

Fuc-

The resulting pain blossoms in the palm of his hand, like a lotus flower on the lake. Blood trickles down the side of the blade, as he immediately pulls it out once he has managed to burn away the shock which was currently flooding his systems. 

He tightens his grip on the blade, as the scent of his own blood fills the air. 

This was nothing compared to the wounds he had received before in his fights.

And yet....

It stirs up a wave of emotions within him. Two conflicting tides, one telling him that this was necessary, and the other, was to stop. 

The wound heals, as he stares at it intently.

Flesh knits itself together, as his skin closes up and leaves not a single trace behind.

He glances at the window, his left eye staring back at him with cold inhumanity. 

If he fails, he's going to die. He's strangely uncaring of this. Not dying the first time has made him more daring, he supposes, as he looks at the blade. His mind is strangely clear, as he contemplates his choices. He unravels the towel around his left eye, as he faced the window, kneeling on the floor.

He breathes. A reminder he's powerless. His legs are unfeeling. He was useless. He claws away the emotions which clouded his mind.

Seppukku.

He'd never thought about it, not once in his life.

He removes his shirt, as he opens it up, revealing the bandages around his wounds. He unravels them, as he wraps a towel around the hilt of the blade. He steadies his hands as he grips the blade, eyes focused.

The wound is a gaping hole in his chest, blood and whitened veins the colour of permafrost trailing from the wound, as ice seemingly holds it in place. In the reflection, he sees torn muscles, bleeding organs, and white frost over his wounds. 

It freezes his blood, prevent him from bleeding out and dying, and yet truly living. It numbs his pain, and yet replaces it with its own, dull, continuous and ever growing cold. He suspects this is what prevents him from using his breathe of flames.

He steels himself.

Outside, snow falls down, light as he sees a reflection of himself in the pane of glass.

He remembers, on the ceremony to become a demon slayer, he had sworn to kill any demons he saw.

He breathes, as he sets the cold metal on his skin.

He needs to do this.

And plunges it in.

Summary

Kyojuro tries to fix his wound by using the demon's regenerative abilities within him to correct the injury Akaza had given to him, and only be reopening the wound is he able to ensure that it heals in the way it would allow him to. 

Explanation

'It freezes his blood, prevent him from bleeding out and dying, and yet truly living. It numbs his pain, and yet replaces it with its own, dull, continuous and ever growing cold. He suspects this is what prevents him from using his breathe of flames.'

- The incompatibility of him and the demon within him, which is not an ordinary demon. It holds the element of frost and snow, Kyojuro's polar opposite in all aspects. It may seem to hamper his own efforts, but it is also trying to keep him alive.

- Also do watch out for the diction of cold and warmth. They represent the different sides and the current states of both sides.