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

Chapter 55

Dinner with Yousuke calms him.

Especially from what happened inside the infirmary, and Yousuke this time ensures that the two of them are given a private room to consume their food, which saves him the time and effort of having to wear a disguise. Still, he has to hide his left demon eye, which he used several bandages to do so.

Kyojuro tries to eat, but strangely he has no appetite.

The miso ramen tastes like ashes in his mouth, the soup, liquid oil, bitter disgusting, and unfit for consumption. The only thing which tastes mildly edible is the two pieces of meat laid over the top of the noodles, covered in small finely chopped green scallions as he chews it methodically trying to make the best out of his meal.

Yousuke watches him subtly, as he too finishes his meal.

No words are exchanged, and yet it seems to him that Yousuke was reading into his thoughts and trying to give him comfort by offering his presence to him. His deep blue eyes are as vast as the bottomless ocean, and now, they were akin to the lulling, calming waves of water against the sand of the shore.

The only time he had ever gone to the beach was when his mother was still in perfect health, and Senjuro was but a small toddler, barely two years of age. He remembers the scenery clearly since it was going to be the only time he would ever head to a port town or such.

"There's a place in this town, which I think would help you clear your thoughts," He speaks, voice soft as his eyes peer into his own. Kyojuro looks up at him.

"It's fine!" He smiles cheerfully at him. Yousuke gives him a smile which tells him that he could see past his facade. It's an all knowing, yet still somehow sympathetic smile, one which only Okayata-sama could ever use. Seeing such a smile on Yousuke's face tells him how much he was cared for, despite his earlier treatment.

He's so tired.

Mentally drained, physically drained as he can't help but stare at his hands where he had been hurt. Himura had removed the knives, and the way he had to will the flesh and bone to knit together, had been harder than he had initially thought. It required physical and mental visualisation and reconstruction, to picture where each muscle, each vein and each tendon was supposed to go.

And it had been talking to him now. His demon side, the entity whom he now knew was a split consciousness from his own.

But it was powerful, and far more skilled and experienced than he had initially even made it out to be. Thinking about what or who the demon was caused a migraine to slowly develop along his head, and picturing her looks or her face was damn near impossible.

And the dreams.

The dreams were....hard to describe.

Or even decipher in the first place.

He willingly agrees to let Yousuke bring him to one of the temples in town.

Stepping into the snow covered grounds of the temple, which has a large arching wooden gate coloured a bright red which had been dulled and worn down over time, Kyoujuro can't help but feel like he's entering another world entirely. Yousuke follows him in, sleeves of his hakamata draping over the ground as he pulled his two toned light and dark blue haori tighter over himself.

Kyojuro walks in, past the row of glowing orange lanterns along the stone tiled path, as snow coats the ground in a thin layer. The trees around them still held their leaves despite the intense snow storms over the past few days, retaining their autumn orange leaves, as the garden and porch beautiful lit with strings of lanterns.