𝙠𝙣𝙮, 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙮

16. Alright

Rui woke up to the sound of loud snoring. He sat up looking extremely confused, and then he felt a bandage around his forehead. Soon, the memories of last night's event flowed through his mind and there he saw Tengen sleeping right next to him.

The first thing that came to mind was [name]. Was she alright? And soon he remembered the pleas and cries she managed to choke out when she was supporting the weight of the demon on her back, ensuring that he wouldn't get injured or squished.

"[name]-nee-chan..." he whispered, and soon he felt Tengen shifting next to him. The tall muscular man soon sat up, yawning and rubbing the sleep away from his eyes. He then stood up and stretched, clad in only his sweatpants. He then turned and flashed a flamboyant smile at Rui.

"Good morning, Rui,"

"Good morning, Ten-nii," and Rui soon stretched his arms out and Tengen easily picked up the small boy, and headed to the bathroom to wash up. Tengen then carefully showered Rui, as he knew if he didn't, Rui's wounds would get infected. He carefully scrubbed his hair and Rui sat there, looking blankly as usual for he had just woken up.

Soon, they both got dressed and exited the Estate which belonged to Tengen. Tengen then guided Rui back to the Shadow Estate and soon waved goodbye to the younger boy as he had to head for work.

"Be a good boy alright? I need to head to work," and Rui had on a sad smile as always, for [name] wasn't around to play with him. He soon waved goodbye to Tengen who then ruffled his head and went to meet up with Sanemi and Giyu, heading to work together.

Rui then made his way to where the other children were, and soon he sat down alone on the stairs as he watched the other children play with one another. He wasn't feeling too well to engage with the activities that the children were playing, and soon his eyes lit up.

A string dangled right in front of him, and he turned, only to see Kimiko standing there instead of [name]. Kimiko then smiled slightly and soon sat down beside him, and started to prompt him to play the Cat's Cradle Game with her.

Knowing that Rui wouldn't be able to reject the game, she smiled when he started to move.

.

.

"How is she?" Hazuki asked as he stood beside the bed where [name] was resting on in the Butterfly Estate. Hazaki, his twin brother, smiled sadly as he finished changing the drip into a new bag. He then shook his head and looked at Hazuki with the same pair of dark blue ocean eyes.

"She's going to take some time to heal. She has 8 fractured ribs, it was a miracle that her back didn't break, only her ribs did. But she's lucky that she's still able to walk that is," Hazaki added on and covered [name]'s body with a warm blanket, like how he always does to the other patients who were healing.

Hazuki then nodded as Hazaki left to do his work. The father of [name] then sat down on the chair that was provided and grabbed hold of his daughter's cold hand in his large warm ones.

"Silly, you're still doing the same thing you always did, aren't you?" he whispered. He remembered watching over [name] when he had died. He had watched over the way she handled things, the way she would know when to jump in to save the demon slayers back then.

"Now, it's time for you to live your life. Promise me this, when everything is over, we will all be happy together, just like how we should all be," he whispered and soon planted a kiss on her hand.

He then heard the sound of the door sliding open and in came Rui. He smiled when he saw the latter came on his own and motioned for him to come closer.