𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐝 | 𝐤𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐬𝐮 𝐧𝐨 𝐲𝐚𝐢𝐛𝐚

三

When Satsuki returned from the mountain on that very same day,she didn't head back to where Rengoku is but instead,she embarks on an impromptu journey to see her old master that she never had got the chance to see him in those two years.
  Before she take on the Final Selection, she had sent a message with the help of Kyōjurō's companion to deliver it to him because after all,he is the first teacher she most respected ,the teacher who has been with her through her thick and thin conditions.

Despite in her battered condition and dirty form,she drags herself through the rough roads until she finally arrived at the foot of Mount Sagiri.
  With the small house and a smell of faint fire wood from a chimney she follows it,dragging one of her feet where she felt a bone broken around her ankle.

Without a single step,she know that he knows of her presence here and if he refuse to greet her it is fine but she just wanted to tell him the urge she had been concealing inside of her all along.

She reaches for the door,sliding it open slowly and the smoke with a smell of food welcomes her sense of smell but most of all,him.

She panted, "I know you hated when my breathing is messy," She began,guessing that her heavy breathings right now sounded very annoying and loud,remembering how he would always hit her head upside down to breathe them out slower and quieter.

"But Teacher.."
The end of her lips curved to a grin,

"I made it."

With one last consciousness, Satsuki's body fell forward but she senses his heat in front of her to catch her before she can hit the ground. Her muscles instantly relaxed and her mind went blank, the strength sapped out off of her.

"It's been a weary journey." His hoarse voice soothe her,allowing her to close her eyes.

"You have done very well,Satsuki."  His rough hands rubs the box of her head,pulling her to his parenting-love embrace that she had missed throughout the whole years.

"Thank you for coming back to us."

She didn't hear a sob coming from his mouth; but she is sure as at the same time a streak of tear stroll down her cheek, his has done the same too.

————

"I see,so that's what happened."

Satsuki sat across from Urokodaki after telling her the journeys she had encountered with all kinds of demons,particularly the particular one that stands out.

"What else did he say?"

"That he is part of a demon's organisation called the Twelve Demon Moons. I tried asking Kyōjurō about it but him being a Pillar,it is to remain a confidential."
  At the back of her head she recalled of arguing with the flame swordsman just for him to spill some hints to her but refuse by saying she is still a rookie,too fast to learn about it.

And she pulled a prank on him that night.Hmph,secretive my arse.

Sensing his silence, Satsuki knows a man like Urokodaki must know something,

"They are...something,aren't they,Teacher?" she asks carefully.

"I told you to stop calling me that."

"Ah,sorry. Then,Urokodaki-san?"

In the end,he explained to her everything he knows about them-how they are divided into two class the Lower and the Upper which she can already guessed the Upper ones consist of the strongest demons while the Lower ones' power are limited and the positions themselves has changed over the past of hundred years.
  However the Upper ones...she need to watch out.