Wisteria

02

The two demon slayers return to the headquarters. Sumire is beyond pissed, he had used her as a diversion to kill the demon. Sure the demon is now dead, but she is now severely wounded and he hasn't got a single scratch on him. Of course she could have easily killed the demon herself but that would blow her cover.

She starts to walk ahead of him, wanting to get back to her small quarters before he has the chance to invite her to his mansion to do training. She speed walks at full speed and is almost out of sight when a crow circles above them.

"Caw! Hashira meeting! Meeting with the master! Caw! Sankocho Sumire and Tomioka Giyu"

Smoke starts to rise from Sumire's head, she is beyond frustrated at this point.

"ARHG." She stomps her foot into the pebbles that decorate the garden and angrily follows Tomioka as he walks towards the Master's house. She had a fairly large wound across her abdomen, though it was shallow it stretched large enough.

Tomioka stops to the side, just away from the rest of the Hashira who have already arrived. Though she was absolutely out of it Sumire steps forward to bow to the eight others.

She does the full 90-degree bow five times when blood from her wound starts to visibly seep through her demon slayer uniform, her mismatched royal blue, and patterned haori covering it. She carries on and by the eighth and final bow, blood is staining the white pebbles beneath her feet in steady droplets. No one notices and she doesn't make a move to acknowledge it. She steps back to just behind Tomioka and waits for the master.

'Eh, the little creeps have appeared.' Sumire tries not to look away from the white-haired doll things as they introduce the master. Everyone is deadly silent as they help him walk to the edge of his threshold. Sumire has only ever sent mission reports or information to the Master, she had never met him in person.

She can tell that he is blind but chooses not to have any reaction to it. She just bows along with everyone else, but slightly behind the line. He smiles lightly at everyone in front of him.

"My children, it is nice to see that we have not had any personnel changes since the last meeting. But it would seem that we have an addition to the ranks?" He turns to make eye-contact with Sumire, though he can't see, he has pinpointed her immaculately.

"Yes Master, she is under intensive training to take the next spot as Hashira, you gave her permission to attend the meetings." Tomioka doesn't look up from his spot, he just speaks to the ground, emotionless as always.

"Ah yes, Violet." He nods along, many of the nine glancing at her. "Sankocho Sumire."

Only now does Sumire glance up, noticing that he is still looking at her, she gives a slight smile before looking down again.

"Tell me Sumire, do you like flowers? Or do you dislike your name enough to change it."

Many would be confused by this question, but Sumire knew exactly what he was getting at, so she gave back the most neutral answer.

"No Master, I enjoy flowers. They are peaceful." Tomioka pinches her leg, making her grit her teeth and mutter profanities under her breath.

"Hm? Then why do you get upset when Giyu calls you Fuji? I heard the others talking about it before I arrived."

Sumire has never had such hatred radiate from her soul. She cocks her head to the side to look at the Hashira who were all looking at the ground still, many holding in chuckles. She looks back to the Master.

"Master, that's just simply because it is not my name."

"Is it not?" Sumire is confused by this man.