Lifetime [STOPPED]

IV. Sillage

Tomioka's POV
The past 2 weeks has been, rather peaceful, by peaceful I mean, a tiny and bothersome insect didn't come and pester my life. How I wish it would always be like this.

Of course she can't pester me around, we haven't seen and talked to each other ever since our last mission together.

However, today is a very unlucky day for me, not only did a demon cut my abdominal region, it even left so much tiny scars scattered on my face because of its Demon Blood Art.

This also means that I have to see that tiny yet annoying insect.

I can't do anything about it really. I have to have my cuts and wounds cleaned up and bandaged. Oyakata-sama won't let us, his children, go on missions if we're injured. Not only will it have an effect on our performance when we are slaying demons, but it will also increase the chances of obtaining much worse injuries than the previous ones we had.

When I arrived at The Butterfly Estate, the first person to greet me was the boy whom I've recommended to the former Water Hashira, Urokodaki-sensei, and two more people behind him.

"Konichiwa! Giyuu-san! We were just about to leave for a mission!" Kamado-kun greeted me, "Have a safe trip" I nodded at him then continued to enter into the estate.

"HEY MISMATCHED HAORI! ONCE WE COME BACK FROM THIS MISSION I WILL BEAT YOU!! MWAHAHAHA" a boy with Tanjiro-kun who wore a boar mask shouted at me, I sighed and shrugged it of, "You're so embarrassing, Inosuke" Zenitsu, the yellow-haired boy said while pulling away the boar boy, Inosuke.

While I was walking towards Kocho's clinic, the wind blew towards me leaving a faint whiff of Wisteria Flower scent, Weird, the wisteria tree is across the estate.

I opened the door to her clinic to be met with a small girl with blue eyes holding a medium-sized wooden box, She was the same girl that day. Aoi, was her name, one of Kocho's apprentice.

"Ara~ara, Tomioka-san what happened to your face?" A woman with black to purple hair interrupted my staring contest with the girl before me. I sat down on the chair in front of Kocho signaling her to clean my wounds.

"You should be more careful when you're on missions Tomioka-san" she said while cleaning the blood on my face with a cotton ball, "I could say the same to you" I whispered, unfortunately she heard what I had said. A vein popped out of her forehead causing her to press the cotton ball onto my face harder making me wince and groan in pain, "I am not apologizing for what I did" she smirked at me but she then continued cleaning the tiny cuts on my face.

I could feel her breath fanning my face as she spoke, her figure stilled when she realized the close proximity between our faces, her cheeks and ears turned red and she faced away, "I-it's wrong to s-stare you know" she finally spoke when she had calmed down.

What have I done wrong?

The scent of wisteria was still lingering around, I don't know why, but when Kocho is near me, the scent of wisteria would be evident. I just couldn't put a finger on it.

Why would I smell wisteria if it was across her clinic? Was the wind that strong to carry the scent here?

Impossible.

She eventually finished cleaning the wounds on my face. She left for a while to dispose all of the cotton she used to clean my face.

"Do you still have some cuts on your body Tomioka-san?" She said while she was facing backwards, I hummed in response, "What a clumsy person you are, Tomioka-san" she teased, I shrugged at her statement and I proceeded to take of my haori.

Kocho faced me and once again her face was turning red, "W-what are you doing?" I continued unbuttoning my upper uniform.

She asked me if I still had cuts, yet she's facing away from me?

I had successfully finished taking off my uniform when I walked towards her. I tapped her shoulder to make her face me, when she had finally turned around after uncountable tapping, a tomato looking Insect Hashira was revealed to me.

"Do you have a fever?" I furrowed my eyebrows and put my hand on her forehead, "Y-you baka, I don't have a fever" she removed my hand from her forehead.

She looked over at my stomach, she had just realized that I had a big scar on it, her eyes softened and her lips formed a frown, "G-gomen, I wasn't thinking straight" she glanced up at me, still having a pink tint on her cheeks.

How cute, I thought creating a small smile crawl up on my face.

Wait?! No! She is not cute! She is annoying and noisy, I battled with my own thoughts caused by the so called butterfly cleaning the wounds on my abdomen.

She finally finished cleaning all of my wounds and put bandages around my stomach. I was about to leave when the rain started pouring.

Before I could step under the pouring rain, someone tugged the sleeves of my haori, I turned around to be met with big purple-gradient eyes, "Y-you should stay the n-night, it's raining hard and since... you need to rest" she said while looking at her feet, I nodded at her and returned back in the estate.

"Is nodding all you can do, Tomioka-san?" She asked in a teasing manner, I stopped walking and faced her, "No, I can also breathe" I rolled my eyes, her face changed from a 'happy' one to a menacing one in a split second, "Would you perhaps... want me to change that for you?" She threatened me, "You're too short" I rebutted, "Why you?!" She jumped on me and started trying choking me, "Try harder next time" I said when I removed her hands around my neck, I swear I could see steam coming out of her ears.

We walked towards the infirmary and my mind was still wondering.

Why do I smell the scent of wisteria flowers whenever I am around this woman?

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HELLO!HELLO!HELLO!

Here's the fourth chapter of this book, hope y'all enjoyed it.

Stay safe to all of you!