Outside His Flames - Kimetsu No Yaiba

2. Akaza, Upper Moon Three

Ragged breaths tore their way from Tsukiko's chest. Sweat dripped down her face as she gripped her hair with one hand and her sword to her chest with the other. The feeling of the hand guard pressing into her collar bone was the only thing that tethered Tsukiko to reality.

Tsukiko clambered to the open door only to remember that she was not at the butterfly estate. It had been requested by Oyakata that Tsukiko stay and train with the love hashira for a week. Tanjiro would not be in the next room to hold her until she could breathe properly again. It would be up to Tsukiko to dry her own tears again.

Placing a hand against her mouth, Tsukiko forced her breathing to calm itself but the tears still flowed.

The vision she tried to express to Rengoku had returned in horrible detail. She would have to make him listen. Tsukiko refused to lose a friend like him.

The calm of the night surrounded Tsukiko as she stood leaned against the wall. Wind blew the foreign night gown that Rengoku had gotten for her against her calves. With shaking hands, Tsukiko refastened the sash for her sword around her waist.

Going anywhere wouldn't be possible until she calmed down. To do so she needed to focus on something else. Scanning the estate, Tsukiko saw a light coming from one of the rooms nearby. Two voices drifted from it.

They were faint but Tsukiko could make out who they belonged to. One was Mitsuri's voice, which was not surprising as this was her estate. It took Tsukiko a moment longer to figure out who the other one belonged to.

Mitsuri was talking to Iguro.

'Why would Iguro be here so late?' Tsukiko's brow furrowed as she thought to herself.

She closed her eyes in concentration at the question she posed to herself. Oyakata had been the one to inform Tsukiko that she would be training with Mitsuri. Mitsuri had remained awfully watchful during the past days of Tsukiko's stay and walked by often during the night. As far as she knew, this was the first night that Iguro came to the love estate during her stay.

Tsukiko's eyes widened as a small gasp came from her lips. She had been sent to the love estate to prevent her from knowing about the mission in her vision. She had been sent away to stop her from begging Rengoku not to go.

It felt as if fire had ignited within her stomach. It didn't matter if she was at the love estate now, she would reach him somehow and act as she saw fit.

Immediately Tsukiko began sprinting down the engawa to the front of the estate. Before she could process it, the door with the two hashira inside slammed open. A body sprang out of the room and forced Tsukiko onto the floor. Her arms were spread out to the side of her and her back was weighed down. There was no going anywhere.

Struggling against her assailant only made the knee in her back dig further and the grip on her arms tighten. A pained rasp came from Tsukiko at the force used against her.

"You're hurting her!" Mitsuri's voice was filled with concern.

"I wouldn't be if she would calm down." The serpent hashira responded roughly as he had to hold tighter to the girl.

Thuds sounded around in the night as Tsukiko thrashed her legs about in an attempt to get free. Mitsuri pleaded with the younger girl to calm down.

"Let me go!" Tsukiko barked at her captor. "There's somewhere I need to be!"

"Please try to be calm Tsukiko! We're not supposed to let you leave the estate," Mitsuri patted Tsukiko's head lightly in an effort to cool the girl's temper.

Tsukiko's body froze at the words the hashira spoke. With her forehead pressed into the wood floor she processed the new information. They had been ordered to keep her there. The events of tonight were still going to be left to fate despite what she had said to the leader of the Demon Slayers.