At Nightfall, An Akaza x Reader

18. I am not weak

The slayer was battered despite how much the upper moon held back. He looked like he was trying to think of how to change his strategy to take you both down.

Akaza shifted out of the way as you walked up to close the space between you and the human. You took a moment before you came at him. You were much more focused now, managing to block more of his blows than before. Something about the strife, the risk of it all, brought a smile to your face.

The demon slayer managed to get you to back off of him, his chest heaving. He took a moment to recooperate as you charged him and took the opening between your attack to cut across your abdomen. He nearly cut you in half, but you managed to pull back enough to prevent that.

Biting back the pain, you felt something. Flowery pupils shifted to the slayer who was coming at you, your brows furrowed as you straightened up, your hand stretched out in front of you,

"I am not weak."

Blood demon art: Iris blizzard

A large snowy iris erupted between you and the slayer. As you closed your fist, the petals dispersed and shot towards him, slicing up his body in the process.

Embolded by your new ability and the leverage it gave you, you went after him. He was struggling to stay up, but his determination wouldn't waver. Such a display made you want to fight him more to see who's will to live was greater.

You kicked him down to the ground laughing quietly. "I almost feel bad. You put up a good fight for your life," you sighed as you grabbed his sword arm and tore it from his body. You watched as he writhed and screamed, his other hand trying to claw himself away.

"N-no, I have to save him," he wheezed as he tried to suck it up and keep going, but was quickly quieted by his own blade being impaled into his abdomen.

Once you were sure he was dead, you pulled the weapon out of him and tossed it aside. You craned your head back to look at Akaza, a smile stretched on your face as you looked at him. He slowly approached you as you began tearing into the flesh of the arm you held. You were hoping for praise of some kind, but you were met with--

"Baka, baka, baka!" His fist softly hit the top of your head over and over. "You're too cocky for someone as weak as you are. Always be focused on your target and surroundings." He scolded.

You whined as he bonked your head, "Akaza!-" you were about to retort, but he cut you off.

"But, You finally managed a blood demon art, And a strong one at that. Good job," a smile twitched at his lips. You puffed your cheeks at him as you continued eating.

"You're an ass," you grumbled as he wrapped an arm around you, his face moving in closer to yours. 

"Am I now?" His tone was testy at best. "You're the one who got severely injured by a single slayer, one who wasn't even a hashira, mind you," he gazed down at the arm you kept eating and your mouth.

You narrowed your eyes at him as he tilted your head up and closed the space between you. Your eyes clamped shut as he kissed you, your body trembled gently as his tongue slipped into your mouth. You huffed as he tasted the blood in your mouth, letting him continue for a moment before you pulled away. 

"You're fully capable of going over there and eating some of his body, why are you insistent on stealing from me?" You gave him a quizzical look as you poked at his chest, which earned you a quiet chuckle.

"It's fun." He snorted, leaning in close to whisper, "And I rather enjoy your reactions to me slipping my tongue between your lips." His statement earned him a rather harsh hit to the chest before you turned away and scampered to the body to continued eating. Your ears were a dead giveaway to your reaction, as they had turned red.

"Mm, did I misspeak, Y/N?" He chided as he followed you to the deceased slayer and sat beside you.

"Keep at this and I'll give you a reason to stop speaking," you warned as you worked on breaking down the carcass. You held no real threat,  but it was enough to tempt the demon.

"Will you now?" His gold eyes trained on you while he ripped his own bite from the human. He leaned as if offering it to you. "You should eat more first. You won't get any stronger if you don't."

You pushed his face away gently, "Get away from me then. I'm perfectly capable of feeding myself. "

You were left alone for a moment, which allowed you to eat a sizable amount, but then he was back in your face. "Y/N. You should consider it a privilege when I offer food to you. "

"Is it also a privilege to be able to finish a meal in peace?"

That earned you a baffled look. "You really should be careful with that bark of yours," he murmured as he reached towards you to push the stay hair from your face, "especially if you don't have much bite to back up against it-" As he was pulling his hand back, he froze upon your immediate response-- which was to whip your head towards him and sink your teeth into the junction of his thumb and index.

He blinked at you for a moment before he let his lids lower slightly. There was an air of silence as you both sat there and stared at eachother.

It took you a moment to release your bite, having realized what you were doing to make him look at you in such a way.

He licked away the blood you managed to draw before he changed his seating postion to sit cross legged. He then propped his head up on his fist and turned his gaze away from you. You could tell he was mulling over reasons why he shouldn't kill you or why your action made his ears tinge the slightest bit of red.

Once you finished the slayer, you bounced to your feet with a grin. "If you plan on fighting me, you're going to have to catch me first," you jibbed before you ran off in the other direction.

Either you had a death wish or you were stupid.

You ran as fast as you possibly could from him and the small town. You knew he was coming after you. You felt the ground slip out from beneath you as it cracked under the upper moon's shock wave, sending you flying. Yet you did not falter as you flipped in the air and kicked him in his chest to help ground your landing.

"No fair," you huffed at him, as he came after you. You both swung and blocked eachother's blows in a manner that an outside would deem it a real fight, but you two were merely playing.

"How is this not fair, Y/N? the fighting ground is level, " Akaza hummed before he kicked you away.

You scoffed quietly at him before he sent you flying again. He came up from above you, but you sent your arms back and pressed your hands against the ground and launched your feet into his diaphragm,  causing him to knock back. You then landed on all fours.

"You get better everyday," he laughed as he stalked towards you, showing he didn't have to rush to get you. You took that time to get back on your feet and shift into a more stable stance. Once you were up and ready, he launched towards you and began swinging his fists with more force.

You kept blocking him, but he was landing more blows than you were. With your chest heaving, you shifted behind him and used the moment he was turning to wrap a leg around him, duck under his arm, lift your other leg, and knock him down with a head butt. He was about to throw you off of his abdomen when you brought your fist to your open palm.

"Stop!" You wheezed. You were spent, and knew he'd keep at it if you didn't say enough was enough.

He relaxed beneath you,  chuckling softly. "You lasted longer than last time," he hummed as he reached up slowly to cup your cheek.

You leaned gently into his hand and stuck your tongue out. "I'm fighting everyday, of course I'm doing better." You jolted when he flipped himself upward and hugged you tight, his head nuzzling your chest. 

"Look, look, Y/N before it heals" he raised his arm for you to see the small cuts on his skin. "You managed to break skin!" He smiled brightly, his excitement made your heart pang. "You'll do better next time, right? "

You sighed before you smiled faintly at him, "Of course, Akaza."