If I Could Do You One Right...

Time is Kind to Few

~Rumi's P.O.V~

It's been a couple weeks since Y/n had ran into his first demon, and he's done his best to recover. He hasn't ran into a new one and has kept himself busy by helping Haruka move in. The Saki family is very big, and being the oldest, no one has moved out until now and the place was getting crowded. At least that's how Haruka told the story. Honestly I could care less, she's brought some life back into the house and it was getting very tense. Not that it isn't now, but Haruka having no idea what happened has made for a great catalyst to act like a family again.

Sadly, it's come to my attention that however small this family unit is, it very soon may get smaller before it gets bigger. My son is still a few years away from marrying and I've got but a couple years left on my lease on life. I met with a local doctor to get checked up, I've just had a general weakness about me that's been more intense than usual. My father said the whole line has had this and decided never to name it. When I asked it went something along the lines of not giving it too much power over the family. No one in our family was able to make it to thirty, so honestly I'm extremely lucky I've made it this far.

"With the utmost luck, you'll live to be 40." Not something you want to hear as a 34 year old woman. And the look in the doctor's eyes told me he was being very generous. Of course this curse on my family name has gotten worse, and at this point, I'll be the last it takes. For what it's worth, I've always prepared myself to die younger than most. Part of the reason I became a demon slayer was because I'd eventually be a coin flip as to what would kill me first. Now, the coin seems to be landing on my affliction more and more.

It's all very frightening, and while I've always held in mind my own mortality, it's never stared at me so fervently. I could feel it mumbling a faint ticking, mimicking a clock. My fate felt so imminent I could smell it. In all seriousness, I'd kill for a bath. I've been sweating so much on my way home you'd think a demon was on my tail. Which reminds me; my crow hasn't come by in a while. I can occasionally go a week without being sent on a mission at most, but it's been damn near a month. I try to wrap my head around it the rest of the walk home. I'm a tsuchinoe, and therefore rank rather highly. This status demands I be put out into the field rather often. While I'm certainly no hashira, I can hold my own better than most, which leaves me puzzled as to how it's been so long since I've been deployed.

My suspicions are suddenly suspended when I look to my home to find my son being beaten over the head by Haruka. Over time, I've come to trust her judgment even over Y/n, who has no problem biting off more than he can chew, choking, and then blaming the food. So, finding his fiancé being capable of setting him straight puts me at ease.

"I didn't steal nothin'!" He try's to argue, his head low and shaded by his own hand that fails to block the crushing fist of his significant other.

"Y/n-kun, I watched you do it. What do you think I'm stupid?" She spoke incredulously. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was trying to impress me, and succeeding.

"Wait Wait Wait! Haruka-chan, all I've stolen was your heart~" He tried.

"Don't get all cute with me boy!" She replied before backhanding him with a fierceness I was jealous of.

"Haruka-chan, really given the little shit the business huh?" Comes a third party. A taller boy, who is all and all, well put together. although his posture and shit-eating grin could use some work.

"You got something to say, because I really don't have time for you while I'm disciplining my fiancé." Who at this point is rubbing his cheek where he was hit with one hand, and keeps the other by his ankle.

"It looks like you're getting tired of your 'fiancé' over there, Haruka-chan." The boy replies.

"San."