fire & water (TanjiroxReader)

Chapter 60:Candle

(y,n)'s POV
   Waiting, anticipating, ready for whatever action may come next. My brain is calculating every little movement I see, not letting even a single twitch sneak past it's radar.

    My feet just barely shifted under me as I observed Tanjiro from my side of the dirt ring, cursed with the heavy breathing of our activities, and gripping the wooden sword I'm using to spar with my current enemy. I've been going on for hours now with him and Inosuke, and now the cycle has finally made a full orbit back to a one-on-one match against the burgundy-headed boy. We're at a tie between each other, three against three. Whoever wins this round will be the crowned victor for certain.

    Before she left, Shinobu gave Tanjiro the right away to finally start training again, though she did advise him to take it easy. He's done pretty well with keeping up with Inosuke and I, the only time he had to stop was when our friend, ahem, "accidentally" rammed his head right at the center of his abdomen

    "Come on, Mongiro, beat her up!" Inosuke cheered from the wooden patio as he threw a fist up in excitement, and my opponent at the upcoming moment twisted his mouth into a tiny frown at that comment.

    "Inosuke, I'm not going to beat (y,n) up..." Tanjiro lowered the fake sword slightly as he glanced at our comrade, softly reprimanding the shirtless boy with a flicker of brotherly authority.

    "BEAT. HER. UP. BEAT. HER. UP!!!" He chimed louder while chopping out his words, ignoring Tanjiro, and continuing where he left off on his cheers. The burgundy-headed slayer sighed, seeing that there isn't any way to possibly reason with Inosuke. Shaking away his loss of focus, he shifted his attention back to me while nodding to signal that he's ready to begin.

    The light of the lanterns lit around us showed the concentration within my (e,c) orbs as I twisted the fake sword around my hand, and my feet guided me to the right of the dirt circle while the Kamado brother tightened his grip of his given weapon. My heart battered each individual beat against my chest with intentional adrenaline, pounding through my ears as even Inosuke quieted down to pay more attention to Tanjiro and I.

    In the moment of action, I swung the sword down towards him to take a jab at his shoulder when he lunged at me with a low leap. My wrist flicked to counter the first few attacks he sent at me, and immediately after, I angled my arm at just the right angle to gain a hit at the base of his left arm. Taking the chance in the moment of flickering weakness, I maneuvered my sword around to send a swing at his abdomen, but he quickly flipped back to gain more distance between us.

    The sound of wood colliding filled the air as we clashed over and over, fighting with equally strong levels of determination to gain the higher ground. My limbs moved in a similar harmony as his, when he did one thing; I did the opposite, and so forth.

    I was almost caught off guard when Tanjiro swung his leg over at my arm, swiftly bringing it back down to reach out a hand towards my wrist. Seeing the results of his intentions, with one quick swing of my body, I kicked one of his legs out from under him and secured his sword arm behind his back, bringing my wooden blade up close to his neck to ease his motions into a warning stop.

    "I... w-wow!" My comrade gasped in amazement as he looked over his shoulder at me, smiling while I completely disarmed him of the wooden weapon he's holding.

    "Heh, looks like that's the tie breaker..." I chuckled as I lowered the sword from his throat, allowing him to stand up whilst straightening back up myself. I looked over at Inosuke as he laughed loudly, and jumped up from joy at the conclusion.

    "Nice, (mispronounced name)!! Can you fight me next?! Can ya', can ya'!? He pointed at himself and waited for my answer impatiently, lifting his boar mask to the side to show off the wide smirk across his feminine face.