At Nightfall, An Akaza x Reader

29. Just drink the damn tea

You never knew how unbearable being around Kokushibo was until now. His consistent disinterest in everything you had to say was irritating and he was nothing short of boring.

You wanted to spar, to fight and break up the Earth, but he forced you to do tedious tasks like identify herbs and flowers, learn their uses, use your blood demon arts in a concentrated way.  Though something that seemed to be stressed was that you not eat before him unless he tells you otherwise, which was almost never. You were just supposed stand aside and watch, unmoving and silent.

"Y/N, up." The demon said blankly as he loomed over your unconscious form. You didn't even recall going to sleep.

You struggled to open up your eyes, and slowly rolled over to try and get up. In your movement, you quickly recalled what had occured prior to your unconsciousness. "Why did you cut me up so damn much?" You snapped at him.

"To gauge your healing time since you're certainly not a lower moon nor an upper one. You took exactly three minute to heal your entire body back together, but you were unconscious, why?" You found yourself shrinking underneath the six eyed gaze. It was more scrutinizing than having been cut with his katana.

You quickly moved to change the subject and found your footing again. "I'm not letting you cut  me up again to find out. I regenerated, I'm fine. "

He blinked before immediately brushing your words off. "We're going into town today to speak to one known as Hashimoto Sadao. We suspect he has a book on blue spider lilies. He comes from a long line of botanists and apothecaries after all." He turned from you and took a deep breath as his form changed to one with less eyes. "Let's go."

"Now?!" You groaned, but he didn't humor you with a response as he walked off.

At one point in your travels you  hooked arms with Kokushibo, your features vacant of any oddities that made you look demon. Despite the supposedly loving pair you two looked to be, you couldn't help but feel your skin crawling as you pretended to have any intimacy with him, and you were certain he felt the same.

"Iwai San, how kind of you to visit," Sadao greeted you both and bowed.

"Thank you for having us," Kokushibo replied , giving your arm a gentle pat. "We would have come by sooner, but my spouse was unwell." Even though you knew this was just the characters you two were portraying for the mission, you couldn't help the vein that bulged in your forehead when the upper moon called you his spouse.

The old man lead you inside to his sitting area where he had the low table and sitting pillows already set out. "I'll bring the tea, wait just a moment," he chuckled before he walked off, leaving you both alone.

You slowly sat on your knees, a quiet exhale leaving you, "thank you, Hashimoto San," you hummed with fake cheer as he left.

Kokushibo sat beside you, his hands on his thighs. "Fix your emotions, you're letting your real feelings trickle through," he whispered to you.

"I'm sorry I am not fond of playing pretend with you. It's almost as if I'm in semi permanent time out," you whispered back to him, giving a pointed look that was only greeted with a  blank one.

"I didn't ask. If you want to return to your actual husband, you'll take this seriously." He deadpanned.

"You-"

"I hope you don't mind this blend! I make it myself," Sadao called as he came in with the tray, you both immediately perked up and stopped your arguing.

"We aren't picky, well, my husband can be!" You laughed. "He doesn't like to eat much of anything sometimes!" You bit your tongue to keep from jabbing at him anymore.

"It is true, it seems I feign from most of my spouse's meals," he murmured.

The kettle was set down near you  as the human sat down. "You know, I haven't run into fellow plant enthusiasts in a while, it's rather nice."

The ravenette nodded slightly, "Yes, it was rather welcoming to know we'd be in the same town as someone like you. My spouse is learning medicinal uses of various plants and your family's work has been a topic we frequently come back to."

You felt his gaze flick to you briefly and you took the hint to pour the tea for everyone there, "Y-Yes! It is an honor to even get to meet a member of the Hashimoto family," you kept your eyes downcast as you poured the tea, settling back into your seat.

"I see, how wonderful," the old man laughed before he took up his cup and began to sip.

The taller demon shifted in his seat with slight discomfort. "We actually had a question for you-" he started, before promptly being cut off by  Sadao.

"Oh, Won't you drink the tea? You look so frail. It'll help with your immune system," he insisted to you.

"Oh, no than-" you started, but found your being being pierced by Kokushibo's gaze. He was practically saying, 'drink the damn tea,' with his eyes. "...yes," you muttered as you took the cup in your hands slowly.

"Now then, you were saying?" He inquired.

"Right, we have a question. There's this flower we've heard about in passing that we wanted to know if you had any information on," the upper rank continued as you sipped on the tea. It had an odd taste, but you figured that was just because it was supposed to be medicinal.

"A flower?  What is it called?" Sadao asked as he placed his cup down.

"A um.. blue spider lily I believe," he answered, falling silent as you let out a strange noise, your hand clasping over your mouth.

Wisteria.

You didn't detect it because it was well hidden among the other herbs. Blood seeped out of your mouth and your throat felt like it was on fire.

"What's wrong, Iwai San?" The human inquired innocently.

You needed to break it down before it spread through your entire body, but that required time. You felt Kokushibo's arm around you  as he leaned in enough for you to get out "he hid wisteria in the tea. He knows,"  which immediately brought him to alert.

"I must say, I underestimated you, Sadao," the demon let you go, knocking the table with one fluid swipe of his leg as his disguise dropped and he pulled his monstrous sword out. "but you're a fool to have thought that you could win."