Purple Lotus [Kimetsu no Yaiba]

~Twenty-Three~

As the days past, Tanjiro, Zenitsu and Inosuke started their rehabilitation training. While it was quite difficult at first, it was unbearable and they managed to make it through. During that time Inosuke had also grown accustomed to 'protecting' Tsubasa. 

He would protect her from nightmares for one. From the dark, from bugs, but most of all from being lonely! When he wasn't training his ass off, he was with the Emotion Pillar. He claimed he was protecting her but in actuality he just enjoyed being with her.

There was something about Tsubasa that made him not want to beat up everyone he saw. Something about her made the tiny white bubbles appear every three seconds. He was happy when he was with her. And she was happy when she was with him. 

Tsubasa liked that Inosuke spoke his mind in whatever way he felt like. And it didn't bother him that he said 'fight me' every thirty minutes. The fact that he called her a brat wasn't that bad either. She considered it a pet name of some sort. It seemed very Inosuke-like too. 

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"SOUTH! SOUTH-EAST!! SOUTH! SOUTH-EAST!!" a Kusagai crow bellowed from above, flying around the Kanjo Estate. 

Tsubasa was just coming out of the hot spring when she heard her crow, Taiyaki, crowing. 

"Head to the forest South southeast of here and slay the demons terrorizing the travellers!" it crowed. "This is a mission for Emotion Hashira, Tsukishiro Tsubasa!"

"Alright, Taiyaki. Thank you," she beamed and the crow proceeded to his bird feeder to have a meal. 

In mere minutes Tsubasa was ready in her Corps uniform and warding mask, perched at the side of her head. She had actually been wanting a mission to prove herself. On her way she stopped by the Butterfly Mansion to visit the trio.

The three were almost fully recovered and had already started going to solo missions. At this point in time, Inosuke was on his way to where he thought Tsubasa was, Zenitsu was out on a mission and Tanjiro was training.

"Tanjiro!" she squealed and tackled the older boy in a hug. The marronette was caught off guard but soon smiled, hugging her back.

"Tsubasa, hello again," he beamed with his closed eyes smell. The clean scent radiating off her from her time in the hot spring was pleasing to his strong nose. She wasn't in her normal Corps uniform, he noticed. The one he first saw her in at Urokodaki's home, with pants and a purple haori with white clouds.

The uniform she was wearing now had a skirt, with a small opening on her chest in the shape of  a flower. Her haori was different as well. It was now a light purple on top fading into a darker shade at the bottom with with a pink lotus pattern at the bottom. He warding mask stayed the same though, perched properly at the side of her head with her purple locks tied in a neat messy manner. The child went straight to business. Straitening herself, she looked up at the boy.

"Tanjiro, can I ask you something?" she asked, already knowing the answer."

"Of coarse, Tsubasa," the boy replied.

"When you first met me, would you have believed me if I told you I was a Hashira?" she asked.

The question took the boy aback for a moment. When he recovered though he simply smiled. "When I first met you I didn't know what a Hashira was, Tsubasa."

"You know that's not what I mean," she countered. "Would you have believed I was at the level of power I'm ranked to be?" As usual, Tsubasa read his mind before listening to his response.

Honestly, when I first met Tsubasa she seemed like I child. I doubted she'd be able to defeat a single demon on her own. Could this be what Urokodaki meant when he said she was special? The maroonette thought. But there was no way he would say that! Before he could attempt to lie though, Tsubasa held up her hand.