Purple Lotus [Kimetsu no Yaiba]

~Twenty-Seven~

Once. We'd only met once before I officially became a Hashira. And even then, just like now, he still felt like all the colours of sunset, at full brightness.

A twelve-year-old Tsubasa, only at the Hinoe rank and still using her Water Breathing solely, was on the prowl for a nearby demon that had been terrorizing the town. "Where are you?" she thought out loud, seriously having trouble.

Is that who they sent to beat me? She just a child! I should feel mocked! But no matter, I'll just devour her and be on my merry way. Tsubasa froze. Those weren't her thoughts. Neither were they of anyone in the town because all of them were asleep. Oh. She thought. I can hear him. I almost forgot.

The child rolled her eyes and tried to pinpoint the exact location. Once she did she wasted no time in attacking relentlessly. 
Water Brething, First Form:

Water Surface Slash!!

She sliced off a limb because it dodged just in time. "Tch," she made an annoyed noise. "Why won't you just die already!?"

Had anyone who knew the purplette seen her as she was now, they would've thought they'd mistook her for someone else. The light she usually had in her eyes was nowhere in sight during her early years of being a Slayer. She was irritable and took no pride in her gift.

The only person who made her feel as though she was special had been taken from the world by the same creatures she had to kill. She'd have no mercy on them for doing so! The child had the demon cornered and was just about to finish it off when suddenly....

"Well! I had been sent here to take care of the demon making a mess of things here! But it seems the job is about to be done for me!!" a jovial voice boomed form an unknown source. Tsubasa froze again- not quite sure she'd ever get used to these new overwhelming presences. Sunset. All the colours of sunset. That was the only way she could describe this new feeling.

She turned around to see a man with hair several shades of orange and yellow, with a white hoari that had a flame pattern at the bottom. She narrowed her eyes at him. This new person seemed way too happy to slay demons. How could she be sure he knew what he was doing. "Who are you?" she asked, paying little mind to the demon before her.

"I am Flame Hashira, Kyojuro Rengoku, and I am a Hashira who was sent to take care of the demon you are about to lose sight of, young girl!" he answered with just as much enthusiasm as his being gave off. "Now, allow me to help you!"

Before she could respond, Tsubasa saw fire. A lot of it. And next thing she knew, the demon's head was rolling on the ground. Out of the flames came the man who introduced himself as a Hashira. He wads beaming. His energy was enough to make even Tsubasa feel giddy inside. 

"I could have handled it," Tsubasa told him with a glare.

"We worked together, it was more efficient!" was Rengoku's reply. "You distracted and weakened it while I gave the final blow! Excellent."

"I don't work with anyone!" the child sneered. At least.... not with anyone else, anyway. There were only two people Tsubasa willingly worked with. And one was currently the Water Hashira while the other was...no longer with her. The thought made her sad. But she covered it with anger. "Just leave me alone! You feel like the sunset!" she snapped.

The Pillar tilted his head. "I feel?"

Tsubasa clasped her hands over her mouth. She never told anyone what they felt like. Her feelings were to be kept bottled up. That's how she worked and that's how she would always work. "Nothing." She bagan to walk away but the Flame Pillar was quick to fall into step with her.