影の息吹 ᪥ shadow pillar [ON HOLD]

three

"shigure? you there?"

a harsh woman voice called from above a shrine hut. she tried to hear closely, as the shrill voice of a little girl's cries got clearer as she strolled near the courtyard.

"there you are!"

makio extended a hand underneath the hut. in the deep darkness, a little hand with scratches and scars reached out for her. makio pulled the girl out from the towering darkness, smiling as the girl stop crying.

"shigure."

she called, rubbing the girl's dusty cheeks. makio stared into her scared, hopeless red eyes that was filled with tears of agony.

"it's okay. mum is no more angry now."

the brunette said softly, smiling as if trying to comfort the scared little child. it has been at least a few month since the stepmother and her daughter took shigure into their household.

makio, the step sister, has always been the one to provide backup whenever her mother rage out at shigure, for the simplest things. since the aging mother could no more do heavy works, so makio was the one to do those.

the aging woman has one obsession, which is to see her family safe from demons at any cost. as she was left with quite a wealth from the remaining of wealth from shigure's father, she used the treasure to sign her childrens up as a apart of ninja household.

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3 years later...

it has been two years since shigure lives alongside her stepmother and stepsister.
even so if they are not related by blood, shigure is very close to makio, the step sister.

her stepmother was caring, but secretly wants shiguee to hone her swordmanship to the point that she often fall unconcious from too much training.

at the age of 10, just after a few momths living with them, she was trained as shinobi, or in other name ninja.

through thick and thin, makio has always been her biggest supporter. their age gap is only two years and what makes the bond between the child who has once witnessed demise and the caring big sister was their faith in each other.

every of their evening was spent together to train by the courtyard of their mansion. there are times when makio won over the rivalry, and there are quite sometimes when shigure manages to knock her sister down.

female teenagers their ages normally would be helping their mother with housechores or get prepapred to be married off to gentlemen. for makio and shigure, their mother has never mentioned about marrying them off by such young age when their bones are better off to be trained.

not until one night.

"congratulations to shigure for surviving the final selection."

the mother, after a very long time spoke up after preparing the dinner one night. the two sisters has just finished taking their bath when they entered the dining room to be greeted with scrumptious aroma of various foods. as if there are fest to be held inside the mansion.

"wow, mom! there are so many food in here! are these for us?"

makio exclaimed, star eyed as she sat cross legged in front of the foods.

"makio, sit properly will you?"

"sister, like this."

shigure poked her older sister's knee, amd pointednher index finger onto her lap as she sat in a proper way every girl was taught to.

"oh right, hehe."

makio ruffled her hair, before dining on.

"so it seems that i will rarely be home. looks like i will be at the corps more often."

"hm? the demon slaying corps you say?"

"yeah! i will try to be home more often."

"ara~, looks like i no more has to pay for guards to look after our house. we have shigure the demon slayer, aren't we?"

the little family bursted into laughters. the brown haired older sister grabbed shigure by her shoulder, hugging her on one side.

"you better not bring home any guy soon, shigure."

makio winked at shigure. the younger one put her ceramic plate down before smiling widely at the older sister. a little annoyed, makio pinched her nose to receive a sudden burst of short scream. their mother shakes her head, gazing at makio as she speaks up to her biological daughter.

"ah, speaking about guys..."

"hm? mum? what's the matter?"

"makio... i think i need to discuss about this matter with you."

"matter? hey, is there something wrong, mum?"

the mother sighed, looking down into her plate. she took a deep breath, gazing at makio once ahain who was towered with confusement. shigure only watched those two making eye contacts.

"i am marrying you off."

"WHAT?!"

"to a young gentleman i am sure to provide you happiness."

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