𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘳

13. MISS/FORTUNE

think i'm in the process of trying really hard to have a cleaner style. For note, I do use references with the majority of my drawings.
and i think i'm getting sloppy with details here writing,
tell me where to pick up slack.

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The kakushi transferred them once again to the butterfly estate, where Sakurai spent her days feeling isolated. She couldn't move from where she lay, and was on many medications to speed her recovery and promote blood health--considering how much she lost.

Rengoku had lost an eye and found trouble when standing on his left foot, sometimes feeling his knee buckling. He also was advised to stay in bed.

Tanjiro would heal, he had the most minor of grave injuries, and everyone else was okay. Though, Haganezuka wasn't too pleased that his sword had been lost.

"Ren-shounen," Rengoku began, turning her head to her bed where she was stuck for days to come. "I'm grateful to you. But, please, don't do that again. As a pillar, it's my duty to protect young ones like you so you aren't nipped up. I don't want you putting your neck on the line for someone such as me. It was too close."

She turned her head in slight. "We also can't afford to lose someone like you, aniki. I couldn't stay put if someone new was going to die in front of me again."

"You-- I..." he paused, for once at a loss of words. "I don't know if I will still be able to fight as a pillar, even if you say that. The upper demon was strong."

"I believe in you, aniki. Even if you can't fight, there are people who still need you around. It's better than dying off, because some people will go on to suffer painfully without your presence," she said, smiling kindly at him. "I can tell, aniki, you must have someone younger. I did too."

"You," he began again, "Kamado, Inoshiraba, Golden Boy, you can all become strong. I'm sure you, Tanjiro... if not all of you, will become pillars to protect your juniors, and uphold the demon association."

Her brow furrowed. "I hope, but I also hope that we defeat Muzan sooner than that."

"I accept you as a member of the demon slayer association," he finished off. "You have a strong spirit, I believe you will continue to grow and protect humanity."

Sakurai covered her reddening face, trying to embarrassedly hide tears. "Thank you, aniki."

After two more weeks, Sakurai wasn't confined to lying down and could reasonably walk outside and sit for short amounts of time. So she did, and she took the black box she feared with her.

For a few moments, she sat there with it on her lap and hands trembling. There was such sorrow surrounding the box in traces of life flames, still surviving four hundred years later. Looking at it pained Sakurai's heart to imagine what was inside.

So, she left it for another day.

"I'm going now. I have to return home," Rengoku told them.

"Wait, aniki, your leg! That will be troublesome to walk alone," Sakurai remarked.

"I'll go with him," Tanjiro remarked.

Sakurai looked annoyed at both of them. "Are you crazy? You are both badly injured still! Neither of you can go out! I'll tell Shinobu-san!!"

They instead chose to leave her tied to a bed. Something out of the desperation of Tanjiro's actions, as she never took him for something like that. Or Rengoku. But the worst betrayal was the least expected.

"Naho! Naho! They took off," Sakurai said, having a fit despite her pain and injuries underneath her bindings that tied her to the bed. "Tanjiro and Rengoku-san ran off even with their wounds! I'm the weaker one so I couldn't stop them," she cried through tears. "They tied me up! How could they?"