Cry

Chapter four (edited)

I sit beside Inosuke's bedside waiting for him to get his spirits back. Starting today, they are supposed to go and train. 

" Inosuke, you get to go train today. I'm sure you'll get stronger if you train and then we can go and train on our own." He gets up slowly and slowly makes his way out the door. I sigh follow him out the door. I can even he his defeated face through his boar mask and honestly, it's an amusing sight. 

Watching their rehabilitation, I can't hold back my laughter when I see the two boys completely fail at every exercise. These girls are out of their league. It's only right, with how these girls have  been training harder and longer than the boys. 

" I guess I'll leave you to it. I have a mission today so I'll see you later.. Inosuke",  He looks at me and he just looks so sad and helpless. My heart clenches in my chest at the thought of leaving him in this state. 

I pull of his mask and wipe the hair off of his sweaty face. I see my eyes reflect in his eyes and  they are just a beautiful as mine. Identical. I love being able to observing his face. You can see his every emotion in his eyes. Truly the windows of his soul.

" Inosuke, I'll be back. You do your best and get stronger. When I get back I'll take you to go eat some food and then we'll visit mom. " I try to cheer him up and he grasp the corner of my sleeve. I rub his cheek and kiss his forehead. This would be the first time I'm leaving for a mission without him. The first time I leave him behind since we reunited. 

" I love you Inosuke. I promise I'll be back." I pat his head, bow towards the girls and make my way out the door before I have the chance to change my mind. 

" I thought you'd never leave. We have a mission but your taking your sweet time saying goodbye to your dear little brother." The slayer beside me gives an exaggerated sigh. 

" Who would have thought the beast pillar is such a softy.." The wind Hashira smirks at me, I give him a glare.  He just continues to smirk. 

I ignore him. 

" Aren't we leaving? I thought you were in a hurry to get this mission done." He just smirks and takes the lead gripping the handle of his blade his his hand. 

" Just don't get soft on me little girl. I don't have time to be saving your ass when your in trouble. We ain't here to be making friends with the enemy." He grins back before starting to run, almost as if trying to leave me behind.

I pull down my mask and tie up my hair. I don't know who he thinks he is but no matter where our destination is, he'll never our run a beast, be it lighting or wind, a beast will find a way to prevail.  If he thinks a beast is just some animal, he'll be in a world of disappointment because even beings such as dragons are considered beasts. 

I make a dash for it and easily catch up to him. He doesn't make a sound when he notices me beside him but I do see the slight jump of surprise. 

" Why do you wear that mask. ?" It looks like he's genuinely asking and I can't help but smile behind my mask. 

" It helps keep my identity secret. My beauty is hard to forget. I quite enjoy receiving free drinks from random guys but if they found out I'm a demon slayer, well... men don't like girls that are stronger than them. " I smirk at my own statement. 

It's true though.  I've never been able to walk around normally.. My mother was beautiful and in turn, both my brother and I were born with unnatural beauty. So no matter where we are, we attract attention. To keep things simple, it's to keep work life and regular life separate. 

He laughs out loud stopping his running for a moment. 

" Your personality is worst than mine! If men got to know you, no man in their right mind would buy you a damn drink. It'll be easier for them to get with some whore on the corner of the street." He continues to grin before going silent for the rest of the trip to the mission location. 

Before long, we make our way into a village and already, we can see the effect the demons have on this village. Usually in a village, there is life all around. People buying and selling stuff, children playing, mothers running errands, but in this village, none of that exists. No one is on the streets. Not even a single child or man. 

" Looks like they're really scared of the demon.. Might be better for you to take the mask off. We won't be able to get any information if you scare all the villagers away. " He's in complete work mode. Not a hint of personal emotion in his voice. I pull my mask off and follow him into an open store. 

The store owner cowers behind the counter at the sight of Shinazugawa. I let out  a laugh. 

" Are you sure I'm the one scaring away the villagers? " I push him aside and lean against the counter to speak to the owner. 

" Hi mister, my names Mitsu and that's my.. well he's Sane. We're a bit lost. Could you help me a little bit? " I sigh and twirl my hair a little bit with my best bashful look. I tilt my head down and look up at him once for a few seconds before looking down. I know that this gives of the air of innocence and is the perfect bait for hungry men full of information.

The man gets a bush on his cheek and i can feel the red hot anger of the silver haired slayer glaring at my back. 

" We were going to ask around town but there doesn't seem to be anyone outside. Why's that? What happened?" I decided to play it safe and get right to the point in fear of angering my partner even more. 

" There's been people going missing lately. First it started with our delivery boys but then some people started to disappear from their houses, the whole family would be gone. So in a sense, no one is safe. " He goes on about his neighbor and and the family across the street, even about his missing fiance. These kind of guys are easy to manipulate. Give them a reason to feel strong. Act like a helpless damsel. Easy. He goes on saying that he's out every night keeping watch and talks about his victories against common burgles and such but I pay no mind to this. 

" Wow. thank you so much. I think I'm going to go find my friend now. " I abruptly end our conversation and start making my way towards the exit. 

" Wa..wait.. who are you looking for? Maybe I can walk you over?" He rushes around the counter to meet me before I leave out the door. 

" Oh. I don't think you'll know them. Since we're actually here to take care of looking for the kidnappers " I suggest my sword by placing my hand on it. He starts to puff up his chest and gets ready to start some kind of self righteous rant but I feel an arm go around my waist. 

" s'there a problem here?" The wind pillar asks and I laugh at how fast the man runs away into the back of the store with a quick " no sir. " 

" You wasted my time getting useless information. It'll be faster is we just sniff out the demons." He growls as we make our way back to the street. 

" Hey Shinazugawa. I know I was playing a helpless girl but you know I don't really need an escort right?" hinting to his arm still around my waist 

" What? Scared of a man who you can't manipulate?" He smirks before letting go and walking ahead, towards some houses that look abandoned. 

What i didn't expect was for my face to burn.