𝙠𝙣𝙮, 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚

07. Future

Everything was silent, and they remained still. They watched as [name] was kneeling right in the middle of the room, with themselves surrounding her in a circle. They watched as she breathed in and out deeply, letting out shaky breaths then. Shen then slowly lifted her eyepatch up from her light-pink colored eye and discarded it to the side of herself.

Her bangs long enough to cover her light-pink colored eye then, and [name] smiled slightly as she looked at Rengoku Kyojuro, who was seated right in front of her in the circle he was in. She then gently raised both her hands and motioned him to come forth.

They watched as the Flame Hashira stood up from his position, and walked towards [name]. He knelt before her then, and soon she held her hands out. Where he placed his large warm ones in and allowed her to hold his hands then. She then smiled a gentle smile in response to his beaming smile, looking like the sun still.

As always.

"Are you ready, Rengoku-san?" she whispered out, and Kyojuro nodded with the beaming smile on his face still. [name] then smiled as she removed one of her hand from holding his hand, and raised it up, swiping her bangs to the side. She then used the same hand and gently cupped Kyojuro's face, making him look directly at her.

"I'm going to look straight into your eyes now, Rengoku-san," and Kyojuro nodded in response. [name] then slowly raised her eyes a little, and peered deep into Kyojuro's golden eyes.

"The train?" [name] thought to herself as she realized she was watching how Kyojuro's life was supposed to be like then. Her eyes widened as she recognized the train station where he had gone on a joint mission together with her. She watched, and noticed, she wasn't with him in this situation.

"Which means... Rengoku-san would have died from Akaza's attack back then if I wasn't around," [name] whispered to herself as the scene before she changed, and she watched as Kyojuro was kneeling before Tanjiro as well.

At his last breath.

The scene soon changed once more, and [name]'s eyes could only widen then.

"[name]?!" Obanai called out as [name] started to cough badly. She then lets go of Kyojuro's face and hand, pressing her hands against her chest to stop the sudden cough. She then breathed in and out deeply and nodded slowly to Kyojuro.

"I'm done," she whispered out, and Kyojuro was about to ask her some questions, only to have Amane who was present in place of Oyakata-sama, speak up.

"Kyojuro, please return to your original seat. [name] will still need to continue with the rest, and it will take some time," Amane spoke in a kind voice, and Kyojuro nodded in response then. Kyojuro then raised a hand and gripped [name]'s shoulder in a gentle manner.

"Don't push yourself if it's too much to look at," he whispered out, and [name] could only bite her lips in response as she slowly nodded. She then sighed as she looked at Tengen then, and she could only smile faintly as she motioned for him to come over as well.

"Uzui-san," she whispered out, and Tengen chuckled. He no longer wore his hair up and had let it down then, and [name] swore he had grown a 100 times hotter than before. She then smiled as he sat cross-legged before her, and [name] soon brushed her bangs away once more and held Tengen's hand in hers.

"Isn't this..." [name] thought to herself as she watched then, her eyes could only stay wide opened as she looked at Tengen who was laying down with his head bandaged and an injured eye, missing an arm as well. [name] then turned as she heard footsteps and noticed Obanai was there as well.

"How can you be so weak against the lowest of the Upper Moon?" he asked, and [name] watched as Tengen opened his mouth to reply. Only for her to realize that he can no longer work well as a Hashira due to his breath style, along with missing an eye.