Caught By Flames (Kyojuro Rengoku x Reader)

29 : Upper Moon One

Your breathing became uneven as your head began hurting from sudden images of someone's past flowed through your head. You couldn't move, defenseless in the face of a strong opponent. What was happening?

After a moment of taking the time to calm down you looked up at the demon, "Why didn't you attack me? I'm clearly struggling right now."

"You don't strike me as the kind to freak out over a stronger opponent. It's rather intriguing that you didn't start freaking out, despite my presence, until after you saw my face... Am I familiar to you? I don't... recall meeting you before."

You let out a 'heh' and raised your head to look at the sky. "You're not at all familiar to me. No. But, I can hear the weeps of my ancestors,... Michikatsu. That'swhat one of them cries. Michikatsu. I suppose that'syour name." Once he hears that name something starts turning in his head. He thought his brother never had a family, so how did you know his name? Were you related to him? The grip on his sword tightens as a sweet smile covers your features as you stared at him. "They wish not for me to slay you."

"And so, what will you do? You're clearly related... Very closely I would assume."

You thought for a moment, "I wish to do as they say. However, I also wish to see how strong you are. Right now, I'm one of the strongest pillars, therefore it is my job to make sure my juniors get just as strong." You giggled sweetly and raised your sword. "I do not know the original breathing, nor do I believe I could utilize it like your younger brother, but I do possess a total of 3 breaths. Two of them being direct derivatives of the original breath."

"I wouldn't boast just yet."

"I'm not. I do not underestimate your strength. To be truthful, when Akaza told me he'd love to see me fight against you or Douma, I was fearful that I'd become a monster without realizing. Just think about it, a 17 year old girl going against demons 1000 times stronger than a normal human."

He cut you off, "So you were the one to kill Akaza? I suppose that means you're the girl Muzan-sama wanted dead or alive."

"Michikatsu-san? Do you really not know about our family and why Muzan slaughtered mine when I was  but a child?"

"It had no relevance to me."

You smiled awkwardly, "then let me tell you a story..." you gathered your thoughts and sat on the ground letting your crow sit in your lap. "When I fought upper moon 6, or you knew them as Daki, I got trapped under rubble and was sent to the land of the dead. That's where I saw my mother and brother, the ones taken from me. They told me the story of a demon that ate my Mother's grandmother. She had a twin who saw the whole thing, and what had happened was..." you smiled at the man, "she was eaten limb from limb, but it was nearing daybreak, and as the sun touched the demon's skin... it gained resistance for a tiny bit before turning to ash. As it did, the blood that the demon had devoured was left behind, but was turned blue and laid on the ground surrounding my dead relative. The same thing happened to me. When I was training to become a demon slayer, I went into the mountain by myself and stayed to late. Right after sun down, a demon attacked, trying to take my head. He scratched my face and licked his fingers. But that wasn't the only injury he gave me that night... there was one other I never told anyone about, one I was ashamed of. He had skewered my left thigh, took a chunk of my leg and ate it. When the sun killed the demon, my blood had turned blue, and was left behind." You chuckled, "Luckily Shinjuro-san didn't notice it and focused on me."

Kokushibo sat down in front of you, "Why did you... tell me about the wound... if you didn't tell the ones who could have treated it?" He was genuinely curious, it made you smile.

"Well, to put it simply, I figure you won't scold me for going out to the mountain by myself, or for not being careful." He sighed knowing it was true, he had no right to scold her, nor did he wish to. He watched you softly stroke the crow that was fast asleep in your lap, "Do you want to know why I ended up being the victor in both fights against Akaza?"