ᴄʜɪʟᴅ ᴏꜰ ᴡɪꜱᴛᴇʀɪᴀ •》ꜱᴀɴᴇᴍɪ x ᴏᴄ《•

☆~• Other Half •~☆

"Ruki-nii."

Ruri was not surprised to know that the figure remained unresponsive, keeping silent and staring at her with eyes as cold as the night, two rubylike orbs looking at her as if she was a stranger from the other side of the world.

"You said you were going to come home." Ruri voiced out, stepping forward. The figure did not even feel the least bit threatened when she advanced and that was because she was acting vulnerable, arms spread as if to welcome and olf friend.

"You promised me, right?" There was a long stretch of silence that followed her question. Ruri was even wondering if she was actually talking to someone and not hallucinating.

Because she knows, with or without horns, with or without fangs and claws, that the tall figure standing in the distance was her one and only brother.

"Ruki-nii." She called out." Ruki-nii!" She took another step forward. "Ruki-nii!! Answer me! I know you can hear me! Don't pretend to be dead because I know you can hear my voice, loud and clear! Tell me why you didn't come back! Tell me what happened! Tell me why you became a--"

"Who are you?"

Ruri froze. That one question was enough to put a stop to her shouting. She felt petrified in her spot, unable to move or think for a moments. Was it possible that she really was hallucinating?

"Don't joke around, Ruki-nii! It's me! Ruri! Riri! Your sister!"

The figure tilted their head very slowly. "What's a sister?"

'No..' Ruri was now sweating, shaking and trembling. Did she heard him right? What did he mean? Was he joking with her? But no, they both know that jokes like this aren't funny. Ruri waited. She waited for him to say he was joking or that he was only toying with her.

She waited for him to approach her. She waited for him to hug her. To hold her and apologize for being a jerk and for making her worry so much. Ruri even left the headquarters without Oyakata-sama's approval. Sanemi didn't even know. It wasn't like she would tell him in person. Ruri left him a letter..

Don't come after me.

A note rather.. She wanted to say so many things to Sanemi but because she couldn't trust herself to say something moronic, she settled for this. Don't come after me. It was better that way. Ruri would let him go because it was time they move forward. They were no longer children who relied on each other. They were both individuals who were capable of choosing their own path now.

But unlike Sanemi, Ruri would never be able to move on without her brother. He was her only family. It has always been the two of them against the world.. then Sanemi came.

"What's a sister? What's a Ruri? What's a Ruki?" The figure suddenly said, his voice a deep guttural tone. You can almost tell it was unnatural and demonic. Seemingly inhuman and wrong.

"Is it edible? Does it taste as good as human flesh? Where do I find it?"The figure started approaching now, looking almost haunting in its wake. "Show me. Show me where it is. You know where it is, right..?"

In the blink of an eye, Ruri's nichirin was blocking his elongated claws. They were almost half the size of  her katana.

"Is it inside you? Is that why you're struggling? No matter. I will just have to rip you open. "Ruri almost sobbed at the cold and toneless voice that spoke, wearing the face of her most precious person.

"Why.." Red eyes narrowed and from the dangerous gleam in his eyes, Ruri made a decision to erase all her emotions.

This was not her brother. This was a monster.

Her grip tightened on the handle of her sword.

When they were young, she would often ask her brother.

'What's the difference between a fire and flame?' And he would answer her smiling as radiant as the sun and bending down to pat her head once.

'A flame does not require a fire; The flame of a candle does not appear from a fire. A fire need not have flames: a fire can be a pile of glowing embers. A Flame is the visible portion of the gases of combustion. A flame does not have a finite shape. A fire is the whole process of something that is burning. They are similar yet different in so many ways.'

"You are not my fire. "Ruri muttered. "You are not my brother. "

And then she was screaming, moving into a stance and gathering her breaths.

"Fire Breathing." She rasped. "Red Lotus."

Her body flashed, her hands moved and her katana swung forward, piercing flesh and creating fire that raged like an inferno.

Screaming still, she moved forward with a cold look on her eyes, followed by a heavy thud of a head falling into the ground.

"I never got my answer. You didn't answer. You didn't know me. You weren't human anymore. You forgot me. In your eyes, I'm not your sister but your prey because you needed to eat my flesh. "Ruri flicked the blood away from her katana, sheathing it robotically.

"And now I killed you.. And that's the truth. Because it would be wrong of me to say that I saved your soul. " Shakily, she looked up at the sky. "Some would disagree but murder is murder. And you used to be my brother. Tonight, I deem myself a sinner for killing my only family. But don't worry. It wasn't your fault. It wasn't mine. It was all because of the Original Demon. He did this to you and so he would pay."

Ruri glanced back, just in time to see the ashes fade completely, red eyes disappearing into the wind and she could have sworn they were crying.

She clenched her fists. There was a heaviness to her heart and she felt as if she was walking on thin ice. All those time she was waiting, only to realize that he was never coming.

How laughable.

That night, she made a decision to be selfish once more. To hunt down the progenitor and end everything once and for all.

She would die trying if need be because there was simply no way she could face Sanemi while her hands were stained with her brother's blood.

"Ruki-nii. Thank you for everything. Thank you for raising me. Thank you for teaching me how to fight. Thank you for guiding me. Thank you for being my brother. "Ruri closed her eyes, just in time to feel the first few rays of sunlight on her skin as morning began to come.

"Thank you because you cared for this worthless sister."

Hoshiki Ruri killed her brother after months of endless searching and mourning, balancing on a thin rope between logic and delusion.

"I need to go back." She uttered before shaking her head after a second or so. "I can't go back. I have no right to go back. I killed my brother. I'm a murderer. It hurts. Is this what Nemi felt when he killed her mother? "

Ruri's mouth parted.

"No. I can't even compare to him. He was so young when it happened. I should be old enough to endure this." She tried to convince herself.

She tried.

She tried but in the end, her knees buckled and she collapsed to the ground, crying.

"This is my duty as a demon slayer and yet I feel as if I have lost my honor and right to wield my sword."