#they were presented as just regulars demon slayers

[k3nm4luv]

demon slayer third season just wasn't it

[depravitycentral]

Demon Slayer Dick Headcannons ft. the Demons

TW: yandere, mentions of non-con, kidnapping, excessive talk about balls and cum, breeding, cumplay, MDNI

Featuring: Muzan Kibutsuji, Kokushibou, Douma, Akaza, Gyutaro

The first thing you’ll notice when you first see him nude is how perfectly and pristinely groomed he is. There’s not a hair out of place; his skin is perfectly smooth along his navel, happy trail meticulously waxed on a regular basis to keep himself clean and presentable. (Presentable for you, of course, though he’d never admit it, because although you don’t really have the option of rejecting him, it still makes him feel better to know that he looks as good as possible.) He’s even anal about shaving his balls, too – making sure that everything is as perfect as possible. His navel and v-line are absolutely drool-worthy; muscle sharp enough to be defined under your fingertip when you touch him, lines seeming to point directly towards the pale, slender cock hanging between them. He’s thoroughly average in size – a solid five or so inches with moderate girth, his tip rather bulbous and a rich, flush pink color. He has a tendency to produce a lot of precum, beads practically oozing out as he watches you with those sharp, intense eyes. The only sign you’ll get that he’s even remotely aroused by you is just how painfully swollen his tip becomes, just how wet and sticky his slacks become as he watches you touch yourself, thighs squirming and your face feeling warm because he’s just staring, not even bothering to touch himself.

He's not very physically sensitive, but Muzan becomes extremely engrossed into whatever scenario or dynamic he’s forced you into during sex. He’s always in charge, of course, the dominant figure, but he finds himself becoming monumentally more sensitive and effected by your touch when you’re in physically submissive positions; on your knees while he stands before you, all your clothing stripped off to reveal your bare form while he’s only unzipped his slacks and his cock’s pulled out, a hand already buried into your hair as he forces you to lick and drool along his length. When you’re on your knees with your ass poised in the air, face pressed against the mattress as he smacks at you, watching your cheeks bounce with ever harsh thrust as he degrades you and calls you just a toy to fuck. There’s something about being able to see his cock physically entering you and seeing the way you react to it that makes him hurtle closer to his orgasm, the pleasure making his head spin a bit and his composure wane ever so slightly, enough so that if you were to listen hard, you’d hear him very, very quietly mutter your name in pleasure. It takes him a moderate amount of time to reach his orgasm, though he prefers to prolong the experience for as long as possible and will intentionally edge himself so that he can keep watching you slobber on his cock, so that he can keep fucking into you, so that he can keep feeling you you you. His cum is runny and an off-white, creamy color. He doesn’t produce a huge amount, but it’s always hot, the heat feeling uncomfortable on your skin. (And reminding you that he’s not human, because what human could produce cum that warm?) He’s not especially vocal when he’s orgasming, but you’ll notice that he always lets out a signature grunt right as he lets go, his teeth bared and his eyes fluttering shut, hips bucking seemingly without his control as he pushes himself into you deeper, harder, further.

His favorite way for you to touch his cock is when you’re worshipping it. His ego absolutely must be stroked during sex – he wants you to recognize that you’re inferior to him, and having you praise him and give him such lewd attention gets his head and cock swelling. He likes when you get particularly depraved with the worship – the more dehumanizing, the better. He wants you to rub his tip along the outline of your lips as you kneel for him, his fist tucked under his chin as he sits back in the leather chair, watching you with eyes like a hawk as you try to please him. He wants you to kiss the tip, then drag it along your cheekbones. Nudge it with your nose, let your tongue loll out and lick at him, even trace down your jugular and around a nipple. He wants his precum smeared absolutely everywhere on your body, and he wants you to thank him for it, your voice airy and light, admiring and loving. He wants you to kitten lick him and suckle at his tip, big doe eyes flicking up to meet his gaze and immediately averting it, bashfulness written across your face that makes Muzan’s lip curl up and his hips twitch. He wants you to stay still and play with your clit while he grasps himself right at the base, smacking his shaft against your cheek and sneering down at you, going on about how you’re really just a little whore, aren’t you? You enjoy being treated like dirt, don’t you? He wants you to drool on him as you take him down your throat, sucking hard enough to hollow your cheeks and moaning around him, the vibrations making his eyes flutter closed. He wants you to lick and suck at his balls, telling him how good he tastes, thanking him over and over for letting you touch him. He wants you to show him that you know your place – and when he makes you close your eyes and open your mouth wide while he fists his cock and holds your head in place, you’d better tell him thank you, sir as rope after rope of hot, runny cum splatter onto your face. Maybe then he’ll consider fucking you – only if you’ve behaved.

Kokushibou’s cock is long, with hardly any veins decorating the length. When he’s hard it curves ever so slightly upwards, allowing him the perfect angle to brush against the spongy spot that makes you scream when he’s got you pinned underneath him. He’s on the skinnier side, your fingers very comfortably wrapping around his girth, but what he lacks in width he makes up for with just how deeply he can reach inside of you. It’s nearly painful, really, because when he presses in as far as your cunt will let him, tears sting at your eyes and you’re gasping because it feels like he’s splitting you in two, the pressure too much and  the feeling of being full nearly overwhelming. His balls droop a bit, looking heavy to the touch and a much deeper red color than the rest of him, always drawing your attention. The color is so rich that in certain lights, namely moonlight, they almost look purple. When he’s hard, they’ll oftentimes throb and pulse, particularly when his patience begins running out and the desperation to fuck you becomes too strong to ignore. And even when he’s fucking you, if you pay attention you’ll feel the way they sporadically clench against you, his balls indicating exactly what he’s feeling and how close to his orgasm he is. His cock is genuinely hard – there’s hardly any give when you squeeze at it, feeling so solid and firm that when he slaps it lightly against your clit before he pushes inside it nearly hurts. And once it’s inside, it bullies its way past your walls, muscles being parted and molded to his shape because he views your cunt as his. (Just as he views his own cock as partially yours, as well.)

Kokushibou is moderately sensitive, though he’s particularly weak to the feeling of your walls. He enjoys the sensation of your hand, mouth, breasts, thighs, and everything else you offer to him, but he’ll always preference your pussy over anything else. It’s partially based in traditional ideas about what sex is for and a weakness for seeing the way you respond to his cock. He loves the way you go dumb the moment he starts thrusting into you – your mouth parts into a permanent gasp, fingers grasping at the sheets underneath you, back arching up off the ground and your nipples perking into hard little buds that he can’t help but stare at. It doesn’t take him too terribly long to orgasm, and the moment you start clenching down on him with any sort of regularity, you’ll notice the way his thrusts start to get sloppy and uncoordinated, the rhythm faltering and his hair covering his upper eyes as he tries to regain his composure, unable to let the moment end quite yet. You’ll always be able to tell when he’s orgasming because his hips momentarily freeze up and a very small, slight shiver wracks his whole body before he’s letting rope after rope spurt from his tip. He prefers to finish inside you, but on the rare occasion when you’re using your hands on him, you’ll see the way his cum shoots out in perfect little arches, landing in puddles against your chest or fist and drying fairly quickly. His cum is oddly fragrant – it doesn’t smell good or bad necessarily, but the scent is extremely masculine and you’ll quickly learn to associate it with him. (This is the primary way you learn that he’s grown a penchant for humping at your sleeping pillow, the same familiar scent imbued into the fabric that you lay your head on each night.) His refraction period is rather long, so it’s unlikely you’ll get more than a single round out of him on any given sexual encounter, but after a long while of being stuck by his side, you’ll learn that if you request it of him, he’ll gladly bring you to your high a few times over with his fingers and mouth even after he’s finished himself. He won’t explicitly offer it for fear of both rejection and his own pride, but you’ll notice the way his semi-flaccid, rather pathetic looking cock twitches at your request, an obvious sign that he very much wants to please you.

His more traditional views of sex and intimacy are showcased in the way that he prefers to fuck you in simple missionary style. He likes the simplicity of the position, and the way you feel in his position makes him quietly grunt under his breath and throw one of your legs up over his shoulder. The new angle makes your walls feel incredibly tight, the sensation making his fingertips grip onto your thighs just a hair too tight, leaving finger shaped bruises behind. He’ll pin you down, spitting onto his hand and giving himself a few good pumps, before lining himself and pushing inside slowly, all six eyes intently watching your face and seeing the way your eyes roll to the back of your head. Kokushibou, despite coming off as rather cold and indifferent in most aspects of your relationship, is actually extremely in touch and sensitive to your perception of him – he wants you to like him, maybe even love him, and to see the way you respond so quickly and easily to his cock makes him giddy with pride. The way you clench down on him spurs him to fuck into you with fuller, deeper strokes, the constant stimulation against his sensitive skin making his fight back the orgasm that’s steadily building in his navel. Sometimes he’ll even throw both of your legs over his shoulders, your cunt feeling even more tight with the new angle, loving the way you gasp and claw at him, his name a mantra on your lips as his thrusts get a little more animalistic. Having you underneath him like that helps quell his possessiveness – the knowledge that no one else will ever get to touch you like this brings him hurtling towards his orgasm, and although it’s very slight, as the first few ropes of cum flood into your cunt, you’ll be able to hear him lowly growl an almost unintelligible mine under his breath.

He’s solidly average in nearly every way – average length with an average girth, just a truly utilitarian cock. It’s mostly pale, with the tip being a softer pink color that grows darker by the second when he’s hard. What makes him thoroughly not average, however, is that his length is almost always extremely cold to the touch. The skin is always cool, not quite feeling like ice but certainly unnatural against your fingertips. It’s an odd sensation – when he’s fucking you, the shivers that run up and down your spine aren’t just from the way he’s expertly rolling his hips and managing to hammer into that one spot that makes you see stars. Rather, it’s the temperature difference, how the sensation of something so hard and cold inside of you gets your toes curling and the softest gasp slipping off your tongue because it all just feels so very strange. But Douma absolutely loves the way it catches you so off guard, knowing that even if you’ve slept with men before him (a thought that makes something ugly stir in his gut), surely no one else had made you feel quite like this. He’s not the best with matinence, preferring to occasionally trim when he has the time, but he doesn’t expect you to be hairless either. He likes the buildup of hair, actually, because Douma loves to see the way your combined slick and cum settles against the hair, clumping it together and leaving a mark of the two of you together. (Often times, he’ll delay showering or cleaning himself after sleeping with you simply so that he can keep the scent of you on him with easy access. He’ll dip a finger down and swipe it through his pubic hair, bringing the finger up to smell and letting his eyes close and a rather boyish smile settle onto his lips, other palm already cupping at and rubbing the bulge forming in his pants.)

Douma isn’t sensitive. Once his obsession with you develops, he stops sleeping with other cult-followers, but the damage is already done. He’s slept with dozens of human women and men, and as a result his body has grown used to constant stimulation and pleasure by many different hands. It takes a long while for him to orgasm, the combination of his stamina and experience combining together to make your job much more difficult when Douma simply orders you to get him off. The one thing that consistently helps bring him closer to the edge, however, is when you use a significant amount of pressure against his cock. When you’re pumping your fist up and down his length, squeeze just a bit tighter than what seems correct and he’ll hiss, those eyes of his shining as he tells you to keep going, his hips bucking and thrusting up in time. When you’ve got him against your tongue, suck as hard as you can while you run the tip of your tongue along the underside of the shaft and you’ll feel his whole body sag in pleasure, the small little giggle-lick sigh he lets out letting you know that your actions have effected him. And when he’s fucking you, clench down on him sporadically and you’ll notice the way his cool, unbothered tone and expression grow just a hair darker, his voice getting a bit gruffer and his eyebrows drawing tight as he fucks into you meanly, like he’s got something to prove. It’ll still take him a long while to get off, but once he finally reaches his high, you’ll be rewarded with a very copious amount of thick, glue-like cum that will plug you so full that you’ll be leaking it around his length. It’s oddly sweet, the consistency smooth against your tongue. This is particularly lucky because Douma absolutely loves to finish on your face, loving the way you look all tainted and ruined and pathetic with his cum smeared across your cheeks and lips, clumped up in your eyelashes, even staining your hair. Cute.

His favorite way for you to touch his cock is when you simply open your mouth as wide as you can go and let him use you. Fucking you face is one of his favorite past times – there’s something about the power trip that drives Douma wild, the visual of you on your knees for him while his nails dig against your scalp and he physically moves your head up and down his length like you’re some kind of human fleshlight gets blood rushing straight between his legs. He can be rather unassuming in bed at times, but Douma absolutely hates to give up control, and having you so willingly let him do as he pleases with your mouth makes him giddy over both the sensation of your tongue and throat against his skin but also at your complete and utter submission to him. He likes watching the way your lips pucker around his girth, the way his cock disappears and reappears as he keeps up the motions. He likes the sight of your spit against his skin, reflecting the candlelight as he thrusts his hips forward to meet the motions of your head. He likes when you gag, the way your throat closes up making him moan lowly and only push deeper, wanting to hear more of the choking sound you let out. He likes knowing that he has an effect on you, enjoying the way your body responds to him. He likes how you desperately try to control yourself, to stop yourself from choking and pulling back, watching you fight your instincts because you don’t want to displease him. It strokes his ego and has his cock swelling inside your throat, and when he finally, finally reaches his orgasm, he’ll pull back without warning, your lips releasing his tip with a wet, lewd pop noise. He'll smack his tip against your cheeks a few times, eyes fluttering closed as his fist pumps up and down his fist so quickly that it’s a blur, until suddenly you feel slightly cold cum spraying across your face, Douma’s airy moans and laughter ringing in your ears as he strokes and strokes and strokes so that every last drop lands on your pretty, human face. Afterwards, as you’re still on your knees and he’s standing before you, he’ll tell you to kiss it, dear, insisting you press your lips against his tip in one final thank-you for giving you his cum, a commodity you should be truly grateful for.

He’s a solid five inches with moderate girth. The base is thicker, tapering down near the tip but still significant enough to feel when he slips inside of you. The thick, bold lines decorating his body continue down between his legs, with a single line running the length of his cock on either side. A single vein follows each line, sensitive to the touch and making Akaza grunt when you run your tongue along them. It’s pale, and even his tip is rather pale – the softest, baby pink that only grows to a darker red color right on the brink of his orgasm. He keeps himself neatly trimmed, the pink hairs standing out against pale skin and dark lines, tickling your nose when he’s pushing himself down your throat. His balls are low-set, nearly swinging with every step he takes, and though not terribly sensitive, Akaza loves when you pay attention to them and squeeze them a bit harshly. It takes a bit to arouse him, and you can actually watch and feel in real time as he grows hard, the process a bit slow but entertaining to watch because it’s like you can see him start to grow restless, his entire body starting to grow flushed and hot because he needs you. He’s already clingy and constantly trying to be in your space, but once he’s turned on and aroused this only increases, his hands in constant motion as he touches every spot he can reach, groping and squeezing and kneading because wants every part of you in his palm.

He's not terribly sensitive, taking a while to reach his high. His orgasms are long, though, lasting easily twenty or more seconds – once the pleasure peaks, his jaw drops and his lips part, eyes squeezed shut and his eyebrows scrunched together as he gasps each breath. He loses control of his hips in the moment, fucking into your cunt, ass, mouth, or wherever else like a madman, too lost in his pleasure to register your gags or pleas for him to slow down. And for the entirety of his orgasm, cum drools from his tip – it’s a constant flow, thick pearls forming and landing in big, fat splats against your skin or inside you. If given the preference, Akaza always picks finishing inside of you – he knows he can’t actually get you pregnant, but the prospect of breeding you is attractive nonetheless, and so he’ll try to finish every time plugging you up, letting out that half-gasp half-moan as he rides out his high. He’s so insistent on finishing inside that when you’re using your mouth or hand on him, he’ll pull away at the last moment, hands moving faster than you can keep up with as he pins you down, spreading your legs and nudging his tip into you, letting out a shuddering groan as he lets go just in time, cum flooding your cunt while you stare in shock at just how quickly he’d manhandled you. It’s a preference, sure, but with the way he start muttering under his breath ‘m gonna come inside, let me come inside, need to come inside over and over, it feels more like some sort of carnal need rather than a mere enjoyment.

Akaza’s favorite way for you to touch his cock is when he’s got you folded in half, pretty body bent into the tightest mating press you’ve ever experienced. He likes the intimacy of the position; he can press every inch of his body against yours, making sure that he’s the only thing you can feel, see, hear, and taste.  And god, the way your cunt feels makes him lose his fucking mind. You’re so tight like this – the angle making your walls clamp down on him even harder than normal, his tip brushing against that sensitive spot inside you again and again, the way your walls clench onto him like a vice only serving to push his hips faster, his thrusts getting harder and more animalistic. He likes that he can get as deep as possible in this position – he can press in so tightly that his balls are flush with the curve of your ass, every inch of himself buried inside of you, the feeling of your warmth and wetness surrounding him and making him grit his teeth in pleasure. He has a penchant for watching himself in this position – watching the way his cock appears and disappears inside of you, the ring of white sitting at the base making his balls clench. Seeing the way your cunt stretches for him makes him giddy, the sense of possessiveness he feels over you only growing with each thrust. He just likes the way you feel in this position – and how incredibly responsive you are when he finds that perfect angle, feeling you clench down and beg for him, almost as if you love him.

It’s just the slightest bit crooked, like it somehow got broken and didn’t quite heal right. It’s something that Gyutaro is initially embarrassed about, worried that you’ll think it’s strange or unappealing or – worst of all – painful, but he’ relieved to find out that it actually managed to fit inside of you perfectly, snugly rubbing against the sensitive parts of your cunt that leave you gasping his name and begging for more. The same spotted birthmarks decorate the length, sitting so prettily against his tan skin. The spots are more sensitive than the skin around them, and if you run a finger along them he’ll shiver a bit, teeth gnawing together as he stops himself from whining out again, please please please! It’s long, too – long enough to smack against his thigh a bit as he walks, the length sizable even when he’s completely flaccid. His tip is a dark, deep red-pink color, always swelling up to the size of a walnut, the skin wrinkled and sensitive and absolutely dripping in pre-cum. He produces enough that the inside of his pants have countless stains, wet splotches and patches always appearing on them every time he sees you and watches you go about your business. He’s not particularly good at keeping himself groomed, finding that the hair grows back much too quickly and unruly for shaving to be of any use, and although he’s self-concious about it at first, he eventually grows to not mind showing you his naked pelvis. The hair is dark and curly, and because there’s so much of it, the bottom half of his shaft and flushed tip are the only visible parts of him underneath the hair. His balls are extremely sensitive – any pressure or the slightest touch makes something akin to a whine fall from his lips, his hips immediately and uncontrollably jerking forward, his cock visibly throbbing in response because god, he needs to touch you so badly and won’t you just please let him fuck you? He promises he’ll be good, he’ll make you feel so good he promises he promises he promises…

He's almost comically sensitive. Having had no experience in his human years, Gyutaro finds himself painfully effected every time your fingertips brush against his skin. Even outside of his cock, he’s able to get shivers and grow aroused just from you touching his hands, brushing past his side, even feeling your breath against his cheek as you kiss him. He gets hard embaressingly easily, and he absolutely cannot hide it. The obvious tent in his pants is already difficult enough to conceal, but the way his entire body flushes red and he starts panting like some sort of dog makes it obvious what’s going on. And once you’ve got him nude before you, that sensitivity doesn’t go away – he’s shuddering the first time you wrap your fist around him, licking at his lips in nerves and excitement because god you feel better than his own bony hand. He’s like putty in your hands every time you touch his cock, really – he gets hazy, like a fog’s lifted over his brain, and all he can do is mindlessly reach out and grope you, to fuck into you and kiss and lick at you like a man possessed. Consequently, he doesn’t last very long – his orgasms are quick, and he has very little warning before they’re suddenly upon them. He has the decency to warn you, at least, a slurred and rushed ‘m c-coming falling past his lips as his eyes go wide, your name like a mantra as he shakes and spasms. He’s loud when he’s orgasming, nearly incoherent as the pleasure overwhelms him, but you’ll always be able to make out the vague sound of your name and what sounds like ‘thank you’. His cum is thin, almost watery, making it an absolute nightmare to clean up because it gets everywhere. Luckily, Gyutaro has a penchant for coming inside of you and down your throat -  although the taste is rather bitter and makes you gag. But every time he pulls out and sees the white ooze out of your pretty, clenching hole, he can only gulp, already growing hard again and practically begging you to give him another round.

His favorite way for you to touch him is simply letting you grind on him. He knows he’s the one in control in your relationship, but there’s something so freeing and wonderful about giving up his power, about letting you take care of him and treat him so gently and sweetly that makes his heart race. He likes when he’s laying flat on his back, eyes staring transfixed up at you straddling his lap. He likes the way you look on top of him, the feeling of your thighs caging around his hips, and the pressure of your weight against his cock makes him gulp. He likes when you move in slow, sensual circles, the sway of your hips and the warmth of your cunt seeping through the thin layer of your panties against his cock. He likes when you keep a consistent rhythm, letting the pleasure build up and up, only for you to suddenly switch to grinding back and forth right as he’s on the edge, the change making him groan and arch his back ever so slightly. He likes giving you control, and the way you’re able to dictate the pressure against his cock keeps him guessing and keeps his pleasure ebbing and flowing – keeping him from orgasming much too quickly. He particularly likes when you’re grinding against him while he’s fully nude and you only have a measly pair of panties on – something about the skimpiness and the slight taboo gets him hot under the collar, balls clenching and unclenching against your ass as he watches the way the mix of his pre-cum and your slick wets the fabric of the panties. He just likes the intimacy of the moment, and if you were to reach down and play with his tip as you hips move and scoop? Well, you won’t be mad if he soils the pretty fabric of your panties, right? Don’t worry about washing them – he’ll keep them, and take care of it for you. Just give him a few days.

[rainbowfey]

Day 2: "Left. Other left!" @flufftober

Several thoughts raced through Sanemi‘s head, all of them competing for his attention, when he hastened towards the Ubuyashiki Estate. Of course, the most pressing question was why he had been summoned by Oyakata-sama. The Kasugai crow had refused to give him any explanation for this sudden invitation and even though Sanemi had threatened to catch it and cook it under the grill, the crow had kept its beak shut. Thus, he had no idea what to expect and this circumstance was something that he deeply disliked. While it was always a pleasure to speak to Oyakata-sama, he did not usually invite any of the Hashira outside of their regular meetings without a good and often grave reason. Sanemi’s heart started beating faster when ideas started flooding his mind, one more menacing than the other.

Sanemi quickened his pace and turned the last corner – and froze at the sight that unfolded in front of him. He did indeed see Oyakata-sama who was already looking into his direction as if he had sensed Sanemi arriving, a warm smile on his face. Next to him kneeled two of his children, their pale faces calm as always as they both followed their father’s gaze. And in front of them stood another person who had not yet noticed Sanemi. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the dark hair flowing down on a haori that was split into two parts, one half being red and the other having a very distinct pattern that Sanemi would have recognized everywhere.

“Shit,” Sanemi muttered before he could stop himself. This already odd invitation had now taken a rather dreadful turn and he was not sure anymore whether he really wanted to attend the meeting. But since Oyakata-sama had already spotted him, he had no other choice than approaching them, teeth gritted.

As if he had felt Sanemi’s gaze burning holes into his haori, Giyuu turned around. As always, his face did not show much of a reaction but Sanemi noticed his eyebrows slightly furrowing. Apparently, Giyuu had not been informed about his presence either which was somewhat reassuring. For a moment, they exchanged an unenthused look. Then, Sanemi turned towards Oyakata-sama and his children and bowed deeply, his eyes fixed at the ground.

“Welcome, Sanemi. Thank you for coming,” Oyakata-sama said, his voice soft as always. “Now that you have arrived, we can speak about the matter at hand.”

Sanemi looked up and noticed that Giyuu was still standing around as if this did not pertain to him, his gaze wandering over the trees and paths surrounding this part of the estate. If it were not for Oyakata-sama’s presence, Sanemi would have hit Giyuu over the head for this disrespect towards their master. While it was still tempting, he did not move a muscle though. For the moment, he had to leave it at a nasty look – and if he was lucky, the chance to go through with it would present itself at a later point. “Yes, Oyakata-sama,” he said as calmly as possible, listening carefully.

Oyakata-sama smiled at him before his face turned earnest. “As you are aware, both of you are Hashira and therefore two of the strongest demon slayers. However, it has been brought to my attention that both of you still have potential to grow in your respective areas.”

Sanemi tilted his head and looked at his master pensively. It took him a moment to filter out the meaning behind those elegant words and his heart sank when he realized that he had just been told in a very kind way that at least one of his skills was lacking. He shot Giyuu an angry look when he noticed Giyuu glancing at him with what looked like a slightly amused gaze.

“I’m not sure I understand,” he said hesitatingly and this time, he was fairly sure that he saw amusement sparkling in Giyuu’s eyes. It was only for Oyakata-sama’s calm presence that he did not jump up and grab Giyuu by the collar of his ridiculous haori. While Sanemi was not shy of confrontations, there was one person in the world he never wanted to disappoint – and he was pretty sure that Oyakata-sama would indeed be very disappointed in him, should he lose his temper this easily.

As if he had read his mind, Oyakata-sama nodded to him, an encouraging smile on his lips. “I apologize, I should have explained it better. While both of you are impressive fighters, both in your respective breathing styles as well as in your strong minds, it has come to my attention that you both struggle working with a partner.”

Sanemi paused and stared at Oyakata-sama. From the corner of his eye, he saw that Giyuu had also turned to look at their master, a slightly uneasy expression on his pale face. Oyakata-sama smiled at them. For a moment, Sanemi absentmindedly thought that his master had to be the only person in the world who was able to both smile at someone and give them a stern look at the same time.

“Giyuu, you have to learn how to communicate your plan to others, especially when working as a team,” Oyakata-sama continued. “And you, Sanemi, have to learn how to trust others instead of only relying on yourself. And since both of your struggles stem from the same root, you will be working together to outgrow them and become even stronger.”

For a moment, everything was silent. Sanemi felt his blood rush through his body when the meaning of what Oyakata-sama had just said sank in. And while he still struggled for words, he heard Giyuu quietly say what was on his mind as well. “Oh no.”

Nichika – or Hinaki, as Sanemi could not tell the Ubuyashiki daughters apart – smiled at them and bowed after she had finished explaining the instructions. She turned to leave, followed by Hinaki – or maybe Nichika, who knew. Sanemi watched them leave the training ground close by the Ubuyashiki residence, his mouth still slightly agape. It took him quite a bit of willpower to turn around and face Giyuu who stood a few steps behind him, leaning against one of the many wooden dummies they were supposed to use for their training. Of course, Giyuu was once again too pretentious to reveal any big emotion but even from where he stood, Sanemi saw his eyelid twitching. And for once, Sanemi could relate to him.

For a while, they both kept quiet, lost in their own bewilderment at what had been asked of them. Sanemi contemplated leaving, simply sneaking away from the training ground. He was sure he would be able to do so without being seen but since he was well aware that his master’s mental abilities well exceeded those of his eyes, he knew that this plan was doomed before he could even try. Oyakata-sama would know, in one way or the other, and while he would maybe not intervene, he would be direly disappointed in Sanemi’s actions - and however much disdain he felt at the idea of training with Giyuu, Sanemi was not willing to disappoint the one person who had never disappointed him.

Thus, he gritted his teeth and turned to Giyuu who stared at the cloudy sky as if it was about to reveal an out of this situation to him. “Well,” Sanemi growled. “Since we have not much of a choice, we might as well get it over with.”

For a moment, Giyuu did not react and Sanemi was about to say something rather unkind at this ignorance, when Giyuu finally nodded reluctantly. “Yes,” he muttered, avoiding Sanemi’s gaze. “So … are you going to bend down or do I have to jump?”

Sanemi felt his own blood rush through his ears and he dug his fingernails deep into his palms, desperately trying to cope with the absurdity of the situation. It took him all his willpower to keep breathing calmly instead of exploding when he begrudgingly crouched down. He heard slow footsteps behind him and clenched his jaws when he felt Giyuu coming closer. His whole body tensed up when Giyuu came to a halt behind him. And then, he felt cold fingers hesitantly touching his shoulders before grabbing ahold of them and even though he tried his best to suppress it, Sanemi flinched at the touch. He felt Giyuu freeze and for a moment, they were engulfed by silence as both Sanemi and Giyuu held their breath at the same time.

Then, Sanemi closed his eyes and sighed, conquering his repulsion. The quicker they started, the quicker it would be over. And with a swift movement, he reached back and heaved Giyuu onto his shoulders, almost overhearing the surprised yelp coming from behind him. “Great,” he spat out. “What now?”

For a moment, he was met with stunned silence. Apparently, Giyuu had not expected this sudden ascent and it took him a second to adapt to the situation. “Well,” he said slowly. “Before we start, we have to … uh, put on the blindfold.”

With his jaw, Sanemi also almost dropped Giyuu. He noticed just in time that he had let go of him and quickly grabbed his legs, cutting Giyuu’s startled cry short. “The what?” he bellowed, desperately hoping that he had misheard Giyuu’s words.

But only a second later, his hopes were shattered when Giyuu repeated himself, this time dangling a dark piece of cloth in front of Sanemi’s face as if to prove his words. “The blindfold. You’ll have to put it on. Nichika explained it to us.”

Dumbstruck, Sanemi stared at the blindfold softly swaying before his eyes, moving in an almost hypnotic rhythm. He felt like he was trapped in a nightmare and while his brain still tried to process this new development, he heard himself weakly say, “I can’t put it on with no hands free though.”

And without hesitation, Giyuu replied, “Then I’ll do it for you.”

Sanemi froze when he felt Giyuu’s hands grazing his face as he quickly slipped the blindfold over his eyes. For a split second, Sanemi contemplated ripping the blindfold away and strangling Giyuu with it but even in this humiliating situation, he saw Oyakata-sama’s smile before his inner eye. And with clenched teeth, he let it wash over himself. When the dark cloth almost entirely drowned out any light, Giyuu finally retracted his hands. It was only then that Sanemi realized that he had held his breath throughout the whole ordeal and when he now gasped for air, he felt Giyuu shift uncomfortably on his shoulders as he leaned forward.

“Everything alright?” Giyuu asked, his voice sounding strangely timid. And instead of snapping at him, Sanemi left it at an exasperated sigh and nodded.

“Let’s get it over and done with,” he groaned, blinking rapidly as one of his eyelashes got stuck on the fabric. He felt Giyuu’s weight on his shoulders and even though Giyuu was not particularly heavy, it felt like he had shouldered nothing less than a boulder. For all he knew, this was at least a one-off occasion and this thought gave him the strength to tighten his grip when he felt Giyuu drawing his katana. As one of the Ubuyashiki daughters had explained to them, they would have to work together, Sanemi being the legs and muscle while Giyuu bore the katana and acted as the mind behind their strategy.

“Uh, let’s get moving then,” Giyuu said, sounding a bit unsure. He shifted his weight a bit and Sanemi clenched his teeth again, trying not to snap at him that he was no horse that had to be steered with the legs.

“Where?” he growled instead. “I can’t exactly see, if you haven’t noticed.”

Giyuu paused before he muttered, “Sure. Hm, turn to the right. There are a few dummies up ahead.”

And begrudgingly, Sanemi followed suit. The next hour – which did feel like an eternity – consisted mostly of Giyuu giving him increasingly precise commands where to go while Sanemi slowly got used to supporting Giyuu’s weight while he brandished his sword. And while his insides where still burning with anger at this training method, he did come to appreciate the satisfying thump when Giyuu’s katana hit another of the wooden dummies.

However, Sanemi was well aware that in the speed they were moving right now, an enemy would have enough time to gather a whole army before they even got to him. And thus, he spoke up after a while, cursing silently at himself for having to make this suggestion. “We should move quicker if we want this to be a real training.”

A moment of silence followed and he heard Giyuu’s soft breath before he finally replied, “Are you sure you are, uh, strong enough for that? I mean, you’ve been carrying me around for a while now.”

This caught Sanemi entirely by surprise and for a moment, he was at a loss of words as rage started bubbling up in his throat. He tightened his grip around Giyuu’s legs until his nails had to dig into his skin and he smiled grimly at the sharp breath drawn above his head. “I’ll show you just how to strong I am,” he murmured, more to himself.

Giyuu did not react to his threatening tone but Sanemi could feel him move into a more secure position, seemingly expecting Sanemi to burst into motion at any moment. And then, he did.

In the blink of an eye, Sanemi charged forward. Giyuu let out a small yelp and clung to his shoulders as they flew across the training ground. “Right,” Giyuu screamed, apparently just in time as his katana hit something hard way quicker than it had before.

But Sanemi did not let this knock him off course and he continued to sprint, led only by Giyuu’s hasty directions. Over and over, he heard the impact of Giyuu’s katana and when his muscles started burning and both of their breaths came ragged, he released all of his anger in another mighty burst of energy. They whirled across the training ground, drafts of air and the fierce impacts blurring into each other. Giyuu’s voice came quicker as he tried to keep up with Sanemi’s speed, his commands sounding more rushed by the minute which made Sanemi grin to himself.

“Left,” Giyuu gasped out and Sanemi instantly followed suit. Giyuu’s body tensed up as he screamed, “Other left!”

And before Sanemi had the time to react, something akin to a brick wall materialized in front of him and with an earthshattering thump, they collided. He yelped in surprise and pain as he staggered backwards, letting go of Giyuu who fell from his shoulders with a cry. Giyuu landed hard on the ground with a loud groan and Sanemi, still blinded by the dark fabric, stumbled over him, toppling over. Before he could reach out to catch himself, he landed on something rather soft which evoked another groan, this time slightly muffled. And when Sanemi ripped the blindfold off his face, he noticed that the squishy something he had landed on was Giyuu who stared up at him with his eyes wide as saucers.

Sanemi quickly struggled to his feet, hastily moving a few steps away from both Giyuu and the unexpected barrier which turned out to be less of a brick wall and more of an especially broad wooden dummy that now – if one looked closely – had the silhouette of a weird, humpbacked figure imprinted into its frontside.

Sanemi turned back to Giyuu, glaring at him, already opening his mouth to give him a piece of his mind when he suddenly heard a soft hem somewhere behind them. Giyuu’s gaze fell on something behind Sanemi and with a start, he turned around. His heart sank when he found himself face to face with Oyakata-sama, accompanied by his daughters. A slightly amused smile formed on his master’s face when he looked at first him, then Giyuu.

“As I can tell, this training was a good idea. I am glad that you are taking this very seriously, my children. And since you have both proven that you still have a ways to go, you will continue this training until you work in perfect harmony.” For a moment, everything fell silent. Like in trance, Sanemi turned his head and when his gaze met Giyuu’s blue eyes, he knew that this was only just the start to a few particularly unpleasant weeks. And the worst of it all: he would only break free if he and Giyuu actually managed to work as a team.

[joshisodd]

I may not look it but i used to watch ft!!

I've been rewatching some of the episodes and im still wishy washy on whether or not I want to redesign all the characters but here's some recent and old character sketches!! I've been playing around with their designs but trying not to deviate too far so that the characters still look like who they're supposed to be

Idk if anyone would wanna see me redesign/rework every character but I'd post em if there were people who wanted to see that.

Here's the rundown for those who are interested:

My basic ideas for fairy tail are to make every character a fantasy trope/creature/class/myth. Some of the characters will change into a different thing over time as they gain experience. I feel like fairy tail has a lot of potential to write a more modern fairy tale type story because of the whole wizards and magic thing. With dragons and princesses n everything. This is obviously present in the story, but i really want to reinforce that idea. there are some characters who I think really fit this, like Erza (obvi main knight of the story but also has the title of titania queen of the fairies) and natsu (obviously dragon as an mc, sort of a role reversal of the evil dragon. and maybe a fun demonic plot twist haha). But with other characters i may need to make more changes. Lucy is a loose version of the princess (with a fun runaway backstory), but I want her to evolve into a priestess. Grey kinda has nothing going on for him imo, the ice wizard thing keeps throwing me off every time i try to project something onto him. I think i'll go with a hunter -> demon slayer thing. He just happens to use ice magic. i don't wanna go with regular wizard because thats a bit boring lmao. It would also make the elemental thing between natsu and grey funnier bcuz he's a spooky demon and that guys a hunter so you guys REALLY shouldnt get along. They do anyway because the power of friendship lol Anyways that's the basic plan? even if i dont post it on tumblr just know its cooking in the back of my head. thx for reading all this haha

[yasashiiku]

10, 16, 18, and 20 for the munday meme!

10. Would you be friends with your muse if they were real?

I'm very loveable between younger boys for a reason (cousins, neighbors, my lil brothers' friends-) so I think I'd get a long with Shou & Shigeo & tlp :'), lots of mothering and berating involved, I'm not the eldest daughter for nothing x'D Kyojuro and Uta are too extroverted my introverted ass is SCARED Σ(°ロ°) Aoi shares a lot of traits with me I can see the both of us cleaning up an entire idk castle then having tea ...

16. Favourite trope?

Anything & everything that involves exploring the vulnerability of one's self, breaking down characters to pieces then putting them back together v neatly ! :] I like that a lot, I also like writing ambiguous morality, I can write a whole bunch of goody two shoes but slowly you'll see how everyone is kind of fucked up in their own way, sometimes it's harmless, just there- sometimes it has really great weight on the characters and how they interact with others. All in all, I'm a sucker for darker themes with little rays of light here and there! I try to make sure it's perfectly balanced as all things should be uwu

18. Are there any AU’s you’d like to explore but haven’t had the chance to yet?

Oh my god, you've opened a can of worms, and it's mostly Shou brain worms- but yES I have SO MANY AUs. Starting with kny I always loved the modern demon hunting AU, I know it's literally the same story but like modern but no, THE VIBES would be sooo different, so neat, the corps having tech that's more advanced than the regular masses?? demons would actually be much less in numbers and less known to people, demon slayers going to school & simple jobs & hiding their demon slaying careers, secret missions, nosy citizens & media, and everyone in suits cuz im insane, that's the good stuff.

As for mp100 I have way too many ideas and this post would get so long so I'm just gonna write 2, first is an AU I like to calll "foul & fair" based on a fic I read once, where Shou is a man of no woman born, intead he's a being completely made of the core of his father's psychic energy, impossible & unnatural & innocent & literally his father's biggest fear on earth and Shou doesn't even KNOW, there are too many possibilities, how'd he go about knowing, how are other psychics handling it, how Shou lives between humans when he can't call himself one- it's a very fun AU i love it sm i die. Idea number 2 is amnesia au set after the events of confession arc, I'm gonna avoid spoilers and just say Toichiro sends his son flying as a means to protect him, Shou gets head trauma & forgets everything ever, no one handles it well, some are guilt ridden, some want to support him but don't know how, his mother is devastated, but it also gives so much room to explores so many new dynamics & have Shou process all his past & present trauma in such new light. I'm also devastated :)

20. How do you overcome writer’s block?

I don't. lol

jk jk, I like reading fanfics, I like reading fanfics a lot especially one shots cuz they explore a single idea in few words and offer a lot of inspiration! other than that I dive into pinterest and get drowned in fanart and quotes and then im ON FIRE again in no time !

[comatosebunny09]

Jealous

By popular demand, I bring you a continuation of this.

Warnings: Sexual Assault, Sexual Harassment, Female Reader, Incredibly Mild Violence

Please enjoy! Thank you so much for reading!

Work is a welcome weight on your shoulders.

Brewing tea, stirring soup, wiping tables. Anything to keep the dissonance of your mind at bay. To disrupt the ever-present thoughts of one infuriatingly handsome demon slayer plaguing your mind.

Kyojuro’s features flit in and out of your memory. You wring the towel in your hands a little too harshly. Grit your teeth, snatching yourself away to tidy up another booth. The idea of him makes you feel positively nauseous.

You were once inseparable friends, the flame pillar having rescued your family from a band of errant demons some years ago. You’d stuck to him like glue since. Kept him company between missions and fed him until his belly was full to bursting.

Now, you’ve gone and mucked it all up, having sacrificed your dignity and companionship for a silly kiss.

Since that fateful night a month ago, you’ve avoided each other like a sickness. That starry evening you could still recall as if it happened mere moments ago when Kyojuro stole your breath and heart with his lips fastened to yours. Your mouth still tingles with the sensation. You battle the urge to touch it with your trembling fingers. 

You had waited lifetimes for the blond to return your feelings, your affections for him having bloomed like flower buds amid the spring. It was impossible not to like him. He was always so kind and endearing. Bore a smile that rivaled the sunset, heart shimmering like diamonds. And you were sure he housed similar feelings for you, finally surrendering to the spell the evening had cast.

When he’d jerked away, the alarm in his eyes sent your heart careening to your feet. He looked at you like you were something sinful, making you feel misplaced in your skin. Kyojuro had pardoned himself from your presence without sparing you a second glance. Amid your flaring nerves, you had no idea that such an exchange would be your last as friends.

You’ve spoken to him sparingly since; your friendly encounters dwindled to dust. You’re still quite cordial, of course. Make way for good mornings and rigid smalltalk. Though, it’s all just a farce to keep your family from questioning the state of your relationship.

It’s impossible not to bump shoulders with said blond from time to time. Kyojuro is a regular amongst this side of town, frequenting your parents’ restaurant between missions and what-have-you’s. Things that you don’t care too much for now. He’s a passing phase, a distant memory—cursory entertainment to fill the void of your social life.

As a familiar, sparkling peal of laughter filters through the noren curtains at the entrance, you don’t bat an eye.

Kyojuro slinks in with a towering, silver-haired man in tow. Regards you with a curt nod and a ghostly smile, maneuvering past to take a seat closest to the kitchen. You never-mind how your heart hiccups in his presence. How your breath hitches and your muscles stiffen, Kyojuro’s alluring scent of scorched cedar and homely warmth overwhelming your senses.

You rap against the side of your skull with harsh knuckles, hoping to knock some sense into your muddled brain. Kyojuro is just another patron, and you will treat him as such. You square your shoulders, brows knit with determination. Toss your rag onto an empty table, hurriedly wiping your palms on your apron.

Kyojuro glances at you whilst you teeter towards the eccentric pair. For a moment, your gait stutters. You’d missed being the center of such an attentive gaze. Before you can complete your journey, another diner pilfers your attention.

You approach a table of four uproarious, burly men. You can only infer that they are drunk from the scent of sake singeing your nose. Between their leering grins and appraising whistles, you ignore the subtle tick of your brow, conjuring a welcoming smile.

“How can I help you?” you ask, your skin crawling in the presence of such a sleazy quartet.

It’s become second nature for you, enduring the lecherous stares and catcalls at your family’s restaurant. The four men take turns “complimenting” you with their slimy tongues, gradually delving through the layers of your yukata with their eyes.

You try to dodge their wandering hands as they attempt to grope you. One goes so far as to trap your wrist, hauling you down onto the table where dishes clatter noisily, scalding soup seeping through your clothing. Tears scorch the corners of your eyes, a wail lodging itself in your esophagus.

It isn’t until one particular weighted palm finds the cusp of your bottom that you hear a sharp crack of wood, a collective gasp befalling the room, and feel a wispy breeze caressing your flushed nape.

You are swiftly pulled onto your jelly legs, a glacial spike of fear coursing through your system at the possessive arm wrapped around your waist. You’ve barely any time to turn before the patron closest to the edge of the booth releases a pained squeal. You watch through squinted eyes, realizing that his hand is no longer on you. Instead, it is ensnared in a death grip by a more lithe one, veins jutting along its callused surface. You follow your rescuer’s appendage to its owner, one very peeved Rengoku Kyojuro standing beside you, glaring daggers into the quartet that had dared to harass you. His teeth gnash together behind tight lips, blood vessels spilling across his temple. Have you ever seen him this infuriated before?

Kyojuro seethes with muted violence. His aura is somehow dizzying, comforting. He grates out, “You would do best to keep your hands to yourself. Otherwise,” to highlight his threat, Kyojuro twists the lecherous patron’s hand at a more awkward angle, giving way to crackling bone and guttural grunts. “I will take them from you. Do you understand?”

The man in question hastily nods, scurrying out of the restaurant once Kyojuro grants him his freedom. The other diners refocus their attention, fearful of what the slayer could do to them for being nosy. You look to your savior after you’ve rediscovered your breath, spellbound by the wary look Kyojuro casts you.

“Are you alright?” Kyojuro queries, tenderly helping you stand upright. His eyes skim over you as if you’re made of glass. You nod half-heartedly. Awestruck, dumbfounded, numb. You fix your mouth to say something; anything. But before muttering a simple thanks, Kyojuro springs away from you. He rapidly blinks as if dislodging himself from a trance, a nervous chuckle at the cusp of his lips whilst he tears a sheepish hand through his fiery locks. “My apologies. I know not what came over me. Forgive me.”

He tears himself from your presence following a quick bow, disappearing behind the noren with his companion following after. Swept away as if they were never there in the first place.

<< Mistake | Masterlist

[crimsonfic]

Tengen Uzui Fanfiction-

Beautiful Radiant Light

Foreign Demon Slayer Y/N

Subjects: Angst, Fluff, Smut, Violence, Gore, Death, Blood, Mature Language & Content, other sensitive subjects

9 Chapters

Chapter Five

7.6k words. Contains: Violence, Fluff, Suggestive language

The two months you spent with Ms. Kimi, or as you actually call her, Auntie Kimi, were interesting to say the least. She was a very funny lady, around 45 you guess because she would never tell you her age. She's protested you helping her around her business but you do anyway. She scolded you a lot, telling you you try to do too much, and that you're the perfect example of why she doesn't have kids, because they don't listen even when they grow up. She's made sure to tend to your broken arm, making sure it healed correctly, tending to you after fighting demons and just caring for you overall. She's helped bath you, washed your hair, style your hair, and made sure you ate. She even taught you how to properly wear a kimono and tie your obi and obijime.

She asked about your story and your hometown, and when you told her she hugged you. She asked a lot of questions later, learning about your country and teaching you about hers. She really enjoyed doing your hair. She loved to adorn it with clips and combs, especially with fabric flowers. She would introduce you to the guests staying, as her niece. You had a really great friendship.

She admired you for fighting demons with one arm and always making it back home. When you told her it was easy she would hit you, playfully telling you to be modest.

After only a week there, you noticed a crow flying around overhead when you fought demons. It never reported anything so you assumed it was just a regular crow, signaling death in the air. But it was every single night. It would even follow you back to Auntie Kimi's. The last two weeks there's been no demons in the area, and you still never got a report from the crow sending you to another location so you didn't know what to think about it. Auntie Kimi thought you were crazy when you said there was a crow following you around, until today that is.

"Y/n, you have a letter." She said coming into your room.

"Really?" You asked perplexed.

"Yeah, says y/n l/n. Who knows your last name? You have friends?"

You looked her and faked a laugh. "You know I know some people."

"But they never come to visit. I thought you were lying. You need better friends." She laughed and then handed the letter to you.

"You read it." You told her.

She hit you with the letter. "I taught you how to read this writing! You read it!" She scolded.

You took it from her and opened it. Looking over it she stood silently beside you waiting. "Well? What is it?"

"Hashira training."

"What's that?"

"It's a training to help improve and test the demon slayers skills."

"So you have to travel there. When is it?"

"4 days."

"That's not enough time, we have to prepare." Kimi replied.

"What do you mean? Prepare how?"

"What are you going to wear? I'm sending you away, you have to look nice because you represent me."

You smiled at her. She's so funny, and she clearly loves you.

"I represent you huh?"

"Ah! Hush. You know what I mean. Let's figure this out."

You showed her the haori Hina bought you and told her you wanted to wear this over your uniform. She went to the store nearby and bought fabric so she could make you a headband and hair pins that match. She presented it to you the day that you were leaving. Smiling as she showed them to you, proud of her work and how well they matched.

She tied the headband on you and walked around to look at your face.

"Perfect!" She said smiling at your appearance.

You smiled back. "Thank you. For everything."

"Yeah don't mention it. You helped me too." She told you patting your head.

You walked right into her and hugged her. "I'll miss you!" You said.

She hugged you back, with a nervous laugh and a pat on the back. Sometimes she acts weird with affection.

"You're weird Auntie." You told her as you pulled back.

"Hush!" She hit your arm. "Have fun, be safe, and do your best!"

You bowed, the way she taught you, and said goodbye. She waved at you until you were out of her sight as you walked.

—————

When you arrived, you saw many faces, that of course you weren't familiar with. To your surprise most of them were children. You definitely didn't want to dwell on that fact, so you made it your mission not to focus on them.

There were many eyes on you, with no one but the Hashira knowing who you were. With you being foreign you're used to the lingering stares, so it didn't bother you.

Currently you were waiting for the training to start, sitting on the ground by yourself. Sanemi walked over to you.

"Sup foreigner!" He said to you.

"Hello." You replied. You know that the way your night ended when you first met didn't give you any room to send shots back his way. You were embarrassed and didn't really want to face him.

"Are you doing better?" He slightly whispered to you.

You were so surprised your head quickly whipped to look up at him. His stance and face didn't show any type of concern, or question, just irritation. If you didn't know any better you would've thought you hallucinated that question.

"I am. T-Thank you?" You said.

"Good. Can't have you being weak during my training session. Give your best so we can have our rematch foreigner."

You nodded to him. "Thank you Sanemi sama." You replied.

His eyes widened and then he nodded with a satisfied smirk on his face. "Hm." He replied and then walked away.

"Whoa, you aren't afraid of the Wind Pillar?" A kid in front of you turned to ask after Sanemi was out of hearing range.

"Nah." You replied.

"Wow. I sometimes see him in my nightmares." He said.

You smiled at his honesty and the slight shiver he gave. "I'm sorry to hear that. That must be awful."

"It is!" He started smiling. "I'm Daisuke."

"Y/n" you introduced yourself.

"That's a nice name. I like that. Do you want to be friends?" He asked.

"Thanks, and I would love that." You told him, smiling at his adorable antics.

"Alright!" He enthused.

He began talking to you about demons he's slayed, about his favorite Hashira, to which some of the other kids near you joined into the conversation.

You watched the way their eyes lit up talking about the highest ranking slayers. You could tell they admired them deeply and wanted to be just like them. You smiled at their youthful excitement, just silently listening, and nodding as your only contribution.

"So how many demons have you killed?" Someone asked you.

"Like 25." You lied

"Whoa, that's incredible."

"What about you?" You asked in return.

They instantly looked away, looking like they didn't want to answer.

"Oh, um like....13."

"That's great!" You encouraged.

Everyone spoke more easily about their accomplishments now. You were enjoying your time with the kiddos when the training started.

"Fellow Slayers! I hope you're ready to get started." Tengen spoke loudly with a smile on his face.

You felt your heartbeat pick up and your palms get sweaty. You've been afraid to look his way since you got here. You didn't know if you could handle being in his presence after everything that happened. Especially given you basically fucked his wife but now you're like strangers. Your face heated up at the thought. You have to act like it never happened. They've probably done the same.

I've gotta move on, you thought to yourself.

"Get ready for the flashiest display of stamina you've ever seen, led by me, your favorite Hashira." He posed as he finished his sentence.

There was almost like a collective swoon that came from the young girls and even some of the boys.

You smiled in amusement.

"I'll start with something easy, just to warm us up. 400 jumping jacks right now! Go go go!" He said as he started to do them as well.

There were some groans and expressions of surprise but you saw that everyone was trying. Tengen was talking, encouraging people to keep going, asking how they think they can keep up with the demons if they can't handle 400 puny jumps.

When you made it to the end, not even half of the people there were standing. All the Hashira were though. You were a little sore honestly but not extremely tired.

"We've got a course ahead of us, you may have to jump or crawl or roll, so get ready, and we're running the whole way. This time of me talking was your break now let's go!"

Tengen took off in the direction of the woods. It was a little difficult to be surrounded by people while doing this. People were certainly gonna push at the points where we have to jump. You sped up, wanting to get away from people. However, you slowed down once you saw how close you got to Tengen and the other Hashira.

At the end, you had passed the stamina test. You felt eyes on you, and decided to ignore them completely, turning to check on Daisuke who found you and came over to you. "Good job y/n!" He said exasperated giving you a hi-five.

"Yeah good job y/n." Tengen's voice boomed from beside you. You didn't hear him come over at all. Daisuke's eyes practically bulged out of his sockets.

"Thanks." You said to the both of them. You kept your eyes off of Tengen. Thank goodness for Daisuke.

"You know the Sound Hashira?" He asked in astonishment.

"Yes. We're good friends." Tengen answered before you could.

"Oh, that's incredible sir." Daisuke bowed to Tengen like 3 times. "I'm good friends with y/n too."

You smiled at that statement.

"Is that so?" Tengen asked.

"Yes Mr Uzui Tengen sir!" He bowed again.

"Oh, well what is your name y/n's friend?"

"Daisuke sir!"

"Nice to meet you Daisuke." Tengen smiled at him.

You finally looked at Tengen. He wasn't being mean or sarcastic. He meant what he said. Tengen's eyes met yours and he smiled brighter.

"I'm thinking I'll stay near you guys for the next test. Is that okay?"

"Yes of course sir!" Daisuke answered.

"Cool." Tengen replied before folding his arms and turning to face the front.

"You okay, you're looking a little green." You asked Daisuke.

"Yeah, it'll pass! I just get sick when I'm overworked. No offense Mr. Uzui." Daisuke said

Tengen's laughed boomed, drawing the attention of everyone around. "None taken little guy!" He patted his shoulder, causing Daisuke to rock forward.

You put your arm out, catching him by his other shoulder. "You're really strong Mr. Uzui." Daisuke mumbled out. Wincing a bit.

"Thanks!" He replied flexing his muscles, oblivious that he caused Daisuke pain.

"Okay everyone I hope you're ready. Follow my lead and do your best." Mitsuri called out to everyone.

The flexibility test was fine. It pushed you a bit but you succeeded in making it to the end without having to stop or getting hurt. There were many times during the test you and Tengen made eye contact. He would smile at you every single time. He was so enthusiastic. A contrast from the last time you saw him. He was almost stoic and reserved last time, maybe a tad bit grumpy too.

"Good job Daisuke." You told him, giving him a high five like he did for you last time.

He smiled, a blush forming on his cheeks. "Same to you y/n"

"What about me?" Tengen asked you holding his hand up.

"Good job Tengen sama." You said hitting his hand. He closed his hand around yours when they connected. You froze momentarily at the action.

Beside you guys Daisuke's mouth popped open in surprise.

You gently pulled your arm back but Tengen didn't let go of your hand just yet. He smiled, oblivious to the scene he was causing. You laughed awkwardly, shifting your weight to one side. Your heart beginning to race at the thought of the rumors that this action of his could create.

Your hand was released and then you clasped them together in front of you.

"The quick movement test should be fun. Muichiro is about your age." Tengen said to Daisuke, luckily helping to relieve the awkward tension.

"Oh yeah. He's so amazing. I didn't even know what a demon slayer was when I was 14." Daisuke answered.

"Wait you're not 14? How old are you?" Tengen asked.

"I'm 16 sir." Daisuke said.

Tengen stepped closer to him, looking him over.

"Hmm. You're quite small." He said.

He's so weird, you thought to yourself. Daisuke looks his age and is about typical height for his age in this country.

Daisuke practically squeaked under Tengen's intense scrutiny over his size.

"Everyone can't be gigantic like you." You told him, trying to help Daisuke out from under that gaze.

"You grew up around small boys too?" Tengen laughed, his gaze now on you.

"No, the average height for boys and men where I'm from is quite taller than here." You told him.

"Oh really?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Tall like me?"

"No, shorter. But not too much. I did call you gigantic for a reason." You joked.

"Good. So I'll remain flashy everywhere I go." He started posing.

Yeah very weird.

Muichiro got the quick movement training started. It was quite difficult to hear him, but luckily with Tengen's help he was able to tell you. As the training went on you got quicker and quicker. It surprised you! You were moving quicker than you ever remember. Honestly you didn't know you were capable.

For the sword skill revision you didn't do too well. You don't usually fight with a sword, the way you fight with your spear is very different. The swords that you do have, are very different from the swords found here. Like your akrafeena, your ngulu, and makraka are all curved and you have to hold them all differently. You do have a Takoba, but it's more straight, and your flyssa sword is incredibly long, with a very narrow tip. You have to change your stance and attack style with everything that you use. With all that experience with different weapons you didn't really anticipate it would be so difficult to grasp things that most here consider basic. You did learn a lot though. Maybe after this you would do better.

When the pounding training was starting you could feel the tension and fear grow exponentially. Sanemi was hurling insults left and right. People were scared to even fight their opponents.

"Hey foreigner get over here, you're my partner."

"Is that fair? Can he do that? He's a Hashira!" Daisuke whispered to you in a panic.

You're not afraid to fight Sanemi, but you did think the Hashira should fight the Hashira, or partners should be equally skilled, even though that may defeat the purpose of improving.

Tengen's laugh boomed out. "Shutup Uzui! Get over here foreigner. None of you even think about interrupting this fight this time."

"Oh god, he's terrifying. Y/n" Daisuke clutched onto your arm. "I don't want him to hurt you." You smiled and patted his head.

"He's not really that scary. Think of him as an angry toddler. That's how I see him." You told him.

Daisuke started laughing but tensed up when he noticed Sanemi was still looking in your direction.

"What are you all staring at me for? Fight! Obliterate your enemy!" Sanemi yelled to everyone. They started fighting, more incessant now. Only a few people weren't phased by his outburst to begin with.

"Come Daisuke, let's fight." Tengen said to him.

He definitely squeaked this time. "O-okay" he answered.

"Good luck y/n." He added before letting me go.

"You too. Kick his ass." You winked at Daisuke and smirked at Tengen playfully.

"Yes ma'am." He gulped and readied himself.

Tengen laughed, watching you walk away before he turned to Daisuke.

"It's about damn time foreigner! I'm gonna pummel your ass!" Sanemi sneered when you approached

"Mhm." You replied.

You didn't even get to ready yourself before he came at you.

Just like last time, you dodged it. Moving in a way that it wasn't apparent you were going to dodge until the last second. His eyes narrowed as he swung at you with his other fist.

"Don't start that shit again! It's pounding training damn it! Take a hit!"

You already dodged the second one, and could see he was coming in with another one, you thought about letting it connect but didn't. He didn't seem like the type of person that would take you letting him strike you well. He'd probably explode.

"Pay attention to me! Get out of your head!" He growled.

Eyes widening in surprise you laughed. You switched your tactic too. Instead of just dodging it you blocked them. Maybe he would relax. Your laugh louder at the new thought you had.

Sanemi didn't like that, and the punch he threw at you that you blocked almost broke your finger. You could see the crazed look in his eyes grow.

You continued blocking anyway. You had to move fast because Sanemi was like a bat out of hell. Not to mention the extra wind behind his blows. It was exhausting and painful. You knew you would have tons of bruises tomorrow. You two fought longer than everybody else, since other people had partners who ran out of stamina or cared about their partners, but of course not with Sanemi. When he told you he would kill you was the first time you actually hit him. It annoyed you that he says that so causally to people. However that excited him, you hitting him, resulting in you both increasing your speeds and attacks.

You wanted it to end so badly but you knew it wouldn't as more time passed. With no end in sight, you decided you would have to be the one to put a stop to it so you kicked him and he caught it.

He was about to throw you, but mid pull he let go, his eyes angry.

"You let me do that!" He said.

You smiled and he pushed you back. Still playing your role you fell down on the ground instead of catching yourself.

"Good job foreigner, but don't ever do that again." He growled in his angry voice.

"Sure thing Sanemi sama." You said.

He crossed his arms and walked away. Before you could get up Tengen held his hand out to you.

"Thanks" you said as you stood.

"Anytime. That was an admirable battle there." He said to you, his head cocked to the side.

"I guess. He's crazy, I just made sure not to upset him this time." You brushed the gravel off the back of your legs.

"Yeah, he is. I think you're gonna be his new bestfriend." He replied.

You laughed. "That would be only so he can beat on me."

"What are you doing later?" He asked you suddenly.

Surprised you responded. "Um...going home?"

"Home?" He asked a concerned look on his face.

"Yes. I've been staying at this room and board-"

Relief washed over his feautures, "Oh!" He cut you off.

"I thought you meant....away. Your old home."

"Ah, I see." You replied.

"Do you think Ms Kimi would miss you too much if you don't go home tonight?" He asked.

Your brows knitted together in confusion. "How do you know where I'm staying?"

Tengen's eyes didn't change but his smile did drop.

Now you just stood staring at each other, waiting for him to speak.

Then it hit you. The crow. The one that always followed you home.

"Were you spying on me?"

"Yes." He answered you simply.

All you could do was laugh. It's the fact that he had no shame for having his bird watching you every night.

He began laughing too.

You covered your mouth, holding in your laughter so you could finally respond to his question.

"She would probably be worried. Why?"

"I wanted to see if you wanted to come over for dinner. I can send a message to her to let her know you're okay." He replied.

Your heart skipped a beat and butterflies instantly invaded your stomach. This is the most you've talked to Tengen, and he's very direct. It felt like you couldn't say no, but you weren't sure you should go to their house either.

Noticing the way you were hesitating to respond Tengen stepped closer to you. In fact, you were almost toe to toe. His arms crossed and his large frame towering over you. He spoke quietly, where only you two could hear. "We miss you."

He held your gaze, not moving an inch. You couldn't even speak. You've thought about them a lot. You're bonded to them in a way you're not to anyone else on the planet, so you did miss them. However you weren't sure you were ready to be 4 peoples...girlfriend? Or if they were even ready for that considering the way they were acting before.

"I owe you an apology and would love to apologize the right way." He said quietly again.

As you debated what to say you were interrupted when they announced they would be starting the muscle reinforcement training.

Everyone began following Gyomei to the location for his training. Tengen didn't even move. Still waiting for your response.

"Okay. I'll come over." You told him. His responding smile was dazzling.

"Good." He replied.

You both followed to the location, you making your way over to Daisuke when you spotted him.

This time, let's say the both of you were not enthused about the tasks you had to do. Daisuke was sure he'd die, and you thought you would at least break or strain something.

Gyomei was incredibly strong, but there's no way they expect you guys to be able to do what he can. He's huge! This was insane. They wanted you to endure crazy amounts of weight and pain.

You did not do well on this portion and you were okay with that to an extent, because you tried your best and gave all you had. Now you knew you needed to work hard to build more muscle and strength.

Once the training was over and everyone was free to go, you and the Hashira were summoned by Kagaya.

You said your goodbyes to Daisuke, promising to go on some missions together when you could. When you made it to where Kagaya was waiting you saw the swords craftsman there too. You were wondering why you were here once again, with the Hashira.

"Hello my children. I've brought you all here to witness what I believe will be a first in our history of the demon slayer corps. I'll get straight to the point as you have all had a long day. Y/n, a sword has been crafted for you, as a gift from the corps to you for joining us. Now I know that your weapons have sentimental value and have been instilled with spiritual power strong enough to kill demons, which still blows me away I wish I could meet the people with the skill to do that, but after the meeting, I will present to you an offer that's entirely up to you to accept or not."

"If you could please present y/n with the sword."

The swordsman walked over to you, bowed and handed you the sword.

You bowed as you accepted the sword.

"Please do us the honor, of unsheathing the sword before us." Kagaya said.

Slowly you pulled the sword out. It was a very narrow double edge sword. It glistened in the light beautifully. Then, to your surprise it started to change from silver.

You watched in shock as the blade turned color like magic, right before your eyes.

The swordsmith in front of you jumped back in surprise and then gasped. "What does this mean?"

You just looked at him, you too were confused.

"That's never happened before has it? What does that mean?" Obanai said quietly.

"It's beautiful." Mitsuri said.

"I knew it." Kagaya said with a smile on his face.

Your blade had turned all the colors of the rainbow. The colors melded together beautifully. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet all swirled vividly on the sword.

"Master what does this mean?" Kyojuro asked.

"She has the power of light." Kagaya stated simply, as if it made the most sense in the world.

"I'm sorry, I'm still confused." You said.

"Y/n, when you shared with me that you saw light, at that most unfortunate time, I knew that had a deeper meaning. Any other person, would've blacked out with rage, but you....you saw light. You have the power of light inside of you. I believe that under extreme circumstances, you can move at the speed of light. You don't remember it, can't see it, or even feel it because its faster than our human minds can comprehend. Your sword, is reflecting the rainbow, because you hold the power of light inside of you."

Everyone's eyes were wide with surprise. This was new for all of you. It honestly sounded like a fairytale. But then again, demons did too.

"WOW!" Kyojuro exclaimed.

"That's amazing! You're so knowledgeable Master. We wouldn't have ever known." Mitsuri said, awe apparent in her tone.

"This is the flashiest display of power I've ever seen in my life!" Tengen exclaimed.

"It is pretty amazing." Shinobu said.

You were still just standing there, mouth open as you stared at the sword. Light? Power of light? There's no way.

"I am starting to feel that this is overwhelming. This is big news, and a major adjustment for y/n, I may need to push the next announcement back for tomorrow."

"Foreigner, hello? You there?" Sanemi said.

You blinked. And blinked again.

"We can continue. I'm okay." You said finally.

Sanemi smirked.

"Okay, well...after all of the research from witnesses, your home country, and your notes have been transcribed, I would like to inform you, all of you, that y/n is indeed Hashira rank. In fact, the number of demons you have killed exceed 3 times that required to be a Hashira, and it was confirmed that your father was indeed a highly skilled demon with rare abilities that date back thousands of years in your homeland. He lived many lives and you managed to defeat him while no one else in your whole continent ever could. You've achieved 2 requirements to be Hashira."

"What!?" Obanai said.

"What a glorious feat. Bless you y/n for the work you've done to rid the world of evil." Gyomei chimed in.

"Her father was a demon?" Sanemi screeched.

"How could that be?" Muichiro asked.

"That's the rare ability he possessed. He was also able to walk around in daylight with no issue. It's one of the warmest and sunniest places in all of the world, he might have evolved over time? Or there could be different types of demons. We don't understand it either." Kagaya said.

————-

Tengen's POV

I watched y/n closely as they mentioned her father. I saw no signs of her relapsing into grief so I remained where I was and just listened to all that was being said.

After Master Kagaya's final announcement, we agreed to celebrate her induction. We held it at his estate, so it would be easiest.

We don't all get along, Tomioka doesn't even talk much, Muichiro is quiet, and Sanemi is a nuisance but we do support each other. Everyone welcomed y/n kindly. Even Sanemi has been nicer to her than he ever is to people, since the first night.

During our makeshift party he spoke to her a lot. He didn't growl or yell at her as much either. They seemed like they were fast friends. I pulled him aside for a moment.

"You seem to really like y/n"

"I don't like anyone you moron."

"Of course Sanemi, but I mean intimately. You seem fond of her."

His eyes widened momentarily. "Don't tell me you're doing what I think you're doing?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You tool. I don't like y/n. I'm not an idiot."

"What does that mean?"

"Oh calm down, no one's insulting her, I know that you like her Uzui, it's clear as day, we all know it. Now leave me alone big dummy." Sanemi said

My eyes widened before I quickly recovered, keeping my face neutral. "Clear as day?"

"Ugh, I said leave me alone idiot." Sanemi growled leaving me standing where I was.

When I sat back down, beside y/n, I began looking around at everyone. Clear as day? There's no way.

There was a moment y/n excused herself to go to the bathroom and I took that opportunity to ask Rengoku what he thought. "Hey, Kyojuro, does it seem like I'm into y/n?"

"Yes!" He said in his usual loud tone. "Very much so."

Hmm. I thought crossing my arms.

"Tomioka...." I called looking over in his direction. He didn't even look at me.

"Yes. It's obvious."

"Were you eavesdropping on my question to Kyojuro?"

"You're loud."

"I was not."

"You were loud." Mitsuri laughed.

My eyes shifted to her, covering her mouth trying to keep her laugh under control. "Sorry." She added.

"Well if it was supposed to be a secret you aren't doing a very good job hiding it." Shinobu added.

"Today, I felt you were very close to her, drooling, and sending Sanemi glares." Gyomei said.

Everyone started laughing. Rengoku the loudest of all. Even Sanemi and Tomioka cracked a smile.

"Ok enough, she's coming back." I told them.

Their laughs got louder. They were being very uncool right now.

"What's so funny?" Y/n asked as she sat down, looking at me directly. The question was just for me.

"Well-." Muichiro began.

"We were laughing about how Sanemi wants to be besties with you." I grinned as I spoke over Muichiro.

"Hey dipshit-" his sentence was drowned out by the booming laughs of the other Hashira.

Y/n made a face, one of disbelief mixed with humor.

"I'll kick all of your asses! I don't need friends!" Sanemi shouted.

"But you want them don't you?" Shinobu teased. The laughs continued.

————

I was walking home with y/n now. She insisted on stopping by her "home" as she called it, instead of sending a crow carrier, since we had to pass it anyway.

"So...you enjoyed your time at this place?"

"I did. Ms. Kimi is funny and kind. We have fun together."

"Hm...that's nice."

"Yeah."

"So, did you think about me?"

She opened her mouth to answer and I had to cut her off. I'm sure if she did, it wasn't pleasant, considering she left. "Nevermind, don't answer that." I said.

I could see she was biting her lip, it looked like she was contemplating something.

"What is it?" I asked

"I...I thought about you." She paused for a second before she continued. "I thought about how you were lucky, and didn't realize how great all of your wives were. I thought about how you were hot and cold to me, and sending mixed signals, and I thought about how I knew you could hear me leaving....but you didn't say anything. So I felt like I made the right decision"

I stopped walking. When she stopped and faced me I reached for her hand.

"I'm so sorry. I was....jealous. I was jealous that my wives were getting time with you and I wasn't. I regret the way I acted. I wanted to get to know you... intimately too, and got impatient. Im used to getting what I want, and didn't know how to act when I wasn't having my way. And I wanted to stop you from leaving, but I had to make it up to Suma, I just....at the time...couldn't take my attention from her. I-"

She put her hand up to stop me.

"It's okay. I appreciate the apology. I also thought about how it had to be difficult to share. I don't think any of us were ready for that, and I was encroaching on what's yours and you were just trying to be nice-"

"No. You didn't encroach on anything. It's yours too, I, we, want you to be part of our lives too. I've done away with my selfish ways." I told her.

"You know what else I thought about? How you were so kind to me. How you brought me to your house, how you looked out for me, how you made sure I felt safe and had a home." Tears brimmed in her eyes.

I placed my hands on her cheeks. I didn't want to see her cry anymore.

"I honestly just was feeling bad, I was the one complicating your lives I made everything messy when I started liking Makio and we had sex, I'm sorry." She dropped her head.

I lifted her head up. "Don't apologize to me, when you've done nothing wrong. Secondly, don't ever apologize for what you and Makio did. It was mm...hot. I wish- nevermind. I'll save those thoughts for later. But I'm sorry I was listening in and-"

A small chuckle left her mouth.

"What?" I asked.

"This is the longest apology ever. We just keep saying sorry." She smiled.

I laughed. She's right. "We're so good at this." I smiled. "Let's hurry and get home." I dropped my hands from her face and grabbed her hand again.

We were right around the corner of her second "home".

When we got there Ms. Kimi came down the stairs quickly. "Ah, y/n how was- Oh who is this?" She stopped on the stairs.

"Hey, this is Tengen Uzui, Sound Hashira of the demon slayer corps."

"Ah, important! And this handsome Uzui walked you all the way home? That's very nice." she said.

"Thank you Ms. With all due respect, I'll be asking y/n to come back with me." I told her politely.

"Oh, for the night? Like a sleepover?" She winked at y/n quickly.

Laughing, I responded "No, I mean for good."

"Whoa, wait, Tengen I can't just....leave this suddenly." Y/n said, her eyes widened in surprised.

"You have a home." I shrugged.

"Ah, y/n, it's okay. We can talk tomorrow? Come, come get your things." Ms Kimi said turning back around and going up the stairs. Y/n followed behind her sending me a look.

I just smiled and crossed my arms, waiting for her to finish.

I could hear them upstairs, Ms. Kimi was asking her how come she didn't tell her she had a boyfriend, it wasn't proper for a lady to spend the night with a man without him getting permission from her guardians, then she said she didn't care because he was so handsome, y/n could go anywhere with me. I had honest eyes and a great body. Y/n told her I didn't live far and so Ms. Kimi said it's okay for her to move out as long as she promises to come visit once a week. Y/n promised, and then they started to come back down the stairs.

"This is more than you left with." I said taking y/n's bags from her.

"Yes Ms. Kimi made and purchased a few things for me." Y/n said.

"Ms. Kimi thank you for all the kindness you've shown y/n. Thank you for caring for her in my absence." I switched her bags over to one hand and then pulled out my money bag. I held the whole bag out to her. "Is this enough to cover her stay here? The food and supplies too?"

She looked inside the bag and made a noise of surprise. "Oh no no no, this is too much. Her stay was paid for already." She tried to hand it back.

"That's yours Ms. Kimi. I insist that you accept." I winked at her and she gasped. A smile appearing on her face.

"Okay, if you insist Mr. Uzui. Have a good night. Y/n see you tomorrow."

"You didn't have to do that. I'll pay you back." Y/n said as we walked home finally.

"I did. She took care of you for me." I said.

Y/n smiled but didn't say anything.

When we made it to our house, y/n paused on the porch.

I paused before opening the door. "Ready?"

When she nodded I stepped inside and slid off my shoes.

"Hello wives!" I said seeing Makio, Hina, and Suma all lounging around the main room.

"Hi Tengen san." They replied almost immediately.

Finally y/n stepped in, placing her shoes down.

There was a collective pause, before squeals and screams were heard.

"Y/n!" Suma cried happily.

As I sat y/n bags down, I watched them come over. Makio ran right into y/n arms, jumping on her, y/n had to catch her and rocked back just a bit but steadied herself almost immediately.

Damn that's hot. I thought to myself seeing Makio's legs wrapped around her and y/n's arms under her butt holding her up.

"You're back!" She said happily, surprise in her tone.

"Yeah." Y/n laughed

"I'm sorry I didn't say goodbye. I missed you so much." Makio kissed her on her lips swiftly before jumping down.

Suma ran over to her next and hugged her tight. "Thank you for coming back." The tears in her eyes threatening to fall but she tried to hold them back.

"Yeah, Tengen made it easy." Y/n replied with her smile growing.

"Oh Tengen!" Suma cried running to me. I held my arms out for her. Her tears fell this time, causing me to laugh as I hugged her back.

Hina walked over to y/n. "I knew you'd come back." She smiled.

"You did." Y/n replied. Hina seemed hesitant to touch y/n, but Makio pushed her into y/n, causing a small blush to appear on her face. Y/n wrapped her arms around Hina first. This put a huge smile on my face.

Hina hugged her back, laying her head in the crook of y/n's neck.

"Aww yaaay!" Exclaimed Suma, pulling me over to them and initiating a group hug.

My laughter rang out louder than theirs. Everything just felt right. It was an odd feeling in the house after y/n left. It's like our souls connected as she healed here and shared her life story directly with us. Our home would've never been the same again.

"So how was the Hashira training guys?" Makio asked pulling back from the group hug.

"Oh yeah! How did it go?" Hina added stepping back as well.

"So much happened! It was one of the most flamboyant trainings yet!" I said as I walked hand in hand with Suma to one of the couches.

Hina, Makio, and y/n followed, sitting on the pillows nearest the couch I sat on.

"Y/n didn't get tired at all! You know I tried to get all the weaklings riled up when I started. There were a few mizunoto that excelled too. Surprising because they've been so weak lately. Oh and Rengoku, he was excellent. Almost as good as me."

"Oh y/n Tengen has a little man crush on Rengoku if you haven't noticed yet." Makio said

"He's an admirable man. Very flamboyant! Not a crush though." I clarified in case y/n believed her.

I recalled all the flashy events with y/n chiming in here and there, making sure to save the best for last.

"Also, our y/n is....something like a legend."

"Oh really?" Suma asked sitting up more, looking at y/n.

"Yeah, she apparently is so flashy, so unique, so glamorous, and so dazzling, that she has a unique power. We don't even know if it's a breathing technique that's why we're saying power! It's never been heard of in the history of ever!"

Suma's eyes grew impossibly larger with all the building up I was doing. She was bouncing in her seat.

"Okay?" Makio said, her eyes wide in anticipation.

"She has, according to Master Kagaya, the power of light inside her. Her sword turned into this ostentatious array of colors when she held it. And remember when she told us she saw white light, instead of blacking out? It's because she can move as fast as the speed of light!" I enthused. I was standing up bouncing on the balls of my feet, feeling rejuvenated just from discussing her power.

"What!" Hina said now standing too.

"Oh my goodness y/n!" Suma exclaimed.

"Show us your sword!" Makio said "this is beyond cool!"

Y/n grabbed her sword and unsheathed it. My smile grew as I stared in awe at it. It may even be more incredible than mine.

"That's beautiful!" Suma said.

"Wow!" Hina said.

"Oh! And guess who's the newest Hashira?" I said.

Makio gasped. "Are you a Hashira?" She turned to look at y/n.

Y/n nodded her head. A sheepish look on her face. Probably shying away from all the attention.

"That's incredible!" Suma wailed running over to y/n, bouncing in front of her until y/n put her sword away. When she did Suma hugged her. "Yaaay y/n!" She laughed and smiled.

My heart was pumping crazily at all the excitement and seeing the glee Suma had for y/n's accomplishments.

"Oh dear." Hina said quietly.

Makio was silent now. A mix between sadness and happiness on her face.

"What's wrong?" Y/n asked them.

"It's just, really scary. I'm sorry. There's more risk now."

"But didn't you hear what Tengen sama said?" Suma practically shrieked, her enthusiasm distorting her voice. "She's super fast! She's almost untouchable. When things get really bad that cool power is gonna protect her."

And you know what. Suma was right. I had so much faith in y/n's ability to survive because she did it already! I've seen her fight, and I've seen her skill. She will be fine. Suma was turning me on seeing the bigger picture, and supporting y/n so unwaveringly.

I walked over to Suma and hugged her from behind.

"You're so right Suma." I told her. I could feel her smile grow.

Y/n was still holding her hand as she looked over at Makio and Hina.

"Please don't worry about me. I promise to be careful and smart." Y/n told them.

"It's easier said than done. I'm trying to be happy for you, but it's hard." Makio replied.

"Well, try harder." Y/n smirked at her.

Geez. Has she always been like this? Yes. Yes she has. The first sentences she spoke outside of her name was a witty remark to Sanemi. Oh and the way she spoke to that demon. She's so fucking witty and scintillating it's sexy.

"We'll do our best." Hina said, a smile playing on her lips even though there was still worry in her eyes.

"Would you feel better if you saw me fight?" Y/n suggested.

"Maybe." Makio said.

"Okay, well I'll make it happen. Right Tengen?" Y/n asked.

"Right!" I replied. Was she asking my permission? Was she saying she wanted to fight with me? Was she asking me to make it happen? I'm not sure but whatever it was her asking me and including me? Was adding to me being riled up.

"Is there anymore news to share?" Hina asked.

Y/n and I both shook our heads in unison.

"You ate before coming home right?" She said

"Yes." Y/n replied.

"Well, I'll get your bath ready. You've had a long day." She went up stairs.

"I'll change the linens." Makio added, following Hina upstairs not long after.

"Do you think they're mad?" Y/n asked both Suma and I.

"No, just worried. I don't think they understand really what Tengen and Ubuyashiki are saying about your skills." Suma said.

"You're so perceptive Suma." I said as I kissed the top of her head, still holding her in my arms.

"Thank you. I've known y/n was incredible for a while, I just didn't fully know why. I believe in you." She said squeezing y/n's hand she's been holding.

"Thank you Suma, that means so much to me, you're so sweet." Y/n told her.

"Mhm." Suma nodded. "Do you like your uniform? I think you look really cute in it."

"Actually," y/n looked down at her uniform, pulling the pleated skirt up slightly. "I don't like it. I think I'd rather have shorts or pants, too much air blows through here."

I laughed. "I think it's because the back side is raised a bit higher than the rest of the skirt."

"That's not it." Y/n placed her hand on her hip playfully.

"We can have them make you one with pants."

"No it's okay. I don't want to be a bother. I'll be okay."

"We can get you shorts to wear underneath." Suma smiled.

Y/n smiled back.

"Come on you two. Let's see if the bath is ready." Suma said.

I reluctantly let her go so she could walk ahead. I unabashedly checked Suma out as she walked up the stairs, her dress just barely covering her butt from me.

I groaned.

"In a little while Lord Tengen." Suma chuckled. I'm not sure how she figured what that groan was about. But it made me laugh.

*****

Previous Next

[linkspooky]

Hmm. Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

I sadly didn’t grow up with cable, so I’ve never watched it. But I do remember watching one episode at one of my friends’ house as a kid.

I forgot what it’s called, but it was were everybody in town became silent due to these two creepy looking guys. I especially remember that one funny scene with the presentation, but also how creepy and scary it was with the creepy men.

But yeah. I suppose I’m asking is… if the show is worth a watch, and if you have any episodes you personally love?

has Buffy the Vampire Slayer is actually one of my top two forever fandoms, that is fandoms that not only I will be forever invested in and rewatch on regular basises, but also fandoms that have had the most impact in not only the stories I read nowadays, but also the stories I want to write.

Not only is the show worth a watch, I think it's an example of the strength of long-form storytelling, and how even a very schlocky show about vampires can be about very powerful themes.

Also, if you like redemption arcs, and are disappointed in MHA because of the slow progress of the redemption arcs, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is all about redemption arcs and has some of the most well-written and touching ones in all of fictions. Also it pretty much invented enemies to lovers, and I mean actual enemies to lovers, not like "they sort of dislike each other."

So, without any further ado my top five episodes.

5. Lie to Me - Season 2 Episode 7

Season one has a solid arc for Buffy and the cast as a whole, and even as a standalone is a good commentary on the story of the chosen-one, but I think Season 2 onwards is when Buffy goes from being a neat show about vampire slayers to a work of fiction that has actual things to say, and commentary on not only other stories in the fantasy genre but also real life too.

Lie to me is basically the introduction of that complexity in Buffy's life, that has only ever been hinted at beforehand. Buffy is a pretty morally righteous hero, for the most part with a few exceptions the vampires she faces are souless monsters, demons possessing corpses. Lie to Me is the first time Buffy faces a human antagonist, and not just a human one but someone who shares a lot of flaws with Buffy as well. I think the best way to make a character arc is to start with an incorrect belief they hold about the world and then go out of your way to correct it. Buffy starts from believing she is the hero of the story, and the people she fights on a regular basis are monsters.

Lie to Me turns that on its head, not only is the antagonist Buffy's childhood friend, someone who has sympathetic reasons but is still willing to kill people enmasse to get what he wants the same way that vampires do, he also has flaws in common with Buffy. The same way that Owen wants the world to be more like a movie with simple logic, and he's playing a villain to make things easier for himself, Buffy is playing a hero. Owen isn't the only liar, Angel hides his worst deed from Buffy because he was scared of Buffy disliking him for it. Buffy's very much lying to herself about the kind of person that Angel is, because she wants to believe the more romantic image of him as a repentant vampire boyfriend then the legitimate bad things he has done.

It's a story that criticizes people for lying to themselves, and shows what can happen when you are caught up in irresponsible lies, and yet at the same time it sympathizes with people. It doesn't say people rely on stories because they're selfish or stupid, at least not all the way, the final speech is Buffy asking Giles to lie to her, because her life is genuinely hard and messy and complicated and she wants the simplicity of a story to reassure her everything will be alright.

4. I Only Have Eyes For You - Season 2 Episode 19

I Only Have Eyes For You is amazing because it not only tells a complicated and tragic tale of victimhood, but also it shows one of Buffy’s most major flaws, and also plays with the expectation of the audience as well. This is an episode I watch with friends and talk the entire time through, because I want to know what their initial reactions are and how those reactions are turned on its head by the end of the episode. 

Basically, the whole point of this episode is the twist, we are first presented with what looks to be an unsympathetic and toxic victim. A boy who kills his lover because they no longer want to be with them, someone who is framed as abusive and having done an unforgivable thing. Until you look at the context of the situation, the boy in question was seventeen, and his lover was an adult woman who was dating him. It plays with audience expectations because like, if it had been a teenage girl dating an adult man, then it would be obvious who the victim was and who the perpetrator. 

If it had been a teenage girl dating an adult man... oh. This is also an episode where we explore how Buffy has a hard time seeing herself as a victim, because of her issues of guilt and self blame. Giles tells Buffy they should help the spirit that is suffering in this episode because it is in pain, and it needs forgiveness as a tool for healing and Buffy suggests that some people should never be forgiven and they should just leave it alone. Which is not really a heroic or even kind notion. That has nothing to do with the crime they committed and everything to do with Buffy’s inability to forgive herself. 

It’s an episode that goes really dark places, especially with parallels to real life relationship abuse, and yet it has something to say about the characters and those issues. It’s also ultimately about the healing power of forgiveness over punishment. 

3. Fool for Love - Season 5 episode 7

Season five is really the turning point where the show is about more than just the real life issues teenagers have to deal with growing up, but starts focusing on high concept themes like death, love, the interplay between the two, or even just what it would be like to live a life that’s more than a hundred years and the effect that would have on a person. 

Spike is my favorite character of all time, in anything, ever yet it’s funny that his focus episode is only third on the list, but that’s because also later episodes build on this one and have more to say. Fool for Love is just, very targeted in its messages and what it’s about in relationship to Spile’s character. Spike is sympathetic and engaging as a character not because he has a sympathetic backstory, in fact he’s a frilly victorian poet boy, turned murderer because he thought it would give him love or something more meaningful to live for. He’s not a moral person, he’s a-moral, all of his actions are framed selfishly around what he thinks will get him love, and he’s not even always a good boyfriend he’s godawful to harmony on several occasions. 

Yet Spike is interesting because he’s a monster with human feelings, who wants the things every person wants, which is to be loved and love in return, and yet he feels like as a vampire he can only deal in death and violence and this also relates to Buffy. The episode is about more than Spike’s personal story though,i it’s about Buffy’s relationship to her own mortality, that despite Buffy being a literal superhero she might not die by a big bad, or even die saving the world, she can just slip up in one fight and be stabbed by a random mook. It’s about the life that Buffy leads, where no matter how strong she is, people will just relentlessly come and come for her no matter what, and that’s also relatable because how many people have expressed something like “I always feel like I just have to get through the week and things will get better only for the next week to be harder.” 

It is about a life that is both empty and full of violence for both Buffy and Spike, and yet somehow both of them are still searching for love within that life. The biggest scene of change for Spike at the end of the episode is after a whole episode of peacocking around, after trying to insist to Buffy that his vampire idenitty as a killer is the real him, that Buffy is attracted to him as a killer because she has a death wish, his last real action in the episode is to put the gun down and try to comfort Buffy as Spike the sensitive poet, because no matter how hard he tries to bury that identity it’s who he is inside and people grow close to one another when they can show that vulnerability around each other.

2. Once More With Feeling - Season 6 episode 7

Not only the best musical episode ever, but actually a really good standalone forty five minute musical, but besides being an amazing production in general it's the themes of this episode that make me love it.

It is more or less Season 6's version of Lie to Me, where once again we are demosntrating that the stories people tell each other to comfort themselves can actively be harmful as well. Buffy suffers under having to put on an act and pretend everything is okay when she's not happy her friends brought her back from the dead. Spike suffers from being a much more selfless version of himself than he really is, because he's trying too hard to be the ideal boyfriend and supporting character to Buffy when he's still in love with her and wants a relationship. Tara suffers because Willow quite literally controls her mind to make her forget a fight, so they can both play-act a much happier version of their relationship.

Once More with Feeling is about both the collective desire of how everyone wants life to be more positive, more meaningful like in a musical, how they want life to be more like a song, but also how that very human desire can be harmful because it comes at the cost of denying the reality and not dealing with it. Every single song has a much darker subtext that is revealed over the course of the show.

Also, for an episode that's really dark, and is about not only Buffy's suicidal ideation but how genuinely hard life is to live, and how meaningless it can seem at times, it ends on such a beautiful message that even if say Life is pointless, nihilism is correct, there's nothing greater waiting for us, Spike still tells Buffy to keep living because "Life is just living" the only way you can survive in the world is by trying to live in it, simply because we don't know what comes after this and this life is all we got.

1. Conversations with Dead People Season 7 Episode 7

As a lover of drama, as a lover of Spike, a lover of Spuffy and romance it's funny to me that my favorite episode is an episode Spike is barely in, and nothing really happens except for all of the characters sitting down and talking, but the thing about Buffy is that all the characters are so interesting that you can have an episode like this where everyone finally sits down to talk through their issues.

It's not only an episode where a lot of characters have the conversations they've been putting off for forever, Dawn and her feelings about her dead mother, Buffy and her feelings about both the Slayer and her relationships with Angel and Spike, Willow and her mourning of Tara and her suicidal ideation that hasn't quite gone away.

It's also demonstrative of the kind of people all three of these characters that get focus are, it informs you a lot about their characters, and takes the time to do the kind of character work that Buffy is known for. It's also not just about mortality, but also about the people you are in the privacy of your own head, or when no one else is around. Like, the conversations that they all have are literally with dead people. Willow is talking with someone she believes to be a ghost, Buffy is going to stake the vampire at the end of her conversation, Dawn is dealing with what she thinks is the ghost of Joyce. These conversations are revealing specifically because all three women are pretty much alone, and so they can be their true unfiltered selves.

It's almost the exact opposite of lie to me, because dead men tell no tales, so all three of them are allowed to be much more honest than they usually are, and that makes their emotional responses so much more visceral and telling of what they really think. It drags up the subtext and makes it text. It acknowledges what we have known was already there about the characters, but also after dragging those issues up to the surface it helps them move on in a much more conciliatory way. Buffy after admitting for the first time her issues is comforted by the vampire trying to murder her, "I'm not here to Judge you, just kill you." Willow ignores the first's taunts that she should just kill herself to be with Tara. Dawn chooses not to believe in what is maybe ghost JOyce's warning that Buffy will abandon her. THe characters are confronted with their most negative thoughts and their worst flaws, but they also choose to think more positively about things in the aftermath of these confrontations and so that healthy and honest conversation becomes a starting point in healing for all three of them.

[chips-and-vodka]

Seiyuus and Variety Shows

Having watched videos of Seiyuus going on variety shows and performing in those had me thinking of how the entertainment industry in Japan considers as quality content. Someone I watched on youtube had noted, that the mistreatment and humiliation of programme guests- to some extent at an extreme level- is the observed as a norm within the industry. Thus starting these thoughts in relation to seiyuu contents I have consumed in past years. 

Variety show hosts tend to talk down to Seiyuus in a inferior manner, and their perception of entertainment is horrifyingly twisted in my point of view. Activities and planning that express lack of consideration for the source material itself , and its intended purpose of promotion really glares through these listed examples I can recall of this very moment.

1. A travel variety show that featured two famous male VAs in Hawaii doing travelling things, and then asking them to beg for food in a market location with just an empty bowl IN ENGLISH for the sake of expressing the kindness of the locals. I was enjoying the programme up till that point. This is pure insult by the looks of it, I could not continue after that at all. 

2. Shimono Hiro on multiple cases, and their motives are beyond me: 

#1 being told to perform a song recording for his album, where it was set up that a live monkey would be part of a scare plan. This is one way to make it memorable than just a regular recording, and while he was laughing it off, I do not appreciate that they’re committing to potentially give the artist a hard time with their job. 

#2 When Demon Slayer was at it’s peak the VAs themselves, including Shimono-san were to perform some exercises with Gurenge in the background, the movements corresponding to their characters. While this is no issue, the variety programmes are taking advantage of the popularity of the VAs themselves and the franchise, and instead chosen to do the most mundane sequences of movements ever. If this isn’t an act of cashing in on clout I don’t know what is. (and don’t get me started on the “Total concentration XXX” trend where they just reference EVERYTHING Demon Slayer just to seem hip- it gets tiring after a while)

3. While not exactly a purely Seiyuu case, but just pitting inexperienced entertainers against seasoned seiyuus in a fake voiceover audition. This performed as a scare (dokkiri) prank, That they find it pleasurable on inflicting psychological stress on others, as if life isn’t hard enough already. 

The only instance of Suwabe Junichi appearing on a variety programme, featuring him and Shimono Hiro and Midorikawa Hikaru is though, well executed in my opinion. They were treated with respect and the way it was arranged was well thought out and effective in relation to the franchise promoted. The programme “R’s corner” featured Utapri and otome games at it’s peak, and Suwabe-san actually appeared in person in video format analysing and explaining the tricks and tips behind conveying emotions with just voice delivery alone. Shimono-san would perform the same role too. While Suwabe-san would  also have done a small crossdressing role as a maid, with him just doing some dancing, it is fun and quirky, and extremely related to the intended promotional purpose (and does he look just amazing in it-1000% YES). 

Being a Seiyuu comes with a condition of possessing multiple talents and devising ways to make themselves to be more known within the industry. Variety shows and weekly talk programmes (often organised with mainly Seiyuu cast) such as “Say You to Asobi” entirely presented with V activities that had a welcoming and fun aura- That is not at all as uncomfortable as most variety shows would do. And just allowing them the freedom to come up with their own ideas and planning- that’s absolute gold.

One comment from the video stuck with me- that the Japanese view humiliation and the failure of others as a form of self satisfaction and a spectacle to be gazed at- all in it’s sickening and twisted ways. While negativity and shock factor would perform the best in retaining the impression of a celebrity, or the promotional matter in question- where do you draw the line- that are you able to distinguish humiliation and just a light casual laugh that is to a acceptable degree?

Seiyuus demand to be treated with respect too. And putting them in terrible situations is not the way to do it. 

END

[celestialmaison]

cw: non-graphic mentions of sexual & general violence toward female characters in media

buffy the vampire slayer is…interesting.

i’m a baby goth, baby slayer, only on season 2! and from the very beginning i’ve had to take regular breaks from watching the series not because of the content but because of the ways buffy, willow, cordelia, drusilla, (if i spell any names wrong: i did my best!) and every other female character is objectified, villainized, silenced, harassed, ignored, abused, etc. on an episode to episode basis.

just in episode twenty of season two buffy was nearly sexually assaulted by a “nice guy” (NOT A NICE GUY) and when she rightfully defended herself her principal comes out of nowhere and she gets in trouble for nearly breaking the little nerd’s nose. if she didn’t defend herself she would have gotten in trouble for not being in school, “messing around” with an athlete, etc. even when she told willow, giles, xander (i think cordelia was there? i have the memory of a goldfish diana help me) what happened and shared her frustrations, no one said a word because they were more worried about hellmouth business…and buffy is not only used to the attempts at violence (sexual and non-sexual) directed at her from males, she is also used to everyone around her ignoring how regularly this takes place and how it impacts her very existence as someone who was born into a female body and identifies as a woman. later in the episode she says “my sex appeal is on the fritz today…” while talking to one of the athletes at the bronze and hearing that, reading it, just made me pause.

i exist in a female body. i am regularly perceived as fem regardless of how i present. i’m a highly sensitive queer person of color with chronic mental and physical conditions living in a world that was not made for me: i know the world is cruel and dark and cold and that people do terrible things, conscious and unconscious. i know we’ve all been socialized since day one. i have my own unique queer experience of the horrors people born into this body are forced to endure. the reality of life is not lost on me because i face it every single day of my life. at the same time, something about this series and the way buffy and every other female character is written, the things they say and are coerced to do, the things that others say to them and expect from them, is a lot. and yes life is a lot as well. it’s all so fucking much, right?

and buffy never gets a fucking break and is single-handedly responsible for every single paranormal and or demonic and or magical mishap in sunnydale. the lack of consent in this series makes my stomach turn. willow is forevermore stuck in the good girl feedback loop and being “innocent” is more times than not highlighted as her only personality trait, cordelia seems to be written strictly so xander has an excuse to insult a female character to “be funny” every episode (he doesn’t even need an excuse, he belittles buffy and willow on a regular basis) and so his masculinity can be validated via her objectification, drusilla is traumatized in ways no one will ever truly understand and in the constant presence of men who regularly use and mention the use of her body to assert dominance over the other (do not get me started on angel. DO NOT GET ME STARTED ON ANGEL.)

almost all of the female characters in buffy the vampire slayer exist in constant cycles of abuse and assault and i don’t know if he who shall not be mentioned intended for female suffering to be the backdrop of this series because it mirrors the reality of our crazy world i don’t know if that’s the metaphor or the “tragedy” or whateverelse and i completely missed the point because i’m thinking too much or what. i have no fucking clue. it is just so much sometimes. the realities of these female characters, the stereotypes, the misconceptions, the violence they endure, the abuse of male power can be so much and it thrives in almost every. single. episode. almost every time a female character opens their mouth someone says something akin to shut up if they aren’t ignored altogether. when a ghost or a vampire or a water demon or whatever else attacks it almost always goes for the female character first. this isn’t even a quarter of what goes on and these things just happen. constantly.

these are nuanced characters, layered characters, human beings with fucking feelings and no matter how much i am fascinated by the goth content in this series (i love monsters and everything to do with them, fuck!!) and the fashion, i will always have to temporarily step away from it to protect myself. it is loaded enough that buffy, a white woman, is the “strong female hero” of this series. she also lives in a constant state of grief because of the sacrifices she has made (her youth, her friends, her future) and she is regularly forced to exist in a vacuum due to her “responsibilities” as the slayer taking precedence over every aspect of her own well-being. that’s just what she has going on, it’s not even all of what she has going on, and it doesn’t take into account everything else that every other female character has going on.

this is a lot. it’s a lot to ask someone to sit and consume and digest and make sense of. and with the spoilers i’ve seen for upcoming seasons, there’s only more to come. so yes, buffy the vampire slayer is interesting, and maybe interesting is just another word for complicated.

[herinsectreflection]

I Don't Sleep on Bed of Bones: The Slayer as a Killer Across the Seasons

A pretty constant question throughout Buffy's arc - arguably the central question of the entire show, that Buffy must answer, is "what is a slayer? What does being The Vampire Slayer mean?". And a major part of that is the question of whether a slayer is just a killer. It's a question central to S5, but ripples throughout the rest of the show too, with some of the most iconic scenes in the show in converstion with each other around it. Inspired by an ask I received about this from @potterkid, I took a look at how this idea develops and resolves itself over the course of the show.

In S1, being the Slayer means accepting responsibility. It's metaphor for growing up - a metaphor that recurs throughout the show along with other ideas, but is strongest in S1. Buffy is torn between her teenage/human wants and her adult/supernatural responsibilities. She accepts her mortality and her duty (fighting the Master), and wins when she manages to integrate that with her personal desires (fighting the Master in a kickass prom dress with her friends and boyfriend). There's some stuff around the classic superhero idea that being around the hero is dangerous -e.g. in Never Kill a Boy on the First Date, but not much on the idea of a Slayer being a killer exactly.

In S2, being the Slayer means making hard choices. It means accepting that sometimes all your options are bad ones, but choosing one anyway, even at personal cost. This is introduced through Ford's story in Lie to Me, with Buffy's words to him forming one of the core thesis statements of the show ("You have a choice. You don't have a good choice, but you have a choice."), and it's climaxed beautifully in the tragic ending of Becoming. There's not much direct allusion to the idea of Buffy being a killer here, but this is a vital moment in that discussion. Ultimately, Buffy does make the decision here to kill Angel - not to slay Angelus, but to kill him. To take the life of her ensouled lover in order to save others. It's kind of the opposite of the decision that Ford makes - the best of two bad choices. It's the classic trolley problem, and Buffy's hand is on the lever by design - she has to make that choice because she's the Slayer. We will see this moment returned to again and again as this Slayer-vs-Killer theme develops.

Also, Ted is a very important episode for later. Buffy herself feels guilty specifically because she used her slayer powers on what she thinks is a regular human, and therefore killed him. Specifically, being the Slayer made her a Killer. It's also notable that this is where the idea of Buffy having a free reign to kill is first introduced - by Buffy's original shadow self in Cordelia no less.

Cordelia: I don't get it. Buffy's the Slayer. Shouldn't she have... Xander: What, a license to kill? Cordelia: Well, not for fun. But she's like this superman. Shouldn't there be different rules for her? - 2x12 Ted This isn't explored massively here but will be revisited again and again going forward.

S3 is where this theme really comes into focus. Faith enters as Buffy's shadow self and a representation of hedonism. How that manifests is as a Slayer who gives herself a license to Kill. She posits the idea that as slayers, they can and should decide who lives and dies.

Faith: Something made us different. We're warriors. We're built to kill. Buffy: To kill demons! But it does not mean that we get to pass judgment on people like we're better than everybody else! Faith: We are better! - 3x15 Consequences

Obviously, this is something that Buffy has to reckon with and fight against. But there is a glimmer of truth here, because at the end of S2, she does take the power of life and death into her own hands. She is faced with the choice between Angel and the world and decides that Angel should die. She had to, that's the position she has to be in because she is the Slayer. She has to be a Killer because she is a Slayer. So the two are intertwined.

More than this, Faith is someone who at least appears to revel in the kill. Up until now, we hadn't really seen Buffy enjoy being a slayer, but Faith does. Buffy is genuinely drawn to that, to slaying for pleasure. The equation of slaying/killing and sex for Buffy is first explicitly drawn by Faith in this season. ("Isn't it crazy how slaying always makes you hungry and horny?"). Slayers are very much like vampires in that respect, blurring the line between sex and death. In general, Faith introduces the idea that Buffy is drawn to killing - not just to protect people (the ideal of a Slayer), but for its own benefit. That's something that Buffy continues to struggle with going forward.

I have said before that Faith in S3 is an echo of Angel in S2, both in Buffy's relationship to them both and how that shifts mid-season, and in how it ends. In Graduation Day, Buffy again is given the power of life and death. This time, it's more personal - she can stop Angel dying by killing Faith. It's not such a straightforward (for want of a better word) decision as Angel .vs. the literal entire world, it's just the value of one life against the other. Another trolley problem, and it's not an easy choice, but it's still a choice. Just as she chose the lesser evil in killing Angel in S2, she kills the person filling the Angel role in S3. And this time, the choice is explicitly tied to the idea of being a Killer. Faith is set up as the person that Buffy could be in a slightly different world, and that person is a Killer, as Faith herself claims.

"What are you gonna do, B? Kill me? You become me. You're not ready for that, yet." - Faith Lehane, 3x17 Enemies

"You did it, B. You killed me." - Faith Lehane, 3x22 Graduation Day

In the act of choosing to pull the lever, Buffy has to kill. In the act of killing, she has become her dark mirror. In the act of defeating/becoming Faith, she becomes again the sole Slayer. Being a killer and a Slayer again intertwined. It's interesting here that she then makes the decision to feed herself to Angel. She unravels the trolley problem by throwing herself on the tracks. It's fascinating that between the dual trolley-problem finales of Becoming and The Gift, where in the first Buffy chooses to pull the lever, and in the latter she refuses and chooses a third option, Graduation Day exists in the middle as a stepping stone where she kind of does both.

The bulk of S4 is a little lighter on this theme, instead examining The Slayer as a role that must be juggled amongst a series of competing roles as Buffy's life as an adult becomes more fractured. There are flavours of it in Fear Itself, where Buffy fears that her friends will leave and her destiny lies with death and the dead, but otherwise not too much jumps out at me. Except, of course, for Restless, which is so heavy with this theme. It's one of the many reasons why I kind of consider Restless an honourary part of S5, as it's setting up the themes and arcs of S5 as much as it's wrapping up the like from S4.

RILEY: Hey there, killer.

BUFFY: We're not demons. ADAM: Is that a fact?

RILEY: Thought you were looking for your friends. Okay, killer...

TARA: I live in the action of death, the blood cry, the penetrating wound. I am destruction. Absolute ... alone. BUFFY: The Slayer. FIRST SLAYER: No friends! Just the kill.

OK, so SO much to unpack here. This is all within the under-10-minute sequence of Buffy's dream, and in that sequence she constantly shows a fear that she is in fact a "killer". It's clearly strong in her mind. Riley calls her "killer" multiple times, and Adam equates her with him, and with demonhood. I also find it very interesting how she responds to Tara's words, which are very literally describing the act of kiling ("the action of death...the blood cry...the penetrating wound"). She hears that and immediately identifies her as the Slayer, so slayerhood and killing are clearly bound up together in her mind.

Central to her concerns is the dichotomy between friendship and death. This was built up in Fear Itself, and it's central here. Riley and Sineya both frame it as a choice, between friendship and "the kill". This is a fear that Buffy has already, since S1, that her Slayer life will stop her ability to have a "normal" life of friends and family, but it also sets up her arc in S5 nicely. She chooses her friends over becoming a pure instrument of death in Restless, but that does not resolve her ongoing fears. They existed before and continue to dwell even more strongly in her mind, with words that both Sineya and Dracula repeat.

"You think you know ... what's to come ... what you are. You haven't even begun."

This sets the stage for S5, and her arc of choosing between family and being the Slayer. Friendship and family are presented as more of less one and the same a few episodes later in Family, and the choice Buffy is faced with in S5 is another trolley problem - the life of Dawn against the world. This time, it's more specifically tied to the Slayer/Killer dichotomy through the prophecy that Buffy is faced with ("Death is your gift"). This frames the similar choices she faced in Becoming and Graduation Day in the same light, with Buffy even specifically comparing this to the former.

BUFFY: I sacrificed Angel to save the world. I loved him so much. But I knew ... what was right. I don't have that any more. I don't understand. I don't know how to live in this world if these are the choices. If everything just gets stripped away. I don't see the point. I just wish that... I just wish my mom was here. The spirit guide told me that death is my gift. Guess that means a Slayer really is just a killer after all. - 5x22 The Gift

S5 is soaked in this Killer-vs-Slayer idea, and that's part of why I love it so much. It opens with Buffy having gained an appreciation of killing. She goes out not to patrol, but to hunt. To revel in the enjoyment of the kill, just as Faith did. There's also a constant theme of people identifying Buffy as a Killer. Importantly, it's a theme of her believing them. She knows that there is a kernel of truth there, and it develops from a subconcious worry in Restless to a more concrete fear in Intervention, where Buffy explicitly says that she is afraid that being the Slayer means losing her humanity and ability to love, and become nothing more than a "killer". Eventually, Buffy is so ground down by it that when The Gift rolls around, she simply accepts that the Slayer is "just a killer" as an inevitability.

BUFFY: Yeah, I prefer the term slayer. You know, killer just sounds so... DRACULA: Naked? - 5x01 Buffy vs Dracula

SPIKE: Death is your art. You make it with your hands, day after day. That final gasp. That look of peace. - 5x07 Fool for Love

FIRST SLAYER: Death is your gift. - 5x18 Intervention

I also like the way that Joyce is repeatedly linked to this idea. Buffy's response to Sineya points to Joyce's death as a rebuttal to the idea of death being a gift ("Death is not a gift. My mother just died. I know this."). Buffy talks about Joyce just before accepting that "a slayer is a killer" in The Gift. Spike's speech about Slayer's having a death wish comes immediately before Buffy finds out that Joyce is going into hospital. The idea of the Slayer as an instrument of death, killing every day, is juxtaposed against the mundane horror of what death is really like, as demonstrated in The Body. As the Slayer, Buffy must cause death, but this is what death looks like. It's hard and painful and mortal and stupid. Eventually Buffy reaches a point where she just can't do this anymore. She can't live in a world where she must choose to be a killer, because she understands death more now than ever.

It's here that the show explicitly connects the ideas of utilitarianism and being a killer. Buffy says that killing Dawn to save the world (and by association killing Angel to save the world, or killing Faith to save Angel), would make the Slayer "just a killer". This goes back to S3, and Faith arguing that the death of one innocent was washed out by the many people that they save, and that being Slayers gives them the right to make that calculation. Tara points to Giles in this episode, the voice of utilitarianism, and identifies him as a killer. Giles himself identifies himself as one when he kills Ben, and here draws a line between being a utilitarian/killer, and being a hero.

BEN: Need a ... a minute. She could've killed me. GILES: No she couldn't. Never. ... She's a hero, you see. She's not like us.

Some people criticise the moral absolutism of this, and could very justifiably argue that killing Ben, or even killing Dawn, would be the most moral thing in this situation. Who are we to say that Dawn's life is more valuable than the lives of a thousand other 14 year old girls, with families of their own that love them just as much as Buffy loves Dawn? But within the context of the show, I think it makes sense for them to reject utilitarianism. Buffy is a Sisyphean story. There will always be another apocalypse after this one is stopped. There will always be another impossible choice with innocent lives in the balance. Through that lens, the idea of "killing one to save a thousand" becomes meaningless, because there's a thousand apocalypses, and if you kill one to stop them all, then you've killed a thousand. That's how Buffy feels - she killed Angel, she killed Faith, now she has to kill Dawn? Where does it end? Eventually it all just gets stripped away, so what's the point? There's no winning move here. The only way to break the cycle is to change the game.

We should also keep in mind Buffy's words at the start of the episode. She fears that the Slayer is "just a killer", but she is also identified by the guy she saves in the alley in the opening scene as "just a girl". And Buffy agrees ("That's what I keep saying."). Buffy is The Vampire Slayer, which dictates that she must make these impossible choices, but she's also Buffy, which means she is a human being with the power of free will. She gets a choice - not a good choice, but a choice. As a human being, she can reject the options in front of her and find a third way. She can transform the whole game, and turn "Death is your gift" into an empowering statement. This was heavily foreshadowed of course - the Guide in Intervention outright stated that Buffy was full of love, and that "love will bring [her] to [her] gift". But it takes Buffy working through these fears and emotions and realising that she simply can't take Dawn's life. She chooses a new way. She avoids being a killer by rejecting utilitarian ethics. To paraphrase The Last Jedi, she wins by saving what she loves. Ultimately, she's not a killer, but a girl, a friend, a sister, a Slayer - a hero.

So season five is very much the climax and resolution of this theme. Very few themes ever disappear entirely from this show though, and this one continues to echo throughout the show. In S6, Buffy again fears she is slipping into darkness. That there is some kind of darkness that is innate within her. But where in S5 this was a fear that she recoiled from but at times seemed inevitable, in S6 it is something that she is drawn towards, that disgusts her but that she takes a kind of comfort in, because it's easier than facing the mundane reality of her depression.

This yearning for her own darkness takes the physical form of Spike, who she uses for what is basically sexual self-harm. Spike steps into Faith's role as Buffy's shadow self for much of the later seasons, and , and like Faith he represents killing as hedonism, and as sex. There's no vampire who so aggressively blurs the lines of sex and death/violence as Spike. Her fear that killing is part of her nature, and her fear of her own sexual desire, are very much one and the same. When she breaks down in Dead Things, she talks about the darkness within her, and of her shame over her own sexuality.

Spike also repeats Faith's utilitarian justifications from Consequences in the episode which forms the climax of Buffy's self-destruction, Dead Things. When Buffy attempts to metaphorically commit suicide by turning herself into the police, she does it while constantly identifying herself as a killed. She repeats some variation on "I killed her" four times in just two scenes. She wants to be punished for being a killer, and not protected for being the slayer. She has grappled with this several times, and is still resolute that being the slayer does not give her a license to kill, but this time she is desperate to be seen as a killer, to give justification for her own self-hatred.

The final way S6 explores this idea is with Willow. When she is after Warren, Buffy tries to stop her, not for Warren's sake but for Willow's. She knows that taking a life changes a person, and implicitly draws on the first time she chose to take a human's life, the moment she "became a killer" on that rooftop with Faith.

Buffy (re: going to kill Faith): I can't play kid games anymore. This is how she wants it. Xander: I just don't want to lose you. Buffy: I won't get hurt. Xander: That's not what I mean. - 3x21 Graduation Day

XANDER: She should be coming down at some point, shouldn't she? I mean, back there she was out of her head ... running on grief and magicks. BUFFY: Doesn't matter . Willow just killed someone. Killing people changes you. Believe me, I know. - 6x21 Two to Go Killing Warren might have been justified given what a complete piece of shit he was - just as killing Angel was justified, just as killing Faith was, just as killing Ben was. That doesn't matter, because Buffy still recognises that the act of killing leaves permanent psychological scars, which she is still bearing.

In S7, we get the final major exploration of the "does the Slayer have a right to kill" idea in Selfless. Here, Buffy seems to have reached the conclusion that Cordelia, Faith and Spike (all her shadow selves) were right, and she does, in fact, have the right to pass judgment because she's the Slayer, when she decides she has to kill Anya.

"It is always different! It's always complicated. And at some point, someone has to draw the line, and that is always going to be me. You get down on me for cutting myself off, but in the end the slayer is always cut off. There's no mystical guidebook. No all-knowing council. Human rules don't apply. There's only me. I am the law." - 7x05 Selfless

However, I don't think the show wants us to take this as gospel. Buffy is conclusively proved wrong in this episode, since killing Anya doesn't work, and it's Willow who finds a third option that saves the day. In S7, the idea of the Slayer-as-Killer is more an incidental theme, while the central exploration is the idea of "one girl in all the world". It explores the nature of that tragedy, that Buffy is by definition alone. Because of this, she necessarily must be a killer. She does have to pass judgement, because there is nobody else capable of it. She has to be the one to hunt and kill vampires. She has to face the choice to kill Angel, to kill Faith, to kill Dawn, to kill Anya.

This is where the theme ends up - as a tragic inevitability. Buffy must always make that choice. Making the selfless choice to kill her boyfriend doesn't stop it. Avoiding the choice and dying herself doesn't even stop it. That boulder just rolls down the hill again and again, and Buffy is the only one who can push it back up. The Slayer is a killer because the Slayer is alone. So the only way to break that cycle is for the Slayer to no longer be alone. There are still elements of The Slayer, and of Buffy as a person, that are linked to death and killing, but she has mostly made peace with those parts, and now can be free of having to be "the law" too.

[ayuuria]

Yashahime Translation: Animage November 2020 Issue

Please do not repost this translation without my consent! @officialinuyasha will be making a video version of this so stay tuned!

The Three Girls’ Incident Fill Journey

While carrying the expectations of “Inuyasha” fans, the story of the 3 girls begins to move. What sort of fate awaits the 3 girls with different personalities and grew up in different eras?

The original anime that succeeds the world of “Inuyasha”, “Hanyou no Yashahime”, has finally begun broadcast! (We are) sure there were a lot of people who were surprised after watching episode 1. Afterall, not only were the trio of protagonists on screen, but also the characters of “Inuyasha”, Inuyasha, Kagome, Miroku, Sango, and Sesshomaru, were freely moving around!

In episode 1, the story started with Towa being told the story of Inuyasha and Kagome (A priestess who came from ‘Tokyo’ 10 years ago and the half demon that exterminated demons with her) while she was captured at the Kanto region’s governor-general’s mansion of Ougigayatsu-Hiiragi. As Inuyasha and others live while exterminating demons, after ending the battle with the half demon, Naraku, it is said they fought a demon called Root Head… Familiar scenes are jammed together showing everyone’s traits such as the black Tessaiga unleashing Meidozangetsuha and Kagome’s “sit”. It truly was a festive curtain opening.

However, this was just the prologue of the Yashahime’s adventure since as Setsuna’s voice actress, Komatsu Mikako, put it “Episode 2 is the first episode “Hanyou no Yashahime”. A “new age of feudal fairytale” with the 3 girls has finally begun!

Moroha Inuyasha and Kagome’s quarter-demon daughter. She makes a living as a bounty hunter. She doesn’t have any memories of her parents, but she inherited “demonic powers” and “spiritual powers of a priestess”.

It really is the daughter of Inuyasha and Kagome! Moroha’s voice actress: Tadokoro Azusa

“Moroha is Inuyasha and Kagome’s daughter so from the time I auditioned for her, I wanted to incorporate elements from the two of them. I focused on things like how Inuyasha sits like a dog and his beast like manner when he speaks as well as Kagome’s strength as a woman and her suppleness. However, when I really thought about it, I thought the two of them had similar dispositions. It’s like they became similar as they journeyed together. Things like the kindness of when they end up saving people and how quickly the blood rushes to their heads when angered; (these) are traits they both have. That is why I thought Moroha might be like that too. I truly thought she was a child born from Inuyasha and Kagome from how emotional she is and how lightly she carries her body.”

Setsuna Towa’s younger twin sister. She is a member of the demon slayers and has a calm, collected personality. She was separated from Towa when she was young and does not remember anything from that time.

Staying calm while thinking of Sesshomaru Setsuna’s voice actress: Komatsu Mikako

“I was directed to “remember the way Narita Ken played Sesshomaru” when it came time to play Setsuna. During the audition, I did a version that had a cool aura at the forefront and a version that focused a little on being a realistic girl. At first I wasn’t sure which one to go with so I acted lightly but was told “More deeper, it’s okay to have a threatening quality in your voice.” Now I diligently act with complete collectedness while thinking of Sesshomaru. While I haven’t done any recording work with Narita-san yet, I worked with him a little over a year ago on a different work where we had a parent/child role so I can’t wait to show how happy I am to be his daughter again (laughs).”

Higurashi Towa Sesshomaru’s daughter and Setsuna’s older twin sister. She time traveled to the modern era when she was little. She excels at martial arts to the point that she can beat up gangs by herself.

She is good at fighting but she is still a regular girl Towa’s voice actress: Matsumoto Sara

“Since Towa spent 10 years under Papa Souta and does not remember her real parents, I think she’s more of a Modern girl than a Feudal girl. The first audition tape I submitted, I really focused on her being the daughter of Sesshomaru and had her sounding completely boyish. However afterwards I was told “Sounds too much like a boy.” Based on that, I think I got it just right with sounding like a 14-year-old middle school girl who’s good at fighting. Also just like Mikako-san, I have played a role as Narita-san’s daughter in a different work. As of now, I’m curious to see if there will be any parent/child interactions from here on.”

Cycling in Feudal Lands!?

The figures of Towa and Setsuna riding a bicycle while Moroha follows after them reminds one of the scene that unfolded in “Inuyasha”. In episode 1, Towa was presented with Kagome’s bicycle seat at Ougigayatsu-Hiiragi mansion. Does that mean a bicycle will be a key item in “Yashahime”?

Round Table Discussion with the Cast of the 3 Girls

The 3 of them who grew up influenced by “Inuyasha”

Everyone, (speaking) purely as “Inuyasha” fans. First, please tell us your favorite character or episode from “Inuyasha”

Matsumoto: Once we start talking about “Inuyasha”, forget the interview time, we’re going be talking past midnight! (laughs) For me, my favorites were Miroku and Naraku.

Tadokoro: Miroku! He’s precocious!

Komatsu: You liked Naraku?!

Matsumoto: First, I was overwhelmed by Miroku’s adult sexiness. I loved that fraudulent part of him. You know how whenever the air got tense within the Inuyasha group, Miroku would chime in with “Now then” and the air would soften. I felt that that was really cool. Back then, I ended up drawing Miroku’s wind tunnel on my hand and copying him (laughs).

Komatsu and Tadokoro: I did that too~! (in unison)

Matsumoto: On the other end, I felt charmed by how Naraku was too evil. I thought “There’s someone this evil!”.  I was shocked that even though he was originally human, as a result of getting all sorts of humans and demons involved, he became like that. I became completely enamored by the “true villain”.

Komatsu: If I were to speak in terms of Naraku’s faction, I loved Kagura.

Matsumoto and Tadokoro: Aah~ Kagura~!  (in unison)

Komatsu: Naraku is an existence that became a demon from the negative aspects of humans such as tenacity and envy. Yet from that, Kagura in a sense was born with a human like heart and I felt that that was attractive. Her life was always in Naraku’s hands. In reality, she wanted to join Inuyasha’s side but she couldn’t. Even so she wanted to be free like the wind and ironically at the end, she became the wind by Naraku’s hand. Then, in her last moments when she met Sesshomaru she said “I got to see you”….!

Matsumoto and Tadokoro: Yeah~!!

Komatsu: Kagura was the only character on the enemy’s side that I liked. On Inuyasha’s side, I’d have to say I liked the Inuyasha and Kagome pair. “Inuyasha” had a romance element to it; for me it was both a shounen and shoujo manga and it was a work that was truly like a textbook on life. I did things like ask my parents to make the Japanese style room in our house “my room” and bought folding fans because I said “I want to become a wind user too!”

Tadokoro: Mine is mainstream but I liked Sesshomaru.

Matsumoto and Komatsu: Aah~ Lord Sesshomaru~!!

Komatsu: Well our Papa is too cool.

Tadokoro: I can’t go against that charm. He doesn’t say much but despite it all, he does look out for the others. At first, he kept going after Inuyasha in order to take his sword but in the end, he ended up helping Inuyasha grow right? Something like that (laughs).

Matsumoto: He’s too tsundere!

Tadokoro: Exactly! Rin obviously but despite everything, he does consider Jaken important. My favorite episode was the one where Rin gets taken into the underworld.

Matsumoto and Komatsu: I feel you!

Tadokoro: To think that that Sesshomaru would say “There’s nothing that could ever be worth trading Rin’s life for”… I think that was the moment everyone fell for Sesshomaru (laughs). Also Kohaku. He went through something extremely painful and continued to suffer for a long time so that makes him do unnecessary things. He tends to value his life poorly and because of that, there are a lot of scenes where he’s saved by others. At first I thought “Please stop”, however in the anime because of Yajima Akiko’s voice, I really felt “It’s not that he’s getting in everyone’s way, he just takes action because he’s tormented”. Yajima-san’s acting of Kohaku is what made me want to be become a voice actor so I have a lot of feelings this character. When I saw him become an adult in “Hanyou no Yashahime”, I had this feeling of “Thank you for choosing to live”.

There is no end to the “Inuyasha“ talk. Then please tell us your impression of “Hanyou no Yashahime”. Did all of you audition for all 3 girls?

Tadokoro: I only did Moroha for the tape audition but afterwards I did all 3 girls in the studio audition. It’s just that there’s the fact that I just did Moroha for the tape so I was interested in her the most. My very first impression was that I was moved when I saw that the child born from Inuyasha and Kagome was this girl, and I was so happy to see their child. She really looks like them and she’s so lively that I thought she would actually come to life. I arbitrarily thought “I wonder if she’s living a happy life?”.

Matsumoto: I only auditioned for Towa. From her appearance, I thought she was cool but before anything else I was so shocked at the idea of “Sesshomaru’s daughter” that I was at a complete loss. I was like “S-Sesshomaru had a d-daughter…?!” (laughs)

All: (Laughs)

Matsumoto: I ended up thinking “How did he give birth when he’s a guy?”

Komatsu: With Sesshomaru, I can certainly see him doing something like cutting off his hair and breathing life into by blowing on it (laughs).

Matsumoto: I can see that smoking up and turning into a baby (laughs). While Towa has a twin sister named Setsuna, there was that setting of Towa spent time in the modern era. I felt there was a lot of ground for thought like “What happened between her and Setsuna?” or “Do they have different personalities?”.

Komatsu: In my case, when I received the notice for the audition, I only saw the title “Hanyou no Yashahime” and thought “This is going to be a title like “Inuyasha”” (laughs). When I read the explanation it really had “a work that succeeds the world of “Inuyasha”” written on it so I was really surprised. Not only that but it had the catch phrase “Sesshomaru has a daughter” so I was like “That Sesshomaru!?”. In any case, I was completely surprised. For the audition, I only did Setsuna but upon seeing the documents, her facial features and the white fluff (moko moko) around her neck, I thought she really is the daughter of Sesshomaru. In the audition manuscript, there were a few lines that showed that she didn’t seem to really remember her father but her closed off aura gave me the sense of ‘like father, like daughter’.

As you got into acting your roles, have there been any changes from your first impression?

Komatsu: Each of their backbones are slowly being dug up but among them, there a lot of scenes where you can tell that Towa has been heavily influenced by the modern era from having lived there so long.

Matsumoto: Yes. There’s a contrast like when they’re confronted by a demon; Towa will pull back where as Setsuna and Moroha will go on the offensive. Also when Towa hesitates to make the final blow, the two of them scold her.

Komatsu: For Setsuna and Moroha, exterminating demons is a job but for Towa, she exterminates demons with the idea of saving others. Hence, due to the difference in their way of thinking, they butt heads but as the 3 of them spend more time together, their sense of comradery will gradually deepen… I feel my impression is slowly changing as the story progresses like how Setsuna surprisingly participates in the joke scenes and how they move as a 3 person team.

Tadokoro: With Moroha’s change, I was first directed with “It’s okay to make it sillier”. Actually, while she does act on her emotions like a child and she can be a little stupid, in battle she’ll give out directions like “Do this” and I think she’s good at assisting. Based on appearances, Towa and Setsuna seem like they would be better at combat but the fact that Moroha has a sharp mind is something that surprised me.

Matsumoto: My impression of Towa hasn’t really changed but I’m curious to see how Towa will adapt to the Feudal Era and how the 3 of them will work as one. Even when Towa returns to the Feudal Era, it’s not like she forgets the modern era and she will show things to Setsuna, Moroha, and Takechiyo like “In the modern era, we have something like this”. Towa doesn’t seem to find it hard to go from the modern era to the Feudal Era and when recording began, I once again thought “It’s like this afterall”.

Komatsu: … I think the way Towa closes the gap between herself and others is similar to “that person”.

Matsumoto: You just made a big statement like it was nothing!

Komatsu: I thought the way Towa concerns herself with Setsuna and Setsuna responding with “Shut up! Leave me alone!” was a relationship similar to that of their parents… If you look at Towa, I think you can figure out who the mother is.

Tadokoro: Definitely get an idea. Then how about the possibility of Jaken? (laughs)

Matsumoto: The ‘Jaken is the mother’ theory huh! (laughs) What makes me get emotional is when even though Setsuna pushes Towa away and goes on ahead, she’ll stop, look back, and watch Towa complain behind her. She’s just like her father when she does that!

Komatsu: I feel! She’s totally concerned about her.

Tadokoro: To Moroha, despite what Towa and Setsuna say to eachother, they’re pretty lovey-dovey so she feels a little “left out”.

All: (laughs)

Matsumoto: The other day when we were recording a preview, Azusa-san said to me “Towa really doesn’t call for Moroha does she.” When I thought about it, it’s true that there’s a lot of “Setsuna and I did this” sort of talk (laughs).

Tadokoro: Moroha’s there too~! (laughs)

Matsumoto: To Towa, Setsuna is very precious. Even though Setsuna and Moroha are veterans when it comes to surviving in the Feudal Era, Towa still wants to be an older sister to Setsuna. That aspect is pretty amusing.

That is definitely something to keep an eye on in future broadcasts. Now then, please tell us your thoughts on episode 1 that was broadcasted.

Komatsu: The story of “Inuyasha” since then was drawn so I don’t suppose fans felt as if they had “come home”? I think it was a first episode that was like “First of all, welcome back and welcome to a new world of Inuyasha!”

Tadokoro: It really is moving isn’t it… I was also really excited for the broadcast.

Matsumoto: All the more since during the recording, the different casts recorded their scenes separately, so we never got to watch the “Inuyasha” cast acting directly.

Komatsu: Also there were nostalgic scenes that were just as they were in the original anime which is something that got me excited.

Matsumoto: There were. From episode 2 onwards, there will be lingering remnants of demons that appeared in “Inuyasha”. When past scenes come in, I myself become moved like “There was a scene like that!”

Komatsu: Episode 2 in a sense is the first episode of “Hanyou no Yashahime”. The first enemy demon that appears is a little similar to the first demon that appeared in “Inuyasha” so I think that’s a point that will make fans happy.

Tadokoro: Also in the TV anime, demons that appeared in scenes in the original work will also appear as “Hanyou no Yashahime” versions. That also makes me emotional.

Episode 2 onwards will be exciting for production key points that strike “Inuyasha” fans. Even in this edition’s illustration (P. 36-37), connecting with the bicycle Kagome was always rode in “Inuyasha”, we have a bicycle and the 3 girls.

Matsumoto: My heart is skipping seeing Setsuna wrap her hands around Towa’s waist.

Komatsu: She’s really looking (at her)! (laughs) Within the work, Setsuna hasn’t opened up to Towa yet but I wonder how much time has passed for the gap between them to close like this?

Tadokoro: Setsuna’s completely riding like a “girlfriend”! Moroha’s been taken off the bicycle (laughs)

Komatsu: We need to attach a side car to the bicycle for her (laughs)

Do you have any situations that you want to see illustrations of from here on?

Komatsu: I want to see everyone in a school uniform!

Matsumoto: Yes! Please put Moroha in Kagome’s sailor uniform.

Tadokoro: Yeah, I definitely want to see her wear that! Going along that line, I want to see Towa and Setsuna dressed like Lord Sesshomaru.

Matsumoto: Each one dressed like their parents, I like that. Not just a sailor uniform for Moroha but also in a priestess’s attire too.

Tadokoro: She has black hair so I’m sure it will look good on her.

Matsumoto: Moroha and Setsuna normally have their hair tied back so I want to see them with their hair down.

Komatsu: A situation where the 3 of them are in a hot spring. There were scenes like that in “Inuyasha” where there were monkeys in the hot spring. (laugh)

Matsumoto: Me personally, I want to see Setsuna and Moroha fully dressed in modern clothes. Something like all 3 of them going to an amusement park.

Komatsu: I want to see them taking tests for school!

Q. What do you think will happen when Towa and Setsuna reunite with Sesshomaru?

Komatsu: First, what will they call Sesshomaru? Will they call him “Father”? To begin with, I’ve been curious as to if Sesshomaru was the one who named them.

Tadokoro: That’s true. Who did name them?

Komatsu: “Towa = Eternity” and “Setsuna = Moment” … What sort of meaning do these complete opposite names have?

Matsumoto: I feel Setsuna’s is more fleeting. The wild ideas (translators note: head cannons to put it in western terms) won’t stop.

Tadokoro: Kagome’s was too but the names tend to have an uneasy nuance implied about them. For Moroha, the words “Double edged sword” and “Fragile” can have a close resemblance. There was a meaning to Kagome’s name so I tend to think there’s also a meaning in Towa, Setsuna, and Moroha. Also, Moroha’s red clothes is the robe of the fire rat Inuyasha wore that apparently, she remodeled herself so I’m really curious about that. Is it by chance… a memento? I don’t want that~!!

Q. Among the 3 of you, who resembles their character the most?

Komatsu: Probably Towa (Matsumoto)? Her aura is similar to Towa in a gutsy, cheerful sense. It doesn’t feel like an “act” when she’s acting.

Tadokoro: Me too, my first thought was Towa. I thought they looked similar in appearances.

Matsumoto: That makes me so happy….! There are times where I feel I’m similar to Towa but I think everyone has something similar (to their characters). I feel like Azusa-san is mischievous and sparkling like Moroha and Komatsu-san has Setsuna’s cool beauty.

Komatsu: No, I have zero coolness within me (laughs). I think the rock essence that Koroazu (referring to Tadokoro) has during a concert performance is close to Moroha!

Tadokoro: That’s true, I try to bring out a wild flavor (laughs).

Episode 1 Play Back: Inuyasha Since Then

Inuyasha and Kagome exterminated Root Head with there superb combination (?)… or so it was thought, but in actuality, it entangled itself with the roots of the Sacred Tree/Tree of Ages deep within the earth. The still living Root Head extends its roots to the fates of Towa, Setsuna, and Moroha. And the true identity of Munehisa, who told the tale, comes to light as the demon Yotsume (the 4 eyed owl). Just what is he is something to keep an eye on from here on.

Inuyasha Moroha’s half-demon father. After winning the battle against Naraku, he chose to live together with Kagome in the Feudal Era. He also drove back Root Head combining his power with Kagome’s but…

Sesshomaru A greater demon who is Towa and Setsuna’s father. While Inuyasha was fighting Root Head, he did not lend a hand but rather he quietly watched over Sango’s house where Rin was taking refuge.

[eryiss]

Summary: Freed and Gajeel were total opposites in every way, only connected by the guild. When they were forced to train together under Makarov's orders, they expected antagonism and mistrust. Instead, they were given a lesson in how quickly opposition can turn to attraction. The issue: let the budding relationship simmer away, or let it explode. [Freed x Gajeel Multi-chapter]

Notes: Hello everyone. I’ve been wanting to write something longer for this couple for a while, and this idea seemed quite fun. I hope you all enjoy it and maybe I can convert some of you to living Freed x Gajeel. Happy reading.

Links: FFN, Ao3, Chapter List

Chapter One - Makarov's Idea

As he walked towards the guildhall, Freed kept looking up at the moon.

The nights sky was cloudless and gave him an unhindered view of stars and the moon. It was a beautiful sight, but made him frown a little. The moon was large and nearly in its fullest state, a concern for the time of year. It had been some time since the full moon had coincided with the longest day of the year, and it seemed like it was going to happen again this year. The brimstone in his blood seemed to fizz at the idea, and he quickly looked away.

At his side, Laxus bumped his shoulder to get his attention. His frown told Freed that the dragon-Slayer had seen his concern, and he smiled to comfort the man.

"Nothing to concern yourself about," Freed assured him. "I've got it under control."

"Make sure you do," Laxus instructed. "No missions until it's over, right?"

"Of course," Freed nodded.

Laxus seemed to think the matter settled at that, but Freed wasn't so sure. The entirety of the guild - or at least those not already on missions - had been called to the guildhall that night. Makarov hadn't explained why he wanted everyone present, but it was entirely possible that they would all be dragged away on a mission and that Freed would be forced to act as if everything was normal. So promising that he wouldn't go on any missions was more wishful thinking than anything else.

Still, if he did have to go on a mission, he could handle it. Six years ago, it had taken him by surprise. Not this time.

"Let's take bets," Bickslow, unaware of the hushed conversation, stated mischievously. "Fifty-fifty odds of it being either a world ending disaster we have to deal with, or some weird competition so he can perv on the gals again."

Laxus winced at the second option, but didn't deny it.

"It better not be the second one," Evergreen huffed. "But knowing him, it probably will be. So I'll put five hundred jewels on that."

"Nah, it's been too long since we all nearly died," Bickslow shrugged. "Five hundred on the world ending. You two sticks in the mud gonna get involved?"

Freed had stopped listening to their conversation moments before, and found his worries back on the sky. The full moon had been scheduled in exactly one week, and it meant trouble for him. He should be making preparations in case he lost control of himself; this was all a distraction. He should leave town, just in case.

His team looked at him in concern, but remained quiet.

As they approached the doors, Freed's mind remained preoccupied. A hand clasped onto his shoulder and jerked him back, and he realised it was Laxus. He frowned, only then realising he had nearly walked into Gajeel Redfox. The dragon-slayer glared at him, arms crossed to highlight his biceps. He didn't have much else than his physical strength, Freed supposed, so he had to show it off.

"Idiot," Gajeel spat at Freed, and Freed nearly scoffed at the hypocrisy of the word. If either of them was an idiot, it was not Freed.

Gajeel was walking into the hall before Freed could retort.

"God, who put a stick up his ass?" Laxus muttered as he shook his head. He looked down to Freed again, looking worried. Perhaps he hadn't believed Freed's assurances as Freed had hoped. "You need to go back? He ain't taking over yet, right?"

"No, I was distracted, that's all," Freed assured him, but none of his team looked happy. "I'm in control of myself. But I've got plans on how to approach the demon should I need them."

"Can we help?" Evergreen asked.

"I'll ask if I need it, but I don't suspect it'll happen," Freed placated them. They were still unconvinced. "You needn't coddle me, I'm fine. Particularly when there's apparently a fifty-fifty chance that the word is ending. Though, I'm putting five hundred jewels on the competition."

Apparently, the mention of gambling, broke the ice.

When they got inside the guildhall, it was more crowded than normal. All the tables on the lower level had been taken, and as such they were forced to climb to the S-Class balcony and sit there. None of them particularly minded that, and they waited for a short while for the rest of their guild mates to file in and settle, drinking and talking as they did so.

Eventually, Makarov walked onto the stage and stood before the crowd of wizards. After a few shouts for them to be quiet, the room fell into silence.

"Thank you all for coming," He began after clearing his throat. "I'm sure you're all wondering why we're here."

"For you to creep on us," Ever mumbled, and Bickslow snickered.

"Fairy Tail is a guild with its bedrock founded on the principles of friendship. We work so well because we work together. Whereas other guilds maybe have one or two teams, we have many," Makarov explained, gesticulating as he spoke. "It makes me so proud that you've forged these relationships and implemented them into your working lives. Your friendship and love allows you to work together to fight harder and become stronger, side by side as friends. I'm immensely proud of you all, but as of late I've noticed a problem with your work."

He paused, and Freed rolled his eyes. Everything was so dramatic with him.

"While you're very good at working with your own teams, you sometimes struggle working with the guild members you're unfamiliar with," Makarov continued, as if this statement were a tragedy. "And sometimes your teams won't be available, and I don't want you not taking group jobs because your regular team isn't around."

"Starting to think I bet on the wrong side," Bickslow grumbled, taking a drink.

Freed found himself only half listening. Whenever Makarov made an announcement there would be a lot of preamble that Freed didn't particularly care to listen to; not when he had bigger problems to deal with.

Perhaps, if his demon did become more powerful under the moon, he could rune himself into a cage of sorts. That might work, though perhaps physical manacles and shackles might be more practice. His team would be able to help with that, most likely. They wouldn't be happy about it, but Laxus had seen first hand what could happen when the demon was allowed to take over without restraint. He would understand.

No. He was worrying for nothing. The demon was under control now. Besides, he should be listening to his guildmaster.

"So, to broaden your opportunities, I've come up with an idea," Makarov grinned. "For the next week, you'll be split into pairs that you don't normally work with, and you'll spend all of that time training together. These partnerships will be random, and by the end of the week you'll be fighting side by side in a tournament to prove how well you can work together."

Hm, maybe a distraction would work better than restraints. Makarov's idea was flawed to the point of pointlessness, but a week of training might wear his body out to the point his demon wouldn't have the energy to take over.

"And, I'm sure you're all thinking why you should care about this, so there's a prize set up for the team who wins," Makarov was grinning wider now. "Fifty thousand jewels!"

That sent a rush of excitement and talking through the guild. Freed found himself wondering where the money actually came from.

"That's not all. The fights will be ranked on teamwork, cohesion and communication, and at the end of each fight you'll get points based on how well you did," Makarov was running his hands together. "And the team with the least points will have to do a punishment, and the winners decide what it is!"

"Goddamnit," Bickslow mumbled, handing money to Evergreen. "Always about punishments with him."

"If you knew that, then you should have bet smarter," Evergreen laughed.

Freed ignored his friends, leaning back and watching as Mirajane brought out a large, ridiculous top-hat. It wasn't difficult to guess that this was how Makarov intended to randomly choose the teams; pick them out of a hat. Maybe Laxus was right and his grandfather was turning mad, but he seemed to be enjoying himself so Freed had no place to complain.

He would simply drink his beer, watch the chaos unfold, and use the oncoming disaster as a distraction.

——

Gajeel swallowed down his beer with a scowl on his face. When Makarov had called this meeting, he had known that whatever the old crow had to say, it would piss him off. When Makarov had made his announcement, Gajeel had been proven right.

A whole week with some random wizard seemed pointless. Gajeel worked alone, and only teamed up with people when needed. This wasn't going to work.

Fuck, it was such a waste of time! He could be doing jobs and earning his rent instead of fucking around with a stranger, trying to embrace Makarov's ridiculous mantra about the importance of friendship. Or if he wasn't making money, then he would have at least liked to relax and take some time to rest. He didn't want to make a new friend, he wanted to eat, sleep and maybe find a guy to take to bed. None of that would happen with some Fairy Tail mage hanging around his neck.

"Our first team is," Makarov began as he rummaged through the stupid hat he'd had made. "Juvia and Natsu!"

Dammit! Juvia was one of the few people he could have tolerated. The other was the bookworm, and Makarov would probably say them working together wasn't in the spirit of things.

Still. At least the salamander had to work with someone who extinguished his fire. That was funny.

"Kickass!" Natsu yelled into the crowd, standing up and pumping his fist in the air because he lacked self control. "We're gonna dominate!"

They wouldn't.

"If you'd like to meet up and discuss your plans then now's the time," Makarov stated, and Natsu was making his way to Juvia immediately. "And now it's time for the next team up," He reached into the hat again. "It's Evergreen and Lucy."

No loss there. Maybe he and blondie could have been okay, but Gajeel wasn't pissed the chance was gone.

Lucy looked up toward the balcony and waved at Evergreen a little intimidated. Evergreen looked resigned, but after some nudging from Bickslow, made her way down the stairs and started to talk to the woman. Gajeel absentmindedly wondered if the two had ever had a conversation, because they looked awkward around each other; painfully so.

Fuck, that was going to be him, wasnt it?

Maybe he could convince whoever he was paired up with to lie and say they trained when they just spend the week alone. But then there was the tournament, and the threat of some random punishment, and Gajeel had already been humiliated after losing the guild-wide race and having to dress like an idiot; it wasn't happening again if he could help it.

"Next up," Makarov reached into the hat again. "Bickslow and Gray."

"Fuck yeah, some eye candy at last!" Bickslow yelled, and people laughed. Gajeel rolled his eyes, watching as Bickslow leant over the banister and looked towards his teammate. "Wanna make a deal, every time you strip, I strip."

Gajeel could see Gray avert his gaze as if bored, but he was red in the cheeks. They were even redder when Bickslow tossed his shirt towards him, both men now partially stripped.

Well, at least he wasn't with that idiot. The two of them would be a mess.

Many other teams were announced, and Gajeel found himself more and more annoyed each time. The partnerships made no sense, most of the time their magics wouldn't compliment each other, and Gajeel knew that it would end in disaster. At best, half of the partnerships might end up having a fight with each other, and at worst people would get hurt because they just didn't work. How the hell did Makarov think this was going to work out?

Maybe Gajeel should have slunk out and not attended the meeting. He was running out of money for rent, and his landlord was a bastard just waiting to kick him out, so it made sense for him to get a job. Maybe if he left now he could avoid it altogether.

"And next we've got Gajeel," Makarov shouted, and Gajeel cursed. "And Freed."

Oh fuck no. Absolutely fucking not!

Gajeel was not working with that stuck up prick. A guy like that had clearly never worked a day in his life, probably grew up in a fancy ass house and only got into guild work because it was a trend to slum it with the other wizards. Everything about Freed - holier than thou - Justine screamed pampered brat. He would probably throw a fit if he got dirt under his fingernails. He was the damn opposite of a man like Gajeel, and he knew he'd struggle not to murder the spoiled shit before the week was over.

Could he even defend himself? He had magic, but as far as Gajeel knew, that only worked when he had time to prepare. Hardly practical in the heat of battle, and what would he do without it? He wouldn't have the balls to use his sword as a weapon, Gajeel was pretty sure of that, and he looked like a gust of wind could take him out.

Fucking dammit. The salamander was better than this!

He damn near walked out of the guildhall then and there, because he couldn't deal with an egomaniac freak for a week. But, as he went to move, he saw the egomaniac freak walking towards him, and he was not going to allow Freed to think he was running away. He turned in his chair to meet the man's gaze but didn't make a move towards him. Freed could come to him, not the other way around.

Soon, Freed was in his space, standing above him. His expression was as unimpressed with the situation as Gajeel felt. At least they could agree on one thing.

He looked up to meet the mans gaze. Freed was… taller than he thought.

"I think it's fair to assume neither of us want to do this," Freed said rather than greeting him. Gajeel was right, he was a dick. "And I expect that the way I train myself won't be the same way you do, so likely there's a chance we'll come to blows, so I have a proposition."

Huh, maybe Freed was gonna suggest they lie and only pretend to train together. Gajeel would agree, but make Freed squirm first. "Yeah?"

"If we went somewhere and tried to train how we both normally do, it would be an act of futility," Freed explained. "We have six days to work together. I propose that for the first three days we train however I wish, and you follow my instructions. For the latter three days, we train however you wish and I will follow your instructions. That way, we both get three days of training ourselves in a way we know works, and the week won't be a waste of time entirely."

Huh.

That wasn't what Gajeel had thought, but he could deal with it. He had to admit, trying to find a way that would work for them both would not work, so this meant he'd at least have three days to improve himself.

"Fine," He grunted. "But I wanna go first. You're gonna drag me to some library or something like that, and that's a waste of time. Might as well make it a rest day after some actual working out."

Freed sighed, as if dealing with a child, and Gajeel nearly kicked him in the balls. "If you insist,"

"I do."

"Well then, I'll see you on Monday."

"Guess ya will."

That was it, and Freed turned to go back to his table. Gajeel emptied his drink, then grinned. Three days where the asshole had to do as he said; that was interesting. Freed probably spent his life being pampered and spoiled, but not with Gajeel. Nah, he was gonna work. Gajeel was gonna put Freed through hell and love every damn second of it.

[sparkleswritings]

Do think you can do Shinobu x fem reader soulmate au please and thank you

Gosh I'm so sorry I took so long to answer this but I hope you enjoyed what I whipped up!

Truthfully, I'm a sucker for Soulmate/Reincarnation AU's and I'm really tempted to make a part 2 to this, let's see how it goes.

But for now, here it is! Thank you for requesting nonnie 💜

Extra note: credits to @wtfmandyy for the picture I used in my banner!

Word count: 1,298

Tags: Soulmate au, angst, fluff, unedited, no beta

Part one/two

The first thing you saw when you woke up were large, insect-like purple eyes that struck you with familiarity. 

"I've seen you before…" you rasped, unable to move. Everything hurt and you couldn't quite remember why.

"Hush now, your medicine had just taken effect but that doesn't mean you're clear to talk! Rest," she said with a smile. Her voice was so gentle and pleasant to your ears. You've heard it somewhere, but before you could do anything to remember, you had fallen back to sleep.

Your eyes were unopened and it felt like you were half-dreaming. Body still unable to move but your senses were somewhat working. There were voices albeit muffled, as if behind a door. 

".....sure….was….one….saw?"

"..... positive…..met…..dreams….more than once."

"I see….then….sama….found….soulmate!"

"Ara….never knew….day...would come...Nee san….liked...see it."

".....would have."

Even though you could only make out snippets of their conversation, there was no doubt about it, that purple eyed woman was the same one you saw in your dreams.

You willed yourself to crack open your eyelids. Though the light that streamed abundantly into the room almost made you want to close them again. Your head was throbbing and you had pain in places you never knew you had. 

Foggy memories started to make their way into your mind, though you were still too groggy to piece them together. All you knew was that the lady who had treated you, the one with purple eyes, was the same woman you had met frequently in your dreams.

The conversation that was held outside...were you mistaken or did you hear the word 'soulmate' being mentioned?

"Oh my, you're awake?" 

You didn't need to turn your head to know who that voice belonged to.

"What happened to me?" you said weakly.

"You don't remember anything? Goodness that hit must have been harder than I thought!" she began rummaging through some bottles, probably medicine, on your bedside table. The only sound that filled the room was of clinking glass.

"Hey," you suddenly said, gathering up courage after wanting to ask for quite some time.

"What is it?" 

You shifted your head to face her, eyes staring deep into her purple ones, "are we soulmates?"

She stares at you for a moment, before placing a smile on her face and saying,"if I'm not mistaken, I suppose we are."

"You looked slightly different in our dreams, I could only tell by looking at your eyes."

In your dreams, she always had a pink kimono with patterns on it, her hair was always down with a bejeweled ornament pinning the left side of her hair up to her ear. Now she had an updo with what looked like a purple butterfly clip holding it into place on the back of her head. Gone were the kimono, replaced with a demon slayer uniform and a butterfly wing inspired haori.

So she was a demon slayer.

"Oh my, I don't quite know what I look like when we meet outside of reality, but you look quite different as well," her smile was unwavering as she tampered with the medicine bottles a little more.

"You never told me you were a demon slayer too. We could've met sooner if I had known," you said, following her with your eyes as she sat next to your bedside.

"We couldn't have met even if you had known. Pardon me for not revealing my identity to you even after all this time, but I am the Insect Pillar, Shinobu Kochou."

Your soulmate was a pillar?!

"I...I didn't expect that at all, although I probably should have," she had an air of superiority and elegance around her, so it made sense that she wasn't just a regular corps member. "Forgive the casual way of talking I had used on you, Hashira sama."

"Ara ara, you don't need to apologise. Talk to me like you've always had, we are soulmates after all," Shinobu said, still smiling. You had always wondered if her cheeks hurt since she always seemed to have this smile on her face that didn't feel quite genuine.

"I wish we had met under better circumstances," you said, sighing as you did so. 

The reunion between the both of you would not have lasted long. Finding out that she was a hashira just proved that the decision that had been made was the best one after all. Shinobu would often say that having a soulmate felt like a curse. It was another person that she would care for, thus another one she'd risk losing. 

Happiness was as brittle as a thin sheet of glass, and in this world it was often shattered with no means of putting it back together. You had experienced it firsthand, after all. Revenge was the main thing driving you to become a demon slayer in the first place.

You had that in common with her, though she was much better at hiding it.

"We can make it work! I'll...I'll work harder so I can stand by you as an equal, as a hashira!" you had pleaded, when the time had finally come for you to part. 

It had been a month of you staying at the Butterfly Estate, and you didn't know if it was just because you were compatible, or if she was your soulmate, but you were undoubtedly attached. 

"I thought you had accepted this," she said, taking her place beside you on the roof where you had been pondering for quite some time.

"I thought I have, but it's just been a little more difficult than I thought," you laughed nervously,"I've never been good at goodbyes."

"I can assure you this is not a goodbye, rather, a see you in the next life kind of parting," she said, with that ever present smile of hers. As if that phrase would make you feel any better!

"What if...I can't find you when I reincarnate? Or if I live on the other side of the world!" 

"We're soulmates aren't we? We're bound across the rest of our lifetimes, one will find the other I'm sure of it," Shinobu gave you one final pat on the shoulder for comfort and stood up.

That was true, but it still didn't stop you from doubting even just a little bit. It had been mutually agreed that the both of you would cultivate your relationship further the next time you were reborn, after this wretched war would finally, hopefully be over. 

"I don't want you to feel too attached to me just yet. I was never meant to live long in this life," Shinobu said, when you had met one day in a dream.

And you had agreed. You were also planning to eliminate the demon who had killed your family, even at the cost of your life.

The sun was now high in the sky and since you were now fully healed, you were clear to get back into service. Your crow had just delivered you a message of deployment, so now you stood outside the Butterfly Estate saying your final goodbyes and thank yous to the girls that have helped you with your rehabilitation training thus far.

"Oh my, were you going to leave without saying goodbye?" Shinobu appeared before you, just as your feet were about to take you forward.

"I just thought I wouldn't need to, since this isn't goodbye after all," you said, stepping closer to her wondering, would a hug be appropriate?

"Then, until we meet again," she said with a close eyed smile, giving you a small wave.

You took her small hands in yours, brushing a light butterfly kiss onto her knuckles, "until we meet again, soulmate."

[simon-newman]

Newman’s Anime Reviews - Kimetsu no Yaiba

Hello Everyone and welcome to my first anime review in… Nearly 4 years?

*Cough*

Yeah - I know - I am still supposed to write the Seven Witches review… I have no excuses. I will get to it. SOMEDAY!

But today I’m going to talk about another anime. The first title from my 2021 anime challenge.

Actually this is the only anime from the challenge list that I’ve picked myself because I’ve been intending to watch it for a while now.

I’m talking about

Kimetsu no Yaiba

Now - I didn’t really know what I’m getting myself into. I’m not sure if this counts as an achievement but I didn’t know shit about this title outside of:

Some people I know highly recommended it to me,

Nezuko is the best girl (and a demon)

There’s some dude wearing boar’s head as a mask,

Swords

Apparently it’s about killing demons

This is everything. EVERYTHING I knew when I started watching.

First things first however - let's start with the premise.

We meet our protagonist - Kamaboko Gonpachiro as he’s living his harsh but happy life with his large family. Monjiro takes on the responsibility of caring for his mother and younger siblings as the oldest male in the family after his father’s death before the start of the plot.

We join our protagonist as he goes down the mountain to sell charcoal at the nearby village and promises to come back with a lot of goods and food for the New Year’s.

Right off the bat we’re presented with beautiful scenes of  a loving family life our protagonist enjoys and I’m not going to make any anime veteran jokes about it.

Long story short - Tontaro’s trip lasts longer than he expected and he ends up staying the night at the village. It is then that we learn about demons that prowl the night of Kimetsu no Yaiba world. Evil creatures of darkness that feed on the flesh of humans. We also learn about demon hunters who protect people from those demons.

Gengoro resumes his trip back early in the morning but thanks to his keen sense of smell soon realizes that something is wrong. Very wrong. He rushes forward to get back as soon as possible but it is already too late.

There was a demon attack during the night and his family got killed with the sole exception of his sister Nezuko who was turned into a demon.

Surprising a demon hunter who appears shortly after Nezuko manages to regain her senses and has strong enough will to resist attacking humans. Thus begins Kanjiro’s journey - to become a demon slayer himself, avenge his family, protect others from what happened to him and find a way to turn his sister back into a regular human.

Sounds easy, right?

  I’ll be honest here that while the beginning was executed beautifully I must admit that I wasn’t really feeling this anime right away.

It seemed like your standard shounen anime from the start. Greatly executed despite being very cliche but still not outstanding.

Tragedy to set our protagonists on their way followed by the training arc and Jangoro finally becoming a demon slayer while Nezuko changes in her own way to be able to live without consuming humans - surprising experienced demon slayers.

It is only after that that the real story begins and we follow Tanjiro as he starts his mission as a true demon slayer himself.

Truly basics of the basics if I were to be honest. At that point I couldn’t really complain about anything in this show but at the same time nothing really stood out. As mentioned - the story was cliche. The fights so far were so-so. Animation was good but at the same time I knew that Ufotable isn’t showing it’s best yet. Somehow however it all just worked - together with music which really played into my tastes - yes - I really enjoy the music in this show (make it the one thing i really liked at that point).

But then everything changed with the Asakusa Arc.

Oh no! It’s Michael Jackson! RUN!

  The introduction of the Big Bad Muzan, his Twelve Demon Moons and the possible way of turning Nezuko back into human set our vague goals in place and Kentaro finally had a clear mission to accomplish.

What’s more - from this point on the fights become far more entertaining as well.

I did get the impression that this progress might be done too rapidly but thinking back it’s a good thing actually. We got too used to 150 episodes of nothing important happening and now any sort of early development seems rapid.

Before you say that I contradict my statements from earlier reviews hear me out: While we do meet major antagonists early on we don’t really get much from it outside of direction in the story. The Big Bad doesn’t make a move himself and is not even fought directly but becomes aware of Tangoro’s existence and wants him gone.

This is a good development to happen early in the story to keep the stakes high while not resolving anything just yet.

But this is not the end of improvements.

In the following story arc (Tsuzumi Mansion Arc) Santarou meets with two fellow demon slayer newbies - Zenitsu and Insouke who add some team dynamics to our already decent story and IMO further improves the fights we get to see.

As for the new team members… Zenitsu starts out pretty annoying at first with his extremely cowardly demeanor while Inosuke is the polar opposite with a fearless, rash personality.

I might be overthinking it but I see Inosuke as a parody - of sorts - for a character I personally dislike - Kirito from SAO. Both are dual-wielding master swordsmen with a feminine face (and for added bonus they’re both voiced by Yoshitsugu Matsuoka) but while Kirito’s strong because he’s the protag (Gary Stu) Inosuke is insanely ripped from his harsh life in the wilderness and… Well… Pretty much insane.

Pretty amazing, aren’t I? Pretty amazing, aren’t I?

  This change of pace - going from just Gentaro and Nezuko to a 4 man team with Zenitsu and Inosuke - marks the difference between the first and second half of this anime (and i forgot to mention it’s a whole 26 episodes show - not the 12 episodes short we got used to in recent years).

While the first half was kinda decent but not outstanding the second half is really, really entertaining to watch. Both the characters get a lot more chances at interaction and development and the action steps up from what we’ve seen before.

In short - two story arcs I’ve mentioned above supplemented what was lacking before. Things I wasn’t even clearly aware of initially.

Without a clear mission for Tenpachirou to accomplish we’d just descend into a monster-of-the-week formula and without more team members we’d be left with no means to explore our protagonists’ character in full.

What’s of Ponjirou extreme kindness if we don’t get to see him affect people with it outside of one-time-only interactions and his good relationship with his sister?

Yes - you can show it time and time again but from this point on it comes out more naturally and as I’ve mentioned already - we get to see it affect people in the long run - something I hope we’ll see further in the story.

Left to right: Boss Honey Badger, Sleeping Badass, Best Girl and Cinnamon Roll.

  Which brings me to this sad point…

Despite being a full 26 episodes show it still feels more like an introduction. We barely get to the right formula in the midpoint and conclude the fight against the first real enemy shortly before the anime is over. Souchirou’s journey has only just begun.

I’ve really wanted to write this review after watching the following Kimetsu no Yaiba Movie: Mugen Ressha-hen. That’s for multiple reasons.

At this point I know that this story arc is going to further up the stakes with the Upper Ranks of the Demon Moons getting into action but at the same time I’m really excited to see if Ufotable is going to show us what they’re capable of in terms of animation.

Because I think this anime deserves it.

Sadly - while the movie was out already I didn’t manage to watch it before writing this review.

Kamado Tanjirou vs Lower Moon One - Enmu.

  To sum it up - It was an interesting experience to see the anime develop in front of me - from a decent cliche show that didn’t make any major mistakes and played all the tropes just right into a really good and entertaining show in it’s own right.

My final assessment of the show is also the result of a certain niche this anime fits into. Namely the enjoyable sword fight scenes.

I’m definitely going to watch the movie when I’m able to and dive right into the following seasons of anime if they are made.

At this point something with this anime resonates with me - this show feels “just right” for some reason.

There’s also an added benefit of it not being dragged into infinity. From what I’ve heard the manga is already finished and we could get a definite end line before the story gets watered down into tasteless money grab.

Something to be appreciated when it comes to shounen manga…

Well. It is time to wrap up this review as well.

With all the above being said my final verdict is...

  Final Score: 8/10  +Newman’s Mark of Quality

Status: Completed

Sentence: Butterfly Mansion rehabilitation training (I bet I’d enjoy it after a while).

 Next: Code Geass

[bloodys44]

Silence and Cigarette Smoke

Original story and bonus content found here! ↓↓↓↓

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13289933/3/Silence-and-Cigarette-Smoke

Unfortunately it seems FF.net is having some technical errors and new chapter updates are only viewable through the app. I will continue to repost in hopes it will be available for everyone soon! Chapter 7 is viewable through the app and everything up to chapter 6 is online. Thanks for reading!

Chapter 3: The Dragons Birthday

Lucy’s POV

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She always thought he looked the best while asleep. Mind caught up in a dream, unfocused to the world around him. The way his bare chest shuddered on every exhale. The stark white of the scars littered over his tan skin. There was never a time he looked more relaxed, his sharp facial features losing their regular heated mark. He was in every aspect, simply beautiful. Once her blurry vision had focused on him, she'd been utterly captivated. And now, with him laying so nonchalant atop her blue pleated comforter she took the time to soak him in. It was rare for a moment of peace to present itself in their chaotic lives. Sometimes she felt stuck in a constant state of running. And tiring as it was, she had never felt such happiness. It was almost funny, she thought. How she had been humored by Lissana's words the day she had met her. All her preaching about how she owed this man her entire life. And to think now, she felt almost the same. She really did owe him the world, for he was the one to actually give her one.Three years had passed since Natsu had rescued her from the forest and brought her to Fairy Tail. Taken her hand and led her step by step through his exciting life. Teaching her the unspoken rules of the enchanted world. The guild really was a dream, giving her a place to live and grow in exchange for work. Everybody had a simple job they worked while at home. Natsu for instance, worked the front guard line, scouting the edge of their safety enchantments for trespassers and unwanted visitors. When he wasn't out scouting, he stood watch in one of the three stone lookout towers. It made sense, given he had uncanny senses and tracking abilities. Lucy found herself taking shifts in the constantly busy infirmary alongside Lissana and her sister Mirajane. It was pleasant work, a good distraction from day to day life. But it was when they left the guild that the real adventure began. Fairy Tail (along with other guilds in the network) took job and quest submissions from trusted or other magic folks. They ranged from simple things such as retrieval of objects or escorting people during their travels, all the way to clearing out dark guilds and the slaying of demons. Natsu had been gracious enough to form a team with her, working alongside her to complete jobs. They truly had become an inseparable force over the last few years.Lucy set the plate she had been carrying on the side table by her bed before moving to lean against the end of her mattress. Natsu twitched slightly in his sleep but didn't wake, instead rubbing the underside of his nose against the back of his wrist. She snickered lightly, brushing golden locks from her view. She still found it hard to believe the man in front of her, sleeping so silent, was actually an unmatched powerhouse of magical energy. A dragon slayer, so he was called. An extremely rare form of magic, bestowed by the dragons themselves to aid the humans in their war against the 'white witch' hundreds of years prior. The rarity stemmed from the fact that these commanding creatures no longer existed, wiped out by the very magic they had gifted the humans. Thus earning the 'slayer' term. In the current day, dragon-slaying magic was passed down through bloodlines, slowly dwindling downwards to nothing. Natsu claimed he remembered nothing of his parents, choosing to never speak about them or anything else regarding his past. This sat just fine with Lucy, considering her home life wasn't much more uplifting. An abusive father, drunk with power. So consumed in his self-preservation he elected to wipe out a quarter of the population in fear of them uprising. Jealous of the power swimming through their veins. Even going as far as to execute his beloved Queen and daughter for their enchanted blood.Her mother had always whispered of the beauty that came with their magic. The glow of the gods she called it. And translated directly, it sort of was. Celestial magic rumoured to have been created directly by the gods for a historical gracious Queen. The only enchantment to possess such a warm golden hue, literal stardust drifting from fingertips. Natsu had gone out of his way train with her while she learned her capabilities. Even (much to his distaste) spending hours upon hours scanning over ancient books and text, looking for answers to explain her mysterious powers. There was extremely little known about celestial magic. Its rather small royal bloodline being the only people able to wield the starlight. After three years of constant work, Lucy believed she was rather proficient in its use, though she could never be completely sure. As special as it was, being enchanted with such abilities it was also rather frightening, to say the least. With rarity came obsession. Many stories existing of the pursuit of celestial mages, desire for their uncapped power. The story goes that besides their own magical abilities, celestial mages can greatly increase magical energy with a single drop of their blood. Their blood is said to taste like pure ecstasy. Mages go insane after a single drop, drunk on the taste. Natsu had told her. The thought always made her stomach turn.Lucy huffed, shaking her head to dismiss her thoughts. Today was supposed to be a happy day, she couldn't let her self get caught up over nothing. Sliding the light grey flats off her stocking covered feet, she pulled herself completely up on the mattress. It was a pleasant Tuesday morning, the sun soaking through the aged glass of the windowpane. Her room taking on a rosy hue as the light bent with the lace of her pink curtains. Her room was small (as were most of the dorms in Fairy Tail were) but she loved it just the same. Her bed was pressed against the far right corner, mirroring a birch desk placed at the conjunction of the other. It, currently serving as the sleeping place for a bizarre blue cat, napping happily, wound up in scaled white fabric. She had a small overstuffed closet at the foot of her bed and an ensuite adjacent to the grand door leading to the hallway of other rooms. It was her safe place, a real home to relax and be herself in. The old walls speaking for previous guild members long passed. The only thing was, that she more often than not had to share with an intruding pyromaniac. Whether that was a negative or bonus she never could decide. She crawled towards the unsuspecting male, strung out over the bedding in his sleeping state. Taking perch beside his head, she pulled her knees to her chest. Her wrist flicking outwards slightly as she moved to wake him. It almost felt criminal, pulling him from his peaceful slumber, but she was too excited, not wanting to wait any longer. She dusted her fingers over his forehead, moving the displaced pink tendrils from his closed eyes. The light touch was enough to sway him from his dreams, grimacing as he squinted one eye open."Good Morning birthday boy." Lucy smiled sweetly, running her fingers through his fringe once again before pulling back. She wrapped her arms around her folded knees, watching as the tired man before rubbed his eyes. "Bout time you joined the land of the living.""Birthday boy?" Natsu questioned, his voice raspy, rugged with sleep. "Lucy, you know I don't know when my birthday is." He shoved his elbow under himself clumsily, sliding his body to more of a sitting position against the headboard. An exaggerated yawn flashing his pointed canines."I know." The words a sweet hum over her lips. "And every year I tell you, everyone deserves a birthday, and that you should just pick a day to celebrate."Natsu was smirking now, his expression slowly coming together as he woke. "And every year I tell you it's not important, and that you're crazy.""You celebrate my birthday every year, what's the difference?" She questioned playfully."I dunno, just different cause it's you."Lucy tried to ignore the heat that was surely blooming over her pale cheeks, tossing her bangs to the side with a sway of her neck. "Stop being so modest you stupid dragon, you're just as important as anyone else and deserve a day dedicated to you just the same." Natsu rolled his eyes at her, earning a swat to his shoulder. "Since you never pick a day, I've taken the initiative of picking for you.""And today made the cut?" He joked, fingers twisting upwards to toy with a strand of her golden hair."It's the first day of summer." She rushed out with slight embarrassment. "I thought it was fitting considering your name."Natsu snorted, mumbling something along the lines of 'cute' before pushing himself upright into a complete sitting position. He glanced to the side, noticing the small plate Lucy had put down earlier. He spun his head back towards her, eyebrow raised curiously. "Did you really bake me a cake?" She had, in fact, baked him a cake. Lucy nodded sheepishly, feeling the heat in her cheeks expand down her chest. It was nothing special, a miniature loaf that resembled more of an oversized muffin than an actual cake. To be fair, it had only been her second attempt at baking. She had considered asking Mira to make one for him, but she was away on work with her younger brother Elfman and her husband Laxus. Leaving Lucy to her own devices. Her first attempt had left the guilds mess hall a smoky mess and resulted in something unedible. Her second attempt had actually tasted pretty good despite its appearance. She had iced it in fluffy yellow icing, a baby blue branding of '22' crowning the top."You think I'm twenty-two?" He questioned again, his voice more steady than his earlier playfulness. His fingers continuing to loop over her flaxen strands."Well nobody knows your actual age, so I had to make an educated guess." She huffed in response.Natsu chuckled slightly, wrapping his arm around the blonde and pulling her into his bare chest roughly. "You're probably right, as per usual." Lucy tried to scramble against him but was held firm between his rippling arms. He slid one upwards, wrapping it around her neck pulling her into him further His chin nestled in her flaxen tendrils "Thanks, Luce, you really are the best." His lips brushing just slightly over her temple as he spoke. The touch so light she wasn't sure if there was really any contact or if she was reacting to his unusually hot breath against her fair skin.She loved moments like this. When the loud-mouthed, cocky, and rather brash man spoke in gentle tones. It was such a contrast to his typical over-excited nature. It may be selfish on her part, but she loved that this side of him was private, only sneaking up when the boy felt truly comfortable. It wasn't that he was typically exhausting, in fact, he had matured greatly over the years. But she had yet to witness him speak so calmly to another, the constant rigidness in his shoulders lacking in moments like this. It made her feel special, like she really was important to somebody. Not that she could ever deserve somebody as special as him. Somebody who lived their life completely for those surrounding him."We should hurry up and head down to the hall, Lissana's been cooking breakfast for us all morning." Natsu nodded in response, sliding himself off the cotton sheets with another exaggerated yawn. He flung his arms above his head, stretching out his previously coiled limbs. Lucy watched absentmindedly as his taut muscles strained under the spance of his tan skin, moving in sync with his smooth rhythm. He slipped a black hoodie over his head, sliding it painfully slow over his ridged abdomen. Sometimes Lucy liked to believe he showed off on purpose, maybe hoping to get her flustered for his own entertainment. He side-stepped into the ensuite, rummaging around in cabinets before his head popped back out of the doorframe. He looked slightly dishevelled, toothbrush hanging from his perfectly placed teeth. Lucy couldn't help but giggle at his curious expression, already knowing what he was about to ask before he even started speaking."I think Lissana tried to make all your favorites." Natsu nodded excitedly, darting back through the frame to continue cleaning up for the day. She swore there was nothing in this world that got him more excited than food tended too.The walk to the mess hall was pleasant, small talk mixing with their echoed footsteps on stone. Fairy Tail had taken residence in a long-abandoned castle on the outskirts of the supposedly haunted forest. Encased in hills of sprawling green, plenty of room for its members to train and spend their leisure time. A safe and beautiful space hidden so casually within the modern world, at least, thanks to the protective charms cast over the vicinity. The castle and grounds were un-seeable by the normal eye, only appearing if you knew what to look for. Most common folk would have their mind altered slightly on approach, causing them to reroute their current path. But on occasion, people have still managed to slip in, mostly lost children who's pure hearts wanted only a family or somewhere safe to rest. But there had been cases of well-skilled mages slipping through. One's like their friend Erza who possessed an enchantment cancelling eye. That's where Natsu and the other's on watch and guard duty came into place, silently protecting the livelihoods of so many. Their Headmaster was always very adamant in the safety of his 'children', so he called them. Always making sure the proper steps were taken. This was something Lucy very much appreciated, almost considering the man to be her replacement father figure."Hey wait, let's step outside quick." Natsu mumbled, grasping the side of her arm and guiding her over to one of the numerous balconies. He pushed the enormous oak doors open with ease, practically leaping out to bask in the sun rays."You really are like a salamander sometimes," Lucy scoffed playfully, commenting on his community dubbed nickname. Mages were generally very secretive about their identities, even with mages of other guilds. Understandably wanting to avoid attention from the crown. But Natsu seemed to have a knack for attention, or rather, for destruction which typically caused a lot of notice from townsfolk. The population of Fiore deciding on the name 'Salamander' for their rampant arsonist. Natsu snorted, retaliating by ruffling her hair aggressively. He then spun the other way, practically flopping against the wall with an exhale. He reached behind his gold decorated ear to remove a cigarette from its resting place. Lighting the tip of his finger with a hypnotizing flame. "I really wish you would drop that awful habit." Lucy nagged, crossing her arms slowly. "You're going to cause your own early death."As per usual Natsu looked at her like she was crazy. "You do realize I breathe fire right? Smoke it practically oxygen for me."Lucy simply shook her head, not wanting to get into their usual child-like argument about the safety of smoking. "You know Mira would agree with me." She teased."I know Mira isn't my mother, so does it really matter?" He smirked, pulling a long drag and blowing the stream into the blonde's face. She swatted at the smoke angrily, muttering under her breath about her immaculate ability to deal with morons. She turned and stepped out slowly to the edge of the castle balcony, draping her arms over the stone railing. The weather was spectacular today, the sky clear and the air surrounding them was warm and comforting. The clouds silently wishing them well with their day."I was thinking," The blonde hummed, turning back to face her pink-headed partner "We could take a job request today. Birthday boy gets to pick? Maybe Happy would even want to tag along."Natsu beamed at her, exhaling a grey cloud. "Sounds like a plan Blondie."Eventually, Natsu finished hacking away at his cigarette, giving his body a final long stretch under the sun before motioning for them to return indoors. Thankfully he seemed to be the only man Lucy had ever met that never reeked of the poison smoke. (or she liked to call it) His typical earthy scent mixed with a hint of mint and cinnamon seemed to repel all foreign smells. The remaining walk to the mess hall was quiet, the two simply comfortable in the silence of the other. At least it started that way, interrupted only by Natsu's sharp inhale as he broke out in short fits of laughter. Lucy turned to him, gawking slightly at his strange behavior while she waited for him to catch his breath. They were only about a floor away from the hall, the castle being as obnoxious as it was, took a while to navigate through."A surprise party? You really pulled all the stops hey?" Natsu mused, turning his shit-eating grin to face her. She looked absolutely baffled, her pace coming to a complete stop. This only caused Natsu to laugh harder, clutching his sides with amusement. "Did you forget about my incredibly awesome superhuman senses?" He bragged playfully. "I can hear everybody down there running amuck trying to get everything together." Lucy's expression faltered slightly. Really, who could blame her for forgetting one of his hundreds of bizarre quirks. A pout started to work its way to her plump lips. Instantly Natsu cut off his laughter, moving to stand right in front of her. "Aweh come on Luce, it's not ruined yet, promise." She scoffed slightly, swatting at his arm. "I'll even pretend to be surprised, since you worked so hard n' all." Lucy only grabbed his hand, shaking her head slightly. Of course he would react that way, selflessly cheering her up at the slightest bit of disappointment. Even on his own birthday.When they arrived at the doorway, the hall echoed with its silence. Clearly, the other guild members had found an adequate hiding place. Natsu cast her his infamous smirk before pushing the doors open, and (rather skillfully she might add) gave off his best-surprised reaction to the other members jumping out, cheering his name. It didn't take much to rile up the other members, they were always ready for any sort of celebration. The mere mention of alcohol sparking the interest in most of them. Besides that, there seemed to be a collective amount of appreciation for Natsu among them. Either a family-style bond or respect collected over the years. Even in some cases, complete loving adoration. The latter of which currently on display as Lissana latched herself onto the man, wrapping him into a soft embrace."Happy birthday Natsu-san." She cooed into his ear, gripping the man tighter. Natsu returned the compassion with ease, thanking her for all her work in the kitchen this morning. They looked fitting together, at least in Lucy's opinion. Although, that didn't mean she was very fond of watching them. In fact, she found it rather stomach-turning. Watching as Lissana openly strung herself all over him to no avail. It wasn't that she hated Lissana either, the girl being exceptionally kind-hearted and sweet. A genuine soul. Not to mention she was one of the prettiest women Lucy had ever seen, possibly rivaled only by that of her older sister. She wasn't sure exactly what it was, the feeling in her gut when she watched them together. The glorious smile that Natsu always wore around her gave nothing but an uneasy feeling. This, of course, had nothing to do with the maddening crush she had on the man. No, it most certainly didn't."You're staring." A whisper fell over her shoulder, startling her. She tossed her head quickly, scanning her peripheral for the intruder. Levy McGarden. An extremely petite and slender woman. Her eyes playful while she teased. The blue strands of her hair tied back by a golden ribbon strapped across the top of her skull in its usual fashion. It just so happened that this literature-loving book worm was Lucy's best friend (besides Natsu, of course). "If it bothers you so much, why don't you just tell him?"The blonde stared at her friend with wide eyes, progressively more startled than before. "It's not like that! We're just friends!" She defended breathlessly. "How many times do I need to repeat myself? You and Mira are going to give me a stroke." She slumped over the counter of the bar she was currently seated at with a huff.Levy lifted her brow in a mocking manner, chuckling before taking a seat at the bar beside Lucy. "Whatever you say Lu." She teased further before letting her expression fall back to normal. "This party really is nice though, you outdid yourself this time for sure." Lucy nodded slowly, spinning on her stool to take in the atmosphere. The morning was still fairly young for a typical party in her opinion, but she had really wanted to spend the evening working on a job request with the birthday boy. After some convincing, she had managed to get the rest of the members to agree with the morning time frame. The hall was decorated in a beach style theme (this being the only way to incorporate burning tiki torches, a strange favorite of the pink-haired male). Strings of flowers spiraled the stone columns in a variety of color. All the members seemed to match, flower wreaths hung around their throats in the same manner. The overly grand hall taking on a more cozy interior. Even the enormous stained windows had banners plastered to their panes. Celebration wishes printed on the fabric. Everybody had woken up super early to pitch in, getting everything set up without a hitch. Smiles and laughter mixed together creating a pleasant feeling. Kinship and happiness coated over the walls. Even Gray, the ever stoic had cracked a smile. Bickering with Natsu while holding on to his prized possession Juvia. Though he had yet to admit it, his feelings for the blue-haired, eclectic water woman were growing to become glaringly obvious."It really is nice." Lucy hummed softly. "It's a shame nobody ever thought to celebrate his birthday before. Hasn't he been a member for a long while now?"Levy nodded happily. "I think Gildarts found him when he was about twelve or thirteen, I mean if he really is twenty-two like you guessed."Lucy let out another breathy hum, turning away from the crowd to face her friend once again. "Does anybody really know about his life before Gildarts found him? He never talks about his past.""I suppose that makes sense." Levy folded her arms casually, balancing her chin in her palm. "As rambunctious as he is, I think Natu's a little more reserved about his life on purpose. He really never talks about his opinions or feelings even, unless it's regarding a fight." She giggled lightly. "I think if he were to open up to anybody, it would probably be you Lu."Lucy turned her head back towards the crowd, scanning over the bodies in search of him once again. A gentle maybe falling from her lips, her mind more focused on its hunt. She locked eyes with him from across the hall and couldn't help but smile brightly when he started making his was towards her."Happy birthday Natsu." Levy chimed on his approach. He beamed at her, letting a string of smoke leak between his teeth while he thanked her. "Didn't Lucy outdo herself with this party?" She smirked, nudging her blonde best friend who rolled her eyes and groaned internally."She really did." Natsu agreed eagerly, wrapping his arm around Lucy's shoulder to pull her into half a hug. "Aren't I spoiled?""Maybe a little." Levy jested, poking his chest playfully. Lucy wasn't really sure how the rest of the conversation played out, instead focusing on the radiant cake Lissana was currently wheeling out from the kitchen. Not that she would ever mention it, but when comparing this to the strangled looking muffin she had presented to him earlier, she was slightly offended for her own creation."Time to make a wish Natsu-san!" Lissana called softly, pushing the platter in front of him. Natsu closed his eyes in thought before leaning forward to blow out the red candles splattered over the layers, and Lucy couldn't help but smile with the rest of the group. It was just so nice, seeing the boy that always made sure everyone else was doing okay, actually have a moment for himself. Taking a second out of his hectic life to celebrate his very existence. Smiling and cheerful surrounded by his makeshift family. A moment of true happiness. If the remaining day's of her life were at least half as good, Lucy thought she could consider herself lucky.The morning had begun to drift away slowly, the party winding down accordingly. Everybody needing to get to work and begin their day to day routine. The hall progressively becoming more silent. Lucy was busy clearing empty bottles and glasses from a table when she regarded a comforting heat creep over her shoulder. "Did you pick a job yet?" She cooed at her partner, noting his presence without a need to visually see him."Of course." Lucy fluttered her lashed quickly when a flyer was held in front of her sightline, his arm stretching over the top of her head. She squinted slightly, reading the print of the request carefully. The job was nothing out of the ordinary, a group of bandits disturbing the peace of a small town a short train ride away. They only needed to find their base, possibly ruffle them up a little and get them to vacate the premises. "Did you catch that reward?" He presses, stepping around her to face her. She grabbed the flyer from his extended palm, narrowing down on the fine print. The cash reward was rather minimal compared to the requests they usually accepted. She raised a brow at him over the edge of the page and he smirked, telling her to keep reading. Her irises flashed back over the text, blowing wide when she read the final sentence. One first edition copy of Queen Anna Heartfilia's uncensored oral history on celestial magic. "She's probably your great grandmother or something hey? Natsu asked cheerfully, studying her reaction. "I figure we might find something new the other books missed." She could feel the beat of her heart quicken with excitement. Information on celestial magic was insanely hard to find, and to find something created by one of her ancestors was completely unheard of. A once in a lifetime opportunity."Is this really the job you want to take? Today's about you, we don't need to take this for me.""Consider it a thank you for everything you did for me today." Natsu beamed at her, and she couldn't help but return the smile back at him. How lucky was she that this selfless man just so happened to be her best friend. She let out a breathy okay, wrapping the fire-breather in a tight hug. He chuckled at her, grasping her shoulders and holding her a step back to meet her gaze. "I have one more favor though," She nodded slowly, smirking back at the man. "You gotta share this with me before we head out." He reached behind him, grasping a plate he must have placed down earlier. The miserable excuse of a cake she had made for him presented before her.She almost broke out in a fit of laughter, needing to take a moment to catch her breath and calm herself. "You don't need to eat that, Lissana made you a much better one.""Ya, but you made this one." He deadpanned, looking at her curiously. Her cheeks were definitely inflamed, the heat brushing its way down her throat and over her collar bones. If it was possible, her heart rate doubled over its already quickened pace. "Plus," he continued while taking a large bite, "It tastes so fucking good." He laughed warmly, offering a bite in her direction. She joined him with her own fit of giggles, perching herself on one of the hall's benches to share the rest of the desert with him.They ate quickly, sharing their excitement over the new job. Lucy practically gushing over the fact that a book of that stature even existed. No matter her effort, she couldn't contain the smile cemented over her lips."What are you two up to for the rest of the day?" Lissana's cheerful tone carried over, pulling them out of their fixated trance. She had cleaned herself up after the party, draping herself in a summer yellow fitted sundress. It ruffled out over her hips, only accentuating her perfect curves more so. Her white locks pulled back with a pearled clip. Lucy was almost annoyed at her for simply looking like herself, completely void of any flaws."Just heading out for a job," Natsu responded, sliding over to let her take a seat beside him."Oh, that sounds like such fun! I haven't been out in ages." She wined graciously. "I was going to wait for Mira and Elman to return, but it's been almost a month, I'm not sure when they'll be back." She folded her slender fingertips over the edge of the table, leaning in slightly as she spoke. "Would either of you mind if I tagged along? I've been working on this new spell and I'm just dying to try it out!"Natsu glanced towards Lucy, trying to gauge her reaction. The blonde just shrugging at him, leaning back against the bench. She was silently hoping he turned her away, the selfish side of her wanting to spend the next few days with just each other. And happy (Natsu's royally annoying blue flying cat), of course. "Ah sure Lissana," Natsu sputtered, still trying to read the blonde. "The more the merrier I suppose."The fairy-like woman practically sprung out of her seat. Perfect dazzling teeth on show as she glanced back at them over her shoulder. "Oh, fantastic! I can't wait!" She mused, heading off towards the hall exit in a hurry. "I'll just head up and pack real quick!"Natsu flashed an awkward smile back at Lucy, shifting to lean over the table towards her. "Cheer up Luce, this could be fun if you let it. Next job will just be us, sound good?" She nodded back at him, groaning internally before heading up to her own room to gather her things together. It was strange, adding her to the equation. It was always just her and Natsu that went on jobs. Even Gray dropped in from time to time. But it was never Lissana. She knew that it shouldn't matter all that much. Lissana was an amazing person and a fairly good mage in her own right. As much as she didn't want to admit it, she knew jealousy was the only thing she had against the girl. To her knowledge, Natsu had never reciprocated the girl's advances and constant pining. He was also his own person, his decisions didn't need to compensate for her own muddled feelings. All she knew, was that this was going to be a really long trip.

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