Alpha Star

Ch 8 : Health

Alpha sighed as she leaned back, it's been a painful 2 weeks for her and the boys. They struggled with the annoyance and pain of broken ribs, while trying to keep up with maintaining their bodies. Their ribs are still broken unlike Alpha, but their smaller wounds healed.
While Alpha's ribs healed incredibly fast, the scratches persisted. The doctors were confused how her ribs healed faster than her scratches, but they understood that it might be some random genetic thing. Her ribs are almost completely healed, there are some bits that still needs to fully fuse back together. But still, its healing really quickly.
She had a difficult time sleeping in the last two weeks. She couldn't exactly sleep like she normally does and the new wing tattoos send nonstop pain down her spine. Sleeping on her side hurts and that is also out.
Alpha spent a good chunk of the previous nights lulling the others to sleep. Zenitsu waking up from hearing something that scared him. Tanjiro having nightmares and jolting awake. Inosuke being too hyper and unable to sleep. She always was there to quietly sing for them, pet their hair, or let them cry into her arms.
She was very calm and fell into being someone to lean on. Even if Tanjiro and Zenitsu apologizes the next day, she still happily helped them past her sleep issues.
Nezuko and Alpha bonded together as the only girls in the group. Nezuko spends a lot of the time during the night around Alpha, learning more sign and happily playing silent games with the taller girl. The two have been playing a lot of more fun Chinese games that Alpha remembered from her own childhood. Chinese checkers and airplane chess(as she called it).  And some American card games.
Sometimes, if they were playing in the morning or the evening, the boys would join. The card games soon get chaotic. When they play UNO, the other people in the inn would come to their room and check out the chaos. Most of the time, they would join.
Hisa, the old lady who owns the inn, happily watches the matches whenever she can. She loved the chaos and she herself had fun when other slayers in her home joined the chaotic group. In fact, many demon slayers stopped caring about Nezuko's status and enjoyed her brutal play style.
Too bad many left early. They weren't as injured as the main group is and many just stay the night.
"COME ON!" Zenitsu cries in mental pain
"GET +4ED BITCH!" Inosuke screamed at Zenitsu, who earlier had +2ed him multiple times in a row
"Nezuko-chan betrayed me!" Zenitsu whined
"HMMMM!" [Suck it Loser!]
"HAHAHA! SUFFER BLOND BOY!"
Tanjiro and Alpha smiled at the three's chaotic interactions. The two silently played, grinning at them and occasionally speaking, but there was something satisfying watching the three play together. Alpha can't wait till she decides to introduce them to Cards Against Humanity.
She can only guess that it is early Spring or late winter. Mainly because of the fact that two weeks ago, when they met Zenitsu, the fields they walked past had no crops. And the three days they spent with Tamayo, Tanjiro used a muffler. Alpha has a hard time trying to feel the  cold.
So she could only guess that her own birthday passed already. A birthday in January is annoying. Especially if it is on the second. She is officially 18. She didn't let the others know. They didn't need to know and it wasn't that important. But, her thought process went completely off topic.
She laughed as Nezuko once again, won the game. Nezuko keeps on winning and there is no one who can beat her in Uno. Alpha cackled when she realized she made a monster. In fact, there are some people who call her the card demon. Both of the girls find this funny.
As Inosuke shuffled the cards, Nezuko and Tanjiro suddenly got a thought. They don't know everyone's ages. Tanjiro, himself, is 15. Nezuko is 14 but is stuck at 12.
"Quick question, how old are all of you?" Tanjiro asked "I'm 15, Nezuko is 14"
"I'm 15." Inosuke looked over, pausing in his card shuffling
"16." Zenitsu looked annoyed
God damn it Tanjiro. Why did you ask? Alpha sighed
"Just turned 18"
"And you didn't tell us?!" Zenitsu looked at her with betrayal
"Not important."
"NOT IMPORTANT MY ASS!" Inosuke threw a card at her
"when?" Tanjiro looked at her
"January 2nd"
They nodded, finally leaving her alone. She threw the card back at Inosuke, laughing as it hit him in the forehead.
She looked at them with dull eyes and a soft smile. This was the most familial comfort Alpha felt in a long time. She missed the mild chaos that she used to live with. It's been 6 years since she last had a decent conversation with her younger brothers and 4 without pity from her elder brothers.
But she feels the warm swell of pride. This is the path she chose and this is her new family now. They worked long and hard to understand her and she did the same for them.
So far, they learned enough English to know the month, dates, basic sentences, curses, and, Inosuke's all time favorite, foods. They enjoyed learning English and ASL(Tanjiro secretly learned Spanish insults and Zenitsu learned Russian insults) and she had fun learning more Japanese.
Even though she can now speak, somewhat fluently, she still forgets words often and reverts back to English or ASL. At least they have a language they all know fluently. ASL, the true MVP of the group's language ability.
Hell, even Inosuke knows ASL and can use it fluently. When he first started to use it, he moves his mask up so they can see his face. Though his body language is very obvious and Alpha told him as much, so he didn't show his face as often as he did when he was first learning it.
They were all much more respectful of each other and their bodily autonomy. Inosuke now tries to express anger only in sign so Zenitsu's ears can have a break sometimes. Zenitsu and Nezuko finds soft smelling things to gift Tanjiro(Zen uses this as an excuse to bond with Nezuko). Tanjiro finds soft things for Inosuke to wear.
The three also look into things for Alpha. They find that giving her star themed items makes her smile the most. Her eyes also brighten when she is truly happy, but most of the time, it's still the dull, haunted, dark blues.
They find that it's rare to see her eyes brighten, much less sparkle. They thought back to a week and a few days ago, the first time they saw her eyes sparkle.

TIME BREATHING: FIRST FORM! FLASHBACK

Team Kamaboko plus one sat around in their room. Tanjiro watched the girls interact, a kind and soft smile on his face. Inosuke is outside, soaking in the sun while playing with the fallen leaves. Zenitsu on the other hand, sat with Tanjiro and stared at Alpha and Nezuko, surprised at how gentle Alpha can get.
Alpha had Nezuko in the small gap in her crossed legs, she tugged at the smaller girl's hair. Nezuko huffed as Alpha worked on the tangles and kinks in her hair from the amount of time she spent in the box.
Alpha had her hair up in a bun with braids leading to the bun. She had all her hair products at her right. Comb and detangling spray in hand, she worked at the long hair. She worked hard and long on the hair till there were no tangles left.
"There"
Alpha then started to work on braiding Nezuko's hair. Tanjiro and Zenitsu watched in fascination as the hands that they saw covered in blood a few days ago work deftly. Twisting, weaving, and tying long hair.
When she was satisfied with it, Nezuko had her hair up in a long ponytail with braids leading to it, some of the braids were twisted into flowers.
Nezuko jumped up and looked at the small mirror in Tanjiro's hands. Taking a second to admire her hair, she tackled Alpha in pure joy.
Alpha ignored her rib's protests, instead, she let out a joyous laugh. When she opened her eyes again, her eyes sparkled in joy. The smile on her face was so soft it could beat Tanjiro's face in softness.
Everyone froze. Her smile was the best thing they ever saw. It was like angels actually descended to the earth in the form of Alpha.
If it wasn't ironic enough.

Flashback end

That was the best smile they ever saw on her face. Even Inosuke was awed and Inosuke is rarely awed.
"Keep playing. I'm a bit tired."
[She seems lost.]
Tanjiro had his back to Alpha, making sure that she can't see the signs while making it look like he had just started a game. She didn't know that they know how to read each other perfectly, even with just body language alone.
Zenitsu gave him a look.
You think?
Inosuke slammed down a card, stretching and letting his unoccupied hand rest on his ribs.
She needs to fight
Tanjiro slid down a card, getting an annoyed squawk from Nezuko, he gave a slight look down.
She IS a fighter after all. But I'm worried, she is injured after all.
Nezuko huffed, a determined look on her face, hiding her cards into her chest before sliding a card down. A +2.
Her ribs are healed. She will be fine, give her time to fight. She needs it.
"Alpha? I think there is a place nearby that has demons. Strong ones at that. Many died at that forest. We can't do much, but you are pretty much recovered." A random demon slayer who somewhat caught onto the silent conversation spoke up, he pointed in the direction of the area
"Sure. I need to fight."
Alpha agreed, pulling out her knives and looking at the surface. Ignoring the looks of shock from the people who didn't know, she tested the sharpness with her nails. Pushing herself up she grabbed a change of clothes.
"BRB"
She left the room and returned shortly after. Her hair pulled into a ponytail and her face mask on. Alpha has her classic blue skin tight crop top and shorts as well as her gloves, but what she is wearing over it is different to what she normally wears. A cropped hoodie with the hood up and baggy pants that are open on the outer sides of the thighs. Her waist bag was already strapped to her.
"Alpha what the fuck are you wearing?"
Zenitsu tried to stop Inosuke from speaking, but his sentence had already came out. Alpha threw her yukata at him.
"My ass kicking outfit bitch" she muttered as she walked out to the porch, she still didn't remember what it was called
Slipping on her boots, she disappeared off to the direction of where the slayer pointed at. The idiot trio, plus Nezuko, looked at each other and shrugged off her speed. The others had a hard time trying to shrug it off.
"Is.... That normal?"
"Yes." Was the answer from team Kamaboko
Unbeknownst to Alpha and all the other slayers, a singular crow followed her.