Caught By Flames (Kyojuro Rengoku x Reader)

7 : Recovery

As soon as Kyojuro was aware of what happened, he made a B line for the butterfly estate. She had kept her promise and came out alive, but she also kept everyone else safe. He knew something like that would happen. The door slammed open and revealed Kanae with Shinobu beside the sleeping girl.

"You dumbass, you're going to wake her! We just got her to sleep!" Shinobu shouted, but softened her face when Kanae touched her shoulder with a gentle smile.

"Is she going to be alright?"

Shinobu looked back towards the girl, and smiled, "She's going to be just fine. There was a demon who was set on killing and devouring all of Mr. Urokodaki's students. She and another boy fought side by side. She told us it had mutated and had lots of 'disturbing' hands. It was about to kill the boy, but instead she took his place and got several head wounds. At the start as well, a boy stabbed her for this hand demon." She explained with a calm voice. It soothed Kyojuro in the anxious state.

"Where is this boy she fought beside? Was he injured as well?" Shinobu gave a nod and stood up to walk to where the boy was staying. It had been a few days, and both Sabito and Giyu were awake and doing better. He still had a few broken ribs, but it wasn't anything that wouldn't heal. Sabito was sitting up in his bed while Giyu sat beside it. They were talking casually, but Sabito was mostly enthusiastically speaking of the moves (Y/N) had pulled off. When he heard heavy footsteps, he could only guess it was someone coming to question him again, but when a loud bang revealed a wide smiled man, he knew he was wrong. Kyojuro walked up to the boy with crossed arms. "Ah, so you must be the boys (Y/N) trained beside! You must be pretty strong if she wanted to fight beside you!" He didn't mean to sound offensive, but that's how Giyu took it. He shrunk away with an awkward cross of his arms. He watched the tall man bow, "I'm Kyojuro Rengoku! Thank you for taking care of her while she trained alongside you!"

"Sabito, it's nice to finally meet you. There's no need for the thanks, she's like a sister... but if I had not shown up... she wouldn't be that hurt and quite frankly, neither would I. She purposely didn't finish the demon off so she could fight by me..." he had guilt stored away, enough for Kyojuro to hear it as clear as the sky.

"Now, now, she has been through much worse. The only thing that matters now is that she was happy while doing it!"

Shinobu sighed, "I can guarantee that she was ecstatic about it." Her tone sounded dead and annoyed.

"See? No need to feel guilty or have regret!"

Sabito gave a sad smile and turned his attention back to Giyu who had sat straight up once again. They gave a knowing glance and both looked up to the erratic man. "Can you tell us about what she was like with you? We saw a side to her at the final selection... that we hadn't seen before..." Giyu said with no self confidence. The questioned seemed to take Kyojuro off guard, but he quickly recovered and looked towards Shinobu with a questioning look. It was as if he was asking permission to tell them something.

Shinobu just shrugged and walked out the room, "Snowball... has many demons haunting her every step..." he started as he pulled a chair to sit next to the boys. "Everything she does, it's either for answers to questions she has, or to protect those around her. Her resilience is commendable, and the training she's put herself through is unbelievable. I had been training for a year longer than her... and within just a few months she was at my skill level simply because she pushed herself harder than anyone I've known! However..." he trailed off, seemingly lost in thought as he pulled his hand to his chin and started to stroke it slowly. "There was one time she was attacked by a demon when she stayed out to late. Thankfully, she had knives, but... my father found her in a bloody mess. It was as if she tore the demon limb from limb from dusk until dawn the next morning. We still don't know what happened exactly that night, but if you figure it out, I can almost guarantee you'll find that unexpected side of her." He explained with a bright smile. "Snowball is a sweet girl, so don't bring up her past to much though, okay? It haunts her enough as it is!" The man stood up and walked out without much else to say, their concerns became his own. It had been months since they had last seen one another, but had she changed? Was she holding in everything she felt?