Caught By Flames (Kyojuro Rengoku x Reader)

20 : Not Again...

You stared at the wall, completely lost in thought as Aoi covered your wounds from your sparring match with Mitsuko. Distantly, you heard her nagging and complaining about your recklessness, but didn't pay much attention. It was rare for Kyojuro to ask something of you like that, as well as for the delay in time. Usually if it was urgent, he'd speak with you right then... but that wasn't the case. You wondered what be could want.

"(Y/N)-san)! Hello~ Listen to what I'm saying!" Aoi shouted and chopped your head. You mumbled an apology but kept staring at the wall. It was starting to worry you, not to mention you never did have good patience or the skills to wait. It just wasn't your forte.

"Aoi-san?" You finally questioned, stopping her rant. She hummed in response with a scowl written on her features. "What do you think of Kyojuro?" Your question shocked even you, you didn't know why you had asked such a strange, out of the blue, question.

"Well... he's a good demon slayer, and a well respected pillar- but I think he's an overprotective loud mouth that does whatever he can to get what he wants." She pulled the bandage on your shoulder tight, "Why do you ask? Did something happen? He didn't hurt you, did he-"

"No, nothing of the sort. I'm not sure why I asked, honestly. Thanks for wrapping me up, though, Aoi-san." You stood up and bowed, leaving the room with little else to say.

She gave a confused expression before shaking it off. You on the other hand, went to train by yourself with a wooden sword is some water.

With an inhale, practicing your breathing style, you swung the sword downwards to get into the feel of it once again. It had been awhile since you carried even a wooden one, today was the first time. You wanted to strain your muscles to the maximum, not just to train, but to get your mind off of reality for even just a moment. Truth be told, you were beginning to grow anxious not knowing what he wanted. To get rid of that anxiousness, you swung your sword multiple times, only stopping when your lungs felt like knives were stabbing them.

"Dammit!" You shouted and threw your wooden sword down once more, with all your strength, and created a crater where you stood. "It's probably a good thing I didn't decide to train inside the butterfly estate perimeter." You chuckled to yourself and hooked the wooden sword to your side. You were to focused on the amount of damage your swing did to notice the noise it let out. It was a loud and the ground around you rumbled, yet you didn't notice. It was the perfect cover.

You felt a presence and turned around just in time to see a fist coming straight for your face. It was just enough time for your hands to catch the fist before it could land on your face. You were thrown back into a tree and slid down landing on your feet with your hands still covering your face. Slowly, you pulled them away revealing a bloodied nose, "Nice to see you again." You smiled sweetly as if the two of you were old friends.

"So this is where you've been hiding? Where's Kyojuro? I'd love to fight him-"

"No can do, sorry. He's still healing from last time, Akaza." You growled his name in a kind tone.

Akaza only smiled, "You don't seem to be in the best shape, either. Rather thin, and pale." The grin on his face disgusted you, but you just shrugged.

"I've been recovering from an illness. One that the sleep demon caused. In fact, I still have a fever-"

His smile turned to a scowl, "Then why are you training outside the safety of the other demon slayers?"

You gave a blank expression and began walking towards him. "Well, I'm not a very patient person and I have plans after dinner that were making me anxious. I didn't want to destroy the place, so I came out here. If you're here to fight, at least let me grab my sword." You offered but he only shook his head.