Demon Slayer : The Silent Journey

[3rd POV]

The last thing she remebered was the hazy whiteness of a frigid cloud as she desperately tried to feel the warmth of his embrace.

Against the demon who seemed impossible to overcome, she did her best, honouring her title as a Hashira.

But the cold consumed everything so quickly. She felt her mind slipping into an endless pit that swallowed her whole. By all means she thought she was dead.

it would've been a good way to die too, fighting against the evil being that took her family until her last breath. It was the death dreamt by many warriors.

Her sister was already grown and strong, and although she would miss her dearly, she knew her sister could take her place and bear the responsibilities.

Kanao was also already smiling and had healed from all her trauma. Her patients would be fine, her friends and fellow Hashira were also there to continue the war she gave her life to.

The only regret she would have had was Seiji, she never properly got to confess her feelings to him. She was too scared and didn't want to bear the tragic consequence of her mistake.

That was only it.

So as she felt her consciousness slipping away, she was expecting the cold grasp of death. And she welcomed it with open arms.

..

..

But then she woke up, she was not dead.

But she might as well be because although she was conscious, she couldn't move even a single muscle in her body. It was like her body was already dead but her mind lingered in the realm of the living.

It was lonely inside her body, it was dark and numb. She couldn't feel anything else except the silence of her thoughts.

It was horror.

She did not know how long she stayed like that because oftentimes she would pass out, only to for her consciousness to return to the body that was not ready to host it. Again and again.

But after what she could only speculate to be a day or two, she felt the sensation of touch. That feeling of sesation was soon followed by the breaking of silence as well.

She could now hear and feel the touch. They were two of her sense she would ever truly need because of the people she felt beside her immediately.

Her sister Shinobu and Seiji.

..

"Are you sure she is going to feel comfortable with that?" it was a distinct voice which she recognized instantly due to the weird donation and perfect pronunciation.

"I'm positive she can't feel anything either way," she knew that voice as well, it was Shinobu.

"Doesn't mean we should let her be..." Seiji said before he adjusted her head nd took away the double pillow so she could lay more relaxed.

"See? Look how more relax she is," Seiji made a point.

"Yes, it does look that way, to us at least," Shinobu said.

Kanae was still living in a world of darkness but she could clearly feel the presence of these two. They were the two most important people in her lives. They were like the sun in the dark and unmoving space.

She felt less lonely with that.

She then felt someone grab her hand. From the size of the hand and roughness, she could tell that it was Seiji's.

"And we are going to use this, as my own pillow," Seiji said and she could feel a weight on her side. She imagined him to lay his head on her side.

"Are you going to spend the night like that again?" Shinobu asked.

"I guess so. I don't want her to feel lonely,"

"She is not waking up anytime soon Seiji, she is not aware that she is lonely. Besides, I will frequently visit her to check and replace her IV's," Shinobu said.

"But still..."

"You know you should rest on your own bed to recover," Shinobu said.

"I wouldn't get a wink of sleep there anyways, but I can sleep peacefully here," was Seiji's reply.

"I guess it can't be helped then. Would you like me to get a futon? Or maybe I can ask the servants to put another bed beside her,"

"No, this is fine Shibi,"

"Okay. Then have a good night Seiji, I'm going to patrol through the wards to check on the other patients," Shinobu said before leaving the room.

Kanae could now hear everything around her so she was aware of what was happening.

"Good night,"

And soon after that, there was silence, and Kanae also allowed her consciousness to rest once more.

....

Days went by after that she could hear and feel but not move just yet. She would occasionally awaken in her unresponding body and in the world of darkness. But at those times, she no longer felt lonely because there was a constant presence beside her.

"Arise,"

"Arisee~"

"Arise!!"

"....."

There was never a lonely moment with Seiji and his antics. He was alwasy talking to her and treating her as if he knew she was conscious. Maybe he knew.

"I wonder which would you prefer? Maybe an innocent voice, or maybe a voice that is deep like a villain's,"

The time her consciousness was awake was often times because his talks had woke her up. Most of it was filled with him practicing his speech to sound better so that when she finally wakes up, she would still find him charming.

It was a ridiculous goal with an even more ridiculous speculation. She did not fall in love with him just because of his appearance. It was much deeper than that.

But she found it adorable nonetheless.

She couldn't wait for her body to recover fully so that she could move around again and react to all his hard works.

She'd be sure to compliment his manly voice after she woke up.

Besides that, in some other times, he would confess the most embarrassing things to her as well. On second thought, she was pretty sure he did not know that she was aware.

"You want to know the reason why I did not want to spar with you in the beginning? And why I lose every single time even when I agreed to spar?" Seiji once asked her.

"Well, its embarrassing so I will tell you now when you can't hear me," he said and she could feel the blush in his voice.

"It's because my eyes are special. I've hidden it all these years but I am capable of seeing through things, like the walls, the ground, the ceiling and other things - including your clothes," he confessed.

At first, she was amazed that his eyes could do such a thing. She alreays knew he had powerful eyes but seeing through objects, was that even possible? Was it like demonic spells?

But then the latter part threw all curioustiy out of the way as she became extremely bashful.

"Yeah, its impossible to fight you with your tits bouncing around so enticingly." he said, causing her to want to scream.

"Also, I wonder why Flower Breathing has so many attack patterns where you have to do splits," he said.

The embarrassment was too much that she nearly broke her human limits and jump off the bed to run away or hide behind the blankets.

"Anyways, yes, that's how it is. Although I never use my x-ray vision to check out girls, I swear on Muzan's name. I only had to use it on you because you were powerful and it is the only way I can defeat you," he added.

...

She discovered many things in these talks that Seiji had with her. Sometimes they were embarrassing, and other times, they were cute too.

Another day, he said.

"I seriously used to have a big crush on you,"

"I mean, how could I not? Every boy at one point alwasy have a thing for older ladies. And you were the perfect, textbook, manifestation of an older girl, an onee-san," he laughed while she felt a bit giddy inside.

..

"You always talk about how much I helped you, how I always cared for your safety or how I saved you. But those are not true, I know that even without my existence you would've done fine," Seiji said. "Well, maybe except for Doma,"

"It has alwasy been you who helped me instead. Forget about the big ways that you helped me, its the little things that made you dear to me. How you always swed my torn clothes after every messy mission, cut my hair despite my picky nature of wanting things to be perfect, patiently help me learn how to sing songs and how you secretly picked up ontology, in hopes of finding a cure for my deafness," Seiji said and his usually robotic voice held a quiver of emotion.

"The only reason why i didn't fall in love was because of my cowardly nature. I didn't have the bravery to love you because I knew the risk, I knew your fate. And I was afraid to love you until we escape that. Its cowardly, isn't it? But I just don't want to feel the pain of losing again. Its the same thing I did to my parents, get close to them while putting certain barriers to ensure my safety," he said.

"I know, I'm pathetic,"

....

And sometimes, she wished she could get out of the bed and give him a hug.

"It's another beautiful day isn't?" he said to her one morning.

"You'll probably hate me after you wake up, because you won't be able to see a beautiful morning,"

"I'm sorry I was not enough, I should've tried harder, I should've done more,"

She wanted to tell him that it was fine and that she could never hate him. He was doing the thing again, where he blames himself for everything that was wrong in this world.

He felt that he was some special chosen one or something that was responsible to make the world better. She was not sure how he got that idea either, but that's just how he was.

"I promise I will get your eyes back. There many ways we can do that, would you like to hear it?" he asked.

And he would go on a long rant on how he could help her get her eyes back. Sometimes, he went into such details that she couldn't understand what he was saying or how he knew the many things that he knew.

But what she understood from all was that he was doing his best to find a way to heal her.

She wanted so badly to let him know that it was fine, that she didn't mind losing her eyes because at that moment, she was able to save him by sacrificing those eyes.

She could live with that consequence with a smile for the rest of her life.

He didn't have to blame himself. He did not have to feel like he had not done enough.

Because he had done everything.

....

"I love you,"

She wanted to say it back.

I love you too.

//////////////////

After a few weeks or so, Kanae was finally able to move her body again. It happened while Seiji himself was away.

At first, she moved her fingers, her hands and then her entire arm. When she felt control return to every part of her body, she pulled away the bandage in her eyes.

She opened her eyes.

Nothing.

It was not even darkness, it was nothing.

She saw nothing.

But that was okay, she expected it. So she opened her mouth and swallowed hard to wet her parched throat.

"Shinobu," she called out.

"Shinobu!!"

And in no time, she heard her sister slam open the door.

"You're awake,"

And then a hug she did not see coming.

"I missed you, I'm so glad,"

Kanae could no longer see her sister but she could still feel her. She could still feel the love, the relief and the tears that fell from her eyes.

She hugged her sister back after a long time.

..

..

[IMAGE]

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Author : Long extra chapter.