Kanae Kocho slid her Nichirin Blade back into its sheath and walked toward Ryuzaki. He was on the edge of blacking out.
A soft scent drifted to his nose. He forced his head up. A girl with black hair and violet eyes stood over him, rummaging through her pouch. She glanced back with a smile so bright he thought he was seeing an angel.
"Um… are you an angel? Did I die already?" Ryuzaki asked, voice thin.
"Angel? What's that?" Kanae smiled. "And no, you're not dead."
"Thank god. That's… great."
His excitement made him cough up blood. Kanae hurried forward to catch him, and a gentle pressure wrapped his arm. He looked up.
Her chest was very close. For a lifelong loner like Ryuzaki, who had never been in a relationship with a woman, that was lethal. A nosebleed trickled down at once. Kanae quickly dabbed it away with gauze.
As a healer at the Butterfly Mansion, she decided his internal injuries had worsened, and her brow creased with worry. That was Kanae, compassionate even toward a stranger.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
"I'm fine. But if you could… step back a bit, I might be better."
She immediately moved away, thinking she'd pressed on him too hard. Though in a sense… she had.
He'd recognized her at a glance. If she was who he thought she was, this might be his future sister, Shinobu's older sister.
"Feeling any better?" Kanae asked.
"Much better," he said with a smile, though blood still stained the corner of his mouth.
The dirt demon had mangled him. If Kanae hadn't arrived when she did, he'd be missing an arm or worse... dead again.
"Then let me bandage you first," she said, suddenly serious. "If I don't, you might die."
She set to work, and in no time, Ryuzaki looked like a mummy.
When she finished, Kanae settled beside him. Her mission was done, but she couldn't just leave an injured boy alone.
"Where's your home? I'll take you back," she said.
"Home?" Ryuzaki gave a hollow laugh. "I probably don't have one anymore. The village offered me as a sacrifice to a demon."
"I'm sorry," Kanae said at once. "I shouldn't have brought that up."
"It's alright. They raised me for fourteen years. I was going to kill that demon anyway, to repay them for bringing me up. Demons rule the night. People are cornered. What parent wants to send their child to die?"
Gold eyes dimmed with grief. How could he hate them? They'd sent him to his death, yet they'd also fed and clothed him for the past 14 years. The hate just wouldn't come even if he wanted, since he wasn't ungrateful.
Kanae opened her mouth to comfort him, but Ryuzaki suddenly smiled, light as a breeze. "By the way, what's your name?"
She blinked at the whiplash shift. "Hello. I'm Kanae Kocho."
"I'm Ryuzaki," he said with a grin. "I'll be in your care."
"So you're Ryuzaki," Kanae laughed softly.
"Yeah, though there's no need for horrifics since you're my saviour."
"Ryuzaki, would you like to join the Demon Slayer Corps?" Kanae offered her hand. "Be my Tsuguko. That demon was strong. If you hurt it that badly and survived without training, you're a prodigy."
She knew exactly what that meant. An untrained youth, grievously injuring a demon of that caliber and living through it, someone of that caliber was an undeniable talent.
"Then I'll be in your care, Kanae," Ryuzaki replied, smiling.
It was the outcome he'd hoped for. He thought he'd have to beg her to bring him into the Demon Slayer Corps, but she'd made him a her Tsuguko on the spot, a student personally trained by a Hashira. That wasn't something just anyone received, especially from someone this kind.
And Kanae was alive. That meant he could save her from Doma. He'd never understood how someone so gentle had to die; they literally didn't deserve to face such cruel fates.
"If you don't mind, just call me 'sister,'" Kanae said with a warm smile. "From now on, you're part of the Butterfly Mansion."
Ryuzaki fell quiet. Kanae worried she'd overstepped, claiming to be someone's sister out of nowhere was rude, something she forgot for a moment.
Then he smiled, a sun-bright smile that warmed the air. "Okay… sis."
With Kanae's support, he picked up his heirloom sword. The moment he lifted it, the blade crumbled to dust. Only the tsuba and hilt remained.
If not for that battered blade, he'd already be dead. He carefully pocketed the tsuba, circular, its rim flaring like tongues of fire. It looked like a small sun.
When she learned it was a family heirloom, Kanae patted his shoulder in quiet comfort. Feeling her kindness, the tightness in his chest finally eased.
The instant that tension released, exhaustion crashed in. His legs wobbled. His vision blurred. He collapsed.
Kanae caught him before he hit the ground. She was the one who'd asked him to join the Corps; she just dragged him into immense danger, a life where there was no telling when one would die. Guilt pricked at her heart at that thought.
She hadn't expected him to accept without a second thought. Either way, she would take responsibility. From what he'd said, his past was painfully bleak.
She might be a woman, but she was still a Hashira. Carrying one boy was nothing.
Ryuzaki smiled in his sleep and murmured, "So nice… I have family now. Hahaha…"
Kanae's heart gave a small start, then softened into a smile. Family. That was what he longed for. Maybe inviting him into the Corps wasn't a mistake after all.
The sun edged over the horizon. Basking in its warmth, Kanae hoisted Ryuzaki on her back and headed for Demon Slayer Corps headquarters.
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T/N: Patreon/Robshit for advance chapters