wind is getting very annoying.
her missions were mostly uneventful until her crow came to her and cawed something no one ever wanted to hear.
“your next mission: with shinazugawa-sama!”
Asa would rather go lay down on gyomei’s fire pit.
she slowly started to walk to her destination anyway. she had only been on one other mission with the man and it ended with the demon being killed, as well as sanami being physically restrained by kakushi so he couldn't attack her.
so yeah. shinazugawa and Asa weren't big fans of each other. it wasn't even her fault! When she happened to mention the genya, shinazugawa exploded at her. but geyna never talks about his brother! how was she meant to know they were on bad terms?
by the time she had made it to the destination it was dark. she sighed and tugged on her uniform a bit before looking for the white haired man.
she had regretted not wearing her haori anymore when she spotted the short man at the entrance to an inn yelling at someone.
Sighing at the sight, asa jogged the rest of the way to him. the yelling still wasn't done when she got to him.
“i’m so sorry!” she nearly had to yell herself to get the two men's attention, “it seems my colleague is bothering you, i apologize..” shinazugawa squawked “i don't need you to apologize for m-”
the man scoffed at her “i don’ need a woman apologizing for him disturbing the peace.”
“you don't?” she asked out of pure surprise, it seemed the man did not pick that part up, as he tried to flirt with her a bit, shinazugawa looked ready to erupt again so Asa stepped back and tried finding a different inn to stay at.
the melody of screaming behind her as she did so.
when shinazugawa had stopped screaming and wandered back to her again she had found an inn run by people who hated the other inn owner as well. kindred spirits they were.
“this is ours shinazugawa-sama” asa said opening a door. the room was split by a divider. the two slayers didn't talk unless necessary, that's how they kept fights from happening.
they left the next morning in silence, and walked the rest of the way to the actual demon infested home.
apparently oyakata-sama wanted to laugh at them later as the pair saw younger slayers looking at the house apprehensively. “you deal with them.” shinazugawa grumbled before getting too close to them, asa regretfully complied.
“hello!” she called to the three younger slayers that were waiting outside. their heads whipped towards her call and all three seemed to relax a bit.
when they were close enough to stop Asa spoke again, “I am Hajime Asa, this is shinazugawa-sama you will be accompanying us on this mission i take it?” she smiled a bit.
she only got a nod from the one to the right when the one in the middle spoke, “nice to meet you! I'm Fuku! this” he turned to his left ”is Eiko, and this” he turned to his right ”is hijiri!” the boy was literally shaking in anticipation. it was kind of scary.
she hummed in acknowledgement,”well the sun is setting, we should probably start checking this out.” she turned to shinazugawa and as he rolled his eyes they both took to the house.
they went at different paces of course, asa didn't want to separate too far from the kids. no one needed to die tonight. she and shinazugawa would make sure they were safe. even if she had to force the man to protect them.
…could she force the rabid man to do anything?
whatever. she could try.
“so what rank are you?” fuku asked, it seemed he had a lot of questions brewing in his head.
“shinazugawa-sama is the hashira, if that's what you're asking. I’m just a Hinoe.” she responded but before anyone could say anything Asa heard a creak behind them.
she turned quickly, pushing the kids down and pulling her sword out, she breathed “haze breathing: first form, distant clouds” one practiced and powerful strike to the neck with her dao, the demon was killed cleanly.
flicking her sword she put it back into her sheath. “that wasn't the demon of the house. we need to find shinazugawa.” she said looking at the kids.
“all three of you walk in front of me, i’ll tell you where to go.” she ordered, they agreed with no complaints.
———————
when they did find shinazugawa he was fighting what Asa assumed to be the main demon, it didn't look strong but there were lots of other demons surrounding him.
he didn't have enough space to do anything.
Asa’s fourth form could blow them away but shinazugawa would be hit too, but she couldn't not do anything.
“shinazugawa! i have an idea, you okay with getting hit a little?” she called over the noise, an undignified yell was her answer and she took it as a yes.
taking a wide stance she took quick steps to gain momentum and then quietly spoke “haze breathing: fourth form, scattered stones.”
she let out powerful strikes until most of the demons were blown off of the man or beheaded, and as she stopped she realized she may have hit shinazugawa more than expected.
nevertheless he was still standing and immediately went after the now disoriented house demon. Asa looked back to the kids, confident the hashira would take care of the demon.
before she could reach the kids, she felt claws going down her back, she twisted away as fast as she could and held her dao out to stop the demon from trying to get her again.
she could feel the sluggish bleeding coming from the scrapes and as she got into her stance to attack she heard a quiet voice from behind her.
hijiri shot forward, a lightning breather, Asa realized and beheaded the demon.
“good job! now come on!” Asa reached out for the girl and hijiri grabbed back.
Asa was not going to let any of these kids die. she turned as she heard shinazugawa cackle while the demon laid at his feet disintegrating.
the remaining weaker demons look to each other wondering what they should do but before they could decide shinazugawa was already tearing off to behead them as well.
Asa knew he would be okay, there were only three demons left and shinazugawa had just behead two of them. so she took it upon herself to guide the kids out of the house.
when they were outside she gave them directions to a nearby wisteria house they could rest in and get patched up. they were pretty banged up but not dead.
she waved goodbye to them as shinazugawa came outside of the house and stood next to her. he was more cut up than she was. although it was partially Asa’s fault.
they stood in silence before the girl spoke up, “we have to go see shinobu-sama. don't we?”
“shit. yeah probably.” shinazugawa responded.
they started walking
———————
shinobu stood over the two adults
“so? you wanted to show off to the younger slayers?”
shinazugawa was wrapped in bandages from chest down, and Asa’s back was wrapped almost to tightly to breathe.
“no-” shinobu raised her eyebrow as shinazugawa tried speaking. “no? why else would you let yourself get cut up so badly? you wanted to make the demons go after you so you could show off.” the girl said plainly.
“and you.” she turned on Asa “you need to worry more about yourself ‘i didn't want the kids hurt, i didn't want them dead’ obviously they weren't going to die. they passed final selection, worry more about yourself before you go wanting to worry about other people.”
wow, she said that all in one breath.
“sorry shinobu-sama” Asa responded like a scolded child.
shinobu let out a sigh, “both of you go rest. i’ll discharge you both tonight as long as you don't fight.”
the two of them were stuck in the butterfly mansion for three days.
———————
when they were eventually released Asa headed straight for the stone mansion, she wanted to train with genya, or even by herself! she’d be okay with that!
when she did make it geyna was out under the waterfall and gyomei was on a mission, she had free time. she's not good with free time.
so as she went up to her room all she could do was think. her feet seemed to carry her straight to her closet. she hesitated to open it but when she did the gifted haori seemed to stare right at her.
she felt horrible as she looked at the rips in it, the flowing material just didn't work with her breathing style. she stared at the fabric many times wondering what to do with it. but for the first time, she acted on her ideas.
she took the fabric and got to work, she tentatively cut the sleeves off and grabbed her old sewing kit she had as a kakushi. she put the sleeve on and sewed them to fit her arms.
and when she was done she put the now ruined haori back into her closet, but at least now she could carry kanae around without worrying about her getting ripped or stained.
she ran her fingers across the new fabric on her arms as she left her room to see if geyna needed anything. she heard noises from the kitchen, she redirected her course and when she walked in she saw a half drenched geyna trying to make rice balls.
“you can't cook.. what are you doing?” she asked out of pure shock. the boy looked like a wet rat caught red handed. “um.. i just got hungry.” he said awkwardly.
Asa sighed “move, go sit on the engawa you're drenched. i’ll make you something actually edible.” he nodded and did as he was told.
she methodically handled the rice and made them into little triangles with small bits of salmon in the middle. when she finished them off with seaweed she brought them out to the engawa.
genya devoured two of them and ate the third more slowly.
“how long are you staying?” the boy asked in between bites. Asa hummed “at least until my next mission call.” she said, “why? you miss me or something?” she joked.
“as if.” genya scoffed weakly. “you're just good for the food.” “oh noo, as soon as you learn to make your own food you’ll drop me forever?” Asa said sarcasticly.
“mhm, that's right. count your days of usefulness to me.” he responded and then stuffed the rest of the rice ball in his mouth.
they sat in silence until genya had nearly finished off the rice ball. “wanna spare?” Asa asked, the boy agreed easily.
———————
Asa had her hands on genya’s shoulders, gyomei stood behind her, “don’t be a brat, be nice to people who are nice to you, please please please don't start any fights.” she set out the rules she had already told him twenty times at that point.
he kicked dirt up with his feet as he mumbled in agreement, she gripped his shoulders a little harder. “be safe please, come back as soon as you're done.”
he looked up to meet her eye, he nodded silently, Asa stepped back to let gyomei wish him goodbye. he was finally going to final selection and Asa was nervous enough for the three of them.
she gave him a haircut the night before and… kinda messed it up. it’s alright though! maybe people won't try to mess with him. he looked a bit ridiculous though, she's blaming that on her limited vision, it's his fault he let a blind person cut his hair.
he started walking away and she called one final goodbye as he vanished from her sight. “gyomei. i need to hit something.” she said anxiously. “i’ll grab the logs.” he replied easily rubbing his prayer beads together.
after three straight hours of hitting logs, she only stopped because all of them were wood chips, she was finally tired out enough to not think about genya's final selection.
she started walking back into the mansion to eat and then hopefully sleep all seven days.
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taisho era secrets!-
- Asa and Sanemi have one thing in common, being scared of shinibu when they're injured (it was previously two but that doesn't exsist anymore<3)
- when a told she had a previous mission with sanemi, Asa did actually go lay in gyomei's fire pit. it was as pleasant as you'd expect.
- now that she has kanae's gifted haori on, Asa rubs her arms when she gets nervous, funny what liking a girl does to your mental state.
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