Reincarnated
Prompt- you remind Azaka of something…of life he lived.. of someone who he shared that life once with.
Part 3
You groaned and turned in the bed you lay in, chest still bruised and tight. It hurt to breathe still. You were back at the manor. You passed out after your battle with upper three. You knew your attack didn’t kill him, unfortunately.
“Ah! Miss (L/Y)! Is awake!” Your eyes moved to the voice of one of girls from shinobus mansion.
Not even a minute later two more of the girls joined her, completing their trio. Kanao also ended up by your side visibly frustrated and you stifled out a laugh through a sore chest.
“C’mon Kanao your death stare is whats gonna send me to an early grav-“ you coughed and immediately tasted metal in your mouth. The three little girls screamed and immediately began attempting to wipe away the blood, sit you up and offer you water.
“You should be in a grave! Do you know how lucky you are right now!” Kanao yelled swatting the back of your head and grabbing a cloth to wipe the rest of the blood from your chin. You just huffed and took a shallow breath looking up to her.
“How long have i been asleep?” You asked grabbing the cup of water from sumi, sipping slowly you waited for their answer.
“Almost a week. Im surprised you woke up this early. You were expected to be out for a month with how badly you were injured” Kanao replied and again she went to swat the back of your head but you dodged missing it just barely.
“What were you thinking! Taking on an upper rank by yourself! Your mission was just to investigate and wait for the master to send someone to help you!” She chastised you once more and you just groaned handing the glass back and laying back down. You closed your eyes.
It’s what Rengoku would have done.
But a week seemed about right for you to have been asleep for. Because the entire time you slept you dreamt of one of your past lives. A week spent living a whole other life, one where you weren’t a demon slayer, you didn’t even know of them in this life.
No in this life you dreamt off you were sick, very sick. You were born sick and needed daily care from your father. His face blurry as he wiped a damp cloth over the hot skin on your face. A lot happened in this week. Your father brought home a boy with tattoos on his arms. He was a criminal but that didn’t bother you. No, the thick bands on his forearms are what caught your attention.
They reminded you of something but what was it? You didn’t know not in this life anyways. This boy your father brought home began to take care of you. He wiped the sweat off your face, carried around your father’s home and fed you. He did this all without complaint and still trained daily with your father.
Martial arts… Thats what your father did in every memory you had. In every life he taught some form of it, either to few or to many. But this is the only memory where you were sick and also the only one where it wasn’t just you and your father. You hated when you slept and memories swirled in your mind rather than dreams.
These memories were useless to you. Why dream about past lives? Past lives where you can’t even remember your father’s face, past lives where you can’t hear what your father is saying to you. It’s all meaningless if all you can do is watch what goes on around you. This memory of the boy in it was the only one that really interested you, maybe because of the feelings he invoked when he came around to care for you.
You wished in these dreams you could put a face on him, see what he truly looked like but the closest you ever came was to his eyes. He had big eyes with long eyelashes. They were a blue colour? You couldn’t be sure.
You blinked your eyes open again and seen that Kanao remained. Her expression puzzled as she looked down at you.
“Whos Hakuji?” She asked and your eyes widened. That name made your heart palpate.
“Wha-what?” You asked with wrinkles above your brows. Kanao quickly answered you.
“Hakuji. You mumbled it a few times during your sleep. Who is he?” You just paused and blitzed through different possibilities.
It must be that boys name..
Hakuji.
“Don’t worry about it! Im sick” you faked a cough and pouted up at her. “Basically delirious over here! Leave me to get some rest. Thats an order!”
Kanao just rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath but turned on her heel nonetheless and left you alone. Your shoulders dropped as you let out a sigh and rested back down. You needed to heal quickly. That demon, upper rank three. He needed to be dealt with and your gut was telling you where you’d find him next.
~~~
“Master, you summoned me” you sat with your head to the ground in a bow in front of the master. It had been another week since you woke from your sleep and though not fully healed you couldn’t waste any time.
Though the real reason for pushing your recovery forward was to stop the onslaught of memories with that boy in your head.
Hakuji…
“Yes I did. I heard you were up and back to training much at the protest of your nurses” He hummed and you rose up to look at him, chewing your lip a bit.
“Yes master. I feel better already I don’t need anymore time to rest!” He only let out a soft laugh and you could imagine him rolling his eyes with how he smiled at you.
“I think physically you still need to rest but what about your sleep and your mind?. It is just as important” he asked and you stiffened a bit. He always knew.
“I-.” You paused and thought of how to word this “i’ve had some memories bother me but im fine master”
“Some? Anything stand out in these ?” He hummed and you shook your head whilst saying no.
“Very well, i won’t poke anymore but I do have one more question” you already knew what he was going to ask.
Replace Rengoku and steal his spot
“Will you take Rengokus spot and join the Hashira ranks?” You knew you could say no and that he would let you do so but you knew he wanted you to become a Hashira.
After all you had spent many a times talking about it and before Rengoku passed you spoke with excitement and determination that you would be deserving of the title but now.. now it felt wrong. You never wanted to replace your previous master or any of the other Hashira. You just wanted to be as strong as them to protect people.
“I-I can’t master. It doesn’t feel right” you sighed and clasped your hands together on your lap staring down at them with wet eyes.
“Very well my child if thats what you wish. But the title is always there for when you want it. You deserve it and you should believe that” he stated and you nodded getting up and bowing as you turned to leave.
“Another thing. I hope you aren’t planning on chasing after that upper rank demon” you stilled at his words
Damn crows! They tell him everything!
“Forgive me master but i must go after him. It-It just feels right” you kept your back turned as you forced the words out. It never felt good to disagree with him.
“Very well my child but I really must protest regardless and beg that if you do find him. You wait for another Hashira to join you” you could hear the strain in his voice at how serious he believed this was.
“I don’t want to lose another child” and with that you left. You feared if you stayed any longer you’d end up in a ball of tears as they dribbled down your cheeks.
~~~
Akazas body stilled when he heard footsteps on the ground below him. His body knew before his mind did, reacting before he could string together the idea of the person below him.
It was you.
Akaza peered down and his breath caught in his throat. There you were mumbling to yourself as you continued forward. You didn’t feel his presence. He crept as quietly as he possibly could between the branches of the trees.
He had been waiting for this. He knew he’d meet you again. He had to. He needed to get rid of you. You distracted him… every cell in his body wanted opposed it, down to his toes they didn’t want to get rid of you. Akaza knew he had to if he wanted to continue to become stronger.
How could he be the strongest with something like you bothering him?.
A mere human.
You pushed forward on your mission. You were heading to the next dojo to camp out for that demon but all you could think about for the entirety if your journey was that memory. That name.
Hakuji.
It had to be that boys name. The boy from your past life. Why did it stir up such bother in your body, maybe it was because he was the only interest you had. It was the belief that when you die you are born again, reincarnated. If that was true and you had a lover by your death bed you would meet them in your next life and fall in love all over again.
All your past lives were just you and your father, some you died young, others old. The only life where someone else joined was that boy Hakuji.
He was your lo-
Snap!
You barely dodged Akazas hand that swung for your head. Your knees bent along with your back as you unsheathed your sword and swung upwards. You sliced his wrist, blood sprayed over your haori. He jumped back away from you and you straightened up to face him.
He glared back at you. His eyes giving you a once over before stopping on your face. Why were you so familiar. You couldn’t be much older than when he became a demon. You wasted no time and charged at him immediately using one of your breathing forms to strike down at him. Akaza evaded and jumped further back.
He couldn’t bring himself to attack. His mind screamed that he should get it over with, kill you and forget about your entire existence. You jumped up and came down with a glittering array of small sparks following your movements. Akaza just avoided once more, swinging an arm and sending a shockwave to keep you at bay.
You gritted your teeth together at his actions. He was playing with you. You could see it in his eyes, on his face. His mind was elsewhere he continued to avoid and jump away. His body moved subconsciously through the trees, turning, spinning and stepping.
You huffed out a breath, exasperated. You both stood apart in a clearing. The moonlight filtered through as you stared at each other.
“What are you doing?!” You snapped steadying your footing. Your hand tightened around your handle.
Akaza furrowed his brows at your question. What was he doing?. He was torn in his decision and he did not like it. He couldn’t bring himself to initiate any proper attack on you. He just kept avoiding. He could see you still weren’t fully healed. Your chest didn’t rise fully, ribs still bruised and you had a scar above your brow from where he split it.
His skin prickled at the thought of doing more damage. Why? Why was that bothering him. You gritted your teeth and charged again at him. Akaza planted his feet and punched out in front of him. You flipped to avoid his measly shockwave and came down with your blade.
Akaza just jumped out of the way and turned his back on you.
He ran.
Your eyes widened and jaw slackened at his antics. He’s running! Upper three is running from you. You gave chase immediately after him. You called out after him but he just ignored you, ignored the sweat that grew on his brow from the feeling bubbling in his stomach. He couldn’t bring himself to deal with you now.
Fourth form- shooting star
You focused all your energy into your legs and shot forward. A streak of light followed behind you as you readied your blade and aimed for his neck. Akaza spun at the last second and grabbed your arm. Your eyes widened at how close you were now, noses almost touching. He stared up at you and you both felt your skin prickle.
Her eyes!
His eyes!
Why did you both recognise each other’s eyes. Akaza flipped you over himself and slammed your back into the ground. You choked out a cough from being winded but forced yourself back up. Akaza just stared at you, narrowing his eyes and ran once more. You went to follow only to stumble feeling a tug on your ankle.
You twisted your head and seen a branch dug through your haori and into the ground trapping you. He did that when he flipped you? So quick. You didn’t even notice. You pulled yourself free but it was too late. He had disappeared and you threw the branch frustrated, yelling into the empty forest.
Akaza sat once again in the trees above you. He stared down as you kicked up the ground beneath your feet in frustration. He only huffed out an annoyed sigh as well. His fingers playing with the snowflake hairpin that had fell from your hair when you chased after him. He seen it when he fled from you and couldn’t stop himself from picking it up.
He too was annoyed. He was annoyed at how he felt, completely divided in his feelings towards you. You were just a stupid human that he could snap in two if he really wanted to. You wouldn’t be the first hashira that he has killed. He loved to kill the hashira, take them down and watch their final moments. They were the most formidable opponents after all.
So why did the thought of you dying leave his chest tight?
Akaza watched you leave the clearing. Your shoulders slumped. He rested his back on the trees trunk and looked at the pin in his hand. It was a light blue colour and reflected the moons light. It brought him a strange comfort.
Why?
What was so relevant about you to him? Why was he so split down the middle on his opinion of you. He’s always begged strong hashira to join him and become a demon and it’s always left him bittersweet for a while when they decline and eventually die.
Did he just really want you to become a demon like him? Maybe that was all it was.
He thought of a lower kizuki. Rui, he started a family with the masters permission. Maybe thats what he was feeling. He just wanted you to become a demon so you both could continue fighting. That had to be it.
It couldn’t be anything else!
No, certainly not how your face made his hairs raise, or how your eyes made his stomach flip. It couldn’t be your name either. How it replayed endlessly in his mind. He remembered all of his strongest opponents names.
You were no different…right?.