WITH GREAT RELUCTANCE

The heat of a blazing inferno couldn't compare to the sun's warmth. It was still a new experience for Hanabi, and she could easily imagine herself sitting in the estate's outer corridors for hours. She loved the feeling of not being cold and having the warmth seep into her skin. It was like being wrapped up in a tight and comfortable embrace.

"You quite like it out here, don't you." Rengoku's loud voice echoed down the hall.

After keeping her eyes closed for at least thirty minutes, she peeked open a lid and saw Rengoku strolling down the corridor toward her.

Hanabi's eyebrows crinkled with confusion. "Rengoku-san? What are you doing back here? Didn't you visit me this morning already?"

Rengoku smiled at her and lifted his hand, revealing a small wooden box wrapped in light blue cloth. "I thought you would be hungry. So I went into town to buy some food. You wouldn't mind if we eat together, would you?"

Hanabi blinked and looked taken aback. Even though she was a little hesitant, she figured it wouldn't hurt since she was hungry. "Go ahead," she said while gesturing beside her.

He sat down the box between them and unraveled the light blue cloth. Inside were four sticky sticks of dango, drizzled all over with sweet sauce. When Hanabi saw them, her eyes immediately lit up, and she quickly grabbed one. She hardly had a chance to bite down on it though when Rengoku suddenly raised his voice.

"Delicious!" Rengoku shouted as he happily chewed his food.

Jumping in shock, Hanabi lurched forth with the dumplings still in her mouth. It touched the back of her throat by accident, and she nearly dropped the sweet snack by hacking up her lungs. She coughed so violently that it made the wounds on her stomach sting with pain.

"Oh...man, that hurts…" she said through gritted teeth, holding her stomach as it burned. "Why would you do that?"

Rengoku looked a little puzzled by her question. Acting like what he did was the most normal thing for him to do. "Hm? It's because they're delicious. Don't you think so?"

"I wish I knew before getting the crap scared out of me." She grumbled under her breath before finally taking a bite out of her sweet dumpling. It was still delicious, making the ones she had back at home taste bland, while these were rich and fresh. "Do you…do that all the time?"

"Yes! I didn't mean to frighten you though. Are your wounds alright?" he asked with a much smaller tone.

"Hm? Oh, yeah. Whatever the butterfly lady gave me…it helped with the pain," she said while gently rubbing her hand over her stomach. There was still some pain left, but it was hardly something to worry about. "Can I ask you something though? Regarding...what happened back at Akami."

"Of course." Rengoku nodded, curious to hear what she was going to say.

Hanabi hesitated to bring up the incident with the demon. Even though she had a first-hand encounter with one, it was still hard to wrap her head around it. "The demons. Is it…your job to hunt them?"

Rengoku nodded. "It is, but it's not just my job. It's everyone who wears this uniform." He said while gesturing to his black clothes.

"Is it an organization?" Hanabi cocked a brow and moved her body to see the symbol embordered on his back. "How many are out there like you?"

Rengoku thought this was quite an odd question. He wasn't really sure himself and had to guess. "Hundred. Maybe even thousands."

Hanabi bit down on her lips. "How…many demons?" she knew this was a tricky thing to answer because of how his demeanor changed ever so slightly.

Rengoku looked back out towards the yard and sighed deeply. "I don't know..." he said quietly. "We hear reports of demon activity all the time. The demon slayers go to cut off their heads, but…there is always more to be delt with." His mind then appeared to drift to a faraway place as his words slowed to a halt. He paused for only a moment though as his smile and enthusiasm returned. "It's a never-ending fight, but it something you shouldn't be concerned with, Hanabi-san. Us demon slayers will not give up. We will continue to do what we must. No matter the numbers," he said encouragingly.

Instantly, Hanabi felt her heart flutter with comfort. She opened her mouth but only for nothing to come out. Instead, she turned her attention back to the sky and muttered under her breath. "All this time…I never would've thought there was a war going on. And it's not common knowledge?" she asked while looking back.

"It's not. Well, aside from people like you who had survived an attack. It's mainly just stories."

Hanabi nodded and recalled the stories being told to her before. "I've heard of them. There was a little girl at my village who loved to read. She told me about things like demons once, but…I never knew they were real." It pained her to say those words because it only reminded her of Ameya. "I hope she's alright…" she said wistfully.

Rengoku frowned and became somewhat concerned when he saw her saddened face. "Hanabi-san?"

"The reason I ended up in this mess…was because I was trying to save a little girl. The demon was attacking her, but the moment I started to bleed, he turned his attention only on me. He…kept on saying something. I think it was…marechi?" she asked. "Does that mean anything?"

Rengoku looked surprised to learn this. "It does. It means rare blood. It makes sense why a demon would abandon a defenseless child to chase after you."

"What does rare blood have anything to do with it?"

"For demons, the more people they consume, the stronger they become. But if a person has rare blood, it's basically the equivalent of fifty people."

Hearing that was like a sharp stab in the gut for her. Hanabi's stomach felt queasy as she struggled to get her words out. "So that's why he was so hell bent on trying to…eat me," she said, trying her best to not vomit.

Rengoku was hesitant to continue since she was beginning to look sick. "Yes. If the demon had succeeded…then I don't doubt he would have become one of the Demon Moons."

"Demon...Moons?" Even though the name sparked her curiosity, Hanabi wasn't sure why it made her shiver. She had never heard the name before until now.

"There are ranks within the world of demons. Twelve, to be exact. There are the Upper-Moons and the Lower-Moons."

"And they are the strongest?"

"That's right."

The knotting in her stomach didn't stop and only worsened the longer she listened. She hunched forward a little and ran her fingers through her black hair. "Oh…I see," she said in a small, mouse-like voice.

"You don't need to worry about that anymore, Hanabi-san. I was told by Kocho that you can be discharged tomorrow evening," Rengoku said in a chipper voice.

Hanabi blinked as her brain stuttered to keep up. "Excuse me?" she said with a strain as her body suddenly grew cold.

"You'll be allowed to go back to your village tomorrow, but to be sure you'll make it there alright, I'll be joining you." Rengoku smiled at her, but it only did the opposite and made her feel worse.

Becoming slightly panicked and flushed, Hanabi closed her eyes tightly. She wanted to say something but bit down on her tongue instead. "Ok...Thank you...Rengoku-san," was the only thing she could say before standing up. "I'll see you tomorrow," she said before swiftly disappearing down the hall, leaving Rengoku confused and alone.

Hanabi's dread hadn't subsided and only trickled into the next day. Her stomach was doing flips as she closed up the front of her kimono after getting her bandages replaced by Kanae, the beautiful woman from before.

"Is this fine?" Hanabi asked.

Kanae smiled and nodded. "Yes. You should be good to go for the trip back," she said while removing the pan filled with bloodied bandages off the bed. "I've also taken the liberty of packing a few extra cases of medicine and bandages. Just as a precaution, of course. We don't want your wounds getting infected."

Hanabi watched as Kanae reached down and picked up a white, wooden box from off the floor. Upon laying it down, Hanabi noticed a folded piece of midnight blue fabric on top. Eyeing it suspiciously, she lifted it up and the cloth unraveled, revealing it to be her firework haori. She drew in a sharp breath and ran her fingers across the silky fabric. As happy as she was to see it again. She knew it couldn't be true. The material was of higher quality, and the coloring and firework placements were slightly off.

Hanabi crinkled her brows and looked at Kanae with a puzzled face. "Uh, Kocho-san. This is…not mine."

Kanae smiled sheepishly. Like she was caught doing something she wasn't supposed to to do. "You noticed? I'm sorry, Hari-san. I was hoping we could fix your old one, but it seemed beyond repair. So I decided to put in an order for a new…one?" she stopped herself when she saw tears begin to well up in Hanabi's crystal blue eyes. "Hari-san?"

"I'm…I'm sorry. It's just..no one had…ever…" Hanabi struggled greatly to keep her words cohesive, but she couldn't keep herself together anymore. Tears flooded her eyes as wild emotions grasped ahold of her sanity and wouldn't let go. She clenched ahold of the haori tightly, sobbing so violently that it made the wounds on her stomach burn.

"Hari-san?!" Kanae called out frantically while trying to think of a solution to soothe her. Yet, nothing was working to calm the storm that overwhelmed Hanabi.

Attracted to the sounds of distressed crying, Rengoku stepped inside the room and saw Hanabi hunched over, sobbing hysterically, with Kanae looking wildly confused.

"Hanabi-san?" He set his things down beside the door and rushed over to the girls. "Kocho, what happened?" He placed a hand on Hanabi's shoulder and could feel how much she was trembling.

Kanae wildly shook her head while running her hand up and down Hanabi's back. "I don't. Hari-san, are you alright? Are you in pain?

Rengoku crouched down and tried to see her face, hoping to gauge if she was in pain or not. He couldn't see anything though because she was covering her face with her hands. "Does your stomach hurt? Maybe your arm?"

They asked her questions one after another, but Hanabi couldn't even speak at this point. She could only sob while listening to them frantically try to figure out what was wrong.

From Kanae's soft and gentle voice. To Rengoku's kind but firm hands. It was the first time she had ever encountered such kindness before. Moreover, the fact that it came from people who were nothing but strangers to her made it even worse. These people were concerned for her, trying to comfort her. Yet, the only thing Hanabi could think about...was that she had nothing to go home to.

It took some time, but they finally managed to calm Hanabi and make sure she was alright for travel. Yet nothing had changed, and Hanabi still felt awful and sick. There was a hollowness to her eyes, a deep feeling of dread as she waited outside the estate, dressed fully in some travel clothes and her new haori. She peeked around the corner and watched Rengoku talk with a young girl she had never seen before. Younger than even her.

The woman had short, purple hair and a gentle face that reminded her a lot of Kanae's, but instead of sporting a smile on it, she wore it with a stern, stony expression. She figured she and Kanae had to be related somehow because of their faces, but she didn't know. Nor did it matter. It was time for her to go back to Akami Village.

Hanabi looked back towards the sky and watched as the clouds passed soundlessly, eventually hiding the sun and snuffing out the warmth she loved so dearly. "It was peaceful while it lasted..." she said in nothing but a whisper.

After finishing his conversation with the slayer, Rengoku walked back to Hanabi. "Hanabi-san, are you ready?" he asked, seeing a distant look cast over her pale face.

Hanabi responded by nodding silently, taking her time to speak. She was trying to drag this out as long as possible, not wanting this comfort to end. Because she knew she would never feel it again once she got back home. Back to the cold. Back to the dark. "Yeah…Let's go."

Rengoku felt his chest tighten a little. "Are you sure? If you're feeling unwell, we can wait another day or two-"

Hanabi quickly cut him off by raising her hand and shaking her head. "No, no. Let's just…go." She dropped her hand limply at her side and started to walk ahead.

It took a bit for Rengoku to follow after her, but the further she walked on, the more he couldn't help to think…was how lonely she looked.