Amare Flos (Demon Slayer)

The mission's reveal seemed to be a large blow to both Asumi and Kaze, two Demon Slayers who had seen gruesome sights and experienced bone-chilling near-death moments both seemed to go pale.

"Anything wrong?" Eira spoke softly as she kept her grip tight on her sword, of course, she didn't plan to do anything with it, she just used the tight grip as a coping mechanism. She wasn't entirely sure, but at the moment it seemed as if Kaze and Asumi weren't too happy about the mission she had so tiringly set for them. Her blood boiled just at the thought that either of them held any sympathy for Ali. 

"Hunt Ali? I don't know Eira…" Kaze expressed his concern, although he had known Ali the least, in the one conversation he had with Ali he couldn't shake the fact of how Ali was uncannily human. He didn't know much else about Ali besides what he had heard from Eira and Asumi, but he respected Ali enough to keep his sword on his back. Kaze was sure he wouldn't be able to bring himself to kill Ali.

"I'm with Kaze, I don't want to do this mission either," Asumi was hesitant to speak up, but she felt safer with Kaze on her side. 

Eira faced her two friends, just a minute ago they smiled and laughed together, why had everything gone sideways now? Eira's eye slightly twitched as she received the confirmation of their sympathy with Ali. Her eyes moved between the two familiar faces, she struggled to find a sentence to reply with. Well, if you can't say a sentence, say a word. 

"Why?" Eira bluntly asked, even the birds seemed to notice the tense atmosphere and quietened. The entire forest was devoid of noise, a ghastly silence filled the conversation. Eira awaited the response. 

Kaze exchanged a glance with Asumi. His throat was dry literally and metaphorically, he found it hard to come up with a response that wasn't easily combattable. He was sure if he simply said 'I respect him', Eira could easily shut him down. 

"If I met him, I wouldn't be able to kill him. I still love him." Asumi responded first this time. Her stance was solid and she was ready to face Eira's arguments head-on. 

"Ok," Eira turned around and let go of her sword, she responded with a level of nonchalance, a drastic switch from the anger she was expressing just a second ago. 

"You're… okay with that?" Asumi was surprised at the quick acceptance Eira presented, usually there'd be a level of stubbornness before she'd give in. 

"Yes, of course, I wouldn't want to make you do something you don't want to." Eira kept her back turned to the both of them as the clouds slowly crawled over the sun. The two auras, purple and pink, both seemed to tune out of focus as Eira's mind was flooded with a handful of emotions. 

Eira was not okay with it.

Her hand returned to the hilt of her icy blue sword, her hands were white from how tight she gripped the hilt. Inside her was a rageful blizzard out of control, her anger swirled. Her blue eyes were wide as she stared into the distance, she was extremely confused. Demon Slayers who didn't want to kill demons. What?

"Well, thank you for understanding," Kaze sighed in relief, he was pleased that it hadn't become a big deal and was able to deescalate easily. 

Suddenly, the blizzard stopped as Kaze's purple aura reached out to Eira. Eira took a deep breath and looked to the white clouds that blocked the sunlight. Her head cleared of thoughts and the silence that was present replaced it. 

She wasn't ready to let go of this mission, she wanted to kill Ali, needed to kill Ali. She didn't mind doing it alone, however, this revelation that both Kaze and Asumi would side with Ali rather than her hurt her heart. Her heart was stabbed with betrayal.

How could they? 

What could she do to force them to come with her?

Over the past year, Eira had got a lot of time to herself, a lot of time to think. She often repeated old conversations in her head and cringed at her past comments. While replaying old conversations in her mind, she liked to analyse all the factors of a conversation. The different ways people talked to other people. Some people differed in their speech depending on who they talked to, like Asumi. Asumi could joke around with Eira but as soon as Shinobu came into the room she became formal and polite. Then there were people like Ali, although effortlessly charismatic, who had little awareness of who they were talking to. 

Ali would probably be stupid enough to talk back to Muzan. Not that would ever happen, right? 

Eira realised there was a reason why most people switched from casual to formal when talking to figures with high status. With status came control.

Control is extremely important. 

Every figure in power had some sort of control, whether it was through charisma like Rengoku, or cruelty like Enmu. They were able to control those under them. 

It all occurred to her when she sat under a tree one day, staring at an apple. She had finished a vicious mission just the night before and decided to treat her exhaustion with her favourite way to pass time. Sitting down doing nothing. At some point, Eira's exhaustion caught up with her and her eyes slowly closed. She drifted into sleep, her mind was so relaxed that she didn't even realise there was someone else with her.

A bush rustled as a small boy who must've wandered from a nearby village appeared, his curiosity intense as his eyes met the sleeping Eira. More so focused on what any young boy would obsess over. Eira's pale blue sleek sword. The hilt of the sword seemed to glint just perfectly to attract the boy. The boy fell victim to the sword's hypnotism and desperately wanted a closer look. 

He held his breath and he tip-toed towards Eira, her blonde hair gleamed as the small gaps in the leaves allowed sunlight to rain down upon her. The boy boldly reached for the sword, his eyes focused on the sword that seemed to be calling his name. His heart dropped when his eyes darted towards Eira and her blue eyes were wide staring into his soul. He yelped and stumbled backwards. 

Fear is a construct so unknown to the human mind, often associated with darkness. The scariest things usually lurk in the dark. But what about the things that scare you in broad daylight?

The boy's heart thumped at his chest as terror was instilled into his heart just by Eira's stare alone, his breathing was frequent as the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. She seemed to wake up fully and soften her gaze. 

"I'm sorry! I just… wanted to see your sword! Don't kill me!" The boy closed his eyes and exclaimed while putting his hands in the air. Eira's eyes looked upon the boy with confusion. 

"Kill you? Why would I do that?" Eira spoke softly, her arms slowly lifted and she let out a yawn as she stretched. There was a stark contrast between the two demeanours. 

"You're… a ronin, right? I've heard stories of you… I thought you were extinct now. Or… are you a samurai?" The boy's voice trembled, Eira could feel the boy's feeble blue aura slowly shiver in fear. 

"Ronin?.." Eira's voice was soft as she digressed to the several poems she had read about Ronin, "Yes, I'm a Ronin. You never heard of me? The fearsome ronin of the mountains." 

Eira couldn't help but smile as she played along with the boy's fear. The thought that a title could grant her so much power. The boy's face got even paler, his breathing became sharper and shallow.

"I'll let you go if you get me that apple," Eira pointed upwards at the apple that she stared at before. Eira wanted to see how long she could play this game, surely this boy would just run away instead of doing as she said. 

The boy slowly stood up, his fingers trembled and he walked toward Eira, his eyes locked on the apple that hung high. To Eira's surprise, the boy attempted to climb the tree several times. Splinters dug at his fingers and dirt from falling repeatedly stained his clothes. Eira just watched, shocked at how the boy had simply done what she said due to the fear of a 'ronin' killing him. 

After a few minutes, the apple was in Eira's hands. The boy was long gone. Eira stared at the apple, the waxy layer shone as she rotated it in her hands. 

That was the first taste Eira had gotten, the first time Eira realised how much control and status mattered. 

Just through that experience, Eira understood how she could exploit her status as Hashira to her advantage. She discovered many benefits that she had simply because she was a Hashira, she could organise special missions, she could request a certain number of lower ranks on missions and even pick people to train under her. The powers were endless. Since not much was known about a Hashira's power, Eira found a loophole to manipulate lower ranks even further. She would simply just lie about what she could do, who would know?

As the wind steadily picked up pace, trees rustled louder and fallen leaves raced across the ground. Eira's face showed a gloomy expression. 

"Well, as a Hashira, I'll have to report that you two rejected my mission… Which, might get you two demoted if taken seriously," Eira sighed dramatically, she was lying. Eira could feel the pink and purple auras darken in a sense of fear and gloom. 

She knew for both Asumi and Kaze, being a demon slayer was extremely important. Asumi's only way to find Ali again was through her occupation, and Kaze's only way of bringing in respectable income was through the occupation.

If Eira had a face on the back of her head, it would be grinning slyly. 

Both Asumi and Kaze exchanged glances, the steady and solid stance they had put up against the mission now cracked a little. Kaze's heart pounded in his chest, he didn't want to waste the effort of this past year. He glanced at Asumi once again. Her pink eyes were traced with vulnerability and a hint of fear. 

Kaze took a deep breath and met eyes with Eira. 

"Eira, do we get demoted if we… fail the mission?" Kaze asked slowly, the wind seemed to stop to hear this conversation. Eira's mind ticked with thought, should she go aggressive and say yes? Or should she be more lenient with her lying?

"No, it's just recorded as a failure, nothing too serious, every demon slayer has failed missions," Eira's heart extracted the last drop of sympathy out of her heart and went easy on the sullen expression that lay on Kaze's face. 

"Me and Asumi both don't want to do the mission for the reason we've already stated, so… could you report the mission as a failure instead of a rejection?" Kaze pleaded with Eira. She could feel his purple aura attempt to reach out to her, that familiar sense of warmth, his genuine kind words infected her overwhelming desire to see Ali's decapitated head on the floor rotting.

"No. I vowed to be honest and true with my powers as Hashira, I'm sorry." Eira was quick to reply. 

Kaze was lost for words. His eyes moved away from Eira and instead gazed downwards at the floor. There was a tiny sense of regret in even coming to this reunion. To think that just ten minutes ago they were cheerfully exchanging stories.

"We'll do the mission, but there's a condition." Asumi stepped forward, her words were firm, but her expression remained friendly. Her heart hurt to see how far Eira had fallen into this occupation and trauma-inflicted hate, but she still saw her as that innocent and somewhat clueless girl from the mountains. 

Eira's eyes narrowed a little as Asumi mentioned conditions. 

"I'll do the mission if you promise me that when we hunt for Ali if me or Kaze find him first, you agree to talk it out first rather than kill him. If you find him, you can do whatever you want, okay?" Asumi put her negotiation forward.

Kaze's mind set alight as Asumi spoke. He had mixed feelings about the condition, his mind disagreed with the "If you find him, you can do whatever you want" part. Eira was undoubtedly the fastest in the group by a significant amount, theoretically, she could cover more distance than the both of them in less time, which gave her more chance to find Ali than them. 

"Sure," Eira spoke without a second thought, she returned a smile to Asumi and slowly walked forward.

Once again, Asumi and Kaze were both shocked at Eira's almost instant agreement without argument. They all had sure changed in the year apart. 

Eira meticulously changed topics.

"Now, let me tell you more about what I learnt about swamps!" Eira spoke in a bubbly tone as she rummaged through her pockets. She pulled out a drawing, quite horrible to say the least, of a frog. Asumi couldn't help but burst out in laughter as she saw the derpy drawing of a frog. Kaze soon joined. 

"Huh?.. Why are you laughing?" Eira smiled and laughed alongside them as she looked at her drawing.

Although laughter flooded the area now, there was no doubt of the underlying grim tone. 

The hunt for Ali was soon to begin.