Yoriichi

Mizuki POV

Not too long after the stunt with Yoriichi, did I see a little difference in attitude with Michikatsu. Michikatsu would often go up to Yoriichi at times when Sato-san wasn't around and ask him how he was able to beat and land hits on our teacher.

I too would go along and listen to the explanation and hear out what was going on or how he was able to do it. Remembering the attacks landed on the man, it was smooth, fast and swift. It was an amazing sight to see.

But each time Michikatsu would ask Yoriichi would kind of explain it as "focusing your breaths and concentration on your target." but also it was kind of confusing since he didn't really know how to explain it.

Though after explaining it somewhat he would then beam at Michikatsu saying that he wanted to fly kites and sugoroku with him. Each time he said that I would smile and giggle at that. 'How cute~' I thought each time.

However thinking of what Yoriichi said I thought that it must be the early form of breathing techniques which the demon slayers use. After training and regular routine I would go to my room before heading to Yoriichi and kind of meditate.

During meditation I would try breathing differently and racking my brain 'how did they do this?! What did Tanjiro do?'

But each time I remembered what and how Tanjiro explained it and the training was him puffing out his chest and saying that his lungs hurt like it was about to pop and made "Boom Boom" sounds. I shook my head and sweatdrop "What happens if my lungs actually do pop?! They don't have advanced medicine or tools here to save me?!!" I mumbled to myself as I shot my eyes open.

"This is not working....." I say to myself now getting up from my position. Walking around my room, walking back and forth. "He got a gourd and worked out.....Maybe I have to work my muscles out more...." I thought looking back at my training that I did. I nodded. "I have just been working on my sword techniques and fighting techniques but not muscles."

I thought about it some more in deep thought and widened my eyes. "Wait!! This training with the gourd is not for breathing style! It's concentration breathing! I'm so stupid...But I still have to learn it anyways...." I say to myself ranting and having small tears come down my face.

I sigh out and ruffle my hair a bit. 'I guess I'll go see Yoriichi now.' I told myself as I left my room. I quietly made my way outside of the main house and walked over to the small room. I knocked on the door and entered.

"Yoriichi." I say and looked around the room to see him sitting on his futon looking at his flute that Michikatsu gave him. He looked up and nodded his head at me. "Hi...Mizuki.." he mumbled to me.

I smiled brightly, after all this time he never really spoke so now he's speaking to me. "Hi Yoriichi." I say as I walked over to him and sat down next to him. "What cha doing?" I say to him. He moves the flute around in his hand and fumbles with it.

"Looking at my flute..." he told me, I nodded and sighed a bit. "I see. Ah Yoriichi, I have a question, that time when you fought with the teacher, did you breath differently? Or did you feel like your lungs were about to pop?" I ask.

He turns to look at me and gave me a face of confusion and a look that says 'What the hell?'. I sweatdrop from that expression and he continues to stare at me. "I did breath a little differently when I landed those blows, instead of the normal breathing, I took breaths from here." He said while patting his stomach. I nodded my head.

"I see thank you!" I said and layed down on the floor. He continued and glanced over at me. "But, my lungs didn't really feel like it was about to pop...Do your feel that way?" he asks me with a straight face. I blink my eyes a couple times and a wide smile comes onto my face.

"No~ I was just wondering, maybe if I practiced breathing alot than maybe my lungs might feel that way...." I said looking up at the ceiling. Yoriichi continued to stare at me and nodded his head. "Okay...." he replied back unsure of why I'm saying such things.

"But anyways Yoriichi, do you have a favorite food or something that you want to eat?" I ask and turn my head to look at him. He blinks his eyes at me a couple times and shakes his head. "No not really?" he said quietly. I turned over on my side and gave him a look. "Really nothing? Mochi? Musubi? Vegetables? Fish??" I listed off of the food that we would normally have.

He thought for a bit. ".....I like your homemade desert...." he told me. My eyes widened. "The sweet rice cakes?" I said and he nodded his head and looked down at his lap. "Okay then it's decided on!" I said.

He looked back up at me. "Why?" he asked and tilted his head. "Hmmm. Because I'm celebrating the day when I first came here and meet you!" I said remembering the first time I met and saw them. I giggled a bit.

"I'm really happy that I was able to meet you! I always love talking and spending time like this with you ya know. It's fun." I said and gave him a smile. His face grew a little bit red and looked away from my face.

I then huffed. "But I wish that you could sleep next to my room or even in my room with me. It would be like a sleep over! Plus I could talk to you all night without having to leave and it would be fun wouldn't it!" I say. He just nodded his head in return and gave me a small smile.

I fall back down on the floor and look at the ceiling as Yoriichi puts his flute away and lays down in futon. "Night Yoriichi." I say and pat his head as I get up from the floor. "Good Night." he says softly.

I make my way to the door and leave closing it behind me softly.

~Time Skip~

A month has already passed and Michi-san is getting worse. I take her tray of food along with mine and Yoriichi's to her room. I open the door softly and see her laying down in her futon. Yoriichi looks up after putting down a cloth and medicine.

I come over to them and place down the trays. "Michi-san, here's some food." I say softly. She opens her eyes slightly and a small smile makes it's way to her face as she sees me. "Mizuki....Thank you..." She says tiredly and had Yoriichi help her up.

I pass over a bowl to Yoriichi and take Michi-san's bowl and start feeding her. She eats a little bit but then says that she is full not to long after. I sigh slightly and smile saying "It's alright. But I'll leave it here. You need to eat some more later alright."

She nods her head and lays back down with Yoriichi fixing her pillow. Before she falls asleep she looks at me "Thank you Mizuki.....Can you do me a favor?" she asks all of a sudden. I nod my head and come closer to her. "Yes?" I ask and she grabs my hand. "Please continue to take care of my boys for me." she says weakly and I nod giving her a reassuring smile. "I will." I say and she falls back asleep.

I back away from her giving some space and pick up my own bowl. I look down at it for a while before I start eating. Yoriichi and I eat quietly, for the remainder of breakfast.

I get up from my spot and collect the dishes once we both were finished. "I'll see you later Yoriichi." I say as I leave the room. I walk back to the kitchen solemnly, my eyes start to feel watery and I clench the tray in my hands.

'Her time is almost.....' I think to myself and wash the dishes and collect the dishes left on the table to wash as well. I sigh out, "You have training and work to do!" I say and slap my face.

~Time Skip~

Not to long after, only a couple days later, did Michi-san leave us.

___________________

"Yoriichi?" I ask seeing him come to my room at this time. It was already night but I normally go out to meet him in his room about an hour or two later, since he would still be with Michi-san. I look left and right in the hall way and invite him inside my room. He comes in and stands fiddling with his hands.

"Mizuki..." he says softly and hesitantly. I come closer to him and grab his hands. "What's wrong Yoriichi?" I ask with concern. He looks up into my eyes and his face shows sadness.

"Mizuki....Mom...." My eyes widen a bit and hold his hands tighter. "Mom is gone....she's dead." he tells me and I stand there looking at him. "W-what?" I mumble out and look at his face. Some tears at the corner of his eyes and he is slightly trembling.

I let go of his hands and pull him into a hug. Tears escape my eyes and I cry while hugging onto him tightly. As I do so I feel him wrap his arms around me and wet marks on my shirt. We both cry and hug each other.

After we calmed down a bit, I breathed in and out relaxing myself. "D-did you tell Michikatsu? Or Sato-san yet?" I ask him while wiping my tears and he fiddles with his hands. "No.....I wanted to tell you first..." he told me and I came closer to him and wrapped him in another hug.

"I'll tell Sato-san, is it okay that you tell Michikatsu?" I ask and he nods his head. Just as I was about to get up he held my hand. I looked down "Yes Yoriichi?" I asked confused. He looks around the room and looks back up at me. "Mizuki...before you go.....I wanted to let you know something..." he tells me. I nod my head.

"I will be leaving to the temple later on tonight. Thank you for everything. Thank you for taking care of me and spending time with me. You mean a lot to me, thank you for all the things you've done for me. I'll always keep you in my mind." he says and lifts his head up and scans my face.

I stand there shocked and more tears come running down my face. His eyes widen slightly and gets up quickly and wipes my tears away, but more come falling down. "Y-Yoriichi" I say and grab him pulling his into another hug.

I hug him tighter than I did earlier. "Yoriichi." I say again and snuggle myself into him. "Why??" I sniff as I continue to hug him. He lifts his arms away from my body and pats my hair. "I was already supposed to leave to the temple....but I want to protect brother...." he says softly and I squeezed him.

"Mhm." I say back and leave the hug. "Yoriichi." I say his name once again and move my hands to hold his face. "Thank you too as well. Thank you for being there for me and letting me talk to you about training and practice. I really love your presence and my time here with you was memorable. I will always remember you." I say and he gives me a soft smile.

I give him a small smile even though tears are still running down my face. "But Yoriichi, listen to me. I want you to live a happy life, okay? I want you to be free, be able to talk and do whatever you want. I want you to be able to live a happy life. But become stronger as well, protect those who are dear to you. Don't let them go." I tell him.

His eyes get wide and he nods his head. I send him a proud look and wipe my tears away. I walk over to the closet in my room and pull out a box. Inside of it was a wrapped up gift that I have been saving to give the brothers on their birthday. I took Yoriichi's out and walked back over to him.

I grabbed Yoriichi's hand and placed the bag in his hand. He looked at it and looked back at me with confusion. "Take this, it was supposed to be your birthday gift but...." I drift off and he opens the wrapped gift. I watch him as he does so, his eyes slightly widen and takes out a bracelet.

A combination of a blue and black string woven into a bracelet. He looked at it and looked at me. "Thank you..." he said softly while putting it on. I smiled at him warmly. "No problem!" I say and pull him into one last hug. "Be safe Yoriichi." I say and give him a quick peck on the cheek while giving him a grin afterwards."

He lifted up his hand and put it on the cheek that I kissed and nodded his head as he left the room. I soon followed after him to go to Sato-san. Before we separated I said "Yoriichi, one day when I become strong enough and able to be on my own, I'll come and look for you." I tell him while patting his head before I leave to find Sato.

He nodded his head and left to Michikatsu's room which was far off onto the other side of the house. As I watched him leave I sighed and went to visit Michi-san. I walked inside the room, it was cold...and empty.

I walked closer to her and saw her face that held a small smile. Her face was pale and she was still tucked in her futon like usual. She was gone...

I clenched my hands and walked down the hall to the living room where Sato-san normally stays before heading to bed in another room. As I walked in I saw that he was reading a book.

"Sato-san." I called out and he lifted his head up and glanced at me. "Yes Mizuki?" he asked and I made my way closer and fiddled and clenched my hands as I felt my eyes starting to water again. "Michi-san....Michi-san is no longer here with us.... I'm sorry." I choke out as I lifted my head up slowly to see his expression.

Sato-san dropped his book on the table and stood up abruptly. He glanced at me and ran down the hallway. I trudged my way around the house wondering what I should do. I walked out of the house and into the yard, breathing fresh air.

"Please protect and keep him safe." I mumble out as I look at the stars and moon in the night.

Soon I hear ruffling sounds and shuffling of feet. I look towards that direction to see Yoriichi leaving through the front gate. He turns around and sees me there. I put on a forced and sad smile while waving at him. He returns it with a nod and slips through the door running through the village to the temple.

"Goodbye." I say as I turn around and head back inside making my way towards Michikatsu's room.