𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗥𝗘𝗘 ╱finding your way.

     It had been a month since then. Since Sayuri witnessed the slaughter of her parents and was branded as a murderer. She'd created a living amongst the clouds swirling about the highest mountains, accompanied by the kasugai crow of a deceased demon slayer. She'd dubbed him Miso, after her all-time favorite food, though regretting this decision as her tummy rumbled for the hundredth time calling him from where he was perched on a tree.

     "Miso!" Sayuri's voice had become lighter, and while no longer holding the cheer it once had, there was something gravelly mature to its sound. The feeling of a heavy burden floated around her words and her aura as weeks had passed since her decaying parents left her alone and miserable. Though Miso did his best, he was still a crow who had to report to the Demon Slayer Corps HQ. He'd been given permission to assist the young girl and her venture to Sagiri Mountain, which seemed to be months away at this rate.

     "Keep practicing! Your breaths are weak!" Miso caws sharply, fluttering and messing up the misty hair of the eleven-year-old. Sayuri pushes him away stubbornly and frowns, sitting on a large cool rock and toying with her haori. Eyebrows knit together in thought,

     "I'm not getting any better at this... Total Concentration Breathing. We're basically hiding in the clouds, there's not enough air-"

     "Use this to your advantage! You have yet to learn established techniques, listen and feel, not complain! I'm off!" The bird is gone within a minute of the conversation, likely going to fetch the pair some food and supplies for a rainstorm that threatened the edge of the mountain. It'd likely hit by midnight, meaning Sayuri would once again be subjected to the freezing fat raindrops smacking against her pale skin all night. She'd grown to dislike the rain from her time tucked into makeshift shelters to try and avoid it.

     There were things that she'd learned to appreciate and love, however, from being alone and more or less... always awake. If she were sleeping, bloody images from the past tainted her dreams and licked at her eyelids like vicious creatures awaiting her asleep state. Dark circles under her eyelids proved this struggle for peaceful rest, something Sayuri hoped to regain one day.

     Newfound activities had soothed the unrest within the troubled child, though majorly boring to most her age. Sayuri would lay on rocks warmed by the sun on days clouds soared above her head, trying to pick out shapes and create stories out of what she witnessed. One had been of a duckling searching far and wide for his siblings, finding them amongst a pair of gentle fawns who didn't care if he was just a duckling.

     She also enjoyed meditating, as it proved useful to clear her mind of the debilitating doubts and horrors creeping their way in. It strengthened her resolve and put mental barriers in her mind, boxing all the bad memories into one corner whilst she tried to better herself for the training she'd undergo to become a demon slayer. Miso had brought her a small care package from the home she once resided in, a small letter attached and written in near chicken scratch,

Sayuri, I'm not sure I ever told you my name, but it's Haru. The boy who ran away instead of helping you. My parents told me that demons really do exist and that you were likely to want to become a demon slayer. I wish I knew more to share with you, but they're not telling me much because they don't want me following the same path. I want to become of use to the Corps one day, though, and maybe we'll meet again.

I hope you're safe, and we're leaving this care package to find you as soon as possible. I made the bread with my mom, it's very delicious! But there is also your haori. I think it's beautiful and you should wear it proudly! It reminds me of the clouds and the blue of your eyes. Please become strong and save as many people as you can, Haru.

     Sayuri had been infuriated the first time she read the letter, because if the family believed Sayuri why hadn't they stopped anyone? A hand had tenderly touched the healing mark near her collarbone, wincing at the pain and seething. Over the following weeks that bled into a month, she'd come to forgive them for not coming to the girl's aid. There was no reason to put themselves in the conflict. Besides, they had sent fresh clothes, ointment, and food for Sayuri and Miso to use during their travels. Haru's letter stayed tucked in her clothing at all times, she didn't want to lose her last attachment to the past. At least the only one that carried kind intentions.

     It was the positive things that kept Sayuri working hard. The letter, Miso, delicious food. Taking the time to resonate with nature and meditate had been a big part of helping her bounce back. Though she might never fully be who she once was, Sayuri was trying to let go. Never forgetting, but letting everything drift out of her immediate train of thought.

     She does this as she leaps off of the rock and pads to the small clearing a few steps ahead. It wasn't terribly large, but it served well to move about it without the hassle of excessive trees. Sayuri moves to the middle, the sandals on her feet slowly sinking into the misty and muddy earth. She takes a deep breath, just as Miso told her, and tries to channel oxygen further across every surface of bone, muscle, and nerves. It begins to burn, like an angry fire telling her to stop before her heart quite literally explodes, but that was just a trick. Normal people wouldn't accomplish this technique of Total Concentration Breathing because of the unnatural feeling. Sayuri needed to be stronger than normal, she would train herself to keep up this style of breathing and use the air around her, flighty yet penetrative because of the elevation. It clogs up her lungs and tries to trap her out, just as anyone would think would occur when jumping into a field of clouds.

     Stop. Sayuri yells to herself mentally, because overthinking always led to her inability to accomplish the task at hand. She feels her breaths lengthen inside of her, stretching to every corner within. It wasn't a strong presence but young Sayuri could feel unknown adrenaline making her feel stronger than she's ever felt. She wonders how fast she could climb a tree under this new feeling. She'd been slow and clumsy at it in the past, but perhaps this was the push she needed. Sayuri focuses harder on the breathing technique in a flare of excitement.

     She felt as if she were suspended in a puff of clouds, able to move so light that not even the sharpest sense of hearing could detect someone like her. Someone with no mass moving and pushing, but then pulling so sharply there was no telling where the nimble body would reveal itself to be next. The clouds lapped and hugged her lungs, muscles, and brain. She was comfortably existing amongst them.

     "We must move to the village! The storm is angry! Let us go!" Miso was back, holding a cloth package in his talons but fluttering with urgency. Sayuri gets tugged out of her concentration, that comforting envelopment of clouds blocking her lungs and causing her to cough and sputter. She falls to her knees to catch her breath, eyes bulging before squeezing tightly in relief as oxygen correctly fuels her body. She wonders how she didn't notice the storm on the horizon, thunder spitting insults every now and again as boisterous booms filled the landscape.

     She rushes to pack up the leftover food from earlier this week, the book that had been gifted to her by a traveler a few weeks ago, ointment for her branding, and a handmade mino that was so shabby that the straw leaked no matter how Sayuri tried to mend it. She threw the straw coat over her body and tripped on its weight for a fleeting moment before beginning to descend the mountain, now finding it hard to leave the safety of the place she's considered a new home. Though however desolate it had become with the cooling weather. Perhaps Sayuri simply didn't need anyone anymore. She could try to convince herself of this, but it was an open lie to herself and others.

     Once her feet touched man-made paths again, the girl spots a warmly lit town in the distance as a light rain just begins to fall to the earth. For every storm that threatens destruction, new life lies past it. Tetsuya often repeated this before sending Sayuri off to bed in a thunderstorm, and his daughter always slept comfortably through the night from hearing this.

     "No time to cry! My wings are wet!"

     "Right, come here then," Sayuri sniffles only slightly before bringing up that box in her mind again. Pushing it all away and bringing Miso and the package inside of her mino, trying to keep him and the package he carried from getting soaked. She wanders closer and closer to the lights, looking curiously at the children playing in the rain while parents scold them to get inside. There was kindness in their tones, and Sayuri begins to squeeze out the water from her two long tendrils of hair with a small and reserved smile. Dull blue eyes scan the scene painted before her, no emotional longing able to find its way out of her heart, it wasn't allowed to.

     "Your mino is leaking," A mother says to Sayuri, holding a small toddler in her arms. She puts the child down and ushers them inside before gesturing Sayuri to come under the cover of the porch. Sayuri is quick to follow in hopes to get it fixed, as Miso had been angrily nipping at her thumb.

     "I'm aware," Sayuri mumbles as the woman takes it off, watching closely as the delicate hands pull and weave the straw tighter and properly. It didn't look hard, but this was also Sayuri's first time witnessing the process of securing a mino to make the rain completely unable to break through. She could spot where she'd made the mistake of tying the straw together incorrectly which led to an easy way for the rain to sift underneath the mino.

      "Are you alone?" The mother asks with a sweet smile and concern lacing her softly wrinkled features. Her eyes scan for any adults trailing behind the young girl before her but spotted none, "-You should head home before it begins to get too muddy. Your clothes are too nice to be destroyed!"

     "I have my crow, he is helping me stay safe. Thank you for fixing my mino," Sayuri had practiced avoiding questions relating to a home, because a concerned adult was persistent and she didn't like to deal with them. It's not like there was a good enough story to tell them unless she wanted to be seen as deranged. Besides, she was done with this conversation as the straw coat was being handed back to her correctly mended. Miso tries to flutter the water out of his wings just as Sayuri is stretching to grab the clothing, the both of them nervous when the red brand on her skin is revealed.

     "Is that-" The woman tosses the mino with haste and pushes at Sayuri with urgency and blind panic, the rain beginning to soak her haori instead of bouncing off the straw coat. There wasn't time to put it on as Sayuri is continuously being shoved and ushered off the porch and away from the once welcoming family.

     "Now you listen, I'll be reporting you as soon as the rain clears enough. I advise you to figure something out before that happens. Don't you dare come here again!" The door is slammed and Sayuri deflates, taking the loss with what dignity she had left. Of course the mark would bring doubts, not just anyone had the omen of death permanently on their skin. Not just anyone was branded a murderer. Yet there wasn't time to dwell, never enough time.

     Sayuri breaks out into a sprint on the nearly bare streets, looking for someplace to settle for the night. Miso was back to flying, but his wings weren't exactly waterproof and his speed slowed immensely the more he got soaked. Yuri wanted to wail in frustration, to stomp her foot childishly as fortune was clearly not in her favor. There had to be a bit of cover somewhere so by the end of the angry storm she could flee for the mountains again. That had always been the plan in the first place.

     Not paying attention to her immediate surroundings, a shoulder collides into hers harshly from the speed she was running. It makes her topple to the ground and mud immediately smudges across her pants and haori. She hopes there wouldn't be a stain but pond water could only clean so much.

     Sayuri looks at the person of interest, finding large red and owlish eyes staring at her vehemently. Flames burned inside them and she could feel this passion strike through her just from this fleeting stare. It was a boy holding onto an adult's hand, presumably his father considering they both had identical yellow and red hair that stayed messy and pointy even in the downpour. Well, maybe that was because there was an umbrella over their heads.

      "Are you okay!" He spoke loudly and just as passionate as he looked, mouth opening wide to enunciate each word proudly. Sayuri found him odd, but then again, he most likely found her similarly strange. She was dripping rain and getting her hair pulled by an annoyed Miso.

     She makes sure her haori is covering her mark and makes a run for it, avoiding unwanted attention now that she'd been concluded as a murderer by that woman from earlier. Maybe in a different situation, she could've conversed more, but that would have to wait a few more years.

     Spotting an old beaten-up shed behind a home with all the lights off, Sayuri darts directly for it with heavy lungs and an aching body. The roof had caved in at some point and hopefully, it didn't feel like collapsing from the wind and rain. Without much motivation left in her body and pulling an all but useless mino over her and Miso, the girl closes her eyes. The book she'd brought with her laid a few feet away in shambles, coated in mud and falling apart. The food had spilled as well making it inedible. These troubles float away as Sayuri finds herself entering a dreamless slumber.

     To tell the truth, she wanted to stay there.

☁️

𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘 ╱ i feel like sayuri + ida (my aot
oc) would get along in a sisterly manner,
if they were in the same universe. 

ik total concentration breathing is quite
difficult to grasp, but sayuri is able to 
focus everything on this technique bc
she hasn't learned a breathing style if
that makes sense. pretend it does pfft <3

giyuu and sabito next chapter !

gumiguro-