"You are Blossom Utonium I assume?"

"You're not wrong, Maseuta V."

She did not expect Kang Taeyang to already be there.

Sarah noticed, and smirked, "Usually Taetae and I travel via his moon teleportation, but I decided to take it the long way this time around."

"Comes in handy once in a while," he sighed, and Blossom couldn't help noticing how pale Taeyang seemed. Even though he wore a simple outfit, he seemed unnaturally sick.

"Taeyang, you shouldn't push yourself," Master V frowned. "Sarah, could you please take him to his room?"

"You got it. Pilseung is going to kill you, you know," Sarah picked Taeyang up effortlessly, and despite the embarrassed yelp he gave out, she carried him out.

Blossom scoffed inwardly. Let them murder him. Why did they make her suffer with Sarah when they could have travelled here with his Breath?

"Because using it too often has the setback of making Taeyang unable to be near the sun," Master V sharply answered. "And you saw how pale he was. Just because he's friends with people like me doesn't justify you wanting him dead. You have no idea how the world is."

"Excuse me?" Her eyes narrowed. "Are you saying that I'm a child?"

"Sarah Bellum is better than you, and she's younger than you," Master V shot back. "You have never actually fought a demon alone, and the one time you did, you nearly got killed and had to be saved!"

"You have no right to say that!"

"Oh I do! A lot of demons were humans too, you know!"

She froze.

What?

"You hadn't known that, had you?"

She numbly shook her head.

"You don't even know their backstories, and you think you're justified in wanting EVERY SINGLE DEMON DEAD ALL BECAUSE OF ONE DEMON KILLING YOUR FAMILY?" He snarled. "You have a superiority complex, and that was what led to your family's death, am I not right?"

Her breathing grew faster. No, no, no... How did he...

"Yan Sheng told me and had me come to help with the healing process. Did you not learn to be smart and logical? No, you're still the spoiled brat you were before. Taeyang lost his FAMILY to Demonseu, who also killed Pilseung's mom and his friend, Pori, and yet they can still accept demons like me. If you can't, then you're delusional and intolerant of things that don't go your way!" Master V was on a roll now. "Taeyang stayed up EVERY NIGHT because of nightmares, of being killed, of being corrupted by Demonseu, and of nearly killing his own friends. Your trauma is understandable, yes, but that does not justify what you did. Hating others for the actions YOU did is the worst kind of thing, and I do not tolerate it. If you want to get stronger, snap out of it you f*cking *sshole!"

Blossom gaped as the tall demon then strode away, and she fell to her knees.

Memories of the pain, the fear, the guilt, it swept over her like a wave. She was drowning, her heart hurt, everything seemed so dark.

She gripped her head. Why? Why was she so stupid? Why hadn't she learnt from her mistakes? Why hadn't she recalled in time that sneaking out was what got her family killed in the first place? Why was she so weak?

"Blossom?"

Through the tears falling down her cheeks, she looked up and met eyes with a familiar pair.

Jinpei looked genuinely concerned as he sat down beside her, "Are you okay?"

"Does it look like I am?" She snapped, but sighed and covered her face, saying, "No. No I'm not. I've just had someone I never even met yell at my face for being the indirect cause of my family's death."

"I see," Jinpei hummed quietly. "He's not wrong, I presume?"

She shook her head, "I... I had been careless..."

"Well, don't worry, you're not the only one."

She blinked, and looked up at him as he smiled sadly, "Carelessness was what got Taeyang turned into a demon. And it didn't happen once. It happened twice. To make matters worse, the demons Pilseung and I had to slay before we met up with you... It was his family."

Her eyes widened, "What?"

"We only realised when we saw the carcass of the mermaid demon. That had been... Taeyang's mom..."

"Oh... Oh my God..." she gasped.

"We had to break the news to him while Sarah was busy yelling at you..." Jinpei looked away. "So I apologise in his stead. He's not in the best of moods."

"I-I understand," she shook her head. "I-I should be the one apologising. I-It must have hurt..."

"Taeyang's always pretended to be strong, but all of us who live with him in the Tsukiyomi Mansion know how much he's suffered," Jinpei spoke. "I... I would be lying if I said that I'm not relieved he released some of his stress. So... Thank you, Blossom."

Blossom went quiet. What? He was THANKING her?

"I personally believe you have a good chance of being a strong Slayer, but pride and prejudice are holding you back," he got up. "So I would advise you to try training your emotions first before doing physical stuff. You never actually resolved your trauma, and it's coming back to slap you. Try to capture the negative thoughts and breathe. It'll help a lot later on."

As he was about to walk away, Blossom grabbed his wrist, and mumbled, "T-Thank you for your advice... A-And I'm sorry for what I said... I-I won't be able to change myself in a day, b-but I'll try."

Jinpei's round black eyes widened, but he soon grinned and said, "That's it, Blossom. Keep going."

She slowly let his wrist go, and watched him leave in a flash of flames. Huh...

But either way, Blossom was now determined to train herself and make up with Taeyang.
*****
"Give me one good reason why I should let this piece of shit go inside his room."

"Master V, please," Jinpei begged. "She's really sorry."

"I'm more surprised that he cursed," Sarah offhandedly mentioned. "He doesn't do that. Huh, guess that he's become Taetae's mom."

Hearing that, his elfish ears grew red, "S-Sarah!"

Jinpei laughed, "She's not wrong you know."

Sarah's cat meowed in agreement as it snuggled up to its owner, who grinned at the comforting warmth it was giving her.

"I-I do not act like his mom!" Master V protested.

"Yeah... We don't believe you," Pilseung grinned. "We all know it's true you know."

"Pilseung you are supposed to be on MY SIDE HERE!!!!"

"Nah, too troublesome," he shrugged, sitting down beside Sarah. "Plus, I trust Jinpei's judgement."

"You are talking about Jiba Jinpei, who overdramatises things and had a crush on Lower Moon One, Natsuki Enra," Master V deadpanned.

"HEY! RYUUSUKE-SEMPAI DID TOO!"

"We all know you're bi, Jinpei, just let it go," a familiar voice, tired but with mirth in his tone, caused everyone's heads to swivel over. (Well, Sarah tried to and promptly knocked herself out by hitting a wall.)

"Taeyang!" Jinpei smiled, but it soon turned into concern as he noticed just how bad it was. "Are you good?"

"I'm good," he waved it off, yet he was barely caught by Pilseung due to stumbling. "A-Ah, sorry."

"Don't apologise for something like this. Apologise to your body Taetae," Sarah scowled.

"Ahahaha, I guess so," he sheepishly smiled. "Anyway, what's the ruckus about?"

Blossom took that chance to cough, and he turned, his smile turning into a tight one, "B-Blossom-sshi."

"I... heard from Jinpei about what happened to your family, a-and I'm sorry that I yelled at you," she mumbled. "I'm sorry that I said that you should die, b-because I now see that you're already struggling..."

"It's fine, I'm used to those reactions," he answered. "But I accept your apology. Master V, it's fine. You should train her after Sarah does."

"T-Taeyang!"

"I'm really fine. I'll be going back to sleep now, okay guys?" He turned around, and with Pilseung's help he managed to get back into his room.

"Just don't overwork yourself," Jinpei exhaled, and his ahoge went down with him.

"Taetae doesn't give a shit about that," Sarah pointed out, having woken up to hear the apology.

"Good point."

Do a lot of people give him backlash for working with demons? Blossom mulled as the two began talking about Sarah's girlfriends. Wow... He definitely has had it hard...

And yet he became a Hashira. A powerful one.

That... That was admirable. Being able to rise despite all the pain and sorrow; it was something she began to idolise Taeyang for.

It was then that she decided that she too wanted to get stronger, and rise to become the Demon Slayer who would kill Upper Moon One, Ramona-Elizabeth Jones.

That was her goal, and she would accomplish it.

She turned to Sarah, and said, "I'm ready for our training. I promise I will work hard."

Sarah smirked, "Alright then. Rest up. Tomorrow won't be pleasant."

She wasn't joking in the slightest.

-
This chapter was written by FictionalMagicTamer