"It's no one you should worry about." Asumi avoids the question. She paced faster and went ahead of Eira. Eira wore a cheeky smile on her face, she couldn't imagine Asumi in a relationship, but seeing her get shy about it amused her. Eira caught up to Asumi and decided to put a rest on her questions for a while. She was sure Asumi had great taste in men, she was probably in love with someone who was the perfect man for her. Eira pictured what he'd be like.
"He'd be strong. Fair, quiet and calm. And then he would be very kind and would never use violence even if someone deserved it, like a true gentleman. He would work as a florist, always supporting Asumi. And most importantly he'd be very patient, being able to wait for Asumi patiently for however long she took to get back from her missions." Eira thought of the ideal guy for Asumi.
"Ahhh what's taking them so long?!" Ali complained to Ali Jnr. Ali bit down in an apple and checked the time, it had been about 2 hours since the two had left. He was informed by the old lady that it would take about 2 weeks for him to be able to be in fighting form again. One month for complete recovery. Ali fell on his back and sighed. No doubt it would take them at least 2 days to return from the village, in that time what could Ali do? He thought and thought. Reaching for his pockets he pulled out the small box he always carried around. It was a shame he couldn't find a way to wear it some way like Asumi, he couldn't look at it often, but it seemed in great shape. Ali stared at it for a while. How long would it last? How long would it take before one of them lost love? Ali shook his head and placed the flower back into the red interior of the box. Ali snapped his fingers and tossed a rock up and down. He paced around the room. He counted to 100, whatever to waste his time. He imagined a lot of things, how nice it would be just to be able to regenerate in an instant as demons do. Then he snapped back to reality, he cringed at the thought of it, being a demon.
Night slowly fell. Ali stared at the night sky, patterned by stars. He occupied himself by practising his sword forms free-handed. He was rather excited to get his sword, it was something he had looked forward to for a good chunk of his life. Finally, He thought of his mentor, in all his pride. Sanemi was always a person Ali looked up to, although it seemed like he would always look down upon Ali. Ali just blamed the glare the Hashira always had. Ali looked down at his bandaged wounds, they had to be changed soon. It made him feel human though. The pain reminded him of his capabilities, one day for sure. He wished to become such a developed demon slayer that he would rarely get hit. Ali ate and went to sleep. While he slept, Asumi and Eira faced a new challenge. The villagers thrived even at night, the nightlife of the bustling city aroused petty thievery from both demons and humans. In this mission, the demon was reported multiple times. It posted no harm, it only did petty theft, stealing wallets and such. Eira and Asumi struggled to capture it, as it was about half a metre tall, and it would be hard to swing without slicing someone's legs off. The villagers chartered and laughed in the thriving nightlife of the village. It made sense, this village wasn't far off from the thriving capital. Eira had heard that at night the capital would light up with many lights. She wanted to go one day, but she had more important things to worry about. Asumi pulled Eira to the side. They hadn't seen the demon a single time.
"We have to change our strategy. We'll get nowhere trying to silently attack it. We need to grab a hold of it." Asumi said in Eira's ear, it was hard to hear with loud music playing in every corner of the village. Eira had a bright idea, she said it into Asumi's ear, and Asumi's face lit up with surprise. She nodded her head.
In the bustling city, with endless lines for food stalls, and people densely packed, it was easy to understand how a demon could get away with pick pocketing. A small swipe and then a dash of desperation. The demon, small, so small it couldn't be seen from the eyes of regular people. It weaved through the narrow gaps of people walking closely together, as people laughed, drank, ate and cheered. They didn't even realise that their valuables had been stolen.
"Hehehe... Stupid humans..." The small demon's bloodshot eyes wide as saliva drooled out of it's mouth. It had stopped for a brief second to admire the stolen goods. It started to run again.
The demon ran by many people, taking things without them knowing. It was obsessed with the shine of the coins. It wanted all the coins and gold, greedily digging into coat pockets, purses, and small bags. It ran and ran, placing every valuable it found in it's big mouth. As it passed a dark alleyway, something caught its eye. It halted. In the corner of its vision, a sparkle. A shining gold coin with some sort of rope tied to it. The rope extended around corners but the demon paid no attention to it. It dug it's feet into the hard concrete, and bubbled with excitement as it chased after the golden shine almost instantly. As its grubby hands almost got a hold of the shiny coin, the rope tugged and the coin seemed to run away.
"No! Shiny coin! Come back!" Its eyes widened and it started to drool and it chased the coin. The coin finally stopped on the outskirts of town. The demon jumped on the coin, satisfied and feeling immense happiness. It felt a blade go through its chest. It screamed out in pain. Asumi and Eira stood above the small demon. Eira cringed as she took a good look at the demon. It was short and stubby, it was like a half-metre thick sausage, it had bug eyes with buck teeth like a mole. It wore a ghastly grey skin. With scars and tears all over.
"Where is its neck?" Asumi shuddered to look at the horrid sight of the demon. Asumi sliced the closest part to its barely visible chin. The demon squirmed and started to break away. As it broke away, about 100 coins of all varieties appeared out of the disintegrated demon.. The coins shone in the small light that was there. Eira and Asumi glanced at each other.
"How about we go buy some food?" Eira suggested. Asumi shrugged and agreed. They both headed to the developed village once more, searching for a suitable food stall. Using the poor demons saved money to buy their food.