Misunderstood | Teen Ink

Misunderstood

November 7, 2021
By Anonymous

Iguro Obanai, a social outcast, a freak, a cold toned loner. But in reality, he’s just a guy, with a pet snake, that doubles as a mobility service animal. Iguro has been half blind most of his life, and Kaburamaru will hiss in the direction of danger. Iguro is treated as a freak being; he has a gold and blue eye, the fact that he is shorter and weaker than the average male, and that he wraps half his face in bandages, but that was because of trauma. 

 Flashback: He was raised in a family where the only place of comfort he knew was a wooden cage. He had spent the first 12 years of his life behind bars, just because of his gender. His family had only produced girls for over 300 years, so he was locked away. His family were business partners with assassins, who were called “The Human Stalkers”  who killed the rest of the family’s offspring, while his family got the riches. Since he was the only male born in over 300 years, he wasn’t killed within the first few years of his life, like everybody else. But the assassins, to make up for this, horribly scarred his mouth, causing him to have a joker-like mouth. After he found out that he was going to be killed in three months' time, he started his escape plan. He started to pick away the wood from his cell with a hairpin, with only the company of Kaburamaru, since he had slithered into his cell.

Shinjuro Renegoku, the chief of police at the time, had gotten reports of a group of assassins called “The Human Stalkers' ', so he went to the location of the group’s hideout, which happened to be on Obanai family grounds. Iguro after two months had picked a big enough hole in the wood, for him to squeeze through, to escape with Kaburamaru around his neck.. Some of the assassins were patrolling the area, when they spotted Iguro and charged at him, trying to kill him. But they were stopped just in time by Shinjiro, who was able to take the assassins into custody. But not all the members were found that day, and some are still on the run today. 

Shinjiro had taken Iguro back into his property to search for any survivors, as when Iguro’s escape was found out about, the assassins in the main part of the grounds slaughtered anyone they could find. There was one other survivor, besides Iguro. His cousin. She blamed him for all the other members death, 50 and counting, she said that it was all his fault, and if he wouldn’t have escaped everyone would still be alive. Iguro was deeply affected by those words, and holds them true to the present. He was then officially adopted by the Renegoku’s 6 months after his escape, and his cousin was in foster care. Shinjiro then started teaching Iguro, and his son Kyojuro, what it was like in the police force. Kyojuro and Iguro joined the police force together, climbed the ranks together, and were raised as brothers half of their lives so far. Iguro had met Mitsuri when he was 18, and she was 16, she was over since Kyojuro had just finished showing her the police handbook, and she had stayed for dinner. Iguro doesn’t like referring to it as “Love at First Sight” but that's what it was. The moment he first laid eyes on her, he was in love.

Back in Present Time: So, now in the present day, he is 21 years of age, and he is the Chief of Police, and he has the biggest crush on a girl named Mitsuri Kanroji.

 She is a Police Deputy Commander, she is a very sweet girl who loves to volunteer at animal shelters in her free time. She was Iguro’s colleague’s apprentice. She had trained under a man named Kyojuro Renegoku, who unfortunately was killed by thugs in service. He was out on his routine patrol, with more apprentices named Tanjiro Kamado, Inosuke Hashibira, and Zenitsu Agatsuma, when he was shot through his stomach, also he gained a head injury during the fight causing his death. The thug escaped because Tanjiro had called for backup.

Mitsuri and Obanai, both were in love with each other, but one thought they weren’t good enough for the other, and one was yet to realize their feelings for the other. Obanai and MItsuri had grown close over the years, because of Obanai being raised by the Renegoku’s after him escaping from his cage. 

(Obanai’s POV)

I am finally going to confess to Kanroji, first I'm going to take her to a nice Japanese restaurant, then we will go on the mission to take down an assassin organization, with the name of “The Human Stalkers” . Then I'll confess my love for her. When I first got the mission, the group had sounded very familiar, but I brushed it off because I wasn’t able to come up with a logical answer on why it sounded familiar. Also I'm convinced that Kanroji doesn’t like me, but it would be better telling her than having this weight on my shoulders. If someone asked me why I love Kanroji, there would be too many reasons to list. Her  pink and green hair, her vibrant green eyes, her strange amount of strength, her even weirder eating habits, the fact that she doesn’t treat me differently than other co-workers, and many more.  I am always giving her small gifts to show my love but she never takes the hint, hence why she now wears green striped thigh-highs everyday. “IGURO~ ARE YOU READY FOR OUR MISSION LATER?” Mitsuri’s voice rang through my office as she entered, another thing I like is that she has no volume control, her voice pulling me out of my thoughts. “Yes, Kanroji, but we’re leaving now because we’re going to the Japanese restaurant that you love before the mission.” Her face lit up at the mention of her favorite restaurant. “REALLY, thank you, Iguro-san!! Come on, let's goooooo.” MItsuri then practically dragged me out of my office and out of the building and we started walking towards the restaurant, since it was a fifteen minute walk from the police station. 

“Mitsuri, are you going to get the same thing as always?”  “OF COURSE, I love their sakura soba. So I'm going to get it again, MAYBE EVEN TWO BOWLS” She seemed offended that I asked that question

but she was just joking, …. Or at least I hope. Even though she has a big appetite, she is a very picky eater. I saw her down over 20 Sakura Mochis before, another quality she picked up on while working under Kyojuro. Once we arrived at the restaurant, we sat at the same little table in the corner of the room as always. All the staff knows us by name because of how often we come by. It is really a great place, they mainly focus on Japanese cooking, but they have also branched out into Chinese cooking as well. Another good thing is that they allow me to bring Kaburamaru into the restaurant, you’d be surprised of how many places don’t allow service animals.  

Once we got situated at the table, our waiter Tiffany came over and I ordered my usual iced tea and water for Kaburamaru, and Kanroji ordered a pink lemonade. Tiffany is a 25 year old woman who has been here since she was 16, we always make sure to leave her a 50% tip because she is very sweet and wait staff don’t get paid enough. Once she left to get the drinks, Kanroji started asking about our mission.

(Kanroji’s POV)

All I know about tonight’s mission is that it is very dangerous, which I got that info from my colleague Sanemi Shinzugawa. He also said this mission might break Iguro emotionally and mentally, I wonder why he said that? “ iguro-san, what’s our mission about?” He responded in a monotone voice, but his face showed nothing but gloom. “We have to take down an assassin group called “The Human Stalkers”.”  “Oh okay, how many members does the group have?” “Apparently, there’s only one remaining member that isn’t imprisoned, but those are just rumors.” Just at that moment Tiffany came out with our drinks and asked us what we wanted to eat. Also I am slowly realizing that I like being in Iguro’s presence more than my other colleagues. Do I like him?...

TIME SKIP 

After they finish eating, they leave the restaurant.

(Obanai POV)

As we are walking to the place of the headquarters, of the assassination group, I keep catching glances over at Kanroji and all I can think is that she looks so beautiful. “Kanroji this is probably going to be the most gruesome mission you’ve ever been on, so be prepared to face tough challenges.” 

We get to the headquarters, where guards are stationed outside the door. “KANROJI- PROTECT YOUR LEFT SI-” Before I could finish that sentence Kanroji was struck in the side by a concealed machete. She had just gotten a flesh wound, but still I felt guilty for her getting injured. Once we got out our guns, and got the guards down we made our way onto the, which was surprisingly vacant. My guess is that while I was distracted with Kanroji, the guard on the right side of the building called for the members to go to higher floors. I get an eerie feeling, from being here, it feels as if I’ve seen a similar place before. Then it hits me all at once, I try not to let it show, but I start to break down emotionally and mentally. The assassination group our mission was focused around was the same group who killed all of my family, the ones who scarred my mouth horribly, the ones who MY FAMILY WORSHIPPED. Then I see him coming down the stairs, General Zaroff. He is the leader of ”The Human Stalkers.”  He was the one who cut open my mouth as my own mother watched in glee, knowing she was getting money from other murders, being committed right then. I froze, but Kanroji jumped right into action. She draws out her gun, and tries to aim for Zaroff, because he was heading straight for us, but she couldn’t aim properly because of the wound on her left side. Her act of courageousness, snapped me out of my trance, to start trying to attack Zaroff. Then, it happened…. 

Now I lay bleeding out with Kanroji, whose wound had grown, and she was fading in and out, because of exhaustion. My bandages had fallen off during the fight, allowing her to see my full face, which she hasn’t seen because I hide my face behind menus when we eat at restaurants. I might as well confess to her. “Kanroji-, this isn’t the best time to say this, but we’re both dying, but ever since day one I loved you.” She then says something I never thought she would have said. “I love you too, Iguro-san, sorry it took me this long to realize.” Then the final words I spoke before faded into darkness, “Will you be my wife... in the next life..?” “Ye…” Everything went dark.


The author's comments:

This is a Demon Slayer Fanfiction that I wrote for my English class.


Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 0 comments.