Relief and Recuperation

Hello everyone and welcome to the latest chapter of Breath of the Rifleman! First off, sorry about the lack of a chapter last week as I've been trying to play catch up with a few of my other chapters. But fear not, for I intend to be back on my usual schedule starting this week. And as always I'd like to give my customary shout outs to LoneTaker, groche9655 and Noble Eight for their contributions to this story. And with no guest reviews this week, we'll just dive right on into the chapter!

Nighttime: Large Mansion

The house was a rather large living space with a more European style setup in comparison to the usual Japanese mansions. It had three floors with well-furnished wooden doors and wooden chairs with fine cushions. Most eyecatching of all, was the reading room which had several large bookshelves jampacked with multiple volumes on medical and biological science. Unsurprising given that this was the house of a renowned doctor. Though currently, a third of said books were in the floor at the feet of a young boy wearing a white button-up shirt and black pants.

His dark hair clearly set him apart as Japanese, but the strange thing about him was the pale complexion of his skin. "Toshikuni," said the Wife of the doctor, an older woman wearing a leaf decorated kimono, "is something wrong, you've made a huge mess?" Despite it, she had a warm expression on her face along with the maid standing next to her holding a tray with tea and cookies. "Are you looking for one of your story bo-SLICE!" And in an instant the warm expression, along with the rest of her head, was gone.

It happened so swiftly that the maid didn't even react until the woman's body hit the floor. "W-What, Madam are you, your head?!" Said the confused maid as she dropped the tray to the floor in horror.

"Excellent, excellent work Hantengu," said the boy as his body suddenly started to change and enlarge into that of a muscular adult while he continued to speak, "you've found a demon who can overcome the sun! Now I don't have to waste any more time searching for the blue spider lily. This is why I've continued creating more of my kind despite my misgivings for a thousand years and now at last, a chosen demon has finally emerged! And if I absorb that girl then I can at last defeat the sun!"

"M-Monster, Monster!" Yelled the maid as she turned to run, "Master-SLICE!" And just as quickly as the madam had been killed, so too was the maid as her entire upper body was torn off by a quick swing of the demon's arm, spattering the wall with blood. 'At long last,' Muzan thought as he recalled how he became a demon in the first place. It had been the Heian Period and he had been born a very weak child with a poor constitution that dogged him for all the years of his life. Thankfully, a kind doctor administered a treatment to him to help with the pain.

Despite that, however, the doctor also told him that he didn't believe he'd be able to live past twenty. He'd never been more infuriated to hear anything in his short but painful life, especially when he'd endured so much just to live as long as he had. In his rage, he drove a cleaver into the back of the doctor's head when his back was turned. But this would turn out to be more than a little shortsighted on Muzan's part as the treatment applied to him actually worked.

He not only got better, his body developed well past that of what any human was capable of, with one fatal exception: he couldn't bear the sunlight. Yes, he also had to devour human flesh to sustain himself as opposed to regular food but that was hardly a price to pay for one such as him who was so close to perfection. The issue was that the compounds used by the doctor were in the experimental stage and one item in particular had been nigh impossible to locate, the blue spider lily flower. The doctor had been the only one who knew what it was, where it could be found and even if it could be cultivated at all.

For all Muzan knew, the doctor had used one of the last batches of blue spider lily at the time. So he searched and searched over the years, creating and employing demons to help widen his search or to see if they would develop sun immunity. One of the primary tasks of the Twelve Demon Moons was the location of this rare flower. And then, a few centuries ago, he located one who could spawn it.

The sound of something crashing broke the Demon King from his thoughts as he went to investigate, anticipating an annoyance more than anything. And he was more right than he could've expected. "Kibutsuji!" Cheered a blue-haired demon in a flower kimono with two oni horns on his head, "I know you felt that just now, a powerful demon developing a new ability."

"YOU!" Exclaimed Muzan as he whipped his hand. Shuten moved his head to the side, barely noticing the scratches, which healed quickly, or the massive claw marks on the wall behind him.

"Ah still temperamental," said Shuten Doji before taking a swig out of a bottle of fine sake, "and to think I came here to congratulate you on your good fortune."

"You're lucky you and that whore wife of yours are the only demons I can't absorb," growled Muzan as he reduced his arm back down to its normal size, "otherwise I'd have killed you long ago."

"So you say," Quipped Shuten with a shrug, "anyway like I was saying I was in the neighborhood so I've come to congratulate you on actually producing a demon capable of resisting the sun from your line of demons. Though I think some of the credit belongs to Tamamo No Mae, Kami rest her soul."

"What does that old dead fox have to do with anything?" Questioned Muzan before a powerful slash left a cut on his cheek and a massive hole in all the walls behind him, though he hardly flinched despite it.

"Need I remind you I happen to have a lot of respect for that old dead fox," said Shuten as he finished sheathing his sword one-handed back into his umbrella, "she was a master of her art and could peer into worlds some of us could only imagine. I couldn't have asked for a better senpai. Even now despite being dead for close to a thousand years she's still managed to one up you."

"Oh, and how might that be?" Questioned Muzan, not really in the mood for the drunkard in front of him. Not that he was ever in the mood for a visit from the drunk demon.

"Have you not figured it out already," said Shuten, "that girl and her brother are her descendants? Did you not think it odd that a demon you created was never under your control, that you could never sense her in the first place? She's able to resist her demonic nature because she already has some of it in her and the same goes for her brother though I think you already figured out what he inherited by those earrings."

"Well if that's the case then I may actually have to go to her grave and thank her," said Muzan, "because it will be her descendant that finally allows me to walk in the sun. Try holding anything over me then." Shuten merely laughed at this.

"Yes I suppose you'd finally be rid of that pale complexion that's dogged you your entire existence," said Shuten, "but I hope you're not thinking it'll be easy. After all, the entire Demon Corps is aware or shall soon be aware of that girl's ability to withstand the sun and no doubt Ubuyashiki will figure on you coming after her. If you want that sun immunity, you're finally gonna have to get off your ass and take on the Demon Slayer Corps yourself. And not to boast or anything but I've seen some real potential in that friend of their's too, a kind I haven't seen since Raikou."

"You make it sound like it will be a difficult feat to accomplish," Said Muzan with narrowed eyes, "I could've wiped out the Demon Slayers centuries ago and now that they have something I actually want, the only thing protecting them is Ubuyashiki's craftiness. But even that won't save them for long."

"Oh yes, perhaps you'll get lucky and they won't have someone as skilled as Yoriichi waiting in the wings for-." Shuten didn't quite finish his sentence as Muzan's right arm suddenly became a blur, slashing the walls and nearly tearing apart the room the two of them were sitting in. Though what made Shuten frown was the destruction of his bottle of sake.

"Never mention that name in my presence," said Muzan, "he died long ago."

"So touchy," said Shuten as he kicked aside some fallen wood debris and picked up a bottle of sake which had miraculously survived Muzan's assault, "you don't see me getting agitated whenever Raikou's name is mentioned. See, I even used it in casual conversation."

"Raikou was clearly a failure," said Muzan, "possessing even less skill than the wielder of the original breath style-GAAAAH!" This time it was Kibutsuji's turn to be cut off as Shuten suddenly blasted him with extraordinarily strong fumes of alcohol from his mouth. A volume such as this would drop a normal human dead from alcohol poisoning alone but to one such as Muzan it was a painful irritant.

"Now see, that is something you won't speak about around me," said Shuten, "Raikou was a warrior through and through that came closer to killing me than anyone before or since his time. I have nothing but respect for him as both a warrior and a man and now that I've found someone with potential like his, I won't allow anyone to sully his name in my presence."

"I wonder about your demon pride if you have such high praise for a human," said Muzan, "but given the news I've received I'm feeling generous and will let this assault on my nostrils slide, for now."

"Whatever you say," said Shuten as he stood up, "As said I was just stopping by because I was in the neighborhood anyway and heard this place had some firstrate booze. And to say good luck on not dying. I imagine I'll be seeing you at the end of this little contest."

"For once, I might actually be looking forward to a meeting with you," said Muzan as both of his hands morphed into spiky appendages, "so let this be, the starting line." The entire mansion was cut up in under a couple minutes then with Shuten and Ibaraki flying out along with the rubble, both carrying a mass amount of food and alcohol with them.

"I see he's still as prickly as ever," commented Ibaraki as she ate some meat covered in human blood.

"Indeed," said Shuten, "but at least we know we have something to look forward to for the first time in a few decades. Oh I'm getting horny just thinking about it."

"Just try not to get too plastered beforehand this time," said Ibaraki as she finished her meal. She then snapped her fingers, signaling the mass of cat demons who'd been waiting outside for them, all of whom were riding motorcycles they'd stolen recently. The demons took to the streets as several more houses would be destroyed that night, and the drunk demon wouldn't remember a damn thing.

A Few Days Later: The Butterfly Estate

Tanjiro had always been seen as an open-minded boy when it came to people. Naturally this went hand in hand with his kind nature, allowing him to be both accepting and not easily weirded out by other people. And yet at this moment, he found himself staring in silent wonder at the person sitting across from him, Subaru Genjirou. He was currently laughing his ass off while performing an activity Tanjiro would never have associated with him, braiding hair. "No way, the moron said that," laughed the Matagi as he continued to braid Nezuko's hair on one side.

"It's really true, the demon said a bimbo like me probably didn't even know how to use a sword let alone the wobbly piece of metal I had. You can guess how quickly that fight went," said Mitsuri Kanroji who was sitting on the other side of Nezuko and making a second braid for her. As it turned out, the little demon girl liked having her hair braided to look like the Love Pillar's, so she'd been in the process of showing Subaru who was displaying an unusual interest in it. In fact, the Matagi had been smiling and laughing for quite a while now. Tanjiro surmised it was likely due to Nezuko's miraculous survival of sun exposure that Subaru was in such a good mood. After all, that moment had been his first kiss with the beautiful girl even though they'd technically been together for some weeks to even a couple months now.

As for why He, Nezuko and Subaru were crowded around a table with the Mist and Love Pillars along with Genya, Anita, Hidan and Izayoi, well, one could say they were celebrating. All the slayers had basically passed out, save for Genya thanks to the remains of his demon healing ability, after the battle with Hantengu. While they were out, Izayoi and the other Kakushi arrived and carried them off to the nearest slayer residence with good medical supplies while the Swordsmith Village itself started the process of moving its workers to a new location. Thanks to Izayoi's early warning, there were relatively few casualties among the villagers.

Sadly, they had little time to bury their dead or mourn the fallen as the moment nightfall came, the demons would likely be upon them. Fortunately for the village inhabitants, Ubuyashiki, being shrewd as always, had already anticipated such a possibility and had had a number of 'dead' villages constructed that were ready for the swordsmiths and their families to move into at any time. It meant they'd need to do the blindfold and earplug treatment again if they wanted to visit, but it was still good news that the Swordsmith Village was still in operation. As for the slayers themselves, their conditions varied.

Tokitou and Mitsuri slept for two days and were back to full strength on the third, while Subaru slept for four days and was back in relatively good condition by the fifth thanks to his own demonic blood, though Azakeru being pretty tired meant it still took a little longer. And Tanjiro slept for a total of seven days before finally waking up. Using Breath of the Sun was still pretty taxing on his body and he'd taken more than a few good hits including one that injured his leg from pressure blasts, sonic attacks and even some lightning attacks. But as soon as he was awake and word got out, Mitsuri and Tokitou showed up along with everyone else to celebrate his recovery and their victory over two Upper Moons.

"Well how about this," said Subaru, almost done with the braid on his side, "the first time I ever took Tanjiro to see a boar. He was always smelling them and he'd seen more than a couple of dead ones thanks to me and dad, but for some reason that day he just had to see a live one. I'd already completed the morning hunt so I told him we'd be hard-pressed to find one, but it was the time of year where boars were really active and he was certain he could sniff one out alongside my own tracking ability. Unfortunately for us both, we did."

"What happened exactly," asked Muichirou as he munched on some of the onigiri they had.

"So between me and Tanjiro, we succeeded in tracking down a boar and found it in a small clearing just rooting around," explained Subaru, "and I told him to 'please' not alert the boar if he can help it or the thing might charge us. Not five seconds after I said that, he steps on a dry branch and makes one of the loudest snaps I've ever heard a twig make. Needless to say we had to haul ass because that boar wasted no time in coming after us."

"Oh no, how'd you manage to get away from it," asked Mitsuri, finishing her end of Nezuko's braid.

"Well I got the idea while we were running to head towards one of the snares my dad and I had set up. I was in the process of reseting them anyway which was why I agreed to going out to look for the boar in the first place. The simple part of the plan was to let the boar run into the leg hold trap and then book it out of there before the thing fell over. It was a good plan, but the execution was a little flawed."

"When you say flawed, you mean one of you screwed it up," said Anita as she sipped at some of her tea.

"It was me," said Tanjiro as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "I stumbled a bit while we were running and didn't recover in time to leap over it."

"And the next thing I hear is 'Oh no, Subaru! I don't think this was supposed to happen!'" said the Matagi, doing his best impersonation of a frightened Tanjiro. "Any other time I would've just laughed my ass off, but in this case I was swearing up and down as the boar was trying to get to Tanjiro up in the trees. I had to circle back, leap up as high as I could with my knife out and grab onto him. We spent the next several seconds swinging in the air until I finally cut through the rope."

"And we got away from the boar," said Tanjiro, "but not quite the way we would've liked."

"The moment I cut through the rope, we happen to be at the apex of the swing and both of us get flung into the brush in the one spot that had a downhill drop," continued Subaru, "we rolled down that part of the mountain for a good minute before finally coming to a stop and by then we were so covered in dirt and leaves that our kimonos were a different color. His Mother and my Dad slapped the shit out of us after we got back and then laughed about it later. Because from that day forward, Dad and I referred to him as Tanjiro Kamado, the human Boar Bait, or just Boar Bait for short."

This got a surprising amount of laughter from Mitsuri, Anita and, oddly enough, Tokitou while Genya just shook his head. Nezuko was letting off a warm smile as she recalled the memory. "Boar Bait," she said suddenly while pointing at Tanjiro, "silly Boar Bait."

"Yes, yes he is," laughed Subaru as he hugged the demon girl who returned it happily. Tanjiro simply rolled his eyes but he was smiling nonetheless. It had been a long time since Subaru had brought up any stories from when they were little, and he hadn't done it with such fondness in some time. But here he was, the hunter who always seemed to be on guard, laughing and relaxing with everyone else without a care in the world. It would be good for them to enjoy the moment while it lasted, because things would be picking up again real soon.

That Night: The Butterfly Estate

Subaru walked down the moonlit hallways, finding himself unable to sleep at the moment as he slid open one of the doors and stepped outside where the garden was located. He took a quick look around to ensure no one else was listening before taking a seat and assuming a meditative pose. 'Hey, Azakeru,' said Subaru within his thoughts, 'can ya hear me? If you're still tired, just say the word and I'll leave you alone 'til later.'

"'Tired', isn't exactly the word I'd use," replied Azakeru as Subaru opened his eyes to find himself in the familiar snowy forest of his mindscape. Though there were a few differences this time, namely the lack of snow on the trees as they sported leaves with the colors of autumn. "You could say I'm just adjusting right now." Subaru turned his head slightly and saw what his demon companion meant. Her body had changed, now instead of a little dark-haired girl he was looking at a girl closer to the age of a teenager, with white wings.

"Abosrbing what was left of Hantengu into my being has been an interesting experience so far," explained Azakeru, "I can sprout these wings like a Daitengu now, and I've got a few other tricks I've been working on, like this conch shell." She held up said shell which looked like it could just as easily be used as a club along with being a musical instrument.

"And you haven't felt any lingering influence from Hantengu since doing this, have you?" Questioned Subaru, his concern plainly showing through for once.

"None," replied Azakeru simply, "in the end, he finally realized who was responsible for all of his misery. His form of repentance was allowing me to take his being and what remained of his powers. I am the last of his demon manifestations, but my mind is my own."

"Good to hear," said Subaru before glancing at the trees, "I take it you've been celebrating too? I can see more than a little redocoratng going on here."

"This is actually more your doing," replied Azakeru as she indicated the area surrounding them, "remember that I reside in your mind, while you're the one in full control of it. Judging by the change in temperature, you're in an unusually good mood?"

"You can probably guess why," said Subaru as he leaned against a nearby tree, "Hantengu is finally dead, which is not only good news for the both of us but a huge weight off Father's shoulders and that's not even mentioning the fact that another Upper Moon was killed. But more than that, what I feared didn't come to pass because by some miracle, Nezuko is not only alive but speaking again."

"And you finally had your first kiss with her," said Azakeru as she hopped up playfully on a low branch, "which, by the way, took ya long enough."

"Hey what was I supposed to do while she wore that bamboo muzzle?" Questioned Subaru, "More to the point, how would it not be taking advantage of her mental state if I made the first move?"

"The fact that despite her mental state before now she still seemed to be familiar with what love is," Azakeru pointed out, "though now she can actually say the words out loud. Before long she'll probably have her whole vocabulary back."

"That's what Tamayo seems to think," said Subaru, "she sent a letter recently with a theory in it. She said she believes the reason Nezuko isn't behaving like other demons is two-fold: One, she's been prioritizing something else ever since her transformation and walking in the sun seems to be it. And two, while it's difficult to say how much bearing it has, the fact that she's a descendant of Tamamo No Mae is a possible reason she's so powerful despite not having feasted on any human flesh."

"It's as good a theory as any, not that you care how she survived," said Azakeru, "and while it is beyond happy news that she can walk in the sun again, you know there's one catch to all of it, right?"

"Muzan Kibutsuji," said Subaru, his voice turning more serious, "yes, after thinking about it there's no doubt he'd want Nezuko for his own now. According to Tamayo, he never conquered the sun and that's why he kept spawning demons, he was waiting to see if one of them could. Now that Nezuko's conquered the sun, she'll be his main priority and start taking steps to go after her."

"So even with all of the good news our goal hasn't really changed that much," said Azakeru, "turn Nezuko human again and, if possible, take out Kibutsuji."

"'Our goal'," Subaru repeated, raising an amused eyebrow, "I was under the impression you were a bit indifferent when it came to that."

"What can I say," said Azakeru with a shrug as she leapt down from the branch and onto her feet, "you, Tanjiro and Nezuko have taken better care of me than Hantengu or Sekido ever did, even if I am sharing a body with you. They even accepted my presence within you right away without even asking that many questions about it. My knowledge of the world might still be a little limited, but even I know that people like them aren't exactly common. That's why I want to help you keep them safe or at least happy."

"Well if that's the case I'll welcome all the assistance you can give," said Subaru as he pushed off the tree, "just know that I may call upon you one day to help Tanjiro find a wife. There's no reason Nezuko and I should be the only ones living happily."

"I might have a couple of nice girls in mind for him," said Azakeru as she shook Subaru's hand, "oh and one more thing before you go."

"Name it," said Subaru, "I want to be able to thank you for your help somehow after all that we've been through."

"It's really a simple request," said Azakeru, "I've just come to realize that neither of us are bound by our pasts any longer. So, I intend to leave the name 'Azakeru' behind and go by a new one. From now on, could you call me, Momiji?"

"Momiji," said Subaru as he tried the new name out, "should be simple enough, but can I ask why this one?"

"It was my real name given to me when I was human," she explained, "I was born during the Autumn time, so they picked the name of a maple leaf, or Momiji."

"It's a pretty name," said Subaru, "alright, from now on you'll be Momiji. Let's try to get along from this point on."

"I'm sure we will," said the newly named Momiji as she smiled, "now let's get some sleep. Tomorrow's a new day." With that, the landscape faded as Subaru returned to reality, a small smile on his face as he headed back to sleep.

Two Days Later

While Subaru could say for sure he was in top condition, Tanjiro still had a slight bit of recovery he needed to do, at least according to Aoi. Not that the Matagi minded terribly given the fight they'd had recently and the other three girls were enjoying their time playing with Nezuko. Though there was one bit were Inosuke came back and started making trouble when he learned Nezuko could speak now. The boar fighter made it his personal mission to make the demon girl remember his name, not seeming to grasp that Nezuko was just having trouble pronouncing his name as 'Imosuke' instead of Inosuke.

Subaru had honestly found it funny for the first little while given how often Inosuke got their names wrong, but eventually he had to put a stop to it with Tanjiro's help when it started to get annoying. The boar fighter had then left later in the day to go out on another job the Corps had given him, leaving Subaru to sit on the porch while watching Nezuko play with Aoi and the others. 'I know we still got a colossal demon lord we need to kill,' thought the Matagi as he viewed the scene before him, 'but it's hard not to fill peaceful looking at something like this.' And then he caught a flash of yellow in his vision and a single thought crossed his mind, 'fuck, forgot about him.'

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Yelled Zenitsu as he caught sight of Nezuko and came running up to her, "IS THAT YOU NEZUKO?!"

"W-Welcome," said the demon girl with a soft smile while the other girls were holding their ears due to the sheer volume of the blond's yelling.

"SO CUTE! I'M HAVING A HEART ATTACK JUST HEARING YOU SPEAK!" Exclaimed Zenitsu.

"Yes, please have one," said Aoi irritably with her hands on her ears.

"Is she finally speaking for me," questioned Zenitsu, barely much quieter than he was before, "does that mean I'm back in the groove? Alright here goes, Nezuko, you were beautiful in the moonlight but you're absolutely amazing in the sunlight! So will you mar-GAAAAAAAAHHHH!" The noisy swordsman was finally silenced by a good-sized stone flying into his head.

"Great, I forgot you were still walking around," said the Matagi as he approached the group while rolling another stone in his hand, "look, it's good to see you and all, but could you please speak at a normal volume. We were having a real peaceful time 'til you showed up."

"You make it sound like I can help it, Subaru!" Said Zenitsu as he rubbed his head before pointing at Nezuko, "unlike you I'm not totally blind to the angel standing before me! I got to ask what kind of man you are that your heart isn't leaping for joy at such a wondrous sight?!"

"My heart can jump and leap all day long and I'd still be able to keep my voice at a reasonable volume," said Subaru, "it's called self-control, which you clearly still lack despite our best efforts."

"Who can control themselves when their heart is being moved by the force of love!" Exclaimed Zenitsu as he took hold of Nezuko's hands. "Please say you'll marry me, if you do I'll feed you eel and sushi every day!" The demon girl seemed confused at first, tilting her head as if she were in thought. The next thing Zenitsu knew, Nezuko retreated behind Subaru with her head poking out over his shoulder.

"Subaru," she asked, "why is Inosuke yellow now?" Zenitsu's reaction to this was priceless as he stared with an open mouth before clenching his fist with an evil expression on his face. Meanwhile, the rest of the group tried not to laugh.

"Where is that pig," he said, "I'll spitroast him alive!"

"Oh calm down," said Subaru, "Inosuke was here yesterday and spent all day trying to get Nezuko to remember his name, so that's probably why it's the only one she's remembering out of the two of you right now."

"Oh yeah, then why does she also remember your name?!" Accused Zenitsu as he pointed at the Matagi.

"Because she's known me for years," started Subaru, "I've travelled with her and Tanjiro since her demon transformation, I was there when she survived the sun, I've been with her for the past week trying to help her adjust while me and Tanjiro have been healing up."

"And," said Nezuko as she hugged Subaru's neck from behind, nuzzling into the crook of his shoulder, "Nezuko loves Subaru." If Zenitsu's so-called opening scream of joy had been loud, his scream of disbelief that followed was earsplitting.

"WWWHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTT!" Yelled Zenitsu as a look of abject horror spread across his face while everyone else was forced to plug their ears again, "what do you mean you 'love' Subaru? Surely it's not actual love and you think of him as a big brother or a cousin, right?"

"Tanjiro is brother," replied Nezuko, "Subaru is special person. He's special to Nezuko."

"What's so special about him," growled Zenitsu as he pointed at Subaru, "he's rude, a bad conversationalist, dismissive, not overly handsome and I'll bet he can't feed you eel and sushi everyday!"

"You say that like none of those bad traits apply to you," said Aoi, "at least he's not trying to murder our eardrums."

"Subaru cares for Nezuko," she said, "Subaru cares about family. And he can feed Nezuk boar."

"I can feed you boar too," said Zenitsu as he pointed a thumb at himself, "how hard can it be if he or Inosuke can do it?!"

"Depends," said Subaru, "do you know how to set a snare without getting caught in it yourself?"

"Like I said how hard can it really be," replied the blond, "just get me some rope and I'll set a snare up right now!"

"In the shed around back," said Aoi as she pointed a thumb behind her shoulder.

"Got it!" Said Zenitsu before speeding back in that direction.

"Why does yellow Inosuke seem mad," questioned Nezuko with a tilt of her head, "is it bad that Nezuko loves Subaru?"

"Believe me it's probably the best decision you've made in your life," replied Aoi, "or at least you picked the much better alternative." The other three girls gave a resounding 'Yeah', to that statement.

"I won't pretend that I'm perfect or anything," said Subaru, "I'm still surprised when I think about it most of the time."

"Can Nezuko surprise Subaru?" Questioned the demon girl with a playful smile.

"I don't see why not," he replied, "whatever it is I'm certain it's better than the surprise we all got just a minute ago." Nezuko's repy to that was to pull Subaru in and give him a quick peck on the lips.

"Surprise," she said with a smile on her face as Subaru laughed before giving her a peck back. The Butterfly mansion girls thought it quite the cute scene, which was then quickly ruined once Zenitsu got back.

Later That Day

'This really is a nice sword,' admitted Subaru as he partially unsheathed Zenitsu's katana to get a good look at it. While he wasn't a fan of yellow, he did like how the white contrasted with the lightning design along the blade. As to why he had Zenitsu's sword in the first place, well, the Matagi figured he wouldn't be needing it for a minute. Plus, he had a mildly more pressing concern involving Tanjiro and the delivery of his new sword. Haganezuka had apparently brought the newly restored Sengoku era katana himself, which made Subaru nervous for obvious reasons.

'The way I understood it, the guy was so impressed by the blade and so focused on getting it back into working order that he didn't even notice an Upper Moon was attacking,' recalled Subaru, 'which makes me think he might not be so willing to simply part with it.' Though whatever his concerns were, he was still surprised when the door flung open as he was reaching for it to reveal Haganezuka himself. Even more surprising was the distinct lack of knives like he'd had last time, hopefully meaning he hadn't tried to kill Tanjiro. A quick peek over his shoulder revealed that wasn't the case as the Matagi maneuvered around the swordsmith with a quick greeting before entering the room where Tanjiro and Genya were currently resting.

"Oh, there you are Subaru," said Tanjiro as he put a finger to his lips, "lets try and keep this conversation relatively quiet. Genya's still resting over there."

"Noted," said Subaru as he sat down on a stool which had been provided by the male Kakushi, Gotou, "I ran into Hagenzuka on the way in. I'm surprised he didn't try to murder you again."

"He was apparently still a bit injured," explained Tanjiro, "though he was still pretty mad that Tokitou took the sword to give to me for the fight. Even more so when he found out that you'd already killed the Upper Moon by the time he showed up. He says there are scratches on it, but," Tanjiro held up his new sword and unsheathed it a litte, "what do you think?"

"Given what you told me about how it looked when you found it," said Subaru as he looked closely at the blade, "I'd say it looks pretty good." And he meant it. The blade was expectedly black and the handle resembled Tanjiro's previous sword, but Rengoku's tsuba was there in place of the previous one. The blade also sported a flame-like pattern which was visible when the light reflected off of it.

"Kotetsu says Rengoku's hand guard saved his life," explained Tanjiro, "so I'm happy that it's a part of this sword now. Though I have to ask, why do you have Zenitsu's sword with you?"

"Oh this," said Subaru as he held up the weapon of the Breath of Thunder user, "he doesn't really need it at the moment. He's, oh how to put this, a little hung up right now." This was actually quite literal given that the blond slayer was currently dangling by his ankle from the tallest tree on the estate. The reason being, he forgot to keep his foot out of the loop while getting the trap set up.

"He's alright, though, isn't he?" Questioned Tanjiro with a hint of worry. While he would admit that Subaru had been far happier recently, that didn't mean he'd put up with Zenitsu.

"He tried doing a leg hold trap and wound up catching himself," said Subaru, "if you listen closely you can probably hear him yelling about getting him down this very moment."

"I hope not," said Genya who was currently trying to sleep in his bed next to Tanjiro's, "it's been noisy enough in here already."

"Oh that reminds me," said Tanjiro as he turned to Genya, "sorry about the commotion ear-CRAAAAAASH!" The peace and quiet of the room was shattered along with the window as Inosuke came crashing into the room. Unsurprisingly this got a panicked shout from Gotou who'd been sitting quietly up to this point.

"AAAAGGGGHHH, Inosuke!" Exclaimed Tanjiro who was pretty surprised himself, "why'd you break the window?!"

"You should know that Lady Kochou is gonna kill you dumbass!" Exclaimed the Kakushi as he knocked Inosuke in the head. But the Boar Fighter barely seemed to notice as he raised his hands in the air with glass still falling off of him.

"Yes, stronger, stronger, STRONGER!" cheered Inosuke, "I just heard we're gonna have a super hard training session now! Lots of strong people are coming together to train us, and some other stuff!"

"Okay so we're getting a new training regimen," said Subaru, "do you know what exactly it is, what we'll be doing and who's gonna be running it?"

"No clue at all!" Replied Inosuke loudly as he crossed his arms in confidence. 'That figures,' thought Subaru with a sigh. He wouldn't have to wait long to find out, though, and he'd also find that his training would have one or two differences in comparison to the others. The training with the Hashiras, or 'Pillar Training', was about to begin.

And so the time for rest has come to an end for our fellow slayers as a new kind of training is set to begin! As for how long it took Zenitsu to get down from that tree, well, let's just say he made it in time for dinner. And despite the lack of action in this chapter, I hope you all enjoyed it and as always feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters. Be sure to stop in next time as the Pillar training commences, and a few familiar faces show up to aid in it. 'Til then.