Meeting Urokodaki-san
Tanjiro leaned his back on the cave's wall behind him. His ruby red eyes glanced at the entrance of the cave that was centimetres away from his right. He let out a sigh, seeing multiple raindrops crashing to the ground. He then glanced at his skin and saw red marks littering all over them.
It was itchy, he tried his best to hold himself down, so the rashes on his skin will not get worse. He was really glad that they were slowly disappearing.
At the corner of his eyes, he glanced at a small girl snuggled up on a makeshift mat made of leaves. Stretching out his arms, he proceeds on weaving the basket that he will be using as Nezuko's transportation.
'I promise that I'll turn you back to human, Nezuko.'
"..."
'They said that Mt Sagiri is past that mountain… we're getting close. ' The red haired boy thought, as he walked. He fixed the straps that was attached to the basket he was carrying behind his back. He then placed his white mask over his face to block out the sun's harsh rays.
He hissed a little bit, feeling the rashes already forming on the uncovered part of his body. Tanjiro was glad that he had found this long blouse kimono and his long black pants in a trash bin.
His nose twitched, picking up the scent of blood. Curious, Tanjiro turned his body towards to the direction of the smell. He stopped when he was face to face with a beaten up deer. The animal was just laying there, losing hope and the only sound Tanjiro heard was his stomach.
Even if he was in front of the animal, it didn't made no such move to escape.
The young boy clapped his hand, as he prayed for the deer's soul to rest in peace before plunging his hand straight down to its neck.
"..."
Night finally came and Tanjiro decided to let Nezuko out of her basket. She was cooped in there for a long time, so it will be nice for her to stretch out her legs. In a distance, the young boy saw a small temple with a candle light flickering inside the building.
He then stopped when his nose picked up the familiar smell of—"Blood." He whispered, his eyes narrowing, as he proceeds to run. Behind him, Nezuko followed his lead.
This is bad...
There is a possibility that Nezuko might not resist her hunger.
Tanjiro made it to the door and when he slid it open, he was met with a demon devouring two people. "What the hell?" The demon screamed at him, "This is my turf." It wasn't a person hovering over one of the bodies. "If you break into my territory, I'll make you pay!"
The young boy slowly dropped his shoulder to slid off the strap attached to his basket. Using the demon's shock, Tanjiro moved his hand towards his hatchet that was behind his back.
"There's something off about you two." The demon said, as it licked the blood on his fingers. "Are you both humans?" The man eating creature asked, as he stood up.
Tanjiro didn't chose to reply. He grasped the handle tightly, as he formed a small stance. He bend his legs a little bit, waiting for the demon to attack first before making a move.
With a blow of the wind, the candle was blown off and the demon took that as his cue to lunge in the attack. Tanjiro gritted his teeth, using the momentum in the demon's straightforward drive. The young boy quickly changed their position and it was the demon who crashed on the ground with the boy on top of it.
His hatchet was already in his right hand and he quickly brought it down to the demon's neck. But the demon caught his wrist while the other demon's hand was locked in a pushing battle with Tanjiro's other hand. Both individual used brute strength to pushed each other and the demon had quickly overpowered him.
The monster pushed himself up and pushed the boy down to the ground. The demon was about to take a bite out of the boy when Tanjiro intercepted its mouth with the blade of his hatchet.
The two fought for dominance, pushing at each other until one finally budge. Blood spilled down from the sliced mouth of the demon where the blade of Tanjiro's hatchet was.
The boy resisted the urge to lick the blood spluttered on his own face.
Tanjiro was about to kick the demon on the stomach when the head flew off. The boy released a sigh of relief when he saw his sister standing a few centimetres away from him. Her arms were wide open, as she tries to protect him once again.
He pushed off the body, but remembered that it wasn't really dead yet. His reflexes kicked in and Tanjiro quickly turned around to punch the head coming towards him. With quick thinking, Tanjiro swung his hatchet to the demon's mouth and deeply embedded the blade on a tree.
The head struggled to escape, but he only hang there on the tree with Tanjiro's hatchet stabbed trough his mouth.
The boy then turned his body to the demon's decapitated body. The demon's body twitched a little bit before standing up to tackle him, but Nezuko quickly kicked it away. Tanjiro eyes watched the body flew off to the cliffsides before disappearing from his sight.
He walked towards the body and pulled out a small hunting knife from his waist. Tanjiro took a huge breath, as he remembered his father's word.
"Breathe, Tanjiro." He opened his eyes and he watched as the small knife went ablaze with fire.
Tanjiro remembered the time he almost died in the hands of a demon. It was a year ago and he remembered it clearly because something awoken in his body and a flash back of his father appeared in his mind.
Back in the real world. Tanjiro swiftly slashed the demon's face horizontally and he saw the demon's eyes widening when the cut didn't heal. The boy stared at the knife in his hand with disappointment, "Not deep enough." He clicked his tongue and was about to slice it again when he noticed the sun rising up.
The boy only watched the sunlight hit the demon's face and it slowly turned into dust. Suddenly, he felt a presence behind him and his nose picked up a scent. He turned his head slightly to look behind his shoulders, only to find nobody was there.
"Judging by how you fought the demon, I feel like you already have experience in demon slaying." He heard a voice besides him, making Tanjiro snapped his head to his right. He gaped at the man who appeared out of nowhere, 'Wha—how?'
The man wore a blue kimono with gray pants. But, what Tanjiro finds surprising was the red tengu mask that the old man was wearing. The young boy didn't know what kind of expression the man is hiding behind his mask. But, somehow Tanjiro finds the man's scent familiar.
The stranger stared down at him, "Well, you did held your ground with Giyuu." He chuckled and Tanjiro realized who the old man is.
"Are you Urokodaki-san?" He asked and the man nodded in response.
The old man turned his back towards to the boy wearing hanafudda earrings, "I'm Urokodaki Sakonji." The man introduced himself. "I'm assuming you're the one Tomioka Giyu sent my way."
"Y-yes!" Tanjiro answered, standing straight. "My name is Kamado Tanjiro! My sister's name is Nezuko, and—"
Before he could proceed his sentence, the man cuts him off. Tanjiro." Urokodaki interrupted calmly. "What will you do when your sister devours a human?"
The Kamado could only stare, his brain processing the question. He knew that there will be a possibility that his sister might not resist her urges...
He knew demons need human flesh to survive and to get said human flesh. The demons must kill their preys. He knows that, but he doesn't want his sister to die.
So...
"I'll ki-kill her—" He answered with a stutter, his voice trembling. "Then, I'll kill myself."
Tanjiro hardened his stare at the man while he slowly walk towards the temple were Nezuko ran off to. He passed by the man who didn't bother to stop or speak to him. When he entered the temple, he saw that Nezuko was already inside the basket.
A small smile appeared on his face and Tanjiro covered up the basket. He slung it back on his back and he was surprised to see the old man digging up the ground.
The old man have noticed him, but he chose to continue on his work. "Hey, Tanjiro." He called out, "Help me carry the bodies."
The young boy nodded and he went on to do his task that was given to him.
When they were done, the old man turned his back to Tanjiro once again. "All right, now I'm going to test you to see if you're fit to become a member of the Demon Slayer Corps." Urokodaki-san stated and even from behind the old man's mask, Tanjiro could fell the intensity in the old man's eyes. "Carry your sister on your back and follow me!"
"..."
Tanjiro had kept up with the man who seems fast for his age. He wonders if the old man was really old, 'By his smell alone, I can sense that he's strong.' He thought and determination came over him, 'If he trained me then I might—'
He noticed that the sun was almost setting by the time they made it to their destination, a small house at the foot of Mt. Sagiri. Urokodaki-san looked perfectly fine, as he walked towards the house to open the door while Tanjiro on the other hand panted slightly for air.
He followed him in the house and he rolled both of his shoulders when he removed the basket containing Nezuko on his back.
'This old man—' He stared at the back of the old man who didn't looked tired at all. Tanjiro watched Urokodaki-san take off his scarf and his eyes caught strands of white hair, confirming that he was an old man.
"The test starts now, we're going to climb the mountain." He bluntly told him and Tanjiro stared at the old man with a shock stare. The boy knew that the test hasn't started yet. He knew that the man was tiring him first before proceeding to the real test.
He let out a sigh, carrying the basket to the living room and taking out Nezuko from it. He laid his sister on a futon the Urokodaki-san laid out; however, while fixing Nezuko, something caught his eyes and his red orbs sighted many masks that looks similar to his own mask that were hanging on the wall.
Tanjiro stood up to inspect them and both his hands rose up. His right hand reached the one on the wall while his left hand reached towards his own mask that was on the side of his forehead.
His finger froze when he heard a cough behind him. Tanjiro turned his head slightly to see his possible to be soon mentor.
Thinking that the old man was getting impatient. Tanjiro got up to follow the old man out of the house. They walked for hours up the mountain and Tanjiro felt the oxygen getting lesser as they go up.
When they reached the summit, beads of sweat fell down from his face. He glanced up at the old man who was still quiet throughout their trip. Minutes later, Urokodaki-san stopped walking a few steps in front of Tanjiro and turned around.
"Now, from here, go back down to the house at the foot of the mountain." He declared and Tanjiro felt more sweat dripping down from his face. He felt like there will be something more on his way down to his house.
"This time, I'm not going to wait until daybreak!" Leaving those words behind, he seemingly blended in with the mist and disappeared from sight.
Tanjiro's eyes sparkled from that, 'That was cool.'
Standing straight, he scanned his surrounding. When he thought that he was all alone, Tanjiro pulled up his sleeves and he let out a sigh when he saw red rashes littering his skin. He scratched the red spots a little bit before stopping when he saw red blood on his nails.
He knew they will heal, but he finds it tiring to always have rashes whenever his under the sun. With blank eyes, he slowly watched the red spots disappearing from his body. There were still few rashes on his skin, but he decided to ignore it and searched around his surroundings.
His nose sniffed the air and he picked up the path of Urokodaki-san's scent. The young boy begun running and he cursed when he accidentally tripped on something, 'Despite having good eyesights. My eyes aren't good enough to spot all the details.' His eyes widened when a strong smell of lumber was quickly going towards him. He bended his legs and flipped up.
Under him, he saw two logs passing one another. His foot landed on one of the swinging logs and he quickly used it like a spring board to jump on a tree branch. He narrowed his eyes at the swinging logs, but he let out a yelp when arrows passed by him. One arrow even grazed the sleeves of his kimono shirt.
To dodge an arrow coming his way, he backflipped back towards the ground and that's when he heard a cracking sound under him. He was about to jumped up when it was too late. He gritted his teeth at the pain on his back when he fell in the hole. Tanjiro quickly got up, only to be thrown more rocks at him.
The boy gritted his teeth and pulled out his hatchet to deflect all the rock thrown at him while pushing forward. He felt his vision spinning a little bit and he almost stumbled forward when he stomped his foot forward. The strength he used in that stomp was very strong and it send jitters throughout his body.
He snapped back to his senses, as he tried to keep his breathing in check. He remembered the way his lungs breathed whenever he would ran a long distance at a high speed. Back then he would be short of breath, but his body adapted a breathing technique to sustain his stamina.
Taking a huge breath he took the air that traveled in his body trough his stomach. He then pursed his lips and exhaled forcefully. The sensation he felt while doing this felt strange at first, but minutes after, he got used to it and he is now dodging arrows and rocks thrown at him while also deflecting them with his hatchet.
His nose picked up the traps around him, but he couldn't prevent triggering them since his eyes couldn't see the ropes or wires that activates the traps.
Running down the mountain and dodging death, he receives cuts and small bruises on his body. Despite his good reflexes, he never experienced doing something like this, so that's why the traps are literally killing him.
He felt his lungs becoming full of air and Tanjiro knew minutes later. His respiratory system is about to explode and he knew that he had to move quick. 'I will definitely make it back!' He shouted in his head.
Determination were showed in his eyes, as he dodge a large log swinging towards him. However, he didn't notice the bent bamboo tree and loop of rope on the ground.
'I think I' m gonna—' He couldn't finished his thoughts when he let out a scream. He was catapulted into the air and was hit by one of the swinging logs in the guts.
He coughed up blood, "O-ow..."
"..."
When the small house of Urokodaki was in his line of sight, Tanjiro quickly picked up his pace. With a large smile, he slid open the door and walk slowly to the living room where he saw the old man taking care of his sister.
His now mentor turned towards him and Tanjiro could feel the shock behind the old man's mask.
The older Kamado was a mess, his clothes had dirt all over them, his face was covered with bruises, his breathing was shallow and he was bleeding from a cut on his forehead. Tanjiro knew that he had some cuts on his arms, but he already felt them stitching up on their own.
"I…" He begun, panting slightly. "…have… returned…" That was the only thing he said before collapsing against the frame of the door. His whole world went black for a second before returning again.
Tanjiro saw the old man stood up and he helped the boy up. Now, his back was leaning on the wall and his red eyes were staring at the man in front of him.
Urokodaki-san reached up a hand towards his hair, "You did a good job passing." He sincerely told him, "Now rest."
A yawn escape from Tanjiro's mouth and before he knew it. His whole world turned black and he was now fast asleep.