I got animal crossing and I've been playing it instead of fate. Now I gotta zoom to keep on top of the event. Farming for days. Also my sibling and their fiancee's birthdays were yesterday, so I held off on posting.

Guts and toes: Maybe.

Guest: Momiji certainly will not be appearing, since I don't have a fantastic grasp on her character— from what I can tell outside of her human form, she's a bit like a dog? A T-Rex dog. Like Rex from Night at the Museum!— and such, but I'm not saying a word on our two favorite Oni.

M2R: Thank you.

"Close, but you'll have to try again!"

Musashi's movements were confident and precise as she adjusted the two practice bokken that Kocho had given her. Kyojuro was still banned from training aside from correcting from the sidelines, which meant that if the boys wanted to be trained, they'd have to vie for Musashi's attention.

Of course, the only way to gain Musashi's favor seemed to be her method of 'whoever hits me first or impresses me enough goes first'. Which was exactly what was going on.

Musashi easily ducked out of the way of Inosuke's wild swings before she blocked Zenitsu and Tanjirou. Senjuro, though rusty with his swordsmanship, had managed to come closer this time than the others— but she wasn't willing to bend just yet.

All four of the boys had descended on her when she was walking around, but she had simply dodged and avoided them until Kyojuro happily tossed her the bokken she had been using the previous days. The Void Pillar dropped to the ground to avoid Senjuro's attack before she rolled, causing Inosuke and Tanjirou to collide. Standing, she turned, taking off again and leaving the four to scramble after her.

She leaped over Naho, Sumi, and Kiyo, making them squeal and giggle as she waved. The three waved back, but by then, she had already vanished around the corner. Moving quickly, she dodged a strike from above from Tanjirou, grinning as she spun and blocked a strike at her blind spot from Inosuke and a second one at her back from Zenitsu. Tanjirou and Senjuro attacked next, but she broke from the blocks that the two other boys had forced her into. She leaped up, avoiding strikes from below from the two before she quickly dodged a bokken that had been javelin-thrown at her.

She landed in a roll, crouching and glancing around before she brought her swords up to block a strike from above. Red and yellow entered her view— but it wasn't Senjuro.

"All I have to do is land a single strike, correct?"

"To think that the old man would join in on the boys' fun," Musashi said, bracing against Shinjuro's bokken that bore down against her own. She grit her teeth before she pushed up, breaking away from the strike and leaping back. She blocked another attack from Inosuke, who seemed even more fired up at the idea of a new, fifth person appearing to steal his chances away from fighting a strong opponent. Senjuro quickly followed up with his own attack, also seeming riled up at the idea of loosing to his father.

Musashi dodged out of the way, her grin never faltering as she kicked the boy's legs out from under him before turning and blocking a First Style strike from Tanjirou that was aimed at her blindspot.

"Oh my, things are quite lively here," Kocho hummed as she walked past, making Musashi glance over as she dodged Zenitsu. "I might have Kanao and Aoi join you all."

"Please, don't," Musashi huffed as she parried a strike from Shinjuro. "Kyojuro's already on the verge of jumping in and I will kill you, Shinobou, if you have your girls turn this into an eight on one fight."

The Insect Pillar just laughed as she left the garden. The Void Pillar leaped up, avoiding a strike from below from one of the boys before she struck Shinjuro's sword down with one of hers. She blocked Senjuro with her other, letting out an annoyed huff.

"Old man, why are you even in this too? Aren't you retired?" she asked as she leaped away, panting a bit. The former Flame Pillar just yawned as he stood back, watching as the four boys attacked Musashi again.

"I was bored," he said after a moment.

"You're an asshole is what you are!'

"Oh wow! Looking lively!" Kyojuro called from the engawa as he walked out, sitting down. Musashi grunted, parrying a strike from Zenitsu before she twisted her body to avoid Inosuke.

Shinjuro struck at that moment, using First Style to make his strike stronger against her own. She grimaced, but dove to the side after a moment and rolled back to her feet. Musashi blocked Inosuke again, keeping tabs on the four others as she pressed back against him. She adjusted her footing, ducking down in time for Tanjirou to accidentally hit Inosuke instead of her before she sent both boys flying back into Zenitsu. Senjuro came at her with his father, the elder Rengoku watching carefully as she deflected the boy's blows before he struck fast. The boys seemed awed at how fast Musashi and Shinjuro fought, though without fail, the swordswoman was still able to shake the man off with what looked to be relative ease.

"Looks like age and drink have gotten to ya, old man," she said as she disarmed him. Shinjuro only raised an eyebrow before Senjuro leaped over his father, bringing his sword down. She slashed upwards with one of her bokken and clashed with Senjuro's before she brought her other one down on it. There was a sharp cracking noise before the boy's training sword splintered.

It was in that moment when a fist came flying at Musashi's face, and though she barely dodged, Musashi had decided who the first to train was for the day.

She dropped her bokken, reaching up and grasping the youngest Rengoku's wrist and flipped him over.

"Senjuro's first!" she announced, making the boy gasp from where he had hit the ground. Zenitsu groaned as Tanjirou sighed, rubbing his neck. Inosuke growled, but the three others knew better than to argue with the woman's judgment. Shinjuro just rested his own bokken on his shoulder as Tanjirou handed Senjuro his.

The three boys and former Flame Pillar moved out of the way, Inosuke and Zenitsu running off to do who knows what, but Tanjirou sat down next to Kyojuro. Shinjuro moved to the engawa but didn't sit, instead, leaning up against one of the support beams to watch.

Clambering to his feet, Senjuro brushed his hakama off before he held the bokken out in front of him.

"We'll pick up where we left off last time," Musashi said, "You've been practicing your Full Focus Breaths and know the basics of Flame Breathing, but as we found out, you're not as suited for it as your old man and Kyojuro are."

The boy nodded and she continued. "Last time we worked with helping you develop a style that would work best with Flame Breathing's basics, much like Kanroji's Love Breathing and my own Flame Void Style. But unlike the two of us, your physiology is relatively normal, but you have the unique ability to adapt. You're no protege with the sword, but you're much more observant than you give yourself credit for." She raised her bokken, grinning. "We'll be sparring again today. Come at me with anything and everything you have."

"R-right!" the boy said before launching forwards.

(x)

The next few weeks proceeded in the same fashion as the prior two when it came to training with Musashi. She was observant, taking note of how the boys moved, how they breathed, and then she used her own strategy to further the boys along.

Senjuro's confidence with a sword had built up to the point where he was sure that he finally had the skills to change the color of his sword if he so wished to. Zenitsu, while still deathly afraid of demons, was working on improving his speed even more, along with formulating another style— though that was proving to be difficult.

Inosuke was becoming proficient in learning Niten Ichi-Ryuu but Musashi had learned that the boy learned by watching rather than being instructed— if he wanted training, he would sit and watch the others. It turned out that he just liked to fight Musashi when the others were too, instead of aiming for a slot to get trained.

Tanjirou was another matter. While she worked with him on his form, it was Kyojuro who was instructing him for the most part. He had a better grasp on Dance of the Fire God than she did, even if neither he nor the former Flame Pillar knew what the hell it was.

And then when it came time for Kyojuro's own recovery training, that's when true chaos broke loose.

After Kocho and the other girls got him up to tip-top shape, Kyojuro had instantly challenged Musashi to a fight.

Shinjuro had, for the first time in a long time, laughed outright when the two had finished their fight.

The intensity of the spar had been enough to land both of them back in Kocho's care, much to the Insect Pillar's irritation. A patch of scorched earth remained in the Estate's garden from the aftermath as well. Aoi nearly killed the two herself.

The boys had certainly gotten stronger when it was time for the Flame Pillar and Void Pillar to leave, Kyojuro asking his father to lay off the sake and assuring him and Senjuro he'd be back before they knew it. Musashi had been glad that the past month and a half had allowed the family to fix and adjust their relationship. At least a bit, that was.

Shinjuro was still a heavy drinker, that was probably not going to change unless he dropped alcohol entirely, and he certainly wasn't a warm and welcoming man, but he had stopped striking Senjuro. Killing an Upper Moon tended to change people's outlook, she supposed as she and Kyojuro headed towards their destination.

A number of disappearances had been noted of in a village to the east and it was the perfect back-on-your-feet kind of job for Kyojuro. He was still getting used to not having a left eye, but if Musashi learned by being thrown headfirst into life or death battles when she first lost hers then what better way to learn, right?

"Senjuro's gettin' pretty powerful, hm?" Musashi asked as they walked, her arms behind her head. She had ditched her haori in favor of another variant of her own attire since the weather was warming up. Kyojuro hummed and nodded, a proud smile on his face. The Flame Pillar donned a simple, black eyepatch in contrast to her kiku gata shaped one.

They certainly made an interesting pair with their missing (or in Musashi's case, damaged) eyes.

"Yep! All thanks to you!" Kyojuro said and she chuckled.

"Maybe, I think he's always had it in him, though," she said, stretching. "Good thing that Kamado Kid's always willing to help everyone."

Kyojuro laughed, nodding with his arms crossed across his stomach. "You're right! He'll make a fine Demon Slayer!"

"Think he'll overtake the rest of us one day?"

"Most certainly!"

Musashi chuckled, dropping her arms back to her side as the two of them continued on. The past month and a half had been nice, but she knew better than to dwell on it for too long. Duty always calls, after all.

She blinked, feeling rough fingers brush against hers. She shifted her hand, intertwining her fingers with Kyojuro's as she smiled, a soft blush settled on her cheeks.

"Fight together, die together," she murmured suddenly, making Kyojuro look over with his head tilted.

"Hm?"

She startled, laughing a bit. "Sorry, it's just something that came to me suddenly. 'Fight together, die together', is all that I said."

He blinked at that before he laughed a bit.

"I like that!" he declared, squeezing her hand. "Fight together, die together!"

He laughed again, head thrown back as they walked. She smiled before laughing a bit herself, shaking her head.

Fight Together, Die Together.

She could live with that.

A bit of fluff at the end, plus some training with the boys and some fun with Shinjuro. I wanted to expand on the Kyojuro vs Musashi recovery fight a bit more, but I think that might be in a bonus chapter instead.

Once again, we are hurtling towards each arc with long gaps between. I find it hard to fill these gaps with more missions, especially when the OG timeline follows Tanjirou but Musashi isn't there. Time skips and all that, but there will be a few chapters before the Pillar Training arc. Unfortunately, Musashi will not be in the Red Light District Arc nor will she be in the Smith Village arc. In my personal opinion, even though Kyojuro's death was a very important character-building moment for Tanjirou, the Smith Village had a lot more (between Muichirou and Genya joining the Friends Crew, and Mitsuri and Tokito's introduction to the Marks) within it that relies heavily on the fact that it was that exact number of people there. The Red Light arc is being skipped because Musashi has a different job she has to deal with— which will be seen in a few chapters.