walk steady on this cruel world's path

By: Aviantei

[Shibuya Operation – Story Storm]

Part Two:

"More Clouds Cover the Horizon"

As expected, me pulling off my first successful (albeit very uncontrolled) Thunder Breathing technique brought several new pains to my life.

Most of all, Kaigaku bothered me even more for practice matches, to the point that I had to limit them to once a day and only five days a week. Keeping up with him was turning into a fulltime job of its own, and I needed some rest, or otherwise I'd snap—which I didn't feel like doing in the slightest.

Too bad for me that my increased training from Sensei was another fulltime job on its own. Every day I walked through more Total Concentration breathing exercises so I could perform them on purpose, rather than on accident. When I wasn't doing that, I was learning the forms for the actual Thunder Breathing techniques, and doing them over and over to make the motions subconscious was beyond draining. When I thought I couldn't move anymore, it was back to burning basic sword forms into my body, this time with the weight of a live blade instead of a bokuto.

As Sensei liked to remind me, a demon wouldn't care if I felt exhausted. In fact, it would be more than glad to turn me into a snack then and there. So, learning how to fight even when my body was screaming at me was an essential skill.

But I'd be lying if I said I didn't improve. The more I pushed myself, the more my body got used to it. The more I breathed, the longer I could maintain and pull off the techniques. Though I wouldn't call what I could do masterful by any means, I worked the motions for the Thunder Breathing forms into my body one day at a time.

Life became a (beyond tiring) routine of training, meals, cleaning our home, fighting off Kaigaku's insistence on more practice matches, and snatching rest whenever I could. The months passed, and winter soon melted into spring, complete with a showing from the cherry blossoms and all. Slow and steady, I improved under Sensei's guidance, and Kaigaku began his own practice with the Thunder Breathing forms, though he had trouble with the first, the Hekireki Issen.

And then Sensei picked up his third apprentice.

The arrival of the newest apprentice was done with as little ceremony as when I and Kaigaku had arrived. On one of our rare off days from training (rest was an important part of building muscle, even if Kaigaku had no idea whatsoever how to chill), Sensei went out to town. I had a little bit of spending money from my allowance, so I went, too, though I didn't stick with Sensei. I respected him as a sword wielder and my teacher, but I needed time to myself now and then. So I relaxed, bought myself some treats, and enjoyed the architecture and the beautiful spring weather before I headed back.

I arrived home to screaming.

"You want me to train to fight demons?! No way, no way, I'll die! Plus I gotta live in the same place as this scary guy?! I'd rather go back to being in debt than have to go through this sort of thing!"

"Hey, who are you calling scary, you coward!"

"You! You're obviously terrifying!"

Maybe…I can just sneak into my room? I ate in town, so I'll do okay without dinner. Whatever's going on over there will not be a peaceful end to my day off, no it won't.

Of course, I'd just be delaying the inevitable. If Sensei had brought someone else here to learn Thunder Breathing, they were going to learn Thunder Breathing, no matter how much they screamed about it. So I sighed, put my sandals into their designated spot, and made my way towards the voices. It wasn't long before I made it to one of the sitting rooms, where two loudmouths were bickering with everything they had.

One of them was, as expected, Kaigaku, who seemed beyond fed up. The other was another kid with black hair, though it was less messy than Kaigaku's. They still had some dirt on their cheeks and their green haori looked dusty, so they hadn't gotten a chance to get in the bath yet. I suspected that, maybe, just maybe, that had to do with the fact that they were screaming about not wanting anything to do with this. I shared a look with Sensei, who was watching the whole exchange with no intent of pulling his new catch from this mess.

Using Total Concentration to keep my steps soundless so as not to attract attention, I made my way to Sensei, where I bowed before sitting beside him. "Where'd you find this one?"

"Some woman made him pick up her debt. I paid it off in exchange for him participating in training."

"Ah." There wasn't much else to say to that. If Sensei wanted students to carry on his Breathing Style and he thought this kid could handle it, then that's how it was. As the pupil, I just needed to accept what was going on—including the fact that I wasn't going to get a moment of peace in my life again if arguments and screaming ended up the norm. "If you're that scared," I said, raising my voice just enough to be audible in a gap of the shouting, "you don't need to worry. Sensei decided to train you because he thought you could handle it. That's that."

By some miracle, the screaming stopped. Kaigaku still looked pissed off, but that had been his usual ever since I met him. Pissed off at training, pissed off at me for not sparring with him twenty times a day, pissed at his own lack of progress in comparison though I had a full six months of a head start on him—the list went on and on. The other kid blinked, tears spilling from his eyes and snot dripping from his nose, as if he needed a moment to recognize that I was present, let alone what I had said. And then all that panic melted away into an almost dreamy smile that looked beyond ridiculous with his face still a mess.

"Wait, what's this? I get to train with a pretty girl? Jī-chan, you never mentioned anything like this; I'm in—"

"Bold of you to assume I'm a girl." There was dead silence for a moment, and I added before the kid could even open his mouth again, "I'm not a boy, either."

To be fair, I didn't have an issue with being seen as more feminine, nor did I have a problem with being seen as more masculine. But getting notched into one or the other made my skin crawl in a super uncomfortable way, so I wasn't about to let this newest kōhai of mine get stuck in doing that. I was already lucky that Sensei didn't give a damn, so long as I could swing a sword, and Kaigaku cared even less, since I was more of a checkpoint for him to test his skill against than a person.

So don't make this any harder than this needs to be, Kid.

And so I got into a staring contest with my newest kōhai. In contrast to his dark hair, his eyes were a surprisingly light color, closer to a golden honey yellow than anything else. It figured that I'd ended up with a normal dark brown for both my hair and eyes in comparison, but I was fine with not standing out. Bit by bit, I could see the kid assessing my hair pulled back into a long braid and looking for any signs of curves under the triangle-patterned, lilac haori Sensei had gifted me to help him make sense of what I was saying. Fantasy Taishō Era or not, bias existed everywhere. After about a half minute, the kid gave his assessment:

"I don't get it."

Patience for the people raised in ignorance, Rairi, patience for the people raised in ignorance. It wasn't anyone in this era's fault that they didn't know, it wasn't, but I wouldn't be lying if I said it was exhausting to deal with. And while I might have just let it go if this kid was a random passerby, I wasn't about to put up with it from someone I was now housemates with.

"This is gonna take a while, Kid," I said with a sigh. "Now listen real good…"

Praise be that, one lecture later, the kid—whose name was Agatsuma Zenitsu—seemed to get it. Or, if nothing else, he understood that this was a topic that wasn't worth arguing with me about. I got the feeling that the sword strapped to my waist kind of made him scared off protesting, which wasn't the best way I wanted to start things out, but at least I wasn't going to deal with any intentional misgendering or anything.

Good enough.

Training on the other hand. Training became an…interesting experience.

"No way, no way, no way! It's impossible! I'm outta hereeee!"

Making sure not to interrupt my Breathing technique, I flicked my eyes over to where Zenitsu was trying to make a run for it—again. Every day (and sometimes even more often than that) he'd come up with some reason to try and bolt before sprinting off. It seemed that he was a natural scaredy cat. The first day he'd gone through training, he'd gone on some rant about cutting himself with a sword, though he'd been holding a bokuto, and it just continued from there. Well, his frequent outbursts made for an excellent practice in concentration, I supposed.

Zenitsu was a yellow blur as he sprinted away towards the hills, the color of his new haori bright under the sunlight. Aside from the hue, the garment was the same pattern as Sensei's and mine. Kaigaku had also been offered a matching haori, but he only ever wore a black kimono with a blue obi around the waist, kept open in the front when the weather allowed for it, showing off the refined muscle underneath.

"Rairi," Sensei said, indicating that it was my turn to run recovery. Sucking in another breath, I adjusted my stance and exhaled.

"Kaminari no Kokyū—Ichi no Kata: Hekireki Issen."

Thunder Breathing, as a style, focused a lot on the legs. When executing the forms, each stride gained a significant amount of power. Much like the lightning that our style was based on, strikes and motions with Thunder Breathing were fast, and they seemed to last for just a second. With the first form, the Hekireki Issen, covering long distances was a snap, and I caught up to Zenitsu with electricity crackling behind me. In combat, you'd finish the form with a quick strike at the opponent, but I was pretty sure Sensei wasn't frustrated enough for me to cut my newest kōhai in half just yet, so I kept my sword in its scabbard and instead snapped out my arm to grab onto Zenitsu's haori.

Zenitsu yelped, and I planted my feet on the ground to skid to a stop. "Come on!" he shouted, that same undeniable whine in his voice as the last twenty times I'd had to drag him back to training. "You don't get it! If I keep this up, I'm gonna die! It's too much, Senpaiii!"

"I think, as your senpai, I know whether or not this is too much," I said, tugging Zenitsu along behind me. He sure knew how to struggle, but I put my built-up strength to use and kept gaining ground. "Besides, trust me, if Sensei wanted you dead, you wouldn't be screaming right now."

"Huh? Was that supposed to be encouraging? You kinda suck at this."

"Lis-ten," I said, the growl in my voice making Zenitsu yelp again, fresh tears spilling over and out of his eyes. Ah, damn, I didn't mean to make him cry. I exhaled, marching forward with a clear view of Kaigaku's very irritated expression as he made a fresh attempt at replicating the Hekireki Issen, though his footing was off. "I've never had to be a senpai before—" since I was from a culture that didn't have that kind of custom engrained in it "—so apologies if I suck. But I promise you: Sensei won't put you through anything you can't handle.

"Oh, yeah, it'll hurt like hell, and you'll end up exhausted. But if you keep at it, you'll get better and better, and that's all he'll ask for. I survived it, though I got knocked around for my mistakes more than once. So you can do it, too, Zenitsu."

For a moment, there was silence from the body I was dragging along behind me. "You had trouble when you first started, too, Senpai?" he asked, like he didn't believe it was possible.

"Duh. I'd never held a sword before, and I didn't have any reason to do hard work." My family had taken care of me, and the most I'd had to do was take care of the pets and wash some dishes—which I'd complained about with all the petulance of a well-off teenager. Hop back nine months and talk to the me then, and they'd have never believed everything I was getting up to now. "So I was fucking awful at first. But I kept going, and here I am, because Sensei—"

I would have never brought you here and given you that name if I thought you didn't have the ability to live up to it, Rairi.

"—is a surprisingly good judge of potential."

I hoped that the following pause was Zenitsu thinking things through. I'd made it a few more paces before there was a tug, and his haori slipped out of my grip. I whirled around, sucking in a breath to chase after him again if necessary, but Zenitsu had pulled himself to his feet, and those honey yellow eyes were staring at me with a light shining in them that was way more determined than usual.

"I-I can't guarantee I'll be any good at it," he said, his body trembling, "but i-if you and Jī-chan think I can—" I nodded, giving him positive reassurance "—then I'll try. N-not that I can't guarantee I won't run away, but—!"

"If you come back and try again, that's what matters most, Zenitsu." He didn't look one-hundred percent convinced, but he didn't argue, so I slung my arm around his shoulder. "Besides, if you wanna whine and bitch about it, you can always come to me, yeah? I'll hear you out like a good senpai and everything."

And, with Zenitsu taking the first step, we ambled our way back towards Sensei and Kaigaku, where training resumed once more.

Zenitsu hadn't been lying when he said he couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't run away, because, damn, did that kid run. He had a knack for it, and, once he started to get a grasp on the basics of Total Concentration—hoo boy. Chasing after him started to be challenging, and it wasn't all that surprising to find him crawled up some tree or another in the peach orchard. Sensei scolded him, Kaigaku was far past losing his temper, and I, well, I wouldn't lie and say I never got frustrated over the whole ordeal, but I knew that yelling wouldn't do much.

So I played the role of a good senpai and listened when Zenitsu wanted to whine, gave him pep talks when I thought he needed to hear it. If nothing else, it was good exercise, trying to keep up with someone who had no qualms about blasting away at the speed of lightning whenever he couldn't take it anymore, blissful in the ignorance that if he had energy to pull the technique off he could stand up to whatever was making him run away, no problem.

I tried to explain this to him, tried to keep my patience, I swear I did. If nothing else, Zenitsu seemed to run away half as often nowadays. And, if you were persistent enough to encourage him to come back, he would. He'd whine, flop down on the ground now and again to pitch a fit or burst into tears, but he would keep going.

What was that saying? Courage wasn't never being afraid but acting when you were afraid anyways? That's the kind of impression that I got from him. For the most part, he wasn't a bad kid.

Emphasis on for the most part.

Late spring, just about to catch onto the start of summer. The weather hadn't quite heated up yet, but it was enough that everyone had switched out of their warmer clothes and into the lighter, summer options. On one of our off days from training, Zenitsu and I had both decided to head to town, so we went together. Kaigaku was, as per usual, insistent on still practicing on his own. I had no idea what Sensei was up to, but if he came back with another apprentice, I might just scream. As evidenced by the three of us, he had a penchant for picking out people that were a handful, and it was hard enough being a good senpai for two I already had without adding another to the load.

At least wait until I've survived through Final Selection, Sensei, I beg you.

"You know," Zenitsu said as he walked along the dirt path towards town, "I don't think I've ever asked you what you do on your days off, Senpai. You're usually gone before the rest of us even have breakfast."

"That's because Kaigaku used to pester me to train all the time. He can't bother me if I'm already gone." Zenitsu let out a nervous chuckle, apprehensive about the idea of bad mouthing his other senpai, even if Kaigaku wasn't around to hear. After their initial rocky impression, their relationship hadn't gotten worse, but it hadn't really gotten better, either. I shrugged, adjusting my steps to adjust my sandal back on my foot without breaking stride. "But usually I just like to wander around. Get a little peace and quiet for a change."

Zenitsu's gulp was audible. "Sorry about that, Senpai."

"Don't worry. It's not like I'm mad." I ruffled his hair, and he batted my hand away, though his expression said he didn't mind the affection whatsoever. "But if I don't get these days to recharge, I'd probably snap a lot easier." They were a nice little sanctuary. "What about you, Zenitsu? You always seem happy whenever you come back for dinner, so I guess you've found something refreshing, too."

He laughed—not a haha that's funny laugh, but a behold my magnificence laugh that was at odds with his usual panic attacks at the slightest, well, everything. He even puffed out his chest. Maybe it was because he was my kōhai, but seeing him look all cocky for once was more adorable than anything else. "Well, of course! There's nothing more refreshing than being in the presence of a cute girl—and I've found one that wants to marry me!"

Um, wasn't the reason Sensei picked him up in the first place because some girl took advantage of him? I couldn't help but think. But digging up an old wound like that probably wasn't the best, and Zenitsu could for sure use some confidence boosting, so I kept my mouth shut on the matter. Instead, I said, "So you've been courting a girl, huh?" From my perspective, Zenitsu, at two and a half years younger than me, was still just a kid, but different standards for different eras, I supposed. "Good for you. What's her name?"

Zenitsu gave a blissful smile. "I don't know!"

Now, when you train day in and day out with someone as esteemed as a former Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps (after taking so long to ask about what I was learning swordplay for, I rectified my ignorance by learning about the organization Sensei wanted me to test for, which in turn meant I understood he'd been one of the strongest Demon Slayers of his time), you gained a certain level of coordination. Hence, tripping in surprise wasn't something I did anymore—but I did come to a halt, right there in the middle of the rice paddy-surrounded road as Zenitsu skipped ahead.

"Kaminari no Kokyū—Shi no Kata: Enrai."

The fourth form of Thunder Breathing was a long-range focused attack. In general, you wouldn't release it in such close quarters as a few paces away from your target—but I did it anyways. While none of us ever left Sensei's place without our swords, I hadn't drawn it, so he didn't get the full force of the attack, but the initial motions and ensuing sparks were more than enough to knock him on his feet and make it oh so easy for me to wrap my arm around Zenitsu's neck in a chokehold.

"What do you mean you don't know her name?! That's, like, basics of basics for entering a romantic relationship. How would she even want to marry you if you don't know even that much about her?!"

"But she always smiles at me when she sees me! She's gotta be interested in me! Plus she's super pretty, too—gah! Senpai, Senpai, if you keep that up, I'm gonna choke! I'm seriously gonna dieeee—"

Patience for the people raised in ignorance, Rairi, patience for the people raised in ignorance!

I tightened my grip enough to cut off his protests, though not tight enough to strangle him. "Listen up, oh precious kōhai of mine," I said, my voice dropping to a dangerous level. Zenitsu, still in my chokehold, nodded the best he could. "We never—and I mean, never—assume someone's interest or consent. The only thing that you're allowed to act on is when someone has told you—and I mean clearly, explicitly told you that they're interested or they want you to do something. Do—you—un—der—stand—me?"

"Yes!" Zenitsu said, though, though to the pressure on his windpipe, it sounded an awful lot more like sort of connected phenomes and wheezes. "Sorry, Senpai, I won't do it again!" Good, I hadn't even had to pull a promise out of him; he did it all on his own. I bestowed upon him a noogie for his troubles before releasing him. After some adjusting, we were both sitting on the road in seiza position, though Zenitsu had his head dipped in penance. "Did I really do something that wrong?"

Dear lord, I hate the Taishō Era.

I sighed. While there was no doubt we needed to still make significant progress in my original time, being out the social advances made in the past century was still frustrating. "That depends," I said, trying to switch myself back to Patient Senpai Mode. "Have you already gone and talked to this girl about marrying you?" His eyes watery again, Zenitsu shook his head. "Then, no, you haven't done anything outright wrong yet. But I'm sure if you went up to her and started talking like she was your fiancée, she'd be super confused, and maybe even scared." Zenitsu flinched. As expected for this time period, he'd never thought of it that way—he'd never needed to think of it that way. "There's nothing wrong with liking girls and appreciating their beauty. Hell, even I see a pretty girl every now and then, and I can't help but notice. But when you just think about your feelings without ever considering theirs, then you're not giving them the respect they deserve."

Zenitsu looked very uncomfortable (the tell-tale mark of a guilty conscience), but he didn't argue with me. Just like with his gender assumptions, he was willing to listen to me, which was a good sign. I reached out to pat his shoulder. "If you think a girl is pretty, fine, but use that as an opportunity to get to know her before you even think about marrying her. You at least gotta know her name and things about her—what her personality's like, things she's interested in." Otherwise you're going to hurt someone or you're going to get played like you did before, I didn't say. Zenitsu looked up at me, and I gave him a reassuring smile. "Marriage is a commitment to enjoy spending the rest of your life with someone. Don't muck up that possible future with a bad first impression, okay?"

"Okay." He sniffed, but he had that determined glint in his eyes that usually showed up whenever he was actually in the mood to give training his all. "Can you help me, Senpai? I…don't want to screw up."

"Well, I can't guarantee you won't make mistakes," I said, pulling myself to my feet. When I offered Zenitsu my hand to help him up, he took it. "But if you're willing to learn and improve yourself, you'll get better by the day, and that's all we can really ask of ourselves."

"Kind of like sword training."

"Yup, kind of like sword training. Though I promise I'll hit you less than Sensei does." But if I ever caught him making a girl uncomfortable, he would regret it, courtesy of my Senpai Rage.

And so I added Make Sure Zenitsu Drinks His Respect Women Juice to my list of duties as his senpai.

[Author's Notes]

Ah, yes, it's Zenitsu hours. I love the kid, I really do, but there are some aspects of his character I definitely would have written differently had I made him up. But that's half the point of fanfic, right? Getting to write things in different directions?

Also allow me to offer a massive pile of thanks to patamon642, Twilight Dark Angel, Echonic, Fineapple13, LeenaPPt, ILikeFoxes828, Chronic Guardian, BeholdThatMan, Tora3, EeveeGen9988, SoSaysL, lisabeth-arendhel, Tyalva1, Penguin Thing, arwasamir1999, Punk Trash Noiz, Yasha2522, WeebneedsLemons, Hiding in Plain, Raikiri's Edge, Diamon D' Natsuki, Dani-Illyria27, Yuliy Hekmatayar, Villanous Infamous Anne Bonny, and Grimlock987 for the favorites, follows, and reviews! I don't think I've ever had a first chapter that's been received so well, so I'm a little overwhelmed, but absolutely grateful all the same. Thanks so much for your support, and feel free to reach out to me to share your thoughts on the story! I'd love to hear them.

Anywho, the concept for this story actually started with the series of thoughts of "Oh, Zenitsu could use someone in his life to help boost his confidence" and then "But also he needs to learn how to respect women, holy shit." - and thus Rairi was born. The second thought was a big contributor to this being an OC insert, seeing as trying to make modern values function in a historical setting isn't impossible, but also unlikely. Later, this fic also turned into "give Kaigaku more screen time and character," but more on that later. Point being, Thunder Family is quality content, and I wanted to contribute to that.

Next time: Obligatory Two Year Shōnen Time Skip (give or take a few months). Let's go kill some demons, kid. Please look forward to it!

-Avi

[01.16.2021]