^ Chapter 17 - Smile she Loved ^
Sunlight twinkled through the curtains of Shinobu's room and lit up one of her eyes, causing her to squint them and roll over slightly as she slowly woke up. A groan escaped her lips as one of her arms came up across her eyes, staying there for a few moments as she took in the silence around her. There were some bird chirps outside and she could hear the sound of her own breaths, but other than that, her room was as quiet as it could be.
As she laid there with her arm over her eyes, she thought back to when she'd be sleeping in this very room, only to be woken up by the lovely voice of the woman that she shared the Butterfly Mansion with. Her sister had always been the early riser between the two of them, so it would always be her that roused Shinobu from her sleep. With the same smile, the same words, the same way she'd open the blinds to let in the sunlight. Every day it was the same thing. And now that it had been several years since her death, she never realized how much she took those small things for granted until now.
Shinobu had loved her sister more than anyone, especially since it was the only family that she had left. The only true family. All she had left was Kanao and the other girls who lived with her in the Butterfly Mansion.
"You have to try and smile more, Nee-san~ You should know this by now, you'll never be fully dressed without it."
"Ugh…" she muttered to herself when those words entered her mind.
Shinobu finally removed her arm from over her eyes and sat up, yawning a bit while swinging her legs over the side of the bed. She enjoyed sleeping in her own bed rather than in futons, just because of the extra comfort they provided, but that didn't mean she wasn't out of touch with the world she had grown up in. It was just a commodity for her, being able to sleep in a bed, one that she ended up liking more than what she had originally.
Then something unexpected occurred in the form of several knocks being heard coming from her bedroom door. She paused with a mystified expression on her face, slowly glancing over her shoulder to see if the knocks had been real and she wasn't still half asleep. The knocking happened again, just a few light raps on the wooden face, and then silence. It confused her because she never had anyone knock on her door in the morning before, not even Aoi would do such a thing, since she would be busy cooking at that moment.
"It can't be those two in the infirmary ward, and I know it's not Aoi-san or the girls, so...it can only be…"
Shinobu picked herself up off the bed and slowly shuffled across the floor with her bare feet, eventually arriving at the door in order to open it. Standing outside of her room with his hand raised up, poised to knock again before the door was opened inward, was the fully dressed Tanjirō.
"Oh! Shinobu-san, you were up! Oh no, wait, did I wake you?" he asked as he lowered his hand and bowed his head apologetically. "I'm sorry!"
"Mm...no, you didn't, but more importantly...how'd you know where my room was? And why're you here?" Shinobu asked while rubbing her eyes a tiny bit again, standing there in the doorway in her sleeping clothes.
"Ah, well, I kind of guessed actually...I went around knocking on other doors and when nobody responded, I just kept searching until I wound up here." Tanjirō laughed a little awkwardly while he rubbed the back of his neck, giving Shinobu a rather cheesy grin as he did. He was trying to not look so much at her as well, since she was wearing a more western world style of sleeping clothes, which showed more skin than what he was used to. "Since you weren't up for breakfast yet, I thought to come and find you so you wouldn't miss it. Kanzaki-san looked like she was putting a lot of effort into cooking, after all."
Shinobu blinked a few times after she got done rubbing her eyes, her gaze remaining planted on Tanjirō. They were almost the same height, with Tanjirō being a few inches taller than her, so it wasn't too hard to look him in the eyes, and again the first thing she saw was the slit pupils of a demon. A split second later, it was the eyes of somebody who she had only just recently met, a member of the Corps who had become a Demon Slayer in order to find a cure for his sister.
He hadn't known her before their first encounter at the Wisteria home, then met her on Natagumo Mountain and could barely get one sentence out before he had fainted and collapsed onto her. Then he gets dragged to the Demon Slayer Corps' headquarters and put on a trial in front of her and the rest of the Hashira, put through the torment of Sanemi's little test to see if he and his sister would attack him, and then eventually cleared and told that he would have to maintain his promise for himself and his sister in order to prove himself to the still skeptical Hashira.
Tanjirō was able to surpass all of the odds set before him by the circumstances he had been put under, which were made even harder because of his transformation into a demon, and he still had more work to do in order to continue the trend he had started. And this is all without factoring everything that he suffered through before joining the Corps, with the deaths of his family members and the fate of his sister. He had gone through all of that, and he had every right to not trust in her fully yet because of her role in his trial.
Yet still, despite that, Tanjirō still found it was necessary to go searching for her within her home in order to make sure she was awake for breakfast. He had no idea that this was normal for her, that she'd wake up a little late and go to breakfast after Aoi had already finished and served it to herself and the other girls.
"Shinobu-san?" asked Tanjirō, waving his hand a little in front of her face because she had entered a sort of trance of sorts. "Shinobu-san, are you okay?"
"A-Ah! Yes, I'm fine!" Shinobu said suddenly, scaring Tanjirō a little bit and making him jump somewhat. "Sorry about that. I spaced out a little bit...might be slightly asleep still."
Shinobu smiled and rested her hand on the doorknob, leaning against the door as well. Tanjirō blinked, recovering from his little shock, and lowered his hands that had jumped up with him as he laughed as well.
"Just give me a minute or two to get ready, and I'll be there shortly, okay?" Shinobu said as she gently shooed Tanjirō away with her hand, smiling at him still. "Go ahead and eat something, Tanjirō-kun. I'm sure you're starved after yesterday."
"I think I'll be-" Tanjirō started to say until, almost as if on cue, his stomach growled rather loudly and he hugged it a little bit as he blushed slightly in embarrassment. "Y-Yeah...thanks…"
Shinobu giggled softly as Tanjirō walked away back down the hallway in order to return to the dining area to eat some of Aoi's breakfast, allowing Shinobu to close her room door and immediately lean against it with both hands holding the handle.
Her head fell and she stared at her own feet, feeling a strange kind of feeling enter her body. She hadn't had somebody worry or care about her in such a small thing as being present for breakfast since her older sister was around. Since then, she had to rely on herself in order to ensure she was taken care of. This feeling of somebody else worrying about her, somebody other than her sister, it was entirely foreign to her. For once in her life since her sister's death, the pure rage that she kept hidden beneath the warm smile she had crafted over the years waned and was replaced by another emotion. One that even she couldn't place her finger on.
"He has the eyes of the very demons I swore to kill upon joining the Corps...the eyes of the things that Kanae wanted to try and get along with...the eyes of the...person who was able to succeed once with that dream…" she told herself in her thoughts as she kept looking down at her feet, feeling her cheeks get a little warm. "He was so sure that it could happen, just like she was...and then came to check if I was awake even though he didn't have to...I…"
Shinobu quickly shook her head and used her hands to clap her cheeks a little to get herself back in order. She was a Hashira, she had to focus on her job as one. She couldn't waste time thinking about things like that, especially not so deeply about somebody she had only just met. Even though she told herself that though, that didn't prevent her from remembering the kindness in his eyes as she got herself dressed and cleaned up for the day.
Once she was fully clothed and she had her hair done with her favorite butterfly hairpin holding it back in a yakai-maki style, she slipped her haori on and made her way through the Butterfly Mansion to the eating room. Once there she found Tanjirō had already gone through three whole servings of food, with the three other girl occupants of the household staring in awe as he practically inhaled the fourth one with a just as baffled Aoi sitting close by. She had only managed to go through half of her food before she became mesmerized with Tanjirō eating his food so quickly with every bit of manners he still had.
"Sorry...Kanzaki-san...I was super hungry!" he apologized between taking bites so as to not talk while his mouth was full. "I might...need a...fifth!"
"Sure...and I think I'm done eating…"
"Us too…"
Aoi stood up and they handed their cleaned plates to her, so she could take them back with her's to the nearby kitchen in order to clean them. She spotted Shinobu standing in the doorway behind Tanjirō and Shinobu gave her a smile that told her everything she needed to know, before the three other girls stood up and quickly left, giggling a tiny bit as they passed by Shinobu.
She silently walked up behind Tanjirō and stood on her tip-toes a little, bending over in order to look down on him and she poked the top of his head. He froze for a brief second until he got a whiff of her scent and felt her presence, his eyes glancing up at her and the warm smile she had.
"Good morning~" she said, Tanjirō giving her a smile back as he watched her walk around to his left and sit down next to him. "So I see you're on your fourth serving of food? You were hungry~"
"U-Uh, yeah...I...I'm sorry…" apologized Tanjirō as he rubbed the back of his head, glancing away from her. "I didn't realize just how hungry I was until I started eating...it's not going to do too much for me though, since, well, you know…"
"Demons don't eat human food to sustain themselves, yes...I'm aware. But I know that you won't do that, right Tanjirō-kun?"
"Of course not! I'd never!"
Shinobu giggled with her hand over her mouth at Tanjirō's rapid and louder than necessary response back to her, which only caused him to blush a little again and lower his arm, since he had thrown it up with a finger pointed to the sky to emphasize his point.
Aoi eventually returned with two helpings of breakfast, giving Tanjirō's fifth to him and taking away the fourth plate he had picked clean, and then set Shinobu's down for her. With the nod of her head and a thank you from both Shinobu and Tanjirō, she left to return to the kitchen and continue cleaning up after everybody.
"So tell me something, Tanjirō-kun...even though you're a demon, and can recover your energy and stamina by sleeping like your sister can...you still choose to eat regular food like a human?" asked Shinobu as she picked up her eating utensils and began eating.
"Well, yeah...I know it's weird, but the answer to that question is actually pretty simple…" replied Tanjirō, laughing a little as he scratched his cheek. "I just like eating food, so I keep eating it."
"That's it?"
"That, and it helps take my mind off you know what...even though I've learned how to suppress my hunger pretty well, it's always there lingering in the back of my head. So I continue to eat regular food as an addition to what I'm already doing."
Shinobu ate another bite of her breakfast and let her smile be her answer to Tanjirō, her satisfaction with his answer written all over her face. Tanjirō smiled back at her as well, and he slowed down with his food in order to not finish before her, since he felt that he should keep her company while eating because he had been the one to go to her room in the first place.
Once they had finished eating, he stood up and immediately offered to take Shinobu's plate to Aoi, something that his very expression alone was enough to have the Hashira willingly give it up to him with a giggle. Tanjirō blushed when she called him a gentleman, and he replied that it was only the proper thing to do. Eventually they were able to leave and make their way through the mansion to the hospital side of the building with Aoi, who dressed herself in one of the nurse robes and met up with the three small girls on their way to the infirmary.
"I'll be back in a moment, Tanjirō-kun. Go ahead and visit your friends in their room, I'm sure you're excited to see them." said Shinobu with a pat on Tanjirō's back, her smile causing him to smile as well. "I just hope you remember your way there~"
"Are you kidding? Of course I do!"
"Good. See you soon~"
Tanjirō waved as Shinbou left his side to most likely go to her office, leaving him to follow after Aoi and the girls to the room where Zenitsu and Inosuke slept. Upon arriving to the open doors he walked in on a shrieking Zenitsu crying bloody murder again at the prospect of taking the apparently yucky medicine given to him. Aoi once again was tapping her foot impatiently by his bedside with her hands on her hips, frowning at the yellow-haired slayer while berating him about how this was the same thing that's happened every morning he had been there.
"You're the most severely injured, Zenitsu-san! Take your medicine this second!" she ordered Zenitsu, while Inosuke remained motionless in his bed, practically in the same position Tanjirō had seen him in the day before. She walked around his bed and watched him take the cup of medicine in his small hands beneath his sleeves, whimpering still, and shook her head disdainfully for him. "Seriously…"
"Oooh, why does my medicine have to taste so awfuuuul! Even Inosuke gets better medicine than I dooo!"
"Easy, Zenitsu, easy! This is a hospital ward!"
Zenitsu whipped his head around to see Tanjirō enter the room, smiling at them and waving with his entrance. He walked over to the vacant bed next to Inosuke's and plopped down, Aoi glancing at him for a brief moment before she and one of the girls assisted Inosuke with taking his medicine by removing his boar mask.
Tanjirō could see the utterly dejected expression on his face for a brief moment until Aoi's body got in the way of his vision, leaving him with Zenitsu to look at.
"Tanjirō! Save meeeee, I don't want this medicine anymooore!" cried Zenitsu with the medicine cup still in his hands. "It tastes awful, you know! Awful!"
"Zenitsu…"
"You all seem to be doing well!"
Tanjirō lifted his head up and smiled happily when through the open door walked a waving Murata, who compared to Inosuke and Zenitsu had barely any noteworthy injuries. Save for some bandages around a couple of his fingers, he was virtually unharmed.
"Murata-san!"
"Hey!"
Zenitsu blinked as he looked at Murata when he entered their room, not recalling anyone he had met who was named Murata, until he remembered this was the person Tanjirō had mentioned the day before. He watched as Murata grabbed a nearby stool and sat down next to the bed Tanjirō was taking a seat on and grinned a little, the two friends formed in combat happy to see the other was okay.
"Are you doing okay?" asked Tanjirō of Muratao, the slayer bringing up the hand with the bandaged up fingers and nodding, albeit with an awkward laugh.
"Yeah, well, I came this close to getting melted away, but we made it somehow." he replied, smiling. "Osaki and I, that is."
"Osaki? Oh, you mean that girl I sent your way! She lived too? Thank goodness!"
Tanjirō hadn't even thought about the girl who had been a puppet of the Mother demon until then, so it was a great relief to hear she had not only made it to Murata, but she had survived as well. Murata went on to tell him that understandably, after she had been rescued from Natagumo Mountain she ended up leaving the Corps because she had been traumatized by the act of killing her own allies.
That was something Tanjirō could only nod his head at silently as Murata told him, since he knew that the reason she had done it was still alive because of him. He was certain that nothing like that could happen again with the Mother demon, but that didn't mean her prior actions could be forgiven any time soon.
"I'm just glad I was able to save her from doing any more harm...or from decapitation by myself or another slayer…" Tanjirō thought to himself, before he smiled and laughed when Murata thanked him for coming to his aide. "Ah, it wasn't any trouble. We're comrades after all, it's our duty to help one another out."
"Yeah. But enough about me, I heard your friends got really banged up. I was sure that you turned out fine since, well, I found out you're a demon and all...which still kind of freaks me out a little bit."
"Sorry about that...I guess it's going to be pretty common knowledge now among the Corps, huh?"
"Not as much as you might think."
Murata shook his head at Tanjirō's reply and told him how he had only managed to hear about Tanjirō's condition from Aoi and the girls when he ran into them the day prior. He was wanting to see them yesterday, but was turned away since they needed some rest and time to themselves after the mission at Natagumo.
Tanjirō made the assumption that it's going to take a while for Zenitsu and Inosuke to fully heal up, which meant he was going to stay there with them for the time being since he didn't want to leave his friends alone again. He was certain though that he'd be able to go on some missions in the meantime, as well as train, since physically he was still at peak condition. Until he could go on a proper mission though, he'd have to wait for a new sword to be made since the previous one had been broken by Rui during their fight.
"So if I remember, in Wild Boar Guy's case, it was the throat right?" asked Murata while turning his head to Inosuke, who remained silent still without even moving. It almost looked like he wasn't even breathing. Murata's smile faltered a little and he got a weird feeling from Inosuke, since seeing him in such a quiet, passive state was actually unnerving. "Uh, what's the matter with him?"
"He went through a lot. If you could please let him be…" said Tanjirō, smiling a little sadly at his depressed friend.
"But for this guy of all people to be so listless-"
"Tanjirō, is this the guy you were talking about yesterday?" Zenitsu asked in the middle of Murata's sentence, the yellow haired slayer sitting up in his bed with his sleeves resting on his lap.
"Oh, Zenitsu! Sorry about that...yes, he's Murata. He fought with Inosuke and I on Natagumo Mountain."
"Nice to meet you! Wait, your arms…"
"I almost got turned into a spider, and my arms and legs are still short, so-"
Aoi then appeared practically from the air itself next to Zenitsu, surprising him as she held the cup of his medicine next to his face while frowning. Zenitsu instantly entered into another whining tirade about the medicine tasting gross, but he was shut up by Aoi's finger pressing against his lips as she barked back about how his arms and legs might not go back to normal.
Tanjirō smiled and laughed as the two bickered back and forth about the medicine, while Inosuke continued to lay there in his bed and do nothing to quiet them down. Eventually Zenitsu leaped out of his bed and hopped to the bed Tanjirō was sitting on, hiding behind him in order to avoid taking the medicine from Aoi for as long as possible. The lighthearted mood quickly changed when a depressed aura came from Murata as he hung his head and slumped his shoulders forward, causing Zenitsu to shiver and stare at him with a disturbed expression.
"Looks like fun...lucky you…" he murmured, the entire upper half of his face darkening from his hair falling over it.
"Murata-san…?"
"I was summoned to the Hashira to give my report on the Natagumo Mountain incident...and it was like hell! Those Hashira are too terrifying!" exclaimed Murata, his experience causing Zenitsu to shiver as he held onto Tanjirō. His imagination was running wild with what Murata could be describing, while Tanjirō sort of smiled awkwardly since he had been in a similar position as well. "All pissed about how the quality of the newer Demon Slayers has gone down hill...because there were some of us who didn't follow orders on Natagumo Mountain…"
As Murata continued to mope and have his little depressed rant about his meeting with the Hashira, he was unaware of Shinobu arriving at their room and walking in while smiling warmly at everyone inside. Zenitsu silently gasped a little with wide eyes at her, and Tanjirō returned her warm smile with one of his own as she walked right up to stand behind Murata.
"Hashira terrify me!" he said, finishing just as Shinbou stopped right behind his stool and held her hands behind her back.
"Hello~!"
Murata's dark aura vanished instantly and he yelped from Shinobu's voice, his body stiffening up momentarily before he was out of the stool in a flash, standing next to her left side with wide eyes.
"H-Hashira! Kochō-sama!" he stammered, Shinobu turning her head to smile at him personally and greet him again with the same joyful tone. "Oh, hello! And Goodbye!"
As quick as he had gotten up from his seat he was out the door, sliding it shut with a relatively loud thump, his quick exit causing Shinobu to even hesitate slightly before saying goodbye, even though Murata wouldn't be able to hear it.
Tanjirō couldn't stop himself front snorting and had to cover his mouth to muffle some of his laughter, while Shinobu kept herself more controlled than that and returned her attention to the three boys in front of her.
"How is your recovery coming along?" she asked Zenitsu specifically, the blushing yellow-haired slayer gulping a little and refusing to say anything. He was too stricken by Shinobu's cuteness, which was something that Tanjirō could see, so he had to fill in and respond for him.
"I think they're feeling better. I'm not totally sure, they'd have to tell you themselves, right?"
Tanjirō nudged Zenitsu firmly in the side with his elbow, snapping him out of his trance with a yelp and a frown as he started shaking him back and forth lightly with his tiny arms.
"If you are, then let's have you start your Rehabilitation Training, shall we? Tanjirō-kun, since you're not injured, this will be regular training for you since even though you're a demon, there's still room for improvement!"
"R-Rehabilitation Training?" questioned Zenitsu after he stopped shaking Tanjirō.
"Yes~! You'll be starting tomorrow! Make sure that you all do your best!"
The pitch black figure had once again resigned himself to his office, staring intently at the single flickering candle on his desk as he thought over the recent news just given to him. As it would seem, one of the treasured lackey's of the person of interest he had been keeping tabs on had been killed by a Demon Slayer, and there was word of a supposed meeting that was set to occur between the lower ranks of the "Twelve Kizuki" as they were called.
He closed his eyes and chuckled a little to himself as he imagined the look at the mutt's face when he heard one of his followers had been killed, it was probably priceless. He wished he could see it now, but considering how many other Lower Moons had been killed in the hundreds of years it had been since the Kizuki were first founded, he'd rather wait to see the reaction to one of the Upper Moons getting killed.
"Perhaps now would be the time I return to Japan...it's been ages since my life there...I've already established my base in Europe, and don't have to worry about those pests any more...America is completely blind to what I've put in place..." he thought to himself while he held a hand around the tiny little flame, the light reflecting off the surface of his black, ooze -covered hand. "One would think humanity would grow smarter and more perceptive since ancient times...but in my experience, they're just as gullible as back then during the time of the Empire…"
He would have continued to watch the flame flicker silently before he heard knocks upon his door, followed by a light-hearted voice speak through the oak wood of something starting soon. The figure removed his hand from behind the flame and stood up, some clothes emerging from the darkness of the room, carried by tendrils of the black ooze, before he made his way towards the door. As he walked, the dark ooze covering his body seemed to phase through the skin underneath and reveal a person underneath. This person had a face that he had possessed for centuries, with the only changes he had made being when he'd switch from country to country.
His eyes were a dull green, with an almost empty feel to them, and his hair was black with some grays and whites mixed in, giving him the appearance of an older gentleman. It didn't matter to him if he was seen, no one could possibly know who he was, outside of those he had allowed to know him.
"Soon...soon there will be salvation for all…"
Two weeks had passed since Inosuke and Tanjirō, since they were the healthiest of the three young men, had been taken by Shinobu to commence their training. Inosuke's was directed towards recovery and getting him back into shape since not doing anything while healing made his body lose some of its strength and flexibility, while Tanjirō's was devoted towards continuing to build strength and energy as a Demon Slayer.
Being a demon meant he already had superb skills beyond those of a regular slayer, with his healing factor and Blood Demon Art, and his enhanced stamina and reflexes. However, because he hadn't consumed any humans, that still meant he had to use conventional methods and sleep in order to become stronger. He was still no match for some of the demons that they could face, and it had been sheer luck with the emergence of his Inosuke was still fraught with depression after his defeat at Natagumo Mountain, so it was more of a struggle for him to make it through training, while Tanjirō embraced the challenge head on and was enjoying every second of it.
All the while, Zenitsu was nearing a total full recovery, and because he had bit the bullet and took the medicine Aoi was giving him, despite all of his crying and whining, tomorrow would be the day when he could join the training and start to get his body back into shape as his limbs returned to their original size. Ukogi had been allowed to finally join him too, and was resting atop his head at the moment while he checked his hair with a mirror.
"Shinobu-san's voice is totally unique...I don't think I've ever heard anything like it. It lacks regularity, and it scares me a little." thought Zenitsu as he lowered the mirror and placed it in his lap, his eyes drifting up towards the ceiling. "But when she was treating the people who got turned into spiders, she sure seemed like a goddess. No wonder everyone ran to Shinobu-san in tears."
Zenitsu blushed a tiny bit and smiled as he recalled all of the times he's seen her, most of all when she'd give that warm, caring smile to him or anyone else she was speaking to.
"Not only that, but she's unbelievably cute! I bet she could make a living on her looks alone!" he thought as he held his hands a little bit over the mirror, the ends of his sleeves still covering them. He always saw Inosuke return with Tanjirō from their training every day, looking disheveled and utterly exhausted, and of course it gave him a little uneasy feeling, but those feelings were set aside with the fact that they were working with Shinobu.
"So this cute lady has taken Tanjirō and Inosuke to training...and any minute now…" murmured Zenitsu as he glanced at the door, since it was around the late afternoon. On cure, the door was slid open and Tanjirō walked in first with a rather cheery expression while Inosuke once again looked like he was about three steps away from an early grave.
"Welcome back, Tanjirō, Inosuke!" said Zenitsu with a smile, Ukogi adding a chirp from atop his head. "How did it go today?"
"Oh, it went fine! I was able to train some with Kanao and Shinobu-san with a training sword, since mine is still being made." Tanjirō replied as he put his hands on his hips. "I thought of myself as a fairly good swordsman, but those two, especially Shinobu-san...they're something else."
Zenitsu and Tanjirō then looked to Inosuke to get his input, only to see he had climbed into bed with the covers pulled up over his head, leaving just the ears of his boar mask sticking out. He murmured something almost unintelligible about not minding him and Tanjirō frowned a tiny bit, knowing that the training he saw Inosuke get put through wasn't really that extensive.
He thought again about it briefly a second later, since to him it couldn't seem like nothing considering he was a demon. Anything that Inosuke did he could've almost instantly recovered from it, thanks to the sleep he's been getting at the food he's been able to ingest to make up for the lack of humans he would have to devour. Tanjirō was noticing some changes though, he was figuring out his Blood Demon Art along with practicing his swordsmanship with Shinobu, who's unique fighting style was allowing him to adapt and stay on his toes while utilizing his Blood Demon Art more frequently. Thanks to her help, he's been able to utilize it over an area where he could get hit with minimum energy consumption,
Once he got his new sword, he was certain that he could move on to more brutal training, since he was confident now in his growing abilities. So confident, he felt that he could pose a real challenge to somebody like Rui again, or someone even stronger.
"And it's all thanks to Shinobu-san allowing me to stay here while I'm waiting on Inosuke and Zenitsu to heal...she kind of scared me at first, after finding out who she was...but now, she's probably one of the nicest people I've met. I'm thankful, even, for meeting her!"
"Is it really as bad as Inosuke makes it out to be, Tanjirō?" asked Zenitsu, feeling a little afraid of the Rehabilitation Training their boar-headed friend was going through. "Since I'm joining him tomorrow…"
"I don't think it's too bad, I've done some of it to help in my own training, but that's for you to decide Zenitsu." replied Tanjirō with a smile. I'm sure you'll be fine!"
"All right, since you'll be joining us from today, Zenitsu, I'll explain the process again now." stated Aoi with her hands on her hip while standing in front of him and Inosuke, who were sitting in seiza.
Tanjirō was there with them as well, a confident smile on his face, since he was waiting for Shinobu to return from the Master's home, so until then he would join his friends in their rehabilitation training to not just pass the time but to continue to benefit in growing his skills.
He was fairly certain that by training with Shinobu, and Kanao outside of the Rehabilitation Training she was conducting in accordance with Aoi, he didn't exactly need it, any outside help was readily accepted.
"You'll start over there first." began Aoi while pointing over to the three girls who lived in the Butterfly Mansion with her and Shinobu. They smiled and put their hands on their hips before developing determined frowns akin to Aoi's. "Those girls will make your bodies limber again after having been bed-ridden for so long."
To demonstrate Aoi made Inosuke shuffle over to their station, and within a matter of moments to poor guy was grunting and wheezing heavily as two of the girls held his legs down on one of the mats while the other was pulling his upper body up and backward by his arms, turning him into a human letter C.
Once the girls had adequately stretched Inosuke, she let go, causing him to flop back down with his face hitting the mat with a thump. Tanjirō laughed a tiny bit while Zenitsu whimpered slightly, his body starting to shake a little because of his growing terror of having to go through that station first.
"Next, reflex training behind me." continued Aoi, pointing at a table having several cups of water on top of it, with Kanao sitting at it on one side. "Those cups contain medicated water. The objective is to throw the medicated water onto each other, but if your opponent blocks your cup before you can pick it up, you can't move that cup."
Tanjirō was the one to demonstrate the station to Zenitsu, so after he settled down across from Kanao, his gaze firmly planted on the cups in front of him, he took a single slow breath. Kanao continued to smile across from him in silence, and with all eyes on the both of them, in an instant the pair began to unleash a flurry of hand grabs and reaches to try and splash the water on one another. Zenitsu gasped at how quick the two of them were, with each person easily matching the other, even though it seemed as if they were hardly trying.
The girls at the first station started to root for and chant Tanjirō's name as he competed with Kanao for victory, which was something he had managed to achieve a few times. The only thing was that when he did get victory, he didn't get it in the way he was supposed to.
Tanjirō's hand then blocked one of Kanao's and with his other hand he moved it forward and grabbed a cup, just a split second away from splashing his opponent, before he smiled and just as quickly placed the cup on top of her head. Kanao's eyes widened and she looked at him with a rather cute expression of surprise, before Tanjirō crossed his arms over his chest and laughed while the girls behind him cheered.
"Last up, full-body training. In simpler terms, you'll be playing tag." said Aoi as Kanao removed the cup from over her head and set it back down. She then got up and walked over to the empty half of the large training room, with Aoi joining her soon after before she turned to look back at Zenitsu once Tanjirō and Inosuke had rejoined him. "You'll be up against myself and Kanao over there. And if you want to be an opponent, Kamado-san, you're free to do so."
"Will do, Aoi!" replied Tanjirō with a little salute back to her.
Zenitsu was left completely speechless by the end of the explanation, his eyes practically looking like he had gone blind. With an empty expression on his face he silently raised his hand and said that there was something he wanted to ask. Aoi, wondering if there was something she said that wasn't clear, raised an eyebrow and asked him that, before Zenitsu shook his head and stood up while turning around slightly.
"Come on, Inosuke…" he murmured, Tanjirō glancing back at Zenitsu with a confused expression. What had gotten into him, he had no idea.
"Not going." Inosuke replied gruffly as he frowned beneath his mask.
"Just shut up and come with me like I saaaid!"
Zenitsu's roar completely shot through Inosuke's gruff personna and caused him to gasp, his outburst rocking Tanjirō, Aoi, and the three girls standing at the mats. Even Kanao's eyes visibly widened from the normally cowardly Zenitsu's powerful command to the boar-headed slayer.
They were further shocked when Zenitsu began dragging Zenitsu by the back of his patient's outfit, spitting out obscenities and calling him a lowlife and a dirtbag as he took him towards the exit. Once they were gone and outside, Tanjirō slowly glanced back at Aoi with the same baffled expression on his face, before all of them started to hear Zenitsu's loud and obnoxious yelling just on the other side of the wall the mats were next to.
It continued for a brief moment before a loud bang was heard, the girls jumping back in front when it sounded as if somebody had been thrown against the wooden wall on the other side. The yelling then continued even louder than before, so loud that everybody inside could actually hear rather clearly what Zenitsu was screeching about to Inosuke. Tanjirō facepalmed and slowly shook his head side to side at the things Zenitsu said, with Aoi's frown deeping while one of her eyebrows twitched. Eventually they could see a shadow spiraling in the air through the windows of the training room, before Inosuke started to shout back at Zenitsu, probably since he was the one who had been thrown against the wall for who knows what.
Eventually the two of them returned, with Inosuke being his same gruff self, albeit looking a little more pissed off than usual, while Zenitsu happily twirled around and giggled when he asked for Aoi and the girls to train him. Tanjirō slowly shook his head in disdain and was about to begin before he smelled Shinobu's scent and looked back, smiling when he saw her walk in and wave at him. He bid farewell to his friends as he stood up and jogged over to join her, the pair walking out of the training room and leaving Zenitsu and Inosuke to themselves.
For the next five days, with Zenitsu back in the swing of things, this was how it went, with Tanjirō either joining his friends or not depending on how available Shinobu was at the time. He heard of their failed attempts at trying to match Kanao, failing to even touch a single strand of hair atop her head.
One day, they stopped coming to the training room entirely, which led Tanjirō to alter his own schedule by training with the girls, Aoi, and Kanao first, before switching to Shinobu afterwards in order to maximize the time he spent gaining strength and working on increasing his skills as a Demon Slayer. The big problem nagging him was how he had managed to beat Kanao a few times, but most of the time he was surprised to find himself defeated at both the cup match and the full-body training. Even when he was a demon, somehow the Tsuguko was able to match and even exceed him in speed and reflexes.
"There's just something about her, and Shinobu-san too...both of them have far different scents compared to Zenitsu or Inosuke…" thought Tanjirō as he walked towards his room after finishing up some late-night personal training. His forehead still had some drops of sweat on it, and his used his arm sleeve to wipe them away. "The few victories I've gotten against Kanao had to be dumb luck...her reflexes are faster than mine, even when I'm a demon, and Shinobu-san's are even better than her's!"
"Um, Tanjirō-sama?"
"There's so many welts that I've had to heal from my training with Shinobu-san after I finish the first half...even when it's just wooden swords, she's gotten through my defenses time and time again. Not even my Blood Demon Art can keep up with me, now that she's holding back less and less!"
"Tanjirō-sama? Um..."
Tanjirō gasped when he was pulled from his thoughts by a pair of small hands grabbing his wrists, his head turning to find the small girls of the Butterfly Mansion behind him with concerned expressions on their faces. They all looked so worried for him, and with the softness of the girl's hands gripping his sleeve, it was actually touching.
"Tanjirō-sama, are you all right?" asked the girl with the blue colored ribbon around her waist, the one who was holding his sleeve. "We've been calling to you over and over."
"Oh, sorry! I didn't hear you, I was pretty deep in thought." Tanjirō replied as she let go of his sleeve, a smile appearing on his face. "What's up?"
The three girls shyly lowered their gazes and fiddled with their fingers or their dresses for a moment, before one held up a towel for Tanjirō to use in place of his haori sleeves to clean the sweat from his face.
"Here's a towel for you…!"
"Thanks! That's a big help! You're all so kind, I appreciate it!" said Tanjirō before he started cleaning his head and hair with the towel, feeling the sweat get soaked into the soft fabric.
"Um, Tanjirō-sama, do you maintain the Total Concentration Breathing state around the clock?" asked the girl with the red colored ribbon, pausing Tanjirō in his cleaning.
"Eh?"
"Morning, noon and night. And all through the night while you're sleeping too! Do you use the Total Concentration Breathing technique nonstop?"
Tanjirō paled a little bit at the thought, and after another moment he realized he never did use it around the clock in the manner the girl was describing to him. They could see the look on his face clear as day, and with the towel over his hair he slowly shook his head and told them that he had never attempted to do that.
In fact, he wasn't even sure that was possible to do in the first place. To suck that much air into one's lungs to be able to gain the benefits from it in a split second was one thing, but to do it constantly throughout an entire day into the next, continuously, sounded absurd.
When he questioned the girl on such a method's existence, he was met by a confirmation from the girl with the red ribbon and a warm smile. She told him that compared to the usual method of Total Concentration Breathing, doing it constantly would make all the difference in the world to a Demon Slayer. They told him how all of the Hashira and Kanao were able to do it, which made Tanjirō pause and see all of the puzzle pieces in his mind fit into place.
That was why he hadn't been able to consistently beat Kanao and hold his own against Shinobu! Because they were able to do such a breathing technique, they were able to stay several steps ahead of him, even when he was a demon!
"Okay then, I'm going to work on it then!" exclaimed Tanjirō excitedly as the drive to match the Hashira and her Tsuguko sparked a fire of determination inside of him. "I'll definitely master it!"
"Allow us to help! We'll meet you tomorrow, in the backyard garden!"
"Blow into these gourds?"
"That's right! Whenever she trained Kanao-sama, Shinobu-sama often had her blow into gourds."
Tanjirō was eating some rice balls that the girls had brought him along with a pair of small wooden gourds, his eyes focused on the latter two objects while they were sitting on the back porch facing the backyard of the Butterfly Mansion. It was the same place he had first met Kanao upon his arrival at the mansion, and it was the best place to train outside when not in the training room he had been frequenting every day now since he had come.
He didn't expect the breathing technique training to appear so easy until he was told that Kanao was able to cause the hardened gourd to explode, something he was immediately caught off guard by. The girls explained that the gourds they brought him were a special variety, made to be denser and harder than their normal counterparts, which would make the task of exploding them that much more difficult.
Aside from that, Tanjirō was still trying to come to grips with how a petite girl such as Kanao, and even Shinobu, would've been able to do something like that. It took the girls telling him the gourds got even bigger and bigger with each progress step they made, until they were as big as one two of the girls brought out to show him. It was as large as one of the girls itself, which left him utterly flabbergasted.
Despite the daunting task that faced him, he quickly shook off the doubt and confidently embraced the challenge, greatly pleasing the girls and making them clap and cheer for him again.
Unbeknownst to any of them, Shinbou was secretly eyeing them from afar with a tiny smile on her face. She had been thoroughly pleased by Tanjirō's dedication and commitment to his work, which was evident during and outside of the time he spent with her during their one-on-one sessions.
"He's actually taking his training just as serious as a Hashira would...and he's even attempting to learn Total Concentration Breathing - Constant…" she thought to herself while holding a hand over her chest. "I figured something was different about him, the moment I saw his eyes...but this is completely beyond what I expected…"
Another fifteen days passed for Tanjirō and his rigorous training, which now included trying to maintain a state of Total Concentration Breathing throughout the day for as long as possible. He even added in the drills he had to do himself when he was still under Urokodaki's tutelage, making for a training regimen that carried him from the early morning all the way to night time, where he would go to bed and wake up the next day to do the same thing.
Tanjirō really felt as if he was making progress, and because of all the things he was doing, he hardly ever thought of the hunger for human flesh. In fact, it felt as if he was practically human again. Not once did he ever think of or have the urge to devour a human, which was something that only improved his mood even more than what it already was.
"Thanks to this training, and being a demon...I can run farther and harder than I ever could before, my lungs are getting exponentially stronger, and I can use my Blood Demon Art even more reliably!" Tanjirō thought excitedly as he was deep in meditation on the roof of the Butterfly Mansion, the vantage point over the rest of the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters truly a marvelous one. He was focused however, and he had his eyes closed to prevent himself from losing track of what he was doing. He was in the middle of continuing to break, feeling the enormous amounts of air that he sucked into his lungs, before continuing to exhale while letting out as little air as possible.
"During the day, I run across the entire compound until my training with Aoi. Then I train with Shinobu-san, then I got at it by myself with the drills I learned from Urokodaki-sensei...pushing my lungs to their absolute limits." Tanjirō breathed slowly, focusing his efforts on every single breath he took in order to feel the air enter his lungs and circulate through his body, before being exhaled back out of his mouth. "Slow and steady...deep breaths...feel the air all the way down to my fingertips."
Tanjirō was so intent on breathing that he didn't hear a soft voice calling up to him from the ground trying to catch his attention. The voice repeated itself at least four times, before the fifth time was right next to him into his left ear, so close that the breath could be felt against his skin.
"Yoo-hoo~"
"Yes!?"
Shinobu had suddenly appeared right beside him, sitting down and leaning on her right arm as she looked at his face with a soft smile. Her face was inches away from his, so close that every silent breath she took he could feel the air come through her nose and hid him.
"I can see you're working very hard, Tanjirō-kun~"
"O-Ough…" stuttered Tanjirō as his cheeks turned red when Shinobu leaned toward him a little more, his eyes widening from how close the Hashira was.
His heart started beating a little faster as he looked into her purple eyes, and the warm smile started to make him feel toasty in the pit of his stomach as well. It felt as if there were actual butterflies in his stomach, for whatever reason, and he didn't know what to say or think of the situation. Tanjirō felt as though he had gotten along with Shinbou rather well in the weeks he had been there, and they happened to share quite a bit of time together. It was mostly training that brought them together, but there were also the times at breakfast when he'd personally go to her room again in order to see if she was awake in time for breakfast.
He never asked her if it was okay to keep doing that, but with the scent she gave off every time she answered the door, he was fairly certain it was fine with her. Those instances when he had smelled something else coming from the Hashira were few and far between, and he had yet to find the perfect situation in order to question her about it. At that moment, however, he was too preoccupied with the close proximity their faces were sharing, and how under the glow of the crescent moon above them, she seemed to appear even more beautiful than normal.
"Even though your friends went off somewhere else and have been neglecting their training...you've kept your nose to the grind." she said as she leaned back some and entered a more proper sitting position a foot away from him, her hands coming to rest in her lap. "Don't you feel lonely all by yourself?"
"No! Because once I've mastered the things I'm doing, I can teach them too!" Tanjirō exclaimed confidently, the redness in his cheeks disappearing for a brief moment as he looked at Shinobu again. "And, well...I've got the girls, Aoi, Kanao, and you to help me along the way, Shinobu-san...eheh. I can't thank you enough for everything you're teaching me."
Shinobu's smile softened and she closed her eyes while doing so, feeling touched by Tanjirō's words and the sincerity she could feel behind them. Out of all her years in the Corps, she had never met someone quite like Tanjirō before, and it was because of a lot of similarities that he held with her older sister.
There had been those who were close, but no one was as pure as her sister, just like Tanjirō was. He was confident, joyful, and willing to take on any challenge that he was presented with, no matter how daunting it may seem. He wasn't one to let failure or sadness bog him down, and he always seemed to have a smile on his face, just like her sister had.
"You have a beautiful soul, don't you?" said Shinobu kindly, causing Tanjirō's cheeks to redden even more as he looked away from her to hide his embarrassment.
"U-Uh...I guess I do, don't I…"
"You're easily the nicest demon I've ever known, Tanjirō-kun...your sister being the second, whenever I've had the pleasure to see her…" Shinobu continued, opening her eyes in order to look out over the headquarters compound around them. "You really are living proof of my sister's dream...I really do think she'd be smiling right now, seeing us sitting here like this…"
"I'm glad, Shinobu-san...and I won't stop trying to find more demons willing to do the same things I'm doing either."
"Thank you, Tanjirō-kun.
"You know...I've been wondering this for a little while...why did you bring us all here? To your home? I'm sure it has to do with Zenitsu and Inosuke's injuries, but...I want to hear it from you."
Shinobu held her hands in her lap and stretched her legs out some as she thought for a moment about Tanjirō's question, wondering what the best answer would be. Smiling brightly once more, she held her hands more firmly together once she had her thoughts in order.
"Both you and your sister's existence has been officially acknowledged, as like you said, your friends were injured so seriously. I didn't want to separate you from them, so I brought all three of you here together." she responded at first, with Tanjirō nodding his head in agreement to her statement. "And also, now more than ever...I really do want to entrust my dream...my sister's dream...to you. I really do believe you can do it...that you can find more demons that can become friends with humans."
Tanjirō had flashes of their first meeting at the Wisteria home, and he felt too felt his heart tighten a little from how much meaning and belief Shinobu had in her statement towards him, but again he smelled that noxious scent that came from behind Shinobu's caring smile. Several times now he had smelled it, and there were even more times when he wanted to ask her about it, to discover the truth. For a moment, after what she had said, he was unsure if now was the time to do so. He didn't want to ruin the mood that had been created between them, and he felt as though some of it had to be because of her sister's passing.
But deep down that gnawing sensation was beginning to bite at him, nagging him to figure out the true depth of where all of the anger he kept sniffing from Shinobu was coming from. The death of a family member was certainly a heavy blow to take, and he himself held anger and resentment towards Muzan for the deaths of his mother and siblings. Compared to Shinobu, however, his anger totally paled in comparison. With that in mind, he decided there was no better time than the present, and slowly turned his head to look more directly at her. Shinobu noticed this, and in turn she did the same thing, until their eyes met one another.
"Shinobu-san...why are you so angry?" he asked completely out of the blue, preferring to be upfront with her rather than work his way up to it.
Tanjirō's strategy seemed to work, since as soon as the question registered in Shinobu's mind she gasped lightly and dropped her smile all together. Her eyes widened in shock from not expecting Tanjirō to see through her disguise, and she genuinely didn't know how to respond at first.
"For some reason, I'm always picking up such an angry scent from you...even though you're always smiling." Tanjirō continued, taking advantage of Shinobu's silence to keep speaking.
Shinobu remained quiet for a moment, turning her head from Tanjirō and looking down at her feet, as she came to grips with the breaking of her mask as a result of his intuitive nose. Rather then put up another fake smile, she turned her shocked expression to one of mild apathy with a hint of frustration in it.
There was no point in hiding it now, since Tanjirō would most likely be able to sniff it out of her anyway. And considering how close they had gotten from all the training they had together, and all the times he had smiled at her as they ate or when he checked on her in the morning, it was only right that she shared the truth with him.
"Yes...yes, you're right...it might be true that I'm in a constant state of anger." she said without lifting her head up, her hands resting on top of her knees now after she separated them. "Ever since my beloved Onee-san was slaughtered by a demon...you know that story already...but it goes even further beyond that…"
Tanjirō sat in a more comfortable position, stopping his breathing practice in order to listen to Shinbou and what she had to say with every ounce of focus and concern that he was able to give. This was something Shinobu held close to her heart, and he didn't want to infringe upon such a tender subject.
"Every time I see the tears of those who've lost their loved ones to a demon, every time I hear those cries of despair, the anger keeps building up inside me and continues to swell." Shinobu continued, her hands gripping her knee caps a little tighter than before as she puckered her lips a little into a more noticeable frown. "Deep down in the innermost depths of my body, there's a revulsion that I can't fight...and I'm sure the other Hashira feel something similar as well."
Tanjirō felt himself begin to relate even more to Shinobu as she spoke, especially now more than ever because of the inn revulsion that she said she could hardly fight. Even though he and Nezuko had become demons, there was still a part of him deep in the recesses of his mind that was absolutely repulsed by what they had become. To become a creature that devoured humans to survive was surely a fate worse than death, but he had been able to adapt and survive, and even cope with the situation that he was in.
Shinobu went on to further talk about how now the Hashira had just met two demons who defy every single expectation that they had been conditioned to see from a demon out in the wild. Demons attack humans, yet he and Nezuko did no such thing. They become hungry and attack over the smallest drop of blood, and Tanjirō and Nezuko restrained themselves against even the smell of Sanemi's blood. Some would still hold their doubts, of course, but out of respect for the Master's wishes, Shinobu believed that the two of them would be safe from any harm that could befall them from within the Hashira or the other Demon Slayers.
"My big sister was a kind-hearted person like you...I can see so much of her in you, it's...almost unbelievable…" Shinobu murmured, that statement causing Tanjirō's eyes to widen as he looked at her. He was like her older sister? And not only that, the similarities they shared were so close that it was even unbelievable for someone like Shinobu? "She had sympathy for demons. Even when she was on the brink of death, she still felt pity for them...for some time after her death, I couldn't bring myself to feel the same. How can you feel sorry for something that's killed humans? It's...absurd…"
Shinobu then brought her knees up to her chest and hugged her arms around them, pulling them in tighter as the memory of that fateful day came back into her mind. She remembered the blood dripping out of her sister's wounds, standing her beautiful butterfly haori and turning Shinobu's own original white haori red. She had already started to feel so cold by the time she got to her, and the light was already half gone from her eyes.
Her heart felt as if it was tearing itself apart inside of her chest when she witnessed her sister dying in her arms, and just thinking about it was enough to get her emotions riled up.
"When you told me about what happened to your family...even that made me angrier...but when you told me about what you did for that one demon...about how you were able to spare her life...and see her actually seek change...I could see my sister standing next to you so clearly, I thought she was actually there with you...her dream...her absurd dream was actually coming to life before my very eyes...seeing and hearing these things...it's got my mind so messed up that I can't even think straight…"
"Shinobu-san...I…"
"If my sister really truly felt that demons and humans could coexist...and you're living proof of that...I had to carry it on. I must carry it on. If there's a way to not kill these pitiful demons, I have to keep trying to come up with it." Shinobu said as her expression softened, her eyes closing momentarily as the words of her sister entered her mind and replayed themselves over and over like some broken record. "Without ever extinguishing the smile that my sister said she loved…"
Tanjirō could feel his heart begin to ache inside of his chest, and he wasn't sure how he could try to remedy it as well as do something for the Hashira pouring out something she clearly had trouble speaking about to him.
"Now...I'm feeling tired...demons have done nothing but lie. Losing all reason out of self-preservation, they murder humans with their instincts laid totally bare…"
"I'm not most demons, Shinobu-san." Tanjirō spoke up finally, causing Shinobu to open her eyes and slowly lift her head up to look at him. Despite indirectly insulting what he had become, as well as who his sister was, instead of a look of anger or irritation, she was given one of her own warm smiles right back at her. "Neither is Nezuko. And the truth is...there's more truth to what your sister said than you may even know."
"What...do you mean?"
Tanjirō held his smile as he began to tell Shinobu of the first strong demon he had ever faced, the one who had occupied the Drum House. He told her of how he had decapitated him, and that as the demon died his only concern was wanting to know if his writing truly had been recognized by Tanjirō.
He wasn't spitting out curses or wishing he could tear Tanjirō limb from limb, the scent of sorrow and regret had been leaking out endlessly from his disintegrating body, which was only amplified and coupled by true joy when Tanjirō had acknowledged not only his writing, but his unique Blood Demon Art as well.
"The same could be said for Rui...the Lower Moon that I fought and killed on Natagumo Mountain...after I decapitated him...his body actually walked itself over to me and collapsed right next to Nezuko and I…"
"I remember…"
"The scent of sadness was even more overwhelming than Kyogai's...even when he had forced other demons to form a fake family for himself as one of Muzan's Twelve Kizuki...all I could smell from Rui was sadness and regret…" finished Tanjirō as he looked into Shinobu's eyes, letting her see the warmth and comfort they were giving off. "From my experiences...I agree with your sister...demons aren't all monsters...a vast majority of them are tragic creatures...creatures that used to be humans with human memories...human thoughts...human emotions…"
It was Shinobu's turn to look at Tanjirō in silent awe, because as he was speaking, the same thing that she had mentioned once when he had told her his story leading up to staying at the Butterfly Mansion was occurring again. As he talked with her, she could see yet another vision of her sister sitting right beside Tanjirō with a hand on his knee, smiling softly at him as if he was her younger brother.
"There are good demons out there...good in the sense that they could harbor regrets about becoming one...that they regret killing humans...I know it's unforgivable...but for those that really do desire change...second chances do exist, Shinobu-san." said Tanjirō as he unknowingly reached over to Shinobu and found himself actually putting a hand on top of her's. Shinobu's eyes widened and she felt the warmth in her chest return, followed by an actual skip of the heart, from how hot his hand felt against her's. It was rough and firm as well, the sign of somebody who's worked hard throughout their life. "You don't have to give up hope yet, not now. Not while I'm here...I'll be sure to find more demons that can learn to coexist with humans. And I'll ensure that we'll never have any bad demons that could threaten anyone else by killing Muzan! I really do promise that!"
Shinobu gasped silently and for a brief second the vision of her sister, down to the very smile she and Tanjirō, practically merged into one person. She blinked a few times, seeing her sister one second and Tanjirō the next, until it was just him sitting there next to her with his hand on top of her's.
The warmth of his hand was enough to once again temporarily dispel the vast swaths of anger coursing through her, which was something that Tanjirō could smell and smile even more at. In that moment of time, Shinobu was almost tempted to tell him of what she had been doing to herself, with all of the syringes she'd keep in her office. No one else knew, and with the kindness that Tanjirō was giving to her, she almost wanted him to be the first to know. In the end, that was as far as that thought got, because her own selfish desires took back control and she managed to settle herself down. She took her hand gently away from Tanjirō's and stood up, dusting off the sides and back of her haori from sitting on the roof.
"Do your best then, Tanjirō-kun...do all that you can." she said, her gaze resting on Tanjirō's eyes. "Please find a way to protect yourself and Nezuko until the end, because you're the only one right now that can truly succeed in making that dream a reality...knowing that you're working so hard in my place reassures me to no end. I feel as though I can rest easier now."
"Shinobu-san…" Tanjirō thought while he looked up at her. 'Are you sure you'll be okay?' was what he wanted to ask, but knowing how late it was he didn't want to keep her any longer than she wanted. It would be selfish of him to prevent her from retiring to her room and resting, so he kept quiet. "Maybe another time, if the chance shows itself...we could talk like this again...I don't want to let her contain all of her emotions like this…"
"Your Total Concentration breathing has come to a halt." mentioned Shinobu with a tiny sparkle in her eyes, a little smile forming on her lips as she watched Tanjirō's own eyes widen a little.
With that, she then vanished in the blink of an eye, Tanjirō blinking a few times as if making sure she was gone, before he frowned and looked down at his lap. He was definitely going to think more on what he and Shinobu just talked about, but now wasn't the right time for that, he could do that as he was falling asleep.
He still had training to finish up, so with the closing of his eyes and a deep breath, he began working on his Total Concentration Breathing once more, the drive to grow stronger and avenge those he had lost reigniting inside of his soul again.
"Kaa-san, Hanako...Takeo, Shigeru...Rokuta...I'm going to do it…! I'm going to turn Nezuko back into a human and kill Muzan! For sure!"
Shinobu slowly entered her bedroom and silently closed the door behind her, her smile nonexistent as she stared at the floor and her feet while shuffling towards the bathroom. Her mind was in such a jumbled mess she was surprised that she was able to make it back to her room from the roof after talking with Tanjirō. Conflicting emotions of happiness and the anger that she had contained behind her smile were in flux inside of her, making it almost impossible for her to get a grip.
Talking with Tanjirō a minute earlier had made her see even more of her long dead sister living inside of him, like she had somehow been reincarnated partially inside of his soul, and was one with the young man. Whenever he smiled, she could see her sister. Every time he greeted her in the morning, it was her standing there in his place. Whenever he made her laugh, it wasn't fake, it was genuine happiness. It was almost as if her sister had returned to her once more in the form of Tanjirō, and little by little, she could actually feel the months and years of anger that had built up inside of her begin to crack and break off, piece by piece.
"Is this your way...of reaching out to me, Onee-san...? Are you...trying to help me, like you always did...?" she thought as she reached her bathroom door, resting an arm and her forehead against the wood while keeping her eyes frozen on her feet. "Even when you aren't here any more...it's like you never left me..."
Shinobu's legs wobbled and she ended up turning around and pressing her back against the door, sliding down the face until she was sitting with her knees propped up close to her chest again. She hugged herself and kept thinking about her sister and Tanjirō over and over again, seeing their smiles and hearing them speak to her.
"These past few weeks...he's been nothing but kind and receiving of everyone here at your home, Onee-san...Aoi, Kanao, Sumi, Kiyo, Naho...and me...even after the hell he was put through because of the other Hashira and I..." Shinobu continued to think, her lower lip quivering slightly as her previously locked away sadness began to seep up through her anger, manifesting in slight tears that formed in the corners of her eyes. "Nothing but kindness...and warmth...he listens to everything that's said...he speaks his mind and is confident in himself...and he cares so much for his sister that he'd rather give up the chance of humanity in order to try and regain her's...he..."
As the small tears rolled down her cheeks, she lifted her head and looked up at the ceiling of her room, the anger, the sadness, the joy, all of her emotions inside of her body were pushed aside as a new one made itself known. It was tiny at first, just barely able to manifest within her soul, but the more it existed and the more that she thought of it, the stronger it actually became. It was like a tiny little flame, a tiny match, that with more oxygen it began to grow and turn into something far larger.
"He's...a demon..." she told herself, clutching her chest softly for a few moments. She repeated the phrase in her mind again, letting the words echo in her psyche, before she slowly shook her head side to side, closing her eyes. "No...he's not...he's not a demon...he's not like all of the rest...he doesn't lie...he's not intentionally violent..."
Shinobu's heart then truly recognized the growing feeling that had emerged. It wasn't hot and boiling like her years of rage, and it wasn't cold like the sadness and regret she still held for the death of her sister and her inability to save her from the demon who had killed her. It was comfortable...cozy...like a miniature sun had spawned within the darkness those terrible emotions had created inside of her.
"Am...am I...really falling..for him...?"
A/N Huehuehue. I don't think I have to say much about this chapter, do I? Was looking forward to this one for a long time, and now that it's arrived, well...let's just say I am very happy. And I hope all of you are too! :3
Leave a favorite, follow, and review. And I'll see you in the next chapter...stay tuned. :D