^ Chapter 18 - Dreams of Butterflies and Wisteria ^
"Naho-chan, Kiyo-chan, Sumi-chan!" said Tanjirō after finding the three girls hanging up some laundry outside in the backyard garden of the mansion. The three young girls turned their heads towards him, seeing the determined expression on his face and the three carpet beaters that he held in his arms. "I'd like you to help me train. If I stop doing Total Concentration Breathing while I'm asleep, can you clobber me with these carpet beaters?"
The three girls gave him blank, surprised expressions from the sudden and outrageous request that Tanjirō proposed to them out of nowhere. Neither of them were violent by nature and had only ever used the rug beaters for what their given purpose was.
Seeing the girls react that way to his question actually made Tanjirō's expression soften a little and he smiled at them, feeling glad to see the three girls be just as innocent as they looked. He asked them again while bowing, showing them how much it would mean to him if they were to help him out with this plan of his, and after a few moments the girls all smiled and replied back in unison their agreement.
"Thank you very much!" Tanjirō replied happily, his smile making them smile and giggle among themselves. He waved as he let them return to their daily chores, before turning and walking back towards the mansion back entrance. "See you tonight then!"
"Goodbye, Tanjirō-sama!"
Day eventually turned to night and as Zenitsu and Inosuke turned in for the night, Tanjirō was in his own room with Nezuko still soundly sleeping in the bed he had let her take upon first arriving. She hadn't woken up once since falling asleep, and he hoped that what was going to happen next didn't disturb her.
Tanjirō had told the three girls to wait until they could hear nothing coming from inside of his room, since he needed to be asleep for his plan to work. Once he was finally able to sleep while practicing Total Concentration Breathing, Kiyo was the one to slowly open his room door and step inside, followed by Naho and Sumi. The three of them each held one carpet beater firmly in their hands and waited close by Tanjirō's futon, ready to act at a moment's notice. They smiled and whispered to one another as they watched him sleep, happy that the plan was working so far.
At least until he started to snore rather loudly and completely broke the breathing cycle required for Total Concentration Breathing. Rearing back with their carpet beaters, the three girls then smacked him repeatedly on the torso in order to wake him up so he could try again. Thankfully Nezuko never woke up, which meant Tanjirō was able to practice this at night for the next couple of days without interruption or worry.
"Just you again today, Tanjirō-san?" asked Aoi with her perpetual frown still present on her face. Tanjirō sighed and bowed to the younger girl with a less than satisfied expression on his face, nodding his head once.
"I apologize, Aoi...I did ask them to come, but…" he started to reply before Aoi crossed her arms over her chest and turned her head away, shaking it slowly.
"Well, it doesn't matter to me. It's their choice if they want to get better or not."
"I'll give them another nudge later! I promise!"
Aoi glanced back at Tanjirō and for a few moments she said nothing, before eventually she nodded once and uncrossed her arms in order for their initial morning training to begin. After stretching and going through both the cup game and full-body training with Kanao, both times losing, Tanjirō grinned a little bit by the end of the session inside the training room.
He had lost again to Shinobu's Tsuguko, but both times he was closer than ever before to beating her outside of it being sheer luck. The Total Concentration Breathing exercises he was doing were paying off, he's gotten used to training while doing it. He wasn't able to fully sustain it from dusk till dawn just yet, not unless he really got himself pumped up when he woke up, the longer he kept it going, the bigger boost of stamina he got on top of his demonic physiology.
Another day of fierce training went by, ending it once again with a high-intensity sparring session with Shinobu and their wooden swords that left him covered in healing welts once again, only this time there weren't as many as before. He had succeeded in defending himself better than the previous few times, either with his agility, his wooden sword, or his Blood Demon Art.
The next day, after growing even closer to beating Kanao on sheer skill, he was given one of the gourds by the girls to try and break outside in the garden. Sucking in a deep breath through the sides of his teeth, and began to blow as hard as he could to try and crack it. The girls cheered him on by chanting his name over and over again, until the hardened wood of the gourd began to crack and splinter.
Finally with everything he had, Tanjirō was able to cause the gourd to rupture and explode outward, sending bits and pieces of the wood flying left and right onto the dirt and grass of the garden. All of this, including the introduction of the bigger gourd as a challenge by the girls to break, was seen and witnessed by Zenitsu or Inosuke. The truth was that they had been watching Tanjirō train by himself for a while now, feeling more dejected for themselves because of their lack of success with their own endeavors. Especially when they were seeing how close Tanjirō was getting to actually beating Kanao without relying on luck, as he had done a couple of times beforehand.
The feeling of inadequacy was starting to come to a head, and something had to change soon, or they were going to be left even farther behind by their friend. So they tried to learn from Tanjirō about what he was doing with the Total Concentration Breathing, but no matter how hard they tried, they just couldn't grasp and understand what he was trying to show them, and were stopped at a seemingly insurmountable wall of difficulty.
Several days passed by yet again and the morning sunlight was beaming down into the infirmary where Zenitsu and Inosuke still slept, the former was pulled from his slumber by the sound of footsteps outside and he groaned a little. Sitting up, he looked outside and watched Tanjirō quickly run by as he did a morning warm-up routine before he'd join Aoi and Kanao in the training room.
"There he is again...already starting...does he even eat breakfast at all? He's never there when Inosuke and I are eating…" Zenitsu thought with a dejected expression on his face.
Inosuke was still snoring away in the bed next to him, his depression mostly gone at this point now that he had gotten used to moving around some more during their escapades outside of attending training.
"Putting in effort isn't my thing. There's nothing more draining than persevering every day."
"Chu, chu!"
Zenitsu's eyes widened a little and he turned around, seeing Ukogi fly into their room through the open doors and flutter his wings before landing on Zenitsu's raised up hand. He had managed to begin understanding what his sparrow was telling him now, after picking up some cues and suggestions from Shinobu since she could understand Ukogi, and their relationship had grown from something bitter to a more tolerable and friendly one.
"Oh, it's you." remarked Zenitsu as he lifted his hand up and deposited Ukogi on his favorite spot atop Zenitsu's head. "Maybe getting left behind by Tanjirō is making me panic, but I can't get the hang of anything even if he shows me for hours!"
"Chu chu! Chu!" chirped Ukogi with a little flap of his wings.
"Now I realize that we're a total lost cause…"
"Chu, chu."
"Wait, did you just say 'Yes, you are'?" questioned Zenitsu with a little surprise on his face, Ukogi nodding his head up and down before chirping at him calmly again from his sitting position. "How can you be so cruel? Would it kill you to say just once, 'You're working hard, too'?"
"Chu!"
"Huh? 'Work harder' you say?"
Zenitsu sighed and rested his hands in his lap, mumbling to himself about how there seemed to be no other way around diving into hard work like Tanjirō had. He turned to the cup of medicated water left on the nightstand between his bed and Inosuke's and grimaced lightly at the thought of drinking it again like he'd been forced to every single day.
He took the cup and looked down at the murky swamp water-like concoction, his nose picking up the slightly weird smell it gave off and wrinkling up. Fearing another smack on the head by Aoi if she found out he hadn't drunk his medicine at the proper time, he sucked in a breath and chugged the contents of the cup until it was totally clean. With a gasp of air he dropped the mug back down into his lap and burped a little while cringing from head to toe as the horrible tasting liquid ran down the whole length of his throat into his stomach.
The bed creaked next to him and he turned his head, suddenly finding Inosuke standing up on the mattress with his fists clenched at his side and his shirt actually opened a little to reveal his pecs and abs underneath. He was giving off a determined vibe, which was made evident by the cloud of steamy air that shot out through the nostrils of his boar mask. Today was going to be different, he had already decided that it was in the back of his mind. and Zenitsu knew that once Inosuke had made up his mind about something, there was no way anybody was going to change it.
"Come on, Monitsu. It's time we got the bug lady to explain things to us." he said gruffly, Zenitsu blinking a few times before gulping and nodding.
He knew better than to go against Inosuke right after waking up, especially since he was pretty sure Inosuke still had a little grudge against him for when he socked him in the mouth on the first day he joined the Rehabilitation Training.
The duo then made their way to breakfast and ate what was left for them by Aoi, before they made their way to the training room and managed to catch Shinobu standing in and watching Tanjirō as he was finishing up his final drills with Kanao. Once again he was so exceptionally close to catching her, that they were using practically the whole room to run and maneuver around one another.
Shinobu noticed them out of the corner of her eyes and she smiled and waved at the two as they walked over to her. Zenitsu was the one to ask her if she could help clear up any confusion behind what Tanjirō was doing, and to help them try to work on it as well. Aoi was nearby and she gave them both a doubtful glance, since it was only now that they were even making an attempt to continue their training after skipping out on most of it and leaving Tanjirō to train by himself.
At the same time Tanjirō was once again narrowly defeated by Kanao, but as soon as the session ended he grinned and thanked Kanao by giving her a thumbs up and a nod. Kanao returned a warm smile to him while remaining silent, until the two of them both saw Shinobu sitting down across from Inosuke and Zenitsu in order to talk with them.
"What Tanjirō-kun is trying to master is a skill called 'Total Concentration - Constant'. By continuing to do Total Concentration Breathing every second of the day, your basic stamina level will skyrocket."
"Tanjirō's told us this, it's just...we're finding it practically impossible to do it, especially with how he explains it to us sometimes…" murmured Zenitsu while taking his eyes away from Shinobu briefly, finding himself beginning to get mesmerized by her cuteness again. Tanjirō heard what Zenitsu had said, and he frowned a tiny bit since he believed he was being as clear as he could, but he kept his distance since he didn't want to interfere. "Plus, it's just extremely difficult…"
"Is it? Mm...let's see what you're able to do then on your own~!" said Shinobu cheerfully, touching her finger tips together as she did. "Can you try holding the Total Concentration Breathing as you do laps around the room?"
"Mngh, I guess." replied Inosuke with a huff before he pulled Zenitsu to his feet as he stood up. The duo sucked in as much air as they could into their lungs, entering a state of Total Concentration Breathing, before they attempted to run their first lap around the room. Tanjirō made his way over to Shinobu and joined her where she was sitting, smiling at her as they watched Zenitsu and Inosuke try to run laps while maintaining Total Concentration Breathing.
He wanted to talk with her and see how her day was going so far since they had eaten breakfast together, before they heard two loud thumps from behind them and turned to see Zenitsu had collapsed onto his back and Inosuke to his knees. They were breathing heavily as if they had just run a marathon for an entire day.
"Impossible! Seriously Impossible!" screeched Zenitsu while frantically waving his arms left and right on the ground.
Inosuke wasn't in any better condition as he coughed somewhat and continued to heave, his back arching with each breath he took to try and get back to breathing normally. Shinobu covered her mouth a little in surprise at how quickly the two of them daily to maintain what she considered one of the most basic techniques a Demon Slayer could learn.
"Do you know of any way that they'll be able to do this? I've tried to get them to train with me, but they won't listen…" murmured Tanjirō to Shinobu, who frowned a tiny bit and rubbed her chin slightly. "There has to be some way."
"Mm...I've got it. Just stay here and don't move a muscle, Tanjirō-kun." replied Shinobu in a soft tone to him while smiling and winking. Tanjirō blushed a tiny bit when she had leaned towards him somewhat while doing so and coughed a little before nodding, Shinobu then looking back at his friends and cupping a hand around her mouth. "Inosuke, Zenitsu, could you come here for a moment~?"
After recovering themselves from their short-term experience trying to attempt what Tanjirō had been doing, they dragged themselves over to her and sat down in front of her with half disgruntled, half empty expressions on their faces. Shinobu then stood up and held her smile as she stepped behind Tanjirō and put her hands softly on his shoulders, leaning over him and causing his cheeks to turn red somewhat since looking up gave him a view up towards the bottom of her chin and her chest.
"Was it really that difficult for you to maintain something as simple as that~?" she asked the two of them, Inosuke and Zenitsu vigorously nodding their heads in response. "Oh dear...you must know that we're talking about a basic skill, or should i say a beginner's skill, so why wouldn't you be able to do it?"
Zenitsu and Inosuke's empty and tired expressions vanished a little, turning into ones more akin to puzzlement at what the Hashira's angle was. Tanjirō glanced up at Shinobu as well, intrigued by what she was saying because even he figured out that before the breathing techniques like Water or Zenitsu's Thunder, a swordsman had to be able to master Total Concentration breathing in order to match demons.
Urokodaki made sure to hammer that into him during his training, but only to do so at tense or precarious moments where a swordsman needed an extra edge against their opponent. Holding it constantly like the Hashira and Kanao could was a task in of itself, and he was close to achieving it too. It was no easy task, even for him considering he was a demon, so why was she playing it off as something that was easy?
"Of course it's also true that one must put in a great effort into mastering it, right? Is there something preventing you from doing it?" asked Shinobu before she walked around to stand in front of Tanjirō, then lowered herself down onto one knee so close to Inosuke that he actually leaned back a little. She looked into the eyes of Inosuke's boar mask for a moment while smiling before she then clapped a firm hand onto his shoulder and closed her eyes, her smile growing wider. "I was sure it would be child's play for you, Inosuke. Are you sure you can't do it~? Even though there's no reason you can't do it~?"
Inosuke let out a choked grunt and his body grew stiffer, his hands tightening up somewhat into fists by Shinobu's words. She only continued to smile as she teased Inosuke by his inability to master something that was seemingly so easy to start training for that he should be where Tanjirō was at the moment. It was then where Tanjirō finally understood what Shinobu was doing and he had to hide the grin that was forming on his face as a result.
Zenitsu was completely lost with what she was doing to Inosuke, only looking at the two of them with a blank expression, until Shinobu took her hand off his shoulder and stood up again, still smiling brightly without a care in the world.
"Oh well, it can't be helped then. If you can't do it, that's fine, right? It just can't be helped~" Shinobu repeated joyfully while holding her hands behind her back and standing on her tiptoes in a teasing manner.
Inosuke finally snapped as dense, steamy air shot out of his nostrils and he let out a guttural roar of frustration and arrogance as he gripped his knee tightly with one hand and pointed sharply at the smiling Shinobu with the other.
"Eeaaauuughh! I can do it, all right!? Why wouldn't I?! Don't mess with me, or I swear I'll rip off your damn tits!"
Tanjirō held his tongue back from giving Inosuke a lashing for disrespecting Shinobu like that, since she was their senior as a Hashira, and a lady. He had to admit though, Shinobu using reverse psychology on him worked like a charm, and he was more interested to know what she did to get Zenitsu motivated.
As soon as he saw Shinobu kneel down in front of his friend and clasp her soft hands around one of Zenitsu's, causing his cheeks to turn bright red and his entire body to shiver from head to toe, he could immediately guess what her plan was.
"Please give it your all, Zenitsu-kun~! I'm your biggest cheerleader~!" she said optimistically, causing Zenitsu's face to turn bright red from the chin up, until steam was practically shooting out of his ears.
"Y-Yes maaaaaaa'am!" he squealed at the top of his lungs, Shinobu clapping and laughing joyfully as both Zenitsu and Inosuke then stood up and rushed out of the training room at top speed.
They nearly blew Tanjirō down onto his back from the wind their mad dash outside caused, and as he was picking himself back up again he was given a hand from Shinobu. She smiled at him and he laughed as he was pulled to his feet by her, dusting himself off soon after before turning towards the doors that his friends had run out of.
Kanao joined them as they made their way after them, after they had said goodbye to Aoi, until they were in the backyard garden of the mansion and saw Zenitsu and Inosuke absolutely throwing themselves into the training they remembered Tanjirō told them about. Both of the slayers were shouting powerfully at the top of their lungs, filled to bursting with determination, as both of their individual drives pushed them over the top.
"Well that...worked like a charm…" Tanjirō murmured out of awe, a giggle coming from Shinobu next to him. "You're amazing, Shinobu-san. Thank you!"
"Oh, it was nothing Tanjirō-kun, I was happy to help~" she said with a bright smile and a tiny blush that she hid from his view by glancing off to the side.
Tanjirō was so ecstatic by his friends finally joining the training that he dropped a quick goodbye and wave to Shinobu before jogging over to join them. She smiled happily at the three of them as they began training hardcore together to better themselves, her small blush staying on her cheeks for a couple moments after he left her side. Kanao was there next to her with a similar, albeit smaller, smile on her face, and after looking from her to Tanjirō and his friends before stepping closer to her.
"Kanao, you don't have to stand here by me by yourself, you know. Why don't you go and join them?" she asked of her Tsukugo, who turned towards her silently.
Kanao then smiled a little more and bowed her head, agreeing to her proposition before she walked over to the nearby water well in the backyard where she washed her hands with some already acquired water in one of the pitchers. Once her hands had been cleaned, she turned and walked back into the sun from under the shaded roof, pausing while watching Tanjirō as he cheered on Zenitsu.
Shinobu had remained where she was, observing and giggling every so often at Tanjirō and Inosuke's jeering of Zenitsu as he tried to shoulder press two boulders tied over a tree branch by ropes. The volume of their voices made Kanao falter a tiny bit, so she reached into one of the pouches on her belt and pulled out a single brown coin. She then positioned it over her right thumb and flicked it up into the air, watching it spin end over end until right before it fell past her hands she grabbed it and placed it firmly onto the back of her right hand.
Kanao then removed her left hand to see what side it had landed on, each side acting as what she would decide to do. Would she join? Or would she watch from the sidelines without saying a word? This choice, and so many before it, had all been decided by this one coin, because she had no idea how to do it herself. She hadn't had the ability to choose for herself without the coin for years, actually.
Not since she had become broken inside.
Kanao's home existed within an impoverished, run-down community of ramshackle huts and houses that were hastily put together with junk pieces of wood and broken windows. The whole village was practically a dump, and the people who were unfortunate and poor enough to live within its boundaries were even worse off than the buildings themselves.
Tattered clothes, nonexistent baths that left them covered in grime and dirt and who knows what else, giving them a constant, terrible smell. Flies were present everywhere, either hovering around the rotting food, the rotting wood, or the people themselves. It was truly a miserable existence to be living within this community, but for some, it was even worse than that. Outside one of the homes laid three separate children, all of them covered head to toe in dirt and grime, their clothes tattered and covered with hastily sewn on patches because there was no hope of buying new ones to wear. Flies surrounded one of the boys like hungry vultures, just waiting for him to give up on life so that they could begin to make use of his body with their grubby little legs and mandibles.
Inside the house, the last sibling was at the mercy of her parents, mainly her father, who at the slightest little squeak of terror he punched her right in the face and watched her fall to the dirty floor without so much as a hint of compassion on his face. This girl was none other than the young Kanao, who whimpered softly as she was grabbed by the throat and dragged mercilessly to the door.
Once her father had slid it open he tossed her outside as if she were literal garbage, Kanao's small body hitting the ground and rolling over as she coughed somewhat. Her messy and overgrown black hair covered most of her face, except for her lower jaw, which showed her mouth as blood began dripping down the side of her cheek onto the dirt. Her cheek and jaw were stinging from the harsh punch, and her entire world was nothing but flashing lights and pitch black darkness.
"It hurt...I was hungry...I was sad…"
Her breaths were slow and shallow, and blood had started to ooze out of her nostrils now as well, only adding to the small pool that was forming under her right cheek. It was almost to the point where she didn't want to get up, for fear of angering her father even more.
"I felt completely hopeless...I was in agony. I was lonely...nobody loved me...not even my own parents...that was my life. My miserable...sad life."
She was continuously abused by her parents, berated verbally or beaten physically, just like the rest of her siblings. It was a terrible existence, and they couldn't do anything about it. They were too weak to run away, and it wasn't like they could seek help from anyone else in the slum of a village they called home.
This abuse went on and on and on until one day, Kanao heard a sound like a snap in the back of her mind. Her eyes had become wide open and empty, her expression devoid of all emotion or even relative thought. She barely breathed, to the point where it was as if she wasn't even alive. Nothing they did to her ever hurt her, she didn't feel their punches, their kicks, or their hurtful words. She never felt the flies crawling over her hair or her skin. She never felt anything ever again.
She broke.
The next day she was sold without a second thought into slavery, and without saying a word, she willingly followed her buyer with a rope tied around her waist. She walked like a dog out of her terrible living conditions to wherever her buyer would take her, the rope was her leash, and the man who bought her was obviously her owner. What was she going to do? She didn't care.
"While living in poverty, even when my parents sold me, it didn't make me feel sad. Not once."
She was eventually led to a bridge by her new owner, a fishing village just on the other side, when some footsteps came close behind them and a soft voice spoke up loud enough for Kanao's owner to hear.
"Excuse me, do you have a minute…?"
"Hah?"
Kanao and the owner turned around to see two women had approached them, one younger and standing a foot behind the other. They wore similar uniforms, the woman in the back having white buttons while the older had gold buttons, as well as a butterfly-styled haori in comparison to the younger girl's plain white one.
She had bug-like eyes that slanted towards the sides of her face and long, straight hair of a dark gray color that reached just below her waist, worn with two shorter clumps over her shoulder and ear-length raised bangs that framed her face. Noticeably, compared to the younger girl and her one butterfly hairpin worn at the back of her head, the older one wore two that were green and pink on either side of her head. Compared between one another, the older and taller woman had a bright, warm smile instead of the frown the second girl had.
"Could you tell us why that child is tied up like that?" she asked in a soft and rather cute tone, her partner remaining silent with her hands balled into fists at her sides. She looked as if she didn't want to be there, but was regardless. "Is she a criminal, perhaps?"
"Isn't it obvious? She's flea-ridden, and her face is dirty. Not to mention, she might try to escape."
The older woman looked down at the child for a brief moment, seeing the empty expression on her face, and immediately felt some grief develop in her soul because this wasn't her first time seeing such an expression on someone so young. She then took a step forward and crouched down some in order to get closer to Kanao, who responded silently by merely lifting her head up to acknowledge she saw her.
"Hello there, little one~ It's nice to meet you. My name is Kochō Kanae. What's your name?"
Kanao didn't respond, remaining silent just as she had before when she felt herself break inside. Kanae's smile wavered a little at just how far gone she appeared to be, based off her eyes alone, before her owner told them that she had no name because her parents hadn't even bothered to give her one.
When he told them to step away and reached toward her, possibly just trying to separate Kanae from the young Kanao, the second woman acted in the blink of an eye and smacked his hand away with one simple hand swipe. Still frowning, she told him to refrain from touching Kanae with complete seriousness behind her tone. It was enough to cause the people that had been walking around or past them on the bridge to stop and watch the scene unfold as the man demanded money from them if they wanted to talk with his property.
With one glance down at her sister, who was kneeling still in front of Kanae with a nurturing expression on her face as she gently held her by the shoulder, her expression softened and she began digging in her white haori.
"Fine then, we'll purchase her from you." she said once she found the money that she had and grabbed it tightly, fixing her gaze on the man. "Would this be enough for you?"
"Oh dear, Shinobu-nee...here we go again…" Kanae thought with a soft giggle as suddenly her younger sister flung dozens of coins and paper money into the face of the man, making him and everyone close to him gasp in shock.
In their hesitation, Shinobu then snagged the rope from his hand without any conflict whatsoever and started running away with Kanao in tow, her sister following behind her with another giggle and a wave of goodbye.
"Hey! Get back here with that!"
"I'd pick that money up right now if I were you!" shouted back Shinobu with a smirk as they ran, the man wrenching his head around to see some of the people start bending down and reaching for the free money. "After all, you did manage to draw a big crowd!"
"Ahh, are you sure about this, Nee-san?" questioned Kanao with a doubtful smile, the young Kanao looking up at Shinobu with wide eyes as they escaped the bridge at full speed.
"It's completely fine!"
"Oh dear…"
Kanae and Shinobu eventually ran off the bridge entirely with the silent Kanao in their hands, her eyes gaining a tiny bit of life back to them as she looked at the two sisters who had saved her from the man.
From there, she was returned to the Butterfly Mansion and treated to the first ever bath of her life, the frowning Shinobu doing the dirty work of cleaning every single speck of grime and dirt that had caked onto her skin and hair until she was utterly spotless. The warmth of the water, the feeling of the soap in her hair, it was so utterly foreign to Kanao that she was left in awe of what she had been missing all throughout her young life. The mansion was so massive as well, easily trumping her old home by a massive margin. She was clothed and given food, but to Shinobu's dismay, she wouldn't do anything with it unless she was specifically told to do so.
Kanao had lost the will to make any choice for herself unless she was ordered to by someone else, a problem that consisted for several days after her arrival until Shinobu confronted her older sister about it.
She had gotten frustrated by it, not so much at Kanao, and she didn't know what to do with the girl because it could be dangerous to have someone like her around. Kanae came up with a simple solution that could help their newly adopted sister to begin to open up after the trauma of her childhood. She gifted her with a coin that she could use to help her decide what to and not to do.
"As long as it's given a chance, a person's soul will open up, so don't worry, Kanao…~"
That very coin Kanae had gifted to her was now resting in Kanao's palm, and with a bit of a sad expression, she closed her fingers around it and put it back in the pouch she had gotten it from. Shinobu happened to glance over at her and her own smile softened somewhat as she watched Kanao turn around and walk away, the choice her coin made being to not join Tanjirō.
As the day went on, Tanjirō was in the training room with Inosuke and Shinobu, the latter training with him and their wooden swords like before, while Inosuke was doing balancing and breathing techniques in the corner while propped up on a broom resting on top of an overturned bowl. He was watching out of the corner of his eye as Tanjirō and Shinobu traded blows with one another, the former managing to keep up with the Hashira even more than previously thanks to Total Concentration Breathing - Constant, and the effects it had on his body.
The cracks their wooden swords made against one another were loud and powerful, despite Shinobu being the weakest Hashira, and their movements were graceful and dance-like. She jabbed at his abdomen, faster than he could block, and the wood made a loud pang and even splintered when it struck his strengthened iron blood skin.
"Amazing, Tanjirō-kun! You're getting better each and every day!" she proclaimed happily as she tossed the broken sword off to the side, joining a pile of four other ones that had broken against Tanjirō's Blood Demon Art enhanced skin. "That's the fifth one this match!"
"Haha, thank you Shinobu-san! Oh! Watch this, I've been working on this while training by myself, and I've gotten the hang of it now!" he replied before dropping his sword and turning his smile to a look of serious focus.
"Oh?"
Tanjirō channeled his strength and power from his blood outward, before he clenched his fists and felt his fingernails sharpen and penetrate his skin to draw blood as the trigger for his Blood Demon Art.
"Kikkijitsu...Tetsuchi Yoroi - Gōkei!" Tanjirō exclaimed as his entire body from head to toe was then shielded by the rigid and durable dark red iron blood skin, the technique even covering his hair and solidifying it behind the barrier. Over his face a cloth-like face mask had formed to complete the transformation, and when it finished, Tanjirō unclenched his fists and laughed excitedly at his success. "Yes! It worked! I've got total coverage now over my entire body!"
"Oh my!" gasped Shinobu, her eyes widening in surprise at Tanjirō's discovery of an extension of his Blood Demon Art. "Incredible!"
Before they could make use of this new development, however, a familiar obnoxious call was hard from outside and Tanjirō turned his head tio see his Kasugai crow come flapping down towards one of the open windows in order to deliver a message.
Said message brought Tanjirō immediately out of his armor with the biggest of smiles as he ran over to Inosuke, telling him that their reforged Nichirin blades would be arriving soon at the mansion, and that they should get ready to pick them up.
"For real?!" Inosuke replied, the biggest of grins forming underneath his boar mask.
"Yeah! I just heard it from my crow!" Tanjirō sniffed the air for a brief second and his smile got even bigger as he fist pumped in excitement. "I can smell it! Haganezuka-san's scent!"
Tanjirō and Inosuke then ran off happily with one another through the Butterfly Mansion to receive their swords, leaving Shinobu to watch them go with a smile on her face and a light-hearted giggle.
The two young men cheered and jumped happily as they arrived at the front gates of the Butterfly Mansion and turned to the left, seeing two men approaching them further down the road. One person was somebody that Tanjirō didn't recognize, but the other person just based off his outfit and the hat outfitted with jingling floral wind chimes was easily his sword maker, somebody he hadn't seen since he received his first sword.
"Hopefully he's not too mad…" Tanjirō thought as he waved down Haganezuka with the biggest of smiles on his face.
The other man walking with Tanjirō's swordsmith pointed them out to him and Haganezuka perked his head up a little, before quickly handing his woven hat and the rolled up package he had hanging on his back to him and taking off towards Tanjirō. He continued to wave happily and call out his name as the swordsmith ran faster towards him, gaining speed, until both he and Inosuke noticed something incredibly off about the man.
He was holding something low by his waist with both hands so tightly in fact that veins were bulging out from his wrists and forearms. It was right before Haganezuko was upon him, letting out an enraged screech did he see the blade in his hands, dodging at the last second while Haganezuka blew past both him and Inosuke.
"H-Haganezuka-san?!" Tanjirō sputtered, terrified of the aggressive aura pouring out from the hilariously masked swordsmith.
"How dare you snap my sword in two…?" questioned Haganezuka darkly, his hands twitching from holding the blade so tightly. "You've got a lot of nerve!"
"I'm sorry! I didn't know it would be cut in half! B-But to be honest, I came this close to being bisected! My opponent was pretty strong!"
"Not true! That has nothing to do with it! You're the one to blame, it's all your fault!' ridiculed Haganezuka as he repeatedly poked Tanjirō harshly in the cheek over and over again with his finger, his anger practically bursting at the seams. "Urokodaki told me about your condition, you're still pitifully weak! That's why it broke! Otherwise my sword would never snap like that!"
"B-But-"
"I made this Tantō in my hands myself...for the sole purpose of killing yooouuu!"
Tanjirō screeched out in terror as the mad swordsmith began chasing him while violently swinging the clover blade formed Tantō behind him, the pair going back and forth down the roadway in front of the mansion.
By that time, Shinobu had decided to appear herself in order to see Inosuke and Tanjirō receive their swords, only to be met by a confused as hell Inosuke and the scene unfolding before her. Aoi had left the training room by then and had arrived with Shinobu to the strange scene as well, her frown being replaced by an entirely different expression of surprise for once.
"Oh dear, Tanjirō-kun's swordsmith is a rather expressive one, isn't he~?"
"You could say that…"
It took several minutes for Haganezuka to calm down from chasing after Tanjirō, with part of it coming from his travelling companion taking away the Tantō he was using to harass the slayer. Once he was able to breathe, however, Shinobu came to his aid and greeted the two swordsmiths to her home, leading them inside to a more comfortable space where they could present their swords to their respective slayers before departing with Aoi to give them their privacy.
Haganezuka was still angry with Tanjirō, but not so much that he wished to harm him they hoped, as he gave his reforged sword to him begrudgingly. Of course he had to warn him against breaking another one of his prized swords, to which Tanjirō nervously responded he'd be more careful about it in the future.
Haganezuka then lounged on the ground behind Tanjirō as he unwrapped his sword from the bundled up cloth and smiled as it changed color back to its characteristic black sheen that he had gotten on his first sword. One minute detail that was different between this sword and the previous one was that along the center line of the blade, separating the sharpened side from the dull side, was a thin crimson red line that stretched from the tip of the blade down to the hilt.
"Cool…" murmured Tanjirō, smiling at himself while Haganezuka grumbled a tiny bit to himself.
"To think I'd see a demon among the Corps' ranks, it's truly a unique sight to say the least." said Haganezuka's traveling companion, the swordsmith that Tanjirō assumed was for Inosuke considering the larger package he had given to his friend. "I presume anything can happen these days, I guess."
"Y-Yeah...eheh...it definitely wasn't on my bucket list, that's for sure…" replied Tanjirō awkwardly, laughing a bit to try and ward off some of his embarrassment. "I wasn't expecting to get chased around either, though it is understandable…"
"Well, Haganezuka-san is a very passionate man."
"Yes, he is…"
"He loves his swords more than anyone. And trust me, that's the truth, considering how long I've known him. There's no one like him even in the swordsmiths' homeland."
Tanjirō gulped a little and nodded his head while glancing over his shoulder at the lounging Haganezuka, who was still staring intensely at him despite the goofy expression on the mask that hid his identity. He could feel his eyes piercing through his skull, and it quite honestly was unnerving him to the point that he was glad Shinobu and Inosuke were at least in the room with them.
"Ah, my name is Kanamori, by the way." said the calmer swordsmith while raising a hand. "I was the one who forged Inosuke-dono's swords. I would be thrilled if they prove useful in battle."
He and Tanjirō turned their heads to look at Inosuke, who was sitting outside the room on the porch connected to the backyard of the mansion with both of his new swords in hand. He watched them change color along the blunt edge of the blade, the scene making Kanamori smile behind his mask.
"Beautiful, aren't they? The dull sheen of that indigo-gray hue is exceptional. It's a fine color for a sword."
"I'm happy for you, Inosuke, since your swords were chipped pretty badly before."
"How do you like the grips? The thing is, this is the first time I've ever forged swords for a dual-wielder like yourself." asked Kanamori of Inosuke,wanting to hear his opinion of his craftsmanship.
Instead of a reply, the most he got out of Inosuke was a low grunt as he stood up and walked towards the small pond in the center of the backyard in order to squat down a rock barrier around it and begin searching. He picked up one rock and looked it over before tossing it to the side, followed by a couple more.
Kanamori and Tanjirō were both equally perplexed by what the boar-headed slayer was doing with his swords, even attracting Hanagezuka's attention somewhat. Eventually Inosuke found a decently sized rock that fit in the palm of his hand, and he grunted again as if accepting it, before he set one blade down and held the other tightly in his left hand. He then raised the rock high up in the air and began to viciously beat the rock against the sharp side of the blade like a caveman trying to start a fire, the first few loud pangs of stone against metal sending jolts of lightning shooting through Kanamori's body.
Tanjirō and Haganezuka, who immediately became just as shocked as Kanamori, screeched loudly in wild astonishment as Inosuke began to break and chip pieces out of the first blade until it had the same serrated appearance as his previous two swords. Once he was done, he lifted the sword up for inspection and grunted a final time, nodding his head as well.
"Perfect." he uttered to himself, while Tanjirō had to forcibly hold Kanamori back from running up to the slayer and strangling him with his bare hands as the normally calm swordsmith was overcome by fury.
"I'll kill you, you miserable brat! You bastard! Are you flaunting it?!" he roared at the top of his lungs, Tanjirō apologizing over top of his voice as best as he could.
Inosuke just glanced back at him for a brief moment, before he switched the blades out and began banging on the second one just like he had the first one in order to chip it down the length of the sword.
"Bastaaaard! That's it! You're a dead maaaan!"
In a fit of rage equal to or even exceeding Haganezuka's from earlier, the swordsmith had to be held back by both Tanjirō and the former swordsmith in a comical fashion until Inosuke had finished modifying his swords to his liking. Tanjirō even had to call Shinobu to where they were for her help in calming Kanamori down, and it wasn't until after some tea had been served, that the two eventually departed from the Butterfly Mansion to return home.
Tanjirō again was apologizing profusely to Kanamori as he left, ranting to Haganezuka about how unbelievable Inosuke had been to damage his swords in such a way. Inosuke only waited by his friend until the swordsmiths were gone before returning to the mansion for the day, now that the sun was beginning to set, which meant it was close to bedtime.
For Tanjirō, that meant there was still time left to train by himself before his nightly rooftop breathing session. As day turned to night, he was once again on top of the Butterfly Mansion practicing Total Concentration Breathing before he'd go to bed for the night. Even though it seemed like on the outside he was perfectly calm and focused, his mind was beginning to drift off and think about what had occurred between Shinobu and him upon this very roof.
He was glad that he had managed to extract some of what he could smell was bothering Shinobu, but he still felt as though he could have done more. There was so much anger and hate that he could sense from her, that he wasn't certain if what he had seen was really the true Shinobu.
"I had my doubts before, but now that I know it really was a scent of age coming from Shinobu-san...it sees as though there's a bigger and quieter emotion storming inside of her." thought Tanjirō, his focused expression softening somewhat as he remembered the face Shinobu had that night. How her smile had faded and was replaced by a kind of emptiness that somebody who had a hole that couldn't be filled by anything but one specific thing would have. "It's as if the real Shinobu-san is wrapped around in clothes of anger and rage and emptiness...trapped by her own inner workings."
He remembered a short exchange he and Zenitsu had after his inspiration by Shinobu, when they were cheering on Inosuke earlier that day. Zenitsu of course was talking about how cute she was, which was something Tanjirō agreed with, and how she was cheering for him the most.
For whatever reason though, to him and his super-human hearing, Shinobu had a hidden terror to her appearance that even worried him.
That had gotten Tanjirō to think even more about the Insect Hashira and what kind of secrets she could be holding, or lies that she could be telling in order to prevent something she was hiding from coming out. Haganezuka and Kanamori's arrival had disrupted those thoughts of his for most of the day, but now that he was alone once again, he had returned to this train of thought and was determined to see it through.
"What are you thinking about, Tanjirō-kun~?"
Tanjirō jumped a little bit and opened his eyes when he saw Shinobu's face right in front of his again, the Hashira standing on her toes behind him and leaning over the top of his head to look at him upside down.
"A-Ah! Shinobu-san! When did you…!?"
"I'm happy that you're focusing on your breathing, but I thought you'd be better at being aware of your surroundings~" Shinobu replied with a cheery smile, a giggle escaping her lips as she leaned back and walked around to sit on Tanjirō's left side again as he composed himself. "You should seriously give some more thought to that, you know, If I'm still able to sneak up on you like this~"
"S-Sorry…" murmured Tanjirō with a blush, internally reminding himself to not break his Total Concentration Breathing like last time. "I'll do so more from now on…also, why're you out here again, Shinobu-san?"
"I thought I could enjoy the moon and the night sky with you again, Tanjirō-kun. I'm sure it gets lonely up here, right?"
"Ah, well, yeah...I guess so...but it's never been that much of an issue for me. Regardless, I appreciate it though!"
Shinobu smiled sweetly at him and giggled again before she hugged her knees up to her chest and looked up at the rising moon, the chirping of the crickets reaching them even from up there. It was another calm and peaceful night, something that reminded him of the night he had at the Wisteria home.
Being outside in the tranquility of nature, it gave off the impression again of it being peaceful in the world, like there was nothing to worry about. That there were no evil demons trying to slaughter and feast on humans somewhere in Japan. His immediate concern wasn't thinking of the could haves and the wishes, there was something else more pressing to attend to. There was another kind of scent that was coming from Shinobu, one weak enough that it took a couple of tries to find it, but strong enough that it was noticeable through the anger he now knew was swimming inside of the Hashira on a daily basis.
"About your question, Shinobu-san...I actually have one for you." Tanjirō said as he glanced at Shinobu, the Hashira turning her head and raising an eyebrow.
"What is it, Tanjirō-kun?"
"What are you thinking about?"
Shinobu paused for a moment and she knew that her hearing Tanjirō sniffing the air hadn't been a trick of the mind. He must have figured out something about her emotions and he was asking her about it again, most likely as a result of what they had previously talked about.
"Is...this about what I said to you that night...?" she asked in a soft tone, her smile dropping from her face. "If it is, I apologize for giving you any worries. I didn't need to say such burdensome things to you…"
"No, you don't have to apologize, it wasn't burdensome at all. It's just...and I'm sure, after that night, you're probably wary about me now because of my sense of smell, but…" started Tanjirō while resting his hands in his lap, his gaze going down from her to his hands as he played with his fingers like it was some nervous habit. He had to be careful with what he said, because he didn't want to say something that would upset her in any way. She was already burdened by such strong emotions as it was, adding to it by something he said was unacceptable. "Going by what you said...being able to smile all the time, even if it's to hide your own sadness, it...takes a lot of strength to do so. I've had to do it a few times myself...and I was able to do it because I'm the eldest son. I have to, so that I can continue to believe in myself, and so that Nezuko doesn't lose faith in me either."
Shinbou kept her eyes on Tanjirō as he talked, keeping a straight face as she did while listening closely. She could tell that this was something that mattered to him, because of how carefully he was trying to form his sentences.
On the inside it was actually rather touching, and she felt that warmth from a few days prior grow a little bit more inside of her chest. It was even enough to cause her cheeks to even gain a little redness in them, which she quickly had to hide before Tanjirō saw them. She still wasn't sure herself about what she had asked herself that night after their first talk, and her mind was still a little bit foggy.
Seeing him every day and watching him train through most of the day, as well as when they'd train together, only added to that fogginess that made it almost for her not to look his way when they were together. She was really beginning to enjoy seeing him at her bedroom door, and there had been a few times when she was already ready before he even knocked and had surprised him with her promptness. Seeing him smile and hearing him laugh, it made her want to smile more and laugh. Not so much because she had to because of her sister's last words to her, and not because she was hiding her rage.
Shinobu wanted to smile and laugh because of Tanjirō's laughter and warm smile. It was infectious. And it wasn't as evident before as today when, despite the craziness involved, she got to see just how happy and excited her was to be receiving his new sword.
"I understand that, based on what you said, you're smiling mostly because it was what your sister would have wanted, but...wouldn't it be okay if, you know…" said Tanjirō as he opened his hands a little, the things he wanted to say on the very tip of his tongue before he paused momentarily. "You know...if you expressed your emotions, either with your voice...or your face...when you're in pain…?"
Tanjirō finally looked Shinobu in the eyes again, feeling confident in what he said and how he worded it. There was no going back now, and to try and affirm his question, he swallowed some of his own pride and told her of the few times when he had to let his emotions out, mostly when nobody was around. Not even his sister needed to see when he stopped smiling in order to relieve some of his own stress.
He even told her something he had left out from his explanation of his life to her, of the times when his own emotions had gotten the best of him, which for a demon led to losing his rationality and becoming more akin to the demons all of them were accustomed to killing. It was only through his will and the memories of his family that he was able to come back, and that alone was enough to terrify him. He didn't want to succumb to his demon side, to let his anger or sadness, whichever it may be, take over and change him into something that he wasn't.
"Are you asking me...to cry in front of you, Tanjirō-kun?" she asked calmly, even though on the inside she felt as though her heart was being compressed. Again, it was like Kanae was right there next to her, asking her to not look so tense all the time with the frown she always used to have. But it wasn't...it was Tanjirō, once again worrying about her well being. "Why does he have to make me feel this way…?"
"A-Ah, no, I...I wasn't saying that...you…" stammered Tanjirō at Shinobu's blank expression, feeling as though he had done exactly what he didn't want to do. "Even when I tried...I...it feels like my heart is going to rip apart…I...then…!"
Shinobu's eyes widened when she noticed Tanjirō's lower lip begin to quiver, and tears emerged out of the corners of his eyes. Immediately she raised a hand up towards him, feeling responsible all of a sudden at responding so coldly to Tanjirō when he was asking such a well intended question of her.
"Why are you crying, Tanjirō-kun? I wasn't trying to-"
"I-If Shinobu-san can't cry, then...I'll do it for you…" he uttered as the tears began rolling down his cheeks. "I don't want you to feel so angry and sad all the time anymore…"
Shinobu's heart pounded a little out of her chest and she froze up, her eyes widening a little more as she was instantly taken back several years prior to her and Kanae sitting together in their room.
It was almost exactly the same situation she was in with Tanjirō, with practically the exact same circumstances. She remembered how Kanae inexplicably began crying out of nowhere, her only explanation being that she was doing it because Shinobu in her youth was unable to. She wasn't as angry as she was now, and always used to have a perpetual frown on her face, since she always was withholding her emotions due to her own personal feelings about letting others see past her barriers. Kanae had been different. She was caring and lovely to anyone she met, and could be stern and form when she needed to be as well.
Kanae was able to keep her emotions in check just like Shinobu had been able to, but she never bottled them up constantly. There were some times where even she had to let them out, and it had always torn Shinobu up inside to see her role model and the other family she had left to be that way.
"I care for your smile over your frown, Nee-san...but because we chose to take this road of becoming Demon Slayers, it's understandable that we have to control our emotions." she remembered Kanae telling her one day as Shinobu was resting her head on her sister's lap. "But Shinobu, it's fine too if you want to show your softer side...keeping your emotions bottle up for too long can be detrimental for you...so please, whenever you can, let them out once in a while to me. I am your Onee-san, after all~"
Shinobu blinked once when the memories faded away, like butterflies flying away in a gentle breeze, and her hand lowered itself away from the softly crying Tanjirō. He wasn't her older sister, and never will be. But everything he did was so similar to Kanae that it was impossible to deny how close as people they were.
"Nee-san was so much kinder than me...sympathizing with demons and feeling their pain…" thought Shinobu as she closed her eyes and let her body softly fall forward. "He's the exact same way...so much that it hurts me to imagine if he gets hurt...he's too pure of a person to let go...I don't want him to go...if he's willing to do something like this...seriously...if anything...you should be the one to cry more, Tanjirō-kun…"
Tanjirō felt a little breeze tickle his face and he opened his eyes just in time to watch Shinobu's head land gently in his lap and her body curl up slightly as if to cuddle up against him. He gasped a little bit, not knowing what to do or say. It was enough to make him stop crying, and it only took a few seconds for him to compose himself and realize that she really was laying her head down in his lap.
"Sh...Shinobu-san…? Why are you-"
"Please...just for a bit…"
Tanjirō could hear just how weak and vulnerable Shinobu sounded, and with another light sniff he caught the scent of her anger fading ever so slightly to allow herself to feel her other emotions again.
It was enough to make him smile a little, before he too closed his eyes and gently rested one of his callous-covered hands on top of her head in a slightly affectionate way, like he would do with Nezuko. Shinobu's eyes widened and despite the rough texture of his hand, she could feel how tender it felt. Her heartbeat picked up a little bit and her cheeks turned slightly red again, the feeling spreading from her face throughout her entire body.
Unbeknownst to her, that same feeling was beginning to bloom somewhat inside of Tanjirō as well, and he too developed a light blush on his face from having Shinobu's head resting in his lap. Thoughts of her beauty and cuteness passed through his mind, and how through all of the anger and emotions that was inside of her, with all of the time they had spent together...there was something about her that seemed to draw him to her company.
There was no other reason for him to see her in the morning before breakfast other than to ensure she was awake at first, but now, he did it because he wanted to. He enjoyed walking with her to breakfast every morning, where he continued to embarrass himself sometimes with how much he'd eat to stave off his ever-present hunger. And the way she smiled when she truly meant it...it was another feeling entirely.
Something wet began to soak into his pants leg, however, but he didn't need to look down and check in order to know what it was. He remained silent, and kept his hand resting on top of Shinobu's head as they sat there together on top of the Butterfly Mansion roof.
"Thank you, Tanjirō-kun…"
"Any time...Shinobu-san…"
"I hear that you finally beat Kanao? I'm so excited for you, Tanjirō-kun! All of your training paid off~!" cheered Shinobu with the clap of her hands after he had come to visit her in her office. "That means you can hold it now throughout the day?"
"It does! I enlisted the help of the girls to wake me up at night if I stopped doing Total Concentration Breathing, and for the past couple of nights, that hasn't happened yet at all, so I really do think I've done it! All I have to do now is break that giant gourd, and it should be done!" Tanjirō replied happily, feeling accomplished in himself and his work ethic.
Tanjirō told him how his victory of Kanao at the cup game and tag, of which several more victories followed, inspired Zenitsu and Inosuke to triple their own efforts as well, so that they could match him with their own skills.
It made him so incredibly happy that he had been giddy the entire day until he had come to visit her for something he wanted to ask.
"I'm so happy for you~ And now that you have your weapon back, you should be cleared to go on missions for the Corps again."
"Yeah! Though, I'm still going to continue to train whenever I can, especially with my Blood Demon Art, because I feel as though there could be so many other possibilities...maybe I can even use it to protect others!"
Shinobu smiled happily as she rested her hands in her lap and nodded her head, agreeing with Tanjirō's statement wholeheartedly. The memory of that second night was still fresh in her mind, and she had taken what he had told her to heart, especially with him not wanting her to hold back all of her anger and sadness any longer.
That next night, she had sat alone in her room looking at the window for a few moments before physically allowing herself to weep freely, which had been so foreign and unknown to her that it took several tries and false starts before it really and truly happened. What she thought of to help push her to that point was one thing and one thing in particular. The person sitting right across from her.
"Before I forget, there's one thing I'd like to ask, Shinobu-san. A-ah, don't worry though! This is a normal question, I promise!" inquired Tanjirō while waving his hand around to dispel any ideas of deep, personal thought-provoking questions.
"Go right ahead, Tanjirō-kun~" said Shinobu with a giggle.
"Have you heard of the Hinokami Kagura Dance?"
"I have not."
Tanjirō's confident questions and her reply quickly backfired on him, completely wiping away the expression of a proud practitioner of something incredible off his face. He was expecting maybe some confusion or slight knowledge, but not outright denial.
"U-Uh, well then, what about Fire Breathing?"
"Never heard of it~"
"T-This is something that happened during my childhood, you see? My family worked with fire, a-and my Dad would do this dance for us every new year, to bring us blessings, you know, and it was called Hinokami Kagura, and…"
Tanjirō explained everything he could about where he was coming from to Shinobu, the Hashira nodding her head attentively, until he concluded and gave her some time to mull over the information with a finger to her chin.
The conclusion she arrived at was that Tanjirō's father was using some kind of Fire Breathing, apparently, but the problem was that Flame Breathing was a well-known and established breathing technique that the current Flame Hashira, Kyōjurō, possessed, and that it specifically wasn't Fire Breathing. They weren't the same thing, and anyone who practiced that particular breathing technique was very strict about the correct phrasing for said technique.
"'Flame Breathing' must never be referred to as 'Fire Breathing'." she said while holding a finger up. "The Flame Hashira, Rengoku, might know something about this. Perhaps you could ask him, if you are to meet him after he returns from a mission."
"Understood. Thank you anyways, Shinobu-san."
"Of course, Tanjirō-kun~ Is there anything else you'd like to ask?"
"Yes, actually. Are you free for the rest of the day?"
"I should be...why? Do you want to start our training early today?"
"I do, but this time, with our actual swords."
Shinobu gasped a little bit as Tanjirō stood up with a determined smile on his face while he clapped his fist into his hand, an aura of confidence practically oozing out from his stance. Now that he had conquered Kanao's training, and he had his sword back, he wanted to test his mettle against Shinobu and her stinger blade in as close to a real battle as possible.
She wasn't sure herself if that was a wise idea, but seeing how much Tanjirō believed in himself and the work that he put in was enough to make her reconsider. Somebody wanting to prove themselves to their senior was something she was quite familiar with, and to take that away from him.
"If you're sure about wanting this...then I'll help you with it as much as I can. I won't go easy on you~" she said, smiling at him as she got up out of her chair.
"Thank you, Shinobu-san! I promise to not let you down!"
It had been so fast that Tanjirō had been certain he had activated his Blood Demon Art in order to protect his arm from Shinobu's thrust.
A little puddle of blood formed between the two from a cut made through his clothes into his forearm, both Tanjirō and Shinobu standing motionless with wide open eyes. Nothing seemed to happen at first, before his dominant hand began to quiver and shake, eventually causing him to let go of his sword entirely. It clanged loudly against the wooden floor and Tanjirō quickly grabbed his wrist as he collapsed to his knees.
"Tanjirō-kun!" cried Shinobu as she let go of her own sword and dropped down next to her, catching him before he fell onto his side as a result of the wisteria poison that was beginning to spread through his blood system.
"How could I be so stupid?! I removed my scabbard but I completely forgot to clean the blade!" thought Shinobu frantically as she rested Tanjirō on his back when his body started to twitch from the poison, his demonic blood practically turning to boiling hot lava. "I wanted to help him so much, because of that confident smile he gave me! I wasn't thinking clearly...dammit!"
Shinobu then ripped off his sleeve to expose his arm and the wound, her face paling at the sight of Tanjirō's veins that had turned purple bulging out of his arm from the cut up towards his torso. His eyes were turning bloodshot and his breathing was beginning to grow raspy as the poison worked its way deeper and deeper into his system, causing his throat to start tightening up and blood to begin oozing out of his lips and nostrils.
"S...Shi...Shino…N...Nezu..." he rasped, his body feeling like it was on fire from head to toe.
"Stop talking! Focus on breathing! You have to try and slow the poison down, please!" Shinobu shouted before she turned her head around towards the door to the training room. "Aoi! Anyone! Bring me an antidote! Hurry!"
Shinobu returned her gaze to Tanjirō when she heard him cough weakly, and felt her heart instantly stop beating with what she saw. His body had grown limp in her arms, and his eyes had glossed over somewhat.
A sound like breaking glass seemed to echo in Shinobu's mind as her body grew rigid, her eyes as wide as a full moon.
"T...Tanjirō-kun…! No, no! No don't do this to me…! Not again...not again! Please don't go, don't leave, not now! Think of your sister!" she cried as she hunched over, her forehead touching Tanjirō's as her eyes clamped shut, her tears beginning to flow freely just as hard as they had with her sister's passing. "P...Please...I know it now...I feel it...I...need you…"
A/N Uh oh...not good. Part of this was used from a Tanjiro x Shinobu comic that I couldnt find the author of so I could credit them, whoever they were. I modified some things and added it, since I thought it would be a great addition to the plot of the story (even the actual canon plot itself, tbh).
Leave a favorite, follow, and review telling me what you think! And don't worry… ;)
Translation(s)
Kekkijitsu - Tetsuchi Yoroi - Gōkei
- Blood Demon Art: Iron Blood Armor - Total