Author's Note: Haven't done one of these in a while. So, hi everyone I thank you for reading this far, and hope you have been reading the manga as well. Incidentally, the new chapter of the manga had given me new story ideas to add here, so be sure to expect that. Anyways that is all I wanted to say.
Enjoy the story
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Living within a memory…
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Seeing other children play outside in the field, a young Joichirou looked with envy. He was the youngest in the family, by about 10 years, his oldest sibling being his sister who was already close to adulthood, and the middle child being his brother who was already in his late teens, were both playing in the field in front of their house with each other as the both of them began to dance around like how they had seen their father move from the night before. Wanting to join, Joichirou tried to move only to be called by his father.
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"Listen Joichirou." A man of old age spoke as a young Joichirou, of about 7 years, looked towards the man. "You must remember every step that you saw me take. This is how we can keep our legacy. It is the only way we can every thank the woman who had saved our family so many years ago."
"Who is the woman who saved our family, papa?" Young Joichirou asked, only to get a chuckle and a smile from his father.
"You will find out when you are older. Just remember this." As Joichirou turned to face his father fully, he took note of his complexion. His grayish red hair, his stern, yet calm eyes. And his appearance, even though he looked frail, the man was beyond 40 years of age, and still kicking with life. "No matter how long it may take, you must find the 2nd child of the family who does the…"
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Present Time…
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Opening his eyes, Joichirou looked at a very exhausted Nezuko. As she began to sweat up a storm, her breathing had become very uneven and her whole body had begun to tremble from pure exhaustion. Seeing this, Joichirou placed down his sword and sat down.
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"We will take a break here. But don't you dare collapse. For if you do, we will start training again, understood?" Joichirou spoke as he looked directly at Nezuko's eyes.
"Yes…sir." And slowly placing herself down on the ground, Nezuko sat down and placed her bamboo sword to her right before placing her shaking arms behind her to support her as she looked up to try and calm her breathing. "Why did you call me out to train with you?" Nezuko asked as she began to calm her breathing. "Wouldn't it be better to ask my brother, since he can do the Hinokami Kagura?"
"I have my own reasons for choosing you, Nezuko Kamado." Joichirou answered before turning his head away from her questioning face. "Mostly because I have to." Joichirou whispered.
"What was that?" Nezuko questioned once more as she did hear Joichirou say something but was unsure of what he said.
"It is nothing." Was all Joichirou said before looking once more at the young girl. "Tell me. Did your father ever have a mark like the one Tanjiro or you have?"
"No, he just had an injury on his forehead from bumping it when he was younger." Nezuko answered.
"That's it?" Joichirou asked once more.
"That's it." Nezuko answered again, with an airhead expression.
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After about an hour of rest, Nezuko continued her training under Joichirou. As she swung her sword, Joichirou always stopped her ever so often, and changed her feet position, as well as removed her unnecessary movement. The feeling of being trained once more brought a smile to Nezuko's face as she remembered being trained by Makomo when she was just training by herself. Seeing her smile, Joichirou spoke up.
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"Why are you smiling, Nezuko?" Joichirou asked.
"Oh, well this just reminded me of the time I began to train under Urokodaki." Nezuko answered as she brought her sword down. "It made me feel nostalgic, is all."
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Upon hearing Urokodaki's name, Joichirou turned around. Seeing a different color coming off of him, caused Nezuko to back up. She was always used to seeing the bright red coming off of Joichirou, but now she saw…
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"Dark blue." Nezuko spoke out, only to see Joichirou's normal color come back.
"Let's continue." Joichirou answered right away, to try and hide the emotions he showed.
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At the Demon Slayer Headquarters…
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Unsure as to why she was called, Ozaki sat before Kagaya. Fiddling with her fingers, while looking down, as to not make eye contact, she began to fear what may happen to her.
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"Ozaki." Was all Kagaya needed to say in order to get Ozaki on edge.
"Yes?!" Ozaki yelled.
"There is no need for you to be so tense, loosen up." Kagaya spoke before recalling his thoughts. "Didn't Joichirou always say, 'if your ever feeling tense, just take a deep breath and you will be able to relax'. I believe you should do that before I continue."
"Yes, Master." And in doing so, Ozaki stopped shaking, and looked forward with confidence.
"He has raised you well." Kagaya spoke softly and honestly. "When he first introduced you to the Demon Slayer Corp, you were about 7, right?"
"Yes, Master. I was." Ozaki curious as to where this was going, answered honestly.
"Ozaki, I am here by granting you the rank of Tsuchinoto." Hearing him say that, caused Ozaki to look at the man with confusion. "I can tell that this may be confusing, but there is a good reason." He added before continuing. "As of right now, you are the only one who has ever come in contact with the leader of a mysterious group we have been looking for. Taking into consideration of how a careful planner this groups leader was, it's not hard to see she may have chosen one of my slayers to be a representative."
"And you're thinking that it may be me?" Ozaki asked.
"Correct. That is the only possibly I could think of at the moment." Kagaya answered. "Besides, she fixed your arm, did she not?" Kagaya smiled, as his sickly eyes stared at Ozaki with hope.
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Looking at her right arm, that during her battle at Mt. Natagumo had been severely damaged, had finally healed a bit too quickly, which shocked everyone around her. Especially the Butterfly girls who had watched over her.
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"Now that you mention, it had healed rather quickly." Ozaki said as she placed her left hand on her right arm. "Is that why you called me here?" She asked.
"That is only part of it. What I called you for here is this woman were are currently looking for, or she may be sleeping at the moment, we are not sure, may have left you something that only you would notice." Kagaya responded. "That is why I raised your rank, so you could take on more treacherous missions. And why you would be able to apply yourself to mission only meant for upper swordsman." Upon hearing that, Ozaki looked at her right hand and clenched her fist.
"I won't let you down. And also, I'll be going as soon as possible." And with that Ozaki ran off without so much as waiting for any final words.
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Running with all her might…
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Ozaki ran back to the Butterfly Estate, to tell her friends that she would be leaving soon and wanted to get her farewells out of the way. Especially with a certain boy.
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"Haa!" Inosuke scoffed after hearing Ozaki telling her goodbye. "Why should I care if you're saying goodbye?!"
"It's proper etiquette to say goodbye to people who are dear to you." Ozaki answered after unplugging her ears from Inosuke's yelling. "And besides, I'm higher ranked than you now."
"Huh?" Inosuke froze. Taking the opportunity, Ozaki embraced Inosuke before backing up.
"I just wanted to say thanks for teaching me all that you know. Well, I'm off!" And with that Ozaki left a stunned Inosuke all by his lonesome self.
"Huh?" Was all Inosuke could say, due to his thoughts being somewhere else.
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Next on her agenda was seeing that man that helped raise her. A man she had come to know as a second father figure. The only person to teach her a far different breathing technique than anyone else: Joichirou.
Upon arriving, at the house she grew up in for the majority of her life, Ozaki walked straight into the bamboo forest without even stepping into the house. She knew the man far better than anyone. Ozaki knew that the old man would never be in the house on a day like this, but instead be outside sharpening his skills to their max. As she began to close the distance, Ozaki heard two voices. One was easily recognizable as Joichirou's, but she couldn't make out who the other one was. As she got closer, her questions were answered.
Seeing Joichirou move faster than he had ever done before, moving left, right. Ducking under, then jumping over the young girl in front of him, Ozaki realized what was happening and couldn't even contain her excitement and ran forward.
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"Sensei! Nezuko!" Ozaki yelled, as she approached the two, but later came to regret it as Nezuko turned her attention, only to get smacked with a bamboo sword to the head.
"Haa. Never let yourself get distracted by anything, young Nezu- oh." Joichirou also came to regret taking the initiative of the situation. "Would you mind helping me carry her back into the house, Ozaki?"
"Yeah, sure. I also feel responsible for this." Picking up the unconscious Nezuko, Ozaki realized something. "She has a lot more muscle than I realized. How long have you been training her for?"
"This is her first day alone, I haven't been training her that much. She must have gained the muscle from learning the Water Breathing." Joichirou answered.
"Oh. Wait so is she the second child you spoke about?" Ozaki asked.
"She is." Joichirou responded.
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After entering the house, Ozaki placed Nezuko down and began to pat the girl's head smoothly. Then looking at the old man, Ozaki spoke up.
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"I'll be leaving soon. I wanted to be able to tell you in person." Ozaki responded as she waited for Joichirou to respond.
"Is that so? Good luck." Joichirou answered nonchalantly as he had his back turned from the young girl.
"Okay." Ozaki responded with embarrassment.
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After sitting in silence for a good few minutes, Ozaki spoke up once again.
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"Are you still feeling guilty about what happened?" Seeing Joichirou jump from her question, Ozaki knew exactly what her answer was. "I told you, you don't have to be. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. That is fate."
"It wasn't." Joichirou answered, sounding more angry than usual. "I was there. I had him. But…he got away from my blade. How can I ever live with myself?" Placing her arms around him, Ozaki spoke soothingly.
"Mama and papa wouldn't like you to beat yourself over this. And they will certainly hate you if they continue to see you restricting yourself to this extent." Ozaki spoke the truth that Joichirou knew. "They would want you to fight to your fullest, and until your last breath, isn't that why you took me in?"
"Yeah, your right." Joichirou answered. "It's best if you get going. Wouldn't want you to miss your first mission."
"Right." And with that, just like the wind, Ozaki disappeared.
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As the sun had begun to set, Joichirou sat on his porch looking out towards the horizon of the mountain, where the sun had begun to set. He sat there until the sun was just behind the mountain. As he got up he turned his attention toward the sleeping child in his living room. Smiling at the sight, he spoke to himself.
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"Why am I restricting myself?" And Joichirou left Nezuko alone for the rest of the day.
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The following day…
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Even before the sun came up, Joichirou and Nezuko had begun to train once more. Continuing the same pattern as the day before, Nezuko had swung, and just when she thought she had a good grasp of it, Joichirou let reality hit and knocked her sword out of her hand.
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"You were too slow to react." Joichirou stated. "Listen, when it comes to battle, you must take into account as to what is around you. No matter how meaningless it is."
"Why would I do that, wouldn't it…you know distract me?" Nezuko tried her best to put her thoughts into words as she picked up her sword, only to get hit in the back of her hand with Joichirou's bamboo sword.
"Nothing is ever meaningless." Was all Joichirou said with a cunning smile.
"Okay." Nezuko responded as she rubbed the back of her hand.
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Continuing with the pattern for what seemed like hours, Joichirou and Nezuko began to spar against each other. But it was clear to Nezuko that there was a significant difference in skill between the two of them. Exhausted beyond compare, Nezuko began to breath in, when out of nowhere, Joichirou slapped her stomach, causing her to exhale. Looking at Joichirou with fear, Nezuko yelled.
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"What was that for?!" Nezuko screamed, only to see Joichirou plugging his ears with his fingers. "I could've died!"
"But you didn't." Joichirou spoke calmly as he unplugged his ears.
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Now realizing what just happened, Nezuko noticed herself still standing and breathing normally as well. Shocked from the sudden improvement, caused her to collapse. Seeing this, Joichirou knelt by the young girl's side and spoke.
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"You're improving a lot. Much faster than I have ever anticipated." As Joichirou began to praise Nezuko for her efforts, he noticed tears beginning to stream from her eyes. "Now that your movements had caught up with your breathing, let's begin your other training."
"What training?" Nezuko asked afraid of what Joichirou was going to say.
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But all Joichirou did was smile, to which sent a shiver down the young demon slayer's spine.