Demon Slayer: Future Dreams

Chapter 1: Return

AUTHOR'S NOTE: FULL DISCLAIMER, I AM NOT A MANGA READER, SO I DO NOT KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IN THE MANGA (5/6/2023)! This piece and it's following chapters are purely for fan entertainment purposes and I do not own any of the characters original to the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba manga.

The elderly people in my neighborhood say that dreams can tell us the future. That they give us hints of events that have yet to come. They also say that dreams are so powerful… that they can even show us the past.

A boy in pajama pants and a white t-shirt opens his eyes and checks all around him. He had black hair with a healthy mix of brown in it and dark red eyes.

"What is this? A snow forest? But… it's not cold."

"Nezuko, don't die! Don't die on me!"

"Hm?"

He turned around to see a boy with a scar on his forehead, carrying a girl with long, black hair. She was bleeding and seemed to be unconscious as she rode on his back, her right arm over his shoulder.

"I'm gonna save you no matter what!" the boy said with anguish in his voice.

"What happened to them?" the boy in pajamas thought. "Is she going to be okay?"

"I won't let you die!" he said, heaving with every step as he trudged through the thick snow. "I swear your big brother will save you no matter what!"

"Oh yeah, he's her big brother…" he thought to himself. "Why do I keep having this dream? I don't even know these people."

The shriek of a digital alarm blared, causing the boy's eyes to rip open. The whites of his eyes littered with red veins from a restless night. He sat up, hit the alarm and stretched to the sky, trying to shake off the lack of sleep. On his way to the restroom, he looked at the calendar on the wall, and it read "Friday, January 10, 2014".

"Only one more day and I can finally rest. Jeez, what a week."

"Momosuke," a woman's voice called out to him. "Come get your breakfast so you can go to school! Please don't be late again!"

"Okay, mom! I'm coming!"

He went to the bathroom and splashed his face with water; he took an extra second or two to glance at the scar on the left side of his forehead. He rubs his finger at it, and then thinks back to the boy in his dream.

"He had a scar on his head too…" Momosuke thought to himself. "I wonder how he got his." He brushed his teeth and went to the kitchen to see his mom in an apron, cleaning up after making a small breakfast for him. "Where's dad?"

"Oh, he had a meeting this morning, so he had to head out early."

Momosuke sat down in front of eggs and toast with a glass of apple juice, "Ah. You think it's finally that promotion he's been talking about for 6 months?"

"I don't know… but I hope so." she said, putting a dish towel to a wet plate. "He's been working so many long days for that promotion… His boss is really making him work for it."

"Man, I'm so excited to finish school, go to college and get a job just for my boss to stonewall me too."

"I know it's frustrating," she says to him with a soft voice, turning her head. "But we need to have patience."

Momosuke sighed, "I know." He took a few bites of his eyes and picked up his slice of toast. "I'm gonna head out. I love you, mom."

"Love you too. Hey, you be careful. I saw on the news this morning that there was a northern missing child reported last night."

"Again?" he said, putting his shoes on. "That's 2 this month…"

"I know. You and Zenomi need to watch yourselves."

He put on his school jacket, walked back over to her and kissed her on the cheek, "Bye, mom. I'll see you after school."

She smiled at her son and nodded to him, proud to have raised such a smart and loving young man.

Momosuke is on the public transit, watching the news on his cell phone as he sat by himself. It was a news report covering the story of a missing child by the name of Toshi Akitomi.

"He's only 8 years old…" Momosuke thought. "Those damn monsters… How can you kidnap an 8 year old kid and live with yourself?" He felt the bus come to a stop and heard the doors open, letting on more people.

"Momo!"

He heard a girl's voice call his name over the sounds of his earbuds and removed them, looking up to see his cousin, Zenomi Agatsuma waving to him and walking over to share a seat. She has black hair with golden streaks throughout and brown eyes; she was in her school uniform with a comfortable looking gray jacket. "Good morning, Zenomi! How are you?"

"Oh, you know. Alive." she chuckled to herself. Momosuke smiled back. "Hey, did you see the news?"

"Yeah…" he said with a slight frown. "Another kidnapped kid."

"Do you think it's like…" she leaned in closer, "a serial killer or something?"

"I really hope now. The crime rate in Tokyo has gone down a ton over the years, so it would be awful if it went back up again."

"Yeah, I'd rather not have to look over my shoulder every time I walk alone."

After a bit of riding, the bus arrives at a bus stop outside of their school. The two exit and begin walking together. There was no snow today, but it was cold and windy out, making it the perfect time of year to stay indoors and spend time with family. As they were walking to the gates of the school, Momosuke felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Momosuke Kamado, Zenomi Agatsuma!" a loud and eccentric voice called their names, clearly happy to see them.

"Kiriyama, what's going on?" Momosuke said with a smile.

"Oh come on, Momosuke!" he said, "I told you it's okay to call me Yun!"

"Ah, sorry."

Yun Kiriyama was the same age as Momosuke and Zenomi, but he was turning 15 before the both of them next month. He's got short, dark blue hair with light green eyes and a smile that could light up a room. He also wears "pop idol" style earrings with crosses at the bottoms in both ears and he's pretty popular with the girls.

"You have to excuse my cousin, he's always way too polite for his own good."

"Zenomi!"

Yun laughed at her comment, "It's good to see you guys. See you inside?"

Momosuke and Zenomi nodded to him as he shot finger guns at them. He turned his back to them and walked ahead of them, leaving the cousins to walk together.

"I wonder why Yun is friendly to us." Zenomi said.

Momosuke smiled and looked at Zenomi, "Maybe he likes you."

"HUH?!" she blurted out. She pushed Momosuke with her right hand, "Shut it, Momo. Maybe he likes YOU."

"What?! No way!"

Zenomi and Momosuke laughed, heading inside. A few hours later, Momosuke and Zenomi were in the same class, 1-B. Being a freshman in high school had its fair share of difficulties, but nothing was worse to Momosuke than having to listen to long, drawn out lectures from their teacher, Mr. Ito. As Mr. Ito was speaking, Momosuke was beginning to close his eyes.

"His voice… it's droning on and on… Must… stay… awake…"

SLAM!

Mr. Ito had walked over to Momosuke's desk and dropped his book in front of him, jolting him awake. "Is my lecture too 'boring' for you, Mr. Kamado?"

"N-No, sir! I was just-"

"Please stay awake and pay attention in my class. You will be tested on this."

"Y…Yes sir…" he said in a low tone, disappointed in himself for falling asleep during class. All Zenomi could do was shake her head in disappointment. Just then, a knock on the classroom door.

"Please, come in." Mr. Ito called out.

The door opened and it was a student accompanied by a member of the faculty.

"Mr. Ito, I have a special treat for you today!"

"Oh?" Mr. Ito said with an eyebrow raised. "And who do we have here?"

"This is Dior Okada and he is your newest student!"

"A new student?!" Yun blurted out

Mr. Ito looked over his shoulder, "Yun-"

Yun made the motion like he was zipping his lips shut.

"Please, excuse him. Come on in, Mr. Okada. Have a seat at any of the open desks."

Dior was a bit of an odd case, not saying a word but following instructions. He went over to a desk that was two to the right of Momosuke, giving Momosuke a chance to observe him. He was different looking; white, medium length hair with a single red tip at the end of his left front bang and a scar that looks like it starts on the back of his neck and travels to the left. Bangs covering his forehead, silverish blue eyes… He was wearing the school uniform, but his jacket was left unbuttoned.

"He looks a little bit like a delinquent…" Momosuke thought to himself, trying not to stare at the strange looking boy for too long. "I shouldn't get in his way."

At the end of the day, the final bell rang and that meant that Momosuke could finally start his weekend of relaxation. A peaceful weekend in a hot spring after a stressful week of school is exactly what he needed. Momosuke was picking up his notepad and backpack as Zenomi approached him.

"Hey, Momo. We're going to the soccer game, right?"

"What…?" He suddenly remembered that he had promised her he would go with her to the school soccer game at the beginning of the week. It was a big game for their school as they had to face off against a rival school.

"We play against Jinsai Academy tonight, remember? Kamata vs Jinsai, rival schools, kicking the crap out of each other?"

"I… remember. Heh heh." he said with an awkward laugh and smile. He clearly forgot and Zenomi picked up on this.

"You're hopeless. We're going though. Everyone is going and I haven't gone to a soccer game all year."

"Oh?!" Yun yelled out. "You two going to my game to support me tonight?!"

Momosuke nervously chuckled, "Of course. Wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Oh sweet! Number 18, you can't miss it!" Yun walked away with two girls from the class, chatting loudly with them as they walked out of the classroom. Momosuke honestly didn't care about the game, he just wanted to go home and rest, but he's too nice to disappoint people.

"Tonight," Momosuke thought. "I can finally rest tonight."

~Around 7:30 that same evening~

The game was reaching its climax; it was tied 2 to 2 and Kamata was about to inbound the ball for one final play. Yun was in center field and took a second to wave Momosuke and Zenomi in the stands. The cousins waved back.

"This game is so close, Momo!"

"I know! If we can score here, we win. But if not then Jinsai will have a chance to win. We have to win here!"

The inbounder kicked the ball high into the air, "And there it is folks! Our chance to win is now!" the announcer yelled out. One of the Kamata players headbutted the ball over to Yun in center field. "Yun has it! Can he score?!"

He dribbles the ball up field a few meters and cocks back his right leg, sending the ball into the air. It whizzed through the air, smacking a Jinsai player in the face and ricocheting off into the air. All eyes on the field and in the stands went to the ball that was several feet above the ground.

"It's up!"

As the ball came back down to earth, Yun jumped into the air and dropped his shoulder, turning upside down. He used that powerful right leg to kick the ball to the far right corner of the enemy team's net, just missing the goalie's fingertips.

"GOAL! IT'S GOOD!"

The horn sounded and the crowd on both sides of the field stood from their seats, cheering and shouting in excitement. The goalie was devastated, pressing his face to dirt and pounding his fist against the grass. Several Jinsai players were crushed, a few of them dropping to their knees in disbelief. Yun had landed on his stomach and his teammates rushed over, picking him up and putting him on their shoulders. Yun was smiling big and cheering with his teammates and all of the fans around the field.

As Momosuke and Zenomi were cheering with the crowd, the hairs on the back of Momosuke's neck stood up, and a cold spine chill trickled its way down his back. He looked over his shoulder into the dark forest behind him and couldn't see anything, but he sure could sense it. Zenomi noticed that Momosuke went quiet and looked at him with concern in her eyes.

"Hey, Momo?"

He quickly snapped out of it and looked to her, "Huh? What's wrong, Zeni?"

"Are you alright? You spaced out there…"

"Yeah, I just… got a weird feeling that something was watching me."

Zenomi looked into the dark forest behind him and didn't see anything but trees blowing lightly in the wind. "Hm… Maybe an animal?"

"I don't know…"

The stands begin clearing out and the crowd begins heading home. Momosuke and Zenomi left together, walking along the sidewalk. It was completely dark outside now, the only lighting was from passing cars and the occasional street light.

"So, it's the weekend, Momo. You got any plans?"

"Nope!" he exclaimed, excited to finally get his chance to relax. "Absolutely nothing to do but rest! This week with exams killed my brain."

Zenomi laughed, "You don't need exams to destroy that brain of yours."

Momosuke's eyebrows frowned and his mouth moved to the left, "Hey, not nice Zeni."

"Oh, I'm just kidding. Oh!" She looked and saw a local park. "Wanna go sit at the park? We haven't been in forever!"

"Eh, fine. But I'm not pushing you this time."

"We're not six anymore, Momo. I know how to push myself."

The two travel safely across the street to the park, occupying the only two swings. Momosuke swings slowly as Zenomi takes off, swinging as high as she can. This made Momosuke smile and think back to their childhood; for as long as he can remember, it was always him and Zenomi. Inseparable friends, and if you didn't know them, you'd think they were siblings. Zenomi started bringing her height down, swinging slower and slower.

She has a big smile on her face, "Phew! Haven't been on a swing in so long! It's nice to feel like a kid again!"

"Maybe we can come to the park more of-" Momosuke cut himself off and looked over his shoulder. "There it is again…" he thought. "What is this? This feeling? Like something is watching me… Or something really bad is about to happen."

"Momo?" she called out to him. "Hey, you're freaking me out, Momo."

"We… should go."

Momosuke stood up slowly from the swing, still looking behind himself with his eyes peeled. Zenomi is looking where Momosuke is looking, trying to see what he sees.

"Momo…?"

The two start slowly backing away, trying to leave the park… until Momosuke hears subtle clicking behind him. This immediately freezes the both of them, sweat dripping from their hairlines. Momosuke swallows hard and the two slowly turn around at the same time to see the most disgusting, terrifying creature they've ever laid their eyes on. Its skin was purplish gray and it was naked with no reproductive organ; it was at least 7 feet tall, had two legs, two arms, and two heads. The right arm dwarfed the left arm in size and had a large, meaty claw that nearly touched the ground while the creature stood straight up. One head was clicking its tongue uncontrollably while the other had a massive grin on its face.

Chapter 1/END