wandering road, wherever you are

By: Aviantei

Infinity Castle Bad End:

"Again, Unable to Reach the Uninterrupted Indigo"

"Too slow, trash."

The fact that Zenitsu—that absolute worthless piece of scum—is the first one to wound him in this battle just stokes the hatred for him burning in Kaigaku's soul even further. Zenitsu is weak, pathetic, and somehow still alive after this long in the Demon Slayer Corps. He just has his Hekireki Issen, to hell with all the effort that he put into perfecting it, and Kaigaku is the Upper Moon Six. There should be no comparison whatsoever between the two of them, and yet Zenitsu still has the fucking audacity to glare back and tell him off.

He has the fucking audacity to say he's going to kill Kaigaku for Rairi, as if they ever needed their feelings protected. Except Kaigaku can see it now, that Rairi's compassion has at long last caught up with them, because they just counter Kaigaku instead of coming for him, playing defensive with that look of pity in their eyes.

Kaigaku can't decide which one of them pisses him off more as he releases his enhanced Dengō Raigō, the black bolts of lightning scattering the people that were once his fellow apprentices, back when the world still had peaches and sunshine. Kaigaku presses the advantage, going after Zenitsu—Rairi doesn't want to live? Fine, they can watch one of their precious kōhai gut the other fucking one from a front row seat—but of course Rairi picks that moment to come in for the save.

It would be infuriating, watching them race into the rescue, like fucking always, if Zenitsu hadn't been stupid and tried to protect Rairi in return. The little brat ends up right in the way of the incoming sword, when the two of them could have gotten out unscathed if he just stayed put. Kaigaku's the one that gets to spill blood with his blade, and he presses the opportunity with a roar of vindictive satisfaction.

"GO NO KATA: NETSU KAIRAI!"

The attack rends straight through Zenitsu's Corps uniform, through his flesh, bones snapping, organs falling into pieces. His eyes go wide, he fumbles for his sword, but he's down, a death just as pathetic and miserable as the rest of his life. There's no way for a mere human to recover from that, and Kaigaku gives Rairi a pointed look so they can understand that they caused this; if they'd just accepted Kaigaku's offer, then he would have let them handle Zenitsu however they wanted. Sure, the scum would have still had to die, but Rairi could have made it peaceful if they'd just stood by Kaigaku's side.

But that future didn't come to pass, and now it's just Kaigaku and Rairi left from their shared home, Sensei and his worst student already gone. Rairi looks even more terrified than they did the night they saw Kaigaku had become a demon, their eyes wide in horror as tears leak out, as their lips part to scream, "Zenitsu!" while they sob and shake him, as if it will do any good.

"How's it feel, Senpai?" Kaigaku asks, his voice just as mocking as when he dismissed any care for his former sensei's seppuku, over the fact that Rairi had to bear the burden of being his second on their own. He stands over them, his shadow looming. "Knowing that you couldn't even protect either of us? Though I don't know why you're even bothering to cry about him. He was scum; he's not even worth the—"

Rairi's blade flashes out, and Kaigaku has to jump back to avoid the preciseness of their aim, and yet there's still a thin line of blood and pain stinging along his throat. They raise an arm, wipe away the tears on their haori sleeve—and when they look up, their entire face has morphed into an expressionless mask that's been stripped of every piece of joy that once Kaigaku saw and loved in them.

Among everything that he's ever resented about the piece of scum, Kaigaku forgot that Zenitsu made Rairi kind.

They howl, the rage of the sound overpowering any traces of the sorrow that's driving it, and Rairi charges, their ideal of beauty abandoned for the purpose of decimating the enemy before them. Kaigaku returns their onslaught with his own, the two of them operating in a dizzying synchronization. All he needs to do is defeat them, and then every little disgusting shackle of that house will be gone, and he'll be free.

There is no time for anything else but his sword. Rairi may be attacking with ferocity, but all their practice and skill make them able to know which moves are best to use when on instinct alone. They wield all six forms as they please, and, with their grief erasing any bit of hesitation Rairi may have felt about fighting one of their kōhai, Kaigaku needs every bit of his Blood Demon Art to meet their force. Wounds slice open on both their bodies, Kaigaku's injuries regenerating, Rairi's lacerations burning further open from black sparks but not slowing them down. They get in close, blade racing for his neck, and he lands a kick straight in their stomach, blowing Rairi back.

They regain their footing before they topple off the edge that opens into Infinity Castle's abyss, and Kaigaku recognizes the opening form for Hekireki Issen with all the fondness of staring down a cockroach he could have sworn he crushed. He snarls, Rairi speeds forward, and Kaigaku manages to get up his sword at the exact last moment. The blackened lightning pattern on his katana cuts off as it impales itself straight through Rairi's chest—missing the heart but hitting something important regardless—while the shimmering yellow of Rairi's sword is halfway through his windpipe, splitting the choker he wears and sending his magatama pendant dropping to the ground, but falling short of a complete decapitation.

For the very first time against Rairi, he's won.

Rairi doesn't even look surprised by the blade through their chest, but a certain level of clarity comes back to their eyes, and their smile is every bit as maddening as the one Urokodaki Shimizu gave before she died. "Kaigaku," they say, voice so tender it hurts more than Nichirin rending through his flesh, "did you know…that Zenitsu was working on a new form in secret? He said…he wanted to have something else to contribute…to being Sensei's successor with us."

Kaigaku's eyes widen—that scum, making a new form? Well, it didn't do him any fucking good; Kaigaku still killed him. But that look means that whatever he was working on didn't end up in the grave with him, and Rairi spits out the blood forming in their mouth before breathing with broken lungs:

"Shichi no Kata: Honoikazuchi no Kami."

Rairi's arms may be shaking, but their sword still sparks to life, still moves, and Kaigaku's too in shock to register what this new Seventh Form looks like as his head tears apart from his torso. The sudden burst of power is too much, and Rairi's haori tears into fragments like lilac petals as they collapse, slumping forward to topple over Kaigaku's body. Kaigaku watches all of this as his perspective whirls around, his head spinning through the air, and, when he lands, he rolls to a stop and he can see them all—his own now disintegrating body, Rairi's corpse sprawled on top of it with his blood-coated sword sticking out of their back, Zenitsu's guts spilling out of his stomach in the corner of the room—before Kaigaku screams, before he's gone without even understanding what (hatred, rage, sorrow?) he's screaming about.

On that day, all three of Kuwajima Jigorō's students follow their sensei into death.

[Author's Notes]

I def got into angst brain on this one. Just be lucky I didn't go this route for the main story. I'm realizing that the short story ideas I actually completed at the moment are all angst, sorry about that. I'll try to add something happier to the pile (eventually).

Thanks to patamon642, ForgeandGred4Ever, CherryBlossomSuki, Punk Trask Noiz, and Levo-m for the favs, follows, and review on this and the walk steady works as a whole! If so inclined, do drop off a comment/review. They sincerely make my day.

But happy walk steady anniversary! It's wild to me to think two whole years have passed since I first posted this fic. It feels like a ton of time and no time at all. But I'm super grateful for you all, so take some extra content from me.

Title for this one is from Shishi Shishi's "Taemanaku Aiiro." While the original is by Miku, I'm rather partial to the NORISTRY version, so check it out if you're interested.

Also, there has been some interest expressed for the nsfw content I wrote, sooo... I'll make a separate short story collection out of that, too, so it's easier to find/not find depending on your preferences. Haven't decided when that'll end up in the posting schedule (I need to organize what's actually completed and what's not plus give Noiz time to beta), but I'll have more news about that whenever this collection updates next, which I've slotted for next month. In the meantime, if you're so inclined, I've just published my Moriarty the Patriot fic, you could have my heart (and i would break it for you)! I'm v proud of it, so do go check it out (these opening arcs don't require canon context, so go ham with my queer food I guess), and also do yourself a favor and watch/read Moriarty the Patriot, because it's so fucking good.

Next time is AU demon angst! Please look forward to it!

-Avi

[01.02.2023]