1 day ago …
His bare feet pounded against the wooden floor as he raced down the hallway. Tanjiro stopped at the next junction and took another sniff, following the familiar scent like a bloodhound.
He picked up the trail and sprinted towards the door where it emanated from. Tanjiro tore it open excitedly. "Mr. Tomioka!" He found the quiet pillar alone in the room, kneeling on the hardwood.
The pillar looked up at him and nodded ever so slightly before returning his focus to the wall he was facing.
"It's so good to see you. Are you hurt?" Tanjiro looked over Tomioka with concerned urgency.
"I am unharmed." Giyuu answered in a slow sigh. "The lady of the estate, Kanae Kocho, insisted that I join all of you for dinner."
"I wouldn't have to insist if you just accepted the invitation as a standing one." The flower pillar pouted at Tomioka before sweeping past Tanjiro. "You are a friend of the estate Giyuu, stop acting like a stranger everytime that you come over."
The water pillar didn't respond, instead just looking blankly at Kanae. She sighed. "Honestly, Tomioka, I'm glad we're friends because sometimes I worry about what would happen if you had to look out for yourself. "
"I'd be alright." He answered bluntly. Tanjiro watched the exchange.
Kanae smiled but it didn't quite smell genuine to Tanjiro. "I really hope so. I'm happy that you're still in one piece, how do you avoid getting mauled when you space out in combat."
He didn't answer and she sighed, she turned to glance at Tanjiro. "Dinner's almost ready, can you make sure that Kanao gets to the dining room? I'll deal with this one." She gestured at Tomioka, who slowly but easily rose from the floor.
Tanjiro nodded and began to look for Kanao. He found the silent girl and she followed without any resistance when he told her that they needed to get to the dining room.
When the young pair arrived they found the rest of the butterfly estate's guests already seated. Yukino and Giyuu held a quiet conversation full of hushed tones and narrowed eyes.
Inosuke, Aoi, and Shinobu were all talking in a louder pitch. The former gesturing wildly with his hands while the latter occasionally glanced over at Tomioka.
Zenitsu was speaking excitedly to Kanae. He blushed slightly when she giggled at what he'd said. When she saw Kanao and Tanjiro she lay a silencing hand on Zenitsu's shoulder.
Once both of them had found a place at the dinner table, Kanae gently clapped her hands together and silenced all those gathered in the dining room.
"It has been great having you all here at the butterfly estate and I'm grateful for the time that I've gotten to spend with the three of you. You three have a new assignment, you're expected to rendezvous with flame hashira, Rengoku Kyojuro, on a train tomorrow evening."
Kanae smiled. "Our gracious leader also has ordered me to go along with you three to ensure your safety, and of course slay demons." Kanae took a small sip of the tea in her cup as Sumi, Naho, and Kiyo rapidly moved a veritable feast of dishes onto the table.
The main dish was salmon daikon and Tomioka stared at it with an eager hunger. Kanae glanced at him. "Shinobu was the one that prepared the dish, she's a fantastic cook. She heard that it was your favorite."
The insect tsugoku blushed crimson. "Nee-san, stop it."
Shinobu scowled fiercely through her embarrassment while Yukinoshita reached over to lay a calming hand on the short girl's shoulder.
Tomioka inclined his head to Shinobu in a small bow. "Thank you, it's delicious."
Kanae giggled deviously while Shinobu slowly regained her composure, looking up at the water pillar through her bangs. "Thank you. I was hoping that after dinner you would train with me."
Giyuu nodded. "I have time; that should be fine."
Shinobu smiled brightly as the rest of the guests ate ravenously and with varying degrees of table manners.
~/~
7 hours ago …
The wait for the train was awkward. Like a family gathering with two divorced parents who were forced to be civil. "Kanae, I am surprised that you want to come along. The mission shouldn't be particularly dangerous." Rengoku's boisterous voice carried across the train station.
The woman in question smiled back at him, across the human barricade of Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke. "I'm just here to ensure the safety of Nezuko and the boys. If you don't pose a threat to them then there's no reason to worry, dear Kyojuro."
The man kept his gaze straight out onto the train track. "Then, I assure you, Kanae, that I mean them no harm. I hold no trust for the demon and was all for disposing of her," Tanjro flinched - it was always hard to hear another slayer's willingness to murder his little sister. "But after the experiment, I respect our leader far too much to harm her without reason."
Tanjiro wondered how much of a reason was enough for the flame hashira. If Rengoku would chop Nezuko's head off if she came too close or moved too suddenly. From her position next to him, Kanae rested a hand on his shoulder. "I won't let anything happen to her. I'll protect all of you with my life." Her warm breath tickled his ear as she murmured the assurance.
Tanjiro felt some of the tension slip from his shoulders. Having a hashira willing to lay down her life to protect him was a huge assurance. He trusted Kanae and was thankful for the promise, but he hoped beyond hope that it wouldn't come down to it. She had little sisters who loved her. He, Inosuke, and Zenitsu liked her a lot as well.
She would do everything in her power to protect them, and he would do everything in his power to make sure she would stay alive.
~/~
5 years ago …
The gentle caress of sunlight on her face kissed Yukino awake. She jolted awake wildly in contrast with the halcyon scene that surrounded her.
She'd been together with Hachiman, and they were … wait - what had they been doing? Then what had happened? Where was Hikigaya? Where was she?
Yukinoshita glanced around the clearing, scanning for threats. Seeing nothing that immediately needed her attention, she stretched her body and relished in the satisfying pops that burst from her spine.
She stood and faced the sun, letting the orange rays of sunrise warm her pale angular face.
"So you aren't a demon. Interesting." She shrieked and leapt forward away from the voice, turning to see a man, in a red tengu mask - it's crimson face grinning - and blue kimono with clouds, looming over her.
"Who are you? Where's Hachiman?" Yukino yelled. As she scrambled backwards, eyes quickly taking in the sword sheathed at his side.
She paused and held a trembling hand against her own throat, speaking again. "Where are we? What did you do? What do you mean a demon?" Her voice hadn't sounded like this since middle school. She began inspecting the size of her hands.
The older man held his palms up in a placating gesture like he was trying to calm a scared animal, not far from the truth, Yukinoshita thought bitterly.
"Young girl, I shan't do you any harm. You're in the northern part of the land of the rising sun. I found you in the clearing after hearing a weird noise. I don't know of any Hachiman besides the banner god, and there's a shrine to him over the next mountain range. I am Sakonji Urokodaki, and I will explain the demon part to you, if you follow me to my home."
Yukinoshita crossed her arms over her flat chest, not budging. He spoke in an archaic manner and his words made little sense but at the same time he was too coherent for him to be delusional. Combined with his ability to sneak up on her, she wasn't inclined to write him off just yet.
"I suppose I shall but first tell me what period we are in." She tried to mimic his patterns but couldn't do it with the natural ease that he spoke with.
He took a look at her hidden behind the inscrutable demon mask but she had a strong suspicion that he was scrutinizing her. "The Taisho Period." He answered.
She fell to her knees and began to wail.
~/~
Four years ago …
"Go, I don't ever want to lay eyes on you again." Urokodaki kneeled on the other side of the room, facing away from the merrily crackling fire in the pit behind him. His shadow flickered and weaved with the movement of the flames, but the man stood perfectly still.
"Master, please I did it becaus-'' Yukino tried to beg, to explain herself to the man that had quickly become like a treasured uncle.
She stopped when he raised one fist, not as a threat, he would never harm her. But as a request for silence. "I tell you that you're not ready and you spurn the tradition of receiving a master's blessing; rather, you use my crow to get special permission to enlist without me." His voice was dangerously calm, a small note of rawness in it. "What am I to take this as but a betrayal of the highest order, the ultimate disrespect towards my authority and mentorship?"
"I'm sorry." She pleads. "But I-"
"Would you do it again if you could go back?" He asks. Yukino flinches twice, once at the question and once at the unknowingly cruel reminder her teacher had thrown at her.
"Yes." She mutters, one hand resting on the blade of her training katana.
"Then do not say that you are sorry." Urokodaki's voice raises and the flames dance wildly, flowing with his anger. "A true apology is a vow that you would change it if you could and to avoid performing the action ever again." He declares.
"I can't afford to wait." Yukino countered.
Her master sighed. "Why not?"
"If I tell you something insane, do you think that you could believe me?" Yukino asked. "So insane that I can still barely believe it myself."
"You've always been an enigma." The man replied without humor. Just a sad sigh of acceptance. "I don't think that I've ever understood you. Even though I care for you."
A choked sound slipped from her lips. "The man that I love used to say the same thing."
"Is it that Hachiman that you asked for?"
"Yes, although he hasn't been born yet."
Her master's ears perked up, and she explained.
She confessed what little she did know and everything that she still didn't. She explained where she was from, what her life was like, and why she couldn't afford to wait.
When her soliloquy was over, the silence stretched between the two. Urokodaki grumbled. "You have my blessing; you may take my sword from my armory and attempt the final exam."
Yukinoshita smiled. "Thank you, master; I won't disappoint you. She shouldered her prepared traveling pack and set out.
"If you survive, I couldn't be disappointed," Urokodaki grumbled under his breath as she left. Only when she was gone did he realize he'd never given her a mask.
~/~
Four years ago during the final examination …
A shrill scream pierced the foliage.
It was her scream, Yukino realized as she swung the blade in retaliation and lopped off the demon's head. It began to dissolve, but the damage had already been done. Its long scalpel-like claws extended further from its fingers and easily shredded through the side of her calf, effortlessly ripping through the pale skin and muscle like they were tissue paper. Hot dark blood spurted from the wound as she kept pressure on the gash with her hands.
She slowed her breathing to a snail's pace the way that her master had taught her. Yukino knew that she needed to calm down and slow her blood flow; otherwise, she would bleed to death before she could treat the wound.
As her breaths ebbed and flowed like gentle tides, she stuck her index finger into the wound, trying to get a rudimentary understanding of the damage to her leg. She gasped as the first digit entered the slick warmth of the cut. As the finger delicately prodded, she sighed with relief. As far as her limited knowledge could tell, her wound didn't cut any of the major blood vessels.
Pained tears slid down her cheek. Yukino muttered an inventive curse. She was so close, if she'd made it to dawn the trial would've been over. But of course, she face planted right at the finish line.
She'd dodged carelessly and had been caught by surprise when the claws elongated. Yukino could almost hear the chastisement that her mentor would give her when he heard the story. A reckless slayer is a dead slayer and that the mind is a demon slayer's most important weapon.
Yukino had heard it before. But she'd neglected it for a moment and this was what had happened.
She used her clean hand to reach across her body and retrieve the small medical kit Urokodaki had slipped into her supplies.
Each movement performed was made with care. Trying not to exacerbate the wound further. Yukino deftly undid the small knot sealing the medical pouch and fumbled around inside, and grabbed the needle and thread.
She grit her teeth as she sanitized the wound with the minuscule amount of alcohol her master had given her, he'd kept the rest and told her she could have more when she was 18.
Her attention was drawn back to the wound as it throbbed in pain. Yukino knew that she could get through this. She had to get through this.
After all, she had a promise to keep.
~/~
Present time …
Chaos was the only constant in the smoldering wreckage. Dark smoke from blazing fires drifted lazily across the night sky. Whimpers and screams from passengers pinned by the overturned train rang out around them. The scene was carnage but Rengoku couldn't afford to get distracted, even for a moment.
He wrapped his calloused fingers around the hilt of his sword and faced the demon in front of him. A young man with a fairly lithe physique looked back at him, a green hourglass emblazoned on his cheek.
"Kyojuro." Kanae yelled as she vaulted over an overturned carriage and took a defensive position next to him. "Are you okay?"
For a moment, they both blinked. A sudden gust of thick acrid smoke forcing their eyelids closed and putting the demon out of sight. By the time it cleared and their vision restored, the demon had vanished.
Rengoku cursed explosively. "Shit, we have to find him. You go north, I'll go south."
Kanae didn't bother responding, instead racing parallel to the train tracks searching for the demon.
Kanae doubted that he would bother hiding and ambushing her. So she traded defense for speed and ran with her sword sheathed. She hopped on top of the derailed train and sprinted along the edge of the sideways compartment, her eyes sweeping both sides of the train crash.
She'd been excited when she first saw the demon, but didn't trust him to not harm anyone.
!¡
Meanwhile …
"So tell me Tanjiro. Why is it that my master fears you so much? As far as I know he's never made another slayer a priority target." Hachiman sat on top of a row of seats that had been dislodged in the derailing.
Tanjiro drew his blade and held it up in a guarded position. Hikigaya sized him up. "You seem strong for someone your age but not not monstrously so, what makes you so special?" His legs kicked slightly as he dangled them over the edge.
Tanjiro narrowed his eyes, the man smelled like a demon, a strong one at that - but there was no malice in his demeanor. "Who are you? Why are you here?"
The bare chested demon offered a friendly smile. "My name is Hachiman. As for why I'm here, I haven't decided yet."
"What do you mean?"
Hikigaya shrugged his shoulders. "I came because I smelled a good meal," he elaborated when Tanjiro frowned confusedly. "Tons of dead bodies around make a feast fit for any demon."
"You're a monster!" Tanjiro screamed, hands clenching tighter around his blade's hilt as he imagined the bodies of his loved ones being eaten.
"Say what you will but between constantly eating people alive or trying to subsist more on corpses, I'd always pick the latter. It's the lesser of two great evils." Hikigaya's pale fingers drummed an arrhythmic beat on his makeshift perch. "Besides, what use do the dead have for their bodies? I wouldn't call it good but it isn't that bad either."
"Right is right. Wrong is wrong." Tanjiro argued as the demon chuckled humorlessly, fingers still drumming to maintain a solemn tempo.
"You remind me of someone else I once knew who believed in absolutes." Hachiman's voice was wistful, his slender digits now tracing elegant circles on the backrest of an upturned train seat.
"Tanjiro!" Kanae yelled as she landed next to the junior demon slayer while drawing her sword. "Get behind me."
Hikigaya watched her with more caution than he had Tanjiro. "We really need to stop meeting like this." His smile was lopsided and insincere this time.
Kanae didn't relax. Neither did Hachiman, who stood up from seats and took a large hop back. "Relax, I'm just here to talk to the boy. If I wanted him dead, he would be dead. Trust me on that."
She lowered her guard an iota. She'd seen how his arrow had ripped apart Doma, one hit from the would've eviscerated Tanjiro, regardless of whether or not he was using total concentration.
"If you have something to say then speak. Otherwise, flee while you still can, I doubt that my colleague will ask questions before attacking." Kanae positioned herself directly between Tanjiro and Hachiman.
Hikigaya waved a hand and snorted derisively. "I think that I can take a pillar if it comes down to it."
He rolled his eyes back for a moment and flashed the upper moon 2 insignia. "He doesn't hand this out for nothing."
Tanjiro's breath caught and his hand slowly inched into a pocket sewed into the demon slayer uniform. He retrieved the small syringe-like blade he'd gotten from Tamayo and clasped it against the hilt of his katana.
Hikigaya's eyes slid over the small dagger Tanjiro was trying to conceal. "I see that you met Tamayo. How is she doing? That little assistant of hers, what was his name, Yushiro; he's far too annoying for my tastes, much like a lovesick puppy. Isn't he?"
"You know Tamayo?" Tanjiro's eyes widened, his voice held a surprised lilt.
"Yeah, she and I go back over a hundred years." Hikigaya laughed. "She's the closest thing to a friend that a demon could have." Hachiman offered an outstretched hand. "Here toss it over to me and I'll give you a blood sample."
Kanae spoke, voice raise to be heard over the cacophony of the wreckage. "Why would you do that?"
"It would be a favor to an old friend. Besides, anything that helps bring about my creator's demise is something I'll support." The pale demon made an impatient beckoning gesture as Tanjiro hesitated..l
He ultimately took a leap of faith and softly tossed the collection knife to the demon, reasoning that the most he stood to lose was the blade, provided that the demon didn't have a blood demon art that could control projectiles.
Hachiman snatched the blade from the air and stabbed it into his bicep, the blackish crimson of his blood, filling the syringe like a brackish oil. "There we go."
Hikigaya squatted down and disconnected the sample collection portion of the knife from the blade. At the same time a cat with a small wooden box on its back slinked towards the crouching demon.
The feline brushed against him and purred. Hachiman scratched its head indulgently with an almost inaudible chuckle before opening the box and pulling out another empty glass vial. Hikigaya slipped the glass vial brimming with blood into the box and closed the small latch before scratching the cat behind the ears for a last time. "Sorry, little one but you need to get going."
The cat meowed a complaint as Hachiman stopped his ministrations before it scampered away and vanished once more into the inky shadows. Hikigaya replaced the new vial into the knife, securing it properly before tossing the knife, point first into the ground five feet left of Tanjiro. Pointedly missing the boy but also putting him at a strategic disadvantage.
Tanjiro shuttled sideways towards the blade, and Kanae followed. Always keeping herself between the young slayer and the upper moon.
Hikigaya frowned. "Do you really think that I would go through all that trouble just to kill you two now." He complained about the lack of trust without particular verve. He focused on Kanae looking into her eyes and tilting his head slightly. "You already knew about Tamayo as well. Did you encounter her? Or was it the corps leader who told you?"
"That's something that I can't in good conscience discuss with you." Kanae gave a genial denial before frowning at him reproachfully for the lazy information gathering attempt.
"You're the most subtle of all the hashira that I've ever spoken to." Hikigaya complimented.
Kanae tensed at the reminder that Hachiman wasn't her friend. The man she was speaking with was a dangerous being who'd killed many of her predecessors. Tanjiro spoke in the absence. "Hachiman, can you tell me where Kibutsuji is?"
The demon scratched anxiously at the hourglass on his cheek. "I'll tell you what I know but it's not much. He can hide in a shifting realm, controlled by someone loyal to him, it's like nothing I've ever seen before. It can warp and deceive. I have no idea how it functions, just that a demon playing a biwa is the one controlling it."
Tanjiro sniffed the air carefully. "You smell honest."
Kanae stepped forward towards the demon. "You're on our side?"
"In the long term, yes. But in the short term it remains to be seen. I want his destruction too." Hachiman coughed uncomfortably and avoided eye-contact. He hated what he had to do. "But, I don't slay every demon I've come across nor are my hands free of blood."
Kanae considered the demon in front of her. "What would you do if I said that I didn't care? That as long as you never harmed anyone I loved that I could live with you doing what it takes to survive as a demon."
Hikigaya clenched his jaw. "Then, I'd call you a liar." The young woman that I once faced, had been prepared to fight to the death while injured and exhausted. She could see the fight was fruitless but she fought anyway based on nothing but her belief in a cause."
"It's easier to die touting ideals than to live and uphold them." Kanae sighed softly as her blade lowered halfway between the rest position and a guarded one. "I spent the last two years training like hell and gaining a wealth of experience through slaying demons as a pillar. But, even now I know that a fight with Doma would probably kill me."
Kanae continued on. "I look at my fellow pillars and think Gyomei would have had a chance, maybe Giyuu could've mutually killed him but that's it. We are strong, but time is not on our side. Humans need every advantage that we can get, if that means working with demons then so be it."
Hikigaya brushed his hair back and hummed a bitter note. "If that's really how you feel than I'll be seeing you soon Kanae."
He waved and then began backing away methodically, creating distance in a steady pattern but never letting his eyes leave the duo in front of him.
Hikigaya dropped into a sudden crouch as the razor's edge of a katana passed right through the place his neck had been a moment before. His hand shot up and punched the flat side of the blade, disarming Rengoku without doing him significant harm in a singular blow.
Hachiman extended a hand and a barbed arrow hovered dangerously close to the back of the flame pillar's neck. Hachiman spoke calmingly to his attacker. Consider your next move carefully. I have two more arrows pinned on the boys hiding behind the wreckage." He then raised his voice so the next part could be heard by everyone nearby. "Come out with your hands up."
Zenitsu and Inosuke carefully walked out from behind cover with their hands in the air, arrows poised to strike right at their Adam's apples. Hikigaya kept his attention on Rengoku. "I have no wish to harm any of you." He waved carelessly at the mismatched pair of boys and the arrows holding them captive dissipated into thin air.
"However, I hope you understand that I have to guarantee my own security too. So here's what's going to happen. I'm going to walk away, you're going to watch me do so. The information that I gave your team will be used to the corps benefit and I can continue disrupting my master's plans whenever the opportunity arises."
Hachiman took two steps back as Rengoku stayed stock still. "I'm glad that we understand each other."
He was about to depart when Inosuke turned to Zenitsu and spoke quietly. "He looks just like the picture that Bukiroshina had inside of her locket."
"Do you mean Yukinoshita?" Zenitsu faced Inosuke.
A pale pair of hands clamped down on both of their heads. Hachiman towered over them, his composure broken, he struggled to stay in control of his expression. "Yukinoshita?"