"Hey... Hey kid!"

She blinked, her eyes adjusting to the sudden sunlight.

"Hrmmm..." She mumbled out, while putting her arm over her eyes to shield them from the sun.

"Oh, you're alive." An angry voice said.

"What? Who are you? Where am I?" She said , panicked, but keeping her eyes shielded.

"You're in a forest, hurry up and go home so I can go home too." The angry voice said again.

"Ughh... Just give me a few seconds to wake up, Mr. Anrgy Voice." The girl was trying to adjust to waking up in a random forest with some random guy with a really bad temper yelling at her to get up.

"Mr. Angry voice?!" Mr. Angry Voice questioned, still in his very angry voice.

"Yeah... I don't know your name. What do you want me to call you?" She sat up now, and rubbed her eyes.

"I-... It doesn't matter, go home." The voice came from her right, and she turned around to look at what was possible the most scariest man alive.

"Gah!" The girl backed away. Mr. Angry Voice didn't just have an angry voice, he had an angry looking face too. All his scars looked terrifying, and the permanent scowl on his face didn't help with that. He was wearing some kind of uniform that was unbuttoned and showcased more scars. A sword at his hip gleamed in the sun.

"What?" He sounded annoyed, and angry, as always.

"...sorry" The girl said in a small voice.

"Damn right you're sorry, now get up and go home like I've been telling you to for the past five minutes!" It seemed impossible, but his scowl deepened.

"Umm..." The girl stood up, and looked around. She was in the middle of a ditch sandwiched by a random forest and a road. She looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings. "Do you mind telling me where I am?"

Mr. Angry Voice- or just Angry Guy now- looked at her as if she'd grown two heads. "How do you not know where you are? Did your brains turn to shit while you slept? I mean you were sleeping in a ditch..."

"Uhhh... I guess? I don't know, don't remember anything." The girl started fidgeting with dirt covered nails. Her hands were all dirty with small cuts on them she didn't remember getting, and she was barefoot. She noticed she was wearing a grayish haori with dirt on it and a loose green yukata that was also pretty worn down and dirty.

Angry Guy sighed "Not my problem, just wander until you find something." He started climbing out ditch and onto the road.

"Wait!" The girl hurriedly followed him, making an effort to keep up. "Wait! You can't just do that! I'm gonna die!" She stumbled beside him, struggling to match his pace.

"Like I said, not my problem. Figure it out kid." He picked up his pace, moving at an unnaturally fast speed.

'Huh? How is this guy so fast!?'

The girl ran after him as fast as she could, even if he was just a speck in the distance now.

*Gasp* *Wheeze* *Cough*

There she stood, gasping for breath, in front of his house. Or at least she thought it was his house. It would be really awkward if it wasn't. She was pretty sure she followed the right scent, I mean he gave off of pretty angry scent that was hard to mistake. Night had fallen now, the sun had sunken below the mountains while the girl was running after the Angry guy. She was exhausted, out of breath, and drenched in sweat. She leaned against the entrance of Angry guy's house, supporting herself and trying to breathe.

*Gasp* *Wheeze* *Cough*

Shinazugawa Sanemi was sleeping, until he heard that sound. He lived alone in his mansion, there was no one else to make sounds other than him and the occasional Kakushi. But he doubted any Kakushi would come wake him up in the middle of the night, it ended badly the last time that had happened. He looked at the time, 1 am. Too late for any of the other Hashira to come and annoy him. Who could it be? He opened his curtain a bit, and looked outside.

No. Fucking. Way.

The girl he had found sleeping in a ditch beside the road was there. Gasping for breath. Leaning on his gate. How had she followed him here? He was sure he left her in the dust, although he felt a little bad for that, not that he would ever admit it out loud. He lit a small candle and walked to his front door.

'Probably just my mind playing tricks. Maybe I inhaled some demon venom or something. Yeah. No way in fucking hell that kid followed me here.'

He opened the door.

"Fuck"

The kid was passed out, leaning against the gate to his house. He looked at her. She didn't have shoes on, her feet were incredibly filthy probably from all that running. Her grey haori was dirty and disheveled, he could see a few holes in her kimono. Her matted brown hair was a mess, her hands all cut up and dirty. She probably didn't have anywhere to go. She was probably another castaway. None of his business. He closed his door and went back to bed.

"I don't know, I don't remember anything."

Her voice echoed back and forth in his head.

Sanemi's eyes opened. "God Dammit!"

The girl's eyes opened, and squinted at the bright light.

"Oh good, you're alive." An Angry voice said. She was starting to experience deja vu.

"What...? Where am I?" She mumbled out.

"You're in my house. Do you have short term memory loss or something?" The angry voice said again.

"No, no, I don't think so at least. When did I come in here, the last thing I remember was falling asleep on Angry guy's front gate." She mumbled the last part to herself, and looked up to see Angry guy staring at her with an annoyed expression. "Gah!" She exclaimed, surprised.

"You're really not very bright, are you?"

"Sorry."

"Hmph. If you must know, my name is Shinazugawa Sanemi, stop calling me Angry guy. " Sanemi said, angrily.

"How did I get in here?" The girl questioned.

Sanemi stiffened, how dense was this girl? "Doesn't matter, I'm going out now. You'd better be gone when I get back."

"What?"

"Did I fucking stutter?"

"I uhm... no?"

"Damn right." He turned and left. The girl stared at him from her position on the floor. When he was gone she let out a breath she'd been holding.

'Whew, that guy sure is angry.'

When Sanemi got back from his mission, it was nighttime. He saw the front light was on. He hadn't left it on, he was sure. He barged into his house, and saw the girl wearing an apron and making rice in his relatively unused kitchen. She stared up at him for a few seconds, before continuing to boil vegetables. Sanemi didn't grow vegetables, he didn't have any vegetables in his house. Where had she even gotten those vegetables? He shook his head, the vegetables weren't a concern right now.

"What the fuck are you doing here still? Didn't I tell you to get out?" Sanemi exclaimed angrily.

"Well... I really don't have anywhere else to go, so I thought, you know, maybe if I make you food you'll let me stay...?" The last part came out as sort of a question, and hope glistened in her eyes as she looked up at Sanemi.

"Whatever." Sanemi stomped to his room and slammed the door.

The girl looked at the rice and boiled vegetables and sighed.

"All of that effort to make this food for him to just run off. Man, I really didn't want to do this but I guess survival is survival. At least he didn't kick me out." She mumbled to herself and prepared a tray that she set down in front of his room. She hoped he ate it.

The girl woke up to violent shaking.

"Wha-"

"Get up brat. Your first day of training starts today."

"Huh? Training?"

"Just go to the garden, 10 minutes to get ready."

He left, and she got up. She was confused, training? For what? Oh well, as long as she didn't get kicked out. She realized giddily that this meant Sanemi accepted her to live there. There really wasn't anything she could do to get ready beside just head out the door, but to her pleasant surprise there was a new pair of sandals waiting at the front door, just her size. She put them on and walked out to the garden.

"Thanks for the sandals." She said to Sanemi as she approached him.

"Tsk, they were an old pair that I found somewhere, falling apart anyways." He looked angry. He always looked angry. "If you're going to be staying here, then you have to train. Become a demon slayer."

"A what?"

"Man eating demons, the only way to kill them is beheading them with a special sword or exposing them to sunlight. Demon slayers kill them, I am a demon slayer. You will become one too if you intend on staying here."

"Hmm" The girl nodded and pretended to understand, she really didn't.

Sanemi tossed her a wooden sword, in which she fumbled and caught.

"Attack me."

"What?"

"Give it all you got, attack me."

"uhm..."

Needless to say, she got her ass kicked that day and many days following.

"Hayashi!" Sanemi knocked on her door. He had taken to calling the girl that. It was fitting, he found her beside some trees, he called her forest. She didn't really complain, it was hard to change Sanemi's mind once he was in a habit.

Sanemi knocked again, a bit harsher this time. "You need to go to your final selection, get going!" When he didn't receive a response, he went into her room. It was empty. "Fuck."

A few minutes earlier...

Hayashi got up and realized which day it was. She promptly left out of her window without even putting her shoes on. She didn't want to go to her final selection, she didn't really want to become a demon slayer. Too much work, less sleep. She'd been on a couple mission with Sanemi already, they were scary as hell and required a lot of energy, something she just didn't have. So that's why she left, and ran out into the woods beside the Wind Hashira's mansion.

Currently she was hiding in some bushes, praying that Sanemi wouldn't find her. Her prayers went unanswered when a hand grabbed her from behind.

"THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HIDING OUT HERE, YOU NEED TO GET GOING YOU PIECE OF SHIT!"

Sanemi's terrifying face was right in front of her own, yelling at her for running away again.

"But I don't wanna become a demon slayer! I wanna sleep!"

"YOU'RE NOT FUCKING SLEEPING UNTIL YOU COME HOME AS A DEMON SLAYER!"

He dragged her back to the mansion and forced her to get ready. Reluctantly, Hayashi put on her loose green Kimono and grey Haori. She put on white socks and put her brown hair up in a bun. She tried and failed several times to sneak out again, but Sanemi was watchful, and always noticed.

"You're going to follow my crow to the mountain, and you're not going to run off. If you do... It won't be good." Sanemi threatened menacingly as Hayashi looked at the floor, scared. She had done that once before, true to his word it hadn't been good. It would be better to just go to final selection.

"Bye."

"Hmm."

Hayashi turned to leave, she opened the door and left. Halfway to the gate, she realized she forgot her sword. She ran back to go get it.

"I forgot my sword!" Hayashi barged back into the house, kicked off her sandals and ran to her room.

"Dumbass."

She came back and started putting her sandals back on again.

"Bye for real this time." She turned to leave again, this time actually ready to head out.

"Hey Hayashi..."

"Hm?"

"Don't die."

Hayashi was left speechless, did Sanemi just demonstrate something other than anger or annoyance towards her? She stared at him, and he grew annoyed again.

"What are you doing idiot? You're going to be late." Whatever moment they had was ruined, and Hayashi abruptly left. This time, she realized two hours too late that she forgot to pack a lunch.

"Achoo!"

Hayashi concluded that she was allergic to wisteria flowers. She had been sneezing non-stop since she had gotten to the mountain where the final selection was being held. The pollen was making her brain all fuzzy, and over all she was just not enjoying the experience. Sanemi's crow had left to tell Sanemi that she had actually gone to final selection, and not just ran away. She was alone in a clearing full of people.

Hayashi wasn't scared to talk to people, she just found that it took too much energy, and she didn't really bother.

'Hmmm... I wonder what I'll eat this week... I forgot to pack something'

The girl was lost in her thoughts, and didn't realize that the final selection had already started.

"Hey, it's started you know." A random kid told her, and then ran past the gates and into the forest.

"Huh?" Hayashi looked around and saw that she was the last one in the clearing. Oh well. She darted into the forest, eager to be away from all those wisteria flowers. The first thing she did was climb a tree. No way in hell was she going to be moving around for seven days. She was sleeping, and then daydreaming the whole time. The demons would likely be chasing other people, she didn't really need to worry.

Hayashi woke up to sunlight, it was her seventh day there. She should probably go back to the wisteria clearing. She was tired, she did have to kill some demons but none of them were overly difficult. Most of her days were spent in a random tree, sleeping, and nights were spent hopping from tree to tree, trying to avoid demons and people as best as she could.

Even if Hayashi had gotten more sleep than the average person in a final selection, she still felt tired, and sore from sleeping in a tree. The tree's were not comfortable, she would have slept on the forest ground if there hadn't been demons everywhere. Hayashi jumped down from a sketchy tree branch and made her way back towards the smell of the wisteria trees.

"Achoo!" She started sneezing again.

Hayashi didn't want to keep walking. She wanted to just lay down and sleep in the middle of the road, but she couldn't do that. Sanemi would kill her. And plus, she wanted to sleep in a bed today, no matter how much energy she spent doing so. So she dragged herself on. When she finally saw the Wind Hashira's mansion on the distance, she almost cried. So close! Yet so far away! She huffed, and stumbled forwards.

Sanemi wasn't worried. Not one bit. Okay maybe he was a bit worried. He probably should have sent his crow out to guide Hayashi home. She was probably lost as fuck, sleeping in a ditch somewhere, just like the day he'd found her. Or maybe she'd died in the final selection. Or maybe she ran away. Or maybe-

*SLAM*

The large sound of the front door opening suddenly jerked him out of his thoughts. Was it who he thought it was? He ran to the front door, a little quicker than he would have liked. Hayashi was standing there, disheveled, tired, her black sword sheathe a little bit dirtier than normal, but alive.

"Hey Shinazugawa-san, I'm back. Missed me?" She said, looking at him. She looked like a deceased rat that had come back from the dead only to be killed again by a foot that accidentally stepped on it.

"You survived." He said.

"Yep, I guess your disappointed and all, finally your chance to get rid of m-" Hayashi was cut off as Sanemi unexpectedly hugged her. Sanemi didn't display any emotion besides anger, annoyance and disappointment most of the time, so she was surprised to say the least. "I-... What? Who are you? And what have you done with Shinazugawa-san?"

"Shut up. Enjoy this while it lasts, you're never getting a hug again." Hayashi laughed, and chose to ignore the tears dripping from her and Sanemi's eyes. They broke apart, and awkwardly turned away to wipe their eyes.

"There's food in the kitchen, you better eat all of it." Sanemi said and then walked off to his room.

Hayashi smiled, even if her teacher didn't show it often, he really cared for her.

"What are you wearing." His tone was harsh, demanding. Hayashi looked over at Sanemi, she had been forced into trying on her new demon slaying uniform.

"Uhhh... My uniform?"

"Absolutely not, go change. I'm going to see the uniform maker."

Hayashi was wearing what she thought was the standard uniform for females. It consisted of a short mini-skirt that only barely covered her butt, a too small long sleeved shirt that was lacking in the middle and showed her breasts. Hayashi was about 14 years old, and she didn't have very much of a figure, but this uniform was small, questionably small. It-could-probably-comfortably fit-a-three-year-old small.

When Hayashi came out of her room Sanemi was gone, probably out to kill the poor soul that made the uniform. He returned a few hours later with a normal uniform, that actually fit. It was normal, black uniform with the words "Destroy" on the back. It fit fine, and Sanemi was satisfied.

Suddenly a knock came at the door.

"Oh... It's probably my sword." Hayashi said, realizing it had been 15 days since the final selection. She made her way over to the door and opened it. She was met with a man wearing a Hyottoko mask. "Uhm... hi?"

"Hello... My name is Shizuku Ito, I'm here to deliver a sword for... Hayashi?"

"Uhh... yes thats me, please come in."

The guy came in, and removed his shoes. He followed Hayashi into the living room where there was a table and some zabuton they could sit on. He sat down, and the two looked at each other in awkward silence.

"Would you like some tea, Shizuku-san?" Hayashi said after a few seconds.

"No thank you." He replied. After a few more moments of silence, he opened his box and gave Hayashi a nichirin sword. Sanemi had come into the room, interested in seeing what color her blade would turn. Sanemi was acquainted with Ito, as he had been his swordsmith since he first became a demon slayer. The two didn't talk that much, but Ito made swords when Sanemi needed them, and they were always good.

Hayashi held her breath as she held her sword. It stayed grey for a few seconds, before slowly turning to a brilliant neon green, much like Sanemi's katana.

"Green... Just like your teacher. What a wonderful color." Ito said quietly, and then he began packing up his box. "I hope your blade serves you well, please send me a crow when you need a new one." Then he left.

"What a quiet man..." Hayashi trailed off.

Although Sanemi didn't show it, he felt a sense of pride in his chest. His student had the same color sword as him, it made him proud, giddy even.

"You'd better not slack off on missions, it'll look bad for me." Sanemi said to her, and then left the room.

"CAWW CAWW GO TO THE BIG MANSION AND HELP DEFEAT THE DEMON WITH THE DRUMS CAWW"

"Alright, Alright, just shut up!" Hayashi had been going on missions for a year now, and she still hadn't gotten used to her talking crow. It startled her every-time it talked, not to mention it was a bit stupid. However, it didn't tattle when Hayashi fell asleep or slacked off during a mission, so she was fine with it.

"Ugh, I guess I have to go do that now. But I'm so tired... I could just fall asleep right here..."

So Hayashi fell asleep under the shade of a tree.