A New Journey Begins
(I know what you're thinking, and no I will not give up on Will to Defy Fate. I woke up the other morning and decided I wanted to write this so yeah. I don't own Kimetsu no Yaiba and never will. Enjoy.)
It was quiet. Too quiet… Considering the fact that they lived in a small town in a rural area it wasn't unordinary for there to be a calmer atmosphere but for it to have this dead of silence, it was out of the ordinary. A rustle from someone's bushes and the silence was broken, a hand popped out and grabbed a branch. That hand pulled out a figure and revealed that a young teenager was hiding in the foliage, his reason was simple enough and he was showing a true virtue that many forget… "Patience." He sat in that bush patiently waiting for his target to pass by. His green shirt blending in with the leaves and his black pants acting with the shadows to conceal his figure. His light brown hair was one of two things that stuck out in that bush, there were no brown spikes in the plant so his hair didn't match the surroundings. His eyes were the second detail that didn't match, they were a striking blue that stuck out in the berry-less bush. "Where are you Koujo?"
He looked around but didn't see his target in the area, he always walked this way to meet him so why wasn't he showing up yet? He decided to drop the pretense of stealth and get out of the bush entirely, and with a quick look around he only saw his usual elderly neighbors with the occasional adult carrying or picking wheat. "I don't get it, where the heck is Koujo?"
"Right here." The scream that followed that near silent whisper was nothing short of hilarious to the newly appeared youth that stood barely an inch shorter than his friend. "So you tried to scare me, Jikon?" He crossed his arms while Jikon caught his breath and clutched his chest to recover from his near death experience at being caught so off guard.
"How long… Were you behind me?!" A simple question with an equally simple answer in the end.
"Maybe ten seconds? I got here when you left the bush." He unfolded his arms and let them be fully exposed to the air around them, his crimson shirt not having any sleeves which didn't seem to bother him despite the chill breeze flowing through. His hair was a few shades darker and his eyes were a dark shade of brown, maybe even a bit gray and brown. They both started walking up a hill towards a pair of trees, both taller than any of the houses around them and as thick as they were tall, so about five feet wide. One of the trees had a number of cuts and slashes across the bark while the other one had dents and parts where the bark was caved in entirely. "I'll start cutting it first."
Jikon raised an eyebrow at his friend and walked in front of the dented tree. "You don't usually wanna practice slashing first, something wrong?" He held his right hand and threw a punch straight at the bark of the tree, adding another small divot.
Koujo pulled a tanto from his hip and took up a sloppy stance with one foot forward and one back. He performed a simple horizontal slash across the bark and exposed more of the soft wood within. "Well we're both fourteen now and I'm not as good with a blade as you." He made a few more cuts and saw that they didn't compare to the ones his friend made in that same tree, his were more jagged and uneven while Jikon's were much neater.
"Well you still punch hard enough to knock out any adult in the village. Remember when those guys tried to beat us up? You took down all ten! And they fought back!" Ten grown men passed through their humble town looking for trouble and picked the wrong boys that day. Ten grown men chose to fight and ended up being pummeled by a boy who wouldn't be twelve for another two months at the time, granted Koujo definitely got hurt in the process but it was a 'You should've seen the other guy' moment ten times over.
Jikon punched the tree as best as he could but his strikes weren't good enough to leave the same lasting dents and clear spaces of impact that his friend could pull off. "Yeah but don't you remember when that huge boar was tearing its way through town and eating our food?" He cut the tree again but his marks were still sloppy at best. "It charged you and you- You didn't even flinch! He didn't even know what hit him, he was running one second and down for the count the next."
These two were barely teenagers but managed to have their own achievements that made them who they were in town. "It wasn't that big a deal." He kept hitting the tree and trying his best to make a lasting mark on the tree in front of them while Koujo kept slashing at the tree. Anger rose at a rate constant with the appearance of cuts across the wood, and Koujo only made cuts of worse quality as his anger rose. The sky started to go from being relatively clear to having a thick cloud layer overhead, and the sunlight they were just in was replaced by dreary overcast. This weather perfectly matched the slowly rising anger of the young teenager by cooling down his hot temper.
"That boar fed everyone in town for a week!" He stabbed the blade into the tree and was about to hit it with his bare hands but remembered that this tree was specifically for working on their bladework. "It was cool and helped everyone. I just beat some guys up." A simple crack of his knuckles and he walked to his preferred tree.
Undervaluing his ability as usual. Jikon just shook his head and took the tanto out of the tree as they switched places and he started practicing his own limited technique against the tough timber. "An eleven year old beating up ten guys? I never thought it could happen and you did it." His alternate grip on the blade was cleaner, neater, overall better. He swung the weapon and made a much cleaner cut into the bark that exposed amber sap below the tough exterior of the tree. The sun was completely covered by thick gray clouds
"A twelve year old taking out a giant boar in one swing isn't normal either." Koujo held his left hand up with his palm facing forward and pulled his right hand back in a fist. With an exhale he threw his fist forward and landed a solid blow to the tree that tore away the bark and cracked the softer wood beneath. The boys stood back and admired their handiwork along with the strong scent of tree sap. Both of them had a good sense of smell and were being exposed to that oddly sweet odor but in Koujo's case- "What was that?" He had sensitive hearing alongside his above average smell.
"What was what?" They were looking around trying to figure out what his ears picked up on. His friend closed his eyes and tilted his head towards the alleged noise.
His eyes shot open and he started running. "Something's wrong!" That was all Jikon needed to hear and he sheathed his weapon to follow right behind Koujo. The two ran to the outside of their town and saw a trail of disturbed ground.
The taller of the two got down and gave an investigative sniff only to get a nose-full of a coppery scent. "That's- There's blood!" He smelled again and tried to pick out something else but the smell was predominantly of iron rich blood.
"Look!" Koujo picked up a small sandal and examined it closely. "Isn't this little Korine's?" A girl who lived just a few houses from the both of them and he found her footwear… The implications were obvious and Jikon took another whiff of the air and pointed in the direction they were facing. They ran as fast as their pubescent legs could carry them and eventually a pair of ears picked up the sound of something being chopped- Like meat was being cleaved in half, and when they got on the scene they saw the source of that noise and partly what caused the smell of blood.
There was a man in a black uniform with a uniquely forged sword with a gray blade in his left hand, and it was more noticeably lodged into the upper chest of a gray skinned man with some odd protrusions coming from above his eyes. "I won't let you eat her!" The man had nothing less than fury in his eyes, yet the gray man smiled despite the weapon lodged in his chest and the slash leading to it. They both had their empty hands locked with one another and were stuck in an equal push and pull clash.
"But look at her, she's so scared… I like humans when they taste like fear!" The boys looked over and saw the little girl they were tracking curled against a tree with blood coming from her arm, and she definitely was afraid.
Jikon and Koujo were just kids but they weren't stupid and they put two and two together to figure out exactly what was going on here. "A Demon Slayer!"
"A Demon!" Their priorities weren't exactly the same but they did call the situation for exactly what it was. This was a dangerous moment and they just got everyone's attention.
The Slayer looked over at them at the same time as the Demon and both had different responses to them arriving. "What the- Get out of here now!"
"Don't listen to him, stick around so I can have a better main course." The Slayer pushed his sword even further to the Demon's displeasure and that was the moment the boys used to move towards Korine as fast as they could. The two of them got the girl but that was then the Demon made his move and ripped himself away from the Hunter and bolted towards the three. "Don't worry, I didn't forget about her!"
"Shit!" He clenched his sword and took a deep breath with a firm grip on the hilt of his sword. He exhaled and leapt after the charging threat, but he made a critical mistake that moment.
"Surprise!" He rushed and made the mistake of not seeing how the Demon wasn't after the kids. With inhuman agility he turned around and slammed his hand into the Hunter's chest, knocking all of the air out of his body… along with piercing through his torso. All of his motion stopped and he spat blood from his mouth, it was a brutal scene that only two of them witnessed since Jikon covered Kirone's eyes. "Going so far as to tell me your name only to die like this? Pathetic isn't it Kai?" He pushed the man off his arm and turned his attention to the kids with a wide grin on his face.
He took three steps towards them and shivered with delight at the tears going down their faces. 'That guy- He's dead. He's dead because we showed up.' Koujo thought and he surely felt that Jikon had the exact same view on the situation. Kai was doing well enough before they got here and landed a solid hit but once they got there everything went to hell and fast. The Demon got closer and tensed to lunge at them right when he took a partial slice into his neck that only his reflexes allowed him to stop.
"You can take your damn dirty eyes off them!" He knew he didn't have much time so he had to not only try and kill this bastard before he was done but he needed to make sure these three lived. "All of you run away now!" The Demon just growled and started pushing the blade from his neck.
"Can't you just die already?" He raised his hand up and started to bring it down, Kai seeing that he couldn't even last another ten seconds as he was. That was when the tears slowed down and he had to move. He didn't know what pushed his legs into gear but he wasn't asking questions about it, the tanto was in his hand and he had a simple goal. His nose picked up a new smell right before he did it and then he swung with all his force. "Huh?"
Kai was braced and ready to stop breathing right then and there but he saw something that gave him at least two more seconds to live. Jikon was standing behind this Demon with his own weapon in the air and a gray hand fell to the ground lifelessly. 'This kid…'
"You piece of-!"
'Is gonna die!' Jikon was a tough kid but his mind was nearly overloaded from the pain that getting kicked in the abdomen by this gray freak gave him. Kai raised his sword and swung again but his body didn't have it in him to try and strike down a demon, he could barely stand, and he fell to one knee with his sword propping him up. "Damn it, why don't you pick a fight with me?!"
Jikon slowly got up and tried to tough out the excruciating pain but he couldn't fight the tears forming in his eyes or the feeling of dread that came to him once he realized how outmatched he was. "There's the fear… You can be my appetizer and next is the- Next is…" He looked beside the still shivering girl but didn't see the other teenager that was stricken with fear and he- He quickly figured out where that other one was. "Aww you wanna punch me? I'll give you one for free. Right here and don't miss, okay?." He pointed at his cheek and smiled. "Right here go ah- ACK!" Koujo practiced throwing his punches and kicks for the last eight years, and he was able to crack trees with his strikes. His fists, shins, and even his bare feet were harder than the great pair of trees they practiced on and as it stood were about as tough as rocks.
"Get away from Jikon!" He followed through and knocked the Demon away, and the force spun his head around twice in a disturbing fashion.
Even the Demon was surprised at how he just got pushed back so far with a single hit, more importantly he was suffering a major concussion from what felt like a tree slamming into his head… Oh and his skull spinning around seven hundred twenty degrees was something to note. 'There's no way that's a normal kid!' He fell flat on his back and his head started to re-orient itself.
Jikon hurried to the hunter only to see the hole in his chest leaking blood at a dangerous speed. He wanted to do something to help, he wanted to try and fix this problem, but all he could do was sit there. Koujo was in a fighting stance with his legs apart and his fists clenched tight, while the Demon got up with an angry snarl on his face. "I can't- Keep fighting like- I don't want to push this on you- Kill the bastard fast!" He was so worn down that he couldn't properly finish most of his sentences, but he had enough strength to hand his sword off to the boy right when things got more heated.
"Okay I guess you aren't as fear soaked as I thought. Let's fix that." He moved faster than they could keep up with but there were still two of them so he prioritized who to target at that moment. "You're dead you stone fisted brat!" He was holding Koujo in the air with his hands wrapped around the boy's neck. There was a bruise on the Demon's torso where Koujo managed to land a hit but- "A punch isn't gonna stop me from eating you!" The brawler was using all of his strength to keep his windpipe from being crushed but his adolescent muscle mass didn't compare to an adult turned Demon.
He opened his mouth and showed his sharp canines to the boy but he couldn't have his meal since Jikon got in close and swung that sword right into his ribs, and it was just their luck that the sword got stuck against flesh and bone midway into the chest cavity. That definitely got attention off Koujo and the Demon used his left hand to grab ahold of Jikon's neck.
Kai was distraught at what he just saw but then he remembered that these were two boys trying their best against a monster. "You can't- Has to be the neck- You need to take the head off." His voice was barely above a whisper. His strength was fading fast and the advice he just gave was too quiet for a normal person to hear.
The key word was normal. With only one hand grasping his neck he could breathe much better and focus his next action. 'He said we have to cut his head off.' Koujo swung his shin into the exposed blade and it finished the slice that was meant to cut this bastard in half!
"Oh." He used his torso and arms to maneuver away from his useless legs and started to heal himself. "That'd leave a mark on a human."
"Kai said we need to cut his head off!" He got into his stance again and ran forward while Jikon got himself together and palmed his tanto. Koujo switched up and went to his right once their enemy had his legs back and the Demon followed his motions. He reeled his left hand back and rushed in only to get a look of disappointment.
"I told you a punch isn't gonna stop me." He was about to stop it single handed when suddenly half his vision was gone. 'Huh?!' He turned his head to see that Jikon was coming his way but he quickly felt that something was lodged in the side of his head. 'Wait, he threw some sorta knife at me? I didn't even hear it coming. It's stuck in my temple, it must've cut through my eye!' He got ready to stop the oncoming blade that could end his existence and made yet another mistake in what was his priority right then. He got blindsided hard by a boy in a sleeveless red shirt.
"I'm still here!" Koujo punched him right in the other side of his head. It was true that a punch wouldn't stop him but it was certainly enough to slow him down. A concussion alone was a big deal but what happens when a boy with the strength to fracture a tree hits something in the side of their skull? Well this monster found out that it would smash part of his eye and render him totally blind for a moment.
"A perfect setup." Kai recovered a bit of vitality watching that display, these kids could actually have some potential if they could pull something that complicated without even being trained yet.
Jikon was close enough to swing the sword and cleave this beast's head right off. "Take this!" He swung straight for the neck and- He missed. It wasn't that his aim was off, the bastard just ducked under his swing and his vision came back in his un-stabbed eye area. He hit the boy square in the stomach and sent him reeling, then looked at Koujo with a sinister grin and kicked him right into a tree.
Kai was in shock and he was even closer to death from it. They set up a perfect plan without even planning. He could tell they had no chance if it was a direct fight so they improvised but he saw right through it. "Maybe don't yell right in front of someone you wanna kill. Gave you away." Oh right… element of surprise. He walked to Jikon and grabbed his shoulder but first looked around and saw that his dessert was gone. "Oh great she got away, I'll settle for just you three then." He exposed his canines and leaned in but backed away to dodge a last second swipe and nabbed the sword in the process. He pulled the short weapon from his head and stabbed it into the ground beside the kid. "How about I finish off the Slayer with this? Just a big screw you all around." He walked over to a prone Kai and raised the sword up. "Death by his own sword!"
"Ichi no kata: Minamo Giri." (First form: Water surface slash). A rush of blue water with white foaming waves, a single cut and the Demon was in two parts again. The power behind that single slash took the leaves off a tree behind the victim in a shocking display.
His head fell to the ground and he saw his body standing there like a statue, and the one who did this to him was expressionless even as he sheathed his sword. His haori of yellow and green patterns on one side and solid red on the other was lightly flapping over his black uniform. A sword went into a sheath and a corpse turned to black ash with rage across the face of the disintegrating monster. 'Damn it! Those little brats took my food!' Even his last moments were spent lingering on his lost food rather than any regrets or malingering thoughts.
The new Slayer turned and looked at the injured boys with a blank expression. No hate, no sympathy, nothing. "I saw you both fight. You almost got killed." Jikon dragged himself to the fallen Kai and held his hand, he weakly managed to return the action and smile despite death being right in front of him.
This new guy was right since his intervention was the only thing that made sure they survived, otherwise they'd just be food in a demon's stomach. "Wait." Koujo was onto something. "You said you saw us, how long were you here?"
"Since Kai started fighting the demon." The entire time. He was here the entire time and just watched what happened. He watched what happened to them and didn't do anything.
"You just stood there and saw what happened to Kai?!" Koujo was rightly angry, not because of this newcomer just watching them fight for their lives but because he didn't even bother getting Korine out of danger. Koujo had to usher her away when the demon wasn't paying attention to her and there's no way she got far since her leg was almost broken. "Who do you think you are?" The swordsman stood there with his hand on the black sheath of the sword. "I know that you're a man who can't help people when they need it!"
He jumped up to run at this newcomer without any thought for his safety and Jikon watched. "Koujo wait!" This guy took down a demon in one hit and stripped a tree of its leaves indirectly and one of the two clearly saw how this was about to play out, but Koujo ignored reason and tried to land a connecting hit only to be dodged with minimal effort.
The Slayer was dodging hits without even trying but that didn't discourage Koujo at all, every time he missed a punch he'd just flow right into a kick and if he missed a kick he'd swing his body around to try and land a punch again. He moved as fast as he could to make this guy see what he did wrong but couldn't even touch him. "Your movements aren't terrible but if I wanted to kill you then you'd be dead."
"Shut up!" He struck with all his force but he got sidestepped and chopped in the neck, falling to the ground unconscious.
Jikon watched as Kai took his last breath and tears came down his face again, he may not have known him personally but that didn't matter. He was human just like him and did everything he could to protect Korine and even them against that monster. "Please don't hurt him!" The Slayer looked away from the kid at his feet and to the one with tears on his face… and the deja vu got to him. "He's my half brother! He didn't mean anything by trying to hurt you!" He bowed his head to plead with him. "Don't do anything to him please." That just made the familiarity hit harder.
"What is up with you brats and exposing yourselves to others?" Now he was showing a clear emotion, and it was anger. "You shouldn't be kneeling down and begging me not to hurt him, you should be getting up and stopping me yourself! If you're so weak that you can't even stand up for your family then how would you ever have killed that demon? What if I didn't show up? What if it was just you two protecting that girl?"
Jikon was confused about what just happened, he expected to at least be heard out with his request but it was downright refused. "I don't understand." His wavering voice only angered this man more.
"Show some resolve as a man! He might've rushed in like an idiot but he didn't just sit there crying about it!" He picked Koujo up by his collar and Jikon stopped his bowing to tense up. "What's your name?"
"My wha-"
"I didn't stutter!"
He sat up and actually looked like he was getting more bold by the second. "Jikon Hakuga." He actually stood all the way up with the sword in one hand and the tanto in another.
"The weak don't have the right to be upset at the rules the strong make. If you want to change something then pick yourself up and get to work!" He unsheathed his weapon and a glint went over Jikon's eyes.
The boy ran by a tree and quickly sprinted towards the Slayer with Kai's sword in hand. "Put him down!" He obliged and dropped the boy to block a basic slash from him. The man didn't even let this fight continue, he slipped his blade down and deflected Jikon's strike and with a simple rise and fall of the hilt onto the boy's back he was down and out.
"At least they aren't useless idiots." He was about to move on and start burying the poor Hunter but a sound caught his attention, and then a tanto buried itself in the ground beside him. He glanced downwards and saw that sharp knife standing proudly in the dirt beside him… Did he find Tanjiro's long lost brother or something? "Throwing the knife high up so I wouldn't notice it and waiting for it to land." He picked up the weapon and examined the metal only to have his eyes slightly widen. "This is made of nichirin. Who gave him this? Maybe… Maybe they can make it as well." He walked over to the owner of that weapon and left it beside him, and now it was time to bury Kai.
He stirred and slowly started to rise from unconsciousness. 'I'm dizzy…'
"Oh, you're awake."
Koujo saw that guy who chopped his neck standing beside a mound of dirt with Kai's sword in his hand, and when he started getting up he felt his hand touch fabric only to look and see Jikon right beside him on the ground. "Yeah I'm up. What are-" He caught the late Demon Slayer's sword when it was tossed at him.
"Get to Mt. Sagiri and find a man named Sakonji Urokodaki. Tell him Giyū Tomioka sent you." He stood up straight and looked off in the distance. "If you hurry you'll run into a brother and sister pair, just trust what they say." A blink of the eye and Giyū was gone with only some dust being thrown to show where he went.
He held the sword in his left hand then decided to crudely wake his sibling up by hitting him with the sheathed weapon. "AHH! I'm up!" Looking around he saw that the sun was going to set in a matter of hours and that the man who 'saved' them was gone without a trace.
"We're going on a trip to Mount Sagiri. Giyū said we'd find an old man named Urokodaki and he'd- He'd… He actually didn't say what he'd do." Assumption is dangerous but they didn't know that and so they started coming to their own conclusions on what it could mean to find an old man on a mountain. It really was a conundrum but that wasn't their concern, Giyū told them what to do and they were gonna get going that evening.
"Mom, Dad! Where's my basket at?" He had all his basic things ready so now he just needed the actual container to carry everything he needed.
He left his bedroom and ran into his father, a tall man who he looked exactly like. Blue eyes, brown hair, and a winning smile. "Your bamboo basket is right here." He held up that moderately sized cubic container with a simple hinge door at the top and smiled at his boy. "I'm proud of this journey you're going on. I don't know why a Demon Slayer wants you to go to that mountain but I know that it's for a good reason." Jokan Hakuga was a good man who cared for his family at the end of the day.
The soft sound of footsteps made the both of them look and see a lovely demure woman turn a corner with a gentle smile on her face. "All brawn and no brain. Of course you know why he'd have to go somewhere a Slayer recommended." Shion wasn't even trying to be condescending, it was just context clues. He strapped his basket on and walked towards their front door but someone pulled him back into a family hug that he didn't want to get out of. "Be careful out there Jikon, it's going to be nighttime soon and traveling alone is dangerous." She stroked his hair in a way only a mother could while his father patted him on the back supportingly.
"I promise I'll be okay, and I'm never alone. I've always got my family nearby." That had a double meaning but they didn't know and they just held him tighter. Once the hug broke he strapped his tanto to his hip and went back to the door, he turned and waved then walked right into the evening light.
Just a short walk away from the Hakuga house was a simple house big enough for two people to comfortably live in, and inside that house there was a woman with tan skin that showed she worked hard for things she wanted. A simple bit of black wrapping around her bust was all she had on her upper body and she had black pants with thick cloth shin guards on her legs. Her most defining features were the scars across her body, namely the one across her face and right eye… the missing right arm was also one.
"Don't die out there." Kouka Itadake was a tough woman and that extended to her parenting, they didn't hug, there was no mushy heartfelt speech of love, she just gave him a general recommendation for his journey.
Koujo smirked and fired back his attack. "If I die then who'd be a better Demon Slayer than you ever were?" She might've only had one arm but it wasn't debilitating for her, any hit she threw made anyone forget that she was missing a limb in the first place and Koujo knew that by experience.
She took a deep breath that gave her body plenty of oxygen in a quick increase of physical prowess and she rotated her arm around while going to her combat stance, legs apart and fist by her hip. Beautiful deep red flames danced through the air around her and centered around her fist.
"I'm not sorry." He dropped his satchel and Kai's sword and mirrored his mom's stance and form… sans the breathing technique which he wasn't properly trained to use just yet, however he did know how to breathe. A shorter inhale of air into his lungs and he gave himself a slight boost of strength.
"Sokumen Kōgeki!" (Lateral strike). She threw her fist out and he did the same, neither of them missed. Their form of hugging was this simple exchange of blows that wasn't actually serious or else… she'd kill him. Koujo was hunched over her fist and she leaned into his, they both had an advantage; She had superior strength and style, while he had hands that were like stone. "Not a bad hit…" She was grinning but the spit coming from the sides of her mouth showed how much he actually hurt her, of course his eyes were blank since… she was stronger and she knocked him out with that hit.
"Hey Koujo! You ready?" The door opened and Jikon revealed himself and the early evening sky. "We need to be stepping off about now." He looked to the left to see the Demon Slaying sword that Koujo promised him, and he grabbed it then put it on his hip right above his smaller weapon.
Kouka's son fell off her fist and onto the ground with drool coming from his mouth while she exhaled and chuckled at her son from another sister. "Give him a minute first. I'm glad you two can go on this little trip, how's that man-whore dad of yours?"
Jikon wanted to defend his dad's honor at such an insult but since he knew the truth of the situation. The fact that his happily smiling father ,who seemed to genuinely enjoy marriage with his mother, was a man who got two women pregnant within a week of each other and didn't even know it. Not to mention that his mom wasn't even the first one he knocked up… it was Kouka. "They were all sad to see me off but I'm here now." She decided to whip the two of them into some shape that was apparently enough to hold back a low tier demon despite being just thirteen, her methods were loose but they seemed to work for something.
"We're about to be headed to Mount Sagiri." Koujo was awake after just two minutes of unconsciousness and he put his satchel back on. "This old guy won't find himself." He was just as aware of the situation with Jokan and his mother but he didn't bother thinking about it, he just walked out of the house and into the early evening with Jikon.
They traveled for hours with the basic directions that the few people in their town could offer them and despite it being a dangerous time of day they didn't encounter anything unsavory aside from mosquitoes. The bloodsuckers were everywhere bothering them for just a sample of their life essence. "Man I hate these bugs, always after my blood."
"Maybe you have really tasty blood?" Koujo said that right as one landed on his neck and Jikon took that opportunity to slap him as hard as he could. "You- I hate you."
Jikon just smiled as they walked the path they were on. "I love you more." It always annoyed him when he tried to be angry and yet Jikon just had to be the funny man to ruin his mood. Koujo didn't even bother saying anything else so as to not make Jikon say anything else to annoy him, they just walked silently for a few hours in the comforting light of the moon.
"I'm not sure but at this rate we might find the mountain in a- What was that?" The darker haired brother stopped to look around and focused on a pathway leading to some stairs. "There's a fight."
Jikon inhaled the crisp night air and picked up a familiar smell. "There's blood! Someone needs our help!" They ran towards the commotion and the second they got there they were greeted with the sight of a boy standing across from a grey skinned demon while a girl stood in the doorway of a building.
"Oh great there's even more humans." The boy looked back and that second was all the demon needed to lunge and pin him down. "You got lucky but you won't hit me again. Now I'll break your neck!"
That girl stood in the doorway until she heard that boy grunt in pain against the once human, Koujo shared the sentiment and dashed towards them with the same speed that she had. She kicked and so did he. A head was separated from a body and a body was pushed away with a caved in chest. "N- Nezuko…" She kicked again to send the moving body flying even further away while Koujo looked over.
"You bastards!" The boy followed his eyes and saw the decapitated demon. "The girl's a demon after all! I couldn't tell before, but what are you teaming up with humans for?"
"How is he talking?!" Jikon and the unknown boy said in unison. More importantly the headless body rushed and jumped into the air with the intent to crush Koujo and the girl but missed its mark. The body hit the girl then hit Koujo, both of them doing their best to bear with the pain.
Jikon drew his sword and rushed to help and the boy in a green and black haori did the same with a hatchet but one of them ended up being caught by a head with arms growing from its neck. He looked back and saw the demon grab two teenagers and threw them into the distance. "Nezuko!" Hair grew around the hatchet and his hands. 'What the hell is with this guy? Who grows arms from the side of their head? I have to help Nezuko and that other guy!' Jikon made his move and sliced the hair away to free his hands. The haori wearing boy pulled the head closer to him while reeling his own back. "Out of our way!" He slammed his forehead against the demon's in a show of bravery with the impact creating a gust of wind, but he grabbed onto the cut black hair and pulled the demon in for seconds.
'Like a rock!' The boy slammed his head into the demon again. 'This kid's got a hard head!' He grabbed the hatchet then flung it, and the concussed demon, away.
"Okay!"
'Wrapping my hair around the hatchet didn't work out!'
Jikon grabbed his new friend's shoulder before he could sprint off. "Don't just run off, we don't know what else is out there."
"My sister and your friend are with that thing's body!" He pulled away and ran off with Jikon right behind him. "Nezuko!"
"Koujo!"
They were two different people with the same goal. "Where are you?!" Unison again.
Nezuko just got hit and sent to the ground but she wasn't alone in this scuffle. Koujo slammed his shin into the body and admired the sound of cracking bones for a second, then he dropped and inhaled a deep breath the same as hours prior. "Sokumen kōgeki!" (Lateral strike). A solid punch that knocked the body off balance towards a steep cliff.
"Get away from them!" This new guy was either going to be the bravest person they got to meet or the dumbest. He threw himself into the demon and off the cliff with him, but only when he was in the air did he notice what he did. "Guh!" Nezuko and Koujo grabbed his haori to stop his fall while the demon dropped like a stone and landed neck first on a boulder.
Minutes later they were back where the fight started and staring at the head pinned to a tree. 'How many demons are there? This isn't the scent that was at my house.'
"So now he just needs to be finished." Jikon said but the boy in front of him was breathing heavily with a knife in hand. Hesitation present.
'He's right. He'll keep killing people if I don't end it. Just do it.' A hand grabbed his shoulder and he turned to see a red mask with a solemn expression.
"That knife isn't going to work here."
Koujo was wide eyed at how this man just got past his detection. 'I didn't hear or smell him… if he was a demon or something then- I need to practice.'
"Well how do I kill him?"
This masked man irritatingly responded to that question. "Think for yourself. Use your own head to solve your problems!"
He stopped to think and his eyes landed on a rock. 'If stabbing won't work then I'll have to crush his head.' He nervously approached with the rock in hand. 'I'll have to crush his head completely. He'll probably suffer…' He wavered at the brutal fact of what was going to happen. 'Can't I finish this in one hit?'
"The best thing to do is get it over with fast, he won't suffer as bad that way." Jikon voiced his thoughts on the reality of what was happening.
Meanwhile the old man behind the boys internally sighed. 'These three might not cut it. Those two are too nice and hesitant. Standing against a demon but they still have the scent of kindness, empathy even for a demon. And that one is ready to just take over and finish it for them, too hasty and too impatient. Giyū… these boys will never make it."
The head stirred and his eyes opened. 'I blacked out, is my body dead? I think I'm gonna be sick.' He saw the three that did this to him. "You little brats! Get over here! I'll devour all of you- Get over here where I can reach-" His forehead caved in to Koujo's fist but as a demon it wasn't fatal. The boy grabbed an arm so he could safely pummel the jeering demon while the gentle boy looked over and realized that the night was over.
'I took too long. The sun's coming up.' Mid beatdown the demon was caught in the rays of the morning light and quickly turned into ashes beneath an angry fist. 'That's all it takes to turn him to ash? No wonder Nezuko hides!' He looked around and didn't see his sister anywhere. "Nezuko!" He ran into the building and saw her sitting in her basket while the other boys followed and saw the same thing. Their noses drawing a conclusion based on her scent and how it was so familiar to two things they'd encountered thus far.
"She's a demon…" Jikon said while Koujo just focused on the girl sitting in a basket.
"She's not like- Hang on, where's the old guy?" They followed the sounds of quiet words and saw the old man in front of a burial mound. "He buried the people who got killed."
His cloud patterned haori made little noise as he stood when they approached. "My name is Sakonji Urokodaki." They tensed at the name upon realizing this was who they were looking for. "You're the three that Giyū Tomioka sent my way, correct?"
"Yes, I'm Tanjiro Kamado. My sister's name is Nezuko."
Jikon sheathed Kai's sword and bowed his head. "I'm Jikon Hakuga."
"Koujo Itadake."
Introductions were done so it was time for first lessons. "Tanjiro… what will you do if your sister eats a human?" He couldn't answer that question and quickly earned a slap across the face. "You're too indecisive! You're too slow at making decisions. That's why you couldn't kill the demon before daybreak. Do you know why you couldn't answer that simple question? Because your resolve is too weak! There are two things you must do if she eats a human; first you kill her, then slit your belly and die. That's what traveling alongside a demon like her means. But you must never allow that to happen, your sister taking the life of an innocent person is what you can't allow."
'She doesn't look like she'd eat a beetle much less a human.' Jikon thought and it almost seemed like Sakonji could read minds since his gaze landed on him.
"What will you do if a person is in danger because of a demon? What if they're pinned down and facing death itself?"
"Uh-" He was slapped across the face the same as Tanjirō.
"That is not an answer! Lives are lost too often from hesitance, if there is danger then you must run to it and save those in its grasp! Hesitation against a demon will only result in death, you cannot hesitate in the face of danger Jikon." A soft snicker made the old man look to see Koujo standing there calmly even though he didn't make eye contact. "And what if you are against a demon too strong for you to fight alone?"
"I'll fight as hard as I-" His slap was slightly harder than the others.
"Rushing into a fight is admirable but rushing to your death isn't! Running headfirst into a battle without making a fast decision will kill you, your resolve is strong but you don't think!"
"I do think-" He was slapped again.
"Even going so far as to speak up to correct me when I said nothing untrue!" Urokodaki turned away from them with his lesson clear. "You all have your flaws that we will work on, I will test to see if you're all fit to become members of the Demon Slayer Corps. Follow me!"
The midday sun was bearing down on them as they ran. Urokodaki leading with Jikon only so far behind, Koujo in the middle, and Tanjirō in back. But he had the reason of carrying extra weight. "He's so fast! How old can he be? I still can't hear his footsteps."
"Neither can I!" Koujo slowed down once he saw how much Tanjirō was lagging behind. He put a hand on the basket and pushed to speed them up. "I expect you to tell us the story of what happened with your sister eventually. She's a demon but she didn't attack me or Jikon so I guess it doesn't matter."
Jikon even pulled back and put his hand on the basket to push Tanjirō along as well. "Same for me! Nezuko is fine to me. But that's as long as she doesn't attack anyone…" They ran and closed some of the distance as a group but they definitely weren't going to be right behind Urokodaki anytime soon.
They arrived at a cabin when the sun was setting, out of breath, out of stamina, all around worn out. "So- Does this mean we passed the test?"
Urokodaki took off the makeshift hood he was wearing and exposed his gray hair. "We're just beginning the test. We'll be climbing a mountain."
"Huh?!" They just ran all day to get here and now they had to climb a mountain? Unfair.
The boys helped get Nezuko into a cot while Urokodaki agreed to keep watch over her while they were out. Tanjiro thanking him for the gesture.
It was the dead of night and they were walking in the hazy mountain air. Each of them was exhausted from the constant movement and on the verge of passing out. Eventually their master came to a stop and turned around. "Now you'll all find your way back to my house and the foot of the mountain. I won't be waiting until daybreak." Fog washed over him and he was gone.
"He thinks we'll get lost from the fog. That's our test." Jikon observed. "Well with our senses of smell we should be fine, he left a scent behind after all." Koujo decided to voice a controversial idea but if every idea was liked then people wouldn't have made it anywhere.
"I say we split up. If we rely on each other to make it then how will we ever fight demons alone?" It was a good idea but the idea of leaving each other on this mountain could've been dangerous.
Tanjiro nodded. "We have plenty of time so we should be fine to make it down alone. Good luck you two." He and Koujo split away while Jikon just dropped his head and headed in one direction.
Jikon started running for a bit while locking onto the old man's smell. "Tanjiro was right, we can track him down and make it no problem!" He stumbled over something that didn't feel natural and stopped for a moment. "What was that?" Rocks pelted his face mercilessly. "A trap?!"
Koujo ran along the brush and jumped over a rock in the process. "This shouldn't be tha- AAH!" He fell into a pit that was covered by leaves. "A pit? That old man set traps!"
Tanjiro stumbled out of a shower of rocks and tried to dodge a log swinging into him. 'If I keep running into traps I won't make it down the mountain. And- The air is-"
'The air's thin on this mountain!'
They came to the same conclusion, Jikon on the ground from a branch swinging into him. Koujo running away from the pit. Tanjiro standing up after the log. They each felt dizzy and could barely breathe. 'Control your breathing… Sniff out the traps!'
'Calm down and focus, dodge each trap as it comes!'
'Relax… Use your senses and keep going!'
They each sprinted off from their point and triggered traps along the way but they managed to avoid the most painful ones… sometimes. 'Right! I've got it down!' Tanjiro was getting past multiple traps at the same time. 'These were set by a human, their scent sticks out!'
Jikon turned and cut a bamboo stalk that tried to lash him. 'Knowing where they come from doesn't help everything.' More bamboo fell down.
Koujo deflected a few stalks of bamboo before he got overwhelmed by their numbers. 'I can't avoid all of them!' The sheer number of the traps wore them down more and more as time went on, no matter where they went there were more traps holding them back. They were aware of the traps but weren't athletic enough to dodge all of them.
Tanjiro leaned against a tree and caught his breath before pushing on again. 'I'll make it back… No matter what… For Nezuko!"
Urokodaki was peacefully seated in his small home with a sleeping Nezuko nearby and his peace was disturbed when the door slid open and three boys stood triumphant over the first trial. Panting, bloody, covered in leaves and dirt. Jikon lost an entire sleeve of his outfit to the wilderness while Tanjiro and Koujo managed to keep their clothes in relatively good shape. "We- We made it down." They all collapsed in a pile of sweat and grime.
"Dear Urokodaki, forgive my intrusion. There are two more boys who'll join in your training, both of them have a certain feel about them. One of them was brazen enough to try and exchange blows with me bare handed while his brother rushed in and would've killed a less alert man. I know this is selfish on top of my existing request but.. I have a feeling that they'll be just as good students as the first. Sincerely yours, Giyū Tomioka."
"Tanjiro Kamado, Jikon Hakuga, Koujo Itadake. You are all my newest students."
A bright morning to be running down the mountain together. Each of the trio quickly found their teacher and listened to his words of instruction only half an hour prior.
"I am a trainer. My job is to teach new swordsmen, there are others who teach their pupils with their own regimen. To complete your training and join the Demon Slayer Corps you'll have to survive the Final Selection at Mount Fujikasane. I'll decide if you're all ready for that or not."
As of today we're keeping a journal for Nezuko, we're descending the mountain again today. We're going to train our hardest to survive the final selection process.
The boys ran down a slope and tripped a log trap but each evaded it as it came, barely any effort needed.
Day after day we make our way down the mountain and now we can pick up even more traps.
They moved around the trees and shrubbery in their way during their sprint but Koujo's ears picked up a sound of something heavier than rocks flying towards them. "Dodge!" They each ducked or dove away to avoid the volley of knives coming at them.
I've gotten even better at picking up subtle scents than before, however the traps are getting more difficult.
Jikon reached out and grabbed Tanjiro's collar right before he could fall into a tiger pit with sharp blades at the bottom.
I'm starting to think he wants to kill us!
This time they were running down the mountain with swords in hand, Jikon using Kai's and the other two using ones that Urokodaki provided.
Today we started going down with swords in our hands, Tanjiro says the weight throws him off.
A rope caught an ankle and dragged someone into the air from a branch, a simple snare trap but Tanjiro was effectively caught.
He gets caught in every trap!
We swung our swords today… well actually we swing them every day we get down the mountain.
"Nine ninety one! Nine ninety two! Nine ninety three! Nine ninety four! Nine ninety five! Nine ninety six! Nine ninety seven! Nine hundred ninety eight! Nine hundred ninety nine! One thousand!" They each sounded off and swung together
Lord Urokodaki makes us do it till our arms are ready to fall off.
"Now do five hundred more!" Three boys turned ghostly pale at that instruction.
Jikon fell asleep so it's my turn.
"Swords are very fragile weapons."
Now we got to the fun stuff. Strong on their edge but weak horizontally, the force should be applied where it's at its best. The blade direction and where you swing have to be exactly the same. Urokodaki told each of us, "You ever break your swords, I'll break all your bones." It was very scary to hear.
The three of them stood in a basic sword fighting stance. They had their blades held in front of them in a solid grip, their stance was strong and they would stand undaunted against- Why was everything spinning?
Today we fell down. A lot. We're training to break our fall and get up from any position.
"RAAH!" Tanjiro rushed with his sword held high.
"AAH!" Jikon rushed with his sword at his left hip.
"HAAH!" Koujo rushed with his sword trailing behind him in his right hand.
We run at Urokodaki with the intent to kill him, he's unarmed and bare handed. That old man is crazy strong! He tosses us over his shoulder almost at the same time and we roll down like acorns.
Tanjiro walked into the room his sister was asleep in with his fellow trainees behind him. "Nezuko, we're home."
Today's lesson was about breathing techniques and fighting forms
"Total concentration breathing?" Tanjiro questioned.
The old man nodded. "That's right. I'll also be teaching you all ten of the water breathing forms." They walked to a more clear area and listened attentively. "Start by taking a long, deep breath so the oxygen can flow into every cell of your body. This will enhance your healing ability while stabilizing your spirit."
"That sounds like something my mom taught me."
Their instructor stopped and looked at Koujo who started to demonstrate his breathing ability. A deep inhale and slow exhale from his- A sudden blow to his stomach made him reconsider life. "Awful form!" He looked at Tanjiro and Jikon who were visibly concerned at the sudden hit. "Relax your shoulders and keep your lower body braced." They did as instructed. "Now breathe." A deep inhale and slow exhale that- They got the same treatment of being hit in the stomach. "Next the forms."
"Like this?" Jikon said.
"Wrong!"
"What about this?" Tanjiro questioned.
"Terrible."
"How's this one?"
"Wrong!"
We get yelled at for not bracing our stomachs and beaten to a pulp.
They were on a rock looking at a waterfall.
Our next lesson was to become one with the water.
The old man must've felt especially malicious that day. "What are you three waiting for? Get in." He kicked them each off and they comically stopped midair to struggle against gravity… ultimately failing.
"I'm doing this for Nezuko!"
Jikon joined the battle cry. "For Nezuko!" That left one of them to reluctantly join in on the group shout.
"I'll do it for her too!" Tanjirō told them the story of how she became a demon and they both shed tears at the loss of his entire family, save her. The brothers couldn't imagine the pain of losing their respective families, much less each other, and decided to help the two as much as they possibly could. One way or another they'd figure out what the scent that Tanjiro picked up was and how to cure Nezuko.
Back in the moment, Sakonji looked over the ledge and saw his charges drifting face down in the current. Eventually they came to and stood beneath the giant waterfall. "Nezuko! We are water!"
As of now, you've been asleep for six months. The entire period of our training so far.
The old man sent for a doctor to look you over but he didn't find anything wrong.
It's not normal for you to still be asleep. Your brother's scared.
I'm scared that one day I'll wake up and you'll be dead. Not a day passes where I don't fear that.
They ran down a lesser traveled trail on the mountain this time. However they abandoned their idea of splitting up long ago, if you have allies nearby then definitely use them to succeed in a common goal.
Our trips are even more dangerous now. We start higher with thinner air and we climb all across rocks that crumble like dust.
Tanjiro was using his skill to deflect every knife that came his way.
Jikon managed to slice a log trap cleanly in half.
Koujo watched a rock as large as he was swing towards his body and he put his sword away to use his bare hands. A solid hit and he stopped the rock in its tracks, and even better to him… cracks splintered from the impact point.
"That's it. There's nothing more I can teach you three."
They were sore and out of breath.
We've been here a year and now this. My birthday passed in July while they both had theirs in May.
"The rest is up to you. Prove whether or not you're able to advance to the next level." He turned mid speech. "Come with me." He led the boys down a colder pathway and as the snow fell around them they still observed and all locked onto three separate objects. "Each of you has to slice through a boulder. If you can do so then I'll allow you to enter the final selection."
Koujo was the first to choose a boulder and quickly walked to the far left one to analyze it. 'It's at least eight feet tall…'
Jikon chose the one to the far left and felt his own boulder. 'It's big enough to live in if you tried.'
Tanjiro stared at the final boulder which was by all means his. 'Is that even possible… Can a sword cut through that?' He clutched his weapon. 'I'm gonna fail, my sword will break.' Their mentor turned and walked away silently. "Urokodaki? Urokodaki please wait!"
After that day he never taught us again.
They each drew their weapons and took a swing at their respective boulders… and immediately learned that the vibration would shake them to their core.
From then on we started practicing everything we learned with the old man. Cutting down bamboo, holding our breath, staying flexible, you name it.
Tanjiro was doing vertical pushups on the riverbank while screaming about doing it for his sister. Koujo was standing beneath the waterfall with his sword held over his head, fighting the hundreds of thousands of gallons of water pouring onto his head and weighing down his arms. While Jikon was swimming against the current while holding his breath.
But no matter what we did it wasn't enough. Six months later and none of us could cut through our boulders.
"HAAH!" Tanjiro swung as valiantly as he could while the other two watched. None of his hits made any progress. 'Am I no good? Will Nezuko never wake up because of me?'
Jikon was out of breath from his constant swinging but he didn't want to stop. He just had to get some rest.
Koujo was punching his boulder, not out of anger alone but also to relieve his stress. 'All this hard work and we can't cut a damn rock!' He threw a kick with his shin as the brunt but all that did was give him a slight pain in his leg.
"Keep working Tanjiro! You can do this!"
"Silence!" They all looked up to Tanjiro's boulder and saw a boy around their age sitting there. He had orange hair and a fox mask on his face with a scratch on the right cheek. "A Demon Slayer suffers in silence. If you're even a man then act like it." He jumped down and crossed blades with Tanjiro then kicked him away.
The mystery boy was about to say something but he had to sidestep a punch from Koujo.
"Slow." Jikon came into the fray as well and swung his sword once his brother was clear. "Weak." The two looked back and prepared themselves for a fight. "And immature. None of you deserve to be called men."
"What do you think you're doing?"
The fox mask wearer answered that question with a simple statement. "I was about to ask you what you were all doing."
"We were training then you showed up." Jikon voiced.
"How about you stand up and fight with them? Sitting on your butt won't help you in a fight."
Tanjiro had a qualm with that challenge in some aspect. "But our swords are real, and Koujo hits really hard. You could get hurt." The newcomer faltered for a moment but then he started laughing.
"Well well, thank you for the concern. I appreciate the concern but you're thinking that any of you could scratch me!" He rushed Tanjiro and they clashed blades. "Don't worry about me, I'm far more powerful than all of you. I've already cut through my boulder!"
'So it's possible.' Tanjiro thought. Koujo had enough and made his move as well but this guy disengaged with his friend and leapt into the trees.
'He's quick!' He fell down and nearly bashed Koujo's head with his wooden sword but the trainee managed to block the swing with his own. The masked boy jumped back and leapt from tree to tree in a blur that even the three of them couldn't follow.
Jikon was on guard since he'd be next by process of elimination and he was right. He blocked a swing aimed at his back but when the other two moved in they were all taken down. "None of you learned anything. None of you mastered any of your training, not even Total Concentration Breathing." The boys started getting up at the provocation. "Didn't you pay any attention to Urokodaki?"
'He knows the old man?'
"All you did was memorize the information, your bodies don't know what to do yet? What have you been doing the last year and a half? It all has to be hammered into you!" His singular sword blocked all three of their strikes and he managed to hold each of them back with just his own skills. "More!" Their three metal swords had no effect on his wooden one. "More!" He was so effective with every motion that he made. "More!" They couldn't even touch him but he was manhandling them with each parry, each swing, every movement he made showed that he was definitely the superior student of their master. "Never forget the secrets you learned, pound them all the way to your core!"
Jikon held his sword firmly with his swings but this guy wouldn't give him any chance to land a hit. "We do! Every day we push as hard as we can!"
"We aren't getting anywhere!" Tanjiro was in the way now, Jikon being sent to the ground while he came in. "We can't do it!"
The masked boy was furious now. "Grow up and be men!" He waited while they all got to their feet. "If you wanna be a Demon Slayer there's no other direction but forward, give it your all!" Three boys went at him with full intent on winning. "Show me what you're capable of!" None of them won. Each of them was knocked out with flawless swings of a wooden sword. He stood there in silent contemplation and the figure behind him watched the scene. "I leave this to you."
Some hours later the boys woke up and in the center of their battered bodies was a girl with a fox mask hanging on the side of her head. "Are you three okay?"
Jikon shot up and Tanjiro slowly rose. "Did you see that guy?"
"The one who beat the hell out of us specifically." Koujo didn't even sit up for that comment.
Tanjiro was fine and his demeanor showed it, he was excited at the idea of getting as strong as whoever beat them up. "His movements were beautiful! All his motions were perfect. I wanna be able to do that. Is it possible for us to be that good?"
The girl sat on her heels and smiled. "I'm positive it is. I'll help you all on the way." The two boys looking at her blushed from how adorable she was.
"What's your name?"
The girl said her name was Makomo. The guy who beat us up was Sabito.
Makomo helped us figure out everything we were doing wrong. She corrected all of Tanjiro's movements, and Jikon's bad habits. As for me… I needed help with both.
We asked her why she was helping us but she wouldn't say. She always repeated how Urokodaki raised her and Sabito like siblings even though they weren't, they were orphans.
"We aren't alone though, there's other children who watch you three."
She's cute but strange. Her speech is abstract and dreamy, like a poem.
"With Total Concentration Breathing, your blood circulation accelerates because of your heart rate increasing. That causes-"
Koujo cut her off with his two bits. "Your body temperature to rise from increased metabolism, giving a human the strength to fight a demon."
Makomo nodded at his aid. "So it's vital to expand your lung capacity. By introducing lots of air into your bloodstream at once, your blood gets excited and your body will heat up and get stronger."
Tanjiro was blank at that explanation. His mountain boy lifestyle not giving him the compendium of knowledge to follow along with that explanation. "So how do we learn that?"
"Train until it kills you-"
Koujo bolted up. "Say no more!" He ran into the wilderness with three blank stares following him.
We trained until our arms wanted to fall off, until our legs gave out. We trained until our chests felt like exploding. Jikon was cutting trees down with our techniques, Tanjiro would spar with us and we with him. It was our best bet against Sabito, practicing against each other I mean.
Koujo went crazy and started hitting his boulder with his shins and bare hands, he tried to say it was like swordplay but I think he was just mad. Tanjiro and I were going further and further with our swordsmanship. We took Sabito on together but it wasn't enough no matter what. Eventually he decided we'd take him individually, I think that he recognized our strengths and knew he'd lose if we teamed up on him. Even alone it wasn't enough to fight him no matter how much we trained.
Six months later that changed. We all decided to challenge Sabito individually but we had to find him.
The mist around them was thick, one could barely see fifty feet ahead. Tanjiro's hair grew down to his shoulders in a heap of reddish brown, he drew his sword while Sabito stood in front of his boulder and drew his. It wasn't wood this time around, it was metal. "It took you six months-"
Koujo had hair that went to his upper back with some framing his face, wrapped in white cloth with black storm clouds.
"But you finally-" Jikon's hair went to his neck and was oddly straight despite his lack of excessive care for it. "Have the look of a man."
Tanjiro really had the look of a man about him, he was focused and had a clear goal. "This is the day I'll win!"
'A head to head fight is simple.' Jikon thought as his hands held the hilt of his sword tightly. He refused to remain weak anymore.
'Whoever's stronger and faster will win…' Koujo was dead set on ending his losing streak today and nothing was going to get in his way. He inhaled and jumped forwards with his sword in his grip and Sabito did the same.
Jikon was a blur with blue trailing behind him, his sword at his side and the wind against his face.
Tanjiro was already winding his strike up confidently. The boys really had become men in their time on this mountain.
It was all over in an instant.
For the first time.
In a fraction of a second.
My blade struck first
Sabito's mask fell to the ground in pieces and his scarred face was revealed. Despite the fact that he lost- He was smiling. Makomo looked on from the mist around them with a smile on her own face. "You did just great. Never forget what you've done here." She faded away into the haze. "Keep winning for me, all the ones after this."
The mist started to lift and quickly an issue presented itself. "Tanjiro? When'd you get here?" Koujo rightfully asked.
"I was about to ask you that!"
"I was fighting Sabito when- Jikon! You- Your boulder!"
Jikon looked in front of him before his eyes darted to his side and he saw the same thing. "Tanjiro- Yours!"
And that left Tanjiro speechless when he saw what happened to his final obstacle in their training with Sakonji Urokodaki. Each of the boys was sure that they'd been fighting Sabito and managed to land a decisive blow against his mask but as the mist dissipated they saw reality for what it was.
Jikon's boulder was sliced in half but you'd barely notice if not for the rope laying on the ground around it, it was cleaved in two horizontally.
Koujo's boulder was sliced in two pieces diagonally and the top half hit the ground with a resounding thud.
"That wasn't Sabito at all…" Jikon lowered his sword and stood in awe at their newfound strength.
"He made us think we were fighting him." In the middle of the clearing there was one boulder split perfectly in two halves and it was Tanjiro's. He marveled at how an impossible task became possible with all their hard work.
"We passed our test. We cut the rocks."
A/N: New story. What'd ya think? Like it so far? Don't like it at all? Let me know either way. See ya next time!