Training in the Village

(Guess who's back? Back again. Guess who's back. Guess who's back. Guess who's back. Enjoy this one, it's alright.)

Tokito's moves were skillfully executed and Zeroshiki was matching them blow for blow. Obscure motions with his sword and an odd style that everyone watching couldn't properly follow but at the same time watching it was a spectacle, and Tokito looked like he was actually pushing himself to match each of the battle doll's strikes.

Every motion that Zeroshiki made was followed by the jittery sounds of ceramic and metal workings, six arms working in perfect tandem to deliver well performed strikes against the Mist Hashira.

"This is a strong doll…" Tokito's voice was barely heard over the sound of swords clashing and attacks landing. Both him and Zeroshiki were pushing hard to gain some ground and yet Tanjiro was focused more on the appearance of the tool as opposed to the fight.

'I know that face…' That scar and those earrings that looked exactly like his. They were familiar somehow. 'I've seen it before… but where?' Then he paid mind to the bigger detail on Zeroshiki's body, the six arms he possessed. "Why does it have so many arms?

As Zeroshiki and Tokito vied for an upper hand against one another, the swordsmith boy brightened up at that question. "Oh! Well according to my dad, the doll is modeled after an actual swordsman that lived during the Sengoku period. Two arms isn't enough to replicate his moves, it wouldn't have even been close otherwise."

'It still feels like I know that person somehow… But that can't-' Tanjiro finally realized exactly what the kid just said. "Wait! You said that the doll is from the Sengoku era?! It's more than three hundred years old!"

Nonoka finally left her stupor of watching Tokito to add her own thoughts. "It hasn't broken yet?! This has to be that secret weapon thing!"

Tanjiro realized that she was dead on, but it wasn't a 'weapon' that would help people get stronger. Zeroshiki was a training tool made for swordsmen to enhance their techniques. "She's right!"

"It's so well constructed that we can't hope to replicate the results at this point. If it breaks it'll be lost for good."

Tokito was on the retreat now, Zeroshiki's moves were only getting better and better with each passing moment. Each of its attacks were honed well and actually gave the boy trouble despite being a Hashira, one that didn't even acknowledge Tanjiro's grip.

"My dad died suddenly and I don't have any siblings. I'm the only one who could fix it but- but I don't have the talent to fix blades or the doll. I've been protective over Zeroshiki because there's nothing I can do for its upkeep."

Tanjiro understood that feeling entirely. He defended Nezuko at every turn since he was her big brother, and knew her better than anyone else alive. Them standing side by side was best since they were family and had knowledge others didn't. This boy didn't have knowledge imparted onto him and he lacks the ability to maintain his lineage's handiwork.

"And Tokito is amazing. He's as young as I am but he's so talented."

An annoying and shrewd voice decided to make itself known. "Of course! That boy's the descendant of the Sun Breath users!"

They all turned to see a flashy looking female crow. It had to be the Mist Hashira's.

"Sun Breath, the original breath? That's the one I know… But Tokito is the Mist Hashira… so he can't use the breath he descends from?"

The crow was initially shocked but then it turned to anger and she started pecking Tanjiro's face. "You shut the hell up! I'll gouge your eyes out for that mockery towards young Muichiro!"

As Nonoka and Tanjiro tried to push the annoying crow away, the actual Sun Breath user finally realized it. "I remember now! I've seen Zeroshiki's face before in a dream!" That actually got the batty crow to leave him alone.

Nonoka rubbed some of her thinking muscles together and crossed her arms. "But we've never been to this place before, how can you remember a face you never saw?"

…

…

"You're right. That must've sounded silly."

The swordsmith boy quickly tried to cheer up the downtrodden Tanjiro. "Maybe it was a passed on memory? It's a common saying we have in the village. Sometimes you can be in a familiar sight despite never being there before. Memories of seeing the same scene when they forge their first sword, or knowing a certain process they never knew how to do or learned. We call those inherited memories."

"So that means Tanjiro saw a memory of someone else in his family! One of his ancestors." Nonoka cheered to the skies at that revelation while Tokito's crow shouted that it was all absurd and preposterous.

The boy finally decided to introduce himself properly. "I'm Kotetsu. Ignore that bully of a crow."

*Crash*

Tokito landed a clean hit against the battle doll and in his well performed slash, he knocked some of its armor away. Ceramic and bits of metal flew into the air and everything went in slow motion for Kotetsu.

"Its armor…"

"He broke it-"

The boy was shaking… and he couldn't take the sight. Kotetsu ran off at the sight as Tanjiro and Nonoka watched him flee the scene in emotional distress.

"Kotetsu!" The duo ran off after the boy but he was shockingly quick. They scoured the woods and checked every bush they could. "Kotetsu! I'll find you, I have a good sense of smell! Even though I don't feel very well and able to use it now…"

"Kotetsu! What's wrong? Whatever it is, we can help!" Nonoka's chipper tone betrayed how upset she felt at the boy running off so quickly. Whenever someone was upset she couldn't help but feel bad about it, it was called a- what did that headmaster say it was? 'He said it made me… vulnerable… to smart people.'

"Kotet- Oh!" Tanjiro's vision looked upwards towards the branches and he saw Kotetsu's body clinging onto a tree. "You're really good at climbing! Please, don't give up! We'll help you however we can! You can still work to be better ten years or even twenty years from now! One day you'll be able to do what you can't right this moment!"

He didn't respond but they looked closer and saw that his mask was raised. Kotetsu lifted his mask to wipe the tears off his face. "No. I'm a pathetic person. Everything's gonna end at my generation and it's totally my fault. I'm unable to fix Zeroshiki and I can't even forge swords." He didn't notice that Tanjiro was hanging from a branch beside him until a finger plucked his chin. "OW!"

"Don't talk like that. You should give yourself more credit than that."

'Not even a peep. He's a swordsman through and through.'

"Even if you can't do it, you can put in the effort to learn it. That way you can pass it on. Even if you can't do it now then your kids and maybe grandkids can." As Tanjiro gave that explanation, his and Tokito's crows argued while Nonoka's crow- She landed on Nonoka's shoulder.

"I want to beat Muzan Kibutsuji myself. And I want to turn my sister who was turned into a demon back into a human, but I'm well aware that I could die before I achieve these goals."

Then Nonoka made her presence known. "I believe in you, Tanjiro. Beating the Muzan guy is something you can do!"

"AH!" Nonoka's reflexes saved Kotetsu from falling off the branch he was seated on. "How did you do that?!" What she did in question was wind up standing behind Kotetsu on the branch he'd been sitting on… without a sound.

Her eloquent response made the boy blanch entirely. "I jumped." She jumped clear up to this branch and landed without making a noise… 'That's terrifying!'

"As I was saying, I know that someone will finish the deed and kill Muzan Kibutsuji if I don't. Just like how everyone worked together to beat Gyutaro and his sister Daki. We can work hard together! I'm sure that we can all improve each other!" He grabbed Kotetsu's hand as the boy wept tears of relief.

He sniffled around his words for a bit but then he managed to come to his senses. "I didn't wanna see Zeroshiki break but now I've made up my mind. His training session should go through the night. I'll… I'll make sure to be mentally ready."

"So let's head back and watch him!" Nonoka scooped up Kotetsu and leapt back to the ground with him, again, without a sound.

'Mister Uzui really taught her everything he knew that quickly!'

They all walked back to the training grounds and talked about menial things, and Kotetsu just revealed that-

"You're ten? My little brother was-" Dark hair ending in deep blue tips breezed by them. All three of them looked at Tokito's passing form as he held something in his right hand.

"Huh?!"

"You're already done?!"

"He really is strong!"

Tokito turned around with those apathetic eyes and looked at the trio with his uncaring expression. "Yeah, it was pretty good training. So who are… Oh right." He held up Zeroshiki's lost hand and the sword that it wielded. "I broke my sword so I'll be taking this one as a replacement."

Kotetsu saw that and immediately ran off to attend to the combative contraption. Tanjiro was about to chase after him but then something hit him in the face. Tokito's sword. "Dispose of this for me." And then his sassy crow flew off with him.

"I don't sense any maliciousness so he isn't doing it on purpose, but it's still so rude and it feels like… that crow of his definitely looks down on us."

Nonoka didn't understand that one bit. "I don't get why. We're really nice."

Tanjiro and Nonoka found Kotetsu standing over Zeroshiki's body. Dark clouds rolled in overhead and shortly after that, a steady rainfall covered them. Gears and other working parts were visible through the large break in the doll's face, and Kotetsu was shaking out of varying different emotions.

"Kotetsu, maybe it can still move. We don't know that things are done yet! Nonoka!"

"Yeah, I'm on it." She picked the doll up and righted it on its feet by herself, Zeroshiki stood up but didn't make any motions. "He isn't moving… is he-"

"It's not. I guess it might really be…"

Whirring. Whirring gears and inner workings were performing steady actions to cause Zeroshiki to drop into a low stance with all its swords ready. Tanjiro and Nonoka jumped for joy. "The secret weapon works! He works!"

"Kotetsu, it still works! It's okay enough to…"

The swordsmith was still steadfast staring at Zeroshiki. "It's still functioning. Nonoka, Tanjiro, get stronger. Train hard with Zeroshiki." He turned back to the both of them and despite wearing a face covering mask, his seriousness was visible to the both of them. "Get stronger than that shitty, indifferent, dick!"

Kotetsu was deadly serious and very set on what he just said… Despite the both of them being swordsmen who were used to being threatened… what did they just get themselves into?

A very hot room despite the great ventilation system to keep the copious amounts of air circulating out, and Yoshino was glad that her outfit had no sleeves and ended just above her knees because this room felt like a massive furnace. 'Then again it may be one.'

The swordsmith in front of her was focused on her task and she wouldn't be distracted, perfectly sharpening and molding the nichirin into a perfect shape to tip the weapon. "Great shape." A deeper voice but still one that belonged to a woman, and she was judging the quality of the shapen metal. And now she was carving and shaping the end of the weapon tip to properly match what was strewn around her.

"A foreign weapon made to destroy a person at longer range, but it takes unique skill to harness it to its full potential." She started connecting the rest of the weapon from the sharpened blade tip to a set of five small, metal rings. From the ten meter long piece around her, long strands of thread that were heat treated and lacquered to handle high temperatures. Each woven thread was coated in nichirin and tied together, forming a nichirin rope that connected to the sequential chains and finally the tip of the weapon.

Yoshino felt it calling to her as the swordsmith finished her last touches on it. Each piece of her newly created weapon formed something greater than each of its separate parts, not only because independently it wasn't much of a weapon, but also because Yoshino'd been training just to take down a demon without using a conventional bladed weapon.

She opened her eyes to see that lovely crafted weapon, and her swordsmith paid no attention to the detail of her unique eyes at all. "It's beautiful. You made it more perfect than I could have imagined."

Her swordsmith coiled the weapon up like a belt and handed it off to Yoshino, a smile behind her goofy mask. "A tricky piece of equipment but unique craftsmanship is what I do best." The girl started twirling the length of the fine chain and the bladed tip. "A rope dart is difficult to manipulate from the information you provided me, but recreating the model wasn't anything I couldn't handle!" She gave a thumbs up while Yoshino spun the dart at a high speed.

"Thank you for your hard work."

That was the singular sentence before Yoshino made a minor slip and let go of the chain for an instant… and the dart flung straight into one of the walls of the building they were sharing. Yoshino immediately dropped to the floor and bowed her head low to her swordsmith. "Please forgive me, Miss Homare!"

"Maybe take the dart out of the wall first, and then you can apologize. Besides, it's not the worst thing that's happened to this room after someone wanted to test out a weapon." Homare pulled the dart out of her wall and handed it back to the rising young lady. "Either way, don't you think you should get back to your friends? I heard that they were training somewhere right about now."

"Yes ma'am! I'll be going now." Yoshino bowed her head again and left the room to Homare… who immediately started thinking and wondering how that girl managed to navigate with her eyes closed almost all the time. Didn't make any sense to her at all and that wasn't even the strangest thing, apparently her friend that she talked about was ridiculously strong despite being just as new to even being a swordsman.

"There really are amazing people in the world aren't there?"

Clashing metal and grunts of effort. 'Despite it all, she really is something!' Tanjiro ducked and rolled to avoid two massive blades swinging for him. 'But she's inexperienced!' Fire trailed his blade as he returned an attack towards Nonoka. The girl's blades were quick to land against his, but the look on her face betrayed how she felt inside.

"Tanjiro, you're really cool!" Adoration and no malice towards him at all… It betrayed her attacks. "Kyōzan Muken!"(Constant Resounding Slashes). Nonoka started delivering rapid and accurate attacks from every angle that Tanjiro could imagine, and each time he blocked or deflected one-

'Crap!' There were still more! He only got glimpses of how Nonoka was during her training but now that he's seeing what she can really do, he was impressed to say the least… even if it was a struggle to go against. 'An opening!' An opening thread connected to Nonoka's chest during her assault and he was going to capitalize.

The young lady was making various attempts and movements to cover the gaps Tanjiro kept exploiting but she was too green to know better, luckily this was all just very rigorous training instead of a life or death experience. "Wha?" Tanjiro slid between her defense and struck her with a heavy kick straight to her stomach! There were two immediate effects when that happened, the first being Nonoka's slashes stopping and her body careening across the ground. The second was Tanjiro noticing something when he landed that kick.

'Her abdominal muscles… they were… normal? No, not normal. More like, it didn't feel much different than Inosuke's or Zenitsu's. Even Jikon's… I thought she had muscles that were very dense like Miss Kanroji?'

"Tanjiro! Good job!" Kotetsu ran over to him and started congratulating and praising him while his sparring partner got up and walked back over with a hand on her stomach and her other hand holding the chain between her swords. "After three days of training you finally learned how to manage your own body and to evade certain attacks! At least against Nonoka, but you still have to fight with Zeroshiki today and even with it only using practice swords it's going to beat you into a pulp."

Kotetsu was a foul mouthed boy by nature but he restricted it after his father's death. Tokito attacking him and the events thereafter made it return in full and as he advised the slayers through their training, he spared no words with anything and everything that they did.

Tanjiro looked horrified at the realization that another of his small wins was going to be undone in the face of that battle doll. He could beat Nonoka just fine, even though it took a bit of work, but Zeroshiki? That thing treated him like he was a toddler instead of a young man.

The sound of wooden practice swords bashing against a body didn't make anyone happy, and it especially wasn't nice for Tanjiro since he was receiving the attacks. "AAH!" And now things were turned around since Tanjiro was skidding across the ground, barely able to breathe from the shock of how Zeroshiki landed three hits on his body so quickly. The force knocked the air out of his lungs and left him there in horrible pain.

Kotetsu hurried over quickly to give some… advice. "That wasn't too good! You're still moving by habit and not by instinct, letting your mind make the choice before actually responding will get you killed! I'm honestly shocked you aren't dead already, something tells me it's been luck and that you've barely survived up to now."

While that beratement went on there was another matter to be witnessed. Yoshino had her weapon twirling at her side but she switched the sharpened dart tip out for a blunt one, so as to not cause any serious injury to Nonoka… even though her swords were still very sharp and very real. At least they were just stand ins instead of her nearly complete ones.

This… this was more than just sparring right now. 'She's my closest friend, she was my roommate for years. And now-' Yoshino leapt into the air as Nonoka burst forward with her swords spinning rapidly. 'I'm struggling to keep up with her!'

Yoshino flung the blunt end towards her friend and watched as the symphony of her swords slowed down to deflect the attack, but not the second half. Yoshino yanked the 'rope' back and Nonoka felt her weapons get caught in the finely made chains. "Whoa-"

'Hebi no Kokyu, ichi no kata.'(Snake Breathing, First form). Yoshino landed and kept a firm grip on the length of her weapon as Nonoka was stuck on her swords being tangled. 'Masekaeru Matsuge.' (Lashing Choke). Another strong pull with her entire body and now the chains on the ground were coiled around Nonoka's arms. Keeping the strong girl completely unable to defend herself.

"Yoshino, how'd you do that?" She was too busy admiring the complex motions and movements needed to pull that off, she paid little mind to how she was currently disarmed.

Yoshino was too weak to learn a proper way of breathing, so she developed this one with her rope dart techniques. Based off the movements and attacks of snakes, somewhat like that Hashira she saw once, the style was made to emphasize her using her entire body to handle the rope dart and its chain against her enemy so that she would be able to utilize the weapon to its full potential.

Her cream colored hair swayed in the gentle breeze as clouds gathered in the sky. 'I actually caught her… I'm catching up.' She cracked a smile while Nonoka looked at the trees beside her and that was when Yoshino leapt forward as Nonoka dashed off towards those trees. Leaping and bounding around one of them before jumping onto a branch and back flipping off it, completely free of the chains and holding both her blades.

"That was really good! I couldn't even figure out what you did at first, that's cool!"

Her dart rope was tied around the tree despite her having had her sparring partner in a firm hold just seconds ago… and now she was perfectly free. "She's so good. I don't get it." The girl was so different when she got into something involving a fight. Yoshino wouldn't call her best friend an idiot, she wasn't bright but that didn't make her an outright idiot, but it was like watching two different women whenever she started fighting.

A pair of blue eyes shined with anticipation and her hands guided those weapons through the air in front of her. "Oto no kokyu."

And that was Yoshino's cue to bound towards the tree holding her weapon and tighten her grip.

"Go no kata."

The chains around the tree tightened once she leapt away and whirled like a dervish expert in midair. The result of her movements and effort were the tree's trunk being severed and then falling towards her, but that was solved by dodging to the side… but there was still her friend.

Nonoka sprinted towards Yoshino with both of her weapons in a loose grip, but still unable to fly away from the speed she was using to rotate them by the chain holding them together. "Meigen Sōsō!"(String Performance). She didn't currently have bombs to release in scattered throws while doing this, but it was still a devastating attack and it was only proven so when Yoshino started defending herself.

'Hebi no kokyu, San no kata.'(Snake Breathing, third form). With an adjusted grip that put most of the slack in the chain around Yoshino's thin forearm, she flicked the blunt dart tip at her friend in five separate attacks. Each one strong enough to cause sparks when their weapons matched each other, but the actual force behind the attack wasn't enough to even stagger Nonoka. She just adjusted her whirling attacks to defend herself as she advanced and Yoshino retreated. 'Kyūsoku Kanu!' (Repeated Bites).

Tanjiro was enamored by the actions that both Yoshino and Nonoka took to push against one another's styles, but to watch Yoshino's rapid attacks against each of the Sound Breather's movements in such an amazing way… it revitalized Tanjiro.

"They're both so amazing, Nonoka especially." Kotetsu decided to pipe in again with his foul mouthed words.

"As strong as she is, she's not smart. Kids my age are as bright as her. The only thing good about her is that amazing battle skill of hers, if it wasn't for whatever crazy strength she has then she'd be every bit as bad as you are if not even worse. Dodging, timing, skill, she doesn't have any of that. She's just swinging and it works for her."

Kotetsu was… kind of right, but his analysis was missing some key points and bits of information.

"Hey, Yoshino, I'm not going too hard on you am I?!" Between her violent slashes and twisting weapons she managed to ask that. Even as Yoshino whipped her dart rope around to grip and tighten as a way to block those overwhelming attacks, Nonoka found it in herself to check in on her long time friend and question how she was doing…

'She's- She's not trying her absolute best.' Yoshino was sweating and her movements were already slowing down. Their fight's been going on for less than an hour and she was already winded, but then again that was Kotetsu's fault.

Despite his skills with analysis, Kotetsu isn't a good teacher. He doesn't properly know the limits of human beings, which Demon Slayers still fall into despite their superhuman abilities, and as such he was pushing the trio too far during their training. The only saving grace they had was that Yoshino brought water and some food once a day, courtesy of Busujima even though he claimed he was taking it from elsewhere.

Kotetsu didn't properly understand that humans need food and water to survive, and as the three failed to meet his immense expectations he deprived them of what they needed to survive well. Instead they'd been barely skirting by with Yoshino's gifted provisions. There was a benefit to this training and it was that the three of them were kept at a constant state of pushing themselves. Tanjiro and Yoshino were barely able to continue their fighting at times, especially with the former having to fight Zeroshiki more frequently. Yoshino only went against the device once, and Nonoka was only able to fight it once or twice a day at best…

Tanjiro was on average at four fights daily.

"Wait!"

"Gotcha!"

It was in a flash. Yoshino blinked and missed it because of how unexpected it was, but damn did it hit fast and hard. A booming sound of thunder forced the frail built girl into the ground and all the air in her lungs outside her body, but the real damage was mixed between the crater she was in and Nonoka's swords.

"Huh? Oh wow, I broke my swords!" Her alloy blades were ruined, broken in half and unusable for Sound Breathing in their current state… but she was mistaken about something. She didn't break her swords.

Yoshino was recovering her breath and trying to stabilize herself after defending against that roaring attack, but even as her body struggled to pull itself together, her mind was racing. 'I heard something- Something that helped me just a moment ago.' Yoshino looked at her weapon and saw that it wasn't even affected by what she did, but Nonoka's swords were both perfectly broken right at the point she was drawn to defend against… The spot where she heard a strange tone of sound emerge from.

"Tanjiro! Did ya see how we did? Me and Yoshino are getting even better! I can even let go against her now, I could never use the first form on her before cause I was scared I'd break her but she broke my swords!" She was shaking the boy by his shoulders as she babbled on happily, not noticing the pained look on her other friend as she rose into a seated position.

Now it made sense. Nonoka actually started trying and immediately subverted her current abilities. 'That was the first form of her breathing and it felt like I was going to- to die. Everything in me was pushed to the absolute limit and- and I heard that noise right as she attacked and protected myself where I heard it.'

That was one of two great discoveries that would be had. Yoshino encountering a tone that would guide her to defend herself better, it made sense considering her large ears. Hearing was always accurate for her to the point where even during her spars she didn't need to open her eyes. When she focused she could hear twitching from individual body parts, muscles, they were called in the books she read at the Butterfly Estate.

Another great discovery came with Tanjiro's training against Zeroshiki.

Five arms and five metal swords that were following specific attack patterns to train out his weaknesses. Reflexes, weak. Experience, low. Battle ability… mixed results on that front. Kotetsu rotated Zeroshiki's fingers to adjust his abilities according to the person training against it.

Through all of Kotetsu's rough training, sparring with Yoshino, the hell that was sparring with Nonoka, and being deprived of as much food and water as he actually needed. To say the least the poor boy was practically standing on a bridge of the Sanzu, and he fell in. Feeling the comfort of what was like dozens of warm hands around him, massaging his sore and battered body. But there was something at the bottom of the river, something among the rocks. A glowing stone that emitted a strange smell, a smell that would be his boon.

Blow from the right side, towards the head. A shot to his neck from the left. A strike to the right breast. Left flank, right thigh, right shoulder. All attacks that were coming for him! 'It's movements… I can tell now. This smell isn't like an opening thread… this smell is Zeroshiki's attacks!' Tanjiro threw himself forward and landed a solid hit against the battle doll's leg, shaking it from the force behind his attack… and then he fell onto the ground without breaking his fall by rolling.

"Tanjiro! You landed a good blow! It was weak as shit and didn't do much damage, but you dodged and countered! You can have a full meal now!"

"RICE BALLS WITH PLUM! SALMON TOO! TEA! ALL HIGH QUALITY!"

He was barely holding back from devouring the food Kotetsu gave him, his first real meal in almost five whole days. Finally he got to properly replenish himself after being stuck at the border of life and death, but that wasn't all. Now that nose had another benefit, Tanjiro Kamado could use his heightened sense of smell to predict attacks. Despite having slower reflexes and reactions than that of most Hashira, now he had his own means to rival them.

Fast attacks from Zeroshiki's multiple arms, countered by Tanjiro's fire laden attacks. Even with food and hydration getting back into his system regularly he was still having problems, but his stamina being better was nothing short of helpful.

A perfect ring of fire with a beautiful blue sky behind him. Tanjiro defended against those movements with a practiced sword motion, and yet there were more attacks to come. 'Hekira no Ten!'(Azure Heaven). 'I can actually tell its attacks now! And I'm keeping up, so far this is actually good!'

Zeroshiki's attacks only pushed harder and Tanjiro retaliated with more of his own damage. Two of the battle doll's swords were aiming for his neck and another one sailed for his liver, and the remaining two were going for his pelvis. So many coordinated motions but he could predict them!

An exhalation of fire and Tanjiro blew past those attacks while managing to take a chunk out of Zeroshiki's shoulder. 'Kasha!'(Fire Wheel). The damage was adding up and his skills were only growing more and more! A powerful blaze of fire in a strong circular advance and Tanjiro landed to start dealing with the next assault.

Now there was an attack with all five blades targeting each of his vital points, but unlike before these were real swords and if Tanjiro messed this up. 'I'll die!' Tanjiro deflected multiple slashes from Zeroshiki while getting pushed back by the multiple attacks.

The boy jumped up and dodged multiple swings and found the opening thread aimed at Type Zero's neck. 'I can take it out! But- But the damage won't be able to get fixed, everything Kotetsu did will be for nothing at all if I end up breaking it!' His kindness would never be small in size.

"Tanjiro! It doesn't matter, follow through with the hit! I can fix whatever happens!" That was a bluff and maybe even an outright lie. Kotetsu didn't know if he could fix or even maintain what was about to happen, but he knew very well that if Tanjiro didn't follow through on his next attack then he was going to get decapitated then and there. 'I don't want Tanjiro to die. He's so nice, hesitating right now will kill him!'

Tanjiro blurred as the sword connected with him to Kotetsu's fear, and then he saw the multicolored fire that appeared below Zeroshiki's head. "Gen'nichi Ko!"(Parhelion Rainbow).

'I want Tanjiro to become stronger than everyone else around!'

The slice connected in a burst of fire and Tanjiro landed flat on his ass after it, again he failed to correct and reduce his landing. On top of that the sword he borrowed was broken in two.

"Tanjiro are you okay?!" Kotetsu hurried over while Tanjiro rubbed his sore behind.

He was groaning in pain over that landing and didn't notice that there was something he should've noticed. "I- I broke the sword you lent me… Sorry."

Kotetsu saw it and heard it too. The crunching of Zeroshiki's head and the cracking of materials making up his body. His head split in two and fragments of ceramic lining his body cracked off and fell, and then the inner workings of his head and upper torso were revealed. An old sword worn down by time was embedded inside the battle made doll.

"What is that?" Tanjiro questioned the boy beside him, but Kotetsu looked just as lost despite being a keeper of this very weapon. A new mystery was raised and now there was a new sword in front of them… what ties of that past would be attached?

Crackling air and blitzing strikes. "Netsu Kairai!"(Heat Lightning). A strong flash and rising slash of her sword with a bolt of lightning raising with it, and the demon evaded her swing only by a hair. At least she dodged the main slash for her neck, her arm lost the forearm down from that violent attack. 'Training with that Hashira's making me feel a lot better! It's amazing how I was missing out on so much!'

The demon didn't have equally good thoughts or words to say. She was a lot more- "FUCK! That was my favorite hand!" Then it grew back and the pissed off scowl was swapped out for a cocky grin. "But it's fine since I have a new one, I wonder if you can grow one back?" Then she lunged with her claws sharpened and dripping an ichorous purple ooze.

Niji's defensive responses were like lightning. Sparking slashes to parry each of the demon's claws that were leaking that powerful and deadly poison, yet it didn't matter since the rainbow eyed girl had the speed advantage. "I don't think I can grow an arm back. But you're not gonna prove that you know."

The demon couldn't even break into her defense. Each of her slashes was timed so well that her claws were all getting clipped as if she was being given a high class nail cutting treatment. "Shut up, your stupid ass lightning doesn't mean anything." She threw a very sloppy but shockingly fast kick and planted her foot into Niji's toned stomach, sending her flying away and nearly slamming hard into a tree.

Niji righted herself in the air and landed her feet against the tree trunk, then sheathed her sword and inhaled. "Kaminari no kokyu." The air started ripping and crackling with electricity, the demon was feeling pressure even on the ground and the hairs on her body stood at attention.

'She's fast. There's no way to dodge her attack, she built up speed right in front of me so if she has distance it'll be even worse.'

And in times of danger that's when people make their best efforts. The demon clenched her nails into her palm while her body started growing small ridges and spines. From each of those sharp protrusions beneath her clothes came more of her powerful poison, and now she had to just wait for the perfect moment to-

"Go no kata: Kōhai Kowasu!" (Fifth Form: Destructive Bash).

The demon and Niji didn't expect whatever just happened but only one of them had a chance to properly see it. A massive woman just swung an equally gargantuan hammer which completely obliterated the head and neck of the demon, turning her body into that familiar burning ash. Niji was so stricken with surprise that she didn't even move until her body finally got a reminder of gravity and flopped from the tree trunk, landing in view of the giant woman. She had a sleeveless uniform and a floor length skirt in it with a cut that exposed her legs… and Niji blushed at those amazing blue eyes that focused on her.

"Uh- You- The demon- Uhm- The-"

Then that huge woman knelt down, her long black hair swayed in its ponytail as she did, and carefully placed her forehead against Niji's… The poor girl was gonna pass out at this rate.

"Were you poisoned? You seem disoriented."

'She has a nice voice too?! It's like I'm being scooped up by a perfect goddess!' Then the woman used her bulky arm to guide the Thunder Breather to her feet and made her aware of two things. The first being that she was almost sixty centimeters taller than her, and the second being that- 'THEY'RE HUGE!' Honestly that was an understatement, this girl's bust must've been the largest in the country… and Niji could tell that they were still bound down! Each one was the size of her head-

"I can ask the Kakushi for treatment when they get here if you need it."

Niji remembered that now wasn't the time to have an internal panic, she had to actually speak and seem like her head was in the right place. "I'm Niji! Niji Mieru, that's my name… Yeah." She was standing up now but Niji wanted nothing more than to just burrow into the dirt out of embarrassment. "The demon didn't poison me, I'm just… distracted."

"Maybe you should focus when you're on a mission. If you make mistakes when you're out then innocent people will get hurt, and they will die."

Rainbow colored eyes and amazing blue eyes both landed on the muscular young man that was standing by the disintegrating body of the noxious demon. Bloodshot eyes but an oddly soft expression on his face.

Mizuchi averted her eyes and placed her massive hammer to lean on. Niji saw that she was clearly feeling… upset at this newcomer to say the least. 'Wait- Gold pins!' Golden uniform pins were the sign of a Hashira! She really met another Hashira, but unlike Jikon, this guy had a much more irritable look about him. As if he was constantly angered over something. "Mister Hashira! Why are you here?"

He looked at Mizuchi and scoffed at something that Niji couldn't understand, but then she started sensing the tension between the two. And the giant of a woman spoke up.

A twirling finger was in her sleek, black hair. "Bug eyed idiot."

"Bitch." Those bloodshot eyes drifted away from her as quickly as they went.

The Hashira said that with a shocking lack of actual venom in his tone. And Mizuchi called him that nickname without actually wanting to hurt. If there was one thing that a Mieru could do, it was read the deeper feelings in a room. Niji could tell that these two were upset at worst, not actually angry with one another's presence. She had that gift ever since she was a child and so did her father, the one who passed down her multicolored eyes, but he never did properly explain why or how it worked. All she knew is that he could understand the unclear and so could she.

"We're thankful for the advice, Sanemi, but I'm sure that she was just thrown off by my appearance."

"You got that right." Niji and Sanemi looked at each other since the both of them murmured that at the same time, yet Mizuchi was none the wiser. Hold on a moment… They were on a first name basis, Mizuchi wasn't being genuinely hostile and neither was the Hashira, there's… No way.

"Are you both… together?" She wasn't only asking that out of curiosity. Niji needed to know if she even had the smallest chance for her distracted mind to have its dreams come true.

Shibui immediately looked down at a suddenly surprised Niji with emotions behind those… beautiful, amazingly luminous, charming eyes.

"No! I mean- Yes we were together but that time has come to an end, and it's his fault! A Shibui like myself being with a man as immature and arrogant as him." Her arms were crossed under that massive bust and she turned her back to-

'Gods the muscles on her…' Wait! She was supposed to be listening.

The Wind Hashira made something of a groaning sound once he noticed the panicking one not paying full attention. "We had something and now we don't. It's whatever. I got a patrol to get back on."

So now Niji got a better understanding of what was going on… and it seemed like her chances didn't exist. 'They still feel something for each other. Who am I to interrupt them figuring themselves out?' Again, perception ran in her blood. There was nothing she couldn't really decipher about people if she was given the opportunity, so it's not anything to let some things go if she can tell that her own, sudden and not as deep, feelings might get in the way.

"Caw! Caw!" A kasugai crow showed up and decided to happily interrupt their interaction. The bird circled overhead as it decided to deliver the message that was oh so important. "Dire news! Dire news indeed! Zenitsu Agatsuma is in pursuit of an unknown threat! I repeat, Hinoe ranked Zenitsu Agatsuma is currently in pursuit of an Upper Moon level threat! Caw! Caw!"

"Agatsuma… That's one of Hakuga's friends. What's he chasing something so dangerous for?"

Niji's question went unanswered since The Hashira only clenched a fist in rage, but it wasn't out of anger towards one of Hakuga's friends. It was founded on a much better question to ask. "What led him to chase it in the first place?"

"Caw! The Stone Hashira! The Stone Hashira is-"

The two were sitting and idly chatting about somewhat deep matters to them. Things that they wouldn't typically discuss with others, things that affected them more than they'd let on. Zenitsu wasn't the bravest, or the most confident, and he could have been stronger, but he had friends that supported him.

"Zenitsu, I believe in you. You're really so much better than you think you are." Jikon's words were always so encouraging to him when he was at his lowest. No matter what happened he knew that his friend was always there… So why did he feel so strongly about him becoming a Hashira?

"I'm… I'm not. You became a Hashira so fast, and Tanjiro's not exactly far behind. Everyone's advancing so much! But I'm still behind and weaker than the others. I thought we'd all get to rise and push through the ranks together, like the best of friends can… With how everything's gone up to this point I just don't see that happening now."

Jikon fiddled with the butterfly pin attached to his uniform as his friend had this personal matter shake him to the core. He was a Hashira and that meant being a Pillar for other members of the Corps, he couldn't do that if he couldn't even help his own friends. Being a Haku- No, being Jikon was about supporting who he cared about.

"Zenitsu, I won't lie and say that we all made the same progression. But we're friends! I've known you for almost a year now and from the person you were back then to who you are now… Zenitsu Agatsuma has become even better as a person, he's become somebody that I rely on. I know that you can do so much more than you think, I've seen you when you're asleep and it's amazing."

The truly genuine praise and support that Jikon had for his friend made Zenitsu feel like… he felt like he was more than just the coward in their group. He felt like there was more to his character than just being scared of everything he could be up against. It wasn't enough to completely make him feel better, but it meant a lot to him.

"Jikon, you're a great friend to me. You're a great Hashira too. Thank you." Something hit him in the forehead and once he caught the metallic object, he saw that it was a purple butterfly pin just like the one on Jikon's uniform right above his ranking tag. "A pin from Miss Kocho?"

"She had those designed for everyone who comes here a lot. That's my gift to you, Zenitsu. I'm happy that you've been my friend this long, and I know that as a Hashira I'm busy a lot lately but I'm always nearby if you ever need me. Don't be scared to ask for help if you need it, but remember that you're tougher than you think."

"Chuntaro, do you think I'm stronger than I seem?"

"Cheep! Cheep cheep cheep." Whatever let Tanjiro understand that bird language was, it still was not given to Zenitsu. The chirping of his sparrow was lost on him and he didn't have a clue what he tried to say. Maybe he was in agreement and maybe he wasn't. There wasn't any real way to know… but he did know one thing.

"The sound of your body, you're being honest with your words. Are you saying that I'm just a pathetic coward?! I've been trying my best to improve you know! I don't wanna be seen as a burden my whole life! Nezuko would never care about me if I did that!"

He reverted to his screechy yelling and screaming when he was slightly upset or inconvenienced with something that someone said or did to him. Chuntaro started chirping again but with a more frantic energy about him, one that seemed like he was getting irritated with the boy.

"Cheep cheep cheep! Cheep cheep!" Zenitsu still didn't understand a single word- er, chirp that came out of his sparrow's beak. The only thing that he was reading was the clear anger developing in Chuntaro's tone of chirping, but even then he couldn't actually tell what message he wanted to convey. Shocking that they made the relationship between them work with no clear communication.

"CAW!"

"Huh?"

"Cheep?"

The pair saw the crow circling overhead and Zenitsu vaguely remembered it. "Isn't that Mister Himejima's crow, Zekka right? What's he doing here?" It was a calm night for a travel in between missions, and he just finished investigating a demon incident without any issue, luckily.

"TROUBLE! TROUBLING OCCURRENCES! The Stone Hashira has been mortally injured! His attackers were Eclipse Two of the Twelve Kizuki, and an unknown assailant! Presumed demon equal to the Upper Moons!"

"That's not good! Where is the Stone Hashira at?!" He was nearly choking on his words, both from fear and anxiety about the situation. Himejima meant a lot to Ami as well as that Genya guy, and this was bad news to hear at the very minimum.

"This way! Make haste!"

The crow flew off and Zenitsu followed at high speed, Chuntaro right behind him as they hurried through a clearing and into a sparse set of trees that led to a larger forest. Now that he paid attention to it he could hear the sounds of cracking and fallen trees up ahead, and he saw that there were signs of the ground being ripped up with vines, thorns, and other pieces of plant life scattered around.

"Up ahead!" Zakka called out and there he was. Gyomei Himejima was leaning against a mass of plant life… though it wasn't very alive at that moment. His body was covered in deep gashes and freshly spurting blood, there were also burns on his clothing and exposed skin with massive bite marks on his arms. The most shocking injuries were the clear wounds that went through his body and allowed a viewer to see what was behind him.

"Mister Himejima! You're-! There's so much blood-! Chuntaro! Hurry and fly to call for help!"

"N-No." Zenitsu and Chuntaro looked at the Hashira as if he just said the sky was green and grass was blue. "I can't imagine that I'm long for this world now. These wounds… I won't survive more than an hour even if I was treated. Your voice, young Agatsuma."

"Yes! If there's anything I can do!" He was struggling to not break down crying. Rengoku was bad enough and now he had to watch this happen again without being able to do anything. He was so useless.

"Zakka, spread the word to all Corps members you can encounter. I- I at least don't want anyone to be surprised. Young Agatsuma, send your kasugai to a Hashira, any Hashira that may be near for assistance immediately."

"Huh?! Mister Himejima, are you sure that's a good idea? What could-"

"The demons that did this left mere minutes ago… Every second now is a second they get further away, and from our battle it's clear that I exhausted at least one of them. A girl with the ability to create monstrous plants, they attacked violently and relentlessly. Some were vines that reached far to rip or slice, others created acids to burn and harm. One should expect anything from her and those plants."

Chuntaro was taking note of everything that Himejima was saying for when he immediately took off to find the nearest Hashira around, but he wasn't done just yet.

"The second was a man, foreign to the country by the sound of his voice. His strength is not to be underestimated, but his ability involved some form of powerful and condensed energy. Enough to pierce skin, muscles, bones, even the trees and rocks around us. But, before he uses it in any form it produces a humming noise from his body. Anticipate and evade at… all costs."

His voice was labored and he was barely keeping his torso upright as he laid against the dead plant creature. "Chuntaro! Hurry and find a Hashira! Any Hashira around! Go go go!"

"Cheep cheep!" And with that the bird flew off at his top speed, and then there was Zenitsu and Zakka.

"Damn it… Damn it! All this happened and I'm still here useless!" Zenitsu started crying from the stress of all this happening. He really couldn't do anything useful right now.

Himejima heard that and immediately had to shoot it down. "No. You found me like this, and you sent your kasugai to find help. Young Agatsuma, you've done nothing wrong to warrant those words. Have some faith in yourself."

Faith. Some faith in himself. He knew there were people who believed in him and he knew that maybe, just maybe, they had a reason to. Even this Hashira believed in him as he laid there dying and unable to see the tears streaming out of his own face.

"You said they- they just left you?" He wiped his face with the sleeves of his haori and smacked his face to distract himself from the sadness he felt in his heart. Welling up and sinking his very being down.

Gyomei wept his own tears once he heard that tone in the boy's voice. "Yes." He nodded and Zakka cawed out loud.

"The demons went this way! South Southwest!" He flew and pointed his beak towards the forest as a show of where the attackers must've gone.

"Then we need someone who won't lose them. If Zakka is spreading the message and Chuntaro is getting help… I have to follow them." He stood up with a different look on his face. His eyes were still puffy and sore, but now Zenitsu looked focused and entirely calm at the proceedings. "Mister Himejima… Please rest well and easy, don't strain yourself or anything! I'm- I'm no good at these things but, I don't want you to worry."

The blind man smiled at that little detail and cried more of his own tears. "Young Agatsuma, take my words to heart and be careful about those demons. Please remember to focus your mind, create a mantra even, please be careful for your sake. I'm starting to believe more in the younger generation because of actions like yours."

"Thank you." With that he sprinted off and took after the trail Zakka pointed out, meanwhile the crow took to the skies where they came from to find and alert as many Slayers to the situation as possible. They needed to know what was happening and that the situation was dire.

"It would be something else, something I don't remember. Where do I know those from?" Tokito crossed his arms and Tanjiro was thankful that he got distracted from Nezuko after his prying.

"I have the same swords as Mister Uzui! Well, they're a little different since the guard is just a circle." Nonoka held her massive cleaver blades up and marveled as they turned gray with a bright gold at the edge, and their masterful shape was perfectly crafted to suit her. "And I even have a bunch of the same bombs he uses!"

"Nonoka no!" Yoshino had to stop her from taking any of those out since they couldn't be responsible for any damages right now. "Please, no."

"Oh, I think someone's at the door." Tanjiro interrupted the two and Tokito looked at the panel as well.

"Seems that way."

A hand pushed the door aside and a frail old man with a bulbous forehead crawled in. His presence was silent and he was cowering in fear. "Eeeeeeek!"

"Hey, wait a second." Nonoka gripped her blades.

"Could it be?" Yoshino stood up.

"No doubt about it." Tokito's sword was in hand already.

Tanjiro assumed a fighting stance. In the speed shorter than it took to blink, everyone in the room was tense and ready for a fight. Despite the amount of work or skill it must've taken to hide a presence so immaculately, there was no mistaking the air surrounding that frail old looking man. He unsheathed his black colored blade as Tokito charged in. "An Upper Moon!"

"Kasumi no Kokyu, Shi no Kata." (Mist Breathing fourth form). Tokito dashed towards the old man as a haze surrounded him, he drew his sword and delivered a powerful slash to the air. "Iryūgiri." (Shifting Flow Slash).

In the same vein, that demon flung himself to the ceiling and clung into it like a roach. Cowering and begging to not be harmed.

'Hi no Kokyu, Yōkotatsu!'(Sun Breathing, Sunflower Lance). Fire speared towards him and devastated the ceiling he was clinging onto. 'He's not retaliating?!' Nezuko transformed into her larger version and kicked the demon in the stomach and sent him across the floor. "Nezuko! Don't transform here!"

"Kyūsoku Kanu!"(Repeated Bites). Multiple lashes from her rope dart and she punctured multiple spots on the old demon's weak arms and one of his eyes. 'The momentum of the weapon does the damage, even I can do something!'

Tokito immediately delivered a slash and cut the demon's head clean off, and then watched as the body didn't move while the head flew away crying and screaming about being severed.

'Wait… Gyutaro and Daki were tricky since their heads got cut off but they didn't immediately die. Some Upper Moons have tricks up their sleeves!' He turned to Tokito and yelled out. "Don't let your guard down yet! Yoshino, Nonoka! Be careful!"

The flying head started regenerating a spine and then a torso entirely, and the body grew an entirely new head. The new shirtless demon backflipped and had two uchiwa fans all of a sudden.

"I'll take the one behind you!" Tanjiro dashed at the demon who had a khakkara staff in his hand when-

Groaning wood and stress of a building's construction being ripped apart. The wall behind Nonoka and Yoshino got- Somehow it got crumpled upwards from a monk looking demon pushing it up then walking in. "Please excuse me."

Tokito charged the uchiwa demon and found out what happened when those fans got swung. A blast of air sent him flying through the now demolished roof. The walls were torn apart and shattered, Nezuko grabbed onto one and Tanjiro grabbed onto her. Yoshino barely managed to catch an arm of the bald monk demon with her rope dart before she was sent flying too. Nonoka slammed against one of the walls but recovered when the winds were done.

"Karaku! At least you've learned something, about damn time." The demon in a kimono was pissed off to say the least.

The shirtless demon, Karaku, smiled at him with those uchiwa in his hands. "Can't call me dumb or anything, I can learn."

Tanjiro wasn't sure what to make of this. They cut off one head and now there were two demons, and the new one didn't exactly help things. What were they supposed to do now?

"Lord Sekido, permission to kill these girls?" He was pulling the rope dart around his arm with only so much force since he didn't have permission to do anything extreme just yet

"Granted! Just don't waste time!"

Nonoka sprang up and was in the monk demon's personal space before he could properly defend himself. "Haah!" A powerful slash from her cleavers and she took the arm holding Yoshino's weapon, and then she dropped to sweep his legs and inhaled while her body was still in motion. "Oto no kokyu, ichi no kata."

The khakkara demon grit his teeth in fury. "Shuradai, you aren't having trouble already are yo-" He didn't get to finish before he saw that this girl wasn't anything meager herself.

"Todoroki!" (Roar).

The entire village heard it. A thundering explosion that was like… thunder. The ground itself shook in the building they fought in and the only thing that saved the demon Shuradai, was the force of lightning that centered out from a Khakkara staff.

"Lord Sekido, please forgive me. She was more than I expected at first." He stood up as his upper torso closed back off from that devastating blow, and the girl who did it was blown against the wall by lightning. Tanjiro, Nezuko, and Yoshino were being shocked by the current, convulsing and twitching in horrible pain as Sekido electrified them.

'This attack! I'm gonna pass out! Wait, what's that on the roof?!'

Two figures. One with long hair that swayed in the breeze of the night, a sawn off shotgun aimed directly at the demon with the lightning abilities. Genya Shinazugawa, and he was scowling.

Right beside him was another young man, rustic red hair and yellow eyes. A haori decorated with exploding fireworks and a nambu pistol aimed at the same target. Hotaru Sangyo with a single eye open as he stared down the sight of his pistol.

Things were about to get a little bit… hectic. And somewhere off in the distance, a pair of red eyes opened.

Taisho Era Secrets

"Hey, I'm Hotaru. Looks like today's secret is about me and my old man. Luka Sangyo immigrated into Japan and got lucky enough to find the Swordsmith village, and that's where he met my mom, Homare Haganezuka. Her brother's a real crybaby but she's pretty level headed. When I was growing up, it turned out that I wasn't really a swordsmith so I tried using a sword but I wasn't good at it. My dad taught me how to shoot instead, he's a master marksman. Everything I know is what he taught me, pistol or rifle. If you hand it to me I can make whatever I aim at say a final prayer. That's today's secret, see you around."