Katsuki was restless all night, she struggled to fall asleep and stay asleep. However, when she was able to fall into slumber, she was haunted by her memories.
"Katsuki you have to run!" her mother shouted
The tiny girl watched her brother struggle to help his mother to only be thrown away and into a wall, knocked out cold.
She trembled and quivered in fear. She wanted her father, she wanted her big brother. All she wanted was for this nightmare to be over.
Before waking up the last thing she saw was the demon's face. Those bloody, beady eyes staring into her soul, the razor sharp teeth that were aching to sink into the flesh of a human, and that horrible and disgusting jagged line across his face. She will never forget.
The demon slashed into her back.
Katsuki gasped and sprung up into a seated position. She panted heavily and placed her hand against her back where her scars lay dormant underneath her clothes. They left reminders to her of that day.
"It was only a dream," she reassured her heart that felt like it would beat out of her chest. "More like a nightmare," she mumbled to herself.
Katsuki rolled herself out of bed and walked over to the window. The sun was barely up, a few more hours and it would be morning. She wrapped herself in a blanket and headed outside to sit on the porch.
She sat there with her legs crossed, waiting for the sun to rise over the hill. It was not too chilly out, there was a cool breeze that combed through her hair and tickled her cheeks. Katsuki had gotten used to the cold, for most of the time she was cold to the touch. She had always been. When Urokodaki first felt her hands, she thought she was sick. He ordered a doctor to come by to check on her, but never found anything wrong. They assumed it was an iron deficiency, but if it didn't bother her quality of life, he did not worry too much about it.
"Couldn't sleep?" A voice entered the room.
She casted her gaze over her shoulder and saw Urokodaki standing in the doorway. He didn't bother asking if he could sit with her. But took it upon himself to sit adjacent to his student. The two sat there in quietness, enjoying the serenity of their surroundings. The birds had not started chirping yet, the only thing that could be heard was the rustling of the leaves. They both savored moments like these.
"Katsuki, listen to me carefully," Urokodaki was the first to speak.
The young girl shifted in her seated position and gave her teacher her full attention.
"You will encounter demons who can use this technique called "Blood Demon art" are ones who have supernatural abilities," he began, his gaze still off in the distance. At least that's where Katsuki believed it was. With the mask it was hard to tell where he was looking at times. "There is a chance you will encounter them on your journey and it will be one of the most challenging tasks you are faced with."
He paused for a moment and then turned to face Katsuki, "But I am positive you will be just fine!"
"Wow," Katsuki stood there amazed, admiring her uniform in the mirror, "It's super light weight, amazing!"
She finished getting ready to depart for her journey. The last thing she did was fasten her belt and adjusted her sword that would be attached at her hip at all times.
She walked out of the hut and took everything in one last time. This had been her home for the last year and a half, to say she was going to miss it was an understatement.
"Katsuki, wait, before you leave, may I?"
The man cladded in a blue haori walked over to the girl with red hair and green orbs. He fixed the color of her demon slayer corps uniform, straightened her hair and tucked a piece behind her face. The strands on the right side of her head would fall in front of her face occasionally.
"Be careful and keep in touch when you can?" there was sadness radiating off his voice.
"Of course," she smiled sadly and embraced him in one last hug.
Daisuke landed on Katsuki's shoulder, squawking loudly, "Northwest! Northwest! Head to the village that is Northwest! Reports of children going missing have increased!" Katsuki rubbed her left ear in pain.
"Well," she started, "Guess it's time for me to take off now!"
"Hmm,' he grunted and placed both his hands on her shoulder. He patted her a few times and nodded his head in approval. Katsuki's look of determination showed that she understood his silent encouragement.
Just as she headed off in the direction of Northeast, she spun around on her heels. Katsuki waved goodbye to her master and he waved in return.
"I will make you proud, Urokodaki," she prompted to herself quietly and headed off into the direction of her destination.
A few hours later…
After traveling for some time, a village surrounded by large oak trees came into view. It was a small village, nothing too big or crazy.
Heading into town, Katsuki kept her guard up and observed her surroundings. She listened carefully to the people around her, hoping to gain any information she needed for her first mission to be successful. Nothing seemed too unusual. She wondered what could be causing these reports to come in boat loads.
"Get out!" someone boomed. The sound of something crashing followed with it.
Katsuki sprinted ahead to find a woman on the floor. She was rubbing her cheek that was tinted red. Beside her was a broken picture frame.
"How could you!" the woman standing in the doorway yelled at the woman sitting on the floor. Before the woman could lunge at the defenseless woman a man grabbed her by the waist. "Let me go, let me.. Let me at her," the woman choked on her words. Tears were forming in her eyes and before you knew it they came streaming down her face. "How could you lose your brother!"
Katsuki walked over and knelt to the girl. Her frown showed signs of sadness along with her puffy red eyes. The girl had fresh scratch marks on her forehead and dry blood around it. She extended her hand out, offering the woman to grab it. "Do you need help?"
"Thank you," the woman smiled sadly and stood on her own. She dusted herself off and looked back at the crying woman who was being comforted by the man.
"Hana, I think it's best you give your mother some space," the man looked at what Katsuki assumed to be his daughter. There was disappointment that bore into his eyes, but sadness as well.
"I understand, father," she bowed her head and walked in the opposite direction. She hung her head to avoid the eyes that stared at her intensely. Their gaze so hard they could have bore holes into the girl. Katsuki scurried behind her.
"Hana, are you okay?" Katsuki asked, catching up to the brunette.
"I'm surprised you're not ashamed to talk to me as well," the girl sighed and didn't pick her gaze up from the path ahead of her.
Before Katsuki could say anything her ears picked up on the whispers around them.
"Can you believe another one caught yesterday?" a woman whispered to the lady next to her.
"To believe she let her own brother out of her sight, shameful."
"I won't be allowing Aoi out of the house anymore, especially not near her," you could hear the disgust in the woman's voice. Katsuki shot them both with a questionable look.
"Hana, what happened?" Katsuki inquired, begging the woman to speak up.
"If I tell you," she began and stopped in her tracks. She looked up at Katsuki, tears dripping from the corner of her eyes, "You won't believe me."
Katsuki furrowed her eyebrows, "Yes, yes I will!"
"It all started a few weeks ago. Little boy's from this village have slowly gone missing, at first we thought they were all playing a prank, but when they never came home everyone grew worried. Slowly, day by day, one disappeared after another," Hana fiddled with her fingers in a nervous manner. Before she could continue, she inhaled deeply as if preparing herself to further explain the story. "Last night my brother and I were heading home. I had picked him up from a friend's house. With all the kidnappings happening mother did not want him out too late. However, I got caught up at work and left a little later than normal. As we were heading home together before I knew it something attacked me. When I woke up. Akia.. Akia. He was.. He was gone," she sobbed into her hands.
Katsuki was unsure of how to comfort the girl. She knew what it felt to lose a family member. All the Demon Slayer could do was place a hand on her shoulder.
"Y-Your hand.. its cold." her red eyes looked up at Katsuki's green orbs. She paused, getting lost in her eyes. The radiated off a heat like no other. It was a weird feeling being that Katsuki's hands were cold to the touch.
"Thank you for telling me everything you know," Katsuki spoke calmly. "I will get to the bottom of this!"
Hana wiped her tears away and pulled herself together. "Do you mind if I show you where it happened?"
"That would be very helpful!"
The two walked side by side down the dirt path in silence. Katsuki was unsure of what to say to her at this point. Hana came to a halt and looked out into the distance. The demon slayer followed her eyes and saw she was looking down the path, where people would exit to leave the village.
"This is where it happened, his friend's house was the one behind us, we take the path to the right that leads to our house," Hana whispered, pointing to the path that broke off from the one leaving the village, "He mentioned hearing sounds from that direction, I… I didn't believe him."
Katsuki stood there with a sad look plastered on her face. She placed a hand on her shoulder, reassuring her that she would help in any way possible. "I will figure this out."
The brunette smiled sadly at the scarlette and nodded her head, showing she understood.
The two bidded farewell, being that Katsuki would not want to have to protect her if a battle were to arise. Fighting a demon while protecting someone on her own could become tricky and she wanted to avoid as many casualties as possible.
It had finally reached night time and this was her best chance at finding the demon causing a ruckus in this village.
Her sense heightened upon sensing an unpleasant presence in the area. Katsuki dashed through the village, quietly to hide her presence from those around her. She managed to silence her footsteps, that coming up behind a person they would never realize it.
She came to a skidding stop upon seeing a child walking. It was like he was sleep walking? Katsuki was confused seeing the sight of a kid walking alone at this hour. Was this the demon? She had no way of telling unless she approached the kid.
"Hey.. um isn't it a little late to be out at this hour?" Katsuki placed her sword back in her sheath and walked towards the little boy who came to a halt. "Especially with a demon-" before she could finish the boy swung his arm forward, nipping her cheek. Katsuki flipped backwards and stared at the boy. Her fingers brushed against her cheek, feeling the blood trickle down.
"You have a lot of nerve, you know that!" Katsuki was thrown off guard when she expected to hear a little boy's voice and instead it sounded like a woman's voice. "You could have ruined my hard work! It was hard gaining full control of this kid!"
"Who are you?" Katsuki ordered.
"My name is Christa! And this boy is mine, so I suggest backing off!" the voice fumed and used the boy to stomp his foot angrily.
Katsuki unsheathed her sword and grasped it in her right hand. She readied herself to attack, but came to a stop when the boy began laughing.
"Uh uh uh," the boy waved his finger. "This is a sweet, innocent boy. We wouldn't want to harm him now would we?"
The green eyed slayer "tched" and placed her sword back in its holder. She was right. Katsuki had to find a way to fight her without harming the little boy in the process.
"My Blood Demon art allows me to take over their body when I have subdued their self consciousness. Once in control. I can make them jump, run, talk… I could even end his life without putting a scratch on my body." she cackled evilly.
Katsuki gritted her teeth. She had to find her body, but how?
She remembers how Hana said the little boy mentioned something about hearing things outside toward the exit of the village. Maybe her body laid dormant there?
Without acknowledging the boy, Katsuki jumped onto a roof and made a dash for the exit.
"Hey! Where are you going!" the girl's voice screeched.
Katsuki continued running, but brought her attention to behind her when she heard footsteps gaining on her. The little boy was approaching her fast. He swung his arm forward and Katsuki jumped in the air to avoid the attack.
The little boy pushed off the roof and into the air. He swung his leg down and Katsuki blocked it. She pulled her arm back, aiming for his face. Just as she was about to make contact she pulled her arm back. She forgot she couldn't harm this boy.
The boy used this moment to kick Katsuki in the stomach and send her flying into the ground.
The scarlette haired slayer coughed, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. Who knew she was able to not only control the boy, but he had the strength of ten men. Katsuki slowly brought herself back up and noticed the boy taking off full sprint.
Enduring the pain, Katsuki pushed forward and followed him till they exited the village.
Before she could react the boy dropped to the floor and she came to a halting stop.
"Did she exit his mind?" Katsuki thought to herself.
She gasped and wobbled over, clamping her hands on her head in pain. There was this weird tingling feeling and then a sudden pressure hitting her head.
"Blood Demon art… mind submission."
"I knew you would try to find me, so I led you straight to me," the demon emerged from a bush. She had long black hair and a light purple and black kimono. Her face was beautiful, enchanting almost.
"Where… where are those little boys you have taken!" Katsuki demanded.
"Why, they're up here," she pointed to her brain. "They'll live forever inside my head!" she laughed again.
Katsuki gritted her teeth in rage. Unforgivable. She dropped to her knee, the heavy pressure subduing her. She had to think fast or she would fall prey to her trap.
The demon walked over the red haired slayer and grabbed her by a fist full of hair. She shook her head back and forth, cackling the entire time. Christa enjoyed seeing the girl defenseless.
"Let's see what this mind of yours has to offer," she grabbed Katsuki's head in both hands. "I haven't had to use this mind transfer in awhile.."
"Demon blood art… mind manifestation."
Katsuki's eyes widened and her arms fell limp to her side. She sat there, eyes pointed to the sky, lifeless.
Christa, inside Katsuki's mind, searched for a memory that she could feast on. She stumbled across the memory from when she lost her entire family. The black haired demon found this as a perfect opportunity to torment the girl until she was weak enough to consume.
When Christa touched the memory, something turned inside of Katsuki.
For a brief moment Katsuki thought her will and power was diminishing. Suddenly she felt a dark power come surging through her veins. It wasn't a pleasant feeling and it made her want to tremble. It was something she had never experienced before and it made her feel uneasy.
"What-What… is going on," the demon struggled to speak. Katsuki had grabbed hold of Christa's neck within a blink of an eye. Her strength increased tremendously as her grip tightened around her neck.
"My Blood Demon Art… its-its unbreakable," she clawed at the girl's hand to be set free. "How?" She looked at the girl and gasped. Her eyes were just white now. Did she let go of her mind and sanity to break the connection from Christa? What caused this?
Katsuki threw the girl and she sent soaring into trees, breaking them in half.
The demon laid there, in a daze. The power this girl possessed was indescribable. Before Christa could move, Katsuki was in front of her, her sword unsheathed ready to decapitate her.
"Blood Demon Art… mind manipulation," Christa swerved around the girl and grabbed ahold of her head.
"Let's see if you can handle fighting your own sibling!"
With this caliber of Demon Art, Christa was able to manipulate the victims mind into seeing their beloved person before their eyes.
Katsuki reached behind her and grabbed Christa by her head, flinging her off and into a rock in front of them. The girl coughed and slid down the rock.
The unresponsive slayer stalked towards the demon and raised her sword, but paused upon hearing that voice.
"Katsuki," a boy whimpered. "You're not going to kill me? Are you?"
It was Hideaki.
Her body trembled, fighting against her. She was unsure of what to do.
"Do it." a raspy voice emerged.
"Kill him." he ordered sinisterly.
Who was this?
"Kill, Katsuki," he growled.
Katsuki struggled, not knowing what to do. She felt this dark aura surround her. This dark sensation slithering around her, it felt like someone was grasping at her. The dark shadow covered her eyes and the other one wrapped around her hand that held the sword, raising it above her head. Her arm quivered, almost fighting against whatever was controlling her.
"I said kill him!" he shouted.
Allowing herself to submit to the voice, Katsuki swung forward, her sword decapitating the demon.
"How," Christa whispered, tears forming in her eyes. "What is wrong with this girl, how did she overpower me even with my strongest move?"
She watched the green orbs slowly come back into her eyes as she collapsed to her knees, gasping loudly. It was as if Katsuki was not in control of her own body. The girl placed a hand over her chest and drew in deep breaths, struggling to relax her body in a heightened state.
"What.. What happened?" she mumbled weakly. Katsuki was shocked to see the demon disintegrating before her very eyes. It was over.
Katsuki got her first kill as a new demon slayer and could report this mission as completed. However she was still unsure as to what took place during the battle.