In one day, it seemed all of the hard work Kagami pushed herself through was finally paying off. She woke up from her bed with a loud yawn one morning, stretching and breathing deeply, when she noticed Kiyo, Fuji, Sumi, and Naho's smiling faces from beside hers. They held the carpet beaters in their hands but they held proud looks when they gazed up at her. She was confused at first, still trying to wake herself up from the slightly exhausted state she was in, but staring at the carpet beaters hard made it click in her head.
"You were able to go a full night without stopping Total Concentration Breathing! You did it!" They cheered loudly for her.
Smiling wide, Kagami jumped out of bed and cheered along with them. She finally mastered Total Concentration Breathing, Constant!
In the training room, Kagami stared Karasuma down and got herself ready for their full-body training. When the match commenced, she didn't hesitate to storm after Karasuma at maximum speed. When he quickly side-stepped her, she didn't lose her momentum or let it push her body away. Instead, she swirled around and pushed herself off the ground towards him. The slight widen of his eyes, the surprise reflecting off the black color, and the next quick movements to dodge her attacks made her believe she might actually win that time! When he ran from her, she didn't hesitate to chase after him!
Then, with one final push, she launched herself at him and grasped his shoulder!
A small gasp left his mouth when her fingers wrapped themselves around his shoulder! Kagami let out a huge laugh and smiled widely at her victory! She did it! She actually did! Kagami was finally able to catch up and grab him!
Lastly, the reflex-training.
Kagami gritted her teeth and the match commenced!
Both of their hands flew all around from each cup at the speed of light. When she grabbed one, he slammed his hand over it. When he moved for one, she was just as quick to stop him from picking it up! All she could see and feel were the flurry of hands moving, grasping, and slamming over cups holding the foul-smelling medicinal herb. Sweat beaded down her fore-head, her heart racing inside her chest, but she kept breathing deeply, letting the breathing technique she tried so hard to master flow through her entire body! She couldn't relax, not for a second! It could mean the difference between staying dry or getting soaked!
She slammed her hand over the cup Karasuma grasp and quickly grabbed the second one he moved for! Practically ripping it out of his hands, Kagami shoved her hand forward and splashed the tea all over him!
As Karasuma sat there soaked with tea, she jumped high in the air, cheering and exploding with Kiyo, Fuji, Sumi, and Naho. She laughed and let herself loose knowing she had finally done what she had set out to do. She promised herself she'd become stronger and faster, and that's exactly what she had done! She just couldn't help but jump up and down in sheer joy!
Then, she had the pleasure of watching Tanjiro pass his training!
He moved so fast with immense speed, agility, and determination. He chased after Kanao without losing a bit of speed or momentum, instead he kept driving, running, and pushing himself to close the gap. Then, he took one giant leap forward and grabbed her wrist! They all smiled and jumped in the air, cheering with in delight, but quickly got the reflex-training ready. There she was able to watch Tanjiro and Kanao battle over the cups of tea. Slamming hands over one another, grabbing and letting go of cups the instant it was blocked, and moving to grab more! Suddenly, Tanjiro blocked Kanao's cup and snatched the one she was reaching for!
"Let's go, Tanjiro!" Kagami cheered clapping her hands.
With a determined look, Tanjiro reared back his hand, seeming to move to splash the tea all over Kanao, but stopped. Instead, he lightly brought his hand forward and placed the cup gently on her head. They watched him curiously for a moment, wondering if it still counted as a win, but continued to cheer loudly. She should've known better than to think the gentle and kind Tanjiro would splash tea all over a girl.
After that day, Kagami and Karasuma as well as Tanjiro and Kanao continued training together, even when Lady Kocho already examined all of their wounds and injuries. She deemed them completely and perfectly healed, and gave them permission to go on missions again. She was grateful for all of Lady Kocho's help, as well as her hospitality, but she wasn't finished training yet. She wanted to make sure her wins against Karasuma weren't flukes and she really had what it took to defeat him.
Their reflex-training went beyond and far than any of them expected. Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu watched wide-eyed as Kagami and Karasuma battled it out. They matched each other's pace, speed, and reflex. They've trained together for so long and so much they were able to identify when, where, and which cup they were each going to grab. It was a dance only they knew the rhythm to. They deflected each other's hands in the air, reaching and grabbing cups, only to be blocked by more hands. It was fast-paced and it took everything Kagami had to concentrate! To focus on the task at hand!
Their hands would barely touch for a split second before they moved to the next cup, the next one, and then the next! Both of their faces were hardened with concentration, teeth gritting and grinding, as sweat beaded down their heads! It seemed like Karasuma was taking it easy on her when they first began but now he was actually trying! The flurry of their hands went faster, faster, and faster, harsher, rougher, and more painstaking.
Kagami slammed her hand down on Karasuma's and tried to grab the cup with her other one, but he snatched it first!
"That's it! You have ten wins and ten losses, now, Kagami," Aoi spoke concluding the match.
Taking deep breaths, Kagami smiled at Karasuma and spoke, "Wow, you sure are fast!"
"Thank you, and you've gotten better," He quietly spoke nodding his head.
She stood on her feet and approached her friends, smiling and laughing along as Inosuke and Zenitsu expressed exhaustion at Total Concentration Breathing, Constant. To be standing in a circle with all of them, smiles and happiness on their faces and in their hearts, she could only cherish it for as long as she could. Relief, joy, and relaxation would soon leave them the moment they step foot out of the Butterfly Mansion and back on their missions. To find the cure for Nezuko.
No matter how much she loved staying and training, she made a promise to her friend she'd find her a cure. She won't go back on it.
Kagami finished up training for what felt like the hundredth time. The sun was already beginning to set below the horizon when she walked inside the Butterfly Mansion to grab fresh clothing to change in after her bath. There, she noticed Karasuma in a room full of shelves holding what seemed like dozens of old leather-bound books. She remembered what they spoke of many nights ago, the lost book he was meaning to return to her, and approached him.
She knocked on the door and entered, speaking, "Hey, Karasuma. I was wondering when you were going to give me my mother's book."
He turned to her and nodded his head. Reaching a hand out towards a shelve that was in the back, he wrapped his fingers around a black leather-bound book. When he approached her and held it out to her, Kagami's eyes widened at the golden dragon drawn on the cover. The beat of her heart skipped lightly, her hands shakily grasped the book, afraid it would somehow disintegrate in her hands, and stared down at it heavily. Her fingers softly ran down the spine embedded with the golden letters of 'M' and Y'.
"Masako Yamato..." She mumbled softly.
Taking a deep breath, Kagami opened the book and carefully read through the first page. She slowly knelt on the ground, her hand flipping through the pages of drawings, writings, notes, and stories she never dreamed of seeing or reading before. It was more than she thought she was ever going to get. Her eyes scanned the various drawings of a female's body with circles and scribbles all around it. She then realized those were the other forms of Dragon Breathing her mother had invented. She wrote down the names, the power behind it, and what type of demon it was useful against. Her eyes scanned over the ones she already knew, at least 5 of them, but... she didn't know there were 8 more!
Golden Wall of Blazing Fire, Armor of the Doragon, Scorching Earth, Inferno Manipulation... There's so many I've never even heard of!
Feverishly, with her heart now racing in her chest, her eyes widened more and more as she kept reading. Her mother wrote small description of her lineage coming from a long line of Dragon Breathers that skip several generations at a time, her reason behind joining the Demon Slayer Corps, becoming one of the youngest Hashiras at the time, and ultimately retiring at the age of 21.
"Was it what you were looking for?" Karasuma asked her softly.
Kagami slowly closed the book and nodded her head. Tears pricked her eyes when she spoke, "My mother... It was like she knew someone would come looking for the secrets of the Dragon Breathers and left it behind, just in case." She fingered the leather spine softly, sighing, "Our family came from a long line of Dragon Breathers but, as time went on, our blood mixed with those that overpowered it. It was believed that power dimmed to nothing. That the power of the dragons died hundreds of years before my mother was born. Even then, it didn't stop demons, it didn't stop... Muzan Kibutsuji... from slaughtering her family."
She gripped the book tightly in her hands, tears falling down her cheeks one by one, choking out, "She joined the Demon Slayer Corps to enact revenge. Her main goal in life, in surviving in this cruel world, was to destroy Muzan Kibutsuji. She didn't know why he targeted her family specifically, she didn't know much about Dragon Breathing, but she wanted to die in those final moments of her life. That was, until, she was found... by Mr. Urokodaki."
"Your former mentor?" Karasuma asked curiously.
Kagami slowly nodded her head. "She wrote how he took her in, fed her, and gave her a home. When he saw the fire burning inside her eyes again, felt the hatred and despair she needed to unleash, he trained her in Water Breathing. Except she didn't find it compatible. When she took up a different technique, Mr. Urokodaki was more than surprised to figure out she was the last Dragon Breather to have walked the earth. It made my mother more determined to kill Muzan Kibutsuji. When she asked him to continue training her, teaching her, in order for her to become a powerful Demon Slayer, he relented and trained her as much as he could," She explained.
"I now understand why he decided to take me in after hearing my name. How he knew about Dragon Breathing and how he would be able to teach me what little my mother knew at the time," She breathed out staring at her hands. "He raised her, cared for her, and they both learned from each other about Dragon Breathing and its forms. He helped her develop the five forms I know now; Breath of Fire, Surrounding Darkness, Beating Wing, Flashing Strike, and Flight of the Sun. Then, when she became a Demon Slayer, she continued training and developed more forms on her own."
"Then she became the Dragon Hashira in order to find and kill Kibutsuji," Karasuma spoke for her.
She nodded her head and wiped the tears from her cheeks. Her heart ached when she flipped to a page and laid a small finger on a name. "One day, she was deployed to help Demon Slayers overwhelmed with demons lead by a former Twelve Kizuki. It was there she met my father, Kaen. He was just a lowly Demon Slayer who was barely rank Mizunoe at the time. Just as he was about to be killed, she saved his life and killed the former Twelve Kizuki. He became indebted to her but she wanted nothing to do with him."
Kagami laughed lightly as she kept reading from the pages. "My father wanted to repay his debt because he knew he owed her his life. He wasn't the type to walk away from something like that. She promised to train him to be a better swordsman if he would finally leave her alone. She took him as her Tsuguko and, well, they fell in love," She shrugged gesturing to herself as proof.
She flipped to the last of the pages and frowned at what little was left. "She didn't write much on what happened afterwards. It was as if she did a whole 180 after she met my father. Her goal to kill Muzan Kibutsuji was shelved and she focused entirely on her family. They married when they were 20 years old and retired from the Demon Slayer Corps at 21 when she found out she was pregnant with me. The last thing she wrote..." Kagami's throat bobbed and her eyes burned when she forced out, "She didn't want her child growing up in a demon-filled world, but she would keep her safe at all costs from them. That she didn't want her child knowing and joining the Demon Slayer Corps, not with her parents protecting and loving her with all their hearts. She will protect her family... with her life."
The last few pages of the book were blank. A written story that was unfinished.
Karasuma laid a gentle hand on her shoulder and spoke, "I'm sorry about the loss of your parents, Kagami."
"I never knew how or why my mother died. I didn't even get the chance to meet her," Kagami softly cried down to the ground. "To know that she never wanted me to join the Demon Slayer Corps, to never know pain, death, or heartbreak, and that she promised to give her life to protect our family. It just... makes me think of how much of a strong person she must've been. To let love break the shell around her heart and allowed herself to let go of the anger that raged inside of her ever since she was a child. I... want to be strong just like her. If only I knew how she died."
"If I may," Karasuma gently spoke above the tearful crying, "If the book was any indication, she died doing what she promised she did. Protecting her family."
Her mother died protecting her. She died protecting her family, protecting her husband and Kagami. It was the most honorable way to go, and Kagami was proud to call her her mother.
"Is it okay if I take this? Lady Kocho won't mind, right? My mother's stories and techniques are in here and I was hoping I could learn more. I want to become a better swordsman, a Hashira just like her, and protect the people I care about. I'm going to finish what my mother couldn't. I'm going to slaughter every last demon and destroy Muzan Kibutsuji. Not just for me and my family, but for Tanjiro's as well. No one else will suffer pain at his hands," Kagami spoke determinedly. The tears stopped flowing from her cheeks and her heart inside of her lit ablaze.
Karasuma grinned and nodded his head. "Go ahead and take it," He spoke lightly closing her fingers around the book. "I hope... you achieve every single one of your goals, and live a long happy life."
Kagami nodded her head and strode from the room. Finding her mother's book was more than she hoped, and it brought more determination and purpose in her life. Her mother never wanted her to have the life of a Demon Slayer. She wanted Kagami to be spoiled, safe, protected, and far away from demons as much as she could. She couldn't keep her promise but... Kagami is sure her mother is smiling down at her right then.
Father, I now see why you kept everything hidden from me. You were only trying to carry out mother's last will. You were afraid I would pursue the Demon Slayer Corps if I found out the truth. In spite of it, you still trained me to the best of your abilities if anything were to happen to you. Mother, I understand how strong you were to protect your family to the very end. I will avenge you, both of you, and live the life you always wanted me to have. I promise I will after I kill... Muzan Kibutsuji.
Kagami walked back to her room with her head held high.