Hola! Causita, here! Welcome to my very first published story! I'm still trying to figure out how this works so please be patient with me. I loved Kyojuro's story and, as many of us did, cried with his death. Actually, I began thinking about this story as soon as I heard Mugen Train Theme- Homura by LiSA, so I guess we can say it inspired this fanfiction. Anyways, enough rambling! Please enjoy and let me know what you think!
italics- thoughts
" " dialogue
Chapter 1
Sitting at the top of a tree while watching the last rays of sunlight slowly disappear made Sugawara Kumo realize her final night at the Final Selection was about to start. The past 6 days had been…eventful to say the least. Fighting against several demons (that want to eat you) while surviving on low food and water wasn't meant to be easy. And don't even get me started on bathroom breaks. As she stood up on a branch, she looked down to examine herself: dirty clothes with mud and a bit of blood thanks to the few scratches she got while fighting. Her black haori with white clouds thankfully covered some of the mess. She was grateful it wasn't ripped or anything since her sensei had given it to her for the special occassion.
Alright. Let's get this over with. She thought with a sigh as she jumped down, her black braided pony tail following along her movements. Kumo started jogging to scout the area since that's how she spent most of her time. She tried to listen for anything that sounded demonic or-
"HELP! AHHH!"
That. Person in need.
Being a breath of thunder user, speed was her forte. Running inmeadiately towards the scream, small lightning rays from her shoes could be seen in the darkness created by the lack of moonlight. New moon on the final night. Just my luck.
"ARGHHH"
Shit, I hope I'm not too late. With the screaming sounding louder and her eyesight ajusting, she found herself infront of a terrible scene. A boy around her age, no more than 14, had his left arm ripped off by a huge demon with horns and several arms.
"Delicious! I knew you were gonna be a treat!" the creature said while chewing. "A marechi all to myself. Lucky me! Let's eat you up before others come hehehe"
Marechi? Why would a marechi-fuck. There's no time.
First Form: Thunderclap and Flash
With top speed she ran towards the oni aiming for its neck. However, it quickly jumped out of the way, avoiding her slash for a few centimeters. Kumo stood in front of the boy facing the monster.
"Hey, tie it up if you don't wanna bleed out. I'll cover you". She said while pointing her sword to the monster.
"Ugh, how dare you interrupt my meal!" the demon angrily scream "I won't forgive you!"
"That's my line, you disgusting creature" It's got fast reflexes to avoid my first kata, I gotta go even faster...somewhow. The fatigue of 6 days was catching up to her but she couldn't give up, her arms were slightly shaking but she forced herself to focus.
"Die!" the demon used some of its extra arms to propulse itself in a zig zag towards her.
Second Form: Rice Spirit
As expected, her slashes were evaded by the creature so she decided to go foward in a close distant fight. The long nails from different arms swiped right and left but they were met with her sword with an abnormal speed.
Faster.
She could feel her strength faltering a bit.
One nail slashed her side, ripping her haori.
Faster.
Total Concentration Breathing.
She crouched and swiped her leg to unstabilize the oni. Inmediately after, she kicked it far away to create some distance.
"Ugh!" it grunted as it slamed into a tree trunk.
Faster.
First Form: Thunderclap and Flash. Sixfold.
She ran at her enemy with the sound of thunder and cut off its head before it even touch the ground.
« You- how? » the head said in disbelief as it disappear.
Kumo felt to her knees, gasping for air. Everytime she used Total Concentration Breathing made her lungs feel like they were going to explode. She had just managed to understand the concept a few weeks before the final selection and could only keep it going for a few minutes.
« Ugh... » someone whimpered
Damn, the boy! She stood up with difficulty and stumbled towards him. He was lying down, a pool of blood under him had formed.
"Shit, why didn't you tie it up?" Kumo rapidly ripped the bottom of her haori and made a tourniquet on his shoulder. She tried to ignore just how red her hands were getting.
« It's...no..use.. » the boy whisper « Can't fight...demons with...one arm. I...failed » tears started falling down his cheeks.
« So what? » she stared down at him while still fixing the madeshift tourniquet « What's wrong with failing? »
« Uh?...I deserve to...die. I'm...useless » he sniffed
« What's your name? »
« Hiroto, Yamamoto…Hiroto »
« Hiroto-san, forgive me » she whispered as she slapped him, hard. « Failing doesn't mean the end! There's no shame in surviving, there's no shame in knowing when to stop. You say you're useless but there are so many things you can do to help fight demons. This. Isn't. The end. I won't allow it, you hear me?»
Hiroto's teary wide eyes stared at her, grabbing his red cheek in surprise.
"Now, repeat after me: I wanna life » she instructed.
« I...wanna live... »
« Louder ! » Kumo ordered as she motioned Hiroto to get on her back.
« I WANNA LIVE » she heard right next to her ear « Kaa-san, I wanna live! Buahhh! » Kumo smiled softly as she jumped on a tree branch to start moving.
« Good, now stay quiet unless you want all demons to know our location »
« Hai... »
After running and jumping from tree to tree for 30 minutes, Kumo decided that she had put enough distance between Hiroto's pool of blood that was surely going to attract demons. Also, she kind of was at her limit. She gently put Hiroto down on a branch and grabbed her bag to get some water.
« Here, drink it » she handed her water canteen to Hiroto "You need to reemplish some blood. I also got some nuts I found around"
"Arigatou…eh…"
"Kumo, Sugawara Kumo, nice to meet you" she said with a smile "Sorry for the late introduction and the slap, but I think it was a necessary slap" she said with a laugh
"That's OK, I think I did too." Hiroto looked down at the canteen "Thank you for saving me Kumo-san. I owe you my life" he said as he bowed his head.
"You owe me nothing" she frowned while rasing his head with a hand « It's our duty to proctect people from demons, be it civilians or colleagues » She noticed how Hiroto was blinking a lot, struggling to stay awake.
"Rest. There are a couple hours til dawn. I'll keep watch » she watched as Hiroto slowly fell asleep. This will be a long night.