Chapter 15 the girl who married fire

It was a relaxing day to say the least after the incident at the swordsmith village. I had gotten word that not only had the other hashira officially recognized Inosuke as my tsuguko and he would started heading back here with tanjiro and Zenitsu instead of to the butterfly mansion, but I had also received word that less demon attacks were being sighted possibly due to the fact Muzan no longer needed to find the blue spider lily and instead focus on hunting down Nezuko.

Making a small paper airplane Ayano sat next to me and said, "so dear what kind of wedding do you think we should have once this is all over"

Throwing the plane I said, "Rengoku Sensei used to tell me all about Japanese style wedding traditions…I was thinking you and I take a boat back to Greece and bring along the other Hashira once this is done and do a Japanese wedding in my home twon how does that sound?"

Ayano chuckled saying, "that sounds beautiful" as we both watched the plane fly gracefully through the air…only for inosuke to roar like a fucking idiot and try to slice it out of the air.

"I got you this time you weird flying bug! Nyeh arg!" Inosuke shouted.

Ayano sighed and said, "what have you been feeding him he's been getting as buff as Tanjiro.

Tapping my chin I said, "well I did put him through the same training rengoku sensei put me through…"

Ayano turned pale saying, "does…does this mean you"

Nodding my head I had PTSD to when Rengoku sensei had me fight a bear with my fists, stop 12 rolling logs, eat loads of tempura and meat and punch fire…a lot"

Ayano sighed and said, "even in death Rengoku's training persists…so I overheard you talking to Inosuke about improving his beast breathing?"

I nodded my head and said, "the boy is a natural with it and basing it off the many beasts of the wild is amazing, but the demons he'll be going up against from here on out are on another level so I have been working with him to form what I have dubbed lion breathing which mixes his beast breathing with my pantheon breathing and Rengoku sensei's flame breathing"

Ayano raised an eyebrow saying, "I thought Inosuke was unique?"

Nodding I said, "he is, and I mean his senses are nothing to slouch at heck I barely understand it but tried to give him Ideas for new moves giving him examples from real bugs and animals I have seen in Greece"

One of the trainers screamed in horror as Inosuke dislocated his arm laughing like a mad man as he attacked the trainer with his fully dislocated arm.

Sweating a bit with Ayano giving me a judgmental stare I said, "okay i- I did not teach him that he did that himself"

Ayano got closer staring deeper and deeper into my eyes as Inosuke continued to fight like this even going as far as to use a spear while I sweated up a storm saying, "Ayano don't look at me like that I am innocent for once!"

Ayano kept staring at me till I sighed and said, "okay! Fine I admit it I may or may not have joked with him about his ability to dislocate his limbs and he might have taken it as a challenge to make the most absurd moves!"

As this went on and Ayano Kept poking me, I noticed Lord Kagaya was being led into the bronze Pavilion by his wife.

Smiling warmly, I rushed over and bowed saying, "welcome to my estate master!"

Master Kagaya smiled warmly back to me and said, "ahh Lord Nikolaos it warms my heart to see you In good health, a little birdie told me you plan to marry lady Ayano after this fight with muzan, is this true"

Smiling I said, "yes it is, her fire is comforting to me in ways I can not explain and her fighting spirit makes me feel at home"

Lord Kagaya smiled and said, "walk with me Nikolaos"

As we walked lord Kagaya said, "Nikolaos, you know more about me than the other Hashira even Gyomei who I trust dearly, but truth be told I know fairly little about you, you are more withdrawn than the other slayers and you are the oldest so surely you can open up to me"

Smiling as I led the master through the olive groves to a nice lake I said, "very well I guess since your condition is worsening, I can tell you about me, what is there though that you would wish to know?"

As we sat, he said, "the greeks believe in an afterlife, what can you tell me about it"

Smiling I said, "the Greek afterlife is a somber one, if your family loved you they would have left a silver drachmae under your tongue, a token for the ferryman charon to ferry you across the river styx to meet the judges of fate, they will decide where you go, those who have done exceptionally good in life will go to Elysium known at the field of reeds and the paradise of the greatest warriors"

Lord Kagaya smiled saying, "it sounds wonderful Niko…one day I hope to meet you there"

Grinning as I gave the master a pat on the back I said, "lord kagaya you have done the world a great service I wouldn't be surprised if they take you to Olympus instead"

Lord Kagaya laughed and said, "niko if Muzan was to ever find my home…I want you to take care of my children, raise them as your own"

This shocked me as I said, "lord Kagaya don't speak that way! Muzan will never find you trust me your mansion is to well hidden!"

Lord Kagaya smiled and said, "that may be so, but I know Muzan will find me and I want to die knowing my children are safe, can I trust you?"

Kneeling at his feet and taking his hand in mine I sliced both out hands open and allowed the blood to mix as I said, "by the oath of blood witnessed by the primordial goddess of night Nyx herself I swear upon my own death that your children will be raised with the love and care of a parent" before wrapping lord Kagaya's new wound and my own.

Lord Kagaya then motioned for Lady Amane to step forward with their three children and said, "Muzan only knows about my two daughters who already made it clear they would never leave my side no matter how long I have left, my son though….he too wants to stay by my side but I won't allow it, I will not allow my son to become a casualty of this fight….please lord Nikolaos I want you to take care of my son Kiriya"

Walking up to the young boy and placing a firm yet gentle hand on his shoulder I smiled and said, "It warms my heart that you trust This old Greek with your family's blood line my lord, I promise I will keep him safe and raise him as my own"

Kiriya looked up at me smiling as he said, "my life is in your hand uncle Nikolaos"

Looking back at lord Kagaya I said, "so this is it…. we're actually in the end game"

Sorrowfully we headed back to the bronze pavilion to see Inosuke training hard with a couple trainers as lord Kagaya said, "unfortunately my friend we are….Muzan is down to his top three upper moons and his last two eclipses, the man Kasugai crow that roam the lands have confirmed demon sightings have also stopped as Muzan prepares to conquer the sun, I am afraid though of what he'll do to get to the young Kamado girl or me so I am making final preparations"

Smirking as I threw a large boulder at Inosuke witnessing him slice it easily in two I said, "well I pray it will all be worth it in the end"

Lord Kagaya bowed, and we spent the night eating and chatting about life and I got hounded by Lord Kagaya, Lady Amane and even Ayano about my past in Greece.

Lord Kagaya let out a soft laugh as he said, "so let me get this straight you gave me a hard time about being married by 15 and yet here you are with an arranged marriage!"

Laughing through bites of spanakopita I said, "oi, oi, oi! Its not like that okay! Greek arrangements aren't set in marble!"

Ayano chuckled saying, "I don't know you were moaning her name in your sleep"

Shrinking a bit I said, "wait how the hell did a conversation about my homeland turn into a conversation about my past marriage!"

Lady Amane laughed saying, "it was you who decided to mention your ex-wife so you brought this on yourself Lord Nikolaos!" before taking a bite of lamb.

Lady Amane's face lit up as she said, "Niko yet again you have outdone yourself with the cooking!"

Blushing a bit I said, "nah lamb is easy to cook if you know the best parts and how to season it correctly, in this case a little bit of rosemary garlic and herbs pair nicely with roasted lamb shoulders, any Greek knows that and if you fail at making lamb taste good you're an Italian"

Lord Kagaya then said, "oh Nikolaos there is another matter I wish to talk to you about and it worries me" before handing me a newspaper from Greece

Mortified I read it and Ayano looked at me and said, "my love whats wrong?"

Looking back at Ayano I said, "the archduke of Austria was just assassinated…the entire worlds at war"

Ayano looked equally sickened as she read and I looked at lord Kagaya and said, "if your worried I may return to the Greek front line as a soldier you need not worried, I left my life as a soldier behind after the Balkan wars and I swore an oath to never pick up a fire arm again after that"

Lord Kagaya looked a little worried and said, "I pray one day you will be open enough to reveal what happened during the war"

Smiling and scratching my arms slightly I said, "maybe one day" and we spent the rest of the night laughing and drinking good wine.

The next morning, I spent training Inosuke. Rushing him and gripping him roughly I shouted, "an upper moon will not hesitate to squeeze the very life out of you! learn to become like an eel and slip out of my grip!"

As I continued to squeeze Inosuke struggled but then dislocated all of his bones and slipped out before quickly relocating his bones and rushing me with his swords, "beast breathing, third fang devour!" before cross cutting at me.

Grinning I back stepped and pulled out my shield blocking it before thrusting my spear forward, taking his mask off easily and throwing it to Ayano before twirling the spear and slamming him in the face with mace end of the spear.

"not bad at all! But these skills won't be enough to kill an eclipse! Tanjiro Kamado was able to kill an upper moon if you are to be my tsuguko you must be able to do the same!" I grinned while taking up a stance as Inosuke hit the ground.

"stop comparing me to him! Stop it, stop it, stop it! So, what if he has why does that matter to me!" Inosuke said.

Furiously I rushed him and punched him into the ground shouting, "because if I die, I won't be here to save your ass and as my tsuguko the job of helping protect Ayano from the last two eclipses falls on you!"

Sighing I took off my helmet and kneeled in front of inosuke saying, "look…I am sorry I compare you to the kamado boy it's just I see that fire in you like him but recently Its been stagnant, I don't know if its because of arrogance for taking down upper 6 or if its envy of kamado but you haven't been training as hard and that fire you had before is just not as bright…what is wrong Inosuke?"

Inosuke struggled to get up but kneeled saying, "its nothing sensei…"

Looking him in the eye I said, "Inosuke I had 25 cousins growing up in Greece and have seen that face a lot, I know when something is wrong"

Inosuke sighed and said, "fine I guess I am worried that I may be left behind, Tanjiro has killed 2 upper moons, zenitsu has apparently killed over 25 demons on his missions and yet here I am day in and day out with only 20 demons, and an upper moon under my belt"

Grinning as I pat the boy on his head I said, "there is a reason for this, the amount of rougher and rougher training I put you through is to get you ready to face eclipse 1"

This shocked Inosuke as he said, "wait, wait, wait! You mean!"

Smirking I nodded and said, "I want you by my side when we fight against eclipse 1"

Inosuke gave a grin saying, "what about eclipse 2?"

Ayano looked up and I shook my head saying, "you leave jurgen to me and only me…you may be strong Inosuke but Jurgen is an entirely different monster"

Ayano then said, "Nikolaos, look over by the entrance to the pavilion"

Looking up I noticed a woman was outside the main entrance to the bronze pavilion dressed in a flowing cyan kiomon with white snowflakes on them. Beside her were two children one with the same white hair and the other….the other made my heart sink into my stomach as she reminded me of rengoku sensei.

Getting up I looked at Ayano and said, "wait here I'll take care of this…"

Looking at inosuke I said, "Tsuguko go train in the archery fields for a while and don't stop till I find you, do I make myself clear?"

Inosuke looked over to the people I was walking towards and nodded instinctively saying, "yes lord Nikolaos…" before rushing off.

Approaching the hesitant woman I stuttered to speak in Japanese but I managed to say, "can I help you?"

The woman spoke in a dialect I was unfamiliar with, so I nodded for Ayano to come over and translate for me.

As I spoke Ayano fluently translated before looking at me with a pale face and saying, "Niko…this woman is Rengoku's wife…I don't think anyone has told her what had happened to her husband"

This left a great pit in my stomach as I walked over to one of the trainers and said, "no one is to enter the main pavilion house till I say otherwise, and get word to the other hashira…tell them to come here in 2 weeks time, I want to have some words with them, and also head to Shinjuro's place and let him know to come in two weeks time as well that I wish to have a word with him"

The trainer looked confused and said, "but lord Nikolaos, Shinjuro Rengoku hasn't been a hashira in a life time why is he"

But I finished his sentence with a cold glare saying, "because I have to beat some sense into the lazy drunkard!"

Coming back to the ladies I found Ayano talking to the two little kids and she turned back to me and said, "no wonder you couldn't understand them they speak the saga dialect, very rural"

Confused I said, "saga? Isn't that in Kyushu? What is she doing all the way out here"

The boy with hair as white as snow approached me and spoke and Ayano said, "he…he asked if you're his uncle…"

The woman then looked as if she remembered something and handed me a note written to me in Greek and Ayano translated for the woman saying, "she said Rengoku gave this to her to give to the one dawning strange bronze armor in case he has been gone for more than 6 months…"

I was furious but as I read the letter, I became enraged at Rengoku. The letter stated that this woman was named Miyuki Fuyushiba and she was in fact his wife. He had a secret family he would return to every day for years, heck it explained why he always left me at the manor or his estate alone when I was still his tsuguko he wanted to be with his family! The bastard left them to go on that last mission. The letter also stated how kept them a secret for he knew attachment within the demon slayer corps was frowned upon as our lives could end any day. As I kept reading I realized that after that last mission he was going to retire and name me his replacement allowing me to give Ayano a spot as a hashira.

Furious I slammed my fist into a pillar breaking it easily as I cursed his name in Greek and shouting, "when I find where you were buried Rengoku I swear to Zeus I will piss on your grave!".

Ayano looked worried and said, "Niko…whats going on?"

Sighing I said, "tell them to come inside we have a lot to talk about" before going to change out of my armor and into something more appropriate

I didn't realize the little girl was following me till I took off my breast plate and heard her say, "those scars look like they hurt" in nearly perfect Greek.

Surprised I looked down at the girl and said, "how does one such as you know Greek when your mother does not?"

The girl said, "when my papa was around he taught me and said one day I will be able to speak to my uncle in this language by the way my name is Homura and the boy you met was Hakuro"

Smiling I kneeled down and messed up her hair saying, "Homura, your father was one of the strongest and bravest men I had ever known as wise as he was fierce I was his tsuguko his protégé if you will…and I am happy to be your uncle" before getting up and offering her my hand as we made our way into the family style dining hall where Ayano was talking to Miyuki and Hakuro.

Bowing as I entered I let Homura return to her mother and sat down saying, "the letter detailed if anything should happen to Rengoku Sensei that you are to be placed in my care as Rengoku saw me as family more than his own father…I won't beat around the bush and I am furious at the kakushi and Kasugai crows for not informing you but…Rengoku died fighting valiantly on a mission nearly 6 months ago…"

I turned my head away as the family started to cry their tears bringing back painful memories of what it was like when I lost Rengoku sensei and swore an oath I would watch over the family.

As food was laid out I said, "so I really can not promise anything right now as you have caught us at a rather poor time but, I wish to let you all know that my house and estate will be yours"

This shocked Miyuki who said, "no! no! no! I couldn't do that to you Lord Nikolaos"

However before she could finish that statement I waved my hand and said, "it is not a problem! Look you three are family to Rengoku sensei and as his Tsuguko and his brother in arms I swear I will treat you as such so you three have"

Before I could utter a word though a Kasugai crow entered the room and looked at me and said, "the master has issued an emergency meeting of the Hashira you and lady Ayano are expected to attend!"

Nodding my head I said, "so the end has finally begun…" before getting up and bowing to a confused Miyuki and said, "forgive me but I must depart, if you need anything I am sure my trainers and other slayers around the bronze pavilion will gladly help you out!"

Ayano looked worried as she rushed after me saying, "that crow wasn't one of the normal Kasugai crows…was it?"

Shaking my head I said, "I have only seen that crow once in my life…Ayano that crow was there the day Kanae died and the master's illness to a turn for the worst"

Passing by Inosuke I said, "that lady and her children are to be protected at all costs and treated like family, so that means with the upmost respect!"

Inosuke looked like he was testing me again as he said, "huuuuh! And why is that why should I treat them differently!"

Bapping him on the head with the blunt end of my spear I said, "because that woman is the wife of rengoku sensei and those children are his! Now then I am putting you in charge of the other slayers training while I am away! Do a good job and I shall consider requesting you become a hashira"

I could see the look of existential dread on the face of every single demon slayer as I said this and Inosuke's grin made me regret my decision almost instantly, but I stuck by my word and looked forward shouting, "hyah!" kicking on my horse speeding to the master's mansion.

The training arc has begun