The Hashira's Trial

Hello everyone and welcome to the latest chapter of The Heart Of The Asura! The cat's out of the bag and now our heroes must face the judgement of the Corp's best slayers! But before we get to that, I'd like to let everyone know I've got a bit of a Christmas surprise planned involving one of my other stories. Will I tell which story? Nope, that's what makes it a Christmas surprise. Now then that should be everything and with no guest review questions this week, on to the story!

Daytime: Hidden Headquarters of the Demon Slayer Corps

The atmosphere was, tense? Honestly it was hard to say given the collection of individuals in front of him. Tanjiro had come to accept that the Corps recruited all kinds of odd people into their ranks, but this was without doubt the most varied bunch he'd come across so far. "There's no need to be frightened," Momo spoke up, drawing the boy swordsman's attention to his left side, "we'll be in the company of sound wisdom soon enough."

"I hope you're right," Tanjiro took a steadying breath, not sure where he should focus his gaze. They'd blind-folded him and put plugs in his ears and nose before bringing him here. The route had been so complex and random that the slayer had no idea where they'd wound up or how they'd gotten there in the first place. The next thing he knew, the blindfold was removed to reveal that he'd arrived at a large mansion of sorts and was currently in a good-sized garden area just outside of said mansion.

The reason for his apprehension despite the nice garden he found himself in was the fact that he was currently kneeling on the ground with his hands bound behind his back while Susamaru and Nezuko were in their box on his right side and Gimiko was in a box on his left, which in this case was the other side of Momo. "And I hope someone points out that Nezuko and I have been busting our butts working for the Corps with no pay," the Temari Demon remarked.

"You'll find it unwise to have an attitude right now, young lady," Momo warned gently, "the nine hashira are gathered here right now and not all of them have the best restraint."

"Lady Inagaki," the first of the nine spoke. He was a tall man with white hair pulled into a short ponytail. His uniform didn't possess any sleeves, revealing his muscular arms that could likely wield the dual blades on his back with relative ease. The most eye-catching feature on his person was a headband that appeared to have diamonds embedded in it. "Is this really the culprit? I was expecting someone with more flair."

"Not everyone can be as flashy as you, Tengen," the older slayer simply smiled back.

"It is still good that you brought him here," another one spoke, this one being a man with long golden hair that had red tips on his bangs. They accentuated the white cape he wore that sported a flame coloration on the bottom. "This boy must be put on trial for his crimes!"

"A trial," Tanjiro glanced up at Momo, "this doesn't sound so good."

"That all depends on you and what the others have to say," Shinobu smiled happily despite the situation.

"Then, can I ask one question first?" The boy slayer spoke hesitantly, "what rank in the Demon Slayer Corps is a hashira?"

"Are you kidding me right now?!" Susamaru's box shook from the volume of her voice, "you trained for two years to be a demon slayer and you don't know what a hashira is?!"

"Sorry," Tanjiro responded sheepishly, "it just never came up in my conversations with Urokodaki sensei."

"Ugh, fine," the Temari Demon had to take a breath to recompose herself, "keeping it simple, the rank of hashira is the highest rank a demon slayer can achieve in the Corps. Only the leader of the Corps is above them and in order to obtain that rank a slayer must kill a shitload of demons. You can probably do the math about how skilled they are since there are only nine of them in a Corp whose members number in the hundreds."

"To be precise," Inagaki spoke up, "a slayer, typically a Kinoe, must kill at least fifty demons, be the Tsuguko of a hashira, or kill a Kizuki in order to obtain the rank of hashira. Having fought a Kizuki yourself you can no doubt understand the difficulty of such a task."

"So these are, the elites of the Demon Slayer Corps," Tanjiro couldn't help the slightest bit of awe in his voice.

"It seems we need to have a word with a few of the cultivators," Shinobu giggled slightly, "to think a demon knows our rules better than one of the slayers."

"I know a couple of good jokes, too," Susamaru quipped, "I'll tell you a few if you don't cut my head off."

"You will not fool us, demon!" The blond man declared, "your kind are deceivers by nature! I have cut down many a lying demon in my time."

"He's not entirely wrong," Gimiko spoke up from her own box, "I was living a lie until recently."

"I beat the shit out of people with handballs," the Temari Demon shot back, "do I sound like I'm capable of coming up with a bunch of fancy lies?!" Nezuko added her own input with a loud hum.

"That last one was a demon as well, Rengoku," Momo explained, "but she is unable to speak. I think you'll find these demons to be particularly unusual."

"A demon is a demon," Tanjiro looked up to see the speaker, a young man with black hair, a black-and-white stripped haori, and bandages around his mouth. He also had a white snake wrapped lightly around his neck. "Whatever weirdness they have going on, they're all better off dead. What's really unusual is why Tomioka over there isn't restrained? It's giving me a headache. From what Kocho told us, he broke the Corp rules as well, so what does he have to say for himself?"

Tanjiro noticed then that the one Hashira he actually knew, Giyu Tomioka, was standing away from the group on his far right. His back was turned as if he didn't want to speak or see what happened next. "I did say that," Shinobu acknowledged, "but he also came here without resisting, so I believe it should be fine to leave him be for now. What I'm most interested in is this boy's story."

"It is an interesting one indeed," Momo nodded before glancing down, "that's your cue, Kamado. I know the story concerning you and Nezuko, but these other two demons I have no knowledge of. Also, get down off the tree, Obanai, I don't want there to be any excuses about you not hearing the explanation."

"Whatever he has to say, I doubt it'll make a difference," the man with the snake dropped down and moved to stand next to the other hashira, "but fine, go ahead and get your sob story out of the way."

"Well you see," Tanjiro began, "Nezuko is my younger sister." Before he'd been brought here, Shinobu had looked him over and given him a few painkillers mixed with water. The boy swordsman was glad for that now as he told them the story of how Nezuko became a demon because he'd apparently injured his jaw during his fight against Rui. "And Susamaru and Gimiko were recently liberated from Muzan Kibutsuji's control. They don't have to do what he says now."

"And did they tell you that," Obanai pointed at him, "it's to be expected that you'd defend a member of your family, but are you so sick in the head now that you'll believe anything a demon says?"

"No," Tanjiro glared back at him defiantly, "ask my crow, ask Giyu, I've done my duty as a slayer and killed several demons. I'm not about to forgive the ones who enjoy taking lives, but not all of the ones who became demons did so because they wanted to be cruel!"

"Such a sad child," a rather large man with a green haori, a scar over his head and red monk beads around his hands spoke, "perhaps you've been possessed by a demon. If that is the case it would be better to end your life now." If one looked closely they would discover that he was blind.

"Gyomei, I'm surprised at you," Inagaki shook her head, "your lack of trust when it comes to some people is understandable, but that means you should be able to spot when someone is lying pretty easily."

"The fact of the matter is he may believe he is telling the truth," the blind man pointed out, "we will need more than words alone to prove it."

"You mean you will need more than his words," the old woman countered, "fortunately, we have a couple people on the way who can vouch for the boy."

"Would you like to explain why you're vouching for him," a white-haired guy with scars all over his body and a white haori that left his chest exposed asked in annoyance.

"Because unlike you, Sanemi, I've learned to ask questions when faced with odd situations like this," Momo responded simply, "call it old age or experience, but time has taught me not to jump to conclusions and to not let my anger rule my decision-making. I've made more mistakes that way than I care to admit."

"Then could I ask something," a girl with pink hair tied in three long braids raised her hand. Her slayer uniform was a bit unique in that it possessed a skirt, long green socks, a white cape and, for some reason, was left open enough to show off some of her bountiful cleavage.

"Of course, Mitsuri," Inagaki smiled warmly, "I've encouraged you in the past to ask more questions, after all."

"Well it's like you said," the pink-haired slayer began, "this situation is very strange. You mentioned you know a little bit about what's going on, does that mean the master knows as well?"

"He knows all about Kamado and his sister," Momo confirmed, "but as mentioned earlier these other two demons are new. I take it they only joined recently, young slayer?"

"Yes," Tanjiro nodded quickly, "Susamaru started traveling with me and Nezuko only a few weeks ago and Gimiko only turned against Muzan last night."

"What about Nezuko, how long has she been traveling with you?" Shinobu questioned.

"She's only been traveling with me the last month or so," the boy swordsman answered, "but she's been a demon for two years! And in all that time not only has she never devoured a human but she's even helped me protect people from other demons!"

"Never devoured a human," Tengen scoffed, "and even defended other humans? Even if I choose to believe that unflashy story what about the other two? They've devoured humans before, haven't they?"

"We're not gonna say we're proud of it," Susamaru spoke up, "we did some shitty things because bullshit."

"But it's not what you think!" Tanjiro cut in, "Muzan lied to Susamaru and then he tried to kill her! She's no ally to that man, nor is Gimiko. She was being forced to devour humans because of Rui, he was keeping her on that mountain!"

"Spare me the sob story," Sanemi spat as he stepped forward, "whatever reason these two bitches had, they still ate humans and that means they'll probably eat humans again, so there's no more reason for discussion as far as they're concerned!" He went to draw his sword but was suddenly stopped by Momo moving swiftly in front of him and grabbing his wrist.

"You want me to teach you a lesson again, brat," Inagaki narrowed her eyes, her voice now dripping with a surprising amount of venom, "do you really think Oyakata called us all here today just so you could decide the matter without hearing what he has to say first?!" She shoved him back then, causing the slayer to retreat a few steps before halting.

"What is there to say," the white-haired man glared back, "do you think we'll actually pardon two demons who've admitted to eating numerous people and even killed some of our comrades?!"

"If you're certain that will be the outcome then have some patience," Momo shot back, "if he judges the demons are too dangerous then I will let you kill them since you're so eager. But until then, be a good boy and put that sadistic streak of yours on hold. You're not too old to get your hind end worn out."

"You really want to test that," Sanemi moved to draw his sword once more but just then, two white-haired twins in purple kimonos appeared.

"The master of the mansion has returned," they announced. Everyone's attention swiftly moved to the entrance of the home as a man came walking out. He wore a black kimono with a long white haori over it that sported a flame pattern around the bottom. He was also a surprisingly young man with near shoulder length dark hair and…..purple skin above and around his eyes?

'He's blind,' Tanjiro realized upon seeing the man's eyes. "My beloved children," the leader of the Demon Slayer Corps spoke with a calming, one might say elegant voice. "Thank you for coming here today." The twins closed the door behind him and gently led him forward until he was near the edge of the patio.

"Good morning to you all, the weather is strikingly nice today," Oyakata greeted, "perhaps with a blue sky? It brings me joy that you are all gathered here once again for the semiannual hashira meeting." Tanjiro didn't have much time to ponder anything else about the leader's condition as he felt Momo's hand on his head pushing him down into a respectful bow. The rest of the hashira also took one knee and bowed their heads.

"I am pleased to see you in good health as well, master," Sanemi spoke, "I fervently pray for your continued good fortune." For obvious reasons the boy swordsman found this sudden shift in the aggressive slayer's speech and behavior quite surprising.

"Thank you, Sanemi," the master nodded.

"Before we continue, could you please enlighten us," the white-haired hashira requested, "were you aware that this young swordsman is accompanied by multiple demons?"

"I was appraised of all but the most recent developments," Oyakata nodded, "I apologize for not informing any of you sooner and the confusion it has caused. That being said, I myself only learned of the development involving the third demon hardly an hour ago. Even so, I have sanctioned Tanjiro Kamado's situation with his sister, Nezuko, along with the one known as Susamaru. And for the final demon, what might her name be?"

"Gimiko, sir," the spider girl spoke up from within her box, "it's very nice to meet you."

"Gimiko," he nodded, "yes, I would appreciate it if you all were to accept this condition as well." A moment of stunned silence passed among the hashira before Gyomei spoke.

"Master," the giant of a man had tears streaming from his eyes, "even though it is something you have requested, I cannot bring myself to do it."

"I am also opposed to this," Tengen pointed his thumb to himself, "a slayer travelling with even a single demon is unacceptable!"

"As for myself," Mitsturi spoke sweetly, "I shall do whatever you wish, master!"

"I'm fine either way," a boy who hadn't spoken the entire meeting finally chimed in, "I'll probably forget anyway." He was possibly the second shortest member there with only Kocho being smaller. His demon slayer uniform was modified to have robed sleeves and obi-style pant legs. His long dark hair ended in cyan tips, matching the color of his eyes which held a gaze that seemed to be constantly staring off into space.

"That's Tokitou Muichirou," Momo quickly mentioned to Tanjiro before the other hashira spoke.

"I won't trust them, I absolutely loathe demons," Obanai practically growled.

"Although I respect you with all my heart, master," Rengoku declared, "I cannot abide by this and am fully against it!"

"The Corp's mission is to annihilate demons," Sanemi had a slight bit of menace behind his voice, "I ask that you punish Kamado and Tomioka!" Giyu and Shinobu remained silent on their opinions.

"And what about you, Momo," Oyakata asked, "I know you've retired in many senses of the word, so I thank you for coming all this way."

"As always I'm honored that you value this old woman's consul," Inagaki smiled, "and to answer your question, yes, I accept the condition. Furthermore, I believe you've come here with more than a mere request. You have reason for sanctioning this situation, yes?"

"You know me quite well," the leader smiled before signaling to one of the twins, "you may bring them in now." The girl on his right nodded before moving to another one of the doors and sliding them open.

"U-Urokodaki sensei?!" Tanjiro couldn't help but blurt out.

"It's good to see you, Tanjiro," the masked man walked through the door followed by a dark-haired girl with a ponytail that the boy slayer recognized as Ozaki, and even Honoka was there! "I regret that it's not under better circumstances."

"It was still quite a coincidence," Oyakata seemed somewhat amused, "you show up the day before on request to give me a better explanation of what was going on and now you can state your case to everyone."

"I'm still wondering if it's really okay for me to be here," Honoka looked around nervously, "this whole place is supposed to be top secret, right?"

"You needn't worry," the blind man assured, "the methods used to bring you here are very complex. Even if I let you go over this base with a fine tooth and comb, you'd still be unable to tell anyone the exact route to get here."

"Master," Sanemi brought the attention back to the front, "may I ask why these people are here?"

"They are people who can vouch for Tanjiro, his sister, and their two friends," Oyakata explained simply, "Urokodaki. To my understanding you've known Tanjiro and Nezuko for two years, could you please explain why it is you trust them so?"

"Because Nezuko is unlike any demon I have ever encountered," he explained, "not only has she retained much of her humanity despite becoming a demon, she's refused to eat any humans for over two years now and to my understanding that still holds true even today. I am certain it will continue to be so, and should the day come that Nezuko does attack a human, I, Tomioka, and Tanjiro shall all commit Seppuku to atone." Tanjiro glanced at Giyu upon hearing this revelation, tears forming in his eyes. 'You really trust us that much,' he could barely express his gratitude, 'so much you'd even bet your life on it?!'

"So what," Sanemi seethed, "who cares if you end your lives?! It's not going to guarantee our safety!"

"Shinazugawa is right," Rengoku affirmed, "we cannot turn back the clock if she kills a human, just as we cannot bring back the lives the other two have taken!"

"No, we can't," Ozaki stepped forward, "but what about the lives they've saved and will save? Have you considered that?"

"You really think a demon would save anyone's life?" Tengen scoffed.

"My life was saved by a demon!" The girl shot back with surprising intensity, "and her name is Susamaru! When my body was turned into a mere puppet and used to kill my comrades, when I thought my neck was about to be broken and my life ended, she cut the strings! The only reason I'm standing here right now is because of her!"

"It's true," Honoka also stepped forward, "I've fought side by side with Susamaru and she's been helping Tanjiro ever since she changed sides. And Nezuko's been saving lives even before that! As a police officer, I can even point to a practice where criminals can be used to help catch other criminals, so why couldn't that work here?"

"As you can see," Oyakata held up his hand, "there could be just as many if not more benefits to fighting alongside these demons than risks. I am not denying your point, Shinazugawa, it is something we must take into consideration. But we cannot definitively prove that these demons will attack humans in the future. And this is not the only time such a circumstance as Nezuko's has occurred."

"What?!" Tanjiro's shock was mirrored by all the other hashira, even Momo seemed a bit surprised by this news.

"In Canada back in 1899," the leader began, "a girl by the name of Darcy Pierce was turned into a demon. But much like Nezuko, she refused to eat humans and retained much of her humanity. Currently, it is unknown if she still lives as her last known location was in an iron box which had been thrown into Lake Erie, on her request."

"Why would she request such a thing," Inagaki voiced the question on everyone's mind.

"She believed the time would eventually come when hunger would start to gnaw at her," Oyakata answered, "at least based on what one of my predecessor's wrote. However, it should be noted that she never attacked a human due to her hunger during all of that time. Furthermore, it has been suggested to me that these demons could be changing and that they could possibly even lend to a cure for demonification. In light of this evidence, does anyone have a counter argument that is stronger than the current argument?"

"I," Sanemi grit his teeth, "I still cannot accept it! After all of the comrades we've lost to demons, you expect me to not only forgive two of them but to let them work as part of the Corps?!" He drew his sword then and cut the outer part of his wrist, "if it's proof you need that they will attack humans, then I'll show it to you!"

"You'd best move them into the shade," Obanai suggested, "they won't come out in the sunlight and if they did, the sun would kill them before you got the chance to take their heads."

"Master," the white-haired swordsman stood up and held out his arm, "first, I apologize for the discourtesy I am about to perform. But with your permission, I intend to use my blood to reveal these demon's true faces!"

"I do believe such a test would not be unnecessary," Oyakata admitted, "Momo, would you be willing to allow it?"

"If he goads them with anything other than his words and his blood, I'll step in," the old woman bowed her head, "otherwise I agree with you, Lord Ubuyashiki, such a test is not unnecessary."

"Then proceed, Sanemi," the leader nodded. Tanjiro didn't miss the feral grin on the hashira's face as he snatched up both boxes with incredible speed before leaping into the shadowed area of the leader's residence and dropping both boxes roughly on the floor.

"Come on out, demons," he smiled evilly while dripping the blood from his arm onto the boxes, "this is what you want, right?" The slayer drew his sword and used it to flip open the doors on the containers then. Susamaru, Gimiko, and Nezuko all stepped out, growing to their full sizes. "Yeah, you smell it, don't you?"

"Your blood has… marechi in it," Gimiko coughed while covering her mouth.

"That's right," Sanemi's grin widened, "the type of blood that no demon can resist. So why not come and get a taste of your kind's preferred delicacy." Nezuko merely growled, gripping her hand so tight it was drawing blood.

"Don't do it Nezuko! You're stronger than that!" Tanjiro yelled.

"Do you trust them," Momo asked while putting a hand on his shoulder.

"What, of course I do," he defended, "they won't hurt any humans, I'm certain of it."

"Then have some faith, and tell them," the old slayer suggested. Tanjiro looked back to see the three girl's faces all contorted to one degree or another in anger or restraint.

"Susamaru! Gimiko!" He called, "they don't know you but I do. Both of you were either tricked or forced into becoming monsters, don't let this guy lure you into the same trap! You wanted to change your lives, didn't you?!" The two girls straightened up then as memories of their lives flashed through their minds.

'That's right,' the two of them thought, 'things were supposed to be different.' Nezuko was also remembering the faces of her family and the words of Urokodaki that all humans were her family. That's when Susamaru smiled, then started giggling. That giggle turned into full blown laughter.

"What the fuck's so funny," Sanemi's smile dropped from his face and his eyes narrowed.

"You are, scar tissue," Susamaru spoke between fits of laughter, "is that really the best you've got? Find a hundred other assholes with marechi and I might drool at the smell." Gimiko suddenly threw up at the hashira's feet, causing him to take a step back.

"I'm sorry," she apologized while breathing a little heavily, "that smell is just so….. disgusting now. I've turned people into soup for my meals before but no amount of dead flesh I've encountered has ever smelled that bad. I think you should get tested because there's something nasty in your blood." Nezuko seemed to agree as she turned her own head away in disgust.

"I think that's the consensus," Susamaru gave her own wide, toothy grin, "you really should've just listened, dickhead. Because before this I fucking died, got torn apart by my own Blood Demon Art thanks to a curse Muzan put on me. Still don't know how I came back but compared to the pain from that time, resisting a slight hunger pang is easy."

"If my ears are not deceiving me," Ubuyashiki spoke up, "it appears that none of the demons attacked."

"No," one of the twins confirmed, "Nezuko turned her head away in disgust, the one known as Gimiko threw up at the smell of Sanemi's blood, and the demon girl, Susamaru is mocking his attempts at trying to bait her."

"I personally can't believe you made me get out of bed for this," the Temari Demon remarked as she and the other demon girls moved back to the boxes and shrunk down, "call me when it's something important. Also, it was an honor to meet you, Lord Oyakata." The demon girls bowed before retreating into their boxes, but not before Susamaru double flipped the bird at Sanemi.

"Will that display be enough to satisfy you for now, Shinazugawa," the Demon Slayer Leader questioned.

"I…. have no further comment, master," Sanemi turned and bowed to his leader before moving back into the line, grumbling while pulling out a bandage to wrap his arm.

"Now then, I believe there are a couple other items of business we should discuss while we are here," Ubuyashiki revealed.

"What would those be, master," Gyomei questioned.

"Both Tanjiro Kamado and Susamaru have come into contact with Muzan Kibutsuji," he informed. This revelation for the hashira was something the Temari Demon was definitely going to have to be awake for.

And so the demons have passed the trial of the hashira, now what will the Corp ask of them? But one thing you don't need to ask for is giving your thoughts on the chapter, so as always feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters! And don't forget to check out my Pat reon for news, scene samples, and commissions! Last thing, stop in next time as our heroes recount their encounter with Muzan and the slayers decide what shall be done with the demons! 'Til then.