Chapter Text
The air had started to decrease in temperature as Kaigaku ran through the forest in the direction of a small village. The faint metallic scent weaved through the trees as branches snapped below him with every step Kaigaku ran. His Kasugai Crow, Nari, followed close behind, yelling orders at him.
“Multiple missing persons reports in Sanmachi Suji! The probability of multiple demons at play is very high!”
Nari, now right in his ear, screamed at Kaigaku to run faster, “before more people are swallowed whole by the demons.” Kaigaku just yelled at him to shut up as he picked up his pace.
The trees were thick, as opposed to the thin air that made it significantly harder to keep up his pace. He lost count of how many times he almost tripped over a loose branch or tree root, or how many times a random flying branch smacked him in the face. How he even got in this situation, he couldn’t be sure.
The fog had gotten thicker and thicker since he started this journey, which he had to assume started a few hours ago. ‘Damn, I’m going really slow,’ he realized. ‘All those people in the town are probably dead by now.’ It wasn’t his fault, he wasn’t even supposed to be going on this mission in the first place!
“Kaigaku!”
Jigoro, Kaigaku’s master, called him inside his estate.
He had been practicing his breathing forms on the wooden dummy with the black-haired brat ,who his master had insisted he take in, when he heard his name. With one quick side eye to the boy next to him, he placed his Nichirin sword under the shade of the trees on his way to where his master resided.
Admittedly, he had assumed that Jigoro called him to send him on a special mission, or maybe to praise him even more for his successful Final Selection.
“Here,” Jigoro placed a basket of peaches in his arms. “Take these to Takayama.”
“...” Kaigaku stared at the basket and made a face as if every peach in there was rotten. “..my first task as a demon slayer is delivering…peaches?”
“Precisely”
Kaigaku felt his jaw clench ever so slightly.
“With all due respect, Master, why must I do this?” He pointed outside to where Zenitsu was standing when he left him. “You have a perfectly good, non demon slayer over there who could do this job perfectly on his own.”
‘Well, maybe I’m overestimating his abilities…’ He thought to himself.
“No no, you must go.” He pushed him through the doors.”There is someone there awaiting you.”
Kaigaku’s eyes twitched. He ran a hand through his hair and exhaled sharply.
“Alright, no that’s-that’s wonderful. First month as a demon slayer and I’ve been reduced to a peach merchant.” He muttered under his breath.
“w..Wait! Kaigaku!” A high-pitched voice stopped him dead in his tracks. Kaigau snapped his head to face the small boy holding his sword.
“Your sword-” Zenitsu began, extending his hands as if he was holding a peace offering out to his senior.
“I don’t need it.” He snapped, causing the younger boy to flinch back slightly. “I’m just delivering fruits since ‘Gramps’ thinks so lowly of me to reduce me to a fruit merchant.” He spat out the nickname Zenitsu had given their Master
Zenitsu opened his mouth to argue, but decided to play it safe and leave it at that.
“Don’t fuck my sword up, leave it right where you found it.” Kaigaku ordered. “And don’t even think about using it to train.”
He left before he could see Zenitsu walk back to the wooden dummy that he barely dented out of fear of it breaking and him getting a splinter.
He remembered he got the message from Nari not long after he set out to Takayama. Several missing person reports within a few hours of each other. Who could blame him for choosing that over selling peaches? Besides, he could just blame his crow for being so persuasive.
Kaigaku ran what seemed like multiple miles before he saw it- a light. A warm, orange light that bled into the forest and illuminated the fog in its same shade. He was close.
It wasn’t long before the sharp smell of blood assaulted his nose right outside the district. Halting in his tracks, Kaigaku glanced around in search of the cause of the foul odor. Instead of a clear puddle or track of blood, however, all he found was seemingly abandoned buildings and stands all around. He exhaled sharply through his nose. ‘Great.’ he thought while wandering the ghost town. ‘Guess this is gonna be more irritating than I thought.’ He walked through rows and rows of the same white and brown houses as the scent of blood grew stronger and stronger, and then quickly faded away into nothingness as if it was toying with him.
He kept walking. And walking. Until he was sure he passed that same white and brown house at least three times. ‘Gods, was this even worth it?’ He shook his head. ‘Oh, who am I fooling, this is my entire job.’
…
What was that?
Now, his hearing wasn’t as good as Zenitsu’s- no, Zenitsu's hearing was scary, but he was sure he heard something scratching at wood.
..!
He made a sharp turn to look at a house. It was the same as the others, but if he could focus for a few seconds.
Scratch
!
‘There you are…’ Kaigaku thought to himself as he instinctively placed his hand on his hip where his sword was supposed to be, only to find nothing there.
…
Shit.
He had forgotten that he left his sword at home. This was bad. He couldn’t stop here though, he had gotten so far. He’d just have to do without.
Kaigaku carefully approached the entrance to the house, making sure not to make any noise. He placed both his hands on the sliding doors and opened them gently.
‘There it is!’ In the darkness, a lanky figure sat crouched in the corner hunched over what looked to be a mess of flesh and bones.
Thankfully, this demon didn’t seem to be that hard to fight. He could probably just knock it out and wait until sunrise.
Before the thing had enough time to even turn around, Kaigaku had already grabbed it in a chokehold. The demon started squirming in his arms while Kaigaku dragged it outside, planning on either beating it unconscious or tying it to a wooden support pillar. Either way, he was going to have the sun kill this thing.
A sharp sting had Kaigaku hissing in pain, followed by a sudden warm liquid that spread quickly on his arm, and as soon as he loosened his arms the slightest bit, the demon slithered off of him and ran outside the house. The demon made some distance, but unfortunately for it.
Kaigaku was faster.
He had the bastard pinned down to the ground in a matter of seconds and shoved the nearest thing he could reach into its mouth to prevent it from biting him anymore. The demon under him started to growl, a deep, guttural sound that would have been a warning sign to anyone else. Unfortunately, for the demon or Kaigaku, no one knows, Kaigaku stayed on top of it, and before long, a first connected to the side of the demon’s head. The sound of its skull cracking echoed through the rows of houses.
Wait, were there more houses?
Kaigaku turned his attention from the bastard under him to the newly added rows of brown and white buildings, tilting his head to the side in confusion. The demon below him growled again, and this time Kaigaku could feel the change before he saw it.
Right next to him.
Was himself. On top of an identical demon. Before promptly disappearing again.
…
Alright.
He could deal with this.
“Alright, you wanna play games?” He spat, a hint of venom lacing his words. “I can play games.” His hand shot up to the demon’s neck, intending to simply rip its neck off of its main body. He tightened his grip, revelling in the fact that he could hear the demon’s pathetic attempts to separate itself from him. The wet choking sounds coming from the monster only fueled his drive to decapitate this thing with his bare hands.
A large wooden plank came flying at his head, however, royally ruining his plans. He was knocked off of the demon and slammed his head on the ground as he landed. This demon was still, in fact, not faster than Kaigaku. He sat up just as the demon began running for it.
‘Maybe a weapon is needed for this…” Kaigaku looked around, before his eyes landed on a rusty axe that has definitely not been used in the last few centuries. As he picked it up, Kaigaku immediately regretted every decision that led him to this place. The handle had splinters that Kaigaku was sure he would be picking out of his hands until the next era, and the blade was about two seconds away from imploding in on itself.
Still, he had to make it work. This could’ve all been avoided if he had just taken his sword from the bumbling idiot back at the orchard.
Right, the peach orchard. Oh, Jigoro would have his head when he found out that he never went to the old town and sold his damn peaches.
Kaigaku began running after the demon. ‘That’s a problem for later’ he ultimately decided. The demon made some distance between them, but that distance was getting rapidly smaller as Kaigaku continued the chase. Weaving in and out of trees for hours before this prepared him for the demon’s poor attempts at losing him.
Before long, Kaigaku a hair away from the demon- literally, he could see all the greasy hair strands barely hanging onto the demon’s skeleton of a body- and raised his axe. As soon as he made contact with the demon, however, the body was gone. Kaigaku's momentum, on the other hand, was not. He drove his axe straight into a house, lodging it deep into the wooden walls.
‘Damn it, where did that bastard go?!’ Kaigaku looked around for any sign of the disappearing demon, but everywhere he turned, all he saw was the same white and brown building repeating for kilometers.
That’s when he saw it. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a moving figure running away from his general location. ‘There you are.’ Kaigaku attempted to pull his axe out of the walls, but to no avail. ‘Damn it, I don’t have time for this!’
He simply decided to take off running empty-handed.
……
The demon was not hard to spot against the bright walls. But once again, as soon as contact was made, it disappeared.
“Alright.” Kaigaku yelled into the void. “Now you’re starting to piss me off, you bastard. Quit being a coward and show yourself already!” Kaigaku picked up his pace as he continued to run through the maze of houses.
Nothing.
Until he spotted that same demon again, and as before, it disappeared. This cycle repeated for every demon-clone he saw, and by the time Kaigaku stopped to catch his breath after running for hours, the sun had started to come up. Damn it. The demon would be scurrying away soon and would continue its man-eating rampage. But Kaigaku couldn’t go back to running around in circles, that would get him nowhere.
“C’mon, think! Where the hell would the bastard be?” Kaigaku started to recount his entire stay at this abandoned town, lightning crackling above despite the clear skies. “The only place I could think is that it ran back to that original house I found it at…but that place looks the same as every other building here!” Kaigaku began walking out of frustration.
“C’mon, c’mon, there has to be something that differentiates that building from the others…” Kaigaku’s face lit up suddenly, remembering a crucial detail. The axe!
He began to run.
‘The axe wasn’t stuck at that exact house…but it was stuck nearby. At most two houses away from the original…if I can find the axe house, then that would narrow it down by a few hundred buildings.’ He had his plan ready. Now the hard part.
Finding the axe.
The sun was starting to rise higher, tinting the sky a shade of pink, so he had to hurry. This was a battle against time. If only he could get a clearer view of all the buildings…
…
Kaigaku jumped onto a wooden support beam and started to climb. Perhaps staying on top of the houses would be better.
The buildings below him echoed as he ran on the roofs of the houses. He looked down, following the faint tracks he made earlier while running. It wasn’t long before…
…!
Stuck to the wall of a familiar white building was the same rusty axe that he had accidentally lodged into the house. ‘There it is!’ Kaigaku jumped off the roof, not caring about his horrible landing or the loud cracking sound that came from his ankle as he came down hard to the ground. Right now, he had to find that demon.
If he remembered correctly, that demon made scratching noises when he first encountered it. ‘Maybe it’s still making those horrible noises.’ He placed his ear against the side of one of the buildings and waited.
Nothing.
Thankfully, he didn’t have to travel far to hear it. That horrible scratching that sounded like someone’s bones were being scraped by a blade. Kaigaku wasted no time barging into the building, not bothering to sneak inside. This bastard had to die now.
The demon whipped around, eyes wide and lips trembling, realizing it had nowhere to run. Kaigaku almost felt bad for it.
Almost.
“Please!” Kaigaku visibly grimaced at the sound of its voice; it was just as scratchy as the sounds it liked to make. “Please, don’t! I- I swear I on-only killed tw-t-two people! I HAD to! Pl-plea-p-please! I don’t w-ant to die!”
“Save it.” Kaigaku gripped its greasy hair, already planning the bath he was going to take later. He began to walk outside as the demon clawed and screamed, begging for mercy. “You better pray you don’t end up a demon in your next life, filthy scum.”
The demon began to burn in the sun, its cries and screams nothing short of someone begging for their agony to end. Kaigaku would’ve been more than happy to cut its head off and be done with it quicker, if only he hadn’t left his stupid sword in the orchard.
Right, the orchard.
He sighed, already mentally preparing himself for the earful he was going to get from his master for not following his orders. In his defence, he was saving lives (or whatever lived in this village)! Deciding to simply go back to the orchard and face whatever punishment he would get, Kaigaku ran back to the forest.
Something was wrong.
Kaigaku felt it the closer he got to the orchard.
It had started to storm on his way back, but he still couldn’t shake the feeling that something went horribly wrong.
It was too…
quiet.
He smelt it before he saw anything. That familiar metallic smell he could never get used to. Blood. And a lot of it. He picked up his pace, already preparing for the worst.
“Master?...Zenitsu?” He would’ve heard pathetic whimpers and screams by now; that little brat was terrified of storms, especially when lightning cracked just outside the estate. The fact that the air lacked those familiar screams just further pushed Kaigaku to run just a little faster.
“...Master?” He hated how weak and pathetic he sounded. Nothing was wrong. Nothing had to be. Jigoro was the former Rumble Hashira, for Gods’ sake! He could definitely handle himself if something happened. Besides, Nari would alert Kaigaku if anything went horribly wrong.
He stopped right outside the back entrance of Jigoro’s estate. From the outside, nothing seemed wrong. Everything was where it needed to be, even those plants that Jigoro made Kaigaku and Zenitsu water every other day.
“I’m coming in.” His voice shook. His voice never shakes. He sounds so pathetic. Shaking hands gripped the doors. With whatever confidence he had left, he let his hands slide the doors to the side, and instantly regretted it.
The smell hit him first before anything else. A rotten smell. And Kaigaku had a pretty good idea on where it was coming from.
“Master!”
Jigoro was lying in the middle of the room, blood everywhere. Kaigaku ran to his master as fast as he could, and as he came closer, he noticed all the scratches and burn marks on him. The ground around Jigoro had also been burnt to near ash, just barely holding it together. Placing his ear to Jigoro’s chest, despite knowing it was pointless, he waited for a pulse.
“Shit, shit shit shit shit!” Kaigaku yelled at no one. “Gods damn it, Master, get up!” He was practically begging, grasping his master and shaking him in any attempt to wake Jigoro up. It was humiliating how he was reduced to a begging pathetic mess on the ground. That was Zenitsu’s job.
…
Where the hell was Zenitsu.
His eyes followed a particular burn mark on the floor, as if lightning had struck the inside of the house, and found his discarded sword on the ground. It was covered in blood, as if it was recently used in battle despite the fact that Kaigaku left it before he could properly use it. But by the looks of this estate, it most likely was used in some sort of battle.
As he walked closer to his sword, he noticed something next to it. Or rather, someone. A scarred hand rested right next to the sword’s handle, and black matted hair covered the bottom half of the blade.
“Fuck,” Kaigaku rushed to Zenitsu’s limp body. “Fuck, did you-”
He put his ear to Zenitsu’s chest. And waited. He heard a small heartbeat, and felt the shallow rises of his chest. Relief washed over Kaigaku so fast he almost crashed. “Alright, alright alright. You haven’t- you didn’t die.” But he certainly didn’t survive unscathed.
The kid’s entire body was covered in scars. His haori was torn and stained red, but it was his throat that seemed to take the most damage. It was ripped to the point where Kaigaku could see the muscles under the skin, and the wound was still bleeding heavily, despite the battle having seemingly taken place hours ago.
Fuck, were they dying while he was in that stupid town. He shook that thought out of his head.
Grabbing his old black haori that was hanging from a shelf, Kaigaku ripped a sleeve off after a quick apology to his master for destroying it. He quickly wrapped the torn fabric around the bleeding throat and tied it in the back. It wasn’t pretty, and it certainly wasn’t the cleanest bandage, but it would have to do for now.
In the corner of his eye, he saw movement. A small twitch of a finger.
Lightning cracked above them, burning a hole through the ceiling and striking dangerously close to the thunder breathers on the floor. Lighting cracked once more, this time striking Jigoro’s body on the ground, and Kaigaku forced himself to look away.
“Alright,” he choked out, forcing his arms to move as he lifted the unconscious boy onto his back. “Alright, we’re getting the fuck out of here.” However, he tripped over something as soon as he stood up. His sword. Learning his lesson, he snagged his dirty katana off the ground. With one last glance at his master’s dead body on the floor, he said a quick prayer, and walked through the front doors.
The storm’s gotten worse. Dark clouds covered the whole sky, and rain poured down on them. The ground under Kaigaku turned into mud, making it significantly harder to make any progress. His vision was blurry, which he blamed on the rain, and the kid on his back seemed to be getting heavier and heavier by the second.
He just hoped that he could find shelter to treat Zenitsu’s wounds before it was too late.
“How the hell did you- did you live, but our- our master didn’t.” He laughed bitterly. “How the fuck are you still alive.”
It seemed to rain harder, and without sunlight, Kaigaku knew it was only a matter of time before demons would find and hunt them both. He certainly couldn’t fight with someone on his back. He just made an attempt at walking faster, almost jogging, to find shelter earlier.
The weight on his back seemed to lighten for a small bit, allowing Kaigaku to run through the rain and mud faster, but before he could react, sharp teeth latched onto his cheek and began sinking in. An inhuman scream was forced out of Kaigaku as he stumbled, fighting against whatever demon was biting and pulling him. Panic set in quickly, attempting to shake off the teeth sinking further and further into him, not thinking clearly as he misstepped. He slid down the cliffside as he heard more and more thunder near him, seeming to get closer.
Lightning struck down, this time, directly above Kaigaku. The force separated the demon from Kaigaku, but had also taken Zenitsu off his back. Recovering quickly, Kaigaku looked around as he took his sword out, ready to face whatever had attacked him. He turned around and
was met by Zenitsu.
A few feet away from him, looking at the ground.
“What the hell are you-” Before Kaigaku could finish, Zenitsu charged at him. He dodged it, only to be charged at once more. Kaigaku could see it now.
The slit-pupils, the fangs, and aggression.
Zenitsu was a demon.
He was the same man-eating demon that he was taught to kill.
But, he couldn’t seem to lift his sword anymore. Only resorting to dodging whenever Zenitsu came at him again. Shit, he knew he had to start playing more offence soon. Quickly getting behind Zenitsu, he grabbed at the loose fabric around his neck and lifted the excess in an attempt to cover his mouth and prevent him from biting. It proved difficult to tie the “gag,” however, as Zenotsu just kept squirming and trying to bite him.
“Quit struggling, you bastard!” Kaigaku yelled. “Be grateful I’m not beheading you right now!”
As soon as he was finished tying, Zenitsu slammed his head into Kaigaku’s forehead, causing him to stumble back. As he quickly recovered from the headbump, the younger boy charged at him once more, only this time, he was stopped by the lightning that struck down on him. The world turned a blinding shade of white for a few seconds.
When Kaigaku could see once more, he was quickly shoved to the ground before he could properly process his situation. His eyes took a second to focus, and once they did, he could clearly see who shoved him.
“You know,” the mysterious person started, “for a demon slayer, you sure are taking a while to kill a practically newborn demon.”
The person was standing over Zenitsu, one foot on his back to keep him on the ground. Kaigaku could see Zenitsu start to struggle, before ultimately giving up and lying still on the ground.
“However, I should also take partial responsibility. If I had gotten here half a day sooner, none of this would be happening, now would it?” They tilted their head, and despite the fox mask they wore, Kaigaku could feel their eyes staring deep into his soul, daring him to defy this person. Their white haori, slightly stained by pecks of mud, flowed in the rain as the long, peach colored hair got drenched by the second. They wore a similar dark uniform, however, the buttons on their uniform were gold, as opposed to his silver buttons. That could only mean one thing.
He was in the presence of a Hashira. The highest rank of the Demon Slayer Corps. The pillars. He’s only heard stories told to him by his master, a former hashira himself, but has never seen one from this generation in person.
“...not a talker, are you? That’s shocking, you were quite the potty mouth before I got here…ohhh,” They seemed to realize something. “It’s me, isn’t it?
“No matter, I’ll just be taking this demon off your hands. You can thank me later, or not. You don’t seem to like me very much.” They raised their sword, and just as quickly brought it down.
A loud clank echoed through the air. Kaigaku had taken his sword out just before the Hashira’s sword could meet Zenitsu’s neck. He blocked the Hashira’s sword, effectively preventing it from moving further. He knew this was a stupid choice. He knew he should most likely let this person, especially someone from this high of a rank, tell him what to do.
But he couldn’t let him kill Zenitsu.
He didn’t know why. He just couldn’t.
“...now that’s something I’ve never seen before. A demon slayer preventing a Hashira from doing his job. Actually, scratch that, a demon slayer protecting a demon is definitely new. Tell me,” The Hashira quickly moved his sword to Kaigaku’s neck, stopping right before he made any contact. “What’s your name?”
He couldn’t bring himself to speak.
“Y’know, it’s quite rude to ignore someone who’s talking to you.”
“...Inadama.”
“Inadama what.” The mask’s white pupils seemed to dilate.
“...Inadama Kaigaku.”
“Interesting. Well, Inadama-san, I’m sure you have a, ah, lovely reason you’re traveling with a demon.” He spat that last word out, as if it was venom.
…This wasn’t going to end well for Kaigaku, was it?