Chapter Text
Sae was not a demon slayer.
technically
He was trained by one and he spent his night hunting demons but he never officially joined the demon slayer corps. He preferred to do things his own way. Sae used to want to be one and fight demons alongside his brother to get revenge, but now? He didn’t want it he wanted to follow his own dictates.
It had all started five years ago when he was 11. He lived a quiet life in a small village far from the nearest town. He and his brother were orphans but after the death of their parents the village came together to look after their own. That all changed when demons showed up.
Sae could remember the night it happened clear as day, it was late at night and the whole village was asleep. Sae had woken up to the sounds of an owl outside his window, he had akways been a light sleeper. He decided to make the most of the peace and quiet and sit by the open window. That was when he saw them.
They looked like people except there was something clearly wrong about them. They walked hunched over and tense like snakes in the grass waiting to pounce. Sae watched as the small group spread out through the village invading each house one by one to draw people out to kill.
Sae’s eyes went wide as he prayed it was all just a nightmare but as it continued and he didn’t wake up he realised that he had to do something. He shook Rin awake and clasped a hand over his face to stop him from making noise. He grabbed his brother by the hand as they crept out of their back door praying that they wouldn’t be noticed.
It was a miracle that they lived right at the very edge of the village, it meant that they could run right into the forest to hide from view. Sae led them both to the old well in the woods and he lowered them both down into the dark so they could wait out the attach.
The screams rang into the night for hours as every man woman and child was killed. They waited for hours and hours completely paralysed in fear sure that at some point a demon would see them down the well and make them the next things on the menu.
When the demon skaters finally showed up it was already too late everybody was dead. The two men lifted Sae and Rin out of the well to question them but they had nothing if worth to say. The slayers we’re in their late thirties and senior members of the corps. It was a testament to their luck and skill that they had managed to survive up to an age they could retire from.
Neither man as it turns out wanted to live the rest of their short lives with nothing to show from it so they both agreed to take on one brother each to train in the art of swordsmanship. Though Rin was a year younger than Sae he was already taller with more muscle mass. The fire breather decided that his superior physical abilities would suit the fire style so he took Rin and Sae went with the water style user.
Before they went their separate ways Sae hugged Rin hard and made him promise to get better so they could fight by each others sides once they officially became demon slayers.
Sae’s master was jaded and cold from years of watching his comrades and friends die but he was a skilled teacher and Sae learned fast so they got on well. They often had very little to say to each other outside of training and they lived in a cabin on the woods so on many night Sae lay in bed feeling unbearably lonely without Rin by his side.
The months came and went and soon enough Sae turned twelve. His master told him that he may be ready for the final selection. He was exited but the older man stopped him in his tracks. He told him just how dangerous the final selection was, he didn’t want to loose his only student before he even got the chance to begin so Sae was held back.
His master said that though he was skilled he was still too small to properly fight back against larger demons and he would only let Sae go once he grew a bit. Sae trusted him to keep his promise and for a few weeks everything was well until once again a demon came to ruin everything.
Ge came at night like they always did Sae was fast asleep when his master stormed into his room and yanked him up dragging him into the cupboard in the main room. He shut the door and told Sae not to make a sound before pulling out his sword. Sae watched through the crack in the door as his master stood motionless in the middle of the room sword at the ready.
For a minute nothing happened and Sae began to wonder if the man had just had a particularly vivid nightmare but then the match to the door clicked open and a man walked in. A man with red eyes and dark hair.
Sae gasped and clamped a hand over his mouth willing himself to not even breathe. He had heard rumours and stories about this demon from his master but they sounded so mythical at the time that he hardly believed them.
It was a completely one sided battle the demon sliced his master to pieces with only a couple of blows. Once the deed was done the demon turned to look Sae right in the eyes through the crack in the door. He smiled at him before disappearing into the night. Sae hadn’t even been worth killing.
Once he was sure the demon was gone Sae crawled out of his hiding spot to sit in shock next to the dead man. The sword that had once been bright blue was not splattered in his blood. Sae reached out a hand to grasp the sword and put it back in his masters hand it did something he didn’t expect.
The blade of the sword began to change colour
Sae watched as a shadowy black inched up the blade until there was nothing left of what had once been. The sword had claimed a new master.
After that Sae could maybe have chosen to make his own way to the final selection to become a demon slayer but after watching his masters die he decided that he didn’t want it anymore. Why would he willingly go off to confine himself with dozens of hungry demons all eager to slaughter him. It made no sense.
Why would he willingly join the organisation that sent children off to die. At the tender age of twelve Sae wandered off into the night sword in hand and he never looked back.
Over the next four years Sae travelled the country following his own leads and hunting demons his own way. He kept his eyes peeked for messenger crows in the sky and people wandering about in uniform sword ready at their hip.
Sae kept to himself and developed his own breathing style off of his masters water breathing. He learnt to move shadows like a liquid forcing them to bend to his will to conceal himself and trick his enemies. Sae did not wear a demon slayer uniform. He wore a midnight blue haori with embroidered silver stars and a black mask over the bottom half of his face to muffle the sound of his breathing so he could hide better.
His style consisted of completely concealing himself from view then using quick incredibly precise movements to hit his enemies before they even knew he was there. He wasn’t particularly tall or strong which meant that he wanted to avoid being hit as much as possible.
Recently he had heard word from a young man living in a farmhouse on the outskirts of a small town about a monster who had stolen away his sister in the night. The people of the town hadn’t taken him seriously so by the time Sae got to him the poor man was on the end of his rope.
The man felt that he could not go after it himself as he had two more sisters and an elderly father to look after. Sae did not view the man as a coward, if he went after the demon himself he would die and then there would be nobody to care for his family.
Sae told the man that he would do his best to deal with the problem so he could sleep without fear of the creature coming back.
That night he followed the man’s directions into the woods towards a deep cave. Most slayers would balk at having to work in such an enclosed space but the high density of shadows just made Sae’s job all the easier.
He began to breathe deeply slipping into the shadows of the cave. He stalked through the long passages to find the demon before he fought it so he would know what he was dealing with before he drew his sword.
The cave was deep and as he went further he found himself having to crawl through tight passes in order to follow the trail of blood that led down. Eventually he emerged onto a small balcony above a large cavern in the heart of the cave. The demon had black skin and blood soaked claws.
Sae stood in silence watching as it chomped through the bones of another young woman. There was a pile of bloody women’s clothes in the corner presumably belonging to the demons previous victims.
The demon had been taking women from the town and yet they didn’t believe the farmer when the same thing happened to him? His short sighted some people could be. He would have to work fast while the demon was still enjoying what would be his final meal.
Some of the passages that Sae had crawled through were far too tight for such a large demon to slither through with a dead body. His blood demon art must have had something to do with moulding his body to fit any shape. It shouldn’t matter anyway his head would be gone before it had a chance to fight back.
Sae took a deep breath and swung his sword as he jumped down of the ledge so the shadows would muffle the sound of his shoes hitting the uneven stone. He kept his body low to the ground as he made his way through the obstacle course of sharp rocks and dripping stalactites.
He was so concentrated that the world seemed to move in slow motion while in reality it took only a couple of seconds for him to make his way right behind the demon. The twisted his sword in the air causing the demon to become completely blinded. The creature scrabbled around with desperate claws but Sae was already moving. He flipped into the air and soared over the demons head relieving it from the body in a single smooth motion his whole body flowing through the air as smooth as water through a muddy river bed.
The demon screamed as its head thudded to the floor but it quickly turned to dust. Sae soaked on the newly earned silence for a moment before turning back the way he came his body peeling out from the cover of shadows. The cave had been pitch black but one form of his shadow breathing allowed him to see in the dark as easy as day as long as he was concentrating on it.
When he finally got out of the cave he wouldn’t tell anybody the job was done, there was no need. They would know what he had done when no more girls went missing into the night.
When Sae emerged from the cave he was met by the figure of a demon slayer waiting at the mouth sword at the ready presumably expecting the dead demon to emerge. The man was tall and broad with a red and navy striped haori. The had two large scars bisecting the right side of his face presumably the word of demons.
When the man saw Sae he lowered his sword with a confused look before taking a step towards Sae. “I assume that your not the demon I was sent here to kill” Sae scoffed “it’s already been taken care of… you may take your leave” the man grinned at him. “This is odd… why would Ego send a random slayer on the same job as a hashira does he think me unworthy”
Sae just shrugged “who knows, your Ego didn’t send me here” the man laughed “then who are you” Sae didn’t answer. He slipped his sword back into it’s holster and tried to make his way past the older man but he caught the edge of his haori.
“you don’t wear the uniform of a slayer yet you carry a nichirin blade so tell me who do you work for” Sae pulled out of his grip and turned to glare at the snug man. “I follow my own dictates its you who follows the whims of another” the man snorted.
“I guess your right… why don’t you tell me your name and we can have a chat about how you ended up here” Sae just scoffed and once again turned away “I have nothing to say to a demon slayer” The man tried to grab him again but Sae had already disappeared back into the shadows.
The man chuckled to himself as he stared at the spot the mystery boy had just vacated. This was the first time in a long time that another person had managed to interest the storm hashira. He told his crow to send word back to Ego that the demon had been dispatched… by a skater who didn’t belong to their corps. He could already tell that he was going to meet that boy again.
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After his run in with the hashira Sae had kept himself on the lowdown mainly keeping to the woods and sleeping beneath the stars. His old master had been a hashira before he took Sae in to train him. He had left his post after taking him in hoping that once Sae succeeded him as a water style user he could live out the rest of his days in peace, he obviously had not gotten his wish.
Rin’s master had been a hashira too but from what Sae knew he had kept his position while taking on an apprentice. Sae was pretty sure that the older man still was a hashira he was incredibly skilled after all but Sae did know very little about the comings and goings of the demon skater corps his only info came from the grapevine.
He hoped that Rin had kept his promise to become a skilled slayer even when Sae couldn’t follow him. It would break Sae to hear about his brother dying in the final selection so he chose not to search for info about him instead choosing to live stubbornly sure that his brother was out there somewhere.
The first time Sae ever met a demon slayer was a couple of years before the slaughter of his village. A wind breath user had rested there for a couple of days with his student after a tight battle with a demon close by. Sae hadn’t really cared about the pair but Tin had been curious about the strangers so Sae went with him to sit with the other children of the village while the man told heroic stories.
Sae knew now that much of what the man had said was toned down for young ears the reality of hunting demons was far less heroic and there was little honour to be found when dead in a ditch or rotting in a demons lair.
While Sae listened to the stories he sat next to the young man’s student. He remembered thinking that the boy had looked odd with light lilac hair and deep red eyes but he’d been friendly enough. Sae had admired the boy then, he was only two years older than Sae and he was already so skilled. He must have been more skilled that Sae first thought of that bit was now a hashira. Was he the wind Hashira or had he perhaps made his own style like Sae had.
He supposed it mattered little outside of his own curiosity he would probobky never see the young man again anyway. Over the years he had watched a number of demon slayers fight while he watched from the shadows only getting involved if he had to. He had seen many different breathing styles and they were all as different as the people who used them.
Water style the breathing type that Sae’s own shadow breathing was derived from valued flexibility and an ability to move smoothly and wear down opponents like waves eating away at a sea front. A user of water breathing also had to be able to adapt to anything thrown at them, be square in a square container and round in a round container.
Flame breathing was all about attacking with the fire if the soul favouring confidence and overwhelming strength and power. The style fit Tin well he had always liked to break things as a child and he would often get angry at small things while Sae stayed cool and calm.
Thunder breathing was about using speed to out think opponents then descend upon them in a flash of lightning. Stone was about strength and steadfastness never letting one’s opponent make a single step forward, you had to make your own body a stone wall. That style certainly wouldn’t suit Sae he wasn’t so full of himself that he couldn’t admit that he couldn’t take many hits.
Lastly wind breathing was about a constant offensive barrage, moving like a Gail to push opponents back and bend them to the swordsman’s will. Of course many people changed their styles to suit them better and some people even made their own style of breathing so they could make the most of their natural advantages, most of the time only very skilled or talented slayers could do that.
Sae was making his way through a particularly muddy patch of forest choosing to hop from tree to tree over wading through mud. It had been a few days since he’d heard of any demon sightings so he was keeping his eyes peeled. That was the one draw back of not joining the corps he didn’t have a talking crow to tell him about demons nearby he had to look for them himself.
He was thinking about settling down to sleep high in a tree when he heard a strange noise off in the distance. It was close to the sound of a branch snapping except the sound was far greater, like the thing that was moving was so large that it was flattening trees as it went. Sae climbed further into the trees and drew his sword while goi g to investigate.
The demon he saw was like nothing he had seen before. While many demons were human like in appearance this one was a different beast. It was like a rolling mass of flesh and limb many meters tall and wide. Sae could see the things head but the joint of the neck was completely covered by outstretched hands.
Was he strong enough to cut through a neck so thick. The demon had dozens of long arms which he was sure it would use to try and bat him out if the air as soon as he got close. In that case he would have to stay out of sight and strike when it was least expecting him.
With a few slashes of his sword the shadows weaved around him hiding him from the demons heightened senses when he launched himself above the thing slashing away a couple of its arms. When the limbs thudded to the floor the demon finally realised that something was attacking it. The demon began to wave its many arms in around like it was trying to swat a bug out of the sky.
As expected it was too large to be fast its défense was better than it’s offence the flailing limbs wouldn’t be too hard to dodge. He figured that if he kept flying at the demon then swinging around trees he could build up enough momentum to slice through it’s neck. It was as good a time as any to try.
With a swing of his sword the shadows moved in to blind the demon making it think that the thing attacking it was invisible. As Sae slashed from all directions with his sword the demon attempted to bait him where it could see him by going on and on about how many humans it had eaten and how their screams and cries were music to its ears.
It was a disgusting creature Sae knew it deserved to die. As he was about to be head the creature a sudden flash of light burst through into the forest blowing Sae back into the trees. A strong arm wrapped around his waste and pulled him close to stop him from colliding with the trees.
“Hey beautiful, need a hand” Sae gave the demon slayer a withering look “not really” the boy laughed and sat Sae down steady on his feet as they both observed the now blind and charred demon that was now screaming in pain and anger as it tried to heal.
“you got a plan lashes” the boy asked. Sae bit the tip of his thumb as he thought. This was a variable that he hadn’t prepared for but he supposed it could be welcome. The boy was broad and tall he definitely had the strength to cut through the demons thick neck.
Sae told him the plan quickly before the demon could get back into fighting shape. “You do what you need to do to kill it, I’ll cover you and I’ll also make sure that it can’t see you” the boy raised his eyes but gave Sae a shark like grin. “It’s a date” Sae rolled his eyes and melted into the shadows next to him waiting for the new boy to make a move.
The boy rushed in while Sae came in behind weaving the shadows around the pair so the demon wouldn’t see them. The boys attacks were powerful and they made loud bangs and produced explosions that burnt the demons body with every hit. Sae covered him as he went for the head cutting away at the flailing limbs so the other boy could concentrate on the end goal.
It was a short lived fight. The duo completely overwhelmed the demon and with a single powerful strike the head was knocked from the body. The demon wept and sobbed as it turned to dust but Sae could hardly hear it. He was too busy trying to get rid of the ringing in his ears caused by the last explosion.
The boy came up behind him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders “you know lashes I like your style, I commend someone who fights their own way” Sae shrugged him off “what’s your style? I’ve never seen it before” he asked. The boy grinned widely “explosion style user Shidou Ryuusei at your service” he gave Sae a theatrical bow. “Mines shadow style… thanks for the help”
He turned on his heel fully intending to fuck off just like when he ran into the hashira but the other boy stopped him by grabbing the collar of his haori and pulling him back. “Hey you haven’t given me your name yet… you seem familiar for reason you know your eyes remind me of someone” Sae ignored the second part of his sentance. “Sae” he mumbled quietly.
The boys eyes lit up brightly. “You know we work as a pretty good team Sae you make my explosions even bigger.. we should travel together” Sae gave him a deadpan look “ew no way, I’m not even a real demon slayer” “oh someone who dies as they please, you get hotter by the second” Sae gave him a pointed look before trying to leave again.
“Hey lashes wait up I’m headed to some big mountain near here apparently there’s a whole group of strong demons don’t you want to fight them” that gave Sae pause. He didn’t really want to travel with this boy but he did want to kill demons and Shidou knew the way to them. Maybe he could go with Shidou to the mountain then loose him there once the fighting was over. Sae sighed deeply sure that he was going to regret his decision later.
“sure I’ll come along”
Shidou just grinned like he already knew his answer.