Kanao did not know what to do. When she was a young child she was beaten constantly. She didn't know why all she knew was that she had done something that angered the adults that took care of her. She was beaten and verbally attack to the point where she felt no emotion. And right now she didn't know how to feel. On one hand, she didn't care and one the other her heart was pounding none stop, her face was red and her normally perfect vision was spinning around. She didn't know whether it was because it was cold and she was getting hyperthermia or the fact that Tanjiro was sleeping next to her in the same bed, to make it worse he had his arms wrapped around her in a warm hug.
She knew it was Tanjiro sleeping next to her because the heat that this boy's body made was weird because it was like a furnace and yet one would not feel uncomfortable. But Kanao didn't want to admit it, hell she didn't even know what she was feeling. HELL SHE DOESN'T EVEN REMEMBER HOW THEY GOT HERE.
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hours ago:
They had been running for days and they would take breaks in the forest beside villages so they were close to civilisation and able to deduce where they should go next. But there was one thing that made Kanao very suspicious of Tanjiro. At night, every time they were near a village Tanjiro would wait until he thought she was asleep, unfortunately for him, she would protect to sleep and then follow him into town. But first, he would head into the depths of the deep forest and pull some plants, the plants he pulled were herbs that were renowned for healing properties, then he would head into the villages. When he was inside the towns he would go into houses and after a few minutes he would go outside and the would hug him and gave him a coin. Normally a person would see this and think that he was doing something good, but Kanao being the emotionless person she is didn't understand and got even more suspicious of him. This continued for days until today, because today, Kanao decided to confront Tanjiro about his 'suspicious behaviour.'
They had made it to another village and this time they went inside the village to gather some supplies. Tanjiro and Kanao would talk to store owners to buy some food and water, well Tanjiro did the talking and Kanao just stood there getting confused when the shop owners talked about relationships, which caused Tanjiro to blush. Kanao just couldn't understand human emotions anymore. Not after what they did to her.
It became night time, so they decided to sleep in the forest again. They went to sleep and that was that or so it should have been but Kanao was waiting and as soon as Tanjiro started moving she followed.
Tanjiro didn't like what was happening. Some people were coming into villages that told of stories of worriers fighting demons but getting overwhelmed and die, then those villages would disappear. Those that escape were overcome with sickness and would later die. And this course so much grief to Tanjiro as he couldn't help feel guilty. He couldn't help but think that attacking Muzan was the course of this. That he had been raiding villages because of him. So he had asked a friend of his to help make some medicine for the sick and after collecting samples of those that had died and watching even more die, he had received the medicine and started to save so many lives without the use of a blade.
He walking on a dirt footpath that was leading towards a village, but before he could reach the village he would need to cross a bridge that was over a large, wide-ranging river that even Tanjiro wouldn't be able to jump over. But as Tanjiro was walking towards the bridge there appeared to be a person, though he didn't realise it because he was too focused on his thoughts. The person tried to stop him from stepping on the bridge. Sadly he wasn't paying attention as he kept walking forward. But the figure wouldn't allow him to ignore it as it placed its sword upon his neck. that immediately got his attention as looked at the person who was holding the sword.
"What are you doing," Kanao said with her natural monotone voice, but while Tanjiro may not have the perfect eyesight of Kanao he could still see the daggers in her eyes that were waiting to stab him.
"W-w-what do you mean," Tanjiro said as he was confused about what she was talking about.
"What do you do inside the villages." Not trusting Tanjiro as she kept the blade against his neck when asking her question.
Once he understood her question Tanjiro took a step forward. This shocked Kanao as she knew that with her blade touching his throat, a single move like stepping forward would cut his neck and therefore kill him. But knowing this Kanao had to pull back the blade to not kill Tanjiro. Tanjiro stopped as soon as she had the bladed lowered down. Kanao was so confused as to why he stepped forward and how did he know that she wouldn't kill him. She turns around to stare at him as she was shell shocked from what just happened, but she was taken out of it when she heard him talk.
"I may not know you for very long, but I know that you can not think for yourself, that is why you flip that coin to decide for you. I also know that you wouldn't kill me because you were sent on a mission to bring me back to you HQ, which is why would have knocked me out at my home if I didn't agree to come with you. But most importantly..." He then turned around to face her. As she sees him face her, she can see his glorious smile and the eyes that held hope.
"That is why I promise to help break you out of those chains that have been placed on you." Kanao was puzzled by the what Tanjiro meant, but she couldn't help but feel happy and yet confused about why she was feeling this way. But none the less she would accept his help. Kanao nodded and without saying a word they continued to move towards the village. The village was relatively large for being far from any major cities. The village is on a hill that is surrounded by a river and so has two bridges, one on both the back and the front. Right now they were heading towards the front bridge at the north, but as soon as they entered the village they immediately noticed a festival was ongoing as people were dancing and fireworks were exploding above them.
But even with festivities going on Tanjiro avoided it all and moved straight towards the local healer's house. Kanao was used to the medical room in the butterfly estate as she had to visit it at times when she had overworked herself. But this place was nothing like the butterfly estate. It is a big place but there were no solid walls that blocked patients away from each other. Instead, it was just one massive room with a curtain blocking them from each other. But the most disgusting thing was the walls and the smell. The walls were decaying and the smell of the place was like rotting flesh that overwhelmed her. She even had to take a step back as she was assaulted by the very environment, but Tanjiro stood firm and calm as he stood still and let the sight and smell of the place flow around him. Kanao knew Tanjiro was weird, but seeing Tanjiro inhale a large amount of the air in the area surprised her. Then she was shocked when he started to move towards a curtain that was separated from everything else. It held people that looked to be on the verge of death. All of them looked to have the same symptoms. Each had their skin peeling off revealing muscle, their eyes filled with blood, their veins filled with some sort of green fluid. They all looked to be in so much pain as they were having trouble breathing and sweat profusely coming out of their skin. Normally the doctors and nurses would try and help, but they stayed away from them from the fear of it being contagious. When Tanjiro willingly went to each room the staff tried to stop him, but they all stopped as soon as he entered the room and made the patient drink some sort of purple liquid from a vial. Immediately it showed effects of helping the victims as they started to breathe normally and sweating stopped. Soon Tanjiro tasked Kanao to help him give this antidote to the other patients.
It took them a few minutes to give all the patients the medicine and then an hour to wait for all the patients to heal their wounds and wake up. After that Tanjiro asks everyone to go outside so he can 'finalise' his treatment on them. Even Kanao was advised to leave and so she did. Gone were the thoughts of Tanjiro being a bad person and now in its place was a boy one year younger than her doing everything he could to help others.
Immediately some of the patients came out of the sealed-off area, but it took a few minutes for Tanjiro came out of the makeshift room and went to the nurses and doctors to talk with them privately, but once again Kanao was not included, hell she wasn't even informed. Once the staff were informed, Tanjiro left and Kanao followed none the wiser that she had just missed something. But Kanao could feel something was off and that was further emphasised by the dark shadows that looked over Tanjiro as they exited.
As soon as they got out Kanao tried to get Tanjiro's attention. "Tanjiro are you okay?" She asked as she tried to reach out for him. But as soon as he turned around she could see a bright smile on his face as he said: "Nothings is wrong Kanao."
Tanjiro has a beautiful smile that shined brighter than the Sun, but this wasn't that smile. While everyone else would think this is a genuine smile, she could see it wasn't. Kanao had a supernatural vision that was unrivalled, so she could see the small twitches in his lips, she could see his hands shaking ever so slightly, and most of all, his eyes. They say that the eyes are the window to the soul and all she saw in them was a pain.
"Tan-", but as she was going to say something that would force Tanjiro to confess what he is feeling a sound was heard. A sound was so terrible it could turn anyone red. It was so loud that it could shake the very earth, maybe even shatter it. This sound. This sound could be none other than...
Kanao's belly rumbling and for some reason, it turned her entire face red. Tanjiro looked at her and smiled with that beautiful face of his. Tanjiro grabbed her hand and made her sit on a bench. "Sit here while I grab us some food to eat, okay?"
Kanao wanted to protest she needed to protest because he was hurting inside. She could physically see the pain that was in his eyes. And yet she didn't protest, instead, she just nodded.
As soon as she nodded he rushed to get some food. She sat there looking at the spot in which this enigma once stood. But just like everything else once was, was now gone and she was left alone. She sat there and looked at the dirt ground below her. But there was something inside her that was spilling out and she couldn't understand it, these feelings of wanting to smash something to scream, but also the feeling of needing to rush towards that boy. Yet with these conflicting emotions overwhelming her she couldn't decide what to do. She was so distracted that she didn't see a figure running towards her. By the time she noticed it, the figure was right in front of her.
The figure was saying something, yet Kanao hears it. But as soon as the figure tried to touch her shoulder all her senses came rushing back to her. As soon as her senses came back she immediately noticed the figure. Immediately after seeing just a bit of its clothing not being red, and therefore not being Tanjiro, Kanao went on the offensive. She backed flipped off the bench onto a wall behind the bench. As she was on the wall she drew her sword and pushed off the wall ready to decapitate the figure. But as soon as her plan of action was formed it was soon torn apart as she was able to get a better look at the unknown. The figure was not Tanjiro and nor was it a demon, but instead it was a woman around 16 years old and had a pink kimono. Unfortunately, she was already in mid-flight and was about to cut her head off. Thankfully Kanao's reflexes were fast enough to pull the blade back and was able to do a forward roll. Once she was done rolling she stood up and looked at where the girl was standing. The girl was there but instead of standing, she laying face first on the dirt floor and not moving. Kanao immediately rushed forward-thinking she had pulled back the blade too late. But instead, when she turned the body to face her it was instead of finding blood on her neck, all Kanao found was an unconscious woman and Kanao couldn't understand why.
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A few minutes before... 'that'
Women, the same women, was walking back into her village at a state of festivities, but she could not share in the joyful aura. She had been travelling to other villages to get help from the doctors, it had taken around 2 months for her to return, but sadly she had returned with nothing, only a name and a description of a person that had healed the same disease that had plagued her father. The person was described to be wearing a red Haori over an orange kimono with black colour and a katana carried at the waist, and since they didn't know his name they just called him the Samurai of the Sun. GREAT HELP THAT WAS, basically no name, and only a description she had spent most of her time searching for him, but to no avail. Now she was going to go home to her brother that is probably mad at her for leaving him without even note and most of all she couldn't face her dying father without even bring help. 'Disgrace' that was the only thing that was passing through her head through the entire way back to her village.
Then suddenly fireworks came blooming into the night sky, and as she looked at the direction of the fireworks she saw some but then she saw it, something that should have not been possible. From the corner of her eye, she saw a person that she thought would have had the same fate as her father. There standing with his family looking at the fireworks going off, a man named "Kiseki." The man that was travelling had returned with life-threatening lacerations on his back. He was immediately transported into the hospital, but the doctors couldn't do anything and gave him a day before death. Sadly that didn't happen, sadly because the Kiseki would wake up every night screaming in pain, even after he was supposed to have died. But nowhere he stood looking at her, standing tall and healthier than any man that was screaming for 3 months.
"Suna?" Kiseki said as he walked towards her after telling his family to let him talk to her alone.
"Suna, it's good to see you, but you should go see your father." He smiled at her knowing her for her entire time living in this and the entire time she had been here she had always loved talking about her father to everyone as if he was a god and she was his loyal follower.
Immediately she started to run for the local hospital. As soon as she got there she rushed past the nurses and doctors until she reached the sealed off corner of the hospital. As soon as she made it through the covers she was greeted by her father sitting on a bed and was looking at her with a smile. she would then walk towards him and hug him and then they would do home and live happily ever after.
Or... it should have been liked that.
But instead, all that greeted her was an empty area with NOTHING in it. Her father was gone from the bed that he should have been in. She was confused but she was more enraged to find that her father was gone.
A nurse immediately grabbed her arm and said, "Ma'am, you shouldn't be here."
But sadly for the nurse, all she got was the woman grabbing her by the colour and screaming, "Where is my father!!" The nurse tried to say something, but Suna would keep screaming that same phrase until a doctor came to interrupt them and bring Suna out of the hospital. But as he did she did not resist as he said: "I'll tell you what happened to your father."
As soon as she heard that she followed without hesitation. They walked until they were outside of the hospital. "So, Dr Tang, what happened to my father."
Dr Tang was the only doctor in the village and was highly respected, because... you know, being the only one to heal you or your kids. "So where is my father." Buuuut she didn't care, she had always been a high spirited woman that one would have to earn her respect.
"I can't say." He said, earning him a punch to the face. he stumbled back against the wall and slid down the wall holding his jaw, luckily she did dislocate his jaw.
"What do you mean you can't tell me!" Suna said as her fist was beet red.
"Because I swore to secrecy to hide what happened here."
"THEN WHY DID YOU TELL ME YOU COULD!" She said reading another punch to his face, but she lowered her fist when the doctor raised his hand.
"I may have sworn secrecy, but I didn't say I couldn't lead you to the people that could answer you." He said as he was getting up and wiping his kimono from the dirt on the ground.
"Then take me to them, if it who I think it is then that would mean that he would be heading out of the village. So we need to start moving now." She started to head towards the other side of the village. But as she was about to move the doctor grabbed her arm.
"That won't be necessary." The Doctor said.
"What do you mean! If this is the Samurai of the Sun than that means that he won't stay here for long and will most likely travel to the next village." Suna said as she was now getting annoyed by Dr Tang.
"Your right that this is the Samurai of the Sun. But he was with someone and I highly doubt that he would leave her."
"And how do you know that she isn't with him right now." She said with an angered look, but the doctor just looked to his left and pointed.
"Because she is right there." She looked at where he was pointing and there sitting on one of the benches next to the hospital was a girl wearing a purple-tinted uniform that she didn't know of, with a knee-length pleated skirt in place of the usual pants. Over this, she is also wearing a short white cloak, fastened on one side by a dark pink triple knot, also sporting knee-high lace-up white boots with tan soles, heels and toes.
Without hesitation, Suna moves towards the girl. She was now standing right in front of her and soon started to ask questions, but the girl would not listen. Or more like could not understand. Suna was instead of being made she started to become worried for the girl, she looked to Dr Tang and all he did was shrug his shoulders, also not understanding what was going on. She then went to touch her shoulder, but as soon as her arm came into eyesight of this girl various things started to happen. The once statue of a girl now came to life as she drew her sword and backflip and was now going for her head, then the girl rolled away. While her had was not cut off her brain was working too hard trying to understand what had just happened that she fainted.
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Present time:
"Suna!" The Doctor said as he saw what happened and immediately rushed towards the girl. While Dr Tang may have been shocked to see this girl just possible commit murder, but once he noticed that there was no blood he realized that she had not been killed, so he immediately moved towards the brat.
Once he got near her he was able to check her status. once close enough he was able to see that she had just fainted from the sheer shock of almost getting her head cut off. as soon as he was able to see that her condition he was relieved, but now he looked at the girl that had caused this incident, well in his point of view anyway.
"What do you think you were doing!" The doctor said with anger clear in his voice as he was questioning why this girl had just attack Suna after just trying to talk to her.
Kanao said nothing as she herself did not know how to react to such a situation, not only did she attack a civilian but that she was so deep in thought about Tanjiro that she didn't notice her. She was beginning to see a pattern, ever since Tanjiro has gotten into her life she has been starting to change and she didn't know if it was good or bad.
And now she was getting distracted again which made the doctor get more infuriated because she was not listening to him. Luckily he would not have to wait long as another voice entered the stage.
"What's going on here." They both looked at the direction of the voice and there he was, Tanjiro with his red hair, his Nichiren blade, and most importantly a bowl of Ramen in both his hands.
"Your girlfriend almost killed someone!" The doctor said as he pointed to Kanao, who was still wielding her Nichirin blade. While Tanjiro did care about the fact that Kanao almost killed some, the fact that the doctor said that she was his girlfriend shocked him more.
"Sh-she's not my-." Tanjiro tried to explain that Kanao was not his girlfriend but the Doctor didn't care and grabbed Tanjrio, by the Haori. Kanao would have tried to stop the doctor, but the fact that the doctor had appeared from beside her to in front of Tanjiro shocked her, as her eyes widen and stared at the spot that the doctor was once in.
"I don't care what she is to you I just want both of you gone before anyone else gets hurt because of you, you monster." The doctor said with eyes of rage and while saying all of this he was shaking Tanjiro like a rag doll. But as soon as he said 'monster' Tanjiro's once limp body became stiff and was now as hard as a rock. The doctor knew that he did something wrong as he could feel the tension in the air. He swore that it was getting harder to breathe. He stepped back to get his bearings but he was now feeling like a thousand suns were being dropped on him and were now being burned and crushed at the same time. It became too much, to the point that he fell over and his vision started to shake. he knew that he was going to be rendered unconscious, but as his vision faded he was able to see this 'monster's' eyes and all he could see was guilt?
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Tanjiro looked at the doctor as he fell into unconsciousness and all he could see in the doctor's eyes were fear. Fear of him and Tanjiro couldn't help but feel that he was right, he is a monster.
"Tanjiro?" Tanjiro immediately turned around with wide eyes as he realised that he had released all his hatred in front of her, but it seemed as though it didn't phase her. Well, that was the thought, deep down she was terrified, she may not be able to express it but she could feel that she was slightly afraid. The sheer amount of hatred that he let out was terrifying but most of all it was all directed at himself. Why? That is what she would have asked if it was not for a certain someone.
"My head." The girl that was once on the floor said as she was sitting up with a hand rubbing her head. Kanao immediately turned around with wide eyes as the girl that she had almost killed had just woken up. Well at least she had Tanjrio with her now and that was when shed had noticed that Tanjiro and the doctor had disappeared.
Kanao tried to leave as soon as she realised that she had just been abandoned, but unfortunately, the girl had regained her bearings and was already resuming her interrogation. "Hey! Why the hell did you attack me!?"
The girl no longer tried to gain information on Tanjiro, but instead kept yelling at Kanao for trying to behead her. Understandable she was confused as to why someone would attack another person, and respectively Kanao didn't know what to do and she remained quiet. This response only seemed to aggravate her as she hadn't known a person that would almost kill her and not say something.
"Hey, are you even listening?!?!"She yelled again. Suna started to move forwards as she went to grab Kanao's clothes. But lucky for them both coming from above and landing beside Kanao as he put his arm around her neck came Tanjiro.
"Sorry for whatever my companion did, she has a mental disorder, I hope she didn't cause any trouble," Tanjiro said as he shined his smile that could pierce even the darkest of vales.
Kanao didn't understand where Tanjiro came from and what was going on, nor why he had just called her retarded. But for some reason, the other girl calmed down and said: "oh sorry, I didn't know."
"No that is fine, we will be leaving now, hope you have a good day." And just like that they both turned around and were about to leave without a hitch and internally Tanjiro was happy that it had ended the way it did. Though he did expect it to go south.
And as if she had heard him the girl turned around and shouted, "Wait a minute your the Samuria of the Sun aren't you!!"
"Is that what they are calling me." The girl may not have been able to see Tanjiro's face, but Kanao could see it. Tanjiro was no longer smiling and in its place was deep frown and his eyes which once held such shining hope and joy was now filled with dark clouds.
"I don't know where Dr Tang went but he told me to go to you to find out what happened to my father." She said as she got closer. She walked towards the boy with such conviction that, but she soon found that as she got closer she felt such despair and hate that caused him to stop in her tracks. But suddenly as soon as she had noticed this dark presence it had disappeared.
In its place was now a warm and comforting aura. The boy turned around and smiled at Suna and said: "How about I tell you over dinner because I and my friend are hungry and I would have seemed to have dropped the food that I bought."
As he said that he looked at the stairs that he once came from and there on the floor was his and Kanao's bowl of ramen. While she would like to find out what happened to her father now, she knew that at negotiating one would need to be able to provide something for his counterpart. So if food is what he needed to spill the beans than she would provide it.
"Fine, but you better tell me what happened to my dad," Suna said as she started to walk towards the direction of her house.
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As they walked with Suna, she was quiet throughout the walk the only time she talked was to order them some food. Tanjiro had told Kanao to search for a place to sit and as soon as they got their food Tanjiro took both his and Kanao's food, while Suna took her own. They went to the table Kanao had obtained. The three of them sat down and normally they should have started to talk, but Suna just stared. She glared at Tanjiro and the first time in the short time Kanao had known Tanjiro, he had stared back with as much determination as the girl sitting in front of them. Kanao just sat there unable to do anything but observe, it seemed that this mental battle would last forever. But Tanjiro broke the battle and the silence in one swing, "How did you know I was the 'Samurai of the Sun' is that what they call me?"
Responding immediately she said, "What happened to my father." Anger was lining her across her sentence.
"Answer my question first, then I will answer any of your questions," Tanjiro said in an eerily calm voice.
"I travelled for 2 months around the local villages and cites to find a healer and each time I asked them to help they asked what the symptoms are. As soon as I told them, they would tell me to search for a boy with your red haori and hair, while also wearing a katana." She said as she glared at Tanjrio, she was going to ask her questions but Tanjiro spoke again.
"What about the name?" Tanjiro said even though he could clearly see that she was getting mad.
She wanted to tell this brat that he had told her that if she answered his question then he would answer her questions. But then again he held the answer to her question and so if he wanted to continue to question her than she had no choice but to answer. "During my travels to one of the village a trader was telling a story of how a boy wearing a red haroi and was wielding a flaming red katana saved him by slaying demons. One of these demons had managed to cut him and the wound started to get turn green and the green thing started to spread through his veins, but the boy gave him medicine that killed the disease. He then told us that the boy was like a samurai of the sun as his blade burned any shadow away."
This surprised Kanao as she had not known Tanjiro was apparently a demon slayer, but then if he was a demon slayer than why did they need to send her to get him, couldn't they have sent a crow? Then again he couldn't be a demon slayer, he is too young to be one and even she hasn't been allowed to take the test yet. So either he was accepted at a young age or he wasn't a demon slayer at all, and so where did he apparently learn to kill demons. So many questions and no answers that she would be able to find by herself, she would need to ask the source when they are alone.
"Now may I ask my question? Or do you have more?" She was clearly annoyed that the boy had her answer another question instead of letting her ask a question.
"I apologies, I just wanted to know how that name came into existence," Tanjiro said. She looked at Tanjiro annoyed and instead of dwelling on it she said here question.
"Where is my father?" Suna said.
"He is at your house, with your brother," Tanjiro said. He expected her to jump out of her seat and how right he is, though not the way that he thought she would. Immediately she jumped out of her seat and leapt towards Tanjiro and placed her hand on his chest. Kano had also jumped off her seat and was going to draw her sword if it wasn't for Tanjiro sticking up his hand telling her to stop.
After a few seconds, she looked up and glared at him, "Your lying. Don't try to deny it, I can feel your heartbeat and it is the beat of a lier." She immediately grabbed his horai and said, "So tell me, what happened to my father."
Tanjiro contemplated whether to tell her right now but when he looked at Kanao he could see her eyes drooping, indicating that she was sleepy. As soon as he saw that he said, "It would seem that Kanao is sleepy, I would be willing to tell you the truth if you provide us shelter."
Suna was having her patience thinned to the roots and the boy was the cause of her it. But something in the boy's eyes told her to be patient, she let go of his horai and pressed her hand on Tanjiro's chest. There she could feel the beat of his heart and it did not lie, so she said: "Fine, we will go to my house."
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They walked towards her house, but with each step, Kanao had started to fall asleep. Kanao didn't understand why she was so sleepy, it must have been a demon effect, but then why was the others not affected.
"Kanao, are you sleepy?" Tanjiro said as he stopped walking with Suna and started to walk towards Kanao.
"N... no... I... I'm..." But before she could finish her sentence she fell right in his arms falling fast asleep. Tanjiro looked at Kanao in worry, but as soon as he saw her blissful face he smiled and put her on his back and carried her the rest of the way. As they walked Kanao and Tanjiro looked like a couple and people that looked at them thought so as well, and it made Tanjiro smile.
But during there walk Suna ask a question, "Why did you drug her? And don't lie to me."
Tanjiro looked at her and then replied with a smile, "How did you know."
"I saw you grab a vial from your horai and then pour it into the food that she was eating, so why did you drug her. You seem to be fond of her so you wouldn't do this for no reason." Suna said.
Tanjiro turned his eyes from Suna to Kanao and saw that some hair was blocking her face. He moved his hand to place the hair on her ear, he smiled at the serene face that was being displayed. "She has a broken soul and I hope to fix it."
Suna during that entire time didn't look behind her, but hearing what he said had something in her heart force her head to turn around and upon seeing the sight of those two together actually made her wonder even further on why he did it and she would have her answer soon.
Tanjiro diverted his eyes from Kanao to Suna and the look in his eyes shined with determinations he said, "But with what I have to say to you could jeopardise her trust with me and therefore I would not be able to help her."
Hearing that she didn't want to know now. If this kind and strong boy would resort to drugging the girl to prevent her from hearing what he was going to say than she had to fear what he had to say. But She needed to know what happened to her father bad or good, she needed to know.
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As they walked to her house she had realized that she had abandoned her brother for two months and she was actually scared in what he would do once he saw her again. Would he be mad, furious, or would he be kind and forgiving? She didn't know, but she had to face it.
They had made it in front of an apartment, well apartment/store. This building had two stories and on the bottom was their restaurant and above that is their apartment. Some stairs lead to the next floor at the far back of the restaurant. She took a key out of her hidden pocket within her clothing and as soon as she unlocked the door to the restraint they went inside the restaurant and headed behind the counter, but before they went in she needed to face this alone so she said, "I never did get your name."
Tanjiro looked at her with questioning eyes, but his nose could already tell what she wants, so he just skips to the point, "We will stay here while you go talk to your brother."
Suna actually turned around like a spinning top as she looked at him with shock as this boy had apparently just read what she was just going to ask. She would ask him later, but now she needed to confront her brother.
She walked up the stairs, while there were only like 12 steps each step she took was like an eternity as questions came into her mind. But eventually, she reached the door to the apartment. Without hesitation, she knocked on the door and waited. She hoped maybe that he was asleep and she didn't hear anything. So thinking that her older brother may be asleep she used her key to get. When she opened the door it was pitch black, it was devoid of all light. But she was not alone as she was just able to catch the glimmering light of a blade heading towards her. thinking on instinct she yelled, hoping this was who she thought it was, "UTSU!!"
"Suna?" a voice from the darkness said as she could feel a sharp object touching her neck. upon realising this was a blade pressed against her neck she fainted again due to the prospect that she almost died again.
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Tanjiro immediately after agreeing to let her talk with her brother had set up a chair so Kanao could sit on. The thing is she kept falling so instead he set 2 more chairs beside the other one and then laid Kanao on the 3 chairs, and Tanjiro couldn't help but feel proud in see Kanao sleeping sound asleep on his 'masterpiece'.
Then again, Tanjiro starting to downgrade himself as he was the one that had drugged Kanao with a sleeping spell and his 'masterpiece' was just three chairs. So really was this something to be proud of? Tanjiro hunched his back after just self-destructing his pride. But he was soon taken out of his self mental abuse when he heard a yell than a thud.
"Suna!" Tanjiro heard from a voice he never heard before that was coming from the top floor. After hearing this Tanjiro jumped into action as he moved past the counter, the kitchen and then up the stairs. As soon as he reached the top of the stairs and entered the room he couldn't see that much due to the lack of light. Using his breathing technique, he can boost his senses and through the small buts of light that passes through the covered windows, Tanjiro can see the room. It is a modest apartment that has been well-taken care of, there some things that he couldn't fully make out but the main thing that caught his attention was the body of the girl they had been following and a figure leaning over her.
"Suna, wake up. Come on Suna, I didn't even cut you, so wake up already." The figure said as it tried to wake up the girl that Tanjiro can now assume is named 'Suna'.
But right now Tanjiro couldn't care what her name is, all he cared about was that someone had apparently 'tried' to cut her and was not going to just stand there and let this person get away with this. The figure didn't seem to notice the growing darkness that was starting to surround him, but he would soon find out.
"Hey, what did you do to her?" The figure turned slowly as he felt a mix between cold piercing eyes and the melting aura the wished to destroy him. The figure didn't mean to hurt Suna, after all, he is her brother, 'Utsu'. Normally he would tell any stranger to back off and tell them the truth if there was a miss understanding. But, those burning dark red eyes that, by all means, should be impossible, were glowing. And to add to the madness, the aura that was surrounding this 'person(?)' was suffocating him, it was like the air was being burned and that was why he was suffocating. So doing what any normal person would in such a situation, he fainted.
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A Few minutes:
Suna started to stir as she could hear the crackling sound of fire. The warm sensation of the heat was so warming to the skin. But the light was pretty irritating as it was pretty bright and... well just got in the eyes. But there was something off, their fireplace was small and could never produce this much heat because the heat that she was feeling was like being in spring and the fireplace is only able to produce a small flame. So she wanted to know what was the cause of this mystery.
She is still groggy as fainting twice on the same night is extremely exhausting. As she opened her eyes she's able to see the fireplace, but upon seeing the fireplace her eyes go wide in shock as the flames are not orange but instead a light blue, the blaze had such a light blue that it was bridging towards being pure white. But the strangest thing is that the kid was sitting in a meditating style on the opposite side of the room. As she stared at him, she could see that the kid was bearly breathing, but when he did the flame would grow slightly bigger and brighter.
Thousands of questions started to appear in her head, but the first thing to do to get those questions is to get up. She closed her eyes again as she faced the roof and mustering every bit of energy she had, she sat up. Then she looked at where the boy is and... 'HE'S ASLEEP??!!' She thought as she saw the boy asleep on the floor next to his companion. She also noticed that the fire was orange and not light blue, so either she was imagining this or this brat is trying to play a trick on her.
Feeling as if she was being tricked, she got up from her spot and started to stomp towards the boy. Little did she know that she was absolutely right, Tanjiro had thought that everyone was asleep, so he tried to practice the Sun breath Technique, though just the breathing aspect. Though Tanjiro soon found out in his early years of training that he had no true way in measuring just how strong he was getting, sure one could test the strength, but That isn't all that Ttanjiro wanted to test. Tanjiro found out that to defeat Muzan he would need to improve upon his breathing beyond anything else. So Tanjiro soon found that if he were to use total concentration breathing while near a fire, the fire itself would change, and so as his body and mind started to become stronger the flame near him became stronger.
Though Tanjiro only did this where people wouldn't be able to find or see him, so when he heard that the girl was moving, one could only imagine the amount of anxiety that was coursing through him. In a desperate attempt to fool her, he had decided to pretend to fall asleep next to Kanao. Sooooo, when he heard her foot's steps growing closer to him he knew, at that moment, he f#$ked up.
As soon as she got close enough that her feet were almost touching his back she lightly trying to wake him up. Or... well... that is what Tanjiro wanted her to do, but instead, she turned Tanjiro to face the ceiling and then grabbed him by the clothes collar and lifted him off the ground. Tanjiro knowing that he was still tried to play innocent by saying, "What are you doing?"
"Don't play tricks with me, what were you doing with the fire. You some demon or something?!!" She yelled at him with such fierce that it reminded him of his mother when she found him in the forest collapsed after hours of training. But he still didn't understand the situation fully and still tried to play innocence.
"I don't know what you are talking about!" Tanjiro yelled, but there was no way he was getting out of this without telling her a truth.
Once he said that he was able to understand the full situation as one of her hands let go of his collar and instead moved to a position ready to punch him in the face. And due to her being in front of the fire, her face was covered in darkness and her back seemed to be covered by fire. Then to make the situation seem more menacing she said in a low tone, "Tell me what you are hiding or else I swear, I will punch you so hard that you will wake up next year."
Tanjiro knew he couldn't tell her about the breathing technique, but maybe he could tell a different truth. But he was conflicted on telling that 'truth' as on one hand he needed to keep the demon and the slayers a secret but was it right too. After all, they had the right to know, but again he had no right to as their father had asked him to leave his family out of 'it'. Forcing his mind to work double-time Tanjiro as both his heart and mind were conflicted on what should be done. In the end, his mind won and as he should both keep the war a secret and following their fathers wish, though his heart had conditioned it so to provide at least mix the truth with the lie.
"How about I tell you about what happened to your father instead," Tanjiro said not with the scared, shaking eyes he had previously, but instead a stoic and battle-hardened gaze that fell upon her.
Upon hearing this she wanted to immediately say yes, but the look in his eyes told her that she would not like the answer that she would get. Then again when has the truth ever been appealing, people spend most of their lives living in an illusion and ignorance because a lie tastes better than the cruel truth. While most people would want to stay ignorant she didn't want to, she would rather have her soul and her family ripped away than to stay ignorant.
She put Tanjiro back on his two feet and said, "We'll talk in my room."
Before she could move any further Tanjrio said: "Before we go, may I know what your name is."
Without hesitation, she said, "My name is Chūjitsuna forowā, though most call me Suna and my brother's name is Utsu Forowa."
She then turned around to face Tanjiro and extended her hand then said, "And yours?"
"Tanjiro Kamado and my partner's name is Kanao Tsuyuri, nice to meet you," Tanjiro said as he reached for her hand and shook it.
"Likewise." Both of them broke their handshake and moved to Suna's room. Well, Tanjiro moved to the room that Suna had pointed at but Suna had moved towards her brother to wake him up. upon seeing this Tanjiro stopped and waited while watched what Suna would do.
While normal people would shake their siblings to wake up, Suna had a different approach as she knelt on one knee over her brother. At first, Tanjiro found the way she was kneeling over her brother like that, but that all changed when shadows covered her eyes and her lips twisted into a sinister smile as she lifted her hand high in the air. Once her hand was fully extended into the air she brought it down with no mercy as the sound echoed throughout the room. Suna's brother woke up after being slapped, but he seemed to be fine and was surprised to see his sister, who was now standing a few feet away from him.
"Suna, how di-" Utsu said but was cut off when the pain of the slap came rushing into his brain. Immediately he grabbed his cheek and started to roll side to side in a desperate attempt to stop the pain, while also screaming for dear life. Utsu screamed so loud that Tanjiro thought that Kanao may wake up, but upon looking at her sleeping sound asleep put his worries away. Tanjiro looked back to the siblings and saw that Suan was just standing while Utsu rolled around in his little spot.
It took some time for Utsu stop he said, "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"
It was a natural reaction to from him to ask why she would cause him so much pain. Though if he had known the way she would react, he would just pretend to fall into unconsciousness because of the pain. Right in from of Utsu was not his sister, instead, it was a distorted version of her as it looked as if she was going to 'kill' him. This was further emphasised as she said, "YoU aLmOsT KILLED ME."
As soon as he heard that he remembered what he had done. He had been sleeping and then suddenly having something banging his door made him react on instinct, where he went for their father's sword and immediately went to attack. He wasn't going to kill him when he swung the sword at her neck, in fact, he was using the blunt side of the sword. Though he knew that she wouldn't care about all that, instead she would focus on the fact that he could have killed her. Suna is a smart woman, but she can become narrow sighted when she has a goal. And right now, her goal was to make him regret his recent choices.
"N-now Suna, we can be r-r-reasonable, right?" Utsu said as an attempt to try and reason with his demonic sister, even though he is older and therefore strong enough to overpower her any other day. But in her current state she could overpower him 10 times over, he never understood how she could suddenly get so strong in these moments. So after experiencing these sudden bursts of strengths had truly struck fear into his soul. So seeing as she was in her 'demonic' form, he felt the only options were to either appeal to her sisterly love... or... become her slave until she was satisfied. (Whatever dirty thoughts you have, get rid of them)
"YoU aLmOsT KILLED ME." Though it would seem that she was not going to back down easily.
"Come on, it was only an accident."
"YoU aLmOsT KILLED ME."
"I was o-only trying to protect our home."
"YoU aLmOsT KILLED ME."
"I-I-I D-Didn't know i-it was you!!"
"YoU aLmOsT KILLED ME."
This continued for a few more minutes and with every sentence that he said that tried to reason with her, it was met with the same answer. And each time he felt more defeated and afraid of her. Until finally, he subsided with his hands on the ground he said, "Is there no other way I am getting out of this?"
"YoU aLmOsT KILLED ME." Suna looked over him with the same expression on her face.
"Fine, I, Utsu Forowā, pledge to be your humble servant until thy master is satisfied. Happy?" Utsu said as he bowed down, but he soon realised that Suna was not responding. Then he saw he lift his head to see her, but as he looked up he saw Suna's face as it had not changed and only inches away from his face. To say he was afraid right now was an understatement as he was terrified. After living with a monster like her, one would gain a sense of survival instincts when it came to being in trouble with girls. Not that it helps him get one anyway.
The silence between each other was deafening, but Suna soon broke the silence, "Fine, now, come now brother, our guest has news about our Father."
"Wait, what happened to father?" Utsu asked
"I don't know, but this guy apparently knows," Suna said as she looked back at Tanjiro who was leaning on the door to her room. Tanjiro seeing that they were done, entered the room.
Immediately as they entered Tanjiro didn't see anything out of the ordinary, just a common room. There were a futon and table, The futon was at the left side of the room and the table was in the middle of the room. The table was also low to the ground so no chairs were needed. Everyone sat on the floor with legs crossed, the siblings sitting on one side and Tanjiro sitting on the other side... alone... all alone. This made the entire situation awkward as Tanjiro had people glaring at him in a dimly lighted room.
"So what happened to our father." Tanjiro looked at the man that said that Utsu was his name if Tanjiro remembered correctly. Utsu was wearing a blue yogi, though it seemed to be a bit bigger than he was. It also looked to be worn down by time, which only went that it was his father.
Tanjiro lowered his head and gazed down. He never liked this part, even after doing it so many times, it never got any easier to say these words, "Sweat or sour."
Both of the siblings looked on word confused by the request as they contemplated on what flavour had anything to do with knowledge about their father. But due to the oddity of his words, Suna questioned, "What do you mean?"
Tanjiro took in a large amount of air as he needed to steel himself for what is to come. Once he believed that he had fortified himself he said, "People have always seemed to want to further their knowledge and always seek for things that are hidden. But as they find what they are looking for..."
Tanjiro looked up as he hardened his gaze and as the siblings saw a storm had brewed in his eyes as he said, "They deny its existence. They lie to protect the illusion of the world that they knew. They rage that the truth that they sought was not what they wanted. So... I ask you, do you want the 'sour' truth or the 'sweat' lie."
"The truth," Utsu said without hesitation and fault. Tanjiro thought Suna would say those words first but seems that her brother did instead, though the look on her face said that she was having second thoughts. Sadly for her, there was no going back and she would soon regret not saying anything.
Tanjiro said it many times in his head that this would be the worst part, but this situation, with these people. It would truly be the worst, for he had information that he could not disclose and therefore it would tear at his heart. But he must respect the wishes of their father, so Tanjiro breathed in deep and let it out. Tanjiro looked at them again with a blank stare and said, "The disease that your father had been in contact with was something new, in fact, it has only just recently came out. But this virus was not natural and instead created."
This immediately got the attention of the siblings as they both said, "Who made it?!"
But Tanjiro did not listen to their question and with the same uncaring eyes, he continued, "There are two organizations that are hidden from the government. One of them was the one that created the virus and the other was the organization that your father was apart of-"
"Are you saying our father is a gang member!?!" Upon hearing that her father was a criminal Suna interrupted Tanjiro.
"No, but what I can tell you is that he was part of this organization without a doubt," Tanjiro said as he looked at Suna
"And how can you be sure?" This time Utsu said as he questioned the legitimise of this accusation.
"Could you lend me the Katana?" Tanjiro said. Though the others did not seem too happy about the idea of their father's sword being held by an outsider.
"Why should we give anything that our father has to you?" Utsu again spoke in anger against Tanjiro.
But Tanjiro stayed unmoved as he knew that Utsu was already connecting the dots that his father was dead, but probably for the wrong reason. Utsu, given the little information that he knew, thought that this Tanjiro kid had killed their father because he was part of a rival gang. So Tanjiro said, "Because of your father was telling the truth than his weapon has special properties that I wish to see. And I will give you my blade while I hold your father's for insurance."
Utsu didn't want this kid to hold their father's katana as it was the sword that he used in fighting bandits and wars, but those stories did not add up. They always contradicted and never made sense, and was always laced with secrets. But this kid killed his father, there was no doubt about it, though apparently, that was a secret as well. Though this kid could shed some light on this mystery of their father.
But then came the idea of the truth, what happens if the truth was something they couldn't handle. What if the truth would destroy the image of their father and as he looked to Suna he saw the same doubt he had on his face. But he wanted to know the little amount of truth that this kid could give them, even if it was mixed with lies... he just had to know. So Utsu stood up and went to get the katana.
As he went out to get the katana he saw a girl sleeping in the corner and the immediate thought that came into his head was "lucky bastard."
He then moved to get the katana that laid next to the place where he got slapped. Utsu kneeled to grab the sword and as he looked at the only thing that was left of his father. The hilt of the blade was the same as any other katana but everything else above that was different. The guard of the blade was in the shape of a cloud and the blade was coloured in dull white and the blunt part was coloured in black. After that one over Utsu stood up and moved towards Suna's room.
He then moved to sit next to his sister and gave the katana to the kid. As soon as the kid got it... nothing happened. They waited for a few second and still, nothing happened. The kid just sat there with the katana on his lap and his hands on it, while his eyes were closed.
Utsu was getting annoyed that this kid was wasting his time so he said, "Okey I think that's enough."
But as he said that, their father's blade started to emit a white hue and released a gust of wind that sat that guy down and shut him up as the blade started to change. The rubber hilt turned from brown into white with grey marks lining it. Then the guard was turned grey and then the blade. The blade had turned absolute white with blue lighting marks down the blade.
"What... what did you do?" This time Suna asked as Utsu was still shocked that this kid had used 'magic' to change their father's blade and pushed him back with what felt like the wind.
"It is a technique lost to time which can change the blade, but I used it to make the blade new once more," Tanjiro said as he placed the blade on the table.
"This confirms what he said and so I shall keep my promise to your father," Tanjiro said as he got up and went to exit the room.
But obviously, they weren't happy with that answer as Utsu went up and said, "WHAT?! IS THAT ALL WE GET FROM THE PERSON THAT KILLED OUR FATHER?! MORE CRYPTIC MESSAGES?! WE DESERVE TO KNOW THE TRUTH!!"
Upon hearing that Tanjiro stopped and looked back to say, "Your right, but your father fought for your freedom and lost his. So the best I can do for both of you is to keep his secrets for you to live your lives as normal as possible."
Utsu would have kept arguing that they deserved to know the truth but... those eyes. The eyes that he portrayed were blank, not the blank eyes that he showed while they were talking. No these were the eyes that showed no emotion but allowed anyone that stared at them to see everything.
Upon seeing what was inside the eyes of the kid-, no not a kid. Once he saw the inside of the eyes of this monster he took a step back and said, "Those eyes, when we were kids our father had the same eyes when came back after he killed the person that killed our mother. Your eyes are far worse. You've killed so many people haven't you?"
Tanjiro looked at Utsu with widened eyes, his body was in shock as he had someone just read him like a book. But he soon lost that expression and looked back at the doorway, he didn't leave as he wanted Utsu to finish his words. Just like every family he had to break the news to.
"You're not a kid, I was a fool in believing so, no your a monster. A monster that has taken so many innocent lives. Monsters like you should just kill th-." Utsu wanted to finish his decree against this monster that dares to hide secrets of their father, the father that he had killed, and now this monster would not tell them any more information other than he was a GANG MEMBER?
But he would not be able to finish his decree as Suna had grabbed him and forced him to bow. Utsu was so perplexed by the act that his sister had done and would be even more confused in her next action, "Thank you for telling us this information, thank you for ending our fathers suffering, thank you for fixing our father's sword, thank you... than-... th."
Utsu at first didn't understand her actions, but upon seeing her face he understood. The tears on her face told him everything, she didn't want their father's name tarnished and so she was content with the memories that he had of him. Utsu broke free of her hold and held her in a hug and cried as they mourned for their last family members passing.
Tanjiro was also perplexed by her words and he could not understand why she would say those things. But after seeing their actions and them mourning Tanjrio decided to leave.
"Wait." Tanjiro looked back to see Suna had said those words.
"Please stay here in this room for the night," Suna said.
"I-"
"Our father taught us to be kind to strangers and offer a helping hand, so please," Suna said as she got on her knees and bowed her head.
Tanjiro after see this could not refuse her and so he accepted and they moved Kanao to the bed while Tanjiro slept on the floor. After that, the siblings went to the other room to sleep.
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An hour after the conversation:
Kanao didn't understand why she was in the same bed as Tanjiro, all she remembered was that they were heading to the women's house and then she fell asleep. She was in deep thought trying to find out why she fell asleep, but before she could come to a conclusion she heard Tanjrio shift.
She looked at Tanjiro and saw that he was shaking, his eyes were closed tightly, he was crawling up into a ball and sweat beads were forming. He was having a nightmare and Kanao didn't know what to do, so she did what she normally does, she consorted with the coin. But she soon realised that her coin was MISSING.
The coin was from her older sister that had died and was one of the only thing left of her, but while the coin was important Tanjiro was getting worse. He started to toss and turn his temperature was rising and he had a face that resembled worry and sadness. Thinking logically without her coin was difficult, but she needed to think fast. So she thought of the only thing she could do.
"Wake up, Tanjiro," she said as she kneeled down to his ear. She didn't know how he would react but she defiantly didn't expect him to scream and then jump out of the futon and start getting his haori on and boots.
Kanao obviously confused asked, "what are you doing?"
In which Tanjiro said in a hurry, "We left our supplies at the camp if I am lucky I can still get it before anyone else finds it and steals it."
And in an instant Tanjiro rushed out the door and as he rushed out the door the siblings pecked their head out of the hallway and into the doorway. They looked at Kanao and then at each other and agreed that if it was a 'couple' thing then they should just let them handle it.
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And that's it
Okay, I am not bothered to continue so here is another scene.
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Outside the village: in the forest:
The campsite that Tanjiro and Kanao had set up was being raided. People had seen the free loot and decided to steal it.
"Hey, Steve anything special."
"Na, these villagers don't have anything good. No Iron, no silk, just normal stuff. How about you Bob." Steve said as he was going through a bag, but then he got something. A copper coin, Steve sighed as this wasn't a lot, but it was still something.
"Hey, Bob I think we should go now." He said but got no reply, Steve turned around to see that Bob was gone. He then heard a snap of a twig and immediately looked.
He saw a figure that was covered in shadows and said, "Bob, what are you doing I said-."
But before he could say anything else he notices that 'Bob's' left eye was glowing a dark red hue. Before he could react a crack could be heard underneath him and just as that something pierced him straight through.
The figure moved forward to observe his human shishkabob, and upon seeing his bone skewer the human he laughed. The laugh was loud and echoed throughout the forest and the most definitive of the laugh was that it didn't sound human or at least something a human should be able to make.
Upon hearing the laugh more creatures came out of the forest and waited. The dark figure with the glowing red eyes said "You guys know how it goes. It's a horror of a night, birds are dying, flowers are decaying, on nights like these villages so happy..."
Soon the figures eye started glowing a more vibrant and fierce red as white blooded bones started to materials out of thin air and hovered above him, "SHOULD BE BURNING IN HELL."
And with that, the bones launched forward and completely tore down the gate protecting the bridge and so the horde of creatures started to swarm towards the northern gate.