Kaze's brain needed a quiet moment to process this, his only friend? Going away? Kaze's throat tightened.
"What?" Kaze reacted quite negatively, it was obvious that he was sad about the sudden news. "Why did you wait so long to tell me?!"
Double-Eye took a deep breath, the bruises still ached, but a small drop of rain that fell onto their face seemed to ease the pain a little. It did the opposite for Kaze, the rain seemed to create a sort of pathetic fallacy to the scene, his sadness doubled and he felt his whole body want to cry out in pain.
"I didn't want it to be sad like it is now. I knew you'd be sad, so I thought it'd be better if you were sad the day I left rather than the days before. If that makes sense" Double-Eye did a poor job at explaining but Kaze understood perfectly, he slowly leaned back on the bench, the bench that carried so many memories, he looked up at the dark sky and felt the small raindrops sprinkle onto his face. He was going to lose a friend.
"I'll miss you," Kaze spoke quietly as the winds wailed. Double-Eye looked at Kaze and slowly stepped off the bench. Double-Eye looked sad as well. Kaze stood in front of Double-Eye and sighed, he put his arms out. They both hugged, and the rain got a tiny bit heavier. Not heavy enough to disguise their tears.
"By the way Kaze… My name and whether I'm a boy or a girl. I feel like I should tell you that now…" Double-Eye smiled a little as they maintained a tight hug. Kaze had completely forgotten about it, the fact that he didn't know the gender or even the name of his closest friend in this town. The coldness of the rain and wind was negated by the warmth of the two friends hugging.
Double-Eye whispered into Kaze's ear, both their name and gender.
After a few seconds of silence, Kaze smiled.
"Knew it." Kaze smiled in unison with Double-Eye one final time. They waved to each other one final time, the rain hailed down now, heavy enough to disguise their tears. Double-Eye slowly walked backwards until they were out of sight.
Kaze ran back to his house, he wiped his eyes and entered the house drenched. His mother shouted at him for being so wet and for the possibility of him getting sick, 10 minutes later, his father returned home just as wet as Kaze and caught the same lecture.
The next year was lonely, not even the group of boys paid attention to Kaze, they were too afraid. Kaze had found a new habit of just sitting on the bench by himself, or he would stay home by himself. He didn't bother trying to find new friends. Rain, sun, clouds or wind Kaze sat there as he remembered his dear friend. The habit broke on a fateful day, after a tiring day of school, Kaze kicked his shoes off and entered the house. His mother had her head on the floor and seemed to be sobbing. Kaze's heart immediately dropped and his eyes went wide at the sight, he went to comfort her and got the news.
His father was dead. Kazuya The Shadow, had collapsed in his own dojo and never got up.
Kaze didn't remember much more of that day except the fact that he broke down crying just like his mother.
The next months were full of such severe misfortunes it felt as if a demon from the depths of hell had cursed Kaze and his family. The dojo was sold. Kaze felt a split in his connection with his identity, his entire life he had practised that martial art, and now the very area and source of that martial art was gone. His mother fell fatally ill out of nowhere, a caretaker was hired since Kaze was going to school and he couldn't take care of his mother constantly. Most impactfully, there was no stable source of income, the dojo money, although plentiful, would not last them any longer than three years. Kaze tried to pick up part-time jobs but no places hired him.
It was only after a few months after Kaze's fourteenth birthday that he found a way to earn money. It was late at night when he was looking out his window out of boredom, his eyes were slowly falling when a figure appeared in the dark barren road outside. A disfigured person, no, Kaze knew. It was a demon, they were a sort of fairytale that no one believed in, creatures that were most commonly in isolated areas, at least that's what school had taught him. Kaze shuddered in fear as he saw the horrid sight. Kaze's eyes were glued to the figure, shortly after, another figure entered, a human who wielded a sword. Kaze could not look away from the encounter. The elegance of the swordsman in contrast to the savagery of the demon. The swordsman dashed forward and the wind followed him, the moon shone on his blade as a primary source of light, sparks flew as the demon's claws clashed with the sword. A back and forth battle, blows being traded and advances being attempted. Finally, the swordsman got the upper hand and his sword sliced through the neck of the disfigured demon. As the demon's head went flying, the demon's body disintegrated into ash. Kaze's eyes widened as the swordsman put away his sword. Kaze's first thought was a simple one, "was this his job?" Kaze's hands fumbled for the window and he stuck his head out the window and screamed.
"Who are you?!" Kaze's voice echoed through the silent area, the swordsman was quick to look at the voice. He smiled and laughed a little. Kaze could now clearly see the features of the swordsman. A dark green cloak, he had a mysterious essence, it didn't match the warmth of the swordsman's smile.
"A Demon Slayer!" The swordsman replied a little louder than he should've, he had no intention of alerting everyone of his career choice, he realised this when he quickly looked around to check for any other spectators.
"Do… you get paid?" Kaze shouted once again, unlike the swordsman he didn't care about any other spectators.
The swordsman laughed once again and slowly nodded as a confirmation, he put a hand up as a wave and immediately dashed away.
The next morning, Kaze's mind was set on one thing, he was set straight on what he wanted to do as a job, he wanted to kill demons just as the swordsman had last night, what could go wrong? Kaze believed he was entirely capable, he was proficient in his martial arts, he was tough, he was strong. He explained the idea to his mother and immediately got a negative response, Kaze refuted and for a straight hour there was a constant argument before his mother shut him down.
Kaze thought of it at school, at home and on the bench. He wished Double-Eye was here.
A week of straight arguments, every morning Kaze would bring it up, he would endlessly defend his point, stating that it was a steady source of income, his passion and a perfect avenue for him to exert and display the Motion of the Shadow. After a whole week, Kaze's mother caved into Kaze's endless begging. Kaze had to ensure he was safe by sending any sort of letter every month or so. Kaze at that moment felt as if he was finally aware of who he was, a fourteen-year-old who felt he had found his life-calling and career. Kaze's mother and her caretaker alike were extremely worried but if anything, they knew Kaze better than anyone, the confidence and strength of Kaze were reaching to his father's level, and he still had insane growth to come as he would age. It was only a matter of time before Kaze became 'The Shadow'.
Kaze left on a cold night, the cold wind that blew at his face made it feel as if his tears were freezing. He walked by the lone bench a final time and smiled. His heart overflowed with a cocktail of joy, passion, hope, confidence and eagerness to fight. Kaze took a deep breath and steadily moved out of the city, he trekked through a variety of terrains, forest, farmlands and small villages. He failed to find any demons, how did regular Demon Slayers do this? Fourteen-year-old Kaze was unaware of the fact that there was a Demon Slayer Corps, he was so blinded by his ambition that he jumped into the deep end of the pool handcuffed and tied with several pounds of weight.
A week. For seven nights Kaze endured the boredom of the lack of demons, as well as a scarcity of basic needs. He had little to no money left, he had not a single scenario in his delusions where he failed to gather even some money by the end of the first week. He wandered into a random village for what seemed to be the hundredth time, Kaze had little idea of what he was actually looking for, he just hoped he would turn a corner and see a demon. The chance of that happening was close to impossible.
His body carried him even with the immense fatigue that seemed to weigh down his shoulders, his eyes were only kept open by the occasional splash of moonlight, Kaze's feet ached as he slowly moved around the village, a zombie looking for demons. Kaze's body swayed and turned as he continued to swerve turns, he circled a house, then he paced around a corner shop and finally he turned a corner. A demon stood there, towering, its face stuck into a terrifying expression of joy. It was large and fat, the protruding belly rumbled at the sight of Kaze, the dark blue skin of the demon became apparent as soon as Kaze's heart got a kickstart from the sudden appearance, his pupils dilated and he quickly adjusted to the darkness of night.
All the fatigue seemed to fall off Kaze's shoulder as the large fist of the demon slammed into Kaze's chest, he felt his bones vibrate at the gruelling impact, despite the powerful force, Kaze stood strong, and his feet only shifted two centimetres backwards. The demon's smile seemed to drop a little as it bore witness to the one who is free, the one who left it all behind to become a Demon Slayer and his overwhelming intensity. Kaze's blood pumped and his muscles flexed, the event he had been anticipating for so long finally arrived. A river of joy and ecstasy filled Kaze's mind as his entire body tensed with power, every nerve of his body exasperated at the demon.
It was the demon's turn.
The very sense of evil that melted and turned at the centre seemed to stop and go cold as Kaze unleashed his fury onto the demon's large belly, his knuckles swung at the demon so intensely that every punch drew blood. Kaze's fists didn't cease at all and the attacks continued to shred at the dark blue skin, a deafening roar exited the demon's mouth as its entire soul flinched and twitched at Kaze's freakish strength. The demon attempted to fight back but it was useless, every swing or punch that the demon swung in Kaze's direction was immediately countered as if a forcefield was around the Demon Slayer. The demon cried and wailed in pain, Kaze finally decided to deliver the finishing blow.
Kaze twisted his body and his leg speared at the demon, the demon's feet found themselves stumbling backwards, Kaze immediately jumped up and his fist blasted from the side of his body to the centre of the demon's forehead, a large dent extended into the demon's forehead. The large dark blue beast fell back onto the floor and lay still.
Kaze exhaled deeply and looked at his knuckles, red with impact. He looked at the moon and looked around.
"How… Do I get paid?.." Kaze gulped and turned around. Kaze had made several fatal mistakes, but none had impacted the chance of his survival as much as this. After all, Kaze had no idea that punches and kicks were useless in a fight with a demon, only a Nichirin sword or sunlight could kill a demon. The large demon slowly came to its feet once again, more infuriated. The hair on the back of Kaze's neck stood up as he heard a loud, deep grumble.