Tanjiro stares down at the soldier, only breaking eye contact to cough violently, then he resumes gazing at the man who has just been thrown like a ragdoll by him, his dark red eyes unmoving as he scowls at the mask-wearing Hun. He almost takes out his sword to finish him, but refrains from doing as such, remembering boot camp.
("Kill it."
"But sir-" Tanjiro says, bewildered only to get cut off by his superior.
"Kill it." The officer says, pointing at the POW. He addressed the poor guy as 'it', instead of a human being. Something Tanjiro hated. Despised with his whole being.
"KILL IT!" The officer yells at Tanjiro, the latter flinching a bit, as Zenitsu watches from the sidelines
With an aggravated sigh, the man takes Tanjiro's hand, points the Nambu pistol in his hand to the man's bagged face, and pulls the trigger. Blood. Blood everywhere. Tanjiro almost vomited then and there, as Zenitsu looked away.
"You won't last a day." The officer scowls.)
After a while, Tanjiro learned that killing was necessary. A necessary evil. God, who was he kidding? These were human lives, HUMAN souls, with families, children, wives. Most of them he put in an early grave. But they would've done the very same. The now-corporal finally knew. It was to kill or be killed. Usually, Tanjiro wouldn't pay much attention to the planes overhead, and the fireballs they become once shit down. But one caught his eye. A red plane, with the German Iron Cross. (Yep, it's him.)
Ah shit. Tanjiro knew that plane. It was The Red Baron. This was gonna be one helluva night. Maneuvering like a graceful angel through the shelling, Richtofen fires at Tanjiro.
"Got you, you Allied dog." Richtofen snarks, as Tanjiro uses Water Breathing, First Form: Water Surface Slash, to deflect most of the incoming bullets, much to Richtofen's surprise.
"What the fuck?!" Richtofen exclaims, watching Tanjiro deflect the bullets from the cockpit of his fighter. Shit, Tanjiro had to go. The Baron wouldn't give up his onslaught, and Tanjiro knew that. Using Water Breathing, Third Form: Striking Tide, Tanjiro manages to distance himself from the Baron, almost tripping on the now charcoal wood that made the new floor all over Verdun. But he was nearing a cliff. Shit. He'd have to use Hinokami Kagura.
"Hinokami Kagura...." His blade lights ablaze.
" Fire?! What have I gotten myself into?" Richtofen mutters, as he fires two rockets at Tanjiro.
"Raging Sun." Tanjiro mutters, as he strikes twice, around him slicing the two rockets in half, causing them, to explode and catapult both the Baron, and Tanjiro off of the cliff. Blasted out of his fighter, Richtofen falls into unconsciousness almost immediately, as Tanjiro does the same once he splashes in the water, 409ft down.
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Tanjiro wakes up in the water, immediately looking left and right, spotting Richtofen sinking below him. He wanted to help him. No, he was the enemy. But a human all the same. A human that tried to kill him. But a human all the same. Tanjiro swam as fast as he could towards von Richtofen, latching onto his arm, and swimming upwards. After what seemed like an eternity, Tanjiro breaches the water, gasping for air. Spotting land ahead, Tanjiro swims to it, not even caring what it was.
Al-Adjar, Mesopotamia, Ottoman Empire.
Reaching land, Tanjiro lugs von Richtofen to dry land, as the Baron coughs up water, spluttering, and eventually waking up, spotting Tanjiro, he immediately punches his hand away, and gets up into a defensive stance in one fell swoop.
"You are the reason we're both here, yellow dog." Richtofen spat.
"You speak English?" Tanjiro questions, as Richtofen's eyes narrow at him.
"What, do you take me for some dumbass? If anything, I'd be surprised that a barbarian like you spoke in general. Plus, what's a child doing here?" Richtofen snarks.
"What, do you not think people not part of your beloved Kaiserreich have basic human decency? And my age doesn't matter." Tanjiro says, his dark red eyes narrowing. "And I saved your ass, so you should be thanking me."
"As if! I'd prefer death than to be saved by you, you yellow son of a-" Richtofen stopped himself. "Look, we both hate each other, and as much as I'd hate to say it..... We have to work together." Tanjiro says.
"Tch, fine." Richtofen snarks.
"Alright, then. Lead the way, smartass." Tanjiro says.
"You're the one with the water and fire sword, you do it." Richtofen mutters, pointing to Tanjiro's Nichirin blade.
"It's called Water Breathi-"
"I don't give a shit. We're in a territory we know fuck all about, and we're sitting ducks." Richtofen interrupts, looking over to the coast they washed up on.
"How about you stop whining so I can think for once. Maybe that's all you Germans are good for." Tanjiro says.
"What did you just fucking say to me?" Richtofen says.
"Look, we're in the fucking Sahara desert."
"That isn't important!" Richtofen snaps. "We need to find out one, where the hell we are! And two, how the fuck we get outta this place!"
"Okay, then, smartass. First things first. Where exactly are we?" Tanjiro asks sarcastically.
Richtofen squints at Tanjiro, his brown hair slowly floating up in the sand breeze. Then his arms fly up, the Baron muttering to himself under his breath.
"Oh... damn it. Alright. North Africa, I think. Second question; how the hell do we get outta this god forsaken shithole?!" Richtofen exclaims.
"I have no fucking idea. But for the sake of my sanity, let's just move forward." Tanjiro says.
They begin walking through the dry, dusty wasteland, Richtofen in front of Tanjiro, as the heat becomes more unbearable for the Baron, but Tanjiro shows no fatigue.
"How do yo-"
"You get used to it." Tanjiro interrupts.
A while later, they finally reach something vaguely recognisable. The sun begins setting behind them, illuminating everything in shades of orange and purple. They eventually come across an Ottoman outpost (Note: the two think they're in Africa) complete with equipment, food, camels, and weaponry. Seeing this, Richtofen immediately drops to his knees, a look of absolute relief crossing his face. Tanjiro laughs.
"You okay there, sweetheart?" Tanjiro snarks.
"Fuck you." Richtofen says, standing up and taking all of the food.
"This is African food, so we'll have to make do with it." Richtofen says.
"What of the obvious necessities?" Tanjiro says, pointing to the camels and weaponry.
"Oh yeah, that too. I'm gonna get the guns, you're not getting shit, you're the one with the flaming-water sword." Richtofen says, nabbing an M1903, and a Mauser C96.
"Alright, let's go." Tanjiro says, taking the camel adjacent to the equipment, while Richtofen hops on the other one.
"This is going to be a long war."
Back on Verdun, where Zenitsu fell, only a piece of his haori remains, and a set of footsteps in the mud.....
Only the dead see the end of war.