|•| 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙵𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚂𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚎𝚛 |•| 𝕂𝕟𝕪 𝔽𝕒𝕟𝕗𝕚𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟

XXVIII

     "Something came out!! K-k-kotetsu-kun, something came out!", Tanjiro yelled in surprise as he and Kotetsu posed like acrobats.

   "What is it?!", Kotetsu panicked.

   "Well, I have no idea either! What is it!!", Tanjiro freaked out.

   "Whoa whoa whoa!! Guys, chill! That is an old sword.", Kiyomi said, making the two more excited as they heavily panted.

   "I can't stop getting excited!!", Tanjiro said as he turned red.

   "Yeah!!", Kotetsu agreed, also panting and turning red.

   "Tanjiro-san, you can take it. P-p-please take it!!", Kotetsu insisted.

   "No no no no, I can't. The doll took years' worth of sword blows, and it just happened to break when I used it!", Tanjiro and Kotetsu kept pushing each other to take the sword, posing a certain scene in the titanic, where they go to the front of the titanic and let the wind blow on them.

   'You poor cuties.. Little did they know..', Kiyomi thought.

   "How about you take it, Kiyomi-san?", the two looked at her.

   "Huh? Oh, no thanks! How about you try and take it out, Tanjiro?", Kiyomi smiled as she and Kotetsu faced Tanjiro.

   "Me?! Should I really pull it out??", Tanjiro exclaimed, Kiyomi nodded.

   "Yeah! I wanna see it!!", Kotetsu agreed as he and Tanjiro raised their fists in the air.

   Tanjiro slowly unsheathed the sword, but when they saw the blade...

   'It rusted...', Both of them sulked on the ground as Kiyomi patted their heads.

   "Well, it is a three hundred-year-old sword, right? But it'll be fixed in no time, I'm sure! So cheer up!", Kiyomi cheered. She yelped when she saw Tanjiro's crying face.

   "Thank you, Kiyomi. You don-", Tanjiro cried but was cut off by the bushes rustling.

   "Huh? What is- WHO IS THAT?!", Tanjiro yelled when he saw a very buff man come out of the bushes.

   "That's... Haganezuka-san..??", Kiyomi sweatdropped.

   "I heard everything... Leave it to me...", Haganezuka mumbled.

   "Leave what to you?!", Tanjiro said.

   Haganezuka tried to take the sword, but Tanjiro and Kotetsu refused to let him take it.they held it like playing tug-of-war.

   "Please let go! Wait.. Why are you even trying to take it?!", Tanjiro exclaimed.

   "Tanjiro, leave it to Haganezuka. I'll explain why he wants it.", Kiyomi said. Tanjiro looked at her, very confused.

   "Why does he want to take it though?!", Tanjiro said before getting thrown by Haganezuka.

   "I'm telling you, leave it to me!!", the masked man yelled.

   "Waaagghh!! That's not what adults should do!!", Tanjiro scolded.

   "Everyone, Haganezuka's weakpoint is his sides. Go for these parts.", just then, a man appeared behind Haganezuka as he tickled his sides.

   "Hya hya hya hya hya!" Haganezuka laughed. He laughed nonstop until he limped on the ground.

   "Ah, Kanamori-san! It's been a while!", Tanjiro said.

   "Hello there, Tanjiro-kun and Kiyomi-san. Haganezuka will just fall limp when you tickle him, so I'll do the explaining.", Kanamori greeted before explaining about Haganezuka's training to forge their swords.

   Kiyomi and Tanjiro looked at the unconscious man, feeling touched about Haganezuka training himself to forge their swords. Meanwhile, Kotetsu threw pebbles at the limp man, with Wolfie sitting beside him, watching as the man gets hit multiple times.

   Not too long after, Haganezuka jumped awake as he motioned his arms as if forming a huge circle.

   "I will deal with the rusted blade and make new ones for you two. Allow me to refine my polishing skills that have been passed down the Haganezuka line for generations.", he chanted, veins popping on his arms.

   "Then you could have just said that from the get-go. You kept saying 'trust me' even though you don't t-mph!?", Kotetsu was cut off by Kiyomi by slightly smacking his mask again.

  "Let's not cause any more trouble, shall we?", her sweat dropped.

   The next day...

     Tanjiro was talking with Genya,  while Kiyomi was hanging out with Wolfie, Snow, and Nezuko.

   "Do you like it, Nezuko-chan?", Kiyomi smiled. She had finished braiding Nezuko's hair that had a hairstyle like Elsa's (from Frozen).

   "Mmm mmph!", Nezuko hummed in happiness as she looked at herself on a mirror.

   "I'm glad you like it!", Kiyomi beamed. Nezuko started reaching for Kiyomi's hair as she hummed something with her bamboo muzzle.

   "Oh, you wanna braid mine too?", Kiyomi said as Nezuko nodded.

   '*sniff sniff, it's such an honor to have my hair styled by this cutiepie.', Kiyomi thought while turning her back on Nezuko so she could style her hair.

   It was such a peaceful day. Kiyomi was humming a soothing tune while petting a sleepy wolf on her lap. Snow was giving flower petals to Nezuko so she could decorate Kiyomi's hair.

   After Nezuko finished braiding Kiyomi's hair, she gave her a small mirror.

   "Mmmph!", Nezuko beamed, her eyes shining.

   "Woah... Thank you, Nezuko-chan!", Kiyomi hugged her.

   Kiyomi's hair had the same hairstyle as Rapunzel's except hers was shorter. She had a lot of flowers on her hair as accessories.

   "Thanks for the flowers too, Snowy!", Kiyomi pet Snow's head.

   At night...

    Tanjiro and Nezuko fell asleep and slept on the floor while Kiyomi got ready for the fight. She knew it was time.

   'I'm gonna borrow this sword, Kotetsu-kun.', Kiyomi thought. She took a sword she found somewhere and strapped it on her waist.

   She slid the shoji door open and silently ran outside, being careful not to wake the others up.

   "I took too long to bathe. I gotta work early tomorrow. Hm?", A man said, he was walking along a path from the hot springs. He then spotted a pot in the middle of the path.

   "Oh, woah. Who left a pot in this place..", he was about to reach out for the pot, when he was almost sucked in. Luckily, someone arrived on time and took the man away from the pot.

   "Huh? Who are you?", The man said as he looked at the person.

   "Oh, my name is Takahashi Kiyomi, a demon slayer. You were almost eaten by a demon. That pot had a demon inside.", Kiyomi smiled.

  "Ah, you're one of the guests. But demons wouldn't be able to come in this secret village, right?", The man said, confused.

   "No. Demons found out how to come in here, but I don't know how. I think you should hurry and go indoors, sir. There might be another demon.", Kiyomi said and bowed. The man bowed back and hurriedly left.

   "Now to save the others.", Kiyomi muttered before disappearing, finding other people that are outside to save from becoming a 'masterpiece' of the demon.
__________

   To Be Continued