Drops of blood stained the puddles on the ground before another blow yet again landed on her torso.
"Kanao!" A loud, familiar voice brought her back to her feet, her trembling hands gripping on her blade tightly. Standing on her two feet, she took one step after the other, walking towards her partner, since the two were the only obvious survivors of the incident. Well, the two humans who survived to be exact.
How did all of this start, you may ask? It all started on a beautiful Monday morning...The birds were chirping and the sunbeams peeked through the curtains as Kanao Tsuyuri clipped her butterfly pin on the side of her head, just as she always does. Well, it wasn't really hers, it was Kanae's. Shinobu wore Kanae's haori and the hairpin was Kanao's to wear, as a remembrance to their older sister, the former Flower Hashira.
A loud knock on the door interrupted her small daydreaming session as a familiar face poked through the small gap. "Kanao? We'll be leaving now. Tell Shinobu-san I said thanks!" Tanjiro spoke with the widest smile on his face, carrying his little sister Nezuko on his back in a wooden box.
As per usual, Kanao nodded, a calm smile painted across her face. It wasn't the cheekiest smile, it was more subtle and reassuring. "Sayonara." she responded quietly.
"Leaving so soon?" A soft voice added from a distance before it was finally revealed to be the Insect Hashira, Shinobu Kocho. "The training doesn't start till tomorrow, you can just leave later tonight, Tanjiro-kun." Shinobu tilted her head slightly, her smile still intact.
"Oh, I was thinking I would pay Urokodaki-san a visit. It'll only be a small detour but nothing too time consuming." Gently rubbing the back of his head he replied to the Hashira's request of leaving a bit later.
"Is that so?" Shinobu responded, but her gaze was set on her adoptive sister Kanao, who was just sitting on the edge of her bed looking out the window. "Kanao, why don't you join Tanjiro? I know you've taken this training before considering you are my Tsuguko, but who knows what you will learn the second time around."
It was a Tsuguko's job to take the place of the Hashira they were under when said Hashira is put in a position where they can no longer fulfill their duties, such as death or retirement. Kanao could've chosen to stay home, but Tanjiro's words from their last meeting changed her heart.
She never needed that coin or anything for that matter to help her make decisions. As a response to Shinobu, she nodded and took her blade. Looking at her reflection in the standing mirror, she fastened the blade on the side of her uniform and double tied her shoelaces.
After saying their farewells to the whole household, the two (and Nezuko on Tanjiro's back), set off on their short journey to pay the former water hashira a visit, then to a week's worth of training camp.
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Fatal Detour (Tanjiro x Kanao, Giyu x Shinobu non-canon Story)
Romance[completed] This is a non-canon one-off story set after the mugen train arc. It gets pretty gory and angsty during the fights, you have been warned. The main ship will be Tanjiro x Kanao but I decided to throw in a bit of Giyu x Shinobu (I can't liv...
