𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐛𝐞 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐮𝐬 - 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐛𝐮 𝐊𝐨𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐮 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟎

"Wake up. Hey, I said wake up! Wake...Hey! Hey you! C'mon, you! C'mon! Are you gonna sleep all day?" A kakushi member shrieked angrily at the sleeping and exhausted Tanjiro, and although his face was heavily covered by the dark cloth, I could already imagine how red his face is from all the yelling.

"Wake the hell up, will you?"

Tanjiro's eyebrows started to tremble a little, slowly awaking from his slumber and straying closer to conciousness. His eyes jolted open, his velvet irises revealed from the darkness of his lids. He was unfamiliar to the new surrounding, and I wouldn't have expected him to have seen this place before- because demon slayers, besides us, would only come here if invited on a serious matter by Oyakata-sama himself. He laid on his stomach, his hands tied to his back, and his head turned to look at the 10 of us uncomfortably.

"Bummer. I heard he was a demon slayer with a demon in tow, so I was expecting to seeing someone flamboyant," Tengen sighed disappointedly," But that's one drab-looking dude, huh?"

Gyomei started to rub his red-beaded rosary, and I knew he was about to cry again. He's a very sensitive man, crying about every minor issue- like the garbage being messy. He was taught to be this way by the monks he was raised by, and because of that, he grew to be a sympathetic man. He's sympathetic, but stern. He has his morals right, and he knows what comes first- and right now, that's the rules of Demon Slayer Corps. 

"And now, we'll put this boy on trial!" exclaimed Kyojuro, "I see!"

The rest of us remained silent.

Muichiro glued his eyes to the sky, looking at the uniquely formed clouds. He's a quiet person, and he's always wondering about things out of his reach- and he's got a terrible memory span. He forgets everything, especially things he's just seen a couple seconds ago. I'm surprised he still knows his way here to the headquarters, and sometimes I wonder if his crow still has to guide him everywhere.

"Wh-Who are these peop-" Tanjiro started, before he was interruped with the angry Kakushi member once more, who pushed his head down onto the rough rocky ground.

"Don't open your mouth just yet, you moron!" He warned, "Just who do you think is standing before you?"

"You're in the presence of the Hashiras!"

Tanjiro was definitely unaware of us. He looked confused as ever, trailing his eyes through each and one of us, thoroughly, hoping it would give him a clue. It wouldn't- we're just overdressed people standing beside one another. And by overdressed, I mean Tengen specifically. The rest of us are just differently dressed people in a different rank. 

"This is the Demon Slayer's headquarters. And you're about to be put on trial..." Shinobu smiled gently at the boy," Tanjiro Kamado."

"Before we start the trial, why don't you explain the crime you've comm-" She continued, before she was abruptly interrupted by another voice.

"There's no need for trial," Kyojuro overlapped, "Protecting a demon is a clear violation of the code! We're in our rights to deal with him on our own."

"We're going to behead him along with the demon!" He followed. 

"In that case, I'll be glad to decapitate him flamboyantly," Tengen replied to the red-and-yellow-haired man. 

He had his jewelled fingers pressed against his temple, his head slightly tilted upwards with arrogance and pride, although his eyes trailed to look down at Tanjiro. And he made sure to emphasize on the "flamboyantly" part, just as he does after almost every sentence. 

"I'll show you the most flamboyant bloodspray you'll ever see." He said again, and it was only then that I realized I've never seen his eyebrows. Does he even have eyebrows? "I'm talking max flamboyance." 

I'm not a big fan of Tengen, like he expects every living being on this world to be. I personally think of him as annoying and obnoxious, and although some people see only through his thick and charming skin, he's very arrogant as well. He's fast, and tall, and good-looking, but I don't like him. I can't believe this man has three wives- and all of them amazing people. Shinobu doesn't particularly dislike him, and we've had to bring him into Butterfly Mansion multiple times to patch up his wounds after a battle a good few times. I've even had to care for him myself in several of those 'good few times.' Sometimes he comes to visit us. And so far, I think I've been able to put up with him quite well.

Mitsuri remains silent on the side, her finger curled into a gentle fist, her index finger lifted onto her pink lips. She's lost deep in her thoughts, and I'm quite sure she's rooting for the demon and the boy like I am. We're both just equally too shy to say anything, and to stand up for them. 

Mitsuri's incredibly close to Shinobu, often visiting us and bringing her homecooked dishes for us to eat. She's an incredibly good cook, and she's incredibly pretty as well. She's remarkably breathtaking as well- she's got astonishing hair. She mentioned once that it was because she ate too much sakura mochi, and it pigmented her hair, and she had to dye it black again so that men would like her. I'm very fond of her hair color though.

"Ah, what a pitiful sight this boy is," Gyomei cries- literally- and i hope this gentle hell of a man would be kind enough to read through us and stand up for the boy too. 

Gyomei's incredibly tall. He's big as well, and intimidating. Despite his enormous and terrifying appearance, though, he's one of the most- if not the most- gentle person I know. He doesn't speak much and he's very sensitive, but his strength is not to be overlooked, too. I heard that when he had been back at the temple, one of the orphaned kids he took care of had let a demon in, which resulted in the deaths of many other children. He defeated the demon by punching it until dawn broke, and the sun disintegrated and pulverized the demon. The people thought it had been him, who killed the children, and he didn't quite have the evidence to prove himself otherwise. At the day of his execution, Oyakata-sama had arrived just in time to save him. Like Muichiro, he became a Pillar in 2 months.

"The poor soul...I pit him for having been born at all," he sighed, little droplets of silver tears rolling down his chin. 

Tanjiro started to struggle about while his hands were tightly tied on his back, waving his  head back and forth in desperate search of his sister. 

"Hey you, the Hashiras are speaking. What are you looking at?" The Kakushi member asked him with a threatening tone in his voice, "These are the 10 highest ranking swordsmen in the Demon Slayer Corps."

"Hashiras..." Tanjiro reated softly, barely a whisper that any of us could hear.

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Word count: 1166 words

A/N: I just realized that every time I run out of a synonym for 'very' I immediately reside to using 'incredibly'. I'm terribly sorry, I'll try to improve this. 😓