[Tribute] Rengoku Kyojuro x Reader

[4] The Pillar of Winter

Rengoku POV (age 17)

"Mail arrived for ya," Senjuro said one morning.

I looked up from my breakfast and snatched it up, seeing it had the Demon Slayer Corps official stamp on it.

"Two hashiras are to be inaugurated next sundown," I read aloud. "And I'm expected to be there to represent the fire pillar."

"Can I go?" Senjuro asked.

We looked to our father but he was busy scowling. 

"Ever since Yukiharu died, that corp has been arranged like the dumbest of pigeons."

"You don't have to go," I snapped. 

"Yeah, your old man has to. As the former fire pillar. Except they said not'in about another pillar. I knew young Giyu was-a studyin' to become the water pillar."

"And it isn't Shinobu," I said. "She just started her training to become the monarch pillar."

Papa thought for a second. "Well I can't tell ya who's the new pillar. That much is for sure."

Not much was said as we packed up the caravan.

Senjuro was pleased as a peach when Papa allowed him to come on the trip, saying it was good for him to get some experience.

"I wonder who this new pillar is," I overheard Sanemi say to Shinobu who was walking with her older sister.

"I don't know," Kocho Kanae said. "But if Master Ubuyashiki himself trained and appointed them, then they must demonstrate superior skills. Not just anyone becomes a direct trainee of the head of the corps."

I nodded to the other hashiras as well as their underlings, pleased to see some of my closest comrades.

The ceremony was carried out in the snow, which surprised me. When I became the fire pillar, it was a beautiful day and there was fire lit in the torches.

But this time it was snowy and all of us wanted to finish the ceremony then seek warmth inside.

"Demon slayers, this marks the re-entry of a pillar that we lost ages ago, a pillar that is the opposite of our Rengoku," Master Ubuyashiki said. He paused for dramatic effect.

"One that many of you know as my trainee but have never really seen."

He pointed a long finger to the entrance of the snow-covered gardens where someone stood but none of us could recognize them.

"May I present for the very first time since Fuyuhito Yukiharu the pillar of winter."

The air became increasingly more cold as ice moved its way up the trees, making a beautiful ice display and statues made entirely of snow and ice forming into yokai.

The person's hood fell off their head to reveal (h/c) hair and a bluejay sitting on top, their eyes cold and serious.