The Sound Hashira's Apprentice // tengenuzui x reader

Chapter 5

A flashy adventure.

That is what Sensei emphasized. By now it was 3 months since I'd been taken under his wing.

My progress with the Hashira had been left unmeasured until the night before, when he sat me down to discuss our self-directed mission tomorrow. We were in one of the rooms that had seemed often unkept, neglected documents and books scattered across shelves with a lonesome table in the centre. I had only been here a few times, but I had to say it was one of the most remarkably lit places of the mansion for a room mostly unused.

"I am proud to say you've gotten much stronger than whatever lanky mess was handed to me three months ago. Thanks to my training regime I believe we've condensed about half a year worth of upskilling to just these past twelve weeks."

This statement caused me to cut him with the facts of how arrogant he sounded and made a point about how I was fresh out of hospital from a broken femur before being shoved into some form of torture program. He all but leaned back, eyes closed with his arms crossed, completely dismissing my tantrum.

"Eh, I don't know why you're making a fuss, all you have to do is show up and train. I'm the one who has to juggle training you, researching stuff to teach you, going on my own missions and managing my family's missions as well."

I stuttered at the new-found knowledge. I was surprised he had never rubbed it in my face before nor had I even realized that he was up to so much things when he wasn't training me. 

I related this back to the conversation I overheard with Master Kuwajima not too many moons before. How unlike the other Hashira, Tengen had an unfounded work ethic, a drive and willpower to be deligent.

Sensei boasted about many things, but he hardly mentioned all the responsibilities he had. Or how many people were relying on him. In fact I was unaware about his family at all. Were they demon slayers just like him?

"Sorry,"I muttered, averting my eyes to the ground.

"No worries!"Tengen clapped his hands. "I recommend you pack a day bag! We will be going on a flashy adventure tomorrow!"

He hadn't elaborated much on where we would be going, but after being rudely awoken at about 2 in the morning later that night, I knew we'd be travelling far away since we hadn't even arrived to our supposed destination well after the Sun had risen. And to add a cherry on top, there was supposedly no train access as our destination was way up in some mountains a few hours by the Entertainment District.

I was dragging my heels against the ground, my gaze fixated on the winding tracks that faded into the pre-mature grass amongst the steep hill ahead. Each breath seemed like my last. Tengen on the other hand, complained how he had to slow down for me.

I shot daggers at the back of his head, as I trailed behind a few meters away in a pathetic heap . "Can you please tell me what we're doing and where we're going?"

The Hashira stopped dead in his tracks and spinned around to reveal a wicked grin on his face. I fathomed the fact it was the first thing I had said hours since we started hiking up this mountain. By now we were far enough that it was starting to get icy, as I noticed half melted dew on the greenery surrounding the both of us.

"Thanks to my thorough research, I have found that there is absolutely no concrete information that exists about Dragon breathing."

I raised an eyebrow, my body hunched over my bent legs as I leaned my palms against my knees to keep me steady. "Okay..?"

"That was until my muscle mice retrieved a very confidential document from the Wisteria State Archives!"

He swiped something from his pocket and threw it towards me. I caught it with one hand and investigated the scroll.