Ambedo

"Wake up Rin, we're here."

Rin sat up on her uncle's broad shoulders. They were walking through a dark forest near the edge of town. It was around midnight, and Tengen had woken Rin up to go on this strange walk. He had put on his bejeweled headband that Rin noticed he only put on before he goes hunting. His red scarf was wrapped around Rin's neck, and her cheek was pressed against his white hair, bobbing as he walked. The white stripe in Rin's hair fell over the front of Tengen's face, the older man having to blow it out of his face.

After that day a couple of weeks ago, Tengen brought Rin inside and explained what was happening. She was a little sad that she wouldn't know when she would see her father again, but she already had so much love for her new family that she wasn't as upset as she thought she would be. Although, she never could focus on one thing long enough...

They had also started her demon slayer training a few days ago. It was going much slower than she would have liked. Simple exercises like pushups, and sit-ups. Tengen even found a bar in the storage room that Rin used for chin-ups.

They never ended up cleaning out that room for Rin. She would just shuffle between everyone's rooms. They told her they would debate about cleaning it out when she got older. But Rin never cared.

Her legs and shoulders were sore from the previous day, however. Tengen had made her run from the house to the other end of the market and back with his swords strapped to her back. They were so large and dragged behind her the entire time. It made Rin realize just how much training she would need to be put through if she wanted to be able to swing his swords just as carefree as he can.

"Wake up Rin, I found one." Rin made an incoherent noise that didn't convince Tengen at all that she was awake.

"Oi!" She popped up when he tugged on a strand of her messy hair. No matter how hard Hinatsuru tried, she couldn't combat her ruffled hair and eventually left it alone.

"Where... are we?"

"Look. Over there," Tengen whispered. He pointed off in the distance, and through the trees, Rin could just make out a hunched-over figure near a tree. She trained her eyes and saw a thin figure with large claws, drool dripping from its mouth.

"I-Is that...?!"

"Yes, a demon. And you're going to kill it." Rin covered Tengen's eyes and threw her body weight around, trying to get the massive man to turn around.

"Y-you know, I think I have some more training I need to do-" Tengen quickly found his footing and pulled Rin off his shoulders. He set her on the ground facing the demon, holding her in place with a tight grip on her shoulders.

"You're young, yet you have incredible senses. You have an eye for fighting and have grown incredibly in less than a week. But since you are young, I need to see you have the right... motivation for this." In a split second, he was gone, and then back again, with the injured demon laying in front of Rin. Its arms and legs were gone, and it was slowly regenerating, but not fast enough.

"You don't know how to properly hold a Nichirin blade, so, while this is entirely un-flashy, you must use this." He sighs in disappointment and holds out a large rock to Rin. She understood what he was asking of her. She hesitantly reached out and grabbed the rock. Her breathing slowed as she stared at the injured demon. Rin was surprisingly calm as she watched the downed demon struggle, holding the weapon she would use to end its life. She pictured the demon who licked her face and marked her for death, putting his glowing green eyes on the monster in front of her. Rin slowly walked toward the head of the demon. It spoke when it saw her.

"A girl! This is a child! You think I'm gonna let myself be killed by a mere child!!" It tried to move, but Rin quickly dropped the rock on his chest, knocking the wind out of him. Without saying anything, Rin crouched down so she was balancing on her toes. Her eyes were wide as she just stared at the demon struggling under her rock. Without her eyes leaving him, her hand found a small, sharp rock on the ground. She picked it up and used the rock to poke at the demon. "Cut that out!" Rin let out a sharp exhale from her nose, before scratching the demon's forehead right above his eyebrows, blood spilling into his eyes.