Dojo of the Rising Sun (On Hiatus)

I-VI: Mold

After a very long tour of the village that spanned the entire day, Taka was looking at a rotten-looking bamboo tube.

It had lost its original color, now donning a coat of deep, dark, disgusting brown, but yet Taka did not feel repulsed by it. It almost felt comforting to be in its presence. A bamboo tube, so insignificant, yet something about it reminded her... that she wasn't alone.

And she wasn't alone. She suddenly regained herself, realizing that Asahi was watching her stare at the tube. Her face turned red, and she tried to look away without seeming disrespectful, which made Asahi chuckle a bit.

"Yeah, that thing." Asahi said.

The log cabin Aoi had spoken of was a simple little house, constructed of... logs. There was only a dining room, a bedroom, and a bathroom, and the latter two of those pretty cramped by Taka's standards, despite the bed she had being huge for her own size. Her brother had been taken in to the barracks, where it would be safer.

He was the half-demon, after all. She was just vanilla human.

"It was an old thing of your mom's." Asahi continued. "I don't know if you remember, but she always wore it when she was around people. It was a safety thing, I guess."

Taka raised her eyebrow. "Safety? How does a bamboo tube protect her from anything?"

"Aha, not protection for her." Asahi clarified. "Rather, protection from her."

Taka's eyes motioned downward, thoughtful. "So she decided to become a demon right after she had been cured."

"Yeah, probably." Asahi nodded. "Your father, Agatsuma-sama, was a good dad to both of you. He always fought better when there was something he had to fight for. Or, at least, that's what Tomioka-sensei told me."

Taka's ears perked up. "Tomioka... Tomioka! I know that name!"

The memories began to flow through her again. A hard man, a cold man, with spiky hair and a missing arm. She felt herself remember flashes of her childhood, tugging on the man's haori, an odd split haori. She also remembered the man knocking on the door very often... which door?

Where did she come from, truly?

If she was going to remember anything, she was going to remember her mother. She didn't know exactly why. Perhaps it was because her mother was apparently dead, or because she was currently standing in a place her mother had often spent time in. But whatever the reason was, she was determined to know who the woman that raised her was.

Taka reached for a set of clothing in the corner. It was a pink kimono with a black haori draped over it. She took it in her hands, and it was surprisingly warm. Or rather, that's what she thought she felt. All around the room, there were dozens of items that belonged to her mother. Strips of pink cloth meant to hold a length of hair, a pair of hanafuda earrings with broken cords, and of course the aforementioned bamboo tube. But there was one item she didn't understand. A small wooden box, clearly for travelling. But there was nothing inside it.

"What was this box for?" Taka asked.

Asahi beamed at that. "Tomioka-sensei told me about that box! Apparently, before the demon king, Tanjiro, betrayed us all, he was a good man. He used to carry your mother around inside that box when he had to travel under the sun."

Taka felt herself chuckle a bit. There's no way that's true. No human could fit in that thing. Yet... Asahi's words felt so genuine that she felt herself wanting to believe it.

Asahi smiled. "You... really don't remember, do you?"

Taka felt a longing sadness befall her. "Yeah... I must've been so happy."