The Descendant (A Retelling and love story of Demon Slayer)

Nine

     Every day for months now, Akari had been training herself from dusk till dawn just as her ancestor Tanjiro was. In the mornings she would do warm-ups, during which she allotted one hour to meditation during which the fox-boy-spirit Sabito would join her for. During the afternoon, she would join Tanjiro in his sword training. Urokodaki was overseeing it and would on occasion ask Akari to assist in helping Tanjiro with his stances. In the evening, she would spar with Urokodaki and he would give her tips on how she can improve. It was peaceful, and Akari figured she could allow herself this time of peace before shit hit the fan in the future. Staying close to her ancestor, for now, was the right move, it allowed her time to improve her plans and keep an eye on the timeline. No surprises. She refused to make any major changes to how things were supposed to go, so she wouldn't be teaching him total concentration: constant, nor would she be teaching him sun breathing.

With a thunk of the sliding door, Akari heard the soft footsteps of Tanjiro as he exited the cabin that morning. Her eyes were closed as she moved through the flowing motions of her morning exercise.

"Can I ask, what kind of movements are those, Akari-san?" Without even opening her eyes, she answered.

"This is called Tai Chi. It's a calming form of martial arts that relies on controlled slow movements that flow like water. I used to do this every day for training back home, it helps keep my mind centered."

"It's very enchanting to watch."

"You're more than welcome to join me if you'd like. It could help with your water-style forms." Tanjiro smiled and nodded, he'd give anything a try if it helped him achieve his goals. Watching her closely for a bit, he started to try and copy her moves. It took a while, but he was able to get most of it down relatively easily.

"You seem to know a lot about water-breathing forms, do you use water-breathing like Urokodaki-sensei?"

"Hmm, no. I don't use water breathing. I only know so much about it because I studied it for a long time. I wasn't compatible with the water-breathing style, so I was never able to produce any results with it. The same goes for other styles, such as flame, and stone." She left out sun breathing, but it was there in the back of her mind taunting her. The one she should have by all rights been able to learn, the one that eluded her. "I use a style that I created myself. It's called Star Breathing"

"That must have been challenging to do without a sensei to teach you." She hummed in agreement as they moved in sync together, Tanjiro glancing over at her every now and then to make sure he was doing it right.

"It was, but I wasn't without the knowledge. Many texts and tomes were passed down through my family for hundreds of generations. While the art of swordsmanship was a dying practice in my family, that didn't stop my father, who had never wielded a blade before mind you, to pick up those books and begin learning. All for the sake of teaching it to me so that I may one day fulfill my destiny."

"Destiny?"

"Yes, to one day rid the world of demons for good." Her voice was so serious that Tanjiro fell out of step with her movements and turned to look at the girl who had decided that she had done enough Tai Chi for the morning. "You did good Kamado-kun, try implementing some of the movements you learned into your fighting styles. You may find them to be useful. Now, off you go to warm up with Urokodaki-sama."

"Are you not joining us this time?" He seemed slightly disappointed at that. With a small chuckle, she decided to reassure him.

"I'll join you later, I've got to meditate for a bit before I can train with you." He seemed to visibly brighten, nodding before he hustled off to join his sensei somewhere in the forest. She watched him disappear, before looking up into the trees. "How long have you been watching us?" High above her on a branch sat Sabito. Scoffing, he let himself fall from the branch to land in front of her.