ABLAZE | demon slayer

ii.

yoriichi was fond of [name], even though he would deny it if asked. as he watched her practice sun breathing, he found his mind wandering to the conversation they held yesterday about where she came from.

"you are lucky," he stated. "now, tell me more about this "manga" you mentioned."

"well, um. i dunno how to really say it but your life is fictional in my world. it was made by someone. completely made up."

"all of my hardships are merely entertainment in your world?" he frowned, feeling slightly angry at the thought.

"yes, but, um, people tend to empathize with your story. i know i cried when uta died and how angry i was when muzan managed to get away." she paused, thinking about her next words. "but i can change the fates of those who were supposed to die. i know the future."

yoriichi stiffened at the mention of uta. so she knew...he sighed. "is that why you asked me to teach you?"

"partially. another part is because sun breathing is op as fuck."

"i do not know what "op" means."

"it means overpowered!"

he nearly chuckled at the memory, only to stop when he realized [name] was perfecting the second form of sun breathing. she moved fluidly, a look of concentration on her face. she finished going through the motions and expectantly turned to yoriichi.

he was watching with a proud expression. "well done. you still have a long way to go to master it, but i'm proud."

she grinned as she tackled him into a hug. "thank you."

he smiled, gently petting the girl's head. "take a break. you've been working hard."

"no can do! i gotta perfect sun breathing so i can protect the people who are going to die."

"that doesn't mean you should overwork yourself. you've already mastered total concentration and you can perform all twelve forms of sun breathing."

she sighed. "well, yes, but-"

"no buts, young lady. rest." she huffed, shaking her head. yoriichi raised a brow at her reaction. "you will rest or i'll stop teaching you."

"fine." she sighed, sitting down on the engawa. glancing at her father figure, she smiled softly. "i may have been unable to help tanjirō's family, but i'll be saving tons of lives."

"you're right. i'm worried about you, though."

"why?"

"you're too willing to sacrifice yourself for the sake of others. you don't seem to care about your own life and it's concerning."

"i'll be okay, yoriichi-san."

"what if you meet a demon who hurts your friends and you sacrifice yourself? what if-"

"chichi-ue, i will be okay. i promise." he stiffened at being called "father" but nodded slowly. she smiled, pulling him into a hug. "you can always come with me, too, you know. you're a ghost, so no one will see you!"

"i suppose...someone has to make sure you don't end up dead due to your idiocy."

"wh-idiocy?! i'm not an idiot! i'll have you know i was a 4.0 student!"

"i don't know what that means!"

•••

"[name], can we talk?" yoriichi asked one day, watching his adoptive daughter as she trained.

"huh? what about?"

"the demon slayer timeline."

she sighed, shaking her head. "i mean, i can try. my memories of it are a bit fuzzy. besides, it doesn't really start for another year..."

"regardless, it would be best if i knew the details so i could help you."

"okay, well...it starts with kamado tanjirō losing his family to kibutsuji muzan. his sister, nezuko, is turned into a demon and is nearly killed by tomioka giyū. tomioka ends up sending tanjirō to urokodaki sakonji, who was the former water hashira. tanjirō trains under him for two years before being sent to final selection.

"he passes and waits two weeks for his sword. it turns black, meaning he's suited to sun breathing, but he doesn't know it yet. i plan on helping him with it...anyways! he's sent on his first mission which ends in success. then he's sent to asakusa, tokyo, where he meets muzan. he meets lady tamayo there, too.

"muzan sends two of the kizuki candidates to kill him. he successfully kills them both. then he has another mission where he meets agatsuma zenitsu and hashibira inosuke. that's all that's important right now."

"so there's missions that you need to be on? specifically the asakusa one and the one where he meets the other two?" yoriichi questioned.

"yes."

"...why don't you go see this urokodaki person? and train under him for a little bit?"

"i probably should, shouldn't i? and then i could do final selection with kamado-kun." she sighed, shaking her head slightly. "i don't know, chichi-ue."

•••

in the end, she was making a trek to mount sagiri to find urokodaki. armed with nothing but the katana she trained with and a sun patterned haori, she walked for hours. the sun was beginning to set as she asked for directions. an old man pointed in the general direction, his expression worried.

"are you sure? a lot of people have been going missing lately," the old man warned.

"i'll be okay! thank you, though!" with that, she took off, running towards the direction the man pointed. as she ran, yoriichi ran beside her, telling her the story of when he fought muzan and nearly killed him.

"he has seven hearts and five brains," he mentioned off-handedly.

"...why does he need that many?"

"no idea."

silence fell over them and she sighed. "chichi-ue, do you think urokodaki will let me stay?"

yoriichi didn't respond for a moment before pointing at a cabin they were nearing. "you'll find out, i suppose."

she stopped in front of the cabin, slowly walking to the door. giving a gentle knock, she watched as the door creaked open. she came face-to-face with a tengu mask, startling her slightly.

"may i help you?"

"is someone by the name of kamado tanjirō here?"

•••
word count: 1056

TAISHO SECRETS

•yoriichi made [name] a pair of hanafuda earrings that she now wears. he said he wouldn't have his daughter using sun breathing without hanafuda earrings.

•tanjirō has talked to urokodaki about [name] before. all nice things, of course.

•[name] has thought about sneaking off to do final selection, but yoriichi never sleeps.