𝐘𝐈𝐊𝐄𝐒 ❖ KIMETSU NO YAIBA

2. NEW JOURNEY

When Jiheko heard a shout and a knock on his door not a day after he sent that annoy child away, he tried to ignore it. But when the second knock sounded, he was unable to hold the patience he once had in his younger days.

Storming out of his kitchen room, he makes his way to the front door and slides it open, ready to tell this little girl to bugger off when...

"Teach me the sword stuff!" Mieko stood there, more masculine clothing on her body and her hands ball into fists on her front. And her once long black hair was now cut down to her scalp in a messy mess of hair.

Jiheko had his mouth dropped open, staring down at Mieko with wide, unimpressed eyes. Never in his 71 years of living did he ever think his mind would be as silent as it was right now.
"What have you done..."

"I want to learn!" Mieko pretended yet again to have a sword in her hand and she swung it around, making swooshing noises to really get the idea in mind. "I don't want to rely on other people to protect me, I want to learn how to do it myself -I want to learn what the other learnt!"

"Rengoku?" Jiheko was too shocked to really think properly. "You want to learn...heh, you amuse me, little girl, but I'm growing tired of thi-"

"I'm not a little girl! You can teach me the sword stuff now!" Mieko interrupted, stomping her little foot.

Jiheko was just about ready to throw this child off his property. But he didn't. Instead, he leaned down to her height and grabbed her shoulder.
"It's not 'sword stuff' little girl, it's Demon Slayer training."

If he hoped that the name would scare Mieko out of the idea, he was starkly mistaken. "Then I want to be a Demon Slayer!"

"It's not a fairytale, little girl, it's hell." He was going to scare this child out of the idea so he could rest in piece. "Months, sometimes years of suffering  before you are tested and then it's mission after mission until you die."

Mieko pucked out her lips and the old man though he had her, until... "How many decades have you been suffering then?"

"I- No, I'm not, ugh..." Jiheko hung his head, taking his hand away and holding his face with it. "You're a very rude little girl."

"Well, you're a rude old man." Mieko shrugged.

Jiheko snapped his head up. "Demons will find you and rip you apart, limb from limb until your are nothing but a bleeding corpse to snack on. There is no remorse, and no mercy. Once the find you, you will not live."

Mieko thought for a moment. "Not if you teach me! I saw your swishy-swish moves with your weird sword! You killed the demon! So you can teach me to, as well!"

Jiheko hung his head again. This little girl in front of him was too positive for his liking. Cutting off her hair into a horrible hacked hairstyle, unbelievably persistent to learn -something he hasn't seen in years. But all he had to do was wreck her spirits then she would leave him alone.

"Being a Demon Slayer means you have to be more skilled then they are." Jiheko explains, sighing and shaking his head once he lifts it up once more. "If you can run to one end of the village and back again before my tea is brewed, then I'll teach you."

Mieko's smile grew bigger and she quickly made her way over to the front of Jiheko's house. "Count me in!"

"Go!" Jiheko yelled and he watched the little girl run off.
Rolling his eyes, he shut the sliding door and moved over to his tea, setting the kettle on the fireplace.

Meanwhile, Mieko was speeding through the footpath of her village, scaring the villagers on their day to day adventure. Many whispered as they recognised her and other tried to find the 'little boys parents'. But Mieko was slowing down for anything, all she had to do was make it to the other end of the village and run back.
Putting one foot in front of the other, eyes focused on the task and making sure she was controlling her breathing.