Demon Slayer - Tale of Flame and Dream : A Fan Story

Bonus Chapter 6: The Dead Village

Laughter still echoed out the food hall as Kellia and Hime collected their weapons and food for their journey south. "Ren seems to be back to normal" Hime said with a smile on his face. "No" Kellia said shaking her head. "I doubt she'll ever be the same again" she added. "Grief sticks with you, it doesn't fade away that quickly, she's masking it well" "Hmm" Hime said slinging a bag over his horse's back. "What village was it?" he asked her. "Not sure, but I think it's near Kyoto" And with that, the two headed off. The journey was quiet, they stopped only once to feed their horses and rest a little before they reached the village. The clearing they rested as fairly nice, there was a small pond the horses could drink from in centre of an open patch of grass surrounded by thick and tall bamboo that reached towards the sky. 'How've your solo missions been going?" Hime asked Kellia as they rested. "Not too bad" she said stoking the fire she had just lit. "I've had to get used to melee combat more and more with my bow, the stronger the demon I have to battle is." "Does their strength really make that much difference to you?" Hime asked in surprise. "Brute strength not at all, but speed, they close the distance quickly my arrows tend to miss, I've started shooting where I think they'll go but..." she trailed off. "Demons are even more unpredictable than animals" Hime finished for her. "Yeah" Kellia said polishing her bow on her lap. "You'll get it" he said leaning back where he sat and hummed a tune. "Hey, I know this one" Kellia said turning to him, moments later she began to sing with Hime's humming. She was a pretty good singer, Hime thought.

"Mewotojite, omoidasu. Sugisarishi anogoro no modorenai. Kaerenai hirogatta fukai yami"

Hime liked being on missions with Kellia. She was more akin to him than the others. "Hime?" she said stopping her singing. "What is it" he asked. "So... I know Flame Breathing is one of the first Breathing Forms, Metallic is derived from Stone, Light from Thunder Breathing, Crocodile from Water and Frost from Insect. But where did you learn Sand Breathing?" She asked him. "How long have you thought of this?" he asked her curiously. Kellia smiled. "As long as I saw you defeat the Shogun Demon" she said. "Putting it simply, it's akin to Metallic in that it's derived from Stone Breathing. But it's faster and more offensive in nature" he explained. "And as for who taught me... It was my Mom. It's a family style. The first in our family adapted it from Stone Breathing taught to them by the first Stone Hashira" He elaborated. "Can you tell me about her?" Kellia asked. "About your Mom?" she continued. "Well, she was a demon slayer herself obviously, but my father was an archaeologist, so she began changing the forms of sand breathing to better suit her style, adding archaeological terms and the like into the form names. She changed it from its origins to how it is now." Kellia looked awed. "That's so cool. "How many forms?" Hime stood up and took a drink of Sake from his gourd. He didn't answer her at once. "I can use eleven forms" he said plainly after wiping his mouth. "You say that like it's not a lot" Kellia said crossing her arms. "I never learnt them all" he continued.

A sound behind them caused them to stop their conversation. Hime grabbed his sword and went to draw it. Kellia stood in his way. "Don't draw your sword, it sounds human" she said in a low voice. Several voices met their ears. A mixture of male and female. "Those performers were something alright" a male voice said. "You could do something like that Kurasaki" another said. "You've got to be kidding, I'm not cut out to be a Geisha" A new female voice yelled at them. "Quiet, or you'll draw a demon's attention" a younger voice said. The other three voices burst out laughing. "You really believe in demons Fumikage?" the deeper of the male voices said with amusement. "Well, yeah. Don't you?" "Take a wild guess" the voices began to fade away. Hime let go of his sword and looked in the direction the voices went. "Lucky for some" he said bitterly. "They are the fortunate ones, not knowing the truth like we do" Kellia said darkly. "It's ironic isn't it"

The two watched as the moon rose higher into the sky. "It's almost full" Hime said in a low voice. "Yeah, we should keep going, the village shouldn't be too far" Kellia said. "I hope this mission is quick" she lay her bow and quiver of arrows over her shoulder and cleared where they lay, Hime hiding his sword and leading the horses out their clearing. "Hey, I just thought about something" Kellia said placing her hand to her chin. "What is it?" Hime asked her. "What happens if this demon is.... I don't know.... Ren's level?" Hime gave a slight start. "I never thought of that" he said moving beside her. "Though from what I recall, Lord Rengoku's last mission was to deal with the final Lower Moon, so unless this one is an Upper...." He said. A chill ran down both of their spines simultaneously.