Solar Blade

A Smart Idea?

"[Name]! Thank goodness I found you, no?" Douma chuckled, pulling his finger away from the tip of [Name]'s blade. They continued to pant, but never sheathed their blade. He wasn't an ally. They couldn't let their guard down. [Name] turned their head to look at the remains of the demon that Douma had killed.

No, he hadn't killed it. He simply tore its head from its neck. That couldn't kill it. [Name] saw as the demon attached its head back to its neck. It then slithered near [Name] again, as if trying to have another go at them. Except, Douma clicked his tongue and shook his finger at the demon as he turned around to face it.

"You're foolish enough to attack again? This is [Name] Kamado. I don't think that would be a smart idea," Douma chuckled, grabbing [Name] by the shoulders, before picking them up off the ground and placing them in front of the demon.

At the name, '[Name] Kamado', the demon scurried back into the trees, not making a sound. Douma sighed as he calmly sat down. Why had he spoken of them with such reverence? Just Douma mentioning the name to the demon seemed to send shivers down its spine. It was enough to have it fleeing too.

"Aren't you worried you'll be seen?" [Name] asked sharply, reluctantly sheathing their blade.

"I should be asking the same question. Aren't you afraid of others seeing you with me?" Douma asked back.

"Hey, don't respond to a question with a query of your own. Why did you save me? You could've watched me die, but you saved me," [Name] pressed.

Douma remained quiet.

"Hey! Answer me!" [Name] shouted.

"Shh, you'll lure attention to us!" Douma whispered, clamping a hand over [Name]'s mouth playfully.

[Name] swatted his hand away, unsheathing their blade again. Douma's eyes widened as he saw the blue blade, before smiling. He was probably confused as to why [Name] hadn't discarded the sword, given that it had his demonic powers laced in it. Honestly, [Name] didn't know why either.

"If you're not going to answer me... at least tell me what you want with me and my brother. You're hanging around awfully close to us, and I'm thinking that whenever we 'run into' each other, it's not a coincidence," [Name] questioned.

Douma sighs, "It's not your brother I'm interested in! It's you, of course! But as for why? Hmm, I don't like spoiling what the present is before I actually give it to its receiver."

"If you're not going to be helpful, then get out of my sight. I need to get back to my brother and all you've done is successfully stall me," [Name] spoke, before turning away.

"Alright, be like that then," Douma giggles before he disappears into the trees again.

With him gone, [Name] could run back to assist Tanjiro. Their speed increased, before they halted again. They snapped their head upwards, to see that demon that Douma had scared away. It jumped down from the trees, its nasty claws outstretched. With a sigh, [Name] drew their blade, before slashing it above them. Once [Name]'s arm reached their side again, a thud was heard. Opening their eyes, they found the demon's disintegrating head to their right, its twitching body to the left. [Name] walked over to the demon's head, before stamping on its jaw with their foot.

"I'm [Name] Kamado. And that wasn't a smart idea,"

𐙚˙⋆.˚

Tanjiro stood in front of the demon. What did it mean? What did it mean by 'another'? It had clearly said, "Another one of Urokodaki's brats has come straight to me". Another? Had multiple of Urokodaki's students been killed by this single demon?! It gave off a horrid, evil stench. It must've consumed many. Far too many lives lost.

Tanjiro's train of thought was interrupted by the demon's gruff voice, "Little fox cub, what is the year of Meiji now?"

Tanjiro thought of whether or not to respond. [Name] will be here soon. He just needed to give them time. Maybe if he engaged in conversation, the demon would be taken off guard when [Name] arrived, slashing its head flawlessly. But for now, he had to imagine himself all by himself with that demon. He had to pretend that [Name] wasn't coming, because in all truth, he didn't know if they were even alive to do so.

"It's the Taisho Period," Tanjiro shakily responds, weilding his blade.

"Taisho?" the demon asks. Suddenly, its many hands grab at its face, as if in agony. It lets out a shocked cry at Tanjiro's words, as if in disbelief at what he said, "Taisho?! Taisho?! It's passed into another period?! Again! Again while I've been held prisoner inside this place! Unforgivable! Unforgivable! Damn you, Urokodaki! Damn you, Urokodaki! Damn you, Urokodaki! Damn you, Urokodaki!"

"Urokodaki? How do you know him?" Tanjiro asks.

"I know him, all right! Because Urokodaki is the one who captured me! I'll never forget that day 47 years ago! Back when he was still hunting demons. It was the Edo Period during the Keio Era!" the demon shouts.

"Hunting demons? Edo period?" Tanjiro asks. He didn't know if he said that out loud or not.

The boy behind Tanjiro speaks up when he hears the demon. "You're lying! No demon has ever lived that long! The only demons in here should be the ones who've eaten just two or three humans! They don't live long because they're killed during the Final Selection, and they even eat their own kind!"

"Yeah, but I've survived all this time. Inside this wisteria prison, I've eaten at least fifty of you brats," the demon speaks.

50?! The boy's and Tanjiro's faces mirrored the other, yet Tanjiro composed himself much better and quicker. 50 people, killed by this demon in the span of 47 years. There were possible more deaths before that. No, there was obviously many more before that. If Urokodaki hadn't captured this demon, it would have gone on to devour and consume every poor, defenceless human it its greedy sight. But now, it was Tanjiro's job to never let that happen.

A/N

Hello! Thanks for reading this everyone! I wonder how many times I've said 'thank you for reading'. I bet the amount is more than my height (I'm short). I hope that you're all interested in continuing this, I'm trying to keep suspense, but I know that suspense is really annoying for some people. So I'll try to speed up the flow of the work. But thanks again! 

Question: If you could adopt any character from KNY (a child version of them), who would it be?

Taisho Era Secret: The boy who [Name] stitched up has just been killed by Douma. He has also stolen one of [Name]'s spools of thread and has used it to sew the dead boy's mouth together, before throwing the head at another slayer to scare them.