The Demon's Apprentice || Rewrite

Baffling

It has been centuries since Yoriichi met his fate, yet his presence continued to haunt Kokushibo. The memories of his younger brother remained vivid and persistent, a constant reminder of what he had lost.

Kokushibo shook his head slightly, trying to push the memories away. They continued to resurface, no matter how much he tried, he couldn't escape them.

The memories always rermained, followed Kokushibo everywhere he went, but he could ignore them. He could force them into the back of his mind and pretend they didn't exist. It was a temporary solution, a rather desperate attempt to escape the agony that the memories brought.

Kokushibo snapped back to the present when he heard a quiet clank sound. Tanjirou's grip on the wooden sword had loosened, and the sword dropped to the floor. The boy looked drowsy, his eyes half-lidded and his stance slack.

The image was out of place. Demons were not supposed to feel tired or sleepy. Exhaustion was a different matter, when a demon used too much stamina and didn't eat, they'd become too weak to fight propely and become more frantic about eating, but the need for rest...

Demons don't sleep. Demons are simply incapable of doing something as falling asleep. So why does Tanjirou seem on the verge of falling asleep?

Tanjirou's attempts to keep himself awake became evident. His eyelids fluttered open and closed and he fought against the drowsiness, trying to stay focused.

Tanjirou crouched down to pick up the wooden sword from the floor, but stopped mid-reach to rub his eye tiredly and yawn. The boy looked like he was about to collapse and sleep right there on the cold floor.

Tanjirou finally managed to get a grip on the wooden sword, but it was an arduous effort. Standing up was slow and clumsy, the boy nearly dropped the sword twice. Kokushibo doesn't think he has seen something so... absurd in his life before. A demon feeling the need to sleep.

Despite Tanjirou's attempts to continue, it was painfully obvious that he could barely stand, let alone continue training in such a state.

Tanjirou managed to hold a decent stance for about five seconds before he shrinked in exhaustion.

Literally shrinked. The boy shrunk down to the size of a toddler, curled up on the floor, and fell asleep.

The ability to shapeshift, in some form or way, was a good sign. It's a skill that powerful demons have bothered to master, the Demon King himself being able to shapeshift his appearance in countless ways. Kokushibo himself is able to do so as well, but he has not bothered to, he finds no use in it. Seeing Tanjirou achieve this ability, at a very early stage, is a sign of remarkable potential.

But right now Kokushibo's mind was a bit too distracted by the fact that Tanjirou was asleep. Demon's don't sleep.

Yet another thing that set Tanjirou apart from the average demon. Maybe that's a good thing. Perhaps this could mean that Tanjirou had the potential to be useful in the future.

Kokushibo silently knelt down, watching the child demon sleep without a care in the world. In all his centuries of life, Kokushibo never imagined witness a scene like this.

Encountering demons with childish appearance was already a rare occurence. most demons were adults when they were turned, given the low survival rate for children during the transformation. And posessing child-like form offered no significant advantages to a demon, aside from possibly elicting sympathy from naive humans.

Tanjirou shrinking to a toddler size was unexpected. However, it does seem to offer potential advantages. With a smaller body, the boy is likely saving energy due to reduced use of it expenditure on maintaining his form.

The heart didn't have to work as hard to pump blood since blood didn't need to travel so far, and the lungs required less effort to breathe due to their smaller size.

If Tanjirou somehow obtained energy from sleep, it could bode well for him. Perhaps he was getting extra stamina and energy as he sleeps.

A soft and unexpected chuckle escapes Kokushibo as he observes the very much fast asleep Tanjirou shifted in his sleep, pulling the now oversized haori tighter around himself. Then settling back down, sleeping like a well-behaved child.

Kokushibo found himself comtemplating the rather unexpect turn of events. The night started with a quick trip to a small town for some food, then with some training, along with an annoying run-in with a very territorial low ranked demon, and now has shifted into Kokushibo finding yet another strange thing about Tanjirou.

Well, Kokushibo supposes he'll let Tanjirou sleep for the rest of the night. The boy had done exceptionally well during today's training session. There was no immediately need to continue right away.