A demon slayer story

Chapter 10: Final Selection Part 1

A noise in the distance, a soft pitter patter of shoes through the snow.
"Urokodaki..." Tanjiro whispered softly.
He looked at the two boulders for a moment, looking down.
"To be honest, I never had any intention of sending you two to final selection..."He spoke softly, eliciting a slight breath of surprise from me and Tanjiro.Urokodaki parted his lips to speak again,"Because I didn't want to see any more children die...I was sure you wouldn't be able to cut through these boulders but...Well done you two"He said, patting our heads with both his hands.I looked at my own hands, taking note of the large callouses sitting on my fingers.If I tried, I probably could have held a blade in my hand without it cutting my skin.
"Truly...remarkable"He continued."I'm very proud"
Tears had started to well in our eyes by then, only my dignity holding them back.Tanjiro, however, had long given up on holding back and was letting his tears free fall down his face.I respected that, I respected the way he didn't let his masculinity stop him from expressing emotion.Urokodaki pulled us both into a hug, whispering to us,"Make sure you come back from final selection alive, Nezuko and I will be waiting for your return"

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We made our way back to Urokodaki's home, grilling fish on the fire while Atlas took the crumbs that I fed to him.He wasn't allowed to come to final selection with me but I wanted to make sure he was fed before I left...incase I didn't come back...

Tanjiro ate some soup that Urokodaki handed to him, he had said we were celebrating finishing our training which I wouldn't argue with; we'd worked our asses off, I'll be damned if we're not fed afterwards.
"Tanjiro, Anza, I'm afraid there's nothing more I can do for you.After today, you will be facing unimaginable hardships.Your training pales in comparison.But at least for tonight, you can rest well and sleep soundly one last time"Urokodaki promised, pouring himself a bowl of soup.

After that, me and Tanjiro had a haircut.He did the same haircut he had when I first met him while I opted to go just below the shoulder instead of a full bob.Urokodaki folded up some clothes, kneeling in the corner while me and Tanjiro passed the scissors between ourselves.
"Hey, you two"Urokodaki spoke, to which we both turned our attention to him so he could speak.
"What did you think of the hot pot?"
Me and Tanjiro both nodded, agreeing that it was delicious and we had been starving before it.
"Good, growing children like you two need good nutrition to help you grow muscle.The bigger the meal the stronger you will be...the same applies to demons, remember that..."
We nodded, continuing to trim our hair and watching the strands hit the futon below.In a way, our hair was quite similar.Both brown and red only mine had sort of dipped ends while his was red all over.

Urokodaki opened a cupboard, removing two white and red fox masks.He handed us both a mask and we looked down at them, as if wondering what they were for.Fortunately, Tanjiro took the words straight out of my mouth,"What's this?"
"It is called a warding mask, it's been enchanted by a protection spell to keep you from harm"Urokodaki explained.
We continued to look at the masks, examining their details.Mine had red triangles in the ears and pink cheeks.

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We tied up our blue cloud print gowns, tying pretty little knots to hold it together."Nervous?"I asked, smiling softly.Over the time me and Tanjiro had known each other, we had grown quite accustomed to hanging around together.It'd almost feel unnatural to be apart, but deep down I knew even if we did complete final selection we most likely wouldn't see each other much if not at all.
"A little...you?"
"Nah, I think we've got this in the bag"
I tried to comfort him, in reality I was terrified.I couldn't have thought of anything scarier than facing off with demons on a mountain all night, who could!

We made our way into Nezuko's room, I stood at the door while Tanjiro lightly caressed her soft looking hands.He whispered that he was coming back for her, he promised.

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"No need to worry about Nezuko, I'll take good care of her"
"Thanks, for everything"Tanjiro said and I agreed before we began our walk down the path, not even throwing a second glance back.

It was soon night and we were walking through a forest of glowing purple trees; wisteria.
"They're beautiful, aren't they?"
I asked, tracing my fingers through the soft petals."They are..."Tanjiro agreed.
We stepped forward, walking up some stairs to be greeted by many other people in different style clothes scattered along the path.
A girl with a butterfly clip, a boy with yellow hair and a matching Haori and a guy with a Mohawk and a scar across his cheek.He looked particularly terrifying.

Two girls greeted us, one with white hair and the other with black.
"Good evening.Tonight, you've come to enter the demon slayer corp's final selection.Thank you all for being here.There are several demons that were captured alive by demon slayer swordsman, they are kept here for this event.The wisteria blossoms prevent them from leaving, they bloom on this mountain year round and they cover everything to the base to half way to the top.But the wisteria ends here, so demons are bound from this point on, and they're very hungry.In order to complete final selection, you must survive for seven days beyond the wisteria's protection.Now, your trial begins.

And with that we all walked forward, splitting off into various parts of the mountain.Tanjiro and I thought it best to split up so we wouldn't be tempted to help each other.He said it might be classed as cheating despite it not being stated.

So there I was, stranded in the dark with no one in sight, waiting for a demon to attack me any second.
I was running through the trees, briefly stopping between clearings to look around in circles.Nothing.Not one demon.Which was good, the instructions weren't to slay as many demons as possible I was only meant to survive the seven days.Scratch that, I only had to make it through the night if demons couldn't walk around in the sun.Which meant I needed to head east, get to where the sunlight will hit first!

I ducked behind rocks, holding onto the handle of the sword Urokodaki lent to me and Tanjiro.For a moment, I had to wonder why me and Tanjiro had split off in the first place.Heaven knows I'd be safe if we worked together...
I froze, grabbing the handle of my sword a lot tighter.Those footsteps...Weren't like any of the people I met at the beginning of final selection.They weren't human...at all.
I stood in one spot, pivoting to look beyond the trees and try figure out where the Demon was...

UP!

My head flicked upwards, only barely regaining my balance to draw my sword against the demon that was quickly falling towards me, shoving my blade through its stomach and essentially turning him into a human kebab.
"Blaaaahhh"It cried, clawing at where my blade met its stomach.It was obviously trying to heal but failing due to still being hung up on my sword.
I flicked my sword, kicking the demon back enough to get into a stance.
"Water breathing, first form:Water surface slash!"I sort of whisper shouted to myself, sending a swift slash towards the demon, which it missed.

Shit

I rolled back, side stepping the demon's claw attack."Water breathing, Fourth form:Striking tide!"I said again, swinging my sword and landing a harsh blow, cutting the demon's arm from its shoulder.Just when I thought I'd done some damage, his arm grew back and he smirked as he lunged forward, landing a quick blow to my back and momentarily knocking the wind from me.