Chapter Text
Ch.94-Yoriichi and Kikyo Type Zero
“Get out of here, you big stupid!” The girl yelled, “You can’t make us give you the keys!”
“Yeah! And even if we did, we wouldn’t show you how to use them!” The boy added.
‘What’s going on? Are they fighting about something?’ Tanjiro wondered, ‘What should I do? Eavesdropping would be rude, but I should help if they actually are fighting.’
His pondering was interrupted when the Mist Hashira delivered a chop to the boy’s neck, sending him tumbling to the ground with a thud.
“Hey! Let him go!” The girl screamed, quickly at the boy’s side.
The boy was quickly picked up by his collar by Muichiro, even as the girl kicked and punched at his legs.
“Stop it!!” Tanjiro yelled, running over and grabbing the Mist Hashira by his arm, “What are you doing?! Let him go!!”
“There’s no need to be so noisy,” Muichiro replied with a bored and confused expression, “Who are you?”
“How can you treat a kid like that?!” Tanjiro exclaimed, “You should-!”
He stopped abruptly when he realized that he hadn’t moved Muichiro’s arm at all.
‘He’s not even budging! Even though his arms are thinner and his body is smaller than mine!’
“Let go of me,” Muichiro stated plainly before throwing his elbow into Tanjiro’s stomach, knocking the wind out of him.
“UGH!” Tanjiro grunted, falling to his knees.
“You’re weaker than I thought. I’m surprised you were let into the corps,” Muichiro stated, before his attention was caught by the box on Tanjiro’s back.
“Huh? That box. I can sense something in it,” he said as Tanjiro continued to cough, “A demon, perhaps?”
“Let go of my brother!” The girl shouted as she continued to futilely beat against Muichiro’s legs.
“What are you hiding in there? Show me,” the Mist Hashira ordered, reaching for the box, only to have his hand slapped away.
“You stay away,” Tanjiro growled protectively.
Muichiro stared blankly at the hand that had been slapped before realizing that he now only held the boy’s vest, then looked to his left to see Tanjiro kneeling before the boy with his hands on his shoulders and the girl standing fretfully next to him.
‘He snatched him,’ was his simple observation.
“Are you alright?” Tanjiro asked.
“I’m fine! Let go of me!” The boy snapped, wrestling free of Tanjiro’s grip.
“But you must be dizzy! That’s dangerous,” Tanjiro protested.
“Leave me alone!” He yelled, “I’m not…I’m not giving my key to anyone!”
“And I’m not giving mine, either!” The girl agreed, standing beside her brother.
The boy stared at his sister before he shifted his gaze to the still figures.
“Not even if you torture us! You’ll just break them if we do!” He barked.
“Have either you or your sister been through torture training?” Muichiro asked airily, approaching them, “even most adults can’t endure it. You’d never last. And for your age, you and your sister are rather stupid.”
While their Hyottoko masks covered their faces, it was obvious from the way the children flinched that they hadn’t taken well to the Mist Hashira’s comment.
“So what if it breaks? Just fix it. And I’m curious. How many people do you think have died in all this time you’ve wasted rambling on about all this nonsense?”
Tanjiro and the swordsmith siblings gasped.
“That’s what it means to waste a Hashira’s time,” Muichiro continued, gazing dispassionately at them, “Like it or not, it’s an undeniable fact that a Hashira’s time is far more valuable than yours.”
The brother and sister gazed at the Mist Hashira, tears forming at the corners of their eyes through their masks.
“If you can’t understand that, I’ll make it simple for you,” Muichiro continued, “Swordsmiths can’t fight. You can’t save lives. All you’re good for is making weapons.”
From the shuddering gasps and whimpers coming from the children, Tanjiro was easily able to discern that they were trying not to cry.
“The keys, now,” Muichiro demanded calmly and coldly, holding out his hand, “You should know your places in life and act accordingly. Neither of you are infants, so stop behaving like you are.”
Tanjiro slapped Muichiro’s hand away.
“Huh?” The sister breathed out, her brother gasping.
“What are you doing?” Muichiro asked plainly.
“I just…” Tanjiro ground out, “I don’t know why, but…you’re seriously irritating me! What’s wrong with you?! Why treat children with such cruelty?! You have no right to talk to them like that!!”
“You think I’m being cruel? Honestly?”
“Yes, I do! Even if I probably can’t deny most of what you said, and they can’t fight like a Hashira like you, the swordsmiths are still vital!”
Tanjiro didn’t notice Haganezuka listening from a short distance away.
“They might not be able to fight, but their skills are incredible!” Tanjiro pressed on, “We don’t have our swords without them! They’re the reason why we can fight!”
The two young swordsmith siblings stared at Tanjiro.
“It’s true that they need us, but you can’t forget that we also need them! We’re all part of this same battle, day in and day out, each in our own way-!”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t have time to waste on this debate of yours. You understand,” Muichiro interrupted.
Tanjiro was knocked unconscious with a single chop to his neck.
——————————————————————
“What do we do? I don’t know if my sister and I can carry him by ourselves,” a voice said.
“Tanjiro? Tanjiro?” A familiar voice sounded out.
“No worries. I’ll carry him back. As long as he doesn’t wake up soon,” a voice that sounded an awful lot like Haganezuka answered.
“And why don’t you want him to wake up before that?”
Another new voice.
“I…I just don’t want him to know I was here, okay?” The voice that sounded like Haganezuka replied.
Tanjiro began to truly regain consciousness, struggling to open his eyes.
“His eyelids are twitching! That means he’s waking up any moment! See ya!”
“Hey!”
“Come back!”
Tanjiro’s eyes shot open, the first sight he saw being Kanao gazing down at him from the opposite angle with a concerned look on her face. He also noticed that his head was no longer on the hard ground, but on a much softer surface.
Quickly realizing that his head currently lay in his girlfriend’s lap, Tanjiro’s face turned a deep shade of red before he shot upright.
“You okay? You shouldn’t get up so fast,”the brother worried.
‘He’s just flustered from finding out his head was on his girlfriend’s lap,’ Kagome thought with a smirk.
“Mr. Haganezuka!” Tanjiro exclaimed once he stopped blushing, enticing a gasp from the brother and sister, “Was he here just now?”
“N-no! Why would he be?” The brother answered nervously.
“That’s…that’s right! You must be loopy from getting knocked out!” The sister agreed.
Kagome shook her head, but declined to speak on the matter. Kanao simply looked confusedly at the two children.
“Is that so? But I could have sworn I heard him,” Tanjiro said, the gasped.
“The Hashira!” He exclaimed.
The boy flinched while his sister shifted her gaze downward, kicking the dirt.
“We ended up giving him the keys, so the big stupid took off,” she muttered.
“I’m sorry. I guess you didn’t have a choice in the end. Well, I don’t know the whole story, so I shouldn’t make a fuss,” Tanjiro decided, massaging the area where Muichiro had chopped him.
“You okay, Tanjiro?” Kagome asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine, Kagome,” Tanjiro reassured, “Just a little sore where he hit me.”
“Hey! You don’t need to say sorry! I’m happy!” The brother insisted.
“Yeah! You don’t know either my brother or me, but you still stood up for us!”
“Thank you very much!” The swordsmith siblings spoke with a bow.
“No. I am sorry,” Tanjiro insisted with a bow of his own, “I wasn’t able to help much.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Tanjiro,” Kagome lightly scolded.
Tanjiro was about to reply, but then noticed that a pair of wooden boxes stood to the side, and the male and female figures had vanished.
“Wait, what happened to that man and woman? Where’d they go?”
Kagome and Kanao exchanged a confused look.
“Oh!” The boy gasped, “Those were mechanical dolls!”
“Mechanical…dolls?” Kanao queried.
“Yeah! And seaweed-head took them away with him!” The girl grumbled, clenching the fabric of her pants in her fists,” “He needed the keys to make the dolls move.”
“Is that why these keys were so important?” Kagome asked.
“Yeah,” the boy nodded.
“But…why does he want those dolls?” Tanjiro inquired.
“Because they’re extra special,” the girl answered.
“Not only can they overpower a human alone or together, but the swordsman doll is capable of over a hundred and eight different moves!”
“Yeah!” His sister nodded, “And while the priestess doll can only do half as many moves, it can also shoot a bow and arrow! They’re used for combat training a lot.”
Kagome’s eyes went wide.
“So that’s why,” Tanjiro realized.
“But, now it’s…” the boy trailed off, frustration bubbling up in his voice.
A loud clang stopped him short.
“What was that?” Kagome asked.
“No way,” the girl whispered.
“He’s already-?! THIS WAY!” Her brother yelled, springing to his feet and running toward the sound, his sister right behind him.
Tanjiro, Kagome and Kanao took off after him.
They found the Mist Hashira engaged in a duel with the mechanical dolls.
Muichiro spun around a thrust from the priestess doll and then ducked under the swipe of the swordsman doll. Knocking the sword aside that was about to be swung at him, he then dodged a downward swing from another sword.
Tanjiro, his friend and his girlfriend were quick to notice that the swordsman doll had six arms, a sword in each hand, while the priestess doll had four, with a sword held in one pair while the other wielded a bow and arrow.
Muichiro leapt up into the air and jumped backwards as the priestess doll drew an arrow and fired, the Mist Hashira easily deflecting the shot.
“Wow…” Kanao breathed.
“Against a Hashira…” Tanjiro whispered.
“Amazing,” Kagome agreed.
“Aren’t they?” The boy responded with no small amount of pride, “they’re the battle-type mechanical dolls built by our ancestors. The Yoriichi and Kikyo type zeros!”
“Why…why do they have…extra arms?” Kanao asked.
“My brother and I asked the same thing,” the girl answered, “According to our father, those dolls were modeled after an actual swordsman and priestess.”
As she spoke, Muichiro skillfully avoided two swipes and a thrust from the swordsman doll and another arrow fired by the priestess doll.
“Yeah! The only way they could replicate the swordsman’s moves was to give him six arms!” The boy added.
“And the priestess was supposedly skilled enough with both the sword and the bow and arrow that her doll had to have a set of arms dedicated to each!” The girl finished.
Tanjiro looked closely at the swordsman doll.
‘That face,’ he thought, ‘It seems familiar, but why?’
‘The priestess doll is called the Kikyo type zero. Could she be based on Kikyo the priestess that Kyojuro and Mitsuri told me about?’ Kagome wondered.
Tanjiro then turned to the swordsmith siblings.
“About that swordsman and priestess, who exactly were they?”
“I…I don’t know,” the girl admitted.
“Yeah,” her brother nodded, “Neither of us know much about them. They were from the Sengoku period.”
“Oh, my!” Kanao gasped.
“Huh?! Sengoku?! He was from 300 years ago?!” Tanjiro exclaimed.
‘Sengoku?! Now I’m sure that’s the same Kikyo that Kyojuro and Mitsuri mentioned!’ Kagome concluded.
“That’s what father told us,” the boy answered.
“And they’ve never broken down after all that time?” Tanjiro asked.
“Amazing,” Kanao added.
“They were made with designs far ahead of anything we can come up with today,” the girl said, “Even Mr. Kanamori, the smartest man in the village, is stumped every time he examines them.”
The Yoriichi type zero dodged Muichiro’s swipe by leaning backwards even as the Kikyo type zero swung her own sword down at the Mist Hashira, the blow being caught on his diamond-blue blade.
“Mr. Kanamori’s really that smart?” Kagome asked.
“Yeah,” the girl nodded, “Chief Tecchin may be the best swordsmith, but Mr. Kanamori is our greatest mind.”
“So…if it were to break…there’d be no fixing it,” her brother said, “our father suddenly passed away from an illness and it’s just my sister and I. We’re the only ones who can step up now, but neither of us is any good with swords or dolls.”
‘So that’s why they’re so protective of those dolls,’ Tanjiro thought.
“I think I get it now,” he said, before looking back at Muichiro, who dodged a thrust from the Yoriichi type zero without even a flinch.
‘Wow. His skill is incredible, even though we’re almost the same age.’
The Mist Hashira dodged a downward swipe from another of the swordsman doll’s blades.
“He may be rude, but his talent is amazing. Even for a Hashira,” Kagome admitted.
“Of course! What did you expect?!” Came a voice, “He descends from a line of Sun Breathing users, you know!”
They all looked down to find a Kasugai Crow with large eyelashes staring up at them.
“My Muichiro is a prodigy. He’s in a completely different league than the likes of any of you!”
She punctuated her statement with a co*cky laugh.
“Are you…Lord Tokito’s crow?” Kanao asked.
“That I am!” She replied.
“Hold on, Sun Breathing? As in the first Breathing style ever created?” Kagome added.
“Yeah,” Tanjiro nodded, remembering how they had learned that from Shinjuro Rengoku.
Muichiro then dodged another downward swipe from the Yoriichi type zero, swerving around behind it for a strike.
“But that isn’t Sun Breathing,” he observed as the Mist Hashira continued to fight, then catching an arrow launched at him by the Kikyo type zero in his bare hand.
“Ah!” The crow gasped, then flew over to Tanjiro’s face and bit him.
“If you don’t shut your mouth, I’ll peck your eyes out!” She squawked.
“Hey! Let go of him!” Kagome and Kanao yelled at the same time.
“Wait! I remember! My dream!” Tanjiro exclaimed, startling everyone, “I saw those two in my dream!”
The Kasugai Crow of the Mist Hashira perched herself on Tanjiro’s shoulder.
“Huh?! Are you stupid?! Isn’t this your first time here?!”
“Don’t,” Kanao said.
“Huh?!”
“Don’t…call Tanjiro…stupid,” Kanao repeated.
“Hmph! I dont take orders from you, little girl!” The crow scoffed, turning her head away from the Flower Breathing Tsuguko.
Tanjiro sent his girlfriend an appreciative smile, one that she happily returned.
“As I was saying!” The crow continued, “You sure know how to make me laugh! You met a warrior and a priestess from the Sengoku period?! How old are you?!”
Tanjiro pondered on what he had just said, realizing that it probably didn’t sound particularly sane.
“You’re…you’re right. I’m sorry. I must be going crazy,” he sighed.
“Don’t say that!” Kagome exclaimed, “This crow is just squawking out of her butt!”
“Hey!”
“I know!” The boy exclaimed, “It must be an inherited memory! People talk about those a lot in our village!”
“Right!” His sister nodded, “it’s not just your looks that get passed on! Living creatures pass down their memories, too!”
Tanjiro, Kagome and Kanao all gasped.
“So what you saw in your dream had to be your ancestor’s memory!” The boy finished.
“Preposterous! Utterly preposterous!” The crow scoffed.
“That’s really kind of you two! Thank you,” Tanjiro smiled.
“Keh!” The crow cawed.
“I’m Tanjiro. These two are Kanao and Kagome. What are your names?”
“My name’s Kotetsu,” said the boy, “This is my sister, Soten.”
“Just do what my brother and I do and ignore that mean lady crow!”
The crow looked a though she wanted to respond, but a loud noise caught the group’s attention. Muichiro had swung his sword down at the Yoriichi type zero and destroyed the armor on its left shoulder. And a glance further back revealed that he had carved off a section of the Kikyo type zero’s head, exposing its gears.
Kotetsu and Soten gasped.
“His armor!” Tanjiro exclaimed.
“Her head!” Kagome whispered.
Kotetsu gritted his teeth beneath his Hyottoko mask.
“Brother? What-? Hey!” Soten cried as her brother turned and ran away.
“Ah!” Kanao gasped.
“Come back!” Kagome yelled.
——————————————————————
A few minutes later, Tanjiro, Kagome, Kanao and Soten were looking for Kotetsu in the forest.
“Kotetsu!” Kagome called out.
“Brother!! Where are you?!” Soten yelled.
Kanao said nothing, but scanned the area with an intense gaze.
“I’ll find you, Kotetsu!” Tanjiro called, “I’ve got a good nose, after all!”
He paused to sniff the air.
“Even if it’s a little out of shape,” he admitted more to himself than anyone else.
“Footprints,” Kanao stated, gazing at the ground.
“What are you talking about?” Kagome asked.
Instead of answering, the Flower Breathing Tsuguko pointed at a spot in the ground that had very slight indents along it. Kagome was surprised. She would never have noticed those if Kanao hadn’t pointed them out.
“Wow,” she whispered, “How did you see those?”
“I…have good eyes,” Kanao answered.
Tanjiro followed the footprints his girlfriend had pointed out, taking another sniff of the air before looking up into a tree.
Kagome, Kanao and Soten followed his gaze to find Kotetsu sitting on one of the branches.
“Kotetsu!” Soten shouted, “Get down from there!”
“How did he climb up that high?” Kagome wondered.
“Come on! You can’t give up on your dolls!” Tanjiro encouraged, “I’ll do anything I can to help you.”
Kotetsu didn’t respond.
“Get down from there, stupid! You’ll fall!” Soten cried.
“What about your future?” Tanjiro pressed.
Kotetsu stirred, but didn’t reply.
“If you try hard now for your future self, then there will be a day where you can fight and stand up for yourself.”
“No. It won’t. I’m smart enough to know I’m a loser, get it? Because I’m worthless, it’ll all end in my generation!” Kotetsu replied, fighting back tears.
He then looked to his right and realized that Tanjiro was hanging from the branch next to his by a single arm, his free arm held out towards him with a serious countenance.
“Ouch!” Kotetsu yelled as Tanjiro flicked him on the chin.
“You can’t give up and walk away from it. Don’t talk about yourself that way,” Tanjiro scolded, “And think about your sister. She’s just as much a part of it as you are.”
‘He’s gonna be an amazing dad someday,’ Kagome thought with a fond smile.
‘He didn’t make a single sound! Swordsmen are…kinda scary,’ Kotetsu thought.
“Even if you can’t do it yourself, someone will come along and carry it on for you. You have to do what you can do it gets passed on. If you fail, then your kids or grandkids can succeed.”
Kotetsu gasped.
“I want to be the one who ends Muzan Kibutsuji and his legacy of death. And to save my sister…and turn her from a demon back into a human. There’s a very real chance that I’ll die before I achieve this goal,” Tanjiro said.
Kanao gripped her skirt, not at all liking the idea of Tanjiro dying. Kagome placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and gave the lilac-eyed girl a reassuring smile.
“But I have faith that someone will carry out my wishes, the same way we were able to, when we beat an Upper-rank.”
Kagome subconsciously placed her hand over the right side of her stomach, where Gyutaro the mantis had stabbed her.
“So I know from the bottom of my heart, Muzan Kibutsuji WILL fall one day!”
Kotetsu gasped as Tanjiro grabbed his hand.
“Let’s both give it our all!!”
Kotetsu clenched his teeth as tears fell down his face. Soten, who had also heard, smiled and rubbed her own moistening eyes.
“I…I couldn’t stand to watch him break the dolls, but that was before! The combat training should last until after sunset, but…I promise that I’ll see this through to the end!” Kotetsu declared.
“Yeah!” Tanjiro beamed, glad to have gotten through to the boy.
“I’ll help too! I may be better at making toys, but I’ll do what I can!” Soten called, “Now get down from there, Kotetsu!”
——————————————————————
As the group walked back to where the dolls were, they made small talk.
“So you and your sister are ten now?” Tanjiro asked.
“Yep! We’re twins!”
“Even though he’s only twelve minutes older, he thinks he can boss me around!” Soten grumbled.
“Yeah, well, I’m still older, so you have to listen to me!” Kotetsu snapped back.
“Come on, don’t fight,” Kagome placated.
“You know, my little brother Takeo was-“
Tanjiro was cut off by the sight of Muichiro walking away from the field, one of the Yoriichi type zero’s swords in his hand.
“Huh?” They all said at the same time.
“Lord Tokito?” Kanao asked.
“You’re already done?” Tanjiro put in.
“I’m finished,” the Mist Hashira answered before turning around to face the group, “It made for good training. Do I know you? Oh, that’s right. My sword snapped, so…”
Muichiro held up the sword he was carrying, revealing one of the severed arms of the swordsman doll.
“This will do for the time being,” he finished.
Kotetsu and Soten gasped before running off toward the dolls.
“Ah!” Kanao stuttered.
“Wait!” Kagome yelled, she and Kanao giving chase to the children.
“Kotetsu! Soten-ah!” Tanjiro shouted before he was hit in the head by Muichiro’s discarded sword.
“There. Dispose of it,” the Mist Hashira ordered before turning around and walking away.
‘Not even a whiff of malice,’ Tanjiro thought, ‘He must not be doing it on purpose. Having said that…’
The crow flew down and perched on Muichiro’s shoulder, shooting a glare at Tanjiro before huffing in a most arrogant manner.
‘That crow of his is noting BUT malicious. She’s so condescending! What’s her problem?’
He was snapped out of his musings by the realization that he’d been left behind.
“Those kids!”
——————————————————————
Dark clouds had formed overhead, and it was beginning to rain, Tanjiro ran through the forest and soon found Kagome, Kanao and Soten standing in the shelter of the trees while Kotetsu stood over the damaged dolls.
The Yoriichi type zero had indeed lost one of its arms, while the Kikyo type zero had its archery arms heavily damaged.
Tanjiro walked over to the boy and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
“Kotetsu. Let’s see if it still works,” he said.
Kotetsu gazed up at Tanjiro, not speaking, but was nonetheless grateful.
Kagome, Kanao and Soten also helped, as they put the Kikyo type zero back on its feet while Tanjiro and Kotetsu righted the Yoriichi type zero.
Kotetsu and Soten then each turned the keys on the swordsman and priestess dolls respectively.
When neither doll moved after a few moments, Kotetsu’s shoulders slumped.
“Nothing. They must be-“
A rapid clicking noise emanated from the dolls. They both soon struck combat positions.
“Wow!” Kanao breathed.
“Alright! Kotetsu, they work!” Tanjiro cheered, “That’s…great.”
“Yes, it is…Mr. Tanjiro,” Kotetsu replied, “You wanna know why? Because now you can train with this doll and get stronger than that indifferent jerk!”
“You too, Kagome!” Soten added. You train with the Kikyo type zero and grow stronger than that big fat stupid!”
“And you’ll have our full support, no matter what!” The twins yelled at the same time.
‘Huh? Wait, right now?’ Tanjiro and Kagome thought together.
“Yes, now!” The twins answered.
Soten then turned to Kanao.
“This training will be for these two. You’ll need to find something else to do.”
Kanao, understanding that she was being asked to leave,gave the girl a small nod,
Then made her way to Tanjiro and gave her boyfriend a quick kiss before returning to the village.
“Now then, let’s start the training!” Kotetsu declared, just as the dolls lunged.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!” Tanjiro and Kagome yelled.
——————————————————————
The next day, Tanjiro dodged blows from the Yoriichi type zero, which swung large wooden clubs in place of swords, his green and black haori discarded.
Meanwhile, Kagome had been pitted against the Kikyo type zero, which also carried a wooden club in place of its sword and blunt bolts replacing the lethal arrows, her own red cloak discarded.
The two friends from across time were making use of temporary swords for their training, since Tanjiro’s sword situation was still complicated at best and Kagome didn’t want to risk damaging her new sword after having only just received it.
Both dolls had bandages wrapped around their heads to protect their gears.
“Ouch!” She cried as a bolt struck her in the face.
Tanjiro was suddenly knocked down, and yelled in fright as he rolled out of the way of the swordsman doll bringing its clubs down where he lay.
“I’m gonna die! Six arms is too many!”
“There’s only five arms!” Kotetsu countered, “Since that lousy jerk broke one off, it’s way easier to beat now!”
“And no slacking off for you, either!” Soten barked at Kagome, “What kind of garbage training did you get where one little smack on the face makes you cry?!”
“Hey! Kyojuro was a great teacher!” Kagome yelled back, but because she was distracted, the priestess doll landed a solid swing into her stomach, knocking the wind out of her and sending her to her knees, gasping for breath.
“Please, you two! We need you to be stronger!” Kotetsu stated.
“So next to you see that jerk you can tell him ‘That all you got, you scumbag?!’” Soten added.
“It’s time to get a haircut, seaweed-head! Pissant! You’re ugly and your legs are short! Commit seppuku, you shameless butt-hole!” Kotetsu added.
“Where did a kid like you learn that kind of language?!” Kagome exclaimed.
“Absolutely not!” Tanjiro denied, “That’s going too far!”
“Hey, brother, let’s put his head on display when it’s over!”
“Yeah! Good idea, sis!”
“What?! You’ll do no such thing, and Kagome and I aren’t saying ANY of that!”
“Yes you are!” Kotetsu argued.
“No!” Tanjiro stubbornly refused, turning away from the boy.
“You have to say it! Please?!”
Anything Tanjiro would have said was cut off by the Yoriichi type zero charging at him and thrusting its clubs at him, which he barely was able to dodge. At the same time, Kagome barely deflected a bolt shot at her by the Kikyo type zero, then charged back in to face her mechanical foe.
‘Tokito was incredible. He hardly broke a sweat against both of these dolls at once. Despite being smaller and younger than either Kagome or me,’ Tanjiro thought.
‘We have to train harder,’ Kagome thought, ‘so that Tanjiro and I can become stronger!’
While Tanjiro deflected the first blow from the swordsman doll, and dodged its first thrust, the second landed solidly in his stomach, knocking him to the ground. Kagome was then struck in the face once again by a bolt from the priestess doll’s bow, then was met by a heavy swing to her back, sending her face-first into the ground.
The twins were not sympathetic.
“Come on, you two! Don’t tell me that’s all it takes to kill you! Get up! Get up!” Soten yelled.
“All you two are doing is moving out of habit!” Kotetsu criticized once the two Slayers had risen to their knees, “You aren’t reacting off your opponent’s moves whatsoever! That’s why you two are getting your butts kicked, understand?!”
“In other words, neither of you even understands the fundamentals of sword-fighting! It’s a miracle you two aren’t dead! Good thing my brother and I are here to find your weak spots and fix them!” Soten added.
“And to give you some extra motivation…” Kotetsu said before the twins pointed at the Slayers and spoke simultaneously.
“NO FOOD UNTIL WE’RE FINISHED!”
“Right,” Tanjiro sighed.
“These kids are monsters,” Kagome moaned.
——————————————————————
Several days later saw Tanjiro whacked on the side of his head, practically driving him into the dirt.
“Faster, Mr. Tanjiro!” Kotetsu yelled, “You’ve gotta pick up the pace! If that doll wasn’t armed with practice sticks, you’d be dead! Get it together!”
Kagome was sent tumbling toward her best friend as he struggled to his knees by a heavy swing from the Kikyo type zero.
“Quit being stupid, Mrs. Kagome! We’re on day five now, so starting tomorrow, we’re gonna arm the dolls with swords and real arrows!”
“That’s…assuming we even live to see day six!” Kagome gasped, “We’re gonna die!”
“No food today, either!” Kotetsu said to the two Slayers.
‘These kids are surprisingly analytical,’ Tanjiro observed.
‘But as swordsmanship instructors, they were terrible!’ Kagome lamented, ‘Those kids have no idea what the limits of the human body are! And their brutal training reflects that!’
‘They’re so harsh and brutal that they’ll withhold food and water if you fall short!’ Tanjiro sighed internally.
Both Slayers looked absolutely haggard, their hair was a pair of unkempt messes, their uniforms were filthy, and their skin was pale from dehydration and starvation.
Kotetsu and Soten gazed confidently at the two, their unclouded gazes reminding them that they were just kids at the end of the day.
‘It’s pure tyranny, born out of their ignorance,’ Kagome sighed.
——————————————————————
‘Luckily, it rained that same day, so Kagome and I were able to survive.’
The next day, when the sun was out once again, the two Slayers faces their mechanical opponents once again, this time while they were armed with real swords and real arrows.
‘All this time, Tanjiro and I went through these torturous training sessions without water, food or sleep.’
After dodging more blows and shots from the dolls, Tanjiro and Kagome charged back toward the mechanical creatures when their eyes suddenly glosses over and they began to stumble.
‘And then, Kagome and I started to cross the river to the afterlife.’
The two friends from across time were clad in white kimonos and wore a triangular headdress on each of their foreheads.
‘We were walking across a bridge feeling an indescribable sense of bliss.’
‘But…we…got dizzy from hunger and fell in the river.’
Kagome let out a sheepish giggle.
‘The water got darker and darker. And grew heavier and heavier.’
Tanjiro and Kagome felt their eyes droop shut as an unusual sensation overcame them both.
‘And then we felt a strange warmth. I guess the best way to describe it would be like…we were being massaged. Then I glanced toward the bottom of the river and saw something shiny. So I saw toward it while still feeling that massage sensation.’
‘I noticed Tanjiro swimming down, so I decided to follow him, all the while that warm massage feeling never left me. And then I saw what had caught Tanjiro’s attention, something shiny at the bottom of the river.’
Tanjiro gazed at the bright rock, before he reached out to it. While Kagome placed her hand on her best friend’s shoulder.
‘The odd thing is…even though I was underwater, I could smell the shimmering stone.
Reaching out to grab it, Tanjiro and Kagome were suddenly enveloped by a blinding white light, and found themselves back in the forest facing the mechanical dolls.
‘What is this? This smell?’ Tanjiro thought with a gasp, ‘It’s different than the opening thread!’
He then gasped as he saw the movements made by the Yoriichi type zero, which seemed to move in slow motion. And that’s when it came together in his mind.
‘Left side of the head!’ Tanjiro deduced, ‘Then the neck! Then the right side! Then the left side! Right thigh! Right shoulder! Now!’
Tanjiro leaned backwards, avoiding the first swing, spinning around and striking the doll across its torso.
‘Why does time seem to be moving slowly around me?’ Kagome wondered, ‘It’s almost like I can see what’s gonna happen…before…it…happens…’
The Kikyo type zero reached behind its back with its secondary arms and primed the bow with an arrow.
‘Dodge the arrow! Then get in close!’ Kagome concluded.
Moving at the same time as Tanjiro, she gracefully weaved to the left of the arrow as it was loosed, then dashed in up close, deflecting the doll’s strike off her blade before allowing her own momentum to carry her to its side, swinging her sword down on its hip.
Both dolls ceased moving as Tanjiro and Kagome fell to the ground.
“There you go! You guys finally each got a strike in!” Soten cheered.
“But they were so weak that the dolls didn’t even flinch!” Kotetsu pointed out.
“But good news! You earned some food!” Soten finished.
“RICE BALLS AND PICKLED PLUMS!” Tanjiro yelled.
“AND BRING US THE HIGHEST-QUALITY TEA IN THE WHOLE VILLAGE!” Kagome added.
——————————————————————
About an hour later, the four sat down in front of a large tray of the requested food and drink, with Tanjiro and Kagome eating in a state of absolute bliss.
“TASTY!” They both almost sobbed.
——————————————————————
After they had finished their meal, Tanjiro and Kagome resumed their training against the Yoriichi and Kikyo type zeroes.
‘Good! Good! The moves! I see them!’ They thought, unaware that their minds had synchronized once more as they ducked dodged and weaved around the blows of their mechanical foes.
‘I see them much better than before! And my stamina’s returned!’
The two Slayers each took a leap backwards, centering themselves and keeping their eyes on their respective doll.
‘Somehow, I can tell by the scent where the sword-strikes will come from!’
‘Now it’s like I can glimpse just a moment into the future!’
As they charged at the human-shaped machines once again, the automatons also charged.
‘Even better-I can pick up the scent fast than the opening thread!’
‘It’s like time slows down around me! I can better guess where the strikes are coming from!’
They dodged the powerful swings from the dolls by leaping over them, giving them a perfect opening for their heads.
‘Yes! I can do it! I can land a blow with all of my strength behind it!’ They thought together.
And then hesitation struck.
‘But what if they break?’
“Do it!” Kotetsu and Soten cried, “If they do break, then…then we’ll just fix them!”
The Slayers gasped.
‘Mr. Tanjiro, Mrs. Kagome, you’re far too kind,’ Kotetsu thought.
‘You can’t hesitate!’ Soten thought, echoing her twin brother, ‘If you do…it’s sure to cost you your lives!’
‘And we dont want that! What we want…is for the two of you to be the strongest!’ They finished together.
At that moment, Tanjiro and Kagome swung their swords hard against the heads of the mechanical dolls. So hard in fact, that their blades snapped clean off, landing painfully on the ground as they fell, Kagome landing awkwardly on her ankles while Tanjiro hit the dirt tailbone-first.
“Ah!” Kagome cried as her ankles rolled.
“Yow! That hurts!” Tanjiro shouted.
“Hey! You guys alright?!” Soten cried, she and her twin brother running over to the two friends from across time.
Tanjiro lay on his knees, clutching at his tailbone while Kagome sat on her butt, massaging her sore ankles.
“Sorry,” Tanjiro hissed, “I broke my sword.”
“Me, too,” Kagome added.
“Don’t worry about that, it’s okay,” Kotetsu comforted.
A crackling noise drew the group’s attention back to the mechanical dolls. They then noticed that the Yoriichi and Kikyo type zeroes were developing multiple cracks along their heads and torsos.
Finally, the heads broke and fell away.
“Hey!” Kotetsu and Soten yelled, while Tanjiro and Kagome gasped.
Their jaws all dropped at the sight of an old sword in the Yoriichi type zero and metal arrows blacker than obsidian in the Kikyo type zero.
“Ah! Something came out!” Tanjiro exclaimed, “Kotetsu, Soten, something came out what are those?!”
“Don’t ask us, it’s not like we put them in there!” Kotetsu replied.
“Oh, my God!” Kagome and Soten screamed, equally freaked out as the two dolls fell to their knees.
“How…? How could this be?” Kotetsu wondered once everyone had calmed down. “They’re a sword and a set of arrows, but they’ve gotta be at least three hundred years old, right?”
Tanjiro and Kagome gaped in awe at their accidental discovery.
