Chapter 04: A Week with the Demons.

Tanjiro woke up, stretching his arms he looked around him, he found Zenitsu polishing his blade. A softly flickering flame was roasting two fishes skewered in sticks.

"Good morning Tanjiro, there is a pond a few hundred meters towards east. Wash your face and fill your canteen with water; the fishes will be done roasting by then." Zenitsu spoke with a yawn.

Tanjiro nodded and walked off to the pond. Walking around he found the forest to be as beautiful as deadly it was last night. Tall trees, the sun shining through the leaves, birds chirping, this was forest was like a beautiful lotus that hid snakes beneath its petals.

'Huh, my injuries are already healed? I was sure that I had a broken rib or two from the fight with that mutated demon.' Tanjiro was in deep thought.

The only person with him was Zenitsu, but he did not understand just how could his injuries miraculously vanish. With a pondering expression he returned to the camp.

Zenitsu looked like a grandpa on a winter morning, lazing around beside a little bonfire.

"Zenitsu, it may sound weird but did you heal my injuries last night?" Tanjiro asked as he sat beside the fire.

"Were you injured?" Zenitsu asked with his head tilted in a cute pose.

Tanjiro did not know how to feel seeing Zenitsu act like that. He sighed and took out his canteen and set it beside the fire to let the water boil.

"Here." Zenitsu gave him a fish.

Tanjiro took a bite and his eyes widened, "delicious, you could probably open a stall selling roasted fishes. I'm sure it would be very popular."

"That's true, but I rather not do that. My old man will kick my ass if he heard I left being a swordsman to sell fishes." Zenitsu chuckled.

"So, tell me a bit about yourself." Zenitsu asked.

....................................................................................................................................…one eternity and a chat later.

"Come let's spar." Zenitsu invited, Tanjiro thought about it a bit and accepted after some persuasion.

The two took stances and the fight started. Blades were clashing and the two swordsmen fought using their breathing techniques.

Zenitsu parried a slash from Tanjiro and hit him with an unexpected sucker punch right in the gut, making Tanjiro fumble and then with a round house kick, he sent Tanjiro flying.

"You are totally inexperienced, the demons will use anything and everything to stay alive, to flee, to take your life. All it needs is a lucky opening that will injure you, cripple you or worse. The demons can regrow their lost limbs, but we can't, so make sure you remember to expect the unexpected." Zenitsu advised holding out an arm to help Tanjiro up.

"Remember, you must practice constant vigilance, always prepared, always alert." Zenitsu spoke sagely, and thought that he would have made a certain one eyed, one legged wizard proud now that he was passing on his legacy in a different world.

[comment down if you get that reference.]

Some more sparring and teaching Tanjiro how to be underhanded was followed by the lunch of dried jerky Tanjiro brought with him.

The sun leaned to the west and the night fell, the two swordsmen were prepared to face the demons. The demons they faced were not much compared to the mutated demon Tanjiro faced last night, but they did not lose their guard and fought with constant vigilance.

Tanjiro was slowly adapting to be sneak attacked and then return the favour back in double, the two became fast friends. The days passed and Tanjiro was getting a lot better than his canon version when he passed the final selections.

The two tried asking the demons, how to turn a demon back into a demon but none of them could give an answer. When asked about who was behind turning them into demons, they trembled in fear. Their quest of knowledge did not take a single step forward.

They fought a lot of demons and helped people whenever they could. A lot of the candidates despaired in their exchange with the demons, they would most likely quit being demon slayers. Then they met an odd girl, a girl who tossed a coin and then fled after Tanjiro approached her.

Tanjiro's eyes turned into dots and he stood there dumbstruck. Zenitsu on the other hand, was laughing his butt off, "HAHAHAHAHAHA, she ran HAHAHAHAHAHA, Tanjiro, I think she silently said 'STRANGER DANGER' before running away."

Tanjiro was even more confused, probably thinking about what stranger danger was.

The final selections came to an end without any major events, but they realized the dangers of the path they had chosen. Not even a third of the people who entered the final selections had lived to make it out alive.

The fragility of human life was bared and yet, each and every one who made it out had the tenacity to live. The desire to hold on, the desire to live, to be stronger than the hurdles that fate had placed before them. Children no older than sixteen, and yet they had taken up swords to fight the bane known as the demons.

The man is born weak, it is the adversity that makes them strong; and it is the same adversity that made them walk down this path, to pick up blades to stand as the guardians of humanity, as the DEMON SLAYERS.

Most of them were on the edge after the seven days they spent in a forest swarming with demons, each day from sunset to the sunrise, they fought for their lives to be able to stand here today, to be inducted in the Demon Slayer Corps.

One boy, in tattered black robes interrupted the little twins and demanded his NICHIRIN blade. The girls were still expressionless, unfazed by the rude behaviour of the boy, they continued to speak about the basics know-hows of the Demon Slayer Corps.

The boy grew impatient and grabbed the white-haired girl's hair and just when Tanjiro was about to intervene, Zenitsu flashed past him and grabbed on to the boy's arm.

"I know you are tensed, but you should not let the stress get to you, right?" Zenitsu smiled gently.

The boy knew that the guy holding his hand was out of his league, a single misstep and his hand will be broken. The boy let go of the girl's hair and Zenitsu patted his shoulder, "see, not so hard right?"

He huffed and stomped off, Zenitsu patted the little girl and fixed her hair, "sorry for that little one, thank you for your hard work."

The expressionless girls continued with their duties, but if someone looked closely, their lips were curled upwards, just a tiny bit; but it was enough, to display their approval and acceptance.

They lifted a sheet from the table that had ores spread on them.

The ores sparkled under the rising sun, Zenitsu unsheathed his blade and slashed horizontally an inch over the ores with his eyes closed. The ores hummed with the slash passing by them, there were two that sounded distinct, one was silent and the other sung a soft melody.

Tanjiro picked up the silent one and Zenitsu smiled and picked up the other one. Then came the crows and by providence, a little sparrow came and sat on Zenitsu's head.

"Little guy, we are going to be partners for a long time." Zenitsu said petting the sparrow with a finger.