67 Secret Village

Hiroto and Tanjiro were lounging around in the living room as the girls of the estate went around and tending to their chores.

"Say, Tanjiro. Do you remember our family tree?" Hiroto suddenly spoke up.

Tanjiro tilted his head in confusion as to why his brother would suddenly bring this up. "Yea, we kept one for each generation. I remembered Father used to tell us about it in the past."

Hiroto nodded, "Yea, but do you remember how far back it goes? Since our family and ancestors have always been coal burners, how far back do you think our family tree went?"

Tanjiro cupped his chin and thought. "Hmmm, I think it went back to around the… Sengoku period? I'm not too sure though. Why do you ask?"

Hiroto said, "Well, you have a better memory than I do about this sort of stuff, so I figured you would know. Say… does the name 'Sumiyoshi' mean anything to you?"

Tanjiro paused for a second and said. "I think so. If I remember, he should have been alive around 400-500 years ago."

"Hmm… Is that right?" Hiroto said, and then thought, 'Then it wasn't just a dream… Sumiyoshi must have been my ancestor, but why would I dream of something relating to him?'

*knock knock*

As Hiroto was lost in thought, he was interrupted by some knocking sounds from outside.

"Were we expecting someone today?" Hiroto asked Aoi who was walking to the door.

"I don't think so, not me at least," Aoi responded, opening the door.

On the other side was a female Kakushi. "Hello there. Are Kamado Hiroto and Kamado Tanjiro here?" The girl asked.

Aoi nodded and turned to shout. "Hiroto! Tanjiro! Someone's here to see you!"

Hiroto turned to Tanjiro and just shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe it's about the request?"

"It might be, brother," Tanjiro said, standing up. Hiroto followed suit and carried Nezuko's box on his back. Luckily during the fight against Gyuutarou and Ume, he wasn't wearing his standard Demon Slayer's Uniform, otherwise, his Haori might have been completely shredded.

Walking to the entrance, once the girl saw us, she greeted the two. "Hello there. I will guide you two to the swordsmith village since Oyakata-Sama gave his permission."

Hiroto bowed and said, "I'm Kamado Hiroto."

Tanjiro bowed and said, "Very nice to meet you! My name is Kamado Tanjiro. I hope we can get along." At this point, the girls of the butterfly estate were gathered behind the two.

"I cannot give you my name since I am serving as your guide. But nice to meet you." The girl said. Then handing over a bundle of cloth to Tanjiro. "Okay, here."

Tanjiro had question marks above his head, as he asked. "What are these…?"

"A blindfold and earplugs." She answered. "The village is hidden. So I will be carrying you there on my back."

"Wha?" Tanjiro was shocked at the level of secrecy they took just for the swordsmith village.

Hiroto patted the girl's head as they looked curiously at the bundle Tanjiro was carrying. "What about me?" He asked.

The girl bowed and said, "You won't have to, Tsuguko. Since you will take the Flame Hashira's position in the future, Oyakata-Sama has stated that you are permitted to know the directions to the village."

Hiroto nodded. "Hmm, is that so. Then, when will we leave?"

"Right now, if you may." The girl said.

Hiroto and Tanjiro nodded. Hiroto then spoke up, "Well, we're basically ready now. It's only a trip there, so it shouldn't take us too long. We'll be leaving for the meantime then girls."

"Mm." "Good luck!" "Bring back some souvenirs!" Sumi, Kiyo, and Naho said to Hiroto and Tanjiro.

"Well, be safe then," Aoi said.

"Mmm, don't worry! We'll be back in no time." Tanjiro said, smiling at her. Aoi blushed and quickly turned away, walking back into the house.

Tanjiro scratched his head and said, "Was it something I said?"

The Kakushi and Hiroto looked at Tanjiro blankly, both thinking, 'Are you that dense?'

As Tanjiro turned to face them, the Kakushi shoved a pair of nose plugs into his nose. "And also, I heard your sense of smell is very good, so here. Nose Plugs.

"Waah!" Tanjiro reacted, before being blindfolded and having earplugs also shoved in.

The Kakushi then carried Tanjiro on her back and bowed to Hiroto. "We should go, Tsuguko."

"Alright, bye everyone!" Hiroto said, waving to the others. Since Shinobu and Kanao were on a mission, they weren't at the estate currently.

As the three began their run, Hiroto asked the Kakushi some questions. "So, why is the village kept in such secrecy from non-Hashira's?"

"It's to protect the village from Demon attacks. Its whereabouts are kept secret just in case one of the Demon Slayers were interrogated for its location." She responded.

"Is that so? Then how far is it?" Hiroto asked.

The Kakushi shook her head, and said, "Even I do not know it's location."

"Huh? If you don't know, then how are we supposed to get there?" Hiroto asked again.

She tilted her head up towards the crow above them. "That crow is going to lead us to the first drop off point. What basically happens is that once we travel a set distance, we're supposed to pass you to the next Kakushi. From what I've heard, the paths and the Kakushi also get frequently changed. When we make our way to the next one, we are guided by the crows. But these crows are then changed as well."

Hiroto nodded his head and said in admiration. "That's quite some secrecy you guys put in. But, how am I supposed to find my way next time?"

"Since this was a special case, when you officially become a Hashira, you would be given the location and directions to the village by Oyakata-Sama himself. That's as far as I know." She answered him.

"Wow, quite amazing really when you think about it," Hiroto said.

The girl had a glint in her eye as she said, "I know right? And not just that, from what I heard, apparently the mansion that Oyakata-Sama lives in is disguised by even more complicated means!"

"Huh? Even more complicated than this?" Hiroto asked in disbelief.

"Yup!" She answered, looking proud for some reason.

The two continued running for a while, before seeing another Kakushi waiting by the side of the road. As they reached him, the girl transferred Tanjiro over.

Tanjiro felt this and said, "What's going on? Brother? Are we there yet?"

Hiroto looked at the Kakushi, who understood what he wanted to do from his glance and nodded her head. Hiroto then approached Tanjiro and took out one of the earplugs, before saying.

"I'm selling you off, goodbye." Hiroto teased.

"Wahh! Brother! Don't do this!" Tanjiro cried out.

The Kakushi's both looked at each other in concern.

"Hahaha, I'm only joking, this is what's happening." Hiroto laughed and explained to him about the process of changing Kakushi's.

"Ohh, so that's how it is. Thank you so much! Thanks for all your work! Please take care of me!" Tanjiro said, feeling himself being moved to the next person.

The Kakushi's smiled under their masks and felt fuzzy inside. If eyes could tell an emotion, then their eyes would be saying 'Happy'.

And so, for the rest of the day, they kept running and switching Kakushi's. Whenever this happened, Tanjiro would always say something similar to before, so all the rest of the Kakushi also felt fuzzy.

Running through the forest, Hiroto saw how the branches and the rest of the foliage around the path they were taking seem to have had recent activity.

"We're almost there now. Ahead of us should be the village within the clearing." The Kakushi next to him said.

Hiroto adjusted the monocle on his eye. This was a new one since he 'accidentally' broke the last one. When he received the new one, he was 'reminded' of the repercussions of breaking the new one. It probably didn't help that Hiroto said, 'If I break them, then I keep getting a present from you each time basically.' Thinking back to what happened afterward, Hiroto still got shivers to this day.

As Hiroto was thinking back to the past, the group arrived at the edge of a clearing and what Hiroto saw blew him away.

"Wow, those buildings are impressive. You said that the whole village is hidden in this forest?" Hiroto asked the Kakushi, who put Tanjiro down.

"Yup, this whole place is situated in this forest." He then took the blindfold off of Tanjiro, who's eyes sparkled when he saw the view of the village.

Taking his nose plugs off, he yelled out, "Whoaaaaa!! Those are amazing buildings!! And I know this smell. There's a hot spring nearby!"

"Yeah, there is one." The Kakushi smiled, "You'll see a large house when you turn left there, Tsuguko. Make sure to greet them first and foremost. Well, I will be taking my leave now."

"Alright, thank you for guiding us here," Hiroto said, bowing to him.

"Thank you so much!!" Tanjiro shouted and bowed, as his voice reverberated throughout the village.

As the Kakushi ran off, Hiroto smacked the back of Tanjiro's head, causing the earplugs to fall out. "You're being too loud, you forgot to take the earplugs out.

"Ow. Haha, my bad." Tanjiro said cheekily, rubbing his head.

As his voice echoed throughout the village, it arrived at a hot spring, where a young woman with fair skin and round, light green eyes was bathing. Her long ping hair that faded to green hung behind her back, as the water dripped down them as she stood up.

"Oh? I heard an echo saying thank you. Did someone come over? I feel my heart pounding here." The girl said as the water flowed down her curvaceous body.