Chapter 14- Back We Go

"Haha, Renjiro-kun, it was a joke, I think you're recovered, a crow has come for you." 

"Thanks, Shinobu! Bye Kanao, Aoi, and you three steamrollers of death!"

I traversed the long and twisting corridors of the butterfly estate in search of the medbay, where I slept, eventually after half an hour of searching for it, I crashed through its doors and I found a crow at the window looking pissed and I didn't know crows could even feel pissed. 

"KAMADO RENJIRO, MOUNT NATAGUMO, SOUTH EAST, PREPARE AND LEAVE TOMORROW, YOU HAVE NO KNOWN REINFORCEMENTS EXCEPT FOR ONE SLAYER WHO WILL MEET YOU ON THE ROAD! EVERYONE ELSE IS INJURED!"

"You just spoke that whole paragraph while shouting, I mean, inside voice please!" 

The crow looked at me like I was a piece of bread that it wanted to chew up with its beak, then it flew out again. I sighed, mount Natagumo, I wondered what lives there. 

The whole day was filled with me packing the essentials and once I had finished I went outside for training, I spent the next five or six hours, performing the dance of the fire god, combined with total concentration, which I can achieve now at any given time as I do it even when I'm not focusing, I strived to increase the limits of the breathing style, it just took too much out of me. 

I was finishing up when I smelt someone watching me, I turned around sharply but they were gone. I didn't think much of it and walked back to the medbay, this time I found it pretty quickly. Inosuke was in there and was devouring food when I walked in, "Ahhhh, Kamano Denbenchiro! I heard you have a mission! I'm almost ready, but that girl Kanao always beats me!" 

"Haha, Sashibara Samosuke, you will beat her someday!" 

With that, I strolled out and even if he was behind the boar head mask I could sense the shock and outrage it made me laugh out loud. 

"What are you laughing at Renjiro-kun!"

"Ahhhhhhh, Shinobu don't pounce on people like that, and if I'm the oppressor then you're a predator!"

"Haha, Renjiro-kun, I wanted to speak to you." 

"What is it, if you want to know the length of the thing down there, then you have to know me better!" I said teasing her right back. 

"Hmm, Renjiro-Kun's getting better at this, I wanted to speak about what you did about Kanao's coin!" 

I gulped and began to sweat, it was a bold move and now facing Shinobu, who looked kind of creepy as she was always smiling, yet always calculating with her eyes, I felt kind of scared. I was mistaken, instead of a beat down she bowed low, and when she straightened back up she spoke, "Renjiro-kun, we may not know each other very well, but I've noticed it since we picked you up from Asakusa after the mystery letter, you are a genuinely compassionate person that's why I must tell you my dream!" 

It was all kind of quick to be honest, I mean, from the way she looked, I still should be shitting my pants, but I must be brave for my fellow men! 

"Well, Shinobu if it's to be my wife then I must say you have to wait!"

"Seriously, Renjiro, I want to be friends with a demon, that's what my sister had always wanted, could you do that for me?" 

"There's something else you want to say," I stated the fact, that she was hiding something else, I could smell it in the air. 

"This one, you can't do much about Renjiro, keep my smile going, it's rather tiresome." 

"Who said I can't keep that dream alive too!" I grabbed her hands and placed them in mine before looking softly into her eyes, "Shinobu-san, she would want you to smile, so don't stop for anyone!" 

And with that, I left the room. 

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! CRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEE

What the fuck did I even say, I'm shit at counseling, I probably made it worse, what if I just tipped her over the edge with the comment about her sister wanting her to smile, I'm such an idiot, BAKA BAKA BAKA BAKA. 

When I woke up the next morning I got dressed once again and pulled on my box containing Tanjiro, we must leave at once, I walked out of the room with Inosuke, and I left him at the doors of the training room, "Denpachiro, Good Luck, my vice-captain!" 

"Hahaha, when I'm a hashira, you would have to clean my feet Samosuke!" 

I turned to leave when I heard the fall of fast footsteps behind me, I was surprised to see my ears were pretty sharp, probably because of total concentration breathing being constant now, the person was around a few corridors away, they had a flowery scent. Their steps were light and I slowed down to let them catch up. 

I turned to see a girl in a butterfly Haori running towards me, arms spread, in her hands sat the golden coin she took everywhere, but as she ran she dropped it on the floor, disregarding it completely, and she kept running before crashing into me, locking herself into an embrace, "Kanao, what's going on!?" 

She didn't speak and just continued crying into my haori for a solid five minutes before finally speaking up, "It feels good when I make my own decisions!" I smiled, she had changed after all, I reached down to her head and patted it, if I haven't mentioned I'm pretty tall, for a Japanese guy, 6ft 1in. "Kanao-san, I have to go, I'll see you later!" 

She nodded and I began to run, along the corridors and past the many med-bay's of the butterfly estate and felt as though I had done a good deed, I was about to leave when someone intercepted me from the right, "Leaving are you Renjiro-kun!"

"Ha, Shinobu, where were you? I must take my leave, I am already late!" I began to bow, a traditional exiting gesture, when she ran out to me and hugged me, what is with women and hugging my muscular body? I spoke up, I couldn't lose my composure, I must tease her even when I'm dying, "Shinobu, if you're going to claim me as your boyfriend you have to stop calling me -kun" 

I turned and was at the gateway, when I heard a familiar voice, "Okay, Renjiro!" I smiled and ran forward, occasionally jumping to show how happy I was, I made zero sense if I was going on a mission it was likely that I would get very hurt, oh well, at least if I got hurt I could come back and see Shinobu at the estate! Hehe! But I realised that must not forget the ultimate goal and I thought how left-out Tanjiro must feel, I sighed before reaching back and knocking n my box a few times, I will turn youback into a human Tanjiro, even if I have to kill myself.