My Katana
=- Mount Sagiri -=- Urokodaki POV
Urokodaki stands in front of his hut. He received a letter from a Kasugai crow yesterday. This letter said that his student Sabito had died in the last selection process.
His other student, Giyuu Tomioka, was not included in the letter. That means he should come back today or tomorrow at the latest.
The sun is now setting. Urokodaki sees a figure limping towards the hut from the distance.
The silhouette of his student can be seen. Urokodaki takes a deep breath and carefully approaches his student.
Giyuu seems to be lost in thought because he doesn't notice his teacher at all.
After a short while, Giyuu stops and raises his head. He notices his sensei and looks at him with large, dark blue shimmering eyes.
Urokodaki carefully approaches Giyuu and puts his hands around him. The boy flinches briefly at the hug.
Shortly afterwards he returns the hug and says almost in a whisper. "He died Sensei."
“I know, I know,” Sakonji reassures him. Shortly afterwards he notices that Giyuu has fallen asleep in his arms due to exhaustion.
He carefully picks him up and brings him into the house. Urokodaki puts him in his and Sabito's room.
“Sleep well,” he says and walks out of the room.
=- Next Morning -=- Giyuu POV
Giyuu wakes up in his and Sabito's room. He vaguely remembers going back to Urokodaki after the exam ended.
I must have fallen asleep in Sensei's arms, Giyuu remembers. He gets up and goes into the main room.
Urokodaki is already sitting there. “Good morning,” Giyuu greets him. His sensei greets him back and says that breakfast is ready.
“How are you?” Urokodaki asks him. “I miss Sabito,” he says calmly. “Urokodaki-san?”
Urokodaki looks at him. “Can you make me a new mask?” he asks. “With the symbol that’s on my haori.”
“Of course,” the older one says with relief in his voice. "Thank you very much."
Giyuu stands up and says goodbye. He goes back to his room. He still has the material from the god.
The material is actually not only in the color of Sabito's but also in the dark blue of his haori.
It's halved, Giyuu notices. He turns the haori over and sees the symbol of the Uchiha clan on the back like the previous one. The symbol crosses over from blue to green so that it is completely visible.
He puts away his dirty, frayed haori and puts on the new one.
After an hour of thinking about what he should do until his katana is ready, he comes to the final idea. He just keeps training his chakra.
He walks out of his room to Urokodaki, who is painting the mask. He looks up at his student.
“The haori looks good,” he says. "Thanks. “The mask too.” Giyuu replies.
“It’s not quite ready yet,” Urokodaki replies.
Giyuu says. “I'm going to the forest to get firewood.” as he walks out of the hut.
=- Summary of the next few days
Nothing interesting has happened in the last few days. Giyuu often went to the mountain to train and Urokodaki just went about his daily routine. The fox mask that Giyuu asked for is also almost finished. The paint takes a while to dry.
=-13 days later
Giyuu hears a wind chime from outside. He goes out of the house and sees someone coming towards the house.
He wears a sunflower pattern haori and has a polka dot bandana wrapped around his head. His face is obscured by a Hyottoko mask, apparently to hide his identity. He also wears a large, woven hat with hanging floral wind chimes over the headscarf. He carries a large cloth on his back.
"My name is Haganezuka, I forged Giyuu Tomioka's katana and brought it here."
“That’s me,” says Giyuu. “Would you like to come in and have some tea? Ehh.”
Haganezuka doesn't listen to him at all. He prefers to explain something about the sword. “This is a sun sword. And I forged it. The material for such a sword comes from……”
What's wrong with him? Giyuu asks himself as he stares awkwardly at the blacksmith.
The blacksmith continues to ramble and Giyuu thinks he hears a heavy sigh from Urokodaki from inside.
After waiting for a while, Giyuu actually started listening and learning how these swords work and are forged.
The blacksmith is led inside and offered tea. Shortly afterwards, he hands Giyuu the cloth on his back. Giyuu accepts the cloth. A katana is wrapped in it.
He draws the katana from the black Nichirin sheath. The scabbard is simply decorated with a silver medallion and chapeau and is wrapped in leather, giving the katana an authentic look.
The katana itself has a traditional katana handle wrapped with a white cord that has beautiful diamond-shaped cutouts that reveal a matching blue underside. The blade is embedded in a silver collar that sits gracefully at the center of a striking silver hexagonal tsuba. The tsuba is rimmed with a sturdy dark brown metal that matches the simple pommel at the end of the handle.
Giyuu carefully holds the katana up in the air to get a better look at it. Suddenly the katana turns an oceanic dark blue.
“A blue blade. As expected from a water breather,” says Haganezuka.
It's beautiful, Giyuu thinks as he looks at the sword.
Haganezuka stays for a while before he goes back in the direction he came from.
“Sensei. I would like to test the sword sometime. Would you be my opponent?” asks Giyuu.
Urokodaki remains silent for a few seconds. Then he answers. "Gladly."
They walk on the mountain together. They train until sunset. After training, they go back to the hut as usual and make dinner.
=- Next morning
Giyuu wakes up first. As he walks into the main room he wonders. Where is Kanzaburo anyway?
The bird flew in a different direction about halfway back to Sagiri Mountain. If Giyuu had to guess, he came along to get closer to the headquarters to get him his first mission.
After Urokodaki gets up and they both eat breakfast, the aforementioned crow comes fluttering through the door. He lands right in front of Giyuu.
“Giyuu Tomioka,” the crow says out of breath. “I have a mission for you. Head to the city north. Children are disappearing.”
“Got it,” says Giyuu. The crow flies onto his shoulder and sits down.
Giyuu puts on his uniform. He wears a dark cyan version of the Demon Slayer's standard uniform, with a buttoned white kyahan around his legs and a pair of white zōri with dark blue straps and tabi socks underneath, which are the same cyan color as his uniform. He wears his haori over it. He puts his headband in his backpack along with some provisions. He won't be coming back for now.
“I have something for you before you go,” Urokodaki says. He hands him the new fox mask.
Like the previous one, it has dark blue eyes and gray-red ears, but instead of a yellow one, it has a red nose. The eyebrows are gone and the Uchiha symbol is outlined in a thin black line on the forehead. The mask is held by a rope like before, it is the same black and blue as before.
Giyuu takes on the mask. "Thanks. “I’m leaving now.” “Good luck.”
Giyuu walks out of the hut towards the north. He puts on the mask and is about to run when he sees Farukon. He stretches out his arm so that the falcon can land on it as usual.
He runs off with a bird on his arm and another bird on his shoulder.
Giyuu walks towards the city at a steady pace. After about two hours of walking, Giyuu arrives in the small town.
Kanzaburo sits on his head, asleep. After a while, Farukon flew away and flies above him again like a sentinel.
I should hide my sword, he thinks. Giyuu hides his katana under his haori. He takes the mask and places it on the side of his head. So that it hides Kanzaburo a bit.
The sun will set soon and the demon should show itself then, Giyuu thinks.
Giyuu walks cautiously through the city. After a while he hears the cry of a child. Tomioka immediately runs in the direction of the noise.
In front of him he sees a demon with pale almost white skin, black short hair and a black small horn on his forehead and with purple eyes without pupils. He is wearing traditional clothing.
This demon has a little brown-haired girl in its claws. The child screams desperately and tries to escape from the clutches of the unknown creature. The girl doesn't look older than 13.
Giyuu quickly takes out his katana. “Don’t move. Everything will be fine, understood.” he says to the girl and tries to calm her down. “Please close your eyes.”
The girl does what he says. The demon just looks at him with a questioning, mocking look.
Eighth Form: Waterfall Basin. Giyuu runs towards his target. The swordsman vertically cuts the target who cannot escape early enough.
“Close your eyes,” he says to the child who is about to have a panic attack. "Watch out. I will now lead you from here by your shoulders. As soon as you stop again you can open your eyes. Nod once when you understand.”
After the child nods, Giyuu carefully takes her and pulls her to the side so that she doesn't have to look at the demon body that is currently disintegrating.
"Before you open your eyes, I want you to stay calm." Giyuu says before leaving the child standing.
“Stay calm,” he says as the girl opens her eyes. She looks at her hands and freezes. There is blood on her hands. Probably from a wound. But she doesn't seem to notice that.
“Everything’s fine, everything’s going to be okay. Breathe with me. In. Out. In. Out.” Giyuu tries to calm her down. She follows his example and slowly calms down.
“Great job,” says Giyuu with a small smile. “Let’s get you home. Where do you live?"
The girl points in one direction. Giyuu holds out his hand to her. The child accepts it cautiously.
On the way to the house, Giyuu makes sure that he doesn't take the public road but only side streets and he calmly and carefully tells her what a demon is. She also carefully asks him questions which he answers if it's not too personal. The conversation distracts the child.
When they both arrive at her home, a woman in her early 30s comes out of the house. She runs towards the child and hugs her.
"Are you all right? Where have you been? I told you not to go out at night.” She scolds.
The child apologizes in tears while Giyuu just stands helplessly by.
The two are distracted now. Then I can go, he thinks and does exactly that. He turns around and leaves.
In the distance he hears the child and the woman thanking him. He turns around briefly and waves to them. He then disappears into the crowd.
That was surprisingly easy, Giyuu reflects. He weaves through the crowd to end up outside the city again.
This small town is too busy, he thinks. The moment he comes out of the city, the crow flies on his head.
He probably gets the next mission, Tomioka speculates. Maybe I should get him and Farukon something to snack on. Flying around like that all the time is definitely tiring and Kanzaburo is no longer young either.
=- Summary of the next few months
Giyuu completes many missions. He rarely comes out with an injury and can therefore quickly take on a mission again.
Kanzaburo sometimes gives him inconclusive or incorrect information, but somehow Giyuu always manages to reach his goal, also thanks to Farukon's help.
When his crow isn't there because it's already flying to get the next mission, Giyuu also uses jutsus to test how much it harms the demons.
He's also fought with other demon hunters once or twice, but that only slowed him down.
Out of interest and to test his abilities, Giyuu started creating his own form of water breathing. However, he can't use it properly yet.
After 11 months, Giyuu has a question. He asks himself why he hasn't asked himself that yet.
=- End summary
“Farukon,” calls Giyuu the falcon. The bird lands on his arm and waits. Kanzaburo flew off again to get a new mission. That means Giyuu has time to rest for about three days.
Afterwards I'll get snacks for the two of them again, Tomioka decides. "I want to talk to Hinokami."
The dimension appears as usual. Giyuu and the god greet each other. Giyuu gives a brief account of what happened.
“I actually have a question,” Giyuu asks. "How can I help?"
“Do demons actually have a ranking. Because so far I've encountered demons that are more or less equally strong."
“In fact, there is a ranking. The more blood they get from the Demon King, the stronger they are,” replies the Fire God.
“Not everyone can withstand a large amount of blood. That’s why many die if they get too much of the blood,” it explains.
“Demons can become stronger not only through blood but also by eating people. Family members are the best food.”
“When it comes to the rankings, it’s easy. There are the normal demons and the twelve Kizuki, plus of course their king. There are six Lower Moons and six Upper Moons. These are listed by strength. You can tell their rank by the numbers engraved on their eyeballs.”
“While the lower moons are dying like flies, no one of the upper moos has died for about 100 years.” The explanation ends.
"I understand. And how do I become a Hashira? That’s the top rank among the demon hunters, right?” Giyuu continues to ask.
“Hashira are the strongest hunters, that’s right. You must have killed either 50 demons or a lower moon,” says the god.
“Thanks for the clarification. Goodbye.” Giyuu says. The god does this too and the dimension disappears.
What rank do I actually have? Gyiuu asks himself. He clenches his fist and a red tattoo appears. It is a kanji that means Tsuchinoto.
So fifth place, he thinks while looking at his hand.
Everyone on the mountain got this tattoo. It wasn't stung, the hand just tingled and it was there.
Giyuu is now heading to the next town. He is hungry and needs something for the two birds.
=- In the city
Demons can also have so-called blood demon arts if they are strong enough. That means the demons I've had so far weren't strong, haven't eaten many people, or they're just stupid, Giyuu thinks.
He continues to walk around the city where he has just bought new provisions. Giyuu goes towards the edge of the city to get some rest.
Kanzaburo will be back tomorrow at the latest, he thinks. I've been in this universe for 22 months now. That means I will soon be fourteen years old.
(It's easier to keep track of you age if you count from the day you arrived)
=- Next day Tag
Giyuu rested outside the cities in the forest like the previous days. He is constantly on standby so that he cannot be surprised. Farukon is also there if something happens.
He is woken up by a familiar wreath. “A mission. I have a mission.”
"I know. Eat and drink something for a moment then you can give me the mission.” Giyuu calms the bird.
After the bird calms down, he gives Giyuu the information.
“You are to join forces with the flame pillar and fight a supposed Lower Moon.”
“So the flame pillar. Got it.” Giyuu stands up. “Show me the way.”
The bird flies off and Giyuu follows. Of course, Farukon shouldn't be missed either.