Strong Comrades
[Seiji's POV]
"Well, that's that.." I said, trying to stay calm after I just pulled off that cool shit.
Like I always said, it was cool only until you acknowledge it.
"It's good to see you all training so hard to improve, you will surely need more strength for the upcoming battles," I said while gazing upon the three Hashiras.
The sun was hung in the middle of the sky, lighting up the endless expanse with a colour of serene blue. There was hardly any cloud in the sky, it was a clear summer day.
The Demon Slayer headquarters was a small compound hidden between mountains. The place had many traditional houses for the servants and the Kasugai crows living here, while the main headquarters stood as the biggest structure in the middle of the compound.
The headquarters training ground was located at the back of the compound in the south. The entrance held the Kasugai crows so intruders could be spotted instantly, therefore it was the back that needed the most protection.
The training gourd was rather simple, with a huge open space made of cobblestones and you could see wooden dummies and weapons one could use for training. tall trees stood tall occasionally, providing shade where people could rest.
"Although I am not keen to use sparring to greet each other, I'm glad it shows you are safe and healthy," Giyu was the first one to greet me back with a sentence.
"Bastard, you got stronger again," was what Sanemi said next.
I flashed a small smile at both of them before my eyes met with Rengoku. I could see that he was still shocked and had many questions going through his mind.
He slowly came up after a short silence and asked.
"Is what I said true?" he stopped in front of me, "Was that the lost technique of Sun Breathing, or are my eyes playing tricks on me?"
I did not reply instantly, and instead cast a serious look at him. Then my mask slowly cracked as I smiled a childish smile of excitement.
Like a child showing off his new toy to his best friend.
"You are right," I said and I saw his breathing stop.
"I've reinvented the Sun Breathing,"
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...
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" a loud laugh soon filled the training ground as Rengoku let out a hysterical laugh.
It was a mix of pride, relief and awe.
"My father said no one would use sun breathing again and that it was lost in time. Therefore, the demons would never be truly defeated. But here you are,"
"You did the impossible again, Seiji," Rengoku said and flashed his usual smile, albeit a bit brighter.
"Can you tell me what this Sun Breathing is and why it's so important again?" Sanemi asked as he and Giyu walked up to me.
"Here you are, a demon slayer of the highest rank yet you don't even know what Sun Breathing is," Giyu said with a flat face, he did not even look at Sanmei while he talked.
"What? Am I supposed to know what that is?" Sanmei said.
"No, it's just that I would expect a Hashira to be aware of this>I was just surprised you made it this far without even knowing the roots of breathing styles,"
"Shut up!!" Sanmei snarked back, he did not fully understand the situation but he knew that Giyu was calling him dumb again in that elaborate way of his.
"You wanna go again?!" He fumed.
"It's not the time anymore, Sanemi. And don't worry, I can explain it to you," Rengoku said to calm him down.
Fire calming down the wind was kind of funny. You would think that the Flame Hashira would be the short-tempered one and the Wind Hashira would be gentle, like Airbending monks.
But in reality, it was the opposite.
"You see, 500 years ago, the demon slayers did not have breathing styles. They would fight the demons with their limited strength and as one would guess, they were losing really really badly against the demons. That was until a powerful swordsman emerged, his name was Yoriichi. Yoriichi created the first breathing style, Sun Breathing, to fight against demons and give humans the ability to fight against demons on equal grounds. But no one was able to learn Sun Breathing, not even the first Hahsiras. Yorrichi had to help each of them create thier own breathing styles, an inferior version of the Sun Breathing. These breathing styles are what we now know as the five major breathing styles," Rengoku explained.
"Since no one was able to learn Sun Breathing itself and only a variation of it, the legendary Sun Breathing was thought to have died with Yoriichi," Rengoku added, "Well, that was until Seiji here reinvented it I guess,"
Both Giyu and Sanemi were left speechless for a moment.
"How did you learn it?" Giyu asked and they turned to me curiously.
I explained, "You all know that I have mastered all five breathing styles right?"
They nodded.
"After I mastered all of them, I began seeing the similarity amid the drastic difference in each breathing style. At the end of the day, although they were different, they had the same origin and they all led me to it," I said.
"And one day, it just clinked," I said.
"Do you happen to fight an Upper Moon on that day?" Rengoku asked.
"Yes," I smiled. They were all warriors and knew that the greatest innovations often came at the gravest moment.
"I see, so it's like fitting back a puzzle," Rengoku said thoughtfully.
"Do you think we can learn it too?" Sanemi asked quickly.
"Of course. But I believe that would not be a good idea. You have trained your body and instincts to fit the Widn Breathing, it will be like trying to unlearn a habit and learning a new one," I said.
"Or like destroying a building to build a bigger one," Giyu added a better comparison.
"Exactly, so even if I were to teach Sun Breathing, it would be better to find someone who has not trained at all," I finished my point.
"Have you folded this to Lord Ubuyashiki?" Rengoku asked.
"No," I said, "I was trying to do that actually, which is why I came here first instead of the Flower Mansion. But I see that Lord Ubuyashiki is not here," I said.
"His condition is getting worse, he didn't even show his face yesterday and Lady Amane came in his place," Giyu said.
"I see," I said, a phrase which I found fitting to me and have been using it constantly recently.
"Where's Tengen and Gyomei?" I asked next.
"They went on a mission together. Speaking of which, I should probably tell you about the new programme that we have," Giyu said and informed me about what they discussed yesterday.
Apparently, it was a form os training for the Hashiras. The news that I killed another Upper Moon had bred a sense of need for improvement amongst the Hashiras.
The news that I killed the Upper Moon was not as impactful since - obviously someone who killed the Upper Moon 2 can kill a lower rank one - but ti still was quite a shock to the Hashrias who had never even encountered an Upper Moon.
So they decided to pair two Hashrias on a mission and let them learn from each other. I was sure Ubuyashiki got this form me, where whenever I went on a joint mission with a Hashria, I learned their techniques and breathing styles.
He was trying to replicate that.
Although it might not be as progressive as mine, the strategy was still good. If they did not get stronger, at least they would have better teamwork and connection which could turn the tides of a hundred battles.
....
"How was it? The Upper Moon you killed," Sanemi asked me.
We were already sitting under the shade of one of the trees beside the training ground. We all sat in the four directions of the tree, surrounding it.
"Weak," I blurted out while recalling my fight with Gyutaro and Daki. Or could that even be called a fight?
"I'm sure, you can all match its combat strength alone. Luckily, not all Upper Moon are monsters like Doma," I said.
"But fighting an Upper Moon is always tricky, so it will be necessary to have two Hashiras if you want to slay it properly," I said.
"How so?" they asked.
"First of all, the Upper Moon were two in one demon. They were brothers and sisters. They can die only if you cut both of thier heads at the same time, " I said, "Or make sure the other has no time to heal while you cut off the head of the other,
"But most importantly, thier blood demon art. The demon had a poison blood spells, one scratch is enough to kill you," I said.
"So even if you match in combat strength, you will probably die in a fight," I said. After all, you can't fight someone your equal or someone slightly weaker than you and come out unscratch.
To not sustain any injury in a fight would require you to be overwhelmingly stronger. That was why although Gytaro's combat power was not too high, he could bring down warriors stronger than him.
"I understand, that do seem like trouble," Giyu said thoughtfully.
At that moment, Rengoku burst out laughing, "Not for Tengen though!! He has poison resistance,"
"You really believe it when he said that?" Sanemi scoffed.
"What? He told me that he was from a Shinobi family, so they trained from a young age to be immune to poison," Rengoku said.
"Wait, when did he tell you this?" Giyu asked.
"A while ago, while drinking in a restaurant. He said I was his friend so he shared his past with me," Rengoku said.
"But how come he never told me..."Giyu became depressed.
"What do you think, eyes?" Sanemi asked me.
"It's probably true. Tengen did have abundant white blood cells and a stronger immune system," I said to confirm and Sanemi nodded, trusting my words.
We sat under the tree, taking about random things and sharing stories of ou travels. It was a nice and quite moment as we let our body recover from the spar.
"Oh, and please be ready, I'm going to call a Hashira meeting as soon as possible if the Master allows it. I have important information to share," I said.
"Sure thing. So I guess that means no mission even tomorrow,"
"Really? Then wanna go for some more rounds?" Rengoky, being the training freak he was, asked. Since he had no mission tomorrow, it was okay to be tired.
"Who do you think you are talking to a newbie? I was born ready!!" Sanemi said and jumped from his seat.
The two of them waste no time as they blur towards the centre of the training ground to fight against each other.
"Do they ever get tired?" I said with a helpless shake of my head. I had a small smile at their antics.
Different personalities may be different, but they have the same intensity that matches perfectly.
"You too?" I asked when I saw Giyu also getting up and walking towards the training ground.
"Of course, we can't let you get too far ahead", He said and joined the training.
I could only smile wider and release a sigh, internally grateful to have comrades like them. The stronger they are, the more certain victory.
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[IMAGE]
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Author : A chapter of the Hashrais spending time together. Do you like these kinds of chapters?
I think it is necessary to do more slice of life because the next major arc and fight would be quite big and would dictate the final stretch of the story.