Mission

Faolan and Ketsueki traveled for several weeks to reach the mission. The expedition consisted of forests throughout the journey and a lot more snow had been covering the trees and grass. During that time of travel Faolan respectively followed Ketsueki who made little time to rest, it seemed like he was still testing Faolan, but it was Ketsueki who was running late to the mission, perhaps he was dealing with both, because Ketsueki rarely spoke, he seemed uncomfortable during those weeks.

A crow would randomly appear, soaring high above the brightly lit trees, Faolan noticed the crow encircling them, particularly to Ketsueki. Faolan felt something odd, now urging him to ask Ketsueki a question.

"Ketsueki, is that crow yours? It has been encircling us several times," Faolan asked, while pointing up at the crow. Ketsueki looked up into the sky to see the crow. Ketsueki let out an annoyed sigh, Faolan tilts his head in curiosity.

"Well shit," Ketsueki scratches his spiked hair, while Faolan is still waiting for a reply. "Yes, that's my crow, but he prefers to stay away from me," replies Ketsueki.

"He's your crow, but he doesn't like you?" asked Faolan, still looking upon the encircling crow.

"It doesn't matter to me, it's job is to guide me to the mission,this also means that we're getting closer and we are running late on time," Ketsueki continues onward with a displeased thought in mind.

"I see," Faolan looked curiously into Ketsueki, he was inquisitive on Ketsuiki's casual attitude.

The two now were nearing the end of the snowy forest, open land with snowy filled trees can be seen from a distance, Faolan can see sparkles of light in front of Ketsueki, dusk is now soon to settle.

'Another village, besides my own,' Faolan's was interested to witness the differences within this village to his own.

They brush into the open air, the village was massive, protected by large cemented walls, Faolan could see how it expanded across the white trees that surrounded it.

"Welcome to Satokotta," Ketsueki headed for the entrance as Faolan followed behind.

"Faolan if there are any last questions you have, you should ask me before we head in," added Ketsueki,Faolan during the journey had not asked much about Ketsueki or the Demon Slayer Corps. in general, Faolan had an odd feeling about the Demon Slayer Corps. after his mother's decision to leave them and cut herself off from them completely, and Mr. Nakama had trained him to be a warrior of his own kind, which had negatives since he was by himself, but Ketsueki had points on the side for the Corps. as well negatives, Faolan held his chin in thought.

"Wouldn't have been better to have me take The Final Selection before coming here?" asked Faolan.

"Yes," Ketsueki answered.

"Then why don't I take the Final Selection?" added Faolan.

"We don't have the time for it, The Final Selection would've taken too long to complete, and this investigation could've been out of your reach, meaning you weren't assigned to the mission. Since you're not a Demon Slayer Corps. member I can take you into a mission much more easily than somebody else, you could say that's a good thing," Ketsueki adjusted his scarf, Faolan returns to his thoughts before thinking of another question.

'Its true, I'd be less busy if I weren't a Demon Slayer Corps. member,' Faolan finishes the thought introducing another question.

"If I did become a member of the Corps. and I decided to embark on a mission that I wasn't assigned to, there would be what kind of consequences?" Faolan asked.

"There would be heavy consequences, number one you'd probably lose your title or rank as a Demon Slayer Corps. member. Number two, you'd probably be executed if you broken forbidden rules," Ketsueki finishes adjusting his scarf, Faolan is in thought once again.

' Disbanded or Executed…' Faolan faces the back of Ketsueki, feeling that he had his best interest in mind.

"Just so you know, the two biggest rules that a Demon Slayer would probably make is disobedience to an order by a superior, or drawing a blade to a comrade," Ketsueki points to his head for Faolan to see, "Keep those words close in mind." Ketsueki places his hand back down casually, Faolan stares upwards at the crow with a serious look, to then affirming his gaze onto Ketsueki.

"And being caught as a fake," added Faolan,

"And bringing someone who is pretending to be one of us," Ketsueki casually adds on.

' I suppose it's just as Mr. Nakama said, I need to make the right allies, and I felt that Ketsueki is an honest person, he didn't have to but he's given me a choice to follow him, to take me to a mystery similar to my village knowing the risks that may happen to him as well, were both in the heat,' Faolan formulates a question about Ketsueki.

"Why have you been doing so much for me?" Faolan inquires,Ketsueki halts nearing the entrance where two guards stood, he turned to face Faolan.

"Because there is something going on, I don't know what it is, but your lead, based on that Demon we fought could mean that either Muzan or something else is coming, and I know that it will be of worth," Ketsueki turns again to the entrance where the guards stood, "Even if it means saving lives, now let's go before we're branded" Ketsueki then progresses into Satokotta, Faolan was astounded in his eyes by his answer.

Entering Satokotta, Faolan viewed how different the village was compared to his original village, there are more cemented floors, yet the majority was still wooden, the wooden houses and buildings were similarly built, but it was massive. Nature still resides inside the Satokotta, in the form of many snowy trees surrounding the buildings or some areas that are vacant. Faolan felt his body grow chilly than when they were outside Satokotta,

"Maybe that's why the village is called— wait, what's this?" Faolan detected a bright red string in the form of a particular insect and proceeded to retrieve it from the floor. Ketsueki stopped to see Faolan pick up the object,

' They're here already, I recognize that design, the one who made it she's really important to the Corps.,' Ketsueki rubs the scarf covering his mouth and shuts his eyes.

"Faolan, I'm going to brief you one more time and keep that, I think that belongs to one of us," Ketsueki crosses his arms behind his head. Faolan places the red stringed object within his book black package.

"Alright," Faolan is ready to listen quietly.

"The mission here was originally being investigated by Demon Slayers that are ranked Tsuchinoto, but now it calls for the ranks of Kinoe, the highest rank before a pillar, my rank," Ketsueki kept his arms crossed behind his back; Faolan senses Ketsueki's casualness fade after speaking of his rank.

"The mission involves multiple missing persons cases, but what was found to support evidence of Demons do not align, different instances of human captures leading to an unfound trail to save them. The kidnapping continues on here repeatedly as if the Demons were looking for something, I suspect maybe Muzan wants something from here, or like your village, they are looking for someone," Ketsueki turns to face Faolan.

"Don't get captured, who knows what'll happen," Ketsueki is assured by Faolan's nod and returns to following his designated location.

'Whatever is happening here, the Demons are capturing humans, looking for someone like me, what could Muzan or this mystery want from people? What's so special about attacking an entire village just for me?' Faolan thinks back home to Miss Yano-san, the children, and his friend Juichi.

"If that's the case then the Demon here must be as powerful as the one we fought back home," added Faolan.

"Yea, you're right," agreed Ketsueki. 'If that's the case, hopefully with what we know we could deduct something.

—————————————-

Faolan and Ketsueki reached a darkly vacant area full of snowy trees. They could hear adults rumbling, and soon the two noticed that there were three more Demon Slayers in Faolan's age group and two adults, one who was already a vulgar adult with a completely rough appearance; he wore a small white cloak with Demon Slayer attire underneath and had short spiky hair, the other a young adult, who was a woman, wore Demon Slayer attire along with a long haori with an accented pattern of sakura flowers, her hair was chin-length and squarely light auburn. The adults noticed that the two were coming and turned to see Ketsueki along with Faolan.

"You're awfully late, that is unacceptable to the mission, you idiot! And who is that brat? We weren't assigned another member around whatever his rank is!" the vulgar man seemed as if he is in constant distress.

"I decided to bring him along with the investigation because I can, so don't bitch at my decisions when we're trying to save lives, Arashi," 'Piece of shit,' Ketsueki rolls his eyes, Faolan quietly forms a stern look.

"You'll be too late to save lives if you arrive too late, you dumbass," Arashi closes in on aggressively Ketsueki

"Guys, enough!" the young adult spoke, she raised her arms as an expression of stillness.

"Now that he's here, we can inform Ketsueki of the latest news we got from the base," she turned to Kestueki as they both quieted down. A warm fire huddled the other Demon Slayers.

"If the situation here proves to be dire, a Hashira will be sent here. We believe that Hashira rank threat is imminent; Ketsueki you reported another incident that occurred that could be similar, elevated it to this level," she said to both Ketsueki and then turned to Faolan.

'A Hashira…' Faolan quietly inhales to himself.

"Okay, Faolan, was it? Ketsueki reported about your heroics; I'm glad to meet you. I'm Tsugumi Jasumin," Tsugumi gave a warm smile; Faolan bowed and nodded.

"Faolan go with the other Demon Slayers, I'll let you know when we'll head out," stated Ketsueki, and Faolan nodded.

'Alright, I gotta play this part,' Faolan headed to the campfire. The Demon Slayers were minding their own business now, at least two of them.

Faolan approached silently and settled down on a log, he tried not to look at any of the Demon Slayers until Ketsueki called upon him.

'This gonna be a trip,' Faolan silently sighed.

"Hello," a voice announced, Faolan raised his gaze to his side. He saw a girl with a slender build; she wore slightly white-tinted Demon Slayer attire with a skirt with red gloves, and a small white cloak covered her shoulders; her cheeks were rosy, she had bright brown eyes and thin eyebrows, she had lightly hazel hair with middle-parted bangs that fall into two locks of hair framing her face on each side, a brightly red butterfly held most of her hair in a bun. The red butterfly struck Faolan greatly which reminded him of the string.

"Hello, eh, I'm Okami Faolan," Faolan bowed in his seat.

"I'm Otani Yukina," she gave a warm smile to Faolan and bowed.

"Otani-san, does this belong to you? It halted our journey for not too long," Faolan reaches for the red string that he found. She looks at the string Faolan presents to her.

"Okami-kun, why would you think this red string you found off the floor belongs to me?" she asked with a confused expression. Faolan's eyes widened, and his face grew a bit red. 'Oh, I assumed this might've been hers because of the red color, and I found it on the floor,' Otani began to giggle in reaction to Faolan's expression. Faolan stayed silent, attempting to not look at Otani, as soon she finished giggling, she cleared her eyes.

"Yes, that belongs to me," Otani said as she smiled.

"So it is?" Faolan's face grew in confusion.

"I never said it wasn't, I just asked why would you think it's mine," she giggled again, taking the red string from Faolan, "Thank you very much if you want to call me Yukina," she smiled. Faolan watched her as she tied the string around her bun 'She's beautiful,' he thought. Then the thoughts of his Mother telling him to marry race back into his mind, causing his eyes to roll, but the memory makes him smile. Yukina notices.

"Alright" replies Faolan.

"Do you know the other two here?" Faolan asked; Yukina shut her eyes and spoke softly.

"Not really, we were assigned to assist the Kinoe ranks in the investigation here."

"Hm, okay," Faolan replies, inspecting the two Demon Slayers, who were both boys, one is sleeping, and the other is reading.

"The boy who is sleeping over there is Warau Kagero," informed Yukina. Faolan observed the resting boy; he wore the standard Demon Slayer attire that was tinted with red, and his haori expressed a colorful shade of honey with a fiery pattern throughout one side of the coat while the other was completely black; he wore a hat similar with a similar tint to his attire with a white underside to it, and his eyes weren't visible since he was asleep, but his hair was black and choppy, he had an unusual scar that stretched across his hand and neck.

"The other boy over there is a bit reserved; his name is Utazo Rikuu," added Yukina. Faolan now switched his gaze unto Utazo, who was reading some sort of book; his turquoise-shaded Demon Slayer attire was slimmer than usual, like Faolan's, and his blade was abnormally larger than the others. His hair is short and peachy, and his eyes were covered by eyeglasses; they were slightly dark purple.

"I believe he was trained by one of the pillars," Yukina said."

"A Hashira?" asked Faolan.

"Yes, but the pillar and Utazo are two different sides in the personality spectrum, but they share a common goal," Yukina said, finally opening her eyes.

"What is that?" Faolan asked once more.

"To complete the mission," Yukina stood to her feet, rested her arms behind her back, and strolled away with a smile, "I'll see you later," she made a look to where she was planning something as she waved, her red strings also resembled a butterfly flying through the icy air.

Faolan stayed silent, shut his eyes, and thought about the situation he was in. He was unsure of the Demon Slayer Corps. members yet, so he wanted to keep his mission to himself as best as he could, along with Ketsueki.

Based on what Yukina has told him, 'Utazo seems to be very aligned with the cause of the Corps.' but Faolan didn't want to assume too much, as well as for the case of Warau, who was sleeping, of the adults, and Yukina, leaving him indecisive of his feelings.

A sudden voice appears,

"Tomorrow, we're assigned to investigate the oldest presence of Demons in Satokotta. Get rested, don't wanna see you slumped up tomorrow," Ketsueki casually yawns as Faolan opens his eyes.

"You're all good with that guy?" Faolan asked.

"With the giant shit bitch? I'll let you know, and now I'll see you in the morning," Ketsueki leaves.

Faolan's eyes capture Ketsueki's movement as he leaves; he displayed a certain distress with such casual behavior. Faolan is now left with many thoughts to wonder about, and he started to breathe in the way his mother had told him to relax; he then reaches for the book to read, which influenced his mother so much for only a short time since he needed to rest.

The air grew colder, and the night had no moon, an uncanny evil lingered throughout Satokotta, and Faolan could feel the presence of evil within his eyes, similar to the presence of Aika and the Demon who his mother fought,

it was unsettling.