Chapter 09: Riding the Dream Train.

Zenitsu's promotion was celebrated at the Swordsmith Village and after night's feast, Zenitsu bade farewell to the villagers and left for his mission.

Zenitsu met Rengoku, the flame Hashira who was already seated on the train, eating a lot of bentous with gusto. The loud "UMAAI" rang across the cabin with each morsel of food that he ate. Zenitsu walked up to him and sat across the seat Rengoku was in.

Tanjiro and Inosuke walked into the cabin, while Inosuke was marvelled at the sight of the train. He was like an excited child, who was hyped up after getting on the train for the first time.

Tanjiro saw Zenitsu waving his hand, asking them to come over. He pulled Inosuke over, "Zenitsu, thank you for saving my life and Nezuko's last time." Tanjiro bowed.

"Don't mind the small things, that's what friends are for, right?" Zenitsu smiled.

Rengoku who had finished eating, beckoned Tanjiro to sit next to him and Inosuke sat beside Zenitsu.

"So, you are the newly promoted Thunder Hashira?" Rengoku asked Zenitsu shocking the living day-lights out of Inosuke and Tanjiro.

"HAAA!!! How did you become a Hashira when I did not even manage to go past Kanoto?" Inosuke shouts with steam coming out of his boar mask nostrils.

"Well, I became strong and slayed a lot of demons. You guys do that and become the Water Hashira and the Beast Hashira, that sounds awesome, right?" Zenitsu asked and the chibi versions of Tanjiro and Inosuke nodded.

The three chatted along, Tanjiro asked about the HINOKAMI KAGURA, but Rengoku had no idea about it. With some weird twist of fate, Rengoku took Tanjiro as his TSUGUKO and invited Inosuke and Tanjiro over to train.

The ticket checking officer came along and punched the tickets. Everyone fell asleep and Zenitsu feigned slumber to play along with the ticket checking officer. He stood up and chopped the neck of the man, leaving him unconscious before he tried to stir them awake.

Seeing that they were unable to wake up, Zenitsu decided to eliminate the problem from its root. Closing his eyes, Zenitsu sensed the presence of the demon and rushed out like a bolt of thunder.

He found the demon trying to fuse with the train itself and unsheathed his blade. Crouching a bit, Zenitsu took the stance and exhaled. KAMINARI NO KOKYU~ YOTSU NO KATA—ENRAI.

He sent three intersecting slashes at the demon and chased right behind the slashes with the first form, ICHI NO KATA—HEKI REKI ISSEN. The demon was slashed in two pieces by its abdomen, he raised his left hand with a mouth on it that said, SLEEP.

Zenitsu tilted his head, "why?"

"SLEEP!!"

"SLEEP!!"

"SLEEP!!"

Zenitsu just strolled over and slashed his head off only to see a weird protrusion come out of the train and connected with the decapitated head of the demon.

By this time, Nezuko had burned the rope on Tanjiro's wrist and brought him out of the spell. Zenitsu was embroiled in a fight with the demon who had started attacking with a lot of tentacles made out of flesh. Zenitsu jumped on the tentacle that was about to swat him off the train and rose up high in the air.

Doing a mid-air flip, he exhaled. KAMINARI NO KOKYU~ KYU NO KATA—RAIJIN NO KOKA or the THUNDER GOD'S DESCENT. He fell from the sky like a bolt of lightning and slashed the demon's head, severing it in two pieces from the nose level.

The train that was taken over by the demon, had lost its speed and stopped. Now that the demon was slayed, the train returned back to normalcy. Rengoku and Tanjiro came up to see Zenitsu sheathing his sword under the full moon, highlighting his handsome appearance that looked even better bathed by the moonlight.

Tanjiro quickly drew the blood collector and took the blood from the demon before it burned off into ashes.

The crow informed that the reserve forces will be here to handle the aftermath. All they had to do was to wait till the sunrise before backup arrived.

Inosuke was injured while defending the passengers from being devoured. He was taking a rest while Tanjiro kept the blood container safely in his robes.

Zenitsu perked up, even if he did not hear the rapidly nearing footsteps, he knew that it was Akaza a demon of the UPPER MOON THREE.

The demon had a body covered in lined tattoos and his head was adorned in pink hair and the eyes were bright golden, matching Zenitsu. Rengoku and Zenitsu sprang up to their feet and unsheathed their blades, taking stances to attack the first opening they find.

"My name is Akaza, a demon of the Upper Moon. I am here to invite you two to become demons, to join our ranks in deference of your strength." He dashed towards Tanjiro in the bid to crush his head like a watermelon.

Rengoku slashed Akaza's hand and before he could jump back, Zenitsu held Akaza's wrist and slashed his left hand from the shoulder.

Akaza had a visibly shocked face that clearly displayed his shock. Zenitsu collected blood from the cut off hand that was slowly burning into ashes and stored it safely in his robes.

"Remember well demon, it does not matter what your name, nor does your rank among the demons. Under my blade's edge, there is no mercy, there is no escape, you are as mortal as any other human." Zenitsu spoke in a voice colder than ice itself.

Tanjiro, you and Inosuke go and help the people evacuate from the train wreck. Me and Rengoku-san will be more than enough for this little chum.

"Fearsome spirit, you boy in yellow haori, come be a demon. You, who are already so strong, just imagine if you live forever, if you train for a century, if you train for two, what level will you reach, just think of how strong will you will be." Akaza spoke words that could tempt any soul.

The temptation to train for centuries, without losing physical and mental performance to grow stronger with each passing day. It could tempt any soul that lacked conviction wrought out of steel, the sheer will to resist giving in, a chosen few had it in them.

"Don't insult me, if I want strength, my blade shall be the path, my heart shall lead the way. My name is Zenitsu Kuwajima, the son of Jigoro Kuwajima, I am the Thunder Hashira. I can lose, I can cry, I can give up, I can run away, but I will never give up. Even if I die, my ghost will draw my blade and bring it down on the demons till your race exists." Zenitsu roared, shocking everyone in the earshot.

Zenitsu had the aura of a warrior, a warrior who had seen blood and iron, his gallant back with the unsheathed back seemed like a towering giant.

"HAHAHAHAHA, you should definitely become a demon. Your fighting spirit is the brightest I have ever seen, up until now, I have invited many Hashira to join us demons. No one accepted, not even you." Akaza laughed.

"HAKAI SATSU!! JUTUSIHKI TENKAI!! RASHIN!!" Akaza growled and a snowflake formed on the ground with numbers placed on different positions.

"SORYUU!!" He punched the air and the shockwaves travelled all the way to hit Zenitsu in his gut.

Zenitsu grimaced, the pain made him spit a mouthful of blood. He looked towards Rengoku and nodded, the later returned the nod and flared in next to Akaza and slashed diagonally across Akaza and left a cut while dodging the incoming fist and kicked Akaza with a straight in the face.

Akaza who had lost his balance felt a chill in his spine and ducked, dodging Zenitsu's blade as a few of his pink hair were slashed. He jumped back a few meters to create a distance from the two Hashira.

"Rengoku-san, my blade is the legendary crimson. Let's switch hands when we fight, one demon, one blade and two Hashira, does it not sound very poetic?" Zenitsu chuckled.

"Is it really the truth?" He asked with eyes wide from shock.

"Yup, let's finish this quickly. I don't want this demon to die because of the Sun, my blade has yet to claim an upper moon demon's head. I don't want to miss its first blood from the first battle it was unsheathed in." Zenitsu charged in while Rengoku sheathed his blade and chased right after.

Zenitsu and Rengoku were displaying the might of the total concentrated breathing constant, they flickered and flashed around Akaza. Zenitsu slashed Akaza's right foot, but missed, he passed the blade to Rengoku and elbowed Akaza in the gut.

Rengoku who got the blade slashed without missing a beat and an open gash formed on Akaza's chest that started bleeding. No matter how much he tried to recover from his wounds, they did not heal, his left shoulder did not stop bleeding, nor did it regenerate.

While the loss of blood was insignificant to his demon physique, but the disbalance and imparity brought by the loss of an arm had punched a huge hole of openings in his fighting style. His attack and defence were in disorder, but with his instinct alone, he held on.

Matching up to the moves of two Hashira, Akaza was slowly losing his ground, his wounds were increasing and they were not even closing, let alone regenerating. Seeing the sun was almost on the horizon, he decided to flee, kicking Rengoku on the chest Akaza turned tail and fled to the forest.

"Rengoku-san, pass me the blade!!" Roared Zenitsu.

Rengoku tossed the blade with the last of his strength, the fight put too much strain on his body and the hits Akaza could connect were heavy. His ribs were broken on many points and the last kick broke the sternum. The broken bones were caved in, hurting the lungs with each breath, yet he held on, threw the blade to Zenitsu with last of the strength he could muster.