Mugen Train Arc: deep sleep

~~~~~~~~~~1914~~~~~~~~~~~

Tanjiro walked next to Kanao, Inosuke, and Zenitsu right behind them as they walked through the inside of the train. "Hahaha, look at this! The inside of the beast is magnificent!" Inosuke was once again causing a scene. "Inosuke, there are other-" Kanao could not finish saying 'Passgener' before Inosuke started disturbing other people on the train. Going between windows, he even scared a family when he slammed his boar mast against one of the windows, amazed by how fast the land was passing by. "This beast is amazing!" Tanjiro and Zenitsu had to prevent him from jumping out of a window of a moving train because he wanted to "race the beast" Kanao was a little amused watching them pull Inosuke back inside.

"I am so sorry sir," Tanjiro says to the man who was sitting by the window that Inosuke tried to jump out of. The man smiled up at him "oh do not worry, he reminds me of my rowdy children." Inosuke was once again held back by Zenitsu "WHAT DID THIS OLD MAN JUST CALL ME?!" the old man, actually Zettour stared between Tanjiro and Kanao, he had noticed the two originally walking in holding hands. "You two also remind me of my wife and I when we were younger." he chuckled "though I suppose we were a little older when we met."

Tanjiro's and Kanao's faces went pink, the former spoke "w-well thank you. We will let you get back to your trip without interruptions." Tanjiro grabbed Kanao's hand, this initially made her face go redder though it went back to a more dusted pink when Tanjiro smiled at her, Kanao smiled back. "Ack! Zentasi! You are choking me, ack!" Inosuke sputters out as his neck is unintentionally squeezed by Zenitsu in the boy's jealous rage. "How did he get a girlfriend before me?" Zenitsu says between grinding teeth. 

"Tell me your name before you go my boy," Zettour says while Tanjiro does not seem suspicious of him, and he holds out his hand. The boy walks forward a bit and shakes his hand, being very close but not being ticked off at all by the true demon nature of the current businessman. "Tanjiro Kamado and this is Kanao Tsuyuri" Kanao bows her head as Tanjiro introduces her. Zettour breaks off the shaking and soon all four slayers leave to another cart. Zettour smirks, his cover art was indeed working wonders, a conductor was going around clipping people's tickets. 'Good thing I've come prepared' he thinks as he hands what looks like a ticket, but is another usage of his cover blood art, the real ticket was still in his pocket. 'I sensed demon blood on the ticket, probably from lower one or three' the conductor clipped his ticket, none the wiser to the supposed businessman's technique. 

The four slayers made their way further through the train carts. Inosuke was still rubbing his neck after Zenitsu nearly made his head pop off. "Hey, Tanjiro are you sure Rengoku and Kocho are on this train?" Zenitsu asked as he thought they were meeting the two hashira at the mission site. Tanjiro nodded "yeah, I am sure of it. I think I am catching a familiar scent-" just as Tanjiro opens the door to the next cart the four slayers hear a loud "DELICIOUS!" booming in from the cart. 

Kyojuro puts another bit of rice in his mouth, shouting out "delicious!" again when he does. "She is here as well," Kanao said as she noticed the indistinguishable blonde ponytail sticking out from atop Tanya's head. Tanjiro nodded and the four of them moved closer to what seemed to be the two Hashiras. The other train passengers were looking at the man who kept saying "delicious!" loudly and often with food still in his mouth. Tanya sighed from her spot, she has finished her bento and was stuffed, but Kyojuro was eating through the rest of it like each had been a light snack to him. 'I felt less embarrassed when we kissed in front of these people.' she then peered over and noticed Tanjiro, Kanao, Zenitsu, and Inosuke. She also noticed the box which meant Nezuko was still with them.

"Um, excuse Mr. Reng-" Tanjiro was suddenly cut off when Kyojuro shouted out "DELICIOUS!" making all for slayers jump again, Kanao hide behind Tanjiro, Tanya raised an eyebrow. 'Something is different, she seems less embarrassed around him' she thought before saying "Kyojuro swallow your food, oh and hello you four. Did not know you were joining this mission." Kanao came out from behind Tanjiro's back "hello Tanya-nee" Kyojuro swallowed the food in his mouth "Young Kamado and his friends, Hashibara and Agatsuma! I welcome you! Sadly we cannot train on this train. But thank you for joining us on this mission aboard the Mugen train!"

Inosuke crossed his arms "hah, this beast won't know what hit them!" Kyojuro just laughed without actually knowing what the boar mask wearer was even saying. Kyojuro looked over at the box on Tanjiro's back "and the box, I assume." Tanjiro nodded "yes, my sister is in there" the boy's eyes widen "I-I mean." Kyojuro raised a hand to stop him "it is quite alright, I recognized your sister a long time ago, at least that I am not threatened by her." he and Tanya discussed it on the way to the village they were in last night. While they cannot say for sure if they accept Nezuko as a slayer, they can accept her as none-lethal and worth protecting. "Tanjiro nodded, U-um, can we sit here and talk?" the two hashira nodded, Tanjiro placed Nezuko's box on the seat behind him. He sat across from Kyojuro while Kanao sat across from Tanya. Inosuke and Zenitsu sat one seat over in the next aisle, Inosuke devouring what remained of the bento boxes.

While the train moved the two hashira stood across the two slayers. Both couples and demon slayers alike. "S-so!" Tanjiro spoke while Kyojuro quickly responded "yes?" Tanjiro gulped "my father was always sickly and weak." Kyojuro quickly responded again "I am terribly sorry to hear that!" Tanjiro gulped "but even in cold snowy whether that would be hard to breathe in, much less move in, father was able to perform the Hinokami Kagura perfectly and without any trouble." again, Kyojuro quickly responded, "that is great!" Tanjiro held his pants before looking up at Kyojuro and saying "During my fight with the twelve Kizuki I was able to use it as a sword fighting breathing technique, and fire seemed to erupt around my blade. So if you know anything about the Hinokami Kagura please tell me!"

Kyojuro was silent. Tanya smirked when she saw how the two of them talked, it was like Kyojuro was responding to Tanjiro like an older brother, quickly and with understanding. She opened her eyes and noticed Kanao seemed engrossed with the conversation as well. Once again she raised an eyebrow. 'The hinokami kagura? I never heard of it, maybe it is on the half of the flame hashira book I did not finish.' 

When Kyojuro did speak up he did so with disappointing news "I have never heard of this Hinokami Kagura. But it is quite impressive your father could turn his dance into a breathing technique!" Tanjiro seemed disappointed now. "Don't beat yourself up Kamado, maybe it is a spin-off from the main techniques." Tanya said with crossed arms "I believe Water, Wind, flame, stone, and thunder make up the central techniques. The rest spun off from them, including mine and others that hashira use." Kyojuro nodded to confirm Tanya's explanation. "Oh I see, I suppose that makes sense" Tanjiro sulked. Kanao put her hand on Tanjiro's shoulder "it will be fine Tanjiro, maybe one of Hashira's archived books will have it."

With that, and another eyebrow raised Tanya said "Tanjiro? I see, Kanao." both slayers turned their attention to Tanya who said "you two are dating each other aren't you?" the young slayer's faces went red. "S-sorry! We did not tell anyone because it is still new…" Kanao tapped her fingers together "w-well some people anyways." Tanjiro raised was about to speak when Tanya stopped him "I am not judging, really I am happy for you two so long as it does not get in the way of your duties." the two nodded "oh, and Tanjiro" Tanya's look became one that caused fright in the poor boy "you better take care of her." Tanjiro nodded many times in a row.

"HAHA! This reminds me of when I asked Kanae if I could ask you on a date!" Tanya's face went pink "y-you asked her? Why?" Kyojuro simply said "because she was a scary hashira, even able to intimate Shinazugawa! So of course I had to ask!" Tanya sighed and just grumbled, she could hear Kanao's attempts to stifle giggles. 'Of course, she never found out if he ever asked me' Tanya thought, as Kanae died during a mission the same day Kyojuro even asked her out. And two years before they started dating in the first place. 'She always teased me and Shinobu about getting married and starting a family, but she never got to see either of start dating to begin with.' she sighed. 

"Young Kamado!" Kyojuro said loudly, getting the boy's attention. "Y-yes? Also, where are you looking?" Tanjiro said as he noticed the same place the flame hashira was been staring at was right above him rather than on him directly. "You should become my Tsuguko! I meant to ask you back at the estate but forgot!" Tanjiro sputtered due to the suddenness of this "w-what?" sure he and his friends wanted to train with Kyojuro, but he did not think as a Tsuguko would.

 Kyojuro laughed loudly before asking "what is your Katana's color?" Tanjiro blinked and said "black." Kyojuro nodded "that is a shame, I hear slayers with that color have trouble picking a form" he then spoke so passionately it was if flames had burst out around him "but fear not, as my Tsuguko and under my tutelage, I shall make a demon slayer worthy of the hashira even!" Tanjiro was still in awe "do not worry, you can make your decision now or after the mission on this train is complete." Tanya opened her mouth, that was so little time even she was shocked and even impressed. 

"WAIT!" Zenitsu got up from his seat, making Inosuke drop one of the Bentos. "D-did you just say the mission is on this train?" Tanya nodded "yeah, I thought you knew. If the demon threat that calls for hashira to deal with was somewhere else Kyojuro and I would already be there." hearing that Zenitsu held his head and hair, "I-I thought we were heading to the mission site. I am not ready to face a demon on a train! What if it knocks me off and my head gets bashed in! AHHHHHH" the passengers were very confused by why the boy was screaming. 

The train conductor comes in quietly, bags under his eyes. The passengers look at him as he goes to the closest one. "Ticket please," he says in a low monotone voice. Inosuke was confused before Tanya said, "he is going around asking for tickets, it's a normal thing on trains to ensure you are actual passengers." Zenitsu stopped freaking out, he was so happy it was not him who had to explain stuff to country bumkins. He would hug Tanya, but he knew better, she was scary on her own, but Kyojuro was there as well. 

The conductor went around clipping the tickets as valid whenever he was shown them including that of the slayers. Tanya looked at him after her ticket was confirmed by the conductor 'he looks like the workers did back in my first life when they worked late shifts or overtime to avoid getting fired. But this seems different somehow.' when the Conductor clipped Tanjiro's ticket he caught the passing scent of sadness from the conductor. But Tanjiro's ticket was the last one clipped in the cart so the conductor was about to leave before he does think the lights start flickering. Kyojuro and Tanya can feel it. 

Screaming is heard in the cart as on the opposite end of the cart a demon suddenly appeared from thin air almost. Or maybe he had just made his presence known, it stood up with three faces attached to its head. "A-a demon is here?!" Tanjiro said as while the mission was on this train he was shocked to not smell it till after it showed up. Kyojuro stood up and had his sword on full display "forgive me for the weapon conductor, I must deal with this demon." the conductor remained silent and was unfazed by the presence of the demon. Tanya and the rest of them got their swords out, except for Zenitsu who was hiding behind a chair. 

"Perhaps it was a blood demon art that concealed your presence till now. But no matter!" Kyojuro held his sword over his should as heat erupted from him. Tanya had seen him fight before, so they were not nearly as enthralled by the heat as the junior slayers were. Though she loved seeing him do so. The demon yelled loudly and jumped up towards Kyojuro. "Flame breathing" Kyojuro jumped up while bright red flames surrounded his sword "first form, unknowing flame!" before the demon could react Kyojuro quickly cut off his head in midair. 

He spins and crashes through the door and turned back to see the rest of the demon's body explode from the attack. Tanjiro stared in amazement "h-he took it out in one move?" the other slayers nodded. "Yeah, you should see him go full out" Tanya does not normally like bragging about Kyojuro, but her boyfriend was looking to make Tanjiro his Tsuguko. Though he already looked like he was more than impressed, and the brag was not really needed. "There is another!" Kyojuro shouted as he ran past the confused passengers of the next cart. As they left and the passengers cowered behind him, the conductor has no reaction.

When they made it to the next cart with a demon inside it they saw a demon with long limbs, it looked slowly moving but was also quite strong. A man was trapped under him, one that was freaking out as the demon was lower its head to bite at him. "HEY!" the demon adjusted itself to look at the slayers, who Kyojuro was standing in front of. Before Kyojuro could say another word Inosuke ran past them. "Inosuke wait!" Zenitsu tried to stop him but he just huffed "it is first come first serve!" he was preparing a beast-breathing fang, but suddenly the supposed slow demon grew a new limp that instantly went for inosuke which forced him to defend himself instead of attack. 

Another limb nearly got him but someone grabbed him and the man below the demon in a very quick motion, throwing them onto separate seats. The person was Tanya who stared directly at the demon. The demon had been distracted looking over at Tanya, Inosuke, and his lost human prey that Kyojuro was able to attack before the demon even knew it was happening. "Second form; rising scorching sun!" in an instant the head was cut off but the upward circular swing. The body collapsed while taking some of the seats down with it, the demon's body and head dissipating not long after.

Kyojuro sheathed his sword with a wide smile, nodding his head at Tanya who smiled back. Kanao noticed Tanjiro was just staring, she even poked him to make sure he was alright. "That. was…" he could no longer contain his excitement. "Amazing big bro!" he shouted so firmly and ran up to him. "Please let me be your apprentice!" Kyojuro laughed loudly "of course I will!" Zenitsu ran up as well "and me?" Kyojuro nodded. Inosuke ran up "me three!" Kyojuro nodded and proudly said, "of course, I shall turn all three of you into slayers worth of the hashira as my Tsugukos!" 

All three boys shouted and cheered. One after the other, from Tanjiro to Zenitsu, to Inosuke all three said "Aniki! Aniki! Aniki!" the three boys were floating in excitement, literally. Kyojuro laughed along with their cheers. Tanya and Kanao just kinda stood there, unsure of how one would react to seeing this, much less how they should. But Tanya was still impressed 'three Tsuguko's at once, I cannot even think of one myself' she shrugged and just thought that maybe she did not need one. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later all of the slayers were asleep while the train moved, for now, comfortable. Inosuke had fallen asleep spread out across his seat with his head on Zenitsu's lap, he snored loudly. But Zenitsu had fallen asleep before him with his head against the back of the seat. The two sleeping peacefully.

Tanjiro and Kanao had fallen asleep leaning against one another, a small smile on Kanao's face. Kyojuro was smiling as he always was, Tanya however stopped smiling. The two were still asleep but they had originally fallen asleep leaning against one another like Tanjiro and Kanao. But a few bumps on the train cart and Tanya's unconscious body unintentionally found itself laying against the window instead. The entire cart was full of asleep passengers.

The train conductor ran through the train until he stopped and bowed down on the floor. "I-I did as you asked now please, let me see my dead wife and kid in my dreams!" he spoke tearfully. He was bowing to a demon's hand with a mouth on it. "Very well~" with a purple flash the conductor was now asleep like at the passengers. The hand turned where there were six kids of various looks, each staring at the hand like they have seen it many times.

"my blood demon art activated the moment their tickets were stamped, use the rope to invade their dreams, and destroy their spiritual core" the hand spoke blissfully. "Why not just attack them directly?" one of the kids asked with a lisp. "They may be asleep but these slayers, especially two of them will have remarkable survival instincts. Attacking their cores is the best way to ensure their defeat." the hand snickered. "Remember, the dreams I place them in are not infinite, find the edge, beyond it you will find the deep unconsciousness. There is a spiritual cord. Destroy it. And I will give you the most wonderful dream any of you could ask for." all six nodded.

Tanjiro felt like he was falling through water, when he opened his eyes he found himself in a snowy forest. "What? Wasn't I just on the train?" he looked around, he felt like he recognized this place. His eyes widened "this is… this is home!" his first thought was this was somehow the work of a demon. He walked further till he came across his home. Tanjiro froze, his eyes widened as two familiar small children came into view. "Oh, big brother," Hanako said with a wide smile, holding something in her hands a bucket of water. "That can't" Tanjiro pictured their deaths again. "Brother, you okay?" Shigeru said with a worried look. 

Tanjiro stumbled a bit and then started running towards them, as he ran closer his clothes looked more like his charcoal outfit rather than his demon slayer one. He hugged them while falling into the snow "I am so sorry! I could not save you all!" Tanjiro yelled, tears running down his face as he held what should be his dead siblings close. Shigeru and Hanako look at each other confused.

Inosuke walked through a cave saying "we are a cave expedition team off to kill a beast" over and over again, a figure that looked like Nezuko with bunny ears walked behind him, along with a figure that looked like Kanao with butterfly wings growing out of her back. "Boss!" two new figures said, one 'Panjiro' spoke first "we have tracked down the beast!" another 'Chuitsu' said, "we are awaiting your command boss." Inosuke let them lead the way where they saw the train as a beast with centipede legs "attack!" Chuitsu and Panjiro did as their boss told them to, while 'Kanat' and 'Nezaka' were bribed in thanks to acorns. 

Zenitsu ran through peach orchids while holding someone's hand, that person being Nezuko "I can't wait to get some of those flowers Zenitsu" Zenitsu nodded "I will be sure to pick you plenty" they made it to a river when suddenly Nezuko became nervous "Zenitsu, I am embarrassed to admit, I cannot swim." Zenitsu gasped with a blushing face "do not worry my sweet Nezuko I shall carry you over!" she got on his back and he jumped across the river Zenitsu could not be happier. 

Kanao blinked, she looked around and noticed she was back at the butterfly estate. But it felt different 'what is happening?' she then looked at her hands and noticed they were smaller. She got up and ran to the mirror in her room, she was years younger. She looked like she did only a year after being brought to the estate. "Kanao~" she frozen not even turning around "you are awake, good, Shinobu made your favorite breakfast…I think" Kanao turned to see the warm smile of Kanae. Tears filled her "k-Kanae-nee!" she ran up and hugged the woman who was currently far taller than her, having to hug the legs. Kanae reached down and brought Kanao in for a proper hug "you must have had a bad dream. But I am here, so do not worry."

Kyojuro opened his eyes. He noticed he was in the flame estate, 'why am I here?' he looked down and saw his father, 'oh right, I am here to tell him that I became a hashira.' Kyojuro preceded to tell him about his mission, and that he just became the flame Hashira as he did. After a few seconds of silence, Shinjuro said coldly "So what?" Kyojuro's smile dropped. Shinjuro scratched his legs and preceded to say "you will just end up amounting to nothing, just like me." 

Kyojuro exited his father's room, "Kyojuro." Senjuro ran up to his older brother. "How did father take the news?" he was so excited he did not notice Kyojuro's rare unhappy expression. "D-do you think if I become a hashira as well, the father will accept me as well?" Kyojuro sighed and went on a knee to properly face Senjuro, he relented that Senjuro barely remembered their mother's face, leaving him more alone than ever. "I will be frank Senjuro, he did not care. He spoke as though I had done the worst thing to him." Senjuro started to cry a little, worried his father would always hate them. 

Kyojuro patted his little brother's head "but I have not given up hope! And you and I are not the same Senjuro." Kyojuro smiled again "ever you do with your life, your older brother will always support you. I will always be proud of you." Senjuro nodded wiping some of the tears from his eyes. Senjuro still wanted help practicing his sword swinging, which Kyojuro was happy to oblige. As they walked on Kyojuro looked into the halls of their home "something wrong brother?" Kyojuro stared back into the halls "nothing, let us train hah!" as they walked over to the gardens Kyojuro thought. 'Why, why does it feel like something is missing?'

'Daisuke!' one voice said, 'Major!' another voice said. Tanya floated down in the water. Kept hearing 'Daisuke' her last name in her first life as a salaryman and 'Major!' a rank she had in her second life. It was heard over and over and over again till she opened her eyes. She was in a war bunker, she recognized it. It was towards the western front, in the republic no less! "Major!" she heard as there knocking on the door.

Tanya stood there, she was in her military uniform but that made no sense to her. "What the hell? I should be on a train not here." the voice, who Tanya now recognized as Viktoriya's said "train?" Tanya sighed and opened the door. "What do you mean Major? We arrived by train three days ago." Tanya held her head as her vision shook. "You okay major?" 

Tanya nodded as her pain went away and her vision went back to normal. "Yeah just, why are we here again?" Viktoriya tilted her head with a perplexed expression "major, the unified states managed to retake the republics' shores weeks ago along with the commonwealth. Our forces are holding them off in the country's former capital but we were sent to defend the empire's main borders." Tanya nodded along with Viktoriya's words "right it is coming back to me, make sure everyone is ready, we take off in an hour!" Viktoriya saluted and walked off. 

Tanya was finally free to be alone for a bit. "What the hell happened, was that all a dream? Did I seriously dream of all of that to escape the realities of war?" she shook her head, it was all too real for her to accept that. Plus she hated coping mechanisms, she wanted people to deal with their problems not ignore them to pretend to be happy! "Wait…" her eyes widen, she rushes back into the bunker and sees the date circled for their defense operation. "I remember this day" she hears laughing and her face contorts, she turns her head and see two nutcracker dolls "f-forgive me Tanya, b-but if you get through this I can give you big help soon…hopefully!" Being Z said with a nervous tone. 

Tanya was infuriated, "what do you mean?" her eyes strained with veins. Being X laughed "thanks to a demon I was able to conjure the perfect way to get you to pray for help!" Tanya seethed her teeth, noticing she could still move despite them being here "never!" Being X laughed "then enjoy reliving the day your platoon died over and over and over again! Because until you pray and plead for my help, that is what you will do!" both beings disappeared, and being Z said "sorry" as they did. Tanya gripped her fist "there has to be another way out!"