Trouble of the Nobu Family

Shin could be seen walking down a path towards a small village, its been a week since he finally learned the first form of moon breathing and left the mountain, and as they agreed upon his relative vanished the next night. So now here he was, finding a way to train for Final Selection. A few days ago he heard a rumour about kids suddenly going missing and a couple seeing something strange happening.

Reaching the village Shin decided to ask one of the locals about the couple he was supposed to be looking for, even though the villager was lost on why a kid was asking these questions he still answered and took him to the home.

"If you don't mind me asking where are your parents?" The man was quite surprised to see a kid walking around unsupervised and with a weapon at that.

"Ah, I was sent to talk with the couple I asked you about. They are really good friends with my parents so they wanted me to deliver a message for them!" Shin had already thought of an excuse if it came down to it, no one would believe him if he told them what he was really here for due to his age, and to sell the bit he had to lie for now.

As they walked, Shin noticed how some homes had small pots sitting outside them with ashes within them. 'Ashes?' 

The man let out a small laugh, snapping Shin out of his thoughts before stopping and pointing towards a small house that was made out of wood. "That's the place, do be safe."

"Thank you sir, I will." Shin walked away towards the house couple's home.

*Knock! Knock! Knock!*

Shin knocked on the wooden door, not long after the door opened with a man standing behind it, he had black hair and brown eyes that had visible bags under them, not far behind him was a woman with blonde hair and green eyes that seemed to be crying.

"Hello?"

The man looked around confused as if he was looking for someone and as if on cue- 

"Ahem!" Shin let out a small cough to get his attention.

The man looked down only to see a boy with black to red hair and a sword on the hip. "Ah, hello, what can I do for you?"

His voice sounded tired and heavy, like he'd been stressed for days. Shin didn't let this bother him, he felt a bit of pity yet it wasn't enough for him to care as harsh as that may sound. "My name is Shin, I'm here for the disappearances." 

The man's eyes widened as he felt hope but that was quickly replaced with doubt and disbelief. "Are you a Demon Slayer?"

This didn't surprise Shin at all, he was only eight years old, he did wonder how the man knew of Demon Slayers but he nodded his head anyway.

The man quietly sighed before moving aside to let Shin in. "Please, come in."

Shin didn't think much about it and walked inside, the home wasn't big but it was nice and clean.

"Honey, who is this?" 

The woman he saw earlier walked towards them, her eyes were still red from crying even after the effort of trying to hide it, she looked at Shin with a curious yet wary gaze.

"His name is Shin, he's a Demon Slayer, he's here to fix the disappearances." 

As he finished saying that the woman gave him a doubtful look, he responded with a look that said. 'Yea, I know, can't believe it either'.

Shin sighed before walking towards a mat to sit down on. "If you don't mind, I'd like to ask a couple of questions."

The couple nodded and sat down in front of him. "We'll answer everything to the best of our ability."

"Alright, how long has this been going on and when was the last occurrence?"

The woman slightly frowned as tears started to build up in her eyes, the man wrapped his arms around her and brought her into his embrace, soon after she started to calm down and answer. "It started 2 weeks ago, a couple's daughter ended up going missing in the dead of night, there was nothing left behind and she was assumed to have just run away. Of course, her parents didn't believe their daughter would do such a thing, she was well taken care of."

"Ever since then kids began to start disappearing every 2 nights, the last occurrence was our.. little girl, Mina, it happened last night. I felt something was wrong so I hurriedly moved to our daughter's room only to find her being taken out the window by this green looking thing."

"Please, you have to bring our little girl back!" 

'That sounds like a demon alright..' Shin held his chin as he went into thought. 'It seems like it's only going after kids like I thought but that doesn't explain why a Demon Slayer hadn't been out here to fix the issue.' 

He shook his head and looked back towards the couple. 'I'll figure it out.'

"How do you know about Demon Slayers?" It was a simple question yet he was curious, he always thought they were supposed to be some secret or something.

The man decided to answer this time and smiled slightly. "My dad use to tell me stories my grandfather told him, how Demon Slayers would protect the people from the Oni."

Shin nodded his head. "This will be one of my last questions but what are your names? I forgot to ask, and it would help if I come across your daughter."

"Otani."

"Toya."

Shin nodded his head once again, the man was known as Otani while his wife's name was Toya. "Thank you both for cooperating, I'll try my best to fix the situation."

After asking some more questions Shin left the home, the sun had already disappeared and the moon took its place, most might have wished for it to be day once again but after the training Shin had he came to appreciate and be more comfortable with the moon rather than the sun.

After stretching a bit he decided to explore the town since he would be here for a day or so, the demon might come out earlier than expected.