Demon Slayer - Tale of Flame and Dream : A Fan Story

Chapter Sixteen: Development and Strain

The sounds of construction and debris clearing had already begun to permeate the still air. Koba could be seen a few meters away carrying a lot more debris than others, despite his injury. "Shall we get going then?" Kellia's voice drew Ren's attention back she nodded and begun to walk back towards the docks. The sun had begun to rise giving the sky a nice orange glow. "Do you think that woman will be ok after, you know... I killed her son?" Ren asked. Kellia waved her down "Mrs Jua is a kind person, and you did tell her the truth about her son, it's a shame what happened though, I just wish demons and humans can be friends" the two talked all the way back to the butterfly mansion, the sun had actually begun to set by the time they arrived back at the mansion. Kellia was greeted by Aoi and the others, who took her to a guest room and said they'd bring food to her so she can get comfortable. Ren, meanwhile, took Yushi back to her annex and laid him down on his bed. During their travel, he had woken up but his movement was still stiff and painful, true to this, Yushi lay on his bed only able to lift his head slightly. "Just rest ok?" she said to him. "Kellia will be by tomorrow and help me look after you" Ren began to stroke the dogs head, to which his tail began to wag and he began to lick her hand.

Before she knew it, Ren woke up on the floor of the annex next to Yushi who was still asleep. There was a light knock at the door to which Ren stood up and moved closer to open it. When the door opened she saw Kellia stood there a bow and quiver of arrows slung over her shoulder. "Been practicing?" she asked her. "Take a look for yourself" Kellia said revealing several haversack dummies peppered with arrows, all focused around where the head and heart would be. "Good shots" Ren jested. "Lady Kocho talked to me last night, after introductions of course. She said that if I couldn't decapitate a demon then I should use something called wisteria poisons on my arrowheads" Ren nodded. "Yeah, Shinobu lacks the strength to decapitate a demon so she uses a modified blade that acts like a syringe, she stores her poison in her scabbard and used the tip of her sword to inject the poison into a demons body, the premise should be the same just poison coatings on your arrows, we can also talk to Tengen about explosives so you can get more utility from your arrows too." Ren said, seemingly thinking out loud. "Oh" Ren said with a slight jolt. "Speaking of the Sound Hashira, He was a shinobi before, just like you, if I'm remembering that correctly." This clearly peeked Kellia's interest. "If you want, I could ask him to drop by at some point" Ren asked. Kellia nodded. She peered around Ren to see Yushi. "How is he?" she asked. "He's fine, just sleeping at the moment, can you have a closer look at him please, I would but this isn't my strongest field and I don't want to hurt him any more" "Of course" she said moving around her and kneeling herself down next to Yushi, her bow and arrows resting on the table behind her. "Don't worry, I'll look after him, if you have stuff to do..." She said to Ren. "Thank you, you have no idea how much this means to me" Ren said bowing to her. She turned away and moved to the table just outside of the annex and began to write two letters. One addressed to Uzui, which read:

'Dear Sound Hashira;

I apologise my actions at the last meeting with the Master, it was very unbecoming of me, I am writing to ask you if you could stop by the Butterfly Mansion at some point soon. While on my latest mission, I encountered a woman who I believed would be a good fit for the Demon Slayer Corps, the most interesting thing about her is that she was also trained as a Shinobi, I understand that it's a sore subject for you but I would like it if you could come and talk to her and teach her about using shinobi skills as a demon slayer. I was also thinking that you could help her learn to use explosive arrows when she fights, Shinobu and I are teaching her the basics of being a demon slayer and she is even teaching her how to mix different wisteria poisons.

I hope that you can come by,

Yours faithfully,

Ren Gato'

She rolled the letter up and set it to one side as she began to write the second one.

'Dear Master Kagaya Ubuyashiki,

I'm writing to request permission to purchase my own estate and homestead in which I can train and recuperate after missions. My life at the Butterfly Mansion has been wonderful the past six years however I feel like the time is right for me to move on and establish myself as my own demon slayer. I also would like to inform you about me taking my own Tsuguko under my wing, I believe that they will be an excellent demon slayer.

Deepest Respect,

Ren Gato'

Despite this letter being shorter, it took a lot longer for her to write, Ren wanted it to look as good as possible. She called down a pair of messenger crows, tied the letters to each of their legs and asked them to deliver the letters to the corresponding recipient. The crows flew off and disappeared into the sun. As the crows disappeared Ren leant back in her chair and thought to herself, 'What happens if I do encounter a Kizuki? Rengoku has the ninth form of flame breathing that only he knows, I know we don't necessarily need one but I would like a form all my own' when she finished this thought, she stood up and moved to the training arena, She drew her sword and began to practice different sword strokes until one felt more natural to her. She trained like this for several hours until two people arrived to watch. Rengoku and Shinobu were stood to one side giving Ren the space to train. "Good day to you" Shinobu said to Ren as the latter took a breath. She turned to say hi when she saw Rengoku stood there with his arms crossed but a smile on his face. "Training to develop your own form I take it?" he asked. "Yep" Ren said cheerfully, "But I can't seem to get anything new" "Maybe try adding in more footwork and aerial movement" Shinobu interjected. "That's a good idea, try using the strength-based attacks of Flame Breathing with the speed of another" Rengoku said. "I'll give it a go"

Ren began to attempt to tidy up her footwork, she tripped every so often, but in time her movement becoming more fluid and pristine. Satisfied with her footwork, Ren gave a stylish leap into the air and spun herself, her sword spinning along with her body. She twisted her upper body and gave a 360o slash.

But something was wrong.

At once Ren felt every muscle in her body seize up. She fell, hit the floor hard, coughed up an alarming amount of blood and felt herself go into a seizure. Rengoku and Shinobu ran to her, worry on their faces, trying to help her recover. Ren's vision had begun to fade as she felt he lift her from the ground. Her vision soon faded to black as the gentle touch of Rengoku also faded away until she felt nothing as her consciousness faded.