| 𝘚𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘈𝘣𝘺𝘴𝘴 | t. kamado

Chapter 2

- Reader's P.O.V -

"Hey, are you alright?" I called out to him. I ran over to him and dropped down to his level. I made sure to keep some distance between us, giving him his space.

His head shot up from his hands to look at me. There was a short moment of silence before he smiled at me. "Yes, I'm okay. Thank you." He was bleeding from the side of his head. It was still fresh, so whatever happened probably happened a little before I got here.

"Are you sure? I can help with the bleeding if you'd like." I opened my bag to grab and cloth to wipe away the blood. "What happened?"

He accepted my offer and let me help him. "There was a demon here. It was a lot stronger than the other low levels here."

"I thought this mountain only had low level demons? So far that's all I've come across." I finished wiping the blood off and sat across from him. I offered him my flask of water, which he kindly refused and said he had some.

"I think the majority of demons here are low levels, but I guess this one was an exception. He's been here for a long time, about forty years."

"That must suck." I took notice to the scar on the side of his head, or was it a tattoo? "Hey, is that a scar or a tattoo on your forehead?" I questioned.

He reached up and touched it. "Oh, it's a scar. I've had it for a while now."

I placed my elbow on my knee and rested my head in my hand. "How'd you manage to get the scar to look like that? It's swirly and it kind of looks like fire."

He looked at me like I was crazy. "Huh?"

Embarrassed, I sighed and waved my hand. "Never mind." There was a couple moments of silence, but it wasn't uncomfortable.

"So, where are you heading to after the selection?" He questioned, starting a conversation.

"Probably back to my parents, they would freak out if I didn't show up in a week. How about you?"

"I'm going back up to my mentor, Urokodaki. He'd also get worried if I wasn't back in time." He laughed.

Baffled, I started at him with wide eyes. "Urokodaki? As in Sakonji Urokodaki?"

He looked confused for a moment. "Yea, how'd you know?"

"My parents are demon slayers, they told me about him one time." I explained. "Oh, what's your name by the way? I'm [Y/N] [L/N]."

"Tanjiro Kamado." He smiled. "Nice to meet you, [Y/N]-chan."

-

The sun started to rise, which means I'd continue my travel around the mountain. Disappointment lingered in the back of my mind. Tanjiro and I would probably split up now. From the conversation we had, he's a kind boy. I enjoy talking to him.

Tanjiro stood up and brushed himself off. He looked back at me and smiled. "Would you like to come with me? It's better to stick with someone than to be alone." He offered.

I stood up after him, smiling back. "Sure, I suppose you're right." I agreed. We both set off, scaling the mountain.

The last of the days seemed to blow by. Tanjiro was right, it was a lot easier to get by with a partner. We both started going down the mountain to get back to the entrance. It wasn't that long of a walk.

Eventually, we got to the wisteria trees, after that was the clearing we started at. I looked around, including me and Tanjiro, there were five that made it. The butterfly girl, mohawk, and the blond. The twin girls from before were standing in front of a table with a cloth over it.

"Welcome," they started, "Congratulations. We're pleased that you're safe."

The mohawk interrupted them. "So? What am I supposed to do now? Where's my sword?" He demanded.

The twins ignored them and carried on with their speech. "First, we shall issue you all uniforms. We will take your measurements, after which your rank will be engraved." They began explaining each of the ranks. "Currently, you are at the lowest rank, Mizunoto."

"And our swords?" Mohawk rudely cut in.

Once again, the twins ignored him and carried on. "Today, we will let you choose the ore for your swords. However, the swords will take ten to fifteen days to complete." They said. Which satisfied the mohawk boy to an extent. "But first, we will now assign each of you your own Kasugai Crow. These crows will be primarily used for communication."

On que, four crows and a sparrow swooped down to land on everyone's shoulders. My crow landed gently on my shoulder, I'd have to name it later. I looked over to the sparrow and saw that it landed on the blond boy. He bore a frown and muttered something about having a crow.

"Don't give me that crap!" The mohawk boy yells and brushed his crow off. He sure does complain a lot. "Who the hell cares about some stupid crow?" He marched over to the twins and grabbed at the white ones hair. "I want a sword, you hear? Gimme one right now! The Demon Slayers' Sword! The Color Changing Sword!" He described the sword as if we didn't already know what the sword was.

Almost everyone audibly gasped. The blond had his hands out in front of him, shocked at what was going on. I stared with my mouth agape. What was he so impatient for? Tanjiro left my side stepped between mohawk and the girl. "Take your hand off her! Or else I'll break your arm." He threatened.

"Who the hell are you? Let's see you try it." Mohawk spit back.

Without hesitation, Tanjiro tightened his grip on his wrist. Finally, mohawk pulled back and gritted his teeth.

"Are you finished chatting?" The black haired twin said. She pulled back the tarp that was covering the table. On the table were ores. "Now then, please select an ore." She continued.

The five of us stood before the table, staring at the ores. All of them looked the same. How were we supposed to choose? Does it even matter which one I choose? Tanjiro stepped forward first, picking his out. I decided to pick after him. I just grabbed a random one and called it a day. From the looks of it, it wasn't anything special. I handed it to the twins and walked back over to Tanjiro.

"So, I guess this is goodbye." He smiled sadly at me.

"I guess it is. It was nice meeting you, Tanjiro. Hopefully we meet again." We bid each other farewell and went in our own separate directions. Now all I had to do was go back home and wait for my sword.

-

Word count: 1140