|| 𝒀-𝑶-𝑲-𝑨-𝑰 || 𝑲𝑵𝒀 𝒙 𝑶𝑪 ||

Chapter 1: "Yokai Breathing...?"

{3rd person POV}

"Rei?" a woman called out, "yes mother?" the toddler named 'Rei' answered back to her mother. She got down from the huge boulder she was sitting on while waiting for her father to arrive from his recent mission from the Demon Slayer Corps. " What are you still doing here? Your father arrived from his mission 5 minutes ago." her mother questioned her daughter who was running towards her. "Father already arrived? But I thought he always walks through the village gate?" the girl pointed towards the large gate of her village which was surrounded by wisteria trees. Her mother, Himari Tamotsu, shakes her head at her daughter while smiling.

"Your father came through the short cut behind the village with the other swordsmen. Now I want you to come with me 'cause your father has something to say to you" Himari said to her 6-year-old daughter who was looking up at her confused. "Father has something to say? Is it a surprise? A gift?" Rei asked excitedly. Her mother shook her head and said, "It isn't but you'll get to learn something different than the other kids". Rei stayed quiet, thinking deeply about what her father wanted to say to her. Soon, both the mother and daughter arrived in front of their household.

Inside, her father was waiting patiently for his wife and daughter while drinking tea. "Father! We're back!" Rei called out to her father. Her father, Kenji Tamostu, immediately stood up from and speedily walked towards the two females. "Rei, where have you been? I was so worried about you!" Kenji exclaimed at his daughter while hugging her. "I was waiting for you to come through the village gate but you never came so I waited for you until you came back," Rei said to her father, hugging him as tight as he did.

The hug ended with her father pulling away from his daughter, "I'm just glad you and your mother are safe, if not I wouldn't forgive myself for letting your mother go all by herself" Kenji said to his daughter and his wife while smiling. "Well, nothing happened right? I learned how to fight so I could easily defend both of us" Himari said to her husband, smirking.
"Yeah! Momma is strong and pretty!! I want to be like her when I grow up!" Rei exclaimed to her parents.
Both parents looked at each other, smiled, then looked back down to their adorable 6-year-old daughter. "Well.. your dad has something to say and I'm sure you'll like it," her mother said to her child.

After telling Rei that her father would be training her to be a swordswoman, she had a million questions on her mind ready to ask her father. When she got the OK sign from her father, she immediately asked the two questions that peaked her interest. "What is a breathing style? What kind?", now that is the time where her father immediately lights up. "A breathing style are swordsmanship styles practiced and taught by the Demon Slayer Corps. They are capable of allowing their users to fight on par with demons" her father explained. "So.. what your saying is... I'll be learning to slay demons? What kind of breathing style will I learn?" Rei asked her father.

"You'll be learning a breathing style that only exists in our village. The Yokai Breathing Technique" Kenji said to his daughter, proud of the technique made by their ancestor. Rei was silent for a while but then asked, "Yokai? A Yokai Breathing Style?" She asked amazed by what she was hearing. "Yes, the Yokai Breathing Technique is made by the third-ever slayer that ever existed, who is also our ancestor". That was when the 6-year-old couldn't contain her excitement. "Ancestor??? You mean shes apart of our family? That's so cool!!" She exclaimed loudly.

{Time Skip to when she was 13}

Rei is now 13, she was in deep thought while swinging her wooden sword. 'I wonder what it looks like outside the village, maybe momma and papa would allow me to travel different places while training the remaining 3 forms until I perfect half of it' while in deep thought, she didn't notice someone behind her so when that person touched her shoulder. She immediately hit the stomach of the person behind her with her sword.

"Oww!! Hey! Why would you do that!" The person exclaimed while clutching his stomach. Rei gasped at the sight of her best friend clutching his stomach. "Oh geez! Haru, are you okay??" She asked worried, "Well, duh!! I'm not! You hit me with your wooden sword hard and with your strength added to it, it hurts even more!!" Haru yelled in pain. "Well, if you didn't scare me you wouldn't be in pain right now!!" Rei yelled back at him while taking him into her household. "Oh hi, Haru-- oh my!! Haru what happened?" Himari asked.

"He scared me, that's what happened," Rei said to her while handing Haru to her mother. Her mother sighed, everytime Haru would come to visit he would always scare Rei and always get hit back by her. She was already used to the two's bickering but she knew those two were closer than you'd think. "Argh.. why must you hit me Rei?" "Why must I hit you? Why just you scare me if you knew you'd always get hurt by scaring me?" She asked upset but worried about her best friend. Himari giggled at their weird but silly friendship.

Himari was about to get the medical supplies but then remembered what her husband said to her.
"Oh, by the way, Rei your father wants to talk to you about something" after telling her daughter she quickly gathered the supplies for Haru. Rei immediately stood up and excused herself. When she arrived in front of her father's room, she knocked twice until her father said, "Come in Rei". She opened the door to see her father writing in his journal.

She sat down beside her father, not too close and not too far. Kenji placed the brush down and looked at his daughter. He sighed "Oka--" " Before you say anything else, may I ask a question?" He looked at his daughter and laughed at how he was cut off by his daughter. "Sure, go ahead" he smiled. "May I go out to travel outside the village? When I pass the Final Selection I mean."

When Kenji heard what Rei said, he simply smiled at her. "Of course you can, but as I was saying."
He sighed, "Since you didn't participate in the last Final Selection, I'm letting you participate in this year's Final Selection. I don't think you knew why I didn't let you participate in the last one. It's because the Yokai Breathing takes time until you actually perfect the forms but since you almost perfected three forms. I'm letting you travel outside the village while training the last two forms until you perfected half of the breathing style." Kenji explained to his daughter.

Rei was speechless, she didn't expect her father to agree immediately. "But of course we have to ask your mother first." Now there goes Rei's hope of traveling outside the village. She nodded, hoping her mother would allow her to travel the outside world.
Kenji stood up and told Rei to wait inside the room. He walked out of the room, then after a few minutes, she heard her mother yell.

"Wait, WHAT!?" her mother yelled. "You're letting her travel outside the village? What if she could get hurt? What if she got lost and lose her way home? What if she gets killed!!" Himari asked her father. "Himari, it's alright, she could kill demons now remember? She could protect herself from those creatures and besides. She has the yokais on her side, they can protect her." Her mother thought for a while.

She sighed, "Alright then. I'll allow her." Rei was happy to hear that both her parents agreed to let her travel after th Final Selection. For the next few months, all she did was train for the Final Selection and for when the time came, she was ready. Today was the day of the Selection, she was gathering her stuff for the journey to Mt. Fujikasane where it was held. After saying her goodbyes to everyone in the village, Rei was one step closer to being a demon slayer and completing the Yokai Breathing Style.