Watching as the countryside sped by us and the wind that wrapped around me made me want to let my hair down and watch as it blew in the wind. But I knew that there were more important things to do, like meeting up with Rangoku.
"Come on, let's head inside" Tanjiro smiled and I nodded.
"I'll be behind you in a minute. I just want to make sure that I have everything," I said and he nodded. I took my box off my back and opened it and sorted through everything that was in there. There were my drawings, a few pieces of charcoal, a lot of vials that had labels on what they were and what they were used for, vials of my own blood, a few medical plants, a lot of bandages and a lot of other things. On one side though, strapped down by a small piece of leather was the wisteria hair pin that Master's daughter had given me. As much as I wanted to keep wearing it I knew that we would be facing demons soon enough and I didn't want it to get damaged. That was the same reason why I didn't wear the wisteria necklace that I had made for myself, Tanjiro and Urokodaki-sensei. With a smile that was hidden behind my fox mask I made sure that my hair that now reached just above the small of my back was done up in a pony tail and wrapped the material that Uzui had given me around it so that no demon would be able to grab ahold of it without a fight. Once that was done everything was set so I stood up, my box on my back, my fox mask on my face and I entered the train to see that Tanjiro, Zenitsu and Inosuke had waited for me. In fact Zenitsu seemed to be dragging Inosuke away from the window when he was amazed at how fast the train was going. Because of how many people were on the train there were a lot of auras around but there was one that burned brighter than anyone else's.
"This way" I called as I took the lead.
"Ah, have you already found his aura Hikaru?" Tanjiro smiled and I nodded.
"He's a hashira right? This Rengoku person, are you sure you'll recognize his face or aura?" Zenitsu asked while dragging Inosuke behind him.
"Sure, he had this gaudy hairstyle and I remember his scent as well. As for his aura, once Hikaru has seen an aura he won't forget it" Tanjiro assured him.
"Every aura is unique, much like how everyone has their own sound to you, Zenitsu" I said.
"Plus, you'll know it's him once we get close" I continued. Just thinking about Rengoku made a smile appear on my face. I had never seen an aura that was as bright as his, if I was being honest it kind of hurt my eyes if I looked at it for too long. Tanjiro opened the door to the next cart and we got ready to enter that one.
"DELICIOUS!" We heard yelled. It was so loud that I saw and heard the windows rattle. We were then in between the carts as I shut the door behind us and Tanjiro opened the next one.
"Delicious!" Was once again heard yelled.
"Delicious!"
"Delicious!" We walked further into the cart and I just knew that those yells had to be coming from Rengoku, what with the way his aura brightened a tiny bit before each yell. That must be some delicious food.
"Delicious!"
"Delicious!"
"DELICIOUS!" This time when he yelled the boxes that seemed to be packed bento floated into the air before sacking back on top of each other. At least he was in high spirits. He continued to chant/yell delicious after every bite of food that he took and I could tell that the others must have felt as shocked as I did.
"Is that the flame hashira guy?" Zenitsu asked Tanjiro and I.
"Yeah" Tanjiro nodded, not exactly sure what else to say at the moment.
"Not just some random glutton?" Zenitsu questioned.
"Yeah, that's him," I said.
"Um, excuse me" Tanjiro tried but Rengoku just continued to eat.
"R-Rengoku-san?" Tanjiro called while Zenitsu hid behind him.
"Delicious!" Rengoku yelled while turning to Tanjiro, his aura bright, dazing me for a moment.
"Uh, we got that part already," Tanjiro chuckled nervously. Now that they had Rengoku's attention I noticed some ladies had come to clean up the boxes that Rengoku had finished so I gave them a hand.
"You're the kid from that day at Master's and the dance" Rengoku said. That's right, the hashira's had watched my ritual dance.
"Yes, I'm Kamado Tanjiro and they are my fellow demon slayers, Akatsuki Hikaru, Agatsuma Zenitsu and Hashibira Inosuke," Tanjiro introduced. I gave Rengoku a small head nod that was returned, Zenitsu done a small and nervous bow while Inosuke puffed up proudly.
"I see and inside that box there" Rengoku said looking at my box and I chuckled.
"She's with Tanjiro today" I said and he looked at the box on Tanjiro's box.
"Yes, it's my sister Nezuko," Tanjiro said, trying to brush off Rengoku's mistake. I thought that it was a good thing that he didn't know which box she was in, I didn't fully trust the hashira yet.
"Right, the demon we saw that day huh? Since the Master has acknowledged her I won't say any word for now" Rengoku said which made Tanjiro smile and I smiled behind my mask.
"Come, have a seat here. You sit there Akatsueki" Rengoku said, patting the seat next to him and nodding his head towards the seat in front of him. Tanjiro sat on the seat next to Rengoku while I sat in front of him but there was still something else.
"Please call me Hikaru" I told him and he nodded.
"Being inside the lord is mind-blowing!" Inosuke yelled while banging on the glass across the aisle from us.
"You're going to break the glass! Calm down already will ya?" Zenitsu said while pulling Inosuke away from the window.
"What are the four of you doing here? A mission?" Rengoku asked while staring straight ahead at me. It was making me a little nervous and embarrassed. After all, Rengoku was a good looking man.
"We received an order from a Kasugai Crow. 'The casualties of the Mugen train are increasing, join Rengoku on site' he said," Tanjiro reported. I wanted to point out that it was my Kasugai Crow which meant his name was Kuro but now wasn't the time.
"Yes! I see now! Understood!" Rengoku said.
"Right, also there's one more thing. Something that I wanted to ask you, Rengoku-san" Tanjiro said. He was going to ask about the dragon of fire that he had used on Rui. I still had Rui's kimono in my box and even added a picture of him and his family to my drawings. That also reminded me of the fire-like move that I had used against Rui's 'brother' but something told me that it wasn't fire at all, it was something different. I hadn't told anyone about it yet, not even Tanjiro, I wanted to make sure it wasn't just a trick and to come up with some theories on my own.
"What is it? Let's hear it" Rengoku said while I tried to ignore Zenitsu and Inosuke fighting.
"About my father," Tanjiro said.
"What about your father?" Rengoku questioned.
"Well, he was really frail," Tanjiro said.
"Was he really?" Rengoku asked.
"But even if it was cold enough to freeze your lungs, he could still perform a kagura dance in the snow. It's like Hikaru's ritual dance that he did but it is only a dance" Tanjiro explained.
"Well, I'm glad to hear it," Rengoku said. Tanjiro looked at me and I gave him a look of encouragement even if he couldn't see it.
"The thing is," Tanjiro said, getting louder.
"What's up?" Rengoku said.
"Hinokami Kagura dance!" Tanjiro said. He then explained to Rengoku about how he had done the moves while using a breathing technique resulting in the fire dragon.
"If you know anything about that, Rengoku-san I was hoping you'd tell me" Tanjiro finished.
"Right! But I know nothing! I've never even heard the term 'Hinokami Kagura' before but it's truly commendable that your father was able to adapt his kagura dance to battle. All right end of discussion" Rengoku declared, making me sigh a little. I guess that was one way to end a conversation but probably not the best way.
"Um, can you try to help me a little more?" Tanjiro exclaimed.
"You should become my Tsuguko, my apprentice! I'll look after you!" Rengoku said.
"Hold on a second! And what are you looking at?" Tanjiro questioned. I would like to know the answer to that question, he was no longer looking at me but more like he was looking through me.
"Flame breathing has a long history. In any given era, there's always been a flame and water swordsmen among the Hashira. Flame. Water. Wind. Stone. Thunder. Those are the fundamental breathing techniques. The other techniques were created as offshoots of those five" Rengoku explained. Mist was a fork from wind, Sound was a fork from thunder, Love was a fork from flame and Serpent, flower and insect were all forks from water.
"Young Mizoguchi! What color is your sword? Both of your swords?" Rengoku questioned taking us off guard.
"My name is Kamado Tanjiro and the color is black" Tanjiro said.
"I told you to call me Hikaru as for my swords, they are different colors. The long sword is red while the short one is golden yellow with orange, red and white throughout it" I answered.
"A black sword? Well isn't that unfortunate. As for you Hikaru, would you mind if I saw your swords, I have never heard of having different coloured swords" Rengoku laughed. I was a little surprised that he didn't comment on me saying one was red since it was meant to be a rare color but I just shrugged it off and showed him my blades.
"They suit you well, I have never known of a swordsmen with a black sword that became a hashira. On top of that I hear that they have no clue which style to master. As I said before I have never heard of a demon slayer with two different coloured swords so I'm sure you also don't know which style to master. Come to me and I'll train you, you can rest easy now!" Rengoku declared and his aura grew.
"No thank you! And just where do you think you're looking!" Tanjiro tried. I didn't want to upset Rengoku by rejecting his offer but something told me that master flame breathing wasn't the path for me. I guess I could give it a try but I didn't want to waste Rengoku's time, I could tell he had a big heart and a loud sense of justice. It was why his aura was so bright.
