To the Flames of the Sun

Chapter Five

It's a cute pic, right?

Midori's POV

I let out a huff and collapsed to my knees, my makeshift wooden sword tumbling to the ground in the process. I was exhausted, but that came as no surprise. Practicing a Breathing Style, that too without a trainer or even without permission, was bound to be exhausting. I refused to give up though. I had barely managed to master all the moves of Sun Breathing in the last three years, but I had learned only the first form of Moon Breathing, which had fifteen more forms.

I had a very long way to go.

Ever since all the incidents that had occurred when I was four years old, my dad had decided to strictly keep me locked up inside the house as much as possible. I was never allowed to leave without him or my uncle and on the rare occasions that I was allowed to leave, with either or both of them, it would only be to visit Goichi-san or Kasumi-san. I had not seen the estates of the any of the other Hashira in the last three years, getting to meet them only when they would show up at our estate. As for the Master, he had never even come over to our place. Probably because my dad was afraid that if I ever interacted with him, he'd influence me to become a demon slayer all over again. But the reality was that he didn't need to influence me. Becoming a demon slayer was a dream that I was never going to let go of.

Even if it was a dream that I could never actually fulfill. I wasn't allowed to. And I didn't have the courage to break my family's heart by becoming one against their wishes.

Still, I practiced Breathing Styles anyhow, mainly because I didn't have anything else to do. I was no longer permitted to leave the house to even go play with the children in the nearby village. All I ever did was wake up, have breakfast, then watch my dad and uncle train while fiddling around with some or the other toy, usually Miri. Both Daddy and Uncle Michi had asked me several times if I ever felt bored just sitting on the engawa and watching them swing their swords around, to which I would always shake my head no. First of all, even if I did feel bored just sitting on the engawa and watching them swing their swords around, it wasn't like I had anything else to do considering I wasn't even allowed to take one step out of the house without the Sun or Moon Hashira ominously looming behind me. I'd mentioned this thought of mine to Daddy once.

Lesson learned: I was never going to do that again. I never wanted to sit through another hour of having to feel guilty and tearful by every emotional word Daddy said about how he only loved me and wanted to keep me safe and all that.

Second of all, what Daddy and Uncle Michi never realized was that during each of their training sessions, I wouldn't just be watching them. I would actually be observing every single one of the moves and techniques they used, searing it into my memory the best I could. That kind of hard work and patience of all these three years had finally paid off, and I could now perform all the thirteen forms of Sun Breathing as well as the first form of Moon Breathing.

Without the actual Breathing part of course. I still hadn't been able to figure out how to do that, and I doubted I would ever be able to.

Therefore, I was satisfied in learning only all the forms of both styles of Breathing. Even if I could never become a Demon Slayer, I could at least become a good dancer through all the combat moves I picked up from my dad and uncle. Once, when I'd been staying with Kasumi-san for a few days because both Daddy and Uncle Michi were out on a mission, I'd hoped to learn something of Flower Breathing as well by watching my foster mother train. But she never even lifted her sword the entire time I was with her; not once. Instead, she spent every single minute of every single day of my stay in spending time with me. Since I was no longer allowed to interact with other children my age, Kasumi-san was the best playmate I had. Still, I'd asked her why she didn't train like Daddy or Uncle Michi or Goichi-san did, to which she had simply laughed that tinkling laugh of hers and said that she had enough confidence in her abilities to not need to train when she was home. Given her line of work, she never knew which mission would be her last and so, whenever she had the chance to relax at home, she would relax and enjoy life to the fullest while also saving her energy for an actual mission instead of spending it on training.