The Good Demon [KNY]

Part 20: Target Practice

Akai sat on the porch of the Butterfly Estate. He was disappointed he couldn't aid Tanjiro in his quest for answers. He sighed and tried to think of something else to take his mind off things. He wanted to have a move that would be able to hit targets at a range. He had his Star Serpent move for closing distance, but he didn't have a move for ranged battle. He thought about it for a moment. Then it hit him.

"The spider demon..." Akai remembered the demon's use of his demonic strength to turn small rocks into bullet-like projectiles.

Akai nodded to himself and ran to his room. He grabbed a spare pile of clothes and ran outside. He went to the wooden fence surrounding the estate and nailed the clothes onto it. He nailed them up so they would look like the silhouette of a person/demon. Akai then ran back to where he was a good ways away and picked up a small rock.

"Okay... here goes." Akai wound up his arm and swung with all his might. The rock flew out at such a high speed it turned orange. It flew towards the fence and blew a hole in it.

Now, this would have been good.

Except he missed the target.

By twenty feet.

"Damn." Akai grumbled. He picked up a stone and went to try again.

Missed.

Missed.

Missed.

And missed again.

Akai was growing ever more impatient by the minute.

Miss.

Miss.

Miss.

Miss.

"FUCK!!!" Akai stomped his foot. The fence was littered with red hot holes. Nearly all the holes rested twenty feet from the target, no closer. It was as if Akai meant to miss.

"How in the hell!?" Akai wheezed and wound up to throw another. The flaming pebble blew through the fence once again. But he had finally made headway, as that particular shot had moved closer by two inches.

"Okay! Now let's get a little closer!" Akai gripped another rock and swung to throw. The rock flew through the air and connected with the fence.

He missed the target by thirty feet that time.

Akai's arms and legs slowly glowed orange as he clenched his jaw.

"HOW IN THE FUCK!?!?!?" Akai screamed.

Akai would spend the coming days testing his aim with rocks. The closest he would get to hitting the target was fifteen feet. His farthest from the target would be forty feet. He also spent his time checking on the trio from Mount Natagumo as they did their recovery training. Although it mostly consisted of Akai giving Zenitsu death glares whenever he got near Aoi.

"Okay. Seventeen thousand eight hundred and thirty-second shot is the one! Please hit it!!!" Akai panted with exhaustion. It was his seventh day of target practice. He just knew this one throw was the one. 

That was a lie to himself.

He missed the target by four feet that time. By now entire chunks were missing from the fence. And it seemed the entire fifty-foot section of fence would collapse entirely with just a few more shots.

"Okay. One more." Akai's sanity sat on the edge. It wasn't sure what would break first, the fence or Akai's spirit.

"And...!" Akai wound up his arm and thrust it forward as hard as he could. The rock flew out of his hand like a small comet and burst forward. It missed the target by four feet.

"...!!!" Akai's entire body lit up with heat before he opened his mouth and let out a burst of fire. He got on his hands and knees and repeatedly slammed his forehead into the ground, causing it to split open and gush with blood. After about two minutes of this, he sighed and went inside. He slowly traversed the halls with a face covered in blood. He was completely indifferent to the matter.

"Akai! Are you alright!?" Aoi, who had just left the infirmary saw Akai's face and ran over in concern.

"I'm fine. It's just that the blood is a little messy." Since Akai's forehead wounds had healed, the only thing left to inconvenience him was the sticky blood all over his face.

"You idiot. Come here." Aoi grabbed his hand and led him to her room.

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Akai was sitting on Aoi's bed as she wiped the blood off his face with a towel. Once the towel had too much blood, she's wash it off by dunking it into a bucket of water. After which she's take the towel back out, squeezes the water out of it, and goes back to cleaning the face of the dumbass who split his head open in a rage.

"How did this happen?" Aoi grumbled as she wiped Akai's forehead.

"I don't know..." Akai was too embarrassed to answer.

"Oh please, Akai we're not kids. Answer me." Aoi scoffed.

"I was mad at myself." Akai took in a deep breath and said.

"Mad at yourself? Why?" Aoi's face lit up with concern.

"I've been practicing throwing rocks so I could attack from far away. But I keep missing." Akai gave his answer.

"That was why you did this? It's not even that bad!" Aoi wiped Akai's head harder, annoyed by his idiocy.

"I missed seventeen thousand throws, Aoi." Akai said to better emphasize his frustration. Aoi stifled a laugh, making Akai pout with annoyance. "Don't you dare laugh!" Akai growled, making Aoi start to chuckle. "Don't laugh!" Akai whined, making Aoi break into laughter. She clutched her stomach as she laughed uncontrollably. "You're so mean." Akai looked away and muttered as she continued laughing.

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Aoi had finished cleaning Akai's head. She and Akai were sitting together on the side of her bed.

"I don't know what I can do to fix this." Akai sighed, referring to his garbage aim.

"Why don't you just change it up, like using more than one rock?" Aoi suggested.

...

...

...

...

"I am going to marry this girl." Akai swore to himself.

"That's it!!!" Akai shot up and threw his arms around Aoi.

"Wha!?!?" Aoi shrieked as Akai began nuzzling his face into her collarbone. 

"Oh, you're the best, Aoi!!!" Akai said ecstatically. He lifted his face up and placed a kiss on her cheek before he let her go. He turned around and ran out of her room.

Aoi, whose face was the brightest red and fuming with steam, layed down. She covered her head with a pillow and let out a muffled scream as she writhed in embarrassment on her bed.

Akai flew out of the estate and landed on the pebbly ground of the garden. He walked to his fence and turned to the ground. Instead of just one rock, he scooped up one and a half dozen small rocks in his hand. He took in a deep breath and spoke.

"Breath of The Cosmos... Fifth Form..." Akai whispered. He got in position and readied his arm. Then suddenly, he swung with all his power, letting the rocks spread out into a curtain of destructive red-hot bullets. "METEOR SHOWER!!!" The rocks showered the area around the target like the pellets of a shotgun, obliterating the entire top half of the target. The force and power caused the already weakened fence to collapse, showering the ground with splintered and burnt wood. "Yes!!!" Akai exclaimed and pumped his fist.

"Akai, what was that!?" Akai heard Shinobu shout from inside.

"No..." Akai realized what he had just done.

Akai was forced to rebuild that entire fence from scratch.