Hearing a noise I turned to see Tanjiro and Urokodaki walking towards me, making me smile a little.
"Look I managed to cut it, isn't that great? How did you go, Tanjiro?" I asked.
"I managed to slice mine as well," Tanjiro answered but Urokodaki stayed silent.
"I had no intention of sending you two to the Final Selection" He said, making me and Tanjiro shocked as we looked at each other. After all that training that we had done, Urokodaki still didn't want to send us to the Final Selection.
"I didn't want to see children die anymore. I was sure you wouldn't be able to slice the boulders that I assigned you both but" Urokodaki said before he reached his hands out and began to pat our hands making me look at him trying to keep my tears at bay.
"Well done, my boys. Tanjiro, HIkaru you are both remarkable kids" Urokodaki praised and I couldn't help it anymore as I started to cry, Tanjiro also had tears dripping down his face.
"Make sure you come back alive from the Final Selection. Both Nezuko and I will be waiting for you both here" Urokodaki said as he pulled us into hugs. That's when it occurred to me it wasn't just Sabito and Makoma, there were other children, ones that Urokodaki had trained but they had never come home from the Final Selection. I didn't say any of my thoughts out loud since I could see the worry, sadness and pride that Urokodaki's aura was swimming with. Getting to the house, me and Tanjiro changed into different clothes since the ones we were in were dirty from our training for the day.
"What's the occasion? There's so much" Tanjiro smiled seeing all the food that Urokodaki was cooking.
"Geez Tanjiro you can't be that dense can you? It's to celebrate us finishing our training, isn't that right Urokodaki-sensei?" I asked.
"He is correct, don't be shy, eat up" Urokodaki said, passing us each a bowl of stew. It was the same stew that he had fed us the first time making me beam. Urokodaki's stew was the best that I had ever tasted so it wasn't a surprise when I asked for seconds and then thirds. Once we had all eaten our fill Tanjiro laid down some cloth and grabbed some clippers and began to cut his hair that was slightly shorter than mine in length.
"Are you not going to cut your hair, Hikaru?" Urokodaki asked as he was folding up some material that looked the same as his hiori.
"Ah...No" I said as I gently touched the ends of my hair, I had already trimmed it to get rid of the dead ends. Feeling Tanjiro's nudge to my side and seeing Urokodaki's curiosity I sighed, it was about time that I told my sensei about what happened.
"Urokodaki-sensei do you remember the night that we first met? When we introduced ourselves Tanjiro introduced himself as Kamado Tanjiro yet I only introduced myself as Hikaru" I started.
"I do remember that," Urokodaki said.
"I didn't introduce myself with a family name because I have disgraced my family and therefore I am no longer welcome to bear my family name" I explained keeping my head down. I didn't want to see the anger or disappointment that would surely appear in Urokodaki's aura nor did I want to see the sadness and self-blame in Tanjiro's.
"I see, may I ask what your family name was? And what have you done to disgrace yourself?" Urokodaki asked and I looked at him shocked. He was looking at me calmly even his aura was calm, yet I was sure that he was going to throw me out and demand that I never come back.
"My family name was Akatsuki and what I did to disgrace my family was when I was fighting that demon that killed Tanjiro's family and turned Nezuko into a demon. I cut my hair to try and defeat him. In the Akatsuki family we never cut our hair unless it is to trim the dead ends off" I said.
"I see, in that case will you allow me to give you a name to carry?" Urokodaki asked and I stared at him.
"I, I would be honoured if you did" I breathed out.
"In that case from this day on you shall be known as Akatsuki Hikaru" said Urokodaki and my jaw dropped.
"You may no longer feel that you are worthy of carrying the Akatsuki family name so instead I will give you the name of Akatsuki as your sensei" Urokodaki explained and I couldn't say no when he put it that way. I wouldn't be taking the family name of Akatsuki instead I would be bearing the name Akatsuki Hikaru that my sensei had given me.
"I would, I would like that" I hiccuped as I started to cry again. While I got myself under control Urokodaki talked about how a demon would be stronger the more humans that it had eaten and something told me that this had to do with Sabito and Makamo.
"There are demons who gain power, become able to transform their bodies and even use strange spells," Urokodaki said while opening up a cupboard door and pulling out two fox masks.
"When your sense of smell becomes keener Tanjiro, you'll be able to tell how many humans a demon's consumed. I am sure that the same can be said about your eyes Hikaru but I am not certain" Urokodaki said as he handed us the fox masks. They were both white like Sabito's and the one that Makamo wore but they had different designs. Tanjiro's had a large red sun like mark on the left of his forehead where his scar was while mine was like Sabito's and had scar marks the size and length of the scars on my face. I also noticed that the eyes of my mask were different seeing as Tanjiro's had red eyes but mine just had holes so that my real eyes would be able to see out of the mask.
"What's this?" Tanjiro asked while taking his mask and I carefully took mine using my fingers to trace the marks on it.
"It's called a 'warding mask'. I've charged them with a spell to protect both of you from harm" Urokodaki answered.
"I will make sure to take care of it" I smiled as I placed the mask to my face and it was a perfect fit.
"Wow that looks really good on you" smiled Tanjiro and I grinned behind the mask as Urokodaki helped me thread ribbons on each side so that I could tie it behind my head and keep it on. After Tanjiro finished cutting his hair we all retired for the night knowing that we would have to wake up early if we wanted to be able to reach the Final Selection in good time.
The next morning Urokodaki presented us each with a haori with the same patterns as his making me put it on straight away along with Tanjiro. Tanjiro also decided to have his fox mask on the left side of his head while I slid my into place over my face. Sure people would be a bit weirded out about me wearing a mask but at least this way, they wouldn't be able to see my real scars.
"See you later Nezuko, we will be back soon" I whispered as I brushed her hair behind her ears before I left Tanjiro to say goodbye to his sister.
"Don't worry about your sister, I will take care of her," Urokodaki said.
"Thank you very much," said Tanjiro.
"I made these for you Urokodaki-sensei, don't worry we will be back as soon as the Final Selection is over" I smiled, handing him a piece of paper that was rolled up as we both jogged along the path.
"We'll be going then, Urokodaki-san" said Tanjiro as we turned and waved, getting a wave in return.
"Say hello to Sabito and Makomo for me" Tanjiro said just as we were nearly out of Urokodaki's sight, making me shake my head, he still hadn't realised that the two of them were dead. Since we had already left we didn't see Urokodaki open up the drawings and his eyes widened behind his mask. On the first piece of paper was a drawing of both me and Tanjiro together smiling with our fox masks on the sides of our heads while the second piece of paper was a drawing of Sabito and Makomo with their masks on the side of their heads. I wasn't stupid enough to believe that we weren't running straight towards danger, a danger that could kill us if we weren't careful so I wanted Urokodaki to have something to remember us by if we did perish like the children before us had.
It took us running all day to get to the place where the Final Selection was being held but then again Tanjiro and I were talking to each other the whole time. We caught up on everything we had missed over the last two years of training including how much better I had gotten with my drawings and how Tanjiro had been doing his journals for Nezuko. When he finally arrived at the place the Selection was being held I couldn't help but be in awe at the beautiful purple Wisteria trees that were glowing in the moonlight even though they were out of season.
"It's so beautiful" I whispered and Tanjiro agreed as he gently caressed one of the flowers. Looking ahead of me I felt my stomach drop as I saw the aura of demons, yes demons more than one. There had to be at least a hundred, maybe even more than that and having all of them in one place was making me feel sick to my stomach but I would have to get used to this so I took a deep breath and centered myself. Most of the demons were feeling nothing but anger and hunger but there were others in there that had more complex emotions such as the few that I noticed were scheming something as well as one that seemed to be the embodiment of rage. The last one worried me but he still didn't hold a candle to the demon that had nearly killed me all those nights ago.
"Hikaru are you coming?" Tanjiro asked, looking back at me.
"Of course" I smiled and caught up to him just as we entered a clearing that had a lot of other children in it, at least twenty of them. Some of them were the same age as us, others were older and there were even a few that seemed younger. All of them were here just like us for the Final Selection and if it was what I thought it was then I was sure that by the end of it not even half of us would be left. There were only a few other people that caught my attention though, one was a girl with a butterfly clip in her hair that had a dull aura around her, more than likely she had been suppressing her emotions since she was little. The next was a boy whose clothes were covered in dirt and had bruises on his face with blonde hair like I had never seen before and his aura showed he was terrified. Next was a boy that had a mostly shaved head other than a strip down the middle, a scar from just under his right side across his nose and was scowling at everything, he was a bundle of anger and anxiety. And there was one last one, he was bare chested and seemed to be wearing a pig's mask that just made me blink, he was a rush of excitement and glee.
"Everyone" Two girls said, making me and Tanjiro turn to them. They must be sisters. They both had the same kimonos on but different colours, their hair was cut in the same style but one had white hair and the other had black hair. Now that I looked at their aura properly, the black haired one was actually a boy but I am still positive that they were siblings.
"We thank you for coming here tonight, to the Demon Slayers Corps Final Selection" They greeted each other.
"There are demons imprisoned here on Mt Fujikasane captured alive by the Demon Slayer swordsmen and unable to leave" The white haired one said.
"That is because wisteria which demons hate so much blooms year-round from the bottom to halfway up the mountain" The black haired one explained.
"However, there is no wisteria from this point on and so demons abound'' The white haired one continued.
"You'll need to survive here for seven days to pass Final Selection" The black haired one said.
"And now, be on your way" They both finished together with a bow.
"Hey Tanjiro" I called, getting his attention before we headed into the forest since we wouldn't be sticking together.
"What is it? Did you want to stick together after all?" Tanjiro asked and I shook my head.
"No.....Just come back out safely" I said, moving my mask to uncover my mouth and gently kissing his cheek. I saw Tanjiro blush before nodding his head seriously.
"You do the same'' He said before we headed into the mountains where I could see the demons.
Rushing threw into the forest the first thing on my mind was that I needed to survive the first night and then when the sun rose I would be able to make a more definite plan.
"A Marechi, they sent a Marechi" I heard making me swing around and stop a demon from attacking my back.
"A Marechi'' Another demon said as he turned up as well. That wasn't the end as another appeared as well but I didn't care as I dodged the attacks that they were throwing towards me before reaching up with my normal lengthened blade to stop one demon while slashing the smaller sword towards its neck. That was one demon down and two more to go, both were spitting out curses and screaming at them to let them eat me. They also wouldn't stop calling me Marechi, just what was a Marechi?
"Tell me, what is a Marechi!" I yelled out my swords ready.
"Just let us devour you, we have to devour you!" One of the demons screamed.
"You smell so delicious let us devour you" The other one screamed. Seeing that I would get no information from them I moved around their attacks and cut off the demons heads before putting my blades away and saying a small prayer from them. I didn't have much time to breathe as more demons came rushing at me screaming out that I was a Marechi and that they wanted to devour me. One by one I killed the demons and watched as the aura's around them disappeared but that wasn't all I saw either. Other people trying to become demon slayers were also being killed, sometimes I would arrive on time to save them, other times I could only avenge them as they were around dead and being eaten.
"My, my who do we have here? A Marechi" said a voice and I turned to see a demon that made me want to be sick. He was different from the others, he wasn't screaming about wanting to eat me, nor did he seem to act crazy like the other ones had been.
"You're different, you must have eaten more humans then the other demons I have come across. In that case you can tell me, what the hell is a Marechi? And why do you and your kind keep calling me that" I said my hands on the hilts of my blades, my eyes narrowed as I took in his aura, his stance and everything around us so that nothing would catch me off guard.
"You don't know? They don't know and they sent you here to die?!" The demon cackled.
"I have had enough of this" I said drawing only my normal blade before dashing towards the demon. Most of the time I would only use the one sword unless I needed to bring the second one out. I knew that this demon was different than they others but I needed to get a read on his abilities and his emotions but to do that I first had to draw them into the open by attacking him. When I got close enough to swing my sword, aiming for his arms but I wasn't expecting him to had four meaning that I ended up being hit and sent slamming into a tree groaning. I could feel the bruises already starting to show up as well as blood coming from the back of my head, luckily my mask hadn't broken which I was grateful for. Instead of coming towards me the demon paused and seemed to be taking deep breaths in through his nose, this gave me time I push myself up onto my feet and grabbed my short sword out along with gripping the normal sword firmer.
"You, that smell must be coming from you! I must have it! Give me your flesh! Let me devour you!" The demon screamed before throwing himself at me, making my eyes widened. Dodging his attacks were easy now that he wasn't even trying to plan them at all. Attack after attack I dodged before he managed to get a lucky hit in and scratched my shoulder drawing blood. Instead of taunting me or even moving in, the demon pulled back holding his hand that had been the one to attack me and screaming.
"It burns! It burns! What did you do?! Let me eat you! I have to devour you! But it burns" He wailed, thrashing around making me quickly jump to the side, putting my shorter sword away and sucking in a breath.
'Total concentration! Water breathing, third form: Flowing dance' I thought as my blade coated in water and I danced passed his attacks and cut through all four of his arms before turning quickly and slicing his neck. The third form was useful when we wanted to strike through multiple objects or enemies at one time.
"It burns.....Why? It burns" The demon whispered, his eyes looking at me as I looked at him, my eyes clouded with pity and sadness as his aura that had been coated in madness ever since he injured me.
"Such a sad aura" I whispered as the aura finally faded away along with his body. After watching his body burn away and disappear I did a small prayer from him before turning and leaving the clearing. I didn't have time to waste if I wanted to survive but I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong with Tanjiro, something must have happened. I could only hope that it wasn't something bad and that I would see him in seven days once this test was over.