The sun was shining, it was a warm and peaceful day at the Butterfly estate. The gentle breeze carried a sweet vanilla scent, they were back.
When Hiiro stood up he realized something, he was all alone over there. He couldn't feel the Reiatsu of any of the girls, the boys nor the master of the manor. Only him stood theres in an oppressive feeling of despair.
"This is your inner world. You shall know this." Zangetsu was atop of the manor, looking down on him, with a dead serious expression on his face and a dark blade on his hands. "Is this place so precious for you?"
"You shall know that." Hiiro jumped at the top, they were exchanging gazes, from his eyes to the sword, he already knew the deal. When he mastered his shinigami powers, he had to fight him to obtain those powers. "So, what's the deal now?"
The black robed man didn't respond, he stood silent before throwing the black sword at the golden eyed boy.
Tilting his head in confusion the man who lives inside the Zanpakuto retreated, the white haori man didn't get what was happening.
"What you hate the most is your own weakness and to overcome that, you need to fight your worst enemy." The night pillar didn't have time to react when he parried an upcoming attack, the white blade clashed against his black blade.
Wearing a white demon slayer uniform and a black haori a white haired version of himself stood in front of him.
"You have to fight against yourself."
The two of the attacked at the same time, their swords were even, they even used the same swordsmanship style. Indeed he was the same as him.
"HA. You dare call me for this?" A three strike combo made our hero retreat from the fight, he was surprised about his clone.
"This fucking weakling can't overcome me. He can't overcome himself and all his fears."
Hiiro felt a growing rage inside of him.
Countless slashes came after the flame was lit. The black haori Hiiro ruthless attacked his foe, the way he handled the sword was even better than the original version of him.
With a spin and a heavy blows he broke the balance of the fight, he cut through Hiiro's defense and his chest became bloody.
"You can't do shit. It was all your fault, Kanae, Rengoku and now Shinobu." A punch to the gut brought Hiiro to his knees, his head was a mess, his heart full of doubt and his body had no strength left. He wanted to give up.
The words hurts more the the physical pain.
"You want to borrow power from your Zanpakuto? You don't have enough faith to do that!"
Faith? His eyes went from the ground to the silver eyes in front of him, a disgusting smile mocked the night pillar before a front kick sent him flying to the pond, the cold water invaded his lungs as he desperately tried to get out of the water, Hiiro found himself unable to reach the surface, the precious liquid was heavy and it was sinking him. When the hope was abandoning him a hand pulled him out, the other Hiiro stood with a sadistic smile on his face.
"You suck, bro. I'm wiping the floor with you!" He threw him at the building, before he collided with the wood, the night pillar did some acrobatics to land on his feet.
The cold shower woke him up, his clone was tight, this fight was just like the one with Kokushibo, a one-sided one.
When his counterpart threw a wild barrage of attacks he found nothing but air, with a swift shunpo and amazing reflexes the raven haired boy counterattacked, he swung his sword at the white haired Hashira, the duel became faster and faster, both of them refused to fall back.
As the steel clashed and sparkled against each other the man in black observed from the heights.
"Hiiro, you don't need to fight him, you need to discover the real meaning of this fight" Zangetsu whispered to himself as the two of them began a shunpo showdown, they hacked and slashed at every opportunity they saw, at every opening they threw themselves in a furious battle of strength.
"Now you're putting a fight!" The black haori Hiiro growled as he evaded the combo attack from the original one.
"Are you having faith now? Are you trusting?"
Hiiro's eyes widened at the words of his counterpart, he don't get the meaning of the words. He tried to study the word but that moment was not the right one, he realized that when the white blade pierced his shoulder and the blood fell to the muddy ground.
"No time to waste, Hiiro-Kun." The blade twisted and he let out a scream, the ruthless man smiled as he thrust the sword even deeper. "You won't be strong enough to protect anyone, you can't even protect yourself. You lack faith and trust."
Hiiro slashed his foe only finding air and dust, his haori was now coloured with his blood. Such a shame, those captains entrusted him this precious clothing and put all their faith on him.
'Wait. That's...' Again he evaded the blade and retreated. The white haori was now resting on his hands, he gently let it rest in the ground. He began to understand the meaning of those words.
"What? Now that you took that pie—" The white haired pillar couldn't finish his sentence as he was sent flying to the inside of the estate, he crashed and the training grounds of the manor became rubble and dust. Kojima Hiiro walked slowly and calmly, he understood now.
"You... FUCKER!" A raging man raised from the destroyed building and charged against his foe on a relentless assault. "You'll pa—"
Again he couldn't even finish as he found himself on his knees, the punch was strong enough to brought him down. For the first time in this battle he felt fear, he tried to find an answer for this change in the flow of the battle.
"Y-you bastard, what did you do?" The golden eyes of the night pillar were piercing through his spine, he felt so defenseless against him, it's like he was a different person.
"I did what you told me. I have faith and trust. I don't deserve that haori, captains gave it to me..." He pointed his nichirin blade to his counterpart and smiled at him with total sincerity. "All of them put the same faith and trust in me, so I have to do the same. Shinobu, Mitsuri, Sanemi, Rengoku, Tomioka, Tanjiro, Zenitsu, Inosuke, the girls, Oyakata-sama, Uzui and all the other pillars. They have faith in me, they trust me with their lives. I will do the same and also... I will trust you, Zangetsu."
The man in black appeared beside the black haori Hiiro, the both looked at each other and nodded their heads.
"You made it. Hiiro, we are not a sword we are your partner. Remember Hiiro, you don't fight alone we are always there. Our power is yours."
As they began to dissapear, the night pair bowed to them. As a thanks for the lesson, for the fight, for the message. Now he can fight.
Shinobu fell to her knees, defeated and without any will to fight. The man that made her heart beat like crazy was laying dead on the ground, ashamed of herself she accepted her destiny as the Upper Moon approached her with his bloody sword.
"I shall devour you, I need to replenish my strength." She didn't reply, her amethyst eyes couldn't see anything but her beloved Hiiro, if she wasn't so weak... "Be grateful, woman."
She closed her eyes and felt the cold breeze, the moon was bathing everything with her pale and cold light, the grass around her was dancing at the rythm of the wind.
Such a sad night to die. But she had nothing left, Kanao was strong enough to assume the position of pillar and for once she experienced love a short and sudden love, but she didn't regretted anything.
'I'm sorry, Hiiro-Kun.'
When Kokushibo's hands were about to reach his prey, a rustling triggered his senses, he looked back at the boy he just killed. He was still there, but... something was definitely off.
He shook his head and turned to the woman again. Again a rustling made him shift his attention towards the boy.
He was there but his eyes couldn't believe what he was seeing. Hiiro was standing, he was still and his head was down, like he had no strength left.
"Why are you standing, Kojima Hiiro?" Shinobu's eyes shot open when she heard this, like she was seeing a mirage or a miracle, her eyes began to tear up.
There was no way he's alive, but she noticed something: the boy wasn't bleeding anymore.
When the white haori boy took his first step forward an alarm was triggered in Kokushibo's body, he knew something was off. He pointed the blade at the raven haired girl while Hiiro took another step forward.
"If you took another step forward, I'll kill her." The tip of the blade was just millimeters away from her throat. The Upper Moon was willing to kill her if he didn't stop, he knew that the pillar was dangerous, yet he took the third step forward. "You kill—"
That grip strength was enough to break a normal human arm, Kokushibo couldn't explain the exact moment his arm was trapped by the night pillar, the pain he felt was the greatest he had felt in centuries.
The cold golden eyes of the pillar stared directly at him. A chill ran down through his spine.
"If you dare to touch her, even of it's a single strand of her hair." His grip tightened and broke the bones of the right arm of the demon for the first time since he became a demon, he thought that was an impossible task, yet in front of him a young demon slayer did it with little effort. "I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"
As his Reiatsu began lo leak out of his body, he kicked the demon who flew some meters away. It was the first time he received such attack from someone. The kid was dangerous, he couldn't leave him alive.
Shinobu's eyes didn't gave credit to what she was seeing. The night pillar, her beloved Hiiro, the man she liked, no, the man she loved was standing in front of her. He came back from the realm of death.
"H-Hiiro-Kun..." as tears began to fall, she tried to not cry but she couldn't, she couldn't hide the relief she felt. "Thank goodness..."
"Shinobu." He didn't looked back but she knew what kind of expression he had on his face "Let's have a date when this is over."
The Kocho girl smiled as the man launched himself into battle, she knew he would win, she knew it even though she didn't saw his face, she knew he had a raging fire on his eyes. The eyes of a winner.
When Zangetsu clashed against the nameless sword of the demon, the force was enough to push them back, when they recovered the balance the battle resumed, they abandoned the breathing techniques and the fight was only a contest of swordsmanship between the two of them.
Kokushibo found himself being pushed back by the young swordsman, the black blade of his foe was pretty effective and found his objective more than once. He was bleeding and his auto recovery wasn't working properly with the amount of damage he had received.
When the demon tried to parry a heavy strike he discovered something: he didn't have that much strength left. The black blade cut through his defense and made a cross-cut from his shoulder to his waist.
Blood spluttered from his wound while he retreated and observed the man who put him in this situation.
A weird and mysterious white aura was surrounding him, even though he was patting and barely standing his eyes were fierce and full of energy.
Hiiro felt his heart racing, his body was screaming from the pain and the heavy strain. He had no other option left, Zangetsu was stopping the bleeding and giving him enough strength to keep going. He can't fail now.
'Hiiro, can you see the difference between his sword and yours?' Zangetsu questioned in his mind.
'Yeah. That sword is just a tool. While you, you are my partner.' He felt the power running through his body, he couldn't believe all the Reiatsu he had at the moment, he was overflowing with power 'Let's end this, Zangetsu!'
The night pillar began to concentrate all his energy onto his blade, al the blue aura surrounding him, twisted and curled around the black sword.
A final attack was coming and Kokushibo could feel it. He smiled. How long has it been since he felt the thrill of a battle? How long has it been since he feared the death? How long has it been since he found himself in troubles? He has no other option, he will answer the challenge with the same feeling.
"Breath of the Moon, Eight style: Moon-Dragon Ringtail."
"Breath of the Night, Second style: Dusk Impact!"
The two frontal vertical slashes clashed in a frenetic frenzy between the two swordsmen, the breathing techniques pushed one another, they fought, pushed and didn't gave up until the balance broke and one attack landed on his objective.
Both of then stood silent, they were back to back in silence. The insect pillar saw it all, she saw tha clash and the outcome of the battle. She began to run, she needed to be there...
"Dawn is coming. I shall take my leave." Kokushibo began to walk away from the battlefield. "It's your victory, Kojima Hiiro."
The strongest demon dissapeared gravely wounded and with his body trashed. He was glad, he thanked the gods for this battle. He wanted to see how far the boy can get.
"You did it! You won, Hiiro-Kun!" Before Shinobu could reach the boy he fell to the ground, unconscious and bloody but she will never forget the smile he had on his face as the first lights of a new day were illuminating the battlefield.