//------------------------------//
// Mugen: The Train 
// Story: Demon Slayer: The Strange Demon 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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Pinkamena was expecting the three little girls to see her, Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke off, once they were ready to go, but she hadn't planned on it being such a tearful encounter for her friends, not to mention the girls, and she suspected that if her body had been normal she would have followed them in no time. Due to being a Demon she didn't have tear ducts, or any moisture related to the eyes anyway, so she stood back and let them have their tearful farewell, the girls telling them to stay healthy and fight well, because they didn't want any of them to die. Of course Shinobu, Kanao, and Aoi watched from the entrance of the Butterfly Mansion, since there was nothing they wanted to say right now, other than wishing them well in their own way, before heading back into their domain for the time being, since they had no idea what sort of missions would be coming their way. Once the two groups were done Tanjiro wished the girls well before the four of them headed down the road, as it was time for them to get their way and see what sort of missions the crows had for the group, since Pinkamena knew that hers was back with the higher ranks of the Corps, waiting for a dispatch.

While they walked, however, Pinkamena thought about something she had heard back in the Butterfly Mansion, as Tanjiro had talked with Shinobu for a time about a topic he was interested in and it made her interested in what he might have asked about, even though she had a good idea what it might be.

"So, Tanjiro, what were you and Shinobu talking about before we left?" Pinkamena asked, as she was curious if her friend had asked about the Breath of the Sun that existed within the Hinokami Kagura, because she had figured that out on her own and it seemed like he hadn't yet, which was fine with her since it didn't look like they needed the other Breath yet.

"I was asking if she had heard of the Hinokami Kagura... the Dance of the Fire God that my father taught me... along with the Breath I used during our fight with Rui," Tanjiro replied, partly explaining things to Zenitsu and Inosuke, even though Pinkamena was sure that neither of their friends really cared what he was talking about, before he sighed as he carefully considered what the Hashira had told him earlier, "Sadly, she had no idea what I was talking about, even though she did seem interested in the fact that I was able to channel my father's Breath... she suggested that I track down Kyojuro and ask him about it, though he's supposedly busy right now. Oh, and when I was leaving her office I bumped into the other guy from the Final Selection, the one who was annoyed about things and kept demanding to be given a Nichirin sword, but he ignored me when I called out to him."

Pinkamena nodded her head for a moment, as she had seen the figure in question enter Butterfly Mansion, either due to the fact that he was injured or he wanted to talk with Shinobu about something, though since that seemed to be all that he was willing to share with her she dropped the question and focused on the walk. At the very least it confirmed one big thing in her mind, Tanjiro wanted to learn more about the Breath of the Sun and what it might mean for him, though she had a feeling that no one would be able to answer his questions, save for his memories of watching his father perform the technique when he was younger. Such a thing made her wonder if it was time for her to yank him into her realm and force him into some hellish training to awaken the ability to use it without the life or death situations that had awakened it while he was fighting with Rui, but that was something she would consider later, after his talk with Kyojuro. Of course she had to consider dragging both Zenitsu and Inosuke into the training as well, making them stronger so they could survive what the future held for them, especially since she had killed four of the remaining five Lower Moons a month ago, but shelved it for now, knowing she would revisit the idea at some point in time.

As they walked she found that they were heading to one of the more civilized cities that dotted the land, not the one she had been heading for when she was ambushed by the Lower Moons, though one thing she noticed from afar, which none of her friends noticed since they were busy looking at their surroundings, was a machine that she wasn't expecting to see in this world. It was a black train that seemed to be powered by coal, or at least that was her first thought when she locked eyes with it, and it reminded her of what she had seen back when she was inside Pinkie's Mindscape, the train that linked Ponyville to Canterlot, along with the other towns and cities of Equus. Sure enough she found that there were a couple of train cars that would transport people from one part of the land to another, a couple of ticket booths that people bought their tickets from, benches for Humans to rest on while waiting for their train to arrive, and at least five cars for people to sit in as they moved across the land. Pinkie, from what she recalled, seemed to enjoy riding on the train whenever she and her friends were called to Canterlot, be it for whatever Princess Celestia wanted or for something they were being invited to attend, so she was interested in seeing if she would enjoy it or not.

Of course, as she expected, Zenitsu stopped when they got near the train, more in the sense that something was clearly bothering him and made him turn towards Tanjiro for a moment, though she had a feeling he was eager to know what their next mission was, but there was always the chance she could be wrong.

"I should have asked this back at the Butterfly Mansion, but what's our next mission?" Zenitsu inquired, because no one had said anything about it since they departed from Shinobu's residence and it had been bothering him greatly, as he knew that when he and Tanjiro walked to the mansion they found Inosuke in they had talked about the mission for a time, just to get their facts straight.

"About that... we haven't been assigned anything yet." Tanjiro answered, which was the truth, though they did have one of their crows following them, Pinkamena's he noticed, so he knew that when it came time for them to be sent out all three of their own birds would be able to find hers and give them their orders.

Zenitsu, as Pinkamena expected, was annoyed by the fact that they left the Butterfly Mansion, and had taken the time to have that tearful farewell with the girls, for no reason and he started to berate Tanjiro for dragging them out here without being assigned a mission, even though Tanjiro felt that being stuck in there for a month was too much, and Inosuke was the one that interrupted them.

"Wh... What's that creature there?" Inosuke asked, where he was staring at the black train that was in front of them, which told them that this was his first time seeing something like it, though Pinkamena could see, from just a glance, that Tanjiro seemed to be in the same situation, which made sense when she considered where he had been living before his family was killed by Muzan, "This thing is the master of the land... yeah, it controls the land... there's no mistaking its length and intimidating aura. It may be sleeping now, but don't let your guards down."

As Zenitsu started to explain that this was a steam engine, information that surprised Tanjiro and caused Zenitsu to label both of them as bumpkins, Pinkamena sensed the change in Inosuke and silently activated her power, covering the four of them and making it so no one else could see or hear them. Such a thing allowed Inosuke to launch his Pig Assault on the side of the train car that was in front of them, even though it did nothing to the machine and caused their friends to pause for a moment, though she held up a hand and gestured to the other people for a moment. No one could see them, much less hear Inosuke's attacks or what Zenitsu was saying right now, but this Room was designed to make sure the Humans moved around the area they were in, without realizing it, so no one would bump into them while they waited for Inosuke to calm down. Of course Zenitsu went and talked about the fact that they were members of an unofficial organization and if people saw their swords they would surely be arrested, though before he and Tanjiro could hide their blades, mostly on their backs and under their clothing, Pinkamena marked each of their blades with her own marking, allowing them to just disappear, though she left hers alone since people seemed to ignore her anyway.

After that, and Inosuke calmed down a little, Tanjiro looked at the board and mentioned that the train would head to the area Rengoku lived in, meaning if they took it they would be able to catch up with him once he was done with his mission, though Pinkamena smiled as she glanced at one of the train cars, as she spotted Kyojuro and he smiled as he noticed her as well.

"Well, that settles it... we're boarding the Mugen Train." Pinkamena said, where she walked over to the line for one of the ticket booths and pulled out the small money pouch she carried, despite the fact that she hadn't used any of it, before she glanced at the board for a moment and raised an eyebrow for a moment, "That's a strange name for a train, the 'Infinite Train', but I'm sure the creators had a reason for giving it such a name."

As she waited in line for a time, however, Pinkamena sensed a Demon in the area and felt it coming from the train, before determining that there were two signatures, one that was stronger than the other, so it either meant that one Demon was no longer in the area, being an old power signature, or one had to be weak and was trying to hide. Once the tickets were bought she beckoned for the others to join her as she climbed aboard the train, where they found two columns of seats in front of them, one on their left and another on their right, leaving the middle area as a walkway for them. There were all sorts of people aboard the train when they boarded, basically a buffet for a Demon if her senses were accurate, though it explained so much to her without having to be told anything, she was sure that the Hashira must have been sent to deal with whatever the problem might be. Of course Inosuke still wanted to fight the 'beast' that they were now in the belly of, causing Zenitsu to tell him to shut up before asking Tanjiro about the Hashira he was interested in meeting again, while at the same time Pinkamena found Kyojuro sitting alone, with a number of food boxes, but he wasn't eating right now, as he got up as they approached.

Pinkamena smiled as she raised her hand and he clasped it, a handshake to be exact, before he sat down in the seat he had been sitting in for some time, she sat across from him, Tanjiro sat to his side, and both Zenitsu and Inosuke rested on the other side of the aisle, all while Nezuko's box rested near Pinkamena. Once that was done Kyojuro passed around a few of the food boxes and started to devour whatever was inside his container, where the others ate what had been given to them and Tanjiro quickly explained why he had been seeking him out. He was basically repeating everything he had told Shinobu before they left the Butterfly Mansion, going into detail about the Hinokami Kagura and how he used it during the battle with Lower Moon Five, even though no one in his family had been trained to be Demon Slayers and made him think curious about the technique. Pinkamena ate the food in front of her as she listened to the conversation, mostly due to the fact that she was wondering how long it would take her friend to realize that there was another Breath out there and his family had been the only practitioners of it, before Muzan arrived and killed most of his family.

Eventually they departed from the station and started to head to whatever their destination was, Pinkamena hadn't cared about the destination when she bought their tickets, and the staff took the food boxes, which Kyojuro claimed were tasty many times, before they got to the heart of the main conversation.

"Hm, that is very interesting, but I don't know what to say. This is the first time I've heard of the Dance of the Fire God," Kyojuro said, after taking some time to think about what Tanjiro had said, while at the same time considering what sort of thoughts were going through Pinkamena's mind on the matter, as she was smarter than most of the Hashira believed and she likely had an idea on what the Dance was, "however, I am delighted to hear that you were able to apply your father performed in a fight... but enough of this story, for I have an idea. You, Tanjiro Mizoguchi, should become my Tsuguko, as I'll look after you!"

"Kyojuro, sir, my name is Tanjiro Kamado." Tanjiro replied, though as he said that Pinkamena knew that it would fall on deaf ears for a time, as the Flame Hashira was more interested in the thought he had come up with, but also knew that if Tanjiro accepted the proposal, and it was accepted by Kaguya, it would give him the presence in the Corps that they had been told about, making her wonder if a Slayer could learn multiple Breaths over their lives.

"Tell me, do you know about the basic Breaths?" Kyojuro inquired, something that seemed to be common knowledge for all Demon Slayers, though while Inosuke clearly didn't know, in fact he was staring out the window and Zenitsu had to stop him from doing something stupid, Tanjiro only knew about Water and Zenitsu did know what he was talking about.

"There are five basic Breaths: Flame, Water, Wind, Stone, and Thunder, all said to hail from the 'Original Breath' one that has been lost to history," Pinkamena replied, as she knew a great deal about the Breath system thanks to the two years she spent learning from Sakonji, while Tanjiro tried to master Water Breathing, before she considered something that she hadn't thought about before this point in time, "It is said that Flower and Serpent Breathing are derived from Water, with Insect coming from Flower, Love came from Flame, Sound is derived from Thunder, and both Beast and Mist come from Wind Breathing... I guess Chaos Breathing would also be derived from Water, given how long we trained under Sakonji."

With that comment made Kyojuro asked what colors their blades were, getting yellow from Zenitsu, indigo grey out of Inosuke, black from Tanjiro, and the dark blue sapphire color with crimson swirls that were on Pinkamena's blade, which was the oddest of them all when everyone thought about it.

"Well, that's too bad. I've never heard of a swordsman with a black blade becoming a Hashira," Kyojuro commented, as he was considering the colors of Tanjiro's blade and Pinkamena's, because while he assumed that the latter's was due to her dual nature as a Demon and a Demon Slayer, hence the color, he had no idea what to make of Tanjiro's, "and, based on what I've heard, you have no idea which Breath to master... so I'll take you on and treat you well!"

Pinkamena chuckled as she listened to them for a time, due to Inosuke constantly acting weird with the movement of the train, Zenitsu trying to stop him from doing something stupid, and Tanjiro trying to get more information out of Kyojuro, before she went serious as the Hashira mentioned that he had no idea when the Demon would show itself. It appeared that this was where a number of Slayers went missing over the last month, one heard a rumor about a disappearance on the Mugen Train, sent a report that they were going to check it out, and never returned, so the higher ups determined that a Demon was behind the disappearance. As such they ended up sending a few more of their lower ranking members to check out the report and sure enough all of them went missing as well, meaning a Demon had to be somewhere on this train and it was feeding on anyone and everyone it could get its hands on. Due to that fact Kyojuro had been assigned to the investigation and was ready for whatever powers the Demon in question had, since he had a feeling it might be one of the potential Lower Moon replacements, meaning it would be stronger than a normal Demon.

As she thought about that Pinkamena noticed someone approaching them and felt the shift in the air, something that her friends and companions noticed as well, a man wearing a black suit and a conductor's hat, meaning he was here to punch their tickets, though when he stopped near them he had a haunted look in his eyes.

"I have seen them..." the conductor said, keeping his voice low for some odd reason, though it was in that moment that Pinkamena, Tanjiro, and Kyojuro sensed the change in the air as a Demon walked through the door the man had walked through not a few moments ago, meaning it was capable of hiding itself until it was time to strike.

The Demon in question had multiple eyes and mouths on his head, along with a number of spikes all over his body, and a fair number of people freaked out as he stepped out into the open and faced them, which caused Kyojuro to stand up as he informed the conductor that he'd rather not make a scene about his sword.

"Big boy, were you hiding yourself with your Blood Demon Art?" Kyojuro inquired, where he shifted his stance a little as he drew his sword, allowing them to watch him as he focused on the figure that seemed to be standing still, in fact, if she was right, Pinkamena was sure that the Demon was frightened of who had appeared in front of him, "If so, than good job, as it was hard to track down your presence... however, if you're baring your fangs at sinless people, the red sword of Rengoku will burn you down to the bone. Breath of Flame, First Form: Unknowing Fire."

In that moment Kyojuro rushed forward in the blink of an eye, surprising Tanjiro and his friends, and decapitated the lone Demon in a matter of seconds, where Pinkamena nodded her head as she seized the pieces with her power, leaving none of the fallen parts behind. Such a thing caused her friends to cheer and proclaim that he was great, especially since both Zenitsu and Inosuke seemed to think that training under him would turn them into true Demon Slayers or something, but he was more than willing to make all three of them his disciples. As they did that, however, Pinkamena kept her guard up as she felt the demonic energy that was in the air, as the stronger one was still lingering after Kyojuro killed the one that had shown itself, meaning it was a trick to lure them into a false sense of security, and the Hashira, seeing the look in her eyes, knew to keep his guard up as well. She had no idea where the Demon was hiding, because the demonic energy she was sensing was all over the train, but that wasn't going to stop her from keeping an eye on things and see if the Demon decided to reveal themselves, or just remain in hiding after witnessing Kyojuro's power.

As the others started to relax, and enjoy the train ride to whatever destination Kyojuro had picked out earlier, Pinkamena had a feeling that when it got dark things were going to happen, that they might be in for the fight of their lives, so she just had to be patient and wait for the hidden Demon to make their move.