Demon Slayer: The Strange Demon

by Blackdrag-rose

Interlude: The Nichirin Blade

After ensuring that the area was clear, and that Tanjiro would be able to rest without fear of being ambushed by the rest of the Demons who might be in this pat of the mountain, Pinkamena finished her meal, replaced her mask, and then headed out to see what else might be hunting down the rest of the disciples that were taking part in the Final Selection, as she knew there had to be more Demons out there. The Hand Demon, as she decided to call the one that Sakonji captured and Tanjiro had defeated on his own, had been somewhat powerful, especially after feeding on a disciple he had run into, though not enough to actually take down someone like Tanjiro, who was putting together his training and experiences so he could take down his enemies. Another reason she knew he had been powerful was because she felt a boost of energy when she first took a bite out of the hand she had pulled out for her meal, meaning that if she found and killed stronger Demons, as she was sure there were some scattered across the land, their flesh would allow her to grow even more powerful and her own demonic powers would grow as well. Such a thing was necessary if she planned on taking down the Twelve Kizuki, since they stood between her and Muzan, though she had no idea how much stronger those twelve Demons were and needed to make sure her own skills were well polished before even encountering one of them, hence why her current mission was to survive this test.

What she discovered was that the Demons she hunted down and slew were nothing compared to the Hand Demon, as each of them seemed to confirm what she and Tanjiro had learned from the other disciple, that they had only eaten two to three people before becoming trapped here, meaning the Hand Demon either hoarded all the food or the stronger ones had been slain by the others. The reason she thought about that was because three of the other disciples seemed like they might be able to hold their own against the Demons that were on this mountain, as she was sure that the young boy with yellow hair and the yellow haori could take down a couple of foes, the young lady who seemed interested in butterflies could take one or two down on her own, and the other male with a jagged scar on the right side of his face seemed like he had the skills to end a few Demons. In addition to those three, not to mention herself and Tanjiro, there was one other in this test who had some decent skills, a young male who ran faster than she had seen everyone move, to the point where she almost thought he was a spirit of some kind, who carried two blades and seemed to be interested in killing Demons, as if they were stepping stones, and sure enough he was done before she could track him down. At the very least this did give her an assortment of demonic parts and bodies to collect, where Pinkamena did have to draw her blade and swing it a few times at one of her enemies, hacking the Demon apart before she was able to collect the parts, though she kept hoping to find a stronger foe and right now nothing like the Hand Demon showed up to fight her.

In the end she spent most of the seven days hunting down some of the stronger Demons, while pretending to rest during the day like Tanjiro and the others, where she found that Tanjiro ended up killing five more enemies, and aiding the other disciples where she could, before they were brought back to the gathering area that they had started in, finding that it was just her, Tanjiro, and the three she had considered previously, six if she counted the one who ran by earlier... where they found the two siblings welcoming them back, confirming that they had been successful.

"What do I do now?" the scarred male asked, his tone revealing that he was impatient and that his only desire was to join the Demon Slayer Corps, to gain his own Nichirin Blade, though Pinkamena had no idea why he was like this since all five of them would be given such a blade before being sent out to track down Demons, or whatever else they were supposed to do in terms of missions, "What about the blade?"

"First, you must pay for the cost of the uniform, where you will be measured and your rank engraved on it," the sibling with the white hair replied, where Pinkamena assumed that a letter must have been sent to Sakonji and informed him that they had survived the Final Selection, meaning the payment for the uniforms had to come out of whatever their mentors were being paid, or at least she assumed that was the case.

"There are ten ranks in total, starting with Mizunoto, the lowest rank," the black haired boy continued, speaking after his sister said her piece of information, which must have been repeated to everyone else who survived the Final Selection, to which Pinkamena easily figured out that they were starting at the Mizunoto rank before being able to move onto the next one and the ones that were beyond it, "then you have the ranks of Mizunoe, Kanoto, Kanoe, Tsuchinoto, Tsuchioe, Hinoto, Hinoe, Kinoto, and Kinoe... there is an eleventh rank, that of Hashira, but you need not worry yourselves about that at this point in time."

"What. About. The. Blade?" the scarred male asked again, showing that he had no patience and that he wanted them to tell him the information that he wanted, where neither of the siblings bothered to make a move or even acknowledge what he had said, all while Pinkamena resisted the urge to moan, since he was liable to cause trouble, and she could see that even Tanjiro seemed concerned by the boy's attitude.

"Today, each of you will choose a chunk of Tamahagane Alloy, which will be used in the process of forging your blades, a process that will take between ten to fifteen days," the white haired girl stated, showing the group that she and her bother had been getting to this point and that the young boy's comments were unnecessary, though in the following seconds she clapped her hands for a moment, which was more like she was calling something and not like she was playing around with something, "Also, from now on, a Kasugai Garasu will be following each of you."

As it turned out the Kasugai Garasu were black feathered crows that responded to her clap, where they flew down into the area that they were in and landed on the left shoulders of those they had been assigned to after both siblings figured out how many had survived the Final Selection, even though the yellow haired body had a little sparrow and not a crow, but as that happened Pinkamena found a table full of ore resting nearby, no doubt the alloy that had been mentioned, but before anything could happen the scarred male waved a hand at his crow.

"I don't care about some dumb crow!" the scarred male stated, showing them that he had no desire to follow the rules or procedures that came with being a member of the Demon Slayer Corps, where he actually hit the crow that had tried to land on his shoulder or arm, as the lady's was on her outstretched right arm, before turning to grab the hair of the white haired girl as he brought her face up to his own, "What I want is the blade! Give me the blade right now! The blade of the Demon Slayers, the 'Blade of Color Change'!"

Pinkamena considered breaking his arm, as she had a feeling that the two young children were more important than any of them realized, though before she could do anything Tanjiro stepped forward before the scarred male could do anything else to the little girl, save for leaving her with a trail of blood coming from her mouth, as he grabbed onto the boy's right arm, near his wrist to be exact, and glared at him.

"Let go of her at once... if you don't, I'll break your arm." Tanjiro replied, showing them that he wasn't about to allow the boy to do something like this, even if he moved to do what Pinkamena had been planning on doing, where she had to say that his determination to do the right thing was admirable, even though the girl's brother didn't seem interested in helping her out, why she had no idea.

The scarred male decided to challenge him for a moment and Tanjiro fulfilled his promise, he tightened his grip and did a bit of damage to his wrist, likely dislocating it based on what she heard, allowing him to make sure the little girl was safe as the scarred male backed off for a moment, though the yellow haired boy seemed frightened about everything while the other survivor, the lady, seemed more interested in her butterfly and crow.

"Are you done?" the little boy asked, causing the scarred male to growl for a moment as he gestured to the table, where all of them were reminded of the alloy that would be used to make their blades, something the scarred boy seemed to miss, due to ignoring him and his sister, causing everyone to glance over at it before approaching him, all while his sister took a moment to regain herself before joining him, "If so, please go over there and choose the alloy that will be used to create your Nichirin Blades."

With the children done speaking Pinkamena and the others took turns picking out the alloy that would be turned into their Demon slaying weapons, which were packaged, labeled with each of their names and where in the land they would be for the next two to three weeks, and then were shipped off, taken by some black clothed figures who wore white cloth masks over their faces. With the five pieces of Tamahagane Alloy being taken away another set of shadowy figures stepped out of where they had been hiding and beckoned for them to separate from each other, where Pinkamena went in one direction and Tanjiro went in another, along with the other three heading towards three other covers, though what she found was that the figure who accompanied her, a female she noted, took her measurements. This was the person who would make sure her attire fit her well, as the attire of a Demon Slayer was supposed to protect them from certain things, so she took a few moments to allow the person to make her measurements and whatever notes she added, though she was frightened by the look on Pinkamena's face, even if she didn't scream 'Demon' when she saw her. After seeing and hearing about the others of this land, like Sabito and his pink hair or the yellow haired boy, she figured that her hair color, her eyes, and even her fangs might be considered normal to most individuals, though one thing Pinkamena was able to confirm was that she was keeping her fox mask, as it allowed her to hide her true nature from everyone else.

Once that was done they were left alone for some time, about an hour by her estimates, before the figures returned and presented each of them with a satchel, which contained their Demon Slayer attire, though once that was done they were allowed to depart from Mt. Fujikasane and wait for the bladesmiths to deliver their blades, but given a few stares coming from the children Pinkamena found a good stick for Tanjiro to use and sent him on his way as the others left, allowing her to turn towards the two young siblings.

"Sakonji was right, you are different." the black haired boy commented, confirming that he and his sister must have been told about her condition before she and Tanjiro even arrived to take part in the Final Selection, meaning they had to be fairly high up in the Corps to know that information, since Sakonji wouldn't tell just anyone about the fact that she was a Demon and that she went against her new nature all the time.

"You had several instances to get away with eating Humans, but you restrained yourself and devoured the Demons that were around you instead," the white haired girl added, informing Pinkamena that the stealthy members of the Corps, as in the ones that took their measurements and collected their alloy earlier, must have been involved in the Final Selection and served as the eyes and ears of these two, "Why did you do things that way?"

"Eating Humans seems wrong to me, so instead I eat Demons... their flesh boosts my power," Pinkamena replied, as she figured that if these two were in the higher ranks of the Corps, despite appearing to be nothing more than children who couldn't wield a blade at all, they might deliver the news to their leader and share their opinions on her to the figure that Sakonji couldn't tell her anything about, "What I desire right now is the end of those ruling over the Demons, and to do such a thing I will do everything in my power to take each and every one of them out."

The young siblings seemed to think about that for a moment before allowing her to go on her way, even though she did feel a slight prick on her left hand for a moment, something that her crow told her was an engraving of her rank, hidden by a special Wisteria potion and would become available when she uttered the correct passphrase, to which she took a second to shrug before departing from Mt. Fujikasane. Thanks to her demonic abilities it took her only a few moments to reach Tanjiro and fell in with him, making it look like they were two travelers that were heading to Sagiri Mountain, which was where Sakonji lived and where they had trained in the art of Water Breathing, though they did have to go slow since she could tell that Tanjiro, now that everything was said and done, was utterly exhausted from the test. Even though she was a Demon, and couldn't get tired like a normal Human did, Pinkamena knew that he would need his rest once they got back to Sakonji's house, where her friend, as she was starting to see him more like a friend and less of a companion, could see how his sister was doing and if she might have awakened after two years of sleeping. Of course Tanjiro spoke about how naive he had been, as he ended up slaying eight Demons, the Hand Demon and seven others, but never bothered to have a conversation with any of them, because he was curious as to whether or not Nezuko could be turned back into a Human, which seemed to be his goal right now, instead of the eradication of Demons.

While they walked both her crow and Tanjiro's flew high in the air above them, no doubt keeping an eye on them, though with Tanjiro being exhausted from the Final Selection, and him not wanting to burden her with a heavy package when she offered to carry him, it took them some time to get from Mt. Fujikasane and reach Sagiri Mountain, where the day turned to night as the sunset behind her and Tanjiro... where they were greeted by a welcome surprise, Nezuko actually kicked down the main door of Sakonji's house and stepped outside.

"Nezuko! You... you woke up!" Tanjiro nearly exclaimed, his tone and expression making it easy for Pinkamena to see that he was overjoyed to see that his sister was up and about once more, even though she did seem like she was staring off at something, or just nothing since she could be staring into space, where he ignored his exhaustion and tried to rush over to where his sister was standing, who noticed him and walked towards him.

Pinkamena watched as Tanjiro fell not even a second later, his exhaustion getting the better of him, though Nezuko took a moment to wrap her arms around his head when he pulled himself up a little, bringing his head close to her chest as she hugged him, showing them that part of her Human side had to be in control right now, even if her sharpened nails and the bamboo in her mouth, to hide her fangs, told a different story, and before he could even say anything Sakonji, who had followed Nezuko outside, wrapped his arms around both of them.

"You finally came back alive..." Sakonji said, his voice revealing that he was overjoyed that one of his disciples had, at long last, survived the Demons that were part of the Final Selection, even though Pinkamena was sure that the old man might be crying tears of joy behind his mask, hence why she stood by one of the trees with a pleased smile on her face, as they deserved this moment to themselves, all while knowing that the spirits of Sabito, Makomo, and the others were feeling overjoyed as well.

The first order of business was Tanjiro taking a bath, he sorely needed it after everything he had been through, and some food in his belly, as none of the disciples had been given anything during or after the Final Selection, since outside help was against the rules for the former, something Pinkamena knew he deserved since he had done a good job against both the Hand Demon and all of the others he had faced. Once those two things were done, and Tanjiro had slipped into some more comfortable clothing as Sakonji returned the training blades back to where he kept them, he fell asleep in the small room that he and Nezuko shared, though once that was done Pinkamena stepped outside and stared up at the moon, all to enjoy a bit of peace and quiet before making sure the area was totally secure. She had remained silent while Tanjiro had his fun, as he deserved everything that happened since he would be facing Demons for the rest of his life, until either he helped bring Muzan down, he was slain in combat, or he retired after failing to make a difference, plus he didn't need her to keep an eye on him, not when Nezuko and Sakonji were nearby. It was his touching reunion with his sister, and having his mentor be happy to have a disciple return from the Final Selection at long last, hence why she removed herself from all of it and focused on her own plans, though she knew that the leader of the Corps would likely have her and Tanjiro travel together, no doubt to be on the safe side in case she ate a Human after this point in time.

"You also did well, Pinkamena," Sakonji said, having noticed that the strange Demon had done nothing but distance herself from Tanjiro while her friend had celebrated his success, no doubt because she felt that she didn't belong in this scenario and didn't want to interrupt his reunion with Nezuko, though after everything he had read about, thanks to the crows who delivered information to him, he knew that she would make a great Demon Slayer, where he was overjoyed to have both of his disciples return alive and he embraced her as well.

"You taught us well, Sakonji," Pinkamena replied, though she had to smile for a moment, as while she had a feeling that he was happy to see that she survived, despite being a Demon, it seemed like he had been rooting for her as well, wishing for both her and Tanjiro to return alive and well, to which she raised a hand for a moment and pulled the mask off for a short period of time, "also, would it be okay to keep the mask?"

Sakonji, while having carved it to prevent disaster for Pinkamena, like he had done with Tanjiro's and was pleased to see it had been broken while saving his life, nodded his head, showing her that he was perfectly fine with her taking it, though after that he made sure that she joined him and Tanjiro inside his house, even if she didn't need sleep, as she deserved a period of rest before the blades arrived.

---

Sure enough Pinkamena and Tanjiro spent the next fifteen days resting and recovering from what happened during the Final Selection, or rather it was more like she continued her training, to be sure that she was ready for whatever the future held for all of them, while finding that Tanjiro spent a good deal of time resting and making sure Nezuko was fine, who just stayed inside Sakonji's house for the most part. Of course she had to drag him out every now and then to make sure none of his skills diminished while he rested, as it would make Sakonji sad to have a disciple survive the Final Selection, only to fall during his first couple of missions for the Corps, though she did go easy on him since he was still recovering from his fight against the Hand Demon and the others he slew. During that she Pinkamena also thought about what the scarred boy had said, about the Nichirin Blades and how they changed color, which reminded her that the blades that she and Tanjiro had carried into battle had a blue colored edge, to symbolize that they were Sakonji's students and could use the Water Breathing techniques, even if those blades had been colored by their mentor. It made her wonder if they would gain blue blades once they were delivered, given their training, though Sakonji did inform her that there were instances where another color showed up, instead of the one that someone might be expecting, so there was a chance that she or Tanjiro might unlock another color besides blue.

On the fifteenth day after the Final Selection their blades arrived, as Pinkamena happened to be standing near the road on a day off, just to relax a little before resuming part of her personal training to make sure her skills were ready, before she spotted a male figure, who wore a sunflower patterned haori over his casual clothing, plus a woven hat that was circular in nature and had floral wind chimes hanging from it, though on his back he had two containers, their swords no doubt, and it wasn't long before Tanjiro noticed his arrival as well.

"My name is Hotaru Haganezuka, and I am the one who forged the blade that will be used by Tanjiro Kamado," the person said, the voice confirming that it was definitely male and that her eyes hadn't deceived her, though he spoke the instant he came to a stop near the front of Sakonji's house, giving them time to gather near him while Sakonji made sure Nezuko was perfectly fine in his spare bedroom, "I am also carrying the blade that will be used by the one called 'Pinkamena', which was forged by Tecchin Tecchikawahara."

"I am Tanjiro Kamado, and this is Pinkamena," Tanjiro replied, gesturing to himself and then to Pinkamena, who kept her fox mask on, though as he opened his mouth to say something else Hotaru knelt on the ground and pulled one of the two boxes from his back, likely the one that contained the blade he had created, even though it was easy for her to see that her friend was trying to convince him to come in and have some tea.

"This is the Nichirin Blade that I forged," Hotaru continued, apparently ignoring Tanjiro's words while he set down the box and started to open it, either not caring about what was going on around him or this was some sort of ceremony that all of the bladesmiths went through when delivering the blades to their intended, while Pinkamena leaned against the house for a moment as she listened to what he had to say about these weapons, "the raw materials to make one of these are the Scarlet Crimson Iron Sand and the Scarlet Crimson Ore, which are found on the highest mountain that is the closest to the sun... they are materials that have absorbed the sunlight, hence why we call where they're from the 'Sunlight' Mountain, a place that is never troubled by clouds or rain."

In that moment, as Tanjiro continued his attempts to make the man come inside and take a seat so they could have some tea before handing over the blades, the man turned his head up and revealed that he was wearing a wooden mask with the lips pulled out a little, a festival mask according to what Sakonji told them previously, surprising Tanjiro in the process, before the man pulled himself close to her friend. As it turned out he labeled him as a 'child of burning crimson', but to the fact that Tanjiro had deep red eyes and the his hair had burgundy tips, even though her friend seemed to think it was due to his parents and Hotaru explained that it was because his family's trade was related to fire, given that they had been in the business of making charcoal and selling it to the nearby village. Apparently his reasoning was linked to the coloration of the blade he had created, as it seemed that he was interested in seeing a special blade color, either red or a crimson color to be exact, which he came to the conclusion might happen based on Tanjiro's appearance and hair color, and while they talked Sakonji noted that it was possible to get the coloration Hotaru was expecting, even though it was just as likely that Tanjiro's would turn blue. Eventually, however, the smith picked himself up, grabbed the box he had opened while he was talking, and walked into the house without delay, allowing them to sit down and actually have the tea that Tanjiro had been interested in offering to Hotaru, who placed the second box nearby before handing Tanjiro his blade, where both he and Pinkamena found that the hilt was a black ring connected to the blade by a number of lines, like a wheel for some odd reason, which had to be linked to the one who made it.

Not a few seconds later, on the direction of Hotaru, Tanjiro pulled out his blade and revealed the silver steel that a normal blade had, though as he gripped the handle they all watched as it changed before their eyes, where the edge that would be used to cut into his enemies turned ebony black and the edge facing him took on a dark gray color, or maybe it was a somewhat lighter black.

"Is it a bad color?" Pinkamena asked, as Hotaru seemed outraged by the fact that it was a black blade and not the crimson one that he desperately wanted to lay his eyes on, to the point where he actually jumped on top of Tanjiro and seemed to lock his body into a punishing hold while he moved his limbs into certain positions, hence why she directed her question to Sakonji, who seemed to think about it.

"No, it's actually a fairly rare color... in fact, I've never seen one in all my years, as they're supposed to reflect the power of the one wielding it," Sakonji replied, which confirmed something that Pinkamena had considered earlier, as in how all of his blades were blue colored on the cutting edge, making her wonder what in the world black meant, since she didn't know all of the Breathing Styles that existed in this world, "like how those who use Sound Breathing have amber colored blades, or those who use Wind Breathing will have green colored blades... I have no idea what black might mean, nor why Tanjiro's blade changed to it, given his training in Water Breathing. Makes me wonder what color you might get..."

Pinkamena said nothing as Hotaru pulled himself away from Tanjiro and pulled the second box over, where he opened it and carefully extracted the blade she would be using, plus the black scabbard it was housed in, before handing it over to her, where she accepted it and drew her Nichirin Blade without delay, where the blade shimmered for a few seconds as it took on a dark blue, almost sapphire, sheen, reminding her of Pinkie's Element of Harmony, with crimson swirls appearing on both sides of the blade.

"Interesting, I wasn't expecting this," Pinkamena remarked, though she had to smile for a moment, as she had a feeling her blade's color was due to her unique nature, either because she was one of the displaced or her Breathing Style was a brand new one that no one had seen so far, while Sakonji and Hotaru glanced at each other, no doubt having no idea what to make of her blade's color, to which she sheathed it without wasting time.

In that moment her crow and Tanjiro's landed nearby before speaking to them, as in they actually talked like people, and what they had to say was that they were being given their first assignment, that the two of them were to head to a town to the north west and hunt some demons, as it appeared that young girls were disappearing every night, never to be seen again, meaning it was time for them to get started and face their destinies.

Comments

[badninja]

Pinkamena is growing slowly. I think that this will be good for her as she becomes her own person/pony. I wonder what she will think of this first assignment?

[Night_Moon60606]

so, Tamahagane, 'Jewel Steel', actually very common in Japanese blade forging...very interesting...

[Blackdrag-rose]

11215288 The author of Demon Slayer was clearly inspired by the techniques that were in use during the points of his story, while mixing in his own supernatural elements.

[Night_Moon60606]

11215304
ah, perhaps i should mention that Tamahagane is still used in forging today, Japanese forged kitchen knives are the absolute best in the business...with a pricetag to match...a single knife can cost upward of five hundred US dollars...minimum...

[Blackdrag-rose]

11215307 I didn't know that fact. Just figured it was an old art that the author used and combined with their own idea to make the blades the Slayers use in battle.

[Night_Moon60606]

11215314
the thing is, they dont only use Tamahagane, here...

might be a little long, but informative...

[Blackdrag-rose]

11215332 I see. Well, I have no prior knowledge on the subject before this point, so you make a fair point.