He Who Fights Demons Ch 6

Heyo, sorry for the late post.

You know what they say about the Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men.

Was busy all of Friday, literally all of Friday. Start to finish. Blegh.

I was able to buckle down and write this chapter Saturday.

It says something about me that I find it easier to write violence filled stories with people murdering each other a lot easier than slice of life happy fun times.

I don't know what it says about me, but it definitely does.

Either way, if you are in the US, which most of y'all are. I hope you had a good Easter.

If not, well, hope you had a good weekend.

Here is chapter 6. I hope you guys like it. Lemme know in a comment!

Or don't. I'm not the boss of you.

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Tanjiro raised his arms, his everything in pain and burning, then exhaled as he stomped forward and brought his arms down, swinging them in a circular motion, the wooden shichishito Morihito had made for him to practice nearly slipped out of his sweaty palms, then he froze when he realized he didn’t remember the next step of the Hinokami Kagura.

His older brother’s wooden staff came down so hard it whistled through the air, it halted an instant before touching him, then tapped him on the top of his head so softly the only reason he realized he’d been touched at all was that he felt it moving his hair. “Wrong!”

“But big brother!” Tanjiro tried to whine but barely managed to wheeze. His arms trembling by his sides as they refused to be raised.

“You are still thinking about each step individually.” Morihito said, swinging the long heavy staff as if it weighed nothing, then began performing the Kagura while explaining, his breath and speech not affected at all by the motions. Instead of the smooth performance he usually delivered, his movements were stilted and jerky as he went from step to step. “You are thinking of each stage of the dance as an individual set, to be begun, performed, and concluded individually.” His form changed, once again flowing seamlessly from one step to the next. He swung the staff from Raging Sun, into Burning Bones, then finishing the circular motion with a pirouette and launching into Sunflower Thrust, and when he landed he swept through the Sun Halo Dragon Head Dance.

He stopped and turned back to Tanjiro, his breathing completely even, without even a drop of sweat on his brow after the violent movement. “The Hinokami Kagura is all one continuous motion. We break it down into individual sets of movements so it’s easier to learn.”

“But big brother!” Tanjiro managed to whine after having gulped air through Morihito’s entire explanation. “It’s too hard!”

“Takeo is younger than you and he’s doing it without complaint.” Morihito said, pointing at Takeo who was working through the forms, breathing very quickly and noisily. “Though he needs to get better control of his breathing before he passes out, he is still pushing himself to do better with every repetition.”

Takeo didn’t say anything, but when Morihito stopped looking at him, he looked insufferably smug at his older brother’s praise.

“But big brother! Why do we have to learn the Hinomaki Kagura!?” Tanjiro asked, raising the shichishito before Morihito changed his grip on the stick. It wasn’t even dad’s Hinokami Kagura, which was confusing. It was different, less…showy.

Morihito raised his eyebrows. “So if both dad and I get sick one of these years, you’ll force us to do the Kagura ourselves? Coughing, retching, barely able to breathe or move. You’ll force us to do the dance in those horrible conditions? Have you no heart Tanjiro?”

“You don’t ever get sick big brother!” Shigeru said from his place in the line, swinging his own shichishito wildly about and only mostly following the general idea of the Hinokami Kagura.

“That my brain is too smooth to get sick doesn’t mean I can’t get sick.” Morihito said, reaching out with the wooden stick and lightly tapping Shigeru’s legs, back, and arms to fix his stance. “And if I do, it’ll be up to one of you to perform the dance.”

“I still don’t get why we have to do this.” Tanjiro mumbled as he firmed up his stance, squared his shoulders, and began moving through the steps, doing his best to link all of the movements of the dance together into a cohesive whole like Morihito.

“Concentrate on your breathing.” Morihito admonished, lightly touching Tanjiro’s stomach with the tip of the staff. “Fat lot of good you’ll do by holding your breath.”

Tanjiro bore the brunt of Morihito’s admonishments. Takeo got an even split of encouragement and chastisement, and Shigeru got nearly nothing but praise. And Tanjiro felt that was unfair, but smartly said nothing because he didn’t want any more attention from The Stick than entirely necessary.

“Alright stop!” Morihito called out.

Tanjiro and Shigeru both stopped and leaned back, taking big, heaving gulps of air. Takeo tried to stand stoically, but dripping with sweat as he was and swaying on his feet, he didn’t pull it off very well.

“Three laps around the houses, then we’ll call it for the day!” Morihito yelled.

All three of the younger brothers in attendance groaned in commiseration.

“What’s that!?” Morihito called out, and even though his face didn’t change, all three of them could hear the malevolent glee in his voice. “You want five laps!? Well, I was going to let you take it easy but if you insist!”

The three younger Kamado siblings didn’t allow themselves to groan this time and ran. Morihito ran backwards alongside them. And began singing in that weird language that only he and Miss Pyrrha spoke.

Tanjio and Takeo bore the noise stoically, while Shigeru eagerly joined in with Morihito. Tanjiro just concentrated on his breathing, big clouds of steam coming out of his nose and mouth with every exhalation.

They listened to their brothers sing, and out of the corner of his eye, Tanjiro saw that Nezuko, Hanako, mom and Miss Pyrrha had come out to the porch to watch them train. Tanjiro tried to straighten up but wasn’t able to.

Takeo tried to join in on the singing, but out of all of them Shigeru was the only one who had gotten Dad’s and Morihito’s knack for the special breathing that let them never be tired.

With his ears ringing from Morihito’s roar and Shigeru’s screeching, Tanjiro (barely) stumbled his way through the last lap. The exact instant that he completed the fifth lap, Tanjiro sprawled on the ground and gulped air.

A few seconds after he was no longer moving, the biting chill of the air and the iciness of the ground bit into him as he rested.

“Heeey! Good work!” He heard Hanako say.

“Thanks!” Shigeru said happily while Takeo gurgled something.

“You worked…good.”

Tanjiro shot to his feet at Miss Pyrrha’s awkwardly delivered word of praise. “Yes! Thank you, Miss Pyrrha!”

She smiled and handed him a cup of water.

Tanjiro took it gratefully and admired it as she handed another cup to Takeo, and another to Shigeru.

When she handed one to Morihito, her face turned red as his fingers touched hers when he took it.

They launched into a very fast conversation in her native tongue.

Whatever was said, Morihito found it amusing, and Miss Pyrrha turned a very pretty shade of red and swatted at his arm while laughing.

He really should try harder to learn her tongue. Only being able to properly talk with one person must get very lonely.

He was, once again, surprised by the fact that Morihito’s clothes fit her so well. Yes they had to be folded multiple times as they hung very loosely on her frame, but the kimono or haori that Morihito lent her needed very little needlework so they didn’t drag on the ground.

“Good work today, boys.” Father said, carrying little Sumiko in his arms, keeping the baby close to him to provide her with warmth. “You’ll all grow to be mighty men indeed, under your brother’s tutelage.”

“Why don’t you teach us, Pa?” Asked Shigeru, clumsily performing the Hinokami Kagura for Hanako and Nezuko’s enjoyment.

Father smiled softly. “I doubt I’d be able to do a better job than your brother. Besides, with him teaching you, I was able to concentrate on making more charcoal to sell. And I did meet the goal I told you about so…”

Tanjiro perked up. “You mean, we’ll be able to go to the festival this year?”

Tanjuro smiled. “Yes.”

The whole family except Morihito cheered. Pyrrha only looked affably confused until Morihito presumably explained.

Every winter solstice the nearby village hosted a festival, people from other villages traveled to enjoy it, there were food stalls, and games, and toys, and music, and plays, and many other things. None of which they’d ever seen, as they had never before had enough money to attend.

“This is going to be great!” Tanjiro said.

Morihito huffed. “I already feel my blood pressure rising.”

“Why?” Takeo asked.

“Running herd over you lot is going to take all of my time.” Morihito answered.

Miss Pyrrha smiled. “I’ll help! Hold hands.”

“I’m not a kid! I don’t need you to hold my hand!” Takeo shouted as Tanjiro felt his face grow uncomfortably warm at the thought of holding Miss Pyrrha’s hand.

“You are a kid. And a few years from now you will fall over yourself at the thought of holding her hand.” Morihito said in a deadpan.

“Will not!”

“I want you to remember this conversation. Keep it in your mind. Because years from now, I will look you in the eye, I will remind you of this moment, and I will say ‘I told you so.’”

“Stop teasing your younger brothers.” Mother said, joining them, Xolo at her heels, holding a length of knotted rope on his mouth.

Morihito absently took the other end of the rope and started pulling on it, fighting the large, muscular dog as he yanked it back, growling low on his throat. “I’m not teasing. I’m telling him exactly what the future will bring.”

Miss Pyrrha did a knife hand strike to the top of Morihito’s head. “No. Bad.”

“Don’t you take their side.” He said, pulling the rope up until Xolo was hanging from it, swinging madly back and forth as he savaged the rope the same way he did the mice and rabbits he caught to eat.

Morihito showed no signs of struggle as he held the large animal up, and Xolo weighed at least twenty kan!

“Anyways, you lot go shower.” Morihito said, shooing them all away. “I think there are a few people in Kyoto that can’t smell you.”

The instant Morihito brought up the smell, Tanjiro realized his brother was right, all of that running and dancing the Kagura had not done any of them any favors. Now that he had noticed it, he couldn’t help but smell the reeking coming from himself and his younger siblings, Morihito in turn smelled of coal smoke and iron, along with the scent of his body.

Tanjiro stopped himself from thinking about what Miss Pyrrha smelled like.

He looked up, and realized that while he was thinking, Takeo and Shigeru both had taken off running for the bath. He yelped and ran after them. “Hey, no fair!”

“All’s fair in love and war!” Morihito shouted after him.

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Pyrrha felt nervous, it was strange to think that in the months since she’d arrived to her current world, she had never traveled the short distance to the nearby town. She’d been perfectly content to stay in the idyllic little home of the people who were kind enough to take her in, no questions asked.

Well…some questions asked, but they’d demanded nothing, not even that she pull her own weight by doing their chores. That had been her own initiative.

Miss Kie had made her clothes, she had handed them over to Pyrrha before coming to town, a red garment called a Kimono, and a tan jacket-like garment that went over it called a haori. These fit her a lot better than Morihito’s clothes. They were still far more…covering, than what she was used to, her movements restricted, and she’d feel awful if she were to tear them accidentally, but as the saying went, ‘when in Atlas, do as Atlesians do.’

She walked hand in hand with Hanako and little Shigeru, the kids happy as can be holding ‘Pyrrha onee-chan’s’ hand. Morihito walked carrying little Rokuta in one arm like a sack of potatoes, the toddler squealing in delight and laughing as his older brother walked and occasionally threw him into the air, caught him, and tossed him up again.

Missus Kie and Mister Tanjuro ran herd over Tanjiro and Takeo. While Nezuko happily carried the baby, Sumiko, Xolo walking so close to the girls that he often bumped into Nezuko’s legs, pushing the young woman away from the odd root or hole in the road.

Pyrrha really had no idea how Morihito managed to run herd over all of his siblings on his own for years. She found herself stretched thin with just two and their rapid-fire Japanese that she caught a very few words of.

The Kamado family were truly very kind people, including her as they were on this family outing. According to Morihito, this would be the first time they ever attended the fair, and Pyrrha was worried her status as a foreigner might…bring undue attention down on them.

A fear that was somewhat vindicated, as she found herself the center of attention once they entered town. The streets were bustling, packed tight with people going to and fro, their conversations quiet but so numerous that they were loud in aggregate. Loud, at least, until they spotted her.

Pyrrha was the one spot of color in a sea of black hair and tanned skin. Her red hair, pale complexion and green eyes marking her very much as an ‘other’ in this place.

She’d have thought that she’d be used to being stared at, what with her status as a celebrity in Remnant. That blasted title, ‘the invincible girl’ still occasionally haunting her nightmares. But this was different, at least it felt different. Most looks weren’t hostile, merely flummoxed or curious.

Several people approached and asked questions of the Kamado family, Mister Tanjuro and Morihito stepping forward to answer those questions, presumably with the cover story that Morihito had given her. That she was a guest from a faraway land and was staying with the Kamado family.

Not technically lying, but far from giving people the whole story.

Pyrrha found her eyes straying to Morihito her…her boyfriend.

Or, considering how often he liked to bend her over his workshop table and rock her world…and the wall…and his cot…and his bed…and her bed…And that one time she went hunting with him in the forest…was it getting warm here?

Point being, she should just be honest with herself and call him her lover.

She stared at her lover’s large back as he answered questions. Morihito was not one to show his emotions easily, in fact, she’d say that he had the most consistent resting-bitch-face she’d ever seen in her life. But she had come to know his moods over the months. His face did not show the storms of emotion that went on behind his eyes, but his body was not so constrained.

She could see it in the set of his shoulders, in the tension of his back, on the shifting of his feet as he subconsciously took a fighting stance. The younger adults were confused by her presence, while the young and the children were largely fascinated, likely never having seen someone who did not look like them in their lives. These Morihito was relaxed with, in some cases he sent the young men walking away with a sharp word and his body screaming that he was ready to let his fist do the talking.

Some people, not many, mostly elders, seemed to have a problem with the presence of a foreigner in their festival. Those Morihito spoke to with short, sharp words; words that left them retreating while grumbling and glaring. His body showing genuine anger.

Pyrrha herself didn’t let things bother her and allowed the children to pull her in whichever direction. She wasn’t here for herself. By her standards, the festival was quaint, cute even. A small community event the likes of which could be seen every now and then across Mistral.

There was some stall food that looked okay, but these people’s access to spices and flavoring was quite restricted, so it was rather subpar compared to the festivals she’d enjoyed on Remnant.

Pyrrha resolved not to let her attitude ruin the festival for the children.

They got some festival food, Mister Tanjuro bought each of his children a toy, small wooden statues of different animals for the boys, the occasional doll for the girls. There were a few clearly traditional dances, even if they were rather lackluster when compared to the ‘Dance of the Sun God’ that Morihito and Mister Tanjuro had shown her.

There was a bonfire with another traditional dance, one that Mister and Missus Kamado joined in, and Morihito didn’t because, ironically enough, he didn’t like dancing.

Pyrrha, Morihito, and Nezuko tried to keep the excited kids contained, but if it weren’t for Xolo, Rokuta would have managed to sneak away.

The toddler looked quite funny hanging from the large dog’s jaws by his clothes, like an oversized pup.

The night ended with a small display of very basic fireworks, these people’s lack of access to Dust meaning that the elemental effects that Pyrrha had come to expect were entirely missing. Still, the children were enthralled by the pretty colors of the very basic explosions in the sky.

After that, it was time to head back home while wrangling a number of sleepy kids.

“Not what you expected, huh?” Morihito asked, carrying Shigeru and Hanako, as if they were a burden. Pyrrha giving the sleeping Rokuta a piggyback ride.

“It was…” How to say it without sounding like a snob?

“Boring? Substandard? Meh? Bad?” Morihito provided, not caring one whit about disparaging it.

“Quaint.” Pyrrha finished, giving him a disapproving stare.

Morihito shrugged. “To-may-toe poh-tay-toe.”

“You don’t have to be mean about it.” She admonished with a scowl.

“Meh. I don’t see where you’re getting mean from. Just calling it like it is. Being from a technological base nearly one hundred years in the future made this festival pretty damn boring.” Morihito said.

“They did the best they could with what they had.” Pyrrha insisted.

“Not saying they didn’t. Just that their best was fairly middling by the standards my memories set.” Morihito said, then scowled in thought. “Then again, judging them against nearly one hundred years of material tolerances is pretty damn unfair.”

“Can’t you just say you had fun?” Pyrrha said with a huff.

“I had fun watching the bebbehs have fun.” Morihito said with a shrug. “Hanako’s face in particular was great. You’d have thought she’d just seen the fireworks display at the capital or something impressive.”

“See? You had fun.” Pyrrha insisted.

“Yeah yeah, I guess.” Morihito said. “And you?”

Pyrrha smiled. “Yeah…yeah I had fun.”

“Well, good.” He answered with a nod. “Now you can join me in prayer that my parents don’t end up with another little brother and sister for me. Because Ma has been giving Pa the ‘fuck me’ eyes since before we left town.”

Pyrrha glanced back surreptitiously and…yeah, Missus Kamado definitely had one thing in mind judging by her expression, the red on her cheeks, and the glances she kept throwing at her husband, one more sibling being added to ‘the Kamado gaggle’ as Morihito referred to his siblings, was definitely on the cards.

To nobody’s surprise, but the confusion of the younger children, once they had arrived to the Kamado home and put the children to bed, Mister and Missus Kamado excused themselves and went to the old house. With a small application of Aura, Pyrrha was able to discern by the sounds of it that, yes, they were certainly busy with an attempt at child number nine.

Morihito sat at the porch while Pyrrha did what she could not to think about the two adults mostly-quietly having sex nearby. Pyrrha eventually decided to join Morihito, the two of them sitting in a comfortable silence, looking at the stars and the moon.

That the moon wasn’t a shattered ruin still occasionally caught Pyrrha off-guard.

Morihito stood suddenly and began walking into the darkness of the forest.

“Morihito?” Pyrrha asked, walking after him. “Is it another demon?”

“I don’t think so.” He answered. “But it is something I need to deal with. I’d get Pa, but he’s indisposed doing his husbandly duties.”

Pyrrha felt her cheeks reddening at his nonchalant reminder. And resolutely followed him until they ran across a massive shadow in the forest.

At first, Pyrrha feared they’d found an Ursa, but it wasn’t a Creature of Grimm that made its surprisingly quiet and graceful way through a noise trap consisting of a number of ropes and the occasional bell, but a bear.

A large, hulking, scarred creature. And Pyrrha’s heart broke.

Morihito would be forced to kill the bear. There wasn’t even anything wrong or off about the animal. It was just hungry, trying to survive. Having either been woken from its hibernation by something or never having gone to sleep in the first place.

Morihito’s people-killing sword was in his hand as he squared off against the massive animal. The forest flashed a bright cerulean blue as he brought his Aura up and the bear rose up on its hind legs and growled.

Pyrrha expected to see a flash of steel reflecting moonlight, and the dark red of the bear’s blood. But nothing happened as the animal squared off against Morihito.

“I feel for you. I really do.” Morihito said in his usual monotone. “But there is no food for you here.”

Almost as if it could understand him and wanted to argue back, the bear gave a long huff and a high-pitched bark.

“If you continue to push the issue, I will see myself forced to kill you. And I don’t have the spices I’d need to prepare your meat to be palatable, meaning other than your pelt, all of you would go to waste.” Morihito said, angling his blade so the moonlight ran over its gunmetal grey edge. “And I do not like the idea of all o’ ya going to waste. So I will say again, I feel for you, I really do. But there is no food for you here.”

The air in the forest suddenly changed, it felt charged, heavy, quivering with the heat of Morihito’s tightly leashed malevolence. He spoke in a voice that was more impactful for the sudden lack of what little inflection he usually put into his tone. “Now. Politely. Do fuck off.”

The bear chuffed and growled, quivering as it squared off with the young man who held the smallest fraction if its mass. But it ultimately judged Morihito either too dangerous, or not worth the expenditure of energy, dropped to all fours, turned around, and stalked away, leaving the noise trap and its prospective meals behind. Pyrrha’s body flooding with relief and happiness.

Morihito waited several minutes before sheathing his sword. “Yeah, he’s leaving. I think we’re good now. Let’s go to bed.”

“R-Right.” Pyrrha agreed and followed her lover home, the heat in her core radiating out to the rest of her and keeping her warm in the cold air.

Morihito seemed rather surprised when she walked into his room behind him, but did not voice any complaints when she knelt between his legs and licked and kissed and sucked until her mouth was filled with the bitter, salty taste she’d quickly come to love.

She was sure she tore a few stitches on her clothing in her haste to take it off, but that was a problem for future Pyrrha. Present Pyrrha’s problem was not waking the children while she impaled herself repeatedly on her man’s wonderful cock.