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Santo's Workshop
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Santo's Workshop

He Who Fights Demons Ch 9

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He Who Fights Demons Ch 8

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He Who Fights Demons Ch 7

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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.
=][=
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.
“I fight my enemies, because that’s what I’m paid to do.
I never hesitate to act, or even think it through.
I’d retire any day but I spend too much on guns and whores.
I ain’t gonna drop no more!”
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.
“Glory, glory, what a hell of a way to die!
Glory, glory, I just hope I can get by!
Glory, glory, I just wish they’d pay me more!
I guess I’ll drop once more!”
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.
“When you’re a mercenary there are seldom lasting rules!
Those who choose to live by them will often die as fools!
Warcrimes may just happen unless you choose to pay me more!
I’LL AL~WAYS DROP SOME MO~RE!”
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.
=][=
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.
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Santo's Workshop
Public post

He Who Fights Demons Ch 5

Okay, not gonna lie, I thought I finished this chapter back on Thursday.
Then yesterday I sat down to do editing, and the second half of the chapter happened. Giving me quite the surprise!
Which is the reason why the post is today instead of yesterday.
Also, word of warning. This chapter contains The Sex. And not the 'they kissed with clothes on and the screen faded to black' sex neither.
In fact, my initial plan had the scene going a different direction. I thought pretty hard about changing the way the scene was going, then remembered this is a Waifu Catalog story. Maybe I should add a 'porn with plot' tag?
Word of warning the second. I remain a relative novice at writing sex scenes. So let me know in a comment what works and what doesn't.
Anyways, here is the next chapter of He Who Fights Demons.
=][=
I pounded away at the heated metal bar, slowly flattening it out from the squat cylindrical puck it currently was. Once I was satisfied with my progress, I stuffed it back into the coals and changed the gear setting on the bellows so the water wheel would once again pump them for me, the charcoal quickly spewing out a foot tall flame.
Crucible steel was a bitch to work with, but it was also the most believable way to make acceptable quality steel with primitive technology.
A farce I was forced to keep up, what with my current lack of ability to have proper me time.
“I understand your reticence, but we have an obligation to do something!” Said the redheaded primary reason for my lack of me time, picking up where she’d left off, courteous enough to be silent while I worked so as to not break my concentration while I worked the metal.
“You clearly don’t understand my reticence if you are still using that same argument.” I said in my customary monotone.
“Morihito I—”
I slashed a hand through the air, cutting through her words. “Yes, I have the semi-magic anti-demon martial art. Yes, I made two anti-demon swords. Yes, thanks to you, I now have Aura, and through your training, I’ve become competent at its use.”
“Competent!?” She spat, her face flushed with anger as she took a step closer to me, her emerald eyes blazing with indignation as she glared at me, her hands clenched into fists at her side. “In less than a month you’ve become more adept at its use than some of the Huntsmen and Huntresses I’ve competed against! You are truly gifted in the art of combat! More than anyone I’ve ever met!”
“None of which changes the fact.” I ground out, my voice trembling with the effort of maintaining a seeming lack of emotion. “That my leaving would leave my family exposed.”
“Your family has your father!” Pyrrha hissed. “A veteran warrior, a master of the art! Most people out there don’t have that!”
“And if I weren’t here.” I said through grit teeth. “Then that Master would have come home from doing his duties as a husband to find his entire family massacred.”
Pyrrha had the decency to look away at that, but she did not relent.  “Many families out there are facing the same. Without anyone to protect or avenge them.”
“And I feel for them.” I said, finally putting down my tongs and hammer. “I really do. But my first duty is to my family.”
“Then make me a weapon!” She demanded, meeting my eyes again. “I’ll do it myself!”
I shook my head. “One: you don’t speak the language very well yet. Two: you are not native and stick out like a sore thumb. Three: you do not know the culture; you seriously think most people out there will be as welcoming as my family? Think again. Most you’ll find out there will be insular, uneducated, superstitious peasants! You’ll be lucky to only be run out of whatever town you show up at without some disguise.” My HUD put a popup notification on the corner of my eye, which I dismissed and put notifications on hold while I shouted the stupid out of this girl!
“And most importantly, Four: making one of those swords is a long, involved process and by the time I finish it I’ll be willing to set off with you, because at least two of my brothers should be old enough and trained enough for me to leave them a pair of blades and be relatively certain that between them and Pa, they can keep the family safe. Which means, Five: you are still not haring off half-cocked and stupid and getting yourself killed!”
She arched her back like an angry cat. “You could make me a weapon faster than that! You made your father’s after I arrived!”
“Yeah!?” I snarled back, affectation at emotionlessness completely forgotten. “Well I guess you’ll just have to wait till I get around to making you a whole-ass sword for free on my own time on my own fucking dime!”
“Then tell me what I can do to pay you back!”
“Pyrrha, if you refuse to listen to reason I will make you do what you’re fucking told!”
“You can’t just hold a weapon over my head Morihito! I want to help! To make a difference!”
“People that want to make a difference have a habit of ending up dead! And fucking excuse me if I don’t want you to fucking die!”
“When and for whom I choose to risk my life is not your decision to make!”
“Like hell it’s not!”
“Like hell it is!”
As the argument had gotten more heated, we’d walked closer and closer to each other, until we were all but screaming into each other’s face.
Then we stepped forward and angrily kissed, I took a rough hold of the back of her head so she couldn’t back away. A needless precaution as her tongue sloppily but passionately dueled against mine in my mouth.
My other hand took a grip of her well-toned ass and squeezed as she took my shoulders in a painful grip. I pushed her against the wall of my shed, firmly planting my thigh between her legs, broke the kiss, pulled her head back to expose her neck, then bit her throat over her pulse point and sucked hard.
Pyrrha hissed in pain but began awkwardly rubbing her groin against my thigh. Not fighting as I kissed, bit, licked, and sucked my way down her neck and chest, exposing her tits to the cold air and lavishing attention on them while ignoring the pebbled flesh of her nipples.
She made her displeasure known by grabbing two fistfuls of my dark red hair and pulling my head, pressing her nipple against my mouth with a near-animal yowl of need. I obliged her and used the distraction that caused to move a hand down her belly and mons, cupping her damp womanhood.
She gasped. “W-Wai—!”
Pyrrha cut off with a moan as I sucked hard on her nipple, biting lightly at the flesh of her tit, and following Sticky Fingers’ instructions to blow her mind, I pushed two fingers inside her while teasing her clit.
“W-Wait! Morihito! Don’t, I’m, I’m gonna…” She babbled as her body rebelled against her, her arms pulling me harder against her tit and her hips grinding against my hand, her legs spreading to give me easier access to her drooling pussy.
I let go of her tit, a visible bite mark around her nipple, the skin red and irritated from how hard I sucked it, and with a growl, once again captured her lips. My other hand taking hold of the base of her ponytail as I shoved my tongue in her mouth and subjugated hers.
Her hands took hold of my forearm as I loosened up her folds and pushed her to the very edge of climax and didn’t let her tip over it.
Her eyes opened wide as I pressed my body against hers hard enough to restrict her breathing, incidentally restricting her movement enough that she couldn’t get the extra friction she needed to tip herself over the edge and climax.
Her moans quickly turned to whimpers as she sought release, and I didn’t allow it.
Pyrrha and I had made out a few times since I’d killed the demon. The truth of the matter being, she had my stamp, we were both attractive and very fit, and there was very little to do for leisure in the simple life of a charcoal maker.
But this was different. It was diplomacy by any other means. I’d been surprised to learn that Pyrrha had a surprisingly Spartan view of the world. She had her own sense of right and wrong, but if there was a dispute we couldn’t agree on, she was more than willing to have a match over it, to the winner the spoils.
It made sense, she was a champion, competition was in her blood.
But she held her duty as a Huntress as a higher purpose. Thanks to the Stamp, I had her loyalty, but obedience was on me to enforce. I could only hold demon slaying weapons over her for so long before she rebelled and left without them. We’d argued before, but this was the first time it got so heated.
Pun fully intended.
So, I was going to get it into her head that I ‘won’ this competition and thoroughly subjugate her so she wouldn’t get the insidious little thought of gallivanting off to go kill demons.
Or so the very horny logical side of my brain decided was my intention while I kissed my half naked girl as she whimpered with need and desire, while her love juice flowed down her thighs at my ministrations. Her squirming becoming more and more frantic the longer I denied her release.
I manhandled her over to the thankfully empty side of my workbench and bent her over it, holding her wrists to the small of her back with one hand, with the other I dropped my pants, took my rock-hard cock in hand, and positioned the head of my member against her opening. She tensed and gasped but did not voice a complaint beyond that as her body went taut, trembling with need.
I used the sash of her kimono to tie her wrists together, one hand slid up the curve of her hip, up her back, until I had a firm hold of her ponytail, the other squeezed her hip as I pushed forward slowly but firmly. She groaned, her folds parting, pressing tightly against my cock as I forced myself inside her until my hips met hers, my dick taking up the entirety of her channel and kissing her deepest point.
She groaned and shuddered, her channel tensing and relaxing around me as her whole body shuddered with unrealized need. She was so sensitive that all I had to do to keep her on the edge was grind slowly against her.
She mewled and tried thrusting her hips back, but between the grip I had on her ponytail, her hips, and the fact that I was pushing her onto the table, she just didn’t have the leverage.
“M-Morihito, I need it! Please!” She begged, her breath hitching as she tried harder to get the release she craved.
I tightened my grip on the base of her ponytail. “You gonna be a good girl and do what you’re told?”
She tensed indignantly, then melted as I slid back an inch and thrust forward gently. “I…I…”
“Promise me you’ll obey me, and I’ll let you come.” I offered, my hand at her hip migrating to roam over her body. Making her whimper and wriggle, trying to maximize the contact.
“Please!” She begged, and I pinched her side, making her yelp, the surprise enough to almost give her the climax she wished for. “Please! No fair!”
“Life isn’t fair.” I chuckled as I snuck my hand around to Pyrrha’s front and pressed down on her mons. “Promise. I’m happy enough to edge you all day.” I lied, the way her wonderfully slick and silky tunnel spasmed as it tried to milk me was making pressure build in my nethers.
I ground, caressed, licked, pinched, bit and stroked. Sticky Fingers making it child’s play to keep her perfectly balanced with an ever-growing need for release.
Pyrrha kept her teeth grit and her lips firmly shut for long, torturous minutes as her body cried for release and her cunt begged for my seed. Her pride stopping her from activating her Aura so long as I didn’t rely on mine.
I pulled on her hair, arching her back and bringing my other hand to her chest, tightly squeezing one of her tits and providing support while I kissed her neck. Holding her as her breath raced, her skin burned, and she did all she could without escalating to violence, to tip herself over the edge I kept her at.
“Promise me, Pyrrha.” I murmured in her ear. “Promise you’ll be a good girl, say you’re mine and I’ll give you what you want.”
And with immense satisfaction, I felt the moment she surrendered. “I promise!” She hissed in ecstatic delirium. “I promise I’m yours! I’ll be your good girl! I’ll do anything! Just let me come!”
I tightened my grip, claimed her lips and gave her three firm and quick strokes, her body spasmed, her cunt flooding with her love juice and clamping down as I drove her over the edge and forced her to come around my length. I swallowed her scream, her tunnel milking me from base to tip as she ground her hips against mine. Her climax, so long denied, burned through her in a manner bordering on violent as every muscle in her body went taut, a convulsion shaking her as I roughly played with her clit, extending her orgasm to the point it became painful and ecstasy melded into fear.
But her promise, reinforced by the Stamp, held strong, and she did not fight as I played her body like a violin. I eased up on the stimulation, leading her gently down from painful ecstasy. I broke the kiss to let her more easily breathe as I gently lowered her to rest her body on the workbench, her legs two limp noodles.
She stiffened when I grabbed her hips with both hands and adjusted my stance. She looked over her shoulder at me, fearful and teary eyed. “M-Morihito?”
I gave her a serene smile. “What? I didn’t come.”
She shuddered, her pussy squeezing my hard, pulsing dick. “C-Can I have a minute? I can’t feel my legs.”
I gripped the base of her ponytail again and happily murmured. “No.”
I drew my cock out until only the head was inside her, and thrust it roughly back in, our hips meeting with a noisy slap and a keening whine from Pyrrha.
Whines that quickly morphed to whimpers as I settled into a steady, fast, demanding rhythm.
Of course, keyed up as I was, I didn’t last long as I freely took my pleasure, but between how sensitive Pyrrha was at the moment and the roadmap provided by Sticky Fingers, I didn’t need to. I made her come again, burying myself inside her to the base and using her climax to tip over my own edge, releasing my load directly against her deepest point while her tunnel did its very best to wring every drop out of my cock. Our bodies locked taut by our shared climax, before the both of us relaxed, with me laying my body over hers and absently licking the skin between her shoulder blades.
I drew my cock out of her, then helped her walk bowlegged to the cot I kept in my workshop. Then finally I had the mental bandwidth to shut off the bellows providing oxygen to the coals before making my way to the cot and the beautiful girl currently doing her best to try and become a sweaty pile of goo.
The rise and fall of her chest, and what it did to her beautiful, large, teardrop tits was mesmerizing.
And between Sexual Calibration and a small application of Sun Breathing, mini-me was back up to full mast. I grabbed her ankles and raised them so they rested at my shoulders as I knelt between her legs. Her eyes widening as she first felt, then saw my very stiff dick resting between the lips of her pussy.
She swallowed thickly and spoke in an exhausted, tremulous voice. “I-I thought boys needed some time before they could go another round.”
I chuckled as I leaned forward, keeping her legs trapped against my chest and shoulders as I loomed over her and bent her into a mating press. I positioned myself at her entrance and said. “I guess I’m built different.”
“W-Wai—” Was as far as I let her get before I thrust into her to the base, driving the air out of her lungs in a surprised huff.
I once again captured her lips and shoved my tongue into its new favorite place in her mouth as I pounded in and out of her at a fast, demanding, and thoroughly selfish pace. Swallowing my girl’s moans, whimpers, and screams as I fucked her until she came around my cock, then kept going into her next climax. Filling her with my seed at leisure. I’d waited quite a long time for this and refused to stop until I had my fill.
Besides, it would do well to hammer into her head what she’d be giving up if she decided to go haring off into the sunset to play hero.
=][=
Kamado Nezuko was not a worldly girl. She was born the daughter of a humble man, she grew up in a home too small for the family that her parents made. Her father made enough to get by, and to have the occasional treat, but this did mean that the clothes she and her siblings wore were hand-me-downs that had been repaired countless times, heading into town to buy supplies was something akin to a holiday celebration. And while they always had enough to eat, thanks largely to her eldest brother’s habit of hunting and gathering from the wilder areas of the mountain they lived in. Kamado Nezuko had not grown up in luxury.
She was not a worldly girl. But neither was she stupid, nor simple minded.
To Nezuko, it had always been normal to have an elder sibling who not only had an answer to any question put to him but could go into long and extreme detail about any subject matter.
It had always been normal to wash her hands before touching her food, to not allow dust or any such particulate to enter her body. Not because of yokai, or kami, or demons. But because bacteria and viruses, creatures so small they were invisible to the naked eye, so simple that it could be debated they weren’t ‘creatures’ at all, covered all things and being clean lessened their ability to harm her.
It had always been normal to learn that most of the stars she saw at night, were like the Sun, but so very far away. It was normal to learn that the sun was akin to a factory, creating the building blocks that themselves created everything she saw. The ground beneath her feet, the meat and bones of the animals they ate, the very air she breathed. All was made in stars, an unfathomably long time ago.
It had always been normal to use mathematics to predict a number of outcomes; ranging from how far a ball would bounce, how much something would weigh, or whether or not something would hold the weight being placed upon it.
Meeting other boys, other families, had at first come as an unwelcome surprise. She still recalled the shock she felt when she’d asked the older brother of a friend she had made in town, why it was that storm clouds were grey, and he hadn’t known. It felt alien, almost sacrilegious. The very concept that an eldest brother would not have an answer to a question had been unfathomable.
Incidentally, when she’d asked Morihito, he’d explained that there are many factors that go into what color Nezuko perceived the clouds to be. Ranging from atmospheric dust, to the angle at which the light from the sun was striking the world, but the main one for her inquiry was the amount of water molecules thickening into water droplets, absorbing more light, letting less light pass through, so the color she perceived was a darker grey, rather than the fluffy white she saw when the clouds didn’t have as much water in their makeup.
The explanation following her question about what an ‘atmospheric’ was, had also been entertaining and enlightening.
Before, it had always been normal that her brother could answer any question in detail. After? That was when Nezuko realized her oldest brother was special.
Nezuko loved her father and mother. But her younger siblings had all been born after the sickness had ravaged his body. They didn’t see him wither as they themselves grew. They didn’t see their oldest brother take up more and more of the duties that had at one point been their father’s.
They, like Nezuko, had not realized how rare it was for an older sibling to shoulder all the burdens a father had, and not even let them realize the weight of them.
And now…their father was cured and back to the healthy man she faintly remembered. They wanted for nothing they truly needed. And they were living in a house so large it was positively luxurious, built in an architectural style that was so very unique, designed and built by her ever-reliable oldest brother.
Nezuko also knew the words ‘architectural style’ now.
All of her experiences added up to one fact.
There was nobody she admired more than Kamado Morihito.
The addition of Pyrrha to their household had been quite a surprise. But what had been even more of a surprise was that the heavenly girl was in some ways like her brother. Even though she did not speak the language, Nezuko often saw Pyrrha and Morihito go into long discussions, the girl had even looked at what Nezuko called her brother’s ‘number language’ and was clearly able to at the very least grasp its meaning.
Her hair and eyes were a color that Nezuko had never seen on a person, her skin was impossibly smooth and beautiful, she was a giant yet made that nearly unnatural height seem elegant to such an extent that Nezuko felt clumsy.
And she was strong. Easily able to lift loads of wood or charcoal that even Tanjiro had trouble with and that Nezuko could barely even shift. Pyrrha regularly sparred against Nezuko’s father and oldest brother, and while she did not win those spars, it was obvious that victory was not easily attained on the part of Nezuko’s brother and father.
And yet, for all her gifts and abilities. Pyrrha, like Morihito, remained humble. Never once looking down on Nezuko and her family for not sharing in the gifts that the girl herself was blessed with. Never once acting like their simple life was beneath her, and never once, to Nezuko’s knowledge, complaining about taking on a share of the chores that the whole family engaged in.
Even though they had trouble communicating, Nezuko had very quickly started to look up to Pyrrha, figuratively as well as literally. She was, after all, everything Nezuko wanted to be: Beautiful, compassionate, intelligent (nobody who willingly engaged Morihito in conversation for longer than an hour could be unintelligent, her brother’s unwillingness to suffer fools had caused issues for the family in the past), strong, and yet humble. It was almost like having an older sister, to balance out having older brothers.
But something had changed recently. Ever since that night when father went to get a midwife for the birth of Sumiko. Father had remained as unflappable as ever, but mother worried more, even if she hid it well.
Pyrrha and Morihito now argued constantly. They did what they could to hide it from the little ones, but sometimes they returned sweaty and red-faced, and those times mother would speak privately with Pyrrha. Sometimes they returned, showing each other a cold indifference, one that radiated hurt and sadness. Nezuko couldn’t ask Pyrrha, the older girl still had trouble with the language, and could often not express what she felt, and when she asked father or Morihito, both of them told her not to worry about it.
But worry she did.
That’s how she wound up hiding behind a tree, watching her eldest brother ruthlessly rutting the heavenly girl to her very vocal…delight?
At times Pyrrha sounded like she might be in pain, but whenever Morihito pulled her hair and forced a kiss on her, Pyrrha very clearly and enthusiastically kissed him back.
Nezuko of course, knew about where babies came from, and she knew the act that created them. But the uncomfortable heat in her core and the unfamiliar itch between her legs, made Nezuko think that her mother had, perhaps, left out a few key details when explaining things to her.
Things had really escalated quickly. At first, the two had been screaming at each other, then they were kissing and undressing each other, and now Nezuko couldn’t tear her eyes from Pyrrha’s large, perky, pink-tipped breasts, swaying violently as Morihito stabbed his penis into Pyrrha, over and over with intense urgency.
Nezuko couldn’t help swallowing the pooling saliva in her mouth as she saw her oldest brother’s chiseled body and the body of the girl Nezuko had begun to see as a sister covered in sweat from their exertion. She couldn’t help the heel of her hand grinding between her legs as she saw Morihito bending the girl Nezuko looked up to into whatever position he wanted her in, and…rutted her like a prized stag to a meek doe.
She knew she should leave, but as observant as the two were, Nezuko had a feeling that they’d realize they had an audience. Even as distracted as they were with each other. They’d realize, and they’d stop, and it would be very awkward, so it was best for her to wait for the two to finish before leaving.
Or so that is what she told herself.
Nezuko would end up ‘stuck’ behind the tree for quite a while.
=][=
Kamado Kie slunk back into the shadows of the trees in utter silence.
She would need to have a stern talk with Nezuko about peeping in on other people’s intimate moments.
Her location was far too exposed! If the two love birds weren’t as distracted by each other as they were, she would have been found already. Clearly Kie would need to show her eldest daughter the proper way of moving stealthily.
Kie once again cast her eyes to her eldest and the girl he had this day claimed as his. She could not help the grin that came to her lips as her son forced another orgasm out of the young woman, at the same time filling her with his seed. He paused for at most a minute before continuing, his virility surpassing even that of his father, which if gossip was to be believed was outstanding.
Kie had been ecstatic when she spotted her son and the heavenly girl being passionate. Her disappointment when they kept it chaste of all things had been immeasurable.
Oh yes, she was somewhat young to be a grandmother, but her eldest had a Destiny, and those were often both demanding and dangerous. So she’d sacrifice herself and be the town’s youngest grandmother.
Still, young love could be awkward, and she was on the clock. It had been difficult, and something of a risky gamble, to steer the young woman toward confrontation with Morihito. Her eldest was quite perceptive, so she had used only the lightest touch when pushing the young warrior woman toward conflict with Kie’s eldest son.
After all, after a fight with one’s lover, one ended up hot, flushed, sweaty, emotional, and with their heart racing. Which was most of the way to what she wanted the two of them to be doing anyway.
Still, even Kie had been surprised by the efficacy of her efforts. It had been quite satisfying to watch her son play the heavenly girl’s body like a well-tuned instrument, using his greater strength and his control over her to make her submit. Kie may not know the language they communicated in, but after seven children, Kie knew love making, so she was mostly certain she’d read the situation right.
If Kie was correct, Pyrrha had asked for something unreasonable, and had been for a while, gnawing away at Morihito’s patience. Patience that had snapped today, resulting in the redheaded young woman getting…an education.
An education she would likely have trouble remembering, as Pyrrha shuddered and mewled through yet another face-melting orgasm, her tongue lolling out for a few seconds before she visibly composed herself, and lost that composure as Morihito claimed her lips and kissed her while fucking her roughly, urgently, her screams of ecstasy muffled by his tongue in her mouth as he used her to push himself until he came hard inside his young woman, filling her with yet more of his seed.
Kie felt her grin gain the edge that usually resulted in Tanjuro pinching her or slapping her bottom to snap her out of it. Oh yes, not long now, and Kamado Kie would hold her first grandchild in her arms.
All according to plan.
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Santo's Workshop
Public post

He Who Fights Demons Ch 4

Good evening. Hope you had a good week and a restful weekend.
Unless you work weekends, in which case, I hope you had a good productive weekend and can rest soon.
Boof, this chapter fought me. Wednesday came about and I had barely managed two hundred words. Then I had a shower thought and belted out 1800 words before bed, The rest was written over Thursday, Friday, and today. And I've done enough passes with editing to hopefully catch any mistakes.
I would suggest however, you reread the previous chapters, get a refresher on what has happened so far.
Or don't, I'm not the boss of you. But this chapter is somewhat slow paced. An attempt to explain the world and situation as one who is not aware of the Company would see it. It was surprisingly fun to think about and write! 
Hopefully you will also find it enjoyable. I'll post a writing update Soon(TM) and maybe a poll. For now, here is chapter. Lemme know in a comment if you liked, or didn't. I'm always open to get better, and can't do that without feedback.
=][=
Kamado Tanjuro sat on his new rocking chair, enjoying the crisp morning air, and cradled his now youngest daughter, Sumiko, in his arms. Xolo, the strange family dog, sleeping curled up next to him, having found the one beam from the sun that broke through the clouds to sleep in.
The birth several days before had been quick and thankfully free of complications. Then again, after five strong healthy sons, and two, now three, beautiful daughters, one could say his wife was a veteran of such trials.
Little Sumiko mewled in her sleep and kicked her little feet, her small, pudgy hands batting at something that accosted her in her dream. Tanjuro held her more tightly to his chest and hummed a wordless lullaby and the baby settled.
Kie, Nezuko, Hanako, and Pyrrha were all sleeping, the ladies having spent all night pacifying little Sumiko whenever she cried. He’d tried to help, but Nezuko had informed him in no uncertain terms that dealing with the baby was a woman’s business and he should leave them to it. He’d protested, but while Nezuko never raised her voice, her will was as inviolate as her mother’s head.
He still remembered the day Kie head-butted a charging boar, killing it. Gods he loved that woman. And Nezuko was well on her way to being just as beautiful as her mother, if not more so.
The boys were in the nearby woods doing their chores under the stern eye of their eldest brother. Tanjuro smiled as he heard Morihito give little Rokuta gentle pointers on how to choose the best sticks for the evening fire. Before cracking the proverbial whip as Tanjiro did not perform to his expectations.
When Tanjiro complained that his older brother was being mean to him, Morihito’s responded in a tone that was all the more impactful for being softly spoken. “If something ever happens to me, Tanjiro, you will be the older brother. It will be up to you to protect, teach, and guide our siblings. How exactly do you expect to do that if you blow your back out because you lifted wood wrong? Now stop complaining, I’d say you complain like a girl, but Hanako never gave me this much lip. Back to it, and lift with your legs!”
His eldest’s words robbed Tanjuro of his smile.
Morihito had shown him the location of his battle against a demon. Nothing had remained beyond the damage to a few trees, a few splashes of blood, rotting clothes, and a money pouch with a small fortune that he’d handed to Tanjuro without care.
It was a sobering thing, to realize that he very well could have come home to find his entire family slaughtered. To see how close he had come to losing everything.
He was truly vindicated in his choice to pass on the earrings to his son.
Kamado Morihito, a man of many talents. Blacksmith, Architect, Woodworker, Demon Slayer.
Oracle.
Many times, Tanjuro had wondered as to the boy’s refusal to leave the house on nights when the snow fell thick. He had taken his son’s explanation, that nights of heavy snow were dangerous, at face value.
His son was blessed by the Sun. Tanjuro knew this. That was why he’d always accepted his son’s reason not to leave the house on snowy nights. Tanjuro had always thought it was due to caution, a snowy mountain at night is a treacherous thing indeed. Only now did he see the truth, Morihito insisted on staying home to protect his mother and siblings, because he knew that, at some point during a snowy night, a demon would come. And he’d decided that he would be there, he would meet it in battle, and he would kill it so his mother, brothers, and sisters could all sleep peacefully and safely.
Or die in the attempt.
The difference between a boy and a man, was that a man made the safety of others his responsibility. And his eldest son had grown into a fine man indeed.
Tanjuro had often wondered why it was that Amaterasu Ōmikami had burdened his eldest so cruelly. Robbing him of the childlike wonder that was his by right.
To those who much is given, from them much shall be expected. If so, Morihito had a truly cruel fate awaiting him. The most Kie and Tanjuro could do for the education of their children was teach them to read and write, and basic arithmetic. But Morihito…he simply knew things. Seemingly instinctively, his eldest son was more learned than the greatest scholars that Tanjuro met in the travels of his youth. While he’d been planning the new house, Tanjuro had seen the plank of wood where he’d planned the building. The symbols he’d seen written there in charcoal had seemed like a different language, but when he’d asked, his son had explained that it was mathematical formulae, before launching into an explanation about things called ‘force vectors,’ ‘statics’ and ‘material tolerances.’ An explanation that Tanjuro had understood one word in three of, at best.
Metalworking on par with a master smith. Architecture and woodwork on par with a master of his craft. Knowledge of arithmetic so advanced that Tanjuro, little as he knew, felt certain there were very few in the empire who could rival, let alone equal it.
Morihito had not only mastered the Hinokami Kagura, he had returned it to the proper fighting form that his ancestors had failed to fully grasp.
For one who was given so much, Tanjuro could only assume that what would be expected of his son would be monumental.
Internally, Tanjuro had raged at such injustice, for such a burden should have gone to him, to spare his child such cruelty. Many a night he’d spent sleepless, fearing that his sickness had caused him to be passed over for whatever terrible fate awaited his son. Attempting to think of ways to subvert the will of the Heavens and take on whatever sacrifice would be expected of Morihito onto himself.
But after his son pleaded with the Heavens for his father to be healed. After he confronted and defeated a demon. Tanjuro saw the truth of it. This burden was placed upon his son, because Morihito had the strength to thrive under it.
Still, he worried.
If the stories his father had told him were to be believed. Hinokami, the one who passed the Kagura onto Tanjuro’s ancestor, was a humble, tranquil, melancholic man. A man of immense strength, who was never happier than when he was holding a child in his arms.
Morihito was not like Hinokami. Tanjuro had tried to teach him. To show him the way that Tanjuro found his own strength. To embrace the teachings of the Hinokami Kagura and become Hinokami. To make use of the Transparent World and take life only for duty, with dispassion and tranquility.
But he had failed.
There was rage in his son. A rage which burned with all the fury of the sun at the height of summer. A rage he had never unleashed on his siblings, or his mother or father.
A rage that Tanjuro had seen the faintest glimpse of, like the sun stabbing a beam through a small tear in thick curtains, as his son described his encounter with and subsequent defeat of a demon.
Morihito had delighted in the battle, feeling nothing other than satisfaction at the ending of the life of a demon. He’d held no funeral, nor offered a prayer for the soul of the one he’d ushered onto the next life. To the point that he’d questioned Tanjuro’s decision to make a grave for the departed dead.
If Hinokami had embodied the tranquil, nurturing nature of the sun. Then Morihito embodied its burning rage. At times simmering, but ever-present.
Tanjuro worried for his boy. But, watching him lift Rokuta and place the exhausted toddler on his shoulders while pushing his younger brothers harder, Tanjuro reflected that while he may fear for his son, he would never fear his son.
After all, the only one to have ever received his son’s ire, was a literal man-eating demon.
Tanjuro resolved himself to increase the pace of training for his boys to learn the Hinokami Kagura. They could never know when the next demon might come along, and it would be best if all of his boys were capable of defending themselves as well as their mother and sisters.
Hopefully Morihito would find enough materials to forge enough demon slaying blades for the family.
He heard soft footsteps coming from inside, a few moments later, a woman’s voice spoke in halting Japanese. “Ah, erm…afternoon, good.”
Tanjuro turned and found Pyrrha closing the front door softly behind her. “Good afternoon to you too, Miss Pyrrha. Did you have a good nap?”
“Yes, thank you.” She said in halting, though ever improving Japanese. “The baby…loud.”
He chuckled. “They do tend to be that, yes. I will plead with Nezuko to let me attend Sumiko during the night. ‘Woman’s business’ or not, it does not change the fact that often as not, I changed that young lady’s diapers.”
Pyrrha blushed as he spoke and eventually sat on the rocking chair next to him. Gazing at his eldest with a neutral expression, but if her eyes were any indication, it may thankfully not be long before Tanjuro held his first grandchild. A most auspicious prospect.
“I worry.” The Heavenly Girl said suddenly. “The…”
“Demon.” Tanjuro supplied after she spent several seconds searching for the word.
She nodded. “The demon…there are more?”
Tanjuro nodded, and decided to tell her the story his own father had passed onto him. The same one he’d passed onto Morihito, when he earned the earrings.
“This story has been passed down my family since the Sengoku era: All demons spring from the One Demon. Long ago, when our family first settled into this home. My ancestor, Kamado Sumiyoshi, and his wife, Kamado Sumire, were attacked by a demon but a scant month before she was to give birth. He was powerless to stop it, he, like me, was but a humble charcoal maker, and not trained in the art of combat.
“When all seemed lost, however, Hinokami came, and slew the demon in an instant, with a single swing of his burning blade.” Sumiko stirred, batting her arms. Tanjuro smiled and continued. “He asked for nothing in return, but Sumire would not hear of it. As the story goes, she bullied Hinokami into accepting their hospitality. Moved by her stubbornness, Hinokami stayed with Sumiyoshi for several months, protecting the family from any other wandering demons and, eventually, shared his story.”
Tanjuro looked at his son, who had taken off his shirt and was doing his daily exercises, goading his little brothers into following his example. Little Rokuta went at them with admirable enthusiasm even if his form left much to be desired.
“Hinokami was incarnated with the express purpose of slaying the First Demon, a creature that had plagued mankind since the Heian Era. Sometime before saving Sumiyoshi, Hinokami met the Progenitor of all Demons, did battle, and bested it. But stayed his hand before he could deliver the final blow. For you see, he wanted to know if it saw human life as having any value, he demanded to know why it chose to act with cruelty and malevolence. The First Demon used that one instant to escape him, and never again allowed itself to be seen. His one chance to fulfill his destiny lost, he spent his life traveling the empire, slaying demons, trying futilely to fulfill his destiny.”
He turned to look at the young woman staring enraptured. He continued. “He left behind no descendants, no apprentices, no legacy but that of failure caused by his hubris. Sumiyoshi would not hear of it, and begged Hinokami to make him his apprentice, and was subsequently taught the Hinokami Kagura.” He nodded at his eldest, and once the otherworldly girl turned to look at him, he continued. “It has been my family’s duty to pass on the teachings of Hinokami, from father to son, down the eras. For Sumiyoshi knew that at some point in the future, Amaterasu Ōmikami would bless another and he hoped that his descendants would be able to pass onto the Blessed his birthright.”
Tanjuro sighed, and looking down, saw that little Sumiko was awake, staring enraptured at him as he told the story. “I never could have imagined that the Heavens would bless my family such, that the one who would have to take up the burden of the failed Hinokami would come from my blood.”
“You mean he…” Pyrrha began, but cut off, likely searching for the words. The only one with the gift of tongues who could serve as an interpreter was currently busy doing one-armed pull-ups on a tree branch, holding the laughing and squealing Rokuta in his legs, Tanjiro, Hideo and Takeo all hanging onto his legs and hips to add more weight. His shirtless torso covered in a light sheen of sweat.
Turning back to the Heavenly Girl, Tanjuro saw a small bit of drool trail down her chin from the corner of her mouth, her eyes following his son’s muscular form with fervent focus.
Oh yes, grandchildren were not far off at all. Kie would need to be informed, of course.
He answered the girl’s unasked question, drawing her attention back to him. “It is what I’ve managed to ascertain with my, admittedly limited, understanding. I know not the ways of the Heavens, but I am happy to play my own limited part in their plans.”
She frowned. “But…you are strong.”
Tanjuro smiled. “Modestly so, yes. Though I live only thanks to the Heavens holding my son in such high esteem.”
Pyrrha blinked. “The…Tuberculosis? The sickness?”
Tanjuro could only assume the foreign sounding word was the name of the sickness that had plagued him for so long. To think she’d so quickly be able to identify it having merely been told of its symptoms. Truly the Heavens were a font of great wisdom.
“Yes, I should have succumbed to it. That I am well is entirely due to Morihito being favored.”
Pyrrha scowled. “But…But it is not difficult for…treatment.”
His only response was a smile. Made happy by the knowledge that somewhere, there were people who could treat so deadly and debilitating a disease as a mere inconvenience.
Pyrrha’s jaw worked, she had a poor habit of chewing the inside of her cheek when she worried about something. Still, we all have our vices, and hers was so minor as to be inconsequential.
They shared a companiable silence before Pyrrha spoke again. “We should go…out there. Kill demons.”
He turned to look at her. “Morihito did mention that where you came from, you trained to slay monsters?”
Pyrrha nodded. “Huntress. Erm…Monster killer. Big beasts, many.”
He nodded. “This has to do with the ability you refuse to use when you spar against me, yes?”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “How?”
“It’s in your movements. You react and are surprised and hindered when your movements do not have the speed and power you expected. I could tell that you often expected a parry to have more force, or to have greater strength behind a block. Not to mention your breath is that of someone who is used to vigorous movement, but you do not know a special form of breathing to stop yourself becoming tired. Instead, you recover far faster than would be considered natural.” He smiled and rocked as Sumiko began to wiggle in his grip. “I could only assume there must have been some power or ability you were holding back out of consideration for those of us who do not have it.”
She nodded. “My Aura. I…I do not know the words.”
He returned her nod. “Ask my son to forge for you a blade like the one he forged for me.” He allowed his smile to take a sardonic edge. “I do not think he will deny you anything.”
She blushed and turned away, incidentally bringing  her attention to Morihito, who had switched to doing his pull-ups with individual fingers. “He didn’t listen, when I told him we should go hunt monsters. Said it wasn’t time.”
Tanjuro nodded. “He is a dutiful man. I imagine he will not leave until he is certain his siblings can protect themselves and each other, even if he weren’t present. Your encounter several nights ago shows that I alone would not be enough. A few years, Miss Pyrrha. Long enough for Tanjiro and Takeo to learn the Hinokami Kagura, and for you to fully master the language and achieve a better grasp of the written word. After that, I am certain he will oblige your desire to travel and hunt demons.”
Pyrrha grimaced. “He was…very against it.”
As the baby fussed, he turned back to Sumiko, who held an expression of focus and effort. Tanjuro focused on his daughter and his sight shifted. In his vision, her blanket, clothes, skin and muscles all faded away so he could study the workings of her internal organs, revealing that yes, she was indeed in the process of soiling herself. She’d been sleeping for an hour, so she probably didn’t need to be fed for a while longer.
He turned to the young woman and smiled kindly. “You need only employ your feminine whiles, Miss Pyrrha, and he will string the moon into a necklace and tie it around your neck if you but ask.” He stood and walked to the door. “The men in my family have a history of being unable to go against the wishes of strong, beautiful women.”
Leaving the girl sputtering, he stepped inside, Xolo at his heels. He waited for Sumiko to finish, then cleaned and changed her. It was nearing the time that Morihito would ask him to spar, so he took the baby to her room (individual rooms for everyone in the family, never in his life would Tanjuro have thought he’d ever see such luxury), rocked her to sleep, and lay her down on her crib.
Xolo jumped past him, clearing the edge of the crib with ease, he landed softly and curled around the baby, falling promptly asleep once again. Sumiko turned to tuck herself more tightly to the dog’s side without waking.
He patted the dog’s head and settled the blanket over his daughter. Then he left quietly to sharpen his skill and the skill of his son. But he would allow himself to be selfish, and hope for the blessing of holding his first grandchild soon.
As he stepped outside and saw the fire-haired warrior woman blushing like a maiden and stealing furtive glances at his son, he truly did not think he’d have long to wait. Even less so if he unleashed Kie to fully meddle.
Tanjuro truly was blessed.
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