Journey

[Third person perspective]

It was early morning as the crows were flying up above a rice paddy farm. At the house next to the bamboo forest, Hiroto and Tanjiro could be seen talking to some farmers nearby. There was no longer any snow where they were at.

"Would you mind if we took a basket, straw, and some bamboo over there?" Hiroto asks the two as he points towards the side of the house. They needed another basket since the one they brought with them is carrying their food.

"Well sure, you're welcome to it." The old farmer says resting his hoe to the side. "But that basket's full of holes, are you sure you want it?"

Tanjiro cut's in before Hiroto could respond, "Yes. We'll pay you for it."

The farmer waves his hand, "No, that's all right. I mean, it's a basket with holes."

Tanjiro, being stubborn, says, "No, I will pay you!"

The farmer shakes his head this time, responding, "No, it's all right. You can have the bamboo and straw for free, too."

Tanjiro then stubbornly shouts as he reaches into his robe, "But I'm still paying you!"

Seeing this, Hiroto just facepalms at the scene in front of him. 'When Tanjiro gets like this, there's no use arguing against him.' Hiroto thought to himself.

The man, now clearly surprised at the stubborn Tanjiro shouts back, "I said it's okay! You're one stubborn kid aren't you!" with his palm outstretched to stop him.

Tanjiro takes his hand and slaps, hard, the change into the man's hand.

*SMACK* "PLEASE ACCEPT THIS, ALTHOUGH IT'S JUST SMALL CHANGE!" Tanjiro shouts as the man is in disbelief and in pain. Tanjiro's smack was not that soft.

Grabbing the basket along with the bamboo and straw, Tanjiro runs ahead yelling back, "Thank you very much!" Hiroto looking at the poor old farmer and scratching the back of his head saying,

"Haha, umm… youth right? Thank you very much!" Hiroto thanked the man before following Tanjiro.

The farmer, grasping his wrist in pain, shouts out as he drops the change. "OUCH!!"

[Hiroto POV]

When we arrive at a little cave on the side of a cliff, we both look in putting the supplies down behind us.

"Nezuko?" I call out.

"Huh? Nezuko?" Tanjiro follows up.

We look inside of the dark cave, with my eyesight I could see a hole dug at the end of the cave, with the pile of dirt next to it.

"Huh? Is she in the hole?" I wondered out loud.

Tanjiro, who can't see that well asks, "Hole? So she isn't gone?" feeling relieved.

*pop*

As though as on cue, a little head pops up halfway of the hole with a little "mfm"

"Ah, there she is," I said seeing the little mole *cough* Nezuko.

"Mmmmm" Nezuko mumbles through her bamboo mouthpiece looking at us a bit worried from the sun behind us.

"... Nezuko?" Tanjiro asks confused. "She dug a hole?" he says looking towards me.

"Our little sister turned into a mole." We both look at Nezuko, who we can only see the upper half of her face. Nezuko frowns a bit.

'Her face is scrunched up? She must not want the sunlight to hit her' I thought to myself.

"Wait there, for now, Nezuko, your brother and I will make you something to hide in from the sun. Come on Tanjiro, help me with the bamboo." I told him.

We began working on the basket, with Tanjiro cutting the bamboo into sticks with our axe and me tying the strips around each other around the basket.

We start to reinforce it to make sure that no sunlight can enter through any holes. 'Good thing this comes with straps' I thought to myself.

As we finish I take the basket and enter into the cave, with Tanjiro following behind me.

"Nezuko? Hey, Nezuko. Do you think you can fit inside this basket here?" I lift up the basket, showing it to her. "We need to keep moving during the day to get to Sagiri Mountain quicker. I'll carry you, okay?"

"Hmm." Nezuko mumbles.

I point inside the basket, "Can you fit? Get in. Here. Baasket." I tell her.

Hearing me, she lifts herself out of the hole and crawls towards the basket that's leaning sideways on the ground. Nezuko crawls and puts her head in. Then starts moving forward with her leg as though trying to fit her body in, moving the basket along with her.

"Ah!" I yelped, seeing her stop with only the upper half of her body laying inside the basket, and the rest dangling out.

"She kinda protrudes, huh? I can't believe she grew up already. It seems like yesterday that she was tiny." Tanjiro says.

"Haha, yes you're right. I remember her always trying to hide inside my haori." I said back smiling to the prone Nezuko.

"Wait, speaking of which…" My voice trails off as I thought of an idea.

"Hey Nezuko, remember how you became big like an adult earlier in the forest?" I said to her, "Do you think you can do the opposite of that? Shrink your body so you can fit inside it?"

"Shrink Nezuko, shrink!" I said patting her back, trying to get her to understand.

Hearing me, Nezuko starts moving inside the basket. She starts to kneel on the ground and when she gets into position… she dove straight into the basket headfirst with her legs up in the air!

*FLOP FLOP* Nezuko's legs start shaking around.

"Ah! Nezuko!" Tanjiro exclaims.

But just a moment later, the legs started to disappear from our sights, as well as the rest of her body until we can't see her anymore.

"..." 'That worked?' I thought to myself

"Hmm" Nezuko mumbles as her head pops up again.

'Mole/Mole' Both me and Tanjiro thought to ourselves at once.

"Ohhhh!" I praised Nezuko as she squints up happily towards us. "Good job! That's my little Nezuko! I'm impressed!" I said, patting her head. She closes her eyes in bliss when receiving the pat.

"Well we should get going, we can eat as we walk Tanjiro," I said looking towards him.

"Mhm," Tanjiro responded nodding his head.

"Alright Nezuko, we're going to have to cover you up okay? You can sleep in there in the meantime when we're traveling. Also, try not to make any noise now. People might find us suspicious if they hear a girl's voice from our basket, hahaha." I said to Nezuko, who nods her head twice at the instructions.

"Hmm hmm." She muffles.

"That's my girl," I told her. When I removed my hand, she started to doze off, preparing to sleep for the journey.

"Tanjiro passed me the cloth and lid," I said to my little brother.

As he passes me the two items, I close the lid on her and wrap the cloth around the basket before securing a knot on it.

"Wait, does she need to breathe? She should right?" Tanjiro asks looking at me.

I scratch my head, "Umm, I'm not too sure, let me ask." I tap the side of the basket, "Hey Nezuko, can you breathe in there"

…

"She's probably asleep," I said. "It should be fine, don't worry. Alright, let's head out then.

*Several Hours Later*

We stopped next to a woman's house, as it is currently turning to night time and ask her for directions.

"To get to Mount Sagiri, you first have to cross that mountain," She says pointing towards its direction. "The sun will set soon. And you two want to go there? While carrying that huge load? It's dangerous for kids like you." The woman says,s in concern.

"We'll be plenty careful. Thank you very much." I said, bowing towards her.

"Thank you very much." Tanjiro copies my actions, bowing.

As we walk away, we hear her voice behind us.

"People do disappear up there… so don't get lost!"

*Night Descends*

I let Nezuko out of her basket as the sun's gone now. I can hear the owls hooting.

The three of us walked up the path until I could see a temple up the hill on our right.

"There's a temple up there," I said while holding Nezuko's hand to guide her along.

"Tanjiro next to me says, "There's light coming from there, so someone must be up there then."

"Let's check it out then," I say while leading the 2 up the steps to the temple.

Before we got near, Tanjiro stops me and says with an anxious voice, "Brother, I smell blood!"