Responsibilities of a Hashira

The next day, Hiroto was woken up with a surprise. "Time to wake up Hiroto!" Rengoku's voice shouted in Hiroto's ears.

"Ah!" Hiroto jolted from his dream as Rengoku's loud shout woke him up.

"Haha, that's the spirit! So full of energy in the morning!" Rengoku said, standing above Hiroto on his bed with his arms crossed.

"Ugh, more importantly, what are you doing in my room?" Hiroto said groggily, rubbing his eyes.

"To wake you up, of course! A future Hashira has to be up and early to make the most of their day!" Rengoku said passionately.

Hiroto started to regret his decision of becoming a Tsuguko.

"Breakfast has already been made, so you can go and eat before we get started with your training!" Rengoku said, jumping off the bed and to the door.

"Come and find me when you're done!" And with that, Rengoku left the room.

Hiroto got up and washed, before heading to what seems to be a cafeteria. Entering, he saw some Kakushi serving the food, while others started to eat. Hiroto also some other Demon Slayers sitting around and eating. They turned when Hiroto entered and watched him curiously.

Hiroto heard some whispers but ignored it and got his breakfast, choosing to sit off to the side and began eating. What he failed to notice, was a majority of the food consisted of sweet potato and salt grilled bream.

'Rengoku does have some… acquired tastes…' As Hiroto began to eat, he felt that something on the back of his hand changed. Apart from his burn scar changing, the back of his hand felt different. Hiroto concentrated the feeling on it and saw a symbol appear on it. The symbol changed from Kanoe to 'Tsuguko'.

'Interesting, from what I remembered, each Demon Slayer has a symbol on the back of their hand that shows their rank.' Hiroto thought, clenching his fist.

The symbol swells up due to muscle expansion, and is a special technique called 'Wisteria Carving'. It's a symbol of the Demon Slayers, each member would receive the mark when in the Wisteria Mountains.

Hiroto relaxed his hands, letting the symbol disappear. Finishing up his breakfast, Hiroto went to find Rengoku. When asking around he found that Rengoku was currently outside in the training grounds.

Going to where Rengoku was, Hiroto entered the training grounds and saw Rengoku with his eyes closed as if he was meditating. With his eyes still closed, he called out. "Hiroto! Come here!" Opening his eyes, he gestured to Hiroto.

Hiroto walked over and was waiting for what he had to say. "Usually, when a Tsuguko is trained under a Hashira, they use the same breathing technique. Although it isn't a requirement, that's how it usually goes! You might not know, but I used to teach Mitsuri, the Love Hashira before she developed her own breathing technique!" Rengoku announced.

Hiroto was surprised that Rengoku trained someone else who went on to become a Hashira, at his young age too.

"But since you already have a breathing technique, we can use that to build your foundation! Currently, you should be able to use the 'Breath of Water' and your 'Breath of Fire'. Or what my father calls it, the 'Breath of the Sun'." Rengoku said.

Hiroto nodded his head in confirmation and spoke up. "Since I already have a fire breathing technique, what is there for me to do?"

"First, we shall test to see your capabilities by dueling each other!" Rengoku said passionately. After saying that, Rengoku immediately launched an attack at Hiroto out of nowhere.

*Boom* Hiroto quickly dodged to the side clumsily as the attack missed and struck the ground, kicking up debris.

"You should always be prepared for an unexpected attack! Always expect the unexpected!" Rengoku yelled, taking his sword out and swinging it at Hiroto.

*clang* Hiroto quickly reacted and parried the blow to the side, and quickly thrusting forward at the opening.

"Always make sure to use your surroundings!" Rengoku's voice sounded out again, as he grabbed a training dummy and put it in front of him, causing Hiroto to pierce it.

Rengoku then pushed the dummy into Hiroto and launched another attack. Hiroto quickly took his sword out of the dummy and dodged to the side, *whoosh* making the sword miss him by mere inches.

Hiroto then kicked Rengoku's leg to shake him off balance but missed as Rengoku jumped up and sent out a kick of his own towards Hiroto's face.

Hiroto recovered and raised his arms to block the blow, but it never came. "Expect the unexpected!" Rengoku shouted, as he twisted his body in midair, and set a kick from Hiroto's blindspot to his side.

Hiroto had his arms raised and couldn't lower them in time as the kick landed on his body. *thump* Hiroto clenched his teeth as the kick landed on his side, causing him to drag his feet away from the force. 'He isn't holding back his punches.'

"Warmups are over now Hiroto! Here I come!" Rengoku said, as his sword started to ignite as flames gathered. "Breath of Flames, first form: Sea of Fire!" Rengoku yelled out so Hiroto could hear him.

*BOOM* Rengoku moved forward, leaving a trail of fire behind his every step, forming a sea of fire behind him.

Hiroto raised his sword, 'Dance of the Fire God, Raging Sun!' Hiroto unleashed two horizontal slashes to intercept Rengoku's attack as he approached, causing flames to be launched towards him.

"Haha! Good!" Rengoku shouted, as he raised his own sword and blocked the fire launched towards him to the side, cutting them down with his slashes. *fwoosh* Rengoku appeared from the slashes and in front of Hiroto as he swung his sword down.

Hiroto quickly performed another move, 'Burning Bones!' Swinging his sword in a circular arc, leaving a trail of fire to form around him as he deflected Rengoku's strike to the side. *clang*.

Rengoku jumped back and shouted with his same stoic face. "Good! As expected of the Tsuguko I chose! Your techniques and ability to see through my attack are excellent. However, there is still room for improvement, as you fell for my feint before when I kicked towards you!"

Hiroto nodded at Rengoku's words, making him realize that he lacked combat experience.

Rengoku continued, "Although you don't have a set form of swordsmanship, I noticed how flexible you were at adapting to the attacks and responding accordingly!"

Hiroto spoke up, "It's what Urokodaki-san taught us, whenever we learn something, take it and make it lighter to increase our combat capabilities."

Rengoku nodded at Hiroto's words. "Very similar to Tomioka in that aspect! From now on, I shall teach you some swordsmanship to improve your techniques and have you work on improving your 'Breath of the Sun'! Although you can use it, I can tell how much it takes out of you due to its raw power!"

Hiroto bowed his head, and said, "Then, I will be under your care from now on."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to make you worthy of the Hashira title!" Rengoku said.

----

And like so, Hiroto trained under Rengoku for the next couple of weeks. His sword techniques started to improve tremendously as he now had a set path to follow.

Under Rengoku's guidance, he was able to learn how to use his breathing techniques to stop wounds from bleeding by focusing on where the wound originated. One can stop the hemorrhage and force the wound to close up, essentially stopping them from bleeding out.

He saw Shinobu several times during this period as she visited the Flame Estate to check on some medical supplies that needed to be moved around, as well as Kanao when she accompanied her.

"Aghhh!!!"

At the current moment, Hiroto was sitting behind a desk with a load of paperwork spread out in front of him. To the side sat a Kakushi that was shaking in her spot when she heard Hiroto yell out after she delivered more papers to him at Renguko's behest.

Hiroto rubbed his head and said, "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you. I'm just tired from all of this work. *sigh* I never saw Kanao doing this before. Wait. What does she actually do?"

The Kakushi stood there silently and spoke up weakly, "M-May I leave?"

"Ah, sorry, here take these to Rengoku when you have time." Hiroto gave her a stack of orders that were signed off.

The girl nodded her head, taking the papers and running out of the door. Hiroto was left looking at the pile of documents and started to reminiscent back to simpler times. 'Ahh, Nezuko, your brother is in need of saving. Where are you when I need you the most right now.'

Hiroto went back to reading and arranging the documents around for a while more.

*BOOM* The door to his room was swung open. "Hiroto! We have a mission!" Rengoku came in and announced loudly.