Urokodaki's Disciple

In front of Urokodaki's front door, there stood a taller than average young man with unruly black hair and a low messy ponytail at the base of his neck. He is currently wearing a dark, cyan-tinted version of what I can guess to be a Demon Slayer Unifor with a haori that's split down the middle into two different patterns: the right one a solid red, and the left one geometrically patterned with squares of green, orange, and yellow.

Wondering as to why someone would be waiting in front of Urokodaki's home, I walk up to him slowly. He however seems to notice my presence and turn towards me.

Looking at his face, I can see that he is completely expressionless, save for the fact that his eyes show a hint of grief in them.

"Who are you, and why are you here?"

"I am here to see Urokodaki." The man states and then turns himself around to continue looking at Urokodaki's finely carved door.

"But who are you though?" I ask again.

Giyu remains silent and I prepare to pester him again for his name, but the door opens to reveal a tall standing Urokodaki. The two of them stare at each other before the man is suddenly grabbed and brought into a death-gripped hug by Urokodaki.

The man doesn't try to reciprocate the hug in the slightest, but Urokodaki doesn't seem to care.

"Ah, it's so nice to see you again Giyu, my precious disciple. Might I ask why've you come to see me this year?"

In response to his question, the now identified Giyu states almost coldly, "I have been promoted to the ranking of Water Hashira in the Demon Slayer Corps."

"So, you reached the top of the rankings, what do you plan to do from now on?"

"I'll do what any other Slayer has been trying to do and kill Muzan once and for all." Giyu expressionlessly states.

Urokodaki seems to sigh out in disappointment.

"I won't question what it is you do with your time, but I can still sense that you are holding yourself back with the deaths of Sabito and Makomo. You don't need to have survivor's guilt; there deaths were entirely because of their failure and my own. None of it happened because of you."

Urokodaki the proceeds to put his hand on Giyu's shoulder and drag him inside.

"Now, you will be eating with us while you introduce yourself to the other resident."

Under the harsh presence of his own teacher, Giyu follows Urokodaki's instructions and proceeds to sit to the left of the low table. Following the movement of Giyu, I sit across from him. Urokodaki then makes tea, hands us each a cup, and then also sits down in front of the low table. None of us say a single word while sitting there, until Urokodaki breaks the ice.

"You two haven't been formally introduced to each other as of yet, so." Pointing at Giyu. "This here is Giyu Tomioka, the current Water Hashira for the Demon Slayer Corps and one of my previous disciples." Pointing at me. "This here is Shiro Urokodaki, my adopted grandchild, a monster who has a total of three breathing forms, and someone who might catch up to me in just a few years."

Bowing my head after the introduction, Giyu stares at me suspiciously.

Turning his head to Urokodaki, he asks, "Three breathing forms?"

Receiving the nod of approval, Giyu turns to me again.

"I would like to see."

This time I look to Urokodaki for approval, and I receive it.

Stepping outside of the house with Giyu, I first begin by using Water Breathing and execute 'Water Breathing First Form: Water Surface Slash'. Sheathing my sword, I switch to Thunder Breathing and execute 'Thunder Breathing First Form: Thunderclap and Flash'.

Feeling slight pain in my chest at having switched breathing forms in such a short period, I take a small break before switching to Ice Breathing and using 'Ice Breathing First Form: Frost Fang'

Completing the show of the three forms, I see Giyu step up to where I had used Ice Breathing. Running his hand through the air where I had cut, he goes deep into thought before turning to me.

"Do this technique on a tree."

Not wanting to be disrespectful, I do exactly as he says and cut cleanly through one of the trees closest to me. Giyu, after examining the location of where my blade had cut the tree, sees the ice residue that had grown.

Once again going deep into thought, Giyu asks, "Have you mastered these three forms?"

Doing a so-so gesture, I answer, "I've mastered, to the best of my current ability, Water Breathing and Thunder Breathing. Ice Breathing however is still a work in progress."

Giyu then asks. "Can you learn other forms."

Shrugging my shoulder, I say, "Mabey, I was able to learn Thunder Breathing, so I might."

Watching as a small smile starts to grow on Giyu's face, he suddenly turns back to the house. After eating with us, Giyu picks himself up and proceeds to walk away. He of course receives a hug and a few words from Urokodaki before he leaves, but other than that, he doesn't say anything to me.

Waking up the next morning, I walk back into the forest, to the rock where I had met Sabito and Makomo. Once there, I can see that both are patiently waiting for something while leaning on each other's backs. "

Sorry I couldn't show up yesterday, but…"

Before I can finish, I am cut off by Sabito.

"Giyu came and visited. We're aware since we've been watching you, but who would have thought that he'd reach the height of Water Hashira. He certainly grew from when we last saw him. Makes me reminisce about the things I did in my life."

"And Giyu's still just as cold as ever." Makomo giggles.

"I bet his humor is still just as bad too."

Smiling at their talk, they both suddenly grow quiet before turning towards me.

"You've grown faster and stronger than anyone I've ever known, and we have finally reached the point in which you'll be able to easily kill me while using any of your techniques. I've really tried my best to give you something else to do, but the two of us have nothing left to train you for." Sabito then laughs slightly. "Who would've known that the previous dangerous world of demons might now suddenly be destroyed by a six-year-old."

"Getting back on topic." Makomo continues. "From here on out, as long as you stay in this mountain, you'll be needing to improve yourself by yourself."

"To symbolize the completion of our training, do what Urokodaki originally asked you to do with this rock and cut it in twain." Sabito says while taking his mask off. "The time we've spent with you has certainly been the most fun a spirit can have but seeing that Urokodaki no longer feels the pain of our deaths as harshly, it is our time to go. We wish you the best on your journey, oh powerful demon slayer, and we hope that you bring retribution to all the families that have died."

"Ah, but before we go, just make sure to tell Urokodaki that he should feel no sense of responsibility for our deaths. We died because of our own mistakes and everything that Urokodaki did was perfect." Makomo says while twirling around atop the rock.

Both then show me a heart wrenching smile before jumping behind the rock and disappearing. Breathing in and out to prevent myself from crying, I put my sword above my head and cut down upon the rock. Moments later, the rock breaks apart and a clean cut can be seen.

Returning from my training early that day, I return to Urokodaki's home. When Urokodaki sees me, he immediately checks my condition, but when he sees the sadness in my eyes, he pulls me into a deep hug. However, this only serves to strengthen the sad feelings that I have as I cry out loudly whilst clinging to Urokodaki.

After crying myself to exhaustion, Urokodaki questions the reason why in the most caring voice I've heard him have.

"Well, it's just… the fact that Makomo… and Sabito… said that they couldn't improve… my forms anymore… and then they just disappeared. They did tell me however, that… you don't have to feel sorry about their deaths since… it was their fault and their fault alone."

After delivering their message, I retire myself early for the day and wake up in the morning feeling depressed and tired. Knowing that I should still train however, I force myself out of bed and train to take my mind off losing contact with Makomo and Sabito.

By putting my all into my training, I managed to relieve the strain on my mind somewhat, but the hole I'm feeling remains. However, I know that I can't bring Makomo and Sabito back, so I steel my mind and train for the next three months.

In those three months, I manage to create a third form for Ice Breathing and create the first and second extension for Thunder Breathing.

The first thing that occurred was the creation of the first extension of Thunder Breathing which is called 'Six-Fold'. This extension allows me to consecutively use 'Thunderclap and Flash' six separate times while being able to augment both my speed and power every strike.

After that, it was rather simple for me to create the second extension which is called 'Eight-Fold' which allows me to consecutively use 'Thunderclap and Flash' eight separate times.

Finally, I was able to create my third form for Ice Breathing. By using the concept of 'Thunder Breathing Third Form: Heat Lightning' and the idea of an omnidirectional 'Water Breathing Second Form: Water Wheel', I created 'Ice Breathing Third Form: Blizzard'.

This form creates an impenetrable barrier around me that is formed from the rapid spinning of my blade and body. The range for this technique is rather small, but the destructive power makes up for it. The first time that I used this technique, I immediately got dizzy as my view of the world was continuously flung around.

Giddy with the improvements that I had made within the three months, I prepared to try and improve my version of Total Concentration Breathing and finish Total Concentration Breathing: Constant, but my time was cut short by the reappearance of Giyu.

The first words to come out of his mouth were, "Kagaya Ubuyashiki would like to meet Shiro."