Love Breathing (1/2)

Standing in front of a gate with a giant symbol of a heart on it and the slight color of pink being it color, I knock on the gate. Like what had happened when I knocked on Rengoku's gate, the gate almost immediately opened and Mitsuri appeared.

Seeing a slight twinkle appear in her eyes appear as she looks at me, she starts speaking.

"It's a pleasure to see you again, even if we only saw each other for a few moments. Thank you for allowing me to teach you."

Hearing the sweet melody of her voice, I reply.

"No, no. Thank you for deciding to teach me, I'm glad that my tutelage under the Hashiras is continuing."

Chuckling slightly, Mitsuri states. "No need to be so formal with me. I am only six years your senior after all."

Returning the smile that she shows me, she leads me inside. Upon entering, I am immediately stunned by the greenery that I see inside. Even during winter, it appears that Mitsuri can keep all her plants alive.

"Pretty, isn't it?" Mitsuri asks and I can only dumbly nod my head. "It took me a while to find the solution to keep everything alive, but I managed."

"What's the secret?" I ask hopefully.

"Well, it wouldn't be much a secret if I told you now, would it?" Mitsuri chuckles again.

Leading me past the greenery, I am left to a barren training ground where I notice a surprising number of gashes left in the ground.

"I train here during my free time." Mitsuri answers the question I didn't even ask.

Surprised that all the gashes were made by her, she then stands in the middle of the training ground, back straight, like a general commanding a new soldier.

"Your time here will not be easy." Mitsuri begins. "But I will at least try and make it fun for you."

Immediately having the image degraded down to the childishness of Mitsuri, she starts to make me do Rengoku workout because she 'didn't want to change something I was already good at.' And even though she said it wouldn't be easy, my training didn't have a single addition to it, making me feel blessed to be under her teaching. Upon reaching the final exercise, Mitsuri told me we would be something different.

Standing across from her with a practice sword in my hand, I look confusedly at Mitsuri.

Smiling brightly, Mitsuri states, "We're going to spar against one another, but for right now, it's more of you blocking every one of my attacks."

Thinking that it wouldn't be too hard for me to do, I prepare myself. My expectations however were broken as soon as I notice Mitsuri having disappeared. Startled, I unconsciously put the practice blade into a defensive position and at that exact same time, Mitsuri reappears in my vision with her fist connecting against the blade. Holding the grip tightly as I feel the blade trying to be ripped from my hands, I shoot backwards with my feet dragged through the earth a few meters.

Feeling my entire body shake, especially my arms, after taking the full force of that punch, I look at Mitsuri worriedly. Mitsuri's face however was stuck with surprise before once again disappearing from her spot.

Compared to the first time however, my movements were sluggish, and I couldn't put the blade in place before my left arm is struck. Rolling after getting hit, I wince in pain before looking down at my now bruised left arm that felt on the verge of breaking from that single punch.

Seeing Mitsuri look at me apologetically, I ended up getting beat up for the next two hours. Bruises were littered over my body after the training ended and I felt like a single gust of wind would make me fall over and shatter. Being forced to sit down my Mitsuri, she decides to end my day by telling me about Love Breathing.

"Sorry for going so hard on you, but it's necessary for your growth." Mitsuri begins with a cute serious face. "Anyway, Love Breathing is a concept that's based off the emotion of love. The techniques of Love Breathing are a combination of whip-like attacks that utilize superhuman flexibility, dexterity, agility, and speed. If you manage to use my form correctly, you should be able to visualize pinkish strikes that emanate from your weapon. I specifically created this form as an alteration of Flame Breathing so that it fit my needs. Unfortunately, I don't know if you can use this form."

Tilting my head in confusion at her final statement, she proceeds to answer.

"This form takes a special body to be completed. My own body has a muscle density of eight times over the normal, so this form has only been able to be used by me thus far. Even if you might be a prodigy with Demon Slayer Breathing Arts, if you don't have the body, then you unfortunately never complete my training."

"I guess all that's left to do is try then." I respond.

"But I said that only someone with a muscle density of eight times can exercise this form."

"And how would we know whether or not I have that sort of muscle density? My entire purpose of coming here was to learn Love Breathing, to learn under you. I won't leave until you teach me."

Seeing the fire burn in my eyes, Mitsuri opens and closes her mouth before harumphing and turning her head away from me.

"Fine, I'll continue to teach you, but if it turns out that you can't learn Love Breathing, then I won't hesitate to end your training here and send you back to the Butterfly Mansion."

Laughing like the child I am, I stand back up, bow to Mitsuri, before rushing back to the Butterfly Mansion.

Waking up in the morning, I find my bruises either having disappeared or less ugly in color. Upon reaching the Love Nest for the second day, Mitsuri is already standing in her courtyard, surrounded by the supplies necessary for my training.

Upon reaching sword training however, my weapon is instead replaced with a whip-like katana. Receiving basic instructions on how to use the weapon and then a direct example of the movements she just explained, I set myself to once again learning a different weapon. To compensate for my lack of training in a whip-like katana, I would now spend an extra two hours on sword training.

Having the bruises replaced with new ones, Mitsuri stops me from heading back to the Butterfly Mansion to explain every form of Love Breathing.

---

The Love Breathing Forms are:

1st form – Shivers of First Love – The user dashes forward with a series of extended whip slashes that winds around the target.

2nd form – Love Pangs – The user unleashes multiple powerful whip slashes.

3rd form – Catlove Shower – The user leaps and unleashes a series of ranged arced attacks in quick succession.

4th form – Illusion Binding – The user does an extended whip slash that changes the trajectory at the last moment.

5th Form – Swaying Love-Wildclaw – The user somersaults backwards through the air creating long whip-like string of attacks, before coiling their sword around the neck of the opponent.

6th form – Cat-Legged Winds of Love – The user twirls upside-down and creates multiple extending slashing attacks before retracting it and extending it again.

---

Upon hearing the explanation for each, I question the reasoning behind why I couldn't learn such. Even if I didn't have the proper muscle density, I should still be able to learn the form.

Asking for Mitsuri to show me how she executed these forms, I got a basic understanding on why it's so important to have eight times muscle density. Conducting the 6th form, Mitsuri leapt into the air before twisting her body an almost 180 degrees before then whipping her arm forward and extending her blade. Doing the same thing with every single whip of her blade, the result is an entire new set of gashes appearing in the barren courtyard.

Seeing my surprise, Kanroji hesitantly asks, "So, do you think you'll be able to do Love Breathing?"

Licking my dried lips, I answer. "…Yes. I'm not an octo-breather for nothing. My techniques will certainly lack strength, but I can certainly execute what you just did. Of course, only when I master the whip-like katana."

Seemingly surprised by my answer, Mitsuri turn giddy before running up and giving me a hug.

"I never thought someone would inherit my Breathing Art, but what do you know, a little prodigy showed up and stole the limelight."

Gratefully accepting Mitsuri's praise, I ask a question that's been on my mind for a while now.

"Master Mitsuri, how do I achieve Love Breathing?"

Bursting out into a fit of laughter, Mitsuri releases me before holding onto her stomach. Confused by her sudden laughter, she answers my question.

"Isn't it entirely obvious? You need to experience the emotion of Love and then breath that concept in."

Staring at Mitsuri with the most disbelieving stare that I can, I say, "Isn't it impossible to breath in a concept though?"

"Nothing's impossible with the power of love." Mitsuri says righteously.

Turning my stare into a blank one, I leave her residence for the day.

Returning to the Butterfly Mansion, I set my mind into working stage to try and figure out a solution to my apparent problem. As I walk the halls of the Mansion, I spot Kanao walking back to her room.

Knowing that I held feeling for Kanao, I catch her by the arm. This startles Kanao greatly as I feel her jump slightly before turning her head to me. Seeing that it was I who scared her, her face quickly morphs into a pout.

"Ah, sorry about that." I say while lowering my head apologetically.

Even after apologizing though, the pout on her face remains. Knowing that she wanted something from me, I sighed before giving her a head pat.

Instantly, her expression turns into one of bliss as she seems to push herself further into my hand.

Looking at me with a smile, I decide to ask, "Could we talk in your room? I need your help for something."

The expression on Kanao's face freezes instantly before she shakes her head in disapproval. She then seemed to reminisce about my words before once again shaking her head, albeit a little less resolutely.

Before I can ask her reasoning for such, Kanao removes herself from my head pat and then quickly enters her room. Surprised at Kanao's rejection, I decide to move onto my second option for this test. Shinobu.

Walking to her door, I knock lightly and in response, I hear a chair falling over and then someone scrambling to get to their feet. Having the door open, I see the slightly disheveled appearance of Shinobu who looks at me straight in the eyes before slamming the door shut on my face.

Standing there for the next ten minutes, the door reopens and reveals a now more presentable, prettier Shinobu.

Nervously staring at me, Shinobu asks, "Why'd you knock?"

"I need your help with something." I begin. "And I also wanted to check up on you."

Hearing my words, Shinobu goes into a semi-frozen state before breaking out and hesitantly moving out of the way, allowing me entry. Upon doing so, I see a messily arranged desk littered with papers and vials of what I can guess to be poisons and antidotes and then a girly looking bed in the corner with a stuffed animal sitting atop it.

"So, what'd you need from me?" Shinobu asks straightforwardly.

"How about we first begin with my check up on you? After all, we didn't delve as deep as I wanted in our previous *interrupted* conversation."

"Alright, I guess." Shinobu states.

"Great! Previously you stated that you created a poison that might be able to kill low-level demons, right? Has your poison improved? What kind of other poisons have you made? How will the poison be administered? What kind of antidotes do you have?" I immediately start to bombard Shinobu with questions.

"Well…"