Chapter 9: Inner Peace

I haven't said anything about it but,

ever since the incident on Mt. Nagatumo.

I would have strange dreams and this dream was one of them.

Darkness and Light, left and right. That's what there was, it was separated.

Standing on the left, in the darkness, was me but older. Cold eyes, void of any emotions, it looked like me. With a smile expressing nothing.

Standing on the right, in the light, was me but older. Warm eyes, filled with joy, happiness, love, filled with emotion. With a smile expressing those emotions.

"Are you guys me?" I asked.

"As winter comes, the ice freezes you, as the snow illuminates your soul. One day, you will choose to either abandon all or gain all, the real you that is." they both said.

Then I woke up realizing I was sweating a bit.

"Are you okay?" I looked up and saw Shinobu hovering over me. There it was that feeling in my stomach again.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a nightmare." I said. Out of reflex, I leaned on Shinobu like I did with my mother when I was a child. There was an aura of fluster around Shinobu and I backed away,

"Sorry it was an old habit of mine. And about the other day, sorry. I might've stepped over some boundaries when I asked for your story." I replied.

'It's okay, you helped me get a better perspective." she replied,

"Now get ready, we have some rehabilitation training to do." she added.

I looked at her confused while she left. 'Rehab training? No hashira training?'

Getting ready, I walked out and stretched. The weather sure is good today, but what was that dream about. I'll give it some thought later. As I walked out, I ran into 3 little children.

They seem to freeze and gave an aura of fear. 'Ah, my appearance does seem to be quite scary.'

"I'm Furoku Tokan, The Frost Pillar. I'm staying at the Butterfly Estate, nice to meet you. Can I ask for your names.?" I asked

"...Sumi Nakahara" said the first girl.

"...Kiyo Terauchi" said the second girl.

"...Naho Takada" said the third girl.

"Nice to meet you guys. I need to head over to the training area, excuse me." I said patting their heads before leaving.

Their aura of fear seemed to disappear,

"She might not be that bad." said the 3 girls.

In the training room, there were the 3 children stretching out the boar boy, Tanjiro playing splash the medicine against Kanao, and Inosuke playing tag against the girl named Aoi Kanzaki. This is rehab training? Well, they just healed I guess it's fine. I sat near the corner watching it.

It's been a few hours and the boar boy and yellow hair boy decided to give up while Tanjiro continued to lose against Kanao. Well, Kanao uses Constant Breathing, that gives her over the edge since Tanjiro doesn't use it. I was about to leave when,

"Um, Tokan-sama, we would like to see you train!" said Sumi.

"We feel that you are very powerful!" said Kiyo.

"But we never see you practice!" said Naho.

"Me too. I want to see how strong you are." said Tanjiro. While Kanao stared blankly.

"Alright I guess, let's start with the splashing medicine." I said as I sat down in front of her.

"Start!" said Tanjiro.

We started off quite slow, I would grab and she would block. Though we started to speed up. Up, down, left, right, different patterns. Soon we were leaving mirages but this came to an end when I decided to go faster. RIght before I was about to splash her,

"Tokan-san, don't tell me you were really about to splash my Tsuguko." said Shinobu.

"No, I was only scaring her." I said. She had an aura of a monster right now.

"But you're strong Tokan-san, you actually beat Kanao! How did you beat her since I couldn't?" said Tanjiro.

"She uses Constant Breathing but you don't." I said.

"What's Constant Breathing?" asked Tanjiro.

"You don't know? When doing your Water Forms, you take those breaths to perform, that is why yours is called Water Breathing, and you take that breathing and constantly do it. At the start you'll get tired but over time, you'll get used to it." I explained.

"Oh, I guess I'll have to train even more." said Tanjiro.

"Do you want to know why you won't beat Kanao even if you mastered Constant Breathing?" I asked.

"Why?" asked Tanjiro.

"Because I was one to teach her breathing, she breathes the way I do, an instant advantage for her." I said.

"Ara~Ara~Tokan-chan~ Did you really teach MY tsuguko? Is what she said true Kanao?" Shinobu asked.

Kanao looked away.

"...Tokan-chan~ Let's have a match to see who's the better teacher. We'll play splash the person with the medicine." she said.

I wanted to refuse but that glare of hers said, 'I'll kill you if you refuse.', so I accepted.

We were going at it for hours until we were the only one's left in the room, we left after-images at how fast we were going, but neither of us has yet to win. It was a tie and I was getting tired. Shinobu might be the only one with reflexes on par with mine.

"Shinobu, I'm getting tired. How about we rest? It's dark and I have training tomorrow." I said.

She accepted and I sighed in relief. We sat next to each other on a wall,

"It seems like the both of us are good teachers Shinobu-san." I said.

"That's true, let's get up and go to our rooms to rest." Shinobu said.

"Un. Let's do tha-" and with a yawn. I passed out.

(Shinobu POV)

With a yawn, she fell asleep on my lap.

'She looks so cute like that.' while caressing her head.

Soft and silky hair, you're just my type Tokan-chan.

"If you keep doing cute stuff like that, I won't be able to hold to urge to make you mine." I whispered.

You helped me last time, this time I'll bring your emotions back and help you without fail.

My cute hashira~

(Somewhere in Heaven)

"Akihito, do you think she found the one? What do you think of her?"

"Well, she's willing to help her but she's..."

"...She's a bit of a sadist."

"Yeah..."

That night,

Tokan had a dream about being tied up by Shnobu,

and Shinobu had a dream about tying up Tokan.

(A/N: Top Shinobu >> Bottom Shinobu)