8. the whispers of the world.

Rui doesn't like the Butterfly Mansion, but with the degree of injuries on everyone, it's rather inevitable that they've ended up here for the foreseeable future.

"Rui-kun," Aoi teaches him, she's standing in the sun and he's just barely under the shade on the veranda, "you have to wring this out like this before you hang it up, or it'll crease."

Rui stares at the sheet in her hands and turns to the shirt he's been instructed to hold. When Aoi stretches her garment taut with a tight flub flub noise, Rui imitates the movement. And rips it cleanly in half in the process.

Aoi blinks. "A little less strength," she prompts.

Rui mends it with some string and this time, he does it right. The strings in human clothes are so needlessly fragile, but he supposes clothes for recovery— meant to be soiled or cut during surgery— only need to barely hold together to count as useful.

"That's so good! You're a fast learner, Rui-kun!" Aoi brightens.

Rui hums. He's never had the experience of helping out in chores before, so this is all very odd to him. Aoi's constant enthusiasm is very amusing to him.

Putting aside his bedridden human life, there wasn't really a need for laundry to be done among demons. Even when they got dirty, a wash in the river would do. They didn't really have to care for hygiene or comfort— it's not like they would get sick, and while digging through human flesh and organs, you stop considering physical decency as a monster.

"Morn'."

"Kanata, we told you to stay in bed until noon!" Aoi scolds without looking over, clipping Kanata's newly-mended kimono onto the clothesline. "Rui-kun, put him back in bed."

Rui glances over, but Kanata puts a bandage-clad hand on his head and dismisses her concern with a yawn.

"I have to drop by the Flame Hashira estate. Obanai-kun's sword was chipped in his previous battle, and no average swordsmith is trusted to fix that sword of his."

"Huh?" Aoi groans, "hold on, you're in no condition to go polish a sword right now!"

"I'll be fine," he dismisses. Then, turning down, "Rui, it's daytime, so stay." With his injuries, he can't pick up Rui, much less carry him around on his hip.

Infuriatingly in Aoi's opinion, Rui stayed.

-

"Kanata-kun. Where are you and your six fractured ribs, ruptured hand ligament, reset elbow, broken hip, and third degree frostbitten legs going?"

Kanata faces Kochou Kanae.

"To the Rengoku estate."

"I'm sorry, I forgot you couldn't understand context clues," Kanae sounds utterly irritated, and that's so rare. Usually it's Shinobu that's mad like that. They're definitely sisters. "Absolutely not. Go back to your room right this instant. Shinjurou-san hasn't been showing up to Hashira meetings, but at this point he shouldn't, because I'll be hitting him over the head the second I see him."

Kanata wonders if he should point out that Kanae was more injured than he was. It's only been three days since the battle, and she's fully recovered because of Hashira vitality.

Instead, he knocks on the door beside him, and when prompted, he opens it.

"Good day to you, Kanata-kun," Shinobu greets with the kind smile that usually belongs on Kanae. "I see you're finally well enough to get up on your own."

Kanata wonders if he's entered a parallel world where the Kochou sisters have switched personalities. For some reason, this one's pleasant instead.

Shinobu will likely take at least a few months to heal. Her body had been severely damaged by both Douma's ice strikes and Kanata's cuts searing through his flesh. While Kanata had ensured there would be no permanent damage or poison left behind, she had been particularly shredded apart then literally stitched back together by Rui. The scars would only be faintly visible thanks to Rui, but she'll have to start all her strength and mobility training from scratch after this.

"Shinobu, you should be resting too," Kanae says. "Put that book away, you're coming up with new poisons, aren't you?"

"Well," Shinobu chuckles, "Kanata-kun told me he'll arrange for my new sword made by the Chief of the village himself, so of course I'm a little enthusiastic. He said my new sword won't require me to try decapitating my opponents anymore. It's the least he should do honestly, after violating me like that."

Could you have phrased that any more misleadingly? Kanata doesn't say this because he knows it would be pointless.

"Kanata-kun," Kanae begins longsufferingly. "Shinobu, stop ordering him around. I told Naho-chan and Aoi to make sure you rest— does that mean you've had Kanata-kun bringing you all your notes from the study?"

Shinobu hums, "he scarred a young woman's face and body for life. There's very much more he should be doing for me. Ah Kanata-kun, if you're dropping by the Rengoku estate, will you get some kinako mochi from the street stall three turns from there?"

"Sure."

"Kanata-kun!" Kanae's exasperated.

-

"Tecchief requests Kanata come home!" Yashahane lectures him on the way, resting on Kanata's hand rather puffily. "Funeral! Expedition incident, two dead! Tecchief requests Kanata come home!"

"Yes I'll go home after this."

Swordsmiths aren't fighters (usually), so they aren't usually granted the same amount of time off as slayers. While Oyakata-sama will allow leaves for recuperation, a swordsmith's schedule is dependent on Chief Tecchikawahara. For swordsmiths, you're only allowed leeway when you're dead.

Swordsmiths die too often, after all.

Unlike with slayers, in Swordsmith Village, mistakes and injuries are an indicator of your own weakness as a supporter of the corps. If you miss a sword order because you were resting, your client would simply be handed off to someone else.

That's why Kanata's injuries are not an excuse to dismiss his duties as a swordsmith. He chose to do both, and thus, he must prove that one won't affect the other.

Swordsmiths are expendable.

("In the recent trip out, Kogane-dono and Gantetsu-dono, both very well-respected swordsmiths in the village who have served for generations, were martyred in an encounter with a Lower Moon.")

("Their bodies were retrieved by Demon Slayer Makomo and her two apprentices, and would be buried in the Swordsmith Village after the funeral procession.")

(Kanata had read that letter and simply understood that this was the world he lived in. He had no room to worry about them, not after he nearly died in battle with Upper Moon Two as well. They must want him home for peace of mind.)

But he can't think about that now. He has work to do.

He dons the clay hyottoko mask, shrouded in his newly-mended haori. With his wicker hat shielding the sun from his aching wounds, he approaches the Rengoku estate.

"I am called Tecchikawahara Kanata," he introduces himself evenly, the long-winded formality taught in the Swordsmith Village as their traditional deep-seated respect for demon slayers putting his mind at ease. "I have come to repair Sir Obanai Iguro's Nichirin Blade in place of Gantetsu-dono, who has recently passed."

Professional, perfunctory.

-

Obanai Iguro. Having been taken in by the Rengoku family recently, he's been working his way up as a member of the Demon Slayer Corps after swiftly passing the Final Selection within a year of training.

Obanai doesn't stay in the estate often, but he had to come back after being injured on a mission. This would be the first time his sword's been maintained since he changed its design.

"I have no problems with the sword's shape, but I prefer it to be longer."

Kanata inspects the blade.

It's a kris sword. With how traditional to the country the swordsmith village tends to be, it's no wonder Chief Tecchin wanted Kanata to take over for its maintenance. Gantetsu-dono was rather fascinated by foreign weapons used during the war, so it's no surprise he jumped upon the opportunity to create a sword like this with Japanese forging techniques. It's a magnificent blade.

But for now, it's still a dagger at most. Probably because it was a first of its making, and the previous swordsmith kept it small to ensure its sturdiness. It was an experimental product at best. What a shame, Uncle Gantetsu would have loved the opportunity to master it.

"Will the standard uchigatana length be to your preference?" Kanata inquires.

Obanai's brows furrow. "Yeah... but Gantetsu said it would be difficult and more fragile if it was longer..."

"I will achieve it as you wish. I will return within three days with your sword reforged."

"Wha—" Obanai's bewildered. He must not have experienced such an easy affirmation before. Gantetsu struggled very much to forge just this one to suit Obanai's prodigiously self-made Breathing Style, after all.

"It's no problem. All I will be doing is advancing upon the tracks Gantetsu-dono has already made. If you have any other requests of me, please extend them to me. Via crow, if that is what you prefer."

"Uhh..."

Obanai's rather awkward. He's never had such an easy conversation before.

Kanata didn't make small talk, inquire upon intentions or justifications, didn't get offended over imperfections, and didn't seem particularly hateful nor too friendly. Obanai lives with the Rengoku, so he had no idea how to deal with someone that was equally as allergic to the Rengoku energy. It's some kind of kinship.

(Or maybe Obanai just doesn't really understand how to interact with people here. His only healthy interaction with humanity thus far in his entire life has been the Rengokus, the Ubuyashikis, and his swordsmith, after all.)

(He's like a stray cat.) (No wait. Stray serpent.)

(...do domesticated serpents exist in this era? Now Kanata has the odd urge to go to Death's library to read that up.)

(He kind of missed the existence of Google sometimes.)

"Ah, Tecchikawahara-san!" Rengoku Kyoujuro beams, door slamming open, "it's good I caught you! Kochou-san informed me to get kinako mochi for her before escorting you back toward the Butterfly Mansion! If we are done with this consultation, let's depart!"

Kanata has the odd premonition that Kanae is absolutely furious right now.

Better not go back there, then.

"Please inform Shinobu-dono that I will be in my nearest workshop to forge Obanai-dono's sword," he says, rising with one of his spare staves as a crutch. "Will you accompany my crow to send for my young companion?"

"Ehhh, you're already leaving, Swordsmith-san?" the door opens wider in the other direction to reveal Kanroji Mitsuri. She's not an official slayer yet, but she's in training gear. The world knows her as the alarmingly adorable girl that joined the corps recently, quite intent on becoming Rengoku's Tsuguko one day. "There's no rush, Iguro-san isn't cleared for duty for another week I hear!"

Neither am I, Kanata wisely refrains from admitting. That's why I'm escaping right now.

But it's fine, three future Hashira aren't capable of stopping Kanata from doing whatever the hell he wants. They're not Hashira yet after all. (Kanata does not fear the future.) (No seriously, he doesn't. Considering his track record, seeing the future at all is probably a good thing.)

Also, he's been stuck in that stupid Douma loop for so long that if he doesn't make a sword at this moment and add it to his collection, he's going to burn a house down.

"Now hold on, Tecchikawahara-san!" Rengoku beams, "you're injured! How about you rest and stay the night? Good swords won't be made impatiently, or so I've heard from my own swordsmith."

"It's okay, I'm built different."

Rengoku lets out a befuddled "what?" as Mitsuri sneezes into watery laughter beside him. Obanai stares in exasperation as Kanata gathers up his things to evacuate out the window.

"HEY MOTHERFUCKER I'M COMING IN!"

This time when the rest of the door slams open forward— yes, it's a sliding door, which does not open forward. The entire thing has just been magnificently kicked off its hinges and Rengoku's eyes are wide with fascinated horror— Shinazugawa Sanemi announces his presence with a baby spider demon held on his hip like a toddler.

"Yo Rengoku kid," Sanemi points at him, glaring like he's just found him even though he could've definitely seen him from the hallway, "I came in."

"Ah, yes," Rengoku's words are stilted and struggling to recalibrate, unable to understand what just happened, and is utterly confused on why he needs to fix a shoji door now, "welcome. Wind Hashira-dono."

Rui waves from his spot in Sanemi's arm. He has a double stick of neri-ame in his mouth, and he's curiously mixing up another swirl with his threads, fascinated by the brightly-coloured webs of absolute mess he could make with them.

Sanemi's eyes are fixed forward on Kanata. Kanata meekly puts his leg down from where they were halfway out the window. They proceed to pretend that didn't happen.

"Fucker, we're going to Swordsmith Village. Pack your shit."

Rui's preoccupied with his candy and offers no enlightenment whatsoever, so after a moment of complete silence Kanata goes, "we are?"

Did Chief Tecchin put in an order to make sure Sanemi gets Kanata back home or something? That sounds like him, but why Sanemi of all people?

"We've got a funeral and a party on the damn agenda, so I ain't waiting. You and your injured ass needs a fucking escort," Sanemi snarls. He scowls at Rengoku (who's still having an existential crisis), Mitsuri (flabbergasted) and then Obanai (wary) with a sigh. "You guys come too. Wait for your sword at the village."

"Huh?!" Mitsuri and Obanai are caught off guard.

It's a second later that Rengoku registers and adds, "wait, whuh??"

"Sorry for intruding," Kanzaki Aoi comes, dressed in travelling clothes and carrying a gift box of expensive wagashi. "Deepest regrets for the commotion, please hand this to the Flame Hashira Shinjuro-san as an apology for the noise."

Rengoku can't even respond at this point. "Uh– eh? Oh... oh?"

"Kanata!" Aoi calls, "we're going to Swordsmith Village. Makomo wanted matsutake rice and sukiyaki from there, so that's what the party menu's going to be."

"Matsutake rice?!" Mitsuri exclaims, jealous already. "Wait, did you say we could go too? Really?"

"Hold on," Obanai tries to slow all this down. The extroversion is too overwhelming for a shut-in like him, "what about my sword...?"

Kanata is officially lost.

"...A party? For what?" His head tilts. Maybe he's just too tired and sick to understand all this, but he just feels like this conversation is going everywhere and nowhere at once. What about Makomo now?

Sanemi and Aoi level him with a look of utter disbelief.

"What do you mean for what—" Sanemi's eye twitches.

Aoi spins to the crows huddled in the corner of the room, "didn't your crow tell you?"

Yashahane squawks, offended, "I DID!" while Sanemi's crow laughs at him.

"Oh yeah, and what was he doing when you told him?"

"SLEEPING!"

"Then you didn't tell him shit, you stupid bird!" Sanemi yells.

Aoi sighs longsufferingly. "What will I do with you boys..." she turns to Kanata, stepping forward to take his bag from him. "Listen. With the defeat of Lower Moon Four, Urokodaki Makomo has been officially promoted to the rank and title of Water Hashira!"

Ah.

"Hold on, for real?" Kanata blurts out.

They told him she saved them from demons, albeit two swordsmiths died, but they didn't tell him she defeated that Lower Moon.

"Yes!" Aoi says. "So we're dropping everything and going to have a congratulatory party for her in the Swordsmith Village. Oyakata-sama already gave us the okay."

-

If anyone told Kanata to expect this congregation as his first homecoming entourage, he would have never believed it. Honestly, he still struggles to believe it.

"Don't be ridiculous. You're not pulling the damn cart, the Kakushi can handle it."

Kanata sighs. They headed home with lots of food, supplies, and a fairly big group. Everyone except Kanata had to be blindfolded, but he and Obanai were still injured. He appreciated having the Kakushi pull the cart, but Kanata definitely couldn't ease.

At least they'll only be travelling when it's bright out. The journey will take a while with such a big cart, but nighttime will be no problem.

"I'm surprised the cart has such a nice box just for Rui-kun to sleep in," Aoi said, leaning beside it, "as expected from Swordsmith Village..."

Darn it. That has grandpa written all over it. He just wanted to see his grandchild.

"I'll start moving, everyone," the kind Kakushi duo warned as they picked up the cart and the second set himself at the back to push it along. "Please relax, Tecchikawahara-dono, the crows have our route handled."

Kanata supposed they were right.

He wished he could work on Obanai's sword but he supposed... that wasn't really possible at the moment. He wanted to inspect his swords and perhaps restring some of the hilts, but his hand's in several pieces, so he probably shouldn't.

He's never been so idle in a long time.

(He doesn't like being idle.)

(In death, it's fine, because Death is a place where you can't really think straight. Out here in reality, he doesn't like to be left alone with his thoughts. He wants to do anything, anything, if it means his mind won't wander to places he doesn't want it to.)

(As quiet as Kanata tends to be, he dislikes silence.)

(He's spent so long basking in all the chaotic turbulence this world had to offer. He's terrified, so terrified, when the whispers of the world creep up on him, reminding him of the part of him that used to be only human.)

"I'm excited! I've never been there before!" Rengoku beams.

"I-I can't believe we're being allowed to go!" Mitsuri's flushed with excitement, "a-are we sure I can go too? I eat a lot! I'm serious, I eat a lot, very much a lot!"

"It'll be fine," Aoi says. "That's why we're also taking food to the village as we go."

"Eh? They're not our provisions??"

"Don't be spoiled, you brats. Fend for yourself," Sanemi grumbles.

"We're foraging for food?" Obanai's exasperated.

Aoi assures, "I only packed lunch for myself, Obanai-san, and Kanata-san."

Rengoku laughs, "that's fine! It's good training! Shall we get some for the Kakushi and for Rui-kun as well?"

Obanai balks. "We're feeding the demon?!"

Mitsuri gasps, "we're not?!"

Kanata wonders how they can be so easygoing while all being blindfolded and led away who knows where. The Kakushi are smiling mildly, endeared by the conversation. It's also very boisterous, a far cry from his usual road trips.

...road trips.

That word makes his gut itch in an unpleasant way, but... looking at them all like this, chatting together, eating onigiri, trying to drink out of the thermos...

...it's peaceful, somehow.

"Kanata, you gonna sleep? You haven't moved," Sanemi speaks, and Kanata jumps. He'd forgotten that Sanemi was a bit like a wild animal in that regard. Even blindfolded, he can tell when movement happens. And while quietness is normal for Kanata, stillness isn't. "You better not jump off the damn carriage now, I'll chain you on this thing I swear."

"You can sleep here!" Mitsuri beams, "I brought a pillow, so you can lie down here, face under the shade of Rui-kun's box. It's the most secure spot on the cart!"

"Kakushi-dono! Could we stop for a moment?" Rengoku calls. "Let's get Tecchikawahara-san settled first—"

"Ah—" Kanata balks, I'm fine...

"Obanai, you too!"

Obanai makes an incomprehensibly baffled noise. "I'm fine here."

"Just lean on the box at least," Aoi prompts, "I'll check all your injuries again later during lunch, so there better not be any problems."

"I'm not leaning on the demon box!"

"Then lean on Mitsuri."

There's that strangled noise again. "HELL no!"

"You don't wanna lean on me?!" Mitsuri sounds mildly affronted, like she's so startled that she apparently stinks and thus people don't want to get too close to her.

It's jejune. Peaceful. Bliss.

(Kanata thinks he might have a panic attack.)

Blindfolds are taken off for the moment as everyone settles in new spots. The Kakushi help ensure everyone's comfortable, and that's when Mitsuri musses through Kanata's bag to shift out a soft spot to use as a pillow.

"Ooh. you have so much pretty-coloured string!" She beams, "they're all such good quality too. Such vibrant dyes must be expensive."

Kanata winces, "that's the last I had..."

"Swordsmiths have their own method of dyeing string for sword hilts," the Kakushi enlightens. "While most focus on the unique steel they produce, in truth everything other than katana that's made in the Swordsmith Village are traded as their main source of income."

"Woah, I didn't know that!" Mitsuri's eyes glinted with interest.

Rengoku takes the moment to admire the nichirin sword Obanai had on hand now, a spare from the household that was one of his father's old ones. It's just for self-defense while Obanai's sword was being fixed, but they could definitely see the difference in quality between that one, Rengoku's current sword, and Sanemi's sword.

Other than the sharper refining done on the blade, the string was tied differently, the pieces attached with flame-toned patterns, too.

"He's carved sword hilts for us too," Aoi shows off her sword, where the hilt in the shape of a splashing ripple of water definitely looked too decorative to be practical. But the strings around her hilt were tied in a gentle gradient of misty purple to ice blue, and the pommel was decorated with a standing butterfly, the spread wings a sharp kunai's edge of nichirin— it was a whole work of art. "Swordsmiths usually carve their signatures, but Kanata just lets the extravagant quality speak for itself."

Mitsuri swoons at the sight, "that's so pretty!"

Rengoku also admires it, "I've never seen a swordsmith that's also a demon slayer before. Don't your injuries from missions ever get in the way of commissions?"

"Honestly we wish it'd get in the way more often," the Kakushi mutters. "He overworks."

Sanemi scoffs in amusement, "even the damn Kakushi are criticising you, idiot."

Kanata whines. He acts like the Kakushi don't complain about him and Genya's shouting matches in the Butterfly Mansion..."...I agreed to be both," Kanata tries to say instead. He's not sure if his articulation makes sense, though. "So I have to be good at both."

(Because what else is he good for?) It'd be like betraying Oyakata-sama's expectations. (But who, exactly, makes him follow that expectation that was never set straight?)

"That's admirable!" Rengoku grins, "I have my hands full just with the household. I can't imagine how much work you have to keep up with all the time."

"He does everything like he has twice the amount of free time as anyone else," Sanemi grumbles. "Imagine. He made Kochou lose her patience."

"...that's possible?" Obanai's baffled.

"It must get hard at times," Mitsuri says, soothingly chuckling, reaching up to pat Kanata on the head. "There there. Since you have the day off, you should definitely relax!"

("It's your day off, so relax however you want.")

Kanata wants the voices to stop. He wishes he never has to hear them again.

"That's right. I was wondering what we'd do the whole trip," Mitsuri picks up the rolls of string, "you have plenty, so let's make friendship bracelets!"

"Huh? We have to put the blindfold back on, you know?" Aoi says.

"What a waste of time," Sanemi grumbles.

"Those really elaborate woven strings?" Rengoku asks. "Like the one you taught Senjuro the other day?"

"Yep!" Mitsuri says, "I can do it blindfolded, how about I teach everyone blindfolded? I made one for Kaburamaru the other day, but it got frayed in the battle, didn't it? So I'll make another!"

Obanai glances at his snake, who slithers closer to Mitsuri at that. Darn that opportunistic traitorous creature.

"Kanata-san!" Mitsuri smiles at him, and it's so bright, it hurts. "You should choose the colours! You won't be blindfolded, and since you always make such great tsuka, I'm sure they'd look great!"

It's so full of kindness. The sky is warm, and the journey is gradual, calm, and peaceful. Nothing seems amiss, and the wind is just breezy enough to be pleasant. He's surrounded by people who simply enjoy his presence, and he feels safe with them.

(It's suffocating.)

Kanata chooses the string, "how many colours do you want?"

(It's a poisonous trap, this world of love. A fleeting happiness he isn't allowed to have, doesn't have the right to keep.)

(He lets himself indulge anyways, like a fool addicted to misery.)