Chapter 1: Rengoku Kyojuro

                                    

                                          
  On a quiet night, I met a boy to whom everything's just become even quieter. His hair colored like fire, he was without a doubt the son of the Flame Hashira. But was it really fair to send a boy, no matter of what origin, to fight a demon this strong on his first mission? He won... but at what cost? Became hard of hearing at only 13 years old.
- From the diary of (L/N) (Y/N)
***
  It was a day like any other. Why, someone may ask? Well, every story starts on a day like any other, because every day is a day like any other until something unusual happens. And even then, it could still be described as a day like any other, since the sun still goes up in the morning and sets in the evening. And if it didn't, it couldn't be called a day at all.
  However, for young Rengoku Kyojuro, it was a day that was so, so much different from all the days before. It was the day he had defeated his first ever demon as an official Demon Slayer but... Why did it not feel like a victory as much as it should have? Nine bodies were lying motionless on the stone stairway where he cut the monster's head off and there was nothing he could do to bring them back. Some were more intact than others, some torn to shreds, all of them gone because of that beast. He avenged them, saved the little girl who was now crying in his arms but...
  He, too, would have died there if it wasn't for the sign one of the deceased managed to leave him, his unmoving cold hand pulled into a signal indicating the demon's ability. The young Rengoku was smiling, of course. So he could be a shoulder to lean on for that girl, so he could be the hero he wanted to be - the one he had to be. But inside it hurt. That boy was so brave, so selfless. Their first meeting was at the Final Selection... Kyojuro wished they could have met for the second time under different circumstances than as a living boy and a dead body.
  A loud rumble of thunder made the hair on the back of his neck stand up despite the sound being strangely hollow and almost muted. It was a starry night, so why and where did it strike? How could there be a lightning from such a clear sky? Why was there electricity dancing in the air and on his skin, ticklish and neither warm or cold?
  There was a voice somewhere closeby but he couldn't understand any of the words it was saying. The syllables melted into one another, muffled and indistinguishable. But even if he couldn't understand it, he didn't feel any demon nearby. It had to be a human... or a demon he had no chance at defeating anyway.
  Kyojuro lifted his head, only to meet a pair of worried (E/C) orbs staring at him as the girl was saying something quickly, eyes darting from him to the gory scene around and back again. He didn't catch a single word. Must have been because of his crushed eardrums. He gave her a bright smile to signalize that he was okay before trying to speak to her. He could still talk, he just couldn't hear well.
  "I broke my eardrums so I can't hear you!" he exclaimed loudly.
  At least he could somehow hear his own voice if he shouted... The girl nodded sharply before crouching down and talking to the child who he rescued. Instead of the worried frown he saw on her at first, she wore a soft and caring smile that immediately made the little girl calm down. The child took the girl's hand as they both stood up.
  She motioned for him to follow, so he did. After all, she was dressed in a Demon Slayer uniform just like him and had a sword strapped to her hip. She has probably been sent there to help him... or try to kill the demon in case he failed. Did they expect him to die? She wore a deep red haori with a cream white lining at the bottom, slightly reminding Kyojuro of the one his father would wear in his hashira years. Only it had the colors switched and the lines were straight instead of flame-like. Strange that she was wearing one, it was rather warm outside.