When I woke up, I found myself in a futon. If I could feel what it was like, I probably would have said it was comfortable, but for some reason, I felt nothing. I walked to the lonely mirror in the room and looked at myself. I had changed. A lot.
My hair was wild and long, still dark but dull, lacking sheen, my eyes somehow managed to become even more pitch black, and I could not hear my own footsteps; I was completely and utterly deaf. I tried to speak, but even though I couldn't hear myself, I knew nothing came out. Deaf and dumb.
Years of kendo training and built-up muscles were gone from my body; I looked like a malnourished child. I moved around the room until I found a hair tie. I moved in front of the mirror and pulled my hair back, revealing the scar on my right ear. The demon king's slap was so hard that it shattered both eardrums despite only hitting one. I could see very well. Almost too well.
I soon began to realise that, for some reason, I could see for miles. I looked out the window and saw acres upon acres of fertile land, which itself proved I was no longer in Tokyo. My heart ached as I remembered last night's events, and a single tear was all I allowed to sully my face. I looked down at myself, and I realised I could see everything, every single joint that was too tight or too loose, every injury sustained. I was watching my body, intrigued as I realised that my injuries were very much healed. There were no fresh wounds.
Despair gripped my heart as I realised. How long has it really been... since my family died? I collapsed to the floor with a thud and passed out. Just before I did, I heard the voice of a woman, "Kunia! Kunata! Let your father know, the boy is awake!"
...
...
When I came to my senses again, I was back on the futon, as I gasped and sat up, preparing to get off my bed, I heard the gentle, "ahem!" of a man.
I looked to my side to see a rather sickly man with purple veins starting to adorn his face. It was obvious who he was to me, but I had to go along, knowing that despite my knowing who he was, Itsuya wouldn't.
I stared blankly at him. Did he know I don't have the ability to speak any longer?
The man smiled and watched my face for a moment, and I used the time to analyse him with my eyes. He was weak, rather weak. Ill, as he was in the manga. Ubayashiki.
"My name, young one, is Kagaya Ubayashiki, master of this house, and leader of the demon slayer corps."
I nodded, my face no longer showing emotion, and it unsettled the man before me. I could see it in the movements of his throat and the way he gripped his chair.
I nodded slightly in acknowledgement of his introduction.
Ubayshiki reached into a satchel on the ground and pulled out a chalkboard, "Here, use this for now."
I took the tablet and nodded. The man spoke once again, "Your name is Itsuya Arakawa... do you remember that?"
I scribbled on the tablet...
Ubayashiki smiled once at me before continuing, "Do you remember what happened to them?"
I wrote one word on the tablet.
Ubayashiki shared a knowing, sorrowful look at me before reaching out to examine my ears and throat. All while talking.
"Young man, I'm sure you know by now, your father was a demon slayer. A great one. Arashi slayed many a demon, even one of the twelve kizuki to become a Hashira; he was one of the greatest, the Shadow Pillar, that was his breathing style."
He continued to talk of my father's achievements, and finally, he stopped and looked me in the eyes, "You have slept for a month, dear boy."
I could not even be shocked; my mind was devoid of anything, and there was not even sorrow in my eyes. I nodded once again as Kagaya told me to come have dinner. I ate with fervour, starved from being fed by drip and sustained by medicine for a month, the rest of the Ubayashiki family glanced at me now and then, despite my lack of care for human emotions any longer, I still possessed my intuition, which seemed to scream at me that I do not belong here.
"Itsuya-kun, you now have three options, and I'm afraid I must lay them out."
I nodded at Kagaya, who continued, in between mouthfuls of rice, that he was not as disease-ridden as he was still only 17 years old, unlike when the demon slayer plot begins, which is in 1912, 6 years in the future.
"You have some family left. I sent a letter to Kamado Tanjuro, who would more than happily have you. There is the option of sending you to someone I trust to teach you, and if not those two, giving how important your father was to me, you can stay here, become one of my children."
I finished my meal and stood up, writing on the board. Kagaya nodded at that. I realised that I should bow, and I did so before limping off to my room; my muscles were still tired after a month of no movement.
I lay on the futon and thought about the choices before me. I realised that once again my life was a tragedy, but for some reason I could not even bring myself to spite myself, let alone even feel pain, but I knew I had a purpose. To exterminate the filth that is Kibutsuji Muzan.
Uncle Tanjuro and Aunty Kie have had children of their own now. I reckon my cousin Tanjiro is about four years old now. I would not want to impose on them, even without me; they have a target on their back, and at once the scene played back in my head off the Kamado family lying slaughtered in their family home, a memory from a past life.
I felt too out of place in this house. Not to mention the fact that Kagaya has four children of his own, he will always try to give me what he gives his children. I did not want anyone's pity. So I once again left my bed and looked through the walls to locate Kagaya. I found him in a corner of the house, reading to his identical daughters.
I weaved my way around the Ubayashiki mansion and reached the room. I watched blankly as he concluded the story, and the children obediently went to bed, bowing towards me as they left. I blankly stared at them once again before bowing. Once again, I did not know what I was feeling. I guessed it would take time for me to realise I don't feel anything, and then, Kagaya spoke. That is when I realised that my eyes were working so overtime that I hadn't realised that I was reading Kagaya's lips and the movement of his throat and the vibrations around it to "hear" him. The man probably knew this too, since he knew I was deaf but chose clearly not to mention how I knew he was speaking.
"Have you come to a decision, Itsuya?"
I wrote on the board,
Ubayshiki laughed, at least I think so, cause that's what it looked like, and the vibrations matched, "Itsuya Kun, I will send you to whoever I think is adept at teaching you what you want to learn, as to what you will learn, you tell me."
I wrote on the board, and despite my blank face, unable to show emotion, I felt the cold fires of vengeance in my abdomen, it was spreading through my limbs, and it reached my head, then my hand with which I wrote
"So you want to be a demon slayer?"
I nodded. Ubayashiki smiled before starting to write a letter, "Go child, sleep, tommorow you leave."
I returned to my futon and struggled my way to sleep.
...
...
Before the morning light hit my face, I felt a shadow on me, and then the rough slap of a stick, "WAKE UP!"
When I opened my eyes, I could hear what he was screaming. I was no longer in the mansion. When I looked around, I realised there was no such mansion for miles. I was stuck with this short-looking man with a weird moustache, and he- wait, he only has one leg, old man Jigoro, the old lightning hashira.
Ironically, to stop him from losing his voice, I pointed at my ears and throat and put up an X, and he seemed to understand. He looked a bit sheepish for a man who made such a mistake. I saw a boy behind him who was cowering, but I paid no mind to his weird yellow hair or his cowardliness. Jigoro looked down at my throat and felt it. I felt pain, but did not stop the old man.
"This will heal, I don't think your ears will, but you should be able to talk in a couple of weeks; they've patched you up rather well, say, can you read my lips, boy?"
I nodded.
"Good then until then you know what I'm saying, and if the need be, just sign whatever you want to tell me."
I nodded again, rather confused by our arrangement.
"This boy right here, he's Zenitsu, he's a bit of a diamond in the rough, but I'll polish him, just like I'll do to you, boy, anyway, come outside."
I followed the old man outside after pulling on clothes that were sent for me by Kagaya; it was my father's haori, pitch black. It still had his scent on it. And a very simple uniform-like set underneath the haori. I looked at my arm, and the bracelet still hung there. I wasn't totally understanding of its history, I either forgot some of the manga or this was something else, the way Muzan feared it, could it have been of HIS belongings? But that's Tanjiro's earrings, right? I was confused and rather irked when I found Jigoro outside.
"Say, boy, do you remember anything about your father's breathing style? I know those special eyes must have them memorised," he commented.
I nodded, before getting into a stance, lowering my knees the way my father did and shot off, nowhere near the speed my father could reach. I tried the form my father had used against the demon king, but I could not do it. I tried to run before I could walk. Jigoro sensed this too.
"Boy, I'm going to whip you into shape. I want you every morning, a hundred laps of my field!"
I looked at Jigoro, rather blankly, before running around the field a hundred times...