Chapter 2: The Hunt for Man-eating bear.
Toji was currently near the Northern Post Town . The mission was killing killing the Demon that killed many Matagi hunters here. Toji went to a tea shop and asked for tea.
Looking outside people were very tense and looking afraid . Toji asked to the owner " Why are people so tense here , did something happened here? ."
The owner of tea shop looked at him and said " there is a man eating bear running around in mountains and it killed many of our Matagi hunters ,I advise you that whatever business you have here finish it before sunset . " .
Toji thought ' a bear ! So they think hunters were killed by a bear instead of a Demon ? Then how did demon slayer corps knew that it was demon , they must have someone collect info here. ' Toji finished his tea and started walking to the central part of town.
At a pharmacist shop:-
" A man eating bear " said a girl with butterfly hair clip at the shop. The pharmacist woman started explaining " In these parts, we call it 'ANAMOTAZU' . It even attacked our Matagi hunters. "
" Ahh... That's why everyone here is so tense " said the gurl with butterfly hair clip.
The girl was the Insect hashira: Shinobu Kocho of Demon slayer corps . She was here to collect her medical supplies for butterfly mansion.
The pharmacist said with concern " yes, so you shouldn't stay here." Shinobu said with a smile on her face" well , I've got time on my hands and I rarely trust others to buy my supplies for me . Besides the liver of a man-eating bear is intriguing to someone in my line of work . So,if you get any let me know!"
Then suddenly a loud voice came from outside " YOU WENT TO MOUNTAIN ALONE AGAIN ?!" . Then a girl voice responded in loud noise " NOT ALONE ! TARO WAS WITH ME " .
The man said " TARO IS A DOG ! LET US ADULTS AVENGE MATAZO!"
Shinobu asked about the girl with gun and what was happening . The Pharmacist said that she was the daughter of Matagi named Matazo and her name was Yae. She was the one who saw bear kill her father and other hunters in front of her . She also said that Yae lives at mountain and rarely come down for resupplying . She hopes to avenge her father by killing the bear.
The woman looked quite concerned about Yae when she was telling this to shinobu . Shinobu was also felling sad about the little girl and her current situation. When Yae started to leave a hand grabed her guns nuzzle . Shinobu recognise the fimilar face of the man , It was none other than Water hashira Tomioka Giyu.
Yae throwed her shoulder back at the hand that was grabbing her gun saying " release my gun" but her hand was grabed by the Toji and he said " so, you must br Yae !" with an uninterested voice .
Few minutes earlier with Toji:-
Toji was walking were he heard shouting and asked the person near him " what's with sudden noise , what happening ?" he was a old man and had Never seen Toji here so he guessed that he was from outside of town . He took a curious look at Toji and then said
" you must be outsider boy , you few days ago a man eating bear killed our Matagi hunters and daughter of one hunter named 'Matazo' Yae , wants to avenge her father so she went to mountain alone .
The adult hunter who knew her father are worried about her and don't want her to risk her life . This is what this whole commotion is about."
Toji thanked the old man and started walking towards the place from where the shouting voice was coming from . ' this girl must have saw the demon and now what to avenge her father , revenge how foolish thing ' Toji thought and then grabed the nuzzle of Gun.
Currently :-
Yae looked at Toji and thought ' who is this'. Toji was not much in mood for chit chat so , he asked straightly " you must be Yae , I want to know where you saw that thing which attacked your father and other hunters. " The look in his eyes were deadly and complete serious . The villager near him said " thing? Is he talking about bear ? Umm are you police ? " They asked Toji. He looked at them and said " no , I am a demon hunter from demon slayer corps. "
Toji thought there was atleast one person who would have saw Demon like this girl , so he wanted to make sure they know that he could take care of this business. The other villager looked at his waist and said " what is that? " Toji simply took his katana . One villager then suddenly said " I just remembered! The murder that family ? The charcoal sellers over the mountain ?! A creepy guy with half and half haori was spotted nearby! ''
The other hunter said " Gaah! And this guy looks creepy !" Toji thought that what is with this Hashira even Toji himself was not that wanted for looking scary . This man just made himself arrest that many times that he can't let police get near him , this was going to be troublesome .the hunters brought a rope and tried to tie his hand but Toji simply broke the rope.
Then suddenly a finger poked him with the a voice saying " tomi o k a- ..... Tomioka what a coincidence this is . As usual you are bad at communication " . Toji looked at her and understood that this was going to be troublesome with her being here , he can't act the way he wanted in this mission and have to be Giyu .
He just looked at her with uninterested look and said " kocho !" . Shinobu then said " shall I explain to them ?" Toji didn't answer and looked at Yae and " I want to know where you saw that thing ? " Shinobu had a nerve popped up at her head and said " you know its not good to ignore other who are trying to help you , that why no one likes you " . Toji looked at her uniterested , he was Toji not Giyu he didn't care if people like him or not . His own family never liked him so he didn't care if the people that this water hasihra know liked him or not.
For shinobu this was first time Giyu didn't even flinched at her this comment like he didn't care . His eyes were also not dead looking but now they were like that he had no interest in anything . Then Yae suddenly spoke "Hey .. I don't know who you are but I'd we're done here - " and after saying this she fainted . The hunters shouted her name and shinobu checked her body . She said " she has fever and she needs rest . So stop messing around and lend me a hand . "
Toji was not much interested in helping but he needed info so he broke that the villager just tied him with again. This shocked villagers twice since they had toed him with stronger rope this time . Toji went near Yae and picked her up and started walking behind shinobu . They went to the pharmacist shop from where shinobu was buying her medical supplies.
He put her on futon that pharmacist laid there for Yae . Shinobu said to him " Now now Tomioka San put her down gently , that no way to treat a woman . "
Toji simply looked at her and said " how much time will it take her to wake up I need information form her . " Shinobu was little confused since Giyu was today really different and same on one time .
The dog that Yae had was growling at Giyu but stopped once he glared at the dog . Giyu never used to do that with animals and wants to pet them even though they hate him.
She was looked at him and asked " are alright tomioka , you are acting quite different from your usual self ?" He looked at her and said " I am fine ." This was somewhat now like him , giving short answers but the look his eyes was still unexplainable .
Toji was sense of smell was quite great and he knew that this girl had encountered the demon and was alive . But question was how and why did it not attacked her . This meant that demon was someone she knew . The girl was feeling guilty for something , toji could this in one look. When Toji said the bear 'that thing' she acted like a guilty person would do .
Toji senses were even more enhanced in this body because of total concentration breathing. He could pick even old smell and Yae had a smell of demon on her . He looked at shinobu and asked her " how long it she wakes up? " She looked at him and said " she have fever , it will take her half a days rest ."
Toji stood up and started walking outside , shinobu looked at him and asked" where are you going tomioka-san ?" Toji said " To look for more clues of demon " and with this he left this place . Shinobu still can't shake the feeling that something was strange with tomioka . First it was small and know he was acting totally strange from his usual self since his mission on Mount kumotori .
With Toji :-
Toji decided to follow the faint smell that he got from Yae clothes and started to walk in mountains . The smell was quite foul and disgusting and since curses didn't have smell he only sence them from sensation in air and area around him .
Toji was walking for 3 hours currently and smell was getting stronger . He knew he was near the demon , this was daytime so demon must have hidden itself in some cave because of sunlight . Toji was little cautious since the demon might be a Matagi hunter which could be problem since they know how to hide and wait for there pray to get in their range of line .
Toji was now near a cave and could tell for sure that demon was inside . He could fell his presence and demon also knew of his arrival . Toji took out his sword and sent inside . The cave was quite dark and normal person could not even see anything but Toji was no way normal . His eyes easily look inside dark and he was currently looking at the demon that was hidden inside . It was old looking man with two small horn on his head .
Toji grinned and said " there is no point in hidding , its best you come out side and fight me . The demon just growled and then jumped and Toji at full speed but for Toji he was as slow as a snail . Demon had a sharp sickle like object coming of his arm and it tried to attack Toji with it but in spit second both his hand and head were cut off.
Demon head touchef the ground with noise of thud . Toji just looked at it turning into ash , the demon said in low voice " sorry Yae , please live on" and fully crumbled into ash . Normal person could not hear it but Toji did and said " no wonder that girl felt guilty and lied it being a bear , after all the demon was her own father .
Toji decided to go back since it looked like the weather was going to get worse at the mountain . He started walking towards the direction of town .
Few hours later :-
Toji took his time coming back from mountain to town . He went to pharmacist shop and saw Yae coming out of shop with preprations of going back to the mountain. He stopped her in way and said " where are you going ? " In meantime shinobu also came out of shop . Yae said " I am going to hunt the bear. "
Toji looked at her and said" I see , I have already killed the demon ." After hearing this Yae was little sad but then Toji continued " it said sorry to you and said to you live on and if you are going to hunt the bear then it not my business " with this Toji started walking but shinobu stopped him and "Now Now Tomioka San wait a second I am coming too ."
Yae was on her knees and eyes filled with tears " yeah it's finally over " she was sad and anyone can see it " we killed it so we should live on" those were her father words for her when they hunted a bear together . Her dog taro came to her and sat near her legs .
Toji started walking to towards the outside of town , Shinobu was with him . They were walking when she said to him " do you want to eat something tomioka ? I heard there a good shop here ." Toji haven't eaten since the day he left for the first mission and it's already been two days . Even Toji didn't like to go hungry like this so he just nodded in agreement and asked her to show the way.
They went to a tea house and they ordered there food. Shinobu ordered noodles and Toji knew that salmon and radish will be good choice since every person had different taste buds . So , he ordered it and the person who was serveing them said that it will take some time so he gave Toji tea for meantime .
Shinobu was eating her noodles when she said " You changed Tomioka !" This was even obvious to toji because of the way he acted and asked " how so ? " Kocho answered" I don't how to put it but you have been cold always and today you were looking like you had no interest in anything but then you were considerate to that girl by telling her about her father last words ."
Toji was little relief that he didn't made much fuss but being considerate to the girl was something he would not expect himself . Then he said " maybe I am trying to make amends for Mei . " But he said that aloud and it caught Shinobu attention like a honeybee to honey . Tomioka making amends and for a girl , who is she and how she making him do this .
She asked curiously " Mei ? Who is that , I didn't knew ,you had friends outside huh? " The cat was out of bag but Toji was smart so he decided to use it as explaination for his behaviour change " Mei was my wife , she is died in accident ."
This was even bigger shock ' he had wife ? He is joking right but can he even joke and she is died ?' then she asked again " you had wife , I didn't knew that , how ,when and who else know it ' .
Toji simply looked at her and said " yes , I had a wife , she died in a accident in city 2 years ago and no one knows about me being married not even master . I like to keep , my personal feelings to myself. "
' This was unexpected , she thought master might never told them on his request but he didn't knew that was not possible right but then again it was tomioka he was most mysterious person and his crow is quite old and forgets to tell tings about him.' Then the thought came to her mind that 'Didn't he became hashira also two years ago .'
She was not a hasihra back then but her sister was and her sister died a month after he became a hashira in battle with a uppermoon. This meant that tomioka was acting like that because of his wife death and was in same situation as kyojuro' s father formar flame hashira .
It was a relief that he was not drinking and avoid missom like him but he was just avoiding people and just training to ignore things . He said something about making amends ! Did something really happened at Mount Kumotori , I heard that whole family was killed . Did that went into his mind that he was ignorant of things and that happened because him and now wanted make amends.
She looked at him and was going say something when he said " but I have no interest in engaging with other hashira and only you know so don't you dare tell anyone because neither Master know not master urokodaki knows it . So keep your mouth shut about it . " Toji didn't wanted suddenly people ganging up on him because he don't know what he will do if someone hit his nerve .
Shinobu just nodded at him, this was first he told her something personal and it was to sensitive to topic so she decided to keep her mouth shut for time being and decided to change the subject . Giyu's food came so shinobu said " oh this looks delicious , don't you love salmon and radish Tomioka .!? " Then the sudden smile on the face of Toji shocked both shinobu and the person who was serveing him.
Toji didn't knew that Giyu liked it so much that his body smiled on his own . The taste of this dish was great . Toji has this dish before but it's taste in giyu body was really different and too good . Shinobu called him and he Said " what ?"
She said " Tomioka I have never seen you smile could you look at me while you eat ! Thanks " . Toji didn't mind her since food was good so he faced other direction and after eating whole dish , he tipped the waitress more money . Well this was not his money so he didn't care much and was in good mood but after walking for few hours it came to him that this is his body now and the money was also his that he tipped .
Well, he couldn't do anything about it now so he just decided to keep walking . After reaching near his house he went his own way to the house .
After reaching the house he went for a bath. He was now sitting in middle of house with nothing to do . His knew body was still adapting to his old strength . Toji hair in giyu's body were long and he was not much a fan of long hair . So he decided to cut his hair back to his old hair style.
( Toji hair are going to be like his old in Giyu body and from others prospective toji is Giyu so in there thinking he will be called giyu and this is not alternate time line and giyu was originally supposed to come back in time went in Jujutsu world but Toji came here because of malfunction of that granny cursed technique. So enjoy and sorry for any grammatical mistakes..😙😙)
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