*•Crystals in the Moonlight•* a Demon Slayer fanfiction

Chapter 3: Training

I awoke to the feeling of cold metal against my arm. I sat up in shock seeing Yui standing next to my futon, she had cut my blanket in half! "What are you doing?!" I trembled. "A demon slayer must be prepared for battle at all times. Next time I suggest keeping that dagger with you when sleeping." Yui scolded. She seems so serious now, like a totally different person.
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Yui was waiting for me at the foot of the mountain. As began to trek up the steep slopes, the air became more thin. I could barely breathe, and the atmosphere higher up became colder and colder. Yui stopped at what seemed to be the summit. I stared up at her as she watched the dark sky. She turned back to me "If you can make it back down to my home before sunrise, I will teach you the crystal breathing technique. If not, you will leave Mount Kuroba." Yui began to walk off and disappeared into the fog. This is bad, I don't remember much of the way back down, I was more focused on my breathing. I just have to get moving, and quickly.

I started to jog down the mountain, being careful of any stones or branches I could trip over, but my foot had triggered what seemed like a rope. Small rocks pelted at my face and I tripped over the rope. I landed flat on my stomach. Damn, she set traps too?! I knew something was off! I guess I have to be extra cautious now. I picked myself up and began to work my way down again, but I tripped over another rope. This time, a small log came flying down from a nearby tree. I ducked right in the nick of time, but it came swinging back and hit me in my side. Crap! At this rate I'll never make it down by sunrise! I pulled out my dagger and noticed how heavily I was breathing.
This is not good, the air is so thin I can't even think! But I need to concentrate on my breathing before anything else.
I slowly breathed in and out a few times before running down once again. It doesn't matter if I get knocked down a hundred times! I'm going to make it! I have to!

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Yui sighed "It's almost sunrise, it doesn't seem like she will make it down in time." She looked out the window. "It's too bad, that girl looked like she had a lot of potential." All of a sudden, a loud thud came from outside. Yui opened the door to reveal an exhausted, bruised, and out of breath Y/N, almost passed out on the side of her home. Yui smiled "I guess I was wrong about you, Y/N. Even though you managed to hit every single one of my traps, you were able to make it back down. Well done." "Does...this mean...I passed?" I panted. She caressed my bruised cheek with her smooth hand, "Yes, from now on I shall train you to become a demon slayer." I smiled with relief as we watched the beautiful sunrise.

~4 weeks later~

Every morning I run up and down the mountain as many times as I can before sunrise, while avoiding the traps and controlling my breathing. I then work on improving my strength and balance by holding buckets of water without spilling. Each day Yui adds more and more water, and eventually more buckets. I lift and balance for as long as I can until my arms and legs give out. Yui teaches me about how to control my breathing more, and each time I do something wrong, she slaps the back of my head. At dusk, Yui takes me to meditate in the caves. These caves are filled with crystals, that absorb the sunlight and illuminate once it is dark. Yui calls them the sacred caves because of how rare crystals are in Japan.

~1 week later~

Yui has given me a sword, so now each morning I must run down the mountain with my sword in hand. I'm able to deflect most of the previous traps, but now Yui has set traps that are more dangerous. It's as if she's trying to kill me! After running up and down the mountain, I have to swing my sword 1000 times. Once I finish, Yui then tells me to do 600 more. I swing my sword until it feels as if my arms will fall off. Before meditating in the caves, I have to fight Yui multiple times. Even when she is unarmed, she's still incredibly strong! Until now, I've never won a fight against her.