This chapter is about the Mugen train arc and doesn't really have any relevance to my story, you can skip it if you wish. Edited mistakes on May 1st 2022

TW if you haven't seen the Mugen train arc yet beware there will be spoilers and also character death.

3rd person p.o.v
In the early hours of the morning Tanjiro's crow appeared with a message "it's morning wake up" the crow shouted "what the heck? what's going on?" said Tanjiro and Zenitsu. "The casualties of the Infinite train are increasing, more than 40 are now missing, you are to join Kyojuro Rengoku on site, head west at once" the crow said giving the orders from Kagaya. Tanjiro told Aoi and Kanao that they were leaving. The 3 boys had one final task to do to complete their training, they blew as hard as they could into bottle gourds trying to break them, the 3 boys succeeded in their task, y/n, Sumi, Naho and Kiyo cheered for the 3 boys. Soon as the boys were leaving, Sumi, Kiyo, y/n and Naho presented the 3 boys with food "please go out and defeat tons of demons" the 4 girls said. "We'll do our best" replied Tanjiro. Meanwhile Zenitsu was fighting Inosuke shouting "I told you not to eat it now" because he had told him not to eat the food yet. Tanjiro turned around and saw Tomioka and ran towards him. "Mr Tomioka" he said "are you heading into battle now?" Tomioka asked Tanjiro. "Yes" replied Tanjiro. "I heard that you've mastered Total Concentration, Constant" said Tomioka, "yes" replied Tanjiro again. "You should keep at it" Tomioka told him, again Tanjiro replied "yes". "Mr Tomioka, about Nezuko, thank you very much, I had no idea you were putting your life on the line, I just don't know how I can ever thank you?" Said Tanjiro "you can thank me by doing good work, our mission as Demon Slayers is to kill demons, that's all" said Tomioka and with that he vanished. "Take care" said Sumi, y/n, Kiyo and Naho to Zenitsu and Inosuke, "you're all heartbroken to say goodbye to me, aren't you? I can stay behind if you want" Zenitsu said, "Master Zenitsu, please try to learn how to be considerate and respectful of girls" y/n said to him, "right" said Zenitsu looking defeated, "but you do feel a little sad that I'm leaving, don't you?" He asked, "we are not sad" replied the four girls. "Okay you guys, we are heading out now" Tanjiro said as the 3 boys took off, Sumi, Kiyo, Naho and y/n waved good bye.

When they reached the Infinite train Inosuke looked stunned "wha-what the hell is this creature? I bet this is that thing, the master of this land, the ruler of this land, see how long it is? so intimidating, no mistake, it looks like it's asleep right now but don't let your guard down" he said to Tanjiro and Zenitsu. "Uh, no it's a train, haven't you seen one before?" Asked Zenitsu rather confused, he was dumbfounded at the stupidity of his friend, "Shush calm down, I'll lead the charge" said Inosuke readying himself to pull his swords out. "Hold up Inosuke, you never know, it might be the guardian spirit of this land, also you shouldn't attack all of a sudden" said Tanjiro, "no, didn't you hear me? It's a train, a railway train alright" said Zenitsu rather annoyed with how stupid these two are, "it's a vehicle for transporting people, you country bumpkin" he said to Tanjiro, "a train? so is that what the crow was talking about?" Asked Inosuke. He ran and head-butted the train. "Stop it, talk about embarrassing" yelled Zenitsu.

Two officers ran towards the 3 boys blowing their whistles "what are you doing? hey you, hey these guys have swords, the police, call the police" the officer's shouted at each other. "Oh crap, crap" said Zenitsu, the 3 boys turned around and ran away with Zenitsu screaming "run". They found a safe place to hide. "Thanks to you we went through hell Inosuke, say you're sorry" demanded Zenitsu. "In the first place, why did we have to run from the police?" Asked Inosuke, "we the Demon Slayers aren't officially recognised by the government, we can't really walk around in broad daylight with our swords, they wouldn't believe us, even if we explained about the demons, and it would only confuse them, "said Zenitsu trying to explain. "Even though we are working so hard?" Asked Tanjiro, "well, it can't be helped, for now let's hide our swords on our backs" replied Zenitsu.

The train started leaving the station, "I'll take you on, Master of this land" yelled Inosuke as he chased the train. "We should go too" said Tanjiro and the 3 boys chases the train, Inosuke and Tanjiro jumped onto a carriage and had to help Zenitsu who couldn't get up. "Tanjiro, are you sure about bringing Nezuko along? wouldn't the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters be the safest place for her?" Asked Zenitsu, "yeah, it's fine, wherever we go, Nezuko and I will be together, we're never going to be apart again" replied Tanjiro. Inside the train the 3 boys came across a man, he was yelling that the food he was eating was delicious with every bite. "Is that the flame hashira guy?" Zenitsu whispered in Tanjiro's ear. "Yeah" replied Tanjiro. "Not just some random glutton?" Asked Zenitsu. "Umm excuse me, Rengoku" said Tanjiro nervously. Rengoku turned around in his seat and yelled "delicious" "uh we really get that part already" said Tanjiro. "And your the kid from that day at the Master's" said Rengoku "yes, I'm Tanjiro Kamado, and they are my fellow Demon Slayers Zenitsu Agatsuma and Inosuke Hashibira" Tanjiro said introducing themselves. "I see and inside that box there?" Asked Rengoku, "it's my sister Nezuko" replied Tanjiro. "Right, that demon we saw that day huh, since the Master's acknowledged her, I won't say any word for now" said Rengoku. The 3 boys sat down with Rengoku.

"What are you three doing here, a mission?" Asked Rengoku. "We recieved an order from a Kasugai crow, the casualties of the Mugen train are increasing, join Rengoku on site" said Tanjiro. "Yes, I see now I understood" said Rengoku. "Also there's one more thing, something I wanted to ask you Rengoku" said Tanjiro, "what is it, let's hear it?" Rengoku answered, "about my father" Tanjiro said. "What about your father?" Rengoku replied "well, he was really frail, but even if it was cold enough to freeze your lungs he could still perform a Kagura dance in the snow" said Tanjiro. "Well I'm glad to hear it" replied Rengoku. "The thing is, Hinokami Kagura dance, I suddenly found myself doing the Kagura that I'd seen as a child, if you know anything about that, Rengoku, I was hoping you'd tell me" said Tanjiro. "Right, but I know nothing, I've never even heard the term 'Hinokami dance' before, but it's truly commendable that your father was able to adapt his Kagura dance to battle, alright end of discussion" said Rengoku. "Flame Breathing has a long history, in any given era, there's always been a Flame and Water swordsman among the Hashira, Flame, Water, Wind, Stone, Thunder, those are the fundamental breathing techniques, the other techniques were created as offshoots of those five, Love, Sound, Serpent, Flower, Insect, Mist, Mist is a fork of Wind, young Mizoguchi, what colour is your sword?" Rengoku said to Tanjiro "my names Kamado and the colour is black" replied Tanjiro, "a black sword huh? well isn't that unfortunate" replied Rengoku, "I've never seen a swordsman with a black sword that became a Hashira, on top of that I hear they have no clue which style to master, come to me and I'll train you, you can rest easy now" said Rengoku. "No thankyou, and just what are you looking at?" Asked Tanjiro.

Zenitsu was trying to stop Inosuke from jumping out the window. "You never know when a demon might appear" said Rengoku, effectively stopping Inosuke from trying to escape and putting Zenitsu into a panic. "Over 40 people have disappeared on this train, the Corps sent a few swordsman, but then they all went silent, that's why I, a Hashira am here" said Rengoku.

The conductor walked into the carriage mumbling "may I, see your, tickets please", "the conductor's going to check your ticket and punch a hole in it" Rengoku told the 3 boys, as the boys handed the conductor their tickets, the lights on the train flickered and turned off for a few seconds, Tanjiro noticed that there was a horrible scent, "Mr conductor, you could get hurt so please step back, as this is an emergency please overlook that I have a sword," said Rengoku as he jumped up pulling his sword out.

The lights flickered again and a demon appeared, "was it a blood demon art that hid that massive body? I had a hard time detecting you, but if you bare your fangs at innocent people, my bright red flame blade will burn you to the bone" said Rengoku, the demon roared at him, "Flame Breathing, First Form, Unknowing Fire" Rengoku yelled, as he attacked the demon, "amazing, he sliced off the demon's head with one blow" said Tanjiro quite amazed at Rengoku's skill, "there's still one more, come with me" Rengoku said to Tanjiro, Zenitsu and Inosuke as he ran off, the 3 boys ran after him.

In the next carriage the people on the train were running away from a demon and they were scared, one man was left behind and the demon tried to attack him, "you will not lay a finger on that man" said Rengoku, "didn't you hear me? I said I'm your opponent" he said to the demon, "what the hell is it? it's got long arms" said Zenitsu in a panic as he hid behind a seat, "all right, first come first served" screamed Inosuke as he pulled his swords out, "hold up, we gotta save the passenger first" said Tanjiro, but Inosuke was already charging at the demon, "it doesn't matter once I destroy that thing" said Inosuke as he continued to charge at the demon, Inosuke and the demon began to fight, "you'll be safe in the back of the train go on" Rengoku said to the passenger, "let's finish him off in short order" he said to Tanjiro as he rushed towards the demon, "Flame Breathing, Second Form, Rising Scorching Sun" said Rengoku as he attacked, the demon collapsed, "that was awesome bro, talk about brilliant sword skills man, please make me your apprentice" said Tanjiro impressed with Rengoku's fight, "fine by me, I'll make a fine swordsman out of you" Rengoku said to him, "me two please" said Zenitsu, "me three" said Inosuke, "I'll train all of you" shouted Rengoku, "big bro Rengoku" the 3 boys said while Rengoku laughed at them.

The lights flickered again and the 4 boys were feeling sleepy, so they sat down and began to snooze, the conductor ran through the train "I did as I was told, I punched their tickets and put them to sleep, please, put me to sleep too now, please let me be reunited with my dead wife and daughter, I'm begging you" he spoke to someone, "sure thing you did a good job, go to sleep, have a nice dream where you can meet your family" a hand with a mouth on it appeared and said as it put the conductor to sleep, "excuse me, what do you want us to do?" Asked 4 children who were sitting on the floor, "their slumber will grow deeper in a little while, wait here until then, perceptive Demon Slayers sometimes wake up sensing the presence of bloodthirsty demons, when you tie the ropes be careful not to touch their bodies" the hand told the children, "I will have to stay in the first car for a while, hang on until everything's ready to go, so that you can have blissful dreams" said the hand, "okay" replied the 4 children.

Tanjiro was having a dream that he was walking in the falling snow, he sensed something and pulled his sword out and told himself to calm down, he heard footsteps and spun around and saw his younger brother and sister, Hanako, and Shigeru, Tanjiro dropped his sword and ran towards his siblings embracing him, he held them while crying saying he was sorry.

Back on the train a demon by the name of Enmu was on the roof, "to be able to die while dreaming, just how lucky are you?" said Enmu, "it doesn't matter how powerful a Demon Slayer you are, a human's driving force is the heart, the spirit, all you have to do is destroy the spiritual core, you can kill them just like that, all humans hearts are the same, so fragile and weak like glasswork" Enmu said.

Inside the train the 4 children were tying Tanjiro, Zenitsu, Inosuke and Rengoku's hands up with rope, "do we tie ourselves to them by the wrist?" one child asked another, "that's right, don't forget what he warned us about" said another, "take a deep slow breath while you count, do that and you'll fall asleep, one, two, three, four, five, six" a boy said to himself.

Back in Tanjiro's dream he was sitting on the floor with his family, his siblings were telling his mother how he burst into tears and hugged them, "oh my, you must be exhausted?" said his mother, "it's not such a big deal, okay, I'm fine" Tanjiro told her, his mother put her hands on his face "you don't have a fever do you? take it easy and get some rest okay" She said to him, "I'm alright" said Tanjiro" "are you sure?" replied his mother. Seems like I was having a bad dream or something Tanjiro thought to himself.

Meanwhile back on the roof of the train "falling deeper into sleep, deep in their dreams, forget to breathe, deep in their dreams, and even if a demon comes, deep in their dreams, even in the stomach, deep in their dreams, looks like fun, you're starting to have a happy dream, aren't you" the demon said. "You are falling, you are falling into a dream" Enmu said. "It's a deep slumber, they can no longer awaken" he said, he was watching their dreams.

In Zenitsu's dream he was running hand in hand with Nezuko, "this way, the peaches over here taste great, and there are tons of white clovers in bloom, I'll make you a chaplet, I can make you those really great looking ones, Nezuko" Zenitsu said, "yes, make a lot okay" said Nezuko to him, they continued to run, "there's a river along the way, but it's shallow, so you'll be okay, right?" Zenitsu asked Nezuko, "river?" Questioned Nezuko as she stopped running, "what am I going to do Zenitsu? I can't swim" she asked him, "I'll just carry you on my back and jump right over the river, not even your toes will get wet Nezuko" said Zenitsu as he crouched down for her to climb on his back. He used his lightning speed and took off. "Just leave it to me" he said to Nezuko.

Inside Inosuke's dream he was marching in a cave "expedition team, expedition team, we're the cave expedition team" he chanted over and over as Nezuko marched behind him, Zenitsu and Tanjiro appeared out of no where, they had ears and a tail like animals "Boss" they said, "what's up underling 1 and underling 2?" Inosuke asked them, "I can smell the Master of this cave over there, pompoko" said Tanjiro, pointing, "and I can hear it breathing as it sleeps, squeak" said Zenitsu, the creature of the cave was a train with many legs sleeping on a rock, "here he is, right let's go, showdown" said Inosuke approaching it, "Roger that, Boss" said Tanjiro and Zenitsu, "hey you, come with me underling 3, come over here, look, I'll give you these sparkly acorns come on, let's go," Inosuke shouted at Nezuko offering her acorns.

In Rengoku's dream he awoke in a room sitting with his father, he looked around, "why did I come here? oh right, to report to my father that I've become a Hashira", he thought to himself, he was telling his dad all about it, "so what if you've become a Hashira?" said his dad, "worthless, it means nothing, you're never going to amount to anything anyway, neither you nor I" he told Rengoku. Rengoku got up and walked outside, "brother" he heard a voice, it was his younger brother Senjuro calling him, "was our father pleased to hear your news? do you think our father will acknowledge me if I become a Hashira too?" He asked Kyojuro. Kyojuro was thinking to himself about his father, "he wasn't always like that, after all, he did rise to the rank of hashira in the Demon Slayer Corps, he was a passionate man, and yet one day, out of the blue, he quit being a swordsman, suddenly, the man who'd raised us both with such enthusiasm, it's pointless to think about such things, so stop" he thought to himself. "Senjuro is even worse off, he barely has any memories of our mother who died of illness when he was very young, and just look at the state our father is in" Kyojuro thought again "I'm going to be honest, our father wasn't happy to hear it, he told me that it meant nothing, but that's not enough to extinguish my passion, this flame inside my heart will never go out, I'll never give in, and Senjuro, you're not like me, you have a big brother, who believes in his little brother, no matter what path you take, you're going to become a fine human being, keep that burning passion inside your heart, let's do our best, let's do our best and live on, no matter how lonely it gets" he said to Senjuro.

Back on the train. "Looking good, those ropes that I created are used, for a special technique that allows one to invade the dreams of whoever you're tethered to, I always fight with the utmost caution, once you're asleep, Hashira or not, you're no different than a baby, I'll enjoy the feast, after killing the Demon Slayers" Enmu said.

Back in Rengoku's dream he was teaching Senjuro how to swing a sword, "there's no need to swing in such a hurry, relax your shoulders" he said to Senjuro. Unknown to him they were being watched by one of the 4 children from the train, a girl. "Close call, he's right there" she said to herself, "I have to make sure he doesn't see me, I have to hurry to the edge of the dream". She remembered what Enmu's hand told her, "the dream world I show them isn't infinite, it's circular, with the dreamer in it's center, the realm of the subconscious exists just outside the dream, when you find the spiritual core, that's what you must destroy, do that and the dreamer will become crippled". She felt her surroundings and found the edge of the dream, "the scenery doesn't end here, but you can't go any further" she said to herself as she took out the weapon the hand gave her, "I'll destroy his spiritual core right away, and then, I'll get to see a happy dream myself" she said as she stabbed the edge of the dream, she tore a hole in the edge and walked through, there were flames everywhere, "what an odd realm of the subconscious" she thought, "it's hot, it's burning up, I have to hurry" she said to herself as she took off to find the core. After running for a while she found the circular core, "the spiritual core, I've never seen a red one before, all I have to do is destroy this and it'll be my turn to..." she didn't get to finish her sentence when suddenly back on the train Rengoku stood up in his sleep and picked her up by the throat, in the dream she dropped her weapon and her hands flew to her neck trying to remove what was choking her, "I thought human's couldn't move while they were under a spell" she thought, "what a strong survival instinct he has" she thought.

Back in Tanjiro's dream, his mother said she was going to make his favourite rice crackers, she was telling the kids each step she was doing as she was making the rice crackers, one of the 4 children from the train, a boy was watching Tanjiro from outside behind a tree. Tanjiro was chopping wood, "I'm back" he announced as he arrived back at the house, "welcome home Tanjiro" his mother greeted him, "where's Nezuko?" He asked his siblings "big sis went up to the mountain to pick vegetables" said Takeo. "Can you get the bath ready? I'm going to be busy with this for a while" his mother said to him gesturing towards the food. He walked in the snow towards the stream carrying 2 buckets, "I keep saying all these strange things, am I tired maybe?" he thought to himself, he saw a box amongst the trees, as soon as he turned to look at it, it disappeared, "I wonder what that was?" he thought, he gathered water from the stream into the buckets, "I guess my