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"Total Concentration Breathing?" Tanjiro questioned.

"That's right," Urokodaki answered. "And I'm going to be teaching you all ten of the Water Breathing forms."

Rimuru nodded. He was curious about how regular humans were able to combat the demons even though they had infinitely superior physical abilities. Ever since he had heard about these peculiar swordsmen, he wanted to know what made them unique.

He was going to find that out today.

"Remember to take a long breath so the oxygen flows into every cell of your body."

Tanjiro was up first.

Urokodaki stood in front of Tanjiro as he explained what he needed to do.

"This will enhance your body's natural healing power and both stabilize and energize your spirit." Urokodaki continued.

Tanjiro stood in a wide stance, his eyes flared with determination. This was the most important part of his training and he wasn't going to mess it up.

"Relax your upper body-"

Tanjiro listened.

"-while bracing your lower half."

Tanjiro obeyed.

"All right, breathe!"

Tanjiro quickly responded, tilting back his head as he inhaled as much air as he could. After a few moments, he exhaled.

Then he was punched in the stomach.

Tanjiro recoiled in pain. He keeled over, clutching his stomach.

"Wrong!" Urokodaki shouted.

"Next! Forms!"

Rimuru let out a light laugh as he watched the situation in front of him. Urokodaki wasn't going to give Tanjiro a break.

'Good luck, Tanjiro!' Rimuru silently cheered.

~

They moved on to the forms.

Tanjiro was in a strange position, his palms outstretched in front of him and his right leg slightly bent. "Right! Like this?" Tanjiro asked.

"Wrong!" Urokodaki responded.

Tanjiro switched into another position.

"Like this?"

"Wrong!"

"This?"

"Wrong!"

"This?"

"Wrong!"

Urokodaki bent down and let out a flurry of attacks on Tanjiro's stomach.

Tanjiro tilted his head back and let out out a pained groan to the sky.

He was going to be feeling that one tomorrow morning.

Rimuru observed, his hand on his chin. He wouldn't be able to breathe because of a slime body. This was going to be a problem. He looked calm on the outside, but on the inside-

'Ah! How do I get out of this?!'

The thought of Urokodaki keeping him there until he performed something that was impossible for him to do played on a loop inside Rimuru's head.

'Help me!'

Total Concentration Breathing] acquired.>

'Ciel- Raphael, you saved me!'

"Rimuru, come over here." Urokodaki motioned Rimuru to come over to him. Rimuru quickly obliged, standing in front of Urokodaki.

"I expect that you were listening," Urokodaki said.

"Ah, yes," Rimuru responded.

"Ok then, breathe!"

Rimuru nodded.

'Alright then, let's see how this works.' Rimuru quickly inhaled and exhaled.

He could definitely feel a difference. It was very similar to [Strengthen Body].

Urokodaki nodded as Rimuru used [Total Concentration Breathing].

"Good," Urokodaki said.

"Next! Forms!"

"Alright!"

Tanjiro held his stomach as he stared, disappointed.

~

The sound of a rampaging river and a waterfall could be heard. Near the waterfall, Rimuru, Tanjiro, and Urokodaki were standing on a narrow strip of land.

"Here, you will become one with the water."

Tanjiro looked over the edge at the rampaging river.

"Get in there!"

Before Tanjiro could say anything, he felt himself get kicked over the edge. He gasped. He frantically started flailing and managed to stay suspended in the air for a little while. That is, before he went plummeting down.

"Nezuko!" He screamed as he fell all the way down and landed with a painful smack!

"Tanjiro!" Rimuru said, looking down at the water, seeing Tanjiro simply floating down the river. Suddenly, he felt eyes burning into his back.

"Hck!" He gulped. Rimuru got up, sweating slightly as he awkwardly chuckled.

"I'll jus-"

He was kicked in.

"Damn it!" Rimuru screamed as he fell into the water.

~

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Tanjiro let out a determined scream as the water beat down on his shoulders. He was under the waterfall, fighting to remain standing against the torrent of water.

He slowly started to lose his strength.

"Nezuko! I am water!" He shouted as the waterfall finally won the battle, and he was obscured by the water.

"He's trying to kill us..." Rimuru said, in the same position that Tanjiro once was.

That concluded today's training.

~

It has been 6 months since Nezuko was last awake. Urokodaki had summoned a doctor immediately but-

"There's nothing wrong with her."

"Are you sure?" Tanjiro asked, leaning forward.

Everybody was around Nezuko's bed, waiting for the doctor to continue.

"There's nothing wrong with. At least, not anything physical."

Tanjiro opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by Urokodaki. "We thank you for your patronage," Urokodaki said, bowing slightly. "There's no problem." The doctor said, waving his hand.

Rimuru just stared at Nezuko's face. 'Why is she in this state?' Rimuru thought.

'Ah, I see. Is there any way that I could wake her up?'

'Too risky...'

"Well, that'll be it." The doctor said, getting up from his sport. "I'm very sorry for not being able to help. I wish you the best of luck." The doctor opened the door and left, leaving the three to ponder in their own thoughts.

Tanjiro grabbed Nezuko's hand, fear in his eyes. Her warmth was calming.

It told him that she was still alive. It told him that she was still breathing. It gave him hope that one day, he would see Nezuko awake, alive, and well.

That day is far away.

~

Tanjiro was panting as he descended the mountain. He had grown accustomed to the thin air due to training every day. Though, each day, the training would only get more dangerous.

Suddenly, a piece of wood with metal spikes came swinging at Tanjiro. He faced it head-on, drawing his sword and slicing it down the middle. Then, knives came flying at him. Tanjiro readied his sword as the knives drew near.

He swung his sword at the knives, deflecting all of them.

He stared forward at the rising sun, sword at his side.

He was getting stronger.

~

The light of the fire illuminated the room. Students and teacher all sat around it, enjoying nice bowls of Udon. Rimuru raised the bowl to his lips, drinking up all the soup. He let out a satisfied sigh as he finished.

Urokodaki just held the bowl in his lap, staring at Rimuru. Somehow, he had learned Total Concentration Breathing on his first attempt. That's not normal for anybody, not even a demon. Rimuru was able to stand in the sun, behaved like a human, and was even able to eat like a human. If it wasn't for his smell and aura, he could be considered human.

He had questions that needed to be answered.

"Rimuru." He started. "We need to talk."

Rimuru looked at him before saying, "Oh, sure. But what abou-"

"Now." Urokodaki interrupted.

Urokodaki stood up and left the house.

Rimuru raised a brow, confused.

'I wonder what that's about...'

'Eh?! Why?!'

'So he sees me as an abnormality, huh? So, how do I get out of this one?'

'Really? Wouldn't that just cause more problems?'

'Alright then.' Rimuru sighed, getting up from where he was sitting.

"I'll be going." Rimuru said to Tanjiro. Tanjiro looked up from his bowl. "Hm, alright. Good luck." He said. Rimuru then opened the door and left the house.

The only sound outside was the noises of the night. The crickets chirping, the leaves rustling, nothing else. Rimuru walked along the side of the house. Eventually, he reached the back of the house. He turned around and, as expected, he was met with Urokodaki.

"So, what did you want to ask?" Rimuru started.

Urokodaki only stared. There were a few seconds of tense silence before Urokodaki finally said something:

"What are you?"

Rimuru smirked. Raphael was right in the end, once again. It was time for him to make his proper introduction:

"Oh, me?" Rimuru raised his hand to his chest.

Urokodaki blinked and once he opened his eyes, the Rimuru that he had been teaching was gone. Rather, in his student's place, a blue fairly round figure was there. It was something unseen to the world and would take anybody by surprise if they were to come upon it.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Rimuru the slime! I'm not a bad slime!"

...

'...Oh no, did I shock him?' Rimuru tilted his head- well, his body.

Unexpectedly, Urokodaki just sighed, sitting down and crossing his arms. "Figures, I've taken in something that I've never even heard of..." He said. "Well Rimuru, it appears that you're much more interesting than I originally anticipated."

"W-Well, thank you, thank you."

"That's not a compliment."

Suddenly, the tense atmosphere returned. "If this gets out, it could lead to several problems. An intelligent species, nor human or demon, suddenly appearing that's sure to bring unwanted attention. Chances are..." He pointed at Rimuru.

"You'll be exterminated."

Rimuru shifted uncomfortably. This conversation was starting to become really serious. "Though," Urokodaki continued. "You have astonishing abilities. I don't know how you obtained them, but it's true."

"I need you to promise me one thing, Rimuru."

"Use those abilities to protect humans. If you're willing to do that, I'll keep this whole ordeal a secret."

'Hold on, isn't this just blackmail?' Rimuru thought.

"A-Ah, sure." Rimuru said.

"Alright, then," Urokodaki said, standing up. "I'll permit you to continue studying under me. After that, I'll allow you to become a Demon Slayer and defend you if needed. Though, once again..." Even though his face was obscured by his mask, Rimuru could tell he had a stern expression on his face.

"If you ever harm a human, I will personally kill you myself."

"That'll be all." He finished, walking away.

Rimuru quickly returned to his humanoid form and stared as Urokodaki walked away.

'I'm not too sure if that went well or not.'

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