DISCLAIMER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA BELONGS TO KOYOHARU GOTOUGE

0000000000000000000000000000000

Nezuko hacked at the boulder day and night. She did not go back to the hut, and she did not know how long time had passed.

"Argh!" She yelled in frustration. The fact that she was wasting away at the rock as more time passed absolutely infuriated her. She shouldn't be so weak to not be able to do this.

She gripped her sword. Why can't I do this? What have I done wrong?

She looked up at the rock lording over her helplessly. What am I doing?

Nezuko brought her blade down with a CLANG. Shockwaves sent her shaking like a seismograph. Miraculously, the blade did not snap, but her arms jiggled like it wanted to. The bells on the boulder tinkled lightly as if it was laughing at her.

"Very funny," she grumbled. Feeling only a bit stupid talking to the rock, but she gripped her sword again and tried at the boulder until nightfall.

Sometimes Nezuko would wonder if time had stopped. Everyday it was the same clearing she saw, dense forest fog misted heavily over the trees. The rock might as well have been a mountain, sometimes morning fog would circle around it in a fuzzy white halo. The clouds around a tall peak that Nezuko could not overcome.

She kicked the rock, naturally it hurted. But the sting felt good in a weird way.

"What am I doing?" She yelled to herself, at the rock, at no one in particular. There was only her and her problems, but Nezuko was simply too weak to cut it through.

"Tell me what I'm doing wrong!" Nezuko's hands blistered with peeling skin and burning raw flesh. Tears threatened to spill but Nezuko would not cry. So much for trying to be strong for her brother if she dared to cry.

Tears would not flow so it gathered deep inside her chest. It hardened like glass and she could not feel anything else other than a heavy weight on her as if Big Rock sat on her. She could not see where she was going, she tried everything; breathing techniques, meditation, redoing all those things that Urokodaki-san had taught her… Nothing worked. It was as if the forest mist had clouded her mind too.

"I- But I can't give up!" Nezuko looked at Big Rock uselessly. As if she was saying it for the sake of saying it. "I have to do it for Niichan!" She banged her head on the boulder, perhaps it could knock some sense into her.

"For Niichan!"

"If it's for your Niichan then quit yammering and get on with it!" A boy's voice split her thoughts.

Nezuko looked up to see a boy—

"If you're a man then don't whine!" The boy said, he stood on top of the boulder—in his hand was a wooden sword. How he got up there without Nezuko noticing she did not know.

"If you're a man then get up and fight."

Nezuko was baffled. "But I'm a girl!" She protested.

Oop. The boy didn't seem to like that because he came down at her, wooden sword aiming for her head—

KU-RACCK!

Nezuko barely managed to block his strike, but his leg came from under the wooden blade and kicked her squarely in the chest—

Nezuko was sent flying while the boy touched the ground lightly.

His peach-colored hair looked like it was on fire in the dipping sun streaming through the fog, he wore a white jacket over a geometric tunic tucked into black pants as if he wanted to look really snazzy stomping Nezuko into bits. He wore a strange fox mask carved of wood, with red ears and a scar by the mask's right cheek. It's eyes filled with black but Nezuko could feel the boy's eyes boring into her through the wood. The air stilled around him like the air would be as a predator prepared to pounce.

His voice was deep and harsh, "You're too slow! Grip your sword and fight! Are you even trying? What have you been doing these past two years? Wasting Urokodaki's time? Wasting your own time?" He raised his blade to her, "What do you think you are doing?"

To anyone else, it may have been as if the boy was spewing nonsense. But to Nezuko, it was as if he was pulling words straight from her heart. The patches of cloth sewn into her clothes suddenly felt heavy, she did not know if what she had done was enough. The sole earring Tanjiro had given her, he was her sole family now. They were alone in the world. The world was a big place, it housed humans and demons. If Nezuko swore to not let anyone fall in the fangs of a demon, it would be like saying to protect the ocean from a drop of rain. Nezuko did not have enough strength. She was weak. She was stuck hacking away at a boulder and stuck wasting time at a big rock.

"I- I was training… but…" Nezuko faltered. But what?

"Give me a straight answer!" The boy gripped his sword, and in one smooth motion he was in the air, his position gave way to a sprint. Nezuko could see how his body responded perfectly—almost automatically, to his wishes.

Nezuko managed to knock his blade out of the way, "Why are you doing this?"

Her breath was already bated and her muscles stung with effort, but this boy seemed as if he could fight her to the grave and beyond.

Their blades whipped in the air like crazy scissors, except Nezuko could only play a sloppy defense as the stranger moved with ease.

His face was untraceable under the fox mask as he muttered: "Elbows too far out. Knees bent, don't hold your breath. Your stance is an eyesore!"

"You're fighting me because you don't like my stance?"

The boy swiped at her from the side, but as she blocked it hastily, a jolt came vibrating up her shoulder.

His voice was low: "I'm fighting you because you only memorized what Urokodaki-san had taught you." He slashed at Nezuko. His head suddenly snapped up, it's fox eyes carved into the wood seemed to be carving into Nezuko.

"Your body has no idea what to do!" His voice raised as well as his blade. "Pound it into the marrow of your bones! Embed it into your muscles! Do you have any idea what you are supposed to do?!"

I…!

Did she?

"I DON'T!" Nezuko wanted to stop fighting with this boy. Nezuko wanted to slump on the ground and maybe the Earth would carry her to her family. "Niichan became a demon while I slept safely away from everyone...Now he can't be in the sun!"

All the emotions she had bottled up since her family's death seemed to be chipping away with each hit of his sword.

"Niichan can't be a normal human like me…! I should've been there for him!" Was it Nezuko's imagination… or was the boy listening to her? His attacks seemed to lessen, allowing room for Nezuko to talk.

"What are you going to do other than yell?" He asked. "Would yelling solve anything?"

Nezuko knew anything other than trying would not solve anything… but now… even trying seemed to be useless. "I-I'm trying… I need to cut down that boulder!"

"Prove it!" He lashed out. His sword moved as if it was another one of his arm. "Prove that you are trying! Demons killed your family, so what? They didn't kill you—"

"Then they should have!"—

The boy stumbled for a fraction of a second, but Nezuko hadn't noticed until much later.

But he recovered quickly. His sword hit Nezuko's again, but there was something different behind it.

"A waste," He said. "If they killed you, your brother would've been all alone. If it hadn't been seeing his sister alive he would've been a murderer!"

In the dawning sun, the mask's scar shone as if it had been reopened.

"Prove that you will try and be stronger, or are you going to waste your time?"

Nezuko couldn't speak—

"PROVE YOURSELF, PROVE THEM WRONG!"

As if when the boy kicked her something broke inside. A glass of whirling anxiety: What if she is doing something wrong? Will Tanjiro ever become human again?

"AaaaaaaaAAAaaAAaaaaaH!"

She raised her blade, the boy turned with a whoosh of his haori and in a blink he was in front of her, wooden blade in the— air and body ducked down. He got to her first, every move executed perfectly. Not a single maneuver wasted.

Nezuko felt respect for him if he wasn't charging at her, fox mask zooming into her field of vision with a wooden sword—

Nezuko raised her blade, but he was faster. The boy turned with a whoosh of his haori and in a blink he was in front of her, wooden blade in the air and body ducked down. Pain throbbed from her jaw as she was smacked into the air. Bruising knotted at her chin.

And the world faded to black.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000

The ground was cool and had an earthy smell, voices faded in and out like a broken lightbulb. Nezuko couldn't hear what they were saying, it was as if their sounds were being layered over another reality…

When Nezuko opened her eyes, she wasn't sure if she was still unconscious or the sky really was that dark. It was the latter, that night was a starless night-obscured by the thick night fog. Nezuko wondered how long she had been out.

Then, as if to answer her question, a voice said, "You were out for a long time."

"Wha-?" Nezuko turned her head to see a girl. No bigger than she, possibly younger by the looks of her big turquoise eyes and petite frame. Nezuko wondered if she were those little girl ghosts that haunt a forest, but no. Although her face was passive, the girl's eyes twinkled with quiet amusement.

The girl got up and dusted her dress delicately, it was a modest but cute thing: A blushing pink floral dress under a navy blue frock tied with a tan band at the waist. Nezuko got a nostalgic sisterly feeling looking at her.

"Who are you?" Nezuko asked, trying to talk through her bruised jaw. Although the pain had reduced to a dull throb, her limbs felt as if they were whacked by an angry mob of futon beaters. But despite that, the boy she just fought was amazing.

Not a single move wasted! She silently awed. Can I be as good as him one day?

"And who was that guy?"

She smiled, Nezuko noticed how she wore a mask just like that boy, except it had a smile and flowers bloomed instead of a scar on it's delicate carvings. "I am Makomo, whom you just fought was Sabito."

"Whom?" Nezuko asked.

Makomo dropped her gaze, her eyes unreadable as the forest. "We all really love Urokodaki-san."

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

(A/N) Ahhhhhhh I forgot to update yesterday... sorry! It wasn't until this morning I felt like I was forgetting something and I was like "Oh sh-shoot, I forgot to post." Although not many people read this fic anyways I still want to stick to a schedule. For people who do read this, thanks so much for your support! Sorry again and have a nice day!