Tonight Tanjiro had once more sat himself down next to the river, inspecting his threads technique to pass the time before the younger sister called out, "Big Brother.", Tanjiro sighed when he heard her voice, he turned to face the source, seeing the younger sister running towards him, "Uhm, can I talk with you for a second?" she asked when he got close, Tanjiro nodded as he drew a faint smile, so she sat next to him, being near her lifted his mood a little again, and she began, "Do you remember when you used to be Human? Because I can't really pinpoint those memories anymore, I think I used to have an actual family… One that deeply cared for me."

"Hm, I remember… Some." Tanjiro replied, "I… Have a family, I r-remember my family."

"Really? Lucky you. Sometimes I kind of envy you, you know? You're clearly a swordsman and used to be a Demon Slayer, and now you tell me you remember your family, for a Demon you've got it decently good."

"...My… S-Sister, will come… F-For me."

"...You think? Don't you think she's dead by now…? I mean I don't really know for sure but surely you've outlived your family, right?"

Tanjiro shook his head vigorously, and stared at the younger sister with beaming eyes, the presence he radiated at this point felt like a blissful child, "She's alive! I… Know!"

"I see, either you're just holding out or you're just really lucky. I wish I could come with you…"

"I wish… Too." He said, allowing the younger sister to lean into him for comfort, for tonight the two watched the water pass in silence.

"You look like you didn't get much sleep." Zenitsu said as he glanced over to Nezuko that morning, whom looked like she could collapse at any moment, "No, not really." she answered, "I've been having pretty nasty nightmares. Hmmrrg! I'm just not patient enough for this! My mind keeps wandering to places I'd rather not have it wander off to. By the time we get there Onii-chan might already be dead…", I mean, she did have a point, there's no guarantee a Demon will survive when several threats loom over them, from the sun, to being strung up for the sun, to Demon Slayers, etc.

Frankly, Zenitsu wanted to comfort her, but he really didn't know what to say to actually comfort her, considering he doesn't really have a good track record when it comes to talking to girls, but that doesn't mean he can't try, "Uhm. Don't worry, I'm sure he can handle himself… I-I mean, uhm… Nevermind, I already forgot what I wanted to say."
Well, that ruined it.

"Haha! I don't see the problem here!" Inosuke suddenly yelled after he woke up, nearly making the other two inhabitants of the ward jump out of their skin, he had already jumped upright and looked like he was already ready for battle, figures.
"Let's just kill everything once we get there! I'm pumped! If I find that brat that tried to cocoon me again I'm going to turn them into mince meat! I mean, they took my other pair of perfectly-fine swords, dammit!"

"Inosuke, I don't think you understand what we were talking about." Zenitsu said, Inosuke turned to look at him and remained silent for a bit, before he just yelled out "Of course I do! I'm just that great!", the other two rolled their eyes and let him be.

"Well, I shouldn't linger on it too long or else today is just going to get longer." Nezuko said as she crawled out of bed and left the ward for breakfast, Zenitsu soon followed, and Inosuke came barreling after.

After breakfast, Nezuko decided to focus on her usual routine, hopefully some training will keep her mind off of things, she hoped.

. . .

By the time night was approaching Nezuko had already gone through her routine a good amount of times, turns out physical exercise is a good way to keep your mind off of things, right now she was practicing her breathing again and had perched herself on the Estate's roof, it felt kind of neat now with that silence around her and with empty thoughts, though it would logically soon come to an end, "Nezuko, are you coming?" she heard Zenitsu say, "It's almost time." he said, immediately Nezuko was reminded of why she was training herself so much but decided not to be dead weight, getting off the roof and re-entering the Estate.
Inside it looked like everyone here had already gathered in the main room, "Hey Murata." she said as she recognized the other Slayer, "Hey, Nezuko! You're a little late."

"Sorry, I was doing some training." she apologized, rubbing the back of her neck as she tried to paint a smile, soon directing her attention to the other Demon Slayers before her attention was drawn to Shinobu when she clapped, "Since everyone is here, shall we go over the basics now?" Kocho asked, "Regardless, this is important, since we don't really know which member of the Twelve Kizuki it is we're approaching this with a bit of caution. Luckily the possibility of it being an Upper Moon has already been ruled out, so you don't have to worry about that.", a Kasugai Crow landed on Shinobu's hand when she finished her sentence, "Basically, we'll be splitting up, once someone has engaged the Twelve Kizuki member we'll be using our Kasugai Crows to alert the other Slayers that they have been located so we can attack it together, okay?", everyone seemed to agree with this idea, while there weren't too many Slayers present right now there is the fact there were two Hashira joining them, and the fact they wouldn't have to engage the real threat alone gave them confidence in the operation, although there was the possibility that… "Excuse me, lady Kocho?" Nezuko asked, "Hm? Yes, what is it?" she cheerfully responded.

"What happens when the Kasugai Crows are killed?"

Silence.
Seems like that idea hadn't exactly come to mind, "That's a good question, Nezuko." Kocho eventually said, "Let's see… Considering we can probably determine which Demon is the member of the Twelve Kizuki, let's just say don't engage any Demons that can give you too much trouble, okay?"

"Hm, okay."

"Anymore questions?"

There was some mild muttering coming from the group of Slayers, but everything seemed to line up, no more questions came so Shinobu let the Kasugai Crow fly off, and she brightened her smile, "Alright then, then let's begin!"

Mount Natagumo, it felt just as nerve-wracking to ascend the place as the first time, Nezuko heard the Kasugai Crows flying off into the sky behind her and soon Kocho had taken charge, the group of Demon Slayers ran up the mountain a good distance before the signal was given to split up, Nezuko would go with Murata and Zenitsu would go with Inosuke, the Hashira went their own way and… Well, no use explaining the pairings of side-characters, right?

Murata's Kasugai Crow flew high above them, keeping an eye as the two Slayers ran deeper into the forest, they hoped they wouldn't encounter anything too dangerous but Nezuko knew something was going to break out.

Meanwhile, Zenitsu was merely following Inosuke out of fear of being left alone, Inosuke on the other hand seemed to get a kick out of this, "That's right! Haha! Follow me, minion!" he cackled out as the two continued running, "Slow down!" Zenitsu said, "You're going too fast for me!"

"Then use those legs, dammit! We didn't train for nothing!" Inosuke blatantly responded while he kept on running, he had a point afterall, Zenitsu didn't like that he had one, but he had one nonetheless.
It didn't take those two too long to find their first opponent of the night, a young-looking Demon boy perked his head up as he heard the two Slayers approaching, more specifically Inosuke's cackling as he rushed in to attack, "Ah, dammit! You're not the one from last time, doesn't matter, I'm going to kill you just as bad!" he cried out as he lunged at the Demon boy, completely underestimating his opponent's capability to think as he just lunged out of the way, the Demon shot a quick glare at Zenitsu which was enough for him to stay out of the fight for the time being, he yelped the moment he realized a pair of Demon eyes had found him, even after all that training he felt like he was going to die instantly if he fought a Demon, leaving Inosuke to fight the Demon boy on his own, "That's right! Lord Inosuke can take you out alone!", Inosuke immediately charged at his opponent again who proved to be a little too agile for him, the Demon boy suddenly yelled out "Dad! Help me out here!" before he turned tail and ran, "...Huh? Are you fleeing like that? Ha! I guess you know not to mess…" Inosuke's instincts suddenly flared up, he jumped back and turned to what had just attempted to crush him, seeing an enormous muscled spider-headed Demon monster that had leapt up from god knows where and attacked him like that. "...With me…?" Inosuke finished, "Ha! This is more my size!"

"STAY AWAY FROM MY FAMILY!" the Demon roared as he reared back his fist and readied to crush Inosuke who jumped up at the Demon.
"Beast Breathing, Second Fang: Rip and Tear!"
Except Inosuke's blades failed to pierce their target, one getting stuck in the Father Demon's swing of his arm and the other missing entirely due to the newfound velocity his body had, getting knocked into the ground hard by the first attack Inosuke quickly got back up on his feet, "What the hell!? I can't cut that thing!" He yelled out as the Demon prepared an uppercut with the other arm, Inosuke decided he'd better dodge that one and did by jumping on top of the Demon's head and quickly jumping behind him, from there he tried again to decapitate the Demon, only for his sword to get stuck in the Demon's neck, "Agh! It's too damn tough to cut! Monitsu, help me out here!"

"H-Help you out!? I'd be crazy if I tried fighting that thing!"

"Shut up and help me!"

"STAY AWAY... FROM MY FAMILY!", the Demon swerved around to face Inosuke, whom held onto his sword for dear life and was thrown the other way by the turning monstrosity, it took him a second before he turned back around and charged at Inosuke, who responded by also running at his opponent, "Pig assault!" He yelled out.
"Beast Breathing, First Fang: Pierce!"
If slashing doesn't work, might aswell stab his swords into the monster, his blades had pierced the Demon's chest before refusing to dig further, the Demon cried out in pain mid-attack, before he jumped back and pulled the swords out of his chest, throwing them infront of himself.
Inosuke quickly dashed to recollect his blades and took a battle stance, "That's more like it!" he said, "If I can't cut you, I'm just gonna stab you instead! Pig assault! Haha!" he continued before he charged into battle again, the Father Demon lifted his arms to smash down on the attacking Slayer who jumped over the attack's range as the arms swung down, Inosuke continued by stabbing one of his swords into the Demon's head from above, who yelled out when the blade pierced his body, Inosuke quickly pulled it back out as the Demon turned around and gave Inosuke a firm smack to the gut, sending the poor guy flying back into a tree, he let out a pained groan on impact but quickly got back up, cackling to himself, it kept going like that for a while as the fight continued.

Eventually, a voice cut through the battle, "Father." it said.
Inosuke turned to face the source as the Father Demon did the same, the two locked in their positions ready to attack each other, "Go… Fight somewhere else, there's… More important fights to fight.", the Father suddenly reared up and looked at Inosuke, giving him a firm shove before he leapt away to fight somewhere else.

It was Zenitsu's turn to look up, expecting another freaky sight as he forced himself to look at the new Demon, but his eyes were first drawn on the Haori the Demon wore, the familiar black-and-green checkered Haori that sent memories flying in his head, "T-Tanjiro…?" he said under his breath, completely overshadowed by Inosuke's booming voice when he pointed one sword at Tanjiro, "Hey! You're that Demon from that stupid house! Why the hell are you here now!? Were you looking for me!? Dammit, I'm not letting you escape me this time!"

"...Isn't that… That Demon Slayer from that mansion? Just my luck running into him here…" Tanjiro thought, before he even had a chance to diffuse the situation the boar-head had already launched himself at Tanjiro, "Coming through!" he yelled as Tanjiro quickly backed up, deciding it would be a good idea to get out of here before this got out of hand, "Hey! Wait up dammit!" Inosuke yelled out.

"Stop! That's an ally!" Zenitsu yelled out, "...Ally?" Inosuke asked, moreso to himself, "Why the hell is a Demon supposed to be our ally? Agh! Too much thinking! Pig assaauult!", and Inosuke ran off to chase his prey.
The two ran deeper into the mountain's forest, leaving Zenitsu completely alone in the process who merely whined to himself in the process, "Pig Assault! Hahahaaa!" Inosuke yelled as he looked around the forest, Zenistu's whining had given Tanjiro enough time to run and that likely meant he already had a good hiding spot to stay out of danger, "Bah! If Monitsu hadn't been whining like that I would've caught up by now!", Inosuke stabbed both his swords into the ground, spreading his arms out wide while crouching down, and he decided to focus.
"Beast Breathing, Seventh Form: Spatial Awareness!"
Using his highly tuned sense of touch he scanned the surrounding area for where the Demon could be hiding, like images of the surrounding land flashing into his mind through sense alone, "There you are!" he said as he grabbed his swords and ran off in a direction, soon jumping up high and readying himself to cut the thick branch the Demon had placed himself on before he suddenly felt something pull on his leg, "Huh…?", soon it rammed him into the ground hard away from the branch.

"That's gonna leave a mark…" Tanjiro thought, having used his threads to quickly drag the Slayer away from himself, "How'd he find me, was that a Breathing Technique!? Crap, if he has a technique like that running is practically useless!", but he decided to try anyway, he leapt from branch to branch as the stubborn Slayer chased him around on the ground, "Get down here, dammit!" he yelled, "No! Go away!" Tanjiro yelled in return.

"I'll go away after we fight!"

"I don't… Want to fight!"

"Fight me dammit!"

"No!"

"Aaagh! What's your deal!?", He decided it was enough talking, if the Demon won't come to him he'll come to the Demon, climbing the trees himself and lunging at the Demon who's face turned to shock at the speed at which Inosuke could climb the nearby tree, Tanjiro didn't decide to stick around, quickly jumping down from the trees before Inosuke could decapitate him, Inosuke soon followed and a second chase began, this time Tanjiro weaved his threads around the forest, causing Inosuke to trip over the first pair, "Ack! Hey! No fair!" he yelled as he got up, attempting to slice one of the threads only for his blade to get stuck on them, "Dammit, I can't even cut these strings!" he cursed to himself before continuing the chase, "Go away!" Tanjiro yelled out as he heard the Slayer cackling behind him again, "I told you! I won't go away until we fight!"

At this point he really had no choice, if another Slayer showed up he'd better just book it, but this one really won't get off his tail unless he does something, after stopping in a clearing Tanjiro unsheathed his sword and immediately parried the first attack Inosuke threw at him, "You finally unsheathed that sword of yours! Haha! Now let's fight!", while Tanjiro readied a battle stance himself he knew that if he cut the Slayer even once he could be sentenced to death immediately, which pretty much forced him to continue to parry Inosuke's incoming strikes.
"Beast Breathing, First Fang: Pierce!"
Tanjiro winced when Inosuke's blades suddenly pierced his stomach region, thinking quickly he used his threads to pull himself back, allowing the blades to exit his body, he winced again as the serrated edges of the swords tug at his flesh, "Ha! About time you noticed how cool my swords are! They're designed to hurt and hurt bad they do!" Inosuke cackled, "Now then! I'm going to cut off your head and use you to springboard myself further to glory!"

Inosuke lunged at his opponent who suddenly thrusted their left palm at him, a net of thick spider threads flew out and quickly ensnared Inosuke who immediately began trying to get out, Tanjiro closed his eyes and sighed when he felt like it was over, "That guy definitely has a few screws loose…" Tanjiro thought, he opened his eyes and looked back at the Slayer, looking on in horror as he slithered out of one of the net's larger gaps, quietly laughing to himself, "W-What's with this guy!? Seriously!", Tanjiro quickly weaved some more threads, attaching them to the net while Inosuke was still crawling out of it, the Slayer looked at the action a bit confused before he suddenly was pulled up into the air and had the net he was in tossed away pretty hard, "Aaaagh! Damn you! Coward!" he yelled out as he was sent flying away, that had to be it, no way the Slayer catches up to him now, capitalizing off of it Tanjiro quickly decided to run.

That was until his nose caught a whiff of something above him, he turned around and looked up, hoping to see what his nose caught but he saw nothing, "Yoo~ hoo~" he suddenly heard from behind, he tried to twirl around and face the source before he felt himself getting pinned to the ground, falling on his back as a woman with a butterfly-patterned Haori hung over him, "That's pretty interesting, you really didn't want to kill him, did you?" she asked, Tanjiro shook his head, fear crept into his expression, "She's got me pinned, I'm so dead!" he thought.

"Murata! Are you okay?!" Nezuko stammered, Murata's luck caused him to run into a sort of net-trap which snapped shut on him, "One of these again?! Agh, why isn't he around to open it up again?!"

"...Who?" Nezuko asked, this took an interesting turn, and her face certainly showed her curiosity.

"Oh, I completely forgot to tell you!" Murata suddenly yelled, "Your brother! Last time I came up here he was the one to free me. Well, I think it was him because he said he 'wanted to be with Nezuko.' Sorry! Completely forgot to tell you!"

"He's alive?!"

"Talk later, get me out of this net first!"

"S-Sorry!", Nezuko quickly unsheathed her own sword and tried to cut the net, failing miserably, "It's just like with that other Demon, I can't cut these threads at all! Think Nezuko, think!", "Uhm, stay here! I'll try to get help!" Nezuko stammered as she turned, running deeper into the forest, "Like I have a choice!" Murata yelled back as Nezuko disappeared into the treelines, a Hashira would be able to cut those nets right? She'd have to find Shinobu or Giyu and quick, if she didn't Murata would likely become the victim of another member of the Spider Family, why do these things have to be so complicated.

She wasn't even sure for how long she had been running before she noticed one of the Kasugai Crows on the ground, it had been decapitated, "W-Who…?" she managed to cry out before a familiar voice broke through to her, "Hey… You did come back after all, you're going to die for that.", it was him, the monster that defeated her last time, Nezuko readied her battle stance while glaring daggers at the Demon boy infront of her, "I'm not going to run and I'm not going to get consumed by my emotions this time. I'm killing you and taking my brother back to where he belongs." she said, "That's a really bad decision, you know?"

Boom, double cliffhanger.