Argentum: And here we are! I hope all of you miscreants enjoy this chapter!
Grel'Slyfer: Wait isn't this the chapter where that Dorito boy is supposed to-
Zenitsu: Who are you calling a Dorito you freak of nature?!
Grel'Slyfer: I suppose I was correct then.
Nezuko: Hey there honey~!
Zenitsu: Oh Nezuko chan~! Always wonderful to see you~!
Kanao: Least he's consistent.
Tanjiro: Agreed… still can't help but be annoyed he's gunning for my sister.
Argentum: Actually ended up together according to the manga.
Nezuko: Yep!
Tanjiro: Must not kill.
Grel'Slyfer: Oh don't stop on our accounts~.
Argentum: Okay before you malcontents can destroy my studio let's move one from here. Zenitsu you're up!
Zenitsu: Sure! We here at the Dark Guard productions own nothing but OC's and reality building concepts. Everything else belongs to their original owners. Now without further delay!
Everyone: Here's the story!
Hello= Regular talk
Hello= Thoughts
[Hello]= Radio
(Hello)= Telepathy/Mind reading
Chapter Twenty Eight: How Tanjiro went to a drum recital or… How I tried to keep a Dorito alive…
It has been two days since our encounter with Muzan and my fight with Val'gin. Finally all healed up we were going to head out now. The reason it took so long was that Tamayo wanted to be the one to heal Tanjiro's ribs. Actually that's a bit inaccurate, both she and Kanao wanted to be the ones who healed him. Turns out she too wanted to learn some healing magic. Tanjiro was also intrigued so I ended up teaching him mage armor. He's yet to master it but he's coming along, as for Kanao and Tamayo they managed to learn in two days. Sure it was just my heal wounds spell and not my restoration spell, but I was sure they'd master the latter in time.
As we left Nezuko gave both Tamayo and Yushiro a hug while taking off her bamboo muzzle. "You-you're both hu-human in in my ey-eyes." Tamayo was quick to hug the demon girl back, crying what I could only assume were tears of happiness. Yushiro simply looked away with a slight blush. Running back to us Nezuko put her muzzle back on. Chuckling I addressed the kiddos with a smile.
"Well it was fun, but now we have to get going." Turning to the demon doctors I bowed. "Thanks for everything, and don't worry we'll collect the demon blood you need." Raising my head I decided to compliment them. "As a side note those devices you made to extract the demon blood are quite ingenious." Tamayo giggled while Yushiro gave a proud look. Turning around I waved at them. "We'll see you around, also make sure to tell me when you master a spell. I'll send new ones for you to learn." As she agreed I began walking outside, as I did so I heard Yushiro say something to Tanjiro.
"I guess you're not as bad as I thought, also… both of them… they're both beautiful." I could only chuckle as Tanjiro and the others thanked him. Now outside I saw Nezuko put her shawl back on, nodding I started leading the way out of the city. As we did so Tanjiro's crow landed on his shoulder.
"A new mission! A new mission! Go to the south-east! South east! Demon activity has been reported! GO Now-CAW!" Again Oniki flew in and literally kicked Tanjiro's crow to the curb.
"Letter from Oyakata Sama!" Getting used to her antics I simply nodded as Tanjiro fretted over his crow. Opening up her back pack I took out three letters. Two were from my girls, and the last was from Kagaya.
Nodding I put away my personal letters and gave Oniki a cracker. "Thanks girl. You did very well." She happily took the treat as I began reading the letter. I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow; finally I finished reading with a smirk. "Well now, that's interesting. Also a very good idea considering the circumstances." Walking up to me Nezuko pulled on my sleeve. "Hmm?" Looking down at her I could see that she was curious about the letter. Looking up I also saw Tanjiro and Kanao looking curious. Smiling I decided to answer the unasked question. "It's been decided that Nezuko needs more protection."
Tanjiro's eyes widened a bit before asking me a question. "So we're adding more people to our team then?" I nodded as he smiled. "Great! Do you know who they are?" I gave a so so gesture with my hand before verbally answering.
"Well Oyakata Sama wanted to send a Hashira, but all of them are busy at the moment. Though Tomioka San, Kyojuro Sensei, Kocho San, and the love Hashira wanted to volunteer. It has been decided that the decision will be made during their next meeting together. That or the first available Hashira will join us. For now we're getting someone familiar in the form of Zenitsu, and someone not familiar in a Hashibara Innosuke."
Tanjiro smiled brightly before freezing halfway through his sentence. "Zenitsu? That's great! As for Hashibira Innosuk-" His mind seemed to process something before a nervous chuckle escaped his throat. "Hehe… while I might be mistaken I might know who this Hashibira character is. In fact Kanao might as well." After a moment Kanao's eyes widened in recognition before she grimaced. At their faces me and Nezuko looked at each other before shrugging.
That can't be good. I could tell that they didn't want to tell me about their encounter with this Innosuke. So instead I changed the subject. "Well their both going to be joining us on our next mission. So seeing how we've been healing for two days we should hurry." Shaking themselves out of their worry, the two teens nodded and we took off at max speed. Also no I wasn't surprised that Nezuko managed to keep up with us. I swear that girl has super legs!
As we ran I noticed something, I had to actually slow down or risk the others falling behind. Now while I understand that Tanjiro was still mastering his Zen Shūchū Jōchū, Kanao should've been able to keep up with me. I mean Nezuko was able to keep up with me easily. The other two looked a bit out of breath after a while, Tanjiro more so than Kanao of course. Made me start to wonder how much stronger I was getting. That's when we met someone we didn't expect to see curled up on the road. Slap marks all over his face and tears streaming from his eyes.
"I just said she was beautiful and pretty, why did she hit me soo much?!" I immediately knew who this was.
Sighing I walked up and nudged his side with my boot. "Zenitsu… what in oblivion are you doing?" The yellow boy looked up at me before lunging at me.
"Michael San! Oh thank goodness you're finally here! You can protect me!" I could only sigh along with Tanjiro and Kanao, though we honestly should've expected this from the thunder breather. After a few moments of calming him down we were on the move again. Thankfully Zenitsu was quiet, especially when we gave him a rice ball to eat. "So how have all of you been? I've been kind of lonely once I was separated from Nee San after my second mission."
I almost snorted at how Eris managed to get him to call her that but I answered politely. "Well we've had a bit of a rollercoaster of a ride." Everyone looked at me in confusion before I sighed. "I mean things have been rather up and down." They nodded in understanding before I continued. "I assume you got something about teaming up with us?" He nodded before becoming serious.
"Yeah! I'm sorry that you've had to deal with meeting Muzan himself. But I promise to help protect Nezuko! Otherwise Nee San will just beat me up again." That time I did laugh, because that sounded exactly like Eris.
Walking up to him Nezuko removed her muzzle for just a moment. "Th-thank you Zen-Zenitsu San." Taking a look at her I knew Zenitsu was instantly in love with the demon girl. Her precious smile winning him over in but an instant.
"You're most welcomed Nezuko Chan~!" I could only shake my head as Tanjiro narrowed his eyes at Zenitsu. I could only smile at that, it would seem that our teasing's had opened his eyes a bit more to things like this. Thankfully he didn't try anything; however I had a feeling he'd pay more attention to Zenitsu from then on.
That's when a sparrow landed on Tanjiro's shoulder, after a bit of chirping the boy nodded. "I understand! I'll talk to him about it." The bird seemed to almost cry as Tanjiro walked up to Zenitsu. "Zenitsu San your sparrow asked me to tell you a few things." The yellow boy blinked for a moments before asking a good question.
"Wait… you mean you can understand Chuntaro?" Tanjiro nodded, as the rest of us apart from Nezuko gave him a strange look.
He however simply continued. "He was saying how you keep making problems for him, and that after you separated from Eris San you continually complained. He also said you need to stop womanizing every girl you see." Zenitsu quickly tried defending himself as I sighed.
I swear these kids are going to turn the rest of my hair white at this rate.
I am the advanced Line break! All shall fear my technological powers!
It didn't take us much longer to arrive at the mansion where our next mission was taking place.
Looking up at it I used my Lyb'Craeft on it. "Yep! The entire place has been taken over by a demon. Multiple ones in fact." As Zenitsu tried to stay strong, if only so he didn't embarrass himself in front of Nezuko. The other three nodded with determined looks. Looking at them I had an idea. "You know… this is a perfect training moment." As Zenitsu panicked the other three looked at me in confusion. "Here's my idea! Nezuko and Zenitsu can enter one way, while Kanao and Tanjiro can enter another. I'll then enter by myself." I was actually impressed how everyone both looked happy and disappointed.
However before anyone could say anything Zenitsu frowned. "Hey! Does anyone else hear that sound? It sounds like a drum." Frowning I focused on my hearing however I couldn't hear anything. I was about to say as such when I heard something coming from behind us. Turning around I was surprised to see two young children. They seemed pretty freaked out and even backed away when I approached them. Raising my hands I tried to calm them down.
"Hey! It's okay I'm not going to hurt you, I'm simply curious as to why you're out this far." The kids backed up with the older boys little sister clenching onto her brother. Thankfully I had true big brother Tanjiro with us.
Kneeling down in front of him he gave his patented smile. "Do you want to see something neat?" The kids looked a bit wary as he held his hands out. "Look! A tame sparrow!" In his hands Chuntaro did a little dance, this was enough to calm the children down somewhat. Thankfully it was fully enough to get them to trust us and they fell to their knees. Smiling I picked up where Tanjiro left off.
"A bit better?" They nodded as I gently patted their heads. "Alright, can you tell us your names?"
Taking a breath the boy spoke first. "I'm Shoichi and this is my little sister Teruko." The young girl gave a small hi and I nodded.
"It's nice to meet you both~! I'm Smith Michael; next to me is Kamado Tanjiro. Can you tell us why you're all the way out here?"
As Teruko clung to Shoichi's blue kimono the young boy told us what happened. "We were walking home one night with our big brother Kiyoshi, but then suddenly some monster came out of nowhere and grabbed him. He was hurt and we followed the trail of blood here." Nodding I decided that we needed another plan of action.
"Well don't worry we're actually here to help." They looked relieved as I turned to the others. "Alright! New plan of action! Nezuko can you stay and protect these two? I'd feel better if we had someone watching over them." Zenitsu looked rather down now, while Tanjiro looked a bit happier. Poor kid had no idea what the rest of my plan was. Thankfully Nezuko gave a determined nod and I then turned to Kanao. "Me and Tanjiro will be instead teaming up and you'll be going with Zenitsu. Our first priority is to find Kiyoshi." Now it was Tanjiro's and Kanao's turn to look a bit disappointed, but they quickly agreed.
Standing up I rolled my shoulders when Zenitsu spoke up again. "Wait! There's that drumming sound again!" This time I could hear a slight drum sound. "What do you think tha-" Zenitsu was cut off as a man was thrown from an open window. The bleeding man hit the ground with a sickening crunch.
"Tanjiro!" He didn't need me to say anything, instead he moved in front of the kids to shield them from the sight. I myself ran over to the man and began working. "Stay with us now! You'll be fine!" The man was bleeding from all over with a multitude of broken bones. I could feel my reserves being drained from trying to reverse the damage.
"Am I goi-going to die?" I shook my head as I continued to work.
"Not as long as I'm here you want! Just rest for now, I promise to look after you." He gave me a small nod before passing out, seeing how he was still breathing I yelled out to the kids. "Is this your brother?"
After a moment Teruko spoke up. "No, our brother has a persimmon colored haori." I nodded before turning to the others.
"Well change of plans again; I can't leave until I'm sure this man will survive. In the meantime you three head on in and see what you can do. If you're not done by the time I'm finished, I will join in on the hunt." With looks of determination, well at least in Kanao and Tanjiro's case, they nodded before heading on in. Zenitsu followed timidly behind them. I could only shake my head at that. Kid needs to grow some backbone. Turning to Teruko and Shoichi I smiled. "Don't worry; those three will be able to save your brother." The nodded nervously and flinched a bit as Nezuko sat down next to them. Reaching over she gently patted their heads.
That calmed them down making me smile at the wholesome scene. Looking back at the man I was healing I refocused on the task at hand. As I worked I heard drums every now and then, I could only frown and hope the others were doing okay. Looking over I smiled as I saw Teruko braiding Nezuko's hair. Shoichi simply watched over his sister and their temporary protector. Looking back at the man I was healing I nodded and ended my spells.
Picking him up I gently moved him over to the where the kids were. "Alright he'll be fine now, just needs some rest and he'll be good to go." The children sighed in relief as I turned to Nezuko. "I'm trusting you to watch over them."
"MHM!" Smiling I patted her head as she gave me an eye smile.
"Good to hear, alright I need to go help the trouble makers now. Stay out here with Nezuko Chan and you'll be safe." Teruko and Shoichi nodded as I turned to the house. "Well wish me luck." As I ran inside they all gave shouts, or in Nezuko's case, mumbles of encouragement. The moment I entered the house I knew there was something wrong with it. There was also some rather familiar about the house that I couldn't place. I finally noticed when a drum sound rang out and I suddenly found myself in another room. "Oh crab nuggets… Again with a teleporting demon?! Kami gosh dang it!" If you couldn't tell I was a bit upset about the revelation.
I am the advanced Line break! All shall fear my technological powers!
After my temper tantrum, and yes I will call it as it was. I had calmed down enough to start searching, surprisingly however was the lack of teleportation's. Besides that first time I had stayed on the path I was following, slowing opening up doors as I went along. I was actually rather impressed with the mansion itself. It was extremely large, and so far I had found all the amenities needed for fifty people. Eventually I found a rather large room, though I quickly became disgruntled as I saw how this place had a second floor.
"Just how big is this place?"
I did not expect an answer to my question. "Big enough to be your grave!" Turning around I deflected a short sword. However the strike itself was enough to jar my arms. As my assailant flew by I got into a ready stance. "Impressive! I can see how you defeated that cry baby Mukago." I narrowed my eyes as the shorted man turned around. I could see in his eye right eye the kanji for six over his pupil. "So you're one of the ones my master wishes gone. Just my luck I'd run into you here as I'm trying to recruit demons to track you down!"
I couldn't help but click my teeth at that. "Is that so? Well you found me, guess we can't settle this peacefully huh?" His grin grew wider as he readied himself, a kodachi in his left hand. "I thought not." I decided not to take this guy lightly, mostly because there was something wrong about his strength. I suppose he could simply have more physical strength than my dragonknight. But somehow that feels wrong. Deciding to find out I charged forward, using half my max speed to get in close. Ichi no kata Shiranui! As I brought my blade down the sixth lower moon was able to block my attack. Yeah that proves it.
Continuing my assault I unleashed a flurry of quick slashes on my enemy. With his simple short blade the demon was able to deflect all of my attacks. I could only wonder how he was so strong. My best guess being that it was simply his blood demon art. However I had a feeling that it wasn't the case.
Locking blades the demon decided to mock me. "HAH! I can't believe that bitch fell to you! Then again was never empowered by his blood! I can now see why he wants you and your friends dead, we can't allow someone like you to hone your skills further! And it stands to reason that your friends are just as skilled!" I wasn't about to correct him and say only one of them was on my level. However is monologue was enough to inform what was going on.
However I still had some questions and seeing how he was so talkative I asked. "Was it just you? Or has all the lower moons been strengthened?" After a few more exchanges he answered with a smirk.
"Of course! We've all been assigned to hunt you down! The one who does will be greatly rewarded! So lucky me that I found you so soon right?" I could only roll my eyes at this before breaking our lock by kicking the demon in the stomach. As he spat out some blood I rushed forward. Intent on finishing this battle quickly, that's when the demon started taking this seriously. "Kekkijutsu! Kazewokiru!" My eyes widened as he spat out a red blade of wind at me.
Moving to the side I allowed myself to fall down, my dodge was only partially successful as cut was carved into my face. Thankfully it was shallow and I quickly rolled to my feet. Looking up I could tell that the lower moon was now a little nervous. His bravado from earlier a little dried up. I decided not to give Muzan any other reason to hunt me down, so I left the cut below my left eye alone for the moment.
It stung but I was used to worse pain by that point. Gripping my sword I took a breath, raised my sword and struck. Hachi no Kata Kanpeki En! Using my flame sphere I tested out how strong the demon's wind was. As he spat out another blade of wind, it collided with my attack. They seemed to fight for a moment before they both exploded. Alright so about even in strength, for both close and long range. But what about speed? Deciding to kick up a notch I went as fast as I could. Jumping through the smoke left over from the explosion. Go no kata Enko!
As I ran behind my flame tiger I struck at the moment the demon deflected it with a barrier of wind. Using my attack as a distraction I slashed at his exposed neck from behind him. I could only narrow my eyes as his kodachi met my blade. However I could see his arm buckle slightly. His eyes widened and he quickly retreated spitting out a number of wind bullets at me.
Shi no kata Sei En no Uneri! Swinging my blade I was able to defend against all of his hasty attacks. I couldn't help but hum at the look of panic on his face. This one lacks any and all confidence. Deciding to take advantage of that to throw him off balance I taunted the demon. "What's the matter? I haven't even used half my strength yet! I thought Muzan "empowered" you lower moons to hunt us down? Can't you even fight the weakest of our group?" The demon started sweating profusely and I knew I had won. Checkmate! Rushing forward I raised my sword up. San no kata Kien Banjo!
Putting all I had into the slash I brought it down upon my enemy. He tried blocking it with a hasty wind barrier that he breathed out. Unlike last time however it was shoddy and my attack cut right through it. Seeing his defense broken the demon brought his kodachi up. Our blades met in sparks as I started pushing against him. Slamming him against the wall I continued to push, the wooden cracking beneath and behind him. With one last bout of strength I pushed us right through the wall.
Much to my surprise however we began falling sideways. "What in the halibut?!" As we landed on what should've been the left wall we groaned.
"Michael San! Are you alright?!" Blinking blearily I looked up to see Tanjiro, a bit beat up but otherwise fine. Looking around further I saw a demon standing normally at the rooms entrance. On his body were multiple tsuzumi drums on his body.
Shaking my head I was about to answer Tanjiro when the lower moon shouted at the drum demon. "What's the big idea Kyogai?! Why did you bring us so close together?! Trying to steal my kill?! Wasn't the mariachi child and the hanafuda demon slayer enough for you?! Had to try and poach my own kill eh? Well I won't have it! I won't allow you to take retake your place as one of us!" The demon Kyogai growled, his sharp teeth showing as his red eyes focused on us. That's when they seemed to turn downwards revealing his pupils. One of which had a crossed out kanji for six on it.
"I didn't teleport you here Kamanue! It was that child who stole my drum you moron!" As they argued and the demon I was fighting marched up to Kyogai, I stood up and looked over at Tanjiro.
"Seems as if we're in a bit of a tough spot eh kid?" Tanjiro nodded before we looked forward. "Be careful, while before I'm sure you could take on Kamanue. Muzan has decided that we needed to die, and has empowered the lower moons to be stronger. Thankfully they don't seem to know about Nezuko yet."
He nodded while we both got ready. "That's good to know, anything I need to know about your opponent?" I nodded before giving him information.
"Yeah, besides being able to match me in strength and speed, he also spits out wind. Already he spat out bullets at me, blades at me, and breathed out a barrier of wind. Anything on this Kyogai?"
Tanjiro nodded before speaking quickly. "The drum on his stomach causes gashes to appear, they seem to shred a number of things to bits easily." I nodded at that as he continued. "He can also use his other drums to spin the room around. Actually why the room is the way it is right now." I nodded at that as we prepared for combat. Seeing how the demons were distracted arguing with one another I charged forward.
Go no kata Enko! Running behind my attack I struck at the now named Kamanue. Seeing this Kyogai's eyes widened.
"Behind you!" The current lower six barely had time to register his warning. Turning around he was met with flames, as he screamed I used the third form and brought my blade down. Unfortunately I was a smidge to slow and he managed to jump back. Escaping with a deep yet survivable cut across his front.
"ARGH!" Screaming in pain he looked up at me in fear. "YOU! You're actually a Hashira aren't you?!" I gave him a bored look and shook my head. "You're lying!" Sighing I was about to finish things when my instincts screamed at me. Jumping back I managed to dodge some sort of sound attack that cut five deep gouges in the floor. Accompanying the attack was the sound of a drum. Glancing at Kyogai I narrowed my eyes in thought.
This one… this one has some honor left in him. Moving next to Tanjiro I kept my guard up. "I can see why you're having some trouble, while not too powerful his abilities are tricky." Tanjiro nodded as we got ready to attack. That's when the current lower six did something that pissed me off.
"Well seeing how you want to prove yourself, and seeing how are abilities don't mesh to well. I'll leave things to you Kyogai!" With his piece said the demon ran.
Kyogai did not like that. "Come back here you coward!" Tsking I spoke up.
"Hey! Kyogai!" He turned to me as I continued. "You don't mind me going after that coward do you?" There was a blood thirsty grin on his face.
"Not at all." Nodding I turned to Tanjiro.
"Alright I'll let you handle things here, I'll deal with the coward." Seeing his nod of understanding I ran past Kyogai, landing on the normal ground. Looking down I followed the slight blood trail Kamanue left behind.
I am the advanced Line break! All shall fear my technological powers!
Running through the mansion, I barged through a number of closed doors trying to catch up to the coward. Looking down I scowled as the blood I was following thinned. Eventually the trail of blood led me to an exit in the mansion. Narrowing my eyes I left to see the forest, it would provide just enough shade to allow the demon to escape. Using my Lyb'Craeft I looked into the forest. I saw nothing, and I couldn't help but growl at how it did escape.
"Argh! Dang it!" While it was true I won the fight, I didn't fulfill my true purpose in my battle with Kamanue. That was me decapitating the coward. Sighing I decided to try and reinforce Tanjiro, so I ran back inside. Thankfully I was a bit quicker on my return, seeing how all I had to do was follow the trail of broken doors. I was not gentle in the slightest in my pursuit. I arrived just in time to see Tanjiro walking out of the room. A little more banged up than the last I saw him, but still alright. Walking up to him I patted his shoulder. "You take care of him?" Tanjiro nodded as I healed his wounds.
Sighing in relief he rolled his shoulders. "You need to teach me that sometime. Oh speaking of which I was able to utilize Mage armor in my fight." I couldn't help but smile until he started walking off. "By the way I found Kiyoshi! He had Kyogai's teleportation drum the whole time we've been here. Turns out there were more demons that fought Kyogai for him. Kyogai lost the drum in the fight and Kiyoshi took it." I couldn't help but hum, a little impressed with Kiyoshi's tenacity. Following Tanjiro we eventually made it to a room that Tanjiro opened up. "Hey the de-GAH!" Some sort of pan had hit my little brother figure in the face.
Raising an eyebrow I looked inside to see a hazel eyed kid looking rather sheepish. "Guessing you're Kiyoshi then?" The child nodded and I walked over to him. Looking him over I healed his bandaged if injured leg. "Alright let's get you out of here and to your siblings. They've been quite worried about their older brother you know?" Seeing how everything was finished the poor boy started crying in relief.
Smiling I helped him up and holding his hand led him over to a now recovered Tanjiro. Nodding to one another I let the guy with the super nose lead the way out. When we approached the exit Tanjiro stopped for a moment. Sniffed the air, and with a look of panic ran the rest of the way.
"HEY!" The kid ignored me and seemed to freeze once outside the mansion. Worried I caught up with him, that's when I saw a scene that both confused me and made my blood boil a little. First the part that confused me. There was some man with a blue eyed boar head on his head. Missing any sort of top and holding to rather chipped swords. They seemed to be missing handles and were instead wrapped in bandages. I couldn't help but think on how that actually weakened the structural integrity of the swords.
That was until I saw what was going on, on the ground sitting in front of a wounded Nezuko was Zenitsu. He looked rather beaten up and both Teruko and Shoichi were crying, both looking rather unsure on what to do. It didn't take a genius to realize what was going on. Seeing us Zenitsu smiled despite his black eye.
"Hey… about time you two made it. Nezuko refused to hurt this guy and got hurt, so I've been protecting her since."
Turing to us the boar man pointed at Tanjiro. "Hey! You're the one who threw me earlier!" Tanjiro was silent looking at both Nezuko and Zenitsu, anger rolling off of him. "What's with that look?! You also protecting this demon?!" Turning back to Zenitsu and Nezuko he raised a sword. "Well I don't care! I'm supposed to kill all demons and I will do so!" That was enough to Tanjiro, and before I could do anything he rushed forward.
"Stop it!" The boar man looked back for just a second before Tanjiro punched out.
As his attack connected Zenitsu shouted something. "DID I JUST HEAR HIS RIBS BREAK?!" At that I couldn't help but wince, because despite what was going on the man was actually just trying to do his job. So I didn't quite believe he deserved that. A punch to the face? Sure! But not anything that would break his bones! Funnily enough that's when a rather pristine looking Kanao joined us. Right on time to watch her crush punch some random boar man. The punch was strong enough to launch the poor guy like twenty meters.
The look of and sound of shock were obvious as she spoke. "Wha-what is going on?" As I led us over to the others I explained.
"Well… We came out here to see the boar guy beating up Zenitsu who was protecting Nezuko from him. Turns out the boar guy found out she was a demon and attacked, of course sweet Nezuko swore never to hurt humans so didn't stop him. Tanjiro saw this and as you can see lost his temper." Kanao nodded in understanding, completely understanding why Tanjiro attacked. Speaking of whom… as I started healing Zenitsu I heard Tanjiro yelling.
He still sounded rather angry. "Have you no shame?! Members of the corps are forbidden from raising their swords at one another! More than that Nezuko! My little sister! Was given permission from the leader of the corps to keep living!" After a moment the boar man began chuckling.
"Ah I see! So it's like that huh? Sorry about that then." Right when I thought it was over the masked man jumped up and attacked. "So it should be fine if we fight without using swords huh?!"
Poor Tanjiro was caught off guard with that and backed up quickly from a kick to the head. "That's not what I meant! We shouldn't even be fighting in the first place!" The boar man only laughed and continued his bizarrely low assault. I couldn't help but narrow my eyes at it; the style would definitely be a tricky one to handle. Unfortunately for whomever this guy was, Tanjiro was simply stronger and faster than he was. So only had a little difficulty keeping up.
As we watched Kanao spoke up. "I remember now." Turning to her she continued. "That's Hashibira Innosuke, the same one we met during the final selection." This time both me and Zenitsu yelled out a question.
""He's who?!"" She gave us a strained smile as I sighed.
"Just our luck! The one who's supposed to be helping us is some insane boar man!" Turning back to the fight I sighed. "Well at least he's an interesting challenge for Tanjiro." Kanao nodded as I finished healing Zenitsu.
Of course he had his own opinion on this. "Well I'll admit that he's crazy. But didn't Tanjiro also break corps rules by punching him?" As Teruko sweetly used a handkerchief to wipe off some blood on his face I nodded.
"Yeah… that he did… then again I don't have any room to talk seeing how I attacked a Hashira a few months ago."
Kanao shrugged at that. "Well to be fair he did attack you first, you were just trying to defend Mukago." I nodded at that.
"True."
"Mhm!" Looking at Nezuko I saw her get Zenitsu's attention. As he turned to her she took off her muzzle and kissed his cheek.
"Tha-thank you for for defending m-me~." After a moment hearts seemed to appear in the blond boys eyes.
Hugging her he spoke in the most joyful tone I've ever heard from him. "Any time Nezuko Chan~!" While I rolled my eyes and Nezuko giggled, even I had to admit that this time. Zenitsu did deserve that for defending the demon girl. Teruko had a look of joy on her face, as if she just saw something adorable. Her brothers on the other hand looked away blushing. Finally there was Kanao who looked beat red.
"How bold of you Nezuko Chan." I couldn't help but roll my eyes with a snort, taking this opportunity to tease the flower girl.
"Wish you could kiss Tanjiro eh?" She looked at me with wide eyes.
"NO! I mean yes, I mean… oh." Deciding to spare her I simply chuckled and looked back to the fight. Only to see it end with Tanjiro head butting Innosuke.
That got Zenitsu's attention real fast. "Did… did I just hear a crack!?" Knowing how good his hearing was I couldn't help but suck in some air and wince. That must've been painful. As the boar boy as I now knew him stumbled a bit back his mask fell off his head. All of us could only stare as Zenitsu summed up our thoughts very well. "HUH?! THAT'S WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE?!"
As blood dripped from his face Innosuke spoke up in response. "Eh?! You have a problem with how I look?!" Somehow the kid had one of the most feminine and beautiful faces I'd ever seen. Though his wide and gentle looking green eyes still seemed to be a little feral.
After a moment Tanjiro spoke up. "I have no problem with it at all! It is fair and petite, making it rather attractive." He said that with such a straight face and tone I was actually little impressed. Innosuke however didn't take it too well.
"Huh?! You saying I look like a girl?! Fight me checkered guy!"
Tanjiro shook his head. "No! I won't fight you anymore!" That only seemed to anger him.
"What?! Fight me!" Tanjiro simply said no. "Listen here! I'm Hashibira Innosuke! Don't forget that!" He probably would've said more but Tanjiro interrupted him.
"Innosuke?! How do you spell that?!"
That got the boar boy to pause before he yelled again. "I don't know! I can't read! The name was written on my loinclo-" That's when he stopped speaking much to our confusion. After a couple of moments, foam seemed to start coming out of his mouth and he fell backwards. Completely unconscious.
I gave the hard headed kid a deadpanned look. "Great… now I have to heal him to." Tanjiro could only laugh sheepishly at that.
I am the advanced Line break! All shall fear my technological powers!
Argentum: Well that's it for this chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it!
Innosuke: There's no way the great Innosuke could ever lose!
Kyogai: Well like me you did. Only much easier this time because Tanjiro is a whole lot stronger.
Grel'Slyfer: Ain't that the truth.
Tanjiro: Heh heh… sorry about that.
Argentum: Tanjiro don't apologize you'll only enable them further.
Grel'Slyfer: What do you mean by that?
Nezuko: He means you are Innosuke are violent idiots who need to settle down.
Tanjiro: Woah! Nezuko! Be nice please!
Nezuko: Maybe, just upset that I was stabbed is all.
Innosuke: I'm not apologizing.
Argentum: Okay before this devolves into a fight let's go ahead and end this. Kyogai? Mind sending us off?
Kyogai: No problem. Well this has been yet another Dark Guard production now signing off.
Everyone: Goodbye!