Argentum: Not much longer now.

Eris: Not much longer for what?

Argentum: You'll see.

Grel'Slyfer: I have a bad feeling about those words.

Argentum: Whatever your opinion doesn't matter.

Grel'Slyfer: Harsh.

Shinobu: Not like you matter at all.

Grel'Slyfer: I seriously get no respect around here.

Shinobu: You don't deserve any respect.

Grel'Slyfer: Why I ought to-

Argentum: Okay this isn't going anywhere. I do have a question for ya'll though. For while I have an idea for a thirteenth flame form I would like to see what you all think. Please give me your ideas in the comments.

Grel'Slyfer: Now that sounds fun.

Argentum: Whatever… Shinobu! Could you start us off please?

Shinobu: Because you asked so nicely sure! Ahem… We do not own any of the intellectual properties shown. Only world building concepts and original characters, now without any more interruptions…

Everyone: Here's the story!

Argentum: P.S…. sorry for such a long wait. Not only did I not know how to write these next two chapters. In fact I'm still disappointed in them. But! We the Dark Guard production got lazy playing Stellaris. Too busy backstabbing each other in that game. Also for those who are curious… Slayer won through pure military might. Guy is scary good, well at least compared to me and Judan.

Hello= Regular talk

Hello= Thoughts

[Hello]= Radio

(Hello)= Telepathy/Mind reading

Chapter Fifty Seven: How we started the end or… How a medicine tasted bitter sweet…

Even after five days of being back at the Butterfly mansion I still felt sore. On the beds next to me were Muichiro and Tanjiro. All of us were pushed to our limits during the fight at the swordsmith village. Well a correction, the former swordsmith village. Turns out there were tons of dummy villages all over the place. They simply moved to another one seeing how their current one was compromised. A pretty ingenious system if you ask me.

"Say aww~." I couldn't help but smirk as I saw Shura chopstick feeding Muichiro something. The poor kid's face was bright red but he accepted her help. Turns out he had strained his arms using the demon slayer mark for the first time. My smirk grew as I saw Tanjiro being helped by Kanao. Now he had strained his entire body doing whatever that selfless state thing was. I was a little jealous actually, but I had to admit it was a perfect match against my dimensional energy surge.

Gotta spar with him at full strength when we rest up a bit.

"Are you paying attention?" Turning to Shinobu who was now giving me the stink eye I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly.

"Sorry got distracted by the two pairs of love birds over there. Just glad it isn't me this time I suppose." The few months older woman rolled her eyes at my words.

"Well it will be you soon! Seeing how the rest of the "Kamaboko" squad is supposed to be here any day now." I let my head drop at that. "But enough of that! We were working on a spell to help deal with poison remember? WE can't slack off on that!" Looking down at the clipboard and paper she was holding I sighed but nodded. The previous fight had taught us what a huge weakness poison was. Seeing my nod she gave me her trademarked smile. "Good! We have a lot of work to do and what better way to spend your bed rest than this?"

I honestly felt my reptilian side surge for a moment. Sleeping under the sun would be nice… Blinking I couldn't help but be befuddled. Huh? Where did that thought come from? Deciding to ignore that and let future me deal with it, I started brainstorming magical equations with Shinobu again. There honestly wasn't much to do besides that. We still didn't have any board or card games to play around there. As we talked Muichiro now having finished lunch spoke up.

"I have a question for the two of you." Knowing that he was speaking to Tanjiro and I we both turned to him, much to Shinobu's annoyance. "Now that I have the mark do you think you could teach me how to use the crimson nichirin blade?" Smiling I gave him a thumb's up.

"You betcha! In fact now that I know how to use it, teaching you would be a synch!" He smiled and nodded towards me.

"Arigatou, I was honestly worried that I'd have to rely on Tanjiro to teach me."

The kid between us couldn't help but blanch. "Hey! I'm not that bad at teaching! Right?" All of us even Kanao turned away from his face. This left him dejected and lifeless. "I see…" Hugging her boyfriend Kanao rubbed the top of his head.

"There there Tanjiro Kun. You're great and amazing in other ways~." Feeling revitalized Tanjiro thanked her when Muichiro with a mischievous smirk spoke up.

"Oh I bet you enjoy how "amazing" he is in other ways." The two teens froze as Muichiro kept on smirking. I couldn't help but look at the kid in shock as Shura seemed to understand what was going on. Her smirked perfectly matched the little snot.

"Hmm~? Makes me wonder what the two get up to at night~. They do seem to share a room more times than not~." I couldn't help but slowly turn my head towards Shinobu. Her face was now darkened and she was giving off some force of evil.

When she spoke it still sounded calm, but I could tell there was a darkness behind it. "I see… and what exactly have the two of you done whilst alone? I hope the two of you have been behaving yourselves. I wouldn't want to instill any… lessons into you two, now would I?" The two teens now completely frightened out of their minds, shook their heads so fast I was surprised they didn't get whiplash. That's when Shinobu's gaze hardened even more. "Then what is that mark on Tanjiro's neck?" I said a silent prayer to whatever gods controlled this world for the two. Well mostly for Tanjiro, he was the one who was most likely to die right now.

Thankfully my prayer was answered as a few guests arrived. "Hello everybody~!" Slamming open the door was Mitsuri, behind her was Genya and surprisingly Giyu. "Uh… what's going on?" Shinobu laughed behind her hand before turning to her best friend. "Oh nothing~." The two teens sighed in relief before she leaned down next to their ears. "Don't think this is over." With the teens shock still once more, she turned back and clapped her hands together. "So what brings you all here~?" Now while Giyu and Genya were giving her strange looks. Mitsuri was giving her a look of exasperated disappointment. It was as if she knew exactly what was happening, and seeing how she had lots of siblings she probably did.

Walking up to her friend she grabbed Shinobu by the Haori and hulled her out of the room. "If you could all give us a moment, the two of us need to talk about Onee San stuff." As she slammed the door and dragged the smaller Hashira much to their protests, the rest of us could only stare. After a few moments of silence Giyu surprisingly broke it by turning back to us.

"So another Hashira meeting is about to occur. However seeing how you three still can't walk, I was sent to get your sides of the story." He then turned to Kanao and actually smiled. "Although for Tanjiro you'll be coming to represent him. Though there is something else we'll need you for during the meeting." Kanao blinked in confusion before nodding her head. "Good." He then turned to me. "So what happened with you and Tokito San?" Looking at my new friend for a moment I turned back to Giyu.

"Well where do I begin?"

I am the greatest of master line breaks! And I shall make the greatest of medicinal line breaks!

Cracking my neck as Giyu and Kanao left and Genya stayed I turned to the scarred teen. "So… any idea what they might want with Kanao?" The teen sighed before sitting down on a spare chair.

"If I were to guess I think they're going to make her another Hashira." Tanjiro perked up at that.

"You really think so?" At Genya's nod Tanjiro smiled brightly. "Well she has certainly surpassed the minimum requirement I say." He then turned to Genya still smiling. "Though if it means anything I think you also deserve a spot with all you've helped us with."

Nodding in agreement Muichiro also spoke up. "For what it's worth I also agree." Genya looked at me and I also nodded. Seeing our support he smiled.

"Thanks guys, that means quite a lot to me. Guess I just need to get stronger, and then one day I might join all of you."

I couldn't help but give the teen a thumb's up. "That's the spirit! As my sensei always says… Set your heart ablaze and never give in!" As we all grinned we heard footsteps running towards the door. Humming I listened in. "Sounds like three people." As Tanjiro nodded Muichiro was about to ask us something when the doors slammed open. "Oh boy." Panting and out of breath were Eris, Cassandra, and Nezuko. As they glared at us, me and Tanjiro gulped nervously as Genya moved his chair next to Muichiro.

"So how have you been recovering Tokito?"

I'm pretty sure Tanjiro thought the same thing as I did. Traitor! Rushing up to her brother Nezuko slammed a fist on the top of his head.

"ITAI!" Not caring for his yell of pain Nezuko grabbed his collar.

"Can you not go even two weeks without seriously injuring yourself?! Do you even understand how worried I was about you?!" Now even more worried for my own wellbeing I hesitantly turned back to my girls. Eris being Eris was the first to walk up to me and chastise me. But not before also slapping the top of my head, though I had a feeling she didn't hit me nearly as hard as Nezuko hit Tanjiro. That girl could be quite vicious for how adorable she can be.

I did feel bad as I saw some tears in her eyes. "While I understand that sometimes you can't help but be hurt, especially when you engage powerful foes. That doesn't mean I enjoy constantly seeing you in the infirmary!" I couldn't help but wince at the sight of tears forming in Eris' eyes. However the guilt I felt only grew when Cassandra spoke up.

"I also understand that injuries are something unavoidable. However you-" She then turned to Tanjiro who flinched. "And you! Need to learn restraint." Turning back to me my princess gave me a hug. "You are not alone in your battles! You have friends and family willing to fight alongside you. In fact if you have not noticed, the only times you are in here like this. Are the times when you take too much onto your persons. Any other time you fight with us you are never this injured."

As the two of us thought about that Nezuko spoke up. "Nee San has a point! I mean sure there are a couple of exceptions, but usually all of us are in here looking like mummies." Looking at each other we sighed, us two fire users knew they were right. We needed to start working with the others more; unfortunately some habits were hard to break. Tanjiro and I were getting too used to taking the hardest challenges on ourselves. Usually sacrificing our own wellbeing to at least weaken our foes for the others to finish off.

Thinking on it, our actions were extremely similar to Kyojuro's. He's been rubbing off on us big time. Smiling I took Eris into mine and Cassandra's hug and nodded. "Sorry for worrying you two so much. I would promise not to, but knowing me that will be impossible. But I will still try." Eris accepted my hug and thus accepted my words, however I could tell that both my girls weren't completely happy with them. As for Tanjiro…

"You better follow his example Onii Chan! Or else I'll talk to Kanao Chan and then you'll deal with both of us!" The poor kid could only laugh nervously while nodding his head. Over to the side Genya grinned at our predicament.

"The two of you are soo whipped." I could only glare at them while Tanjiro blinked in confusion.

"Whipped? I heard Zenitsu say that once but what does that actually mean?" Even Nezuko was giving him a rather unimpressed look. The kid still had a lot left to learn. That however would have to wait as the door slammed open and Kanao rushed in.

Seeing her heading Nezuko stepped back as the flower girl tackle hugged her boyfriend. "I did it!" It was a little weird to see Kanao acting so excited. For even with how much she had changed, the girl was still rather reserved. Tanjiro however simply accepted the hug with a smile… and a slight wince of pain.

"What did you do? Must've been pretty good for you to be this excited?"

Kanao pulled back a bit before nodding with a smile. "Yep~! I'm also a Hashira now!" Tanjiro's trademarked smile grew as he hugged her closer.

"That's amazing! Congratulations!" I could tell our congratulations were ignored in favor of nuzzling into Tanjiro's shoulder. "So are you getting your own home or something?" Kanao shook her head before kissing his cheek.

"Actually I said I'll just move in with you guys. Also I took the same wage as you and Michael San." As Tanjiro grinned I and my girls chuckled along with everyone else. It was pretty obvious what Kanao was planning, even the ever oblivious Tanjiro seemed to understand. Unfortunately for them, considering whom we were, me and my girls couldn't help but tease the teens.

Their faces had never been redder at Cassandra's words. "Ara ara~? Moving in with one another already~? I wonder what exactly the two of you will be planning to do once you live in the same house~." Steam started coming out of their ears once Eris spoke up.

"Come on Cass! You already know exactly what they plan on doing. Especially when its dark and they're alone in a room~. Dead of night with no one to watch them~."

Surprisingly I didn't have to say anything for Nezuko hit the final nail in the coffin. "Make sure to give me lots nieces and nephews to baby~!" Her "innocent" smile was anything but innocent, and thus the two teens fainted onto the bed. Their faces boiling red as steam came from their ears. "Pfft… I can see why you like teasing them so much. They're waay too easy~. And this is coming from a mountain girl like me." Genya was now laughing on the floor while Muichiro was looking at the two rather clueless. Shura however was blushing as she shyly looked at the kid.

"HAHAHA! I can't believe they fainted!" Laughing pretty hard herself Eris spoke from my shoulder.

"HA! I didn't quite believe it till now! But you two were right about how easy they are!" Cassandra simply gave a lady like giggle from behind her hand. I would also like to say they were both doing so while still hugging me. I simply rolled my eyes with a smirk and held my two beauties. That's when both Kyojuro and Mitsuri entered the hospital room. They were honestly confused to see Genya wheezing for air on the floor, while the rest of us were laughing at the unconscious couple.

Stepping from behind Kyojuro, Mukago gave us each a confused look. "Do I even want to know what happened?" My grin was answer enough for my dragonknight. "You know what! I don't even want to know." She then looked and pointed at Shura. "You!" In confusion Shura pointed at herself. "Yes you! You're coming with me!" Running up to the confused girl Mukago grabbed her and then ran out of the room. After a few moments of confused blinking, the only sound being Genya's wheezing. Mitsuri turned to the rest of us.

"No seriously what happened?"

I am the greatest of master line breaks! And I shall make the greatest of medicinal line breaks!

After a thorough explanation Mitsuri was now giggling as Kyojuro grinned. "Ah! I completely understand the two! I feel the same way about Mukago Chan!" Nezuko hummed while giving Kyojuro an impressed look.

"Not even embarrassed to admit it eh? More impressive than Onii Chan and Nii San that's for sure." I couldn't help but hung my head as her words hit me. In contrast Eris and Cassandra laughed at me while kissing my cheeks.

Sighing I decided to get a move on things. "So… know why Mukago kidnapped Shura? She seemed to really want her for something." Both senior pillars looked at us a bit confused as Mitsuri asked us a question.

"Didn't Kanao Chan tell all of you?" As one we all looked at the unconscious teens and Mitsuri made an O shape with her lips. "Oh… I see." She then coughed into her hand before sitting down. "Well let me explain something that Mukago Chan and Tamayo San told us during the meeting." Hearing the latter's name, we all turned out attention onto the love Hashira. "You see while it still needs to be tested. We now have two versions of the demon cure! They're currently testing the one Nezuko wanted on Shura Chan~!"

Nezuko pumped both her fists with an excited gleam in her eye. "YES! Finally I'll be able to eat again!" We should've known that would be what she was excited most about. However Muichiro now looked worried.

"Wait you said testing? Will Shura Ch-San be alright?!" Ignoring the near slip, Kyojuro waved his question off with a big grin.

"They've done extensive testing against weaker captured demons already! The normal cure works just fine! Now we just need to see if the power cure works. They promised that the demon girl will be just fine, so don't worry for your friend Tokito San." Closing his eyes Muichiro nodded, his worries assuaged though I could tell he was still fearful for his crush. Seeing how he did his best for the youngest Hashira, Kyojuro turned to all of us once more. "If this cure works then another meeting will happen, this time all of you will need to attend." That got me curious.

"Wait when you say all of us, do you mean me, Tanjiro, and Kanao? Or all of us being the Kamaboko squad?" His face serious Kyojuro answered me.

"The entire squad." He then leaned forward. "A bit of this meeting was talking about the consequences of the cure. You see we're starting to plan Muzan's demise." Now that got all our attention. "So far the plan is for Nezuko to show her immunity to the sun. Once Muzan knows he'll do everything he can to capture her." He then grinned. "To bad for Kibutsuji it'll be a waste! For we'll have already have turned Nezuko Chan back into a human!"

Cassandra mulled over the plan and spoke up first. "The plan is a strong one. The demon king has shown his impulsiveness in the past. That was proven when he showed off his fear for Tanjiro by sending assassins after the young man." Nezuko nodded while clenching her fists, a look of determination on her face.

"If I have to be bait to finally end that monster's life than so be it! I'll make sure to punch him in the face before the end of all of this!" That got a small laugh out of us as she turned to Mitsuri. "I'll need more training if that's alright."

The love Hashira gave the demon girl a smile. "Any time Nezuko Chan~! In fact… I have an idea for you, one that will only really work while you're still an adaptable demon." While the rest of us were curious, we trusted Mitsuri to have a way to help Nezuko. Next to her with his face beaming Kyojuro punched his left palm with his right hand. A very proud smile adorned his face.

"That's the spirit! Never let your flames weaken!" He then turned to the rest of us. "As for all of you I'll make sure you are all ready for the fight to come!" We all gave determined nods before we began discussing the times ahead. Eventually Tanjiro and Kanao woke up and we explained to them what was going on. Tanjiro didn't like the idea of making Nezuko bait, but understood the necessity of it all. We knew it was going to be a tough uphill battle, but the long war between demons and slayers were finally coming to a head.

Looking down at his hands Muichiro spoke up when we talked about training. "Can I join all of you?" Turning to the kid I saw that he was blushing, embarrassed from asking to join us. Taking mercy upon him I gave the kid a thumb's up.

"Ha! After all those times we trained back at the swordsmith village? You're welcomed to join us anytime!" He actually gave me a smile while nodding his head in thanks.

"KAWAII~! You have an adorable smile Tokito Kun~!" One guess as to whom just made the poor teens face beat red. As poor Muichiro was being "praised" by Mitsuri a cough came from the door. Turning we saw both Tamayo and Yushiro.

The latter was of course scowling while the former was smiling lightly. "Ara I hope I wasn't interrupting anything.~" Kyojuro laughed while waving her concerns off.

"Just a bit of talk on training is all!" He then looked at her seriously. "So… did the cure work?" With eyes closed and a beautiful smile on her face Tamayo nodded and Muichiro sighed in relief.

Yushiro puffed out his chest in pride. "Did you honestly think there was any other outcome? Lady Tamayo is as amazing as she is beautiful!" Nezuko gave the guy a wry grin before turning to Tamayo.

"So I'll be able to keep my abilities while becoming human?" The demon doctor nodded and Nezuko grinned fiercely. "Perfect~! I can't wait to punch Muzan in his stupid face!" That got Tamayo to smile evilly as well.

"You'll have to wait in line but I think that can be arranged~." The rest of us, besides Cassandra for some reason, all shivered at the murderous aura the two female demons were giving off. It was pretty scary, but with the cure working that just meant one last thing.

So leaning back I looked at Kyojuro. "So when should we give demon Michael Jackson the bait?" Those who didn't know what I was referencing gave me a strange look, but my sensei looked at me seriously.

"We start as soon as you and Tanjiro are recovered." I nodded at that, it was time to end things. I just wish I knew back then what it would cost.

I am the greatest of master line breaks! And I shall make the greatest of medicinal line breaks!

Argentum: Well that's the end of this chapter.

Mukago: Soon we shall be rid of Demon Michael Jackson!

Micha-Muzan: I am not Michael Jackson!

Tamayo: You look quite a bit like him scumbag.

Yushiro: Even beautiful while insulting someone!

Muzan: Okay what is wrong with him?

Argentum: Don't watch the TFS abridged.

Mukago: The what?

Argentum: Doesn't matter! Now then! Mukago could you kindly end the chapter off?

Mukago: Okay… sure? Ahem… This has been a Dark Guard production now signing off!

Everyone: Goodbye!

Grel'Slyfer: Hey I didn't get to say anything yet!

Argentum: Well there you go! You just said something.

Grel'Slyfer: I hate you.

Argentum: Hate you too~!