Kimiko watched her prey hurry down the path towards the local village, licking her lips in anticipation. She was so hungry…

She scurried along on her six hand-legs, using them to swing through trees and rush along the ground, barely making a sound. The human – a man in his second decade maybe – seemed to sense her anyway and began to run. That was her cue.

With an anticipatory roar, she threw herself at the human's back. They fell to the ground and rolled, the human crying out in pain and fear. She loved that sound. She loved it so much. So different from when—

No! No, she would not think of such times. (Sometimes she couldn't remember – she liked that.)

Instead, she sniffed the human, taking in the intoxicating scent. He was screaming and struggling, but she'd used at least two of her hands to dig into the ground upon impact, holding them both down. Despite her relatively smaller size, he couldn't throw her off. She bent down, ready to bite into his neck, anticipating the lovely taste running over her tongue and…

He wasn't there anymore. Or… she wasn't? She'd left two of her arms behind! She blinked in shock. How… what? It hurt… but she'd been scooped up so quickly. She cried out in pain looking back at her prey. He'd gotten to his feet and was running away again! No!

Kimiko struggled to go after him, but after only a couple of seconds, a voice stopped her.

"A child," the voice whispered. She looked up to see that someone had grabbed her. He had tied his hair up under some cloth, as if he were working under the sunlight instead of the moonlight. He also wore cloth to cover his eyes. Those two traits stood out to her first, and thus it took a second to realize he held a sword and had a demon slayer's outfit on! The fear didn't overpower the hunger, but it came very, very close.

She squeaked and struggled to escape, but he held her up by her neck.

Then he smiled at her, showing no teeth. "Little One, you are so strong to have continued to survive after…" he faded off and sighed. "Let's see what we can do about that connection you have to him, huh?"

Then, to her shock, he actually set her on the ground. Gently. She stood stock still for a moment as her arms continued to grow. He'd… let her go? And he was sheathing his sword?

She decided not to look at that too closely and turned to run.

"Sorry, this shouldn't hurt for long," was all she heard before something pierced her back.

Then a burning pain…

Then blackness.

xXx

Kimiko woke to arms around her, holding her close to a chest.

She hadn't felt that since…

Since…

Her eyes started watering up and she gasped. Since the scary man had visited the town. Mama had gone to see him with her and Onii-san. Something was wrong with Kimiko. Her legs wouldn't work right (they felt fine now…), and then the man just grinned down at her. He'd had pointed teeth and… and he'd hurt Kimiko! He'd hurt her in the forehead and she'd… she'd woken up so hungry… and she… she'd eaten Mama and Onii-san!

A sob escaped her and she grabbed onto the checkered haori right by her face, turning her head into it. Then she screamed.

(She was still hungry…)

"Hey… hey," a soft voice said to her, soothing. Her head shot up and she saw the kind smile of the man with the cloth around his eyes.

"W-who are you?" she asked. It came out sounding funny because she had weird teeth now. And she could feel something on her head… horns?

"My name is Kamado Tanjiro."

She sniffed and her breath shuddered. She didn't let go of his haori. "Y-you kill monsters," she managed to get out.

He didn't answer for a moment. "Yes."

She squeezed her eyes shut. "A-are you gonna kill me?"

"What? No!"

Kimiko shook her head. "Y-you should! I'm a bad girl." She glanced down at the second pair of arms she had. And her feet were hands! Hands! That looked weird. And gross.

She hated it.

"How could you possibly be a 'bad girl'?" he asked carefully as the countryside whizzed by. He was running. Could people run that fast? She hadn't thought so before...

She guiltily focused back on his question.

"I… I ate Onii-san. And Mama. After the bad man hurt me. Only bad girls do that." She started crying again. She was all alone and it was her own fault.

"Oh… dear one," the boy said softly, clutching her tighter to his chest. "That is not your fault. The bad man is the one to blame. He makes people forget things and makes them… well, hungry. When you can't remember what's good and what's bad, how can you make the right choice?"

Well, she supposed she couldn't, but…

"B-but I still ate them!"

A soft sigh. "Yeah. I ate my family too. Some of them." Then his voice quieted even more. "He made me…"

She gasped again and looked up at him more closely. He did have sharp teeth like her!

"Y-you kill monsters? But you're one of them?" One of us.

He snorted a little. "I know it doesn't make a lot of sense, dear one, but once I remembered who I was, I made a promise to never hurt anyone else ever again, no matter how hungry I am. So I hunt other monsters who don't remember and… well, sometimes I have to kill them, but sometimes I do what I did to you.

"You see, when the bad man turned me into a monster, he didn't realize that I would have a special ability to take his monsters away from him." He grinned down at her, sharp canines glinting in the moonlight. "So you're not his monster anymore – we're called demons now. And I wanted to help you remember so you don't hurt anyone else."

Kimiko wasn't sure she quite understood everything, but if she never saw the bad man again… well, she'd like that. A lot. So she nodded, not sure what else to say.

"How old are you, dear one?" the man asked, looking ahead, as if he could see through the cloth over his eyes. Maybe monsters – demons – could? "And what's your name?"

(She kind of wanted to see those eyes now.)

"Kimiko," she replied softly. "I… I'm gonna be eight soon."

His hand tightened around her just a little bit.

"And… I… I'm hungry. Does that make me bad still?" Because she hated that too. It hurt. A lot.

He sighed. "No, dear one. I can steal monsters away from that man, but right now, I cannot undo the transformation. Maybe later I could try but…" he looked down at her again as he jumped from tree to tree. He didn't even trip! "But right now, my sister is in trouble and I'm going to go and save her."

"You didn't eat her?" Kimiko asked.

Kamado-san shook his head. "No. Not this time…" he whispered that last part and it didn't make any sense so Kimiko decided to ignore it.

"And you're taking me with you?" Her eyes widened. "Are you gonna be my new Onii-san?" She didn't know how she felt about that.

His mouth quirked on one side, amused. "Do you want me to be your Onii-san?"

She thought about that for a moment before shaking her head. She didn't really want a new Onii-san. She wanted her Onii-san.

"Then how about you call me your friend?"

She considered that for several seconds before nodding. "Okay."

"And one thing that will help us both, Kimiko-chan, is if you go to sleep. It makes you less hungry."

Kimiko cocked her head to one side, confused. "Sleeping makes you less hungry?"

His smirk widened into an outright smile. "Yes. But only because we're demons."

She thought about that, but it still didn't make sense. "That sounds dumb."

He snorted. "Maybe, but I find it reassuring. It's how I stop myself from attacking people."

Well, Kimiko certainly didn't want to attack people. And she liked being held by someone again, even if it wasn't Onii-san. So she leaned her head against his chest again and nodded.

"Okay. I'll try to go to sleep."

For several minutes, she squirmed in his grasp, trying to find a really comfortable position that would let her go to sleep. Finally she huffed.

"I can't go to sleep, Kamado-san!"

"Hmm," he said. Then he sighed. "Kimiko. Go to sleep." The way he said it sounded like a deep voice inside her head and her chest and her heart and… her whole body. She found her eyes closing and the world faded away.

"Hopefully, when you wake up, everything will be better."

She hoped so too.

xXx

Tanjiro looked at the now sleeping child he carried. He'd smelled a demon, earlier, and the fear of a nearby human, likely being hunted, and hadn't been able to stop himself from making a small detour. Yes, he was in a hurry to get to Nezuko in time, but… she'd be beyond angry at him if he purposefully let someone die for her when he could have saved them. And he wouldn't blame her.

So he'd hunted the demon and come across them as they were about to feed, only to find said demon was a young child.

She looked so innocent now, with her tattered kimono stained brown and gray from years of grime, and straggly, green hair. He had no idea how long she'd been a demon, but guessed it was no small amount of time. He'd take her to Shinobu-san once he'd gotten to the red light district and made sure Nezuko and the others were okay. Kimiko could sleep safely in the basement there. And maybe he'd have time to try and burn the demon out of her. He was leery of trying now, afraid she'd wake up screaming – afraid he would kill her – afraid he couldn't burn his own cells out of people. While she'd gone to sleep easily on his command (he shuddered at the thought), he doubted she'd be able to sleep through the pain of him cleansing her demon cells.

He looked ahead, trying not to remember those green eyes of hers pleading up at him, so scared and guilty. No child that age should have that guilt on their shoulders.

His teeth ground together. Every time he thought he'd reached a stage of realizing Muzan's depravity, the demon progenitor would find a way of showing Tanjiro how wrong he was… or at least reminding him of the depths that man would sink to.

A growl built in Tanjiro's chest, deep and rumbling – threatening. It took him a moment to realize he was making such a sound and he shook his head. No, he couldn't think of that right now. He had to focus on getting to the entertainment district and find the demon slayers and Waxing Six.

Funny, it didn't seem like the time for that mission. He'd been planning on stopping by that red light district when he had a chance and taking on the Kizuki, but… Had they started this mission early? Or had it come to that time already and he just hadn't noticed? Had time just gotten away from him?

Or perhaps he was so caught up in his own life and his own problems that he'd just forgotten. And they'd never take down Muzan like that. He had to step up his game. And making sure no one died from Daki and Gyutaro would be a good way to begin. Even if he arrived late, he could burn the demons' poison out of their systems… because Nezuko couldn't.

He just hoped that them having information on the Waxing Moons would be enough to tip the scale in their favor.

They had to hold on until he got there.

They had to.

He grit his teeth, gripped Kimiko tighter and pushed harder.

xXx

Nezuko gasped and tried to catch her breath. She also clutched her arm where the demon had scratched her, feeling blood trickle down it as she faced the woman in front of her.

Waxing Six, Daki, she remembered. The now white-haired woman stood there, completely indecent (she could practically hear the old ladies in the village talking about that now) and… very much not happy.

She was also, currently, headless… and Nezuko had done that. Even with that scarf connection the demon had that made cutting her neck so difficult. Nezuko had managed to defeat her…

But even now, she knew that this was where the real fight began.

(She really hoped she'd made a big enough ruckus that Uzui-san would come soon. She may not like the man, but he was a Pillar and could actually fight this Kizuki on their level. He wouldn't leave a fellow demon-slayer like this – she knew that much at least.)

"I'm going to kill you," the woman gasped. "How dare you?! How dare you bully me?!"

"Bully?! I'm not the bully here!" Nezuko shot back angrily. "I'm not the one feeding on people infinitely weaker than I am! That is the very definition of a bully!"

The woman screeched and then screamed, "Oniiii-san!"

Nezuko moved her hand back to the hilt of her sword. The other demon hid within the sister's body from what she remembered reading. (Now she really regretted not speaking to her brother sooner as she'd more or less gotten the bare-bones version of what she needed to know about each Kizuki.) Perhaps if she could get the Waxing Moon as he got out of the sister's body, she could take care of this herself?

Well… she could hope, and she could try.

She needed speed here… and she'd just perfected her fourth form, based off of the water breathing seventh form combined with the lightning first form. Yes, that should give her the speed she needed, but it was not easy on her body. This would be risking a lot… especially as she needed to switch it from a piercing technique to a slashing technique at the last second – piercing wouldn't decapitate him. She needed the speed of the piercing technique, but wouldn't be able to take off his head like that. She hadn't tried modifying her forms on the fly before… but she was positive she could do it.

She had to.

Taking a deep breath and centering herself, she ignored the aches in her body as a lump began to grow from Daki's back.

Patience… she had to see his neck…

The lump suddenly shot up, showing a head, the top of a torso and two hands.

There! Nezuko put every ounce of power and speed she had left into the variant on her piercing form. This was definitely not a drifting leaf. More like a stabbing or slashing one. Yeah, that worked.

"Fourth Form Variant: Slashing Leaf Blade," she whispered to herself as she rushed forward, swinging her sword at the neck of the new head and… and then she was flying, her sword out of her hands and the world upside down.

What?

She landed hard on the ground, what breath still left in her knocked out with a cough she couldn't control as a new voice spoke up, sounding grating and lethargic… but dangerous too.

"You actually cut me," the voice said with a chuckle. "Nice. I didn't even have time to get my sickles out. Are you a Pillar?"

Nezuko couldn't answer, focusing too much on trying to force her body to move – to breathe. (She needed to breathe!)

"She's definitely got to be Pillar strength!" Daki's voice screamed. "Look what she did to me, Onii-san! Look!"

"Hey now, stop crying," the grating voice softened. "And you should put your own head back on." Even as the new figure's words sounded cold and a little cruel, he still gently took Daki's head and put it back on her neck.

NO! Nezuko could only watch as she rolled over, begging her legs and arms to get underneath her. She searched the ground for her sword. There! Just a couple of feet away. Move! She mentally growled at herself, pushing past the pain and grabbing for her sword. Her fingers curled around it and then a hand grabbed her wrist…

Her already hurting lungs stopped for a moment as she realized there was literally nothing she could do as the matching hand grabbed her haori and lifted her into the air. Angry tears came to her eyes. Hadn't she fixed this? Hadn't she trained so hard so she wouldn't be helpless again?

"Oh, what do we have here? Definitely not a Pillar…" She found herself looking into the green-on-yellow eyes of an incredibly emaciated man. Was this Gyutaro? Apparently.

"She has to be!" Daki screamed, tears in her own eyes.

"No, she's the anomaly's sister."

Daki paused, blinking while Nezuko tried not to cringe.

"The one Douma tried to turn?"

Nezuko looked at her sword hand, but she wouldn't be able to do anything with her blade right now. His hand still held her wrist firmly. Her eyes scanned her surroundings desperately. Where were the others? Someone? Anyone?!

"Yeah," the brother nodded.

"We should just kill her!" Daki said, stomping up to them angrily.

"Or we should see how much blood it takes to really turn her."

Her blood froze in her veins.

"Hmph," Daki huffed. "I don't like it!"

"But didn't you sense her heart rate pick up?" his sadistic grin widened. "My guess was right, it scares her. It's the best torture – making her forget everything. The demon slayers, her family… force her to join us!"

No! NO! She would not let that happen again! She calmed herself as best she could and focused on her leg, drawing it back. She didn't have the leverage she needed to really do damage, but even emaciated demons had family jewels… right?

(Did she have another choice?)

She swung her leg forward with as much power as she could possibly manage.

Gyutaro suddenly squeaked and dropped her. That was more satisfying than she'd like to admit…

"Onii-san?! What did she do, Onii-san?!" Daki yelled, hovering over her brother .

Nezuko didn't wait. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she made sure she had her sword in her hand, then turned and ran, using what breath she still had, pushing her body to its limits. She had to get away for a moment, find Uzui-san or—

She tried to skid to a halt as Gyutaro appeared in front of her, an angry grimace on his face. She fell backward, unsteady and scrambling for a decent foothold. She tried to dodge, even sitting on the ground, she still moved to dive aside. It didn't work. He still managed to thrust his hand into her chest, fingers buried there.

She could only stare at him in shock for what felt like an eternity, but then something – his blood – began to flow into her system, increasing the pressure in her already damaged chest. She coughed blood.

"Your brother isn't here right now," he whispered into her ear as the pain in her lungs exploded. "So why not come to our side?"

Never! She thought, but all that came out of her mouth was a scream. It hurt… it hurt… so much… She scrambled at his hand with hers, silently begging him to release her.

"Kamado!" a loud voice yelled out behind her.

"Onii-san! It's the Pillar!" Daki shrieked.

"Hold him off!" Gyutaro shouted. "Muzan-sama will be pleased if we bring her back as a demon!"

Nezuko grit her teeth and yanked at his hand. His hand didn't move.

"Onii-san!" Daki shrieked and then his hand was gone, finally.

Nezuko fell to the ground (he'd lifted her into the air? Yes, she sort of recalled not being on the ground anymore), but the agony didn't dissipate. She forced herself to remain awake, despite the burning that spread from her chest. She couldn't pass out now… she had to fight it. She had a resistance… she could overcome this…

And yet she remembered that the Waxing Two had only dripped a couple of drops of blood onto a scratch, not pumped however much Waxing Six had just…

Could her resistance be overpowered by sheer amount?

She didn't want to think about it.

It was getting hard to think.

Another scream escaped her.

Her hands felt funny…

All of her felt funny.

"O… Onii-san…" she whispered. The world looked funny – too bright.

Knock knock, little bunny from the mountain…

A soft voice and a familiar lullaby reached her ears.

"Kaa-san?" she sobbed, unable to even turn her head and look away from the dirt of the street. No… no, it was deeper than that. The words were familiar, and her mother's tune, but… "Tou-san?" Yes… yes, that sounded right. "It hurts…"

Her tongue ran over sharp teeth…

No…

Why are your ears so long?

"Tou-san!" she cried. "I… don't want… to be… a demon…"

When she was small, my mother ate the leaves of a tall tree,

And that is why my ears are so long.

Another wave of pain had her shrieking. Her back arched. Her throat hurt from screaming so loudly for so long.

"Nezuko-chan!" That… that sounded like Zenitsu?

"Mozuko…" And Inosuke. She didn't know he could sound so scared.

She wanted to tell them she was fine, that it would be okay, but all that came out was a growl.

"H-have her eyes always looked like that?" she heard Inosuke ask.

"NO!" Zenitsu shrieked.

Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she found she didn't care enough to stop them.

"I'm gonna go help Uzui-san," Inosuke said.

"You're just gonna leave us here?!" Zenitsu shrieked.

She didn't want to be left alone… but…

"Go," she ground out, her voice hoarse.

"What?" Zenitsu asked.

"GO!" she hissed. "Kill… the demons!"

"But—" the yellow-haired boy protested.

"GO!" It killed her to say it (she didn't want to be alone!), but there were people who needed help.

"Ha! I got you!" Gyutaro crowed triumphantly from the fight down the street. "Finally! Now you'll die of poisoning!"

Nezuko forced herself to look up at Zenitsu through her tears. "Please."

He looked like he was about to faint… (Did she look that bad?)

And then he did.

Nezuko actually blinked for a moment. Then a new wave of pain had her body cramping up.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that he stood again and vanished.

What?

Then she cried again, her fingers digging into the dirt. She hated that she was alone again.

Knock knock, little bunny from the mountain,

Why are your eyes so red?

"Breath, Nezuko." The voice came to her again.

Oh… right, she… she wasn't really breathing right now. She forced herself into the pattern of breathing she'd modified for her vine style.

"No, BREATHE," the voice said, emphasizing the last word.

She paused, changed her breaths just a little… to match her brother's. To match her father's.

"Hinokami… Kagura," she whispered, then forced herself to continue in that vein. It still hurt, but the pressure and shifting inside her felt bearable somehow. For the most part…

"Hinatsuru!" Uzui-san yelled. Nezuko looked up. Gyutaro had a woman by the throat on a rooftop. Uzui-san was battling Daki's scarves and couldn't reach them. She couldn't see Zenitsu or Inosuke.

No… no she had to do something. She had to. She looked around… there was her blade.

"Fourth… form… variant," she whispered, pushing the oxygen and energy into her legs, "Slashing Leaf Blade!"

Normally she imagined vines spiraling from her sword, but she could have sworn she saw a combination of her vines and Onii-san's fire bursting out like blossoms.*

She didn't get the demon's neck, but she did manage to get his arms. For a moment, she stood between the demon and the woman while Gyutaro looked at her, shocked.

"You can still move?" he asked. "And you aren't a demon yet?"

She went to answer, but a growl escaped her throat instead. Then more pain wracked her body and she fell to the roof tiles, her sword clattering beside her.

"Or you are… but aren't? Huh… no wonder Muzan-sama is so interested in your family. Perhaps I should call him here? I mean, he's busy right now, but I'm sure Nakime would come and hold you for him. He said you weren't a priority, but you just fell into our laps here!"

"Kamado Nezuko, I am in your debt!" Uzui-san's voice said as his sword came right for the demon's neck. He dodged, of course, away from Nezuko (thankfully). She slumped and focused on her breathing again as the battle continued back down in the street below.

"Breathe through it, Nezuko."

When she was small, my mother ate the fruit of a red tree,

And that is why my eyes are red.

"Tou-san," she whispered. "Help me… please…"

Then she heard Daki shrieking again. "Nii-san! More Pillars!"

Nezuko looked up. Onii-san?

But then she saw two flashes of black and white. No red involved. Oh.

"Shinazugawa-san, Iguro-san," Uzui-san said slowly, warily as the other two Pillars touched down on the street behind him.

"Disgusting demons," Iguro hissed, his sword already drawn. Then he glanced to the side at the Wind Pillar. "Will you be alright, Shinazugawa?"

"Yeah," he muttered, although he looked tense in and above being 'ready to fight'. He was also drooling.

(Was Nezuko, too? She couldn't tell… but she could smell the blood… was she hungry? Or was that just the pain coalescing in her stomach?)

"Go help the others," Uzui-san said. "On that rooftop over there." She couldn't see where he'd gestured to, but could hear sounds of fighting in the distance.

"Yeah," Shinazugawa muttered again and then jumped onto the roof on the other side of the street.

"You're not looking so great," Iguro-san said to the Sound Pillar. "I think I'll stick around and help you out."

Uzui-san seemed to contemplate that for a moment, but then nodded.

Gyutaro glanced up at Nezuko and the woman. She could tell he was thinking about retreating. Before he could, though, both Pillars attacked. It was a blur and Nezuko was too tired (and in too much pain) to really try and keep up.

"Hey," the soft voice of the woman Nezuko had saved drew her attention. The demon slayer looked over at the woman's kind smile. It reminded her of Onii-san's. She started to cry all over again. "How about we get you away from here?"

Nezuko sniffed and nodded.

"Hurts," she managed to say.

The woman frowned. "Where?"

"Everywhere."

"Hmm…" The woman glanced around again, but then heaved a sigh and shook her head before smiling again. "My name is Hinatsuru. What's yours?"

"K-kamado Nezuko."

"What an adorable name," the woman said with a grin. "Now come on. Let's get going."

"No!" Nezuko shook her head as something occurred to her. "I… I could hurt you!"

Hinatsuru snorted. "Please, I can take a newly turned demon… if that's what you are. Is it?"

Nezuko paused and looked down. Her fingernails seemed normal (she could have sworn she had claws before) and her teeth felt fine when she ran her tongue over them (hadn't they been sharp before?) but they still felt funny in her gums so…

"I… I don't know."

"Well, you seem like you remember enough to understand what's going on at least… and you saved me, so let me return the favor?"

Nezuko let out a sob and nodded again, allowing the woman to help her to her feet and then throwing Nezuko's arm over her shoulder as they limped away.

xXx

AN: *While I'm not copying everything from the manga/anime, I rather liked this part and wanted to showcase it. Normally, when one switches breath forms, the style that comes out is one or the other. When Tanjiro's water dragon became a fire/plasma dragon in his fight against Rui for instance. However, at this part in canon, he gets both water and fire because he had to combine them. So that's why she has the vine style with flames bursting around it like flowers. She was breathing Hinokami Kagura, but using her Vine Style Fourth Form again. :) Hope that clears some things up.

Thanks to Quathis, TimeLordTim, Found and Kaylessa for their help on this!

Discord: discord. gg/xDDz3gqWfy (no spaces)