Nezuko couldn't believe how far a little more strength could take her. It was a kind of awe-inspiring, actually, because she knew she wasn't remotely close to her strength as a demon (or almost turned demon… at least from what she could remember), but it had taken her a while to be able to predict where she would land if she jumped, especially using her breath style. She'd almost run into more than one tree that way.

After a couple of hours, though, she'd gotten more used to it, and just practicing running and jumping through trees had really helped her gauge her new strength. She felt much more in tune with her body and had made excellent time.

Which was great, because she had a bad feeling… and it may have to do with the dream she'd had the night before. She couldn't remember much of it now, except that her father had been there, pleading with her. 'Nezuko, find your sister. She needs you.'

At first, she'd just thought it was her own worries catching up with her, but the farther she went, the more she realized that she'd prefer to be safe over sorry, so she would be going a fair ways out of her way to just double check the last half of the road leading to the Rengoku Estate. She would even have to reach the road to the final selection, but since she'd made such good time with her longer, faster jumps, she figured it would be better to be sure.

She stopped for lunch once she reached the intended road. Then she'd followed it back towards the Final Selection and then on to Urokodaki-sensei's. She checked the staircase for the Final Selection from a distance, not really needing to get closer to see no one was there, then she'd hurried on. Even with her new speed, she'd still likely be at Urokodaki-sensei's well after dark due to her little detours. But that was fine.

In all honesty, she wasn't really expecting anything, more doing it for her own peace of mind than anything else… She just couldn't shake the strange feeling.

It had almost reached a time when she'd have to stop for dinner when she saw a figure on the road. Frowning, she squinted a little. Definitely a child and… stumbling? Her breath caught in her throat for just a moment before she forced it back to constant concentration and put on an extra burst of speed.

Not a minute later, she confirmed that it was, indeed, her sister… and she was crying.

"Hanako!"

The girl shrieked and jumped, whirling around and pulling out her sword, holding it before her in shaky hands. She'd… never acted like that before. Unsure of what else to do, Nezuko landed several feet away from her, holding up her hands to show their emptiness. It took several seconds for her sister to respond.

"N… Nezuko?" she asked, almost as if she didn't believe it.

"Yes," the older girl said softly, smiling in assurance.

It still took several more seconds, almost a full minute, for Hanako to react to that. Her hand started to shake even more and she dropped her sword on the ground (Nezuko almost scolded her on principle, but decided to forgo the lecture this once as her sister was obviously distraught). Then she rushed forward, tears already streaking down her red and blotchy cheeks.

"NEZUKO!"

The older sister caught her younger one in her arms, immediately enveloping her in a warm hug.

"Shh, shh. You're safe now," she said, whispering softly. She looked around for any sign of Rengoku-san, but saw nothing. That was… unlike the man she'd met. He'd seemed so dedicated to teaching Hanako… Of course, Senjuro had sometimes spoken of how his father had acted only a couple of years before, but the man had sworn he wouldn't go back on his words or vows to keep Hanako safe…

Nezuko decided to wait to cast judgment until she got the story out of her imoto. Which… would likely be a little while, judging from the girl's great, heaving sobs.

She didn't know how long they stood there on the road while Hanako cried herself out. When her cries finally slowed, Nezuko stepped back just a little to look the smaller girl in the face.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

Hanako sniffed, wiping her nose on her sleeve, and then took a deep, shuddering breath.

"W-we were attacked. B-by a demon! Waxing One!"

Nezuko's chest froze for a moment, and she forced herself to breathe, sucking in air very quickly before she returned to her breathing rhythm. Then she looked around again, almost frantic this time. Still seeing no one, she focused back on Hanako.

"Where is Rengoku-san?!"

The ten-year-old burst into tears again. "H-he told me to run! M-made m-me promise! Told m-me to go b-back to Urokodaki-sensei's. I… I just saw… he… he beat him so easily… Rengoku-san was s-s-so strong and… and…"

She was shaking again. Honestly, for now, what she'd managed to get out was enough. Nezuko had a pretty good idea about what had happened. They could get details later. For now, though…

"Hey," she bent down and looked her sister in the face, smiling warmly, "why don't we stop and eat, then I'll carry you back to Urokodaki-sensei's so we can get there faster. Does that sound like a plan?"

The girl looked away. "A… alright."

"Good. Get your sword. You need to take care of that," Nezuko admonished softly.

"H-hai," her sister said and scrambled for the sword.

They sat down on the side of the road and pooled their resources. Between the bread Hanako had and the riceballs Nezuko had, they made a decent, if silent, meal. As the older sister suspected, Hanako looked like she was about to fall asleep at any moment, continually nodding off and then jerking awake to finish chewing whatever she'd taken a bite of.

She hated seeing her sister like that… so tired and terrified.

Once they finished, they cleaned up and Nezuko was about to have Hanako climb on her back when she heard a rustling from the forest. It definitely wasn't an animal.

They both froze, and despite it still being light out, they eyed the forest's deepening shadows warily.

"Pick up your sword," Nezuko whispered to Hanako. "Put the bags aside. Make sure you're ready to fight." She doubted it was a demon, but they couldn't really take any chances.

The ten-year-old nodded and did as she was told, looking wide awake again. She would sleep so hard after this…

Nezuko put a hand on her own sword and turned to where she'd heard the sound. To her… well, annoyance, really, a handful of men stepped out from the forest shadows.

"Well, what have we here?" one of them asked. He held a knife… and one of the poorest stances she'd ever seen. A couple of others had swords, but the ones who worried her were the guns two of them carried. One of them was smaller – a pistol of some sort? She'd only seen drawings of guns before – and the second was a well-used musket.

"And what are two pretty flowers such as yourselves doing on the road, alone, this fine day?" another man asked, not quite able to hide his leer. This was why traveling could be dangerous. Demon slayers didn't often run across bandits, but it did happen.

Nezuko, who had felt her expression tighten into determination, suddenly forced herself to smile brightly. "Eating dinner."

The man raised his eyebrow, looking amused (the others just looked confused). "Well, why don't you hand your bags over and those swords while you're at it. Women can't wield them properly anyway."

"Oh, really?" Nezuko asked as her smile took on a distinctly Shinobu-like quality. She was fine with that realization.

"We might even just let you go," a third man (with an even larger leer that made Nezuko even angrier) volunteered. Several of the men – all dirty and unkempt – snickered.

"Hanako," Nezuko said quietly without taking her eyes off of the approaching bandits, "can you fight?"

"H-hai," she said quietly. She didn't sound too sure, so Nezuko decided to give her some instructions.

"Dive to the side of the road when I move. I'll be fast, so you will have to be too. Hide if you can and if someone approaches, attack to kill. Two of those men have guns, be careful."

The younger girl drew in a breath, but it only took her a couple of seconds to answer. "Hai, Onee-san."

"Come on, girly! You and I both know—" the second guy started again, but Nezuko rushing forward cut him off. He let out a strangled yell of surprise.

"Breath of Vines, Sixth Form: Willow Whip Assault." She didn't draw her sword, instead using the sheathed blade to land her hits. She didn't kill humans if she could help it – even vile scum like this. It was harder to swing both the sheath and the sword than she would have thought, but her new strength came in handy there. She noticed a difference, but it wasn't bad enough to truly throw her off. Even if that hadn't been the case, Nezuko would have been more than fast enough for these men.

She did hear a loud gun shot as she danced through her sword forms, but felt no pain from a wound, so she continued to move, heading right into a "Breath of Vines, Second Form: Curling Tendril," she whispered as she whirled around bringing the back of her sword to necks.

Then, there was one last man standing, a little too close for her to use her sword without potentially killing him. He was the one with the pistol and he seemed to be trying to aim at her. So she did the only thing she could think of and pivoted in a round-house kick. To her surprise, it sent him flying a couple of feet to the side of the road only to collapse and roll into a tree. His gun clattered to the ground where he'd just stood. She winced, hoping that hadn't hurt him too badly.

Then she stood, looking around to make sure she'd gotten everyone. Apparently they had no backup, either because they were poor planners or they saw two girls on the road under the age of sixteen as easy prey. Or both. Either way, they now all lay on the dirt around her.

"N-Nezuko!" The older sibling turned around, looking over her shoulder at Hanako who was peeking out from behind a tree (that had a hole in it… he'd shot at her sister – she seriously contemplated kicking him again) eyes wide. "Th-that wasn't the water style!"

Nezuko forced herself to chuckle. "No. It's the new style I've been developing – the Vine Style."

Hanako's jaw dropped open a little. "Wow," was all she could seem to whisper.

The older girl chuckled again and slid her sword back into her belt. "Quickly, come help me gather up their weapons. We can likely sell them if they're any good, and take a large step towards stopping these men from hurting anyone else."

"R-right," the younger sister said, scrambling to sheathe her sword as she rushed forward.

"W-what are you?" one of the men she hadn't completely knocked out asked, drawing her attention to his prone form as he looked up at her in terror and awe. "That… took seconds…"

Nezuko just smiled and… well, her teeth seemed to sharpen a bit… but she'd check that later. "Demon slayers," she replied, then knocked him in the head with her sword. She purposefully made it soft enough so that he'd waken again in a couple of minutes (at least she hoped she'd made it that soft...). They should probably clear out if they wanted to avoid whatever demons would be tracking Hanako – because some definitely would be.

This had to have been a set up to find the Water Cultivator's training area. And they'd taken out the Fire Cultivator…

Muzan had changed his tactics. She cursed him silently as she thought through the implications and came to the conclusion that she had to inform Ubuyashiki-sama. Yesterday.

Once she and Hanako finished gathering all the weapons, putting most of them in bags and Hanako holding the swords and musket in her arms, Nezuko bent down and put her hands palm up behind her to indicate Hanako could hop on her back.

"Put the swords and musket between you and me. They'll be held up by your legs and in place by your body. It probably won't be the most comfortable, but we can handle it right, Imoto?"

"Hai," Hanako said, stepping forward. Nezuko felt her press the weapons lightly to her back and then hopped up. The older sister grabbed her legs easily, hefting her up so they were more steady as Hanako snaked her arms around her sibling's neck. It… really wasn't comfortable, but it would do.

"Okay, now hold on tight," Nezuko said softly. "I'm going to push myself to run quickly, okay?"

"Hai," the younger girl affirmed.

Then, with a nod of the elder's head, they were off.

xXx

Hanako fell asleep not ten minutes into the journey, which was fine by Nezuko. She decided not to head straight to Mount Sagiri. Instead she zig-zagged, backtracked a couple of times, ran above, along and through a couple of the streams she'd seen and came into the familiar area in a very round-about way. There. If anyone had been following Hanako via smell or… well, any other way, they shouldn't be able to follow her now. She still came to a stop in front of the house well after dark. The moon shone in the sky above them, bright and full, making the surrounding area very visible.

Urokodaki-sensei was waiting for them. She had no idea how he'd known when they were coming… unless he'd been waiting up for them? He had been made aware of her coming earlier, but at this hour?

"You're late," he said, no inflection in his voice at all. Not for the first time, she wished he'd remove his mask so she could see more about his feelings and reactions.

"Forgive me, Sensei," she said, a little out of breath but still in her constant concentration breathing. "On the way here, I ran into Hanako… alone."

The older man tensed at her words. "Rengoku-san?"

Nezuko shook her head sadly. "Hanako said they were attacked by Waxing One." Her sister's arms tightened around her shoulders, clutching her haori harder, which let them know she was awake. But, as a silent, mutual agreement, neither Nezuko or Urokodaki mentioned it. It was late and they could get more information tomorrow.

"I see," he said softly, a regretful note to his voice. Then he looked back at Nezuko (she could tell, somehow… she'd always been able to). "So you laid a false trail?"

Or a dozen… still, she nodded her head. "Hai, Sensei."

The man continued to stand there in his sleeping yukata for several seconds before he walked forward, hand outstretched. Nezuko didn't back away, not knowing what he was about to do until he patted her head.

"Well done," he said warmly. "You've already grown into a fine Slayer."

She couldn't help it if she blushed a little. "Th-thank you, Sensei!" She bowed quickly, just enough to let him know she was sincere without dislodging Hanako on her back.

"Come along. I have your futon laid out."

"But not Hanako's, right?"

Her sensei hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. "No."

"Could… you bring one to my room?" Nezuko asked, both relieved and worried. She didn't think Hanako would take well to sleeping alone at the moment. Hearing a soft intake of breath from the girl on her back didn't dissuade her of the notion.

Without even missing a beat, Urokodaki-sensei nodded firmly. "That will be fine. We can discuss everything tomorrow… including why you are carrying so many different weapons with you."

He sounded so curious that Nezuko couldn't help her burst of soft laughter. "It isn't a long story, Sensei."

"Hmm," he replied. "Perhaps, but you still need some rest first… and so will Hanako-chan."

Nezuko knew he was right. As much as she wanted to get everything out of the way now, she was exhausted from running all day, and despite her sister's nap on the way here, she had a feeling Hanako was even more tired.

"Thank you, Sensei," she said as she bowed to him once again as he opened the door to her old, small and empty room.

"I will return with another futon," was all he replied with before vanishing from the doorway. With a heavy sigh, Nezuko walked in, then shifted Hanako so she could get down. Her sister did so, standing there, blinking as the swords and musket clattered to the floor without anything to hold them up anymore. Nezuko winced, hoping no one had heard that.

"Your sleeping yukata?" the older sister asked gently.

Hanako frowned. "I… ran away in it. It got dirty."

Nezuko nodded. "I'm sure Urokodaki-sensei has something we can use."

The younger girl returned the nod, not looking up for several seconds. Then she reached down and began fiddling with her zori, eventually extracting her foot before peeling off her tabi. She did it in such a mechanical way, her face blank and eyes barely focusing. Needless to say, it worried Nezuko. A lot.

Before she could speak, though, Hanako beat her to it.

"Onee-chan…" she paused, hands clutching her footwear in a white-knuckle grip. It was such a contrast of the blank, unfeeling movements from just moments ago that it made Nezuko's head spin a little.

"Yes?" she asked quietly, eyes focused on her sister.

"Thank you. For coming. For finding me."

Nezuko blinked. That had not been what she'd expected. Then she saw the tears dripping from her sister's cheeks as her eyes were hidden by her hair.

She wanted to cry a little herself. Instead, she put a hand on her sister's head. "Any time," she replied. "You're my sister."

"I was so s-scared," she whispered, hiccuping a little.

"Of course you were," Nezuko replied. "Anyone would have been."

"Rengoku-sensei… he…" she sobbed.

The older girl wrapped the younger in a hug and held her close. "I know," she whispered. "I know. But right now, you're safe. You can sleep next to me, okay? And don't forget that Urokodaki-sensei is here, and Mama's been learning and Sensei says she's pretty good. Even Shigeru has begun to learn.

"If anything happens, we'll protect you."

Hanako suddenly shook her head, violently. "No! I want to fight! If… If…"

"Okay," Nezuko said, wincing internally at misjudging her sister's wants. Of course she would want to be able to fight for herself. She'd want to do something to protect herself and those she cared about.. "Of course you'll fight by our side."

"But I'm so weak!" she practically wailed… quietly at least.

The older girl frowned and bit her lip. What could she do to help her sister…

OH!

"I know," she said brightly and looked down as Hanako turned her head up, eyes red-rimmed and swollen. "I'll teach you the Hinokami Kagura tomorrow! That's the sword style Onii-san uses."

Hanako blinked in surprise, but that quickly faded. Perhaps she'd forgotten that that was actually a sword form? Nezuko decided not to ask.

"Okay!" the younger girl said, and her body relaxed – really relaxed – for the first time since she'd woken. Then she swayed on her feet and Nezuko caught her in a hug again.

"Onee-chan… I'm… kinda tired," she said. Then she frowned. "But I slept so long. Why am I tired?"

"You still had a long day today and a long night last night. Traveling while sleeping is… well, probably something only demons can do." Because apparently that was what she'd done in Tanjiro's first life when she'd become a demon.

"Then put this on," Urokodaki's voice came from the door as he tossed some clothing at Nezuko. She caught it and found some sleeping yukata. Both of them would drown Nezuko, let alone Hanako, but it would definitely be better than their traveling clothes.

"Thank you, Urokodaki-sensei," she said with a bow. Hanako copied her, albeit less steadily.

"And this, of course," the man in the tengu mask continued, holding a futon and some blankets up.

"Thank you again," Nezuko said, bowing once more. Hanako hadn't risen from her previous one.

"Sleep well," he said, setting the futon down and sliding the door shut.

"You too, Sensei," the older sister said hurriedly.

She somehow got Hanako into her sleeping yukata before the girl practically passed out. Chuckling fondly (if sadly), Nezuko tucked her sister in and then made a mental note of everything she would have to write down for Tamayo-san the following day, because even she was just too tired right then.

Within minutes, she'd changed and had fallen asleep in the cramped room, happy to hear her sister's soft breaths beside her.

xXx

Nakime grit her teeth. The demon accompanying her eye was cowering in fear, as he should. How could this happen? How could they lose that girl's trail?! If Muzan-sama—

Almost as if summoned by the thought, the man in question slid a door to her current room aside and stepped in.

"Report, Nakime."

Well. This could very well be where she died. Still, she was not in the habit of lying. Not to her master.

"Forgive me, Muzan-sama," she said quietly, clutching her instrument so tightly in her hands she was glad it hadn't broken yet. Good craftsmanship. Too bad she'd killed the crafter… although he had been tasty.

Muzan's eyes flashed. "You lost the trail?"

She didn't gulp. She refused to show such weakness. "Hai," was all she said.

"And the demon accompanying your scout?"

"Cannot smell her."

It took Muzan several seconds to calm down to a point where he would speak without destroying her. She really was grateful her ability was so useful.

"Did anything happen?" he finally asked, voice very pointedly measured.

"According to the demon you had accompany my scout, several humans were defeated – or at least lay in and by the side of the road. Then her trail vanishes."

Several more seconds of silence and Nakime felt sweat drip down the side of her face.

"Do you at least have an idea of where she was headed?"

Nakime almost let herself relax. Almost. "Yes, My Lord."

Muzan's eyes narrowed. "Can you find her?"

The biwa demon nodded once. "Yes, Muzan-sama, although I do not know how long it will take. Months or days…"

"You have one month. For now."

And that was him being generous. Nakime almost let out a sigh of relief, but instead she bowed lowly. "Thank you, My Lord."

He waved her off nonchalantly but looked back over his shoulder, out the door he'd come through. "Meanwhile, I will continue to build our ranks… and overlook training of our newest Kizuki. When you find them, inform me immediately."

The woman bowed low. "Hai, Muzan-sama."

xXx

AN: For those of you who caught it… you have no idea how I wanted to say something sooner. evil grin here ;) For those of you who didn't, no worries, you'll find out in about… seven chapters? Hmm, I'll have to go count.

Some people my call foul at a sword beating a gun. Guns don't automatically beat swords. No, this is a fact I've seen myself. Do you even know how many steps you can take before a gun goes off? ESPECIALLY an old-fashioned musket from the 1800s (which this one was because it was older). Now add on to that her breath style and then her supernatural enhancement… yeah, the guys with guns didn't stand a chance.

Thank you all for reading, and thank you to Quathis, Kaylessa, TimeLordTim and Found for all their help with this. This story wouldn't be HALF as good without them. Not kidding.

Discord: discord. gg/xDDz3gqWfy (no spaces)