Shigeru followed Kaa-san up the mountain. Which was kind of exciting as he'd never gone up the mountain before, but mostly it was terrifying. Demons had attacked them. The day before they were supposed to move! And he felt so useless right now because he could barely hold a sword and had only just started learning how to swing it and Urokodaki-sensei (and probably Hanako too) was fighting and he could only run with Kaa-san up the mountain.

He didn't know how long they ran, but he was gasping for breath and the breathing exercises hurt and he had no idea where Nezuko-nee was, but he had a bad feeling about it.

Finally, finally, Kaa-san stopped and Shigeru fell to his knees, the sword she'd thrust at him that he'd been carrying, clutched in his numb fingers. Kaa-san knelt down beside him, putting a hand on his back and rubbing circles while he tried to recover.

"That's my boy," she said softly. "I'm so proud of you for keeping up like that."

Her comment made him feel warm inside and he willed his chest to work better as he smiled up at her.

"What… now?" he was finally able to ask.

Kaa-san looked back down the mountain worriedly. "We've gotten past the traps. It's part of why you're having such a hard time breathing. The air up here is thin." She turned back to him, eyes worried.

"Shigeru, I am so sorry to ask this of you, but I need you to take Rokuta and protect him."

That almost caused the 8-year-old to stop breathing… again.

"W-what?"

Kaa-san looked pained as she said it, but she put her hands on his cheeks. "My brave boy. I'm so proud of you. You've been helping so much. Now I need you to take care of Rokuta while I go and find Hanako and Nezuko. I cannot just leave them behind."

He knew that… he did… but…

"Y-you're leaving us?"

"The traps won't stop a strong demon," she said, hand gesturing to the path they'd just taken… he hadn't seen any traps though, "but it might slow them down a little. I need you and Rokuta to hide, and if no one has come for you in the morning, run away. Travel at night, and try to find more demon slayers. They'll be able to help you. Do you understand?"

He did.

She was saying she might never come back.

That she may join Tou-san on the other side of the Sanzu River.

(At least she won't go to sleep and never wake up, but he isn't sure if this is better or worse than that.)

"I… I don't want you to go!" he cried, rushing forward and throwing himself at her.

She caught him and hugged him tightly. "Oh, my dear one, I know. But what kind of a mother would I be if I left Nezuko and Hanako and even Senjuro to die? I can help them, so I will." She drew back and then touched his forehead with hers. He felt tears running down his cheeks as he looked into her eyes. Oh… she was crying too.

That… didn't help.

"Kaa-san?" Rokuta asked, his own voice shaking.

"Can I trust you, Shigeru? Trust you to take care of Rokuta for the night?" And maybe longer.

He didn't want to… but… but he didn't want Hanako and Nezuko hurt either. So he nodded.

She kissed his forehead. "Thank you, my brave boy. I am so proud of you." She hugged him again. He closed his eyes and tried to memorize the feeling of being there, in case he never saw her again.

Then she turned to Rokuta and similarly hugged him silly.

"Rokuta, I need you to stay with Shigeru. You need to listen to him… do you understand?"

"Where are you going?" he asked, big eyes brimming with tears.

"To help your sisters."

"Hana-nee and Nezu-nee?"

Kaa-san nodded. "That's right."

"Take me?"

Her face looked so pained Shigeru had to look away. "I cannot, dear one. That's why I need you to stay with Shigeru until I come for you, okay?"

He bit his lip and didn't take his eyes off of his mother's face.

Then, after what seemed like forever, he nodded. "Okay." He turned to Shigeru, who took his hand.

"You're going to hide from the bad monsters until I call for you, okay?" she told the little boy.

He obviously didn't like the sound of that, but he nodded anyway. At that moment, Shigeru knew he would die for his little brother. He would do anything he could to make sure that the younger child, at least, survived. He clutched the sword sheath in his hand tighter.

"Bye, Kaa-san," Rokuta said quietly, giving their mother another hug as she stood. "Save Hana-nee and Nezu-nee."

"Stay safe, and stay quiet," she said.

Rokuta nodded solemnly.

She gave them one final hug before she turned and hurried down the mountain. Obviously, she knew how to avoid the traps if she was hurrying that quickly. (He still didn't see them…)

They both watched her until they couldn't see or hear her anymore… and then they watched the silent forest where she'd disappeared for a long while after.

Finally, Shigeru looked around at the dark, mountain landscape.

"Come on, Rokuta," he said, rubbing his free hand over his opposite arm and willing away the sudden goosebumps, it wasn't easy to do with the sword still in that hand. "Let's find a good place to hide."

"Okay!" the younger boy said, distracted, and then he turned and began to look around.

It took a long time, but they finally found a rotted log they could hide under, and hide they did, together, waiting for the dawn to come.

xXx

Nezuko was losing.

She knew it too.

The only reason she hadn't lost already was her new ability to dodge and the reaction times of her body now. This was Waxing Four and there were three of them now and she knew he had a combination form and that the smaller form was likely somewhere else but it was all she could do to avoid these three monsters. And they likely weren't even all there was.

She should have known taking off his head had been too easy. She'd hoped she'd be able to decapitate him before he activated his blood art and small counterpart. Apparently not. And it felt like with each head she took, the fighters from them grew stronger.

She cartwheeled with one hand out of the way of that stupid leaf-shaped fan and all of its pressure slamming into the ground where she'd just been. That had been close. She kept her eyes open for the next attack – there! She launched off the ground and at a nearby tree, using it to redirect her momentum. It scraped her hands a little, but she didn't have time to think of that as lightning just struck the underbrush she'd just leaped from. Then she had to drop under the flying one's talons as he dove at her and no sooner had that passed then she saw movement out of the corner of her eye and had to jump over the pressure of the fan again.

Honestly, she was surprised she'd lasted for this long. A combination of her training and her new body. It healed quicker than what she was used to, but she didn't want to test those limits, which meant she had to keep dodging… she hadn't even been able to take a swing at any of the demons in the last several… seconds? Minutes? Hours? (It felt like hours.)

She grit her teeth, but kept her Constant Concentration Breathing.

At this rate, though, she'd have to switch to the Hinokami Kagura… and she wasn't entirely sure if that would give her enough strength to take these demons (this demon?) down. How many times could she cut off their heads?

That… was a thought, she realized as she flipped off of the tree she'd been holding onto the barest moment before lightning touched it, and consequently her. Did she have to cut off his head for them to regenerate a new body? Or was that just anywhere? She was positive he would reform, but she'd take a couple of moments to try and figure everything out if she could buy those.

So she kept watching and… there! The flying aspect swooped down and grabbed for her. Instead of dodging or letting it grab her, though, she twisted so she grabbed him, even as he flew away from the others, all squawking in surprise. Then she focused.

"Hinokami Kagura: Clear Blue Sky." More squawking as she cut the demon in literal half, thankful that she hadn't been in the position to actually see the body split apart afterward. Then she and the demon went crashing down.

'Never change styles in the middle of a form,' she remembered her brother telling her once while they sparred. 'You can change styles in the middle of a fight, but you may tear your body apart if you do it in the middle of a form.' Apparently he knew that from experience. But the thing was, the Hinokami Kagura hurt to use, like her water and vine forms used to, but they didn't anymore and she needed the stamina. So she changed her Constant Concentration Breathing back to Vine Breathing and used her Eighth Form: Apical Kelp Shaft Descending to slow her descent.

She landed on the ground a fair ways away from the winged demon… or the top half, in any case. He thrashed and yelled, but she'd long since tuned his words out, simply watching as he began to regrow the bottom part of his body… much slower than what she'd seen previous. And the legs – she could see them off to one side – were not growing anything.

Okay… okay. Maybe she could actually do this.

Rushing forward, she winced and grit her teeth as she cut the guy in half again, vertically, hating that she was having to torture him like this. It made her a little sick, but… if she couldn't kill him, she didn't have much of a choice.

Then she stepped back and took a deep breath, calming herself down and centering her thoughts. She could—

Something moved.

She dodged, but not fast enough. The sudden pressure on the bottom half of her body caught her in mid-leap, forcing her to the ground.

"I got her!" the fan-wielding aspect of the demon yelled. Nezuko gasped and tried to force herself to breathe, she reached forward with her free arms, dragging herself out of the pressured area by grabbing onto some saplings and pulling as hard as she could. It felt immensely slow, but likely only took her a few seconds because she refused to give in. She pushed herself harder because she had to get out now.

Then she was free, although she almost felt worse than she had before. The fan-demon was not pleased with her escape and raised the fan for another swat. Also, behind and above him, she could see the lightning demon descending like an arrow, ready to thrust that rod into (and likely through) her. She rolled to the left, kicking out with her legs, kicking a section of a downed tree into the fan demon. She grit her teeth, after being nearly squashed, they really hurt, but she was determined to push through the pain. The fan demon's eyes widened and he swept the fan to destroy the log, forcing him to miss hitting Nezuko.

One taken care of for the moment.

Unfortunately, she didn't have time to switch breathing forms again, so she used one of her own moves. "Vine Breathing, Form Two: Curling Tendril." Much like the Clear Blue Sky of Sun Breathing and Water Wheel of Water Breathing, Curling Tendril dealt with twisting her body to create a circular cutting motion, but she'd designed this one to be smaller – tighter – which in turn gave her more options when it came to her momentum. By moving her blade away from or closer to her body, she could cut at various speeds to throw off her enemy's rhythm, or an extremely quick speed to out-pace said enemy. With a split-second decision to make, she chose the after, and with just enough knowledge of lightning breathing to add that extra boost, she managed to cut the descending demon in two, then backed away, breathing hard.

She'd learned her lesson from last time, though. Not bothering to stick around, she turned and rushed away. They'd catch up soon enough.

Glancing up at the sky, she realized that the stars had come out. How long had she been fighting? She was starting to feel it… but she had to find that little guy or keep fighting until the dawn. She didn't have a choice. Not if she wanted to live.

"Urokodaki-sensei," she whispered to herself, "where are you?"

Part of her wondered if she really wanted to know. Because if Waxing Four was here, and he'd attacked with another Waxing Moon in another life…

"Please be safe," she said, including her whole family in that thought.

Then she saw the regenerated winged demon come screeching towards her. She just pushed herself forward harder, heading right for him. Maybe she would die like this, but she'd do her best to kill him first.

She didn't notice the vine-like shape beginning to crawl its way across her face and down her neck to disappear into her demon-slayer uniform. All she knew was that she suddenly felt even faster than she had before, and somehow stronger. She could still feel the burn of her straining muscles, but… it seemed far away and unimportant just then.

The demon let out a yelp as she once again cut him straight down the middle, not noticing where he landed behind her and not turning to look. She could see the fan demon ahead of her and had to jump onto and bounce through the trees to get over him and his attack. He'd already waved his fan and couldn't bring it up in time.

She went to use an eight form to hit him from above, but something slammed into her side and then pain as lightning shot through her.

She screamed and fell to the ground, rolling over the undergrowth. She at least managed to keep hold of her sword.

"She put up a good fight!" one of the demons said. "That was actually fun!"

"You disgust me," another one said.

If this was going on in the demon's head all the time, no wonder he was mad.

No, focus, she told herself. Get up!

But her vision swam and her limbs didn't feel right. She still made herself begin to get up through sheer force of will.

"Just let me squash her!"

She managed to get to her knees, desperately willing the world to stop spinning.

"Whatever. Just—"

Another shriek cut them off and a pair of legs landed in front of her firmly, clad in a demon-slayer's uniform. Nezuko almost sobbed in relief. Someone had come… but who?

She looked up to see a half-and-half haori and long, dark hair.

"G-giyuu-san?" she asked, not registering her impolite addressing of him in her dazed state.

"Get up," he said, not turning to face her. "We have a demon to kill."

She glanced over to see the fourth demon she'd been waiting for grow from the missing head of the fan demon form. The others looked… well, somewhere between livid, excited and flabbergasted.

"H-hai," she grunted and forced herself to her feet, finally. Then she took a stance next to him. Maybe with a Pillar by her side, they could succeed in this.

She leaped forward as did the demons and Tomioka-san, and the next round began.

xXx

Earlier...

The last time Sakonji had fought Shinjuro, he'd easily been the better of the two of them. That… certainly wasn't the case anymore. It was everything he could do to keep up with the demon given his aching joints and sore back and…

He hated getting old. He'd been too old for fights like this ten years ago – maybe even twenty, if he were being honest with himself. He was definitely not at his prime…

But there was also something to be said for experience. Simply due to the sheer amount of hours he'd put into practicing, hunting demons, fighting other slayers, and training, he could anticipate small openings and precise steps. He could angle his sword when defending to corral the demon where he needed. During his youth, he would have had a stronger body, but would he have been able to exert as much control over the fight as he currently could? He didn't think so.

It helped that Rengoku… or Sienahi, he supposed, wasn't utilizing his breathing form to its fullest extent as well. Half the time, Sakonji was sure the demon was only acting on instinct, not on conscious thought for those forms. That had been both positive and negative in the fight as anyone acting on instinct reacted faster and harder and hit more fully. However, not having conscious thought of the actual forms meant he would use one form where another would have been more beneficial.

Sakonji wondered if he even truly remembered the forms. The demon must have been told he used to be a swordsman, but that didn't mean he could remember his training.

Muzan must have been very frustrated with that.

Good.

A swipe the former Water Pillar barely dodged left a long scratch stinging on his left arm, but he ignored it and fought on.

Seventh Form: Piercing Raindrop, he thought to himself as he dove at an opening the demon gave him. Rengoku's eyes widened and he finally, finally backed away, holding his stomach where Sakonji had stabbed him. The battle paused, giving the older man a much needed break. He took advantage to assess his body and relax the muscles he needed to keep aches and muscle spasms away for as long as he could. He didn't relax his stance though, keeping his eyes fixed on the demon through the mask.

"They said you'd be good," Sienahi said with that all-too-familiar smile (that hurt more than anything else, including his aging and abused joints). "But I thought I'd be able to beat you quickly. You have my apologies for my arrogance!"

That… was ominous.

And so like Shinjuro.

He hated seeing this twisted form of his friend. It was worse than knowing he died. One hundred times.

"It seems I will have to use this then." The demon held his hand out to the side, and blood dripped.

Sakonji swore silently. He had to end this now. He rushed forward, another piercing raindrop already in the works.

"Demon Blood Art: Field of Flaming Flowers."

Immediately around the Waxing Moon, flames sprouted, and Sakonji had to redirect to a Waterfall Basin attack instead so as to avoid the flowers… except they grew and Shin… Sienahi met his attack and shoved him back so Sakonji went skidding on the dirt.

He came to a stop, taking in all the detail he could, then realized only one of the flowers had grown large, but the others were already getting bigger as well…

And then Sakonji saw it.

The stem of the 'flowers' – the base – was orange. It faded to an obvious red and… and then blue at the top where it fanned out.

Ruka meant a bright blue flower.

Three colors.

Three family members.

His friend was still there.

"Shinjuro," he said, hoping he didn't sound as desperate as he suddenly felt, "you need to stop this!"

The demon's smile dimmed ever so slightly. "I cannot. I vowed to serve my lord who gave me this power, and I will not go back on my word!" He took one hand off of his sword and looked down at it, opening and closing the fingers.

"Why did you want that power?!"

Shinjuro seemed taken aback by that question. "Doesn't everyone want power?"

"Only those who have their reasons. To protect themselves or their family, to live a healthier life, to take revenge, to stop pain… or sometimes, just to control the people around them in a misguided attempt to control their own life.

"Which is yours, Shinjuro?"

"Sienahi," the demon corrected, but a troubled expression had crossed his face, smile completely gone.

"Did you know you were married?" Sakonji asked. "She died years ago, but her name was Ruka." He gestured to the now multiplying flowers (and that was… worrisome – they didn't even look like they had to have fuel to burn as the area before the house was completely barren).

The demon's eyes widened, and he stepped back from his flowers, looking down at them as if they'd betrayed him.

"Why did you want power?!" Sakonji pushed.

The troubled look deepened.

"I…" the demon started, but didn't look like he knew how to finish that sentence.

"Come back, Shinjuro," he held his hand out, taking a risk – doing what Tanjiro and Nezuko and likely even Kie would have done. "We have ways to turn you back to human!"

The demon's eyes widened. "You… do?"

Sakonji nodded. "Yes!"

The demon looked uncertain, and for just a second, Sakonji thought it would work. Then Shin – Sienahi yelled out, hands coming to his head and clutching the sides of it.

"No!" the demon yelled, "Of course not! I will get the girl, as I promised, My Lord!"

Sakonji closed his eyes and his heart sank.

So be it.

Shinjuro looked up, his own eyes sorrowful and pleading. The former Water Pillar nodded, and then was rushing forward with a Form Nine, Splashing Water Flow, Turbulent. He'd have to avoid those flowers after all. They'd stopped growing when Sakonji had held his hand out, but now, they began to grow larger and spread again. He picked out areas he might be able to step and began to make his way through the growing field of fire.

The demon countered with the Flame Breathing Fourth Form. Sakonji grit his teeth and pushed harder but then he felt heat through his pants. He realized they'd caught fire! He doubted he could put it out… so he just kept going, pushing harder and harder until—

His strike missed.

Sienahi's didn't.

Sakonji's eyes widened as an immense pain blossomed in his side. The demon had pierced his liver…

He grit his teeth and willed his arms to move, meaning to take off this man's head anyway.

"I'm sorry," Sienahi… no, Shinjuro (he looked like Shinjuro again for just a moment) said. Then his foot flew out and Sakonji slid off the blade, suddenly flying back through the air. He crashed into the house, only barely able to brace himself with what breathing he could… but it wasn't enough to stop him from blacking out, his last view of the demon his friend had become was the man standing there, surrounded by blue, flaming flowers.

Sakonji was surprised he woke again. By that time, night had fully fallen… or was that just the pain clouding his vision? He didn't know. He lay sprawled on his left arm. His entire abdomen area felt wet and warm and sticky and… wait, he was getting moved?

"Sensei! No!"

Sakonji took a deep breath and did what he could to stop the bleeding but… he'd been out too long. He'd lost too much blood. If he didn't get attention soon…

But then, so be it.

At least he got to see Giyuu one last time.

"My… my son," he said, hating how weak he sounded, but he managed a smile. The young man bit his lip in a rare show of emotion.

"What happened?" the current Water Pillar managed to ask.

"Rengoku… Shinjuro has been… turned into… a demon," he explained between breaths. Constant Concentration in this state was hard.

"What?!" Giyuu exclaimed, horrified.

"Waxing… Six."

The Water Pillar bit his lip again, looking torn. Yeah, Sakonji would make that choice for him.

"Another Waxing Moon… fighting Nezuko… Go." He pointed in her general direction, hoping that the children had been able to avoid Sh—Sienahi's attention.

"But Sensei—"

"No!" Sakonji insisted. "My students… are more… important!" Then he let his voice soften. "Please, Giyuu."

The boy closed his eyes, pained, but then he nodded.

"What about you, Sensei?"

"Leave me be."

"But—"

"Hurry, Giyuu!"

With the same expression as before, the Water Pillar gently leaned Sakonji against the side of his house. It wasn't very comfortable, but Sakonji didn't think he'd have to deal with that for long.

"I love you… son," he whispered, figuring now was definitely a time to confess that.

He could swear Giyuu – Giyuu who he hadn't seen cry in years – had tears in his eyes. "I… love you too… Tou-san," he whispered, and then was gone, leaving Sakonji to smile after him.

xXx

AN: So, yeah... that happened. *runs away* I mean, this IS Demon Slayer. It's not quite Attack on Titan, but still.

An another note, I have to write 50,000 words in the next 12 days on my original story if I want to keep going as a professional writer... SO, while there shouldn't be a problem with this story as I still have about 8 chapters done, my Star Wars and FFVII stories that are usually updated once a month will be pushed back a bit. Sorry for that. That being said, I've only really missed my goal one day in the last five so it's definitely possible.

Thanks to Kaylessa, TimeLordTim, Found and Quathis for their help with this, as always. Love you guys!

Discord: discord. gg/xDDz3gqWfy (no spaces)