Tanjiro reached the home his family had built with Urokodaki-sensei and paused at the sight of the limp form of the familiar old man slumped against one of the corner posts. For a moment, guilt overwhelmed him. He should have saved him… but then he remembered the look in his sensei's eyes, the acceptance and pleading for Tanjiro to understand; the tiredness and peace. He'd been ready to move on. But it still hurt. So much. Losing people always would, he suspected.

Shinjuro-san letting out a pained noise again drew him back to the present and he swallowed before hurrying into the home and finding a room with a futon and blankets. He couldn't really stop the pain the Rengoku (former?) head was going through (and some small part of him almost felt the man deserved it for killing Urokodaki-sensei, but he ruthlessly stomped on that because Shinjuro-san didn't remember and that wasn't fair, no matter how angry it all made him) but he could make the man more comfortable.

He'd just gotten Shinjuro-san covered with some blankets on a futon he'd laid out when he sensed killing intent.

Immediately, Tanjiro drew his sword and rushed into the main room only to freeze as he saw Giyuu with his own sword drawn.

"Giyuu?" he asked.

"Tanjiro?" the man returned.

(Later he would realize the Water Pillar had addressed him without an honorific and he would feel touched, but at the moment, he could only stare in shock.)

A shout of pain from Shinjuro-san had both of them turning towards the sound and Giyuu narrowed his eyes.

"I sense two demons here," he said.

Tanjiro's mouth tightened as he nodded. "Rengoku Shinjuro wasn't killed, he was captured and turned into a demon – Waxing Six." He took a breath and tried not to feel too gleeful at the following sentence. "I stole him back."

Giyuu just stared at him in horrified shock for several seconds before he closed his eyes and finally lowered his sword. "Does that man have any shame?"

"No," the Sun Pillar answered shortly. Then he shook his head. "Never mind that, did you come here to help?"

Giyuu blinked at the topic change before nodding slowly.

"Then we need to go find Nezuko! I think there might be another Waxing Moon…" he faded off as the blue-eyed Hashira held up his hand. That was when Tanjiro really noticed a couple of things. Giyuu was favoring his right foot, had several scrapes and bruises and his clothes looked rumpled and torn. Unusual for the typically very put-together man.

"I helped her fight Waxing Four."

Tanjiro inhaled abruptly and held his breath for a second before forcing himself back into his Constant Concentration pattern. "Is she okay?"

Giyuu relaxed a little and turned to shout out the open door. "It's Tanjiro and… one of his demons."

(The demon expected himself to flinch at that, but either he'd become desensitized or he just couldn't find it in himself to care anymore. He decided to look more closely at that later.)

"Oh, thank the Kami," a familiar, breathless voice said.

"Kaa-san?" Tanjiro asked, hurrying outside past Giyuu. He saw his mother walking towards them, carrying someone on her back.

"Nezuko?!" he shrieked and rushed forward.

"She's fine," his mother assured him before he could reach her. "I think she passed out after giving her all to defeat the demon."

Tanjiro felt his eyes widen and he stepped back. "She… defeated Hantengu?" He glanced over his shoulder at Giyuu, eyebrows raised in question.

The Pillar nodded. "I…" he paused and glanced at Tanjiro's mother, "and your mother distracted the main fighting aspect while she chased down the demon who ran. She also held him off long enough for me to reach her initially."

More blinking from the demon progenitor. "Kaa-san?" he asked in surprise.

"I refuse to sit by while there is something I can do for my family," his mother said firmly.

He could only seem to stare at her as if he'd never seen her before, but it was a pleasant surprise. More than pleasant, he couldn't feel more proud of his mother, able to fight alongside a pillar against a Waxing Moon.

"That's amazing!" he said eagerly. However, something made him pause.

"Wait, if Nezuko beat Hantengu's small form… that means…" she would have to access the Transparent World… He switched his gaze to his little sister, slumped over their mother's shoulder as they passed him, heading towards the house. She'd gotten so strong so quickly… they both had. It was a little awe-inspiring to see.

He couldn't help but smile warmly. That was his little sister. Sweet, kind, loving but also fierce, strong and so determined. He couldn't wait to see how his other siblings…

Wait!

"Takeo, Shigeru and Rokuta!" he exclaimed suddenly, causing the others to jump. "Where are they?"

His mother blinked at him, having turned around at his sudden shout. "I found Shigeru training and took him and Rokuta up the mountain to hide after Urokodaki told me to run." She very pointedly did not look at the man's body.

Oh. Tanjiro let out a relieved breath.

"I don't know where Hanako is though," she said worriedly.

At least Tanjiro could put her mind at ease there. "She's with Senjuro up the mountain. They're on their way down, both fine."

It was her turn to slump in relief.

"I left Takeo at the edge of the property before coming in," Giyuu said. "I found…" he paused and glanced to the side, "Sensei, who directed me to Nezuko."

"I'll have to go and find him," Tanjiro muttered.

"I'll go and get Shigeru and Rokuta once I get Nezuko settled," his mother said quietly.

"That is a good idea, Kamado-san," Giyuu said to his mother, but then turned to Tanjiro. "Then she can go find Takeo. However, you are needed at the Ubuyashiki estate."

Oh… right. Any success Tanjiro had felt at seeing most of his family whole and hale vanished at the thought.

"What about you, Giyuu?" he asked the older Pillar. He'd fought through the Infinity Mansion with Giyuu by his side in the first timeline. It felt wrong not to do so now.

"A Pillar needs to be here to look after…" he paused, shifting uncomfortably, "your new demon."

And there was the flinch he'd been expecting earlier. Tanjiro winced a little and felt better for it for some reason he couldn't explore right now.

"Go," his mother said quietly. "We'll stay here and…" she glanced sadly at Urokodaki-sensei again, "clean up."

He bit his lip, not wanting to leave his family alone, but Muzan and the Ubuyashikis and… he trusted Giyuu, with more than his life; he trusted the man with his family's lives.

"Please, take care of them," he said to the Pillar, who nodded solemnly.

"I will protect them with my life."

Tanjiro returned the gesture and went to leave, but the sight of his mother watching him sadly made him pause. He hurried over to her, reaching into his pocket as he did.

"Hey," he said as he opened his hand and held out the charm of protection she'd given him all those years ago when he'd become a demon slayer, "I still have this, and it's worked so far." He closed his fist around it again and hoped his smile looked reassuring despite his fangs. "I'll be fine."

Then he threw his arms around her. She was still carrying Nezuko and couldn't hug him back, but she did lean her head forward. It came to just over his shoulder. Had she always been so small?"

"So will we. But I worry." She stepped back and looked up into his eyes, expression full of love and concern. "Come back to us."

"I will," he promised.

She nodded, then gestured with her head away from Mount Sagiri. "Now hurry."

He gulped and returned the nod before turning and taking a deep breath. Then he shot forward, aiming for the Ubuyashiki estate, driving his body as quickly as he could and ignoring the growing hunger in his gut as he used even more energy.

He would stop Muzan tonight.

No matter what.

He didn't notice that he didn't sense his brother's presence as he hurried past where he should be hiding.

xXx

Kanao was… confused.

She'd followed her sensei and older sister to the Ubuyashiki estate after having been given the directions by a Kasugai Crow, only to find it in burning rubble… well, the main part of it in any case. She could also sense no one in the vicinity. Including her sensei. She did, however, find several open shoji doors set into the ground, leading into darkness below.

At that point she'd taken out her coin and tossed it into the air, mostly out of habit. Only when it was part-way up did she remember the one interaction she'd had with the Sun Pillar only a week prior.

Kanao had just gotten back from a mission, tired but successful. If only she could feel anything positive regarding that. Ah, well.

She'd just stepped inside the Butterfly Mansion when she heard someone in the training yard. She blinked because it was almost sunrise. Why would someone be up this late training? After a few moments, she took her coin out and tossed it. Heads, she went inside and forgot about this. Tails, she investigated.

It landed on tails.

She pocketed the coin and turned to search out the noises despite her fatigue.

She found the source of the sounds in the training grounds as a boy with a wooden bokken in his hand attacked a training dummy with a breath style, bare chested as he worked. Kanao's eyes widened a little in surprise as both the sword in the boy's hand and the dummy shattered. She hadn't missed the wooden shards on the ground before, but now she knew where they came from as what remained of the dummy and the bokken fell among the other debris. The boy breathed hard and stood straight, then he turned to her and she caught her breath. His eyes glowed in the moonlight, bright red with Kanji in them reading 'Waxing Zero'. Sharp fangs glinted and she noted the claws on his hands.

Kanao had met Kamado Tanjiro before, of course, but then he'd been laughing and smiling and hugging her sister and… he hadn't seemed very demonic at all. But now, here… he did. He looked angry and extremely dangerous and, well… like a Waxing Moon. Before she knew it, she had her sword drawn and in her hand, pointed directly at him.

Then he blinked and slowly turned the rest of the way towards her, holding up his hands in surrender, one of them still clutching the hilt of the broken bokken.

"Tsuyuri-san," he said slowly. "It's just me: Kamado Tanjiro, the Sun Pillar."

She didn't lower her sword, but she didn't attack either.

"I was just here practicing," he went on. "Had a frustrating talk with Kaiyo-san earlier and… needed to let my anger out."

Kanao still didn't answer.

"I'm here with my sister. She's…" he paused. "It's a long story. But she's resting and I'm waiting for her to wake up. That's why I'm here. You can ask Shinobu-san."

Should she? Her sister was likely awake at this hour, despite the hours most demon slayers kept. Or should she just attack him? That image of when he'd first turned around would be burned into her memory for a very long time, she knew. She didn't often feel much these days, but for a moment, she'd been terrified. But now… well, he didn't look nearly as threatening despite very little having actually changed.

"You know, I think your sister has been trying to keep us apart. She's so protective of you." He sounded both happy about that and melancholy for some reason she couldn't understand.

Carefully, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her coin. His expression seemed to fall when he saw it… did he know why she had her coin? That expression reminded her of Shinobu-nee…

She flipped it and it landed in her hand. She slapped it carefully on the back of her wrist still holding her sword. Tails. She stayed silent.

"Can I ask what your choices were?" he asked after several seconds of neither of them talking.

She glanced at the coin again before picking it back up and just looking at him.

"Because as far as I see, there were several choices to be made. You could attack me, just walk away, go find Shinobu-san, wait to find Shinobu-san after the day starts, stay and watch until I stop trainingum… I… um…"

As he'd continued to talk, she'd realized he was right. There had ultimately been more choices she could make instead of just attacking and finding her sister. She supposed she could flip her coin multiple times, but she hadn't even seen so many choices… It was a scary thought, every bit as terrifying as the image of him she'd just seen. Moreso, even.

Her breath came a little faster than she'd like and although she had Constant Concentration down, she was definitely not getting the full effects and that worried her even more.

The world had begun to blur, and despite breathing faster, she didn't feel like she was getting enough air and—

She suddenly saw hands come around hers and looked up to meet glowing red eyes, so kind and understanding.

"I'm sorry," he said so quietly and gently. Despite the fangs and eyes and claws, he'd gone back to not looking like a demon – looking like anything but. "I didn't mean to frighten you. Did your sister tell you about me?"

Kanao didn't like how close he was, but he looked so genuine right then… His hand had come around the one with her sword in it, gently enough that she could still swing it if she had to, so she flipped her coin again (there weren't multiple choices here, were there? She hoped not…) and caught it. When she removed her hand from her arm, she saw heads… and winced internally. But she would follow the choice made.

"You're from the future. You have memories from living these days over and over again."

He seemed to relax a little – she hadn't even noticed how tense he was – as he smiled and nodded.

"That's how I knew about your coin. We'd often worked together in that first timeline."

She'd figured… but…

"Will you accept my apology?" he asked.

Kanao wanted to bite her lip, but she didn't. Instead she flipped her coin again. It landed on tails this time. So she pocketed the coin, withdrew her hand from his grasp and gently sheathed her sword. Then she turned to walk away, ignoring her instincts screaming at her to not turn her back on him.

"Do you know why coin flips help you make decisions?" he suddenly called after her. Normally she would have kept going, but it had already been difficult enough to turn her back on him. She couldn't really help freezing in place.

"They help you figure out your biases. If you flip a coin and you're happy about the result or are disappointed in the result, well… you have your answer. Sometimes it's hard to see with what other people want from you… or what you think they want from you. Coin flips only help when you are truly neutral in a decision or when you want to figure out what you really want. They help you follow your heart and it's okay to toss the coin a couple of times until you get the result you want."

She glanced over her shoulder to see him smiling at her sadly. "But it's up to you to narrow it down to the choices between those coin tosses too. There's usually more than one choice for every decision."

She didn't answer. Instead, she picked up her pace, hurrying inside (definitely not fleeing though), but… his words stirred something within her, making her both uncomfortable and at peace – both terrified and excited.

She'd tried his suggestion a couple of times since then, tossing the coin in the air until she was satisfied with the answer, but it still made her uncomfortable. It also felt good, though, to make decisions on her own. She couldn't bring herself to make choices outside of battle without her coin just yet, but she hoped one day she could.

She doubted that would be today, though.

It landed on tails, which meant to go search through the forest. She felt her gut clench and for several seconds, she stared at the coin, almost as if just looking at it would change it. Then she glanced at the wilderness surrounding the estate, only visible through a couple of holes in the walls. Shinobu-nee could be out there but…

Mentally telling her stomach to calm down, she flipped the coin again.

Tails.

And again.

Tails.

And again.

Finally, to her relief, it had landed on heads, which meant she'd be heading into the doors where she suspected she would find her sister. Without another thought, she ran forward and leaped through the open door that was closer to a hole in the ground.

xXx

Almost as soon as Kanao had cleared the frame, the shoji doors slid closed and disappeared, leaving nothing but darkness behind. Hmm. That honestly just strengthened her suspicions.

It wasn't difficult to land safely, and then she wandered the halls for several minutes that turned into a half-an-hour, and then an hour according to her inner clock. She came across several low-level demons, but nothing of real note. She also didn't come across her sister. It was… worrying.

She didn't want to lose another sister. It seemed strange to be feeling again, but not unwelcome. She'd begun to feel like this before, with Kanae-nee, but then Shinobu-nee had come home and told her their sister was dead and the feeling had left again. That had been three years ago, just after she'd learned the Flower Breathing forms but before she'd truly understood breathing in general.

She'd worked hard, then. Part of her would like to say it was because Kanae-nee and Shinobu-nee wanted her to, but she knew it was because she had been asked to. Not ordered, but it may as well have been.

At that moment, though, she realized that she didn't want to lose Shinobu-nee, too. Not again. Not like that… despite what Shinobu-nee had told her about making her blood into poison. It hadn't been enough time to make her blood as potent as she'd wanted and that worried Kanao. The only thing worse than losing Shinobu-nee would be losing her and having her death have no effect.

She bit her lip and hurried her steps, searching with her senses and peering quickly down every corridor she came to in hopes of finding her sister. She clutched her coin in her left hand, leaving her right hand free to draw her sword.

Then something brushed her senses… strong presences. She didn't have the ability to really make out who or what they were, so she turned down the next hallway leading in that direction and ran.

She reached a large, open room with only a couple of doors leading into it. The rest of the room was painted in a deep red and the tatami-mat floor held more than a few… well, pots. Ugly pots. What really drew her attention, though, were the two boys – demon slayers – and the demon fighting them. She immediately recoiled at the sight of said demon, with its large body and tiny hands sticking out all over it, mouths for eyes and an eye for a mouth, along with one on its forehead…

For a moment, she wondered what she should do. She wanted to find her sister and help her (or stop her from drugging Waxing Two with her death), but these two obviously needed her help if that demon was as strong as he seemed. Not to mention, the boy on the ground looked to be in pain… beyond the bloody stumps at the end of each arm that he wasn't cradling or trying to protect with his back arched and muscles tense like that. She couldn't see any other wounds on him, which likely meant poison the like, which she could do little about with him still in the vicinity of a demon – a very dangerous demon.

She glanced at her coin again and stepped back out into the hallway. Heads, she went on. Tails, she stayed and helped.

The coin landed in her hand and she flipped it onto her arm. Tails.

She bit her lip again, then glanced up at the boys in the room. This time, she'd go with the coin.

It was what her master would want her to do anyways, even if it scared her to stop looking… for now.

With a deep breath, she rushed inside, grateful that the boy fighting – Agatsuma Zenitsu, she recognized – was a good enough fighter to distract the demon from sensing her.

"Fourth Form: Crimson Hanagoromo," she said, hoping her voice came out as assured as she wanted it to. The demon had jumped – almost instantly – from pot to pot, which meant they had to destroy the pottery. She shattered the one the demon was in, but unfortunately not the demon itself as it had jumped too quickly.

The yellow-haired boy blinked at her in surprise, seeming to recognize her almost immediately. She turned from him to face the demon who had moved to the corner of the room as Agatsuma spoke.

"K-Kanao-chan?"

Behind them, the other boy screamed. Agatsuma winced and turned to him.

"Don't!" she said sternly.

"Huh?" he asked.

"Don't go to him unless you know there is something you can do to help him. We can't help him if we don't take out the threat first." That was what Shinobu-nee had drilled into her in any case.

The boy looked like he was about to cry. "He… he's being turned into a demon."

Kanao's breath hitched and she stiffened for just a moment. She knew Sensei had been experimenting with some of Kamado's blood, but she hadn't thought to bring any with her tonight as they had so little of it left. Internally she swore, regretting that oversight.

The demon laughed (through the mouths in his eye sockets… seriously, his eye sockets). "He's in for a rough couple of days. I hear it takes forever to turn demon slayers into demons. And since he didn't do so willingly, he'll lose all his memories too – all his skills. He'll be the lowest of the low, and the one thing all you slayers hate."

"Shut up!" Agatsuma yelled. Out of the corner of her eye, Kanao saw him tense up to move and reached out with one of her hands closing around his arm as her eyes focused back on the demon.

"No. If he's a Waxing Moon, we have to do this smart. Together."

The yellow-haired boy looked at her as if he would cry, but he only sniffed and then turned towards the demon.

"Okay."

"And while you two were talking, you didn't notice all of my new artwork!" the demons said, gesturing to the multitude of pots that had grown exponentially around them.

Kanao had noticed it and been thinking of plans to counter that, but Agatsuma apparently hadn't, because he jumped and shrieked. The demon just laughed.

"Destroy the pots," she said, eyes narrowing on her target. "It takes time for him to make them."

"H-hai!" Agatsuma said, then closed his eyes.

The demon disappeared, but Kanao had seen him look in a particular direction, right behind Agatsuma.

"Fifth Form: Peonies of Futility!" she said as she struck at the demon's new position. It had to abort its attack and dodge hers, but she destroyed that pot and the other behind it. Then she just kept going, destroying pot after pot after pot.

"Breath of Storm: Third Form: Advancing Storm Front: Landfall!" She heard Agatsuma yell out behind her and then the shattering of several pots.

The demon screamed.

"How dare you?! How dare you! Destroying my art! Heathens! Lowlifes! Disgusting! Unforgivable!"

Kanao saw the demon out of the corner of her eye, but she didn't stop her attacks until she'd shattered multiple pots and reached the end of her form. Then she noted movement and the demon rushing towards her, screaming.

"Sixth Form: Whirling Peach!" she yelled as she dodged and then used the momentum to dig into his back as he passed below, almost cutting him in half.

"GYAAAAAAAAA!" he screamed and disappeared into a pot again. She caught sight of him once more just as Agatsuma said, "Fifth Form: Eyewall Vortex!" She heard more shattering, but didn't take her focus off of the demon as he healed.

"Demon Blood Art: Ten Thousand Gliding Clay Fish!" the demon shrieked. A wall of fish came at Kanao and for a moment, her eyes widened at the sheer amount bearing down on her.

"Second Form: Honorable Shadow Plumb!" she called out, doing her best to deflect the attacks.

"Breath of Lightning, First form: Thunderclap and Flash: Sixfold!" A streak of light blew right past Kanao, whose eyes went wide again. She… couldn't follow what had just happened with her eyes, but the rest of the fish (and a good amount of the pots) had either vanished or lay shattered on the tatami mats.

Before the demon could do anything else, a shot rang out, drawing everyone's attention to the source. Shinazugawa Genya stood in one doorway, sword over one shoulder and gun in the other hand, pointed directly at where the Waxing Moon had been.

'Had been' because when Kanao turned to see what had happened, she only saw what looked like an unstuffed scarecrow painted and sewn to look like the demon. Had… had it shed it's skin?! Kanao immediately turned to look around and saw, at the other end of the room, next to where the injured boy lay (and she kicked herself for that, she should have gotten him out of there), a far more humanesque figure stood… or, well slithered. It seemed to be half-human and half-snake with silver-blue scales on his torso and arms that faded into darker purples and reds on his hands and snake-fish tail. The eyes and mouths were in the same place as the demon, though, and the… whatever it was that passed for hair (fins?) was still there too.

"That's it!" the demon looked practically livid now – unhinged in a way he hadn't been before, but also excited. "You will be the third, fourth and fifth people to see my final form! But beware – once I take this form, I never leave anyone alive."

Kanao swallowed and lifted her sword, preparing for the next round.

xXx

Akatsugi was… bored.

So bored!

He was supposed to meet the people he wanted to fight down here! Douma, Kokushibo, Muzan himself… but all he'd found were low-level demons that he could just plow right through. Most of them didn't even see him coming. At first, he almost didn't want to obliterate them all, knowing that Tanjiro would want to help these people, but… this was a battle. This was war. And Akatsugi was already carrying around one handicap, even if said handicap had shown herself to be an impressive child before she'd passed out.

But now…

Wait…was that? Yes! Douma! And he'd already started fighting… Huh. Well, that probably just meant that Akatsugi had to—

He stopped in his tracks when he turned a corner and saw what looked like a large, sideways plinth of wood and shoji doors – courtesy of Nakime no doubt – stabbing right through the hall. Just what…?

Then he heard a choked cry of pain. Frowning, he set the sleeping girl down near the wall as gently as he could, then crept forward. He'd been so fixated on Douma, he hadn't really sensed anyone here, but now that he focused… whoever it was was strong. Another new Kizuki? It wasn't any that he knew. It could be a pillar, he supposed. He didn't know all of them as well.

The wall, thankfully, had several gaps in it where Akatsugi could see through to the next hall over. He peeked in to see a demon slayer laying on the ground under a bunch of rubble. Huh.

"Oi," he said, "you dead?" He only got another pained groan as an answer.

Part of him knew Tanjiro (and Koyuki) would want him to take care of the injured, but he wanted to go and fight Douma! To prove his strength! He sat there in the hallway, glancing between the gaps in the wall and the place he could sense the Waxing Second several times. Eventually he realized that he feared ticking Tanjiro off more than he wanted to fight the battle (which both said a lot and was kinda dumb, because the new Demon Progenitor hadn't shown that he would actually hurt Akatsugi, but there was something there – an underlying rage – that really frightened him; he didn't want to see that released), so he forced his way through the wall.

"Who are…" he faded off when he got through the wood and paper. This guy… his scent was starting to change. Both scents smelled delicious…

Oh.

Well, that wasn't good.

"Hey, you—" he started again, but the demon slayer – a hashira, he recognized – turned to attack him, claws already there and extended (no fangs yet, though – and no split pupils either).

Akatsugi stepped back from the attack easily. The hashira clawed at him again, yet another sloppy attack that seemed more animalistic than anyone on his level should use. Finally Akatsugi just jumped behind him and stomped on his back, not hard enough to break anything, but hard enough to put him down and keep him there.

For several seconds, the guy struggled, growling and shrieking, but then he calmed, breathing hard.

"You back with us?" Akatsugi asked.

The guy mumbled something.

"What was that?" the former Waxing Third leaned down a little.

"Kabu… rama… ru…" the guy said, pointing back to where he'd first lain.

"Huh?" Akatsugi asked, turning back to the sideways column of wood, paper and tatami – obviously smashed through the walls. It took him a moment to find the long, white form slithering across the ground.

"My… snake…" the guy went on. "Take… care of… him?"

The former Waxing Third blinked and then shook his head, backing up. "Oh, no. No! I am not going to become a babysitter for another—"

He cut off as the demon slayer rose to his feet and went to attack again. Akatsugi caught his arms in one hand easily, lifting the guy from the ground. Hmm… would injecting some of Kamado's blood into this guy help? Or hurt because he was obviously in the middle of a transformation. Or… at the beginning of it, seeing how coherent he could still be.

Speaking of, the hashira's squirming died down and he looked up at Akatsugi.

"Please. Take him… to Kanroji… She'll take care of… him…"

Oh. Well, if it was just a temporary thing, he supposed… Didn't mean he had to like it… but he was already looking after someone else. Would it really be that much of a problem to take on one more?

"Fine. Whatever."

The guy relaxed, then looked up. "Kill me."

Akatsugi's eyebrows lifted a little. "Kill you?"

"Please."

"Why?"

"Won't be… a demon…" Akatsugi just stared at the guy for several seconds, incredulous. Here he was getting turned into one of the most powerful beings and… he didn't want it. But, that wasn't really a surprise, he supposed. He wasn't sure he got it, but he still knew that was what they (most demon slayers in general) wanted. It just seemed a little crazy to him.

(Part of him understood more than he'd like to admit, though.)

"You know they're coming up with a cure, right?"

The man paused. "Cure?"

Tanjiro had spoken to Akatsugi about it, asking if he wanted to become human again. Honestly, he hadn't been able to decide yet but he still understood that was what these people wanted – to stay human. The problem was, he didn't know how far along they were, but he couldn't kill the guy. Tanjiro would be livid… or maybe Muzan would be livid if he'd ever killed one of his fellow kizuki and Tanjiro would just be disappointed. It would still suck. (He really needed to stop doing that – conflating the two of them.)

"Yeah. It might take a while to be done."

"Don't… wanna… eat… people."

Akatsugi sighed. "Fine. I'll stop ya from eatin' humans or what not. I'll get your snake, too. But we are GOING so I can fight Douma!"

The guy blinked, mismatched eyes (was that him or the demon transformation? Akatsugi couldn't remember) struggling to focus on him.

"Fight…?"

"Yeah." He dropped the guy to the ground. The Hashira groaned in pain. Wimp. He could get over it.

Akaza did, however, reach down and pick up the snake, even as it hissed at him and then bit him. He didn't care. It could keep biting him. Whatever. Snake venom did nothing to demons.

Then he crawled back through the hole, muttering the entire time, picked the girl up and crawled back again. The guy didn't attack him, but he also didn't get up.

Akatsugi decided he wasn't going around anymore. They were headed straight to Douma. He set the girl down again, took a stance and then used his blood art to punch through the mess blocking the hallway in front of him. It destroyed a fair amount of the hall too, but he really didn't care. It cleared the way. If Nakime could feel it, all the better, if not, then literally no one cared.

Once it was clear enough and he saw a way through without falling down to the next hallway, he nodded, turned, grabbed the kid and the demon slayer (earning another bite from the snake) before lifting the latter to his feet and then taking off down the hallway, dragging the guy behind him.

xXx

AN: Thank you to my beta readers TimeLordTim, Kaylessa, Found and Quathis for their help on this. They legit caught some pretty big issues and I love and appreciate everything they do!

Discord: discord. gg/xDDz3gqWfy (no spaces)