Tanjiro tried not to let the growl building in his chest past his throat, but this was getting ridiculous. He kept making turns and sprints down hallways, but Muzan was only barely getting closer – he could sense it. The crow behind him kept relaying messages from the Ubuyashiki children, but he could tell they were frustrated with the slow progress too. More than once he'd thought about just breaking through all the walls. He could… but then he could also plunge into a door that would take him several levels down, or a shaft that disappeared into the earth below, and that could negate any progress they'd actually made.
He hated this. He hated this frustration, this situation, what Muzan had done – there were no levels that man could not sink to. Just when Tanjiro thought the demon king had hit his most despicable, he managed to find a way to dig lower.
Still, there was one satisfaction in all of this: Muzan was scared. He was stalling and knew a confrontation would come. Also, Nakime, even as skilled as she was – could only split her attention so many ways and devote only so much of her time to keeping him away. At this point, she should be fighting… well, someone. He could assume Yushiro wasn't already there with her – he would have done something about this ever growing maze, but the green-haired demon should be able to do something about it soon. He knew to go there and Tanjiro knew Tamayo had gotten to Muzan. He remembered her before, arm stuck in the demon king up to her elbow as black spikes held him in place, but he also had a similar image, except this time held down by hands, grown out of the ground and… an impression of himself, or his knowledge being drawn upon?
He'd gotten that strange imagery from Kimiko… Who he could tell was, thankfully, safe, if unconscious at the moment.
How lucky had they been that she'd been there instead of the demon Kibutsuji had turned in Asakusa that first life. It was too lucky. They couldn't keep relying on luck. It would run out at some point.
(It already had – so many times.)
No, focus. He had to—
A sudden change almost had him tripping and he had to catch himself, relying on instinct to roll and hop back up to not lose momentum.
What… what had that been?
Biting his lip, he explored the change he'd sensed. It took him a moment to realize that he felt a presence growing in his mind… or more accurately, a connection to a presence. Much like he had when he'd turned Akatsugi, Shinazugawa, and Kimiko…
That… just made him angrier, actually. Instead of just killing the demon slayers off, they'd turned someone and one of the vials of blood he'd been able to give out had to be used. He couldn't tell who it was, but… he prayed for them.
They'd have to figure out that cure soon… after all of this was over. He'd think on that later. After he'd utterly torn apart—
No after he'd just destroyed Muzan. It was too good for him, but they really couldn't afford to take chances (no matter how Tanjiro wanted to tear him limb from limb and show him how much he'd hurt others…).
(He really hated what he'd become.)
Shoving his demonic instincts down, he took a deep breath and pushed himself just a little faster.
"I'm coming, Muzan."
xXx
Kaigaku wasn't a good person. He knew it – had known it for a while. Ever since he'd been an absolute idiot and had put out the wisteria incense at Himejima-san's, actually. (No, seriously, why had he done that when getting past the incense would have protected him too?) He remembered running from the scene, remembered pushing himself to survive. Usually he looked back at that and passed it off as him being a stupid, young kid who didn't know any better but deep down, he knew why he'd done it – why he'd condemned an entire house of fellow orphans to death to save his own skin, and why he'd consider doing it again.
Kaigaku was afraid.
No, he was a coward, and he would do anything to live.
That was one reason he absolutely hated the yellow-haired brat Sensei had insisted on teaching. He was a walking reminder, with absolutely everything he said and did, of Kaigaku's fear. Loud and obnoxious about it even. And the older boy knew cowards. He knew Zenitsu would leave him behind just as quickly as Kaigaku would leave the brat if it benefited him.
He hated to think he had anything in common with the yellow-haired menace, but he did. He was just… quieter about it.
Gramps sure knew how to pick 'em.
So when he'd been overpowered by Waxing Five and given the choice of becoming a demon or dying, he'd seriously considered it. In all honesty, if any demon who had been less of a monstrosity had offered it to him, he knew himself well enough to realize he would have likely accepted – for real. But when the disgusting monster had given him the choice, all he could think was that he may end up looking like that and…
Would surviving as a monster – a disgusting, hideous monster both inside and out – be worth it? Be worth the looks Gramps would give him – if the old man lived and didn't commit seppuku? Be worth knowing the yellow-haired coward had turned out better than him?
Kaigaku wanted to live… but was that living? And maybe it was stupid and shallow of him to only think of that because the offering party was a disgusting thing, but it was what it was and he thought about it and realized that no, he didn't want to live like that.
So he'd said okay, and then planned on getting the demon when he came close, or at least distracting him and making a run for it.
He kind of regretted that now.
Where had sticking to his newly discovered boundary gotten him anyway? Lying on a floor, with no hands and in excruciating pain as he turned into a demon anyway while others fought around him.
And hadn't that been a surprise. Turned out the yellow-haired coward did have a backbone in there somewhere. Who would have thought? And had Kaigaku not been in utter agony, he may have resented that, but at the moment, he kind of didn't care.
Another scream forced itself from his throat and he hated how inhuman it sounded. The Kizuki had said he'd be like this for days?! No, he couldn't do that. He couldn't… he couldn't…
And yet, he still didn't want to die. Still couldn't bring himself to truly believe it would be better – that he wouldn't be punished for his dishonorable actions in the afterlife by his ancestors.
(He didn't want to face his brothers and sisters – to look them in the eyes with them knowing he'd sentenced them to death to save himself…)
But he also didn't want to end up looking like that monster and…
Wait…
If he could—
Pain tore through him again, making the room fade around him as black spots creeped in from the sides and he screamed again before it backed off to an almost tolerable level. (It never went away, though… and he had to breathe through it. He remembered Gramp's voice in his head and he clung to it.)
"Kaigaku!" the brat said.
"Focus!" the girl shouted.
Kaigaku looked over and tried to focus himself. It was difficult. His surroundings kept fading in and out, but he saw Zenitsu zooming through the room in a flash, using techniques the older boy had never even seen, but it didn't look like the thunder style. Oh, it certainly had elements of the style he'd come to know so well, but also seemed to flow more, and he could swear he heard and smelled rain… and flowers… and gunpowder.
Wait, what?
Bang.
Oh, right, the new kid who kept destroying pot after pot with his gun.
"I will destroy you all! You heathens! Blasphemers! Dishonored!"
It was kind of satisfying to hear the demon freak out like that.
"I got all the pots!" the newcomer finally yelled.
"Good!" someone – Zenitsu? – shouted back. "Now get him out of here!" Another flash of yellow color blew by him followed by more fish and a flash of blue and black and… he couldn't keep up. It just hurt too much.
"But—"
"Hurry!"
What were they talking about?
The three fighters paused for a moment, sizing each other up. Wait… three? Where was the fourth. Then Kaigaku watched his kohai yell as he literally bounced off of the walls, aiming for Waxing Five's neck again. The demon had somehow, impossibly, gotten faster since he'd changed forms. And… he was still obsessed with fish as piles of them had been left by his punches randomly around the room. Weird.
More pain in his body made him arch his back and neck. He needed to get that blood… because at least then he might not look like a monster. And also, he wouldn't give that thing the satisfaction of winning. And if he was becoming a demon, why couldn't he regrow his hands?!
Then someone scooped him up, running out of the room and into the dim hallways.
Wait… what?
They didn't run for long before the person carrying him – the new kid, with the mohawk (it looked ridiculous) set him down against the wall. He didn't do it gently, but wasn't particularly harsh about it either.
"We'll be back. I gotta go help them," the kid (oh, he was kinda tall, huh) said gruffly as he reached into the pouch he carried at his waist and turned to head back. Kaigaku didn't see what he'd withdrawn.
"Wait!" the thunder breather managed to get out. The kid paused. "Need something… my bag…"
The kid looked both sympathetic and frustrated, glancing over his shoulder towards the fighting noises in the background.
"What?" he asked shortly, squatting down and reaching for Kaigaku's waist where he had his supplies.
"A vial… of blood…"
The kid stopped and blinked at Kaigaku as if he'd only just seen him for the first time, but also seemed to understand what Kaigaku meant because he nodded. Then he reached in and rummaged around until he withdrew the red-filled vial Kamado had given him what felt like lifetimes ago.
"You sure about this?" the kid asked.
"No," Kaigaku snapped. "But don't… want to be… a monster."
He'd already been a monster since he was young, just like the brat had always been a coward. If Zenitsu could grow past that, then maybe Kaigaku could too. A little.
"Okay. Gonna pour this in your mouth. Don't spit it out."
The thunder breather nodded, almost grateful (at least he thought that was what he was feeling) and then he found his mouth full of a disgusting-tasting liquid. It took every ounce of will in him not to spit it back out. He managed to choke it down, though.
Almost immediately, the burning increased and Kaigaku screamed again. Wait… wasn't that supposed to help?
He didn't know because the pain became so unbearable that he finally, blissfully, blacked out.
xXx
Genya didn't like leaving the other kid alone, especially while turning into a demon (twice over now? Nope, if he thought about it too much, it would give him a headache, so later) and practically blacked out from pain. Problem was, he had other people he had to try and help. The other two fighters had looked to have things in hand, more or less, but he knew how fast a battle could change, and that had been a Waxing Moon.
A very fast Waxing Moon from what he could see.
And he wanted to be able to help.
So he took one of the many small wads of hair he and Kamado had come up with earlier and popped it in his mouth. It was, as always, disgusting because hair but he choked it down out of habit and necessity.
Almost instantly, he felt his nails and teeth grow. The world got brighter and sharper, he moved faster and hit harder, which was exactly what he needed. (If he ate enough of those hairballs, he may turn into a full-on demon, so he had to be careful and only go that far if he was desperate.)
He dove back to the doorway and looked around for the scaled monster. The room had wooden beams across the celing (some of which had been already shattered) and the monster crawled through them while shooting fish and tentacles at the two demon slayers going after him, jumping up as they tried to hit him from the ground.
Getting out his gun, he prepared and waited for his opening. With his demon sight, he could anticipate the monster a little better, and his reflexes would be faster. It seemed like a bit of a waste to use one of the hairballs for something so trivial as the perfect shot, but he couldn't risk missing the opportunity.
Though how the monster managed to keep out of the way of the kid that smelled like a storm and the girl who reeked of flowers, he had no idea. But he just needed to wait for an opening. Be patient. Wait for the right moment… like Sensei would.
For the longest time, he'd wanted to be like his brother, overwhelming his opponents with multiple fast, devastating attacks… but he'd learned the hard way – especially recently – that more often than not, he just didn't have the ability for that. Even Sensei could power through most attacks, but the basis of Stone Breathing wasn't just power, but also timing so that power had the most effect.
Genya couldn't use a breath form. That didn't mean the basic principles didn't still apply.
Now if only…
"Water Prison Pot!" the demon yelled and suddenly Genya looked around as water literally rose to surround him. He tried to move out of the way, but despite his demon enhanced strength, he just wasn't fast enough.
"No!" he heard the storm-kid yell. Even the girl's otherwise blank expression looked pained as she saw him.
Despite being inside water and being unable to breath, he could still hear the demon who appeared in front of him, albeit muffled. The monster faced away from Genya, towards the other two.
"In the end, you're still human – still pathetic. Stop attacking, or I will kill him." The blasted thing sounded so smug.
Genya grit his teeth and tried to slash at the sides of the pot, but it didn't break, it only stretched. Andd now his gun would be useless as the gunpowder had gotten wet and…
Wait! It looked like the storm kid was backing off, going to put his sword down. The flower girl hadn't seemed to make up her mind yet, but they couldn't stop now! They couldn't give up their own lives for Genya's! He'd been the one who hadn't paid attention!
"Oh ho, so you'll let him die?! Isn't he your comrade?" the monster said to the girl.
No!
No, he wouldn't…
The most hairballs he could handle at any one point was six. He started to really turn demonic at that point and it took him longer to come back. He suspected that he only needed so little from the progenitor because Kamado was so powerful…
And he'd warned Genya…
A week ago, and Genya would have said anything was better than becoming a demon…
But now… well… it looked like he owed his brother another apology.
An even bigger one.
Because risking becoming one of Kamado's demons was a far better prospect than allowing the other two slayers to die!
Getting to the hairballs in water felt weird, and he didn't know how many he grabbed, but he started shoving them in his mouth. Surprisingly, the water actually made them a little easier to swallow. (It was still gross, though.)
He didn't know how many he'd swallowed when they started to kick in. He felt his body begin to change. He arched his back… there was such a power boost… it hurt. And he couldn't even breathe still!
However, all of that power kept growing and growing… he felt a hunger begin to form in his gut and all of that power was gathering at his hand… where his fingers had begun to grow over the gun—as if it were a part of him or something.
Wait… was this… a blood art?
Well… if he had to become a demon, he supposed.
Gritting his now very sharp teeth, he pushed every ounce of power he could into that instinctual part of himself that wanted to utterly destroy this water pot and the demon it belonged to! The two other slayers saw him, and their eyes widened. The Kizuki went to attack them, seeing their surprise as either a ploy or an opening. All it did was create an opening for Genya.
He pulled the trigger. On the gun that shouldn't have been able to work under water. It burst through the water, causing it to splash down around him, and hit the demon in the back while Genya gasped in air. Immediately, a tree grew from that shot, wood shooting down and burrowing into the ground to create roots and otherwise entangling the demon entirely. It wouldn't hold him forever, but if the other two took their chances…
They did. Both of them rushed forward. The blond-kid got there first, moving so fast Genya could only see a blur. His blade stopped half way, but the girls took the other side and the swords met in the middle… or, well, close enough that the demon's head went flying, eyes and mouths (still in too weird of places) gaping open in shock.
"N….no… it… it couldn't… NOOOOOO!" the demon screamed (how, without any lungs, Genya did not know) and then began to disintegrate.
Genya flopped back onto the wet ground in relief. They'd won… against a Waxing Moon…
He wanted to cheer in excitement and gratefulness, they were all alive, but he also wanted to sleep for a year and—
The power coursed through his body again, sending shots of agony through him. Well, at least he was used to it enough to not let out a scream, even if it felt deeper and far more invasive than anything previous.
"Sh-shinazugawa-san?" the blond appeared over him, cuts on his forehead bleeding and they were beginning to smell very, very good.
"Sorry," he said, forcing a smile. "Looks like I'm turning into a demon t—" he cut off and arched his back again. It felt like it was growing and misshapen a little. He didn't know what to think of that.
"I thought it was supposed to take longer than that!" the kid practically yelled, looking about a hair's breath away from utterly panicking.
"My body's… used to… it…" Genya managed to get out.
The girl's face appeared over him too, eyes narrowed in contemplation. "Should we kill you?"
The blond looked at the girl, aghast. "K-kanao-chan!" She didn't back down. Genya could appreciate that.
He shook his head. "Can… still fight. Can still… help…" he grit his teeth as another wave shot through him, but he was determined to finish the thought. "Can handle… it."
The girl looked skeptical. "Are you sure?"
Genya nodded again. "One of… Kamado's. Not… Muzan's."
The girl looked contemplative at that before nodding. "Can you walk?"
No. But he tried to make it to his feet anyway. The room spun around him and even more pain rose, but he had to keep going. He had to find… Nii-san. He couldn't die without talking to him one last time.
"Not… fast," he said.
The girl nodded. "You go on ahead. We'll match your pace."
More likely she just wanted to watch him… and he couldn't blame her. So he nodded and turned towards where he'd left the other kid. What were they going to do with him? Having two people transitioning into demons with them would be a major handicap. Still—
He cut his train of thought off as he made it to the door and looked down the hall. He should be able to see the other kid from here… but he couldn't.
"Aren't you going to take us to Kaigaku?" Blondie asked nervously.
"He… should be right there," Genya said, gesturing down the hall before putting a hand out to lean on the structure. He didn't want to fall down again.
"I don't see him," the kid replied.
"That's… what I'm… saying…" Genya practically growled (half because of changes in his body, half because it still freaking hurt). "He should… be there… but he's not."
"Then what happened to him?!" Blondie yelled.
The taller demon slayer shook his head, still staring at the spot and going to move forward. Maybe he was down and around the corner? They made their way down the hall and turned said corner to find only another empty hall.
Genya sighed. "I… don't know."
xXx
AN: NGL, this Kaigaku mainly came about because of Kaylessa, my beta reader who had rl come up for a bit, but I really appreciate the ideas she had and helped to contribute. Hope things are well, hon. You too, Tim.
Thanks to Found and Quathis for their beta reading.
Discord: discord. gg/xDDz3gqWfy (no spaces)
