"Here we are. Mount Natagumo." Natsu stared at the top peak of the mountain.
Earlier that day, the four young pro. Demon Slayers were ordered by a Kusagi crow to head towards Mount Natagumo, where there were a family of spider demons torturing and killing humans. After leaving the Fuji Family Residence, they spent all day running towards the mountain. Now the four of them had stood on a road in the middle of the night. The moon was full.
"Hold on a second, you, guys!" Zenitsu yelled, then sat down and cradled himself.
"Zenitsu, what's wrong?" Tanjirou asked as he, Natsu and Inosuke looked at him.
"I'm just scared, okay? Now that we're getting closer to our destination... I'm getting scared!" Zenitsu cried.
"Why are you sitting down like that? You're pathetic!" Inosuke yelled, as he berated Zenitsu.
"I don't want to hear it from you of all people! I'm normal! And you are abnormal, you boar-faced freak!" Zenitsu yelled back.
Inosuke felt irritated and let steam come out through his snout. "What did you say, you-"
"Stop it, you guys." Natsu broke up the argument. "There are demons in this mountain and people in there to save. We can't accomplish anything, if we stay here and keep argue." He said as he pointed towards the top of Mount Natagumo.
"Natsu's right. We're actually have to stop the demons from-" Tanjirou stopped as he caught a scent. He looked towards the road and saw a person crawling on the ground.
"Help... help me..." the Boy begged.
The four Demon Slayers gasped as they spotted a boy dressed in a Demon Slayer uniform.
"He's wearing a Demon Slayer uniform! He must be a Demon Slayer, too!" Tanjirou noted as he rushed towards the boy.
"I can see that!" Inosuke replied as he followed Tanjirou.
"Don't leave me, alone!" Zenitsu begged as he watched Natsu follow behind Inosuke and Tanjirou.
Natsu stopped and looked back at Zenitsu, who was still cradled himself.
"What happened? Are you alright?" Tanjirou questioned as he approached the crawling boy.
"Please... you have to-" The crawling Boy paused as he felt something yanking him. The next two seconds, the boy was launched into the air right in front of the Demon Slayers. They all watched in shock as the boy was yanked back into the mountain.
"HELP ME!" The boy screamed as he was being pulled back into the mountain.
Zenitsu quickly covered his mouth, Tanjirou gasped. Natsu's eyes grew a little big and Inosuke had zero reaction.
"I'm going." Tanjirou said with a determined face.
"Count me in." Natsu said as he walked next to Tanjirou.
"I'm going in, first!" Inosuke brushed passed Natsu and Tanjirou. "There are tasty demons within this mountain... and I'm hungry!" he yelled.
"Hungry?" Tanjirou questioned, not knowing what Inosuke meant.
"H-he meanshe's hungry for battle." Zenitsu said, trembling.
"Alright. Let's go." Tanjirou said as he began to walk into the mountain.
"Wait!" Natsu said, stopping both Inosuke and Tanjirou in theor tracks.
"Argh, what now!" Inosuke yelled, impatiently.
"What's the matter, Natsu?" Tanjirou asked.
"We can't just leave Zenitsu, here." Natsu said as he didn't want to leave Zenitsu behind.
"Who cares about the weakling?" Inosuke turned towards the mountain.
"I do. He's, our friend. He survived and became a professional Demon Slayer, just like us." Natsu said as he pointed at a cradled Zenitsu.
Tanjirou paused for a moment and realized Natsu had a point. "You're right, Natsu." He then walked over towards Zenitsu and bent a knee.
"T-Tanjirou?" Zenitsu spotted Tanjirou bending a knee in front of him. He also tried to fight back tears.
"Come on, Zenitsu. Let's get rid of the demons, together. Then you can relax afterwards." Tanjirou gave him a kind smile.
"Y-you mean it?" Zenitsu asked as he wiped a tear from his eye.
"Yeah. It'll be fun. You, me, Natsu, Nezuko an-"
Zenitsu interrupted Tanjirou by making a huge gasp and his eyes widened. He had gotten excited and hugged Tanjirou by his waist. "Nezuko-no! Don't leave me! Take me with you, Nezuko!" he cried while latching onto Tanjirou.
"Ngh!" Tanjirou grunted as he felt Zenitsu tighten his arms aroun Tanjirou's waist like a scared child. "Zenitsu, you're heavy. I can't carry both you and Nezuko at the same time...!" Tanjirou tried to kindly remove Zenitsu from his waist.
"You know what, I'm going in! I don't got time to waist!" Inosuke yelled and ran within Mount Natagumo.
"Inosuke, wait a second." Natsu reached his hand towards Inosuke, but he was a little late.
"You go follow him, Natsu." Tanjirou insisted.
Natsu turned his head back to Tanjirou, who was dealing with Zenitsu grabbing him and nodded at Tanjirou. "You got it. I'll try to leave a trail for you, so you know where we are." Natsu gripped his hilt and ran inside Mount Natagumo after Inosuke.
'Thanks.' Tanjirou smiled as he watched Natsu go into the mountain.
Meanwhile...
Natsu ran a few yards within the mountain and spotted Inosuke trying to knock down spider webs in his web, but his limbs were caught in thin web.
"S-stupid spider webs!" Inosuke yelled as he swung his arm up and down, trying to get web off his arm.
"I found you, Inosuke." Natsu as he had caught up with his rival.
Inosuke grunted and turned around to see Natsu standing behind him. "Oh, it's you. What do you want, redhead?"
"I came to check on how you're doing. You okay?" Natsu asked to see if Inosuke was good.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just need to get this stupid web off me!" Inosuke yelled as he tried to untangle spider web from his arm. He grunted and groaned.
Natsu watched Inosuke struggle for a bit, before picking up a stick with a sharp pointer and helping Inosuke get it off his arm. "There, it's off."
Inosuke flexed his arm, not seeing a single web on it. He then spotted Natsu using that same stick and begun carving words into the dirt of the mountain. "What the heck are you doing?"
"I'm leaving a trail."
"A trail? For what?" Inosuke questioned.
"So that Tanjirou and Zenitsu can find us. I told them that I would do it, and I am." Natsu said, as he carved his name into the dirt. "See?"
"Oh really..." Inosuke then pressed his face into the dirt.
"Uh..." Natsu paused as he watched Inosuke press his face in the dirt.
"There!" Inosuke pointed towards his marking in the dirt. He left a marking of his boar hide's snout within the dirt, next to Natsu's. "How's that?"
Natsu stared at Inosuke's marking in the dirt and thought for a bit. 'I guess this can work, too.' He then gave Natsu a thumbs up. "Good job, Inosuke."
"Heh, whatever you do, I can do it better!" Inosuke yelled, feeling energetic.
Natsu smiled, then spotted a person crouching down near a few dark green bushes and black trees. "Inosuke. Look." Inosuke followed Natsu's point, leading towards a boy dressed in a black Demon Slayer uniform.
"Let's go get him." Inosuke pounded his fists together.
"Shh..." Natsu quickly shushed Inosuke and proceeded to check on the boy. He carefully took steps so that he wouldn't alert the boy, until he had alert the boy. It took him thirty seconds to approach the crouched boy. As from what Natsu had seen, he was a boy with fair skin, shiny black hair with bangs on the side that reach his ears. He wore a black Demon Slayer uniform, too. "Uh, hey."
"Aah!" Murata flinched and screamed as he turned around to see Natsu crouching down behind him. He panted a bit as he felt relieved to see someone not attached to strings.
"You, okay?" Natsu asked Murata.
"Yeah. But who are you?" Murata asked.
"I'm Natsu Rengoku. From the Rengoku Residence. I'm ranked as a Mizunoto." Natsu explained.
"I'm Murata and I'm a-wait, Mizunoto? Seriously? More Mizunoto?" Murata grunted after hearing Natsu's ranking. "The Demon Slayer Corps. should've sent a Hashira with us!" he complained.
"Well, my older brother is a Hashira, so..."
"Then they should've sent him instead of more Mizunoto! No matter how many Mizunoto there are, it's useless! We're all going to die!" Murata panicked, until he felt a fist to his face.
Natsu gasped as he spotted Inosuke punching Murata.
"Shut up, you weakling!" Inosuke then grabbed Murata's hair by its roots. "You think I'm weak, just because I'm a Mizunoto? I'm a hell of a lot stronger than you, bub!"
"Inosuke! Stop!" Natsu yelled.
Inosuke ignored Natsu. "Just tell us what the heck is going on this mountain, already!"
"Alright, fine! Ow! Ow!" Murata screamed as he was being yanked by his roots. "A crow ordered many of us to search this mountain. Not long after we arrived... the Demon Slayers started killing each other, as if they were possessed!" Murata had a flashback when Demon Slayers started killing each other. Murata gasped and ran as fast as he could from the scene.
"Wait, what?" Natsu paused after hearing Murata's story.
"Demon Slayers killing each other? What kind of story is that? You're lying!" Inosuke said in disbelief as he continued to grip onto Murata's roots.
"It's true, I'm not lying to you! Ow! Ow!" Murata groaned form the pain caused by Inosuke.
"Inosuke! Let him go." Natsu said with serious golden eyes.
Inouske stared at Natsu for a moment, then sighed. "Whatever." He dropped Murata, who fell on his butt and clung onto the top of his head.
'If what Murata here is saying that Demon Slayers killing other Demon Slayers are true, then...' Natsu placed a hand under his chin and tried thinking of the situation.
Murata gasped, as he spotted someone walking a few yards behind Natsu and Inosuke.
"What is it?" Natsu noticed Murata's eyes and saw that they were scared. He noticed a rattling sound, then turned around a hundred and eighty degrees to see someone in a Demon Slayer uniform slowly approaching them with a katana in his hand. He was a bit confused, as he saw the person walking slowly. Also, he didn't know if the person was okay. "Hey, are you okay, over there?"
Murata quickly shushed Natsu. "No! Don't call him over here!" he yelled quietly. He then gasped as he saw a few more walking corpses approach the three of them. They refused to utter a word and remained silent the entire time.
Natsu, Inosuke and Murata stood up and gripped their weapons and was prepared to fight in self-defense.
One of the people charged towards Inosuke and swung at him. Inosuke easily dodged their attacks by flipping backwards. "Haha! This is getting fun!"
"This is no time to be playing around!" Murata yelled at Inosuke, who trying to fend off from the walking corpses.
"By the way, don't these morons, know that fighting against other Demon Slayers is against the rules?" Inosuke questioned.
"That's not it, Inosuke. Something's wrong with them. The way they are moving, and the reason they're not responding... I think they're being controlled!" Natsu yelled, as he clashed swords with one of the corpses.
"So, what? Are you saying they're monsters?" Inosuke asked.
"I don't know, but they must be..." Natsu got a close look at one of the walking corpse's faces and noticed that one person's pair of black eyes had lost its light and was not looking at him. Natsu gasped as he then realized. 'They're already dead...' Natsu pushed off one of the walking corpses from him.
"What's the matter, Natsu?" Murata asked after ducking from one sword swing.
"Their eyes... they already lost their light within them." Natsu said.
"And what does that mean?" Inosuke asked as he casually dodged two sword swings from two different walking corpses.
"It means... they're already gone! We can't save them, anymore!" Natsu yelled.
Murata gasped in shock.
"Woohoo! That means I get to cut them up!" Inosuke yelled as he raised one of his dual wielding Nichirin swords within the air. "That means I get to cut them up!"
"Wait, Inosuke! Cutting up our dead comrades isn't the best thing to do!" Natsu said, while a walking corpse with a sword slowly creep up behind Natsu.
"Stop telling me what to do!" Inosuke charged towards Natsu, headfirst. Before he could tackle his rival, Natsu dodged by moving to the right, and Inosuke simply tackled a walking corpse to a tree, before it could slash Natsu.
Murata seemed scared, as he saw two walking corpses move towards him in a fast pace. "Ah!" He screamed, only to have Inosuke protect him by blocking their attacks with his dual Nichirin swords. Afterwards, Natsu jumped towards the corpses and cut the spider strings that were attached to the corpses from above. Next thing they knew, the corpses collapsed to the ground.
Natsu looked at his black Nichirin Sword. "I knew it! They are being controlled! By strings!"
"Strings?" Murata questioned.
"Yeah! Just cut above the corpse's head, like you're attacking them, and they'll just fall down!" Natsu instructed Murata.
"Okay!" Murata gripped his blade and clashed swords with a walking corpse.
"I already knew that they were being controlled by strings, before you did!" Inosuke yelled, as he released a few more corpses from strings.
As Inosuke and Murata are cutting the strings to release the corpse, Natsu used his good eyesight to look around the area to see who or what was causing the string manipulation.
'What's going on? Where is it coming from?' Natsu glanced at his right arm to see two spiders crawling around its sleeves. "W-what the... spiders!?" He then felt his arm being yanked and see a long thin line of web come from a tree. 'So that's it!' Natsu then cut the web that surrounded his right hand, making him free again. "Guys!" Natsu called for both Murata and Inosuke's attention for a brief moment. "It's the spiders! They're controlling the corpses! They attach the web onto people and control them!"
"So, what you're saying is that we have to kill the spiders and stop them from controlling the dead? No problem!" Inosuke stepped on a few spiders, crushing them with his foot.
The corpses that were free from the web had risen again. They were being manipulated by the Mother Spider Demon once more.
Natsu grunted as he saw them rise back up. "We have to find the person demon that's controlling them and put it to rest!" Ten seconds while fighting walking corpses, Natsu suddenly looked at the ground to see a large shadow over him. He then looked up to see a demon standing over him, at least three yards in the air.
Both Murata and Inosuke paused as they spotted a demon dressed in white robes with spider web markings on it. His skin was pale as bleach and his sharp white hair was covering his left eye, red dots appeared on his face. He was Rui. One of the Twelve Kizuki.
"I will not let you disturb the peaceful life of our family." Rui plainly said.
Natsu grunted as he stared at the demon from the ground. He noticed the demon's feet from the above. 'Is he floating? No... he's standing on the web!'
"Mother will execute you, shortly." Rui said.
"What?" Murata stared at Rui.
Inosuke used his parkour skill and used a walking corpse as a spring to jump high in the air. "Here I come!" Inosuke thought he was sure to hit him, but he was five feet short, meaning he didn't hit Rui. "Damnit, I missed!"
Rui then leaped away from the scene.
"Hey, where are you going? Come back and fight me!" Inosuke yelled as he was falling down. Luckily, two walking corpses broke his fall when he landed.
"Hey, Inosuke. Can you use your Beast Breathing Form to find the demon who's using the spiders?" Natsu asked as he clashed swords with walking corpses.
"Alright!" Inosuke then planted his dual wielding Nichirin sword into the ground and then took a knee. He posed and inhaled air. 'Beast Breathing Seventh Form... Spacial Awareness!' Inosuke then used his spacial awareness form to locate and pinpoint the demon controlling the tiny white spiders. It took him twenty seconds to find the Mother Spider Demon, who is sitting on a boulder controlling people like puppets with strings. "Found you, witch!" Inosuke yelled.
"You found them?" Natsu asked after cutting spiderweb.
"Yeah. He's that way!" Inosuke pointed towards his left. Natsu looked towards the direction and nodded towards him. "Okay!" He then looked over to Murata. "Hey, Murata!"
"Go on without me!" Murata replied while swinging.
"Are... you sure?" Natsu questioned, seeing a small number of walking corpses walking towards Murata, nearly surrounding him.
"Yeah! I may look weak, but I'm a Demon Slayer, too! Thanks to you, Natsu, I now know that they're being controlled by strings. I've also begun memorizing their movements! I'm begging you, just go!" Murata said, giving Natsu a chance to find the Mother Spider Demon.
"Okay! If you say you got it, then I'll put my faith in you." Natsu said.
"What the heck is he talking about?" Inosuke asked as he watched Murata defend himself.
"I wasn't talking to you, so shut up, you pig-faced bastard!" Murata yelled and insulted Inosuke.
Inosuke quickly became angry. His boarhide quickly turned red, like a thermometer. "Why you-"
"Come on, we don't have time for this, Inosuke!" Natsu said, dragging Inosuke away!
"Just wait till' I get back! I'm going to beat you all over the place when I get back!" Inosuke yelled as Natsu pulled him towards the direction of the Mother Spider Demon.
Two minutes while running towards the Mother Spider Demon's location...
"Can you belive it, Hatsu? He called me a pig-faced bastard! I swear I'll get him these days..." Inosuke grumbled as he ran behind Natsu.
"My name is Natsu. And I know you're upset with him. But this honestly isn't the time for that! We gotta stop the demon that's controlling the spiders, and-"
Both Demon Slayers stopped in their tracks, as they spotted and stared at a girl dressed in a Demon Slayer uniform. She had brown eyes and a black ponytail. Orbs of tears rolled down her face as she was being tortured both physically and mentally.
"Please, find someone who is higher rank... if you don't, I'll kill them all by mistake! Please... I beg you!" Ozaki sobbed, as she begged Natsu and Inosuke to find help. She had already stabbed one of her dead comrades in the throat and grabbed one of her other dead comrade's hair by the roots.
Natsu paused, as his golden eyes stared at the crying girl in horror.
Meanwhile...
Tanjirou Kamado and Zenitsu Agatsuma roamed Mount Natagumo together as a pair. They hoped to reunite with both Natsu and Inosuke. As they roamed, Zenitsu would usually get freaked out by spiderwebs and Tanjirou would usually cut them down. They had not encountered any demons while roaming...
"Zenitsu, look!" Tanjirou pointed towards the dirt and found Natsu's signature written.
"Natsu?" Zenitsu read Natsu's signature written in the dirt.
"Yeah. Natsu wrote his name in the dirt, so that we could learn that he was here. And this one must be Inosuke's signature..." Tanjirou had bent down and pointed at the boar snout print in the dirt.
"A boar snout print? But couldn't Inosuke had written his name in the dirt, just like Natsu?" Zenitsu asked as he looked at Inosuke's print in the dirt.
Tanjirou stood. "Inosuke can't read or write, remember?" Tanjirou refreshened Zenitsu's memory.
"Oh. Yeah. I kind of forgot about that." Zenitsu rubbed the side of his right head.
Natsu had caught a whiff of a certain scent. "Let's keep going." Tanjirou said, leading the way.
Meanwhile...
The Mother Spider Demon sat on top of a boulder and had webs attached to the tip of her fingers. She was manipulating the walking corpses of the Demon Slayers, just as she was manipulating the living. Forcing them to dance. "Tee-hee! The closer the enemy gets to me, the stronger and thicker my threads become... including my dolls." she chuckled.
"Mother."
The Mother Spider Demon gasped as she heard a familiar evil voice. She looked over to her right, a hundred and thirty-five degrees to see Rui standing behind a tree, peeking half his body out. "Rui..." she then became intimidated by his appearance.
"You can defeat them, right?" Rui asked.
"A-am I taking too long?" The Mother Spider Demon stuttered.
"If you don't hurry, I'll tell father." Rui said, which made her scared.
"N-no! Not him! Please, give me more time! I can protect you and defeat the intruders! Just please, don't call your father!" The Mother Spider Demon had pleaded with Rui.
"Then hurry up and defeat them." Rui said before disappearing from behind a tree.
The Mother Spider Demon begun panting out of fear for a moment. She then begun screaming and groaning. "Argh! Just die! Die already! If you don't, I'll endure more suffering!" she yelled as she swung her arms, controlling the threads.
Meanwhile...
Natsu Rengoku and Inosuke Hashibira stood in front a girl named Ozaki, whom was being manipulated by the Mother Spider Demon with threads. She begged for Natsu and Inosuke to leave and find help, until... Ozaki suddenly felt her arms moving on their own.
"P-please... run away!" Ozaki begged as she had swung against Natsu against her will.
Natsu dodged by jumping a few feet backwards. 'She's gotten faster!' he noted, as he watched her movements.
"I... I'm being controlled! So, my movements are different! I'm not even strong!" Ozaki said as she started swing her sword left and right. Three seconds later, her arms begun to twist behind her back, cracking parts within her arms. "Ack!" she screamed in agony, then started swinging towards Natsu, rampantly.
Natsu was now on the defense as he clashed swords with Ozaki, blocking each and every attack she makes. 'The demon is using their threads to make her act this way! I can already tell that she's in a lot of pain. By the sound of hearing her bones crack. And the way she cried in front of us and how she sounded... ' Natsu grunted. 'This is completely cruel. How could demons ever think of doing stuff like this?' Natsu dodged by ducking from Ozaki's forced swing. "What's your name!"
"My name is... Ozaki!" Ozaki said, as she swung recklessly.
Natsu boldly placed his right fist over his heart. "Don't worry, Ozaki! I'm gonna cut you free from the demon's control! I swear it!"
"T-thank you!" Ozaki let out a stream of tears in relief after hearing Natsu's words.
Natsu then heard a rattling sound from behind, at least a few yards from behind. 'There goes that rattling sound again!' Natsu noted as he heard another rattling sound from behind. He saw two more Demon Slayers being controlled. One was alive and the other was dead.
"Please... kill me." a boy with long black hair and dark brown eyes, dressed in a Demon Slayer uniform was severely injured and manipulated by threads. He wielded two swords, only one blade was broken in half. "The bones in my arms and legs... are broken. I could feel them stabbing my internal organs..." the boy then coughed up a bit of blood from his mouth. "When we're moved... so much pain for us to endure. I can't stand this pain, anymore. I don't know how long I could last! Please... just kill me. And I will join my friends in the afterlife...!"
Natsu can hear the excruciating pain within his voice. He was a bit traumatized to see and hear the boy's condition. He closed his eyes for five seconds, then thought of an answer. "No!"
The boy grunted as he was denied by Natsu. "But... why not?"
"Look. I get that you're in a lot of pain right now. More than I can endure... But you still have too much to live for!" Natsu gave his answer to the boy.
"C-come on...! Just kill me, already!" The boy yelled.
"I'm sorry, but I can't. I'll tell you what. Once I free you from the webs and kill the demon that's controlling you, I'll take you to go get help. Will you be okay with that?"
The boy grunted, not giving Natsu an answer.
"I'll kill him." Inosuke said as he charged at the boy.
"Wait, Inosuke! It's wrong for a person to take another person's life!" Natsu tried to reason with Inosuke, as he charged.
Inosuke stopped running and turned to Natsu. "Shut up, redhead!" Inosuke dodged by ducking, not knowing the walking corpse swung at him, horizontally. "You're starting to sound like Monjuro, now!"
"You mean, Tanjirou!" Natsu corrected Inosuke, when pronouncing Tanjirou's name.
"I know his name!" Inosuke replied as he clashed swords with a walking corpse. Inosuke then jumped back, after dodging a few swings. "Look, they said it, themselves. They want to die. So, the only thing we can do is honor their wishes."
"Inosuke..." Natsu and Inosuke had stood back-to-back, facing the manipulated Demon Slayers. 'I can't use my Breathing Forms against other people... it'll be wrong. We gotta find a way to stop the corpses from moving, first. Then we gotta find a way to save them both!' Natsu looked around in the area of the woods and tried to find a solution to immobilize the corpses. An imaginary lightbulb had appeared over Natsu's forehead as he thought of an idea. "I got it!"
"Got what?" Inosuke asked.
Natsu then took off running in one direction.
Ozaki gasped as she saw Natsu ran in one direction. Then suddenly, the threads forced Ozaki to chase after him.
"What the heck are you doing, redhead?" Inosuke questioned Natsu's reason for running, before clashing swords with a walking corpse.
"I know what I'm doing, Inosuke!" While running for a few seconds, Natsu looked back to see Ozaki chasing after him, uncontrollably. "Ozaki, can you hear me?"
"Y-yes... But what are you doing?" Ozaki asked.
"I got a plan! Just trust me! When I say "Duck", use whatever strength you have to duck from what I'm about to do!" Natsu ordered.
"W-what?"
"I'm going to save you!" Natsu then stopped running in in place, then turned around and charged towards Ozaki. "Here I come!"
"W... wait!" Ozaki grunted as she felt her right arm moving uncontrollably again. She gripped the katana within her right hand and prepared to swing down, vertically at Natsu.
As Natsu came into close range with Ozaki, he grabbed her right wrist with his left hand, preventing her from swinging downwards at him. Then he used his right hand to grab his Nichirin sword and swung at her head, horizontally. "Duck!" he quickly yelled.
At the last second before Natsu's Nichirin sword could touch her, Ozaki used her remaining strength she had to duck and crouch down from Natsu's swing, like Natsu told him to do. As she had quickly ducked, Natsu severed all the threads that were controlling her body at once. Ozaki was now free from the Mother Spider Demon's control.
"Are you okay?" Natsu bent down and offered a hand to help her up.
Ozaki looked at her sides and downward at her body, seeing that there were no threads attached to her. "There are no threads... You saved me. Just like you said you would..." Ozaki muttered as she looked at him.
"Yeah, I did. Now you're free." Natsu nodded.
"Who are you..." Ozaki asked.
"My name is Natsu Rengoku. And my goal is to become a Hashira!" Natsu answered, giving a bright smile.
Ozaki gasped when she saw Natsu's bright smile. She saw light within that smile. Suddenly, the thought of being manipulated by the enemy and witnessing her comrades in front of her had begun to fill her mind. Tears had begun to fill her eyes again, as she quietly closed her teeth. She then moved her upper body onto Natsu's chest and started crying. Not in grief or fear, but in tears of joy. "T-thank you, Natsu!" she thanked him while crying.
As Ozaki cried onto him for about a minute. Natsu comforted her by wrapping one arm around her lower back and used the other arm to pat her upper back and smiled down at her, as he knew she was upset. "It's going to be okay. You're safe, now."
Ozaki sniffled. "Are you... here to defeat the demons on this mountain, too?"
"Yes. I am. I actually came with a couple of my friends." Natsu looked towards Inosuke, who's fending himself off against the walking corpse and a severely injured Demon Slayer. "As you can see that guy with the boar hide on his head is one of my friends. His name is Inosuke."
"Ha! Ha!" Inosuke pushed them off with his dual Nichirin swords. He then looked at Natsu, who was comforting Ozaki. "Hey, redhead! Stop flirting with that girl and help me deal with these two!" Inosuke yelled at Natsu after severing threads, that was controlling a walking corpse.
"I'm coming!" Natsu said as he saw Inosuke was still fighting. He then looked at Ozaki, who was in front of him. "Are you still hurting?"
"Ow..." Ozaki ached from the pain within her upper arms.
"Sorry!"
"My arms and legs are still hurting from being controlled, earlier..." Ozaki nodded.
Natsu removed his haori from his back placed it around Ozaki's shoulders. "Here. Put this on."
Ozaki gasped after Natsu gave her his haori. "But, why are you giving me your haori?"
"This will keep you warm, for the time being... just stay here and look out for any spiders." Natsu left Ozaki alone with his haori as he go out and help Inosuke.
"Okay." Ozaki replied.
"I'm going to help Inosuke." Natsu ran towards his other comrade, leaving Ozaki alone.
'Be careful, Natsu.' Ozaki thought as she watched Natsu run towards Inosuke. She then moaned, as she felt the warmth of wearing Natsu's haori around her shoulders. 'His haori is so warm...' she commented as she gripped part of Natsu's haori.
"I'm coming, Inosuke!" Natsu yelled towards Inosuke, as he ran towards his
Inosuke spotted Natsu without his haori. "What took you so long, redhead? And where's your coat?"
"It's a haori. And I let one of our comrades wear it." Natsu said.
Inosuke suddenly felt excited after watching Natsu launch Ozaki up in a tree. "Whatta we do?"
Natsu looked at his surroundings to see bushes and black trees surrounding them for thirteen seconds. "Okay. Here's what well do. First, cut off the threads that are controlling them. Then, we're gonna throw them within these trees! Hopefully, the spiders won't catch them up there." Natsu instructed.
"Got it!" Inosuke replied.
Natsu then turned to the boy with the broken arms and legs. "Hey, you... what's your name?"
The boy looked over at Natsu to see that he was talking to him. "My name? It's Kurosaki..."
"Kurosaki... what a cool name." Natsu complimented the boy's name, then turned back to Inosuke. "Be careful with Kurosaki, Inosuke. His arms and legs are broken and his bones are puncturing his organs!"
"Hahahah!" Inosuke laughed as he was being chased by Kurosaki. Then used his strength to grab Kurosaki by the waist and threw him upwards, really high, tangling him in the tree, like a spider hanging from its web. "Yes! I did it!" Inosuke bragged as he threw Kurosaki up a tree.
"Inosuke, you were supposed to cut the threads, first. Then throw them in the tree!"
"Quit your yappin', redhead, he's alright. The demons can't control him, now." Inosuke argued.
Natsu looked up at the hanging boy in the tree. 'Well, he does have a point.' "Kurosaki! How are you doing up there?"
"I kind of feel... a little bit better, now. Thanks for asking..." Kurosaku replied.
"And plus, I noticed a thread behind his neck. It looked weird to me, so I removed it." Inosuke added as he crossed his arms.
"That's great, Inosuke." Natsu then he turned towards a walking corpse that has a slash across his face. "Now we just gotta deal with this guy!"
"Alright! I'll do it again. You better take a good look this time, because I'm going to surpass you!" Inosuke said as he casually walked towards the walking corpse. Eight seconds later, the walking corpse's neck had snapped, automatically.
Natsu gasped after watching his dead comrade's head twist backwards, like an owl.
"Argh, dammit! The demon twisted his neck!" Inosuke became annoyed and cursed out loud. "Well, he was already dead, so..."
Natsu stared at the walking corpse for a moment, then thought about Kurosaki. He looked upwards at Kurosaki, who was hanging in the tree. His neck didn't twist, though. "Kurosaki! Are you okay?" Natsu called for Kurosaki's attention.
"Yeah. I'm still breathing..." Kurosaki replied to Natsu as he hung from a tree.
"Good. I'm gonna get you down, now. Just hang on and-"
"Leave me." Kurosaki said.
Natsu paused and looked upwards at Natsu.
"Leave me here... and go get help. I can't fight anymore... my arms and legs are broken, and I'm tangled in these threads... I'm useless right now..." Kurosaki said as his eyes begun to water.
'Kurosaki...' Natsu stared at the teared-up Kurosaki. He then felt a masculine hand on his shoulder, then looked to see Inosuke standing next to him.
"We don't have time to argue. There's still a demon to kill." Inosuke informed Natsu.
Natsu briefly sighed, then looked up to Kurosaki who's hanging from a tree. "I'll be back with help to get you!" he yelled and ran alongside Inosuke elsewhere.
"Thank you, Natsu..." Kurosaki muttered.
A Few Minutes Later...
About a minute, later. The young Demon Slayers had reunited with Ozaki and were running towards the Mother Spider Demon's location. Inosuke had taken the lead, while Natsu followed. He carried Ozaki on his back, piggyback style while running. He continued to let Ozaki wear his haori to keep herself warm from the chilly weather.
"How far are we from the demon, Inosuke?" Natsu asked Inosuke.
"Not far. We're getting really close!" Inosuke stated as he took the lead. They ran for another eighteen seconds, until they stopped and met a topless, headless masculine demon with blades attached to his arms standing right in front of them.
Ozaki gasped as she had witnessed a scary demon for the first time in her life. She covered her mouth and begun to cower while on Natsu's back. 'What... is that?' Ozaki asked as he stared at the half conscious.
"That thing doesn't even have a head!" Inosuke yelled. "It doesn't even have a weak spot, you know! So, how do we even kill it?"
"I'll deal with it." Natsu said.
"You ain't finna fight him alone, are you, redhead?" Inosuke asked.
"Yeah. I am." Natsu replied to Inosuke with a normal face.
"Natsu?" Ozaki looked downward at Natsu.
"Ozaki. Would you mind climbing off my back for a moment? I know your arms are still hurting..." Natsu kindly asked.
"Okay." Ozaki then climbed off of Natsu's back and stepped a few feet back to give Natsu space to fight.
"Everyone stays back! The faster I defeat this demon, the quicker we can get to the one that control all the threads!" Natsu said as he pointed the tip of his Nichirin sword towards the headless demon. 'That thing doesn't have a head, so decapitation is out of the question. Which means, I have to use the Kesagiri technique. Like my brother taught me, twice.' He took a breath and sucked in some oxygen and ran towards the headless demon. 'Flame Breathing. First Form...' Natsu's Nichirin sword had slowly coated itself with orange fire. As the headless demon had got within close range, it tried to skewer Natsu within close range. Natsu gripped his hilt tightly and gave two fatal kesagiri slashes to the headless demon's chest with his fire coated Nichirin sword. 'Flame Strike!'
The headless demon falls down on the ground and evaporates in three seconds after being slashed by Natsu.
Inosuke grunts after witnessing Natsu's Flame Breathing techniques for the first time.
Ozaki happily gasped as she watched Natsu destroy the headless demon with his Flame Breathing. Three seconds after the headless demon completely evaporate, she walked behind Natsu and smiled. "That was amazing."
Natsu turned his body around to see Ozaki smiling at him. "Ozaki..."
"You're a really strong fighter, Natsu." Ozaki complimented on his strength.
After hearing that compliment, Natsu begun to slowly blush, as he looked at Ozaki's figure. "Thanks for the compliment! You see, I'm training to become a Hashira, just like my older brother. He's one of the strongest people I know. So, yeah. I'm pretty much useless without his training." Natsu embarrassingly rubbed the back of his head and chuckled in front of her."
As Natsu and Ozaki begun to drag their conversation for over thirty seconds, Inosuke started to feel impatient, as a red nerve appeared on his hide. "Hey, redhead." Inosuke had called for his attention. "Are we still going after that demon with the threads, or what?" Inosuke asked, feeling impatient.
"The one controlling the threads, yeah." Natsu said as he looked over to Inosuke.
"Then, stop wasting time! We got a demon to murder!" Inosuke yelled, he jumped, feeling energetic and irritated at the same time.
"You're right. We should get going, though." Natsu said, remembering why he was ordered to come to Mount Natagumo. Natsu then looked
"In that case..." Ozaki offered to give Natsu his Haori back. "You might need this.
Natsu looked at his Haori, then at Ozaki. "Oh. It's alright. You can keep it, until we get off the mountain."
"But, don't you need it to fight?" She asked, as she looked down at Natsu's Haori that she had worn.
"Not really. Most Demon Slayers like me wear Haori, so it would make us look cool." Natsu chuckled.
"But, I think you're cool already." Ozaki said.
"Thanks for that, Ozaki." Natsu blushed a bit. A moment has passed. "Let's keep moving."
"Right!" Both Inosuke and Ozaki chanted, as the trio continued running towards the Mother Spider Demon's location.
Author's Note: I felt bad for the Demon Slayers that were forced to fight Tanjirou against their will, while being controlled by the Mother Spider Demon and were later killed by the Mother Spider Demon. So I thought, "Hey, why not change their fates?" So that's what I did. Ozaki lives. And that other boy with the broken lives, too. His name was never revealed, due to his untimingly demise, so I decided to call him Kurosaki.
Mother Spider Demon next chapter.