Traveling and Mt Sagiri

Hello again!

First of all, I will answer guest reviews here since I can't answer them via PM.

It's answered from oldest to newest, just so there is no confusion about which 'Guest' I'm answering to.

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Guest: Thanks! I wish you luck with your fic. Personally, I don't feel like you're being rude.

Sumi: Well… I suppose you'll have to read and find out, won't you? Sorry but I don't give spoilers for anything, less so my own stories.

Guest: As I told Sumi, you'll have to read and find out.

Guest: I refer to the two answers I gave above.

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Second of all, thank you all for the support, I hope you can continue to support the fic as I keep writing.

Without further ado, on with the chapter.

Disclaimer: Breath of avoid copyright, First Form, deny ownership!

I hope you enjoy.


"Nezuko?" Tanjiro called out, sitting outside of the entrance of a small cave somewhere in the middle of a forest.

The two siblings have made good progress in their journey to Mt. Sagiri but it has been slower than it could be since Nezuko refused to travel during the day and Tanjiro heeded the warning that the swordsman gave him before disappearing about not letting her be exposed to sunlight.

Luckily, he had a plan to fix that.

He had left Nezuko inside a cave when the sun was about to rise, told her to wait there and went back to a farm he saw while they were walking, hoping to get a basket to carry Nezuko in. He asked for some straw and bamboo as well in order to cover some holes the basket had and. after paying the owner for it. he made his way back to the cave.

"Huh? Nezuko?" He said again, peeking inside the cave but not catching sight of his sister. "She's gone!" Just when he was about to rush inside, his sister's head poked out from a hole in the ground. 'She dug a hole?' Tanjiro thought. 'My kid sister's turned into a mole.' Nezuko simply remained inside her hole, looking like she was glaring at the light outside. 'And she's frowning! She must really want to avoid the sunlight.' Shaking himself from his thoughts, the boy stood up and took out the hatchet he brought with him. "Wait there for a second!"

Tanjiro proceeded to cut the bamboo and use it along with the straw to cover the basket before entering the cave and kneeling in front of the hole with it.

"Think you can fit inside this?" He asked, presenting the altered basket. "I want to keep moving during the day, too. I'll carry you, okay?" Nezuko simply blinked at him. 'Does she not understand me?' Tanjiro wondered. "Can you fit?" He asked again, pointing at the basket. "In here? Basket."

Without any sign of acknowledgement, Nezuko climbed out of the hole and tried to enter head first inside the basket.

"She kinda protrudes, huh?" Tanjiro thought out loud.

Only her head and the upper part of her torso were able to fit inside of it and despite himself, Tanjiro couldn't help but smile thinking how much she has grown.

"Oh, Nezuko, remember how you became big like an adult earlier?" He asked. "Do you think you can do the opposite? Get smaller?"

Not seeing any reaction from her, Tanjiro patted her in the back and chanted.

"Smaller, Nezuko! Get smaller!"

There was no sound of acknowledgement but the demon pushed forward, moving the basket upwards and climbed inside it, doing as her brother said and becoming as small as a child, her pink kimono with a black haori looking like a large blanket now that it didn't fit her.

"Good job!" Tanjiro said happily as he patted her head. "That's a good girl, Nezuko! I'm impressed!" He then grabbed a blanket and used it to cover the top of the basket. "I'll tell you when the sun sets so you can walk, okay?"

The demon seemed to smile and nod before her brother covered the basket entirely so no sunlight could get inside of it.

"Alright, we're off." With those words, he got out of the cave with the basket secured on his back and began to walk.


'They said that Mt Sagiri is past that mountain… we're getting close.' The red haired boy thought as he walked.

He had been asking directions from the people that lived where he passed; they all told him the way to his destination was past a mountain in the distance and warned him to be careful since some people have been disappearing in the path.

Once the night came, Tanjiro let Nezuko out of the basket and the two kept walking together.

The path they were supposed to take was surrounded by a forest but there were no trees on the path itself so it was a fairly easy walk, they just needed to be careful not to trip.

"There's a temple over there." Tanjiro said as he saw some light. "There's light leaking through, so someone must be there. Let's check it out."

Nezuko didn't show any signs of agreeing or disagreeing and simply followed her brother.

The boy suddenly froze when a certain smell entered his nostrils.

"I smell blood! Someone must've gotten hurt!" He said before grabbing Nezuko's hand and running towards the temple.

The two quickly walked up the stairs and arrived at the sliding doors.

"Are you all right?" Tanjiro asked, letting go of Nezuko and opening the doors with both hands.

He wished he hadn't done that.

Inside the temple, lit by a small candle, were three bodies, clearly dead, and a person with shoulder length green hair squatting over one of them.

"What the hell?" No, that was wrong. "This is my turf." It wasn't a person hovering over one of the bodies. "If you break into my territory, I'll make you pay!"

With blood on its hands, its face and around the corners of its mouth, the thing over the body was.

'A man-eating demon!' Tanjiro's mind processed, frozen at the scene in front of him, not even realizing that the basket that he was carrying with only one strap had fallen off.

Unbeknownst to him, Nezuko was completely ignorant of the demon's presence, her eyes were fixated on the three bloody corpses and she was salivating from beneath the bamboo piece over her mouth.

"There's something off about you." The demon said as it licked the blood on his fingers. "Are you both humans?" He asked as he stood up.

Tanjiro got over the initial shock and took a step back, his eyes fixed on the demon's form.

'What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?' That question repeated itself in his head over and over but he didn't have time to figure out an answer.

With a blow of the wind, the candle was blown off and the demon took that as his cue to lunge in the attack, tackling Tanjiro faster than the boy could react, he prepared his hand to impale and kill him.

The red haired boy reacted by grabbing the hatchet he kept at his hip and swinging it, making a deep cut on the demon's throat and making it do a somersault backwards.

Tanjiro skidded on the ground due to the initial impact while the demon landed easily on its feet.

"A hatchet, huh? Not bad." The demon said with a chuckle, bringing a hand over the wound on his neck. "But a scratch like this…" He grinned maniacally at Tanjiro. "…should heal in no time." Just as he said that, the wound closed, only the blood around his neck showing that there was one to begin with. "See that? The bleeding's stopped already."

Not allowing himself to be surprised, Tanjiro began to stand up, hatchet in hand but never got the chance.

'Wha-?' In the blink of an eye, the demon had closed the distance, used its left hand to hold down the arm that was holding the axe and its right one to choke him. 'He's so fast! And he's unbelievably strong!'

"You won't get me twice!" The demon said with the same evil grin on its face. "All right, I'm gonna snap your neck!"

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'Human.' Nezuko thought, looking at the bodies. 'Food, eat- no!' She dug her fingernails on the palm of her hands to stop herself but she still couldn't look away from the sight, even when the demon attacked her brother she only registered it as a strong gale suddenly blowing, her eyes fixated on the corpses.

"I'm gonna snap your neck!"

Those words she did hear.

'Snap neck? Whose?' She wondered and a moment later she registered her surroundings. 'Onii-chan!' In a flash, she turned around and ran towards the demon that was pinning her brother to the ground. 'Get off of him!' She yelled in her mind as she kicked it in the head, decapitating the demon from the sheer strength behind the blow.

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"Huh? Eh?!" Tanjiro could only stare at the place where the demon's eyes were glaring at him a moment ago, his mind only now realizing that its head was gone.

The body went limp and he quickly pushed it off of him, looking in horror at the insides of its neck.

'Sh-she killed him!' The boy thought, looking at his sister in a mix of shock and awe. 'Oh, but wait! He's a demon, so-' He mentally shook his head off those thoughts. 'Think about it later, we have to go.'

"N-Nezuko-" He was interrupted by his sister yet again, this time she kicked the headless body as it tried to reach for him again, sending it flying and crashing against a tree. 'D-did he just move without his head?!'

"You bastards!" Adding to the already surreal sight, the head of the demon spoke. "One of you is a demon after all? You gave off such a weird vibe! What's a human and a demon doing teaming up?"

'It's talking!' Tanjiro yelled in his mind, his brain trying to process the sight.

He didn't have time for it since the body got up and ran towards Nezuko hitting her away.

"Stop it!" The red haired boy yelled, grabbing his hatchet and rushing to his sister's aid.

He had to stop before he could reach as the demon's head grew two arms and used them to jump at him. Tanjiro reacted quickly though, and swung the weapon against the head.

It caught the edge in its teeth and used its new set of arms to grab Tanjiro's shoulders, grinning all the while.

"Nezuko!" He called out, hearing the body of the demon continue to hit her.

She wasn't able to answer as the body continued to hit her before grabbing her from her haori and throwing her towards the forest.

"Nezuko!" He was brought out of his worry when he felt something coiling around his arms and moved his gaze back to the demon's head as its hair grew and moved to ensnare the hatchet and him, still smiling despite having lost its body.

'What's the deal with this guy?' Tanjiro thought with a glare, any shock or fear he was feeling before replaced with anger. 'Growing arms from his head! I gotta save Nezuko!'

Reeling his head back, the red eyed boy glared at the head and yelled.

"Out of my way!" Before head-butting him as hard as he could.

'What the…? Hard!' The demon thought, letting go of the boy due to a mix of pain and surprise.

Tanjiro didn't let up, he immediately grabbed it from its hair and head-butted him again.

'His head is like a rock!'

Noticing that it was disoriented, Tanjiro grabbed the hatchet's handle and screamed as he threw it against a tree, the hatchet flew and imbedded itself in the tree, capturing the demon against it.

"Yes!" He celebrated before turning around in the direction Nezuko and the body went.

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"Nezuko! Where are you?!" Tanjiro yelled as he ran around the forest. 'Come on, sniff them out, they couldn't have gone too far.' He kept running as he followed Nezuko's scent. 'The smell is getting stronger, they're close!' He thought as he ran around the trees and saw the demon's body kicking his sister.

"Nezuko!" He called out, running towards them. "Leave her alone!" Tanjiro yelled, tackling the body.

At that moment, he realized that he should have paid more attention to his surroundings since, in his rush to save his sister, he didn't notice the cliff behind the two demons.

"Ah!"

Luckily for Tanjiro, Nezuko managed to grab him from the back of his shirt before he could fall so only the demon's body crashed against the ground.

"Thank you, Nezuko." Tanjiro said through pants. "Can you bring me up?"

The black haired girl did as told and gently pulled him up until he was sitting safely on the ground.

"That was close." The red haired boy thought out loud, letting out a sigh of relief before turning to his sister. "Are you alright? Does anything hurt?" He asked as he checked her for wounds.

To his relief, it looked like there wasn't any.

"Thank the gods." He let out another sigh of relief before collapsing on the ground.

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"Hngg." Tanjiro groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. "Where…? The demon!" He yelled, remembering what had happened. "I must have passed out." He looked around and saw Nezuko without her haori sitting in seiza and watching over him. "Nezuko, are you alright?" He asked, once again checking her for wounds.

His sister stared at him and even with the bamboo piece covering her mouth, he could tell that she was smiling.

"Sorry for worrying you." Tanjiro apologized before patting her head. "Hm? Nezuko, where is your haori?"

The pink eyed girl simply tilted her head in response.

Tanjiro looked around and noticed that the haori was on the ground, folded up and in the exact place where his head was resting.

"I see, thank you Nezuko." He said, grabbing the haori, unfolding it, and shaking it for a bit to get rid of any dirt before putting it on his sister. "I must not have been unconscious for too long, it's still dark out."

With that, the two began to walk back to the temple hand in hand.


As they arrived at the temple, Tanjiro noticed that the head of the demon was still trapped between the axe and the tree where he had left him.

'If I just leave him here, he could break free and kill more people.' The boy thought, letting go of his sister's hand and grabbing a sheathed knife from his pocket. 'I wonder if there are tons of demons out there.' He sniffed the air, focusing on the demon's head. 'This isn't the scent that was lingering in my house, it was a different demon but even so… I have to finish him off.' Tanjiro didn't even realize he was beginning to hyperventilate as he reached that conclusion. 'If I don't kill him he'll attack more people! I gotta do it! Do it!' He repeated the last part over and over in his head trying to move his body but try as he might it just wouldn't respond beyond twitching as he continued to hyperventilate. 'Do it, do it, do it, do-!'

Tanjiro felt a hand on his shoulder breaking him out of his thoughts.

'Who is there? Nezuko? Another demon?' The boy slowly turned his head to the sight of a red mask with a long nose and an angry expression.

"You can't finish him off with that." A male, hoarse voice said, coming from behind the red mask.

'A tengu mask!' Tanjiro thought. 'I didn't hear his footsteps!'

The man with the tengu mask was wearing a light blue jinbei style kimono with a few clouds in it and covering his head with a white scarf.

Getting over the initial surprise, Tanjiro turned around completely.

"H-how can I finish him off?" He asked.

"Don't ask me!" The man answered. "Can't you use your own head to figure that out?"

Although not expecting that response, the boy heeded the advice.

'If stabbing is no good, I'll have to crush his head!' The red haired boy thought, looking around until he saw a rock of an appropriate size and went to grab it.

He then went back to stand in front of the demon and gulped.

'To crush his skull and smash it completely, I guess I'm going to have to pound him with this rock many times.' He realized. 'I bet he's going to suffer.' That thought alone made him hesitate even more than when he was just going to stab him. 'Isn't there anything I can sue to kill him with one blow?'

While Tanjiro tried to think of a way to kill that demon without making it suffer, the man with the tengu mask simply looked.

'This kid isn't going to cut it.' He thought, sniffing the air. 'He's too kind and can't make decisions. He's facing a demon, yet the scent of kindness remains. He has empathy for even a demon.' The masked man mentally sighed. 'Giyu… he's never going to make it.'

.

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As Tanjiro stood there frozen in place, the head jolted awake, it looked around for a moment until its eyes landed on Tanjiro.

"You bastard, I'll kill you!" The demon yelled, moving its arms to try and reach him. "I swear I'll devour you! Get over here! Dammit! I can't go to you, so you come to me!"

Tanjiro wasn't listening, though, as he noticed the light on the horizon.

'I faltered too long, now the sun's coming up!' He thought. 'Now that I think about it, why did he tell me to not let Nezuko get hit by sunlight?'

Almost as if to answer his unspoken question, the sunlight began to hit the demon, quickly burning him and turning the head into ashes.

'He's gone with that much sunlight?!' Tanjiro thought in shock, letting go of the rock without even realizing. 'No wonder Nezuko shrinks from it!' As he thought that, he realized something. "Nezuko? Nezuko?" The boy called out as he looked around for his sister. 'Where is she?!' He didn't panic for long though, as he walked towards the temple and saw his sister inside, safely hidden from the sun behind the walls and the blanket covered basket.

He let out another sigh of relief at the sight.

"O-oh, that's right; where's that man?" Tanjiro wondered out loud.

He found him kneeling in prayer at one side of the temple.

'He buried the people who got killed.' The red haired boy realized, slowly walking towards him.

"Um…"

"I'm Urokodaki Sakonji." The man introduced himself. "I'm assuming you're the one Tomioka Giyu sent my way."

"Y-yes!" Tanjiro answered, standing straight. "My name is Kamado Tanjiro! My sister's name is Nezuko, and-"

"Tanjiro." Urokodaki interrupted calmly. "What will you do when your sister devours a human?"

The Kamado could only stare, his brain unable to process the question.

Noticing this, Urokodaki walked towards him and slapped him.

"Too slow!" He berated as Tanjiro registered the pain. "You're just too slow at making decisions! You failed to finish off that demon before daybreak!" The masked man continued. "Do you know why you couldn't answer my question right away? It's because your resolve is too weak!" The red haired boy simply stared at him, not finding a way to refute his words. "There are two things to do if your sister devours a human. Kill your sister! Then slit your own belly and die! That's what it means to travel with your sister who became a demon!"

'That's… that's true.' Tanjiro thought, realizing just how lightly he had taken the situation, he thought that his encounter with Tomioka Giyu had made him realize it but he had clearly been too naïve.

"But that must never happen no matter what and you'd best not forget." Urokodaki continued. "Your sister, taking the life of an innocent person, that's the one thing that must never happen. Ever!" Having said his piece, Urokodaki turned away from Tanjiro. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yes!" He answered, no longer feeling the pain on his cheek.

"All right, now I'm going to test you to see if you're fit to become a member of the Demon Slayer Corps." Even from behind the mask, Tanjiro could fell the intensity in the man's eyes. "Carry your sister on your back and follow me!"


Tanjiro did as told and followed behind Urokodaki as best as he could, which amounted to 'just fast enough to not lose sight of him'.

'He's so fast! Just how old is he anyway?' Tanjiro wondered trying to keep his breathing under control as he ran behind the masked man. 'And, like earlier, I'm not hearing any footsteps at all!' Realizing that thinking about that was useless, his mind went towards his siter. 'Nezuko, I know it must be jarring, but please be patient…! Well, being patient is all that you've ever known.' A small pang of guilt made way into his hearth as he remembered one time he saw his sister fixing her kimono, he had offered to buy her a new one but she brushed the offer off with a smile saying that, that kimono was her favorite and that she would rather use the money so the others could have more food.

That memory brought tears to the corner of his eyes but it also strengthened his resolve even more.

'I swear I'll turn you back into a human! I swear I'll buy you a beautiful kimono someday!' He used his sleeve to wipe away the tears and doubled his efforts to keep up with Urokodaki. 'Everything that I couldn't do for the others I'll do it all for you!'


The sun was almost setting by the time they made it to their destination, a small house at the foot of Mt. Sagiri.

Urokodaki looked perfectly fine as he walked towards the house and opened the door while Tanjiro was on the floor on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

"N-now, have I…" He began through pants. "…passed… the test?"

Undoing his scarf to reveal short white hair Urokodaki spoke.

"The test starts now, we're going to climb the mountain."

Tanjiro could only give a choked scream at those words.

"Get her inside." The older man said, looking at the basket on Tanjiro's back.

Taking one more deep breath, he did as told and left a sleeping Nezuko inside the house.

"I'll make sure to take care of your sister for you." Urokodaki assured him.

"I'm counting on you, sir."

Then the two began to walk up the mountain.


'I'm exhausted.' Tanjiro thought as he followed the man with the tengu mask up the mountains, he lost track of how long they've been walking but the moon was high in the sky so it was definitely late. 'My legs are starting to buckle! I'm starting to feel dizzy, too.' Shaking his head, he focused on following the older man.

A minute later, Urokodaki stopped walking a few steps in front of Tanjiro and turned around.

"Now, from here, go back down to the house at the foot of the mountain." He said, surprising the red haired boy. "This time, I'm not going to wait until daybreak!" Leaving those words behind, he seemingly blended in with the mist and disappeared from sight.

'Eh? Is that all?' Tanjiro wondered, trying to find Urokodaki but he was long gone. 'I see, he thinks I might get lost in this thick fog.' For the first time since meeting the man, he let out a sigh of relief. 'I just have to get back by daybreak, right? That's easy! I have a great sense of smell and I already memorized Urokodaki-san's scent.' Feeling confident, Tanjiro began to jog back down, trusting his nose to show him the way.

'Just need to- eh?' He suddenly tripped on something, making him stop moving. 'What was-? Ow!' Something flew towards him, hitting him in the face. 'Rocks?!' He took a few steps to the right to regain his balance only to lose his footing and fall down a pitfall. 'I get it now, so the place is filled with traps. That's the deal, huh?'

He quickly climbed out of the hole, only for his hand to touch a rope and activate another trap.

'Crap, more rocks?!' Tanjiro quickly jumped back and to the side but didn't see any rocks coming his way. 'Where- gah!' Instead of rocks, a large log tied with rope suddenly hit him on his back sending him flying to the ground. 'Crap, crap, crap; if I keep walking into traps like this, I won't make it down the mountain by morning!' He thought as he tried to take a deep breath. 'And besides, this mountain… the air's too thin here! It's way thinner here than on the mountain where I used to live! That's why I'm gasping for air like this and feel so dizzy!' Gritting his teeth, Tanjiro forced his body to move, following the trail Urokodaki left behind. 'Will I make it back? I might pass out!' But just as those thought entered his mind, he dismissed them. 'No, I gotta make it back!' He once again stopped, this time of his own will and not because of any traps. 'Get your breathing under control and sniff out each of those traps!' Closing his eyes, he focused in order to smell each of the traps in his way. 'Alright!'

With a determined look, he began running away.

He tripped another trap, a rope that made more logs come at him but he was prepared this time and managed to dodge them, he continued his dash even as he kept activating the traps since, even if he could smell them that only gave him its approximate location, so he was ready to dodge them but couldn't see the ropes that activate them.

'I've got it! I've got it!' The red haired teen thought. 'Since they were set up by people, I can sniff them out!' Almost as if to contradict him, a new type of trap went out, a bamboo log that had been bended until it was touching the ground was let loose, going back to its original position and taking Tanjiro with it, only for gravity to smash him into the ground. 'That been said-' Three more bamboo trees came crashing down on him and he could only raise his arms to cover his face. 'I'm not suddenly going to be athletic enough to dodge every one of them!' Once the hits subsided, Tanjiro began walking again, using a tree every now and then as support. 'I will definitely make it back!'


At the house at the foot of the mountain.

Urokodaki had long since made it back home and moved Nezuko from the floor to a futon, tucking her in before waiting for Tanjiro to come back.

'The sun is about to go up.' The old man thought, looking out a window. '…just in time.' He looked at the door, having smelled the red haired boy just outside of it, a moment later, it opened.

The older Kamado was a mess, his clothes had dirt all over them, his face was covered in bruises, his breathing was shallow and he was bleeding from a cut on his forehead.

"I…" But, he had made it. "…have… returned…" That was the only thing he said before collapsing against the frame of the door.

'Barely made it, huh?' Urokodaki thought, getting up from the floor and walking towards him. 'Giyu, you said that you felt that something was different with these two, while I can't say I haven't seen a similar determination as Tanjiro's before this is without a doubt the first time I have seen a demon that refuses to eat humans, even if they were already corpses.' The masked remembered how while Tanjiro was debating with himself about killing the demon back at the temple, Nezuko had just stood there, completely ignoring the corpses inside the structure. 'At the very least, I am willing to bet on their possibilities.'

"I accept you as my student, Kamado Tanjiro." He said softly before carrying the unconscious boy inside.


A few days later, inside a bedroom away from Mt Sagiri.

'So he was accepted.' A man with peach colored hair and a scar on his right cheek, almost reaching his mouth, thought as he read the letter a crow had just delivered. 'I don't doubt your judgement, Urokodaki-san, but I still need to see this for myself.' With that thought, he got up from the ground and grabbed a geometrically patterned green, orange, and yellow haori that he put over his black uniform's jacket.

"Are you going?" A female voice asked from the door.

"Yes."

"He was accepted, wasn't he?"

"He was."

"Do you really need to go then, Sabito?"

Sabito chuckled before opening a closet and retrieve a fox mask from it, the mask was completely white, with a red cord used to keep it in place and had a scar in the same place Sabito had one, he then placed the mask on his belt.

"The kid might have been accepted and I won't question Urokodaki-san's judgement in that front but whether or not I accept that demon remains to be seen." He said matter-of-factly. "I'm risking my life just by not immediately reporting this, if I risk it anymore then I want to see for myself if it is worth it." With those words, he walked outside of the room and towards the entrance of the house.

"Fair enough." The girl said, walking besides him.

"Where are you going?"

"With you." She answered immediately. "I may not be a pillar but I'm also risking my life by not reporting this."

"I told you not to ask what I talked with Giyu, remember?" Sabito asked with a sigh.

"And I insisted that you tell me." She said back. "It was my choice and I'll see it through to the end."

"I can't argue with that." The man conceded as the two reached the door of the house. "Let's go then, Makomo."

"Right."


Okay, most of you probably weren't surprised this time around since I already revealed that Sabito was alive so there is a good chance you guessed that Makomo was the one talking at the end, even without Sabito saying anything.

I even considered not naming her and leave you with the doubt… but I'm not that mean, haha.

I will explain how those two are alive eventually, most likely on the next chapter, just in case some of you are wondering how they survived the final selection.

You probably noticed that there haven't been any major changes yet, there will be, I assure you, I'm just building up to it.

I think that's it, once again thank you for the support and if you liked it please leave a review.

Heck, even if you didn't like it, tell me what you didn't like, maybe I can work on it.

Thanks for reading and for supporting this fic.

Until next time.