Atoning
Guest review answer corner!
.
Guest: There wasn't much to modify on that chapter except to change the conversations a bit so it makes sense for Tamayo and Yushiro to know about certain things. For example; in canon, it seems that they just know about Nezuko been asleep for two years even when Tanjiro never told them that (or at least, there wasn't any scene with him explaining that).
In all honesty, the last chapter could be considered the first half of one, with this one being the second half of the chapter.
With all that said, thanks for the review!
.
New chapter ready!
But before that I have an
IMPORTANT QUESTION!
So, not related to this story but I want to ask, would anyone be interested in a TanKana week?
If you have read any of my other works for KnY then you may know that I really like that pairing, if not then I'll tell you know, I REALLY like that pairing, haha.
Jokes aside, I know there was a TanKana week on the works some time before but its twitter account was suddenly deleted and the whole thing seemed to get cancelled.
In any case, I thought that maybe I could make one for around the end of February but I genuinely don't know the first thing about how to make a 'pairing name' week or how to promote it so then I thought 'maybe my readers can help!' which brings us to this note here.
If any of you would be willing to help me set it up or have any sort of advice, want to help promote it, or anything related; please let me know by contacting me, either by sending me a PM to my fanfiction . net or Wattpad accounts. Both have the same name, Manu259.
I am also considering making a Discord server about it… but, like with the TanKana week, I don't know how to make one (nothing that a google search wouldn't fix I'm sure but I don't want to half-ass it and end up making a mess of things); that being said, I may give it a shot if enough people ask for it, I do think it would be easier to organize things that way, but I think I may be getting ahead of myself now so I'll just wait to hear your responses for the moment.
Thank you for your attention and without further ado, on with the chapter!
I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: Same as always.
Kibutsuji Muzan walked through Asakusa; his 'conversation' at Nakime's fortress hadn't gotten him anything, which put him in a bit of a sour mood, to say the least.
If anyone was up in the area he was in and had seen his expression, they would have immediately shivered in fear and done their best to stand as far away from him as possible; unless they were drunk, stupid, had a death wish or any mix of those options.
'Yahaba and Susamaru have engaged that Demon Slayer.' He thought, momentarily linking his senses with his two assassins and severing said link just as quickly. 'If those earrings mean what I think it means then they won't last but they should be a good distraction and buy me enough time to clean my tracks.' With that thought, he stopped.
He was at the entrance of a Western type house, the place his 'family' called home.
Two stories tall and large enough to house at least 10 people in relative comfort; light could be seen coming out from the windows, meaning his 'wife' and 'daughter' were still awake and waiting for him.
'Foolish.' Muzan thought. Unlike him, humans need sleep, what good comes from staying up late? It is even detrimental to their health so he was genuinely baffled when they would stay up and wait for him to arrive when he had to 'work late'.
He never showed it of course; thanks to literally centuries of experience he was able to act as a human with the greatest of ease, fooling those two without issue. His acting ability was not limited to only his 'true' form as a man around his mid-twenties but also as a child or woman if the need arises.
It wasn't always like that, the first few times he tried to act as a human he ended up losing his temper when they said something to him as if they were equals and ended up killing them, he made sure to practice with inconsequential humans that wouldn't be an issue to his plans, of course; he didn't have this problem with these two, Rei and Haruka almost always behaved, making maintaining the act far easier than other times.
But they had outlived their usefulness; while Rei's connections looked like they would help his objective on first glance, after months of work and exhausting every resource, he found that they were as useless as all the others and after finding not one but two demon hunters in the last few days, not to mention one with those damned earrings, he decided it was time to move on.
Now he just had to make sure there were no loose ends.
With that, he walked inside the house and just as he opened the door.
"Daddy!" Haruka yelled excitedly as she ran and hug his knees.
"Welcome back." Rei said smiling and calmly walking towards the two. "Is something wrong, dear? You look a bit upset."
They were both dressed in matching brown nightgowns, with Rei's hair free to fall to the middle of her back while Haruka's was still in twin braids.
"…yes, you could say that." He answered, his hat obscuring most of his face.
"Is there anything I can help you with?" Haruka asked, looking innocently into her father's eyes.
"You two have done enough." Muzan answered, although the tone made the two women frown a bit.
"In any case, we should all go to sleep." Rei said erasing the frown from her face and replacing it with a smile, dismissing 'Tsukihiko' is tone as him being tired. "Come on, Haruka, time for bed." She said as she grabbed her daughter and picked her up in her arms.
DLING
Suddenly, the entire area changed, the walls of their home replaced with a strange, moving, environment that seemed to be made of parts of buildings put inside a bigger building.
"Wh-what…" Rei trailed off as she looked around the place in confusion.
"Where are we?" Haruka asked.
"Your contacts didn't help anything." 'Tsukihiko' spoke, no longer keeping his human façade. "And I don't have any further use for you."
"Wh…. What are you talking about, Tsukihiko-san?" The black haired woman asked, her shock clear in her expression.
He didn't answer, the first demon simply turned around as the same sound from before was heard and he was suddenly on a platform, far from the two humans.
"Daddy, you're scaring me, what's going on?" Haruka asked, trembling on her mother's embrace.
"Grr."
The two turned around to a sound that resembled the growl of an animal, except that the figure they saw was very much human in appearance.
"D-daddy, what's wrong? Did I do something that made you mad?" The little girl said, fear now clear in her voice.
Rei didn't bother with saying anything, partly because her mind was too shocked to actually say something but mostly because she understood, on an instinctual level, that whatever this place was is not a place where humans should ever enter.
Tightening the grip on her daughter, she quickly turned the opposite direction of the human figure and began to run.
It was a useless gesture, as she doesn't even understand how she got to that place in the first place, but she still ran, hoping that there was some sort of exit nearby.
The figure saw them getting away and, while crawling on all fours, it leaped towards them.
Tanjiro ran, using the entire environment he had at his disposal to avoid the temari and the arrows guiding them.
He still moved around the area where Susamaru was able to see him, since she may decide to attack Tamayo or Yushiro if he gets out of her sight.
Even with Yushiro's technique allowing him to see the arrows, dodging them wasn't by any means an easy task, it made it easier but the things were still moving absurdly fast and he has seen the kind of damage they can cause.
Running around the yard, the Demon Slayer side-stepped every now and then to make sure he avoided the arrows, even running on the side of Tamayo's house when he had no other place he could move to dodge.
'Nezuko, how much longer?' The red haired teen wondered as he ducked beneath two of the temari and quickly jumped to the side to avoid the ones that followed, all of which quickly changed direction and continued after him.
He continued to jump, duck, side-step and avoid all of the hits until he was forced to a position with all the six temari surrounding him.
'It's okay, I'll cut one to make a path and escape through it.' Tanjiro thought, preparing his sword but, before he could do that. 'The arrows disappeared.'
Noticing the sudden change, and thanking Nezuko in his mind, the demon hunter changed plans.
'They won't swerve unnaturally anymore; then...' Taking a deep breath, he prepared to unleash a technique. 'The one behind me to my right is the one further away from the demon, start from there.'
The swordsman used his right leg as pivot and turned towards the temari he had marked as the first target.
'Water Breathing. Third Form, Flowing Dance!'
As his sword began to be enveloped in water, he slashed at the projectile, cutting it in half and killing its momentum, without stopping he dashed to the temari on the far left of his original position, cutting it with a horizontal strike aimed slightly upwards, using the momentum from that attack he jumped slightly off the ground and performed a downward slash on the third temari, then quickly dashed to the fourth one with a diagonal slash, starting from his lower left, he repeated a downwards slash against the fifth weapon and finally cut the last one with another horizontal slash; the entire technique was performed at a speed that made the entire thing look like one connected attack instead of six different ones.
Without stopping, Tanjiro rushed towards the owner of the temari but, instead of aiming for her neck, he cut off her arms; performing a slash that resembled a triangle, first cutting the three arms on the demon's left side with an upwards slash that stopped on top of her head and then cutting downwards to sever the other three arms, his momentum carrying him a few feet away from Susamaru.
"Tamayo-san! Are these two demons closely related to Kibutsuji?" He asked after finishing his technique.
"Most likely." The black haired woman answered, still covering her wound with one hand.
"Then, I will definitely extract blood from these two!" He declared.
"Khahaha." In response to his declaration, Susamaru began to laugh, even as her severed arms turned to ash and disappeared. "You think you're going to extract blood from us?" She asked in a mocking tone. "I don't know what you're scheming…" She turned to look at the red eyed teen over her shoulder, smiling despite losing her limbs. "…but I won't allow you to do anything to displease him!"
The Kamado felt a wave of fear wash over him unlike anything from the demons he has faced before, not because of her declaration but because of the loyalty she seemed to have towards Kibutsuji Muzan.
"If you think you can extract blood from us Twelve Demon Moons, then have at it!" The hazel-eyed demon taunted as she turned to stand face to face with the Demon Slayer.
"Watch your back!" Yushiro warned from inside the, now destroyed, house. "Don't let your guard down for a second! If those two really are Twelve Demon Moons, then they're undeniably more formidable than any other demon you've killed until now!"
"Right! Understood!" Tanjiro answered, his guard already raised, and repeated what Yushiro just said. "Watch my back, don't let my guard down for a second, undeniably…" He trailed off, feeling his confidence take a dip. "…until now…" Seeing that repeating what he just heard would be counterproductive, the red haired teen quickly amended. "Right! I'll do my best!" And left it at that.
"Tamayo-sama!" The aforementioned turned to her companion, her wound already regenerated and only the blood marring her face and the hair that became loose being the only evidence that there was an injury in the first place. "Let's use those two as decoys and escape!"
"GASP" Tamayo paled, even the color from her kimono seeming to fade at hearing such a thing.
"I'm just kidding!" Yushiro quickly amended.
.
A few moments earlier.
'Find demon, protect Onii-chan.' That was the sole thought going through Nezuko's head as she continued to jump from tree to tree, trying to locate the demon her brother told her to go after.
She eventually found him, sitting comfortably on a branch with his back against the trunk of the tree.
Her pupils turned into slits as she made one final jump to close the distance, spinning once in mid-air and delivering a kick with her right leg.
The demon raised an arm to block it, stopping the attack.
With unnatural agility, she raised her opposite leg and kicked him with it.
Yahaba once again managed to raise his arm to block, but clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"Don't stir up dust like that." He muttered. "So filthy!" He looked at her with the eyes on his palms, both of which suddenly closed and Nezuko was suddenly moved to the side by an unseen force. 'Tch, since she interrupted me, the arrows guiding Susamaru's temari disappeared.' The short haired demon used his hands to straighten his clothes, getting rid of any dirt on it. 'Well, whatever, even if they can manage to wound us it's not like we can't regenerate.' With that thought, he jumped down from the tree, seeing no point in hiding any longer.
.
Susamaru laughed, regenerating her cut off arms with ease and making six new temari balls.
"I'm going to bring that head of yours to him."
The swordsman noticed that her regeneration took a lot less time than what he was used to, fear and nervousness invading his body against his will, before noticing a shadow on his peripheral vision and quickly turning towards it but he was sent to the ground when Nezuko, the origin of said shadow, crashed against him.
Yahaba grinned and calmly dropped down from the tree, having both his arms at his side with the palms facing the Kamados.
"Now then, why don't you both die at once?" Susamaru threw one of her temari at them.
Tanjiro pushed himself and his sister to the side to avoid it, the weapon bringing up a lot of dust after hitting the ground.
"Are you okay, Nezuko?" The red haired teen asked, earning a quick nod.
"Hey, demon hunter!" Yushiro called out. "You get rid of that arrow man first! We'll take on the temari woman with your sister!"
"Understood!" Tanjiro agreed and turned to his sister, whom looked at him by bending her head backwards. "Nezuko, whatever you do, don't push yourself too hard."
The younger Kamado hummed her agreement and sat straight once again before looking at Tamayo and Yushiro.
For a moment, the figures of her mother and youngest brother, Rokuta, overlapped with theirs.
'Protect!' She thought as her pupils turned into slits again and the veins on her face seemed about to pop.
The siblings stood up, looking in opposite directions at their respective opponents.
"I'm counting on you." Tanjiro said simply before they both dashed in opposite directions.
'I swear, I'm going to extract their blood.' The swordsman thought as he dashed towards Yahaba. 'If it means the medicine will be perfected even a minute sooner; I'll gladly fight any demon! I'll fight and win!'
He jumped forwards, his sword ready for a horizontal slash.
'I see it! The Opening thread!'
"What a grimy little urchin you are." Yahaba said, raising his right arm with the eye on its palm looking at the demon hunter. "You stay away from me!" The eye closed audibly and the thread that Tanjiro had seen snapped in tandem with it.
An arrow appeared right below the swordsman's feet, aiming away from the demon, moving him against his will and making him miss his swing.
The sound of the arrow demon's eyes closing was heard again and another arrow pointing to the right appeared from Tanjiro's left, moving him in that direction and sending him crashing against a tree.
Yahaba continued to stand in his initial position and summoning the arrows to send the demon hunter crashing around the area.
'This hurts! I mean this really… it seriously hurts!' The arrows themselves didn't do any damage, thankfully, but the speed at which they forced him to move and the way they constantly appeared out of nowhere left him with no way to try and soften the crash, let alone counter attack.
After continuing to crash around the floor, the trees and the walls for some time, one arrow sent him flying upwards. Moving him in random directions for a second before disappearing, leaving him several feet in the air where gravity did its job and began to bring him back down.
'A move! Unleash a move to blunt the attack!' Tanjiro thought, preparing one of the Water Breathing forms to be unleashed the moment he was close to touching the floor. 'Eight Form, Waterfall Jar!' The move worked and he managed to land safely on the ground, albeit in pain and a bit short of breath. 'Since the arrows were moving the temari around I thought this guy's Blood Demon Art wasn't really suited for combat and was supporting her but…' He trailed off, moving to stand face to face with Yahaba. 'If he can move anything with those arrows, his technique is actually more troublesome than the temari of that other demon.'
.
.
Meanwhile.
Susamaru laughed as she threw her temari towards the younger Kamado who continued to side-step, jump and duck to avoid being hit.
'Hmm? What is that guy doing?' She thought, noticing Yushiro running towards her in a straight line, she was about to make another temari and throw it at him. "He vanished?!" When he suddenly disappeared from her sight. 'Where is he? Is he moving faster than I can- ghg.'
"Haa!" Yushiro yelled as he punched Susamaru on the stomach with his open palm twice, the demon blocked a third hit with her arms but that only got her a kick to the head, she moved to block there but Yushiro kicked from the opposite direction and then kneed her on her chin, making the demon fall to her knees.
The green haired demon undid his technique and pointed at her while glaring.
"You hurt Tamayo-sama! I'll never forgive you for that!"
"Tamayo?" Yahaba asked, overhearing his yell. "Hey, Susamaru, the one over there… wouldn't that be Tamayo the fugitive?" He asked with a smile. "What a great souvenir she'll make!"
"Is that right?" Susamaru asked, getting back on her feet and with six new temari on her arms. She looked towards her two opponents, noticing that Nezuko and Yushiro were standing to her right and left respectively before throwing three of her weapons towards each.
One of them approached Nezuko near the ground and she prepared to kick it.
"Idiot!"
"You mustn't kick it!" Yushiro and Tamayo warned in turn but it was too late.
Nezuko's right leg that she tried to kick the temari with was severed from below the knee, making her fall face first to the ground in surprise.
Not wasting the opportunity, Susamaru quickly went towards her downed enemy and kicked her in the stomach, back towards the inside of the house and crashing against a wall.
"What fun this is! What fun this is!" The six armed demon said her catchphrase as she stood over the severed limb while bouncing one of her weapons off the ground. "I like kemari, too!" She grabbed the ball and, without taking her eyes off her opponents, asked. "Yahaba, will four heads be enough to take home?"
"No." He answered immediately. "We're taking two. The demon hunter and the fugitive." The arrow demon turned towards Tanjiro. "We have no use for the other two."
.
.
Inside Tamayo's home.
'It hurts.' Nezuko thought as she moved to a sitting position and saw the place her leg used to be.
"Nezuko-san!" Tamayo called out as she kneeled beside her. 'The bleeding isn't stopping instantly.' She noted. 'She's recovering so slowly.' Rummaging through her kimono, she took out a syringe. "This medicine will help heal your leg right away, all right?" The woman said as she injected her.
'…mom.' The pink-eyed girl thought as she stared at her, the worry on Tamayo's expression reminding her of how her mother would always take care of her or her siblings when one got injured. 'They hurt you… unforgivable!'
.
.
With Tanjiro.
'What should I do?' He thought, his guard ready to meet the arrow demon's attacks. 'I can't lose no matter what! But even if I can see the Opening Thread, it won't be easy to slash him!' It was similar as the time when he cut the boulder after Sabito dodged at the last second.
The Water Pillar had purposely left an opening in his stance that he could see and then moved at the last possible second so the red haired teen couldn't stop his own attack.
While similar it was certainly different, Yahaba wasn't leaving an opening on purpose, in fact, his stance was full of openings but they were all meaningless since those arrows made it so no matter the opening, Tanjiro won't be able to get close enough to take advantage of it.
'It will be useless to use a move, he'll just change the direction of the sword with his arrows.' Just as he thought that, Yahaba raised a hand, the eye on its palm looking at him. 'And I hate to say it… but those eyeballs on his hands are creepy! Though I hate to say it!'
The eyeballs closed and several arrows moved towards him.
'Not good, dodge!' Tanjiro jumped to the side, rolling on the ground to avoid the first three arrows, then jumped and spun forwards to avoid the next two, side-step another one only for the first arrows to turn around and come back towards him. 'The arrows don't disappear until they hit me, what if I try to slash them?' He put that theory into practice and did a downwards slash towards the next arrow that was approaching him. 'Oh, cra-!'
It was a futile attempt, his sword was unable to cut the arrow and the moment it made contact he was sent flying to the direction it was pointing, which was towards one of the outer walls where he left a dent from the force of the impact and accidentally let go of his sword.
'What should I do?' He didn't have time to think as another arrow came at him from the ground before changing direction upwards.
Tanjiro managed to avoid it by taking off his haori and having the arrow move it instead of him.
The moment he landed, Yahaba sent another arrow but instead of moving him, it twisted around his right arm.
"It's all going the way I want it to!" The demon bragged, smiling at the swordsman's pain. "Your arm's going to get twisted right off!"
Seeing the way the arrow was pointing at, Tanjiro ran towards a tree running up on its trunk until he was close to the top then jumped and spun in the same direction the arrow was pointing making it let go of his arm.
He landed near his sword and grabbed it.
"So, you eluded it by spinning in the same direction as the Kouketsu Arrow?" Yahaba thought out loud. "Damn monkey!"
But the demon hunter didn't have time to listen to him, his body was battered, if he was sent crashing towards a wall or tree again, he is not sure if he can get up.
'I have to strike back!' He thought, quickly going through every bit of information he has acquired on how this Blood Demon Art works and coming to a conclusion. 'I gotta change the arrow's direction without touching it directly!'
Yahaba clicked his tongue in annoyance and prepared to launch more arrows.
"It's about time for you to die!" He yelled, closing the eyes on both his palms.
'Adapt your moves!' Instead of waiting for the arrows to come to him, Tanjiro began to run towards the demon. 'First, use the Sixth Form to envelope the arrows! Then use the footwork of the Third Form to close in on him!'
Tanjiro dodged the first arrows by side-stepping but continuing to dash forwards.
'Twist! Envelope!' Grabbing his sword with both hands, the Kamado's weapon was enveloped in water as he began to move his swords along the path of the arrows forcing them to follow along. 'Twisting Whirlpool-Flowing Water!'
'Not good!' Yahaba thought in panic, quickly trying to force the arrows out of the path the demon hunter was leading.
'My sword's so heavy!' The Kamado thought as he continued to use the footwork to move towards his opponent while also keeping the arrows contained along the path he makes. 'But…' Jumping off the ground once he was in range, he moved so his body and sword were parallel to the ground. 'Second Form Modified! Horizontal Water Wheel!'
Opening one eye in shock, Yahaba felt the Nichirin Blade slicing his head off, destroying the necklace he was wearing as well. His body fell to the ground with a thud while Tanjiro couldn't correct his position to land on his feet but managed to roll so he wouldn't get hurt by the fall.
'I did it!' The swordsman thought; still on the ground but looking towards the demon. 'The Whirlpool move loses force when it's not underwater but thanks to his attack it gained power and I was able to envelope the arrows!'
As he thought that, Yahaba's head fell to the ground, his right eye falling off its socket.
"Curse you!" He yelled. "Curse you! Curse you! Curse you! All I had to do was bring back your head, and I would've won his approval!" As he said that, Tanjiro noticed that the beheaded body was twitching. "I won't forgive you! I'll never ever forgive you! Shoving my face into this vile dirt!" As he said this, the palms on his body opened. "You're going down with me!" The pupils on the eyes had arrows pointing in all directions and when they closed, several arrows appeared in Tanjiro's body.
'Not good, if they all go at once…!' An image of his body getting torn apart flashed through his mind. 'He's gonna get me!' Instead of being killed, though, he was moved in the direction of one of the arrows. 'They're not going at once but… the force at which I'm being pulled is stronger than the arrows he's hit me with until now!' A wall was quickly getting closer as the arrow continued to pull him along. 'I have to unleash move after move and go on the defensive, or my body's going to get smashed!' With a plan in mind, Tanjiro quickly unleashed the Fourth Form, Striking Tide, against the wall, stopping himself from crashing against it.
He fell to the ground as the arrow lost its power but another one sent him upwards towards the sky.
'The pressure is bearing down on my body, and I can't swing my sword!' Despite this, the Kamado forced himself to maintain his grip on his weapon and to unleash a technique to stop the arrow from sending him even further away from the floor. 'Not here! Don't let yourself get beat! Water Wheel!' The second form of Water Breathing killed the arrow's momentum but he didn't have time to rest as another one began to move him, this time towards the ceiling of Tamayo's house. 'Waterfall Jar!' A moment later another arrow activated and he unleashed yet another technique to kill its momentum before he could crash against something, only to have to do it again as yet another arrow activated.
'I've never made this many consecutive moves before!' He thought, feeling the repercussions of having to constantly use Total Concentration Breathing to keep unleashing moves. 'My arms hurt, if Sabito hadn't told me about Total Concentration Breathing constant it would probably be a lot worse; that being said…' He unleashed another move to avoid crashing against a tree. 'This still hurts a lot!'
"Nowhere near enough!" Yahaba's disembodied head said even as it began to turn into ash and disappear. "More… Suffer more!"
With those words, the arrows began to activate at an increased speed, not giving Tanjiro any choice but to unleash a move almost immediately after the previous one.
'How many more times? How many?' The Kamado wondered, feeling his body reach the limit of his stamina, and he's fairly certain he had already broken something from pushing himself too far. 'Don't think about it! Just keep unleashing moves! Keep throwing them out!' He told himself, knowing that he has no choice but to continue until the attacks finally cease.
"Not yet! It's still not enough yet!" Yahaba yelled as his head finally finished disappearing, the arrows left on Tanjiro's body along with him.
'It's over…' The swordsman thought in relief as he fell to the ground; it was a good thing he wasn't that far above it because he could barely keep himself awake, the burden from using so many techniques at once leaving him short of breath and almost making him pass out. 'Breath, not like this, breath properly.' He told himself, slowly stopping his pants and taking calm deep breaths. 'I've got a broken rib and leg.' He realized. 'But right now, I need to go where the other demon is.'
The red haired teen moved to grab his sword and put his right hand over the grip but it just wouldn't close.
'N-no good! I'm too exhausted to grip my sword!' Giving up on holding it properly, he dragged himself forwards, grabbing his Nichirin with his teeth before crawling towards Nezuko, Tamayo, Yushiro and the Temari Demon. 'I'll be there soon! I'll be there soon so please be safe! Please…be safe!' He prayed as he continued to force his battered body to move.
.
.
With Yushiro.
After Nezuko was sent flying inside the house and Tamayo went after her, the green haired demon quickly moved to stand between said house and Susamaru, using his cloaking ability to catch the demon woman off guard and deliver some more hits.
Despite this, the temari demon never stopped grinning and when she managed to get some respite by hitting in random directions with her six arms, forcing him to jump back, then she began to laugh as she bounced her balls off the ground fast and hard enough to create a smoke screen.
Yushiro clicked his tongue in annoyance and quickly moved his body to the right to avoid a temari that came flying towards him. He continued to dodge the attacks with minimal movement as Susamaru continued to throw her weapons at his location.
"Ridiculous! It's child's play for me to evade a linear attack like this!" He said as he began to move forwards while dodging the temari that, thanks to the smoke screen, seemed to appear out of nowhere. "Locating you is a breeze, as well!" He activated his cloaking ability once more to close the distance and attack her.
'The same goes for you!' Susamaru thought with a grin as Yushiro moved exactly as she expected him to. 'No matter how well you might conceal yourself, I can see you clear as day!' Thanks to the smoke all around, even when Yushiro 'disappeared' he was still moving the smoke around, which told Susamaru exactly where he was and allowed her to throw a temari right at his face.
Caught off guard, Yushiro wasn't able to move out of the way and prepared to have his head blown up for the second time.
THUMP
But instead of losing his head as he thought he would, Nezuko appeared, kicking the temari and deflecting it so it wouldn't hurt Yushiro.
"Kahahahaha, what fun this is!" Susamaru said despite having her attack blocked like that.
"Hey you!" Yushiro called out to Nezuko. "Don't be so rash just because you can't die!"
'…' The younger Kamado just stared at him, not truly paying attention to his words.
"Wh-what's wrong?"
'Rokuta…' She thought, as Yushiro's visage reminded her of the times her youngest brother would cry. So she did the same thing she used to do to him, pat his head.
The male demon was understandably confused at the sudden action but quickly shook himself out of it.
"What do you think you're doing?" He asked while trying to force the hand away. "Here it comes!"
Another temari moved towards the two and, once again, Nezuko kicked it and deflected it.
Not caring that her weapon wasn't doing its job, Susamaru continued to throw them towards her, trying to rip her leg off like the first time.
Again and again and again.
Yet the first result never repeated itself, on the contrary, Nezuko was deflecting them with greater ease after each kick.
"Look at her…" Yushiro thought out loud as he wondered how she was doing this. "Tamayo-sama…" He trailed off, looking at the woman with the purple kimono after she moved to stand beside him, wondering what kind of medicine she gave her.
"Hmm!" With a mighty kick, Nezuko sent the thrown temari back to her owner, who caught it with one of her many hands… no, it was more like, her hand just happened to be in the temari's path.
For the first time, Susamaru's smile disappeared from her face as she looked at Nezuko.
'You little brat!' She cursed. 'So, now you can kick my temari back at me?' She glared at her as she let the temari fall from her hand. 'How insolent!' And kicked it towards the pink eyed demon.
Nezuko immediately kicked it back, only for Susamaru to once again kick it towards her and so on.
"You little brat!" Susamaru yelled, the veins on her body bulging to show how much she was pushing herself.
Nezuko just growled as she kept trying to overpower her opponent.
"Unbelievable." Yushiro thought out loud, trying to comprehend how Nezuko was able to keep up with the temari demon now. "Tamayo-sama, is this…"
"I used a healing serum on her, nothing more. Made exclusively for demons." Tamayo answered after he trailed off. "It doesn't make one physically stronger; what we're seeing is Nezuko-san's own power."
'Not yet.' Nezuko thought as she kicked the temari once more. 'Protect.' The ball came back towards her. 'I will protect them!'
"Without devouring human blood… solely on her own… she's gaining strength at a rapid rate."
'You won't touch them!' She yelled in her mind, as her kick sent the temari past Susamaru and into the wall behind her, shocking the hazel-eyed demon.
'However, her opponent is also formidable.' Tamayo thought, realizing that Susamaru had just been kicking the temari back and forth to play around. 'If she were to go all-out, Nezuko-san wouldn't stand a chance.' With that thought, she moved up the left sleeve of her kimono to reveal her arm before using her nails to injure herself and draw blood.
"You're an amusing little girl!" Susamaru said, seemingly happy with what just happened. "This time, I'm going all-out against you!" She raised her hands, making six temari appear on them. "I wonder how long you can hold out!"
Nezuko growled, ready to continue the fight, when Tamayo walked forward to stand between the two.
"Twelve Demon Moon girl there."
"You're in my way! Step back, you damn fugitive!" The temari demon demanded, wanting to keep 'playing' with Nezuko.
"Just tell me one thing please." She requested. "Are you aware of Kibutsuji's true identity?"
The second that name came out of her mouth, Susamaru paled and almost took a step back.
"What the hell did you say?"
"That man is nothing but a coward." Tamayo continued, ignoring the outburst. "He lives in constant fear of something."
"Stop it! Damn you! Stop it!" Kibutsuji's assassin demanded.
"Do you know why it is that demons can't band together?" She paused, waiting for an answer but received none. "The reason why demons cannibalize each other? It's to prevent other demons from banding together and attacking him. He manipulates demons to act this way." She stared into her eyes before saying her next words. "Demons like you."
"Shut up…" Susamaru said, shaking her head as if to dismiss her words. "Shut up, shut up! No way is he that petty!"
'Tamayo-sama is casting a spell.' Yushiro thought, noticing the blood falling from her arm.
"The power he wields is mind-blowing! There's no one stronger than him!" Susamaru yelled, sounding like a child throwing a tantrum. "Not Ki-"
CRASH
In the future, Susamaru will remember this event with a mix of relief and shame as the wall suddenly exploding stopped her from saying 'that person' is name but right now, like the rest of the people present, she just stared at the sudden hole in the wall and the one responsible for it.
It was a demon without a doubt, the grey skin and the veins bulging were a dead giveaway but even more than that was the fact that it had blood around his mouth and the front part of his black jacket and was growling in a way that sounded more animal than human. Other than that, he has medium long brown hair with loose strands falling in front of his face and the rest tied in a poorly made ponytail and a katana resting around his hip.
'What- did that person send another demon here?' The hazel-eyed woman thought.
'Not good, if this demon is anywhere near as strong as she is then we'll have trouble.' Yushiro thought, prepared to cloak and try to subdue the new demon.
"Grrr!" The new demon growled and looked between Susamaru and the other three before lunging towards Tamayo, unsheathing his sword to try and cut her head.
"No, you don't!" Yushiro yelled, moving between them and using his left hand to divert the swing to his left and then hit him with the palm of his right hand, momentarily stunning him. Taking advantage of their positions, Tamayo's companion grabbed the hand holding the sword with both hands, moved under it and, moving his right hands to envelop his opponents so he couldn't let go of the weapon, moved his left one to his shoulder and pushed down to immobilize him.
Getting over the initial surprise, Susamaru threw one of her temari towards Yushiro so he'll let go of her new ally but Nezuko quickly jumped in the middle and kicked the ball back towards her.
'Brat!' She prepared to throw all six of her weapons at the same time- 'Oh no!' But stopped and began to run away, Nezuko quickly tried to follow behind her.
"Tamayo-sama, we have to go inside, the sun is coming up!" Yushiro called out, seeing the first rays of sunlight on the horizon. "You go on ahead, I'll make sure this demon can't follow you and-" The rest of his sentence was cut off when a temari suddenly hit him on the side, sending him flying towards the house.
'Finally managed to get one past you!' The temari demon cheered in her mind as one of her six temari managed to get past the pink-eyed demon. "You're on your own now." She said to the now free demon before continuing to run.
"Nezuko-san, don't chase her, please come back!" Tamayo called out.
The Kamado stared at her for a moment before doing as told.
"Tamayo-sama, look out!" Yushiro's warning came a moment too late, as the brown haired demon's sword was about to cut her head.
Clang
"Be careful, that's a Nichirin Blade!" Tanjiro yelled, having blocked the blade by moving behind Tamayo and clashing his sword with the demon's before it could draw blood. "Nezuko, go with them, the sun is about to come up!" He yelled, forcing the enemy demon away. "I'll deal with this one and find you after."
"Understood, be careful!" Tamayo answered.
Tanjiro then forced the demon back, allowing Tamayo to go towards Yushiro and help him inside the house, followed by Nezuko.
'I really must thank Sabito the next time I see him.' The older Kamado thought. 'I didn't think I would be able to move but I managed to force myself by using Total Concentration Breathing.'
He had begun to use the breathing technique the moment he smelled that the sword the demon was holding was a Nichirin Blade realizing that this demon was, in a way, a lot more dangerous for his three allies to fight against.
'Hold on, just hold on until the sun-' The red haired teen's thoughts were cut off when he felt his lungs hurt, making him gasp, lose strength and allowing the demon to overpower him.
He quickly grabbed the red haired swordsman from the neck and used him as battering ram to crash through Tamayo's house and then pinned him against the ground when they were on the other side.
'Damn it… I knew it would take its toll… but to think I wouldn't be able to keep up for even a few minutes'. Tanjiro thought, coughing as the demon raised his blade. 'Not good! Move! Move!' He desperately tried to take a deep breath but his attempt only left him coughing some more.
The demon didn't wait and lowered his blade, aiming for his neck.
'Move! MOVE! I can't die here!'
"Graaahh!" Before the blade could sever his head, the demon suddenly screamed and jumped back.
The sun had risen and its light passed through the holes in the house left by Tanjiro's body
'That was close.' The Kamado thought in relief as the demon retreated to the shadow the house made to avoid being killed. 'I can take my time now, as long as I'm under the sunlight he shouldn't be able to get close to me.' With that thought, Tanjiro began to regulate his breathing.
"Ki… ill me…" His breath hitched when he heard the demon speak and turned his eyes towards him.
"What…" And then it hit him, the reason why a demon has a Nichirin Blade, he didn't notice at first because of his exhaustion and the blood splatters but the clothes this demon was wearing were a Demon Slayer uniform. "You… you are the Demon Slayer I was supposed to meet, aren't you?"
"I don't know… why I can… talk now… but please… before I hurt anyone else…" The brown haired demon begged as tears began to fall from his eyes.
"W-wait, the woman in the purple kimono that you attacked, she can make it so you don't have to eat people!" Tanjiro said. "She is even working on a way to turn demons back into humans, I'm sure it will take time but-"
"NO!" The demon yelled. "Please… it's late for me… and I don't want… to live as this." He said before suddenly clutching his head in pain. "Again… I can feel my mind slipping… please… I beg you…"
Tanjiro wanted to argue, wanted to tell him that it would be okay… but he couldn't.
'His scent… sadness and… resolve. He truly doesn't want to live as a demon, he only asked me to kill him because he wants to die as closely as a human as possible.'
Taking one more deep breath to recompose himself he stood up, the sun illuminating his expression to show it was a mix of determination and sorrow.
"I understand." He said simply and prepared his stance. "Can you tell me your name?"
"Thank you... it's… Soda Shohei…" The swordsman answered with a relieved smile.
"Kamado Tanjiro." The red haired swordsman said back before lunging towards him. 'Water Breathing, Fifth Form.'
Shohei's mind seemed to reach its limit and he raised his sword with one hand to attempt an overhead slash, but it was too straightforward an attack.
Tanjiro side-stepped to the side, dodging the sword, before his blade passed through his comrade's neck.
'Blessed Rain after the Drought.'
Shohei felt his head separate from his body but, strangely, he didn't feel any pain.
'A technique to give a mercy kill.' He thought, his mind suddenly free of that hunger that had taken away his reasoning, feeling something that he compared to a gentle rain falling on him. 'There is no pain, just warmth.' Before he could feel his head hit the floor, a hand caught him.
Tanjiro had moved to stop his head from hitting the ground and knelt down while holding it.
"I'm sorry for not getting here sooner."
'It wouldn't have made a difference.' Shohei tried to say, only to realize his mouth had already turned to ash, making it impossible. 'That thing would have killed you too… no!' The memory of the one responsible for his death reminded him. 'I have to tell him! He can pass it to the Pillars! They must know!' But as much as he wanted to, he wasn't able to speak anymore. 'Think! Think! I have to tell him… my body! I've seen demons that can move for a while even after decapitation!' With that thought, he focused his entire being on moving his already disappearing body. 'There is still time, I can write it on that wall with my sword, move!' He begged his beheaded body as it began to twitch and slowly move towards the wall. 'Raise your arm, come on, WRITE!' It was slow but he managed to make his body listen to his final commands, even as it continued to turn to ash, its left arm had already fallen off and disappeared on the ground. 'Quick, I have to tell him! About Kibutsuji Muzan's fortress- what?!'
Just as he was about to etch his dying words on the wall of the house, his body stiffened and, a moment later, three monstrously oversized arms burst from his torso, one grabbed his Nichirin and tightened its grip until it broke and the other two grabbed the torso and pulled, tearing the body apart.
"What?!" Tanjiro yelled in shock at the sudden act.
'No! No! No! Damn it!' Shohei cursed, seeing his flesh splatter along the floor with no chance of him using it to write about Muzan's fortress. 'What do I do?! I have to-'
"It's okay." The Tsuchinoto stopped panicking when he heard his junior's voice. "I'm not sure what happened but you wanted to tell me something important, right?" Shohei confirmed this by moving his eyes up and down as if it were a nod. "It will be alright, I'll discover what you wanted to tell me and defeat Kibutsuji Muzan… so please rest easy now and know you did everything you could."
'…yeah, I guess I did.' The swordsman thought with a sigh as his right eye disappeared. 'Even that wasn't enough it seems… but thank you, Kamado Tanjiro.' The last of his head began to dissolve as he stared at the broken expression on the other demon hunter. 'I pray that you succeed.' That was Soda Shohei's last thought as the last fragment of his body disappeared from this world.
'I failed.' Susamaru lamented, having entered an empty building to escape from the sunlight. 'How am I to look at Kibutsuji-sama now?'
DLING
The room around her suddenly changed for that of the demon fortress.
"Susamaru." The aforementioned immediately turned around and knelt. "You failed me." The temari demon flinched at those words. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"
"…I don't." She answered grimly. "I failed my mission, all I can offer you is my apologies… please punish me however you see fit."
There was a tense silence as Susamaru awaited her impending death.
"Good answer." Muzan said with a smirk, surprising his assassin. "You may still prove useful to me."
"Yes, Kibutsuji-sama!"
"Consider yourself warned, though, I have a low tolerance for failure." He continued, this time glaring at his subordinate. "If you fail me again, then you will wish that the demon hunter you faced killed you."
"If I fail you again, and somehow survive, I will take my own life and save you the time."
At this, the first demon let out a low chuckle.
"Hehehe, you really give good answers, Susamaru."
After offering a prayer for his comrade's soul and grabbing the pieces of his sword and scabbard, the only things that he could grab after those arms tore apart his body and uniform, Tanjiro recovered his haori and went back inside the house, calling out for Tamayo and Yushiro.
"Over here! Over here!" He heard Yushiro answer, his voice coming from an open door on the floor that, when closed, hid a set of stairs and where light could be seen at the bottom. "Not that you need to come at all but if you want to, then get down here."
"Yushiro!" The Kamado heard Tamayo admonish him.
"Only joking!" Yushiro quickly replied.
"Hurry down, then, Tanjiro-san!"
"Oh, right!" With their permission, the red haired teen did as told and carefully walked down the stairs as to not aggravate his wounds.
At the bottom he spotted Tamayo, Yushiro and.
"Nezuko!" He called out as his sister ran towards him and hugged him, he returned the gesture immediately.
"I guided her to this basement, where the sunlight won't reach her, ahead of daybreak." Tamayo explained, having re-done her hair into a bun and cleaned the blood on her face so she was looking the same as before the attack.
The basement is a small corridor, on one end, where Tamayo and Yushiro were standing, it had a space separated with wooden jail bars where the men Muzan turned when Tanjiro met him was sedated and resting.
The younger Kamado let go of her brother, turned to run back towards the other two demons and hugged Tamayo.
"Why, you!" Much to Yushiro's displeasure. "Step away from Tamayo-sama! That's so rude!"
"Stop it, Yushiro." Tamayo said calmly. "I don't mind at all."
"Yes, ma'am." He answered. 'You have such a kind heart, Tamayo-sama. You're too beautiful to believe.' While the green haired demon admired her, Nezuko moved her right hand from Tamayo's back and used it to pat Yushiro's head.
"Cut… that… out!" Again, much to his displeasure.
"Nezuko-san has been acting in this way since we got here." The lavender eyed demon said towards Tanjiro. "Do you think she's all right?"
"There's nothing to worry about. She's fine." The older Kamado assured her. "I… am not entirely comfortable with this but my Master used hypnotic suggestion on her while sleeping, he made it so she sees all humans as members of our family."
"Cut it out!" Yushiro repeated as Nezuko continued to pat his head.
"Family? But Yushiro and I are demons."
"But Nezuko has perceived you two as humans." Tanjiro answered with a smile. "That's why she tried to protect you."
'Humans…' Tamayo thought, not really listening to the next part of what Tanjiro said. 'She… sees me as a human.' Tears began to form in her eyes and fell before she even realized it.
"I-I'm so sorry!" Tanjiro yelled when he saw her cry. "Nezuko! N-Nezuko! Step away from her! It's rude, all right?" He said, repeating Yushiro's words.
"Thank you…" The woman in the purple kimono whispered, finally hugging her back. "Nezuko-san, thank you!"
At hearing this Tanjiro stopped telling his sister to step away while Yushiro's scowl, for the first time since the Kamado siblings met him, disappeared entirely and was replaced with a somewhat sad expression.
'It's true, while I did become a demon I have never eaten a human.' He thought. 'Tamayo-sama… you made sure I understood what it meant to be a demon and asked me repeatedly if I wished to live even if I was no longer human, you even seemed to try to dissuade me from choosing to live as a demon.' The male demon thought as he remembered when he was in bed, barely able to move, and decided to ask Tamayo to help him live. 'I don't regret my decision even now but… you told me you hope that I could be cured of my illness and that one day you will make a medicine that will make me human again while free of it… I've wondered this many times but, did you ever think of using that medicine on yourself as well?' That was one the one question that he could never bring himself to ask, he was too afraid of the possible answer.
"Yushiro and I will leave this region." Tamayo's words, after she calmed down and let go of Nezuko, brought him back to reality. "We've gotten too close to Kibutsuji. We must conceal our whereabouts soon or the risk will be too great." She explained. "Not to mention, even if I think I've concealed my identity, when I interact with humans as a doctor, people sometimes see through me as a demon. The young and elderly are particularly perceptive… Tanjiro-san."
"Yes?"
"Would you like us to take Nezuko-san in?" She asked surprising the red haired teen, as well as Yushiro. "I can't give you an absolute guarantee that she'll be safe…" Tamayo continued, even as her companion continued to shake his head with an expression as if the world was about to end. "…but I believe it will be less dangerous than taking her into battle."
Tanjiro frowned as he considered the offer.
'That might be true.' He admitted with a frown. 'It would be better for Nezuko to be in their care.' The red haired swordsman trailed off; logically, he could see that leaving his sister with them could be for the best but-
"Eh?" His train of thought stopped when he felt Nezuko grab her hand, he turned to look at her, his red orbs staring into his sister's pink ones. 'That's right… this isn't really my decision to make in the first place… and you just answered me.' He thought, his frown being replaced with a smile as he closed his hand around his sister's.
"Tamayo-san, thank you so much for your concern but… Nezuko and I are staying together." He declared with a serious expression that left no room for argument. "We're not going to live apart from each other." An image of his dead family, back when they were all together flashed thought his mind. "Never again."
"Very well." Tamayo said, smiling in understanding. "In that case, I wish you long-lasting good fortune in battle."
"Thank you very much." Tanjiro said with a bow that made him flinch.
"Before you leave, though, please let me tend to your wounds." The woman requested, noticing the flinch.
"I would appreciate that." The teen answered gratefully and followed her and Yushiro towards a door on the other end of the room.
.
The other room was similar to the examination room Tamayo was when the Kamados first arrived into the house, the main differences were that there were no windows and there were three desks instead of one, all of them full of papers that the woman said were part of her research.
"Can you tell me where it hurts?"
"I'm almost certain I broke my left leg and a rib, other than that I think it's just bruises." He answered.
"I see, please let me do a check-up just to make sure." The Kamado nodded and took of his jacket and shirt to let her do her work.
"What happened with that other demon anyway?" Yushiro asked with a tick mark on his forehead as he kept trying to get Nezuko to stop patting his head.
"He… he is dead… he was a demon hunter I was supposed to meet here." Tanjiro answered, surprising the other two.
"A demon hunter?" The other male in the room repeated.
"Yes, I don't know how but he must have run into Kibutsuji Muzan somehow and he turned him."
"I… did you tell him I'm capable of making it so he can live without eating humans?" Tamayo asked.
"It wouldn't have mattered, he didn't seem able of talking at all." Yushiro mentioned.
"Actually, he did talk to me and said that he didn't want to live as a demon, even after I explained, and… and that it was too late for him" The red haired teen replied, remembering the blood covering his fellow swordsman's face and uniform. "He said he didn't know why he was able to, though."
"…it's probably because of my spell." Tamayo said as she continued tending to his wounds. "You've seen one yourself back when we first met, remember?"
"Oh, yes, those flower patterns."
"I was using another one on the temari demon, the 'Magical Aroma of Daylight', to put it simply it acts as a truth serum, decreasing the target's brain functions and making it so they can't keep secrets, it must have managed to get past the blind hunger he was feeling at the time."
"I see… but, how would that help against the temari demon?"
"Tanjiro-san, have you ever tried to interrogate a demon about Kibutsuji's whereabouts?"
"Yes, once… the demon started to shiver in fear and said that she won't say anything."
"That's because of Kibutsuji's curse." The woman in the flower patterned kimono explained. "To avoid anyone from learning of him, he places a curse on all the demons he turns so that they will die if they ever do so much as speaking his name out loud."
An image of his comrade's body being torn apart by those extra arms appeared in Tanjiro's mind.
"So that's what happened…" The Kamado muttered before explaining what happened to Shohei.
"Yes, that was without a doubt caused by the curse." Tamayo confirmed. "I am sorry you had to see that, I'm sure it was… difficult, to say the least."
"Yes." The swordsman said with a nod. "And I'm sorry, I couldn't extract blood from any of them."
"It is sad to say this but you will have more chances." The lavender-eyed woman assured him grimly. "Which reminds, me Yushiro, please bring that here." She said to her companion as she began to wrap bandages around the older Kamado's torso.
"Yes." He answered, moving towards one of the desks, with Nezuko following him, and taking out a box from a drawer.
"That's a tool that will help you extract blood from demons, you just have to stab one with it and it will draw blood." Tamayo explained as Yushiro opened the box in front of Tanjiro to show a knife with a glass container inside its handle. "Please take it with you."
"Yes, thank you very much." Tanjiro said. "But how will I be able to get it to you?"
"We'll take care of that in our end, don't worry about it." Yushiro replied, leaving the box near the swordsman's discarded clothes.
"I'm done, I would suggest you rest for some time for your wounds to properly heal but I am uncertain if your job will allow you that." Tamayo said, taking a step back.
"I'll deal with that after leaving, for now we should go so you can begin to erase your tracks." He answered. "Thank you very much for everything."
"Likewise, and once again I wish you good fortune in battle."
"All right, we'll be leaving after we erase all traces of ourselves, you two get going now!" Yushiro said, crossing his arms and looking away as if he wanted them to leave as soon as possible.
"Right!" Tanjiro answered smiling, despite the biting tone. "Tamayo-san, Yushiro-san, we wish you well!" He bowed once before turning to his sister. "Let's go, Nezuko."
The demon girl nodded before turning around towards the exit.
"Hey, don't go rushing off like that!" The older Kamado said as he began to follow.
"Tanjiro!" Yushiro called out.
"Hm?"
"Your little sister… is a beauty." He said while looking at the opposite direction from the swordsman.
Tanjiro chuckled and thanked him before truly leaving this time.
Here is another one!
You know? I'm glad I decided to split this chapter into two, I like long chapters as much as anyone but I think a chapter of over 15000 words might be a bit much.
Before you leave, I want to repeat what I said at the notes from the beginning, if you already read it there then feel free to skip this part.
If you didn't read it, I have an
IMPORTANT QUESTION!
So, not related to this story but I want to ask, would anyone be interested in a TanKana week?
If you have read any of my other works for KnY then you may know that I really like that pairing, if not then I'll tell you know, I REALLY like that pairing, haha.
Jokes aside, I know there was a TanKana week on the works some time before but its twitter account was suddenly deleted and the whole thing seemed to get cancelled.
In any case, I thought that maybe I could make one for around the end of February but I genuinely don't know the first thing about how to make a 'pairing name' week or how to promote it so then I thought 'maybe my readers can help!' which brings us to this note here.
If any of you would be willing to help me set it up or have any sort of advice, want to help promote it, or anything related; please let me know by contacting me, either by sending me a PM to my fanfiction . net or Wattpad accounts. Both have the same name, Manu259.
I am also considering making a Discord server about it… but, like with the TanKana week, I don't know how to make one (nothing that a google search wouldn't fix I'm sure but I don't want to half-ass it and end up making a mess of things); that being said, I may give it a shot if enough people ask for it, I do think it would be easier to organize things that way, but I think I may be getting ahead of myself now so I'll just wait to hear your responses for the moment.
Thank you, again, for your attention.
With all that said, I hope you enjoyed and don't forget to leave a comment!
Until next time!
