THE COLOR OF THE WORLD

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Disclaimer: Kimetsu no Yaiba belongs to Koyoharu Gotouge

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Genre(s): Adventure/ Hurt/Comfort

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Warning(s): Typo is my most loyal fan, spelling mistakes because English is not my mother language, Possibly OOC and a lot of Angst. I hope.

Beta'ed by LamboLover36

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Manga: Chapter 55, 56, 57, 58,60

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The ropes created by the sleep demon, Enmu, have a special power which enables people to penetrate the dreams of those connected to them. He used the human—who doesn't radiate killing intent nor thirst of blood like any demon does—to delve into their dream. Find the body of the dreamer, the center of the illusion, and search for the area of unconsciousness outside of the said dream. Enmu wanted them to destroy the 'spiritual core' that lies there, to mentally crippled the demon hunter and kill them when they're nothing but a drooling vegetable.

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Tanjiro burst into fire.

The tendrils of the demon muscles recoiled from the heat of a weird flame, loosening their hold of the ginger-haired boy in reflex. He immediately seized that opportunity to grow into his teenager form and struggle once more, intended to escape from the grasp of the unseeing fiend and protect his ward from harm. Especially with how vulnerable she was, sleeping in this moving metal without a care in the world. Yet the moment the fire was not covering him from head to toe, the muscles strike once again. Using the remaining limbs Tanjiro didn't manage to burn and coiling it around one of his legs, causing him to trip. He growled low and dangerous, sweat pouring out of his bunched forehead and his nose bleeding. It healed in a second, however, as he stretched his arms far, fingers touching the edge of the seat the pink haori girl was on.

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"Where's niichan?" Nezuko asked, peeling the potato Hanako and Shigeru harvested a moment ago. Her eyes were still a bit puffy, with how hard she cried, her mother was worried because of that. Still, she promised that nothing was wrong, she was just having the longest nightmare she couldn't remember (what was it? What was this nightmare she preferred to never have? But was having it anyway? Why was she curious with it? Shouldn't she be happy that she finally woke up from the terror of the mind?) and now she was too occupied by the fuzzy warmth of her precious family. Rokuta, the youngest, was still apprehensive anyway, he pointed himself to stayed on her lap and calming his distress sister with his presence alone.

"Niichan went out to get some water from the river," Takeo answered, crushing the mugworts into a clump of green powder. It'll be used to treat shallow wounds, something the boys will always get with how active they were with their play. Or with his work, for Tanjiro's case, "mother asked him to prepare for the bath. You can go in first if you want, neechan."

"Wha—" her heart started to quicken. Why was that sentence…sounded so wrong to her? "in the afternoon?! When the sun is still out?"

"…is it bad?" Shigeru asked back, confusion was palpable.

"Ah…um…no?" it's not. Right? Why did she think it was dangerous for her strong niichan to go out of the house? (Why did I think he should be coped up inside? Away from the warmth of the day? Confined within the safety of a roof?). She didn't know and it kind of made her head ache. So she stood up instead, asking Rokuta to climbed down from her lap and dropping the peeled potato to another baskin, "I…I'll help him prepare the bath!" before she was out of the house via the back door.

She was then met with a figure of a kid with ginger hair, crouching on the far field. His curled up body was overshadowed by the trees around, a soft sniffle could be heard from amidst the rustling of the leaves.

Wha—who was that? A new neighbor? Nezuko slowly came closer, hand reached forward. Or was it a lost child? Their forest was a bit confusing for the first-timer, so the appearance of a stranger didn't really surprise her. Her palm landed on the left shoulder, "hello. Are you okay?" she toned down her voice, trying to calm the distressed child down, "are you lost? You can stay at our house for now, you must be hungry."

The ginger kid stiffened, his sobs halting. He raised his head then slowly turned, ready to show her the hidden face (and her heart accelerated once more. Why—)

WHOOOSSSH

A gust of wind suddenly blew the environment, plucking the dried leaves from their branches and creating a wall of dust on the ground. Nezuko reflexively covered her eyes with the sleeve of her kimono, before she opened them tentatively when the wind finally stopped.

And the ginger kid was now gone.

"Huh?" Nezuko swiveled her head around, trying to find the presence of a stranger-yet-familiar boy, "where did he go? Did he run inside the house?" she rose, ready to tell the family there'll be a guest coming in a short notice.

When she abruptly stopped (something within her mind clouded. Obscuring her logic even further). What…guest? Even if the forest around their house was confusing, the townsfolk could never be lost inside. Because the Kamado family made sure to keep the furnace going for the day to let them see it as a checkpoint or something. And a small child should never wander alone even if they were doing a mock exploration of an adventurer. The eldest sister shrugged. It must be her imagination then. She kept saying weird things this afternoon, maybe she was just too tired from her journey to the town.

The pink kimono wearer went to the back foyer and check for the logs inside the furnace. New and not used. Had niichan still not come back from his duty to collect the water? Or did he go back to the river to scoop up some more? Nezuko peered over the edge of the high, wooden barrel. To see if there's water inside. She saw her reflection staring back. It's not that weird if the shadow of herself that was shown to her was the same as her own; black hair tied in a bun, pink kimono tidied up around her figure with a checkered white and red sash.

But the thing was, it was not the same. It was still Nezuko. Yet her hair was tied into a simple ponytail, a couple of braids circling the main hairstyle. She was wearing the favorite kimono like some kind of haori, blowing wide and showing her a black uniform underneath. And her face. Rather than shock at seeing something so bizarre, it was full of desperation. With a tint of anger and annoyance, it looked mad at being trapped at the other side of the wall of water. Bun Nezuko was still dumbfounded by this horror-story scene like, and Ponytail Nezuko used that chance to shoot her arms upward. Out of the blue liquid and grasped onto her stilled hands. Pulling her down and submerged her into the filled bath.

"WAKE UP!" Ponytail Nezuko exclaimed, burgundy eyes shone with resolution, "They're attacking! A dream! This is a dream!"

"WAKE UP AND FIGHT! WAKE UP AND SAVE EVERYONE!"

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Ah…I remember now…

I was…I am…

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Tanjiro grasped the foot of the chair and let his demon blood leaked out, bursting the entire seat and another one across it into a bright blaze of red, engulfing Kyojuro—who was sleep-standing and choking a woman with dual, braided tails (he didn't intend to kill her though. No reason for him to extinguish the life of a normal, innocent human. His instincts had blared and his body moved without consent, trying to stop the girl from destroying his 'spiritual core', his 'battle spirit')—and Nezuko's sleeping body within an inferno of a crackling flame.

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Bun Nezuko gasped when her body alight like a bonfire, startling Hanako, Takeo, and Shigeru (since when was she here? Wasn't she in the middle of drowning in a bathtub? And definitely not having a pleasant meal with her lost, long gone, already dead, this-is-just-an-illusion family?) and causing them to scream.

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I'm on a train.

I'm in the middle of a last-minute mission.

Where a demon could kill us at any moment and separate her from her comrades and remaining family!

Tanjiro snarled when the demon limbs started to cover him once more, now decided to coil around his entire body so even if he used his skills for the nth time, the burnt muscles will hinder his movement for a split second and it could use that hesitation to snatch him into the cage of stretchy skin for good. His sight started to shrink, the figure of the distressed girl plagued his mind no. I have to get out. I have to stay by the pink girl's side. Or else she'll die. She'll die and I'll lose the person I need to protect because I cannot fail again—

SRASH SRASH

BOUM

SLAAASHHH

His body rocked when the carriage jumped, Tanjiro could feel the front wheels of this car and the back wheels of the connected one left the rail for a second. Like something heavy focused their weight to the back of the room, causing the front of the car to buck, a similar action of a horse heaving itself up to prepare for a swift dash. He blinked when the pressure of the limbs lifted from his body, his view widened once more. The muscle retreated as another fire rushed passed him, chopping it to pieces before it turned them into ashes. In front of him, stood the Golden Man who was shouting constantly. The Pillar looked down at him, one hand grasping the handle of the sword while the other offered the open palm to the surprised beast, "you're Kamado Tanjiro, right? Nezuko's older brother?"

Tanjiro nodded—not at the name, he still thought his name was niichan. Or his title as a brother. But at the mention of the pink girl's name—and accepted the help to stand up. Kyojuro blocked the swing of an icepick from the awakened Braided girl, chopped her neck with the side of his hand and put her to sleep. He grinned wide and patted Tanjiro on the head, "good job! Thank you for waking me up from my deep slumber! The dream started to feel uncomfortable after a while, so I don't mind the harsh wake-up," he rummaged Zenitsu's and Inosuke's pockets, fished out the train ticket and sliced it in half, burning it using his flame skill for a good measure. The Pig Mask immediately woke up, screaming obscenities. While the yellow swordsman was still fast asleep. Maybe. Or maybe not? Zenitsu instantly shot up from his seat and was holding onto the handle of his blade yet his eyes stay shut. Kyojuro laughed at the junior's antics, as confusing as they were, optimism radiated from his merry guffaw while he continued to hack the ropes off their wrists, "I could feel the aura of the demon enveloping the train so I landed some very minor slashes just now,"

So, the tremor he felt came from this hollering man's attack then.

"There's no time, though. I'll speak to you all very quickly," he continued as he turned and punched the other humans who were ready to stab them dead when they were occupied right on their nape with the butt of his sword handle, rendering them unconscious too. The boy with short hair and a girl with long hair that reached her back was clutching onto Enmu's Handmade Gimlet like the previous Braided girl was; there was a faint trace of a demon from that icepick, after all. So Kyojuro assumed so, "this train is made up of eight cars. I'll protect the back five. Zenitsu, protects the first and second carriage. And Inosuke, stay here and defend your downed comrade."

"What?" Inosuke protested, katanas out in the open, "I don't want to be a sitting duck here if there's a demon out there!"

"After your friend wakes up, you can follow Zenitsu to search the front two carriages," the Flame Breath user patiently explained, "don't forget to chop up any limbs you see before they could devour any passenger inside. It also tried to kidnap Tanjiro boy here, so make sure it didn't reach him as well."

"Urgh! Fine! But you owe me one, Aniki!" Inosuke jumped and did a beautiful cartwheel. Breath of Beast, Fifth Fang— a torrent of beast claws appeared at every corner of the train, cutting the bubbling limbs that was slowly emerging from every nook and cranny. MAD CLEAVE!

Zenitsu nodded and crouched. Breath of Lightning, First style— the thunder crackled, he bounced. Landing on any surfaces he could touch without hurting the sleeping passenger, evading them completely. He started at the third car, and his sharp movement brought him to the second carriage in an instant, cutting any demon's muscle along the way. THUNDERCLAP FLASH, SIX FOLD!

"Tanjiro, my boy! I'll be going now so you have to wake your sister up!" Kyojuro instructed to the ginger beast who was now kneeling at the side of the pink hunter, cradling her hand and whining pathetically, "this demon's blood technique is powerful and, unlike Inosuke here and maybe Zenitsu too—I thought your senpai was kidding when he said he fought the battle mostly sleeping. But anyway—I'm afraid your sister was not strong enough to escape and still trapped in the desire of her happy dream, confused if she should wake up or not. You need to help her once more, my boy! Use your technique!"

Tanjiro nodded and hugged the sister, letting the fire burst forth from within and licking them both.

"Neechan!"

"What do we do about the fire?!"

"No! Don't die, neechan!"

"This black-burgundy fog…" Nezuko clenched her teeth, hugging her body within the warmth of this supposedly dangerous fire, "this is niichan's demon blood technique!"

The moment it receded to who-know-where, she realized her appearance has changed. Now she looked like the Ponytail Nezuko she saw on the surface of the bathwater, complete with her dual swords and sakura hair tie. Little by little, she's starting to wake up. Starting to realize that this dream—no matter how pleasant it was. No matter how her heart wished for this—is still nothing but a dream. A memory long gone. With trembling lips, Nezuko bowed to Hanako, Takeo, and Shigeru, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I have to go now," then she ran out of the house, onto the darkening forest. She was ready to kill the demon who dared showed her this heartwarming dream she didn't want to wake up from, tugging her heartstring even further—

"Where are you going, Nezuko?"

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…ah.

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Then Tanjiro—standing under the sun, bringing two buckets of water. Burgundy hair, burgundy eyes. Human and her brother and will always be—called her. Soft voice that soothed her clenching heart. Even with her back turned to him, she could imagine his wide smile, flushes of happiness peppered his milky complexion, "I've prepared the bath for you. You've worked hard today, so you should relax a little bit."

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Niichan…

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"Nezuko," Mom's voice came next, along with Rokuta's small footstep, "what's wrong? Why are you dressed like that?"

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Mother…

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"You didn't ask her to deliver another batch of kimonos, right mother?" Tanjiro asked, tilting his head in wonder, "she just came back. You can ask me if you do, though."

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I…I don't want…

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"Of course not, Tanjiro. I don't have any orders as of now," Mother took one step forward, Nezuko's breath hitched, "are you okay, Nezuko? You looked tense…"

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One drop of tear fell down her cheek, red eyes quivering under the hazy sight

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I don't want to wake up.

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I want to stay here forever. I want to turn back and head home. I want this to be real. The scenery of our happy family. The view of niichan walking freely under the vast sky, beaming his warm-as-sun smile. Playing with our younger siblings.

I want this to be true. Where I help mother around the house, completing the unfinished kimonos. Watching as niichan and Takeo chopped the logs and prepared the coal to sell. Where I would've never touched a sword in my whole life ever.

But. She raised her head, eyebrows furrowed and gaze sharpened. I lost them already. I can't go back. I can't stay within a happy dream that will bring nothing but sadness and longing.

So, she ran. Heart heavy and ignoring Rokuta's plea for her to come back. Ignoring how her tears turned to a waterfall of gushing, salty water. How she held back the sniffles and forcing her legs to keep moving forward—

(I'm sorry.)

(I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry we can't be together anymore.)

(But your neechan always thinks about you. She thinks about all of you a lot.)

(I think about saying thank you a lot. Saying sorry a lot. I will never, ever forget you all. You will always, always be next to my heart. So please, forgive me. Forgive me—)

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(Forgive me…)

The boy with separated bangs and glassy orbs stared at the retreating form of the ponytail hunter from behind the trunk of the tree. Looks like she managed to regain her consciousness and logic. If he doesn't hurry it up and destroy her spiritual core, he'll fail his mission. Enmu will never put him to sleep and made him dream of a happy dream, away from the reality of the sickness of deadly tuberculosis that eats his health away.

As the girl ran into the forest, he went to the opposite side. Nezuko was the circle of the dream. If he ran far enough—he smacked into the invisible wall that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Here it is. Glassy boy tore through the wall like it was mere paper with the gimlet the demon gave them and stepped inside.

Then flailed wildly when he submerged into a vast ocean full of various fishes and dancing algae that was swayed by the waves of water.

He thought he was drowning, he even tried to hold his breath for as long as he could. Yet when his breath was spent and he didn't have a choice but to suck in the liquid, nothing happened. His nose didn't clog, nor his throat constricted by the water flowing in. He felt like he was just sucking in normal air, no ground to step on making him experienced what flying on the sky felt like instead.

This is…so beautiful. Glassy teen wistfully pondered. A massive whale swam by, chasing after the flock of planktons who was running away from their predator. A herd of dolphins circled him before they shot to the surface and jumped out of the ocean, sprinkling the sky with its shining spray of water droplets. The fish—that he thought was a normal fish yet was actually not. Some of them are, sure. But some of them were just a blob of water in the shape of a tiny mermaid. No eyes or mouth on their faces. Just rushing water on their head that resembled a flowing hair, it reached the half of its tail—approached him, tugging him to the bubble that floated to the surface from beneath. They turned it into a kemari ball and played with it. Some of them were plucking a part of it, flattened the small bubble into paper-thin and weaving it like some kind of origami. Another appeared from behind and gave him a bouquet of underwater flowers they collected from somewhere. They asked him to join them, to relaxed himself in this impromptu carnival of the deep sea of her consciousness. He didn't realize tears started accumulating on the eyelids, lips trembling. So pretty and so, so soothing.

I—

I want to stay here forever…

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Nezuko huffed and puffed, burgundy orbs observing the surrounding around. No demon here. She saw their black fog, albeit faintly. Except she could not pinpoint it. Could not find the source of this disgusting color. Like an invisible curtain had covered the reality of the world itself. She started to panic. How could she wake up from this dream-turned-nightmare? How could she go back to her life and stay with her real friends and real family, how, how, HOW—

"Nezuko," she heard a crackling of fire—niichan's fire—and the warmness of the heat of summer from a place behind her back felt so…there. She could not see, yet she knew that voice. Long gone, before the tragedy that befell her family occurred. A voice of someone she cherished all the same—her father surreptitiously stepped away from the portal of fire, letting his own back to touch her as he murmured, "there's something here for you to cut down already. Do it. Resolve yourself."

"For the sake of your brother and yourself, you have to stay determined."

She turned almost instantly, hoping to get a glimpse of the member of her precious family who lied to them, deceived them, pretending that no danger will ever, ever rained upon them why, why, why, why? Why am I so bitter it's not his fault—but nothing. No one or anyone to be seen. Was it just another illusion created by the demon? But he came from the fire of her beloved niichan. The sliver of truth in this fake recreation of a fake life—

(Nezuko didn't think about it too hard at that time. Not until much, much later when the battle finally ended and she gets her well deserved rest. Confined in the hospital with nothing to do, she began to think. Everything she saw in her dream—the child version of Tanjiro. Her hunter reflection inside the bath. And the form of her father—everything was just a warning from her own instinct. Telling her that this world has been nothing but a cruel prison. Yes, Tanjiro's fire help in recreating a figure of their father. To nudge her at the right path she almost strayed away because of all the confusion. Besides that, everything has been the power of Nezuko herself. That, even if she still mostly wanted to stay within this delightful place, there's a small part of her that wanted to get out. Want to embrace her companions with her own hand, her own warm—)

…is that so?

Nezuko unsheathed one of her swords and put the sharp edge right on her neck. She understands now. The death in the dream is related to waking up in reality. The right answer she was searching for the past minutes had been right there, staring right at her face.

Besides. Her smile was wry, a tint of hollowness seeped out from the usually cheerful countenance. If I cannot escape from this and see my niichan again, forced to live my life under the guise of a fake family I hated so much—

She pressed the blade further, blood started dripping from the deep wound.

—then I rather killed myself and end it all.

CRAAASS

BONUS SCENE chapter 57

In the darkness of the slimy ink that was Zenitsu's consciousness…

"GYAAAHH!" the teen with the short hair ran with all his might, "STAY AWAY FROM ME, YOU BLOND BRAT!"

"NEVER!" Zenitsu closed the big, pruning shears with a loud click. Although he, unfortunately (or fortunately for the trespasser) missed and sniped the air instead, the enemy managed to duck at the right moment, "The only one who can come here is Nezuko-chan. And the only guy I can tolerate is Tanjiro. Anyone other than them—"

SHNIP

"I WILL KILL YOU ALL!"

"AAAAAAAAAAA!"

(A/N): Unfortunately, Nezuko's reason to 'wake' herself up was…not as pure as Tanjiro was. I'm not kidding about her depressing thought in chapter 44, you know X(

Tanjiro was too desperate to save Nezuko that he let out his fire a bit too much, it burned both the tickets and the rope, and managed to wake Rengoku earlier than the canon should've. That's why I skip chapter 59 and jump to 60 :'D

Also, in Taisho Secret Corner, canon!Nezuko burned the rope first but not the ticket. That's why those three still fast asleep even though their assailants were awake and attacked canon!Tanjiro for causing them to fail their mission. The hunters finally woke up the moment canon!Nezuko burned their ticket. So, I did the opposite in this story. Rengoku burned the ticket, waking them up from their slumber. And because the moment they woke up means the assailant woke up as well, they can safely cut the rope without fearing of trapping the civilians inside their own mind.