NOTE: The world's current situation and other responsibilities made me focus on real life priorities. That's why I didn't upload regularly and update some chapters like I always used to. I'll always an update whether it'd be delayed or can be uploaded in a week.
Not long after the confrontation with the culprit himself, Shinobu flees to a faraway mountain and drags herself deeper and deeper into the forest. She doesn't know where she's heading as long as she can isolate herself from anyone.
"It's hot. I can't think properly. What's going on?"
Shinobu grits her teeth as both of her focus is wavering and her sight growing dim. Her whole body is trembling and she would collapse at any moment if she isn't so desperate in getting being hidden from both humans and demons.
"Have I used Akane's strength past my limit?"
...
"Are you even there, Akane?"
...
Unfortunately for Shinobu, the demon is completely silent that she couldn't feel her presence or her consciousness. The technique is already undone, yet the demon herself has yet to return.
"What the hell is going on...?"
It's not likely of the demon to remain quiet while being present, so Shinobu something is amiss and it could be another effect of the technique. For a quite some time, Shinobu has complete control of herself even with a formerly hostile demon merged with her.
"...?!"
The ground beneath Shinobu drastically changes and the soil is swallowed with what appears to be ink. The ink shapes decaying hands and weakly grabs Shinobu's body.
"What's going on?"
The arms with torn skins and bare bones then tightly clutches on Shinobu's arms and sleeves while whispers of the nameless dead ring to the depths of her mind.
Why didn't you save us...?
You left all of us to die...
How can you live so freely...
Live in this curse for eternity...
The voices are completely unfamiliar to Shinobu, yet each one clearly directs their undying anger on her.
"...!"
The distraction from the haunting breaths gives opportunity for the ink to completely pull her down and swallow her into pitch black darkness. The ink may be as shallow as puddle, but the world beneath it stretches everywhere while Shinobu is still being pulled down.
"...?!"
As Shinobu braces for what's to come next, her body falls from the pitch black darkness and down to the same village where Akane lived as a human.
"There's still...someone alive? Huh? Did I miss one? I could've sworn...I cut them down...without hesitation..."
Under the cloudless night, the moment when Akane newly turned into a demon weakly turns to face Shinobu when she realizes a living being is still standing behind her. Akane tightly clutches her sword with the blood of the dead villagers scattered around her, but her mind is drifting and her consciousness is only half awake.
"Can't be...helped. I have...to kill you...even if I'm not interested right now..." Akane grunts
"What's going on here? You're not the same demon. There's no way I'm standing in a village destroyed by you and facing...the past you"
Clearly, the village where Shinobu landed is the intact one in Akane's memories hundred of years ago and the Akane in front of is from that time as well, not the demon she has been interacting for a while now.
"I don't who you are, but you're no her"
Shinobu shakes her head as she realizes the Akane in front of her is certainly not the present one merged with her. It's impossible for Akane to be separated from Shinobu while they're in a village behind recognition in the present.
(I don't know if attacking you will do anything, but I'm not just going to stand here and let you stab me)
The moment Akane draws raises her sword, Shinobu immediately reacts by drawing hers and blocking the frenzied demon's swing in time. A newly turned demon who's still not in her full senses moves slower than the one Shinobu faced, so defending herself proves to have no issue.
"Sorry about this, but I'm not going to be fooled by an illusion - what?"
Shinobu pushes back the half awake Akane and tightly holds her sword with both hands, but the scenario in front of her drastically changes in a blink of an eye.
"A... mountain? Did a demon to this or am I dreaming?"
The village near a mountains transforms to a forest deep within a mountain. In confusion, Shinobu shakes her head since she isn't sure if her current situation is the work of another demon's Blood Demon Art or another one of her dreams.
"Huh? Are these...soldiers?"
It's just now that Shinobu realizes that there's fresh bloodstains on her sword and what appears to be soldiers are lying motionlessly around her. Although she believes they are soldiers, she doesn't recognize their coats and their rifles outfitted with bayonets.
"This is strange..." Shinobu slowly approaches the corpses lying on their own blood
Their guns and katanas are cleanly sliced in half while the soldiers either received a fatal slash on their bodies or cut in half entirely. From her surroundings alone, there's little struggle which means the supposed soldiers are all easily defeated right before they can react.
"...?!" Shinobu raises her sword as soon as she senses someone
Shinobu quickly turns around and prepare to unleash a breathing technique, only to see a familiar man from Akane's memories quietly standing a few meters from her.
"That man..." Shinobu lowers her katana, confused and puzzled at the same time
"..." The man moves his lips, but no voice comes out
"What are you trying to say"
"..."
The middle aged man with soulless eyes and blood tainting his clothes changes from a stoic expression to a desperately pleading one.
"You aren't saying anything" Shinobu is slowly getting frustrated
"Be careful to not lose yourself" The man weakly warns her
"What?"
"...not to Akane, but to your abnormal nature"
"Abnormal nature?"
"Once you are blinded by it, both you and that child...will be lost forever"
"Get to the point! What are you trying to warn me?" Shinobu stomps her foot
"Two contradicting egos cannot exist in that incompatible body. It's either one disappears or..." The man's voice fades away
"Wait!"
In the worst timing, Shinobu's surroundings is swallowed by ink and melts her eyes much to her chagrin. When she tries to reach for the man being painted over by ink, Shinobu is then dragged away by the same hands earlier.
"Not this again!"
Just like last time, she is unable to break free from their grasps and pulled away into the stretching pitch black darkness in a sea of ink.
"Shinobu!"
To her surprise, Akane pulls her out of the surface and brings her to their shared consciousness where they also communicate. The multiple hands pulling her is reduced to one which turns to be Akane tossing her out of the endless sea of ink.
"Akane?" Shinobu rubs her eyes to confirm while she lifts her upper body
"That was close. You were almost swallowed by my Blood Demon Art in a strange way"
"Your Blood Demon Art?" Shinobu stands up
"A nature of my Blood Demon Art is actually ink, and a difficult to control ability of it is to immerse anyone in in the past and the future. Well, not all of it exists...specially the future part"
It may be Akane's technique, but the demon herself isn't sure about the nature of her power.
"So you have the ability to put people in some sort of dream"
"It's not a dream, more like a story of your own making. I can't always control what they sea since I'm drawing a world based on their memories and experiences. While memories means the past, I think what you saw was some sort of future"
Akane walks back and forth, trying the best she can to explain an ability she states to have little control of.
"Future? When did you learn to draw the future?"
"I did say future, but more like the most possible outcome. For example: if you push a boulder off a cliff, there's a chance it would simply break apart after falling down or crush someone"
"So you can only guess the outcome?"
"Yeah. From the looks of it, you strayed into my past and an illusion afterwards because you couldn't decide your future" Akane shrugs her shoulders
"What happened? How did I get caught up in your technique"
"Here's the strange: yes and no. The technique happened while here in your mind. It may have been a side effect of our last fight"
Akane isn't certain about the reason to how her technique can affect Shinobu while they're both in their shared consciousness.
"I saw man...which looked like your father. He warned me about not losing myself to my nature"
"My father? I don't know who that is or do I care"
"While I'm drowning in your technique, I caught a glimpse of your thoughts. You aren't revealing your full intentions to me"
Shinobu approaches the demon, whose mood changes when Shinobu chooses to change the topic and confront her. Since they're both facing each other now, Shinobu decides to get answers from her.
"Shinobu, I feared that you might not last long since you're not compatible with me. I can overtake you with little difficulty and upon realizing it, I begin to think if it comes to worst...I'll fully lock your consciousness"
"So you're still planning on taking my body" Shinobu clenches her fists
"I still do. You've seen it yourself. You can barely withstand a little bit of my influence. If I allow you to let demon nature influence you further, you may go down in a path you may never return. I fear you would hurt your own allies, Shinobu"
For a moment, Shinobu feels betrayed since Akane still has the initial plan of fully overtaking her body as her own, but her anger partially subsides when Akane is sincerely afraid that Shinobu may unknowingly cut down anyone from the demon slayer corps.
"Although that's what I kept in mind, there are moments when I'm being compelled to take your body as my own" Akane lowers her head
"..." Shinobu remains quiet
"Shinobu, always keep in mind that I may turn against you if I returned to how I've always been. I'm not good but evil that's currently suppressed...because I no longer possess humanity"
"I know that even if I don't see you an enemy right now, there's no guarantee you will always the way you are right now" Shinobu softly sighs
"You knew that, yet still..."
The world around them fades away like a painting being washed away and the last scene in front of Shinobu is the demon merged with her averting her gaze.
As a demon, my intentions contains malice, and my motivations are selfish. Do not forget that, Shinobu...
"..." Shinobu slowly opens her eyes
The demon sorrowfully warns Shinobu as her voice fades away until she goes completely silent once again.
"I see. Even now, you're not sure if you're being driven by your primary nature or simply wanting to help me"
Shinobu realizes that the demon merged with her no longer possess humanity, just the lingering emotions of her human past.
Somewhere in Niigata
After successfully eliminating an escaping demon when it runs to an alley, Tanjiro closes his eyes and concentrates on the scent around him.
"No demons. It must have been the only one tonight or the others ran away" Tanjiro looks around
"Mmm..."
Beside him is Nezuko drawing a smiling face on the ground which resembles Tanjiro when she draws the hair and distinctive scar.
"Thanks for the help, Nezuko" Tanjiro gently pats her on the head
"Hmm-mmm" Nezuko's expression lights up
"I wonder where did Kanao, Inosuke and Zenitsu went. They said more demons are gathering here, but we only met few tonight" Tanjiro crosses his arms and tilts his head
"Hmm...?"
Nezuko isn't sure either, so she copies Tanjiro and acts as confused as him.
"Let's go, Nezuko. Zenitsu and the others might know"
Tanjiro carefully places the box on the ground, and Nezuko shrinks knowing it's time for her to return with tonight's battle being over quicker than they both expected. After that, Tanjiro takes a deep breath as he lifts both himself and the box with Nezuko inside now.
"Hmm?"
As soon as he leaves the alleyway, he turns to the left and faintly smiles at the approaching scent and careless footsteps stomping the ground.
"Gonpachiro! These demons are so weak. Where are the strong ones? Did they run on my presence?"
Inosuke fumes in frustration then proudly guesses that he might have intimidated the demons, but obviously it's far from the truth.
"They might have known there are more than one demon slayer tonight or the weaker ones were bullied away. It's not unusual they fight over turfs" Tanjiro isn't sure with his guess
"Hmph! Either way, they're no match for me anyway. I'll feel them coming before they can land their filthy claws on me" Inosuke confidently points at himself
While it's not a complete like because of his sensitive skin, Inosuke would be no match for demons more agile than his reflexes.
"Tanjiro? Inosuke? You two are done already?"
About a minute later, Kanao meets the two while dragging and lightly wounded Zenitsue. His sounds are no deeper than scratches, but he's sobbing as if he suffers a flesh wound.
"Inosuke couldn't find any more demons and there's no scent left in this area. The others must have fled early or there were few to begin with" Tanjiro shrugs his shoulders
"Then sending four of us aren't needed after all" Kanao sighs in disappointment
"Then I could have just slept peacefully?" Zenitsu continues to sob
"Let's go to another town and take them by surprise!" Inosuke points in a random direction
"For now, let's roam the town and see if there are demons in hiding"
They can't be too relaxed yet just because there are no demons in the open tonight, so Tanjiro suggests double-checking if there are ones hiding that can evade his sharp sense of smell.
"Meow~"
"...?!"
A long and soft cat's meow briefly startles them and make them simultaneously grab their sheathed nichirin swords, except for Zenitsu who jumps back and even let out a high pitched scream. The cat licks its paw as soon as it mysteriously appears on a nearby wall.
"That cat..." Tanjiro immediately recognizes the calico cat
"You're friends with the cat?" Inosuke tilts his head
"Tamayo-san's cat" Tanjiro replies
"Who?" Zenitsu stands up straight
"A friendly demon doctor. Nezuko and I met her a long time ago"
"You're friends with a demon?!" Zenitsu drops his jaw
"I-it's a long story, but Tamayo-san isn't a bad demon"
Tanjiro immediately assures Zenitsu upon seeing him turn pale and on the verge of passing out right where he stands.
"Meow" The cat turns away and briefly looks back at them
"It probably wants us to follow" Tanjiro approaches the cat
"T-that could be a demon cat!" Zenitsu points with his shaking hand
"It's just a regular cat, Zenitsu. I would have known from the scent alone"
Tanjiro gently rubs the cat's chin to prove that the cat with a small bag pack is just an ordinary cat even if it mysteriously popped out in a blink of an eye.
"Come on, I'll introduce you to Tamayo-san. She's a gentle person, so there's nothing to worry about" Tanjiro gestures Zenitsu to come closer
"I don't care who she is, if she's strong...I'll fight her" Inosuke proudly laughs as he walks towards Tanjiro
"There are non-hostile demons like Nezuko...and master" Kanao does the same
"F-fine. Only because I don't want to be left alone"
In the end, Zenitsu is forced to drag himself to their side fearing he has to spend the rest of night without the three while they meet Tanjiro's demon friend.
"Meow"
As soon as the cat sees the four are gathered near it, it starts by jumping to a higher wall and casually threading narrow space, a natural talent of a cat. The four patiently follows the cat that not only jumps to a higher ground but to another side as well.
"We're finally here" Tanjiro sighs in relief when the cat finally stops in one corner
"That's a wall" Zenitsu scratches his head
"Meow" The cat looks at the wall and back to them
"Follow me"
Tanjiro heads first and to their surprise, his whole body easily phases through what appears to be solid wall and the cat follows him with no problem as well.
"Come on. It's safe to pass through. This is just a Blood Demon Art"
Tanjiro emerges out of the illusionary wall and gestures at them when the three are in disbelief.
"No wall can stop me!"
Inosuke volunteers first and charges head-on...only to naturally phase through the wall and stumbles down the moment he is shocked at the realization there is no solid wall at all.
"Ow!" Inosuke hits the ground
"Whoa. There's a house behind this" Kanao follows and amazed at the sight
"Wait for me!"
Zenitsu jumps in and hits the ground when he is instantly surprised at the house hidden beyond an illusionary wall.
"This fake wall is Yushiro-san's Blood Demon Art. He's an assistant of Tamayo-san, so he's also a demon. It's very useful since they move from one place to another and perfectly hides them from other demons" Tanjiro briefly explains
"Two demons?!" Zenitsu screams in absolute shock
"Meow~"
The demon loudly meows and walks towards to the front door of the house, inviting them to come inside while the three are busy being amazed the space a Blood Demon Art is capable of concealing.
"..." Tanjiro nods
He quickly follows the cat and enters the house while the three follows him shortly afterwards. Inosuke rushes first while Zenitsue clings to Tanjiro, nervous at being in the house occupied by a demon.
"This isn't like the taiko demon, right?" Zenitsue swallows his breath
Up until now, he has yet to forget the very first mission he and Tanjiro went together. While he didn't fight the Kyogai who can rearrange the whole house, he remembered passing out and miraculously surviving a long-tongued demon.
"Wah!"
The moment Tanjiro slides a door open and greeted by Tamayo and an irritated Yushiro, Zenitsu jumps back at the sight of the boy's knife-sharp glare.
"It's been a while, Tamayo-san" Tanjiro bows
"The name's Inosuke. I'm the king of the mountains!" Inosuke introduces himself without hesitation"
"My name...is Z-Zenitsu" Zenitsu trembles while saying his own name
"I'm Kanao..."
"Kanao? Shinobu-san mentioned you before. You're her former tsuguko, right?"
Tamayo widens her eyes at the second she hears the name Shinobu would often mention every time they meet.
"Y-you met my master?" Kanao steps forward
"Yes. In fact, she was here no too long ago. Unfortunately, she might have already left the town" Tamayo sadly informs her
"...I see"
"Shinobu-san visits you too?"
"Both yes and no. Sometimes it's the demon, sometimes it's the former Pillar"
Yushiro responds while he serves them tea. As usual, he speaks in an unfriendly and naturally annoyed manner. In fact, the only person who he speaks to gently is Tamayo.
"I don't understand" Tanjiro scratches his head
"There's two of them in that body. One is the former Pillar and the other is a demon forced to be fused with her. I'm surprised they don't argue all the time" Yushiro scoffs
"That's probably why master somehow transformed into a demon we fought...on the night she disappeared" Kanao instantly realizes
"I see. Just like Shinobu-san said, Hirokuma took advantage of the situation when she and the demon were incapacitated" Tamayo nods
"..."
Remembering the fateful where she believed Shinobu died until she reappeared as a full demon, Kanao feels a sting in her heart. Unlike before, the pain isn't as crushing since she managed to speak with Shinobu, who maintained her humanity and memories.
"Right now, those two are looking for a way to undo the forced merging between them. It's only fortunate that the demon, Akane, is being cooperative and even more than willing to help Shinobu" Tamayo tries to cheer up Kanao
"The demon is helping master?" Kanao is naturally greatly surprised
"I'm not certain about the time they spent together, but she did mention they were wrestling control at first"
"Tamayo-san, is there a way to help Shinobu-san" Tanjiro swallows his breath
"The only way to undo their situation is to create a medicine to turn demons into humans. Unfortunately, studying demon blood is no easy task and will take countless trial and errors"
"I-if there's a way to turn master into being human, then I'll do what I can to make it happen...even if it takes months or years"
Kanao firmly responds her solid resolve even if they will need time and perhaps a miracle to make it come true. More than anyone, Kanao is the first person to want help Shinobu, who is beginning to struggle with her demon side.
"I can see now why Shinobu-san fondly speaks of you" Tamayo warmly smiles
"I wonder if we should tell this to Giyuu-san. He wants to help Shinobu-san just like Kanao" Tanjiro suggests to Kanao
"I'm sure Tomioka-san would want to help. He told me he's not going to give up on master after all" Kanao confidently nods
"More demon slayers..." Yushiro groans
"I don't understand what's going on, but there's a way to turn demons back into being human, right?" Inosuke raises his hand
"There is, but I'm far from that goal as of the moment. I did make progress from the blood of an Upper Moon you defeated some time ago" Tamayo looks at Tanjiro
"If the Sound Pillar wasn't there, we would have all died"
Tanjiro remembered the whole struggle against Gyuutarou and Daki, whose heads had to be cut off at the same time. The Sound Pillar lost and eye and arm, and their victory is a close call.
"Upper Moon six. It's the weakest of the Upper Moons and we nearly died" Tanjiro swallows his breath
"So what? We beach them, right? At least we have an experience and grow super strong from now on" Inosuke scoffs
"I don't want to fight an Upper Moon..." Zenitsu whimpers
(If it's them, then perhaps it's possible...even defeating another Upper Moon. If they can keep on growing, then a way to turn back demons into humans isn't far from impossible now...)
Seeing the four young demon slayers with their own potential brings a hopeful smile, specially towards Tanjiro. Even if it's only one Upper Moon, the fact that they accomplished what's thought to be nearly impossible after a hundred years is finally a sign that destiny may change in the most unexpected ways or by the right person.
Screams fill the air, and the humans couldn't stop their screams of terror from Shinobu swinging her sword...yet not able to fatally land a hit on the stumbling and frozen humans. Even if she lands a direct strike, her katana only cuts through skin and not through flesh. When a fleeing man trips on a rock, he stretches out his hand in defense, but Shinobu only lightly cuts his palm.
"Why does my body won't move the way I wanted it!"
Her frustration only grows when she clearly swings her sword with no mercy yet her body instinctively avoids landing any fatal blows to the fleeing humans.
"Aaaaaah!" The humans start fleeing desperately
"Argh! Why won't my legs..."
The humans begin to flee at the moment Shinobu is distracted, yet her body is somehow disobeying her and refusing to pursue them. As a result, she's stuck on in one spot, extremely infuriated to the point she just wants to rampage even more.
"What a strange feeling. Familiar yet unfamiliar..." Shinobu grunts as she finally gives up pursuing them
Usually, she would evade being sighted by normal humans...but she goes her way to confront and attack them. Her eyes seethes with hostility and thirst for blood, but her actions aren't matching her thoughts' Shinobu only thinks of silencing the terrified humans yet her body is reflexively keeping her from doing so.
"There are you are" An annoyed voice of a man growls at her
"...!"
Shinobu immediately responds by turning around and leaping at the source of the voice. She swings her sword without hesitation and the man carrying a katana as well casually defends himself by parrying her swing. Their blades spark as the man push her back and jumps back as well.
"You tried to kill people? That's not like you...even if you're either the former Pillar or Akana"
"Pillar? Akane? What are you blabbering about" Shinobu tilts her head
"What?!"
Much to his surprise, she doesn't recognize the demon merged with her or the fact she's formerly a Pillar. In fact, her eyes glares at him with completely hostility and devoid of any human emotion.
"Did you hit your head or something? You're a former Pillar that got merged with someone I know" The man angrily reminds her
"I don't who you are or what you're talking"
"Hey, Akane! What's this Pillar? Come out and explain! It's me, Kazuto"
The demon swordsman that shared a past with the demon merged with Shinobu loudly calls her out, believing that the former Pillar in control of her own body is acting strangely.
"There's no one by that name here. Since I don't even know you, I'll just kill you. You're just wasting my time" Shinobu swings her sword in the air
"Something's not right. What did that bastard do to you this time? Kazuto grits her teeth
"Now then. Stay still and just-"
As soon as Shinobu takes a step forward, her body begins to tremble and nearly drops her own sword.
"I-I'm feeling dizzy..."
Shinobu staggers back and shakes her head, desperately trying to regain her balance and her vision. The confused Kazuto lowers his blade, certain that it's impossible for the former Pillar to even land a hit when she couldn't stand up straight.
"No. I...don't want...I don't want..." Shinobu collapses to the ground
Shortly before Shinobu lose consciousness in front of a greatly dumbfounded demon swordsman, she expresses an unknown fear mixed with frustration.
"What...What the hell...is happening? Akane, what's going on with you?"
Kazuto returns his sword to his scabbard and rushes to the completely unconscious Shinobu, unaware that he does so mostly out of pure concern more than confusion. He gently taps her back and looks around him, still not certain to what caused the strange behavior and the sudden fainting.