Nezuko woke with a gasp. Her heart raced and her head pounded with each beat. The pain was so bad that it made her curl up into a ball and put a hand on either side of her head in an attempt to hold herself together. She felt like her head was about to split right down the middle and the only thing preventing it was the pressure of her hands. She was remembering everything.

It was a rush of memories jumbled together in no particular order; smells and tastes, sights and sounds, peoples and places. Her mom's lullaby, an older man in a tengu mask hugging her and Tanjiro, a night when her father had been alive and they'd all had udon, a couple of shiny acorns being dropped into her hand by a boy with a boar's head, the smell of Hanako's favorite flowers, eating onigiri on a log with Tanjiro, a small bowl with goldfish and the blond boy who's brought them to her, and having a splash fight with Takeo in a creek near their house all came to her at once. Then came the memory of a stranger that visited in the night and attacked without mercy. He killed her family and then killed her.

Or it had felt like it, at the time. In the end he had changed her into something new. Something that made her try to kill the only family she had left. She hadn't done it, though. Somewhere deep inside, Nezuko had recognized Tanjiro and had defended him from the man in the weirdly patterned haori.

Nezuko had lost herself and Tanjiro had stayed by her side and refused to abandon her. She had been turned into a demon and had been mindless with bloodlust—and then she had just been mindless. He'd worked so hard for them. For her. He wanted to make her human again so she could walk under the sun once more. And he'd suffered through so much because of it. Endless hours of training, countless injuries, so many hardships… and yet he had never hesitated and never complained.

She forced herself to her knees and then to her feet. The area around her was completely devastated. Buildings had been blown open in some places and knocked down in others, littering the streets with bits of wood and other odds and ends. The Kyogoku house had been completely leveled and bits of dirt and other debris still hung in the air, making it hard to see.

But then she realized that was just because she was small. Nezuko held her hands in front of her face to see how tiny they were and grimaced at the claws tipping her fingernails, which then turned her attention to the rope holding her mouth open. She sliced it off without a second thought and then took one step and then another, growing as she walked to her normal height and then a bit bigger. She had stopped aging when she had turned into a demon, so she had no idea what her body should actually look like now, but a bit of height seemed right.

She needed to find Tanjiro. They'd gotten separated and she knew he was hurt. Her memories from when she had been turned up until now were fuzzy at best and missing entirely at worst, but she knew they had been fighting someone strong. She was pretty sure that boar head and blond boy had been with them, but she couldn't be certain.

Tanjiro's blood was a scent that she had memorized. She followed the smell of it to find her brother lying unconscious on a pile of wooden fragments. There was blood all over his face and his skin was turning purple in places. She was sure that the scar on his forehead had changed once more; it looked less like a burn scar and more like a tattoo or something that had been painted on.

Nezuko rushed to his side and kneeled down. This close she could smell something demonic all over him, and when she checked his pulse it was horribly slow.

"Tanjiro?" Nezuko brushed his bangs off of his sweaty forehead.

Feeling his forehead revealed that he was burning up. Tanjiro didn't react at all to the sound of her voice or to the touch on his forehead. She didn't know what the purple under his skin was but she knew it was bad. There was something wrong with him and it was killing him and she didn't know how to fix it.

Was she going to lose him so soon after finding herself again? Would he never know that this much of her humanity had returned?

Was all of it for nothing?

No. Nezuko refused to let this be the end. Tanjiro wouldn't die so easily. Not here, not in this place. But what could she do?

As carefully as possible, Nezuko sliced open a small section of the purple skin and leaned in close to sniff. It smelled demonic and sour and awful. She thought and thought and thought of what she could do. There was that butterfly lady and the place where her brother was treated for his injuries, but she didn't know how far away it was and she didn't think he'd last that long.

What could she do, right here and right now? She knew she could heal from almost anything and all she needed to do was sleep afterwards. She was pretty sure she'd lost her left leg multiple times, and she had the uncomfortable memory of something slicing through her midsection. But she was all in one piece now and even the pounding in her head had gone away.

And there was something else about her… Nezuko closed her eyes and thought hard, trying to recall every little thing she could. Something about her blood? Yes, that seemed right. She could grow and shrink, she could heal, she was stronger than a human, and then she could do something with her blood. Something to do with her heritage, she thought.

That was right! Hinokami had seen fit to bless her with the ability to set things on fire with her blood. And if she was remembering it all correctly it only affected demons and demonic things like creepy demon spiderwebs.

Nezuko was almost certain she wouldn't hurt Tanjiro, but it was a risk she refused to take. She grabbed a piece of wood and used a claw to slice her palm open and dripped blood all over it. Then she stared at it and tried to figure out how to make the fire come out.

The growing had been easy. She hadn't even had to think much beyond 'become bigger to see over the dust' and it had been as natural as breathing. The fire was not the same way. She closed her eyes and searched deep inside of herself. In her mind's eye there was a smoldering ember resting in her stomach. Waiting. Nezuko fanned it into a flame and the wood was engulfed within seconds. Despite the flame surrounding it the wood remained unscathed, if a little hotter to the touch.

Satisfied, Nezuko turned to her brother and reopened the wound on her palm and dripped as much blood as possible on him. The fire was already waiting for her and it took no effort this time to make it grow and engulf him. This time it felt like the flame was a part of her own body, an extra part of her that she could move and control. She used it to attack and burn out all of the poison but she feared it wasn't enough. Like this she could tell just how tired and weak her brother was—not in mind, but in body. He had used up so much of himself in this fight.

How else could she help? What else was there? She could heal everything quickly because of this blood running through her, but—Nezuko's thoughts came screeching to a halt as she realized the implication of that particular thought. Her blood! It was all about the blood, wasn't it? That creepy suit wearing guy had shared his blood with her and that was what made her the way she was. The pretty lady that smelled of flowers had also talked about the importance of sharing blood, but Nezuko couldn't remember any exact details.

So Nezuko reopened the wound on her palm and pressed it against one of the many scratches lining Tanjiro's chest, letting their blood mingle. She closed her eyes and focused, pushing with all of her might. She encouraged her blood to spread within him and share her strength and her energy, to heal anything it ran across.

It made her tired but she didn't care. Tanjiro would watch over her while she slept like he always did.


Tanjiro returned to awareness slowly. He realized his head was pillowed on something soft and he could feel fabric and heat pressed against his left cheek; Nezuko's familiar smell let him know just what he was resting on. He opened his eyes to see that Nezuko had grown back into her bigger form and that his left cheek was pressed up against her stomach as his head rested on her lap. Her eyes were closed and her head was dipped downwards in sleep. For some reason the rope he had tied around her head to act as a muzzle was nowhere to be seen.

"Ne…" he had to stop to swallow, throat so dry it was painful. "Nezuko…"

Nezuko's eyes blinked open and when she realized he was awake she ducked her head down further to look at him better, "Onii-chan! Thank the Gods you're alright!"

Tanjiro was so surprised that he sat up without thinking, knocking his forehead into Nezuko's hard. Nezuko reeled backwards and put a hand to her forehead and Tanjiro had to take a moment to steady himself as the world spun around him.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Nezuko whined, "How could I forget how hard your head is?"

He just looked at her and watched as she rubbed at the red spot on her forehead. Ever since she had turned into a demon the most she had done was make little noises that never approached actual speech. He had even taken the muzzle out of her mouth a few times and tried to get her to say his name but she had just given him an uncomprehending stare, as if speech had been beyond her.

He had never given up hope of turning her back into a human, but it had been close to three years and there had been little change in her demeanor. He had started to accept that he might never get his sister back anytime soon. Watching her lose herself completely just a bit ago had terrified him and he had been so worried that if it happened again he might not be able to stop her, but now here she was talking and showing concern over him.

"Nezuko?" Tanjiro put a hand on her cheek and peered into her eyes, hardly daring to believe it. "Is it…?"

"Yeah," Nezuko answered the question he couldn't finish. She gave him a sad smile and leaned their foreheads together, "It's me, Onii-chan. I'm so sorry you had to do this on your own for so long."

Tanjiro stared at her for another long moment, eyes searching her face as his brain struggled to accept that she seemed to be back to her old self. Then he began to cry, leaning against her and hiding his face in her shoulder. Nezuko wrapped her arms around him and ran a hand up and down his back, something she had done for him several times before when she had been human and it made him cry even harder.

"You always were a crybaby," Nezuko's tone was fond, but Tanjiro could smell her tears and knew she was crying as well. "But you gotta take better care of yourself, okay? You almost died!"

That was right. Between the poison and his injuries he shouldn't be capable of sitting up and twisting around to hug her without any pain, but while his body ached some and his throat was dry there wasn't anything all that wrong with him. Tanjiro sat up and scrubbed at his eyes for a moment before prodding at different areas where he knew he should be hurt—but even some of the bigger cuts had been healed.

"I healed you," Nezuko told him, obviously proud of herself.

"How?"

"I dunno," Nezuko shrugged one shoulder. "I… willed it?"

"Willed it…" Tanjiro repeated, baffled.

Nezuko laughed at the look on his face, "I don't know how to describe it, Tanjiro. I just did it."

"Did you do it for the others, too?"

"Uh…" Nezuko looked away, "I planned to?" She twirled a strand of hair around one of her fingers, "But I fell asleep?"

"That's pretty normal," Tanjiro sighed.

"Is it?"

"You don't remember?"

"Memories since I became a demon are…" Nezuko trailed off and scrunched up her nose as she thought. "Hazy? Disjointed? Barely there? It feels like no time has passed since I got attacked, but it's been at least a year, right?"

"Closer to three," Tanjiro told her. "You slept for two of them."

"I guess that's…" Nezuko blinked and looked around. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

Nezuko stood up and Tanjiro followed her lead. She turned towards the south and Tanjiro tilted his head in that direction, slowly realizing that he could hear Zenitsu.

"That's Zenitsu!" Tanjiro grabbed Nezuko's hand, "Let's go!"

He tried to pull her in that direction but Nezuko didn't budge. Tanjiro turned to ask her what was wrong but the next thing he knew she was hooking one arm under his knees and the other supported his back as she lifted him up. He blinked up at her face and opened his mouth to protest but then she began to run and he decided not to say anything at all. He wasn't thrilled to be carried, but he had to admit that she was far faster than he was and she had an easier time getting over obstacles because she either crashed right through them or jumped over them completely.

"TAAAANJIIIIROOOOO!" Zenitsu sobbed.

Nezuko skidded to a halt and set him down. Tanjiro was horrified to see that the lower half of Zenitsu's body was trapped under a collapsed section of roof. There was blood all over him as well, so the only comfort was that Tanjiro couldn't smell death on him just yet. He immediately went over and tried to shift the wreckage off of him.

"Tanjiro! It's awful, it's awful!" Zenitsu squirmed and reached both hands out in a pitiful manner, "I woke up and everything was destroyed! Everything hurts and my legs are broken! Who did this to me?! Are they gone?! Are they dead?! I'm so scared, Tanjiro!"

Zenitsu went on and on and Tanjiro gritted his teeth and tried to block him out. Nezuko came over and lifted the section of roof off of Zenitsu's legs with no issue at all but he went right on yelling and crying. She went around to his head and crouched down, ripping off a piece of her haori and dabbing at the blood on his cheek.

"You'll waste too much energy yelling," Nezuko chided. "And you're hurting Onii-chan's ears."

Zenitsu went completely silent and Tanjiro looked at him in surprise. He was staring at Nezuko with wide eyes, pain and fear forgotten even when she dabbed a little too roughly at the cut on his cheek.

"Is Nezuko-chan speaking?" Zenitsu marveled and Tanjiro plugged his ears as fast as he could, "IS NEZUKO-CHAN SPEAKING?! FOR ME?! ARE YOU DOING IT FOR ME? ARE YOU WORKING HARD FOR ME?! I'M HEALED!" Zenitsu struggled to his knees and grabbed one of Nezuko's hands, "MARRY ME, NEZUKO! I'LL FEED YOU EEL AND SUSHI EVERYDAY, SO PLEASE-"

Nezuko shoved her free hand over Zenitsu's mouth to shut him up and Tanjiro had the unique pleasure of watching her blush, "I am happy to see that you are feeling well, but you are being far too forward! I want to marry for love and I do not know you well enough to love you, Zenith-kun."

Zenitsu almost combusted on the spot. It didn't matter that Nezuko had gotten his name wrong, he was far more focused on the fact that she hadn't given him an outright no and that she had practically said she wanted to get to know him better. Tanjiro could see the hearts in his eyes and so he stepped forward and pulled Nezuko away from him.

"Where are the others?" Tanjiro tried to distract him.

"Huh?" Zenitsu's head was far up in the clouds. "Others?" He blinked and then pointed to his left, "Oh, Inosuke's over there! His heartbeat is getting slower, so-"

Nezuko picked Tanjiro up again and set off even quicker than before. Inosuke wasn't far off at all, but she had to hop up a few times to get to where he was sprawled out on a roof.

Tanjiro got out of Nezuko's arms and rushed over to him, "Inosuke! Inosuke, hold on!"

Inosuke looked awful. There was a giant hole in his chest and the skin around it was a dark purple as if he was already starting to rot. Tanjiro carefully put a hand on his chest and felt for a heartbeat. It was weak and far slower than it should be.

"The poison," Tanjiro moaned. "It's-"

"Not a big deal," Nezuko cut him off.

Tanjiro looked at her just in time to watch as she cut open the palm of her hand and extended it over Inosuke's wound. Her hand became engulfed with her blood demon art and she pressed the pink flames down against the wound, Inosuke letting out a pained groan as they spread to him and spread around his entire body.

"I can burn the poison out like this," Nezuko explained.

"But the hole," Tanjiro worried. "It goes straight through, and he's lost so much blood! I don't think he'll make it, Nezuko… Inosuke is going to…"

Tanjiro cut himself off with a small sob. Nezuko glanced at him and then let out a long breath before lifting her hand and widening the cut on her palm. She let the blood flow freely into the hole in Inosuke's chest and Tanjiro watched with wide eyes as the hole began to stitch itself back together.

"You're sharing your blood," he realized.

Which must have been what she had done with him and why he didn't feel two steps away from death. Nezuko didn't look at him, instead ducking her head so her hair fell and blocked him from her view entirely and it made him realize she hadn't brought it up on purpose. She must be worried that he'd be repulsed by it.

Tanjiro reached out and stroked the top of her head, "You're doing good, Nezuko. Thank you so much for helping out like this."

"I won't do too much…" Nezuko yawned so widely that her jaw audibly cracked, but the happy scent that wafted off of her let him know he had guessed correctly on what she was worried about. "Because… because there's that other guy, right? Ninja dude? Ew… Ewgen?"

"Tengen Uzui," Tanjiro filled in.

"RAAAAH!" Inosuke sat up with a sudden hollar, knocking his boar head into Nezuko's shoulder and making it fall off, "I'M HUNGRY!"

"Inosuke!" Tanjiro hugged him and sobbed openly into his shoulder.

"I'm hungry!" Inosuke grumbled, but one arm came up and wrapped around Tanjiro tightly.

"Stay still, Inosuke!" Nezuko pushed him back down with a scowl, "I healed you some but you still have to take care of yourself, got it?"

"We'll bring you food," Tanjiro promised. "But we have to check on Uzui-san. He was poisoned, too!"

Inosuke muttered something and gave a grumpy pout but Tanjiro took off his haori and balled it up so Inosuke could rest his head on it and the pout went away. Nezuko stood and picked Tanjiro up once more and then she hopped off of the roof, running in the direction of the nearest shrieking.

"I'LL FILL YOUR MOUTH WITH ROCKS YOU IDIOT!" Makio hollered.

"WAAAAHHHH!" Suma cried, "MAKIO IS BULLYING ME!"

The sight that greeted them would have been hilarious in any other circumstance, but it was obvious Tengen was on his last few breaths and yet Makio actually had Suma in a headlock and was shoving rocks in her mouth as she wailed. Tengen was lying half propped up against a wall with Hinatsuru kneeling at his left side with tears running down her face. Tengen's left arm had been severed just below his elbow and there were bandages wrapped around his head haphazardly but the purple stain of the poison was still spreading underneath the skin of his arm and his face.

"Makio-san!" Tanjiro gaped, stumbling a bit when Nezuko set him on his feet because he tried to rush over to save Suma. "You shouldn't do that!"

"LORD TENGEN IS DYING," Makio raged. "AND THIS IDIOT-"

"Nezuko can save him!" Tanjiro had to raise his voice to be heard, but as soon as his words got through Makio and Suma both froze and turned their heads to stare at them.

Nezuko gave a small wave and then went over to Tengen and knelt on his right side, "Hello, Uzui-san. I apologize because I forgot your name, miss."

Tanjiro held up a hand, "It's going to look weird, but-"

His warning didn't come fast enough. Nezuko must have cut herself as she went over to Tengen because her pink flame engulfed him completely within seconds of her kneeling next to him and Makio and Suma both shrieked. Then Suma choked on one of the rocks in her mouth and Makio started smacking her on the back in an effort to dislodge it.

"Nezuko's burning out the poison," Tanjiro assured them.

And then he went over and squeezed Makio around the middle hard until she coughed the rock up. Being the eldest with five younger siblings had taught him how to deal with things like this.

"Much more flashy now, girl!" Tengen laughed as he looked at his clearing skin with awe.

"I can help heal your injuries some, too, but…" Nezuko glanced at Tanjiro and he nodded to encourage her. "You have to take in some of my blood."

"NOOOOOO!" Suma cried, "THAT'S SO GROSS!"

"SHUT UP!" Makio slapped her over the head.

"I'm so glad you're okay, Lord Tengen!" Hinatsuru gushed and she carefully wrapped her arms around him.

"Hey, no fair!" Suma immediately rushed over to do the same.

"You're both hurting him!" Makio snapped, but she went over and did the exact same thing.

"Quickly, please…" Tengen directed at Nezuko with a pitiful moan.

Nezuko looked at Tanjiro again but this time it was to share an amused look with him. Tanjiro grinned right back at her, thrilled to be able to share these little glances with her once more. He couldn't wait to see what the future held in store for them now that she was mentally back to her old self.


The night was one of miracles… if one ignored the structure damage.