^ Chapter 16 - Staying at the Butterfly Mansion ^

After apologizing to Gotō and his female Kakushi partner when they had their fill of reprimanding him both verbally and physically, evident by the latter actually punching Tanjirō a few times in the cheek, he was eventually allowed to climb off Gotō's shoulders and walk by himself. They arrived at the location Shinobu had ordered the two Kakushi to deliver him to, a large mansion-like home within the large headquarters of the Demon Slayers. From the outside it really did seem like the largest home, and he wondered what purpose it served along with being where Shinobu lived.

When they walked through the front gates into the front garden entryway, there were loads of trees around, including some wisteria trees again here and there. Thankfully they weren't close enough to bother Tanjirō too much, but even still he had to cover his nose and mouth with his arm in order to stop the smell from reaching his nostrils.

"Ahh, that's right, you can't stand Wisteria flowers, can you?" Gotō asked with a glance at him. Tanjirō nodded his head once and Gotō held his arms up behind his head, sighing a little while closing his eyes. "Sorry about that. Kochō-sama works pretty close with Wisteria, so hope you can get used to it."

"Ehhh...who knows...guess we'll find out, eheh..." Tanjirō replied before he looked to the female Kakushi, and held his other arm out to her. "Here, I can carry my sister's box now. You don't have to do that for me any more."

"Oh, well...if you say so."

The Kakushi slipped off the straps from her shoulders and carefully handed the box over to Tanjirō, who took it and carefully slung the straps over his own arms and started carrying it himself. He felt comforted now that he had his sister back in his possession, with no offense meant towards the Kakushi, it was just something he'd prefer doing because he believed Nezuko was safest when with him.

They strolled through the garden up the stone path to the front door, the paper doors already slid open, to show an empty entrance hallway with a vase to one side and a hanging lamp that had a flower-shape glass design.

"Hello? Anybody...home?" asked the female Kakushi, her voice echoing a little off the walls. No response came back to them, not even the approach of footsteps from somewhere inside of the mansion. "Hello…?"

"Nobody's even coming…"

"Who else would be here aside from Shinobu-san?"

Tanjirō was almost instantly smacked on the back of the head and reprimanded by both Kakushi for referring to the Insect Hashira in such an informal tone, even when she wasn't around. He apologized and raised his hands up in a defensive manner, the female Kakushi lowering her hand before she smacked him once more.

Gotō suggested they make their way around back to the rear yard of the huge home and they walked back outside, taking the stone walkway around the outer edge next to the wall of the complex.

"So, how are you able to do it?" Gotō asked Tanjirō as they walked. "Was it natural? Or did you have to do it through training or something?"

"Do what?"

"You know, what you're doing right now. Walking in the sun. You're the first demon I've ever seen or heard of that was capable of doing that without, you know, dying."

"Ohh…well, it just happened without knowing, I think?"

Tanjirō told them about the mission he went on at the Drum House, giving them some details about the demon itself when he fought it and his Blood Demon Art. The key part came when he told them about how he had ended up rushing outside at the scent of trouble and went right into the morning sunlight, without thinking about the possibility that it was day out, and could've died right then and there.

To his surprise, of course, he didn't since he was there with them at that moment. Somehow while inside of the Drum House, a change had occurred to his body that allowed him to survive in the sunlight.

"I've tried thinking about how it could have happened, but I could never come up with the right answer...it just happened."

"Weird…but I guess it worked out for you regardless, since you're able to walk with us outside and all."

As they rounded a small little pond near one of the back corners and walked past a tiny little shed, the back face of the huge mansion looked back at them over the tops of the trees ahead of them. Tanjirō looked up at the house and was amazed by its size, since he had never seen anything this large before considering where he came from, and wondered where Shinobu's room was inside of it.

"The place where we were at before was pretty big to me, but this mansion's something else, huh?" he remarked out loud in awe, Gotō waving his hand a little while nodding.

"It's the largest part of the entire headquarters complex, but it's not because Kochō-sama gets preferential treatment over the other Hashira. This mansion doubles as the hospital and recovery center for the Demon Slayers."

"Really? So…"

"It's where severely wounded Demon Slayers come to in order to get medical attention and recover from life-threatening injuries." answered the female Kakushi while holding her hands up by her cheek and smiling behind her face cover. "Kochō-sama is an amazing person...she's a Hashira, and one of the best doctors in the corps too…"

"It's how she's been able to compensate for being the weakest Hashira strength-wise. She's come up with an entire array of Wisteria flower-based poisons that can kill demons just as easily as another could by decapitation."

"Wow…"

Tanjirō kept his eyes on the house for another brief moment, thinking back to Natagumo Mountain and how lucky he really was to have not met the same fate as other demons who must've met Shinobu's blade. He reminded himself that at some point he should thank Giyū again for stopping her initially as well, before they met afterwards and talked for that brief moment.

"I should apologize for passing out on her too...at least all the sleep I got restored some of my energy, thankfully…"

As he stopped looking at the building and instead looked at the scenery around him, his eyes widened in awe as beautiful purple, blue, and violet butterflies began emerging from the flowers and the trees. Their wings flapped so gracefully as they flew around the three of them, giving Tanjirō and almost mythical sense from the insects.

Then he remembered that this place was referred to as the "Butterfly Mansion" by Shinobu, and as he saw more butterflies appear around them, he wondered if that was why the estate and home was named that way.

"Oh hey, there's someone." Gotō said as they came out from around a row of trees to the rear garden of one of the smaller extensions of the main building. "Ahh, it's her, Kochō-sama's Tsuguko, Tsuyuri Kanao."

Tanjirō came back to reality and he stopped following one of the nearby butterflies with his eyes in order to see what was in front of him, a tiny gasp escaping his lips when he saw a girl maybe a year or two younger than him standing just in front of the back garden entrance with tiny flock of butterflies around her.

He didn't know exactly what the term Tsuguko meant, it was the first time he was hearing it, but upon setting his eyes on the girl when she turned a little towards them, he almost immediately recognized her. She was the same girl who stood with him, Zenitsu, and another person who he had a little moment with at the end of Final Selection.

"What's a Tsuguko...?" questioned Tanjirō under his breath, with Gotō glancing at him and raising an eyebrow.

"You don't know? A Tsuguko is a swordsman trained exclusively by a Hashira. Only the ones with mind-blowing skills and talent get chosen. She's a girl, but she's awesome!"

Tanjirō was amazed again, his eyes staying put on the girl as the female Kakushi approached her and bowed while referring to her formally. She told her how they had been sent to the Butterfly Mansion by Shinobu, and so they needed permission to enter.

Strangely, the girl didn't say anything to her at first, she just smiled at her. When the Kakushi cocked her head to the side a little with a worried expression and asked again, Kanao simply closed her eyes and kept smiling brightly at her as the butterflies flew around her as if she were their queen. It was odd, seeing Kanao remain silent even when asked questions by the Kakushi, which got Tanjirō thinking if there was anything amiss before he got a whiff of somebody standing behind them.

"And who are you three?"

Both the female Kakushi and Gotō jumped and gasped while Tanjirō turned his head and body halfway to get a glimpse of who asked them. It was a girl, shorter than he was, maybe the same age as Kanao with black hair kept in twin tails secured by blue butterfly clips, a blue-tinted Demon Slayer uniform under a white nurse vest, and striking blue eyes.

"Uh…" murmured Gotō, who was trying to recover from having his heart literally flung up into his throat from the scare.

"We were ordered by Kochō-sama to come here!" exclaimed the other Kakushi while waving her arms.
However, her response fell mostly on deaf ears because the first thing the girl saw was Tanjirō's demonic eyes staring right back at her, her mouth opening slightly and her eyes shrinking as terror gripped her heart. Tanjirō smiled at her and waved, hoping for a nice greeting from the girl, only for her to suddenly shriek and point at him.

"Why's a demon here?! What's going on?! Why is he-?!"

"Ahh! Wait, wait, hold on! Please let me explain! I can explain!" shouted Tanjirō as he waved his hands in front of him back and forth, trying to diffuse the girl's rising emotions. "I was brought here from Natagumo Mountain after a mission there! I am a demon but I don't attack humans, I'm a Demon Slayer like you! I can walk in the sun, Ii don't know how I can, but I can regardless!"

"He's telling the truth!" added Gotō as he stood exceptionally close to Tanjirō and put his arm around his shoulders, clapping his right arm several times while laughing. "See, he's perfectly fine!"

Not really convinced, it wasn't until the Kanao had silently walked up to the girl and smiled as she put a hand on the new girl's shoulder, snapping her out of her shocked state when she patted her hand on top of it. After doing that, she held up her other hand for a butterfly to land on it before walking off, with Tanjirō and the Kakushi watching her go with the same mystified feeling about her as they had before.

When Kanao was gone without a trace, the new girl gulped a little and calmed herself down, making eye contact with Tanjirō again as she tried to think rationally. Tanjirō again gave her a warm smile, the sight of his fangs making her appear a little scared again, before she shook her head and put up a frown to hide those motions.

"S-So...you're a demon...Demon Slayer?" she asked, perplexed by the paradoxical moniker. "How is that…"

"It's...a long story...but trust me. I'm one of the good guys." replied Tanjirō while still smiling. "I'm Tanjirō, by the way. Kamado Tanjirō."

"Right...um..Kanzaki Aoi. Anyways, why'd you come here? Because you were ordered by Kochō-sama?"

"Yeah, I just got out of a pretty scary meeting with her and the other Hashira, eheh…"

"That's probably because she wants you to see who's here. We've got a couple of injured slayers from Natagumo Mountain. You said you came here from there, right? You might know them."

"Really?! Who?"

Aoi's frown wavered a tiny bit at Tanjirō's loud response, to which he closed his mouth and laughed a little awkwardly while rubbing the back of his neck. She told him about two slayers that were in the worst condition, outside of those who had been turned into spiders or killed, one being yellow-haired and the other that was having trouble speaking while wearing a boar mask.

Overjoyed Tanjirō asked to be taken to them and with her composure maintained she nodded and led him into the mansion.

Before that, he was sure to wave goodbye to Gotō and his partner and thank them for their help. Gotō was the only one to wave back, albeit only giving a single hand wave before they left the garden to return to the Kakushi's section of the headquarters compound. With that taken care of, Tanjirō removed his shoes like Aoi had and followed her into the depths of the mansion, having to take quicker steps in order to keep up with her.

"So...do you work here in this place?" he asked of Aoi while they walked, seeing various pieces of artwork depicting flowers or butterflies inside, as well as actual potted plants. "Gotō-san mentioned this place was the hospital for the entire Demon Slayer Corps, so…"

"Yes, I do. I live here as well." Aoi replied without turning her head. "There's a few other caretakers here as well. I'll be sure to tell them about your...condition."

"Uh, thanks…"

As they walked deeper into the mansion, Tanjirō's ears picked up a voice coming from down the hall up ahead, one a little high pitched as if somebody were obnoxiously whining about something. His eyes widened and he felt his steps grow lighter and lighter with joy as the voice became more recognizable the closer they got.

"Five times? I have to take this five times? A DAY?! And I have to keep taking this medicine for three months?!" shouted the voice loudly, causing Tanjirō to smile even bigger and pick up the pace a little bit to match Aoi's. "If I take this, I can't eat anything, you know! It's such an ordeal!"

Aoi and Tanjirō eventually reached one of the patient rooms and stood in the doorway, Aoi frowning still as she rested her hands on her hips and shook her head side to side in disdain for the person yelling. She muttered something under her breath that Tanjirō couldn't hear, but he could care less because of who was making all of the commotion.

It was Zenitsu, alive and well, sitting up in one of the beds while waving his arm sleeves around as another girl with small butterfly hair clips like the ones Aoi had was trying to calm him down. Aoi had enough of his rambling and stormed up to the side of Zenitsu's bed, putting her hands on her hips as the other girl stepped aside, while Tanjirō remained standing in the doorway so he didn't scare her either.

"Please try to be quiet!" ordered Aoi, Zenitsu shrieking at her sudden appearance before quaking in his bed and chattering his teeth loudly. First he was upset about the medicine, now he had his soul scared out of him, what more would he need? "Didn't we already explain it to you numerous times? If you don't stop this nonsense now, we'll tie you up!"

Zenitsu didn't bother to respond because he was still shivering from terror, causing Aoi to shake her head again and sigh while muttering to herself. She turned to the other girl and kept her eyes on Tanjirō before she told her about him and who he was, the girl turning to see him and gasping a little bit as he waved at her.

Feeling that it was safe for him to enter, he first approached Aoi and the girl and showed her up close that Aoi was speaking the truth. He didn't make any sudden movements or anything that could be considered threatening in order to ensure the girl he was friendly, and after a few moments, she was able to smile at him and nodded in understanding.

Aoi then made one last glance at Zenitsu before walking off so she didn't have to hear Zenitsu's incessant chattering. Tanjirō smiled regardless because it was his friend, which he was thankful to the Corps for being able to find and rescue him, which only doubled when across from Zenitsu in the bed right next to him he saw Inosuke sitting perfectly motionless under the covers with his mask on. Not knowing if he was awake or sleeping, he looked down at Zenitsu with a warm, friendly look in his eyes.

"Zenitsu! Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?" asked Tanjirō, both happy and concerned from Zenitsu's health. "You really did come up the mountain after all!"

"Eyyaaagghh!" Zenitsu shrieked as he jolted up somewhat in his bed, the very mattress he was resting on shaking for another few seconds before the voice registered in his memories and he stopped entirely. "T-Tanjirō…?"

Zenitsu while on his belly turned his head around slowly, tears staying put in the corner of his eyes until he was staring eye to eye with his friend, who was smiling happily at him out of relief. For a moment it seemed as though he didn't believe that Tanjirō was really standing there, but when he squatted down next to his bed and rested his arms on the edge, he believed it and he sat up while leaning on his diminutive arms hidden inside of his patient wear's sleeves.

"Tanjirō! Listen to me, will youu? I got stung by this stinky spider, and the poison hurt like crazyyyy!" he cried out, using his left arm sleeve to wave it around at Aoi across the room. "And that girl's been yelling at me all this time! I hate my liiiife!"

"Eh...Zenitsu, did you get smaller or something?" asked Tanjirō when he looked at Zenitsu's arms again, cluing in on how shrunken they had actually become.

"What happened?"

"I almost got turned into a spider...my arms and legs are really short right now."

"Is that right? Do you know what happened to Murata, and another female slayer I sent to him?"

Tanjirō then lifted his gaze past Zenitsu to Inosuke, who he thought he saw stir a little bit. When he noticed one of his hands twitch a little, that meant he was either away and was staying abnormally quiet, or he was just starting to wake up because of him and Zenitsu talking. Zenitsu said he didn't know who Murata or the girl was but he pointed out that Inosuke was behind him in the next bed, something Tanjirō had already seen. Seeing Inosuke there alive after the last time he had seen him, all alone against the hulking demon he had originally thought was a Kizuki, if he had ended up here that meant he must have been left in a bad state of health.

Those things combined were enough to bring him to tears as he gripped Zenitsu's bed sheets, his hands quivering slightly as his emotions got the better of him.

"Inosuke...I'm so sorry…! I couldn't rescue you!" he said, using an arm to try and wipe away some of his tears. "You could have died because I wasn't there to help you…!"

"It's...okay…" Inosuke replied, revealing he had been awake the whole time. "Don't worry...about it…"

"Your voice…" uttered Tanjirō when he heard Inosuke's grating, deep voice that practically sounded on-existent. It was as if somebody had taken a cheese grater to his vocal cords and shredded them into threads, which matched with the barely audible breaths he was taking. "What happened…?"

"I heard he lost his voice or something...I don't have all the details, but the demon he fought did a pretty big number on his body, especially his neck and lungs, and yelling at the top of his lungs pretty much finished it off." explained Zenitsu before smiling and laughing a tiny bit. "He's depressed now, so it's made him gentle, and it really cracks me up!"

"That's not really something to laugh about, Zenitsu…"

Tanjirō wiped his face clean of any last traces of his tears before sitting up again, resting his arms on Zenitsu's bed enough so that Zenitsu could see Nezuko's box over his shoulders.

"Oh, Nezuko-chan~! Is she doing okay?"

"Yeah...let her rest though, Zenitsu. We just came from a pretty draining thing...I'm starting to feel a little bit exhausted from it, if I'm being honest."

"I'm sorry for being so weak…"

Inosuke's broken voice stopped the both of them from continuing to talk and drew their gazes back to him, Zenitsu's smile fading as he realized it had been pretty mean to laugh about his anguish. For somebody who's as over the top and wild as Inosuke, seeing him be completely opposite of that did make one wonder if he really was going to be okay.

And a sentence like that, coming from a guy that wanted to challenge and fight against anything that was thrown against him so he could best it, was worrying as well.

"Hey, hang in there Inosuke!" Tanjirō said to try and encourage their friend. "It's not like you to get depressed!"

"Come on, you did good! You're awesome!"

"I'm just happy that you're alive!"

Inosuke remained silent and didn't speak again, his eyes just blankly looking up at the interior of his mask as he rested there, his mind aimlessly adrift in nothing. Tanjirō wanted to say something else but Zenitsu started making a ruckus about taking his morning medicine again, causing Aoi to leave the room with the other girl entirely with another grumble under her breath.

Once Tanjirō double checked and assured him that he took his medicine earlier, he calmed down enough to sit up in his bed and wipe his face clear of any tears in order to have a normal conversation with Tanjirō about Natagumo mountain.

"So you fought and killed a demon by yourself, Zenitsu? The one who poisoned you?" asked Tanjirō, Zenitsu nodding his head while he rested his small arms and the remainder of his sleeves in his lap.

"Yeah, eheh...though part of it was because I fell asleep again...I would've been a goner too if this older girl hadn't saved me though."

"A woman? Do you know who it was?" asked Tanjirō, who had a slight suspicion as to who it could have been.

"Somebody with this...butterfly haori…"

"Oh! I know her! She's-"

"Insect Hashira, Kochō Shinobu~"

Tanjirō's eyes widened and he saw up quickly, turning around and almost smacking Zenitsu in the head with Nezuko's box to see Shinobu had appeared in the doorway with a warm smile on her face. Her shoeless feet inside of her socks were quiet as she walked across the room to them, maintaining her smile as she stopped next to Tanjirō.

Tanjirō blinked a few times, remembering that she was actually shorter than him, before he too smiled at her return from the Hashira meeting. Zenitsu blushed at her and Inosuke made no attempt at contact whatsoever, preferring to remain utterly silent in his bed.

"We never got to properly introduce ourselves, didn't we, Tanjirō-kun?" she said, Tanjirō shaking himself out of his momentary trance and nodding. "Especially with the meeting, after all."

"Y-Yeah...and with me fainting on you at Natagumo Mountain…"

"Don't worry about that, there was no harm with it. Was it because you exhausted yourself while fighting that Kizuki Oyakata-sama mentioned you had defeated?"

He nodded his head while smiling, Shinobu's hands coming together and clapping a few times while she congratulated him on killing such a strong demon. Zenitsu was still stuck in his trance before they started talking about him, with Shinobu confirming she had been the one to save him from the poison, but only because Zenitsu had used his breathing to slow the poison's spread long enough for her to reach him before it was too late.

Zenitsu bashfully tried to push off the praise from the pair while blushing still, with Tanjirō reiterating it again to get him to accept it. It wasn't long until they could hear Inosuke's light snores, and right after they did, Zenitsu too fell asleep and snored loudly with his small arms curled up close to his chest.

"You were all exhausted from Natagumo Mountain...to have defeated or fought against such powerful opponents as Mizunoto...it's remarkable." said Shinobu with a softer smile, keeping her voice low so as to not disturb them.

She couldn't help but see the two of them in the same way she had looked at Tanjirō when he had fallen asleep from exhaustion during their first meeting, onto it wasn't as embarrassing for her since they hadn't fallen onto her chest.

"Yeah...even with being a demon...I wasn't sure if Nezuko and I could beat Rui…"

"Rui?"

"Ah, yeah, that's the name of the Kizuki we defeated...if I remember correctly...he had a tattoo on his eye of a Kanji. It read 'Lower Moon Five'.

Shinobu was actually a little surprised by how fondly he remembered the demon, even going so far as to refer to them by name, which made her far more intrigued about him. It reminded her of why she had wanted to return to her home quickly after the meeting had ended.

It had been fairly brief, and it had taken place inside of their usual meeting room inside of the Master's home behind closed doors. Tanjirō had been mentioned, of course, but the priority of course had been on what really mattered…the Corps and Muzan Kibutsuji.

The room had been darkened since all doors and lights had been close and extinguished, save for the two lamps that were set up in front of the Master to his right and left. The two girls who acted as his eyes were sitting next to him at his sides, while the nine Hashira were assembled before him.

Several of the Hashira, Shinobu included, had set down their weapons onto the floor of the room as a show of respect for being in the Master's presence, with only Tengen keeping his on his back considering their size.

"Just as you've all reported, the demons' carnage has increased more than ever." started the Master, his smile fading a little. "Meaning that the threat to human life is greater than it's ever been. We'll have to bolster the ranks of the Demon Slayers. What do you all think?"

"The incident on Natagumo Mountain made it crystal clear. The caliber of Demon Slayers has nose-dived to unbelievable levels. Most of them are useless. The curators must be blind…" spoke up Sanemi, who glanced off to the side near the end of his sentence. He clearly wasn't happy with what he said, but it was the truth, and everybody in the room knew it. "You'd think they could at least tell if someone's competent or not."

"Well, that kid today sure seemed competent. Some of it could be because he's a demon, but still." Tengen added, lifting up his chin slightly with his hand. The beads hanging from his head dress jingled a little from the moment, his lips curling up into a grin. "He did land that flamboyant blow on you, Shinazugawa, with a Blood Demon Art to boot. He's got more than enough potential."

"Tch…"

"The more the human population increases, the harder it becomes to control and unify them. Not to mention that the times have changed considerably in this era."

Shinobu's own smile grew smaller when she spoke, her gaze lowering down somewhat. She wished now more than ever for somebody to take up the torch to try and figure out some kind of way for humans and demons to coexist, because if things only continued to get worse from there, it could prove to be too much of an impossible task already for any one person to accomplish.

"Other than those who've had their loved ones brutally massacred, and joined the Corps, or those of distinguished pedigree who have hunted demons for generations," continued Gyōmei while crying and gripping his prayer beads firmly in his left hand. "to ask anyone to harness as much, or even greater resolve and drive to produce results would be cruel."

"Still, considering that boy ran into a Kizuki so soon after joining the Corps...he may have the power to draw them! Mmn! Even we rarely get the chance to confront one! It makes me envious!"

"Agreed. But the fact that Lower Moon Five made such a drastic move probably means that Kibutsuji is nowhere near Natagumo Mountain." replied the Master once Kyōjurō had finished speaking, nodding his head as well. "After all, as is in the case of Asakusa, whenever Muzan wishes to hide something, he creates a clever diversion to throw us off. It really is...quite frustrating."

The Master's hands balled up a tiny bit on his lap before he raised his head up to look in the direction of the nine Hashira, imagining them with their eyes firmly planted on him. It gave him quite the determined feeling in his chest, as if he wasn't some sickly man who was powerless.

"But those demons are still freely devouring humans, gaining strength and surviving. For the sake of those who have died, there is only one thing for us to do. I believe that among you Hashiras who are present today, I've assembled the finest unit since the first breathing swordsmen of the feudal era."

Once again, like earlier, the Master then named each and every Hashira one by one by their full names, before he told them all that he was looking forward to the success that they would bring. With that, their meeting came to an ending, and as such, the memory for Shinobu ended too.

"Tanjirō-kun, why don't I take you to the room you and your sister could share, so you can leave your clothes there and change into more comfortable ones that aren't tattered?" asked Shinobu with a light giggle, one of her fingers poking through a tear in his sleeve as she tugged on it lightly. "I'm sure you'd like that, along with a bath as well."

"A-Ah! Yeah! I'd like that a lot actually!" he said, blushing a tiny bit when quickly lifted his arm up and grimaced. "A bath especially…"

Shinobu giggled as she motioned for him to follow her out of the room, before closing the door behind them and walking Tanjirō through the huge mansion from the hospital and general care area to the residential side. The decorations drastically improved as they went from one half to the other, with Tanjirō looking around in awe of the beautiful potted plants that adorned some of the hallways, as well as paintings and images of flowers and butterflies.

He could imagine Shinobu growing up here when she was small with her older sister and her parents, if this was where they lived originally, which he quickly thought against since this was the Demon Slayer Corps HQ. This mansion had to be built a long time before Shinobu ever took up residency in it, or the living half was an addition that was tacked onto the hospital.

After getting enough of his surroundings in, he returned his gaze to Shinobu and looked down at her feet, marvelling at how she could walk across the wood plank flooring without making barely a sound. He had to guess it was because of her petite size, but it could just be the way she walked too.

"I can feel you watching me you know, Tanjirō-kun~" she said out of nowhere, glancing back at him with another one of her giggles. Tanjirō's eyes widened and he quickly took his eyes off her, instead watching as some floral designed pots went by during their walk, causing Shinobu to giggle again and turn back around. "He's so innocent...it really does seem like being a demon isn't stopping him from being himself. It's actually rather adorable~"

They arrived at the guest rooms and Shinobu led Tanjirō inside one of them, the room being small with a single bed and a spare futon underneath the metal bed frame. There were white curtains pulled aside to show the outside, and a bookshelf with three storage cabinets built into the base to the left of it. A small desk was there next to the bookshelf, and for sitting at the desk was a small little stool with a white cushion on top.

"You can share this room with your sister, you could let her have the futon, or-"

"I'll let her sleep in the bed, I don't mind using the futon. She needs it more than me anyways." Tanjirō said, accidentally cutting off Shinobu as he went to the curtains and drew them shut. Shinobu blinked at the interruption, but smiled nonetheless at him willingly giving up the more comfortable option of the two for his sister.

"I'll have Aoi bring you a spare change of clothes, and she can lead you to my office to talk, okay?"

"To talk?"

"Well, we never really got anywhere at Natagumo Mountain, didn't we?"

Tanjirō blinked a couple more times as he was taking off Nezuko's box and glanced at Shinobu, a light little blush appearing as she waved and left the room by closing the door. He picked up a whiff of another strong, familiar scent coming from her and frowned a tiny bit before he returned his attention to Nezuko's box.

He set it down on the floor next to the bed and pulled out the futon and the pillow and blanket that came with it, before sitting on it and facing himself towards the box. When he said it was all clear, the door slowly opened and the small Nezuko crawled out from its confines, soon returning to her original size as she went up to him and rested her head on his lap.

"It's only the morning and we've already had a tough day, haven't we…" Tanjirō said softly while he stroked his sister's hair, Nezuko closing her eyes and making a muffled sound of content. "Are you going to end up not liking Shinazugawa-san after what he did…?"

"Mmmn…" Nezuko said before slowly shaking her head. "Mmn…"

"Honestly...it was sort of understandable...I got angry because of how he was mistreating you, since you're my sister...it's...it might take me some time."

"Mmmh…"

Tanjirō continued to gently stroke her hair before he sighed a little bit and looked up at the ceiling, the scene of Nezuko strung up in the air by Rui's threads briefly flashing in his mind when he did.

"We really got roughed up on Natagumo Mountain, didn't we...but we made it through."

"Mhm…" she replied with a tiny head nod.

"Who would've guessed that not only you, but Urokodaki-sensei and Tomioka-san as well...they're all risking their lives for us. They're all taking care of us…" he said, stopping his head rubbing to just rest his hand on top of Nezuko's head to feel it rise slowly up and down whenever she took a breath. Being able to relax with her like this after the harrowing experience that he had with the Hashira, it was definitely enabling him to relieve himself of some built up stress. "Kochō-san seems really nice too...even though...ahh, I won't think about that too much. Right now, I have something more important I need to focus on...getting stronger."

Tanjirō closed his eyes and lowered his head back down from looking up at the ceiling, thinking back to earlier when the Master had more or less saved their lives just by speaking to the Hashira. Even when he didn't appear to have any powers or abilities that separated him from the Hashira, and he seemed to be afflicted with a sickness, he still held considerable weight over them. It was awe-inspiring, and mysterious at the same time.

His voice was his most incredible tool, as well as the most peculiar. Just listening to the Master speak caused Tanjirō to feel light headed, as if he were floating on cloud nine. What kind of person was the Master? And what kind of life events had led him to becoming the head of the Demon Slayer Corps?

Tanjirō then opened his eyes when he heard a light snore come from his lap and he looked down, smiling softly at Nezuko, who had fallen asleep while resting her head in his lap. He remembered how sleep-deprived she was, and he honestly wished that he could fall asleep right then too, but he had a meeting with Shinobu that he didn't want to skip out on.

Not wanting to disturb her, Tanjirō carefully scooped up Nezuko and rested her on the bed with her head on the pillow. He pulled the covers up to her chin and made sure they were in the right place before leaning back, his hand rubbing her head one last time before he would let her rest.

Knocks were heard on the door and he turned around, walking over to it and opening it to see Aoi standing outside with a change of clothes for him to wear.

"Here. Kochō-sama told me to drop these off for you. She said if you wanted to come visit her, and then take your bath and change later you could." said Aoi as she handed over the clothes to Tanjirō, who took them graciously. "If you want to meet with her first, you can follow me."

"Ah, okay. That sounds fine to me. Just give me a moment, okay?"

"Sure, sure."

Aoi waited as Tanjirō walked back into his room and went over to the desk, the door swinging inward a little bit to give her a glimpse of the open box on the floor and the sleeping Nezuko in bed. Her eyes widened when she put two and two together, guessing the girl had been inside of the box, and looked at Tanjirō as he started walking back towards her.

"Is that…"

"Huh?"

Tanjirō glanced back at Nezuko by following Aoi's line of sight, and he laughed a little while nodding. "Yeah, it's my little sister. She got turned into a demon too...I'm trying to figure out a way for her to get cured."

"You want to try and cure her? From being a demon?" Aoi asked when they left his room behind once Tanjirō had closed the door. "What about you?"

"My focus is on my sister first. Once she's cured, then I'll worry about myself. Thank you for your concern though, Aoi-san."

Tanjirō's warm smile struck Aoi a little bit differently than ones she had seen before and she paused for a little bit, her frown actually softening, before she blinked and returned to normal. She shrugged, seemingly accepting his answer, and led Tanjirō back across the Butterfly Mansion to the hospital facility portion, where she dropped him off at a door with an opaque glass window. With a farewell she left him, Tanjirō waving and saying goodbye to her as well before he looked back at the door and raised his hand up to knock.

Once he knocked, Shinobu's voice from inside told him to enter since the door was unlocked, and he opened it inward to go in. The office was like that of a doctor's or general care physician's mixed with an researcher of animals and insects, considering the walls held some boxes containing pinned samples of different bug species, including butterflies, as well as some pictures of more flowers. Stacked on some bookshelves and tables were scientific equipment Tanjirō had little hope of understanding how they worked, as well as books and other materials needed for research and care.

There was also a patient's examination table set up against one wall that could allow for personal check-ups by Shinobu, if they were needed, which Tanjirō could assume was only for the most drastic of cases that needed her direct attention.

"Come in, Tanjirō-kun, sit down~" spoke Shinobu from one corner of the room as she hung up her haori on a wall hook, turning around afterwards to give him one of her sweet smiles.

"It never ceases to amaze me how often she smiles...it makes me wonder why I always smell-"

"So, you decided to come talk before you cleaned yourself up?"

"Ah, well, I can always do that later, if you're allowing me to stay here that is…"

"I gave you and your sister a room, right? I think that could count as me allowing you to live here in my home for the time being, while your friends heal up." Shinobu said with a soft giggle, Tanjirō's cheeks turning slightly red before he laughed off the embarrassment.

"T-Thank you then! But, um...mmn, I was thinking of doing some training after this. I wouldn't know where to go though, plus it seems like there's wisteria trees dotting the whole compound..."

Shinobu nodded her head and sat down on a rolling stool that she used as a seat, motioning for Tanjirō to sit on another one in front of her. Once he did, she crossed one of her legs over the other and rested her hands in her lap, her uniform hugging her legs a tiny bit when she did.

"Mmn, that's right...you can't really stand wisteria flowers since you're a demon. But that's okay, my home has a training area for you to use!"

"Oh, good!" exclaimed Tanjirō enthusiastically. "I'll be sure to make good use of it, Kochō-san."

"You can call me by my first name if you'd like, Tanjirō-kun."

"Eh?"

Tanjirō was caught off guard by Shinobu suggesting that he use her first name, it being something he didn't expect to do considering the vast differences present in their experience and position within the Corps. He was just a Mizunoto, and she was one of the Hashira, the virtual pillars of the entire organization.

He felt as though it would be Giyū that would be the first Hashira that he could speak more informally to, since he had met him the most number of times among them. Seeing Shinobu's smile though changed that idea, its warmth enabling him to push that thought aside and smile back a little while rubbing his neck.

"Well, okay then...Shinobu-san." he replied, Shinobu closing her eyes in a happier smile as she clapped her hands together as well. "So...what was it that you wanted to talk about?"

"Well, it's not necessarily new information, per say. I was wanting to personally hear what you were wanting to tell me back on the mountain. I got a little glimpse of it earlier, but with everything going on...I figured that it'd be hard for you to talk about it. Especially with Shinazugawa-san being so...brutish."

"Yeah...don't worry about me too much, I'll be fine. Thank you for your concern though."

"How is your sister doing? Nezuko was her name, right?"

"Mhm! She's doing just fine, she's sleeping right now in the room you gave us. After Natagumo Mountain and this morning, she's completely sleep-deprived. She might have to sleep the whole duration of our stay here in order to regain her energy."

Shinobu felt a light bulb go off in the back of her mind at the tidbit of information, and she used that to springboard their conversation in the direction of wanting to find out more about the siblings.

After asking if it was okay for her to ask for these things from him, Tanjirō told her that it was fine by him, so she did. What she heard from him did not fail to satisfy her curiosity, in fact, it did much more than that. From the sincerity in his hinds and the meaning that was behind his words, she found herself unable to doubt anything that he told her. She could even feel her own heart ache for Tanjirō and the suffering that he's gone through, something that she could relate to far more than he might know.

To come home the next day after leaving for town, only to find your entire family slaughtered within their home and his younger sister outside clutching the body of another sibling, only to find out soon after that she had been turned into a demon, it was heartbreaking. The part about Giyū came as a surprise to her, but she was glad to hear that he had been able to successfully learn Water Breathing from Urokodaki, a cultivator whom she had heard was among the best and most caring for his students. She could understand even more than before too about how much the old curator cared for Tanjirō, considering the letter she remembered being read during the meeting.

"That's...more or less how I got here...but I have something far more important to tell you, Shinobu-san!" exclaimed Tanjirō suddenly, Shinobu jumping a tiny bit at how excited he had become so quickly. "I did it!"

"You did what exactly?" she asked, her eyebrow rising up in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"On Natagumo Mountain, when Inosuke and I entered the forest, we encountered one of the demons under Rui, the Kizuki's, leadership. We were able to discover her location and Inosuke flung me over the trees to her, and I had the chance to decapitate her, but I didn't. I couldn't bring myself to."

"You didn't? Why? What happened?"

"I was about to, you see, but...when I saw her willingly reach out to me to end her life, that's when I knew I had to try it. To try what you said, back when we talked at the Wisteria home...and it worked! It really worked!"

Shinobu covered her mouth and gasped, her eyes widening, when Tanjirō began to tell her of his encounter with the Spider Mother demon in the forest, and how he was able to convince her to give up her efforts and to accept defeat. Instead of decapitation however, Tanjirō had been able to get a convincing apology out of the demon, as well as a promise that she wouldn't hurt any more humans while on her way to the people he had refrained from telling Shinobu about.

The important thing was though that he had managed to get through to one demon, one demon who desired to break the barrier between humans and demons in order to seek peace. And it was all because Tanjirō had heard and taken to heart what Shinobu had told him that night after having a few too many cups of sake while she was relaxing. At that very moment, it seemed as though an image of her older sister was standing there next to Tanjirō with her hand resting gently on his shoulder. For that brief little moment, all of the feelings and emotions that she held toward demons were pushed aside by a warm, delightful hope. A hope that she hadn't felt as much as when as her sister was around.

"Isn't that amazing, Shinobu-san? It really is possible, I'm sure of it!" said Tanjirō excitedly while smiling, his eyes being closed for it, before he eventually opened them when he didn't hear Shinobu respond at first. "Shinobu-san?"

"Ah, sorry...that's really wonderful news, Tanjirō-kun!" Shinobu finally said, managing to recover herself in a moment's notice after seeing the vision of her sister, her smile reciprocating Tanjirō's own happiness. "That makes me so happy to hear, my sister would be overjoyed to hear you say that."

"I hope that I can find more like her, because I really do think it's possible...just look at me and my sister. If we can handle what Shinazugawa-san could throw at us, then we can do anything!"

Tanjirō's smile and optimism was infectious enough to get Shinobu to smile more as well, with her own belief in her sister's dream suddenly becoming more lively and ignited than before. She clapped her hands together again and continued to smile as Tanjirō told her about the rest of his experience on Natagumo Mountain, giving her a rather in-depth explanation of his battle with Rui since it was where he showcased his Blood Demon Art against the Kizuki.

When she asked about it, he pulled back his arm sleeve and showed her what he was able to do with it, though only with his hand since he still felt less than fully rested and didn't have the strength to do more. Shinobu was fascinated by the blood-based technique, even testing it herself at Tanjirō's request by prodding and even lightly stabbing his hand with one of her medical scalpels in the room, to no effect whatsoever.

She was further astounded when Tanjirō told her about Nezuko's own Blood Demon Art, which like his was blood-based like his, only her's allowed her to combust into flames that allowed him to deliver the finishing blow to Rui.

"What still amazes me is that Nezuko and I were able to do these things without ever devouring a single human...we conserve all of our energy by sleeping." Tanjirō said, finishing up his story as he rested his hands in his lap. "For Nezuko, those two years I trained with Urokodaki-sensei, she was asleep the whole time."

"Your sister slept for two whole years?" asked a surprised Shinobu. "Without waking up once?"

"Without waking up once. It got worrisome, but I held on to the hope that she'd eventually wake up, and she did actually on the day I came back from Final Selection!"

"How wonderful~ I'm sure you were happy to see her awake again after so long."

"Yeah, I was!"

Tanjirō and Shinobu shared a laugh with one another, before she stood up and wiped her pants down a tad bit while motioning to the door for him. She felt as though that was enough for her, and she didn't want to deprive him of any time that he wanted to train.

With a farewell she shooed him out of her office so she could get some of her own work done, only sighing once he was outside and she had her back against the door.

"He was really able to do it, Onee-san...he's living proof...if only you were here to see this…if only..." she thought, cupping her hand over her eyes a little while walking back over to her stool and sitting down.

She sat there silently with her hand cupping her face for a minute or so, before she brought up her other hand and gripped the sides of her head tightly when her hands began to quiver. The anger she kept locked away behind her sweet smile reared its ugly head, and her eyes peeked out between her fingers.

Again she remembered the reason behind why she was here, doing what she was doing. She remembered the tears and the suffering that he had put her through because of what he had done, who he had taken away from her. Veins bulged out from the sides of her face as she remembered his face, the empty smile he had plastered on his ugly face after his sister had been cut down once and for all by him. How angry she became from not being able to protect her sister, and the vengeance she swore.

Shinobu eventually pulled her face free and she stood up, walking over to the table and counter that held several vials and beakers in a wooden storage box, each one containing a light purple concoction.

"I need more...I need more to ensure he dies…" she thought while picking one of the vials and uncorking it. She lifted her lips only slightly as she held the vial up to her lips, the scent of wisteria filling her nostrils briefly, before she grabbed a syringe and dipped the needle into the liquid. Pulling on the plunger she sucked up all of the mixture, down to the last drop, and then rolled up her sleeve while holding the glass syringe in her teeth.

Skillfully preparing herself for an injection she relaxed her arm and located the vein in her arm, before she grabbed the syringe again and pressed the needle against her skin and pierced into herself. Gritting her teeth, her anger drove her to inject every single last drop of the stuff into her bloodstream.

Unbeknownst to her, Tanjirō was still outside of her office with a worried expression on his face, since even during his talk with her, despite showing genuine happiness at several things that he had said, he was still able to smell that pungent, strong odor Shinobu was capable of releasing without knowing.

"Shinobu-san...is there something that you're trying to hide from me…? Why are you so angry all the time? Is it because of your sister…? Or something beyond that…?"

He held a hand up, thinking about knocking and talking with her again to get to the bottom of it, but after second thought, he lowered his head again and shook his head. It wasn't respectful to her if he started pressing her for something she might not want to talk about, so he'd let it lie for the time being.

Tanjirō turned and went to find Aoi so that she could show him where he could work on training, until he stopped dead in his tracks and remembered something that'd be exceptionally important to him if he wanted to train more.

"Gyaaaagh! I just remembered my sword got cut in half!"

A/N Finally a chill chapter without somebody getting attacked or stabbed, amirite? XD Plus we finally got some proper interaction between Shinobu and Tanjirooo :3 Can't wait to write the rooftop scene though, going to have fun with that!

Anyways, little announcement on my part. Sad news guys, College starts tomorrow for me. Thankfully, it will hopefully not be *that* much of effort for me, but I'll say this now, the school I go too can easily swamp me with work, so there could be some times where uploading here will slow. That doesn't mean I will abandon this story though, not after Im having this much fun! I have biiiiiiig plans coming up my guys, biiiiig plans. If you thought we'd be following the same rails as the manga, with my own flair on it, you were wrong~ It's going to get reaaally good here shortly. Anywho, that's all from me!

I'd like to thank all of you for reading this latest chapter of my story! Please leave a favorite and a follow if you havn't already, and please leave a review telling me what you think too! Just be kind and constructive if you have any criticisms too, that's all I ask for. :) Idk why anyone would hate on me though #NotBiasedTowardsMyself XD. See you next time peeps!