Summary: Sanemi sees some ghost, Giyuu and Zenitsu get zapped, and Muichiro and Solovonov have a friendly philosophical discussion over tea... and by friendly discussion; I mean brutal beat down, and by tea, I mean brutal, spirit-breaking beat down, my fics tend to be angsty folks, this ain't no different. (Oh, and another demon has a sad backstory)

Where am I? Sanemi found himself lying on his face, regaining consciousness, or… at least that's what it felt like, he wasn't on the ship anymore. He was just… surrounded by white... Whiteness all around.

"Shit," he said to himself as it dawned on him. "I'm still unconscious..."

"Nemi..."

Sanemi bolted up and saw Genya sitting before him.

He immediately squeezed his eyes shut and clasped his head! "You ain't real! Fuck off!"

Then he felt his younger brother's hand on his shaking back, "Aniki" he heard him say softly, "Your not in the demon's curse anymore, its me."

Sanemi opened his eyes and looked to Genya, his face was how it normally was, it wasn't deformed or contorted, it wasn't the face of a demon, it was the face of his brother…

Sanemi took several deep breaths, as he took in his surroundings, bracing himself for the nightmare to begin, but it didn't, Genya just sat there waiting for him to catch his breath.

"So if you're real..." Sanemi began, "then I must be…! Genya shook his head.

"You're still alive Aniki, and you have to stay that way for a long time"

His response was a nervous, self-mocking laugh. "So I'm seeing a ghost then? What am I supposed to do huh? Im gonna die at age 25 anyways"

Genya shook his head again. "No your not Aniki," you're the last of our family, your the last one who remembers us the way we were, don't die Aniki, and don't lose hope either…

Sanemi gritted his teeth, "can you tell me something other then that cliche bullshit!" he shouted angrily, "What the fuck am I supposed to think now!? now that im seeing my kid brother's fucking ghost!? What the fuck am I supposed to do!? Everyone else was killed, I had to kill our own mother! And then you went and died because you couldn't fucking listen to me! So now what am I supposed to do!? Huh! Can you answer that Genya!"

Sanemi's breathing became heavier as he stared angrily at the face of his dead brother, his face felt hot. Was that anger too? But before he knew it, Genya's image became blurred, his intense anger was losing out, and before he knew it, it had been washed away by grief and sadness.

"Fuck me!" was all he could say as he hung his head, and the tears began to spill out… out of his control.

"Damnit! Damnit! Damnit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shi!" he cursed miserably as he lost the battle for control and was now bawling in front of his kid brother. "FUCK YOU STUHAC!" he cried, "FUCK YOU FOR SHOWIN ME THIS! AGGGGHHHH!"

He grabbed at his hair in his hands, ripping and pulling at it! Jerking his head from side to side as strands of white hair fell to the ground.

"Aniki" he heard Genya say again, "You think you've lost everything, but your wrong!"

"GET OUT OF MY HEEEAAADDDD!" Sanemi roared, rearing his head up again, before falling forward again, all the way forward, until he felt his head hit the deck.

He was back on the ship… alone… Tomioka and Agatsuma must have left him there. His body began to quiver, hot tears began to flow down his cheeks again.

"Genya..." he whimpered, "the fuck am I supposed to do?"

"What am I supposed to do? Have I ever done something as pathetic as this before? Haven't I always soldered on?... Shit… why the fuck am I feeling sorry for myself now?..."

It was easy enough to think it, but his body was tired, his mind was tired, he had never once in his life looked back, that was the secret to his strength, and now… Solovonov had forced him to do it, he forced his face in that direction.

"Was I really… this pathetic all along?"

He thought of Tanjiro again, that brat had also lost his family, he still had his sister, but what gives? How did that kid maintain that annoying fucking smile of his?

"Hehehe, Im worse than fucking Tanjiro"

He slowly began to get up, the fight had been taken out of him, but as he began to wake, he began to hear it… in the direction of the main deck, a child crying… it was a cry he had heard before.

"Muichiro?"

"You think you've lost everything, but your wrong!"

Sanemi's eyes snapped open. "The fuck was I doing just now!?" he grabbed the handle of his sword and bolted towards the main deck.

"Im gonna fucking kill him! That Russian bastard!"

"A red Nichirin sword? Interesting." Remarked Solovonov, his arms crossed, holding the swords of Giyuu and Zenitsu. Simultaneously the two Slayers slashed their swords out of the Demon's grip, and Stuhac let go right before he would have lost his fingers.

"Breath of water, 10th form: Constant flux!"

"Breath of Thunder, Thunderclap and flash: tenfold!"

Zenitsu and Giyuu charged forward, the demon retreated backward, releasing a stream of lightning to counter it.

"Ack!" Zenitsu grunted as he went down, the thunder breather convulsed as lightning crawled throughout his body, and he cursed the cruel irony.

"Zenitsu!" Muichiro called out. He and Yushiro both looked at the dire scene, Zenitsu had been taken out of the fight already, and Inosuke lay bleeding, in critical condition.

But Giyuu was still fighting, no matter how many times Stuhac's lightning hit him, the man would not go down. He had lifted up his left hand to send another attack, right after having it cut by Zenitsu, but it would not heal… Zenitsu's Nichirin blade had now too, turned red!

"BLYAT!" shrieked Stuhac as his left hand fell off, and Giyuu still pressed him, cutting him, and not going down no matter how many volts of electricity were sent through him. Solovonov's back was pressed against the Ship's superstructure.

Giyuu stood poised to finish him off. "This… is for..." he huffed, and began to hunch over… "Urokodaki… San..." he could not finish his attack, the human body could only withstand so much voltage, and Giyuu, having pushed through enough to kill a normal man many times over, collapsed.

Solovonov's mocking smile was gone. He looked down at the defeated water pillar.

"Krasavchik" He exclaimed, "our fight was brief but you've sincerely impressed me" He brought his remaining hand over the bleeding cuts on his upper chest and shoulders, "Urokodaki should be proud of you, I can't even bring myself to attack you while you lay down, Tomioka Giyuu… but you on the other hand..." He now said looking across the deck at a terrified Muichiro. "You I respect a lot less, tell me, why did you have such an undignified reaction to being turned into a demon again? Do you really think that our existence… Is that disgusting?"

"Oi, Tokito," Yushiro tried to prompt him, but Muichiro stood up, and looked right back at Solovonov. His eyes were still wet with tears, but they were not as helpless as they had been earlier, he stared back at the demon with anger and resolution, even greater than his fear had been.

"Solovolov, no, Stuhac… Do you remember who you were before you became a demon?" He asked.

"Sure I do, I was called Leonid Petrovich back then, why?"

"What do you remember other then that?" asked Muichiro.

"Everything" the demon said, "I became a demon willingly, life as a human was pretty hard ya'know."

"No… what I meant was, do you remember who you really were back when you were a human?"

"What do you mean?" Stuhac was becoming agitated, something about that boy's words… what was it, why was he thinking back to that moment?

"Leon, you are covered in mud"

Why was he now remembering Her!?

Back when he was human, many years ago, he remembered… he remembered being that weird kid, he remembered the other boys not wanting to play with him, he remembered… everything.

He remembered his family's move to Siberia, he remembered the terrifying tales of Baba Yaga, he remembered his fear of water, and fearing the massive lake by which his family settled… so wide, so deep, so full of the unknown…

"Leon, you are covered in mud!" She had exclaimed, when the boy came home one day after being partially buried in it by a group of his schoolmates who were tired of him following them around trying to join in their games.

She wiped away a tear that had escaped his eyes, and then ran him a warm bath, he must have been seven or eight years old when that happened, her smooth dark hair, her small soft hands, her knowing eyes, and that smile that seemed to say without speaking that everything was going to be all right. She was Nadia Phillipovna, she was his governess, she was his friend, and it was at that moment that he realized he loved her, that distant memory, 13 or 14 years before he became a demon…

"Le...on…" she had called out to him weakly, raising up to him a small bloody hand, her blood flowing into the white Siberian snow, under that full moon, while a storm raging from lake Baikal the howling is drowning out her please for mercy.

He just looked down at her, his cold blue eyes meeting hers, there would be no mercy, he was not that child anymore, he was not even a human anymore, and the snapping of her bones as he ate her body that night… he remembered more than any other human he had killed.

Baba Yaga was real, she was the demon of the North, and he, her upper Moon… and now she was gone, he had devoured her too, he had conquered the Sun, he was the last one left, he was no longer Leon, no longer Leonid Solovonov… now he was Stuhac, now he was moving up in the world of the Demons, but where was he in his old world?...

"What the hell do you mean little child?" Stuhac seethed at Muichiro, he knew exactly what the boy meant.

Muichiro's fists shook, he thought back to Kokushibo, a once honorable Samurai butchering his own descendent, about his own brief time as a demon, and the horrible things that went through his head and still haunted him, he thought those painful years he spent living in late brother's shadow, while not even remembering who his brother was.

"You… you weren't always the way you are now! You may have your memories as a human, and you gained incredible power from becoming a demon, but nothing is gained without sacrificing something first, Solovonov, you've had to sacrifice something extremely important to you, haven't you!?"

Solovonov clenched his teeth.

"I..." Muichiro's fists trembled, but he did not falter, "I spent three years living as someone else! Three years feeling like I was living under water! Three years I felt like I was drowning! I knew that wasn't who I wanted to be, Y- Yui did not want me to be like that either..." He said a little more quietly. "I know who I am now, I'm able to be sad, I'm able to be happy, I..." He ceased his shaking, and looked the demon straight in the eye. "You may be fine living as someone who isn't you but I'm not! I will not lose what you have lost Solovonov! I'll never become like you or like my ancestors who became a demon! I am me! And I won't let you turn me into a demon! Even if Yushiro-San can cure me, I'm not taking that chance! I won't let you take what you want! And I won't lose my free will! You can't take that from me!"

He drew his sword and held it out in front of him in a defensive stance.

Solovonov felt his eyes twitch, he felt his fingers twitch..

"You're saying?... That I don't have free will? That I am not free? That I am not in control?" he asked Muichiro. "Are you saying that that is what it means to be a demon? Do be a thrall?"

His words were heavy… they were filled with a rage that gave Muichiro goosebumps, and then… Stuhac vanished.

Muichiro saw him move! He swung his sword to intercept the demon's attack, but Stuhac was still too fast! His remaining hand went under Muichiro's guard and hit his left side like a hammer, he winced in pain, but before he could even brace himself for the next blow, he felt the wind knocked out of him, as a kick to the stomach sent him flying across the deck of the ship! His legs hit the edge of the rail, and he was thrown overboard!

For a split second, he saw himself falling into the sea and drowning, but a nimble hand had caught him by his hair, Stuhac was now holding him painfully by his long hair and dangling him over the edge of the deck.

"Have you had enough embarrassment for one night? Why don't you say what you said again!? Say that ive sacrificed my free will!"

Stuhac threw his body back onto the deck, Muichiro immediately sprang back to his feet, but Stuhac was now behind him, he grabbed the back of Muichiro's head and slammed him face-first into the deck of the ship.

"Your so weak, I really think you would be better off becoming a demon, don't you agree."

"I already told you..." the Mist Pillar responded, "I'm not letting that happen!" The point of Muichiro's sword ripped through the fabric of his loose uniform, right under the left arm pit. Stuhac jumped back as soon as he noticed, but he still felt the point of a red Nichirin blade on his left eye!

Muichiro stood back up and faced him once more, sword held out in front of him, and the Slayer's mark on his face.

"Oh yeah, that's right..." Stuhac said, clutching his bleeding eye, "you already said that you would rather me kill you, didn't you?"

Stuhac vanished again! Muichiro prepared to counterattack, but the demon grabbed the tip of his sword and send another electric current through the mist pillar's body.

Muichiro struggled to maintain control, but he was lifted up and slammed on to the deck! He didn't know how long he lay there, once again pain was making him lose track of time, he coughed desperately as he tried to regain his breath and get back up to his feet, He was on his hands pushing himself off the ground when a kick to the ribs sent him flying across the deck again, right into the arms of Yushiro.

"Oi! Tokito! Get it together!" Yushiro looked down at the pillar in his arms, every muscle on his face was clenched in pain what she was trying desperately to fight.

"M- My sword" he suddenly cried out in a panic, "where is it!?"

"You dropped this…" came a menacing voice. Stuhac had reappeared in front of them, holding Muichiro's Katana.

Yushiro jumped back just as the demon slashed at them! Had his cat like reflexes not been as good as they were, Stuhac would have sliced both him and Muichiro in half at that moment, but his left arm still went flying!

"Yushiro-San!" Muichiro screamed as he saw the damage Yushiro had just taken, still clinging to him desperately and not even realizing he was doing it, he realized that he was slowing Yushiro down right as Stuhac drop-kicked Yushiro in the throat!

Muichiro was thrown from the silver-haired demon and rolled across the deck, he looked up just in time to see Stuhac punning him there underfoot, holding up his Nichirin blade, which his beloved Tetsuido had designed for him, and plunged it into Yushiro's forehead!

Muichiro cried out to him, he tried to get up, but his body was broken, he fell back down every time… he dug his nails into the wooden deck, and once again lost the battle against his own tears, not only was he powerless before an enemy, but an enemy had once again, taken his sword! And now Yushiro was suffering because of him… because he was weak… because he was pathetic… because he never even deserved the title Hashira…

"I know that's not enough to kill you," Stuhac said to Yushiro, Stuhac then flexed his left arm, and his hand grew back almost instantly. "We are both demons after all, but I still need that Serum, and the little misty-boy over there has made clear that he doesn't want to be a demon, so why don't I just turn one of those guys?" He pointed to where Inosuke and Zenitsu lay, "You really are making this difficult for me Mr. Yushiro, so I am just gonna see what happens when I turn all of them… when I turn them… I'm sorry Yushiro, that kid's crying is really distracting!"

He jerked his head towards Muichiro in annoyance, but Muichiro didn't even seem to know what was happening around him anymore, he just wailed uncontrollably.

"Yui-Nii" he thought, as he continued to sob "I'm so stupid… I'm so weak… I'm so scared… If only… If only you were here… If only you had survived… You would never have let this happen to you… Yui… If only you had been the one… Instead of me..."

"YUIII!... eh," He looked up to see Stuhac grinning down Triumphantly at him.

"N- NO! Stay away from me!" he backed away across the deck, light-mint-green eyes staring up at the demon in utter terror, he didn't want Stuhac to hurt him anymore, he didn't want him to turn him into a demon…

Stuhac chuckled, "So is that the humanity I lost, little Tokito?... What about us demons having no free will? Where is your free will huh?" he leaned down putting his hands on his knees. "Where is your free will now? Is it your free will to sit there petrified? No, you want to kill me right? But you can't, you can't even take this sword back from me, so you don't have free will either, do you?, and just two minutes after you told me I couldn't take it from you, I took away your will to fight without even trying."

He reached began to reach out, Muichiro flinched and tried to escape, but Stuhac's cold hand was soon gripping his throat, and lifting him into the air…

"Your pathetic boy, I haven't even begun to show you true despair, you thought your Kibutsuji Muzan was bad? He was a pathetic demon who lived in constant fear of death! He may have been more powerful than I, but the fact that he retained such a stupid human emotion for 1,000 years is why he never conquered the sun, and besides me, there are at least two other demon kings who have conquered the sun! And they are both more terrifying then Muzan or myself! You think you know despair? Let me show you real despair!"

A fog began to form in the palm of his free hand, "Have you ever seen the fog form on the surface of lake Baikal? To most people, it was just a normal, natural phenomenon, but to me, as a boy, that fog was filled with so many mysteries… so much terror, I wonder what terrifying mysteries will find you!" he threw the fog into Muichiro's face.

His pupils constricted, he gasped, and began to scream!

"Now Muichiro, you need to let the adults speak here," Stuhac said Blithely, "go experience your terror somewhere else." and with that, he tossed Muichiro overboard.

"Now, where were we-" he began, but then out of the corner of his eye saw Yushiro running after the mist pillar! He was going to Jump in after him! Stuhac hurried to grab Yushiro and make sure that didn't happen, but he picked up another person charging towards him, or rather, he picked up his intense bloodlust! He had just barely managed to avoid getting cut with another red Nichirin blade by Jumping back! Yushiro had made it to the edge of the ship and jumped into the black waters.

-SPLASH!

-SPLASH!

Both Muichiro and Yushiro were now off the ship, and Stuhac stared down at his new opponent.

"I'm gonna… I'm gonna fucking kill you!" Shinazugawa Sanemi threatened, his rage manifesting into an unsettling grin.

Stuhac said nothing, he did not smile, he had just lost Yushiro, his one hope of getting his hands on that Serum! Even though the ship's engine had been stopped long ago, the anchor had not been dropped, he had no way of knowing how far or in which direction he would have drifted by the time he was able to go after them, this bastard standing in front of him… had just ruined his plans!

Stuhac was so angry, all he could do was stare, Sanemi was so angry, all he could do was laugh, and the atmosphere between the demon and demon slayer... reeked of blood...

Notes: Sorry for that corny metaphor at the end, wasn't sure how else to end this chapter.