To say a lot had happened since Tanjiro and Asuka had gotten together would be an understatement. Soon after they had confessed about their feelings towards one another, they announced their romantic relationship to the rest of the Butterfly Estate.

The reactions were varying from person to person. Nezuko was very happy that Tanjiro had found someone special, and someone that could help take care of him when she wasn't around. She was also quite ecstatic at the idea of becoming Asuka's younger sister in law. How much of that she managed to convey through the muffler, they don't know, but her feelings were true and both Tanjiro and Asuka knew it as well.

Zenitsu initially had a bit of an… absurd reaction towards the announcement (with many tears and screams), but eventually accepted it, and congratulated his friends. Inosuke's reaction was, well, one really couldn't even call it a reaction since he was more confused about the situation and how it all worked. They counted that as a congratulations from him though.

With all that out of the way, Asuka introduced herself to the rest of the household's members; at first, respectfully bowing to the Insect Hashira Shinobu Kochou, before introducing herself to Kanao, Aoi Kanzaki, Sumi, Kiyo and Naho. They all had various reactions to the fact that she was a shinobi from another time period and world, not to mention the relationship she had with Tanjiro. Nonetheless, it was nice seeing that the two had found love within one another.

Soon after, the brand new couple had been contacted by Yumi. She had informed them that System (the world merging God that had caused a situation of her own a while ago) had succeeded in finding a place where she could meet with the new friends she had made in the other worlds. The place was known as the Mid-World, which was a space in reality that would shape itself based on the memories of the inhabitants. Yumi invited the two of them to the reunion. While the transporting experience wasn't too odd, it was interesting meeting Yumi's boyfriend, Naoto Kurogane, who they got along with quite nicely. It went practically the same way when they were introduced to all of Yumi and Naoto's other friends from the different worlds. Like Naoto, they got along quite nicely with all of them.

After everyone had split up to explore the world, the four of them decided to go on a double date together. Tanjiro and Asuka had a wonderful time with Naoto and Yumi. At the end of the day, System gifted Tanjiro with a Keystone of his own, letting him come back to the Mid-World whenever he desired. However, both Tanjiro and Asuka realized what that meant. Thanks to Mid-World acting as a gateway to go to other worlds, Tanjiro and Asuka could visit each other whenever they wanted, in physical forms. But because of Tanjiro's injuries, the two of them both agreed that it would be better for Tanjiro to see her through his dreams, as he is still recovering from his injuries, and needed to go through the rehabilitation training. While he may be able to appear physically in Asuka's world, she doesn't want him to get hurt in the case of a Yoma appearing. He didn't disagree, since he really did need to recover from that battle against the spider demon family. At least, he would be able to still fight in his spiritual dream form if the situation called for it, since it wouldn't harm his actual body. As for Asuka herself, she decided that she will continue to visit Tanjiro through the dreams instead of physically. She believes that Yumi is the best person to hold onto their world's Keystone as she has had the most experience with this situation. It was given to her personally by System, after all. Besides, it was only logical since Yumi also had a boyfriend to visit that wasn't currently wounded.

And speaking of boyfriend, Tanjiro's wounds prevented him from taking Asuka out on dates in his own world (then again, he was pretty unsure if there was anything majorly interesting in his world for him and Asuka to see together), so they instead went on dates in Asuka's world (with Tanjiro in his spiritual dream form). Their first date had gone fairly swell, with them visiting an amusement park together. At first, both of them were unsure about going in a place with lots of people, but Yumi had told them that, to outsiders of the whole dimensional travel situation would see Tanjiro's clothing to fit in with the respective world, and any unfamiliar terms to be overheard as something that is commonly spoken in the world. Thanks to this, the two of them were able to have a wonderful true first date together (they didn't really count the double date, since Naoto and Yumi were there). Asuka was still surprised that, even though Tanjiro was mostly being awed by the modern marvels, he was still quite romantic. How? By simply being himself, and reminding her just why she had fallen in love with him.

As for training, Tanjiro still took the time to teach Asuka's teammates Total Concentration Breathing. Her friends had become more determined than ever to become stronger after witnessing the fight between him and Asuka against Rui. And to compensate for whenever he wasn't available, he would leave training notes from the time when he had trained under Urokodaki. As for Asuka herself, she had begun her next phase of training, trying to learn Constant Total Concentration Breathing, or Full Breathing, for simplicity's sake.

On the flip side, whenever she appeared in Tanjiro's world, she would encourage and cheer Tanjiro on during his Rehabilitation training (alongside Sumi, Kiyo and Naho). As the training went on, however, Tanjiro grew frustrated that he couldn't beat Kanao in the training. From what Asuka had observed about Kanao, the girl seemed fairly difficult to approach, constantly deciding things by flipping a coin (almost like a certain comic book villain she had seen in the bookstores, occasionally). It was hard for Asuka to get a read on her. Kanao was using a familiar technique that Asuka swore she had known about, but couldn't seem to recall. That was, until the little trio informed the two that Kanao is using Full Breathing, which they claimed that it would make all the difference in the world. With that new information in mind, Tanjiro and Asuka increase their training regimen to become far more tough in order for the two of them to catch up to her, making sure that they would both be constantly using Full Breathing at all times, even in their sleep. Though because of this, they weren't able to meet each other in the dreamscape due to how Tanjiro requested the trio to wake him up with physical force if he's not maintaining breathing (which happened many times for him, unfortunately). As for Asuka herself, she had created a small wooden mechanism that would sense her breathing. When breathing at a constant rate, nothing would happen. However, if the rate suddenly changes too abruptly, the mechanism would trigger and spill cold water on her face. Thankfully, she had found that the stress of being splashed with cold water in the middle of the night was a strong enough motivator to keep up the constant Full Breathing.

But one night, while Tanjiro was practicing the Full Breathing, he found himself pulled into the dreamscape. He was very confused at how he was in here, since he should have been semi-awake, with the girls watching him (he really hoped that he would keep up the Full Breathing in this state and not get hit if he doesn't keep it up). It was then that a vision appeared in front of him. He saw a younger Asuka, from the beginning of her time in training to become a shinobi. The vision went on to show Tanjiro more of Asuka's life, from her meeting her friends for the first time to the various missions they all took on together as a team.

He also, er, also saw how often that during battle, the girls' clothing were consistently torn up throughout their battles, either partially destroyed or completely gone, leaving nothing but their revealing undergarments or nothing at all. He respectfully turned away whenever it happened though (which was often), using his ears to guess what was happening instead.

Seeing everything, he realized that there was a reason that he was seeing Asuka's past, her own trials and her determination to never give up. He had concluded that he was seeing this because just like Asuka had seen his past, it was his turn to see hers; her true past.

Honestly, he felt a bit ashamed that he had engrossed himself training that, and that he should have learned more about the woman that he loved. He wanted to change it.

The next morning, he used the Keystone and travelled to his world to talk to her, since he couldn't wait for the dreamscape to bring him to her.

"Tanjiro?" She said, surprised at seeing him. "What are you doing here?"

"Asuka…" He said, taking a deep breath. "I saw your past in the dreamscape."

"You did?" Asuka asked, remembering how she herself had seen Tanjiro's training.

"Yeah and… I realized something." He said. "I've spent so much time focusing on my own training that I never really got the chance to learn more about you."

"Learn about me?" Asuka said, blinking.

"What kind of a boyfriend would I be if I wasn't spending time with the girl that I love?" He said, ashamed.

"Well, to be honest, I've started thinking the same thing." Asuka said, putting a hand behind her head. "I've also been focusing more on my training over our relationship."

But then she smiled at him.

"And yet, I couldn't be happier to have fallen in love with someone that cares about me as much as you do." She said. "Well, I do have a suggestion. Christmas is coming soon for me, and I need to shop for my friends. Would you… be interested in joining me?"

Tanjiro grinned and nodded. "Then that can work as another date for us!"

The two agreed that they would meet up together once again to shop. They were both excited for the day they'd spend together.

A few days later, Tanjiro visited Asuka's world in his dream form to go Christmas shopping with her. To their surprise, they ran into Naoto and Yumi who also had a similar idea to go Christmas shopping. They decided to go all together once more, first to the clothing area, where Asuka and Yumi tried out the clothes.

"Hmm… how do you think this one looks, Yumi?" Asuka asked in the changing room, showing off the back of the dress, which was mostly bare.

"It's a bit out there, but it seems nice." Yumi said. "How about this one?"

"Ehh… it seems to be a bit tight around your chest?" Asuka said, poking at Yumi's breast.

"I suppose so."

They heard a cough, and saw Tanjiro and Naoto, looking away with blushes on their faces. It was then that they realized that they had forgotten to close the changing room door. The two shrieked before slamming it shut.

"...we really lucked out with two of the most beautiful girls in the world, didn't we, Tanjiro?" Naoto asked with a small fist pump.

"Y-Yeah." Tanjiro said, focusing on his breathing.

The group continued to hang out after buying the presents, eating at the shops and talking, before they were ready to head out. But before they could say goodbye, Yumi noticed something.

"Asuka, the cat ears for Katsuragi is gone." Yumi said.

Asuka frantically looked around in the shopping bags, but they were nowhere in sight. "Oh no, did I drop it somewhere?" She said, worried. "And they were the last pair too!"

"Let's split up to cover more ground." Naoto suggested. "I'll go with Tanjiro, while you two pair up."

Nodding, they all quickly started moving to find the missing present. But with Tanjiro and Naoto, they split up again.

"I can try smelling for them, Naoto." Tanjiro said. "While you can keep searching in another direction."

"Sounds like a plan, buddy. Good luck." He said, running in the other direction.

Asuka ran across the rooftops to continue searching, before she blocked a sudden kick. She landed on her feet to see a tan girl in a Christmas outfit.

"Homura?" Asuka said, surprised.

"Asuka!" Homura said, pointing at herself. "You don't think you can just ignore me, can you?!"

Asuka dodged a diving kick from Homura, flipping onto higher ground. "I'm sorry, Homura!" She apologized. "I'm in a hurry and my boyfriend is waiting for me! We can fight some other time!"

She disappeared in a puff of smoke as Homura just stared in disbelief. "Asuka… has a boyfriend?"

Meanwhile, Yumi had reunited with Naoto, and the two found the present lying on the grass.

"Found it!" Yumi said, picking up the box.

"We got here at the same time, huh?" Naoto noted "Well, I guess that's mission accomplished."

"Um… Naoto, I don't have a smartphone to call Asuka." Yumi said, embarrassed.

"Oh." Naoto put a hand under his chin. He also knew that his own phone probably didn't work in this world either. He snapped his fingers though. "I got it!"

In a different part of the city, Asuka walked down an alleyway. Her phone rang and she picked it up. "Hello? It's Asuka… Huh? Yumi? What's wrong? Where are you calling from?... A payphone? Yeah. Yeah… Really?! You found it?"

Asuka gasped, as she felt a presence.

"No, I'm glad." She reassured Yumi through the phone. "I'll see you at the cafe we were just at and hopefully meet up with Tanjiro on the way as too. Be right there!"

Hanging up, she looked down the dark back streets.

"What is this awful feeling…?" She said to herself.

She slowly walked forward, before rounding a corner to see shadowy beasts.

"Those are Yoma!" She said, as the monsters turned to her. She jumped into the air. "Shinobi… Henshin!"

In a flash of light, she had donned her shinobi gear.

"I am Asuka, a shinobi who fights for justice!"

With a shout, she jumped at the Yoma with blades in her hands.

Elsewhere in the city, Tanjiro had stopped searching for the gift. His nose had picked up Yumi's scent, meaning that he knew that the girl had successfully found the present. He was on his way to meet up with them… but then his nose picked up a different scent.

This smell… He thought. No, two wicked smells!

He turned towards their direction and sniffed once more. The direction both of the scents were going towards… he quickly ran towards the direction. Why? Because the two scents were headed to Asuka.

Asuka cut down most of the Yoma with ease, though she was left breathing heavily because of how much she had exerted herself.

"Pathetic. Struggling to fight such a weak Yoma." A voice said.

Asuka turned around to see two white haired girls, who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Both of them were garbed in kunoichi uniforms.

"Who are you?" Asuka asked.

"I am Gekko." One said.

"And I am Senko." The other said.

"So you're the fool who compares power to a sword and a shield?" Gekko said, slowly walking forward. "We can't let your naivete affect the rest of the good ninjas."

"So we will remove you from the world of shinobi." Senko declared.

"Wait, I don't understand!" Asuka said.

She didn't get a chance to say much as they rushed at her with blinding speed. They're so fast!

They weren't just fast, they were incredibly strong as well. Thankfully, she was able to hold her own for the most part, thanks to the training she had received. She was thankful to Tanjiro for teaching her. And she got used to the speed thanks to the fight against Rui.

"You're a bit tougher than we expected." Senko complimented. "Perhaps you weren't as weak after all."

"The same can't be said about your friends, however." Gekko said.

"...what?" Asuka said, voice low as she tightened the grip on her blades.

Senko dropped a bloodied ribbon from her hand, which Asuka shakily picked up. She immediately recognized who it belonged to.

"Hibari…?"

"We've already carved our pure resolve into the rest of Hanzo Academy's students." Gekko said.

"How dare you…" Asuka clenched her fist tightly on Hibari's ribbon. "HOW DARE YOU!"

She rushed at them, but in her rage, let herself wide open.

"Foolish." Senko said.

She punched Asuka in her gut, before unleashing a flurry of blows and strikes, leaving Asuka and her clothes damaged. She threw Asuka into the wall, and she fell to the ground.

"Too easy." Senko said, as she started to walk away.

"Wait, Senko." Gekko said, looking at Asuka.

The girl used one of her swords to support herself, lifting herself back onto her feet.

"I won't lose…" She said.

"You can still stand?" Senko asked.

"I refuse to lose…" She said, tears in her eyes. "Until I master the path of the shinobi!"

Seeing as Asuka was still able to fight, the two kunoichi got ready to charge and finish her. They ran at her, but heard a shout from above.

"Sixth Form… Whirlpool!"

Asuka recognized the voice, as dropping from the sky was none other than Tanjiro. Spinning his blade, he created a whirlpool with his Water Breathing Technique that blew away the two enemy shinobi. He landed on the ground between Asuka and the dup, aiming his blade at the latter two.

"Tanjiro..." Asuka said, glad to see that her boyfriend had showed up when he did.

"Are you alright, Asuka?" He asked her, concerned.

Asuka was flattered that Tanjiro was concerned for her well-being first and foremost, but now wasn't the time to get all lovey dovey over it.

"How did you find me?" She asked.

"I picked up two negative scents that were going in your direction." He explained. "I thought that you might be in danger, so I came here as fast as I could."

He pointed his sword at the two that had attacked Asuka.

"And their scents are the same ones that I found chasing after you."

"Thank you…" She said softly.

"Tch, someone really had to interrupt our fight." Gekko said, irritated. "Now it's pointless to continue on."

"It can't be helped." Senko said to her partner. "We might as well give our message and leave."

"Message?" Asuka asked.

"We have your weakling friends captive." Gekko said. "If you want them back, compete in the Shinovi Masters tournament."

"Shinovi Masters tournament?" Asuka repeated.

"Goodbye." Senko said.

"Hold on a moment!" Tanjiro yelled.

But the two kunoichi disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"Ugh, they got away." Tanjiro said, sheathing his blade. Asuka breathed out, before letting her legs give out.

He quickly rushed over to Asuka and knelt down to check on her wounds.

"Are you okay?" He asked, taking off his haori.

"I'm fine." She reassured him, putting it on to cover herself from the cold. The warmth made her reconsider her answer, knowing she could tell Tanjiro about this. "No, I'm not."

"Why? What did they do?" Tanjiro asked, almost getting angry.

"I don't know what they did to my friends… but they have them." She said, sadly. "And they told me that I was weak. They said I was the furthest thing from a good shinobi. … Is it true? I don't know. But my resolve… is it in the right place?"

Tanjiro could tell that Asuka was really shaken up by the encounter, but stood up, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"Tanjiro?" She asked.

"They don't understand where true strength comes from." Tanjiro said. "Did they say that true power is to defeat? No, it's the power to push forward! Asuka! Your kindness and resolve is unmatched by anyone! They don't get it. They'll never get it! You're better than they think you are!"

He said this, all with a smile on his face. The same smile that Asuka fell in love with. She wanted to say that Tanjiro himself had the kindness and resolve as well, but she was already very touched by his words.

"I promise that we'll save your friends." He said. "I swear it!"

Asuka nodded. "Thank you, Tanjiro."

Before either of them realized what was happening, Asuka leaned forward and kissed Tanjiro on the lips. Tanjiro was surprised at first, but returned the kiss. They stayed like that for a few moments, before pulling away.

"You're right, Tanjiro." Asuka said. "We'll save them."

"We should meet up with Naoto and Yumi." He suggested. "Explain to them what happened. They can help us, after all."

Asuka agreed, as the two quickly made their way back to the cafe. She prayed to whoever was out there, that her friends would remain safe.

Don't worry, everyone. Asuka thought, resolve renewed. We'll save you.