Author's note: First off let me say, this was difficult to write, so the battles may not be interesting, but at least I tried. Second, I may have gone overboard when it came to the final fight with Rui, but nevertheless I hope you enjoy it.
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Still within Mount Natagumo…
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After being launched far from Inosuke by the hands of Father Spider, Tanjiro found himself lost in another part of the forest.
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"Oh man, I have to get back to Inosuke." Tanjiro thought to himself as he continued to run in the direction from which he came. But then he stopped in his tracks when he smelled a scent he smelled only once before. "Wait, wasn't this scent…Koharu's Blood Art!"
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Running towards the smell, Tanjiro believed he may have found an ally in which he could grab assistance from, but as he got closer to Koharu's scent, he smelled a malicious intent in that same moment. As a number of red threads launched themselves towards Tanjiro, the event happened so quickly that it was inhuman for that one second.
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Back at the boulder…
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With Mother Spider sleeping peacefully on Joichirou's lap, to anyone who just so happened to see the scene, for a second they would've thought that they be father and daughter. That just so happened when Ozaki walked up to the boulder.
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"Sensei, what are you doing?" Ozaki asked.
"Shh. The child is sleeping." Joichirou placed his right index finger to his mouth to emphasize his words. "I understand that she was the one controlling you and your friend's actions, so I told her to rest before I gave her a punishment befitting for her actions."
"Okay." Was all Ozaki could say, when a crow flew overhead.
"Caaaww!" The crow screeched before giving its orders. "Joichirou Nakamura! Ozaki Yamamoto! Your orders are to return to the estate, immediately after assisting the Kakushi with reconnaissance. Caawww!" It crocked before flapping its wings and flew off.
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After the crow left, Joichirou got up to his feet and picked up the sleeping child demon and held her in his arms. Looking around for something, Ozaki couldn't help but ask.
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"Hey, Sensei? What are you looking for?"
"I promised this demon that I give her a just punishment after a slayer came, but it won't do any good if she's dead." Joichirou spoke as he then turned his attention towards Ozaki. "Let's go find the people who saved you. They may have something to carry her in." And with that Joichirou began to walk away, with Ozaki just behind him.
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Running through the forest with all her might…
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Nezuko was so focused on finding her brother, she placed all of her strength into her legs. Without realizing it, she began to see colors upon colors of gray, crimson red, and black all mixed together the deeper she went into the forest.
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"So, many colors. But they are not the colors that I'm looking for." Still continuously looking for her brother's bright mahogany red color as she ran, Nezuko continued to see other colors except for the one she wanted. Then in that same moment, she saw a color she knew she was familiar with but had no clue as to where she saw the color last. As it swirled and chaotically crashed into each other, a dark faded blue began to appear in her vision. Out of instinct, she turned in the directions of the color and ran towards it, unaware that a certain young female was following her too.
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Looking in awe, at the immense strength the man possessed…
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Inosuke just looked at the demon slayer that had taken down the supposed member of the 12 Moons. As he began to feel himself get all giddy again, Inosuke snapped back into reality and yelled at the slayer.
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"Hey! Hold up a second!" Inosuke yelled at Tomioka who was just about to leave. "Fight me, Mismatched Haori! You took down that 12 Moon demon. And I'm going to beat you! That's how I'll get stronger!"
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Now that his attention was fully on Inosuke, Tomioka took a good look at the far too enthusiastic slayer, and sighed.
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"Go back to training, idiot." Just a few short words that were straight to the point, caused Inosuke to back off.
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Without even wasting a second, Tomioka began to unravel a rope and explained that the demon he had defeated was not a member of the 12 Moons. Shocked by this, Inosuke was just about to fight back, when he noticed himself tied up in the rope that was in Tomioka's hand and hung from a tree because of it.
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"What just happened?" Inosuke thought to himself as he looked to the ground below him. "He was so quick; I couldn't even see him." As Inosuke hung there, he steadily began to see the gap between his skills and that of Tomioka's.
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Looking off into the distance as he walked away, Giyuu realized how far he was gotten and decided to rush forward only to then see a young girl with white hair rush past him with such speed that it nearly tripped him.
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"What was that?" Tomioka asked out loud to himself. Then realizing what that was, Tomioka began to rush only to hear the panting of another person behind him. Looking back, he noticed a young girl with violet red eyes, and black hair which at her ends began to fade into a scarlet red. Seeing this girl standing before him with a sword in hand, nearly gave him a heart attack. He remembered clearly on that cloudy day. When the snow had begun to fall ever so furiously. A demon girl with the girl before him sharing the same appearance. But in that moment, he remembered the girl's brother's words.
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"She's my sister! I don't know why this happened, but I promise you I'll find a way to turn Nezuko back into human."
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Remembering that boy's words caused Tomioka to stand in his placed and just say the name that had always been in his head.
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"Nezuko." Was all he had to say for Nezuko to look directly into his eyes.
"Wait, you…you're…" Holding her head in pain as she began to remembering something that Nezuko believed she had forgotten, she remembering seeing the same haori on the man she saw before her. But still with no clue as to where she met him, she looked past him and saw her brother's color and ran as fast as she could to Tanjiro.
"Hey, wait!" Giyuu yelled as Nezuko began to run off, deeper into the forest. Still dumbfounded at the sight, Giyuu looked with confusion as he said to himself. "That boy actually did it. He managed to turn his sister back into a human." Then looking down at his hand, then up towards the sky, Giyuu said under his breath. "If it's possible for him to changer her back, then is it possible to changed every human who had turned into a demon back into human?"
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Running with all the stamina she had left, Nezuko never stopped for a second. But ever so often, the face of the man she saw earlier would pop up in front of her. In fact, for the past minute, Nezuko believed that the reason she and Zenitsu were separated was due to some deep, repressed memories of hers blocked her vision so much that it caused her to slow down. But not wanting to waste a second, Nezuko focused on the path in front of her.
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While avoiding all his enemy's attacks…
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All Tanjiro could do at this point was try and create some distance between him and the demon in front of him. But even as the distance between the two grew, the onslaught of attacks just kept coming.
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"Damn. I can't keep this up." Tanjiro thought to himself, as he skid backwards only to see the attacks stopping for some reason. "Did he stop?" As Tanjiro looked, he noticed the demon with spider-like hair looking behind him. But not wasting the opportunity, Tanjiro tried to get away, knowing full well that fighting a demon like that is suicide, only for a ton of threads to appear before him.
"Whoever said you could leave?!" Rui said with a sadistic smile plastered on his face, only for that face to change when blood splatted onto the threads.
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As both parties looked in shock as to who they saw, Rui's blood began to boil when he noticed the face of the woman he despised the most. Tanjiro began to look in fear as he noticed the young figure with white hair move in front of him, without hesitation. And without wasting a second, both parties cried out.
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"Lily!" Rui yelled angrily.
"Kaguya!" Tanjiro yelled out in desperation as he grabbed the young girl and hid behind a tree.
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Grunting in pain after having her skin torn open by razon sharp wires, Kaguya tried to focus on healing more, but was to no avail, since she couldn't keep her mind calm. As Tanjiro desperately tried to find a way to keep Kaguya from falling apart, Tanjiro grabbed his blade, and sliced is left palm open to allow blood to flow onto his hand. Without wasting a second, he placed his palm on top of Kaguya's mouth, despite her trying her best to resist. Not wanting to see Kaguya in this much pain, Tanjiro lifted her head up, opened her mouth and placed his now bloody palm over her mouth. Even though she tried to resist, Kaguya began to feel blood flow into her mouth, then after another few seconds of struggling, Kaguya began to calm down, tear up, and accepted what was happening.
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"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Tanjiro whispered as he noticed Kaguya beginning to swallow the blood that flowed into her mouth. "I'm sorry, but you need to keep drinking." Then, just when Tanjiro forgot about the situation he was in earlier, Rui spoke up.
"Boy, let's talk for a bit. Come on out." He said with a much calmer tone then with what he spoke with earlier.
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Not knowing what to do, Tanjiro felt a grip tightening on his wrist. Looking down, he noticed Kaguya removing his hand from her mouth and ripped her haori from the bottom and wrapped it around Tanjiro's palm to prevent it from bleeding out.
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"Tan-chi-ru." Kaguya tried to pronounce his name, but with sudden memories bursting into her head, it made it difficult to even speak, but she still struggled to. "Kagu-ra, fine. Fight."
"Kagura?" Tanjiro repeated, only to then see small flames bursting weakly around her body as she began to heal. "Okay." Getting up, Tanjiro placed down the box that hung from the straps on his shoulders and walked out to face Rui.
"Boy, if you don't mind handing that pathetic woman over to me, I'll be gracious enough to let you walk away from here." Rui said as he extended his hand out towards Tanjiro. "You see, I have a bone to pick with Lily."
"How do you know Lily?" Tanjiro said as he began to move slightly to his right to try and stay in front of the tree that Kaguya was resting behind.
"She helped me when I was human but refused to grant me her power." Rui spoke, but as soon as Tanjiro heard those words he began to smell the scent of disappointment and regret emanating from where Kaguya was.
"Does Kaguya know something that I don't?" As Tanjiro fully faced Rui, he solidified his resolve, and held his sword firmly in both hands and pointed it directly at Rui. "If you want to get to her, you're going to have to go through me. And I can assure you that a task such as this won't be easy for you."
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As Rui stood there hearing Tanjiro's proclamation, he began to laugh maniacally. Unable to control himself, Rui just laughed and laughed. And after a few minutes of laughing, he sighed and spoke.
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"If you won't give me to her, then…" Pulling on some wires that were on his fingers, Tanjiro heard Kaguya yell as she was pulled by the wires that hung from Rui's fingers. "…I'll just take her away from you by force." Now Rui's attitude suddenly changed once again. Pressing his forearm into Kaguya's neck, to try and prevent her from leaving, Rui, at the same time, waved his entire hand and whipped the wires that hung from all his fingers towards Tanjiro. "I can't have you in my way. This is just between me and Lily. I'll show her that she was wrong from the very beginning. Goodbye, useless boy."
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Struggling to try and break out of Rui's grasp, Kaguya could only stare in horror as the threads came closer and closer to Tanjiro, who at this point was trying to rush in and save Kaguya. Then out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a bright violet-red rushing towards the area. Then smiling, Kaguya yelled:
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"Nezuko!" In that moment, Nezuko twirled in the air, and came rushing down.
"Breath of the Water, 1st Form: Water Surface Slice!" Nezuko yelled out loud as she landed in front of her brother and swung her sword with such a force that, just like Giyuu when he went to kill Nezuko (when she was still demon), caused dust to fly into the air blocking everyone's view. "Big Brother, are you alright?!" Nezuko spoke quickly, as her body was still continuing to produce a ton of adrenaline.
"I'm fine. But what about Kaguya?" Tanjiro began to look through the thick cloud of dust as it began to fall back to the ground.
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As the area began to clear up, they noticed Rui standing there, with Kaguya no where to be seen. Seeing this, Tanjiro yelled out in frustration.
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"Where's Kaguya?!" Tanjiro yelled as he pointed his sword at Rui only for it to be covered in massive blood, and bathed Nezuko's right side as well.
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As the two Kamado siblings where shocked by this, they looked up to see a ton more wires then they had ever encountered, grabbing each and every part of Kaguya. From each knuckle in her fingers to wrapping multiple wires around her face and neck; To literally having a massive amount of wires covering the majority of her arms and legs; and several more covering her stomach. As each wire began to dig in more and more, Kaguya began to scream out in pain. She began to scream out so much, that tears had begun to form and fall towards the ground.
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"Kaguya!" Nezuko chocked on her words as she tried her absolute best to hold back her tears. Then as she noticed her brother's color began to violently swirl, Nezuko looked towards Tanjiro, who was already past his limit anger and rushed without even thinking. "Big Brother!" Even though Nezuko yelled for Tanjiro to listen, fear had struck her enough to keep her from moving.
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Letting his emotions take the better of him, clouded Tanjiro's better judgement. As he absent-mindedly swung his sword furiously to try and bring down the demon that had taken and tortured, his new precious family member. Smiling at the sight, Rui dodged all of Tanjiro's attack, but for a second, an image struck into his mind. He saw a man with long dark red hair, tied up into a ponytail. Unable to see his face, due to shadow was enough for the smile on Rui's face to disappear and turned his smile into that of a scared and worried expression. Moving into Tanjiro's blindspot, Rui kicked Tanjiro once to stop him, and a second time that sent him flying back. But at this point, Nezuko had gained enough courage to move, only to feel a blast of wind fly past her. Looking back, she noticed her brother falling towards the ground after practically smashing the boulder that was behind Tanjiro with his back. Changing directions, Nezuko rushed towards her brother's side, placed her sword down and checked her brother. Seeing him struggling to get up, was reassuring to her. Quickly looking back at Kaguya, Nezuko noticed her unconscious, probably trying to regain some of her strength from having so many wires cutting into her body.
Fully getting up Tanjiro turned to his sister.
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"Nezuko." Tanjiro answered weakly, grabbing his sister's attention. "Let's use the Final Form together. If the two of us combine it, we could take his demon down. And if anything, he's probably one of the 12 Moons, seeing how he is easily taking us down."
"Right." Nezuko replied without hesitation. "The sooner we end this, the better it is for Kaguya."
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As the two rose to their feet, they began to breath very deeply, then with conviction burning in their eyes, they both rushed forward. With each step they took, they began to rotate around each other, and continued to do so as they ran. Then yelling in their minds together in synchronization, they said.
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"Breath of the Water, Final Form: CONSTANT FLUX!" Tanjiro and Nezuko said as they continued to move forward. Then behind the two of them, two dragon heads made of water followed, the tips of their blades.
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As Tanjiro was the first to swing down on the oncoming wires, his sword cut them, with ease. Following, Nezuko rotated and switched places with her brother, and sliced the next oncoming wires. After she cut them, Nezuko leaped backward, allowing Tanjiro to slide right under the wires that were coming his way, and allowed Nezuko to jump over them.
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"We can do this!" Tanjiro thought to himself.
"Don't stop. No matter what!" Nezuko thought to herself as she ran right behind her brother.
"Keep going!" Tanjiro continued to try and keep his momentum up. "You got this!"
"Keep going!" Nezuko still following her brother's lead. "You…got this!"
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But even as the two siblings began to close the distance, Rui looked at them with disbelief.
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"Tell me…" Rui spoke with his usual monotone voice. "…you really didn't think that those wires were at their strongest, did you?" As Rui's hands became red, he pulled the strings back and caused the wires to form a cage around the siblings. "I no longer have any use for you. Goodbye, insolent fools."
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Upon seeing the red wires rush towards them, Tanjiro smelled a different scent coming off of them, and Nezuko seeing a darker red then before caused the two to believe their deaths were near.
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"There's no way we can cut these wires in time." Nezuko thought to herself. "We're going to die…Big Brother…" As she then turned her attention to her brother, she noticed the same expression that she had on his face. As Nezuko tried to rush to her brother's side, as soon as she took another step, the wires had begun to slow in pace.
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The wires had seemed to move slower and slower. And slower. And slower. Until finally, like the first night she woke up in that cave, when she saw Lily fight the first demon they encountered, she noticed how slow it had gotten. Then before she even realized it, Nezuko remembered something; something from a time, she thought she had forgotten.
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Her father, sitting down, while her mother began to cut vegetable, she then saw her mother turn around and began to speak. But her voice never reached Nezuko's ears. Then for the first time, she saw her father dancing the Kagura Dance.
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"Mother, how can Father move so much when he's so weak?" A young Nezuko asked.
"Well, he's breathing, and soon your brother will be breathing the same way, too. And continue where your father left off. Nezuko, remember this…No matter what may come, always look forward, and take a leap of faith." Nezuko's mother replied.
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"Nezuko…" Lily spoke on her last night at Urokodaki's. "Remember the breathing technique I taught you."
"I never really thought about it, until now… but my whole world has been frozen this entire time." Nezuko said to herself.
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Looking with conviction instead of fear, Nezuko, using all the strength left in her legs leaped forward in front of Tanjiro, and with all the strength she could muster, called out a form she had been practicing in secret, so that one day she could use it to stand toe-to-toe with her brother.
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"Water Breathing, 11th Form: Raging Rapids!" With one swing of her sword, the dragon dispersed over a wide area, and ripped through all the wires and scattered them without a second delay. Then turning to her brother, she yelled. "Big Brother use it. Use the Hinokami Kagura!
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Without wasting another second, Nezuko rushed up to clear a path for her brother, slicing and dicing anything in her way, with her brother right behind her, his blade burning a bright and beautiful crimson red. Seeing the two continuing their attack, Rui, using his wires began to swing backwards, to try and avoid their blades as much as possible. But with Tanjiro picking up speed and blazing off leaving his sister in the dust, Nezuko continued to run, only to then hear Kaguya's soft voice.
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"Nezuko…use…this…." As Kaguya then extended her arm through the wires as it cut off more skin, Kaguya yelled. "Demon Blood Art: Blazing Dragon!" In an instant, Kaguya clenched her fist, to which it ignited the wires around her and Rui's as well, but not only that, it caused Nezuko's blue blade to be ignited into a dark crimson red color, opposite to Tanjiro's blade. Feeling her speed being boosted, Nezuko ran with all her might, jumped into the air and came crashing down.
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Looking up in fear, Rui noticed Nezuko coming she did, Rui noticed the blood on her face beginning to form a mark on the right side of her face, seeing that mark, Rui panicked. Trying to put in a last ditch effort to save himself, he threw wires up at her only for them to burn before they even reached her. Lifting her blade above her head, Nezuko rotated in mid-air, something she had not been able to do perfectly before, but had done so now, as she did, she cut off Rui's hands and landed on all four and yelled.
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"Big Brother, use me and finish this!" Using his sister as a board, Tanjiro pushed himself off, and jumped, his blade over his right shoulder, and swung with everything he had. As it made contact with Rui's next he spoke.
"Don't you dare, harm my family…EVER AGAIN!" And with one strong swing, Tanjiro had successfully cut of their enemy's head, in a blazing fiery ring.