Tanjiro Kamado leaned down and kissed his sister Nezuko on the forehead as he gathered his belongings for the Final Selection.

At the last moment, Urokodaki stopped him.

"I just received a message." He said in a serious voice. "My associate is sending her own students to the Final Selection. I don't want you going this time."

"Are they dangerous?" Tanjiro said apprehensively.

"Yes…no…I am not sure." Urokodaki said. "They are "that woman"'s grandchildren after all…" He shuddered.

Tanjiro scented danger. Urokodaki was really scared of this students. He wanted to alleviate his master's stress…but he had to go to the Final Selection; he had to do it, for Nezuko.

"I must go." Tanjiro said firmly.

Urokodaki sighed. "I figured you would say that. If you must, then stay away from the shrine at the base of the mountain. You must pass through the Torii gate to enter the wisteria blossoms, but do NOT venture into the shrine if you value your life. All the students are given this warning; but you must ESPECIALLY be careful. 'That woman' hates me, and she will harm you."

Tanjiro was puzzled by his master's warning, but heeded it nonetheless. "Yes of course. I will not go near it."

Unless someone was hurt, he added the caveat to himself; and then headed to the Final Selection.

Xxx

An hour ago, Kurisuta Hikawa and her elder sister Reiko had been looking down at the Compound from the Northern Mountain.

Soft steps in the winter snow of the Northern Mountain. How long had it been? Kuri didn't know.

Oh. She paused in her icy cold steps. That's right. Ever since her sister…she glanced askance at her red haired sister beside her.

Kuri continued trudging, tracking bloodstains in the pure white snow. She sighed. As usual, leaving a trail of carnage.

It had gotten so bad that blood was everywhere. On her body, in her mouth and nose. Kuri sneezed. Ah…would it never end?

Even so, Kuri had never been on a battlefield. She had only fought demons on the outside of Skye's barrier. And she wasn't alone, after all. Reiko could be vicious when it suited her.

Kuri had traveled here into the mountains, fighting at the edge of the battlefield, on the fringes, looking for the greatest of all powers…but she wasn't even sure it exist—or that it would help.

And now Kuri didn't know why she kept going up the mountain. Maybe she hoped there would be something beautiful on the other side. But it would just be more fighting and killing.

Kuri strode fruitlessly to the top. The snow and wind seemed to stop around her, and a hush descended. At the base of the mountain was Hikawa Shrine.

The two sisters sighed in relief. A holy place, where they could rest their blood soaked limbs and perhaps, perhaps seek absolution.

In the ice cold, they felt their tired body tingle with warmth.

Heaven.

They entered the shrine.

But no absolution awaited them. Instead, their master, Katsume Hikari awaited. She was a stooped old woman, the last person in the world you would expect to be a demon slayer.

But she was quick with the sword, and the only person in the world who could actually purify demons. A touch of a hand was all it took for lesser demons—which made her extremely dangerous.

And she was endlessly better than their own abusive Grandmother. In fact, she was the only one the sisters called "Granny."

Reiko eyed her warily. Granny had that look in her eye.

"My girls." Granny folded her hands in her lap. "It is time for you to take the Demon Slayer Final Selection."

Kuri and Reiko looked at each other. But it was Reiko who spoke, in her strange, musical voice. "Are you serious, Granny?"

"You said we couldn't take it until we were eighteen!" Kuri complained; she had no wish to ever be on a battlefield "I have no desire to do this."

Reiko groaned at her sister's response.

"I know how you feel." Granny surprised them by saying. "I myself was paralyzed the first time I was on a battlefield. It's not the demons that you fear, its the humans; the screams of dying souls and the pain in your chest as they are slaughtered around you, ne?"

Kuri stiffened and nodded.

"But do you really think the Greatest Power is to be found here?" Granny asked.

"I-I'm not sure it exists at all." Kuri groused. "I've only ever felt that power from my sister." She gestured. "And you, Granny. From my family. Strangers don't have it! And if they did, why would they give it to me?!"

"What have I told you?"

"The Greatest of all Powers is strongest when it comes from a stranger, from someone who has chosen you."

Kuri shook her head, denying it. "That is not why I am going. I have trained on this island all my life. I have learned the way of the warrior. But my mother trained here too, and still she chose to abandon us for demons. I want to know why she chose that path. And I hope to find my grandmother."

"You should stay away from Kaori." Granny said. "She is the one who brought you to me. She hurt you, remember that."

"Perhaps. But she is family. I will find her. She is currently living in a temple near where the Final Selection is taking place." Kuri said.

"And how do you know that?!"

Kuri silently looked at her sister. Reiko grinned. "I couldn't help myself."

Xxx

Kuri entered the temple. She couldn't help but go there first. Her grandmother had been hateful to her and Reiko, but they had escaped, and left her; and that was wrong too.

It was utterly destroyed. An arrow was affixed to the ground wrapped in an ofuda. Kuri touched it and jerked back. A seal. Powerful magic.

Next to the arrow was Kaori's corpse.

Kuri touched her face.

"Grandmother...I call your spirit to me...one final time..." Kuri said. She lit a smudge stick.

"I want you to know I came to see you. I found you. I want to bring you to peace. I will absolve your soul. Your murderer will be brought to justice. I give you my Oath as a Warrior."

Kuri pressed her fist to her chest.

"Blood of my blood. I release you to the afterlife. Blessed Be."

With a flash of silver light Kaori's soul passed on.

"That was...beautiful." A boy, a teenager about her age in a green and black kimono stood in the doorway. "Who are you?"

"That is my line." Kuri snapped.

"We're Reiko and Kuri!" Reiko said excitedly. "Sis, He's gotta be a demon slayer!"

"Nope, no uniform." Kuri stated coldly.

"My name is Tanjiro Kamado and I'm headed to the Final Selection." The boy said, then bowed his head. "I am sorry I did not save her, that no one did. This is why I am becoming a demon slayer; I lost my family as well."

"She wasn't our family." Kuri said sharply.

"But she was your grandmother and you prayed for her so gently…"

Kuri shook her head, words failing.

"Grams was cruel to us." Reiko said. "I'm a d—different. She hated it. And Kuri…she was always protecting me; and then for no reason at all, our eldest sister was passed over for succession and Sis was chosen."

"I came here to tell her that I was going to become a demon slayer, not a priestess." Kuri cut in. "That I was going to prove her wrong. That love isn't weakness, its the Greatest of All Powers. And I am going to find it out there in the world, not by cowering in a shrine."

"You WILL find it." Tanjiro assured her. "Love is real, and it's not weak at all. It's the strongest thing out there. I'm fighting because I love my sister. And you love yours, so I guess you know that!" He laughed a bit. "So I know it, love makes you stronger."

Kuri softened a bit, rubbing the tears off her face. "Y-Yeah." She grabbed her sister's hand. "I'll find more and more of it, I just know it."

The three headed off toward the Final Selection, leaving the bloody mess behind.

Tanjiro forcing himself to face forward, not to pay attention to the strong, pure, wonderful scent coming off the Miko—not to mention the other scent, sharp and demonic, coming off her sister.

Reiko whirled, sure she heard something, then relaxed and turned back around. There was someone, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She shivered. This sensation, what should she call it?