Fuck, fuck, fuck, fu—' I facepalmed continuously (but quietly) as the kids had finally fell asleep beside me with the cool shade of the tree on us.

'They were supposed to be there in the mansion... with Tanjiro and Zenitsu. How the hell did I forget that?!' I sighed, shaking my head vigorously as I pinched the bridge of my nose, 'How much have I altered the plot by now...?' I thought in despair as I buried my face in both my palms.

My presence alone was altering many of the things in the plot and I absolutely had no idea or means to calculate how much damage I had already done.

'Not to mention,' I thought bitterly, 'My whole being in this world is like some kind of flashing beacon that keeps on attracting trouble...'

Suddenly Teruko turned in her sleep, making my attention snap back to her. I smiled tiredly at sleeping figure her, wondering that even if I had the option, would I had let them go in?

'Of course not.' I answered myself instantly, almost wanting to smack myself for my stupid thought process, 'No matter what I say, just letting them go in for the sake of plot is not only cruel but borderline inhumane.'

I sighed loudly as I leaned on the bark of the tree and closed my eyes. The Sun had already went up our head, and was now slowly descending its way down. In a few more hours, it will bid us farewell while leaving only a few rays to paint the evening sky.

I opened my eyes again to look down at the sleeping figures beside me— feeling slightly jealous as they slept their worries away.

'I wish I could do that too...' I thought wryly as I gently caressed their heads as they softly snored.

The sudden sound of slamming woods caught my attention, making me immediately turn towards the source of it when my eyes caught Zenitsu's figure being flung out of the second-storey window.

My heart almost stopped beating when I saw his un-moving body fall down harshly on the ground in front of the mansion.

'Z-Ze-Zenitsu?!'

I instantly scrambled to my feet and I rushed towards Zenitsu's fallen body.

"Zenitsu? Zenitsu!" I called out his name again and again as I finally reached him, instantly kneeling beside his figure as I reached to check his pulse.

'Please be alive, please be alive, please be—' I let out a trembling relieved sigh, my hands slightly shivering from the shock, 'Oh my God, he's alive. Thank God, he's alive— but how...? Why...? He was not supposed to fall out like this, was he? Was there any part like this?' I questioned myself, trying my hardest to remember but, for the love of God, I couldn't.

And I absolutely fucking hated myself for that.

'Okay, okay. Calm the fuck down, Miyasha. This is not the time for self-blaming.' I took in a deep breath, focusing all my attention on the current predicament, 'I need to check him for wounds— falling from that height must have injured him, especially on his head as it had made contact with the ground first.'

I lifted his head cautiously, rubbing the back of it slightly as I felt his blood coat my fingers. 'At least the wound is not that deep...' I thought as I slowly kept his head back on the ground, 'It isn't bleeding as rapidly as it should... but he most likely has broken the skin and got a—'

"O-Onee-chan...?" My attention was snapped back at the children, who were awake now most likely due to the commotion I had unintentionally made.

"Is he... alive?" Shoichi asked, his voice trembling as he clutched his scared sister's hand.

"He is." I simply relayed, smiling softly to ease their worries, "He is just... unconscious for now. Someone most likely flung him out of the window... But he is fine, don't worry."

Shoichi nodded, his posture relaxing quite a bit after the news.

"Shoichi-kun," I called him, "Can you please help me carry Zenitsu-san towards the tree there...? I want to treat him as soon as I can so that he does not loses anymore blood than he already has..."

"Hai, onee-chan."

"Thank you, dear. And Teruko-chan, can you please help me dress his wound? I'll need some assistance to clean the area around the wound and bandage it properly."

"Hai, onee-chan!" The little girl smiled looking rather interested at the aspect of helping me, for some odd reason.


It had almost been half an hour since we treated Zenitsu— wrapping his head tightly in fresh bandages after somewhat cleaning his hair and scalp from all the blood it had collected, thus, resulting in all my leftover water being used.

'Hopefully we can get out of here before sunset; I need to replenish almost all of my supplies after this.' I mused, making a mental list of the things I needed before I started on my next journey.

"Onee-chan, Onee-chan!" Teruko called out, grabbing my attention as she pointed towards the slowing waking Zenitsu, "I think he is waking up...!"

"Mmhm," I nodded, patting her as I smiled down at the younger sibling, "You did a really good job at helping me treat him! That is why he waking up so fast." I grinned down at her as I noticed her blush slightly.

"Zenitsu-san? Zenitsu-san...?" I called him softly, gently shaking face to finally wake him up, "Zenitsu-san...! Are you okay? Can you hear me?"

He gradually opened his eyes, slowly blinking his brown irises at me as he came back to his senses. I smiled down at him, cautiously helping him sit upright against the bark of the tree.

"How are you feeling, Zenitsu-san?" I gently asked him, as he blinked at me in confusion.

"What..." he looked around himself, rubbing the back of his head gently as he asked, "What happened?"

"You fell out of a second-storey window..." Shoichi answered, looking at the older male with visible worry in his eyes.

"Oh... Did I?" He blinked again, finally noticing the bandages wrapped around his head, "Wait... am I—?!"

"Don't worry!" I instantly exclaimed, not wanting to handle a hysterical Zenitsu right now, "You didn't sustain any critical wounds! Only a minor head injury that I and Teruko have treated. So, no need to worry, okay?"

Zenitsu finally nodded, flinching when he felt an ache in his head while doing so. "Is it aching...?"

"A little..." Zenitsu replied, "My head is spinning more though..."

"Ah, I'm sorry to hear that, dear. Unfortunately, I do not have medicine for that ye—" I halted mid-sentence as a loud laugh echoed near us.

"What's this? What's this? What's this?!" Zenitsu exclaimed again and again, looking towards the Mansion's entrance just as I was.

I felt a very... wild and untamed aura approach us rapidly, making the hair on my neck stand. I instinctively placed myself between the approaching thing and the three humans with me.

'It... doesn't feels like a demon's aura...' I frowned as I assessed again, when suddenly the sliding doors were slammed down, by a male with a strange brown mask—

Zenitsu screamed behind me, hugging Shoichi as he yelled, "There it is again! The monster boar?!"

'Monster... boar? Wait, Inosuke—?!'

My eyes widened as I finally recognized the male in front of me— Inosuke cackled gruffly as he looked at all of us, "I'm getting a demonic vibe." He said to himself, trying to find the source of the demonic aura he felt.

"It's him!" Zenitsu exclaimed, proving again that he had a very good memory, "He's the fifth survivor from the final selection! I can tell this from his voice! He was the first one to rush up the mountain, and then came down from the mountain before anyone else! !"

The strangely big eyes of his boar mask finally turned to Nezuko's box, chuckling as he said to himself, "Huh, found it!" He immediately gave a war cry, charging towards the box in his full speed.

"Cut it out!" Zenitsu yelled, placing himself in front of the box without moment's hesitation. Inosuke stopped himself just before Zenitsu's kneeled self, looking down at him in annoyance.

"Who the hell are you?" Inosuke rudely inquired, "Get out of the way!"

"I'm Agatsuma Zenitsu! I'm with the Demon Slayer Corps like you!"

'What should I do?!' I ruminated, feeling conflicted about the whole situation, 'If I don't do anything right now, then Inosuke will beat Zenitsu without any mercy... but if I do decide to do anything right now, it may alter the plot drastically as this is one of the main events that affected their team dynamics—'

Not to mention the kids hiding behind my back made me feel even more conflicted to intervene...

My heart thundered loudly when Inosuke brought down one of his swords on Zenitsu, almost making me yell before I noticed him stopping just before its contact on his shoulder.

"Why, you..." Even I could feel his glare through his mask, and yet Zenitsu still bravely looked up at him and declared, "Inside this box... Inside this box is something I'm not letting you touch! Something precious to Tanjiro!"

A wry smile made its way to my face, finally reminding me why I didn't dislike Zenitsu unlike many other fans of Kimetsu no yaiba.

'Even when he claims himself to be a coward... he still stands in front of that box just to protect what is precious to another.'

"I... I'm going to ask Tanjiro directly myself!" Zenitsu yelled, his voice strengthened with a strange determination, "So, you... You can just back off!"

I almost smiled at his declaration, before Inosuke kicked Zenitsu in the face. I watched helplessly as both the males grappled each other; Zenitsu dragging down Inosuke even when he kept on injuring him again and again.

There were many moments when I just wanted to intervene— I could stop this fight within the five minutes, and that I was confident of, but in the end, this way not my place to interrupt.

'And that is way more difficult to accept than the fact that all this was nothing but a fictional story for me a lifetime ago.'

"That's something..." Zenitsu started, throwing Inosuke off the ground, after which he proceeded to shield the box with his body by hugging it tightly, "...precious to Tanjiro! You're not touching it until he gets back!"

The kids flinched, clutching the back of my haori even tighter as Inosuke started assaulting the blond demon slayer brutally as he gave no resistance. I closed my eyes, unable to look the scene any longer.

Even if this all was 'for the best', I couldn't... I couldn't watch it any more. Zenitsu didn't deserve this— hell, he wasn't even making a single sound of pain as the boarman's foot connected with his body.

"Tanjiro..." Zenitsu suddenly started speaking, instantly making me open my eyes, "I protected it. Because you said... this was more important to you... than your life." My breath hitched at his weak voice; my heart breaking at Zenitsu's swollen face.

Tanjiro stood frozen as he noticed Zenitsu's injured state, his eyes clouding over in a very strange way. Immediately, he placed the boy he had been carrying at his back down in-front of the porch, charging at full speed towards Inosuke who was still beating Zenitsu mercilessly.

"Nii-chan...!" I looked back at Teruko, who was looking at her eldest brother, sitting in-front of the porch, with watery eyes.

"Teruko-chan...?" I called her softly, smiling at her as she fixed her watery gaze at me, "Let's patch up your nii-chan, eh?" She nodded instantly, making my smile widen.

"But... they are fighting there—" I cut Shoichi off, slightly pushing him towards his elder brother's direction as I said, "They are quite far away. And I assure you, they won't hurt you or your brother." I smiled reassuringly at him, "If they did, I'll be there to protect you. Trust me, okay?"

Upon his hesitant nod, I gently prodded him towards his brother. As he got moving, I turned towards the young girl standing beside me, "Teruko-chan," I started, "Can you please bring my satchel here and take out a handkerchief from it? Also, there will be a small brown glass bottle, please bring that out with the cloth." Upon her determined nod, I focused on moving both the wooden box and Zenitsu out of the harm's way.

"Zenitsu-san, let's move you out of the way of their fighting area, okay?" I focused myself on cautiously carrying the box on my back as I helped Zenitsu walk out of the current war zone after he gave me a discreet nod.

"Actually, isn't Tanjiro running afoul of the taboo himself?" Zenitsu asked me as I adjusted him under a tree on the side-lines, "He did break his bones."

I avoided commenting on that, instead focusing on rubbing the blood off of his nose after placing the wooden box nearby. The siblings were hugging each other in the background, crying in relief and happiness, which I really didn't wanted to interrupt. Zenitsu, meanwhile, was fully focused on the fight going between the two demon slayers.

"...CALM DOWN!" Tanjiro screamed, head-butting Inosuke while Zenitsu yelled in surprised.

"That sound!" Zenitsu screeched, moving his face away from me as he clutched his forehead, "Are their skulls fractured?!"

"Concussion, maybe... But not a fracture." I offhandedly commented as I readjusted my position to finally look at the two boys fighting. Inosuke had just stumbled back on his feet, showing the effects of the blow he had just taken.

After wobbling a few times to maintain his basic balance, his mask slipped off of his head, showing off his face to the world.

"Huh? A girl?!" Zenitsu screeched, his eyes widening comically, "Your face...?!"

'He's...' I stumbled upon my thoughts, my mind still processing what I was seeing, '...rather pretty for a guy. Can't say if I'm jealous or not, yet.'

The first thing I noticed was how he had thick, black hair whose tips had faded into a dark bluish hue just past his shoulders— it's uneven and unruly fringe just above his eyes brought even more attention to his large, beautifully wide green eyes. His long eyelashes and thin eyebrows, along with his small, well-mannered mouth could easily give anyone the illusion that he was a very pretty female... if it were not for his a-little-bit-too well-defined muscular build and gruff voice.

"What the hell?" Inosuke muttered, fixing his green eyes on us, "You've got a problem with my face or something?" He finished out loud with a strange grin, making Zenitsu reply back to him with a certain amount of disdain in his voice, "You're one creepy guy, you know that? You've got such a ripped body, but there's a girl's face sitting on top of it."

"Oi," I interjected, glowering back at Zenitsu for his previous statement, "It's not his fault that he has such a beautiful face. And nothing's wrong with it either." I scolded him back, though it very well went ignored when Inosuke started speaking again.

"Why the hell are you staring at my face like that?" He growled at us, making Zenitsu hide behind me in fear.

"I-I'm not!" Zenitsu exclaimed, clutching my shoulders as he hid behind my kneeled self, "I'm not looking at your face!"

I shook my head at his antics, but couldn't stop my lips from twitching as I desperately tried to keep a smile down when Tanjiro bluntly (and unintentionally?) complimented Inosuke. And, as expected, Inosuke replied with a threat while Tanjiro instantly shot it down.

While two went back and forward, I made Zenitsu sit down beside me and finished wiping off the blood from his face.

"Hey, Big forehead! Let me tell you my name... It's Hashibira Inosuke! Don't you forget it!"

I smiled wistfully at his introduction as I applied a thin layer of medicine over the cuts and bruises on Zenitsu's face. His name was such an integral part of him, and maybe the only part that he actually knew about himself right now.

"What characters do you use to spell that?!" Tanjiro exclaimed, making me wonder why is he even asking that for.

"Spell?! Spell... I don't know how to read or write! That name is written on my loincloth—" Upon Inosuke suddenly stopping in between the conversation, Zenitsu turned to look at them, moving his face away again as I tried to treat it properly.

"W-What's wrong...? Why did he freeze?" Zenitsu asked to no one when suddenly Inosuke's eyes rolled back and he collapsed.

"He collapsed!" Zenitsu yelled, clutching my shoulders again as he hid behind me, "Is he dead?"

"No, he isn't." I answered back, looking over to the bleeding young man lying there, "He most likely has a concussion and several broken ribs, but other than that, he's fine, I think."

"It's because I head-butted the hell out of him..." Tanjiro added, thinking about something intensely until Teruko approached him and asked if he's alright.

Upon Tanjiro's nod, Teruko excitedly asked to touch his forehead which he allowed as he bowed down to let her.

"Onii-chan, your head is so hard!"

"You think so?"

I shook my head at this strange situation, almost pinching the bridge of my nose as my headache came back with a vengeance.

"Enough with all this." I declared loudly, glowering at Zenitsu who kept on moving away again and again as I tried to treat his wounds, "All three of you have injured yourselves so much! Now quiet down and sit still for five minutes so that I can at least apply a basic treatment for you all! Especially you Zenitsu-san!"

"H-Hai!" Zenitsu stiffened, closing his eyes as he sat in front of my with a straight back.

"And Tanjiro-san, sit down beside Zenitsu-san so that I can look at your nose and ribs, now."

"H-Hai, Miyasha-san!"

"Teruko-chan, Shoichi-kun, will you please help me with dressing their wounds? Especially of your brother's?"

"Hai, onee-chan!"

"Good. Now, if anyone of you two boys even slightly moved, then I'm gonna wrap your whole mouth shut with these bandages—"


Heya! Here's the next chapter of the Drum House arc!

We are almost over with this arc— just one more chapter and bam! We move on to the mountain arc and meet the Hashiras (after some fighting, of course xD)

But damn, I'm getting excited!
Not to mention so many things happened with me this last few days—remember the research appear I said I was working on? It got selected for publication! This fanfic, on top of it, reached 19k reads on wattpad just today and here, I got over 100+ story follows and 100+ story favourites! Not to mention I reached 1k followers on wattpad too— and all this just makes me want to cry in happiness TwT

I've never felt as accomplished as I did these past few days and so much of it is all thanks to you guys… Thank you so much for not giving up on me and this story and your beautiful reviews just make my day.

So let me quickly reply to your comments and wrap this chapter up!

Einklley: Indeed! Miyasha does have more stamina than Tanjiro, but not strengthher body has many 'issues' with it, which I will highlight as the story progresses. These 'issues' make her hold back, even with all her experience and potential! So yes, you are not wrong with your deduction, but there's more to it! Hopefully I can explain them well in the future :')

Guest: Thank you so much! I hope you like this chapter as well!

And that's all for this chapter! Thanks for reviewing and I hope you like this chapter as well!

Please review if you want to— I love reading from you guys, and honestly, it motivates me like no other :D

Stay safe and stay healthy!