Gyutaro walked down the road with Ume in her box on his back. He wouldn't say it out loud, but he was worried. The destination was so far away. If he died during this Mission, would his family even find out? Maybe he was being dramatic, but he had a very bad feeling. He had the same feeling the night their Mother was killed and their Sister's were turned into Demons. Now this Mission was giving him the same feelings. So it was likely to be deadly. He glanced back at the box where Ume was sleeping. Could he really take her into so much danger? After their last mission, he was doubting if he could do that again. Then his own words from the past, words Ume had spoken back to him when they'd moved out into their own house came back to him. 'Together you and I can't be beat. I'm never going to leave your side' Gyutaro clenched his fists around the box straps.

They would face whatever danger was waiting for them ahead and beat it. Together. Shaking himself out of those thoughts, he turned his mind back to what he had learned yesterday. A cure. A concrete way to turn their Sister's back into humans again. If this Demon Doctor could pull it off, he would be eternally grateful. To see their Sister's laughing and smiling in the sunlight again- he would do anything. It took several days to get to his destination, and when they did, Gyutaro found nothing. Just a flat grassy field. He frowned. Maybe Ume could find the Demon. Her senses had helped them find the last one. "Hey Ume. You think you could help me?" Gyutaro asked. "Mhm" was heard from inside the box. The Demon Slayer removed it from his back and his little Sister got out.

"Hmm?" she asked curiously. "I have no idea where the Demon we're after is. I thought you could find it with your enhanced senses" Gyutaro explained. Ume nodded in understanding and the Brother/Sister duo went around the field. Finally they stopped in one spot, Ume's veins bulging as she glared at the ground, a growl rumbling in her throat. "Thanks a lot Ume. I know you're a Demon, but I don't want you to get hurt fighting it," Gyutaro began, but his Sister latched onto his arm and wouldn't let go. "You're really determined to fight this one, aren't you?" he asked with a frown. With how Ume was reacting to the Demon, it couldn't just be a weak one.

Looks like his instinct was spot on. "Damn it, that bad feeling is getting worse" the green-haired Kamado could tell that this was no ordinary Demon even from here. His hands started shaking. He glanced down at them Fuck. If his body was reacting like this, then he may not be strong enough to kill this thing! Gyutaro clenched his teeth. Even so- an image of his younger Siblings laughing and happy, then an image of Rokuta playing with Kiriya flashed in his mind. "No matter how strong you are, I will not allow you to live! Not when my Siblings lives could be in danger! Now get the fuck out here you cowardly bitch!" Gyutaro yelled.

"Ha, ha, ha! So, my aura wasn't enough to scare you off. You must be a high-level Demon Salyer" the ground exploded, sending debris flying through the air. Ume growled louder, while Gyutaro covered his eyes to protect them from the dirt and dust. When it cleared, a Demon was standing in front of them. His hair was tied into four ponytails, and was brown and tipped with orange. He also had a strange green marking on his face. An in his eyes was the Kanji for Lower Six. Gyutaro felt a bead of sweat slide down his temple. This had been in Tanjiro's letter too. He spoke about a group of Demons who served under Muzan Kibutsuji called the Twelve Kizuki.

They were split into Upper and Lower Ranks, with the Upper Rank Demons being stronger than the Lower ones. He was trying to collect blood from them, so that the Demon Doctor could create the cure for Demonization. So this Demon was the weakest of the Kizuki. But still. Were they strong enough to kill, much less survive a battle with a 12-Kizuki so soon after they started slaying Demons? "I can see you shaking. You're terrified of me, aren't you?" the Lower Six sneered. Gyutaro grit his teeth and forced his body to stop shaking, "I'm not scared at all" he said calmly. "Too bad. If you were you would have been smart" the Demon replied. Ume growled, bringing the Lower Six's attention to her. "Hey!" Gyutaro snapped, and the Demon turned his gaze back to him, "I'm your opponent! Don't even think about attacking her!" he hissed furiously, determined to keep his little Sister from getting hurt this time.

"What is this?" the enemy Demon asked, "why are a Demon and Demon Slayer working together?" he asked, confused. "You'll never have a chance to find out!" Gyutaro cried, swinging his scythe. He had to protect Ume this time! No matter what. Suddenly the Lower Six vanished. 'So fast! Where did he go?!' he thought, looking around frantically. "Too bad for you that you had to face me" the Demon said from behind him. "HmmhmMh!" Ume cried fearfully, moving to block the attack. Suddenly her arm was nearly severed at the shoulder, hanging on by a chunk of flesh. "UME!" Gyutaro cried, horrified, as she was kicked away. He turned back to the Lower 6 Demon with murder in his eyes. "Weak. Very weak. Her regeneration isn't even at the level of a lower Demon, much less one like me" the Demon said, disappointed. The he easily dodged a swipe at his neck by Gyutaro and kicked him hard in the stomach, sending him skidding back several meters.

The oldest member of the Kamado Siblings coughed as he felt the air leave his lungs. That would definitely leave a massive bruise later. 'Calm down. You can't just attack him wildly. Use your Breathing Techniques. Otherwise what was all that training for?! Protect Ume until she can heal!' Gyutaro thought. His stomach ached fiercely, but he forced himself to breathe deeply, 'Recovery Breathing! Get your Breathing back under control!' he thought. 'Stone-Breathing, Fourth Form: Volcanic Rock, Rapid Conquest!' Gyutaro caused both the weight and Sickle to hit the Demon from both sides. His arms were cut off. The Kamado looked on with hope, 'I actually landed an effective hit!' he rushed towards the Lower Rank, 'don't stop! Keep fighting! You have to, for our family!' he thought. 'Stone-Breathing, Second Form-' however, just as he was about to attack again, black flames nearly engulfed him.

He threw both ends of his weapon behind him to stop his momentum. "Well, good job you brat," the Demon's voice called through the flames as he stepped out of them, "you have completely pissed me off!" he growled. He manipulated the flames into a massive ball of black fire. "This attack will incinerate you. I don't like using my Blood Demon Art, because there's nothing left to eat. But I'll make an exception for you. Die!" he cried, as he threw the fire ball at Gyutaro. The 27-year-old could do nothing but stare at the ball of death coming at him, 'I-I can't stop this, and it's too big to dodge,' the faces of his Siblings once again flashed through his mind, 'I'm- sorry, everyone. This is goodbye' he thought in despair. Just before he could be incinerated, Ume jumped in front of him. Gyutaro's eyes widened, "no!" he screamed as the fireball engulfed them. He stopped and blinked, ass he saw the flames parting around the two of them in a large dome shape.

Gyutaro gasped, as he turned his attention to Ume, who had her arms up, a faint trace of light pulsing in her palms. "Ume, you-" he muttered, staring at his little Sister. The flames cleared, showing the two Siblings completely unharmed by the attack. "What the fuck?! How?! No one survives my Blood Demon Art!" he cried, shocked and confused. Gyutaro ran at him, as did Ume. "You stubborn Assholes! Fucking die already!" the Demon screamed furiously. He aimed a kick at Gyutaro, who jumped over it. Then he punched the human's leg out of frustration. Gyutaro screamed in pain, but slammed his Scythe onto the Lower Six's neck. Ume appeared on his other side, and kicked him in the ribs, the momentum causing his neck to be sliced through by the Scythe. As he did, an explosion of black flames burst from the Demon's body and engulfed both Kamado Siblings.

Ư*Ğ.Ķ

Gyutaro and Ume were on the ground, Ume crouching protectively over her Older Brother, her Blood Demon Art protecting them from the torrent of black flames that had tried to burn them to ashes. The dome-like shield faded away, and Ume sat up. However, when she looked over her Brother, she found his face screwed up in agony, and his leg to be bent at an unnatural angle. "Hmmm!" she cried worriedly. Ume didn't know what to do. She couldn't calm down enough to think. Big Brother was hurt and there was no on around to help! Ume shook her head, if there was no one to help them, she had to find someone! She ran through the trees, desperate. Suddenly she sensed two more Demons coming her way. She stopped, getting ready to fight.

However, no Demons appeared in front of her, and she relaxed, confused. Suddenly a rip of paper was heard and a Demon woman appeared in front of her. "Lady Tamayo!" a voice cried, before a second Demon appeared. This one was a worried and angry-looking teen. Ume got ready to fight, before the woman spoke, "your name is Ume Kamado, correct? We've met your younger Brother and Sister, Tanjiro and Nezuko already. Tanjiro told us about you. Why are you here? Where is your Older Brother?" she asked. Ume tilted her head to the side, 'they know our Brother and Sister. And they don't seem to be enemies. I don't get the same feeling from them as I do other Demons. Can I trust them to help Gyutaro?' she wondered.

Finally, she decided that she could trust them. Ume pointed to where he Brother was, pulling on the other woman's sleeve. "Hmm! Hmm!" she cried urgently. "Does someone need help?" Tamayo asked. Ume pulled her along, the three Demons hurrying to where Gyutaro was still lying on the ground. "Oh my. Yushiro, hurry!" Tamayo ordered. "Right!" the other Demon said, pulling things out of a large bag. Ume looked over her Brother. Gyutaro's face was scrunched up in agony. "Ume- Ume!" he cried, reaching for her. "Hmm!" she cried, grabbing his hand and holding it as tight as she could without hurting him. "Alright, his leg is broken, so we need to splint it" Tamayo said. Ume watched as the other two Demons pulled out some pieces of wood and a large roll of bandages. "Alright. First I need to snap his leg back into place so we can splint it, do you understand?" Tamayo asked.

Ume nodded. She watched as the other Demon, Yushiro, took hold of her Brother's leg, and Tamayo placed a cloth into Gyutaro's mouth. "Alright. Are you ready?" she asked, as the green-haired human moaned through the cloth gag. Ume nodded, holding her Brother's hand with both of hers. Tamayo held down the man's other leg and, then Yushiro snapped Gyutaro's leg back into place with a sickeningly loud *CRACK*. Gyutaro screamed through the cloth, trying to thrash around due to the pain. Ume hugged him to keep him from hurting himself. 'It's okay. You're okay' she thought, stroking his hair as he slowly calmed down. Now, her Older Brother had a high pain tolerance, but having his leg broken and then snapped back into place was not the kind of thing he was used to.

Gyutaro passed out in moments. Ume released him, whining in worry. "He'll be alright Ume. But we need to get him to our new Clinic soon" Tamayo reassured her. Yushiro swiftly splinted her Brother's leg, and Tamayo went to pick him up. However, Ume shook her head before grabbing him and picking him up. "Alright Ume. You can carry him there" she said with a reassuring smile. The three Demons left the clearing with the unconscious human in tow.

Ư*Ğ.Ķ

They took the Siblings to an empty building in a nearby town, Yushiro setting everything up while Ume gently set her Older Brother onto an operating table. After a few minutes, Tamayo entered the room wearing a white smock over her Kimono, "you might not want to be here for this Ume" Tamayo said. But she shook her head and clung to Gyutaro's hand. "Alright" the Demon Doctor replied. She turned to Yushiro, "let's begin" she said.

Ư*Ğ.Ķ

Ume had to try really hard to control herself while the two worked on her Older Brother's leg, since there was a lot of blood. Drool was constantly dripping from her mouth, as her stomach growled with hunger. She stared at the wall above where Gyutaro was laying, clenching her fists as her head spun with the desire to eat. The smell of the blood wasn't helping her control herself, but she refused to leave her Brother. The other two Demon's were focused solely on their task, and didn't seem to be affected by the blood. Finally, after an agonizing two hours the operation was over. Gyutaro was still asleep, and Ume managed to calm herself down. Tamayo walked up to the young Demon woman, who was shaking, "are you alright?" she asked. "Hmm" she moaned through her gag. The other Demon handed her a pen and writing pad, "can you write?" she asked.

Ume looked at the items, before she began to write. When Tamayo took the pad, it read: thank you for helping my big Brother. I'm sorry about that, the blood was just getting to me.' Tamayo looked at Ume, "I see. Well, maybe I could help with that" she replied. Ume looked at the other Demon with confusion. "I altered my body to only need a small amount of human blood, instead of eating humans fully. I understand you get most of your energy by sleeping, so with this alteration, you would only need a very small amount of blood, and sleeping would do the rest. Well? what do you think?" Tamayo asked. Ume looked down, then touched her muzzle. "You wouldn't need that anymore either" the Doctor added. The Kamado looked up and nodded. Tamayo smiled, "alright. We'll wait until your Brother recovers enough to wake up first, okay?" she asked. Then she went back into the other room. Ume wondered what her family would think when they saw her next.

To Be Continued