Tanjiro and Gyutaro walked through the forest looking for the boy. "Hey kid, you out here?!" Gyutaro called, only to hear no answer. He turned to his Brother, "can you smell him?" he asked. Tanjiro sniffed, then shook his head and rubbed his nose, "the smell from the Hot Springs is too overpowering. I can't smell anything except the smell of Sulfer" he replied. They wandered around the forest for ages, before ending up back near where what they could now see was a doll. Then the Mist Hashira walked out of the clearing, "I'm done" was all he said. Tanjiro felt his blood boiling, and he turned to follow the younger boy, "hey! What right do you have to treat another person like that?!" he snapped.
"I'm busy, so go away" he replied. Then he disappeared into mist. "What?! Hey, get back here and apologize to that kid!" Tanjiro cried, running after the younger teen. "Hey, Tanjiro! Wait!" Gyutaro cried as he ran after his younger Brother.
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Eventually they ended up at a small house. It looked like a Wisteria House. Gyutaro and Tanjiro looked around, before the Oldest Kamado spotted someone. "Tanjiro, look!" he whispered, pointing. His younger Brother turned to look at where Gyutaro was pointing, "what?" he asked, before his eyes widened. Long black hair, with turquoise tips- yep, that was him. Tanjiro walked out of the bushes, fuming, "hey, you!" he called. "Just because you're a Hashira, that doesn't mean you go around breaking people's-" he started, only to stop when the boy turned around, revealing that he only had one hand. The other ended at a stump a bit before his wrist.
The boy blinked at them slowly, before opening his mouth to speak, "have you seen my Brother?" he asked. Tanjiro was speechless. This was obviously a different person, but who was it? And why did he look exactly like the Mist Hashira? "My name is Yuichiro. I'm looking for my Brother, Muichiro. I can't find him" the boy- Yuichiro explained in a dreamy sounding voice. Tanjiro took a deep breath and seemed to breathe out his anger. He smiled gently, "Is your Brother the Mist Hashira?" he asked gently. "Hashira?" Yuichiro asked, confused. "Is he a Demon Slayer?" Tanjro clarified. "Demon Slayer?" Yuichiro asked, tilting his head to the side, "uuuuum. I don't know. But I know my Brother left and hasn't come back yet. We have to get home soon otherwise Mom and Dad will be worried" Yuichiro replied, voice still high and dreamy.
"Yuichiro!" a familiar voice cried out furiously. The Kamado's turned to see the Mist Hashira standing behind them looking livid. Yuichiro smiled, "Brother! I've been looking for you" he called, rushing over to hug his twin. "What are you doing out here, you know you'll only get lost again! I told you to stay in the house the Village Chief gave us!" the other boy said. "But Mui, I couldn't find you. I didn't know where you were, so I got worried Brother" Yuichiro replied. Mui sighed, "I'm sorry for worrying you alright? But if anything happened to you, I'd never forgive myself!" he said, hugging his twin close. Yuichiro hugged his Brother back, "we're okay now. Because we're together" he said. There was a moment of silence, before Tanjiro decided to speak up, "I didn't know you had a twin Brother?"
The Mist Hashira glanced back at the Kamado's and back to his twin, before sighing, "come inside, I'll explain" he said, before taking Yuichiro by his remaining hand and leading him inside the house. Gyutaro and Tanjiro followed them in.
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Once inside, Yuichiro latched onto his Brother with his one remaining hand. Mui smiled softly and rubbed his twin's back softly, "there, there, I'm back now. See? I'm alright, so you don't have to worry about me anymore, okay?" he asked. Yuichiro leaned against the Hashira with a sigh. Then he turned to look at the Kamado's, "so? What do you want to know?" he asked coldly, a complete turn around from how he was with his Brother. "Why did you bring your obviously civilian Brother here, and why is he like- that?" Gyutaro asked. The Mist Hashira looked down, "it's a bit of a long story, and a personal one, so I'll just tell you that my Brother ended up like this due to a Demon that attacked us 2 years ago." He explained.
Both Gyutaro and Tanjiro looked at Yuichiro sadly. "Due to his injuries, his mind was damaged and he ended up like this. The closest analogy I can think of, is an old man. Yuichiro forgets things easily and he wanders around looking for me if I'm not with him. And he doesn't understand a lot of things. I've been taking care of him as much as I could since the attack, but sometimes I have to leave home. With my Brother's condition, it's actually safer for him if I bring him with me, so I can keep an eye on him and protect him." Mui looked down, "Yui is all I have left now, and I'm not going to let another Demon hurt him ever again. I will heal him. Somehow" he said, trembling. Yui crawled over to his twin, "are you cold Muichiro?" he asked, before hugging his Brother from behind, "I'll keep you warm Mui" he said with a vacant smile.
Muichiro gripped Yui's remaining hand, and held his stump. His face was haunted as he did, "thanks Yuichiro." He said softly. Tanjiro clenched his fists at the sight of the broken children in front of him. "We understand" he said softly, making Muichiro look up at him, "huh?" he asked. "Our Father died of illness a year before our Mother was killed by Muzan Kibustuji. All of us only survived because we were out at a neighbour's house that night. But our Sisters were turned into Demons. Even though they were, both Ume and Nezuko still retain their human hearts and emotions. They have never harmed us or any other humans. Our goal is to turn them both back into humans, and we'll do whatever it takes to make that happen.
And your goal is to heal your Brother's mind, right?" Tanjiro asked. Muichiro looked down at his Brother, who was now snuggling into his chest. He tightened his grip on him slightly. "I know you'll find a way to heal Yuichiro. As long as you don't give up on that goal, you'll find a way. And we won't give up either. We will turn Ume and Nezuko back into humans" he swore. Muichiro looked up at the Kamado Brothers, before he smiled warmly, "Yes. Let's both do our best" he said.
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The Kamado's left the Wisteria House and returned to where the boy was still was sitting, depressed over the mechanical doll. "My name is Kotetsu. My Ancestors made this doll. My Father used to be the caretaker of it, but then he died and I was the last one left. I'm sure if he were alive, he would be able to fix the doll. At least more than I can. But I'm no good with mechanical dolls. Or swords. I can't do any of that stuff, so then, what am I good for? What can someone like me do?" he asked, trembling. Tanjiro looked down at the boy, before bopping him on the head. Kotetsu yelped and held his head, "don't think like that. You're still young, you're learning. One day, you'll be able to do things that your Forefathers never could.
That's because we learn from the past, and do better for the future. Even if you can't fix the doll now, someday, you, or a member of your family will be able to do it. You have to believe that," Tanjiro began. He looked away, "our Sister's were turned into Demons. And Gyutaro and I have no guarantee that they'll get turned back into humans during our lifetimes. But still, maybe one of our other Siblings will be able to do it. We have to believe that" he said, closing his eyes, as Kotetsu looked up at him. Gyutaro took a shaky breath, trying to control his own emotions at this topic of conversation. Tanjiro then opened his eyes, and grabbed Kotetsu's hands, "so don't give up! Because one day, it will be fixed! Right?" he asked.
The young boy looked away in thought, before clenching his fists and standing up, "right, I'm going to try and fix the doll" he said in determination. "Yeah, that's the spirit!" Tanjiro cheered, following Kotetsu as he went to check on the doll.
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They found it slumped on the dirt, clearly beaten up more than it had been before. "Let's see if it works" Gyutaro suggested. They stood the doll back up and Kotetsu pulled out his key. He inserted it in the keyhole on the back of the doll's neck. For a moment they thought it was too broken to work. Then it started to move and drew it's swords. "Yeah! It's working!" Tanjiro cheered. "And it's all thanks to you guys!" Kotetsu said gratefully. "Oh! I just realised that we never introduced ourselves, did we? My name is Tanjiro Kamado, and this is my Older Brother Gyutaro" Tanjiro introduced them. There was a moment of silence, as he stared at the doll. "What's wrong?" Gyutaro asked curiously.
"Gyutaro, Tanjiro. I want you both to train with this doll. I want you to become strong enough to beat that bratty Hashira!" Kotetsu said, as veins popped all over his body in anger. "Wait, what?" Tanjiro asked. "We're starting right now!" the young boy said furiously. "Huh!?" Gyutaro asked, as the doll drew it's six swords and rushed towards them. "Aaaaahhhhhhh! No, wait!" Gyutaro shrieked as it swung one of it's swords at him.
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It had been three days of non-stop training with the doll. They hadn't even had time to sleep. Kotetsu had also wanted to withhold food and water from them until they managed to land a hit on the doll, but Gyutaro had explained that the human body couldn't function without them, so the younger boy scrapped that idea. Thankfully for the Kamado Brothers. The doll was hard enough to deal with with no sleep, Gyutaro didn't want to imagine the hell going without food and water on top of intense training would be. Well, he knew what it was like to go without food and water for days on end, and he didn't want to go through that again.
Because of it's multiple arms and ability to tell where they were, (seriously, it was a doll! How the hell was it doing that?!) it was like fighting a person, or a Demon who used swords and had multiple arms. Thanks to that way of thinking, Gyutaro found it a lot easier to deal with. Unfortunately for Tanjiro, his nose was still out of commission thanks to the Hot Spring smell, so, even if he could smell the doll's openings, the smell of sulfer was negating that option, so he was having an even harder time than his Older Brother. Fortunately, for the three days that they had been training, the doll had only been armed with practice sticks, so they were at less risk of being killed. Gyutaro got smacked in the ribs with a stick, while Tanjiro was hit in the back of the head, and went skidding forehead-first over the ground, wearing a rut in the dirt.
Gyutaro groaned and cradled his ribs with one hand, "shit! What the hell is up with this thing?! How does it know where we are, it's a fucking doll?!" he cried, incensed. "Brother, look out!" Tanjiro cried, as Gyutaro just barely managed to dodge the two clubs coming his way. His younger Brother on the other hand actually managed to deflect the club that was aiming for him with the sword he'd borrowed. "This fighting style seems familiar to me" he muttered. "Tanjiro, look out!" Gyutaro called. Tanjiro didn't notice the club heading for him and was smacked in the neck. Thankfully it didn't seem to break, but the younger Kamado collapsed. "Tanjiro!" Gyutaro cried, hurrying over to his younger Brother as the doll stopped moving.
He cradled his Brother in his arms, checking his neck. Thankfully the only damage was a massive bruise, and Tanjiro having been knocked unconscious. Gyutaro sighed in relief, but then he scowled up at Kotetsu, who had run over, "alright! That's enough for today, we're going back!" he said firmly, picking Tanjiro up to carry back. "What? But you have to keep training!" Kotetsu cried, incensed. The green-haired 27-year-old scowled at the boy, "look kid, we didn't come here to get killed. You're very lucky that my Brother was only knocked unconscious. That hit could have broken his neck. Tanjiro would either be paralysed for life or dead!" Gyutaro snapped, making the young boy step back in realisation.
He scoffed and turned to walk away, "thanks for the training, but we're out!" he said, leaving the clearing.
Ư*Ğ.Ķ
When they got back to the house they were staying at, Ume and Nezuko came running up to their Older Brothers. It was good that they'd closed all the windows before they'd left to find the Secret Weapon days ago. "What happened?!" Ume demanded upon seeing her younger Brother's condition, as Nezuko moaned worriedly through her muzzle. "I'll tell you later, right now, I have to go put Tanjiro to bed" Gyutaro explained. After he'd put Tanjiro into bed, with Nezuko kneeling at his bedside, Gyutaro told Ume what they had been doing for the last few days.
"I had no idea this Village had something like that. Are you two okay big Brother?" Ume asked worriedly. "I am, but Tanjiro took a pretty bad hit. I'm just glad that his neck seems mostly alright, besides swelling up with a big lump from the hit" Gyutaro sighed, glancing over at the other teen. He sighed again, "I'm going to get some sleep, wake me for dinner, okay?" he asked, before heading to his own futon to sleep. "Sure" Ume replied, glancing worriedly at her younger Siblings. It was a few hours later that Tanjiro woke up with a gasp. "I know how to beat the doll" he said seriously.
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And so, Tanjiro and Gyutaro found themselves training with the Yoriichi Type Zero again. "Are you sure about this Tanjiro?" Gyutaro asked as Kotetsu went to turn it on. Tanjiro held his borrowed sword out in front of himself in a ready stance, "I am. I can do it this time" he said firmly. The doll began moving at attacked the younger Kamado Brother, but this time, something was different. "Woah, he's dodging all the attacks!" Gyutaro cheered. Tanjiro leapt over the doll's head, now upside down, he swung his sword towards it's neck. "Don't worry about the doll!" Kotetsu suddenly cried, drawing Gyutaro's attention, "I'll fix it, no matter what! Now do it Tanjiro!" he cried.
Turning his attention back to his Brother, Gyutaro watched as he spun around it the air to dodge a sword and stuck the doll's neck. The borrowed sword he'd been using snapped in half, the blade spinning off several meters away. Tanjiro landing hard on his butt, making him clutch it in pain. "Brother!" Gyutaro cried as he and Kotetsu hurried over to the burgundy-haired 15-year-old. Suddenly the neck of the doll, which Tanjiro had cut cracked and fell apart, before the whole head did the same, revealing- "No way! Is that a sword?!" Gyutaro cried in confusion. "But, no one has broken the dolls head in 300 years!" Kotetsu wailed. Tanjiro stood up slowly, "so it's a sword, from 300 years ago?!" he yelped in shock.