Together Forever

(Don't you hate when you edit everything at 3am and it doesn't save so you have to do it again at 7:40? Enjoy.)

"Wait, I think I get it! It's that stupid bamboo muzzle she has to wear!" They were walking down a secluded street and the boys were still stuck on this guy calling Nezuko an eyesore. Jikon just came to the conclusion of how this guy would've ever thought Nezuko was anything less than perfect.

Tanjiro followed that train of thought with the same level of outrage. "Yeah! If you could just see her without this stupid thing!" While Tanjiro tried to pull the muzzle out of his sister's mouth the Demon boy walked through the wall in front of them, he didn't break it down and walk past the rubble, but he went through the wall as if it wasn't even there.

"What the?!"

"Hurry it up." He popped his head out to call them again. "While nobody's looking." Jikon put a hand to the wall and quickly fell through. He saw a large house with a yard surrounding it and a strange symbol on a piece of paper.

Tanjiro and Nezuko came through the wall next in equal shock. "I could've sworn that street was a dead end!"

"I could've sworn that wall was real!"

"Pay attention." Their guide brought their attention to him again. "Now make sure you don't offend Her in any way." He zipped up to Tanjiro's face. "Personally I don't care what happens to either of you!" He got in Jikon's face next. "I only brought you here at Her request!"

Jikon responded to that threat by simply pushing his sword slightly out of its covering. The slightest glint of metal was visible. "Don't think I won't fight you. Demon or not you won't threaten us." His change in tone from defending Nezuko made the boy in front of him make a noise halfway between a groan and affirmation.

Two knocks on the door and they waited for a response. "Come in."

The door opened and their guide spoke. "I've returned my lady, there was one more than we thought."

"Actually there's my brother Koujo too, but he'll figure out a way here." Jikon saw the elegant woman sitting next to a human woman and figured that she was the lady of this house.

"I'm glad you all made it." Her voice was like silk.

"Sorry I had to leave everything for you to take care of. How's she doing?" Tanjiro said with a step forward. Worry in his voice.

"She'll be fine. Unfortunately her husband has to be locked up, he's restrained in the basement."

Tanjiro blinked and asked a question he'd regret. "Isn't it hard to treat humans? All that blood." The hand against his chest from the demon beside him is where the regret kicked in.

"Do you think that because she's a demon she can't control herself? Drooling because-" He earned an elbow to his side, courtesy of Jikon.

"Don't hit my friend."

"Enough. Why would you resort to violence so quickly?" She stood up. "I never introduced myself. I am Tamayo, and this is Yushiro. I hope you three can be friends." Jikon and Tanjiro looked at the demon boy beside them who was silently fuming over what just happened.

'Probably won't happen.' Jikon thought.

"It isn't all that hard, at least not for me. I've changed my physiology from that of other demons. And I've removed Kibutsuji's curse."

The boys were confused at that one but they waited for further explanation. She removed the white gown from herself and walked to another door. "Please follow me." Nezuko laid herself down on their floor to Tanjiro's immediate attention, he tried to stop her from being rude but Tamayo said she could make herself feel at home. "As I was saying, I made several adjustments to our bodies so we can live without harming humans. We only need the smallest amount of human blood."

"Blood? So that means…" Jikon was wary about the mention of them still needing blood.

"I understand your concern but it's not what you think. I simply ask the poor to donate some of theirs under the guise of needing it for transfusions, and I'd never take more than necessary for them to live normally."

A quick sniff of the air from Tanjiro proved that she wasn't telling any lies about how they maintained themselves, and Jikon quickly realized that neither of them had the same scent as a normal demon either. 'They still need human blood, but then what does that mean for his sister?' Said Kamado sibling was currently pushing herself back and forward on the floor.

"Yushiro can get by with even less blood than me, since I'm the one who turned him into a demon."

That was news. "You turned him? How?" Tanjiro questioned.

"As far as anyone knows, the only one who can create demons is Kibutsuji. That's fairly correct. It took me over two hundred years and I was only able to turn him."

Hold on a moment. That's a very long time to live. "Two- Two hundred years? It took you two hundred years before you figured out how to transform one person?! How old are you, Miss Tamayo? Ofk!" Yushiro hit Tanjiro square in the chest.

"You should know better than to ask a lady her age!" He kept hitting him in the chest but there was intervention on someone else's part.

"Quit hitting my friend!"

Jikon punched Yushiro dead in the face and the two ended up rolling into a classic fight ball around the room. The sound of them constantly coming to blows and Jikon's focused exhalations filled the room until someone spoke up against their rash decisions. "Yushiro!" The fight ball stopped and revealed the two reeling their hands back. "If you hit either of those boys again I'll make you regret it!" The two fixed themselves as if there wasn't even a fight.

"Yes ma'am!" He thought about how his Lady was perfect even when she was angry.

The two of them were still tense but they followed her rule either way. "Allow me to clarify. My goal isn't to make more demons. I only do so when necessary for the terminally ill or injured, whenever they won't survive. And I make sure to ask if they'd truly rather live as a demon."

"Miss Tamayo, once someone becomes a demon… is there a way to turn them back?"

The soft tingling of a bell followed by the bouncing of a ball. The demon with arrow eyes was low to the ground with his hands exploring the soil. "You see anything?" The ball Demon asked.

"Yes… I can see their footprints. Right this way. Four of them going that way, one carrying an oversized box." She threw her ball high into the air then started bouncing it against the ground.

"I wonder how we should kill them… I can feel the blood he gave me coursing through my body." She laughed maniacally.

The Arrow Eye Demon raised his hand. "Of course we have to be ruthless when we kill them."

"A way to make a demon turn human again? There is."

Tanjirō immediately moved forward and asked his question. "Please tell me how!"

"You keep your distance!" Yushiro grabbed Tanjiro's arm and started to spin. "From Lady Tamayo!"

"Quit hurting my friend!" Jikon intervened and threw the three of them into a rolling ball of anger and confusion.

They quickly stopped once they felt the powerful aura in the room and they all turned to see a… displeased Tamayo. "Yushiro…"

"I didn't hit anyone, I simply grappled!"

"Neither is acceptable of either of you!"

"Right!" Yushiro was scared of displeasing his Lady again and so he sat upright without another word.

"Yes ma'am!" Jikon said in the same fear that Yushiro showed.

Tanjiro recovered from the pain of hitting the floor so many times and asked his question of how to turn a demon back into a human.

Tamayo sighed. "There's always a medicine or treatment no matter the wound or ailment. Honestly, I don't know how to turn a demon back into a human yet. But there must be a way." That was the answer they were given and it was what they'd have to accept. "I promise that we will find it, we are devoted to finding such a treatment. Towards that end I'd like to ask you both a favor. To find a cure I'd need to study the blood of several demons, so I'd actually need two favors of you. First I'd like permission to study your sister's blood, second I need more samples. I'd like you to retrieve them from demons as closely related to Kibutsuji as possible."

"You're asking us to get blood from demons that could kill us in one hit?" Jikon really stuck to asking the right questions. "Demons that are close to Kibutsuji would have to be way stronger than anything we've fought."

Yushiro had a tick mark on his forehead and he was grinding his teeth. 'Interrupting Lady Tamayo like that!'

"I understand that it isn't a simple request but to research such a cure not just for Nezuko, but for anyone who wants to return to being a human…"

Tanjiro realized the implication. "That would save so many people in the end!"

Tamayo smiled. "Yes it will."

Tanjiro blushed but Yushiro came even closer with his grinding teeth and growling. He gasped and felt a disturbance. "Get down!" He covered his Lady while everyone else hit the deck themselves.

"So did you decide how we'd kill them?" Arrow Demon asked.

Temari Demon caught her ball with a gleeful smile. "Ruthlessly!" She flung the ball again and smashed another part of the building. Her weapons returned and she started bouncing them on the dirt. "You were right after all Yahaba, this building came out of nowhere."

"Someone who can use a blood demon art that hides things. But what is this? We're tracking a Demon Slayer but there's this presence… is he with demons?"

"Isn't this fun?"

He raised his left eye-hand and grumbled. "I have to say Susamaru, you're very reckless with getting things done. You got dust on my kimono!" She just threw more of her weapons and smashed even more of the house into rubble. "You're getting more on me!"

"You're fine, it's just dust. Who cares about that when we found what we were looking for?" Through the rubble and debris of the house there were two Demon Slayers looking straight at Susamaru. "Found you!"

"She threw that temari and did all this?" Jikon said with a hand on his sword.

'That woman, did Kibutsuji send her to do this?!' Yushiro acted to protect his Lady once a ball came for her but it swerved to his side and blasted his head away.

"Yushiro!" Tanjiro may have been assaulted by him but he didn't want to see him get hurt. "Nezuko, get the lady sleeping in the back room outside!"

Tamayo objected. "That's too dangerous. We have a basement so take her there!" Nezuko grunted and ran off to get the woman out of harm's way.

"One down, four to go." Susumaru said as the Demon Slayer boys stood up and took their stances. "Oh, a Slayer with Hanafuda earrings? Just who we're after."

"Tanjiro, what did you do to make them come after you? Oh wait… You threatened Kibutsuji."

The Temari Demon flung her weapon and it soared right for the pair of them. 'I can soften the blow if I impact it directly. The fastest thrust.' He inhaled and prepared his technique. 'Shichi no kata: Shizuku Hamon Tsuki Kyoku!' (Drop ripple thrust curve). Tanjiro's attack managed to stab right through the ball and stop it in its tracks. Unfortunately whatever was affecting the balls decided to act and cause it to hit him in the face harmlessly before dislodging from his sword.

"How the hell do they do that?" Jikon sliced it in half before it could go back to its sender. "She isn't putting a spin on them so how do they move so unnaturally?"

"L-Lady Tamayo!" Yushiro regenerated half of his skull. "I tried to tell you that we shouldn't get involved with Demon Slayers! My concealment spell isn't perfect, you know that as well as I do! I can hide buildings, people, and their scent, but I can't hide the fact that they exist!" More of his head came into existence. "If our numbers are greater then we leave a better trace, and the odds of us being found are higher!"

Two people walked down the alleyway, stumbling over their own feet. The celebration definitely put liquid courage into their systems. One was a man with black hair and the other was a woman with luscious brown hair. "W-Wow… I didn't think we'd drink so much Y-Yusa…" His woman was holding him up around the shoulders and laughing at something she found funny.

"You had t-twelve shots in a minute Moda- Modashi…" Yusa kept them walking until they saw something in their way. "What's that?"

Modashi got himself free of his woman's help and investigated with Yusa slowly stumbling behind him. "It's a kid… he's got a weird mask too…" He felt the clothes that this kid was wearing and he squinted his eyes in thought. "He's got some nice- Nice clothes… How much you got on you kid?" He started picking through his pockets and looking for anything of value.

Yusa finally got close enough to take the mask off this kid and see his face in all its glory. "He- He's cute…"

"Oh w- Well we did always wanna try that thing, yo- you know the one where I watch? Let's wake him up and ask if he'd be in on it" This was getting weird very fast. Yusa started laughing to herself all the while Modashi's eyes landed on something interesting. "Is that a- a sword?" He reached his hand out to grab the object and felt the hilt of it. He pulled his arm back but it didn't have the sword in it. "Wait wh- Oh- OH GOD!" Being so inebriated prevented his brain from logging the pain but the obvious fact of his mangled arm couldn't be ignored.

"Why are you yelling? The… your arm!" Yusa hurried to Modashi's side and held his arm firmly in place, he was lucky to be drunk. They both felt an overwhelming presence behind them and slowly turned their heads around to see a mask staring back at them. "We- We're sorry! We thought-"

The figure went from the ground to the rooftops in one leap and from where they left the view of the two drunkards fell a roll of brown bandages.

He could smell where they went, and he heard who they were after so it was all up to finding them. There was a small interruption in that plan when he saw an old man being mugged in an alleyway.

"I know you've got something on you! Where's the money you-" Something impacted the ground behind him and made the lowlife turn around to see what it was. "Oh some rich kid playing hero?" The old man hurried away in his assailant's distraction. He pulled out a chain and started swinging it around only to fling it at whoever this guy was. They raised their arm and the chain wrapped around it without a problem. "You actually tried to block the- hey wait a secoOOAAAH!"

He got pulled in close and he saw a clenched fist that would end this scuffle. End it hard. He punched the man hard enough to knock him into the wall, and he was out cold before he even hit it. A sweet smell hit his nostrils and he began to salivate beneath his mask. A taste couldn't hurt anyone could it? It would be quick so there wasn't any- "Focusss!" He hit the sides of his head when that voice spoke to him. "Find!" He jumped out of the alley and continued his hunt.

"First she grew more arms and now there's more Temari!" Jikon was dodging and cutting as many of the projectiles as he could even when Yushiro and Tamayo had chunks blown out of them.

"Hey! Idiot Slayers! The arrows will tell you where they're going, dodge the arrows!" Yushiro called out what he could see but that confused the Demon Slayers.

"Arrows?" Jikon cut another ball in half and was hit by an incredibly reduced force.

"What arrows?" Tanjiro asked.

Yushiro groaned. "I'm lending you both my sense of sight. That should at least let you kill the Temari woman!" He flung two talismans at them and they planted onto their foreheads. Their vision was filled with flying red arrows.

The both of them could dodge now that they knew where the threats were coming from, and it was easy to get out of the way beforehand. "Thanks Yushiro! We can see the arrows now!"

"Nezuko! Let's go outside, you and Jikon can take the one in the tree!" Tanjiro said as they all funneled outside and went for their targets.

The Temari returned to their owner with chiming bells. "You are the Slayer with Hanafuda earrings, no doubt. I'll take your head off and bring it to him!" She laughed and flung all six of her projectiles and Tanjiro made himself hard to chase by running across the ground and even up the sides of the house. 'How much longer you two?'

Nezuko saw their target first and she spun to kick him twice. "Hnng! Hmmggh! Hm!" He blocked the strikes but those were the appetizers.

"Minamo Giri!" (Water Surface Slash).

"Quit stirring up dust. You're all filthy!" He held up his eye-hands and they slammed shut. Some force pushed the both of them back right where they came from.

The arrows disappeared and the Temari could only travel in one direction. 'They're gone!' Tanjiro inhaled and prepared his technique. Rushing water flowed from his blade and he started the complicated footwork he needed. 'San no kata: Ryūryū Mai!' (Third form: Flowing Dance). He sliced each of the weapons apart then approached Susamaru and with two slashes he removed all the arms from her body. "Miss Tamayo, are these two closely related to Kibutsuji?"

"Most likely."

"Then I'll get you their blood for sure!"

Susamaru laughed at that notion. "If you think you can extract blood from us Twelve Kizuki then go ahead and try!"

Yushiro gave advice where it was needed. "Watch your back! Keep your guard up! If they're really some of the Twelve Kizuki then they'll be stronger than any other demon you've faced thus far!" He turned to his right while Tanjiro repeated that advice to himself. "Lady Tamayo. Let's escape while they're all distracted."

"Ah…" Her face spoke without words.

"I'm just kidding!"

Her arms regenerated and Tanjiro contemplated how quick she could heal, right then Nezuko and Jikon fell on top of him. "Perfect! Die together!" She threw another Temari and it would've been their end if they didn't move.

"Hey Slayers!" Yushiro called. "You two handle the Arrow guy first! We can take the Temari woman!"

Tanjiro and his sister sat up. "Nezuko, don't push yourself too hard." Jikon was on his feet beside Tanjiro and they all took off.

"Let's go!"

They rushed the Arrow Demon and both of them sensed the opening thread. "Filthy… Don't touch me!" He raised his hand and the eye slammed shut right when they went for their slashes. An arrow pushed the two of them back and they missed their attacks. The problem was when they were sent flying backwards and in opposing directions all through the air.

They flew all over the place without any clear pattern or direction until one last arrow took Tanjiro high into the air and Jikon towards the house. "Not good! I have to break my fall! Takitsubo!" (Waterfall Basin).

"Sorry about the house Miss Tamayo! Shizuku Hamon Tsuki!" (Drop Ripple Thrust). Jikon stopped his impact into the house by thrusting his sword into the wall, granted his right shoulder was still in a world of pain from the sudden stop but it was better than all his bones breaking.

Nezuko dodged each ball that came her way while Yushiro ran towards Susamaru then disappeared. "Where'd he go?!"

"Hrraah!" With some well placed strikes he brought her to her knees then reappeared. "Thanks to you Lady Tamayo is in pain. And I'll never forgive that!"

Yahaba stopped his preparation to process that name. "Tamayo? Susamaru, can you believe our luck? We found Tamayo, the fugitive. She'll make quite a souvenir."

"Yes she will." She flung all her Temari outwards and Nezuko evaded then reeled her foot back.

"Don't!"

"You can't kick them!" They tried to stop her but she lost her leg from the knee down and flopped to the ground.

"Ha!" She was about to kick Nezuko into the house again but something got in her way. "What the?!" Pain exploded in her stomach and blood left her mouth from the impact. A combo that involved punches to her stomach and chest that ended with a kick to send her crashing into the brick wall around the property!

Nezuko looked up and saw a familiar accessory before she was carefully thrown into the house where it was presumed as safe.

"So we can see his arrows, we see the opening thread too. We have to land a direct hit otherwise he'll keep tossing us like toys." Jikon assessed their situation right when Yahaba decided to slam his palm-eyes shut more and more. The two dodged the arrows as well as they could but Tanjiro tried to cut one and Jikon got caught at the leg. Both of them went flying, one into a brick wall and the other into a tree.

'What can we do?!' Tanjiro thought as he abandoned his haori. Jikon recovered and evaded another arrow to get even closer. An arrow went around Tanjiro's arm and one around Jikon's leg, coiled like cobras ready to bite.

"According to plan. You know what they say, an arm and a leg!" The boys quickly ran up trees and spun their bodies to match the arrow's directional patterns. "Clever monkeys. Spinning the same way as the arrows."

"Tanjiro, you thinking about it too?"

"Yeah, blending our moves!" Tanjiro rushed forward first

"Tch! Your plans won't work! Time to die!" He started slamming his eyes shut again but this time they were ready.

Tanjiro had his own idea. 'The sixth form to envelop the arrow!' He ran forward as fast as his legs would take him. 'Then I use the footwork of the third form!' He twisted and used the force of each arrow to increase his rotational strength. 'Twist! Wind up! Twisting Whirlpool Flowing water!' A massive whirlpool surrounded him, strengthened by the force of the arrows.

Jikon tensed his legs and summoned all of his might to bound for each arrow headed his way. 'Use the motions of the fourth form to catch the arrows…' He twisted and contorted to guide each arrow with his weapon. 'Then once I'm close enough-' He used another burst of power through his lower body and took a mighty inhale of breath. 'Use the seventh form with it for massive damage!' Ripples appeared in the air before Yahaba and water flowed behind Jikon's sword as he used his might to raise it higher. 'These things are heavy, but I have to stop any more arrows!' The Demon raised his hands and that was exactly what he shouldn't have done. 'Jūichi no kata: Ōame!' (Eleventh form: Heavy rainfall). It was worthy of being a new form. The end result of mixing rapid consecutive but simultaneous strikes with powerful thrusts? He blew holes straight into Yahaba's body, and the eyes on his hands in an instant.

'Ni no kata: Yoko Mizu Guruma!' (Second form improved: Lateral water wheel). With a violent spin and rush of water he separated a Demon from his head. The force of both their attacks sent them both crashing to the ground at the same time as Yahaba's body and severed head.

"Did we win?" Jikon sat up when an angry demon raised his hands for a last resort.

"You two brats ruined everything! Now my face is filthy from this dirt! I swear I'll kill both of you if it's the last thing I do!" This time his eyes had arrows in every direction and then they slammed shut. The boys had arrows in every direction through their bodies.

They flew off in different directions with an even greater force than any before now. "He's really throwing it all at us!"

"This is even stronger than anything he threw at us! I have to use every form to survive this." Tanjiro readied himself for this assault. "Striking tide!" Tanjiro smashed part of the brick wall only to be sent off again.

"Water wheel!" Jikon stopped his upward travel only to go careening to the sides.

It would've been funny if they weren't going to die the moment they let up, how they were being sent back and forth like playthings. Every direction they went there was a splash of water that stopped them, for a second, then it was back to being flung around. Luckily for them the sender of those arrows finally disintegrated and they fell to the ground. "We won… But there's still another dem- Wait. That smell." Jikon picked up that scent… that unmistakable smell. He struggled to move, and really fought to even grab his sword. "Damn! Using all those techniques took everything out of me."

Tanjiro struggled the same and resulted in biting his sword to keep a grip on it. 'There's still the temari demon! We have to- Help!'

"So you're really interested in fighting one of the Twelve Kizuki? So be it!" She flung another Temari at the idiot who actually had the nerve to hit her directly. He decided to try and catch the ball bare handed. It was a bad idea.

"Idiot!" Yushiro yelled from right behind him. Nezuko had just rushed from the house with Tamayo standing by the hole in the wall.

"No, don't!" That was the second time they tried to stop someone from making contact with those Temari and it still didn't work. His hand blew off and slammed into his mask, shattering part of it over his left eye.

He held his face with his left hand and in a frightening show his right hand regenerated just as fast as her arms had earlier. "Thank you for… Knocking some sense into me." He uncovered his eye and it put fear into Susamaru's heart.

"Y-You can't be- You died!"

His red eye was like fire and its white pupil focused on his target. "I did, but I lived." He turned to Nezuko and patted her on the head.

"Who are you? You're a demon but you just saved that girl from being hurt." Said girl came closer to Yushiro and started rubbing his hair affectionately. "Cut that out!"

"She remembers me very well, but I had actual brown hair then… and I was color blind." He took off his mask and revealed his entire face to the Temari Demon. His brown hair was now a dark red with bright red at the tips, in all resembling fire.

More veins bulged across her body and her muscle mass grew. "You should be dead! You should've died from all that blood! Now you're here helping them! A waste of His blood!" She readied another ball. "Don't worry, you'll get blown apart by one of the Twelve Kizuki until morning!" She threw the ball at him but Nezuko interrupted and kicked it away from him. "This is so fun!" She threw two more of her weapons at the pair. This time he caught the one aimed at him with his right hand and Nezuko kicked hers back as hard as she could.

"You're really strong, but you aren't one of the Kizuki." He threw the Temari back and she barely caught it because of her confusion.

"The hell did you say?!" She threw another one and Nezuko returned it with an even stronger kick. "You think you can mess with me just cause you can return my Temari?" She kicked it back but he cut it off with his own kick that made her put her back into returning it.

"I'm sorry that I had to tell you, but I know that a Kizuki would've won already!" They were in a kicking match. He'd kick it to her and she'd return it where Nezuko would intercept and return it. The cycle continued for a few rounds.

"Lady Tamayo, what did you do to them?" Yushiro asked.

"I used a recovery serum for demons but all it did was heal her, this is all Nezuko's power." Nezuko was putting everything she had into returning a very roughly kicked temari. The ball shot back and Susamaru had to work to return it herself.

"But what about the boy? He just arrived and somehow he's matching these two."

That she didn't have an answer to. Context clues lead her to believe that this was the brother of one of the Demon Slayers in their company but at no point did he say that he was a demon with self control as well.

"My mom fought one of the lower moons and lost her arm against them!" He clenched his fist and slammed his left foot into the ground, sending rocks flying. "But she still managed to kill them." Bright flames surrounded his right arm as he focused his breathing. Veins bulged on his face and his white pupils turned to slits, he bared his fangs to display what he'd become. "She said that a Kizuki has their number and position as lower or Upper on their eyes!" He punched the ball with all his power and the wind pressure was felt by everyone near him. The flames heated the air around him and he grit his sharpened teeth in preparation for his counter. "You're strong, but you aren't any Kizuki!" The ball went back at her and devastated the brick wall behind her.

'Whatever their case, they're both very strong as it is. Alone I'm not sure they'd manage to win against her but together their odds are much higher… but not guaranteed.' Tamayo thought. 'I'll have to intervene.'

"This really is something… You're both really strong. Guess I'll have to go all out against you. Maybe then I'll move up to being a Kizuki when I bring my Lord your heads!" All her hands had Temari in them but Tamayo stepped forward.

"I have a question for you. Only one, that's all I ask."

"Get it out of the way and then move!" She didn't appreciate her fun being interrupted by a deserter.

"Do you know the truth about Kibutsuji?" Yushiro took a step closer to his Lady's side as she asked the question and the demon felt nothing but anger.

"What the hell do you mean by that?"

"He's a coward. Nothing more. He's constantly afraid."

"How dare you, shut up!" Her head was starting to be dug into by these accusations towards her master.

Tamayo was really playing her like an instrument. "Do you know why demons can't group up? Or why they cannibalize each other? He doesn't want us to team up and attack him. He manipulates demons by fear, demons like you."

"Shut your mouth! He has no reason to be so petty."

Yushiro noticed something amiss and saw Tamayo's arm. 'Of course, Lady Tamayo is casting a spell.'

"He wields mind blowing power! Nobody is stronger than him, not Lord Ki-" A knee slammed into her stomach and stopped the fatal error she nearly made.

Tanjiro and Jikon just managed to crawl onto the scene and watch as their misplaced partner finally arrived. "You almost fell for something that stupid!" He swung his hand into her neck and knocked her out with that simple chop.

"What are you doing?!" Yushiro was furious at seeing him just incapacitate the woman who dared hurt Lady Tamayo.

She landed against his body but he froze in place with everyone watching him. "What is he doing?" Tanjiro took his sword from his teeth and watched from the ground as their partner held the multi-armed demon and tilted her head to the side. "Is he?!"

"Wait a second!" Jikon didn't plan on seeing cannibalism that night but it looked that way. He bared his sharpened fangs and bit down onto the unconscious demon's neck. "When- When did he turn into a demon?!"

Some memories can't be found after some time but he wasn't looking for memories. He'd already done it himself on his deathbed so now it was up to him to help this victim… Otherwise his mom would rip his head off herself. He heard the sound of a bell and smelled an opening thread. He turned and saw it, the same one as his. A crimson thread right in front of him, alone in the void he was standing in. Cool blue water with white foam coursed with his blade and he dashed towards the problem with one goal in mind. To sever it like he had his own.

"Cut the past out so you can only go forward."

A flowing stream showed his pathway and he focused all of his will into this singular strike. He didn't know for sure but his instincts told him that if it wasn't perfect then it wouldn't do anything at all against the thread. He was right on it when he made his move.

"I'll break this cord!"

The thread was sliced in two with rushing water following his slash. Around him the void slowly turned into a dirty street with run down houses up and down the block. He heard the sound of a ball bouncing against a wall and he turned to see a girl standing there, repeatedly bouncing a temari against the side of an abandoned house. Nobody to play with her. He walked over and when she bounced the ball again he caught it. She didn't even register him being there, as if she was so engrossed with blankly bouncing the ball that he just didn't exist. He tossed it to her waiting hands and only then did she look at him and he said two words to her.

"Wanna play?"

Yushiro smacked rags against the faces of Tanjiro and Jikon. "Normal humans can't inhale this spell, you got that?!" He spoke with certainty.

Tamayo used a needle to extract blood from an unconscious demon that had two arms again. "I'm surprised you managed to deduce that she really wasn't one of the Twelve Kizuki so quickly, but I'm more concerned over whatever you just did to her."

"Same thing I did for myself." He put the out cold demon onto his back and followed the doctor into her house.

"Regardless, her blood should be vital in producing a cure."

Yushiro's own veins pulsed in his head and he quickly ran after his everything. "You both stay here, I'll follow Lady Tamayo no matter what!"

The two were left outside to see the rising sun that morning. "A demon- My brother is- A demon…" He was having trouble wrapping his head around it. He was having an existential crisis while Tanjiro worked himself up to a knee.

"Kibutsuji… outright lying to his follower just to go after us. He really is a coward!" Tanjiro hobbled to slip his discarded haori back on and he quickly pat Jikon on the shoulder to snap him out of his stupor.

"Huh? O-Oh… We won." He stood up and let his own haori gently flap against the wind. The two of them sheathed their swords and walked into what remained of the house.

"Miss Tamayo? Yushiro?"

A voice called out. "We're over here!" They looked and saw a flight of stairs leading to the basement. "You don't really need to come down, but if you want to then hurry it up!"

"Yushiro!"

"Only joking!"

They could almost hear Tamayo shaking her head. "It's alright, you can both come down!" They slowly came down the stairs and once they hit the corner Tanjiro was wrapped into a hug by his sister.

"Nezuko!"

"I figured it was best to get into the basement, the sunlight can't reach us here." Nezuko ran up to Tamayo and gave her a hug as well, and then she started patting Yushiro's head again. "She's been acting this way since she woke up, it's strange. I was under the impression that she would only be this way with humans."

Jikon approached and looked around the hall for his own sibling at the same time. "It must mean that she sees the both of you as human, so she considers you both as Tanjiro's family."

"So she wanted to protect you with everything she had. I was against the spell at first but… she still seems to have her own will and-" Once Tanjiro saw Tamayo crying he quickly changed his tune. "I'm so sorry! Nezuko stop it, you're being rude!" Yushiro was even surprised to see Her crying.

Tamayo only hugged the girl back while thanking her for the small action, for even small acts of love can be a great deal to someone deprived of them.

"Ohh, my head…" Someone started to wake up and they all turned their attention to the other end of the hallway where the missing two were currently located. "Where am- Wait a second…" She saw all the faces that were there before she- Before he- She looked up and to her left where Koujo was nonchalantly standing with his arms crossed. "You bit me!" She tried to act but her legs were like boiled noodles, she couldn't even get up.

"Better than dying." He unfolded his arms and grabbed his mask only to stare at it.

"You really think you could've killed me? I was given so much more power! Lord Kibutsuji would never have let me die!" Tamayo looked wistful and Susamaru quickly covered her mouth with her hands. She started panicking and still tried to stand up but her legs weren't working yet. "No… No no! I'm sorry! It was an accident!" She was begging for forgiveness but whoever was supposed to hear it wasn't nearby.

"What's wrong with her?" Jikon asked and Tamayo answered with a sense of regret.

"Kibutsuji's curse… any demon that utters his name will have their body ripped to shreds." They all had wide eyes when they looked back and saw that she was prostrating herself and hoping for forgiveness, while one of them was shocked for a separate reason. "She's still… She's alright?"

Koujo finished staring at his mask and decided to let them all in on the not so secret. "His curse doesn't work if you remove it."

Yushiro grit his teeth and spoke against that offense. "Only Lady Tamayo can remove Kibutsuji's curse! Are you implying that you somehow found a way to do the same?"

"No." He flicked the girl on the forehead and made her stop her pleading for just a moment. "I'm saying that I can remove it if I do it right."

Tamayo was the most curious in that hallway even as Susamaru realized that she wasn't going to die. "It took me decades to find a means to remove the curse, how did you find one when you only became a demon recently?"

"Hmmph. Hmm. Hm!" Nezuko walked up and pat Koujo's chest a few times before going back to Tanjiro's side.

"Well first I was dying. I tried to attack Kibutsuji but it didn't go well…"

Susamaru finally stopped her praying and sat down in seiza position. "Lord Kibutsuji told us to kill him and I wanted to make him proud. But He dodged me and-" She reminisced exactly how she nearly died just hours ago. "There was so much heat, you almost killed me." She eyed Koujo's sword and the image of his flames came to mind. "Then Kibutsuji intervened and Koujo cut off his hand, but blood sprayed on him- Then he called him a pale bastard and that made him put even more blood on him… You should be dead."

There wasn't any debate, nor was there a conversation to be had about it. It was a closed statement.

"I did die. The only reason I removed his curse is because I was dead for just a second."

There was so much pain. I really thought that I'd die from how much it all hurt, every part of me felt like it was being grounded up into meat. I grabbed onto my mask right before everything went dark. I felt every part of my body bubbling and fighting with me, like everything in me was trying to rip itself apart.

I saw his face… his pale, smug, blank face. He wanted me to be quiet but I kept calling his name. Then it all just stopped. The entire world just shut off and- I'm pretty sure that's when I died.

Then I was in a blank space. A quiet place where there wasn't anything around me. I heard something calling out to me and I felt something. I grabbed something and inhaled all the air I could, but then I heard a bell. There was a red cord there but something was bubbling around it, some weird stuff started growing up along the cord and I felt myself slipping away.

Then I heard a voice call out to me.

"Use that power. Ignite yourself and cut down any demon in your way!"

I felt my blood running through my body and with every breath I felt more air feeding my muscles. I fixed myself and took my stance. It was just like when I was about to kill Susamaru, but it was different. Red and yellow flames burst from my sword and I focused everything I had to get the cut right, I just knew that if I messed up that was it. I'd be dead.

"First form…"

A long line of torches showed the pathway. They were shining with a light that nearly matched the rising sun. That light… was shining on the path that I was meant to take!

"Unknowing Fire!"

The torches all burned brighter and I swung my sword with everything I had. All the moving flesh covering the cord burned like paper in a blaze and I severed the thread like it was nothing. Once it was gone I could see that same hill where I practiced with my mom and Jikon. Right, my mom taught me those moves. Unknowing Fire, Burning Deduction, and those other three.

That short time where I died he wasn't paying attention to me, I guess he thinks I just died. If only he knew that I broke his curse and became a demon at the same time. I broke Kibutsuji's curse by making myself remember. I broke the curse by cutting him out and restoring the past!

They were all silent at the retelling of how he cheated death so well. They all knew that demons had little to no recollection of their human lives when they turned so finding out that restoring that memory saved Koujo… What could they say about what he did?

Yushiro had nothing to say, for once. Tanjiro didn't know what to say either. The only one who had a question was- "Do you need to eat people?" His younger brother. Jikon really stuck to asking the best questions. "Demons need blood, even Miss Tamayo and Yushiro still need a little blood. You got turned right from Muzan."

Koujo held up his right hand and stared at his sharp claws until a scowl went onto his face. "I don't hear Muzan's voice. I don't feel Muzan's presence in my head. But you want to know what is in my head?" He put his hand onto his face and dragged his nails along his own flesh, the wounds that appeared closed off before he could get any blood onto his outfit. "Rage towards that pale freak! He'd better look at The Man in the Mirror, cause if he doesn't change his ways before I get to him-!" He cut himself off and calmed down for a moment. On the outside at least.

Tamayo sensed that something was off about the young demon in her presence, she felt that he was not done his outburst just yet and Yushiro noticed her distress immediately. 'What could be bothering Lady Tamayo?'

Tanjiro decided to speak his mind. "You could be just like Miss Tamayo and Yushiro, they do-"

Koujo shocked all of them and clenched his hand into a fist then slammed it into the wall behind them, cracking the foundation behind him. "Don't compare me to Tamayo! She put in time and effort to get out of his grip, and I just got lucky!" His pupils were in slits again and Susamaru shied away from him in his outburst.

One of them picked up on the implication and he quickly nodded his head. "That's all I needed to hear from you." Jikon relaxed himself and turned his attention back to Tanjiro. "I only wanted to know that you were still my brother, even as a demon."

"You think being a Demon would stop me from being your brother? It didn't stop Nezuko from being Tanjiro's sister, and it could never get in my way." Koujo sat down on the floor and closed his conversation with that simple action.

"Well that only leaves two- Maybe three matters at hand." Tamayo began. "Tanjiro, Yushiro and I will be moving to a new region." Everyone save for Nezuko and Susamaru were surprised by that statement. "We're too close to Kibutsuji now, it's too risky to stay here any longer. While I believe I've hidden my identity well, after treating so many humans I'm certain some have figured out I'm a demon. Tanjiro, to protect your sister, would you like her to accompany us?"

"Huh?" The Kamado boy was rightfully surprised.

"That offer extends to Koujo, and I suppose you as well." She looked directly at the temari wielder who was finally able to stand on her two feet.

Susamaru didn't know how to feel about that offer. For so long she focused on pleasing her previous master but now she didn't have his presence in her mind, she didn't have someone to follow… or did she? "My blood demon art- My temari. Nobody ever played with me when I was a human. You gave me back my memory and-" She looked between the other two demons who gave her a back and forth match with her temari. "We had a fun game."

Tanjiro held his sister's hand and made his decision. "Thank you for the concern but Nezuko is staying with me."

"I wish you both good fortune then. As for you both?"

Jikon opened his bamboo basket, the one that he'd been carrying around ever since they left Urokodaki's on their first mission. "A head wrap, and your haori. Good thing I carried these."

Koujo took the items and put them onto his person, covering up most of his exposed skin except for his hands. "I refuse to not be an active fighter. I'm the first Demon… Demon Slayer. Nobody can take that away from me." He looked at his bare hands and had to figure out some way to cover them before he stepped anywhere near sunlight. "Susamaru!"

"Y-Yes!" She stood ramrod straight despite having no real reason to.

"Stay with Miss Tamayo like she offered. Maybe she can do whatever she did that took away her need to eat people to you."

Nezuko ran back down the hall and up the stairs to Tanjiro's displeasure. "Don't go rushing off like that!" He followed right behind her

"Tanjiro!" Yushiro called out and stopped his chase. "Your little sister… I guess she's beautiful after all."

Tanjiro smiled at that and ran up the stairs behind his younger sister. Jikon put his basket on his back again and followed right after them. "Tanjiro, wait up!" With that there were only demons in the basement.

Tamayo looked at Koujo as he slipped his somehow fixed mask onto his face. "I do hope that you'll be able to survive as a demon within the Demon Slayer Corps. Not to mention that you haven't had even a drop of blood yet, I'd rather you keep it that way or come to me should the need arise." She produced a small box and handed it off to him as Susamaru sat there like a fly on the wall.

"What's this?"

"Inside are special tools to collect the blood of demons closely related to Kibutsuji, when one is full you'll find that my other aid will be there to deliver it to me." That was all the explanation she gave while her primary aid realized that he'd be spending more time with the woman who destroyed their home, and hurt Her!

'I'll never forgive you for hurting Lady Tamayo! But if she accepts you then I have no choice but to accept as well.' That begrudging acceptance didn't prevent a few veins from flaring at his temples, Koujo noticed it but he either didn't care or really didn't care. He left the basement after the rest of his group.

"Now then, first I'll have to conduct some experiments on you." Her smile was sickeningly calm but she clearly had an aura that promised suffering.

"H- Hey wait, I didn't agree to that!"

Tamayo only kept that same serene expression despite the room getting slightly colder. "You did destroy our home and office, it's the least you could offer while I reduce the amount of human blood you need to stay fed…"

'I should've asked to go with them!'

"South- Southeast!" Tanjiro's annoying crow cawed at them from above. The trio walked along the farmland, one of them with a large box on his back. Another with a simple bamboo basket on his back. And the last was completely concealed from the sunlight, his sleeves were limp since he pulled his arms into his uniform and haori to give the appearance of not having any. Combined with his masked appearance Koujo was an enigma to anyone who saw him on their trek.

Noka landed on Jikon's shoulder then jumped to his original owner. "In exchange for giving me my own name, I'll keep the secret. South- Southeast is your next location."

"South- Southeast! South- Southeast is your next location!" Tanjiro's crow was swarming him and screeching in his ear no matter how much he said he heard.

"PLEASE!" The boys all went wide eyed from that loud yell and their attention quickly ended up on a boy in a yellow haori with white arrows holding onto a girl in a blue kimono. "Please! Please! Please! Please marry me! I could day any day now! Marry me so I don't die alone! Marry me please! I'm begging you!"

Jikon watched the odd scene as his own crow landed on his forearm. "What is he doing?"

Tanjiro watched with equal confusion. "I don't know."

"Who do we help in this situation? The guy crying his eyes out or the girl being bothered?" Not a bad question to ask from behind his mask. Whatever the situation was, this was going to be something.

Recap 2

Koujo Itadake isn't dead yet! I'm pretty sure anyone reading would've definitely guessed that I'd become a demon but nobody would've seen how I'd break Muzan's curse coming.

Leave it to my brother to just cut a line and be free from the Demon King. That Yahaba guy was really annoying with those arrows, I think I broke a couple bones and didn't even get Miss Tamayo to check us out.

Well if it weren't for Nezuko and Koujo then we could've been worse off. They're the ones who stopped Susamaru from doing anything else. Why'd you remove the curse from her too?

My mom raised me to protect girls before anything since girls are usually weaker than boys. No matter what I should never let a girl be in danger and if I ever forgot that she said she'd break my arms and legs then make me fight her.

Your mom sounds scary…