Susamaru's regeneration had taken longer than Tanjiro and the others would have hoped. Almost the entire day had passed by the time she was fully healed and it was only then that Tamayo could begin modifying her body. The slumbering demon had awoken a handful of times during the day; however, so Tanjiro was finally able to learn her name, albeit not much else. He had tried to ask her more questions so that they could get to know each other but she was simply too tired from her ordeal to carry a conversation. At some point, Tamayo had also made the young slayer retrieve Susamaru's kimono from outside so that it could be washed of all the blood that had saturated it from Kibutsuji's brutal internal assault on her. The older demon had also put Yushiro to work on covering their tracks so that Kibutsuji's agents would not be able to find them. She realized they would have to move quickly when night came or else, they would likely be overwhelmed by much stronger demons; perhaps even true members of the Twelve Kizuki. Despite the stress of having to operate on a demon and plan her relocation, Tamayo still offered to protect Nezuko for Tanjiro by taking the former with her. Tanjiro was appreciative of the offer but refused so that he and his sister wouldn't be separated like they had been from the rest of their family.

"I understand and I wish you good fortune on your journey," Tamayo said.

"Thank you for everything you've done for us and I wish you good luck as well," Tanjiro said as Tamayo began packing up her medical implements. She had just finished surgery on Susamaru and had thus the two had started to say their goodbyes. At that moment Yushiro returned with a large lidded basket that Tamayo had asked him to fetch.

"Thank you, Yushiro," Tamayo said as she took the basket from her assistant to give to Tanjiro.

"It was no problem at all my lady!" Yushiro enthusiastically exclaimed. 'Even when asking for such mundane things, Tamayo's beauty remains impeccable!'

"I know this isn't as nice as the box your master carved for Nezuko but I hope it will be sufficient for transporting Susamaru. She'll need to be carried during the day as well if you plan on having her join you."

Tanjiro smiled as he received the basket. It was a different color and in better shape but it still reminded him of the first basket he had used to carry Nezuko around two years ago. It almost seemed fated that he would meet these demons… No, these people. Just as Nezuko saw Tamayo and Yushiro as humans, so too did Tanjiro. How could he not after all the help and hope they had given him. Thanks to them he might actually be able to turn his sister back into a human in the future, although it would require a lot of work from himself as well.

"It's perfect. I should have no trouble carrying both of them now… otherwise they would have had to squish together in the same box!" Tanjiro joked with a grin. The mental image made Tamayo chuckle as well.

Once Tamayo had finished giving Tanjiro all the supplies he would need, she had Yushiro help Tanjiro place the still sleeping Susamaru into the basket so that Tanjiro could head out. There wasn't much sunlight left at this point; however, it didn't take much to destroy a demon as Tanjiro had witnessed firsthand. After Susamaru was safely in her basket, Nezuko also crawled into her box. It took several minutes for Tanjiro to figure out how to carry both at the same time; however, he finally decided to stack the basket on top of the box and then tie it down. With that taken care of, Tanjiro was able to hoist both containers onto his back and finally began to depart Tamayo's compound. As Tanjiro left, Yushiro finally admitted to the slayer that he thought Nezuko was as much a "beauty" as Tanjiro had claimed.

Tanjiro left the compound with hope in his heart, some extra weight on his back and a few broken bones. All things considered; his second mission could have gone much worse. That being said… he wasn't exactly thrilled when his Kasugai crow began screeching his next orders at him.

"South, southeast! South, southeast! South, southeast!" the crow repeated. Tanjiro was far too kind to tell the bird to just "shut up"; however, his patience was wearing thin with the constant reminders. Even after the sun began to set, the bird still was adamant that he head in the aforementioned direction.

"WHO THE HELL KEEPS SHOUTING?!"

Tanjiro was shocked to hear another voice yelling… and this one happened to be much closer to his ear. Before he could process what was happening, he felt the lid of the basket lightly hit him on the head as it fell off of its container. Tanjiro tilted his head upward and saw that Susamaru had not only woken up but had also emerged halfway out of the basket. Her head was frantically turning to try to find the source of the noise that woke her up. Even from his odd vantage point, he could smell the murderous intent emanating from her.

"AND WHY THE HELL AM I IN A BASKET?!" Susamaru continued to yell as she was baffled by her current situation.

"Please stop shouting, my ears can't take both of you yelling at me…" Tanjiro said as he rubbed his ears with his palms.

"Huh?" Susamaru said as she looked down towards Tanjiro and the anger quickly drained from her face allowing only her confusion to remain. "Wait… you're that demon slayer… Tanjiro right?"

"Yup, that's me alright! Glad to see you're recovering well."

Susamaru looked at him for a moment more before taking in her surroundings. "Okay Tanjiro, why are you carrying me around in a basket?"

"Oh, the sun was still out until a few minutes ago so I didn't want you to get burned while we traveled."

Susamaru was even more perplexed by his answer. Why would a demon slayer travel with a demon? Heck, why would he save her from Kibutsuji's curse in the first place? She had heard rumors that demons were sometimes captured alive to train new recruits in the corps… but that didn't explain why he was so nice to her and if that were his intention… then why did he have another demon as well. Come to think of it, she was pretty sure he tried protecting her during their battle. Before Susamaru could ponder her situation any further, her thoughts were interrupted.

"SOUTH, SOUTHEAST!" the Kasugai crow began screeching once more.

"SHUT THE HELL U-… wait is that a bird… yelling at us?" Susamaru may have been a demon but this was weird enough even for her to pause her speech.

"Yeah, that's a Kasugai crow, he's telling me where my next mission is. He tends to repeat himself… a lot" Tanjiro said with a grimace as the bird kept squawking from the sky.

"But… how? Birds don't talk!"

"Huh… I never really bothered to think about it. I didn't think demons existed until a couple years ago. After that, many things don't seem so strange anymore."

Susamaru supposed that what he was saying was true. She hadn't believed the stories about demons during her childhood either… that is, until she became one herself. With the conversation seemingly over, Tanjiro had begun walking up the road again. Susamaru was surprised he was still carrying her after she woke up and started to adjust herself so that she could jump out of the basket. Unfortunately; the temari demon vastly overestimated her condition and as soon as she swung one foot over the rim of the basket; her balance failed her. She tumbled to the ground with a resounding thump; complete with a small dust cloud rolling up from the impact.

"Oh, no! Are you alright?!" Tanjiro asked as he slid his makeshift demon backpack off his shoulders and rushed over to Susamaru's side. Much to his relief, she sat up rather quickly and began dusting herself off.

"I'm fine, my balance is just off…" In truth, she really didn't feel any pain from the fall; a perk of being a demon she supposed. The embarrassment; however, that she felt a great deal.

"You're still recovering from everything. Don't worry! I'll keep carrying you until you feel better!" Tanjiro offered with a genuine smile.

Susamaru had never been more confused in her life. Wasn't this the boy whose head she said she wanted to rip off for her former master? Why was he being so nice? The universe apparently didn't want her to think over these questions on her own though, as Tanjiro scooped her up and placed her back in the basket before she even had a chance to answer him. She wanted to protest initially but quickly changed her mind. He didn't seem like the kind of person that was going to let her refuse his kindness (and boy did she not realize how right she was). Instead she merely sunk back down into her basket as Tanjiro continued pressing forward towards the next demon he was supposed to slay.

Silence overcame the two of them and Susamaru began staring blankly at the starry sky. It was a beautiful sight. Some regarded the night as scary and dangerous but to her, and probably every other demon, it was a sanctuary. The sun was harsh and deadly while the moon emitted a comforting glow. She was sure the human carrying her felt differently. After all, to him the sun was gentle and provided him the same protection that the moon afforded her. That train of thought continued to lead her back to the question that had been bothering her since she first saw his face in what she assumed was purgatory.

"Why?"

"Hmmm? Did you say something?" Tanjiro asked.

"Why did you save me?"

"Oh… I am not sure. When I see that people need help, I always try my best to help them… and you almost seemed like you were crying out for it. I couldn't just sit there and do nothing."

"If I were human, I'd understand… but I'm not. I'm a demon, I tried to kill you."

"So is my sister Nezuko. She's in the box bellow your basket. She tried to kill me as well when she first turned. That didn't stop me from seeing the suffering she was going through. You were both once human after all, right?"

"Yes, but… I ate people… your job is to destroy monsters like me," Susamaru stated sadly as she looked towards the bottom of her basket in shame.

"That's true… but I doubt you had a choice in the matter. I've seen Kibutsuji. He manipulates people and demons alike. He treats everyone with equal cruelty. I guess when I saw you being torn apart… it reminded me of what he did to my family. He killed them himself."

Susamaru peeked over the brim of her basket to look down at Tanjiro once more. This boy had suffered so much and yet he wasn't jaded or cynical. He still had so much sympathy even for a monster like her. It nearly made her tear up.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that Tanjiro," her words were sincere and yet she felt like they had the weight of a butterfly coming out of her mouth.

"I'm sorry you had to go through what you just did too… I imagine it was extremely painful," Tanjiro replied as he grimaced.

"It was… demons don't typically feel pain in the same way humans do. When you chopped my arms off, I felt basically nothing. What HE did; however, … I will probably have nightmares about that for a while."

"I can understand… I get them too. That man- no, that demon, has lived for centuries and caused nothing but nightmares for people all over Japan. He has to be stopped, only then can all the souls of the people he's harmed finally find peace. That's why I'm going to destroy him. Then no one else will suffer like we have," Tanjiro finished his speech with fiery determination. His soul was set a flame and it shone in his eyes. Susamaru could have sworn she saw them glow even amongst the brightness of the sky that night.

"Well if killing Kibutsuji is your goal… then you are going to nee-" suddenly Susamaru's hands shot to her mouth as she realized she had said the demon's name once again. What little color drained from her pale face as she prepared for what she thought was going to happen. Tanjiro had halted his walk to see why she had stopped speaking mid-sentence and saw the look of pure horror on her face.

"Oh, you don't need to worry Susamaru! You broke his curse!"

"I… what?!" Susamaru exclaimed. She couldn't even begin to imagine the words Tanjiro had said; at least not in the order he head said them in.

"Yeah, Tamayo explained it to me. She broke free a long time ago. Apparently if a demon has a strong enough will then they can overcome Kibutsuji's cells within their body and break them down. We know that you did the same thing because your own cells weren't being destroyed anymore."

"Wow… that's… a HUGE relief," Susamaru said before she collapsed into her basket. She thought she was going to die… again. Her heart was pounding so violently that she thought even Tanjiro would be able to hear it. Once she finally managed to regain her calm, she began to speak once more. "Anyway… what I was going to say was that you'll need help if you're going to kill Kibutsuji. There's a reason demons revere him… he is almost godlike in strength."

"It doesn't matter how strong he is; I can't fail. I have to destroy him."

"I don't think you are fully understanding what you are up against… right before Yahaba and I were sent to kill you, Kibutsuji killed three humans because they pissed him off. The first two he just punched… their bones broke and organs burst immediately. The last one… well…"

Tanjiro looked back up at Susamaru once more. She had a look of fear on her face again from what she was remembering. "What happened to the last one?" Tanjiro asked. He wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer but he needed to know what he was up against.

"He… injected some of his blood into her. That's what he uses to turn people into demons as I'm sure you're aware; however, if someone is given too much… they melt into a pool of flesh; completely unrecognizable… No bones. No skin. No face. Nothing left but a pink pile of goop," Susamaru shuddered. She had never really thought much of it. She had been Muzan's loyal servant and thus had not cared when others suffered… because they weren't her. Now she had experienced the pain that Muzan's cursed blood could cause and she was suddenly VERY sympathetic to that poor woman she watched die in that alley.

Tanjiro's face contorted into one of shock and fear. The first real information he had ever been given about Kibutsuji's fighting ability… and all it made him feel was hopeless. How could he stack up against such a power? He began to sweat and breath rapidly as anxiety gripped his heart like a vice. He couldn't win! He simply couldn-

SMACK!

Tanjiro suddenly felt a very strong blow to the top of his head. It was painful enough that he staggered as her nearly lost his balance. After he regained his footing, he started to rub his head and looked up. He saw Susamaru with her hand raised and a sheepish expression gracing her features.

"Sorry Tanjiro… you were freaking out so I thought you needed to be snapped out of it. I hit you harder than I meant to though…"

"No, no, no! It's fine! I really did need that… I was starting to get lost in despair for a second there."

"Yeah… I could see it. Anyway, perhaps I should tell you some good news then."

"Good news?"

"Mmhmm! Seeing you really threw Kibutsuji off his game. Something about you specifically really upset him. I've never been ordered to kill a specific person before… and he almost never pairs up demons together for any reason. I think something about you must have scared him… I don't know what but I've never seen him act that way and I was one of his 'guards' for a while there," Susamaru concluded with a thoughtful expression.

"Wow… Thanks, Susamaru. That's actually pretty comforting."

"You're welco- Oh crap! The sun is coming up!" Susamaru exclaimed as she ducked into her basket. Tanjiro was shocked that daytime had snuck up on them so quickly but managed to get the basket lid affixed before the sun reached his new friend. With a relieved sigh, he picked his pace back up. He allowed his thoughts to turn towards his next mission instead of defeating Kibutsuji. He didn't want to think about that particular monumental task at the moment although some part of him also felt like it was all going to work out; almost as if fate was on his side.

"SOUTH, SOUTHEAST! SOUTH, SOUTHEAST!"

"Oh, no! Not again!" Tanjiiro bemoaned his luck as he once again had to deal with the noisy crow.

"SOUTH, SOUTHEA-"

"MARRY ME!"

An even louder voice manifested from up the road causing Tanjiro and his crow to stop dead in their tracks. The crow even landed on the slayer's shoulder for protection. It was fairly spooked.

"What the?!" Tanjiro exclaimed as he looked further up the road. He saw that the shouting was coming from a yellow haired boy in an equally yellow kimono. Said boy was currently crying, screaming and grabbing onto a young girl who looked dreadfully frightened by his behavior.

'It looks like my thoughts will have to wait; I have to stop this crazy kid!' Tanjiro thought as he began to run towards the scene before him. He wasn't sure what was going on but he assumed he would find out shortly.