"Come on Tanjiro, you have to move! The fight isn't over! You still have to save Inosuke and Susamaru!" Tanjiro thought as he crawled towards his sister.
The young demon slayer had just defeated one of the Twelve Kizuki and yet he did not waste any time celebrating. He was too concerned with finding his friends and ensuring their safety. Even so, his body was far too battered and exhausted from his fight with Rui; he simply couldn't move any faster than a sloth crawling across the forest floor. He was getting closer to Nezuko but she still seemed so far away and his pain was immense. Just as he was thinking about what he could do to gain his second wing, his nose caught an unnervingly familiar demonic sent.
"Did you think you had defeated me? How sad for you. Did your delusion bring you a brief moment of joy," a voice said from behind Tanjiro.
Tanjiro gasped as he heard Rui's voice once again. He was certain he had decapitated him but Rui went on to explain that he had beheaded himself so that Tanjiro couldn't. Rui continued talking about how upset Tanjiro and his sister had made him; however, Tanjiro wasn't really listening anymore. He was trying to come up with a way to get his body moving again so he could keep fighting. Unfortunately, his body would not move even as Rui surrounded him with threads as sharp as filet knives. Tanjiro was certain this was the end and he braced himself for the multitude of cuts that inevitably would carve him to pieces. In a moment shorter than a blink, Tanjiro heard Rui's threads slice against flesh. It was a sickening sound. Tanjiro was reminded of a time when he and his father had visited a local butcher in his village and the same sound was heard as the man had cleaved into the carcass of some unrecognizable beast. The sound was even more horrifying now as Tanjiro was positive his flesh was the one being rended… but as he continued thinking, he realized he wasn't feeling any extra pain and that his body felt intact.
"Why? Why the Hell would you get in my way?!" Tanjiro heard Rui shout.
What was happening? Tanjiro wondered as he looked behind him to see what was going on. What he saw was both relieving and frightening. Standing in between himself and Rui was Susamaru. Tanjiro was happy to see that she had survived her encounter with the larger spider demon; however, he was now scared for her safety as he saw she had caught Rui's threads with her six arms and they were being sliced up. Several were barely hanging on to her body, while all of her hands were busy trying to clutch Rui's threads to keep him from moving them.
"Damn it… Tanjiro… You… were… a pain… in the… ass… to find…" Susamaru wheezed out.
She looked exhausted and sick to Tanjiro. She had clearly fought her own battles on this mountain and was having difficulty even speaking. Her neck was split wide open and some of her veins were a disturbing purplish color. He could smell a faint whiff of wisteria coming from her and wondered how she came into contact wish such a poisonous substance.
"S-Susamaru! What happened?!" Tanjiro asked.
"N.. nothing… Don't… worry," Susamaru said. Her gaze was focused on the demon in front of her. Despite how much pain she was in from Shinobu's poison, she was not about to let him hurt her best friend. Still she was nervous, she could tell from the mark on Rui's eye that he was one of the Twelve; a real member of Kibutsuji's elite; the very thing she had strove to become not that long ago. She already knew he was far stronger than her and she was just hoping to buy Tanjiro enough time to escape at this point. She wouldn't last long between the poison and his power if she actually had to fight him. This was what drove her to clutch his threads as tightly as she could. She was hoping that without them he wouldn't be able to attack Tanjiro and Nezuko as they retreated. "Just get… out of… here!"
"No! We promised to never leave our friends behind again, remember?!" Tanjiro said.
"Enough babbling! Answer me demon! Why would you help this pathetic insect?! It's infuriating!" Rui said as he yanked Susamaru's arms clean off as he retracted his threads. Susamaru gasped in pain from the wounds and had to kneel in order to keep from falling over completely.
"Because… he… saved me…" Susamaru replied. Now all she could do was hope that she could stall with her words. She was trying as hard as she could to regenerate her arms but her ability to heal was severely hampered by the poison coursing through her circulatory system. As such, her arms were regrowing very slowly.
"Saved you? From what? Other slayers? I have done that for many of our kind and offered them a place in my 'family'. Why would you turn to a human instead of someone like me?" Rui said, legitimately confused.
"He… saved… me from… Muzan," Susamaru croaked out.
"From… master?!" Rui said. He nearly repeated what she said but caught himself at the last second. "If that's the case… then you must deserve to die! He is a generous and kind man! You must have done something particularly heinous to earn his ire."
"I'm sorry… you believe… that," Susamaru said with a smirk. The demon before her was clearly deluded if he thought Muzan Kibutsuji was a good person. A part of her felt bad for how brainwashed he was but the rest of her believed he needed to die for how he hurt Tanjiro and Nezuko so she didn't let her sympathies cause her to lose focus.
"Your presence grows irksome just as theirs has. I think I'll kill you too," Rui said as he walked up to Susamaru and grabbed her by the throat. "I'll tangle you and the other girl up in my threads and force you to watch as I eviscerate your human friend. Then I'll leave you out in the sun to burn!"
"Sounds… like a… great time… but… I… have a… question for… you."
"Oh?"
"Yeah… I'm guessing… you've… never… fought… another… demon before!" Susamaru said as her arms finally regenerated. She then grabbed hold of Rui's arm and proceeded to knee him in the chin. She then released him so she could kick him away. His small body sailed through the air before landing on the forest floor. Unfortunately, Susamaru's small victory was short lived as Rui merely stood up and dusted himself off.
"I suppose I haven't fought any other demons in any real fight; however, the gap between our strengths is so immense that your attacks felt like little more than a spider crawling across my skin, so I'm not particularly worried."
"Luckily for me… I haven't fought… seriously yet!" Susamaru said as she summoned six temari into her hands. She was still in horrible pain; however, her resolve, and probably a good deal of adrenaline, was allowing her to move and speak closer to how she normally would. She still realized she was no match for Rui; however, a plan was beginning to form in her mind. Tanjiro still wasn't leaving and she figured it was in part his stubbornness but she also could see he was severely injured. With this in mind, she knew she had to actually defeat Rui since Tanjiro couldn't escape on his own. That was when she remembered she still had that strange demon slayer's sword. If she could poison Rui then maybe, just maybe, Tanjiro could find enough strength to finish him off. She knew it was a slim chance but she had no other options and with her flimsy strategy settled, she decided to fire off a volley of temari at Rui.
"Temari? Is this a game to you? What kind of blood demon art is that?" Rui said calmly as he merely shredded the orbs thrown at him. "Pathetic. Your powers are worthless. Just another reason you shouldn't exist."
Susamaru decided not to waste her precious energy on talking and instead decided to leap around Rui so that she could try to hit him from different angles. She was hoping to find a blind spot so she could get a solid hit in; however, all of her attempts where in vain as after a few volleys, Rui stopped blocking her attacks all together and simply allowed her temari to strike him. They merely bounced off of his thick skin and harmlessly fell to the ground around them. Susamaru was somewhat disheartened but also knew that was a possibility. He was much stronger than his "sister" and she had worried she didn't have the strength to actually harm him with any of her typical attacks. Still she kept trying in case she could wear him out. Sadly, this had the opposite effect and she merely tired herself out instead and soon she could not produce a single temari more. It was at this point that Rui spoke to her again.
"Reached your limit? How sad. Not only is your power useless but it doesn't even last for significant amount of time How on Earth have you survived as long as you have?" With that he gingerly threw his threads at her and she was far too winded to dodge. Her whole body quickly became entangled and Rui wasted no time hoisting her into the air.
Normally Susamaru could produce a near infinite amount of temari; however, her body was still fending off Shinobu's poison and it didn't have any extra energy to spare now. She couldn't regenerate her wounds from the threads she was entangled in and the more blood she lost the closer she got to letting the poison consume her. Still she wasn't about to let herself fall into complete despair. Rui had left her with one arm free and that was all she needed to throw Shinobu's sword at him. The only problem was that he would easily dodge or block such an attack. The whole fight she had been getting him used to being hit with her temari so that she could use them as a distraction to throw the sword into a blind spot; however, she had run out of temari to throw and now she had nothing to use as a feint. She cursed her own weakness as no matter how hard she tried she simply could not produce another temari.
"I've grown bored of fighting you. I'm going to make you watch as I kill your friend now," Rui said as he turned away from her and began walking towards Tanjrio.
"Shit! He's going to kill him! Think Susamaru! Think! There has to be something you can use as a distraction! Anything! Just enough so he doesn't notice you throw the sword!" Susamaru thought as she wracked her brain for answers. Suddenly, a stroke of inspiration came to her and she acted upon the impulse immediately. Using her one free arm she gripped the top of her head and yanked as hard as she could. It didn't take as much force to rip her own head off as she thought it would, most likely due to the cut on her neck that hadn't healed, and soon she was winding up and throwing her head at Rui.
"What the Hell?!" Rui shouted as he turned just in time to see Susamaru's face headed straight for him. He didn't even have time to conjure any threads and instead blocked her assault with his arm. As he held it up, Susamaru bit into it as she made contact and locked her jaw in place. "Gah! You are so… Irritating!" Rui yelled before grinding his teeth together in anger. He then began to punch Susamaru in the face with his other hand and each blow drew blood. One punch even crushed her eye socket causing Susamaru to glare at Rui with only one eye. Still, none of that stopped her body from moving out of Rui's sight. Her only free arm reached behind her back and grabbed Shinobu's sword. She held it like a javelin and, with precision an Olympic thrower could only dream of, she tossed the sword at Rui.
"Let go you filthy insect!" Rui shouted as he went to punch Susamaru once again; however, as he raised his arm he felt a horrible pain erupt from his chest cavity. The sword Susamaru threw had flown true and stuck itself deep inside Rui's lung. Susamaru finally took that moment to let go and allow her head to fall to the ground. A weak smile graced her features as she looked up at the shocked countenance of her foe. Still, the job wasn't done. Now that he had been weakened, someone still needed to deliver the finishing blow and so, Susamaru mustered all the strength she had left and yelled to Tanjiro.
"Now Tanjiro! Finish him! Cut off his head!"
"Right! You got it!" Tanjiro said as he managed to stand. He was still exhausted and in pain but he managed to move his body slowly towards Rui who was clutching the sword in his hands and sweating in panic. His veins were turning purple and pustules were forming all across his body. He had never felt this kind of pain before and he couldn't understand why it was happening. He saw Tanjiro approaching him and wanted to lash out; however, he was beginning to cough up blood and soon his body began to convulse and spasm. Tanjiro's advance faltered upon seeing his enemy in such a state and even Susamaru could do nothing but stare at Rui in shock at how violent his reaction to the poison was.
"Wh-what's happening to him?" Tanjiro asked as he lowered his sword.
"I… don't… know…" Susamaru said.
The two continued to stare at Rui in horror as his body collapsed to the ground before finally growing still. Neither could believe the sight before their eyes. Susamaru thought for sure that since she hadn't been killed by the same poison by now that certainly a member of the Twelve Kizuki would have lasted the same amount of time if not longer! So… why was he dead?!
"I'm sure you're both wondering about what just happened, correct?" Shinobu said as she suddenly appeared before them.
"Uh… yes maam. Who are you?" Tanjiro asked. Things just seemed to keep getting stranger all of a sudden.
"Oh pardon me! I forgot we haven't been introduced yet. My name is Shinobu Kocho, the insect Hashira. What is your name?"
Just as Susamaru had felt, Tanjiro couldn't help but feel a little unnerved by Shinobu's presence. Her smell seemed off… like she was trying to be happy but was actually extremely upset deep inside. He wondered how a person could deal with such a thing; however, he realized now wasn't the time to pry.
"My name is Tanjiro Kamado, rank Mizunoto!"
"Oh my, you are one of the rookies they sent on this mission? Well you've certainly done splendidly to have survived a fight against one of the Twelve Kizuki!"
"Thanks. If possible, could you please explain what is going on? I thought that demons could only be killed by sunlight and nichirin swords," Tanjiro asked.
"Ah yes, that is mostly true; however, I've been working on demon poisons for many years. You see I don't have the strength to cut off a demon's head and I don't exactly have time to wait for the sun to come and fight my battles for me so I developed a different method for taking them down. I've even killed previous members of the Twelve with my concoctions!"
"Really?! That's incredible!" Tanjiro exclaimed with a smile on his face.
"Yeah, yeah, so why did it kill him and not me?!" Susamaru yelled.
"You?! That's why you've looked so sick this whole time? She poisoned you?!" Tanjiro asked his admiration turning to anger.
"Yeah… she was trying to kill me… probably still is actually," Susamaru said.
Tanjiro turned to Shinobu and said, "I'm sorry but I can't let you kill her. She's my friend!"
Shinobu merely chuckled and responded, "While I don't think you could actually stop me if I wanted to, I have changed my mind after seeing her fight so hard to protect you."
"Yes, that was quite the display," a male voice said as someone stepped out of the shadows.
"Tomioka?! You're here too?!" Tanjiro asked surprised.
"Now who is this guy?!" Susamaru asked, now officially out of the loop.
"He's the person who recruited me into the Demon Slayer Corps!"
"Really?! Well, nice to meet you then Mr. Tomioka," Susamaru said. "I'd shake your hand but… my body is a bit… tied up at the moment."
"I can see that," Giyu said as he stood next to Shinobu and turned his attention towards Tanjiro. "I was actually about to intervene in your fight against that Kizuki; however, Shinobu stopped me since she wanted to see how things would play out between him and the demon that came to rescue you. It is strange that every time I see you, you somehow manage to convert another demon to your side. It's astounding really."
"Oh this one isn't the only one?" Shinobu asked. "You both realize it's against the Demon Slayer code to help demons right?"
"Tanjiro already has approval from master Oyakata for his sister Nezuko who was turned into a demon. Last I heard she still hasn't killed or eaten any humans. Is that still correct Tanjiro?"
"It sure is! I'm very proud of Nezuko!" As Tanjiro said her name, Nezuko sat up from where she was laying down and quickly stood up so she could bounce over to her big brother and give him a hug. "Ow! Thanks Nezuko but that really hurts right now!"
"Oh, that's so cute!" Shinobu said as she saw the two siblings embrace.
"It's remarkable really; however, Tanjiro. You were not given approval to take any more demons on your journey. You have sadly still broken that taboo by bringing this other demon along," Giyu said regrettably.
"Wait, so I'm still in trouble?!" Tanjiro asked with some fear in his voice.
"Unfortunately, yes," Giyu responded.
"Hmm… perhaps not," Shinobu said as she walked over to Susamaru's head and knelt down to pick her up. "Susamaru, right?"
"Yeah, that's my name."
"I fully believe in your resolve to save humans now after watching you risk your life for two of our slayers; however, that isn't enough to atone for all you've done so I will offer you a deal. I have an agreement within the corps that allows me to befriend demons if they accept punishment of equal suffering to all that they have caused. In other words it would be excruciatingly painful and likely a very long punishment given how many people you've killed but if you do allow me to punish you in this manner then you'll be allowed to become an official ally of the corps. If you don't accept, we will have to slay you now. The choice is yours," Shinobu finished with a hopeful smile on her face.
"That's not fair! She was being manipulated before! Kibutsuji is the one to blame!" Tanjiro pleaded so his friend wouldn't suffer.
"Tanjiro… stop," Susamaru said. She then looked Shinobu dead in the eyes and answered, "I accept."
"Perfect! Now all we need to do is explain all this at the Hashira meeting tomorrow!"
"Why do the others need to know?" Giyu asked. He hated attending meetings since he felt as if he didn't belong on the same level as the other Hashira and thus ended up feeling awkward the entire time.
"Because if we don't… then the others will try to kill Nezuko and Susamaru just like I tried to earlier," Shinobu said with a smile on her face and an angry vein popping out on her forehead.
"Right…" Giyu said as he cursed the fact that he had to attend once more.
With everything decided, Shinobu plucked her sword from Rui's body and then used it to cut Susamaru's down from its hanging place. She placed Susamaru's head back onto it so she could reattach herself. This apparently took all the strength she had left as afterwards, she passed out. Tanjiro also fell unconscious from his exhaustion shortly after, leaving Giyu and Shinobu to carry them out of the forest. As they began to depart, Nezuko walked alongside them and slipped her hand into Shinobu's so she could have someone's to hold since her brother was sleeping. Shinobu was touched by the gesture and commented on how adorable Nezuko was as they made their way to the Demon Slayers' headquarters.