Author's note: Hello Everyone! Sorry I've been gone for a while! Life just got really busy and I got a little burned out on this story and needed a break (should have updated this to "hiatus" in the mean time... oops).
Anyway! I hope to continue regularly again since I do plan on finishing this story so I hope you all enjoy and thanks for all the reviews, favorites and follows while I've been away!
Susamaru and Tengen stood poised for combat before their new foe. The new demon that appeared was muttering about how nice Tengen looked and how ugly he himself was. The demon was lanky and malformed so Susamaru couldn't help but agree with the other demon's self-assessment. Additionally, the demon began to scratch himself in frustration, thus further disfiguring his skin.
"Hey, demon girl. Do all of you guys do that?" Tengen whispered to Susamaru while the Upper Moon continued to mutter hateful things about himself while hoping Tengen would die.
"Do what?" Susamaru asked unsure of what the Pillar meant.
"That scratching thing. I've seen tons do this when they get angry… do you do that?"
"Uh…" Susamaru pondered for a moment to remember if she ever had before. She usually didn't get angry enough for such a thing; however, there was a time several years ago where a human woman had called her some very unflattering things and she had scratched her own face in frustration before smashing the woman into a bloody pulp… not one of her best moments. "I have only done it once… I'd rather not go into details as to why."
"Weird…" Tengen said before the other female demon in the room began to screech at them and the Upper Moon. It was then that they learned the demons were siblings. The brother of them was clearly more powerful and his sister was screaming at him to kill all of the slayers and other demons that had hurt her. He unleashed a flurry of attacks while introducing himself as Gyutaro. Tengen quickly dodged the while blocking several attacks so that they wouldn't make contact with a human couple that was still in the room with them; however, both he and Gyutaro were puzzled that Susamaru just stood and took the Upper Moon's attacks. She had lost most of her arms and even one of her feet but she remained standing. Her gashes and lacerations seemed to have no effect on her as she stood with her single remaining fist clenched.
"… I was going to comment on how nice this slayer's dodging was and how cool he looked while saving those people but uh… now I'm just confused as to why you just stood there lady," Gyutaro said as he hunched over. He and Tengen then noticed that Susamaru was shaking. "Jeez lady… you're a demon for crying out loud. What are you afraid of? Me? Am I so ugly that even other demons are repulsed?" Gyutaro continued to ponder allowed as he completely misread Susamaru's body language. Tengen; however, realized that Susamaru had become livid about something and was shaking in barely contained rage. As he looked at her, he noticed she was developing a smile… but it was one where her teeth were clenched tightly and her eyes were filled with fury instead of mirth. Her limps and injuries regenerated instantly and veins popped out all throughout her body.
"Heh, heh, heh…" Susamaru began to slowly chuckle.
"Huh? What's so funny? Are you laughing at me? Is my ugliness that amusing to you? I'll kill you for that!"
Susamaru didn't respond to Gyutaro's comments. Instead she began her own monologue, "You call us lucky because of our good looks… you think we are 'cool' and have easy lives when you know nothing about us? Heh, heh, heh…" Susamaru paused as her smile turned into a massive frown. "You don't even realize that you are the lucky one!" Susamaru screamed.
"What?" Gyutaro said, genuinely confused. He had been insulted and looked down upon his entire life and never once had he ever considered the possibility that he was fortunate in any way so he couldn't comprehend what Susamaru could be implying.
Susamaru cast her gaze down. "You don't even know? You don't even realize what separates you from EVERY OTHER DEMON?!" Susamaru screamed as her eyes turned white from her rage. "You have a sister! You were allowed to keep your family! You were allowed to love and be loved by somebody! Why?! Why were you allowed to hold on to what you held precious while I and every other demon lost EVERYTHING?!" Susamaru could no longer contain her rage and flung herself at Gyutaro She punched him with her three right arms and the Upper Moon was so surprised by her words that he didn't have time to dodge. Her blows sent him flying through the building and into the next one across the street. Tengen was impressed and used the opportunity to escort the human couple to safety. Meanwhile, Susamaru continued to allow her rage to fuel her as she and Gyutaro traded blows that were ultimately meaningless as they both healed so rapidly. Eventually, the Upper Moon called his sister over to him to try to tip the scale in their favor; however, Tengen joined Susamaru's assault and the four were caught in a stalemate for quite some time.
Gyutaro was growing increasingly frustrated as he only needed to land a handful of his attacks to poison the Pillar enough to end the human's life but he could only manage to cut up the demon girl who simply regenerated her wounds. It was almost like she was a shield for the human… a shield who could deliver annoyingly powerful punches. Tengen was also frustrated. He was using Susamaru's attacks and reckless nature to his advantage but was unable to truly capitalize on their strengths because Susamaru was too angry to coordinate a strategy with him. As a result, every opening the demon siblings left closed to quickly for Tengen to deal real damage. That was until, Inosuke, Zenitsu and Tanjiro all arrived to assist. Tanjiro had finally managed to calm his sister and while he was intimidated by the new demon, he was eager to help.
In response to the new arrivals, Gyutaro had Daki split off from him to draw some of the combatants away. He succeeded in luring Zenitsu and Inosuke away from him and towards his sister; however, Tanjiro, Tengen and Susamaru hung together to fight him. Susamaru had calmed down with the arrival of her friends and was now trying to control her breathing as her concentration was very uneven at present. It was at that moment that Tengen could finally explain that he had discovered the siblings' weakness. Both of their heads had to be cut off at the same time. Still, this was easier said than done. With Susamaru's fury lessening and Tanjiro's relative lack of experience it was up to Tengen to match Gyutaro's frightening speed for the most part. Inosuke and Zenitsu were also struggling against Daki who was receiving extra power from her connection to her brother. It was then that Tengen's wives arrived to also help in the battle. One of them even unleashed a flurry of kunai laced with demon poison… some of which Gyutaro managed to redirect towards Tengen and Susamaru. This caused both of them immense pain, especially since Susamaru was struck directly in the eye.
"Fuck! Ouch!" Susamaru yelled.
"Oops.." Tengen's wife Hina said; however, she was successful as one of the kunai had hit Gyutaro and was slowing his regeneration. Tengen and Tanjiro took the opportunity to try to decapitate the Upper Moon. Unfortunately, the poison did not work long enough and Gyutaro managed to recover and vanish from sight. He reappeared next to Hina with the full intention of killing her. Tengen was too stunned by the possibility of losing his wife to move and Susamaru was still pulling Kunai out of her body. Luckily, Tanjiro moved fast enough by combining his Hinokami and Water Breathing into one assault that allowed him to rescue Hina before Gyutaro could harm her.
"What the Hell, man? You shouldn't be that fa-" Gyutaro was cut off as he felt six arms wrap around his own limbs and torso. Susamaru had used Tanjiro's attack as a distraction to sneak up behind Gyutaro and latch onto him. She concentrated her breathing to increase the strength of her arms and Gyutaro was unable to break free of them. He was only annoyed by this at first; however, his annoyance turned to fear as he heard Tengen appear before him.
"Tanjiro Kamado! Susamaru! I owe you both a great debt!" He proclaimed as he quickly decapitated the Kizuki. "Keep holding his body! We need to decapitate his sister now!"
Susamaru only nodded her head in affirmation as she wanted to continue focusing on her breathing. She was still new at it compared to the slayers and as a result it took more effort for her to use the technique. Still, she held onto Gyutaro while Tengen sped off towards Daki. Tanjiro grabbed Gyutaro's head to keep it as far from his body as possible in case the demon freed himself.
Fortunately, the demon and demon slayer duo didn't have to hold out for long as Tengen swiftly decapitated Daki as he had done several times already. After that, the two Upper Moon Sixes began to crumble. As they did, Susamaru released her hold on the brother demon and began panting from the exertion of holding back such a strong foe. Tanjiro also allowed himself to relax as he dropped Gyutaro's head. The two demons' craniums managed to land next to each other so they could have one final chat before they journeyed into the after life.
Gyutaro and Daki both couldn't help but blame each other for their failure and demise and the two furiously argued with each other until Susamaru and Tanjiro jumped down to confront them. Tanjiro remembered to take a blood sample of them for Tamayo but that wasn't the primary reason he wanted to be near the demons.
"All you have left in the world is each other. No one is going to forgive the two of you. You are each other's only ally," Tanjiro said sadly. It broke his heart to see two siblings so hateful towards each other , especially on their deathbeds.
"I meant what I said earlier… you two were really lucky to have each other after becoming demons… I lost everyone I ever cared about when I became one so please… at least don't be angry at each other right now," Susamaru added.
Daki and Gyutaro looked at each other sadly in that moment as the words of Tanjiro and Susamaru sunk in. Unfortunately, Gyutaro wasn't able to say anything else to his sister before she faded away; however, he did remember her real name. That made him tear up as he too faded away.
"I… wonder if they made up…" Tanjiro asked as he and Susamaru stared at the ashes floating away in the breeze.
"I'm willing to bet they did," Susamaru said.
"Hey! Kamado! Susamaru!" Tengen called out to them. After the battle had finished, his wives had swarmed him so he couldn't escape to go over to his compatriots. Instead he hoped they would come to him so they could chat. They did so and he expressed his deep gratitude to them for helping him save his wives. He also thanked Inosuke and Zenitsu for their assistance as well.
It wasn't long after that, when Obanai Iguro showed up to assess the aftermath of the battle. He thought Tengen's performance was sloppy but was glad that they didn't lose another Pillar to an Upper Moon. Tengen was somewhat pleased with Obanai's annoyance since he found the younger man somewhat frustrating. He also informed the Serpent Breathing Pillar that Tanjiro and Susamaru had not only survived but had been instrumental in the fight and hoped that fact would bother the creepy snake man; however, Obanai was more shocked than upset. He legitimately didn't think any of the people Tengen had brought with him would survive let alone all of them.
While Obanai and Tengen discussed the aftermath of the battle, Tanjiro finally collapsed as a result of his injuries and exhaustion. Susamaru was going to carry him back to the Butterfly mansion; however, the sun was rising so she was forced to retreat into her box which Inosuke had fetched. She thanked him as he carried both her and Tanjiro all the way back to the compound, while Zenitsu happily carried Nezuko in her box. When they arrived at the mansion, Kanao, Shinobu and Aoi were all very glad that the five of them had made it back more or less safely. Still, the humans of the group were quite injured and so Shinobu was quick to place them all back in the recovery ward after stitching their wounds up.
Susamaru decided to hang around the group as they drifted off to sleep after their very eventful trip. She smiled as she finally felt successful. She had actually helped against an Upper Moon and everyone got to go home at the end of the mission. That was rare these days as demons seemed to be getting stronger and stronger. Still, she realized that they had defeated the weakest of the Upper Moons together… and if Tengen hadn't been there then they surely would have been slaughtered. So while she was happy for their victory, she was still pondering ways to improve. One of the things she realized about their fight was that she had no opportunity to do any real damage to the other demons. The slayers had their swords and Nezuko had her Blood Demon Art but… Susamaru didn't have anything to actually harm demons with and so she was somewhat frustrated that she would really only be able to fight as a supporting role.
Shinobu snuck up to Susamaru as she saw that the demon was deep in thought and decided to ask about what was going on in her head. "Susa? I thought you'd be leaping for joy and celebrating! After all, you helped kill an Upper Moon! That is no small feat!" Shinobu exclaimed as she clapped her hands together.
"Oh! Hi Shinobu! I am happy that we won! Really happy! It's just… still a bit frustrating that I can't seem to actually do any damage. I want to help in a more tangible way than just being a shield," Susamaru lamented.
"Well you shouldn't discount that. Because of you, No one was seriously injured… or at least not as seriously as they usually would have been after a battle like this," Shinobu pointed out.
"Yeah… I know it's just… I want to actually go on the offensive! After all… I can't block everyone all the time… but if I was able to actually kill a demon before they got to attack then I would be able to protect everyone! … but I just don't have a way to do that," Susamaru said with a pout.
"I understand your frustration. I felt the same way when I found out I didn't have the strength to decapitate demons; however, I came up with another solution and I'm sure you can too. Just give yourself time to think and don't try to stress about it all at once, okay?" Shinobu said with her trademark smile.
"… alright, I'll try not to let it bother me for a bit… but only if you and Kanoe play some games with me tonight since the guys are all resting!" Susamaru proposed.
"I think that can be arranged, I'll go track down Kanao," Shinobu said as she departed the medical ward.
Susamaru was pleased that she had such great friends these days and she decided to focus on that for the time being. She and the others were going to play the night away in celebration of their victory and no nagging doubts or thoughts would stop them; however, as she played shogi, hanafuda and football with the others, she came up with an idea for how to kill demons. It was a rather simple solution; however, executing her plan would be somewhat difficult.
She decided that she wanted to learn swordsmanship but Shinobu had already explained to her that it was forbidden for anyone to teach her. Still, she was hopeful that maybe she could find someone to break the rules for her and so she resolved to find an instructor the next time the moon rose in the sky!