Tanjuro snuck away while everyone else was celebrating. He followed the scent of Demon blood to where Gyutaro and Daki's heads and bodies were. And he found them arguing. "This is all your fault! If you hadn't been so damn weak to need me to fight all your battles for you-!" "Well, if you hadn't waited so long to turn up, they'd all be dead by now!" Tanjuro watched the two yell at each other with a pain in his chest. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore, and moved towards them. "Stop! Please, don't fight anymore! You're family, aren't you?" Tanjuro asked sadly. "What do you know about it, Mr perfect?! You with your loving Wife, and your stupid Handsome face! I bet you had it easy all your life! You have no idea what it's like to feel like nothing!" Gyutaro yelled furiously.
"Actually no. Before I became a Demon, I was deathly ill. My family was poor and survived by making and selling charcoal. I had six children, so expenses were always tight. We could barely even afford to make sure everyone's clothes were suitable for the Winter. Everyone faces hardships of some kind or another Gyutaro. No one is so lucky to have everything they need in life. But I'm doing my best, for my family and my Demons. You and your Sister can join us! You can be safe and happy, and free of Muzan. You'll never be hurt again, unless you want to help me on my Missions. Please Gyutaro! You and Daki can be safe and happy, with no strings attached" Tanjuro explained.
Gyutaro looked unsure once again, those words running around in his head: 'You and your Sister can be safe and happy. And free of Muzan' all he'd ever wanted was for them to have the lives they deserved, for his little Sister to have the life she deserved. Was this the way? Could they truly be free and safe under this other Demon King's rule? Then he looked around at all of the destruction they'd caused, "after all of this?" he muttered. Tanjuro's eyes widened, as Gyutaro looked up at him with eyes full of vulnerability, "you'd really accept us after we caused all of this destruction?" he asked in a quiet voice. Tanjuro nodded, "yes. I believe everyone deserves a second chance. Except for Muzan. He's the cause of all of this after all" Tanjuro replied.
Gyutaro looked down at the ground, "I- I don't know if I can trust you. Everyone has always betrayed us. Taken everything from us! How could I trust you just like that?!" he cried, voice raw and shaking. "I haven't treated any of my Demons badly. Ask any of them" Tanjuro said softly. After a moment, Gyutaro sighed, closing his eyes. He turned to his Sister, who was slowly crumbling, "this fight is over. Lord Tanjuro is willing to take us in and protect us. So, we'll never have to worry about being hurt again Daki" he said, his body slowly fading as well.
There was a moment of silence, where it seemed like the whole world was frozen. Then Gyutaro coughed up blood, dissolving faster as his cells were destroyed. "BROTHER!" his Sister shrieked in horror, as Daki's body clawed at the ground from where it was stuck. Tanjuro ran over to the convulsing Demon. "Fuck! It must be the curse!" Hakuji snarled, as everyone ran over to Gyutaro. "But he didn't say his name?!" Daki cried in confusion. Gyutaro thrashed and convulsed as his cells felt like they were ripping themselves apart. "Can't you do something?! You said you would protect us!" the white and green-haired Demon woman begged.
"Hold on" Tanjuro said, slicing open Gyutaro's chest and allowing his blood to flow into the wound. The green-haired Demon began thrashing even more, turning to throw up blood onto the ground, despite not being connected to his body. "You're making it worse!" Daki shrieked, but Hakuji spoke up, "it's okay! Lord Tanjuro's blood is burning Muzan's out of him. He'll be alright Daki" he explained. Then Tanjuro hurried to do the same to Daki, before she died. The woman writhed on the ground, her body's crumbling starting to slow.
Ң
Tengan stumbled along with the help of his Wives, "ow! Damn this hurts!" he groaned. "Are you sure you don't need our help?" Yukito asked, with Shizu hovering worriedly nearby. "I told you I don't! Now get to your Master or whatever he is already, and stop bothering me!" the Sound Hashira snapped, irritated. Yukito sighed, "Alright Shizu, I'll find Lord Tanjuro, while you go look for Sayuri. She seems to have disappeared after helping us with the battle" he decided. "R-right!" Shizu agreed, hurrying off to find the youngest Demon, along with the three little girls she was looking after.
Yukito slipped into the shadows, following Tanjuro's Demonic presence.
Ң
When Yukito finally found Tanjuro, he was shocked to see him talking to a little girl with white hair and a young man with black hair. "Lord Tanjuro?" he asked. Tanjuro turned to look at him. And he smiled, "Yukito! Good timing. I want to introduce you to your newest allies. This is Ume. And her older Brother Gyutaro" he said slowly. His first Demon blinked, uncomprehending for a moment. "WHAT?! Are they the Upper Ranks that we were JUST fighting?! What were you thinking Sir?!" Yukito demanded. Tanjuro stared at his Demon, "I'm thinking that they were just children, who never knew love and deserve that chance. They wanted to try to make up for what they'd done, like Hakuji has been" Tanjuro explained firmly. Yukito looked worried, as Ume clung to her Older Brother, "do you trust me Yukito?" Tanjuro asked him suddenly. "Of course I do Sir!" the black and purple-haired Demon replied immediately. "Then you should trust them now too" the Demon King replied.
Ume stared up at the other Demon, slightly scared. She wouldn't be if she still had her Blood Demon Art, but part of becoming one of Lord Tanjuro's Demons was that they got new abilities. The point was that she only had her Demonic strength now, the same was true for Gyutaro. Tanjuro pat both of them on the heads, "don't worry. you're not in trouble for this" he said reassuringly. "But it is our fault" Gyutaro replied, looking at the destruction around them. "I- I don't know, why I-" the young adult Demon looked miserable. "You just have to do your best to make up for the things you did in the past" the Demon King explained.
"Now, we should probably get out of here, before we get blamed for all of this destruction" Tanjuro said sheepishly. "Oh! Actually, I have to go back and get those three girls. I left them to come help you Mr Tanjuro" Sayuri said. "Okay, then let's go get them" Tanjuro agreed.
Ң
After grabbing Aki, Kisa and Shiro, the group of Demons and Humans left the destroyed District. "I hope everyone can rebuild" Tanjuro said, carrying Kie in her box on his back. "It feels strange to be leaving the Entertainment District. We've only ever been here and the Infinity Castle when Muzan called on us" Ume said, as she walked next to her Older Brother, holding his hand. "Well, you'll get to see all kinds of new places and people now. And the best parts of being my Demons, are that you are immune to sunlight and you don't need to eat humans anymore" Tanjuro said with a smile. A part of him was nervous about taking on the two Siblings, considering the destruction they wrought and their indifferent attitudes towards the suffering of others.
But he believed that it was just because they'd never had the chance to experience a good life themselves. Tanjuro hoped that taking them in would help them deal with their complexes from whatever had happened to them in their human lives. As the group of 13 travelled back to the Butterfly Estate, they were met by the Kakushi. "Is anyone injured?!"one of them called. "Lord Tengan is hurt, and I'm still dealing with the effects of the poison I drank" Hinatsuru explained, her face looking incredibly pale and sweat-soaked. "You didn't say anything about being poisoned Hinatsuru!" Suma cried.
"It was an attempt to escape after Daki- sorry, Ume here, found out about me. But it didn't end up working out. It was a non-leathal poison, and Lord Tengan already gave me the antidote, but it'll take a while for me to recover, so I'm still pretty weak right now-" the long-haired Uzui said, as she swayed and nearly collapsed, proving her point. "Don't push yourself Hinatsuru" the Sound Hashira said, as the Kakushi grabbed onto her, "right, we'll take you to the Butterfly Mansion immediately. And, um-?" he said, as he turned to look at the Demon Siblings in confusion. "They're with me. New Demons" Tanjuro explained.
"Alright. We'll take you to see the Master's Wife to introduce them.
Excuse us" another Kakushi decided, as they moved to blindfold every human in the group. "What's going on?" Gyutaro asked in confusion. Tanjuro smiled at the young man, "the way to the Demon Slayer Corps Headquarters is hidden, so that if a Demon Slayer becomes a Demon, they can't betray the organization by giving away it's location" he explained. The green-haired Demon nodded in understanding, "that makes sense I guess" he replied. Once everyone was ready, the group left the destroyed District behind. The three little girls who used to work at the Kyogoku House were nervous about 'Ume' coming with them after all the abuse she had put them through, but the young Demon girl stayed well away from the three human children.
The two Demon Siblings didn't know what they were heading to, but they at least hoped that it was better than the life they'd lived before.