The morning came. Kiana rose early again, and found that the bathroom was already occupied. She shrugged, and leaned against the wall, holding her day clothes in her hands.
The door opened, and Tanjiro came out. He yawned. When he saw her, however, he stopped midyawn, and blushed a little bit. He turned and walked back toward the beds. "Bathroom's free."
Kiana shrugged. Wonder what his problem is. I hope he's not still upset.
She dressed and washed her face, then returned to the room. She found that the Kamados were all up and dressed.
Malia looked at her. "I want to go talk to Giyuu. I want to know what will happen to Nezuko."
"My brother can't do anything more to help her than I could," Kiana said sharply.
Nezuko put a hand on Malia's shoulder reassuringly.
"I'm so sorry I can't change things Nezuko…" Tanjiro said sadly.
"Tanjiro…I could see it," Kiana said. "The place where human ends and demon begins. I could see the seam that sewed them together. But it was put together so well that I…even with my expertise…it rebounded. And I couldn't stop. I kept remembering you three. How you would give anything to be put back together. And I wanted…I wanted the world to stop taking away people I cared about."
"Nezuko…!" Malia said. "We have to save you!"
The four of them arrived at the Butterfly Mansion.
Shinobu answered the door. "Why are you four here so early?"
"Shinobu…please…" Kiana said. "We just want to know what happened to the demon from yesterday. We want to see if there's anything we can do."
Shinobu looked stricken by Kiana's words. "Kiana…of all the people to see something like this…after what happened. I just wish there was something I could do…but all I can do is deliver bad news. That demon is dead. So be done with it." A barely concealed fury bubbled beneath the surface.
All four of them flinched collectively. Malia's hands went to her mouth, stifling a gasp.
Kiana didn't move for a moment. "What happened, Shinobu?"
"I suppose you all deserve an answer," she said. "I killed him."
It was happening again. The next words spoken vanished as soon as they hit her ears. All that was left in Kiana's brain was the strong urge to go. She had to see it. The burning body. She had to end the turmoil in her mind, in her heart. And so she ran.
Giyuu looked at the corpse under the blanket. "That is bad. She must have been angry."
Rengoku took a look himself. "No doubt."
The door banged open, causing everyone in the room to jump.
Standing in the doorway was Kiana, her black skirt billowing out from the speed at which she had stopped. Her breathing was heavy. Before anyone could stop her, she ran over and yanked the coverings away.
"Dead," Kiana said. "Mutilated. And dead. I can't…do anything more. Because it's gone."
She put her hands on her knees, catching her breath.
"Kia! What are you doing here?" Giyuu said, his tone somewhere between accusatory and comforting.
"They're gone," Kiana said, collapsing next to the ashen body of the demon. "I couldn't move forward until I knew they were either okay or…beyond help."
"KIANA!" Tanjiro burst in the room. "You-You can't just r—"
He stopped in the doorway. "Oh…"
Giyuu wanted to comfort his sister. He wanted to kneel next to her, pat her on the back, the way he did when they were kids. But something about her was different now. He had always thought it was because she was a Demon Slayer, but it was deeper than that.
And whatever it was…it had caused them to drift apart. Kiana never looked at him as her older brother anymore.
Tanjiro paused in the doorway, looking at Kiana, unsure how to react.
"Are you stupid?" Malia said, referring to Tanjiro, and ran to Kiana's side. "Hey…you alright? We need to get back."
She helped Kiana up. Kiana didn't say anything. They walked back outside.
"Hey, Nezuko?" Kiana said. "Are you ok?"
Nezuko nodded and knelt for a pat on the head, which she received with a smile.
"But…" Kiana said, slowly unwrapping the bandage on her hand and looking at the thin, snake like cut that wrapped its way around her hand. "Why did you three stop me? I could have fixed it. Just a little more, and I could have—"
Tanjiro grabbed her hand and re-wrapped it. "Don't be a fool. Don't think you're invincible. Just because you have the knowledge…it doesn't mean it's foolproof, and it doesn't mean it can solve all your problems."
Malia caught rain in her hands. "It's been so long. It's nice to know there is some redeeming of us after all."
Nezuko looked at her questioningly.
"We were able to stop Kiana," Malia said. "I call that progress. We saved someone after all."
"Tanjiro Kamado! Kiana Tomioka!" a man from headquarters approached. "I was sent by the Hashira Giyuu. He wanted to tell you to get inside. There's an Upper Moon and—"
Kiana flinched. But she couldn't get up fast enough. The man who had appeared behind her brother's messenger grabbed him by the head. There was a flash, and he seemed to explode on the inside.
"TANJIRO! MOVE!" she screamed, yanking his arm and pulling him down, just as the man's arm went forward towards him.
They landed in a heap on the concrete. Kiana grabbed him and pulled him to his feet. They dodged the man's attacks and ran as far as they could get, following Nezuko and Malia.
Nezuko pushed Malia behind her and got in battle position, her gag falling at her feet as she snarled.
They all made it to an alley. Nezuko used her Blood Demon Art to make a wall of flames. Malia clung to Nezuko, her breathing hard and shallow.
Suddenly a big hole burst through the flames. The man stepped through the opening.
"Dammit!" Kiana yelled. "How the hell did he manage that?"
The man stuck his hand on the wall next to him, and a crack went through it, collapsing the wall at the end of the alley and blocking their exit.
"Who the hell are you?" Tanjiro asked.
"You can call me Akaza," replied the man.
Kiana flinched. "His arm…it's all marked up!"
"You know too much just by looking at me, Demon Slayer girl," Akaza said.
"Yeah, well, you don't need to kill me for that!" Kiana yelled, ducking as he tried to grab her again. "You won't be killing me today. I have to stick around and help my friends here."
"Is that your only reason to live?" Akaza asked. "That sounds so childish. I don't want to kill a young girl with her life ahead of her"
Kiana stood, pushing Tanjiro out of her way. "Well that's too bad. Cuz if you wanna kill them you have to kill me first! And the only difference between girls and boys is that girls hit harder!"
She swung and hit the man, but it gave him the chance to aim his destructive hand at her stomach. She spun out, and hit a wall. He managed to rip her shirt, revealing an ugly scar across her abdomen. "Sorry, but enough has been destroyed there, already."
Nezuko pushed her back starting to defend her, but the man put one hand on Nezuko and part of her disintegrated.
"NEZUKO!" Kiana yelled, grabbing her before he hit the ground, and not really able to hold her up as she regenerated. She leaned against the wall. "Are you still…you?"
Nezuko nodded and gestured to the others.
"I'll stay with Nezuko," Malia said.
Kiana got up and turned toward the fight.
"I'll take care of it." Tanjiro drew his sword.
"I respect you for protecting your woman," Akaza said. "I will make your death quick."
Tanjiro tried to attack the Upper Moon, but he was quick, and grabbed him by the arm. Tanjiro flinched, his haori shredded.
His Sword protected him, Kiana thought, breathing hard. She was pretty sure she had cut her skin on her back when she had hit her back on the wall.
Tanjiro whispered Hinokami Kagura, and then attacked.
"You Demon Slayers…" Akaza said. "What a waste of strength…" He shattered Tanjiro's blade.
"TANJIRO!" the three of them yelled at once.
Nezuko moved toward her brother.
"No!" Kiana yelled. "Protect Malia! I've got Tanjiro's back!"
Kiana ran forward.
"Kiana don't be stupid!" Tanjiro yelled. "You don't even have a blade to slow him down! I don't want you to die for me! Just stay back!"
"If I die then I'm dying on my terms, Tanjiro!" Kiana yelled back, running forward.
"STOP!" there was the sound of blades being drawn, and Giyuu shouting.
There were Hashira everywhere.
The fight was now between Giyuu and their attacker, because Giyuu was power-tripping as an older brother again.
Kiana sighed. "Tanjiro…your arm. And Nezuko's body, the regeneration is so slow…?"
"You don't get to do that," Tanjiro said softly. "You don't get to gamble your life like that!"
There was a crash and Akaza disappeared into the sewers.
"Hm…I didn't know you cared, Tanjiro," Kiana said. "I wasn't going to sit back and let you die, stupid. Why didn't you at least try to run away when we were about to die?"
"Because," Tanjiro said, flinching. "You would've all been defenseless. Like I said, you can't die for me!"
"No one's gonna die!" yelled Malia. "We need to fight until we turn Nezuko back into a human."
"Mmhm!" Nezuko nodded.
"Yeah…" Tanjiro said. "I guess so. You hurt very bad, Kiana?"
"I think my back's cut up," Kiana said.
"What about your stomach?" he said. "It looks kinda—"
"Nothing," Kiana said. "It's just a scar. I burnt myself cooking, that's all. Clumsy me, you see. What about your arm and Nezuko's body?"
"We have to back to Butterfly House," Tanjiro replied.