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Tanya and Gunner made their way through Asakusa amongst the busy crowds of people they passed through. "Are you sure we will find Muzan here? Seems like a mistake for him to be out in the open." Tanya already knew what Muzan looked like, but kept that to herself, as Gunner had decided to explain it earlier. "Yes, he is. What better cover than the one you can use in plain sight after all?" after hearing that Tanya wondered if they possibly missed Muzan, even if he was here where are they supposed to find him in the middle of all of this?
"So, this fugitive that helped you remove the curse, Tamayo. What exactly is her deal anyway?" Tanya only learned her name from Gunner, not much else other than removing Muzan's curse. Of course not a cure for full demonification. "Can't tell you, whether you even meet Tamayo or not after this is up to her." Tanya rolled her eyes "of course it will be." a large yelling would be heard amongst the crowd around them. "What was that?" Tanya's hand went for her blade, but Gunner put his hand in front of her "unfortunately it's the 'master', and it seems someone else beat us to him."
~~~~~~~earlier~~~~~~~~
Tanjiro stood wide-eyed while holding the hand of his sister who was half-asleep. "T-the big cities have gotten further along than I thought!" he spoke in the show as he stared down the bustling streets of Asakusa and Tokyo. Mary laughed nervously, she remembered when she was like this. While only a few of her missions have been done in big cities, she does still cringe when she remembered sounding like such a country bumpkin in over her head in Tokyo, the poor locals having to deal with her. 'I can spare Tanjiro of this.' she thought to herself.
"Woah wait!" Mary suddenly grasped the collar of Tanjiro's uniform and pulled him, and subsequently Nezuko, out of the way of an incoming tram. "Careful, those may look slower than a train, but they can still hurt you." Tanjiro breathed a huge sigh of relief "t-thank you, Mary, also what's a train?" Mary sighed heavily, "never mind Tanjiro." the boy sniffed the air "hey Mary, are you still mad? You know, at Tanya?"
For a moment Mary forgot he could 'sense emotions' she gave a small nod. "Yeah, but I will talk with her next I see her. It won't get in the way of our mission." the boy nodded, but still looked concerned. 'I am happy that she is not going to kill Nezuko or turn us into the higher-ups, whoever they are.' he thought to himself. He had explained everything to Mary, who had told him she tried to save her father once but Tanya slew him. Tanjiro could in one way see why Mary would be upset, he also thought that, unlike his sister, her father had killed people. 'But at the same time, unlike Nezuko, Mary was not there till after her father had been a demon for a while. Had I not been there, or even been killed alongside my other siblings, there is a very real chance Nezuko would have become like every other demon.' he looked back at his half-asleep sister, and smiled. Refusing to think about it further.
After a while of looking around and Mary either explaining something to Tanjiro or pulling him away from something, they found an isolated park in the city and an Udon stand. The man running it looked at the three people in front of his stand, seeing two of them looking tired and worn out. "Hey, can we get some Udon please?" Tanjiro asked in a disheveled tone. The three sat down on a bench nearby, they also got Nezuko one even though she would not consume it, even if she was fully awake. The only other person near them was a rotund old man-eating Udon a few paces away from them.
After thanking for their meal, they began to eat. "So, Nezuko really doesn't need to eat any humans?" she of course spoke quietly, not wanting to alert the Udon stand owner, or the old man eating nearby. Tanjiro nodded, looking at Nezuko. "Yeah, Master Urokodaki thinks its because she can sleep and regain strength instead of eating. Maybe it is just wishful thinking but I hope that is the case," he said this as he remembered what those demons were like in the final selection, not counting the hand demon, all of them were starving and acted no better than wild animals. He hated the thought of Nezuko ever becoming like that.
Mary stopped eating for a moment, thinking Tanjiro was lucky that he was there when his sister turned into a demon. Tanjiro stopped abruptly, "no" he whispered. Mary looked at him as the boy suddenly stood up and looked around, dropping his bowl of food right onto the ground. The scene made Mary remember when she met Tanya, having drooped her own food. "What is wrong Tanjiro?" the boy did not answer, as he looked back in the direction they came from. "Impossible. Mary stay here with Nezuko!" he suddenly took off.
"wait!" Mary called after him but he was already gone. She looked back at the Udon stand guy, she could tell the guy was fuming. Mary went back to eating so that maybe the guy won't be more mad, sitting closer to Nezuko. Suddenly the old man sat next to her, scratching his stomach "what was up with your friend?" not expecting the man to not only sit next to her but also start talking Mary was not sure how to respond. "I-I apologize if he disrupted your meal." the old man shook his head "it is fine, but enough about that."
he looked back at Mary "what seems to be wrong? I could tell, you were upset from where I was sitting. I suppose it has nothing to do with your profession does it?" Mary blinked, and she gulped back a bit "y-you know?" she whispered, and the old man nodded. "Yes. a long time ago one of you saved my life." he pulled out some money "this is for the food you and that boy paid for, it is a small amount, but I promised myself I would pay for the meal of Any slayer should I come across them." Mary wanted to say it was not necessary, but she could tell it was important to the man. So she took it. "Thank you. And nothing is wrong, just some…personal issues." the old man patted his belly "want to talk about it?"
Meanwhile, Tanjiro was running through the crowds of people, pushing them aside. 'This smell, it's the same one from back at my home. It can't be!' as he ran through the crowds, he remembered the name, the demon who is not only responsible for turning his sister, but also every demon out there. His smell landed on a male with a black suit, white pants, and a hat. 'Muzan Kibutsuji…' Tanjiro thought furiously to himself, as he grasped his shoulders.
His bright yet bloody red eyes of Muzan turn to stare back at him. Tanjiro shakes but refuses to back away. He reaches for his sword, intent on attacking Muzan. Suddenly he hears "papa?" which makes the boy freeze, as Muzan turns more Tanjiro sees he is holding a little girl. "Papa who is that?" Tanjiro remained in place, not hearing the monster before he smiled and talked to the girl in his arms. "Dear, what is wrong?" he saw a woman walk up to Muzan, likely the little girl's mother, as if she were Muzans wife.
"Is something wrong dear? Who is that?" the woman asked as Muzan said, "I do not know Tsukahiro." Tanjiro still had his hand by his sword, but he could not find it in himself to grab it and attack Muzan now. 'Why? Why are they all acting like he is a regular human? Can't you see…can't you see he is a monster?!' he thought angrily to himself. "Hmm, I don't know what is wrong with him, perhaps he mistook me for someone else." as Muzan talked with his supposed wife, he sneakily clawed a man's neck that was simply passing by. Something which only Tanjiro seemed to notice.
"Ach ahhh!" the man started to scream, his wife backing away. "W-whats wrong? Are you okay?" she tried to ask her husband, who unbeknownst to her was slowly turning into a demon. The daughter that Muzan was holding hid her face in the demon's chest. Feining worried he said, "it's okay, we are right here." Suddenly, the man that was scratched lunged at his wife, biting into her shoulder. "Ahhh!" she yelled as he gnawed at her.
Meanwhile, Tanya and Gunner finally got to the scene, only to see Tanjiro lunge at the man biting his wife. He pulled the man down and stuffed something into his mouth to keep his new fangs at bay. "Someone get help!" Tanya's eyes narrow 'should I even be surprised?' she looked up at saw who Tanjiro was glaring at between glances at the newly made demon. "That him?" she asked Gunner who nodded. Muzan looked over at Tanya and Gunner, his eyes narrowed. "We should go dear, its dangerous." he spoke to his 'wife' who nodded and held his arm as they left.
"MUZAN!" Tanjiro started to yell. "I will never forgive you. Here me? I will find you again!" as Muzan turned back only for a second before leaving again. Tanya looked over to where the head demon had gone. "Damn it he is getting away," she muttered, this was her chance, to get Muzan with his guard down in a crowd. "Wait, we should help your fellow demon slayer." Gunner proposed, mostly because he noticed his ally was waiting and approaching in the crowd. "Hey! What are you doing?!" some officers showed up, staring at Tanjiro who was currently on top of a flailing man, and a woman next to both bleeding from the shoulders. With no context, one might assume Tanjiro was responsible.
Tanya could not waste it though, "I'll meet you back by the park you mentioned earlier!" she shouted as she started jumping up on the boxes and rafting to get on the roofs and follow Muzan from above. "Damn it…" Gunner mumbled, as he then saw Tanjiro get enveloped in a mix of colored clouds. 'Looks like lady Tamayo is helping him, better get in there.'
Tanya followed Muzan from above, remembering how he looked when Beings X and Z showed her. 'He is wearing different clothes, but other than that his face and hair are mostly the same.' she thought to herself. She tried looking for a perfect time to strike, which considering he was holding a little girl close to him was not easy. 'Does he know I am here?' she thought to herself as suddenly, just for a couple of seconds Muzan's red gaze fell upon her, watching her from below. And then looked away.
Before Tanya could even comprehend that, her head turned, and saw something flying at her. She jumped back, nearly falling into a back alley. "Was that a ball?" as she said that something came running at her from the rooftop, and tackled her off the roof. "Oppsies, someone did not check their blind spot~" a demon said wistfully as it and Tanya fell off the roof to the ground of the alleyway below. "Grrr, fourth form, blooming flame Undulation!" Tanya shouted as she pulled her blade out and the glory of flames circled around and cut both of the demon arms off. This allowed her brake her fall with another form and get her footing on the ground.
Tanya held her blade out at the demon as its arms slowly started to grow back. "You've got a lot of nerve stalking the big boss man." the demon said when it came more into view, the demon looked like a monkey neck down with grey fur. Their clothes were similar to that of monks. The monkey demon pointed at Tanya. "So why don't we play for a little while?"
While all this was happening Tanjiro watched as a colorful cloud surround him, the demon he was on top of, as well as the bleeding woman. The voices that were shouting at him earlier went away. "H-huh?" for obvious reasons he was confused. "You called the demon a human when calling for help." Tanjiro slowly looked over and saw a woman with pale lavender eyes, and a boy with plain lavender eyes and sharp pupils. Tanjiro was not sure how to respond, he could tell they were demons, but could smell no malicious intent from them.
Then a third demon walked in, he seemed combat-ready, but the female demon shook her head at him, and he suddenly seemed to calm down. "M-my name is Tanjiro Kamado, I saw this man get turned into a demon right now. And the man responsible!" the woman nodded "yes, I know." the woman whispered to the one that was next to her, the boy seemed perplexed but nodded. "Gunner help Yushiro takes the woman and her husband back with us." the woman then stared down at Tanjiro and smiled "my power won't last forever. So I will just say, Tanjiro I am Tamayo, and I can help."
Tanya slashed at the monkey demon, "flame breathing third form, water breathing, first form; blazing surface slash!" she shouted, cutting away at the arms that just grew back. "Tch, you're to strong for me human," it said as it just barely stumbled back. "Exactly, tell me where Muzan is, and maybe I will spare you." the monkey demon snickered "I would love to stay and chat, but I will see you later for sure girly, so…bye!" before his arms had grown back he jumped up. Tanya could make out the vague outline of two others, demons. Suddenly something she could not see went under her. She felt it but could not see it "the hell?" whatever the invisible force was it made her go flying down the alley. And into a fence.
By the time Tanya got to her feet and back to where she was before, all three demons were gone. She knelt down, feeling where her feet were planted before. "What was that? What sent me flying backward?" she had many questions. But for now, opted to leave the alley she was in. when she did, she ran into Tanjiro. "Miss Tanya…I did not know you were here." Tanya stared at Tanjiro, she sighed "and from I saw you caused quite the ruckus."
the boy rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah…where are you heading?" Tanya told him the exact location, she intended to meet Gunner back there, but she left that part out for now. Tanjiro's eyes widened, that was where Mary and Nezuko were. "Right, I'm heading there as well Nezuko and Mary are there waiting for me." Tanya's eyes widened, she wondered why Tanjiro would take the risk of leaving his demon sister with Mary. "before we head over, I should let you know something…about Mary."
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"Well I am off, thank you for the conversation little lady." the rotund old man said as he stood up. Mary nodded "well thank you, you helped me know I need to think about certain things more." the man nodded, and he patted Mary on the head. The girl smiled, it reminded her of when her father did it as well whenever he was proud of her or was reassuring her. "No problem." the rotund fellow left, heading out of the park.
Mary was thinking over their conversation. The old man spoke wisely, making sure to explain things from both sides. While she had left out the parts of her father and Nezuko being demons, for obvious reasons since she did not want to scare the old man of the half-asleep girl sitting next to her. Mary did, however, say she was mad that she asked someone to do something and they did not do it, and yet later on she finds out she did do what she asked of them, just for a different person.
The old man's words were 'talking it over with this person is the way to go no matter what first. Maybe they just did what they did due to the difference in both circumstances, maybe this person had malice when they did not do it for you, or maybe they truly just could not at the time. Whatever the reason, talk it over. And regardless of if you choose to confront them afterward, or agree that you can move past it. That will be your choice.' Mary understood, and she would talk with Tanya. Unfortunately for her, that time might be coming sooner than expected.
Mary noticed Tanjiro coming up the hill "Nezuko your brother is coming back." the demon girl seemed to finally start to wake up. She looked over at where Tanjiro was, but her smile fell when she saw Tanya there with him. Tanya for her part was unsure of what was going to happen, Tanjiro let her know that not only does Mary know that Nezuko was a demon, but that Tanya had direct involvement. She of course was annoyed with the boy, but she figured he would be a terrible liar.
When the two made it down the path, Tanjiro sniffed the air after Tanya and Mary had been staring at each other. 'It smells intense.' he cleared his throat "m-maybe you two can-" he was cut off by the Udon stand owner shouting "HEY BOY!" at him, startling Tanjiro and even Mary and Tanya. "How could you just drop perfectly good Udon like that?!" the man motioned at the ground which was not fully cleaned up yet. "S-sorry sir!" he then pointed at Mary "and you! Bowl is only half-finished!" the girl shook "s-sorry sir!" he finally pointed at Nezuko "and you, you have not eaten any at all. Aren't ya hungry?! And what's with the bamboo over your mouth?!" Nezuko just tilted her head. Tanjiro grabbed the Udon on his sister's lap, "I'll eat it, I am super hungry!" he quickly slurped down the Udon noodle and soup despite it being cold. He smacked his hands together and shouted "THANK YOU FOR THE MEAL!" he grabbed Nezuko's hand, and running off. Tanya and Mary looked at each other and ran off with him. Leaving the Udon master to wonder what just happened.
After a few moments of running, they stopped and caught their breath. "S-sorry for running off before Mary, just…" he gulped down and told her about Muzan. Mary's eyes widened "really? You saw Muzan Kibutsuji?" he nodded, and Tanya even confirmed she saw it as well. While Mary was assessing this information, A boy with lavender eyes, Yushiro. And a man with a suit on, Gunner approached them. "Who are they…wait are they demons?" Mary was about to reach for her sword, but both Tanya and Tanjiro stopped her. "Tanjiro?" Tanya spoke as she did not know Tanjiro knew. "Mary, these two are here to help us." while Mary was not sure how they could trust a demon, if she could live with not attacking Nezuko, she can live with this for now as well. "Good, we don't have time to waste, let's get moving. Lady Tamayo is waiting." Yushiro said as he and Gunner started leading the two to their secret home.
Meanwhile, Muzan was standing in an alley, three bodies surrounding him. A group of drunks annoyed him. He had sent the family he was using for survival and identity purposes home. 'At least two demon slayers are here, if they can report to their crows it is only a matter of time before slayers swarm her to find me.' he thought to himself as veins popped around his face, he remembered that a few days ago, a voice spoke to him, he had shrugged it off before. But the two he saw today, that girl and boy. "A boy with Hanafuda earrings and a girl with a yellow butterfly broch will soon bring down everything you built," he repeated the words the voice said. Those two fit the description well.
Three demons appeared behind him and kneeled. "You know what you have to do." he spoke, as the three nodded. "Hehe, this will be fun." a female demon with orange and black attire said with a grin. "If the master orders it I will get it done. There is nowhere they can hide from me." a male demon with closed eyes said with a less malicious grin. "I will play with them. Show them the power of a demon!" the monkey demon said as its human face licked its lips.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The rotund old man, or rather, what was him started to change body shape. From large to skinny with a wrinkled face. "Hah, that girl will be easy to track now." the old man or demon looked down at his hand, where a small 'M' appeared on his index finger along with a 'G' on his thumb. "This tracking art is perfect, luckily I stole it not too long ago." the demon spoke with a wicked smile.
"You can come out now." the demon spoke, as another demon with a long tongue crawled out. "Yes my lord?" the head demon looked at his subordinate, "with Gunner back in Tokyo, we will find that fugitive soon enough. And with that girl here, I can track her till I see all her friends as well." the tongue demon looked at the other demon confused, as he had no idea what his leader was talking about. "Go back to the mansion, let Kyogai know that if he has gathered enough Marechi for me, I will give him someone who will certainly make our master reinstate him as a member of the 12 Kizuki."
The tongue demon shook his head "are you sure my lord Zettour? You could just turn her into the master yourself." the demon glared at the tongue demon "Ahhh, s-sorry my lord, I forgot we are not allowed to say your name until we've earned it!" Zettour chuckled "it is fine, just go and do as I ask. Oh, and to answer your question, I don't turn her in because I need one thing from the fugitive." the tongue demon wanted to ask what that was, but did not push it. Zettour had infected his blood, if he wanted to, he could force them to stay out in the sun. so he would bow his head "I will be off then, see you back at the mansion, my lord."
After he left, Zettour remembered a couple of days ago, a voice spoke to him, people around him did not move at all, and the voice sounded like it was coming from everyone and yet no one at the same time. It said 'your plans can only succeed if you turn the one called, Tanya Kocho, into a demon. And you won't need Muzan for that. In fact, a certain fugitive can even remove the curse for you.' he grinned widely at that memory. 'I don't know if it was divine providence or not but I do know one thing…'
Zettour started tracking Gunner, opening his eyes for his 'Lower 2' kanji writing in his right eye. "And soon…" Zettour laughed deeply, harder and harder "everything will fall into place."