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Tanjiro and Mary made their way through a small forest, not as thick as the ones they have been through before. "I hope Yushiro is alright," Tanjiro said as now that the sun was out Yushiro had to stay back, luckily Chachamaru was able to keep tracking down Tamayo, and subsequently, Tanya as well. "I am sure he is fine, he said he would try to find a way to get to us even in the daytime," Mary assured him. Her eyes then gave a small annoyed look 'if Yushiro just tried shrinking down like Nezuko they both could have fit in the box.' she shook her head, the demon refused to share space with Nezuko. He found it demining to be carried in a box anyway, though Nezuko did not seem happy about the idea either.
For now, Yushiro stayed back, letting Chachamaru lead the way. Mary winced when she accidentally put too much weight on her injured leg. "You okay?" Tanjiro asked with a concerned look. Mary nodded "yeah, let's keep going." both of them were still recovering from injuries suffered by the arrow and temari demon. Tanjiro was faring better than her, but Mary still blamed herself for Tanya and the other's capture. She was going to help even if it killed her, which was a possibility considering she could not even walk very well right now.
Tanjiro could from looks alone she could be doing better, but she was focused on coming to save Tanya and Tamayo now. As was he. He placed a hand on her shoulder "well alright, just make sure you let me know if you need to rest." Mary smiles, and she was about to answer when Tanjiro blinked and said "oh I think someone is here." he looked over, and soon coming from a side passage in the large field they were in Kanao appeared walking down it. When she stopped, she was about to raise her hand at them to wave, but then she noticed how Tanjiro's hands were on Mary's shoulder. For a moment she did not hear Tanjiro say "Hi Kanao! Glad you made it!" and it took her a while to clear her throat and nod "yes…hello." she said steadily.
Tanjiro walked over to Kanao and held his hand out to her "been a while, once Zenitsu makes his way to us the whole team will be back together." Tanjiro thought for a moment "oh at Inosuke." he mentally smacked himself for forgetting about the boy who wore a boar head, he would have been helpful on this mission! She nods and shakes his hand, a small dust of pink appeared on her face until Tanjiro lets go of the handshake. She looked at the two and said "I will help free my sister, so thank you for informing me."
The three would continue making their way, Mary and Tanjiro explaining all that happened since Kanao knew about Nezuko they figured they could trust her with the knowledge about Tamayo and Yushiro. Kanao rubbed her chin 'if it is true this Tamayo demon is working to make a cure for demons, then my sister would be a great help' these thoughts did not leave her head now, as she was doubtful Shinobu would be willing to work with Tamayo so readily. It seemed as though this Tamayo wished to remain a secret for now, but since Tanya would have known about this she could talk about it with her later. She looked away from the other two demon slayers as they walked 'while I also talk to her about other things…' her face went pink again, which was the reason she turned away in the first place.
"Is something wrong Kanao?" Tanjiro asked, she turned to meet his gaze but luckily her blush was gone by that point. She nodded "I am fine." she said in her usually a plain way. "Are you sure? You smell a little distressed." Kanao shook a little, she had forgotten Tanjiro's incredible sense of smell. Mary tilted her head and gave a nervous laugh "I know that look. Don't worry, I think everyone forgets at some point." Tanjiro was confused, not getting they were talking about his incredible nose.
Kanao shook her head "I am fine, just a little worried about my sister Tanya." at least his nose could not pick up on her lie since she was telling the truth, just not the full truth of why she was distressed. He gives a smile, the same smile that makes Kanao's normally calm heart beat fast. "We will save her, I know we will!" She gave a small smile back and made an agreeable grunting noise. She was glad the original conversion would be dropped now. She was not even ready to make full decisions on her own, let alone talk about feelings with the object of those feelings.
As they walked further down they saw a strange sight, as well as heard all too familiar screaming. "AHHHHH, SOMEONE HELP ME THIS GUY JUST DRAGGED ME AWAY FROM MY TRUE LOVE!" as well as another voice "LET ME GO AND FIGHT ME YOU SMILING BASTARD!" what they saw was Zenitsu and Inosuke being dragged towards them, screaming along the way. The person dragging them was none other than Kyujuro Rengoku, who seemed entirely unfazed by their loud screaming. "Huh…well that is odd," Mary commented, as they waited for the three to make their way over to them.
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Tanya only saw darkness right now, but that was due to the blindfold on her eyes. As for her situation, it was bleak. Her hands were bound above her head on a wooden pole. To make matter worse, Zettour had scratched her. While she remembered after the celebration in the military base Ruderkodia had mentioned that he was able to resist the effects of Zettour's blood with concentration breathing, though only for so long. 'Unlike him though, I am not out of practice.' she thought to herself. Though she could not feel any loss of control of herself, Tanya was unconfident that she could keep this up forever. Especially since she had not eaten anything for almost a whole day.
'Damn you Being X, you might have gotten me this time,' she was furious at herself for letting this happen. She wanted to punch herself for giving herself up for Tanjiro's safety, what was she thinking? "What are ya thinking there huh? I see the scowl on your face and mouth. Don't try anything!" the demon watching her shouted, growling a bit. Tanya was not really scowling at him, though she was less than happy about being watched for sure. She only saw the demon briefly before she was blindfolded, but it had various tsuzumi drums around and in its body. It seemed to have dominion over the house they were in, even though Zettour was calling the shots.
"So how is she?" Tanya heard the voice of the demon who brought her here in the first place, Zettour. The tsuzumi demon growled "still resistant, I am yet to see white vein outlines anywhere not covered by clothes." he sounded more annoyed than Zettour even. The lower 2 demons then chuckled at his former fellow lower-ranked demon. "I see." he went inside the room, and Tanya did say a word. She refused to talk to Zettour or give him any satisfaction.
"I'm about to have Tamayo remove the curse now, after that, I am going to have her turn you into a demon," Zettour said with a wicked grin. Tanya just gave a toothy frown in response, but still did not speak. Zettour shook his head "you might as well just give in Tanya Kocho, demon or not you will be under my control soon enough." he spoke her full name on purpose, just to rile her up. But Tanya was still not going to give him the satisfaction. With a sigh he went to leave, "come on Kyogai, I need my strongest demon nearby in case Tamayo tried anything. Ubar will be here to replace you shortly." the Tsuzumi demon grumbled, but he knew the sooner this was done, the sooner Zettour would let him turn Tamayo over to master Kibutsuji. So he nodded and the two left.
Shortly thereafter, a new demon took his place, one with a short body, the little demon Ubar. Tanya makes a small breath of annoyance, having to constantly keep up her concentration breathing was draining, but she had to endure it for now. 'I have to think of a way out of here…'
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"HELLO TANJIRO KAMADO, KANAO TSUYURI, AND MARY SUE! It is great to see you all again!" Kyujuro shouted loudly, even breaking the volume of the screams of Zenitsu and Inosuke. "Hello, Mister Rengoku. Thank you for coming." Tanjiro said with a happy grin, which did not really come close to matching the wideness of Kyujuro's, not that it was a contest. "YES, thank you for letting me know Tanya was in trouble!" then Zenitsu ran up and grabbed Tanjiro and Mary's arm. "Tanjiro, Mary, you gotta help me! Rengoku dragged me away from a girl I was gonna marry just now!"
Tanjiro just looked confused, while Mary rolled her eyes. "Okay, what actually happened?" Zenitsu gawked at how he was instantly dismissed. "Oh, This yellow-colored hair boy was bothering a girl to marry him, so I grabbed him, and dragged him away. I did not know you three were even down this path!" Kyujuro said all of this bluntly. Mary sighed and muttered 'of course' under her breath. Zenitsu ground his teeth a bit "no, she was in love with me! AHHHH" he yelled as he grasped his hair.
Tanjiro came up to Zenitsu and patted him on the shoulder "well I am glad you are here Zenitsu. And that you got my letter to come here." Zenitsu felt happy that someone was happy to have him here, but he did not know what Tanjiro was talking about. "Letter? What letter?" while both stood there confused, Zenitsu's sparrow landed by the two and chirped. "Hello, you said Zenitsu lost it?" Tanjiro said to the sparrow, which nodded its tiny head. Zenitsu, as well as Mary, gawked. "You can speak bird?!" Zenitsu was shocked. "Yeah." the sparrow chirped more. Tanjiro gave a long weird out look "oh…he was asleep and when he woke up he thought it was a small creature come to kill him so he tore it apart…" Zenitsu gawked again "stop bad mouthing me!" he grabbed his sparrow, who just pecked his hands and then his head.
"That is amazing Kamado! What other talents do you have?!" Kyujuro shouted in amazement, but Tanjiro just rubbed the back of his head "oh not much more." the flame hashira seemed unconvinced, but he then noticed the wooden box on Tanjiro's back. "What are you caring on your back? It might be hard to carry that around, surely inconvenient for missions!" Tanjiro froze, as did everyone else. As Zenitsu could hear a demon inside, and he knew it was likely Nezuko in the box. Tanjiro stood there, he knew Kyujuro was a Hashira, he was likely to kill Nezuko if he knew she was a demon. 'I can't just tell him my sister is in there either!' he was trying to think of an answer, he looked at the other for help. Kanao was not sure. Neither was Zenitsu or Mary, with the former shaking rapidly thinking that Kyujuro would kill all of them for even just knowing Nezuko's existence!
Luckily they were saved by none other than Inosuke. "GET OFF ME AND THEN FIGHT ME!" he shouted from beneath Kyujuro. The flame pillar was keeping his entire body down with one foot on his back, with angered Inosuke more than when he was being pulled. "So uh…h-how did you come across him?" Mary asked in an attempt to change the subject. "He seemed strong so I wanted to fight him and beat him!" Inosuke yelled, and they looked at Kyujuro to fill in the details. "That is it! Except that he kept following me until I decided to just drag him to prevent him from hurting this one!" he pointed at Zenitsu, with him sadly nodding, remembering how Inosuke threatened to beat him up shortly after the girl he was pestering left.
Kyujuro removed his foot, and Inosuke immediately scrambled up. With a glare underneath his boar mask, he pointed at Kyujuro "all right, either we fight now or I will beat everyone up!" just as he reached for his two swords Tanjiro stood in front of him. "Y-you knows Inosuke, if I recall correctly I still owe you a duel from my promise during the final selection. But we have a mission to complete, if you help us it will go faster. And then we can duel afterward. Sound good?" Tanjiro said this in an attempt to move this along, time was limited and they needed to get to where the demon had gone with Tanya and Tamayo before Tanya was forced to be a demon.
Inosuke seemed still in place, he was trying to remember what Tanjiro was talking about. He started thinking back to the final selection, the whole process made smoke come out of his ears and then the ears of his boar mask. And then he suddenly remembered "THAT IS right! Lets fight Gonpachiro!" he once again reached for his swords. Tanjiro shook his head "I-I said after the mission….and my name is Tanjiro." Inosuke huffs "whatever Manjiro, I will kill more demons than you and smiling man and win at that AND the duel. Hahahhahaha!" he shouted confidently, Tanjiro was shocked that Inosuke once again said his name wrong after he just told him what it was.
"What about us?" Mary said with a somewhat annoyed tone. Inosuke looked back at her and Kanao, he stared blankly until eventually, he said "I will get more demons than all of you!" and then he ran ahead, leaving a dust cloud behind. "Wait, he does not even know where we are going." Zenitsu was just trying to forget he survived seven nights with that guy in their group, the memories of him constantly running after him during the day to waste energy was making him shake. Tanjiro chuckled, "I am sure it will be fine."
The group walked ahead now, eventually coming to a more forest-like area. "Hey Rengoku, if you don't mind me asking. Are relationships common in the demon slayer corp?" Tanjiro asked as the two of them and Kanao were slightly ahead of Zenitsu and Mary, who both ate some rice balls that Kanao brought along. Kanao's leaned in a bit from behind, she was intrigued but also shocked that Tanjiro asked this question. 'He could not be…no, certainly not.' she thought to herself, as she was doubtful that Tanjiro had the same feeling she did now.
Kyujuro made a "hmmm" sound as he thought for a little bit. "Yes and no. since it usually varies from person to person. All I know is that some Hashira's either are or were in a relationship. One is even married!" he did not really try to hide that fact, though he did not name them. Tanjiro blinked in surprise "Married? Wow, I thought that the danger of this job left little room for relationships, let alone marriage." Kyujuro laughed loudly "it is because of that danger they have chosen to be wed! Though not everyone feels the same, like I said, it varies." Tanjiro nodded "I see, I was just curious since I know very few demon slayers in a relationship besides you." Mary felt her eye twitch, as did Zenitsu but for separate reasons.
Kyujuro nodded "I see, maybe one day you will have someone you share a connection with like I do Tanya!" he was enthusiastic about that. Tanjiro nodded "yeah hopefully." though Kanao knew the conversation was not about her exactly, she could not help but smile a little more from it.
"Guys." they heard Zenitsu say, as he looked a little on edge. He had his hand to his ear, "I-I hear a big blasting noise, coming from the e-east. Not too far away from here." he stumbled a little on his words, but he heard it. "But that is away from where we are heading," Tanjiro said with a small tinge of worry in his tone of voice. "All right, if another demon is in that direction that means they are attacking a human. Likely using trees as cover from the sunlight." Kyujuro spoke as he reached for his sword.
But Mary went in front of him "no, a lower rank demon took Tanya. They might need you to fight him." She was not sure how much stronger Zettour was than before, but even if he is the same strength as before Kyujuro will be a necessity in the fight. "I will go, with the sun up all I have to do is find where the demon is hiding and push them into the light." the group exchanged glances but nodded. Tanjiro was hesitant since he knew about Mary's leg, but he was unsure if he could defeat Zettour, or how many other demons would be inside.
The group was about to leave, but mary Gasped at Tanjiro for a second to keep him back for a little talk. "You need to let Kyujuro know, at least about Tamayo. He acts first a lot, if he finds her, he may kill her. Especially since she won't be able to explain herself due to the control of that demon." Tanjiro looked at the ground, he was hesitant to tell Kyujuro about Nezuko or Tamayo, but Mary was right. "I-...I will try to let him know before we find them." he turned to leave "be safe out there Mary." she nodded to him, with her leaving and him going to join the others.
Tanjiro looked at Kyujuro, who was walking a little ahead of the rest. He grasped the straps of the box, with Nezuko inside it. 'I will tell him soon…soon.'
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"Grnn.." Zettour groaned as he stood back up, "and you are sure it is removed?" he looked over at a disheveled-looking Tamayo, who with a sad face nodded. Zettour quickly got dressed, around him was bloodied the room, with body parts spread all over. Currently in the room Besides Kyogai, was the tongue demon, and the horned demon. As well as two males, Marechi humans that Kyogai brought in for himself and Zettour. They were huddled in a corner, scared and fearing when they would be consumed. Tamayo had to keep herself from crying, she had some control of her body, but not enough. Zettour had not forced her to eat any humans, which was the one thing she was thankful for, but she had been forced to watch.
After getting dressed Zettour cleared his throat, "remember to torture her and then throw her into the sun if I die." he told the three demons in the room, who nodded. "Hmm, well, I suppose if I do die. My last words will be Muzan Kibutsuji." he stood still, waiting for his own body to tear him apart. But nothing happened, his eyes widened. "Amazing!" he shouted out, laughing maniacally. "I want to be next!" the horned demon shouted, "No me!" the three other demons snarled at each other.
"Enough!" Zettour said in a demanding shout. "If you want your curse removed I will allow it after we turn our guest that is." he turned to Tamayo. "If you can that is." she gave a small, somewhat forced nod, forced because she did not want to do it. "Perfect, I will be back. For now…kill one of those boys so our soon-to-be new demon has something to eat." before he left the room he turned to the three demons, "oh, and don't let them get away. I already had to send Gunner out to find the one you let escape earlier."
Kyogai started making his way towards the two boys, one in persimmon haori and one in a gray one. They both backed as far against the wall as they could. "Hey, who said you could do it?" the tongue demon said in a raspy voice. "Grrr, I am the one who caught them in the first place!" Kyogai snapped back at them. The horned demon then cut in "but you're also the one that let the other one escape. Perhaps more competent demons should do it." the three demons glared at one another, and then suddenly a small fight broke out. Tamayo saw the two boys were close to the fight, but as the brawl broke out she saw an opportunity. 'If I can't save myself, I should at least save what humans I can.' she then stood up and ran at the three demons.
Zettour made his way down a shabby hallway, at the end was the room Tanya was kept in. "Ubar!" he shouted ahead at the little demon, who made his way over to his leader. "Yes lord Zettour?" he asked in a deep voice that did not fit his stature. "How is our guest, Tanya?" he asked with a stern look. The little demon smirked, "has not moved much, but I can tell she is getting desperate, I saw her trying to get her blindfold off." Zettour smiled widely "perfect." The two would walk side by side down the hallway, towards the room Tanya was in. "once this is over, I will have proven that not just Kibutsuji is capable of building a demon following. And unlike him, I will actually have a centralized army. Degurechaff is the first step towards this goal."
Ubar looked up at Zettour "de…Degurechaff? I thought her last name was Kocho?" the little demon was confused by the sudden name change. "Huh? What? That is what I said." the little demon shook his head "no, you said Degurechaff." Zettour seethed his teeth, suddenly he felt light-headed, something he had not felt since being human. 'Degurechaff, why is that name so familiar?' he thought to himself.
In the middle of this lapse in clear thought, he heard a beating of a drum, one of Kyogai's drums. Suddenly he found himself in another room. "What? I told him he is barred from using his drums until after we turn…" his eyes widened. He knew this meant Tanya had switched rooms as well.
"What was that?" Tanya said after she heard the beating of a tsuzumi drum. "Was it that demon covered in them?" she said as she then felt her arms limp a little. Her eyes widened under her blindfold, as she felt her wrists and hands freed. she quickly pulled the now loose rope off and took off her blindfold. She looked around, she was not in the same room she was in before. She could question this, but her large devil grin appeared on her face "well, seems I have been given an opportunity." and it was an opportunity she would not waste.