~~~~~~~~~~1914--days ago~~~~~~~~~~
Finally, a woman with bright red eyes was a demon and a strong one no doubt. 'Who is she?' Kamanue thought to himself, a thought shared by lower moon demons four and three. She stared at them and opened her mouth to speak "are you going to remain standing in front of me?" the voice, 'its lord Muzan!' lower six, Kamanue thought as then all four of them were made to kneel before Muzan and his current female form.
"Lord Muzan, we didn't realize it was you." lower four, Mukago said nervously, it would be terrible if just one lower moon demon were gone, but two were. They were both likely dead or removed from their ranking, either way, Muzan was obviously disgruntled by it. "I did not summon you all to have a pleasant chat. Not one, but two lower moons. Lower two and lower five were killed. Both of which died mere days apart"
All the lower moons were both shocked to hear this, and more worried than before. Except for lower one, Enmu was still staring at Muzan without saying a word. Muzan's aura was a mix of perplexity and fury. "How is it that despite your positions you are replaced so often? It's not enough to just have my blood or be a demon of the twelve Kuzuki. You have to continually eat humans and their blood." Muzan's tone was filled to brim with poison, making the lower moons more fearful than they already were. "It is the upper ranks that always kill the hashira, while you all seemed more concerned with your own safety and often run away from them!"
Kamanue gritted his teeth 'that's easy for you to say unlike you we-' his thoughts were cut off by Muzan repeating them back "unlike you we what?" Lower six cocked his head up 'he can read our thoughts?' Muzan looks down at Kamanue, noticing the look in his eyes and reading the worried thoughts of the others as well. "Yes, I can. But enough conversation. Your time is up." with a cold tone Muzan would say "I am dissolving the lower ranks. The upper ranks unlike you lot have remained the same for over a hundred years. I will no longer be wasting my time on the lower ranks."
The lower ranks stiffened. 'After all that work I did to become a lower rank in the first place?!' lower three, Wakuraba thought in anger, forgetting that Muzan could read his thoughts. "You can't do this lord Muzan!" Kamanue shouted at the demon king but he flinched when the attention of Muzan was brought back onto him. "What was that?" suddenly a large mound of flesh appeared out of Muzan's right arm and grabbed lower six, dangling him up in the air. "W-wait, I didn't mean it. Please!" Kamanue tried begging, but a mouth spotted from out of the flesh and went right for him "Lord MUZAN!" Kamanue was eaten, as two of the lower ranks watched on in horror. Enmu stared blank-eyed just as he had been the whole time.
Muzan was going to kill them, that was the conclusion of lower moons three and four. "Are you all more afraid of the demon slayers, or me?" Mukago without thinking lifts her head and speaks "of course not!" she was trying to say anything to save her life. "And yet you lower four, have always run away at the mere mention of a hashira being nearby. Fleeing every time!" Mukago was breaking into tears, knowing Muzan was right but trying to find any way to be spared this death. "T-that is not true, I would die for you lord Muzan!" but he knew it was a flat-out lie. His monstrous arm of flesh was brought down on her killing and absorbing her. Once again Enmu remained emotionless even as the blood of his fellow demon splashed onto his face.
Wakuraba sat there dumbfounded, they were all about to die. He did not want to die though! 'Fine then…' he slowly stood up, seeing Muzan slowly turn their head at him. But he sprinted off, jumping between the many spaces of the strange space they inhabited. 'I'll run away, if I get far enough maybe I can avoid the slaughter!' he was confident in his speed. But he found himself staring at the spot he once stood, feeling immense pain.
"W-what…" his head was still attached to his body, but he had been hit in other areas of his body which explained that pain. Muzan glared down at him, having caught Wakuraba and brought him back in less than a second the demon was frightened and unable to move. 'Why? Am I still alive?; he thought worried to himself. "You will see, depends on how he answers my question." he tossed Wakuraba back down to the platform he was on before. Lower three bowed to Muzan, knowing now he would be dead if he tried to escape, or that he was going to die anyways if not. Muzan had turned his full attention to Enmu, who was still staring blankly. "And you. Aren't you going to try and beg or run away?"
Enmu remained silent for a few seconds. Wakuraba continued staring at the floor 'he's probably terrified. We are both gonna die!' Enmu smiled blissfully though, his cheeks going red with delight. "How can I explain this?" Enmu started as he started and held his hands up "seeing their deaths, it was wonderful." he hugged himself "and knowing that I will join them soon and that my death we are at your hand's lord Muzan." he held his head in his hands "I could feel no greater joy with that honor." Wakuraba thought for sure they were dead, he stared over at Enmu, wanting to scold lower one as his last action in his life.
"That is more like it" Suddenly Muzans flesh stabs into Enmu's neck, and while Wakuraba was about to ask "what?" one stabbed into his neck as well. Blood filled the two demons, once it was done their bodies convulsed on the floor, their veins sticking out. "I have given you some more of my blood. You will most certainly die if you do not attune to it." both demons were gasping, their bodies slowly adjusting yet unable to move.
"If you can though, your power will certainly increase and you will certainly want more." Muzan smiled and pointed to his ears "if you kill a boy with Hanafura earrings and a hashira, I will give you more." Enmu smiled fighting through the pain, while Wakuraba was just barely able to look at Muzan. "Lower three you are to do as lower one asks of you. I did not spare you out of pity" Wakuraba would nod or speak if he could in response, but he could barely move his head at the moment. The biwa demon strummed on her Biwa, and the lower moon demons were removed from space. Muzan left as well while many tatami doors closed behind him.
Muzan looked over, seeing a nutcracker now in the same room of the shrine he was in, hence his disguise as a lady. "What do you want, I believe I told you to leave me alone," Muzan spoke calmly, knowing Being X was there. "You took my warning that your attempt to kill the boy with a powered-up lower rank would fail, and thought that two would be better?!" Being X yelled at Muzan, the nutcracker shaking.
Muzan rolled their eyes "I don't want the help of someone who claims to be god, I am the demon king after all. Besides, I planned to send Upper three after the boy anyways." Being X was beyond reprieve, Tanya was bad enough but unlike her he was actually trying to help Muzan, and yet he was still being insulted and told his help was unwanted?! "Only one? I warned you not one but two hashira would be there!" the divine being said this knowing Tanya would be there as well, but due to the deal he and Being Z made in terms of helping Muzan, there was only so much he could tell Muzan without Being Z being able to help Tanya to far greater disagree then she was going to soon.
Muzan walked, knowing full well time had stopped like the last time they spoke. He did not care. "Upper three will be more than enough for two Hashira and the boy." Being X would then yell out "I CAN GUARANTEE HE WILL DIE FACING BOTH OF THOSE HASHIRA!" the booming voice was enough to stop Muzan, who would say "done yelling? Explain. Now. and maybe I will listen." Being X grumbled "both Hashira going could hold the upper three off long enough for the sun to come up, at best he could kill one of them. But that is only individually."
Muzan was waiting for more "but together, those two, even if just barely, would come out on top." silence crept up their frozen time void. "If you want to make sure the boy with the Hanafura earrings dies, there is a plain and simple answer. It is basically what you just did with the two lower moons." Muzan's eyes widened, the plan invited more risk but could yield better results. "Just so we are clear, if the boy is still alive by the end of this, I will never heed your words again." Muzan could hear the sound of feet moving, as now the people frozen in time began to move. His eyes narrowed 'two upper moons it is.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~present day~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu had been training none stop with the exception of eating and sleeping. Kanao helped them whenever her other duties around the mansion were finished. She found herself being given fewer chores since Shinobu wanted her to train with the three boys.
While Zenitsu and Inosuke practiced outside Tanjiro and Kanao were doing the chase training and medicine water training. Sumi, Naho, and Kiyo watched, cheering for both, even if they secretly wanted Tanjiro to win since he was training with them before. The two massively passed hands between the cups. Until finally Tanjiro grabbed a cup after preventing Kanao from grabbing one. Finally, after so many days of being splashed by the awful-smelling water, he could get her back for it.
'But I don't want to ruin her flowery smell.' he thought as he simply placed the cup on her head, confusing everyone. "It smelled so I didn't want to get any on you Kanao." The three girls wondered if that counted, technically he didn't have to splash the water on her. "Alright, I did it!" Tanjiro celebrated, and Sumi, Naho, and Kiyo did as well. Kanao was left wondering why Tanjiro did that as it still perplexed her.
During the chase Tanjiro finally was able to catch up with Kanao and grab her wrists "I got it!" he shouted in surprise. "Yay Tanjiro!" the three little girls shouted, though they quickly noticed how both Kanao and Tanjiro's faces went a little pink due to Tanjiro's hand still holding onto Kanao's wrist. He let go and the two turned away from each other. "Y-you did very good Tanjiro. Congratulations" Kanao said with a blushing face. Tanjiro was blushing still as well, he nervously laughed "hah! Thank you Kanao I would not have gotten this far without you!" Sumi, Naho, and Kiyo tilted their heads, wondering if they should leave.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Come on you can do it!"
"You three have this!"
"Break the gourd!" all three girls repeated similar lines to inspire Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu as they blew into the largest gourds the butterfly mansion had. They had been training for weeks in total concentration constant. And finally, the large gourds broke. "HAH! THEY BROKE!" Inosuke announced loudly. "you did it," Sumi said as both Naho and Kiyo echoed "you did it, you really did!" Zenitsu was just relieved it was over with, as quoted, his lungs were "on fire." Tanjiro looked and noticed Kanao was not around.
Just as he was about to leave to find her he smelled a familiar smell. He went to the front of the mansion where he noticed Mary being carried in by Kakushi covered in bandages. "Mary?!" she was covered in bandages, unconscious. "She will be fine," Granz said as he walked up to Tanjiro, one of his arms was in a sling since it was broken. Tanjiro recognized him as one of Urokodaki's former students. "What happened though?"
Granz rubbed the back of his head "the usual mission stuff. It is best if I tell what it is later, don't want to insult Mary by revealing how she was knocked out by a demon." Tanjiro nodded, watching as Granz walked inside the mansion. Something must have happened on the mission due to how hesitant Granz was to talk about it.
Tanjiro sighed as he walked through the mansion, Mary must have been on a mission while they were recovering. While thinking to himself someone bumped his shoulder as he walked past. "sorry I wasn't looking where I was going," Tanjiro said as he looked at the boy who bumped him, but he was ignored. He soon recognized him from the final selection "hey! It's been a while!" he shouted out at Genya but was never acknowledged. Tanjiro was unable to stop him so he continued on his way to find Kanao. Eventually finding her on the patio by the garden.
"Hey, Kanao!" he shouted out excitedly, sitting down next to her. "Hello Tanjiro, how is your day?" she tried to make small talk, which was still new to her. "it was great we finally managed to break the gourds!" Tanjiro was excited to say the very least. Kanao smiled a little "that is nice. Hmm, Tanya-nee and Rengoku still have not returned." she was starting to get a little worried. "You two are pretty close right?" Kanao nodded to Tanjiro's question. "I am close with all my sisters, but she and Aoi aren't blood-related like Shinobu-nee and Kanae-nee. But we are all family" Kanao was smiling brighter as talked about her sisters.
Tanjiro blinked and asked "Kanae? You mean the eldest?" he did not know much about the girl other than her being a flower hashira and her sad death. "Yeah, she was great." Tanjiro could smell the sadness, but her expression was all he really needed to see. "I-I am so sorry Kanao, I should not have said anything." Kanao shook her head "no it is quite alright. Kanae was the one who gave me this" she took out her coin.
"This was what you flipped before to make decisions!" Tanjiro grinned "you haven't had to in a while so that's great!" he quickly realized he said this after she had said her long passed sister gave it to her. "I mean, uh, I am sure it could still have great use and-" Tanjiro was cut off by Kanao suddenly giggling, thinking as she stopped 'that was…new' with a small pink spot on his cheeks as well. "Tanjiro, my sister, Kanae, never wanted me to use it forever. At the moment I keep it around as a memento of her." Tanjiro smiled as he calmed down "I see she must have been amazing."
Kanao nodded. She then told him the tale of how she was originally found by Shinobu and Kanae about to be sold by her father. Hearing the scene caused by Shinobu, Tanjiro laughed hearing about how Shinobu used to be before Kanae's death. Commenting by saying "that matches her smell better than how she acts now."
Kanao continued to explain that she simply could not make choices due to how her father treating her like trash caused her to break mentally and that Kanae had given her the coin to help her make decisions until she can make them on her own. She then described how Tanya always pushed her to make her own decisions, especially during sword training when she said it was holding her sword fighting skills back. "She was always tough during training huh?" Tanjiro chuckled nervously, as he is pretty sure bruises from Tanya's training still existed somewhere on his body.
"Hey Kanao, if you don't mind me saying this." Tanjiro cleared his throat "you said 'till you can make your own decisions when describing Kanae giving you the coin. But it felt like you left something out." Kanao adverted her gaze. Slowly her heart started to beat faster and faster. "Something wrong Kanao? You have that same smell as you did when your face gets red and that time we hugged on the mountain." Kanao wanted to run away like she did last week. But she decided against it. This was her choice, and it was Kanae who told her all the way back then.
"Tanjiro…" Kanao looked at him, her face red as she was obviously nervous. Tanjiro's own heart was beating louder now. "Y-yeah Kanao?" She folded her hand on her lap "Kanae-nee told me once I find someone who makes my heart beat, kind of like it is now, then I would finally be able to make my own decisions. S-she was right." with a huge breath in and out for confidence she said, "because I've only ever been able to make my own decisions ever since I started having feelings for you, Tanjiro."
she thought back to when she went against the coin to save Tanjiro from the hand demon, or when she made her regretful choice of leaving Inosuke behind. Each time, it was thanks to him she was even able to do it. Both sat in silence, as Tanjiro thought 'what do I do, what do I do?!'
Tanjiro was not sure if he felt the same way about Kanao. 'Sure she smells nice, has a cute laugh, and smiles nicely.' he mentally gulped. 'I love training with her, she kept Nezuko's secret, Kanao is…she is' Kanao touched Tanjiro's arm "Tanjiro?" he then reached over and patted her on the head and said "thanks." wind was the only sound heard. His eyes flattened out 'that was bad wasn't it?' Tanjiro stood up, he offered her his hand.
Kanao was still taking in that had said 'thanks' in response. She took a few seconds later and stood up with him. "Kanao, I will be honest, I have never felt this way before. So I only knew how people smelled with this feeling. Like my parents, or mister Rengoku and Tanya." Kanao was not sure what he meant by 'smell' or what scent he referred to. "Kanao. I think I have feelings for you as well." Tanjiro's face was red now as well. They stood there for a little while "n-now what?" Kanao asked not sure what the next step was, just start dating? "I don't know…" Tanjiro brought her in for a hug "let's find out together." Kanao hugged him back.
Tanjiro had not felt this happy ever since his family was slaughtered, Kanao had never been this happy in her entire life.
The next day, Tanjiro was getting his slayer uniform on, last night he and his two friends were summoned on a mission now that their recovery was finished. A mission about a demon on the 'Mugen Train' He carried the box with Nezuko inside of it outside. He said goodbye to Aoi, who as he left said "you better be good to Kanao." he was not sure how she found out so quickly but he also thought 'all the Kocho sisters and butterfly attendants are scary.'
Outside waiting for him were Inosuke, Zenitsu, and Kanao. "You're coming as well Kanao?" she nodded "yeah, Master said I could join you three. I brought food made by the girls" the two smiled at each other. Zenitsu shifted his gaze between them and thought 'I feel like something happened.' Inosuke giggled, as Zenitsu thought 'why do I feel like I've been left out of a secret!'
Tanjiro looks and sees Giyu waiting in front of the mansion. "Tomioka! Hey!" Tanjiro runs up to the water hashira with a wide smile. "Kamado, I hear you mastered Total concentration constant. Well done." he was impressed even if his Monotone voice did not make that clear. "Thank you. I will make sure to do well out there." Giyu nodded "and be safe as well." with one last goodbye the four slayers left for their mission.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What is this magnificent beast! It must be this place's guardian!" Inosuke shouted as they were by the train that was their mission and how they would travel as well. "I must defeat it, prepare to be bested!" Inosuke points at the train running at it and banging his head into it. "Easy idiot, it's just a train!" Zenitsu shouted as they were already attracting attention from the crowd.
"He is right Inosuke!" Zenitsu was about to thank Tanjiro for being his saving grace. "If it is the guardian we should not anger it." he was not joking either. "You country bumpkins its just a train!" Zenitsu shouted out in frustration. "I have food we could offer it." Kanao chimed in, which made Zenitsu even more made "I know you've seen one at least Kanao!" Inosuke kept running his head into the train. "Hey!" an officer came up, and he quickly noticed their swords "what do you think you're doing!" the four slayers ended up having to run.
After a while of running, Zenitsu griped at Inosuke "you idiot! Now, what are we gonna do!" Inosuke huffed "why did they chase after us? We are helping them after all!" Kanao shakes her head "yes. But the demon slayers are not officially recognized by the government." Tanjiro thinks for a little while "for now we should hide out swords."
"The beast, it's moving!" Inosuke pointed at the train. "It's just a train, wand it is moving!" not having much time to think, and knowing they had to be on the train Tanjiro guided them as they ran up to the caboose. Kanao, Inosuke, and Tanjiro got on easily. "Guys help!" Zenitsu yelled as he just barely grabbed on and had to be pulled up by the others.
They watched as the sun set while the train moved. "Hey, Tanjiro, why didn't you leave Nezuko back at the mansion? I am sure they would have allowed her to stay. And she would be safer." Tanjiro looked at the box over his shoulder, he thought back to when Tanya and Giyu first found them, when he was trained by Urokodaki and Tanya along with Zenitsu and Kanao. He thought of Asakusa, And everything else, he smiled "Nezuko and I will be together always." he went back to watching the passing scenery as now the moon was in view.
Zenitsu smiled understanding and went back to watching as well. Inosuke took how fast they passed everything on the train. Kanao walked up next to Tanjiro, both taking hold of the other hand. Their next mission was about to begin.
One train kart over, a man in a business suit watched out the window, in his reflection a demon eye with a crossed out 'lower 2' was seen before he blinked and it was gone.
A little further over Tanya and Kyojuro were sitting next to each other, Tanya leaning against the window. She smirked as she looked outside, while Kyojuro handed her one of many bento boxes.
Finally, at the Locomotive of the train, two demons stood on top of it. 'I'll prove my worth Muzan' Lower three thought while lower one, Enmu thought 'and so the fun begins.'