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Tanya woke up with her head on Kyojuro's chest, she still felt tired and it was technically nighttime. Some time closer to one in the morning, the moon still out. Her face went pink, and she realized that she was still naked under the covers. 'Did not expect it to tire me out to the point that I actively fell asleep' she thought as her face went from pink to red. Tonight, earlier, she and Kyojuro had sex. They had done the deed and she of course was still feeling feelings about it, something that it seemed only Kyojuro was capable of bringing her to.
It was strange to want to do it with him in the first place, but she did want to. Her face was still red as she remembered the intense look Kyojuro had as he kept near-perfect eye contact with her as they did every motion. She wanted to get it out of her head, but she could not. She turned her head upwards and caught a glance of her partner's sleeping form, smiling and peaceful. 'I wonder what he thinks about it?' Tanya gripped the covers, such thoughts seemed impossible for her before this, and yet here it was happening.
Kyojuro seemed to be the catalyst for a lot of events that seemed impossible to the former devil of the rhine. Actively having feelings beyond disgust, anger, or skepticism for sure. Tanya had felt those things towards Kyojuro sometimes as well, but never in full contempt. She also could genuinely laugh, genuinely be happy, and genuinely like him rather than just tolerate him. 'I still cannot believe I fell for such a smiley big oaf.' Kyojuro was of course more than that, he was incredibly strong, resourceful, skillful, and strategic. Even if she often had to help him with that last one.
Tanya often contemplated how despite being nearly a combination of everything she usually hates, she was still in love with the flame hashira. Her cheeks had mellowed out from red to pink, but she was fully aware that she was still flustered. Past lives, as the salaryman and then as the child soldier, they would either find it unbelievable or a straight-up lie if they were told it happened, especially with him. "Kyojuro what have you done to me?" she whispers and moves up a bit, pulling the blanket with her and laying her head closer to his.
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"Kyojuro…we need to leave." Tanya managed to force it out after more blood escaped her mouth. Both of them were in bad condition and were no closer to taking either Akaza or Doma's heads from their necks. She did not plan on leaving Tanjiro, his sister, Kanao, Zenitsu, or Inosuke behind either. Kanao and Inosuke could still move, if they had woken up then the same would be true of Zenitsu and Nezuko. They could get away, and run enough to at least buy time for sunrise, it was not perfect, and the passengers of the train would likely be eaten in loo of them, but they had to survive.
She had to survive
"We won't let you leave so easily, not after all this time," Doma said as he waved his war fans, "the only way you're leaving is as a demon or my meal. The children only have the latter option." Tanya struggled to keep on her feet, she could not say much at the moment. "We cannot leave Tanya…" Kyojuro said quietly, "at least I cannot" Tanya's look became one of tired indignation. Blood continued to drip down his body, and Kyojuro could feel he could not keep up much longer. He might as well be done for right now.
Tanya shook her head once, as that was all she could muster. "Those people are not ours to protect Kyojuro, us, your three Tsugukos, my little sister, they'll be killed right after us. And who knows what will become of Nezuko?" her want to live, for both of them to live, kept her talking. "They'll die, and then those passengers will die anyways." Tanya shivered a little bit, she should know better than to talk like this to Kyojuro. She would pointedly say "our deaths will not save them, us running might at least save us. And if they give chase, it might save the passengers as well." she said that knowing the chance of that was low.
"And who will stop them from chasing us? Only one of them would need to." Kyojuro asked pointedly himself and would speak with an emotional tone. "I would prefer you and the others went to the passengers to defend them, while I keep the demons at bay." Tanya's eyes widen "Kyojuro I said don't die on me." a small heat could be felt around them, somewhat covering the cold air Doma caused. "You said don't die a pointless death. My death, if it means doing my duty, defending innocent humans, my friends…" he breathes out a bit with a hard grunt "...and the woman I love. Then I don't see any death more meaningful than that." Tanya's eyes shook a bit "that's not fair, Kyojuro, don't accept any death." Suddenly ice and a bust of air went past them.
Was a result of a shock wave by Akaza and Doma's demon art. "This is getting boring, I always hated romantic plays," Doma said in a now bored-sounding tone, a far cry from his previous charismatic proud tone. "You speak of death, but you're not allowed to die on me Kyojuro. I want to keep fighting." Akaza's veins popped a bit around his arms "you both should become demons, put your fear of death aside. Maybe I'll even turn your students, perhaps they can become more than maggots as demons." Akaza smirked "and I agree with Doma, I am not letting any of you get away. It's either demon or death!"
Moments of silence passed. Tanjiro and the others just stared. Kyojuro thought about everyone around him, about his younger brother, and of course Tanya. The cold and scary girl who he fell for, he has accomplished his goal of getting her to genuinely smile multiple times now. He did not want to die, nor was he going to go down without a fight. "Tanya, how much longer?" he managed to ask quietly, though Akaza and Doma could still hear them. "Meer minutes. Attacking now will mean we won't make it to sunrise." she managed to say herself.
Kyojuro grinned widely for the first time during this fight, and a large burst of heat erupted from him. At the same time, Tanya's own lavender light flame pursed around her body and now long hair. "We have to keep them from moving for it to work." Tanya did not want to do this, but a fact that no longer shocked her was that she did not want Kyojuro to die either, something that would happen if he took on both upper ranks by himself. Akaza's eyes widened "why Kyojuro?" Doma's bored look turned into a delighted smile "oh? A last-ditch effort? How quaint!"
A reinvigorated look of determination joined with Kyojuro's grin. "I am Kyojuro Rengoku, the flame Hashira! No matter what, I will see my duty fulfilled!" he brought his foot back and held his Katana back as well. Tanya for her end crouched down a bit and held her Katana in front of her, the pointed edge pointing towards the sky. "This our mission, I suppose it would have looked bad if the demon slayers, especially the Hashira, ran away" she spoke tiredly, if her timing was correct it was close to sunrise if they could deal enough damage to both Akaza and Doma and once, it might force them still long enough for the sun to kill them. Or at least make them retreat.
Akaza felt the rumbling in his bones "such amazing fighting spirit!" Akaza gripped his fists, watching Kyojuro ready to fight even though it was an impossible fight to win, it filled him with great joy. "That determined look, that airtight grip, and pose. Kyojuro, you have to become a demon!" his smile rivaled that of the one Kyojuro had. "You have to, so we can fight for the rest of eternity!" Akaza got into a crouching down position and held both arms to his side. "Destructive death…" meanwhile Doma said nothing, merely holding his hands up as he waited for Tanya to attack. Tanjiro, Kanao, and Inosuke stared at the two Hashira. Each prays in their own way for their superior's success.
'Even if I did run, I would probably be kicked from the corps for letting so many people die. Then it would be even harder to take down Muzan.' Tanya told herself this to rationalize why she was staying, but deep down she knew it was just a bit more. She gripped the handle tightly. Kyojuro breathed in 'let it flow through your heart through your body, into your arms. And set your soul a blaze.' The two let loose their ultimate techniques. While the demons prepared their counterattacks.
"Flame breathing, esoteric art, ninth form; Rengoku!"
"Keshin breathing, ninth form; Tama no gi no Jigoku!"
Kyojuro unleashed flame breathing ultimate technique, a form only usable by his family, 'Rengoku' or 'purgatory' while Tanya unleashed her strongest form 'Tama no gi no Jigoku' or 'the false hell of souls' the two launched off, a large burst of red and purple flames sending off with them as they ran towards the two upper ranks. "Annihilation type!" with powerful shockwaves that came from the palm of his hands Akaza and Kyojuro crashed into one another. While Tanya's technique, purple flames surrounding her with a mix of blue, red, and pink around it, rushed toward Doma. upper two though did no grab technique, he simply countered with a large slash of ice.
Surrounded by flames of red and purple, Kyojuro and Tanya slashed with everything they had at their respective opponents. Kyojuro went for Akaza's neck, but the demon knocked the blade down and it burned into his torso. But Kyojuro was able to cut quickly, and aim upward through the stomach up to Akaza's shoulder. While Tanya's attack cut away and burned all the ice, Doma went to cut her with his fan, but he seemed shocked when three nearly unseeable slashes cut away the arm. He seemed agitated, and Tanya saw an opportunity to use her final cut at his neck.
As the dust, the clearing the three observers, Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Kanao were watching intently. By now Kanao had stood up and was holding her katana. Vague body shapes came into view. "I see them, ren…goku" Tanjiro's eyes widened in disbelief as he sees Akaza's fist through Kyojuro's torso. Blood spurted out from his mouth while he coughed, and Tanjiro yelled. Kanao's eyes were still in shock, as she saw much blood dripping from Tanya, while Doma held her neck as his arm regrew quickly from the cut.
Doma's sneer returned to a smile "oh dear, I smell it, one of your lungs" Doma spoke while Tanya was already having trouble breathing, one of her small lungs burst as she went for the slash. Right before the arm she cut off of Doma regrew. "Last chance Tanya-Chan, will you accept becoming a demon or will I be adsorbing you?" she could not really respond, barely able to breathe, to begin with. While Akaza was begging Kyojuro to accept becoming a demon rather than framing it as a choice. "Say you'll become a demon Kyojuro! This will kill you otherwise!" Akaza's limbs regrew "you are one of the strong! One of the chosen ones!"
Kyojuro could not hear the pleas or the screams of his juniors, or even the ones that were for Tanya. Now he was in his mother, Ruka's room, she was still bedridden, and his younger brother Senjuro was asleep by her feet. "Kyojuro" he heard his mother say. "Yes?" he said enthusiastically, even as a child he was like this. "I want you to think about your answer to this question. Do you know why you were born stronger than others?" Kyojuro opened and closed his mouth before saying "I don't know!"
His mother then gave her own clear answer. "It is so that you can protect weaker people, those that were born with more gifts than others must use those gifts for the world and the people around them." Kyojuro listened intently, not speaking until she was done. "You must never use your god-given strength to hurt others nor for personal gain. It is the duty of the strong to protect the weak, that is a mission you must always fulfill. Do you understand Rengoku?" Kyojuro gave a firm nod "I won't!" Ruka held her arms out to her son, who went up to her and she hugged him. While she held him close she said warmly and with a bit of tear in her eyes, "I do not have much time left to live, I was blessed to have such a strong and gentle child."
Tanya was writing down finalized improved strategizes for training, watching as Kanae finished off a demon. The flower hashira cheered, "you did well Kanae. Thank you for letting me watch" whenever Kanae had a simple mission she brought along her youngest sister Tanya so she could observe from afar. This mission had turned out to be less than simple, but Kanae had dealt with it. "It was all thanks to your plan Tanya!" Kanae ruffled Tanya's hair which made the little girl grumble. "Thanks to you I was able to deal with the demon without any casualties of the villagers nearby." Tanya turned her head "n-no problem." she had originally planned to lead the demon to the villagers, but knowing Kanae she thought of a different plan that made use of the creates as cover from the demon's barrage.
"You can stop that now." Kanae still smiled as she stopped ruffling Tanya's hair. "You will make an excellent demon slayer Tanya with that brain of yours. You thought of that faster than me." Kanae used to say 'your god-given brain' but she knew that despite being so young Tanya had a big aversion to even mentioning gods. "It was your strength that took care of it," Tanya said before folding up her notebook. Suddenly Kanae picked her up and rubbed hugged her deeply. "Ack! Stop this!" she stopped as she noticed Kanae's large smile soon drop.
Kanae continued her hug but lessened its tightness and was more to just hold Tanya up. "I wonder what kind of life you could have lived without the threat of demons Tanya. Perhaps a more comfortable life than the one you have with me and Shinobu." Tanya's adverted her gaze "you two have not made me uncomfortable." Kanae's smile returned "glad to hear it. But still…" Kanae hugged Tanya again, Tanya's head was now on her shoulder. "Tanya, I know you want to become a demon slayer, I do not plan to stop you. But I want my sisters to live a comfortable life, a good one." Tanya's eyes narrowed, truthfully she wants a comfortable life as well, but she will get none until she beats Being X and Z. "Promise me, that you will use that brain of yours to look towards the future, and protect everyone in your life. Tanya, promise me you and Shinobu will think of your futures outside the corps, as regular people." Tanya's mouth flattened, and she gripped Kanae's Haori "of course."
Both Hashira's gripped their Katana's handles so hard the veins in their hands could be seen bulging. Kyojuro slammed his Katana into Akaza's neck, and Tanya slammed her into Doma's while gripping the wrist of the hand holding her neck. Akaza gawked while his eyes bulged. Doma was staring into the hellish glare of Tanya's eyes. 'I…am afraid again?' he thought as the blade dug into his neck barely an inch. 'Mother, I was lucky to have such a strong and kind woman like you to raise me.' Kyojuro stared directly into Akaza's eyes, while the demon tried to get free of the blade stuck in his neck.
Tanya's glare intensified, while Doma was still stuck in his thoughts. 'Kanae-nee. I am always looking toward the future, toward a life where I don't have to deal with stuff like this, toward a life where I can be comfortable. I always am no matter the world I am in. but so long as I am here, I swear' she gripped her katana, she had only said "of course" to Kanae because the woman was distraught and Tanya did not fully understand why. Until now. 'I swear I will keep my promise, I will protect everyone!' her blade dug deeper into Doma's neck, even if not much.
Akaza grunted as he tried pulling himself back. He noticed something, a barely faint shine over the horizon. 'It will be daytime soon! I don't have a choice, I have to kill him soon!' he raised his other hand and made a punch towards Kyojuro who quickly caught it with his free hand just before it hit him. 'I won't give you a chance to get away!' Akaza's eyes widened 'such strength, my fist is through his solar plexus and he can still hold up like this?!"
"Let me go!" Akaza backed away but Kyojuro's heavily injured body moved with his. Akaza tried pulling his arm out of Kyojuro's torso but found it unable to move. Kyojuro was flexing his chest and abdomen muscles to keep it stuck through him. 'I won't let you get away!' Akaza could see the sunrise getting closer and closer, while Doma was seemingly still for no reason. "Let go!"
Tanjiro meanwhile got managed to get up and grab his sword. "I have to move" Tanjiro slowly moved towards Kyojuro and Akaza. Akaza and Kyojuro moved more, Akaza tried to pull either of his arms away but Kyojuro was making sure he would not move. "Let me go! Ahhh!!!" Akaza yelled so loud it could be heard as if it was in the ear of everyone. 'I will not let you go until I cut off your neck!' Kyojuro thought as his blade dug halfway through.
Akaza's yelling also snapped Doma out of thoughts that were a mix of fear and delight. His grip stopped on Tanya's neck as he tried pulling away, but Tanya's grip on it was just as tight as the one she had on her katana handle. "What are you doing? I am trying to escape!" Doma sounded a bit agitated. His free hand went to slash at Tanya, but suddenly Kanao stabbed into it, and a look of anger filled the girl's face. "What the hell?!" Doma's arm was pulled back with all of Kanao's might, she did not cut it off as it would just grow back if she did. Tanya's blade made it halfway into Doma's neck, causing the upper two demon to get even more agitated. Akaza and Doma yelled, as did Tanya and Kyojuro.
"Inosuke!" Tanjiro yelled to get the other boy's attention. "Move, move for their sake!" Inosuke nodded, as Tanjiro would have been slower to make it to Kyojuro. He jumped in the air when he got close enough, "beast breathing, first fang" before Inosuke could get in there to help, Akaza broke off his arms, one half still embedded into Kyojuro's torso. And he jumped up, it was there Inosuke and Tanjiro saw just how far Kyojuro had gotten with his now broken blade. Kyojuro fell to his knees. Doma activated some ice shards, which caused him to drop Tanya's butterfly pin. But it did its word and Doma was able to get free while Kanao caught Tanya as she was thrown to the ground. After taking out the swords that were in his arm and neck, Doma ran as the sun started to appear. Akaza did the same.
Tanjiro ran as close as he could, and with a semi-activation of Hinokami, he through his sword. Right after Akaza had thrown off Kyojuro's blade, Tanjiro's sword stuck through him. "Get back here, don't you dare leave either of you! Don't run away you cowards!" Tanjiro shouted out, Akaza and Doma were still in earshot to hear it. 'Does that boy not have a brain? I am not running from him, but the sun! Besides, the battle has been decided, as much as I hate it. Both those Hashira are going to die soon!' Meanwhile, Doma ran away and he was frustrated 'another butterfly saved by the sunrise, how annoying. But still, fear, agitation, and other lovely emotions. I won't let the next one I meet getaway. I'll eat them right away!' Doma thought blissfully, though as he made it further in the thought 'hey what ever happened to Hantengu? He was supposed to join us.'
Tanjiro's yelling never stopped. "It's slayers who always fight at night when the demons have the advantage! That's right us, the flesh and blood humans!" his voice got raspy but he kept going "Kyojuro and Tanya did not lose! You hear me! They made sure no one got hurt, they protected everyone and fought you off despite their depleted energy! The winners are them, not you!" tears fell down the boys face, everyone was watching, Inosuke shaking, Kyojuro looking on, Kanao with tears as well, and Tanya looking over while she was laying on Kanao's lap. She never felt prouder about the boy, she hoped being X could hear the boy yelling about human pride overcoming their 'divine' obstacles, even if he meant demons specifically. Kyojuro smiled the best he could.
"Enough Tanjiro." Kyojuro used his first name while the boy cried. "You have wounds as well, if they open up and you die, we will be the losers here." Kyojuro could not really turn his back, but he knew Tanya and Kanao were not far behind him. "Come here my boy, I wish to speak to you." Tanya looked up at Kanao who was tearful, she felt some drop on her. "Tanya-nee, please, don't die as well" Tanya could barely keep her eyes open, and she said "please, bring me over to Kyojuro." she was surprised she could say anything when she felt blood in her throat, but Kanao did what she was told. "Rengoku isn't there some breathing technique you can use to stop the bleeding?" Kyojuro would shake his head if he had the strength for it. "No, I will die soon." Kanao sat down and placed Tanya's head back on her lap.
The two lovers, the two Hashira, looked at each other best they could. "All the times I thought you would be the death of me, I never thought it literally," Tanya said quietly, she knew she was going to die, she could curse out Being X, and she still did not think her loss was fair, but she was going to die. Kyojuro was already well aware he was going to die, but knowing Tanya would as well hurt much more. It means he failed to keep her safe, he failed his mother. "I am sorry Tanya, I wish I could have done more." Tanya seethed her teeth, "you're not allowed to be regretful. Not to me idiot." Kyojuro kept his smile up, staring between the sad looks of the junior slayers around them.
"Young Kamado, like Tanya said at the beginning of this mission. Hashira have kept writings of past hashira. Unlike my father I've never read it, so I cannot say for sure, but it is likely the logs of all the flame hashira will have mention of the Hinokami Kagura if it has existed before." Tanjiro wanted to tell Kyojuro to save his energy, but that would not help. "I also recognize your sister, as a human and member of the demon slayer corps. So keep your head up high, no matter what anyone says she is as good as demon slayer in my book."
Tanya spoke up now "don't you dare blame yourselves for our death, that does nothing for anyone and just keeps you from moving forward. You do not get stronger by crying about the past, time will not coddle you nor will it grieve with you." she thought about saying the same about the gods they prayed to, but now was hardly the time, the young ones had been through enough. "We are hashira, of course, we protected our juniors. Any hashira would have done the same." Tanya turned her attention specifically to Kanao when she said "grieving all the time won't bring progress, and it will only let you make stupid decisions. No matter what, don't let yourself die pointlessly, all of you." though Tanya did not say it directly, Kanao knew she meant that for both her and Shinobu as well.
Kyojuro smiled a bit more "if you ever feel down, don't wait for someone else to pick you up. Set your soul ablaze instead." Tanjiro was not sure what that meant exactly. "Kamado, Tsuyuri, Boar boy, Agatsuma…" while he said this Zenitsu had finally made it to them, Nezuko in a box on his back. "Grow strong, become the next Hashira in support of the demon slayer corps." both Tanya and Kyojuro then said at the same time "I believe in you." it was not something Tanya would normally say, but she felt at least this time her death could go towards inspiring these young ones, instead of dying by train or bullet. Kyojuro told Tanjiro to tell his brother to live whatever life he wanted to live, that his brother loved him no matter what, and to make sure to tell his father to take care of himself.
While the slayers surrounding the dying failed to keep from crying, Tanya and Kyojuro felt their vision get blurry. "Tanya…" Kyojuro reached his hand out. "Kyojuro…" Tanya reached out her hand, but both went limp before they could touch. Kanao cried out, Zenitsu was in shock as he had only just arrived, Inosuke's cries were covered up by his mask. Tanjiro sat on his knees crying, both Tanya and Kyojuro, were gone.
"Was it true? Multiple upper ranks were here? Were they really that strong?" Tanjiro nodded to answer Zenitsu's question, the boy had recounted that both Kyojuro and Tanya did multiple techniques to save everyone during the train crash. It was unbelievable. "Every time I master one thing, I am stopped by another wall, while people much stronger than me are fighting far behind it. Will I ever even be as strong as Rengoku?" Kanao kept her hand on Tanya, unable to move, simply saying "another one of my sisters was taken by that monster, I am so weak."
Inosuke yelled out and pointed at the two of them "they told us they believe in us! That they wanted us to get stronger! Stop crying over them! It does not reverse their deaths!" Zenitsu blinked "but you're crying as well-" suddenly Inosuke slammed his head into Zenitsu's face "No I am not ahhh!" Inosuke frantically flayed his arms while water flowed from his boar headpiece.
Above them, a crow flew, and a tear fell down its beak as it flew off and informed other crows of the sad loss.
Shinobu was out with Aoi when her crow arrived. Aoi covered her mouth in horror, a few tears escaping down her cheeks. "Rengoku…" Shinobu gripped her hand "Tanya…" she could barely keep a tear from escaping her eyes. 'I failed you Kanae'
Tengen's crow delivered the news while the sound Hashira was scouting out his next mission during the day. "Even Rengoku could not defeat an upper rank? I cannot believe the new gal is already gone as well." he stared at the building across from him, one that was far more active at night.
Mitsuri had been eating, she covered her mouth, shaking her head. 'Master Rengoku….Tanya Kocho…' meanwhile Obanai just stood off, saying "I won't believe it." Muichiro was walking through a bamboo forest, unfazed by the news.
Sanemi had finished training with Wilibald when they received the new. Wilibald was in disbelief, he had not spoken to Tanya in so long, but he was in shock. Sanemi did not change his look, and merely said "I will kill all those vile demons."
When the news hit the stone Hashira, a few tears went down his face. Weiss dropped Genya who he had in a headlock. He pressed his hands together "Namu Amida Butsu" he offered a prayer. Tomioka's response to the news was a slow look of shock followed by a quiet "alright"
Kagaya stood with his wife and one of his children in the graveyard for the demon slayer corps. "So they both protected all those human lives?" Kagaya stared at the waterfall that flowed in front of him. "I do not regret hearing this, they were special children. Rest well Kyojuro and Tanya." he smiled, knowing he soon would be joining them as well.
Tanjiro and the rest continued to cry over the bodies of their deceased friends and mentors. Inosuke had dragged Tanjiro a bit over to 'train' but he gave up and just went back to 'not crying' while hitting the ground over and over again. Zenitsu was still unconscious on the ground after Inosuke headbutted him. "Rengoku" Tanjiro said quietly, Kanao was still holding Tanya's head on her lap, and stains from tears covered her cheeks.
Suddenly time froze. There Tanya was, staring at them, at what very much was her own corpse. She seethed her teeth. "Come to gloat? Forgot that supposed 'divine beings' are pretty petty." Tanya was firm that Being X had cheated, he had not only interfered with her dream but had gotten two upper ranks at the same time! "What? Couldn't handle that Kyojuro and I would have beat either of those two by themselves?" she let out, hearing no response.
She was certain that due to Akaza's hesitation during his fight with her that both she and Kyojuro could have easily dealt with him. Doma would have been a tougher fight, but together she was certain he would have been beheaded eventually. Being X cheated! "I did I suppose, but Being Z was allowed to do one crazy thing in exchange." Tanya's eyes bulged with anger "that's bullshit!" she already had little to no trust in Being Z, to begin with, the other 'divine being' not stopping Being X proved she should have zero reasons to trust them! "Y-yes but before that maybe we should explain something to our guest." Being Z said wistfully.
Tanya was frustrated and confused, and then she heard a third voice. "Tanya? What's going on here?" Tanya stared at the perplexed-looking Kyojuro, she went silent, backing up which made her notice that for once she could move more than her eyes or lips during the time freeze. "What are those voices?" Kyojuro was looking perplexed already, he had been looking at his own corpse and the crying faces of Tanjiro and the others for so long now.
Tanya said one thing "why is Kyojuro here?"