Chapter Text
"Kill the demon slayer with hanafuda earrings and checkered haori. Make him suffer.”
It was a simple instruction. A command that came with an unmentioned generous reward for those who succeeded. It was enough to stir even the most dormant of demons. It was only one demon slayer, and not even a pillar.
Demons from every corner; on trees, in the river, in the shadows, all ventured out with a thirst to kill the one with hanafuda earrings and checkered haori. They all raced to be the first. To finally be graced and approved by Muzan.
But a group of demons thought differently. Why would Muzan instruct every nearby villain for the murder of one mere demon slayer? The four of them went around and investigated. And oh… The rumours they heard…
The one who could sniff them out with his nose.
The one who danced with both water and fire.
The one who killed former lower moon six. Almost killed lower moon five. Killed lower moon one. Stabbed upper moon two. Killed the sibling pair known as upper moon six.
The one with the persistence of an incurable disease.
The one with red demon-like eyes. And a blade as dark as the night sky.
The one… who traveled with his own demon sister.
Kamado Tanjiro.
The absence of the box on his back was palpable with each step. Not for the first time, Tanjiro wondered if his sister was alright. They were greatly ambushed by multiple demons the previous night, endangering the village he had visited for a short rest. Later that night, he had hesitantly requested Goto to take a sleeping Nezuko back to the Butterfly Estate without him. She had saved him from more than one fatal blow and dutifully protected all the villagers from death. It took a great toll on Nezuko’s body. It wasn’t the first time a swarm of demons had attacked them the past week either. So, Tanjiro had reluctantly passed his sister to the kakushi. He wanted to let her sleep in peace for as long as she needed.
It helped that he did not have any immediate missions. He wrote a short note for Aoi, thanking her for her care and stating his current whereabouts. He looked up to the crimson sky and promised to visit the estate in about an hour if he had no missions. He admitted to himself that a check-up wouldn’t hurt. He had accumulated a few minor injuries but was in no dire need of medical attention.
Tanjiro had just sent his letter using his crow when he saw movement in his peripheral vision. It came from the edge of the forest he was passing by. He wasn't surprised as night was fast approaching and demons were waking to feast on human flesh.
“Hello?”
Something moved in a small shrub and all of a sudden, a horrified face of another demon slayer appeared in between the leaves. One hand with dirty fingertips was outstretched desperately towards Tanjiro.
“HELP ME! PLEASE HEL—“ His plea was cut off when he was violently pulled back by an unseen force. His screams trailed off, indicating that he was being dragged into the forest.
Tanjiro quickly ran towards his comrade, following the terrified pleas and smell of the trail. The dense forestry made it hard for Tanjiro to even see the direction his comrade was pulled in. As he passed tree by tree, a sense of… wrongness made itself known inside him. Aside from hearing the cut off screams, Tanjiro had not seen his comrade after the initial encounter. Not a single glimpse.
While he would not admit to being the fastest person, he was rather quick on his feet. He also noted that the source of the sound did not match the distance. He should have been able to spot something if he could still hear the screams so nearby. In his head, Tanjiro constructed a list of possible demon blood arts. It could be camouflaging its victim and itself. That would explain why Tanjiro could still smell its trail but not see its body.
He was caught off guard when a demon suddenly cackled to his left. Tanjiro did not hesitate to withdraw his sword and attempt to cut the demon down.
‘Breath of Water…!’ He took a deep breath and angled his sword towards the ‘line of interval’. ‘Second Style Modified: Horizontal Water Wheel!’
“Gaaah..!” The demon cried out as its decapitated head and body crumbled.
Tanjiro focused back to the trail of his comrade and made haste to ensure the trail was not lost. It became a little harder when more and more demons showed up. There was no particular strong demons but they more than made it up with numbers alone. There were demons almost every five steps he took.
‘Damn it…!’ Not being at his peak strength was starting to take its toll. After using more than 4 water style breathing techniques numerous times, Tanjiro almost lost his footing. But a distant cry that sounded similar to his comrade's earlier cries renewed his strength.
Despite the demons showing up from his front, sides and back, Tanjiro confidently took another deep breath. ‘Breath of Water..’ He carefully sensed each and every single ‘line of interval’ and used minimal strength to deliver the killing blow. ‘Third Style: Dance of The Rapid Current!’ He moved like the waves of the sea and effectively cut off every demon in sight.
The demons dying cries were drowned by an even louder piercing scream. Tanjiro gritted his teeth and picked up his pace again. The scream of his comrade seemed to climb in crescendo, filling Tanjiro with desperate urgency. He followed the trail and finally broke through the tree line- Only to stop short.
Despite all the running he had done and all the demons he had cut down, Tanjiro could not breathe for a short moment.
In that small circular clearing, the bright moon highlighted dozens of bodies - hung by their necks from thin branches that elongated from the surrounding trees. Their heads were wrapped in a shiny brown material as a wood-like tendril was wound tightly around their necks. The tendrils were loosely growing out from the thin branches overhead. Tanjiro did not fail to notice that each body was wearing the familiar black uniform of the demon slayers.
“Hmm… How disturbing.” Kagaya’s face was grim as he received the news from one of his crows. “What a cruel band of demons.” He had more bodies to bury it seemed. “Secure the forest. No one shall enter except the pillars.”
A second crow cawed from above him, already sending an urgent update. They could not save those who have died. But perhaps one could still be saved. “Call upon the nearby pillars.”
Kagaya issued a second command to his crows after a thoughtful moment. “And keep an eye on Zenitsu and Inosuke please.”
“Eeeeeh? Tanjiro isn’t even here?” Zenitsu whined after seeing a sleeping Nezuko. She still had a few open wounds so it was logical for Tanjiro to be nearby as well.
Aoi frowned. “Nezuko came back with the kakushi last night after the attack. Tanjiro said he’ll be here soon.”
Zenitsu's face turned serious after he comprehended what Aoi had said. “He sent her ahead?”
“They were ambushed last night at the Crimson Village. She hasn’t woken up since.”
Zenitsu pensively looked away. The Sun had already set. And Tanjiro was alone out there. “Did he say where he was?”
Aoi wordlessly handed him Tanjiro’s recent letter. Zenitsu smiled assuredly after skimming its contents. “That’s not too far from here. He should be here soon-“
“HOORYAAAAAHHH!” Inosuke exclaimed as he burst into the room via the window, shattering its glass into pieces. “WHY ISN’T MONJIRO HERE?!”
“SHUT UP!” Aoi yelled at him. “Keep your voice down! We have recovering patients here! And clean up this glass! How many times does Shinobu have to tell you to use the door?!” She promptly left after pulling off the pig mask to twist Inosuke’s ear.
Inosuke was pouting but turned to Zenitsu with a neutral expression. “Oi. Where’s Kentaro?”
Zenitsu shrugged. “On his way most likely. Maybe he was making sure all the villagers were alright. I wouldn’t be surprised.”
Inosuke huffed and took a seat on the floor. After a while, Inosuke commented, “She looked bad.”
Zenitsu was almost impressed by Inosuke’s caring words. “Yeah, Aoi said they were ambushed last night.”
Inosuke’s response was accompanied with a frown and glare. “By what? Demons?”
“Obviously.”
“That’s dumb. Demons don't attack in groups.”
Now that Inosuke mentioned it… Zenitsu was struck with realization. Even the spider demon family didn't attack as a group. Demons were greedy creatures and wanted every meal for their own. But somehow, Nezuko looked as though she went through an army of demons. Why would the Kamado siblings encounter a mass of demons when all the other slayers were lucky to even share a mission every other night?
Zenitsu let himself imagine the Kamado siblings fighting their way to protect the villagers. He shivered from having to fight so many demons at once. There was no way Tanjiro escaped unscathed if Nezuko looked the way she did even after a day’s rest.
“CAW!” A crow sounded from the broken window. “ALL HUNTERS STAY AWAY FROM MORI FOREST. ONLY PILLARS ALLOWED. ALL HUNTERS STAY AWAY FROM MORI FOREST. ONLY PILLARS ALLOWED.”
“…Mori Forest?” Zenitsu looked back to the small letter Aoi had passed to him earlier. Tanjiro’s last known position was right on the edge of that forest. Zenitsu would know, he had used that pathway numerous times before. Combining this information with the recent ambush on the Kamado siblings, a cold feeling settled into the bottom of Zenitsu’s stomach. “Tanjiro could be there right now. If he wasn’t, he should be here already.”
Inosuke scoffed. “I would’ve known if he was anywhere near here.”
Tanjiro’s soft smile and kind sound resonated inside both Inosuke and Zenitsu respectively.
If it was any of them, despite the orders, what would Tanjiro have done? The crow repeated the orders again, as though mocking them. As a result, their resolve hardened.
“Inosuke, if we get close enough, would you be able to sense Tanjiro’s whereabouts?”
Inosuke huffed a smug grin as though Zenitsu had just asked a really stupid question.
Shinobu smiled when she found Aoi. “Is Zenitsu or Inosuke here?”
“Yes, they were in one of the training rooms earlier. They were looking for Tanjiro. He said he would visit tonight.”
Shinobu gave no response except another smile and a soft touch to Aoi’s shoulder as she walked past. If those two knew who was in Mori Forest, they would no doubt disobey the orders. Aside from investigating the forest with the other pillars, she had been instructed to prepare for incoming patients. They were expecting a massive wave of them.
When she did not find Zenitsu or Inosuke but instead found a pile of neatly collected broken glass under a shattered window, she sighed. Perhaps three familiar faces would be in her care by the end of the night.
Tanjiro forcibly slowed his frantic beating heart. ‘Calm down. This is no time for panic.’ He focused on his surroundings, discerning the dead bodies from everything else.
“…help… please…”
Tanjiro pinpointed the source of the voice and hurried to it. There was someone in the middle of the clearing, a tendril already secured around their neck as though preparing them as the next victim, holding them up by the tip of their toes. Tanjiro quickly cut off the green stem and caught the helpless body.
“Are you alright?”
The person seemed to breathe heavily for moment, catching his breath. “Thank… you…”
Perhaps it was the shock at seeing the hanging bodies, or the adrenaline to save a life, but it took Tanjiro a few seconds too late to properly scent the already cold body in his arms.
His eyes widened when the scent finally hit him. “..Y-you’re-“
The person- the thing’s head snapped up with a smile almost too eerie to be human. Tanjiro managed to discard the body with honed reflexes and dodged the incoming hostile tendrils from above him. He had even cut off some stems that got too close to his body.
The thing that wore the face and body of his comrade stood up shakily and giggled like a gleeful child. “They were right, they were right! Your nose can sniff out all of us, can’t it? Sharp nose, check!”
Tanjiro gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on his sword. He was careless and almost paid the price. He kept his eyes on the human-faced demon and took stance.
A chilly breeze brushed Tanjiro’s nape and before he could react, someone flicked his left earring. Tanjiro jerked to his right and turned swiftly to face another sneering child-like demon, hanging upside down by its foot from a dangling tendril. “Hmm…hanafuda earrings… Check.”
A pungent smell hit him from below and Tanjiro made the quick decision to jump upwards. He narrowly avoided the rows of small razor teeth of an earth-like demon that seemed to be part of the grass. It laughed with a piece of Tanjiro’s haori in its mouth. “Checkered haori… Check.”
‘My… earrings? Clothes? Why are they-‘
“Let’s not forget…” A new voice called out from above. Another demon stood proud and smirking. It looked wet… dripping with a viscous brown liquid. “Those red red eyes of yours. Kamado Tanjiro…” The demon spread its arms theatrically, splattering its fluids everywhere, announcing merrily, “Welcome to our playground~!”
The branches from above rapidly grew and elongated, travelling like demented snakes, covering the tree line in layers of bark, trapping Tanjiro with the hanging bodies of former demon slayers and the four demons that were most likely responsible for it. Only the moonlight shone through from the holes between the branches above them.
"Shall we play~?"
Uzui jumped from tree to tree, listening to any suspicious sounds. But there was nothing. He had not seen a single body or heard movement from any demons. All he had seen were signs of battle from other demon slayers. Or maybe just Tanjiro. The clean cuts on the bark were clear indication of the Water Breathing Style. Oyakata-sama had made it clear that Tanjiro was the main priority because he was the most recent victim of the forest and most likely the only one still alive. It was smart of the demons to utilize Tanjiro’s kindness. That kid could not possibly leave behind a fellow injured breathing demon hunter.
The Sound Pillar sighed and kept moving deeper through the forest. He and Shinobu were the only nearby pillars for the time being. Even then, Shinobu would join him a little later since she had to prep the estate for incoming casualties. Meanwhile, the other pillars were on their way but they were obviously not arriving anytime soon.
After a few idle minutes with no hints of the demons terrorizing the forest, Uzui heard the patter of running feet. When he caught sight of something distinctly yellow running with a half-naked person, he shouted after them instinctively, “OI! WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING HERE?!”
He saw Inosuke and Zenitsu turning to face him but then-
From one blink to another, they disappeared. The noise went with them. Uzui stood still. He looked to his left, then his right. He had been there before. The trees were exactly the same. He had been moved somehow, back to where he started. He had been so focused on listening, he may not have realized that he had been transported before. That’s why he hadn’t heard anything. He was nowhere near the demons and one of them was making sure he never would be.
‘A blood demon art?’ Uzui smirked. It was a challenge he gladly took upon himself.
Tanjiro grunted as he blocked another series of blows. He had fought tens of demons before but these four demons were on another level compared to those, simply because they were working in tandem rather than just charging at him individually. Tanjiro sidestepped the earth demon’s snapping teeth that conjured randomly on the forest floor. He cut off more of the tendrils that viciously attempted to coil around his limbs. Simultaneously, he also avoided the weird brown viscous liquid being shot at him from above.
‘They’re not very fast individually but… I can barely keep up when they're all attacking at once with their techniques…!’
None of the demons had markings in their eyes but their coordinated attacks were just as good as fighting one of the demon moons.
‘I have to find an opening. Get close to either one of them and eliminate them one by one.’
He analyzed the demons upon dodging their attacks. The doppelganger demon stood still, smiling to itself but its eyes constantly followed Tanjiro’s movements. Tanjiro had targeted it initially but was accosted constantly by the other three demons. The tree-vine demon was high up in a green cocoon, at one corner of the ring. The dripping demon was on top of the branches that were holding the bodies, right in the middle. The earth demon was the most unpredictable as it manifested wherever Tanjiro was bound to land as he avoided the aerial attacks of the dripping demon and the physical vine attack from the tree-vine demon.
Tanjiro also suspected another demon was acting behind the scenes because there were one too many times where he was sure he had avoided an incoming attack, only to receive at least half the blow if not having his skin bitten or whipped by the vines. It was almost too scary, how powerful normal demons could be if they simply worked together.
‘Don’t falter. Don’t underestimate them. Get close, get one attack in.’
But one breath after another, Tanjiro could not get close to any of the demons. There was always one attack he had to avoid. There was no respite.
Tanjiro could not even find ground to pause and take breath. Attacks were raining on him constantly and the ‘lines’ of the demons… It kept changing, never in the same spot, never appearing for more than a few seconds. No matter which water breathing techniques he used, they kept on coming. It didn’t help that some of his attacks… missed. His precision training was one of the first he had mastered. Thus, it only fueled his theory that something was amiss.
'Maybe that combination will work...' Tanjiro recalled one of the training sessions he had under the Water Pillars and Makomo. Ideally, since the battle was in a closed space, he should be able to land some damage. He jumped to the side to avoid a vicious vine attack, predicting the earth demon would appear where he was expected to land. When he saw a glimpse of the mouth manifesting from the ground, he initiated his counterattack. 'Ninth Style: Water Splash!'
The earth demon loudly screeched as its mouth was hit dead on. Tanjiro did not sense its 'line of interval' and knew his cut was not fatal but it didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. He quickly followed up with the main attack that didn't require any footing, targeting the demons above. 'Sixth Style: Twisting Whirlpool!' While the earth demon was down, Tanjiro could deal with the projectiles. Sabito had came up with it for when he was dealing with both ground and aerial demons simultaneously.
The brown discharge and all the vines got caught up in Tanjiro's attack. He kept twisting the projectiles until he saw the vines evolving. The vines caught in the water seemed to shoot out tendrils from its stems, piercing through Tanjiro's attack and effectively moving towards him. With panicked eyes, Tanjiro changed his breathing style to avoid getting caught. 'Dance of the Fire God...! Blue Heaven!' The vines burned in the slash but Tanjiro also lost his momentum and futilely fell back to the forest floor. He was breathing harshly from the recoil of using two different breathing techniques and the impact of his fall. He didn't recover enough to cushion his fall. Still, he stood back up and took stance again.
“You are pretty good, aren’t you?” The dripping demon smirked. “Most of your little friends couldn't even last 2 minutes with us. One slip and-“ He shrugged. “You keep slippin’ too but you know just how to readjust yourself.”
Tanjiro demonstrated his capabilities once more when he righted himself from falling into the open mouth on the forest floor after jumping away from a whipping vine.
The dripping demon grinned from his spot on the tree. He laughed cruelly when he noticed Tanjiro’s sweat rolling from his forehead. “But how long can you last, Kamado Tanjiro~?”
‘Don’t let them get to you. Think! Strategize!’
His subconscious conjured various observations in his head for his utilization. The dripping demon required about 5 seconds to collect its liquid before it could throw it at Tanjiro. The earth demon could only conjure one mouth on the forest floor, albeit anywhere it wanted to. The tree-vine demon seemed to only use its vines as an offense but it also seemed to avoid the brown discharge from the dripping demon. The demon’s tree bark was also thick enough that not even multiple water style slashes from Tanjiro’s sword was enough to break through it.
He had already used one technique of the Dance of the Fire God. To use anymore so soon would greatly affect his stamina and strength. There was no one to assist him if he collapsed from the recoil. His sister's face crossed his mind and he gritted his teeth. How many times would he have died if Nezuko wasn't with him?
Tanjiro held his sword with renewed determination. ‘Whatever it takes. Do whatever it takes! Stay alive!’
He counted the 5-second interval of the dripping demon as he avoided its throws. He righted himself from falling into the mouth demon and finally, Tanjiro jumped again, expecting the whip attack but he twisted mid-air and used one of the vines’ sturdy stem as a platform to push himself towards the dripping demon. He had two seconds. Just two seconds.
‘The fastest technique…! Breathe of Water…!‘ Tanjiro used the momentum from his jump and pushed- ‘Seventh Style: Piercing Rain Drop!’
He saw the dripping demon’s shocked face. But alas, the demon… suddenly wasn’t where Tanjiro’s blade would have definitely stabbed him. His attack missed (again).
Tanjiro fell from his failed attack and could only do his best to cut the vines that tried to catch him and gracefully twist his body to avoid the large and hungry snapping mouth of the earth demon. Tanjiro’s knees quivered from exhaustion. But he did not let his steps falter.
‘Once more… Go for it once more…!’
In the end, it was one mistake that became Tanjiro's downfall. One second of missed judgement. Tanjiro had forgotten about the fourth demon, the one that wore the face of his fallen comrade. It had always stood in the middle of the clearing, watching him with excited eyes. But when the avoidance of a three-way attack from the tree-vine demon, the earth demon and the dripping demon pushed Tanjiro to a shadowed corner of the tree ring, he noticed that the fourth demon was no longer where it used to be.
‘Wait… Where is-‘
As his back hit the tree wall, a sharp pain suddenly pierced three parts of his body - his left leg, his chest and his right shoulder.
Tanjiro screamed.
Zenitsu squealed in panic followed by a loud rant, “INOSUKEEE! UZUI DISAPPEARED! He was there! You saw him right? He shouted at us! At then he just- he was just-… GONE! Like he wasn’t even there in the first place! This was a terrible idea. Terrible idea..!”
“It was your idea to go get Kentarou!”
“Yes but have you seen this forest?! We’re going in circles, I’m sure of it. See that bush? I’ve seen it twice. TWICE. Same exact shape and- and- and- sound!“ He cupped his palms unconsciously around his ears.
Inosuke looked both impressed and annoyed. “You can hear plants?”
Zenitsu completely ignored him as he went on, “And Uzui just disappeared in thin air like-.. Like-!”
“That weird house.”
Zenitsu hushed down as he recalled the house where he and Tanjiro had first encountered Inosuke. “So like a blood demon art? That’s bad. Really bad. Wh-What if- It could be a Demon Moon. Former, current, we don’t know. We can’t let it confuse us. We gotta-“
Inosuke and Zenitsu jerked their heads up at the same time in one single direction. They both felt something.
Zenitsu dry swallowed. He still had not heard Tanjiro yet but there was definitely something in that direction. “There?”
Inosuke nodded as he felt the changes in the air. “There.”
They both quickly forgot about Uzui and started running again to find Tanjiro.
Three swords had pierced him from his back. The fourth demon laughed from behind him. Tanjiro felt the swords being pulled out swiftly, sending him falling forward with a pained gasp. He staggered about two steps before he jumped away from the shadows. The pain messed with his concentration and he was too slow to avoid a violent attack from the vine whips. It was made worse when his new bleeding injuries became the vines’ targets.
One harsh whip to his chest caused him to slip and-
“ARGHH!” Dozens of small razor-sharp teeth caught him around his waistline and limp arm, cutting his haori in half and trapping his body effectively.
Hazily, Tanjiro saw the vines approaching him. He could only cut so few of the vines as he could only use the full strength of one arm. Tendrils descended quickly upon him and secured themselves around his limbs. He was forced to release his sword when one tendril in particular wrapped too tightly around his wrist, cutting off circulation and numbing his hand. Tanjiro felt himself being lifted from the bloody mouth of the earth demon. Despite the pain slamming his body like waves, he focused his breaths and attempted to close his wounds.
“Alright, alright, calm down everyone. Shall we start the final phase then? I heard we have some stray hunters around,” the dripping demon announced.
“Do they know him?” the doppelganger demon asked.
The dripping demon shrugged. “Probably.”
Tanjiro watched as the face of his comrade slowly morphed into his own scarred face. Even the clothes changed to match his haori and earrings.
The doppelganger smiled at him, looking every bit like Tanjiro himself. And even sounding like him when it cheerfully said, “I’m off then~! I’ll be sure to say hi to them for you.” It left the clearing by the will of the tree-vine demon that made an opening through the tree bark fort.
The earth demon simply said that it would guard the place from intruders.
Meanwhile, the tree-vine demon smiled sweetly, “I’ll just leave one more vine here before I go and have some fun~!” The demon carried itself towards Tanjiro and personally collared him with one of the tendrils. The thin vine did as it was intended and tightened itself, not enough to block his airway but enough for him to start gasping for air.
Tanjiro could barely take in enough breaths to heal his wounds, much less to even breathe normally. ‘…don’t…panic… You can still breathe… Don’t waste-… a single… breath…’
He lost track of the demons’ conversation as he tried to adjust his breaths. Tanjiro only refocused his attention when the light of the moon started to disappear and all he could see was… something… brown. He recalled seeing all of the dead bodies with their heads covered with it earlier. And the dripping demon suddenly appeared in his mind. The viscous brown liquid… after it was thrown, it hardened upon contact with the grass.
Tanjiro’s heart was gripped with fear when the light slowly disappeared and all he could see was… darkness.
“It’s nothing personal, Kamado Tanjiro,” a voice whispered from everywhere all at once. “You were a formidable opponent. But he wants you to suffer before your final breath.” It was followed by a cruel chorus of laughter.
Tanjiro finally understood when he felt his body being released from all the vines except for the one around his neck, when he could only gasp what little oxygen he had left from the confinement around his head, when his various wounds were still bleeding sluggishly, unable to be stopped because he could barely breathe.
Tanjiro understood… He was going to die.