When the stars align for us

Chapter 5

Having just reported what had happened on their mission, Giyu and Shinobu quickly kneeled on the hard floor before their leader, in the Ubuyashiki Mansion. Next to the Insect Pillar was the ever-energetic Flame Hashira, Kyojuro Rengoku.  Although, in contrast to his usual demanaour, he seemed a bit tense. Why was he there? Once Giyu and Shinobu had made their way out, Rengoku stood up. Shinobu's curiosity got the best of her, leading her back inside, jogging to catch up to her fellow Pillar, who had started walking away from the door.
'Are you heading into battle?'
'Ah, Kocho.' he spoke, 'We just got some new information about a demon and the Corps members who went to confront it were taken out. We're losing rank and filers, too, now. We can't stand by and do nothing!'
'Could it be a Twelve Kizuki?'
'Most likely, yes. It might even be an Upper Rank,'
'It sounds like a difficult mission, but as long as you're going, Rengoku, there's nothing to worry about.'
Although, that's what I thought about my sister too.
'Rengoku, I don't mean to offend you,' she mumbled after a second's silence, 'but maybe you should take another Pillar with you, just in case,'
'I understand your concern, Kocho,'he said, still smiling, 'but I've already got three Mizunotos with me, including that head-butting kid, so there's no need to worry,'
'Alright. Do be careful,'
As Rengoku started making his way to his destination, he stopped due to hearing someone shouting his name.
'Ah, Sasaki,' he uttered, as he seemed to regain his composure after a short moment of surprise.
'Rengoku,' she mumbled, out of breath, running towards him, 'Oyakata-Sama has requested that Kanroji teams up with you to eradicate the Upper Moon,'
'So, there is an Upper Moon,' he shouted.
'Yes. Kanroji asked me to notify you that she's going to be a bit late, so you should be expecting her to turn up at any point,'
'Hmm...I see. But, can I ask...why Mitsuri?'
'Apparently, this demon dislikes killing women, so he's not going to hurt Kanroji unless she does something to threaten his life. Oyakata-Sama decided to send her specifically, since she was your student once and this demon requires great strength to be kept in place,'
'I see,' he said again. This time, he decided to move a little faster, considering he had lost a lot of time talking to his fellow Pillars.
...
Mitsuri arrived at the train station running to board the train, though it had already started moving. Without bothering to get herself a ticket, she grabbed onto the back of the train and flipped herself forwards, so she could stand on top of it. She used her weapon to cut out a square on the roof of the Mugen Train. Jumping through the hole, her braids flew upwards as she let herself land on the train floor, in the middle of a full carriage. She noticed that the occupants were staring at her.
'Hello,' she greeted warmly, but nervously.
She ran towards the door to the carriage on her left, to find her mentor beheading a demon.
Rengoku turned around to see who had entered, only to spot his tsuguko, who was smiling brightly. He motioned to her to come to his side.
As the slayers were running across the carriages, Tanjiro seemed to have spotted a demon. He launched himself towards the demon. It jumped out the window and so did Tanjiro, who followed it on the roof of the train. Mitsuri slapped her forehead, wondering why she bothered to cut the train from the top.
As Tanjiro was pursuing and fighting the demon, she and Rengoku stood guard inside the train, Mitsuri trying to calm down the passengers.
...
Staring at his adversary, Tanjiro noticed that he was fighting Lower Moon 1, who kept trying to escape Tanjiro's blade using its immense speed. Tanjiro was determined to end the demon's life, following it as it smiled mischeviously. Eventually, Tanjiro successfully incapacitated the demon-or so it seemed. The demon's head was still talking, forming words which were incomprehensible to Tanjiro at the moment. It quickly spread large amounts of crimson goo across the train, some of it taking the shape of hands. With the help of Inosuke, Tanjiro managed to destroy some of the goo-like substance, while his sister Nezuko took care of the part in her line of sight and a bit farther. Despite their efforts, the goo-like substance continued to regenerate, which called for the help of a Pillar.
Rengoku used his Flame Breathing to slay Kibutsuji's servant in one last blow.
...
'Was that it?' Mitsuri asked hopefully.
'No, we're still looking for an Upper Moon,' her mentor answered her question.
Shortly after, the train crashed. Having already convinced the lower ranks to wait inside, the Hashiras jumped out of the windows to land on top of the train. Close by they spotted another demon, of a more muscular body, blue-tinted skin, darker lines across his face and arms and demonic startlingly-yellow eyes. Staring at its eyes, Mitsuri read 'Upper' and '3'. Rengoku launched himself at Akaza who was dodging his attacks with a slight tilt of its head. Mitsuri launched the blade of her long range weapon at their adversary, who simply dodged. Akaza scoffed at Mitsuri for a second, but chose to turn its attention back to Rengoku. As the Flame Pillar exhausted himself to cut the creature's arm, the demon would try to convince Rengoku to become a demon. Akaza regenerated his arm in less than a second. Mitsuri attacked the demon from behind, as she inflicted great damage on its upper body, where two deep gashes appeared. Akaza chose to ignore her again, even though she continued to hurt him greatly. From her limited line of sight, Mitsuri noticed that the demon was close enough to her mentor to destroy his ribs. To spare her mentor, she grabbed Akaza from behind and pinned him against a tree.
'RENGOKU! HERE!' she shouted, 'BEFORE HE FLEES!'
The Flame Hashira rushed to her side and immediately sliced off the head of Upper Moon 3.