|•| 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙵𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚂𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚎𝚛 |•| 𝕂𝕟𝕪 𝔽𝕒𝕟𝕗𝕚𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟

VII

   'Even though they are sliced, they can still explode.. Nice!', Kiyomi thought. Unfortunately the snowballs only exploded a few webs, and there were almost a hundred of them.

    "Huh..? Wh-where am I..? Gyaaaahh!! Nezuko-chaaaann?!?", Zenitsu woke up and panicked at the sight above him.

  "Don't worry about Nezuko-chan, Zenitsu-san! Go and help your other friend! He might be in trouble!", Kiyomi yelled as she formed another pack of snowflake blades to Rui, who still cut it.

   "W-wait how did yo-" "Just go! I'll explain later!" "O-okaayy!!", And with that, Zenitsu ran fast.

   "Breath of Winter, First form: Winter's revenge", Kiyomi suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind Rui, she aimed for his neck, but it was hard. So, she raised her sword, hit the neck again, and kicked the sword for support.

   She felt dumb and embarrassed. She broke her feet with that kick, but managed to get a deep cut.

   "Tanjiro! Throw your sword to his neck!", Kiyomi yelled. Tanjiro nodded and threw his sword.

  "Now I'm truly angry.", Rui said as he kicked Kiyomi away. She then crashed onto a tree, which made her faint.

   "Kiyomi-san!", Tanjiro yelled as he took his sword.

  "Full focus, Breath of Water, Tenth style: The Dragon of Change", Tanjiro swung his sword as a big dragon formed behind him.

   Nezuko tried to help Tanjiro. "Blood demon art: Blood burst", the webs then exploded.
.
.
    They managed to cut Rui's head off. Tanjiro then caught Nezuko from the sky and went to Kiyomi.

   "Thank goodness, you're alive!", Tanjiro exclaimed, relieved. Kiyomi slowly woke up and her eyes widened.

   "T-tanjiro! The *cough demon is still alive! *cough", Kiyomi immediately sat up, coughing hard.

  "Huh?!", Tanjiro looked at the demon in disbelief. His head was still with the body.

  "You think you've defeated me? I used my webs to cut my neck before you did.", Rui glared as he formed a lot ored webs.

   "Blood demon art: Cage of murdering eyes", Webs surrounded the three as it quickly closed in them.

   'Oh no.. Where's Giyuu?! Did the plot change?! I'm so sorry, Tanjiro!', Kiyomi gritted her teeth in frustration as she closed her eyes, getting ready to be sliced up. But somehow she felt no pain at all- except for her wounds and poisoned feet--

   Kiyomi opened her eyes and sighed in relief when she saw Giyuu infront of them.

   "T-tomioka-san!", Tanjiro cried, relieved Giyuu had saved them, while hugging Nezuko and Kiyomi.

   "You did a good job holding your ground until I came. Leave the rest to me.", Giyuu muttered.

  Rui got angrier and formed another technique. "Blood demon art: Wheel of Chopping Threads", a huge tornado of webs flew towards Giyuu.

   "Full focus, Breath of Water, Eleventh style: Lull", He stood still as the webs came to him. The webs were suddenly cut.

   'Wh-what did he do?! As soon as my webs hit him, it was all cut! I have to try again...!', Rui thought. He was too busy thinking he didn't notice his head was cut off by the hashira. His head fell down and saw Tanjiro hugging Kiyomi and Nezuko.

  Rui's eyes widened. He paused for a second before his body slowly trudged towards them. He stumbled near them and reached his arm.

  Kiyomi saw this and crawled towards a headless Rui, made him sit up, and hugged him.

   "I'm sorry, Rui.. I know your parents will forgive you...", Kiyomi whispered, holding in her tears. Rui started to cry as he crumbled away.

   Giyuu walked towards Kiyomi. "Don't feel sorry for a demon who ate people.", He said.

  "They used to be humans just like us. They were turned into demons because they couldn't handle their messed up past!", Kiyomi cried out.

   Giyuu stayed silent for a second. He then looked at Tanjiro and his eyes widened, "You're-", but got cut off when another person was aiming their sword at Tanjiro. Giyuu managed to block it from hitting the boy.

  "Oh? Why are you getting in my way, Tomioka-san?", A lady with a butterfly hairpin spoke while she landed on the ground meters away from Giyuu. "You said we can't get along with demons, but what's this all about? If you do this, everyone will hate you.", She teased, holding her needle-like sword in a pose.

   '..Shinobuu!!', Kiyomi squealed internally.

   "Tomioka-san, get out of the way.", the woman named Shinobu pointed her sword at him.

   "... I am not hated.", Giyuu stated blankly. It struck Tanjiro and Shinobu like lightning. Kiyomi agreed silently.

   "Ah, that... I'm sorry that you haven't realized no one likes you. Pardon me for saying too much.", Shinobu smiled pitifully, which struck Giyuu. Tanjiro looked at Giyuu with a horrified expression.

   "Boy.", Shinobu looked at Tanjiro.

   "Y-yes?!", Tanjiro flinched.

   "What you're protecting there is a demon. It's dangerous, so please get off of her.", Shinobu said, putting a hand beside her mouth.

   "No! Uhh well, you're not wrong but, sh-she's my sister!", Tanjiro replied.

   "Well, is that so? What a pity. Okay then... I'll kill her with a sweet poison that won't leave her in pain.", She smiled, raising her sword. Tanjiro was speechless.

  "Can you move?", Giyuu started, startling Tanjiro.

  "Even if you can't, will yourself to move.", Giyuu said, "Take your sister and run with your friend.", Giyuu stanced.

  "T-tomioka-san...", Tanjiro slowly stood up, "I'm sorry! Thank you so much! Let's go, Kiyomi!", Tanjiro grabbed Kiyomi and put her on his back while Nezuko was in his arms.

   "Tanjiro! I can run!", Kiyomi said. "Your foot is broken!", Tanjiro rebelled as he kept running.

   Kiyomi just gave in and looked up and saw a certain girl with a butterfly pin on her side ponytail, 'Why do I keep forgetting?!', Kiyomi metally pulled her hair in frustration. As she was about to say something, they already fell down. The girl was on top of Kiyomi, who passed out.

   Kanao swung her sword to Nezuko, but Tanjiro pulled Kiyomi beside and pulled on Kanao's cape.

   "Nezuko! Take Kiyomi with you and run!", Tanjiro yelled before Kanao kicked his head and lost consciousness.

   Nezuko listened, took Kiyomi and ran. Kanao chased after them.

   When Kanao swung her sword again, Nezuko suddenly shrunk while still carrying Kiyomi.

   'She shrunk? She's just running and not even attacking a little. She also didn't kill the girl but helped her. Why?', Kanao thought before shaking it off. 'No need to think. Just do as you're told and hunt the demon.'

   When Kanao finally surrounded Nezuko, a crow suddenly yelled.

   "Caw! We have a message! A message! Restrain the ones named Tanjiro, Kiyomi, and Nezuko! Bring them to the headquarters! Tanjiro has a scar on his forehead! Kiyomi has white long hair! Nezuko is a demon with a bamboo muzzle! Restrain them and bring them to the headquarters!", it reported.

   Kanao looked at Nezuko and Kiyomi, "Both of you must be Kiyomi and Nezuko." Nezuko looked at her with a dumbfounded expression.

   Kakushis then came and took Nezuko and Kiyomi.

__________
  See you at the next chapter!