KNY Plot Rewrite

Chapter 36 - Run

Tanjirou weakly chuckled. "I'm surprised you even remember me."

"... You're a Demon Slayer traveling with a Demon who doesn't eat people."

"Y'know what? Fair."

Mr. Giyuu sharply looked up.

Clang!

A new fragrance, one that mixed strong wisteria blooms with an inexplicable sterility came from the small woman that slid across the ground, a strange stinger blade in her hand.

"Oh ho ho? Did you just block me?"

Mr. Giyuu kept his blade out, his scent muddled like dirty water.

"You know, I don't really like getting silent treatment. Nobody does, but you still keep giving it to everyone who talks to you. This is why everyone hates you!" She said cheerfully.

"That's rude. Why would you say that?"

"... It's just a joke—"

"And it's not funny."

"Oooh, so sensitive! Maybe next time, actually answer the person when they ask a question, 'kay?"

Sarcasm dripped from her cheerful tone like honey, and Tanjirou grimaced, noticing her true emotions didn't match its sweetness. He didn't really like people like her, usually hiding sinister motives under a front. With this lady specifically, her cold eyes only exacerbated his wariness.

"Ah, earring boy... I'm terribly sorry for ignoring you. Getting through this man's thick skull is impossible sometimes..." She sighed, spinning her blade around masterfully. "Also, did you know you're protecting a Demon right now? It's pretty dangerous to be that close to one."

"N—No, uh, you don't understand. She's my sister..."

He trailed off when the lady's eyebrows shot to her hairline, before her expression dipped with perfect pity. Again, her scent didn't change to match.

Tanjirou held Nezuko closer, ready to run if he had to.

"Oh, how sad. Don't worry, my dear, I have just the solution for you." She chirped, sticking her blade into her sheath, clacking it against the sides and twisting it to and fro. "I can use a painless poison on her so she doesn't suffer."

"... Excuse me?"

Mr. Giyuu vanished, and the lady yelped, her inexplicable scent finally spiking with sour-tinged shock after the man trapped her in a chokehold and pulled her away. He hissed when she stomped on his foot, but didn't let her go.

"Run." Mr. Giyuu ordered.

"Wait, hold on—"

"Run, dammit! Don't make me say it again!"

Tanjirou swallowed down his next words, gathered Nezuko up, and sprinted in the opposite direction, his entire body aching and aching with excruciating pain.

Stop it! Ignore it! Keep running!

Sweat blinded him, and he tripped at least three times in the span of two seconds which didn't help calm his pounding heart. Nezuko's tired gaze was fixed on some point over his shoulder.

Where am I going to go? Where am I heading next? The forest was endless and every direction felt the same. There were also going to be a lot more Demon slayers flooding in; he could run into one any second.

What would he do? For starters, he would leave the Corps, because there was no way the Slayers would accept Nezuko. He wasn't stupid.

All he wished he could have done was apologize to Mr. Giyuu and Mr. Urokodaki for making them risk their lives—