The Forbidden Love

Cursed Family

Tanjiro's POV

We just finished with Lower Moon 2 Rokuro who was just as annoying as Mukago, the former Lower Moon 4, before I felt a static running through the air. I look into the direction from where I felt it and saw an instant yellow flash that quickly died down. Must be Zenitsu using his Thunder Breathing Technique. Inosuke must've freed him from the string. Inosuke may be a muscle head but he's a muscle head that you could count on. I thought to myself as Kanao tugged my haori and looked at me.

"Um Tanjiro... Should we go fight the other Lower Moon or should we go back and see if the other two are okay?" She said to me with a concerning voice. Somehow it doesn't feel good hearing how she's concerned about the other two than me. I thought to myself with a small tick mark forming on my forehead.

"They'll be fine." I nonchalantly stated. "Zenitsu is super strong if he manages to fight without falling unconscious and Inosuke is a great taunter and a great dual wielder with those chipped blades of his. They compliment each other."

"You saw that much from one fight alone with them?" She asked me with a bit of a more concerning voice. Now it somehow makes me better now that she's concerned about me. A small smile formed on my face as I nod at her.

"Let's go after Rui for now. We can check them out once we finish killing the Lower Moon."

"So the the only one left will be the Lower Moon 1 right? Although we don't have any information about it." She said with a determined look on her face. Back then she would not even try to express anything but now it's plastered all on her face from time to time and I find it cute.

"Yeah but I have a feeling we'll have more time together before it comes though." I told her.  A second later I realized what I said and she looked at the ground with a confused and a slightly blushing face. "N-no I-I meant that all four of us would be together more! I-I mean that after this mission we'd be cooperating more often, the four of us of course." I quickly tried to clear the misunderstanding and I felt my cheeks become warmer during that instance. She only gave me a nod and stayed quiet. That was embarrassing and now a stupid awkward atmosphere is surrounding us. I sighed and tried thinking of a way to burst the awkward atmosphere.

Before I could think of something, we heard a scream in the distance. We looked at each other, nodded and went towards the scream. By how loud the scream was, it's pretty near and not long enough we hid behind the bushes to see LW5 or Rui staring daggers at two of his demon subordinates since she also has the same look and scent as he does. One of the girl seems to be like Kanao's age and height while the other one feels like she's the mother of the two but she has a bleeding left eye. The Mother might be the source of the screaming we heard before. Something happened that shocked us both that we almost made a sound. We didn't know what they're talking about but she got sliced into four pieces with her head getting severed. The Girl didn't  utter anything as her head falls to the ground. Suddenly her body started regenerating and the cut off body was soon whole again except for the beheaded head. We saw the body stand up slowly as it goes towards her own head and put it back on her neck. Once she finished, Rui said something  to her and she instantly knelt to the ground and started crying. I felt pretty bad for her that I stepped on a branch, catching their attention. I let out a sigh when Kanao looked at me and stood up from the bush we were hiding at and entered a sword stance. The Girl who was crying stopped and backed up besides her brother. 

"I don't know what you guys are talking about but shouldn't you demons be fighting together rather than against each other. Aren't you guys also a family? Given by your appearance and all." I told them as Rui cold stare reached my eyes.

"...Outsiders should not meddle with those who have family affairs. They cannot do what they want. Only the jobs they were given should be what they do. After all, a mother has to take care and sacrifice herself for the children, a father protects his children, and the older sister protects her the younger siblings. But if they don't do what they are told to do, they need to be punished. That's how our perfect family works." He said with a low and deep voice.

"That's some bullshit knowledge of a family Rui. Much less of a perfect family. Di you lose that much of your humanity to forget what a family really is?" I quickly answered him. It also made the two demon girls widen their eyes with what I said.

"..Huh..?" He asked with a hint of anger in his voice.

"Perfect family? Like there is one. No family be it mine, or anyone else's family, much less yours, are perfect. There is no perfection when it comes to family since all of us will have flaws. And if the people around you make up for those flaws of yours, those people are you family. A mother won't always be there to take care of the children that's why the older siblings have to step up while the mother is away. It also includes the father's role in the family. Adjusting to each other's flaws are what makes them family. Additionally, if you're family isn't happy with the current situation, you're no family." I told them the truth. He stared at the ground as his hands slowly get covered with blood.

"...Shut up... You are in no position to tell me what a family is!" He shouted at me, sending me three red coloured spider webs from the ground up. 

I used Sun Breathing Technique - Raging Sun to protect myself from the webs and I immediately went in for the neck of Rui only for him to shove his sister in front of him, using her as a shield. He then backed away while releasing more of his spider webs at us and even at his Mother and Sister. I stopped at the last second and used Sun Breathing Technique - Clear Blue Sky to also protect Kanao who is behind me. Rui got away using his webs as a cover and distraction but I sliced off the Mother's and Sister's heads as it slowly roll towards my feet. I felt for doing it but it was a mission I had to do. Instead of cursing me with harsh words, the two of them smiled as they teared up.

"...Thank you... For the truth and... setting us free..." They both whispered so only I could hear it. I was not sure if they knew each other before but I'm glad they didn't end up turning on each other like how Rui is. I quietly prayed for their soul as they disappeared into ash. Kanao comes out of the bush and held my hand where I was holding my katana, which I didn't realized that I was gripping on my katana that hard. He gave a look and nodded. I smiled at her and cleared the way to get to Rui.

TBC