Doom & Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Xover

Chapter 41

Muzan began to get excited at the prospect of obtaining immortality. If the Dark Lord was actually helping him out, then he was making a big mistake. Once Muzan is able to attain perfection, nothing would be able to stop him. For now, he'll have to help however he can and pray that the Marauder is successful in his search for the Blue Spider Lily.

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"Tanjiro, where are you taking us?" Tamayo asked as she followed behind Tanjiro and Nezuko who led the way. They ran across the fields of Japan quickly as they were under a time limit. If they walked, the sun would rise up and that would significantly impair their progress. Tanjiro turned around as he exclaimed:

"We're heading home!" Tamayo and Yushiro looked towards one another, baffled by the boy's answer and asked for elaboration. "My father used to take care of that Lily. He explained to us that it only showed itself during certain times in the year. After he passed away, we didn't want to just throw it away and let it decompose so we tried to preserve it as much as we could. I'm not sure if it's still there but it's worth checking out!"

"It doesn't matter if it's dead or alive, I'll still be able to use it for my research! I certainly hope it hasn't faded away by now, we need it more than ever!" Tanjiro nodded in agreement as the group picked up their pace. It took them several hours before they could see the snowy mountain top that Tanjiro used to live on. As they hiked up the steep incline, Tanjiro began to relive his memories of the past. He remembered going up the same exact path that they were currently on. He had just returned after delivering coal for his family. He was venturing up these same steps and up ahead would be his household where he would discover his family's corpses strewn across, staining the snow around them with their blood.

Tanjiro was in a trance as he recollected his past but snapped out of it when Nezuko grabbed onto his haori and pointed ahead. Tanjiro looked up to see their household in the same exact condition. Unfortunately, there was no one there to take care of it after all these years so there was snow where there shouldn't be and the inside had become filthy. Regardless, it was still home. Tanjiro formed a small smile as he muttered under his breath, "we're home…"

Kanao took Tanjiro's hand as she kept her other hand close to her chest, she could see that Tanjiro was nervous about revisiting the place of his trauma and asked him, "Tanjiro, are you going to be okay?"

Tanjiro subtly nodded as he answered, "Yeah, I'll be fine. It's just the memories coming back in, and the guilt. Though, I can't really beat myself up over what happened, there was no way of knowing ahead of time that Muzan of all demons would come to my household." Kanao agreed with Tanjiro. They were all standing in front of the unmaintained house when Nezuko rushed over to the gravestones her and Tanjiro had set up in honor of their family. Though the gravestones were devoured in snow, they were easy to identify. Due to the limited time Tanjiro had to set up the gravestones at the time, they were not of the greatest quality. The boy joined his sister as they both knelt down and began cleaning up the stones without a second thought. Tanjiro was surprised once Kanao knelt down next to him and helped tidy up the gravestones. Once they were done, Tanjiro and Nezuko made a silent prayer to themselves as per tradition before stepping back and reflecting on the past.

Kanao told Tanjiro as he stared at his family's gravestones, "I know you miss them. We've both lost our only families but we made a promise to each other that we'll be together no matter what. I hope that you can consider me as your family just as I consider you and Nezuko as a part of mine." Tanjiro had no words to spare after hearing what Kanao had to say, he didn't deserve her. He pulled her into a hug following her speech with Nezuko trying to squeeze herself in-between them so she can feel their affection as well. Yushiro was disgusted by what was happening but Tamayo cleared her throat to prevent her assistant from making any insensitive comments.