"𝐇𝐞'𝐬 𝐎𝐧 𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐒𝐢𝐝𝐞" - 𝙺𝙽𝚈 𝚡 𝙼𝚊𝚕𝚎!𝙾𝚌

S̪̭̱̼̼̉̈́ͪ͋̽̚i̞̟̫̺ͭ̒ͭͣx̥͕̮̠̦͉̑̉̄̀̚

[words: 2201]

"Because of its screams and tremors, the train is turning over! Inosuke, are you... Gah!" Tanjiro grips at his stomach where he was stabbed, feeling the burning sensation crawl against his skin.

Inosuke grumbled out nervously, "Ah! Hey, is your belly okay?!"

Tanjiro nods painfully, the noises of the derailing train rattling inside his brain, "Y-Yeah! Inosuke, protect the passen--"

The train conductors limp body flies forward and away with the motion of the train, Tanjiro's maroon eyes go wide.

"I can't die. If I die, that'll make him a murderer!"

Tanjiro begins to fall away with the train, Inosuke following after the conductor. Tanjiro let's out a grimace of pain as the train harshly lands against the ground. Tanjiro falls against the rash ground, body screaming and mind wandering in fear.

Inosuke maneuvers off of the fleshy parts of the train, "Ah... Are you okay, Santarou?! Hang in there! I was lucky I could bounce off the demon's flesh! Cool, huh?!"

Tanjiro absentmindedly nods to Inosuke's confident words, Inosuke hurries to carefully sit Tanjiro up. Inosuke winces.

"Is your belly okay?! Your belly that got stabbed!"

Tanjiro hisses, "I'm... all right. What about you?"

Inosuke huffs out an exhale of pride, "Never felt better! I didn't even catch a cold!"

"I won't be able to move... for a while. Help the others, will you? Was anyone injured? What about the engineer near the head?"

Inosuke furrowed his brows in anger, "It's okay if that bastard dies! He's the one who stabbed you in the belly, remember?! He's got his leg stuck and can't move! His leg's shattered, and he can't walk anymore! Just leave him there, and he'll die!"

Tanjiro shakes his head again, "Then he's already atoned for his sin. Help him, will you?"

Insouke was about to grumble out a series of protests before Tanjiro's pleading and kind eyes made something within him fuzzy, "Please..."

Inosuke hesitantly sets Tanjiro down on the floor, "Hmph! I'll go for you, then! Because I'm the boss! Because my minion asked me to! After I rescue him, I'm going to pluck out all of that guy's hair! Hmph!"

Tanjiro sweatdrops, "That's really not necessary..."

"I see you've mastered Total Concentration, Constant. Impressive!" A loud voice spoke up enthusiastically.

"Tanjiro!! You're injured." Tsukumo frowns, "What happened?"

Tanjiro sighs out in relief, "Rengoku-San, Onii-Chan."

"After all, Constant is the first step toward becoming a Hashira. Although, there might be 10,000 steps before you can become a Hashira." Rengoku smiles.

The flame hashira stops Tsukumo from moving towards Tanjiro, "Wait! Tanjiro must figure it out on his own. You wont always be there to save him."

Tsukumo goes silent, his body froze, Rengoku was right. In the moments before, Tsukumo wasn't there to stop Tanjiro from getting hurt; he won't be able to help Tanjiro all the time. Tsukumo clenched his fists, he didn't like that thought.

"You're bleeding from your abdomen. You have to concentrate harder and improve the precision of your breathing. Make your nerves reach every corner of your body. There's a blood vessel. A torn blood vessel."

Tanjiro pants, focusing as hard as he can to fix the vessel. Rengoku pursed his lips, "Concentrate harder!"

"That's it. Stanch it. Stop the bleeding." Rengoku bends down and pokes Tanjiro's forehead, "Focus!"