𝐚𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 | 𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐣𝐢𝐫𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐲

𝟎𝟐| 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧. 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐣𝐨𝐤𝐞.

   𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐘/𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 come from her right. She turned her head to be faced with Nezuko and Tanjiro who were wobbling. They fell and crashed into Y/n which sent the three of them off the cliff.

   "Agh!!" Tanjiro shouted as he fell, Y/n copied his actions. They landed in the snow and laid there for a moment trying to gather everything they experienced in the last ten minutes. "Y/n! Are you okay? Are you hurt too?"

   Y/n shook her head, "n-no I'm fine! But where's Nezuko?" Tanjiro got up and looked around for the girl, his eyes landing on a figure by a tree, "Nezuko, don't walk! Let me carry you." She growled and lunged towards Tanjiro. The two looked at the girl in fear as he swiftly pulled out his axe, preventing Nezuko from biting him. Y/n could only watch as Tanjiro tried to pry his sister off of him. What's happening? Why is it happening all over again? Why... The girl felt dizzy and tears clouded her vision. They... they took my family again. Y/n snapped out of her thought when she noticed a person, not just a regular person, though. He has long black hair, a two toned haori, and a sharp blade wielded in his hands. He's heading straight for Nezuko. "Tanjiro!" The girl yelled, warning him of the incoming threat.

   "Wh-" he saw it with his own eyes and flipped them over, keeping Nezuko away from harm. The only thing that was cut was his hair. A huge gust of wind threw them back, Tanjiro and Nezuko tumbling into a tree while Y/n was thrown into the side of the mountain.

   "Why are you protecting it?" Asked the stranger.

   "She's my sister! I was taking her to get help!" The girl in his arms began to growl, "Nezuko!"

   "You call that thing your sister?" The man rushed at him, quickly taking Nezuko from his arms. Tanjrio didn't even notice until his arms touched the ground and they were empty.

   Y/n had slowly gotten up after the wind was knocked out of her, slowly standing by Tanjrio, "Nezuko!"

   "Don't come any closer. My job is to slay every demon I find. Which means I have to decapitate your sister here."

   "No, wait! Nezuko hasn't hurt anyone!"

   Tanjiro nodded, "back at my house, there was another scent that I never smelled before. That's probably the one who killed my family! Nezuko didn't do it! I don't know why she's changed into something like this, but still!"

   "It's really quite simple, she's turned into this because her wounds were exposed to demon blood. That's how the man eating monsters multiply."

   "Nezuko would never eat a human!"

   "You must be joking. If I hadn't gotten here when I did, she would have devoured you both."

   "You're wrong! She wouldn't hurt us! She knows who we are! And I won't let her hurt anyone! I'll turn her back into a human. I will heal her."

   "She can't be healed. Once you become a demon, you can't ever turn back."

   "I'll find a way no matter what! So, please... let her live. I'll hunt down the one who slaughtered my family. I promise I'll make everything right! Please!" Tanjiro's pleas became more and more desperate as the man held his sword closer to Nezuko.

   "Just let her go! Please don't do this!" Y/n begged. Don't take anyone else away from us... from me. Yn placed her hands in the snow, bowing down and Tanjrio copied her actions, "I'm begging you, please. Dont kill his little sister... Please don't do it."

   "Don't grovel like that and give your enemies a chance to kill you! All you're doing is making yourself vulnerable! Even if it were a little effective, your family would still be alive right now! How can weaklings like you have any hope of healing her? Or hunt down a demon? Don't be ridiculous! The weak don't have rights. They don't get to make choices. All they can do is be relentlessly crushed by the strong. Now maybe the demons know of a way to cure your sister. Maybe! But don't even think for a second that one of them is going to respect your wishes. Just like I have no respect for you. That's reality. And why the hell did you throw yourself over her like that? Was that your way of protecting her? Why didn't you swing that hatchet? And why would you ever turn your back to me? All those mistakes are what led to her capture! I could have easily just skewered the both of you and have been done with it."

"No!" they yelled as the man readied his sword, seconds later stabbing it into Nezuko's chest, "don't you touch her!" Tanjiro threw a rock at the man and used the wind as a cover. Y/n ran the opposite direction and they both threw rocks. As he was distracted, Y/n and Tanjiro ran at the man. Tanjiro pretended to hold his hatchet and Y/n continued to throw rocks. Though, he was able to knock them both out as soon as they got close enough. What he didn't realize was that Tanjiro's hatchet was in the air, heading right for his head. He noticed the hatchet missing from Tanjiro's grasp and looked up just in time to move his head away from the incoming weapon. As he deconstructed their plan, figuring out what just happened, Nezuko broke out of his grasp.

   "Damnit! She'll kill them!" His eyes widened as Nezuko moved into a protective stance instead. Nezuko then charged at him, swinging and trying to rid of the threat to Y/n and Tanjiro. He dodged the attack with ease, sheathing his sword in the process. When Nezuko jumped on a tree and used it as leverage to tackle him, he used his hand to hit a pressure point, successfully knocking her unconscious.

   Tanjiro woke up first, his first instinct was to clutch whatever was in his grasp. He held Nezuko and Y/n's kimonos.

   "You awake?" The stranger asked. Tanjiro quickly got up and pulled both Nezuko and Y/n into his arms, "get to Mount Sagiri as soon as possible. Look for a man named Sakonji Urokodaki. When you find him, tell him Giyuu Tomioka sent you. It's cloudy, so she seems to be alright for now, but never let her be exposed to sunlight." With that, the man left with such speed it seemed as if he disappeared into thin air.

   Tanjiro waited for Y/n to wake up, smiling at her softly as best he could, "ah... thank goodness you're awake."

   Y/n looked around frantically to see Nezuko right next to him, "what happened? Is he gone?"

   "Yes. He let Nezuko stay with us."

   "That's good..." She smiled at Nezuko. I will help you. I will help save you.

   "We should... we should head back up the mountain... I want to bury them before we leave. I can't leave them like that..."

   Y/n nodded, "okay, let's go." The walk up the mountain was silent, but not awkward. Tanjiro held Y/n's hand during their trek up the mountain so she wouldn't slip.

   Once they made it to his home, he stopped her, "Y/n, you don't have to come inside... I don't want you to see it again."

   "A-are you sure?"

   "Yes, just stay here with Nezuko for me, okay?"

   "Okay..." The two girls stood away from the house as Tanjro started to work on making the graves for his family. He had to dig them up, place the bodies in one by one, and cover them with dirt. During this, Nezuko and Y/n could only stand in the cold, silent.

   It didn't take long before Tanjiro announced he was done. The two oldest got onto their knees and prayed. I'm sorry. I let it happen twice. I promise, Tanjiro and I will find who did this. We'll get Nezuko back. We'll avenge you. Please watch over us and protect us. May you rest in peace. Thank you for being my family as well. Thank you for taking me under your wing and treating me as one of your own, Kie. I promise, I won't let you down.

   "Tanjiro... I'm... I'm so sorry," Y/n cried, her hands on her knees, "i-if I didn't convince us to stay overnight, maybe we could've.. We..."

   He hugged her tightly, "no, Y/n. Don't say that... It's not your fault, please. If we didn't stay overnight... maybe I would have lost you too. I can't lose you, Y/n."

   "I can't lose you either, Tanjiro."

   "You won't. I will always keep our promise," he breathed deeply before getting up and holding his hand out for her, "let's go." Y/n took his hand and nodded while his other hand held Nezuko's. The three left the home, walking into the forest to find the man named Urokodaki.

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𝐢 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞

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