𝐚𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 | 𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐣𝐢𝐫𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐲

𝟏𝟐| 𝐤𝐢𝐝𝐧𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐠: 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬... 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞?

   𝐓𝐚𝐧𝐣𝐢𝐫𝐨 𝐣𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, Y/n followed after her only two paces behind. He led them into an alley where the scent was stronger. "It's here..." Tanjiro said. They both unsheathed their swords and held it out in front of them, "there's two scents, one demon, one human girl..."

   "I don't see them.." Y/n said, looking around for the demon.

   "Me neither..." Tanjiro replied as he held his sword face down, "but the scent is stronger... here!" He plunged the blade into the ground and a black, watery substance shot out of the ground, revealing fabric. Y/n quickly grabbed the girl and jumped away. Her eyes followed to where she pulled her out to see a demon's hand stick out of the ground, a torn piece of fabric in its hand. The demon rose out of the substance, exposing its chest. It has powers! Y/n thought back to Urokodaki's explanation of the Blood Demon Art.

   "What did you do with the girls you kidnapped?" Tanjiro shouted. The demon only clenched its jaw and grinded its teeth together, eliciting a awful sound, "there are some things I wanna know!"

   Y/n and Tanjiro watched in horror as the demon fled back into its substance, the ground closing up over it. "Who was that?" Kazumi asked, panting after having to catch up with the two.

   "I need your help," Y/n stated, handing him the unconscious girl, "hold her for me and stay close. As long as you do that, we'll protect you!" Y/n adjusted her sword in a proper manner so she could help Tanjiro in defeating the enemy.

   Tanjiro sniffed the air, "over... here!" He ran past Y/n and was about to use his breathing form, only for three demons to rise from the ground and try to grab him. Luckily, his reflexes were quick and he jumped back, completely avoiding getting taken. Y/n realized the demons were still trying to reach him, so she jumped as high as she could. Second From: Antila. Stars encircled her waist and as she swung her sword into the ground, They shot out, throwing the three demons away from Tanjiro.

   As she attacked, she remembered the conversation they had with Urokodaki the night they came back from Final Selection. "Tanjiro, Y/n, listen to me closely," Urokodkai said, "there's only one demon who has the kind of blood that can turn humans, just one. That's it, in the entire world."

   "Just one?" Tamjiro questioned.

   "Yes. The first demon there ever was. He's been here for more than a thousand years. He's your target. The one who attacked your family. More importantly, I believe he's also the one who might know how to turn your sister back. That demon's name is... Muzan Kibutsuji."

   I missed. Y/n scolded herself, seeing as the only thing she hit was the demons' arms. She and Tanjiro jumped back and watched the demons sink back into the ground. "Damnit," Y/n muttered. Usually demons don't work together. Which means one demon must've split into three. We have to take them all out while still protecting those two. Don't lose your nerve. We'll make them talk to us about Muzan Kibutsuki and how to turn a demon back into a human. As Y/n's thoughts ran through her mind, the demon was about to reach for her leg when Tanjiro quickly turned around. He used his breathing form, only to miss and graze the demon's shoulder. He swung twice more to be narrowly dodged by the demon. It used its Blood Demon Art to slither away.

   "Bastards!" The demon yelled, "she'll go stale! Move outta the way, you punks! The girl's sixteen already, she's losing flavor by the second! If i dont eat her soon, there won't be any left at all!"

   "Take a breath, other me," a second demon said, appearing from the ground behind them, "calm down. No big deal, nights like this happen, right? I've already feasted on plenty of this town's sixteen year old girls. And every one of them was meaty and delicious... I'm satisfied with that."

   "Well I'm not satisfied with that at all, other me! I want to devour all of them! There's two in front of us! How could you not want more!?" Y/n's eyes widened as she realized they were talking about her. She grew more weary.

   "You monster," Kazumi muttered, "bring Satoko back! The girl you abducted two nights ago!"

   The demons grind their teeth, the third one was found on the roof of the wall. "Satoko, hm?" The more composed one, hummed, "which one was that?" It pulled one side of its jacket to show a collection of hairpins. "If her hairpin was one of these in my collection, I'm sorry, but I've already eaten her."

   Y/n and Tanjiro grew frustrated, eyebrows furrowing as they watched the demon sink back into the ground. They braced themselves, ready for the demon to come back out in any direction. It shot out of the wall and Tanjiro moved out of the way so the demon would miss. It hit the other wall and the boy used this time to bring his sword down, missing again, but getting it's arm cut off. It shot out of the wall again, barely missing Tanjiro as he jumped and flipped his body to avoid attack. It was too fast and almost struck Tanjiro's eye when Nezuko suddenly kicked the box open, sending the demon's head spinning.

   "Why in the world would a demon be traveling with mere humans?" The demon asked itself. Nezuko growled as she stared at the demon she attacked.

   She got out of the box, standing behind Tanjiro and next to Y/n. The demon who Nezuko kicked untwisted its head and slowly sank back to the ground. She untensed herself and looked at her surroundings, spotting Kazumi and the girl they saved. She walked over to the boy and he flinched as she reached to hold his cheek and caress the girl's hair. Though they were strangers, to her they resemble Takeo and Hanako.

   "Nezuko..." Tanjiro muttered as he remembered Urokodaki's words.

   "I don't know if this will be of any comfort to you, but while Nezuko was asleep, I used hypnotic suggestion on her."

   "What for?" Tanjiro and Y/n questioned.

   "I convinced her that all humans are her family. I told her to protect them. And that the demons were her enemies. If a demon harms a human, never forgive them."

   Nezuko ran towards the demons in front of her. "Nezuko!" Y/n called out, but was only ingroed when Nezuko brought her leg down onto the demon.

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𝐢 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞

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