Suddenly I heard a yell. I turned around and saw Mitsuri tightly wrapping a ribbon around Kyojuro's shoulder. She picked him up. She looked at me panickedly.
Mitsuri: "WE HAVE TO GET BACK TO THE MANSION QUICKLY! HIS INFECTION HAS ENTIRELY COVERED HIS ARM AND HAS ALMOST COMPLETELY COVERED HIS SHOULDER!"
I went wide eyed. Ayano let go of me and went back to Shoyo.
Shoyo: "Go save your friend, Hakuji. Now that the demons are gone, our town can go back to normal."
Akaza: "Right!"
I ran over to Mitsuri. Kyojuro was breathing heavily.
Akaza: "Here, let me carry him."
Mitsuri: "It's alright, I'll carry him for the time being. Go grab your box."
I looked over to my left and saw my box laying on the ground. Hallelujah it wasn't broken from the fight. I grabbed it and put it on my shoulders. Thankfully, it was still raining so I didn't have to retreat to the darkness. I also noticed my regeneration was back to normal, because my chest was finally healed. I went back over to Mitsuri and we ran out of the other side of town, and back on the path.
Mitsuri: "It'll be at least 5 more miles till we reach the next town, and then we'll have arrived near Himejima's estate. All of the hashira's estates have paths connected to headquarters. The Butterfly Mansion being the Closest to HQ, and Himejima's estate being, unfortunately, the farthest.
(Side note: at this point i'm making shit up bc idk the layout of the demon slayer map 😂😭)
Akaza: "We're gonna have to make haste."
Mitsuri looked back at Kyojuro.
Mitsuri: "Please don't die on me man.."
Kyojuro coughed.
Kyojuro: "I don't plan on dying yet."
Mitsuri: "Good."
The both of us covered 5 miles pretty quickly. I was impressed how easily she was able to keep up with me despite carrying Kyojuro. We quickly ran through the town, jumping over any stands or people around. I looked at her.
Akaza: "Damn, you're fast."
She chuckled.
Mitsuri: "I know!"
We finally made it through the town. Behind the town was a mountain. A pretty big one.
Mitsuri: "Himejima's estate is right behind this mountain. I assume you'll have no problem scaling it?"
Akaza: "Not at all."
We swiftly ran up the mountain. We dodged any fallen trees and bushes in our way. We came across a large waterfall. There was a clearing with a lot of disturbed terrain and broken rocks everywhere.
Mitsuri: "I assume this is where Genya does his training, so we must be close."
We ran past the clearing when Mitsuri came to a stop. I stopped too and looked back at her. She looked at Kyojuro.
Mitsuri: "Kyojuro?"
He groaned. She put him on the ground and looked at his arm. The infection started to move into the right side of his chest.
Mitsuri: "Shit. By the time we get there and Shinobu gets her medicine ready, the infection will have probably reached his heart."
Akaza: "Does that mean.."
Mitsuri: "Yeah.."
We went silent for a minute. I was starting to think I should ask him to be a demon again, but I know he'll decline. Still, it doesn't hurt to try. I opened my mouth.
Mitsuri: "THAT'S IT! I HAVE AN IDEA!"
Akaza: "I- What is it?"
Mitsuri: "I'll tell you on the way, but first, you're gonna have to carry him."
Akaza: "Alright."
I gave the box to Mitsuri and gently picked Kyojuro up, when suddenly he started groaning loudly in pain.
Akaza: "Kyojuro!"
Mitsuri: "We need to hurry!"
We raced through more trees. We finally saw the path, as well as a large house in the distance.
Mitsuri: "We gotta stop at his estate!"
Akaza: "Alright!"
I looked down at Kyojuro, and tears were streaming down his cheeks. I doubt it was from the rain since we were under trees right now. I couldn't imagine how much pain he was in right now. For some reason, because he was crying, I started to tear up as well. He coughed.
Kyojuro: "I need water.. there's a bamboo stick in my right pocket.."
I slowed down a little and took the bamboo full of water out of his pocket. Damn he has large pockets. I took the top off and put it up to his mouth. He weakly took a sip.
Kyojuro: "Thank you.."
I put the water bottle back into his pocket. I looked at him as he let out another low groan.
Akaza: "I'm sorry, Kyojuro. I should have stayed with you.."
3rd Person:
Mitsuri sped up and ran over to the entrance to the estate. She stopped and put her hands up to her mouth in a cone shape.
Mitsuri: "HIMEJIMA! YOU GOTTA HELP ME MAN!"
Gyomei: "H-huh?"
The large pillar was just calmly sitting on his porch meditating to the sound of the rain. He turned his head towards the entrance.
Gyomei: "Kanroji?"
Mitsuri: "HIMEJIMA, PLEASE!"
Gyomei stood up and walked out into the rain. He walked towards the entrance.
Gyomei: "What's wrong?"
Just then, he felt a large demonic aura coming towards him. He turned his head towards the direction Akaza was coming from.
Gyomei: "What the-?"
Mitsuri: "I'm assuming you can feel demonic power? Don't worry, it's just the demon Kyojuro was talking about a few days ago."
Gyomei: "Hm."
Mitsuri: "I know this is sudden, but can you please get one of your crows to send a message to Shinobu? We ran into a town on our way back that was being attacked by cobra demons and Kyojuro got poisoned. He's in a lot of pain right now and we need Shinobu to get medicine ready for him."
Akaza: "MITSURI! HE'S GETTING WORSE! THE INFECTION HAS REACHED INTO THE MIDDLE OF HIS RIGHT PECK!"
Gyomei could hear the genuine worry in Akaza's voice. Kyojuro groaned.
Gyomei: "Inside. Down the hall in the fourth room to the left. There should be a crow in there."
Mitsuri: "Thank you."
Mitsuri ran inside.
Akaza's POV:
The tall praying man stood by the entrance. I couldn't tell if he was crying or if it was the rain, because the rain had started falling harder. He had his head turned in our direction. I could tell he was blind, which confused me a little. His other senses must be sharp as hell if he's a hashira.
Akaza: "I'm sorry, what was your name again? Mitsuri told me but I was so preoccupied with Kyojuro that I couldn't hear her."
Gyomei: "Oh, I'm Gyomei Himejima. I'm the Stone Hashira."
Akaza: "Nice to meet you, Gyomei. I'm Akaza, the Upper Moon Three."
He stopped praying and held out one of his hands. I couldn't believe he was greeting me. We shook hands, except his hand completely engulfed mine.
Gyomei: "It's nice to meet you too, Akaza."
Mitsrui ran back out.
Mitsuri: "I sent the message, let's go."
Mitsuri and I started down the path, when I noticed Gyomei was following behind us.
Mitsuri: "Why are you coming? I thought you were meditating."
Gyomei: "I can meditate later, but right now, I'm coming with you. You might need me because Sanemi's estate is on this path and if he sees Akaza with an injured Rengoku, he might get pissed and attack. If he does, I'll grab him and calm him down."
Akaza: "Sanemi.. Wait, is that the marechi dude?"
Mitsuri: "Yeah."
The three of us ran down the path and I saw the Wind Hashira's estate in the distance. Gyomei was right, Sanemi was out front, but quarreling with somebody.
Sanemi: "LEAVE THE FUCKING CORPS YOU IDIOT!"
Gyomei groaned.
Gyomei: "Not again.."
Akaza: "Which one is Sanemi and who's the other guy?"
Mitsuri: "The guy with the spiky white hair is Sanemi. The other one is Sanemi's younger brother, Genya."
Gyomei put hands to his mouth and yelled.
Gyomei: "GENYA! I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO GO TRAIN!"
Genya yelped and looked our way. Sanemi looked over at us too. We ran towards them.
Mitsuri: "MOVE SHINAZUGAWAS, WE'RE GAY!"
Genya went wide eyed. Sanemi choked on air. Gyomei made a flustered noise. I laughed hard. Me and Mitsrui ran past the brothers.
Sanemi: "Wait a second. IS THAT A DEMON CARRYING RENGOKU? AND WHY DOES RENGOKU LOOK LIKE HE'S ON THE VERGE OF DEATH!?"
Akaza: "NICE TO MEET YOU TOO, WIND HASHIRA!"
Sanemi rolled up his sleeve and was about to charge at us, but Gyomei grabbed him and picked him up.
Gyomei: "Settle down!"
Sanemi: "P-PUT ME DOWN, GYOMEI!!"
Genya: "Aniki! He said to calm down! Surely there's an explanation behind the demon!"
We couldn't hear them anymore since it had started raining harder.
Akaza: "Mitsuri you're gay??"
Mitsuri: "Not exactly. I like every gender!"
I chuckled.
Mitsuri: "Only a bit farther till we're at the Mansion!"
Kyojuro groaned loudly.
Akaza: "Don't worry Kyo, we're almost there."
We ran for another 2 minutes when we saw a large house.
Akaza: "Is this it?"
Mitsuri: "No, that's the headquarters! The next mansion is the Butterfly Mansion!"
We ran past the headquarters and finally reached a mansion surrounded by wisteria trees. Despite wisteria being quite deadly for us demons, I didn't care about that right now. I ran right through the trees. Even if my skin started burning, I needed to make sure Kyojuro was safe before I could worry about myself. Me and Mitsuri got to the front porch. I saw a small girl under a large leafed tree. She was gathering mushrooms from the roots of the tree.
Mitsuri: "KANAO! DID SHINOBU GET OUR MESSAGE?"
Kanao looked at us and nodded. We ran inside. There were a lot of people with face masks on. They started panicking as they saw me run by with Kyojuro.
Mitsuri: "SHINOBU!"
Standing in the hallway holding some wooden cups, stood a small woman in a butterfly haori. Mitsuri moved out of the way so Shinobu could see Kyojuro's condition. She went wide eyed.
Shinobu: "Rehabilitation rooms. Now."