Chapter Text
Uzui would have left Makomo to her own devices after she started tormenting the demon but then she changed tactics and Uzui stayed to observe. It was an open secret among high-ranking demon slayers that the former Water Pillar dealt with mind arts, specifically hypnosis. Sabito was shit at mind arts but Makomo and Giyuu had a great talent for it and had extensively studied the rare technique from Urokodaki. So, Uzui was standing there, watching Makomo gentling the demon, dropping it into a tranquil state. She then convinced the demon to give her what she wanted. The result was fascinating and very fruitful.
“Why have you been targeting Kamado Tanjiro?”
The demon’s voice was even and its eyes were staring at nothing, “He asked us to kill him.”
Makomo knew of the curse Muzan put on his name, so she didn’t ask the demon to clarify on that part. “He asked you specifically?”
“No. He gave the command to all his demons.”
Makomo’s eyes widened. An all-out command to kill Tanjiro? No wonder the Kamado siblings were being ambushed so much lately.
“I see you’ve made progress.”
Makomo wasn’t surprised to hear Sabito approach them. Uzui probably heard him much earlier as well. She didn’t turn to meet Sabito’s eyes but she answered him nonetheless. “Of course. Have you been to see Tanjiro?”
“No. I don’t think Giyuu would be in the right mindset if he saw how bad the outcome was.”
Uzui asked, “Where is Tomioka anyway?”
Sabito smiled innocently. “Hunting. I’ll join him after I’m done exchanging info with Makomo. You’re free to hunt too, though.”
Uzui shrugged and gestured at the demon. “At least now I can search without restarting over and over again.” He left the so-called water siblings and joined the hunt for other demons. He knew he could leave Makomo to deal with the dimension-moving demon in his stead.
Makomo still wasn’t looking at Sabito when she asked, “How is he?”
Sabito spoke in detail and relayed exactly what Shinobu had and hadn’t said. The only indication of Makomo’s rage was the twitching of her fingers. She summarized from Sabito’s explanation, “They were torturing him.”
Surprisingly, it was the demon who responded, “They wanted to see which would kill him first, suffocation or blood loss.” Not deterred by the water siblings’ stare on it, the demon’s loose tongue freely admitted, “It was hard to make him slip. He would have killed us ten times over if I had not interfered. He was fast and always righted himself no matter how many times I changed the dimensions around him.”
Makomo’s smile returned. “That’s impressive. I had thought you could only focus on one target.”
“Yes... If the Sound Pillar hadn’t entered the forest, we probably would have been able to kill Kamado Tanjiro much faster.”
“Probably?”
“…he lasted so long for a human being. Our attacks were coordinated. He should have been dead. We hanged him. We left him bleeding. He should have been dead…” the demon trailed off weakly in disbelief.
Makomo took a step closer to the demon. “Why did you choose to kill Kamado Tanjiro this way instead of perhaps, an instant kill?”
“Because that man wanted Kamado Tanjiro to suffer before the boy died.”
It was quiet for a short moment before soft, gentle hands touched the demon’s face. “I know I promised you a quick death if you gave me the information I wanted but-“ Makomo swiftly planted a kunai to the right of the demon’s neck, and slowly but crudely, dragged it across, purposefully making an uneven cut. “-I hate you too much right now to show you that kind of mercy.” She watched the demon gurgle a scream of pain, its body as though in seizure as it tried to escape from where it was pinned. Its eyes rolled wildly as blood dribbled from its mouth and neck.
The demon’s head eventually rolled off its pinned body, both crumbling in a few seconds.
Ignoring the brutality that Sabito had seen more than he ever needed to, he asked evenly, “How many are we looking for?”
Makomo deftly cleaned her weapons and stowed them back in her pouch. “Tanjiro already killed most of the lower class demons in the forest and Zenitsu killed a demon that could impersonate any living creature. Uzui-san mentioned seeing a crumbling demon at the clearing that seemed to have manifested from the ground. So, you’ll be looking for two demons. One that can control vines and trees. And another that can shoot a solidifying brown liquid. They’re the only ones left who had a hand in… nearly killing Tanjiro.”
With a grateful nod, Sabito patted her shoulder. “Go on to the estate and fuss. I know it makes you feel better.”
Makomo glared at Sabito. She hated that he was right. At least some of her anger had subsided knowing she had killed the demon ultimately responsible for almost killing her brother. “Fine.” She left after Sabito promised that he’d do much worse than she did.
The tree-vine demon felt the exact moment its tendril around Kamado Tanjiro’s neck was broken. They went back to the clearing and saw that the earth demon was dead, leaving behind only a weird gaping hole in the forest floor. The two demon hunters were missing and so was Kamado Tanjiro’s body.
In their panic, they raced to the demon in the sky, only to hear its screams. From afar, they saw a demon hunter wearing a flower haori tormenting their comrade. They would have intervened if it wasn’t for the appearance of the Sound Pillar.
As they retreated, they made more and more close encounters with other pillars. They didn’t plan to fight any more hunters. Their only target was Kamado Tanjiro. All the previous hunters had been their practice dummies. They had killed so many without sounding any alarms, they were certain Kamado Tanjiro would have been just another casualty. In their panicked state, they moved far away from the crime scene but not out of the forest. They had seen this kind of tactic from the demon hunters. Some would go in while some stayed in the perimeters to kill any demons that tried to escape. Other pillars might be waiting for them right at the tree-line. They were trapped.
Eventually the two demons bickered on a tree, its location secluded enough from the clearing with the dead bodies where a demon hunter was directing a bunch of humans to take down the bodies.
“I told you we should have killed him!! Now there’s pillars everywhere! And Kamado Tanjiro is no longer here!”
“He could still be dead!”
The tree-vine demon deadpanned. “We’re the only demons left in this forest. There are four pillars, the butterfly chick and that crazy flower girl! Even if Kamado Tanjiro was dead, we won’t get the credit if we don’t make it out of here alive!”
“…we’ll kill them. We’ll kill the pillars.”
“We only worked well when there were five of us! Our attack only works when there’s five of us-“
“WE’LL MAKE IT WORK!”
A third voice responded, “Oh? How’d you do that?”
The demons froze. They were so far out, practically on the other side of the huge forest. How were they found so soon?
On the opposite tree branch, one of the Water Pillars, the scarred pink-haired one, stood idly, leaning on the bark with his arms crossed. His expression was curious and his stance was relaxed but they knew what they all said about the twin Water Pillars. ‘If you ever see them, run.’
“See Giyuu, you have to actually say something for them to notice you,” said the first Water Pillar to somewhere on his left.
They didn’t know how they had missed it but right there, on the forest floor just beneath them, stood the second twin, his face blank except for the clear hatred and disdain in his eyes.
The demons immediately launched themselves away from their initial position, creating space between them and the twin Water Pillars. The dripping demon shot some of its discharge towards the twin on the forest floor while the tree-vine demon attempted to swiftly wrap the pink-haired twin by manipulating its vines.
Both pillars seemed to disappear upon contact of their projectiles though, as though they had attacked an afterimage instead.
“Don’t worry,” a voice echoed ominously above them, “We’ll give you the same courtesy you gave our brother.”
The demons only managed to comprehend the sentence before an invisible agonizing pain slashed through their bodies from all sides. Over their screams, the voice continued, “We’ll make sure you suffer just like he did before you expire.”
Hearing the diagnostics and actually seeing the aftermath of the attack was more painful than Makomo would like to admit. Sabito was right not to visit Tanjiro before entering Mori Forest. Makomo would have definitely killed every demon on sight. While that would be the main purpose, she wouldn’t have been able to make them hurt the way they had hurt what was theirs.
Tanjiro looked so small on his bed. He was bandaged from his neck to his feet. To her surprise, on the side of the bed was a small Nezuko. She probably chose that size so she could plop on the bed, right beside her sleeping brother. Nezuko must have awakened only to find Tanjiro indisposed for unknown reasons.
Makomo cautiously approached the bed since Nezuko had her back to her. She softly called out as to not startle the younger Kamado, “Nezuko.”
Nezuko turned to her in surprise. The poor child was crying her eyes out, rivulets of tears cascading down her cheeks. Her small hand was clutching Tanjiro’s limp one on the bed. Nezuko had been holding back her sobs, most likely to not disturb her brother.
Makomo came closer and opened her arms. Nezuko seemed hesitant to let go of Tanjiro but eventually relented. She held onto Makomo as she continued crying silently. Makomo sat down on a visitor chair beside Tanjiro’s bed and patted Nezuko’s back as she assured her, “Tanjiro will be alright. He’s strong.”
Nezuko nodded curtly, her tears had subsided a little.
From where she sat, Makomo could see the obvious signs of fever and a fitful sleep. Not to mention the dried blood that was not cleaned properly. While she knew Tanjiro would eventually be cared for since he was well loved by all those in the Butterfly Estate, she also knew that Aoi, Sumi, Kiyo and Naho were busy attending to the ones in Mori Forest.
“Why don’t we make him more comfortable, hmm? I’m sure Tanjiro will appreciate it.”
The distraction was good for Nezuko. She perked at being able to help and hurriedly went to get wash cloths and a basin of water.
Giyuu wondered if they had done enough. He still felt… a boiling rage inside. The two demons were weak compared to so many others. But he could see how five demons could overwhelm Tanjiro, no matter how much they trained him. Sabito had told him about each demon and how they could have coordinated to almost kill Tanjiro. The main source was definitely the dimension demon. Sabito had mentioned the demon admitting that Tanjiro would have killed them ten times over if dimensional displacement was not its blood technique.
Giyuu had just sheathed his sword when he heard the Flame Pillar greet them.
“Ah! The Water Pillars! Have you-“ Rengoku cut himself off when he saw the absolute bloody massacre that covered the area in front of him. Only Giyuu and Sabito stood in the middle, seemingly unbothered by it all. They also seemed uninjured so it was impossible it was their blood. “Well! Seems like I’m no longer needed here!”
The Sound Pillar was close behind with a familiar boar mask in one hand. Uzui made a loud whistling sound upon close inspection of the messy area. “While I appreciate the flamboyant display… What did you guys do? Butcher them? How many were there?”
“Just two.” Sabito shrugged.
For a moment, Uzui looked over at the bloody scene and then just looked back at the twin Water Pillars with a flat look. Then he remembered Makomo’s demonstration earlier and nodded to himself with his eyebrows raised as though everything made sense. He made a mental note to himself. Never trigger the water siblings. They’re vicious in their revenge.
“But!” Rengoku suddenly voiced out to Giyuu, “How is there so much blood if neither of you are injured? Demon blood vanishes with their body once they die!”
Sabito smirked as Giyuu tilted his head and responded, “Who said they were dead?”
Morning dawned on the forest as the Kakushi brought out the last of the bodies of their fallen comrades. The pillars and other demon hunters left Mori Forest with the echoing screams of two demons behind them as the demons were slowly baked by the rising Sun.
Once Nezuko was put back into her box due to the Sun, Makomo returned to the residence of the Water Pillar. It was, of course, to Sabito and Giyuu actively pinning each other on the training mats, both took turns putting the other in a choke hold to find effective ways to escape from it. They had discarded their haori and upper uniform to ease usage of their arms.
Not one day had passed and they were already planning a new training regime for Tanjiro.
Makomo sighed and fixed the incorrect situational simulation. “He already knows how to defect that hold.” Hand-to-hand combat was one of the basics she had drilled Tanjiro with even before he had completed his training with Urokodaki. She effectively used ropes to replace the vine/tendrils that defeated Tanjiro and proceeded to hang the Water Pillars as she guided them from below.
Of course, the three of them took in consideration that the circumstances for Tanjiro had been different. They were lacking factors like fatigue, blood loss, lack of sight and the lack of oxygen. Still, if a similar situation ever came up, they wanted him to be prepared for it.
Zenitsu woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep. Not because he wasn’t tired, because he was. The emotional breakdown from the previous night had drained him. His paranoia also made him in tune to Tanjiro’s sound. He could pick it up above all other sounds. It was the source of him being unable to sleep because it sounded distressed. He wasn’t sure if Tanjiro was awake. He just knew that Tanjiro was not… comfortable or maybe he was having trouble sleeping.
Either way, Zenitsu couldn’t sleep. It was broad daylight, he was bedridden and he couldn’t even sleep.
Inosuke was gone to wherever he went. Aoi had announced that Inosuke was issued bed rest for two days while Tanjiro and Zenitsu were stuck for a week at least. Zenitsu sighed as Tanjiro’s sound exponentially got worst. He fervently wished Tanjiro wasn’t stuck in a private observation room. The closer Tanjiro was, the better Zenitsu could comfort him.
The door to the infirmary was suddenly slammed open and Zenitsu jolted from shock. He sputtered in both annoyance and shock because Inosuke was the one who came walking in and he never used doors, “What are you doing slamming doors open this early in the morning?!”
Inosuke ignored the question as he strode to Zenitsu’s bed and promptly picked him up in his arms.
“Inosuke…! What are you doin- PUT ME DOWN RIGHT N-“ Zenitsu went from whisper-shouting to full out shouting but he was cut off with a strict, “Shut up!”
Surprisingly, Inosuke was gentle as he transported Zenitsu into one of the rooms in the estate. A large futon had already been laid out in it and that was where Inosuke deposited a bewildered Zenitsu. Inosuke worked silently with a scowl and propped a folded blanket under Zenitsu’s feet. Then he got up and left the room but kept the door open.
Inosuke came back a few seconds later and Zenitsu already knew who he had brought with him even before appearing at the door because Tanjiro’s sound had gotten louder and louder. Inosuke laid Tanjiro half on the futon and half on Zenitsu himself. He propped an extra soft cloth under Tanjiro’s head and neck. Then he laid out a large blanket over them and proceeded to crawl into it and nestled himself on Tanjiro’s other side.
Without disturbing the blanket or the sleeping Tanjiro, Inosuke fixed their positions so that he would spoon Tanjiro from behind as Tanjiro slept facing Zenitsu.
When Inosuke was finally done, Zenitsu asked incredulously, “Are you even allowed to move him?”
Inosuke frowned at Zenitsu. “His bed was too small to share.”
“…”
Nightmares were common for those in their line of work. Tanjiro especially so after he had personally found his massacred family. The nightmares were something they had discovered during their days recuperating together at the houses bearing the wisteria family crest. Tanjiro often mumbled his siblings’ names alongside broken apologies in his sleep. Sometimes, he'd cry softly, his body shaking with soft sobs. It crushed Zenitsu’s heart every time it got that bad. Eventually, they found out that Tanjiro slept better with others around him. Especially those he knew and trusted. Nezuko was not always available to support her brother especially during daylight, so it fell to Inosuke and Zenitsu to soothe Tanjiro in his sleep. It was one of the things Inosuke never questioned and he would voluntarily close the proximity between them when Tanjiro needed to sleep during the day.
Zenitsu looked down at Tanjiro’s slightly shiny forehead. He had a mild fever. And his eyebrows were twitching as his fingers gripped whatever they could find. At that time, it was Zenitsu’s yukata. There were no mumbles but Tanjiro’s face was not at peace.
As Inosuke shuffled closer till he was nuzzling Tanjiro’s head, Zenitsu snaked his arm and held Tanjiro closer in a one-armed hug. He closed his eyes and focused on Tanjiro’s sound. Tanjiro’s body slowly became lax and his breathing evened out. As time ticked away, the fuzzy noises that corrupted Tanjiro’s sound slowly died.
‘Ah…’ Zenitsu thought happily, ‘It’s better now…’
The three of them slept the afternoon away and didn’t awaken until after sunset. Not even Aoi or Shinobu had the heart to move them when Tanjiro was finally in deep sleep and his fever had somehow broke. As night fell and Tanjiro still had not woken up, Zenitsu and Inosuke reluctantly left the futon for meals and a change of clothes. Before they left, Inosuke had lifted the blanket and ushered Nezuko inside it. Nezuko's head popped out of the blanket on the other side and she gave him a thumbs up before she crawled back under Tanjiro’s arm. Inosuke huffed in satisfaction.
When Tanjiro woke up, despite his sister being the one sleeping in his arms, he could feel the phantom scents of his friends and found family. He caught the scent of Makomo, Sabito and Giyuu all around his head where they liked to pat him. Shinobu and the girls’ scent also lingered somewhere in his room. There were also traces of Uzui and Rengoku from somewhere behind him. Perhaps they lingered at the door.
But mostly, he could smell the familiar mixed scents of Zenitsu and Inosuke. He swallowed thickly knowing they had been there with him. He wasn’t alone. He almost felt their ghosting warmth cocooning him the way they always did on lazy afternoons during their recovery days. Tanjiro hugged his sister closer and relished at both of them still being alive. He started to feel sleepy again and didn’t fight it anymore. This time, he knew he was truly safe.