•𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘• 𝑲𝒏𝒚 𝒗𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔! 𝒙 𝑭𝒆𝒎! 𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓

Chapter 36 | Upper Three

*second person p.o.v.*

Seeing that your car was taking longer to regenerate, you moved up a few carts to check on Zenitsu and Nezuko.

"Nezuko!" You shouted. She hummed happily. "It seems that you're all okay here. I'll leave now-" You were cut off when all three of you were grabbed by the flesh tentacles.

Your mask was knocked off as the air was being squeezed out of your lungs, and you heard Nezuko struggling. Zenitsu was snoring, so there was no one to help you.

A sudden crack was heard, and a grunt of pain following it. "Nezuko!" You cried out. Sensing your trouble, Kyojuro made his way to you, but you made a move before him.

You gripped your sword and felt heat come from your sword, grunts of pain coming from Nezuko as the demon squeezed tighter.

"LET GO OF MY SISTER, YOU DAMNED DEMON!" You shouted out of pure anger, veins bulging out of your forehead. "Hinokami Kagura..... dance!" In a flash, the flesh holding you was cut into pieces and burned.

The whole cart was filled with fire as all the flesh tentacles burned. As it burst with fire, a ripple effect went throughout the train and shook it.

The design on your haori changed colors from different shades of blue, to red, orange, and yellow. And the mask you wore changed from blue designs to fire designs, as it was exposed to the Hinokami Kagura fire dance.

Kyojuro could only watch in amazement as he watched you disappear in flashes, and as fire followed your sword and figure.

Once you saw the flesh take time to regenerate, you landed and casually grabbed your mask.

"That was amazing!" You yelped and dropped your mask from the sudden voice. "The Hinokami Kagura dance! It's truly amazing!" Kyojuro said.

You picked back up your mask and put it on, feeling the heat from the fire die down. "I guess so." You chuckled and rubbed the back of your head sheepishly.

Nezuko ran over and hugged you, grunting happily. Nezuko walked back beside Zenitsu as the demon began to regenerate.

"Let's race, Y/n! Let's see who's faster!" Before you could argue, Kyojuro disappeared.

Sighing, you also disappeared, having no other choice but to participate in the race Kyojuro had suggested earlier.

Zenitsu and Nezuko took on two cars, while you and Kyojuro took on three each. Fire and flames danced around in the 6 cars in the rear of the train, as you and Kyojuro competed.

Finally, after seeing that the flesh would take time to regenerate, you looked over to Kyojuro to see him turn to you just as you did. "Ha! I guess it's a tie!" Kyojuro laughed.

"I guess it is." You shrugged, smiling back at him. A sudden loud scream was heard -most likely from Inosuke. "Come on! Let's continue! We'll have a rematch after this mission!" Kyojuro said.

Obliging to his request, you began to slice the flesh tentacles. A few minutes went by, and that's when you smelt blood. You stopped in your tracks.

"What's wrong, Y/n?" Kyojuro asked. "I smell Tanjiro's blood. Tanjiro's bleeding. I have to go see if he's okay-" As you started to leave, Kyojuro grabbed your shoulder and held you back.

He shook his head. "Don't be selfish right now. We have passengers whose lives are in our hands. Your brother is strong. He doesn't need his big sister to clean up after his mess all the time. Let him sort things out. He's with the boar guy, so i'm sure they're fine." Kyojuro ruffled your hair.

"You worry too much." Kyojuro chuckled. "You're right." You sighed. "Come on, let's save these passengers." He put his hand on your lower back and gave it a light push to encourage you.

Giving him a slight nod, you disappeared from his side and began to use the water breathing techniques, slicing through the demon's flesh, moving between three cars.

While doing so, the flesh tentacles then became hands and shot out to each passengers' neck.

Reacting fast, you cut all of the hands off, and just as you did, a loud scream echoed through the train.

As soon as the scream passed by, the train started to tip. You stumbled and grabbed a seat, but it was no use as the train tumbled off the tracks.

Before you could become injured, Kyojuro grabbed you and hugged you close to his body, protecting your head with his hand as he jumped out of the train.

He landed safely and looked down at you. "Are you okay?" He asked. "I'm fine." He set you down and pat your back.

"Let's go check on Tanjiro!" In sync, you both disappeared and reappeared in front of Tanjiro, who was lying down and holding his stomach.

"I see you've mastered total concentration, constant. Impressive!" Kyojuro who was staring down at Tanjiro said.

"Y/n.... Rengoku...." Tanjiro breathed. You crouched down and took out a cloth, pressing down on his wound as he winced in pain.

"After all, constant is the first step toward becoming a hashira. Although there might be 10,000 steps before you can become a hashira." Kyojuro continued.

"I'll do my best." Tanjiro replied. "You're bleeding from the abdomen. You have to concentrate harder to improve the precision of your breathing. Make your nerves reach every corner of your body. There's a blood vessel. A torn blood vessel." Kyojuro explained.

Tanjiro began to breathe heavily. "Concentrate harder!" Kyojuro pressured. Tanjiro closed his eyes and breathed in deeply.

His eyes then snapped open, showing that he found the torn blood vessel. "That's it. Snatch it. Stop the bleeding." Kyojuro said. You took the cloth away from Tanjiro's abdomen, as it was covered in blood.

Tanjiro looked back down at his wound, but Kyojuro put his finger to his forehead. "Focus." Tanjiro did as asked, and stopped his wound from bleeding.

Kyojuro crouched down in front of Tanjiro. "Great! Looks like you stopped it! You'll be able to do all sorts of things when you master breathing. Not that you'll be able to do everything, but you'll become a stronger version of yourself than yesterday for sure." Kyojuro gave Tanjiro a close-eyed smile.

"Everyone's safe!" Kyojuro reassured. "There are hordes of injured people, but no one's life is in danger. Don't strain yourself. Take it easy and rest up, Tanjiro." You said whilst patting Tanjiro's head.

That's when a new scent hit you. A demon's scent.

You snapped your head to your right, taking out your sword and standing up. "What's wrong?" Kyojuro asked.

Then he also sensed the demon and turned around, getting into stance and gripping his blade handle.

The words 'upper three' was engraved in his eyes, and he had pink hair and strange markings all over his body. He suddenly disappeared and reappeared with his fist close to Tanjiro's face.

'Water breathing. Second form: water wheel.' You raised your sword and brought it down, cutting his fist in half up to his elbow. He jumped back, and in an instant he healed his own arm.

"Y/n. Step back for now." Kyojuro ordered. "That's a fine sword." Akaza sneered. He licked off his own blood from his arm, as it was fully restored.

"I can't understand why you'd go after a wounded person first." Kyojuro said.

"He could get in the way of the chitchat.... between you, me, and possibly the girl." Akaza replied.

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(1249 words)