I could hear someone talking, no yelling and I could smell blood, a lot of blood.
"Hikaru....Hikaru, open your eyes please" I heard and I opened my eyes a little bit and was surprised by Tanjuro in front of me.
"I know you want to give me but please, you have to protect Tanjiro and Nezuko, the very sun runs through your blood. You are the only one that can stop the horrible fate that awaits this world so you can't give in now" Tanjuro said.
"Tanjuro" I whispered and he smiled at me.
"Make my boy happy along with the rest of the people that gather around you" Tanjuro smiled before he disappeared and I opened my eyes up fully.
Below me was Tanjiro using a breathing technique but it wasn't a water breathing technique, it was something else. In fact it reminded me of the breathing technique that I had used earlier but it was also different since the dragon was completely red like a fire.
'Please, anyone who is out there. Guide my friend's blade, make the flames around it grow brighter, make it so it is like he is wielding the very sun on his blade' I thought and I didn't know it at the time, that my eyes started to glow golden. When Tanjiro's broken blade hit Rui's neck it was propelled by whatever Nezuko was doing since it had her aura around it and he managed to cut Rui's head off. This meant that the bonds holding me and Nezuko let us go, making me reach out with the last of my strength and grab the younger girl holding her to my chest, meaning that I slammed into the ground instead of her.
"Nezuko, Hikaru" Tanjiro said before trying to move towards us but he couldn't. Moving Nezuko off me and gently onto the ground I regained my breath and turned to him trying to find the strength to move but I think every bit of strength I had was zapped out of me now. My eyes widened when I realised that Rui's body wasn't disappearing, it was staying there.
"Tanjiro" I whispered, pushing myself up with my damaged arms.
"Even though I took your head off," Tanjiro said, knowing what I had seen.
"You thought you had defeated me? Poor fool. Did your pathetic, delusion bring you joy? I cut off my own head with my thread before you could cut it off. Enough, I'll kill all three of you" Rui declared while Tanjiro crawled towards us. Looking down I saw my body was shaking from fear, my eyes were blurry from blood loss but my hands were still gripping tightly to my crimson blade.
"I haven't been this enraged in a long time but I wonder how the two of you didn't get burned. Me and my threads were the only things that were set ablaze. I don't know if it's your sister's power but thanks for getting me enraged, now I can carve you up with no regret" He continued while walking towards us looking furious.
"Blood demon art: murderous eye basket," Rui said, making a net out of red webs. Stubbornly I got to my feet even as I stumbled and started to stumble towards Tanjiro. I may not be able to stop Rui's attack but I could at least shield Tanjiro and Nezuko from his attacks. I got there just in time to throw myself over Tanjiro who let out a cry as some of the threads attacked. Another slash hit my back while Tanjiro's hands and arms got some cuts. Suddenly the threads were gone making my eyes that were closing open and I looked above us and saw Giyu there.
"You two did a good job holding out until I got here, leave the rest to me" Giyu said as I and Tanjiro faced him. Letting out a sob I buried my face in Tanjiro's back in relief, we were saved, we weren't going to die. "Your like a never ending wave of lowlifes always getting in my way! Blood demon art: cutting thread rotation!" Rui yelled, sending the attack towards Giyu.
"Total concentration: water breathing eleventh form, dead calm" Giyu said, making both me and Tanjiro shocked. We had never heard of the eleventh form.
"Who cares about your eleventh form?" Rui yelled out as his attack continued towards Giyu. The thing was that it disappeared without Giyu getting hurt or even moving that I could see.
"That can't be, I'll try again" Rui said but he didn't get a chance as Giyu walked past him and cut his head off. Without meaning to, I felt tears start to stream down my face at the sad aura that gathered around Rui that seemed to thicken with every second. Wobbling over towards Rui's head I collapsed to my knees in front of him.
"What?" He mumbled but he seemed more preoccupied with remembering something rather important to himself.
"Rui.....All you ever wanted was something to love you but you know now don't you, that you always had someone who loved you, you just couldn't remember it" I whispered as I reached forward and wiped his tears away.
"And if you want, I'll always love you as well" I smiled as I gently took a few samples of his blood even as his body started to disappear while walking towards Tanjiro and Nezuko.
"I will always hold you in my heart and never forget you either" I whispered as I teared up myself. This boy had tortured me, because of him I was bleeding so much I was numb but he was so small and all he wanted was someone to love him.
"They will be waiting for you Rui so make sure that you treasure them" I whispered tears streaming down my face as he disappeared. Looking, I saw Giyu step on the kimono that Rui had been wearing.
"Don't waste any sympathy on a demon that devoured humans, it doesn't matter if it looks like a child. It's still a hideous monster that's lived for decades" Giyu said, looking over his shoulder at me.
"To avenge the people who were killed, to make sure there are no more victims of course, we'll bring out blades down on any demon's neck without mercy. But as for those whom being a demon meant despair, those who regretted their own actions, I will never trample over them! Because demons were once human they were human like us" Tanjiro declared.
"Move your feet" I snarled out my hands shaking making both of them look at me.
"Demons aren't hideous monsters, they are hopeless creatures, they're tragic creatures. But they still have emotions, they still have hopes, fears, pain and love like any other human and just like any human those emotions can disappear just as fast" I yelled out with a glare. I saw Giyu's eyes widening when he looked at me and then saw Nezuko as well as Tanjiro who was cradling Nezuko to his chest.
"You're" He started but was cut off by a woman trying to attack Nezuko, thankfully Giyu stopped her.
"Oh my!" The woman said. Gathering Rui's kimono up I held it to my chest as I got behind Giyu who turned to the woman.
"Why would you get in my way, Tomioka? After telling me that we could never get along with demons, how should I put this? That's exactly why no one likes you, you know" The woman said with a smile but her emotions were telling a different story altogether.
"Now Tomioka, move out of my way," She said.
"I'm not disliked by people," Giyu said and both the woman and Tanjiro were shocked while I hid my smile. Giyu truly believed that he wasn't disliked by people.
"Well, I'm sorry, it seems you hadn't realised that people don't like you. I shouldn't have said anything. My apologies" The woman said.
"Young boy," She called.
"Yes," Tanjiro answered.
"What you're protecting there is a demon. I don't want you to get hurt so please move away" She said.
"Y-You're mistaken. I mean you're not mistaken but she's my little sister so, you see" Tanjiro tried to explain.
"Is that true? Poor soul. In that case I shall use a gentle poison to kill her so she won't suffer" She said with a smile and I shuttered. I didn't like this woman, she never acted like her emotions made me feel ill just looking at her.
"Can you move? Make yourselves move even if you can't move. Take your sister and run" Giyu said.
"Tomioka-san, sorry for the trouble. Thank you very much" said Tanjiro as he forced himself up with Nezuko in his arms and started to run. I was struggling to get to my feet so I gave Tanjiro a look that told him to keep going even if he left me behind.
"My, isn't this against the corps rules?" She asked. Finally getting my body moving I ran after Tanjiro picking up my box on the way so as to not leave it behind. While running I quickly placed Rui's kimono in my box so it wouldn't get damaged or I wouldn't lose it.
I managed to catch up to Tanjiro just as a girl slammed her foot in his back and made him hit the ground while Nezuko was flung out of his arms.
"Don't touch her" I snarled at the fake smiling girl as I blocked the sword swing with my own broken sword.
"Run Nezuko, run! Make a run for it! Don't get caught no matter what!" Tanjiro yelled before the girl knocked him out.
"I may be injured, I may not last long but if I have to sacrifice myself for Nezuko's life then so be it" I snarled as my sword once more clashed against her sword. We continued to clash against each other, giving Nezuko time to get a distance away and wait to see what was happening.
"Message! Message! Tanjiro, Nezuko and Hikaru are to be taken into custody and brought back to headquarters!" I heard Kuro call out and I let out a sigh of relief.
"Tanjiro, Hikaru and the demon Nezuko are to be taken into custody and taken back to headquarters! Tanjiro, dressed in a checkered haori with a scar on his forehead! Nezuko is a demon girl with a bamboo muzzle. Hikaru, dressed in a demon slayer uniform with a blue and white haori with scars on his face!" Kuro continued.
"Bring them back! Bring them back!" Kuro crowed.
"Are you Hikaru? And she is Nezuko?" The girl asked and I nodded before sitting down and grabbing my box before opening it and starting to treat my wounds as best I could as a fast patch up job. Once that was done and I was banaged as well as I could I got Nezuko into her box carefully and shut the door. It was then that some demon slayers came and asked me to hand over Nezuko before following them so I did after explaining that the box on my back was a replica and held my medical supplies and travelling supplies. As we were leaving the mountain I turned and saw that the sun was starting to come up making me sigh and take in a deep breath even as it hurt. We had managed to survive another day, even if we nearly died.
When we got to the place that we were being taken to they handed Nezuko's box to a different person before tying me and Tanjiro up in case we tried to fight I guess.
"Wake up, hey I said wake up. Oi, wake up, come on you, come on. Are you going to sleep all day?" One of the people yelled trying to wake Tanjiro up.
"Baka, that will never wake him up, Tanjiro time to wake up" I called softly and I saw Tanjiro's eyes shoot open and look around us.
"You two are in the presence of the Hashira," He guy declared and I looked towards the group of emotions that I had been sensing and narrowed my eyes glaring at them, daring them to try and hurt Tanjiro and Nezuko in my presence. Hashira or not, I would destroy them if they dared to hurt those I saw as family.
