𝐒𝐄𝐀 ꕀ 𝐊𝐍𝐘

nineteen

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the uppermoon had escaped. nobody's efforts were enough. not kyojuro's, not kazemi's, and not tanjiro's. they just watched a hashira battle to his limit, all for the demon he was battling to just, flee. and nobody could do a damn thing about it.

tanjiro screamed his lungs out, even after akaza had long ago fled.

"THE DEMON SLAYERS ARE ALWAYS FIGHTING YOU DEMONS IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT, WHERE YOU HAVE THE ADVANTAGE! US HUMANS, MADE OF FLESH AND BLOOD! WE CAN'T REGENERATE AS FAST, AND THERE ARE SOME PARTS OF OUR BODY THAT WILL NEVER HEAL AND REGROW LIKE YOURS!" tanjiro clenched his fists, gritting his teeth. "YOU'RE A COWARD! A BIG COWARD! RENGOKU WON THAT FIGHT, NOT YOU! HE DIDN'T LET A SINGLE PERSON DIE! YOU'RE THE LOSER!"

kazemi stayed ominously silent, not daring to utter a word. as tanjiro yelled every single insult he could think of against the long-gone demon, kazemi walked over to rengoku.

she skimmed over his condition.

the arm lodged in his torso was slowly disintegrating. the moment it faded, he would bleed out. he sat in a crouch position, with his head hung low. his haori was in tatters, and his uniform was covered in grime. although, rengoku seemed, at peace.

with minor difficulty, he turned his head up to look at kazemi. she stared down at him, an unreadable look in her eyes.

"you fought exceptionally well. you have the potential to be a hashira with those skills," he praised her swordsmanship, smiling weakly.

she took notice at the increased pace of disintegration happening with the arm, as the sun rose higher and higher up in the horizon. the more that faded into dust particles, the more blood that slowly leaked out.

"i'm sorry." she apologized. she didn't know why she did. the event was out of her control. it wasn't in any way her fault. but, she felt shame. shame for being completely unharmed, when the man who didn't let the life of a single person slip out his hands during the mission was in a state like this. it was stupid. she knew it was. but still, she just felt like this was all her fault. everything.

perhaps because everything about rengoku reminded kazemi of her. the optimism. the pride. the endurance. everything. she couldn't even bare looking at rengoku anymore.

she let another person down.

"don't apologize." even in his state, rengoku's voice was firm, and strong. "in life, you will not always get your way. one of the things that makes being human so valuable is making mistakes. you learn from them, and grow. this wasn't a mistake on your part, either way. whatever fury you feel, circulate it all into one thing. swordsmanship. use your anger as strength, and power it into training and honing your skills to the sharpest point possible."

she nodded along, before spotting black silhouettes rapidly approaching. her eyes widened when she realized who they were.

dozens of kakushi, and... wait. was that shinobu?

by then, the arm lodged in him had fully disintegrated. rengoku was bleeding out. it was now or never.

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rengoku had been brought to the butterfly estate in critical conditions, on the verge of death. a surgery had immediately began.

tanjiro had passed out from a mix of heavy stress, and the fact that he had severe internal bleeding from an opened up laceration on his waist. zenitsu was already knocked out previously. inosuke just ran away. they knew he'd be back soon. the guy just needed to let out some steam. he probably felt horrible.

all hashiras, as well as rengoku's estate had been alerted of his critical state via kasugai crow.

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WITH THE LOVE HASHIRA

"kyojuro-san is in critical condition!?" her pale green eyes widened, and glazed over with unshed tears. she immediately dashed out her estate, sprinting towards the butterfly mansion.

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WITH THE SOUND HASHIRA

the moment he received the news from a crow, tengen's expression visibly turned sour. he grit his teeth, quickly gathering his things. like a gust of wind, he was out the door of his estate in seconds.

"so, not even rengoku could defeat an uppermoon." he said as he ran, a solemn tone laced in his voice.

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WITH THE STONE HASHIRA

"namu amida butsu. i will pray for his safety," the pillar muttered, tears falling down his face. genya, who was in the process of training with gyomei overheard this. his eyes widened.

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WITH THE WIND HASHIRA

sanemi grit his teeth, standing in the middle of his dojo when he heard of the news. his hatred for demons only grew more and more.

"those repulsive demons... i'll kill them all!"

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WITH THE MIST HASHIRA

muichiro could not remember much of the flame hashira, but he was aware of the fact that he knew him to some extent. the man always greeted him at every pillar meeting, or when he saw him.

so, he decided to go to the butterfly estate. something inside him was urging him to go.

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WITH THE SERPENT HASHIRA

he stood on a rooftop, looking up at the sky.

"...i don't believe it." he said, his expression overtaken with sorrow. his distaste for demons, which was already to an astronomical level just rose more.

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WITH SENJURO

he dropped his broom, as it made a dull sound when it hit the floor. he was in shock. 

tears slowly poured down his face, dripping onto the dry grounds below him and soaking into the soil.

"b-brother..." he mumbled in a shaky tone, as he slowly put a hand above his mouth. he fell to his knees, pure horror in his eyes. his brother was on the verge of death. as the kasugai crow flew away, tears in its own eyes, senjuro could only stare up at the skies in despair.

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heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

this chapter is just for everyone's reactions to rengoku's condition. theres rlly no guarantee of whether he'll live or not with injuries like that

wd d w fe fgr g r g r g eg er g erg r g er ger g er g e  f a 

btw PLEASE comment more. silent readers are my biggest fear bc i have no idea what u guys are thinking while reading 😭😭😭😭 like at least a little comment at the end plz on what u think 

byee

unedited