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(*)
Exactly six weeks it took Yua and her idiotic comrades to heal from their broken ribs.
Today, the doctor finally declared them ready again for their job.
After so long, some good news, only to be triumphed as Kaguya and Matsuemon brought them new orders, a new mission. They shall move north-northeast to Mt. Natagumo.
Yua couldn't wait to work on her goal of becoming a Hashira! She was starting to get crazy, doing nothing but healing and chores in the Wisteria House.
On one hand, she should really first go home and check on her family, yet the disapproving look and the lecture her grandfather would give her, about how she managed for six weeks to do nothing and not even raise a few ranks, stopped her from doing so.
She would go back home when she had at least levelled up a good three ranks.
Was she a coward?
Yes, she was.
The midnight blue-haired beauty was not ashamed to admit that.
She would rather fist fight a demon than be criticised by her grandfather. That man could make you feel so bad about yourself; it should be a torture method.
Anyway, the young woman and her companions stood ready before the door of the Wisteria House. Hisa was with them, seeing them off.
Tanjiro, undoubtedly the one with the best manners, bowed before Hisa.
"We're heading out now. Thank you for everything."
The old kind lady smiled and had a stone and a grinder in her hands.
Oh, how nice of her!
"Now then, for good luck.", Hisa said.
"Thank you so much!"
Yua, Tanjiro and Zenitsu turned their backs to Hisa, as she struck the stone against the grinder a couple of times, little sparks flying in the air.
And again, it shows that Inosuke really only ever lived on a mountain surrounded by animals since he freaks out seeing that.
Only Yua's fast reflexes stop the boar-headed boy from attacking the old lady.
She has him in a headlock, while he shouts: "What do you think you're doing, old hag?!"
"What are you, a moron?!", Zenitsu shouts back.
"Is that a rhetorical question, Agatsuma?", deadpans Yua, gripping Inosuke tighter. "Stop struggling so much, Hashibira!"
The blond-haired boy explains to Inosuke, "She's striking sparks for good luck! It's a purification ceremony! Because we're gonna go on a dangerous mission!"
"So stand down and accept it.", Yua adds.
Still confused, the boar-headed boy does as he was told, and Hisa could complete the ritual.
All besides the boerheaded boy bow in thankfulness.
"Always live your lives with great pride. I wish you luck in battle!" Hisa sends them off.
In the name of the group, Yua thanks her and with that, the Demon Slayers and one Demon Girl in a box set off.
It's exactly quiet for five minutes before the wild boy speaks up.
"Great pride"? "Luck in battle"? What does that mean?"
Zenitsu can't help himself and think what a moron Inosuke is, while Yua fights off the urge to facepalm.
Hard.
"Well, yeah, now that you mention it, it's kind of difficult to explain.", Tanjiro tries his luck. "With great pride"… I guess it means that you know your place and that you behave properly so that you're never ashamed of yourself."
"Huh?"
"And the old lady is also praying for our safety."
"So what is this 'place"? What do you mean, "never ashamed"?"
"Well, it's…"
"What exactly does it mean to 'behave properly"? Why in the hell would that old hag pray for our safety, anyway? She has nothing to do with us, so why?"
"Ahh…"
"She has no clue what her own place is, does she?"
Before someone gets an aneurysm, most likely poor, goodhearted Tanjiro, Yua step energetically forward and starts to sing.
"Tell everybody I'm on my way
New friends and new places to see
With blue skies ahead, yes
I'm on my way
And there's nowhere else
that I'd rather be!"
This earned her a confused "huh?" from Inosuke, while Zenitsu was fangirling and Tanjiro looked at her in surprise. Neither of them had ever heard a song like this before.
After six weeks, they had grown accustomed to the beautiful songs Yua sang, which were mostly from their folklore, except for one song she called "Gurenge," about which she hadn't revealed who had taught it to her.
"Tell everybody I'm on my way
And I'm loving every step I take
With the sun beating down, yes
I'm on my way
And I can't keep this smile off my face!"
Also, she only sang in the morning while she combed Nezuko's hair.
Suddenly starting to sing was new, but not unwelcome.
'Cause there's nothing like seeing
each other again
No matter what the distance between
And the stories that we tell
will make you smile
Oh, it really lifts my heart!"
They all loved Yua's beautiful, melodious singing voice.
"So tell 'em all I'm on my way
New friends and new places to see
And to sleep under the stars
Who could ask for more
With the moon keeping watch over me!"
As Yua finished singing, the group looked at her in awed confusion. She shrugged and said, "It's a good song to listen to while walking. Your squabbling didn't really help us."
"Well, that was useless," Inosuke snorted. "We still don't know what that old hag meant."
The midnight blue-haired girl rolled her eyes. She had hoped that singing her Wandering Song would stop the pointless discussion. Inosuke was stubborn as ever.
"Look, Hashibira," she explained, "It means we should be proud of who we are and what we do. We should behave properly and not bring shame to ourselves or our comrades. And Hisa prayed for us because she cares about us and wants us to come back safely."
Zenitsu nodded in agreement. "Exactly! We should appreciate her kindness and good wishes."
Inosuke grumbled but seemed to understand a little better now. Or maybe they all hoped he did.
Tanjiro smiled at his friends and said, "Let's go then! Mt. Natagumo is waiting for us!"
(*)
In the evening, the group finally arrived at the base of Mt. Natagumo. The aura-sensing girl hissed as she sensed the atmosphere of the place.
Yes, there are demons, alright.
And they are pretty strong ones too!
"Hold up! Would you mind waiting a second?", Zenitsu screeched from the back of the group.
"Zenitsu? What's wrong?" Tanjiro asked worriedly.
"I'm scared, all right?! Now that we're nearing our destination, I'm so scared!"
"Here we go again...", Yua mumbled.
This was the Demon Mansion all over again.
"Why the hell is he sitting?" Inosuke pointed at Zenitsu. "How creepy is that?"
"Who are you to talk, Pig Face?!" Zenitsu hissend back. "Don't tell me you're not getting any vibes from that mountain!"
Okay, this was unexpected.
"You feel it also, Agatsuma? The Aura of this place is full of malice, and I bet we will find some strong Demons there.", Yua shared.
Tanjiro and Inosuke turned to the mountain, but it's clear that they sense nothing.
"Still, what good will it do to just sit there?" Tanjiro wondered.
"That place may be full of a malicious aura, but I'm not afraid like Agatsuma. We should get going, guys." Yua finds.
"I told you, he's creepy.", Inosuke declares.
"I am not in any way creepy! I'm normal! I'm the normal one! You guys are abnormal! Erm...I mean Yua-Senpai is special, not creepy at all, she is just erm..."
"Agatsuma, nothing you ever will say will get you into my pants.", Yua deadpans with her hands on her hips.
Suddenly, Tanjiro tenses up and turns toward the mountain, causing his companions to look at him in confusion. Zenitsu asks him what's wrong, and Tanjiro replies that he has detected a smell.
Yua, aware of Tanjiro's exceptional sense of smell and Zenitsu's keen hearing from their six weeks together, decides to reach out with her aura-sensing ability. She realises that if Tanjiro has picked up on something, it must hold significance.
Her intuition proves correct as she senses an aura filled with pain crashing against her awareness.
It's human!
"Follow me, boys!" she commands and runs towards the direction of the painful aura.
Tanjiro and Inosuke are right behind her, and after a few seconds, Zenitsu joins them.
When they get closer to the mountain, they see a wounded Demon Slayer.
"Ngh… Ugh…Ah… H-Help me.", the wounded boy cries.
"He's got our uniform on. He's a Demon Slayer!", shouts Tanjiro. "Something must've happened!"
"Really? What tipped you off that he is a bloody mess?" Yua sasses.
Nonetheless, Yua, Tanjiro and Inosuke run up to their Demon Slayer comrade, while Zenitsu begs them to wait for him.
Tanjiro is the first by the boy and asks him if he is okay.
Again, Yua wants to point out what a stupid question this is, when suddenly the wounded Demon Slayer rises in the air by fine strings. He shouts for help, but sadly, he gets pulled back into the direction of the dense forest of the mountain.
The Hinoto gets a determined look on her face.
"Guys, let's go!", Yua commands.
"Of course, Yua-Senpai.", Tanjiro agrees.
"I'll go on ahead. You can follow me, shivering.", Inosuke says. "This is making me hungry."
Yua snorts. "Strange time to get hungry, but let's get moving, guys. You listen to my word, since I'm the highest rank here, alright."
Both boys agree, even if Inosuke grumbles.
The three run into the forest, leaving a scared and crying Zenitsu behind.
They run up a trail when Inosuke stops abruptly.
"Huh? What the hell is this?" Inosuke wonders.
Tanjiro and Yua stop to see what is with Inosuke.
"A spider web?" Tanjiro points out.
"Jeez, this place is full of spiderwebs!" Inosuke grumbles, "What a pain!"
Now spiderwebs in a forest are natureally, however something feels odd about it. They are way to big and to many in one place to be normal.
So Yua sweeps with her ability the clearing, while Tanjiro thanks both her and Inosuke for being here with him, since alone he would be afraid.
The girl waves it just away as she points at two auras before them.
Two familiar auras.
One is a welcome sight, the other not.
"Murata-San, Katsumi," she greets the two scared comrades. "What is the situation?"
Murata, the black-haired male, seemed happy to see her, while Katsumi Tomita, the brown-haired one, looked like someone had killed his cat.
"Yua-Senpai! I'm so glad to see you. At least a Hinoto! Tell me, do you have a Hashira with you?!", Murata babbled, crying.
She couldn't even answer before Katsumi hissed: "You want to lay your hope on the Moonlight Beauty, Murata? She and her whole family are cursed! We are totally fucked!"
Lovely, still the nicknaming asshole Yua had the displeasure of ever meeting. She could have gone her whole life without seeing the brown-haired young man ever again.
She grounded her teeth together and tried to talk herself out of it to just kick Katsumi's ass.
"You know Yua-Senpai?" Tanjiro asked to join them with Inosuke.
"I have met and killed with Murata-San a few Demons.", Yua revealed. "Katsumi and I just know each other from one occasion."
Katsumi scoffed.
"That one occasion was enough. You, Mochizukis, only bring bad luck and death with you!"
The midnight blue-haired girl takes a deep breath and tries to remain calm despite Katsumi's insults. She knows that getting angry won't solve anything, and they need to focus on the situation at hand.
"Murata, tell us what happened," she says, turning her attention to the tearful Demon Slayer.
Murata sniffles and wipes his eyes before speaking. "Th-The crows gave us the order! And ten of us Demon Slayers came here. Not long after we entered the mountain, the Slayers…the Slayers started killing each other! Tomita-San and I barely escaped with our lives."
Yua nods, understanding the gravity of the situation. Behind the killing under the Demon Slayers was surely a Blood Demon Art responsible. What kind of Demon could take over nearly a full group of Slayers was the question?
They needed to go on with caution.
"Who is with you, Moonlight Beauty?" Katsumi spat while eyeing Tanjiro and Inosuke with distatste. "A boy barely weaned from his mother and a boy hiding behind a mask?"
Tanjiro and Inosuke both didn't like how this Katsumi called their Yua-Senpai by the nickname she hated so much. She seemed ready to murder the brown-haired man.
Normally, she was calm and collected.
There was history between them, so much was clear.
"I'm Kamada Tanjiro and he is Hashibira Inosuke, rank Mizunoto.", answered Tanjiro for them.
He didn't like this hostile attitude towards Yua-Senpai. He hoped he could turn the attention like this to them and away from Yua.
It worked half since Murata yelled: "Mizunoto… Mizunoto?! Why didn't they send a Hashira with Yua-Senpai?"
"I told you, Murata!" Katsumi groaned. "The Mochizuki bring only bad luck with them. It would have been too much for the Moonlight Beauty to have another Hinoto with her or even a higher rank."
"No matter how many Mizunotos they send, it won't help! Even with a Hinoto now. It's pointless!"
"It was pointless from the start with the Moonlight Beauty!"
Suddenly, Inosuke let out a loud yell and punched Murata and Katsumi in the face.
Yua felt a sick satisfaction seeing Katsumi getting punched; she was only sorry for Murata.
"Inosuke!!", Tanjiro scolded.
Violence against their brother-in-arms was surely not it, even if a tiny part of him thought Katsumi deserved a punch in the face for being so rude to Yua.
"Shut up!", Inosuke hollerd. "As far as pointless goes, your existence itself has no point at all!"
"Who the hell is this guy?! Did you forget that Tomita-San and I have seniority?!"
"Of course, the Moonlight Beauty would travel with freaks?!"
"What is your problem with Yua-Senpai!", Tanjiro now yelling. "You keep calling her by the nickname she hates, and saying her whole family is cursed. Why?!"
"Kamado, it's fine. I don't give a shit what Katsumi thinks of me or my family.", Yua tries to calm him down.
Tanjiro's disbelieving look says it all. Of course, he must smell how she is ready to commit murder.
A little evil chuckle leaves Katsumi's lips.
"So you don't know that Mochizuki learned the Moon Breathing from a Demon? And not any Demon either. Michikatsu Tsugikuni was a Demon Slayer once and betrayed the whole corps. The first and only one who did this!"
Yua bit her lips and looked down at the ground. Sadly, it was true.
"You can't trust a family who won't stop using the Breathing Style of a Demon. Their loyalty lies surely with the Demon who taught them!"
The Hinoto takes a deep breath and looks up at Katsumi with a cold expression.
"My family's loyalty lies with the Demon Slayer Corps and protecting humanity from Demons," she says firmly. "We may have learned the Moon Breathing from someone who turned Demon, but we also learned how to kill them and protect innocent lives."
Tanjiro nods in agreement, understanding the weight of Yua's words. Inosuke just grunts, still angry at the insults towards his comrades.
"We need to focus on finding the Demon who uses the Blood Demon Art responsible for the killings," Yua continues, trying to steer the conversation back to the mission at hand. "We can't afford to let our personal feelings get in the way."
Murata wipes his tears and nods, grateful for Yua's leadership. Katsumi just rolls his eyes, not convinced by her words.
But he knows deep down that they need to work together if they want to survive this mission.
Out of nowhere, they hear a strange sound. Murata tells the newcomers that it had also sounded before the other Demon Slayers started to kill each other.
Immediately, Yua sweeps with her aura-sensing the clearing they are in.
"They are coming!" she tells the four boys, reading her Katana. The white blade seems to shimmer under the moonlight. "Get ready!"
A group of Demon Slayers hobbles toward them, ready to attack.
Murata and Katsumi dodged the attacks. The Demon Slayers attack Inosuke and Tanjirou, but they also dodge.
"Haha! These guys are all morons!", Inosuke laughs. "They don't know that it's taboo for us, Demon Slayers, to fight each other!"
Swift and with grace, Yua counters the sword strikes of the two Demon Slayers before her, upper-handing them, taking their Katana's from them and throwing them far away into the forest.
"They don't do it of their free will, Hashibara.", Yua corrects, locked in a sword fight with a new Demon Slayer. "They are like marionettes, someone forces them to fight!"
"Yua-Senpai is right. Something controls them!" Tanjiro agrees.
This only makes Inosuke take out his katanas, ready to slice up the other Demon Slayers, only Tanjiro and Yua yelling at him that they can't hurt their follow comareds since some of them are still alive, stop him.
"Do it like me. Upperhand them and throw the Katana far away!", the midnight blue-haired beauty advised before she fully concentrates on the opponent before her.
Tanjiro slices through the air above a Demon Slayer's back, severing spider strings. The Demon Slayer falls to the ground motionless.
"Good eye, Kamado!" Yua praises and cuts the strings on the Demon Slayer before her.
"They're threads! They're being manipulated by threads! Slash the threads!", Tanjiro spells out for the rest of the group.
They continue to fight, cutting threads, till Yua's aura-sensing tickles her.
She looks down at her arm to find two small spiders crawling over it.
"Spiders?", she mumbles and then has enlightenment. "They are controlled by these spiders!"
As to prove her point, her arms lift themselves from alone, thankful she can cut the threads again.
"Guys, we need to find the demon fast. The spiders are so tiny and just put the threads we cut back on!"
"So, all we gotta do is kill those damn spiders, huh?", Inosuke says.
It's Tanjiro who answers him: "That would be impossible! Those spiders are tiny, and I'm sure there are tons of them! We gotta find the demon who's controlling them!"
"My aura-sensing is at its limit I can't find the Aura of the Demon.", Yua admins frustrated.
She really needs to train it more! When they get out of here alive, she will do so.
"Inosuke, if you have some kind of power that can pinpoint the demon's location, then help me out!" Tanjiro turns to him. "This weird smell has been flowing in, and my nose isn't working great! Ngh… And also, um…"
"It's Murata!"
"I'm Tomita!"
"Murata! Tomita! Yua-Senpai. We will find a way to deal with the people being controlled! Inosuke, you…"
Exactly at the same moment, Yua feels a terrible Aura. Shivering, she looks up.
There on fine spider treads stands a demon in the form of a young boy with white hair, red markings on his face and a simple white kimono.
"Don't disturb my family's peaceful life.", the demon boy says in an eerie voice. "Mother will kill you all right away."
Inosuke doesn't seem to care and tries to reach him, which fails spectacularly.
"Damn you!", the masked boy curse landing hard on his back. "Where the hell do you think you're going?! Fight me! Fight…!"
The Demon boy just walks away.
"Inosuke!"
"Hashibira!"
"Why did he show up, anyway?" Inosuke asked Tanjiro and Yua.
"That kid probably isn't the demon pulling the puppet strings!" Tanjiro guesses.
"But we should be careful of the kid, it's Aura is sick!" Yua warns.
Tanjiro nods.
"Right, so first, let's…"
"Okay, okay, okay! I hear you, all right?!", Inosuke shouts. "You want me to find where that demon is, right? Shut up already, Forehead!"
Hard Inosuke sticks his swords into the ground, kneeling down and putting his arms up and sideways. Yua and Tanjiro protected him from the incoming Demon Slayer puppets.
"Ngh… Beast Breathing, Seventh Form, Special Awareness! Grrr…"
He takes a deep breath, feeling his way through the forest, finding the location of the Spider Demon Mother.
"Found it. There you are!"
(*)
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