Dance of Time (Tanjiro x OC)

Chapter Nine

*Tsubaki's POV*

The boy in the boar head lunged at the demon only for it to hit it's drum, flipping the room once more causing me to lose my balance and fall. Tanjiro managed to catch me but not Teruko "Teruko, sweetheart, hold on to the furniture." I said and watched the new guy kick off of Tanjiro's arm. "That demon has special powers, you shouldn't be attacking so recklessly!" Tanjiro hollered but the boy only laughed. "How maddening...all these insects running amok in my house..." The demon grumbled and hit another drum, once again flipping the room. Teruko landed with a thud and I looked on in anger and disgust as the boy pinned her to the floor with his foot. "GET OFF OF HER!!" I shouted angrily and ran up trying to shove him away but he wouldn't budge. The boy payed me no heed and continued to laugh. "I can't believe the room spun around!" He said before Tanjiro grabbed him by the ankle and tossed him in the air. I took the opportunity to scoop Teruko up in my arms and held her close. "Who the hell are you, kid?" The boy asked. "What is wrong with you?! Stepping on a little kid like that!" Tanjiro chastised as I continued to comfort her. "You've got spunk...having a human send me flying, THAT'S A FIRST!!" The boy laughed and began swinging his blades at Tanjiro. The boy began going on about how his blades do a lot of damage and how he didn't care that a demon was there before once again charging at Tanjiro. "Measly insects...so irksome!" The demon said and hit a drum, causing large gashes to appear on the floor between Tanjiro and the boar boy. It attacked again before spinning the room a few times, thankfully separating us from the boar boy. We looked at the demon, watching as the room changed, despite the demon not hitting a drum.

I stood up and set the whimpering child down, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead before we walked up to the door. Tanjiro peeked into the hallway and tensed up, a sad expression on his face. "Is something the matter?" Teruko asked softly. "No sweetheart, everything's fine." I answered and led her into the hallway, using my body to shield her eyes from whatever was at the end of the hall as we walked. After a few minutes Tanjiro stopped us and motioned to Teruko to be quiet before flinging a door open. We peeked inside, seeing a young boy, in an orange colored kimono, with what appeared to be one of the demons drums. He was about to hit it but Teruko spoke up "Kiyoshi, we found you!" She said and ran into his arms. "Who are they?" Kiyoshi asked as we walked up "Tanjiro Kamado...and this is my friend Tsubaki. You two have hung in there really well, can you show me your wounds?" Tanjiro asked as he knelt down to the kids level before Kiyoshi suddenly burst into tears. Tanjiro reached into his sleeve and pulled out some ointment that Urokodaki gave him. Tanjiro put it on Kiyoshi's leg and bandaged him up before asking what happened. "A- uh...a monster dragged me away...and nearly ate me but more showed up and they started fighting to the death over who was going to get me. The monster with the drums growing out of it left one behind after being defeated by the others and when I hit it the room changed..." Kiyoshi explained. "A demon with drums growing out of it...that guy...he said something about Marechi..." Tanjiro said "Yeah that's right! He called me that although I don't know what it means." Kiyoshi added "He also called me, Marechi..." I told Tanjiro before his crow suddenly squawked, scaring the daylights out of us. "The term Marechi, refers to a person with a rare type of blood...!" It explained, scaring the children more than Tanjiro and I. "When you say rare blood...what do you mean?" Tanjiro asked and the bird began explaining. "The blood of all living species can be broken down into types. The more scarce or the more uncommon, I should say, the more desirable it is to demons, for you see in terms of nutritional value for demons, a human marechi is akin to eating a hundred normal humans. A marechi is like a bountiful feast for them...a delicacy for the ages." The bird finished "So between Kiyoshi and myself...that's the equivalent of two hundred humans..." I said softly. Tanjiro suddenly sniffed the air and the sound of heavy footsteps could be heard approaching us. "I'm gonna head out there. Keep calm, it will be alright." He said and turned to Teruko "Teruko, your brother is really worn out at the moment so take care of him. As soon as we leave this room I want you to strike the drum and change locations." Tanjiro and I turned and sprinted out the door. "Strike it!" Tanjiro yelled and they obeyed. "I'll be your back up." I told him as I drew my weapon. I had expected him to protest but he simply nodded.

The demon began hitting the drums and it didn't take us long to catch onto the patterns. Tanjiro went in for a hit but had to dodge an attack and I could tell he was in pain every time he moved. I began trying to formulate a plan to get behind the demon so I could hopefully land an attack and lop off it's head.

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Sorry if this chapter is not as long as the others. It's a bit rushed since I was working on it at almost 1 AM my time lol.

Also quick question: In this fanfic, do you guys want me to save the Hashira or Stay true to the story?