Until We Meet Again (Tanjiro x Kanao)

Strength

Tanjiro gripped the base of his sword hesitantly, a thick black color over coming the once gray blade. Tanjiro smiled before quickly sighing and setting his sword to the side.

"What do you think? Haganezuka asked, tilting his head to the side a little.

"It could be better," Tanjiro smiled nervously.

"Right." The man in the pink mask said, digging in the bag before handing a box to Zenitsu.

Zenitsu grabbed the sword with no hesitation, causing a wave of bright yellow to overcome his sword. Zenitsu smiled from ear to ear, holding his sword in the air.

Haganezuka grabbed the last box in the bag, handing it to Inosuke.

Inosuke quickly flipped open the box, grabbing the two swords that sat next to each other. They both turned an indigo/gray color.

Tanjiro stared in awe at the two boys swords. He was only slightly upset that he didn't get as cool of a color as them, but he ended up convincing himself that it wouldn't effect his fighting style anyways.

Tanjiro's crow flew into the window. "MISSION! MISSION! TANJIRO! INOSUKE! ZENITSU!" The crow yelled, leading them out the door.

The three trudged through the forest, somewhere along the way Tanjiro's crow had flew away.

"Hey, Zenitsu, do you think-" Tanjiro was interrupted by the loud squawking of his crow. "TANJIRO KAMADO!"

"Yes?" Tanjiro said, sticking out his arm for his crow to land on. "OYAKATA-SAMA WISHES TO SPEAK WITH YOU!" It yelled once more.

"Oy-Oyakata-sama?" Tanjiro said, stopping in his tracks.

"YES!"

"Oh- ok.. then tell him I'm on my way!" Tanjiro said, pointing his arm into the air for his crow to fly off of. "Inosuke, Zenitsu, I'm sorry I can't attend this mission with you, I'll talk to you guys later!" Tanjiro yelled, running out of the forest.

That was the last thing he remembered.

Tanjiro opened his eyes, his whole body aching like crazy. His vision took a while to adjust, but once it did he was greeted with nine people standing in front of him.

He tried to raise one of his hands, but that's when he noticed that both of his hands were handcuffed against his back. This caused him to lift up his head desperately, despite the throbbing neck pain.

"ZE-ZENITSU!" He shouted. "INOSUKE! NEZUKO!"

He turned back to the nine people before recognizing two of them. Giyuu Tomioka, and Uzui Tengen. These were the hashira. This realization caused him to lay his head back on the ground, silencing himself.

The only one who knew that he was traveling with a demon was Tomioka, while Uzui thought that Nezuko was just a normal human. So much for hashira senses.

"Tell me, Tanjiro Kamado, why have you been traveling with a demon?"A girl with black hair said, Tanjiro also noticed the purple tips she had, and the butterfly clip of the back of her head. The butterfly clip made him come to an agonizing realization. This was Shinobu Kocho, the same one that trains Kanao!

"She's my- she's my si-" Tanjiro began to speak before his lungs completely gave out on him, causing him to cough repeatedly. This caused the girl who he now knows as Shinobu to walk over to him.

She tipped his head back before opening a small bottle that she held in her hand. "I added some anesthetics to help with the pain," She stated softly.

Once Tanjiro finished the water, Shinobu backed away. "Go on now," she smiled.

"She's my sister!" Tanjiro panted.

"Blah blah, if she's family then there's no wonder that he's protecting her," A man with black hair and bandages stated, jumping down from a tree branch.

Tanjiro took in his features. Out of all of the hashira, he was definitely the one to stand out the most. He had two different colored eyes, bandages around his mouth, and a snake around his shoulder. Not to mention he was extremely short standing next to the stone hashira, Gyomei.

"Nezuko has never devoured anyone!" Tanjiro screamed, his voice breaking.

"I can't trust a single word he's spouting," The man with the snake said.

"I say we just kill them both," Uzui said stepping towards him. "I'll show you the most flamboyant spray of blood," He laughed, pointing his sword towards Tanjiro.

Uzui stepped forward once more, grabbing Tanjiro's hair and lifting his head up.

Tears poured from Tanjiro's eyes. "But.. sir, when we stayed at your house you saw Nezuko! You saw how she didn't hurt anyone, not even you." He cried.

"Because you were around," Uzui stated, raising his sword.

He kept his arm in the air for a moment before gritting his teeth. "Tanjiro.. I hate to do this to you. You seemed like a good kid," he sighed, before bringing his sword back down towards Tanjiro's chest.

Tanjiro squeezed his eyes shut and prepared for the worst. He knew his life would be cut short, but he never would have imagined his death being by another human.

He never got to say a real goodbye to Kanao, the one girl who he truly felt real comfort in. Tanjiro loved his friends and trusted them, but they were complete polar opposites from him. Tanjiro's way of showing affection is sweet words, hair ruffles, pats on the back.. the other two, they don't do those things. But Kanao.. she does everything that Tanjiro finds comfort in. She even does things that Tanjiro recalls his mother used to do.

After a couple seconds of the sword not plunging straight through Tanjiro's chest, he reluctantly opened one of his eyes to see Uzui's sword just inches away from his chest.

The only thing stopping it was a hand.

Tanjiro trailed his eyes from the hand, to the arm.. then to the face.

"Kanao..."