The son of the demon king

Losing faith

Tanjiro was standing in front of a grave looking sadly at the grave, he held a umbrella over him and Shinobu who also looked sadly at the grave. The hashira and ubayashiki stared sadly at grave stone seeing the name 'sanemi shinazugawa' written on

Everyone did their preys before leaving the grave yard to their respective estates, tanjiro was bringing Shinobu to his estate and rubbing her back in a comforting manner, he could smell her sadness but she had a sad frown trying to hide her emotion

Tanjiro opened his door and let shinobu into his home and leading her to his living room, they sat down thinking about the surprised death of sanemi

"I can't believe this.........."
"Sanemi is gone..........."

Then Shinobu let one tear go down her face while holding on to the flood of tears she was feeling, tanjiro reacted quickly and brought out his handkerchief and wiped her tear

"Thank you......tanjiro"
"You're welcome"
"First it was uzui then its sanemi........to top that off his brother had gone missing......"
"I pray for sanemi's external joy in the afterlife and hope to find his younger brother....."
"Tanjiro?"
"Yes, Shinobu?"
"You'll stay safe, won't you?"
"I will, I have my family and someone I hold dear to me"

Shinobu hum in response as tanjiro holds Shinobu's hand catching her off guard

"I will avenge sanemi's death and find his brother, mark my word!"

Shinobu softly smiled seeing tanjiro's determination, she honestly loved him but didn't had to strength to confess and afraid of losing him just like she lost her precious sister so she didn't want to experience a broken heart again

"Well thank you for inviting me to your home, tanjiro but I have to leave"
"I understand, please be safe while you go out on missions"
"Don't worry, am not planning on dieing any time sooner"

Tanjiro then told Shinobu goodbye before she left his estate, Shinobu walked back to estate feeling a bit sad though tanjiro comforted her cheering her up. Unknown to anybody she had been training her body to get stronger for her sakes and to protect everyone

She had been mostly trained on her strength and been doing everything to get her strength up, Shinobu was now able to decapitate demons and had a smaller nichirin sword hidden behind her back which was covered by her haori

Shinobu was already one of the fastest pillars so she didn't needed to train her speed, since she trained Shinobu become a stronger pillar which was a shock for many due to her being the weakest pillar

With tanjiro

Tanjiro sniffed the air making sure Shinobu was truly gone, he confirmed she was gone and went out to his backyard and jumped over the wall, he went deep into the woods and sniffed the air smelling a familiar scent

He looked up a tree to see one of Nakime's eyes hidden in the tree watching him and he smiled towards the eye

"Nakime"

Then he was now standing on the main platform in the infinity fortress, tanjiro smiled already sensing his father before turning around to see his father

"Father"
"You done good tanjiro, killing two of the pillars and getting us a new asset, come here please"

Tanjiro smiled as he jumped up onto the platform muzan was on, the two then hugged each other as muzan rubbed his sons back

"Am so proud of you, it felt like you were just a baby yesterday"
"I know, now am helping my family out"
"Hmm....."

The two hugged each but tanjiro let go before spotting Nakime sitting in her usual spot