- Y/n Tsugikuni -

Chapter 1 - The Spark Between -

3rd Person Pov

Tanjiro's lungs were screaming. Every muscle in his body begged him to stop, but he didn't. The heat of Hinokami still flickered on his blade, but Rui's threads-unrelenting and sharp-moved like a storm closing in.

He pushed forward anyway.

"I see it...!" Tanjiro shouted, slashing at the final thread with all he had.

But he wasn't fast enough.

The threads were faster and closer.
Steel met flesh. The blade bit into Rui’s neck. Not clean.
It wasn't enough.

The sword stalled halfway through, lodged in bone and sinew. Rui’s eyes widened, his body jerking back as blood spilled hot and dark down his collar.

“What—?” Rui choked, his threads spasming wildly. “You—!”
Tanjiro’s arms gave out.
His knees hit the ground.

The threads lashed out in every direction, unstable, furious—
—and then the air split.

Flash of a movement. Heat, sharper than before.

A blade passed through the space Rui occupied like it had always been meant to.

A single, precise arc.

Rui’s head separated completely this time, tumbling into the dirt as the threads disintegrated midair, crumbling into ash before they could reach Tanjiro.

Tanjiro gasped, collapsing forward, hands trembling against the ground.
Footsteps approached.
He looked up through burning eyes and saw a figure standing where Rui had been—calm, steady, so fast Tanjiro couldn’t tell when the decision had been made.
Deep red haori.

His gaze flicked briefly to Rui’s fallen body… then to Tanjiro’s blade, still stained, still embedded with effort.
For just a moment, something unreadable crossed his face.
“Hey. You almost had him,” the person said quietly.

A small, crooked smile tugged at his face, like he wasn’t sure if now was the right time for it.

Tanjiro swallowed, chest heaving.
“…Almost.”

His savior turned his head toward the trees, alert even now. “That was enough. You did a good job.”
He sheathed his sword with a soft click as he walked up to the fallen boy.

"Your sister. He wanted her didn't he? That's- that's rough. And the beating you got-?"

Tanjiro sat on the ground there. Only able to nod occasionally.
The person smiles again, this time a bit less creepy

"Y/n," He introduces himself like he forgot to do so. Tanjiro reluctantly answers his hand.

"You've been flying under the radar. Until all of this. He pauses.

Y/n sits in front of him as tiny Nezuko jumps on top of his big brother. This part of the forest was clean. The aftermath of a fiery battle.

"I've heard all about you before. Tsuzumi Mansion." His eyes flickering over Tanjiro.
"That was you, wasn't it?" Y/n asks, Tanjiro was still recovering his breath, but Nezuko seems to nod for him.

"Mhm...!!"

Y/n grins. Looking at the little demon.
"This one... Isn't necessarily my business."

Tanjiro hesitated.
His chest still burned every time he breathed, but his eyes kept drifting back to Y/n’s sword—
the way it had moved.
The angle and how he actually felt the heat.

“…Earlier,” Tanjiro said quietly, almost like he was afraid of interrupting something.

“When you struck down the lower moon.”
Y/n glanced back, eyebrow lifting slightly. “Yeah?”