The Water Tsuguko

Chapter 11

It didn't take long for Takeo to catch up with the kakushi, as his stamina and endurance was trained to almost the maximum that his small body could endure. Tanjiro remained asleep for most of the journey, and Takeo just talked with the kakushi about random things that he had seen or heard during his missions.

He knew that carrying two teenagers- one of which was a demon- wasn't the most exciting job in the world, so he thought he could help out just a bit.

They were only about five miles from the Butterfly Mansion when Tanjiro finally woke up. He almost cried seeing his younger brother again, and the soft, sentimental words seemed to get on the kakushi's nerves.

Takeo's cheeks burned a bright red with embarrassment- he had a feeling that Tanjiro knew that he was embarrassing his little brother- but Tanjiro continued to talk with the boy about how much he had missed him.

Finally, they had arrived at the Butterfly Mansion, and the kakushi nervously walked around to the garden, waiting to see one of the girls that was in charge while Shinobu was away at the hashira meeting.

They finally spotted a girl with jet black hair looking at a butterfly that had made itself comfortable on her index finger.

Takeo almost found it laughable that the kakushi were so nervous around her- he would even go as far as to say they might have been intimidated by the quiet girl.

"Kanao," Takeo said with a smile, waving at his friend.

"Takeo," the girl said softly, bowing her head in greeting. She looked over at the kakushi, but decided on not saying anything, knowing that Aoi would have heard Takeo and come outside eventually.

"It's good to see that you are well," Kanao said, her smile never faltering. "And I apologize about what happened on our mission. I was merely following ordrs."

"Don't sweat it," Takeo brushed it off,the same smile on his face.

He could feel Tanjiro staring at him, and he realized that now might be a good time to introduce Kanao and his brother.

"Kanao, over there is my elder brother, Tanjiro," Takeo introduced, gesturing to where the kakushi held the Kamado siblings on their back. "And in the box is Nezuko- my elder sister."

"The demon girl," Kanao nodded. "I remember her."

"Yeah. The trial ended and it was proven that she wouldn't eat humans," Takeo explained, to which Kanao simply nodded in understanding.

"What is going on out here?"

Takeo turned and saw Aoi standing in the doorway, her arms crossed over her chest. He silently chuckled at the nervousness that was shown by the kakushi.

"We were told by Lady Kocho and Master Ubayashiki to bring the injured slayer and his little sister here to recover," said the one with the box on his back.

"Follow me, then," Aoi said. "We'll take them to the recovery wing."

Takeo turned back to Kanao. "I guess I should get going then," he smiled, giving her a quick hug before following the kakushi to the recovery wing.

As soon as Takeo entered the wing, the only thing he could hear was screaming.

"Tanjiroooo," yelled a squealing voice. "I almost diieedddd! And how dare you bring Nezuko-chan into that dangerous mountain!"

"I'm sorry Zenitsu," Tanjiro said, squinting his eyes. "I didn't think you were actually going to go into the mountain."

"Inosuke's worse," he whined. "He's sounded so depressed the entire time we were here!"