help (Tankana)

part 4

(Third pov)

Kanao's crow, Isuzu, flew as fast as she could to report the horrific event that occurred. She reached the master's estate in tears, interrupting him, assigning missions to Tengen, Shinobu, Rengoku, and Obanai. She flew to the master's lap in a panic. The hashiras took notice of this and were wondering what happened, especially Shinobu, who had noticed that it was Kanao's crow.

Shinobu "Isuzu, what happened? Why are you crying?"

Obanai "You're acting as if you just had an encounter with an uppermoon."

Isuzu "I'm so sorry, Shinobu."

Shinobu "Why are you apologizing to me?"

Isuzu "K-Kanao, sh-she

Uzui "Well, what happened to her?"

Isuzu "Sh-she got raped by a demon!"

The room fell silent. It was definitely something that they wanted to hear, especially Shinobu.

Isuzu "I'm so sorry, I couldn't do anything."

Shinobu "I know there was nothing you could do. Is Kanao still alive?"

Isuzu "I-I don't kn-know. The demon that raped her left her alive, but then uppermoon 3 appeared and took her away."

Kyojuro "Then the chances of her being alive are low."

Isuzu "The only thing I could hear him say was that she's safe now."

Kagaya "If Kanao is alive, we'll get her back. Shinobu, you don't have to go on your mission if you don't feel like it. I'd appreciate it if you would rest after hearing this news and tell it to your sisters and Tanjiro and his friends."

Shinobu "I will master."

Shinobu got up and left to go back to her estate.

Kyojuro's "I feel so sorry for Kocho. I can't imagine what it's like losing your younger sibling."

Uzui, "Especially after her older sister died."

Kagaya "If I'm going to be honest with you, my children, I don't think Kanao is dead."

Obanai "Why do you say that, master?"

Kagaya "It's about what uppermoon three said. He said that she was safe now. I think that he said that as a way of saying that he was going to keep her safe from harm, not kill her."

Kyojuro "If that's true, then upper 3 sounds like a good guy."

Tengen "If you thought about that before, why didn't you say that to Kocho?"

Kagaya "I don't want to get her hopes up in case Kanao is dead. And I don't want her going after uppermoon 3. I want you three to keep what I said a secret."

Obanai, Uzui, & Kyojuro "Yes, master!"

(At Shinobu's estate)

Shinobu walked into her estate where Tanjiro and them were training on their total concentration breathing with her younger sisters. She didn't have her normal happy attitude, which Tanjiro picked up on right away.

Tanjiro "Ms. Shinobu, what's the matter? And where's Kanao at? I heard that she went on a mission the other day. Is she injured?"

Shinobu "I hate to tell all of you this, but Kanao might be dead."

Naho, Kiyo, & Sumi "Huh!"

Zenitsu "But she's so strong! How could she be dead!"

Inosuke "She's a liar! Right, Gampachiro!"

Tanjiro "She's not lying...."

Aoi "What happened to her?"

Shinobu "Her crow, Isuzu, said at first she was raped by a demon that she was assigned to kill. The demon left her alive, b-

Tanjiro "I'm so sorry that happened to her."

Inosuke "What's rape?"

Zenitsu "It's a form of sexual assult when you force someone to have sexual activities with you."

Aoi "Finish what you were saying."

Shinobu "But Upper Moon three took her before she could come back."

Butterfly triplets, "No, she can't be dead."

Shinobu "I'm sorry, but an encounter with an uppermoon means you have a low chance of survival. Everyone, take a break from the rehabilitation training."

Tanjiro "Yes, Ms. Shinobu."

They all left, Inosuke didn't try to protest against it. He could tell Shinobu was upset and didn't want to put her under more stress than she'd already had. Tanjiro went back to his room, where Nezuko was waiting.

Tanjiro "Nezuko, I have really bad news."

Nezuko looked at him with sad eyes.

Tanjiro "It's Kanao, she's not coming back."

Nezuko hugged her brother. They were both crying now. Nezuko knew about his crush on Kanao's and wanted to comfort him.

Tanjiro "Uppermoon three took her and probably killed her."

Nezuko patted the bed, indicating for him to lay down. They laid down next to each other to help cope with Kanao going missing. They fell asleep together, tears rolling down Tanjiro's face.