Dispassionate

33

33) Sunrise

To say Akaza was confused was an understatement. How could someone have no fighting spirit? He looked into the cloudy eyes that were inches away from him.

Tanjiro had repeatedly cut through his arms, preventing him from attacking. If he had no will to fight, where was this energy and strength coming from.

Akaza looked to Rengoku, who was taking deep breaths further away from them. To Akaza, Tanjiro had appeared to be a lot stronger than Rengoku. The red head and striped demon had been fighting for, what, a half hour? Tanjiro had only gotten hit once or twice. Maybe three times if you could Akaza tearing his uniform with a miscalculated punch.

"Damn, you're fast!" He exclaimed as he ducked under the katana aimed for his neck. "This was worth the run here!" He yelled out, trying to make more of a conversation, somewhat like he had with Rengoku.

"Huh, I don't even get a name? Someone's quiet!" He smirked as he tried to punch the boys chest cavity through. Tanjiro bumped his wrist to where his upper arm would be in worse shape.

It was fine though. As long as he was able to fight and take down upper three.

His sword clashed with his knuckles as sparks flew. Akaza bared his teeth in a playful manner. While he may not have been tired, Tanjiro was almost at his limit. And Akaza could tell.

From the way his chest heaved at every movement to the way his legs shook. This sounds so inappropriate omg—

Yet he was so close to what all the slayers were waiting for. A last resort, we could call it. Akaza had gotten his legs cut off as Tanjiro stood on his torso. It was taking him so long to regenerate from the burning pain this time. A question had rang in his head, did he suddenly switch breathing styles?

Tanjiro had used water breathing for the majority of their fight, so he had to use sun breathing at one point. One of his only advantages.

Akaza squirmed as his legs slowly started regenerating and he regained feeling it them. "So eager to get up? Why? Don't you want to watch the sunrise with me?" Tanjiro whispered, only catching Akaza's ear.

The demon frantically turned his head to look at the sky. He could see the difference from only a few hours ago. Akaza had tried to fling Tanjiro off of him, but the boy stabbed his chest to keep himself and Akaza in place.

Akaza had to escape, now. He wouldn't risk staying a second longer to kill this demon slayer. He had grabbed Tanjiro's leg and squeezed as hard as he could. Tanjiro struggled to get him off of his leg, but it didn't take long before Akaza heard the familiar sound of a bone snapping.

The took the chance he had to run while Tanjiro's sword was still in his chest. Tanjiro had fallen to the ground as Akaza fled into the safety of the trees and shade.

He tried to get up but the pain from his leg flared as he fell to his knees. He stared at the area where Akaza ran into the forest.

Was now a good time for Tanjiro to ominously pass out and not wake up for a few days? You're not gonna believe what happens next.

Seiko sprinted over, followed by the boar, who was yelling at the forest. Zenitsu pulled Inosuke away from the tree line. "The demon got away, just be thankful they're both alive!" Inosuke tried to escape the iron grip he had on him, to no avail.

Seiko had grabbed Tanjiro and placed him on his back. "Mr. Rengoku!" The boy had run over to him with Tanjiro placed his back Urokodaki style.

"Ah! Hello young man!" He coughed. "Are you okay?"

"I'm perfectly fine! This is nothing I can't handle!" He stood and put his hands on his hips. "How are you boys fairing?" He asked, taking notice Tanjiro. He looked at him for a good ten seconds, trust me chat.

"Um— Inosuke is a little beaten up but mostly fine. Tanjiro is bleeding out though, but me and Zenitsu are fine, I think." He answered, watching the man's chest heave. "I'm glad most of you are fine." He smiled.

☆彡

Honestly, the more I think about it, one wrong movement, one wrong footstep, Tanjiro or Rengoku could have lost their lives.

Rengoku got his eye crushed, and Tanjiro broke his leg and arm. They're both bleeding out right now as well. According to Zenitsu, Tanjiro got stabbed by the conductor.

He looked so tired when that Kakushi grabbed him. Even now he looks exhausted, and we only just got to the butterfly mansion. "Oh my! Rengoku, what have you gotten yourself into this time?" Shinobu asked, smiling.

Rengoku laughed. "A very tough battle! But we prevailed, however the demon got away last minute!"

"Well, at least you're mostly okay." Rengoku nodded. Shinobu turned to look at us, finally acknowledging our existence. "You boys look quite beat up!" She clasped her hands together as she looked at us.

She noticed Tanjiro, who was still fucking asleep, and Zenitsu who was on the verge of tears. I would be to if I was him, considering he wouldn't shut up on the way here. He was scared and tired, and kept telling me about the girl from him dream.

I was fighting off the urge of telling him I didn't care how pretty some imaginary girl was. He can go jack himself off on his own time.

☆彡

As you can imagine, the five demon slayers are exhausted, which doesn't help Seiko's sour mood. Same with Inosuke, well, sort of. Inosuke was only really mad because he didn't get to fight Akaza, he didn't really take note of how injured the two were.

He saw Akaza running into the forest, and wanted to chase after him. It wasn't really the wrong thing to do, but he most likely would have gotten himself killed. Seiko was mad because he couldn't help the two out.

Major difference. Rengoku is bleeding heavily, internally and externally, and he had his eye crushed. Tanjiro has a broken arm and leg, and that stab wound. And where was he? He was helping people get out and making Inosuke behave for once.