Characters react to: Demon Slayer Dawn of the Sun

Chapter 32: Uzui is worried. Extremely worried.

Before Hikaru could think of doing anything his arm was grabbed by Tanjiro who had a serious look on his face and he realized that there was no way that he was getting away from this talk so he simply sighed before following him. When they finally got away from the others Tanjiro instantly turned and hugged him close.

"Ah..... Not that I'm not happy with a hug but can I ask why you are hugging me?" Hikaru questioned as he hugged back.

"You are important," Tanjiro whispered and Hikaru only heard him because he was listening for anything he would say.

"Tanjiro I-" Hikaru started.

"You are important, just as important as everyone else that is here. In fact I'd even argue that you are more important than any of us," Tanjiro cut him off before he could continue. "I know that you probably won't listen to me, in fact I know that you won't but I have to at least try."

Hikaru winced a little. He could tell from Tanjiro's aura that he completely believed his words but Hikaru couldn't believe the words.

"Tanjiro, I know that you like to think that but we both know that it's not true," Hikaru sighed. That seemed to set Tanjiro off as he pulled back from the hug and glared up at him.

"No we don't both know that! That's only what you believe, not what I believe at all! I know for a fact that if it came down to it and we needed to choose between either myself or you, we should always choose you because of how talented you are. You're talented, strong and I know that if anyone is going to make the difference between defeating Kibutsuji and losing the battle against him, it's going to be you!" Tanjiro exclaimed and Hikaru shivered. He really wanted to reject what he was being told but Tanjiro wasn't letting up. "Even now, we're getting all this extra information and ability to save a lot of people, all because of you."

That last bit stopped Hikaru, he had thought that perhaps only himself and maybe Ubuyashiki and Himejima had noticed.

"It's your ancestor that brought us here, it's your inner world that we are in at the moment, it's you that is making it so that we can save people, it's you that is making it so that we can understand each other better because of being able to see auras, and it is you that has been getting hurt to save us and will continue to do so."

"Tanjiro, please just... Just stop," Hikaru pleaded. He really didn't want to keep fighting Tanjiro on this because they both believed their own points and they weren't going to back down.

"I won't stop, every time I see you doing something like throwing your own life away I'm going to remind you that you are important, that you shouldn't just give yourself up for those around you," Tanjiro huffed.

"What else am I meant to do?" Hikaru snapped, finally starting to get angry. He understood where Tanjiro was coming from but he really didn't want to keep having this conversation.

"Stop holding back!" Tanjiro yelled out and Hikaru flinched a little. "Stop holding your strength back and being on the defensive. Instead of focusing on protecting those around you, fight without worrying about that. We are strong enough to protect ourselves so believe in us to do that!"

"I know that you can protect yourselves," Hikaru weakly protested and Tanjiro just sighed.

"This is going to sound mean and cruel but Hikaru, we aren't your Okaa-san or your Otou-san. We aren't going to die like that so you don't have to try and protect us," Tanjiro said. Hikaru simply looked at his feet, his hands clenched. He knew what Tanjiro was pointing out but he didn't want to hear it right. Hikaru turned and left, away from Tanjiro and away from the others.

-

"W-W-Was that a g-good idea?" Zenitsu whimpered as he and Inosuke walked to Tanjiro. It seemed that everyone was glancing towards him. They hadn't heard what was being spoken about but they had seen Hikaru leaving like he did.