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That answer proved to be the last bit of conversation that either slayer had the energy to sustain on the trek to Master Urokodaki's house

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That answer proved to be the last bit of conversation that either slayer had the energy to sustain on the trek to Master Urokodaki's house.

At one point, they even chose to hold one another after Tanjiro nearly fell to the ground from exhaustion, both slayers breathing heavily by the time night fell with Naminé fighting back the heaviness of her eyelids as they persevered.

"Almost there," Tanjiro whispered, fueling Naminé enough to ease his weight further onto her shoulder, wishing to reunite him with his sister and master as soon as possible.

"Why is it that our uniforms feel as heavy as boulders?" she half-heartedly joked through the pain, pleased with herself when she earned a smile from him.

"I was just thinking the same thing."

It was then that they came upon a small home amid a forest, Tanjiro's eyes alight at the sight of it. "We made it, Nami--"

Both slayers jumped when the door to the house suddenly burst from its hinges, the wooden frame almost breaking from its impact against the sudden force. Unexpectantly, a young, beautiful girl seemed to be the one to kick it down, her flowing black hair with hints of orange at its tips not nearly as strange as the bamboo mouthpiece against her lips.

"Ah--" Tanjiro cried out breathlessly, his entire being suddenly fueled by the sight of the girl. "Nezuko! You . . You woke up!!"

This 'Nezuko's' ears perked up at the sound of Tanjiro's shouts, his arm leaving Naminé's shoulders as he stumbled forward to reach the girl, her movements too slow to catch him as he fell to his knees. "Nezuko!"

It gave Naminé pause when the girl finally reached Tanjiro, catching sight of her clawed hands stretching out to pull him into an embrace, tears welling up in his eyes as he cried into her kimono. But Tanjiro's words did not meet her ears as she realized just why the girl gave off a strange aura.

A demon. This girl was a demon.

Without much thought behind the movement, Naminé felt her fingers reach for the hilt of her nichirin sword, brows furrowed when the creature wasn't tearing those claws into her ally, only looking to hold onto Tanjiro tighter as he rejoiced in her company.

But why? How was it even possible that this demon wasn't ripping him apart as they speak? She needed to act fast. She needed to save Tanjiro--

"Don't you trust me?"

A flash of Tanjiro's respectable expression came over her vision as she remembered their conversation at the mountain path.

"Yes, I do. I trust you."

The shaking fingers on her blade fell to the wayside, instead, rising to hold onto her locket.

The heart that Tanjiro carried was one that, even in their short amount of time together, Naminé sensed how he overflowed with honesty and valor. Even the calloused skin of his hands was enough of an indicator to show how far his efforts would go to achieve his ends. In the short instances where he had conjured the energy to speak with her on the journey here, he spoke only of his younger sister, Nezuko. The love on his face was just as evident then as it was now. The same could be said for the demon holding him.

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