Heart Of Fire; Veins Of Ice | Kimetsu No Yaiba Fanfic (Kyojurou's POV)

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Hiromi pulled on the collar of the demon slayer as she pulled him up onto her horse, watching the others do the same as well with their own set of horses. One of the demon slayers, the last one to leave the temple's halls, was gazing around warily, her hand on her hilt as she sat on the back of her horse right behind Nagi, and the horse pawed its hooves against the snow.

Something was coming.

The snow fell down on them heavily, as all of them managed to regroup. Nagi and her sister had been busy, with half of her arrows all used up whilst Naki cleaned the bloodstained edges of her two hatchets as the horses began to move down and around the temple.

"What about Kyojuro-kun?" Naki asked, an unusual question coming from her as compared to her treatment of him, while Yousuke looked towards the demon slayer with the butterfly pin.

"He said he will take care of it. He wanted us to get out first," She responded, voice calm and filled with faith in her fellow comrade. Yousuke tightened his grip on the reins of his horse, as the demon slayer behind him turned back and gazed at the temple.

"That...that was the Flame Hashira? I thought he was-"

"Quiet." Yousuke's voice was like a wave parting the land. The demon slayer looked at him, unsure of what to say but he remained quiet in response.

"He's a hashira. He can take care of himself," Kaori muttered under her breath, despite the fact that Hiromi knew she only had an extremely basic understanding of the inner workings of the Demon Slaying Corps only purely from the rumours. But she had done her homework about them, perhaps to use against Kyojuro and one point in time. The horses neighed, as Naki caught sight of the red eyes horse which she knew the crimson haired demon slayer had ridden to the top of the mountain.

It trotted over to them briskly, as it pawed at the ground softly and turned to stare at the temple.

"What's the status of the situation inside the temple, demon slayer with the butterfly hairpin?" Kaori asked Kanao, without knowing what her name was, Kanao glanced around them, a sense of unease settling amongst the trees and its shadows.

"The demon's blood demon art is to either manipulate metal, or to control objects remotely. It managed to draw our swords and overpower us despite it being our own weapon," Kanao gave a succinct summary of the abilities of the demon as she placed a hand on her hilt.

"Then it's better to evacuate the civilians and the archer for now, isn't it? Her arrows are made of metal, and a possible object to be used against us," The leader of the demon slayers commented, stating his point confidently in front of them. Nagi looked at him, and nodded.

"I can bring her down," She spoke, as the woman seated her muttered something under her breath.

"Then we should go up and help to fight-"

"No." Kanao politely refused one of her teammates, who looked at her, shocked.

"All of us do not stand a chance against it. But Rengoku-san knows something about it, and it was unwilling to kill him at that current stage of time. If there's anyone who can kill him, it's the Flame Hashira," Kanao added on, as her eyes darted around, and she drew her sword.

Everyone else took that as a cue to draw their weapons, as the horses became nervous, pawing at the ground as some of the four armed, six eyed demons emerged from the blankets of snow, crawling up from hibernation, or in this case, lunging for an ambush.

Nagi whistled, a low sound as her horse sprinted into a gallop, creating distance between her and the demons as she began to head down the mountain, coiling the reins around her left wrist as she brought up her crossbow and aimed it at one of the demons who chased at her.