Another

Chapter Three: Returning Home

The slayer's eyes widened. They paled at the realization that the two Kamado's were now demons. "No! Sto-"

Their words died on their lips. The scene in front of them was nothing short of astonishing.

Rokuta laid cradled against the chest of the girl. She was leaned against the older boy, who clutched them both tightly. Tears ran down their faces, mixing with the still fresh blood of Muzan at the bottom of their faces. They were muttering apologies to the human child, who was bleeding out in their arms. The small boy was gripping their blood-splattered haoris tightly in his good hand. The other hand hung limply off the side of his small body. He was smiling up at them, blood blooming in the white frost below.

After a little while, the small hand gripping them followed the dripping blossoms.

The slayers could only watch from their positions as the girl wailed. Her eyes were shut tightly. The young man buried his face in her shoulder.

The slayers were frozen, eyes wide.

The demons are mourning the boy? How is this possible? They are dem-

"You can't grasp the authority over someone else's life and death!"

The other two slayers snapped their heads up at the masked slayer. He had dropped his defensive stance, and was pointing his hilt at the two demons in front of them. The remaining siblings stared in shock at the slayer with the scarred kitsune mask.

"Sabito! What are you doing?"

He ignored the other two's warnings and walked a few steps closer to the pair. He stretched his arm out, pointing at the quiet demons.

What am I doing?

"Stop that miserable looking squat! If you tried to pass off that kind of thing, your family wouldn't be dead!"

Don't cry. Don't despair.

The other two slayers looked at the two demons, who now stood straight. They took in the burgundy hair that fell to the shoulders of the boy, his green and black checkered haori matching the cloth of one of the children they found in that house. The girl had black hair that stopped at her waist, and although it was now a shade of orange at the tips, it still matched the traits of several members of that massacred family atop the mountain.

Don't do those things now.

"In the time they were taken from you, you were weak and couldn't seize the initiative!"

The hand previously pointing at them lashed to the side as he brought his other hand up to his chest. The other two slayers now stood right behind him, a silent wall of support.

We know you were knocked down. The leaders of the demons himself killed your family and turned you two into oni. I understand your pain. If we only arrived half a day earlier.

Sabito's nails carved little crescent moons into his rough palms. They were the hands of a child familiar with the loss of a loved one, the palms that wiped the blood away from the face of a beloved one too many times. Hands that so desired to avenge their deaths.

But time cannot be unwound.

"For the weak, there are no rights or other choices! Entirely with force, the strong can make the others surrender, however, with the way you are right now, nobody will respect you! Not even the oni themselves! This is reality!"

The demon siblings clenched their hands, their dead brother lying in the snow in front of them. They stared at the man, their tears no longer falling. Steam puffed from their mouths as their cat-like eyes stared at the masked slayers.

"Then tell us how we can get stronger."

The 16 year old boy with the Hanafuda earrings had stepped forward, his hand still on the shoulder of his younger sister.

"We are demons now, and your swords tell me that you are the ones responsible for our eradication. Our grandmother told me about you, the Demon Slayers."

Sabito dropped his hands, the other slayers looked from him and back at the duo. Their faces were concerned behind their masks. His hands were clenching and unclenching by his sides. A tell-tale sign his childhood friends knew to mean he was deep in thought.

"We will take you to our sensei, Urokodaki-san."

"Sabito, no!"

Sabito placed his broken sword into the wooden saya at his hip, making sure that the siblings saw it. After a few moments, the other two followed his lead, their pressed lips hidden behind their kitsune masks.

As soon as the swords were placed in the scabbards, two of the slayer's Kasugai crows flew down to their shoulders. Sparing a glance at the blood-splattered pair, they pulled paper and ink out of their own haoris. They began writing their best wishes and their plans to their sensei.

They tied it around the bird's thin legs, and threw the crow into the air. Sabito had shifted his mask up, so that only his lips were exposed as he whispered to the dark crow on his arm, "Tell Ubayashiki-san that we must arrange a private meeting with him in about 4 to 5 days. We must discuss something sensitive regarding the corps."

Sabito beckoned to the duo in front of them.

"Come here. We promise that we won't try and kill you." The slayer pulled his mask back over his pale lips.
"Unless the right circumstances were to present themselves."

Tanjiro and Nezuko looked up at each other. Tanjiro nodded at Nezuko, and gently scooped the body of Rokuta into his arms. Holding Nezuko's hand, he walked towards the slayers. He took no effort in walking around Muzan's pile of ripped clothes.

"Allow us to bury our family first."

Sabito nodded, and looked back at the other slayers waiting silently. They began their trek to the house above. The slayers ignored the splatters of blood that stained the snow on their way back. In front of them, Nezuko and Tanjiro moved swiftly, gliding past the trees as they rushed back home.
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Credits: (video) Kuru Rui