My Instincts Never Lie || Demon Slayer Nezuko

10. The Boar

As if the utter shock of a turning room wasn't enough to knock Nezuko literally off balance, what could be the third set of footsteps seemed to be headed for them, while helping Teruko up from between the cabinets. 'Sounds like an animal,' Nezuko thought and she quickly glanced to the other set of doors across where the demon stood. 'But... hm, weird. It's not a demon either.' Silence hung until the hurried feet grew louder and louder. The closer they grew the wilder they seemed.

Maniacal cackles bled through the canvas screen. "Comin' through! Comin' through! Comin' through!" The human-animal-not a demon figure bouted and like a firecracker ready to pop, their feet kicked down the door to scattered piles of paper and splinters. She'd never seen anything like it.

"Wh-Who is that guy?" Teruko asked, but Nezuko couldn't answer. The creature certainly was human--his lack of shirt gave that away--but beyond that she couldn't read anything else other than that his aura was deeply murky with a myriad of different, heavily saturated hues. Which made his boar-head a hyde and the fur he adorned on various elements of his demon slayer uniform skinned from the different beasts of the wilderness.

"Aight, demon..." the stranger said as a puff blew from the hyde's nostrils. "Die by my swords and the cliffedge of my great power!' He clanked his twin blades against each other, and lunged low to the wall-floor.

"Insolent bugs! So infuriating! "

The stranger charged head-on at the tsuzumi demon. The room tilted. Nezuko flipped to adjust, ready to rush to Teruko when a dirt filled sandal pushed her down. "Teruko, hold on to something-- Did y'just use me to land?!"

The stranger laughed and he gripped his jagged edged swords, a bee-line focus on the tsuzumi demon.

"Hey--" Nezuko yelled after him. "Whatever you're thinking, you can't use reckless assaults like that!" The stranger ignored her, laughing as he went jumping about the room the more it spun.

"You damn pests!" The demon beat the drums on his legs and everything switched back upright, but while Nezuko and Teruko stumbled, she heard the girl's whimpers and peered up to see the stranger planting his foot upon Teruko like a hunted prey.

"This's gettin' fun!" the boar man laughed, perched proudly against the dull light of the paper lamps. "This room freaking spun! Did y'see that?"

It took a moment for Nezuko to realise he was finally talking to her--however unkindly. "Get off her," she snapped.

"And who d'hell are you suppos'd t'be?"

Nezuko scowled and shoved him, carrying Teruko in her arms. "What do you think you're doing stepping on some kid like that!"

The stranger slid onto his knees, blades stabbed into tatami. He roared with laughter. "I like it! I like it! No human's ever sent me flyin' like that!" Again the stranger lowered himself only this time his tusks were aimed at her. "My swords are gonna shred through your flesh..."

"Eh? Nezuko's eyes widened. "There's a demon right there!"

"Like I care!"

Another PONK sound stopped the stranger from attacking, yet the room did not spin. It was mauled, cutting deep. The taste of old rice straw and anything and everything old flew right at them as havoc followed, but Nezuko was beginning to keep up. Shift right upon a hit to the same sided shoulder and vice versa. Meanwhile the stranger ust barely managed to adjust. 'Right leg then means backwards!' Nezuko held on tightly to Teruko's head as she flipped onto the door frame. The stranger fell through the whole he made in the door, but before she could look to check, suddenly the two girls planted face first onto the proper floor.

'Eh? The demon didn't strike his tsuzumi,' she thought, lifting her head to see rhythmic splashes of red and wheat-yellow flash before her eyes. The rooms were shifting again. This time for sure it wasn't because of the tsuzumi demon--Nezuko was watching him, the demon was holding his hands up to stare at in anguish.

'At least he's gone for now,' she thought, letting go of Teruko once the changing stopped. 'At least I know there's more than one... But that one has the densest presence... Do they all have tsuzumi's?' Her mind blared with panic. 'No, I can't assume something just yet... This place is too weird.'

"Nee-san..." Teruko said and Nezuko broke from her thoughts. She was trembling again, it probably didn't help that Nezuko had forgotten to manage her aura for her--young kids were usually more receptive to Grandma Kamado's so-called magic.

"I think we're fine for now," Nezuko replied, trying to clear her aura to be light and unafraid, getting to her feet. "Just grab hold of my hand. Let's get you out of here first, hm?"

"Okay."

The inner halls of the mansion were a great deal darker than the ground floor. No lanterns or windows, half-eaten corpses and blood stains surprised their every turn as they walked. Nezuko had trouble steering them off course from those grizzly sights, if only she could sense the dead as well as she could the living.

However, at present, Nezuko and Teruko were nearing another room with its lights on, ready to quickly sneak past it when her gut began to tug her mind inside. "A human," she muttered under her breath, pausing at the door. A very slight but peculiar shade change from the usual human sensibilities was permeating through the barrier--it was too obvious to ignore. She had to check it out, there seemed to be no demon nearby.

To Teruko's terror, she watched as Nezuko grabbed hold of the handles and flung open the door. Light spilled into the walkway and revealed a much larger room. At the center of it: a boy! A boy with a persimmon kimono, clutching a tsuzumi in his hand.

"Kiyoshi ni-chan!" Teruko cried, just as he was about to hit the tsuzumi. Her face lit up, peeking in from under Nezuko's arm as tears fell without restraint. "Oni-chan! Oni-chan!"

"Teruko!"

The sheer joy of seeing her run to him, like a sweet spring fruit, almost made Nezuko shudder. 'Ah, that brings back memories,' she thought, rubbing her eyes, silently shutting the door behind her.

"Teruko, I'm so glad to see you..." he said back, dropping the drum to capture his sister in a warm embrace. "Who's this?"

Nezuko smiled. "My name's Kamado Nezuko," she replied and came to join them at the far edge of the room. "I'm here to save you and your siblings..." Nezuko placed a hand on Kiyoshi's headfondly, seeing in them the little siblings she once had. "Were you the one changing the rooms with your drum?"

He nodded.

"You did good. It must've been scary all alone."

He nodded again, and began to sob into Teruko.

"Well, that's over now, okay? I'm sorry it took so long, I'll handle everything from now on... Are you hurt?" Nezuko sat down cross-legged and reached into her belt while Kiyoshi put his foot forth and pulled up is trousers to expose a gnarly gash "I have this super amazing ointment my teacher gave me, that'll make your leg feel all better. Did you know, my teacher always wears a tengu mask--even in his sleep! And I've never once seen his face!"

"Really? Tengu?" Teruko said.

"I'm not kidding. When I first met him, I thought he was magic!"

The siblings broke a giggle that she shared, carefully spreading the ointment over the wound on Kiyoshi's calf. At least one part of the mission was done, what stroke of luck to have run Kiyoshi, but somewhere within the empty halls of the mansion thunder rumbled. The boar man was off again and Zenitsu slept.

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Hi again! I hope you enjoy this chapter because I'm really excited for the next one and I have no doubt it's gonna be awesome. Anyways, have good day!

(1298 Words)