chapter 4

Kiriya prepared to leave for the capital, he would find Yushiro and personally bring him back to deal with the demon taking his sisters and many of the lower ranked members with him, he sent a crow ahead to let him know. "The rest of you should sleep here tonight." He continued "Urokodaki-San has taken the Demon to his home at Mount Sagiri, we should all head there after we have rested, and be ready in case anything happens" "And what about us!?" demanded Inosuke now back in his boar mask… The other demon slayers were now questioning Kiriya, and discussing amongst themselves what their course of action should be. Muichiro simply spaced out again, losing himself in his own thoughts, he was saddened, he was worried, they had just overcome so much… He was brought out of it when Sanemi put a hand on his shoulder. "C'mon kid," he said, "we already came here together, we might as well check into a place for the night"Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter TextNeither of them could fall asleep easily, Sanemi was downstairs at the bar, Muichiro meanwhile lay awake on his futon, remembering the day he left the Butterfly estate, before going to the swordsmiths village, that fateful day…

/ "I'm sorry again for all of the trouble, Kocho-San"

"Not at all Tokito-Kun" the insect pillar had said kindly, "helping you and the others recover and heal from your physical wounds is my pleasure… However, in your case, Tokito-Kun" her tone turning more serious as she spoke, "your case is still a bit different, your biggest issues stem from something that I cannot treat with medicine. You come to my ward for treatment more often than any other Hashira, this is because you are unable to set limits for yourself, both in training and actual combat, and are constantly overexerting yourself. I know you can't help it, but this I believe stems from a traumatic event that affected you earlier in your life, the same goes for your amnesia, you're dissociation, your nightmares, and your bedwetting," Muichiro's face reddened at the mention of that last embarrassing detail. "All of this stems from trauma," Shinobu said with concern, "Please, Muichiro, this I cannot simply treat with drugs or bandages, I want you to take a break from training, and try to remember what it is that is still in your subconsciously, causing you all of these problems"

This filled Muichiro with frustration, "I keep telling you Kocho-San! I can't remember anything! I am grateful to you for taking such good care of me, truly I am… but do you think I like being helpless? I hate it! But I can't do anything about it!"

He kicked at the ground and stopped himself before he lost any more. of his composure, even though he could always be the most open with Shinobu, it was still hard for him to go any further than this, at this time he had no memories of why he even joined the demon slayer corps, no purpose and no ability to properly express his emotions.

"Forgive me Kocho-San," he said bowing, "but right now, all I can do is train, and since you've deemed me fully physically recovered, I'd like to go to the swordsmith's village today, to continue my training."

"In that case Tokito-Kun," said Shinobu, "please try to be careful, and I hope that you will find some closure soon"

Muichiro bowed and went on his way, he would forget this conversation by the time he arrived at the swordsmith's village, there was no point in even trying to remember.../

That was more than a year and a half ago, but he was remembering that conversation now. He now cherished these memories, of his long-gone friends, Shinobu had always been so kind to him, like a mother, and now she was gone, and even though she likes so many other of his friends had lost their lives; he thought that everything was finally over, why couldn't the others just agree to help Solovonov? If he got the medicine right away then it would all be over, right? Muichiro could not shake this feeling of foreboding.

"Can't sleep?" He heard Sanemi ask as he walked in and saw him lying awake in his Futon.I didn't even notice you come in." Muichiro said, a little startled, "I guess I'm worse off than I thought..."

"Your just worried," Sanemi assured him, "and I don't blame ya for it, I was just now talkin' with Tomioka, even he seems a lil' shaken by all this, it really ain't fair is it?" he now asked Muichiro while sitting down on his own futon. "We had just defeated Muzan and all those fucking upper moons, every demon in Japan was supposed to have disappeared, and then this bastard comes along… we're all pissed."

He looked over and saw that his colleague still had that scared look in his eyes.. "At least this one doesn't seem to wanna fight." he continued trying to ease the nerves of both of them, "I can understand why a lot of the others don't trust him, hell, I would have been that way if I didn't get to know Nezuko beforehand, now we just gotta sit tight and wait for Yushiro to come with the stuff, we'll go down to the base of that mountain tomorrow, Tomioka started his training there, so he knows where it is, and since I don't know where this mountain is, and since he doesn't have his own car, he's riding with us tomorrow morning."

Sanemi looked over to Muichiro, and saw that he still looked worried… no, he looked terrified. So much for easing him by casually talking with him.

"Oi, Tokito." Sanemi scooted over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, shaking him slightly. "Seriously, what's wrong? We've fought tougher demons than thi-" and then he stopped, realizing what those words actually meant, "...Shit..." he thought.

Two trembling smaller hands now grabbed onto his forearm, Muichiro was shaking terribly, he was having another panic attack, twice in one day now, but this one was worse than the last one.

Muichiro's, Tanjiro's, and Nezuko's bodies had all acted differently to the serum which turned them back into humans. It was another complication of the Drug. Tanjiro had turned back into a human almost instantly, but the demonic healing to his arm and eye had been slightly reversed, Nezuko took much longer to slowly turn back but suffered no reverse-healing. In Muichiro's case, while all of his physical injuries were healed, his process might still have been the hardest of all, wrought with fever, delirium, he constantly relieved memories of Tetsuido, Rengoku, Shinobu, Gyomei, and others, but the worst were the nightmares of Muzan and Kokushibo, and his late brother. Sanemi who had taken responsibility for Muichiro's recovery had heard him recite many of these nightmares and memories out loud, especially the way his brother Yuichiro had constantly hurt him…

Shinazugawa Sanemi had both softened towards Tokito, and reflected on the way he had been with his own brother when learning more about Muichiro's past, and it puzzled him how Muichiro could still love and miss his older brother so much, despite the clearly present emotional scars left from his brother's treatment of him.

He had hoped that he had not fucked Genya up in that way, but then again… Thinking about his own late brother was already painful enough.

As he had done so many times when watching over the boy during his recovery, Sanemi kept his hand where it was, gently shaking the boy's shoulder back and forth as he got his breathing under control.

"Again, Im really sorry that this is happening to us kid, I know it ain't fair, but we've done this before, and remember, you single-handedly defeated an upper moon! Don't think too little of yourself."

Muichiro closed his eyes and exhaled, he was calmer now, but still worried. "I needed help from the swordsmiths to defeat upper moon five, I almost died, and I couldn't protect everyone! I would have drowned before the fight even started if Kotetsu hadn't rescued me when he did! And do you remember what happened when we fought upper mo-" he stopped himself, he didn't want to bring up Kokushibo now, especially not in front of his friend, who had lost a lot more in that fight than he did.

But Sanemi read Muichiro's mind. "You can't blame yourself for Genya either," he said, "That kid… wasn't your responsibility, he was mine."

"But he was your brother!" Cried Muichiro,

"and he was your friend, believe me, a lot of us had that kind of guilt before, I even feel-" He was about to mention the rest of the slayers killed by Muzan in his absence, but stopped himself realizing how it would make Muichiro feel. The poor kid was calming down, he didn't need to make it worse now.

"Muichiro, I'm actually more curious about how the Kamados are doing since I didn't really get a chance to talk to them at the party."

"They haven't changed at all" Muichiro said, perking up a bit, "What about Tengen and Giyuu? Are they happy?"

"Yeah, Uzui's gone back to his wives, he's not too upset about being useless now, he's pretty happy in his retirement, as for Tomioka, you'll get to see him tomorrow."

"But won't you at least see Tanjiro before you leave tomorrow?"

"Of course," Sanemi said, "he's not gonna come with us for obvious reasons, but It's not like I'm gonna leave without saying bye first, but in the meantime, you should get some sleep kid."

Muichiro closed his eyes; "I'm still scared to go to sleep" he admitted.

Sanemi knew what he meant, he wasn't going to push him. "Whatever," he said, "It will be a long drive tomorrow but don't expect me to stay up with ya, I have to be the one driving."

"Okay" Muichiro said softly, as Sanemi climbed into his own Futon.

"Oh, and Sanemi..." his voice was barely above a whisper now, "I'm sorry I brought up Genya… I didn't mean to"

Sanemi blinked, and felt his eyes go wide… It still hurt.

"What are you apologizing for?" he told Muichiro, "Im the one who brought him up you idiot" He yawned and felt his eyes start to close, he could hear Muichiro's soft breathing as he drifted off to sleep, It sounded like he was falling asleep too, Maybe he wasn't as bad off as he thought…

"Thank you for coming out to meet me so early, Yushiro-San" Kiriya said, as a Kakushi rushed them down the road, "I was originally planning on meeting you in Tokyo, but thankfully it seems you were way ahead of me."

You had good sense to send me that crow" Yushiro said seriously, not making eye contact, "but why would you send him to Mt. Sagiri? Now it will take us longer to get there!"

"I thought it would be a good place because of that" Kiriya said defending himself, "Its Isolated, so there is a much smaller chance of civilians getting involved, he is being restrained, and under the watch of Urokodaki-San"

"Damnit" Yushiro growled, "That Stuhac, he must have banked on the fact that with Lady Tamayo gone; no one would know who he was, and we would give him the serum."

"But who is he then, and why would he be after the serum?" Kiriya inquired.

"Well he's already lied to you about how he became a demon, thats for sure, he became a demon long before that time, and I doubt he even met Muzan in the first place."

Kiriya was shocked. "Then how could he have become such a powerful demon without meeting Muzan!?" he cried, "Unless he got blood from-"

"Do you think Muzan was the only demon in the world?" Yushiro cut him off, "Muzan was the first Demon in Japan, that is true, but there were other demons in other parts of the world, I don't know exactly where, and I wouldn't expect you to know either, since your demon slayer corps was so busy just with things here in Japan, but they exist, and Stuhac was one of the bad ones"

"But I still don't understand why he would want a serum that turns people back into humans, is it still possible that he has good intentions after all?"

Yushiro just shook his head. "I don't know, but we'd better be careful with him, I've brought Lady Tamayo's serum, I'll administer it to Stuhac myself, if he accepts it, then it will mean he was telling the truth, and then we can talk about whether or not we let him go."

Just then, from the shadows underneath the middle car seat, a black crow fluttered up, startling them, he escaped the vehicle through a crack in the window, and flew off into the night.

Yushiro cringed at not having reacted fast enough, "Was that one of your crows!?" He demanded.

"N-no."

"Then it was probably Stuhac's"

"A demon who uses crows!?" Tengen said incredulously from the passenger seat.

"Driver! Step on it!" Yushiro ordered, "In case that was what I think it was, we had better get there fast, or there is going to be blood!"Meanwhile, in the distance, there was another racing towards the base of Mount. Sagiri, leaping through the tree branches like a Ninja, this woman was dressed in fatigues, lightly armored in hardened leather, and carrying a blade of her own. Her black hair was braided, and her eyes did not avert from her forward gaze.

"You better not have been lying about this, Yong!" she cried aloud, "Solovonov! you bastard! I won't let you get away from me this time! I will get even with you!"

Urokodaki Sakonji, goblin mask back on, stood at his veranda watching the first rays of sunlight as the sun began to rise over the mountains, a crow flew right over his head, and through the open door of his house, where the demon Stuhac sat, bound, muzzled and silent.

The bird landed on his shoulder and whispered into his ear.

"I see," he whispered back. "Blyat! so Yushiro knows about me, there is no way they will give me the medicine and let me go then..."

He looked over at Urokodaki. "I will not be able to turn that man back into a human… I won't be able to defeat him… at least not without taking the medicine by force first"...

Urokodaki's ears perked up, the scene was tranquil, but he sensed that something was wrong, and then he heard the demon speak.

"it was about 19 years ago, When I had conquered the sun, I thought that I was the most powerful demon in the world..." Urokodaki whirled around! "...and then, when I met him, in those trenches; I realized what a fool I was, a demon more terrifying than I could ever hope to be."

Stuhac stood before him, standing in the rays of the sunlight, free from his restraints, and with a horrible look on his face, Sakonji jumped back! And prepared to draw his Nichirin blade, the demon simply lifted his hands above his waist.

"Blood demon art..."

Notes: so we got a new OC up in here, things are gonna pick up soon, thanks to everyone who stayed up until now, It will get better! things are gonna start making sense! Next up is a road trip, and a massacre!