54 Chapter 47
He tossed Tanjiro over his shoulder and left the room as he nodded towards Kyogai. He walked down the hallway with a small smile as he kept his thoughts to himself.
He had Tanjiro's sword in his left hand and tossed it away seeing as he won't need it.
He felt Tanjiro's body twitch and his head reeled back in shock since he just knocked him out.
"Damn he woke up fast." Kyoshi muttered as he slide the door of the room that held Shoichi, his older brother, Zenitsu, and Inosuke in it.
"Alright, let's go. All the big bad demons are gone." Kyoshi said as he stepped aside. Shoichi and his older brother who was also named Kyoshi left the room.
Inosuke was back up and he charged at Kyoshi. Seeing this, he slapped him and 'lightly' kicked him away.
"D-D-D-D-Demon!! You're a demon!! Tanjiro, what're you doing with Tanjiro?!" Zenitsu cried.
"Man, you can't be brace for a second huh?" Kyoshi asked rhetorically as he grabbed him by his collar and started dragging him outside of the mansion while he yelled and cried in protest.
He had to knock Tanjiro back out quickly so he wouldn't start yelling. Once they made it out the mansion he slung Zenitsu to the ground in front of him.
"I'm not gonna eat you so shut up already." Kyosbi said as he walked past everyone and took a look around. He glanced back at Tanjiro and tossed him on the ground.
The impact made him wake up as he quickly looked around and once he saw Kyoshi he reached for his sword which wasn't there.
"Where's Nezuko?" Kyoshi asked.
"W-who's Nezuko?" Zenitsu asked. The name was feminine, so he was immediately interested.
"Why do you care?!" Tanjiro asked as he stood up and backed away.
"Because, I need both of you. Well, it'd be nice if I had both of you." Kyoshi replied walking towards Tanjiro.
"Guy's he's a demon and a strong one, but maybe if we team up on him we'll have a chance. I'm stronger than when you last saw me in the village." Tanjiro said with determination in his eyes.
"I-I-I knew it!! Demon, Shoichi, save me!!!" Zenitsu said as he ran past Kyoshi's back and hugged Shoichi's legs.
Both Shoichi and Kyoshi, his okder brother, looked at him in disgust because of how cowardly he was.
"AHHHHHHHH!!" Inosuke yelled as he ran towards Kyoshi at full speed.
"I don't need your help you weakling!!" He said as he got low and put both hands on the ground and shot both of his feet at Kyoshi's gut.
Kyoshi side stepped and Inosuke spun around, swinging his leg's at Kyoshi's head. He blocked it and grabbed his ankle before swinging him into a tree.
He ducked down and grabbed Tanjiro's arm which extended over his shoulder and judo flipped him into the ground. Inosuke got back up and jumped into the air as he tried to axe kicked Kyoshi in the head.
He side stepped and let Inosuke hit the ground, but before he could recover, Kyoshi grabbed him by the neck and threw him at Tanjiro who was coming on his left.
"Alright look, you guy's are getting annoying. You, pig mask guy, you aren't strong enough to take me on, maybe as a demon you'd stand a chance, but as a human you're nothing to me so stop trying.
Tanjiro, you're persistent and I don't like that I was gonna have you come by your own will, but if it comes down to it I'll gut you, turn you into a demon and force you to follow me without your girlfriend or whoever Nezuko is to you."
Tanjiro and Inosuke were silent as they looked at Kyoshi.
"He…heheheheheh!! THE GREAT INOSUKE DOESN'T NEED THE POWER OR A DAMN DEMON!!" He yelled as he stood up.
He put his head down as steam was seen coming from his nose while he kicked the ground beneath his feet like and animal about to charge at its target.
He charged towards Kyoshi's who sighed. Inosuke cocked his right arm back and swung it forward. His attack missed Kyoshi, but Inosuke planned it.
He spun his body with the turning motion and kicked his leg out. Kyoshi, blocked it with his forearm and pushed his leg back as he kicked Inosuke in the stomach.
On impact, he felt some of his ribs fracture. He then looked towards Tanjiro who was right behind Inosuke as he jumped with his fist ready to hit Kyoshi.
With the back of his left hand, he redirected Tanjiro's attack and grabbed him by the neck with his right hand as he slammed him into the ground. The impact caused Tanjiro to choke on the breath he was taking as he grabbed Kyoshi's arms trying to get out of his grasps.
Kyoshi raised him up and slammed he on the ground again, and again, and again, till the ground beneath him was cracked and there was a solid outline of Tanjiro's body.
The grip of Kyoshi's wrist vanished and Tanjiro laid on the ground knocked out as the dust cloud settled revealing the obvious victor.
Everyone silently looked at the scene in front of them with fairly the same thoughts. They were astonished and terrified because Kyoshi was a real demon and with the display he put on, they knew he could eat them whenever he wanted.
Inosuke looked at the KO'd Tanjiro and then at Kyoshi who slung him over his shoulder.
'So if I was a demon I could do that…?' Inosuke thought.
Inside the environment he grew up in, strength was everything and only the strongest got to eat and survive while the weakest died and were bait.
Living in the mountains with the boars caused him to have that thought imprinted into his entire being, making his only drive and goal to be the strongest.
Seeing how powerless he was when dealing with Kyoshi opened his eyes to how weak he was. He wanted strength like that…to be able to do stand on top of people and effortlessly beat them.
He didn't want anything holding him down, but a demon…
He was starting to be confused about himself and the path he should follow, but then it hit him.
'Why the hell am I thinking so much?!'
He'll do what he always does and do things his own way.
"HEY-" He yelled, but the moment he tried to get up, a stinging pain ran up his spine and he coughed up mouth fulls of blood before hitting the ground.
"Damn it!!" He cursed as he grit his teeth.
Zenitsu looked back and forth between Kyoshi who was walking away into the forest and Inosuke who was laying on the ground with blood coming down from the inside of his mask.
He was shivering as he still clung onto Shoichi's legs on the verge of tears.
"WHAT DO I DO?!?! HE'S GONNA COME BACK AND EAT US AND THEN WELL ALL BE DEAD AND I WON'T GET TO MARRY MY DREAM GIRL!!! WHY DID I EVER DECIDE TO DO THIS STUPID JOB?!?"
As Kyoshi and Shoichi watched Zenitsu roll around on the ground while crying, the look on their faces changed to anger. Mainly at how cowardly he was and lastly at the fact he didn't try to do anything to help.
"You're a horrible demon slayer!!" Shoichi yelled as he and Kyoshi went to go help Inosuke.
They planned on taking him to their village so he gets patched up as best they could. Zenitsu stopped shaking and looked at the two boys picking Inosuke up although he was trying to get himself free from them.
Instead of crying, he got up and carried Inosuke and followed them to their village.
…
"Well I can't take you to meet gramps right now. Gotta get Rin first." Kyoshi said to himself as he fixed Tanjiro who was still hanging over his shoulder.
From the time he got to the mansion up till now, not even 30 minutes past yet he was already around the mountain and could see the village just on the horizon.
He felt Tanjiro's muscles twitch and he pulled him off of his shoulder and put him on the ground. He was beat up and had some fractured bones, but at least he didn't have any internal bleeding.
Maybe…
Anyways, he got to one knee and winced as he held his rib cage.
"Where are you taking me?" Tanjiro asked although talking looked extremely painful.
"Nowhere yet. We're going to a nearby village to get a student of mine." Kyoshi said as he extended his hand out.
Tanjiro turned his head and looked up at the sky.
"I-I just realized it, b-but you're walking in the sunlight? How? Demons ar-"
He went into coughing fit as blood ran down his lips.
"Because I'm built different." Kyoshi answered.
"An ordinary demon can't walk in the sunlight. Not even Nezuko, so how?" He asked. His eye were basically burning with a tense determination as he looked at Kyoshi.
"Because I'm not your ordinary demon." He said proudly.
"I'm far from it." He added.
