5 Conviction

The man scoffs at Tanjiro's words, "Give me a break. Just now, he was about to be devoured.." The man says while lifting his katana towards my direction pointing at me.

Hiroto replies back quickly, "No, you're wrong! I'm sure that she knows who I am!"

"We won't let her hurt anyone! We'll keep her away from people while looking out for her. She won't do anything, so… please… don't kill her." Tanjiro sputters out, while the last of his sentence was said into a low whisper.

Putting a hand on Tanjiro's shoulder, Hiroto comforted Tanjiro while saying, "Don't worry we won't let anything happen to her, or to the people around us. We'll take full responsibility for her. We can find a cure for her. We'll turn her ba…"

"No" The man interrupts Hiroto midway. "You cannot cure her. Once you become a Demon, you can never go back to being a human."

"We'll find a way!" Tanjiro yells, spreading his hands out. "Please! We can find a way no matter what! So, please don't kill her!"

Hiroto, hearing Tanjiro's pleas, is affecting and starts clenching his fists. "I'll hunt down the one who slaughtered our family! I'll find the one who made Nezuko like this! I'll make right the wrongs, so please give us a chance!"

As the man hears this, he moves his katana towards Nezuko's neck preparing to cut her down. Tanjiro sees this gets desperate.

"No! Please! We'll both find the ones that took our family away from us! I have his scent so I can find him when he's near! Please! Don't take anyone else from me!" Tanjiro yells out while tears start littering his face.

After a second of silence, Tanjiro gets on his knees into a dogeza position, planting his head into the snow with his hands in front of him begging the man.

"I'm begging you... not to!" Tanjro's voice breaks out from under, his voice cracking in between sobs. "*sniff* "Please… Don't kill my, little sister!"

Hiroto sees this and starts to tremble. He is in disbelief that they would have to resort to begging for the man to spare his little sister. If only he was stronger, stronger to protect the ones he loves. Stronger, so no one else has to lose whom they love. And stronger, to hunt down the one who broke his family.

Gripping his hands tightly as his nails dig into his palms while looking at the trembling figure on Tanjiro's haunched figure Hiroto can't help but blame himself for putting him into this position.

"TANJIRO!" Hiroto yells out.

"!!!" Tanjiro was shocked by the yell. He has very rarely ever heard Hiroto this mad before in his lifetime. The only time his older brother was ever this mad was when his father passed away, and he went to be alone in the forest. At that time Hiroto could be seen shouting in the air while banging his head against a tree. That was one of the few times Tanjiro ever saw Hiroto truly mad.

Looking up to his brother, Tanjiro could see that his older brother's eyes were watering and full of guilt. "Brother…"

Before Hiroto could say anything, the man was silent after seeing what Tanjiro did. His look black hair, done into a ponytail, covers his eyes as he saw Tanjiro beg.

He grits his teeth in rage and starts shaking. "You… Don't ever give others a chance to murder you!!" He yells out, Hiroto sees that now in the man's eyes were a different emotion. Rage.

"Stop that pathetic groveling! If it was the least bit effective, your family wouldn't be dead! What are you going to do when you are with your sister after you encounter another Demon slayer?! Are you just going to keep begging and hoping they would spare you!? Can a weakling who can't take the initiative in such a situation heal his sister?! Let alone, hunt down the enemy?! Don't make me laugh!" The man lashes out at Tanjiro, fully raging at the display Tanjiro put out.

Tanjiro looks incredulously towards the man, while Hiroto was also shocked by what he said. It was true if they wanted to hunt down the one who turned his little sister into a Demon, the one who killed his family he has to have conviction.

As Hiroto looks at the man's eyes, he can faintly see another emotion present there. Pain. This man must have been reminded of the past after seeing Tanjiro begging.

The man continues yelling, "The weak have no rights or choices! Their only fate is to be relentlessly crushed by the strong!" Hearing this Hiroto clenched his fist stronger, as a light shines in his eyes. The man was right, they need to be strong in order to pursue what they want. To cure Nezuko and avenge his family.

"We will get stronger!" Hiroto yells at the man. "We'll train! We will look for someone to take us in! And after that, we will find the one who caused all this! So please, don't kill Nezuko! She's one of the two siblings I have left in this world. Don't take another one away from me!"

The man looks at Hiroto for a moment. He was reminded of how Hiroto was able to see his movements. 'Although the boy couldn't catch up to the speed I moved, he could react in time to my hands, it might have been a fluke. Or…' Shaking the last thoughts away he turns back to the two.

"And how do you plan on doing that? Demons can't be killed by normal means! Don't think a Demon would just bend over and allow you to cut its head off! Naturally, I have no respect for your little brother there!" The man shouts and points towards the kneeling Tanjiro.

"You have an axe with you while a stranger is holding unto your little sister preparing to kill her! And what do you do? You beg and plead for me to let her go! Do you think the Demons would respect your will and wishes?! They won't give a damn about what you have to say! That's reality! And you!" The man moves on to point towards me with his katana.

"Why did you throw yourself over your sister earlier? Was that your way of protecting her? If you can't protect yourself how do you expect to protect your siblings? Why didn't you try and fight back! All you did was roll away! Why did you show your back to me? All those blunders led to your sister's capture!" The man finishes off while twisting Nezuko's arm more and tightly gripping the katana raised towards the two boys.

"I could've Skewered her along with you when you pull her away! Count yourself lucky I only cut your hair and haori!" The man shouts with rage.

Having realized this Hiroto's will starts to shake. Everything that the man said was right. Tanjiro starts to tear up again at what the man said.

The man looks resolutely to them and thinks to himself. 'Don't cry. Don't despair. Now's not the time for that. I know you're both devastated. Having lost your family. But you still have each other to look after. Bottle those feelings and lock them away. Your family was massacred, and your sister became a Demon. I know it's painful. I know you want to scream…. I get it. If only I'd gotten here a half-day sooner, your family might not have ended up dead. But there's no way to turn back time.'

'Feel the rage. The powerful, pure rage of not being able to forgive will become your unswerving drive to take action! Your conviction for revenge! With your little brother's fragile resolve, you can't protect your sister or heal her…' The man raises his katana once more and aims the point down towards Nezuko's neck. 'Or get revenge for your family.'

"No!" Tanjiro and Hiroto shout seeing the man raise his katana.

"Ahhh!AHH!!" Nezuko screams struggling to get out of the man's grasp.

*swish shting* "AHHHH '' Nezuko cries out as the man pierces his katana straight into Nezuko's chest.

"Stop!" Tanjiro cries as Hiroto sees him lifting a stone to throw at the man. The moment Hiroto sees this, he immediately moves to grab the axe from the ground beside Tanjiro.

*Clang* The man's katana sounds out as he blocks the stone. A moment later, the snow picks up from around them as the wind blows in, obscuring the scene from both sides momentarily.

Hiroto runs off to the man's left side while Tanjiro runs to the man's right flank, throwing another stone.

"Tanjiro! His hand!" Hiroto yells out, as he runs behind a tree while secretly piling a handful of snow in his hand and hides it behind his back before running at the man.

Tanjiro, hearing this, aims at the mains hand with the stone in his hand. *Clang* The katana sounds out again as the man effortlessly blocks the stone.

"AGHHHH!" Hiroto yells out as he yells at the man while charging at him, the axe in his rang hand raised ready to strike.