Puppets

As Hiroto ran through the forest, using his 'Amethyst eye' he was able to see the little spiders that ran around and spun the webs onto the backs of the other slayers.

'The spiders should be the Demon's Blood Art, using them to spin the threads on unsuspecting people and controlling their movements.' Hiroto thought.

[Different location]

A Demon with the appearance of a young boy stood on top of some threads, playing with some spider silk in his hands. His light pink hair resembles that of a spider as it wraps around to the face, with his red eyes and pale blue irises. On his left eye was the kanji of 5 tattooed into it.

"The five of us are going to live in bliss, as a family. No one can break our bond." The Demon said while looking up at the connected threads in his hands. "Those who come and try to break our bond… will be killed."

[Back to Hiroto]

As Hiroto ran closer to the source of the threads, they started to appear more in numbers and felt thicker than the past ones. 'I should be getting closer…'

From the corner of his vision, Hiroto saw a girl standing next to some people and swinging her sword at them. 'She's being controlled.' Hiroto thought, running towards them.

*clang* Shik* "Ahhh!" A boy cried out as he was stabbed.

"Getaway! My movements are being controlled! I can't stop it! Please! Go and get a higher rank to come!" The girl cried out as she spotted Hiroto running towards them from the side. As he neared her, the girl took the sword out of the boy's stomach and slashed it towards Hiroto.

Hiroto quickly dodged under the swing to the left and with one swing cut the threads that were tied to her back. *shik*

*thud* The girl collapsed to the ground and started balling her eyes out. "Wahhhh. I- I couldn't stop myself. I killed them… I killed them..." The girl repeated as she stayed knelt and crying.

Hiroto looked at the bodies around and clenched his fist, Hiroto looked towards the girl and said, "Listen, it wasn't your fault. You were being controlled. If you want to blame someone, blame the Demons. Take your grief and guilt and turn that towards the Demons. Use it to fuel yourself and become stronger so you can protect those you love." Hiroto said reassuringly.

The girl looked up at Hiroto's red and purple glowing eyes and felt calmer. Nodding her head, she stood up and wiped her tears.

At that moment, Tanjiro and Inosuke came from behind the path.

"Brother!" Tanjiro shouted. But then he saw the bodies around, causing him to pause in his step.

"What… what happened here. I could smell a strong stench of blood but I didn't expect it to be this bad." Tanjiro said.

Just as Hiroto was about to respond, two people slowly stood up from the ground with their arms and legs twisted at unnatural angles. One of the boys looked pleadingly at the group with tears covering his eyes.

"P-Please kill me… My arms and… and legs… the bones are… are piercing my organs…" The boy said with his voice full of pain and agony.

The other boy who stood up was practically dead but was still being used as a puppet as his lifeless eyes stared back at Hiroto.

"Every time… I'm forced to move… the pain intensifies… I *hic* I can't take it anymore! I'll… die anyway… so, please… help me! Kill me! Stop the pain!" The boy forced out the words in between his grunts of pain.

Tanjiro looked at the two with his eyes shaking upon hearing the boy begging to be killed. Hiroto looked at their eyes and stayed silent, the fury inside him was intensifying upon seeing the boy being forced into this state.

"Sure, you got it!" Inosuke shouted and ran towards the boy, aiming to kill him.

"Wait! Don't!" Tanjiro yelled.

However, before Inosuke could arrive at the boy, Hiroto made his move extremely quickly running past Inosuke.

'Water Breathing, fifth form: The Merciful Rain of a Dry Day' Hiroto used the sword technique, which is also known as the "sword strike of kindness". Arriving at the boy, Hiroto looked into his eyes and saw the look of relief and resignation.

"I'm sorry…" Hiroto muttered, before cutting his head off, making no sound and inflicting the boy with little to no pain. Looking at the head Hiroto felt anger deep within him on the verge of boiling over.

Hiroto quickly severed the threads of the other boy, causing his body to fall onto the ground lifelessly.

Tanjiro then started walking towards the body of the beheaded boy and looked towards the head next to it. He knelt and stayed silent.

Looking at Tanjiro's back, Hiroto and Inosuke could feel the silent fury from him. Inosuke started to get shivers as he felt a bit scared at seeing Tanjiro, for the first time, be this angry.

Hiroto saw this and walked up behind Tanjiro and patted his shoulder, "Tanjiro, you need to stay calm. I know you're angry, but we need to put a stop to this before more people fall victim to it." Hiroto said, trying to calm Tanjiro down.

Tanjiro nodded his head and said, "Let's go."

Hiroto took a last look at the boy turned to the girl, telling her to run back down the mountain and find reinforcements.

As the three started to run off, Zenitsu was alone in a different part of the forest and was crying about being left alone. Unknown to him, he was being followed by a small creature...

Back to the 3 boys, as they got closer and closer to the source a large figure jumped down and smashed towards their position.

*BOOM* The group jumped out of the way before the strike hit them. As the dust settled, there stood a large body of a Demon with no head. Its arms were replaced with sharp-pointed spikes.

"It's being controlled." Hiroto thought as he saw the threads connecting to the Demon's body parts.

"That thing's got no weak spots! I can't slash something that's not there!" Inosuke shouted, and pointed with his hands. "What are we gonna do? What are we gonna do?" Inosuke shouted confused on how to behead a demon that's already beheaded.

"Calm down, let's try the monk's robe cut on it. Slash from the base of its neck on the right side to his left waist. That should be able to subjugate the Demon." Hiroto said, drawing his crimson red Nichirin Blade. Unknown to him, the top side of the blade started to take on a hint of purple as the bottom of his blade is still the same crimson red.

"This shouldn't take too long," Hiroto said, before jumping forward and slashing towards its neck downwards. The Demon quickly raised it's spiked limbs upwards and deflected the strike. *clang* Hiroto jumped up and used the raised spikes as a landing pad.

Without having to use his forms, Hiroto quickly swung his sword down at a fast speed, severing both of his arms before he kicked off.

Taking the opportunity, Tanjiro rushed forward and the 'Fourth Form: Striking tide' to cut it's legs off.

Inosuke ran up and performed the monk's robe cut, slashing from the base of the Demon's neck down to it's left waist.

"HAA!!" Inosuke shouted out. As he looked at the two brothers, he thought, 'These two don't care about who gets the final results when fighting, they look at the overall picture instead. Ah! Too complicated to think about.'

"IEEAAA!" Inosuke ran forwards shouting, "Anything you can do, I can do better!" He then grabbed Tanjiro and threw him up into the air.

"Inosuke, what the hell are you doing?!" Hiroto yelled looking at him fling towards Inosuke.

While Hiroto was on the verge of hitting Inosuke, Inosuke said, "Tsk, I threw him to where the Demon was."

"You did? Ehhhh…" Hiroto said skeptically as he let out a questionable sound.

"OI! Are you doubting me, Shiroto!" Inosuke yelled, balling his fist.

"Who the hell is Shiroto! And shut up, let's get going. I hope you can keep up." Hiroto said, before disappearing from his position, leaving Inosuke shocked.

"You- I WON'T BE OUTDONE BY YOU!! EIIIAHHH!!" Inosuke shouted and started running at a faster speed.

In the air, Tanjiro was wondering why he threw into the air, but then he smelled the scent of a Demon. *sniff* "This scent…"

"So that's what this is about, huh, Inosuke?" Tanjiro said, redirecting his blade as he started to fall to where the Demon's location was.

Sitting on a rock was a relatively short and voluptuous woman, similar in appearance to the boy and her 'son' from earlier, having the same milky-white skin. On the tips of her fingers were various threads spreading out around the forest.

She had a look of extreme fear and worry. Out from the forest side, Hiroto appeared coming out of the bushes and looked towards her. Knowing instantly that she was a Demon, Hiroto took his katana out and stared at her.

The woman was shaking with fear, 'They got me! They got me!' she thought, with her hands shaking as the threads on her fingertips start to sag and loosen.

'It's Rui's fault for coming to me with his threats!' the woman thought, thinking back to when the boy came to her and said, "Mom, you can win right? If you don't hurry up… I'll tell dad…" 'That's why I panicked! That's why!'

Remembering this, she cursed the boy in his head as she looked on towards Hiroto, who had a gaze full of hatred.

However, she could feel a presence about her. Looking up, she saw Tanjiro's silhouette appear in front of the full moon, his shadow cascading down onto her.

'From above?' The woman thought, her mind breaking apart from fear.

Tanjiro gripped his sword and breathed in. 'Water Breathing, First form!'

'Think! You have to think!' The woman shouted in her mind, still staring at Tanjiro with a look full of fear and panic.

'But… If I die, I'll be released.' The woman thought, lowering her hands, as her eyes started to waver.

Looking up, she raised her hands towards Tanjiro, but not with malice, but with open arms. The threads from her fingertips fall to the ground. 'And then… I'll know peace.'

The woman's eyes changed, from the look of fear and panic to that of peace and resignation. As long as she could be released from her hell, she would accept anything.

*gasp* Tanjiro quickly gasped in shock, seeing her eyes. *ting* Tanjiro adjusted his grip on his sword, and performed the same move his brother did. 'Fifth Form…'

Slowly gliding through the air, the sword passed through the neck of the woman, leaving a trail of water. 'Blessed Rain After the Drought'

From the water trail, the light illuminated by the moon increased, showering the two with its presence as water started to rain down from its direction.

The woman stared at the beautiful sight in front of her, as her head started to separate from her body. 'This is… It feels like I'm being showered by a gentle rain. It doesn't hurt at all. It's not agonizing. It just feels farm.' The woman thought, closing her eyes and smiling.

'I never dreamed that my end would be this tranquil.' The woman thought.

Hiroto looked from the side, and stayed silent, choosing to respect Tanjiro's decision, even if she has caused numerous deaths.

[Woman's Flashback]

"I'm so sorry! I apologize, so please forgive me!" The woman cried out in pain and fear, clutching her left bleeding eye as she cried out tears, and begging for forgiveness.

"What made you angry? What caused you such displeasure?" The woman said to a large Demon with similar white hair.

"It's your fault for not realizing what made him mad." The boy from earlier said, standing on top of the threads.

"But how could I?" The woman's voice cracked as she asked, scared.

"Haha." A boy's head with similar white hair and red markings poked from the side of a tree laughed looking at the woman. "Mom's in trouble with Dad again!" The boy mocked.

The large Demon grabbed the head of the woman and pulled her hair up.

A girl was standing on a tree and looked on with a sad gaze, similar in appearance to the woman.

"Aghhh! Stop it! No! No!" The woman begged as she cried in pain.

[Flashback end]

Opening her eyes, the woman saw Tanjiro looked at her. Looking at his eyes, the woman thought, 'Those eyes… Such gentle eyes... Back when I was a human, I think someone used to look at me with kind eyes. I wonder who that was… I can't remember.'

The figure of a man with his eyes covered came to her mind. 'I can't remember. It was someone who always treasured me. I wonder how that person is doing now…' With tears forming in her eyes, the woman closed her eyes for the last time.

"There's a member of the Twelve Kizuki here." The woman said before her head started to disappear.

"Be careful." Was all the woman said, as she completely disappeared?