Fight to Befriend

"Talking"

(Added words in the head or thoughts)

'Whisper'

[Ki Technique/Breathing Form]

• POV change •

*Sound*

∆Time and/or Place∆

~Sounds made by a character like a sigh~

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• 3rd POV •

After burying his massacred family and making a cave on a high cliff on the mountain, he finally calmed down. He couldn't take it, the regret on letting them die, because he knew Tanjiro is too kind and that has to change.

"Tanjiro, I promise, I'll bring them back!" He said as he flared his ki.

He flew up and started searching for Tanjiro. Not even a few minutes later, he already found Tanjiro mustering all his strength and telling Nezuko to not to turn into a demon. On the side, Lily stood up and walked towards Tanjiro clumsily.

He landed nearby and hid behind a tree as he listened.

Lily tried to talk to Nezuko who was trying to take a bite on Tanjiro's flesh, "Nezuko, fight the urge! Don't eat your nii-chan!"

"Fight it, Nezuko! Fight it!" Tanjiro added as he cried.

Nezuko started letting out tears as she heard their voices.

'It seems like he's here. To be honest, I want to be friends with him.' Raiden thought as he leaned on the tree he was hiding in and concealed his ki until his presence was also concealed, as if he wasn't there at all.

He watched as a swordsman with a blue-colored katana came in, trying to kill Nezuko. But with Tanjiro's interference, he only sliced off Tanjiro's tied hair.

A swordsman with mismatched haori, red on the right and patterned yellow and green on the left.

Tanjiro and Nezuko were both sent rolling until they hit a tree. Meanwhile, Lily who was having a hard time standing due to sprained ankle, was also sent back by the strong gust.

"Why are you protecting it?" the mismatched-haori swordsman asked without any emotion.

"She's my sister! She's my younger sister!" Tanjiro answered as he held Nezuko closely.

The swordsman only stared at Tanjiro and Nezuko. On the sidelines, Lily tried her best to stand up and walked towards the two.

"Nezuko!" Tanjiro called out as he kept Nezuko in his arms.

The swordsman stared for a bit before saying in a cold voice, "You call that thing your sister?"

Then the swordsman dash forward. Tanjiro tried to cover Nezuko with his body, only to see that he was hugging nothing. Lily finally arrived near Tanjiro as she finally mustered enough strength to walk and stabled her breathing.

Tanjiro was shocked until Lily said, "Tanjiro, over there!" and pointed to the side.

"Nezuko!" Tanjiro yelled. The swordsman said, "Don't move!"

A fine snow blown by the wind passed by them.

The swordsman talked, "My job is to slay demons. Needless to say, I'm going to decapitate your sister."

Hearing that made Tanjiro panic a little, "Hold on! Nezuko hasn't killed anyone!"

Tanjiro continued, "Back at our house, there was another scent that I'd never smelled before! That's probably the one who killed my family! It wasn't Nezuko! I don't know why she turned into something like that, but...but still!"

The swordsman interjected, "It's quite simple. Because her wounds were exposed to demon blood, she turned into a demon. That's how man-eating demons multiply."

Tanjiro denied, "Nezuko would never eat humans!"

"You got to be kidding me. Just now, you were about to be devoured." The swordsman stared a fact.

"Your wrong! I'm sure she knows who I am! I won't let her hurt anyone! I'm going to turn back into a human! I swear I'll heal her!" Tanjiro argued back.

The swordsman poured a cold water, "She can't be healed. Once you become a demon, you can never go back to being a human."

Tanjiro didn't stop, "I'll find a way no matter what! So, please... So, please don't kill her! I'll hunt down the one who slaughtered my family! I'll make everything all right! Please! Please! Don't do it!"

Tanjiro did a dogeza while begging, "I'm begging you not too... Please... Don't kill my sister... Please, don't do it... I'm begging you..."

'Tanjiro...' both Lily and Raiden whispered under their breath.

The swordsman saw him and gritted his teeth and yelled at him, "Don't ever give others a chance to murder you! Stop that pathetic groveling! If it was the least bit effective, your family wouldn't be dead! Can a weakling who can't take the initiative in a such a situation heal his sister?! Hunt down the enemy?! Don't make me laugh! The weak have no rights or choices! Their only fate is to be relentlessly crushed by the strong! The demons might know how to cure your sister! But don't think that a demon would respect your will or wishes! Even I, have respect for you, either! That's reality!"

The swordsman continued his mental assault, "Why did you throw yourself over your sister earlier? Was that your way of protecting her? Why didn't you swing your hatchet? Why did you show your back to me? All those blunders led to your sister's capture! I could've skewered your sister along with you!"

Tanjiro cried as he looked at him. Despair came over him as he realized all that he could've done, but didn't do it.

Raiden decided to appear, "Tanjiro, he's right." and he assumed a fighting stance.

His fighting stance: right foot on the front and left foot in the back; right fist in the front and left fist in the back, both only have the thumb, index, and middle fingers formed like a claw of a dragon; stance was very low to the point it will be hard to keep that stance longer than 10 minutes straight.

The swordsman pointed his sword at Nezuko and stabbed her.

"Stop!" Tanjiro yelled as he threw a rock towards the swordsman, who blocked it easily.

Then, Tanjiro ran towards his hatchet as wind with snow came, obscuring their vision.

Tanjiro quickly ran to the side as he picked up his hatchet and a rock in his hand. As he arrived at the side, Tanjiro threw the rock while tossing his hatchet upwards behind the three just right before he passed by.

The swordsman dodged the attack and Tanjiro came rushing forward, with his hands behind him, hiding the fact that he was unarmed.

"You fool!" The swordsman said as he knocked Tanjiro with the pommel of his katana.

(Where's his hatchet? And where's the other kid?) He thought as he looked up and saw the hatchet came flying into him with shock as he tilted his head to dodge.

Before he could think any further, he was hit in the stomach, making him lose his grip on Nezuko. Nezuko, seeing this chance, dashed forward towards Tanjiro.

(Damn it! She's going to eat him!)

But his expectations were denied by reality as Nezuko stood in front of Tanjiro with Raiden at the very front who punch him away with strength.

(What?!)

"Let's go, Nezuko!" Raiden shouted as both dashed forward and attacked the swordsman relentlessly.

(These siblings...) He thought as he dodged all quick jabs and low-stance attacks of Raiden.

(It seems like I'll need to fully use my power, then...) Raiden thought as he charged up for a moment.

At that time, the swordsman felt the force, but never been able to sense the energy coming from Raiden as he only felt that there is another force coming from Raiden that is blowing away all the snow around him.

While the swordsman was distracted, Nezuko came in and tried to attack, only to be knocked down with a chop on her neck.

When Raiden was finished charging up after a few seconds, he saw that Nezuko was down.

"Listen! You should go to Mt. Sagiri to find an old man named Urokodaki Sakonji. You'll-" before the swordsman could finished talking, Raiden appeared in front of him.

(So fast!!!) the swordsman instinctively attacked with his katana, [Total Concentration; Water Breathing, 1st form: Water Surface Slice] only for it to go through as the person in front of him disappeared. (Afterimage?!)

The swordsman quickly back away.

"You have quick reflexes. I'll give you that." Raiden's voice came ringing in his ear.

the swordsman looked up in the trees, only to see nothing but the cloudy sky, the leaves, and the branches of the trees.

Then, he felt like someone was behind him, he frozed. But he quickly recovered as he was ready to retaliate if Raiden will attack him.

"You're strong, let's be friends." Raiden said without much emotion.

"What?" the swordsman didn't know what to say as he was confused.

"You are someone worthy of my respect. You berated Tanjiro in order to give him the courage to come and attack you using his head. Even though your words are harsh, it did all the work for him to toughen up a little. My name is Shinikazuchi Raiden. Despite not being a Kamado, I'm still part of the Kamado family." Raiden said as he was looking at the cloudy sky.

"Now what?" the swordsman asked.

"What's your name? Also, aren't you going to say something about going to see someone?" Raiden reminded.

"Right. My name is Tomioka Giyu. Now, go to-"

"Stop right there. I think, you should save those words after they wake up. Sounds good?" Raiden asked.

Giyu nodded. Raiden quickly cleaned Nezuko's blood from her supposed to be wounds as it already healed. Giyu walked around and came back with a bamboo muzzle, ready to place it on Nezuko's mouth to hide her fangs. Raiden placed the faded bluish-gray kimono over Nezuko's yukata and laid her down near Tanjiro and Lily.

"So... What did you used earlier? It seemed like water to me." Raiden feigned ignorance at the fact that he knew it was Water Breathing style.

"What I did was called [Water Breathing]. By breathing, I can use it to unleash a strong attack. It has 10 forms, the 11th was created by me." Giyu said, but he doesn't have any intention on telling him the names of the forms.

Sensing that Tanjiro is about to wake up, he pointed at Tanjiro while looking at Giyu. Giyu just looked at Tanjiro, who was clutching on Nezuko's kimono.

"Tanjiro, you're awake, at last. You too, Lily." Raiden spoke first as he walked towards them. Giyu never saw Raiden's tail because his tail was wrapped around his waist, and the hole for his tail at the back was hidden underneath his big haori as he bought a big one rather than a small due to future growth spurt.

Tanjiro sat up along with Lily who complained, "The ground is cold, and the treatment is cold. Both physically and mentally have received cold treatment..." she said with loud enough voice to be heard by everyone, except the sleeping Nezuko.

"Alright, since you're all awake now, I'll say this just once. Go see an old man named Urokodaki Sakonji who lives at the foot of Mt. Sagiri." He passed a little and continued, "Tell him that Tomioka Giyu sent you."

Giyu took a few steps forward and said, "She seems to be all right since it's cloudy now, but never let her be exposed to the sunlight, okay?"

Giyu then vanished.

"Tanjiro, let's go back. You haven't prayed to them yet." Raiden said as he piggybacked Lily with his small body.

As they got back to their former home, they quickly searched for new clothes for them to wear as the ones they are wearing at dirty. Especially when Raiden just punched a wall of a cliff, dirtying his clothes. The ones who got their clothes dirty were Lily, Nezuko, and Raiden. Tanjiro can't use his spare kimono as it was splashed with blood.

Lily and Tanjiro prayed while Nezuko just stood there. Despite having no reaction on the buried family members, have deeply cares for them as well.

After they're done, the four of them trekked down the mountain with a basket just in case the clouds disperses so they can hide Nezuko from the sun. Sadly, the basket was not strong enough to carry more than 20 kilograms, and the big basket can't be used as it is too big and they'll also need to fortify it's durability.

As the thick clouds were about to disappear, they found a cave nearby and hid Nezuko in there while Tanjiro and Raiden tried to find something to make their travels faster as Nezuko can't be under the sunlight or even get a slight glimpse of it.