Asakusa arc: Return of Zettour

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Tanya was sitting outside in the sun, she was basically the only one out there since the demons were staying in the basement in order to avoid the sunlight that was coming in almost everywhere due to the hole made during the fight last night with the Arrow, temari, and monkey demon. She blinked while laying her head in her right hand. 

"Bored?" she heard Tanjiro say as he sat down. Tanya shook her head "Nah, but I might get going sooner rather than later. Unlike you and Mary I am not that injured." Tanjiro gave an understanding look "you just do not want Mary to fight with you right?" she narrowed her eyes at him "you know some people might find your sense of smell annoying." Tanjiro got the hint and gave a nervous laugh "s-sorry I cannot help it miss Tanya. But you know, if it were me I would not want that possible conflict just sitting there. I would want it over with." Tanjiro gave a small smile as he looked up at the sky "whenever any of my siblings had an argument they would ignore each other for days until my mom forced them to talk it out." 

Tanjiro spoke fondly of his mother and siblings. Tanya basically had no family in any of her life previous lifetimes, the Kocho family experience was a new one so she could only partially understand where he was coming from. "Yeah, sounds different from Kanae, she would just subtly hint that Shinobu and I should make up. Or just say 'you two are so alike.' it was irritating." Tanjiro opened his mouth but closed it quickly, he was going to say 'you smelled like admiration when talking about your oldest sister' but kept it to himself. "Okay, I will talk with Mary first. Please at least hold off leaving for a couple more hours though." Tanya gave a light sigh and then nodded. 

Inside the house, Mary was fumbling in the chair, Nezuko walked up to her and handed her a peach. She smiled at the demon girl "thank you Nezuko." she patted the girl on the head and bite into the peach. Tanjiro would then finally come back down "hey, Tanya is still outside. I think she was training out there for a bit." Mary nods and gives a somewhat ambivalent face of sadness and stress. "She is thinking of leaving soon, unlike you and I, she is not really injured and could probably handle a mission once her crow returns. 

Mary's eyes widen momentarily and she just nods. Tanjiro was not sure what to say after that. He had lost his family and there was so much he had wished he told them, he wished he had before they were gone. He felt Nezuko lay her head on his lap, he smiled and patted her head. 'At least I still have Nezuko. Still, I want them to clear the air soon.' Then Gunner walked up to them, "hey you three okay?" the two slayers look up at the tall demon and nod, Nezuko just stayed laying in her brother's lap. "Thanks for helping us, we would have been delayed having to pack this all up this night. Though we may need you to run up to get more of miss Tamayo's supplies." Tanjiro nodded "oh it is no problem, glad to help. I also hope those knives she gave us really help collect the blood of the demons she needs." 

Gunner smirks "I am sure it will." he looks over at Tamayo and Yushiro, who are going through the stuff that was already brought down to see what goes where. "Once night falls I will leave and rent a carriage should help us move quickly." Mary stares at Gunner for a little bit before she asks him "if you don't mind me asking, how did you find this place? Or those two?" For a moment Mary thought she crossed a line when she saw how Gunner looked, but the odd look he had changed to a happy one. 

"After I left Takoi village, barring some trouble along the way, I made my way here. At first, I was hunting Tamayo, as the fugitive she is." despite talking to the two humans near him, he kept focus on Tamayo and Yushiro who were busy packing up carefully to notice their conversation. "When I did find them, I was stronger than Yushiro. I thought I could grab her, but Tamayo's special art caused me to let my guard down. I was seething in rage, but before she left she told me 'You seem to have lost your way, what did you lose?' and I could not believe it." he chuckled to himself and finally stared at Tanjiro and Mary. 

"Mary, when I lost my leader, your father. I was lost, I killed humans on the way here not even when I was hungry. I cannot even dare to think about what he would think of me. Tamayo told me she could remove the curse if I agreed to never harm a human again. So I took it, I did not even know about how it decreased our need to eat humans so long as we just had a bit of blood." Mary smiled at Gunner after he said "because I wanted to not harm humans, and make up for what I did. Just like I knew Anton would have done." Mary stood up and then hugged Gunner "thank you Gunner." she whipped a few tears from her eyes. He nodded, he then headed over to help Tamayo and Yushiro pack. While Mary looked back at Tanjiro "I will talk to Tanya soon, just have to think about what to say first." Tanjiro nodded, and the girl walked upstairs. 

When Mary got upstairs, she looked around and saw Tanya swinging her sword in the air outside. She instantly froze, and hide even though Tanya had not been looking at her. 'what do I do?' she thought to herself, as talking with Tanya about this would be tough. She looked around and decided she needed fresh air, outside of the whole area. So she left out of Yushiro's fake walls. She only realized too late that if anyone saw that it would be cause for alarm. Luckily she exited where no one saw her phasing through a wall. 

Mary sighed, she slumped down and sat on the ground. "Hmm, what to do, what to do," she muttered to herself, utterly too scared to confront Tanya. While an actual sword-to-sword fight is the last thing she wanted, Mary was certain Tanya would take her down easily. She wanted to yell at Tanya and get a lot of things off her chest. She was just not confident enough to do it. "Hey!" she heard someone yell down at her. She looked up, and though it was difficult to see due to the person calling out to them not really being by the window. 

She saw the old man from last night waving down at her. "Want to come in for tea? You look like you need it." Mary blinked, standing to get a better view. "Come by the door, I'll be down there in a moment." though she had only met the man yesterday, she had no one else to really talk to at the moment without another person or demon overhearing. So she did walk to the door of the house. Meanwhile, Zettour chuckled as he adjusted the coat on his rotund form. "Seems I will have something to do while I wait," he spoke as he closed the door behind him, leaving bloodied clothes of the actual man who lived here behind. 

Back at Tamayo's house, Tanjiro walked outside where he expected to see Mary talking to Tanya, instead, he nearly ran into Tanya who was walking inside. "Hey Tanjiro, I am heading out, but I will say goodbye to the others." she was about to head downstairs but Tanjiro grabbed her shoulder "did you talk with Mary?" she shook her head "no, I thought she was still downstairs." she put her finger to her chin "I need to ask Tamayo for some info about demons. Go find Mary, if she is not back by the time I am done with I will be heading out." Tanjiro nodded to indicate he understood and Tanya walked downstairs. Tanjiro would sniff the air, but he could no longer catch the scent of Mary. "what?" confusion hit him until he realized Yushiro's power stop him from smelling anything outside the walls. "Does that mean she is out there? Where?"

The rotund old man, secretly Zettour, finished pouring tea for Mary. "thank you." she said softly before blowing on the top of the cup. "It is no problem, I did not expect you so soon." Mary nodded as she was not expecting the old man from last night to live so close, she had no idea what happened to the actual resident of the house. Zettour chuckled "perhaps it is fate, they say the lord works in mysterious ways. So perhaps I am meant to help you in some way." Mary smiled 'that is something a father would always say.' she thought to herself. 

Mary thought for a moment and then gave a apprehensive look. "It- well you know that girl I talked about last night?" Zettour took a drink of the tea and nodded "yes, I believe you mentioned her name was Tanya?" Mary nodded and said something that for a single second made the old man's cheeks twitch "she is here, where I came from. And I do not know if I am ready to talk to her about my issues. Or if I even can confront her, to begin with." she was obviously to unsure of herself. But Zettour smirked 'this is interesting, maybe tonight I could get far more than I bargained for.' 

After Mary took another sip of tea she said "but I don't know when I could can another opportunity like this." Zettour leaned forward in his rotund form "have you considered that you are overthinking this?" Mary blinked "what do you mean?" Zettour looked out the window, pretending he was thinking about how to answer Mary, in reality, he was thinking 'it will be a little while till sunset. Tamayo will be trapped there either way, but I need to use this to keep Tanya there as well.' 

Zettour nodded, making it seem like he had thought of what to say to her. "Little Sue, though I only know demon slayers due to my life being saved by them, I assume they must face great dangers." he started to say with a smile. "If you are too scared to talk to her, a fellow demon slayer, then I do not know how you survived this long." it was harsh, the shocked look on Mary's face was apparent. But before she could get a word in protest he said "if you are too scared of confrontation, verbal or physical, then either a demon would have killed you long ago or you would have never become a demon slayer, to begin with." 

It took Mary a few moments, but she knew he was right at least half right. She held her Haori, made by her father Yukata. "I only joined to avenge my father because I thought a demon killed him. I had no idea he was turned into one himself." a small shadow cast over her eyes when she said that. "Huh, some people would you are reckless for joining a dangerous profession for the sake of vengeance. And just because he was a demon does not mean you have accomplished your goal." Zettour grinned thinking to himself 'well don Anson, you are a useful tool even now in death.' 

Mary fiddled with her hair "well the only way I could avenge him now is by killing the head demon. But I am not that strong yet." Zettour shook his head "little girl, while that may be a long-term goal. You have a way to avenge your father now. After all, he was killed by Tanya." Mary's eyes widened, "w-wait Tanya did not turn him into a-" she was cut off by him saying "but she did cut off his head. He died, truly died, because of her." she shook a little, both her body and her head. Zettour sighed "of course regardless of what you do, whether metaphorical avenging or actual avenging, do it right. Do not back down." he drank the last of his tea and stood up, "well I am going to head back upstairs. Feel free to sit here as long as you need. If you think you have the time that is." that was his hint to head back as soon as possible.

Mary stood up and bowed to him "thank you for this talk." she said, grasping her arm. Zettour could see already she was boiling with both anger and confusion, perfect emotions to put her in a state of mind to confront Tanya. "No problem have a safe trip back." when Mary did leave she was approached by Tanjiro "there you are! Tanya is-" he sniffed the intense emotions coming off her "are you okay?" he asked, now second-guessing if now was the best time for Mary to talk to Tanya. She nodded with an angered brow adoring her face 

"perfectly fine Tanjiro. Let's head back." Mary went ahead of him, he was concerned. But he caught another scent "I smell human blood…but I do not smell a demon nearby." he looked around, and while it was late in the afternoon the sun was still up. "A demon cannot be outright?" he sniffed the air again, the scent was somewhere, but he could not pick up its exact location. He shook his head "maybe I hit my head too hard last night." Tanjiro would head back after that. Zettour smirked as he watched from the second-floor window "impressive, even with my disguise art that even changes my demon-like scent, he could still smell the blood just by being nearby." he rubbed his chin "he is one to gather later. But only after I confirm if the fugitive can actually turn humans into demons. And Tanya will make the perfect subject for that test." 

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Tanya bowed her head to Tamayo "thank you, though I wished I could know more." Tamayo smiled "if we meet again I would love to give more comprehensive notes, but for now I wish to focus on getting to safety." the girl rubbed the back of her head, a bit annoyed she would have to wait since all Tamayo could provide was information she or Shinobu already had. "Alright, be safe. I will be going now." she once again bowed at Tamayo, she said goodbye to Gunner and Yushiro as well. Nezuko came running up to her and she patted the demon girl on the head "see you around. Make sure you watch out for your brother just as much as he does you." Nezuko nodded, looking happy. 

When Tanya got outside she saw the sun was setting sooner rather than later. 'How long did we even talk?' it did not feel that long to her. "My crow should be back soon, if it does not have a mission for me maybe I will head over to Kyujuro's home." before Tanya could consider writing a letter for her crow to give to Rengoku she would hear "Tanya!" where she would then see Mary and a worried Tanjiro. 

Both Mary and Tanya just stared at each other for a moment. After another few seconds of it Tanya asked "if you have something to say go ahead. Otherwise you've said my name for no reason." she spoke bluntly, sure enough, it got a rise out of Mary, the look was similar to back at Takoi village. Mary marched forward "Tanya Kocho, I want to know why you spared one demon but not my father! You could have easily slain Nezuko in front of Tanjiro like you did my father for me!" Tanya felt sweat drops come down her head 'she came in hard, should have expected that.' she looked over at Tanjiro, who gave a confused look. As he was thinking 'I feel like saying that in front of me is just as worse.' 

Tanya stared blankly "simple. Nezuko, the demon, gave me a reason to. Unlike your father." Mary's teeth clenched for a moment. "What reason could it possibly be?! I was begging you and the others likely the same way Tanjiro begged you and Tomioka!" Tanya walked forward, not swaying in her cold expression "you clearly are not listening Mary. I said Nezuko gave me a reason. While Giyu may have helped convince me, unlike your father. Nezuko never ate a human, Nezuko when given the chance, protected her brother against me and Tomioka." 

Mary swayed for a moment, it was the exact same story Tanjiro said only Tanya spoke in broader senses. Tanya was not saying she would not kill Nezuko much like she did her father, but rather that the demon girl had not given her a reason so far to do it. The rational part of her knew Tanya did the right thing, but it still felt wrong to her.

The others who downstairs came up, due to the sun being up they had to be careful, but thanks to it setting they could still stand in spots they could not earlier. "What's the commotion out here?" Tamayo asked, her eyebrows lowering. "But why?" Mary said quietly, just barely enough for the rest to hear. "My father was turned into a demon against his will just like Nezuko! If I was there he probably would have never killed a human!" she shouted out, some tears in her eyes. Tanya shook her head, "but it does not change the fact he did. At this point I don't even know what you want, I can't reverse time you know?" she sighed 'though those two beings could if they cared they could have done it for her already.' 

"How can you be so blunt talking about this?!" Mary shouted as loudly as she could "you do not seem even remotely apologetic! You do not even seem to care!" Tanya was sure this would seem bad in the eyes of others, but by now her attitude toward Mary was annoying her. "Because I am not. I am sorry to you for having lost your father. But I am going to make this very clear, Mary Sue." she spoke the full name just like Mary had done to her earlier "I do not regret killing your father, and I am sure, at that moment I did. He was grateful for his time as a demon to finally be over!" 

Mary was now seething with rage, now looking more similar to the look she had when she battled Tanya in the previous world. Mary started reaching for her sword, and Tanya put her hand on her sword handle. "WAIT!" Gunner shouted, not in the middle of them. Mary blinked "huh? Its night?" she had been so blanked out to her surrounding that she did not notice the sun had set now. "Just barely, though thankfully Kamado was ready to act." the demon spoke as he looked over at Tanjiro who was actually about to run in the middle of them until Gunner got there first. Tanjiro nodded "of course, I don't want them to fight either." 

"Get out of my way Mr Gunner." Mary was a little more calm now, but she wanted to do this so badly. "Mary, you can't beat her. You two should not be fighting anyways." he would turn his attention on Mary "your father hated being a demon. I wish he could have known about lady Tamayo as well. He deserved meeting her and having the curse removed more then I do." he smiled over at Tamayo and Yushiro, the former of which was holding back running up and punching 'how dare he say that! Lady Tamayo would never waste her time on anyone! And to insinuate otherwise is ludicrous!' 

Mary felt some tears go down her face "b-but why-" out of everyone Nezuko was the one who came up and hugged her. Tanjiro smiled "I think Nezuko is happy to have met you. I am sorry for your loss Mary. I probably would have felt the same as you if I had lost Nezuko that day." he patted his sister on the head, who by now had stopped hugging Mary. "Mary." Tanya started to say as she walked forward "the last thing your father said to me, was to ask me to protect you. Even despite your 'act before you think' attitude." She smirked at Mary, who nodded with a sad expression. "I am not sorry for killing your father, and I never will be. But I will keep my promise to him so that he can rest in peace." Tanya held out her hand for Mary to take. 

Mary stared at it for a little while and reached her hand out, shaking it. "I, I am sorry-" she muttered out. Tanya just wanted this over with by now, but hopefully, Mary would finally calm down and she could leave. "Someone is here!" Yushiro suddenly shouted, he and Tamayo ran out of the house to join the others. It took a few seconds for the person Yushiro was talking about to come into view. A rotund old man. "Ah, I see you've worked it out." the old man said as he saw Mary and Tanya finish shaking her hands. Mary wiped her face, still a little tearful. 

"Stay away!" Gunner said standing in front of Mary, glaring at the old man. "How did he find this place? No one should be able to find it human or demon." Yushiro stood close to Tamayo, just in case. Mary rubbed her arm and walked up to the old man "He was the one that helped me get confidence to confront Tanya. Though I went to far. But it is probably my fault he found this place, he probably saw me either leaving or heading back in with Tanjiro." she said the last part sheepishly. The old man nodded. 

The others did not like this, the old man came in too casually. Tanya's hand was once again by her sword handle 'he just phased through a wall and the old man acts like it is no big deal?!' Mary's eyes soften as she says "guys he is alright, he just helped me is-" Tanjiro stepped forward, now also grasping his handle. He said shakingly "I…I can't smell him. Worse then that, the human blood smell…" he then shouted out "Mary watch out!" Mary would not see the now sharpened claw of the old man about to cut her. But Gunner got in the way, pushing Mary and getting his shoulder cut instead. "Ugh!" he grunted and then kicked the old man away. 

By now Tanya and Tanjiro had taken out their swords, and Nezuko was still confused and lost in the whole situation. Mary was shaken, the wound Gunner had healed, but he still seemed in pain. "Who the hell are you? Another demon sent here for Tamayo?" Tanya shouted as the demon slower stood up and began to change from round to skinny. The scent of a demon finally filled in the space around him for Tanjiro. "Who am I? Should I be offended that my old friend Ruderkodia never told you? Or did you simply forget?" three people, Tanya, Mary, and Gunner stood stunned. Standing before them was a demon they long thought dead. His eyes now saying 'lower 2' instead of 'lower 6' 

"It has been too long," Zettour said with a wide smirk. Tanya wasted no time, "fire breathing, third form" flames erupted from her blade as she slashed down at Zettour. The demon dodged easily, and nearly got Tanya with one of his claws. "You should be dead! I saw your head get cut off!" she shouted as Zettour stared back at her, not wanting to expose he used a disguised demon he said "I suppose I had some divine protection." those words further pissed off Tanya. "Blight blast!" Gunner shouted as he fired his blood demon art at Zettour. The lower 2 demons dodged again. Gunner coughed "damn it, don't tell me." he said to himself, as he looked at his hands, and started to notice his veins being lined out in white. 

Tanjiro was out of the loop on who Zettour was, but he noticed the markings in the eyes. "Miss Tamayo, is that a demon of the twelve Kizuki?" Tamayo nodded "yes, but that means he will be even stronger than those two from yesterday. And your wounds have not fully healed yet!" he looked over and saw Tanya and even Mary attempting to cut off the demon's head, Gunner seemed to oddly be standing still. 

He grasped his sword "they need my help, Yushiro please stay back and keep Nezuko safe as well." Yushiro made a 'grr' sound and said "Don't give me orders!" Tanjiro ran up, passing by Gunner. He noticed too late how close Gunner's smell was as suddenly he was grabbed by him "what you doing?" he shouted before he winced from the pain of being slammed to the ground. "Tanjiro!" Mary shouted looking back. Tanjiro opened his eyes and saw not just Gunner's hand in his face, but a prepared blight blast with the hand as well as Gunner being covered in white veins. "Mnn!" Nezuko shouted as she ran past Yushiro and attempted to get near Gunner who shouted out "STAY BACK!" his body twitched "i don't have control anymore…" he gasped as he struggled to even speak. 

"It is a fortune that Gunner was the first one I scratched. Seems you've forgotten the blood demon art I used against you all those years ago." Zettour was talking cheerfully despite the situation he put his opponents in, or perhaps because of it. "That is impossible, no one has two completely different blood demon arts!" Tanya shouted as Zettour shook his head "I have many more." he once again withheld the fact that his original blood demon art allows him to copy others so long as he drinks a significant amount of their blood. 

Zettour dusted the dirt that got on his uniform off. "If any of you move a muscle, I'll have Gunner blast the poor boy's head off." he had his hand raised, he would just have to say the word and Tanjiro would be dead. 'Oh no, why did I not see Gunner looking like this?' Tanjiro reiterated to himself how if he just looked at Gunner for more than a second, he could have avoided this. Zettour smirked, "of course, if you are okay with the boy dying we can continue our fight." 

He had them. Nezuko looked like she wanted to save her brother so badly. "I-it will be okay Nezuko, just stay right there," Tanjiro said, trying to look at his sister but the hand fidgeted whenever his head moved. "What do you want?" Tanya still had her sword ready, the look on Zettour's face never wavered. "I want the fugitive." he pointed at Tamayo, Yushiro stood more in front of her. He then pointed at Tanya "and you." 

"Me?" Tanya was sweating now, she was so close. 'If I act fast enough I can kill him.' she wondered if she could act before Zettour gave the order, everyone else seemed to be standing still. Frozen out of worry for Tanjiro. Zettour nodded "I heard that the fugitive alongside removing the curse, could turn people into demons. For a plan of mine to work I need strong followers. But why wait to gather demons? When I can just have them made for me. And you? I want you to be the first one to join my new army." he spoke coldly yet still smiled. Tanya gulped "like hell I am going to do that." Zettour nodded "understandable, Gunner kill-" 

"Wait!" Tamayo shouted out, pushing past Yushiro "I will surrender myself, please just take me and no one else." she pleaded, despite having moved Zettour decided to hold back his order. "Lady Tamayo you can't! He will bring you to Muzan!" Yushiro shouted, he could have moved, but he knew Tamayo would be quite sad if Tanjiro was killed because of him. Tamayo gave a small yet knowing smile back at her apprentice "I know, but I can't just let Tanjiro die." Tanjiro closed his eyes, 'no, this is my fault.' mary had similar thoughts 'if…if I had been paying attention Gunner would have never been cut, to begin with! It is all my fault!' 

Zettour shook his head "I could have just demanded all of your surrenders, I think you two is perfect enough compromise." he specifically looked at Tanya when saying that. Tanya made a 'tch' sound. In a single moment Zettour turned a four to one to his advantage 'he is Zettour all right.' she was trying to rack her brain, trying to find some way around this. But there was none, there was a high chance Tanjiro would die if she went for a slash on Zettour. The chances of her killing him before he gave his order to the controlled body of Gunner were far to low. 'I either let Tanjiro die but kill Zettour. Or I surrender?' 

This whole situation would have never happened in her previous life. She would have likely just let Tanjiro die in that world. But both Kyujuro and his mother flashed in the former army commander hesitate in doing it. Kyujuro would have surrendered himself if he was here. She was not Kyujuro, she was the furthest thing from, right? "Damn it," she muttered sheathing her sword. She then removed it from her belt and tossed it aside "there. Happy?" Zettour nodded "one last thing though." he was suddenly behind Tanya, she could have dodged easily, but she just let it happen. He hit a pressure point at the back of her neck, instantly knocking her out. 

Mary cried again, blaming herself for Tanya getting caught up in this. 'It…it is all my fault Tanya would have left before sundown if I did not have that argument with her.' she was not wrong, it really was her fault this time. Tamayo then walked forward, and then up to Zettour. In an instant, he cut her cheeks, only slightly but enough "lady Tamayo!" Yushiro yelled, but Gunner's body flinched. "It has been a pleasure." Zettour picked up Tanya's unconscious body, 'unlike demons, humans, especially ones like this one take a while for my blood to take control. So I will do it later with less trouble around.' 

Zettour snapped his fingers, as Gunner moved away from Tanjiro. Nezuko ran up to her brother and put her arms around him. "I, I am fine Nezuko," Tanjiro said, as he stared at the lower 2 demons who caused all of this. 'These are what the twelve Kizuki are like?' he shook a bit. Zettour would turn to leave, Tanya now serving as a hostage instead of Tanjiro. "I will come for the rest of you, the sense of smell will especially be worth it to me. So I recommend running." with that Zettour left, taking Tanya, Tamayo, and Gunner with him. 

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It was almost a couple of hours later. No one of the remaining four gave chase, knowing that Tanya would be vulnerable if they tried. Yushiro was still completely distraught 'Lady Tamayo…damn it. Gunner how could you let yourself be cut?' he knew it was to protect Mary, but he could not think straight after all of this. 

Mary sat there blank-eyed. "I should…" she whispered, looking at her sword. 'I should join my father now. After what happened. It was all my fault. Tanya and Miss Tamayo were taken, all because of me.' she felt a hand on her shoulder, it was Tanjiro. "We can't give up. We can still find them." Mary still grasped her sword "how? If we go after them Zettour could kill Tanya! If I had never stopped her Tanya would have been gone by now." she said in a sorrowful tone. "Then help me save her!" Tanjiro shouted, he was always friendly, but right now they needed to feel confident, not sad. "Mnnn!" Nezuko pumped her fist, wanting to help as well. 

"You'll need help finding them. If we can at least know where they are going we can find them without having to immediately risk their lives." Yushiro said, he still was angry. But he figured tears and anger could come during or after they save Tamayo and the others. Suddenly a cat with demon-like eyes appeared by his feet. "Whose cat is that?" Mary slowly stood up after she said that. Yushiro knelt down and petted the cat "this is Chachamaru, he can remain hidden and track them until finding where the lower 2 demons went with the others. I will travel with you until daytime, keep going and I will catch up when I can." 

Tanjiro nodded "we will need more help than that." he grinned, thinking of Zenitsu and Kanao. "And I know people who can help." Mary stood up "we will likely need a Hashira's help. We can get send a letter to Tomioka so that we have help from someone who already knows about Nezuko." Tanjiro gave a thumbs up, as did Nezuko. But he then tapped his chin "actually, do you know where to send messages to Tanya's older sister and her partner?" 

Mary nodded "why?" Tanjiro looked at his sister "if someone I cared about what in trouble I would want to know. So even if there is a risk. I want them to at least know Tanya is in trouble." Yushiro walked forward, having by now sent Chachamaru after Zettour. "We should hurry. I do not want to waste any time that could be used saving Tamayo or Gunner." he coughed "oh and that Tanya girl as well." 

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Kanao was reading a letter delivered by Tanjiro's crow, she dropped it when she was finished. She ran to her sister's room, where she saw Giyu and Shinobu holding letters of their own. Though both seemed distraught like she was. "Oh hello Kanao, did you receive troubling news about Tanya as well?" Kanao nodded. 

Shinobu looked at Giyu, "the two of us have a mission to go on. While I hope to join you as soon as I can, please. Help this Tanjiro boy is, save our sister." Shinobu did not want to lose another sister, never again. Kanao nodded. Giyu stood up "good luck." he said plainly, the best he could muster at the time. 

Zenitsu was asleep, having unknowingly slain a demon. Tanjiro's crow squawked loudly but the boy did not wake up. "Wake up, wake up!" it shouted only got an answer from Zenitsu's sparrow. The crow was done with this and simply left the letter on the boy's chest before flying off. 

 "WHAAAAAAAAAAATT?!" Kyujuro shouted after he read the letter Mary's crow had dropped off while he was training. "W-what is wrong?" Senjuro asked when he heard his brother shouting even louder than usual. The flame hashira through on his uniform, "I have to get going. Tanya is in trouble!" he shouted as he fumbled the top part of his uniform back on. He would save Tanya, he had to!