Tsuzumi mansion/rescue mission arc: the boar bears its fangs, Mary prays, Zenitsu sleeps

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Tanjiro, Kyujuro, Zenitsu, and Kanao made their way through the forest, seeing the occasional footprint left behind by Zenitsu. "Well, at least we know that boar child came this way!" Kyujuro shouted loudly. Tanjiro seemed uncertain "maybe, but I am catching a faint scent of something else." saying that made Zenitsu shake and frantically look around "where?! Is it another demon?!?!" Tanjiro sniffs the air again. "Yes, but its coming in the direction we are heading anyways." 

Zenitsu backed up a little before Rengoku suddenly picked him up. "PERFECT! That is probably the demon we are after! Forward!" he shouted as he carried a frantically struggling Zenitsu in his arms "NO WAIT, let me go back I just know I am going to be eaten by that demon!" Tanjiro still rubbed his chin as they ran forward, "hmm." he sniffed the air again. Kanao looked at him "what is wrong?" the other boy gave an unsure look "I think I smell more than one or 2 demons. But the others fainter, maybe I am wrong?" Kanao was not sure how to answer. 

Eventually, they made it to a house that looked run down, in the middle of a forest so it was understandable why. "Well, let's head inside!" Rengoku, or Kyujuro, dropped Zenitsu who then back up on his butt. "Y-you can't be serious! The demon is probably waiting for us in there!" Kyujuro nodded "indeed, but we must save Tanya and any other human trapped inside. The boar child is probably in there by now as well!" Tanjiro sniffed the air, Kyujuro was right, Inosuke's faint scent was ended at the door of the dilapidated mansion. "H-hello" hearing the meek voice of a little girl they turned to see a girl and a boy, shaking with fear and tears in their eyes. 'I was so focused on demon smells I did not even notice them, Tanjiro mentally berates himself for this.

Tanjiro approached the two children "hello, I am Tanjiro, and these are my friends. What is your name?" he asked calmly, his warm smile calmed the two children down. "I-I am Shoichi, and this is my sister Teruko." the boy said in a shaky voice. "HELLO Shoichi and Teruko, I am Kyujuro Rengoku, Pleasure to meet you!" the children started shaking again due to the loudness of Kyujuro's voice, and also because of his wide smile and large eyebrows, the combination of which scared the children a little. "Eh? Something wrong?" the flame Hashira asked, not knowing he was the cause of the fear returning. "It is fine, he is the strongest one of us, if you know what happened please let us know," Tanjiro asked calmly again, the children nodded. Kanao smiled and thought to herself 'Tanjiro is so great with children.' 

"W-we were walking during the night when some big creature took our older brother," Teruko said with a small bit of tear in her eyes. "W-we followed them here but we don't know what is going on inside." Tanjiro rubbed his chin "did the creature look skinny and wear a military uniform?" The little girl shook her head, as her brother then said "no, they looked odd, and had drums all around their body." Tanjiro's eyes furrowed 'I was right, other than the demon Mary went after, there is more than one demon in the mansion.' 

"Very well, we shall head inside, and save your brother along with every other human trapped inside!" Kyujuro shouted confidently since they had already come here and now know more than one human kidnapped inside. "guys…I hear drums, I think. Coming from inside." they all looked confused at Zenitsu, who had a hand by his ear as he did earlier when he heard the explosive sounds. He heard one beat of the drum, then another, and another, and another. Before someone flew out of the window, a boy in a grey yukata, who then fell to the ground covered in blood. 

"AHHHH!" the two children, and zenitsu, shouted out when they saw. With the boy hides his sister directly from the sigh and looks away. "Don't look!" Tanjiro said as Kyujuro then approached the bloodied boy, kneeling down. he could tell the boy was no more than a corpse. He closed his eyes for a moment, and then stood up. "Young kamado, how many demons?" he asked calmly, which was slightly off-putting. Tanjiro sniffed the air "I…I can't tell, we know two are in there, I smell maybe two or three more." Kyujuro nodded. "Was that your brother?" Kanao asked as she tilted her head at the children. The boy shook his head "no, o-our brother wears an orange yukata." 

Kyujuro closed the eyes of the boy who did fall out, "we will have to bury him later. First, we head inside." Tanjiro and Kanao nodded, but Zenitsu held his and shook it "A-ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Did you not see him flying out of there?! I may not have heard what happened exactly but those beating drums scared the ever-living hell out of me!" Zenitsu freaked out on the ground, Tanjiro sighed "then you can stay here with the kids, keep them, and…" he was about to say Nezuko, but Kyujuro was still there. "...just keep them safe." he then took the box off his back and placed it by Teruko and Soichi "hey, can you please watch over this while I am in there?" the two children nodded. 

Tanjiro walked beside Kanao and Kyujuro, ready to enter the mansion. "Young Kamado, what is that box if you don't mind me asking?" Tanjiro flinched, he had been afraid of Kyujuro asking that. 'I have to tell him, Nezuko could be in danger otherwise, not to mention miss Tamayo inside. He might kill her if he sees her due to her still being a demon.' he clenched his fist, unsure of how to tell Kyujuro anything, he was helping them, and he had the right to know. Kanao placed her hand on Tanjiro's shoulder, nodding her head. It helped calm Tanjiro down a little, she and Zenitsu were there, he hoped if the worst happened they could help him. "It is…" 

Before Tanjiro could finish Kyujuro started backing up, and then suddenly ran forward and jumped. Tanjiro spewed out as did Zenitsu. Kanao just watched with a smile, a blank one. The eternally smiling flame hashira landed on the window that the corpse flew out of, he waved from above them. "Never mind, you can inform me after we have completed our mission. You two enter from the front door. Good luck young Kamado and Tsuyuri!" he did not call out Zenitsu's name, since he thought the scared boy was staying behind. He then entered the home, "wait!" Tanjiro shouted out, but the other man was gone. "I hesitated to long…" he muttered, and then shook his head, he had to hope it would all work out, or that he would find Tamayo first. If the woman were not already being protected by Tanya. 

"Come on, let's go Kanao!" Tanjiro and Kanao went inside, "w-wait for me!" Zenitsu said as he was far too scared of a demon escaping and fighting them alone outside than going inside with the others, something he failed to think about was that the sun was still up for a few more hours so he likely would have been fine otherwise. 

The three of them walked through the entrance hallway a little bit, Zenitsu whimpering at the back of them as he made constant head turns. "oh…Tanjiro." Kanao gets the boy's attention, as she points behind Zenitsu and it appears Teruko and Shoichi followed them inside. "Why did you two follow us? I asked you to stay back and watch my box." Tanjiro said as she knelt down and patted Teruko's head as the girl still seemed tearfully in fear. "W-we did not want to wait out there. We wanted to help find our brother." some sweat beat down Tanjiro's head, now Nezuko was alone in her box outside. "T-that is sweet of you, but I really wish you hadn't. What's in that box is more important to me than my own life." 

While this was happening they all heard some drums notes. Zenitsu jumped and hugged the closest person to him out of fear, that person was Shoichi. The boy blinked "um…can you get off me?" Tanjiro stood up as the drumming sounds became louder and more frequent, before suddenly he found himself in a whole other room, with Teruko and Kanao there with him looking equally as confused. "H-huh? What happened?" meanwhile Zenitsu and Shoichi found themselves in another room as well, a different one. "AHHH, what the hell?! How did we teleport suddenly?!" Shoichi just had a blank face as he said "didn't you come here to stop the creatures in here?" 

Meanwhile, Tanya grumbled "great, another room switch." she started making her way out of the room, but paused as she felt more stinging sensations. "Damn it, I don't know how much longer until Zettour fucking blood takes over my body." she had been trying to get out of here for a while now, but every time she spots a window, or the stairs, she finds herself in another room. "I don't know how I got freed, but it feels like I am neither being helped nor impeded right now." it felt as though whatever was happening was not the Tsuzumi demon's doing, it was too random. 

"Somehow I have not run into a demon until now either." Tanya counts herself lucky, but she is on a time limit. Even if she gets out she has to put distance between her and the demons before the sunset, and hopefully, before Zettour's blood makes it to her brain. Unfortunately for her the moment she leaves the room and into the hallway of the upper floor, a hand reaches for her and causes her to jump back, nearly interrupting her concentrated breathing. She glares at the small demon that seeming acted as Zettour's second in command, Ubar. "haha, I don't know what that idiot Kyogai was thinking banging his drum and setting you free, but once I capture you lord Zettour is sure to allow me to bring in the fugitive instead of him!" 

Tanya's eyes narrowed, she had figured from what she heard when blindfolded that the demon working under Zettour this time bickered a lot, something which was likely to do with the fact demons rarely group up at all. "Hmpm, seem Zettour forgot how to keep order in his command." Tanya muttered as Udar growled, "don't talk about lord Zettour like that!" Udar jumped at Tanya again, despite his hand not being near her Tanya feels something touch her cheeks before she jumps back again and starts to run. "What was that?" she had not to time to think, she did not have her sword right now, so the best she could do was book it. 

By the top window, Kyujuro and Zettour were staring each other down and had been ever since Kyujuro jumped into the window a few moments ago. "So you're Zettour right? I thought you died a couple of years ago when we tricked your own puppet into killing you!" he referred back to Tanya's plan when Zettour had control of general Ruderkodia. Zettour smirked "I have many tricks up my sleeve, but I doubt it could happen again since soon Tanya will be under my control." 

Kyujuro's cheeks flinched a bit, but he kept smiling. "I see, thank you for reminding me." he reached for his sword and pulled it out, holding it over his shoulder "I came here to save her." Zettour's claws pulled out from his hands, "the question is, do you think you can slay me before I nip you once?" Kyujuro's smile widened and only breathed in and out. "Flame breathing, fifth form: Flame tiger!" a mass of flames surround his sword, and he jumped at Zettour from the window. 

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Mary stopped at some point in the forest. "I see, the sun still shines here but the deeper I got in, the more the trees covered. The demon has to be close." she wondered a little further in, but an intense smell overcame her. "Yuck, what is that?" she held her nose, not wanting to get close. But as she walked just a bit closer, it smelled more of burnt flesh. "Oh no…" she muttered as she pushed past some bushes, some fallen trees that had been burnt a little from the trunk, and worse, the body of a woman in the middle of them. 

"No please be okay!" Mary said hopefully. She ran up and pulled the woman out, but the body was disfigured, hit by the same attack that was done on these trees directly. Mary slowly held her hands together "I…I was not fast enough. I am sorry." she said quietly, saying a prayer afterward. She heard some footsteps, and instinctively reached for her sword, and turned around to see Gunner, under a tree, aiming at her from a few feet away. She hesitated, before having to jump away at the last moment. "Ah." she winced as she held where her wounds from before were, and looked over at Gunner who was shakingly raising his hand for another attack. 

'He was the demon that…' Mary looked over at the woman's body, the burns were likely the result of a direct hit of the blight blast. She seethed her teeth "Mister Gunner it's me! Mary sue! Please, don't" she had to duck her head, a bit of her hair getting caught up in another blight blast. She had to get distance, when moving behind a tree she failed to notice the controlled gunner walking into a bit of sunlight, feeling his skin burnt and having to move around other trees to get closer. 

Kneeling behind a tree Mary looked over at Gunner, his face somewhat hidden by the shades of the tree. "Mister Gunner stop this, you said miss Tamayo helped you, that you would never hurt another human because of it!" Mary shouted out as she attempted to speak to his humanity, even if he had no control over his own body. She saw his hand shaking with hesitation, and slowly she came out from the tree she was hiding behind. "It will be okay, Tanjiro and the others will stop Zettour, and save Tamayo, everything will be alright." close up she could see the tearful eyes of Gunner, but unfortunately, he fired his attack right when she was out in the open. 

"You idiot move!" Mary felt herself be yanked aside before the blast hit her. "Yushiro?" Mary said as the other demon that assisted tamayo removed his hidden ability, seems he had been following them this whole time. 

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"Hmm, any demons yet?" Zenitsu asked shakingly behind Shoichi. The boy was sweating a lot "n-no, it is alright." he was perplexed, he thought that Zenitsu was like Tanjiro, and was prepared to fight these creatures, demons he called them? Suddenly as they turned a corner, they saw someone wearing a boar mask. "AHHHHHHH!" they both scream thinking it was a demon, but after a little bit the boar mask wearer, Inosokue growled, "STOP YELLING!" 

After calming down Zenitsu growls "Inosuke?! Why the hell did you run ahead like that?!!" he yelled at the boar boy, who scratched his head "You blunder head, if all of us were together I could have had someone stay behind with me, no no, because of you everyone just ran in!" he blamed Inosuke for something that really was not his fault. Inosuke just heard an insult and said "what did you say?! Do you wanna fight?" he raised his two swords. Zenitsu's eyes widened to frightening degrees, he picked up Shochi and ran. Screaming his head out while the boy yelled at him to put him down. Inosuke huffed "whatever, I just want to find those three demons from before that drum went off and I lost em!" Inosuke then ran in the opposite direction. 

"Phew that was close," Zenitsu said as he wiped his forehead. Shoichi blinked "...wasn't he on your side?" during this deep confusion, they both backed away from the door of a room, hearing a slithering voice say "wellsss, seems I found a couple of new pieces of meat to satiate my hunger." Zenitsu and Shoichi's faces went dark with fear as they saw a crawling demon with a long sword. "AHHHhh, what the hell is that?!?" Zenitsu yelled out as he hunched over on the floor. The tongue demon looked amused by the loud shouting "scared? You should be." its long tongue moved around, longer than the length of the whole demon's body. "No no, stay away!!" Zentisu shouted before suddenly a large gasp came from his mouth, as he fell over onto his back. 

"Z-Zenitsu…did you just-" Shoichi said in horror as Zenitsu fell over and seemed unconscious, no, he was asleep? "Huh?" both the human boy and the tongue demon were confused, how did this happen? "Heh, fine, makes him easier to eat." the tongue demons eyes landed on Shoichi. "But first, a feast that moves." Shoichi yelped and then hunched down over Zentisu "h-hey if you can hear me wake up! Come on. Aren't you one of those guys? Aren't you meant to kill those demons?!" Shoichi looked up as the tongue demon whipped his tongue out towards the two, at him.

But it never reached, in a quick motion something cut the tongue. "Eh?!" the tongue demon spouted as Zenitsu stood up, and hunched over with one leg straight back and the other knee forward. A loud bit of breathing released from his mouth "thunder breathing, first form…" The tongue back away, but Zenitsu had somehow gotten faster "...thunderclap and flash!" in a nearly instantaneous motion, Zentisu followed by sparks of thunder was behind the demon, its head removed from its body. "H-huh? What happened? A moment ago…" the demon's head flopped on the ground, as it disappeared. Shoichi was in awe, "Z-Zenitsu…" he was grateful to be saved, but then Zenitsu once again fell on his back, asleep. He sighed, "I suppose at least he saved me." 

Meanwhile, Inosuke rushed down a hallway. Itching to find a demon to fight. When a large and round one came out from one of the rooms. "Well well, an uninvited guest. Seems I will have to show you how intruders are treated." the horned demon said as it held its arms out. Inosuke gruffed and huffed under his mask. "Weak." he said he instantly cut through the large arms of the horned demon and jumped, "second fang, slice." in an X-like motion his duo sword cut through the demon's neck. He then landed on the floor behind the demon and kept running not even looking back at the horned demon as it disappeared. "Where are the strong demons?! Come out and fight me!" 

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"I said Move out of the way!" Yushiro once again pulled Mary away as the controlled Gunner fired off another of his blood art. They went behind a tree, a bit of sun shining making Gunner once again change his position. "You idiot, what are you doing?! You can easily get Gunner, the only reason I haven't is that I risk falling into the sun just as much as he does!" Yushiro reprimanded Mary as she smacked her on the head. 

Mary rubbed her forehead "s-sorry, but shouldn't we try to help him? Isn't Gunner your friend?" she said with a somewhat angry-looking face. Yushiro sighed, while the girl just huffed "oh that's right, you just want him out of the way so that you have Tamayo all to yourself." Yushiro blushed "N-no! I would never! You damn idiot, I am telling you to do it because I know I am Gunner's friend because it's what he wants!" seeing Mary's confused, still tearful look, Yushiro sighed, and looked over at Gunner position. "Gunner has not killed a human in two years, because he vowed not to for both Tamayo…and your father, Anson." he looked back at Mary. "and now, he killed one, likely more than one, because of Zettour. He wants to be killed so that he can neither kill another and so he can make up for the ones he did kill." 

Mary wanted to say no, wanted to say Yushiro was wrong. But despite the tree hiding them, she could see Gunner's tearful face. 'That is… is why he does not blame…Tanya.' she finally understood, she still hated it, but she finally understood why Gunner could somewhat forgive Tanya. She stood up "stay here," mary said to Yushiro as she left behind the tree, and pulled her sword out. Gunner raised his hand, while Mary said quietly under her breath "dear lord above…" she then ran at Gunner, who fired his blight blast. Mary dodged and ducked as more were fired at her, silently saying a prayer. When she got close enough, she finished and said "blessed breathing, first form; Slash of the faithful!" it was one quick motion, and Gunner's neck was cut. 

His head fell to the ground, Mary shakingly held her sword, and small bits of tears fell down her face. "Mary…thank you." she turned to see Gunner disappearing head smiling at her. "Oi, Yushiro you there?" he yelled out as Yuhiro poked his head out from behind the tree. "Good, tell lady Tamayo I am sorry that she had to see me kill humans, and that I won't be there to help you two anymore." Yushiro seethed his teeth "we will be fine without you!" the boy huffed and turned away "don't worry, I will protect Lady Tamayo as you did us for all that time. Thank you…my friend." 

Gunner smiled, before he fully disappeared he looked over at Mary "I will join your father and watch you from heaven, try not to let us down." Mary simply bowed her head trying to wipe th tears from her face, Gunner's head and body fully disappearing not long after. 

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Tanjiro along with Kanao and Teruko made their way down the halls. "T-Tanjiro, are you sure we will be safe?" the body nodded down at the girl who was holding his hand. "Don't worry, Kanao and I will protect you if anything happens. We will find your brother, as well our friends soon." he tried to reassure her, as both he and Kanao were close. Kanao was trying to ignore this fact, as thankfully the dark hallway covered her small blush. 

Tanjiro opened a door, "s-stay away!" they heard when they looked inside there was a boy with a Tsuzumi drum in his lap, as well as a woman with a bleeding head next to him, Tamayo. "Kiyoshi!" Teruko yelled as she pulled her hand away from Tanjiro and ran up to her older brother, hugging him close. "T-teruko? What are you doing here? And who these two?" he asked, his sister responding "they are here to help us." she said as she wiped the tears from her eyes. 

"Miss Tamayo, glad to see you are okay…well." Tanjiro noticed she was bleeding. This was due to the fact she had not eaten anything, even a little blood, so her healing was slow. "I am fine, thank you, I am glad to see you here. And who is this little girl?" she asked as she looked over at kanao who waved at her. "Don't worry, she knows about Nezuko, and you." Tanjiro said as Tamayo nodded "still though, keep your distance. If Zettour shows up I don't know if I will be able to control my body and I may attack you." Tanjiro clenched his sword, they still needed to find Tanya, but Tamayo was safe for now. 

"Tanjiro!" Kanao pulled on the boy's uniform. They saw a demon, Kyogai, with drums on his shoulders, waists, and back. As well as a hole where one would be, the one that Kiyoshi has. "Grr, annoying pests, first they stop me from grabbing that marechi for Zettour. Then the woman attacks me, and then that damn boar runs in and cuts off one of my drums. They keep getting in my way." Kyogai grumbled under his breath, seemingly not noticing the five people in the room he was standing in. Tanjiro takes out his sword and moves toward the demon. "Water breathing.." Tamayo holds her hand out "wait Tanjiro!" 

Kyogai hits a drum on his shoulder, suddenly the room they were in behind spinning, "ahhh!" Teruko shouts. "Oh no, it started moving. How?" Tanjiro had to act fast and managed to save Teruko from landing hard against the wall that now served as their floor. Tanjiro was grateful that Kanao stopped Kiyoshi and Tamayo from the same. They looked above them, where the demon stood. "Grr, pests. All of them!" Kyogai hits the drums, again and again, causing the room to spin. Tanjiro and Kanao try their best to keep up and prevent the others from getting hurt, but it was hard to keep up. 

Suddenly Teruko, Kiyoshi, and Tamayo fell through a door not beneath them. Kiyoshi landed on the drum he had, and suddenly the room changed. Now all that remained was Tanjiro, Kanao, and The demon. "Grrr, I will kill you both for getting in my way." Tanjiro grasped his sword 'I hope Tamayo and those kids can be safe.' he looked over at Kanoa, who took out her sword. Their fight would hopefully prove their success, or the others might not make it. 

Tanya rushed ahead of Udar, the short demon chasing her. But every time she moved away, she felt something just barely touch her. 'This is getting annoying.' suddenly, she and Udar heard a drum note. 

"Fourth form, blooming flame undulation!" Kyujuro cut away one of Zettour's hands, but it quickly grew back. "Getting sick of this game of cat and mouse?" Zettour said with a grin. Kyujuro kept his grin "calling yourself a mouse is hardly good for morale. You should speak better about yourself!" Zettour was not sure if he should take that as a compliment from the flame Hashira or not. Kyujuro prepared another technique, as both jumped at each other, they heard a drum note. 

Tanya, Udar, Kyujuro, and Zettour all appeared in the same large yet bloody room. In one quick glance, Tanya and Kyujuro grinned. Turning his whole body mid-jump to avoid an attack from Zettour, Kyujuro would then jump off Zettourm, pushing the lower 2 demons into a wall, and then Tanya would duck her head, allowing a clean cut through Udar's neck with the flame technique originally meant for Zettour. "W-what?!" the short demon shouted in surprise as he and his head landed on the ground. 

Tanya and Kyujuro would land side by side. "I am glad to see you TANYA KOCHO!" Kyujuro shouted out proudly. Tanya kept her own grin up "I am not unhappy to see you to Kyujuro." both of them noticed the white outlined veins were now fully covering Tanya's hands. "Its okay, we will slay this demon quickly like we always do!" Kyujuro shouted as he took out another sword from his belt, Tanya's sword. Not usually the optimistic type, Tanya felt that with Kyujuro here, Zettour's time was limited.

Tanya unsheathed her sword, both of them looking at Zettour who was back on his feet. "Impressive you two, but not enough," Zettour said with a smirk, as suddenly Udar was beside him, perfectly fine. The short demon snickered and obviously has not revealed his true power. "Now can you cut our necks before that blood takes you over? I suppose we will find out, strategist to strategist." Zettour said specifically to Tanya. Neither she nor Kyujuro was backing down, they were going to kill him, they had to. 

While Zettour thought to himself 'why…why do I have this feeling looking at Tanya? That I've seen her before? Both familiar, yet different at the same time' he would only try to get his answers after the girl and the boy was under his control.