Rising Sun

Jumping away from their positions, Hiroto and Mitsuri dodged the attacks of the head as they crashed into the ground they were just standing on.

While in the air, Hiroto saw the ground below Mitsuri start to shake slightly. Widening his eyes, he quickly reacted and shouted, "Mitsuri! Below you!"

*BOOM* Without having time to react, another wooden dragon head burst through the ground from below her.

*swish* Mitsuri swung her sword downwards at the head, but it opened its mouth and clamped shut on her whiplike sword.

*whoosh* Whipping its head back, it dragged Mitsuri and her sword in an arc through the air and slammed her into the ground.

*BOOM* "Gahh!" Mitsuri yelled out in pain.

"Mitsuri!" Hiroto yelled, jumping towards a dragon's head and using it as a springboard to propel himself forward towards Mitsuri.

*crack* Destroying the wood under his feet, Hiroto jumped forward with extreme speed and in one motion passed over the wooden dragon that held onto Mitsuri's sword.

*swish* Slicing down at its neck, Hiroto severed it entirely, causing it's wooden jaw to slack and releasing Mitsuri.

"Get up! We can't afford to rest or worry about our wounds!" Hiroto shouted, running and jumping over Mitsuri to cut off another wooden head, then kicking off it to launch himself towards another head.

"If that's not the real body, then how are we going to beat it!" Mitsuri yelled to Hiroto as she got up and dodged another attack that was aimed at her.

*crack* "SCRE-" *thud* Cutting off a head that was about to scream, Hiroto spoke up as blood on his face flowed down past his eyes, "By living! Tanjiro and the others are finding the real body, so all we have to do is live!"

Looking towards Hiroto, Mitsuri saw the figure of him jumping past the various wooden dragon heads, shouting as he dodged and sliced them apart while blood flowed down his face and drenched his clothes.

'That's right… he never fully recovered yet. And yet, he's still fighting. Pushing his broken body forward.' Gritting her teeth, Mitsuri narrowed her eyes and weaved past 4 different heads, leaving splinters and shattered bark in her path.

"I can't just let you do all of the work since I'm a Hashira!" Mitsuri yelled as tears flowed from her eyes.

Arriving next to Hiroto,*BOOM* she used her strength to kick away one of the heads that were about to chomp down towards Hiroto. Although she was a slim girl, don't let that deceive you. Hidden under that, is an inhumane strength, one that is about 8 times the power of a normal adult male.

"I'll hold the heads back, you get the Demon!" Mitsuri yelled out, rushing forward with even more speed than she had before.

Hiroto's right hand felt itchy. Looking towards Mitsuri's back, he somehow felt the scar on his hand was almost extending out towards her.

"What are you waiting for! Go!" Mitsuri turned to yell at Hiroto. The moment she did, Hiroto saw a mark on her collarbone.

'Wait, she doesn't have a birthmark, what is that? Why do I feel so familiar with it even though I've never seen it before.' Hiroto shook his head and concentrated on the task at hand.

With the path being cleared ahead by Mitsuri, Hiroto launched himself forward and performed one of his techniques.

'Dance of the Fire God, Flash Dance'

Inhaling as much oxygen as he can, Hiroto increased the amount of blood that was pumping throughout his body and focused it all into his legs. Leaning forwards, he pulled his sword behind him. The scar on his right hand seemed to have transformed once more to a fiery pattern as it extended up his arm and to his neck.

*BOOM* Kicking off the ground, Hiroto left a large indentation on the ground as he sprung forward.

*bam*

The Demon saw this and hit another drum on his back, sending dozens of lightning strikes at him.

Hiroto's eyes narrowed, turning a bright red and purple hue.

'Breath of Silence, Final Form: Silent Night'

*KACHA* *BOOM* dozens of lightning strikes fell upon where Hiroto was, lighting up the night forest as debris was kicked up and blasted in every direction.

However, Hiroto had already disappeared before the strike hit him. The Demon stood still, with his eyes in disbelief as he stared at the empty spot where Hiroto stood.

Time seemed to have stopped, as the Demon stood still. Without saying a word, he looked down at his own hands, as they got bigger and bigger.

*thud* The Demons head fell onto the Demon's spread out hands. Standing behind him was Hiroto with his bloodied red blade as it shone on the moonlight.

"You may not be the main body, but I can still put you down regardless," Hiroto said, turning around to face the Demon.

"You…" The Demon muttered, staring at Hiroto's face. His body began to sway and then fell towards the ground.

*crack crack* *THUD THUD* "Kyaah!" Mitsuri yelled out, as the wooden dragon head that she was standing on suddenly collapsed and fell apart to the ground.

Quickly realizing what he had to do, Hiroto took out a needle from his pocket and threw it at the Demon's body. *shik*

Taking back the blood-filled needle, Hiroto looked towards where Mitsuri was and saw her under a pile of wood, but unharmed as she struggled to free herself.

Taking this chance, he called the cat out and gave it the needle. "Here, take this. Don't leave yet, there might be more." Hiroto lightly scratched its head.

"Meow." The cat meowed and disappeared into the forest.

Giving one last glance at the child Demon, Hiroto ran to where Mitsuri was and helped her out of the rubble.

"Ow ow ow. It hurts soo muchhh Hirotooo. And my body feels so tired." Mitsuri complained as she leaned on Hiroto's shoulder.

Hiroto briefly glanced at her collarbone and saw that the flower mark seemed to have disappeared. "Well, it's not over yet. This wasn't the real body, remember?"

As soon as Hiroto finished his words, the first rays of daylight hit his face. Hiroto paused, and slowly looked towards the Sun.

His face turned white as he said, "It's morning… Nezuko."

Letting go of Mitsuri, Hiroto ran forward but stumbled as the fatigue hit him much like 100 logs falling onto him.

Stabbing his sword into the ground, Hiroto's hand bled as he gripped the handle with as much force as he could, enduring the pain.

"Hiroto! You can't move, you're too injured!" Mitsuri came to his side.

"It doesn't matter! I have to go! It's morning, Nezuko's in danger!!" Hiroto yelled and shook Mitsuri off.

"Wait, Hiroto!" Mitsuri yelled after him, but Hiroto had already pushed his body to the limit and ran off, leaving a trail of broken debris and leaves in his wake.

Running through the forest, he could feel the muscles and bones in his body starting to collapse under his body weight.

"I...Can't stop! Need to...Find… GAH… Nezuko!!" Hiroto grunted through his teeth and pushed his speed even faster.

Breaking through a clearing, Hiroto saw Tanjiro cutting off the main Demon's head. Rushing forward he saw him collapse onto the ground and started to cry.

Arriving in front of him, Hiroto spoke, *huff huff* "Tanjiro… Where is… Nezuko…"

"Uuuwaaa. B-Brother… Nezuko… She's…" Tanjiro struggled to talk, as he looked up at his older brother, and saw him stare back with eyes so devoid of any emotion.

Tears streamed down Hiroto's face as he fell onto his knees, "Tanjiro...That's not true… Tell me… she's safe...right?"

Tanjiro went forward to hug his brother and cried even harder, "Sorry! I'm sorry! I Won… but I sacrificed Nezuko. Sh-"

"Wait." A swordsmith came to the side and quickly interrupted them. "Hiroto, Tanjiro, look." He pointed towards the side.

Turning their head, Hiroto and Tanjiro saw Nezuko without her mouthpiece walking towards them.

"N-Nezuko?" Hiroto said, slowly getting up as tears streamed down his face.

Nezuko smiled at Hiroto and Tanjiro and opened her mouth. "M-M-Morning."

Trying to stand up, Hiroto collapsed back onto the ground as his body gave way under him.

"Brother!" Tanjiro looked worriedly over Hiroto and saw the various wounds and broken bones across his body. Miraculously, he managed to preserve his monocle throughout all of this.

Nezuko rushed to Hiroto's side and helped him up with Tanjiro.

Looking at Nezuko's face, Hiroto stretched his hand towards her. Nezuko clasped his hand and smiled.

"You're okay? You… you're not hurt?" Hiroto said, stunned at the sight of Nezuko next to him in the daylight.

"N...Not Hurt. Not Hurt." Nezuko struggled to speak, and muttered the words out, smiling at Hiroto.

"Thank you three, so much… I would never forgive myself if you had died, Nezuko." One of the swordsmiths from the side said as they cried tears of joy.

Tanjiro's body shook as he spoke up, "Thank the gods… Thank the gods you're okay, Nezuko. Are… you Human?"

"Th...Thank Gods...Ar...Are Okay. Thank Gods… Gods" Nezuko spoke out, as she struggled to form sentences.

Looking at her eyes and fangs, Tanjiro knew that she wasn't a Human yet and still a Demon.

"Nghnn" Hiroto groaned as he sat up.

"Brother, you shouldn't be moving so much," Hiroto said, looking worried.

"Shouldn't… Shouldn't move… Brother… Shouldn't move." Nezuko said.

Ignoring their words, Hiroto stretched his arms out and brought Tanjiro and Nezuko into a hug. Tears filled his eyes and he hugged them and said, "I'm so relieved. You two are fine. I wouldn't know what to do if I lost one of you. I'm so happy."

Tanjiro smiled through his tears as he hugged his brother back.

Patting their backs, Hiroto said, "You two did great. You've grown so strong. I'm so proud of you two. You can relax now, it's over. We've won."

Tanjiro's eyes widened, then he broke down crying. "Waah! We did it! We fought and lived! Nezuko's safe! This is great!"

Nezuko smiled as she hugged both Tanjiro and Hiroto back and said, "So great."

The other swordsmiths around them started crying as well.

Genya stood a distance away, looking at the scene of the Kamado siblings hugging each other and crying tears of joy. He smiled at the scene and said, "Good for you… Hiroto, Tanjiro...Nezuko.

*thud thud* Collapsing to the sides, Hiroto and Tanjiro passed out.

"Ah! They fell over!" A swordsmith cried out, as Hiroto and Tanjiro fell onto the ground.

"Hiroto! Tanjiro! Keep yourself together!" A swordsmith yelled.

"Dead? Dead?" Nezuko mumbled as she started to panic.

"Moron," Genya said from the side and approached them. "Look at them properly, they're both exhausted." Genya looked down and saw the various wounds on Hiroto's body.

"Hiroto!" Mitsuri cried out from the side as she arrived beside them. Seeing him collapse from fatigue, she was relieved but still worried. "Wahhh, how could you, Hiroto! You haven't fully recovered from the fight with the upper moon at the red light district and you still pushed yourself! Look at you now! Wahhh, don't die on us!"

"He's not going to die from this. Just exhausted, but you shaking him back and forth would probably kill him." Hazegawa said as he and Atsuhiko walked forward. Hazegawa and Atsuhiko both had numerous wounds across their bodies.

"Ah!" Mitsuri realized she was shaking Hiroto back and forth and let him go.

Genya stood stunned. 'Wait, he was injured at the start? And he still pushed himself this far?' Looking down at Hiroto, Genya felt admiration and respect at the fact that Hiroto lasted through the whole fight while pushing his already damaged body.

Genya picked Hiroto up and put him on his back, Nezuko followed and did the same to Tanjiro.

"Caw! Caw!! The Demons have been slain! Caw! Support is on its way! Caw!!" A crow flew above them and shouted.

"Wahhh, thank gods we did it! We won! We won!!" Mitsuri shouted, pulling everyone together and hugged them as she cried.

Genya blushed but recovered. Looking at Hiroto's exhausted face, he said, "Yea… we did."