Entertainment District Arc: Move forward, Even If Just a Little(part 1)

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Akaza coughed as he walked away and very slowly recovered from the wounds Muzan had given him for failing in his mission, somehow Douma managed to get away with not showing up to report, though Muzan did say he intended to punish the upper two as well. 

Akaza had killed Some Hashira's sure but had not completed the mission. He stuck the sword of the slayer who had managed to get one last attack on him as he fled. Kamado, that was what Akaza thinks Kyojuro called the boy. "Come back you coward" he starts to remember what Tanjiro shouted after him, "the real winners are Kyojuro and Tanya, not you!" he looks at the sword, grips both fists, and breaks it into many pieces with his fists. "Kamado, next time we meet I'll kill you painfully." he then heard clapping, "well done upper three, killing a hashira." Akaza turned to see two demons, one was Hantengu who had not even shown up for the fight. And another was a demon he did not even recognize, but he did see the crossed-out 'upper 2' in the demon's eyes. It was of course Zettour, but Akaza did not know who that was as of yet.

"Easy their Upper rank, I have no intention of fighting you" Zettour assured while holding up his hands. Akaza's glare shifted between Zettour and Hantengu, the latter hiding behind a tree as he felt Akaza was specifically angry with him. Akaza was mad for a lot of reasons, and Hantengu was only a small part of that. "Are you the reason he never showed up for the fight?" Akaza asked Zettour, who nodded. "Yes, I did. But for good reason. But I cannot tell you why" Zettour smiled smarmily "not unless you wish to team up like Hantengu." 

Before Zettour could even say what this team-up was for, Akaza hand knocked his head off with a swing of his arms. "Not interested. And Hantengu…" upper four screeched when his name was mentioned. "You're lucky I'm too pissed off to beat you up now. But I get the feeling lord Muzan will have choice words with you." as Akaza left Hantengu was freaking out. "Oh no, oh no, lord Muzan is going to kill me! No no!" 

Zettour chuckled as he reattached his head to his body. "Easy Hantengu, remember. Lord Muzan cannot kill you, at least not without attacking you outright." that did nothing to stop Hantengu's despair. "Well, there are more upper ranks. we should go check on Upper six, after that, time to check in on an old friend." as they walked away though Zettour smiled, he already saw a way to bring Akaza over to his side, he just needed a little more time.

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When Tanya woke up in a bed that was in the medical bay of the Butterfly Mansion, she was without words. She was just stuck staring at the ceiling. As if on cue both X and Z stopped time just as a door was beginning to open. Being X taunted her while Being Z apologized. But Tanya did not respond. She could hear both of them but she gave no response, no speech or thoughts. "Your stoicism will not save you. Not when you die once again!" Being X taunted further, but again no response. "T-Tanya you cannot ignore us" Being Z sounded like a worried mother. But again, Tanya did not respond. After further taunting Being X got bored "you're just lucky not to have lost, maybe if you prayed I would have also saved him!" even when bringing up Kyojuro, no response was given by Tanya. 

Finally, time unfroze and the door was rolled up, it was then that Tanya realized that three little girls, Sumi, Naho, and Kiyo were asleep at the foot of her bed. While Tanya was comatose for two weeks she would occasionally hear people that were not the two self-proclaimed gods she refused to acknowledge at any point. She would hear the three little girls cry or wish she would come back, and she would hear Kanao apologize for being so weak when Tanya wanted to say it was not her fault but she knew she could not. 

She would hear even Aoi cry a couple of times by her. Shinobu came by to reassure her sisters that Tanya would be alright or get angry and gripe about how she nearly lost another sister. It was one of the few times when Tanya knew Shinobu was not hiding behind a fake mask of positive emotion. A rare thing for Shinobu to do these days. When the boys had recovered enough even they visited, much like Kanao Tanjiro would at first apologize for being so weak as well, Inosuke for once was quiet and would just sit there, and Zenitsu would cry as usual but for once with good reason. All three boys, along with Kanao pledged to get stronger, to bring what Kyojuro saw in them to fruition.

There were her other friends, Viktoriya and Erya visited and just talked to her even when she could not respond back. Wilibald came by with Sanemi, often apologizing for his friend's outbursts since the wind hashira was yelling about how another Kocho nearly died again. Granz and Weiss only came by a couple of times but did not say much. Mary held Tanya's hand, and prayed or spoke to her. Tanya did not mind the speaking parts but she wished she could have yelled at Mary to not hold her hand while praying.

"S-she's awake!" Tanya finally noticed who had opened the door, Aoi nearly dropped her tray of medicine water. "Master! She's awake!" Aoi shouted out for the current eldest Kocho sister. It woke all three little girls who were resting by her feet. All three shouted out "Tanya-nee!" before hugging her, normally she could handle it but in her current state, it made her cough in pain. Shinobu came running in, she was relieved that Tanya had finally woken up after two weeks. The rest of the slayers from the Mugen train incident were slowly recovering already, including Kanao.

Shinobu managed to clear the girls out, telling Aoi to inform Kanao and the boys that Tanya was finally awake. It left just Tanya and Shinobu in the room, in near complete silence. The first to break it was Shinobu. "One minute Tanya" the blonde girl looked at Shinobu, who for once was not smiling in front of her. "That is how long your heart was stopped, I don't know how you are alive, but it is nothing short of a miracle." Shinobu saying 'miracle' when it came to health was rare. she was a doctor, Tanya had seen her perform surgeries better than most modern doctors could, and she lacked the many machinery and tools that often makes those surgeries easier for those doctors. It still irked Tanya, that word, but she let it slide for now. "Kyojuro is-" before Shinobu can finish that sentence Tanya says "I know. Just stop. I am fine as well, I will be back on my feet in no time. So don't worry about me, I prefer it if you did not."

Shinobu grimaced "the same monster that killed Kanae nearly killed you, he basically did for a little while! You and Kyojuro nearly died on the same mission, your boyfriend is dead!" Tanya seethed her teeth "Don't you think I know that?" She sounded frustrated, she knew more than Shinobu did, she knew what the two beings had done. It felt more like torture that she was still here. She shed no tears, she refused to, she had done that enough already. "He is dead, there is nothing I can do about that. Want me to fake his personality like you do Kanae's?" 

The other hashira's nostrils flared "oh I am sorry, but I do not like your callous attitude, Tanya." Tanya prepared for Shinobu to chew her ear out, she knows she deserves it after that, she knows Shinobu does not deserve to be called out after keeping her stable during her short coma. Instead, she saw Shinobu look away and hold her arm. "It was bad enough when it was just Kanae. I don't know what Kanao and the other girls would do if we lost you as well. I don't know what I would have done." Tanya looked at her hands "I am sorry Shinobu." the older sister giggled quietly. "I know you have also been through a lot. And I will not ask you to retire now, as much as I want to. But Tanya, please at least wait till you are fully recovered before you start any missions." Shinobu went by the door "let me know or the others know if you need anything."

When she was alone, Tanya did not feel sad nor did she feel guilty. There was only one feeling, revenge-filled hatred. "Those two upper ranks…" her eyes narrow, and she does not smile or frown. Sure her ultimate goal was to take down the two "gods" but she knew she wanted one more thing now. Revenge. 

Outside, Shinobu rested her head on Giyu's shoulder. When Tanya had been in her coma, Shinobu had tried her best to keep it together for everyone else, especially her little sisters. But one night, on their way back from a mission, Shinobu suddenly broke down after Giyu brought up Tanya by asking how she was doing. He comforted her, she really appreciated that. She still made fun of him, but he just happened to stop by tonight. So right now she needed a shoulder to rest on, and Giyu was not complaining.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~two weeks later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tanya had fully recovered not long after she had woken up, she was also on a mission grind aiming to get stronger through missions. None of the Hashira had time to train with her at the moment, while Tanjiro, Kanao, and their friends were still recovering. She was on her fifth mission in the last two days alone, this one with Viktoriya.

"There you are!" Viktoriya shouted having caught up with Tanya who had gone ahead after spotting the demon run in the forest. "Careful, it is around here somewhere," Tanya said in a calm tone. Viktoriya smiled a little bit "hey, want to have dinner with me, Erya, Wilibald, and Granz? Our crows crossed paths and they are close by-" Tanya cut off with a cold stare "no, but thank you for the offering." Viktoriya was slightly disappointed to hear that "o-oh I see." 

It hurt to much to lose Kyojuro, and while she cannot say she no longer cares for others, Tanya has decided to keep everyone at arm's length. Still close enough to talk to and fight against demons together, but not too close as to make the loss devastating. Kyojuro as well as her last day as a soldier of the empire had shown her that getting to close leads to emotion-driven decisions that lead to her death. She cannot repeat that, not again. Tanya could not let Being X win after Kyojuro had sacrificed himself for her. Tanya stopped and held her katana. The demon jumped out at her "Keshin breathing, first form; flames of wrath" the demon was not a few seconds later.

Her attitude towards others was not exclusive to Viktoriya. She did the same with her other friends, fellow Hashiras, and demon slayers. She was less strict about it with her adoptive family, but not too much. She could see Kanao was saddened by this, but luckily Tanjiro would cheer her up whenever Tanya had to leave quickly. As did Zenitsu and Inosuke when they were out of their recovery room for a walk occasionally. 

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Tanya sighed, the sun was rising and after completing yet another mission easily, she had run into Mary. "if you need to talk about your losses, I understand it can be difficult." Mary had tried making light conversation with Tanya the entire few hours that had passed after they ran into each other, but finally, Tanya could tell that was what the girl had wanted to say this entire time. Truthfully at first Tanya was angry with Mary after she recovered, the time she had to replay the day Mary killed her had left a sour taste in her mouth. But Tanya was a logical woman, she got over it pretty quickly since unlike her Mary had no memory of their previous life. Still, Mary much like everyone else was kept at arm's length.

Tanya said nothing, no response. This did annoy Mary who was trying her best to keep her composure. "I-I heard you have not shed one tear or have spoken much to our friends or your family," Mary said some more, to which Tanya responded with "what I do is none of your business, Sue." finally Mary stood in front of Tanya, bold as Tanya tripped and pinned Mary to the floor with her foot. "Don't stand in my way, I am going to go home and rest for the day. So leave me be." she got her foot off of the girl and started walking some more "I refuse to leave you alone you know! Soon the others will start doing the same thing!" Mary stood back up and did not even dust herself off. "Tanya Kocho, you cannot push us away. You should know better than everyone that-" Tanya glared back, but shocked Mary kept going. "That Rengoku would not want you to push us away." 

With an eye roll, Tanya turned and kept walking "you don't know anything." Mary ran right back up to Tanya and stood in front of her, this time a bit away so Tanya could not grab her so easily. "Then let's go to his home, I bet that will make you remember what Rengoku would want." Tanya's glare deepened "it is not that I don't remember or don't know what he would want. But like I said, it is none-"

"None of my business, right? Well it is, I have made it my business." Mary was starting to really get on Tanya's nerves. "Fine, it will not change anything, but fine. We can go to Kyojuro's home. If it will get you to leave me alone, Sue." Mary smiled a little bit "great! I am glad." while the two made their way over, they had no idea that Kyojuro's crow was currently leading a still-recovering Tanjiro to the same place.