Mother

There was a familiar face in the group, Tanjiro, with a box on his back. Shin wondered where Nezuko was since he assumed Tanjiro would be more careful with her since she was a demon now. 

That's when he realized she was most likely in that box he was carrying around.

One of the boys next to him had fair skin and downward sloped soft brown to gold eyes. He had short yellow hair of varying lengths cutting off squarely at the ends that faded to a darker orange color and fell in front of his face in uneven bangs.

He wore the Demon Slayer Corps uniform with a yellow haori over it that had a white triangle pattern along it. He also wore a pair of tabi socks tied in a bow 3 times in the front that was the same pattern as his haori.

He was currently curled up sitting on the ground and yelling at a person who had a boar mask on his head. 

Unlike the others, the boar mask person had on an altered version of the standard Demon Slayer uniform which only consisted of tinted blue baggy hakama pants with a thick belt of brown animal fur with two swords on his hips, one on each side. 

The usual cloth leg wraps were replaced with knee high socks of a furry hide that exposed his heels and toes.

Tanjiro suddenly sniffed the air and turned towards the forest. A slayer was crawling out of it clutching his sword as if his life depended on it. 

When he saw the trio of slayers he began to tear up and called out to them in a quiet voice. "H-help me.." 

Tanjiro and the boar headed slayer ran towards the person but something suddenly tightened on his back and pulled him back into the forest as he yelled of something being attached to him.

Shin could tell there was something more going on.

He turned to his servants. "We'll be splitting up from here. Susamaru you will search the western part of the mountain while Makomo will search the eastern, do what you think is best if you run into any problem, once you're done come back to this area."

""Yes master!"" Upon hearing his command the two girls ran into the forest avoiding the trio of slayers. 

Shin took one more look at Tanjiro who was running towards the forest, he was slightly taken back when he saw Nezuko peeking curiously out of the box at him.

'I guess she could sense me..' He thought before running into the forest and jumping onto a tree branch then onto another.

The first thing Shin had noticed when he entered the forest was the amount of slayers below and the way they were moving. They moved in a way similar to that of a puppet. 

What Susamaru had said about the spiders was true as well. Each time he killed one another would show up a minute later. 

Shin let one hop on him for a moment but it tried to wrap its threads around his wrist, he was able to break them quite easily though it was still a nuisance.

As he explored the mountain he noticed how some slayers would sometimes suddenly move back as if they were being yanked.

He decided to stop moving around and focus on the slayers below him. All the colors in his vision became black and white, multiple white lines were shown connected to the slayers.

Shin began to follow them above the trees. It didn't take him long to find who was controlling the slayers in a small clearing of trees sitting on a rock and surrounded by threads. Color quickly returned to his vision.

They were a relatively short voluptuous woman who seemed to be in her thirties with white bushy eyebrows and long white hair that parted towards the end. She had milky white skin, teal eyelashes and nails, and circular red facial patterns.

She wore a lengthy layered yukata, a maroon on the inside layer and white on the outside layer that exposed part of her chest with a patterned obi. On her neck was a beaded necklace made of teal and purple orbs.

Her hands were trembling and sweat was running down the side of her face. She would pull quite forcibly on the threads connected to the tip of her fingers from time to time while mumbling to herself.

Just from the way she was acting Shin could tell she was scared. He was thinking of leaving but decided to take her with him, if those threads and spiders were her Blood Demon Art she was useful.

She was fearing something, it was obvious to see. He thought of taking advantage of her current state to tempt her like he did with Susamaru but it could backfire.

Fear was a double edged sword, she would either give in to his words or lose her reasoning to try to please whoever she was scared of. "I'll give it a shot..'

"Hey you, would you like to leave?" Shin asked.

The woman jumped when she heard him. She was going to attack but suddenly stopped when his words were processed. "What do you mean?" 

"Exactly what I said, all I ask is for you to serve under me." He answered.

"I-" The woman couldn't get her words out. The proposal was tempting, yet a shiver went down her spine. 

"As long as you serve me I'll treat you well, I'll just leave if you wish not to." He looked the woman in the eyes with an expressionless look as he extended his hand to her.

Her eyes widened hearing his words and looked at his extended hand with a longing look. 'I can't tell what he's thinking..does he really mean that or is he lying to me?'

She could clearly tell he was a demon, if he was a slayer he would have killed her instead of talking. Not to mention the menacing presence he was giving off and how intense it was.

She tried her best to think out every outcome. It always ended with her being abused or being killed if she stayed. If she ran now she would be able to escape and possibly live a better life.

The second option was the best choice, she knew she was going to die at some point anyway at the hands of her supposed 'family'.

The woman hesitantly nodded her head. "I-I accept. A kizuki is on the mountain, be careful.." She said in a low voice.

Shin was surprised a bit hearing there was a kizuki on the mountain, it made sense that one would be here so he didn't doubt her words. "I see..go down the mountain. If you come across a girl with black to blue pink hair or one with black to orange hair tell them I sent you."

The woman nodded her head and hurriedly ran away. She had left her strings and spiders around to avoid suspicion but she knew it wouldn't last long. 

She suddenly stopped in her tracks then turned her head back to Shin "They call me mother by the way.."

Shin was slightly confused but a giant headless demon with blades for hands ran out from behind some trees and threw her on its shoulders, once she settled on it they ran down the mountain.

After the woman disappeared into the trees Shin heard a sound coming from above him. There he saw Tanjiro flying down at him using the first form of water breathing.

Shin simply jumped back into the forest and ran to find the kizuki the woman spoke of. He wasn't scared of Tanjiro, he just had better things to do.