Chapter 6 - Second Form and Hashira!

"From the day I was born… I was weak. I could never run; it was difficult to walk until Muzan came along."

Ai heard Rui's voice, lying in a Japanese-style room on Futon, and the young man's skin was paler than hers.

"You poor thing… I shall save you."

Rui sat beside her, looking at his memories as they etched themselves on her sword's hilt, "My parents weren't happy. After all, despite growing stronger, I couldn't go out in the sunlight, and I began to feed on people."

"Rui! What have you done? What have you done?!"

Rui watched the confrontation with his father, turning towards Ai's sad eyes, "Long ago…I heard an incredible story about a father saving his child from drowning in the river—such…paternal love. I was deeply moved. Dying so that your child could live was truly fulfilling a Parent's Role. So why…did my parents try to kill me? My mother just wept; she didn't even try to shield me from my father's attempt to kill me?"

Ai gazed at it, watching Rui kill his parents, when she gently asked again, "Were you the one they were trying to kill? Rui…can't you hear it? Can you still not hear it?"

"Words…what words…?" Rui widened his eyes, and he heard but didn't understand entered.

The first ones were his mother's, "I am sorry…although I gave you life…I couldn't give you a strong body…."

His father said, "It's all right, Rui… I'll die with you."

"I…so they did….love me…." Rui covered his face, tears dripping down his cheeks, "I…mother…father…I wish…I could apologize…I am sorry…sorry…this is all my fault."

He cried until tears covered his face, asking, "Say…I killed so many people…I am going to hell…I won't even get to apologize to them, right…?"

Ai turned her eyes towards the darkness that covered the memories, and light came from two whom she saw in the memories.

They patted his back, hugging him, "Wherever you go…we will too…."

Rui widened his eyes as his demonic appearance disappeared, turning human, "This is my fault! I am sorry! I am sorry!!"

Ai closed her eyes as the flames covered them, and everything disappeared. She opened her eyes, looking down at his clothes lying on the floor.

She knelt, folding the cloth, clenching her fist, punching the ground to create a hole, and putting the cloth before covering it, making a grave. She put her hands together, praying, "If possible…I hope your stay in hell isn't eternal."

Ai Senju opened her eyes, looking in all directions, before moving towards the northwest. She nearly slipped off the branch, feeling the fatigue in her body.

As someone with Kleid Blood, The Physique of Vampire Progenitor, she was immortal. At all times but one, when she felt all that life force in making the Wood Breathing Technique viable.

At that moment, she was most vulnerable, truly killable, and that is why she said this time, she would genuinely put her life on the line. Ready to die, in turn, for power.

In this state, her senses were sharp, sense of smell, sight, taste, hearing, and even a sixth sense that allowed her to take in whatever was happening in her surroundings.

And right now, there was one place where she was needed the most. If she had to guess, then that overgrown Demon must be the Father of the Family. The one that Tanjiro and Boar Head guy were fighting.

There was one another, but he seemed to have taken out the guy he was fighting. Still, he was poisoned during the fighting, so he wasn't faring well.

Above all, there was Nezuko, who too was fighting against the Spider Demon Father. She changed the direction, knowing they could hold it, going towards the yellow-haired boy, who was poisoned.

Even while she was on the way, she tried to figure out ways to help him. The only problem was that she didn't have healing Jutsu or enough herbs to cure poison.

Even though her mother was a medical ninja, and she tried her best to teach her everything she could as if she knew this would happen, at that time, all she wanted was to stay with her father and read books.

"Hah, should have learned what Mother was teaching."

She ran faster, jumping from tree to tree, finding Zenitsu, landing next. She scratched her head, "I am here…but it's not like I can do anything to help him."

She had barely managed to learn the first form, and it might take time before she could form the Second Form since she didn't have an image of what it could be. Let alone if she wanted to make it something that would allow her to heal poison.

She couldn't do much, even her Kleid Blood, Vampire Bloodline; she hadn't explored it enough to learn anything about healing.

And the riskier thing was to feed him a drop of her blood. There was no telling how disastrous doing something like that could be.

She turned her eyes towards the direction where the battle sounds were coming. She exchanged a look between here and there when someone appeared before her.

"Shinobu…"

Shinobu smiled, "Don't know how to heal him?"

Ai pressed her lips, "Not at all…it's a good thing that you are here."

Shinobu crouched down beside Zenitsu, "I'll heal him…but what would you do if I didn't come?"

"If I were out of option…then I would have fed him my blood."

Shinobu's hand stopped; she glanced at Ai Senju, "Maybe you should learn how to make these too."

"I have an idea," Ai shrugged, "I am not familiar with the herbs here."

"You have?"

"My mother is a Medical Ninja…she taught me much. I didn't want to learn," Ai scratched her cheek, "Never thought it would be of importance…after all, Mom and Dad were there to protect me…I never thought that would stop being true."

"No one ever thinks…if that would stop being true," Shinobu had a reminiscent look in her eyes. She shook her head, watching her with interest, "Now that you are done with Learning the Basic Styles, come back with me, and we'd see how much of the basics you know."

"Sure," Ai grinned, remembering something. She turned her eyes towards Tanjiro and others, "Yes. For now, I am going to help them out."

"There is no need…." Shinobu explained only to see Ai's back since she had already left. From the corner of her eyes, she watched her, "Really…just helping?"

Ai hastily made her way through the forest, to Tanjiro, mainly to his sister Nezuko. If Shinobu was here, then it was possible that so was another one of Hashira, and she had no idea how they would react to Nezuko.

Even if she understood, it doesn't mean everyone would, especially those who were hurt physically and emotionally by the demons. So before anyone of them made it there, she wanted to be the first one, to give the two of them a fighting chance.

The moment she was above them, she noticed the extra-large Demon, more than 7 or 8 feet, with a face that of Spider and numerous beady eyes.

Although it was being burned by pink fire, and Tanjiro was closing the distance between the two, his blade was covered in flames as he slashed forward, finally cutting the neck of the Demon.

But he lost control of his body when he succeeded, falling forward towards the ground.

"Those two fires…." Ai muttered, propelling herself forward, rotating in mid-air, and landing behind Tanjiro before falling. Her body got pushed backward, and she dug the sword into the ground, forcing both of them to a stop.

"Ai…you are ok…." Tanjiro looked up with a smile of relief when he saw her.

"Well done," Ai gazed forward at the Demon's body turning into ashes and the memory helix etching itself on her hilt, "You three fought well."

Her smile became brighter when Nezuko changed her size and jumped into Tanjiro's arm, closing her eyes until she slowly fell asleep, "Keep her in the bo- …."

Ai, let them go, appearing in front of them, and a sword struck against hers, creating sparks. Her eyes followed the assailant, Shinobu, who landed on the ground, sliding against the ground, turning to face her, "My, my, and here I wondered what made you so flustered. To think that you'd protect a Demon…I must say, I am disappointed in you."

Tanjiro hastily covered Nezuko's body, giving Shinobu a wary look and taking a step back protectively.

Ai raised her broadsword, keeping it in front of her, narrowing her eyes, "Shinobu, this one is different. She is still fighting…she hasn't lost her humanity yet."

Shinobu glanced toward Nezuko, "That's all the better. She is a lucky one that gets to die human."

"No! She deserves the time she needs to fight against the Demon's blood inside, to overcome it!"

Shinobu narrowed her eyes, "I know you get special treatment around here, but even you know that it is against the rules of the Demon Corps."

"Of course, it is," Ai said, "After all, her situation is special; she is a variable, an exception. There is no way there is anything in the rules for her. But that also means we have to be flexible and accommodate her. We are tasked with protecting humans, even when fighting against their nature!"

"Clearly, we see things differently," Shinobu put the katana in her sheath, mixing a weaker poison inside. Since she didn't have a strong enough body, she couldn't cut Demon's necks, so she used poison to kill them instead and then waited for the daybreak to put them under the sun.

She would use a poison that wouldn't hurt Ai but weaken her enough to capture her.

She covered the distance between her and Ai without expecting much resistance. But Ai had a different thought, she was in a hurry and didn't want to hurt Shinobu, but anything weaker than the Wood Breathing Technique wouldn't leave a mark.

'That one,' She thought of it, the moment, one of the ninja techniques she was familiar with, one she could use if she combined with the First Form, "Wood Breathing Technique: Second Form: Dragon's Hold!"

Shinobu hastily backed away when a wooden dragon came out from the ground, blocking her path forward route, circling around her, and blocking her escape route. She tried to jump, but the dragon rose, binding her, roaring above her head.

She narrowed her eyes, "You mastered it, the Wood Breathing Technique you talked about."

"Yes, although these two forms are the only ones I have created yet," Ai kept her broadsword raised, careful, even though Shinobu looked trapped, "It won't work."

"Hm," Shinobu watched Ai in a surprise, "What won't work?"

"The poison," Ai let out a breath, looking down, "My mother's lifeforce was massive, even if you compared it to a group of people, maybe more than hundreds or thousands. My Grandfather was even more…, so his Wood Style was different from others who copied. His healing, strength, speed, the scale of his attacks, and even the poison…none of it worked on him."

Ai raised her eyes, meeting with Shinobu's, "I know you…I know you plan to kill Nezuko but not me. So when you put the sword inside, you weakened the poison enough to knock me out. Maybe you could have broken free if you had used a deadly poison, but weak poison won't work on the Wood-Dragon. And now that it has you trapped…."

"I can't mix poison since I can't put my katana back into my sheath…to think…that a Hashira would lose," Shinobu sighed, "Still, you might have beaten me for various reasons…but there is another Hashira who won't go down that easily."

Ai widened her eyes, feeling a presence appear beside her, turning her eyes to look at the young man with a muscular build and pale expression.

She dragged her leg back to steady herself, taking in the air, "Wood Breathing: First Form! Rise!!! Rag-!"

Ai abruptly came to a stop. She was dragging the tip of her weapon against the ground to raise it, but he appeared in front of her, putting his palm on the hilt, stopping her before she completed the move.

"There is no need for that."

"Tomioka!!"

Tomioka looked over his shoulder, "Master knows about them. She's an exception."

Shinobu glared at him, "You do not want to break the rules of Corps. Didn't you say there is no possibility of Demons and Humans this morning? Why did you change your mind now?"

"Shinobu Nee-chan…"

"Kanae…." Shinobu wanted to ask her for help, but before she could say, she met Ai's gaze, who shook her head.

She sighed, asking, "Kanae…what do you think I should do?"

Kanae watched Shinobu with trembling eyes, without being able to answer, conflicted, hurt.

"Message!! Message!! Take Tanjiro and Nezuko into custody! Bring them back to Headquarters!!"

"Tanjiro has a scar on his forehead!! Demon Nezuko has a Bamboo Gag!!"

Shinobu let out a sigh of relief, and Tomioka destroyed the Dragons wrapped around her body.

Tanjiro, unsure of what to do, helplessly looked toward Ai and Tomioka since he felt they were the only ones on his side. Even when Tomioka said nothing, Ai assured him, whispering, "Don't worry…I know of him, and I am sure that he will help you convince others. If that doesn't work, then I will help you escape."

Tanjiro hugged Nezuko, who was already asleep and fainted with relief.

Ai let out a smile and finally let go of her Breathing; the Wood Breathing Technique that she had been maintaining left behind a void, crippling one. Every bone in her body, every muscle ached. The pain became too overwhelming too soon, and Kanae became the last thing she saw.