Mount Natagumo arc: Letting someone else go first

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Tanjiro and the others were on their way to their next mission sight, led by crows. His sister was in the box protecting her from the sun with him. He had Kanao by his side, 'I can always count on Kanao to have my back, she saved me a couple of times already.' he thought to himself as he looked over at Kanao and smiled at her. The girl smiled back before quickly turning her head away, she had a habit of doing that with him. He did not know why but he could smell that she did not have any ill will towards him. The girl got along with nezuko as well, which made him happy. 

The other two behind him were Zenitsu and Inosuke. He got along with them well enough. 'If I got to train with Mister Rengoku and they join in, I wonder how it would go.' as looked behind himself, Zenitsu was barely hiding his fear of the upcoming mission. Inosuke looked bored, even with his face covered by his Boar head it was still easy to tell. 

'I am glad he seems to have moved on from attacking Nezuko.' Tanjiro's eyebrows lower 'that or he has forgotten' Inosuke was always just focused on getting stronger and fighting strong people, which was why he joined in the fight against Rengoku, simply because the flame hashira was strong. Still, though, Tanjiro was glad to have Insuke on their side for now. 

'Zenitsu is well enough, I have seen him fight well.' Tanjiro sighed, he knew that whenever Zenitsu fought with his sword, he always forgot how well he did. It was almost like the boy was sleep-walking every time, but even Tanjiro thought that was ridiculous. Still, the cowardly boy was willing to die to protect Nezuko, that was made obvious when he did not move even when Inosuke raised his swords at him. He was kind-hearted. 'It is as Miss Kocho said, knowing your team err…unit is a great way to know how things will go. This next mission will be easy with the four of us.' he also how Tanya was doing after being summoned somewhere by the corps. She and Kyojuro were likely alright though. 

Zenitsu tapped his fingers together. 'Oh man, I never got to talk to Nezuko earlier before she went into the box.' he sighed deeply, being beaten up for nothing. He was happy Nezuko was safe, though he was not happy that Inosuke was still here. He also stared at Tanjiro with a tinge of jealousy since Kanao chose to walk alongside him specifically. Inosuke was staring at everything they passed by, bored out of his mind 'I want to fight the strong guy again.' he thought to himself, fighting Tanjiro was interesting. But Kyojuro had so thoroughly swept him and the others to the side he wanted a rematch!

Kanao was a bit flustered, she could talk with Tanjiro, but whenever he smiled at her it made her want to turn away. Not because she hated it, exactly the opposite actually. She loved seeing him smile a lot. 'I can make my own decision…I think.' she mentally shook her head, she needed to at least try. If not Tanya had her coin safe and sound. It was a mental battle in her head, trying to make decisions on her own. One thing was for certain, she could act if Tanjiro or the others were in trouble. So she trusted that her indecisiveness would not affect everyone's safety. 

When nighttime came around that was when the four of them made it to the mountain that was their next mission site, Mount Natagumo. It loomed over them with a haunting presence. A tinge of nervousness went down Tanjiro's spine. But he was still ready to do this, as was everyone else. Except of course, Zenitsu. 

"AHHHH, THERE IS NO WAY I AM GOING IN THERE!" Zenitsu shouted as he started to frantic positions on the road, quite impressive even if his crying yells distracted from it. "Calm down Zenitsu, we will be fine so long as we stick together." Tanjiro tried to reassure the boy, but it did not work. Unlike the other Zenitsu could hear screams from the mountain they were at the foot of. "Help…" they heard as they saw a slayer struggling to walk towards them, falling over. 

But before any of them could run up to help him suddenly he was pulled into the air by a very thin, barely noticeable line of thread, multiple of them in fact. "Oh no, they got me to!" as he was pulled in he shouted out "help, don't let them take me as well!" he was pulled into the woods of mount Natagumo. Tanjiro stiffed as a more determined look appeared on his face. 

"Zenitsu you can stay here if you want," he spoke plainly, he wanted to save as many as he could and that slayer, as well as more, needed their help. Zenitsu blinked "eh?" he managed to click out of his mouth before Tanjiro headed towards the mountain that loomed over them. Kanao followed suit with Inosuke running ahead but not too far from the other two. They left Zenitsu behind at the foot of the mountain, and entered, the mission had begun for them. But others had already started in earlier that night. 

On the mountain, various figures stalked around it, most with pale skin and various red dots around them. All working with webs of some kind. While they did, a smaller one of them stood on a collection of webs. He looked at the humans that hung from webs or inside webbed-weaved balls. most of them slayers who had come to mount Natagumo. They all made a mistake coming to the home of the spider demon family. His family

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While the group of four, now three, walked further into the forest Tanjiro felt something wrap around his arm "huh?" Kanao suddenly cut a web string as the small spider who did it scurried away. Kanao nodded at Tanjiro "thank you" they heard frustrated yells coming from Inosuke who was using his swords to cut away multiple webs that had been dropped around him. "GAH! What the hell is going on this damned mountain!" he yelled in frustration.

Tanjiro looked over and used his sword to cut away spiders wrapping webs around Kanao's ankles "Great, did I miss any more?" Kanao shook her head, she covered the small blush around her face considering where Tanjiro was facing before he stood up, of course, the boy did not seem to notice the nearly looked up her skirt. "Where are all these spidering coming from? We have to keep moving." they kept moving, but Inosuke kept shouting stuff about how Tanjiro should not order him around. So typical inosuke things. 

Eventually, They spotted another slayer kneeling down by a bush. Tanjiro tapped on his shoulder. The boy turned and nearly cut Tanjiro with his own sword thinking someone snuck up on him to attack. "W-who are you three? What ranks are you" The slayer, Murata, asked as Tanjiro tried to reassure him with a smile. "Name is Tanjiro, we are here to help. And I am Mizunoto" Murata looked and could tell all three of them were Mizunoto since neither of them was any higher than Mizunoto. Though he did not know Kanao was also a Tsuguko. 

"You got to be kidding me, they should have sent Hashira not more Mizunoto!" Murata said in a shaky tone. "What was that?! You call us weak?" Inosuke grabbed the collars on the slayer, but Tanjiro pulled him off. "What happened exactly?" Tanjiro asked as Murata looked towards the ground and closed his eyes for a moment. "It was…terrible." he thought back to earlier on the mountain when he and a large group of slayers appeared for the mission and regaled how suddenly the other slayers started moving oddly before suddenly attacking one another. "I…I don't know why it happened, but it might as well have been a slaughter." 

As they talked some of those slayers had suddenly surrounded the four of them, but almost all of them are corpse puppets. They swung towards them as Kanao blocked one with her sword and Tanjiro did the same. As Inosuke clashed with his sword he would shout "finally, someone to fight! Hahaha!" as he slashed Tanjiro could tell the boar head-wearing boy was going to cut the bodies up directly. "Inosuke stop! Don't cut up their bodies!" Inosuke did stop, only to block two sword swings at once. "WHY?! Most of them are dead anyway." Inosuke was frustrated that Tanjiro was trying to stop him. "I know, but we just cannot, they are still our allies. Just give me a moment to find a way to stop them." 

Kanao stared up above the puppets and got an idea. "Tanjiro," she said out to get his attention, as she jumped up and slashed the webbing away and the puppet she was fighting went limp on the ground. "That is it! Great work Kanao!" Tanjiro then followed by example and cut two more puppets free. "Cut the strings Inosuke!" the boar-headed boy was already in the middle of cutting multiple strings off when he shouted that out. "I know, I saw as well Monesro." Tanjiro sighed and just how the wrong Inosuke got his name wrong this time. 

Murata blinked once all of the puppets were on the ground. He once again looked at the ground. 'I have just been cowering and hiding this whole time. Yet these three show up and almost immediately remedy the situation. I am higher rank than them as well.' he felt a bit annoyed with himself as he saw them do all of that. What good was he 'aren't I a slayer as well?' 

Suddenly more small spiders came and started wrapping around the corpses and stunned slayers, once again lifting them up and controlling them to attack Tanjiro and the others. After slashing away a couple of the sword swings Inosuke felt a few spiders start to wrap the webbing around his arms "All, get these damn things off of me!" he pulled and swung his sword till he was free. Kanao found similar problems but got free quickly. "This is bad, we cannot cut them free and ourselves constantly. If we only had a way to find whoever is doing this." Inosuke grumbled a bit, he backed away and shouted "keep them off me, I got a way!" he shouted as he stuck his two swords into the ground and spread his hands out, Tanjiiro and Kanao keeping the puppets off of him.

Inosuke took a deep breath in and out "seventh form, Special awareness" he huffed out as his senses spread out through a large area of the forest till it fell upon a female figure northwest of them. He pointed in the direction "I found them, that way, not to far away!" Tanjiro was impressed, but the problem still remained on how they were going to get there with these puppets in the way. 

Suddenly Murata ran up and clashed swords with one of the puppets. "You three go on ahead, I will keep them busy." Inosuke laughed "what are you going to do you weak pipsqueak?" Murata seethed his teeth "I outrank you! Just truth me I can hold them off, Don't forget I am a demon slayer as well!" he said this both for their sake and for his. "Now that I know their movements are basic, and to avoid or cut free of the webs, I will be fine." Kanao nodded at him, while Tanjiro smiled "thank you. Try your best." Tanjiro and the others left, and Murata stared at the puppets, two came towards him, he was able to block one but as soon as the other nearly got him another slayer came out and defended him. "Eh? Who are you?" he said as the other slayer with green Haori gulped "k-Koya Eriya, I was hiding for a while, but that boy back there with that strange mark on his forehead saved me at the final selection. I suppose I should help right?" Murata smiled "name is Murata." the two would work hard to fend off the large group of puppets. 

The spider demon controlling the puppets gripped her webs "they are getting closer-" suddenly she froze in place, as the small spider boy, Rui, said behind her "having trouble mother?" she shivered, the spider mother shivered and looked scared "No of course not, I will deal with them." Rui seemed unsure if she could "you better, or should I get father?" this made the demon woman shake more "N-NO! I swear I will protect you and the family from them." Rui turned away slightly "you better" he was gone afterward. The spider mother gripped her webs "I will kill them, I h-have to." 

As Tanjiro and the others ran up through the many lines of trees, Kanao suddenly ran ahead and countered a sword swing meant for Tanjiro. It was a slayer girl, she had tears in her eyes and was still very much alive. "K-kill us…" a second voice was heard, coming from another slayer that was still alive, but unlike the others, he was in incredible pain, his body had been mostly mutilated, and it was astounding he was even still alive. "Fine, hahaha!" Inosuke ran at the boy who was begging for death, "Inosuke wait!" causing Inosuke to hesitate and nearly got his arm sliced. 

"Guh! Why?! They are literally asking for it!" both he and Kanao defended against the two puppets who seemed to be stronger than the larger group that came before them. "Please do it, it hurts us every time." the girl said as she strained as the webs pulled on her, being quite defensible and not giving Kanao an opening to slash at the webs controlling her. Tanjiro tried to think of what to do, he could just cut away the webs while the puppets were focused on the other two, but what if the spiders gain control of them again? They would be in continuous pain unless they were killed or he stopped fighting. 

He blinked and ran towards the one fighting Kanao. "Kanao move!" the girl did so just in time for Tanjiro to group the puppet slayer by the torso and throw her up into the air. The Webs got stuck on a large tree branch and she just hung there. "Huh?" she said as she stared down at them. The puppet moved a bit but could not get free, she smiled as she did not feel in as much pain and did not have to attack anyone. "Oh yeah! Anything you can do I can do better Manjiro!" Inosuke shouted as after parrying another sword strike he picked up the other puppet and threw him upwards. He got stuck on a branch. The slayer still felt significant pain, but not as much as when he had to constantly move his arms and legs on the ground. 

"Well done Inosuke!" Tanjiro complimented as Inosuke felt butterflies in his stomach. He huffed a bit "HAH! I know I am great, no need to point it out." not wanting to have Kanao left out, he patted the girl on the head and said "you did great as well, acting quickly to protect me. This is why I know I can always count on you." Kanao blushed a bit and said "of course. I can count on you as well." she said nervously, she kind of enjoyed being patted on the head by him. 

But before they could continue their celebration the two slayers that were danging suddenly had their necks snapped by the webs. It was a grueling sound. A few moments of shocked silence passed between the three, even Inosuke. Tanjiro knew they had to keep moving to find the demon responsible. 

Outside of Mount Natagumo Zenitsu was still wallowing, he hugged his legs, having some tears in his eyes but now really crying. "They could have at least tried to push me more. Maybe if they kept asking I would have gone with," he said in a solum tone. His Sparrow flopped down onto his shoulder, "oh it is you." he held his hand out so the small bird could get on it. The sparrow, Chuntaro, or at least that is what Zenitsu called him, chirped at his slayer. Zenitsu smiled a bit "you are trying to cheer me up aren't you?" 

The sparrow looked angry now, it chirped loudly and then pecked a couple of Zenitsu's fingers. "AHHH WHAT THE HECK?!" he pulled his hand away, leaving the sparrow to fly a bit above him. The bright yellow-haired boy pointed aggressively at it "I AM NOT GOING IN THERE! I DO NOT CARE IF YOU ARE MAD!" he spouted as the sparrow chirped aggressively back at him. "They do not need me. Inosuke can take on multiple demons at once I bet, same for Kanao. Hell Tanjiro and her defeated a former lower moon demon!" he gripped his cheeks as his eyes bulged with anger "and it drives me completely nuts that Tanjiro cannot see a cute girl like Kanao has the hots for him. It making me crazy. And then Nezuko…Nezuko." he stopped as he looked around and did not spot Nezuko's box. Which meant Tanjiro had brought her inside the mountain. And it was then he started running in with his Sparrow not even able to keep up "TANJIRO HOW DARE YOU BRING NEZUKO INTO A HORRID PLACE LIKE THIS!" 

Tanjiro, along with Inosuke and Kanao had made it decently further in though Inosuke's senses told them they were almost to the demon who had control over the puppets. Tanjiro stopped and sniffed the air, "Go back!" he shouted as a large headless demon came crashing down at them. The demon still had a neck but was without a head, it was seemingly being controlled by the demon controlling people with webs as well. And had bladed hands. 

"Finally, I was starting to get bored!" Inosuke ran at the headless demon before Kanao and Tanjiro were even ready to back him up. His two multi-edged swords clashed with the demons. As they fought they exchanged cuts on each of their arms. But unlike the demon Inosuke's wounds would not even heal a little. Suddenly he was pulled away by Tanjiro while Kanao blocked a blow with third form flower breathing and all three of them backed away. "Inosuke are you okay?" Tanjiro was concerned as Inosuke was bleeding a little from his upper arms. "I am fine!" he shouted. 

Tanjiro looked over and saw the puppet coming from them. "He is min-" before Inosuke could finish Tanjiro said, "Kanao and I will get the arms, you go for the neck after he is left open!" Inosuke gasped under his mask as Tanjiro and Kanao rushed forward. "First form; water surface slash," Tanjiro yelled as he jumped to cut off an arm, and landed on his back behind the demon. "Third form; camellia ascension" Kanao cut away the other arm giving Inosuke the space he needed. Inosuke gripped his swords, and while he ran he thought 'I get it, for this guy it isn't about winning.' he jumped into the air, and Tanjiro cut the legs from behind so that the demon could not try to move away. "Second fang, slice!" Inosuke cut through the small but exposed neck. 

While the headless demon disappeared the spider mother shook on top of the rock she sat on. "N-no, they got that one as well? But he was the strongest one I had." she felt tears trickle down her face, scared of Rui bringing the large spider father over to beat her again, or worse, punish her himself. She was doomed, and there was nothing she could do about it was there?

"Alright, we did it!" Tanjiro said in celebration. Inosuke was silent though as he turned and stared at the two. He then dropped his swords and ran at Tanjiro, picking him up. "Put Tanjiro down!" Kanao shouted as Tanjiro wiggled a bit as Inosuke lifted him up. "Anything you can do, I can do BETTER!" Inosuke shouted as he was referencing Tanjiro letting him get the kill on the headless puppet demon. He then tossed Tanjiro up high, towards the spider's mother. 

Tanjiro spotted her, and he started to fall towards her just as Inosuke had intended. "Water breathing…" he said with a determined look, falling towards her. As she stared up at him she suddenly came to an understanding of her situation and accepted it. To her, this was better than surviving and feeling her 'families' wrath. She detached the webbing from her fingers and held her arm out, closing her eyes. When Tanjiro saw this, he did not feel the same anger he felt before, and he switch his stance. "....blessed rain after the drought." 

The spider mother opened her eyes, her neck had been cut but she barely felt it happen. "Did he…he did," she muttered out as despite her coming death she felt no pain and drips of water along with a beautiful scene displayed in front of her. 'This feels nice, I feel at peace.' she thought to herself. After her head landed and her body began to dissipate she stared at the boy who had cut off her head. Despite all she did, he looked at her with sympathy in his eyes. 

'That look, someone used to look at me that way. I wonder how he is' a small flash of the person came to her even though she could not fully remember what he looked like. The demon, spider mother smiled while her pale white face was almost gone. She decided she would help him, even if just as a warning. "There is a twelve Kizuki here…" Tanjiro's eyes widened "what?" the demon said it one last time before she was gone "a demon of the twelve Kizuki is here." 

Tanjiro started looking at the spot where her head had been for a little bit. He could hear Inosuke and Kanao making their way toward him. "A twelve Kizuki demon? Like Zettour?" he placed his sword away, thinking about how he and Kanao barely defeated a former member. And how skilled slayers like Kyojuro and Tanya barely dealt with just one. When the other two slayers came into view he would calm himself down, they would figure out a way to defeat the demon should they come across it. He hoped. 

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At the manor of the master of the Demon slayer corps, Tanya was kneeling next to Shinobu and Giyu. she had been suddenly called there by the master alongside the others. She presumed for a mission. For now, though Kagaya was speaking with a crow that had come. She looked over at Shinobu who aside from smiling was being just as quiet as Giyu. these were actions she would have to get used to. 

"I see.." Kagaya finally spoke out loud in a still calm tone "So many of my children are already gone." the three people behind him looked towards him. "Seems we will need to send in the Hashira." he looked over his shoulder "Giyu Tomioka, Shinobu Kocho, Tanya Kocho." the three Hashira nodded their heads. While Tanya thought to herself 'at least I can try out the other forms there…'