Tears of a Writer

*Dum* The Demon quickly hit the drum on his stomach, causing the ground below him to be slashed apart.

'I figured it out. A way to move my body and a way to breathe without increasing my pain.' Tanjiro thought as he evaded the attacks.

"Tanjiro!" Hiroto shouted in concern seeing Tanjiro move about so much even though he suffered some fractured ribs.

*Suuuu* Hiroto quickly activated his full focus breathing and started pushing his speed to the limits. He quickly arrived at the Demon Hiroto sliced off one of its arms, before the room started flipping once more. *Dum* "Agghh! You damn insects!" The Demon shouted.

The Demon then started hitting all the drums on his body at an even faster pace. "Tanjiro! Finish it!" Hiroto yelled out, as he jumped around and maneuvered himself to dodge the attacks.

Having had one of its arms cut off made it easier for Tanjiro to close in on the Demon. "Even if my body is broken down! Even If I can't move! I will never give up!" Tanjiro yelled out.

'Right before he attacks, there's the scent of mold!' Tanjiro thought. '*Suuuuu* Tanjiro breathed in.

'Total concentration... Water breathing! Ninth form: Splashing Water Flow, Turbulent!' Tanjiro performed, running along the sides of the walls leaving a trail of water behind his every step.

Tanjiro ran up to the Demon, dodging each attack. 'There it is, I see it, the Opening Thread!' Tanjiro thought, before jumping towards the Demon.

"Kyogai!" Tanjiro yelled out. "Your Blood Demon Art was incredible!

Hearing his words, the Demon's eyes widened, as he stood still. 'You should stop writing. What you're doing right now is wasting paper and pen ink. Recently, you haven't been going out at noon. You're just too boring now that you're like this.' The Demon thought back to the words that were said to him back when he was a human trying to work towards his goal as a writer.

*Slash* Tanjiro cut the Demons head off, blood splattering around the room as his body fell to the ground. *Thump* The Demons head rolled a distance away. "Ouch ouch ouch" Tanjiro cried out, holding his ribs.

"Kid… Answer me. You think my Blood Demon Art… was incredible?" The Demon head said.

Tanjiro turned to the side before saying in a low tone. "It was amazing. But I can't forgive you for killing others…"

"I see…" The Demon muttered as its head started to slowly dissipate.

"Oh, almost forget, Tanjiro the needle, we need to get the blood samples," Hiroto said, turning to Tanjiro.

Tanjiro took a needle from his sleeve, removing the wooden cap and throwing it towards the Demon's body. *shik* As the needle stuck into the body it began to collect its blood.

Walking up to it, Tanjiro said, "It's amazing how it works, it automatically starts collecting the blood once stuck into the body."

"Yea I can't believe Yushiro made this…" Hiroto said.

As Hiroto collected the needle, a cat appeared out of nowhere. "Meow."

'A cat?' Hiroto thought. Looking at it, he recognized the paper talisman design to be similar to the one that was posted up at Tamayo's house in Asakusa. "You must be here to collect the sample," Hiroto said, petting the cat.

Opening the bag on it's back, Hiroto secured the needle inside of it tightly, before saying. "Alright, all set. You can go back to Tamayo-san and Yushiro."

"Meow" The cat started walking away before slowly disappearing.

"It's like what Yushiro told us, under his spell once the cat meowed it would be able to show itself, and when it meowed once more it would vanish," Tanjiro muttered.

Hiroto nodded his head in understanding, thinking to himself, 'I have no idea what Yushiro said. I wasn't paying attention, I was busy watching Nezuko laze around.'

[In an unknown location]

*Achoo!* "Sniff, Lady Tamayo must be thinking of me!" Yushiro said out loud in joy as he carried some boxes.

[Back at the house]

As the two walked to the door, they turned around to look at the Demon's head once more. In his eyes, they could see his blue pupils present, with a number crossed out in his left eye.

'My...writing…' The demon thought to itself, as it was waiting for its slow disappearance from this world.

[Tsuzune's Demon Flashback]

In a dark room, a man was kneeling with his papers on the ground in front of him. A man with an obscured face was standing opposite to him, saying, "Your writing is just so boring. Every last word is utter trash! No beauty, no fragility, no impact."

The man then stepped on the papers before walking away. The man continued kneeling as he stared at his pride in his work being trampled on by the man, shaking in his position.

[Flashback end]

'It wasn't trash at all…' The Demon thought as he saw Tanjiro's and Hiroto's figure in the doorway looking at him. 'At the very least, not to that kid. He saw fit not to trample on it…'

Tanjiro bowed towards the Demon before saying, "Rest in peace." Hiroto reluctantly bowed as well under Tanjiro's gaze.

The two then proceeded to run down the hallway, leaving the Demon's Head to slowly await his demise. *drip drip* The sound of water dripping could be heard, as the Demon's eyes started to tear up, flowing down the side of his remaining face. In his eyes, the look of the tsuzune Demon no longer remained, but instead of a man having finally been recognized…

'Both my Blood Demon Art… and my tsuzumi playing… has finally been recognized…' the last pieces of the Demons floated into the air, as it dissipated and became one with the wind.

[Back to Hiroto's position]

As the two ran down the hallway, Tanjiro told Hiroto, "I met Teruko's brother in a room. He was carrying one of the Demon's tsuzune and used it to avoid the other Demons by striking it. I told them to only open the door when I call out their names. I memorized their scent so I'm leading us towards them."

"Mm," Hiroto sounded his understanding, before thinking to himself. 'Everyone should get themselves a Tanjiro… so convenient…'

"Teruko! Kiyoshi!" Tanjiro called out, opening a door. *whoosh* "Ah!" A girl's voice cried out as Tanjiro dodged an object being thrown at him.

"Wait!" *whoosh* *Thump* As Tanjiro dodged the second object, a book came and hit him square in his forehead.

"Oh" "Tanjiro" Both Teruko and Kiyoshi muttered seeing who it was.

"Hey!" Hiroto said, poking his head out from the side of the door.

"Ah!" *whoosh* Teruko threw the pot in her hand towards Hiroto's face. Hiroto quickly dodged it before saying. "Calm down, it's me," Hiroto said calmly.

"Ah, we're sorry, we got scared and didn't recognize you for a second," Teruko mumbled quietly.

"The tsuzume disappeared so we panicked," Kiyoshi said apologetically.

"I see, well, I'm glad you're both safe," Tanjiro said.

"Wahhhh" Teruko started crying.

Hiroto walked up and ruffled her hair lightly, before softly saying. "You did great hanging in there. Such a brave girl. You too." Hiroto looked over to Kiyoshi who nodded back at him.

Tanjiro walked up and said, "We should go, here climb unto my back Kiyoshi."

The 4 then started to walk towards Zenitsu and Shoishi's location with Tanjiro guiding them. Hiroto was carrying the scared Teruko in his arms.

"I'm picking up Zenitsu and Shoichi's scent." Tanjiro stopped for a second as he flinched. 'I smell blood…' He thought nervously.

Hiroto saw the look in Tanjiro's eyes and said, "Let's hurry up."

Running outside, they saw Zenitsu covering over a box as the boar headed person kicked him. "Draw your sword and fight me! You spineless punk!"

Seeing this, Hiroto immediately put Teruko down before he disappeared from his location.

*Whoosh* *BOOOOM* "GACKK!" The boar headed person yelled out as Hiroto landing a kick towards his stomach, sending him crashing into a tree and knocking him out. Grabbing his sword, Hiroto was ready to kill him before Tanjiro yelled out. "Brother don't! Please! You don't have to kill him!"

Hiroto halted for a second, before slowly putting his sword away. He then looked down at Zenitsu's face covered in bruises and wounds. Kneeling, Hiroto took the box from his arms without muttering a word. As Hiroto turned to walk away, he muttered quietly. "...thank you…"

Tanjiro walked up to Zenitsu and helped him up. "I remembered what your brother Hiroto said, that the box was worth more to him than his life… I have had a good sense of hearing ever since birth. When I couldn't hear the sounds of the Demon's footsteps any more, I left the house and went outside. I heard a sound from the box and whatever it was I didn't question it. The person wearing the boar head came out and wanted to attack the box, but I stopped him…" Zenitsu said, trailing as his words trailed off from fatigue.

Listening to his words silently, Hiroto spoke out. "Tanjiro, tend to his wounds, it's the least we can do."

Zenitsu thought to himself, 'I know what's in the box, my hearing allows me to tell the difference between a human and a Demon. I can also pick up sounds from people. When I saw Tanjiro, I could pick up a sound so gentle and kind from him, it makes me want to cry…'

'The sound that his brother makes… is always changing. I can never tell what it's going to be. Sometimes it can be as gentle as Tanjiro's and at other times it can be a tsunami of fury flooding out like just a moment ago…'

"I wanted to ask you two directly… Who's in the box?" Zenitsu said.

The surrounding area turned silent waiting for Hiroto and Tanjiro's answer.