The malicious moon glared murderously upon the Earth as a clearing within some dense forestry was illuminated with lunar light. The clearing, although small, contained four individuals. Three of them were standing tall and alert, their mismatched, butterfly and chequered haori gliding in the nightly breeze as the man with the green and black chequered haori was a noticeable distance to the others, as he was looking for any movement from the south of the clearing, the others being slight to the north.

However, the final person within the clearing was leaning against a tree, unconscious. She faced pained with worry, exhaustion and emotional turmoil. Her face changed expression multiple times during her sleep, none of them positive emotions. Her eyes squinted a little as a groan escaped her lips as her blue eyes opened very slowly as he eyes adjusted to the light being directed to her eyes, as she moved a strand of her blond hair from her eyes, as she could feel the hairband she wore still there and raping most of her hair within it. Her brown uniform was completely intact, the only issues being the scraps and dirt on her hands, knees and face.

Her eyes then focused on the individuals in front of her, the one closest to her wore a butterfly haori, hair ornament and had a butterfly guard, along with a purple slayer uniform accompanying her purple eyes and the tips of her hair. She turned around to face the blond-headed slayer as her eyes looked analytical as she observed the re-awakened slayer. She then crouched down next to her as her eyes looked concerned, although after a moment her concern vanished as a smile adorned the butterfly's face.

She saw, out of the corner of her right eye, a man wearing a mismatched haori, with a black slayer uniform, his cold distant blue eyes observing the girl subtly out the corner of his eye, as hand lay on his katana handle. She then saw behind the purple eyes a woman man, with a green and black chequered Haori along with hanafuda earrings and long burgundy hair, tied in a ponytail. The man was a distance away from her and the other two, which made her confused but decided to ignore it for now.

"Do you feel alright miss?" The woman spoke up kindly, to which she then turned her attention to the woman as she nodded hesitantly, this made the woman's demeanour changed to one more serious. "Well can you inform us of what happened to you?" The woman asked seriously as she, again, nodded hesitantly as she then breathed in a pained sigh as she then looked to the night sky.

"My name is Fuyumi, ranked Hinoe. I and another lead a group of six others to a village named Name, to investigate the sighting of demons. What we came across, was a village in flames, a literal inferno had descended upon the village as the entrance was littered with the corpses of the dead and dismembered body parts. All of those we were in charge of ran into the village to rescue civilians, me and the other leader going together as we..." She said hastily, as her breathing became a little irregular. The woman simply placed a hand on her shoulder, reassuringly as Fuyumi then calmed enough to compose herself.

"We encountered Lower Moon 3, and I also noticed a hand with an eye similar to a Lower Moon. I and my partner exchanged blows with the Lower Moon but then my partner asked me to run as to inform someone of these threats..." She spoke quietly as fear tears started to fall from her eyes. "He stayed behind, and as I ran I saw his face get obliterated in a flash. I ran and ran until I could no longer run. I went as far as I could and this is where I ended up." She said as her tears stopped as she finished as she tried to remain professional. As from what she could tell, the people in front of her were strong, very strong. Maybe pillar level, if she were to hazard a guess. She then noticed the woman then smile kindly at her, whilst the cold eyes of the man showed a little empathy, both gestures she greatly appreciated.

"Well, it's a good thing we are here and some Kinoto." She said as Fuyumi's eyes widened a little as she said that. As the woman simply nodded as she stood up. "Kocho Shinobu, Insect Hashira," Shinobu said smiling.

"Tomioka Giyu, Water Hashira," Giyu said, as she then nodded at Giyu to which she looked towards the other man within the group. As she could see that he was sniffing the air, and as weird as she found that she couldn't find it abnormal, she had heard of people having enhanced senses and she just guessed that smell was his. He crouched on a branch as his sniffing stopped as he then turned and vanished into the northern side of the clearing, where everyone was, and landed behind Shinobu.

"A demon is coming." That was all he said, but seeing the man-made her heart skip a beat. The silted red eyes. The sharpened nails. The aura. The man then turned to her as he smiled as his earrings fluttered in the wind. "Kamado Tanjirou. Yes, I am a demon but trust me when I say this..." He said kindly as his expression changed, much like Shinobu's, to one a little bit of resentment. "I despise demons. I would've gladly died if it meant not turning into one but I cannot change the past. All I can do is move forward." He was emotionlessly as he then turned to the southern end of the clearing.

Suddenly, dust erupted into the air as a male figure became visible to four. The three crosses on his face. The pointed ears. The kanji in his eyes. The figure's imposing demeanour disappeared immediately upon seeing Tanjirou as Tanjirou noticed this as he wasted no time in vanishing again. The demon stood defensively as he looked to be in a panic as he looked frantically for the man.

Only for him to appear behind him with a blade cutting through his neck. The eyes of the demon spoke of only fear of the demon standing before him. "Just who are you... To have a presence similar to... Master...." The demon said as he was turning to dust, as all that remained of the once-proud Lower Moon, was his right eye that had the kanji for 'Lower Three' as that too soon disintegrated to dust. Tanjirou simply an expression of being impassive to this as then walked back to the group.

As he stood before the Hashira, he could notice their surprise at how easily he disposed of a Lower Moon ranked demon. Tanjirou remained impartial to any of this and was stoic, as he then looked towards the woman leaning against the tree, Fuyumi. He could see the terror and scepticism in her eyes and through her shaking. He then looked at her kindly as he walked over and kneeled in front of her as he gently placed his hand on her head, her flinching as he has done this.

"I normally give them a chance in realising who they are before finishing them off. But that man, I could not sense a single shred of regret nor guilt in his soul." Tanjirou said in guilt. His eyes faced the ground in a hint of shame as he then sighed and looked at the woman. The sight of him facing Fuyumi, made her flinch a little. As she knew that he wasn't going to attack her now but she still wouldn't let her guard down.

He looked into her eyes and a great deal of sadness, and from he heard of what happened he would guess that most of it came from that. She also held a great deal of loathing, as he assumed she felt responsible for what happened to both the village and her comrade. His eyes hardened as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't blame yourself." He started as she then responded angrily by pushing his hand off of her shoulder as she used the tree to pull herself to stand shakily in front of the man, who was crouching in front of her.

"Why do you mean 'Don't blame yourself'?!" She screamed, as tears started to form in her eyes, as her hands were shaking anger. "You heard what happened, didn't you?! I abandoned my teammate!" She shouted as she slammed her hand against the bark, creating a sizable hole in the tree trunk. "I was powerless to help and he paid the price!...." She barked as she then could feel her tears starting to fall from her eyes, as her breathing became irregular as what little professionalism she wanted to have was now out of the window.

"...And how was that your fault?" Tanjirou asked calmly, as he stood up, looming over her like a grand statue. His figure far exceeded the other Hashira, in terms of height. "Could you stop them? No. Could you do anything to help? No, not in a way that affected anything." Tanjirou said harshly, as his eyes burned with determination, and a slight sense of empathy, as much as he was feeling internally the opposite.

She then looked into Tanjirou's eyes and saw something that made her freeze. The pain. The sadness. The Anger. The Rage. The self-contempt. Everything she was feeling, however, amplified to an extreme that she didn't think possible, in the heat of the moment. She then could only blurt out, in her fear. "How would you know?".

Tanjirou backed away from her leaving her by the tree as he turned towards the directions of the smoke, to which he assumed to be the village, as he then stopped walking towards it when he reached the centre of the clearing. He then turned his head and looked directly into Fuyumi's eyes, his red eyes glowing in controlled rage.

"Imagine everything you're going through, except that you had the power and chance to save those whom you cared for and said people were your family. Imagine living with the fact that out of your arrogance, everyone you knew and loved was butchered in front of your eyes." Tanjirou spoke, in a tone reserved yet threatening to break out in a tidal wave of pain. As he paused himself as he took a breathe in to calm himself, as useless as that was at the moment.

"Imagine living with the fact that you had to spend the rest of your life knowing that you were not only a failure, in mind but also your body. To live as a demon was something I would've ended my own life over, however, I now have an obligation to my ancestors to make sure that their traditions live on. And I'll be damned if I fail again." He almost shouted as he disappeared from the clearing leaving everyone there shaken.

The Hashira, although on the outside, seemed fine. They were extremely concerned for the boy's mental state, as these negative thoughts, emotions, goals and mentality were sure to make the boy go insane it was a wonder to Shinobu especially that he wasn't already. However, they pulled themselves together mentally as they turned to the woman who had fallen back onto the ground in both exhaustion and fear. Her eyes looked like she'd seen her worst nightmare and her body shaking uncontrollably.

She then looked at the pair standing in front of her, scared out of her mind. "I-s is that... All true?" She asked shakily as Shinobu simply sighed as then crouched down to come face-to-face with Fuyumi as she placed her hand kindly on her shoulder as nodded sadly. This made the tears continue from Fuyumi as she felt terrible at herself. For she knew that he had experienced something similar to this and yet brought it up regardless.

"In fact, to our knowledge, he should be 13 years old but due to him becoming a demon he grew into the man you saw before you," Shinobu said solemnly as she then looked kindly into Fuyumi's eyes as she stared back at her still shaking, although it was significantly reduced. "Trust me when I say this. Tanjirou is a man who does not hold grudges. Think of this as some form of extreme therapy." She said light-heartedly and chuckling at the end.

She simply sat there unknowing of what to say or do at this point as she just... Didn't know what to do. Shinobu then slowly got up as she then turned to Giyu and nodded as he disappeared as which made Fuyumi worry, to which Shinobu looked at her reassuringly. "Don't worry the Kakushi are on their way." She said with a bright smile as she then disappeared as well. Leaving Fuyumi speechless and trapped within her thoughts as she just looked to the moon.

"I don't know how I'll ever forgive myself for what I've said and done. But if it means making up for what I said, I'll try my damn hardest to do so. Tanjirou" She quietly to herself, before passing out.

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The moon, in all of its murderous glory, glared upon the burning village in the centre of the sky, as at the eastern treeline of the village, on top of a small cliff that gave an overview of the village stood a man. Whom Haori fluttered, Earrings flowed and his ponytail breezed in the wind as his hand lay his katana, his grip firm and stoic.

His red eyes darted across the village as he noticed the streets littered with blood, bodies, limbs. Everything was ravaged and nothing was remaining. The silent village burned in anger and injustice as his eyes glowed brighter and brighter as more and more streets looked like this. His mark on his forehead glowing brighter similar to his eyes. This anger only stopped temporarily as his musing was cut off by the arrival of two others.

"My, My, these demons sure know how to make a mess. How about we teach them the consequences of such an atrocity." Shinobu said calmly, although her tone was filled with an endless well of hatred. As her butterfly haori simply floated in the deathly breeze.

Giyu remained silent, although by the look in his eyes he was seething with hatred, his once cold dull eyes were illuminated with the brightness of anger that lay within his heart for the perpetrators of this massacre.

"Let's make sure that they do not escape," Tanjirou said with anger as he took in a deep breath as he then disappeared into the village, with the two Hashira following suit. All the while a hand a long way away was observing this with glee and excitement as it turned around to return to its owner only to be stabbed by a katana.

As a green and black chequered haori descended on the hand slicing it in half and causing it to disappear into dust. "By making sure we have the drop on them." He said emotionlessly as he then turned towards the centre of the village as he then vanished in a burst of speed as the ground, on which he was stood, cracked at the force of the jump.

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Hope you enjoyed the chapter.

So the comment on Tanjirou being taller then Giyu was not a mistake, the initial height I stated in chapter 5 I think was a mistake but I left it in as little bit of comidic relief. In reality he more like 6'1. (P.S. It is now Fixed)

Hope I haven't made a big mistake in this retcon but the truth is now revealed 😂

Hope to see you all in the next one

Cya 👋