Chapter 1
Everything inside him screamed to not go anywhere near Tanjiro after he became a demon. yet, he knew he had to protect his friends, protect Nezuko. So with all his might and strength left, Zenitsu lifted himself off the ground, his Katana by his side. He slid into his form with grace, muttering the words "thunder breathing... first form.. Godlike speed!" Suddenly he took off, so fast that nobody could see where he went. But Tanjiro did. Tanjiro swiftly turned towards him ready to attack, when suddenly someone pushed him out of the way. Nezuko."Brother please! you're still inside of your brain somewhere! come back!" Tanjiro wasn't there anymore. He was nothing more then a monster who would kill anything in its path. He pushed her off with great force, sending her flying into Inosuke, who thankfully caught her enough to not be injured. Zenitsu stumbled though, he hadn't expected for Nezuko to push Tanjiro out of his attack range, after she was out of the way, he quickly dropped to the ground landing, redirected his attack to face Tanjiro again, and sped towards him spreading out his katana, ready to slice his head off. Tanjiro noticed again, somehow he gained an immeasurable sense of awareness, more then Muzan Kibutsuji ever had.
Zenitsu's eyes widened, he was too far in his attack to stop any offending attack from Tanjiro. He felt his stomach clench. In the blink of the eye he had dropped his sword, now standing with Tanjiro's arm punched right through his abdomen, bleeding immensely. His vision blurred, he felt pricks of tears flow into his eyes.
It hurts.
That was all he could make his mind think about. The searing pain. Tanjiro pulled his arm away from him, and Zenitsu was left with a gaping hole right in the middle of his abdomen. He fell to the floor, trying to cover it, somehow. He couldn't die now, he made it so far. And yet even as he gripped at the wound and tried to cover it with his haori, he knew. He knew he was dying and he couldn't do anything about it. He knew that this was the last thing he was gonna see. His best friend, attacking others with no sense of self anymore. He heard his name being screamed at by multiple people. Inosuke. Nezuko. Who was that other person? he suddenly couldn't think anymore.
he felt his body hit a hard surface, and he felt his own blood seeping out of him. He couldn't do anything, he was in so much pain he couldn't even comprehend where he was. "gramps..." he spoke in a raspy gurgled voice, there was blood coming from his mouth now. "I'm-- sorry" He said, his eyes started forcefully shutting themselves, he felt tired. He just wanted to sleep. He convinced himself he was gonna wake up and it was all gonna be a dream. Tanjiro never turned into a demon, nobody died, he didn't die. he felt a pair of hands on his arm, shaking him, trying to tell him not to go to sleep, but he couldn't help it. He slowly drifted off, seeing nothing but darkness.
'It's not time yet'
Zenitsu awoke with a gasping breath. he sat up, widened eyed, trying to see where he was. There was nothing but whiteness, it seems it went on for ages. Suddenly he saw a familiar figure. Now more appearing figures. The hashiras. Not far away from him. He got up quickly. They were alive? "Rengoku?" He called. was he really alive? A head turned his way. It was really him, it was him. Zenitsu's eyes watered as he ran to them tripping over his own feet. Before Rengoku could comprehend if what he saw was real, he felt a person jump onto him, hugging him tightly. "Rengoku!! I missed you so much!" Zenitsu sobbed still hugging him tightly, afraid he might leave again. Rengoku looked at the hashiras, nodding at them. Gyomei picked up Zenitsu from his haori, the hashiras stared at him. "Shinobu?! A crow told us you died!" He spoke staring at her diligently, as if she wasn't real. She couldn't be, could the crow have maybe mistaken her as dead? "why are you here. A young child shouldn't be here, never."
Mitsuri spoke in her usual high pitched voice, but instead of the happy, joyous tone she normally has, her sound was melancholy. "w-what do you mean? did I interrupt something?" Most of them looked sad. like something horrible happened. wait.. Zenitsu thought, all of the hashira in-front of him had died. Was he dead? "..Am I dead?" Zenitsu asked solemnly. he wasn't shocked or mad, he was just disappointed. In himself, the fact that gramps spent all his time on him, in the fact he never really got to have a conversation with Nezuko he never even became a hashira like gramps wanted. You could hear Gyomies tears hit the floor, he was always crying, he thought nothing of it.
"poor soul... to die so young.." He said, putting me down softly. Zenitsu didn't want to expect the worst, he really didn't want to believe it. he had spent his teenage years trying to live up to his master, his gramps. He had spent months trying to get just a little bit of notice from Nezuko. 'It's not your time' a voice spoke. Rengoku. He turned to him looking confused. what did he mean by that? "what do you mean?" Suddenly the ground broke, cracks leading straight between his feet. "we are giving you another chance" The hashira spoke in union, like they were being controlled by an unknown figure. Suddenly, he was falling, he got scared, he felt the wind blow past him feverishly, his eyes began to close on their own. He was blacking out. Again.
He felt himself awaken, yet he couldn't bring it upon himself to open his eyes. After what felt like hours of tossing and turning, pretending to be asleep, he grew restless and snapped his eyes open. Confusion hit him in multiple directions, trying to think. he rose from what felt much to like his old Futon at gramps house, which it was. The same room, the same pair of clean, soft clothes that always found its way to the front of the door, the smell of the peach orchard. Was he in heaven? He couldn't be alive, that surely couldn't have all been a dream, could it?
He heard a man, shuffling in the other room adjacent to his. It was gramps, it was unmistakably him. Another sound pierced through his ears that made his heart drop rapidly. The sound of Kaigaku, but there was a difference in his sound as when he met him as a demon. It sounded like his human self, there was still the hatred and emptiness as before, but he was human. No. He can't be, he is a demon. He has to protect gramps. He snapped his head back and forth, searching for his sword, his eyed landed on it, by the side of the door.
