Chapter Text
Pierced through the roof by the neck, Doma was quite impressed. “How could someone so weak be so strong?” He asked. His face melted but his lips curved into a smile. “I underestimated you, didn’t I? Apologies… You really do live up to the Pillar name…” Doma laughed as his melting face regenerated, decomposing Shinobu's poison. Soon, ice vines formed around the upper rank.
Her grip slackened and as her heart took one more beat. “Eh?” And with that, Shinobu let go of her blade as she fell from the roof of the cavern, her ripped up haori falling to pieces. Doma’s vines moved as they reached down to rope around her when a slam shattered Doma’s victory.
“Shinobu-san!” A voice all too familiar to Shinobu yelled as the doors flung open. In one swift movement, Doma’s ice vines forgot all about Shinobu as she fell, one inch from touching the floor, she back flipped and landed on her feet.
“Don’t inhale anything! The air is toxic to breathe in!” Shinbu yelled as Doma’s ice vines chased Tanjiro and a figure Shinobu longed to see, Giyu.
The two avoided the vines, slashing their way to Shinobu who by now was half dead, her lungs dying and her body bleeding out.
Tanjiro covered his nose and rushed towards Shinobu. “Shinobu-san! Hang on!” Tanjiro yelled as Shinobu fell in his arms, shivering. Taking a vial from his pocket.
“Yushiro-san!” Tanjiro exclaimed, bumping into Yushiro who motioned for him to silent down. “Take this, follow that crow and you’ll find the Lady Shinobu, inject her with this, okay? It will kill all the cells in her body that upper rank 2 is freezing. This serum decomposes Kibutsuji’s cells immediately. Take it and go!” Yushiro whispered to Tanjiro who nods. “Got it! Is there anything else?” Tanjiro asked as Yushiro handed him a sheathed blade. “Here, give this to Shinobu too.” Yushiro said finally and pushed Tanjiro off the platform back to where Giyu was looking for him.
“This will destroy any of Muzan’s cells, alright, Shinobu-san? But will this work?” Tanjiro asked Shinobu who nodded. “That demon’s blood demon art is spreading in the wind, I inhaled it and now it’s freezing my lungs. If you inject that, it’ll stop it from spreading but the damage done won’t be restored.” Shinobu explained as Tanjiro injects in Shinobu's arm.
“Stay here, Shinobu-san, at least until the cells are completely gone. I’ll help Tomioka-san.” Tanjiro laid Shinobu at the furthest corner of the room and faced Doma and Giyu.
The two weren’t even battling, Doma had just created vines of ice and Giyu was struggling with them. Tanjiro leapt in, slashing Doma’s back who moved away in time.
“Stand.” Shinobu heard someone say. “I can’t, my left lung is half dead, I’m bleeding out…” Shinobu reasoned with the serious voice. “I don’t care, bandage your wounds and stand.” She does as she’s told, slowly bandaging her wound.
“Burden…” Shinobu muttered to herself as Giyu and Tanjiro moved around the blood demon arts. “Have always been… burden…” Shinobu muttered as she felt her body warm down. The cure was taking effect. “You’re a genius, Tamayo…” Shinobu whispered as she sat up straight.
In front of her was a new sword. Unsheathing the foreign blade, it was a standard sword. Unlike hers which only had a tip, this was a full blade.
“Kanao… I’m sorry if I made you worry…” Shinobu muttered, standing up. “Nee-san will be back… Nee-san will go home with you.” And with that, Shinobu sped off, pointing her blade at Doma who wasn’t looking at her.
“Insect Breathing, Dance of the Bee Sting: True Flutter!” Shinobu yelled and stabbed Doma on the neck, rotating the sword inside his neck. “Well, well, the lady is back!” Doma exclaimed with delight.
“Kocho! Be careful!” Giyu yelled as he leapt towards Shinobu, grabbing her by the waist and leaping away with her in his arms, avoiding Doma’s raining icicles.
“Kocho, your face…” Giyu whispered as Shinobu stood straight. “Huh, what do you mean?” She asked, Tanjiro joining their side as Doma smiled from far away.
“Shinobu-san, you awakened your mark!” Tanjiro beamed, admiring Shinobu’s mark. A butterfly stretching along the left side of her face. “Well, well, what’s that?” Doma asked, across the room.
The trio didn’t answer, all just preparing themselves for an attack. Then, Doma paused, as if processing something.
“Oh, Muzan-sama is calling me!” Doma exclaimed as he waved his fans, scattering dust.
The three knew better than to breathe it in.
“Water Breathing, Tenth Form: Constant Flux!” Giyu exclaimed, leaping off the platform they stood and made his way to Doma who smiled and waved his fan once more, creating ice maidens which blew cold wind toward Giyu.
Slashing and hacking his way to Doma, Shinobu followed behind him, gripping her chest which started to bleed again even though she had bandaged it. Doma faced Shinobu’s direction and smiled.
“Blood Demon Art, Wintery Icicles…” He giggled and rained down icicles on Shinobu who looked up in shock.
“Insect Breathing, Dance of the Praying Mantis, Obscure!”
“Where did she go?” Doma asked, frantically looking around then spotting a blurring figure. “Ah, there you are!” Doma greeted the figure with another set of raining icicles bit it didn’t catch anything. The icicles simply stabbed the floors as Shinobu’s figure danced around with speed Doma couldn’t keep up with.
“I see, so that move she just did causes her to appear like an illusion, like a praying mantis among leaves. Clever.” Doma thought as his eyes followed Shinobu’s graceful yet annoying movements.
“I should get this over with…” Doma thought, glancing at Giyu who was fending off the ice women with kicks and slices. Tanjiro was helping him, slicing off the heads of the ladies but they just grew back.
“Beheading them wont do anything you know!” Doma beamed and faced the two male slayers, flashes of water and flames of the sun.
Icicles still raining down, Doma looked behind him to see a piece of the insufferable butterfly wing patterned haori pinned under icicles.
“Ah, gotcha!” Doma said with glee, walking over to the piece of haori, expecting to find the owner close by.
Shinobu came up behind him, sword at the ready as she aimed for his neck.
“You seem to have a lot of training done on your legs to move this fast,” Doma complimented, “so let's get rid of them…” Doma smiled with simplicity as he slashed, aiming at Shinobu’s lower half.
Gold clashing with periwinkle, Shinobu’s blade met Doma’s and prevented his slash.
While distracted with Shinobu, Tanjiro appeared from above.
“Die already you coward!” Tanjiro yelled, struggling to run his blade through Doma’s neck.
“You won’t be able to kill me, no one can!” Doma laughed and kicked Shinobu 10 feet away, grasping Tanjiro’s sword and pulling it off his neck. “Blood Demon Art, Crystalline Divine Child!” Doma waved his fan, creating ice which molded into what looked like a miniature version of himself. The mini-Doma ran towards Shinobu, starting a battle.
“Tanjiro, move!” Giyu screamed as Tanjiro got flown off the platform, into the pond. “Winter Icicles!” Doma exclaimed, raining down icicles which pin Tanjiro to the pond, face down.
“Upper Moon Three has been defeated by Inosuke Hashibira and Kanao Tsuyuri! They did this with the assistance of multiple demon slayers in the area!” A crow from outside yelled. That had caught Doma’s attention.
“Dang, he died, too bad. I need to leave then, I can’t be next or else Muzan-sama will be mad again.” Doma smiled and started walking away.
Tanjiro was in the pond, struggling to stand and remove the icicles which pinned his haori down. Shinobu was too far and was still fending off the ice child. Giyu was fighting off the ice women, trying not to breathe.
“Stop it! Stay here!” Shinobu yelled, stepping on the ice child’s neck and crushing it off. She chased after Doma, her hairpin breaking in half as she chased, her hair tumbling down her shoulders.
“You coward! You can’t even fight your own battles!” Giyu yelled, ignoring the ice forming on his back as he turned to Doma, running after him.
Tanjiro stood, soaked as he threw his blade at Doma’s neck, piercing through.
“Enough! Blood Demon Art, Rime — Water Lily Bodhisattva!” Doma yelled, fan at hand as ice started forming.
“Kocho! Move!” In a split second an enormous giant of ice formed out of the blood spilled from Doma’s neck.
Where Shinobu stood, a giant arm smashed down to which the pillar avoided by a hair. “Kocho, Tanjiro, try to get up the statue!” Giyu said as he leapt off the ground, to the arm that almost smashed Shinobu.
“Water Breathing, Third Form: Flowing Dance!” Slashing his way to the elbow, Giyu’s slashes hack through the arm of ice, slicing it to pieces.
Following his suit, Shinobu leapt to the other arm while Tanjiro jumped onto the falling arm pieces cut by Giyu to make his way to the right shoulder.
“Dance of the Centipede: Hundred-Legged Zigzag…” Shinobu mutters, dashing in a zigzag pattern and breaking the arm by sheer force and an occasional stab.
“You can’t kill me, I am Upper Moon Two!” Doma yelled maniacally, creating vines of ice which tried to loop around Giyu’s leg to which the water pillar responded by slashing it off. Doma made a dozen of icicles and rained them down on Shinobu who leapt away.
Tanjiro made the first move, jumping from the shoulder to one of the lotuses attached to the giant figure of a buddha.
“Up there! He’s on top of the head!” Tanjiro yelled, finding Doma’s position.
Following behind, Shinobu jumped to the nose of the statue and to the side of the head, stabbing her sword down in order not to slip.
Giyu was on the same lotus as Tanjiro, leaping to the top of the head where Doma was making another ice child.
“Now!” Giyu yelled as Tanjiro came from the right, Shinobu from the left, and him from behind.
All at once, the three slashed, aiming for Doma’s neck.
“Please, Kanae, lend me some strength, mother, father, Kanae, please…” Shinobu pleaded, as her blade was the first one to slice thoroughly, followed by Tanjiro’s blade, then Giyu’s.
Doma’s head flew off the top as the ice melted as their creator disintegrated away. Shinobu let herself fall free, landing on the water below.
“Is it over…?”
Her deep red mark blending in with her blood, Shinobu’s eyes started fluttering.
“Shinobu, you did so well…” She heard Kanae’s voice whisper in her ears. “Nee-san, I’m sorry I couldn’t be a useful tsuguko…” Shinobu apologized which was stopped by Kanae’s soft hand, brushing her shoulder, as if edging her to stand. She tried, with great struggle, but she managed to get herself half up.
“I knew you could do it, Shi-chan… Even without the poison. I knew you could.” Her mother’s voice was next. “Mom, don’t worry, I’ll be there soon… The poison will kill me anyways…” Shinobu reassured but her mother didn’t answer.
“I am proud of you, Shinobu Kocho, remember that…” Her father’s voice was last in her family as she felt relief run through her heart. “Can I go there? With you three?” Shinobu asked, tears rimming her eyes. “You can’t yet, it’s not your time… Your time isn’t anywhere near.” Her father said with great difficulty. “I understand…” Shinobu muttered as the voices disappeared.
Three more people came to mind.
“Mebi-chan, Hachi-chan, Akaha-san… I’m sorry.” Shinobu whispered, choking back tears as she sat up, her dark hair soaked in water.
“Master, you can cry…” Mebi said. “It’s not a crime for you to cry.” Shinobu did cry, sobbing her heart out. She wanted everyone to be back, back in her arms again.
“You’re the best master we ever could’ve asked for…” Akaha said, a firm grip on Shinobu’s shoulder was present.
“Stand up, Insect Pillar: Shinobu Kocho. You did it master, you did it.” Hachi spoke last as their voices left her too.
“Kocho… Let’s go…”
“Upper Moon Two has been defeated by Insect Pillar: Shinobu Kocho, Tanjiro Kamado and Water Hashira: Giyu Tomioka!”