|| 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐩 ||

♧︎︎︎

|| 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 ||
046

ꨄ︎

y/n kamado 

my body feels heavy. i can't seem to move any parts of my limbs, everything hurts. the feeling of something heavily on top of me, the heaviness of my breathing can't possibly help. even moving the muscle of my eyes to try and open them can't seem to work either. 

the muffled sounds occurring within, i wanted to stand up, to help them fight the upper moons but i was in no condition to move, and it's all because i became egocentric and thought of myself as invincible. 

the early days of me slaying demons, thinking to myself that i was strong. have i been this wrong the entire time? must i really fallen here, now that my comrades, and my cousins needed me the most. 

"useless piece of shit."

"what the hell have i been doing these past months."

"training, eating with the other pillars, training, and vice versa."

"if i die now, who would take care of rokuta? who would guide tanjiro towards the right path? who would protect nezuko from harm? why the hell am i being useless."

i could hear the faint sound of my heart, the shallow breathings of mine. my brain became hazy, the headache occurring and the piercing screech echoing throughout my ears. grunting in pain, i couldn't even cover my ears because i can't move a single muscle in my entire body.

"nee-chan."

"nee-chan please fight it, you can't-

"you can't please."

what the hell is that, so near yet so far. 

the voice, i've heard of this voice before but where exactly? 

"you're slowly getting swallowed, if you give up now you're going to tur-

a screeching sound occurred once more, blocking the voice of that person. 

i'm going to what?

"you'll be not yourself anymore!"

this time, the screeching noises didn't went away and instead continued. the booming loud screech echoed throughout my eardrums, and i felt like it's slowly ripping my ears out. i tossed and turned from the pain occurring in my body, my head lightheaded as i tried to pry the screeching sound. 

whimpers left my mouth, tears forming on my closed-eyes as the screeching penetrated my eardrums. my body heating from the hot temperature occurring within my body, and my teeth grinding against each other while my body shake from the tension.

"this will only be fast, bear with me y/n." mumbled a voice as i felt my body being lifted by someone. 

the screeching noise suddenly left, an emptiness of sound overwhelmed my ears as i tried opening my eyes as to who was the one carrying my body. where is this person taking me?

suddenly a strum of a mandolin made its way towards my ears, the soft humming of a person made me freeze in spot. this melody again, the lullaby sang to me by my mother. who's this person and why does she know my mother's song?

"the fight will soon end, i will not interfere. it's clear as to who will win, i bid you a congratulations as the demon hunters would succeed this fight and none would die. rest assured y/n, and just sleep in my arms." said the person carrying my lump body. 

something about this person terrifies me, the womanly voice of hers, and the terrifying presence i felt even if my body is fully lumped and not functioning properly. this is no mere human being, she's definitely a demon and perhaps one of the upper moons. and the mandolin is a huge giveaway, is she the upper moon zero i encountered from before?

grunting in pain as i felt her long fingernails penetrating my skin, and possibly drawing blood. the muffled sound of the blades grinding against each other, the thundering sound that came from zenitsu. they are still fighting out there, and i'm here stuck with an upper moon and lump.

"WE'RE GOING FOR THE WIN!!"

i heard the loud booming scream of uzui-san. a small smile appeared on my face, knowing that he did not die from the fight with that demon known as gyutaro. i was there when he happened to cut uzui-san's hand, but couldn't do anything because my whole body is paralyzed.

why the hell am i such a useless bitch?

"after this fight, you'll have to say goodbye." muttered the upper moon while feeling her hand caressing my cheeks.

my body suddenly tensed from what she said, say goodbye, what the hell does she mean by that? is she going to devour me? like hell would i let that happen, i still have a lot of responsibilities that needed to be taken care of. i need to make sure my cousins are safe, my comrades, and go back home to iguro-san because i promised him that i'll be safe.

what would he think if i ended up not coming back home?

not returning his tenugui?

would he even expect me to return?

i mean, he clearly despises me and expresses it in every way possible. but for some reason, it's fluttering to see him.

"GAAAAAHHHH!!!"

"AAAAAHHHH!!!"

"GUAAAAAAAHHH!!!"

the scream of tanjiro, zenitsu, and inosuke. i can hear them even if i'm here, far away from them. are they doing it? are they cutting the demon's head? would they win for sure this time?

"and there, the fight ends." muttered the upper moon as she clutch me close to her.

the feeling of relieve consumed my whole body, for all this night i was nothing but a nuisance that couldn't help them. i lost myself, and ended up losing some of my limbs, and overworked myself to much to the point that i couldn't move a muscle and be of any help to them. now, i'm in the arms of an upper moon demon that could devour me any moment. 

why?

why the hell am i acting like this right now?

"where is y/n?" i heard uzui-san ask.

the upper moon started moving to who knows where, i didn't feel her walking so does that mean she's flying? i mean, i'm not surprised, she did the exact same thing when i came face to face with her in the domain she brought me in.

"y-y/n?" i heard uzui-san stuttered, slightly moving my muscles to open my eyes.

my eyes were opened half way, and saw how horrible and injured my comrades are, feeling myself gritting my teeth because i wasn't doing anything and became a hindrance to them.

"wha-what, why are yo-

"upper moon zero? WHY THE HELL DO YOU HAVE Y/N? GIVE HER BACK!" shouted uzui as he tried standing up, but his legs gave out on him and i could see the poison slowly killing him.

"be of this as a reason to never once again challenge an upper moon. that's only an upper moon six, yet you came out heavily injured. what makes you think you can take me on with that situation of yours? the higher the numbers, the stronger we are."

"oh and why am i holding y/n, you were asking? i'm taking her with me, try and catch me, i mean if you can with that state of yours. such pathetic humans can't even keep themselves alive, yet worrying about the state of the others." 

"if i were you, i'd focus more on my surroundings cause the finishing blow would surely massacre all four of you." said the upper moon demon, suddenly the limp body of gyutaro unleased an attack that would leave the district into nothing but ashes. 

i felt my eyes witness the terror of what has happened in the whole district, i raised my hand slowly, trying to reach out to them but my vision suddenly changes when the strum of the mandolin played and we're again in her little domain. 

✰★✰

third person pov

the last blow of gyutaro had wrecked the whole district, leaving nothing but broken houses and injured demon hunters. they are the saviors of this district, but at what cost? many people had died, and everyone had lost their homes.

"nezuko." muttered tanjiro weakly as he stared at nezuko who's in a form of a child, she had tanjiro's head on her lap as she stared down at him with those bright innocent eyes.

suddenly tanjiro shoot up from that position before looking around.

"oh, whoa. everything's a wreck."

"nezuko, did you save me? thanks." complimented tanjiro as he patted nezuko's head which made her bubbly and smiled before nodding her head. 

"the others!!" shouted tanjiro before standing up, ready to run but his knees gave out on him. 

tanjiro panted heavily, feeling the heaviness of his body and he couldn't even move his legs anymore. this must be the consequences for overworking himself, and doing crazy breathings that's beyond his power.

"TANJIROOO!"

"Y/NNNNN!!"

"WHERE ARE YOUU!!!"

tanjiro looked over the direction where he heard the familiar tone of voice, zenitsu, calling out for help. he stared at that direction helplessly before feeling himself getting carried by the child nezuko and running towards the direction of zenitsu.

"WHEN I WOKE UP, MY WHOLE BODY HUUURRTTT! AND WHY THE HELL ARE MY LEGS ALL BROKEN? WHO DID THIS TO ME? IT HUUURRTSSS! I'M SO SCARED I CAN'T SEE!" cried out zenitsu, his chest face on the floor as he couldn't feel his legs.

"you're okay that's great!"

"NO I'M NOT"

"I'M PRETTY MESSED UP, BUT INOSUKE IS EVEN WORSE. HIS HEARTBEAT IS SLOWLY GETTING WEAKER, HE'S OVER THERE!" shouted zenitsu while pointing at inosuke who laid on one of the broken houses, unconscious.

nezuko carried tanjiro once again before running towards inosuke's unconscious body. tanjiro tried his best to wake inosuke up but couldn't, he could feel the faint heartbeat of inosuke and if he can't do anything about the poison then he'll surely die.

suddenly nezuko walked towards inosuke's body, before putting her tiny hands on his chest, flames occurred on inosuke's body as the poison inside him started healing from nezuko's blood demon art. 

"i'm hungry, give me something to eat!" 

"INOSUKE!!"

tanjiro shouted before hugging inosuke, while nezuko joined in. 

the feeling of seeing his close friends safe and is not in the verge of dying anymore had eases him somehow. but he still couldn't shake this unknown feeling that something must have happened when he's in the verge of collapsing earlier.

"have you seen y/n?" asked tanjiro while looking around, trying to find where his older cousin went.

he assumed that she'd be laying on the floor in a brink of dead because of the scene he had witnessed earlier, he needed to find her immediately before things gets worse. without another word, nezuko started walking towards where uzui is and tanjiro would ask him if he knows where y/n could possibly be.

they heard the cries of uzui's wives along the way, upon arriving by the scene, nezuko drop tanjiro earning a grunt from him. she came close to them before touching uzui's body causing his body to flame, shocking all his wives.

"GYAAAAAHHHHH!"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? WHO ARE YOU!?"

"ISN'T IT WAY TOO EARLY FOR A CREMATION HERE?! HE ISN'T EVEN DEAD YET AND YOU'RE BURNING HIM!"

"I WILL SPANK YOUR BUTT. YOUR BIG SISTER'S REALLY ANGRY NOW!!"

"hold on, what the hell just happened?"

suma stopped her shouting before turning to uzui who turned back to normal, the purple marks from his body long gone after being set on flames by nezuko. 

"the poison's gone." said uzui with a smile on his face.

his wives gasped before running towards him, hugging his body while crying.

"i think nezuko removed it by using her blood demon art to burn it out. but i don't really know."

"your wounds are still there, so please don't move anymore, i'm glad you're all safe." said tanjiro before offering them a gentle smile.

"is that even possible? i'm so confused. no wait, you shouldn't move either or you'll die." said uzui, expressing his concern for the said burgundy-haired male.

"i'll only search for the demon heads and y/n, i can't be at ease without seeing y/n. do you happen to know where she is?" questioned tanjiro causing uzui to tense up.

after all, he was the only one able to see the scene from earlier. y/n covered with blood, the blood dripping from her lost hand and foot. and half of her face were completely damage and filled with blood. and she's in the arms of an upper moon, if only he wasn't badly injured then he could have rescued her.

"kamado, what i'm about to say is something you wouldn't like to hear. but please do not cause some disturbance." muttered uzui while looking on the ground, he's frustrated because he couldn't do anything to protect y/n.

she was right in front of him, defenseless of the upper moon demon that's holding onto her. she's at an reachable area but he didn't move, because he tensed up after seeing the rank of the upper moon, and also because he couldn't move a damn muscle from all the exhaustion that occurred.

tanjiro on the other hand had gasped, covering his mouth that was hanging while his eyes were wide open. he knew after hearing what uzui said that something bad have happened to his older cousin.

"y/n, she's been taken by an upper moon. i don't know where they went, but after strumming some sort of mandolin they suddenly vanished." uzui explained causing his wives to get stunned, a pillar was taken by an upper moon.

what would they even do to her?

tanjiro remained frozen in his spot, not wanting to believe that y/n could be dead after getting taken by an upper moon. why would they take her anyway? would they devour her from afar? or would they keep her hostage to speak about what the demon hunters are planning for the future?

"i'm sorry, i couldn't do anything." mumbled uzui, he couldn't meet the eyes of tanjiro because of shame. 

and he knew that a certain pillar would kill him after knowing that he let y/n get taken by an upper moon demon. he knew that the serpent pillar would never forgive him after entrusting y/n to him, the day where iguro left the brothel is the day where they bumped into each other and uzui promised iguro that he would take care of y/n and never let her get injured. 

uzui knew that something is up between the two after witnessing iguro give his tenugui to y/n, he knew what that means and he can't help but feel guilty after letting y/n go. he couldn't face iguro now that he had lost y/n to a demon, and he doesn't even know what they would do to her.

the day iguro had given y/n his tenugui, is the day where iguro have accepted his feelings for y/n. uzui saw that and made an ought to himself that he'll do everything to support y/n, and save her when the time comes that she's in trouble. but everything took a turn when that upper moon zero came and taunted him. 

"i-i'll go look for the demon heads." mumbled tanjiro, his eyes lingering on the ground as he felt himself get carried by nezuko.

hearing the tone of tanjiro's voice, uzui can't help but sink deeper into guilt. this wouldn't have happened if he forced his body to move, and fought the overwhelming fear occurring in his body.

"this is why i couldn't be like rengoku, because if he was here, i know that he'll save her no matter the cost."

thought uzui to himself, he felt his wives hugging him in comfort while promising him that everything would be alright and they'll continue believing that y/n is still alive and well. 

suddenly a shadow loomed over the four of them, they look up and saw a certain pillar that uzui didn't want to see after letting go of y/n.

"hmm, i see."

"six, huh. that would be the lowest of the upper ranks."

"well, six or not, you still defeated an upper rank. so yes, congratulations are in order. right, six or not. i don't mind offering you my praise." the presence of the serpent pillar, obanai iguro had shown himself after the fight. 

"no, i don't really need your praise." 

"not after i lost your y/n."

thought uzui to himself, as he declined the praise of iguro.

"that's right!!"

"you're pretty late."

"y-y-you're so late! were you actually coming?" shouted suma while coming close to iguro who remained emotionless while staring at her, slightly wondering as to where is that burgundy-haired female he's looking forward to see.

kaburamaru hissed at suma after seeing a threat that could potentially harm its owner causing suma to shout in fright before going back to uzui and hugging him tightly, shaking in fear.

"what were you thinking, losing your left arm and left eye? even if this was just a fight against upper moon six, at best. how long will it take for you to recover? who'll take your place while you're doing that?" questioned iguro while pointing at uzui who avoided making contact with his eyes.

"i'm retiring, man. i just can't fight anymore. oyakata-sama will probably allow me to do so as well." said uzui, closing his eyes while envisioning what iguro's reaction would be if he found out that y/n is a captured by an upper moon and had possibly been devoured. 

"well, screw that. i won't allow you. right now, too many youngsters are dying off without showing any signs of growth. having you in the shape you're in is a lot better than losing you. fight to death." stated iguro, wondering as to why uzui wouldn't look at him in the eye. 

he hated it when a person doesn't return eye contact when talking to him, it felt like he's talking to a wall. 

"oh no, the young ones are definitely growing. well, the boy you absolutely despise is growing." complimented uzui while thinking about the burgundy-haired male that exceeded his expectations, after all he was the one that cut gyutaro's head off.

"whoa, you're kidding. he survived this fight? kamado tanjiro?" muttered iguro in disbelief, even if he had a small affection to y/n, he still can't help but despise her younger cousins. 

"enough of that talk, where is y/n?" demanded iguro, not beating around the bush anymore. 

iguro stared at uzui's facial expression, he could see how his body tremble and his adam's apple bopping from swallowing too hard. uzui thought that he could at least tell iguro about y/n when they all returned in the headquarters, and have a meeting with the other pillars so that he could avoid iguro killing him in the process.

"she-

"tell me." demanded iguro once more, he didn't like how uzui's acting after mentioning her name. without even knowing anything, it's quite obvious that something happened to her because of uzui's uneasiness. 

"an upper moon showed up after we killed the upper moon six, she took y/n and i don't know where. she could possibly been devoured by now. i'm sorry, i told you i'll protect her and i didn't." mumbled uzui while staring on the ground.

he could feel the intense and overwhelming presence of iguro, the anger and anguish he's feeling right now doesn't help the guilt overtaking uzui. uzui's eyes drop and landed on iguro's crumbled fists, he could see the blood oozing from the tightened grip making him feel even more miserable.

"i don't believe you, and i won't believe you. i'll patrol the area and search for her." said iguro in a low tone of voice before storming away from the scene.

✰★✰

"the dimensional infinity fortress, if i got summoned here, then that means an upper moon was killed by the demon hunters."

thought akaza, the upper moon three. 

earlier before the upper moon gathering was called, the upper moon zero had made her way towards the place where kibutsuji muzan is waiting. in her arms is the unconscious burgundy-haired female. 

"muzan-sama, i brought her." said the upper moon zero, staring at the ceiling where muzan is currently standing on.

"oh, is that so?" questioned him before turning around, gazing upon the burgundy-haired female before squinting his eyes. something about this female