Chapter Three

Yushiro knelt by Zenitsu's still form, listening and watching to make sure the demon slayer still breathed. At the same time, he was keeping watch of their surroundings...looking for some sign of Tamayo in this realm. If Tamayo wasn't with him, there was no way he could protect her.

"Gramps..."

Yushiro looked down at Zenitsu, noticing that he was still unconscious. Dreaming, then. Or perhaps the boundaries between the world of the living and the spirit world were blurred, with the demon slayer so close to death.

Yushiro hesitated for a second before he placed a hand on Zenitsu's shoulder, fingers exerting a light pressure. "Tanjiro will be unhappy if you die," he said, in case there was a part of Zenitsu that could hear him...that was still aware.

Perhaps there was, as Zenitsu's brow wrinkled and his fingers twitched.

The sound of fighting reached Yushiro's ears and he frowned, then stood up and leaned down, lifting Zenitsu into his arms. But as he prepared to move further into the realm with the demon slayer, he froze.

They weren't alone.

Yushiro turned, positioning himself protectively in between Zenitsu's unconscious form and whatever new threat was there.

The person behind them wasn't a demon. He was another demon slayer, though one who Yushiro hadn't met before. He had long black hair with turquoise ends and his cyan gaze was locked onto Yushiro.

For a few moments, the two of them just stared at each other. Then the demon slayer drew his sword and held the blade aimed at Yushiro. "Put him down."

"What is it with you demon slayers? I'm not your enemy." Yushiro snorted softly and adjusted his grip on Zenitsu' body, then gestured in the direction Tanjiro had gone with the other demon slayers...and Akaza. "If you want to help your friends, they went that way."

The demon slayer narrowed his eyes at Yushiro, looking towards Zenitsu's limp form for a moment before focusing his attention back on Yushiro. "I won't let you kill him."

"If I was going to do that, don't you think I would have done it already?" Yushiro retorted. "I know Tanjiro and Nezuko. I might be a demon, but I'm not like the others here."

The demon slayer took a step forward, angling his blade towards Yushiro.

Yushiro frowned. "You're wasting your time here. I'm not your enemy." He gestured between the two of them. "Look at me. Have I even tried to attack you?"

The demon slayer looked towards Zenitsu. "Even if you haven't tried to attack me..."

"You're an idiot." Yushiro adjusted his grip on Zenitsu's unconscious form. "I didn't attack him. I saved him. But I'm not going to stand around arguing with you. I need to leave here. If you don't get out of my way, I will fight you."

The demon slayer didn't say anything. Instead, he shifted his weight slightly, dropping his stance lower and tightening his grip on his sword.

"Stop it.” 

Surprised at the hoarse words, Yushiro looked down at Zenitsu, whose eyes were open. Though glazed over with pain, he still focused on Yushiro's face enough to whisper, "Stop fighting." His eyes shifted to the other demon slayer and he whispered, "Muichiri...Tanjiro trusts him."

The mention of Tanjiro's name made the demon slayer frown. He looked in the direction Yushiro had indicated Tanjiro and the others had gone in, then focused on Yushiro once more. "You're like Nezuko?"

"Absolutely not." Yushiro sounded offended, even to his own ears. "I am nothing like her."

"But you're still a good person," Zenitsu whispered, pain-filled gaze turning towards Yushiro's face once more. "I can hear it. I would have died, if you hadn't saved me."

Yushiro didn't respond to that. Instead, he placed Zenitsu on his feet and took a step back. "I promised I'd protect you while you couldn't protect yourself. You're conscious and you're talking. You don't need my help anymore." 

"What are you going to do?" Zenitsu wobbled a little on his feet before he steadied himself. "You should stay and fight. Like we're doing."

Yushiro frowned, looking from Zenitsu to the other demon slayer and back again. "You and Tanjiro seem to be forgetting what you actually are," he said finally. "You're demon slayers."

"You saved me," Zenitsu stated.

"Yeah, well I'm starting to regret that," Yushiro shot back. "I wasn't here for any of you. I was only here because..." His voice faltered as he thought about Tamayo. He knew she thought all of this was important, but after they'd become separated...what if Muzan got to her and Yushiro wasn't there to protect her?

"Who are you here for?" Zenitsu asked.

Yushiro quickly shook his head. He had no intention of betraying Tamayo, even if Tanjiro already knew about her and considered her a friend. "You're conscious. You don't need any more help." 

The other demon slayer, Muichiro, looked past Yushiro, his eyes narrowing. Without a word, he began running past Yushiro and Zenitsu, his sword drawn.

Zenitsu half-turned, his own eyes widening, then looked at Yushiro. "It's one of the Upper Rank demons!" He began to run after the other demon slayer.

"Wait! You can't go into battle again. You're already wounded." Yushiro turned and watched as the two demon slayers raced through the infinity castle. He hesitated, looking around, considering abandoning the both of them and going to find Tamayo. But even as he thought about it, he realised exactly what she would tell him to do.

Follow your instincts, Yushiro. Help them. We're not like the other demons.

Of course, it was starting to seem like some of the other demons weren't like a lot of the ones Muzan had created. As he ran after the two other demon slayers, he wondered how many other demons were like Tamayo...how many were like Akaza, and only needed to be forced to remember their human lives to turn against their master?

It didn't take long for Yushiro to reach the area where the demon slayers had run to. He slowed his steps as he saw the demon they were facing off against. A demon he'd never met in person, but who was said to be the oldest of their kind...apart from Muzan himself.

Muichiro stood next to Zenitsu with his blade drawn. The demon facing them had long, spiky black hair with red tips, pulled back into a ponytail. There were three sets of eyes on his face, with one of them carrying the mark of his rank.

Upper Rank One.

Yushiro walked over to stand on Zenitsu's other side, the three of them facing Upper Rank One. Yushiro wasn't even sure three of them would be able to defeat an Upper Rank demon like this...but he wasn't prepared to stay back and leave the demon slayers to face the demon alone.

The Upper Rank demon looked towards Yushiro, one set of eyes narrowing. "You're turning against your own kind?"

Yushiro said nothing. He didn't try to explain himself. He just stood there and waited for the other demon to make the first move.

"Mist breathing. Fourth form." Muichiro moved swiftly, his form seeming to dissipate into mist before reforming and striking at the demon.

"He's fast..." Zenitsu's voice was soft, almost admiring, before he said, "Thunder breathing...first..." Thunder crackled around him, then died down as he pitched forward.

Yushiro caught him easily. "Idiot. You wore yourself out during your last battle, and you haven't even started healing. You're going to get yourself killed."

Zenitsu swallowed, his eyes darting towards the other demon slayer battling the demon. "He needs help."

"Not from you." Yushiro took a glance at the two, battling furiously. There was a chilling smile on the face of Upper Rank One, like he was enjoying the battle.

Muichiro was already wounded, with blood trickling down from several cuts on his arms and legs. There was blood on his face and he fell back, raising one hand to push away the blood from his eyes.

"Stay here," Yushiro ordered Zenitsu, before moving to the other demon slayer's side and preparing to do battle.

The Upper Rank demon dismissed Yushiro with a contemptuous sneer before turning his attention back to the demon slayer. With an almost gleeful note in his voice, he spoke to the other demon slayer. "You should let me turn you into a demon, like me. As one of my descendants, you will have power and strength beyond measure." He took a step closer to the demon slayer. "It won't even hurt that much."

Panting slightly, Muichiro took a step back, lifting his blade defensively. His eyes darted towards Yushiro, and he shifted position so that he could keep watching both of them.

Yushiro rolled his eyes. "You're wasting your time. I'm not your enemy."

Muichiro didn't say anything, but his focus switched to the Upper Rank demon. Without bothering to respond to the offer, he ran forward, forming illusions out of mist as he attacked the demon.

The Upper Rank easily blocked most of the attacks, although one of the demon slayer's strikes collided with his arm. As the demon slayer fell back, panting, the demon looked down at his bleeding arm. Instead of getting angry, he laughed...a dark chuckle that sent a shiver of dark energy through the dimension. "You truly are one of my descendants," he said admiringly. "It would be a shame to let your abilities die with you, here and now." He extended his bleeding arm to the demon slayer. "Join me, and you will never grow old. Your skills will never fade. And you will never die."

Yushiro narrowed his eyes. "You're wasting your breath," he said. "If he was going to join you, he would have done so by now." He paused, then allowed a goading note to creep into his voice as he said, "You will never win this. And your master will fall."

The Upper Rank's attention turned to Yushiro and the next moment, he was unleashing an attack almost shocking in its brutality.

Yushiro reacted, dodging the attacks where he could and blocking them when dodging wasn't possible. The Upper Rank's attacks seemed to come at him from all angles, and it was all he could do just to block the attacks. The Upper Rank's blade swept towards his neck, and Yushiro leaped back, then ducked the next strike.

Muichiro came at the Upper Rank from behind, swinging his blade at the demon's neck. Before it could connect, the Upper Rank turned on him, grabbing his sword wrist with one hand and wrenching it to the side. His other fist slammed hard into the demon slayer's stomach.

Yushiro darted forward and grabbed the Upper Rank from behind, wrapping his arms around the other demon's neck and yanking back with all his strength.

The Upper Rank twisted his body round and threw Yushiro to the ground with enough force to pulverise bones in his body...had Yushiro been human. Raising his blade, the Upper Rank began to advance on Yushiro, a dark sneer twisting his features even further.

A loud crack sounded, and one set of the Upper Rank's eyes narrowed as a bullet whizzed between them. He turned to face yet another demon slayer, who was standing there with his gun aimed, smoke still coming from the barrel. 

Yushiro had just enough time to note that Zenitsu had fallen unconscious again...at least, he hoped Zenitsu was just unconscious and not worse...before the Upper Rank began to barrel towards the new demon slayer.

Yushiro exchanged a glance with Muichiro, who'd managed to make it to his feet again. Without exchanging words with each other, they both ran for the Upper Rank...one on either side...Muichiro swinging his blade, and Yushiro making use of his fists.

The Upper Rank demon turned on them with an air of annoyance, like he was merely swatting flies. His blade caught Yushiro a glancing blow in the shoulder, and then he spun, his sword hilt catching Muichiro in the ribs.

More bullets were fired off as Yushiro fell back, taking a few moments to gather himself before he sprang at the Upper Rank once more. He feinted a strike with his right fist, then followed it up with a punch from his left, aiming it at the demon's side.

Even with three of them fighting against the Upper Rank demon, he was fast and skilled. Very few of their attacks could land, whether they used a blade, gun, or fists. After several long moments of fighting against the Upper Rank, Yushiro's whole body was stinging from innumerable cuts, and the two demon slayers were sporting far worse injuries than he himself was. Zenitsu was still unconscious, which at least meant he was safe from the injuries dealt by the Upper Rank demon.

But Yushiro still wasn't sure if he was actually breathing or not, and he couldn't afford to take his attention from the battle to check if Zenitsu was still alive.

The demon slayer with the gun was panting, his eyes wild and filled with pain. Blood dripped down his arm as he raised it, aiming the gun once more, but his aim wavered.

"Genya." Muichiro looked towards him, blade held in front of him. "You need to leave. Go and find the others."

"What?!" Genya's eyes darted towards the Upper Rank, then towards his fellow demon slayer. "I can't just leave...!"

Muichiro had to be exhausted, but he didn't show even a hint of that on his face. "Muzan needs to be defeated. Go and find the others."

The Upper Rank demon laughed, his voice cruel and taunting as he said, "Why not tell him the truth, Muichiro? You're sending him away because he's weaker than you. Even weaker than the demon who thinks he can stand against me with your kind." His mocking gaze lingered on Yushiro before he addressed Muichiro once more. "My offer still stands. Why throw away your own life battling against me, when you can easily join me? Live forever and never stop bettering yourself."

Something flashed in Muichiro's eyes before his face resumed its calm expression. "I will never be like you," he stated.

"Then there's no point in holding back any longer." The Upper Rank darted towards Muichiro, moving almost too fast for the eye to see. He stabbed his sword into Muichiro's chest, and the demon slayer's eyes widened...then he crumpled to the ground in a heap.

The Upper Rank demon spun away from the limp body of the demon slayer and stalked towards Yushiro, raising his sword high. "Now I'll get rid of you."

A bullet pierced through his arm and the Upper Rank turned on Genya with narrowed eyes. "You're still here?" He stalked towards the only demon slayer who was still standing.

Yushiro moved quickly, with just a glance at the two downed demon slayers and ran for the Upper Rank demon once more.