*Asura's POV*

"Hey, I'm back," I said entering our group's room in the Barracks. It was a private one. Well not really since 6 of us shared it.

It was a good idea to keep all of us in one place, they certainly weren't gonna allow us to run off without a fight.

"Are you okay?" Tanjiro asked as I walked or rather stumbled in.

The various scratches and cuts were still healing and weren't quite at their pristine condition yet.

"I've never been better," I replied even as I crawled my way to my corner of the room and laid spread out on the quilt.

"Half your body looks like you fell off a mountain into a den of vipers and then took a detour into a bear cave," Haku said looking me over.

"Exactly. Never been better." I said snuggling into the blanket. I was tired as hell at this point but I had succeeded in setting my plan in motion.

The time in the forest had allowed me to think it over and then do what I had to do discreetly.

There was a patrol region of 1 kilometer around the Barracks that none of us were allowed to go out of but the forest was big enough for my uses in that area.

"How long was I out for?" I asked not really knowing the time at this point.

"More than half a day. The blacksmith returned with our blades, since it's so late we'll get all of ours tomorrow morning. The scouts that brought him here should be leaving in a few minutes." Haku said and I listened as intently as my body allowed.

This was even more good news. Well, not exactly good news but it was helpful news.

"Aww, you all didn't get your blades because I wasn't there? You all care so much." I said looking up from the comfort of my quilt.

" No, you have all of our money, we need to give him the second part of the payment," Zenitsu added.

" Oh. Well, I'll just think you didn't do it cause of me." I replied yawning.

" Where were you gone?" Tanjiro asked, confused and curious.

" Nothing important. Just had to get something done, don't worry about it. Oh, and if I end up passing out please put my neck in a good position. Last time my whole body cramped up for days and I felt like shit." I said, crawling my way into comfort.

No bed had felt as comfortable in the last 10 days.

*3rd POV*

"I told you to not take that long!" A black dressed guard from the Barracks shouted at his partner as they made their way to where they should've been half an hour ago.

"Don't blame me! Those kids hunt so fast and much better than anything we ever get to eat." His partner, yet another man dressed in Black whispered as they half walked and half ran through the woods.

"They really are good. But they didn't get anything that great today, guess everyone has a bad day."

"Don't be that greedy idiot, we've got comfy jobs compared to those kids, the Wolf One is ranked at Tsuchinoto. Do you know how many of those detestable things he must've killed?" The man gossiped like his young days.

He and his friend had been in the Corps for more than a decade and all dreams of becoming a great warrior let alone a Hashira had been beaten out of them with near death experiences whenever they had tried.

He had lost three fingers and his friend had lost one of his eyes but it got them the job of being guards at these Barracks. The pay was good enough and they didn't have to fight to save an entire town from being massacred.

It was a simple existence for both of them.

"Hey don't put yourself down man, we're important too. Somewhat at least. Kenji says so." His friend said even though he himself sounded unconvinced of his words.

Kenji was a good boss, never asked too much when not required but still kept them at an arm's length from his personal life. For the last 3 months, he had been in charge. Their life had been blissfully filled with simply eating, patrolling and a bit of training sprinkled in here and there.

"Not as important as that Blacksmith asshole. He took as much time as in choosing a place to rest as it took for us to escort him and in the end what did he choose? The fucking Provision building, it's not as if that was the only place we could've gotten for him, wasted time choosing between a Blanket on a wet floor and a somewhat warmer blanket on a colder floor.

And did you hear how high he shouted? Someone would've mistaken his wrinkly hands for a Hashira with how he talked of himself." He whispered.

They should be nearing where they would meet up with the patrol team and join up. He wished they didn't get rebuked but with how much time it was taking to find them that seemed like a dream.

"Don't ask me about those Blacksmith village people. Stuck up assholes, every one of them. There hasn't been one that I met that hasn't been high in the clouds. This one probably would've gotten himself killed with how open he was about it." They bickered back and forth for a few minutes.

The Blacksmith had been peculiar but nothing too interesting. He had taken too much time and had seemed unusually rude, jumpy, and frankly seemed a bit paranoid.

They changed topics quickly.

The behavior of those Blacksmith village people was fairly above their pay grade. They bickered again for a few minutes as they walked through the forest.

"Hey, shouldn't we already have been at the meeting point by now?" One of them asked more to himself than to his partner.

"Yeah, we should've." His partner still answered and their running slowed before they came to a complete halt and looked around the forest.

".... Screee"

"Who's there?" They asked as they looked around the forest. The sound seemed to be coming from everywhere at once and they knew for sure that something was wrong.

It seemed almost as if something was dragging itself along the forest. And doing a piss poor job at it.

It sounded like claws and it sounded from everywhere. All at once in every direction.

They took out their blades and waited for the thing to show itself, they hadn't fought in years and found themselves unprepared and worst of all, fearful. They didn't know anything about what they had to fight.

They stood with their backs next to each other. And his partner lit up the torch to see their surroundings.

*Glug*

Was...was that someone drinking?

"Hey-  Ahhhhhhhhhhhh" their curiosity was answered soon as flames spread on their faces and started eating away at their flesh.

"Namu Amida Butsu" were the last words they heard before all that was left was their own screams against a forest that devoured their misery.