*Asura's POV*

 

"You know, for some of us birds our mothers throw us off the nest after a few weeks of us being born. Fucking old croakers, mine even bit into my damn ass, I got a scar, here let me show you."

 

"No, Horus, I do not need to see the ass scar you got. Gods, I ask for a distraction from you and you're telling me about damn near worst mothers in the world." I said, sighing.

 

" You haven't even heard about how they wait for one of us to kill each other." Horus preened, spreading his wings.

 

" Not much of a mother huh. But I guess asking a bird to treat their children like humans should treat theirs is a vanity anyway." I said bringing my hand to scratch Horus.

 

'My mother, no the women who gave birth to me in my previous life, must've been worse I suppose. She left me alone from the beginning.' I thought darkly before shaking my head out of those thoughts.

 

Now was not the time.

 

We were all waiting for now. The sun had gone down so it was about 3 hours of waiting before around 5 Corps members would go inside me and Zenitsu being 2 of them.

 

I had given a brief explanation to Kenji about our senses so it had seemed fit to keep Tanjiro, Haku and Inosuke back so if the signal doesn't go as planned or we travel too far into the mountain they can track us down quickly.

 

The choice between me and Tanjiro was explainable by me being stronger than Tanjiro at least on a basis of strength.

 

'Now that I think about it, I don't really spar with others except Inosuke. Perhaps it'll do me good to gauge my strength with the rest.'  I mused, laying down in the grass and staring at the bright full moon.

 

Haku was staring at the mountain from my right while Inosuke was lying down on my left, ripping out grass.

 

Tanjiro was consoling a crying Zenitsu.

 

'Just a few minutes more.' I thought silently.

 

The wind swept through the area making the grass sway while the smell of fresh soil filled my breath.....and then the screaming started.

 

All of us shot up straight at once to find one of the Corps members swatting at his neck in pain, clawing frantically.

 

In a moment Kenji was on him and in another the screaming member was restrained as we gathered around him.

 

"The neck! it burns! It burns so much!" he screamed, though more subdued since Kenji had him in an iron grip.

 

I stepped back to give some space while others weren't so mindful as they gathered around the man.

 

"Get the fuck away and let me see!" Kenji berated and that got everyone to step away letting some of the moonlight shine through.

 

My nose got to it first though, the smell was of burning flesh and equally horrible rotting flesh.

 

"There's a thread on the Nape of his neck." Haku pointed out and Kenji asked him to come forward.

 

"Here, there's a very brief....white thread on his neck." Haku said, squinting his eyes.

 

"Can you cut it off?" I asked and Haku took out a knife and sliced through it.

 

"Everyone get to him and allow him to check." I said and Haku started to sweep through everyone.

 

"It. It still hurts." The man said, hoarsely, reduced to tears.

 

"What about the still burning flesh? It's also rotting horribly in a weird mixture. The wound will get infected." I asked and Kenji in answer took out a knife.

 

"Hold him." He ordered and I obliged.

 

"This will hurt more than it should." He said before meticulously cutting the rotten flesh on the men's neck.

 

The man screamed and I had to save my hand from being bitten off.

 

"It... doesn't seem to be spreading any longer." Tanjiro said and I looked over.

 

The black flesh was cut through clean and the rest of it was wounded and bleeding but not rotting or burning.

 

"If it got on him too deep we wouldn't have been able to do this." I said silently.

 

It all happened too fast. If Haku hadn't been able to see the thread then it would've poisoned the poor man deeper in the neck, no way to save him in that case.

 

"They already know we're here. We're moving now." Kenji ordered and all of us nodded though most were shaky.

 

"You. Stay with him and ask the Corps for help. Send for a Hashira, anything lower would be a waste." Kenji pointed to one of the oldest members of the group, a man at least above 30 years of age.

 

"Everyone else, get into groups as I say, now." Kenji started barking orders and everyone scrambled to follow.

 

Haku was put in a group alongside 8 others while Inosuke begrudgingly joined a group of 4 while Zenitsu joined another 1 group of 5 was made before Kenji looked at the rest of us.

 

"Asura, Tanjiro, and I will be the smallest group. If we find the Lower Kizuki we'll be the ones distracting it while the rest of you find the other demons on the Mountains." Kenji said before he turned and started sprinting.

 

I looked at my friends and gave a gentle pat on the back to Inosuke.

 

"We get to find someone extremely strong alongside other strong people. Guess you'll have your best time eh brother?" I asked as we started to jog towards the mountain.

 

"Yeah, I still would've liked to be with the same people that are with you." Inosuke answered with a snort and I chuckled.

 

"Guess we'll have to see what happens. But don't get hurt alright, mother would be incredibly disappointed in me if that happened." I said and Inosuke with his boar mask on looked at me once before nodding....and then running with full speed towards the mountain.

 

"Whoever gets there last stinks of flowers!" He shouted and I couldn't help but laugh as I started to run.

 

The ground felt solid beneath my feet and breath came fast as I got into an enjoyable sprint.

 

It was in times like this that I was happy to have a brother and my friends. At times I needed to be brave.

 

But I also needed to think to keep them with me and help them stay alive.

 

'Guess I'll check it.' I thought dourly.

 

'Open Status'

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Hope everyone has a nice Day/Night.