Muzan can clearly remember the face of the doctor that ruined his life.

He was promised unimaginable strength. Immortality and youth. Ultimate power.

Is it so hard to expect those things with no consequence?

The fact that he can't step foot under the sun, to wield his powers to the utmost ability, is a true curse.

All this strength, and for what?

Immortality, and for what?

Power, for what?

Muzan can clearly remember the face of the doctor that ruined his life.

It's not like Muzan wanted to kill all those people. He did, of course, actually want to kill those people. He was just so hungry, and their voices grated his ears in an unpleasant way.

And once he had his first taste, well he couldn't just deny himself more, right?

All this strength, and for what?

Immortality, and for what?

Power, for what?

He found that he could turn others like him, though not as powerful. He killed the family of a woman that would become a huge thorn in his side. He made many more... things. Humans would later start to call them demons, and he likes the sound of it.

Muzan can clearly remember the face of the doctor that ruined his life.

And there's a doctor right now ruining him.

And the minute he finds her, he's going to kill her.

He can tell that there's something wrong when he starts to gain more wounds than should be possible. He's fighting against all of the surviving Pillars, who have annoyingly regrouped with cleaned and perfectly stitched wounds.

The child with long hair breezes by him, and is particularly annoying because he harbors the same blood as Kokushibou.

The bigger one whips his chain around, and it's annoying to bat out of the way.

The only ones without stitches are the two women, one with pink hair and the other with white hair, the snake man and the other pest that was constantly looking out for Tanjirou.

Muzan is annoyed when he's set on fire, but he can see in the distance. Tanjirou is being carried off by another demon slayer, and there is another woman by his side, gripping his haori and injecting something into his arm.

Her.

Akiko knows that Muzan is looking at her. She forgot that, because she no longer needed the seal to look through crows and widen her vision, that she wasn't wearing one, and thus was not invisible to him. She knows she's his target.

But she places that in the back of her mind as Murata drags Tanirou behind a building, and she's already injecting him with a second serum.

"Chachamaru," she says aloud, and the demon cat steps forward. "Go," she commands, and he hops away with a meow. Chachamaru's job is to deliver the serums to everyone, which should buy them some more time and help them continue their attacks.

"Akiko-sensei!" A few demon slayers cry, bringing a struggling Kanroji to the doctor. Her ear is ripped off and she's crying to fight, mumbling Iguro's name in between.

"Yushiro, inject four more vials into Tanjirou," she says, before moving onto Kanroji. It's painful to sterilize, but she does her best with a headwrap and bandages, stopping the bleeding and also giving Kanroji an injection of serum.

And despite the glare Iguro gives Akiko, far across the street, Akiko still discharges Kanroji for battle. The woman jumps off for the fight, just as Murata yells, "Tanjirou has a pulse!"

Akiko throws herself onto her fiance, checking his body and seeing that he does indeed have a pulse. The serum is flowing through his veins, slowly doing its work to fight against Muzan's blood.

She cradles his head gently, laying her own forehead against his before whispering, "You know what you must do my love. The twelve forms. Connect them, and kill that bastard."

Tanjirou's eye opens right as an explosion sounds behind the two. The ground shakes and debris from neighboring buildings begin to fall. Tanjirou sits up before pulling Akiko close to him, rolling across the floor with her in his arms as a window pane falls right where she was sitting.

He offers her a kind smile, a kiss on the forehead, then he rushes to his feet. His katana is held tightly in his hand, and he can only see out of one eye but he'll make do. The rest of the Pillars are down, and both he and Akiko are needed now.

Truly a dangerous pair.

Akiko's smart enough to slap a seal over her forehead this time, and she vanishes from sight. Tanjirou grabs Kanao out of the way, saving her from Muzan's whip. Akiko makes it to her first patient, Himejima.

He's lost a leg and a significant amount of blood, but he's the strongest of the Pillars, so he's her first priority and everyone's best chance at defeating Muzan. She employs one of the kakushi beside her to pull him from the rubble, careful with the glass that has embedded itself into his skin. His arm is cut under the brick so she hands the kakushi a bottle of alcohol, and he knows to clean the wounds. Akiko starts with his leg, tying it up quickly and doing her best to stop the bleeding.

"I need someone to stand by for wounds like these. Light a fire and raid a house for something metal. A clothing iron will do," she says, and another kakushi runs off. She can see that Giyuu has lost his arm, and will need it to be cauterized soon too.

"In fact, raid all of these houses for sake! We need alcohol! The higher the percentage, the better!" Akiko calls out loud, and the kakushi all scramble. Demon slayers pull Pillars from the rubble, pulling Inosuke and Zenitsu close to the girl too.

They all begin injecting serum into the bloody bodies, Yushiro helping with first aid as well. Akiko finishes her last stitch on Himejima's arm, already having sewed over stitches from an hour ago.

"He can fight once he's regained consciousness," Akiko states, knowing that the battle has not been won. Her patients can truly rest once Muzan has died.

She can see that Tanjirou has connected half of the 12 steps, and she beckons Giyuu's body forward. The demon slayers lay him in front of her, and the clothing iron beside her has been heated.

"I really am sorry about this," Akiko mumbles under her breath, then presses the iron to the bloody stump that used to be Giyuu's arm. He wakes with a jolt and a cry of pain, his hand flying to grip Akiko's wrist with immense strength. The kakushi tries to hold his hand back, and Akiko sweats under the pressure, but once the sizzling stops she pulls away. The smell of burnt flesh enters her nose and she really does feel bad for Giyuu.

Iguro is next, and she works as quickly as possible to stitch the claw marks that run jaggedly across his face. He doesn't flinch at the pain, and Akiko doesn't comment about the scars that run from the corners of his mouth to his ears.

Kabarumaru hisses in Iguro's ear, and he says, "You may want to let me go. Tanjirou needs help and I'm the only one conscious enough to help him."

So Akiko lets him go. She was halfway done with his face but she had no choice. She moves to Inosuke and Zenitsu instead. Kanao is well enough to help her too, and they both set to healing the two. Kanao wipes away the blood, sterilizing wounds, while Akiko focuses on her stitching. They work in silent tandem, too nervous to speak and too scared to stop.

The second the two have finished, Muzan lets out a roar of anger behind them. Then, a bolt of electricity shoots through Akiko, and she screams in pain. She can feel every inch of her body ignite, every cell jump and shake and try to burst. She doesn't know how Zenitsu controls his lightning, but she assumes that when he doesn't have it under control, it feels something like this. But 10 times weaker.

Akiko knows that the seal has burnt off her forehead. She doesn't need to see to know it. In fact, for the first time in her life, she can't really see.

Her vision blacks in and out, the lighting virtually frying her brain. Yushiro comes into her vision, and he quickly slaps another seal over her forehead.

"You have to get up! Muzan knows you're here!"

Those words frighten her enough to sober her up quickly. Her head pounds in pain, and she tries not to get up too quickly or she'll black out again. She sees that Zenitsu and Inosuke have gotten up to fight, and that they're deflecting Muzan's whips as his attacks seem to be looking for Akiko.

"Come here," Yushiro drags her by the arm, and Akiko is almost grateful that she doesn't have to move on her own accord. Her legs stumble forward and she's met halfways by a few demon slayers that are bringing Chiyo's body to her.

Chiyo has a nasty gash across her abdomen and face, but nothing Akiko can't fix.

"Make sure it doesn't scar in a scary way for Ayame, alright?" Is Chiyo's only request, and Akiko nods her head. Her stitches, neat as ever, close the gash that runs from Chiyo's left cheek, over her right eye, and to her right temple. She really does her best to make them as nice as possible, but the lightning that also got to Chiyo seems to have left a nasty cut that lightly burned certain parts of the gash.

Akiko presses a cold and wet rag to Chiyo's face for a few moments before moving to her abdomen. The kakushi take over with the rag, and Chiyo uses the last couple minutes to concentrate on her Forest Breathing.

"Giyuu will be fine," Akiko mumbles.

"I know. You did your best. He'll live," Chiyo assures.

With a final snip of her scissors, the final stitch is in place, and Akiko takes the cold rag. Chiyo smiles as best she can with the stitches in her face, then rushes back into the battle.

When she sees that Himejima still hasn't woken, but Giyuu has, she makes her way over to the giant. She scans his body and makes sure that every stitch is in place, every wound has been taken care of.

When she knows that her job is as perfect as ever, she eases. He will wake in his own time.

"I found you."

"AKIKO!!"

A whip flashes towards Akiko so fast that she's surprised she could barely see it. If she can hardly catch it, how in the hell has everyone else been able to avoid it?

Akiko then quickly realizes that she shouldn't have time to think useless thoughts, and that might be her last useless thought, because the next thing she knows her right eye is in horrible pain.

And she can't see out of it.

Akiko screams, her hand coming up to cover her right eye as it gushes out blood. The seal across her forehead has been cut off and she knows that Muzan can see her.

Her scream turns into a sob at the pain. And she knows that her eyes, the ones that Tanjirou loves so dearly, have been tainted.

"I really hate doctors," Muzan says apathetically, making his way to the girl. All of the Pillars and Tanjirou jump forward to protect her. To protect the beating heart of the Demon Slayer Corps.

Because without Akiko, there is no hope for their survival.

And Muzan knows this.

He will kill her.

He will crush their heart.

Akiko's left eye adjusts quickly, and this time she can really see the sharp whip zoom towards her. She lifts her arms up to cover herself, bracing herself for impact.

But it does not come.

Instead, Akiko watches in horror as a kakushi throws herself in front of Akiko.

"Sayu!" Akiko cries out. Then another whip comes, and that's cut off by Miyuki, but nobody sees the other whip that shoots forward, straight for Akiko's head.

No one except for another kakushi, that jumps forward as well.

And that's when Akiko realizes.

"Stop! STOP! STOP!!!!"

But they do not stop. Kakushi run forward, creating a human shield around Akiko. They fall, one by one, taking the fatal blow that is meant for Akiko when a Pillar is unable to deflect the attack. She grabs the hem of one kakushi, Makoto, but he takes her hand.

"Keep working, Akiko-sensei! We'll protect you-" he coughs up blood, then drops into her lap. Another kakushi takes his place, and Akiko is now crying.

She cries and she wails and she screams. She begs, because this is not 'do no harm'.

This is harm.

This is harm in its most unforgiving form.

It laughs at Akiko's face as it crushes her soul. It destroys her life's mission. It spits in her face and undoes the work she has put her whole body and spirit into. It does not care as it takes from her. It relishes in taking from her.

This is harm.

This is war.

This is love.