Chapter Text
Since long ago, human eating demons have come out to prowl when night falls. Because of that, it’s a problem to walk around at night. You’ll be eaten.
Kamado Tanjirou became a demon hunter at the age of 15, alongside a 16-year-old Tomioka Giyuu. They ascended to the positions of Fire and Water Pillars, respectively, three years later. At the age of 19, Kamado Tanjirou was officially declared missing-in-action.
--
“—got scolded by Tomioka-san again. I don’t understand why he keeps picking on us lower ranks!”
“Shhh! Shh! Didn’t you hear? his old partner used to be the previous fire pillar, Kamado Tanjirou-san.”
“The pillar who got hunted down by *that man*?… and… you know”
“Yeah, I heard Tomioka-san used to be super close with Kamado-san. He’s become so much stricter since Kamado-san left. But he’s like that with everyone so don’t take it too personally.”
“I wonder what actually happened to Kamado-san…”
Kamado Nezuko stepped through the front entrance to the Urokodaki residence. It’s much warmer than the snowy mountain she had just returned from, but she still pulls her haori tightly around her shoulders. She’s 16 now, just around the age when her brother had first passed his final selection. She remembers it as if it was just yesterday: her older brother had witnessed a demon slay a young boy in the nearby village and decided right then that he was going to become a demon hunter. She’s not sure how he managed to convince her mother to let him go, but at the time, their father was still alive and he always encouraged his children to follow their dreams (or something akin to that it seems). Tanjirou came back home when their father passed away but by then, he was on his way to formally becoming a Pillar and… Nezuko thinks that maybe their mother had seen the longing in his eyes when he spoke of his fellow demon hunters, his missions, and his partner. And she must’ve decided then that his place was not as a charcoal seller because just a couple of months later, Kamado Tanjirou was the Fire Pillar.
“Ah, you’re back Nezuko” Urokodaki’s voice sounds from somewhere inside the house, “Be polite, we have a guest.”
“A guest?” Nezuko bows slightly and then lifts her head just enough to spot the man in the mismatched haori. She offers a small smile. “Good evening, Giyuu-san.”
The man nods his head in greeting. “I was in the area so I dropped by—” his fingers ghost the teacup on the table before him. “—I haven’t heard many updates from either of you recently, Urokodaki-san, Nezuko-san.”
“There haven’t been any updates to give.” Urokodaki says, “Nezuko is still training like before and Tanjirou is still asleep.”
“Brother hasn’t stirred at all in the past year.” Nezuko adds, “we’ve consulted several different doctors at this point.”
“No one specializes in demons, it’s not surprising that they’re stumped.” Urokodaki says.
Giyuu lifts his cup and stares at the tea swirling inside. His eyes are glazed over, as if he was trying to figure out where to go from here. This is the partner that Tanjirou spoke so fondly of, Nezuko thinks. She’s only met Tomioka a handful of times, but he’s always been friendly with her.
“Then, I hope he wakes up soon.” Tomioka states with a tone of finality. Soon they’re talking about the weather, the current state of affairs, Ubuyashiki’s weakening health, anything to avoid the elephant in the room: Kamado Tanjirou was turned into a demon by Kibutsuji Muzan a year ago after the man had attacked the Kamado family.
--1 year ago—
“Then I’ll see you soon,” Tomioka says quietly, “at the forest near the edge of the village.”
“Tomorrow!” Tanjirou promises, his eyes twinkled as he smiled. He steps back from Tomioka and glances at the position of the sun, “Okay, okay. My mother is expecting me soon, I really can’t keep her waiting any longer.”
“Go, then.”
“Tomorrow Giyuu!” Tanjirou waves as he turns away, moving at the pace of a well-trained hunter as he prepares for the ascend up the mountain. It’s been months since he last visited and although he’s constantly sending letters to his mother, it’s just not the same as seeing her in person. They planned for a brief family dinner together weeks in advance and now he’s finally (finally!) home. It’s just a pity that Giyuu won’t be coming for dinner today. He’s spent the past few years with Giyuu and even when they have separate territories to protect, they never seemed to be too far away from each other. At one point, Tanjirou had even joked about hey how about we just move in together, huh? But one look at Giyuu’s face told him that maybe this wasn’t a funny question to ask. The sun was clouded over and a gray cast seems to dampen the whole field. It had been quite a bit since the last huge snowstorm, he thinks. He stops suddenly and turns his head towards the direction of his home. Then he starts running, barely even registering passing by old-man Saburoujii-san’s house because his nose is picking up a scent. The smell that he wishes never to associate with his mountain or his family.
Blood! His head seems to scream, Blood Blood Blood Blood DEMON.
He’s breathless by the time he arrives and nearly paralyzed by the sight before him. Rokuta lies in the middle of the blood-stained snow field, unmoving. His vision is blinded by red and he’s screaming, sword unsheathed, the names of his sisters and brothers and mother. Then his scream is answered by a shrill shout, “HELP!” Someone’s alive. Someone, anyone! He can still smell the scent of demon, but this scent is unnecessarily familiar, an upper moon? No. Even worse. He sprints to the doorway, and charges inside. His mother and Hanako are lying soaked in blood and Takeo and Shigeru lie not much further. A dark figure looms over a girl in a pink kimono.
“MUZAN!!!” Tanjirou is screaming although he barely hears himself. “YOU---”
“The Pillar with the Hanafuda earrings. I was just looking for you.” Muzan responds lowly, “I’m not a fan of low-quality human meat but luring you out like this?”
“Brother!” Nezuko screams from behind the demon. Nezuko. Nezuko! Nezuko’s still alive! That’s all Tanjirou needed to know before he’s charging forward, “Seventh Style---” He jumps and swings, “Piercing Rain Drop!” He knows that, alone, he doesn’t stand a chance against Muzan, but he can’t think straight anymore. His whole mind is chanting save Nezuko with a fervor that he’s never experienced in any demon fight. “Sixth Style!”
Muzan shifts to the side, enough to avoid the attack and leave enough space for Tanjirou to slip between the demon and his little sister. He holds his nichirin blade before him, eyes wide open in rage. Brushing a piece of hair away from his face, Muzan frowns at a spot of blood on his patterned suit jacket.
“Nezuko, when I have him distracted, Run.” Tanjirou whispers, “Down the mountain, as fast as you can, Giyuu has to be close by. Find him. Do you understand?!” Nezuko responds with whimpers and hushed sobs. Tanjirou doesn’t have time to figure out whether his sister actually heard him or even understood him because Muzan was moving. Tanjirou raises his sword defensively, and manages to get a couple of strikes in (none that really seemed to actually damage Muzan beyond cuts and scrapes). He’s focused on giving Nezuko enough space to run, enough time to react. He blocks again and is slammed against the table behind him. It splinters behind him, pieces of wood jabbing into his arms and back. He hasn’t been so easily disoriented since the last time upper moon fight. Nezuko is running out the door now, Tanjirou notes to himself as he pushes up from the ground. Safe. She might make it out safely. If she can find Giyuu… surely Giyuu will help her get away. He’s always been a good judge of situation. Unlike myself. Facing off against the master of all demons?! Alone? If I survive. If I survive, the other Pillars would never let me hear the end of this. He must’ve let his guard down the minute Nezuko vanished because Muzan is inches away from him. Face close enough that Tanjirou could smell the disgusting scent of but at least Nezuko is safe. At least—
And then he knew nothing.
Nezuko was running as fast as she could from the house, stepping over her siblings’ dead bodies. She has one destination set in mind, and that’s down the mountain. As far away from here as possible. Her feet slapped hard against the snow, the icy water soaking into the length of her kimono. When she’s a good distance away, she hears a soul-piercing scream. It’s Tanjirou! Nezuko stops.
“Brother! Brother!” What’s the point of living if everyone was dead? She turns around and begins running back towards the house. She berates herself for her stupidity. Her mother and brother would want her to run away. They wouldn’t want her to become just another victim. By the time she steps back into the vicinity of the house, it was completely silent. There was nothing except the sound of melting snow.
“Brother…?” Nezuko whispers as she peers into the house, there was still no movement inside. She didn’t see the demon from before but… her brother wasn’t there either? She moves inside, careful to avoiding her siblings. She promises herself not to cry, not until she finds her brother. Her brother! She runs towards Tanjirou’s fallen form. He’s lying not far from where she had last seen him. His back barely moving but he’s breathing! She runs over, tears spilling from her eyes, as she struggles to pick up his body. She’s not nearly strong enough to lift him completely, but she’s just barely able to slug his arm across her shoulders and half drag him to the doorway.
“I’ll be back! Mother, Hanako, Takeo, Shigeru, Rokuta.” She huffs under her breath, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Then she moves towards the edge of the mountain. The frozen air hurts my lungs! It hurts! She thinks to herself. But if she stops moving now, then Tanjirou is as good as dead. She only has her brother left and she cannot let him die! I’ll save him, I’ll definitely save him. She’s halfway down the mountain, when she feels her brother stir. She breathes a heavy huff.
“GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
Nezuko yelps as the scream sounds beside her ear. She drops the arm around her neck as she feels a leg tangle with her foot. She’s knocked off balance, her brother behind her as she slips down the edge of a cliff. Plop The snow cushions her fall and the adrenaline forces her up.
“Brother?”
Turning her head to the sound of footsteps crunching on snow, Nezuko looks up as she spots her brother’s unsteady form. He’s standing, stumbling forward towards her. “Brother! Are you okay? Don’t worry, I’ll get help from the village! Giyuu-san will know what to do!”
“Brother!”
The person in front of her was not Kamado Tanjirou, she realizes a second too late as he slams her to the ground. He looks like Tanjirou but Tanjirou would never growl at her or attack her. She’s heard enough stories about the human-eating demons over the years to know exactly what she’s looking at.
This was a demon.
But that’s not right. Can humans just become demons like this? She’s never been curious enough to ask where demons came from. And her brother was Tanjirou, a human, a Demon Slayer. She’d known him all her life to know that he’s Human. But he wasn’t him. Someone did this, that black-clothed monster who killed her family? He must’ve…!
“Brother!” She shouts, and he growls. An inhuman roar sounds from his lips. He’s getting stronger and he’s getting bigger. There’s no way that she could hold him off for much longer. “Brother! Brother, pull yourself together! You’re not a demon! You’re Kamado Tanjirou! I believe you! Brother! I’m… I’m Nezuko, your little sis…” She sniffles, “sister!”
“Ne-zu…”
A shadow looms above them, quick as light, his arm raised to attack. Tanjirou turns and the man freezes. Nezuko recognizes him, the man that Tanjirou often brought home with him: my best and only partner! Giyuu! He had said. The man snarls as he swings his sword. Nezuko feels heavy hands grab onto her and roll her away from the blade.
“What—”
“Giyuu-san!” Nezuko screams, “Help me, brother is—”
“Let him go,” Tomioka says, “that’s a demon.”
“Brother… he’s my brother!” She screams back, “Your partner!”
“GYAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH” Tanjirou shouts, and claws in Tomioka’s direction. Nezuko grabs onto his shoulders and neck and pulls back, “AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH”
“That thing,” Tomioka narrows his eyes, “is not your brother. If Tanjirou was in my place, he would kill the demon too.”
“No…” Nezuko whispers. Her fingers slip and she’s grasping thin air. She sits up and sees Tomioka holding the back of Tanjirou’s checkered haori, sees Tanjirou claw at the older hunter. That’s an unnatural sight, Nezuko had never even heard Tanjirou raise his voice at Tomioka, let alone the violence. “Brother! Brother!!”
“Don’t move!” Tomioka commands, “I am a demon hunter. My job is to kill demons. It doesn’t matter who the demon is or was. It is not Tanjirou anymore.
“No! Wait! Tanjirou hasn’t killed anyone! There was another demon, one in black clothes! He was the one who killed everyone! You know Brother better than anyone, he would never kill!”
“A human whose open wound has been bathed in demon blood, becomes a demon. It doesn’t matter if he’s a civilian or a demon hunter. There are no exceptions, not even for Tanjirou.” Tomioka tightens his hold on the man beside him. “I would never do anything to harm him if I didn’t have to… Nezuko-san.”
“You’re wrong! Brother would never! Even as a demon!”
“It seemed like he was about to eat you just now, didn’t it?”
“It didn’t! Brother wouldn’t! I’ll turn him back! I’ll turn him back into a human so please!”
“Nezuko-san,” Tomioka whispers, “if there was a way to turn a demon back into a human, we wouldn’t need demon hunters. It’s not possible.”
“Then I’ll find a way!” She responds, “I’ll look for one! I’ll find a method! I’ll find the man who did this! I’ll become a demon hunter, like brother! I’ll do it! So Please! Please don’t kill him! He’s already… all that I have left.”
Tomioka lowers his eyes and scans Tanjirou’s face.
“Please, Giyuu-san…” She lowers her head to the ground, “I beg of you, please don’t kill my big brother.”
“YOU CAN’T DECIDE SOMEONE’S LIFE OR DEATH LIKE THAT!” Tomioka shouts, “STOP LOOKING SO MISERABLE! CURE HIM? SEARCH FOR THE ENEMY? STOP LYING TO YOUSELF, NEZUKO-SAN! IT’S NOT POSSIBLE. EVEN IF THERE WAS. EVEN IF THERE WAS SOME KIND OF CURE TO SAVE HIM, THE DEMONS WOULD NEVER WILLINGLY HELP YOU. HOW DO YOU PLAN ON SAVING HIM WHEN YOU CAN’T EVEN SAVE YOURSELF? THIS IS REALITY.”
Tomioka stops and regards the girl before him: “Tanjirou isn’t here to talk sense but I am! And I will educate you in his place! Once a demon, there is no turning back! I’m sorry Nezuko-san, but Tanjirou is gone. He…” He breathes heavily, “…he was all I had left too.” Then he points at the demon in his hand, “but this isn’t him. And it would kill him if he knew that I had left him alive to eat his own sister.”
“Giyuu-san…” Nezuko’s eyes wells up with tears, “Please…”
“Don’t cry, Nezuko-san.” Tomioka whispers, “I know you’re hurting and I wish… I wish that I had gone with him. That stupid man, always telling people off with a smile.” If only I had arrived a bit earlier, if only I didn’t ignore that sense of despair when he was walking away from me. But what’s done is done and frail resolutions like that won’t save Tanjirou anymore. It will not avenge him. He raises his blade and stabs Tanjirou’s shoulder, No no no that won’t do. A quick kill. A painless one.
-WOOSHHHH –
A rock sails by and strikes just by Tomioka’s face. He lifts the blade and avoids the next two snowballs that shoots by him. Nezuko lets out a cry as she swings her arm at his face. He blocks, then rams the back of his sword down on her back, making sure to hit a place that knocked her out without damage. That one split moment gave Tanjirou the opening he needed to break free. He kicks then fumbles with the sword-less sheath by his side. Tomioka jumps back.
Crap
He’s going to eat her.
Tanjirou runs towards Nezuko and crouches near her fallen body. He growls and opens his arms as if to shield her from him. Then he charged, fangs out, at Tomioka.
A demon with a wound, who’s injured and just barely staying conscious from energy loss. He’s protecting her. As if…
As if he’s warning me. Trying to communicate.
Maybe Tanjirou will be different.
.
.
Please let Tanjirou be different.
He strikes at Tanjirou and watches as he falls into the snow.
“mmm” Nezuko stirs awake and comes face to face with the collapsed man beside her. There was a piece of bamboo in his mouth. Tanjirou’s eyes were closed and he seemed peaceful, more peaceful than she’d ever seen him.
“Are you awake?” Tomioka’s voice sounds. He’s sitting a foot away. Sword sheathed, with dark circles under his eyes.
“!” Nezuko quickly sits up.
“I’m not going to attack him anymore.”
“Then…”
“I’m going to take you two to see the elder named Urokodaki Skonji at the foot of the Misty Mountain. It’s snowy outside so the light isn’t as bad. He can’t be under the sun.” Tomioka says, “I hope that you were serious about wanting to be a demon hunter.”
“I was!”
“Then let’s go.” Tomioka moves to stand up, “I’ll escort you in Tanjirou’s place.”
“Wait.” Nezuko pulls on his sleeve. “I need to visit the rest of my family. I need to send them off.”
“Alright.”
At the age of 19, Kamado Tanjirou was unofficially declared a demon.