Chapter Text
He woke up at dawn.
Shifting carefully, he left the comfort of his futon and trotted lightly on his feet, not wanting to disturb his siblings. The moment he got out of the room, he proceeded to pull together his chaotic burgundy strands and put it up into a messy ponytail. Yawning under his breath, he went to enter the small kitchen area of their house. As expected, his mother was already awake before everyone else and was already in the middle of cutting up some vegetables for breakfast.
"Ohayou, kaa-chan," Tanjirou quietly greeted her
"Ah, ohayou, Tanjirou," His mother returned the greeting with a smile. "You don't have to do this every day, you know. You already do more than enough," She gently chided him but it came with a sort of exasperation that was born from how many times she'd told him that.
It wasn't like his answer ever changed.
"It's fine, I don't mind," He grinned at her as he wordlessly grabbed the pot already brought out from the table. "It's the least I can do to keep you company. Nezuko should also be up in a few minutes," Though, he paused when his mother seized the collar of his haori and took the pot from his hands.
"Then at least freshen up yourself first," She admonished him with a small pat to the cheek.
"Hai, hai," He sighed but his lips were still twitching into a smile.
He went out the back and did as he was told. The cool water this summer morning was refreshing and he felt more awake as he washed his face. By the time he was done and had dried himself, he'd gone back to the kitchen and undid the knot on one of the sacks in order to pour the rice into the pot set aside by his mother. He hummed under his breath as, just as he predicted, he heard his sister's soft footsteps already approaching, a yawn emerging from her lips as she entered the kitchen area as well and in the middle of putting up her long hair.
"Onii-chan, you should've just woken me up earlier as well," Nezuko complained as she pulled up the sleeves of her kimono.
"But you'll wake up on your own right after anyways," Tanjirou laughed at the pout on her face.
After Nezuko had washed up, greetings were exchanged and the three of them fell into a pattern. Tanjirou cooked the rice, Nezuko helped in grilling the fish, while their mother steamed the vegetables. After ensuring that the rice was already heating at an acceptable temperature, he entrusted Nezuko to watch over it as he went out into the yard to grab his axe and chop some wood. He should start early in order to get the fire burning and make some charcoal.
By the time he'd finished chopping the wood, Tanjirou could already feel the heat of the morning sun bearing down on him. His other siblings should be all waking up by now and the smell of breakfast was already in the air.
Though, before he could set up the kiln, a new scent reached his nose.
Straightening from his work, Tanjirou turned to its source and blinked wide burgundy eyes. While he and his family liked visiting the town by the foot of the mountain, it was rare for other people to seek them out up here.
The person didn't smell malicious. In fact, she smelled heavily of flowers, a fiery trace of determination, and a soft, sweet but desperate hope–
He'd been so focused on distinguishing the scent that he didn't notice that said individual, a white-haired woman, was already standing before him. By the time he did, he'd been left staring at her in dumbfounded silence. The kimono that she was wearing was elaborate and obviously made from high-quality material, she carried herself quietly and her rather delicate features made Tanjirou almost think of her as a spirit with how otherworldly she almost seemed.
Feeling himself blush at having stared at her so intensely, he gave her a hasty awkward bow.
"Hello, ma'am," He greeted with a small embarrassed smile. "Can I help you?"
Her eerie purple eyes met his squarely, scrutinizing.
Tanjirou fidgeted, highly conscious of the soot on his hands and his messy appearance. He inhaled in surprise when a calm voice emerged from her lips.
"Are you a Kamado?"
oOo
Breakfast that morning had been quiet.
For the most part, it was punctuated by the empty space left by their parents. While their father's illness had steadily gotten worse, Tanjirou knew that none of them would ever be ready when he finally succumbed to it. Meals were always shared as a family and the man had made certain that he would always be present to eat with them even when he could barely move after. It was a bit unnerving to eat without either of them.
Tanjirou had initially insisted to wait for them but their mother had been adamant that he and his siblings start on their meals. So, he'd made sure that the others were served warm food by the time they had sat down.
"Ne, ne, onii-chan," Hanako finally broke the silence as she stared worriedly at him. "Who's that woman talking with tou-san and kaa-chan?"
"I don't know for sure," He answered with a small frown. "But she doesn't smell of bad intentions," He was quick to reassure.
Tanjirou didn't miss the looks that Takeo and Nezuko shot him. He shrugged at their glances, just as clueless as they were. Though, the moment Tanjirou had brought the woman into their home, she'd asked Kie to meet their father. All of them were left in the dark because the moment their father's eyes landed on the woman, he'd asked for some privacy and their mother had simply stayed by their father's side.
And that was half an hour ago.
By the time all of them had finished as he and Nezuko were in the middle of cleaning up, their mother had entered back the room with a somber expression and her indigo eyes had sought out Tanjirou's almost immediately.
"Tanjirou," She called out quietly. "Your father wants to talk to you," She merely said on the subject before approaching to take over for him.
"Kaa-chan?" His brows furrowed, smelling her turmoil.
She grabbed his hand with both of hers, staring deeply into his eyes.
"Whatever you choose, I will support you," His mother told him before pulling him in for a hug. Tanjirou hesitantly returned the gesture, now worried. Looking over her shoulder, he saw the concern written on all of his siblings' faces as well.
Though, he guessed he would have to see for himself as he hurried to the patio. His father and the woman from earlier were seated by the engawa with their backs facing him. They weren't speaking and try as he might to be quiet, his footsteps were merely punctuated by the silence that blanketed them. His father quietly patted the space beside him. He shuffled over to him, curious burgundy eyes straying towards their guest.
For a moment, all was quiet.
He wondered what they had talked about to upset his mother.
"This is Ubuyashiki Amane," His father eventually spoke, eyes gazing straight ahead. "She came here for the Dance of the Fire God that's been passed down our family for generations." He revealed calmly while the twelve-year old's head snapped to the woman with wide eyes.
Their family had always worked with fire and the Dance of the Fire God was something his father always performed at the start of the year. It was passed down to the first born Kamado son each generation along with the hanafuda earrings. He didn't think that it would just be handed easily to a stranger. No wonder his mother had been troubled. Though, he recalled the hope and desperation he'd gleaned from her emotions and he couldn't help but wonder about her reasons.
He was missing something.
"We need your help," The woman, Ubuyashiki, said as she turned to face Tanjirou.
Then, she did the one thing that no one had ever done for him before. She bowed to him. Her forehead was touching the floor and her entire posture had shifted until her body folded on itself at the gesture.
But, as much as Tanjirou wanted to help, the kagura dance was something that he and his father had inherited from their ancestors.
"P-Please, stop that!" He fretted as he hastily crawled towards the woman, gently pulling her up. His eyes strayed to his father and saw the man staring at the woman with hardened eyes, something that Tanjirou had never seen on him before. It was a foreboding look for someone who was rarely fazed by anything. Though, he still couldn't decipher the emotions that permeated his father's scent.
His father finally sighed.
"Tanjirou," The man called on him with a small sad smile. "Let me explain the meaning of that dance…"
oOo
That night, Tanjirou couldn't sleep. He laid awake, quiet, and just staring at the ceiling. The revelations he'd had earlier had shaken him. The demons that his grandmother used to tell him about in his childhood were real. That, more than anything, had terrified him. More importantly, his family were users of a certain breath style that was supposedly the origin of all breaths. Or, at least, that was what Ubuyashiki Amane had claimed while his father had explained that the Dance of the Fire God was what protected their family for years.
Breath of Sun, she had called it. He didn't understand her words about it being the origin of all breaths but he knew that breathing in a certain way had helped his father perform the dance. He didn't even know that there were other specific ways one could breathe to dance forever.
She'd said that the breath styles were what helped the swordsmen, demon slayers, to fight demons on equal grounds.
"And we wanted to ask a user of the original breath to fight with us," Her brows had furrowed, something like grief staining her emotions. "And pass it down to the next generation. To protect humans, to defeat demons." She had said and despite the calm that marked her words, her emotions didn't lie. Hope was the prominent of them. Determination, loss, and then sadness when she'd laid her eyes on him.
It dawned on him that she was asking Tanjirou to fight. His father was mostly bedridden at this point. And he was the only successor of the Dance of the Fire God.
But he didn't even know how to fight, had never held a sword in his life.
The embers of his soul were ignited by the will to help, to ease the grief in her emotions. However, in the grand scheme of things, he was just one boy. He didn't even know what exactly she was expecting from him.
Not to mention, he couldn't bear the thought of leaving his family behind.
That, more than anything, was what sealed his resolve to refuse her request.
Demons were real. A lot of innocent people were dying. And Tanjirou knew that his emotions had always been inclined to understand and feel. But it wasn't his job to go out there and protect those people. There were other demon slayers to do that. His duty was to his family, first and foremost. Yet, the way she'd stared at him, yearned for his help, as if he really could make a difference had shaken something within him.
Blinking in the dark, he shifted on his futon and eyed the outline of his siblings' sleeping forms.
This was all he needed.
oOo
Though, a week later, Ubuyashiki Amane showed up at their doorsteps once again.
She still had that lingering smell of sadness but her purple eyes were clear. This time, she'd approached him directly and asked him the same question she'd asked him. His answer didn't change. And she'd accepted it gracefully but Tanjirou could smell her resolve, that her battle to win him over had not yet ended.
"Onii-chan," Nezuko called out to him. "What's happening?" She'd asked him quietly, a small furrow to her brows.
"She's asking for something I don't think I can give," He sighed deeply, feeling guilt crawling in his veins despite his certainty in his decision.
It was especially hard when he knew that he couldn't exactly tell his siblings what he now knew. At least, not right now. They were too young. Still, he also acknowledged the fact that despite that, he couldn't keep it from them for long either. He wanted them to stay safe more than anything. The look Nezuko gave him was searching and she had always been quick on the uptake out of all of them.
"You can't or you won't?" Her question was measured as they stood silently by the slope overlooking the way down to the mountain.
Tanjirou stared at her with wide eyes, feeling the weight of her words.
He couldn't say anything for the words had become stuck in his throat.
Though, Nezuko, bless her kind soul, was now staring at him with soft eyes. A warm gaze that was reminiscent of their mother. Because he was the eldest, it was sometimes easy to forget that Nezuko was also an older sibling. He would always remember the days when she used to ride on his back so she could reach for some fruits from the branches or those days when he patiently taught her how to cook rice.
She had been the first of his siblings that he'd taken care of. The first one who'd stared up at him with wide astonished eyes as if he held the sun in his hands and called him older brother.
The one who always reminded him that he didn't have to do it alone.
"'Our hearts make us strong'," She quoted as she turned to face the setting sun, her face illuminated by the hues of fire. "That was what tou-san always told us, wasn't it? Then it's okay to listen to your heart too, onii-chan." She smiled as she silently reached for his hand, grasping it gently.
When he closed his eyes to bask in this moment, his tears fell.
oOo
Just as the nature became ignited with vibrant shades and the first smell of frost made itself known, their father took his last breath that early autumn.
TBC.