Chapter Text
Gods are strange beings. Some idolatred and some hated, despite their lack of presence in humans's realm. No one really knows what they are, not even themselves. Some humans are considered gods walking among men, and some gods are scoffed at and described as fake. Humans are strange beings.
Gods don't attach themselves to humans. What would be the point? Humans die fast, and gods don't. It would be strange and pointless to do so.
But Hinokami has always been strange, even among gods.
Hinokami is fire's child just like she is its mother. She is the raging fire that destroys everything and anyone in its path, and the quiet flames that warm hearts and families. She was, she is and she will be. She burns and burns until even gods don't dare to approach her.
In her warmth, the god is lonely.
When her own kind doesn't dare to approach her, afraid of her fire, is it any wonder that she turns to others?
Tsugikuni Yoriichi is blessed. No one notices until he is gone.
His life is full of sadness and death, and Hinokami watches her blessed and wonders if this is all her fault.
He is the first human she blesses, and the last one.
Yoriichi's friend dances for her, and their descendants dance too. Hinokami watches, fascinated. She keeps an eye on them, and does her best to help them. She doesn't make them rich, can't, but the Kamados rarely grow hungry despite their poverty, and even the harshest winter can't keep the warmth out of their home, and they are happy. Hinokami hopes that is enough.
(She doesn't bless them, because Yoriichi may have lived a long time but he lived a life of misery and died sad and alone. And the Kamados, whose warmth seems to be able to match hers, don't deserve that.)
It goes on for centuries.
Hinokami senses the monster demon hoW dArES hE him before he arrives. But she is a god and while she sometimes can access to the human realm, it is not enough to save them.
The god watches the ones that danced for her during centuries die and scream.
Kibutsuji Muzan comes to a family with the eyes he fears and hates. He comes to a family of joy and warmth that is unnatural. And really, he killed for far less.
He kills them slowly, the ones who dare to have the same eyes as this Man, and he makes it hurt.
Kamado Kie watches her children die one by one, and tries to save them. But it is pointless, because Kibutsuji Muzan is the Progenitor of Demons and she is a mere human. And so she tries and tries and fails to save them. Bleeding and dying, hatred and fear burning her heart, she watches the monster that dared to hurt her family and sees the fear in his eyes when he looks at the red eyes of her dear children. And Kie, who listened to her husband's tells of a red-eyed man blessed by a god, who noticed the strange warmth surrounding her home, prays the god her Tanjurou danced for to protect her children in her place.
Hinokami answers her prayer.
A human alone cannot access the realm of gods, in the same way that a god alone cannot access the human realm. Their bodies aren't made for that. But Hinokami is determined, and she's not alone.
Kie's love and desire to protect her children is a force to reckon on. Hinokami grabs it, this love and hatred and determination so similar yet different from her own. She takes the Kamados's blood and feelings and forces them in herself, forces this humanity to enter her until her arrival in this realm stops hurting, until she can feel wind and snow and cold, until she can breathe in a way no god should ever need to. She forces her fire deep inside her, and creates a body with the blood and emotions Kie gave her. The Kamados help her, ghostly hands give her blood and modify her body until Hinokami can pretend to be human.
Hinokami burns herself until she can fit in a world that isn't hers.
They are dead - of course they are, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to help - and it makes her furious. The feeling burns her, and she never felt it before, in the same way that she never felt the cold bite of snow on her feet.
She rages, but she made a promise. Someone prayed and she answered and she will not disappoint.
She lifts up the newly formed demon and kisses her forehead, tears falling on her cheeks. She can't destroy the curse, couldn't before and certainly can't now that she's in this state but she still burns the poison until Nezuko's whimpers quiet down.
Tanjirou comes home to see a mess of blood and death, his sister cradled in a god's lap.