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“Tanjiro-o-o-o-o-o-o, I’m tired!” The small boy wined and dragged his feet on the dirt ground.
His red haired brother rolled his eyes with a smile and looked back at the wagon he was pulling along. “Would any of you like to swap out with Takeo?”
The two parents and babies in the wagon looked towards the slightly smaller boy who groaned and slid out of his seat.
Their mother hummed happily. “Thank you, Shigeru!”
While Takeo clambered into the moving wagon, Nezuko crossed the road behind the traveling family to hold her brother’s hand with a giggle. Tanjiro continued to pull the wagon with a content smile.
For Tanjiro’s twelfth birthday, the entire Kamado family ventured down the mountain and across the countryside to a larger town to visit relatives. Tanjiro’s mouth watered at the image of a feast of plum rice balls and fried shrimp all just for him and sped up his walking pace.
It was nightfall by the time the Kamado family arrived in town and checked into an inn. Flickering lanterns and street lamps illuminated the wide streets outside Tanjiro’s window. He was exhausted from the day of traveling, but his mind buzzed with excitement from the possibilities of exploring in the morning.
Tanjiro pushed the window of the room he was sharing with his siblings and breathed in the night breeze. The air was absolutely electric compared to the tranquility of his home. His red eyes scanned the street below and he smiled at the strangers who passed by without sparing him a thought.
Look at these people, going about their lives. I wonder what their stories are…
A building across the street from the inn turned its lights on and the front door slammed open. Tanjiro watched curiously as a burly man appeared in the doorway and tossed out a scrawny young boy onto the street. The boy crumpled to the ground pathetically and Tanjiro could barely make out the man whispering “that’s what you get for stealin’ from someone who took ya in” before he vanished back inside the building.
Tanjiro looked down at the boy in the street and how he just laid there defeated, not moving a muscle. The red haired boy began to panic that he was dead. Without thinking, Tanjiro grabbed his haori and slipped out of his bedroom.
He quietly ran down to the first floor of the inn and out into the street where the boy remained. Now that Tanjiro was closer, he could see that this boy wore a too-big purple yukata and his black hair was an unruly mop that covered his face.
Tanjiro knelt next to him and threw his haori over him like a blanket. “Hey, are you okay? Should I call you a doctor?”
The boy stirred a bit and Tanjiro sighed in relief. He was alive, but his bones poked through his skinny frame. The boy also had a large jagged scar running from his right cheek to his nose. The red haired boy wondered how he received it.
Tanjiro helped him to his feet, taking a moment to admire the boy’s exhausted violet eyes, and led him back to the inn. He sat the boy down on a chair set out for guests and asked for the inn’s receptionist to find them some food.
“... why?” The boy’s voice was so hoarse, Tanjiro almost didn’t hear him.
“Why what?” Tanjiro sat down on the floor in front of the chair with a smile.
“Why are you helping me? You don’t even know me…” Despite how his voice sounded protestful, Tanjiro watched him pull the green-and-black haori on tighter.
“Well, I’m Tanjiro, Kamado Tanjiro. There, now we know each other!”
The boy’s lips betrayed his serious face and twisted into a goofy lopsided smile. “You must be from the country.”
Tanjiro examined himself in shock. “Is it that obvious?!”
“No… you just told me.” He snickered under his breath as the receptionist returned with a few rice buns for them.
“So… what’s your name? Do you have parents we can find? Do you live here?” Tanjiro passed some food to the gangly boy.
“You can call me Genya and no… no parents.” Tanjiro’s heart twisted at the numb face Genya made. “A-And I just do odd jobs where I can. I don’t ‘live’ anywhere.”
“But that man said that you stole from him.”
“I didn’t! It was his damn son and his gambling addic--” Genya took a deep breath and bit into his rice bun. “It doesn’t matter, I’ll just move on to the next place like last time.”
Tanjiro frowned. “That’s awful, you didn’t do anything! You shouldn’t have to uproot yourself over the crimes of others--”
“Are you really this naive or just plain stupid?” Genya snapped at him. “Don’t you know how the world works? It is the right of the strong to snuff out the weak and those caught in the middle have to pray that they don’t get lumped in with the latter. You can’t get through life just being kind to everyone you meet, you also have to take care of yourself and watch your own back.”
“But life is also about having each other’s backs, right? As they are now, my baby brothers and sisters can’t protect themselves, so my parents and I look after them. Yeah, we take care of ourselves, but isn’t it also the responsibility of the strong to protect the weak?”
Tanjiro watched as a shadow fell over Genya’s face, he had struck a chord in him.
“Genya, do you have siblings?” He handed him another rice bun.
Genya blinked back the stubborn tears that dared to well up in his eyes and scarfed down the bun. “Why does that matter?”
The red haired boy shrugged. “You’re the first person I’ve ever met who thinks like you do. I guess with having siblings, I just have a different world view about the strong versus the weak.”
The scarred boy looked to the side. “I have an older brother.”
“What? Really? Can we find him? Why are you by yours--”
“Because--” Genya looked around for an answer. “Because I made him hate me. It’s my fault I’m by myself so I have to take care of myself.”
Tanjiro made a sour face. “What could possibly make an older brother abandon his little brother?”
Genya pulled the haori on a little tighter. “I… I don’t want to talk about it.”
Tanjiro thought for a second before smiling. “My family works with fire and charcoal and because of my father’s health, I’m the only one in the family who can run the charcoal up and down our mountain.”
“So what?” Genya turned his nose up and refused to look Tanjiro in his big emotional eyes.
“I’m not sure how well we could pay you, but I’m sure my parents wouldn’t mind taking you in as a helper! It’ll guarantee a warm roof over your head and three square meals everyday.”
Tanjiro watched a flurry of emotions wash over Genya’s face before it settled on confused. “You just met me and yet… you want me to move in with your family?”
“Sure! You need a job, don’t you? I’m sure they won’t mind at all!” He got up off the ground with an excited expression. “What do you say?”
Genya looked down at the last rice bun and pondered the idea. “I… I’ll have to think about it.”
Tanjiro took a step towards the stairs leading up to the second floor. “Okay so while you go do that, I’ll go find my parents!”
He took off towards the stairs, but found his father waiting at the bottom of the staircase.
“Oh, Dad, great! I wanted to ask you if--”
Tanjuro put a hand on Tanjiro’s shoulder to stop him from vibrating. “I heard it all, let’s go ask your mother.”
The older man watched as his son bounded up the stairs to wake Kie and followed behind him slowly with a soft smile.
Tanjiro pushed himself into his parents’ room and shook his mother awake. “Mom, Mom, get up! I gotta ask you something!”
It took a few minutes to explain to Kie the situation, but she was all smiles as her boys led her back downstairs to the front of the inn. Tanjiro took the stairs two at a time while rambling about how excited he was to introduce them to his new best friend. Finally, he would have a boy his age to play with!
Tanjiro burst out of the staircase with his parents on his heels to find that his haori had been abandoned on the now empty chair sitting lonely in the foyer of the inn. Genya was gone.
“Oh Tanjiro…” Kie whispered as her son searched around the room and poked his head out the front door, calling Genya’s name.
Tanjiro returned to his parents with tears in his eyes. “I don’t--I don’t understand… I gave him a way to fix his problems! A job, a home, a family! Why would he leave?”
Tanjuro grunted as he knelt down in front of his oldest child and stroked his hair. “Tanjiro, I think that--I think that this young man wasn’t prepared for such an offer.”
“But why not?”
Tanjuro looked up at Kie before turning back to his son. “Well, when a person has been living on their own for so long that they become calloused to happiness, they can be scared to open themselves back up again in case they get hurt.”
Tanjiro hugged his father tight and started to cry into his chest. For the rest of the birthday trip, there was a noticeable sadness that hung around the young man’s face despite how he made himself smile around his family and friends.
Tanjiro wiped the sweat from his brow and sat himself down on the ground, letting his black sword fall with him. “What a workout!”
HIs training partner did the same and flopped down onto his back, breathing heavily. “Oh yeah, my arms are burning!”
The red haired demon slayer scooted closer to the other man and laid down next to him to kiss him on the cheek. “You did great.”
He snickered as his partner’s face flushed even deeper and he looked up at the sky as a memory floated to the front of his mind.
“Say Genya…” Tanjiro sat up and looked down at his lover. “Have you ever… I don’t know, been homeless or something?”
Genya raised an eyebrow. “Yes? Why do you ask?”
“Well, I’m realizing now that you bear a striking resemblance to this one homeless boy I ran into on my twelfth birthday and I think he had a similar name to you.”
The scarred boy blinked a few times before his violet eyes widened and he sat up, nearly headbutting Tanjiro. “THAT WAS YOU?!”
“YEAH IT WAS, WHY DID YOU RUN AWAY!?”
“I--” Genya’s mouth opened and closed like a fish. “I… I got scared?”
“But why?” Tanjiro frowned.
“I don’t know, maybe I was scared of commitment?”
“Well…” Tanjiro gestured between them. “Clearly you’ve grown a little since then so… good job?”
Genya sat up and kissed him softly. “Thanks, dork. You’re not too bad yourself.”
“Okay, but you called me naive and stupid so tell me: have I grown too?”
The taller boy made an unsure sound and looked around, earning him a smack on the arm. “Ow, I’m sore!”
“Answer the question! You know you ruined my entire birthday, right?” Tanjiro’s frown returned.
“Not my fault you were naive and stupid.” Genya snickered and kissed him again. “But, you’ve definitely grown and surprise, surprise; you somehow manage to succeed in life by simply being nice to people.”
Tanjiro broke out his poker face. “I have broken the law against fighting other Demon Slayers four times already and your brother was involved in three of those.”
“Eh, tomato, tomato, I think you’re the kindest person I know, Kamado Tanjiro.” Genya got to his feet and retrieved his weapon. “And if you were to ask me that question again, this time I think I’d take it in a heartbeat.”