Chapter Text
Yoriichi has been lonely for a long time; his brother pays him a visit every now and then in the Sun estate, but it's not exactly the same.
However, one day he meets the Kamados; he helps the sick father carry charcoal from his house to the village and sell the contents of his basket. When he walks him back home, the man's wife is so grateful she invites him to have dinner with them. Yoriichi is about to refuse when a toddler with big, red eyes manages to stumble his way towards him and make grabby hands in his direction.
"Hug," the toddler says, with a kind voice.
His mother, Kie, looks embarrassed, but Yoriichi assures her it's fine and takes the little one in his arms. When the tiny redhead chuckles Yoriichi stops feeling lonely for the first time in years and he tears up a little bit.
"Tanjirou, don't!" Kie scolds him lightly when the little one grabs a bunch of Yoriichi's hair.
"No, it's fine," Yoriichi assures her again, pulling the toddler closer. "It's alright."
Then he meets baby Nezuko, and Yoriichi decides to keep coming back to the Kamados; he wants to help them as much as he can.
It's difficult to find free time to do that considering he has a lot of responsibilities as the Sun hashira, but he makes an effort.
Time passes and the two eldest start calling him Dad Yoriichi and their father just Dad, however, the Pillar tries to correct them every single time, even though it makes him feel warm and fuzzy every single time.
"It's okay," both parents assure him. "We don't mind."
Then their father dies and Yoriichi does his best to comfort all the kids, especially Tanjirou, Nezuko and a little one called Rui.
He tries to visit them more often to bring them money, even though Tanjirou assures him he's old enough to work now.
Yoriichi is very proud of him, but he's constantly trying to remind him that he doesn't have to do everything by himself, that he can ask for help.
When the new generation of hashira is complete (they're nine at the moment) Yoriichi decides that it's time for him to retire and help his family.
Ubuyashiki understands, but the slayers and some of the Pillar are confused (especially because Yoriichi never told anyone, except Ubuyashiki, about his children).
However, when he comes back, he realizes it's too late; a demon has killed the Kamados and turned Rui and Nezuko into demons.
Only Tanjirou remains; he's eighteen years old now, but he looks younger as he sobs for his family and does his best to restrain Nezuko and Rui.
Yoriichi blames himself; he should've retired long ago, that way he would've been able to protect his family from the demon.
He'll hunt the demon down later and make sure they don't hurt anyone else. But not right now, because his oldest son needs him.
He knows he should free Nezuko and Rui of their curse, that it's dangerous to keep them alive, that they could hurt an innocent person.
However, with one desperate look, Tanjirou begs him, he stares at Yoriichi like he's death himself; he can't stand it. Instead, he improvises two muzzles with bamboo and makes sure the demons have calmed down. The amazing thing is that they seem to be very protective of Tanjirou.
"It's okay," he promises and swears to himself he'll do anything to protect them. He kneels on the snow next to Tanjirou and pulls him into his arms. "I'll keep you safe."
He keeps Nezuko and Rui in a box and carries a very broken and devastated Tanjirou back to the Sun estate.
After sending a letter to Ubuyashiki explaining his situation and promising to do what's necessary if Nezuko or Rui ever hurt an innocent person, he decides that Tanjirou needs training. Yoriichi has promised himself to never keep him out of his sight from now own, but he also wants to make sure his son is capable of taking care of himself.
Everything goes mostly fine; Rui and Nezuko are very attached to Tanjirou, but it's that attachment what brings back a little bit of humanity into their hearts. They seem to be fine, as long as they have plenty of sleep; they don't remember their lives as humans, but they seem to love Tanjirou anyway.
Yoriichi starts training Tanjirou most of the days and goes back to the hashira headquarters to train the new Pillars too, at least when they need to. But they're curious; Yoriichi has noticed that they're dying to ask him about what he does when he's not training them, but he's not ready to share any information about his family at the moment.
Everything seems to be fine, except for the nights he wakes up to Tanjirou sobbing in his room and Yoriichi has to stay there with him and hug him until he falls asleep again.
He just wants to erase his son's pain, but he knows he can't. The only thing that makes Yoriichi feel a little bit better is that Tanjirou hasn't lost his kind heart nor his sweet smile.
They get used to their new life; both of them can only spend time with Rui and Nezuko at night, but they manage to be a family, an unusual one, but a family nonetheless.
Michikatsu starts paying them visits, and although he calls Yoriichi crazy when he finds out two of his children are demons, he softens immediately as soon Tanjirou explains the situation to him.
He turns into a very protective uncle in no time and Yoriichi finds himself smiling again.
At least until the current hashira decide to pay him a visit.
***
Knowing his two siblings are safe in the Sun estate makes Tanjirou feel a lot better. The loss of his family still hurts, but at least he has his Dad Yoriichi and he's willing to teach him everything he knows about being a slayer. They have talked about it a couple of times and they have decided they'll find a way to make Rui and Nezuko human again.
"Tanjirou, how are you feeling today?" Yoriichi asks, ruffling Tanjirou's hair with his fingers.
"I'm fine. I think we should start training."
However, one kakushi arrives and after them there are nine people Tanjirou has never seen before, but they all look and smell very powerful.
"Oh, hi!" He beams. "Are you the hashira?"
Yoriichi has talked about them a couple of times if he remembers correctly.
However, they don't answer right away, instead they just stare at Tanjirou for a while. He gets a little bit worried when he realizes they're not blinking.
"You have a very nice voice." The tallest comments, smiling kindly.
"Thank you! I'm Kamado Tanjirou, it's a pleasure to meet you."
They introduce themselves with a little bit too much enthusiasm as they start getting closer to Tanjirou, at some point Yoriichi starts growling.
However, before Kocho can take the redhead's hand, the wind hashira mentions something about sensing demons and rushes towards the wooden box with his katana in hand.
Seeing red for a moment, Tanjirou manages to get in the middle before Shinazugawa actually does something and headbutts him in a way that makes the Pillar collapse on the ground immediately.
Yoriichi is at his side in the blink of an eye, looking dangerously angry too; he explains the situation to them in a rush and Tanjirou wonders if that'll be enough to stop Shinazugawa or any other Pillar to try something like that again.
However, none of them look like they want to attack the box anytime soon.
Then, the wind hashira gets up and Tanjirou tenses immediately, until the hashira strokes his own forehead with a smirk on his face.
"I like you," he blurts out, looking at Tanjirou directly.
The redhead blinks in confusion that quickly turns into shock after the wind hashira apologizes to him.
There's a heavy silence in which the other Pillars stare at the feral white haired one like they can't quite believe it.
"Let's have breakfast together, my boy!" Rengoku says suddenly, taking Tanjirou's hand.
"There's a nice place in a village nearby that sells delicious food," Kanroji adds, fluttering her long eyelashes at him.
"Uhh..."
"I'd like to introduce you to my wives, if that's okay with–"
"NO." Yoriichi takes a couple of steps forward before pushing Tanjirou behind himself.
Tokito pouts as Iguro and Kocho try to explain that they'll be more than happy to take care of Tanjirou and protect him too.
Honestly, he has no idea why his Dad looks so irritated, that sounds really nice. Maybe they could help him find a cure for–
"I know what you're trying to do and let me tell you already: I don't approve of you. Tanjirou is too good for you. Now, get out!"
"Dad!" Tanjirou blurts out, surprised. "At least let them stay so I can offer them something to eat."
"It's okay, Tanjirou," Yoriichi tells him, turning around before smiling sweetly at him. "They have a lot of things to do, they CAN'T STAY."
"We do have to go, unfortunately," Himejima says then.
"But that doesn't mean we won't be back," Tomioka adds, purposely ignoring Yoriichi's murderous glare so he can smile at Tanjirou instead. "It was a pleasure to meet you."
"They seem nice," Tanjirou comments after they're gone.
"They are not," Yoriichi growls. "I hate them already; I think it's time to send a message to your uncle Michikatsu, I'm sure he'll love to help me with this..."
Tanjirou is a little bit confused, but he still hopes he can see them again.