Chapter Text
"Northwest, northwest. Go northwest."
Tanjiro's Kasugai crow continued to call as he guided Tanjiro to his next mission. It had been a month since he had been cleared for duty after recovering from his injuries during the Mugen train incident. This was his third mission since returning to duty, the others had been low level demons that he and Nezuko were able to handle easily. His mission this time was to investigate potential demon activity in a remote mountain village in the northwest.
Finally, he was able to see a couple houses on the edge of the forest marking their arrival at the village just as the sun was starting to dip below the horizon. Walking through the main street, Tanjiro took a deep breath searching for the scent of a demon. He passed through the short main street without detecting anything unusual and continued on to investigate the outlying houses. As he continued sniffing through the village outskirts, he passed an old man that he had seen selling vegetables in the main village. The man was hurrying with his half-full cart of unsold produce.
"Would you like a hand with that, sir?" Tanjiro offered a hand. The old man gave Tanjiro a wary look before giving in to his friendly smile with a soft sigh.
"I would appreciate the help, young man. I was worried about getting home before dark, people have been disappearing from this village recently. Including my granddaughter." He added the last part quietly.
"I am sorry to hear about your granddaughter" Tanjiro responded as he began pulling the cart alongside the old man. "May I ask when she disappeared?"
"Three nights ago," the old man said, his voice tight with worry. "My name is Yamamori Matsu, by the way. And you are?"
"Kamado Tanjiro. I'm a... traveler passing through." It was easier than trying to explain the Demon Slayer Corps to civilians. "Can you tell me more about the disappearances?"
Yamamori's weathered hands gripped the cart tighter. "It started about two weeks ago. First it was a young farmer who went out to check his fields at dusk and never came back. Then a woman from the next village over who was visiting her sister. My Kaede was the third." His voice cracked slightly. "No bodies, no blood, nothing. It's like they vanished into thin air. The village headman thinks they ran off, but I know my granddaughter. She wouldn't leave without a word."
Tanjiro's jaw tightened. The pattern was unmistakable. A demon hunting under cover of darkness, careful to leave no obvious evidence. "Were all the disappearances at night?"
"Yes, always around sunset or shortly after. We've been warning everyone to stay indoors once the sun starts setting, but..." Yamamori gestured helplessly at his cart. "Life doesn't stop. People still need to work and feed their families."
As they walked, Tanjiro discreetly adjusted the box on his back, feeling Nezuko shift slightly inside. He kept his breathing steady, his senses alert for any trace of the demon. The village was small enough that a demon could easily terrorize it without drawing attention from the Corps until now.
As Tanjiro approached Yamamori's home, they took the cart around back to the storage shed. Suddenly, Tanjiro caught the scent of a demon. It was stale, probably a few days old, and coming from near the firewood shed. Setting down the cart handle, he moved closer to investigate.
"Is this where your granddaughter went missing?" he asked, concentrating on the scent.
"Yes, it is." Yamamori replied with surprise evident in his voice. "She went out to get some firewood a few nights ago and never returned. No one heard anything and there was no sign of a struggle. How did you know?"
Tanjiro didn't answer immediately, his brow furrowing as he circled the area. The demon's scent was concentrated in one spot near the woodpile, but there was no trail leading to or from it. It was as if the demon had simply appeared, taken Kaede, and vanished. He'd never encountered anything like it before.
"Just a feeling," Tanjiro finally said, not wanting to worry the old man further. "Yamamori-san, I appreciate your offer of hospitality. This area does seem dangerous at night. I'll gratefully accept."
"Thank you for helping with the cart. Let's unload before it gets any darker."
After finishing their work, Tanjiro ate dinner with the Yamamori family. The old man's wife, Mokuren, a kind woman with tired eyes, served him generous portions of rice and vegetables. Their son, Sugi, and daughter-in-law, Satsuki were notably quiet as they ate. Sugi who had protested his father bringing home a stranger during these dangerous times kept switching between watching Tanjiro suspiciously and glancing worriedly at his wife who sat lifelessly staring blankly at her untouched food. The conversation was subdued, and Tanjiro found himself sharing stories of his travels in an attempt to lift their spirits, carefully avoiding any mention of demons.
Matsu set down his chopsticks and leaned back slightly. "You've traveled quite far for someone so young, Tanjiro-kun. What brings you all the way out to our little village?"
Tanjiro hesitated for just a moment. "I go where I'm needed. I heard there might be trouble in this area."
Mokuren's hands stilled over her rice bowl. "Trouble," she repeated softly. "That's one way to put it."
"Kaede was the light of this house," Matsu said quietly. "Always running around, always asking questions about everything. She wanted to be involved in everything." His weathered face softened with the ghost of a smile. "She used to follow me to the market and help with the stall. She'd usually end up making a mess trying to help."
Across the table, Satsuki made a small sound, not quite a sob, but close. Sugi immediately set down his chopsticks and placed a gentle hand on her arm.
"That's enough talk of this for tonight," Sugi said, his earlier suspicion giving way to protective concern. He helped his wife to her feet, her movements slow and mechanical. "We'll retire early. Come on Satsuki."
"Of course," Mokuren said, her voice thick with understanding. "Go on, dear. I'll bring you some tea later."
Sugi gently guided his wife out of the room, shooting one last unreadable look at Tanjiro before sliding the door closed behind them.
Silence settled over the remaining three. Tanjiro's chest ached with a familiar grief, the kind that came from knowing exactly what it felt like to lose family without warning.
"Satsuki has barely slept since it happened," Mokuren explained softly, beginning to clear the dishes with trembling hands.
"She was our only grandchild," Matsu added. "Eleven years old. The same age as my youngest sister was when she..." He stopped himself, shaking his head. "Forgive me. Old memories."
Tanjiro bowed his head. "I'm deeply sorry for your loss. All of you."
Matsu studied him for a long moment, something shifting in his weathered face. "You're not just a traveler, are you, boy?"
Tanjiro met the old man's eyes but said nothing.
Matsu nodded slowly, as if Tanjiro's silence had confirmed something. "I thought as much. The way you were examining the woodpile earlier, the way you carry yourself." He paused, his voice dropping low. "I don't know what you are or what you can do. But if there's even a chance you can find out what happened to her..." He bowed his head, his shoulders trembling. "Please. We need to know. Not knowing is the worst part."
"I will," Tanjiro said, and the words carried the weight of a vow. "I promise you, Yamamori-san. I will find the truth."
Mokuren paused in her clearing, wiping her eyes with the corner of her sleeve. "You'll stay in the storage shed tonight. It's not much, but it's warm and dry. And please," she fixed him with a firm look that reminded him painfully of his own mother, "whatever you're planning to do, be careful. I won't have another young person lost under our roof."
Tanjiro bowed deeply to them both. "Thank you for your kindness. I won't forget it."
As Mokuren showed him to the shed and laid out the futon, Tanjiro's mind was already turning over what he knew. The demon's scent with no trail, the disappearances without any sign of struggle.
Once Mokuren had returned to the main house and the lights were extinguished, Tanjiro waited in the darkness. After he was sure the rest of the household was asleep, he slipped Nezuko's box back on and slipped outside, his hand on his sword. The moon was nearly full, casting silver light across the yard. He moved silently to the woodpile where he'd detected the demon's scent earlier. Nezuko was still sleeping often while recovering from their last mission, he was hoping to finish this mission without disturbing her.
Kneeling down, he pressed his palm against the ground and took a deep breath, trying to understand what had happened here. The scent was definitely a demon's, but the way it simply appeared and disappeared made no sense. Had the demon been hiding here? But there was no scent trail, no–
A faint shimmer in the air caught his eye.
Tanjiro's head snapped up. About ten feet away, near the tree line, something was distorting the moonlight. It looked almost like a heat shimmer, except the night was cool. He stood slowly, drawing his blade partway from its sheath.
"I can smell you," he called out firmly. "Show yourself!"
For a moment, nothing happened. Then a low, melodious laugh echoed from the darkness.
"My, my. What keen senses you have, demon slayer." The voice was playful, almost musical. "And here I thought I was being so careful."
A figure emerged from behind a tree, but not in any normal way. One moment the space was empty, the next, a person was simply there, as if they'd stepped through an invisible doorway. In the moonlight, Tanjiro could now see her clearly, a girl who looked about 14 in a flowing, tattered kimono and haori decorated with swirling patterns that seemed to move in the peripheral vision. Her purple eyes gleamed with amusement.
"You're the demon," Tanjiro stated, his blade now fully drawn. "What did you do with Kaede and the others?"
"The others?" The demon, Kagami, tilted her head with exaggerated curiosity. "Oh, you mean my meals? They were delicious, especially the girl from this house. I was pleasantly surprised to find a marechi in this sorry excuse of a village." She smiled, revealing sharp teeth. "Such a lovely flavor. And there's even another in this house just begging to be eaten"
Tanjiro's grip tightened on his sword, rage and sorrow warring in his chest. "I won't let you hurt anyone else."
"How noble!" Kagami clapped her hands together in mock delight. "But you see, demon slayer, I'm afraid you'll find me rather difficult to catch."
She raised her hand in a graceful gesture, and four ornate black-framed mirrors materialized in the air around her, floating at different heights and angles. Each was roughly four feet tall with an oval shape, and instead of showing reflections, their surfaces displayed only swirling darkness.
"Let me show you a magic trick," Kagami grinned, and then she stepped through a mirror and simply vanished.
Tanjiro spun around, trying to follow her scent, but the trail vanished where she disappeared into the mirror. A whisper of movement behind him, he twisted, bringing his blade up just in time to block a clawed hand that emerged from one of the mirrors. The hand withdrew, and Kagami's laugh echoed from a different direction as the mirror vanished and reappeared in another location.
"Water Breathing, First Form: Water Surface Slash!"
Tanjiro's blade cut through the air in a fluid arc, but Kagami had already disappeared into another mirror that appeared behind her. He caught a glimpse of her form dissolving into shadows, flowing between the floating surfaces like ink in water.
"You're going to have to be faster than that!" Her voice came from above now. Tanjiro looked up to see her upper body emerging from a mirror positioned horizontally above his head, her claws reaching down toward him.
He dove forward, rolling across the ground and coming up in a defensive stance. His mind raced. The mirrors. That's how she was moving without leaving a scent trail. She could teleport through them. That's how she'd taken the villagers without anyone seeing or hearing anything. She'd simply appeared, grabbed them, and vanished.
Kagami emerged fully from one of the mirrors, standing on a tree branch with inhuman balance and a manic grin on her face. Tanjiro growled, shifting into his stance. "Total Concentration, Water Breathing, Third Form: Flowing Dance!"
He launched himself forward, his blade creating flowing arcs of water as he struck at Kagami and the nearest mirror. His sword shattered the mirror with a crystalline sound, and it exploded into black mist.
Kagami's eyes widened slightly. "Oh! You can break my mirrors! How very interesting." She didn't sound worried, if anything, she sounded more excited. "This might actually be fun!"
Another mirror materialized to replace the one he'd destroyed, positioning itself to block his path. Kagami dove into it, and Tanjiro immediately turned, predicting her exit. But she didn't emerge from the mirror behind him as expected. Instead, just her arm came through a different mirror, claws aimed at his ribs.
He parried at the last second, sparks flying as claw met blade. Before he could counter, the arm withdrew and Kagami's leg came through yet another mirror, kicking him hard in the shoulder and sending him stumbling back.
Tanjiro gritted his teeth, blood trickling from a shallow cut on his arm. This demon's fighting style was unlike anything he'd faced before. He needed to destroy all the mirrors at once, or predict which one she'd use. But with the four of them floating and moving constantly, and Kagami able to emerge from any of them, it was like fighting an opponent who was everywhere and nowhere all at once.
He took a deep breath, centering himself. There had to be a pattern. Every demon had a weakness. He just needed to find it. Closing his eyes, he focused on the scents around him. Letting his breathing slow, he felt the air around him and picked up Kagami's scent disappear from his left and reappear above him an instant before she appeared from the mirror floating above him. Quickly, he adjusted his grip on his sword.
"Water Breathing, Fourth Form: Striking Tide" Tanjiro side-stepped as he slashed up, severing the hand reaching for him and flowed into the next strike, landing a long cut across Kagami's back. Screeching in pain, she tumbled gracelessly to the ground.
"You brat!" She seethed as she regained her feet. The wounds already beginning to regenerate. "That hurt" Dusting herself off, her scowl morphed into a grin and she waved her newly regrown hand. A mirror appeared directly behind her. "I know what will hurt you. Your type can't handle the thought of an innocent being hurt in front of you. And the mother will surely taste just as delectable as her daughter did". She let out a cackle at the horrified look on Tanjiro's face and stepped back into the mirror.
Gritting his teeth, Tanjiro launched himself after her. He grabbed her shoulder and together they fell through the mirror and crashed into the wall of Sugi and Satsuki's room. "I won't let you hurt this family anymore!" Tanjiro roared from on top of Kagami.
"What's going on?!" Tanjiro's concentration was momentarily broken by the now awake Sugi who knelt protectively in front of a trembling Satsuki. Taking advantage of the distraction, Kagami threw Tanjiro off and rushed at the couple. Before Sugi had a chance to do anything her hand was wrapped around his neck.
"You're in the way" she growled as he desperately grabbed at the hand cutting off his oxygen supply. Kagami threw him to the side, leaving him winded and gasping for air. Sugi could only watch desperately as she advanced, licking her lips, towards his wife.
"Total Concentration. Water Breathing, Seventh Form: Drop Ripple Thrust!" Tanjiro struck, using the force of the strike to propel them through the shoji sliding doors and back out into the yard. He needed to get her away from the Yamamori's and gain more space to utilize his breathing forms. As they hit the ground outside, Kagami rolled on her back, turning their momentum into a kick that launched Tanjiro into the side of the shed.
"Sugi! Satsuki!" Matsu burst out of the house, sickle in hand, prepared to defend his family. Mokuren following emerged behind him, her hand flew to her mouth and she ran to her son's side.
"I wasn't expecting an audience tonight but I guess it is nice to have some entertainment with a meal once in a while. Now, hand over the woman and no one else needs to get hurt" Kagami demanded with a predatory glare.
"What do you want with her?" Matsu brandished his sickle and placed himself between the demon and his family.
"Eat her of course. There's no way I could pass up marechi blood after how delicious her brat was." At her words, Matsu let out a sob of anger and swung his sickle at Kagami. With barely a glance in his direction she swatted the tool out of his hands and threw him to the ground. Continuing her advance, she stepped back into the house to where Sugi was shielding his wife and mother. "If you tell me where her family is, I will leave the rest of this village unharmed." She casually propositioned Sugi. "If both mother and daughter are marechi then there may be more in her bloodline".
"You monster" Sugi glared at her defiantly as tears streamed down his face. Kagami summoned a mirror leading back to the forest to spirit away her prey and reached for Sugi to toss the persistent man to the side once again.
"Hinokami Kagura: Enbu!" Kagami's vision was blinded by the fiery effects of Tanjiro's strike as he brought his sword down in a powerful slash, severing her arms before she could touch Sugi. In the confines of the house, the tip of his sword dipped into the mirror and clipped the frame as he completed his strike. "I said, I won't let you hurt this family anymore!" He cried and tackled her through the mirror. The two landed heavily on the forest floor.
Tanjiro wrestled with Kagami as he attempted to gain a position to land a finishing blow before she could go back through the mirror to the house. "You annoying slayer, stay out of my-" Kagami's words were cut off as she gasped in shock, looking at something over Tanjiro's shoulder. Turning his head, he caught a glimpse of the mirror they had just passed through. It was falling forward towards them, its surface no longer showing inky darkness. Instead, flames swirled within the glass, the same patterns of his Hinokami Kagura. Tanjiro instinctively threw up an arm to shield himself from the falling mirror, but it had no effect. The mirror swallowed him, Kagami, and the box with Nezuko whole, as it crashed to the ground face-down on the forest floor. Only the plain black frame was visible now against the pine needles, looking like nothing more than a discarded piece of wood.