Chapter Text
Nezuko wanted to go to town herself, to give her big brother a rest for once and just enjoy being with his family. She’d seen his sad smile when he’d come home late these winter nights from selling charcoal to see his siblings already asleep. His job separated him from spending time with them. To ease his stressed mind and tired body, she could do this so he didn’t feel alone in this responsibility.
She’d never say it so bluntly however, she needed to convey the message that just because father died and you’re the eldest child, doesn’t mean you have to work yourself into the ground trying to replace him.
And that extra food for new year’s is wonderful but the family valued having him around and his wellbeing more.
If she started offering to do the extra jobs he assigned himself, he might rethink how important they are, or even better, let her share his responsibilities.
Tanjiro could be stubborn in his kindness but listened to others. So, while he would not ask for help, if she insisted, he would accept it.
Mother raised a family of kind children so he needs to be reminded to accept kindness as much as he gives it.
She’d be taking that charcoal basket, even if she had to pry it from his stubborn hands herself.
It was a little past sunset, the days short this far into winter, as Nezuko traipsed out of town with an empty basket, sooty clothes, and a feeling of accomplishment. She’d sold all the charcoal, chatted with the townsfolk she hadn’t seen for a while, completed a few odd jobs, and picked up a few items for her family. As the remaining light faded, Saburo came out of his house to meet her as she passed by. He wouldn’t allow her to go up the mountain at this hour.
Even in the fading light, she thought she could make it up the mountain before it got too cold and dark.
Saburo was hearing none of it.
His stubbornness was borne from concern, the man was protective of the Kamado family after losing his own. With a sigh, she followed him inside, the warmth of his house instantly making the prospect of her trek home after the long day less enticing. She'd hurry back in the morning.
She took note to have her family visit him during the new year’s period to show their appreciation. After they shared dinner and got ready to sleep, he told her tales of man-eating demons who lurked in the dark and the legendary slayers who fought them.
It sounded like a good story until she realized he was dead serious in his account.
“If these demons do prowl the land,” she asked, “Wouldn’t everyone constantly live in fear?”
“Many never know of or encounter them and live in blissful obliviousness. Good for peace of mind but not safety. Others let their fear overwhelm them until it takes over their life. The best balance is to be cautious and rationalise your fear, do what you can and find security in that.”
Nezuko couldn’t say that made her feel better. She thought about what he said as she laid out the futon given to her under the warm glow of his hanging light. If both inside and outside were equally unsafe, did people feel safer in groups in the hope the demons wouldn’t come for them? Like a flock of birds hoping others will be the unlucky prey if a predator strikes? I wonder if even the Demon Slayers feel safe. Dismissing these thoughts, she settled in for the night, listening to the sounds of the forest as Saburo extinguished the light.
Roused by faint rustling, Kie sat up on her futon to see her eldest idly stoking the brazier with the fire chopsticks while glancing occasionally at the front door. He hadn’t changed into his night clothes yet. She let out a sigh.
“Tanjiro, it’s getting late, Nezuko likely decided to stay with Saburo overnight. She has a level head; she wouldn’t risk the hike up here in the dark with all this snow.”
“I know, Nezuko is smart and strong and I shouldn’t worry but I know she only decided to go out today because of me.”
She shuffled closer to him and wrapped him in a hug.
“Is that a bad thing? She’s your sister – and the second eldest – she wants to help you out. You have been overworking yourself lately, let everyone else help too. If you’re still worried in the morning, you can go down the mountain yourself to meet her as she comes up.”
“Okay, okay I-“ he stiffened in her hold, sniffing intently and turning away from her. “There’s something out there, a little way from here, and I’ve never smelt anything like it. It’s bad, really bad.” Although far away, the overbearing stench of gunpowder mixed with poison berries, the metallic tang of blood tainted with rot, and many other scents conveying the feeling of danger and wrongness. The only reason he knew this smell came from a living thing was the boiling yet glacial anger which rolled off it in waves. “Wake everyone, just in case. I’m getting the axe.” Kie’s expression hardened as she quietly gathered her children to the back of the main room.
The odour only got stronger.
Tanjiro returned to the room, axe in hand, and carefully made his way over to hide beside the door.
The crunching of snow underfoot became louder as whatever it was approached their house. Until the footsteps stopped. The rushing of his heartbeat in his ears pounded with a staccato pace. The world came to a standstill sans the wind whistling through the trees.
It was right there.
By now the whole family could feel a menacing presence outside their door. With a jolt, one of the outside wooden doors was broken loose, falling into the snow with a thud. A faint humanoid outline was visible through the shoji doors. Kie signalled for her children to be quiet as the younger ones trembled in fear.
“Aren’t you going to invite me in?” They all froze in place and the silence pressed in on them. Though the sentence was spoken in a polite tone, the air thrummed with a threatening ambience. “Unfortunately for you, I don’t need an invitation.” The children screamed as the thing ripped the shoji door out of its frame and hurled it into the night.
It wore an expensive foreign suit and hat, though a passing glance at its face revealed this thing wasn’t human. Glowing red slitted eyes honed in on the mother shielding her children behind her.
Placing his whole body behind the swing, the thing set a single foot across the threshold before Tanjiro’s axe cut shallowly into its neck. A small line of blood was the only sign his blow had ever connected as he stepped back to prepare another strike. He gasped in shock as the axe head shattered, leaving him brandishing the handle in defence.
The creature took another step inside.
“You do look a lot like him… Distant relative perhaps? I had thought I’d eradicated his bloodline centuries ago.”
With speed beyond his perception, it punched him in the gut, hearing and feeling his ribs come loose and coughing up blood. He was then thrown to the side hard enough that his leg broke on impact, the resounding crack met with his family screaming his name. His vision blurred and darkened; he couldn’t sit up let alone help them anymore.
From his place on the floor, he heard more screaming and his mother telling all of them to run. She ran at the thing, and with a cry, pierced each of its eyes with the fire chopsticks. She must have hidden them in her skirts he thought vaguely. For a brief moment, he thought they had a chance at escaping, the thing blinded, his mother and siblings fleeing towards the back.
The futility of their situation returned full force as it picked the chopsticks from its eyes distastefully, tendrils of darkness appearing around its silhouette.
“This is getting tedious.”
In a blink, all those running were cut to pieces by the whipping coils, the finality of the stillness blurring the last vestiges of his sight with tears.
Not one of them had made it to the door.
“Up,” it commanded, pulling Tanjiro up by his hair into a sitting position, “I know you’re not dead, yet.”
Tanjiro’s awareness came back to him in an all-encompassing burst of pain. He glared at the thing sitting opposite him, his breathing hitching painfully with his displaced ribs.
Time stood still in the aftermath of his life. His family, those he did everything he did for, were gone. From what he could gather from his injuries, he’d be gone soon too. All that remained was the cheery fire and the devil eyeing him with detached interest.
Tanjiro couldn’t help but look over to where his family lay, and was blanketed in guilt and suffering. I’m sorry father, I couldn’t save them, I’ve failed everyone. Following his gaze, the being looked on with indifference.
“I gave each of them a chance to live you know,” it said conversationally. “If any of them were truly remarkable, they would have survived. So, nothing of value was lost - except my time and blood - both precious commodities wasted on them. I did them a favour really, returning them to the nothingness from which they came.” The fire gave a light crackle.
“While I never watch what I say, there’s something truly freeing about talking to a dying man. You can honestly say anything. Some rush to say everything they can to the soon deceased, but why waste the time as it won’t matter anyway.” Some snow slid off the roof, landing with a gentle thump.
Then why is it still talking to me?
“Like that man, you’re dying having neither saved your family or achieved anything with your trivial existence. His legacy meant nothing but a few generations of filthy, simple, mountainfolk.”
Tanjiro remained where he sat, scowling.
“You don’t seem scared of me? No begging, bargaining, attempting to fight or escape?”
“There’s nothing more for me to fear losing and it’s clear you possess no shred of morality.” His mind went to Nezuko; though he originally worried about her trip through the snow alone, he was beyond relieved that one of his loved ones would be spared. Every part of himself he could still feel hurt immensely, but the thought of her survival gave him solace in his final moments. Let’s see if I can get this thing to stop toying with me and just end this. The sooner it leaves, the safer she’ll be.
“I smelt fear on you when you first saw me,” Tanjiro said, staring calmly into its sinister gaze, “I think ‘that man’s legacy’ lives on in you, regardless of who you kill.”
Instantly the monster was before him, blood vessels pulsing angrily as it dug a clawed hand into his face with a death grip. Blood poured down his cheeks. Tanjiro’s expression remained unchanged. That seemed to do the trick.
Those glowing red eyes bored into his soul.
“You said there’s nothing left for you to fear losing. You’re wrong. I can take your prized humanity too.”
Tanjiro’s eyes widened at that as the wounds on his face began to burn.
“A demon wearing a similar face and those accursed earrings is a fine way to desecrate the last traces of his pathetic life. You’ll likely have the highest chance of being useful to me. I’ll even leave your family here for you to devour once you turn; I do have a shred of kindness after all.”
With that, the man stood up and walked to the entrance.
“Enjoy your meal.”
He tipped his hat, slid the remaining door shut and disappeared into the night.
Breathing caused excruciating pain. Not the stabbing of the mosaic of ribs and innards destroyed in his chest, now the agony scorched through him. It blazed through his muscles, his limbs twitching, eyes rolling. It charred his bones. He could feel them snapping and, in his delirium, he wasn’t sure if they were snapping together or apart.
He was becoming like the thing that killed his family, a demon.
Nezuko would be in danger, from him. Though he didn’t want to die, he had come to accept that inevitability. Hurting or killing Nezuko was however unacceptable. He didn’t know how to kill that monster, and therefore himself now, so he became determined to hinder himself from attacking her when she came back. And any other humans he would come across.
He’d said he had nothing left to lose but if he lost himself, he could lose Nezuko too.
Get up. Get up! My life is forfeit but I’ll walk through hell if it means I can save her!
He unsteadily got to his feet, more disturbed than relieved to find his leg now healed. He hobbled out the front door, the other’s scent long gone.
With his newly-formed talons for fingernails, He scratched a message into the remaining wooden door.
Nezuko run
Do not enter and leave immediately
I love you
He involuntarily scratched deep gouges down the wood as he was wracked by a debilitating wave of pain. Closing the door, He stumbled towards the charcoal oven, hoping the smell would mask that of his family, the overbearing smell of their blood gradually becoming intoxicating instead of nauseating. His strength returning as his awareness faded scared him- he didn't have much time. Grabbing an unburnt wood offcut, he forced it between his sharpening teeth and bit down to embed them for good measure. He tied his scarf around his face to block out as much of the world as he could.
The burning inside him had stopped, leaving a chasm yearning to be filled. Collapsing to the floor, he dug his claws along the ground, curling in on himself wishing demons didn’t exist, including himself.