Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

As soon as the crow came and screeched shrilly into the night to Giyuu, he took off into the snowy eve, gliding across the white plains. Knowing that every second mattered when it came to demons, Giyuu pushed as hard as he could to get there in time, not stopping to catch his breath. Soon into the depths of dark, he arrived in a serene forest, dusted with white and eerily silent. Rushing through the trees Giyuu searched for any disturbances as he headed towards the small town near where the demon sighting was reported. Giyuu was still sprinting when suddenly he caught the slightest hint of sound to his left. Turning sharply, Giyuu deftly moved towards the sound, not wanting to notify whatever made it that he was coming. As he came closer, he caught the slightest whiff of blood, and soon after a simple house came into view.

A sinister energy seemed to exude the house and the smell of copper cut through the fresh air, making it thick and humid. As Giyuu reached the back of the house slowed, already knowing with a sinking feeling that the humans were dead inside and deciding to try and sneak up on the demon that was hopefully still there. He crept along the side of the house, and soon saw the blood. No matter how many scenes he saw of this destruction, it always left a sour taste in his mouth and seeing the young child in the girl's arms just reminded him of his sister and the blood that was left behind. The only thing that was left behind.

Taking a breath and readying his sword, Giyuu inspected the rest of the scene, seeing that they all appeared dead—however he would check that after he confirmed the demon was elsewhere and could not be found— and seeing the demon no longer in the house. Seeing it nowhere, and the scene being unusually left without a trail caused by a simple-minded ravenous demon, Giyuu reached to check all the bodies to make sure that everyone was dead and no one had become a demon (or if that they were alive. But that did not really happen with demon attacks like these). No sooner had he extended his arm did he feel the crushing pressure of something in the air.

Bony, thin fingers gently scratched the back of the Giyuu’s neck, not breaking skin but sending tingling sensations screaming down his body. Drawing his sword and slashing it hastily towards the thing, the chlorine blue nichirin blade hit nothing but air.

A pale well dressed man stared back at Giyuu with one arm raised up, hand raking through his black hair with elongated sharp nails.

“Ah, one of Ubuyashiki’s little scum” he croons, breaking whatever atmosphere there was. “Oh, which unfortunate rank are you? Kanoe? Tsuchinoe? A Hashira perhaps?”

“Water breathing… Eleventh Form… Dead Calm” Giyuu mumbled standing still in front of the man as he talked. Then, as if a gentle sea turned violent, struck with devastating strength onto the demon. Looking back to demon however, he found nothing. The demon that he was sure to have struck was not there. The only trace left being an indent in the snow.

“Hmm. That was quite a technique you had there. I didn’t know that water breathing had an eleventh form.” The man upturned his lips a little, fangs peeking out of his lips. “It's a shame Ubuyashiki got to you first. You would have made a strong demon. Well…” As he said this a new gleam appeared in his eye.

“It’s not like I can’t turn you into a demon now.”

“Water breathing Ninth Form! Slashing Water Flow Turbulent!” Giyuu ran towards the demon water left behind each foot step. He swung down on the demon blade this time colliding with the pale creature.

Unlike what Giyuu wanted however, the man just grinned towards him reaching out his hand to align with the path of the cerulean slayer’s sword. As the palm and blade made contact, the water engulfed metal slammed to a halt against the skin and the hand formed a fist around the sword. It shut and shattered the nichirin blade into thousands of pieces leaving only a small jagged part left.

Rolling and hitting the ground swiftly, Giyuu hastened to stand up only to be met with fingers holding his throat, digging into his flesh. Blood was slick on him, the bloodied palm rubbing against his neck, shards digging into his flesh making tiny incisions into it, and nails breaking the skin sending blood trickling down his neck. He attempted to use another water breathing form to hopefully force the demon to drop him but as soon as he started to form the words “Water breathing” the hand constricted, strangling him, lifting him off the ground.

“Not all can make me bleed but considering you could, you must be high ranking. Oh how Ubuyashiki would react to one of his own being forced to become a demon and kill. Now that would be entertaining.

I am Kibutsuji Muzan, the king of demons and I graciously bless you with my blood, my new demon.”

And with that, everything went black for Giyuu.

Chapter Text

Bl ur. Everything was bl ur ry . Blu rry sight, b lu rry sou nd, blur ry thoughts. He doe sn’t li ke b lu rry. W h o w as h e? He couldn’t quite place himself. As he thought that, his senses came into glaring focus, something that felt familiar but overwhelming. The sound of the wind brushing through his ears, the sticky crust of… b lo od? Peeling off of him as he sat up. Opening his eyes he was met with a barrage of stark white splattered with dark, b e a u tif ul, red, d e licio u s bl oo d .  

Giyuu was bashed with the heavy hammer of the smell of copper perimating his smell, making him think blood, blood, blood, hunger, hunger, starved, famished, food.

Wait. 

… F o o d ?

A strand of saliva dripped down his chin as Giyuu realized he had moved over one of the corpses and started to lean over it. He quickly recoiled harshly, leaping out of the house he had no memory of entering. There were corpses everywhere. Corpses of children and an adult. Of healthy humans. Of nutritious humans, of fresh humans, of good humans. 

Good humans who had lives. Who are dead. Because of—of… a demon. Man eating demons. Wait… 

W as he a d e mo n ?

No –no–no–no— no —n o —-- n o-n o – no– no– no— n o — n o–n o –n o —n o - n o—no- N o — n O – n o—-- N0! No n0 n o n o n o no nOnon on o no no noN ono — no.  

H e c o u l dn ’t b e. Dem on b ad . De m on bad. Ri ght?

No wa i t.  

Gi yu u bad ?

Yes. Giyuu bad— Giyuu? 

Who is Giyuu? 

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Tanjiro was making his way back up the mountain, rushing over many hurdles and through thick snow, eager to get back to his family and see them again. He sold all the coal and did not want to keep them waiting any longer. Especially because they were expecting him to be home already. 

The morning air was fresh and bitter and his breaths were visible in the air. He was making good pace, and did not have much farther to go–a couple of minutes until he reached the house– when a smell shot through his mind, causing him to stumble. 

There was the unmistakable stench of blood. 

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H m m?

Holdi ng… s o met hing . S om e… O ne ? 

Mmmm. Nice. Cold. Not nice. Hmmm. 

There was a rustling sound nearby her. Hmm. Time to wake up? A strangled cry was let out somewhere beside her. Hmmmm… that is not good. One of her siblings? Siblings? Oh. They are crying. Nezuko must wake up to soothe them. Okay. 

Nezu k o began to open her eyes, and started to sit up. Nezuko felt a limp body slip out of her grasp and hit the snow with a soft ThuMp. H m m?  

Focusing, she felt the grogginess slowly start to fade off of her, as she began to smell iron. Too much iron. Where would iron come from? In her grasp she felt a soft fabric in her fingers. Her vision came to focus onto a small child. Hmmm. Bloody child? Good child. Good child. 

She found herself leaning closer to the body, getting closer. And closer. And closer. To… R o k u t a ?

Hmm. Bad ground. It’s cold. Rokuta shouldn’t be there. Nezuko gently picked up Rokuta not noticing anything else other than brother, sibling, child, cold, brother. He was lighter than Nezuko remembered. Hmmm. He should eat more. Eat? Hmmm. She is hungry too. Brother… Sibling… Child… Cold. Body? She was hungry. She could just lean down and bite. Dig into the delicious flesh of the corpse. Wait… the corpse is Rokuta. Rokuta… is dead. 

No. He can’t be. He shouldn’t be. He’s Nezuko’s littlest sibling. He isn’t dead. He isn’t… he’s dead. Dead in Nezuko’s arms.