Our Bond Can't be Severed by Anyone!

1 - Blood

Nezuko shifted the empty basket on her back, making a mental note that she'd have to re-weave the straps, they were getting worn and uncomfortable. Her legs ached a bit and her shoulders were rubbed raw from the trip down the mountain just yesterday.

It wasn't that she wasn't used to work, it was just usually Tanjiro's job to ferry the charcoal from the house to town. Nezuko's mind wandered as she thought of her older brother - he was sure to be upset that she had made the journey, but he needed to rest. He had twisted his ankle after taking a terrible slide down a steep portion of the mountain trying to help Rokuta who had lost something, Nezuko tried to recall if it was a toy or perhaps a tool.

Tanjiro was always trying to do everything, it was honestly infuriating. Nezuko giggled as she remembered Tanjiro's face when Mother had ordered that he stay home; he had been distraught.

'I can make it!' he had announced.

'You won't on my watch,' Mother had refuted.

'Then let me do the laundry!' Tanjiro offered, 'The dishes! I can make dinner!'

'You can stay in bed until that ankle doesn't look like Takeo's head,' Mother had retorted. His ankle had been quite swollen.

'It's not that bad!'

'It's as bad as I say it is, Now Back In Bed!!'

'Yes ma'am.'

Nezuko giggled again and picked up her pace. She had made plenty of money down in town. Enough to buy ingredients for rice crackers! Mother could make them for new years just as she and Father used to. Hanako would be so excited, she loved to watched the crackers bake.

Nezuko strode up the path, breathing in the icy wind and thinking on her home which was only a few more minutes away. She couldn't wait to curl up in a blanket with her siblings and get warm again.

There was a crack of a twig.

Nezuko looked around, for a moment. Her mind flashed to Mother's warnings of bears or thieves. After a few moments of silence, Nezuko dismissed it as a bird. Bears would all be hibernating and if there was a thief, Nezuko would give him a taste of her iron-strong kick. 

She took a few more steps forward and was then tackled by something very fast and very strong. She tumbled down the embankment, along with whatever had tackled her. When she stopped tumbling she tried to scream but a strong hand clamped over her mouth. The hand had enormous nails, like claws, and Nezuko's mind raced in fear. She was now covered in cuts and bruises from the tumble and the cold had seeped into her bones.

"Shhhhhh!" someone hissed frantically. Nezuko knew that voice.

The claw over her mouth slowly released her and Nezuko scrambled away, looking to her attacker.

"Nii-chan?" Nezuko gasped.

It was Tanjiro... but it wasn't. His eyes looked like a cat's with slit pupils down their centers and they were a lighter red. His checkered haori was torn and covered in blood. He looked terrified.

"What - " she began, "Your ankle - " his ankle was fine, obviously, he had just tackled her at the speed of light! Where had he even come from!?

His clawed hand covered her mouth again and he frantically shook his head no. He retracted his hand again after seeing his claws and looked around like he was scanning for a monster to jump out at him.

He looked so terrified that fear struck Nezuko too. Tanjiro was never scared, something was very wrong but Nezuko couldn't understand any of it.

She looked at him, and put a hand on his cheek, studying his face for any wounds. "What happened?"