"What should we do, Onii-chan?"
Nezuko asked Tanjiro as they sat together on the side of the house on the engawa — a balcony-like area built into a Japanese traditional house. There they looked out at the snow-covered scenery before them.
Snow had started to fall soon after Nezuko finished burying their family members. She saw that it was now piling up on their graves.
Nezuko narrowed her eyes sadly from the sight, fighting back tears.
She had firmly decided not to cry earlier. She was about to break that promise to her family just after a few minutes after her determination.
"Uuu...?"
Tanjiro moaned next to Nezuko.
He had turned his body and was looking into Nezuko's face with his brows lowered.
For some reason, Tanjiro's body had shrunk to the size of a young boy — around the size of Shigeru. The clothes he wore were too big for him and were baggy. Because Nezuko didn't know if his shrunken body size was permanent or otherwise, she let him wear his usual clothes in case he returned to his normal size again.
Nezuko smiled softly to Tanjiro. "Let's cook some food first. We can think of what to do afterwards." She said, running her fingers lightly over Tanjiro's hair.
If Onii-chan really turned into a demon, we can't possibly lead a normal life. Nezuko thought. Besides, I alone can't continue burning charcoal for a living. We have to abandon this house... How will I make a living... would I have to sell myself...?
"Food, huh...." Nezuko looked back at the snow-ridden scenery, narrowing her eyes. "It's not like I have any appetite, though...."
"....?" Nezuko turned; Tanjiro had shifted his small body closer to her, and had hugged her. He buried his face into Nezuko's chest and moaned.
"Uuu!"
"Are you... cheering me on?"
"Uu!!"
Tanjiro seemed to nod in affirmation. Nezuko's face slowly turned into a smile -- a warm feeling entered her heart.
What matters? I have Onii-chan with me... whatever awaits me, I'll get over it.
"Thanks, Onii-chan...."
—————————————fwish.
In the corner of her vision, Nezuko saw a shadow enter the white scenery, jumping out from the trees. Silently, the figure closed the distance towards their house in an instant.
A metallic object that the figure carried reflected the light off of the snow.
--A sword.
"——Onii-chan!!!"
Nezuko realised in the split second that the sword was aimed towards her older brother. She grabbed his small body and pushed him to the floor, she herself crouching over him from above.
Her long hair floated through the air———
The sword was swung horizontally where Tanjiro's head was initially, in which space Nezuko's floating hair was now. The attack cleanly went through her black hair and slashed it cleanly off.
Nezuko did not feel a single sensation as a large chunk of her hair flew through the air and fell all around her. That was how clean the slash had been.
The figure who swung the sword lightly jumped over them and landed inside the house, killing their momentum with a single step.
Nezuko, who dropped to the floor with Tanjiro, lifted her head. She spotted the figure standing on the tatami flooring.
"....!?"
A man.
With unruly long black hair tied into a ponytail behind his head, he was a young man who seemed to be below twenty in age. He wore a strange haori that was split in half at the middle into two separate patterns; the right was a solid pink-red colour, while the left had a pattern with rectangles of yellow, green and orange geometrically packed together.
As he turned, he revealed his face — dark blue eyes narrowed to an expressionless glare stared down at Nezuko and Tanjiro.
He held a katana that had a deep navy tint to it.
Who... is this person....?
The man turned fully to face them on the floor.
"Why do you protect that demon?" He asked in a low, toneless voice.
Nezuko called back at the man. "Y-you, why are you entering someone else's house without permission...?"
The man widened his eyes slightly -- he opened his mouth surprisedly.
In the next instant, he disappeared.
"....excuse my rudeness..." The man called to Nezuko from behind. He had reappeared outside, standing in the snow.
--He... he moved outside...
The man, as if nothing had happened, retained his expressionless face.
"....Why do you protect that demon."
--He said it again..... what is up with this person....
Nezuko pursed her lips and gulped nervously.
She hugged Tanjiro, who was staring at Nezuko's face with an open mouth.
"He.... he's my older brother..."
She thought she saw the man's expression twitch a small bit.
- - - - -
"He... he's my older brother...."
"......"
The man — Tomioka Giyu — narrowed his eyes painfully.
The demon in the young girl's arms was staring up at her face. Then it slowly extended its arm -- he saw that its nails were elongated into claws.
It looked like the demon was about to touch the girl's cheek, in a friendly way as if to comfort her.
——If only it wasn't a demon.
Giyu drew his blade and slashed.
"Gyaaah!!??"
Having lost its hand from the wrist up, the demon screamed in pain and pulled its arm back from the girl.
"Onii-chan!?" The girl called, seeming confused at what had happened. To her, it had looked like the demon's hand had disappeared instantaneously.
——Nezuko couldn't even see Giyu move; the second she realised, she saw Giyu hold his drawn blade in one hand, Tanjiro's severed hand on the other.
Giyu, holding the demon's hand, faced the girl.
"That is not your older brother. That is a man-eating demon."
The girl hugged the demon and turned, as if shielding him away from Giyu. She glared at him with anger in her eyes.
"My brother haven't eaten anyone!! He's harmless!!"
Giyu didn't answer, and stared expressionlessly at the demon, who was moaning in pain inside the girl's arms.
"You'll hurt anyone just because they're a demon!?" The girl continued desperately. "To me, you are far more demonic!!"
"...You believe so because he is your family member." Giyu said coldly. "You think it's harmless because it has not attacked you yet."
He showed the hand he held to the girl. "Look down."
The girl looked down at the demon's severed arm, and made a shocked expression. The demon's wound was slowly shifting, and skin was forming up to form a brand new hand.
"It's wounds are already healing. It is no longer human, but a monster."
"Man-eating demons must devour humans to survive. You will soon be devoured." Giyu continued. "Before that happens, it must be killed."
The girl gritted her teeth and glared back at Giyu. "My brother won't eat anyone! I won't let him!! And... I won't let you hurt him!!"
Giyu sighed softly.
How cruel... my actions must seem to her....
".....Is that so."
- - - - -
".....Is that so."
The moment the man said, Nezuko no longer felt Tanjiro's weight on her.
She widened her eyes and looked down; Tanjiro had disappeared from her arms.
"What...."
"Graarrhh!"
Nezuko, hearing Tanjiro's growl, turned towards it. She saw the man holding Tanjiro in one arm, pressing the sword near the neck of her brother.
"Onii-chan!!"
"You told me that you won't let me hurt him."
As the man said, he pressed his sword into Tanjiro's neck; blood sprayed out, and Tanjiro winced in pain.
"Grr!?"
Blood rose to Nezuko's head. Anger flared up inside her.
"Don't....."
She kicked herself out of the house, stepping into the snow.
"...you..."
Taking another step, she scooped low and picked up a pebble from underneath the snow.
"....dare...."
She threw the pebble at the man's face, who blocked it with his hand holding the sword. It hit against the sword's grip and was deflected easily.
"...hurt him!!"
Nezuko rushed past the man. Still expressionless, he turned around to look at what Nezuko would do. Because he had raised his hand to block the pebble, the sword was away from Tanjiro's neck.
Nezuko quickly gathered snow in her hands and threw a snowball towards the man's face. The man easily blocked it, but because it was soft and unstable, broke apart. Snow splattered on his face.
"....!!"
Perhaps he didn't expect Nezuko to fight with a snowball; he winced from the cold sensation of snow.
Nezuko stepped in deep towards the man —— and kicked up.
Using the sense of balance she had built dancing the family kagura dance, she used all her might to kick the man's face.
"——!!??"
The man had easily blocked her kick with his forearm holding the sword.
"An attack like this...." The man started to say, but Nezuko shouted over him.
"Onii-chan, now!!"
"Grr!!"
The man, since he used one arm to block Nezuko's attack, held Tanjiro with only one of his arms. Thus Tanjiro could use his strength to break away from the man's grip, dashing away from him.
Nezuko quickly intersected between Tanjiro and the man, hugging her older brother to shield him.
- - - - -
As the girl intersected between Giyu and the demon to shield it, he was internally shocked.
The demon... just cooperated with the girl, a human...
As he watched, the girl hugged the demon as if to protect it from Giyu.
He stood motionless, and the girl panted heavily while hugging the demon.
Silence followed for a few seconds.
Suddenly, the demon moved. Giyu readied his sword——
——and stopped.
The demon broke away from the girl's arms, and was standing between her and Giyu. It extended its arms while facing Giyu, with its fangs bared wide. Its eyes were burning with hostility towards the man.
Giyu lowered his sword, feeling his eyes widen even more.
The demon is protecting a human....
Giyu once again scanned the demon.
To think about it... it does not appear to be in a state of starvation. He thought. I thought her saying the demon had not eaten anybody was a lie, but....
He glanced at the demon's severed arm, which was halfway healed.
It has been injured by me... and yet, it does not show a slight bit of hostility towards the girl.
A familial bond....? Impossible, a demonified entity would devour anybody regardless of who they are.
Yet, here in front of me.....
"You....."
As soon as Giyu spoke up, the girl's shoulders jumped. Slowly, she looked back towards him.
"Even if I let you two go..." Giyu said, lowering his sword further. "...What would you do? How will you take care of your demon brother?"
The girl seemed to ponder on his words.
——It was as Giyu said; it was impossible for Nezuko to keep on living in their house with just her and a demonified brother. She had to descend the mountain either way.
The girl looked down at the demon, who noticed her gaze and looked back at her.
As they met each others' gazes, the girl grasped her fists together in determination.
"....I...."
She looked back at Giyu.
"I... will turn Onii-chan back into a human."
Giyu looked on.
"I have a clue on how to do that." The girl continued, gripping her fists harder.
"The man who came to our house last night.... that man dressed in black. He was the one who turned my brother into a demon and killed my family. He should know how to turn a demonified person back to a human."
A shock travelled through Giyu. So much that he lost his sense of balance for a second and took a step back. He felt a bead of sweat roll down his forehead.
A man... who turns others into demons.
There was only one man in the whole world who could commit such an act.
——Kibutsuji Muzan. The first entity; father of all demons.
Giyu had known that Muzan must've visited this family house last night — otherwise the boy wouldn't have been turned into a demon.
He also knew that Muzan would be nowhere to be seen if he did indeed appear here last night —— Giyu searching the area in search of the demon would be completely useless.
That was how it was for hundreds of years —— Muzan was never found near locations he made a new demon. The quickness of his escape was the reason why the Demon Slayers could never locate the man.
And yet.....
This girl... survived an attack by Kibutsuji...!!??
Giyu had originally thought that the girl must've returned home earlier today to find her brother demonified and her family massacred. He thought that she was lying when she said her brother had not eaten anybody yet.
But....
"You... you saw that man...?"
The girl nodded. "...I remember his face, his hairstyle and his build. A tall man with black hair and dark-red eyes."
She gritted her teeth together.
"I'll... never forgive him for what he did. I'll find him... and make him tell me how to turn Onii-chan back into a human....."
The girl was now trembling. Her demonified brother laid a hand on her in a worried way. Noticing this, the girl smiled weakly back.
Giyu watched their interaction — between a human and a demon.
Perhaps... something about these brother and sister are special.
—A girl who has seen Kibutusji, much less survived his attack.
—A boy who has not eaten his sister despite becoming a demon.
Perhaps... something about them could change the future of the Demon Slayer Corps.
The girl was now looking at Giyu, a worried expression on her face, waiting for him to speak up. Slowly, Giyu opened his mouth.
"Turning your brother back into a human... that will be an impossible task for you." Giyu said.
The girl pursed her lips together frustratedly in response.
"....something like that... is impossible for the weak. The weak can never achieve what they want."
"So...."
The girl widened her eyes, meeting Giyu's gaze.
"...take up a sword. Become stronger."
"If you want to chase the man who killed your family... you must become stronger."
"If you stay weak, you cannot achieve anything."
Giyu reached into his haori and threw an object at the girl, who barely caught it.
"This is...." The girl looked at the object confusedly.
It was a bamboo mouthpiece with two red strings tied to the end. Giyu carried it to restrain a demon when it was necessary.
"Give it to your brother... though it might not help much." Giyu told the girl.
"...Visit an old man living on Mount Sagiri. His name is Urokodaki Sakonji. ——tell him that Tomioka Giyu sent you."
The girl's eyes widened — then, Giyu saw a fire of determination light itself in her eyes.
They... will be alright.
Giyu turned around.
"Don't let your brother go under sunlight. It is clouded now, but make sure to stay inside during the day."
The girl nodded, hugging her brother.
Having said all he needed to say, Giyu kicked off the ground.
Again, to their eyes, it looked like he had disappeared.
* * *
* * *
"...I'll borrow this, Takeo."
Nezuko said as she wrapped the black-and-green scarf, something Takeo always wore, around her neck.
Her hair had been cut short by the man's slash — it was a good opportunity. A girl travelling alone would be dangerous, so she would dress up as a man during her travels.
Though she was a bit short for a man, wearing male clothes should make her feminine features stand out less. Luckily -- or unluckily, for her pride as a woman -- her petite build didn't reveal much.
She dressed into the clothes Tanjiro and Takeo wore, packing the rest into a bag. She checked the drawers to take everything she might need on the road.
Shouldering the bag, she closed all the windows and locked them. Once outside, she closed the door quietly behind her as well.
"Onii-chan..."
As Nezuko looked around, she quickly found him in front of their family's graves. He was now wearing the bamboo mouthpiece that the man — no, Tomioka Giyu — had given them.
Tears were still falling from his eyes.
Nezuko walked up next to Tanjiro. She knelt in front of the five moulds on the ground.
Mother. Takeo. Hanako. Shigeru. Rokuta. And... Father.
"I'll protect Onii-chan. So... please watch after us."
Nezuko stood up. She looked up into the sky — the sky was still clouded, and likely would not clear up within a few hours.
——"Don't let your brother go under sunlight."
I should leave early and travel as far as we can. Mount Sagiri... I don't know where it is, I'd better ask the people in town...
"...Onii-chan." Nezuko extended a hand to Tanjiro. He looked back into her eyes, then nodded.
Holding hands together, they turned their backs towards their family.
Someday... when I return Onii-chan back into a human, I'll be back.
"Let's go."
* * *
* * *
* * *
Chapter 3!! Here we are, Nezuko's finally departed!
Things to note:
- Tanjiro's hidden move was his ultimate headbutt. I figured Nezuko needed one too, so her ultimate move is a high kick. She was kicking demons around in the anime was well, so it should be fine.
According to the official character book, her speciality is apparently a finger flick... I couldn't imagine her flicking demons on their foreheads so...
- In case you're wondering, Giyu is treating Nezuko a bit softer than he did with Tanjiro in original story. Even Giyu would hold back facing a human girl...
- I thought it'd be appropriate to have Nezuko fight back at Giyu instantly, unlike Tanjiro who grovelled to Giyu before. Tanjiro was too kind... and while Nezuko is kind too, she has a firm personality that will urge her to fight for whoever is close to her.
Next chapter -- a bit of a time jump! Please enjoy.