Work Text:
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3rd POV (Nezuko) :
Cold, wet snow below her feet.
She doesn't know where she's going. All she knows is that she needs to get off this mountain.
There was blood. So much blood. Her family... Her family is dead.
No. She shakes her head. Stop it. Tanjiro is breathing. Just go get help. Not all is lost, is what she had to keep reminding herself.
Earlier in the day, Tanjiro had slipped on ice before going to sell charcoal down the mountain. He had hurt his ankle, but Nezuko wanted their family to eat all they want for the new year and the people in the town required charcoal, so she volunteered to go into town herself. By the time she finished, it was late. An old man had told her to stay the night, as it was too dangerous to go on the mountain alone at night. Saburo had mentioned demons. Of course, she thought the old man was joking. Just a tale an adult tells a kid to keep them out of trouble.
But, now, seeing her family all slaughtered...
She didn't know what to believe. The idea of a demon seemed impossible. It simply didn't seem likely.
But whatever it was, Tanjiro had been protecting their family from it.
Suddenly, she felt a breath against her ear. Then a twitch of a hand. Nezuko glanced at her brother, whose eyes were white as the snow. He started growling. Struggling. Th- Pfhpt! She slipped on a patch of ice and she and her brother went tumbling off the side of the cliff.
Nezuko laid there for a second, a bit dazed. Then she sat up abruptly, wondering where her brother went. "Tanjiro!"
No response.
She glanced around, then notices him standing. He's staring at the ground. "Tanjiro!" She starts towards him.
"Hey, it's okay, I can carry you. You hurt your ankle yesterday and just got attacked last night. Don't worry, lemme carry you to town!"
The younger stood in front of her brother. Due to their height difference, she was looking up at him, but his face was hidden. Nezuko stepped closer, "Tanji-"
Nezuko laid on the snow in shock, Tanjiro had knocked her back onto the ground. He wasn't doing anything, but she could hear light crying. Her brother's arms were above her shoulders, maybe seeming like he was hugging her.
Suddenly, he sat up, staring down at her, as if deciding what to do. Nezuko tried to get up, but he pushed her back into the snow. "Brother?"
Tanjiro bared his teeth -- fangs now, she supposed -- and she had no choice, but to grab the covered axe hanging from her brother's belt and shove it between his mouth. He growled at her, fangs long and sharp. Eyes wide and veins bulging out.
There was no more denying it.
Tanjiro was officially a demon.
Mr. Saburo had warned her about this. The demons. And now her brother was one, too.
In the midst of her thinking, Tanjiro's body had begun to grow bigger. He was already taller than her, but now he was even bigger. Stronger. She won't be able to keep him from eating her for long.
"Ta-Tanjiro! Please! Hang in there! I'm going to get you help, I swear it! You always do everything for our family, it's my turn to help you. I swear, I will do everything in my power to help you, just, please, stay strong!" Nezuko felt tears burning her eyes, but she couldn't give in. She has to help Tanjiro, she has to-
Drip...
Drip...
Tanjiro, her amazing older brother who'd never dare do anything bad to her, was starting to cry. He didn't want to hurt his sister. He was supposed to protect her, but here he was, hurting her. He didn't want to see his little sister cry. The fourteen-year-old dropped his arms, sitting up away from her.
Unfortunately, it was then the two of them heard a noise. The noise of a sword unsheathing. Out of nowhere, there was a swordsman with dark hair floating(?) over them. Specifically, over Tanjiro. Nezuko realized this, shoving her brother to the side, and rolled away herself. The swordsman's sword hit the snow, missing them both.
Tanjiro hit a tree across from Nezuko, her belatedly realizing he went back to his original size, and she also hit a tree. The girl stared up at the man with ocean blue eyes, looking at them with a blank expression. Her eyes narrowed on his sword, a blue hue glaring off of it. Words were carved into the side, Destroy demons, and she wondered if it meant the same demons Saburo had talked about.
She started to ask, "Who ar-"
"Why are you protecting it?"
Nezuko blinked, then realized he meant Tanjiro. "He's my brother! I was taking him to get help!" She glanced at the sword, "and I'm not going to let you hurt him."
Unfortunately, it was at that moment Tanjiro, the oh-so-helpful-demonic-brother, started snarling at the man. Nezuko mentally face-palmed, "Tanjiro!" She got up and put her hand on his shoulder, preventing Tanjiro from leaving.
The man watched them. "You call that thing your brother?" The next thing she knew, he was flying at them. Then, Tanjiro was gone and in his hands.
"Wha- Hey! Tanjiro!" Nezuko got up and started to take a step, but, "Don't move!" the man warned her.
She glared at him. Her brother was now growling at the man, showing his fangs to him. He spoke again, "My job is to slay every demon I find, which means I have to decapitate your brother here."
Nezuko's eyes widened, "No, don't! Tanjiro hasn't hurt anyone! He wasn't the one who hurt my family, I know it for sure! He's innocent! I don't know why he's like this now, but-"
"It's really quite simple. He's turned because his wounds were exposed to demon blood. That's how the man-eating monsters multiply." He had said these words so easily, Nezuko could mistake him for a heartless murderer.
"Tanjiro would never eat a human! He's too kind for that!"
He didn't budge. "You must be joking. If I hadn't gotten here when I did, he would've devoured you."
There were very few things in life that made Nezuko angry. And assuming Tanjiro would ever hurt her was one of them. "You're wrong! He wouldn't hurt me! He knows I'm his sister, he was literally getting off me before you appeared!"
Nezuko took a breath, "And I won't let him hurt anyone! I'll turn him back into a human," she swore, "I will heal him!"
The slayer didn't even blink. "He can't be healed. Once you become a demon, no one can ever turn back."
Nezuko was getting desperate. She didn't want the slayer to kill her brother. "There's a way, I'll do whatever it takes to find it and heal him! So, please, let him live!" He tightened his hold on his sword. She watched as he jabbed it at her brother. She watched her brother growl at the man, struggling against the hold.
Quick, think, what would Tanjiro do? Out of the corner of Nezuko's eye, she saw the hatchet she had stolen from her brother. Nearby was a rock. A plan started to form in her mind, but she only had seconds. She would have to be quick and precise to pull this off. Before Nezuko could think any further, she launched herself towards the hatchet, grabbed the rock, and ran around a tree.
Timing... Timing... As soon as she threw the rock, she threw the hatchet into the air and charged at the nameless slayer. Oh, please let this work.
"You are a fool! This is why you won't be able to turn your brother back." And the hilt of his sword slammed straight into her back, knocking her out cold.
3rd POV (Tanjiro) :
Tanjiro stared, surprised, as his sister started to charge at the man holding him captive. It was reckless, much unlike her. He wanted to shake his head at her to say no, but he couldn't. There were so many things he was feeling. Hunger, exhaustion, anger... He didn't get angry often, but he definitely was right now. He was angry the man attacked the two of them, he was angry the man wanted to kill him, and he was angry the man yelled at Nezuko. Who was he to show up here and demand Tanjiro was to be killed?
The teen demon then noticed that the hatchet his sister had stolen- borrowed from him was gone. Where did it even go, he wondered, did she-
Tanjiro watched in horror as the slayer slammed Nezuko with his sword. She fell into the snow, unconscious. He stared in disbelief. Then anger ripped through his body. He belatedly realized the hatchet had almost hit the slayer in the head, instead, kick himself away from the man. Tanjiro ran towards Nezuko immediately. Putting one hand on her shoulder and one in front of himself, he growled at the man in a protective stance in front of his sister. The man widened his eyes, but he didn't care. He launched himself at the man, snarling. Tanjiro kept trying to grab the man, jumping all over the place. He jumped off of a tree, arm stretched to scratch his face.
The next thing he knew, the slayer hit him in the nook of his neck, felt icy snow, then, darkness.
3rd POV (Nezuko) :
When Nezuko woke up again, the first thing she noticed was her brother lying in the snow next to her. She gripped his patterned haori in her hands and hugged him, leaning her body over his. She noticed the bamboo muzzle, but she didn't care, she was just glad he was alive. Tears fell from her eyes as she cried into her brother's shoulder.
A voice spoke up, "You're awake." Nezuko's head shot up as she gasped in surprise, eyes narrowing on the slayer leaning against the tree. She tightened her grip on her brother. She didn't trust him.
The man continued, "Get to Mount Sagiri as soon as possible. Look for an old man named Sakonji Urokodaki. When you find him, tell him Giyu Tomioka sent you." Huh, so that's his name. "It's cloudy, so he seems to be all right at the moment. But never let him be exposed to sunlight."
And before she could thank him for sparing her brother or ask any questions, he disappeared.
Nezuko and Tanjiro made their way up to their house and buried their family. For some reason, Tanjiro seemed normal, other than being a bit sluggish and, obviously, less talkative. Maybe being a demon won't have much effect on Tanjiro. He even did most of the work for the burials and prayed as he normally would.
As soon as they were done, they made their way to the mountain. And soon, they would meet their trainer, Urokodaki, who'd teach and train Nezuko. Then, she would be admitted into the Final Selection and become a Demon Slayer to find a way to heal her brother.
Just like he'd do for her if she was in his place.
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