Chapter Text
“What is it that I have done to displease you, Lord Muzan?” She asked him in curiosity as she lifted her head and maintained his piercing, agonizing gaze at him.
Muzan shuddered a sigh as he heaved his breaths, “Your performance with that hashira was mediocre at best. Let alone that, you could’ve had the opportunity to kill them while you still had the chance. I’m very disappointed with you…” He realized as he asked, “What exactly is your name?”
“I… I don’t remember my actual name, sir… But, because of my red hair and eyes, I gave myself the name Cheri…” she hesitantly explained as her heart was hammering in her chest.
“Cheri…” he let the name roll on his tongue as he put his hat back on. And meet her at her level. His eyes darted over to the vines wrapped around her arms and wrists. Her appearance made him more intrigued when he witnessed the fight. “Those vines… Are they a part of your blood demon art?”
“Hm? Uh, yes. Before I became a demon, I had always loved plants and taken care of them. What do you think?”
“Mm… While I still didn’t think your performance was that great. That blood demon art shows a lot of promise. I believe if you keep honing it in, your powers may gradually improve. Because of this, I’ll allow you to live and give you more of my blood,” he showed his fanged grin as he raised his hand and pointed his finger at her forehead.
He pushed it farther into her forehead as he had injected a decent amount of his blood coursing through her veins. She started to choke up as she felt like she was on the brink of death. He pulled his finger out instantly, pushed himself up, and looked down upon Cheri.
Her knees had given out as she slumped to the ground, twitching, her breathing hitched as her hands grasped around her neck. His eyes widened and bloodshot as she tried to bear through the pain she was feeling. Rolling side to side.
Muzan watched as he said one last thing before he left, “I must take my leave now, but know this. I rarely give out my blood to demons unless I see potential in them or if they’ll be a benefit to me in the future. I will surely be disappointed in you if you let your talents go to waste. You must take down the hashira with the Hanafuda earrings.
“As for the demon cannibal, I’ll let one of my higher ranks deal with him.” He bowed as he lowered his hat over his face and turned away. Leaving Cheri all by herself.
When he disappeared, she managed to pull herself together and weakly get up. Panting out of breath, her mouth formed into a devious smile as her eye twitched. In flashes of her mind, she has seen memories of who the hashira was to find him easier. She let out a snarky cackle as she exclaimed, “I won’t let you down, Lord Muzan! You have my word! I’ll make sure he’s eradicated before he even sees it coming!”
-
Meanwhile, the demon that saved Tanjiro’s life earlier was heading into the forest. Trying to get away from him as fast as possible. Unfortunately, the demon he devoured earlier had granted him the ability to grow spikes on his head. Making him stick out like a sore thumb for Tanjiro to see. The spikes only grew on the sides of his head rather than all over his head.
The demon tries to pull them out, but they just keep regrowing out of his head. The moment he dropped the spikes on the ground, Tanjiro was able to catch up with him.
This made him take a different direction as he had to stop pulling the spikes out of the head. He managed to find a tree he could climb on as he went to climb on the tree. Getting onto a branch, he sat down and leaned back against it. He looked down to see if he could spot Tanjiro from afar, making sure he looked around down above him at all angles.
He sighed in relief as he uttered, “Finally, I think I got away from that guy…”
“Think again!” Tanjiro shouted as he was on a nearby branch while hopping onto the next one. The demon clenched his teeth as he managed to get off the branch and drew out his blade at him.
“How’d the hell you’d find me?!” He asked as he stood on the branch and he pointed his blade at Tanjiro. ‘Even though I fight better with a gun, I can’t waste my bullets on him. I don’t have enough left in my pouch because of those demons from earlier. Besides, he had also been affected by some kind of poison from that demon. He’s going to get tired eventually.’
Tanjiro held a firm smile as he stood on the same branch as him from a fair distance. He answered with glee, “Well, you did leave out a trail of spikes that you kept pulling out of your head earlier. Plus, I also have a keen sense of smell too. I’m so glad we could run into each other!”
“Tch! What the hell do you want with me?!” The demon seethed with rage as he charged right at Tanjiro and swung his blade at him. Tanjiro arched his back as he backflipped and distanced himself from the swing.
“I mean you no harm–!” He didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence when the demon struck his blade at him again. It barely made a scratch on his cheek as bits of blood had poured out. He couldn’t react in time as their swords clashed together.
He tries to block every attack that comes his way while also trying to make sure he doesn’t lose his balance and fall from the branch. The only problem is that he’s on the very near edge where it cannot hold his weight. The attacks from him were quick and agile as the demon in front of him was doing all that he could to get him to back off.
Tanjiro had to hop off the branch and move to another one. The demon was still swinging a few strikes at the air when he noticed that Tanjiro wasn’t there. His eyes moved over to him from below as Tanjiro hopped back on the branch, only coming up from behind. He drew his sword out wide in the open as he tackled him.
The two of them latched onto each other as they were descending to the ground. The demon’s black-filled eyes widened as he took a quick glimpse at Tanjiro as he took notice of his surroundings. ‘Damn him…’ he internally thought as moved his body in mid-air, making Tanjiro’s body face the ground. However, the demon grabbed onto his arm as he brought him over to face him.
As they reached for impact, Tanjiro was expecting a huge blow to his back. Only, he felt a little ache as he slowly opened his eyes. His vision was a little hazy for him as he saw who he was on top of. He quickly got on his feet as he felt some pain in his legs. The demon groaned as he pushed himself up, the bones that were once dislocated in his body had regenerated and reverted to where they were as he heaved his breathing.
He let out a scream after he recovered and charged at him again. Tanjiro quickly dodged it in time with his sword, making a loud clanging sound against his. Fighting and clashing their swords together, Tanjiro grunted as he jumped and landed on a tree. He pushed himself off the tree as he tried to fight on offense.
But while trying to get to him midway, he felt a strain on his body. The poison he’d gotten from the demon earlier had come back to his mind as he felt the uncontrollable urge to itch everywhere. The demon noticed his behavior as he was coming towards him. Frustrated by this, he rushed up to Tanjiro and grabbed his arm when they reached each other. Bringing him down and pinning him to the ground.
He put his sword by Tanjiro’s neck as the two of them panted heavily from their little duel from earlier. The demon’s eyes wandered to Tanjiro’s left hand and fingers were fidgeting. But what spooked him the most was the expression he had on his face when he looked at the Sun Hashira.
Tanjiro’s eyes gleamed in amazement as he smiled up at him. That made the demon that was towering over him antsy as he shouted, “What the hell is that look for?!”
“Your fighting technique is incredible! You were even more incredible in this fight too!” He praised him, making the demon flabbergasted as he gritted and clenched on his blade. Bringing it closer to his neck, barely touching it.
“You’re talking nonsense, you creep! I can’t believe that you got yourself poisoned! Why did you chase me like that?! Are you trying to kill me??” He frantically asked questions to him skeptically as he worried about what might happen to him if he didn’t take him out.
Tanjiro’s smile faltered as he saw how concerned he was. Looking down at his arm, he noticed how it trembled while having the blade up against his neck. He held a sympathetic look as he blurted out in a softer tone, “No, I’m not here to kill you. I keep trying to tell you that, but you wouldn’t listen. I’m trying to fight the urge to itch right now. I saw you that night six months ago.”
Referring to the night he was on a mission to take out a demon that was lurking in the woods had caused the disappearances of hikers. For the demon, however, it was only another night hunting for food. “The hell? That’s what this is all about?”
“Yes. Now, I know that you’re scared, but I promise you, I’m not lying to you.”
“How do I know that you’re telling the truth?”
Without hesitation, he threw his sword to the side as it stabbed at the tree. He glanced at the sword he threw away and turned back to face him. “I told you before that I mean no harm. I only want to talk, so… if you trust me now then can you please get off of—!” Right when he was about to finish his sentence, he was knocked out by someone else.
The demon was taken aback as he quickly moved his sword away from Tanjiro’s neck as his eyes slowly looked up at another person in front of him. The man had punched Tanjiro as he let out a deep sigh. “Genya… What did you get yourself into this time…?”
Sanemi lifted his head as he glared over at him. He stuttered, “I-I was just looking for food, brother.” He eyed his head with spikes on his head as he shook his head. “Look, he was being attacked by some demons earlier, I was only trying to–.”
“Save it. I’ve told you before that I’d be bringing you food every day. Do you have any idea how dangerous it is for you out here?”
Genya rolled his eyes as he slumped to the ground and sat down. Sanemi pushed himself away from Tanjiro as he went to get his sword and came back to them. “What else am I supposed to do while I have to stay in the house?”
“Use your imagination, kid. Do anything other than go outside!”
He nodded as he looked at his brother and then turned to an unconscious Tanjiro. “Hey, do you know why he was looking for me?”
Sanemi jolted when he asked that. He recalled earlier today about Tanjiro trying to recruit a demon to join the battle. He clicked his tongue as he picked Tanjiro off the ground and carried him on his shoulder. “No. I don’t know why. But listen to me Genya.” He glanced at his brother as he listened attentively, “If he tries to find you again, fight him until he’s tired. You shouldn’t trust guys like them. And I’m only saying these things to protect you. I still don’t count you as my brother, but you promised not to lay your hands on a human and I’m counting on that.
“Now, I’m going to take him to the butterfly mansion and if he tries to find you again, you let me know first thing. Got it?”
Genya quickly replied. “Got it…”
“Good. Now, you have to go back to that abandoned village, the sun’s going to rise soon. And don’t worry, I’ll bring you some food later too.” Sanemi turned away and walked off with Tanjiro, leaving Genya all alone in the woods.
Genya stared at the sky as he got off the ground. He let out a sigh as he walked away from the scene as he remembered his brother's words. He said to himself, “I think he’s hiding something from me. But… it’s not like I have any right to question him since he’s the one who said he’ll look after me.”
-
In the morning, Tanjiro found himself on a bed, wrapped around in bandages all over his body. His eyes fluttered as he groaned and winced uncomfortably.
“You shouldn’t move, Kamado. That blow you had from the demon had caused you to have rashes all over your body. You’re lucky that Lord Shinazugawa was there when he found you,” Aoi came in with some tea in a tray as she put it on the nightstand.
“Huh? What was Mr. Shinazugawa doing there?” Tanjiro asked as he tried to use his elbows to prop himself up, but groaned as he failed.
Aoi poured some tea into a cup and set it aside as she shrugged her shoulders, “I’m not sure. I think he was in the same area as you were. Nezuko was worried about you when she saw what happened to you. Thanks to her ability, she was able to eliminate the poison, but you still have the rashes on your arms and legs, so we had to put lotion on that to stop the itching.”
“Where’s Nezuko now?”
“Asleep,” she quickly said as she examined his legs and sighed, “You’ll be okay. Just apply more of this lotion on you and you should be good as new soon.”
Tanjiro groaned as he leaned his head back. “I’m a pretty lousy hashira, am I?”
“Don’t say that about yourself like that. You’re not lousy.”
“Really? Aw, that’s nice of you to think that. But, compared to everyone around me, I’ve only been a hashira for two years.”
“And you worked hard to get here. After you, Zenitsu, Inosuke, and Uzui defeated an Upper-Ranked demon, it was guaranteed that you three would rise to the top. The master thinks of you and your friends as exceptions.”
Tanjiro sighed contently as he replied, “Thank you for the kind words, Aoi. I appreciate it. But even though I’m ranked as a hashira now, I still have a long way to go. I feel like I’ve been losing my momentum too. I’ve got to get stronger!”
Then they both heard another voice in the room, “My, that’s quite the enthusiasm for a twenty-one-year-old! How are we feeling today?” Shinbou asked as she came by his bed while standing beside Aoi.
Aoi replied, “He seemed to be doing okay. He still has the rash from the poison ivy.”
“Excuse me, Ms. Shinobu?”
“Hm? Yes, what is it, Kamado?”
“Where’s my pouch? I got something from the district last night. I wanted to know if it’s okay,” Tanjiro asked as he weakly tried to raise his hand.
Shinbou held a smile as she grabbed his hand and gave it a gentle pat. “Don’t worry, all the contents in your pouch are alright, I think. We put it by your sword while we had to treat your wounds.” She pointed at the nightstand where the sword was in its case leaning against it with the strap of the pouch hanging on.
Tanjiro grunted as he tried to push his upper half onto the bed. Aoi concerningly exclaimed, “You shouldn’t overexert—!”
“It should be fine. The cuts on his wounds are only minor and not too deep.” She assured as she examined the rashes, “In fact, in a couple of hours, the rashes on your body should be all gone. You’ll be good as new and can go back on your missions.”
“Alright,” he smiled at her as she let go of his arm and got himself out of bed. He decided to do some stretches as he rolled his shoulder and arm out. “I’m going to report back to Master Ubuyashiki and head out. Thank you again for treating my wounds.”
“It’s no problem at all. Be careful with your wounds now!”
Tanjiro nodded while he put his kimono on, took his sword and pouch with him, and left the room, the last thing he said to them was, “Thank you guys again!”
As he latched his sword on his belt, he opened the pouch and found the bottle of ink had ruined the journal on the cover. The edges of the pages had been tainted as well as he walked while examining it. But to him, he was okay with it, he’ll wash his pouch after he goes and reports to Ubuyashiki. He put the book
He hummed to himself as he believed he made progress with the demon from earlier. Though, something still doesn’t make sense. He tried to think back on what he was trying to say before he had blacked out last night. He mostly thought it was because the poison was getting to him, but he also woke up to a throbbing headache. Even though he’s got a tough skull, he could still feel the internal pain he’s feeling.
“What happened after I threw my sword?” He asked himself as he made another turn. Several minutes had gone by and he had left the butterfly mansion to get to Master Ubuyashiki. All it took was a couple more minutes of walking and he had made it to Master Ubuyashiki’s room. Then the doors to his room swung open as he hid behind a corner and saw Sanemi storming off.
Tanjiro hesitantly came out of his hiding spot as he came and knocked on the door. “Am I allowed to enter?”
“Yes, you may come in, Kamado.”
He took a seat to the left of him as he got on his knees. “Did something happen with Sanemi earlier?”
“Hm? Oh, no need to worry about him, he’ll come around eventually. Anyway, how’s it going with that demon? I’ve heard that you were able to find him again.”
“Oh, yes! He helped me take out those demons from last night. I’d like to think it’s going well. But, he’s still a bit cautious when I try to approach him again.”
“Yes, that is true.” He agreed and continued, “Trust takes a lot of time to build up over time. I don’t blame him if he has his guard up when he’s around you. After all, demons always have to be on guard if they think they’re close to death”
“Right…” Tanjiro sighed as he remembered the mannerisms of the demon that showed fear. He said, “I need to get going right now, but I promise to come back and tell you everything that I found out about him soon.”
“I look forward to it,” Master Ubuyashiki commented as Tanjiro had left him alone. He went in the same direction he came from. He put the journal and pink in the inside pockets of his kimono as he walked out of the mansion and headed back to the butterfly mansion.
Lifting his arm a little, he smiled in satisfaction, “Ms. Shinobu did a good job treating my wounds. And Nezuko… I should thank her when I see her again. Right now, I have to prepare myself and find the demon from last night before I won't be able to find him again.”
For the rest of the day, Tanjiro had been quite productive. He had tried to remove the stain on the pouch, but after countless attempts and failures, the pouch he once carried would be tarnished in ink. He’s going to have to go back to the district again, only instead of a journal, it’s a new bag for him to carry around. Other than training on his own, he would take a couple of breaks to eat and drink some water to keep himself to the fullest.
He chugged down the cup of water as he exhaled and leaned back after consuming his lunch. He tried hard to think about what happened before he blacked out, maybe he had caught a scent of something. Anything that would help him remember would allow him to recollect that night.
Closing his eyes, he sighed as he was seeing black. The memory he’d seen was of the demon himself. The frightened demon who held him at the blade point, spouted words of skepticism at his actions. And his eyes… His eyes were full of black instead of white, the only color he could see was his iris. Bright yellow… Just like the tips of his hair. It wasn’t just his appearance that he tried to remember.
The way that he fought, his strength, the technique he had on his gun, and how admirable he was when he saved his life from being dead. Aside from their duel, his thoughts went back to when he was trembling. Despite how amazed he was, he noticed how terrified he was of him.
He opened his eyes and was welcomed with a huge brightness as his arm covered his eyes to hover as his shade. Moving it away, he set his tray aside and thumped the side of his fist to his chest as he let out a burp.
After he felt well-rested, he said his goodbyes to Aoi and Shinobu before he took his leave. He decided to head back to the district while it was still daytime. Before he tries to find the demon again, he’s going to try and retrace his steps and hopefully, he’ll still be able to find his scent. That way he could track it and find out where the demon would be hiding out during the day.
Tanjiro had finished shopping for a new bag as he took out his journal and pen and put it in his new sturdy bag. While he was getting his stuff situated in his new bag, he felt someone tugging on his kimono.
He turned to look down and found a little girl tugging on it excitedly. She let out a fit of giggles while clutching onto the ends of his kimono, “Mama! Mama! It’s him! This was the swordsman I saw last night that saved those people from the demons!”
Her mother rushed up to him as she gently made her daughter let go of him. She apologetically bowed her head as she said, “Forgive my daughter, she was always rambling about a swordsman she saw last night after she saw him attack demons. Sweetie, what have I told you about running off like that.”
“Oh, it’s alright ma’am. But out of curiosity, what exactly did she see?”
The little girl cheerily exclaimed as she was pointing at him, “He was wearing a green checkered kimono like that one! I saw! He’s a hero, mama! He saved those people from those demons!”
The mother quickly noticed his attire from head to toe as she realized her daughter was telling the truth. She sighed and said, “Even though I hadn’t witnessed anything, I will take my daughter’s words for it. Thank you for saving their lives from them. We’re all forever thankful.”
“You’re very welcome miss. Take care of yourselves!” He said as he waved goodbye to them. Tanjiro focused on where he was going.
“Mama, that man was so cool! He was like this, this angel that just swoops in and saves the day!” The little girl made a swoosh sound as she spun around gleefully.
He smiled to himself as he left the district and fastened his pace as he headed toward the woods. He took a couple of sniffs in the air as he was trying to locate the demon’s scent. Paying attention to his surroundings, he remembered where he was chasing him after they had left with the plant demon that poisoned him with her blood demon art.
While he wasn’t watching where he was going, he stepped on top of something that made a crunching sound. He slowed down a bit as he looked down to find a long hard spike on the ground. He gasped as he picked it up, “This came off of him when I was trying to chase him.” His head moved down to see if he could find the other spikes, but when he saw the next one lying out in the sun, it was burning away.
He brought the spike near his nose as he managed to find the scent and continued down the path. His hand let go of the spike while he focused on the scent. Tanjiro had found the spot he was at last night when he was fighting the demon and proudly fist-bumped in the air as he brought it down and went to find the scent.
While taking a deep breath, his nose caught something else through the scents. A third person is what crossed his mind. Opening his eyes, he felt confused while trying to figure out who it was. “Why does that scent smell so familiar…? Hm…” Shifting his gaze to the spot, his eyes landed on the place where his sword had stabbed the tree.
His hand hovered over at the mark, grazing it over as he looked over at the dirt marks nearby. “I should prioritize what I came here to do. Where did he go after I blacked out?” He sniffed a couple more times as he quickly picked it up. “I’ve got it! He went that way!”
As he was running towards the direction where the scent was, he looked up at the sky to find it to be the afternoon. Feeling disappointed, he won’t be able to see the demon face to face since it’s still daylight. But, he felt determined to find him, even though he couldn't see him, he at least hoped that he could hear him out.
Following the scent took him about forty minutes to reach the end of its tracks as he found it was much stronger in a village. Panting out of breath, Tanjiro put his hand on his chest while he tried to steady his breathing as he slowly walked down the hill he was on to get there. Upon the view he saw, the village looked as if it was abandoned. Once he got to it, he took in what he saw and looked all over the place. The houses around there had some holes on the top of the roofs, baskets were deteriorated with rotten fruit and meat.
The stench crept its way through Tanjiro’s nose as he groaned in disgust and kept going. Pinching his nose from all the scents at once gave him a little headache. He sighed as he asked himself, “Now if I were a demon, where would I be?”
While walking down the village, he tried to look and pay attention to any details that would give him any clue that would locate the demon. There was one house that caught his eye. The roof of one of the houses was covered with pieces of wood and straw that covered up the holes. As he turned to look at the other houses, almost every single one had holes in the walls and roof.
All but one stood out to him. He stopped pinching his nose and shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. Tanjiro quietly walked up to the house as he stood still. Taking a quick whiff, he confirmed that this was where the demon was hiding out.
He took a deep breath as he lightly knocked on the door to the house. “Excuse me. Do you live here? It’s me! The swordsman that you fought with last night.”
No response. He sighed disappointedly at himself at the outcome. It’s not going to be nighttime soon, if he’s lucky then there’s a small chance he would have to leave the house. Tanjiro came up with an idea. Since he had found the demon, he’s still going to try and reason with him. No matter if he responds or listens to him, he’s still going to try and talk to him.
Tanjiro turned and walked backward as he hit the wall and slumped to the ground. He sighed as he said, “I’m sorry if I scared you last night. It wasn’t my intention. I don’t know if I even have a good excuse for myself as to why I’m looking for you.
“But just know that I want to understand you, who knows, maybe we could even be friends. I want to get to know you better. I will say, truthfully, I was surprised that I saw a demon eat someone of their own kind, but hearing out why, I can understand where you’re coming from. You may not know me, but I think we may have crossed paths before. The only problem is that I never knew you well.
“I don’t even know your name either.” Still nothing. Tanjiro eased and felt calmed down now that he was relaxing. “How about this? Let’s ask each other a question and go from there. Like, what’s your name? And I’m not saying it as an example. I genuinely want to know your name.”
There was still no response. Tanjiro’s smile faltered a bit as he tried to distract himself and paid attention to the sky. A couple of minutes went by and he felt a thump behind him. He perked his head as he peered over his shoulder.
He heard a tired voice saying, “Genya.”
“Huh? I’m sorry, what did you say?”
The demon clicked his tongue, “You asked just a couple minutes ago what my name is. It’s… Genya.”
Tanjiro replayed his answer in his head as he tried to ask him, “Do you have a last name?”
“I already gave you my name. I don’t want to answer that. Now, are you going to answer my question?”
Tanjiro smiled at the response and said, “Yes!”
“I want to ask you this. Why? Why are you trying to get close to me? And answer carefully, because depending on how you reply, I’ll make it my goal to kill you. I don’t care if I have to get burned in the process if it’s all it takes for you to leave me alone.”
