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?"

Tanjiro's eyes filled with tears and he grabbed her outstretched hand. He didn't speak a word but sobs burst from his throat. A rock settled in Nezuko's stomach and she pulled Tanjiro in for a hug. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. Where was Mother? Why was Tanjiro covered in blood!? Why did he have claws!?

What was happening?!!

Tanjiro suddenly stiffened in her arms and pulled away, covering his nose and mouth as he scrambled away from her.

"Nii-chan?" Nezuko breathed.

Tanjiro was shaking uncontrollably as he covered his nose and mouth.

"Nii-chan what's going on?" Nezuko demanded her voice cracking. She looked her brother over and realized that Tanjirou's side was bleeding, it looked like claws had punctured him between the ribs. She gasped and scrambled forward. She ripped off her scarf and pushed it on Tanjiro's side, trying to stop the bleeding. Her hand touched his blood and agony burned into her palm.

She cried out and recoiled, looking to her palm in shock. She had a small cut from her tumble on her palm that was now covered in Tanjiro's blood. Small black veins were spreading under her skin and she watched in horror. The black veins suddenly faded and Nezuko felt fear seep into her soul. She had no idea what was going on, but Tanjiro needed help and she had a feeling that everyone else back at the house did too.

"Come on, I'll take you home. We can make it," She urged her brother. Mother would know what to do... she'd understand what was going on.

Tanjiro looked up in fear, and his gaze told her everything. Something had happed at home. He was still panting and holding his mouth but he seemed to be getting better.

"Please, tell me what's going on!" Nezuko cried.

Tanjiro looked around fearfully, his nose smelling the air. His heightened sense had always impressed Nezuko but now she just wished that he would talk to her.

"Please," She begged, grabbing her brother's haori, "Talk to me!!"

Tanjiro slowly took his hands away from his mouth and breathed heavily. He had fangs in his mouth and was drooling uncontrollably. 

"H... Hide," he pleaded, cupping her face in his hands, "H-Hide... h-he'll... f...find... you."

"Who? He, who?" Nezuko asked.

Tanjiro retracted and reached up to his ears.

"Tanjiro, what are y-" Nezuko began.

Tanjirou took out his hanafuda earrings and put them in Nezuko's hand.

"But Father told you to - " Nezuko began.

Tanjiro's eyes pleaded to her and Nezuko felt something... it was like her brother's emotions were seeping into her, like she knew exactly what he felt.

She closed her hand around the earrings and looked to Tanjiro, still confused, but understanding that Tanjiro needed her to take them.

Tanjiro was still crying, his strange cat-like eyes full of pain. He leaned forward and kissed Nezuko on the forehead like he always did before going to bed, but this... this felt like a goodbye... it was a goodbye.

"Where - "Nezuko demanded.

"Hide," Tanjiro pleaded, his voice cracking. He pressed his forehead against Nezuko's and Nezuko felt as though he was promising... promising to keep her safe.

"I'll hide," Nezuko murmured, assuring him.

Tanjiro pulled away and then smiled at her, his new sharp fangs glistening strangely. His smile was sad and the tears in his eyes filled Nezuko with confusion and pain. She asked nothing, she knew he wouldn't answer.

"Hide," Tanjiro repeated, and suddenly he was gone. He sped away so fast that Nezuko had no time to register that he was gone.

Nezuko got to her feet and looked around. She had to hide, from something. She had to hide and wait until it was safe... she didn't want to. Everything in her heart was screaming to go to the house and find out what was going on, but Tanjiro's face burned into her mind and she knew that she had to hide.

She darted around the small ditch of the mountain until she found a downed tree that had made a small hole in the earth. She crawled under the tree and tucked herself into the cold dirt looking into the outside and hugging her knees.

What was happening!?

Her hand itched beyond belief, the hand that had touched Tanjiro's blood. She looked at the cut on her palm again and stared at it in disbelief. The cut was healing! It was stitching back together and in another moment, it was gone.

What. Was. Happening!?

The trees whirled by Nezuko at impossible speeds.

Nezuko held her head. What was going on? She wasn't moving but she clearly saw trees whirling past her as she ran.

She smelled something familiar, he was close! FASTER!

Smelled something?!

No... This was Tanjiro's perspective... but how was she seeing it? Her hand hurt, she could hear the pulse in her head, it slammed in her mind and made her dizzy.

Tanjiro was running as fast as this new body would allow. The snow blew past him but his lungs didn't sting and he wasn't tired yet. He could do it! He could lead the monster away from Nezuko! He could do it!

Nezuko tried to make sense of her brother's thoughts. Muddled, confused, and panicked.

"Hello boy," a cold voice murmured softly and suddenly Tanjiro was slammed against the trunk of a tree. He looked at his attacker who held him his neck and Tanjiro struggled. The man was tall, with dark wavy hair and a crisp black suit... but his eyes... his brilliant bright red eyes pierced into Nezuko's and Tanjiro's soul.

Nezuko didn't know this man. She didn't know why Tanjiro was so full of terror. She didn't know anything anymore!

"Did you think you could run from me?" Muzan asked softly. His voice was like silk dripping with venom. Soft, weaving into Tanjiro's ears and stealing into his mind fueling Tanjiro's terror. The man twisted Tanjiro's jaw to the side so that the red-eyed man could study the boy's ears. A low laugh resounded in the man's chest as he smiled softly, his eyes full of sick pleasure.

"You hid the earrings? They were so precious to you that you ran just to hide them? How adorable, a true protegee of Yoriichi."

That name meant nothing to Nezuko or Tanjiro. That definitely wasn't their father's name, their father's name had been Tanjuro. A protegee of Yoriichi? What did that mean!? 

Nezuko gripped the earrings in her other hand and closed her eyes trying to tell Tanjiro that she had father's earrings, that he didn't need to worry, that he just needed to get away from that man, whoever he was. He just needed to get home!

The man with the red eyes stared deep into Tanjiro's eyes and smiled, "Come then, boy. Let's see what I can make of you."

Tanjiro was shaking viciously in fear.

"You just may be my greatest creation yet," the man murmured.

Nezuko could feel Tanjiro, she knew that he felt her too.

"I'm here Tanjiro... It's okay, I'm okay," she trembled, praying to Father that somehow Tanjiro stay safe.

When Nezuko looked up she was in an open field shrouded in fog. Standing a few feet away, facing her, was Tanjiro - the Tanjiro she knew, looking exactly as he always had. His clothes were bloodless and pristine, his smile was sad, and his eyes back to normal and as always they were kind.

"Tanjiro," Nezuko cried.

"Don't worry Nezuko," Tanjiro assured her, his voice distant, "He can't break our bond. But I have to go... I can't let him get you too."

Her brother turned and walked away.

"Nii-chan, no!" Nezuko cried trying to run after him. She couldn't move though. She was stuck in place watching as Tanjiro walked further and further away until the mist concealed him completely.

"NII-CHAN!" Nezuko screamed, the field melting away until she was back under the tree, with the dirt walls to her back and either side of her.

She was back in the real world, she was frozen and shivering. Her throat stung from the cold air and she couldn't feel her fingers or her nose.

Nezuko jumped to her feet and ran up the mountainside. Slipping as she stumbled blindly. She had to get home, this had to be a dream. She would wake up at any moment now. She slipped again and landed in the snow, tears streaming down her face.

What happened?

WHAT HAPPENED!?

She ran as fast as her legs could take her. She had lost the basket back with her first tumble with Tanjiro but that didn't matter!

The house came into view and Nezuko already knew... she knew...

The door was ripped off its hinges but Nezuko had to see. She had to see it for herself. She did see and she wished she didn't. 

Blood. So much blood. Everywhere.

The eyes of her family stared at her, empty and emotionless. Dead... Dead... Dead.

Blood. Red blood. Redder than the strange man's eyes. It was on the walls, the floor, filling the air, staining the image. Nezuko wanted to look away, she wanted to run in and hug her family... she wanted it all to be a dream but she wasn't capable of dreaming this.

She fell to her knees and sobbed as she stared at it.

Why? 

What had her family ever done? They were all innocent, they were all kind, they were all good! Her mother was nothing but wonderful and her siblings were too young! 

It had been that man. The man with the scarlet eyes, he had done this. He had killed them. 

Nezuko tried to understand it all but she couldn't so she just knelt there and stared as tears streamed down her face.

"Staring at it will not make it go away," a voice rang out.

Nezuko jumped to her feet and whirled around to face a man. He had a haori made of two types of fabrics and distant blue eyes. His black hair was held back in a ponytail. There was a sword on his side.

Nezuko had questions but those questions erupted in a flood of anger and agonizing despair.

"He killed them!" Nezuko sobbed facing the man, "He killed them and changed Tanjiro!"

She knew that the man didn't know her family, she knew he wouldn't care but she screamed it anyway.

"Mother... Hanako, Shigeru, Takeo, Rokuta," Nezuko sobbed trying to wipe the heavy tears on her face away. She choked and sobbed.

"Why did he kill them!? They never hurt anyone! What did he do to Tanjiro!? WHY!? WHY!!" Nezuko screamed running her hands through her hair.

"It was a demon," the man before her said, "They attack and eat humans."

Demon? Demons were things of fantasies, they didn't... no... that was exactly what that man was.

"Tell me," Nezuko gritted staring at the man through her tears, "What demon has brilliant red eyes? What demon can turn people in other demons?"

The man looked at Nezuko, his brow furrowing.

"He turned my brother into a demon... Tanjiro saved my life, and then that man took him. Who is he!?" Nezuko demanded.

"I don't know," the man answered.

Nezuko pressed her hands to her face.

"Your brother was turned into a demon?" the man repeated.

"Yes," Nezuko nodded, "He had... eyes, like... like a cat. And claws. He couldn't really speak but he moved really fast and was strong. He saved my life," Nezuko's head shot up, "I have to find him! He's still out there! They couldn't have gone far."

"I can't let you do that," the man interjected stepping in front of her.

"What?" Nezuko demanded, "My brother's out there, the man has him, I have to save him!"

"Your brother is a demon now, he will kill you and eat you given the chance," the man told her coldly.

Nezuko looked up at the man, "What? No! Not Tanjiro, he didn't do this! I just saw him when he was a demon, he saved me, he told me to hide from the man! It's the man, he's the one who - " Nezuko cried.

"All demons must feed on human flesh," the man explained.

"Not Tanjiro!" Nezuko screamed, "Who are you anyway!? You don't know anything about Tanjiro! He saved me!"

"I am a demon slayer," the man murmured, "I hunt down demons, and I will tell you that I know many people who thought the same as you, and they all died at their family member's hands."

"You don't understand!" Nezuko yelled, "He had the chance to kill me! I was hurt and he could've just killed me then! He was bleeding and hurt but all he worried about was me! I tried to help him but all he could worry about was making sure I was safe. He'd never eat a human!!" Nezuko screamed.

The man slapped her. It shocked her so much that she just stood there.

"Wake up," the man ordered coldly, "Your family is dead, slain by a demon. Your brother is a demon who could be out there killing other humans. There is no time for this."

Nezuko's gaze hardened and she looked to the man, "You're going to go hunt him down... you want to kill Tanjiro."

"If what you say is true then the village below is in danger," the man murmured turning away.

"AREN'T YOU LISTENING! TANJIRO WOULDN'T HURT ANYBODY!!" Nezuko screamed running forward and grasping the man's kimono.

The man glared at her and suddenly his eyes widened.

There had been a bruise above Nezuko's eyebrow and it was slowly fading... like she had a demon's regenerative ability.

The man had suddenly drawn his sword and a pain stung Nezuko's cheek. She had a sword cut on her cheek.

"What?" Nezuko gawked backing away from the man.

"It wasn't just your brother who was turned," the man murmured.

Nezuko touched her cheek. It was already healing.

"No..." Nezuko denied quickly, "I touched Tanjiro's blood with an open wound... this isn't the man's fault," Nezuko denied, "I'm not a demon!"

"Then why are you healing like one!?" the man challenged, "Your brother's blood was still tainted so you too are turning into a demon."

"What!?" Nezuko cried, "No! I... I would feel different! I'm still me! I'm not a demon!"

"Prove it," the man demanded softly.

"What?" Nezuko retracted.

"Prove it. If you aren't a demon, then you won't thirst for human blood," the man explained.

Nezuko looked to the horror scene that lay in her house and her gaze hardened, "I would never hurt a human... Never!"

Who did this man think he was. There was a cold rage in Nezuko's chest, filling the void of grief that had slowly consumed her. She was angry, desperate, and... god so alone. She'd never felt so alone. Now she was staring death in the face and he had light blue eyes and a cold expression on his face.

She had to prove she wasn't a demon. She had to prove she wasn't going to hurt people. If she died here no one would save Tanjiro... 

She took off towards the house her emotions a mess.

He wanted proof!?

She'd give him proof!!

She ran into the house, tears flying from her eyes. She collapsed at her mother's corpse and sobbed as she hugged her mother's body. It was too cold, nothing like how her mother had been in life.

"I'm no demon!" Nezuko sobbed as she held her mother's limp corpse, "I swear, I swear Mama, I swear I'll find Tanjiro. I'll make this right!"

Nothing made sense anymore. Everything had been taken from her in one fell swoop. Her future, her life, her family, everything was gone.

Nezuko turned and saw that the man had followed her inside.

"I'm not a demon," Nezuko choked rocking her mother's body, large tears streaming down her face.

The man's gaze was still hard but there was an understanding in his eyes.

"What's your name?" the man asked.

"Kamado..." Nezuko choked looking over her dead siblings, "Kamado Nezuko."

"Nezuko," the man murmured, "You are tainted with demon's blood, but you're not a demon. That is both strange and dangerous. Go to Mount Sagiri and seek out a man named Sakonji Urokodaki."

"And my brother?" Nezuko demanded, tears streaming down her face, "What about my brother!?"

The man looked at her, "I will give him a chance, but if he proves to be a monster - "

"He won't!" Nezuko denied, "Not Tanjiro."

"We will see," the man murmured, he scooped up Rokuta's still body.

"What are you doing?" Nezuko trembled.

"They deserve a burial, right?" the man asked.

Nezuko's tears grew larger and she clenched her mother's corpse, "... Yes... Thank you... thank you..."

It was hard, Nezuko was sobbing throughout the entire endeavor. Her pink kimono was covered with blood by the time it was done and her eyes had run dry. She didn't think she'd ever stop crying but there was a point when she simply had no more tears left to cry.

The man stood by her side and even waited until prayers were done. Before he could leave, Nezuko stopped him again.

"Please, what's your name?" Nezuko asked softly staring over the graves of her family.

"Tomioka, Giyu" the man answered slowly, staring at her. "When you find Mr. Urokadaki, tell him I sent you."

"Thank you Tomioka-san," Nezuko murmured, trembling softly, "I hope you find Tanjiro," she shook turning to stare into Giyu's eyes.

Giyu nodded solemnly. He too hoped he found the boy, but he also was expecting the boy to be as all the other demons he had faced. Still, if the girl was so peculiar, perhaps the boy was too. Maybe the siblings were different.

"Stay safe," Nezuko told him before turning to the trail. She left her home with no supplies, no one by her side, and nothing to leave behind. Giyu watched her go and for a moment thought about how similar the girl was to his own story... to all of the stories shared by many demon slayers. A story of sorrow and loss.

A story of blood.

(Hey y'all. Everyone ready for this emotional rollercoaster. No!? Okay! Here we go!!! Hope you like it so far, ignore the cringy dialogue I'm trying to fix it but I just couldn't get it to sound right, ah, the struggles of writing. Anyway, Thanks for reading and have a great day/night.)