Chapter III, Pt.1 : The Story of Nezuko

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Nezuko...

Nezuko...!

I'm sorry... for leaving you so soon...

Nezuko... Please... Take care of your brother, Tanjiro, for me...

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Nezuko's eyes snapped open when a splash of coldness was dumped on her. She shivered at the feeling before she shifted around, wincing slightly when the snow surrounding her was hugging her bruised and slightly cramped neck. It felt better...

Wait... Snow...?

With her mind awake, Nezuko sat up quickly, only stopping herself when she felt pins pricking at her body. Nezuko whips her head around, taking in the morning clouds that cast light on the familiar scenery of the snowy forest near her home and the village below.

To her right, her eyes trailed on her older brother, Tanjiro, who was sleeping peacefully. Although she was concerned for his slightly haggard appearance, she couldn't help but stare at the cut bamboo that was covering his lips. Nezuko's eyes could only furrow at this detail.

"You're awake?" A cold voice called out to her. Nezuko raised her head to the voice, spotting a male swordsman leaning against a tree trunk.

The same split-tone haori that tried to decapitate her brother.

Nezuko forced her body up, eyes widening when she realised that this person was a Demon slayer.

"You should take your brother and go see a man named Sakonji Urokodaki, who resides at the foot of Mt. Sagiri." The demon Slayer pushed himself off the trunk, ordering Nezuko carefully. "Tell him that Giyu Tomioka sent you."

Nezuko could only blink, "O-Oh..."

Tomioka turned his attention to Tanjiro, narrowing his eyes when Tanjiro was shifting around slightly. "It should be fine for your brother to be outside since it's cloudy. But don't let him be exposed to sunlight." Tomioka turned around, his back facing the Kamado siblings.

"One other thing," He called out, "you should be careful when handling your brother; he doesn't seem to be able to see his surroundings or feel the pain inflicted on him..." Tomioka stated simply before he left in a blink, leaving the scene without a trace of his existence.

Nezuko could only stare at the empty space, thinking over the words of the slayer.

He can't feel pain either...? But...

A small shift from her right caught her attention.

"Nii-chan... " Nezuko whispered softly. Her brother turned his head, only for Nezuko to meet his blank crimson eyes against her own moist violet eyes. As though she were something interesting, Tanjiro tilted his head slightly in the snow around him. She could only cry even more at the reminder when he owlishly blinked at her.

He can't see me.

Tanjiro sat up, his gaze still staring in her direction. He held out his slender hand, reaching for the top of Nezuko's head.

She could only flinch slightly at the clawed fingers that carded through her short, ebony locks. Shaking, she held her hands to clutch his own before she surged forward to engulf her brother in a hug.

He's really warm....

Nezuko clutched the teal and black checkered haori in her grip, unwilling to let go of him. She was willing, however, to let go of her tears that started to soak the front of Tanjiro's black yukata.

A warm blanket wrapped around her, also unwilling to let go. A head leaned to her shoulder, resting there while she let go of her restrained pain. Her cries echoed through the forest while he brushed her hair gently.

Nezuko would have lied if she said this wasn't the hardest she has ever cried in her life.

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Burying their bodies and standing in front of their graves as one of the last survivors was a choice Nezuko didn't want to make.

They both had none, however. To her family, it's always respectful to let their bodies rest underneath the surface where their souls could safely surface to another plane.

So there they were, Nezuko offering prayers to her family's souls to make it safely to their father who was waiting for them. Tanjiro, on the other hand, was standing off behind her in respect while his eyes were staring blankly ahead.

Nezuko wasn't one to force her siblings to be respectful; that job was her older brother's, who was now without sight and somewhat blank with memories of their past. She could only lead Tanjiro, the one who always leads the other siblings, by the hand and whisper softly to guide him and nurture his new form.

When she was finished, she stood, taking the hatchet with her and stuffing it in her haori. She turned to Tanjiro, who was staring off into their graves.

Tapping him by the shoulder and turning his head, she stated softly,

"We should go..."

Tanjiro could only blink at her, barely making any sound when she grabbed him gently by the hand and sprinted away from the house.

The only comforting sound that rang through the forest as they ran was the soft jingle of Tanjiro's hanafuda earrings.

Nezuko relished in the sound as much as possible.

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Hiding her brother in a cave while the sun was out was also something Nezuko didn't want to do.

But if she wanted to keep Tanjiro safe, it was better to heed the Demon slayer's warnings and keep her blind brother out of the sunlight's sight.

So when Nezuko came back to the cave with a large blanket to cloak her brother so they could both walk in the day, she was panicking at the sight of an empty cave without her brother hiding in it.

'Where did he go!?' She started crawling in the makeshift cave to see if there were other openings she couldn't see that was hiding her brother.

It wasn't until something that sounded like a rock was thrown in her direction that caught her attention when her worries were clouding her mind. Whipping her head to the entrance, she crawled out only to see her brother hiding behind one of the trees closest to the cave. Nezuko could only gasp in surprise.

Eh? But how did he...? The distance between the cave and the tree... isn't it too big!? Wouldn't he have burned from the sunlight!? More importantly, how was he able to get in the shade without being able to see!?

Tanjiro, on the other hand, poked his head out and blinked his large maroon eyes owlishly. Nezuko then stared at his shy form in amusement.

How cute~ my brother looks like a shy child...

Her expression then held curiosity when Tanjiro hid behind again, only to walk out cradling some items in his azure blue scarf.

"What are you holding, Tanjiro?" She called out to her brother. All he did was hold out his scarf so Nezuko could see for herself.

So walking out to where Tanjiro stood, Nezuko peered closer and found out he was picking familiar berries she remembers her brother sometimes collecting in another forest that was further from their home.

"Huh? How did you....?" Honestly, Nezuko couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe the miracle that was her brother.

She knew he was sometimes miraculous, but for reasoning, Tanjiro could not be this miraculous; how was he able to pick out the berries, nevertheless pick out ones which are healthy and not poisonous? How was he able to walk outside when he was aware that he could burn? How is he even able to walk from the entrance to the forest when he was blind??

Nezuko then knew she was probably surprised for too long when her brother started tugging at her brown haori with his sharpened hand.

"O-Oh.. Sorry, I was just surprised you were able to get here unharmed..." Tanjiro only tilted his head to the side as though he was confused his earrings jingling in the calm silence.

Setting her thoughts to the side for later, she dropped the blanket next to the trunk and took the berries before stuffing them in her own haori, wrapping the blue scarf back on her brother,

"Thank you for bringing us food for later, but we shouldn't let you be cold at night, should we?" She called softly, patting her brother's head for reassurance. Confused once more, Tanjiro tilted his head up.

Nezuko could only coo at his childish actions. Usually, it was him who would do all the comfort towards their younger siblings, but because of the tragedy...

Now it's my turn to return all the kindness he gave me and our family.

Shaking her head, she called out to her brother softly,

"I'm going to wrap a cloak around you so we can both walk in the day, okay?" Nezuko didn't expect an answer from Tanjiro as she securely wrapped the bleached blanket she dropped around him.

Taking a step back so she could inspect his appearance, she nodded in satisfaction before she took Tanjiro's hand behind the blanket.

"Shall we go?"

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After asking for directions from a worried mother who was concerned for both Nezuko and Tanjiro, the former stopped the latter when she spotted some lights at a nearby shrine.

"Tanjiro," she tugged him closer to her when they were near, "there are people nearby in a shrine. We can rest here before moving again."

Tanjiro, unlike Nezuko who was easing herself up, suddenly snapped his head forward as if scouting around for a potential threat.

"Tanjiro? Is something wrong?" Nezuko, confused by his strangely vigilant behaviour, asked the blind demon.

"Danger." He whispered, so softly that Nezuko could have missed it if she also wasn't vigilant with her brother's changing behaviour.

"Wha-" She couldn't let out a word before she was suddenly tripping whilst running after her brother who was holding on to her hand in a vice grip.

A sudden prick was present at the nape of her neck; danger was indeed near.

Running ahead of her brother and taking her arm away from him, she opened the shoji doors of the lit shrine hastily, "Hello!? Is everyone alright-!"

Nezuko's throat suddenly choked up with even more pain, her breath caught at the gruesome and horrific sight of her. Her eyes wanted to tear away, to swallow back the tears from the sight, but she couldn't. Her eyes suddenly overlayed the scene of the littered bodies with her family's own corpses, rendering her frozen in fear.

The bodies in front of her were too reminiscent of what happened to Nezuko and Tanjiro's family; freshly torn torsos littered around a single man, their limbs cut from the rest of their bodies; their heads snapped from their place and some propped up like mannequin heads. A man in the middle of the pile was eating his heart out by tearing the meat of a cut arm.

"Oh? It looks like lost little lambs have wandered into my territory~" The man tore his attention to the two humans at the front entrance, licking off some blood that spilled over his lips as he feasted on the corpse.

"I have heard that the flesh of young women are highly delectable~!" He remarked when his eyes landed on the frozen Nezuko, who was still frozen at the sight in front of her,

'It's- It's a real man-eating demon!'

Though it was quiet, Nezuko managed to snap out of her thoughts when a low growling from Tanjiro was heard over the eerie silence.

"Tanji-!"

"Hmm?" The demon interrupted her, "...Something's wrong here..."

The demon stood, looking towards the two figures at the entrance of the doors, crimson eyes narrowing in dangerous suspicion,

"Are you two human?"