Chapter 1: Cruelty

(Here's a book I've been debating with myself to make for many months, but here it is now. So I hope it turns out okay and don't yell at me if I make mistakes within the lore of Demon Slayer. I've only seen the anime and I'm kinda shitty at writing books, but I do it for fun. I also would appreciate if you leave some comments on the story, they give me motivation to write more.)

Trudging through the snowy dead forest, Tanjiro breathes heavily as he carries two of his younger sisters. Nezuko, who is the eldest sister, is being carried on his back. With Sakura, the middle daughter. 

Blood falls from Sakuro's pale face.

'How?' Tanjiro asks himself in thought. 'How did this happen?' "Nezuko, Sakura! Don't die! Don't die on me!" Tears prick at the corner of his eyes. "I'm gonna save you two no matter what! I won't let either of you die! I swear your big brother will save you both no matter what. You still have something to show me, Sakura, so hold on!"

Tanjiro keeps walking through the cold forest.

The day before.

Outside the Kamado home sits a single young Sakura tree. Only about 20 feet high. Even though it's a brisk and snowy winter, it's petals are still there; slowly falling to the snowy ground below. 

At the base of the tree sits a young girl, her name is Sakura Kamado. Sakura is eight years old and about 4'1'' (127 cm) in height. She has pink, with hints of red and it's put into a pony tail with a ribbon. Her hair just reaches to her shoulders. In her hair is a Sakura petal hair pin. She has bright pink eyes. A hanafunda earring is on her left ear, with the image of the rising sun over a mountain, just like her eldest brother has.

Sakura is wearing a blue Kimono with a pink scarf around her neck and she's reading a book. She hears some crunching and looks up to see her brother Tanjiro, waking with a bag of charcoal on his back.

Sakura smiles and closes her book as she stands up. "Onii-chan!" She runs over to him.

Tanjiro stops and looks to his younger sister. "Sakura."

"Are you going into town?" Sakura asks.

Tanjiro nods and Sakura motions for him to kneel and he does. Sakura takes out her hairpin and puts it into his hair. 

"Your lucky hairpin?" Tanjiro questions as he touches it.

"You'll need it today." Sakura states.

"Why?"

"Because last night mama told me a story about demons!" Sakura throws her hands up. "She told me they prowl at night and attack the weak. So I'd thought I'd give you some luck, so you don't get attacked!"

"But what about you?"

Sakura gives a haughty laugh. "I have the most luck in the world. Yes, yes." She puts a fist under her chin. "No demon would dare to attack me with the luck I have."

Tanjiro chuckles. "I can feel the luck already." He stands up and pats Sakura on the head and she smiles brightly at him.

"Sakura!" Her mother calls out from within the house.

"Coming!" Sakura yells. "See you later tonight! Oh, I've made something for you, it took me a while to make, but I can't give it to you right now." She waves bye to her brother as she runs off.

Tanjiro smiles as he touches the hairpin and then he walks off into the forest.

"We don't have an easy life, but were happy." Tanjiro narrates. "But life can change suddenly like the weather. It shifts and moves on. It doesn't always stay sunny, and it's not like it ever snows endlessly. And... Whenever happiness is destroyed, there's always... the smell of blood."

Tanjiro makes it to the village at the bottom of the mountain and he walks through the snowy street.

A lady is sweeping the snow off her walkway and she notices Tanjiro walking down the street towards her. "Well now, Tanjiro! I can't believe you came down from the mountain on a day like this. You're such a hard worker! You might catch a cold, you know?"

"This is nothing, really." Tanjiro says as he stops. "Do you have enough charcoal?"

"Hey, Tanjiro!" Another village calls out to Tanjiro and he looks at him. "Can I have some charcoal? Thanks for fixing my sliding doors the other day."

"I'll need some charcoal, too!" A villager calls out.

Tanjiro smiles but then a wife pulls her husband out of their home behind him and he turns to the commotion. 

Blood falls from the husbands nose. "Tanjiro." Shouts his name as he spots the teenager as he runs to him. "Oh man, perfect timing!" He kneels down and holds out a broken plate bundled in a purple cloth. "I've been accused of breaking this plate. Help me out, will you?" He lifts up the plate.

"Sniff it." The husband requests.

Tanjiro leans down slightly and sniffs the plate. Then he looks to the wife. "I small a cat."

The husband turns to the woman. "You see!"

"Oh my, so it was a cat?" The wife says.

"I told you it wasn't me!"

"Tanjiro." A man calls out nearby. He has a bunch of luggage with him. "Can you give me a hand with my luggage?"

"Tanjiro." A man walks up to him. "Thanks for helping out with my food stand." he holds out a small pink rock. "I heard your younger sister collects these, and I so happened to find one the other day."

Tanjiro takes the rock and gives a slight bow. "Thank you, I know she'll like this one."

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Later that night.

Tanjiro is walking up a street, leading to the mountain. "Jeez, it's late already. I'm glad they're sold out, though."

"Hey, Tanjiro!" A man calls from a nearby shack and Tanjio turns to him. "Are you gonna go back to the mountain? You'd better not. It's too dangerous."

"I've got a great sense of smell, so I'll be fine." Tanjiro states.

"I'll put you up for the night." The man offers. "Come on, get back here.

"But..." Tanjiro brings a hands up to the Sakura petal hairpin in his hair.

"Don't argue, come on. Before the demons show up."

Tanjiro sighs. "Please forgive me, Sakura." He walks over to the mans shack.

A few minutes later.

Tanjiro is kneeling down on the ground in front of a tray of food. He's wearing a white haori instead of his checkered one. Tanjiro picks up a rice bowl and puts a piece of fruit in it.

After a few minutes Tanjiro finishes eat. "Thanks for the meal!" He drinks some tea. "Hey, Ganddad Saburo, what are demons like?"

Saburo is setting up a bed for Tanjiro. "Man-eating demons have always prowled the land once it gets dark. That's why you should never stroll around at night. If you're done eating, go to bed. You can set off for home at first light."

Tanjiro gets up and goes over to his makeshift bed and lays down, and gets under the blankets. "These demons wouldn't come inside your house, would they?"

Saburo is off to the side, smoking a pipe. "Yes, they'd come in." He takes a puff from his pipe. 

"Then, everyone would get eaten up by the demons."

"That's why the demon hunters protect us by slaying them since way back when." He tapes out his pipe. "Lights out now. Go to sleep." He stands up and turns the light off as Tanjiro closes his eyes.

'Old man Saburo is all alone after losing his whole family.' Tanjiro says in thought. 'So, he must be lonely. I'll bring my brothers and sisters next time, and say, "You don't have to be scared. There are no demons. You're safe." But, come to think of it, my grandma used to say the same thing when she was still alive.'

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The next morning.

"You be careful now." Saburo waves goodbye to Tanjiro, as he runs off.

"Okay!"

Tanjiro trudges up the mountain and towards his home. 

'Whenever happiness is destroyed, there's always...'

Tanjiro stops and he sniffs the air a couple times. "The smell of blood!" He takes off running towards his home.

Tanjiro stops and takes deep breaths as his eyes are widen in horror. Outside his home is Nezuko, Saukra, and Rokuta's bloody bodies. Nezuko is holding both her younger siblings close.

Tanjiro shouts in horror and he throws the empty basket off his back and runs towards his siblings and kneels down to them.

"Nezuko!" Tenjiro shouts. "what happened? What's going on? What happened here?" He looks inside his home, only to see a bloody mess of the rest of his family. Tanjiro stands up and walks inside. "Mom..." he falls to his knees as he stares at the bloody bodies of his family. "Mom... Hanako... Takeo... Shigeru... Nezuko... Sakura... Rokuta..."

Tanjiro notices a piece of paper in Sakura's hand and he grabs it and looks at it. It's a small decent painting of the whole Kamado family sitting under the Sakura tree, with part of it smeared in blood. Tear from in Tanjiro's eyes.

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Trudging through the snowy dead forest down the mountain, Tanjiro breathes heavily as he carries two of his younger sisters. Nezuko on his back and Sakura in his arms.

'Nezuko and Sakura were the only ones still warm!' Tanjiro shouts in thought. 'If I can get them to a doctor, they might survive! How did this happen? Was it a bear? Was it a bear that wasn't able to hibernate?' Tears prick at the corners of his eyes.

Tanjiro jumps over a fallen tree and nearly trips over, but he keeps balance and keeps running.

'I can't breathe! The air's so icy! My lungs hurt! Keep moving forward! Move your legs faster! We still have a long way to go before we reach town. Hurry! I won't let either of you die!'

Nezuko's hand twitches. 

'I'm gonna save you two no matter what! I swear big brother will save you two no matter what!'

Nezuko lifts her head up and she twitches as she starts growling. Veins bulge on her forehead and her canine teeth grow sharp.

Nezuko starts to shake around, causing Tanjiro to lose his footing and he slips off the side of a small cliff. 'Oh no!' 

Tanjiro screams as he falls down into the snow below and he stares up to the sky. Sakura lands a few feet from him, as she twitches slightly.

'I was saved by the snow.' Tanjiro takes deep breaths. 'I slipped because of the snow to begin with.'  He sits up and checks on Sakura. "Sakura?" She just twitches slightly as Tanjiro looks around for Nezuko. "Nezuko?" He spots her standing a distance away from him.

"Nezuko, are you all right?" Tanjiro asks and her coat falls off. "You don't have to walk! I'll carry you to town, okay?" 

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Tanjiro goes to pick up Sakura, but she starts to loudly growl and twitch. "Sakura?"

Sakura opens her mouth, showing large fangs as she loudly growls. Her pink hair turns to flame-red where is passes her chin. 

Fast paced footsteps approach Tanjiro and he looks up to see Nezuko lunge at him with her fangs bared. "Nezuko?!" Tanjiro quickly takes his small axe out and holds it out as Nezuko bites down on the wooden handle.

Tanjiro struggles against Nezuko and she pushes him onto his back. 'Sh-She's... a demon! I just remembered what old man Saburo told me. Nezuko's a man-eating demon? Then is Sakura one too?! No! They're both human ever since they were born!'

Sakura growls as her pink eyes open now are darker color around the rims and have a slant in them. She growls as she curls into the snow. Sakura stands up and she growls towards the sky as she shakes.

Tanjiro glances at Sakura then back to Nezuko. 'However, they no longer have their normal scents. But it Nezuko's doing. She was lying as if she was protecting Sakura and Rokuta, and there was no blood on her mouth or hands. And there was one more... There was one more scent!' Suddenly Nezuko grows larger. 

"Sh-She just grew in size!" Tanjiro says in shock. 'And she's getting stronger and stronger! While I was sleeping carelessly at Saburo's house, they were murdered brutally like that! I know it must've hurt. You two suffered, didn't you? I'm so sorry I couldn't save either of you. If only I could have helped either of them at least! Bust she's too strong for me to push her back!'

Suddenly Nezuko's sent flying into a tree and Tanjiro lays there in shock. "Huh?" Tanjiro sits up and sees Sakura growl a few feet in front of him. "Sakura!"

Sakura looks towards Tanjiro and she growls loudly as she lunges at him with her nails that turn sharp.

Tanjiro gasps as he rolls to the side and Sakura slams into the ground where he was. "Sakura!" He shouts as she lunges at him again and he holds up his axe and she bites down onto it.

Then she's tackled to the side by Nezuko and they lock hands, trying to push each other down. 

"Sisters, stop!" Tanjiro shouts as sudenly Sakura grows to Nezuko's side. "Hang in there you two!" Tanjiro runs towards them and tries to break them apart, only to get kicked to the side by Sakura. "Don't give in!" Tears fall from his eyes. "You both gotta hang in there!"

Nezuko pushes Sakura to the ground as they both loudly growl at each other.

Tanjiro gets up and runs towards the two. Don't turn into demons!" Tanjiro shouts. "You both gotta stay strong!" He manages to pull Nezuko off Sakura, but they lunge at each other again. But Tanjiro holds his hands out, and barely manages to keep them apart.  "Hang in there! hang in there!"

Suddenly the both stop growling and Tanjiro notices tears falling from their eyes as they stop trying to attack each other. Suddenly he pushes the two as Giyu, the water Hashira swigs his Katana through the air and misses the two demons, only managing to cut some of Tanjiro's hair.

The force from the attack blew the three away and they hit a tree. Sakura slams her head against the tree and she falls over onto her side with here eyes turning white as she lets out a groan.

'What the...?' Tanjiro questions as he looks to the attacker.

'Who's that?' Tanjiro questions in thought and he notices the katana. 'A sword?'

"Why are you protecting those things?" Giyu asks Tanjiro as he holds his sisters close.

"They're my sisters!" Tanjiro states. "They're both my younger sisters."

Nezuko growls and Struggles against Tanjiro's grip, making him drop Sakura to the side as she just lays there.

"Nezuko!" Tanjiro tries to calm her down.

"You call that thing your sister?" Giyu asks.

Giyu rushes towards the three and Tanjiro pushes Nezuko down only to suddenly find her gone. he looks to his side and also sees that Sakura's gone.

Tanjiro then looks to his left and sees Giyu holding Nezuko captive, with Sakura laying on the ground with her eyes closed. Nezuko growls as she tries to get out of his grasp.

"Sakura! Nezuko!" Tanjiro shouts as he quickly stands up. 

"Don't move!" Giyu orders, Tanjiro freezes and a gust of wind blows some snow between them. "My job is to slay demons. Needless to say, I'm going to decapitate your sisters."

"Hold on!" Tanjiro shouts. "Neither of them have killed anyone! Back at my house, there was another scent that I'd never smelled before! That's probably the one who killed my family! it wasn't Nezuko or Sakura! I don't know why they turned into something like that, but..." He takes a step forward. "But still..."

"It's quite simple. Because their wounds were exposed to demon blood, they turned into demons. That's how man-eating demons multiply."

"Nezuko or Sakura would never eat humans!"

"You gotta be kidding. They were fighting over who gets to devour you."

"You're wrong!" Tanjiro shouts. "I'm sure they know who I am! I won't let either of them hurt anyone! I'm gonna turn both of them back into humans! I swear I'll heal them."

"They can't be healed." Giua claims. "Once you become a demon, you can never go back to being a human."

Tanjiro throws his arms out. "I'll find a way no matter what! So, please..." he clenches a fist close to his chest. "So, please don't kill them! I'll hunt down the one who slaughtered my family! I'll make everything all right!" Giyu holds the blade to Nezuko's head and Sakura suddenly twitches. "Please! Please! Don't do it!" 'Don't take anyone else from me.' 

Tanjiro gets down on his hands and knees, and bow his head on the snow. In a dogeza bow. "I'm begging you not to!"

"Please!" Tanjiro cries. "Don't kill my little sisters! Please don't do it! I'm begging you..."

Giyu just stares at the bowing Tanjiro and he grits his teeth. Then his face forms to one of anger. "Don't ever give other a chance to murder you!" Tanjiro gasps. "Stop that pathetic groveling! If it was the least bit effective, your family wouldn't be dead!" Tanjiro sits up. "Can a weakling who can't take the initiative in such a situation heal his sisters?! Hunt down the enemy?! Don't make me laugh! The weak have no rights or choices! Their only fate is to be relentlessly crushed by the strong! The demons might know how to cure your sisters! But don't think that a demon would respect your will or wishes! Naturally, I have no respect for you, either! That's reality! Why did you throw yourself over your sister earlier? Was that your way of protecting her? Why didn't you swing your hatchet? Why did you show your back to me? All those blunders led to your sisters' capture!"

Giyu points his sword at Tanjiro and he continues his rant as Nezuko struggles in his grasp. "I could've skewered her along with you!" Tanjiro just cries. 

'Don't cry.'  Giyu says in thought. 'Don't despair. Now's not the time for that. I know you're devastated. Your family was massacred, and both your sisters have become demons. I know it's painful. I know you want to scream. I get it. If only I'd gotten here a half-day sooner, your family might not have ended up dead. But there's no way to turn back time. Feel the rage. The powerful, pure rage of not being able to forgive, will become your unswerving drive to take action! With such a fragile resolve like yours,-' He points his sword at Nezuko's head again. '-you can't protect your sisters or heal them... or get revenge for your family!'

"No!" Tanjiro yells and Giyu stabs Nezuko in the chest and she lets out a loud roar. "STOP!"

Tanjiro throws a rock at Giyu, only for him to deflect it. Tanjiro jumps to his feet and runs to his axe, that's a few meters from him and he quickly picks it up and runs around Giyu, using the tree's as cover.

Tanjiro throws a rock at Giyu again, and he just tilts to the side and it flies past him and into a tree.

Tanjiro runs towards Giyu, with his hands held behind his back.

'A straightforward attack driven solely by emotion...' Giyu observes in thought. "You fool." As Tanjiro reaches him he brings up the hilt of his blade, and brings it down onto Tanjiro's back.

Tanjiro falls to the ground and Nezuko stares at Tanjiro is shock. Both of Tanjiro's hands are empty, his axe is missing.

'Where's his hatchet?' Giyu questions in thought and he gasps as he hears something above him and he looks up, just in time to see the hatchet, and he tilts his head slightly and it embeds itself into the tree; next to his head.

'Just before he hid behind the tree, as he hurled that rock toward me and, at the same time, tossed the hatchet into the air. He hid his hands as he pretended to attack so I wouldn't realize he was unarmed. He knew he couldn't beat me. He tried to bring me down after I struck him! This kid...'

Suddenly Sakura starts to growl which causes Nezuko to start growling. Nezkuo gets out of Giyu's grasp and she kicks him away. Then Sakura jumps up and lets out a loud growl.

Both Nezuko and Sakura move towards Tanjiro.

'Damn it! They'll devour him!'

Giyu's eyes widen as both he demon girls kneel in front of Tanjiro in a defensive stance and they growl at him.

Then they both take off running towards Giyu, going in different directions.

Nezuko runs towards Giyu from his right as Sakura runs from his left. Nezuko tries to claw at him but he slides back and he tilts his body to the side as Sakura flies past him.

Then he leaps back as Nezuko tries to lunge at him and he ducks under a swipe from Sakura. Giyu then elbows Sakura in the stomach then kicks her away. Nezuko jumps at him, but he back peddles them pushes her away.

Sakura and Nezuko land near each other and growl at the demon slayer.

They both lunge towards him, with Nezuko jumping up into the air and behind him, using a tree as a spring board and Sakura rushing just straight towards him.

Giyu sheathes his sword as the two each him and he moves back and they collide with each other. As they fall to the ground he chops the side of their necks with his hand, knocking them both out.

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Tanjiro wakes up with his sisters in both his hands. They're both knocked out and have bamboo muzzles in their mouths.

Tears from in Tanjiro's eyes as he looks between his two sisters.

Giyu is leaning on a nearby tree as he notices that Tanjiro is now awake. "You awake?" 

Tanjiro looks up with a gasp and he quickly grabs his sisters and holds them close.

"Go see an old man named Sakonji Urokodaki who lives at the foot of Mt. Sagiri." Giyu says. "Tell him that Giyu Tomioka sent you." He gets off the tree. "They seem to be all right since it's cloudy now, but never let them be exposed to the sunlight, okay?"

Giyu suddenly vanishes into thin air.

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Tanjiro finishes burying his family as Nezuko and Sakura stand behind him, back to normal size and they;re both holding hands.

Sakura is wearing new clothes.

Tanjrio kneels down and prays as Nezuko and Sakura just look on. Then he stands up and pulls out a leather pouch and the pink rock.

Tanjiro opens the pouch and it's full of pink rocks and he sets another inisde.

"Sakura." Tanjiro gets her attention and she looks to him. "Here." he holds out the pouch and she grabs it and just stares at him. "Let's go." He grabs Nezuko's hand and leads the two demons away.

As they walk away Sakura looks back to the graves and tilts her head and blinks a few times. Then Tanjiro starts running and the two demons run along with him.

CHAPTER 1:
CRUELTY

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01-12-2023

4179 words

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