Mission Gone Wrong

Walking trough town, people would stare at him and whenever he would approach said people, they would excused themselves or run away. 'I have an uneasy feeling about this place.' He thought, his eyebrows furrowing on the middle of his forehead forming a crease. 'And this feeling...' He felt a tugged in his guts and he instinctively took a glance behind his shoulder.

He narrowed his eyes a little bit when the people innocently go on their day. Cautiously he looks back to the front, but still kept his guard up. 'There's something wrong here, but what?'

He keeps moving forward while pretending to not notice their stares. Suddenly a small body collided to him and Tanjiro caught the little boy who was about to fall, "Hey, are you o—" He didn't get to finished his sentence when he noticed how the veins on the child's neck are clearly visible.

It looks like branches that spreads throughout his neck and ending under the boy's kimono. It was purple, almost look swollen and about to pop in fact.

Seeing that he had dropped his poker face, Tanjiro simply smiled the boy and steady him up. He patted the young child's head and told him to be more careful next time.

As the child run away, Tanjiro's eyes narrowed, as his mind begins to think. He glanced at the other people in the town, but their kimono almost covered their neck. However, the vendor across from him had tilted his head up and Tanjiro saw the same bulging veins that the younger boy from earlier has.

Now this was weird. Was there a disease here in this town or perhaps some type of plague? Why wasn't anyone informed about this.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when a man dressed in a dirty yukata with dirt on his face tugged at his uniform's right sleeve. The man asked Tanjiro for some money and the teenager kindly smiled at him and offer him some coins.

While pulling out some money from his right pocket, he noticed the same bulging veins. 'Why does the people of this town have that?' He frowned a little bit, but shook his head to return the smile on his face. "Here." He said, handing the coins to the man before walking away.

'Something is really going on here.' He thought, as he finally displayed a frown when he was away from prying eyes.

Nodding to himself, he got down on all fours, as he begins to sniff the ground.

'No sign of the demon but…' Tanjiro closed his eyes to focus on his nose. '…what is this scent?' He frowned, as he picked up the remnants of that strange smell he mentioned before. 'It's not the scent of a demon but it's also not the scent of a human, an animal maybe? No, it's not an animal.' He continued on trying to identify the scent for a few minutes, but there was no luck.

He let out a sigh, disappointed that he didn't picked up anything from this part of town. So, he decided to go to the other side of the town.

While walking around, Tanjiro still tried to pick up something. So far, though, the red haired teen's nose didn't come up with anything, just faint traces of that smell he categorized as 'strange' and nothing else noteworthy.

However, while he haven't gotten any closer to finding the demon, the teen could feel several stares fixated on his back that was coming from the surrounding buildings around him.

They didn't seem hostile, so far at least, but it's something to keep in mind.

When he was in an alleyway, a man in his mid thirties came towards him. "Hey, you're the kid who's looking for the demon right?" He asked and Tanjiro slowly gripped the grip of his sword.

"Why do you ask?" He question with raised brows and the man chuckled.

"Well the whole town is talking about you." The man stated which the red haired teen frowned upon. He quirked a single eyebrow, "I never said I was looking for a demon. I was aking the people if something strange just had happened in this town." He pointed out and the man in front of him let out a menacing laugh.

From the distance, Tanjiro saw the sun going down and the man across from him started to twitch. Then, something unexpected happened. The man lunged at him, but Tanjiro was quick enough to dodge by jumping over the man and using his back as a springboard.

He flipped and landed behind the man. His eyes widening when the man's teeth turned sharper and a horn appeared on his head. Then, he noticed the bulging veins on the man's neck that was really popping out.

'He was a demon!?' He thought, as he dodge another attack from the man in front of him. His nose picked up something making him puzzled, 'But his scent was different.'

Gritting his teeth, he quickly swung his blade towards the man's neck and his eyes watched as the head fall on the ground.

Something unexpected happened and to the teen's horror. Both the body and the head were not turning to dust. They are not disappearing!? 'What the fuck!' He thought out loud when blood spilled on his feet and a different smell hit his nose.

'He was human! But his scent before was a demo—' He was in shock, so shock that he froze in his spot. It was unbelievable...

He had killed a human! Drawn his blade against a civilian!?

His nose twitched and his eyes widened when his eyes glanced at the walls around him. There on the walls were many humans/demons sticking on the wall.

Like the man he had killed, their scent was the same as him. Tanjiro was confused now, what was going on!

He immediately snapped out of his thoughts when they all lunged at him. He quickly jump to an empty road and his eyes widened when a lot of the people bare features like the man he had killed before.

'What was going on!' He quickly sprinted away when all of them started chasing him, 'How did the whole village turned into this? They were humans!'

He turned to an alleyway and was about to take another turn when he collided with something small again. He was about to draw his blade when the smell and a voice stopped him, "Wait!"

Tanjiro glanced down to see a young girl, her blue eyes were scared and staring at his crimson ones. Quickly kneeling down, he checked on the girl's neck to find no veins dangerously popping up.

Suddenly the girl grabbed his hands and shook her, "Follow me." She whispered and Tanjiro nodded. Deciding to follow the girl. He stood up and quietly passed trough different alleyways and avoided the human-demons that was on the rooftops or on the road.

They were lucky that they weren't spotted.

Finally, they made it out of the town and entered a forest. The girl led him to some paths before stopping at a familiar tree, "A Wisteria tree?" He thought out loud and his eyes glanced at the tree house build on it.

The girl beckoned him to follow her, as she begins to climb up the makeshift ladder that leads to the tree house.

The girl led her to the inside of the tree house and he widened his eyes when he saw two other boys that was there who seems to be the same age as the young girl that brought him here.

The girl who held his hand suddenly spoke, "I don't know why, but those strange people would never come near here." She then introduced herself, her finger pointing up to her face, "My name is Mako." After that she turned her finger to the direction of the shorter boy with brown hair, "That's Shino." and lastly to the other boy with yellow hair, "And that's Lo-kun."

Tanjiro nodded, "Nice to meet you. The name is Tanjiro."

Lo nodded at him while Shino excitedly greeted him, "Hey, are you gonna save as and turned our town back to normal!?" He asked and Tanjiro tilted his head to the right, "What do you mean by normal." He questioned back and Lo crossed his arms, as he sadly stared at the red haired teen.

"We didn't know what happened, but they become like that two weeks ago." He explained, as tears filled his eyes, but he held them in. "In the morning they would be fine, but in the night they would become monsters!"

Shino then added, "And wehenver we would tell them what they were in the nights. They thought that we were crazy and ignored us."

Tanjiro frowned, furrowing his eyebrows at what the kids were saying to him. He recalled how all the townspeople scent were still human, but then their appearance and scent became demon-like, but—

His mind recalled the man he had killed and how both the body and head didn't disappear like any other demon.

He clenched his fist, 'Fake demons!?' He deduced, but shook that thought off. This was a work of a demon with a unique demon blood art!

It's like one of the undead stories that he heard from the road in his travels before. His eyes then glanced at the children's neck and saw that their were no veins that were popping out.

He breathed out a sigh of relief.

"You said two weeks ago?" He asked and the three kids nodded. Tanjiro begins to think, "Did something happened on that day from two weeks ago before they become like that?"

The three kids thought for a moment and Shino shrugged his shoulders, "Well, there was these festival were all the people in the town would drink the water from the temple on the hill. It was tradition and we kinda missed it since we went out to play." He answered and Tanjiro's eyes widened.

"After that festival did the people gained weird marks on their neck?" Tanjiro asked and Mako quickly answered him.

"Well both of my parents gained a weird purple marks that looks like cracks or branches on their necks." She said and Tanjiro's eyes widened in realization.

He wasn't sure what was going on, but he has a theory. This demon is a real threat and Tanjiro quickly come up with something. He had encountered demons like those before on his journey five years ago, those demons that can control thing were weak and would rather hide behind their pawns.

Tanjiro knew that he shouldn't underestimate this demon that he was dealing right now, but he needed back-up. He put two fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly. Suddenly, a crown flew in trough the tree house's window and landed on Tanjiro's outstretched arm.

He stared at the crow with a feral stare, "I need back-up and quick. Any demon slayer who's near. Tell them to meet me in the west forest of this town and strictly tell them that they shouldn't enter the town." He ordered his crow and the bird squacked in reply before flying off.

He knew a pillar should be suited for this type of job, but he isn't sure yet what type of threat they were dealing with and his afraid that he might waste their time.

Also, it would be dangerous if a pillar was near him...

Because they might found out and he wouldn't know what will happen if they did. Suddenly his ear caught the sound of a stomach growling and his eyes glanced at the three kids who flushed red.

With his big brother instincts kicking in, Tanjiro smiled at them and pulled out two bentos from the satchel hanging on his shoulder.

He had bought these food from the kind vendor earlier in town. He should be wary, but he had already smelled the food and it was fine.

He offered the two boys the first bento, "You two share that." He said to them before turning to the young girl besides him, "And we will share this." He smiled and Mako returned it with a smile of her own.

The four of them ate and when they were done. Mako gave him an extra futon, but Tanjiro refused it and told them to sleep while he'll be on guard trough the night.

Once the kids were tucked in. Tanjiro let out a sigh, as his mind recalled the memory of him beheading a human. 'I did it again.' He thought angrily and gritted his teeth, 'I promised myself that I wouldn't do that again.' His eyes then glanced at the three kids sleeping together.

A smile tugged on his lips, as the voices from his distant past resurfaced to make him recalled.

"Niichan!''

" Aniki.''

"Onii-chan."

He let out a sigh, as he clenched the place of his demon slayer uniform that was on top of his heart. 'I really missed you guys...'

"..."

To Be Continued...