Character Thoughts

"Character Dialogue"

_ = A Change in Scene

Chapter 1 - Burning Embers

Cold flakes of icy snow fell calmly from the puffy white cloudy sky, blocking the warm embrace of sunlight from caressing the layered snow below. The trees on the mountain forest were leafless, exposing a dark oak bark to the elements of this winter. Chirping echoed throughout the air as sparrows and other bird species flew gracefully amid the falling snow.

From a trail in the snow, descending towards the base of the mountain, a small village could be seen. With its streets streamed with a calmed atmosphere as the residents and traders alike went about their day. Their faces were jovial, smiles plastered on every single face, as they waved to each other, aided each other, co-existing in perfect harmony. Emerging from the town and onto the trail, a young man navigated the snow-covered terrain. His black, burgundy-tipped ponytail flowing softly in the icy breeze as his dark red eyes gleefully scanned his path ahead.

With each crunch of snow the basket on his back shook, resulting in a large, continuous clunking of small metals. Breathing in a rhythmic calm, he made quick progress, ascending the mountain to arrive at the site of two wooden buildings. Sighting these familiar structures he briefly paused, his green and black chequered haori falling still as he observantly watched the larger, square home off to the left. Within the next moment, the sliding door to the home flew open as two children charged toward him.

Placing his basket to the snowy ground, he crouched as they latched onto him with a warm embrace, laughing cheerfully as they announced his return to themselves. Quickly unlatching themselves off of him, they both peered with childish enthusiasm, their dark red eyes desperately pleading for something. Huffing, he turned to grab the basket he had placed behind him and reached into it pulling out sweets and placing them in the hands of the boy to his right. Lighting up like a christmas tree, his eyes widened in delight as his light green and black chequered haori twirled in the air as the boy sprinted around.

Laughing, he then moved his head left to meet the now anxiously excited gaze of the young girl before him. He reached into the basket and pulled out a book, titled 'The Tale of Genji,' as the young girl's eyes lit up, much like her brother's, as she gleefully squealed as she crushed him in another hug. Chuckling under the embrace, the older Kamado simply enjoyed this moment noticing the new arrivals into the area.

As the young girl released her grip on the eldest Kamado's neck, she noticed the arrivals as well, a brighter smile growing on her face. With his sister bolting back to their home, he took in the moment once again. Their family. The gleeful, care-free expressions on their faces was something that made all of the struggles worth it. But, in his daydream the others had noticed his absence and called out for him "Tanjirou!" as he smiled, picking up the basket and heading toward their home.

Standing at the door was a woman whose lavender eyes soothed his heart, her gaze seemingly alleviating the aching soreness of his joints and muscles. Her purple and cream chequered kimono, hidden by her kappogi. Her messy bun concealed by her tenugui. A life concealed by her duty as their mother, displaying the radiant love she held toward her family. To her left stood a young boy, his cloud grey kimono and green haori hidden behind his crossed arms as he looked toward Tanjiro before looking away, pouting as his black and light blue chequered scarf creased at the gesture.

Chuckling to himself as he neared the group he smiled at the pair off to the right, coming from the river that lay beyond their home. Pale pink eyes greeted himself with sarcastic relief, concealing her genuine joy. Her light pink kimono covered a long white cloth that carried their youngest sibling. His black hair slumped on her shoulder in a slumber.

Looking back toward their home, their mother beckoned them inside to which two figures bolted inside. "Shigeru! Hanako! What have I told you about running inside," Kie expressed with a stern concern, to which the pair looked to the group apologetically as they entered the house. Sighing at their infectious energy, Kie looked to her two eldest children as they chuckled to each other. "Please you two. Make sure they don't hurt themselves," asking wearily, as her eldest looked at her with concern as he then reassured her that they'd put themselves in harm's way before anything would happen to them, to which her eldest daughter agreed emphatically.

Rejuvenated by her children, she sighed gratefully, "How did Kami bless me with such otherworldly children." She muttered to herself as the eldest siblings chuckled to each other as they all entered the house, warmth embracing them in this familial atmosphere. Kindness radiating like a roaring flame and jubilation a plenty.

Hours passed as the cloudy daylight turned into a clear night sky. The candles inside the Kamado residence were still burning as everyone sat around the living room. It was a cramped arrangement, as everyone sat shoulder-to-shoulder on the tatami covered floor. Bowls littered the floor as everyone laughed with each other, equally enjoying this time together as a family.

However, like a cold knife in the back, Tanjirou shivered with fear which quickly killed the jovial atmosphere. With his eyes widened in confusion and his body now shivering, he began sniffing the air. His face went blank. His eyes turned stone cold and stern. Quickly sitting-up, crouching on where he sat, he put his fist through the tatami floor board, a hissing of air permeating as he did.

Under the floorboard lay a katana, the cord wrap of the handle a golden yellow, the guard a similarly trimmed gold surrounding a black metal, its sheath a simple abyssal black. Reaching for the blade and retrieving it, he unsheeted the blade to reveal its red hue. Like shark teeth, the curved edge of its blade was coloured a flame patterned red as the blade itself turned a dull red.

Placing the sheath onto the floor, behind the broken floor board, he stood up and faced the sliding door, leading toward the porch. As all of this occurred the rest of his family looked at their fellow Kamado with concern and fear. Tanjirou had never once displayed this expression, always having a smile plastered over his face. This new version of their son or brother worried them deeply out of not knowing what caused it.

As he reached the door and placed a hand to open it, he paused slightly. "Run." He spoke sternly and clearly as a similar shiver crawled down everyone's spines. Slightly turning his head, to glance at them, the flame mark on the boy's forehead had now turned a more luminent red as his once innocent, endlessly cheerful demeanour, turned cold and almost unreadable. Protest erupted from his younger siblings but once Tanjirou had turned his head, they cowered. Similarly both Kie and Nezuko both objected but looking into the boy's eyes showed them the absolute despair and desperation screaming from his eyes despite his cold glare.

The two leading women of the family quickly ushered everyone out of the house from the opposite side to Tanjirou, exiting from the bedroom Shoji doors. With Nezuko quickly guiding the youngest siblings into the woods, Kie and Takeo headed the rear of the group and were the last to leave. Acknowledging this, Tanjirou slightly softened his gaze, "Run and do not look back," he ordered, opening the door and beginning to exit the house, a firm grip holding his katana as the veins across his body began to bulge in tension.

Removing himself from the door, exposing him to the harsh cold breeze, his hanafuda earrings fluttered in the air as his haori shifted in similar fashion. But as time passed his nose began to scrunch more in disgust, the looks of emotion almost erased from the boy's eyes as he waited. The blade in his right hand, the blade pointing softly toward the snowy ground. And his mind cleared itself of doubt with a drawn out deep breath.

The crunching of snow began to echo in the air, progressively getting louder with each step, until a man with a black fedora, luxurious dragon patterned black suit and polished leather shoes emerged from the trail. His small frame hunched slightly as his fedora concealed his face. Getting within the cleared area, he stopped, standing silently as he tilted his head up slightly, revealing a pair of murderous red slitted eyes.

"Is there anything I can help you with sir?" Tanjirou asked coldly, his gaze locked on the man in front of him, as the wind began to pick up slightly as the man's clothing floated against the tidal gust. The man's eyes briefly flickered with fear but soon turned to sadistic joy as a malicious smirk crawled onto his face.

Shattering the ground beneath him, the murderous stranger shot toward the boy within the blink of an eye, his clawed hands an inch away from Tanjirou's neck. A quiet hissing could be heard as Tanjirou looked on with focused fury.

Hinokami Kagura, Fake Rainbow

Within a heartbeat, like an illusion he disappeared from sight, the man's cat-like eyes darted side-to-side before his eye glinted with glee. Behind him, Tanjirou was falling headfirst toward the ground, but his katana lay in prime position to decapitate this man. His katana began a sweeping motion toward the man's neck. Sniffing the air, Tanjirou forced himself and the blade back, landing a distance away in a crouch.

In a sickening snap, eight bone tendrils exploded through the suit, releasing whip-like appendages that violently flung themselves destructively. A few strikes landed on the house, cutting through it like a knife through butter leaving a sizable house throughout the home. Most of the strike, however, landed near the lone Kamado, smashing and destroying the ground which forced a further retreat away from his home.

Unbeknownst to the stranger, Tanjirou had seen a line cutting through the sea of tendrils toward the man's head and without a second thought, landing onto the ground gracefully and breathed in heavily as his eyes locked onto that man's neck.

Hinokami Kagura, Dancing Flash

And in muttering those words in his head, he shot forward like a flaming bullet. Though, as Tanjirou neared his target he glimpsed the man's eyes disappointingly shocked. With the blade close to its target, the tendrils that Tanjirou had just shot through had all shot toward him, surrounding him. As the tendrils drew close, the man spun around to punch the Kamado head but instead, missed, with Tanjiro upside-down with his blade now horizontal with his neck.

Hinokami Kagura, Clear Blue Sky

With furious strength, Tanjirou had slashed as hard he could but was only left speechless. The blade had been stopped, by the skin only marginally digging into the neck. With widened eyes he could only despair as his opponent savagely glared at him, the spike whips now ready to eviscerate the boy. Sickening sounds of stabbing flesh echoed as growls of pain howled from the now downed Kamado, his back now pierced with many of the man's tendrils.

Crouching to the ground, while sitting him up next to a tree he grabbed the boy by his hair yanking it upward, feeding off of his despair and agony. Gleefully his gaze trailed to the boy's ankles and wrists impaling all four, with the boy's now pain-filled screams earning a grin from his now torturer.

Tanjirou meanwhile, was fighting to stay awake amid the constant and unbearable pain. However, all of it seemed to vanish in an instant upon a sudden change on the man's face, with his stomach dropping in fear and trepidation. Despite the pain, he picked a familiar set of scents and this had left him still for moments. All the while, the man's face had contorted into a victorious, smug grin.

Crushing snow enveloped the air as mumbling began to become louder and louder, until a scream of concern pierced the area. "Tanjirou!" A young woman had screamed as the two locked eyes with one another, the defeated, broken mind of the man contrasted the slow revelations playing in her mind.

"Ahh, that's what your name is. Tanjirou…" The man had uttered as his eye locked glare with Tanjirou broke as he turned toward the new arrivals, more specifically the taller male of the group. The man's rainbow coloured eyes and wild silver hair made Tanjirou's heart drop. His eyes bore the Kanji, 'Upper Two', as the demon lit up in a jovial mood upon sighting the man.

"Muzan-sama, I brought them as requested." The Upper Moon exclaimed with glee as that man looked away in disgust, instead turning his attention to the group he'd brought. Tanjirou, seeing the hand behind Muzan's back, his nails extended in a fiery blue tint, struggled desperately but to no avail. Without a second thought, he had killed the youngest of the Kamado family, striking them all in the neck, killing them instantly, letting the remaining members stare in horror and agony at the sight. Turning his head toward Kie, he sighed as he then turned to the Upper Moon.

"You can have her Doma, I'm feeling generous." He commanded much to the delight of the Rainbow eyed demon as he quickly escorted Kie away leaving Nezuko, Tanjirou and their dead siblings left. He then looked Tanjirou dead in the eyes as then trapped Nezuko in on his appendages. "I always wondered what one of his descendents would look like if they had seen reason," he rhetorically pondered in a patronising tone, his glare turning toward Tanjirou's last living relative as he began walking toward her.

"Please stop!" He screamed, causing Muzan to stop his advance, glancing over his shoulder to glare at Tanjirou's desperate expression. "She doesn't know anything about our traditions,'' he quickly spurted out as Muzan's glancing eye lit up in realisation. "If you were so curious then turn me, just let her go," he uttered, completely dejected as his eyes desperately begged that monster at least this.

Seemingly agreeing to the request he had turned around completely, his bloody eyes glaring at the human beneath him. Shooting toward the downed boy, he grabbed him by the neck and shoved him against the tree he was pinned to now free of his restraint. However, too weak to do anything Tanjirou felt his neck being pierced in three places, his vision dilating and strength fading.

Helpless to all of this, Nezuko's pink eyes stared in torment as her brother began to scream in agony, the monster still holding his grip on his neck. It was only after a few seconds had passed did he release his grip and drop him to the ground. Rolling in agony, she watched as her brother held his neck painfully, veins bulging across his hands and face, gripping the snow covered dirt desperately for reprieve. His pupils began to warp as his nails sharpened slowly all the while he had cried in torturous misery.

Looking on with morbid interest, Muzan raised an eyebrow at the boy's reaction. "As delightful as that was, you have surprised me Tanjirou." He proclaimed, turning his body to face Nezuko again, much to her utter fear. Shooting through the air, Nezuko was brought directly in front of the demon king. Their similarly coloured eyes contrasted the fear and indifference that the two felt. "I had thought that more than enough to kill him." He spoke with a sickening calmness, his hand gripping her neck as she struggled against the hold on her.

Still conscious, Tanjirou could barely make sense of the world around him. Everything was blurry and everything was distorted. Sounds just reverbared in his ears without recognition. In a single moment of clarity, he managed to discern a sentence, "I ought to up the dosage for you." Followed by a lot of noise and something pink falling to the floor. Suddenly, pain surged in his chest as he began to cough out something warm, piercing his throat as it passed. Feeling the steady beat in his head slow as his strength had faded into a figment of his imagination. His vision fades to black, the abyssal darkness consuming him.

Muzan watched it all in new-found disappointment. "Perhaps I was wrong," as he looked on at the corpses in front of him. Their still forms and lacking heartbeats had assured him that they were dead. Straightening his suit, as it repaired itself, he walked past the failures where he had entered the area. "What a waste of time," he muttered whilst sighing, standing still as he looked to the village at the mountain's base.

"Nakime!" He shouted, a pair of tatami doors appearing before him on the sound of a biwa strum as he walked inside, another strum echoing throughout the clearing as the doors disappeared, leaving the cold corpses of a once blissfully peaceful family to the elements.

As the night turned to day, again covered by the pure white clouds. Unlike the previous day these clouds were slowly being overtaken by a wave of darker clouds, as amongst a pair of pale white bodies. A slight twitch shook the boy's green haori.

Thank you for reading this chapter and I hope you found it interesting enough to continue reading on or to join this journey.

Any feedback to this chapter specifically or the story as a whole is always welcome and I'll make sure I respond ASAP.

In regards to updates, this story is being written in conjunction with another titled 'The Uzumaki Prodigy' which is based off the series Naruto. As such, the updates are being released in parallel with one another.

Once again, I thank you for reading and hope to see you in the next chapter or further beyond.