Hinokami's Blessing

Chapter 1

12Thirtypain03

WARNING: This story is rated M for mature rated content. If some acts of violence, blood, or anything easily triggering makes you uncomfortable, please leave and do not read. Any change to a character, when introduced, killed, changed into demon/human, or more will be labelled in the chapter of occurrence. If a character has died in a chapter, that chapter will give a cause of death to that character.

Tanjirou's POV

In the vast space of Earth, one may be surprised by how fruitful and full of life a setting can be. Even the most desolate of places can have quite a lot going on.

That was what Tanjirou picked up on whenever he would come back up to his house. Even during the snowy periods in his residence, Tanjirou learned that one should never doubt the adaptability of living beings. Everyone can adapt to the environment they were so happened to live in.

It wasn't just the environment one can adapt to, but also to the events that may occur in one's life. Tanjirou knew that very well. Being the eldest son of five younger siblings, named Nezuko, Takeo, Hanako, Shigeru, and Rokuta.

His job as the living conditions imply, was that he was a charcoal seller. His family nor him had a lavish lifestyle, nor did they ever have a time where they could enjoy the life for other activities other than charcoal selling and manual labour.

Tanjirou himself, was among those who worked the hardest. As if their family situation wasn't ideal for the average person living on the top of a snowy mountain, Tanjirou and his family had to reel under the event of their father, Tanjuro's death.

Tanjuro was a large part of Tanjirou and the family's lives. To Tanjirou, his father was a role model, and someone everyone should strive to be. He was always collected, and always in a state of collected, calmness. To Tanjirou, it was someone he strived to be, someone just as calm and collected, yet responsible enough to take care of his family.

When his father passed away due to a chronic illness that deteriorated over the years, Tanjirou picked up the slack a while ago, when his father became bedridden, and was hoping he could perhaps get any form of medicine to help his sick father.

He failed to make any money but was told it wouldn't make a difference. Apparently, the illness Tanjuro had suffered from was chronic and degenerative, meaning it was an illness that made someone ill overtime. While everyone in the family had cried over Tanjuro's demise, Tanjirou was the most hurt, due to trying to get extra money to pay for any potential medicine that could have helped his condition.

Alas, the most Tanjirou could do now, was continue to provide for his family. Right now, he was the strongest and most capable, and therefore was able to pick up the slack. Was it stressful? Perhaps. Was it worth it? For his family, yes.

As Tanjirou continued to ponder about his father, there was one specific tradition that stuck out.

The Hinokami Kagura. A dance move dedicated to the sun god, a dance to honour and to protect the family from harmful ailments. Ironically, even when Tanjuro's own body was weakening, he was still able to perform the dance from sunset to sunrise. How he was able to do that?

Tanjuro once told Tanjirou, that it was that he was conditioned to breathe a certain way, that allowed him to not get tired. When Tanjirou heard of that, it was something he was shocked about. The idea to always do something and never feel fatigue, and when Tanjirou got older, he too was taught specifically by his father to do the ritual dance.

Every new years, Tanjirou would dance the night in turn, for the rest of his family to ask the sun god to protect their family, even as Tanjuro's health declined, he continued to teach Tanjirou the techniques occasionally.

When Tanjirou asked his father why he did the ritual, he told Tanjirou the story.

"Our family comes from an interesting group of individuals. Whilst I don't remember exactly who the friend his, what I do remember is that both him and our ancestor Sumiyoshi suffered a tragedy." Tanjuro explained.

A 6-year-old Tanjirou at the time asked naively, "Why? What tragedy happened?"

"A demon attacked them, and killed both their wives. Both wives died protecting each other's children. Sumiyoshi's wife died protecting her 2-year-old boy, whilst the other friend's wife died protecting their 2-month-born girl. The result is that both Sumiyoshi and that friend had to raise their respective children on their own." Tanjuro responded to Tanjirou's questioning.

"Demons? What are those?" Tanjirou asked, "And those poor babies."

Tanjuro sadly smiled, "Once both children got older, they eventually married each other, and both Sumiyoshi and his friend's bloodline came down through us. As for demons, they are human-eating animals."

Tanjirou remembered, "Isn't that what grandma used to say? Didn't she say they only died from the sun, or by people designed to fight and hunt demons?"

Tanjuro nodded, "Indeed, that's exactly right. A demon was the cause of the tragedy Sumiyoshi suffered. But even in the face of tragedy, he adapted, and focused on raising his child with his friend. Both children getting together was kind of a bittersweet ending as know they didn't have to take care of their children. They took care of each other, now."

Tanjirou could only remain silent, as everything was beginning to make sense and he took the time to digest and process everything. As for his father, Tanjirou would tell everyone he was impactful for his own character.

Especially when it came to learning the Hinokami Kagura, Tanjirou himself was able to do it for quite some time, and while he did suffer from the feedback of it, Tanjirou had managed to complete it twice before.

"Tanjirou!" Tanjirou turned around, noticing his own mother, Kie, calling out to him.

"Yes mother?" Tanjirou asked, giving his mother a smile straight off the bat. It was always nice to see his mother, especially after doing his best to make her feel better about Tanjuro's death. For Tanjirou, it was a proud work he had managed to do. For Tanjirou, it was his first test.

"Come here." His mother, Kie, motioned for Tanjirou to come closer to her, which he did, only for her to wipe Tanjirou's face and to properly fold his scarf around his neck to protect him from the cold. "Your face is pitch-black."

Tanjirou chuckled, "Thank you, even if it's just a little, I want us to have a great New Year's Feast, so I want to sell as much charcoal as possible to ensure that."

Kie smiled sadly, "Thank you for this, but please don't overwork yourself, alright?"

Tanjirou shook his head, "Sorry mom, but I must do this to make sure everyone is doing well off."

Kie sighed, knowing how stubborn Tanjirou was. Before she knew it, the rest of Tanjirou's own siblings began to surround Kie, wanting to go down to the down with Tanjirou.

"Jeez, your stubbornness is really rubbing off onto them…" Kie mumbled, before she did her best to deny her children's request.

"But we want to see Tanjirou tonight!" Hanako begged Tanjirou's mother, who could only look to Tanjirou, wanting his opinion.

Tanjirou scratched his head, "I don't know."

"It may snow tonight, so you can go down and sell charcoal, but you must return before it turns night, alright?" Kie asked, being serious.

Tanjirou continued to scratch his head, not knowing what to do. One the one hand, he would not have enough time to sell the charcoal he had, but he also did not want to say no to his mother.

It was something he rarely did, if not at all, and Tanjirou, being an honest individual, knew he would follow with his mother's rules and guidelines.

"Alright mom, but set the table for me, alright?" Tanjirou asked, directing his attention to his younger siblings.

"Yay!" This was enough to cheer up his siblings, as they were excited to be able to see Tanjirou later in the day.

And so, Tanjirou went on his way, stopping by to talk to Nezuko, who was carrying Rokuta on her back.

"I was putting Rokuta to sleep, and then all the commotion outside occurred." Nezuko explained.

"That's fine, I know how lonely and struggling everyone's been since father died." Tanjirou explained, smiling. He then patted Nezuko on the head, before he went down the mountain. He stared back, noticing the waves figures of his family, before he went down.

"Make sure you be back before the snowstorm." Nezuko told Tanjirou.

Tanjirou smiled, "So, you knew a snowstorm would come soon as well?" Tanjirou asked.

Nezuko nodded, "The air feels unusually cold, and I can't really feel anything else."

Tanjirou sighed, knowing how accurate Nezuko's assumption on the air and weather was.

Just like Tanjirou, with his sense of smell, and being able to smell the air around him, including the emotions of others, Nezuko has an abnormal sense of heat detection, or thermoregulation detection. In a sense, Nezuko's been able to feel the emotions of others based on the heat around their body, or when the area around them was being attacked by a rabbid animal.

The quote Nezuko, "The animal had a lot of heat."

When Tanjirou made his way down the mountain and towards the town, he was immediately bombarded with noises of the town-folk, noticing his figure walking down with a bag over his back, showing the contents of charcoal he was ready to sell.

It seemed that the demand for charcoal was relatively high today for the town, as Tanjirou found himself bidding for charcoal, something he did not expect.

However, since the town was preparing for the New Year's Feast, he theorized now that it made sense that charcoal was needed for heating. For the meantime, he had finished selling his charcoal, and it was almost turning night.

Tanjirou momentarily panicked, as he realized the promise he made to his mother.

"I'm sorry, but I promised my mother I would be home before the sky turned dark, I need to go!" Tanjirou explained to the group of buyers, as he was beginning to rush with his purchase. Not realizing he had given the rest of the buyers a discount, he began to make his way up the mountain, with a relatively fast pace.

He had managed to change his breathing to give him better endurance, remembering the quote his father gave him regarding the Hinokami Kagura. Tanjirou assumed if he was able to do it whilst running or even doing regular tasks, it would help him when providing for his family.

Tanjirou sighed, before he then began to run towards his house. He noticed the figure of Saburo trying to stop him, but he went past him as he made sure to make it back to his house, despite the sky now being nighttime.

"I'm almost there…" Tanjirou mumbled, as he continued to run, with the cash he had on him, he was confident they would enjoy their Festival, due to the surprising turnout of Tanjirou's little charcoal sail.

However, Tanjirou quickly stopped in his tracks due to something smelling.

…

And it smelled horrendous.

Tanjirou wanted to puke. He wanted to throw up so badly, as he had never smelled anything more repulsive before.

It smelt of death, of malice, of pure chaos, devoid of anything sincere.

Whatever creature or thing Tanjirou was smelling, it was a monster.

Quietly, he grabbed the axe that he kept on him for safety in the event he ran into a rabbid animal, and quietly made his way to his house, now worrying for his family.

When he was nearer to his house with his family, his heart almost dropped.

He smelt blood, and the closer he got to his family home, the more it smelt, and worry began to run into Tanjirou's mind.

"What's happening?" Tanjirou thought to himself worryingly as he finally spotted what was going on.

What he saw was something that would stick onto his mind.

His house, broken, a large dent made next to the door, as if the stranger had forced his way inside. Or, the stranger threw one of Tanjirou's family, mostly likely his mother into the house with such force the wooden foundation broke down.

At the current stage, the stranger was very strange appearance-wise.

The stranger was pale-skinned, which was so pale Tanjirou saw a striking, yet revealing complexion to that of his own father.

Unlike his father, the stranger was wearing a fedora, with very curly hair sticking out of them. His nails were blue, and was surprisingly formal in terms of attire, a tuxedo with a tie over some black and white pants and shirts.

However, no sense of formality was what Tanjirou cared about when he saw the stranger choking Rokuta out with his pale, yet muscular hands.

Tanjirou fell into a rage, not caring that the horrendous smell was coming straight from the individual, as he attempted to swing his axe into the back of the stranger's head.

*Clank!*

The sound of a clank was present, as if the axe hit a rough, metal surface. Tanjirou heard, but his ears must have been deceiving him.

He was attacking bare skin, and likewise, he saw blood begin to fall from the stranger's neck, as he gouged the wound more with the axe, moving it as much as he could to cause internal damage. It was a tactic Tanjirou learned form his father when he pierced wild animals with any weapon.

It was helpful, as Tanjuro was able to once beat an entire, 2m bear with his own fists, and with a similar technique. If his father was able to fight a behemoth of an animal, then Tanjirou could hopefully beat down a stranger killing his family.

However, to Tanjirou's surprise, the stranger turned round, having finished choking Rokuta until his heart was no longer beating, and he proceeded to drop him without a care in the world. Tanjirou silently mourned for Rokuta's death, but was also enraged, at how a stranger could just take such a young life away.

Whoever this stranger was, Tanjirou would make sure he slayed and killed them for this.

However, before Tanjirou had any time to react, he felt himself being slashed violently across the face, a diagonal slash from the stranger that cut through Tanjirou's right eye. Tanjirou grunted, ignoring the fact he couldn't see out of his right eye anymore, as he knew he had to continue his onslaught, and he focused, trying to maximize the damage he could get by applying more pressure on the axe, embedding it deeper into the stranger's neck.

Unfortunately, it was no use, and Tanjirou felt himself being grabbed violently by his left arm, eventually howling in pain once he felt the stranger rip his left arm out his body.

A quick slap and Tanjirou found himself on the ground, groaning in pain as his vision was darkening. He couldn't feel anything below his left forearm, and his right eye was failing to pick up anything, but could feel blood pouring down his face from the deep incision the stranger had inflicted onto Tanjirou.

The stranger, now finished with Tanjirou, yanked the axe out of his neck and tossed it aside harmlessly, and began to approach an unconscious Nezuko, who had a noticeable bruise on her leg and head, and pushed his nails into her neck.

"NO!" Tanjirou yelled to himself in his thoughts, as he got up, despite not having his left arm present. He still had his one eye working, and he eyed the wound on the stranger's neck. Strangely, it was still bleeding, but it looked like it was healing quickly.

Too quickly.

How could this stranger heal so quickly?

Unless…

"Demon… This stranger's a demon!" Tanjirou exclaimed to himself, clearly recognizing the threat this stranger imposed.

"So when I actually smelled this stranger, and said he was a monster, it was true?!"

Tanjirou struggled to get up, he could feel blood leaving from his left forearm, and his right side of his face from where he was slashed brutally. Ignoring the annoyances from his current injury, he got up and eyed the neck of the stranger, who seemed to want to injure Nezuko more.

"So then, do are demons supposed to be killed? If we run into them, and they can break into our homes, how can we exactly kill them?" Tanjirou was remembering a memory at the moment, specifically one with Saburo he had a bit after he talked to his father about the Hinokami Kagura, his family's ancestry, and even demons. Tanjirou was still a bit confused about the whole thing, and since Saburo was one of the few individuals they knew who demons were, they felt right for Saburo to be the one explaining everything for Tanjirou.

"Well, there's three ways that I know of to kill demons, but they are something not everyone has direct access to." Saburo explained.

"To kill demons, they can only be killed by the sunlight, some poisons, or with a blade that successfully decapitates them." Saburo had told Tanjirou, and that specific sentence had managed to get a grip onto Tanjirou.

"For the most part, if you manage to separate a demon's head from its body, they are as good as dead." Saburo told Tanjirou finalizing his statement.

Tanjirou eyed the man's neck, as he knew he had to do something to rip his neck off of the man's body. Even if his axe was dulled from the demon, Tanjirou thought that perhaps if he got his hands on the demon's neck and gnawed it off, he could threaten the demon to make them run off, and maybe even get authorities, or someone who is supposed to hunt and kill these demons.

With a mighty jump, Tanjirou got onto the back of the demon, and tried to thrash at its head and neck.

"What the…" The man had finally spoken, clearly confused.

Tanjirou, once realized he couldn't rip the demon's head off from his body, began to bite down on the demon's neck, managing to pierce through the skin, and yet again making the demon bleed from his neck.

Tanjirou continued to bite into the demon's neck, hellbent on ripping it off of his neck, and not caring for the blood that was coming off.

For a second, Tanjirou thought this could work. He may defeat this demon with his bare hands. That is, until something unexpected happened.

Blood Demon Art. Black Blood – Brambles

The next thing Tanjirou knew, he felt some black, barbed wires protrude out the demon's back, striking Tanjirou point blank range in his torso.

In total, four barbed wires protruded out, and all four struck Tanjirou to an extent. One grazed the right side of his ribcage, the other one struck his left shoulder, the third one struck the center of Tanjirou's body, in the abdomen.

And the final pierced right through his heart.

Tanjirou gasped in shock as he felt the impact of the barbed wires launch him right into a tree, shattering his back and spine in the process.

Tanjirou coughed painfully, as his mouth was full of blood and flesh from attempting to bite down the demon's neck. He was in a terrible condition.

His left arm was missing, his left shoulder, abdomen, and especially his left chest was bleeding, his right eye was damaged beyond functionality, as he could no longer see out of his right eye, and his spine was now damaged to the point he couldn't feel below his waist. He was now paralyzed from the waist down.

There was nothing he could do now. He was done for, his body had taken too much damage, and he had failed.

"I failed you… Mother… Nezuko… Takeo… Hanako… Shigeru… Rokuta… I failed you…" Tanjirou mumbled to himself.

"Father… I'm sorry…" Tanjirou apologized as he then began to do something else.

"To the fire god, I hope you look after my family of what remains. For those who have suffered far to be brought into the next life, may I hope you bless them with a virtuous life…" Tanjirou said, as it was painful to even move his head.

"What a sad story… You did everything you possibly could, only to end up like this." The demon taunted Tanjirou.

Tanjirou was able to know the demon was approaching him due to his smell telling him the demon was approaching him. Tanjirou was barely able to lift his head, only to meet the red, plum, cat-slit eyes of the demon in front of him. They were menacing, blood-red eyes piercing into Tanjirou's soul like how he had been pierced by his barbed-wires just then.

"I do admire your determination to trying to rip off my neck with your bare arms, you even made me have to activate my blood demon art, a demon god like me, needing to use a blood demon art against a simple, mere human."

The stranger continued to chuckle, "Let this be known to you, since you don't have much time left, and you've held onto your life stronger than the rest of what I assume to be your family, that the Demon King, Kibutsuji Muzan, was responsible for this."

There was a bit of a stall, but Muzan continued to chuckled, "Right, you probably cannot talk, the faults of being human, how fragile one's life is. I truly have nothing against you, but rather your family. You're the bloodline of that monster, and I must rid anyone of the tiniest of blood from that ancestor." Muzan revealed, as he chuckled.

"Enjoy the last moments of your life, and I promise your sister will be in good hands." With that, Muzan walked off, whistling a strange tone that Tanjirou heard, as now he was left alone, unable to move, barely see, and live the rest of his life.

He began to cough erratically, as the wound to his chest was bleeding profusely. He was gagging when he tried breathing air, and was feeling light headed.

"Is this death?" Tanjirou asked himself, as he felt the near death experience. It wasn't something he experienced until now.

He really wanted to see if anyone from his family, but considering both, what he said, and that none of them was emerging yet, Tanjirou was little to hope for.

The most he could hope, was that he would join them in the next life, with his father.

He could barely move his head, but he saw the downed figure of Nezuko, the motionless figure of Rokuta, and began to cry at the circumstances of this.

"That man… What did he want…" Tanjirou asked himself, clearly confused, at why this was happening.

"Tanjirou." Tanjirou could hear the voice of his father. "It's okay."

"No…" Tanjirou mumbled, coughing when he felt his lungs being hit with blood. It seemed that now his lungs were being filled with his own blood. It was only a matter of seconds to minutes.

"I… I failed…" Tanjirou got teary, as he began to unconsciously use the breathing technique for the Hinokami Kagura. It didn't help, but it was delaying his inevitable, permanent unconsciousness.

"No, my son. You fought with all your power, prayed to Hinokami for the blessing of the next life, and made peace." Tanjirou could hear his father's words in his mind, as Tanjirou felt his vision, or what was left of it, begin to fade.

His senses were fading. First his vision, then his smell.

They say your hearing is the last sense that a human has before death, or to sleep.

However, a human's first sense to activate when waking up, or upon birth, is vision.

For Tanjirou, he was no different, but among waking up, his first sense to be activated, was his smell.

A.N / Didn't expect a Demon Slayer fanfiction, did you? Joking aside, yes, this is the next manga I'm reading, and with the hype around, I am intrigued at not only reading it, but also putting my own twist on it.

Already straight off the bat, we see a branching path of the story. Tanjirou straight up is promised by his mom to come back before the snowstorm, which eventually causes him to get into a brief, but brutal scuffle with Muzan. It was truly a tragic setting from the start. As much as I wanted to characterize and use the other characters of Tanjirou's family, I decided against it because I was confused about what I would do with them all, and I would have trouble shaping them all to be what they could be based on their POVs. With that being said, I am willing to have Kanae in the story if that is something you all are fine with. Some characters will be a bit different in their appearance, breathing styles techniques, and when I do introduce a character or breathing style change, any notable change will be mentioned on the chapter the character is introduced in.

Another difference for this story, is that I gave Nezuko the ability to be extra sensitive to heat and thermoregulation, being able to detect human's emotions based on the spread of their heat. It's like infrared vision for Nezuko, and I do have some unique plans for this specific ability for Nezuko, especially since she'll be more powerful as a demon.

As for Tanjirou, I'll just leave him at that, and make you all assume what'll happen to him. I have quite the ideas for what will happen, but I do want some feedback on how I tackle the whole setting and plotline for now. I won't confirm nor deny if he dies or not, but all I'll say is that he will, regardless play a role in the story.

Character Profile:

Tanjirou Kamado: Male, 14 years old.

- Status: Alive, Human.

- Height: 5'5" (165cm)

- Weight: 137 Ibs

- Appearance Change: Vertical slash mark that crosses his right eye.

Nezuko Kamado: Female, 12 years old.

- Status: Alive, Human

- Height: 5'1" (155cm)

- Weight: 105 Ibs

Kibutsuji Muzan: Male, 12,500 years old (made up, lol).

- Status: Alive, Demon

- Height: 5'11" (180cm)

- Weight: 162 Ibs

Kie Kamado: Female, 34 years old.

- Status: Unknown, Human

- Height: 5'4" (164cm)

- Weight: 112 Ibs

Takeo Kamado: Male, 11 years old.

- Status: Unknown, Human

Hanako Kamado: Female, 7 years old.

- Status: Unknown, Human

Shigeru Kamado: Male, 6 years old.

- Status: Unknown, Human

Rokuta Kamado: Male, 2 years old.

- Status: Dead, Human

o Cause of Death: Hyperthermia, Strangulation by Muzan.

Tanjuro Kamado: Male, 36 years old.

- Status: Dead, Human

o Cause of Death: Chronic Illness (Bronchitis and Asthma likely?)

Abilities: Blood Demon Arts

Muzan:

Black Blood – Brambles: The user can utilize their own flesh and blood to manipulate and transform them into black spiked-barbed wires to entangle or pierce the target.