After he, Tanjiro and Nezuko met their Swordsmiths, Tanjuro's Sword turned black, which shocked his children. Tanjiro's Sword also turned black, while Nezuko's turned hot pink. "I can't believe it! A family who works with fire, and not one Sword turned bright red!" One of the men, Haganezuka groaned as they left. Suddenly a Crow flew into the house, and turned to Tanjuro, "Tanjuro Kamado! I bring you orders! You are to head to a town to the South! There are rumours of a Demon there. Find it and kill it!" the Crow cried. "Wow, so these Crows talk huh?" Nezuko said, stunned. "Alright. It's time for me to get going" Tanjuro said.
Ң
Tanjuro stood in front of his children. Rokuta wailed as he tried to hand the boy to Hanako, "I'll be back Rokuta, don't worry" Tanjuro tried to soothe his Son, but the Toddler wasn't letting him go. "Rokuta, Dad has an important Mission to go to. People need help. And he can't take you with him because it's too dangerous" Nezuko said, taking Rokuta, and rubbing her crying Brother's back. "Papa!" the three-year-old sniffled. "I'll be back as soon as I can Rokuta. Until then, Mama's here. Why don't you help everyone take care of her?" Tanjuro asked. Rokuta grumbled at this, but didn't start to cry again.
"Okay. Good luck Father! We'll be here until we get our first Missions" Tanjiro said cheerfully. Takeo stared up at him, "be careful Dad. Don't let any Demon Slayers know that you're a Demon" he said seriously. Tanjuro nodded, "of course. I'll come back as soon as I can. Or I'll write letters to you if I'm too busy to come back" he said, adjusting his Sword. Then Tanjuro headed off.
Ң
He walked for two days, not stopping. After all, he didn't need to eat or sleep. People were in danger. He couldn't waste time with something he didn't even need to do anymore. He had to help them. His Crow guided him to the town, which, he saw as he arrived, was a simple town made of wooden houses. "Alright, time to find the Demon" he muttered. Tanjuro kept his senses open for any hint of a Demon's presence. There was one powerful presence moving out of the town, and he almost went after it, if another, weaker Demonic presence wasn't moving through the town.
Tanjuro felt a growl build in his throat, before he hurried into the town after the weaker presence. When he finally caught up to it, the scene he was met with was one of utter chaos. A small woman with multiple wounds was struggling helplessly to hold back a massive male Demon. Inside the house behind them, multiple screaming voices sounded. Children. There were children in the house! "Mom!" a young boy's voice screamed frantically, pounding at the locked front door. "Sanemi! D-don't come, out here! Protect, your Siblings!" the tiny woman screamed, as the male Demon scratched her up with his claws.
The woman screamed, and Tanjuro leapt into action. However, the other Demon seemed to be somewhat smart, and raised an arm to block the strike to his head. Blood splattered over the woman, who screamed again as the Sword sliced off the Demon's limb. Tanjuro growled, deciding to alter his attack. He kicked the Demon off of the woman, igniting a ring of flames around her to protect her. Then, he used Fake Rainbow to dodge the other Demon's attack, before cutting off his head. Tanjuro sheathed his Sword, as he watched the Demon turn to ashes.
A scream caught his attention, "Mom!" a boy screamed, and Tanjuro turned to look. The small woman was convulsing on the ground, as a young white-haired boy knelt over his Mother. Tanjuro suddenly realized that the Demon's blood had splattered all over the woman's wounds. 'Oh fuck!' he thought, heart sinking in horror. The small woman groaned and thrashed. "Mom!" the boy cried worriedly. "Get back! She's not well!" Tanjuro ordered, as other children ran out of the house. Another two boys, one of whom was carrying a younger boy, and two girls.
"Is she okay?! What's wrong with her?" one of the little girl's asked. 'This is bad. She's either transforming, or the blood will kill her. Either way, will I have to kill these children's Mother right in front of them?!' Tanjuro wondered. "Alright, first, let's move her inside" he decided, as the oldest white-haired boy nodded, and moved to grab his Mother. He picked her up easily and carried her inside.
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Shizu, the woman, took several hours to transform. He'd had no choice but to explain to the children what was happening to their Mother. And in the process, learned each of the children's names, as well as that the Demon he'd killed had been their Father. "A no-good Bastard is more like it. So, if he was the Demon, how is Mom transforming now?" Sanemi asked, as they all watched over Shizu. "Your Father's Demon blood got into your Mother's open wounds. This started the transformation process. I'm sorry. This is all my fault" Tanjuro replied remorsefully. "So, what do we do now?" The second oldest boy, Genya asked. "I could try to create a muzzle for your Mother, but I would need to search outside the town, and leave all of you alone.
If something goes wrong, she could lose control and kill all of you" Tanjuro explained. "Mom would never do that!" the youngest girl, Teiko cried. "I'll try to hurry. Just keep her away from the sunlight" the Kamado Patriarch said. Tanjuro ran out of the town with a burst of speed, shocking the children. He ran into the forest, thankful to find a grove of bamboo trees. He broke one piece off, and hurried back to the house just as the sun was rising. Shizu was sitting in the corner, whimpering and drooling when he got back.
"She's been like this ever since she woke up a few minutes ago" Hiroshi, the younger boy with the mohawk explained. He stepped into the house. Shizu's ice blue eyes glowed in the dark interior of the house, watching him warily. She let out a whimper, clutching her stomach, her clawed hands tearing her Kimono slightly. "It'll be okay. I'm here to help" Tanjuro promised softly, his bright red eyes showing complete sincerity. "Mommy" Koto said softly, moving towards his Mother. Shizu shook her head and scrambled to get further away from her Son. "Step back, all of you. You're upsetting her too much" Tanjuro ordered.
The children moved back, and Shizu uncurled from her fetal position slightly. "It'll be okay. I'll help you. Can I put this in your mouth?" Tanjuro asked softly. Shizu looked from the other Demon's kind eyes, down to the muzzle in his hands, before nodding hesitantly. Tanjuro smiled and walked forwards. Suddenly the Demon woman lunged at him, making Sumi shriek in fear. But Tanjuro inserted the muzzle into Shizu's mouth, causing her to bite down on it by reflex. He quickly tied it into a knot at the back of her head, and sighed in relief. "Okay, it's done now. She can't hurt anyone now" the Kamado said, stepping back as she felt around the new muzzle. Tanjuro turned to look down at the Siblings, "now, you have a choice to make" he said seriously.
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Later that day, Tanjuro wrote a letter to Urokodaki about the new people that he was sending to him, before taking the Shinazugawa's to the man's house, with a cart of everything they wanted to take with them, as well as their Mother, shrunken down and wrapped up in a blanket to stay out of the sun. "Are you sure that Mr Urokodaki won't kill our Mom because she's a Demon now?" Genya asked. "As long as she doesn't harm humans, he won't. I mean, Sanemi had a bleeding wound.
And your Mother never tried to attack him, did she?" Tanjuro asked. What he didn't mention was how incredible that was. Before he'd left on this Mission, Urokodaki had pulled him aside.
(Flashback)
"What did you want to talk to me about Sir?" Tanjuro asked. "I know you don't seem to have any hunger at all, much less for human flesh and blood, but there may come a time when you do" Urokodaki said. "What does that mean?" He asked in confusion. "Blood has many different types, and the rarer the blood type, the more you may hunger from it. Within the Corps, we call these people Marechi. Just be careful if you ever run into one" Urokodaki explained.
(End flashback)
Even he was salivating a little at the scent of Sanemi's blood. He had to swallow it before the children could notice. And their Mother kept herself from attacking him. She was incredibly strong. "No, not once" Hiroshi replied. "Then you don't need to worry. As long as your Mother never harms a human, Mr Urokodaki won't try to kill her." Tanjuro replied. The group then began heading towards Mount Sagiri.
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As they travelled, Tanjuro wondered about space. 'My family is already 8 people, then this family also has 8 people in it. Mr Urokodaki might not have room. But what else do I do? I can't just leave these kids on the street with their Demon Mother' he thought, biting his lip. Maybe they could fix up a new place for the family to stay while Urokodaki trained the Oldest boy. Looking over the white-haired child, Tanjuro couldn't help but think that he looked the same age as Nezuko. "Mr Kamado?" the older boy with the mohawk, Genya spoke up.
Tanjuro looked down at the boy with a smile, "yes?" he asked. "What are we going to do now? With Mom like this, how are we going to survive?" He asked, beginning to tear up. "We'll be okay Genya. We've always made it through okay before, right?" Sanemi asked, placing his arm around his younger Brother's shoulder. Tanjuro pulled the cart most of the way, as the younger kids rode in it with their belongings. Thankfully, all he had to do to keep other Demons away was flare his aura. The journey back to Urokodaki's took a lot longer than the one to that town. But now he had several young children who did need to eat and sleep and who would get hurt and need to be carried.
When they finally reached Urokodaki's house, the man was sitting outside, seeming to stare at him, even through the mask. "So. You've found another Demon for me to look after, and even more children. My house is only so big you know Tanjuro" Urokodaki said sternly. "I couldn't just leave them on the streets. Who knows what could have happened. Besides, the older boy is a Marechi" Tanjuro explained. The masked man seemed to do a double-take, "and both you and their Mother were able to resist it?" he asked. Tanjuro nodded, "please Sir, I don't want them to have to lose their Mother too" he begged. Urokodaki looked over the clearly hungry and tired children, before sighing, "alright. Come inside and I'll introduce you to Tanjuro's family." He said, entering his house. As they followed Urokodaki, Sanemi looked back at him, before nodding his thanks. Tanjuro smiled, glad that he was able to save this family. Suddenly his Crow flew down to him, "head to Asakusa, Tokyo now! Rumer has it there's a Demon lurking there! Caw!" it reported.
"Right" Tanjuro said, hoping that he'd be able to finish this Mission soon and come back home again. So far, his Missions, as small a number as that had been, had been very successful. Little did he know, that he would soon once again meet the Demon who'd tried to destroy his family's lives.