Chapter Eight: A Son's Return

It took another six hours for Tanjiro to reach Urokodaki's hut. The old man was so glad to see him that he hugged the young man and actually cried.

"I am glad that you returned safely." He said.

"I didn't use any Chakra as you instructed me, sensei." Tanjiro said.

Urokodaki ruffled his hair with affection.

Tanjiro told him everything about his experience in Mount Fujikasane and Hand-Demon. Sakonji was amazed how he was able to slay all the demons of the mountain. He told Tanjiro that Ubuyashiki, the leader of the Demon Slayer Corps, was looking forward to meeting Tanjiro. Tanjiro asked Urokodaki's permission for visiting his family which the old man graciously granted. Tanjiro, once again, insisted to the old man that he should come with him, but Urokodaki declined the offer.

Tanjiro stayed two days at his master's house before setting out for his home. He told Urokodaki that he will be back in ten days.

Before he set off for his home, he went to the place where he trained with Sabito. The boulder was there. But neither Sabito, nor Makomo were present there. Come to think of it, they never came to him when he was at hundred percent. They only appeared when he was exhausted. Sabito even told him not to use Chakra in their spar. According to him, it is cheating. But he also said that using Chakra against a friend in spar is cheating, not against demons in life-threatening situations. It makes sense.

"Senpai," he spoke. "Makomo-san, I have avenged you." He bowed. "Thank you for training and staying with me all this time. You have helped me to become a better swordsman and now I perfectly understand what it means to be a Demon Slayer now and I will never forget what you did for me. Rest in peace, my friends."

And with that, he turned and started to walk away.

If he had looked back, he would have seen almost twenty children standing in the woods, fading away with an identical smile on each face.

"No, Tanjiro," Sabito softly said as he was fading away. "Thank you."

~• •~

"Onii-chan!" Shouted an excited Nezuko, who was sewing something sitting on the doorstep, as she saw him.

"Nezuko!" Tanjiro gave her his best smile. 'Wait… how did she distinguish me from the rest of my clones? Does she have a special sensory ability too? Maybe it is because of my different attire.' "How has been my favourite sibling?" He asked as he hugged her and regretted it instantly.

"Do we mean nothing to you?" Hanako, who was sitting beside their mother on a futon, said as she sniffed.

"Uhh…" he became nervous. He teleported right next to her and brought her into a bone crushing hug."There, there. Sorry, Hanako-chan, I didn't mean it. Slip of tongue, dattebayo."

"Can..can't…" the poor girl struggled. "Breathe…"

"Oops! Sorry, Hanako-chan!" He bowed a perfect ninety degree, but hitting the girl on her temple in the process. "Please…"

"Tanjiro!" He heard his mother shouting. "What are you doing!"

Tanjiro looked at his unconscious sister and paled. He got down on his knees and immediately started to treat her with medical Chakra. Sakura taught him basic medical techniques after the Fourth Great Shinobi War. According to her, a Kage must possess all sorts of knowledge. you never know when you need what.

"I am very very very very sorry sorry. I'm a crazy big idiot! Big big big big big crazy...!" Tanjiro continued.

"Big brother, I'm fine." Hanako said as she sat up. "Like mom, we all have hard foreheads. Can we be unconscious so easily? You will need a hammer to knock us out." The girl gave a small smile.

"True." He smiled sheepishly. He turned to his mother who was inspecting him from top to bottom. "Ah… mom? You can stop doing that. I am fine."

"It looks like Urokodaki-san has taken good care of your diet." Kie stopped at Tanjiro's face and cupped his cheeks with her hands and kissed on his forehead. "I missed you so much!"

"Me too, mom."

"Welcome home, son."

~• •~

After eating about five bowls of ramen, Tanjiro made a low noise so that no one could hear. But luckily, his youngest brother Rokuta overheard and imitated him, which made the rest of his family laugh for quite some time.

When he finished eating, he took out some things from his bag and placed them on the ground. "I brought you some presents. They are not that expensive, I'm sorry." He said. "I got some money for being a Demon Slayer. Once I start getting missions I will get more money."

"Come on, onii-chan," said Nezuko. "You don't need to bring gifts for us. We don't want anything from you. We just want you to be happy."

"Well," Tanjiro smiled. "Seeing you happy makes me happy. Now, back to the gifts!"

He brought some kimonos for his mom and sisters, which they gladly accepted. For each of his siblings, he brought some pen and books, containing primary knowledge that everyone ought to know. He said that his clones will teach them how to read and write. They were awestruck at the quantity of gifts. Plus they were not cheap at all. The books should cost more than they could afford a few months ago.

"This was unnecessary," retorted Nezuko. "You shouldn't have brought so many things."

"Yes, dear," agreed their mother. "These books are very costly. I doubt we could afford them a few months ago. Some candies or sweets would have been fine."

"You know," Tanjiro became thoughtful for a moment. "When I was in Konoha, I grew up as an orphan. I had no one who could teach me how to read and write. So I had to learn everything all by myself, but it was never enough. In the end, when I became an adult, I struggled a lot with paperwork and finances. It was simply because I lacked my basic knowledge of pretty much everything. So when I had kids, Boruto and Himawari, I brought these exact same kinds of books for them. So these might be a little expensive, but compared to the memories and the value of them, they are definitely not unnecessary, believe it."

The other occupants of the room remained silent for a moment, looking at the watery eyes of the eldest Kamado sibling, or a responsible guardian.

"If that's what you think is right," Nezuko finally said with a smile. "We will believe you."

Tanjiro smiled back.

"Yeah onii-chan!" Hanako said cheerfully. "We will study."

"Hai!" Shigeru said as Takeo nodded. The youngest Kamado sibling clapped at the enthusiasm.

"Thanks guys!" Tanjiro stood up "YOSH! Who's up for studying?"

Immediately all the enthusiasm was gone. Kie Kamado giggled at the scene.

~• •~

Tanjiro resumed his duties of charcoal selling. The residents of the town were so happy to see him that it took only three hours for all his goods to be sold out. He was greeted by everyone whether they bought charcoal or not. Tanjiro went to the town five times before Nezuko insisted she should go instead of him.

During his stay at home, Tanjiro taught his siblings a lot of things; such as: arithmetic, the most basic history of Japan and most importantly- how to read. Nezuko and Takeo progressed the most in maths and history. Hanako and Shigeru struggled with maths and history respectively but they were able to grasp most of the Japanese alphabets. Rokuta was simply too young to learn anything, but Kie took the responsibility of teaching him. In her youth, she learned a thing or two from her parents, thus she took no time learning everything.

Tanjiro taught his sisters how to sew sweaters from wool. She had a knack for making sweaters which impressed everyone. Nezuko thought that it would be a great idea to sew sweaters and to sell them in the town. It was not the winter season, but it was cold nonetheless, thus it was actually a good idea. Tanjiro brought some wool from the town and gave her the raw materials. She could make three sweaters per day, which was damn impressive. Their mother also seemed interested in the business, thus she joined Nezuko in making sweaters. It turned out that she could make four to five per day, which encouraged Nezuko to hone her skills further.

Tanjiro showed his siblings the basics of the Hummingbird taijutsu style. Takeo excelled at it as he was quite energetic unlike others. Tanjiro decided that he would give his clones the task of mentoring them as his time with them was coming to an end.

Before heading back to Urokodaki, Tanjiro gave each family member a wooden kunai, on which his previous life's father, Minato Namikaze's Flying Thunder God formula was written. He told them to rip the formula off whenever they needed him and he would come to aid immediately. He got this idea from Urokodaki's passion for wood art. So he had been making these kunais ever since he saw the old man making things out of wood.

Tanjiro shared a long family hug before heading back to his sensei. The special katana along with his uniform should be arriving in two days.

It's time to save some people and slay some demons.

Huh, he is not only a shinobi, but a slayer too. So he is a shinobi who slays.

Author Note: Next chapter is coming soon with a lot of fun and surprises!

Add to favorite and follow. Don't forget to review!