As they rested at the Wisteria House, Tanjuro received a Crow. He frowned, "another Mission?" he wondered, as his Demons heard and walked over to him. His Crow perched on his arm, "Tanjuro Kamado! Your Mission is to kill a Demon in the South that has been demanding human sacrifices for the past few months! It is a particularly crafty one, so do not let your guard down!" the Crow reported. "Alright," Tanjuro said as he stood up. He looked over his Demons, "I'm assuming all of you want to come with me?" he asked them. "Yes!" Shizu nodded. "I'll follow you no matter what Lord Tanjuro" Yukito replied.
"I wanna help you!" Sayuri said firmly. "I want to show you that you can trust me" Hakuji agreed. Tanjuro smiled gratefully, "thank you all. I just have to let my children know that I have a Mission" he replied. The Kamado Demon walked inside the Wisteria House to find Tanjiro and Nezuko. His daughter was sitting up in bed reading a book, while Tanjiro was asleep. Tanjuro smiled and knocked softly on the door. Nezuko looked up at him and smiled, "yes Dad? What is it?" she asked, placing her book down on her lap as she spoke.
"My Demons and I are going on a Mission, so I'll see you both later, okay? Rest up and heal properly. I don't want to hear about either of you pushing yourselves too hard while you're still healing, alright?" Tanjuro asked sternly. "We'll rest. Don't worry about us. You just go on your Mission, alright? We'll see you when you get back" Nezuko said with a smile. "Thank you. I'll see you later, okay?" Tanjuro asked, entering the room and kissing his daughter on her forehead. "Good luck Dad." The 12-year-old replied. Tanjuro waved at her, before leaving the room.
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The five Demons travelled to the town over 4 days. "I still can't get used to how much faster I am now. And that's without using my Breathing" Tanjuro said, as they looked over the town. "I can sense a Demon's fighting Spirit here. But it's strange. It doesn't seem to move from one spot" Hakuji said in confusion. "Well, let's go take a look around. Make sure you Shape-shift into your human forms around humans" Tanjuro ordered. They did so, and split up. Tanjuro went to the market, since that's where a lot of the gossip would be, after all, even if the Demon was in one spot, the more information they had the better.
"Excuse me?" he asked a woman working at a food shop. "Yes?" she asked, board. The woman blushed upon seeing him, and began fixing her hair, "oh, I'm sorry to be so rude! What did you want Sir?" she asked. Tanjuro cringed internally at the obvious attempt to get his attention, but stayed polite, "I've heard that there have been disappearances in this town. Would you have heard anything about that Ma'am?" he asked. "Oh, well, I don't know about any disappearances, but there are rumours that the lake outside town is haunted" she replied. "Thank you for the information Ma'am" the Demon replied, moving to walk away.
But the woman stopped him by grabbing onto his arm, "hold on, you look hungry. Why don't you stop at my shop and try our famous lunch platter meal? Udon, rice and Pork dumplings for just 2800 Yen" she said with a smile. "Thank you for the offer. But I'm very busy. And I just ate" Tanjuro replied, slipping away from the woman. After losing sight of her in the crowd, he couldn't help but shudder. He had the feeling that that woman had been trying to court him. He already had a Wife that he loved very much, thank you. Besides, he had to deal with the Demon that was causing trouble in this town.
He met up with his Demons a couple of hours later. "Alright, the lake is definitely where we should start looking for the Demon. All signs point to that being it's hiding place" Tanjuro said. Shizu nodded, "yes, that's wh-what I heard t-too" she agreed. Tanjuro smiled, "you're getting better at talking Shizu. Your children will be happy to hear that" he said happily. The black and ice-blue-haired woman smiled happily at that. "Alright, let's go. Hakuji, is the Demon still in the same place?" Tanjuro asked his newest Demon. Hakuji nodded, "yes Sir, it hasn't move at all. Surprising, since, if it sensed you, it would have run away by now" he said.
"I'm suppressing my Demonic aura. You are too, aren't you?" Tanjuro asked. The former Upper Rank 3 nodded, "I am" he confirmed. "I guess that's why" Yukito said. "I'm sorry, I'm not very good at that Mr Tanjuro" Sayuri apologized. "It's okay. You can practice later Sayuri. Let's just get this done first" Tanjuro said. The young Demon clenched her fists, "right! I'll do anything I can to help Mr Tanjuro!" she said determinedly. "Alright. Let's get to that lake everyone" Tanjuro said.
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Tanjuro and his Demons ran to the lake ass the sun set, the Demonic presence getting stronger as they did. Tanjuro growled threateningly at sensing the Demon. Thankfully it didn't seem like a strong one. The quicker he killed this, the quicker he could get back to his Wife. Once they arrived, Tanjuro drew his sword and looked around. The water was filthy, polluted by blood, and torn clothing scraps. And his veins bulged in his anger at it. The Kamado Father could feel the Demon's presence hiding under the water. "So, what should we do Lord Tanjuro?" Hakuji asked, keeping his senses open. "It doesn't seem to be around here" Sayuri said, looking around the forest clearing.
"Yes. That only leaves the possibility of it being in the lake itself" Tanjuro agreed. "When I was searching for information, the Villagers told me that the lake was haunted. People went in and didn't come out again" Yukito explained. Tanjuro crouched at the edge of the water, "so, it's in the water, huh?" he asked softly. He stood up, "alright. You all stay here and keep a look out. Stand around the circumference of the lake. I'll go in and take a look. If the Demon tries to escape, I need you to stop it" Tanjuro ordered.
"Y-yes Sir?" Shizu replied. The Kamado Demon nodded and jumped into the water. He looked around. The blood and clothing made it hard to see in the lake, but Tanjuro spread out his senses. There! The Demon seemed to be in an underwater cave of some kind. He headed towards it, wondering if it came out into a cavern, or if the Demon was purely aquatic. He hoped he could take care of it quickly, so there wouldn't be anymore victims. The Demon King swam up into an underwater cavern, and emerged into an open space. So, it looked like it did open up into a cave.
As he climbed out of the water, he growled. Lining the walls were an assortment of dead bodies, looking almost pickled. There wasn't just one kind either. There were men, woman, and the unmistakable small bodies of children. Tanjuro felt his anger growing as he saw more children among the food supply than any other body, and he explored around the area. No living victims. And no Demon either. That meant that it had probably just left to hunt. But they would have noticed it leaving. Unless there was a second exit to this lair. Tanjuro explored around some more, and found a smaller opening. It was only big enough for a child to get through. So either the Demon could shrink like his Wife, or. Tanjuro felt a chill go through him. Was the Demon itself a child?
A feeling of fury swept through him, as he imagined someone like Sayuri, only with no redeeming qualities. He felt his hatred for Muzan growing stronger. Suddenly the smaller pool began to ripple, and Tanjuro hid and watched. A small Demon boy popped out of the pool, climbing out into the cave with an obviously dead man slung over his shoulder. "Another friend! I have so many now! And once I eat them, we can all play together!" he squealed excitedly. Tanjuro felt equal parts disgusted and pity. This poor boy had obviously been far too young to become a Demon. He seemed to be only 7-years-old.
He didn't understand what he was really doing to these people. He just wanted friends. Tanjuro crushed down his rage and sadness at the Demon boy. It was Muzan's fault. All he could do was put this poor boy out of his misery. And maybe, he would find some kind of peace in the afterlife. As the boy moved to place his newest catch against the wall with the others, Tanjuro leapt out of his hiding place, his sword aglo with flames. The Demon boy turned around to see him, and he saw confused green eyes widen for an instant. Then his head was cut off, and the Demon's body fell to the ground.
Tanjuro sighed and sheathed his sword. He looked down at the crumbling head of the child Demon. "Why? I only wanted friends?" he asked, tears welling up in his eyes. Tanjuro knelt down in front of him, "I'm sorry. But you were killing people. And you didn't have any friends, everyone you brought here was already dead" he apologized softly. "But-! But He said I could have lots of friends if I became a Demon! He said I wouldn't be alone anymore!" the boy sobbed. Tanjuro pat him on the head sadly, "I know. He lied to you. I'm sorry" he replied. The boy's head faded to ashes with tears running down his cheeks, as his body finished disintegrating too.
Tanjuro sighed and stood up, looking over all of the dead bodies in the cave. Their families shouldn't have to see them like that. He decided to cremate the bodies and burned them all with his flames. One thing he'd discovered about them, was that they only burned what he wanted them to burn. So if he didn't want to hurt someone, they wouldn't. Soon, all of the bodies were gone, and Tanjuro headed back out of the cave.
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Up around the lake, Tanjuro's Demons waited for him to return. And it wasn't anymore than half an hour later that he climbed out of the muck. "Lord Tanjuro! Did you find the Demon?" Yukito asked. Tanjuro sighed and closed his eyes, "yes. But I don't want to talk about it. I just want to leave and take a bath" he replied. "Okay. Let's go home then Mr Tanjuro" Sayuri said softly. The group of Demons then left the area, with Tanjuro mourning the poor Demon boy's fate.