Chapter 47: Inherited Memories

Notes: Part 1 of 2. I am…implying here that Tanjirou is, along with Muichirou, a descendant of the Tsugikuni family. I agonized over this decision, because I have been trying to avoid making Tanjirou OP, but considering how in canon Tanjurou's got a natural talent for Sun Breathing, and how Muichoro's father bears a slight resemblance to Tanjirou, it makes it easy to interpret things either way. Here, while Tanjirou has a slightly easier time with Sun Breathing, it is still hard for him and that can be explained as him being the sum of his ancestors, carrying not only Yoriichi's legacy, but also Sumiyoshi's. I also always found it interesting that the only memories he saw where Sumiyoshi's with Yoriichi, but not of the moment he was saved from a demon – there were all peaceful moments between the two; Sumire's birth and Yoriichi's goodbye. So I'm making Tanjirou a descendant of the Tsugikuni family, but closer to Sumiyoshi's side of the family, since he sees mainly through Sumiyoshi's eyes, allowing me some peace of mind. And I thought that giving them that connection, brought the story, Yoriichi's story, a full circle.

Tanjirou opened his eyes.

'A blue sky? Is it dawn? No. That can't be right… Huh? I can't smell at all.' he looked around him, 'Is that…our house? No…It's kinda similar, but the shape is a bit different…Smaller.' he looked down, 'What am I doing here? …Cutting the fire wood? Or was I staring at the blue sky?'

Suddenly, he felt a tag at his pants.

He looked down and saw a small girl, with black hair held with a pink bow, black-pink eyes, wearing a purple kimono and a light pink obi.

"Da–ddy…"

'Da…daddy? Did you just call me daddy?' Tanjirou was freaking out.

"Ah… Aaah…" the little girl pointed to something at her left.

Tanjirou turned and saw a young man standing in the shadows.

'The original Breath user. Then he must be Yoriichi-san.' he realised, 'Why is he so sad?'

"Ah! Yoriichi-san! Hello! How are you? Come sit with us! Should I make some tea?"

Tanjirou's mouth opened and words spilled out, but that wasn't his voice. He blinked.

"No, thank you." Yoriichi-san said, as he sat down on the engawa, Tanjirou and the girl, sitting down beside him.

"There's something…I need to talk about…" Yoriichi-san said, breaking the silence, "I've been thinking about it for a while now…and what came across my mind is just both Suyako's and yours faces…"

'Maybe he can teach me how to use the thirteenth form…?'

"It's been two years now… And I'm really glad to see you in a good shape…" he replied, "Sumire was just a baby back then. And now she's already this big…" he said, picking up the young girl in his arms.

'Eh? What? What? Umm… I can't talk at all… I can't even move at my own will… Of course! There's no doubt that this is the memory of my ancestor, Sumiyoshi… I can't do anything right now…'

"I'm glad to see you happy too… Being able to see others happy, is making me happy too…"

Both Sumiyoshi and Tanjirou caught the melancholy in his voice.

"Everything is…beautiful in this world… And I'm really grateful to be born in this world… My mother was a religious woman… She spent her life praying everyday so there wouldn't be any disasters." Yoriichi-san started saying.

For some reason, Tanjirou saw a young, beautiful woman praying before an altar.

"I couldn't hear answers from the God of the Sun…but I knew that she always prayed for a warm light. She even made these earrings as an amulet… I felt really sorry for having her worrying about me all the time…since I can't speak up honestly… My brother was really a nice person. He really cared about me. One day, after father beat him hard…he made me a flute and gave it to me. 'Blow it whenever you need help… I will come to help you… So, don't worry about a thing and smile…' he had told me. Since I was an unwanted child…I ran away from home right after mother died. I heard I was planned to be put in the temple to become a monk…but I never went there. I wanted to live freely…under this beautiful blue sky…"

Tanjirou could see the images, the scenes of what Yoriichi-san was saying. He could see Yoriichi-san's mother, he knew, instinctively, that his brother, his twin brother's name was Michikatsu. As if…

"So I kept running… Running and running every single day… And I didn't stop until I felt exhausted… Then around the mountain I found a small rice field…and somebody was standing over there… It was a girl about the same age as me… She was just standing still holding a bucket. Then I asked her what's she doing…"

"All of my family is dead because of some epidemic… I'm all alone now… I just take some tadpoles and then return them again…" she replied.

"After saying that she just stood there without saying a word. Right before the sun went down…she set free all those tadpoles into the rice field."

"You do return them back, don't you?" young Yoriichi-san asked the girl.

"Yes…I feel bad for those little ones since they might get separated from their family…"

"Then let's go home together…"

"Really?" she turned to look at him with tears in her eyes.

"Her eyes were like gems… Her name was Uta… Uta and I lived together after that. I came to know that Uta was a girl who kept talking all day…" Yoriichi-san was saying, looking at the sky, "I knew it… I knew the way my eyes see the world is a bit different from others. Looks like there were no one who could see the transparent world like I did… For the first time ever, I came to realise that my vision was my ability. Uta always…held my hand, like holding something so precious… She really held mine tightly. After ten years being together we became a couple… Soon Uta would give birth to our child… So, to prepare for the childbirth, I went to look for a midwife. I promised Uta, before I left, that I will come home before sunset."

Tanjirou didn't need to hear, to see, what happened next. He was sure it was…tragic. But he was relieving Sumiyoshi's and Yoriichi-san's memories. He couldn't do anything else.

"On the way home I met an old man who had walked three mountains… He looked like he was at his limit… He said he just wanted to meet his son who is dying because of the war… I carried the old man to his son's place… After that, I rushed to home since the midwife would arrive at home at morning. I ran as fast as possible… The sun was no longer at the sky. And when I had arrived… Uta and our baby had been killed…" Yoriichi-san lowered his head, "You know…no matter how you valued your life…somebody out there…could lightly crush it down in an instant… I kept gently holding my wife's and my kid's body for ten days… And then a demon hunter, who had been tracing a demon…came to my house and expressed his condolences for me and my family. It was my dream…to live such a happy peaceful life…in a small house, together with my wife and my son. A place where I could see my loved ones every time… Where I could hold their hands…and hug them. Enough day dreaming… No matter what I do…my dream will never happen. Demons, they do…exist and live in this beautiful world…" he was saying, Tanjirou understanding why his voice always sounded so sad, "I had decided to become a demon hunter… These people had been fighting demons since long time ago. I taught them how to use the Breath techniques, since none of them could use it… The demon hunters called the Pillars were very strong… The Wind Breath, the Water Breath, the Lightning Breath, the Flame Breath and the Rock Breath were developed from the Sun Breathing techniques…and each of the breath forms were upgraded at a fast rate… The demon hunters are now able to kill a strong demon… My brother had been attacked by a demon, too. So, he became a demon hunter too, helping each other." he paused for a moment, "Years later…I finally met the boss of all the demons… The moment I encountered him…I…I then realised the purpose of my life was…only to kill this man…" he said with a calm passion.