Tanjiro remembered the first time he'd learned about his nose. Most people didn't have a strong sense of smell. It was one of the weaker senses a person had. Tanjiro was young when he learned that he was different. He could smell a lot better than most. He could smell the food from inside the house. He could smell the birds that stopped by the window sill to sing Good Morning. It was strange at first, but that was only the start of it.

Eventually, when he got a little older, he realized that if he concentrated, he could smell strange things on people. Sometimes, Mother would smell like daisies, even though they didn't have any nearby, or his Nezuko would smell of apples, even when winter had stripped the trees bare. Tanjiro didn't know what it meant. He asked his father and was given a surprising answer: "Emotions." His father had said in the soft and kind voice he'd always used. "What you're smelling is probably our emotions, Tanjiro."

"Emotions?" Tanjiro had asked, watching his father nod slowly. His father had been thinner back then, and the beginning signs of sickness had been showing. That's probably why his father's voice had been trained. It must've been hard for him to speak: "Yes, emotions. That would explain what you're smelling. You must have a good nose."

Tanjiro hadn't bought it at first. It sounded farfetched, but upon noticing his skepticism, his father had rolled up his sleeve, showcasing his bone-thin arm, and extended it, "Here, Tanjiro. Try it on me. Tell me what you smell."

Tanjiro had abided, closing his eyes and leaning close to his father's arm to get a good sniff. It had taken a couple of moments, mainly because his father's scent was so much fainter than his mother's or Nezuko's, but he eventually got it.

"A plant..."

His father smelt like a frail plant with deep roots in the soil. Tanjiro couldn't describe it any other way, and when he opened his eyes, he realized his father didn't look surprised. He was only smiling, "Do you see any plants nearby, Tanjiro?"

Tanjiro blinked, looking around the snow-covered mountainside. They had been on the porch, and it didn't take long to notice that any plant life had been culled for the winter months. The trees only had bark, and it had already been a month since the first snowfall. It was too long for the smell to be any lingering plant life.

"No... I don't."

"Then it's proven. You can smell emotions," his father said, and Tanjiro agreed. Smelling emotions at first had been difficult, but Tanjiro figured he'd get better in the future. It helped that everyone seemed to have their own scent. His mother smelled of daises and Nezuko of apples, and his father smelled like a plant. Tanjiro couldn't smell his own scent, but a part of him hoped it was like theirs. Tanjiro liked how his family smelled. They always smelled happy.

"Why..."

Unlike the stranger with a two-toned haori who was currently standing before Tanjiro.

"The demon..."

This man only smelt of sadness.

"Why did you protect her?" The man's voice broke Tanjiro out of his trance. Tanjiro blinked away the memories that flashed through his mind as the man's faint scent, reminiscent of a lake about to freeze over, was lost and replaced by the blood clinging to his sister's close. Tanjiro remained silent; he sort of shut down after the man asked why he was protecting Nezuko. Tanjiro's mind was stuck on the word he used: demon. The man called Nezuko a demon.

"Sister..."

The ones that Saburo warned about.

"She's my younger sister," Tanjiro mumbled as he tried to divide his attention between restraining Nezuko and keeping one eye on the man. Tanjiro succeeded briefly, subtly clenching his teeth as he kept the struggling Nezuko in place before his heart stopped as he heard the man's near-silent voice: "She isn't your sister anymore."

Tanjiro's eyes widened wildly as he watched the man's blade shift. Tanjiro panicked, his eyes closed as he curled around Nezuko, hoping to protect her with his body from an attack that never came. When Tanjiro's head had dipped to the ground, his sister was gone. Tanjiro was holding nothing.

"She's a demon."

One frantic and stunned look upwards showed that the man was now holding her. Locking her hands behind her back in a tight grip as she raged futilely against him. Tanjiro's eyes widened in surprise and desperately yelled, "Nezuko!" Trying to stand up and race to her side before the man gave a blunt warning: "Stop." Before pointing his sword at Nezuko's neck.

"Don't come any closer."

Tanjro froze instantly, his breath in his throat and his eyes trembling in terror. He watched helplessly as the man's blade hovered an inch from Nezuko's skin. The man's scent and his expression never changed, but his words seemed different. There was a hint of softness: "Your sister is a demon."

Tanjiro didn't have time to try to ascertain what the softness was, whether guilt, sympathy, or regret. The man's sword had shifted away from his sister, but his grip never loosened. "She became a demon because demon blood got in her system. She's already eaten multiple people."

It got stronger.

"I'm a demon slayer. I must ensure she doesn't devour anyone else."

Tanjiro was barely able to figure out the man's intention in time. The man had turned around, murmuring, 'I won't make you watch.' Before Tanjiro yelled out frantically, "Wait! She didn't eat anyone! I smelled someone else in our house. It wasn't her!"

Tanjiro watched the man stiffen. The man's escape halted as the man's blue eyes locked on to Tanjiro's without any of the disbelief Tanjiro had expected. It was more of a silent surprise, with a patient curiosity that Tanjro didn't hesitate to supply. He stammered out hopefully, "I- I'm not lying. I smelled it!"

Tanjiro couldn't let the man leave—not with Nezuko. If that happened, Tanjiro felt he'd never see her again. Tanjro had to convince the man that his sister hadn't eaten anyone, not only because her life was at stake but also because it was true. Tanjiro had smelled the traces of someone else at the cabin.

"S- someone was there!"

Their scent had stained the scars on the walls and the dismembered corpses of his family members. They smelled like a blood-soaked lily flower.

"It, It smelled like a stranger."

It was one of the most vile and twisted things Tanjiro had ever smelled, and he couldn't forget it.

"They killed my family. Not her! Nezuko hasn't eaten anyone!" Tanjiro pleaded, his breath coming out in barely controlled bursts as he kept his eyes glued on his sister. Any second now, the man might kill her. The man might run away any second, and Tanjro would lose her. The man had taken Nezuko in an instant earlier. Tanjiro hadn't even seen it.

"Even if that is true, your sister is still a demon. She'll keep trying to eat humans."

Tanjro was terrified the man would vanish again, this time with Nezuko in tow. The man would vanish, and Nezuko would die. Tanjiro would be left alone. Tanjiro... didn't have anyone else anymore... Nezuko... Nezuko was all that was left.

"I can't allow her to live," the man said, shaking Tanjiro out of his terror with the force of an earthquake. Tanjiro collapsed to his knees as he saw the man turn away. Tanjiro's eyes frantically trained on Nezuko before he did the only thing he could.

"Please!"

Tanjiro dipped his forehead into the snow and begged. His voice trembling with fear as tears fell from his eyes, "Please don't kill her! I'll find the one who did this! I'll cure her! So please," Tanjiro's voice broke, his breath coming out in panicked huffs as he begged, "She won't eat anyone. I'll make sure she won't eat anyone. I promise..."

Tanjiro's mind was racing, his heart was pounding, and his ears were ringing. He'd never been more terrified, yet everything he spoke was the truth. He'd find the demon that killed his family. He'd turn Nezuko back into a human. He'd do anything to save his sister.

"Sh- She knows who I am. She won't hurt anyone. She would never hurt anyone, so please..."

Tanjiro would beg and grovel if that was what it took.

"Please don't kill my sister." Tanjiro pleaded, his tears staining the snow inches from his nose. He didn't dare look up. He was afraid of what he would see. He was terrified that he'd look up and Nezuko would be dead. The only reason Tanjiro was confident that the man was still listening was his scent. Tanjiro would still smell it, the still winter lake. Waiting. Patiently.

Until it suddenly stopped being patient. Tanjiro nearly jolted in surprise as he noticed the scent, which had never been anything other than painful, shift. It changed; a hint of another emotion burst through the surface, and once Tanjiro heard the man yell, he realized what it was. It was the first thing Tanjiro had smelt from the man besides indescribable despair.

"What are you doing!"

Anger.


Giyuu had been in a haze since his master died.

Giyuu didn't know how to explain it, nor did he care to, but if he had to describe it, he'd consider it to feel like he felt less... less of everything. Numb. He couldn't tell how many days passed or how many hours he spent simply moving his body for the sake of it. He would blink sometimes, and dawn would turn to dusk, his mission completed and his feet moving to the next. He felt muted since his master died; the only real thing keeping him connected to the world was his crow's voice. The one he had followed to a cabin in the woods, covered in snow and blood.

Again, innocents had died. Again, it could have been prevented if he arrived quicker.

Unfortunately, Giyuu didn't have time to bury them. He'd noticed footprints leading out into the woods. Giyuu followed them, leading him to a familiar sight: a demon. She was taller than the boy, an inch from tearing his lungs out. The only thing stopping her was the axe he held between them like a barrier. She was a demon, a strong one. She must've eaten the family.

Giyuu acted, unsheathing his sword and aiming to chop the demon's head off in one breath. Everything moved accordingly until the boy noticed and tackled his sister out of the way. Giyuu barely had time to adjust his strike, so it only took a few inches off the boy's hair and not his head. Giyuu asked why, and the boy answered, obviously confused.

Giyuu took it upon himself to explain what was going on.

It was a tragic story but a familiar one. Not even an uncommon one. The boy's sister had turned into a demon and slaughtered the boy's family. Giyuu tried to take the girl away so the boy wouldn't have to see it, but the boy tried to bargain. To plea. To keep his sister alive, and while the boy tried to argue that the girl hadn't eaten anyone, it didn't change what had to be done. The demon had to die before it killed anyone. Giyuu tried to leave once again.

"Please!"

The boy's desperate voice stopped him.

Please don't kill her! I'll find the one who did this! I'll cure her! So please..."

The sight of the boy with his head touching the snow-covered ground, kowtowing as he begged for his sister's life, had stopped Giyuu's escape. The boy's sobs had caught Giyuu's attention and dragged some emotions out of his chest for the first time in the long months since Urokodaki's death.

"She won't eat anyone. I'll make sure she won't eat anyone. I promise..."

For the first time since he buried his master, the world seemed to be back in color, and Giyuu could feel something other than numb.

"Sh- She knows who I am. She won't hurt anyone. She would never hurt anyone, so please..."

Giyuu felt irritated.

"Please don't kill my sister."

Even when he started screaming, he wasn't sure why.

"What are you doing?" Giyuu yelled, his words startling himself and the boy. At first, Giyuu couldn't figure out why he was angry. It was difficult to explain, but as he watched the boy lift his head up with tears streaming down his shocked eyes, it became a little clearer—a little less shocking—when a vein bulged in his head, and he began berating the boy's actions one by one.

"You can't claim authority over anything with your groveling. Will you cure her? Pathetic!"

Giyuu was angry because the boy's look was familiar. The boy's words were understandable, and Giyuu could sympathize with them. He hated it.

"Even if demons did know how to cure her, do you think they would give it to you if you begged?"

Giyuu hated that the boy was crying, that he was late to save the boy's family, and that there was nothing he could do now.

"If begging were any bit more effective, your family wouldn't be dead in the first place!"

Giyuu hated that he knew the boy's pain. Goyuu hated that he knew all the boy wanted to do was curl up into a ball and sob, cry, and mourn his family and misfortune. But the boy would die if he did that if he was too weak to fight back. Giyuu ensured the boy knew that by pointing his sword at the boy's axe and shouting, "Why didn't you pick up your axe? Why didn't you fight back!"

Giyuu felt the demon struggling in his hand, trying to break free and eat her brother. He gnashed his teeth and held on tightly. Giyuu kept his heated gaze on the boy's stunned expression. Giyuu knew it would hurt; it always hurt, but it was necessary.

"Why didn't you kill me to save your sister!"

The boy couldn't give up here. He'd drown.

"Why did you just give up and let me take her!"

Demons didn't care for tragedy, misery, or heartbreak. They culled the weak and strong alike. The strong had a fighting chance. The weak didn't. The boy couldn't be weak, not if he wanted to survive beyond this tragedy.

"How are you going to protect her like that!"

Not unless the boy wanted to end up like Giyuu, a weakling who survived off twisted luck and the deaths of others.

"How are you going to save her like that!"

No, Giyuu wouldn't let that happen. He wouldn't let the boy give up and do nothing as he'd done in the final selection. So Giyuu reared his sword back, angling it towards the demon's back and stabbing it through. The boy's scream of protest was wrenching as the girl's blood splattered across the snow. Giyuu tossed the girl to the ground, knowing she would be too busy healing herself to interfere.

"Nezuko!"

The boy's enraged roar pulled Giyuu's attention away from the demon. Giyuu turned and saw the boy get up, sprinting to the side before he picked up a few rocks off the ground and threw them at Giyuu. Giyuu blocked them as the boy ducked behind a tree, charging immediately after he was on the other side. The boy's axe was hidden behind him as he charged recklessly.

Idiot...

Giyuu frowned slightly as he leveled the hilt of his blade into the boy's shoulder, knocking him to the ground in an instant. Giyuu couldn't even hold back his disappointment as he watched the boy crumble to the ground, unconscious. It was disappointing.

Fighting without a plan is the same as suicide.

It was so disappointing that Giyuu almost didn't notice the boy's missing axe—not until he finally realized that the boy's hands were empty. Giyuu's reflexes let him tilt his head as an axe buried itself into the tree behind him—a few inches from his ear and right where his head had been a moment prior.

When did he...

It took Giyuu a moment to recognize it as the boy's doing. The boy must have thrown his axe when he ducked behind the tree, hoping to take Giyuu out after the fight was over. The boy's instincts were good—good enough to become a slayer in the future. Good enough that Giyuu was distracted, replaying the boy's actions in his head.

That was why he reacted too late when the girl growled. He looked towards the girl, his eyes wide, as he saw her shoot up with a fully healed chest. It should've taken her longer to regenerate, but before Giyuu could berate his own negligence, she had already sent a kick his way.

Shit!

Giyuu blocked it with his arm, but the force pushed him back. Far enough away, he didn't have the time to put himself between the girl and her brother. Giyuu was forced to watch, running futilely after the girl as she charged towards her defenseless brother.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

Giyuu's body felt like lead as he watched the girl tower over her brother, already knowing the horrific sight that would follow.

I'm not going to make it.

Giyuu prepared himself for the worst.

The boy's going to...

Yet nothing could have prepared him for what actually happened. His eyes widened, and his breath hitched as he watched the girl turn from her brother and glare. Giyuu nearly dropped his sword once he realized what the girl was doing—courtesy of when she began attacking him again while ignoring her defenseless brother.

She's protecting him.

The dawning suspicion became undeniable as she watched the girl crouch over her brother, growling like a cat among its kittens. The girl swiped and kicked at Giyuu but never at the boy. Whenever she got too far away, she always returned to be between Giyuu and the boy.

She must be hungry after regenerating...

Giyuu tested it. The girl never failed to prioritize her brother's safety over attacking him.

But she isn't eating.

It took Giyuu more than he would like to admit to accepting that reality—that there was a demon refusing to eat a human, refusing to eat, and instead protecting her brother. It had never happened before. Giyuu was lost for words.

She's different...

A demon that didn't eat a human when offered the chance.

They both are.

Along with a boy who wanted to save her, they were both noteworthy—enough that when Giyuu finally confirmed that the girl wouldn't eat the boy, no matter how hungry she was, he knocked her out. He should've killed her, but he didn't. Instead, he lifted her and laid her down next to her brother. The two were sleeping under the cloudy sky as Giyuu called for his crow.

"Kanzaburo..."

He heard the ruffles of old feathers and a caw echoing through the empty woods as his bird landed on his shoulder.

"CAW! Yes, Giyuu!? CAW!" Kanzaburo asked, the silence extending afterward as Giyuu took one more glimpse towards the boy and girl who were asleep. Logically, his next course of action was clear: Kill the demon as stated in the corps rules. Anything else would break it.

"I'm going to write a note. Take it to Oyakata-sama."

If Giyuu were a true hashira, he would kill the girl.

"Tell him..."

Except, Giyuu wasn't a real hashira. He was a false pillar running around with a false title, cursed to hold it until someone else could take it.

"I found a family along the mountainside where the demon was spotted. They were all slaughtered..."

Someone who could bring honor to the title of Water Pillar and honor Urokodaki's memory. Someone like Sabito.

"Only a boy survived."

Someone unlike Giyuu.