Episode 13: You gotta keep going
The biggest issue Tanjiro found was that clearly, he needed medical attention. He had all sorts of cuts and bruises, along with his sliced shoulder. Of course there was a problem, he couldn't exactly bring Nezuko along or else she and maybe him too would be killed.
So what was the solution to this problem? The genius plan that Tanjiro Kamado could think of on the spot?
"Nezuko stay here." Tanjiro says to Nezuko.
You see the Kakushi had arrived after the fight and was coming to take the boys to the wisteria house seeing their injuries. On their way through a peaceful town Tanjiro had asked for a quick bathroom break and had used it to take Nezuko out and tell her to wait here.
Nezuko pouts a little, not wanting to be separated from Tanjiro after just getting to be with him for a day. But she understands why and runs off into a woods.
Tanjiro smiles and walks back to the very impatient Kakushi.
Hours later
The boys arrive at the Wisteria house where Dai gives Tanjiro a death glare before helping them to their rooms. Yahaba and Susumaru were given quick check ups but were otherwise fine and ready to go back out.
"Okay, Mr. Hariken you'll be healing for a few days before you can start rehabilitation training, Mr. Hashibira you'll begin shortly after him, and Mr. Kamado, you'll begin in just two days." Monomoto says as she looks at the boys.
"Why am I starting after just two days?" Tanjiro asks nervously.
"You should heal faster with your breathing, also I worry Dai will kill you in your sleep if you annoyed him for too long like last time." She replies.
Tanjiro just chuckles and scratches the back of his head when Zenitsu speaks up. "W-wait what about me?"
"Oh actually, Mr. Agatsuma you have practically no injuries and so you'll just be here for a day of rest before you may continue on your slayer duties." Monomoto says.
"...WHAT?! YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME! I CAN'T GO BACK OUT THERE! I'LL DIE!" Zenitsu screams as he shakes in his bed. "Genji! Break my arm so I don't have to go!"
Genji just glares. "If I could, I would."
"AHHHH!" Zenitsu screams and wails.
Days later
"Wow that's not not nearly as bad as I remember it being!" Tanjiro says with a smile. Behind him Inosuke and Genji walk out as if they're already dead.
Genji lays down on the hospital bed and croaks out. "Kill...me."
Inosuke passes out on impact with the bed and lays there like a statue.
"I think I'll go for a walk." Tanjiro says as he starts to walk throughout the Wisteria house. After a few minutes of walking he recognizes someone.
"Hey Ume!" Tanjiro greets as he runs up to her.
Ume looks over and smiles a little seeing Tanjiro but also looks confused. "You're back already? What happened?"
"Oh me and a couple of other slayers went on a mission together against this strong demon. Took some higher ranked slayers to take him down." Tanjiro explains.
"Oh, when do you think you'll be able to return to slaying?" Ume asks.
"Hmm, maybe in a couple of days? No more than a week, my only real injury is the cut on my shoulder." Tanjiro explains.
"Alright then, as much fun as it is to spar you, I'd prefer if you stayed out of here for a couple of days at least." Ume says with a chuckle.
"Yeah my bad." Tanjiro smiles.
"So you wanna train for a bit?" Ume asks.
"Yeah sure, I got way too much energy to rest now!" Tanjiro says excitedly.
"Good, I'll be out there in a few minutes." Ume says as rushes off to grab her sword.
Tanjiro grins and races to grab his own weapon and clothes.
three days later
Eren is walking through the demon slayer headquarters excitedly. He was declared perfectly healthy today and was permitted to return to his duties starting tomorrow. Since he was declared healed Tanjiro decided to explore this area of the demon slayer Corp.
Tanjiro walks forward and finds himself at a graveyard. Every single one of them once a fellow demon slayer who had fought for humanity.
Tanjiro's eyes turn sadder as he looks upon these statues. They had fought with their very lives in risk and died for it. They died before Muzan could be killed.
Tanjiro grits his teeth as he says his name. "Muzan Kubutsuji, I will kill you."
"That's quite a declaration. Do you really think you'll be able to do it?" A kind voice asks.
Tanjiro turns around to find the owner of the voice, a beautiful woman in her mid twenties with black hair and purple eyes. She has a kind face that almost makes you want to apologize even if you didn't do a thing. She is wearing a long black kimono with a white haori.
"Who are you?" Tanjiro asks.
The woman smiles. "How rude of me, I seem to have forgotten my manners. My name is Tamayo Ubuyashiki. It's pleasant to meet you young Kamado."
If it wasn't for her beautiful smile maybe Tanjiro would've questioned how Tamayo knew his name. "It's nice to meet you as well Ms. Tamayo."
"Oh there's no need for that. Just call me Tamayo." She says with a chuckle.
Tanjiro sniffs and tenses up as he smells demon. He turns and spots a figure with a hood over his head and a long cloak over his entire body, like how a demon would survive in the daylight.
"Tamayo get back! There's a demon!" Tanjiro yells as he pulls out his sword.
Tamayo laughs. "Oh he's no demon. That's my bodyguard, Yuishiro Sabanto. Sorry for the misunderstanding, he's rather quiet and his skin is so pale he gets sunburned easily. For that many people assume he's a demon."
"Why does he smell like one?!" Tanjiro demands, still holding his sword.
"Well you see Yuishiro is my sworn bodyguard. He takes his role very seriously, so he even makes sure to get demon scent over him at all times incase a demon somehow gets to the headquarters. If the demon just smelled another demon they wouldn't worry." Tamayo explains gently. Yuishiro himself turns towards Tanjiro but quickly decides he is not a threat and turns away.
"Oh...I apologize deeply Ms. Tamayo! And you as well Mr. Sabanto!" Tanjiro bows deeply as he proclaims his apologize.
"There is no reason to be so formal. How about we have some tea?" Tamayo asks with a smile.
Transition
Tanjiro takes a sip of the newly poured tea and his eyes widen. "This is delicious Tamayo!"
Tamayo herself laughs. "Yes, I pride myself on my tea. It's one of my only hobbies since I get rather busy."
"Oh what do you do?" Tanjiro asks innocently as he begins to drink his tea.
"I am the leader of the demon slayer corp." Tamayo says simply as Tanjiro spits out the tea and coughs.
"W-wait you're the leader of the demon slayer corp?!" Tanjiro asks incredulously.
"Yes, did you think it'd be someone different?" Tamayo teases a little as she sips her tea.
"I didn't know who to expect..." Tanjiro admits. 'Honestly I thought whoever was the strongest would be the leader...wait...DOES SHE KNOW ABOUT NEZUKO?!'
"The demon brat? Nah I don't really care. The master already knows but hasn't called for her yet. My guess is that she's seeing if she's actually trustworthy before she leaves her in the presence of other slayers."*
Tanjiro sweats nervously but attempts to keep calm. 'Depending on her impression of me...this could decide Nezuko's fate!'
Tamayo notices the small change in Tanjiro. "Are you okay Tanjiro? Is the tea bad?"
"N-no it's fine- amazing! I'm just...um...curious! About your duties as the leader of the demon slayer corp. Are you able to slay demons?" Tanjiro asks trying to change the conversation.
"Hmm, well I have been taught concentration breathing constant, but I don't know breathing techniques and I don't have any real skill in the sword." Tamayo answers. "As for my duties, I mainly try to learn more demons, Muzan, and when given information by the crows I can decide which demon slayers go to each mission."
"How are you able to tell who should go to which mission?" Tanjiro asks, starting to calm down and relax.
"You see, I remember every single demon slayer that is in our corp. So I know exactly how strong someone is and where they should go." Tamayo answers.
Yuishiro enters the room and gives a look around before he walks back outside.
"Oh Yuishiro, he never takes a break no matter how much I ask him too. It's the one command he never listens too." Tamayo mutters.
"What is the deal with Yuishiro?" Tanjiro asks. "He seems a little..."
"Weird?" Tamayo suggests.
"I was gonna go different and cautious." Tanjiro says.
"Well you see, I'm actually the last member of the Ubuyashiki family. We were all slaughtered years ago when I was just a nine year old girl. So because of that Yuishiro is extra careful when it comes to my safety." Tamayo says with a soft smile.
"Really? How'd he become your bodyguard." Tanjiro asks, forgetting about his previous fright and enjoying the conversation with Tamayo.
"You see, the Sabanto family have been the servants and bodyguards to the Ubuyashiki's for almost 700 years. How it started nobody knows, but once an Ubuyashiki comes of age, they decide of the strongest Sabanto's which will be their life long bodyguard. Yuishiro was actually a very...sick child. He almost died, and his family practically gave up on him. But I decided to help him, it took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, but eventually I managed to heal him completely." Tamayo says with a faraway look, as if remembering past times.
"Wow, what happened after that...?" Tanjiro asks curiously.
Tamayo's smile falls. "Well, soon after that my family was killed. Upper rank One had managed to discover our hiding spot. Yuishiro managed to protect me against the weaker demons as he took me far away. We lived as homeless orphans for a few years before I decided to continue our family's mission of defeating Muzan Kubutsuji."
Tanjiro looks down respectfully at the mention of the dead. "Wow, he sounds incredible."
Tamayo laughs. "That he is. If Yuishiro bothered he could match up to some of our strongest hashria, but instead he stays with me."
Tanjiro takes a sip of his tea. "That's a very...sad story, but I'm glad you're happy Ms. Tamayo."
Tamayo herself freezes for a few moments, her smile flickering. "Of course, now then it's starting to get late and I'm sure some members of the Wisteria house would not be happy if you're out much longer."
"Oh right! I'll be out!" Tanjiro exclaims as he gets up and begins to walk away.
"Oh and Tanjiro?" Tamayo says.
"Yes Tamayo?" Tanjiro looks back.
"Take care of your sister." She says simply before standing up and walking away.
Tanjiro stands there frozen for a moment. 'She knows...she absolutely knows...' But he collects his nerve and walks away to the wisteria house.
The next day
"Bye Tanjiro!" Hahao says with a wide smile.
"I swear if you're back again within two days I'll kill you." Dai says with a smirk.
"See you later Tanjiro, good luck." Ume says.
"Goodbye everyone!" Tanjiro says confidently as he begins to run. He breathes in deep as he starts passing by the wisteria trees and small houses that survivors of demons call home.
Tanjiro runs for a few hours at around 30 miles per hour before reaching a town he recognizes and begins to run through the forest until he smells her.
"Nezuko!" Tanjiro calls out and his little sister appears with a happy smile.
Tanjiro affectionately pats her head and opens up the box. "You ready to go?"
Nezuko nods and climbs into the box. 'Hooray! Kind boy has returned!' She thinks happily.
Tanjiro takes a deep breath before continuing his run. The trees and animals passing by as a blur before Megu starts flying next to him.
"There's a demon south of here." Megu announces.
"Show me the way!" Tanjiro exclaims.
Hours later
It is sunset as Tanjiro arrives at decently large village named Torokata, as Tanjiro enters the village he gets the feeling of sorrow and regret. It's like the entire town is in a state of mourning.
"Please!" A woman begs. "Please! We must get my son back! I'm begging you!" The woman gets on her knees as she cries.
Tanjiro walks over to the woman and puts a hand on her shoulder. "Hello Miss, my name is Tanjiro Kamado. I'm here to help, please tell me what's going on."
The woman let's out a few tears before she calms down. Other villagers look cautious but it seems as though they don't care. "W-well you see. A few weeks ago a strange creature appeared in our village and demanded sacrifices. When we didn't give it some they killed eight people in one night. N-now we send one persen every night to the creatures lair to keep them at bay..."
Tanjiro's face morphs into one of concern at hearing this. "Where would this cave be at Miss?"
"O-oh it's maybe a mile south...P-please save my son! He's eight years old and has the brightest smile." The woman begs with tears.
Tanjiro smiles confidently. "I'll try my best miss, or die trying." With that Tanjiro begins running at top speed to make it to this supposed cave.
It only took two minutes for Tanjiro arrive at a large cave that seemed like the opening to an abyss. Vines were falling from the top and the smell of blood was coming out.
"This is it!" Tanjiro says determined as he runs into the cave. The cave goes on for a while before Tanjiro finds himself in a large cavern, and in the very center is the largest demon he's ever seen.
The demon has red skin and long white hair with horns. He's sitting but even so reaches 15 feet in the air with his height. His neck is larger than Tanjiro's sword and muscles are over his entire body.
'This guys huge...how the heck am I supposed to slash his neck?' Tanjiro worries to himself as he watches from behind a rock.
Another demon walks forward, they have a scorpion tail and their arms are so long they almost seem quadrupled. Their skin is a light green and seems hard like scales.
Tanjiro watches carefully as he decides his next move. 'This may be a bit much for me. Maybe I should call for help?'
Tanjiro prepares to run out and call for some backup when he hears small cries. He turns around and sees what the Scorpion like demon is carrying is a small boy, around eight or nine.
'That's the woman's son! I have to save him!' Tanjiro sets the box down with Nezuko and leaps into battle.
FLAME BREATHING, 6TH FORM. FLAME WHEEL!
Tanjiro slices the scorpions arm off and grabs the boy into his arms. "Don't worry, you'll be safe now." Tanjiro says confidently.
The Scorpion demon runs off to hide as the large demon stands up at his incredible height. "My my, what is a puny human doing here? Didn't that village learn the hard way what happens when I don't get what I want?"
Tanjiro just glares back. "Okay, I'm gonna need you to find a place to hide while I kill this monster." Tanjiro whispers to the boy as he nods and runs off. Tanjiro takes out his sword and breathes in.
FLAME BREATHING, 1ST FORM. UNKNOWNING FIRE!
Tanjiro goes and slashes at the demons leg to limit mobility but his blade barely gashes into his large ankle. The demon goes to strike at Tanjiro but his large size causes him to be slow and Tanjiro manages to dodge.
'Okay, so his skin is tough and I might not have enough strength to chop off his neck. I need to weaken him first.' Tanjiro thinks to himself.
Tanjiro rushes forward and releases a multitude of slashes at the large demon. Covering his lower body in cuts that leak blood.
The large demon attempts to retaliate but Tanjiro dodges out of the way and lands on some rocks. Tanjiro then leaps onto the demon and stabs his sword into the demons arm, causing him to roar in pain. Tanjiro then climbs up the demon to his neck and lifts his sword.
Tanjiro brings his sword down as hard as he can but it barely makes it into the large demons neck and he doesn't get long to try before the demons reaches up to grab him.
'Okay, he's slow but strong. If he grabbed me then I'd be dead. I can't get through his neck, how can I kill him?' Tanjiro worries to himself as the large demon growls.
"Die you pathetic human!" The large demon suddenly grows a bone out of his arm and throws it at Tanjiro at a fast speed.
BLOOD DEMON ART: SKELTON SHOT!
Tanjiro raises his blade and slices the bone in half before he begins to run along the cave. 'If I keep slashing these bones, my sword will get chipped and blunt and then I'll have no chance at all.'
Another bone is shot at Tanjiro but before he slashes it Nezuko appears and kicks the bone right back the demon while she growls.
'Leave my human alone! He's not food!' Nezuko growls as takes a fighting stance.
"The hell...what's a demon doing with a human?" The large demon mutters to himself before shaking his head and returning to focus. The demon launches several bones but Nezuko kicks away them all.
"Nezuko, can you keep this up?" Tanjiro asks.
"Hmmmpphh!" Nezuko nods.
"Okay..." Tanjiro thinks for a moment as he looks around and plans out a strategy. 'How to beat him...?'
Tanjiro looks up and notices a large stalactite on the cave ceiling. An idea comes to Tanjiro on how he can kill the demon but first he needs him to be on the ground.
"Nezuko! Together we attack his legs, okay?" Tanjiro asks.
Nezuko looked confused for a couple moments before she nods and leaps at the demon. Tanjiro rushes forward himself as the two attack his legs. Tanjiro slashes at them continuously, and Nezuko uses her claws to rip at them.
"Hey!" The demon yells as he tries to attack the smaller opponents but only goes further into losing his balance as he leans forward and lands on the ground.
'Perfect!' Tanjiro thinks to himself. "Nezuko I'll keep him down! Can you get that stalactite to fall down?"
Nezuko looks up and nods as she leaps up the wall like a cat. She reaches the stalactite and begins to slash at it with her claws. Tanjiro runs forward and begins slashing all over the demons body to keep him down in pain.
'Come on! Give it everything!' Tanjiro yells to himself as motivation as he hacks into the demons body like a butcher.
"I'll kill you!" The demon yells as he starts to get up but hears a noise and looks up to his doom.
The large stalactite falls down after Nezuko's slashes. It falls straight down onto the large demons neck, tearing through the majority of it and only leaving a small sliver.
"Die!" Tanjiro yells out as he brings his sword down the last of the large demons neck, slashing through it and killing the demon.
Tanjiro checks on Nezuko and sees she's good and puts her back in the box when he smells it just in the nick of time and blocks a hit from the scorpion demon.
"You human!" The demon yells in frustration as it tries to attack him but Tanjiro dodges and slashes at the demons tail, cutting it off effortlessly.
The demon whimpers in pain as it fails to the ground and sees Tanjiro raises his sword. "W-wait! I never asked for this!" The demon says in desperation.
Tanjiro stops as his eyes widen. He looks at the demon with some confusion as the demon sniffles.
"I was just a normal person! And then got turned into a monster!" The demon yells as it cries.
Tanjiro's sympathy grows for the demon as he puts away his sword. "Hey, don't give up. Even if you're a demon you can still fight for good and humanity. You don't have to succumb to evil."
The demon looks shocked for a moment before smirking. "Wow didn't think that'd actually work."
Before Tanjiro could react the demon disappears as he moves so fast Tanjiro lost him. Tanjiro turns and sees the demon holding up the little boy with only one hand on his throat and an evil smile on his face.
"Don't you dare-" Tanjiro begins to scream as be tries to interfere but doesn't get the chance as the demon simply smiles wider and squeezes the kids throat, popping his head off like a grape.
"Later loser!" The demon says with a cackle before he runs off.
"N-no!" Tanjiro yells as he rushes forward to the little boy. He pauses as he sees the blood, he is clearly dead...
"I'm sorry...I failed you...rest in peace." Tanjiro prays as he picks up the boys body and his head as he begins to walk back to the village.
'Father...I failed another...Haru, I'm sorry that I broke my promise...' Tanjiro looks down at the dead body in his arms. "I'm so sorry...You had so much life to live."
Transition
It took almost twenty minutes this time to walk back. Maybe the extra weight of the boys corpse weighed him down? Maybe he was tired after the fight? Or maybe it was his feeling of helplessness that slowed him down to a sloths pace.
Tanjiro enters the village to find people waiting for him. Many look shocked to see his return. Some looked repulsed by the headless corpse in his arms. But the biggest reaction came from the woman. She rushed forward, ignoring everything as she fell to the ground in front of Tanjiro.
"M-my son! Is he okay! What happened?!" She asks with the worried eyes only a mother could replicate.
Tanjiro lowers his head as he holds out the body for the woman to take in her hands.
"No...NO!!" The woman wails seeing the sight as she cries and takes the body into her arms. Years fall down her face like a waterfall as she looks up at the demon slayer. "W-were you too late?"
Tanjiro freezes for a moment. He could simply lie, avoid the responsibility as he stares at the crying woman. But if he did, then Tanjiro would never learn from this horrible mistake.
"Your son...was alive when I made it too the demons lair. The main demon was a large beast maybe 30 feet tall. I killed him and had cornered his henchman, another demon. I had the chance to kill him, but the demon began to cry and tricked me...he escaped me and grabbed your son by the throat-"
Slap!
Tanjiro doesn't bother to dodge the strike to his face from the crying mother. If she tried again he'd let her, he deserved it after all and a thousand more like it.
"You're telling me...that my son died because you gave sympathy to a demon?! That you spared it!?" The woman says in anger. "My son...he was all I had left of him..." She falls to the ground and cries harder.
"I'm sorry..." Tanjiro says.
"That doesn't bring him back! What's...even the point without him...what point is there to live...?" The woman says as he holds her sons corpse close to her.
Tanjiro's eyes darken as he takes out his sword. People rush forward to stop him but there much too fast. Tanjiro swings his blade straight at the woman's neck. Her eyes widen as she tries to leap back and dodge but barely a centimeter before the sword would dig into her neck Tanjiro stops.
"If you truly wanted to die...then you wouldn't have tried to avoid my strike." Tanjiro mutters. "I'm sorry, that you will have to pay for my mistake. I swear however, that someday you will be able to keep living, and I will kill that demon no matter what cost I must pay. So, you must keep going," The horrible vision of his dead family. Their bloody bodies that he wasn't there to stop. "No matter how much it hurts."
And with that Tanjiro begins to walk away as hatred boils in his gut. 'Demons...they have the possibility to be good creatures...but just like humans every last one of them can be the most horrible monsters to exist.'
In that moment Tanjiro understood exactly what it meant to be a demon slayer. To be someone who fights for others. What it means to slay all demons. In that moment, it wasn't a childish promise made to save another, it was oath to every being out there.
"I will kill Muzan Kubutsuji..."
Taisho Era Secret
Nezuko: Mmmm!
Tanjiro: I agree! We'll need to do better next. We won't fail again!
Nezuko: Hmmmmm!
Tanjiro: Oh right. Did you know that every year there's an average of around one thousand victims due to demon attacks? We'll need to be stronger to prevent as many of those as possible.
Inosuke: Man I'm beat, training is hell. Did you actually complete it?
Tanjiro: Yup, now go away you were barely in this chapter!
Inosuke: Yeah yeah whatever.
Tanjiro: Next episode, "Prepare for a fight."
(Author's notes)
And there we go. The main point of this chapter was that I wanted to use one of Tanjiro's flaws that should've been used more, his sympathy. I thought it would be interesting for Tanjiro to have to pay for trying to help a demon and have some consequences for that. Otherwise I didn't want to spend too much time at the wisteria house since we already spent plenty time there. I also got to introduce Tamayo and Yuishiro. I just thought, what if I swapped some positions around for some fun. Also why did the Ubuyashiki's not have bodyguards? It's said they've never had any but that's really stupid. Even with their future sight ability, it's still stupid because their foresight has been proven to not be fully trustworthy. Cough, Akaza, cough. Otherwise that's all, laters.