Chapter Text
The Warm Embrace of Sunlight Part II
Tanjiro struggled slightly against the arms that firmly held his nine-year-old body up the mountain top. His basket full of coal that he heaved all day to bring down the mountains was carried easily on his ‘kidnapper’s’ back.
“I told you time and time again, Tanjiro-kun. Don’t go down the mountains by yourself to sell coal,” his kidnapper sighed as he chastised the child with his deep, soothing voice. “You’re going to get kidnapped by someone who isn’t me.”
Well, Tanjiro’s kidnapper wasn’t really a kidnapper, but Tanjiro pouted, crossed his arms, and childishly looked away with a ‘hmph’.
“But Okaa-san is busy with Rokuta and Nezuko is already too busy helping her. As the eldest, I need to work and make money.”
His kidnapper sighed again, exasperated that he was doing this conversation again. “You do realize that you’re only nine years old, Tanjiro? You can sell coal, fight monsters, or explore the world when you’re older for all I care but until you can protect yourself, you will not be going down the mountains without me,” the man said in a firm tone.
Tanjiro then peeked up to see his kidnapper’s face, and the boy’s red eyes met the man’s pastel pink eyes.
“Why do you care so much about protecting me? I know you said that you knew my grandpa but you’re always helping us.”
Kibutsuji Muzan smirked, amused at Tanjiro’s question.
“I believe that there are deities that will make sure something worse will happen to me if something happens to you.” There was much left unsaid, but this was the truth.
Tanjiro giggled.
“You’re like a dad, Kibutsuji-san.”
And as soon as those words left Tanjiro’s mouth, both the child and the demon faltered and their smiles dropped.
“Please forget I said anything,” the red-haired boy said sorrowfully as he curled up inside the man’s arms.
Muzan looked at the child in his arms with a painful, conflicted look. He was thankful that the child wasn’t looking at his expression right now and continued his trek up the mountains back to Tanjiro’s house.
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“Muzan-san!” Tanjiro exclaimed as he ran and glomped the fedora-wearing, western-clothing clad demon. His siblings soon followed suit and they one by one surrounded the progenitor demon with smiles and hugs.
But Tanjiro’s smile suddenly turned into a frown and a worried look as he whipped his face up to meet Muzan’s pastel pink eyes.
“Muzan-san, are you hurt?! Did you get into a fight?! You smell of blood.”
Muzan’s eyes widened just a tiny fraction.
His expression turned into an aloof one as he patted Tanjiro’s head softly.
“Some people tried to attack me while I was coming but because I am strong, I was able to defeat them,” the fedora-wearing demon said with a smile that didn’t quite seem to reach his eyes.
Tanjiro pouted whilst Nezuko exclaimed that Muzan was so strong to defeat a person without any weapons.
And the young red-haired boy saw Muzan’s lips finally returning to his soft, prideful smile and he was relieved that everything was the same as always.
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Muzan looked at Tanjiro performing the Hinokami Kagura with a disturbed expression. He was there the whole time from sunset to sunrise, watching the boy make small mistakes but quickly standing back up to continue the Dance.
It was disturbing to see the Breathing Style that has haunted him every single time he died being performed without the intention of killing him.
Yet Muzan couldn’t avert his eyes throughout the whole because the Breath of the Sun was too beautiful.
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“Muzan-san! Could you read the Genji Monogatari again?” Nezuko asked with her eyes shining with excitement. Her siblings, hearing that Muzan would read the story to them again, all crowded around the man and waited patiently.
The demon smiled softly as he took out the book and pulled the lamplight closer so that he could see the words more easily. It wasn't quite needed, but it was for appearance's sake.
“Ah! You’re reading the Genji Monogatari again?” Kie exclaimed softly as she opened the shoji door with snacks in her hands and saw the book in Muzan’s pale hands. “Thank you for reading to the children. Please, have some snacks before you start.”
The children quickly ran to grab the small table with a plate of senbei and a pot of warm tea from their mother happily.
“Children, feel free to eat my portion. I’ve already dinner before I came,” Muzan said with a smile and turned his eyes back to the novel. The Kamado children munched happily on their snacks while they listened to Muzan weaving the story of Hikaru Genji appropriate for the children’s ages and attention span.
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When Kibutsuji Muzan proposed to Kamado Kie, it didn’t come as quite a shock to her children. They have known the man for almost three years and he would come to their homes at least three or four nights each week with gifts of food, clothes, and money in his arms.
Sparingly, Tanjiro would be in his arms, struggling half-heartedly while munching on the snacks that Muzan brought for the day.
Muzan didn’t seem too interested in actually courting Kie for the past three years, as he rather seemed more interested in making sure that her children were all safe and cared for. However, that in it of itself was enough for Kie to say yes to Muzan’s proposal.
The children, when they heard of their mother’s remarriage to their favorite adult, became very excited but was hit with the realization that they would have a new father to replace their old one.
“Even though I will adopt all of you into my family, I wish for all of you, except you, Kie-san, to keep your last name as Kamado. I am not someone that could replace your father,” the demon said reassuringly.
Kie and the Kamado children all gasped, surprised at the western clothing-clad man’s gracious proposition.
And the eldest Kamado child, who was at first scared that he would have to let go of the memories of his father, looked into the demon’s eyes with a determined look.
“Thank you for letting us keep our last names, Muzan-san. But I think you are slightly wrong.”
Muzan raised his eyebrow, curious as to what Tanjiro wanted to say.
“Although you may not be our biological father, and you may not be able to replace the fact that he is our father, we all believe that you are also our father.”
And the demon’s eyes widened and he couldn’t get his blank expression back quickly as he normally could at the boy’s statement.
Tanjiro’s red eyes glistened brightly in the lamplight yet the lamp's brightness seemed inconsequential compared to Tanjiro’s smile that lit up the room.
“We would be blessed to have you as our father, Otou-san.”
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The wedding ceremony was a small yet grand affair.
There were very few people invited from either side of the party, yet the food and decorations were all lavish and painstakingly put together.
The Kamado family—ah, would they be called the Kibutsuji family now?—were slightly awed and shocked that their new husband and father was wealthier than they have ever imagined.
They have been receiving his help for the past few years with food, clothing, and education. Muzan offered to bring them to his house much earlier, but they refused until now because of their father’s grave and the memories that were in their small house in the mountains. However, even though they moved to this large estate, the family all planned to return to the hut that was full of memories and happiness as often as they can.
Muzan—now a father and husband—put his hand on Tanjiro’s shoulder as he pointed to his estate that was illuminated by the moonlight.
“Kamado Tanjiro. When I pass, this will all be yours. I will pass on this legacy to you.”
The red-haired boy’s eyes widened in surprise and looked up to his stepfather’s face.
His red eyes peered into his father's pastel pink orbs and smelled the soft grassy smell of content and happiness.
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Tanjiro could smell the blood that was permeating throughout the small town that he stopped for the night. He was taking his first steps to explore Japan, starting in a small town on the outskirts of Edo, he was met with the sight of a man in a half-maroon, half-colorfully patterned haori fending off against two people that didn’t smell quite right.
They smelled… kind of like his father.
They also didn’t seem to be quite human as Tanjiro saw the woman magically able to direct pieces of patterned fabric as if they were her own limbs to try and grab the man.
And Tanjiro ran into the fight.
The non-human looking duo, seeing the new human approaching, smirked as if they were happy to see an animal walk right up to their hunting grounds while the man in the haori yelled angrily at him to stay away.
Even though the two reeked of danger, the boy couldn’t just leave a man to be attacked whilst he was injured and being attacked by these demon-looking people.
The male demon-looking man with half black, half green hair held his sickle in front of his face with a smirk and licked his lips. He jumped toward Tanjiro and swung his arms but Tanjiro caught the weapon with his own sword with enough force to push the arm away and slashed at the demon.
“AAGH! A demon slayer?! But he’s not wearing the uniform!” The demon-like person cried out and grabbed his injured chest.
Tanjiro looked with horrification that the wound he inflicted was patching up almost instantly.
He dodged another swing of the sickled and cut off his attacker’s arm, yet a new arm grew almost instantaneously.
“You damn brat!!” The man yelled and he growled angrily. He looked at the menace that interfered with the fight he and his sister were having against the Demon Slayer with absolute fury.
But all of a sudden, the man widened his eyes fearfully as if he was hit by horrifying realization.
“S-shit! Daki! We can’t fight him. He’s… he’s him!” The man exclaimed fearfully to his companion that was fighting the black-haired haori clad man.
The man’s companion looked confused for a second before her eyes locked onto the boy and her eyes opened equally wide as if she understood clearly as to what the man said.
“We need to go! Before… before he finds out about this!” The woman, Daki, exclaimed and she took off and the man followed suit.
“They’re running away?!” The man, who was being attacked and clutching his bleeding abdomen, looking at the two demons running away, muttered softly with disbelief. He then quickly turned his gaze to the boy who interfered in the fight.
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Tomioka Giyuu always had bad luck.
He was supposed to just help Uzui find his missing wives, but he was ambushed by one of the Twelve Kizuki. Upper Moon Six at that. In the past few hundred years, there was no Demon Slayer who survived fighting an Upper Moon alone.
The Upper Moon Six almost killed him when she split into two, revealing the true Upper Moon living in the woman’s body. And a sickle slashed his abdomen while the woman distracted him with her tentacle-like fabric.
When the boy interfered in the battle, Giyuu was shocked that a regular civilian would rather try to attack these two demons instead of running away. He yelled at him to run away and he ran as fast as he could to stop the Upper Moon from killing the boy but Giyuu saw that the demon would get to him faster than him.
I’m so sorry that I couldn’t protect you… Giyuu thought woefully as he saw the Upper Moon’s swinging his sickle toward the boy.
But instead of being dismembered into two parts as Giyuu imagined, the boy swung his own sword to parry the Upper Moon’s attacks.
The Water Pillar then made the split decision to focus on the woman for now as her tendrils of fabric tried to attack him.
He hoped that the boy would be able to fend off just one more attack while he got closer to him to fend off the Upper Moon because he knew that no regular human, especially one who isn’t a demon slayer, could ever defeat an Upper Moon.
The second attack came and the boy severed the Upper Moon’s arm.
Just please... fend off one more attack, Giyuu prayed as he kicked at the woman’s body to send her flying to the wall.
But the Upper Moon’s third attack never came.
The demon jumped back as if he was in the presence of the sun instead of the young boy, he and his companion ran away. Giyuu could only see the backs of the two demons with disbelief and blood dripping down his abdomen.
"They're running away?!" He muttered in disbelief to no one in particular.
And the Water Pillar whipped his head to the young red-haired boy, wary as to why the demons would flee at the sight of him.
The boy, turning away from the two demon’s retreating backs, met Giyuu’s azure eyes with concern. “Are you okay, sir?” The boy asked worriedly and sheathed his sword before running toward Giyuu.
“Yes… I just need to stop the blood flow…” The black-haired Demon Slayer responded while ignoring the pain from his abdomen for the moment to organize the confused thoughts he had. “Who are you?”
“My name is Kamado Tanjiro. I have a first aid kit so let me patch you up,” the boy said as he helped Giyuu to a nearby tree and helped wrap and compress the wound. “And what is your name, mister?”
Giyuu frowned slightly as he looked over at the red-haired boy. He looked about 15 years old, wore a green and black patterned haori, and had a sword on his hip.
Yet he didn’t wear a Demon Slayer uniform.
“My name is Tomioka Giyuu. Are you a demon slayer?”
The boy looked at him curiously.
“A demon slayer? What is that?”
“Those two who ran away earlier are demons that eat humans. And I hunt them. Why did you fight them if you didn’t even know what they were?” Giyuu asked with an incredulous expression.
Tanjiro smiled brightly. “You were injured and they were ganging up on you. They didn’t look exactly quite human. When I approached the battle and one seemed to just attack me for getting close, I knew that they must be the enemy.
The Water Pillar furrowed his brows just a bit and looked to the sword on the boy’s hip.
“Do you mind if I take a look at your sword?”
The boy looked a bit confused but unsheathed it for the Water Pillar to inspect.
And Giyuu’s suspicions were right. This was a Nichirin sword.
“How did you get this Nichirin sword if you are not a demon slayer?” He questioned angrily, narrowing his eyes.
Tanjiro jumped a little back at the angry tone. “My father gifted it to me before I left on my journey. He said that it would protect me from anyone... human or monster.”
Giyuu frowned at the boy’s words. It seemed like there was an underlying message there that meant that it would also kill demons, which would mean that the boy’s father would know what the Nichirin swords do.
“Was your father a demon slayer…?” He asked, his voice more mellow as he handed the sword back to the boy.
“I don’t think so. He doesn’t wield a sword. Can you tell me more about these demons?” The boy’s red eyes shone with curiousness.
Giyuu relaxed a little, pushing away the questions he had but felt that the boy wouldn’t know the answers to, and responded with the answers to Tanjiro’s question.
“Demons were all once human; if a human receives the blood of the progenitor demon, they turn into demons. Demons can only consume human flesh and they are immortal, unable to age or die by normal means. They also kill indiscriminately—their family or loved ones are not exempt from being eaten by their loved ones who turned into a demon. The only weakness they have is being decapitated by a Nichirin sword and sunlight.”
“This sword and sunlight…” Tanjiro repeated softly with wide eyes. “And demon slayers are the ones who fight against these demons?”
“Yes. You have skills that are much better than any regular demon slayers, though. You were able to fend off an Upper Moon, one of the strongest demons in existence. And you were able to make it run away for some reason,” Giyuu said with narrowed eyes. “Do you have any idea why?”
“Not at all,” Tanjiro said while shaking his head. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a demon before today.” The boy looked at the sword that was still in his hands. “Why did Father give this to me as if he knew of the existence of demons?”
Giyuu didn’t know either. Nor did he know how just seeing this boy's face was able to make two demons (one Upper Moon Demon at that) run away as if they were fearful for their lives.
“The Demon Slayer Corps was created to protect humans from demons. If you master the art of Breathing, you will be even stronger than you are now. Would you like to learn it and join the Demon Slayer Corps?”
Tanjiro looked surprised at the sudden offer and his first instinct was to accept. He opened his mouth to say yes, but he immediately remembered all his family at home, all awaiting his return. He looked down to the ground, with a sad frown plastered on his lips.
“Thank you for the offer, Tomioka-san, but I think that I will have to think about it. I would have to talk to my father and family members first.”
Giyuu nodded, understanding that it was difficult to fight with your life on the line when you had many family members waiting for your return.
“If you want to ever join, please send me a message.”
Tanjiro looked up to the blue-eyed Demon Slayer and nodded back with a bright smile.
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The red-haired boy, not quite a boy anymore but a teen and the head of his family, placed the final signed document into the completed pile of paperwork inside his father’s study with melancholy.
It has been four months since he has found out about the existence of demons and two weeks since his father’s death.
Unsurprisingly, just as how his father had told him before he died, everything was already set up so that Tanjiro would be instated as the head of the Kibutsuji Household immediately. However, taking on the mantle of the head came with a lot of responsibilities and work such as funeral preparations and paperwork of changing all the deeds to his name.
But the chaos actually helped Tanjiro suppress the tears that wanted to always come out ever since his father’s passing.
Tanjiro, after meeting Giyuu, figured out what his Father was—the progenitor demon who killed and destroyed the lives of so many people. But Tanjiro couldn’t help but still love his father, even with all the horrible things he did. In his father’s final moments, Tanjiro couldn’t help but weep silently at the serene scent that vocalized the words 'I love you, my son' before he dissolved into the warm sunlight.
And Tanjiro unfastened the Nichirin sword that was always attached to his hip and laid it gently on his father’s desk.
He wasn’t looking for blood nor confrontation, but rather some semblance of a finale.
It was time to meet the Ubuyashiki Household Head.
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Wisteria flowers are beautiful, Tanjiro mused as he stood outside the door of the Ubuyashiki residence and gazed at the purple flowers softly. Nezuko was at his side, understanding the importance of this meeting after Tanjiro had told her of the events leading up to his father’s death. He couldn't say anything to any of his other younger siblings yet nor to his mother, but they will slowly learn in time.
They would know that their father was a demon but still loved them nonetheless.
The doors opened and two white-haired twins greeted Tanjiro.
“Kamado-sama, thank you for coming. Oyakata-sama will meet you inside.”
Tanjiro nodded and followed them into the residence with Nezuko right on his heels.
Awaiting him in the courtyard were 9 men and women kneeling in front of a black-haired man sitting inside the open balcony facing the gardens.
The 9 swordsmen and women turned their heads to Tanjiro when they heard his soft footsteps.
Tanjiro looked at each of them and was a bit surprised when he saw Giyuu in the group. When he got to where they were all awaiting him, the red-haired teen gave a polite bow to them.
“Ubuyashiki-dono, Hashira-dono-tachi, it is a pleasure to meet all of you.”
One of the 9, a silver-haired man with many scars marring his face, narrowed his eyes at Tanjiro.
“Who are you to disturb our Pillar meeting?” He questioned gruffly.
“He is an important guest in our meeting today, Sanemi-kun.” Ubuyashiki Kagaya said with a smile and lifted his arm to point to an empty cushion to his side. “Please have a seat, Kamado-dono.”
Tanjiro walked into the open balcony, passing the 9 men and women and took a seat next to the Ubuyakashi Head. Nezuko stood passively next to the Pillars who too stood up after their leader nodded for them to do so.
“Thank you for agreeing to meet with me, Ubuyakashi-dono,” Tanjiro said calmly as he faced the leader of the Demon Slayer Corps. “As I have stated in the message, I am Kamado Tanjiro, the head of the Kibutsuji Family.”
Gasps rang out from the small crowd.
The leader of the Demon Slayer Corps smiled softly. “It is a pleasure to meet you too, Kamado-dono. My name is Ubuyashiki Kagaya. Your letter to me was quite intriguing. You have said that you are from the Kibutsuji Family. Do you have any ties to a man named Kibutsuji Muzan?”
There was a slight pause as Tanjiro closed his eyes and nodded.
“Yes, he is my father.”
Loud, angry exclamations rang out from a few of the Hashira, shocked at the child’s statement.
“Demons cannot procreate. Demons cannot also survive under the sun, yet you have done so easily. How are you that demon’s child?” Kocho Shinobu asked with her brows furrowing, unraveling the turmoil and anger that she always keeps under wraps.
“My family and I have met him for the first time six years ago when my birth father passed away. When I was twelve, he married my mother and adopted my siblings and me into his household. And after his death, I have been instated as the head of the Kibutsuji Household.”
Kagaya’s white eyes gazed deeply into Tanjiro’s red orbs.
“For the past two weeks… there have been no demon sightings or attacks. When did your father pass?”
“As you have said, two weeks ago. I would have come to meet you sooner, but I had to finish all the funeral preparations and responsibilities of the new head of the family.”
“He cannot be killed by normal means. How did he pass away?” Kagaya asked.
“He chose to walk in the sunlight.”
Shinazugawa Sanemi stepped forward with his hand gripping his sword angrily. “He… he just chose to commit suicide? I can’t believe that. Kibutsuji Muzan cannot be that kind of man. He's a monster who only cares about himself and finding immortality!” He exclaimed with his eyes narrowed and seething with doubt and anger.
“I am not defending the man he once was, but I will defend my father for who he was before he died. I think all of you have noticed the sharp decrease in demons and human deaths ever since six years ago when I have met my father for the first time. He has changed and he has chosen to walk in the sunlight out of his own free will,” Tanjiro replied firmly as if he was undisturbed by the threatening voice.
But soon his bottom lip quivered as he was once again reminded of how his father just dissolved into the sunlight in front of him. And the red-haired teen could not hold back his tears anymore.
“I know he was a demon, but he was also my father. Before he passed, he told me that he has lived the same timeline multiple times. And each time, I was the one to kill him.” Tears dropped along Tanjiro’s cheeks while he gripped his haori in frustration. “I’ve read the journal he left for me. He experienced hundreds of time loops where my sword would be buried within his chest as the sun came up. I was a demon slayer who would kill him no matter how much stronger he was compared to me. I killed my father time and time again, yet he chose to adopt me and my siblings. And he loved us. He truly loved us.”
“… that’s an absurd story. Especially the fact that he loved you. Demons cannot love. Especially not Kibutsuji Muzan.” Uzui Tengen muttered in disbelief.
“Yet he accepted his death because he loved us and didn’t want a world where demons would roam around and hurt us. He accepted that all things must one day die, including demons. Thus, the demons are no more. My father knows that he changed because of his own selfishness, but the fact remains that they have killed countless humans, so they all passed with him peacefully.”
“Then… then what of our revenge? What about the hard work we put into our training in order to get our revenge against him?” Obanai Iguro exclaimed angrily. “Was it all for naught that my friends and family had to die when all we had to do was wait?”
Tanjiro shook his head no. “That’s completely incorrect. Without all of your help in the previous timelines, my father would have destroyed even more lives and never accepted his death. This was only possible because every timeline, all of you were unwavering in your resolve to stop my father. And although I am sad that he is gone, it is undeniable that he needed to pass.”
Kagaya closed his eyes, contemplating the boy’s words.
“Two weeks ago, I knew something changed drastically when I no longer felt pain from the curse that was inflicted on our household due to Kibutsuji Muzan’s existence. And I have seen the marked decrease in demons and human deaths ever since six years ago. Furthermore, I have heard of the Upper Moon demon who ran away from you from Giyuu. Although I cannot fully fathom the fact that Kibutsuji Muzan experienced a time loop, I do believe that he was your father and you have changed him. And I thank you, Kamado-dono, for changing him.” Kagaya said gracefully and dipped his body into a bow.
Tanjiro looked very flustered and waved his hands frantically.
“Wait, please don’t bow your head to me, Ubuyashiki-dono.” The red-haired teen dipped his head down into a bow mirroring Kagaya’s. “I sincerely apologize for all the pain and suffering that my father has caused in his life to you, your family, humans, and the Demon Slayer Corps. I know that my father’s sins are vast and not everyone will be content just with his death but I promise that I will do my best to help you in any way I can to make sure the Demon Slayer Corps members and all who were affected by demons will be cared for. I also promise that no demon with malicious thoughts will roam the earth ever again.”
The two heads of their respective households stood back up and looked into each other’s eyes.
They felt the warm rays of sunlight spreading out into the balcony and touching their skin.
And Tanjiro smiled as brightly as the sun, relieved that his father’s last remaining wish was fulfilled.
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