Honeymouth

The Swordsman

A/N:

i have several more chapters written for this and it's taking everything i have not to just post them all at once

as a side note, if you didn't catch it/understand from last chapter: since they're twins, Tanjiro and Hitoshi each have a hanafuda earring. Tanjiro's is in his left ear, and Hitoshi's is in his right.

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Tanjiro trudged through the snow, expelling clouds of cold air from his lips, as he carried Hitoshi on his back. He was awake, and he's still warm, Tanjiro thought, forcing himself to keep moving even as his aching feet and back protested. Maybe someone, a doctor, can help him .

He glanced back at Hitoshi, briefly, before jerking his gaze away when the sight of empty, violet eyes flickered within his mind. He'll be alright , Tanjiro told himself, forcing himself to change his line of thought when tears began pricking at his eyes. How did something like this even happen? Was it a bear that was too hungry to hibernate?

He wondered what something like that meant for Hitoshi. If he'd happened upon his siblings bodies, or if he'd been forced to watch helplessly as his family was...

He shook his head, remembering the hatchet he'd slid under his belt. The hair it had pinned to the wall, its scent reminiscent of mold and having belonged to none of the Kamados.

Did that mean that they weren't the bear's first victims? Or that it wasn't a bear at all, but just an awful, inhuman person?

Either way, Hitoshi must've gotten their attention by throwing the hatchet. Nobody would've noticed him, otherwise. Even Tanjiro was hard-pressed to catch his scent if his brother didn't want to be found.

He hoped Hitoshi didn't blame himself, if that were the case. For all that he was lazy and seemed apathetic, he did love their family. He always helped out, even more than Tanjiro sometimes, despite how often he complained. And he was always the one, whenever their mother wasn't available, to step up and try to take care of their siblings. He'd even baby Tanjiro every now and then, as if he were his elder brother by over a decade, rather than his twin.

Tanjiro felt his weight shift, then, as something akin to a growl rumbled in his ears. He tried to compensate for the sudden change, but despite his best efforts, he found himself stumbling instead, catching sight of Hitoshi's wide, violet eyes as the two of them were sent careening over the edge of the cliff.

He scrambled in the air, only to let out a grunt when his back hit the snow. Well , he thought with a slight grimace, guess the snow isn't all that bad.

He heard the snow crunch nearby, and immediately, he jerked upwards to see Hitoshi trying to push himself upwards. "Hitoshi!" he called out, shooting himself to his feet and trekking towards his brother, "Are you alright?! You shouldn't be trying to get up yet; let me carry you into town!"

His brother opened his mouth to speak, but instead of a word, a low growl rang throughout the air. Both of them blinked in surprise before Tanjiro furrowed his brows.

"Is something wrong with your throat?" he asked, concerned. "Can you not speak?"

Hitoshi frowned. "T-tan—"

"Ah!" Tanjiro interrupted, waving his hands around worriedly, "Don't try to speak if you can't! I don't want you to make your injury even worse!" Hitoshi's expression turned into something resembling exasperation, but before either boy could begin to speak, Tanjiro's head jerked to the side, nose catching upon the scent of saltwater and cedarwood.

A man dashed into the clearing with narrowed eyes, hand on the hilt of his sword, before his gaze softened at the sight of a bloodied Tanjiro and Hitoshi.