Tanjiro and Kanao have settled down in their new family home just a few metres away from Tanjiro's ancestral home, and have given birth to four healthy children- one of who is Azami, a ten-year-old girl and the oldest child of the Kamado family. Yet...
Muzan felt a pang of deja-vu. He was currently in a neatly-organized village centering a road, on which there were long rows of huts on both sides. Snow decorated the rooftops of these huts delicately, and there was a slight chill in the air, unlike the freezing weather last night. Because it was nearing dawn, nobody was awake or outside. But Muzan could smell the scent of thousands of lives nestled comfortably within the small beds in these primitive dwellings. His stomach grumbled. He really wished for there to be some more period of darkness so he could quickly walk into a house and steal a child or two, but the sun would rise in another ten minutes.
Currently, Muzan sheltered himself in the dense jungle some distance away from the dwellings. He was safe temporarily, until the sun reached its zenith. The wide canopies of the trees prevented a majority of the sun's light from entering the forest so it remained dark and dreary. Aramaki nestled himself some distance away in a crook of a particularly large tree, and was observing his Lord behold the sight of the putrid, stinky human dwellings with his eyes.
"Now that I think of it," Muzan began and Aramaki perked up, "I do remember this place. I think I came here once, some fifteen years ago. No doubt to turn that wretched man's little sister into a demon."
Aramaki nodded his head. "Nezuko was indeed a special demon."
"And one never seen before," Muzan completed. "Who would have ever thought of a demon who could conquer the sun"? There was a small silence, presumably lord Muzan seething at his foolishness for letting such a special demon out of his grasp. But not to worry, he had another chance. Muzan could now turn small animals and insects into demons. Just a matter of time before he could convert fully grown humans...
Though he was incapable of feeling any sort of pain because of his fast regenerative abilities, Muzan felt a dull throb in his head. For some reason, he had been feeling this pain ever since he came to existence in that run-down shack. And the pain had become more intense the closer he drew to Tanjiro's establishment.
Perhaps it is a sign, that I am nearing, thought Muzan, a sign that I am nearing that wretched man.
Muzan clutched his forehead with a sinister grin and flexed his other hand. Kamado Tanjiro, he thought, I will finally get you for whatever you have done to me...
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It was early in the morning- Kanao and the children were still sleeping. Tanjiro was solemnly attending to the family's garden, where they grew their rice and vegetables. He could now finish twice as much work as he used to because of his regenerated left limb. But he was far from elated.
Kibutsuji Muzan, the king of the demons, the very demon Tanjiro and his fellow slayers vanquished in front of his eyes, alive?
No, it can't be! Kibutsuji Muzan literally disintegrated from the sun's rays before them. He held witness to this action! They all held witness to this action!
Then again, Tanjiro thought to himself as he looked at his left hand, why do I see a perfectly functional left hand and right eye attached to my body?
And if Zenitsu's theory was correct, if Muzan's residue blood cells were awakening in his body, there would be a high possibility that Tanjiro could turn into a demon as well, like Nezuko, for he once harboured the dregs of Kibutsuji Muzan's soul during his final moments.
In the event of that, he needed help. Immense help.
Tanjiro dropped his gardening utensils and swiftly walked over to his cottage. He reached a small toolshed at the back of the house and opened the door, rummaging through the components of the shed until he chanced upon something long- a package.
Tanjiro removed the cloth wrapping this package to reveal a long box, which he opened. Inside lay a beautiful but deadly sword- its blade in a pitch black shade and its hilt the shape of a raging, golden flame. Tanjiro lifted the blade with his right hand and immediately felt a surge of memories coursing through him- formidable and wonderful, yet frightening and sorrowful.
I never thought I would need you again...
"Father?"
Tanjiro felt small hands clutching his haori sleeve. He looked down to find Azami's small head peering up to his face. She was his eldest daughter and the strongest child in the family. Tanjiro really did not want to do this, but he had to, for the sake of his family.
"Azami, have you ever heard of Hinokami Kagura?"
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He possessed the same haori- black and green chequered squares, yet he was not the same fifteen-year-old naïve boy Muzan encountered some years ago.
He was probably about as tall as him, maybe even taller. He had lost some muscle and was looking thinner than before due to lack of physical training. Yet he possessed every ounce of power and grace he had when he was younger, as he leaped high up in the air and swung his sword. His hair had grown much longer- the reddish-black tresses reached his middle back and were tied back into a ponytail. When they swung in the air, they looked like a sea of fire ravaging away in the chilly winter wind. Every gesture he did, every breath he took, every step he made, was an exquisite display of swordsmanship that showed Muzan that this young man had immensely grown from the timid, clumsy boy he once was. And most importantly, he still had those earrings, hanafuda earrings, dangling around his earlobes. When he turned around to reveal his face, he still had that reddish scar, one which looked like a burn mark shaped in a flame. His red eyes glinted like blood-encrusted gems in the dim sun. Kamado Tanjiro, the boy who once killed Kibutsuji Muzan, the king of the demons.
He almost looks like a splitting image of that imbecile, Muzan sums up in his mind, bringing to surface disturbing nightmares about a mishap in his past.
Curiously, there was another person, much younger, jumping around beside him- perfectly mimicking the moves Tanjiro performed some seconds ago. She also had the same long, reddish-black hair as him and the ruby eyes, but was evidently shorter and less skilled than the older man. Her eyebrows were squinted in frustration as she tripped and fell every time she made a mistake. Yet, she got up and re-did the moves again and again until she perfected them. She could not have been older than ten, but such perseverance in a young child was indeed commendable. Perhaps this girl was Kamado Tanjiro's daughter.
Muzan obviously wasn't out in the sun, he was once again in the refuge of several trees and bushes in the nearby dense forests, observing his target and waiting for an opportune time to strike. He had a plan, and assuming all went in the right way, he might just score himself the best meal he has ever had in years!
The headache reached it's peak and Muzan clutched his head. But he was grinning, a wide-toothed grin which immediately sent one's spine chilling down with goosebumps of fear. He licked his lips with his tongue. He just could not wait to taste this man's rich blood!
