Blood Moon

Chapter 5 - Tanjiro Kamado

"Master's child? I'm going to have fun with you!"

The demon growls as their hand bursts back into action.

"Get out of here!" you snap commandingly at the boy. After a moment's hesitation, he scrambles backwards on his hands and knees and runs away.

"Oh no, you made me lose my snack! It's a shame that I can't eat you instead!" They leap towards you, fists clenched but you dodge out of the way. Landing on your feet, scuffing dust with your sandals, you unleash another attack, aiming for purchase on the demon's neck. "Flame Breathing: Rising Scorching Sun!" An arc of flame reaches towards the demon but before you attack, the demon grabs your leg and twists it, dragging you down. It breaks cleanly with a snap and you scream.

"I would have thought that the child of the Master would be more powerful than this!" the demon taunts. "Did he not give you any blood? You weakling! Weakling! Weakling!"

***

"Weak!" he spits with spite. "You don't deserve any of my blood!" He holds his hand back with disgust as though unable to bear the thought that you could have been anywhere closer to ingesting his blood. Blood drips into your eye, and covers your hands. "I'm sorry," you whisper pathetically. "I - I didn't mean to!" He looks down at you, crouching on the floor, snivelling, and his cold mask of ice hardens. "Of course, you didn't. You never mean anything, if you can help it. Disgusting piece of trash. Weaker than the mother that birthed you."

***

"Don't - call - me - weak!" you force out through gritted teeth. "Flame Breathing: Rising Scorching Sun!" Your Nichirn blade glows with an orange and red splendour as the demon gasps. The blade slices neatly through their neck and they collapse to the ground in two pieces.

Panting, you stand up, but buckle onto one knee as you realise your leg is broken. An injury like this might take a good while to heal, perhaps several hours, if set straight enough. Leaning on your now-sheathed sword, you stand back up. The pain has lessened, but unless you make it to the Tera Temple, you can't stop; the sky has lightened considerably during the fight.

"Excuse me?" a voice asks. "Are you OK?"

"I - I -"

You turn around as a boy comes running towards you. His hair glints red in the moonlight and his eyes with strangely shaped irises are of the same colour. A black and green checkered haori follows him as he slows down and approaches the final few feet between you with a gentle, confident gait, but the giant brown box on his back stops it from flapping out of control. He has a kind, gentle face, but his most recognizable feature is the pair of Hanafuda earrings dangling from his earlobes. Your heart tightens as they send you back into your childhood with your father.

"Tsukoni," he would tell you in the quiet of the night, at a moment when his mood was more stable, "anyone you see with these earrings, you must kill. Do you understand, my child? Without hesitation." And in those rare moments, you would nod your head quietly, not exactly concentrating but instead savouring the positive attention that he was giving to you. Now, faced with a figure wearing those earrings and smiling kindly at you, it's impossible to figure out why your father had such an aversion to them.

"Are you OK?" he asks again, snapping you out of your thoughts. "What's your name?"

"Tsukoni." You refrain from saying your surname.

"That's a beautiful name. My name is Tanjiro." He smiles warmly. So much kindness in his eyes.

"Tanjiro Kamado."