The Dancing Star

Chapter 1 - Useless

The Dancing Star

Chapter 1

12ThirtyPain03

WARNING: This story is rated M for mature-rated content. If some acts of violence, blood, or anything easily triggering make you uncomfortable, please leave and do not read. Any change to a character, when introduced, killed, changed into a demon/human, or more will be labeled in the chapter of occurrence. If a character has died in a chapter, that chapter will give a cause of death to that character.

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Tanjirou's POV

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When Tanjirou was four years old, he was told about the fate of his ancestors. Considering everything that occurred, a young Tanjirou was shocked by what he learned.

On the surface, Tanjirou would have thought that his family were simple charcoal burners, who would then trade it around to profit. That was what Tanjirou assumed, considering that was what his ancestors and further did. It was logical. Albeit a bit weird that his ancestors never once tried to blend in within the larger village down the mountain.

What also intrigued Tanjirou instead, was that this house was given to them by a friend.

"Our ancestors are the result of two friends' children eventually getting together. However, how everything happened was very interesting. It originally belonged to my ancestors from my maternal side, but they eventually were given it as a present." Tanjurou, Tanjirou's father explained.

"Oh wow, that's amazing!" A young, excited Tanjirou was having the time listening to the story, considering it was something he liked hearing.

"Indeed, for the two friends unfortunately suffered a tragedy when they were young. Both of their wives died respectively, causing them to raise their respective children on their own." Tanjurou continued, and almost immediately, Tanjirou got teary-eyed because of this.

"T-That's terrible? How did both of their wives die?" Tanjirou asked.

"They died because of demons. Both suffered through a demon attack. While both were out, some other demons got in and killed their wives, thankfully, they managed to save their respective children. Eventually, both were able to raise their children, a 1-year-old girl, and a 3-year-old boy. Both were not blood-related, but became married, taking over the house as a result." Tanjurou explained.

"Wow, that's amazing... But what are demons?" Tanjirou asked his father.

At this, Tanjurou remained silent for a bit, before he decided to speak. "Demons... They are creatures that eat humans. In nature, almost every species has something to worry about. A creature that eats them. For us humans, they are demons." Tanjurou explained.

"But then how do we survive?" Tanjirou asked. "Wouldn't demons have eaten all of us by then if we couldn't defend ourselves?"

Tanjurou chuckled, "That is a good point, my son... However, we do have our defenses against them. For one, demons don't like certain flowers, as they are poisonous to them. Even the smell of these flowers can cause them great discomfort. The other is the fact that demons cannot remain outside during the day, for they burn up in the sunlight."

"But what about during the night? How do we survive when we sleep?" Tanjirou asked, clearly wanting to know more.

To Tanjurou, perhaps it was the hidden history of their family, but to see his son being so intrigued by demons made him very nervous, especially considering everything that had happened with him and Kie...