Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warnings:
Category:
Fandoms:
Relationships:
Characters:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Series:
Part 5 of Demon Slayer small stories , Part 1 of The bond of siblings that surpasses blood.
Stats:
Published:
2023-06-24
Updated:
2023-07-30
Words:
7,338
Chapters:
2/?
Comments:
95
Kudos:
249
Bookmarks:
52
Hits:
4,344

The tale of the Shabana and Kamado siblings

Summary:

The Shabana and Kamado siblings. Two different sets of an older brother and younger sister that could have so easily taken the other's place with how similar they were to each other, and these worlds have been explored despite how bittersweet they may be. But what about a world where the destined Upper moon 6 pair were not only born into the Taisho era, but were brought into the Kamado family before an inevitable tragedy?

Well, why don't we view this world together.

Notes:

Hello everyone! I'm here with a new story and I hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 1: Leaving a hell hole

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Ume’s perspective

Location: Entertainment District

“Get away from me!!” A young girl with long, dishevelled white hair with messy bangs along with pale lipstick and lapis blue eyes with long lashes yelled out in anger and a bit of terror, shifting about on the ground with a scowl as the rope binding her body stopped her from doing more than rolling across the dirty floor, resulting in both mud and dirt clinging onto her torn, pale pink kimono with an irregular square patterns with a horizontal lines across it and her hair.

“Shut it you little bitch! This is what you get for stabbing me in the eye!” A bald and frankly hideous looking boy yelled out as he threw a kick at the restrained girl’s face, causing Ume to cry out in pain before she got cut off by this same brat stomping down on her head and rubbing her face into the dirt. She didn’t even need to see him to know that this sick bastard was smiling sadistically the whole time.

“All you had to do was be a good little slut and pleasure me, but you just had to defy what was expected of you. A shame that such beauty was wasted on a fool like you.” The boy said before once more stomping on the dirtied girl’s head, making her bleed and tears well up from within Ume’s eyes.

“Onii-Chan…. Please save me.” Ume couldn’t help but mentally beg for her older brother, knowing that he could take care of each of these bullies without issue as one of the boy’s servants walked forward with a flaming torch.

“And what are you all planning on doing to that child?” Suddenly though, before the torch could be lowered and used to burn the poor girl alive, an unfamiliar and highly displeased voice spoke, and thus drew attention to its owner, with even Ume moving her head to look at this newcomer. Because of that, she was greeted with the sight of a frail man with black hair tipped with red, red eyes, a pale skin complexion and what seemed to be a birth mark that could be confused for burnt flesh at a glance, looking very much ill to the point where his figure somewhat reminded Ume of Gyutaro. As for clothing, the man was wearing a pale blue kimono, a black checkered Haori that was orange in colour and a pair of Hanafuda card looking earrings.

“What does it look like you old dumbass? We’re about to burn this bitch alive for stabbing me in the eye!” The boy yelled out angrily, and despite the circumstances, Ume’s stubbornness took over as she cried out.

“You piece of shit liar!! You tried to sexually assault me when I refused your money!!!” The girl yelled out, even though she knew that the servants, the boy, and this sickly man wouldn’t care, and earned a pissed off glare from the one-eyed bastard. And as a result, she missed the look of cold fury from the man.

“Shut it you whore!!!” The boy screamed at her before snatching the torch from one of his servants before raising it into the air and swung down with it, but out of nowhere, the sickly man appeared in front of the boy and grabbed the arm holding the torch and squeezed with a shocking level of strength, making the boy cry out and drop the torch while the man grabbed it with his free hand, twirling it around to put out the flames.

“I would normally suggest that you leave and rethink your actions this night. However, I know that people like you are nothing but cruel and won’t change.” The man said, and when one of the boy’s servants drew out a knife and went to stab him from behind, the sickly-looking man thrusted out with the torch without turning around to look at the one who tried to claim his life, the blow strong enough to knock the air out of the servant’s lungs and making them fall unconscious.

“K-KILL HIM YOU FOOLS!!” The boy cried out to the remainder of his servants, who all appeared to be a bit hesitant, but all 9 of them obeyed the orders of their young boss. Then, faster than Ume could ever hope to react, the sickly man became nothing but a red blur and as soon as his figure solidified, all of the attacking servants fell to the ground face first, completely unconscious.

“H-How….” Ume couldn’t help but whisper with eyes wide in shock, unable to believe what she saw. Not even Gyutaro could move that fast.

“S-STAY AWAY FROM ME YOU MONSTER!!” The boy screamed out in terror, running away into the distance until eventually, Ume lost sight of him in the darkness of the night.

“Now, let’s help you young one.” Snapping out of her shock at the gentle voice directed at her, Ume lifted her head up a bit to see the sickly man bend down and easily untied the rope binding her legs and arms, even helping stand back up.

“There we go. Are you okay though? I can understand what you just experienced must be traumatic after all.” The kind man questioned her, excluding and aura that Ume found herself relaxing despite her desire not to. After all, you could never truly let your guard down when you were born in the lower reaches of the District, which was practically a sex city and even more so when your older brother was unjustly considered an ugly thing and was one of the most well known and young debt collectors. But despite that… this man truly did make her almost feel like Onii-Chan was standing right next to her.

“Y-Yeah. But… why did you help me?” Ume couldn’t help but question, really too stunned to process everything and honestly, who could blame her? She was almost sexually assaulted a few hours ago, some rich brat with 10 adult servants (all of whom were currently unconscious on the ground) just jumped her, she was tied up and beaten and was about to be set on fire before this sick looking man, who looked as if he would fall over from a strong breeze, showed up, beat up everyone and was helping her! That just doesn’t happen in the Entertainment District! Okay, perhaps if you had a high social standing in this place but otherwise, it was a luxury that Ume should have virtually never received and she knew that for a fact!

“All I did was simply something that anyone with morals would do. Though, based on your reaction and the… reputation of this place, I can assume that you have never been treated with kindness simply because it was the right thing to do.” The man answered her, before frowning as he referred to the place they were currently in and its inhabitants, which made Ume scowl and glare at him venomously.

“That’s not true! Onii-Chan has always done his best to look after and protect me, even when everyone treated him like he was worth less than the dirt on the floor!” The young Shabana said, and she was once more taken aback as the man did another thing she wasn’t expecting. And that was smile at her with the smallest bit of relief in his body language (No, this wasn’t right! Where was the anger and slap to the face she had come to know from the parasites in this hellhole!?).

“I’m happy to hear that you had someone to lean on for support. Do you know where he is? I’m sure he and your parents must be anxious to see you are well, and they should know what occurred just now.” The man said before asking of her, which made Ume scowl again. Though this time, it was more out of bitterness towards her parents rather than this man, though a bit of it was still directed at him. Seriously, just who was this guy!?

“It’s just me and Onii-Chan. According to him, mother was simply an alcoholic and suicidal waste of air that tried to kill herself many times, even when she was pregnant with me and my brother and when I was born, she tried to kill us many times until she eventually died because of syphilis. As for father, I know nothing about him except that he used mother as a one-night stand and I was the result.” She informed the man, who frowned with displeasure and a small yet furious aura that caused Ume to flinch and close her eyes, before then slowly opening them when she felt a soft hand rest on her should comfortingly, making her face the man once more.

“I’m sorry to hear that you and your brother’s lives have been filled with so much struggle, suffering and misfortune. But for now, why don’t we seek out your Onii-Chan so that you are safe and around someone you are familiar with once more.” The kind man said, getting on one of his knees to look her in the eyes with his hand outstretched for her to take and honestly… Ume couldn’t help but nod her head when she saw how gentle those dark red eyes were.

“Get away from my sister!” Suddenly though, before Ume could even reach out to take the offered hand, a voice she was very familiar with yelled out in a rage and she barely saw the shine of a light on a metal Kama, but the man easily jumped back without issue while a figure laned in front of Ume protectively.

This figure was one that Ume had known her entire life and she had always felt safe around him, no matter how much the idiots of the District tried shoving the idea that her brother was a Demon down her throat. Because this figure, Gyutaro, was a fairly short boy about 5’0” tall with an unhealthy-looking pale skin tone and a slim looking body with some heavy signs of starvation that has left a lasting mark on the older Shabana. He also had unruly black hair, worn messily styled with uneven bangs and several locks, eyes that were notably bloodshot and were a pale blue colour, with visible veins lining his sclera, a set of missing and uneven teeth and ink-like markings in the form of black spots and a flowing water-like pattern on his face. As for clothing, he was wearing a short-sleeved wide-striped kimono that was mostly clean outside of a few tears and dirt spots on it, though he had no footwear and as a result was barefoot.

“Onii-Chan, wait! This man saved my life and stopped me from being burnt alive by someone that tried to assault me!” Ume quickly yelled out as she leapt forward and hugged Gyutaro’s back, who seemed surprised and while he still glared at the man with suspicion, he shifted most of his attention to hide Ume herself from view with his own body and wrapping an arm around her to provide comfort.

“Ah, so you are her older brother. I’m glad to see how much you both truly care for each other. And thank you little one for trying to diffuse the situation a little.” The kind man spoke, kneeling down to make himself appear less big and to look them in the eyes while still keeping the distance, causing Gyutaro to look this man over suspiciously but relax ever so slightly.

“Who the hell even are you old man?” The debt collector questioned with his words being drawn out a little like normal, which earned a frown from the man. And despite both siblings instinctively thinking that this was a show of anger, something about the smile felt… wrong to associate it with that emotion.

“My name is Tanjuro Kamado, my young friend. But are you okay? You look like you are starved half to death.” The man spoke in concern, making the older Shabana scowl.

“And why the fuck would you care? Bastards like you have never helped without wishing for some favour you could call in.” Gyutaro disdainfully questioned while Ume looked curiously and quickly became lost in thought. After all, there was simply no way this man could be from even the higher parts of the District since she doesn’t recognise him at all and nothing about him is similar to the people that live in this accursed sex city.

“Perhaps… he could be our way out. If he went out of his way to save me and hasn’t even insulted Onii-Chan despite everyone else doing so… then would he save us both like he just did with me again?” The young beauty questioned to herself, before looking up and interrupting the conversation being held by the two sickly looking males.

“Can you get us out of here?” Ume asked the question, causing Tanjuro to raise an eyebrow at her while Gyutaro looked momentarily surprised before getting serious.

“Ya sure about that Ume? We worked hard to give you a reputation in this place that will make your words matter after all, but if you want to leave, then we can try to by ourselves.” Gyutaro asked her in a whisper, making the young teen nod her head in serious confirmation.

“I’m sure! After all, a rich bastard tried to… you know what. And if it wasn’t for Kamado-San, I would be in a ditch and burnt to death for defending myself!” She cried out with tears in her eyes, causing Gyutaro to fully abandon watching over the man that saved her in favour of holding Ume close.

“All right then. I’ll always be here for ya sis.” Onii-Chan told her with a gentle but toothy smile, but both of the Shabana siblings turned their attention as Tanjuro approached them, but still kept a comforting distance.

“Well, given what happened to young one and what I can assume you have been through based on your figure and Kama, I could never refuse children asking for help. So, after you two pick up anything you may need at your home, I would be honoured to get you out of here and if you wish, grant you shelter with my family.” Kamado-San told them, holding out his hand to be taken once more.

“All right old man. But I promise you, if ya hurt Ume in anyway, I won’t hesitate to split open that skull of yours.” Gyutaro warned while holding out his Kama at the sickly man to emphasise his threat, earning a light chuckle and nod of acceptance from the man.

“I understand given the environment you have grown up in. Though, if I can ask, what are your names since you shall be living with my family now.” Tanjuro accepted before asking, which resulted in Gyutaro lowering his weapon before taking the Kamado’s hand with his own empty one.

“The name’s Gyutaro Shabana. And this is my sister, Ume. You better not go back on your word, or else things won’t be pretty for you man.”

Notes:

Well, things will be interesting to see for the future.

I don't really have to much to comment on here, but one thing I'm sure you are all wondering about is where that Samurai is? Simply put, he didn't get dragged into this new time period as well and instead, someone that would have been his descendant had he lived in canon was the person to almost burn Ume. Overall though, I just hope I did a good job of portraying Tanjuro and the human versions of the Upper moon 6 siblings after living in the Entertainment District since they were born, particularly its slums, and how that makes them suspicious of people, and for that, I also hope I made them going with Tanjuro convincing.

Also, for a reference, this chapter takes place 1 year before Muzan shows up to the Kamado household. And right now, Ume is 12-years-old (the same as Tanjiro here) while Gyutaro is currently 16-years-old.

One last thing. But my plans for this story will have Ume and Gyutaro survive the massacre like Tanjiro and Nezuko in canon and among these 4 siblings, 2 of them will be turned into Demons here. I personally can't decide and you don't need to restrict yourself to a specific siblings set or make the younger sibling pair the Demons if you want. So feel free to suggest any pairing between these 4 who get turned into a Demon by Muzan in this story, as this can be pretty important and I have ideas for all of them. Also, I want you all to suggest a Demon who can take the role of Upper moon 6 in this story, as I would prefer to not use and OC for something that important and currently, it is looking like Rui and Enmu are the best choices. So either pick between these 2 for that role or any other Demon that appears in Demon Slayer's world that can take that rank for themselves.

Taisho Secret: Tanjuro was passing through the Entertainment District as a short cut to return home, as he decided to leave his family to visit the graves of his younger sister and her children in private, whose bodies were nearly unrecognisable outside of what appeared to be melted flesh.

Thank you all for reading! I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and I hope to see you all next time! Also, please be sure to leave a comment about your thoughts on the chapter and story so far! And again, for anyone who may want to, you are free to make drawings based on any of my stories and my only request is that you give me a link so I can see it for myself when you are done and so I can credit you and leave a link to your drawing in a future chapter.

Chapter 2: The day a debt born from blood was created

Notes:

Hello everyone! I'm back with another chapter for this story, and honestly, I'm shocked that it ended up being as long as it now is, even when I skipped over a few things for the sake of time. Either way, I hope that you all enjoy!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Tanjiro’s perspective

Location: Kamado household

“Are you sure about this Gyutaro? I can still sell the charcoal pretty easily.” Tanjiro asked his adoptive older brother with some concern, who merely scoffed but gave a sharp yet toothy grin at the Kamado before rubbing his head.

“Yeah, it’ll be good. Besides, we both know that while I may not look like it, I have some pretty great strength.” Gyutaro assured him before turning back around and putting the basket filled with charcoal on his back.

“Plus, ya went out of your way to gather up the charcoal to begin with. The least I can do is sell this stuff and I ain’t the only one heading down to the town.” He continued on, looking over Tanjiro’s shoulder as Nezuko ran over to them, Ume right by her side as the younger sister of the pair held a sleeping Rokuta in her arms.

“Onii-Chan!! Nezuko and me have finally made an edible meal! Come on, I have some left over and I want you to eat it!” Ume said as she grabbed hold of her blood brother’s arm and began to pull, a complete contrast to when the siblings were first welcomed into the Kamado family.

This caused Tanjiro’s mind to wonder as he smiled at the former Shabana siblings. They had only been a part of this household for just over a year now, but the eldest blood child of the Kamado family couldn’t comprehend a life without Gyutaro and Ume living with everyone. When they first arrived, the two were distrusting of everyone, even father despite him getting them out of a horrible situation, and it took 3 months for them to relax completely around everyone. And to be honest, their attitudes to this day always concerned Tanjiro, mainly whenever he sold coal to the town down the mountain and these two followed him during those trips, Gyutaro seemed to have gained a reputation for fighting people that messed with their family and Ume apparently scammed people, though he doubted it in the case of Ume and he does believe that everything is overexaggerated in the case of Gyutaro.

Though, this trip down memory lane did cause Tanjiro to compare the changes in appearance between the adopted siblings now compared to when they first met. The first obvious thing was that the both of them were much cleaner and healthier looking, with any dirt or grime or anything like that being removed from the former Shabanas entirely, with Gyutaro having a bit more fat to him despite still looking concerningly slim at a glance and Ume having her hair sorted out straight while styled into a long ponytail, with a comparison Tanjiro had repeatedly heard from the residents of the town down the mountain saying that the young girl’s hair was like a cascade of snow, which he felt was accurate. As for clothing, Ume didn’t really change the look of the kimono she from a year back, but it was replaced with a less worn one with brighter colouring to it and a set of 3 Kanzashi hairpins on each side of her head to hold up the ponytail while Gyutaro wore a similar outfit to Tanjiro himself, the only differences being that the older boy lacked a Haori and a pair of Hanafuda earrings on his ears. They also both grew in height, with Ume now standing at 5’1” tall and Gyutaro at 5’3” tall, a sad side effect of their apparently horrible upbringings until they were adopted into the family.

“Now, now Ume. Your brother has decided to head down to the town and sell the charcoal that was gathered up by Tanjiro. In the meantime though, you can help the rest of us out with chores around the house and we can gather up any missing ingredients that may have been used by the meal you prepared.” The voice of their mother spoke up, catching the attention of the gathered siblings, which resulted in Ume pouting at the fact that she couldn’t show off what she made.

“Actually, where are Hanako and Shigeru right now? I thought they would be here like they usually are whenever one of use plans to head down to town.” Tanjiro couldn’t help but ask as he looked around, curious on where his younger brother and sister were. Perhaps they were messing with Takeo? No, that was unlikely since he couldn't hear his little brother causing a fuss about a prank or anything similar.

“They’re currently inside Onii-Chan. They were the ones to test out the food and actually approve it. Though, it was a challenge to convince them to partake in the taste test.” Nezuko told him with a small smile, taking the 2 boys aback while Kie giggled a little at their surprise.

“Well, seems like I have something to look when I get back home. Ya better be well behaved though Ume.” Gyutaro says with a chuckle while flicking her head affectionately, earning a half-hearted whine from the teenage girl.

“Well, I’ll be ready in a moment. Just give me a minute to grab the wool.” The 2nd eldest blood Kamado told her adoptive older brother, who simply nodded while Nezuko gave the sleeping Rokuta to Tanjiro. And so, after a minute, Nezuko came back out with a box filled with some extra wool that the family gathered up for some extra money before her and Gyutaro headed down the mountain as their family waved them bye for now…

Unaware that for most, it will be the last time they could do so.

Gyutaro’s perspective

Time skip: The next day

“Nezuko, hurry up!! I don’t know how long either of them will last!” Gyutaro yelled out, fear and anger in his voice as he carried Ume on his back while trying to run through the snow as much as he could, turning around to look at his adoptive sister running and breathing heavily. And honestly, he couldn’t blame her considering that she wasn’t unnaturally strong for her figure on top of currently being the one to carry Tanjiro on her back while having to run through all of this snow.

Okay, to set up some context, him and Nezuko had gone down yesterday to the town that they were now desperately trying to return to. After he sold the charcoal and Nezuko sold the wool, his younger sister decided to stay and hang out with some friends considering how long everything took and when he tried to return home, that old man that was friend to the Kamados stopped him, Saburo if he remembered right. He didn’t much interact with the old bastard and it was clear he was disturbed by Gyutaro, so that was just some incentive to do so, yet he could begrudgingly acknowledge that at the very least, the old sack of bones wasn’t going to do anything bad to him unlike the bastards in the Entertainment District. And because he listened, his damn family was attacked when he could have protected them! He… sadly was somewhat unaffected by the nature of death, but he honestly felt sick seeing the states everyone was in, implying that they were either mauled by an animal or the bastard that attacked did it just for some sick pleasure. And Tanjiro and Ume weren’t too much better, as the eldest Kamado born child was missing his left ear, he had a large gash across his chest and his right arm from the elbow appeared to be torn off, likely only being alive because he seemed to have used torn pieces of his own clothing to bandage much of his injuries before passing out. As for Ume, she was comparatively better off, but she now had a slash over her left eye that would scar over at best and permanently leave her half blind and a few minor cuts across her body, though they did resemble slashes from a sword.

“I swear, if, no, when I find that bastard, what I did to those bastards that owe debt back in that hellhole will look like a slap on the wrist compared to what I do to them. And not even all of the gods and Buddhas in the world can stop me.” Gyutaro thought to himself with a scowl before refocusing on the situation. Even if Tanjiro and Nezuko don’t approve, he had the time to potentially plot murder after his brother and baby sister tell them what happened.

“I’m… sorry….” Nezuko gasped out, and seeing the tears running down her face honestly caused Gyutaro’s heart to hurt. It was just something that wasn’t suited for such a beautiful girl, let alone one of his little sisters. However, despite his desire to comfort her, they both knew that every second wasted may be what results in their siblings’ deaths.

Though, unseen by the two in that moment, was Tanjiro opening his eyes with a brighter shade of red than what was previously there, and his nails gaining notable growth.

“Gah… gah… GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!” Suddenly though, Ume began to groan and stir on Gyutaro’s back, seemingly waking up from unconsciousness before suddenly throwing her head back and screaming out into the heavens, violently thrashing about almost mindlessly and shocking the 2 uninjured siblings.

“U-UME!? CALM DO-!!!” Gyutaro tried to yell reassurance to his blood sister, but because of her thrashing and her shocking amount of strength, the thin looking boy ended up losing his footing and ended up slipping on the snow beneath his feet, causing the 2 siblings to fall down the side as Nezuko screamed out in shock, reaching out with her arm to grab Gyutaro, but was too slow to do so. As a result, the fall caused Gyutaro to crash into the ground, though thankfully he was cushioned by the snow, so he was left largely uninjured.

“Gah…. That hurt like hell.” The eldest child groaned out, but shook his head as he stood back up and looked around, quickly becoming concerned when he noticed Ume standing up a few feet away from him.

“Hey, Ume!! Look, I know you got to be confused, but you are injured! So just let me carry you to town.” The male teenager told his precious sister, quickly running over to her while reaching out his hand to grab hold of her shoulder… until his instincts began to scream. They may have withered thanks to being in such a safe environment for so long, even if it took 3 months for him to relax around all of the Kamados, but the awareness for danger he had to develop since as far back as he could remember and especially when he became a debt collector never truly left. In a sense, you can compare those instincts of his to a domesticated animal’s own when put in danger themselves. It’s weaker, but it never left them at all.

“NO!!!” Despite this though, as Ume lifted her head to reveal her once lapis blue eyes had now become a lime green colour and her skin had become unhealthy pale, Gyutaro knew that the following lung from his baby sister would have torn out his throat, had Tanjiro not leapt at her and made the 2 roll across the snow-covered ground while Gyutaro himself fell onto his back as a result of him trying to lean away from the prevented attack.

“Gyutaro! What’s going on with them!?” Nezuko cried out, causing the eldest out of the 4 siblings to turn his head and look at the youngest out of the set as she ran over, helping him up while looking at Ume and Tanjiro with concern as their struggle easily snapped a tree in half when Ume stood up, easily lifting Tanjiro’s body weight with a strength that had been beyond her only hours ago and jumping back into the tree.

“I don’t know.” Was all Gyutaro could answer with as he watched the two struggle briefly, until eventually Ume got Tanjiro off of her back when the familiar sound of a broken bone rang out within the area, horrifying both Gyutaro and Nezuko while Ume turned to look at the struggling to stand Tanjiro, snarling at him with anger, hunger, concern, confusion, and a bit of betrayal within her voice. However, she quickly turned her attention back to Gyutaro and Ume, staring at them as if they were mere prey to feast upon instead of her siblings, as if the last year spent around Nezuko and her blood connection to Gyutaro never existed.

“Ume, calm down! Whatever is wrong, we can sort it out!” Nezuko cried out to their sister, who merely growled more loudly as to their shock, Ume’s appearance began to change even more, with her previously pure snow coloured hair began to develop lime green tips that spread upwards until half of her hair changed to that colour and cracks began to appear on the left side of her forehead, parts of her neck, the back of both her clawed hands and her bare feet.

“RRRRAAAAGGGHHHH!!!” As soon as these changes were done though, the now very clearly feral girl began to try and leap forward, but was once more restrained by Tanjiro, who used his right arm to wrap around her body and restrain her arms while using his left arm to effectively gag, not even flinching as her now fanged teeth pierced his flesh and drew blood.

“C-Calm… sister….” Tanjiro said, his voice being some odd amalgamation between an animalistic growl and a comforting whisper to Ume, who tried to thrash about within his grip, though she was now beginning to cry as tears leaked from her eyes.

Seeing this, Gyutaro and Nezuko only had to share a look before knowing that they were both about to do the same thing, despite the risks. As a result, they approached their siblings and brought Tanjiro and Ume into a hug, which appeared to affect the feral girl as her tears intensified, muffled whining noises being heard clear as day.

Suddenly though, Tanjiro, Gyutaro and Ume’s heads shot upwards as they saw a figure descending from the air with a sword held within his hand held high, his intent clear. And faster than he had ever moved in the past, Gyutaro shoved his siblings with his full body weight, causing all 4 of them to fall to the ground and avoid getting struck, though this did result in the much longer hair of Tanjiro, Nezuko and Ume to get cut off. But the confusion of this messy situation grew for Gyutaro, as he bore witness to his little sister’s hair instantly regrow while Tanjiro’s hair also did the same thing, though at a noticeably slower rate and the new hair being a sun coloured yellow before some of the tips turned into a burnt orange colour. However, this was more of an idle thing for Gyutaro, as he was left genuinely surprised and a bit terrified of this swordsman’s strength, since that single sword swing carried enough force to make the snow beneath the blade explode and get sent flying into the air, without even touching the ground.

Spinning around, Gyutaro growled at the attacker, who appeared to be a 5'9½" tall man with a pale skin complexion, dark blue coloured eyes that almost seemed blank and has unruly black hair of uneven lengths that sticks up in tufts around his head, which he wears tied back in a low messy ponytail at the base of his neck. As for what he was wearing, it consisted of some kind of uniform that was tinted a dark cyan colour with golden buttons and a weird haori that was split down the middle for 2 different sides, with the right side having a solid dark red colour with no pattern, and the left one being geometrically patterned with rhombi of green, orange, and yellow. Another odd thing of note about this man was how his katana was coloured blue instead of the usual silver of anything made from metal, let alone a weapon. It also had the kanji for "Destroyer of Demons" written onto it for some reason.

“Why do the 3 of you protect that thing?” The man asked the gather group of siblings, pointing his blade at Ume, who was glaring daggers at this man and the only reason she likely wasn’t attempting to tear him limb from limb was because of Tanjiro holding her back, something that made the man narrow his eyes for some reason.

“Ume isn’t a thing you bastard! She’s our sister!!” Gyutaro growled out as he stood up, holding out his hand to Nezuko, who passed him the hatchet. It may not be the sickles he was used to, but he was no stranger to using a hatchet as a weapon.

“You call that your sister? All it is now is a hungry beast that wears this ‘Ume’s’ face.” Was all the stranger said as he focused on Ume, who was still struggling in Tanjiro’s grip. However, despite asking the question, this man appeared to be done with the conversation, as he jumped forward at an incredible speed that Gyutaro was just barely able to react to. Despite this, as the man reached out to grab Ume and Tanjiro, the former Shabana swung out with the hatchet, making the swordsman blink in surprise at the unnatural speed before swinging out with his blade, slicing through the wood of the tool, then proceeded to quickly spin the weapon within his hand and slammed the bottom of the handle into the neck of the largely unhealthy-looking boy with enough force to knock him unconscious.

And as a result, before the poor teenage slept through the remainder of this encounter, all Gyutaro could do was hear poor Nezuko’s yells and see the swordsman grab Ume and Tanjiro before darkness consumed his vision as thoroughly as rage took his heart. For he wouldn’t care what happens, but if this bastard hurt any of his siblings, then not even every god and buddha in the world working together would stop him from tearing this man’s throat out with his sickles.

???’s perspective

“Gyutaro!” The human girl cried out as her brother was knocked unconscious by the Demon Slayer’s blow. However, the Hashira did not stop in his actions as he moved with a level of fluidity that could only be granted by a practitioner of Water Breathing, keeping up his momentum despite the momentary set back of the thin child’s shocking speed to swing his blade, easily slicing through the neck of the Demon girl with the Fifth Form of Water Breathing, which was called “Blessed Rain After the Drought”.

The technique itself was at its base, a mercy kill. It had apparently been invented by the Sengoku era Water Hashira, who at one point had to slay a literal infant that had been turned into a Demon and while they didn’t regret killing it, the pain their sword swing caused a lot of pain and that ate away at them. as a result, the 5th Form was created to be used on newborn Demons that haven’t killed yet or opponents that wish to repent for the lives they have taken and surrendered as a result.

“RRRRAAAAGGGGHHHHH!!” Turning his head, Giyu was surprised to see the boy that had been holding back the Demon girl jump up at him and threw a clawed strike, sadly confirming the Slayer’s suspicions as he easily avoided the strike before restraining the boy with ease, the transforming child growling and thrashing about as both of his arms were restrained by a single hand from the powerful grip of the fake Hashira himself.

After all, while a Demon version of a person will always be naturally be stronger than their human counterpart, even if the human version learned Total Concentration Breathing, Demons tended to adapt to whatever situation they were in. This is especially if the Demon lived for an extended period of time that passes a person’s prime during their human days, but this did not mean a human couldn’t overcome a Demon in raw power, some examples of this being what he heard from the other Hashira like Himejima before they began to walk their current paths.

Though admittedly, he couldn’t help but pity this boy. He seemed to be one of the humans with a high tolerance to Demon blood, meaning that he was likely given only just enough blood to be turned, whether on purpose or not. In other words, this child that likely only became a teen a few months ago at most was still mostly human, but he will become a Demon by the time the sun set and also become a mindless beast.

“You monster!! Why are you doing this!?” The black-haired girl yelled at him with grief in her voice while grabbing the hatchet from her unconscious brother, drawing the attention of Giyu as he turned to face the girl, unbothered by the decapitated Demon since her body would disintegrate.

“I am a Demon Slayer and the creature you claimed to be your sister was a Demon. In order to stop her from feasting upon anymore humans than the ones I found at a house a couple of shaku away from here, I had to decapitate her and since your brother here is currently undergoing his own transformation to become a Demon, I’ll have to take off his head as well. Hopefully, you’ll at least be able to bury him since he’s mostly human at the moment.” Giyu explained to the girl, feeling honestly bad for the poor girl, but his heart was sadly hardened to situations like this. After all, civilians pleading for their now Demon family members was something almost every Demon Slayer came across at some point in their lives and the Water Hashira was sadly familiar with the situation due to being in this position many times.

“But it wasn’t them! Ume couldn’t have done it when she was covered in her own blood and was badly hurt when me and Gyutaro got home and Tanjiro was missing some of his limbs not too long ago!” The girl yelled out, causing some annoyance to build within the Slayer’s chest.

“So you already saw signs that neither of these two were human anymore and you continue to talk like they wouldn’t tear out your throats? You are truly foolish.” He stated with a glare, which made the pre-teen before him shiver before glaring at him with fury in her eyes.

“Stop talking about by siblings like they are just random things!! Ume recognised us and was calming down thanks to Tanjiro and he never once even growled at me or Gyutaro! I may not know how these changes happened, but they are clearly still themselves!” She yelled out at him, lifting up the hatchet in a way that would let her move quickly, though the stance was sloppy, but clearly due to a lack of experience. Perhaps she had a future as a Slayer? Her older brother certainly did with his speed at least.

“Simple, Demon blood entered their wounds, resulting in their very biology being mutated. That is how man-eating Demons multiply. And true, while the girl may have recognised you, it wouldn’t have lasted long. And be honest, would your sister really want to live as a monster that eats people, before being crushed at the knowledge that she ate you and your brother upon her death? At least this way, she’ll still be able to go to heaven and now, your brother here will keep his humanity upon death.” He explained to the girl, lifting up his blade in preparation to strike, but stopped at this girl’s yell.

“Then we’ll find a cure! No matter what it takes, me and Gyutaro will find a way to turn Tanjiro back into a human!” The pre-teen yelled out with tears beginning to leak from her eyes.

“He won’t be able to get better. Once the process of a Demon transformation begins, there is no stopping or reversing the effects. Take whatever time you need to mourn and feel free to despise me with every fibber of your being, but what I am about to do is indeed a mercy. At the very least, I’ll make it painless to the best of my ability.” Giyu told her, raising his blade up to strike the boy who was trying to struggle out of his grip and began to swing down…

Only to find an Obi sash fly right by his face, almost severing his own head off his body had the Hashira not detected danger and leaned away at the very last second, only losing an inch of his hair as a result.

Turning his head, he saw that the Demon girl who he had beheaded only moment before with her head back on her shoulders and scowling at him while multiple Obi sashes (about 6 to be precise) waving and bending as if they were snakes ready to strike and bite into the flesh of their victims, one of them having flew forward to strike. Even worse for Giyu and those two stubborn kids, the still transforming boy used this opportunity to jump back and slam the back of his head into Giyu’s nose, breaking it and drawing blood as the Hashira stumbled back, dazed from the strike, and letting go of the teen to instinctively cover his broken nose and try to stop the bleeding.

“What… the hell is his skull made out of!? Even the Lower moons I have fought never had a body part that strong!” Giyu thought to himself before steadying himself, raising his head as he saw the unconscious boy get picked up by one of the Demon girl’s Obi sashes and brought him to her as both her and the other boy, who has now developed a flame like pattern from the bottom of his neck that crawled up just up to his cheek and another that now replaced a burn like scar on his forehead, jumped towards the human girl.

“Shit!! Even if the boy doesn’t attack since his transformation isn’t complete, he’ll be unlikely to defend her with the progress made! And I’ll likely have to decapitate the both of them to actually kill them!” Giyu thought in worry, bending down and ready to jump forward. It’s unlikely that the girl will come out unscathed now, but he might just be able to save her.

But before he did, the Water Hashira froze in place as he witnessed something he believed to be physically impossible. Two Demons (one by technicality, but the boy wearing the checkered haori is definitely more Demon than human at this point) standing in front of humans protectively while the boy wrapped in the Obi Sash was gently put down on the ground. And they were clearly and genuinely protective, instead of being Demons that were trying to prevent their prey from being taken.

“Ume, wait! We need to run, please!” The human girl cried out to her Demon sister, earning a growling noise that wasn’t really directed towards her, as the dual hair coloured girl did not take her eyes off of the swordsman for even an instant while the Demon boy stood in front of them all, crouching down in a manner similar to a wolf when protecting its cubs. And while Giyu was watching this impossible sight, one that defied the expectations set by the countless times he has witnessed new born Demons consume those who tried to defend them, he couldn’t help but wonder…

“Are these siblings… truly that different?” Was the question he asked to himself, and while it was clear the Demon girl would have normally attacked him again by now, she was also clearly holding herself back with the Demon boy in front of her and the human girl hugging her from behind, having dropped her hatchet a bit ago.

With this sight, Giyu made his decision. As a result, he charged forward at a speed that none of the children before him could hope to react to, striking the back of the neck of both Demon siblings and stopping in front of the human girl, kneeling down to look her in the eye and sheathing his blade. And as soon as that action was accomplished, he heard snow crunching beneath the weight of the unconscious Demons, while the human girl jumped back in freight with a scream, her hand searching through the snow while looking at the Slayer. But as she grasped the handle of the hatchet, Giyu asked her a question.

“What lengths are you willing to go to in order to find a cure for your older brother and sister?”

Notes:

Well, this is going to lead to some interesting possibilities.

Now then, to start things off, I hope that I was able to do a good job of portraying how well Nezuko, Tanjiro, Ume and Gyutaro near the beginning of the chapter and throughout, especially when the Shabana siblings have lived with the Kamado family for a full year, while still showing off the effect that the Entertainment District left on them.

Next is the Demons of the group. After going through the comments and receiving feedback from friends, the siblings that were chosen to become Demons were Ume and Tanjiro, beating the option of Gyutaro and Nezuko by 1 person. So while I know that some of you may be disappointed by your choice not being what's used here, I do hope that you still give this story a try and enjoy it in the long run. Especially with the plans I have for Demon Tanjiro and Demon Ume/Daki.

Speaking of the 2 Demons, it appears that Ume having consumed some of the still transforming blood of Tanjiro has not only lead to her ultimately resisting her hunger and already developing her Blood Demon Art, but also developing that decapitation preventing connection with Tanjiro that she shared with Gyutaro in canon. And trust me, there are more interesting effects caused by this than these details alone. As for why Tanjiro didn't fully turn at the same time as Ume, in the Manga, Kokushibo confirms that those with Total Concentration Breathing (not even the Constant version) are highly resistant to being turned into a Demon, and thus they require a large blood supply to do so. Add on how he even specifies that it took him personally 3 days to turn, and while Tanjiro wouldn't last anywhere as long, this would cause his transformation to be slow for a good bit of time, and thus allowing what you all just read to happen.

Lastly, I hope I wrote Gyutaro's perspective well, from his aggression, his love for his siblings and of course, his likely insane dormant potential as a Demon Slayer.

Taisho Secret: When the transformed Ume was growling at the still turning Tanjiro, she was able to recognise him as family thanks to her buried human memories and him also becoming a Demon. But since Gyutaro and Nezuko were still fully human, she hadn't recognised them yet, and so the poor girl was left confused and hurt as to why the boy she still recognised as one of her brothers was stopping her from feasting and why he wasn't trying to eat with her, as she intended to share with Tanjiro.

Thank you all for reading! I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and I hope to see you all next time! Also, please be sure to leave a comment about your thoughts on the chapter and story so far, but also feel free to ask any questions you may have and I shall answer the best I can without hopefully spoiling anything! And again, for anyone who may want to, you are free to make drawings based on any of my stories and my only request is that you give me a link so I can see it for myself when you are done and so I can credit you and leave a link to your drawing in a future chapter.