A:N- not the typical 'mist' spelling but spelled as 'excellent'-ka and 'charcoal'-sumi. Sumi can be read as 'tan' in on'yomi way of reading kanji where 'tanjirou' came from. Sumi is the kun'yomi way of readng charcoal.

The Tragedy of the Kamado Family

In the Kamado Family...

There currently lived a family of seven. A mother and six children, the eldest being Kasumi who was the eldest at 13, Nezuko a year later, Takeo the first son was born nine months later, followed by Hanako who's ten years old, then Shigeru at eight and finally, toddler Rokuta.

The family head Tanjuro died from illness, but not without passing on the family heirlooms to Kasumi.

Originally it would go to Takeo but he was too young, and as eldest sibling, it was her duty to be family head and teach Takeo when he could not as Tanjuro felt he won't live long.

Kasumi inherited the Dance of the Fire God and the Hanafuda Earrings from her father.

The dance was supposed to ward off evil and disease, a dance the family worshipped, being working with fire for their livelihood, charcoal making. But father Tanjuro saw it in another way, when he once called her out...days before he died, when he sensed danger coming to their home. Kasumi knew it's swordsmanship, even if her father used a hatchet! Her father smiled, and told her to practice with a nice branch she can trim, pretend it's a sword and do it. She did just that as she would be the one protecting the family from now on.

When Tanjuro died, Kasumi gave up on being a girl and took on being a boy in order to be the reliable eldest sibling she should be, much to her mother, Kie's dismay, fearing for Kasumi's future as a bride two years from now! She even chose to wear male clothing, and cut her hair to a short ponytail!

Kasumi won't be deterred. Not when she has to help support the family. Nezuko thus supported in her own way by taking on feminine arts from their mother so their mother can help with the family's meager income. Both girls got their mother's beauty, but Kasumi got their father's peach-tan skin and coloring, while Nezuko got their mother's.

Kasumi also has quite the sense of smell as well that she's also an effective tracker and hunter just to bring home meat if they can't buy any, and over time, she created her own bokken. It was hard to do it and her work was crude, better than nothing. And she was practicing with it.

The way she lived her life made her quite the talk of the town. It helps that she was very kind and gentle, being both a 'brother' and sister to her younger siblings. And with the family technique, she could keep working and working! She was the model eldest child of the family most parents envied since their own, were trouble and needed nagging to get them moving!

Nezuko helps out in chores, mending clothes and babysitting. She'd get married first between them if one asked the family.

She headed down town to sell Charcoal. She has about a basket's worth on her back.

She hoped that this particular New Year, they'll have full stomachs for a change.

But that wasn't to be.

She came home to a horrible sight, and her sister Nezuko went primal on her.

Kasumi who never thought Oni existed and she just thought her sister went crazy from witnessing and surviving what happened to their family, steeled herself and sang the song she sang when they buried their father.

A song she sang for a month straight even Rokuta could sing a part of it.

The wind is blowing, as if its pressing onto my shoulder.
Ah, you have to go, the path you must take, is already ahead of you.
I almost lost hope in myself, you were the one who lit a fire in my heart.

Nezuko was responding!

The way she pressed on her was weakening and she was remembering.

xxx

Tomioka Giyu, the Mizubashira of the Kisatsutai, was on patrol in his region.

He had heard of demon activity around the area. Torn-apart corpses were discovered by distraught neighbors.

Being slow means a death on a Slayer's conscience.

That is why they cannot afford to stop moving, unless they absolutely have to.

He usually aims for out-of-the-way homes as they're favorite victims due to no witnesses by smarter demons.

As he got nearer, he heard a song.

Your words and way of life are my memories.
I won't forget the warmth you gave me.

Its deliberately loudly sang with a shaky quality to it. The singer was trembling.

It's snowing, but one can't be too sure!

The song got louder as he got nearer.

Sakura, Sakura, Sakura, they're falling down.
Times we spent together here, will completely end, and soon will disappear.

He came to a sight of a newly turned oni wavering and starting to cry, as the girl she was pinning down was the singer. She was determined to sing, to get through to her attacker and it's clearly working. The girl clearly knew the oni as she was holding her back with a hatchet handle.

It's the same story that Giyu has known for years.

Demons attack humans, and to whoever survives, gets turned and become a new monster whose new meal, is the leftover of the remains of their family or friends when the assailant was done with it.

Can these two tell him a different story this time?

Or is it the same old sad story?

If its the same old song, one sprint, and it's over.

We had made you a promise, that we will stay strong, promises, we'll keep all life long.
Now, it's time to say goodbye, as we're standing here, we'll send you to the sky.

A funeral song, Giyu thought somberly as his gut sank. How appropriate, when he heard that line.

The oni girl shook, getting off the girl and began crying, and shrinking...well, oni can shapeshift...

Won't you please give us more time to plan our future before we sing your departure song?

The oni calmed down, kept crying, clutched her head and cried heart-wrenchingly.

'Nezuko...you've gotten your sanity back...' the girl sighed in relief. They know each other alright. 'Who killed mom and the kids? You went crazy when I got back home!' the other girl cried. 'Who did it?!'

Nezuko can only babble in grief. She lost her sanity from her ordeal. Poor girl.

'Look at your friend. What do you see?' Giyu decided to show up to the stunned girls and Nezuko put herself in front of the other, baring her fangs at him. Like an angry cat over her kittens, her tears still flowing. Her face was no longer the face of a starving newborn monster unlike earlier.

The other girl was shaken.

'S-she went insane...but her eyes...they turned pink? And her teeth!' the other girl gulped. Giyu knew she can't deny her sister's changes now. 'Nezuko's my younger sister...I went to town to sell charcoal for New Year's Eve...when I got back, our family's torn apart.' she shook, tears welling in her eyes. 'Our house smelled of their blood and an older, rotting stench. If our family was red, this one was black in my eyes...its our family's killer...Nezuko survived whoever this is! She's not the killer!' the girl insisted. 'She's clean!'

Giyu sighed at that. Well, that he can agree. The only blood on Nezuko was a forehead wound. Her clothes, hands and mouth are clean. However, Nezuko attacked the first living thing she saw, her sister, until a funeral song snapped her out of it.

What willpower.

No oni has done this before to their own kin. They could never resist the nearest source of flesh and blood. Yet this one did!

Can these sisters change the sad song he's known for years?

'...Nezuko...do you think the dance father taught us could have protected us more until I could dance it again tonight? A murderer killed mom and the kids...' Nezuko just looked gloomy. 'For now let's bury everyone...'

'You and I will do it, girl.' Giyu told the girl. 'Nezuko barely got her sanity back. What if she smelled blood again? She will lose control to her hunger for flesh...your mother and siblings' corpses. Your sister became an Oni.'

'Oni?'

'Yes...I'm a Slayer Swordsman...we who hunt down Oni to protect humans.' said Giyu. 'For us, we hunt them down as they kill and eat humans. Those who survive the brutal attack often become Oni themselves...and eat the first thing they see.' he explained. 'The leftover remains of their family's corpses eaten by their killer.' the sisters looked horrified. 'If your sister loses herself to her hunger to the smell of blood...she will fully become an Oni, a slave to her hunger and I must kill her as my duty to protect humans. This will be the ultimate test, if we bring her with us.'

The two girls gulped nervously. They exchanged looks...and Nezuko looked at him in determination. 'You will hold back? We'll see how long that lasts.' said Giyu rather apathetically. 'For I have seen the same old story for years.' he said bitterly.

It was indeed, the ultimate test...but all Nezuko did when they got there, was cry...as the girl sang her song from before...to send their family off after burial.

'...what can we do now...there's no way we can explain to town what happened here...I don't even know how to start.' the older girl who dressed like a boy admitted in grief. 'I could barely believe you until I saw her eyes and teeth...and our neighbors know us for years...but even then...they'll kill Nezuko for sure instead of help us.' she choked out. 'We're all alone!'

Giyuu pursed his lips in self-loathing. If only he came sooner, this could have been avoided. These sisters wouldn't lose their family. One of them won't live as an Oni. But they have to live, and use their anger as a driving force to survive and fight. Whining and crying won't get you anything.

But still, he saw promise in the older sister.

Her will was strong. She sang her sister down, and never showed her back even to her own sister. And the way she held the hatchet...was akin to how one would a sword.

'...go to Sagiri-yama and look for Urokodaki Sakonji.' said the man. 'Tell him Tomioka Giyuu sent you.' said Giyuu. 'Your name and how it's spelled?'

'Kamado Kasumi...I have no idea how it's written, only father knew how to read and write.' said Kasumi helplessly. 'He was too ill to teach us by the time we left our nappies. The family register should be in our house...what does it look like? Math was easier to learn.'

Giyuu inwardly groaned.

He knew this was a problem, but he had no idea how bad a problem illiteracy was. Not everyone can afford it after all. And Charcoal Burners are poor people indeed.

After searching the house, Giyuu found the register and began reading.

The family dated all the way to Sengoku Jidai around year 1555. And all family heads have the word 'charcoal' in their names.

'...charcoal?' Giyuu eventually found the names of the two sisters. Kasumi was spelled as 'excellent charcoal' and Nezuko was spelled as...he had to guess since the kanji was 'mame' read as 'zu' in on'yomi...until he figured the meaning. 'senior priest who sows beans to ward off evil' and the girl part of her name could be a somewhat-literate father's way of saying 'priestess'. The year they were born in was also written down, so it's convenient. But it also saddens him that a toddler was killed before he can truly live. The sisters have a youngest brother, called Rokuta. So he updated their death dates.

Kasumi was the 18th generation as family heads don't live long lives by the look of things. Her father died five years ago.

'Ahhh we're Charcoal Burners...'

That explains it. Too much smoke is bad for health.

'Sunlight is bad for Oni. She'll disintegrate to ashes. Bear that in mind as you travel to Sagiri-yama.' Giyuu warned her. 'And never let Nezuko eat a human. Your duty is to humanity first and foremost.' he told her sternly. 'Never let anyone else suffer the same tragedy as you have. That is now your responsibility, Kasumi.' and he was gone.

'Nezuko...' Kasumi looked at her sister who at first looked resigned and then, she got this determined look on her face. 'You're OK with that?'

Nezuko accepted her fate, that her sister will kill her if she loses it.

Kasumi really hoped she won't be forced to do it.

Taking all valuables with them(the register, money and spare clothes and the family Kagura attire and the seven-branched carved wood with bells), the two sisters left for Sagiri-yama, with Nezuko in a basket to protect her from sunlight. She even put a canvas cloth on with straw on top to be sure.

They made their way to Sagiri-yama now, not knowing what the future brings for them.

It is now...year 1915.

The Taisho Era has just barely started.

xxx

In the meantime, way ahead of the sisters, a crow got to an old man wearing a Tengu Mask.

Forgive my abruptness, Urokodaki Sakonji-dono.

I'm sending a girl your way, Kamado Kasumi.
She will have to become a Demon Slayer. Her
family was killed, but not eaten by the Oni Killer
which is strange. Her surviving sister Nezuko
became an Oni. Kasumi dealt with her sister
by singing a Funeral Song she sang when their
father passed away some years back, and it
worked, making her sister cry and forget her
newborn hunger.

However, much of Nezuko's sanity was lost and
lost her ability to talk, but I confirmed she will
not harm humans. She will obey Kasumi. How
long will she stay that way is unknown, or will
you meet Kasumi alone I don't know. Only fate
can tell. Perhaps the fates of these sisters may
be different. And just like you, Kasumi has a keen
sense of smell, smelling the oni that killed her
family, describing it as 'very old, rotting stench'
as opposed to her family's smell of fresh blood.

I will look for this twisted bastard who seems to
enjoy killing for their sake. Perhaps Kasumi will
break through and become your heir apparent.
I realize this is a self-serving request, but please
forgive me. I hope that you will take care of yourself
in future endeavors.

Yours truly, Tomioka Giyuu

- Kasumi and Nezuko are illiterate, knowing only basic Math.
Due to family occupation of Charcoal Burning, smoke exposure
had the Kamado Family Heads living short lives after falling to
pollution-related illness. Their father Tanjuro was too ill to teach
them how to read and write.

Hopefully Kasumi is in good condition as its a given that she
will forever stop Charcoal Burning, and if she lived long enough,
rely on her future husband for livelihood instead.

Sighing, Sakonji left to meet the sisters, sword at hand. If worse came to worse, its better if he himself, did the deed and spare the sister from necessary, but cruel Sororicide.