Fireborne: Tanjiro Kamado x reader

Prologue: Stained by Sinners

Warning: heavy. Blood and gore and lots of emotions.

(Y/N)'s breathing sped up as she heard the scrunch of a branch on the forest floor. She curled tighter into herself, as if trying to merge with the rock. Her posture loosened after a checking sniff.

Reds and oranges lit the dark sky, crickets quieted by the cries and shrill screams coming from the village. Ashes soured the air, thick with the smell of blood.

She held her stuffed dragon tightly, hugging it and herself as she curled up in the small cave. I will wait. Daddy said to wait here until morning. Absolutely no going anywhere until the sun is out. Daddy and mommy will come back for me. They said they would.

(Y/N) might have been bright for her age, but she was small and frail, barely five years old. She knew she couldn't fight. Her mom had tried to teach her what she could every time she visited them, but it was never enough. As tiny as she was, really the only thing she could do was bear her small teeth and try to bite someone. Not that it'd do much damage with the size of her baby fangs.

She couldn't help. She couldn't do anything at all. She knew that.

Blood caked over a layer of dirt and tears, leaving her cheeks dry and itchy. Her whole body shook with the effort of staying still and quiet. She couldn't be found. No matter what.

Her body was too tired. Tired of running, crying and screaming; being scared and the rotten smell of demons. But how could she sleep with the cries of the people  filling the night? How could she sleep? What if a demon got close?

(Y/N) tried to shake off the sleepiness and not doze off, but before long she had fallen asleep curled up into herself, as close as possible to the back of the small cave as she could, holding her stuffed dragon tightly.

Please daddy. Come back with mommy.

~~~~><><~~~~

Heat rose in the cave, light lighting the small opening. It really was more of a hole than a cave, as only a small child could fit inside.

(Y/N) awoke, blinking and rubbing her eyes even though it stung. She uncurled as much as she could in the tiny hole and peeked outside. The cawing of cros and the usual birds could almost deceive one into thinking all was well. However, the sour putrid smell of ashes remained.

She stood still for a moment, listening. No steps, no voices. Nothing. Her heart started to sink into the pit of her stomach as she crawled out of her hole, desperately clenching her plush.

Her baby blue kimono had turned brown with all manner of substances, pattern unrecognizable. She clenched the dirty cloth, and tentatively began walking back to her village, back to her home, in hopes of finding her parents. Maybe they were just late. They did say they'd come for her.

They promised.

She hugged her plush to her chest as she got closer to the village she was born in. The village she had barely seen from the house she almost never left. She gulped, quiet like a mouse.

The sour putrid smell got stronger the closer she got, the crows circling above and their calls louder.

She stepped onto the path, entering the village from behind a house. She rounded the corner and stopped dead in her tracks.

There were bodies. Everywhere.

Most where incomplete. Missing limbs or with an open torso that spilled out onto the dirt. She stumbled back, trembling as her gaze flew all around, looking for someone. Anyone.

The air stank of iron, acid and rotten flesh, the typical scents a demon attack would leave behind.

Before she knew it her mouth was watering and she started crying, terrified and disgusted with herself. Her steps quickened and she was suddenly running towards her home, as quickly as her abnormal body could take her, trying to dodge all the bodies and limbs in the way, blood splashing beneath her feet.

"Daddy! Mommy! Where are you!"

"Daddy!"

She cried out desperately, searching for her parents. She rounded another corner, panting. She looked up at the remains of their humble home.

Only the inner structure remained standing amongst the debris. Little (Y/N)'s eyes flooded with tears and she cried out desperately in anguish. "Daddy! Mommy! Please come out!"

She ran inside, expecting to find them, but found nothing but a trail of dried blood on the tatami. Recognizing the smell, she followed wide eyed the trail back outside and down the street.

Until the gruesome sight brought her to her knees.

Her father's torso laid so bloody and torn it was unrecognizable but for its smell and his scarred face. Abnormally bent legs had been thrown a few feet away, still clad in brown pants. Brusies spotted tanned skin, and in his hands, he held to his chest a torn piece of a familiar cloth.

With trembling fingers (Y/N) pried apart her father's stiff hands and took the cloth, (E/C) eyes turning red as a wrangled sob tore its way out of her throat.

The green silk she had ran her hands over so many times when she hugged her mother seemed so dull now in her hands, spotted red. The kimono her mother always wore when she came to visit, knowing it was her father's favorite color.

(Y/N)'s sobs turned loud and wrenching, as she clutched the cloth and dropped to lay on her father's cold chest. "Daddy! Mommy! Come back! Please!"

She cried desperately, a deep cold settling in her chest, nausea rising. There was no trace of her mother's body. She knew the sun had got her.

Her father's face was twisted into a frown, mouth open in the middle of a cry. Tear tracks stained his cheeks and vacant (E/C) eyes stared.

(Y/N) cried loud and hard, gut wrenching sobs scratched her throat raw. She shook on top of her father's chest, trying to curl up with him, seeking the comfort of his warmth.
But his cold arms were stiff and she had to pry them apart to try to wriggle in between them.

She bawled for hours, with no one to hold her or hear her as the sun prickled her skin. She weeped until her sobs couldn't make a sound anymore and were just painful rasps of breath. She stayed beside her father's cold stiff body until the air cooled and the sun initiated its descent.

Then she stumbled up, holding on to the small piece of cloth and her dragon plush as if they were her lifeline. Tears still fell down her cheeks, but she could no longer make a noise. She looked down at her father's torn body one last time and bowed her head.

I will make them pay. Those who killed you; who killed everyone here. Kind granny Sadako and Ohta and Takuchi and Hana.

She knew that the one guilty of last night's massacre was her mother's boss. She had always warned her to stay away from him if she sensed his presence. And right now, she felt his presence. The air was rank with his scent, it was more putrid and rotten than everything else; heavy and powerful. It couldn't be mistaken.

I will kill Muzan Kibutsuji. Whoever he is. Whatever he is.

(Y/N) made her way back to the remains of her home, looking for anything she could salvage. But there was nothing. The fire the demons had lit had burned everything to ashes and the pantry's reserves had been spilled. She inhaled deep. She'd have to hold on until she could find someone or something to feed from.

She knew she had to leave. There was the possibility someone would come check for survivors. She had to be far away from the village by the time the light was gone.
To survive, she'd have to follow her parents' rules.

1. Never travel at night.
2. Stay away from the black uniforms with katanas.
3. If you see a demon, run.
4. Above all, never kill a human.

So it was that little (Y/N) stepped outside her village for the second time in her life, with only the clothes on her body, her stuffed dragon and the piece of her mother's kimono she had put in her pocket.

She walked for weeks before someone found her in the road, dying from starvation.