Keeping Up with the Demon Kamado Family

a family waiting on a mountain of training (part 2)

Urokodaki's Thoughts on the Kamado Family

True to his word, Tanjiro's training began quickly and he was not under any circumstances going to go easy on him. He had learnt through the many years he had taken on students that they need to be strong to take on their future battles.

Although nothing he did seemed to matter since a lot of them did not make it past the entrance exam. Urokodaki had the highest hopes for Sabito from how prepared he seemed to be only for no part of him to be left behind. The fact he couldn't bury their bodies or set their souls to rest was the thing that bothered him the most. He stabbed through his heart like a sword when he thought about each student he sent out with a mask he made just for them. Each design ended up broken into pieces, stained with their blood like it captured their last moments in the most heartbreaking way.

Maybe that's why this time around felt a bit harsher than the last time he had trained someone. But the kid needed it. If he ever wanted to achieve what he needed to protect his demon family, he needed to be stronger, faster, and smarter than his predecessors.

Ah, right. The Kamado family.

Urokodaki held back on writing a letter to Tomioka about the sudden number of demons he had to take care of. Because from what he knew, the current water hashira did not know about more than one surviving.

He would need to get all the information he could before he decided to come clean through a letter. That way Urokodaki could see if the family acted up when Tanjiro was training and to see if any of them were a true threat.

So while Tanjiro was making his way down the mountain past the booby traps, he was in his home taking care of the demon family.

Now... Urokodaki was expecting possibly one which his house was enough to accommodate for. One demon along with a new trainee was nothing. But six demons? His little shack could not fit them all quite comfortably.

But his demon guests did not seem to mind. The family took what little he had to offer and made a pseudo bed of it where the family would cuddle up close to one another like birds in a nest. When Tanjiro came home, his mother or siblings would drag him by his robes into the middle of their cuddle pile.

The Kamados had the house to themselves often since he was going outside daily to hunt for them to avoid any harm. If he wasn't hunting, Urokodaki was busy watching over Tanjiro struggle to breathe like a true demon slayer.

It wasn't like they were incapable of hunting. The family often traveled outside once the sun went down to play around the nearby area. They never traveled too far from their mother.

That's how certain sights became normal. Like Takeo chopping at trees with his hands like they were his axes. Hanako, the small girl, often was chasing after Shigeru in some sort of game. Kie often carried Rokuta in her arms, calmly exploring the area while occasionally clicking or humming at her children to calm them down.

Nezuko had been sleeping since they got there, never moving from her slumber even when the Takeo offered a bowl of freshly spilled hog blood. The inactivity seemed to worry Tanjiro and the rest of his family quite a bit.

The demon mother watched over her with eyes that seemed to penetrate to his very soul through the mask he wore whenever he came in with fresh meat to feed them.

Yet, none of them made a move towards him.

Although Urokodaki would eventually have to start training them through hypnotism or a calming spell, so they did not recognize humans as food. Maybe he and Tanjiro were just exceptions, so he could not take any risks. Especially since this was a big, dangerous risk.

Tanjiro started writing a journal to explain his training days a week or so into it while speaking out loud in whispers to his younger siblings. The journal did not get updated much from what he had overheard in his cot. The reasoning is probably because Tanjiro is mostly exhausted after training each day to push his body through the limits.

When he didn't immediately fall asleep when he walked inside, he spent that time talking with his family despite the fact it seemed like they could only understand parts of what he was saying. And when he wasn't sleeping, he was showing off the moves he had learned which his siblings would start copying.

He almost had a heart attack with Takeo and Shigeru tried to copy their brother's attempt at controlled breathing.

When the children weren't outside at night, they were inside awaiting Tanjiro's return. Takeo had taken to guarding the house by laying down near the doorway underneath a low placed table to avoid any sunlight that peeked in if anyone opened it. He was the first to greet Tanjiro with an ankle grab that made the boy squeal more often than not in his tired state.

Shigeru and Hanako were the disaster duo it seemed. Often teaming up together to do a task only to start bickering through muffled growls half way through which led to their mother, Kie, pulling them away by their collars.

And then there was the youngest, Rokuta. He was the most active out of the rest whether it be by the boy's young age or the fact he eats the most out of his siblings.

Surprisingly, he had learned Rokuta's name first out of everyone except Nezuko since the little boy had taken one look at him and decided that he would follow him like a little duckling.

Despite the pang of fear every time the boy got a bit too close to his leg, he grew accustomed to the little follower he had.

Rokuta, like his siblings, seemed more than satisfied with the sleep and animal blood they received. Although the young demon seemed to chew on his furniture when Rokuta thought he wasn't looking. Although he couldn't be fully upset at the boy, he was far too young to become a demon. According to Tanjiro, he was only three years old. He didn't deserve a hellish life like this.

Although Tanjiro seemed to mistake his pity for the boy for something else.

"Teacher, are you playing favorites?" Tanjiro asked, his eyes trailing to Rokuta who was hanging from the sleeve of his robes.

"Hah? What do you mean, boy?" Urokodaki said, swinging his arm slowly at him which made the young boy giggle at the movement.

Tanjiro raised his arms up in surrender before walking over to his sister's bed where his mother was waiting for him.

He has no idea what Tanjiro was talking about.