Kamado Household

Travelling for constant days while sometimes stopping to teach something new to either Shinobu or Kanao, I found myself travelling through a forest that rest on a mountain. The snow littered ground almost hidden by the snow that whipped in our face at blurring speeds. No crow came to tell me to stop my journey, so my path of travel through this blizzard continued.

Using the breathing pattern for Sun Breathing to keep myself warm, both Shinobu and Kanao clung to me since the heat seemed to radiate off me. As I continue my path of travel, a dim light appears just in my vision, stating that a house was nearby.

Confused as to why a home would be so high up on a mountain, the house's shape soon becomes clear. Along with that shape though, I see a figure moving and working in these horrible conditions. The blurred figure seems to turn his head towards us before dropping whatever item he was carrying and making his way towards us, axe in hand.

The person starts to become clearer until I can finally discern his figure. As the two of us stare at one another, the two of us hold surprise in our eyes.

My reason is that the person standing in front of me was none other than a young Tanjiro. Tanjiro is a young boy of average height with tanned skin and an athletic, muscular physique. He has ruffled, black hair with burgundy tips, combed back to expose his forehead, and wide, dark red eyes with white pupils that appear lighter around the lower section of his irises. His most prominent feature however being the scar on the top left of his forehead.

Tanjiro's surprise on the other hand came from the fact that he was staring at near unprotected young travelers wearing nothing but a uniform, yet they appeared warm and comfortable. Being the first to speak, I break the silence.

"I didn't expect to meet someone while we were traversing this mountain. Even more so because of this blizzard."

As I see Tanjiro go to speak, I notice an excess flood of light come from the home and a figure come from it. Hurrying towards us, the figure of a motherly woman came into view. Her appearance is that of a woman with a noticeably light complexion, kind, dark purple eyes, and a small beauty mark located on the left of her face below her lower lip. Grabbing Tanjiro by the shoulders, she looked at all three of us with the same kind of surprise that Tanjiro had, but it then turned to worry.

"They're nothing more than children." I hear her murmur. "If I may be so impertinent to ask, what are you children here and walking around unprotected in a snowstorm?"

Being constantly whipped in the face by the winds from the blizzard, I answer. "For training. I was told that I needed to train on a mountain and no matter the conditions, I shall train. And our clothing is like this to make the training even harder."

"That's nothing more than a one-way ticket to hypothermia." The woman spits while most likely being angry at the person who told me to train like this. "Here, come with me. I'll provide shelter for you from this storm and fix any injuries you might have."

Watching as the woman gets closer to us, I decide to swap my breathing pattern to a different form, since it would be bizarre if our bodies were wrapped in a blanket of warmth. In return for doing this though, Shinobu and Kanao gave slightly hateful stares.

Ushering us towards her home, we are placed in a very simple lodging. The second the door closed, the howling of the wind outside dimmed to nothing more than a murmur and the sounds of children became clear.

"I apologize for their noise, they're supposed to be asleep, but Tanjiro being outside kept them awake."

Leading us to the dining room, the three of us sat down while the woman sat across from us. Tanjiro was confused as to what he was supposed to do, but with a few words from his mother, he went to go presumably calm down her other children.

"First and foremost, before I can accept housing you, I would like to know where you're staying and who you're staying with."

"Well, we've been travelling for quite a long period of time, so I guess the people we stay with changes from time to time." I say while rubbing my chin thoughtfully

"So, in other words, you have nowhere to stay as of the moment?"

Slightly nodding my head to her question, the woman gasps in indignation.

"Well then, how about this, you stay with my family."

Agreeing with her proposal for now, she then beckons me over.

"You children must be freezing from being stuck in that snowstorm, so I'll make sure to check you."

Having my head then forced into her lap as she checked my condition, she did this with all three of us. After doing that, I decided it was an appropriate time to introduce ourselves and in return, she introduced that her name was Kie Kamado, the mother of six children in which Tanjiro Kamado, the oldest, worked to keep them fed since her husband had just recently died. After that, she led us to a room which appeared to be hers. Looking at her questionably, she waved it off.

"I can sleep with my children, so it's of no bother to me that you sleep here."

Gratefully accepting her kindness with no way to pay it off yet, I slept.

Fluttering my eyes open, I feel a weight placed down upon my chest. Craning my neck up, I look at a peacefully sleeping Kanao who was using my body as both her pillow and her heater. Chuckling ever so slightly, I caressed Kanao's head before then carefully removing her and placing her on the tatami mat, I had been sleeping on.

Breaking out of the room, my eyes immediately find my way to the small kitchen where Kie was working peacefully. Hearing a door open though, she turns her and sees me. Showing a kind and motherly smile, I make my way up to her.

"Did you sleep well?" I hear Kie ask.

Nodding my head, I then proceed to speak. "I know I thanked you yesterday, but I thought I would do it again. Thank you for helping us out even if we're strangers."

"Even if you're strangers, you're still children. And since I have six of my own, I couldn't leave the three of you out there just so you could be passed to someone else." Kie begins and then giggles. "My children also don't meet with other children all that often, so I suppose you being housed under us will keep them happy."

"Has the storm let up any?" I ask.

In return, I receive Kie's smile and her telling me to check myself.

Opening the door, my vision is instantly obscured by a torrent of snow. Surprised that the storm had worsened overnight, I shut the door. Turning back around, I look to find Kie still smiling at me.

"It seems you can't leave soon; this storm seems to be the one of the centuries. How unfortunate." Hearing her joyful sarcasm, I can only let out a sigh.

Entering the kitchen with the intent to help, Kei first tries to stop me from helping, but under my constant pressuring, she finally lets me help. Working with utmost proficiency as I help to make the simple breakfast, by the time we finished, the only others awake were Shinobu, Kanao, and Tanjiro. Deciding it was time to wake her children, Kie went to go wake up her children, leaving Tanjiro with the three of us.

Like what I had done, Tanjiro opens the door and finds the storm worsened. Coming back with a worried look on his face, I ask about it.

"We make a living by selling charcoal to the residents in the town. But this storm makes getting both wood and charcoal near impossible."

Before I can offer my help to gather firewood and create charcoal, Kie returns with her other children in tow. Upon spotting Kanao, Shinobu, and I, they stop in their tracks. Noticing their stares on us, Kie explains to her children.

"These children will be staying with us until the snowstorm lets up. Make sure to introduce yourselves properly and treat them properly."

Because of the reassurance of their mother, the small children are quick to return to their original demeanor. And knowing we were friendly, all of them were quick to come up and introduce themselves.

The first boy to come up had short, spiky black hair like Tanjiro's and a pale complexion that's contrasted by his dark red eyes. "I'm Takeo, the third oldest of the Kamado family, currently seven, and someone who will work hard for his family in the future."

Immediately following his introduction, a young girl with black, near-shoulder length hair and a fringe above her eyebrows introduced herself. "My name is Hanako, the fourth oldest, currently six, and someone who will follow big brother wholeheartedly in the future."

Pushing past his sister a boy with a buzz cut introduced himself. "My name is Shigeru, the second youngest, currently five, and I'll do everything that big bro can once I'm old enough."

However, pushing pass his sister seemed to have dire consequences as Hanako pulled him backwards and began to bicker with him. Separating the two of them, Tanjiro properly introduced himself to us.

"Apologies for their actions. I'm Tanjiro, the eldest, currently nine. I hope we all get along while you stay here."

Seeing that she was the only one left to introduce, a petite young girl with fully black hair, worn tied back in three low buns, decorated by pink ribbons, and eyes of a dark red color that only appeared pale pink around her lower irises introduced herself. Also, on her back, I made out a small child with black hair in a bowl-cut.

"Hello, my name is Nezuko, the second eldest, currently eight, and the partial caretaker of Rokuta. Since Rokuta's asleep right now, I'll introduce him for you. His name is Rokuta, the youngest of our family."

Hearing all their introductions, I enthusiastically introduce myself along with both Shinobu and Kanao. After stating my age however, all of them stared at me in disbelief.

"Huh, there's no way you're only nine." Shigeru blurts. "Our big bro is nine, but you're almost twice as big as he is. You must be lying to us."

"Shigeru, it's not nice to insult others." Both Shigeru and I turn to find a fake smiling Kie staring at Shigeru.

Seeing a small shiver arise from Shigeru, the topic of my age is dropped, at least for the moment. With introductions finished, we all ate the meal that Kie and I had prepared. Immediately after that, Takeo confronted us, asking about the katanas that were strapped to our waists.

"These are gifts from master forge people who want us to protect the lives of others as well as be able to defend ourselves from dangers." I explain.

"What dangers are there?" Hanako asks.

"Very powerful dangers, but you have no need to worry, as long as I'm here, I won't allow any harm to come to you all."

My answer inhibits a reaction from Shinobu, Kanao, Kie, Tanjiro, and Nezuko, but because of the remaining children, my comment is played off and we continue to enjoy ourselves.

As we talked, I got more information about the dead husband/father. His name was Tanjuro and had provided for the family if he lived, even when his health had been failing. I also got the absolute adoration from Tanjiro who described in absolute detail about the Hinokami Kagura that Tanjuro executed in the dead of winter. Recognizing that the dance was originally the only way to get to Sun Breathing, I small smile plastered my face the entire time they talked.

As they talked, I noticed a small bit of movement from Nezuko's back, which signaled that Rokuta had woken up. Nezuko also felt the movement from her back and carefully put Rokuta into her lap. Now having open eyes, Rokuta scanned the room and upon seeing me, Rokuta held his two arms, clutching the air as he reached for me. Picking him up from her lap, she placed Rokuta down onto the floor and Rokuta immediately began to crawl towards me.

Arriving in front of me, Rokuta cutely looks up at me. Unable to resist the baby eyes, I pick Rokuta up and placed him into my lap. Comforting Rokuta while he sat, I had no idea that the snowstorm would continue for the next month, making it among one of the longest snowstorms to occur.