Redemption

Prologue

He didn't mean for things to turn out this way. This wasn't his intention, he didn't mean to kill them. He doesn't even know how they died, only that he killed them. 

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Tanjiro's eyes snapped open, only to be met with a stained ground. He can't remember anything and his head is pounding severely. He squirms, trying to remove his head from the dirt, only to feel a weight pressed against his back. It was rather heavy, but not something that could keep him pinned. Straining his sore muscles a little, Tanjiro pushed against the weight, the bare skin on his left arm coming in contact with the thing. It felt cold, and stiff...and very human-like. However, his senses, especially his nose, were going haywire at the moment so he couldn't quite identify the culprit behind the weight. He quickly shut his eyes to avoid spikes of pain of a headache from the bright light of the day.

Finally getting in a sitting position, Tanjiro slowly opened his eyes allowing him to adjust to the sun's rays. Once he could finally see clearly, he wished he never opened them at all. Lying out in from of him was a sea of blood and bodies. Scattered remains of organ and bone leaked from the corpses that decorated the field. The smell of death immediately hit his sensitive nose. His breath caught in his throat, 'what happened? How did this happen? ' His gaze wandered to a small pile of bodies before he remembered the weight on his back.

Slowly turning his head over, his plum red eyes meet lifeless green ones. They belonged to Inosuke, one of his closest friends. He looked to have been stabbed multiple times, with a large hole through his stomach. Tanjiro's eyes caught sight of torn intestines pooled underneath his body. He quickly looked away, tears beginning to cloud his vision and his stomach churning. However, the sight in front of him wasn't any better, in fact it was much worse. A scream escapes his dry throat as Tanjiro spots his little sister, human, and very much dead. Her side was blown apart and burned. 

Tanjiro quickly rushes over to her, crying out her name and cradling her cold body close. He sobs into Nezuko's torn and bloody clothes. Hoping that she'd, somehow, still be alive. Tanjiro slightly raises his head, noticing a bite mark on Nezuko's shoulder. Tanjiro leans closer, sniffing it, before dropping his sister and quickly backing away. That explained the iron taste in his mouth, it was blood, and not his own. He feels bile rise from his throat, turning the other way and emptying his stomach, which didn't have much in it, into the dirt. 

He bit someone. He bit Nezuko. He did this. He killed her. He killed them all. 

Snapping his head up, Tanjiro scans the area, seeing the kakushi, demon slayers, and hashiras. He spots Kanao, Sanemi....Giyuu, they're all dead. 

Tanjiro scrambles to his feet and wipes the leftover bile from his lips. Spinning on his heels, Tanjiro dashes away. I-I can't face them. I can't look at their bodies after what I did to them. I'm sorry...I'm so sorry everyone. I never wanted this to happen. 

He felt like a coward, running away from his mess, but he couldn't stand to look at what he did. He became the very thing he sought to destroy and ended up killing all those he cared about. His heart couldn't take it. 

Too caught up in his thoughts, he wasn't looking where he was running and his foot got caught on something causing Tanjiro to crash to the ground. His head pounded and the impact didn't help one bit with the pain. However, the minute he opened his eyes again, he instantly regretted it. He was met with Zenitsu's decapitated head staring right back at him. His wide, bloodshot eyes bore into Tanjiro's soul. They looked to be judging him, blaming him for what he did. Tanjiro felt more bile coming up his throat, but he gulped it down, and clumsily got to his feet and took off again.

The stench of death clogged Tanjiro's nose as he continued to run away. Making it hard to breathe in anything but death. Wait...the sun- That's when he realized, the sun is up, and he's not burning. I'm...immune...? He shook his head to clear his thoughts, no that's not something I should be worrying about right now. He made it to the forest that surrounded the Demon Slayer Headquarters, quickly diving into the shelter of the trees. He hopes that they'll shield him from the gruesome sight that lay behind him. 

He eventually stumbled across a cave to take shelter in, and after he laid against the wall, he realized that he was exhausted. He slowly closed his eyes, resting his head against the cave wall, and fell asleep. 

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It's been nearly 400 years since that day, and Tanjiro still carries the burden of what he did. He was eventually able to go back and recover some items to help him remember those he killed. They're now displayed in his room in his apartement. 

Oh yeah, a lot of things have changed over the 400 years Tanjiro's been alive. Cities rose up from the small towns, life-changing technology has been created, and most of all, people have forgotten all about demons (not that many knew about them existing in the first place). 

One of the biggest changes was the development of quirks. They were powers that reminded Tanjiro of Blood Demon Arts and Breathing Styles, but far more vast. Some were powerful, some not so much, but nevertheless, they amazed the demon.

But with quirks, came those that used them irresponsibly. These people were titled villains by society, and they sometimes reminded Tanjiro of the demons he faced. He didn't completely hate all villains, knowing that some didn't choose that life, but that doesn't excuse their actions. Then there were the heroes, the people that fought to protect others that couldn't help themselves, much like the demon slayers that Tanjiro was once apart of. Becoming a hero seemed to be every kids' dream. It made Tanjiro feel a warmth seeing kids striving to change the world. Gosh, I sound old, he chuckled to himself as he watched some kids playing Heroes and Villains around the park. He does miss the happiness he felt when he helped people back when he was a demon slayer, and he's heard that there are some schools that help to train teens to become heroes.

Speaking of quirks, he's also been training his Blood Demon Art, which he guesses could be called a quirk now. He gets a lot of compliments about it, such as how pretty it looked or how powerful it was. His Blood Demon Art was basically his Sun Breathing used without his sword. He knows he has more demonic Blood Demon Arts, but he refuses to use them for specific reasons. He nicknamed his "quirk", Solar Flare, which he felt fit it very well. 

Having hundreds of years to himself has given him a lot of time to get used to his demonic body. Aside from his breathing, his strength, speed, and stamina have reached incredible levels. He's fairly confident in his abilities to fight against villains. After all, he's faced worse villains, like Muzan, and he was able to hold his own. Besides that, he's seen the terror that villains bring and what it does to people, like how demons destroyed his own life. He doesn't want others to face that same fate, he'll make sure of it.

I could do that. Maybe it'll help me make up for the faults of my past...I want to be able to help people again and maybe becoming a hero will allow me to do that again.

That's when Tanjiro decided, he'll try to get into one of those hero schools, maybe UA, so that he can go back to helping people and make up for what he did in the past. 

The only problem was, he wasn't registered in any government files...