BIRDS OF A FEATHER
CHAPTER 1
RISES THE MOON
c/w: 3k words, angst, canon-type violence, memory loss/amnesia, explicit language
what if tanjiro and nezuko had an older sister?
a/n: i was trying to find the perfect song for our girl and stumbled face first into it. i’ve loved the song rises the moon by liana flores for a while!! it played randomly on my playlist and i just knew it was right. i listened to it over and over while writing this chapter.
the last chapter had a tiny poem that i call “sun boy.” i wrote it myself and it’s very likely that in future chapters ill use a poem or song i wrote for miel. it’s one of my favorite things to do <3
if you haven’t, please check out the prologue first before reading!!
ao3 link <3
Time passed in a daze. The snow underneath Miel's feet felt like it was in the distance. The only thing she could register as constant and immediate was the feeling of Nezuko's small hand wrapped around her wrist, holding it gently, but tightly.
Even after everything has been taken from you, the sun continues to have the gall to come out the next day.
Miel stirs from her sleep, stretching her arms out to search for her siblings, but her hands only meet cave floor. She shoots up, fear running cold over her skin. She darts her head around. They're gone. They're dead. They're dead too.
"Tanjiro! Nezuko!" she screams, voice shaking.
Turning towards the back wall of the cave, she sees something. The top of a head peaking out from the ground.
"Nezuko?" Miel asks shakily. Moving towards her, she sees that Nezuko has dug a hole and is now hiding in it. Miel turns to look outside of the cave. The sun has the nerve to shine like nothing happened.
Looking back at her little sister, she sees that Nezuko seems uncomfortable. Her head is barely peaking out from her makeshift shelter and her eyebrows are strained in consternation.
"I guess the thing about the sun was no joke," Miel supposes.
Nezuko looks up at her and Miel immediately feels her stomach churn. Nezuko's pink eyes, once so human in appearance have transformed into those similar to a cats. The look in them, however, was still so Nezuko. So Nezuko, but not the same one she saw caring for Rokuta before she had left with Tanjiro to town that day. She seems... younger.
As a big sister, when Miel looks at her siblings in her minds eye, they're all tiny babies in need of protection. Maybe now they just weren't so small anymore. But Nezuko's eyes took Miel back to years past. It was like Nezuko was 8 years old again, pulling on Miel's haori and begging her to dance with her.
Miel's hand goes to pat Nezuko's head as a force of habit. Her palms hurt for some reason, but she ignores it as Nezuko leans in, continuing to display a demeanor of discomfort.
"Do you know where Tanjiro went?" Miel asks her.
Without moving from her hole in the ground, she points towards the exit of the cave. "He left? Do you know why?" Nezuko shakes her head.
Miel moves her hand from Nezuko''s head, but Nezuko puts it right back. She always used to help Nezuko brush her hair when she was this size. Now she helps Hanako. Hanako.
A voice breaks through Miel's descent, "I guess that thing about the sun was no joke."
Tanjiro came bearing a large basket and some bamboo. Miel lets out a breath that she didn't realize she had been holding.
"You scared me," she tells him, chuckling. "I didn't know where you were." She tries to make it sound like a joke, nonchalant, but her fear is palpable. Especially to Tanjiro.
"I'm sorry, sister. You looked so exhausted. I couldn't bring myself to wake you," Tanjiro responds, coming over to where Miel sat with her hand on Nezuko's head. "I knew we had to keep moving during the day. I found a man who had this basket. I thought I could weave this bamboo around it to cover the holes, so I bought it from him. Nezuko will be protected from the sun in here once I finish."
"I can help," Miel says.
"Your hands," Tanjiro reminds her.
Miel had been vaguely registering pain in her hands. Only really recognizing it when she was reminded that she's been wounded. When she went to pat Nezuko's head.
It's almost like her body isn't giving her permission to feel the consequences of what's happened. What's happening.
"You know you don't need to be ashamed to let someone else take care of things for once," Tanjiro continues, beginning to cut the bamboo into strips.
"How did I burn my hands?" Miel asks, changing the subject.
Tanjiro stills his movement and looks to her. "I think there's a reason you don't remember."
"Tell me," Miel says. "Please."
The sound of Tanjiro's voice is far away when she hears it.
"Miel! Sister! Miel, please wake up!"
He's screaming, but Miel's eyes and body are weighted. All of her muscles feel tensed, but she can't move. Her breathing starts to come out heavy and fast.
Miel can feel Tanjiro shaking her body. She can hear Nezuko's worried crying. Move. Move. Move.
Miel's body shoots up into a sitting position, sucking air in so hard that she starts coughing. Tanjiro immediately goes to stabilize her and rub her back. Once she's able to breathe somewhat normally, Nezuko begins to pull on Miel to come into the hole that she had dug to hide from the sun. Miel easily moves herself inside with Nezuko quickly going to lay herself over her lap.
"What happened?" Miel asks Tanjiro.
"I tried to tell you how you burned your hands, but once I started, you immediately passed out and started seizing," Tanjiro tells her, face stained with tears.
Miel's eyes widen in shock. "I'm fine," she tells him. "I'm sorry that you both had to see that."
"I don't think your body is ready to remember how you burned your hands," Tanjiro says softly. He's so kind. He's so understanding. He always has been. It's not fair. He should be furious with her. He shouldn't be saving her. She doesn't deserve his protection. Not after what's happened. What they've lost.
"You should hate me," Miel whispers. "I've left you to carry the memory on your own."
"I could never hate you," responds Tanjiro. His voice is sure and so gentle.
Miel had held in her tears since finding what had become of her family, but they fall against her will.
"You should! You should hate me! You both should hate me now."
Nezuko only curls up into Miel's lap further, wrapping her now tiny arms around Miel's waist. Miel can't even question her change in size, curling into Nezuko's embrace and crying uncontrollably.
"What happened isn't your fault," Tanjiro tells her. "We've looked up to you and loved you our whole lives. You've always been the one taking care of us. Even when Dad was still alive. You kept us all safe."
"Some job I did of that," Miel says, her voice beginning to raise again. Nezuko only holds onto her tighter, lifting her small head and slotting it onto Miel's shoulder.
Tanjiro crawls into the indent of earth where Miel and Nezuko are holding each other, coming around to be behind Miel and wrapping his arms around his two sisters.
"It's not over, Miel."
Wiping her eyes and face, the words she had said to Tomioka return to her.
The moment you threatened my family meant the next you would pay for it in blood.
"No. It's not over."
Tanjiro didn't let Miel help with the bamboo, so she demanded that she be the one to carry Nezuko while they walked during the day.
They proceeded together in something close to silence. It was comfortable, but still heavy. Miel could hear sound of Nezuko's demonic grunting and scratching from inside the basket.
"I think she wants a song," Tanjiro says, still watching the path in front of them.
"Oh yeah?" Miel smiles. "You think so?"
Miel was only joking, but for a moment, Nezuko had stopped grunting and rather had made a sound of childlike joy. Like a baby that had just been handed a toy.
Miel exhales, "I guess I can't argue with that."
"Can you do the one about the moon rising after a long day?" asks Tanjiro.
Miel peaks a quick look over at Tanjiro, now meeting his eyes and his sad smile. Returning it as second nature, she recalls the song and begins to sing.
Days seem sometimes as if they’ll never end Sun digs its heels to taunt you But after sunlit days, one thing stays the same Rises the moon
Thoughts of their mother singing this to them as small children flood Miel's memory. Singing it now, she realizes how small she still feels.
Days fade into a watercolour blur Memories swim and haunt you But look into the lake, shimmering like smoke Rises the moon Oh-oh, close your weary eyes I promise you that soon the autumn comes To darken fading summer skies Breathe, breathe, breathe
Miel's eyes focus on some point in the distance, leaving the rest of the world to fade away. She can't sing to Tanjiro like she normally would, looking at him. If she meets his eye now, she fears she might break down into tears again.
Days pull you down just like a sinking ship Floating is getting harder But tread the water, child, and know that meanwhile Rises the moon
She's 8 years old again, begging her mother to let her be the one to sing Tanjiro and Nezuko to sleep tonight. Miel can't picture her mother's face, but her voice replays in her mind. Then who will sing you to sleep, Miel?
Days pull you up just like a daffodil Uprooted from its garden They'll tell you what you owe, but know even so Rises the moon
I can sing to myself, Mama!
You'll be visited by sleep I promise you that soon the autumn comes To steal away each dream you keep Breathe, breathe, breathe
You shouldn't have to yet, baby. Come lay down.
It's okay to be the one who's sung to sometimes, Miel.
As the moon rose once again, Nezuko's hand popped out from the scarf covering her basket and her fingers reached out to run down through Miel's hair.
Miel went to take the basket off of her shoulders as Nezuko grunted. "Now that the sun has set, she should be okay to walk on her own," Miel says, more to herself than to Tanjiro.
Nezuko tips the basket over with her weight and crawls out. Miel and Tanjiro watch as she grows back to her normal size.
"I don't know if I'll ever get used to that," Miel tells Tanjiro.
"It is kind of convenient," he supposed. Tanjiro picks up the now empty basket from the ground and puts it on.
Nezuko moves to take Miel by the wrist and Tanjiro by the hand.
They walk in step with each other until they reach a building. A home.
"The lights are on so someone must be inside. We should try to ask if we can stay for the night," Miel says, but notices the look on Tanjiro's face. "What?"
"I smell blood," he tells her. "The terrain on this mountain is dangerous. Someone must be hurt!"
Miel and Nezuko follow Tanjiro as he runs toward the entrance of the home.
"Tanjiro, be careful!" Miel yells to him as he runs ahead of his siters.
"Is everyone okay?" Tanjiro says as he slams open the door.
Reaching him soon after, Miel looks into the home. She immediately feels the warmth leave her skin at the sight. Like the heat in the air was being pulled away from her.
The thing taking up all of the warmth in the room turns to look at them and speaks in a gravely voice, "What is this?" His eyes are shrunk to pinpoints, his skin pasty blue with his hair sticking out at all ends. His hands and mouth covered in the blood of two dead adult men in front of him. "This is my territory. Anyone who crosses it is going to pay."
Miel steps in front of her siblings, arms spread out protectively. Her voice comes out low, almost too low to hear, "You're mistaken."
"Eh?" the demon responds. "There's something off about you guys. Are you related?"
"You will be the one to pay for the line you've crossed," Miel screams. "With your life!"
Miel lifts herself onto her tip toes and appears to fly at the demon. She spins in the air and lands on top of it, her knees holding his arms down at his sides and her hands wrapped around its throat. Her emotion heightened to a point that the pain that had been steadily emanating from them has disappeared.
The demon begins to struggle as it chokes, sinking its claws into Miel's sides. She cries in pain, bringing herself off of her knees to stomp on its arms. The power behind it separates each of the demon's arms from the elbow.
It howls, its fingers and hands now separated from its body only dig deeper into Miel's sides. She lets go of its neck and stands, content with having stomped its arms off and fixated on getting its nasty claws out of her torso.
Tanjiro had been stunned at the speed of what had happened in front of him. Finally processing what had transpired, he bolts forward and swings his axe down, but the demon reacts just in time. It quickly brings its feet under its body and propels itself off the ground. The force of its body knocks Tanjiro off his feet and out of the house. As the demon goes to bite him midair, Tanjiro swings the axe up into the demon's chin.
The demon lands on its feet and lets out a laugh, “An axe, huh?” His tongue darts out and licks the wound on his chin. “Not bad. Look, the bleeding’s already stopped.”
Miel had finally ripped both of the demon’s hands from her body, now watching them to disintegrate into ash. She falls to her knees and tries to find something she can use to stop the bleeding. If I don’t stop this bleeding, I’ll pass out and Tanjiro will die.
As the hands that had been sunken into Miel disintegrate, the demon regenerates one of his arms. “I should kill the older one first for tearing me into pieces, but I think I’d like to see the look on her face when I bring her your head!” the demon yells to Tanjiro. It surges forward, its second arm now regenerated and its hands quickly find Tanjiro’s neck.
Nezuko had stood watching the scene inside the home unfold, hands gripped in fists at her sides, copious amounts of drool escaping from her muzzled mouth. Bodies. Miel. Blood. Tanjiro.
The sound of Tanjiro’s struggle brings Miel up to her feet, but she collapses back to her knees with her arms clutching the wounds on her sides.
Nezuko’s eyes widen at Miel, but she whips herself around and out of the house. Miel’s vision is blurry, but she watches as Nezuko runs towards where Tanjiro is struggling and kicks the demons head off of its body.
Miel’s sigh of relief is short-lived, but sweet. She’ll always feel driven to protect them, but they are clearly not helpless.
Miel spots a towel, crouching over herself on her way to grab it. Her hands reach for it and wrap it around her waist as tight as she can.
The commotion hasn’t ceased even with Nezuko kicking the head of the demon off of its body.
“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” yells the detached head. “I knew something was off about you all. So she is a demon? What are you doing traveling with humans?”
The body stands and begins to attack Nezuko. When Tanjiro goes to defend her, the demon’s head flies at him going in to try bite him again. He detains it with the axe in its mouth.
Miel’s bleeding finally stopped. At least for now. She’s dizzy but she can stand.
The demon isn’t dead even though Nezuko kicked its head off of its body. Miel decides that if they can’t kill it, she’s going to need to find a way to restrain it. She holds onto counters to stabilize her movement and looks up, thanking her mother for always sewing her such big pockets. Miel rummages through drawers and cabinets, taking every big knife, hammer, nails, anything she might be able use to keep this thing down.
When Miel stumbles out onto the porch, Nezuko is faltering and taking multiple hits from the body of the demon.
Miel launches herself off from the outside wall of the house, diving down low with the biggest kitchen knife she could find clenched in her grip. It meets its mark, slicing both of the demon’s legs off below the knee.
Miel’s feet are too late to meet the ground. She lands face down and clenches her body inward from the pain in her sides. The demon’s legs and torso collapse to the ground, letting go of Nezuko who falls to the ground beside Miel.
Miel crawls toward the demon’s body, taking the hammer from her pocket. She slams it down first into the demon’s wrists, separating its hands from its arms. Then down on each of its elbows and again on each shoulder, leaving each arm now in 3 separate pieces.
The demon’s mouth is screaming around Tanjiro’s axe, wrapping its hair around the handle.
Tanjiro whipped his head backwards and brought it forward to meet the demon’s. Hard. Grabbing it by the sides of its head, Tanjiro slams his head against it again, taking the handle of the axe, hurling it and the demon attached to it into a tree.
At the danger now controlled, Nezuko stands up in a daze while Miel takes her time hammering nails into each of its severed body parts. She knows can’t die without sunlight, but she can’t make herself care that it suffers. Miel can’t feel anything but agitation at its incessant twitching. Once she’s sure the demon isn’t going anywhere, she rolls onto her back to check on Tanjiro.
He’s holding a small knife and staring at the head of the demon like he’s trying to make up his mind. Alive. Safe.
At the sight of both of them still standing, Miel loses consciousness.
divider credit: @uzmacchiato + @digilatte
➵ chapter 2: a familiar song
all of my writing is my own. do not steal, copy, redistribute or feed any of it into ai.
