Beginning of my current WIP ... thoughts? (!!MANGA SPOILERS!!)
(this is a mild Sanegiyuu fic, but a lot of it is Sanemi character introspection because I cannot help myself and also cannot summarize to save my life)
Shinazugawa Sanemi was used to being alone.
Whether it was of his own accord or the effect of his volatile personality, he’d grown accustomed to being on his own. He’d spent what little remained of his childhood (if it could even be called that) by himself, intentionally keeping his distance from anyone who tried to draw close, which was a rare occurrence itself.
He’d been prepared to live out the rest of his arguably disastrous life as an outcast, using his blood as bait and stringing up demons for them to burn to death under the sun, standing there and watching, unphased.
He didn’t think anything could phase him anymore, not after the night he’d lost his entire family, everything he’d ever known and dedicated his life to, in a span of less than twelve hours. But he’d been wrong - if Sanemi had learned one thing throughout his years, it was that life wasn’t fair, and it certainly wasn’t kind.
If only he’d known back then … he probably would’ve let one of the countless demons he’d hunted kill him. It’d have been a mercy to many, not just him.
It hadn’t been lost on Sanemi how the world seemed to treat his life like some kind of performance of irony, as if it were using him as some kind of experiment to see just how far someone could be pushed before they snapped. Unfortunately, he was as resilient as he was stubborn and took the blows as they came, regardless of how badly they scarred him, physically and mentally.
Considering how his life had gone so far, Sanemi figured he should’ve expected it. After all, whenever something monumentally good happened to him, it seemed like the world was determined to even it out by making something devastatingly worse follow.
It was why he’d done what he did in the first place. He’d turned away from what was left of his family and deliberately kept his distance, forcibly pushed Genya as far from him as he possibly could. He’d learned the hard way that anyone who got close to him either ended up dead or somehow worse off than before, and Genya had been through enough. He’d put Genya through enough.
He knew what he was doing wasn’t right, but he’d rather have a brother alive that hated him than lose the last remaining tether to his life before he’d been forced to kill his own mother - the life that, while not ideal, had given him the ability to smile, allowing him to truly live as well as survive.
But life wasn’t fair, and it certainly wasn’t kind.
Sanemi couldn’t even curse the world for what had happened; he knew it was his own fault. He knew Genya better than anybody - like he’d said in his dying breaths, they were brothers. And so he should’ve known that Genya was just as stubborn as him - when he wanted to do something, he was going to do it, regardless of what it demanded of him in return. He’d even gone so far as continuing his ascension through the Corps without a breathing style, so determined to … to …
Shinazugawa Sanemi was used to being alone, because he kept himself that way. He knew he didn’t have to be. He knew there was at least one other person in the world who would stay by his side if he wanted … hell, even if he didn’t want it. But he intentionally kept himself isolated, because in his mind, it was safer that way.
Masachika Kumeno entering, and then promptly being torn out of his life had further proved that. And he’d just shown up one day - Sanemi never sought him out or gave him any reason to stick around after the fact. But he did, and Sanemi allowed himself to get used to it. He could even say he enjoyed himself a bit.
But of course, any good thing that happened to Sanemi was always followed by some kind of consequence. And the fatal blow of said consequence somehow never managed to hit him, regardless of how much he wished it would.
Sanemi knew there was a fate worse than death, because he’d lived through it. Several times. And he’d figured out that the true consequence was surviving, living to see the devastation the loss of someone else delivered.
Case in point being the present.
Shinazugawa Sanemi was alone by his own volition. After Muzan was defeated, the Corps disbanded and the people he’d considered comrades buried, he’d accepted that there was nothing left for him there. He’d lost every semblance of the life he’d been living before - there was no reason to stay.
Where he was going, he didn’t know, but it had to be somewhere that wasn’t there. He didn’t know what he was looking for, either - the notion of peace was laughable, even with the acceptance he’d been forced to swallow like the blood that had flooded his throat from Muzan’s poison.
But he’d lived that kind of life before - before Masachika, before the Corps, before the life as a Hashira … and after the deaths of his family.
Life had a tendency to repeat itself in strange ways. Sanemi didn’t know why, and he certainly didn’t care anymore. All he knew, and needed to know, was that it wasn’t fair, and it certainly wasn’t kind.
Turns out, no, I did not finish all of JJK in one sitting, that was just season 1. Let the piracy commence!
I read the manga all the way up to the Culling Games before I found out I was deprived of the 2nd season, though, so I already know what's going to happen - I'm trying to enjoy the light before the darkness (that's more of an impenetrable pit of despair).
That being said, first episode into the second season and I already understand the SatoSugu hype. Like they aren't even trying to keep it subtle.
Just watched all of JJK in one sitting - no regrets.
Loved when Kenjaku casually referred to Fushiguro as Sukuna's "landmine", concerned about how Sukuna might get mad at them if they kill Fushiguro and so would refuse to cooperate with their plan ... completely oblivious to the fact that, if they did kill Fushiguro, Itadori would 100% start WW3 even without Sukuna's influence.
Whenever I see this old post, it makes me wonder how it went with Genya when he ate a demon for the first time.
I love how there's been no actual confirmation as to how he figured it out, either - it's just left up to speculation, and from what I've gathered, the general consensus was it was a similar situation to the post above, except it's demons instead of zombies.
If you don't want to see spoilers, look away now, as I'm referencing the manga.
I saw a Genya edit on tiktok, and it got me thinking ...
Genya isn't the first person to consume demon parts for power - there's one other mention of it and it was from Kokushibo, who recognized Genya as an "imitation demon" (and also recognised him in general, considering he said something like "you're the one that's been eating demons, huh?")
Genya is stated to be the only person in the demon slayer corps (at that time) who used that particular tactic, and that it isn't something just anyone can do - Genya is stated to have "special abilities", which include "incredible jaw strength" and "special digestive organs". He's not the only one with something unique about them - take Mitsuri and her muscle density, for example. Another person is Sanemi.
It's learned later, during the fight with Kokushibo, that Sanemi has marechi blood (like that kid from the rotating house and the drum dude) which is explained by him as "catnip for cats, marechi blood for demons" - he learned about it when he fought his mother. Not only that, but his blood specifically is particularly potent, so much so that it even affects Kokushibo and slows him down. So, both of the Shinazugawa brothers are "special".
Now, going back to the other "imitator demon" from the past - there's nothing else mentioned or known about him other than what Kokushibo shares, which isn't much. But, my theory is this; what if he was an ancestor of the Shinazugawa family?
It's a shot in the dark, I know, but Kokushibo stated that he encountered that other imitator demon over 300 years ago - the Kamado and Rengoku families were present back then, considering they were around when Yoriichi was still alive, so I don't think it would be too far of a stretch to guess that the Shinazugawa family couldve gone that far back, too.
The guy probably took a similar route as Genya when it came to eating demons for power, and I can only assume he had a similar genetic composition to be able to do so; a strong jaw and unique digestive organs - genetics that could be passed down through generations.
So, if he had a family, whether it was siblings or children, there's a chance those genetics could've been passed down all the way to Genya, who inherited them and ended up using them the same way.
"You want to die? Then throw yourself into the sea and you'll see yourself fighting to survive.
You do not want to kill yourself, rather you want to kill something inside of you.
You want to kill your circumstances.
You want to kill your pain."
- Arabic saying
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