Chapter 1

Cruelty is the first chapter of Koyoharu Gotoge's Kimetsu no Yaiba.

Summary
A young boy carries a visibly-wounded, unconscious girl through a snowy path on his back. This girl is revealed to be his younger sister, Nezuko. He treks frantically through the snow and begs her to stay alive, vowing that her big brother would save her.

As New Year is about to arrives, Tanjiro Kamado prepares to leave home to sell some charcoal in order to have enough food on the table for the holiday. His younger siblings, Hanako and Shigeru, overhear him and beg to go as well, but their mother sternly refuses, saying they would only cause him trouble. Tanjiro calls out to his younger brother, Takeo, and asks him to chop the firewood while he's away, much to the latter's disappointment as he hints that he wanted to chop wood with his older brother.

Tanjiro bids farewell to his mother and siblings as they remind him to stay safe. As he sets off, he runs into Nezuko, rocking their youngest sibling, Rokuta, to sleep. She mentions their younger siblings' attachment to Tanjiro since their father's death and bids him goodbye. As he travels, he remarks that they have always made the most of their life, since it can change so quickly so suddenly.

As Tanjiro arrives in the town, everyone is delighted to see him and immediately call him over to buy some of his charcoal. One of the villagers cries out to Tanjiro and asks him to take a whiff of a broken vase to figure out who the culprit was. The boy's keen sense of smell is able to detect that it was a cat at fault and not the villager who was being held responsible for it.

As the sun begins to set, Tanjiro begins his journey home, but as he begins to ascend the mountain, he is stopped by an elder by the name of Saburo, who forbids him from going back to the mountains as the sky turns dark. He tells him not to worry as his nose can quickly smell out danger, but the man insists he take refuge in his house for the night in case of a demon attack. Inside Saburo's hut, Tanjiro asks if demons could enter homes. Saburo answers so and further states that it is the job of Demon Slayers to protect them. Saburo, who lost his family to demons years ago, is pitied by Tanjiro, while remembering that his grandmother too had said something about demons before her death.

At dawn, Tanjiro departs from Saburo's residence and makes his way back. Outside his yard, he sees a bloodied Nezuko holding Rokuta lying on the snowy ground. Horrified, he goes to check the house and is shocked to see his home destroyed and everyone inside brutally killed. As Nezuko is the only one with warmth in her body, Tanjiro hurriedly carries her on his back to see a doctor.

Questions begin to flood Tanjiro's mind as he wonders if a bear was responsible for the attack. The blizzard makes it difficult for him to breathe and he struggles to make his way to the town. Suddenly, Nezuko rears up, growling and with fangs in her mouth; she pulls back on Tanjiro and causes both of them to fall off a cliff. The thick snow protects Tanjiro from the fall. He finds Nezuko standing upright and asks if she is okay, only to be suddenly attacked by her.

Tanjiro is forced to jam his hatchet into her mouth to prevent getting bit as he realizes to his horror that Nezuko is now a demon. He questions why, since she was born human, despite her now smelling of death and blood. However, he remembers that she was lying over Rokuta and didn't have the blood of her family on her, noting that another scent was inside the house. She grows in size and gains strength, Tanjiro struggling to hold her back. He laments that his family has died brutally whilst he was away.

Tanjiro starts attempting to appeal to what is left of his sister's humanity, encouraging her to stop and do her best to not give into being a demon. Eventually, she ceases her struggle and starts to cry; upon seeing his sister's tears, Tanjiro cries as well.

Suddenly, a swordsman strikes at Nezuko: Tanjiro rolls himself and Nezuko away to avoid the attack. The katana-wielding man asks why Tanjiro was protecting a demon. Although Tanjiro tells him that the demon is his sister, the man insists on killing her, before lunging forward and grabbing hold of Nezuko, too fast for Tanjiro to react. He states that it is his job as a Demon Slayer to kill them and prepares to behead her. Tanjiro begs for her life and claims she has not killed anyone, wondering why she was turned into a demon in the first place, only for the man to respond that since demon blood has enter her through injuries, she has transformed into one. He promises to make a cure but the Demon Slayer tells him becoming a demon is irreversible.

Unwilling to let the last of his family die, Tanjiro kneels down and begs for Nezuko to be spared. The man grows angry and rebukes him for his weak resolve, stating that a weak person cannot avenge his family or return his sister into a human again. He demands that Tanjiro fight for something, claiming that demons may know how to change someone back but will not respect whining and crying, adding that he doesn't respect Tanjiro as well. Inside, the swordsman chastises himself for being late but refuses to dwell further. Despite knowing the great pain Tanjiro is experiencing, he begs the boy to keep his anger in his heart, as it will push him to do what he must.

While Tanjiro is left forlorn, the swordsman stabs Nezuko in the chest, causing her great pain. Tanjiro immediately throws a rock at him and charges. The man becomes angry over what was merely an emotionally-charged attack. He knocks Tanjiro unconscious but notices that he was not carrying his hatchet. He looks up into the sky and ducks out of the way of the falling hatchet, barely missing him. Through this carefully-planned assault by the young boy, the swordsman becomes aware of Tanjiro's resolve to protect his sister, sacrificing even his own life in order to save her from him.

While the swordsman is distracted, Nezuko breaks free of his hold and rushes to Tanjiro's motionless body. The swordsman curses himself for letting his guard down, expecting Nezuko to devour her brother. However, she instead defends her unconscious brother, using her own body to shield him. The man recalls many a time that someone too had said the same about their demon-turned relative, only to be eaten since demons will even feed on family members. Seeing her injuries, he notes that she is spending energy to heal and yet refrains from killing Tanjiro. Realizing that these siblings are different, he opts to spare Nezuko, sheathing his katana and knocking her unconscious instead.

As he is unconscious, Tanjiro dreams that his dead mother and siblings were surrounding him. His mother apologizes for leaving him and tells him that she will be entrusting Nezuko to his care. Tanjiro wakes up with tears in his eyes, and Nezuko, with a bamboo muzzle in her mouth to prevent her from biting him, laid unconscious but alive beside him.

Having waiting for him to awaken, the swordsman appears behind a tree and asks them to look for an elder named Sakonji Urokodaki, who lives at the foot of Mount Sagiri, and to tell him that Giyu Tomioka sent them. Before disappearing, he advises Tanjiro to not bring his sister out in the sun, before disappearing.

Tanjiro buries the dead members of his family beside their house while Nezuko looks on. The Kamado siblings take each others' hands and starts on their journey to look for Sakonji.

Events

 * Tanjiro's whole family is killed by a Demon.
 * Nezuko is turned into a Demon.
 * Tanjiro Kamado and Nezuko Kamado vs Giyu Tomioka.

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