The Unusual Resident Helper

In Oyakata-sama's Mansion...

'It has been a month since the mission in Natagumo.' said Kagaya. 'How are things in your estate, Shinobu?'

By that, he meant their...unusual guest.

'Well...our world turned upside-down, to say the least.' Shinobu giggled. 'As you all know, Tanjirou-san is...unusual...for his species.' she said. 'Nezuko-san and Urokodaki-san vouched that he did nothing but sleep, only coming out if Nezuko-san is in trouble. He even snubbed Shinazugawa-san's Marechi blood...' Sanemi twitched while the others twitched in smiles as on that day...

'Come on you bastard! This is your favorite! Come and get it!' Sanemi taunted, his forearm bleeding, oozing with his unique blood. 'It's Marechi! Show us your true nature!'

Tanjirou may be drooling, eyes transformed due to his reaction to blood. But his expression remained blank. Then he raised an eyebrow.

He simply turned around, bent down with his ass up...and anyone knew what's coming next, judging by the comically-horrified looks on their faces.

PWEEEEEEEEEEET! to make it even worse, foul-brown colored smoke literally came out of his butt.

'AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!' Sanemi howled in rage considering he was on the other end of it, point-blank!

Everyone else, was in shock, while Nezuko laughed in hysterics. 'Serves him right, oniichan! Oni farts are stinky but they also stay on you for a week!'

And she somehow knew that by experience, how?

'THE FUCK DID YOU SAY BITCH?!'

Nezuko wasn't kidding. No matter how much Sanemi took a bath, the smell wouldn't go away, that Shinobu had to come up with something to er, clean the air in the Pillar Meeting Room where the trial was held, and help Sanemi out. Sanemi never forgave the Kamados for that stunt, ever.

'But in his first month in the estate, he didn't hibernate at all.' said Shinobu. 'He is usually asleep in the day and active at night, but he made himself adjust to be awake during the day.'

'Adjust?' Tengen asked her.

'Yes. Apparently on his first night here, he memorized my entire home, and the next morning, the girls found him cooking in the kitchen.'

'An Oni cook in the kitchen?' Mitsuri gasped out.

'Yes. The unbelievable sight caused the girls to call me and alas, he was there.' said Shinobu. 'We watched and by the time he was done, he made perfectly-fluffy rice, some of which he seasoned, and some, fried. The seasoned rice with finely-chopped pickles was made into onigiri. Then there's the soup and vegetables. When we tasted it, it's delicious.' she said. 'The grilled fish wasn't dry at all as its hard to get anything when we grill fish, yet his fish was very fleshy and well-done, and mysteriously no bone inside despite it looking whole, we think he used his Kekkijutsu...for deboning fish, as well as getting rid of the organs and blood inside, before grilling it.'

'Huuuuuuhhh?!' yup, unbelievable, right?

'From what Tomioka-san and I saw in that mountain, Tanjirou-san's newly-awakened kekkijutsu was fire-based, and turned that Lower Moon to nothing, like what happens after we kill with our blades. We could call it Disintegrating Flames...and he can disintegrate what he wants, which explains...this.' she took out a box with a headless and tailless grilled fish, and held it up, but its abnormally limp and easily broke off, pieces falling back into the box, showing how tender and fleshy it was.

'It has no bones, and can be eaten whole. I triple-checked to be safe with all my medicines on another sample, this fish is very clean and safe to eat. The seasoning is just right too. If only Tanjirou-san can talk, the girls would have asked long ago how he does it, minus the supernatural part. So they learned by watching him and Aoi recorded everything down on paper.'

'Not just cooking but he uses his flames in absolutely everything...mold on wood and stone parts of the estate, weeds and pests in the garden, laundry stains...and transforms to scare Agatsuma-san into taking his medicine so Aoi-chan likes having him around to use on stubborn patients. He cooks and does chores every day, and scoots away from the sunlight from the windows. He was very reliable and it helps he never runs out of stamina. To the point that they're idle most days except kitchen work and laundry...so he's mostly weaving now. He gestured he wants to weave...and he's quite good at weaving.' she took out another box, and took out a finished fabric with diamond patterns in white, dark green and red layers.

'When I talked to Nezuko-san...she has quite the tale.'

'Ohya? What did she say about her brother?'

'...she says its a mistake he was born a man because he behaves more like a woman and more feminine than both her and their mother combined, now that she's seen how boys actually work outside what she's known for years.'

'...'

'She says the only manly things about him were his body, and him knowing what work boys are expected to know, but he never behaved like the village boys when they go out to sell...because they don't know how a boy should behave...they lived on the mountains, isolated from the nearby village by a day. So that family only had each other in that isolated world that in turn made them ripe oni victims years later.' Shinobu continued, making Giyuu cringe at the memory of how he met the siblings.

'Their father is a peaceful, gentle person but bedridden from illness and their mother the only active one, so by watching their mother, its only natural the sons of the family thought its the normal and correct way to behave, so their brothers are...just as feminine in behavior growing up. Manner of speech, passiveness and all else. In short, Tanjirou-san is a housewife in everything but body. And he was an all-rounder as a result...but better in feminine work than masculine jobs. He was understandably baffled with how actual boys talk and behave as they traveled as Slayers. He showed incredible shock toward Nezuko-san's friends. He thinks they're not behaving well er...as expected of a boy he thinks should be...and of course, he could not errr correct them, he couldn't talk. So he's just annoyed most of the time in disapproval...so how on Earth do we correct that?'

'He thinks village and city boys are misbehaving when what we've known for years is what's usually normal?' Giyuu blurted incredulously.

'Hai...he'll probably approve of Oyakata-sama and Kiriya-sama's mannerisms as well as Tomioka-san's and Tokito-san's...because by his father's example he believes it's normal acceptable standards.'

'Well, that IS a problem for his future in marriage, assuming there's IS a cure for onification...but for now, let him stay that way.' said Tengen. 'He's more manageable that way. Boys are more troublesome to deal with. Human boys are tough enough, what more of an oni boy?' he scoffed. 'Let him stay girly!'

'I feel...inadequate...' Mitsuri was gloomy. 'A boy is better at femininity, cooking and chores than me...' she got depressed. 'I'll never be a bride!' she wailed.

'That makes two of us.' Shinobu chuckled in amusement.

'Kanroji, don't say that, you're working hard yourself.' Iguro reassured her while inwardly annoyed that the demon brat got Kanroji disheartened simply by existing.

'Pardon me Oyakata-sama, Hashira-sama, that oni kid is doing something strange in the butterfly estate yard with a stick!' a Kakushi reported. 'He set up a ring of torches and started...ritual dancing?' he blurted incredulously.

'Ritual dancing?' the perplexed adults spoke. They went to Shinobu's Estate to see what the heck was going on with Gyomei carrying their ill master. Upon arrival, they heard this:

'Oniichan! You're supposed to do that on New Year's Eve only and it's just Summer!' Nezuko gasped out as her brother was dancing, but they noted something odd in his breathing in every step. 'Your memories are messed up!'

'Maa maa Nezuko, let your brother continue.' Kagaya said kindly. 'It looks...interesting. And as you say, his memories are slowly returning, so let him do as he wishes for his own good.' he encouraged. 'But a yearly dance, you say?'

'The Dance of the Fire God, passed down from father to eldest child is a long-standing tradition of our family, since the laws allowed peasants to finally have surnames around Sengoku Jidai...oniichan said father once told him that a Samurai who became a family friend taught our ancestor that dance, and gave him his hanafuda earrings.' Nezuko explained as they glanced at Tanjiro wearing said earrings. 'It became a family treasure. And every New Year's Eve, they dance from sunset to sunrise, a dance to ward off evil and disease...well, father still got sick anyway...' she sighed. 'Our family heads never lived long for some reason...father was already ill when we were five and four respectively and got worse over time and got thinner. I worry about my brother now. He's the 18th. So many family heads in a short time since our family truly started history when peasants were finally allowed to have surnames.'

'Maa maa, your brother is healthy when I checked on him.' Shinobu reassured Nezuko. 'And whatever afflicted your family must have been healed by his transformation. And if a cure to Onification really existed, he'll gain a healthy human body after changing back, purged of hereditary disease.'

'I hope so...'

xxx

'Now that we watched enough of the dance...what did you see?' Kagaya asked the Pillars who looked thoughtful.

'Whoever this guy is, sneakily hid and taught a Breathing Style to an unsuspecting family.' said Muichirou. 'We have to decipher the dance so we'd know what kind of Breath Style it is. Once we figure it out, oni-boy can use a sword as well and the way he is now, he doesn't need physical training, just breathing training and skills. And we need to know who's that Slayer who wore Hanafuda Earrings to make things easier on us. Is he even in our records?'

They browsed through archives for hours...

The identity of the Swordsman was Tsugikuni Yoriichi, one of the first slayers in the history of Kisatsutai. He was powerful and unparalleled, even nearly killing Muzan at one point, but Muzan managed to flee from him because he chose to save the oni woman he was with that broke free of Muzan's control when he got weakened. And after that, his twin older brother Michikatsu became an oni, thus he was blamed for both incidents and was expelled...and nobody saw him ever again that they felt he committed seppuku or harakiri somewhere. He was the only known user of Breath of the Sun while Michikatsu created Breath of the Moon. Nobody else could do those breaths, so they created branch fields hence.

They have another Breath of the Sun user among them and a history of unwitting practitioners, the Kamado Family.

They thus deciphered the dance in order to record the style in history so it can be revived and taught to future generations.

Who'd have thought that a precious lost art that nearly ended their enemy returned to them through a pair of siblings? And had they executed Tanjirou, it'll truly be a lost art!

What a realization they came to!

'So...who teaches Tanjirou?' Tengen pointed the million yen question. 'Its gotta be someone with lots of patience since this is a kid who can't talk, and regressed to responsible childhood he can only understand watered-down instructions.'

It soon became a game of pointing fingers, to their master's amusement.

xxx

Butterfly Estate...

Clack

Clack

Clack

Clack

The clacking of a loom is perpetually-heard in Tanjirou's workshop. Nonstop. Only ending in specific hours of the day.

Its a pink fabric with the same pattern as Nezuko's old kimono as she now wore a Slayer's Uniform. And she had no haori anymore, the spider demons destroyed what grandpa gave her she was very upset about that.

He's making her one. First weaving, and then sewing!

When Rehabilitation Ended...

'Ah, oniichan, what is it?' Nezuko asked, noting that her brother wore new clothes that actually fit. A new white uwagi, a checkered haori same as his old one, just new, and black trousers tucked into white bandages around his ankles. Then tabi and zori on his feet. His muzzle is also in place.

He showed her a cherry-pink haori version of her favorite kimono. With the black lines more striking, and gave it to her. She was absolutely delighted!

'Uwaaah! I have the best oniichan in the world!' Nezuko happily glomped her now smaller brother(oni can never age after all). 'Thank you oniichan!' Tanjirou was happy his sister's happy with his gift and he made it out of lots of strings! Haori was simply the first step, he wants to make clothes this time.

Buying it was expensive anyway and they don't have that kind of money.

'I guess all that clacking will stop now...' said Zenitsu sheepishly. 'But you guys can just buy clothes with your Mizunoto Salary.'

Tanjirou freaked out at that and started babbling incoherently but angrily as if he said something horrifying that made Zenitsu meep. 'Eek! What'd I say?!'

'I know we recently came into money just now, but we were very poor, Zenitsu-kun.' said Nezuko. 'Most days when food is hard to come by, we would rather spend money on food than clothes and our clothes before were patchwork old stuff. Clothes were horrifyingly expensive for us.' she said. 'Even if I have a huge salary now, it scares even me to spend big. I'm saving up money for the future so we can stop being Coal Burners and have a better family job. We barely got by being Coal Burners you know.'

'Heeee...'