Chapter 3. Birth and childhood 2

On a snowy day, in the mountains

there was a 6-year-old child running as fast as he can from his home to the nearby river, that child was Kamado family's eldest child, Harada Kamado, he was physically much stronger than children his age.

He started talking by the age of 2,like any other child, but he also showed higher intelligence as well.

Huff huff huff

After a while, he stopped running.

"Ah, I've been running for the last 2 hours continuously, but I got tired only now, seriously, this body has a lot of potential"

Seeing how long he could run for, Harada had a sense of pride and accomplishment in himself.

"I should take a bath now", saying that Harada went to his home to take clothes and then the river and took off his clothes and started washing his body.

"In the last 8 years, my stamina has increased exponentially, if I exercise much more then I'm sure I should be strong as an average demon slayer in the next 6 years, but do I really have that determination?"

As he was thinking about is he saw a 5-year-old girl and a boy with dark red hair, and dark red eyes, come close to him and say "Onii-chan, Onii-chan!, Mother asked me to tell you that the breakfast is ready",

This little girl was, evidently, Nezuko, my younger sister, and the boy beside her was my little brother Tanjiro

"okay,I'll come as soon as I finish bathing", I replied

"Okay,Onii-chan" the cheerful little Nezuko said.

And as soon as she said that, she started running in the direction of our house.

"She's so cute"I thought.

"I should hurry" thinking that, I hurriedly washed my body and put on some clean clothes and started walking in the direction of my house.

I quickly reached my house and entered it and the somewhat smell of rice entered my house.

And I went to the kitchen and saw my mother, Kei kamado, she looked at me and said, "Sit near Tanjiro-chan, okay"She said in a gentle voice.

"Okay" I nodded.

I quickly finished my food and went to my room to rest,after that, I came out the house in the evening a few hours before dusk.

This has been my routine for the last 5 years now.

"Speaking of the last five years, It turns out that mother got pregnant once more during these five years, and had a daughter and father named her Hanako"

"In canon,Tanjiro had a total of six siblings, including this time, Me, Nezuko, Tanjiro and Hanako, are a total of 4 siblings, hmm I wonder if we will have another younger siblings?"

"But that won't matter as they'll all be killed by Muzan someday" I said, feeling dejected.

How could he not feel bad thinking about the day his parents and siblings be killed

"But there is nothing I can do,Muzan is too strong,and I would rather not die, but I don't want my family to be slaughtered as well"Thinking that,Harada was having numerous complex thoughts, and he couldn't get rid of them?

"Harada"

I heard a voice, the voice of a middle-aged man, a voice that I am familiar with.

It was my father Tanjuro Kamado.

He was wearing that same clothing as usual as he was sitting in his room

He said, "I want to tell you something, Harada"

"Yes, father" I rushed close to him and sat down in his room.

"Harada, there is a rhythm in everything, everyone,to harmonize this rhythm is to breadth, breadth can control your rhythm, and once you do that, you'll be able to do things that you thought were impossible with your body"

I listened to him carefully, each word, ever since last year's Hinokami Kagura, his body had grown a lot weaker than before.

"Okay father" I said in a solemn tone.

"It may be beneficial for you, you're my eldest son, you'll have many responsibilities in the future, so never run away from them" he said with a smile on his face.

"Yes father, I'll never run away from my responsibilities" I said with a determined expression.

"Okay, now go play with your siblings"he said

"hm" I replied and got out of the room and started playing with Nezuko and Tanjiro.

After another 5 years…

"Today Tanjiro got his injury on his forehead"

"It's been 5 years and I have two another

siblings,Shigeru,and Takeo, now, I take good care of them, and they seem to like me as well"

"I am 13 years old now, and I go to the village with my father to sell charcoal, I went to the village a few times when I was younger but not too often, so there was a bit of awkwardness at first, but now everything is fine"

"My body has become powerful, even though I go to the village down the mountain and return every day, I don't get tired at all, and I am certain that I can easily beat an adult with just a few punches"

"My father,Tanjuro, took me and Tanjiro to kill the bear that was mentioned to be killed by Tanjuro in canon as well, it was a remarkable sight"

After a year…

"Father is close to dying now, he can die any day, I'm 14 years old and have a strong body, so I can still to go to the village to sell charcoal and earn some money for myself and my family"

Later that day,

"Oh Hara-chan, is your father ok?" asked an old lady from the village

"No, he isn't feeling any better lately" I said with a dejected look on my face.

"I'll pray to Kami-sama for your father's good health" she said in a soft voice.

"Thank you very much, I'll appreciate it" I said it with a slightly motivated look on my face.

"So, here's today's charcoal" I said in a loud voice and many people came from the village to buy it. It was nothing special, it was a daily occurrence, everybody bought charcoal every day.

 On the mountains…

In a house

"Harada, I'm dying, you're 14,take care of our family" father said while weakly holding my hand.

"I'll father, I will take care of our family for sure!" as I said that, he closed his eyes, tears started to flowing from my eyes.

He was raised by him for 14 years, even though Harada knew that he'll die due to his disease, still, seeing his father dying in front of his eyes made him tear up.

I wasn't the only one crying, my entire family was.

It was an unfortunate moment in our lives.

"I'm 14 years old, Tanjiro is 12,Hanako is 9,Shigeru is 7, and Nezuko is still 11,depending on the time period, I can be called an adult maybe after a year, but I can support my family even now, by just selling charcoal."

After the funeral ended,

Everybody was silent in our house for the next 3 days.

But after that, everything returned to normal.

Mother would do the housework,

I would sell charcoal,

Nezuko, Tanjiro, and other siblings would play and take care of each other to not trouble mother too much.

"I knew that after 2 years, there will be the demon attack, and most of us will die" I thought, I felt helpless, but I knew that I couldn't do anything about it, thus didn't think about it too much.

After another year…

Today was the day Tanjiro turned 13,and he went to the village with me to sell charcoal.

After a few months…

I open my eyes and wake up, today I have had this feeling of unease.

"Something bad is about to happen" I said in a melancholic tone.

"I know what it is, tonight my family might be slaughtered, and I won't be able to do anything…ah" I said while looking at my mother, my little sisters and brothers who are about to get killed, extreme guilt filled my heart.

Today, I couldn't focus on anything

Couldn't look my mother in the eye

Couldn't talk to my younger siblings

what should I do?

What should I do to save my family?

I don't care what happens to the original storyline, but I don't want my family to get slaughtered!!

No, I can't do anything against Muzan! He's too strong, I'll be killed before I can do anything.....what a coward I am!!

No,I'm not a coward,I just being logical,If I were to fight Muzan,then there's really no way me,my family,or even just Nezuko and Tanjiro to survive.

Being brave and stupid are two completely different things.

As I was getting ready for going to the village to sell charcoal with Tanjiro, Tanjiro was already out of the house saying goodbye to everyone, and I was inside the house wearing my earrings, I saw mother, she came close to me and said "Haru-chan, are you feeling unwell?, If so, then you don't have to go today", she said in such a gentle voice that I nearly broke down in tears

I tightly hugged her and said with a calm voice

"No, mother I am…good, I love you, I love you all"

"I love you too." she said while patting my head.

I turned around with a blank expression and started walking down the path towards the village.

To Be continued…