Interlude: Doubt and Trust

The room was dim, lit only by the flickering flames of wax candles. Likewise, the moods of those gathered within the room were dark as well, flickering shadows playing across too-serious faces and granting five of the six gathered Pillars visages not unlike the very demons they hunted. Only Giyu Tomioka seemed untroubled, but then, he rarely showed emotion in the first place.

To one side, a pair of individuals knelt. One a stranger, dressed in a plain kimono and missing an arm, yet radiating a sense of danger beyond anything any of them had ever experienced; the other a familiar face wearing the haori of their fallen sixth member over her uniform.

The source of the Pillars' disquiet was plain to see, however: a third unexpected guest. She was unknown to them, this petite woman who knelt beside their revered Master, Kagaya Ubuyashiki. She was serene, quiet, and unmistakably a demon. The sole thing keeping their blades at bay was the word of that same Master, who had spoken four simple words.

Calm yourselves, and listen.

And so, despite their misgivings, despite their instincts screaming at them, despite the fact that an example of their organization's mortal enemies sat calmly within the same room as them, they did as they were bidden. They did not all do it gladly, three members in particular displaying a great deal of agitation.

All three were young men, but by appearances and mannerisms they couldn't have differed more.

The first was a short, black-haired boy whose mouth and nose were obscured by bandages. A white snake coiled around his neck and flicked its tongue out every now and again, tasting the air inquisitively. His hands were obscured by the lengthy sleeves of his black and white striped haori, and his dual-colored eyes flicked around the room. Clear blue left and sickly, slit-pupiled yellow alternated between looking at his fellow Pillars, the demon among them, the unfamiliar swordsman and their Master.

Obanai Iguro, the Snake Pillar, was twitchy and out of his depth, and that only served to make him more dangerous.

The second man remained absolutely still. Were it not for the hatred in his pale blue eyes and the slight rise and fall of his scarred chest, visible through his open uniform jacket, one might have mistaken him for a corpse. The white-haired swordsman barely blinked as his manic, murderous gaze bored into the demon, and yet she did not so much as react.

Of course, this only served to enrage the Wind Pillar, Sanemi Shinuzagawa, even more.

The third man, much taller than the previous two, seemed to be caught in a state between the two extremes. The entirety of the white-haired man's body was in a state of complete calm, but his face quivered and twitched as he attempted to suppress his emotions. However, the oddest part of the flashily dressed man's state was the target of his unease. The demon in the room seemed to barely register to him.

No, Tengen Uzui was far more focused on the presence of the one armed swordsman. Even had he not known his face, the fact that the Sound Pillar couldn't even begin to compose a Score from the man's conscious and subconscious movements was in and of itself a massive alarm bell.

The other two Pillars' temperaments were equally firm, but in very different ways. The youngest man present was also arguably the most distinctive of the five, with fiercely pointed eyebrows, golden hair tipped in a crimson that evoked the image of flame, and wide, expressive eyes of matching coloration. A white haori that darkened to a similar flame pattern hung regally from his shoulders as he crossed his arms before him.

Everything about Kyojuro Rengoku radiated intensity, but in spite of that, the Flame Pillar's feelings on the matter at hand were far harder to parse.

The final Pillar was by far the most massive, towering over everyone present by a large margin. Blank, blind eyes stared at nothing even as the titan's life energy quested about the room, enveloping, examining, and informing him of the nature of everything within it. If the titanic pressure of the one-armed man's Chi affected him, he did not allow it to show on his face, instead showing a stern visage that could well have been carved instead of birthed.

Two massive palms rubbed at a string of red prayer beads as Gyomei Himejima, the Stone Pillar, considered the impossibility before him.

It was at that moment that the silence was broken, not by the too-calm Wind Pillar, nor the too-tense Snake Pillar, nor even by the revered Master himself, but by the demon who sat at the Master's side.

"I am certain that the five of you have a number of questions," she began, her voice calm, clear, and devoid of hostility. "However, allow me the opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Tamayo, and—"

"You are a demon," Kyojuro Rengoku interrupted, "and a powerful one at that! We Pillars are more than capable of sensing that much, you know?!" There was precious little hostility in his tone, despite the man's forceful intensity.

The Flame Pillar seemed prepared to continue speaking, but a single finger raised to the Master's lips was enough to prompt the man to slam his forehead into the wooden floor. As he prostrated himself in apology, he all but shouted, "Forgive me, revered Master! I spoke without thinking!"

Kagaya merely smiled, shook his head, and gently rebuked, "Raise your head, Kyojuro." The intense man did as he was instructed, ignoring both the blood trickling down his forehead from the force of his forehead's impact against the floor and the incredulous stares of two of his peers. (Gyomei had no way of staring at the man, Tengen approved of Rengoku's 'flamboyant enthusiasm', and Giyu's mind was a dozen miles away.)

Now that the grim mood was shaken by the Flame Pillar's eccentricity, the Master took the floor. "It is as you say, Kyojuro. Tamayo is indeed a demon, and one who the Ubuyashiki family has been aware of since the last vassals of the Ashina married into our family over two hundred years ago." Kagaya gave a slight smile. "However, I am the first of my family to have actually sought her out and conversed with her." His gaze turned to the one-armed man. "At first, I conversed with her by proxy, but soon enough we met in person."

The stranger, now the center of attention, raised his head and met the gaze of each Pillar in turn, save for Gyomei. Instead, he allowed his Chi to brush up against the blind man's by way of greeting.

He paused briefly as his eyes met the Snake Pillars', eyes narrowing fractionally as they flicked between Obanai's serpentine right eye and the albino snake that coiled around his neck.

Obanai froze in place under the stranger's steely gaze, feeling like a mouse before a great serpent for the first time since…

For the first time in a long time.

Mercifully, the moment passed, and the one-armed swordsman's gaze turned to the Master. After a long moment, the man nodded, and the Master spoke again, this time a single word.

"Sekiro."

Obanai's eyes bulged as his head snapped over to regard the man once more. Whatever thoughts he might have had to voice, though, were lost in the cacophony of questions that erupted from Sanemi and Kyojuro.

Tengen, for his part, said nothing, merely lowering his head as what he already knew to be the truth was confirmed once again.

Kagaya Ubuyashiki was able to restore order easily enough, though, and after Wolf had explained shortly how he yet lived, the topic of conversation once more fell to the elephant in the room—or rather, the demon.

"Now," Ubuyashiki said, clapping his hands together, "on to the most pressing matter. The fact that my family has been aware of a particular demon for centuries and has seemingly done nothing about her is oddity enough, to be sure. However, I ask that you hear what Tamayo has to say before making any judgements about her."

It was abundantly clear that this sat ill with more than one of the Pillars, but none made it more obvious than Sanemi. However, the Wind Pillar managed to hold his tongue, even as his hateful gaze remained fixed on Tamayo.

Ever iron-willed, Tamayo acted as though she was not the target of his hostility, and explained, "I am a demon, this is an undeniable fact. However, before I am a demon, before I am a woman, I am a doctor first and foremost." She inclined her head solemnly. "The greatest sickness, the chief disease, the plague among plagues that runs rampant across this land: what else could it be but Muzan Kibutsuji?"

Tamayo's head rose once more, fire and steel in her lavender eyes. "As such, it is my duty as a doctor to eradicate all traces of that man, as well as his wretched affliction, from this land." She exhaled, uncurling fists she scarcely recalled making and folding her hands in her lap. "Of course, my motivations are not entirely selfless by any stretch of the imagination. Muzan took my humanity from me, and…" Her voice caught in her throat, and she could not find the words to speak.

Kagaya laid his hand upon her shoulder with a gentle, sad smile, causing half of the room to tense at the contact. Tamayo, of course, did nothing to validate their all-too-understandable paranoia and merely closed her eyes and brought her sleeve to her face as she regained her composure.

Unnoticed by all, Gyomei's empty eyes filled with unshed tears as the overpowering, unending grief poured from the demon—no, the woman before them. It was in that instant of genuine, agonizing, painfully human emotion that Gyomei was swayed. After all, the Stone Pillar may have been as vast and imposing as a mountain, but it was nearly impossible not to have empathy of a matching size when the very way you perceived the world was inherently tied to the emotions of those around you.

After taking a few minutes, Tamayo reopened her eyes and spoke again. "My apologies. Time does not heal all wounds, it seems." A melancholic smile quirked her lips upwards as she continued, "As I said, I have two objectives in this life—nay, two things I will make into a reality: the death of Muzan Kibutsuji, and a treatment to return those who have become demons to their human forms."

At this, Sanemi ground his teeth, then all but growled, "So what?! You're still a man-eating demon, aren't you?!"

"Sanemi—" the Master began, reproof in his voice, but Tamayo raised a hand. "No, Sir Ubuyashiki; his question is a fair one." She pressed that hand to her collarbone, then replied, "I am a demon, but due to the teachings of my mother, Emma the Physician, I have managed to make modifications to my body that reduce my need for blood to an insignificant amount. Before, I purchased blood from donors who consented and needed the income. However, after I was introduced to the late Kanae, she offered to supply me so that my money could go towards funding my research—"

When Kanae's name was brought up, Sanemi had stilled, but now he was shaking with barely shackled rage. "So what yer sayin'," he spat, his accent and speech patterns losing all traces of refinement, "Is that besides bein' a naive fool, Kochou was a traitor!"

As the words left his lips, an unnatural quiet descended upon the room.

-x-x-x-x-x-

The moment the words left Sanemi's mouth, he wished he could snatch them back. Of course he didn't think that about the deceased Flower Pillar; she'd been one of the only people he'd even been able to drop his mask around, to confide in. She was very much the elder sister of all of the Pillars, even if she was younger than Gyomei.

No, he didn't believe for a moment that Kanae Kochou had been naive or a traitor. But Sanemi was at least self-aware enough to know that he dealt with anger and grief in a really shitty way, and he'd definitely put his foot in it n—

He couldn't breathe.

In the space between thoughts, a phantom pressure closed around his throat like the jaws of some invisible insect—and that was when he knew.

Her voice was sweet as wisteria and ten times as poisonous, her smile the stinger of a great sparrow bee poised ready to strike right over his eye.

"Sir Shinuzagawa," Shinou Kochou said with the serenity and regal coldness of Death's handmaiden, "forgive my presumption, but were it I who spoke, I would choose my words regarding the dead with more care, particularly when those who cherished them are also the very same as those who ensure my health and wellness following dangerous missions."

Sanemi Shinuzagawa didn't frighten easily; far from it, in fact. Years of using his rare blood to lure demons and incapacitate them long before he even knew what a Demon Slayer was ensured that his nerve was firm, if nothing else.

But none of that mattered.

This miniscule girl, a swordswoman so physically frail she could not even decapitate demons, had frozen him with her malice. One of the top-ranked Kinoto or not, former Tsuguko or not, Sanemi hadn't felt terror like this since the thing that had stolen the form of his mother tried to tear his face off.

As infuriating as it was to feel this helpless…

Sanemi understood.

If anyone had spoken ill of Genya in his presence, he damn sure wouldn't have been anywhere near as collected as Shinobu Kochou was.

Even as he resented the way her malice oppressed his very being, Sanemi felt his respect for the petite girl—no, woman, rise a few notches.

She'd make Pillar soon, there was no doubt in his mind.

-x-x-x-x-x-

"Sanemi," the Master chided, "I realize that you, too, are grieving Kanae's death, but it is especially in times like these that you must master your emotions, not the other way around."

The heavily scarred young man pressed his forehead to the wooden floor in apology, not nearly matching the force of Kyojuro's earlier prostration, but certainly matching his sincerity. When he replied to the rebuke, his voice was even more formal than the first time he'd spoken. "It is as you say, revered Master. A thousand pardons."

After motioning for Sanemi to raise his head, Kagaya turned to Shinobu. "Shinobu. I will not ask you to forgive him, but I will request that you refrain from acting on your implied retribution. This family could ill use a schism."

Shinobu inclined her head deeply. "As you say, revered Master. Forgive me; my temper escaped me for a moment."

The Master smiled gently, sadly. "In the wake of her loss, I think all of us are out of sorts. No matter how many times you see your children die…"

"It never becomes any easier," Tamayo finished for him, a somber expression on her face. This, of course, drew the focus of the room back to her. This time, it was neither Sanemi nor Rengoku who spoke, but Obanai. His speech was slightly muffled by the bandages covering his face and nose, but not so much as to render him unintelligible.

"Regarding allying with this demon, revered Master, I just can't comprehend it. I don't trust her; I can't trust her, not after what I've seen and experienced." He glanced at his fellow Pillars. "And other than Tomioka, who seems to be as unconcerned as ever, I doubt I'm the only one who feels this way." The addressed Water Pillar gave no reaction to his associate's comment.

Eyes filled with fervor, Kyojuro declared, "I find myself at a loss, revered Master! I trust in you with everything within me, but the idea of allying with a demon is absolute lunacy in my eyes!"

Gyomei interjected, his voice somber and his tone slow and exacting. "In any other circumstance, I would agree with you, Sir Iguro. But as you know, I do not see with my eyes. My spirit is my vision, and there is no deceit in this woman's words or conviction. I accept your decision, revered Master." The giant of a man rubbed his prayer beads together between his palms. "I can only pray that this alliance does not end in suffering. Namu amida butsu."

Uzui, unusually subdued, shortly offered, "I am opposed to this, but I can see that you will not be swayed, Master."

Sanemi refrained from speaking, though his opposition was plain to see in his eyes.

Giyu, briefly brought back to reality by this discourse, commented quietly, "I trust in your judgement, Master."

After all of the Pillars had their say, Kagaya spoke again. "I understand your grievances, my children. Know that your words have not fallen on deaf ears. However." Steel gleamed in the Master's one functional eye. "If it is to defeat Muzan Kibutsuji, I will open my arms to any and all who would stand against him, no matter who or what they might be. So long as they do no harm to my precious children, I will ally even with the damned denizens of Avici.

"I cannot ask that you trust Tamayo," he continued, "but I will ask that you trust me. Can you do that? Obanai, Sanemi?"

Sanemi closed his eyes and exhaled. For a long moment, he was silent, then he bowed his head and pressed one fist to the floor. "As you command."

Obanai mimicked the motion, with the snake upon his shoulder dipping its head in unison with his own boy. "As you command."

As one, the rest of the Pillars did the same, a chorus of affirmations filling the room.

Kagaya smiled gently. "Thank you, my precious children. You honor me with your trust and devotion." He then turned to Tamayo and gave her a faint smile. "Now, unless there is anything else that you wish to say…?"

Tamayo paused, then nodded. "Actually, there is something. Consider it to be a...peace offering, so to speak. I have two pieces of information to pass on to you all. It regards the Upper Moons of Muzan's Twelve Demon Moons."

And just like that, Tamayo had the undivided attention of every Demon Slayer in the room. "The first piece of information regards Upper Moon Two, the demon who took Kanae's life as well as the life of Kiyoshi's mother, as well as his left arm." She blinked. "Ah, yes. Kiyoshi is Wolf's disciple, and should be joining your organization soon enough, but I digress. Judging from the wretched, frostbitten state Kyoshi's left arm was in after experiencing partial demonificiation, Upper Moon Two doubtlessly uses an ice or cold-based Blood Demon Art. What's more, for it to have such a profound effect on blood being used to turn rather than to fight, it is likely that Upper Moon Two relies very heavily on his Blood Demon Art in combat."

-x-x-x-x-x-

Shinobu narrowed her eyes. The demon that had stolen Kanae from her had also killed Kiyoshi's family? That...she did not begin to know how to react to that information. However, what Miss Tamayo had said about Upper Moon Two matched up with Kanae's wounds far too well for her to ignore. Multiple puncture wounds in conical shapes that didn't match up to any blade she knew could be explained by icicles. Add to that the unusual dampness that had been on her sister's uniform that couldn't be attributed to spilled blood…

The evidence was solid.

Shinobu managed to break out of her musings just in time to hear Miss Tamayo say something that dashed all thoughts of Upper Moon Two from her mind.

"The second piece of information I have to offer is the identity of Upper Moon One: Michikatsu Tsugikuni, one of the oldest Breath users alive and twin brother to the founder of all Breath Styles, Yoriichi Tsugikuni."

The room went dead silent for a beat, then two. Then Gyomei's prayer beads struck the floor with a clack, and everyone was shouting.


AN: This is a bit later than I wanted, but I've been super busy preparing for a move, so I've had less free time to write. Apologies. Oh, and a couple tidbits about things from this chapter:

First, according to my research, "great sparrow bee" is the literal translation of "ōsuzumebachi", the Japanese name for the Japanese giant hornet.

Second, from what I understand, Gyomei's prayer, Namu Amida Butsu, is a Buddhist prayer with the approximate meaning of "I take shelter in Amida Buddha".

Finally, from what I gather, Avici is the lowest layer of hell in Buddhism.

Hope that helped any confusion anyone may have had, and if I got any of that wrong, don't hesitate to correct me! Beyond that, I hope you all enjoy.