A slurping, crunching noise pervaded the air as Muzan greedily began to consume the heavily pregnant woman beneath him. After the initial bite and a shrill scream from the dark haired woman, he moved to snap her neck but the sudden sound of metal cutting quickly through the air made him wrench free from his meal. He spat a guttural hiss behind him as he fled, and the hashiras followed close behind him, swords ready and glinting in the moonlight. The woman's body suddenly contracted and she let out a cry of pain as the throes of childbirth began to seize her body. She was dizzy and bleeding out from the demon's attack but fought hard to deliver her child. A contraction ripped through her dying body and she screamed in agony, blood pooled between her legs and stained her kimono. She tried to pull herself up to lean against a tree for support but crumpled into another contraction. Panting, she tried again and managed to crawl over to a nearby tree stump, her nails dug into the bark as she pulled herself into a low squat and howled into a push. More blood splashed out onto the dirt beneath her and she pushed again, nails bit in deeper until blood was drawn there too. Sweat collected at her brow and her long black hair clung to her forehead. One last cry of white hot pain and she pulled the tiny infant from her body and collapsed to the forest floor. Her vision swam with tears of pain, and fear as she looked down at the tiny baby. Skin too fair to be human and snow white hair and eyelashes.
"I am sorry little one." She whispered before fading away into the abyss of death. A curious passerby that had happened to hear the cries of the woman searched the woods for the source. Upon seeing the bloody corpse of the mother, the man nearly turned to run away, but the cries of an infant drew him nearer. He parted the woman's kimono and there he found the bloody premature infant crying and shivering in the cool night air.
"Poor thing. You're lucky to be alive. Let's get you home." He glanced down at the woman's body and caught the house symbol. He took the bloody haori with the symbol on it and wrapped the infant in it. It was a fairly poor household but he figured it was a family nonetheless. He made the trek to the child's home and left her there, not paying any mind to what the child looked like.
"This child...what a horrible looking child. White hair and eyelashes? And look at its eyes! This is not a child it's a demon! Get it out of my sight, I do not care if my daughter gave birth to this creature it is an abomination! Lock it up and keep it out of my sight!" The househead demanded. He handed the infant off to his youngest daughter who had also just had a baby recently. She looked at the swaddled child with disgust as it opened its eyes to reveal flower shaped irises.
"My sister gave birth to a monster, and now I am saddled with it?" She frowned.
"Just take care of it until we can sell it. I don't care what you do with it until then just don't let it die." The woman nodded and did as she was told.
The child was raised like an animal, only receiving scraps of food from whatever hadn't been eaten by the rest of the family. She was bullied, beaten, spit on forced to do hard labor. At age 9, the girl was timid, quiet, she moved about like a doll, emotionless. Her grandfather suddenly grabbed her by her white hair and threw her to the ground.
"Get up trash, theres a man of high class come to get you. We're selling you off." The girl stood and stared blankly at the shrouded man in front of her. She took a step back and her grandfather shoved her forward.
"Go on then! Worthless trash! At least now youll be useful to me."
The hooded man moved forward and grasped her arm and it felt like iron. Her pink irises met deep red ones and she gasped. This wasn't a noble.
It was a demon.
Panicking, she struggled against the demon, tears in her eyes.
"N-no please!" She whimpered reaching out for anyone to help her.
There was a sudden thundering of footsteps outside and with a loud crack the shoji doors split open as a wheel of fire cut through. The hooded demon turned suddenly and subconsciously loosened his grip on the girl and she took the opportunity to run. A man stepped into view from behind the burning doorframe and she accidentally crashed into him. She looked up to see fiery yellow and red hair like a lions mane, forked eyebrows and intense red and yellow eyes that burned like a thousand suns. She buried her face into his haori and he gently laid a hand on her shoulder.
"Its alright child, I won't let any harm come to you."
His eyes darted back up to the hooded demon. Shinjuro extended his arm and used his katana to point to him.
"The Demon Slayer Corps. has been investigating your little operation for months. And now it's time to end it."
The hashiras colleagues all flooded the household and Shinjuro took the girl into his arms.
"Little one, I will take you in and raise you as my own. You will never see sadness like this again. I have two little boys of my own at home. You will be happy there."
The girls eyes welled with tears and she threw herself against him thankfully.