Big yikes with chapter 202.

With the lockdown, I have a rough time figuring out how many days its been. Everything blends together, so if updates seem to be at random, I'm sorry. I'm waiting to see what the manga does before continuing with some of my draftings, but I think we can expect updates to be odd for all my stories.

ZenryTheBard: In truth, you're most likely right. I hate admitting this, but I struggled to find a lot of solid information on Musashi and her father— apparently, Musashi had a brother and two sisters too, but that's also debatable. Munisai has a lot of conflicting information— some sources say that he died before Musashi was born as his tombstone says 1580, but Musashi is expected to have been born around 1584, but then there's speculation on who Musashi's real mother is and it gets messy. Munisai is also known as Miyamoto Muniosuke, though as you said, that is a clan name. Miyamoto is the family name for Musashi, but then again, lots of conflicting and scrambled information. Munisai is also known as Hirata Munisai, and everything is confusing. Musashi, apparently, was born as Miyamoto Bennosuke (at least, Wikipedia says so, so uh, that might need to be checked), but everything is strange and conflicting. Lots of mystery surrounding Munisai, I've noticed— and even more around Musashi's mother. Nonetheless, it still bugs me that the Nasuverse takes Musashi's abandonment very lightly. Because of the conflicting information, and the fact that Musashi (fate) is considered to be different than history's Musashi, I've changed a good bit regarding her history. That said! You are correct in that Miyamoto and Shinmen are both clan names. Munisai is just very difficult to find concrete information on.

Sandi091000: Thank you! I'm glad you like it!

King of Fans: I like to think that people are more likely to believe crazy stuff that happens to her in the Demon Slayer universe. There are already supernatural elements, after all. I prefer female Ritsuka over male Ritsuka, too.

Reversus12: They're just two big dorks. Also, Musashi always worries me at this point. Big yikes. I have two plans on how this is going to go regarding the rayshifting though, so we'll see what happens

Ubuyashiki's daughters closed the shoji doors quietly before they both stood, moving to their father. One of them took his hand while the other allowed him to rest his other hand on her shoulder before the three of them made their way out to the engawa to the rest of the Pillars.

"Good morning, everybody. Is the sky blue, today?" he greeted as his daughters led him to the edge of the engawa. "Our members have gathered for the Pillar Meeting that we hold once every six months as per usual… it pleases me that we've all made it today."

Musashi knelt with the others, head bowed in respect as Shinazugawa slammed Tanjirou's head down.

"We find it most honorable to be in your presence, Oyakata-sama," she said calmly, gazing up at the cursed man, who smiled down at them in return. "We eagerly pray for much happiness upon you."

"Thank you, Musashi," the man said lightly as he slowly sat down. Shinazugawa shifted, his intense aura back as he spoke up.

"If I may, Oyakata-sama," he started, raising his head. "Before we start the Pillar Meeting, would you mind enlightening us about this swordsman, Kamado, Tanjirou, accompanied by a demon?"

Oyataka-sama seemed to gaze down at Tanjirou for a moment before he raised his head. "Right. I see... I'm sorry that he has surprised you all," he apologized. "As for Tanjirou and Nezuko… I've given my permission for their situation. I would like it if everyone here would accept them."

Eh?

Musashi's eye widened as she gazed up at the master of the Demon Slayers. The same shock seemed to be reflected in the others' expressions before Himejima moved first, putting his hands together as tears dripped from his face again.

"Even though Oyakata-sama wishes for us to do so… I am reluctant to give my consent," he admitted and Uzui nodded.

"I also flamboyantly oppose this," he agreed, "I can never accept a Demon Slayer who brings demons along."

"I will abide with all your accordances, Oyakata-sama!" Kanroji declared, despite the two Pillars prior to her's words. Tokito only gazed forwards blankly.

"Either way is fine with me… I'll forget about it either way…" he said, though Kocho and Tomioka both remained silent.

"I don't trust them, I won't trust them," Iguro hissed, "We all hate demons and kill them, to begin with."

"If it's what Oyakata-sama wants, we can't exactly go against it," Musashi pointed out, brows furrowed, "I'm with Kanroji, though I can't exactly place where Oyakata-sama's coming from..."

Kyojuro nodded, his smile never leaving his face but it no longer reached his eyes. "Indeed! While I respect you with all my heart, Oyakata-sama, I can't understand your thinking!" he agreed, though didn't say anything on the matter of agreeing or disagreeing.

"The Demon Slayer Corps' mission is to annihilate demons," Shinazugawa said, his voice on the edge of a snarl, "I wish to punish both Kamado and Tomioka. On that line of thought, I wish to punish Miyamoto for defending them."

"I told you that I don't want any association with that name," Musashi sighed. Shinazugawa glared at her in return.

"I hardly think that's what you should be worried about, woman," He hissed in return. Musashi's hand twitched and Kanroji and Kyojuro grabbed her wrists before she could draw her blades on the other Pillar. It wasn't the fact that Shinmen 'owned' the family name "Miyamoto", it was the association with her father that made her twitch and made her blood start to heat up. The Pillars knew this, she had told them the story before since they wanted to know the difference between her and the historical man. She tried to play it off, but the abandonment struck her hard, so she did her best to distance herself from her father. Despite her protests against using her family name and for them to simply use her given instead, Shinazugawa still used it on purpose to provoke her into a fight.

She knew this.

The other Pillars knew this.

Oyataka-sama shifted, pulling their attention back as Musashi pulled free of the two other Pillars.

"The letter," the man said, glancing towards one of his daughters. Her smile never wavered as she pulled a piece of parchment from her kimono.

"Yes," she said before she opened it. "We received this letter from the Former Water Pillar, Urokodaki Sakonji-sama. I will read an extraction from it."

She glanced down at the paper. "—"Please allow Tanjiro to be accompanied by his sister, a demon. Nezuko had a tenacious spirit and she retains some human reasoning. Even when she's starving, she doesn't eat Humans and she has stayed that way for more than two years"," the girl read off, ""You may find this sudden and difficult to believe, but it is the unmistaken truth. If by any chance Nezuko ever attacks someone, Kamado Tanjirou, as well as Urokadaki Sakonji and Tomioka Giyuu, will atone by committed seppuku.""

Musashi kept her face passive as she let the contents of the letter sink in.

Seppuku.

It had been a long time since she had heard that word.

Honorable, yet shameful at the same time.

Painful, yet a sign of loyalty.

"So what if they commit seppuku?" Shinazugawa asked, bringing attention to him. "If they want to die, then they can just die and rot away. There's no guarantee in all of this."

Musashi nodded, grimacing a bit. "While I don't like how he put it, and I'm not one to always agree with him, Shinazugawa is correct. A life taken cannot replace a life lost."

"If she kills and eats someone, it can't be undone," Kyojuro agreed. Ubuyashiki nodded slowly.

"That is very true," he agreed, "They can't guarantee that she won't attack people. But… you can't prove that shell attack someone either."

That made Shinazugawa stiffen.

"Oyakata-sama," Musashi spoke up, "I saw no karma from Nezuko's box, but I am unsure if it is because of how the box was made. If there are two other people who are putting their lives on the line for Nezuko, then I would like to confirm if there is karma that connects her to the others. While it is possible that a demon with severed karma could still harm humans, humans also harm humans. If anything, a demon with severed karma who is still alive could be closer to being human than anything else we've encountered so far. If those who wish her dead still wish to act when I am done, they'll have to present something that has more weight than the Water Pillar and his predecessor."

"Indeed." The blind man seemed to nod in understanding as he thought. "I will allow it. And should the those who deny what Urokadaki writes still do so, then they must present something more than what is written here…" He said after a moment as he gazed out at the Pillars. "Do you have the will to do so?"

Musashi felt Kyojuro tense slightly as their Master continued. "Also, there is something else that I would like to relay to you, my children," He said, "Tanjirou has come into contact with Kibutsuji."

With those few words, the assembled Pillars fell into various forms of shock.

"That can't be!" Uzui exclaimed, "Not even us Pillars have come into contact with him!"

He turned suddenly, knocking Kanroji down on accident (she let out a soft 'kya!?' before Musashi helped her up) as he and the others gazed at Tanjirou. "You mean this kid… What did he look like? What about his powers!?"

"Where was this?" Musashi asked as she pat Kanroji's shoulder.

"Did you fight him?" Tokito asked, tilting his head slightly.

Shinazugawa shook Tanjirou violently, grasping him by the hair. "What was Kibutsuji doing!? Did you find his stronghold!? Hey! Answer me!" he snarled and Musashi pinched the bridge of her nose as she thought. If they didn't give the boy time to respond to the questions, then they wouldn't be getting answers out of him. Shaking his head up and down probably didn't help either.

Still, she understood why the other Pillars were so curious. Kibutsuji Muzan was not a name that was unfamiliar with her.

He was their Shuten Douji. Their Ibaraki Douji. Their Goetia. Their Caster of Limbo. Their Shirou Amakusa.

Their big bad.

Shuten and Ibaraki no longer walked the earth. The Oni of ancient days had all vanished and no longer existed— except for in legend as far as the public and a majority of the Demon Slayers were concerned.

But Kibutsuji Muzan…

Kibutsuji Muzan was a danger.

She glanced up as the arguing Pillars suddenly fell silent and returned to their kneeling positions. Ubuyashiki had his finger pressed against his lips, quieting them with the gesture.

"Kibutsuji has sent pursuers after Tanjiro," he said calmly. "While his purpose may simply be to silence him, now that Kibutsuji's given himself away for the first time, I don't intend to let go. I also believe that something's happening to Nezuko that Kibutsuji never saw coming."

She heard Tanjirou gasp softly as the Pillars remained silent.

"Can you try to understand why I would like them to stay with us?" Ubuyashiki asked them.

"No, I can't understand, Oyakata-sama," Shinazugawa hissed, trembling with barely controlled rage. "If it were a human, I'd be okay with letting it live, but not a demon! Even Miyamoto's half-freak self is preferable."

"That's rude," Musashi uttered, "I'm no less human than you are, Shinazugawa."

The Wind Pillar glared at her as he lifted his head, drawing his blade and slicing his arm. Blood spilled onto the stones in the garden as he held his arm up.

"I will prove it to you myself!" he declared, "The ugliness of what we call demons!"

He stood as Ubuyashiki gave him an even gaze. The white-haired man walked over to where Musashi had set the box, kicking it over onto the ground and planting his foot on it. He stabbed his blade into the wood, pulling it out and holding his arm over the box. Blood dripped from his arm onto the wood as he held his arm over it.

"Hey, demon! It's time to eat!" he sneered, "Sink your teeth into this!"

Scratching and growls came from inside the box and he sneered down at it. "No need to force yourself to hold back."

"Shinazugawa," Iguro said, glancing down at him with unreadable eyes. "It's no good doing it in the sunlight. We have to go into the shadows or the demon won't show its face."

Shinazugawa considered the Snake Pillar's words before he spoke.

"Oyakata-sama. Please forgive this discourtesy," he said slowly, grasping the box's straps before he leaped into the house, landing behind Ubuyashiki and his daughters.

He stabbed his blade into the wood again and a soft cry of pain made Musashi jolt slightly.

"Stop it!" Tanjirou cried as he made a move to lunge forwards. Iguro slammed his elbow into his back, knocking the breath out of the boy's lungs and possibly cracking a few ribs from the impact— the Snake Pillar most likely broke an arm too.

"Come on out, demon," Shinazugawa taunted, pulling his sword from the box before thrusting it back in several more times. "Look, it's the human blood you love so much!"

Kanroji flinched, hearing the demon's soft cries. This wasn't like any of the other demons who had begged for their lives. This was more like a tormented child.

A spark flashed and suddenly Musashi could see it. The threads of karma. But instead of being cut or simply appearing, the threads were being formed, created.

If Shinazugawa continued, then he would no longer be testing Nezuko. He would be transforming her.

The outcome wouldn't be good if that happened. Shinazugawa would be first, throat most likely ripped out before he could do a thing. If Oyakata-sama wasn't after that, his children would be, and that would be before the Pillars could get to them. That would mean that they would end up with at least two pillars lost, along with a promising recruit, and an alley.

"Oyakata-sama! Pardon my rudeness!" Musashi cried as she stood, easily pulling out of her haori when Kyojuro, Kanroji, and Uzui made an attempt to pull her back. She took one step before she leaped past him and tackled Shinazugawa to the floor.

In one swift movement, she flipped him onto his stomach and pinned his arm behind his back. She kept him pinned down with her knee pressed against his back as well before the door of the box was flung open. Shinazugawa struggled under her hold, but she grabbed his head and slammed his chin into the floor, disorienting him and stopping his movement for the time being. She reached up, pulling her eyepatch off and opening her other eye again.

The demon rose slowly from the box, growing to her full height as the Pillars watched in stunned silence. In the shadows of the room, it seemed like even the sightless eyes of Himejima and Ubuyashiki could see the unnatural brightness of Musashi's own. And if the Pillars looked even closer, magenta threads that didn't exist to their eyes were reflected in her own— snapping and vanishing.

Musashi reached down, pressing her hand against the slash that the Wind Pillar had made to his arm and smearing the blood on her palm. She held it up and out to the demon, watching her twitch as her eyes stared at her.

Shinazugawa's blood held special properties, it was intoxication-inducing to many demons and was considerably more… delicious to them, according to Kocho.

If the girl refused his blood, that should be enough. The demon's fingers flexed at her sides as she panted from behind the bamboo muzzle around her mouth. Sweat beaded and dripped down her brow, an internal struggle just barely visible in her eyes as Musashi watched the last few threads of karma start to snap.

Just a little bit more. She had to push more.

"Your name is Nezuko, right?" She asked softly as Shinazugawa's blood dripped through her fingers. "I can tell that you're fighting back against the threads of karma…" she murmured as the girl trembled, gazing at her intensely. "You broke free of them once, didn't you? You can't allow them to reconnect."

"Reconnect?"

"Does she mean that the provocation would have turned that little demon hostile?"

"Musashi, can you explain?"

Musashi was silent, watching before she let out a breath as Nezuko turned from the blood, clenching her fists so tightly that her clawed nails dug unto her palms.

The final thread snapped.

Musashi smiled before she wiped her hand on Shinazugawa's back and stood. Nezuko gave her a wary look as saliva dripped down her chin from around the muzzle, but Musashi ignored it, reaching down and lightly brushing her hair back.

"Good girl," she said softly before she turned back to the garden. "Alright, Nezuko has rejected Shinazugawa's blood," she said, addressing the other Pillars, "Is that enough for you all?"

At the hesitant nods from the others, she pulled Shinazugawa to his feet and tossed him into the garden. He landed on his feet, shaking his head and glaring at her. She ignored him as she walked to stand by Oyataka-sama and his daughters. "Oh, and, get off of Kamado, Iguro. You're crushing his lungs."

The Snake Pillar seemed reluctant, but at a sharp look from Kyojuro and Kocho, the smaller Pillar relented. Tanjirou let out a gasp of breath, collapsing where he lay.

Musashi nodded, tying her eyepatch back into place before she clapped her hands. "I've told you before about how I can see curses and karma— what makes a demon a demon, essentially. Or rather, what binds the demon to Kibutsuji. All demons I've fought have it, but for Nezuko there were no threads of karma. Originally, I had thought that it was simply just a case of the box's properties, but then I saw that karma was being formed," she explained. "Nezuko's karma had already been severed by the time she was brought here. When karma is cut, the demon dies."

"It seems as if Nezuko is a special case," Ubuyashiki mused and Musashi nodded.

"Yes. Nezuko is not bound to Kibutsuji. Her karma is no longer attached, but it is there, so she's still a demon. That said, she's not dead without the attached karma. So long as we don't give her a reason to attack humans— such as the idiotic stunt that Shinazugawa and Iguro just pulled— she will refuse to eat. Right now, those formed threads have broken off again," she said, "But give her a reason to, those threads of karma will return. This isn't a matter of if you like demons or not, but rather, do you really think that we can take Kibutsuji and the Twelve Moons on with just a few Pillars? I'd advise against provoking Nezuko."

A few of the pillars exchanged looks as she spoke, seeming unsure, but there was nothing more to prove. Nezuko wouldn't attack humans. It was slow, but they agreed with nods— well, most of them at least.

"Now that this matter is sorted out," Ubuyashiki hummed and Musashi walked back to her spot, pulling her haori back on. "Tanjirou, there will still be other people who won't willingly agree about Nezuko. You just have to prove that from this point on, you and Nezuko can be useful enough to fight with the Demon Slayers."

The Master's voice seemed to calm the restless Pillars and Tanjirou bowed, seeming to also be affected by the man's voice.

"Defeat the Twelve Demon Moons," Ubuyashiki continued. "Do that, and you'll be accepted by all. And it will give more weight to your words."

The boy startled before he steeled his resolve. "I… Nezuko and I will defeat Kibutsuji Muzan!" He declared, raising his head with a determined look in his eyes. "Definitely, Nezuko and I will wield our swords and cut through the chains of agony!"

Ubuyashiki just smiled. "You can't defeat him as you are now, Tanjirou," he said, "So first, try and defeat one of the Twelve Demon Moons."

"Y… yes sir," Tanjirou said, deflating as his face flushed red.

Kanroji barely managed to hold in a snicker, hiding her mouth with her hands, but Kocho and Himejima laughed softly and openly. Uzui twitched as he held in his laughter as Musashi bit her lower lip, but couldn't keep her lips from curling upwards.

Tanjirou looked just like a child being scolded by a parent.

"It goes without saying that the Pillars of the Demon Slayer Corps naturally have talents that surpass you," Ubuyashiki said, "After training themselves to the death, they have defied it. Each of them have also defeated one of the Twelve Moons."

"Umu!" Kyojuro said, nodding and Musashi curled her hands into his haori, turning her head to keep from laughing. "It's a good outlook to have!"

"That is why the Pillars receive respect and preferential treatment," the Master of the Demon Slayers continued. "Tanjirou, you should also be careful about how you speak to them."

"Y… yes, sir," Tanjirou said softly.

"And one more thing," he said as he turned to Shinazugawa and Iguro. "Sanemi, Obanai, don't bully the younger ones too much." he turned to Musashi, who had since looked back over. "Musashi, try not to get into too cause too much harm to my Estate next time."

"As you command," the three Pillars said. Nezuko seemed to be glaring at Shinazugawa from her box.

"Tanjirou, we have concluded our business with you," Ubuyashiki said. "You may step back."

Kocho raised a hand. "In that case, allow me to take Kamado into my Estate," she said with a smile. Tanjirou looked confused as the Insect Pillar clapped her hands. "Okay! Take him away!" she hummed and the Kakushi from before sprinted past them all.

"Pardon me for cutting in front of you!" he called as he grabbed Tanjirou. Musashi settled back, letting out a breath as both of the Kakushi ran out of the garden.

Ubuyashiki turned back to the Pillars. "Now, the Pillar meeting will—" "Please wait a minute!"

Tanjirou sprinted back into the garden, the Kakushi members chasing after him. Musashi shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose as the boy yelled about needing to headbutt Shinazugawa for every time he stabbed Nezuko.

Tokito seemed to have had enough, picking up a few of the small rocks and firing them at the other boy.

"You're not allowed to interrupt the Master," the normally listless boy said as he tossed a fourth stone in his hand.

The two Kakushi bowed, begging for forgiveness as Kanroji looked past Musashi and Kyojuro to glance at the young boy.

"Just get out of our sight," the Mist Pillar said.

"Y- Yes, sir!"

We're moving hella fast, but the train arc starts next chapter. If y'all are anime only's, uhhh... be careful. You're in danger. On another note, I drew a picture of Kyojuro in the FGO Sprite style. You can find the image on my instagram ( _Penguinarts_) or on reddit (u/Penguinlordlyra ) just remove the spaces.

Anyways, stay safe and all that!