[TW: Demons eating humans; dog death]

Before I knew what was happening, I already have an arm to my mouth. The sweet taste of blood on my tongue almost made me forget everything, my focus being on it and the soft, supple flesh. A glance at Yuichii-nii's face made me freeze in place before I managed to swallow anything. What the hell am I doing? This isn't normal!

I dropped the arm, moving closer to my brother's face… oh the smell is much stronger! It reminded me of summer festivals wherein the scent of grilled meat wafts in the air, the smell of sugared apples fighting it every now and then… It's almost the same. Breathing just got more difficult, especially with the lingering taste of his blood on my tongue.

Stop. This isn't right! "Onii-san?" I called, my voice sounding hoarse and haunting – it almost sounded like someone else was speaking. He's dead. One of his arms is by the door where I dropped it, his head at the foot of the desk he insisted on keeping in his room, while the rest of his body is still on his futon.

"No!" How did this happen? Gasping, I turned to the side to spit out his blood, wiping my mouth on my kimono. What kind of sister am I? What kind of person thinks it's perfectly normal to take a bite out of their dead brother? The horror settled within me, pushing hunger at the back. The only thing I could do was to call for mother and father.

My hysterical cries woke up the whole household, making them rush towards me. "Yukiko, what – Yuichii!" I've never seen my parents look as pale as they did at that moment. "My son… Yukiko, are you hurt? What happened?" Father asked, dragging me away from my brother. I saw Yori behind them, dragging a still sleepy Yusuke away.

"I don't know. He was… like this when I went here after waking up." My mother hugged me to her chest, making me feel and not only hear her sobs. Her pumping heart is yet another reminder of my hunger. I could almost smell the fresh blood her heart was pumping throughout her body. I couldn't stand being in that room anymore, so I ran back to mine and went back to my futon wrapped snugly, lowering the chance of the harsh sun even reaching me.

A lot of people came and went to our house that morning. Mother dropped by my room twice – asking me if I needed anything and then crying some more. Father stopped by to tell me that my wedding was postponed due to my brother's death. As to what my other two brothers were up to, I have no idea.

It was already dark when I woke up, and I wasn't alone.

"You didn't eat." Stated the already familiar voice. I spotted his blood-red eyes right away. I should've asked him how he got into my room, instead, I told him I was asleep all day. "You should eat, especially after I left you that delectable meal." Meal? "What do you mean?" He walked over to me, kneeling down so we were seeing eye to eye. "You already had it in your mouth, why spit it out?"

His insinuation was clear to me. "You killed my brother?" I asked, despite already knowing the answer. My body moved quicker than I could comprehend, my hands going towards Kibutsuji's neck. He clicked his tongue, one hand flying to mine. "This isn't how things work. My rules are absolute and laying a hand on me is against it."

In the blink of an eye both my hands were cut off at the wrist, rendering me silent in shock at the pain and sight. Or maybe my mind just stopped working. How? Was it him? I looked him over and found no knife or any other weapon. "It will grow back." He assured me as if he was just telling me a fact like how the sky is blue.

"I don't understand…" Everything that happened – being taken somewhere I didn't know and experiencing an unexplainable pain; waking up with my brother dead and wanting to eat him, and with both my hands cut off. Was I having an elaborate nightmare? Do I dread getting married so much that my brain is showing me a nightmare version of my life made possible by the man I was about to marry?

"Clearly I overestimated you. I thought by now you'd come to the right conclusion." Kibutsuji-san told me, voice laced with both annoyance and boredom. "Think about it; you wanted to eat your dead brother's arm, you wanted to rip out your mother's throat and you now fear sunlight. You're no longer a weakling of a human!" He stood up, gesturing at my entirety, "I have made you a lot better! You're a Demon now."

"There's no such things as demons!" I retorted confidently despite the doubt that has taken root in my mind. "It can't be true," I whispered… no, that's not right. That was me begging the gods. I'm just an artisan's daughter! I'm no one special. How could something as surreal as this happen to me?

"Oh, there are Demons. There's two in this very room right now."

"Stop it, Kibutsuji-san! Whatever trick you're trying to pull, just stop!" I don't understand anything anymore. "Silly girl. Would a weakling of a human be able to regenerate their hands the way that you just did?" He gestured to what were supposed to be bloody stumps. The blood was still on my skin and at the sleeves of my kimono, however, two perfectly normal hands were where they should be.

An illusion? It was a trick. It must be! Things like this are ungodly and unnatural. "I have no idea how you did that, but it was a cruel trick! Making me think you cut off my hands." In reply, Kibutsuji-san just waved at the two hands that were somehow still on the floor. It was then that yet another strange thing happened to me.

A blinding pain in my head halted my thoughts, and I had a vision – Almost like a prophecy appear in my mind's eye. A man with white hair… a demon? Tubes acting like whips protruding from his body and dozens of maws peppered on his body. Then sunlight and people with swords.

A pair of firm hands grounded me. It was Kibutsuji-san. "You just saw something, didn't you?"

"I don't understand." Was all I managed to say. And that is an understatement. My life was simple and easy. I never really needed to think harder than when I practice my needlework. Wait – "what do you mean I saw something?" I don't believe I showed any indication of having a vision. I probably looked like someone with a headache, right? The man before me smiled at that. A very condescending smile that belittled me so much.

"Your mind isn't private to me. You saw me. Outside and at dawn." Did he read my mind? If that's true, why was he even bothering in asking me? Besides, with the sudden innate fear I felt at the thought of sunlight touching my skin I thought it's not safe for… demons to be out in the sun. What was it that I saw, really? The future?

Kibutsuji-san stood up, "My blood and cells are in your body now. Reading your mind is only the tip of the things I could do. Come now. You don't belong here anymore."

"What? I can't just up and leave my family!" I can't imagine the pain my parents had to go through at my brother's death, and I can't possibly add to their burden by leaving! "I can't say I can readily believe everything you told me, Kibutsuji-san. I know I am different now, but I'm not just going with you just because you told me! You're not my husband yet, I have no reason to do as you command."

He smiled at that, then commanded me to kneel before him. To my surprise, my body did as he says. "Would you rather we feast on the rest of your family first?" The threat was clear in his voice, I have no doubt he would go through with it. It was then that I thought about how being with him would be protecting my family. Maybe I could keep my eye on him… so I left my home.

We were able to travel almost two towns over before we had to take refuge as it was about time for the sun to rise. Kibutsuji-san chose an isolated house at the edge of this village and slaughtered everyone within. The smell of their bloody flesh seemed to be singing to me, and I found myself walking in a trance-like state to where Kibutsuji-san is already feasting on them.

Drooling at the sight, I was ready to sink my teeth on a tasty looking thigh when something caught my eye… small hands of a child. I can't do this… I can't just eat humans.

"You haven't eaten since you turned. We get stronger by eating pathetic humans. Your visions will surely become clearer the more people you eat." He threw a chunk of flesh towards me – I couldn't even tell which part of a body it was – and continued to chide me into feeding. Despite the grumbling protests of my stomach I managed to get away and hide in what seems to be a pantry and spent the day there.

Somehow, I was able to keep up with this routine. We would travel at night – where? I have no idea. – and hide out wherever available before the sun rises. I would find a dark room while Kibutsuji-san feeds. I'd like to think my refusal of consuming humans is me preserving the last of my humanity but… isn't letting the man I'm with murder and eat people just as bad?

The two of us never really talked as we travel. It's not like I had to speak up anyway, as I'm sure Kibutsuji-san is reading my thoughts. One thing he made sure to tell me though was to refer to him as Muzan-sama. Maybe he thinks of himself as some kind of god.

Our journey soon came to an end. We arrived at the biggest house I've ever seen, but the thing that surprised me the most was the humans living in it had welcomed Kibutsuji… ah, Muzan-sama almost excitedly.

"Ah! Kibutsuji-sama, welcome back! I trust you had an enjoyable journey?" The old man greeted us, to which Muzan-sama gave a smile. "Oh yes, Takeo-san. The countryside really did wonders." The man called Takeo-san finally took notice of me, "My, who might this charming, young lady be?"

At that, Muzan-sama grabbed my hand and smiled at me so fondly I felt chills. "This is Y/N. My new wife." There was a ringing in my ear at that. If he introduced me as his fiancée, I'd have no problem with it but we were never married. Besides, my name isn't Y/N.

"You may call me Muzan-sama when it's just the two of us. However, people here know me as Tsukihiko." I nodded, taking a look around the spacious room we went to, two futons already shoved together. I made a move to begin dragging my futon away from his, yet he stopped me. "Do you really detest me that much?" A cold, pale hand of his traveled to cup my cheek and I couldn't stop flinching away from it. That was the hand of a murderer… of a monster. All he did was laugh at that.

Since there were probably still six hours before sunrise, I decided to take a walk outside. I had my hand at the fusuma when Muzan-sama talked, well more like threatened me. "I can tell you're not planning to run away. However, I'd like to remind you that I know where your family lives. Keep that in mind, Yukiko."

The yard around the house is so spacious that the home I grew up in could probably fit here. I find that they have three dogs. Ah, so cute. There was also a peach tree already teeming with fruits. Ever since I've become… what I am I haven't eaten anything. I haven't tried to. I can't say I'm really starving; I only feel so whenever I get a good whiff of a human. For some reason, the aroma of food that I used to enjoy almost repulse me. Like the peaches for example. Its scent is suffocating. Still, I plucked a ripe one and tried to eat it.

"Blegh!" I spit the fruit out of my mouth, throwing the rest to the ground. The texture was wrong! The taste was wrong! How can peaches taste and feel so differently? Is it where we're at? Or was it because of what I've become? The dogs started fighting over the discarded fruit, one biting and nicking the other. Whimpering, the wounded dog went closer to me probably looking for comfort.

I knelt down to pet it but… the smell of its blood isn't as good as a human's, but after refraining from eating in weeks it sent me into a frenzy. In a snap I have the animal's still-beating heart in my hand. As the two other dogs ran, I bit into the warm and bloody muscle and tasted relief. Surely not feeling – it was like only drinking water when you're famished – but it will do. Blood, lungs, kidney, intestines, and liver… this will do. This will have to do, for I refuse to take that one last step into becoming a demon.

Notes:

-sama - honorific added to convey great respect, usually used for royalty or god and to flatter people

fusuma - are vertical rectangular panels which can slide from side to side to redefine spaces within a room, or act as doors.

itadakimasu - it's compared to "Let's eat," "Bon appétit," or "Thanks for the food."