An old trauma
Guest review answer corner.
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Guest: Like I said, I hope to show that the other Demon Slayers are doing things, maybe not to the level of our protagonists but that doesn't mean they aren't important.
Sadly, yes, it would be unrealistic to make it as if they saved everyone; there would have already been casualties before they even arrived.
Thanks! I hope you continue to enjoy the story!
Until next time.
YoungTaoist: Wait, don't say that! That's inviting Murphy's Law to wreck things!
Haha, sorry I couldn't resist; on a serious note, I don't think I will lose steam any time soon and I will do my best!
Guest: Glad you like it! I hope you continue to enjoy it!
Guest: Sorry, I don't give spoilers for my stories, you'll have to wait and see.
And thanks, I'm happy to hear you're enjoying it, I hope you continue to do so!
Until next time.
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Welp, sorry for the somewhat long absence everyone, I got caught up between the holidays and the TanKana Week so I didn't have much time to write for this.
Having said that, I won't keep you any longer.
I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer:
Same old, same old
Demon Slayer I don't own.
"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Tanjiro asked worriedly.
"Relax, once I get better I'll catch up with you." Ozaki answered with a grin.
She, Tanjiro, Murata and Genya were at the entrance of the town, the last three ready to depart.
"It's only a broken arm; trust me, I've had worse." The black haired girl assured him as she pointed to the sling that held the limb.
"That's not necessarily a good thing." Murata commented earning a shrug from her.
"I already informed headquarters and they will send another Demon Slayer to cover for me until I'm better." Ozaki continued. "If I'm honest, I think you could handle missions on your own, and said as much in my report, but the higher-ups insist on having someone assess you for a bit longer."
"It's fine, having someone watch your back is reassuring." Tanjiro answered smiling.
"Caw! Orders! Kamado Tanjiro! Go to Asakusa! Meet there with the other Demon Slayer and investigate the rumors about demons! Caw!" Tanjiro's crow said as it flew in circles over the four.
"I guess that's your cue." Murata said.
"Yes, good luck during your missions." The red haired teen answered, adjusting the box on his back.
"You too, see ya." Genya answered as the Kamado began to walk away while waving at them.
"We should get going as well." The Kanoe mentioned. "We already got our orders; I hope you recover soon, Ozaki-san."
"Thanks, take care of yourselves out there."
"Until we meet again." Genya bowed before him and Murata also began to walk away.
'I don't know what happened but Shinazugawa seems a lot more approachable now.' Murata thought. 'If I didn't know any better, I would think that he is being controlled like the people in town were.' He wisely decided to keep that to himself.
Genya might seem more approachable but he is not about to test his limits.
"Well then… guess I'll go see what I can do around town." Ozaki thought out loud as she turned around.
The attack had happened barely two days ago but the reconstruction effort was going well, a few fights almost broke out about the controlled people but other than that, things were going smoothly.
'I really hope they can put the whole thing behind them.' The swordswoman thought with a sigh before beginning to walk around.
Asakusa, night-time, three days earlier.
Contrary to other towns Asakusa has a very modern, or perhaps foreign would be a better word, air about it.
Even in the middle of the night the streets were lit up to the point that any person could see as if it was the middle of the day and the town was bustling with activity with people in both Japanese and Western clothing walking around and visiting the different establishments that, in most places, would be closed by this time.
Among these people there was one Soda Shohei, a Tsuchinoto ranked Demon Slayer.
He is 5' 7" tall with medium long, lank, brown hair pulled into a ponytail, a lean face with a square jaw, a flat nose, large ears and narrow lips; his eyes, the same color as his hair, are wide and he has thick eyebrows.
Like any Demon Slayer, he is wearing the corps' uniform and his Nichirin blade is strapped to his hip.
'Hnng, I really don't want to babysit a Mizunoto.' He grumbled as he made his way among the many people walking around. 'I get what the higher-ups are thinking but you never know how strong a demon might be, I can't afford to keep an eye on them while also fighting.' Letting out a sigh, he moved to an alley to get away from the multitude. 'Then again, we all started as a Mizunoto at first… guess I can at least be polite to the guy, whether or not I keep being like that will be up to him.' With his mind made up, he retrieved a paper from his pants' left pocket.
The paper contained his orders about acting as the overseer for a new member of the corps, he had crumbled it before fully reading it and stuffed it there.
Shohei doesn't have a problem with new members, he has met a few and he was one at one point, but it would be a lie if he said that he agrees with this new 'Squad System' the corps seem to be trying to implement.
It's not with the idea of forming groups of Demon Slayers, he actually agrees with that part, but the idea of having the new ones assessed; in his opinion, they should be sent on solo missions like everyone else up until this point so they can prove themselves.
He is very much aware that some, if not all, of them could die but if you didn't want to risk your life then you shouldn't have become a Demon Slayer in the first place.
In any case, he has his orders and he is not about to let personal feelings get in the way. A part of him even hopes that he is mistaken and that this method proves to be useful.
'Let's see, the name of the Mizunoto is Kamado Tanjiro, he has red hair and eyes, wears a checkered haori over the uniform and has a scar on the left side of his forehead; they say he should arrive in two to three days.' The brown haired man read.
His crow would usually just tell him this stuff but having a bird speak in the middle of a place like Asakusa, where people seemed to almost never sleep, would draw unwanted attention. At least, that's the explanation he found satisfactory when he wondered why he received a letter.
'Well, I have a few days I should start looking around to see if I find any clues about the demons… where to start looking in a place like this, though?' He frowned at that thought, trying to think of a good place to begin searching.
"E-excuse me…" He was taken out of his thoughts when he felt someone pulling on his pants.
Looking down, he saw a girl, no more than ten, with black hair tied into two braids and wearing an orange western dress.
"Is something wrong?" Shohei asked amicably as he knelt down to be at eye level with her.
The girl fidgeted in place as she looked towards her feet.
"Are you perhaps lost?" The girl nodded, while grabbing the hem of her skirt hard. "I can help you find your parents if you want." He offered.
"Really?!" The girl asked, looking back up with a wide smile.
"Of course, do you remember where you last saw them?"
"…no." She said, once again looking down. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay, do you know where they could be then?"
The little girl shook her head.
'Guess I'm babysitting earlier than expected.' The brown haired man thought with a resigned smile. "Well, we certainly won't find them if we stay in this alley." He offered his hand. "Shall we walk around until you spot them?"
"Yes, thank you very much mister!" The black haired girl said, taking his hand.
"You're welcome." Shohei stood back to his full height as the two began to walk around Asakusa.
.
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Soda Shohei doesn't consider himself a patient person, he knows how to reel in this aspect of his personality most of the time but after walking around for an hour and a half and not finding the little girl, Haruka she said her name was, is parents his patience was beginning wear thin.
"Is everything okay?" The black haired girl asked, stifling a yawn and rubbing her eyes to stay awake.
"Yes, everything is fine." He answered with a small smile; impatient or not, he wasn't about to vent on the poor girl that seemed about to pass out. "Are you alright, though?"
"I'm... fine." She answered in a whisper, her head bobbing down and up as her body demanded rest.
"You seem sleepy, though." The brown haired man commented.
"Have to… find… mom and dad…"
'What to do?' Shohei wondered.
He would offer to carry her on his back so she can sleep until they find them but the description she gave of her parents when asked wasn't enough for him, not because it was bad but because there were many people that could fit the description; a man and a woman between 25 and 30 wearing western clothes and with black hair wasn't enough for him to search; the only thing that sounded eye-catching about her parents was, no pun intended, her dad's eyes that she said were red.
'Maybe we should check at the police station, her parents might have gone there to let them know about a missing person.' The Tsuchinoto thought. 'If not, I could leave her there to rest while they track down their parents… better hide my sword, though.' That last part was the reason why he didn't take her to a police officer from the beginning.
While most people won't really look twice at someone carrying a katana, it was technically illegal to do so, if he walked into a police station with it in display for everyone to see it would cause trouble that he would rather avoid.
'Alright, I'll just ask her to wait for a bit so I can wrap it in cloth and then we'll look for a station.' With his mind made up, he asked Haruka to wait for a moment while he took a roll of cloth from one of his pockets and covered his entire Nichirin blade with it, as far as anyone could tell, it was a walking stick or something like that. 'At the very least, it should give me enough time to enter and explain her situation before they say anything.'
"Is everything okay?"
"Yes, I just thought that we should go ask at a police station if anyone has seen your parents." He answered.
"Oh… okay…"
.
.
'Alright, I just have to be ready to bail if necessary.' Shohei thought as he opened the station's door and walked in with Haruka in hand.
"Excuse me." He said to the officer standing at the front desk.
"Yes, may I help you?"
"This child got separated from her parents and-"
"Haruka!"
Whatever he was about to say was cut off by the yell of a female voice.
The three turned to voice's direction and saw a woman in western clothing running towards them, or more specifically, towards Haruka.
"Mom!" The girl yelled, letting go of the Demon Slayer and running towards her.
"Never mind." The brown haired man said with a grin to the officer who nodded with a smile of his own.
"Where were you?! I was worried sick!" The woman said, hugging her.
"I'm sorry, I went to explore but when I realized you and Dad weren't there, I won't do it again." The girl answered between sobs.
"It's okay, just as long as you're fine." She said, still hugging the girl as if afraid she might disappear. "Are you alright? Did something happen?"
"No, I got lost but the mister there helped me search for you and then brought me here." Haruka answered with a smile, pointing at the brown haired man.
The mother quickly got up and bowed.
"Thank you very much for bringing my daughter back."
"Please, raise your head ma'am, I couldn't just leave her alone." Soda assured her.
"Is something the matter?" A new voice asked.
"Ah, dear, look."
"Dad!"
"Haruka." The man, Haruka's father apparently, smiled and casually walked towards the two. "Where were you? You suddenly disappeared on me."
"I'm sorry, I wanted to explore but I lost sight of you." The little girl apologized, looking at the ground.
"Well, as long as you're okay then it's fine." The man said calmly.
"Oh, yeah, Tsukihiko-san, this man here brought her back." The black haired woman said, gesturing towards the Demon Slayer.
"…I see." The man with red eyes said. "Thank you for bringing our daughter back to us."
"Don't mention it… if you excuse me, I have somewhere to be." With that, Shohei bowed and briskly walked away.
"Thank you, mister!" Haruka yelled after him.
.
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"…WHAT IN THE HELL?!" The Tsuchinoto screamed as soon as he got to an alley, away from the bustle of the town. "Tha-that was a demon! Why was it pretending to be human?! And it has a family?!"
Taking a few deep breaths, the swordsman managed to get his bearings.
'Alright, calm down and think… that man was definitely a demon, I've been on this job long enough to recognize them and the eyes definitely confirmed it but… those two were humans.'
Soda spent the next twenty minutes trying to make sense of the situation to no avail.
'Alright, whatever, I can think why it was pretending to be human later, for now I just found a giant clue as to the demon rumors in this place… damn it!' He punched the nearest wall. 'I ran out of there in panic due to the situation, how am I going to find that demon again now?!' Hitting the wall one more time, he took another breath to calm down. 'What's done is done, at least I have a clear objective now, I just have to hunt it down.'
Nodding to himself, Shohei turned around to go back to the police station- DLING
Suddenly, the area around the Demon Slayer changed; the alley disappeared and in its place was…
'What the hell is this?' It looked like the interior of a Japanese castle but it was simply wrong in many levels.
The area didn't seem to have any defined walls, wherever there was one, it only reached a certain point before going further, the exterior of what must be the hallways served as bridges for anyone to walk on top of and the entire area seemed to be moving around.
The only reason why the Demon Slayer didn't immediately yell was because he hadn't fully processed the sudden change in his environment.
DLING
The same sound he heard before being transported to this area sounded and he moved his sight towards the source.
There was a woman with a black kimono, a pale complexion and long brown hair that reached to her waist sitting in seiza while holding a wooden biwa.
But his attention was on the other figure standing beside her.
Wearing a black western outfit with a white fedora, curly black hair, and red eyes; this was the demon he encountered back on that police station.
'Is this his Blood Demon Art?' The Tsuchinoto's mind immediately snapped into combat mode, undoing the cloth around his Nichirin Blade and unsheathing it to prepare his guard. 'No, maybe it's that woman's.'
"Unbelievable." The red-eyed demon said, shaking his head. "I've been avoiding you nuisances for centuries and one of you finds me because of one stupid human that doesn't understand something as simple as staying near your parents."
"What…?"
"I suppose it doesn't matter, once I kill you I should have a few more days to prepare things before another of you insects is sent to Asakusa." The man continued, clearly ignoring the human in front of him.
"What are you talking about?" The brown haired man asked with narrowed eyes.
"Die." He was once again ignored, that one word being the only time that the demon has spoken to him since it appeared.
The next thing he knows, Soda felt a sting on his right cheek; moving a hand towards it, he noticed that he was bleeding.
'When-GHHAAAA.'
The Tsuchinoto fell to the ground, screaming in pain.
'Poison?! Need to breathe and-AAAAAAA'
"It's useless." The red eyed demon said, looking at the human writhing in pain without much interest. "Your body won't be able to handle the amount of blood I injected in you and will simply fall apart... unless, of course, you somehow manage to adapt to it and become a demon."
"Wha… what are you… wait…" Shohei managed to say through the pain, realization making his eyes open wide. "You are-GHAAAAAA!"
"Well, not that I expect you to actually adapt to it." With those words, the demon began to walk away. "Dispose of him once he is dead." He said to the woman.
"Understood." She answered simply, before playing another cord of her instrument, opening a door of him to pass through.
'He can't come.' Shohei thought, his mind working at over capacity to try and think of a solution. 'A Mizunoto won't do anything against that thing, we need the Pillars, I need to inform this-GHAAA.' But even if he wanted to, his body wouldn't answer, the pain was making it almost impossible for him to think and he could feel his mind slowly slipping away.
'Have to… tell…' Those were his las thoughts before darkness surrounded him.
Present, night time, Asakusa.
Tanjiro didn't think that many things could surprise him anymore; ever since learning about the existence of demons and Total Concentration Breathing, he thought that towns wouldn't have something that would genuinely surprise him.
He was wrong.
'Are the cities this advanced now?' He thought, his eyes almost bulging out of their sockets at the sight in front of him while Nezuko, whom he let out of the box so she could walk for a bit, seemed about to fall asleep, clearly not interested on the sights. 'It's nighttime, but it's so bright out!'
No matter where he looked, the entire place was lit up as people walked around.
'The buildings are so tall! What is this?' Holding on to Nezuko's hand so she wouldn't get lost, Tanjiro began to walk, still in shock at the foreign things he kept seeing.
There was even a strange carriage that moved over two metal rails without any horses.
"I feel dizzy." The Kamado thought out loud, covering his head with a scarf similar to the one his master had when he first met him. 'I need a place without so many lights.'
He saw an alley that seemed a good place to rest for now and walked in-
"Ah?!" To a couple making out. "I-I beg your pardon!" The red haired teen said with a blush as he bowed and turned around; not that the couple seemed to notice him.
.
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Tanjiro continued to walk around the brightly lit streets, trying to find a place where he could actually sleep without all the lights and noise; he didn't find one but at least he was able to find a place with only a few street lamps around that he liked better than the roads in Asakusa. As a bonus, there was an Udon cart there and food sounded like an amazing idea right now.
"Excuse me." He called out to the owner, a bald man with a stripped brown and black kimono. "A bowl of udon with grated yam on top please." The Kamado said tiredly.
"…uh, sure thing!" The man said, seeming worried at the exhaustion on the teen's face.
The two siblings sat down on a bench the Udon seller prepared in front of his cart and waited for the food.
"I've never been to a place like this. It's way too crowded." Tanjiro thought out loud. 'I wonder where the Demon Slayer that was supposed to meet me is, though… not that I'm surprised we haven't found each other, this place is too big!'
He looked at his sister who had been bobbing her head up and down to sleepiness for a while now and it seemed to finally caught up to her as she fell sideways and on her brother's shoulder.
The Kamado smiled, thinking of how peaceful she looked.
"Here's your udon with grated yam on top!" The owner said, handing him the bowl of food.
"Thank you very much!"
Tanjiro took a sip of the soup on the bowl and let out a sigh.
'It's good-' His thoughts were stopped when his nose picked up a scent.
A scent that he has smelled before.
'What…?' He didn't even realize that he dropped the bowl of udon, his mind was completely focused on that smell, he took another sniff to make sure he wasn't imagining it and, even though his labored breath, he picked up the scent again.
Without thinking, the red haired teen grabbed his Nichirin Blade and ran.
'This scent! Why would I catch it here all of a sudden?' Even as he wondered this, Tanjiro kept running, making his way back to the streets of Asakusa and moving between, or even shoving around, the people walking in it straight towards the origin of the scent. 'It's the same scent that was left in my house!' The swordsman thought as he kept moving straight towards the source of that scent, not caring about any of the people that looked at him making his mad dash. 'Kibutsuji Muzan!' He finally caught sight of the 'person' giving off that scent. 'Is this the guy giving off that scent?!'
He reached his objective and grabbed the 'person' is shoulder, making him stop walking and look at him over his shoulder.
The man was frowning as he stared at the red haired teen with his red eyes and was wearing a western black suit with a white fedora.
'It's him!' But Tanjiro couldn't care less about what he was wearing or why he was walking around like he was, the only thing he saw was his family's murderer right in front of him and there was only one thing for him to do now.
Placing a hand on his sword's grip, he unsheathed-
"Daddy?" A girl's voice stopped him before he could finish taking his sword out.
Muzan turned around, revealing a little girl on his arms with black hair tied into two braids and wearing an orange western dress.
"Who's that?" She asked innocently.
Tanjiro gasped, frozen in place at the sight.
'He's… he's… he's… he's… he's living here, pretending to be a human!'
"Is there something I can do for you?" Muzan asked with a calm smile after calming down his 'daughter'. "You seem to be quite flustered."
The fact that he looked so human when he asked that only served to fan the fire that is Tanjiro's rage, the only reason why he hasn't cut off his head yet was because of the little girl on his arms.
"Oh my, what's going on?" A woman wearing a white and light blue wester dress with a white hat asked.
"Mother!" The little girl called out in greeting making the woman smile in response.
'They're humans! The girl and the child… their scent is human! Don't you know? Can't you tell? That this guy is a demon? That he devours humans?'
Now Tanjiro felt like puking, he had to cover his mouth with one hand to stop as he saw this, he is not sure what to call this feeling, it was all a mix of the rage he felt towards Muzan, the terror that he could pretend to be a human so well and fear at what could happen with the woman and the child all put together.
"Do you know him?" The woman asked calmly.
"No." Muzan answered. "Much to my consternation, I've never seen this child before." Unbeknownst to anyone, his nails had become sharper and taken on a blue hue. "He must have mistaken me for someone else."
"Oh, you think so?" Just as the woman said this, Muzan slashed at a random man's neck passing by; no one seemed to notice but Tanjiro.
"Dear, what's the matter?" A woman that was walking with him asked, as the man put a hand over the wound on his neck and shivered. "Dear?"
"Stop!" Tanjiro yelled, forcing his way through Muzan and his family but the man suddenly lunged at the woman and bit her shoulder.
The woman, obviously, screamed in pain at the sudden attack and people stopped to watch, most of them in shock and not understanding what was happening.
"Stop!" Except for Tanjiro, who quickly undid the scarf he was using as a hood and ran towards the two.
'Those are...' Muzan thought, narrowing his eyes when he saw the teen's hanafuda earrings.
Tanjiro quickly covered his hand with his scarf and tackled the man to the ground before using the cloth to gag him.
"Dear!" The woman yelled worriedly.
"Ma'am! You need to worry about yourself!" The Kamado said. "Please take a cloth and press down hard on the wound!" That was everything he got to say before he had to focus on keeping the man on the ground, lest he hurts anyone else.
'It's all right; somehow it's going to turn out fine.' Tanjiro thought. 'The wife's wound isn't fatal!' He saw over his shoulder that two men were tending to her wound, doing as he said and covering the wound with a cloth. "Do it harder! Tie it up with a rope!" The swordsman said as he kept struggling with the man. 'It's going to be all right. This man hasn't killed anyone!' Said man kept trying to fight back and get up, Tanjiro was able to see that his eyes had turned red and the veins on his face were bulging. 'Just a second ago, this man was just walking down this street!' As he was thinking that, he noticed that Muzan's scent was beginning to move.
He turned around and saw the demon and his 'family' walking away.
'Damnit!' The Kamado unconsciously strengthened his grip in frustration. 'Dammit! I can't leave this man here!' If he stopped restraining him, then there is no doubt that there would be more injured or worse, that would mean he would truly turn into a demon, he can't risk that.
"Kibutsuji Muzan!" But he couldn't leave it like that. "I'm not letting you get away! No matter where you go!" Even if he couldn't attack, he felt as if his body would explode if he just let him go as is.
"What's the matter with that child?" The woman wondered. "What do you think, Tsukihiko-san?"
'Tsukihiko' didn't answer, his mind was too occupied with the image of those earrings.
"No matter where you go, you're not getting away!" The Kamado continued. "I'll follow you to the ends of Hell, and I SWEAR I'll slice off your head with my blade! I'll never forgive you no matter what!"
Just as he finished his vow, three police officers approached the teen.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Is it a drunk?"
"Kid, step away from that man!"
"I can't!" Tanjiro quickly answered. "Bring some restraints please!"
"Shut up and step away!" One of them said while pulling from his haori.
"Please don't do that!" Tanjiro asked, making sure to not ease up on his hold. "No one can hold this person but me!"
"Move!" The officers weren't listening, though, and continued to pull.
"Please don't do that!" The Kamado repeated.
"Whoa…" An officer gasped. "Look at this guy's face, has he lost his mind?"
"Pull the kid off of him!" Another one ordered.
"Please stop! I don't want this person to kill anyone!" The swordsman pleaded. "Just stay out of my way, will you? I'm begging you!"
"Dammit, look you…" One of the officers raised his baton. "If you're going to keep resisting…"
Tanjiro closed his eyes and braced himself but the hit never came.
"Enchanting Blood. Aroma of Visual Fantasy."
'What's this scent?' By the time he thought that, strange flower patterns formed between him and the officers, eventually surrounding him so no one could see him.
"What's going on? I can't see anything!" One of the officers yelled.
'Is this some kind of attack?' The Demon Slayer thought, looking around. 'If it is, that means trouble!' He looked to his right. 'Is the scent growing stronger?' Among the several flower patterns, two figures began to walk towards him.
The first was a beautiful woman with dark brown hair braided back into a low bun and held together by a floral pin, her eyes were a pale pink at the bottom but faded to a dark lavender the higher they go and is wearing a dark purple kimono decorated with wavy pale purple tree branches and red flowers, a cream colored obi to secure it around her waist, plain white socks and zori sandals.
The second figure is a young boy, looking around Tanjiro's age or a little older with pale skin and bright lavender purple eyes, his hair is short and shades vertically from a dull green to black and is wearing an all-white kimono, over a buttoned up shirt, dark blue pants and, like the woman, zori sandals.
"You still use the term 'person'…" The woman spoke with a calm expression, a stark contrast to the frown on the boy's features. "…to refer to even a transformed demon and you're trying to save him." She raised her arm where some blood was dripping from but the injury was quickly closing itself. "Allow me, then, to lend you a hand."
"But why?" Tanjiro asked in confusion. "You… your scent tells me…"
"That's right. I am…" The woman said, understanding what he wanted to say. "…a demon, but I am also a doctor, and I wish to annihilate that man, Kibutsuji."
In another part of town.
"Aren't you coming, Daddy?" Haruka asked.
"Daddy has work." 'Tsukihiko' answered with a smile. "I have a business meeting to attend. I'm also concerned about that disturbance just now."
"Dear…"
"Don't worry. I'm only going to speak with the police." He assured his wife. "Now, get in."
The two got on the back seat of a car.
"Daddy, come home soon, okay?" The little girl asked with a smile.
"All right, you be a good girl now." He answered before instructing the driver to get them back to the house.
He saw them go before walking on the opposite direction and down an alley where there shouldn't be any people around.
'That kid…' An image of the Demon Slayer he met not even an hour ago flashed through his mind. 'Why did he have those earrings?' His hands shook unconsciously, a memory of long ago coming back to the surface of his mind.
"What the hell, you bastard?"
'Hmm?' He stopped as he felt someone bump into him and saw a clearly drunk man glaring at him. 'You repugnant sack of flesh.'
"Forgive me." He said instead of his actual thoughts before beginning to walk again; there were more important things to bother with than with insects.
"Hey, come back here!" The drunk yelled, grabbing his shoulder.
'You humans never seem to understand the danger you're in.'
"I'm very sorry, but I happen to be in a hurry, so…"
"What did you say?"
'Are your ears not working properly or is it only your brain?'
"Hey, look at you, decked out in those posh-looking threads." The drunk moved to stand at the side of Muzan. "You piss me off! You and your pale face…" He moved so he was in front of him and grinned. "You look like you're about to fall over dead!"
Muzan didn't register the next words of the drunkard, he simply raised a fist and punched him with the back of his hand, hard enough to make a crack on the wall to the side.
"Yacchan!"
'Hmm? There were more insects here.' The progenitor of the demons realized, calmly walking forward while the woman checked on the already dead man.
"Yacchan! He is dead!" She yelled to the other man, larger than the first one but clearly just as drunk.
"You bastard!" The drunk raised a fist- and that was the last action he would take in this life, since the next moment he was in the air, high enough to surpass the roofs of the surrounding houses, courtesy of a kick from the demon with the fedora.
The man puked blood before gravity did its job and brought him back to the ground, although he was dead long before he crashed against it.
The woman simply stared at the surreal sight while trembling but her eyes quickly went to the perpetrator as he moved towards her and kneeled near her face.
"Does my complexion look unhealthy to you?" He asked, moving a hand to the woman's face. "Is my face pale?" The demon asked again, not caring that he didn't get an answer, as he continued to stare at the woman, who was frozen in place from fear. "Do I look sickly to you? Do I look like I'm not long for this world? Do I look like I'm about to die?" He moved the hand that was on the woman's face back. "Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong." Muzan hissed. "I'm a living being who's infinitely close to perfection."
The first demon raised his right index finger and the finger-nail grew sharp and turned a blue hue, he then stabbed the woman in the brain with it, deep enough that almost half his finger was inside her skull.
"What do you think will happen if I keep flooding you with my blood?" Even as he asked this, the effects were beginning to show.
The woman's veins were growing visible and her complexion was turning a dark-grey coloration, then her body began to convulse.
"The human body is unable to withstand the speed of transformation." At this point, the woman's entire body was the color of ash and blood was beginning to flow from her pores while her eyes had turned completely red. "And its cells are destroyed." As if on cue, the woman's body began to convulse further, even bulging in unnatural places before it literally melted into what could be described as a bag full of flesh and then completely disintegrating.
Not the least bit interested in the sight, Muzan got back to his feet and snapped his fingers.
Two figures suddenly appeared behind him, bowing.
"Bring me the head of the Demon Slayer who wears hanafuda-like earrings; understood?"
"As you wish."
"Your wish is our command." The two answered before disappearing the same way they appeared.
Once Muzan was sure they were gone he allowed himself the action that he was trying to prevent.
Tremble.
"Those earrings…" He thought out loud, the image of another person with those earrings and his red katana clear on his mind, the one and only memory that can bring any fear into his being.
Allowing himself a moment to recompose himself, he sent a telepathic order to her subordinate with the biwa.
DLING
Just as he expected, a door opened in front of him and he passed through.
The biwa demon, Nakime, is one of his personal favorites due to how useful her ability is, she commands an entire fortress that can be altered and moved at will making it the perfect headquarters.
And right now, he has a very specific place of those headquarters that he wishes to go to.
Nakime obeyed his wish and played her instrument once again, opening a door directly to that location.
The room was large, covered in pillars and paper separators but lacked anything else.
Two figures were in it, both of them male with long spiky black hair kept in a ponytail and wearing a kimono.
They seemed to have been exchanging blows before Muzan entered.
One of the figures immediately sheathed his weapon and sat in seiza before bowing to him.
The second one did the same, but it took him considerably longer as his body seemed to be trembling with each movement, as if his body was resisting his own order.
About fifteen seconds later, both of them were bowing.
"I just met a Demon Slayer that wore hanafuda earrings." Muzan said with his eyes wide open without blinking and glaring at the two figures.
"You said… hanafuda earrings?" The first one asked, some surprise on his voice.
"That's correct." The first demon answered before directing his attention to the second figure. "Care to enlighten us as to how that's possible?"
There was no answer, even as the figure continued to tremble.
"Answer me!" Muzan took a step forw- SHING
He immediately jumped backwards, the second figure's quick draw only managing to cut his suit.
The red-eyed demon snarled, his teeth grinding against each other.
"It's been centuries, accept your defeat instead of continuing your unsightly struggle!"
The second figure raised his head.
And met Muzan's glare with his own.
Now who, oh who could this be?
Okay, I am genuinely curious, did anyone expect this? At all?
Really, I want to know if I'm able to catch you off guard, haha.
With that said, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and don't forget to leave a review! They're the fuel that accelerates my writing!
Until next time.
