A chat between monsters

by MeepMeep7913

Muzan was a careful man. There was a reason why he had survived a thousand years, and it showed when he only confronted Kagaya Ubuyashiki, his worst enemy, on his deathbed - there only for their final confrontation.

Ubuyashiki Kagaya, 97th head of the Demon Slayer Corps, was tired. At the age of 29, and with his body inflicted and riddled with the genetic disease - the curse - that passed throughout the successive generations of his family, he had already made his will. Thus, he sat basking in the rays of the last sunset, gently pouring himself a cup of ornamental tea with the practiced ease of a felt motion he'd performed thousands of times now over his short lifespan.

All that was left was to enjoy the final warmth of the sun's rays he'd never feel again in the garden of the estate his family had owned for four generations now, to greet his final visitor in the gardens with him and then to die in a befitting manner. Taking the first sip of his tea and then allowing a small, content sigh to pass his lips, he felt the sun's clutches leave his body - replaced only by the cool breeze of the darkening evening.

Showing that it was time to stop delaying what was inevitable.

"Hello, Kibutsuji." He called out softly to the darkening atmosphere that surrounded him, both figuratively and literally. "I sense that it is now the time of our confrontation."

Nothing happened for a second as he took another sip of his tea, before the soft crunch of dry grass a couple of metres from him told him that his guest had stopped disguising himself, and was indeed now going to begin their confrontation. "I do have to respect those senses of yours, Ubuyashiki, that not even I can hide from." Came the silky smooth toned voice that no demon slayer ever wished to hear, as danger dripped from every sweet syllable of the honey that mouth produced. "No matter how much I despise you."

A soft smile tugged at Kagaya's lips despite the situation. "I assure you, Muzan." He spoke in the soft, gentle tone that still carried the age of wisdom and command that his family had acquired from 97 generation of leading the demon slayer corps. "The feelings are completely mutual."

A brief silence descended over the two men, as one analysed the man he'd finally found after so much arduous searching for the leader of his enemies, as the other had already accepted death. It continued for a few seconds, as the white fedora on Muzan's head shadowed the glowing crimson eyes that bored right into Kagaya's own calm expression that sat beneath the purple, pulsating mark of death on his forehead.

The exchange of greeting pleasantries were firmly over as Kagaya's soft voice faintly reached out over the gardens, but all the same were clearly heard to the demon lord's sharpened senses.

"Sit, Muzan." The leader of the demon slayers invited as he gestured to his right, where a metre beyond the low-lying table which held the tea set was another chair, similar to the one Kagaya sat in. "We both know you could kill me in a heartbeat, and yet you haven't. So let us discuss your desire to meet over a cup of tea like the civilised monsters we both are."

A second passed, before a slight chuckle that only lasted a singular syllable was emitted from Muzan as he acquiesced to the invite. "I suppose." He stated as he took the fedora off of his head and set it on the table as he leant into the outdoor chair. "Though your comment makes me curious, Kagaya. Why do you refer to us both as monsters?"

The smile did not leave Kagaya's face as he poured Muzan a cup of tea on the table. "Anyone who knows of you, Kibutsuji, would of course know. But as for me..." The dying man trailed off slightly as the smile on his face turned serene, losing some of its upturned power. "Fourteen of my children have died this week alone. Only the monsters bred within my family can visit the graveyard in a daily ritual, and yet still continue to send them to their deaths to pile more names onto the thousands already there."

Muzan himself smiled, the crimson in his gaze seeming to lighten up in amusement as he took joy from the sad-filled tone of the man upon the topic. "I would not call you a monster for that, Ubuyashiki." He stated with a small tone of delighted amusement. "But a hypocritical, semantic fool. You reek of sadness, and yet in some stupid belief that defies the so-called wisdom your family is supposed to hold, continue to feed my demons with your slayers. I should be thanking your hypocritical nature that provides my demons with a challenge, and food."

"And that is exactly what makes you a monster, Kibutsuji." Kagaya softly stated, turning his head away from Muzan's general direction. "Different breeds for sure, but alas, both us are monsters."

Another chuckle elapsed from the demon lord as his amusement continued from the man's words. "Whatever you say, Ubuyashiki."

Silence fell once more as Kagaya didn't say anything more on the subject, and Muzan made himself comfortable - it had, after all, been established that he could kill the man in a blink of an eye. Whatever breathing style the leader undoubtedly knew was useless when there wasn't a single nichirin sword in sight. As the patient man he was, he would await Kagaya to speak to ask of him, as if he was in control like he always was.

And Kagaya did not mind feeding his ego if it meant satisfying his own whims, as his own patience was likely bounds ahead of the fragile pride the demon lord carried.

"Why are you here, Muzan?" Kagaya questioned as he took another slow sip of tea. "I'm disappointed to confess that I cannot solve that particular question. Whilst your threatening nature and prideful arrogance would normally be straightforward, in this case it works against me - I cannot work out if you came here personally to question me as leader to leader, or to gloat on my deathbed."

Muzan smiled slightly at that, as he replied vaguely. "What if I came to do both?"

Kagaya's soft smile was restored as he worked out the simple answer from the questioning response anyway, as befitting the wise nature of his family's genetics to resolve such situations quickly. "I see." He let out, before taking another sip to prolong the peaceful atmosphere whilst it lasted. "Then let us begin with your questions, so as not to taint the atmosphere of our confrontation too early."

Muzan gave a hum as he signalled his approval, picking up the tea beside him for the first time since it was poured as he settled down to ask his question. "It is undoubtable that you and I know of many things, Ubuyashiki. Whether your wisdom is actually there can be debated, but your knowledge cannot be so." He started. "Tell me, what do you know of the sun breathing style?"

Swilling the liquid about in the cup as he thought, Kagaya delivered his answer with a countering question. "It is said that it is the first style from which all forms of breathing styles are descended - wielded most prominently by the man who came close to defeating you." The slight pause in conversation didn't mean the leader of the demon slayer corps got much a reaction from his worst enemy - only a similar pause in breathing from Muzan. "But you would know more than I ever would from the pitiful recorded history even my family has on the subject, having actually experienced it yourself. Which begs to know of why you would ask me of such a thing?"

"How astute." Was the short response Muzan initially gave, before he lowered his head slightly to a more comfortable angle on the back of the chair. "I guess what I would like to actually know, is who holds that breathing style now?"

Kagaya's head turned to face Muzan's general direction, before he spoke. "I may be a monster, Kibutsuji, who would send them out against you without regret - but as I said, we are different breeds. I will not betray my children to you."

"Ah. I knew you wouldn't." Muzan agreed, as he closed his eyes to bask in the confirmation of the resurrection of the style to him. "But you did just confirm to me that there is a slayer out there who wields the style."

The Ubuyashiki household head didn't respond to that, but as Muzan gazed to him, he got the distinct impression that he had not outplayed the man after all as the smile on Kagaya's face wasn't lost in the slightest as he himself frowned. The man had wanted him to know of a threat to his existence.

"Everything dies, Muzan." Kagaya personally addressed him. "Every living thing does, as you will after I die myself."

Muzan didn't smile as he wanted to, as his satisfaction from the impending death of his own worse enemy was spoilt by said man's calm visage. "You forget one thing, Ubuyashiki." He began to speak in a lecturing tone. "I am a god, and I will not die. Unlike you, who will die of a curse before even reaching the pitiful age of thirty."

A brief chuckle escaped from Kagaya, causing the red eyes of Muzan to instantly flick to him at the development. Annoyance began to dance within them as his enemy did not react the way he had envisioned for so long. "You say you are a god, Kibutsuji." The dying man calmly said aloud as he looked over to the demon lord's general direction. "And yet you wait to talk to me on my deathbed. That is... most curious."

Muzan, for his part, just raised an eyebrow as he hid whatever feeling had been spiked by that comment. "Oh?" He let out. "Please do share your curiosity, Ubuyashiki."

Kagaya controlled himself from his temporary lapse in emotional control, as he instead only let out a hum this time. "It tells me two things, Muzan." He explained. "One is that you are a careful and patient man, and I commend you for that. Patience is, as always, a virtue. You wait until your enemy can most definitely not fight back until you make your move, as you have always done with our family - given how you do not know of our breathing style. One can make many indirect parallels from this, in that you are a smart man, a cunning enemy, and so on." He paused slightly as he slowly took another sip of his tea, before setting it back into a saucer with a gentle clink. "The second, which is a definite direct parallel from the first point, is that you are a coward."

For a man who had lived his life so much with a failing eyesight, and then blindness in his later years, the nature of his hearing had been honed to beyond even that of the Hashira he commanded. And so, upon detecting the slightest tremble in Muzan's own cup against the saucer, it merely caused him to raise his soft smile by the smallest margin.

Muzan's frown had become permanent at that point, the confrontation of theirs no longer at all amusing. It had been to begin with, but now he saw that his enemy would not give him any further satisfaction from this, just as how he saw that there was no more questions he would ask. There was no point, as Ubuyashiki seemed to have decided to do as he pleased now - and thus this confrontation was now useless to him. There was only one thing now that would give him any satisfaction out of this.

Ubuyashiki slowly enjoyed the herbal tea in his own cup, the smooth feeling of the warmth the liquid provided keeping him calm in the cool breeze of the night. Secure in the knowledge that he had successfully angered his enemy from the way Muzan had put the tea back on the table, and knowing there was no need to drag this out further. "It has been the sole purpose of my family for 97 generations now to destroy you." The corps leader just stated in the same relaxed tone, before he looked Muzan Kibutsiji dead in the eyes despite his blindness. "It is just my sole regret that it is my son who will have to be the one who will oversee your death, and not me."

Despite being a creature of the night, despite the now solid millennia he had traversed the plains of the Earth under the cover of darkness, he still felt that icy tendril of fear sliver down his back. Keeping his face composed, Muzan merely leant his face closer to that of the much younger, yet older-looking, man in front of him - to hiss at him. "Not if I butcher him like I've done to members of your family before."

Kagaya's serene smile remained as he finished the tea in his cup - as both of them knew how unlikely Muzan's threat was. It had taken him this long to find Ubuyashiki this long after the several generations the estate they were conversing in had been within his family, and though the loss of the staff on the grounds of the estate sent a sad pang into the dying man; he was secure in the knowledge that at least his son and the next generation were secure, given their security protocols. "Even after all this time, Muzan." He idly commented instead. "Your still afraid."

Though Ubuyashiki wished he could see it, he knew that the demon lord before him had reeled back a bit in surprise. "You know nothing." Muzan countered, eyes narrowing to leave only the smouldering rage within his demonic eyes glowing from the orange irises.

"On the contrary." The demon slayer corps leader stated out for the world to hear. "I know that you search for something to make you immortal, as you fear death itself. Your insecurities and paranoia extend down from the still-birth nature of your arrival on this planet, as you clawed your way out from your mother's womb to survive, becoming a monster in order to just survive. It's documented throughout the history of our family, Muzan, a succeeding history of monsters who became monsters to destroy the monster they created." The smile tugged higher on Ubuyashiki's lips, becoming condescending as he enjoyed the harsh words he dealt. "The monsters we became as we send so many of our children to their deaths to battle your demonic legions, shall soon greet you in hell. That much I know, and more."

Muzan crushed the chair he was sat in under the sheer aura of his power as he stood up slowly, flesh-like tentacles erupting from his back as he prepared to tear apart the man before him limb from limb. "Your family will die as I survive, that is what you should know!" Muzan yelled at him as the very air itself became palpable and thick with his rage, the bass of anger in his voice reverberating in Ubuyashiki's ears. "They will suffer the most painful deaths I have ever dealt to anyone on this planet!"

"All will die eventually, Muzan, that our family know first hand due to our curse and the many we have personally sent to their deaths to the extent that we might have slaughtered them with our bare hands." Kagaya stated as he slowly stood up from his chair, the slow breathing patterns he utilised perfectly combatting the demon lord's aura. "As will you, Kibutsuji! You ask what I know, and that is that your cowardice is all the knowledge I need to know of your demise! You run, search and threaten so much that you have turned everyone against you, even your own demons would kill you if they could!" Kagaya began to shout at the demon lord, who hissed as he reeled back the tentacles he controlled. "Yoriichi and I will see you soon, as I am comforted in the knowledge that my son's demon slayer corps will utterly destroy you Kibutsuji!"

Laughter from the dying man was all that rang in Muzan's ears as for the first time in a hundred years, he screamed out as the blood from the now thoroughly dead Ubuyashiki splattered acros the ornamental gardens. As he continued to snarl and yell his anger, he was driven further into his anger as he began to destroy the awakened staff of the estate by the message Ubuyashiki rammed home into him.

That by doing this, he had proven Kagaya right - his very nature was his own demise, and that all the monsters that had been birthed from the Ubuyashiki family would soon congregate in hell.

The demon slayer corps had already won, as Muzan fell further into his rage and paranoia.