"Hikigaya, I have a task for you. It is of absolute importance so consider yourself lucky." Narrow-slitted eyes like a reptile gazed up with reverence. At him, Muzan Kibutsuji tutted slightly, venom receding from his viper-like gaze. The closest thing to satisfaction that the megalomaniacal demon could ever produce.

The progenitor of all demons paced slowly in the wooden room. His pale feet made soft impacts every time he stepped on one of the tatami mats. Outside the sensations of the city bled through the thin walls and paper doors. The fried eggs of a nearby noodle stand could be smelled and the light of lanterns strung across the street could be seen. Merchants called out for each and every passerby to try their goods which every merchant promised to be the finest in the world.

The room was split into a dichotomy. Kibutsuji's side had tatami mats while Hikigaya kneeled on a hardwood floor. The wood was light and polished maybe Japanese maple or pine. It was hard to tell and truth be told he was never particularly interested in trees, to begin with. If someone had asked him to name all the things he was even remotely curious about, trees couldn't even sniff that list.

Hikigaya's messy hair was still about ear length and his eyes remained beady. The only real difference was how sallow and near transparent his skin had become.

Hachiman didn't ask the monster before him what the task was. He'd seen others make that mistake and despite Yukinoshita's jabs, he wasn't so stupid that he couldn't watch and learn. Kibutsuji wasn't a man to trifle with or mince words.

Hikigaya outwardly maintained a collected demeanor. Internally his emotions were swirling the way that they always did when he thought of her. How long had it been since they'd first been separated? Decades. Centuries. It hardly seemed to matter now. Every moment he got with her felt like it was a stolen morsel from the gaping maw of fate.

Yukino had been the light of his life. Life with her was soft and warm. Beautiful in a way that he'd never before known that it could be. He'd expected that feeling to fade but until their second year of college when they'd been ripped across time and space, life had seemed brighter.

Now his existence was defined by blood and carnage. Unsure when he would breathe his last. So many times he had contemplated just stepping out into the sunlight and letting it do the rest, however, something deep inside rejected it outright.

He was many things but a quitter wasn't something people then or now would associate with the entity called Hachiman Hikigaya. No matter how bad things had been, suicide wasn't an option. Not when he was being bullied or called a creep, and not now either.

He was alive. To him that meant something.

That persistence was why he'd been summoned. Why out of all his lord's many subjects, Hikigaya was chosen for a task. He knew Kibutsuji thought him absolutely loyal, and he would use that to his advantage but to maintain this small degree of trust he needed to follow every order to the absolute letter.

Amongst even the other upper moons he was often compared to a mutt who followed Kibutsuji everywhere and hung on his every word. He'd pretended to be angry but had used this perception to his advantage. One of his boss's few weaknesses was his own ego and pride; in Muzan's eyes, there wasn't a single reason someone wouldn't want to serve and obey him.

"You are to find and retrieve a blue spider lily for me." Kibutsuji commanded before turning his back to Hikigaya. He stepped away in a manner that people usually used to signify that a conversation was over.

"By your word, sire." Hikigaya spoke respectfully. He stood to leave, never turning his back to Kibutsuji. He knew better than that. His first mistake had been assuming that just because people usually did something, Kibutsuji would do it too.

"Did I say you could leave?" Muzan closed the distance between them in a second and gently rested his hand on Hikigaya's throat like he wasn't sure yet if he wanted to strangle him or take his pulse.

"My apologies, my lord." Hikigaya's voice had the slightest tremor, all the better. Kibutsuji liked to know that he made people afraid. His ego demanded it. Hikigaya wasn't a fantastic actor, but he didn't need to be. "I was only seeking to carry out your orders."

Muzan brought his face closer, baring his fangs. Hikigaya could smell the blood of his last meal. It had been someone with marechi blood. Hikigaya almost salivated just from the scent. "You deign yourself to be the interpreter of my will."

"Sorry, sir." Hikigaya scrambled to appease the mercurial demon who held his life in his hand - literally. He searched for something to say to show how weak-willed and submissive he needed Muzan to believe that he was. "I could never be wise enough to interpret your will. I'm but a humble servant of your desires. Forgive this error borne of eagerness, not hubris." Hachiman lowered his eyes in place of the bow he couldn't perform.

Muzan tossed him aside like a discarded rag doll. "See that you don't try my patience again. Even the upper moons are such disgusting disappointments. Sometimes, I wonder why I don't just kill you all."

Hikigaya scrambled into a full-blown bow. Keeping his voice as meek as possible. "Is there any other way that I might serve you, my lord?"

"This task will be more difficult than anything that you could possibly imagine." Muzan's nails elongated, and Hikigaya tensed. If his master attacked, he would die, but he wouldn't let himself be killed without making it hurt. Hikigaya was a man who would… well, a demon who was once a man, but either way, he would go down fighting.

Almost faster than his eye could perceive, Kibutsuji severed his hand from his arm. Spurts of blood, dark like tar and starless nights, fell to the floor. "Drink you will need more power than any of the other upper moons."

Hikigaya brought his face to the warm puddle expanding across the floor and drank. The blood was disgusting and delicious. Simultaneously tasting like warm bread with butter but also like spicy motor oil. He dared not cough or show anything other than elation. To do so would invite Kibutsuji's ire. The blood was filling, and after the first gulp, he already felt stuffed. He didn't slow down.

Even when it felt like his guts were going to explode. The only thing he did was keep on chugging. The pain and discomfort were immense, but he knew that they could be survived.

There was no longer any pleasure in the consumption. All that was left was revulsion. Sometimes he felt like he could feel whispers of the people who'd died to help his master make that blood. He wondered if they hated his master as much as he did.

He knew they'd be in the right if they did. Without a doubt. But hating Kibutsuji did put them in bad company. Those who sought the first demon's demise tended to not live long.

Hikigaya drank until there was nothing left. Not a single drop on the wooden floor on which he'd been kneeling.

His pupils dilated, and his veins bulged from the pressure cremated by his cells reacting. His heart rate increased until he was sure that it was going to come bursting out of his chest. His very bones felt like they were melting and reforging. His tongue felt like it was swelling and growing slimy. His lungs throbbed.

He threw his head back and roared. Before collapsing to the floor in a fit of spasms.

Muzan only watched with mild amusement as his servant contorted and seized. Quickly he grew bored and left, uninterested in how long it would take Hikigaya to adapt the blood into himself.

~/~

Tanjiro's chin was ground roughly into the gravel as the corp's leader, Uyakata, read Tomioka and Urokodaki's letters. "And as such, I am willing to stake my life against the event that Nezuko consumes a human being. Should that occur, both of my apprentices and I shall commit Seppuku. Hashira Giyuu Tomioka and Tanjiro Kamado will gladly lay their lives down for hers."

Tears welled in the young demon slayer's eyes as he heard how committed his teacher and Tomioka were to preserving Nezuko's life. The hashira within the garden were silent for a moment as they each considered the revelation.

"It doesn't matter who said what; he's still a fucking traitor." The one with the scars growled. "We should cut him down like a dog."

Tanjiro sniffed the air, like snow on a winter morning, was his first thought. The scent brought him back to New Year's Day after his father would dance the hinokami kagura from dusk till dawn. Like the driven snow, pure, fresh, and beautiful.

"Tomioka is no traitor. According to the demon slayer creed, demon slayers can take whatever course of action they feel is best to destroy demons. Tomioka acted upon his own agency." A woman clad in a white Haori dotted with snowflakes approached from behind the hashira. Her voice was markedly sophisticated with a hint of something Tanjiro couldn't quite put his finger on.

"You aren't even a Hashira." Protested the man with a snake.

"If you execute my master or strip him of his rank, then I will be." She argued, no emotion within her clipped tone.

Uyakata laughed softly. "Though this is irregular, seeing the exceptional circumstances that we find ourselves in. I will allow it."

Yukinoshita stood and eyed the scene. "There's no need to hold the boy down; he's no threat to anyone."

Sanemi protested. "He's also a traitor, and Uyakata-sama is here."

She rolled her eyes. "You're a hashira, are you not? You don't deserve the rank if you can't stop one unarmed Mizunoto." Her striking blue eyes glinted with a vicious sheen.

Tomioka sighed. "Yukino." It was a simple word, but the warning was clear.

The young woman - who couldn't possibly be older than nineteen - flushed slightly. "My apologies. I was out of line."

Uyukata smiled. "It's forgiven; you were only trying to defend your master." She lowered her head into a respectful bow.

"Thank you, sir, for forgiving my transgression."

A small squeal from the woman with pink-green braids drew the eyes of the hashira. She blushed. "Sorry, Yukino-chan is just so adorable when she's all serious."

Yukino scowled, though its severity was offset by the natural beauty of her face.

The meeting was still tense, but the impending explosion had been defused. Several hashira relaxed. Their bodies slumped into more comfortable but less combat-ready positions. Their hands left the hilt of their sword, which they'd tilted forward for a faster drawing.

Yukino's feet shifted, and her knees straightened from their bent and ready position.

Uyakata maintained the same genial expression that he always wore. "Now that that's been settled, we may all behave with civility. I have reached a decision. I shall allow Nezuko to remain in the corps unharmed. She hasn't harmed anyone, and according to independent judgments made by one current and one former hashira, she has no inclination to do so."

"I'm sorry. I cannot agree to this." Rengoku stood up and declared, despite the situation, a cheery smile plastered across his face. "I hate to disagree with you, but being civil with a demon is simply impossible."

Another voice from the line popped up. "That's not true."

Sanemi growled exasperatedly. "Kanae, not this again."

Tomioka spoke. "Kanae is the only person in over a century to kill an upper moon." Sanemi narrowed his eyes at the casual use of her first name.

"It wasn't just me, it was-" She began to protest but was cut off by Tomioka.

"Whether or not she was aided by a demon, her input is valuable based upon that encounter." He finished in his omnipresent monotone while the flower Hashira fired a reproachful stare at him.

"That's a flamboyant point, Tomioka. It was quite flamboyant of Kanae to bring back the eye of the upper moon 2." Uzui chimed in.

"I can't imagine a demon working with us." Himejima clapped his hands together like a judge banging their gavel to signal a verdict.

"Those clouds look nice." Tokito contributed to the conversation.

"Then there's only one thing to do. Put it to the test!" Obanai grabbed the box and hurled the box into the shade of the house. "My apologies, Uyakata." He jumped forward and landed beside it. "C'mon, demon. Get out here." He kicked.

Sanemi snorted, "That's not going to work. You need bait. The pressure of his knee stopped bearing down on the back of Tanjiro's head as he rose. "Obanai, switch with me."

The snake hashira shot forward as Sanemi moved towards the box. Iguro tried to grab Tanjiro but found his hand intercepted by Tomioka. "That's enough, Obanai." The water pillar kept his tone calm. "My tsuguko will watch the boy."

Yukinoshita strode forward and unsheathed her blade, laying it by Tanjiro's neck. "Don't move."

Sanemi - now standing over the crate - unsheathed his own sword and slashed across his forearm. "I know you want some demon. Come here."

Slowly the box opened, and a curious pink eye peered out at the scene. A hush fell over the hashiras at the demon's appearance and the bamboo muzzle that lay on her neck.

"No, Nezuko, don't-" Tanjiro tried to yell.

He stopped when he felt Yukino's lips by his ear. "Shut up, or, Tomioka, you and your sister will die. You need to trust in your sister."

He sealed his mouth reluctantly and watched with anguish as Nezuko began to drool while her eyes glazed over. Slowly her hand raised with a sort of blatant desperation that a starving woman felt after seeing an entire feast spread before her.

The hand moved to her muzzle to displace it. No one made a sound except Sanemi. "That's right, there you go. I bet that you're hungry, drink as much as you want." His tone was like a hunter, luring in the animal while getting ready to deal the final blow.

She shuddered but then turned her head away from the marechi blood offered freely to her.

Both Kanae and Tanjiro gasped in joy as Nezuko refused to look at the enticing fluid. She retreated back into her box and closed the door behind her.

No one spoke. Everyone was too surprised.

Uyakata kept the same comportment that he always had. "Now that is resolved, we will need one of the pillar estates to shelter them."

Kanae spoke first. "The butterfly estate will be happy to host them. My little sister can see to their wounds."

~/~

Hikigaya liked traveling beneath the full moon. It was the closest that he got to the sun. Despite the somewhat pale appearance that he had in high school, he did actually enjoy being outdoors. Yukino and he rode bikes together every weekend.

Natural scenery and the sun always made him think of simpler times. The memories were the only mementos that he had.

From his seventh-grade science class, he did know that the moon technically reflected the sun's light, but he was a demon now, so commonly accepted scientific logic had gone out the window a long time ago.

His black leather shoes tread lightly on the ground, a supernatural deftness gracing each step as he traversed gnarled roots and rock-laden hillsides with the same ease most people moved with on a paved street.

Hikigaya was moving fast, sprinting through a forest until a scream pierced the night's stillness. From the sound of it, a child was in distress within a minute of running north. High pitched and somewhat out of breath. The kid was being chased.

At this time, in this place, there was really only one thing that could be frightening the child. A demon.

He frowned but didn't hesitate. Sharply veering toward the noise's origin. Whereas before, his stride had been almost graceful, now, it was explosive, with no pleasure in the movement, only maximized velocity.

When he reached the scene, it was about what he expected. A young demon about to devour a fleeing girl no older than 8.

The demon had a balding head and long stringy hair down to its shoulders. It wore the garb of a police officer, and the grin that split its mouth conveyed a sadist's joy in its actions.

The child kept running - sprinting- with everything that she had. A branch whipped across her shoulder and scratcher cheek, yet she barely slowed down. She didn't bother raising a hand to cradle the injury. Her tattered yellow yukata resembled a collage of soiled rags more than a garment at this point.

The whole scene was primal to its core. A predator takes joy in the hunt, trusting in its strength, power, and intuition to see it through to victory. Prey fled for its life, doing everything it possibly could to escape, fighting back in its flight. Forcing the predator to chase her down to the ends of the earth.

But this wasn't primal, nor was it a beautiful hunt. This was a terrified child about to be devoured alive by a demon.

Hikigaya was a bastard. He'd done things that the past him would've thrown up at, but even now, he couldn't stand back and watch this happen.

An inhuman cry burst from his mouth. Like a strangled dog's howl, a snake's hiss, and a raven's cry all rolled into one monstrous call. He blitzed forward. His arm wrapped around the young demon's waist, dragging it away from the girl.

To her eyes, the monster was there one moment and gone the next. She wasn't one to waste this opportunity. She took off running toward her village. Strands of the torn Yukata trailed behind her like the last rays of sunshine in the sunset.

Hikigaya dragged the creature for a few hundred yards before hurling it through a boulder. The young demon flew through a tree as well before finally being wrapped around a second tree. Hikigaya followed the trajectory, and before the demon could recover, Hikigaya had sunk his fangs into the demon's neck.

He sucked and drank, not stopping until the creature was completely exsanguinated. The demon thrashed and fought but couldn't break free. Hikigaya had a devil's grip on the monster.

He only stepped away from the body once the taste of ash filled his mouth. He spared it a glance as it slowly disintegrated before walking away.

He spat out the ashy residue and resumed heading west once more. The village ahead wasn't far, but neither was dawn, and he was still hungry.

Perhaps he could find a suitable victim.

(A/N):

Small change to canon: There are four possible ways a demon can die.

- By sunlight

- If they say Muzan Kibutsuji's Name

- Beheading with a Nichirin Sword

- If another demon eats them and consumes all of their blood

In a shocking twist of fate, Yukino will, in fact, be using. *drumroll, please* the breath of snow. Big shocker, I know.