A/N: *inhales deeply*
As ever, the Embers Rule Persists; if folks don't like this tale, then I'll not continue it. I can't bear to write something folks don't like, and working two jobs on a near back-to-back basis leaves my energy at an all time low. So by all means, speak up! Raise your voice! Make yourself heard!
That said, ya'll gotta stop giving me these requests. Especially the good ones! I was happy! I was content! Then SOMEONE -you know who you are!- went and threw Demon Slayer at me. Why does everyone have such a sad past in this bloody manga?! I've only seen a few pieces -including Daki and her brother's past!- but
I am both and brother and an uncle, and its kicked my protective instincts into overdrive.
As ever, I own no references, quotes, memes or themes.
Minor verbatim from the show here and there.
Spoilers for Demon Slayer, obviously.
And awaaaay we go!
"What's that? A demon, you say? I disagree. I don't think of myself as a demon. There's only one true demon in this world. And I'm gonna kill it stone dead.
What demon is that, you ask? We all know it. Every one of us has seen its face. That's right. You understand now.
I'm talkin' about sadness. Sorrow. Misery. Ain't nobody gonna suffer on my watch. Not a single soul.
So raise your head. Be proud! From this moment on, you're part of my family.
Mind tellin' me your name?"
~A Doctor.
Slay the Demon
How does a man become a demon?
Does hatred cause it? Medicine, perhaps?
Or maybe is just bad bloody luck. Truth be told, I don't know the answer.
For me, it just sorta...happened. By the time I realized the truth, I already was one. I didn't make a deal with the devil, didn't sell my soul, didn't drink any blood, none of that nonsense. Somewhere along the line, Kurama changed me. Or maybe I changed him. I'm still not quite sure. Strange, isn't it? When you can run faster than light and smash boulders with a punch, you really don't notice subtle changes in your body...
...until they're not subtle anymore.
From a physical standpoint, I don't think the human body is meant to contained a tailed beast for all that long. Coupla years, maybe a few decades. That's it. Sooner or later something falter, be it the person or the seal, or even the beast within. None of that happened for me. Y'see, we...may have overshot that mark by a few hundred years. And as a result, we changed. Kurama and I have lived together for centuries now. I'm not quite sure why, only that we've stopped aging as we wander through this wild word.
That's right. Another world. Just our luck, right?
Believe me, it wasn't something we planned for! Sealing a goddess, fighting your best friends, falling out of our world thanks to HIS ill-timed jutsu, none of it. How do you plan for nonsense like that?! I'll tell you how! Ya don't! We weren't looking to fall into a realm of demons and demon slayers; by the time we realized where we were and what was happening, it was already too late. Its a shame, really. Kurama's eyes are nice an' all, but sometimes I miss the color blue...transformation jutsu just ain't the same, ya know?
But hey, when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, or so the saying goes. Helps that I can still walk in the sunlight, I suppose.
We've made a decent living these days; wandering the countryside, plying our skills, helping the sick wherever we find them. I'm not a very good doctor. I'll be the first to admit it. Most of what I've learned comes from trial and error; believe me, there's been a lot of error these days. Still! I'm not going to give up. We landed in this world for a reason. There has to a be a reason. I'm not sure what it is yet, or whether I'll find it this century, or the next...still...
I'll keep at it.
I have miles to go.
And promises to keep.
(.0.0.0.)
Was this what death felt like?
Ume didn't like it. No, she didn't like it one bloody bit.
'But...I guess...I really don't have a choice here...anymore...
Her body ached in the worst of ways, life slipping away as she hung limp in her brother's arms. She couldn't move. Could barely even bring herself breathe. Each second was an agonizing eternity, one in which her burnt and seared lungs protested horribly. She didn't want to die. She wanted to live, now more than ever, but living hurt. It hurt so damn much that she would've cried...if she still had tear ducts. Or eyelids. Instead she was left to gasp out her tiny little breaths, unable to do anything but listen, to hear her brother crying out for help.
It wasn't fair. None of it was. Why was this happening to them?
.
..
...
Why had they stopped? Big Brother wasn't moving.
A ragged gasp pierced the night. "Please! You have to help! I'll do anything!"
"Well, this is what I get for treating patients late at night." an unfamiliar drawl pierced the fog of her mind. "What happened?"
More words passed between them. Ume barely heard any of it. Everything was spinning. Even now her vision was growing faint. It felt like she was slipping into a deep dark abyss, from which there could be no return. Death! This was death! She railed against it as only a child could, kicking and screaming in her mind. No! Not like this! No, no, no! She wouldn't die here! Absolutely not! She grasped at the fraying threads of her thoughts, struggling to cling on.
Someone's hand touched her forehead. It was cold against her scorched skin. Hard her lungs been intact, she would've screamed from the pain.
All that emerged was a faint sob.
"Third degree burns." A voice? Who was that? "Sorry, nothing I have will help with this...unless...
Gyutaro snarled and shook him. "Damnit, old man! If you have something, help her!"
...alright." she heard the stranger sigh. "I really shouldn't be doin' this...but in for a penny...!"
Through the bleary haze of her fading vision, Ume glimpsed saw an arm; beheld clawed fingers rolling up a sleeve. Then then dug into it. Blood welled up from the wound. Dark arterial blood. It dribbled down his wrist at a languid pace, pulsing in time with the steady beat of his heart. Bleary eyes squinted, not quite comprehending. Why had he cut himself? Why was he bleeding? And why...did it smell so good?
"Uh...?"
Distantly, she heard her brother gasp. "Oi! Are you a...?!"
"Drink." although she couldn't see his face, the man's voice held no dark promise, only the promise of light. "If you don't, you'll die."
Realization broke with the dawn. So that's what he was. A demon. Why was a demon here in their district? And healing people? Didn't demons eat people? It didn't make any sense. All the stories said demons were vicious and cruel creatures, monsters who delighted in the suffering of others. She'd been raised on awful tales of these terrors, learned to fear and dread them in equal measure.
...so why was this one offering her his blood?
"Drink," she glimpsed whiskered cheeks now, a young visage dimpling in a gentle smile as he urged her on, "And everything will be alright. For both of you. I swear."
Ume hesitated. She wanted to live, but as a demon...?
"Alright." his arm came down. "I can't make you drink...but do you really want to leave your brother behind?"
No! That decided it. Ume forced her head upright. Cracked lips parted around a raw gasp. Broken teeth flashed in the moonlight.
"Thatta girl." she thought she caught the flash of a smile in the low light. "Now this might hurt a little...
The man might've said something else. Ume didn't hear him. Her mouth fastened to his wrist like an infant at the teat and then she was drinking, bracing for what she swore would be the awful taste of deathly iron. But it wasn't. Strange as it might sound, his blood was...sweet? Like drinking rich sake. She sipped until her mouth was full and inhaled reflexively once it was.
One gulp was all it took; a single swallow for Ume's world to burn.
Worse than the insults, worse than the fire, worse than any beating she'd ever suffered. It was pain pure and primal, a scathing inferno that left her convulsing helplessly in his arms. A shriek tore out of her throat and she suddenly realized she could scream; that she had skin again and ohgodsherbloodburned! Beneath that she could feel everything boiling, her cells changing. Altering. She tore her mouth from his arm, eyes rolling in her head from the pain.
"Stop...hurts...!"
Distantly she Gyutaro's ragged gasps and realized he'd must've ingested the blood, too.
Somehow, the knowledge made her feel a bit better.
At least she wasn't suffering alone.
Without warning, the pain reached a crescendo. In her mind's eye everything went white. In that moment she glimpsed a great fox, large and crimson, sprawled in a dark cavern before her. Nine tails swayed idly behind its bulk and too late, Ume realized it was looking at her just as much as she was looking at it. Worse!
It.
Saw.
HER.
Then the world snapped back, leaving strength to surge through her, power like she'd never known. She gasped against it, back arching with a gasp. Her hair, once rich and dark, burnished a stunning white. She must've begged at some point; she was sure she did, because she suddenly found herself wrapped in the stranger's arms. Her and her brother both.
She couldn't remember the last time someone had held her. Mother never bothered to.
There was nothing untoward about it this gentle embrace, no rational reason for it, either. The strange man with those weird whiskered cheeks knelt down -so tall!- and cradled them against his chest. He didn't make any demands of them, didn't say anything to insult them. He simply held them, using his body to shelter them. For two children who had never experienced the gift of human kindness, it was...well...
...almost like having a father.
Ume didn't know how to feel about that. But weak, pitiful little Ume wasn't weak anymore, now, was she? Not again. Never again. With each breath she took she felt her seizures grow weaker. She could move her limbs now, if only a little. Her entire body felt powerful, alive in a way she hadn't been before.
And yet for all that, she could understand why this stranger was being so damn nice. Why were her eyes wet?
'Am I...crying...?'
"Its okay, now." strong arms drew brother and sister close, sheltering them through their weakening convulsions. "I'm here. You're both alright. Its all going to be alright...
She sniffled and clung tight.
In that moment "Ume" ceased to be.
From that singular second, Daki was reborn.
A/N: Aaaaand there we go.
Pretty much just adopted Ume -Daki!- and Gyutaro as kids...and all hell's about to break loose.
I'll say it plain, any "demon" Naruto creates is drastically different than those of Muzan...for reasons you'll soon see.
As ever, the Embers Rule Persists; if folks don't like this tale, then I'll not continue it. I can't bear to write something folks don't like, and working two jobs on a near back-to-back basis leaves my energy at an all time low. So by all means, speak up! Raise your voice! Make yourself heard!
Reviews are the fuel that sustain me and my team in these darkened times.
So in the Immortal Words of Atlas...Review, Would You Kindly?
And here, because folks often cry for them:
Enjoy your previews.
(Preview)
"Daki, put your brother down. I already told you two not to fight...
...ugh, fiiiiine! You can be such a dad sometimes!
"Dunno any other way to be, missy."
...you're not human."
"No, no, I am not. Rengoku, was it? Look, I'm not your enemy. So why don't we let bygones be bygones? No need for the swords to come out~!"
"You won't let anyone die? You'll save everyone? What kind of twisted ideal is that?!"
...well, that left a mark. Still, its my ideal. And unlike you...I have the power to do it. What's that? You don't believe me? Let's show them...Kurama."
"Hello, Hello! Is Rui in?" Naruto called out to the trees. "I'd like to have a chat with you and your...
A clawed hand flitted out, obliterating a storm of threads.
...family."
"Pointless...?" A muscle jumped in his jaw. "Lives have meaning." a vein began to pound in his temple, beating in time with his racing heart. "They will always have meaning. What do you take life for, exactly? What do you find so entertaining, slaughtering innocents? What's so amusing about...this?"
A clawed hand closed around their skull and tore it clean off their neck.
"Well?" he asked their severed head. "Tell me. Is this fun?"
He expected more from an Upper Moon.
"I'm just a traveling doctor. I took an oath. To heal, rather than harm. But there are always exceptions."
"Look at you! Weakling!" a clawed hand smashed the table. "You heal the sick and don't eat human flesh. You're a disgrace to our kind!"
"Our kind, hmm? Slitted red eyes considered him. "No. I'm not one of your kind at all...
...a demon doctor who fathers demons and yet kills more." Tamayo smiled softly. "What a curious contradiction you are. I've wanted to meet you for some time now."
"Halt! Come any closer and we'll show no mercy!"
The blade skittered off a hardened forearm.
"I'm the one who'll be showing no mercy." golden eyes rimmed by red glared back from the shadow of his hood. "Sorry, but I'm going to take out my rage on all of you."
"You can walk in the sunlight?"
"Hmm? You can't? Here, lemme fix that...
R&R~!