Kimetsu no Yaiba doesn't belong to me. Here is the first chapter of the backstory of Yoriichi and Kokushibo!
Yoriichi visibly relaxed as he entered his home and his beautiful wife, Uta, approached him with a small smile. She stopped in front of him and gently took both of her husband's hands.
Yoriichi raised his head and their gazes met. Despite Yoriichi's usual expressionless face, Uta wasn't fooled in the slightest. She furrowed her brow slightly and looked at him, concerned.
"Has something happened?" she asked. Yoriichi lowered his gaze slightly and allowed himself to be led to the small living room. They sat on the tatami floor, and Yoriichi, still not saying anything, observed his wife.
"I made a mistake," Yoriichi confessed, lowering his eyes and looking at his lap. "I didn't make it to the mission on time, and..."
Uta approached him and, just like before, she held Yoriichi's hands. "Were you able to kill the demons?" she asked.
Yoriichi, still with his head bowed, nodded slightly. Uta silently observed him for a few seconds.
"Yoriichi, you did what you could, and now, thanks to you, those demons won't cause any more deaths," she said, trying to console him.
"I should have been faster," Yoriichi continued lamenting, ignoring Uta's words.
"Yoriichi, look at me," she requested, serious. Yoriichi slowly raised his head and looked into her eyes. "You did everything you could."
"But it wasn't enough."
At that point, Uta pulled Yoriichi towards her and hugged him tightly. "You always give your all. Homura and I are proud of you, don't forget that."
Before he could say anything, Uta hugged him tightly again. He rested his head on her left shoulder and allowed her to gently stroke his back while murmuring words of comfort.
Yoriichi closed his eyes and gradually relaxed. He closed his eyes and let himself be comforted by his wife. Uta glanced at him and smiled happily. "I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world," thought the young woman, happily. She had everything she had ever wished for. A loving and caring husband and a healthy and lively daughter. "I hope this lasts forever."
At that moment, Homura, their daughter, abruptly entered the living room. The three-year-old girl smiled widely upon seeing her father and let out a cry of joy.
"Daddy!" she squealed as she lunged at the two adults and attempted, unsuccessfully, to embrace him.
Yoriichi separated a bit from Uta and, with a loving smile, effortlessly picked up the girl in his arms. Uta let out a resigned sigh and playfully glared at both of them.
"How many times have I told you not to spoil her so much?" she asked, trying to sound strict, although the smile on her face betrayed her true feelings.
"I prefer to do it now while I can," Yoriichi tried to excuse himself, not separating from his daughter in the slightest.
Homura had inherited her father's eyes, although her hair was black like Uta's. She was a rather talkative child and, like her mother, very open about expressing her feelings.
"I missed you," Homura protested, pouting at that moment. "Where have you been, Daddy?"
"I had very important things to do, sweetheart," Yoriichi told her, smiling and stroking Homura's hair. "But now I can spend a few days with both of you."
Homura's eyes lit up upon hearing that, and she ran off to her room. Uta couldn't help but laugh at the sight, a gesture that Yoriichi quickly imitated.
Minutes later, Homura came running back. She held a book in her small hands and, in her enthusiasm, she wasn't paying attention to where she was stepping. Unfortunately, she tripped and fell flat on the floor.
Uta quickly approached her, concerned, but the girl got up as if nothing had happened and walked towards her father.
"Can you read me this story?" the girl asked, showing him the book, which Yoriichi immediately took, nodding. He opened it to the first page and, with his calm voice, began to read. He didn't notice that both females were listening to him intently.
Yoriichi hurried as fast as he could through the marshy area, paying little attention to the incessant heavy rain that fell that night. He had been tracking a group of demons for days, and finally, he was close to finding them.
According to the latest reports he had received from the crow assigned by his boss, their targets were hiding in a cave in the nearby mountains, close to a humble lumberjack village.
His feet slipped as he stepped on a muddy puddle, and Yoriichi almost lost his balance, but at the last second, he managed to avoid it. He kept running without stopping.
His hair stuck to his temples, slightly obstructing his vision, but Yoriichi refused to halt. He furrowed his brow and used the Total Concentration Breathing to increase his pace to levels an ordinary human could never achieve.
"I won't fail this time. I'll kill those demons before they continue killing innocents," Yoriichi thought as he stopped at the entrance of the cave. Taking advantage of the moonlight streaming in, he scanned the interior. His hand, resting on the hilt of his weapon, froze as the demon hunter widened his eyes as much as he could.
Inside the cave, crouched against the rocky walls, were six demons. One appeared as a woman of exquisite beauty, and the other five seemed to be nothing more than children. Judging by their unsettling resemblance, they must be a family—possibly a mother and her children.
Yoriichi remained paralyzed at the entrance, hesitating. He hadn't even found the courage to unsheathe his weapon. His eyes remained fixed on the woman, who had positioned her offspring behind her and bared her fangs in an attempt to appear threatening.
"Are they your children?" Yoriichi finally asked in a hoarse voice.
The woman, taken aback, stopped growling for a few seconds, although her violet eyes continued to watch the hunter warily. "And what if they are?" she asked rudely, growling again as Yoriichi took a step forward. "Don't come any closer!"
Yoriichi knew what he had to do. Even if it was a mother and her children, it was no excuse for feeding on humans. They were still demons, evil creatures that hunted humans for pure pleasure. And his job as a hunter was to exterminate them. But for some reason he couldn't understand at that moment, his body refused to move.
He saw the desperation in the eyes of that mother, and Yoriichi's heart felt a pang. Involuntarily, he thought of Uta and Homura. Something about that woman reminded him of his wife. He furrowed his brow when he noticed his hand resting on the hilt beginning to tremble. He looked up, and his eyes met hers, the woman still regarding him warily but showing no sign of attacking. The terrified cries of the children were the only sound that could be heard in that tense situation. Their mother, completely focused on the threat Yoriichi posed, made no attempt to comfort her offspring.
"I... I can't do it," the man realized, whispering in horror. He knew he had to do it, but at the same time, he was aware that he couldn't. He swallowed and, as he lifted his gaze, he no longer saw those six demons but his wife and young daughter.
He couldn't take it anymore. As if he were a coward, he turned around and left the way he had come.
Amane watched, puzzled and bewildered, as the demon hunter began to retreat. However, she didn't move from her position in front of her children and maintained her defensive stance towards them.
But as the minutes passed and the hunter didn't reappear, the woman gradually relaxed. Reluctantly, she stepped away from the children, who had been crying since the arrival of that human. She embraced them tightly and, unknowingly, began to sob in relief.
They remained like that for a while, the six demons holding each other tightly. Until Amane started to calm down slowly. She obsessively checked that none of her children had any injuries.
Nichika and Hinaki, her two older daughters, protested a little, clearly unhappy with their mother's treatment, but they let her attend to them. Her other three children, Kiriya, Kanaya, and Kuina, being younger, willingly accepted their mother's attention.
But Amane was still not completely at ease. "Why did that hunter leave?" the woman wondered, bringing her right thumb to her mouth and biting her sharp nail almost unconsciously. "And what do I do now? Kagaya said he wouldn't take long to return, but what if that hunter changes his mind and comes back..."
The children, infected by their mother's unease, started to get nervous again, constantly casting anxious glances at the entrance of the cave.
Kanata, the youngest of the five, began crying vigorously again, and Amane looked at her with anguish. But before she could attend to the situation, Kiriya, the only boy among the children, approached his sister and hugged her tightly.
"It's okay," the boy said gently. "That bad man won't come back, don't worry."
"What if he hurts dad?" Kanata asked fearfully, her violet slanted eyes fixed on her older brother.
Fortunately, the boy quickly came up with an answer. "I'm sure dad is stronger. He'll defeat him without any problem, right, Mom?"
Amane smiled reassuringly and approached Kanata. She gently stroked her head and spoke when the girl looked at her. "Dad would never let anything happen to you. And neither would I, so you have nothing to worry about."
Kanata allowed her mother to wipe away her tears with a handkerchief, and gradually she began to relax. Kiriya separated from his younger sister and smiled at her a little.
"We'll wait for your father to return, and then we'll leave here," Amane said, casting a cautious glance at the entrance. Kagaya shouldn't take long to come back with the food for tonight.
"Yes!" exclaimed the five children, feeling in better spirits.
Yoriichi kept his head lowered and his eyes fixed on the ground. He was at the main headquarters of the Demon Slayer Corps, standing before the master himself and some of his comrades, those who shared the position of Pillars with him. Although Michikatsu's absence was noticeable, and something told Yoriichi that something was very wrong, terribly wrong.
"Do you realize who the hell you've let escape?!" shouted Aoi, the only woman in the group and the Water Pillar. She was an impulsive woman, prone to acting without thinking too much about the consequences.
"I..." Yoriichi didn't know how to answer that question. He had found out later, thanks to his crow, who those demons were. But for some unsettling reason, he didn't regret his decision. None of that changed the fact that he was a mother desperately trying to protect her children.
"He needs to be given an exemplary punishment," Ryo, the Storm Pillar, voiced his opinion, glaring at his comrade.
"And what do you propose?" Tenma, the Rock Pillar, wanted to know. He was a sturdy man with calm features who rarely lost his composure.
Fumijuro Rengoku, the man holding the rank of Flame Pillar, let out a sigh and cast a compassionate glance at Yoriichi. "Are you aware of what has happened, Yoriichi?" he asked, stopping in front of him.
"I spared the lives of the demon king's mate and children," recited the Sun Pillar, almost mechanically, still keeping his gaze lowered.
The other Pillars and the Corps' leader exchanged a quick look. Hanako Kibutsuji cleared her throat and spoke up.
"We know, thanks to one of our crows, that your brother accepted an offer from Ubuyashiki and became a demon."
Yoriichi quickly raised his head and looked at the girl, who couldn't have been more than ten years old at that moment, with an expression of surprise. "What did you just say?" he asked, hoping he had misheard.
"Your twin brother is a demon now," the girl repeated, relentlessly.
Yoriichi blinked, confused, and turned his gaze to Fumijiro, who nodded slowly, confirming his best friend's worst fears.
Uta looked warily at the men before her. Some members of the Corps had arrived unannounced at her house. Something made the woman uneasy. The expressions on those men's faces were far from friendly; they looked at her with hatred and resentment, which made no sense to her. She forced herself to put on a cordial smile.
"How can I help you?" she asked, taking a step back when one of them, a dark-haired boy, unsheathed his sword and pointed it at her.
"Where is your husband?" the boy spat, pressing the blade of his sword against Uta's neck.
Though she tried to remain calm, the cold touch of the weapon against her neck made Uta flinch. "I don't know. I haven't seen him in days," she answered truthfully.
"Taichi, stop this nonsense," Yamato scolded his companion. Taichi glanced at him sideways but ignored him. "Enough," Yamato insisted, approaching and grabbing the arm with which his comrade brandished the weapon.
"Let go of me!" Taichi retorted, elbowing Yamato in the stomach, causing him to gasp in surprise and take several steps back. "I'm sure she's also a sympathizer of those filthy demons!"
Uta paled upon hearing that and looked at the five demon slayers in front of her. None of them regarded her with sympathy. Even Yamato, who had vouched for her just moments ago, seemed less convinced of her innocence.
The woman quickly assessed her options. Nothing she said would convince those men to spare her life, but she had to try something. "My daughter has nothing to do with any of this," she pleaded, hoping that the hunters' moral code would prevent them from harming such a young girl.
Taichi gestured to two of the demon slayers. "Search the house and bring her here. We can't leave any demon sympathizers alive," he ordered, devoid of any trace of compassion.
"No!" Uta shrieked, trying to stop them, but Taichi pressed the sword against her neck, and a trickle of blood began to flow.
"Don't you dare move, bitch."
"My daughter is innocent!" Uta cried out, desperate, as she watched them obey the order and go in search of Homura. "On your knees, whore," Taichi ordered, smiling sadistically. Uta swallowed hard and complied.
She heard her daughter's screams and then footsteps approaching. One of the demon slayers dragged Homura by her hair, pulling her without any care. He let her fall to the ground and looked at Taichi, awaiting further instructions.
"Let's finish them," Taichi said. "They don't deserve anything else."
Uta let out a scream as she saw them pierce her daughter's chest with one of the katanas. Homura collapsed to the ground, sobbing, and weakly extended her right arm toward her mother, who tried to move closer to her. But before she could do so, Taichi decapitated her with a fluid motion of his weapon.
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