Kimetsu no Yaiba doesn't belong to me. This story is a translation of another fanfic of mine. I hope you like it!
Shinjuro set aside the container he was holding. He had recently gotten up and had already started drinking. He wasn't stupid, he knew he should cut back, but he couldn't.
Sake provided him with a comfort that no one else could offer. Something he desperately needed.
And having to endure every day, aware that one day a crow would come notifying him of Kyojuro's death, did not help at all. He preferred to drink and forget, even if it was for short periods of time.
What did glory matter? Or pride and honor? They were just excuses to make people feel better. He hated the fact that, when he was young, he too had been dazzled by it. Now, at thirty-nine years old, he understood that it only led to an early death.
He furrowed his brow as he saw, from the patio, his youngest son sweeping the entrance of the fallen leaves. It was he who took care of the household chores every day.
It almost seemed like he was good for nothing else. He had two useless sons, one who seemed to want to die young and the other who only knew how to clean.
What had he done to deserve this? He gritted his teeth as he felt anger consume him. He got up and, walking as best he could, went over to where Senjuro was.
Kyojuro finished putting on the clothes they had borrowed while theirs dried. They were staying in the only inn in the village, renting two rooms to rest for the remainder of the night. They weren't very big, but they had the essentials for a temporary rest.
He hoped their uniforms would be dry by the next morning so they could leave. He sneezed strongly at that moment, it was quite likely that when he jumped into the swamp to save Sumiko, he caught a cold because the water had been freezing.
The priority was to see how his pupil was doing, he told himself. Her health at the moment was secondary. He left the room and knocked a couple of times on the door in front of him.
"Come in," he heard Nezuko say, and entered. The sisters' room was identical to his, he observed as he approached the bed.
Sumiko was sitting there, still looking a bit pale. Nezuko was sitting on the bed beside her.
"How are you?" the man asked, approaching with a slight smile.
"Better," Sumiko admitted.
Nezuko sat up at that moment and looked serious at Rengoku. "Can we talk for a moment in private?" she asked, and the Pillar, after a moment of hesitation, nodded, and the two of them left, leaving Sumiko alone.
Nezuko stopped in the hallway, looking serious. She had been thinking about the same thing for a while now, and with what had just happened, she was more convinced than ever.
"To become stronger, I have to eat humans, right?" she asked bluntly, not liking to beat around the bush.
Kyojuro frowned and looked at her. "We've already had this conversation," he said, not liking any of it. "If you eat a human, just one, you will lose the trust of the Corps leader."
"Is there any other way?" she asked, not giving up.
"Not that I know of," Rengoku concluded. "And I would appreciate it if you didn't ask me that again."
"How bad is it to want to be stronger?" Nezuko asked, annoyed by his attitude.
"The mission of demon slayers is to prevent demons from continuing to roam around devouring humans," he reminded her.
The demon bit her tongue to avoid responding that she wasn't like them. She was going to have to find another way to become strong, she decided, but it was clear that she would have to do it on her own.
Rengoku relaxed a bit when he was alone again. Nezuko had returned to the room. He sighed a little, not that he couldn't understand the demon's position, but with that attitude, she put them all in danger and made him not fully trust her.
Muzan stopped in front of the alley and, after looking around to make sure nobody was watching him, he entered the place.
The smell in that area was disgusting, there were garbage bags on both sides and, if his sense of smell wasn't wrong, cockroaches and rats. But that wasn't what interested him.
Leaning against the wall so as not to fall, there was a man. Judging by the smell he emitted, he was drunk, Muzan thought as he approached him.
The human turned around and their gazes met. The drunk's brown eyes widened and he took several uncoordinated and staggering steps backwards.
The father of demons did not stop, but he did not accelerate either, aware that in that state, his prey would not get far. He would not leave that alley alive.
Due to his drunken state, his victim stumbled and fell to the ground. He tried to get up, but was unable to do so.
Muzan stopped in front of him and knelt down, becoming level with the human. Drunks were not entirely to his liking, alcohol affected the taste quite a bit, but he was hungry enough to overlook it at that moment.
He raised his right arm and, at an astonishing speed, plunged it into his victim's chest, piercing his heart.
"Nakime," he said then, and the sound of a biwa, a traditional Japanese wooden instrument, resonated in the place. The environment blurred and both Muzan and the corpse appeared at the base of the demon king and his personal guard.
It was a place formed by multiple traditional Japanese-style rooms. A real labyrinth created from Nakime's blood technique, who had complete control over it, being able to alter its appearance and the distribution of the rooms with just a touch of her instrument.
"My lord," the woman greeted respectfully. She was sitting calmly on the wall a few meters above where Muzan was.
Muzan, despite not being able to see the woman's only eye, well covered by the bangs that covered her forehead, knew that she was keeping an eye on him.
"Summon Akaza and Douma," he ordered then, serious. She obeyed immediately and her instrument resonated twice throughout the place.
The demon king waited as they appeared in the place and knelt before him.
"Have you obtained the information I asked for?" he asked, fixing his gaze on Akaza.
Akaza, the Third Upper Moon, was a humanoid-looking demon. He had grayish-toned skin, short hair of a light pink color, and eyes of a yellowish color, in which his rank was written in kanji, while his sclera were streaked with thin blue lines.
He wore a dark purple sleeveless jacket and loose white pants that reached his knees. He held them at his waist with a blue rope. He was barefoot, as usual, and observed Muzan.
"No, my lord," Akaza replied, serious. Muzan nodded, it was what he had been expecting, he had been searching for that flower for almost a century and had not yet been able to find it.
Douma glanced at Akaza, waiting to see how he would receive punishment from his lord for that failure, so when several seconds passed without anything happening, he couldn't help but feel disappointed.
"That's why Douma will take charge," Muzan explained. "I want you to make use of the human women who are part of the sect you lead."
"But my lord...!" protested Akaza, but his lord's gaze made him fall silent immediately. If there was one thing Muzan hated, it was that attitude.
"It's time to change our strategy," he continued. "And I've tolerated what you've been doing for far too long, Douma. It's time for you to prove that you can be useful."
"I won't disappoint you, my lord," the enthusiasm and joy were evident in the blond demon's voice. It was the first important task that Douma had received since becoming a demon.
Akaza, on the other hand, did not seem content at all, although he did not dare to express it aloud.
"That's all for now," said Muzan, turning his back to them and ending the conversation.
Nakime played her instrument twice to send them back to their previous location. The demon king finally relaxed, although he knew that Akaza would not cause any problems, despite his discontent. He did not like having to give that task to Douma.
Douma looked around, he was back in his room at the temple. He settled himself on the red cushion where he usually sat and looked straight ahead. His followers would start arriving soon and, from experience, the demon knew that Muzan expected him to get to work as soon as possible.
He straightened up a bit. It wasn't long before it would be night, perhaps he would go out and feed a little. He might be lucky and come across a pregnant woman, who were the most nutritious.
Although sometimes he made exceptions, as long as his lord gave the green light, he had created new demons. Many had lasted only a short while, except for three exceptions. He smiled a bit at the thought of that.
At that moment, he heard two soft knocks on the door.
"Who is it?" he asked as he straightened his clothing, which had become slightly wrinkled from getting up.
"Is everything ready, my lord?" asked a petite woman who was waiting for him in the hallway. "The faithful are waiting for you in the temple."
Douma looked at her and nodded. Kaede was one of the women who had been there the longest. Her once-black hair was beginning to have a few gray strands, although her brown eyes still showed the same kindness as when she arrived at the temple. How old must she be now? More than fifty years old? The demon, who didn't have the same sense of time as humans, wasn't sure about these things.
"Thank you very much, Kaede," he said, following the woman towards the temple, mentally turning over how to assign them that task.
Akaza punched the nearest tree, breaking the trunk in the process and throwing it to the ground. He could barely contain the anger he felt for being overshadowed by Douma once again. First, he lost his position as the Upper Moon Two to him and now this.
So what if Douma had humans at his service? They were weak and died quickly, they were truly pathetic creatures. Akaza gritted his teeth and continued walking through the forest he was in.
He had to do something to regain what he had lost, the problem was that, no matter how much he fed to gain more power, it was never enough, Douma was always several steps ahead.
He needed to distract himself in some way, not that he had much to do, but he could hunt. The exhilaration of that moment always managed to put him in a good mood.
He focused and tried to perceive the life force of nearby humans, it was one of his abilities, every living being emanated energy, depending on the power it possessed and he had the ability to sense it.
He could keep searching for the flower, if he was able to find it before Douma, he was sure that, at least, he would regain his lord's trust.
Sumiko walked quietly through the commercial district of the village. She had come down from the Butterfly Mansion, taking advantage of not having any missions at the moment.
She wanted to buy a gift for Nezuko, her birthday was coming up and the girl wanted to use her first pay to have a detail with her.
The first thing that had occurred to her was to buy her some clothes, but since, thanks to Shinobu, her sister had a new kimono, perhaps it would be better to look for some hair accessory. Something pretty she could use to keep it tied up.
She had thought about buying her a ribbon or a hairpin, but she couldn't find one that she liked.
Nezuko was not an ostentatious person, so it was safer to choose something simple, she thought, as she looked at the products for sale, until a pink ribbon caught her attention.
She picked it up and examined it closely, making sure it had no defects, and smiled a little when she didn't see anything. Her sister would love it, she thought satisfied.
She approached the saleswoman and took out several coins to pay.
When Sumiko arrived at the Mansion, she wasn't too surprised to see some movement. Unfortunately, it was quite common to have to treat the injured. Under normal conditions, Aoi, Sumi, Kiyo, and Naho usually managed on their own, but on occasion, Kanao and she had to step in.
Forgetting about her sister's gift for the moment, she went straight to the infirmary. She wouldn't rest until she was sure that she couldn't do anything to help.
The smell of blood filled the room, that was the first thing the young woman noticed. There were only two occupied beds, one by the boy with the shaved hair on the sides, whom Sumiko hadn't seen since the Final Selection, and the other bed by another hunter.
"What happened?" she asked, approaching Aoi, who was filling a basin with water.
"Oh, you're here, Sumiko," Aoi commented, glancing at her and sighing. "Nothing too serious."
"Nothing too serious?" the other yelled. "I've lost three fingers, damn it!"
Sumiko observed him. "Can I do anything to help?" she whispered, but Aoi declined. They were finished.
"No, but thanks anyway," she said, returning to her task and leaving Sumiko there. Understanding that she was in the way, Sumiko quickly left to look for her sister.
She found her in her room, sitting on the bed. The demon was trying to comb her hair, but the amount of tangles in her hair was making the task very difficult.
"Nezuko," Sumiko called out as she approached and stood next to her. "If you want, I can do it."
"Let's see if you can," the other grunted, handing over the brush and turning her back to the older sister. Sumiko suppressed a laugh and got to work.
"You have more tangles than I expected," she commented after a while. She was doing it as gently as possible, but from time to time, Nezuko hissed in protest.
When Sumiko finally untangled her sister's hair, she took out the ribbon and started to put Nezuko's hair up.
"I bought you something," she said while using the brush to put her hair in a ponytail. "I thought you'd be more comfortable with your hair like this," she added when she realized that Nezuko wasn't saying anything.
"You didn't have to," the demon told her while touching her hair, which was now tied up.
"I wanted to," Sumiko acknowledged, smiling with some sadness. Nezuko hugged her without saying anything, and the two sisters stayed like that for a while, in silence.
Ubuyashiki smiled happily, every time he had the opportunity to celebrate the meeting with the Pillars he felt relieved. Knowing that everyone was doing well lifted a weight off his shoulders.
In addition, he now had more Pillars, Obanai Iguro and Muichiro Tokito had joined his ranks months ago and this was their first meeting.
Obanai was a small man with short black hair and heterochromia eyes, one amber and the other a light blue tone. He wore the demon hunters' uniform and a white and black striped haori.
Muichiro, a fourteen-year-old boy, had long hair that reached his waist, it was black, although the tips were a mint green tone. His greenish eyes remained empty, as if the boy was unable to feel emotions. Unlike the rest of his fellow Pillars, he did not wear a haori over his uniform.
Although his illness had already taken his vision, he refused to let his wife take over that task. He planned to continue attending until his body couldn't handle it anymore.
"Good evening, my dear Pillars," he greeted, looking ahead.
"We are glad to see that you are still in good health, my patron!" Kyojuro's voice responded to his greeting, and the man looked in that direction, orienting himself by the source of the sound.
"Thank you very much, Kyojuro," he replied, maintaining his calm smile. He decided to start the meeting by revealing Nezuko's existence to the two new Pillars, although their reactions were what he expected.
"Demons cannot be trusted," Iguro protested immediately, furrowing his brow and looking at his patron. "Our duty is to eliminate them all."
"It has been many months since she became a demon," Ubuyashiki calmly explained. "And she has not eaten any humans yet."
Kyojuro bit his lip, he had not told anyone about the conversations he had had with the demon, and he still believed that it was best not to say anything. It was not that he liked keeping secrets, but he did not want it to cause the death of Nezuko and Sumiko.
"I don't care," said Muichiro, maintaining that empty expression.
"I still think it's a mistake to keep a demon alive," Shinazugawa intervened.
"Kyojuro, you are in charge of keeping her under surveillance, what do you think?" Ubuyashiki asked, hoping that the Flame Pillar could help dispel that distrust.
"Nezuko Kamado has not harmed any human being!" Rengoku exclaimed. "She has helped her sister fight against other demons on more than one occasion!"
"And? That doesn't prove anything," Iguro opined seriously.
"On the contrary," Shinobu intervened for the first time. "We have more evidence that she won't do it than otherwise."
Kyojuro smiled a little, looking in the direction of the Insect Pillar, thanking her for her support.
"That's right," Ubuyashiki conceded. "Besides, there's the matter of the attack on her family. We're still investigating the reason behind that, but for now, the only thing we can be clear about is that it was personal."
Muichiro and Obanai looked confused at the patron, but he, perhaps realizing that they were unaware of that, clarified it immediately.
"Muzan Kibutsuji killed Sumiko Kamado's entire family and turned one of her sisters into a demon," he explained. "From what Kyojuro told us, he left all the bodies intact."
It had been Kanroji who had insisted that all the Pillars attend the celebration of the two new additions.
"I have things to do," Giyu Tomioka apologized, trying to leave.
"Oh, come on," Shinobu said. "We have few opportunities like this. Socializing a bit won't hurt you."
"I'm not like you guys," Tomioka insisted, still not giving in.
"What do you mean, asshole?" Sanemi grabbed him by the collar of his uniform. He hated people with that kind of attitude.
"Come on, please don't fight," Kanroji couldn't stand those moments, she didn't like to see her colleagues fight and tried to separate them before the situation got worse.
"Exactly what I said." Tomioka's response only made things worse, and if Tengen Uzui hadn't held his free arm, Sanemi would have tried to punch him.
"If he wants to leave, there's no point in insisting."
"We shouldn't fight each other!" Kyojuro, who had been observing silently until then, decided to speak up.
Sanemi growled and, disdainfully, let go of Giyu. "Do whatever the hell you want, idiot."
Giyu shrugged off his jacket and, after briefly saying goodbye to those present, left without further ado.
Rengoku was staggering a bit, and Shinobu was doing her best to help him walk, barely able to bear the weight of the blond, who was much taller and more muscular than her.
But the Flame Pillar was not in a condition to walk alone in that state. He had drunk more sake than he could handle.
Kyojuro, at that moment, was laughing at something, and the woman had stopped paying attention to him, focusing all her attention on moving forward. They had to reach the Butterfly Mansion before it started snowing.
"You've had too much alcohol," she commented after a while, when her companion stopped laughing.
"No!" protested the other immediately. "I'm perfectly fine!"
The man's sharp tone of voice and the ill humor that his words betrayed caught Shinobu off guard, and she fell silent and tried to keep moving forward.
"I can walk perfectly fine!" But Kyojuro didn't seem willing to drop the conversation.
"Come on, we're almost there," she tried to calm him down. She couldn't hold it against him.
"Let me go!" he demanded, giving a sharp tug that caused them both to fall to the ground.
Shinobu quickly got up and gritted her teeth. Kyojuro was silent, staring ahead, and seemed to have realized something, judging by his expression. But what the woman least expected was for him to start crying silently.
"I-I'm sorry!" Kyojuro apologized quickly, trying to get up. "I-I don't know what's wrong with me!"
"You'll be better tomorrow," she tried to reassure him with that small, harmless lie. "But we have to get there so you can go to bed."
"I don't want anyone to see me like this," Kyojuro protested, failing again in his attempt to get up, although this time Shinobu helped him. Once she had slightly propped him up again, they resumed walking.
"No one will see you," she assured him.
"I don't want to be like my father..." The fear in Kyojuro's voice was evident, and Shinobu didn't know what to say. All the Pillars knew about Shinjuro's problems with drinking, but she didn't know how to react to her companion's vulnerability.
"You're not Shinjuro," she said, hoping that would be enough to calm him down.
Kyojuro looked at her. "Thank you..."
The next morning, waking up was a real torture for the Flame Pillar. He felt like his head was going to explode from the pain. The light coming in from the window was too intense and the noises the girls were making around the house only made his headache worse.
He grumbled a bit and massaged his temple with his hands. When did he think it was a good idea to drink? Curiosity had gotten the best of him, wanting to understand the appeal that alcohol had, and he deeply regretted it.
He wouldn't drink alcohol again, he wasn't even sure what had happened, his memories were fading and he could only remember the first moments of the celebration.
"Oh, I see you've woken up, Rengoku," Shinobu commented, who had just entered the room and closed the door behind her. "How are you feeling?"
"My head is going to explode," he confessed, he didn't even have the strength to speak in his usual loud tone.
"I figured as much, here," the woman said, handing him a glass of water and a pill. "This should ease your headache."
"Thank you," the man put the pill in his mouth and swallowed it with a small sip of water.
"Lie down and rest," Shinobu requested. "In a little while, if you feel better, I'll bring you something to eat."
Kyojuro obeyed immediately, he lay down and closed his eyes. He wasn't tired, but he felt better that way, he checked with some relief. No, he definitely wouldn't drink again.
Sumiko listened, serious, to her new mission. Numerous disappearances had been reported in the city of Asakusa and the police had no leads, making them suspect that the culprit was a demon, as it was not the first time they were behind such events.
She was reassured by the fact that Kanao would accompany her on this mission. To be honest, she liked the idea of being able to spend time with her, whom she considered her friend by now.
Kanao had gone to inform Shinobu about it, so Sumiko would have to do the same with Rengoku.
She went to look for him and, not seeing him anywhere in the mansion, she supposed he would be in his bedroom. Entering and waking him up if he was asleep would be very rude of her, the girl told herself. Although leaving without saying goodbye also made her feel bad.
And she let Shinobu know about it when she found her talking to Kanao in the hallway.
"Don't worry," the woman reassured her, smiling kindly. "I'll tell him later."
"Thank you, Kocho," murmured Sumiko, relieved.
"Do you have everything you need?" asked the Pillar of Insects, changing the subject slightly.
"Yes!" exclaimed Sumiko, adjusting the straps of the basket in which Nezuko traveled.
"To get to Asakusa, you'll have to take the path that crosses the town downhill. If you go at a good pace, you should arrive in less than a week," the woman indicated as she accompanied them to the door to say goodbye.
Kanao looked ahead silently, they had stopped to rest a bit after walking all day. It had gotten dark and a fine rain was falling, which had forced them to take refuge in a cave they found.
It wasn't too big, but big enough to spend the night there. Nezuko came out of the basket and sat next to her sister, watching the other girl with some suspicion.
"We have to go to the city of Asakusa," Sumiko began to explain. "The police suspect there are demons there."
Nezuko nodded and, noticing that her older sister seemed tired, made a decision, "You can sleep, I can keep watch," she offered.
Sumiko immediately agreed and took off her haori, folded it a bit, and placed it on the cold stone floor as a pillow before lying down right there.
Kanao hesitated a bit, but she couldn't deny that she was a bit tired from walking all day, so she ended up accepting and following her friend's lead.
Nezuko, once the two had closed their eyes, walked to the entrance of the cave and sat there, looking ahead, attentive to any sound that might disturb the tranquility of the night.
She was determined to do her job well, her sister's safety depended on it, she thought to herself.
The rain continued to fall, with greater intensity, and the demon picked up the scent of dampness that was beginning to permeate the air.
During the following days of traveling towards Asakusa, they decided to repeat this scheme. The two humans traveled during the day while Nezuko slept, and at night, the demon kept watch while they rested.
It was the best way to proceed, and Kanao's reservations about Nezuko began to diminish. She didn't entirely trust her, but she trusted her enough.
To navigate the path, they had to ask people they encountered along the way.
But just before reaching the city, they decided, as a precaution, to send a crow to the police station to announce their arrival.
The two girls watched Kanao's bird fly away and stayed close to the entrance of Asakusa, waiting.
"Do you think it will be a powerful demon?" Sumiko asked.
"We'll know soon enough, I suppose," murmured Kanao. They couldn't afford to doubt either, it was their duty to take care of the demons.
Muzan read the documents in front of him carefully. Impersonating a high-ranking official of the Asakusa city council required more responsibility than he would have liked for something temporary.
On top of that, assuming a human identity took weeks to get to know their habits and lifestyle, something Muzan tried to do as convincingly as possible. It was something he took great care in doing.
And his time was running out. He never stayed in one identity for more than a few months, the less attention he drew, the better. Although what was most important was covering his tracks afterward, which is how he had been evading the Demon Slayer Corps Pillars.
He had the window in his office open, letting the coolness of the night in. He could hear the hustle and bustle of the street from there.
He looked up from what he was reading, sensing the presence of a demon on the balcony. He turned his chair and looked in that direction without getting upset, he already knew who it was.
Kokushibo was kneeling before him, looking at the ground.
"My lord," he greeted respectfully.
"What's the matter, Kokushibo?" Muzan asked, standing up and taking a couple of steps towards him.
"Sumiko Kamado and her sister are here, in the city," his subordinate informed him.
See you soon with the next chapter! Don't forget to leave a review! I would love to hear your thoughts!