Kimetsu no Yaiba doesn't belong to me. This story is a translation of another fanfic of mine. I hope you like it!
Mitsuri read the letter with a smile on her face. She had received it a few days ago from her mother. Ever since she became a hunter, she had been exchanging letters with her family. According to her mother's letter, one of her sisters, Hikari, had managed to get engaged to a guy who was a couple of years older than her.
Hikari had reached marriageable age that year, at the age of 14, and Mitsuri was happy for her. She would have liked to respond to the letter right away and congratulate her, but at the moment, she was on her way to the Butterfly Mansion. Since Kyojuro was currently on leave, someone had to take care of his apprentice, and the boss had decided it would be her.
To be honest, she was quite excited. She would finally meet the girl who was the successor to her old master and the demon who survived without eating humans. She hoped they would get along well. She would also see Shinobu, whom she secretly admired.
She folded the letter and put it away, then resumed her journey. She had a long way to go, as her territory was the furthest from her destination. To get there, she would have to cross the region that belonged to Obanai.
Under normal circumstances, she would have tried to take advantage of that to spend some time with him and, if possible, do a mission together. But this time, she was in a hurry, and it was enough that it would take her more than ten days to get there.
She picked up the pace and reached speeds that were impossible for a normal human being.
Aoi made her way towards Sumiko's room, that morning it was her turn to do the laundry and she was collecting the sheets from the bedrooms to replace them with clean ones. Usually, she would do this task with Kanao, one would take off the sheets and the other would put on the clean ones, but that morning, as soon as dawn broke, her friend had started training with Sumiko.
She entered the bedroom and quickly removed the sheets, leaving the clean set on the bed. Carrying the dirty ones, she headed towards Nezuko's room. She always left that room for last. At first, it was a decision motivated by fear which, with the passing of months, had become a habit even though that terror had disappeared.
She stopped at the door and knocked several times before entering without waiting for a response. Nezuko watched her solemnly from the bed and Aoi noticed that she had already removed the sheets herself, but had left them haphazardly scattered on the floor near the door.
Aoi was torn between thanking her for taking some of the work off her hands or scolding her for the way she had left them.
"I would have taken them myself, but..." Nezuko said, and Aoi, who had been picking them up from the floor, stopped and looked at her.
"It's okay, don't worry about it," she replied curtly. Deep down, she understood. That room was the only place in the house protected from the sun.
Nezuko nodded and approached. "If you give me the new ones, I can start putting them on already."
Aoi nodded and handed them over immediately. The demon took them and, without saying anything else, went to the bed and began to arrange them. Aoi took advantage of that to finish collecting the dirty ones and leave the room.
Washing the sheets was a fairly exhausting task. Aoi had resigned herself to doing it alone that time, not wanting to interrupt Kanao and Sumiko. And the other three girls were too young to start doing that, they were already helping out around the house enough.
Sumiko was somewhat worried. She had been training with Kanao since dawn and all the time she had been able to smell the anger and rage that prevailed in her friend. She had not said anything, but her concern had been increasing.
"This... Kanao... is something wrong?" Sumiko finally dared to ask when they stopped for a moment to rest and hydrate.
"No, why?" Kanao lied smoothly, frowning slightly. She didn't want to talk about it now.
"I noticed that, well... you're pretty upset today," murmured Sumiko. "You don't have to tell me what's going on if you don't want to, it's just that... I'm worried."
Kanao softened her expression a bit when she heard that. "Not now, but I'll tell you later, okay?"
That was enough to appease Sumiko, who nodded. She was about to say something, but at that moment, both of their stomachs growled.
They hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, and judging by the position of the sun, it must have been past noon.
"This... shall we go to the kitchen and see if we can get something to eat?" Sumiko asked, quite embarrassed.
Kanao nodded, and the two of them went to the kitchen. If there was nothing prepared, they could improvise something themselves. It was then that Kanao realized something. If that happened, it would be the first time she prepared something together with Sumiko, and the girl found herself wishing it would happen.
They entered the house and headed towards the kitchen. But before they got there, as they passed the hallway where the infirmary was, they heard screams. A boy kept complaining about being forced to take medicine he didn't want.
"But... if you don't take it, you'll continue to be in pain," Senjuro was trying to convince him to take it, the two girls saw as they peeked to see what was going on.
Sumiko immediately recognized the patient. It was none other than Zenitsu. The boy immediately noticed her, and in a flash, he got out of bed and approached her. That was when the girl noticed the blue stains on his hands.
"Sumiko! Tell him not to give me this medicine!" the young man protested loudly. "I'm sure it tastes horrible."
"What happened to you?" she wanted to know, ignoring his pleas.
"A demon blood technique, nothing serious."
"And that's why Kocho told you to take the medicine so that the effect will pass," Senjuro said, grabbing the blond by the collar of his pajama shirt and pulling him away from the girl.
"But it tastes horrible!" the boy protested as he lay back down.
Senjuro sighed a bit and looked at the two girls. "I'll take care of making sure he takes it," he assured them, smiling a bit.
"Okay, but if you need help..." Sumiko murmured, glancing sideways at the other.
"I'll let you know, don't worry."
Zenitsu saw them leave and, resigned, picked up the glass of medicine, brought it to his lips, and drank it.
"What happened to her?" he asked, making a face of disgust. It was more bitter than he had expected.
"To Kamado?" Senjuro asked, and the blond nodded. "Nothing."
"And who is the other girl?" Zenitsu asked. He remembered seeing her in the Final Selection, but he didn't know her name.
"Kanao Tsuyuri. She 's the successor to the Insect Pillar."
"They're both pretty cute, don't you think?"
"I-I suppose…" Senjuro murmured. "I guess it's not like I didn't notice that," he added, acknowledging something that would be impossible not to see, but something he didn't feel comfortable admitting out loud to someone he had only known for a couple of hours.
Zenitsu looked up at the ceiling for a moment. He was glad to have seen Sumiko again and to know that she was okay had relieved him.
"When the effect wears off, you may have to participate in rehabilitation," Senjuro commented at that moment.
"Ugh, what a pain," the idea of having to exercise was horrible to him.
Kanao noticed how Sumiko's eyes lit up at the sight of the sansai sprouts, unlike herself.
"Do you feel like making tempura vegetables?" she asked.
"Of course!" Sumiko replied eagerly.
The two girls quickly agreed on what to make. While Kanao prepared the tempura batter, Sumiko skillfully cut the sprouts with the ease of someone who had done it many times before.
"My family used to cook this frequently," Sumiko remarked. "It's my favorite food."
Kanao nodded, imagining that they must have been a happy family. She focused on her task of mixing the batter well. From the corner of her eye, she saw Sumiko already coating the vegetables in flour.
She grabbed a pan and filled it with plenty of oil, then turned on the gas on their small ceramic stove. They now had to wait for the oil to heat up. Meanwhile, Sumiko continued to coat the various pieces of vegetables in the batter Kanao had prepared.
The purple-eyed girl placed her hand on the pan to check if the oil was heating up. To fry the tempura, it needed to be quite hot and it seemed like it still needed a little more time.
At that moment, one of the girls, Sumi, entered the kitchen carrying a tray with a couple of dirty dishes and chopsticks. She left them on the counter and smiled a little when she saw the two girls.
"Hi!" she greeted them enthusiastically. "What are you cooking?" she asked while taking the dishes and bringing them to the sink to wash them. The two responded quickly to the greeting.
"Vegetable tempura," Kanao said as she checked the temperature of the oil again. Satisfied now, she grabbed some chopsticks and submerged the first piece of tempura. Seeing that it began to fry immediately, Sumiko added another. They both continued until they had put all the pieces into the pan. After that, Sumiko stayed to supervise the frying.
Sumi looked at both of them, feeling like she was interrupting something but couldn't leave the dishes unwashed. So without saying anything, she started to work, thankful that it wasn't too much.
For a while, none of the three spoke, each focused on their own task. Sumiko searched the shelves for a drink for both of them and smiled when she saw two bottles of Kanao's favorite soda. She grabbed them.
"It's ready," Kanao announced, taking the last piece of tempura out of the pan with the chopsticks. She turned off the stove.
Sumi set the two plates to dry and quickly cleaned the pair of chopsticks.
"Enjoy!" she wished the girls, leaving the kitchen without giving them a chance to say anything.
Sumiko laughed at that and Kanao discreetly stared at her.
"Where do you want to eat?" Kanao asked, taking the plate.
"It's a nice day, we can go to the patio if you want," Sumiko suggested.
The other girl nodded, and the two of them, with everything they needed, went to the patio and sat on the wooden bench. They left the plate and drinks between them.
The sun was out, and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. It was undoubtedly the best moment for something like this, Kanao thought while using the chopsticks to pick up a piece of tempura. She took a small bite.
"This is really good," she commented with a small smile.
"I'm glad," Sumiko said, doing the same and trying some of the tempura.
Kanae stopped for a moment to admire the views of the place. After what had happened, she left Hokkaido immediately.
Although she had to ask for help from several women at the Douma temple to board the ship without problems and that had meant spending more than twelve hours in a confined space.
When she was finally free, after spending a good while stretching her cramped muscles, she resumed her journey, taking advantage of the night and hoping to cover as much distance as possible before dawn.
And her steps had led her there. A small mining town. She could take the opportunity to feed herself. Her goal had not changed, and wasting such opportunities would be foolish.
She adjusted her sword in her obi. She didn't think it would be necessary to use it, but she always carried it with her in case a demon hunter appeared.
She walked through the town, looking at the different houses. Thanks to her heightened senses, she could tell the number of humans inside each one, and she was looking for one with at most two. She didn't want to take any more risks than necessary and, by limiting deaths and leaving no witnesses, she would go unnoticed for the time being.
When she finally found a house that met her requirements, she entered by forcing the lock with one of her long nails.
She entered the house and closed the door softly behind her. There were only two humans in the same room. Judging by the way they were breathing, they were sound asleep and would not pose any problem.
She stopped abruptly upon entering and seeing them. They were two women who, if she was not mistaken, could not be more than twenty years old. Twins, she thought as she approached and saw that they were identical.
For a second, she remembered her sister. She raised her right hand a little too quickly, and her nails lengthened. With a swift gesture, she made a cut in both of their necks, making sure to sever the carotid artery.
She pulled back the clothing of one of them, exposing her right shoulder, and with enthusiasm, she sank her teeth into it, tearing the skin and muscle. She chewed, satisfied. The taste of human flesh was delicious, no matter how many times she ate it, she would never tire of it.
She swallowed and bit into that area again, almost reaching the bone. For quite some time, the only sound that broke the silence in that house was Kanae devouring both sisters.
Mitsuri entered the Butterfly Mansion happily. She had finally arrived, and although she was a bit tired from the journey, she was satisfied. She had warned Shinobu in advance when she had less than a day left to arrive, and when the building was in sight, her crow had flown ahead to alert her companion.
"How was the trip, Kanroji?" Shinobu asked, she had been waiting her there. She wore the same smile, but it seemed quite forced, the young woman noticed.
"Fine, fine. It's a shame there's so much distance between our territories," the pink-haired girl lamented as she rummaged through her bag and showed her one of the things she had chosen. She had bought several typical sweets to give them. She tried to get some variety, and in significant quantities.
"I don't know what you like, so I've tried to bring a little bit of everything..." Kanroji muttered, misinterpreting Shinobu's gaze a bit.
"Don't worry! It's a great detail on your part," Shinobu commented. "The girls will love it."
"Really?" Kanroji smiled, relieved, and followed her inside the house.
"Of course!"
Shinobu listened to what the other woman was saying. Kanroji spoke with enthusiasm and it was evident that she was, as usual, quite happy.
"And...Shinobu, what's Rengoku's successor like?"
"She's quite kind. I think if she works hard, she'll eventually become a Pillar," Shinobu replied. "You'll get along quite well, don't worry."
"And where is she now?" Mitsuri asked. She had hoped to see her old master and for him to be waiting for her when she arrived.
"She was with Kanao, training I think. I'll let her know now, do you mind waiting for a moment?"
"Oh, don't worry. Where is Rengoku? I wouldn't want to leave without saying hello to him first."
Shinobu smiled a bit. "Turn right at the end of the hallway and it's the third door on the left."
"Thanks!"
Mitsuri headed towards it. It had been a while since she had seen her old master, and although there wasn't much time left until the next meeting of the Nine Pillars, having the opportunity to see him without any missions in between was nice. Those increasingly scarce moments of relaxation were appreciated, and she did her best to make the most of them.
She stopped in front of the door, and could hear Rengoku and Senjuro talking. She raised her right hand and knocked softly a couple of times. Silence fell immediately, and barely half a second later, she heard the voice of the Pillar of Flames.
"Come in!"
The woman entered and closed the door behind her.
Shinobu peeked into the training room and saw the two girls completely focused on what they were doing. She closed the door behind her, trying not to make too much noise, but they had already noticed her presence and stopped.
Kanao approached her, possibly fearing some bad news, but the adult smiled a little to calm her and shook her head gently. The girl, who was somewhat tense, relaxed, although she did not return the smile.
The Pillar of the Insects was already used to her younger sister's way of being and did not give importance to that.
Sumiko, who had put away the two wooden swords in the closet, then approached. She was sweating and her breathing was somewhat altered. They must have been training for a while, thought Shinobu.
"How are you?" she asked, looking at the young woman.
"Fine, fine," murmured the girl. Sweat had stuck her hair to her forehead, and her skin was shiny because of it.
Although Kanao wasn't in better shape.
"I'm glad to see you're taking it so seriously," she told them. "I came to tell you, Sumiko, that Kanroji has already come to pick you up. Although perhaps you both need a bath."
The two girls blushed at that, somewhat embarrassed. And they nodded immediately, unable to articulate a word. Shinobu laughed a little, amused, as the two hurriedly left.
Sumiko entered the bathroom with the intention of taking a relaxing bath. She had waited long enough for Kanao to finish, so the last thing she expected to find was the latter coming out of the bathtub.
Kanao was paralyzed, staring at Sumiko like a frightened deer, but before she had time to cover herself with something, Sumiko had already left, apologizing hurriedly.
Both of them were as red as tomatoes. Once she was outside, Sumiko covered her face with both hands, she had never been so embarrassed in her life. How was she going to look Kanao in the face after that?
It had been her fault, she should have knocked on the door first, but she had been so worried about keeping the Pillar of Love waiting that she forgot. She just hoped things between them wouldn't become too awkward.
She had seen Kanao naked, with nothing covering her. She blushed even more at the thought of Kanao's appearance. And she wished she could hit herself against the wall or hide somewhere. The first thing was to get out of there, what if Kanao came out and saw her there?
She had never run so fast in her life. She returned to her room and slammed the door shut.
Kanao stared at the closed bathroom door, still red and replaying in her mind what had just happened. Sumiko had seen her naked.
She covered herself with the towel, feeling her heart racing. What should she do now? She absentmindedly started getting dressed, struggling to button her uniform shirt correctly and taking several attempts to get it right. The jacket didn't go any better, but she eventually managed to get it done.
She looked at herself in the mirror. Yes, everything was in place, she thought as she started brushing her hair and tying it into her characteristic side ponytail.
When it was time to open the door and leave, she hesitated a bit. She opened it slightly and, seeing no one in the hallway, hurried to her room.
On the way, she met Aoi and breathed a sigh of relief. She could ask her to let Sumiko know that the bathroom was now available to use.
"Aoi," she called out as she approached. "Do you know where Sumiko is?"
"I assume in her room, why?"
"Can you tell her she can now use the bathroom?"
Aoi raised an eyebrow and looked at her surprised. Kanao knew what she was thinking, so she quickly made up an excuse. "It's just that I need to go talk to Shinobu now. It's urgent."
"Oh, don't worry then, I'll take care of it."
Senjuro looked happily at Kanroji. The woman was as cheerful as he remembered, even though several years had passed since the last time he had seen her. And her appetite, which by now rivaled Kyojuro's, had only increased.
Mitsuri, perhaps to avoid talking about her family and what had happened with her father, had opted to talk about the last time she had seen Obanai on her way to the mansion.
Kyojuro, who had only had limited contact with him beyond their meetings, listened with interest. If he hadn't seen for himself how much the Serpent Pillar had lost his temper, he would have thought that Obanai was the kindest person in the world, or at least that's how Mitsuri portrayed him.
There was another thing that made him somewhat uneasy. Mitsuri was the one who most actively sought missions with Obanai, and he had an ingrained hatred of demons. Kyojuro wasn't sure if Obanai would be willing to work with Nezuko, even though she had the patron's approval and had already shown which side she was on.
His concern must have shown on his face, as both his brother and Kanroji fell silent and looked at him.
"Is something wrong, brother?" Senjuro asked, not understanding.
"No, it's nothing," Kyojuro lied with more ease than he would have liked. The worst part was that he didn't feel too bad about it, although he tried to convince himself that it was just a harmless lie.
"Are you sure?" Kanroji insisted, and Kyojuro nodded. The woman seemed to believe him, and continued with her story. Rengoku forced himself to pay attention.
However, a quarter of an hour later they were interrupted again, this time by the sound of someone knocking on the door.
"That must be Sumiko!" Rengoku said, relieved that she had finally arrived. "Come in!"
The door opened and a young girl walked in. Kanroji smiled widely; she was adorable, she thought, and the butterfly-shaped hair clip looked great on her. She got up and approached her right away. Although she had seen her before, they hadn't had a chance to talk.
"Hello, it's great to see you again!" she exclaimed. "I'm Mitsuri Kanroji!"
"N-Nice to meet you," Sumiko murmured, shyly taking a step back. The aura that Kanroji exuded was intimidating.
"Do you have everything ready?" the pink-haired woman asked. "I don't want to delay too much."
"I just need to go get my sister."
"Great! Then I'll wait for you at the entrance, okay?"
Uzui was getting increasingly worried. At first, he tried not to give too much importance to the fact that Suma had stopped sending letters, but it had already been a week like that.
He was becoming more and more convinced that something had happened to her. He had asked Hinatsuru and Makio, but neither of them had any information about Suma's whereabouts, and they couldn't just go to the brothel and ask about her without drawing attention.
Following Hinatsuru's advice, he had decided to wait a couple more weeks. If Suma still hadn't shown any signs by then, he would go see what had happened himself. Posing as a client would be easy.
But the wait was going to be unbearable. He regretted getting them involved in this and had begged the other two to leave and abort the mission, which had led to a heated discussion via letter as both of them had refused.
Although they didn't say it out loud, they shared Uzui's concern for Suma's whereabouts.
Rui observed the abandoned house. He had followed his sister's advice and, after talking to the rest of the family, they had decided to leave Mount Natagumo.
Although it had meant being without a proper home for a long time, they had recently been able to find something decent where they could live in peace. He sighed a little. Running away had been a blow to his pride, but the others had been delighted with the idea of leaving, almost relieved, he thought, remembering the night they had talked about it.
It almost seemed like sharing their powers didn't provide enough security for them. Did that mean they didn't trust him to protect them? It was true that within the Twelve Moons, he was in the lowest ranks. Yes, maybe that was it. Lower Moons died relatively easily.
Not even having some favoritism from Muzan meant he was going to live. Yes, he had to become stronger, try to at least become the First Lower Moon, and then, if he could, the Sixth Upper Moon, although his chances were not too great with the latter, but he could try. It's not like he was going to die in the confrontation.
"Is something the matter, Rui?" he heard his mother ask, approaching him. The demon woman had a calm voice and didn't usually speak too loudly. She rarely raised her voice or got angry.
She was a woman who towered over Rui, with a slender figure. She had long white hair down to her waist, and her eyes were a watery green color.
She wore a white kimono with a matching obi with floral motifs.
"No, I was just thinking that we found a good place," he replied.
"Yes," she agreed, stopping in front of him. "Everyone seems to be quite happy. Thank you, Rui."
"Why? This is a decision we all made," he reminded her. There was no reason for her to say that.
The woman nodded. It had been put to a vote, and the only one who had opposed it was Rui. The rest of the eight were in favor, so they won by a landslide.
"Shall we go inside?" she asked, and Rui nodded.
See you soon with the next chapter! Don't forget to leave a review! I would love to hear your thoughts!