Kimetsu no Yaiba doesn't belong to me. This story is a translation of another fanfic of mine. I hope you like it!
Mukago pulled away from the body she had been devouring. She could sense demon hunters approaching the area, though she wasn't surprised to have been discovered. She had been hunting in the nearby city for days, and the trail she left behind couldn't have been difficult to follow.
She stood up and wiped the blood from her lips with her hand. There were only five of them, and they seemed to be coming from the same direction. She wasn't afraid and was looking forward to a good fight. Once she won, she could feed more, and she had found that the flesh of demon-hunting humans tasted better than ordinary ones. She licked her lips at the thought and stretched a bit, knowing they would arrive in a few minutes.
With a leap, she climbed up to one of the branches of the nearest tree, making sure to stay hidden enough not to be easily seen. She would take advantage of the element of surprise to kill at least one or two. She listened carefully while transforming her two arms into whips. If they were just ordinary hunters, it would be easy, but if one of them was a Pillar, things would get pretty tough for her. Only the Upper Moons and Muzan himself could survive a confrontation with them. The Lower Moons usually fell easily. She growled a bit, as she had only been in that position for a year.
Obanai looked in disgust at the corpse, the demon had left it half-devoured and the entrails could be seen. He hated them with all his soul, creatures like them deserved nothing more than a slow, painful, and horrible death. And he always made sure of it.
If it was possible, he tried to prolong the fight until the sun came up. Seeing the demons burn provided him with indescribable pleasure.
The death he provided with the nichirin sword was too quick, almost merciful, and they didn't deserve it.
When he saw two fleshy whips descending at full speed towards the other hunters who were with him, he didn't think twice and, before they could hurt them, Obanai had already arrived there and cut them with his sword.
He lifted his head and his gaze crossed with that of the demon who was there, half-hidden in a branch. She wasn't too tall, if anything she would reach a meter and a half. She had short white hair and two horns protruded from her forehead. Her eyes, whose sclera were completely red, were fixed on him and Obanai could distinguish in the left one the kanji that marked her as the Fourth Lower Moon.
Perfect. At least that time he wouldn't kill just any demon, he thought as he jumped towards her with his weapon ready.
The demon dodged him and her arms regenerated. The man did not miss the caution with which she looked at his sword. Without giving it too much thought, he charged against her, determined to end the fight as soon as possible.
And she, in turn, turned her arms into whips again and, with the left one, grabbed his right ankle to destabilize him. The Pillar of the Snakes brought his sword there, attempting to sever that limb, but the free whip prevented him, wrapping around his wrist.
Iguro growled, he should have guessed that something like that was going to happen. He could hear the other hunters talking nervously amongst themselves, concerned about the situation he was in.
"So you're a Pillar, from what I see," the demon had also been somewhat attentive to what the others were saying.
Obanai didn't answer, he was more focused on trying to free himself, but before he could do so, his enemy threw him against the nearest tree and took advantage of that to try to flee.
But before she could even take a step, the human was by her side again. Mukago felt pain in her neck and noticed the exact moment when her head separated from the rest of her body.
It hurt, more than any wound other hunters had inflicted on her until that moment, was it because he was a Pillar? she wondered as her head fell to the ground, right in front of the other humans.
It wasn't fair, she had barely achieved anything, not even put up a fight against that human. She was going to die, she realized then. She didn't want to, she wanted to continue serving her lord. But there was no going back, her body and head were already turning to dust.
Obanai stopped near her and watched until the young woman's body disappeared completely, leaving only her clothes as proof of her existence.
But he didn't feel the pleasure of other times, having other hunters present had made him soften the way of eliminating that despicable, filthy being. And that only managed to put him in a bad mood. So, without a word to his companions, he turned around and left, leaving them there. They would take care of burying the victim's body, that was not his concern.
Muzan felt the exact moment when the life of the Fourth Lower Moon came to an end. Though, accustomed as he was to such things, he barely showed any reaction.
He sighed a little, annoyed, and mentally reviewed the last minutes of Mukago's life. As usual, a Pillar had put an end to his life.
That was usually their fate, rare was the occasion when any of the members survived long enough to join the Upper Moons.
Now he would have to focus on filling that vacant position. It would be a headache, as demons would scramble to get it, and the vast majority wouldn't deserve it.
He could personally choose someone and save himself time that he could invest in something more important. He knew that Kokushibo had recently converted a demon slayer and the ambitions that he had.
He could test him, see if he truly deserved that position. The quickest way would be to give him more of his blood and see if he could handle it. Only a strong enough demon could do something like that.
But he didn't want to put just anyone in that position. It was time to strengthen the Lower Moons, he couldn't allow that to keep happening. He had neglected it for too long already.
And he would also have to clean out those who were not suitable for the position they held. Even if that meant only keeping three or four.
"Nakime, summon Kokushibo and the demon accompanying him," he ordered.
The woman's only response was to play her instrument a couple of times. And just three seconds later, the two were there.
Kokushibo immediately kneeled and the other, although it took longer, eventually imitated him.
"My lord," the two demons kept their heads down, looking at the ground. Kaigaku nervously swallowed saliva. If Kokushibo's presence had seemed intimidating to him, Muzan was a thousand times worse.
"There is a new vacancy among the Lower Moons," the Demon King informed them seriously, and the boy had to suppress the urge to raise his head and look him in the eyes.
"Is there a possibility for Kaigaku to join?" Kokushibo maintained his calm tone of voice.
"He would first have to prove himself worthy," said Muzan and, without warning, he thrust one of his fingers into the boy's neck.
Suma was barely conscious. Her whole body ached, and she had to admit that her captor could be quite creative when it came to torture. After ripping off all of her nails, they had moved on to her teeth.
At this point, she only had a few left. Speaking and eating were impossible tasks for her.
She felt Daki crouch down beside her and examine her. "It seems like you won't be useful to me anymore," she commented. "It's a shame, if you had answered my questions, none of this would have happened, you know?"
Daki then placed both hands on Suma's neck and began to squeeze, slowly leaving her without air. Suma started to struggle, trying to remove Daki's hands from her neck and continue breathing, but her weakened strength due to starvation and dehydration was no match for the demon.
Daki sighed a little. It was done. She no longer felt the human's heart beating, so she withdrew her hands and observed her. It was really a shame. If only she had cooperated...
Several ribbons emerged from Daki's obi and grabbed the corpse. She would take it outside, where humans could see it. It would be the perfect way for those who were searching for her to come to light.
Daki then assumed a human form while the ribbons took care of leaving the body near one of the most popular houses, the Kyogoku house.
Makio finished getting ready, tonight seemed like it was going to be quite entertaining, she thought as she looked at herself in the mirror. She still wasn't used to seeing herself with makeup, but she had no choice.
She could hear the other girls moving quickly down the hallway and the owner of the house giving orders. She smiled a bit and put the finishing touches on her face. Perfect, she thought as she evaluated the result.
Maybe she should go see if she could help the others with something, if there was one thing Makio hated it was standing still and doing nothing. She always needed to be busy with something.
So, with that in mind, she left her room and looked for the business owner, Himiko, the wife of Hiroki Kyogoku.
As soon as she found her, speaking in whispers with one of the courtesans, she knew something was wrong. The girl, who could barely have been sixteen, was overly pale and, judging by Himiko Kyogoku's look of horror and consternation, it couldn't be anything good.
"Is something wrong?" Makio asked once she reached them. Both women looked at her and the older one quickly took the reins.
"Do you remember Suma, the oiran from the Tokito house?" she asked, serious.
"Of course, has something happened?" Makio began to feel a knot in her stomach and prayed that the woman had appeared safe and sound.
"I've found her..." the young woman, whom the kunoichi remembered was called Homura, was trembling and seemed to be on the verge of an anxiety attack. She didn't need to finish speaking for Makio to understand what she meant.
"Where?" Makio interrupted her.
"I-In front of the house."
Shit, Makio had to suppress the urge to run over there. She nodded and went to the exit of the business.
As she expected, there was a crowd gathered there. Makio spotted Hinatsuru among the group of onlookers, and the two women exchanged a quick glance.
At that moment, Makio was finally able to see the state Suma was in.
Hinatsuru was waiting seated on the roof of one of the buildings farthest from the main area of the pleasure district.
Makio should be arriving any moment, thought the woman, trying to push away the memory of Suma's body. She hadn't even had the chance to cry for her fallen comrade, and being completely honest, she still hadn't fully processed it. She had known Suma since she was fifteen, and they had completed a mission together.
"Hinatsuru," Makio called out. She had arrived, and the other woman had been too lost in thought about her fallen comrade.
"We have to inform Tengen," she murmured, trying to compose herself, but she couldn't regain her composure completely.
"They tortured her," Makio, in contrast, was not making any effort to contain her anger.
"I know."
"How can you be so calm!?" the other woman yelled, losing her temper completely.
"I want to avenge her, as much as you do," Hinatsuru admitted, hugging her legs. "But if we rush, we won't achieve anything."
"I'm not going to just stand here and do nothing!"
"Neither am I, but the only thing we can do is ask Tengen to come," informing him by letter about what had happened would have been too cold. Besides, Suma's death forced them to devise a new strategy.
They couldn't fight demons. Even though their weapons, courtesy of Shinobu, were coated with demon poison, they hadn't learned any breathing techniques, even though they had memorized their husband's different forms of breathing.
Uzui was with Shinobu when the crow arrived. The Sound Pillar had gone to the Butterfly Mansion to get more wisteria poison when he saw the bird perch on the windowsill.
Both Pillars made a move to go towards the animal upon seeing the folded paper on its paw, but it spoke "Letter for the Sound Pillar!"
If Shinobu noticed the urgency with which the man took it and unfolded it, she didn't comment on it.
"I have to go," Tengen said, serious.
"A mission?" the woman inquired.
"Something like that, yes."
"Then I won't keep you any longer," said Shinobu. "If you need any help, don't hesitate to send a message."
"Don't worry. I can handle it perfectly fine on my own."
"Well, if you say so, I trust your judgment," after all, Uzui was one of the most experienced among the Pillars.
"See you at the next meeting, Shinobu. Take care."
"Same to you. Good luck."
Uzui ran off and the woman sighed a little.
By the time Tengen managed to reach the Red Light District, it was already getting dark. Without wasting any more time, he jumped onto one of the roofs and began to travel the area by jumping from building to building.
According to what Hinatsuru had written to him, both Makio and she would be waiting for him in the poorest area of that district. She didn't specify what they wanted to talk to him about, but she emphasized how important it was.
Although he didn't want to admit it, the fact that Suma was not mentioned anywhere in the letter had really unsettled him.
And his fear increased when he arrived at the meeting point and only saw Hinatsuru and Makio. Both women seemed to have been crying, and hearing the melody that came from them was all Tengen needed to put all the pieces together.
"Is this a joke, right?" was the first thing he said. It couldn't be true. Hinatsuru gently shook her head, and the two women approached him, embracing their husband while the three lamented Suma's murder. "Where is she?" Tengen finally asked. He wanted to see her and say goodbye to her as she deserved.
"They took the body away with them. Several agents came from the nearest city," Hinatsuru replied. Although both of them would have liked to go with them or admit that they knew Suma, given the nature of their mission, they had been forced to keep their mouths shut.
The city must have been several kilometers away, so it would take them a few hours to get there, Uzui thought. They had no choice but to leave for now and re-evaluate their strategy.
"Well, we'll have to go," the Sound Pillar said, and the two women nodded.
"We still haven't been able to find the demon," Makio informed him as they set off.
"Good. With how well he's hiding, he must be part of the Twelve Moons," he had been imprudent to involve his wives and ended up paying the consequences. "I don't want you to get involved anymore. From now on, I'll take care of everything."
Makio was about to protest immediately, but Hinatsuru grabbed the other woman's right arm and, when she had her attention, she firmly shook her head. It was better not to contradict him, even though neither of them thought the same.
Daki smiled, satisfied. She had followed those two women as soon as she saw them leaving together to a secluded area.
To avoid being detected, she had minimized her presence as much as possible and remained attentive to their conversation.
She didn't need to be close to hear what they were saying; her hearing was sharp enough to hear from a distance, and it was definitely worth it.
Although she had to allow them to send a crow to their contact within the Corps and wait for a while.
When she saw that man, who was wearing the uniform of the members of that organization, she knew it immediately. A Pillar. She had faced enough of them to be able to recognize them at first sight.
She could have attacked them right there and won easily, but, and this was the funny part, it wasn't fair. They had the right to mourn the death of that human, and Daki wasn't going to take that away from them.
Anyway, she knew they would come back for her sooner or later, so she didn't mind waiting a few more days. It would be worth it.
She watched them leave from her hiding place. That Pillar had not been able to detect her at any time. Pathetic, really pitiful.
She hoped the fight would be exciting. She wanted to have fun.
Ubuyashiki listened to his wife with disbelief. It couldn't be true, the incident with Kanae was already a heavy blow. Now, one of the Thunder Breathing apprentices had turned into a demon. And he couldn't do anything to prevent these things. Nothing but delivering the bad news to the man who had trained Kaigaku.
"What have I done wrong, Amane?" he asked, barely containing the sorrow in his voice.
"Nothing. There was nothing you could do," his wife replied frankly, "It's not your fault that others make their own decisions."
As much as she was right, it didn't make it hurt any less. He considered all the hunters his children, and seeing them stray from the path pained him.
"The only thing you can do now is take action," Amane advised him, "Inform his master of what happened. He deserves to know."
Kagaya sighed, he did his best to keep in touch with retired Pillars, and being the bearer of such bad news was never a pleasant task, but it was a necessary one.
"You're right. Kuwajima needs to know what happened."
"I'll start writing the letter immediately," Amane told him.
"Thank you."
Kagaya was left alone in the room and he held back a sigh. This was the most unpleasant part of it all. When he had to notify the loved ones of the hunters who had died or cases in which the hunter ended up turning into a demon. Now, the only thing that could save Kanae and Kaigaku were the swords of other hunters. Even if that means their souls will end up in hell, paying for their crimes.
Kuwajima smiled as he watched the crow that had just arrived. He approached it eagerly, hoping it was the monthly letter from Zenitsu, one of his apprentices, updating him on his progress.
Therefore, when he was able to see the paper up close and recognize the familiar Ubuyashiki seal, he frowned slightly. He rarely received letters from the current leader of the Corps.
He had retired over twenty years ago, not even serving under Kagaya, but under his predecessor. One of the most respectable men the former Thunder Pillar had ever had the pleasure of meeting.
Thinking about this, he began to read the contents of the letter, curious to know what Ubuyashiki wanted from him.
As he read on, the color drained from his face. According to what Ubuyashiki told him, one of the Corps' crows had reported that Kaigaku had accepted becoming a demon.
He put the paper aside, it was too much to take in. Kaigaku, although extremely proud and temperamental, had been someone with a lot of potential and he never imagined that he could fall so low.
He must have done something wrong as his master. He had failed miserably, he told himself. And the responsibility for that fell on him.
All the moments he had spent with Kaigaku, training, eating together, living in the same house, came to his mind. It seemed unbelievable that it had been so easy for the young man to turn his back on all of that.
The ultimate responsibility lay with him, for not having taught his disciple correctly. And he had to pay the consequences. Long ago, when he was young and impetuous, he had promised the previous leader that he would slit his stomach if something like this ever happened.
"It's time to fulfill my word," he murmured to himself.
He had to prepare everything for that. He was not afraid to die, it was something he had come to terms with years ago.
He went to the armory where he kept all his swords and picked the most appropriate blade for what he intended to do.
He left the knife there while he went to get what he needed. Part of the ritual required composing a poem and drinking some sake beforehand. Normally it was done in front of an assistant who would cut the other person's head, but Kuwajima lived alone, there was no one who could play that role.
Perhaps he deserved it, the old man told himself.
When he had everything he needed, he returned to the room where he had left the knife and, kneeling down, began to write the poem.
Zenitsu relaxed when the day's training session ended. As he still had to learn the Constant Total Breathing, he remained in the Butterfly Mansion.
His training sessions were quite varied, under the supervision of the Insect Pillar, who helped him and pointed out the mistakes he was making.
He couldn't even stop practicing at night, it was necessary for him to keep breathing in that way even while asleep.
He appreciated the support of the girls, but it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to maintain that pace.
"Well, we'll stop here for today," Shinobu said with a smile. "You've done very well, Zenitsu. I'm sure you'll soon master it perfectly."
"Do you think so?" The boy wasn't so sure, although he appreciated her words.
"Of course!"
"Thank you."
"Zenitsu!" Senjuro arrived quickly in the room. He had a letter in his left hand. "This has arrived for you!"
"Oh, thank you." The blonde took it. He would open it once he was in bed to read it calmly. "Well, then, see you tomorrow. Thank you very much for everything, Miss Kocho."
He left quickly. He didn't want to delay too long in reading the letter, which was most likely written by his master. He had lost hope that Kaigaku would respond to any of his letters.
When he arrived at his dormitory, he sat on the bed and unfolded the paper, starting to read its contents.
See you soon with the next chapter! Don't forget to leave a review! I would love to hear your thoughts!