Kimetsu no Yaiba doesn't belong to me. This story is a translation of another fanfic of mine. I hope you like it!
Uzui was trembling as he looked at the body covered with a sheet. He struggled to muster the courage to lift the fabric and check if it was really Suma. Part of him didn't want to see her, but another, bigger, part of him, needed to do.
But the police officer was waiting. With a trembling hand, he grabbed the sheet and slowly removed it enough to be able to see her face.
Her eyes were closed, and if Tengen didn't already know the truth, he would have thought she was sleeping.
"Yes, it's her," he said, still struggling to believe it. When Hinatsuru and Makio had told him hours before, he had refused to accept the truth. But now, in front of him, he had irrefutable proof. Suma was dead.
It was his fault. He should have realized that something like this was an impossible task for someone who, although capable of defending herself, lacked the preparation of a demon hunter. It had taken him several years to be ready, after all.
"I'm very sorry," said the other man, trying to offer some comfort, although Tengen barely paid attention to his words.
"We'll take the body."
"Excuse me, but this is an ongoing investigation. The medical examiner wants..."
"I don't care," Uzui had to control himself from shouting. "This is beyond your capabilities. The Corps will take care of it."
"There's no evidence that a demon did this," the police officer didn't seem willing to give up.
"You're wrong. Now, please let us take my wife's body." Tengen delicately picked up the wrapped body.
The officer opened his mouth to continue protesting, but the look that the Pillar gave him silenced him completely and allowed him to leave the scene.
Outside, Hinatsuru and Makio were sitting in chairs, waiting. Both women had not been able to enter and had to stay outside. But as soon as they saw their husband and what he was carrying, they got up and approached immediately.
"We're leaving," Tengen, who had not been able to see the wounds that demon had inflicted on Suma, wanted it to be Kocho who handled the autopsy. He trusted her opinion more than that of civilians.
Kocho, as soon as she knew what he wanted, led him to her underground laboratory and indicated a long metal table where he could leave the body. Uzui obeyed and stepped back.
"Thank you, Kocho. I'm sorry I gave you such short notice."
"Nonsense," she said as she opened one of the cabinets and took out a briefcase, which she placed on the table. "It will take me several hours to perform a complete examination. You should wait outside," she said. She didn't think it was a good idea for him to see the procedure. Plus, she would feel more relaxed doing it on her own, without someone watching her every move.
"I'll stay," Tengen wanted to know everything as soon as possible. Shinobu, who had just finished putting on latex gloves and a white lab coat, turned around and sighed.
"It won't be pleasant, I assure you, Tengen. Please, go out and I'll let you know when I'm done. It's better if you don't see the procedure."
Uzui, who had always had the ability to pick up sounds that other humans couldn't, watched her silently. Kocho was worried about him and wasn't smiling. She wasn't lying either. He reluctantly agreed to her request and left her alone. Although he wanted to be present, he knew Shinobu well enough to know that arguing with her was a losing battle. Makio and Hinatsuru, who had been present throughout the conversation, followed him in silence. None of them felt like talking.
Each was lost in their thoughts, though they took similar directions, none expressed them out loud. They wanted to repay all the harm that demon had caused Suma. They left the underground and left Shinobu's room. Only then did the Sound Pillar speak. "I'll make sure to avenge Suma."
"We will," Makio corrected him immediately and Hinatsuru nodded. They wouldn't just sit idly by. "No. I'll go alone." "Tengen. Suma was important to us too."
"You're not prepared for this kind of thing," Tengen knew it was a low blow, but it was the only way to keep them away. "You don't even master a breathing technique or use the right weapons to kill a demon."
"We can use the poison Kocho makes," Hinatsuru intervened, starting to get upset. Her husband was too stubborn, but he had to understand them and what they were feeling.
"You would just be a hindrance in the fight." Both women frowned at that, but Tengen hadn't finished speaking. "And it's already enough that that area is teeming with people at night. It's very dangerous, I won't be able to protect you if things get complicated."
Suddenly, Makio tried to punch him, which the Pillar, thanks to all his years of combat experience, easily dodged.
"Sometimes you can behave like a real jerk, you know?" Makio was controlling herself not to shout and make a scene. The last thing they wanted was to attract unwanted attention.
She left without giving Tengen a chance to say anything else. "Makio is right," although Hinatsuru could understand better how he was feeling, that didn't justify his words, "We're not useless. Even if we can't fight like you, we can assist you in battle. And we will."
"No. End of discussion. I'm going alone and you will stay here waiting."
Shinobu relaxed when the three of them left. It was for the best that they weren't present while she performed the autopsy. It wasn't going to be pretty or pleasant for them.
The woman had some experience with these kinds of things, although she had never done it with another human before, even though there wasn't going to be much difference.
She opened the case and took out the scalpel, leaving it near the table. She sighed a little and approached the body. She removed the sheet covering the body and, patiently, began to undress the corpse.
She put the clothes in a bag and closed it. She placed it against one of the table legs. And she paid attention to the body again. She was now ready to start Suma's autopsy.
The first thing she would do was look for external injuries on the body. She carefully examined the face, noticing the dark blue marks on the lips. She clicked her tongue a little, that was probably a sign of asphyxia, since petechiae could also be seen on the face.
And on the neck, there was an abrasion mark. This confirmed her hypothesis, Suma's cause of death was asphyxiation. But still, she had to proceed with the rest of the autopsy and examine the woman's organs.
She took the scalpel again and, carefully, made three cuts in the skin to open the chest and examine what she wanted.
She separated the skin and kept cutting, penetrating through the muscle until the ribs were finally visible.
The next part was, well, quite messy. If she wanted to access the organs, she was going to have to break the ribs. She grabbed some shears and got to work. Slowly and with precision born of practice, she broke those bones.
She left the ribs on a nearby tray and took the scalpel again. Carefully, she extracted the organs so that she could examine them separately. She left them in several trays and moved away from the corpse.
Kyojuro sighed a little, he had been listening to Tengen complain about his wives' behavior for a while now.
"And they don't seem to realize how dangerous it is! Can you believe it?" The Sound Pillar didn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. And it was the first time Kyojuro had seen him so worked up.
The Flame Pillar was quite uncomfortable, but still tried to calm the other down. "It's dangerous, yes," he admitted. He understood Tengen's reasons for acting this way to some extent. "But maybe you should explain it to them well."
"I've been pretty clear already," Tengen said, "I'm worried that the demon keeps hiding so easily."
"Do you need help?" Kyojuro took that opportunity to change the subject to one he felt more comfortable with.
Tengen declined. He would take care of it personally. He didn't want anyone else to interfere. "How's your apprentice doing?" he asked, changing the subject, perhaps too abruptly, but the other man didn't mind.
"Good, I'm sure if she keeps it up, she'll become a Pillar."
"Do you think so? The level of hunters has dropped a lot lately," Tengen complained, serious.
"It's not easy," the other man acknowledged.
"Instructors should be more demanding. They're too soft."
"Why don't you look for someone to teach?" Kyojuro asked curiously. It was natural for Pillars to do something like that at some point.
"Nah, I'm not like Shinobu or you. I wouldn't have enough patience."
Rengoku laughed. He could imagine the scenario perfectly. Tengen sighed a little, his thoughts kept returning to Suma, no matter how hard he tried to avoid it. Perhaps his two wives were experiencing the same thing.
"So, they suffocated her then?" asked Makio seriously after Shinobu finished explaining the results she had obtained from the autopsy.
"Yes, that was the cause of death." Shinobu had tried to be as delicate as possible in delivering the information. She didn't believe being too explicit was the best option. "She had marks of torture all over her body," she added without going into details.
Tengen nodded seriously. "Thank you, Shinobu."
"It was nothing," the woman closed the folder where she had written down all the information she had gathered during the autopsy.
"There is something else I would like to ask of you," Tengen admitted. "The last samples of poison you gave me have run out."
"I can give you a more potent one that I recently developed, or do you prefer the usual one?"
"A more potent one would be good, yes."
"Perfect. Just don't forget to tell me how it works later," Shinobu asked. "I haven't had a chance to test it yet."
The demon who would have been her guinea pig for that had chosen to commit suicide rather than allow that. Saying the name of the demon king provided these creatures with a gruesome death.
"Don't worry," it wasn't the first time something like this had happened.
"Can you give us several samples too?" Hinatsuru intervened seriously.
Shinobu made a face " I don't have many of the new one, I would have to give you the one you usually use". She wanted to keep some to test the new substance herself. All she needed was to find a good test subject.
"That's okay" generally the poisons made by the Pillar of Insects were quite effective.
"If you wait a bit, I'll give you everything now."
Suma's funeral was quite brief. Although Tengen would have liked to prepare something more extravagant, that would not have been his deceased wife's style. And at that moment, the Pillar of Sound wanted to honor her memory as much as possible.
After cremating the body, they had taken the urn with the ashes to the cemetery where other ninjas from their clan were buried. Only the three of them had been present, and they had not expected the presence of the young woman's relatives either.
They had broken all contact with their respective families some time ago when they decided to leave the ninja lifestyle. And so far, none of them had come to regret that decision.
Tengen lit the scented candle that was in front of the tombstone, and the three of them knelt down, closing their eyes, praying for Suma's soul to rest in peace.
"I'm sorry, Suma," the man murmured when he opened his eyes. "But I promise I will avenge you, even if it's the last thing I do."
Makio pressed her lips together, forming a thin line, doing her best not to argue with her husband right there. No matter how hard both women tried, Tengen remained firm in his decision to keep them out of it.
Daki entered her bedroom and stopped, surprised to see Muzan there, sitting in the desk chair. She quickly closed the door and immediately knelt before him. The other demon smiled a bit and stood up.
"I'm glad to see you're still getting more powerful," Muzan commented, approaching her. Of all the Upper Moons, Daki was the youngest, barely a century old.
Daki tried to contain her enthusiasm for those words and remained silent, staring at the floor.
"But it's been a while since you killed a Pillar."
"They're not easy to locate, my lord," she confessed. "But I recently managed to find one," the young demon tried to excuse herself. It's not like she had abandoned that task lately.
"And is he still alive?"
"I'm waiting for his return. I've given him reasons to come back."
"Make sure you kill him."
Daki nodded, somewhat surprised. Her lord didn't usually waste his time giving orders like that. It was part of her mission as an Upper Moon. All of them had killed at least three or four Pillars.
"I will."
"Good, I'm sure you can," Muzan said. For an Upper Moon, something like that had to be child's play.
Daki refrained from asking if there was anything else he wanted.
"There's something else I want you to do. If you have the opportunity," the Demon King finally admitted, "what do you know about the Breath of the Sun?"
"Nothing, my lord," Daki had never heard of it. Not even from demons older than her.
"It's the original breath," Muzan explained. "The most powerful."
"Do you want me to eliminate those who practice it?" the young demon tried to deduce, wishing to please her lord.
"I'm not sure if there's anyone who practices it currently, but I do know of a family that has been passing it down through their generations."
"I'll take care of them," Daki assured him, believing that was what her lord wanted to ask of her.
"There's only one member of that family left alive. A girl with hanafuda-shaped earrings."
"I'll kill her, don't worry," Daki was excited. It was the first time she had received a mission from her lord. It was undoubtedly a great honor.
"If you have no other choice, yes. But I would prefer that you turn her into a demon," Muzan had had enough time to think about how to contaminate the legacy of the Breath of the Sun, and was there a better way?
"Understood!"
Uzui stopped near the Red Light District. To tell the truth, he had no concrete plan to locate that demon.
He could have taken several hunters and had them infiltrate, as his wives had done before. But the risk was too high, and if there was one thing Tengen hated, it was being the cause of deaths that could have been avoided.
He decided he would think of a way to get what he wanted on the fly. He would make that demon come out, no matter what.
With that determination in mind, he ran towards the buildings and jumped onto the roof of the first one.
Night had already fallen, and the streetlights were on. Tengen watched the people walking by with a serious expression. It was likely that the demon he was looking for was hiding in the house that Suma had investigated. That would explain, at least, why his other two wives had not been attacked.
At that moment, he felt something moving at full speed towards him and had just enough time to step aside. Seconds later, two pink ribbons cut through the air where he had been. If he had been slower to react, he would have died.
He turned around and saw the woman who had just arrived. He hadn't noticed her. He hadn't even heard her approaching. She was a young woman with long white hair with green tips. Her face was pale, with several flowers drawn on it. She wore scanty clothes that barely covered her body.
That was worrisome, he thought as he unsheathed the two enormous swords on his back.
"So you're an Upper Moon, huh?" Tengen asked, trying to appear calm as he noticed the kanji in both of his opponent's eyes. The Sixth Upper Moon.
"Tell me, what breathing technique do you use?" Daki asked. She hoped it was either Rock or Wind, she hadn't killed a Pillar who used them yet.
"What does it matter to you?" Tengen asked, launching an attack against her.
"I just like to know," Daki commented. Though it was pretty pathetic how slow he was. She wasn't having any trouble dodging his attacks.
"Well, I'm afraid you'll never find out," Tengen replied.
"Really?" Daki feigned disappointment as she landed back on the rooftop, avoiding the edge of his swords. "What a shame."
The next thing Tengen did was to rapidly launch a series of sword strikes against her, while at the same time releasing one of his bombs and detonating it with his weapons. A gray smoke covered the area, preventing Tengen from seeing his surroundings properly, but he hoped he had done some damage to that woman.
He heard perfectly as she threw her two ribbons against him, and he tried to cut them. He winced when he realized they were more resistant than they seemed. He was barely able to cut anything.
He felt the ribbons spin behind him and come back at him. He jumped to one of the nearby rooftops to avoid them.
He couldn't stay there. If they fought in that area, the number of victims would be high. The best thing was to try to get her away from the population.
Just then, the smoke covering Daki's area dissipated. As he feared, she didn't seem to have suffered any damage.
"Is this the best you can do?" she mocked, laughing.
"I've only just begun," Tengen charged against the demon again, and taking advantage of the unprotected area of her stomach, he pushed her back with his foot.
Daki was thrown towards the forested area surrounding the district. Although the impact against the ground left her breathless for a few seconds, she quickly recovered.
So he was trying to avoid unnecessary deaths, thought the demon. Quite predictable. Everyone she had faced adopted that same strategy. And she ended up killing them, sometimes taking advantage of that blatant weakness.
She dodged the next attack from the human and immediately counterattacked. Daki wondered how long it would take for him to tire out. It was something that humans were quite prone to.
They exchanged attacks at lightning speed as they moved between the trees. When she was blocking Tengen's thrusts, Daki felt pain in her leg and, upon directing her attention there, realized she had a kunai lodged in her right thigh.
Without hesitation, she removed it and threw it to the ground. "Did you really think such a trick would be effective?"
She paused for a moment as she felt discomfort. Daki could feel a strange substance in her bloodstream. Her sclera turned red and her veins darkened due to the poison, but that was the only thing that happened before Daki was able to neutralize the substance.
Tengen growled, of course it wasn't going to be that easy. Maybe with a lower-ranking demon it would have worked, but it was clear that it wasn't effective against the Upper Moons.
"Poison? Really?" she asked. She lunged at him and tried to kick him in the head.
But before she could do so, he grabbed her leg and threw her against the trees. She had managed to neutralize the poison faster than Tengen would have liked. It hadn't even really affected him.
Daki cushioned the blow by grabbing onto several branches with her ribbons. And she watched him with little interest. She was getting very bored already.
Tengen didn't see her move. In the blink of an eye, the woman was in front of him and, with her nails, sharp as knives, she was about to blind him, but the man turned his head at the last moment and managed to prevent his left eye from becoming useless. Although the resulting scratch on his cheek was quite deep.
Blood was flowing profusely, soon reaching his neck and staining his uniform. But Uzui didn't seem affected at all. If anything, he looked slightly annoyed. And before the demon had a chance to move away, Uzui cut off both of her arms.
Daki landed several meters ahead, and the lost limbs regenerated immediately. She was going to get serious now, she decided. Six ribbons came out of her pink obi and she threw them at the Pillar at full speed. He tried to block them with his two swords, but the woman, making two of her ribbons swerve to his side, hit him and threw Tengen against the trees, causing him to hit several branches, breaking them and falling to the ground.
Uzui tried to get up as fast as he could, the wounds hurt quite a bit, even though they weren't bleeding as much anymore, and, to top it off, several wood splinters had lodged in his arms, aggravating the state of his injuries.
Daki didn't give him time to recover and threw her obi ribbons at him again, forcing the Pillar to defend himself as best he could, using his smoke bombs to get away from the trajectory of his enemy's attack.
Tengen's crow watched the fight attentively. Although Uzui had managed well at first, Daki had been able to wound him and it was already taking a toll.
And the battle was starting to favor the demon, who continued to attack the human without any mercy.
Without wasting any time, the crow took flight. If he hurried, he could reach the Butterfly Mansion in time and ask for reinforcements.
He didn't know how long he had been flying, but he didn't allow himself to rest. His owner's life depended on him.
So when he spotted Rengoku and his successor before arriving, he launched himself towards them, using practically all the strength he had left.
The Flame Pillar caught him carefully and quickly recognized him, thanks to the decorations that Tengen had put on the animal some time ago.
"Nijimaru!" Kyojuro exclaimed, already sensing that something must have gone wrong from the bird's state.
"S-Sixth Upper Moon," the crow managed to say, out of breath from the effort. "In the District of Pleasure."
Rengoku frowned upon hearing that. "Sumiko, let's go. We can't waste any time," he ordered, looking at his successor, then turned back to the poor animal. "Do you have the strength to make it to Shinobu's house?" The animal nodded and, with evident effort, took flight.
Daki smiled amusedly. From where she stood, she could feel her opponent's heartbeat slowing down. The loss of blood had taken its toll, sealing the fight.
And to end it, one of the demon's sashes had torn through the side of Tengen's neck, cutting through one of the most important veins.
Tengen had tried to use the Breath of Total Concentration to stop the bleeding, but that had left him vulnerable to her attacks, and one of Daki's sashes pierced through his chest, puncturing his heart.
The hunter immediately collapsed, dead. Daki stretched out a bit, finally relaxing.
She could return to the Red Light District calmly since they had the battle in another location, and it remained intact. And there was no one left who could expose her, so she saw no problem in returning for now.
She ran towards there. When she was near the place, she took on a human form again and easily blended in with the people walking around.
Rengoku abruptly stopped as he found one of his companion's weapons thrown haphazardly on the ground in the nearby forest they were heading towards.
"Rengoku..." Sumiko also noticed it, but she seemed concerned about something else. "There's a strong smell of blood in that direction."
Kyojuro looked towards where the young girl was pointing and nodded gravely. "Let's go, Sumiko."
The three of them ran towards the source of the smell. A few meters ahead, they found Tengen's body. While Sumiko and Nezuko kept a safe distance, the Flame Pillar approached his companion.
Uzui was undoubtedly dead, and judging by the wound on his chest, his heart had been pierced.
At least he had a quick death, thought Kyojuro, trying to find comfort and push away the grim thoughts that began to flood his mind. Deep down, it was his fault. He should have insisted more on accompanying him.
It was well known among all members of the Corps that, when facing one of the Upper Moons, three Pillars were needed to have any chance of winning. And even that didn't guarantee victory.
He closed his companion's eyes out of respect and looked at his successor. She frowned and seemed quite uneasy. Nezuko was the same, looking around as if expecting to be attacked.
"What's wrong?" Rengoku asked.
"The scent of this demon..." murmured Sumiko, uneasily. "It's too similar to Muzan's."
"Do you think you could detect him by his smell?"
"Maybe, yes..." The doubt tainted the young girl's voice, who couldn't help but remember the encounter, some time ago, with Muzan.
Rengoku was tempted to ask her to do it immediately, but rushing could cost them their lives. And taking Sumiko to a confrontation against the seventh strongest demon would be suicide. She wasn't ready, and would only be a hindrance.
"Forget it for now, it's better if we retreat," Kyojuro decided while trying to carry Tengen's body, losing his balance a bit and staggering slightly. He weighed quite a bit, Uzui had always been a fairly sturdy man, and although Kyojuro wasn't weak, he didn't reach his fallen companion's level. "Let's go back to the Butterfly Mansion."
"Rengoku, can I help?" the girl asked, seeing the Pillar's difficulties in advancing.
"I can do it if you want," Nezuko offered. Kyojuro was tempted to refuse, more out of pride than anything else, but it was true that if he continued like this, he would tire quickly.
"I would really appreciate it, Nezuko," he finally accepted, and the demon increased her size to be taller than the Pillar. She took Tengen's body from Rengoku's back and carried him as if he weighed nothing.
Shinobu was waiting on the porch of the Butterfly Mansion for their arrival, and as soon as she saw them, she quickly approached them.
At first, upon seeing Nezuko carrying Tengen, she thought he was injured. Until she had the chance to get a closer look.
"We arrived too late," Kyojuro admitted.
Shinobu shook her head. She doubted that would have changed anything, but she refrained from saying so. They heard the door of the house open and Tengen's two wives came out.
Both stopped in their tracks for a moment upon seeing the state of their husband, and Shinobu, realizing that the sun was starting to rise on the horizon, took charge of the situation right away.
"Let's go inside, it's already dawn," she said.
The five hurried back inside the house, and Nezuko relaxed somewhat when she was covered. She felt tired, carrying that man in that form exhausted her more than she expected and she just wanted to sleep.
But she didn't complain, it wasn't the time. "Where do I leave him?" she asked. If she sounded too abrupt, she didn't care. She also didn't want to carry him all the time.
"Oh, right, right," Shinobu murmured. "Come on, let's go." It was best to leave him in one of the empty bedrooms for the time being.
She didn't want to leave him in the infirmary because there was a risk that some of the little girls would see him, and Shinobu wanted to spare them that experience as much as possible.
"We'll take care of him," Hinatsuru said, trying to grab her husband to carry him herself, and Makio helped her right away.
As soon as she was relieved of that extra weight, Nezuko returned to her original size and leaned slightly on her sister.
See you soon with the next chapter! Don't forget to leave a review! I would love to hear your thoughts!