January 8, 1914
Though somewhat early by two or so weeks, the day had come for Mukago to finally welcome her child or potentially children to the world. She had started having contractions the night before, and thankfully was in the Butterfly Estate for a checkup when they happened. As she laid on a bed within a private room, Shinobu, Aoi, Kanao, and the three Caterpillar Girls all gathered supplies as Muichiro paced around outside the room, worried for his girlfriend. As he continued to pace, James asked him, "Are ya worried, son? Ya sure do look it."
"That's a fucking understatement," he replied to him with agitation in his eyes and his voice, albeit with a slight chuckle. "I'm… I'm terrified. I keep fearing the worst, Colby-san."
"I can't imagine being in your shoes," James remarked. "I thought I was terrified when Julia first gave birth, but I had been 'round for a while. I couldn't picture myself in this situation at your age, but… I mean, I can't judge ya."
"Thanks," Muichiro replied. "You know, this whole ordeal has been Earth-shattering for me. I never would have guessed a year ago that I'd be a father. I'm glad I have all of you to back me up, though."
"A lot can change in less than a year," James pointed out. "Around this time, I was just beginnin' my journey to Japan from America. By the way…" He then asked Muichiro, "How long has Mukago been in labor now? I lost track of time way too long ago."
"A few hours," Muichiro replied. "Probably the most nerve-wracking hours of my life. I can barely hear a damn thing from this side of the wall."
"Me neither," James replied in agreement. "So, when do ya think they'll be-"
"Tokito-san," Shinobu then said as she emerged from the room, sweat dripping from her face despite the cold weather outside and feeling exhausted from her hard work. "Come on in. We're finished."
"Wait, really?"
"Yeah," she replied as she beamed with genuine happiness despite her tired appearance. "Mukago wants you to see them."
"Them?"
"It's twins."
"Twins?!" Muichiro then ran into the room, seeing Mukago, exhausted but triumphant, laying in bed and holding two small and naked newborns. The smell of blood and other substances was pungent, but it was clear that Aoi, Kanao, and the others had done a lot of work towards cleaning up the room, her, and the babies before they brought him in. "Mukago…"
"Muichiro…" She smiled as tears of joy fell from her eyes. "They're human. Twin human sons, just like you said." The twin babies were now calm, but occasionally made a few squeaks here and there as they looked around their brand new surroundings.
Muichiro was overwhelmed with emotion as he stared at their children. "They look so beautiful…"
"Well come on. You can hold them. You're their father after all. Don't be shy, Mui."
Muichiro carefully picked up the twins and held them in his arms. Both possessed small bits of black hair on their heads, and as they both looked up at him, they seemed to almost smile. "Hey there, little ones. I'm your father." He then whispered to each of them, "I love you. I love you."
Meanwhile, as Muichiro and Mukago bonded with their newborn children, James asked Shinobu outside, "So, how did delivery go? I wanna know if demons will give birth differently from humans, since I ain't never seen one do such even in a place like America."
"It's not that much different," Shinobu replied with a nod. "The only real difference is that of course, the mother tends to heal from her wounds a lot faster. Other than that, all the blood is still there and all the pain is as well. It took us about 5 hours total, though of course it was longer for her since she began to start last night. I expect Susamaru to be similar."
"Well, that's a relief."
Shinobu, curious about something James had said earlier, asked him, "You said that you've witnessed childbirth before, right, Colby-san? Not many men can claim such a thing around here."
"I was there when Julia gave birth," he clarified. "Since we lived a bit of a ways away from the center of Deadwood, I had to help her through deliverin' Henry."
"Here in Japan, childbirth is still seen as only a woman's job," Shinobu replied. "Fathers aren't present inside the room at all, nor are men in general unless you give birth in an actual hospital, and even then, most of the staff attending to the mother are women. My own father was actually at a conference for pharmacists when my mother went into labor for my sister. He rushed over as fast as he could, but by the time he arrived, she was already born. He made sure not to miss mine at all when I was born 3 years later."
"Usually fathers wait outside in America, too," James explained. "But when you live in a remote area, you gotta make do when the nearest midwife is either busy or too far away."
Back in the delivery room, as Muichiro continued to hold the newborns, Mukago's mind was not just on the babies, but also another person: Daki, one half of the duo who composed the Sixth Upper Moon, who was once a close friend and mentor to her. "As soon as I can fight," she thought to herself. "I need to find Daki before Uzui-sama and the rest of the corps do."
"Mukago," Muichiro asked her. "Is something amiss?"
"No," she replied as she once again smiled at him and their children. "Everything's fine. I'm so glad I can finally meet our sons."
…
January 2, 1914
As a heavily pregnant Mukago was sitting in a waiting room at the Ubuyashiki Estate, waiting for Muichiro to come out of a meeting, she heard a conversation outside of the room and decided to inch closer to the walls to put her right ear up on them and hear what was going on. "Hmmmm…"
Outside, she heard a voice she recognized to be that of Tengen Uzui, the Sound Pillar, plus an unknown other person that she did not recognize the voice of. "We have definitive proof that Yoshiwara is a hotbed of demonic activity," the voice told Tengen. "Has the Oyakata-sama come up with a timetable yet?"
"No," Tengen replied. "I'll be meeting with him later today. I'm hoping to have everything ready for a mission to Yoshiwara by the end of the month at the earliest. I can't do any earlier than that without sending guys into Yoshiwara totally blind, especially if reports of an Upper Moon there are accurate. I'll try to have at least one of my wives go in a bit early as a spy. If the intelligence we get from her or all three of them is good, we'll be all set to head in and take this son of a bitch out."
"Wait a fucking minute," Mukago thought to herself in shock. "They're talking about Daki! They have to be! They're really going to go for the kill after all this time and the numerous failed efforts in the past!" She then backed away from the wall, taking in several deep breaths as the shock from the revelation began to simmer down. She said to herself rather quietly, "I have to find her before they do. I need to give her a chance to walk away, no matter how slim it may be, damn it!"
…
January 10, 1914
Tanjiro and Nezuko were working together on a mission near a remote village beside a small lake late at night. For this mission, the two worked out a plan where Nezuko would hide in the wooden box Tanjiro used to carry her in, with Tanjiro carrying her sword until she popped out to surprise any demon they were battling. A light snow had fallen on the ground, but not enough to impede Tanjiro's travel as he asked his sister, "How are you doing in there? Are you holding up okay, Nezuko?"
"I'm fine," she replied. "It feels a bit weird being back in the box after so long, though. I'm just worried that when I grow back into my full body, my uniform will get messed up."
"I'm sure it'll be fine," he insisted.
"Do you smell any scents yet?"
"No," Tanjiro replied, shaking his head despite knowing Nezuko could not see him. "If it weren't for Colby-san's scent-masking spell, I'd be picking up your demon scent the whole time instead."
"True, true," Nezuko agreed.
Both then heard rustling behind them, prompting Tanjiro to stop in his tracks and reach for his sword. As he looked around to find out what the source of the sound was, he remained on high alert, ready to strike. That is, until he heard it again and saw a stray cat walk across the path. "Oh… It was just a cat…" However, when he took a deep breath, he noticed a scent that was not familiar to him. "Hang on," he thought to himself. "This scent is one I don't recognize. This could be our target."
"HELP! HELP ME!" A scream from a woman nearby pierced the quiet winter night air as Tanjiro bolted in the direction of the noise. "SOMEONE HELP ME!"
Nezuko asked Tanjiro, "You heard that, right, oniichan?!"
"Yeah! That doesn't sound good!"
"SOMEBODY HELP ME! HURRY!" This was followed by a loud roar of fear and suffering that got louder as Tanjiro came closer to the source of the screaming.
"Hang on! I'll be right there!" Tanjiro thought to himself as he raced towards the unknown person in distress, "I need to reach this woman in time! I need to reach her in time! I need to reach her!"
When he came to the source of the screaming, he found a woman being held in place by the strong grip of a demon. "Ah, so I see I've attracted a demon slayer," said the demon as he let go of the woman. "Forget this bitch. I'll just devour you!"
The woman screamed, "Be careful!"
"Go, Nezuko!"
"On it," Nezuko replied as she burst out of Tanjiro's box and grew back to normal size, back-flipping above Tanjiro as he threw her sword to her, and quickly catching it. "Breath of Water, Second Form: Water Wheel!" She the. slashed the demon's right arm off completely.
"Agh, shit!" The demon recoiled upon seeing Nezuko. "There were two of you?!"
"Yeah," she replied.
"You're that traitor my master talked about," the demon said to Nezuko as his arm slowly grew back into place before he took out a small sword of his own and swung it at her. She managed to deflect it just as Tanjiro began to race forward to land the striking blow. "Attack him!"
"Breath of Water, First Form: Water Surface Slash!" Tanjiro managed to move in and strike the demon's neck, quickly putting an end to him and completing the mission. As his head fell and his body began to disappear into the night, he turned to the still-frightened woman and told her, "Everything's alright now. That man won't hurt you any longer."
"He… He's the one that terrorized us for the past two days! I know it!"
Nezuko asked her, "Did he kill anyone before we came here?"
"Get away!" The woman was terrified upon seeing that Nezuko was also a demon, having seen her pale skin and larger canine teeth. "You're a demon!"
"Calm down," Tanjiro told the woman. "This is my sister. She's on your side."
Nezuko looked away, feeling bad for scaring the woman. "I.. I see.."
"I'm getting the fuck out of here! I can't trust you!" The woman, still hysterical, ran off screaming and crying back to the village. "A demon! A demon! A demon!"
Tanjiro remarked to himself as the woman ran away, "She didn't listen to a word I said, didn't she?"
"Damn it," Nezuko muttered as she kicked the ground. "I hate that so much." She then wiped her eyes and rubbed her forehead. "It's shit like that that really gets to me, oniichan. I feel terrible whenever people look away from me or run away when they see me."
Tanjiro, feeling bad for his sister, replied, "And it's been happening more and more recently. This is the third time someone you saved ran away from you, right?"
"Yeah," Nezuko confirmed with a nod. "It's like the uniform doesn't even matter. All they see is the demon."
…
January 11, 1914
Nezuko sat alone on a bed in a room at the Butterfly Estate while working on a mission report for what had happened the night before. As she finished writing the report, she stopped and looked around the room before finding a steel nail file sitting on a dresser. She quickly got up and grabbed it, telling herself, "I'm tired of being a monster." With her mind made up, she first began filing her claws down to the size of regular human nails. As she filed away, she said, "This is worth it. This is worth it. This is worth it…"
Once she was finished, taking a rather long time to file her nails due to how strong they were, she took a deep breath and turned to a mirror on the dresser, opening her mouth and looking at her canines. She had resented the fact that they were larger than a human's and were a dead giveaway to her status as a demon, especially now that she was able to be on her own and walked by herself without needing to always be carried by Tanjiro in the wooden box he had been given so long ago. She carefully moved the nail file into her mouth and placed it on one of her bottom canines before she began to slowly and methodically file away at it. As she continued, she could feel a slight amount of pain, but she simply did not care at all, determined to fit in with everyone else and pass as a human rather than as a demon.
She quickly moved onto the next tooth when she was done filing down one. She remained silent the whole time, and was able to taste the ground-up dust from her teeth as it fell onto her tongue. She refused to stop no matter what, and as she finished the final tooth, she pulled the file out of her mouth and stared into the mirror for a better look. "It's a lot more normal," she said to herself. "I almost look human now." She then got up and tucked herself into bed, hoping that the changes she made would be at least somewhat permanent.
…
January 12, 1914
"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Nezuko looked in the mirror early in the morning and was furious at herself. "How the Hell did they grow back so fast?!" Her canines that she had spent so long filing down the night before had grown back to almost their original size, as did her claws. "What the fuck?! My hard work was all for nothing?!" She then slammed her head into the dresser in frustration and sadness. "Damn it…"
"Nezuko?" Tanjiro heard her yelling as he walked by, and came in to see what was wrong. "Nezuko, what's wrong?"
"Oniichan… Have you ever tried so hard to get somewhere, and in a single day, all your hard work was for nothing?" Nezuko then looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "Has that ever happened to you?"
"Nezuko!" He then ran to her and hugged her. "Please, tell me what's wrong, Nezuko."
"I… I tried looking normal…"
"Looking normal? What did you do?!"
"I filed… I filed my class and teeth down, but…"
"You tried what?!" Tanjiro was shocked. "What the Hell happened to them?!"
"I just wanted to look like a human again," Nezuko explained. "But my teeth and claws grew right back over a single night."
"So they did… I imagine it's because your body thought you were hurting yourself, so it healed…"
"Oniichan… I don't want people to get scared of me anymore…"
Tanjiro felt terrible for his only remaining sibling. "Is that what this is all about, Nezuko?" When she nodded in response, he told her, "Nezuko, please, don't try to do that again. All the people that are important to you love you just the way you are, including me. They're not afraid of you because they know you're not just a demon."
"I know, I know… It's just that I don't like it when the people I help get afraid of me. It hurts, oniichan. It really does."
"There, there…" Tanjiro then patted his sister on the back. "It's alright, Nezuko. It's alright."
