Foulstaff, Baltimore 1919
"Tell me a story, daddy! A story of what happened in France." "Honey, you don't want to know about the things that happened there." "But daddy!" She pouted "I'm curious." "You know your mother will get mad if I tell you." "But I won't tell, I promise. Please daddy! Please." Try as he might he could not resist his daughter's pouty face. She truly had his hand wrapped around her finger. "Fine, however I did warn you." "Don't worry I won't tell."
"During the war I had befriended a man named Kitchi." "What a weird name." "He was a Native from Canada. Despite having little food, himself he would always give me what he had left. He didn't eat too much. He learned to always share among his tribe, not over consume too much of your supplies and to never succumb to greed and selfishness. Otherwise, the Wendigo would get them." "Wendigo?" "It's a monster that possesses people and turns them into cannibals."
"Either way we had been in the trench for three days. The Germans constantly hurling insults at us. Funny that a week prior we had celebrated Christmas together. It was as if no war was going on at all. But now we were back to fighting each other. That night the insults finally stopped, and a bell was soon heard. A green gas cloud came along. "Thomas! Run!" "What's going on, Kitchi?" "It's a WMD. I heard about these from the French. It's a deadly gas that suffocates you." He pulled me up and a piece of shrapnel hit my leg." I could feel the cloud closing in on me. I slowly lost my ability to breathe. The last I remember was Kitchi saying "Take him back. His life is more important than mine. He has a family that needs him." "But Kitchi-" "No, just *cough* take him."
Quickly the other soldiers took me to safety. I was in a hospital recovering. "Kitchi! Kitchi!" "He's presumed dead from the gas. You were lucky to have survived." "I need to find him." "No, your leg is infected put some more strain on it and we'll have to amputate it." "Can't you at least find his body? Make sure he is given a proper burial." "I'm afraid we can't do much." "What do you mean?" "His body is on No man's land. It can't be recovered."
"I'll get him." "No, you will not. You need medical attention and you sure as hell can't do it alone." That night I toughed out the pain on my leg and snuck out the hospital into no man's land. I walked all over seeing where his body was. Eventually I found him. Partially eaten by rats. I could still see some eating parts of his body. I kicked them off with one of them biting my foot. Eventually I managed to drag him back and bury the body leaving a wine bottle in front before I snuck back into the hospital.
The next morning the nurse was hysterical seeing how my leg had gotten worse. "We're going to have to amputate it." I couldn't stop yelping in pain. And my leg was gone. A few days later I was discharged and brought back to London then eventually taken back home. Kristine looked terrified. "Please don't let the rats near me." "Honey there is nothing to worry about you are not on the battlefield. No rat will ever bite you." "Promise, daddy." "Of course."
Back to the present, she sees the rat. "No, No not that!" Kyojuro puts his hand on her cheek. "It's ok, love. It's ok." Eventually hunger got to her as she ate the rat alive. "Oh god what happened?" She thought. Kyojuro cuts his arm slightly. The second the blood went into her mouth she could feel a spicy taste. Yet it felt weirdly satisfying and she stopped struggling.
"Here's a piece of bamboo, Rengoku-san." "Good." He states cutting off part of his haori. He ties the gag around her mouth. "Get in the basket." He states before being knocked out from blood loss. She does so only to panic when she finds it to be too small. "Shrink down." Tanjiro states "I know you can do it." She was calmed by his voice and shrunk down into the basket. He wraps his own haori around the basket before putting it on Kyojuro's back. The Kakshi arrives.
"This civilian was just bitten by a demon take her." "Got it." One of them states picking up Yaunping. After a few hours they arrive at the butterfly mansion. "Shinobu take this basket in a room with no windows." "Why so?" "I'll explain later." "Kyojuro! Don't leave us." yells Midori putting pressure on the wounds. "Take him to the operating room." In his dream he sees his mother. "Mom, I missed you." "Your time has not yet come my child." She fades away.
"Mom don't leave me. Everything's gone wrong since you died. Dad won't stop drinking. He won't stop being abusive. Come back mom. I want things to be the way they were before." "I'm sorry my son but you know there is no way that can happen." "Mom, I still miss you." "I know you do. But you still have more work to do and more to live for." He sees the basket being put into a room by Midori. "You still have more to do especially with that girl." Her voice finally fades away.
Hours later all the wounds are stitched up. He is taken to the room with the basket. Kristine gets out of the basket, stroking his long hair. Midori sees through a crack in the door. "Kristine!" She proclaims happily. "Don't go near her." "Why not?" "She's been turned." "Another demon? What is that for?" "She was turned while trying to protect him." "Protect?" "Yes, it was an upper moon. She had gotten between them while fighting. This demon for whatever reason does not kill women. So, he turned her when fatally wounded to get away."
"Is that so?" She takes out her katana. "No, don't kill her. She's the one who saved me." "It's policy." "Yet you didn't kill Nezuko." "She was given an exemption." "Then why not give one to her as well. Can't she be used to find a cure?" "No." Midori gets between the doors. "Out of the way." "No, I won't let you. There must be a way to cure her." "She could kill someone." "Nezuko never did." "But other demons have." "And what about those trying to make up for their sins?" "What do you mean?" "There are demons out there trying to find a cure, trying to make up for what they did. Like Doctor Tamayo." "Tamayo?"
"Yes, that's whom I went to be treated. She was the one who took me to Tamayo." "Wait you-." "Yes, I knew Tamayo was a demon a few days after I was brought in. Think about it. She never went out in the sun; never ate human food, her eyes had no pupils and her teeth looked more like fangs. Those are said to be signs of a demon. What other explanation could there be for all those things. Eventually I overheard Kyojuro threatening to kill her. It confirmed my suspicions the whole time. Even if she can't be kept here, we can at least give her to Tamayo to help find a cure."
Shinobu starts to push her away. Midori grabs the sword breaking the fragile blade in half. "I won't let you kill her. I won't I won't. If Nezuko gets to live she will too." She takes the girl to another room. "Aoi, get some raw meat out." "Your katana is broken. What happened Shinobu?" "It's a long story."