A whole week had passed since Sara had been abducted by the King of Demons himself. No potential Demon Slayers had been brought into the Infinity Castle yet.
How was she getting by?
Well...
She had no clothes to change herself into.
She slept in the main hall of the castle, on the tatami floor (no bedsheets provided).
She ate whatever Kokushibo brought her (usually a basket of plain apples, peaches if he was feeling generous).
All of the demons that passed by looked at her with hungry eyes.
She was surprised none of them attacked her.
What did she learn during that week?
Apparently she was the only known moon breather (they didn't know about her mentor).
Kibutsuji wanted to eradicate Sun Breathing users. Still, he wanted a bunch of Moon Breathing humans for some reason she didn't know. Most likely due to the fact that Moon Breathing was the second strongest breathing but could not harm him too much.
Kibutsuji thought the humans would either kill themselves or be too scared to train if Kokushibo was their teacher (understandable, bro has 6 eyes and isn't exactly friendly).
Kibutsuji did not kill Sara simply because he did not know any other human moon breathers. However, he still made sure to threaten her with torture in case of non-compliance.
Kokushibo refuses to speak with her unless absolutely necessary.
Kokushibo seems annoyed by the fact that Kibutsuji ordered him to watch her all day every day. He doesn't show it in his face, but Sara can feel an aura of irritation coming from him.
Kokushibo recently told Sara that, when his Master instructs him to, he will be training her so that her Moon Breathing technique becomes optimal. Only that way, she may begin instructing the humans. However, Kibutsuji does not want her to start her training with Kokushibo just yet for unknown reasons.
There is a demon who calls himself Shadow that watches her from the shadowy ends of the corridors whenever she decides to venture outside of the main area of the castle.
Other than that, Sara spent that first week together alone with Kokushibo doing absolutely nothing. She never saw Kibutsuji again for the whole week. All of the information she gathered was given to her by Kokushibo whenever he felt conversational (2 sentences per day maximum, that is).
After the first week, Sara started getting tired of eating apples, sleeping on the floor of the main hall where demons roamed and not having any changes of clothes.
She sighed. "What can I do, Mr. 6-Eyes? I can't keep living like this? How am I supposed to go through training and then become a trainer under these conditions? I don't even have a room of my own".
Kokushibo, focused on the manuscript he was reading, paid her concerns no mind.
Sara, knowing that he wouldn't reply, kept rambling to herself. "This is it. I'm talking to Mr. Kibutsuji now. I will demand better conditions".
A hint of intrigue and interest sparked into Kokushibo's numerous eyes. He looked at her, curious about her resolution.
"What will it be? I will... ask for a room, like... come on! This castle ishuge! There's no way he can't even give me a bedroom for myself".
Kokushibo looked at Sara with his full attention, amused at her ingenuous idea of demanding anything from Kibutsuji Muzan.
"Also, I need more clothes. These ones stink already. He's not gonna like it when he checks on me if I smell like a mischief of rotting rats".
Kokushibo's eyes went back to the manuscript, still listening to Sara's monologue.
"And better food. I need some variety. If I keep eating just fruits, my health will decline and- pardon my language- I won't be able to do jack shit under those conditions" Sara crossed her arms, slightly terrified inside but fully determined to better her situation.
"Respectfully, I highly doubt Master will let you have any commodities". Kokushibo looked at her again with a stoic expression.
"Wanna bet?" Sara approached him with a smirk. "Because I am sure I will get everything that I just mentioned from him".
Kokushibo lightly tilted his head. "And how do you exactly plan on doing that, youngling?"
Sara smiled. Kokushibo had picked up the habit of calling her a youngling in the past two days. It may not have meant anything to him, but to her it was quite endearing.
"Watch and learn, Mr. 6-eyes" Sara stood up and left the main area of the castle, heading for Kibutsuji's office.
Kokushibo was left there, partially curious and partially concerned.
How did she find the office's location? Simple, really. During the week she had been captive, she started following some demons who came to the castle often. They always went straight to his office for reasons Sara ignored.
After a short walk, she finally reached the office door. Ignoring the pang of fear in her heart, she lightly knocked on the door.
...
No response.
She knocked again, louder this time.
...
Still nothing.
Maybe heisn'tin the office, Sara thought.
But just as she was about to knock a third time, the door opened, revealing the well-feared figure of Kibutsuji Muzan.
He stared down at her, unamused.
"Oh, my Moon Breathing prisoner. What are you doing here?" He leaned on the door frame with one arm.
Sara swallowed her pride and fear. "Mr. Demon King. I need to speak to you about-"
He interrupted her sentence. "And what makes you think I want to talk to a lowly human such as yourself?" His expression was serious, with a hint of annoyance.
Sara pondered about what answer she should give him.
Fuck it, if I'm gonna die let it be fucking epic, she thought.
"Nothing. I don't think you want to speak to me. But I want to speak to you" She replied, slightly tense.
"Why would I care about what you want?" he retorted, his patience starting to run thin.
Sara didn't know how to respond to that. It was true, he did not care about anything, let alone some random human he was holding as a prisoner.
Suddenly, she had a genius idea.
She breathed in deeply, calming herself internally for what was about to come.
"Prisoner Breathing, First Form: Desperation!" She yelled and punched him in the face with all her might. Immediately after the hit, she started running away from him.
Muzan stood there, absolutely perplexed. "Did she just..." he chuckled to relieve his inner tension, as he was starting to get really angry. "Calm down, Muzan, you can't kill her... you need her alive" he mumbled to himself.
"This crazy madwoman... I will show her" Muzan quickly ran behind Sara's location at a super human speed. He then slowed down and started running close behind her. He did not intend to catch her, he just ran very close to her so that she would stress and panic. "You're done, you dimwit!" He yelled, while running little more than one meter behind her. He planned on running right behind her until she became physically exhausted.
Sara breathed in. "Prisoner Breathing, Second Form: Ambush!" With a quick movement, she removed her jacket and threw it just at the right height for it to get stuck on Kibutsuji's face. Right after that, she took a right turn and entered a random room, quickly hiding in a present closet.
Muzan, disgusted by its smell, removed the jacket from his face and stopped running. "What... How did she even catch me off guard with this" he sighed. "Anyway..." He could sense Sara's presence with his demonic power. He smirked, his predatory instincts taking over. Even though he would never admit it out loud, he enjoyed chase games. He loved playing cat and mouse. He felt a sadistic sense of joy when toying with his prey before ultimately bringing them their demise.
From inside the closet, Sara could hear his slow footsteps enter the room. "I know you're here~" Kibutsuji hummed. Just from the way he spoke, Sara could tell he was grinning. However, she did not make a sound. On the one hand, this was surely one way of getting his attention and getting a chance to speak about her demands. On the other hand, she was terrified of being found after punching him in the face and throwing her jacket at him.
"You're neither in the futon..." She heard the sound of him lifting it. "Nor under it".
Sara breathed as quietly as possible. She could hear the sound of her own heartbeat and wondered if he could hear it as well.
"Definitely not under the kotatsu" his voice had a hint of amusement.
He sure seems to be having fun with this, Sara thought.
She heard the steps getting closer to the closet. However, she remained silent.
There was a long moment of silence when nothing could be heard inside the room. It was such a long moment that Sara thought Kibutsuji might have left the room without really making a sound.
An even longer time went by, no sounds and no movements.
Sara was terrified, but she had to risk it. Slowly, she opened the closet door, finding that no one stood outside. She slowly left the closet and turned around to close it. But just as she turned around she saw an already well-known figure sitting inside it, just where she was previously seating seconds ago.
Well, there goes Chapter 3!
I hope you enjoyed it! Sara is sure one crazy woman. No sane person would dare pull that off in such a way!
Let me know your thoughts and thank you for reading! Till next week!