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Chapter Text

December 7, 1912

Deadwood, South Dakota

In a small three-room house on the outskirts of the downtown area of the city, a young man who looked about 18 years of age sat by a lamp inside what was his bedroom in the wooden structure, which had no electricity running into it. He was alone, and wore regular day clothes, having recently gotten changed after taking a long nap in the early evening. He had been out for almost all of the night doing something that had clearly exhausted him, but something that he knew had to be done.

He bore a clean shaven face with dirty blonde hair and grey eyes, and had unusually pale skin. “I suppose now’s as good of a time as ever,” he told himself as he first threw a log into a fireplace and then sat down on a stool next to a bucket down below and held his right arm out while holding a knife in the other. “Alright, I need some more… I need some more rounds for the revolver, and… Uh… Oh yeah! I need a bunch of slugs!”

Almost as if he paid no attention to his actions, he nonchalantly stabbed his arm with the knife before dragging it down towards his hand, creating a long cut that bled profusely. However, he only mildly winced from the pain as the blood that poured from his arm collected in the bucket and began to boil by itself. In just over 30 seconds, the wound he had created began to heal itself as he held the arm over the bucket to get as much blood out as he could. Once his injury was miraculously self-healed, he looked down into the bucket, which was emitting steam, and instead of finding blood, he found what he had been looking for: thirty rounds of Colt .45 ammunition and twenty 12-gauge shotgun slugs. This man was clearly no ordinary person. Far from it, he possessed abilities very few others had. He sighed and put the knife he used down on the floor.

“I’ll let these all soak up the sun until tomorrow at half past noon,” he said to himself. “I should have enough for now for what I gotta do tonight.” As he stood up, he took the bucket and walked out of a back door of his house to place it on a wooden step, exposed to the elements. When he walked back inside, he grabbed three guns from a wall mount in his bedroom and checked them all to see if they were loaded, which they were.

He possessed a Colt Single Action Army revolver, a scope-equipped Winchester Model 1873 rifle, and a Winchester Model 1897 shotgun. He holstered the revolver and then grabbed a sling for the rifle. He would carry the shotgun in his hands. He also took with him two revolver speed loaders with 12 more rounds for his pistol, 12 more unloaded pistol rounds, 30 additional .44-40 rifle rounds, 5 additional buckshot shells, and 5 additional slugs. It was a very heavy load out, but it was perfect for the kind of jobs he did at night.

“Two buckshot, three slugs, just like always,” he said to himself as he loaded the extra ammunition in a backpack he carried. On his waist belt were two knives as well. He was well-equipped, and had to be.

He was going to hunt monsters, after all.

More specifically, demons, of which he was one himself.

You see, James Colby was no ordinary man. In fact, he had technically been dead since the Civil War. September 19, 1863, in fact, during the Battle of Chickamauga. He had since traveled across the US and into parts of Mexico and Canada, hunting down the beasts that had murdered the entire platoon he had belonged to and had turned him into one of their kind, as most of them were hellbent on killing and eating humans. Most of their kind elsewhere was normally not able to walk around during the day, but most of those in the Americas, including James, had been able to develop the ability to do so, albeit at the cost of losing their ability to regenerate from wounds, a weakening of their strength and endurance, and a reduction in their blood-related capabilities, known to them as Blood Demon Arts. In effect, during the day, they were mostly normal people and could die as such, but when night fell, they became almost unstoppable unless one knew how to truly kill them, which James very much knew.

He had settled in the Black Hills in 1899 after many years of moving around. He was friendly with the community, though many regarded him as a mysterious protector who wandered throughout the night, taking requests to hunt down criminals and unknown beasts who harassed businesses, such as the gold mines and lumber yards in the area. He was known by many names, but his favorite nickname of all was perhaps Undead Jack, or maybe “the Ghoul Hunter.” Though he was ruthless in the pursuit of justice and security for the innocent, he was often regarded as an otherwise kind man with a big heart.

Tonight, James was going to hunt one of these demons, or ghouls as some others called them, that had been targeting a mining camp in the middle of the night. Already, in the past two nights, he had murdered and cannibalized five miners. The owner was desperate after one of the miners who volunteered to guard on the second night was among the victims, and he was directed to James Colby soon after. He paid him an advance fee of $100, even after James insisted he could be paid afterwards, and offered another $50 the day after the ‘ghoul’s’ death. $150 was quite a bit of money, the highest he had been paid by a single person yet. Most paid him around $25 to maybe $50 if they were more upper class, which was still a rather decent amount, but he was willing to hunt demons for free as well if someone could not afford payment and was impoverished.

It was a surprisingly steady income, and he padded it by also taking on more human forms of evil, such as regular criminals. Indeed, he was widely considered to be one of the most successful bounty hunters in the Black Hills, the best kept secret in the area if you will, arresting regular criminals by day and slaying demons by night.

Before leaving to meet up with the mining camp, he made sure to lock the door to his cabin tight. “There, that should do it. None of these fuckers should be gettin’ in now.”

…

It was now almost midnight on a cold winter night, and James stood at the entrance to the camp, located about 10 minutes north of Deadwood by horse. He had tied up the horse he had rented for the past week nearby, and a miner volunteered once again to watch the camp, assisting him. It was pitch black out, and the snow-covered woods around the camp were alive with the normal creatures of the night. James remained ever vigilant, watching over the area where the demon was allegedly seen leaving both times he had invaded the camp. He sighed to himself as he checked his wristwatch, “When the fuck is this damn thing gonna come out? They said it comes around this time, and I ain’t seen nothin’.”

Suddenly, he heard something in the distance, almost like a rush of footsteps from afar, and turned to face the direction the footsteps came in just in time. As he aimed his rifle in the direction of the footsteps, the target of the hour jumped from the woods. He was a monstrosity, much unlike James. He had even paler skin than him, and bore three arms from his body instead of two. “Die, die, die!” Its voice was harsh, and its appearance even harsher, but that did not deter James as he fired a round into it. The demon quickly fell to the ground, screaming in pain as it reached for its own third center arm. “Agh, you fucking shot me! You’re going to pay for that, human!”

“I ain’t no human,” James replied as the demon got up from the ground, readying itself to charge at him. “I’m one of your kind, actually!” He then fired a second shot and struck it just as it ran to grab him. This shot made the demon stop again for a few seconds, but it quickly began to charge again before James dropped his rifle and his backpack and grabbed a knife, charging right back at him, the two of them yelling at each other as they began to trade blows. James stabbed the demon twice and also kicked him as the demon in return punched him in the chest. “You ain’t fuckin’ walkin’ away from this!”

As the two split, the fight coming to a standstill, the demon, amused by his words, asked him, “Oh, really? Your guns and knives won’t affect me at a-“ Suddenly, the demon felt a searing pain across his body, collapsing to his knees as he screamed. “Agh! Oh my God, no! What… What is this?!”

“My bullets and my knives have a metal that can absorb sunlight,” James explained as he then grabbed his shotgun and readied it. “They also got a special poison on ‘em in case that don’t work too good.” As he approached him, he raised his left leg and kicked him across the face, knocking him down further. “That pain you’re feelings’ is probably that poison kickin’ in. Any last words before I send you to Hell?”

“Eat my shit,” the demon spat back at him, defiant to the end even as he could no longer physically fight from the pain. “Eat my shit when you join me, traitor!”

James paid no attention to his words as he pulled the trigger on the shotgun and then readied it again before shooting it a second time. Both blasts were of buckshot, and both took out the head of the demon immediately, killing it and splattering its blood all over the ground. Its body and brain bits, not normal like that of a human, began to slowly wither away and turn into dust soon after the demon’s head exploded from the two consecutive shotgun blasts directly to the face at point-blank range. Once the demon’s body was gone, he sighed to himself and dropped the shotgun to the ground to pull out a cigarette and a small book of matches, striking one and lighting up. After exhaling the smoke, he said to himself, “You all think you’re so special, but you ain’t shit, motherfucker!”

…

The next day, he was visited at his home by the owner of the mine, who knocked at his door. As he got up from bed, he told the man at the door, “Hold on, sir.” He rubbed his eyes and approached the door, peering into a peephole to see who it was before opening it.

“I want to thank you for the service you provided to me,” the owner of the mine, a much older man with a mustache and graying hair, told him in gratitude. “That… That thing you killed murdered not only workers of mine, but good men who had families.” He then pulled several bills out of his jacket and counted them. “Here’s the other $50 I promised you, Mr. Colby.”

“Thank you,” he replied, accepting it. “You didn’t have to pay me so much, ya know. $150 is quite a bit of cash.”

“It’s fine,” the owner of the mine assured him. “You keep us all safe from these ghouls when few others will.”

“I do my best,” James replied to him. “Anyway, have a good day, sir.” As the owner replied in turn, the two shook hands and turned around, James closing the door behind him. As he walked back to his bedroom, he grabbed a pencil from the kitchen/living room table, preparing to write down in a journal he kept. He grabbed the journal, one of several he had written up to that point, and got to work, writing as he sat on his bed.

December 8, 1912

Killed a demon harassing Johnson and Co. Gold Mine about 10 minutes north of Deadwood, South Dakota by horse. Got paid the other $50 for the contract.

End of the week income: $175. $150 from demon hunting and $25 from bounty hunting.

Bullets: 94 x Colt .45, 70 x Winchester .44-40, 34 x Buckshot, 16 x Birdshot, 40 x Slug

A good week overall. No significant injuries suffered during the daytime or night time. This is the end of this journal, given this is the last page. Journal 22 was overall a relatively calm one compared to those in the past, and I am glad for it.

He then checked his wristwatch and noticed it was now half past noon. “Time to get the bullets,” he said to himself as he got up from his bed and walked to the back door to grab the bullets he had made last night. As he brought them in, he set them down at the kitchen table and pulled out a half-full glass bottle labelled “POISON, DO NOT INGEST”. He then poured about a quarter of its contents into the bucket before capping the bottle and putting it away. As he held the bucket, he shook it a bit so the poison could soak into the bullets he had made. Once he was done with that, he grabbed a small scrap of paper on the table and wrote on it, “DO NOT GRAB FOR TWO HOURS. TIME OF SOAK: 12:34 P.M.”

Then, he noticed rather suddenly that a bird was sitting on the table behind him. He jumped from fright, causing the bird to slightly jump back as well. Then, the bird, a decently-sized American crow, began to speak to him in a rather raspy voice. “James Colby, isn’t it?”

“Oh, right,” James said to the bird, recognizing the voice. “It’s just a communication bird. Yes, this is him.”

“I have a message from Paul McCloud in Milwaukee,” the bird told him. “My apologies for scaring you like that. Anyway, he says that he believes he knows where The Progenitor is currently residing, and also where the Jackson Brothers are residing.”

James immediately paused, flooded by the information presented to him. He took a deep breath before grabbing a pencil and telling the bird, “Wait here. I’m gettin’ my journal.”

“Understood,” the crow replied. The crow patiently waited as James returned to the kitchen with his journal. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah,” he confirmed as he readied himself to write. “I don’t have much more room before I run out of space in my 22nd Journal.”

“Alright,” the crow understood. “Mr. McCloud believes The Progenitor is in Japan, and he thinks that Japan is his home country. His name remains unknown, however. Also, he believes the Jackson Brothers, both Thaddeus and his younger brother George, also reside in Japan, and may be in close contact with The Progenitor. The Progenitor may be in charge of a rather closely-coordinated group of demons that is wreaking havoc in Japan. Almost all demons in the country that currently exist have been personally created by him, and he can destroy them at will if necessary, so intelligence-gathering would be incredibly difficult.”

“Of course,” James replied as he set down his journal. “Hang on a sec. I gotta get my new journal.” He then opened a cabinet in his kitchen and pulled out a brand new notebook, writing on the cover “TWENTY THIRD JOURNAL: DECEMBER 8, 1912-“ and opening up to the first page. After writing the date down and some of the information the crow had told him, he said, “Alright, continue.”

“The Progenitor’s name as mentioned before is unknown to us in the Americas,” the crow continued. “However, we do know what he looks like, and that he can shapeshift, so his appearance will vary with time.” The crow then showed off a small piece of paper tied to its back. “This paper tied to my back contains a photograph of who we believe is the Progenitor, taken by the brother of a hunter who visited Japan a few years ago. He was running a photography business, and late in the evening when it was dark, a mysterious man asked to get his photograph taken. He paid an equally oddly large amount of money for the single photograph, and his behavior was odd enough that he made a copy and sent it to his brother.”

James carefully took the rolled-up photograph off of the crow and rolled it out, using glue to attach it to the first page of the journal. “It’s odd that we have his current appearance, but not his name. He must be dead-set against people knowin’ it.”

“We do not have any contact with demon hunters in Japan,” the crow explained to him. “They tend to do their own thing. They may know more about him than we do in the Americas.”

“That’s what happens when you close yourself off from the West for two hundred years or somethin’ like that I guess,” James noted to the crow. “Them Japanese weren’t open to outsiders after they kicked Portugal and Holland out until Commodore Perry made ‘em open up their borders.”

“Except the Dutch,” the crow pointed out.

”Ah, right. The Dutch. Almost forgot about ‘em, George.” James then sighed and asked George, “Any info on that photography business by any chance?”

George squawked and then replied, “The name Kanroji came up in the original letter he sent with the photograph. Apparently Kanroji is the last name of a photographer he met over there, and one of his relatives might be a ghoul hunter over there.”

“This Kanroji fella’s got a son huntin’ demons?”

“Not a son,” George replied. “A daughter.”

”A daughter?” A surprised James replied. “No shit… That’s somethin’ ya don’t here every day.”

…

Later that night, as he was asleep, he tossed and turned in bed quite a bit, not getting a restful sleep. In his mind, he kept seeing different flashbacks to his past, mostly from the Civil War. For one brief period, he saw himself standing in the middle of Pittsburg Landing, bullets and cannonballs whizzing past him as the Battle of Shiloh, one of the first major battles he fought in, raged all around him. The sound of cannon fire and gunfire was deafening, and around him, men from both sides of the conflict charged at each other, clashing with bayonets, swords, and fists. He could reach out, but he could not touch any of them. It was as if he was an observer in the very battle he fought in. Men were cut down all around him, and he tried to scream, but nothing came out of his mouth.

A man screamed in front of him, “Hit the rebels hard! Come on! Go fuckin’ hit ‘em!” He was immediately cut down afterwards, a cannonball blowing his head off and splattering blood all over a man beside him. The young man beside his body, perhaps as young as 16, screamed in fright before he himself was shot twice and collapsed. James was unable to help either of them, unable to reach out to them. He felt completely useless, and as more men fell around him, some with blue uniforms and some with grey uniforms, he finally crouched down and closed his eyes, letting out a scream.

Just as he began to yell, he awoke in bed to a loud knocking at his door. He immediately ran out of bed and grabbed his revolver from his bedside, ready to attack if it was an intruder. As he looked into the peephole, he saw that it was a man who was badly hurt, with wounds all over his face, and immediately opened the door. “What happened?!”

“My,” the man weakly explained to him as he crawled into his house. “My family… They were attacked… We’re up that path across from your house on the hill…” The man then collapsed onto the floor, James knowing immediately what house he was referring to.

“Sir,” James tried to stir him awake as he shook his body. “Hey! Sir! Who attacked you?!” He quickly realized the man was beyond help, and sighed. “Damn it…” He ran back into his room to suit up, ready to hunt whoever had now killed the man. “I got a bad feeling this is a demon,” he thought to himself as he loaded his guns and backpack. “If I can get up to where this guy lives, maybe I can find the demon who did this.”

…

A few minutes later, James arrived on horseback to a horrific scene. In front of the house were the bodies of a woman and three children, all of them mangled and badly beaten, their blood staining the ground in front of the house. “Holy fuck…” He then sensed a presence nearby, and remembered something about the man, who he knew in passing from his interactions with him in Deadwood. “Wait a minute,” he said to himself. “Don’t this guy got four kids? Oh shit…”

He got his answer to his question of what the presence he felt was when he heard a scream from nearby into the woods, followed immediately by a young boy, no more than 12, charging at him on all fours, having been turned into a demon by an unknown assailant. James immediately aimed his rifle and fired two shots at the boy, striking him, but not killing him. As he screamed from the pain while he stood up, James fired a third shot, sending him down to the ground.

As he ran up to the boy, James said to himself, “Forgive me, God, for what I have to do to this child.” He sighed as the boy tried to reach him, unable to move or crawl due to his injuries, which were now beginning to heal. James made sure he could not get up by readying his shotgun and taking aim, closing his eyes and pulling the trigger, blowing the boy’s head off and putting him out of his misery. The boy’s blood coated the ground, and James opened his eyes to a horrific scene he caused. For a moment, he paused, staring off into the woods blankly, as if in a trance. His stare into the woods was enough to look directly into the heart of any man who looked at him directly. In his eyes was the stare of a man who had seen far too much suffering and heartbreak, and this very moment only compounded it. As the boy’s body faded away into the night, James began to have another flashback, this time to a time not too long ago.

In his vision, he stood in front of his house. However, only this time, the front door was open, and inside was a bloody mess. James looked at the house, and from his facial expression, knew what was inside.

“No, no, no!” James closed his eyes and crouched down, trying to get the vision out of his house. “Please, don’t do this to me now! Julia, Henry, please, forgive me!” Then, in an instant, the vision slipped away, and when he reopened his eyes, he looked around and found that his house had disappeared. He hyperventilated, sweat pouring down his face and onto the ground as he walked away. “I need to clear my fuckin’ mind and get out of here.”

Indeed, he would, but not before hunting down the demon who had massacred this family.

…

A demon dressed in ragged clothes was running along the road away from the center of town and away from the scene of the bloody massacre he had committed. He knew that he had to leave, lest he attract the attention of townsfolk or worse, James, whom he knew lived in the area. As he hid behind a small rock formation, he took a deep breath and said to himself, “Okay… K should be clear now…”

”The fuck you are!”

The demon looked behind him to find James pointing a rifle at him and firing it, striking him in the shoulder. “Agh, shit!” He then got up and pulled out a knife, telling him, “Who the Hell are you?!”

James revealed himself by stepping closer to the demon. “I’m the one that man whose family you murdered is countin’ on for revenge.” James then fired two more shots of his rifle as the demon tried to charge at him, causing him to stumble onto the ground and stain his clothes and the snow on the ground with his own blood.

”God damn you!”

”Look who’s talkin’. Looks like you’re the one damned by God here, asshole.”

The demon yelled as he threw his knife at James, “Get away from me!”

James deflected the knife with his rifle before walking up to the demon and shooting him two more times while he lay on the ground. “The poison should be kickin’ in real soon.”

The demon then began to yell in pain as the poison in the rifle bullets began to burn his insides, “No! No! Agh, fuck, no! Help me! It hurts! Please, have mercy on me!”

James smiled and told him with a chuckle, “Mercy… Now that’s funny. Tell me, what did y’all say to that family up the road when they begged you for mercy?” The demon coughed up blood and vomited on the ground before James kicked him in the head and demanded, “ANSWER THE FUCKIN’ QUESTION!”

”I said nothing!”

”Exactly!” James then slung his rifle onto his back before grabbing his shotgun from the ground and telling the demon, “You’ll have plenty of time to beg for mercy when you’re in Hell.” He then blew off the demon’s head with two blasts of the shotgun, killing him. As his body began to fade away into the night, he sighed and said to himself, “I’ll be outta this town by the tenth. I can’t stay here much longer.”

...

December 9, 1912

"Are you really leaving?"

"I gotta," James replied to the local police chief. "Somethin' came up. Somethin' major. Besides, I got too many bad memories in this town."

"I can understand why," the police chief replied out of sympathy, knowing about what had happened to Julia and Henry. "Even so, we'll all miss you. You've done a lot of good for Deadwood."

"I know I have." James then handed the police chief a small book. "That's why I'm leavin' this here."

The police chief took the book and opened it up, asking James, "What's in here, Jack?"

"All the basic tips, techniques, and poison compositions y'all would ever need to kill ghouls. All of my experience in huntin' 'em went into that little book."

The police chief turned around and put it on a shelf behind his desk. "I'll be sure to study it."

"When a ghoul attacks the town again, you'll find everythin' ya need to kill 'em in that book."

The police chief then extended his hand out to him. "Thank you for everything, Jack."

"Of course," James replied, giving him a handshake. "I hope I've left this town better than when I first came here."

"You sure have."

Chapter Text

December 16, 1912

James was now in San Francisco, specifically an area known as Japantown. It was here that he rented a hotel room until the 22nd under the assumed name of William Lee. He hid his guns in his luggage, and as he sat down on his bed in his room, he counted all the money he had intended on converting into Yen, the Japanese currency. “Alright,” he told himself as he finished counting. “That’s $1,500. That’s about all I got left.” As he put the money away in a smaller briefcase, he took a deep breath and wondered to himself, “I’m going to an unfamiliar country where I doubt anyone I’ll run into speaks any English, German, Spanish, or French, and I’ll have to sneak guns in while carrying a massive amount of cash with me. What the hell could possibly go wrong, right?”

A few minutes later, James walked into a bookstore in Japantown, immediately browsing the titles on the shelves. A woman with black hair in her late 20s, who was clearly herself Japanese asked him in a slight accent, “Welcome! Do you need any help, sir?”

“I’m lookin’ for a few books on Japanese,” he told her as he approached the front counter. “I’m travelin’ to Japan soon on business, and I wanna brush up on it.” He thought to himself as he looked at the woman, "She's pretty. I wonder if there are more girls like her in Japan... Not that that's the focus, though. I got a goal to complete, and besides... I've already been in love before..."

“I see,” the woman replied. “We have quite a few books on Japanese for those who want to learn. I must ask, do you speak anything other than English?”

“I speak German,” James replied in fluent Standard German. “My mother was born in Swabia. It’s a region in Lower Germany. I can speak both regular German and the Swabian dialect.” He then switched to Mexican Spanish. “I also can speak Spanish from my travels to Mexico. The locals say that my Spanish sounds much like theirs, and when I went to Cuba or spoke to people in Florida in Spanish, they thought I was a Mexican at first.” Finally, he switched up again, this time to Quebecois French. “And finally, I picked up French in Canada. Again, people from France think I’m Canadian when I talk to them in French.” With that, he switched back to English, chuckling. “You probably don’t understand a word I said.”

“Afraid not,” the woman replied with a laugh. “But it’s good that you can speak multiple languages. It should make learning Japanese easier. Plus, many of the upper class businessmen in Japan can understand some German or English. Let me grab you a few books.” She then walked away from the front counter to grab several titles that she thought would help him as he looked around. “Do you want just educational stuff, or do you want some regular books, too, sir?”

“Both,” he replied. “Poetry would be nice.”

“You’re in luck,” she replied as she returned with six books. “Japanese is a good language for poetry. Alright, these six books will cost you about $10.  A pretty hefty price, but it will be very useful for you.”

“No problem,” he replied as he gave her a ten dollar bill. “This should cover it. Thank you.”

"You're welcome," said the woman as she bagged the books in cloth for him. "Japan is a really beautiful country. I think you'll find yourself not wanting to leave when it's time to go back."

The two shared a brief laugh before James replied, "Maybe..."

…

December 22, 1912

James had managed to get all of his supplies, including his guns, onto the ship that would take him to Japan with no problems at all. The authorities had been successfully fooled into thinking he was a man named Abraham Grant. He had used up the last of the money he had that was not converted to Yen to get a comfortable second-class room for the voyage, which would take five weeks and would have a stop in Honolulu to both drop off and pick up passengers and cargo. As he unpacked his luggage in his room, he took a deep breath and remarked, “Now, time to see if I’m seasick or not. Those trips up and down the Mississippi River were alright back in the day. This should be no different.” He plopped down onto his bed and read one of the books he had bought from the bookstore, wanting to practice more of his Japanese. He said to himself in the language, “Hello. My name is James Colby. What is your name? What is your name? How are you? I am well.”

“Are you speaking Japanese?” A voice in English from outside then called to him, making him realize he had not shut the door to his cabin. “It does not sound bad.”

“Shit,” James exclaimed as he jumped slightly from fright before looking over to the doorway and seeing a man who looked Japanese staring back at him. “Um, yes, I was speakin’ Japanese. I’m travelin’ to Japan, and I’m brushing up on it.”

“I see,” he replied in English. “If you ever need practice, you can find me at Room 2C-124. My name is Hideyoshi Hirasawa, or Hirasawa Hideyoshi in the name order we use in my home country, where we place family names first.” He then switched to Japanese. “Can you understand me?”

“Yes,” James replied back in turn in Japanese.

“Good,” he replied. “Have a fun cruise. We’ll be out to sea for six weeks.”

As he walked away, James not understanding much of what else he had told him, he quickly got back to reading, telling himself, “I gotta fuckin’ hurry up. I couldn’t understand a lot of what else he told me.”

...

January 10, 1913

James’ ship had arrived in Honolulu on this day, and would stop in the city for three days until it left on January 13 to go to Japan. The cruise had been peaceful for James, and every day, he would practice with Mr. Hirasawa, who was a businessman, for at least an hour or two. He decided to use these three days in Honolulu to walk around and explore the island, maybe killing a demon or two as well. So far, nobody on the ship had caught onto him, with the only peculiar thing being his desire to ensure that any red meat he had still had blood in it.

As he walked in an area just outside of the city by himself around the start of night time, having just finished a meal of his own consisting of an animal, its blood being able to sustain him for a rather long time, he kept his eye out for any demons. He knew there were some in the Hawaiian Islands, but he had no idea how many there were. Then, as he rounded a street corner onto a dirt road at an intersection with a paved road, he heard human screams in the distance. “Huh? What the hell is that?” As he looked in the distance, he pulled out a lantern hanging from his belt and lit it with a match, stamping the match out once he tossed it onto the ground. It was almost pitch black out, and as he continued down the road, he heard the screams get louder. He decided around this time to also pull his revolver out from his holster in case anything jumped at him, human or demon.

In the distance, as he began to approach what looked to be a house, he heard discernible words come from the screams. “Oh my God! Stop eating him! What are you doing?! Stop eating my husband, you madman!”

As he heard those words, he immediately put his torch back on his belt and pulled his shotgun out, holstering his revolver. He then went into a full sprint towards the house, anticipating a demon. “Shit, that’s a fuckin’ demon!” When he approached the house, he kicked the door down with a single blow and yelled into the house, “Get a taste of lead, fucker!”

The demon, a man with red and white hair, turned around, blood pouring from its mouth after it had bitten into a dead man’s corpse. “Who the Hell are you supposed to be?! I’m eating a meal here!” He then growled at James as he looked over his face and eyes. “Have you come to steal my prey?!”

“I’m your end,” James yelled back before firing a round of wisteria buckshot from his shotgun, striking the demon in multiple places and causing him to scream out in pain. “Is that all you got, bimbo?! Think you’re some fuckin’ tough guy?! Your meal just got cut off!” As he got up and ran towards him, sharpening his claw-like nails to rip him apart, James cocked the shotgun again and fired a round of wisteria birdshot at him at close range, causing him to collapse to the ground in front of him with an even louder scream of pain. “There… The poison I put in there should take effect right about… Now!”

The demon spat back, “What fucking position are you talking abo-“ He then stopped in the middle of his sentence as he felt a sharp pain all over his body. “Agh, motherfucking cocksucker! What did you fucking do to me?!”

“I coated my shot in wisteria,” James explained to him as the demon writhed and moaned in severe pain. “It’s lethally poisonous to demons if it gets inside your bloodstream. In other words, y’all are fucked.” He then stomped on the demon’s head with his boot, causing him to again yell out in pain. “How y’all like the taste of boot, fuckhead?!”

“Damn you,” the demon shouted to him as he began to fade away from the poison killing him rather painfully. “Damn you to Hell! I know you’re a demon, you traitor! I can see it in your eyes! You’re nothing but a fucking traitor to our kind! You’ll pay for siding with what’s rightfully our prey!” With one final scream, his body faded into dust, leaving only a pool of blood from his various injuries caused by the shotgun blasts. “Damn you…”

“Well,” James said as he reloaded his shotgun, the victim’s wife cowering in a corner in fear and confusion. “I’m glad he shut the fuck up.” He then turned to the woman. “Ma’am, I’m sorry, but your husband is dead. I killed the demon, though. You and whatever children you may have are safe.”

The woman cried out, “Oh my God… Eddie, no!” James felt awful for not having come sooner as she ran to her deceased husband’s side and hugged his body, which had two major bite marks in it from the demon. “My love! Oh dear Lord, my love!”

James took a deep breath and told the woman, "If ya need space, I can go. Just make sure you stay vigilant and look out for any more of 'em." The woman remained silent as he left the house, too stunned by what had just transpired to speak to him. He sighed and muttered to himself, "Fuck..."

…

January 16, 1913

“Looks like I win,” James told Hideyoshi in Japanese as they played a game of cards on the ship. “That’s 1 for me and 1 for you.”

“Your Japanese is getting better by the day,” Hideyoshi replied as he shuffled the deck of cards they were using. “I am impressed, Colby-san.” Hideyoshi then switched to English. “Tell me, James, why is it that you’re going to Japan, again?”

“On business,” he assured him. “I used a different name to go on the ship since our company’s competitors are doing some corporate espionage against us, and I don’t want them knowing I’m going to Japan.”

Hideyoshi then set his cards down that he had just drawn from the deck. “James, I know for a fact that isn’t necessarily true. I’m not what you Americans would call a ‘ding-bat.’ In other words, I am not a fool.”

James immediately set his hand down as well as thoughts raced through his head, realizing his lie had been caught. “Fuck, he found me out. What does he know about me, though?” “Well, I should tell you the truth, then.”

“You are an oni, ” Hideyoshi then told him, sending shockwaves down James’ spine. He gave a smile as he realized he had James cornered.  “A demon. Many in the urban cities of Japan do not think they are real, but I know they are. I’ve never seen a demon that could walk in the sun, though. Now, tell me what you’re really going to do in Japan. You know that they have the Demon Slayers Corps, and they do not discriminate when it comes to killing your kind.”

James sighed as he realized he knew everything. “Well, Mr. Hirasawa, you’re right. I am a demon. In North America, most of us can walk in the daylight at the cost of losing many of our inhuman abilities during the day since our body removes much of our superhuman strength to keep itself alive. Essentially, I am just slightly above-average compared to the normal man during the day. I also cannot heal properly during the day, so I’m easier to kill.” He then drew his revolver from his semi-formal jacket that he had worn and placed it on the table. “I’m setting my sidearm down. I use this, a rifle, and a shotgun, as well as knives, to kill members of my own kind.”

“A demon hunting demons,” Hideyoshi remarked to himself. “How unusual. I am surprised you are not dead. Surely, your Progenitor should have been able to control you and kill you remotely.”

“I was freed from my curse,” James explained to him. “A man named Ezekiel Smith, or Zeke, who hunted demons took me in. He was a Negro, a former slave. He gave to me a book of spells that many of the Negro demon hunters in America who practice voodoo magic use. One complicated spell that don’t always work is the Progenitor Curse Destruction Spell. There was only a one in four chance of it workin’ on me, and a three in four chance of it killin’ me. Now, lemme ask you this. Why do you know so much?”

“My brother was a Demon Slayer,” Hideyoshi explained. “He died when we were only teenagers. Their work is unrecognized by our government, even though they’re a well-organized paramilitary organization, even more so in the era of modernization in Japan. A demon ripped him to shreds. He left behind a pregnant girl in our town who he wanted to marry, even though her father wanted her married to someone else. The kid and her later died in childbirth when she was only 15. Ever since, I’ve hated your kind.” He then went silent in his chair, letting James think over his words.

“I would, too,” James then replied after 20 seconds of waiting patiently and thinking over a response. “I hunt demons who go after humans. One of them killed my human wife, my demon son, and my unborn child. He was not the same as the two who murdered my entire platoon in the Civil War, though. I know who they are, and I’m going to Japan to hopefully find and kill both of them.” Hideyoshi, confused, looked at him like he had two heads. “Ah, right. The Jackson Brothers don’t make their demons infertile. We can and do have children with both demons and humans. With a human wife, any male children of mine are demons like me, and any female children of mine are humans. They allegedly gave demons this ability so they could rape both women and men to create more offspring to either be eaten if they’re humans or added to our kind’s ranks if they’re demons.”

Hideyoshi nodded, amazed at the differences. “Your demons are so very unique. Very unique.”

...

February 5, 1913

The ship James was on arrived in Nagasaki on this day. At the busy customs office at the port, James presented his forged documents to an official as he carried his luggage. The customs official looked at his documents and asked him in accented English, "What is your purpose of visit to Japan?"

"My purpose..." James then switched to Japanese, telling the customs official, "My purpose is for business. I have documents belonging to General Electric."

The customs official was surprised to hear James speak Japanese. "Oh, um... Okay..." He then asked him in Japanese, "Do you have immunization and health records?"

"Yes," James replied with a nod.

"Looks good to me," said the customs official as he stamped his passport, which was real. "Welcome to Japan, Enjoy your stay."

"Thank you," James replied as he took back his documents and then officially crossed over into Japan, walking out onto a bustling street at the Port of Nagasaki. He saw Hideyoshi waiting for him and waved, telling him, "Hirasawa!"

"Did you get through customs okay, Mr. Colby?"

"It was too damn easy," James replied to him with a smug expression.

"How long do you intend to stay in Nagasaki?"

"However long it takes to get truly settled," James replied as the two of them began to walk down the busy street right next to the port. "I want to improve my Japanese skills more before I head out to start huntin' down the Progenitor of Japan."

"I'll be happy to help you out on that front."

James then asked him, "How far do you live from here?"

"It's just a short train ride from here to Nagayo up north," Hideyoshi explained. "The train station isn't too long of a walk from here."

As they walked past a man selling udon from a stall, James asked, "Is that Demon Slayer Corps group you mentioned active 'round here?"

"They're not too involved down here in Kyushu. Most of their activity is in the Kanto region near Tokyo. They do have slayers down here, but there aren't many demons that come down here."

"I see. I probably won't have to deal with them until I leave for Tokyo, then."

"Probably not." Hideyoshi then asked James, "Do you want some lunch? I can pay for it. I mean... I am not entirely sure what American demons eat, but in Japan, some demons do eat what humans eat, and many other don't."

"I eat anythin' a human can," James assured him. "I usually hunt animals and drink their blood for sustenance. American demons had to adapt to lower population density, so they can survive off of animal blood, too. To answer your question, sure, why not?"

"Alright." He then turned to the udon seller and asked him in Japanese as he pulled out his wallet, "May I get two bowls of udon, please?"

"Sure thing," replied the seller. "With what on it?"

"Everything on one, and make the other plain."

"Sounds good to me." Hideyoshi then handed the seller some money. After less than a minute, the seller handed Hideyoshi two bowls. "Here you go."

"Thank you." He then walked back over to James and told him in English, "Here you go. Let's see how well you remember eating with chopsticks, Mr. Colby."

"Bear with me, okay?" The two then shared a laugh as they sat down on a nearby bench and began to eat together. For the next few weeks, Hideyoshi would teach James how to survive in Japan and help him polish and fine-tune his Japanese. Armed with this, he would be ready for when the real battle against Muzan and the challenge of dealing with the Demon Slayer Corps began in Tokyo.

Chapter Text

March 21, 1913

"Well," James said to Hideyoshi as he finished packing his bags. "It's been an interestin' month and a half in Nagasaki, Mr. Hirasawa."

"I can say the same from you staying here that long," Hideyoshi replied. "Your knowledge of Japanese is incredible for someone who only began learning in December."

”Why thank you.”

”You easily should be able to converse about at least basic topics now, and especially topics regarding demons.”

”That’ll be helpful when I inevitably run into the demon hunters ‘round here, I assume.”

Hideyoshi nodded and confirmed, “Very much so, Mr. Colby. It’s only a matter of time before you run into at least one or two slayers up in Tokyo.”

"When I go up to Tokyo," James mentioned as he picked up his suitcase and bag. "I'll be sure to keep an eye out for the Demon Slayer Corps or whatever you call the main demon huntin’ organization ‘round here."

Hideyoshi nodded. "I honestly have no idea how they'll react to seeing a demon like you. It's what you would call a 'roll of the dice' in English to see if they would either begrudgingly accept you or try to kill you."

"No matter what they do about me,” James assured him. "I'll be ready for it.”

"And another thing," Hideyoshi added. "The closer to Tokyo you get, the more demons there are, so keep a good lookout at night. They might already know you're here."

"The Progenitors?"

"Yes, them."

James smiled and again assured Hideyoshi, "I'll be ready for any bad demons that cross my path."

"Please," Hideyoshi then told him. "Stay safe. Maybe one day, we'll reunite."

"I hope we do one day." James then walked out of the house, but not before switching to Japanese to say goodbye to him. "Thank you for the lessons in Japanese, Hirasawa-san. I don't know what I would have done here without 'em."

Hideyoshi smiled and said to himself as James left, "I have a feeling he's gonna go pretty far here... He might even help turn the tide of this long and bloody war with Kibutsuji.”

...

March 29, 1913

After an uneventful boat and train trip from Nagasaki to Tokyo, James had managed to rent a room in a hotel starting on the 25th. While there, he had managed to forge documents that enabled him to carry weapons in public in Japan. He had enjoyed the sights and sounds of Tokyo during the day and the night, not arousing any suspicion due to the ability of most American demons to have Limited Sunlight Resistance, allowing them to walk outside in the day at the cost of their regenerative abilities and the full strength of their Blood Demon Arts. His Japanese was far more improved, and he was able to communicate on the street with only minor difficulty now.

As he walked along a busy pedestrian street in Asakusa, he looked around, admiring the local scenery and the rush of people. Then, just as he began to walk to an empty side street, he turned his head from a side view and to his front just in time to see a young man and a young woman, both running towards him, as the man bumped into him and fell to the ground. James stepped back and dusted himself off, ranting in English, “Agh! Hey, watch where you’re fuckin’ going, alr-” He then cut himself off as he realized he was speaking the wrong language, and he accordingly switched to Japanese. “I assume you didn’t understand any of that.”

The man, who bore a green and black haori and had a red scar on his face, kept a tight grip on his sister, who bore black hair with orange tips and a bamboo muzzle, as he replied back, “Who…? What are you?”

“What am I?” James was deeply confused. “You ain’t never seen an American before?”

“You look incredibly different from everyone else here,” the man replied as he and his sister stood up from the ground. He then bowed and apologized to him with, “Please, excuse me for crashing into you.”

James then noticed the man was carrying a sword. “Huh… Nice sword you got there. You seem pretty lost in a place like this. I can tell when someone’s spent their whole life in the countryside.”

“I’m not used to cities,” he replied. “Not at all. I see you’re carrying some kind of gun with you.” He had noticed the shotgun James carried on his back. “It’s not the one I’ve seen in pictures before.”

James remembered a fact that Hideyoshi had told him about the use of matchlock firearms in Japan prior to the arrival of Commodore Perry. “Ah, yes. You’re more familiar with the tanegashima, the matchlock gun?”

“Yeah,” Tanjiro replied as the three of them began to walk in the same direction together. “I should probably introduce myself. My name is Kamado Tanjiro. This girl is my sister, Nezuko. I carry a sword as a Demon Slayer.”

“Demon Slayer, huh?” James realized that by pure luck, he had made his first contact with the more organized demon-hunting efforts of the Japanese. “Funny you should mention that. I hunt them myself in America.”

“America?” Tanjiro was unaware of the country. “America? Is that a land somewhere?”

James was confused. Surely he wasn’t so isolated he thought only Japan existed, right? Even the most rural Americans knew other countries existed. Then again, Japan had been isolated for a long time until only almost 60 years prior. “It’s another country across the ocean. It’s where I’m from.”

“Oh, like China!” His reply did bring some relief to James. He at least knew places beyond Japan existed. “It must be far away! I’m surprised demons exist there, sir! What’s your name?”

“James Colby,” he told him, instinctively extending his hand for a handshake.

Tanjiro was confused, but appreciated the gesture. “Uh… Sir, your hand…”

“Right,” James replied as he put his hand away. “Shaking hands is a greeting where I’m from. Where your people now, we shake hands.”

“Sounds odd,” Tanjiro replied as he wiped sweat off of his head. He then extended his hand out. “But since it seems you’ve made a good effort to learn about my home. I might as well shake hands.”

“I suppose,” James replied, grabbing a firm hold of Tanjiro’s hand. As he somewhat awkwardly shook his hand, they both wondered when the handshake would end. Once it did, James noticed a food stand nearby. “Oh hey, looks like we got a food stand over there.”

“Good,” Tanjiro replied. “I’m hungry as Hell. Being in a city for the first time has been super exhausting!”

“I noticed your sister ain’t talkin’,” James noted, turning his attention to Nezuko as he began to feel something was off about her. “What’s the deal with that muzzle on her face? Her eyes look a little… I dunno, dead and shit?”

Tanjiro and Nezuko both stopped dead in their tracks as the former looked to his sister. “Her? You’re calling my sister’s eyes dead?!” He then got up in James’ face, somewhat starling him. “My sister is not some zombie! She was the most beautiful girl in our village!”

“Woah, son,” James replied to him, backing up off him. “Calm down. I didn’t call your sister a zombie, or ugly, or whatever. I wasn’t tryin’ to be an asshole. I just noticed that her eyes look a bit like mine.” He pointed at his eyes so Tanjiro could see what he meant. “My eyes are a dull grey, just like her eyes are a dull pink. Eye shape and eyelids are different, of course, but aside from that, we have a lot of the same features. My eyes look dead.”

Tanjiro realized what the point he was trying to make, and sighed. “Right, I suppose so…” He then turned to the shop owner, who was standing by the food cart he ran. “Anyway, sorry for the wait. May I have a bowl of udon with grated yam on top, please?”

“Same for me,” James replied.

The shop owner replied to them, “Sure thing. A bowl for the girl, too?”

“No, she’s good,” Tanjiro replied. As he was about to pull out some money, James stopped him. “Huh?”

“I got this,” he replied with a wink. “You look like you’ve traveled a long way, Tanjir-“ He stopped himself as he remembered about Japanese honorifics. “I mean, Kamado-san.”

…

After the two of them had gotten their bowls and began to eat, Tanjiro asked him, “About my name earlier, is that how your language works?”

“English? Yeah,” James replied after he swallowed some of the udon. “My family name is not James. It’s Colby. We say personal name first and then family name, and in English, many of us also have a middle name. My middle name is my grandfather’s name: Joachim. He and my mother were from Germany, but they came to America to seek a better life. Also, we don’t have honorifics, or at least we don’t have the same amount of them.”

“America really is that better than Germany?” Tanjiro had never heard of the idea of someone emigrating from their homeland to another country.

“At the time they moved,” James clarified. “Absolutely. Germany was a disunited mess of city-states constantly at war with each other. It wasn’t the unified empire it is now. America was a stable country that at least somewhat respected people’s rights, especially compared to where they came from.”

“Rights?”

James stopped dead in his tracks, as if Tanjiro had just told him bad news. “Civil rights. Like the idea that you shouldn’t go to jail for believing in a religion, or for disagreeing with your government, or since 1865, the idea that slavery shouldn’t be a thing.” James looked down at his bowl as his mention of slavery brought back memories of his past. “My family was always against the idea that you could just own a human and treat them like your property. America had it for a long time, so long we fought a war over it when half of the country wanted to keep it and the other half had already gotten rid of it in their own states.” Realizing Tanjiro did not know what states were, James explained further. “States are what composes America. We have 48 of them as of last year. States can make many of their own decisions as long as the national government hasn’t contradicted them. America’s full name of the United States of America. At the time of our civil war, most of the states in the southern half of union had slavery, and all but a few of them decided to try to leave our country and form their own just because they wanted to keep slavery. Most of the states in the north had already gotten rid of slavery within their borders. They remained in the union, and fought to put down the rebellion in the south. We kicked their asses, and we got rid of slavery.”

“America sounds like such a fascinating pla-,” Tanjiro complimented him just before he stopped himself. “Wait…” As he sniffed the air, he suddenly dropped his bowl from his hands, prompting James to catch it with his free hand in the nick of time.

“Holy shit,” James remarked. “You almost broke your bo-“ As Tanjiro suddenly dashed away from the shop, James took off after him and set both of the bowls down next to Nezuko, who was peacefully sitting beside them. “Hey! Where are ya goin’?!” As he continued to give chase, the two of them reentered onto the city street. “Hold up!”

As James finally caught up, he saw that in the throng of people, Tanjiro had just grabbed a hold of the shoulder of a somewhat pale man with a white fedora walking with presumably his family. As James got a look at the man, the man asked Tanjiro and James, “May I help you two with something?”

“Fuck,” James thought to himself as he remembered the artist depiction of the Japanese Progenitor. “Holy fuck… This guy… He’s the Progenitor! He’s the fuckin’ Progenitor of Japan! Tanjiro’s insane if he thinks he can take him down! I don’t even know his name, but if he’s anything like Thaddeus and George Jackson, he’s incredibly powerful!” James pulled an anxious and angry Tanjiro aside in an attempt to defuse the situation. “Well, um, sorry about that, sir. We mistook you for a different person.” When Tanjiro tried to pipe up a protest, James grabbed a hold of him and covered his mouth, infuriating him. “Don’t mind my friend here. He’s looking for some guy who screwed him out of some money. We’re gonna give him a piece of our damn mind. He’s just a bit angry, that’s all!” James prayed in his head that his excuse worked.

“I see,” the man replied, giving off a smile. “I’m sorry to hear that about your friend. I hope he finds the man that stole his money. I would be angry, too.” As he turned back to his family, he walked away, seemingly taking the bait and falling for James’ lie.

Once the man was far enough away, James uncovered Tanjiro’s mouth while keeping a firm hold of him. As he took a deep breath, he screamed at him, “What the fuck was that for?! I couldn’t breathe! You just stopped me from confronting Kibutsuji Muzan! He killed my family and turned my sister into a demon!”

“Come here!”

“Hey, what the Hell?!”

”Come on!” James immediately dragged him into an alleyway, despite his protests, and held him up against a wall, the shock of their encounter still fresh on his mind. “First off, thanks for telling me his name, because I’m lookin’ for him, too. Second, do you have any fuckin’ clue how powerful a Progenitor is?! You certainly can’t take one on, son! Even if you could, why the fuck would you do it in the middle of a crowd?! If you and Muzan whatever-the-fuck-his-name-is fought, not only would he absolutely destroy you, but your little fight would kill tons of people needlessly in the crossfire!” He was very forceful in his words, but after that remark, he began to calm himself down. “Now… What was that about your sister?”

“She’s a demon,” Tanjiro explained to him as he broke free of his grasp and stood before him. “Muzan murdered my parents and all of our younger siblings. My sister only survived because she was turned into one of them by him. She has the bamboo muzzle to keep her from attacking others or consuming blood. She’s essentially an infant mentally right now.”

James sighed as he began to walk back to the udon shop, with Tanjiro following close behind. “I see… I suppose I shouldn’t hide my own true self anymore, since you seem to have a strong sense of smell.”

“True self?”

James then pulled a knife from his pocket and cut open his arm, much to Tanjiro’s shock. He winced from the pain as blood began to spill from the wound before he put his knife away and began to walk in a way that allowed the blood to drop on the ground to form a shape. Once his shape was done, he had completed a triangle just before his wound healed itself. “Alright, tell me, Tanjiro, what kind of person do you know that can have wounds heal themselves?”

Tanjiro’s eyes widened as the realization began to hit him. “You… You’re a-!”

James stuck his knife into the ground and proclaimed, “By the Grace of the Spirits, I cancel the Scent Mask Spell enchanted upon me by me!” A small flash of red light then emerged from the triangle of blood before it disappeared, revealing a clean ground with no traces of the crimson liquid. “Take a good sniff and see what scent comes up now.”

Once Tanjiro did as he was told, he drew his sword from its sheath, as if he was ready to attack. “You’re a demon! You hid your own scent!”

“Jesus Christ,” James replied as he tried to calm him down. “Put the fuckin’ sword away before you hurt someone with it! I didn’t lie to you when I said that I’m here to hunt demons! I’ve been huntin’ them since before you were even a thought in your parents’ heads one night, so don’t accuse me of nothin’!”

“How long would that be?” Tanjiro began to lessen his aggressive stance. “And I’d rather not think about my parents having sex to make me, thank you.”

“Fifty years this year,” James remarked. “Look, if you’re so concerned about me, I’ll leave.”

As he began to turn around and walk away from him, Tanjiro had a change of mind and told him, “Wait! Hold on a second! You don’t have to leave!” As James turned around again to face him, he continued with, “I’m… I’m sorry I drew my sword. It’s just that I’ve been taught to see all demons as bad. The Demon Slayers don’t have the character for “destroy” on their uniforms for nothing, after all. Nezuko is different, though.”

Then, both of them were interrupted by a new voice, that of a woman, emerging from the darkness of the alleyway behind them both. “Perhaps we can assist you two.” As they both turned to face the person the voice belonged to, they found a man and a woman staring back at them. “My name is Tamayo, and this is my assistant and confidant Yushiro. Come with us.”

Chapter Text

“My sister is not a God damn eyesore,” Tanjiro angrily expressed to Yushiro as they all walked to what appeared to be a dead end on a city street. “I can’t believe you called her that!”

“Calm down,” James tried to tell him. “I think he gets it.”

“Shut up,” Yushiro then instructed both of them. “We’re entering our mansion grounds. Stay quiet!” Tamayo first slipped through the wall, passing through as if it did not exist, amazing Tanjiro. Yushiro followed her.

“An illusion,” James remarked. “Clever.” James, Tanjiro, and Nezuko followed them, and as they emerged on the other side, they found that the illusion Tamayo performed hid a decently-sized house and doctor’s office. James could see in the backyard that one of the trees had a small treehouse built around it on top.

Once inside, all four of them sat in one of the patient rooms. Tamayo sat down in a chair and began speaking first, telling the group, “As you might have guessed by now, me and Yushiro are demons. I used my Blood Demon Art to create the illusion of a dead end to hide our mansion.”

“So if you’re a doctor,” Tanjiro asked her. “Is it hard to hold back your need for blood when treating a patient?”

The question was rather offensive to Yushiro, who struck him in the chest out of anger as James himself also sighed in disbelief at the insensitivity of the question. “You fool,” Yushiro angrily asked him. “Do you think we choke back saliva when we’re trying to save somebody’s life, you piece of shit?!”

“Now, now,” Tamayo calmed him down with. “He wasn’t trying to be offensive, Yushiro. Calm down.”

Then, another man, a human rather than a demon, emerged into the room, carrying three briefcases. James immediately recognized them as his. “Here you go, Doctor Nakamura. I got all of the American’s belonglings from his hotel room.”

“Huh?” James was deeply confused as to how and why she had managed to get someone to collect all of his belongings. “How the fuck… How?”

As the human left the room, Tamayo explained, “It’s not particularly safe for you to stay at the hotel you’re at. I insist you stay here for now. Anyway, I’m particularly interested in American demons. For a long time, I have heard the stories of how they could walk around in the sunlight without dying at the cost of some of their abilities, and of Muzan’s failed attempts to bring that ability here.”

“Limited Sunlight Resistance?”

Tanjiro was amazed by the revelation. “Demons in America can walk during the day?!”

“Indeed,” James explained as he opened up one of his briefcases and pulled out a book. “We can walk in the sunlight. The problem’s that we can’t regenerate any lost body parts durin’ the day, our Blood Demon Arts are significantly weakened, and we aren’t as physically strong.” He then drew his arm out to show the others. “Speaking of, I might as well show y’all my Blood Demon Art. I just need a bucket. By the way, my name is James Colby, but y’all don’t have to do that last name thing with me, or even any honorifics. Just call me James, or Jack. Either one is fine.”

“Here’s one,” Tamayo replied as she handed him one. “What are you going to do, James?”

“This,” James replied as he nonchalantly drew a knife and cut his arm down from his wrist up to halfway up his forearm. He only mildly grimaced in pain as the blood poured into the bucket, filling it with crimson red.

As Tanjiro watched in disbelief, Yushiro got mad over the mess it was making. “You’re making a mess on Tamayo-sama’s floor! Stop it!”

“Hold your horses,” James replied. “Watch the blood.” 

“But there’s no horses,” Tanjiro expressed in confusion.

“It’s an American phrase meaning to wait.” As he said that, his wound began to heal as the blood in and around the bucket began to dry up and emit light smoke. Within about 15 seconds, the blood disappeared, and in its place were bullets and shotgun shells. “I can make metal out of my blood. I make all my bullets and shells for my guns out of it, and all the blades on my knives as well. The metal my blood emits can absorb sunlight, and I can soak it in Wisteria poison for an added punch.”

“That sounds like a Nichirin blade,” Tanjiro noted to him as he pulled his sword out. “Nichirin is a type of metal that the Demon Slayers use to make their swords. It’s strong enough to decapitate a demon, and it also absorbs sunlight like your bullets. It changes color depending on the person who wields it. As you can see, my blade is black. Do they have it in America?”

“I don’t think it’s called Nichi-whatever,” James replied as he began to pick up the bullets and put them away in another briefcase. “But it’s probably similar in composition. We also have other poisons in America we can use, like oleander and castor beans.”

“I’ve studied demons and demon hunting in China,” Tamayo explained to him. “But never in America or the Philippine Islands. Those are the other two areas where our kind exists. If I may, do you mind giving me a sample of your blood, James.”

“Absolutely,” James replied. As he looked to the book he had pulled out of his briefcase earlier, he could sense that Yushiro was jealous of him to an extent. “This guy’s head over fuckin’ heels for her,” he thought to himself. “How does she not notice it?” “Also,” he further explained. “You should have this book. It’s a copy of a book I made that composed spells that the Negro slaves of old made. Many of them are steeped in hundreds of years of traditional worship. They’re used to hunt demons.”

“Spells?” Tamayo was very curious as to these spells, as was Tanjiro.

“Tanjiro,” James explained as he sat down and crossed his legs. “That thing I did in front of you with my scent was a spell. All spells involve paintin’ a shape in the spellcaster’s blood and then invokin’ a specific statement in any language to make it work. Some are simple, like the Scent Mask Spell. Others are far more complicated and dangerous, and don’t work all the time. Some can even kill the spellcaster if you’re not careful.” Just as he finished his explanation, he noticed that Nezuko had crawled up to him while lying on the ground, resting her head next to his right leg. “Huh? Oh.” Nezuko closed her eyes and reached her hand up to pet his shoulder. James smiled and pet her head. “You don’t mind this, right, Tanjiro?”

“No,” he replied, shaking his head. “She does this to friendly people. She sees all humans as our family. She probably thinks you’re our father or something.”

“That’s adorable,” James replied to him. “I can’t believe Muzan did such a horrible thing to such a sweet girl and your family. I swear, Tanjiro, I’ll make him pay.”

“Get in line,” Tanjiro replied jokingly. “I’m pretty sure there’s a lot of people who want to, me included.”

“Not a bad thing,” James acknowledged. “Not at all.”

“Anyway,” Tamayo continued after an awkward silence. “You’re probably wondering how me and Yushiro don’t eat humans. Well, we’ve modified ourselves extensively so we don’t have to devour blood as much. We get blood ethically from voluntary donors. As for me, I was able to free myself from Muzan’s curse.”

“Curse?”

“The Progenitor Curse,” James explained. “All Progenitor demons have the ability to place a curse upon the demons they create that enables them to basically spy on them. While not all demons have it, an overwhelming majority do. I must ask, Tamayo-san, how did you free yourself without a spell?”

“Muzan trusted me enough at one point to lift his curse on me,” Tamayo explained. “I was able to escape before he realized his mistake. How did you get freed?”

James sighed and looked down. “I suppose y’all are owed an explanation. Tamayo-san, you seem like a very knowledgeable woman. Do you know about the American Civil War?”

“Indeed,” she nodded. “Did you fight in it?”

“As a human,” James clarified. “I was only 16 when I lied about my age to fight as a Union soldier. I had lived in Minnesota until then, raised by my Swabian German mother and my natural-born father.” He then switched from Japanese to standard German. “I wonder, can you understand me?”

“I can,” Tamayo replied back in accented but fluent German. “I can speak German and English as well as Japanese, and I’m slowly picking up French. As a doctor, I have kept abreast of my international counterparts.”

James then chuckled. “Well, uh, you’ll be surprised by how my mother’s native German sounded then.” In a flash, he switched from the standard dialect of German to the dialect of Swabia. “Now, how about this? This German sounds very different. My mother knew standard German, too, but she mostly spoke this informally.”

Tamayo was taken aback, blinking several times in disbelief at how different Swabian German sounded to her ears. “Oh my God, where did your mother learn German?”

“You know,” James replied back in standard German. “That is not the first time I’ve heard someone say Swabian German sounds bad. They say us Swabians are clean freaks, and I gotta say, they’re not entirely wrong.” Tamayo laughed in response, amused by James’ self-deprecating joke.

The doctor told him, “It’s so different from the German I’m used to.”

Tanjiro, deeply confused and clueless, asked in Japanese, “Okay, um, not to be rude, but what the Hell are you guy’s speaking? It sounds like two people with really bad coughs in your throa-” Yushiro then smacked Tanjiro in the stomach, causing the air to rush out of his lungs. “Agh, fuck!”

Yushiro angrily scolded Tanjiro, telling him, “Don’t insult Tamayo-sama’s linguistic abilities, asshole!”

“Enough, Yushiro,” Tamayo ordered, causing him to back down. She then gave an explanation. “Tanjiro, me and James were speaking German. It’s somewhat related to English, but sounds very different. I can speak it and English, and some French.”

“I can speak it, French, and Spanish,” James added. “Travelin’ to Mexico, Cuba, and Canada leads you to pick up on new things. Anyway, where was I? Oh, right!” He then continued his story. “In 1863, my entire platoon of soldiers was murdered by the main progenitors of America: Thaddeus and George Jackson. They were slave-ownin’ demons who sided with the Confederacy as rebels. They were traitors to humanity and to their country. Those fuckers are why I’m here, and I think they’re here meetin’ Muzan. They wouldn’t know decency if it hit ‘em right in their fuckin’ faces. They turned me into a demon by accident, and as they fled, I devoured the bodies of my already dead comrades. Soon after I came to, I realized what I had done, and I fled. I was taken in by a Negro, a former slave who had escaped to freedom named Ezekiel.”

Tanjiro asked, “I assume he was the one who taught you how to hunt demons?”

“Correct,” James answered. “Zeke was a kind man. For one, it’s because of him that I got my accent in English. In all seriousness, though, I would have died without him. He taught me all the spells he knew, and I copied ‘em into a book. He also freed me from my Progenitor Curse with a dangerous spell known as the Progenitor Release Spell. It requires a six-sided star, and even if you chant it correctly, y’all only got a 50% chance of it succeedin’. I was willin’ to take that risk, and it worked.” He then sighed again as the story took a sad turn. “Sadly, Zeke ain’t with us no more. In 1873, while I was out huntin’ animals for me to drink blood from, since us American demons evolved the ability to survive on animal blood due to the greater distance between people there, the local White Leagues kidnapped ‘em. They were a successor to the KKK.”

“White Leagues and the KKK?” Tanjiro did not know what either the term or the acronym meant.

“The Ku Klux Klan,” James explained. “A group of morons who think that humans are automatically superior or inferior ‘cause of their skin color. Same with the White Leagues. For them, they think those who are white and European are superior to those who ain’t, and they think those with black skin, the Negroes, are at the bottom of the hierarchy. They don’t like ‘uppity niggers’ like Zeke, not one bit. When I returned, I found them gathered ‘round a tree. Those motherfuckers had beaten him and then fuckin’ hanged him while I was gone, all for the crime of bein’ a Negro who wasn’t afraid of them.”

Tamayo, Tanjiro, and Yushiro all expressed either shock or sadness at the idea of racism. Tanjiro asked him in disbelief, “They murdered him for having darker skin?!”

“Yep,” James replied. “I went into a rage. I killed every last one of those pieces of human fuckin’ garbage, and then I devoured every last bit of ‘em. I’ve only eaten live humans a select few times in my life. The first was then. The second were four bandits who murdered my birth family in 1874 after I had returned to them and came back into their lives. If that sends me to Hell, I’ll gladly burn, because I know all of ‘em are down there, too.”

Tamayo was saddened by his past, relating to him due to her own. “I’m terribly sorry to hear all of that happened to you. I lost my family when I was turned into a demon by Muzan unwillingly. In a blind rage, I ate my husband, my children, and many of my friends before I came to and realized what I had done.”

“If there ever was a time it was justified to eat a human,” Yushiro remarked in sympathy and slight anger. “The two times you did would be included by far.”

“I have to agree,” Tanjiro somewhat reluctantly agreed. “I would have done the same most likely, as much as I hate to admit it. What kind of person murders another because their skin color is a bit weird? How petty do you have to be to have that affect your life that much? It’s unreasonable if you ask me.”

"You'd be surprised at how petty some people can be," Tamayo informed Tanjiro. "I should know. Muzan himself could be extremely petty many times.”

"I ain't surprised," James replied to her. "I bet he let his power get to his head. Hell, I bet his ego's bigger than this whole fuckin' city. I don’t know too much about him, but from what I know, I ain’t got a clue how the fuck anyone willingly follows him.”

”Fear,” Tamayo answered. “That’s one big reason for it. He enforces compliance among his kind, and will kill other demons for any reason.”

…

Meanwhile, outside, the footsteps of two people, a young woman who looked about sixteen with black and orange hair, and a young man with his eyes closed who looked about twenty, approached the false dead end of the street. The woman was bouncing a brightly-colored handball, and the man stopped dead in his tracks along with the woman. She asked him, “Try to see if you can track any footprints around here, Yahaba.”

“Of course,” the man replied as he bent down and placed his hands down towards the ground, which contained large eyes with arrows inside their pupils. “Hmmm… I see the footprints of four people, one of which was carrying a large box… These are definitely our targets, Susamaru.”

“Good,” she replied. “You got any idea where they end?”

“Wait a minute,” Yahaba, confused, noted to her. “These footprints end right at a dead end, after they take a left at the T-intersection ahead of us, as if they go through a wall… What the Hell? How do they…?”

“Let’s go to the dead end and find out,” Susamaru joyfully replied. “Come on, maybe it’ll be some fun illusion they have!” She then raced ahead of him, calling out, “I betcha you can’t catch me!”

“We’re on a mission, you know,” Yahaba sighed in annoyance. “No time for fun and games.”

“Awww, come on,” Susamaru replied, dejected. “You can’t be serious all the time, you know. That shit gets old after a while.” She then began repeatedly tossing her handball up in the air and catching it. “With the blood our master gave me, we can give ‘em what for with ease, and have plenty of fun doing so. Treating every little thing as serious business all the time leads to an unfulfilling life, and we’re gonna live infinitely long ones!”

"Which means we have plenty of time to play games later," Yahaba pointed out. "See the fault in your logic?"

"Whatever. We came here for one thing and one thing only, so let's get it done." As the two of them walked forward to begin their attack, the female half of them thought to herself, “I just hope doing this will be able to impress my master enough to get me a promotion. Better to be on his good side than bad.”

Meanwhile, Yahaba thought to himself, “The fucking nerve of this girl to act so nonchalantly when we have an important mission to do… Oh well. I hate to admit it, but it’s not all bad. It is somewhat entertaining, I guess.”

…

A few minutes later, as the discussion from earlier continued, Yushiro began to feel a slight sense of impending doom. As he looked around the room, he saw no reason for the feeling, only making him more worried. Then, in a flash, everything changed. As James and Tamayo were discussing the blood work Tamayo was going to do on him, he shouted, “GET THE FUCK DOWN!”

Mere moments later, a handball came barrelling through the walls as if it were a cannon, bursting through and knocking the light in the room out as it bounced along the walls, barely avoiding the group of five. “Fuckin’ hell,” James exclaimed as he took cover, his US Army training kicking into gear. “Everyone, stay the fuck down until this thing leaves! We’re under attack!” He then drew his revolver as he aimed in the direction of the handball’s entrance and fired several rounds, scaring Nezuko as she clung to Tanjiro for cover. He yelled at the attackers, “Get back! We got guns!”

“Your bullets are useless!” From the smoke emerged their attackers, Yahaba and Susamaru. The latter exclaimed as her handball returned to her. “A few balls of lead won’t stop us!”

Tanjiro yelled out in panic, “What the Hell?! How did they find us?!

Chapter Text

As Susamaru and Yahaba launched their assault on Tamayo's mansion, Muzan was holding a meeting with both of the aforementioned Jackson Brothers at the Dimensional Infinity Fortress: George, the elder, and Thaddeus, the younger. The expansive realm was used by Muzan as his personal headquarters, and he often utilized it for meetings and for experimentation. Their meeting was at a table inside a relatively normal meeting room. Muzan began the meeting by congratulating them, telling them, “I congratulate you on your efforts. Having over 250,000 active demons running around in the New World thanks to you and your Knights of the Moon is no easy feat. Even with me granting some of my Upper Moons the same Progeneration ability we have, I’ve only been able to muster up around 50,000, and as you know, with those pesky Demon Slayers we have to contend with in Japan, those numbers always fluctuate greatly. I generally keep up a rate of 100 to 150 new demons a year, though I don’t trust them with the same reproductive capabilities you do.”

“We’ve always agreed to disagree on that,” Thaddeus, who had pale skin and dark black hair with orange eyes, replied. “We can attribute about 75,000 of our demons currently to personal direct creation. Everyone else was born. We’ve been thinking about implanting a higher sex drive in our demons.”

“Not a bad idea,” Muzan admitted. “Perhaps one day, I could follow your ways. Your idea of having female demons fornicate with male humans to be impregnated before killing them takes a bit of time for a payoff, but I like the odds of it either creating a new demon or creating more food for us."

“If it’s a human male,” George added. “We feed it to our demons. If it’s a female human, we can breed them when they get old enough. If it’s a demon, it’s another addition to our army. We’ve had a bit of trouble with some female demons having attachment issues to their food or their offspring, but we can iron it out with more time.” All three of them nodded in approval despite the rather horrific implications of George’s statement. “Having our male demons fornicate with female humans doesn’t generally return as good of a result, since the pregnancy is not supervised by demons, but it’s still a good way for our kind to let off steam, and the baby can devour its human mother if it’s a boy, assuming the mother does not become a suicide out of shame.” All three laughed at the suffering of humans, indicating their harsh treatment of them.

“I knew it was a good idea for me to turn you two in 1588 when I arrived in America on my first overseas trip,” Muzan remarked. He had always been the most proud of the achievements of the Jackson brothers, who originally were Spaniards named Tadeo and Jorge Juncosa. “I’m glad you guys are gonna stay here a full year.”

“We might as well,” Thaddeus replied. “It takes us three months to get from America to Japan and vice-versa between all the bullshit with the visas and the transit time by train and ship. The 22 remaining of the Knights of the Moon will be here soon, now that we have the 1st and 2nd Knights here with us. The Demon Slayer Corps will have no fucking clue what hit them when we show them how America does it.”

“I intend on supporting your efforts in the Southern United States,” Muzan confirmed to them. “Once we finally succeed in giving my own demons the same Limited Sunlight Resistance of the Americans, I’ll be sure to dispatch a force to you guys. Your Confederacy will become a reality once more.”

“The Yankees won’t know what fuckin’ hit em,” George remarked. “We’ll crush those Lincolnites like bugs.”

…

“Stop splattering dust on me,” Yahaba insisted to Susamaru outside the mansion. “You’re being too messy!”

“Oh, shut it,” she replied with some annoyance in her voice. “Your kimono’s fine. Calm the fuck down and focus on these guys.” She then tossed two handballs into the house. “Take this!”

James barely dodged one of them as it made an unnatural left turn midair before bouncing off the walls. “What the fuck?! How did it move like that?!” Then, both he and Tanjiro noticed a ball zipping for Yushiro’s head, but it was too late. Both of them shouted, “YUSHIRO!” By now, Nezuko had taken refuge in the basement.

The ball blasted his head completely off and caused his body to fall to the ground. Tamayo grabbed him and yelled out, “Yushiro! No! Come on, start healing!”

Meanwhile, as Tanjiro deflected the handballs, a vision played in James’ head of a memory of his past: a man whose head was taken clean off by a cannonball right in front of him. As he tried to remain focused and pulled his shotgun off of his back, he began to see Union soldiers around him, seemingly marching through the house at loud gunfire and cannon fire outside. He began shouting in English, “Fuck… Fuck, where’s my Springfield?! Where’s my fuckin’ Springfield?! Why ain’t we fallin’ back?! We’re gonna get fuckin’ massacred!” In his head, the hallucination felt completely real, and as one of the soldiers was brutally decapitated by a cannonball much like Yushiro had been, his blood and brains splattering his face behind him, he screamed in fear. “TOMMY, NO!” Two more men nearby fell to the ground, hit by Confederate bullets. “THEY’RE FUCKING MASSACRING US!”

As he had his rather vivid flashback, Tanjiro was able to impale a handball on his sword. “Hah! I did it!” However, the handball then began to vibrate, catching him off-guard as it then bounced up and hit him in the head before flying off of his sword. “Agh, shit! How is she doing any of this?!” He then looked to James, who was still screaming. “James! James, what the fuck are you doing?! JAMES! ANSWER ME, DAMN IT!”

The veteran snapped out of his flashback with the calling of his name, looking around to see what had happened. “Shit… It… I…” He then realized what he was up against and cocked his shotgun, firing two blasts at the handballs Susamaru threw, striking and destroying one of them. “I’m gonna try and shoot every one I can!”

As Yushiro began to reform his head, he turned to James and Tanjiro and told them, “Hang on a second! She’s not the one controlling the movements of the handballs! It’s that other demon!”

Tanjiro asked, “You mean that guy that was next to her for a bit?!”

“Yeah,” he replied before he pulled two pieces of paper out of his shirt, still lying in Tamayo’s arms, before throwing them at their heads. “Whatever you do, don’t let these pieces of paper fall from your heads!”

Meanwhile, outside, Susamaru shouted as her two handballs returned to her, “How about we up the ante here?!” She then stripped her kimono off of her upper body, revealing a black cloth that bound her chest but exposed her midriff. “A couple extra arms never hurt no one… No one except you guys!” In an instant, her body sprouted four additional arms under her normal arms, two on each side.

As Tanjiro and James looked to Susamaru as she threw six handballs at them, they saw what Yushiro had seen. The other demon they were fighting was using some kind of power of his own to guide each ball, and with Yushiro’s powers, they could see a physical manifestation of this power via otherwise invisible red arrows. As Nezuko ran back upstairs to join the fray, she dodged two of the handballs. “I got an idea,” James yelled to Tanjiro. “I’m gonna go find that fucker with them damn arrow things and pump ‘em full of poisoned birdshot! You and your sister keep protectin’ Tamayo and Yushiro! If I can blast ‘em to bits, her handballs won’t be guided anymore!”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Tanjiro replied, cutting a handball into half with his sword. As James ran to another entrance to the house, Nezuko managed to kick a ball despite the strength with which they had been thrown, amazing the others. “Holy shit! My sister kicked the ball and she was fine!”

Once he emerged outside in the rear of the house, he quickly reloaded his shotgun back up to its max capacity of five rounds plus an additional round in the chamber before putting it back on his shoulder and pulling his revolver out to reload it as well. He then scanned the trees, including the rather large one in the back that housed the treehouse. However, in the back, he felt no presence, so he kept looking. As he rounded a corner and began to approach the front, he suddenly felt a fast-moving presence behind him and turned around, pointing the revolver right at an arrow heading for him. As he fired, the bullet seemingly turned around and came right back at him as a much smaller second arrow emerged from the first, catching the bullet and aiming it at James’ chest. “Agh, fuck! You shot me with my own fuckin’ bullet!”

As James fell to the ground in pain despite his chest healing itself since his revolver did not carry poisoned rounds, Yahaba jumped down from a tree nearby and exclaimed to him, “You must be the other fugitive. Tamayo is a long-sought-after traitor demon of my master’s, but you are new. Even so, he has not underestimated your danger to his cause!” He then closed both of the eyes on his hands, triggering another round of two arrows that picked James up from the ground.

As he flew up into the air before being dropped, James holstered his revolver and pulled his shotgun out, screaming at Yahaba, “EAT LEAD, KID!” Just before hitting the ground, James fired two blasts at Yahaba. Then, he hit the cold hard dirt, injuring himself and causing an excruciating amount of pain. “MOTHERFUCKER!”

“Your profanity only gets you so far,” Yahaba shouted back. “And since you keep getting me filthy with dirt and dust, you will die!”

“I don’t think I will,” James replied back as he staggered to his feet, his wounds healing themselves as he did. “I told you to eat lead, and you’re gonna eat lead!” He fired another two rounds at Yahaba from his shotgun. Yahaba was able to deflect some of the shot, but not all of it, and he stumbled to the ground. “That’s the beauty of shotguns! There’s so many pellets I bet y’all can’t deflect ‘em all!”

“No matter,” Yahaba replied as he slowly stood up. “Tell me, what’s your na-?” Then, he stopped dead in his tracks as he felt a searing pain inside his chest. “What… Agh, what did you do to me?!”

As he clutched his chest, James answered his interrupted question. “My name is James Colby,” he informed him as the wisteria-coated birdshot pellets began to do their work. He followed by shooting Yahaba again a fifth time to speed up his death. “And you can go fuck yourself.” Finally, he finished him with a sixth and final blast to the head, splattering it all over the ground. After putting the shotgun back on his shoulder, he grabbed his revolver and ran back to the front to assist the others now that Susamaru’s guided handballs got neutered.

As he ran to the front, Nezuko and Susamaru were locked in a fierce kickball competition, kicking handballs back and forth at each other with immense power and increasing speed. Tanjiro called out to him, “We got her surrounded, but we don’t know how to deal with her! I cut her arms off, but they-“

“Grew right back,” James finished his sentence for him. “Of course. Well, that other demon’s dead. My wisteria birdshot did the trick, and just to be sure, I blasted his head off.” He then looked out to the kickball competition. “Damn, your sister’s powerful for a demon who ain’t never drank blood. As for that girl she’s facin’, she looks kinda… Ya know.”

Tanjiro looked over at him in some disbelief, asking him, “Are… Are you saying you think a demon looks hot?”

“Come on,” James replied. “I have the right to be attracted to some members of my kind. It don’t mean I’m gonna spare her, though. At least, not for that reason.” He then turned to Tamayo. “Hey, you said you wanted more blood, right?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I got an idea,” James proposed. “But I need you to keep her distracted and disoriented with your illusion and hallucination Blood Demon Art.” He then turned to Yushiro. “As for you, I need you to hold her down when I give the go-ahead.” He then cut his arm again with a knife before dabbing his free hand with blood to draw a triangle on the ground.

“I don’t like where this is going,” Yushiro replied to him, highly skeptical of whatever plan he was composing.

“Give him a chance,” Tamayo disagreed with him. “He knows his stuff. So, James, what are you casting?”

“A spell that protects me from hallucinogenic and illusory Blood Demon Arts,” James replied.

As James cast his spell in the background, Nezuko and Susamaru continued their kickball game. “Mmmh! Mmmh! Mmmh!” Nezuko then kicked the handball one final time before it hit a wall right behind a stunned Susamaru. The force with which she had kicked it caused her to miss it completely, and she was amazed at her power.

“Holy shit,” Susamaru remarked, highly impressed with her. “You should join us. Fuck your brother and those fugitives! You’d be a wonderful ally of our master! If this is how powerful you are without blood, imagine how much more powerful you’d be with it!”

“This fight ends now,” Tamayo interjected as she cut into her arm with her nails, drawing blood to summon her Blood Demon Art. “Susamaru is your name, isn’t it? Tell me, why do you think Kibutsuji Muzan keeps us demons divided?”

“Don’t you fucking dare insult my master,” Susamaru shouted back in anger, deeply offended by her remarks. “You don’t deserve to have his name escape your lips, whore!”

“He has us always squabble over territory,” Tamayo further told her as James began to slowly walk over to Susamaru. Meanwhile, Nezuko herself began to doze in and out of sleep, a side effect of her Blood Demon Art on the girl. “He doesn’t let you have true free will.”

“There’s a damn good reason Progenitors like us fightin’ each other,” James added as he got closer, carrying his revolver in his right hand and a knife in the other. “They’re afraid. They’re afraid of what our kind could accomplish if we united against ‘em. They’re too fuckin’ cowardly to let us be free. Just look at me and Tamayo over there. We don’t have to be monsters, and you know it.”

“You’re lying,” Susamaru shouted back at both of them. “Both of you are! My master is a good man, and he gave me the powers I deserved! Don’t you fucking dare tell these slanderous lies about Master Kibutsuj-!” She immediately covered her mouth with all six of her hands as she realized the grave mistake she had made by saying her name.

“Now you fucked up,” Tamayo told her in a rare moment of her uttering profanity. “You know what happens when a demon mentions his name to someone they’re not supposed to, right?”

“No, no!” Susamaru began to panic as she realized she was most likely about to die from the Curse of the Progenitors taking hold of her. “Master, no! Please forgive me!”

“There’s a way outta this,” James told her as she screamed. He then waved to Yushiro from behind, causing him to run up to him. “Yushiro, hold her down!” He quickly reached them and grabbed a hold of Susamaru, who was by now so disoriented and fearful she barely resisted. “There’s a fifty-fifty chance this’ll work, Susamaru, but that’s better than guaranteed death.”

“What are you doing?!” Susamaru, still in fear, had no clue what James was about to do to her. “I can’t die! It’s a mistake I won’t make again! Master, give me another chance!”

James then cut his arm again with his knife, which was followed by him running around Susamaru to make the blood fall into a pattern. When he reached back to where he started, the pattern was that of a six-pointed star, with Yushiro and Susamaru in the middle. “Yushiro, this won’t affect you since you’re not cursed.” With that reassurance, James took his knife and stabbed the ground in front of a still screaming Susamaru, whose skin was slowly turning red, a sign that James had to hurry up before Muzan’s curse got to her first.

“Oh God, no! Don’t kill me, Master!”

“By the Grace of the Spirits,” James began his chant. “I ask them to free this child of God from the chains imposed on her by her Progenitor! Release this woman from his grasp, and eradicate all traces of the curse placed upon her! I cast the Progenitor Release Spell upon you!”

With a loud scream, a bright red light surrounded Susamaru as Yushiro quickly jumped off of her, running to James’ side as the light engulfed her. Her yells were bloodcurdling, but to James, they were actually a good sign, as it meant that she was surviving the spell so far. Yushiro asked him, “Holy shit, what did you cast?!”

“The Progenitor Release Spell,” James explained as her screaming continued. “It’s only got a fifty-fifty chance of workin’! It frees a demon from a Progenitor’s Curse! If it don’t work, they did anyway!”

Finally, after a good half of a minute of screaming and a show of red lights, Susamaru stopped as the light faded away, and she closed her eyes, her four extra arms turning into dust but her normal body remaining. As she began to fall, James quickly caught her in his arms as Tanjiro and Tamayo ran over. The former was amazed to see the spell, and asked, “Hey, what happened to her?! Is she alive?!”

“She is,” James remarked with excitement and a large grin on his face. “She survived! No fuckin’ way! This is the first time I’ve successfully released a demon!”

“Let’s get her inside,” Tamayo told him. “Daybreak will be coming. She can’t be outside then, after all.”

“Not yet at least,” James added as they all walked back to the house, still carrying her in his arms. “I’ll see what I can do to give her my ability to walk in the sun. Maybe givin’ her some of my blood will do somethin’.”

Chapter Text

March 30, 1913

The following day, Tamayo and Yushiro got ready to leave the house for good, turning it over to James. Tanjiro and Nezuko also got ready to leave, heading off for whatever Tanjiro’s next mission was. As Tanjiro ran into the basement to see Nezuko, she ran up to him and practically bear-hugged him. “Ah! Nezuko! You’re alright!”

James, Tamayo, and Yushiro all stood together at the end of the hallway. “That’s sweet,” James remarked to them. “Really sweet. I wonder who exactly she sees us as from her family.”

“Well,” Tamayo replied, wondering the same thing. “Tanjiro-san said that you must remind her of their father. If I had to infer, she probably sees me as their mother, and Yushiro as one of their deceased siblings.”

That inference set off Yushiro, who gave James a dirty look at the implication of him and Tamayo being a ‘mother and father’ like a couple. “I’m watching you,” he very quietly mouthed to him as he pointed at him.

James chuckled, only making Yushiro more annoyed. “No way in Hell I’d make a pass at Tamayo,” he thought to himself. “Especially with Yushiro bein’ around. I still don’t get how she doesn’t see how much he’s into her.”

Nezuko then ran up to Tamayo and James and hugged both of them together, causing both of them to be taken off-guard and give expressions of surprise while Yushiro reacted as usual. “Get off of Tamayo-sama! How rude!”

“She ain’t hurt in’ no one,” James chided him. “Come on.” He then watched in amusement as Nezuko turned to Yushiro and patted his head, which only made him more annoyed. “Tanjiro, if what you said about Nezuko bein’ placed under that whole mantra is true, then she must perceive us as humans.”

As Nezuko ran back to her brother, he replied with, “Absolutely. Anyway, me and Nezuko will be leaving soon. James, you probably haven’t seen this, but Nezuko can travel with me if she shrinks down into this box on my back.” He then set his wooden carrying box down and opened the door on it. “Alright, Nezuko-chan, let’s show James how you do this.”

Nezuko nodded and gave a happy, “Mmm mmm!” She then shrunk down to fit into the box, closing the door behind her soon after. The other three found it absolutely adorable, even Yushiro.

Tamayo then turned to James, “Alright, with that, we trust this house to you. Stay here as long as you want, and keep Susamaru under your watch. I’ll be sure to study the spell book you gave me as well as your blood samples very intensely.” She then handed him the keys. “Be careful, though, since from now onwards, this house won’t be obscured through illusions. Be prepared for Muzan to send more demons after this house, and definitely for you and the girl.”

“I’ll kick ‘em to next week,” James replied, literally translating yet another English phrase, much to everyone’s confusion except for Tamayo. “It means I’ll be sure to beat them up real good.”

“Ah, right,” Tanjiro replied. “America has a lot of fun expressions.”

…

March 31, 1913

Late at night, after James had spent a whole day repairing as much as he could at the house, he walked into one of the basement exam rooms, where Susamaru was sleeping peacefully in a bed. He was drinking some reserves of human blood Tamayo had left him, as well as having a sandwich he had made for dinner. It was not much, but it was filling enough to keep him going, especially the blood. As he finished another entry into his journal and closed it, he heard a stirring motion from Susamaru’s bed. “Ah, you’re finally awake, huh?”

The demon girl stretched her arms and yawned before wiping her eyes to get a better look of her surroundings. “Huh… Where am I?” As she looked to James, her eyes widened with fear and she quickly recoiled from him. “Wha… What the fuck?! What’s going on here?!”

“Calm down,” James assured her. “You ain’t in no trouble anymore. You can say Muzan’s name all you want now. You’re no longer bound by his curse.”

“No longer bound? What?” Susamaru was deeply confused. “What happened?!”

“I freed you from his curse with a spell,” James explained. “Now, because you ain’t part of Kibutsuji-san’s little army, you’ll probably be a target for him, so I’d highly recommend y’all stay with me for protection.”

“Freed,” she said to herself as she looked around her body for any possible injuries or marks. She then closed and opened her eyes several times. “This has to be a dream.”

“It ain’t,” James replied as he got up from his table. “This is real. Your friend’s dead, by the way.”

“He wasn’t really my friend,” Susamaru admitted to him. “We had only gone on one other mission before then. Truth be told, he was kinda annoying, and a huge clean freak.”

“God damn,” James remarked in amazement. “Badmouthing the guy already, barely two days after he died.”

“Whatever,” she replied to him. “Anyway, what’s the deal with you anyway? You can walk in the sun, you hunt our own kind, you interact mostly with humans, what the fuck gives?”

“American demons are different,” James explained to her. “They can walk in the sun at the cost of their regenerative abilities and much of the power of their Blood Demon Arts. If I were to lose an arm in the middle of the day, it wouldn’t start to grow back until dusk. I theorize we evolved to have this ability, as well as our lesser need for human blood and our ability to consume animal blood, due to the larger ground demons gotta cover in the Americas. Y’all wouldn’t last a week in the New World.”

Susamaru pouted. “Lucky… But that still doesn’t explain why you side with humans.”

“I don’t side for or against any species or race,” James clarified to her as he sat down next to her. “My mission is to protect the innocent and hunt down those who wish to bring them harm. It just so happens that most of my targets are demons. I also was a bounty hunter during the day, and I would arrest humans who committed crimes to collect the bounties on their heads. Some of ‘em did horrific shit, like rape or murder.”

“Well,” she admitted. “I guess I’m stuck here with you.”

“Ain’t a bad thing,” James said back to her. “You’ll be safe at least. Now, I highly suggest you start ingestin’ some of my blood. I need to see if you can get the same Limited Sunlight Resistance ability I got.” He then gave her a small glass vial of his own blood. “Come on, if ya drink it, I got a whole bunch more of these filled with human blood that Dr. Nakamura left for us.”

“Fine,” Susamaru replied as she grabbed the vial from his hands and downed it as if it were a shot of alcohol. As she swallowed it, she had a puzzled expression on her face. “The taste is weird. It’s nothing like the blood I got from Muzan. Anyway, where’s that human blood?”

“Right here,” James replied as he handed her another vial. “Enjoy it while you can. Our supplies are limited.”

…

April 3, 1913

It had been several days since James and Susamaru had started living in the house together. They had spent many nights repairing the damage done to the house, and James spent most of the day doing further repairs. However, they also set many traps in the house, and laid the groundwork so that others could quickly be assembled, since both of them knew they now had giant targets painted on their backs. James used some of his cash to buy supplies, and by now, they had managed to repair half of the damage. Also, Susamaru had been consuming James’ blood on a daily basis.

That day, in the basement, where it was safe for Susamaru to be, James and her performed an experiment to see if the blood ingestion was working. They had also begun to directly inject his blood into her bloodstream with a needle. In one of the rooms was a singular window in which a small stream of sunlight could enter. Susamaru sat on a chair at a table nearby, away from the beam of sunlight and therefore safe. She asked James as he readied a mirror, “Are you ready?”

“Yep,” James replied. “Are you?”

“Of course,” she nodded. James then took the mirror and aimed it at the stream of sunlight before slowly directing it at a small portion of her arm. For about 10 seconds, nothing happened. Then, a small bit of smoke appeared from the spot, and Susamaru told him, “Agh, fuck, there’s the pain!”

“Okay, okay,” he replied as he moved the mirror away. “So that’s good. You’re resistant for about 10 seconds. Maybe with a few more days, you’ll be permanently resistant.”

“I hope so,” she told him with some hope in her voice. “I haven’t seen the sun in ten years. I was 16 when I was turned into a demon by Muzan.”

“I was only 18,” James added. “The Jackson brothers turned me into one by accident while murderin’ my platoon. I had been a soldier for two years after I had faked my age to get into the army.”

Susamaru was saddened to hear the circumstances of James becoming a demon. “That’s awful. I’m sorry you had to go through it.”

“I never asked to become a demon,” James added. “But I don’t regret becoming one. If it hadn’t been for that, I wouldn’t have met my wife Julia. Alas, if I weren’t one, maybe she and my son wouldn’t have been murdered.”

“Demons here can’t bear children,” Susamaru informed him with a downtrodden tone. “Muzan won’t let us.”

“Exact opposite in America,” James explained to her. “The Jackson brothers gave their demons the ability to have children because they’ve used that ability for evil purposes. They defile and rape women, and the female demons on their side even force themselves upon men. Between humans and demons, whether or not the baby is a demon depends on the sex of the demon. If it’s a male demon fathering a child with a female human, like me, male children will be demons and female children will be humans. They do this to humans sometimes to both create more demons and to create more food.” By now, James was beginning to grow more and more disgusted with the acts he was describing. “Even if the female demon becomes attached to their baby, if it’s a human, it gets taken away and eaten by others. If it’s a demon, it gets taken and raised to become a killer. They literally will rip a fuckin’ baby from her mother to either murder and devour it or train it to be a mindless killer. Those two slave-ownin’ pieces of shit have no boundaries to their depravity.”

Susamaru’s eyes widened in horror. “Holy shit… That’s… That’s fucked up.”

“It is,” James agreed as he pulled a cigarette from his pocket and then lit it with a candle in the room. After taking a puff and blowing out some smoke, he told her, “It’s incredibly fucked up. It’s wrong. Tamayo, that woman who was talking to you, was right. The Progenitors are afraid of demons uniting and arguing for a world where we don’t have to fight humans, because those fuckers know they’ll be murdered by us. I’d love to see each and every one of ‘em beheaded by a guillotine like the French* do to their murderers and rapists.”

(A/N: At the time of this scene taking place, France still utilized the guillotine for capital punishment. France would become the last West European country to execute someone, executing a torture murderer in 1978. They abolished capital punishment in 1981. Beheadings had been public until the late 1930s, being moved into prisons afterwards.)

Susamaru reacted by becoming even more remorseful and despondent in her expression. “Muzan used me. He promised me that if I just killed more people, I’d become a Lower Moon easily. In fact, when I came to kill you guys, I was operating under the assumption I already was, and that I’d be sworn in as one the day after.” She sighed and shook her head. “Now I know I was fucking lied to. He used and manipulated me, and I feel violated.” As she paused, she wiped her face, tears starting to spill from her eyes as she looked up at James. “I was stupid… So stupid.”

“No, don’t say that,” James comforted her with a pat on her shoulder. “This ain’t your fault. Just as you said, that piece of shit Kibutsuji Muzan used you. He lied to you. There’s no one at fault here but him.” He then looked to the window nearby. “I told you, we’re gonna make sure that cowardly motherfucker dies.”

…

April 5, 1913

Three demons, all of whom looked relatively normal and human-like, watched the Nakamura House from a rented inn room across the street. Nobody had suspected they were demons, and they had specific orders from Muzan Kibutsuji himself: Kill Susamaru and James, and take away any top secret documents Susamaru had, of which she was carrying some. Their names were Hayate, Masaya, and Keiji. They all appeared to be in their late 20s, and all had black hair. Hayate and Keiji had blue eyes, while Masaya had red eyes. “Hey, Hayate-kun,” Masaya called over as he put down a pair of binoculars. “Don’t you find it strange how these traitors aren’t leaving this place at all?”

“Well,” Hayate replied as he walked over. “I wouldn’t if I were them. They probably know some sort of response from our Master is coming. They’re not stupid.”

“It won’t help them,” Keiji added as he also walked over to the window. “Not at all. We’ll still break in and do our jobs, no matter what they have in store. I bet you my left arm that this will be a piece of cake. Just watch.”

“Be prepared to cut it off and give it to us if you’re wrong,” Masaya remarked to him. “It’s not like losing one of your left arms will matter, since you’ll just grow a new one.”

“I think we all can agree these fuckheads won’t know what hit ‘em,” Hayate replied. “Especially when it’s the Demon Bandits!”

Chapter Text

April 8, 1913

Susamaru and James performed another test to see if she was resistant to sunlight. As James slowly moved the small beam of sunlight onto her arm, nothing began to happen. Susamaru looked the spot over and remarked, “Well, that’s certainly an improvement. I don’t feel anything yet.”

“Alright,” James replied as he checked a pocket watch of his. “It’s been about half a minute. Let’s expand the spot a bit.” He then moved the mirror in a way to expand how much sunlight reached the skin on her arm. “How’s that?”

“I don’t feel a thing,” Susamaru replied in amazement. “Well, except for the normal warmth of the sun. I haven’t felt that in a long time.”

“Maybe direct injection is the one that works best,” James remarked. “Ever since we began with that, you’ve been improvin’. Anyway, I’m surprised nobody’s tried to attack us yet. What the fuck’s Muzan waitin’ for?”

…

Later that night, after James finished another round of repairs to the house, he and Susamaru decided to go out on the town for the night for the first time. As the two of them walked through Asakusa, enjoying the city lights, Susamaru asked him, “Have you considered staying at Tamayo’s house permanently? This place is really nice.”

“Truth be told,” James replied. “I have. Sure, I’ll have to go out on missions and stuff to kill demons, but I could make her house my base of operations of sorts.”

Meanwhile, the Demon Bandits were sitting at an outdoor cafe, blending in with the human populace. As Masaya and Keiji went over some of their plans, Hayate looked out into the crowd. As he scanned it, he said to the other two, “You know, what would be the odds if we found those two walking among the streets? I mean, I doubt it’s gonna happen.”

Masaya then found something in the crowd and replied to him in disbelief, “Uh, Hayate-kun, I think your odds were good, because I think that’s them over there!” As he stood up and pointed at them, he motioned to Keiji and told him, “There! They’re right there!”

James and Susamaru both heard the commotion behind them and turned around. James was confused, but as soon as Susamaru saw them, she recognized them. “Oh shit,” she muttered to herself. “James, we have to go back. I think we found the demons Muzan sent.”

“Those guys? They don’t look all that assumin’.”

“We need to go back,” Susamaru insisted as she tugged his shirt. “Come on!” James relented and sighed as the two of them made a break for their house.

Hayate then turned to Masaya, disgusted, and told him, “Wow, thanks a lot, asshole. Now they know we’re fucking coming!” Masaya had inadvertently ruined their element of surprise by causing a commotion.

…

About half an hour later, as James and Susamaru were quickly readying traps all along the house, the former asked the latter as they set up a trap on one of the back doors involving a blow torch, “So, who are those guys?”

“They’re the Demon Bandits,” Susamaru explained to him as she attached a string from the door knob to the blow torch. “They’re three mostly normal-looking demons who have a penchant for breaking into people’s homes to both eat them and steal their stuff. I’m surprised Muzan sent them and not someone a bit more… Powerful?”

“What? Are they not that good?”

“I mean,” she remarked about her former comrades. “They’re kinda… Weird? They’re definitely not the strongest. I could probably destroy them one-on-one, but one-on-three, I’d have some trouble with fighting against.”

“Alright,” James said as he finished the trap. “Let’s test it.” James then opened the door from the inside inwards, standing clear of the blow torch’s path as it turned on and let out a jet of flame. As he closed the door, he remarked, “Good work. All we gotta do now is set up the marbles and broken glass, and then we head to the roof with the bricks.”

“I gotta heat up the front doorknob a little bit first,” Susamaru replied as she grabbed a second blow torch. “I’ll be back!”

…

About 10 minutes later, the Demon Bandits approached the front of the Nakamura House. Keiji instructed both of his partners, who were still bickering over what had happened earlier, “Alright, you two, shut the fuck up and listen to me! We have a mission to do, alright, so I don’t want any more bickering and fighting between you two! We promised our Master we would bring back their heads and clothes, as well as that intelligence Susamaru had on her!”

“I guess she had a Kodak camera on her for taking photos at night for intelligence,” Masaya then added. “If she does, we need to grab that as soon as possible and destroy it.”

Then, as they reached the front of the house, they were interrupted from going in by a shout from above on the roof. As they all looked above them, Susamaru shouted down, “Up here, you horse’s ass!” She and James smiled and waved at the trio.

“So there you guys are,” Masaya shouted up to her. “Listen, Susamaru, here’s the deal! Nothing would thrill me more than to murder you and your little boyfriend up there!”

Susamaru blushed at the remark, but kept a calm face regardless. “He’s not my boyfriend!” James chuckled in response, finding her blushing cute.

“Whatever the fuck he is to you,” Masaya replied, not really caring. “We wanna kill you! Ending a fellow demon’s life ain’t gonna matter much to me or these other two guys! However, maybe we can make a deal!”

James responded back, “A deal, huh?!”

“If you throw down your camera and other intelligence,” Masaya proposed to the two of them. “We’ll bring you two to our Master alive, and we won’t hurt you.”

Susamaru asked them, “Do you promise?” She then picked up a brick and held it down so they wouldn’t see it.

“I promise,” Masaya agreed. “Now, throw it on down!”

“Okay, here it comes!” Down below, the Demon Bandits laughed, thinking she had really fallen for their trick. However, when they looked up, they got a nasty surprise. Susamaru had tossed a brick over the edge of the roof, and it was falling down at a high rate of speed.

Hayate shouted as it fell, “Oh shit!” Then, the brick hit him right on his forehead with a sickening crunch, knocking him to the ground. As his injuries began to heal themselves, he screamed in pain, “AGH, FUCK, THAT HURT!”

Masaya angrily yelled up at her, “Hey, bitch, that wasn’t a fucking camera! Stop playing games and throw it down here!”

“Oops,” Susamaru sarcastically replied as she tossed another brick down. Once again, it hit Hayate, causing him to become incredibly disoriented.

Keiji, worried for him, turned to him and asked, “Hey, Hayate-kun, how many fingers am I holding up?” He was holding up three on his right hand.

“Uhhh,” Hayate replied as he tried to get his bearings straight. “Six? Seven?” He then looked up and saw a third brick, screaming and shouting, “BRICK! BRICK! BRICK!” Keiji just barely missed being hit by a third brick, which again hit Hayate, causing him to scream in pain, “MOTHERFUCKER!”

“Fuck this,” Keiji told both of them. “I’m going around the back!” As he ran to the back of the house, a fourth brick hit Hayate, causing another bout of screaming.

“If this is all you got,” Masaya shouted up at Susamaru. “You’re fucked, you hear me?! Bricks can’t solve everything!” A fifth brick then hit Hayate after Masaya was forced to dodge it, followed quickly by a sixth and final brick. “Hayate, get the fuck up! I’m going in through the front!”

“Okay,” Hayate replied, still loopy and disoriented as his injuries began to heal. “I’ll join you soon enough… Let me just… Let me just get my bearings straight…”

As Masaya placed his foot on the front stairs and tried to step up, he immediately slipped. “Woah! Oh shit!” He then tumbled down onto the pavement with a loud and sickening thud, the stairs having been coated in grease and oil to make them slippery. As he got up, he took a deep breath and told himself, “Masaya, calm down, calm down…” He then carefully stepped onto the stairs again, this time keeping what he thought was an iron-fisted grip on the side rails. However, just as he reached the front door, he lost his grip, and he slipped and fell off the stairs once more. “Fuck!”

Meanwhile, in the back, Keiji found a ladder that ran up the side of the building to the roof. “Well, that’s convenient! I just need to jump up and grab a hold of the last rung, and I’ll find those two traitors soon enough!” He then leapt up and grabbed the last rung. However, when he did, he immediately realized it was also coated in grease and oil to make it slippery. As he slipped off, he yelled out before striking the ground with a crunching sound. As he got up, he cursed James and Susamaru with, “Those fucking pieces of shit, trying to get us with these childish pranks!” He looked to a door next to the ladder and shrugged. “It’s longer, but why not?” As he opened the door, he chuckled to himself, thinking he was clear of danger, only to be met with a bag of hand tools above his head that opened as he opened the door. The bag spilled its contents onto him, knocking him to the ground. “Agh, motherfucker!” Then, a singular hammer came loose from the bag, hitting him right in the head and causing further pain. “Fuck!”

Meanwhile, in the front, as Hayate slowly began to get up and brush himself off, Masaya had finally managed to make his way to the door without falling. “Alright, now you two are dead…” As he grabbed a hold of the door handle, not realizing it was glowing red and that Susamaru was on the other side holding a blow torch to it, the pain instantly hit him as the flesh on his hand burned. “RaaaAAAAGH, FUCK! FUCKING FUCK!” He immediately slipped off the stairs again and fell to the ground as he tried to blow on his hand to cool it off. “FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT! MY FUCKING HAND!” Due to him being a demon, the injury itself soon healed, but the pain was still present.

In the back, Keiji got up and began to walk into the room the door had led to. “Alright, guys! Let’s get these bastards!” However, as he took another step, he failed to see a giant hole that James had cut out of the floor that led straight into the basement, and as he tripped on his own feet and tipped over, he screamed. Right after, he fell about 12 feet into the basement, hitting the hard wooden floor with a loud thud. As he got up slowly, still in incredible pain from the fall, he muttered to himself, “Those fuckers are gonna die right here, right now…” He then looked up at the hole. “I gotta admit, though, that’s a hole if I’ve ever seen one myself!”

In the front, Hayate finally got up as Masaya told him, “Don't go in the front door! The fucking doorknob is red hot! You get in through a window! I’m gonna go around the back and see what I can do!”

“You got it,” Hayate replied as he walked up to a window. However, as he did, he noticed that his shoes got stuck in a sticky unknown substance he had stepped in. “God damn it,” he muttered to himself and he was forced to go barefoot. He then took a deep breath and said to himself, “Blood Demon Art, Metallic Hand!” His right hand then turned into a crowbar, and he used this body change to pry open the window. Once it was open, his hand returned to normal and he jumped in, looking around but not noticing the next trap, which was right below him. “Hehehe… Your asses are mine!” However, when he set both of his bare feet on the floor, he stepped on a ton of broken glass that had been left on the floor. “Aaagh, motherfucker! Fucking glass!” As he tried to crawl around the floor, he broke more glass, coating the floor with his blood as his initial wounds began to heal, only for them to reopen with more broken glass. “My feet feel like they’re on fucking fire!”

Inside the house, James thought to himself as he readied another trap in the basement, “This is only the beginning! These shitheads ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”

Chapter Text

In the basement, Keiji looked around and decided to walk to the stairs down the hall from where he was. At the end of the hallway was a shelf full of paint cans. “Time for my revenge!” He then ran to the stairs, not realizing the floor near the shelf and the foot of the stairs was slippery and covered in water. Sure enough, as he reached it, he slid on the water and fell right into the shelf, causing it to tumble onto him and coat him in paint. “Agh, shit! I got fucking paint in my mouth!” As he threw the shelf and paint cans off of him, he spat out as much paint as he could. “Ugh, fucking gross!”

Above, Masaya walked to the back of the house and found a second back door to enter into. “Heh…” As he felt the door knob and felt no heat, he chuckled. “Here we go…” As he opened the door and peered inside, however, the same blow torch Susamaru and James had rigged turned on, setting the top of his head on fire and causing him to scream loudly in pain before he slammed the door shut and ran out. “Agh, fuck, fucking shit, my hair’s on fire!” As he dashed around, he tried to find something to put his head out, and found a bucket nearby filled with what he thought was water. “Oh, thank God!” He ran to the bucket and proceeded to do a handstand over it as he gently lowered his head. However, what was in the bucket was in fact not water, but actually gasoline.

As Hayate crawled inside, still in severe pain from the glass earlier, he heard a loud boom outside, and said to himself, “What the fuck was that?”

Outside, Masaya was now fully engulfed in flames as he rolled around and began to put them out. By the time he was finished, his clothes had either burned away or were charred and covered in soot. “You fucking pieces of shit! I’m gonna fucking rip you two to shreds, you hear me?! I’m especially gonna enjoy murdering you, Susamaru, you cunt!”

Back in the basement, Keiji ran to a bathroom to try to clean himself up. He quickly found the sink, not realizing that a live electrical wire was running to it and that it was connected to the handles for hot and cold water. “Fucking finally, I can get this shit off of me! I don’t even care if it’s hot or cold water!” Immediately as he grabbed the handles, the electricity took effect, and he was shocked. He screamed as the electricity ran through his body and both burned him and shook him violently. For a good thirty seconds, he held onto the handles with an involuntary iron-fisted grip. Finally, one of his hands slipped, and he let go of both handles. He stood for a few seconds before collapsing to the ground with a loud boom.

Masaya kicked in the door, severing the string that turned the blow torch on and disabling it. “There, now that pesky blow torch won’t affect me!” As he walked into the kitchen of the house, he opened another door which happened to be ajar to get into a bathroom to wash his hands. However, when he did, he failed to realize that a bucket of tar was sitting on the top of the door, and it fell on him, coating him in the black substance. “God fucking damn it… I’m getting sick of this shit!” He walked out without washing his hands and opened another door to the front foyer where the stairs were. Again, this door was ajar, and this time, a bucket of feathers fell onto him. Due to the tar, the feathers stuck to what was left of his clothes and his skin. As he spit out several feathers, he muttered to himself in anger, “Fucking feathers, really?”

In the basement, Keiji finally recovered from his electrocution and stood up. As he walked to a rope near a laundry chute, he wondered where it led to. “Hmmm… How curious…” It appeared as though he had learned nothing from the previous traps, because as soon as he pulled on it, he heard a rumbling sound from the laundry chute. Then, a clothing iron came flying out of it, hitting him right in the upper chest and neck area. “Fuck!” It knocked him back, but not to the ground. As he recovered and brushed himself off, his injuries rapidly healing, he walked to the stairs, only to realize as he walked up the first step that they were also coated in the same substance as the one that forced Hayate to abandon his shoes. “Fucking hell, there go my shoes!” As he began to slowly make his way up barefoot, he failed to see a rusty nail sticking out of one of the final steps, and stepped right into it with his bare right foot. The pain was immediate, and he screamed as he fell backwards down the stairs. “Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!” When he hit the ground, he cursed at James and Susamaru, “You two are gonna die horrible fucking deaths when I get to you!”

After some more trying, all three of them finally met up again at the flight of stairs that led to the second floor. As they all ran to each other to get to the stairs, they failed to see a variety of marbles and pebbles laid out on the floor, and all three of them easily slipped on them as James and Susamaru watched from above. As they stood back up, Susamaru taunted them with, “Come on up here! We’re soooo scared!”

Masaya angrily shouted, “Fuck you, cunt!” He then turned to Keiji and Hayate, instructing them, “Follow me!” As they all marched up the stairs, James and Susamaru both held cans of paint in their hands, both of which were tied off to ropes hanging from the ceiling that allowed them to swing down. As James readied himself, Masaya noticed, and shouted, “Look out!”

Hayate looked up, not knowing what Masaya was talking about, and got his face smashed in by a paint can right after, causing him to fall down the stairs. “Motherfucker!”

Susamaru then tossed a second one down, hitting Keiji. Finally, James tossed the third and final one, which hit Masaya. As all three stood up once more on the ground, Masaya pushed Hayate, who was on top of him, off, telling him, “Get the fuck off me!” They all then ran up the stairs as James and Susamaru ran for the attic stairs, where a zip line would take both of them to the treehouse in the back. Just as the Demon Bandits were about to reach the door to catch up to them, a string stretched across the hallway tripped up all three of them.

Susamaru then grabbed a spider that happened to be crawling on the wall next to her and tossed it towards them, yelling out, “Take this!” Thankfully, it landed on Hayate, who was deathly afraid of the arachnids. As he realized the creature had landed on his face, he screamed bloody murder out of fright. James could not help but laugh at his scream, which was oddly feminine for a man like him.

As Hayate ripped the spider off of him, it landed on Masaya. Keiji also noticed it, and stepped back out of fear as Hayate used his Blood Demon Art to turn his right hand into a crowbar. Masaya, who was deeply concerned about him, asked, “Uh, Hayate-kun… What are you doing? Why’s your hand a crowbar, man?”

“Masaya,” Hayate very quietly whispered to him. “Don’t. Move.”

He then raised his right hand and came down on Masaya, missing the spider completely, which jumped off of him, but landing a nice and painful hard blow on his ribs. “AGH, MOTHERFUCKER!” Masaya then stood up and sucker-punched Hayate, asking him angrily, “What the fuck was that for?! How do you like it when I fucking hit you, huh?!” He then hit him again as Keiji ripped him off of Hayate.

Meanwhile, Susamaru and James had successfully ziplined together to the treehouse, holding onto each other tightly as they made a smooth landing. “Okay,” James instructed her. “I’m gonna go down to the ground level. When they start climbin’ across the line, cut it. They’ll then chase after me through the house, I’ll deploy the kerosene-soaked rope on the roof to get down back onto the ground, and we’ll burn ‘em from there.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Susamaru replied as James left and climbed down the ladder to the ground just as the Demon Bandits reached the window where the zipline was attached. “Hey, over here, you horse’s ass! You can’t get me now, fuckers!”

“Let’s get her,” Keiji began before he was interrupted by Masaya.

“Wait a minute,” he told them. “That’s exactly what they want us to do: Go back down to the first floor and go through their little funhouse. I ain’t falling for it.”

“We need to hurry up,” Hayate insisted. “She could be calling the cops or something!”

Masaya turned to him in disbelief regarding his stupidity. “She ain’t gonna call the cops! From a fucking treehouse?! Use your head!” He then crawled out the window, holding onto the zipline. “Come on! Let’s climb across!”

Once all three were on the line, Susamaru pulled out a knife James had left with her and began to saw into the rope. Keiji noticed it and screamed, “Fuck, go back!”

“Hurry up,” Masaya shouted. “She’s got a fucking knife!” However, it was too late. She was able to saw into the rope all the way, and when she did, all three of them swung like a pendulum into an outside wall of the house before crashing down to the ground. James could barely contain his laughter as he ran into the house, the Demon Bandits slowly getting up and then giving chase.

Once James made it to the roof, avoiding all of his own traps, he took a rope, which had been soaked in kerosene for several hours in a bucket, and tied it around the chimney before rappelling down successfully. Once he was at the bottom, he stood and waited. “These guys are gonna get a nasty surprise when they come tryin’ to climb down…” He had earlier planted twelve knives coated in wisteria poison on the ground where the rope led to.

Sure enough, all three of them emerged onto the roof, also having managed to avoid the traps. As they looked down and saw James waving at them, Masaya shouted, “Get the fuck up here and fight us!”

“I don’t feel like it,” James replied. “Come on down and do it!”

“SUCK BRICK, ASSHOLE!” Keiji then threw an extra brick down, but missed James.

“Some attempt that was,” he taunted him with. “Maybe if you three dunces put your one brain cell each together, you’d be able to actually get shit done!”

As Susamaru joined James below, Hayate shouted down to them, “We’re gonna fucking murder you, and that bitch you’re with, too!” The three of them then began to slowly make their way down the rope. As they did, Hayate remarked to Masaya about the smell of the rope, “Hey, Masaya-kun, this rope smells weird.”

“Yeah,” Keiji noted above him and below Masaya. “Kinda smells like kerosene!”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Masaya dismissed both of them. “Why would a rope be soaked in kerosene?”

James could only laugh at their remarks as he struck a match from a matchbook and lit the rope on fire. “Farewell, fuckers!”

Hayate looked below him and noticed the fire first, remarking, “Uh, guys, I think I know why it’s soaked in kerosene now!”

“OH FUCK,” Keiji shouted. “CLIMB! CLIMB BACK UP!”

“Hurry up,” Masaya worriedly yelled. “The fire’s reaching us!” Sure enough, as the fire climbed higher and higher on the rope, the panic among the trio increased. Finally, once the fire began catching their clothes, they could hold on no more. “We gotta fucking fall!” All three of them then let go, not realizing the poisoned knives would be greeting them, as they screamed. Once they hit the ground, the knives immediately took effect, and Masaya screamed, “FUCK! IT HURTS! MY FUCKING INSIDES ARE ON FIRE!”

Within a minute, all three of the Demon Bandits were dead of poisoning, their screams of anguish ceasing as their bodies began to crumble into dust. Their comically terrible attempt to kill the traitor and the American had ended in complete failure. Susamaru remarked to James as they high-fived, “And we didn’t even have to get our hands dirty. We fucking demolished them. Your Blood Demon Art’s way more useful than I initially realized.”

“That’s a flawless victory if I do say so myself,” James replied in triumph. “We’re gonna make a great team, Susamaru-chan.”

She immediately looked at him in confusion. “Susamaru-chan? I thought you didn’t use honorifics because they were too bothersome for you…”

“I guess you’re the exception,” James remarked with a happy grin. “You’re my friend now, ain’t ya?”

Susamaru blushed slightly in response. “You’re… You’re right. James, you’re 100 percent right.” She then turned her attention back to the Demon Bandits, who were now no more than a pile of stained clothes. “I hope they enjoyed our little funhouse of horrors.”

Chapter Text

April 9, 1913

Today was to be an important day for Susamaru. She would step out into the sun for the first time after several days of direct injection of James’ blood. In the morning, James stood outside in the front of the house and awaited her presence as she stood in the doorway, contemplating her next actions. “Let’s go, Susamaru! You got this!”

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Okay… Okay… I can do this, I can do this, I can do this…” She was trembling, having not stepped out into the sun in ten whole years since she had become a demon. “I can do this, I can do this, I can do this…” She began to take a step, but then retracted her leg.

“Hey,” James called to her as he walked to her. “Are you okay?” She shook her head no, still trembling and shaking. “If you’re afraid, we can step out together.”

As he took her by the hand, she blushed. “I… I suppose we can…” Together, the two of them finally made the first step into the morning sun. Immediately, the warmth of the great star hit her, but it did not burn. In fact, it felt nice. “This feeling,” she thought to herself. ”I haven’t felt it in so long… Ten whole years without any sort of this warmth, without seeing the day… No more…” As she looked around, she could not help but begin to cry, overwhelmed by her emotions and the sensation of the daylight. “I had no idea how much I missed this…”

As she fell into his arms, James embraced her, feeling somewhat awkward but understanding why she was emotional. “There, there… It’s fine.”

"I know, just... Let me savor this moment a little bit..." Susamaru then began to collect herself emotionally, wiping away her tears. "It feels so good to be out in the sun after so long..."

"I understand," James assured her as the two split. "You do realize that when ya walk 'round durin' the day, you'll be more vulnerable than at night, right?"

"I know," she nodded. "It's a small price to pay, though. Being able to finally see the sun after ten whole years is worth it."

…

Later that day, the two of them had packed as much as they could into two backpacks. They had heard of a place called Mount Natagumo from the locals in Tokyo where many people had mysteriously disappeared if they hiked in the area at night. Many of the elders believed it was demons who were to blame, though others, of course, did not believe demons existed at all, and that people merely got lost and died while hiking on the mountain.. After packing what they needed and with James’ forged weapons permits, they traveled to Ueno Station, the closest national railway station to Asakusa, and boarded a train that would take them to the closest station to the mountain about four hours away, which would then be followed by a hike to the mountain.

As the two of them boarded their train, their rifle and shotgun were an odd sight to see for the other commuters and passengers. The two of them sat down in a set of chairs and stowed their backpacks and their guns, minus James’ revolver plus a second identical revolver he had brought with him that he had given to Susamaru, which they held onto, concealed in their clothes. Susamaru asked him, “Everythin’ packed?”

“Yep,” James replied. James was worried about his companion, particularly due to her appearance. Though James looked almost exactly the same as a demon as he did as a human, minus paler skin, Susamaru had odd-colored eyes and unnatural colors in the ends of her hair that could have tipped off some people to who she really was. “Nobody’s noticed, right?”

“Us? No,” she assured him, though she herself was not entirely sure. “I mean, those who know about us only think we come out at night. They wouldn’t expect our kind to be walking around in the daytime.”

…

Four and a half hours later, at 2:45 P.M., James and Susamaru got off the train at a recently-built rural train station. As Susamaru read a map of the area, she pointed out to James where Mount Natagumo was, while also telling him more information about it, having spent the entire train trip sleeping on James’ shoulder. “I remember Kibutsuji-san referring to there being a lot of demon activity on Mount Natagumo, but he never gave me or Yahaba, or really anyone of our rank, any specific details.”

“Come to think of it,” James replied to her as he began to remember something Tanjiro had told him. “I think Tanjiro mentioned that he was going in this general direction. What if he’s goin’ to the same place we are? I’m sure the Demon Slayer Corps would try to get on top of that shit pretty fast and send some slayers there.”

“Makes sense,” she remarked as she folded up the map. “Now, let’s walk to that one village north of here so we can get a room and stay overnight. Kibutsuji-san did tell me that there were various inns and hotels in the countryside who secretly worked with the Demon Slayers, giving them room and board as they walked from town to town. I think there’s one in that village.”

“I ain’t too sure about that,” James slowed her down out of concern. “They may be more familiar with how demons look, and I ain’t too sure they’ll understand we’re supposed to be on the same side. I didn’t tell Tanjiro this, but him carryin’ Nezuko ‘round as an official member of the Demon Slayer Corps is a huge fuckin’ risk. Y’all said it yourself, all they see is a demon that needs to be destroyed.” He shrugged and also admitted, “Not entirely unreasonable, granted. All I’m sayin’ is that since she can’t speak for herself, she’s in a fuckton of trouble if a slayer tries to do their job and kill her. Hell, I ain’t sure if us speakin’ for ourselves would convince ‘em.”

“So,” Susamaru concluded and asked him. “Are we on our own, then?”

“For now,” James admitted. “Yeah.”

…

James and Susamaru walked into an inn in a small village in the evening around 6:30 P.M., the same one that Susamaru had suggested, reluctantly on James’ part. The innkeeper, a short elderly woman, noticed them and welcomed them in with a bow. “Ah, good evening! What can we do for you?”

“Room for two please,” James explained politely. “We’ve been hikin’ all day.”

“Sounds like fun,” she remarked. “Me and my husband hiked a lot when we were much younger. Anyway, just sign in here, and I’ll go grab a key.” She then left the front desk to grab a room key.

“So, uh,” Susamaru asked him with a slight blush. “We’re gonna be in the same room?”

“I don’t see why that’s a problem,” James replied, trying to comfort her. “Look, I ain’t gonna look or take advantage of you, if that’s what you’re thinkin’. I hunted rapists, alright? I know how evil it is.”

“I know that,” she replied. “It’s just… It’s weird for an unmarried couple to do that.”

Then, the old woman came back to them with a key. “The number is right on the key. How long do you guys plan on staying?”

“A single night so far,” James replied to her. “If plans change, we’ll let you know.”

…

After unpacking, the two of them took a short walk outside, admiring the sights of the inn, which was located in a larger manor. It was a pristine example of architecture from the era before Commodore Perry had arrived in Japan, and certainly dated back many, many decades. As they rounded a corner of a building, they noticed that it had a Wisteria crest on the front of it. “Those signs mean that this is friendly to Demon Slayers,” Susamaru pointed out to James.

“Makes sense,” he replied. “Wisteria is poisonous to us if we ingest it or get it injected into us, after all.”

Suddenly, they heard a voice call out from the same house-like structure, “HOLY SHIT, IT’S NOT EVEN LOCKED?!” The young man’s voice was followed by a shushing. Susamaru and James looked to each other, confused as to what was going on. “SOMEBODY HELP ME! AAGH! EVEN YOU’LL DO, INOSUKE! HELP ME!”

“GET THE FUCK OFF ME!” They then both heard a loud kicking sound.

James pulled his revolver out. “That don’t sound good.” He then carefully walked up to the front door and stood on the side as he reached out and knocked on it. “Hey, you guys alright in there? We heard screamin’ and hollerin’!”

Immediately, the door opened up, and the two of them were met with a man in pajamas wearing a boar’s head. All three of them stopped dead in their tracks, all deeply confused about what they were looking at. Susamaru asked the young man, “Uhhh, since you’re wearing that boar’s head, I’m gonna assume your name’s Inosuke…?”

“You’re God damn right, it is,” Inosuke replied as he crossed his arms. “I’m the one and only Hashbira Inosuke, and in here are my lackeys, Komako Tontaro and Akatsuki Zenikyu!”

“FOR THE LAST GOD DAMN TIME,” they both heard a rather familiar voice yell at Inosuke in annoyance. “MY NAME IS KAMADO TANJIRO!”

“Wait a minute,” James replied as he holstered his revolver. “Tanjiro, is that you?!”

The man himself then ran out to meet him, and as he did, he was surprised to see a confused Susamaru with him. “Holy shit… James Colby, no way! Susamaru, too! You’re awake! His blood must have worked!”

“Yeah, uh,” Susamaru awkwardly introduced herself, also apologizing to him. “I’m back, and I can walk in the sun now. By the way, um, sorry for trying to kill you and your sister at Tamayo’s house… Eheheh…”

Nezuko then ran out past Tanjiro and Inosuke and practically bear-hugged James, telling him, “Mmmm! Mmmm!” He was surprised by the hug, and was equally surprised when she turned to Susamaru and pet her head instead of trying to attack her. “Mmmm…”

“Well,” Susamaru remarked. “I guess she sees me as a human instead of a threat, so that’s a start.”

“Wait a minute,” asked the third young man in the group, Zenitsu Agatsuma, who bore blond hair. “Not human?! Who are you two?!”

James sighed, realizing he’d have to explain his situation once more. “Fuck, here we go again…”

"Yes," Susamaru admitted with a sigh of her own. "We're demons, young man."

Zenitsu yelled, "What the fuck, demons?!"

Tanjiro shushed him with, "Shhhhhh! Quiet down! Don't be scared of them, Zenitsu. They're on our side, okay?"

"Our side? How the Hell does that work?!"

"If ya just let me explain myself," James then said to Zenitsu with an annoyed expression. "You'll stop freakin' the fuck out, okay? Now, where to begin..."

Chapter Text

“I never thought I’d meet two demons like you,” Zenitsu told James and Susamaru as he stared at them with amazement in his eyes. “Especially someone as pretty as you, Susamaru-chan!”

“No thanks,” she replied, annoyed by his fawning over her. “My heart is for someone el-“ She then stopped herself, realizing James was in the same room. “I mean, just, whatever, okay?”

“I’m glad to see you two are alright,” Tanjiro told them. “You sure outsmarted those three demons who came to the house after me and Nezuko left. Speaking of, does the manor owner know you two are demons?”

“Well, uh,” James replied out of worry. “Eheheh… Yeah, she doesn’t. I’m afraid that the corps will try to kill us even if we hunt demons ourselves.”

“It’s why he was reluctant to even stop here,” Susamaru added. “I managed to finally convince him, though.”

“So you two are sleeping together?” Zenitsu was floored by the idea of sleeping in the same room with a girl. “James, you’re a lucky man…”

Susamaru blushed again as James looked at him, confused. “Erm, Zenitsu, nothin’ is gonna happen. We ain’t in a relationship. I respect people’s boundaries.”

“I’ve never heard of a name like Jeimaku Koraki,” Inosuke then asked them both, completely confident in his terrible mispronunciation of James’ name in Japanese. “You must have gotten that name as a demon, Koraki! Is that true, Murasama?”

“Uh, no,” corrected James. “It’s James Colby. My personal name is James. Where I’m from, family names are last, not first. I’ve had the same name since I was born as a human. I already went over this. My friend’s name is Susamaru. Again, we already went over this, pal.”

“Don’t mind him,” Tanjiro replied to James. “I keep telling Inosuke our actual names and he still gets them wrong. It’s a lost cause at this point. I’m sure he doesn’t mean offense.”

"I never get names wrong, Gonpachiro!"

"Inosuke, you literally just got my name wrong again..."

…

Later that night, James and Susamaru slept apart from each other in different beds in the same room. As they looked up at the ceiling, Susamaru asked him, “James, I need to ask you something.”

“What is it?” James turned his head to face her. “Go ahead.”

“Why me?” Susamaru had asked him a question he knew was inevitable, but was not expecting so soon. “Why did you decide to try that spell on me of all people? I don’t really consider myself special, and I’ve killed people. I’m surprised you didn’t try it on that one boy’s sister.”

“Nezuko didn’t need it,” James explained. “If she did, she would have been murdered by Muzan the minute she began protecting us from you. I’m not sure how, but Muzan has no control over her.”

“That is true,” Susamaru replied. She then sighed. “I guess why I’m asking you is because I’m not too special, like I said. Due to my kill count, I’m not innocent. Nezuko has never killed a human. I’ve killed at least 100 in the span of ten years. I know I’m going to Hell when I die.”

“You really don’t,” James countered her. “Susamaru, sure, you may have killed innocent people in the past, but you have a chance to change that. Instead of ending lives, you could save hundreds if not thousands of them by fighting Kibutsuji Muzan and his allies. If anyone gives you shit for it from this day forward, fuck ‘em. You’re on the right side of history now. As for why I saved you… I guess I kinda owe it to luck. Yahaba was already dead, whereas you were still alive. Tamayo gave me an opportunity, and I struck.”

“I suppose that’s true,” she admitted. “You know, my whole life has been one series of ‘what the fuck’ moments, I guess. I became a demon almost on impulse because I wanted to be able to throw my handballs faster and better. I was bullied a lot by boys back then because I was a strong and athletic girl. I wanted to be able to dominate them in sports, but I never knew being a demon entailed so much.” She shook her head. “If I could go back, I’d tell Kibutsuji to fuck off. I can’t believe he stole so much from me by manipulating me. I was told so many times as a human that no man wants a woman like me, and that also kind of influenced me, I guess. I thought that they were right, and that nobody would care if I was turned into a demon.”

James was a bit disturbed by her recollection of her past. It eerily mirrored parts of the life of his first wife, Julia, who had been murdered by a demon ten years prior. “I had a wife and a child before all of this. They were taken from me ten years ago. A demon came to my town and murdered them and my unborn second child when I was away. She was also athletic and physically strong, and she got picked on a lot for it by these assholes who thought she was less of a woman for it. She fell in love with me because I didn’t care, and I treated her with basic human respect. Virtually nobody saw the other side of her that was carin' and protective of those who couldn’t protect themselves. I think it was a… Yeah, it was a wrestlin' match. We were wrestlin' one day out by a creek when we began to kiss instead. Then, of course, our clothes came off, and the rest of it you can probably guess as to what happened."

Susamaru hid her lower face under the covers as she blushed. “Yeah, um, I can guess, alright… I’m sorry to hear that about your wife. She sounds like she was a wonderful woman.”

“She was,” James confirmed to her. “She really was… Well, I’m gonna fall asleep. Goodnight, Susamaru.”

“Goodnight,” she replied back. As she turned over in her bed, she thought to herself, “Fuck, don’t tell me… Am I in love with him?! I think I am…”

…

April 10, 1913

The next morning, after meeting with the owners of the manor alongside the trio, who were still unaware of James and Susamaru being demons, they all relaxed in the room of the trio when a crow suddenly flew in and landed beside Tanjiro. James, confused, asked him, “Is that crow supposed to be here?”

“Oh yeah,” Tanjiro told him. “I forgot to tell you. We have messenger birds that can speak like people, like this crow. We call them Kasugai Crows.”

“No shit,” James replied, remembering Paul McCloud’s own crow back home. “We use them too in America, even though we’re less organized. A guy I know named Paul McCloud has a crow he uses to send me updates. That crow is why I’m in Japan.”

“North to northeast,” the crow then told Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu. “That is approximately where your next mission is! North to northeast, at Mount Natagumo!”

“Mount Natagumo?!” Susamaru was shocked to hear the crow speak those words. “We were heading up there because we heard people kept getting lost and going missing at night. We thought demons were behind it.”

“I guess your suspicions were right,” Tanjiro replied to her. He then extended an offer to them. “You guys are free to come with us.”

James and Susamaru then looked at each other and nodded. “Look,” James told him with some regret in his voice. “We ain’t sure if we’re gonna be welcome visitors if more of the Demon Slayer Corps is around. I don’t want to fight people who are supposed to be on the same side as us, but I fear they won’t listen to us if they find out about our… Peculiar circumstances.” He made sure to be careful with his words in case the owners of the manor and the inn were within earshot. “They may not appreciate people like us gettin’ in the way. The motto of the corps is to destroy all demons, which is why I’d advise you to be extra careful with your sister, Tanjiro. Not everyone might have gotten the message from Mr. Urokodaki that she’s one of the good ones like us, nor would they even accept it.”

“And they probably know who I am,” Susamaru admitted. “I won’t lie to any of you. I have killed before, many times, in the past ten years. If they’re unaccepting of James and Nezuko, imagine how unaccepting they’ll be of me.”

Zenitsu realized they were right, and told Tanjiro. “They have a point. I think we can handle this on our own. It shouldn’t be too bad, right?”

“Right,” Tanjiro replied to him. He then turned to Inosuke. “How do you feel?”

“It doesn’t matter to me,” he nonchalantly replied.

Tanjiro turned back to James and Susamaru. “Guys, I understand that you’re both concerned. However, I have a feeling this mission might be more dangerous than we’re being led onto. If anyone from the Corps attacks you guys despite your contributions… I hate to say it, but…” He then sighed, coming clean with how he felt. “Defend yourselves against any threats, demon or human. I know for a fact that by you guys giving your blood samples to Tamayo-san, you’ve done far more than any of us here at least when it comes to fighting the real enemy: Kibutsuji Muzan. All three of us will vouch for you.” Zenitsu nodded, and Inosuke just looked on, passively agreeing with them. “James, Susamaru, please, come with us.”

James chuckled, realizing he had been outwitted. “Sounds like a plan,” James confirmed with a nod. He then extended his hand out to the trio. “You guys got this.”

Tanjiro realized what he was doing and shook his hand, confusing Inosuke. “Why did you just shake his hand like that? It’s weird.”

“It’s a thing outsiders do,” Tanjiro explained to him. “Kind of like bowing.”

Zenitsu, who had already known what handshakes were due to being raised closer to urban areas and Western influence, also shook his hand. When James offered to Inosuke, he awkwardly extended the wrong hand first and tried to grip. “Is this right?”

“Other hand,” James explained.

“God damn it,” Inosuke muttered to himself. “This is so confusing…” He then shook his hand with the proper hand, albeit awkwardly with a weak grip. “Bowing just seems so much easier.”

“When you’re raised in that culture, it is,” Zenitsu replied to him. “I’m sure to James, handshakes are a lot easier than bows, especially when it comes to how far down you bow.”

“Yeah, I still don’t get that. I think I may have bowed a bit too low to the manor owner last night when we came here, because she told us somethin’ like ‘I’m flattered, but I ain’t a noble.’” They all then laughed, amused by the anecdote.

…

Later that night, as the five of them approached Mount Natagumo, they all heard Zenitsu cry out from behind. As the other four turned around, he shouted, “I’m scared as hell, man!”

Inosuke brushed him off, asking with an annoyed tone, “Why the hell are you sitting on the ground? What’s wrong?”

“Who the fuck are you to talk, Pig Face?!” Zenitsu then aggressively pointed at the mountain ahead of them to prove his point. “You guys are lying if you say that mountain doesn’t give off creepy vibes!”

As they all looked to the mountain, James remarked, “He ain’t wrong.” The mountain in the middle of the night gave off a rather chilling vibe even from afar, and the lush trees coating it were unwelcoming and seemed to hide something incredibly sinister underneath the leaves. “Even so, sittin’ here will do shit. We got a mission to do, Zeni-”

“Wait,” Tanjiro suddenly exclaimed as he sniffed the air, something catching his attention. “That smell… Oh no, someone’s in trouble!” He then dashed towards the mountain, drawing his sword. James and Susamaru followed, both drawing their main guns.

“Hey, wait! You can’t leave me behind! What the fuck?!” Zenitsu and Inosuke both drew their swords and quickly followed behind.

As they ran up to the foot of the mountain, they all stopped in their tracks when they found a man lying down on the path, a sword in his hand. He had clearly been attacked and injured by someone, as evidenced by blood on the ground. James asked him, “Hey, you alright?!”

“It’s a Demon Slayer,” Tanjiro noted to them all. “He’s wearing our uniform!”

Then, as they all ran to him, Susamaru seemed to notice something the others had not. “Look out!” She then ripped her yukata off, dropped her gun, spawned her additional four arms, used her hands to spawn six handballs, and threw them at the air above the injured Demon Slayer. All five were caught in invisible threads before tearing them to shreds and landing nearby, the force needed to tear the threads drastically slowing them down and capturing most of the force Susamaru used to throw them. “I knew it! He was being held onto with wires!”

“Help me,” the injured demon slayer begged of them. “Please… Help me… The demons… They attached the wires to me like the webs of spiders…”

Susamaru then picked up her shotgun with her two upper hands as she recalled something to the group and James helped the injured slayer up onto his feet. “Shit, I should have remembered it sooner! Kibutsuji told us about a family of demons led by the Fifth Lower Moon. He never told us where they were located, but that he organized them like they were his family, even though they really weren’t. He also told us they used spider-like powers. This must be them!”

“A Lower Moon?!” Zenitsu was now deep into fear. “They’re among the most powerful demons in Japan! Holy fuck, we were sent here?!”

“Hey,” James asked the injured slayer. “What’s your name, soldier?”

“Watanabe,” he weakly replied as he tried to stand on one leg and free up his other. “Watanabe Makoto… Fuck, I think she broke my left leg and my right arm! Fuck, it hurts!”

James told Tanjiro, “I’m gonna stay out here and try to stabilize ‘em. I got medical supplies in my bag. Susamaru, stay with me in case they try to attack us out here.” He then took his bag off, pulling out two wooden boards and surgical tape. “Alright, Makoto, I’m gonna put a splint on your right arm, okay?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Tanjiro affirmed. “Alright, I’m heading in!” As he and Inosuke dashed into the forest, Zenitsu remained behind, still afraid to enter.

James first used a knife to cut open Makoto’s shirt sleeve and expose the arm. As he palpated Makoto’s arm, he noticed two different breaks. “Yep, I got two breaks in the lower arm. Zenitsu, if you ain’t gonna go in, hold these wooden boards so I can tape ‘em up!” He had gained his knowledge of first aid from his experiences in the Civil War and from demon-hunting afterwards, often having to assist human demon hunters in America when they were injured in the line of duty. “Susamaru, get some dressins’ outta my bag and start with bleedin’ control!”

“Wait a minute,” Makoto then asked him. “Are… Are you a demon?!” Fear immediately encapsulated him.

“Calm down,” he instructed him as Zenitsu held the boards in place, still shivering in fear.. “Listen, that don’t matter right now. Me and my partner Susamaru are two of the good ones. We’re here to kill the bad demons and save lives, not end innocent lives and serve Kibutsuji Muzan. Now, how many more of your buddies are in that forest?”

“There were four on the initial dispatch,” he replied to him, his fear of James now going away due to his sincere assurances. “They sent another five up when the initial team got into some trouble. I was in the second group. I don’t know who’s alive and who’s dead. Holy fuck, this whole situation’s fucked up.”

James then finished taping up the splint, which held his lower arm in place and prevented him from moving his left hand. “Alright, now that that’s all taken care of, let’s take a look at that leg. Sorry about tearin’ up your uniform.”

“I don’t give a fuck,” he moaned back to him in pain. “Strip me down naked if you gotta.”

Chapter Text

As James and Susamaru rushed an injured Makoto on Susamaru’s back to a nearby Demon Slayer safehouse in a small hamlet near the mountain, with Zenitsu refusing to go out of fear, Makoto’s story of what had transpired became clearer: Four slayers had initially been sent up to the mountain two nights before on a reconnaissance mission, but had gone missing when they did not send a report through a Kasugai Crow back to the Pillars, the highest-ranked members of the corps, or to the head of the corps, a man named Kagaya Ubuyashiki. As a result, a group of five, including Makoto, had been sent up the previous evening the two of them had arrived to see what had happened, but early on, after discovering the badly deformed body of two of the four original slayers around 7 P.M., they sent a request for additional slayers and staged outside the mountain to wait for assistance. 

Thirteen were ultimately notified due to the perceived severity of the request. Ten went in ahead of Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu, since they were a bit further away than the others, who were locals to the area, and Zenitsu had slowed them down a bit. The original group of five went in around 7 P.M., but did not come out. Makoto had told them that the group of ten was to enter the mountain if a Kasugai Crow was sent back to them or if they did not return by 9:30 P.M., but that he had no idea if they did.

“We all arrived around 11 P.M.,” James told him as they reached the house. “And none of those ten were where we were at. You said that they should have all met at the same place we did, right? If so, they may have fallen into the same traps you guys did.”

“You gotta be fucking kidding me,” Makoto replied upon realizing the possibility that the corps had lost 18 slayers, a horrifically high death toll for a single engagement. “Eighteen slayers at once is a massive loss. There was a Final Selection Exam not too long ago that killed 16 trainees, and we all thought that was bad. Fucking hell, the Taisho Era isn’t looking good for us at all.”

“That must have been the one Tanjiro took,” James said to himself, remembering the story Tanjiro had told him of how he became a demon slayer. As the owner of the house walked out, wondering what was going on, James explained to him, “This Demon Slayer was badly hurt up at the mountain! There’s a whole bunch more up there that are either dead or hurt as well!”

“You guys got him splinted up?” The man’s wife then also emerged. Both appeared to be in their 40s, and according to Makoto earlier, the man was a former slayer and was on the list of safehouses. “What are his injuries?”

“He has two breaks in his lower left arm,” Susamaru explained as she lowered him and laid him down gently on the ground. “And a break in his lower right leg. He says one of the demons in the forest of Mount Natagumo strung him up on wires of some kind.”

“Alright, I’ll get some notification goi-” The man then stopped as he looked at James and Susamaru with a suspicious expression. “Wait… This doesn’t feel right.”

Makoto pleaded with the man, “They’re fine! They don’t mean any harm!”

The man ignored him and drew a sword from his side. “I should have said something sooner! You two are demons!” He then turned to his wife. “Go to our crow and tell the Oyakata-sama to send some Pillars here!”

James immediately drew his revolver and aimed it at the man. “I wouldn’t use that if I were you. We’re here to help you, not hunt you. It would be foolish to turn away one of your own just because two demons with halfway decent morals saved his life.”

“Come on,” Makoto moaned as the pain continued. “Stop fighting and fucking help me! I can verify they’re with us!”

The man looked to everyone on the scene, pondering what to do, before reluctantly putting his sword away. “Fine, but only because this slayer said so. Do anything funny and I’ll cut your heads off. I may be retired, but I didn’t forget how to fight!”

His wife asked him, “So that’s a no to the message?”

“Yeah,” he replied. “At least the Pillar part. Just send one saying we need some Kakushi here instead for injured and dead slayers.” The Kakushi were support members of the Corps who often provided medical services, battle cleanup and investigation, delivery of goods and weapons between slayers, and non-combat detective work. He then turned back to Makoto and told him, “Don’t worry about that little spat we had earlier. You’re still in good hands, trust me.” He turned back to James and Susamaru, asking them, “How long will it take you guys to get back to the mountain?”

“About three minutes if we hurry,” James replied. “We’re gonna head back up there now.”

“Alright,” the ex-slayer replied. “If you find any other injured slayers, bring them here.”

…

About ten minutes later, James and Susamaru were a group of four bodies they had found together, all of them seemingly unceremoniously dumped by someone. They were unsure if they were from the first, second, or third wave of slayers who had gone up. “The second one’s dead,” Susamaru confirmed with some sorrow in her voice. “How about the other two?”

“Dead,” James replied, downtrodden. “Makoto’s prediction of a lot of deaths might have come true. Did you collect identification for them?”

“Yeah,” Susamaru replied as she took her backpack off and pulled a notepad and a pencil from it. She wrote down the name of the slayers she had inspected for signs of life and then placed their identification badges issued by the corps back in their pockets. “So that’s one survivor and four dead so far.” She then passed the notepad to James, who also wrote his two names down and provided transcriptions of all four names in romaji as well.

“Let’s pick ‘em up and bring them to the entrance,” James instructed her. “I don’t wanna leave ‘em here where they could get lost instead of bein’ given back to their loved ones… If they got any of those left.” He then picked up two bodies by their shirt collars and began to drag them. Susamaru did the same by spawning her four extra arms. Both of them made sure to avoid rocks or bumps so as to not further damage them. “These poor, unfortunate souls,” James thought to himself. “I know from experience what must have been runnin’ through their heads when they were killed in battle.”

…

Near the mountain, two additional slayers raced towards its entrance. These two slayers, a man and a woman, bore colorful haoris and unique swords, indicating their higher status in the Corps. As they both ran to the ongoing battle on Mount Natagumo, the woman, a rather short slayer with her hair tied in a butterfly-shaped purple ornament, remarked to the other, who had long-ish black hair, “You know, the moon is beautiful, isn’t it?”

“And?” The man seemed to not be fazed by her remark, and was also confused as to the context of the seemingly random quote. “I’m here to hunt demons, not look at the moon, Kocho-san.”

“Whatever you say, Tomioka-san,” the woman replied with a tone that seemed to give off joy, but also seemed to hide something else. “I’m here to hunt too, but I can make observations about the world around me if I want to, right?” Her smile seemed to hide a deeper meaning to her words, as confirmed by the thoughts in her head. “Tomioka-san, why do you have to be so dense with me?”

Not too far behind them was another young woman, who looked to be just barely older than Tanjiro, with a side ponytail. She drew her sword as she rushed to catch up to her two companions, thinking to herself, “I wonder just how bad it’s going right now for us to send so many resources here…”

…

About eight grueling minutes of dragging later, Susamaru and James had reached the entrance to the forest. As they let go of their bodies, they both wiped sweat off of their foreheads and nodded to each other. “Good work,” James told his partner. “Their loved ones will have a body to bury.” It had been 42 minutes since Tanjiro, Inosuke, and now apparently Zenitsu had entered the forest.

“Zenitsu was right,” Susamaru told him as she reverted back to two arms. “That forest gave me the creeps. What’s his deal, anyway?”

“I can sorta understand,” James pointed out. “I’ve had moments where I freeze up, usually if somethin’ happens that reminds me a lot about some of the bad shit that happened in my life. I froze up when I battled you ‘cause I saw Yushiro get his head blown off by a handball.”

“Why’s that?”

“In the Civil War,” James explained to her. “I saw men get their heads taken off by cannonballs. Just sayin’ it now gives me the creeps. That shit fucks your mind up real good when you see it multiple times.” Then, he stopped himself rather suddenly as he looked around. He quietly whispered to Susamaru, “Hang on a minute, I feel someone’s with us.” He grabbed his revolver and held it up as Susamaru readied her shotgun, both of them fully expecting a demon to appear and attack them. The tension from waiting for this unseen threat to appear was thick, and both of their hearts were racing as they anticipated an attack from any and all directions of travel towards them. “I can’t tell if this force I’m feelin’ is a demon or a human,” James thought to himself. “Whatever it is, it seeks our blood.”

The threat then made itself known when the same girl with the side ponytail from earlier charged at both of them with her sword, barely missing James as she tried to swing for his head. Susamaru fired at the girl, but did not strike her, as she screamed, “Fuck, it’s a demon slayer!”

The girl froze in place after the blast from the shotgun, not expecting it as James aimed her gun at her. “Listen up,” he instructed her with a yell. “I need you to drop that sword and listen to us!” Her once stoic smile and expression had been replaced with a genuine sense of fear, all of her plans to slay the demons before her ripped apart by the presence of their guns. “I’m not gonna kill ya, okay? Not unless you make me.”

The girl then sighed and pulled a coin out of her pocket, flipping it into the air with the flick of her thumb and seeing it land on the ground. “Tails,” she said somewhat nervously. “That, uh… That means I’ll comply.”

“Ooookay then,” James somewhat awkwardly replied, unsure what the point of the girl flipping the coin was. “Well, whatever you do, we’re on the same side as you. We wanna kill Kibutsuji Muzan and protect the innocent just as much as you demon slayers do.”

The girl once again flipped her coin, and when it landed on tails, she sighed. “My mission is to slay all demons,” the girl replied to him. “I care not for the squabbles between them, though I do wonder how you two can get away with saying his name without dying.”

“Because we don’t answer to that piece of shit,” Susamaru responded, keeping her shotgun aimed at her. “What’s your name, by the way?”

“Tsuyuri Kanao,” she replied with a bow to both of them. “Tsuguko of the Insect Pillar, Kocho Shinobu. She won’t be happy to see you guys hold me hostage, nor will Tomioka Giyu, the Water Pillar.”

“We’ll deal with those two when they get here.” James then thought to himself, “These Pillars are among the best swordsmen in the Corps. If they sent two here, the other slayers should be safe, but we’re in big trouble. Guns may not deter them like they did with this girl.”

Chapter Text

“So, uh,” James asked Kanao, trying to make some conversation with her after a few minutes of silence between them, still holding the revolver to her. “How long have you been a slayer?”

Kanao simply picked up her coin again and flipped it. When it landed on Tails, she sighed, seemingly annoyed that it kept falling on the same side and seemingly complying her to answer him. “I’ve been one since the 1st Quarter Final Selection. I heard there’s two more slayers in this forest who were there, too.”

“Probably Kamado Tanjiro and Agatsuma Zenitsu,” Susamaru replied to her. “Though Hashibira Inosuke mentioned being there, too."

"Inosuke? There were only four people who came out, and none were named Inosuke as far as I can recall."

"He was a bit unofficial according to him," Susamaru explained. "Tanjiro’s the one who carries a demon with him in a bo- Aaaaand I shouldn’t have said that, should I?” Immediately she regretted letting his secret out to Kanao as James chuckled and shook his head.

“A demon?” Kanao was somewhat curious. “That’s against Corps rule-“ All three of them were then interrupted when they spotted a creature walking towards them. Initially, it appeared to be a rather large spider, but as it came into view, they all found that it in fact possessed the fully-grown head of a human. Kanao rather neutrally asked the creature, “Hello there. What seems to be your problem?”

James and Susamaru, on the other hand, were horrified by the monstrosity. James yelled out as he aimed his gun at the spider/human hybrid, “What the actual FUCK is that abomination?! Jesus fuckin’ Christ, how was it made?!”

“What the fuck?! What the fuck?!” Susamaru stood back, shivering. She was afraid of spiders, and seeing one with a human head invoked an even stronger sense of fear into her. “No, seriously, what the FUCK?!”

“You seem to be lost,” Kanao kept talking to the spider/human hybrid, ignoring the fear of her captors. “Did someone turn you into a spider?” The creature nodded, indicating it was once a human. Kanao then stood up and told them, “Don't be so afraid. This creature was human. One of the demons here must have turned them into a spider.”

“Hell to the naw,” James exclaimed in English. “Hell to the fuckin’ naw!”

Then, another interruption occurred, this time in the form of one of the two Pillars, the woman referenced by Kanao earlier, rushing out of the woods and attacking Susamaru, missing her by mere inches with her blade, which had a stinger-like tip at the end. “Motherfucker! You could have killed me right there!”

“Hello there,” Shinobu told them both with a fake tone of comfort and greeting. “I see you’re holding my Tsuguko hostage. Are you trying to eat her?” Her smile remained despite her talking about such a dark topic.

“Hell no,” James shouted back as he aimed his revolver at her. “We ain’t tryin’ to kill anyone except demons, just like you guys!”

“Don’t you know it’s impossible for a demon to kill demons?” Shinobu chuckled as she suddenly rushed behind Susamaru. “You’re just trying to fool us, aren’t you? I wish we could be friends, but that will never happen, I’m afraid.”

“Get away from her,” James threatened Shinobu as he cocked his gun. “I will not hesitate to kill you. She’s my partner in demon-hunting. We’ve killed three already, and we came up here to kill mo-“ Then, James stopped as he seemed to notice something odd crawling on Shinobu. As he scanned it, he also saw two threads beginning to wrap around her. “Oh shit, look out! It’s those spider threads!”

Susamaru pushed Shinobu off of her and pulled out a knife James had given her. She then swatted the area above Shinobu, cutting three different spider threads that were about to grab a hold of her. Had she not acted when she did, Shinobu would have been pulled away from them and possibly killed by whoever had tried to grab a hold of her. “How about that?! If we hadn’t noticed those threads, you’d be dead right about now!”

Shinobu looked around, amazed that a demon had saved her life. “Well, um, that was rather unexpected.”

“I hate you annoying demon slayers so fucking much,” then said a young demon woman with pale white skin as she emerged from the forest. She looked to be about Tanjiro’s age, and had a few spiders trailing her. “You ruin my family’s nice web work. It’s no wonder we have to kill you all every time you try to come up here.”

“Don’t come a step closer,” Susamaru ordered her as she aimed the shotgun at her. “Or I’ll shoot.” James likewise put his revolver away and pulled out his Winchester rifle.

Shinobu was amused by their guns, and chuckled to herself. “Guns are such a barbaric weapon that has little practical use against demons. I appreciate the effort, but let a trained human take care of this.”

“Ohhh, guns, I’m soooo scared,” the spider demon sarcastically told them. “Whatever the fuck will I do against them?!” She then aimed one of her hands at Susamaru and shot threads from her wrist directly at her. She just barely missed the threads, which landed on the ground and began to dissolve, indicating they were corrosive.

“This must be the last member of the family,” Shinobu remarked to Kanao. “After all, everyone else is dead.”

“And that is why I’m gonna murder all of you!” This spider demon was rather angry after being reminded of the defeat of the rest of the family. “You took my brother, my sister, and my parents from me!”

Susamaru fired off two rounds at the demon as she dashed to James, causing her to slow down and stumble to the ground. However, she quickly got back up and fired a thread at him, sticking to his clothes as she got up and throwing him into a tree, causing him to scream out in pain, “Fucking hell!” As she then severed the thread to James, she aimed again at Kanao before James fired a round at her, causing her again to fall to the ground and preventing her from attaching a thread to the girl.

Shinobu then grabbed Kanao and pulled her to the side away from them. “Let’s stand and watch. Maybe these guys do have it under control!”

The spider demon shouted, “You can keep shooting me all you want, but I’ll just heal!” She then used a thread fired from her wrist to grab Susamaru’s shotgun and rip it out of her hands, throwing it to the side, where Shinobu picked it up. “I’ll deal with the slayers later. I wanna kill these two traitors first!”

“If it’s a fight you want,” Susamaru shouted as she spawned all six of her arms, each holding a handball. “It’s a fight you’re gonna get, bitch!” She then threw all six at her. All six hit her, chopping off one of her arms and taking a part of her skull off. However, Susamaru found that this attack would cause her trouble, as the spider demon used her free hand to attach one of the handballs to her with a thread. “Fuck!”

As she swung it around, she hit Susamaru hard with the handball, throwing her into a tree before James fired two more shots at her. “You’ll find the effects of these bullets to be rather good at killin’ you real soon!”

As her head and arm healed, the spider demon yelled out, “I’d like to see you prove those words!” She then picked up Susamaru again with a thread and tossed her into the air before pulling down and making her slam into the ground at full speed, sending a small shockwave into the air and putting a hole in the ground.

“Susamaru!” James then affixed a bayonet onto his rifle and charged at the spider demon, just barely dodging a blast of wrist thread, before stabbing her in the lower chest. “Now, tell me, how do you feel?!”

“I feel fi-“ Then, the demon stopped talking as a feeling of dread came over her and her expression completely changed. “Wait… What… What’s this feeling inside me?! Oh no!” She then stumbled back from James, collapsing onto the ground as she began to cough up blood from her mouth. “Oh my God, my insides are on fucking fire!” As she threw up another round of blood, including chunks of human flesh and clothes, she began to cry, the pain becoming unbearable. “Motherfucker, what did you put in me?!”

“All the bullets in my rifle were coated in wisteria poison,” James told her, which deeply piqued Shinobu’s interest on the sidelines. “And my bayonet was, too. With each bullet I put in you, you were given another dose of the poison. Now you’ll sit here and wither away!”

“Fuck you!” She then let out an ear-piercing scream as she felt her insides literally burning inside her, as if someone was continuously stabbing her in the stomach. “You piece of shit traitor! Fuck you, fuck you, FUCK YOU!” As parts of her body began to fade away and burn off, she screamed again. “NO! I CAN’T DIE! NO! NOOOO!” Finally, she disappeared from sight, the only thing left being her clothes, which laid on the ground. James pulled out a cigarette and lit it up with a match as he stared at the spot where the other older sister spider demon once stood.

As Susamaru stood up, Shinobu walked over to her and handed her back her shotgun. “Thanks,” she told him as she used one of her free hands to wipe her forehead of sweat before reducing herself down to two arms. “So, what do you girls think?”

“Wisteria-coated bullets, huh?” Shinobu was now admittedly impressed by James’ loadout despite him being a demon. “Now that’s something I never thought I’d see. Even so… I don’t know how the Corps will react to this news.”

“If you want to confirm we ain’t gonna hurt no one that’s innocent,” James explained to her as he handed her a knife. “Cut yourself with the knife and see what happens when you let the blood spill out. That knife isn’t poisoned with wisteria, don’t worry.”

Kanao looked to her, worried for her, before Shinobu smiled and assured her, “I’ll be fine, Kanao.” She then sighed and put the knife to her arm, cutting into her skin and drawing blood. Once she was done, she handed the knife back. “Okay, is that good?”

Susamaru looked over and told her, “If this was only like 15 days prior, I would have been salivating over that blood. Now look at me. I’m not even fazed.” Indeed, neither James nor her reacted whatsoever to the crimson red blood trickling out of Shinobu’s arm and onto the ground below. “Impressive, huh?”

“Not bad,” she admitted as James handed her some bandages. “But you guys haven’t done that with Marechi blood probably. Trust me, I bet you’ll be barely able to resist it.”

Their conversation was immediately interrupted by a Kasugai Crow calling out from above. As it cawed, it followed with, “The demons James Colby and Susamaru are to be peacefully taken into custody and brought to the Headquarters of the Demon Slayer Corps! Both demons can walk in the sun with some drawbacks, so they can be out in the open!” It then cawed again before giving further instructions. “Also, Kamado Tanjiro and his demon sister Kamado Nezuko are also to be taken peacefully into custody and sent to the same place! All four will be judged for their conduct and existence! Nezuko cannot wall in the sun, so she must be kept in Tanjiro’s box during daytime transit!”

“Being called into HQ,” Shinobu remarked to them all. “That’s never a good sign. I can picture exactly how the Oyakata-sama will react to your friend Tanjiro-san carrying a demon with him.”

James asked out of curiosity, “And that will be? Also, what’s a Oyakata-sama?”

“Ubuyashiki Kagaya, our leader,” Shinobu replied. “Also, this is what he’d probably say.” She then cleared her throat and pretended to use a male voice to mimic Kagaya. “I can’t even begin to describe how expelled you actually are from the Corps. Also, I got just about every Pillar standing outside my office saying something about wanting to stomp your face in.” Kanao could not help but stifle a laugh from her adoptive sister’s impression of him. “I do that not out of jest, but of loyalty. He’s actually a really nice guy.”

“I hope so,” Susamaru replied as she put her shotgun away. “Well, I guess that means we’re under arrest, James.”

“Exactly,” Shinobu replied as she pulled two ropes from her uniform pouches. “Now, I just gotta tie your arms up. We don’t want you two escaping on us, after all. Susamaru, if you use your other hands and arms, I’ll be sure to poison you with my sword faster than you can say you want to escape, so don’t try it if you value your life, please.” All through the threat, she maintained a smile, which only added to the severity of it somehow. She and Kanao would be taking two demons into custody, basically capturing them, and they assumed Giyu would be taking Tanjiro and Nezuko in as well.

Chapter Text

April 11, 1913

James and Susamaru had been allowed to sleep for a few hours in a room at the Ubuyashiki Estate under the close watch of several Kakushi. Due to their compliance, they were only nominally tied up at their wrists for restraints. Nobody who had not yet met them believed that they could walk in the sun. Around noon, after only about five hours of sleep, Shinobu entered their room and opened the windows, only half-believing that Limited Sunlight Resistance was real. “If they’re lying,” Shinobu thought to herself. “They’ll burn up right when I open the windows.” However, even as the rays of the sun hit them, nothing changed except that Susamaru began to stir awake. “Well,” she told both of them. “Good morning, or should I say good noontime?”

“Good mornin’,” James replied in English, so tired he forgot to use Japanese. “Shit, I mean…” He then switched to the correct language. “Good mornin’.”

“It’s about noon,” Shinobu told them as she put her haori back on. “You guys have to meet the other pillars. We’re trying to decide if we should kill you guys and that one slayer with the demon in the box.”

“Tanjiro?!” James immediately jumped up out of bed. “How is he?! What about Zenitsu and Inosuke?!” He was deeply concerned about them, having seen their conditions as they were walked out of the forest of Mount Natagumo.

“They’re all in stable condition,” Shinobu happily explained. “But Tanjiro is the only one here right now. The other two are at my own residence, the Butterfly Estate. It’s where many injured slayers in the First District go when they’re hurt. If they decide he lives, I’ll try to get him to go there as well. They’ll all need significant rehab due to how injured they were.”

“We should have stayed with them,” Susamaru muttered to herself. “We stayed behind instead.”

“You guys did save one of our own,” Shinobu replied to her. “So that’ll be used in your defense. One of our own pillars is also on trial, too, since he knew about Kamado-san and his sister and did nothing. Tomioka Giyu is his name.” She paused upon recalling his name, as if she was afraid of something. “We… We may or may not have to kill him, too.” Though they could not see her facial expression, as she was turned away from them, both James and Susamaru could tell she seemed saddened by the prospect.

…

About ten minutes later, Susamaru and James emerged in front of the Pillars plus a still asleep Tanjiro, still under the awning of the main house on the Ubuyashiki estate. As they did, everyone looked on in anticipation of what they would do next, as if they were some sort of attraction. James then cleared his throat and began to introduce himself. “Good afternoon. My name is James Colby. You can call me Jack if you want. I’m a demon hunter from America, and I’ve come to Japan to hunt them as well. This is my partner in hunting, Susamaru.” Both of them then stepped into the sunlight.

Immediately, one of the Pillars, who possessed red and orange-colored hair, told the others, “The fact they can walk in the sun is a threat to us all.”

“I don’t understand how a demon can hunt demons,” another then spoke, who possessed markings on his face and a very muscular build. “Doesn’t Kibutsuji make sure they can’t actually kill each other, after all? It’s the job of us to eliminate all demons, whether you do it through boring but practical ways or do it with flamboyance like me.”

As James was about to respond, Susamaru held him back. “Just let them speak.”

“If these two are telling the truth,” another man with a rather muscular build and seemingly blank eyes explained. “Then it will be particularly heartbreaking to have to kill them. They may have saved some, but rules are rules.”

The only other woman among the Pillars, who boasted pink/green hair and an unusually revealing outfit, spoke rather softly, telling them, “Maybe we should wait for the Oyakata-sama. If we do anything about these guys without his blessing, it could mean bad things for us.”

The next person to speak was about Tanjiro’s age, and was seemingly absent-minded, boasting long black hair with teal ends. “I’m going to just go with whatever the Oyakata-sama says.”

Finally, a man spoke from atop the branch of a tree. He had heterochromia and possessed bandages wrapped around the lower half of his face, as well as a white snake that slithered around him, loyal to its presumed owner. “While what he says is important, we don’t always have to go through him, you know.”

Susamaru noticed that one of them was not speaking in regards to the proceedings, and was standing to the side. “Hey, what’s his deal?”

“Tomioka Giyu is also on trial,” the man with the flame-colored hair told them. “He is the Water Pillar, for now. We may decide to have him executed as well, since he knew about our little traitor and spared his demon sister.” Again, the mention of his possible fate seemed to depress Shinobu, who lost her smile and looked down. “Also, my apologies for not introducing ourselves. My name is Rengoku Kyojuro, and I am the Flame Pillar.”

“I am Uzui Tengen,” the man with markings followed. “I am the Sound Pillar.”

“My name is Himejima Gyomei,” the man with blank eyes followed. “I am the Stone Pillar.”

“Nice to meet you two,” the woman with brightly-colored hair told them with a bow. “I am Kanroji Mitsuri, the Love Pillar.”

“Hello,” the absent-minded young man from earlier told them. “I am Tokito Muichiro, the Mist Pillar.”

“I find it odd we’re introducing ourselves to demons,” the man with the snake added. “But I guess there’s no harm in it. My name is Iguro Obanai, and I am the Snake Pillar.”

“You already know who I am,” Shinobu concluded. “But if you forgot, my name is Kocho Shinobu. I am the Insect Pillar.”

“Good afternoon,” Giyu somewhat awkwardly told both of them, not caring that he had already been introduced by Kyojuro. “I am Tomioka Giyu, the Water Pillar.”

“Rengoku-san already introduced you,” Shinobu pointed out to him. “You didn’t have to repeat it, you know.”

“We might as well wake up our guest now,” Tengen told the crowd. He then leaned over Tanjiro. “Hey, buddy, wake up! Come on!” As Tanjiro stirred awake and opened his eyes, immediately finding out he was bound and unable to move, Tengen told him, “Be alert, son! You’re on trial!”

“I still say we reserve the right to just skip the formalities and just kill him and his sister,” Kyojuro interjected. “Why not do it here? This is clearly a major violation of our policies.”

“Kill my sister?!” Tanjiro did not even care about the fact that they also had threatened to kill him, only caring at that moment about Nezuko. “Bull fucking shit, you’ll kill my sis-!” Suddenly, Obanai jumped down from the tree he stood on and restrained Tanjiro on the ground, pinning him down. “Shit!”

“Shut the fuck up and let the adults talk,” Obanai sternly warned him. After a brief pause, he remembered Muichiro’s status as the youngest Pillar, and corrected himself. “Don't worry, Tokito-san, you’re fine.”

“Hey, come on,” James protested. “Sure, he swore at you guys, but let the man speak! Don’t they got the right for a defendant to speak on their behalf and defend themselves in court? Speakin’ of, where is his sister?”

“In that box on the porch behind you guys,” Kyojuro explained to them. “If you try to open it, we’ll kill both of you.”

“I’m surprised this kid is the only one in restraints,” Obanai told the others. “Tomioka-san and these two weird demons should be as well.”

“They all surrendered peacefully,” Shinobu argued back with a smile and a calm tone. However, hiding behind it was rage that was clear to James and Susamaru on the porch. “The only reason Kamado-san is restrained is because of his injuries. Also, enough with the talk of skipping out on the trial. That’s not how this works. Anyway, why don’t we hear from these three?”

“No need,” Tengen replied as he grabbed his dual swords from behind his back, but did not pull them out. “No matter the reason, the result will most likely be the same.”

Before Tanjiro could speak, James spoke up first. “I’ll go first. I came to Japan to hunt down the people who turned me into a demon, the Jackson Brothers, as well as the man who started it all, Kibutsuji Muzan. For the past fifty years, I’ve hunted demons and protected the innocent from the harm my own kind can inflict. The demons of the Americas all share somethin’ the demons here don’t: A limited resistance to sunlight and the ability to consume animal blood instead of human blood. The few of us who choose to live among regular society can do so because of this. We can walk in the day, albeit with our Blood Demon Arts and our regenerative abilities either severely hampered or completely useless.”

Susamaru went next. “I was turned into a demon ten years ago, and I did the bidding of Kibutsuji for a long time. He used me, and he lied to me, telling me I was destined to become a Lower Moon. It was not until I was saved that I realized the truth. I have not killed a human since the day I was freed from Muzan’s curse, and I will refuse to do so for all of eternity! My attention focuses solely on killing him and his allies!”

“My sister,” Tanjiro began to explain before he suddenly coughed, parched and in pain from his injuries. As Shinobu walked over to him with a gourd full of water, James spoke up in his defense.

“The demon in that box is Kamado Nezuko,” James argued, almost as if he was a lawyer in court representing a defendant. “Tanjiro’s sister, who is a year younger than him. Two years ago, according to Tanjiro’s own testimony to me and a letter he gave me alleged to be from an Urokodaki Sakonji, the former Water Pillar, his family was murdered by a demon, and this same demon turned Nezuko into one. We believe based on evidence from the scene that the demon responsible is none other than Kibutsuji Muzan himself. Anyway, this girl was placed under a spell by Urokodaki-san and was asleep for a full two years. She has not killed a single human since becoming a demon. According to Tanjiro, this spell causes her to see all demons as the enemy, and all humans as their murdered family. She also saw me, Susamaru, and two other demons named Tamayo and Yushiro as friendly. I can personally testify, and so can Susamaru, that Nezuko can and will attack demons at her own discretion, and can inflict devastatin’ injuries if not death. The letter also states that Tomioka Giyu, the current Water Pillar, recommended to Urokodaki-san that this be done to Nezuko. Tomioka-san, is that true?”

“Yes,” he replied, still standing off to the side. “I was with both of the siblings soon after Nezuko was turned into a demon. She vehemently protected her brother twice when she thought I was about to attack him. Everything you laid out in that letter Tanjiro gave you is true to my knowledge.”

“Does the letter also contain a promise that if Nezuko ever sides with Muzan or kills a human for unjust reasons,” James continued with questioning. “That you and Urokodaki-san will commit suicide?”

“Correct,” Giyu replied. “A better term for that is seppuku, by the way.”

“Right, my apologies.” He then turned to Tanjiro. “Tanjiro, is everything Tomioka-san saying true to the best of your knowledge?”

He shouted to the crowd and to him at the same time, “Absolutely! All of it is!”

Then, a new face emerged onto the scene. “Sorry I’m a bit late, guys. I see we got quite a bit of fun waiting for us today.” He bore scars all along his face, and a smile that seemed to yearn for a fight. “What the fuck do we have here? Three demons and a traitor to the Corps, huh?”

James, confused about the sudden appearance of this new character, asked everyone else, “Who is that guy?”

“I’m Shinazugawa Sanemi,” he explained. “The Wind Pillar. Of course, once we’re finished here, you won’t need to know about that in Hell.” He then walked over to the porch and up onto it to grab Nezuko’s box. “Try anything to stop me, and I’ll kill you both.”

James and Susamaru wisely stepped out of the way as Tanjiro yelled out, “What the Hell are you gonna do to my sister?!”

“Your sister is dead,” Sanemi coldly replied to him as he paraded the box in front of them all out in the sun. “Not like I give a shit about her or you. In this box is what you’re supposed to kill, dumbass. This is not a person.”

Susamaru sighed and told herself sarcastically, “This oughta end well.”

Shinobu’s smile once again disappeared as he looked to Sanemi, annoyed by whatever hairbrained scheme he was planning. “Shinazugawa-san, whatever it is you’re planning, please don’t do it.”

He rather brazenly replied to her, “Who’s the senior Pillar in this conversation, Kocho?” He then drew his sword. “You morons think she can fight alongside us? Well, I call that a whole load of absolutely horse shit!” He stabbed into the box, causing James and Susamaru to gasp out of fright as Tanjiro growled. As he stabbed again, he said, “That’s only a taste of what she’s gonna get!”

Tanjiro angrily and bitterly yelled out, “You piece of shit, don’t fucking stab my sister! Anyone who hurts her, Pillar or not, becomes my enemy!” As he got up and charged at him despite his hands still being bound behind his back, the rest of the crowd watched in anticipation of what would happen. He thought to himself, “No one hurts Nezuko and gets away with it, human or demon!”

Susamaru ran out and tried to stop Tanjiro, but it was too late. “Tanjiro, stop! Don’t do it!” Right after, Tanjiro head-butted Sanemi, causing both of them to fall to the ground and drawing blood from the latter’s nose. As they both hit the ground, Tanjiro crawled in front of Nezuko’s box as Susamaru stepped in between them, ripping her yukata off and spawning four of her six arms, that being the max she could spawn in the sun due to her weakened abilities. “That’s enough from both of you! If you were around for my partner’s defense earlier, maybe you wouldn’t have done such a foolish act like that!” She also kicked his sword to the side to make sure he could not get it while still on the ground. “Listen to your fellow Pillars and stop this madness at once!”

Sanemi yelled at Susamaru, “Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to?!”

Suddenly, back on stage, James yelped in fright as two twin children with white hair suddenly spoke beside him. He had not even noticed them walking up to him, which only added to the shock. Both of them said in unison, “The Oyakata-sama has arrived.”

James turned and saw the man himself, Kagaya Ubuyashiki, begin to step out from the rest of the house. While the rest of the Pillars bowed down on one knee, Susamaru included, while Tanjiro was held down by Obanai once more, James reverted back to his military training and rendered a salute as if Kagaya was an officer. The leader of the Demon Slayer Corps noticed this and smiled, telling him in shockingly perfect though accented English, “You don’t have to salute me like that, Mr. Colby, but I appreciate the respect of the salute. You can go at ease as they say it in your language.

“My apologies, sir,” James replied back in English. “It was ingrained in me from my Army days, sir.” He then stood at ease, his arms behind his back. “I’m impressed to hear your English, sir.”

“Thank you,” Kagaya replied. “In today’s world, learning other languages is crucial to ensuring our success against demons.” He then turned to the Pillars and switched back to his mother tongue of Japanese. “I’m so glad you all could come, my beloved children.”

Chapter Text

The entrance of Kagaya Ubuyashiki immediately changed the entire atmosphere of the meeting. All fighting and conflict immediately ceased as he addressed the crowd. “You’re probably all wondering why we have three demons here, and who in particular these two standing near me are. I would like you all to welcome James Colby and his recently-freed partner Susamaru. James has been hunting demons in America for 50 years, and has used his existence as a demon to defend the innocent. According to both himself and the correspondence of humans he had allied with, he has a current kill count of 774 demons, or about 15 to 16 per year on average.” Every single Pillar among the crowd plus Tanjiro were shocked to hear of James’ recorded kill count. He then turned to Susamaru. “Susamaru was originally a demon that was unabashedly a supporter of Kibutsuji Muzan before she was freed from his curse thanks to a series of spells that were unknown to us in Japan, but somewhat widely used in America. She has since devoted herself to fighting him. Both of these demons have saved the lives of at least one of our own by stabilizing his injuries and preventing him from being taken by a spider-like demon, and have killed or have assisted in the killing of four demons in Japan so far.”

“Oyakata-sama,” Kyojuro asked him, politely raising his hand. “Is there an explanation for this third demon? According to Colby-san, a letter was sent to you by former Water Pillar Urokodaki Sakonji about her.”

“Indeed,” Kagaya confirmed to the crowd. “Everything James and Giyu said about the letter is true. According to Sakonji, Nezuko has not eaten a single human in the two years she has been a demon, and has been put under a trance that causes her to see all humans and apparently any of the few friendly demons as her own family, and the vast majority of other demons as her enemy. She has indeed killed several demons so far, and displays an attachment to her human brother, Kamado Tanjiro, that is highly uncharacteristic of most demons. As such, he wishes for her to be accepted as Tanjiro’s partner, and I agree. I also will ensure that in the unlikely event she does side with Muzan against us, both Giyu and Sakonji will make good on their promise to commit seppuku.”

“I want to agree with you,” Tengen replied to him, deeply conflicted. “But at the same time, the chance always exists that she will, and if she kills a human, no amount of any of us killing ourselves will bring them back. I still have reservations, Oyakata-sama.”

Sanemi by now was agitated and furious. It was as if the corps was betraying its own morals and goals with what was being proposed, and he had to voice a protest. “Oyakata-sama, I apologize, but I cannot accept this!” He then stood up, carrying Nezuko’s box with him. “Allow me to prove their insane theories wrong.” He then walked up into the shaded porch, careful to make sure Nezuko would not leave her box right into sunlight. As everyone else watched, he set the box down and opened it before taking his sword and cutting open his arm. “I got Marechi blood. I doubt any of these three will be able to resist me!”

As his blood dripped onto the ground and Nezuko got out of her box, James replied to him sarcastically as he rolled his eyes, “Wow, I’m literally shakin’ right no-“ He then paused when he noticed that Nezuko was drooling from behind her bamboo muzzle, and even Susamaru was on edge. James, on the other hand, was completely unfazed. “Hey, uh, Susamaru, are you okay?”

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, shaking her head vigorously to resist the temptation. “Fucking hell, come on!” She then spoke to Nezuko directly. “Come on, Nezuko! Resist it for us and your brother!”

Indeed, after a few more seconds, Nezuko finally closed her eyes and looked away, yelling from behind her muzzle as she stepped away. Sanemi was in shock. “She… They… All three of them resisted it…” She gave Sanemi a dirty look, probably due to the fact that he had stabbed her twice earlier, and then stepped back into her box, closing the hatch and shrinking down in size as she hilariously gave him the middle finger, which deeply confused everyone except James and Tanjiro. “Uh, what was that?”

“An American gesture,” James explained to him. “It basically means ‘go fuck yourself.’ I was tellin’ Tanjiro about it with Nezuko in the room a while back. She must have picked it up or somethin’.”

Kagaya smiled, not even angry or disappointed by Sanemi’s interruption. “Thank you for proving our point, Sanemi.”

“Right,” he replied, bowing to him before walking back off the porch, embarrassed about his failure while the other Pillars looked to each other. “Well,” he thought to himself. “That was fucking emarrassing. I made a fool out of myself in front of literally fucking everyone.”

“I told you,” Tanjiro then interjected. “She refuses to eat humans!”

“I have an idea,” James then proposed before he turned to Kagaya. “Sir, do y’all mind if, in the course of this, a hole gets punched in your wall?”

“I’m not sure why,” Kagaya replied to him, confused. “But if you must, go ahead. Just don’t make it too big, James.”

“Thank you, sir.” James then turned to Susamaru and then the crowd. “Okay, I’ll need my partner and Tanjiro to come up here.” Obanai sighed and let off of Tanjiro, allowing him to walk up to the porch to meet him. “Alright, now, I am gonna demonstrate how Nezuko here will defend a human from a demon attack, usin’ Tanjiro as the human and Susamaru as the demon.”

“Wait,” Susamaru asked him, confused. “How’s this gonna work?”

“Get a bit angry,” James explained to her. “Pretend to threaten and attack Tanjiro.” Tanjiro stood to the side, wondering what they had in mind.

Susamaru sighed, taking her yukata off once more. “I think it’s gratuitous, but whatever.” She then gave off a fake roar. “Raaagh, I am a demon, and I am here to cause trouble!” She half-heartedly spawned her extra arms, now able to spawn all six in the shade, and punched a hole in the wall. “I see a human in the distance! I am hungry, so I must eat him!” Her acting was atrocious, but she did not care at this point.

“Oh no,” Tanjiro pretended to call for help. “Somebody help me! A demon is attacking me!” He also was definitely not actor material, and his ‘screams of terror’ were incredibly unconvincing.

Giyu sighed and shook his head before facepalming, muttering to himself, “They are so fucked.”

Just as James thought his plan failed, Nezuko’s box violently sprung open as she jumped out and yelled, charging directly at Susamaru to attack her. Susamaru yelled out as she was tackled unexpectedly, “Oh, fuck!”

As she pounced on her, Tanjiro stood off to the side as James ran over to rip Nezuko off of her. “Okay, Nezuko, that’s enough! That’s enough! She ain’t a threat! Come on!” One of Kagaya’s children also helped, and they were both soon able to rip her off and calm her down. “Look, your brother ain’t in no danger. Susamaru was only pretendin’, okay? They’re fine.”

The reaction of the Pillars to this awful stage play was amusing. Mitsuri tried and failed to stifle her laughter as Obanai told all three of them in disbelief, “I think I speak for everyone here when I ask the following: what the fuck did I just witness?”

Mitsuri thought to herself, “I tried to keep my laughter hidden, but this is just too funny!”

“I may be blind,” Gyomei proceeded to roast them in a rather polite tone. “But even I can tell with my hearing if a performance on stage is bad. I pray that you three never seek to become actors, because it will not work out for you. Namu Amida Butsu.”

Tengen sighed and gave his opinion next. “Not a single dash of flamboyance to be seen or heard, and on top of that, it was fucking awful, but it got the point across.”

“I’ve officially seen my daily quota of weird,” Kyojuro remarked. “And I think I filled it for a good week.”

Susamaru replied back to all of them, annoyed, “We’ll we aren’t professional actors and actresses, you know! Give us a damn break!”

“I think enough has been said about how awful that was,” Shinobu then spoke up. “But I think it does prove that Nezuko will defend humans, especially if she was able to perceive an acting job as terrible as that as an actual attack on her brother. I was reluctant before, but I feel compelled now to accept the proposal to let these three into the corps.” Ironically, the fact that James’ little stage play was as bad as it was may have actually been to the benefit of them. 

“If the count of 774 is correct,” Kyojuo then spoke up. “That means Colby-san has officially killed more demons than any person who had ever been a member of the Demon Slayer Corps in our entire history, and it beats our traditional record of 324.” He then stood up as well, ready to make a proposal. “If we are to accept James and Susamaru into the Demon Slayer Corps, I volunteer to train them in how we hunt demons in Japan.”

“While guns and the like are fun to use,” James replied to him. “I would love to learn how to hunt them the Japanese way. What Breath Style do you use, Rengoku-san?”

“The Breath of Flames,” he explained to him. “My family has used it for many hundreds of years, and I would like to pass it along to people outside our family to keep it going. If you two accept my proposal, you’ll learn how to fight with a sword and a Breathing Style in no time. Hell, you may even teach me some new things.”

Kagaya turned to James and Susamaru, interested by Kyojuro’s proposal. “What do you two have to say about it? I think it could be a good way for you two to grow as slayers.”

Both of them looked to each other and nodded. James then affirmed, “We accept the proposal, on the condition that we partake in a Final Selection alone. We feel that it’s unfair if we get to skip out on the test that all of you had to undertake.”

All the Pillars nodded, understanding their reasoning for why they wanted to go through the Final Selection. “I can see why,” Sanemi added, himself even beginning to agree with the others. “But we don’t have another Final Selection until the 3rd Quarter. What do you propose, Oyakata-sama?”

“How about this?” He then took a deep breath. “We will drop them both off at the First District Final Selection site alone. They will have to spend two weeks in the forest by themselves with no other weapons than the guns they already have, instead of one week with around 20 to 25 other trainees.” Kagaya turned back to James and Susamaru. “Does that sound reasonable?”

“Yes,” James nodded. “We promise that we’ll make it outta there.”

…

Later that day, as Muichiro and Kyojuro embarked on a mission elsewhere nearby the Ubuyashiki Estate, with James having given the latter a copy of his personal spellbook as a gift for his generosity, he and Shinobu talked once more. “So,” she asked him. “You two will depart on April 14th and hopefully be released from the forest on April 28th, right?”

“Indeed,” James replied. He and Susamaru would be staying at the Butterfly Estate from the 11th until the 14th. After they came back, they would alternate between the Butterfly Estate and the Rengoku House, as Shinobu was particularly interested in James’ use of not only wisteria, but other poisons as well from the Americas, in his ammunition. “Say, Shinobu, I gotta ask, whenever I brought up Giyu or you mentioned him possibly being punished, you became a bit downtrodden. Is somethin’ wrong?”

Shinobu sighed, not expecting such a question at that moment. “Nothing is,” she told him, despite knowing in her heart that it was a complete fabrication. “It was just general concern about someone I know. Don’t worry about Tomioka-san. He’s aloof, and he has issues with communicating. I try to correct him, but it doesn’t work, and then he wonders why I have to remind him that nobody likes hi-” She stopped herself as she realized she may have let out a bit too much personal information about herself and Giyu. “I… My apologies, you shouldn’t have heard that. Don’t tell him I said anything.”

James, knowing she was lying but not wanting to dig deeper into her and cause her to despise him, nodded. “I won’t. I’m sorry I brought it up.”

“No, you’re fine,” she told him, once again smiling. “You were just worried. It means you care and you have empathy, which is more than what I can say about most demons or even sadly quite a lot of humans.” In her head, she thought to herself, “For fuck’s sake, Shinobu! Why did you reveal so much to him?! He just asked if you were okay!”

…

Meanwhile, Muichiro and Kyojuro talked among themselves as they set out together down a road, with the former carrying James’ spellbook in a backpack. “Do you really intend on using that, Tokito-san?”

“If the demons we end up fighting aren’t too much of a hassle,” Muichiro replied, staring at the trees all around him. “I may. The Oyakata-sama did want us to try to use something in the book. Perhaps we could use the Progenitor Release Spell.”

“We’d have to cut ourselves to do it,” Kyojuro recalled from when James was telling him how to cast the spells. “And unlike those two demons, we don’t have an infinite amount of blood to draw shapes on the ground with.”

Muichiro pointed out, “Who says it has to be the same source for the blood, though?”

Kyojuro stopped and thought to himself, trying to remember if James mentioned anything about using blood from multiple sources. “Huh… Come to think of it, he never said anything about that. Not once did he say we couldn’t use blood from multiple people, or even that it had to be only human or demon blood. Still, if it becomes too much of a hassle, I’m just gonna kill the damn thing the normal way. I’m sure the Oyakata-sama will understand.”

“Agreed,” Muichiro affirmed. “Are you sure about taking those two demons in as your Tsuguko?”

“Well,” Kyojuro inferred. “Think of it this way. If they’re on our side, they’ll be an even more powerful asset  in our fight against Kibutsuji Muzan with the Breath of Flames. If they side against us, they’ll be up against me, and I’ll be sure to kill them before they can harm anyone else. Either way, the threat they may pose is no longer present. I hope that it doesn’t have to come down to that, since they actually seem kinda nice, but I won’t hesitate if it comes down to me living or them living. I may be painting a target on my back since they can walk in the sun with limitations, but as long as something like an Upper Moon doesn’t come along, I should be fine, and even then, as long as I got backup, we should be able to repel even one of them.”

“Confidence,” Muichiro remarked, impressed by his reasoning. “I like it.”

Chapter Text

That night, two demons were patrolling around a small village, both with a mission in mind: Find intelligence on the whereabouts of the Ubuyashiki residence, which, unbeknownst to them, was a mere 15 miles away. One was a girl about Tanjiro’s age with white hair, red sclera, and two horns. The other was a slightly older young man with black and orange hair, pale blue eyes, and green markings on his face. “This whole situation fucking sucks,” the girl spoke first. “Rui and his whole Spider Family bullshit were wiped out in a single night, and now there’s word of an American demon that’s come here to fuck our whole sitiation up. I gotta feeling our master’s meeting on the 14th won’t be pretty. It’ll be a shitstorm.”

“Look, Mukago,” the male demon replied to her, worried about Muzan’s possible reaction to Rui’s death. “Maybe he’ll understand and just recruit a new Lower Moon 5. He’s done it tons of times before. Don’t overthink this. It scares the shit outta me.”

“I think this time’s different,” Mukago pointed out. “Our master was very close to Rui, like father to son kind of deal. He probably saw himself in him, based on what little I’ve heard about their own fucked-up lives before they became demons. Kamanue, we’re fucked. We are so, so fucked when the 14th of April comes.”

“Don’t say that,” Kamanue tried to reprimand her. “Stop worrying so much!” He tried to tell her to stop being nervous, but Mukago could tell that if anything, he was trying to convince himself to not worry about Muzan. “We have a mission to do, and we don’t have time to worry.”

“And what mission would that be?!” Kyojuro and Muichiro then sprung out from an alleyway in the village, both of them drawing their swords. The former declared, “We heard everything!”

“Fuck!” Mukago tried to run, but Kyojuro chased after her, pinning her down to the ground. “Fucking let go of me!”

“Oh no, you don’t!” He kept a smile as he informed her of their plans. “Here’s the deal. We aren’t going to kill you unless you make us do it. Same goes for your friend over there.”

Kamanue, who was about to start fighting Muichiro, turned to Kyojuro in confusion. “Wait, what?”

“We were given a spell book,” Muichiro explained to him. “And we were tasked with testing it on demons. Now, just stay put. This won’t take long.”

“This has to be some kind of fucked up trick,” Kamanue declared as he readied his fists. “And I won’t fall for it!” He then closed and opened his eyes, and when he reopened them, his eyes were lit up with blue flames. “I’m not afraid of some Pillars!”

Meanwhile, Mukago asked Kyojuro, pleading with him, “Are you going to spare me?! Please, fucking spare me!”

“While my partner takes care of that other demon you were with,” he explained to her. “I’ll explain what’s going to happen. We want to test out this thing called the Progenitor Release Spell. If it works, you’ll be freed from Muzan’s Curse, and freed from your obligations as one of his Twelve Moons. Tell me, wouldn’t you want that?” He knew that if she answered yes, Muzan would likely kill her right then and there.

“Absolutely not,” Mukago yelled back in his face. “Fuck your idea! I’m with my master all the way! I’m not gonna betray him like that bitch Susamaru did! I won’t! I can’t!” By her tone, it sounded as if she was trying to not only convince herself, but Muzan as well. “I am loyal to my kind unlike that piece of garbage, and I refuse to betray its creator!”

Back with Muichiro and Kamanue, the latter formed balls of blue flame in his hands and charged at the former. “Now die!” Muichiro, however, was able to dodge his attack, only getting a slight scorch mark on his uniform from one of his hands. “Fucker, you got away!” He then threw several balls of blue fire at the Mist Pillar.

“Breath of Mist,” Muichiro rather nonchalantly declared as he took a deep breath in and out. “Third Form: Scattering Mist Splash!” Using his sword, he was able to deflect all five balls of energy and fire away as if they were solid particles, causing them to dissipate. “Now, time to put an end to this. I didn’t want to kill you, but you made me do it. First Form: Low Clouds, Distant Haze!” He then charged directly straight at Kamanue in a single thrust. His opponent barely had time to react before Muichiro cut his head off cleanly, putting an end to the fight rather quickly. As he stopped, he remarked to himself, “That was almost too short…”

“Damn you,” Kamanue cursed at him as his head and body disappeared into thin air. “Damn you to Hell! I was loyal to my master to the very end!”

“Tokito-san,” Kyojuro then called out to him. “I need help with this one!”

As Muichiro ran to assist him, Mukago yelled out, “You fuckheads got another thing coming if you think I’ll go along with this willingly! My heart belongs to my master!”

“I know for a fact you don’t believe the bullshit coming out of your mouth,” Kyojuro corrected her. “Not at all.” He then turned to Muichiro. “Perform the spell. I’m gonna hold her down. Cut open my non-sword arm if you have to for blood.”

“Got it,” Muichiro replied before he took his backpack off and pulled out the spell book from James. Once he found the correct spell, he closed it and put it back before using a personal knife he carried to cut open his non-sword-using arm. He winced from the pain, mumbling to himself, “Shit…” Once his cut was done, he painted the necessary shape on the ground around Mukago and Kyojuro on the ground with his blood before stopping in the same spot where he started and grabbing a set of bandages and quickly wrapping his injured arm up. “Okay, now, let's do this."

“Hurry up before Muzan kills her,” Kyojuro informed him. “I think he’s getting close! I can feel her body heat begin to rise a bit!” Mukago continued to struggle under Kyojuro’s body weight as Muichiro nodded.

“By the Grace of the Spirits,” Muichiro began the same chant James had done, only this time in Japanese. “I ask them to free this child of God from the chains imposed on her by her Progenitor! Release this woman from his grasp, and eradicate all traces of the curse placed upon her! I cast the Progenitor Release Spell upon you!” He then drove his personal knife into the ground in his blood.

With a bright flash of red light and screaming from Mukago as she felt the curse being painfully ripped out of her body, the spell took effect, and after 15 seconds, the light dissipated, and a now unconscious Mukago laid on the ground. Kyojuro got off of her and asked his partner, “Well, did it work, Tokito-san?”

After he checked for a pulse, Muichiro nodded. “It did. That James demon guy was right.” He then tightened down the bandages on his arm to control the bleeding better before using his free arm to pick her up and carry her on his back. “Alright,” he told Kyojuro. “Let’s make it back to the Oyakata-sama’s Estate before sunrise.”

“I’ll help you out,” Kyojuro immediately offered, also helping him lift her. As they walked home together, he told his partner. “That was surprising. I was not expecting it to work, especially since James said it only had a 50% chance of working. Otherwise, she would have just exploded or something, according to him.”

…

Back at the Dimensional Infinity Fortress, Muzan was infuriated that not only was another demon freed from his control, but that it was one of his Twelve Moons. “This is such fucking horse shit,” he screamed as he threw a glass across his office as an awkward-looking George watched. “It’s fucking horse shit, George-san! First, those damn Demom Slayers Corps’ Pillars fucking wiped out yet another one of my Lower Moons way too easily! Second, this is the second demon that that fucking James Colby guy took away from me with his little Negro spell book, and this time, it’s a fucking Twelve Moon!” He then smashed a pencil as well with his fist in the room. “I’m sorry that I’m acting like this. It’s not you, I swear. I’m just that fucking pissed that we may have a major intelligence leak!”

“I know, sir,” George replied to him, himself also deeply annoyed by James’ interference in their plans. “What do y’all intend to do now that you’re down three of your top twelve demons?”

“I’m gonna purge Lower Moons 2 and 3 since they’re about as useful as a white crayon,” Muzan informed him. “And then I’ll send Lower Moon 1 on a mission with an Upper Moon while I recruit five new Lower Moons. During the gap, you’ll have to use you and your brother’s Knights of the Moon to do some of my work. Is that a problem at all?”

“Not at all, sir,” George nodded with confidence. “Not at all…”

…

April 14, 1913

At the Final Selection site for the First District, James and Susamaru stood at the foot of Mount Fujikasane, surrounded by a sea of wisteria trees. While they had managed to walk through them with ease, James especially, Susamaru was starting to feel somewhat queasy from being around the trees for a long time. After puking on the ground, she wiped her mouth and told James, “God, I fucking hate doing that.”

James asked her as he held her hair back, “Are you alright? Do you wanna not do this? I can do it on my own.”

“No,” she adamantly replied to him. “I’m fine. Once we get to the mountain top, I won’t be sick anymore.”

Kanata, one of Kagaya’s daughters, then asked the pair, “Are you two alright? We’re about to begin.”

“We’re fine,” Susamaru replied to her as she staggered up. “Give us the rundown of what we need to do.”

Both Kanata and Kiriya then nodded and bowed. “Thank you for coming here tonight,” both of them said in perfect unison. “You two are participating in a special version of the Final Selection of the Demon Slayer Corps.” Kiriya then spoke alone next. “While normally people who wish to be slayers must survive for only seven days past the wisteria, you two will have to survive for fourteen days armed with no swords and only your guns with no backup.”

Kanata followed her brother’s words with, “When the sun rises on the fourteenth day, you are to come back to this area if you two survive, and you will choose one of several different ores to create a nichirin sword of your own. We have had a spike in live demon captures as of late, so be prepared for a tough fight.” Both of them bowed and spoke in unison once more. “Good luck, and be safe.”

“Thank you very much,” Susamaru said as she bowed to both of them. “We will be sure to come back out alive.”

Chapter Text

The same night James and Susamaru began their two weeks of demon hunting alone, Muzan summoned the three remaining Lower Moons to the Dimensional Infinity Fortress. He had told them prior that he would be meeting them on the 14th of April, but did not tell them where and when on that day, causing all three to act rather surprised when they suddenly found themselves in the heart of Muzan’s expansive headquarters. As they looked around, Muzan mentioned to Thaddeus, who stood beside him, “I tried to bring Mukago here, too, just to see if I had control over here, but it looks like that little spell the Mist Pillar did worked.” He then turned to his three subordinates with an annoyed look on his face. “Welcome to the Dimensional Infinity Fortress. “

Enmu, Lower Moon 1, looked to Muzan, who was in his female form, and asked his master, “Muzan-sama, what brings us together tonight?”

“The deaths of Rui and Kamanue,” Muzan coldly explained to all of them. “And the betrayal of Mukago. This is the final straw for your circus of clowns. While the Upper Moons have gone a full one hundred years without being killed, I have to replace one of you fucksticks every year either because you’re not good enough or you get yourselves foolishly killed.” His tone began to get angrier with every passing sentence, only heightening their fear. “Wakuraba, give me a reason why I shouldn’t execute you right now for your incompetence, and it better be fucking good.”

Wakuraba shivered as he replied to his master, “Muzan-sama, I’m one of your most loyal Lower Moons. You’ve said it yourself. I seek only to improve myself!”

“Okay,” Muzan replied to him, unimpressed. “But that isn’t really an argument against what I just said, retard. You can be loyal all you want, but if you’re not good, it doesn’t fucking matter.”

Rokuro, by now beginning to panic, thought to himself, “Muzan-sama, you need to understand where we’re coming from here. We aren’t supported enough.”

Muzan immediately could hear his thoughts, and replied to him out loud with, “Who the fuck uttered that thought in their head? The person who did better fess up right now before I rip it out of you.” After an incredibly tense pause for a full half-minute, Muzan spoke again, warning them, “I’m going to give you dunces exactly three fucking seconds before I kill you one by one starting with Wakuraba. Three… Two…”

“It was me,” Rokuro yelled out. “I thought of it! Forgive me, Muzan-sama! Maybe the solution to your problem is that you haven’t given us enough blood. If we were, I know I at least would be able to slaughter demon slayers with even more ease, and maybe even wipe out a few Pillars at once!” He was trying to say anything he could to save his own life, but Muzan was not convinced.

“So now you’re telling me what to do,” Muzan angrily told him. “Out-fucking-standing, Rokuro! The subordinate is telling his boss what to do!” He then let out a laugh, amused by his suggestion and his perceived slight of his authority over him. Once the sickening laugh was over, he sighed. “Guess what, shit-for-brains, you know what you get for confessing to me and trying to tell me what to do? You get exactly what you fucking deserve, and that’s being the first to be exterminated like the vermin you are.” He then snapped his fingers.

In an instant, Rokuro felt his body heat rising as he began to cry, begging for forgiveness. “Muzan-sama, please, forgive me! I beg of you!”

“Even as you begin to die,” he replied, not caring whatsoever for a concept like mercy. “You still try to command me. It’s no wonder you’ll be the first to die.”

Rokuro’s chest was then ripped open as arms emerged from his mouth and abdomen, ripping him apart from inside out and splattering Enmu and Wakuraba with his blood and guts. The sickening sight was only worsened when Rokuro’s remaining body exploded, turning the platform they were on into a mess of crimson and pink. Wakuraba screamed in fright as he thought to himself, “Fuck this, FUCK THIS, FUCK THIS! I’M GETTING THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!” He then dashed off the platform in an attempt to escape Muzan as an astonished Enmu watched. “If I can only find the way out of the fortress, I can run away from all this! I’m fucking done being Muzan’s slave!”

“You can run,” Muzan then interrupted him inside his head as his body heat began to rise. “But you’re insane if you think you can hide from me. I am all knowing, Wakuraba. Why the fuck do you think they call it the Curse of Muzan, dumbass?!” With the snap of his fingers from afar, Wakuraba was also ripped apart from the inside out, his body exploding and its pieces falling into the bottomless pit of the Dimensional Infinity Fortress. “Now, Enmu, what do you say?”

Enmu, who was on his knees and was now oddly calm, was almost at peace with the idea that he was most likely going to die. “I feel honored that I will die at your hands, Muzan-sama. I enjoyed hearing the pained screams of the other two as you slaughtered them. I enjoy seeing the suffering of others who cross you or defy you. Do with me as you wish, Muzan-sama!”

Muzan looked to Thaddeus and nodded. “Very well. This was our plan from the beginning. My confidante Thaddeus here will give you a syringe containing my blood. Once he gives it to you, I want you to help me recruit five new Lower Moons, and then in four months, you will take part in a great plot that will allow us to cause panic across all of Japan.”

Thaddeus approaches Enmu with the syringe, telling him, “Don’t worry, this won’t take long, son.”

As Thaddeus found a spot on his arm, Enmu asked Muzan, “And what is this glorious plan?”

“You will team up with one of the Upper Moons to commit an act of terrorism,” Muzan explained. “We are currently identifying several possible targets on the Japanese national rail system. Kill as many people as possible in repeated attacks. I am tired of staying in the shadows and being unknown to the city folk of Japan. I want to make the whole country aware of us, and when we strike the very heart of Japan’s transport system, we will make their pathetic Emperor and his government bow to us.”

Right after he finished, Thaddeus pushed the blood into Enmu’s arm, causing him to tense up as he felt a surge of power rush through his body. “Muzan-sama, your blood feels wonderful, just as wonderful as your plan! I bet that we won’t just make Japan bow to us. No, I feel like we can make the whole human world bow to us!”

Muzan and Thaddeus smiled, admiring his enthusiasm. The former told him, “Your energy and enthusiasm are why I kept you around, Enmu. With you, we will not be disappointed.” After a brief pause, he gave him one last command. “Also, if you can kill the demon slayer with hanafuda earrings, as well as James Colby and Susamaru, I’ll give you even more blood. Does that sound good?”

“It sounds absolutely wonderful,” Enmu exclaimed in ecstasy. “Absolutely wonderful indeed, Muzan-sama!”

…

As James and Susamaru walked along a path inside Mount Fujikasane, they had their main guns out with them, ready to strike at any moment. Then, James held his free hand out and told Susamaru, “Stop. I sense somethin’.” Then, both of them saw a shape move in front of them within the forest, and it was of a humanoid shape. “Right there!”

Susamaru fired a blast of her shotgun in the direction of the shape, causing it to stop and yelp in pain. “Alright, we got it to stop in place!”

“You got me,” replied a demon with three horns protruding from his forehead as he emerged from the cover of the trees. “I can already sense from you two that you are of our kind. Did the demon slayers drop you off here to join us?”

“No,” Susamaru denied as she pumped out the empty shell from her gun. “We were dropped off here to kill as many of you as we can for the next two weeks and survive.”

“Now this is peculiar,” the demon replied to her as he ripped off a piece of his skin, causing blood to fall from the wound he made on himself and the ripped-off skin in his hand to form into a kunai knife. “Demons hunting their own kind, huh? How about we play around?!” He then dodged a second blast from Susamaru’s shotgun and threw the knife in her direction, causing it to lodge in her shoulder.

“Fuck!” Susamaru winced in pain before she ripped the knife out of her skin. As soon as she did, though, the knife exploded in her hand, ripping it off and causing even more pain.” Agh, shit! My fucking hand!” She dropped her shotgun as her hand reformed, using her remaining hand to rip her yukata off and spawn her four extra arms. “You wanna play the old-fashioned way? Then we’ll do just that!”

James fired two rounds from his rifle at the fast-moving demon, but missed each time. A single successful wisteria buckshot blast would not be enough to adequately poison the demon, and James’ bayonet was only regular metal. He then felt another kunai knife hit him in the back, causing him to fall as he screamed in pain and Susamaru spawned six handballs, throwing all six in every direction to see if she could hit him, but all six missed. “He hit me right in the back!”

Susamaru immediately used one of her extra hands to pull the kunai, knowing that it would blow up as a result. When it did, she fell to the ground as well from the pain before staggering back up to her feet. As two of her handballs came flying back, most likely having been picked up by the demon and thrown back at her, she barely dodged them as they hit several trees behind her. “Damn, that was way too close!” She then picked up the shotgun on the ground and yelled out as she fired off every single shell left in it in every direction she could think of, by now deeply annoyed by this demon with knives. “Fucking die already!”

After she fired off all the rounds, she heard a thud in front of her and ran to its source, losing her extra arms in the process as she no longer needed them. James quickly followed her once his injuries healed and asked her, “Did ya get ‘em?!”

“Yeah,” she replied upon seeing the demon writhing on the ground in pain. “The poison must be kicking in.”

“You poisoned me?! You sick fucks, how could you give one of your own wisteria?!” The demon then let out a primal scream of rage and fury as his body dissolved into nothing, leaving only a puddle of blood and his clothes on the ground, as well as an unused exploding kunai knife he had been holding when the wisteria took effect.

“One down,” James remarked to himself and his partner. “God knows how many of these guys to go.”

Chapter Text

April 15, 1913

Mukago woke up in an unfamiliar house, stirring awake in the middle of the night and seeing a small bedside table next to her with an empty syringe. She rubbed her eyes and found a mirror on the table, grabbing it and looking at herself. She still looked the same, and nothing had happened to her physically. “What the fuck happened last night?”

“I happened,” Muichiro replied to her, causing her to yelp in fright as she did not realize he was in the same room. “Mukago is your name, right?”

“Who… Who the Hell are you?!” She was afraid the Mist Pillar was going to kill her or torture her, having been fed propaganda by Muzan that all demons captured by the Demon Slayer Corps alive were tortured endlessly. “Don’t torture me because you captured me! I beg of you!”

Muichiro sighed. “I don’t know what Muzan told you, but we don’t torture demons we capture. Besides, you weren’t captured. You were freed.”

“Freed from what?”

“Say Muzan’s name and find out,” Muichiro instructed her.

“I’ll get killed if I say Kibutsuji-sama’s na-!” She then gasped and covered her mouth, thinking she had screwed herself over. “Oh no… I’m gonna die…”

“No,” Muichiro refuted as he grabbed the syringe from the table. “You won’t. We broke Muzan’s Curse on you, so you’re with us now. Also, we’ve been injecting you with blood from an American demon, so hopefully after a while, you should be able to walk in the sun, albeit you can’t heal yourself or use your Blood Demon Art until nightfall.” His explanation was rather dry-sounding, having little emotion behind it. “You’re free to hate on your former master all you want.”

“Wait,” Mukago said as she got up out of bed. “I’m not under… Holy shit…” The world she had known for so long was dead, and now, the fact that she was free was overwhelming. “I’m free, ” she thought to herself. “I’m free… I’m free at last! Thank God, I am free at last!” She never thought this day would be possible, and as the realization hit her. She ran up to Muichiro and wrapped her arms around him, catching the Mist Pillar completely off-guard. “Thank you… Thank you…”

Muichiro was at a loss for words as Mukago began to actually cry, having been overcome by her emotions. After a few seconds, he awkwardly returned the hug, patting her on the back and the shoulder. “Uh… You’re welcome?”

“You have no idea what it’s been like,” Mukago confessed to him, free to air out all she had kept hidden from even her thoughts, as Muzan was so paranoid about a rebellion against him he intruded in the thoughts of his own underlings. “It’s been 126 years since I’ve been free. I spent all that time as a slave to Muzan…”

“She’s really emotional,” Muichiro noted to himself in his inner thoughts. “Just what did Muzan do to her to make her so relieved to be freed from his control?”

…

Back in the forest, in the middle of the day, James and Susamaru ate a hare they had hunted, also drinking drops of its blood. As Susamaru put down a half-eaten leg of the hare, James noticed she had a small blood stain on her cheek. “Hey, you got a stain on your face.”

“Eh?” Susamaru then wiped the wrong side of her face to try to get it.

“Right here,” James replied before wiping the correct side of her face and getting the stain off. “Got it for ya.” The sudden feel of his fingers against her cheek made her blush, causing James to chuckle. “Well that takes care of that.”

“Hey,” she then asked him. “Can… Can you tell me more about what happened to Ezekiel, if you want to?”

“I don’t mind,” James replied to her. “The year was 1872, and we had been living together for 9 years. I had recently also began a relationship with a black woman named Alice, who had previously been a slave prior to the abolition of slavery in 1865. In 1872, she was now 20, and we had taken her in three years prior after her parents were murdered…”

…

September 19, 1872

“Alice, Jack,” Ezekiel called out to her as the two of them were ready to go demon-hunting in the middle of the night. “Be sure to be careful if you go into town. They don’t got as many soldiers from the army there anymore, so they’ve been seein’ a rise in those Klan folk. They don’t take too kindly to seein’ a white man with a negro woman.” He was an older man, of about 55, who bore rather dark skin, greying hair, and a short beard. His hands bore the signs of a life that had seen many, many years of hard labor as a slave, and a small scar on his face indicated an incident where his former master had struck him when he was younger.

“We know,” Alice replied to him. She bore moderately dark skin and black hair tied in a ponytail. “Be safe, Zeke.” She then turned back to James as they began to walk. “Well, I suppose it’s better than the other way around, right?”

James replied to her, “A white woman with a negro? You might as well dig your own grave already down here. It sucks what those poor bastards gotta put up with.” 

“You can say that again!”

As they continued to walk down a dirt path that led from Ezekiel’s rather isolated house around 8 at night, James asked her, “So, I gotta ask you, Alice.”

“Ask me what?” Alice seemed a bit on edge as a result of the question, and stopped in the middle of the road. “Is it about us?”

“Yeah,” James confirmed to her. “We’ve been… You know, havin’ relations… Fuck it, I’m just gonna say it. We’ve been havin’ sex for a year now, and I need to ask you if you’ve been feelin’ any different recently?”

“As if I’m expectin’?” Alice knew exactly what James was going for. “Jack, listen to me, I’m not. You and I have been takin’ the necessary steps to make sure we don’t do that. I’d tell you if I was gonna have your child.”

James sighed. “Yeah, it’s that. Look, if it comes down to it, what are we gonna do?”

“I wanna run,” Alice simply replied to him. “Run away as far from Georgia as possible. Maybe we could go to Minnesota since you came from there. I don’t wanna raise a child in a state like this, especially not one of mixed blood.” She was adamant in her beliefs and her desire to leave to protect her hypothetical child. “I wanna be able to love you without someone breathin’ down our necks who wants to beat us up at best and hang us from a tree at worst.”

James could not argue with what she was proposing, since she was 100% right in regards to what would most likely happen to them if they had children in Georgia. “I… I’m not even gonna bother arguing against that, because you’re right, Alice.” He then hugged her. “If you become pregnant, we’ll leave. I can find my old family in Minnesota. They’ll be shocked to see I’m alive, but they’ll be overjoyed to see me.” He then gave her a quick peck on her cheek and then on her lips. “No matter what, I’m with you, alright?”

“I know,” Alice replied to him. “After that five month trip from February to June, I never want to be separated from you again.”

…

Two hours later

Alice and James were returning from killing a demon together just outside of town when they noticed fresh footprints going towards Ezekiel’s cabin in the woods. As they inspected them further, they found that they seemed to be of a group of people. Because the path was rarely traveled, both of them immediately got suspicious. “This ain’t good,” Alice remarked to her boyfriend. “Zeke’s in trouble!” A feeling of dread and urgency swept over them both.

“Fuckin’ Christ,” James replied as they both sprinted for Ezekiel’s cabin. “Don’t tell me people went to attack ‘em!” As they ran as fast as they could, James thought to himself, “For the love of God, don’t let this be the Ku Klux Klan! Do NOT let this be the Ku Klux Klan! They’ve been out for Zeke’s blood for several years!”

“Jack,” Alice then told him. “Get ready for a fight!”

“You got it,” he replied as he quickly pulled out and cocked his revolver, ready to confront anyone who was not supposed to be at Ezekiel’s cabin. “Let’s just pray we ain’t too late!”

However, five minutes later, as they approached the cabin, they saw a bright orange and yellow glow emerge from the forest. “No! NO!” Alice immediately realized that Ezekiel’s cabin was in flames, and feared that the cabin James had built was also on fire as well. As both of them emerged from the path, they saw that to their relief, James’ cabin was fine. Then, their relief turned to horror when they looked over to a group of people standing near a tree. “Over there! They… They fuckin’ lynched Zeke!”

A crowd of six masked individuals stood around the tree as the body of Ezekiel dangled from a branch, hanged with a noose. He had also been badly beaten as evidenced by bruises on his face and a bloody nose. The fire from Ezekiel’s cabin lit up the night sky as the leader of the six attackers turned to Alice and James. “Well, if it ain’t the other nigger and that nigger-lover of her’s!”

James stood in shock, falling to his knees as he froze. Meanwhile, Alice pulled his revolver and yelled, forcing back her tears as she screamed, “YOU MONSTERS! YOU LYNCHED HIM, AND FOR WHAT?!”

“He didn’t respect the norms of society,” the Klan leader explained to her, talking to her as if she was an angry immature child. “It’s very simple, child. Us white men are at the very top, and nothin’ no carpetbagger nor scalawag can do will force niggers out of the very bottom. Now, I’d advise you to put that gun down, miss, and we’ll let you go.”

“I’d rather die than let you get away!”

“Alice, no!” James tried to stop her from going on her rampage, but it was too late.

Alice fired multiple shots, striking and killing two of the Klansmen, before they returned fire with rifles, striking her down where she stood. Alice screamed as she was hit, and as she collapsed, the leader of the Klansmen shouted, “Your little friend killed three of us already before we hanged ‘em! We were just gonna burn his shit and tell ‘em to fuck off and leave, but he decided to not play nice. You niggers really like to choose poorly, huh? That’s what happens when you’re uppity and try to defy us, fuckers!”

James ran to his girlfriend’s side and held her in his arms. “Alice, please, speak to me!” He began to cry, tears falling from his face and onto her’s. “Don’t leave me. I’ve lost enough already! I can’t lose you!”

“James,” Alice referred to him by his actual name instead of Jack. “I love you… And… I did bear a child…”

James was shocked to hear those words from her. Immediately, he froze up again. “You… What…”

“I was pregnant when I left in February,” she told him as she continued to die in his arms. “I gave birth in June… I didn’t want to raise a child in Georgia. She’s in a good place, James, I swear… She’ll be free from the trouble we’re in now. Free from the Klan, free from the legacy of our enslavement, free from… Free from those who would hate us. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you then. I should have…”

“Don’t leave me,” James begged of her. “Come on, stay alive!” However, his pleas went unheard, as Alice passed away in his arms, the blood loss and trauma from being shot simply being too much for her body to handle. “Alice, wake up… Wake the fuck up, Alice! FUCKIN’ HELL, ALICE, WAKE UP!” He tried shaking her body, but that did not work either. “ALICE! ALICE!” He then threw her body to the ground as he stood up, rage building inside him as he slowly began to let go of his humanistic side and embrace his demonic side.

The Klan leader called out to James, “What are y’all still doin’ here? We’re gonna burn your cabin next once we’re done with that uppity nigger’s! You may have had relations with a negress, but we’ll let ya go if you just ignore what happened here tonight! Now shoo!”

James turned around and faced the remaining four klansmen, revolver and knife in hand. His teeth had sharpened considerably, and his eyes had changed to become more cat-like, with dilated pupils and an expression that screamed homicidal rage. “I’m gonna kill every last one of you… And then… I’LL FEED ON ALL OF YOU!” He emptied his revolver out by firing six shots, and despite being hit multiple times with bullets from the Klansmen, he refused to back down, his wounds healing on their own much to their disbelief.

One of them shouted as he fell to one knee from being shot, “What the fuck is that thing?! He shruggin’ off bulle-!” James ended his life with a second bullet to the head, splattering his brains all over the leader of the group.

A second klansman tried to get away by running past him, but James caught him by his shirt and stabbed his thrice in the neck and back before ripping a piece of his shoulder off with his teeth and eating the skin and meat that came off. The leader of the group shouted, “What the fuck are y’all standin’ ‘round for?! Kill the damn monster!”

The third klansman and the leader tried reloading their rifles as James let out a primal scream of vitriolic rage, charging directly at them and ripping their rifles out of their hands before they could reload them fully. “DIE! DIE, DIE, DIE!” James then stabbed both of them several times, causing them to fall to the ground as they struggled with James. In the struggle, James bit into the Klan leader’s face, ripping off most of it and eating it as he bashed his now skinless head in with his fists. “BURN IN HELL! BECOME MY SUSTENANCE! CEASE TO WALK AMONG THE LIVIN’!”

Screams echoed through the air as James continued to stab and eat all four of the Klansmen even past their deaths, and even ate the five who had been killed earlier, for a full two hours. By the end, he collapsed from exhaustion, and the fire burned itself out, sparing James’ cabin and all that was inside it. Ezekiel still hung from a tree, however, dead from strangulation, and his cabin was now a pile of ash.

…

Present Day

“The next day,” James concluded the story to Susamaru. “I packed up everything I could and left Georgia. I have no clue where my child with Alice went, and despite many years of searching, I could not locate her. She’s a human, so now, she’d be 41 years old.” He wiped away tears from his face as he thought of her, despite having never seen her. “God, I hope she’s happy and has a good life, wherever she is.”

Susamaru hugged him from the side, deeply saddened by the story. “I’m so sorry to hear of that… It almost makes my own troubles seem so minuscule.”

“You’re fine,” James corrected her. “I hate it when people try to play games with how tragic their lives are. I don’t tear people down if they had a past that may not have been as harsh as mine.” He then took a deep breath as he collected himself again. “I swear that I’ll find my daughter one day. I just wish she would have been able to meet my children with Julia before they were all killed.”

“I’ll help you,” Susamaru pledged to him. “I fight alongside you, right? This is merely an extension of my mission to help you.”

James smiled, glad to hear she was willing to help. “Thanks. That means a lot to me.”

…

April 18, 1913

Mukago stuck her arm out as Muichiro applied the sun spot test on her in his basement. As Muichiro manipulates several mirrors to apply a very small ray of sun onto her arm, Mukago told him, “Yeah, it’s starting to burn a bit. Not as bad as before, though.” Once smoke started appearing from the small mark, Muichiro stopped. “Ouch, shit…”

“I’m surprised it’s taking this long,” Muichiro said to her. “We only got two more samples of James’ blood before we’re out and we have to wait for him to come back from Mount Fujikasane.”

“I really don’t want to wait another twelve days,” Mukago remarked to him. “It sucks being cooped up in here.”

“Better that than with Muzan,” Muichiro added.

“True,” she admitted. “You know, Tokito-san, you guys are actually alright. I always thought the Demon Slayer Corps was full of people who got off on the suffering of others, but I know now that that’s just not true.”

Muichiro seemed to ignore her, instead staring at a spot on the ceiling. “Hmmm… That’s odd…” In his head, he thought to himself, “I should probably fix that stain on the ceiling. I wonder how it got all the way up there…”

Mukago sighed. “He’s staring off again, ” she thought to herself. “I know one way I can get his attention.” She then smiled and whistled in his direction. “Hey, Tokito-san!” As he looked over, she very suddenly pulled up her shirt, which had been given to her by Muichiro, and pulled it over her head to show off her chest, which was bound by sarashi. “Now, do I have your attention?” She thought to herself, ”I could pay him back with this. It’s always a go-to for me. Besides, given my past experiences, he’ll probably ask me about this eventually, so I might as well get this over with now.” 

The Mist Pillar blushed as he looked directly at her. “Uh… Why did you take your shirt off like that?”

Mukago then got up out of her bed and approached him. “Listen, I can give you something in return for what you’ve done.”

Muichiro, knowing what she meant due to her telling him her past a few days prior, replied to her, “You’re trying to offer sex to me? So soon, too?”

“Not the whole thing,” Mukago seductively told him. “No, no, no… Just a touch. You’ve wanted to feel a girl’s touch before, haven’t you? You’re at that age when all boys think about it so much. I can relate since I became a demon when I was just a year older.”

Muichiro knew what she was trying to do, but was debating seriously on whether or not to accept it. “She told me she was a prostitute for several years before she was turned into a demon,” Muichiro thought to himself. “And that she offered sex to most of the Upper Moons, who usually accepted, and to Muzan. Does she see this as justified due to her past?” He then took a deep breath. “Do you feel like you have to do this?”

Mukago paused, not sure how to answer him at first and trying to find the words to respond. “Well, uh…”

“You don’t have to offer me such services, you know.”

Mukago denied she felt the need to do so. “I know that! I just thought that we could get it out of the way before you got any ideas in your head.”

Muichiro looked over her body and thought to himself, “She reminds me of girls my age. I guess it makes sense, given she was only a year older than me when Muzan turned her into a demon. I can’t deny that she does look pretty cute, even with those horns. Usually by now, I'd be drifting off elsewhere, but something about her demands my attention."

“So,” she asked him. “What do you wanna see, if anything?”

“Well, I mean,” he said to her, making his decision. “We can do some stuff, I guess? What do you have in mind?”

As Mukago began to undo the sarashi and fully expose her upper body, she told him, “We can use our hands, and maybe if you do something for me, I can use my mouth. Does that sound like a good trade off?”

The Mist Pillar could no longer take the pressure, and relented as his cheeks reddened. “Yes, yes it does. Let’s get this over with.”

"Works for me." Mukago then got closer to him, asking, "Do you want a kiss?"

Muichiro took a deep breath, remembering how other slayers in the corps described how such activities went in gossip, and somewhat awkwardly moved in, locking lips with her and closing his eyes. The first kiss was short, and as he split, he asked, "How was that?"

"It could use some work. Let me try." Mukago then kissed him back, with this second kiss going on far longer and being more in-depth as the two began their activities in earnest.

…

Later that night, James sat on the branches of a tree and looked around with the scope of his rifle while Susamaru slept at the foot of the tree below. If he saw any demons in his scope, he would snipe them as far away from him as possible. Since his bullets were loaded with wisteria, he made sure to shoot them at least twice to get the proper poisoning effect. As James scanned a clearing, he saw a shape move in the darkness and fired two shots in quick succession. “I think I got it,” he muttered to himself.

Susamaru was awakened by the gunshots and looked up, asking him, “Did you get something?”

“Possibly,” James remarked to her. “Not sure. I can’t really see for shit due to the darkness. You know, this mountaintop really is beautiful, even with all the demons the corps captured here being let loose inside it. We’ll have to inspect that area I shot at later. It looks like a clearin’ in the trees of some sort.”

“I can run out and take a look now,” Susamaru replied as she stood up and grabbed her shotgun. “I’ll be fine, James. If I don’t come back in half an hour, you’ll know where to look.”

“Sounds good to me. I’ll be right here.” He then lowered his rifle, deciding to take a nap in the tree. “This forest really is somethin’ to look at,” he thought to himself. “I could easily fall asleep listenin’ to the sounds of the animals in here…” As he drifted to sleep, the sounds of the forest filled his ears with a soothing sensation, reminding him of hunts in his past that took him to similar but far more vast stretches of wilderness in America.

...

Muichiro was in his bed by himself, with Mukago sleeping downstairs. As he laid down and stared at the ceiling, he thought about what he and Mukago had done. "She certainly knows what to do. I still can't believe she lived such a kind of life at my age. That's so fucked up when you think about it, not to mention her selling herself for decades to Muzan and the Upper Moons as a demon... Did... Did I do something wrong by saying yes to her?" Worried about the implications of his actions, he turned over in bed and said to himself, "I wanted it, and she says she did, but... Was she just falling back on her old habits? Was this the only way she knew how to thank me for what I did to save her?" He then looked up at the night sky, noticing the moon was out and causing his mind to drift as it usually did. "There's no clouds in the sky tonight. All I can see is the moon. A cloudless sky is so boring."

Chapter Text

About 10 minutes after departing, Susamaru walked into the same forest clearing James had shot into, and began searching in the darkness for whatever he had shot. She was somewhat on edge, but was confident that she could take on whatever James had hit since it was most likely poisoned and weakened. As she scanned the forest around her, she suddenly sensed a presence behind her and turned around. “Freeze, asshole!” However, when she turned around, she found nothing standing near her. “Damn it, nothing…” She sighed and continued walking around the clearing when she felt the same presence again and turned around. “Hey!” Once again, nothing. She grunted in annoyance before scanning and walking around again. The third time she felt the presence, she turned to her left side and found what she was looking for. “Stop right there!”

The demon she found was relatively normal looking, and held a sword. “Your friend shot me twice in the shoulder, and I’ve been feeling sick ever since!” He then swung at her, barely missing her head.

Susamaru then once again ripped her yukata off and spawned her four extra arms before spawning two handballs in her two right extra arms. She fired off a round of birdshot at the demon before throwing both handballs at him, striking him down and ripping off both of his legs. Once he was on the ground, she shot him again with birdshot, pumping enough poison into him to kill him. “There, now pass on!”

“Raaaaagh,” the demon screamed as he felt his insides burn with the poison dissolving them. “Fuck, it fucking hurts!”

Finally, Susamaru used one last handball to decapitate the demon, giving him a mercy kill. “There, now you’re dead…” As she reloaded her shotgun out in the open with more wisteria rounds, she suddenly got kicked by an unseen force and thrown to the ground. “Fuck!”

Once she was on the ground, two new demons stood above her. One of the two men told her, “Good evening! It’s unfortunate we have to meet under these circumstances, fellow demon.”

“I’m not your friend,” Susamaru angrily told him as she stood up. “So stop calling me your fellow demon!” She tried to spawn her extra arms, but as soon as she began, her arms failed to appear. “Huh?! What happened?! What the fuck?!” She then tried to spawn a handball in her free hand, but that did not work either. “God damn it, what did you do to me?!”

“That kick you felt was actually me injecting a liquid into you with one of my needle fingers,” the other demon replied to her. “This liquid can immobilize a man and render a demon’s blood demon art unusable!”

“A needle?! What… Oh no… I’m fainting…” Susamaru then collapsed to the ground. “Fucking hell…” As she passed out and faded into unconsciousness, the two demons quickly picked her body up, ready to bring her to another location. What they did not realize was that by dragging her, they left a trail on the ground to where they were heading, which would prove to be their downfall.

…

An hour after Susamaru left, James woke up in a cold sweat, breathing heavily and looking around to see if anyone had awakened him. He then pulled a pocket watch from his pants and checked the time. To his frustration, he had overslept by half an hour. “Motherfucker! I fuckin’ overslept!” He then carefully made his way down to the ground before shouting for his partner, “Susamaru! Susamaru! Where the fuck are ya?! SUSAMARU?!”

He ran to the clearing, but when he arrived, there was no sign of her, much to his horror. Despite his efforts, he could not find her.

“Damn it,” he muttered to himself. “Why the fuck did I fall asleep?!” Then, he looked over to a patch of grass on the ground and found that it seemed to have markings on it from something being dragged. Thoughts immediately began racing through his head, fearing the worst for Susamaru. “Please don’t tell me that’s from her!” He raced down what became a path that had been made by something being dragged on the ground, and hoped that it was not of his partner in combat. However, after a few minutes, he walked into a second clearing and found two demons standing around an unconscious Susamaru. “Hey assholes! Let ‘er go!”

Both demons looked over to James. One of them shouted to him, “It’s this bitch’s partner! Let’s get him!” This demon then fired a needle of tranquilizer at James from his hand, but James was able to dodge it, and fired off two rifle rounds. The second demon fired back at him with Susamaru’s shotgun, forcing James to take cover. “We got her guns! You’re no longer at an advantage!”

“You may have her guns,” James shouted back. “But I got training on how to use ‘em!” He then fired three more rounds, bringing his rifle down to ten rounds left. “Taste lead!” Then, he was hit by a revolver bullet, striking him in the shoulder. “Fucking Hell!” Though only one bullet was not enough to lethally poison him, it still hurt, especially as his injuries began to heal themselves.

“Come on out,” the second demon beckoned menacingly to him. “Don’t be afraid of us!”

James then charged out from behind his cover after affixing a bayonet onto his rifle and fired off two rounds before stabbing one of the two demons with said bayonet, the blade going right through him and out the other side. “Die!” He then stabbed the second demon as well before twisting and pulling the blade out of him and shooting him in the chest. “Same to you! Die, die, die!” By emptying the rest of the rounds into both demons, he had managed to pump enough poison into them to kill them.

As both demons withered away and died, Susamaru began to stir awake, the tranquilizer given by the needle demon wearing off now that he was dead. “Ugh… Where the fuck… How…”

“That makes ten demons down,” James said to himself as he wrote down in a small notepad. He had kept track of every demon the two of them had killed together to present to the rest of the gang once their two weeks in Mount Fujikasane were over. “Seven for me and three for her.”

“Make it four,” she groggily told James. “I got the one you shot at.”

“Okay then,” he replied. “Make it eleven. Seven for me and four for you.”

…

April 20, 1913

Muichiro buttoned up his pants as Mukago stood up from her knees and adjusted her clothes. “I’m surprised you took care of me first, Tokito-san. Last time, it was the other way around. Most people I’ve done that to never even bother to please me.”

“I figured I’d favor you since you’ve been doing this for me,” Muichiro replied to her as he looked up at the ceiling in the dark room. It was around 9 PM, and Muichiro had decided to repeat his limited sexual activities with the former Lower Moon 4. “Even if we’re only using our hands or our mouths.”

“You don’t have to limit yourself,” Mukago told him as she wiped her mouth with a cloth. “I’m not afraid.”

“I know you aren’t,” Muichiro replied with a sigh. “It’s just… I’m not sure if I want to go that far yet. It’s not to insult you. It’s just a personal thing.”

Mukago nodded. “I see, I see. I understand, Tokito-san. How do you see me, by the way? From my end, there’s really no strings attached.”

“Same,” Muichiro agreed. “I guess I just don’t do relationships, especially not ones like Shinazugawa-san and Kocho-san’s sister.”

“Kocho-san has a sister?” Mukago had never heard of this before.

“She used to,” Muichiro corrected her. “Kocho Kanae, or as she was known when she died, Shinazugawa Kanae. She married Sanemi about half a year before she was murdered about four years ago.”

“Murdered four years ago, you say?” Mukago then pondered to herself, recalling something she had overheard. “I think I overheard one of the Upper Moons mentioning he killed a Pillar but wasn’t able to consume her body due to the rising sun.”

Muichiro was intrigued by this, and pulled out a notebook. “Who was it? Can you give me a description?” She had already spilled several key secrets about Muzan and the Lower and Upper Moons to the Demon Slayer Corps, and they would prove vital when the time came to take the fight to them.

“His name was Doma,” Mukago told him as he began writing down the information. “He is or at least was Upper Moon Two last time I checked. He had like silver hair and led this super creepy cult despite proclaiming several times that religion was a scam for fools, because of course that bastard did.” Mukago clearly did not care for Doma based on his description of him. “He’s a fucking creep towards the girls among the Upper and Lower Moons, which is saying something considering how Muzan acts. I slept with him a few times, and those few times were enough for him to try to get me to join his cult. He was the only member of the Upper Moons I refused to fuck after that.”

As Muichiro finished writing down her statement, he asked her, “You also mentioned a second member of the Twelve Moons who used to be a prostitute earlier. Who was that?”

“Daki,” Mukago told him. “She was an oiran. I worked at a post-station, and I was more ‘normal’ if you could say. Even so, Daki-senpai and her brother Gyutaro-niisan were probably the only Upper Moons that treated me with any respect due to my own upbringing. Gyutaro-niisan never did anything with me, but Daki-senpai and I shared those fun little escapades among young women who are fond of each other.”

“Those are the two who share the title of Upper Moon Six, right?”

“Correct,” Mukago confirmed to him. “They’ve killed a lot of you guys, but… I feel bad for them, really bad.”

“Why is that?” Muichiro was genuinely curious as to how she felt bad for them, having heard of their nasty reputation for killing many demon slayers who had tried to attack them. “They’ve killed many of us.”

“I don’t know much about who they were before they became demons,” Mukago admitted. “Only small stuff from overhearing them. Daki-san became an oiran at a very young age a long time ago, and something happened that caused Gyutaro-niisan to come to Muzan with her. Whatever it was, it left Daki-senpai with a fear of fire, so I imagine it wasn’t good.”

“A fear of fire…” Muichiro then looked to the night sky from a small window in the basement room. “Fire…”

Chapter Text

April 22, 1913

A second Pillar Meeting began at the Ubuyashiki Estate, due to the first meeting being taken up by James and Susamaru’s appearances. As all the Pillars bowed, Kagaya once more addressed all of them with a kind and warm smile. “Good afternoon once again,” he told them all. “Since we were preoccupied with other matters on the 11th, we shall now discuss our regular matters today. The first topic is what happened at the Battle of Mount Natagumo. We are preparing a report regarding our losses at the battle, which represent our highest loss since the Boshin War.”

“This battle clearly represents the decrease in quality of recent recruits,” Obanai began. “I don’t mean to insult the slayers we’ve lost, but it feels like our training isn’t doing enough to protect and prepare our lower ranks. With this and the disaster that was the 1st District’s 1st Quarter Final Selection, 1913 is shaping up to be a bad year for us.”

“I have to agree with Iguro-san,” Kyojuro then spoke up. “Losing just one slayed is one too many, but to lose so many so soon is incredibly troubling, especially with our recruitment problems. It seems like the only people joining are people who have already been hurt by demons or come from backgrounds where they’ve always known about us. Of course, there’s also a significant difference between the number of our personnel who are from rural areas and those who are from urban areas.”

“People just don’t believe demons exist anymore,” Gyomei then added. “Muzan must have some policy of sticking to rural areas, because I almost never hear about him striking urban population centers like Nagoya, Tokyo, or Osaka. We can’t just recruit families and survivors forever. It’s unsustainable. Also, I don’t mean to knock on our rural recruits, especially since I myself came from pretty much the middle of nowhere, but there is a noticeable knowledge gap. We need to keep abreast of how rapidly Japan is modernizing, especially when it comes to communication and weaponry, but we’re limited when some of our recruits may not even know what modern firearms or railroads are.”

Shinobu sighed as she spoke up next, dropping her normal smile. “It infuriates me to no end to know that our government continues to ignore us and even secretly label us as insurrectionist radicals despite us helping them defeat the Shogunate, all because we refuse to treat women or religious minorities any different from men or the majority. Constantly, we are harassed by police officers for carrying swords, and that’s just the start of our issues. Oyakata-sama, your family has done wonders for us for many centuries, but you know as well as I do that the Demon Slayer Corps cannot survive as a private entity forever with no official support. I know we pride ourselves in being unofficial and hidden, but with these incidents, is it really the best thing to be proud of?”

Kagaya nodded. “Everything you said is true. With these recent incidents, I have begun making plans to speak with the government, Shinobu. At the very least, I am asking for compensation for injured slayers and the families of disabled or dead slayers, as well as an exemption to anti-weapons laws that will allow us to carry swords and guns in public without fear of harassment. Also, in regards to weaponry, the use of firearms by the hunter from America has piqued my interest. Shinobu, as the resident poisoning expert, I am giving you the task of researching ways to incorporate poisoned ammunition into our corps. We may be able to make hunting demons easier than it ever has before. After all, the adage is ‘work smarter, not harder.’”

“Speaking of him,” Mitsuri then spoke up. “How are he and that other demon doing at Mount Fujikasane?”

“I have no idea, unfortunately,” Kagaya replied. “They said they wanted no intrusion when they went in, so we’ll have no idea what’s going on until the 28th.”

…

April 28, 1913

The day everyone had been waiting for was finally upon them: The day that James and Susamaru’s were expected to come out of the forest of Mount Fujikasane. Aside from Kanata and Kiriya, Kyojuro also stood at the entrance, awaiting their exit. “They said that they would be back around 8 in the morning,” he thought to himself. “It’s 7:55 now. Perhaps they got killed in the forest.”

Then, in the distance, all three of them heard shouting. “Hey, fuckers! Guess who survived all fourteen days?!”

As Kyojuro looked on, a weary but confident James and Susamaru walked to the entrance of the forest. They had clearly fought long and hard inside the forest. Susamaru also waved and called out, “We did! We survived! I don’t know how, but we did!”

“Well, no shit,” Kyojuro remarked to himself. He then smiled and waved. “Congratulations on making it. With this, you’re both officially demon slayers!”

“For reference,” James then exclaimed. “I killed twenty-seven demons and she killed thirteen!”

“Forty?!” Kyojuro found the number to be unbelievable, as most prospective demon slayers usually killed maybe three or four each in their weeklong Final Selection. “No way!”

“Congratulations,” Kanata and Kiriya said to the graduates in unison. “You are officially now members of the Demon Slayer Corps. Kanata then spoke alone next. “You will soon be measured to receive uniforms. Due to your unique circumstances, you two can choose to customize them to a limited extent.”

“For now,” Kiriya then added. “You will choose the ores that will be used to forge your new swords. The swords will take approximately ten to fifteen days to make. We have ten ores for you to choose from. Do either of you have any special requests?”

James immediately raised his hand. “If I may,” he asked. “May I get a sword infused with wisteria like Pillar Kocho, but strong enough to also decapitate a demon? I want to be able to do both to keep my options open in battle.”

“Very well,” Kanata replied, bowing. “How about you, Susamaru-san?”

“I wish to be a double-wielder,” she replied with a bow. “That is my only request. My swords will otherwise be normal.”

“That can certainly be arranged,” Kiriya affirmed to her. “Now, before you choose your ores, we have one last gift.” He then snapped his fingers, and as soon as he did, two crows flew down and perched themselves on James and Susamaru’s shoulders. “These are your Kasugai Crows, Now, James, you might recognize your’s.”

“Holy shit,” James said to his crow in English as he realized who it had belonged to. “You’re Paul’s crow! George, what are you doing here?!”

“Indeed,” the crow, named George McCloud, replied back in English as well. “Mr. McCloud sent me here. Unfortunately, he was killed in February, and before he died, he sent me here to join you. I came into contact with the Japanese Demon Slayer Corps and was able to be assigned to you.”

James was shocked to hear of Paul McCloud’s death. “What?! Who killed him?!”

“The Fifth Knight of the Moon,” George cawed back. “Bloody Bill Anderson of the Confederate Partisan Rangers! He shot him several times and left him for dead in an ambush!”

“God fuckin’ damn it,” James angrily yelled up into the sky in rage. “That son of a bitch just don’t know when to quit, don’t he?!” He then took a deep breath and began speaking again in Japanese, explaining to the rest of the group what he was talking about. “Paul McCloud was a human friend of mine who hunted demons. Apparently, one of the Jackson Brothers’ Twenty-Four Knights of the Moon, their equivalent of the Twelve Demon Moons here, killed him, and he sent his crow here to work with me before he died.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Kyojuro told him in sympathy. “It’s stuff like this that gives us the reasons for which we fight, James. As my Tsuguko, you and Susamaru will become some of the finest warriors around. I’m sure of it.”

Susamaru told Kyojuro, “We won’t make you regret taking us in, Rengoku-san.”

Kanata and Kiriya then spoke once more in unison. “Now, you will be assigned ranks. James Colby, as someone who already has experience, you will be assigned the rank of Mizunoe, while Susamaru will be assigned the rank of Mizunoto. These are the two lowest ranks in the corps, but expect to be moved up soon.” Both then bowed together. “Now, pick your ores.”

As James and Susamaru walked up to the ore table, which had ten different ores laid out on it, James thought to himself, “Hmmm… They didn’t tell us which one is which. Let’s see…” He then took a deep breath and picked a nichirin ore at random, followed closely by Susamaru. He then told the two Ubuyashiki children, “We pick these two ores!”

“Very well,” Kanata then told James. “Expect to get your new swords in two weeks’ time.”

…

TAISHO SECRET #1

INFORMATION ABOUT THE KNIGHTS OF THE MOON:

The KM consist of twenty-four demons, led by both Jackson brothers, who share the ideology they hold: White/Japanese demonic supremacy over all humans and non-white/non-Japanese demons. Being fervent believers in slavery, both George and Thaddeus were veterans of the Confederacy, and after the war, supported the formation of the Ku Klux Klan. They also, both during and after the war, turned Confederate military leaders that are believed to have been dead by the general public into demons, with most of them ending up in the Knights of the Moon. Currently, not a single KM has been killed since 1874.

KM1: James Ewell Brown “J.E.B.” Stuart

KM2: Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson

KM3: Jubal Early

KM4: Patrick Cleburne

KM5: William “Bloody Bill” Anderson

KM6: Thomas Green

KM7: Ambrose Power “A.P.” Hill

KM8: John Hunt Morgan

KM9: John Hanson McNeill

KM10: Alcibiades DeBlanc

KM11: George Washington Gordon

KM12: Frederick Nash Ogden

KM13: Thomas Eaves (Non-CSA)

KM14: James Jessup Lee (Non-CSA)

KM15: Thomas Horace (Non-CSA)

KM16: Robert Lee Berry (Non-CSA)

KM17: David Lee (Non-CSA)

KM18: Jerome Tyrell Lee (Non-CSA)

KM19: David Baker

KM20: George Beauregard Hall (Non-CSA)

KM21: Horace Sherill

KM22: Calvin Hodgeson (Non-CSA)

KM23: Vernon Hill

KM24: Jonathan Hill

These Knights of the Moon represent a dangerous threat to the demon hunters that roam the United States, Canada, and Mexico, as well as those in the Caribbean. They also persecute non-white demons, often subjugating them and bringing them alongside captured nonwhite humans to illegal slave plantations owned by the Jackson Network in lawless areas of Mexico and the Caribbean, where they harvest crops and are often subject to abuse, neglect, and live human/demon experimentation by the Jackson Brothers. They are committed to the causes of white supremacy, racism, slavery, and the subjugation of undesirables, and are condemned by all those who have honor, decency, and respect for others. They are not to be honored, but to be reviled, for committing treason against the United States, waging war on humanity, and attacking those of their own kind they view as inferior.

Likewise, Muzan Kibutsuji is not to be celebrated, but to be condemned, for committing treason against the Empire of Japan, murdering innocent people by the thousands, and oppressing his own kind by crushing any and all dissent or pro-peace sentiments brutally and with extreme prejudice. He is a monster, and he is directly responsible for the murders of far too many people to count. He is an unrepentant killer, a madman, and a coward.

The names of these demons will forever be associated with the ideology of demonic supremacy and all those who were mercilessly killed in its wake.

Chapter Text

April 30, 1913

At the entrance to the Rengoku Estate, James and Susamaru anxiously waited for Kyojuro’s father to come to the door. They had never met his family before, and were concerned about their status as demons who slayed other demons. Kyojuro apologizes in advance to them, telling them, “Listen, if my dad treats you guys differently, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” James assured him. “I would do the same in his shoes, and I’m not even sure what he’s gonna do yet, but it’s probably not exactly welcoming to us.”

Kyojuro then knocked on the door to the main house of the estate, where he was met by his younger brother Senjuro. He asked his older brother, “Aniki, who are those two?”

“These are my new Tsuguko,” he explained to him. “James Colby, an American, and Susamaru. They’re going to be living here and at the Butterfly Estate.”

Senjuro bowed to both of them. “Welcome to the Rengoku Estate.” He then extended his hand to James. “I’m sure you’re familiar with a handshake, right?”

“Indeed,” James replied, impressed he knew what a handshake was. “It’s nice to meet you. What’s your name?”

“Rengoku Senjuro,” he explained to them. “I’m Kyojuro’s brother.”

“Who are these visitors?” Along then came an older man who greatly resembled both of the brothers. “Kyojuro, who are these characters?”

“These are my Tsuguko,” Kyojuro explained to his father. “James Colby of the United States of America, and Susamaru.”

“Tsuguko, eh? Nice to meet you tw-“ He then stopped himself as he looked over their features and became deeply confused. “Wait a minute… It’s daylight, but… What the fuck?!”

“Yeah,” Kyojuro awkwardly told his father. “We’re gonna have to talk about that. Bear with us, and trust me when I say these guys are still on our side, father.”

Shinjuro understandably reached for a sword mounted on the wall of the entranceway into the main house, and told Kyojuro, “They better not be causing any trouble. I won’t hesitate to decapitate them.”

“You won’t need to,” James assured him. “Trust us.”

…

After about thirty minutes of explanations, all five of them sat together at a table inside the main house of the estate. Shinjuro had managed to calm down significantly, and was more amiable to both James and Susamaru, though secretly he still had his suspicions. “You two certainly have come a long way,” he told both of them. “I commend you for siding with humanity.”

“Thank you,” Susamaru replied. “We’ve been battling demons nonstop for about a month. It’s nice to have a break.”

“I agree completely,” James nodded. “Fightin’ demons is fun and all, but it’s nice to relax and unwind for a while.”

“So,” Senjuro then asked both of them. “You’ll be staying here and at the Butterfly Estate, right?”

“Correct,” James confirmed to him. “I’ll be leaving for the Butterfly Estate late tomorrow, and I’ll be back here by the 6th. Susamaru is staying here.”

“Tell the girls there I said hi,” Shinjuro instructed James. “I haven’t seen any of them in a while.”

Kyojuro thought to himself, impressed by the meeting, “Well, that went a lot better than I expected. Perhaps my father didn’t drink as much today. Usually, he’d be in a less welcoming mood…”

…

May 2, 1913

A few days later, James went to the Butterfly Estate by himself, looking to give Shinobu a book containing painstakingly-handwritten copies of all information he had gathered on poison-making from his various journals over the years, as well as how to insert these poisons into sun-absorbing metal like nichirin. As he explained some stuff to the Insect Pillar, she asked him, “So he managed to accept you guys?”

“I’m not sure how,” James admitted. “But Shinjuro wasn’t hostile to us after the first few minutes. He was amazingly more accepting than you guys were at first.”

Shinobu chuckled, admitting he was right. “That is true. You know, I’d like to apologize for what me and Kanao did to you and Susamaru at Mount Natagumo.”

“It’s fine,” he assured her. “Listen, I would have done the same in your shoes. I don’t wanna bring up any bad memories, but I gotta feelin’ you lost someone close to you to demons, so that would explain your hesitance to accept us.”

Shinobu’s smile faded as she nodded, a rare sight. “Yeah… I did… My sister was killed by one of them. They think he was an Upper Moon. She… She would have been overjoyed to meet you and Susamaru, because she believed that not all demons were bad. I wish I could believe in it today in her memory, but…”

“You’re angry,” James finished her sentence. “You’re angry that Muzan and his cronies murdered your sister. I know exactly how it feels to have your loved ones taken away from you, multiple times. I’ve lost my whole birth family, my first wife, my girlfriend before then, my child from my first wife, and my mentor, and I couldn’t do a fuckin’ thing about it.” He then closed the book they were reading. “And only two of those were murdered by demons. The others were murdered by humans.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” Shinobu comforted him. “Me and my sister lost our family to demons, and then I lost her to one. Ever since, I’ve made it my mission to find the specific demon who did it. That fucking monster took the only blood-related family I had left, and she had been married to Shinazugawa-san for only six months. Neither of us have been the same since she died.” She then stood up from the table and continued speaking to him. “Before she died in my arms, my sister told me to look for the demon with rainbow eyes and silver hair. When I do find that bastard, I will confront him, and I will tell him a single message that gets right to the point.”

“What would that be?”

With conviction and a hint of anger in her voice, Shinobu told James what he would tell that demon. “Hello. My name is Kocho Shinobu. You killed my sister. Prepare to die.”

James was impressed by the simple yet concise statement. “Powerful… I hope you find him one day and get to tell him those words.” Wanting to change subject as to not cause her any more grief, he then asked her, “Onto another topic, I guess. How are you and Pillar Tomioka, ma’am? Are you guys friends or…?”

Shinobu smiled once more. “Tomioka-san is a working partner. I guess you can say I’m close to him.” Her expression and tone of voice belied a deeper connection to him.

“Are you sure he’s just that?” James decided to grill her a bit on the issue. “He seems like a nice man, if only a little emotionally distant, but I can sense that he’s seen suffering in his life.”

“A little emotionally distant?” Shinobu now sprouted a small engorged vein on her forehead, indicating she was annoyed despite keeping a smile. “He’s very emotionally distant. He’s aloof as all Hell, and he doesn’t fucking know how to properly communicate to people. This is why I keep telling him that nobody likes him, hopefully so that he can get the God damn hint one day.”

Sensing that she was holding back, James asked her, “Are you usually like that? You seem to bottle up everything.”

“Yeah,” Shinobu admitted. “I do. Got a problem with it?”

Deciding to back off a bit, he told her, “Not really, but it’s not healthy. Anyway, ma’am, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“It’s fine,” Shinobu told him. “Listen, you don’t have to address me as a military commander.”

“It’s a force of habit,” James explained to her. “You always had to do it with officers in the Army, and since the Demon Slayer Corps is organized in such a manner, I fell back into it.”

“I get that,” she told the new Mizunoe. “But to be honest, I’ve read what you did in the forest, and the report detailing your experiences. Colby-san, I don’t think you’ll be a Mizunoe. As soon as you get a grasp of the Breath of Flames, you’ll be a shoe-in to replace Rengoku-san when the time comes for him to retire, or…”

“Or if he’s killed in action,” James finished the sentence for her. “You think I could be the Flame Pillar that soon, huh?”

“Absolutely,” Shinobu confirmed to him. “You’ve been fighting demons longer than any of us have been alive, and you said it yourself, your kill count is astronomically high. You know, I don’t know if you were told this, but we had to send missions out to capture new demons for Mount Fujikasane, since you and Susamaru-san killed forty of our captive demons. We may have to delay the next Final Selection of the First District by a week.”

“No shit,” James remarked, amused by what he had been told. “Pillar Rengoku told me most Final Selections see maybe twenty or twenty-five demons killed, not forty.”

…

Soon after, James visited Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke in their shared room in the hospital part of the Butterfly Estate. “Good evenin’, cripples. How’s it goin’?”

“Hello, James,” Tanjiro spoke up first from his bed. All three of them looked tired out from their rehabilitation training during the day. “How was your day?”

“Me and Pillar Kocho went over some poisons in addition to wisteria,” James replied to him as he sat down in a chair in the room between Zenitsu and Tanjiro’s beds. “How’s about you?”

“It was fucking tiring,” Zenitsu moaned. “I swear, this training is gonna be the end of me, and my arms still haven’t fully grown back to their full size yet.”

“Not yet, huh? That sucks.” James then looked over to Inosuke. “How about you, Inosuke?”

“I’m fine,” he uncharacteristically replies in a soft tone, as if he was hurt. “It was fine. Nothing more, Jeimatsu Kurobida.”

“It’s James Colby, and you can just call me James.” James turned back to Tanjiro. “What’s his problem?”

“He’s probably not happy about the whole ‘my blade broke when I tried to decapitate a demon’ thing,” Tanjiro mentioned to him. “That did a number on his confidence. Also, again, don’t mind the misnamings. I’ve just completely given up arguing about it at this point.”

“Monitsu,” Inosuke then called out to Zenitsu. “I thought you had a good time with the girls.”

Immediately, Zenitsu’s face lit up with energy. “Aaaah, it was so much fun. I got to work out with pretty girls…”

As he became lost in thought, James asked Tanjiro, “He’s that desperate, huh?”

“Yeah,” Tanjiro confirmed. “You should have seen him when I met him after our Final Selection. He was begging this one girl he literally just met to marry him even though she told him multiple times she already had a fiancé.”

“I told you,” Zenitsu tried to ‘correct’ him. “I saw desire in her eyes when she was hitting me!”

“You didn’t see a damn thing,” Tanjiro actually corrected him. “Can’t you take a hint when a girl says ‘no’?”

“Fine then,” he begrudgingly conceded. “At least I have Nezuko-chan…”

Tanjiro cautioned him with, “Be very careful about what you say next, Zenitsu.”

“HEY,” Aoi Kanzaki, an assistant at the Butterfly Estate, then yelled into the room from the hallway. “Quiet the Hell down in here! You’re being way too loud! If you guys keep this shit up, we got plenty of room outside!”

“My apologies,” James replied to her, taken completely off-guard by her sudden entrance into the room. “We were a bit too loud. We’ll be quieter.”

“Thank you,” Aoi replied before she left the room. She then muttered to herself after shutting the door, “Fucking Hell, those guys are a pain to deal with…” After a few more seconds, she admitted, “But I can’t hate any of them, though…”

…

Meanwhile, at the Tokito House, Muichiro and Mukago were about to engage in another casual session of making out and heavy petting that night as they both began to take their clothes off. Then, just as Muichiro stripped down to his underwear, he asked her, “Mukago-san, do you actually want to go all the way?”

Mukago stopped dead in her tracks as she undid her top. “I mean… I don’t mind… I guess… It’s just…”

Muichiro then sighed, realizing she was trying to be nice but hiding what she actually wanted. “You do, don’t you?”

Mukago realized he was right and nodded. “Yeah, I do. Stopping just short can be fun and all, but it gets boring when that’s all you do for a while. I was… I was just trying to respect your decision to hold off on it.” She then sat down on the bed in her room. “Listen, we both said it ourselves: This has no strings attached. If you truly don’t feel comfortable having full sex, you don’t have to do it just for me.”

“I know I said that,” the Mist Pillar told her as he then gently pushed her down onto the bed and stood over her. “But I can’t hold off anymore, especially knowing you want it. I was only holding off thinking that if we stuck to you blowing me and me going down on you and whatever, that would be enough of an outlet, but it wasn’t.”

“If you think that way,” Mukago told him. “Do it. There’s nothing wrong with it.” She then kissed him on the lips, her warm breath piquing the Mist Pillar’s attention. “Would this be your first time?”

“Yeah,” Muichiro confirmed to her. “Back when we began was the first time I did anything.”

“I think you’ll enjoy it,” Mukago then chuckled. “Come on, let’s get to it.” As they began to prepare for what was to come, she thought to himself, “I still wonder… Is this really right? Is it really right to effectively sell myself to the young man who saved me? Sometimes, I wonder what the Hell I’m doing with my life. Is it really right for me to keep offering myself like this? Do we see each other merely as companions who occasionally have sex, or could there be something more here?”

Chapter Text

May 4, 1913

As James watched Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu all exercise outside, he was interrupted rather suddenly when George landed next to him and squawked in English, “Message! Message for James Colby!”

James jumped up and yelled, “FUCK!” Susamaru, standing beside him, laughed loudly as James blushed, embarrassed he had been caught completely off-guard. “Come on, that ain’t funny!” He then turned to George and switched to English. “So, what’s the message, my loyal crow?” His tone was semi-sarcastic, earning a dirty look from the crow. James chuckled and responded, “Come on, don’t give me that look.”

“You were serious about that loyal part, right?”

”You haven’t done me any wrong before,” James replied. “And besides, you did scare the shit outta me.”

“Fair enough.” George then turned James’ attention to a note on his leg. “This small note is attached to my leg,” George indicated to him. “Read it and then meet me somewhere in private.” James did as asked and carefully removed the note from George’s leg. After reading it, George asked him, “Where do you wanna meet?”

“We’ll go into a back room in the main house,” James told him before he turned to Susamaru and switched back to Japanese. “Susamaru, I’ll be right back. I gotta talk to my crow in private.”

…

Inside a small room in the main house of the Butterfly Estate, George explained to him, “You absolutely cannot tell anyone else what you are about to hear! Absolutely no one!”

“Then keep your voice down,” James warned him, realizing how loud he was. “Come on!”

“Right, right,” he cawed at a quieter volume. “Anyway, Muichiro Tokito has begun a relationship with Mukago, and has reported that she can now stand in the sunlight on her own with Limited Sunlight Resistance. He has told the rest of the corps about her status with sunlight, but is adamant that nobody else knows about his sexual relations with her.”

“Sexual what now?! ” James sighed and shook his head. “What the fuck… Why’s he fuckin’ her when he’s in an organization that’s already reluctant to work with us? Don’t that boy know how dangerous this could be?”

“I’m not offering an opinion,” George replied to him. “It is what it is.”

“I know,” James replied. “Look, I was fourteen once, okay? I would have killed to have vented my own awkward feelins’ with a girl, ‘specially one who knew what they were doin’, but this is risky as fuck. What’s gon’ happen if the other Pillars find out? What if my blood injected in her gave her the ability to get pregnant? How did you find out anyway?” James was clearly worried about what Muichiro was doing, but also knew that he would have been somewhat of a hypocrite if he tried to stop him given that he was once his age as well.

“Muichiro’s crow can also speak English,” George replied to him. “He wanted to let you know so he could get advice.” He then cleared his throat and admitted in an awkward tone of voice, “Also, uh, I, well… I may or may not have accidentally flown in on them having sex.”

”Ya did, didn’t ya?”

George sighed. “Yes. I did.”

James facepalmed at the final sentence. “Of course ya did… Of course ya did…”

“Also,” George asked James. “Can you give me help with my Japanese? Muichiro’s crow’s Ginko is really pretty, and I want to impress her.”

James broke out in laughter upon hearing George ask him for help and his reasoning. “Ah, holy shit… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh at that, but-“ He then broke out into laughter again before George, annoyed, began pecking him to make him stop. “Ow! Ow! Agh, fuck! Stop it! That fuckin’ hurts! Okay, okay, I’ll stop laughin’! Jesus fuckin’ Christ!”

”Come on! That’s not funny, James!”

”I said I’d help ya, okay? Calm down!”

…

As James was walking to a local town to pick up supplies for the Butterfly Estate’s compound pharmacy alongside Aoi, the two got to talking about each other. “And thus, with that,” James concluded his story to her. “I came here to Japan.”

Aoi had an expression of horror and sadness mixed together on her face. “Holy shit… I don’t know how you manage to keep on moving and fighting. Most people would have given up on everything by then.”

“Well,” James admitted. “The thing is, and I am not proud of this whatsoever, but…”

Aoi, curious, asked him, “But what?”

“I’ve tried to kill myself several times, and I failed every time. See, where I come from, suicide is considered both sinful and selfish. We don’t have an equivalent to seppuku.” James took a deep breath after getting that part of his life story off of his chest. “It ain’t pretty, but it happens.”

“That explains why Shinobu-sama said you were uncomfortable about the idea of seppuku then,” Aoi explained to him. “What else is so different about your beliefs?”

“We only have one God,” James continued. “I’m sure you’ve heard of Christianity before.”

“Yeah,” Aoi replied with a nod. “In fact, during the Sakoku period, we protected Christians from persecution by the Shogunate. We’ve had quite a few famous slayers who were Christians. I understand that you don’t believe in reincarnation and nirvana either, right?”

“Nope,” James confirmed to her. “We believe that y’all get one shot at life, and depending on how much good and bad you did, you either go to Heaven or Hell permanently after you die.”

“That seems so limiting,” Aoi expressed. “But that’s just me. I’d think Buddhism and Shinto would be weird too if I came from your land. Anyway, you said you wanted to hear a bit about me, so…” She then cleared her throat and began. “So I technically am a demon slayer, but… You see, the original plan when Kanae-sama was still alive was that when Shinobu-sama became the Insect Pillar, I would become her Tsuguko, and Kanao-chan would become Kanae-sama’s Tsuguko. I would learn the Breath of Water, but I’d have the possibility of switching to the Breath of the Insect if I wanted to.”

“And then Kanae died,” James noted. “So what happened to you?”

“Well, right before Kanae-sama died,” Aoi continued. “I took my Final Selection. It was… It was not fun. I was so traumatized by what I saw that I took myself offline as a demon slayer almost right after I passed it. I still have a sword and the uniform, but the sword is locked away in the Butterfly Estate armory and is only used in case of an attack.” The nurse sighed as she recalled her story, feeling self-conscious about herself and why she took herself offline. “Kanae’s death plus me taking myself offline led to plans being changed so that Kanao would become Shinobu’s Tsuguko even though she learned the Breath of the Flower, Kanae’s own Breath Style that she shaped heavily. Of course, Kanao-chan was not Shinobu-sama’s first Tsuguko, as Shinobu-sama was so frightened by Kanae-sama’s death that she delayed Kanao from taking the Final Selection.”

“How many did she have before her?”

“You’re not gonna believe this,” Aoi warned him. “But three.”

“What the fuck, three?!” James was floored that she had lost so many Tsuguko. “What the Hell happened?!”

“Shinobu-sama’s just had really bad luck,” Aoi explained to him in a sullen tone. “Like, really, really shitty luck, and this didn’t stop with her previous Tsuguk-“

Suddenly, both of them were stopped by two men on an empty narrow street in the village armed with guns. One of the two men yelled, “Hey there! You two don’t look so familiar in this village! How about you give us all the money you got and get outta here?!”

“Listen to what he says,” the other man yelled at them as well. “He means it!”

James sighed as Aoi looked around for an escape route and he pulled out his revolver. Aoi told him, “What are you doing?! It’s two versus one, and you’re not supposed to kill humans!”

“Look,” James calmly explained to her. “If someone’s pointin’ a gun at me, I don’t give a fuck what they are.”

“I don’t know what you two are talking about,” the leader of the two men explained. “And I don’t give a shit! These shiny new revolvers we’re holding we’re taken from two police officers we robbed a few days ago, and they’ve worked wonders for us! Very few street criminals here got guns, and we’re now at the very top in this village with the-“

James coldly shot him in the head, much to Aoi’s shock, before telling him, “Shut the fuck up already.” He then turned to his partner and shot him in the chest just before he could shoot back at him. “Same to you as well. You guys think just because the gun’s new that it’s any better than most other revolvers out there? Y’all spent so much time jerkin’ each other off about how cool your stolen guns were that you failed to actually use ‘em to rob us. I wasn’t even listenin’. Were y’all tryin’ to sell the guns to us?”

Aoi screamed, “You just fucking shot them!”

“I know, I know,” James calmly replied to her. “They had guns, alright? It’s self-defense. I’ve had to kill humans before. Not every criminal I collected a bounty for wanted to be taken alive.” He then put his gun away. “Look, let’s just get what we need and go back to the Butterfly Estate.”

…

May 6, 1913

James returned to the Rengoku Estate earlier in the day, and now was training with Kyojuro and Susamaru on sword usage, utilizing spare swords that the estate had on hand. As they both swung at several scarecrows, their master watched over them, thinking to himself, “James is doing good. Susamaru could use some work, though. She doesn’t seem to be holding the sword exactly right.” Once both of them were finished, James put his sword down and pulled a cigarette from his pocket, lighting it with a lighter he also carried. Kyojuro told him, “I’ve never done that. I always thought it would distract me.”

“It is what it is,” James replied in regards to his smoking habit. “I’m just glad I ain’t one of the poor suckers who has to smoke a whole pack a day. I’ve always limited myself to no more than five, and I usually only do two or three. That shit gets expensive if you gotta buy so many packs.”

“Kocho-san and Tsuyuri-san smoke about the same,” he noted to him. “Tomioka-san isn’t a pack a day, but he smokes more than them. Kanzaki-san does even less than you do, maybe like one or two a day.”

“I’m surprised it’s so relevant in the corps,” James replied. “Wouldn’t a breath style get in the way of it?”

“None of the people I’ve talked to that smoke say it does,” Kyojuro shrugged. “It’s just that my family has never done it, so I’ve never felt the need to do it. I can tell you that among the Pillars, me, Kanroji-san, Iguro-san, and Shinazugawa-san smoke, but aside from the other two I already mentioned, Tokito-san, Himejima-san, and Uzui-san do.”

“Who’s the worst?”

“Uzui-san and Tomioka-san,” Kyojuro confirmed to him. He then turned to Susamaru. “Anyway, enough tobacco talk. Susamaru-san, you did well today, but you’re still holding the sword a bit weird.”

“I know, I know,” she admitted. “I’ll correct it, I swear. I’ll stay out here all night and swing if I have to.”

Kyojuro smiled, admiring her tenacity but not wanting her to push herself to the point of injury. “You don’t have to push yourself too hard, but I love your enthusiasm.”

“Why thank you, Rengoku-sama!” She then cheerfully hummed to herself as she swung her sword repeatedly to correct herself.

“She’s so energetic,” Kyojuro told James. “How do you do it?”

“Do what?”

“How do you resist not courting her?”

James immediately blushed in response to Kyojuro’s question. “What?! Court her?!”

“She is absolutely wife material,” the Flame Pillar replied to him, lightly jabbing him in the shoulder. “And I can tell she likes you.”

“Likes me? No way.” James thought to himself as he tried to deny it, “Fuck, he’s right. He’s fuckin’ right! And… And I think… No… I can’t… I can’t fall in love again… I don’t want another tragedy…”

Chapter Text

May 10, 1913

George McCloud flew into Muichiro’s house early in the morning to see Ginko. By now, Mukago was able to walk in the sun thanks to James’ blood, and she was sitting along the front porch when George flew in. “Hello there, McCloud-san!”

“Good afternoon, Mukago,” he replied in mostly correct Japanese. “Is Ginko here?”

“Wow,” Mukago replied with excitement. “You’re speaking Japanese, and it’s mostly correct!”

“Hello?” Ginko then squawked at George in English. “Mr. McCloud, is that you? I heard your Japanese.”

“Yeah,” he replied, also in English, somewhat embarrassed. “I guess it wasn’t too good, huh?”

“It was good for someone who’s never spoken it before,” Ginko replied with a happy tone. “With some more practice, you’ll be great at it!”

George’s eyes widened as he flew up into the sky, overjoyed by her response. “I did it! I did it! I impressed her!”

Mukago looked up to the crow and asked Ginko in Japanese, “What’s he doing?”

“He’s really excited for some reason,” Ginko replied, also unsure why he was celebrating.

…

A few minutes later, Mukago and Muichiro sat together on the porch, talking to each other as they enjoyed the late spring sun in the afternoon. “So,” Muichiro asked her. “What do you see in the clouds above you?”

“I see a bird,” Mukago pointed out to him. “I haven’t seen clouds in a long time, Muichiro-san. These past two days being out in the sun have really opened my eyes in ways I never thought possible.”

Muichiro sighed and then turned to her, looking her right in the eye when he asked her, “Can I ask you something? Be truthful with me, Mukago-san. What do you think of me?”

The former Lower Moon 4 paused as she collected her thoughts to answer him. “Well… I think you’re an important person. You freed me from Muzan’s grasp instead of killing me, and you and Rengoku-san believed in me. Muichiro, you’re the closest friend I have.”

Muichiro smiled, a rare sight for the normally distracted and somewhat awkward Mist Pillar. “I’m glad to hear that. Of course, with us, we’re a bit different.”

“I know, I know,” Mukago nodded, acknowledging that their friends with benefits relationship was highly unusual. “Look, I know I said we were going to have sex with no strings attached, but… Listen, if you ever feel like you’re starting to like me as more than just a sex friend, you can tell me. I won’t mind.”

Muichiro blushed deeply in response. “I, well, um… I need to think about that. I just… It hasn’t been too long for us. I want to keep having sex with you, but I don’t feel like I’m ready to say I love you yet. With a little bit of time, though…”

“I understand why,” the demon nodded. “And I agree. I want to keep going with what we have right now, though. On that note, you are gonna have to come clean to the rest of your friends. We can’t stay a secret forever, Muichiro-san.” The Mist Pillar sighed, realizing she was right as they both looked down away from each other.

…

May 11, 1913

On that day, the Rengoku Estate received two masked visitors, both of whom presented swords. As Kyojuro opened the door, he smiled and said to both visitors, “Ah, welcome to the Rengoku Estate! Haganezuka-san, Kanamori-san, please come in.”

“Pleasure to see you once again,” the second man, named Kozo Kanamori, replied to him. He carried two swords with him, with the words “SUSAMARU” written on the paper coverings used to enclose them until they were delivered. “I must say, I’ve never made swords for a dual-wielder, much less two at the same time.”

“Who’s the other one?”

“That Hashibira Inosuke kid,” he replied to him. “One of the three skaters at the Butterfly Estate for rehabilitation and therapy. Don’t mention the one with the birthmark on his forehead around Haganezuka-san, since he’s pissed at him.”

“That fucker destroyed the sword I created for him,” Hotaru Haganezuka spat out, angry at Tanjiro. “I’ll be sure to give Kamado Tanjiro a piece of my damn mind when I see him next!” He then took a deep breath to calm himself down. “But enough of that. I have a sword for James Colby-san, and Haganezuka-san here has two swords for Susamaru-san.”

“I must say,” Kozo told Kyojuro as they walked in. “We were very skeptical when we heard we were forging swords for demons, but upon reading the report given to us about their status, I think this could be a new opportunity for the Corps to defeat Muzan in this century.”

“You guys must be the swordsmiths,” James then introduced himself to both of them with a bow. “I’m James. Susamaru is out back training. I’m glad to see you two visited us personally.”

…

A few minutes later, Hotaru presented James’ sword to him. “This is a Nichirin sword, forged all by myself with metal from the mountain closest to the sun. With Scarlet Crimson Iron Sand and Scarlet Crimson Ore, we can absorb the sunlight to make this blade strong against demons. Mount Yoko, the source of our metal, is bathed in sunlight almost all day. Now, I hear that your Blood Demon Art does something similar, right?”

“Correct,” James replied with a nod. “My Blood Demon Art allows me to turn my blood into metal objects that have the same sunlight-absorbing properties of Nichirin.”

“Now,” Hotaru told him as he presented the sheathed sword. “Draw it and see what color it changes into. I’m going to guess that it will be red since you’ve been learning the Breath of Flames.”

“Sounds about right,”: Kyojuro inferred. “All of my family’s swords were red.”

Curious, Susamaru asked, “What about me?”

“Probably the same thing,” Hotaru replied in joy. “I’ll get to see three bright red swords today, which is always a treat.”

James then unsheathed his sword. Sure enough, as soon as he held it up, it turned red. “Holy shit, that’s amazin’... Well, come on now, Susamaru, show us your swords!” His sword came with a white star-shaped guard, similar to the American flag.

“Here you go,” Kozo told her as he handed her both of her swords. “It was a pleasure to craft these for you.”

As Susamaru held both of her swords, they also turned red, making her beam with happiness. “Woah, they’re the same color as your sword, James!” Both swords had simple circular guards, nothing too fancy.

“You two must be getting good at the Breath of Flames already,” Hotaru replied, impressed by the colors their swords presented. “Why don’t you two demonstrate outside?”

“Sure thing,” James replied as they all got up and walked outside. Kyojuro especially was eager to see them use their new swords with the Breath of Flames.

Once outside, the two stood opposite two wooden dummies as Susamaru once again took her orange haori off. James inhaled and exhaled slowly before starting off first, quietly telling himself, “Breath of Flames…” He then charged forward, ready to strike as he announced the form he was using. “Second Form: Rising Scorching Sun!” With a powerful upward slash, he chopped the wooden dummy in half vertically, moving so fast he even caused the wooden remains of the dummy to smoke due to the friction.

Hotaru, Kozo, and Kyojuro all clapped, impressed by his demonstration. “Now,” Kyojuro told Susamaru. “Your turn.”

She took a deep breath in and out before announcing her form. “Breath of Flames…” As she charged forward, she called out, “First Form: Unknowing Fire!” She then used both of her blades to decapitate the wooden dummy in two directions, her blades passing each other by mere centimeters as the head of the dummy flew into the air and then landed at her feet. She smiled and said to the others, “How about that?”

“Excellent,” Hotaru exclaimed. “Marvelous! Wonderful! Seeing beautiful blades like those in the hands of people who are learning so fast always makes me incredibly happy!”

“I don’t mean to interrupt,” Shinjuro then told everyone as he walked towards them with a wooden box. “But I just got a package for James and Susamaru. I think it’s your uniforms.”

“No kiddin’,” James replied as he and Susamaru sheathed their swords before walking over. James then pulled out a knife from his pocket and used it to open the box carefully. Once they both looked in, James said, “You’re right, Rengoku-san. It is our uniforms!” James pulled his uniform out first. His had the standard uniform jacket and shirt, but instead of the standard pants, he requested jeans and told them he did not need boots as he had his own. “This is amazin’, and it’s even got that special request on the side.” On the right shoulder, his uniform had an American flag patch stitched in reverse, similar to military uniforms, as if to show the flag flying in the wind.

Susamaru was similarly impressed by her uniform, which was also custom due to her unique abilities. “I love what they did with this.” Her uniform jacket and shirt were mostly normal, but had special snap-on/snap-off buttons instead of the normal buttons since she needed to be able to rip them off quickly if she had to spawn her extra arms in a fight. She also received a skirt, modesty shorts, and boots as part of her uniform. “I’m glad I was very specific when detailing this.”

“Yeah,” Kyojuro remarked. “I was there when Kocho-san and Tsuyuri-san once got the same uniforms as Kanroji-san. They both burned their jackets and shirts and told the Kakushi who made them to get them ones that didn’t expose so much of their chest.”

“Exactly why we made our instructions so specific,” James replied. “I’m surprised she kept it.”

“She initially just kept it because she assumed she had to,” Kyojuro replied as he reminisced about his former Tsuguko. “But even after she found out she didn’t, she kept it anyway. I asked her about it once, and she told me that for a long time, she was incredibly insecure about her body due to her strength since she had been told it was unfeminine, but she had learned to drop a lot of her insecurities.” He chuckled, fondly remembering the times he had trained her. “Of my two Tsuguko prior to you two, she was perhaps my best.”

“I hate it when someone says women shouldn’t be physically strong,” James expressed. “One of the reasons I was attracted to Julia was because she was strong. She liked to wrestle and box, and she was still a good wife and excellent mother. I ain’t got no doubts Kanroji-san would be, too.”

…

May 15, 1913

James and Susamaru were both at the Butterfly Estate this time, both wearing their uniforms. “They look so cool,” Tanjiro remarked to both of them as he, Zenitsu’s and an unmasked Inosuke all stared at them with curious intent. “I really like the flag on your shoulder, James!”

“Why thank you,” he replied. “So, Zenitsu, Inosuke, what do you think?”

Zenitsu, enamored by Susamaru’s uniform, replied, “I think she looks so beautiful wearing her uniform under her haori! You’re a lucky guy getting to work with someone like her.” As usual, he was distracted by seeing a girl.

“They look cool, I guess,” Inosuke remarked. “It’s still not as cool as mine.”

“Inosuke,” Tanjiro replied. “You don’t have a uniform.”

“Exactly,” Inosuke proudly declared. “My body is my uniform!”

“Ah,” Shinobu then interrupted as she and Mitsuri walked in. “I see you two have uniforms now! How wonderful!”

“Wow,” Mitsuri gushed. “You two look so good in them! Hang on a second…” She then fished a small Kodak Brownie camera out of a bag she was carrying. “Let me get a picture of this. I just got this camera a week ago and I’ve been taking a lot of pictures with it.”

James and Susamaru quickly posed next to each other, resting their arms on their sword sheaths on their sides, as Mitsuri snapped a photo of them. Once it was finished, James asked her, “How much did it cost you? I have a Brownie, too, and it cost me about 2 dollars.”

“I don’t know how many yen it is to American dollars,” Mitsuri replied. “But this cost me 6 yen and 50 sen. It’s worth every coin and banknote, though. I already have pictures of all the other Pillars, the Oyakata-sama, and myself.”

“I suppose Mitsuri-chan is doing this so that all of us have pictures of us in life in case something happens,” Shinobu told all five of them. “After all, it wasn’t common for the average person in Japan to get photographed, at least not until we started getting Kodak cameras like in America.”

Susamaru asked, “How many photos did you take?”

“I’ve gone through three rolls of 117 film,” Mitsuri inferred. “So I’d say a little over 36, since I’m on my fourth roll now.”

James, Zenitsu, and Susamaru all replied in exasperation, “Fourth roll in a week?!”

“Uh,” Inosuke asked everyone, unsure of what was going on. “What the fuck is a camera?”

As Mitsuri and Shinobu tried to hold in their laughter, Zenitsu turned around to him, in utter disbelief he did not know what a camera was, and told him, “You can’t be fucking serious.”

“I think I can explain,” Tanjiro then spoke up, trying to help Inosuke. “A camera is a special box that can create lifelike paintings in an instant. I think there’s a spirit inside the box that paints the picture really fast.”

“Oh my God,” Zenitsu facepalmed as he realized neither Tanjiro nor Inosuke knew what a camera was. “No, there’s no damn spirit inside the box, Tanjiro! You got the painting thing somewhat right, but it’s not really a painting, either!”

“A camera uses a thin film and lighting to burn an image of whatever you see into said film,” James explained to both of them. “The reason it’s so lifelike is because it doesn’t have to use paint or any other drawing materials. You then have to have the film developed to see the pictures.”

“I have the first roll developed,” Mitsuri then added. “The second roll and third roll are being developed now.”

…

Later on, Susamaru and Mitsuri were talking among themselves, the two quickly bonding over their shared strength. “I once lifted a 4-kan stone when I was only a year old.”

“4 kan?!” Susamaru could not believe it. “No fucking way. I’m calling bullshit.”

“No bullshit,” she happily replied as she fished a small picture out from under her clothes. “Here’s a photo of me doing it again to prove it. My dad was a photographer, and gave me this picture when I was older. We lived in a rural village, and he was the only photographer around for many miles, so he often traveled far for work.”

“You have black hair in that picture,” Susamaru noted. “Did you dye your hair to what it is now?”

“No,” she shook her head. “My hair changed to this. They think it was all the sakura mochi I ate, but nobody knows for sure.” She sighed. “It’s… Not been easy living with this strength and hair color.”

“Rengoku-sama mentioned that you were once picked on for it,” Susamaru told her. “Is that true?”

“Yes,” she confirmed. “I was even rejected for an arranged marriage once because the guy I was going to be engaged to saw me as a freak. That… Yeah, that doesn’t help you in terms of confidence.”

Susamaru was shocked anyone would reject her. “I don’t believe that either. Why would any man reject you?! You’d be a perfect wife to any man.”

“I don’t know,” she solemnly shook her head. “I just don’t know. I’ve looked for a man that accepts me for who I am in full for a while, but I just haven’t found him yet.” She then looked back at Susamaru and smiled. “But that doesn’t mean I’m gonna give up so soon! Anyway, do you have anyone in mind? I’m not too sure how demons work and all, but do they feel stuff like that, too?”

“Love and lust? Of course,” Susamaru nodded, confirming her suspicions to be true while also trying to avoid the first part of her question. “Kibutsuji has had several sexual partners. He’s had sex with both recent female member of the Upper and Lower Moons, as well as I’m sure a few more demons. He’s also had sex with human women before.”

“How about you?”

“Well, uh,” Susamaru blushed as she tried to dodge the question again. “You see.. Well…”

“Come on,” Mitsuri lightly prodded her. “Don’t you have even a little bit of interest in James? I would in your position.”

“Look,” she told her. “I guess… I guess you could say I hold him in high regard, but… I think he’s trying to avoid any feelings of his own towards me. If you don’t know, he’s had a rough love life, given he lost both of his previous romantic partners and has lost children before.” Susamaru at this point was trying to make up excuses as to why she would not be with him. “He’s probably afraid that if we’re together as boyfriend and girlfriend, he’ll lose me, too.”

Mitsuri was saddened to hear of what James had gone through. “I’m so sorry. He told us a little bit about his human wife and his kids with her being killed, but I had no idea he had a lover before then. I can see why he’d be afraid.”

“Yeah,” she nodded. “I… I wish he wasn’t like that, but…”

Chapter Text

May 22, 1913

Kyojuro, James, and Susamaru were on a boat that was sailing to an island off the coast. There, they would embark on their first mission: Defeat what was believed to be a small gang of demons that was harassing the island’s villagers and had killed ten people recently, out of a population of about 600. They had decided to send a Pillar and two Tsuguko to the island, since the village did not have any demon slayers of its own.

As the boat sailed towards the island in the evening, Susamaru watched over the front of the ship, staring out into the water. As she did, she pondered to herself about how she felt about James. “He saved my life,” she thought, considering what he had done. “He’s treated me as an equal in combat, and we make a great team. Even so… I don’t feel like he’d be willing to court me. I can’t imagine trying to love again after what he’s been through.”

Then, a commotion behind him snapped her out of her inner thoughts as she turned around to see what was going on. “James just fell overboard,” Kyojuro shouted. “Get a life raft!”

“I’m fine,” James shouted from the water. “I can swim!” He had tripped and fallen over the edge into the water, and as the boat stopped in the water, James quickly swam towards it. “Don’t worry, nothin’ ain’t lost! I still got my shit! All my weapons were stored away!”

Susamaru laughed quietly, finding the situation hilarious. “Well, that’s good.”

…

As the boat landed on the island, they were met by the head of the village on the beach. He waved to the three of them and called out, “Welcome to our humble little island! Thank you for coming to help us!”

“It’s our duty,” Kyojuro affirmed with a smile. “I presume you’re Mayor Tanaka?”

“Indeed,” he replied. “Tanaka Go, the mayor of Minamihama. It looks like you’ve brought he-“ The man, who bore graying hair, then stopped himself as he looked at James and Susamaru. He had been intimately familiar with demons in the past, and their looks seemed off. “Who are these two, and how are they standing in the sun without dying?”

James remarked to himself in English, “Well, that was fast.” He then switched back to Japanese, explaining, “We’re demon slayers, Mayor Tanaka. We’ve made our alignment with humanity very clear, and we have already slayed many demons.”

“As for why we’re able to be out in the sun,” Susamaru explained to him. “My partner is from America, where the demons have evolved to be able to walk in sunlight, albeit at the cost of some of their abilities and much of their inhuman strength when they’re out during the day. I was given some of his blood, and I have since evolved into having the same ability.”

“I know it’s shocking,” Kyojuro calmed the now-worried mayor. “And I was resistant to it at first, too, but these two are under my own personal training, and if you won’t believe them, believe me when I say that they can be trusted.” He then leaned in and whispered into the mayor’s ear, being so quiet that neither James nor Susamaru could hear them. “And if they betray me, I can kill them both easily.”

“Alright, alright,” the mayor nodded. He then bowed to both James and Susamaru. “My apologies. It’s not every day you see demons who side against their own and with us.”

“Understandable,” James assured him. “Believe me, I’d be skeptical too.”

“Anyway,” the mayor continued from before. “We’re at our wits’ end here, Rengoku-san. This group of demons has murdered ten of my villagers, and they don’t seem to discriminate. They’ve killed a baby and an elderly man. We aren’t sure how many there are, but people here have seen at least five demons running around, and the government won’t help us!” His frustration with the lack of help so far was clear. “It’s like they don’t give a fuck about us unless we live in one of the cities like Tokyo, Nagoya, or Osaka!”

“We know exactly how you feel,” Kyojuro nodded. “We’ve been ignored and even sometimes persecuted by the government, too, despite siding with the Emperor in the Boshin War against the Shogunate. They call us too radical or something, like we’re going to corrupt the youth or the women of Japan.”

“As long as you keep killing these monsters,” the mayor assured Kyojuro. “You guys will always have my support!”

…

Later that night, the three demon slayers were out on patrol together as they scoured the area for the gang of demons. “Reports say there’s at least ten,” Kyojuro explained to both of them. “So we got our work cut out for us. Now, to cover more ground, we’re gonna split up. If you come into contact with demons, send your Kasugai crows to me or each other for help.”

James, Susamaru, and their crows all nodded. James told him, “Don’t worry, Rengoku-san, we won’t let you down.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to,” he affirmed as he marched in one direction away from them. As James and Susamaru then split off, he thought to himself, “Slowly, I’ve grown to trust these two. Still, I have to be vigilant in case they betray us. I wish I could shake that feeling of distrust off, but I can’t, not after the shit I’ve seen, and I despise the fact I can’t. A man once said one of his relatives was a different demon years ago, and that relative fucking ate him. Granted, with the way they are in America, perhaps it’s easier for them to blend in, and maybe even genuinely side with humanity.”

As he walked along an unlit dark path into the forest, he remained alert, his sword out and ready to go in case trouble reared its ugly head. Then, behind him, he heard what he thought were footsteps, and quickly turned around, ready to strike. However, upon doing so, all he saw was pitch black. Nothing was behind him, and nothing he saw could have made those quiet footsteps. The feeling of being watched had begun to set in, and it made even an experienced slayer like him nervous. As he continued his walk, he heard the footsteps once more and turned around again.

“Who’s there?!”

Nothing.

“Fucking hell,” Kyojuro sighed to himself as he continued. Then, as he thought the mysterious noises had finally ceased, he felt a tug on his coat and immediately ripped away from it. “Fuck!” He slashed into the darkness, causing the arm of an unseen demon to fall off from the attack and said demon to scream in pain. “Who’s there?!”

Then, in an instant, he blacked out with the thud of a club against his head. As his body dropped to the ground, three demons stood over him as three more carried a long wooden pole with ropes tied to it. The leader of the group told the others, “Tie him up and let’s haul his ass out! We’re gonna spit roast him like a pig! Onabara-sama will be really pleased by this meal! It’s not every day you get to eat a Pillar!”

…

Meanwhile, James was alone in another section of the dense forest on the island that surrounded the beach. As he walked around, his rifle slung on his back, his revolver holstered, and his sword out and ready to go, he said to himself, “Fuckin’ creepy out here. I could cut the tension with a knife if it was visible to the naked eye.”

As he walked along his path, he peered all around him, looking for any sign of the gang. However, as he stared at what he thought was an odd shape nearby to his right side, he failed to look to the area right in front of him, which allowed him to run right into someone else with a loud thud as he quickly turned his head and fell. As he did, he suddenly locked lips with a woman, and his hand fell right on her chest. 

To his horror, he realized he had accidentally kissed and groped Susamaru. As they both split from their accidental kiss, they coughed and turned away as they both blushed intensely. “Fuckin’ hell, Susamaru!”

“I’m so sorry!” Susamaru was worried she had hurt him when she smacked right into him. “Are you hurt?!”

“No, I’m fine,” he assured her as he dusted his shirt off. “I’m sorry for that. I should have looked where I was goin’.”

“No, I should have been,” she replied, trying to take the blame. She thought to herself, “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK, we kissed. We kissed. We fucking kissed. WE FUCKING KISSED! WHY DID MY FIRST KISS WITH A MAN HAVE TO BE AN ACCIDENT?!” She tried to be calm on the outside, but on the inside, she was clearly panicking.

“That felt… Good,” James thought to himself with confusion. “It felt right, but… I swore I couldn’t fall in love again, but… Somethin’ just felt so right about that.” He told her, “Susamaru, look, that was… I…”

“It felt good,” she admitted to him. “Even for something so unexpected, it felt really good.”

“I’m inclined to agree,” James replied with a deep blush. “Susamaru, I haven’t felt somethin’ like that in a long ti-“ Suddenly, he was once again surprised by a kiss, but not an accidental one.

Rather, Susamaru practically dragged him in by his collar with both of her hands and kissed him as she shut her eyes, deciding to go for it rather than wait any longer. “I can’t hide it anymore, ” she thought to herself as her passionate kiss continued. “I can’t keep these feelings in my heart buried forever.” After she split from the kiss, she confessed how she felt about him. “James, there’s something I need to tell you. I… I’m deeply in love with you, and I have been ever since you saved me. Every day, I’ve kept how I felt from you, but I can’t anymore.” As she cupped his face in her hands, she smiled. “You’re the shining star in my life, James, and I would give anything to spend an eternity with you.”

James took her words in and tried to process a response. He had been told similar words twice before, and both times, it had ended in tragedy. He thought he had sworn off love after the death of Julia, but now, he was no longer so sure. “I see you feel that way,” he told her. “Look, I told myself I couldn’t do this to myself, but now that this, I ain’t so sure about tha-” Then, suddenly, James stopped himself and drew his revolver, firing twice at a target right behind Susamaru. “Demon! Demon!”

Susamaru quickly got up as a demon charged at them. She quickly took a deep breath, readied her swords, and attacked him, declaring, “Breath of Flames First Form, Unknowing Fire!” In two slashes, she decapitated the demon with her two swords, quickly dispatching it from life. “Looks like they know we’re here! We’ll have to delay our confession, James. Let’s go!”

Chapter Text

Kyojuro woke up in the middle of a camp set deep into the woods of the island, surrounded entirely by at least twenty demons. He had been tied to a wooden pole suspended over what seemed to be a fire pit. However, he would not stay there long, as two demons stepped forward from the crowd and untied him, carefully lowering him down to his feet as he asked them, “Okay, I gotta ask, what the fuck is going on here?”

“Since you are a Pillar,” one of the demons explained to him. “You will be feasted upon ritually. You will be sat down at this throne we have for important meals and then prepared to be eaten. It is a great honor for someone of your status to be consumed!” He said all of that with a smile on his face, disturbing Kyojuro even more so than the actual contents of his explanation.

“And where the Hell is my sword?”

“We stored them away in our weapons stash across the footbridge from our camp,” another demon explained. “Your sword will be of great use to us!” The two then sat Kyojuro down in a small wooden throne before several more approached him to paint his face, carrying with them wooden boards with splotches of different colors all around. “Make him look pretty and appetizing.”

“We shall,” one of the painter demons replied. As Kyojuro sat and wondered what to do from here, the demons painted his face, adding extra painted eyes above and below his real ones. “Upper Moon One’s own eyes gave us inspiration for these.”

Kyojuro, deciding to play along for now to gain some level of trust, asked them, “Oh, really? Do you have a mirror so I can see how I look?”

“Right here,” said yet another demon. “Give us your honest opinion so far.” He then gave Kyojuro a hand-held mirror that the clan had stolen when they had killed a whole family of six a few weeks prior.

“It looks fantastic,” he assured them with a smile. “Keep going!”

After another 15 seconds, the painting was done. “Okay, how about now?”

“Marvelous,” he once again assured them. “Now, I’ve noticed that that fire pit of your’s doesn’t seem too good. You’d really need more wood if you really want to cook me properly. Sure, eating a raw human must be satisfying for you demons, but so must be preparing a human as we do our own meat.” He thought to himself, in disbelief he had even said such words, “Damn, that was disgusting to say. I had to hold back puking when I told them that.”

“Absolutely,” said the painter demon, who then turned to the crowd. “You heard the man! Let’s get more firewood on this bitch and light it the fuck up in here!”

As all the demons moved away from him and walked to another part of the camp to grab firewood, Kyojuro stood up from the throne and nervously looked around to see if anyone was watching. When he realized nobody was, he thought to himself, “Alright, I found my window of opportunity!”

About half a minute later, the demons returned. One of them spoke to Kyojuro, telling him, “Okay, we got the firewood! Let’s get this party starte-“ Every single demon in the group then stopped when they looked to the throne and realized he was gone. “Uh… Flame Pillar?”

Another demon shouted, “Where the fuck did he go?!”

Kyojuro was meanwhile making a run for it across the same footbridge mentioned earlier to the weapons stash the demons used. The footbridge ran over a steep ravine on the island, and as he crossed, he quickly looked behind him several times. “Thank God I’m outta there!” Once he was completely across, he found a small wooden cabin, and quickly broke in by running into the door and smashing it open with his body. Once he stopped and took a look around, finding a few hunting rifles and some farming equipment stained with blood, he looked to his left and found the glow of his sword’s blade standing out from the dark wall inside. “Aha! My sword!” He also found a whole unopened can of paprika spice next to it. “Hmmm… I could use some paprika back home. Why not?"

He then calmly walked out, thinking he had managed to make a clean getaway. However, as soon as he did, he realized that the entire clan was waiting for him as he got to the footbridge. “Why did you run from us?! You broke our trust we had in you!”

As he realized just how screwed he was once more, he gave an awkward smile as the whole clan looked at him with stares of disappointment and anger before dropping his sword. “Uh… Well…” He then picked up the can of paprika and opened it, deciding to shake it on himself. “I, uh… I thought maybe I could use a little seasoning…” Realizing he fooled exactly zero people involved, he sighed and put the paprika down. “Okay, okay, fine. Just tie me up and get on with it. I can’t act for shit.”

…

Meanwhile, back at the Butterfly Estate, an entirely different problem showed itself to Shinobu. She had just arrived back at the camp from a mission to a nearby village with Giyu that had to be cut short due to her suffering an unexpected mental breakdown as she approached the village. As she was locked away in a room, watched over by a Kakushi as she huddled on a bed, whimpering to herself, Kanao was making a phone call to Kagaya about the situation. “Okay, alright, I’ll tell her. Thank you, Oyakata-sama.” She then hung the receiver of the hand-crank phone up and turned to Aoi. “Shinobu-sama will be offline for a week so she can sort herself out. Any missions where Giyu would normally go with her, I’ll go in her place.” It was raining out, and Giyu stood nearby in the hallway, soaking wet and mostly silent since he brought Shinobu over. “Still nothing on why this happened to her?”

Giyu did not answer. Aoi then demanded from him a bit more forcefully, “You need to give us some background here, Giyu-sama! Shinobu just doesn’t do this, you know!”

“I’m not entirely sure,” Giyu then admitted to them. “I’m sorry I can’t be of much help. I tried asking her what was wrong, but she didn’t listen to me.”

The Kakushi in her room then opened the door, asking Kanao and Aoi, “You two, you may come in. Tomioka-sama, stay out here to guard Kocho-sama.”

Kanao and Aoi nodded as they both entered the room together. There, Shinobu was still dressed in her soaking-wet uniform, and the bed had a giant puddle of rainwater from the downpour outside. Kanao flipped a coin as she sat down on the bed, and it landed on tails. “Alright, looks like I’ll ask first. Shinobu-sama, what’s going on?”

Shinobu looked at her, her hair a mess and her eyes reddened by crying from her earlier breakdown. “It’s the village itself.”

Aoi, confused and worried for her adoptive older sister, asked her, “What’s wrong with that village?”

“Okay,” Shinobu explained to them. “This story… This story is hard for me to tell… You might not want to hear it. It’s not a story you’d tell when taking a walk around town, okay?”

“Giyu-sama said you kept mentioning taking walks when you had your breakdown,” Aoi replied. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“It was a mission at the same village,” Shinobu explained. “I was with Tomioka-san at the time, too, just like now. It was right after Kanae-oneesan died. We were leading a family who lived nearby away from their remote house due to a demon going around trying to wipe the village out, starting with the residents on the outskirts.” As she began to tell the story, she took a few deep breaths to prepare herself. “And… There's this woman holding a chicken. Yeah, a chicken.”

Kanao, confused, asked her, “A chicken? Why a chicken?”

“And it was being loud,” Shinobu continued, ignoring her question. “Way too loud. I thought for sure the demon was gonna hear us, so I turned to the mother and told her to keep that damn animal quiet.” She then mimicked a shushing sound with her index finger and her mouth. “Like that. Then, the sound ceases when I turn around, but it ceases very unnaturally. Giyu turned around again first, and he gasped as the woman started to cry. She… She killed the fucking thing…”

Both Kanao and Aoi, who had no idea why Shinobu nor the woman in the story were so torn up over a simple chicken, turned to each other. Kanao then asked her, “She killed the chicken?”

Shinobu then paused as she looked up at both of them with a disturbed look on her face, her eyes fixated on nothing and dulled. Almost on cue, she let out a shrill near-inhuman scream as she seemed to stare at something behind them, kicking and flailing at the air as Kanao and Aoi quickly jumped up and restrained her. As they did, she spoke again, “It wasn’t a chicken! It wasn’t a fucking chicken! It was a baby! She killed her own fucking baby! She suffocated her own fucking child, and when she started crying, she led the demon right to us! We couldn’t save them even though we were right fucking there! That demon killed the other four people in that family, including their other young children!” As she finished, she screamed again as the memories of the encounter tormented her more and more. “Why can’t I do anything right? Why can’t I save more people?! I didn’t want her to kill the baby! I didn’t want to see them all die!” She was clearly torn up by the repressed memory coming back, and it drove her into madness.

“Shinobu-sama,” Kanao begged of her as she continued to flail around, seemingly seeing the mother holding her dead baby in her arms all around her. “Calm down! Please, you’re scaring me!”

Outside, Giyu was now holding back tears as he remembered the same incident. He had always thought Shinobu was not bothered by what had happened, but clearly such was not the case. “Damn it,” he muttered to himself. “How can I just let this happen?” He, too, had been affected by the incident, but not nearly to the extent Shinobu had. He decided to turn to the door and enter the room just as Kanao and Aoi were able to get Shinobu to calm down. “Hey, Kocho.”

Shinobu immediately stopped and turned to him, asking, “What is it?”

“I… I was affected by it, too.” He then sat down in a chair next to the bed in the room, keeping his eyes locked on her. “I had no idea you were so shaken by it. If I had known, I would have gone to the village by myself this time. I’m sorry I put you through all this.”

“It’s not your fault, Tomioka-san,” Shinobu assured him. “I was the one who had the breakdown and got taken offline, not you. I can’t believe it’s been almost two years since then. A lot has changed, hasn’t it?”

Chapter Text

Back on the island, Kyojuro was now bound to a long wooden pole as he was before, and was being led back to the same bonfire he was to be cooked over from before his failed escape attempt. “Well,” he remarked to himself. “Being cooked alive by demons was not how I expected to die, but fuck it, it is what it is.”

The leader of the demon tribe then stepped forward, brandishing Kyojuro’s sword and triumphantly declaring, “Tonight, we dine like kings on the body of a Pillar, and give thanks to our master, the creator of all demons, who will bless us for our greatest achievement of all! With this, the Rengoku Family Line will be no more, and we will not be harassed and killed by them ever again!” The entire crowd cheered and hollered wildly in response. “As the leader of our tribe, I will set the fire that will cook our feast! For the Master!”

The entire crowd cheered back, “FOR THE MASTER!”

Suddenly, just as the leader was about to light his fire, a runner of the tribe rushed to the center next to him. “Wait, hold on!” As the entire crowd fell silent and turned to him, he shouted, “There are two more demons on this island, and they’re on the side of the Demon Slayers! We need to kill them! They are looking for our prize!”

“Those are my Tsuguko,” Kyojuro confirmed to them. “James Colby and Susamaru. Kibutsuji Muzan must have told you all about them. I’d like to see you guys try to kill them. They won’t stop until I’m safe.” After a brief pause and confusion among the ranks, he added, “Well? What the fuck are you guys waiting for? Go get them!”

The leader wielded Kyojuro’s sword and held it into the air, yelling, “Kill the traitors!”

“KILL THE TRAITORS!” The whole crowd then followed the leader as they abandoned the camp and headed to the village.

As the last of them left, Kyojuro began squirming around in his restraints, managing to shake around and make the pole he was tied to fall off its supports. “Alright…” He then undid his leg restraints and quickly jumped up to his feet, his upper body still tied to the pole, as he ran off. “Haha! I’m free!” As he ran to the footbridge across the ravine once more, he decided to try to use the pole as a vault to get across and even potentially free himself. “Come on! Come on! Work, damn it!” He managed to plant one end of the pole firmly into the ground after running at an angle, and then launched himself. However, to his horror, not only did the pole not come off, but he did not make it across. “Oh shit! No!”

As he fell, the ends of the pole scraped along the walls of the ravine, eventually stopping his fall rather abruptly before the rope used to tie him to the pole began to unravel and untie itself, causing him to hang from his left foot above the ground a short distance below.

Once the pole began to snap from the weight, he remarked to himself, “Fuck me…” He then screamed as the pole snapped in half and he fell onto the ground fifteen feet below, followed by the rope. Finally, as he looked up, he saw both halves of the pole fly towards him. “Oh shit!” Thankfully, to his immediate relief, both poles missed his head and body by a few feet as they became implanted on the ground. “Thank God…”

“Rengoku-san! Rengoku-san!” The distinctive voice of Susamaru rang out from the bottom of the ravine as he turned and saw his two Tsuguko looking for him.

“Hey! Over here!”

“Sir,” James yelled out as they both rushed over. “Sir! Are you alright?!”

“Yeah,” Kyojuro replied as he slowly came to his feet and dusted himself off. “The fuckers took my sword, though. I think they’re all heading to the village. We need to evacuate the whole island. There’s like thirty of them.”

Susamaru immediately exclaimed in disbelief, “Thirty demons?! What the fuck?!”

“Yeah,” Kyojuro nodded as he ran to get to the village. “Let’s go warn them before it’s too late! The mayor told me about a shortcut to the village from the bottom of the ravine! Follow me!”

“Thirty demons,” James thought to himself as he readied his sword. “This will require a long battle as we evacuate all the villagers. I’ve never heard of so many being congregated in a single place before!”

…

Meanwhile, at the Tokito Estate, Mukago and Muichiro had just arrived back home from a mission together where Mukago had gotten her first kill against a demon. The two essentially burst through the front door of the house, already kissing each other, with Mukago high off of her first demon kill. The two could not wait for the bedroom it seemed, and as Muichiro essentially tore Mukago’s new uniform off of her, she did the same as she told him, “I need it, Muichiro-san.”

“Me too,” he replied quickly as the two began to kiss again, stripped down to their underwear by now. “Never more than now have I wanted it.”

For the next 20 or so minutes, loud moans and gasps echoed throughout the Tokito Estate as the young couple made love right in the front living room. The two were all alone in the house, and they took full advantage of living in a rural area by holding nothing back.

When it was all said and done, the two got up from the floor of the living room and walked together to Muichiro’s bedroom. As they walked in, still both undressed, Mukago told him, “I wanna go again. I… I don’t know why I feel this, but I feel compelled to fuck you again, Muichiro.”

“Again?!” Muichiro was shocked. “You mean girls can go at it multiple times?”

Mukago laughed at his nativity. “Yes, we can.”

“Before you two have sex again,” then interrupted Ginko as she flew into the room from a half-opened window. “Which, by the way, I could hear from the outside… I need to deliver a message to Tokito-sama.”

Muichiro, his face turning a bright red, “How loud were we?”

“I could hear your girlfriend from about 2 Jo* above the house,” Ginko replied. (A/N: 2 Jo=Approximately 6m or 20 ft) “Anyway, the message is as follows:”

Dear Tokito Muichiro,

I request that you bring Mukago to the next High Council meeting. There is discomfort among the ranks of the High Priests about her presence in the corps, and I want to dispel any bad words or rumors about Mukago before they begin. I know she is good, but not all the High Priests may know. I trust her, don’t worry, but I need the trust of the others, too.

Ubuyashiki Kagaya

“They don’t trust me?” Mukago felt hurt by the message, and sighed as Ginko flew off and away from the room. “Damn it… I killed a demon, and yet it feels like nobody will care.”

“You heard the Oyakata-sama,” Muichiro countered. “He trusts you. I trust you. The rest of the Pillars are fine with you. It’s those damn High Priests we have to be worried about.” He then went up to her and gave her a kiss on the lips, slightly surprising her. “Mukago, don’t worry about it, okay?”

Her sorrowful expression turned into a smile as she nodded. “Right. If we can convince them, we’ll be good.”

…

Meanwhile, Enmu and KM4 Patrick Cleburne, a former Confederate major general who was later turned into a demon to spare him from death in 1864, laid out a design for a time bomb inside an office in the Dimensional Infinity Fortress. Patrick, who had a noticeable Irish accent in his English, had been taught Japanese by the Jackson Brothers, and had been to Japan before with them as part of official trips to Muzan’s headquarters. “So we got the stopwatch right over here,” he pointed to Enmu. “I’ll wire it to stop at a specific time, and when it does, it’ll trigger the detonator caps right here, which will ignite the rest of the explosives. Now, we gotta make sure there’s enough shrapnel to cause maximum injury and death.”

“Exactly,” Enmu agreed with a nod. “I’ll enjoy seeing humans ripped to shreds with this. We’ll pack it full of nails, ball bearings, screws, shards of glass, you name it. With these plans finalized, I have the whole plan for each attack finalized.”

“Let me hear it,” Patrick replied in anticipation as Enmu revealed a notebook of his own writings and flipped to a page in it.

“I’ll pay off a ticketmaster at the station we’re targeting to use a bunch of pens I had some of my human servants construct,” Enmu explained. “These pens all carry a special ink that has my blood mixed inside to link me to any human who touched them. The ticketmaster will be paid to only use these pens on tickets for a specific train.” He then pulled a pen from his pocket. “You gotta admit, these are pretty well-made, are they not?”

“They are,” Patrick nodded.

“Anyway,” Enmu continued as he put the pen back away in his jacket. “You will board the train right before the train I hit to place the bomb. You and your men will move cars and go away from the bomb you left before it explodes. The first train will explode, which will cause a serious delay and allow me to make my move on the passengers of the second. Me and Akaza will devour everyone on the second train while you and your men attack the first train as an armed force, killing as many survivors as you can and fleeing before police can arrive.” He sighed and smiled as he looked over what he believed was his crowning achievement as a servant of Muzan Kibutsuji. “We’ll strike terror right into the heart of Modern Japan with this plan. Soon, everyone will know the name of our master, and we will succeed in our quest to conquer Japan, and then the whole world!”

“The Jacksons will certainly be pleased as well,” Patrick added with an affirmative nod. “Rest assured, this will be the greatest terror attack ever inflicted upon mankind. The whole world will tremble at the feet of us demons and the Kibutsujist Movement, and let us superior beings take reign of this planet as our rightful domain over the pathetic humans.”

Then, a third demon, this time one with many blue and white stripes and markings on his body, entered the room. “So,” he asked them both. “Is that bomb design finished?”

“Indeed it is,” Enmu replied to the third demon. “Akaza, I’ll get you up to speed on our plan…”

Chapter Text

James and the mayor of the village had volunteered to stay behind and hold off the demons that came to attack it as Susamaru and Kyojuro quickly escorted the villagers to all the boats they owned, as well as the larger boat the three of them had rented in their journey to the island.

As citizens began moving to the port, James and the mayor were in the post office of the village, which had the only telephone and telegraph on the island. As the postmaster made a phone call to the mainland asking for additional ships, the four village policemen loaded their guns. One of them asked James, “What brought you to Japan?”

“My wife was murdered a few years ago,” James explained. “And I think the demon who did it came from here. I’ve fought demons while being one myself for 50 years. I’m sick of fightin’ abroad in America. I want to take it to the heart of Kibutsuji Muzan’s area of operations, right here in Japan.”

“The American demons are so very different from the ones here,” the mayor explained to the four of them. “They can blend in with humans easier since they can walk in the sunlight, though they’re far more vulnerable in the daytime.”

“He’s right,” James replied as he drew his revolver. “Just watch.” He then aimed the barrel of the gun at his hand and pulled the trigger, shooting himself and lodging a bullet in the wooden floor. “Fuck,” he exclaimed in pain. “God fuckin’ damn it!” The startled policemen, mayor, and the postmaster then watched in amazement as his wound began to heal itself. “I can’t do that durin’ the day. If I don’t control the bleedin’, I’ll probably bleed out before nightfall comes if I’m shot before noon. At night, it hurts like a motherfucker, but it heals up pretty fast.”

“So that’s why you can only cut a demon’s head off,” another police officer said.

“Or blow their head off with a cannon or gun,” James added. “That does the trick too. As long as y’all destroy the head somehow with it, any weapon will do the trick.”

…

After James and the mayor sent the message out, Kyojuro and Susamaru were helping several small children board the ship they came in on. In total, with the boats they had already, they’d be able to transport 100 of the 600 villagers. Priority was given to women and children first. As Susamaru helped two young girls board the boat, Kyojuro loaded up a flare gun given to him by one of the villagers and fired off a red flare into the sky in the hopes that a passing ship would see it and aid them. As the flare flew into the air and left a bright red streak, he told Susamaru, “I’m gonna fire off a few more of these! Hopefully, a ship sees us!”

“I sure hope so,” she replied as she ran back to him. “Our ship is full. We can’t fit anyone else on it.”

“Shit,” he muttered as he loaded up a second round into the flare gun. “How long has it been since the distress signal was sent out?”

“I think about ten minutes ago,” she replied before Kyojuro aimed his flare gun again up at the sky and fired a second round. “Our ship has a radio telegraph, too, so the guy who owns it is sending out his own message now. He sent out CQD and SOS just in case.”

“Just like they did on the Titanic,” he replied. He then half-jokingly added, “Maybe a British ship will answer up.” He then fired a third flare into the sky.

Then, one of the ship hands shouted down to the two of them, yelling, “We have a passenger ship on the way! They’ll be here in about ten minutes! They can take about 200 people! We also have a cargo ship that can take fifty more that’s coming in a few minutes that heard the distress signal from the post office!”

“I hope we can hold on for ten more minutes,” Kyojuro remarked, growing more anxious. “As soon as we load up the last people on our ship, we’re leaving.”

Susamaru immediately protested, “What about James?”

Then, all of them heard a rumbling sound in the distance, as well as shouting and gunshots. As they looked to the road leading to the small port the village had, the sounds became slowly louder as they approached the evacuating civilians. In response, a few small fishing boats began to speed away from the island. “Oh shit,” they all heard James shout in the background up the road. “I ran outta bullets and there’s still like ten of ‘em left!”

Susamaru nodded softly to herself and turned to Kyojuro, her disagreement in opinion gone. “Nevermind. Let’s get the fuck outta here!”

As James, the mayor, the four village policemen, and a few villagers who volunteered to stay behind and fight ran to the port, the ten demons left standing were hot on their trail. James quickly drew his sword as he told the cops, “You guys keep runnin’! I’m gonna attack ‘em!”

“You don’t have to fucking tell me twice,” said the police chief, who kept running with the others as James stopped and they held his ground as he took a deep breath. 

He closed his eyes, and then shouted into the night sky, “Breath of Flames, Fourth Form: Blooming Flame Undulation!” He then spun his sword in a circular motion, deflecting all the demons as they tried to dogpile onto him to go past him. In the process, he also decapitated two of them, their heads flying into the air and their blood coating James’ clothing even more than the demons he had already killed had done. “Now, time for another! Breath of Flames, Fifth Form: Flame Tiger!” In this second attack, his slashes took the form of a large tiger-like animal as his sword flew wildly in the air, striking down a third and fourth demon.

As Kyojuro watched from the port, he thought to himself, “I thought it would be difficult for him since he’s used to hunting demons with guns, but he’s one of my fastest learners yet! James Colby, keep this up, and you will be the Flame Pillar one day for sure!”

“Breath of Flames, Sixth Form,” he then declared for his third attack. “Blue Flames!” In this attack, his sword moved so fast that the normally orange and yellow glow it gave off instead became blue from the high heat. This was able to kill a fifth demon, his head disintegrating upon impact due to how hard his neck was struck.

“Now there’s five of us,” one of the demons spat at James. “You’ve come far, traitor, but this is where you meet your end!” James, who was beginning to tire out from using three forms of the Breath of Flames in a row, spat on the ground.

Then, an unknown voice appeared from behind James. “Breath of Stone, Serpentinite Bipolar!” Out of nowhere, a man with an axe and flail barreled towards the demons and struck two of them at once, killing one and seriously injuring the other. As the man’s weapons rested on the ground after the attack, James was able to see that they belonged to a man in his forties. “Don’t mind me, young man! Just an ex-Demon Slayer with the Breath of Stone is all!”

“Breath of Stone?! That’s just like Pillar Himejima!” James was amazed to see another person use Gyomei’s weaponry. “More people use non-sword weapons here?”

“Most Breath of Stone users use flails and axes,” the man explained. “Himejima-sama is just the best at it!”

Kyojuro then ran up to the scene, wondering what was going on. “James, what’s up?! Who’s this?!”

“I’m Uzaki Go,” the older man explained as he then killed a seventh demon. “I’m a retired slayer! I’ve been out for about 12 years now, but I still got some fight left in me!” It was right about now that both James and Kyojuro noticed that the man had an eyepatch and was missing fingers on his right hand, indicating that he had been injured in the line of duty. “I’ll fight these fuckers off! You guys get everyone to safety!”

James asked him, “What about you?”

“Don’t mind me,” Go replied. “I lost my family to these pieces of shit! This is vengeance, plain and fucking simple!” He then charged at the three remaining demons, yelling at them, “Die, motherfuckers! Die!”

As he attacked, James and Kyojuro ran for the docks, realizing they had to leave the island now. Kyojuro told him as they ran, “You did good today! I’m proud of you, Colby-san!”

“No shit,” he replied as they both reached the docks and ran to their ship. “That means a lot, sir! Thank you!” As they boarded the ship, they saw that the ten demons they thought were left were in fact not the only ones left, as a second group of about five demons emerged from another clearing in the forest surrounding the docks, causing the citizens still waiting for a ship to immediately panic and throw whatever blades they had at them. The village police officers also opened fire with what was left of their ammunition to try to drive them back.

“I’ll take care of them,” Susamaru yelled as she then ran to the exit port of the ship. However, just before she reached it, James grabbed her and yanked her back in by her hand before pulling her in and kissing her. As his eyes closed, her eyes remained wide open for several seconds out of shock before they closed as well.

Once the couple split, James finally told her the answer she had been looking for ever since she had kissed him the same night. No longer holding back, he told her, “Susamaru-chan, I love you!”

“I know,” she quickly told him before taking a deep breath and running off the ship to fulfill her mission.

As she ran off to fight her own kind, Kyojuro smiled, thinking to himself, “I had a feeling love would blossom between them one day. I didn’t expect it so soon, though.”

“Let’s go fuckers,” she yelled out in confidence as she ripped her haori and uniform top off and spawned her extra arms, practically high off of her feelings of love for James being returned. “I can do this all night if you want me to!”

…

May 25, 1913

Three days later, at the Butterfly Estate, the sounds of a bed rustling in the middle of the night and moaning from James’ room indicated that he and Susamaru had taken their relationship to the next level already. As the two finished having sex with each other, James collapsed onto Susamaru, the two of them completely naked as they both caught their breath from the intense lovemaking session. “I… I haven’t had that in so long,” James said to her before the two shared a kiss to commemorate the moment.

After they split, Susamaru chuckled and told him, “I haven’t had it at all before tonight. Most demons here never think of having sex at all since they see no point due to Muzan’s infertility curse.”

“Even if you were permanently infertile,” James assured her. “There’s no way I wouldn’t fuck you. You’re the kind of woman that excites me.”

Susamaru giggled at his dirty talk. “Are you trying to go again? Your words are arousing.”

“I can go again,” James replied with a smile. “Alice taught me how to, and with Julia I refined it.”

Then, just as the two shared a kiss, they heard the door to their bedroom open. Immediately, both paused and looked to their unannounced visitor, blushes immediately enveloping their faces. Susamaru said to the visitor, “What… Why did you just open the door?!”

Inosuke, boar head and all, asked both of them in a completely and comically serious tone, “Why are you two mating?”

“Mating?” James was at a loss for words for the term Inosuke used for sex. “Oh my God…”

“Because we love each other,” Susamaru told him. “Now, please, close the door, Hashibira-san, and let us continue.”

“I’m just wondering,” Inosuke replied with a shrug as he shut the door. “That’s all.”

Susamaru looked to the door and then looked back to her boyfriend, completely confused by what had just transpired. “What the fuck?”

Chapter Text

May 29, 1913

At the Rengoku Estate, James was swinging his sword around, practicing in the training garden by himself when Senjuro called out to him. “Colby-san,”

the young man told him from the house’s back porch. “There’s a visitor here for you!”

“Who is it?” James then sheathed his sword.

“A woman from Canada,” Senjuro informed him. “Her name is Juliette!”

The name was unfamiliar to him, but he decided to acknowledge it anyway. “I’ll be right there,” James told him as he ran into the house. 

When he reached the front living room, Kyojuro was standing next to a woman in her 40s with moderately dark skin and dark hair. Kyojuro told James in Japanese, “Sadly I don’t speak much English, or French for that matter. All we know is that her name is Juliette Desjardins, or at least that’s her maiden name.”

James extended his hand to Juliette, greeting her in Quebecois French, “Good afternoon, Juliette.”

“As to you, James,” Juliette replied in French. “My name is Juliette Renaud, or Juliette Desjardins before I was married. I came to Japan because I was searching for you.” She then pulled a picture out from her coat pocket. “According to my adoptive parents, this was a picture of my birth mother. Do you recognize her?”

As soon as James looked at the picture, he slipped back into English as his jaw dropped and he stood back in shock. “What the fuck… What the actual fuck?!” The picture Juliette held in front of her was of Alice, James’ first love from the 1870s. “Alice?!”

“Darling,” Susamaru asked her as she ran in, concerned. “What’s wro-?” She stopped as she saw Juliette. “What’s going on?”

“Susamaru,” James told her in Japanese. “It’s about Alice… I think I got a daughter…”

“James,” Juliette told him as she then switched to English. “You are my father. You certainly look a lot younger than your age. My adoptive parents did say that according to my mother, you were not a normal person, but still a good man nonetheless.”

James slowly approached her, beginning to recognize features that Juliette shared with both him and her mother. “Oh my God… Juliette was a name I passed along to Alice when we were discussing baby names before she got killed… I had no idea she would actually use it!” As tears fell from his eyes, he embraced his now-grown daughter. “I’ve just met you, yet…”

Juliette was taken aback by how deeply affected James was. “I, um… Well…” She then turned her head and spoke in French to the front door of the Rengoku Estate house, telling whoever was behind it, “Come on in!” As a white man and three children of varying ages stepped forward into the house, Juliette told her father in English, “These are your grandchildren and your son-in-law.”

Susamaru asked James, not understanding English or French, “What’s going on?”

James turned to her and smiled, telling her, “This is my daughter, Juliette, from Alice. This is her husband and her children, my grandchildren.” He then turned to Juliette’s children and told them in French, “We have a lot of stuff to go over.”

…

Half an hour later, James was talking to his three grandchildren, who were aged 18, 15, and 11, as he showed them his sword. “This sword is forged from an ore called nichirin that can only be found in Japan,” he told them all in French. “It absorbs the sunlight and is incredibly strong, allowing us to decapitate demons.”

“Our adoptive grandparents used Soleil du Fer in their bullets,” the oldest, a boy named Philippe, explained. “Perhaps the ores are the same but have different names in different languages.”

“That’s what I was thinkin’,” James replied with a nod. “My Blood Demon Art allows me to use my blood to cast sunlight-absorbing metal. Perhaps they’re all related.”

“That sword looks so cool,” said the youngest of the trio, a girl named Margot. “It has a red blade, too!”

“Indeed,” James replied as he showed them all the color of the blade. “These blades take on a distinct color when their owner first draws them. The color red is associated with the Breath of Flames, which is what me and Susamaru were taught to use.”

The middle child, a girl named Véronique, asked James, “ Papy, do you still use guns like we do in Canada and the United States?”

“Of course,” James affirmed as he pulled out his revolver. “The sword I wield is just another tool in my toolbox. It’s made me more effective than ever before in huntin’ down those who seek to harm the innocent.”

“James,” then called Juliette in English. “Can I have a word with you in private?”

“Sure thing,” he replied before turning back to his grandchildren, switching back to English as well. “Alright, I gotta go talk to your mom.” As he walked back into the house, he asked Juliette, “What’s going on?

“I was waiting a bit to ask you this,” Juliette explained. “And… Well, I’m not sure how to phrase this, but… It’s about Véro, the middle child…”

James was puzzled. “What’s up with her? She seems to have a good head on her shoulders, Juliette.”

“I know,” Juliette nodded. “But… She wants to hunt demons like her adoptive grandparents. I don’t want her hunting them in the Americas due to how disorganized it is, but here… She would do good here.”

James now got what she was getting at with Véronique. “You want me to take her in and get her into the Demon Slayer Corps?”

“Exactly,” she affirmed. “She would fare so much better here. Look, I know she can’t really speak Japanese too much, but she got some while on the boat ride here. You can help her, right?”

“Yeah,” James replied, realizing how serious the request was. “I just… I gotta tell the Rengoku family and my own partner about it. I don’t just wanna dump a brand new person on them.”

“I heard Rengoku,” Kyojuro then added from behind James in Japanese. “What’s going on?”

James turned around and explained the situation to him in Japanese. “Pillar Rengoku, my daughter… She is requesting that I take in my granddaughter. Her name is Véronique Renaud. She wants to hunt demons, and Juliette does not want her huntin’ ‘em in Canada due to how disorganized demon huntin’ is in North America. She knows some Japanese, and me and Susamaru-chan can get her up to speed.”

“I see,” Kyojuro replied. “Does she know how to use any weapons?”

“Yeah,” James replied. “According to Juliette, she’s fired guns before. She’s a good shot, too. I think she’d be a good sword-wielder, too.”

Kyojuro nodded, taking a few seconds to think about it. “Well,” he then concluded. “I can let you take her under your wing. I won’t send her to a Final Selection until she’s more prepared, however.” He then pulled him in close and whispered a serious warning in James’ ear, telling him, “If she dies under our watch, I’m going to commit seppuku, and I expect you and Susamaru to do the same.”

…

June 3, 1913

At the Butterfly Estate, James and Shinobu were walking together along the wall that surrounded the complex, talking about the Book of Poisons he had given her two months prior. “That book has been rather helpful,” Shinobu told him. “I was able to create those wisteria-coated bullets mentioned in them. You know, I’ve long believed that all slayers should at least be familiar with how guns work. You never know when you could be attacked by a non-demonic threat, and with your poisoned bullets, we’d be able to make them effective against demons, too.”

“Exactly,” James agreed with a nod. “Susamaru-chan has been super effective with both a sword and a gun. Besides, didn’t you say there are some slayers who aren’t too skilled with breathing styles anyway?”

“Yeah,” Shinobu admitted. “We've had a few. They say guns are the Great Equalizer where you’re from. Well, I think with poisoned bullets, they could be the Great Equalizer for the corps as a whole.”

Then, both of them heard a shrieking sound nearby, followed by a man shouting, “YOU FUCKER! I’M GONNA KILL YOU!” Both immediately drew weapons, with Shinobu drawing her sword and James drawing his rifle from behind his back. As they reached the area of the confrontation, they saw that Tanjiro had just dodged being stabbed by the swordsmith Hotaru Haganezuka, whose sword Tanjiro had broken at Mount Natagumo. “How dare you snap my sword in two! You got some fucking nerve, Kamado-san!”

“I swear,” Tanjiro begged for his life from the overzealous swordsmith. “It was an accident! I didn’t mean to break your sword! Please, I swear! My opponent was super tough!”

“Excuses, excuses, excuses,” Hotaru yelled back as he violently poked at Tanjiro multiple times. “It’s your fault since you wielded my sword! You must have been a fucking weakling!” He once again drew his long knife, ready to strike again. “I already told you before, asshole! I’m gonna fucking kill you!”

As James and Shinobu stopped and put their weapons away, Aoi sighed as she witnessed Tanjiro being chased by Hotaru. “What madness,” she said to herself.

Shinobu chuckled. “Is this a new training regimen?”

“I doubt it,” James and Aoi both remarked at the same time.

…

In another room, James, Shinobu, Tanjiro, Inosuke, Hotaru, and Kozo all sat down and talked about the new swords. “We’ve already met, Colby-san,” Kozo started off. “But I don’t believe I have met you, Kamado-san. I am Kanamori Kozo. By the way, you can trust me when I say that Haganezuka-san is exceptionally passionate about his swords. None of us are like this at the Swordsmith Village.”

As Hotaru continued to glare at Tanjiro, he asked him, “Are you sure?”

“Completely,” Shinobu confirmed. “Many of them are still passionate about sword-making, but not to that level.”

“Anyway,” Hotaru continued. “I forged the swords for Hashibira Inosuke. I’ve only forged for a dual-wielder once before, and that was for your partner.”

“Oh yeah,” James then remembered. “I forgot to mention. Me and Susamaru are now in a close relationship. We’re more than work partners now.”

Shinobu beamed, “Awww, that’s so sweet. I’m glad you two are close like that.”

“I’m not surprised,” Tanjiro replied. He then turned to Inosuke. “As for you, Inosuke-kun, I’m glad to see you got new swords that aren’t chipped! I bet you’re happy!”

Inosuke ignored him, and instead stood silent in the doorway to the outside as his swords began to glow a gray hue in the sunlight. “How interesting,” Kozo said. “I love that nice gray hue. I’m glad to see Hashibira-san got one on his new swords.” Again, Inosuke ignored him, and instead stood up, walking outside to grab a rock. “Inosuke?”

James asked, “What’s he doing?” As he did, Inosuke raised the rock up into the sky.

Then, in a rhythmic fashion, he began pounding the blade of his first sword with the rock, intentionally chipping it. After the first few hits, everyone yelled out in shock all at once, horrified by his self-inflicted damage to the swords. As Tanjiro and Kozo screamed, James, Hotaru, and Shinobu all shouted, “WHAT THE FUCK?!”

Immediately, Shinobu and Kozo ran out to try to confront Inosuke angrily, with James and Tanjiro trying to hold them back. Kozo shouted, “You motherfucker, I’m gonna skin you alive! What the Hell is wrong with you?! Hey! Can you fucking acknowledge me?! I’m gonna avenge those swords!”

Shinobu meanwhile dropped her comforting smile completely and became incredibly aggressive, yelling out. “Not if I get to his ass first! I’m gonna spitroast that fucking pig!”

Inosuke looked to both of them, confused behind his mask about why they were so mad, and then continued with the rock, bashing his other sword with it now. Kozo was even more angered by this, shouting out, “That's it, I’ve had it! You’re a dead fucking man, Inosuke, do you fucking hear me! A dead man!” All the while, both James and Tanjiro incessantly apologized to both him and Shinobu as they tried to hold them back from attacking Inosuke.

“You motherfucker,” Shinobu yelled at Inosuke as he continued to ignore them. “I’m gonna pump your fucking body full of poison!”

“Calm the fuck down,” James urged both of them rather loudly. “Let ‘em do what he wants!”

“This doesn’t fucking concern you,” both Shinobu and Kozo said in unison. “This is between me and that boar!”

“I don’t know why they’re so pissed,” Inosuke thought to himself as he inspected both of his swords. “I prefer having serrated swords anyway. Those guys don’t know what they’re missing out on.”

…

After getting the situation straightened out with Inosuke’s swords, which remained chipped, James and Tanjiro talked privately about Nezuko, who was in her box in a corner of the room they met in. Tanjiro started off, asking James, “What do you have in mind for my sister?”

“I’ve thought about it,” James replied. “And though it won’t turn her back into no human, it may allow her to slip into human society easier and return to a state similar to where she was before she was attacked by Muzan.”

The idea was already tempting for Tanjiro. “I’m interested. What is it?”

“Given that samples of my blood have caused two demons to gain the same abilities that American demons share,” James explained as he pulled out a small vial of his own blood. “I want to pose the idea of injectin’ your sister with mine.”

Tanjiro was conflicted. It would be going back on his promise for Nezuko to never ingest blood or flesh, but it may be a critical step in getting her back to normal. “I see. What would it do to her?”

“Nezuko’s timeframe to be turned back into a human may get pushed back,” James explained the downsides followed by the upsides. “And it would give her an appetite for blood and flesh. However, it would give her an American appetite, which is much smaller and more geared to animals than humans. If it works, it would allow her to start talkin’ again and whatnot, and she could walk in the sun.”

Nezuko, who heard her name from within the box, stumbled out of it and crawled out onto the floor before growing back to normal size and walking over. “Mmm… Mmm…” She then petted James’ head, causing him to chuckle. “Mmmmm…”

“It sounds tempting,” Tanjiro admitted. “But… I can’t take the risk of her eating someone. You still do have a taste for human flesh and blood, right?”

“Yes,” James admitted with a nod. “It’s there, but it’s there like there’s a desire in every human to be attracted to another person as a potential mate. It’s present, but it’s not so present that it overrides morality, at least in me. Besides, I can get it the same way Tamayo-san does if I absolutely need it.”

“When would you start?”

“Right now,” James replied before gently taking a hold of one of Nezuko’s hands. “I can have her drink the vial and we can see what happens.”

“We’ll do one vial now,” Tanjiro agreed. He then turned to his sister. “Nezuko, I’m gonna take your muzzle off for a little bit, okay?”

“Mmmm,” Nezuko replied happily as Tanjiro loosened her muzzle, allowing it to fall around her neck. She quickly stretched out her mouth and opened it wide, trying to get used to having it open again after so long. “Aaaah…”

“Drink this,” James told her. “It’s some of my blo-“ He was immediately cut off when she swiped the vial from his hand, popped open the cork holding the blood in, and downed the entire thing as if it were a shot of liquor. “Or just down it like a shot, I guess…”

“Mmm,” Nezuko said to herself. “Tase… Tase nice…” She could barely speak, having spent so long in a muzzle, but her intentions were clear. “Goo…”

James replied to her, “It’s good, right?”

“Alright,” Tanjiro told Nezuko as he prepared the muzzle again. “I’m gonna put the muzzle back on.”

“Onii-ha,” Nezuko then said, shocking Tanjiro and causing him to stop. “Onii-ha… I low you…”

Tanjiro was at a loss for words at Nezuko’s simple but powerful words. “Nezuko… I… I love you, too. You’re my only family left...” As he put the muzzle back on her mouth, tears began to fall from his eyes and down his face onto her haori. Nezuko noticed him crying, and comforted him by turning around and hugging him, only making him cry harder. “Nezuko, I swear, we’re gonna make you better one day if it’s the last thing we do!”

“You’re God damn right,” James replied to him. “Ain’t no doubt about it.”

Chapter Text

June 7, 1913

“The next Final Selection for the First District will be held starting on July 12, 1913,” James explained to Véronique, who had tied her black hair in a short ponytail. “I know ya know how to shoot guns, but you ain’t never held a sword before like this.”

“You’re right,” Véronique replied with a nod as she held a spare sword from the Rengoku Estate steady in front of her.

“Now,” James continued. “Remember what me and Rengoku-san told you about breath styles. This is gon’ be a crash course for you, so ya better learn fast.”

“Alright,” she said to herself in French as she took a deep breath in. “Focus… I need to concentrate.”

As she charged forward and slashed at the air around her, also striking a practice target dummy, Kyojuro and Senjuro watched in amusement. “She can handle a sword well,” Kyojuro noted to her younger brother. “I’d she keeps this up, she’ll make a good addition to the corps.”

Senjuro asked his brother, “Does she have to learn the Breath of Flames?”

“Not necessarily,” Kyojuro replied. “Right now, we just need her to learn how to use any breath style. The first part of any form of breath training is concentration. Once she gets that basic part done, it’s up to her as to which breath style she wants to use. I heard Shinazugawa-san was looking for someone to mentor in the Breath of Wind.”

…

June 10, 1913

James and Susamaru accompanied Kyojuro at a Joint High Council Meeting at the Ubuyashiki Estate. They stood all the way to the end of the line, to the left from Kagaya’s perspective, next to the only other Tsuguko at the time, Kanao and Mukago. As they all waited for the leader of the corps to arrive, James decided to try to make small talk with her, despite her almost never acknowledging him or his girlfriend whenever they visited the Butterfly Estate. “So, um,” he started off. “Tsuyuri-san, how was your day today?”

Kanao initially ignored him as she pulled out her trusty coin from her uniform and flipped it. Once it landed on Heads, she turned to them with her regular neutral expression and replied, “It was like any other day. That trio of slayers staying with us are improving greatly, but they still have a bit of a ways to go before we can release them.”

“That’s good to hear,” James replied with a smile. “I’ve wanted to see Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke back in action for a while now.”

Then, all of them stopped as two of Kagaya’s children stood at attention. Both addressed the crowd of nine Pillars, four Tsuguko, and twelve High Priests altogether, telling them in unison, “The Oyakata-sama has arrived. Standby to begin the meeting.” The High Priests consisted of two priests loyal to the Demon Slayer Corps that were appointed by the head of the corps from each of the four districts of operations in Japan, plus two each from the Overseas Districts of Korea and Taiwan. They were all either Shinto or Buddhist priests. They had their own section of the High Council, where they performed several functions, including the confirmation of Pillar candidates appointed by the leader of the corps, as well as preparations for continuity of governance in the corps in the event of its leader’s death.

As all twenty-three of them bowed down, Kagaya emerged and greeted them all with a warm smile. “Good to see all of you here. Let us begin the Joint High Council Meeting. Our first order of business concerns a potential Wind Tsuguko from Canada. Sanemi, may you explain?”

“Thank you, Oyakata-sama,” he replied as he stood up. “Recently, a human relative of the Flames Tsuguko James Colby came to Japan. It was found out that in fact this relative was his daughter from a previous relationship, and one of his grandchildren expressed interest in joining the corps and living in Japan. Her name is Véronique Renaud, and she is a French Canadian girl of fifteen years of age. According to Colby-san, she is adept at firearms use, and is skilled at hunting animals. She has already undergone basic sword training, which myself and Rengoku-san can verify, and will be taking the First District Final Selection in July to become a full-fledged member of the Demon Slayer Corps. I am asking that the High Council approve of her becoming my Tsuguko pending her passage of the First District Final Selection.”

Susamaru thought to herself, “When addressing the Oyakata-sama, Shinazugawa-san’s way of speaking is completely different. It’s like looking at two different people.”

“Anyone else have anything to say to corroborate Sanemi’s testimony?”

“I do,” Kyojuro replied as he stood up. “Oyakata-sama, I can verify her excellent firearms use skills, and her sword training. As we speak, myself, my two Tsuguko, and my family are all training her, and she is showing great enthusiasm and progress. With a bit more practice, as well as guidance from Shinazugawa-san, she will make a fine addition to the Demon Slayer Corps.”

“Very well,” Kagaya replied. “A third person? Anyone?”

“I will speak next,” James then answered up. “My granddaughter is a fine hunter of animals. While livin’ in Canada, her father recorded a kill of over 0.6 miles, or about 1 kilometer, involvin’ a deer, when she was only thirteen. She also has killed a bear at close quarters while huntin’. Bein’ that she and her mother were both raised in a rural Negro farmin’ community in Québec, huntin’ is a way of life, and even many of the women did it. If, at the age she’s at now and even before, she can remain calm enough to kill a bear that came within a few feet of attackin’ her, I highly believe she’ll be adept at huntin’ demons.”

“A kilometer killshot,” Kagaya commented. “That’s impressive at any age, let alone thirteen.”

“If I may,” then said Sang Young-Nam, a High Priest from the Korean Overseas District, as he raised his hand, his greying hair gently blowing in the wind. “How are we aware that this girl is a human? I thought it simply was not possible for demons to procreate, let alone have human children.”

James sighed, realizing how ignorant many of the high priests could be. “As James explained before in another Pillar Meeting,” Kagaya calmly told him. “It depends on the sex of the child, and in the Americas, demons can and do procreate. They would in Japan as well, but Muzan does not trust his own kind enough to release them to do so. James presumably engaged in sexual congress with a human woman, and thus had a human daughter. In his first true marriage in the 1890s, he had a demon son with a human female. Any human children of a demon will have only human children unless they procreate with a demon, and vice-versa.” He was calm and polite on the outside, but on the inside, he was a bit annoyed at the priest for raising such a doubt. “I thought I went over this with that message I sent out,” he thought to himself. “But I guess not everyone pays attention when they should.”

…

After the meeting, James had begun talking with Obanai, who during the meeting had been informed that he would need to take another Pillar with him on a mission to a hot springs town due to heavy demon activity in the area. “Who do ya have in mind?”

“Kanroji-san, of course,” he replied. “I always pick her for my missions if she isn’t busy. She’s the closest person to me among the rest of them that aren’t the Rengoku family.”

“Makes sense,” James replied. “You did always say that Rengoku-san and his little brother were like brothers to you, and Kanroji-san always dotes on you most of all.”

“I guess you could say that,” he admitted, a slight blush occurring under his bandages. “She’s my best friend, Colby-san.”

“Iguro-san!” Mitsuri herself then waved to both of them as she ran over. “Who did you pick to go with you on the mission?”

“You, of course,” Obanai answered rather simply.

“Awwww, thank you,” she replied happily, hugging him tightly. “I can’t wait!” She then turned to James, feeling like he had been left out as she split from Obanai. “I feel like you’re left out, Colby-san. Here!” She then hugged him out of the blue as well. “Hugs are nice, right?”

Obanai’s eyes widened out of shock as James awkwardly returned the hug, trying desperately to not stare down into her half-bare chest, a product of her revealing uniform. “Yeah, they sure are…”

“Alright,” Mitsuri then told Obanai as she split from James. “I’ll meet you at your house tomorrow. It should take us another day from there to arrive at the resort town.” As she walked away, she waved again and told him, “I can’t wait to see you again, Iguro-san!”

“Same here,” he replied before he sighed. “Don’t mind the random hug she gave you. She’s really friendly like that. With that said…” His tone then became much more serious. “Don’t even think of even laying a finger on her. She may dress a certain way, but she is not easy or anything. Don’t take advantage of her!”

James, confused, replied, “Iguro-san, I already got a girlfriend, though. All my sexual and romantic needs are fulfilled with Susamaru. Trust me, I’m all set. I noticed ya looked a bit peeved when she hugged me, though.”

“I was not,” Obanai denied. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

James, feeling he was hiding something, chuckled. “Ya know, I was once the same way about twenty years ago when I first met Julia, my wife.”

Obanai, immediately realizing what he was implying, replied, “Shut the fuck up! I’m not hiding a crush on her! She’s my best friend!”

“Bullshit,” James playfully replied as Obanai’s face lit up a bright red. “I can tell from a man’s eyes and motions when they’ve fallen for a woman, and y’all hit every mark. I must say, you chose well, and you got a lot more patience than I do. I would’ve totally tried to get with Kanroji-san by now in your shoes. She’s total wife material. I mean, look at ‘e-”

“Enough,” Obanai shushed him up by drawing a small knife from his uniform and holding it up to James’ mouth. The mood had turned from humorous to dead serious in a matter of seconds. “Shut the fuck up right now. I got my reasons for not pursuing her. I agree she needs to find a good man to settle down with, but that man is not me.”

James grabbed the blade with his bare right hand, managing to avoid cutting into his palm, and told him as he pulled it down from his face, “Then tell me your reasons. I didn’t tell my wife I loved ‘er for two whole years for my own reasons. I’d like to hear your’s.”

Obanai first looked around to see if anyone else was watching before pulling some of his bandages down to reveal part of his mouth. As he did, James saw massive scars on his mouth, indicating that someone had cut his mouth up from ear to ear. “Look at me, demon! I’m a monster, and my family was, too. I’m nowhere close to being worthy of being Mitsuri’s husband, at least not in this life.”

His line of reasoning, especially the last line, awakened something in James, and as Obanai put his bandages back in their normal position, he grabbed him by the collar of his uniform and pulled him in, telling him, “Right now, I don’t give a fuck if you’re the Snake Pillar. We’re gonna have a serious talk right fuckin’ now. Follow me.” He then let Obanai go and grabbed him by his sword-wielding hand, dragging him to a corner of the walls of the Ubuyashiki Estate that was secluded by a tool shed.

“You have no right to talk to a Pillar like this,” Obanai told him. “You’re scum for treating your superiors so bad-”

James then punched a hole in the wall behind Obanai. “Shut the fuck up right now, Iguro Obanai, and listen to every fuckin’ word I have to say in response to your ‘reasons,’ because every word in that little explanation you gave infuriates me, and do ya wanna know why? Because I had the exact same line of thought when I first met Julia!”

Obanai tried to move, but James grabbed him and was able to stop him in his tracks. “You’re not me!”

“I was like you in more ways than you realize, son,” James angrily replied. “Never forget that I’m older than you, a lot older, even if I don’t look it! Don’t you think I hated myself for a long time, huh?! I thought I was a monster unworthy of love, especially after I lost so many people I cared about and couldn’t do a fuckin’ thing about it! For the first two years I knew Julia, I kept my feelins’ for her hidden, just like you are now!”

Obanai angrily yelled back, “Obviously you didn’t hate yourself too much, because she was your fucking wife!”

“That’s only because she got tired of waitin’,” James yelled back. “She was gonna marry a man she didn’t actually love, and I realized I was gonna lose her forever, so I finally manned the fuck up and grew a fuckin’ pair of balls and told her I loved her. My time with ‘er was too short, and it could’ve been longer if I told ‘er sooner how I felt instead of waitin’ two fuckin’ years to do it!” He then paused and took a deep breath, his face reddened with anger. “And what’s that shit about the next life, huh?”

“We all get reincarnated when we die,” Obanai explained to him.

“Well I was taught differently,” James replied. “You get one shot at life, and at the end, you go to Heaven or Hell and spend eternity there with God or Satan. Of course, that’s the thing, Iguro-san. We don’t fuckin’ know what happens after we die! For all I know, either one of us could be right! You can’t rely on waitin’ for the next life if there's no guarantee you’re gonna even have one!”

Obanai sighed before telling James, “You know, maybe if your whole family was dead and it was because of you, you’d understand.”

James, who had calmed down from his earlier anger, replied, “Hmmm… Now that there sure is an interesting’ theory, Pillar Iguro. I’m afraid you’re a little late to put it to the test.”

”Why’s that?”

“My whole family is already dead,” James explained. “My mother and father, and all four of my younger siblings were murdered one night while I was out huntin’ demons in Minnesota after I had come back.”

Those final words shook Obanai to the core, and both of them paused as they took it in. Obanai shivered slightly, completely at a loss for words. “I…”

“I’ve been doin’ this shit a lot longer than you, kid,“ James replied as he turned around and began to walk away. “Look at yourself for a minute. You’ll see I’m right. This mission could be your chance to finally tell ‘er how you feel, and if I were you, I’d take it.”

Obanai looked down at himself and thought, “What if he’s right? Well… No, he can’t be. There’s another reason why I wouldn’t be so good for Kanroji that I can’t tell anyone…”

Nearby, Mitsuri was talking to Shinobu when she noticed James walking away. She asked him, “Colby-san, you said earlier that you heard my name before in America long before you met me? How did you hear about me?”

”A letter I got from an old friend of mine in Milwaukee mentioned your father,” James explained to her. “Specifically your father’s photography business, as well as the fact that he had a daughter who hunted demons, or ghouls as we called ‘em over there.”

”Woah, my father is that well-known?”

”To an extent, I guess.”

She beamed, “Wow, that’s so cool!”

”By the way,” James then said to Mitsuri. “When ya go huntin’ with Iguro-san, keep an close eye on him.”

”Huh?” Mitsuri, confused, asked him, “Is something wrong with him?”

Shinobu looked at him with an expression that seemed to imply that she also knew that Obanai was in love with Mitsuri. She then asked James, “What’s going on with Iguro-san?”

”Nothing too bad,” he replied. “Just… Make sure he doesn’t do any thin’ that would be too risky.”

”I always do,” Mitsuri replied. “I don’t wanna see him get hurt or killed, after all.”

Shinobu then turned to Mitsuri and told her, “Mitsuri-chan, can I speak to Colby-san alone for about a minute?”

”Of course,” she replied with a bow. “I’ll go see Iguro-san. Bye-bye!”

Once Mitsuri waved at them and walked away, Shinobu asked James, “Okay, what the Hell is going on with Iguro-san?”

”That boy ain’t right,” James sighed. “I swear, I see way too much of my past self in ‘em. I fear he’s gonna get himself killed doin’ somethin’ stupid and it’s gonna make Kanroji-san really upset.”

”I see…” Shinobu put a hand on his shoulder and told him, “You have to understand that he’s got some issues of his own. I’ve known for a while that he’s been in love with Mitsuri-chan, and I know she feels the same way, actually, but I also know he can’t bring himself to say it because of what he’s been through. I don’t know the full story, but what I do know from what little Rengoku-san and his father have said is really disturbing.”

”We, uh… We had a bit of an argument about our philosophies on life, I guess…”

Shinobu sighed. “Please, be careful with that. Remember, you’re still the new guy here, so people who’ve been doing this for a while may not like you trying to come in and change things. I’m not saying you’re wrong. Hell, even I think Iguro-san is wrong for how he views his life, but I don’t want to see you two fight.”

”What do ya know?”

”I know he likes to take a lot of risks on missions, especially when Mitsuri-chan is there.”

”It’s a lot worse than that. He is actively seekin’ death to atone for his family’s past, or somethin’ along those lines.”

Shinobu paused for a moment to process what James had told her before shaking her head. “Why does he think like that?”

”I don’t know,” James shrugged. “I told him he shouldn’t. It’s up to him to wanna listen and change his ways, though.”

Chapter Text

June 11, 1913

“Is everything for you packed?” Mitsuri was checking over her bag of supplies, which included a small box containing thirty bullets plus two loaded revolver speedloader tubes. Hanging from her belt was not only her sword, but also a gun, a first for the Love Pillar.

“Yeah,” Obanai replied as he walked towards her, carrying his bag on his back. “You know how to work the speedloader, right?”

“Of course,” Mitsuri eagerly replied as she pulled her gun out and demonstrated, quickly ejecting all five unused bullets onto the floor and then loading another five in. “Just like that. Now, I gotta pick these bullets up.”

As she bent down to pick up the six bullets on the floor, Obanai noticed he could see into her chest from the angle he was standing at, and looked away. “Curse that uniform and its awkward exposures,” he thought to himself. Once she picked up and loaded the bullets into the speedloader, she stood back up. “We gotta be careful. We already face a risk of going around carrying swords, but if the police catch us with guns, we’ll face even more trouble.” Obanai then pulled his gun out to inspect it.

“The Oyakata-sama does have a point, though,” Mitsuri replied. “Carrying sidearms would not hurt us, especially with those new poisoned bullets Shinobu-chan made.” Both of the revolvers they carried were compact snub-nosed models known as the British Bulldog, utilizing the .450 Adams round. Kagaya had given the Swordsmiths several models of compact revolvers for them to study and copy, and for now relied on James to cast sun-absorbing bullets with his Blood Demon Art. However, he aimed at casting them out of nichirin very soon.

Kaburamaru slithered around Obanai, looking at the gun with curiosity. He smiled behind his bandages and told him, “Don’t worry. This may be loud, but it will help protect me.” As he put his gun away, the words James had told him the day before still weighed heavily on his mind. “He doesn’t know me,” he thought to himself. “He doesn’t know half of what I’ve been through. What the fuck gives him the right to call me out and say I’m wrong?”

“I got these new shoes from Shinobu-chan,” Mitsuri then gushed to Obanai, snapping him out of it. The shoes were green, to match her knee-high socks, and were sturdy, easily meant for long-distance trips. “Don’t they look so cool? They’re good for walking long distances.”

Obanai chuckled, amused by her eagerness to use them. “They sure do.”

…

Later that night, the two made their way to their destination along an unlit path in practically the middle of nowhere. The only thing guiding them was a compass owned by Obanai and a map from Mitsuri. Obanai asked her, “How much longer until we get to the hotel?”

“Considering we’ve walked for about an hour,” Mitsuri replied. “I’m gonna guess we got another hour and a half until we reach our destination.”

As they continued silently down the road, the forest surrounding them on both sides, Kaburamaru suddenly hissed, causing both of them to stop. As they both darted their eyes around, wondering what caused him to hiss, they heard the sound of hooves coming from behind them and quickly turned around. What followed was a gunshot up into the air, startling both of them as a group of three men armed with hunting rifles approached on horseback. The leader of the three told them, “Don’t move. This is a robbery!”

“A robbery?” Obanai turned around and was immediately confronted by a rifle aimed at his head.

“You can’t do a fucking thing,” another robber then told them as he aimed his rifle at Mitsuri. “Tell the police, and they’ll just arrest you two for carrying weapons without a permit. Hand over all the cash you guys are carrying.”

Obanai then told the three of them, “I wouldn’t rob us if I were you.”

The leader replied, “We don’t care who you are. What are you, anyway? Fucking pretend samurai?”

A third robber then grabbed Mitsuri from behind, holding her up by her shirt. “Look what we got here. You’re far too pretty to be out at night like this.”

“Let her go,” Obanai yelled out, pulling his gun from his waistband and aiming it right at the head of their leader. He did not care one bit that he was outmanned and outgunned. “Take me instead, if you must! Just let Kanroji-san go! I don’t care what happens to me! Her life matters more!”

Mitsuri, realizing what kind of trouble he was getting himself into, sighed. “I guess it can’t be helped.” She then kicked her right leg up into the air, revealing a knife in her right shoe that aimed backwards from her heel, before mule-kicking the man right in his crotch. The blade easily sunk into his clothes and his skin, puncturing his genitalia and spilling blood all over.

The man immediately fell over in pain, screaming, “That bitch just stabbed me in the fucking balls!”

Distracted by the attack, the leader of the trio was unable to react in time before Obanai shot him in the face, putting a hole right in his left eye socket and leaving a hole in the back of his head as he fell to the ground. Meanwhile, Mitsuri pulled her own gun and shot the second man right before he could aim at her, striking him in the chest twice. As both men fell to the ground, dead from their wounds, the third man tried to reach for one of the rifles, still bleeding profusely from his crotch, only for Obanai to shoot him in the back, killing him instantly.

As the dust settled, Mitsuri took several deep breaths and said to herself, “Damn it… I… I actually did it…”

“Thank God you’re okay,” Obanai then told her. “So that’s why you were so excited about those sho-”

“Iguro-san,” Mitsuri then angrily yelled out as she grabbed him by his shirt collar and pinned him to the side of a tree out of rage. “Fucking shit for brains! The only reason you’re not fucking dead right now is because I had to step in and save your ass after you were fucking reckless!” Something inside her had snapped as a result of the confrontation, and she needed to let it out right then and there. As her grip on her revolver tightened, she continued, “This isn’t the first fucking time I had to do it, but by God, it will be the last fucking time! Look, I agree to be your partner on missions a lot, but this is fucked! I will gladly protect you through the fucking flames of Hell, but it’s just not fucking possible to protect someone who’s trying so damn hard to get himself fucking killed all the time!”

Obanai was horrified to see someone like her become so visceral and driven by rage. He had heard her raise her voice very few times before, and never on this scale. “Are… Are you mad, Kanroji-san?”

“Hell yes,” Mitsuri spat at him. “I’m fucking pissed! Do you have any fucking clue how many people care about you?! Why is it that every time you’re in a bad spot, you want to throw your fucking life away?! Do you fucking know what that would do to everyone who loves you?!” As she went on, her rage slowly turned into sadness as tears began to form in her eyes. “Do you even have a single fucking iota of a clue of what that would do to me?! I don’t want to live in a world without you in it, Obanai! It’s like you’re fucking suicidal, and I’m sick of it!” Her use of his first name shocked him, as did her tears. “Please, don’t say you’re gonna sacrifice your life for me. I don’t know what I would do with myself if you died!”

As she let him go, she broke down and fell to her knees, dropping her gun and crying. Obanai looked at her, shocked at the preceding events as the horses the three now dead highwaymen came off of stood silently nearby. “Have I… Did she…” He then took a deep breath from under his bandages. “Kanroji-san, come on. I… I’m sorry I did that.”

“When we get to the hotel,” Mitsuri then told him as she calmed down, wiping away her tears. “We’re gonna have a serious talk about us. Until we get there, I want both of us to stay silent.”

…

Meanwhile, James, who was sleeping in the same bed as Susamaru, the two of them completely nude, was unable to fall asleep, the words he had told Obanai still ringing in his head, as well as his reaction. “Darling,” Susamaru asked him as she turned over to him. “What’s wrong? You can tell me.”

“It’s about Obanai,” he confessed. “I… I argued with him yesterday about Mitsuri.”

“What was it about?”

James sighed, retelling his side of what had happened. “The man hates himself so much he refuses to tell her he’s in love with her, even when it’s so fuckin’ clear she loves him, too! It reminded me too much of what I used to be.”

“I see,” Susamaru replied, feeling bad for Obanai. “I’m somewhat familiar with why.”

“Really? What happened to him?”

“It was about eight years ago,” Susamatu recalled to him. “I had been a demon for two years by then. I remember this because Mukago-chan sent me to visit where his family lived once to deliver a message to a demon. She had just become Lower Moon Four about a week prior.”

…

May 5, 1905

At a relatively large home in the middle of a small village in the middle of the night, a slightly younger looking Susamaru knocked on the door to the front, not knowing what to expect, but knowing that her destination was right in front of her. She carried a small bag made of human skin that had been given to her by Mukago, who in turn had been given to her by Muzan. Inside the bag were letters and other papers. As the door opened, a young woman about the same age as Susamaru had been when she was turned into a demon emerged. She bowed and told her, “Welcome. Who are you?”

“I am Susamaru,” she explained to her. “I was sent to deliver a message to Hebiko by our master.”

“Right this way,” she then replied, opening the door fully for her. The fact that she had called the demon by her name indicated that she was indeed not a threat, but was telling the truth. After going down several dimly-lit hallways, she entered a throne room, and before her was Hebiko, a demon who bore the lower body of a snake as well as the eyes of one. “Hebiko-sama,” the young woman explained. “This demon girl was sent by Kibutsuji Muzan to give you a message.”

“Sssso she wassssss,” she replied, drawing out her s-sounds in her speech. “Welcome to the Home of the Iguro Clan. What isssss your name?”

“Susamaru,” she replied with a bow. “I have a message from our master himself.” She then pulled out a letter and a few papers from her human skin bag. “It is of the utmost importance that you read these letters and follow the instructions on the attached sheets of paper.”

As Hebiko took the letter and read it, she smiled. “I ssssee,” she noted. “Ssssso, he hasssss conssssidered me to become a Lower Moon. Well, tell him I am honored by hissssss idea.”

“Whatever you do,” Susamaru further instructed her. “Do not let any of this fall into the hands of the Demon Slayer Corps. If you feel like they may, destroy them.” She then turned to the human women who had let her in. “That goes for you, too.

“Our lips are sealed,” she replied. “Hebiko has been very kind to us for 370 years.”

Then, an older woman with turquoise eyes came into the room. She appeared to be about 27, and greeted Susamaru. “Welcome. I see you’ve already met Hebiko-sama.” The woman held a small infant in her hands, peacefully sleeping. “I was just going to feed our master.”

“If you want,” Hebiko offered to Susamaru. “You can join in. I’ll leave sssssome of the dinner for you.”

Confused, Susamaru asked, “What’s the dinner?”

“She’ssss holding it,” Hebiko noted to her, pointing to the baby in the woman’s arms. “By the way,” she asked the woman. “How much longer until your son is ready?”

“Give him another two weeks,” the woman replied. “And he’ll be a wonderful meal, Hebiko-sama. Until then, take my fifth daughter here.”

“Sssssoundssss good to me,” Hebiko replied. “Sssusssamaru, what do you ssssay?”

Disturbed by what had just transpired in front of her, she replied, “Um… No thank you, Hebiko-san. I must respectfully decline.”

“That’ssss okay,” Hebiko nodded. “Not everyone’sssss got the same tassstesss as me.” She then gleefully plucked the infant from the older woman’s arms, causing it to cry, before gripping it firmly and biting down on its head, causing blood to spill onto the floor and the sobs of the baby to cease. As she consumed the child, Susamaru tried her best to hide her shock. Once she was finished, she asked the older woman. “What a wonderful meal. Tell me, how old wasssss she?”

“Three months old,” the woman replied. “Obanai will be even better.”

Several minutes later, Susamaru had exited the home in a hurry. Once she entered the outside, she ran as fast as she could away from the Iguro Clan Household, the image of the woman feeding her own baby to Hebiko replaying in her head over and over again. Once she rounded a corner past a closed-down tea shop, she found an empty garbage bin and quickly threw her head into it, becoming violently ill and excreting chunks of digested flesh and blood from her earlier meals over the past week. Once she was done vomiting into the trash can, she took several deep breaths and fell to the ground, breaking out into a cold sweat. “What the fuck… She willingly fed her own children to one of us?! What the fuck?!”

…

“Even by demon standards,” Susamaru told James in the present day. “She was disturbing to most of us. Mukago-chan even told me before she sent me that that bitch had ‘unusual tastes.’ I just never expected to see a grown woman feed a three-month-old baby to a demon. Turns out they were a clan of thieves who had been doing this for 370 fucking years just so Hebiko could give them all the shit she stole from her prey.”

James was horrified by the story. “That… That explains so much. Obanai must be so ashamed of his family that he thinks the only way to atone is death. Even so… That’s the wrong attitude to have. I hope he makes peace with himself and with Mitsuri without having to die.”

“Maybe he will,” Susamaru replied with hope. “Maybe you got through to him, but he just isn’t showing it.” She then kissed him on his cheek. “Goodnight, dear.”

“Goodnight,” he replied as they both closed their eyes and went to sleep.

Chapter Text

As Obanai and Mitsuri entered their hotel room together, having quietly gotten changed into sleeping clothes separately one at a time, the two remained stone-faced as they sat across from each other. Then, Mitsuri broke the silence. “Iguro Obanai,” she began. “I have held this in ever since we began working together, but I cannot hold it in anymore.” She then held his hands and took a deep breath. “I love you, Obanai, and I want us to be more than just friends. I’ve seen how you act around me, and I know for a fact that you feel the same way, so why do you keep hiding it from me?”

The fact that she went right for those words from the very start startled Obanai, who was expecting more build-up to a love confession. “Well… I know you won’t like what you’re gonna hear, but I am obligated to tell you why I’ve held back for so long.” He then took his bandages off and revealed his scars to her, something he only ever did when he was eating prior to that night. “I’m a monster. My family were monsters. My family were thieves who struck a deal with a demon to steal the belongings of the humans she murdered and ate, and… And we fed many of our newborns to her to compensate her…”

Mitsuri was shocked to hear such words. “No… That’s… There's no way that’s possible. You gotta be telling me some sick joke, Obanai-kun…”

“I was the first boy born into the family in generations,” Obanai continued. “And since I was heterochromatic, I was set aside by the demon, who was named Hebiko and had the lower body of a snake. She wanted me to grow older to savor me. All the while, my family continued to feed sisters, cousins, and so on to the demon, all while stealing from her other victims. We were fucked. We were so fucked. We were greedy, and we cared not one bit for who we hurt.”

“Then Rengoku-san’s father saved you,” Mitsuri added for him, knowing that part of his story. “And killed her.”

“He did,” he confirmed with a nod. “But not before she murdered fifty of my relatives because I escaped. One of my cousins blamed me for what happened, and though she made little sense, she struck a nerve with me.” He closed his eyes as Kaburamaru wrapped around him. “The only friend I had was Kaburamaru, who wandered into the cage I was locked in one night and kept me safe.”

“I got one question,” Mitsuri then asked him. “How does any of that have to do with you hating yourself?”

“Because I’m cursed by my family,” Obanai explained to her. “And since I’ve been disfigured. They cut my face like this so I could look more like Hebiko before I was going to be eaten. I’m unclean, and someone like me is good for almost nothing. For the longest time, I wanted to die in combat… Die a hero so I could repent for what my ancestors did, and then one day live a normal life after I had been reborn. As for why I never told you anything about how I felt, well, that’s why. I thought that maybe in another life, we’d be husband and wife.” He then looked down, depressed by his own reasoning.

Mitsuri was horrified to hear his reasoning, and angered. She immediately raised her right hand and delivered a loud slap across Obanai’s face as tears flowed down her face. The slap was so powerful that it left a red mark on the side of his face, and stung intensely as he held the spot where he had been hit. “How could you think that way?! I don’t care about what your family did in the past, and I certainly don’t give a fuck about your disfigurement, Obanai! I love you for you, and only you! You may want to wait for a rebirth that may not even happen, but I can’t! What’s to prevent us from being reborn in circumstances that prevent us from meeting?! What’s there to prove that there even is an afterlife?! I can’t wait for the next life to love you! My heart won’t allow it! Obanai, you’re the man I’ve searched for for so long! If you died, I’d never love anyone again!”

It was then and there that Obanai had an epiphany. In his head, he realized, “James… You were right…”

“Now that I’ve gotten it out of my system,” Mitsuri concluded as she wiped away tears. “Perhaps I owe you a chance to strike back.” She then carefully turned her head and closed her eyes, preparing to get hit back.

“I could never,” Obanai thought to himself. “I may have deserved that slap that one time, but now… No… I know what I must do!” He then grabbed Mitsuri by her shoulders and closed his eyes before placing his lips on her’s. His kiss came as a shock to Mitsuri, whose eyes remained open for several seconds before she closed them and returned his affection for her. “I’ve long dreamt of this very moment, and now it’s come true…”

Once the two split from their kiss, Mitsuri asked him, “Please, no more secrets, okay?”

“Okay,” Obanai replied. “Kanroji Mitsuri, I love you.” The two then kissed again, this time also reaching into each other’s yukatas, indicating their desire to go beyond merely kissing one another. “Kanroji-san, I need to go further.”

“I agree,” she eagerly replied with a seductive smile. “I’ve never done this with anyone before, not even when I was engaged before it was broken off.”

“Neither have I,” Obanai replied as he untied his yukata and then Mitsuri’s.

“I need you,” Mitsuri then begged of him. “Please, don’t hold back.”

…

June 14, 1913

As Sanemi and Véronique walked along a path in the Butterfly Estate, talking about their future training schedule together, they saw Obanai and Mitsuri walk in from the front entrance. “Those two look happy,” Véronique noted to Sanemi. Indeed, Mitsuri had a wide grin on her face and was practically skipping along the path, while Obanai was similarly joyful even with his bandages covering his smile.

Sanemi was surprised, and asked the two, “Welcome back. How was your mission? You two look happy.”

“Indeed we are,” Mitsuri gushed to Sanemi. “And we have good reason to be, Shinazugawa-san!"

“The two of us are together,” Obanai explained to him and his student as the two held hands in front of them. “As more than just friends or partners in combat.”

Sanemi blinked several times in disbelief. “I’m sorry, what the fuck did you just say?” He was shocked. For all the years he knew both of them, he knew Obanai loved Mitsuri, but thought he would never tell her.

Mitsuri giggled. “It’s the truth!”

Véro, missing out on what was so shocking, asked Sanemi, “Shinazugawa-sensei, what’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is that we’ve all known that you two were madly in love with each other for years,” Sanemi told all three of them. “But we never thought either of you would have the balls to tell each other.”

“I don’t have balls,” Mitsuri replied, stating the obvious. “But I get your point.”

Meanwhile, Shinobu stared at the couple from afar, smiling on the outside but in disbelief on the inside. “I’m happy for those two,” she said to herself. “If only everyone could be as honest with romance and sex as they are.” She thought to herself, “Especially a certain Water Pillar.”

…

7 Years Prior, 1906

“Welcome to my humble abode,” Sakonji Urokodaki, the former Water Pillar of the Demon Slayer Cops, told Gyomei as he entered. “So, how was the trip?”

“It was alright,” he replied as he took a seat across from Sakonji. Despite being blind, he was incredibly strong in all of his other senses. “We slayed two newer demons.”

“We?”

“Yeah,” Gyomei replied with a nod. “Those two girls I rescued are slayers now.” He then turned his head to where approximately the front door was and called out, “Shinobu! Kanae! You guys can come in! You don’t have to stand outside! Urokodaki-san doesn’t bite!” Giyu, who was then 14, looked on with interest from beside Sakonji.

Two young girls, aged 11 and 14, then slowly walked in. The older one, Kanae, bowed and introduced herself and her sister. “Good afternoon, Urokodaki-sama. My name is Kocho Kanae, and this is my younger sister, Kocho Shinobu.”

A rather small Shinobu also bowed, but was a bit more nervous. “Pl-pleased to meet you, Urokodaki-sama!” As she looked up, she accidentally locked eyes with Giyu, causing him to quickly dart his eyes away from her with a slight blush.

“You two look about the same age as my most recent apprentice here,” Sakonji noted to both of the girls. “Giyu, say hello to them.”

Giyu then stood up and bowed. “It is a pleasure to meet you two. I am Tomioka Giyu.”

Shinobu looked at his mismatched haori, one half being red and the other half being green and gold, with curiosity. As Gyomei and Sakonji continued their conversation, the brand new slayer approached Giyu and asked him, “Tomioka-san, why is your haori mismatched?”

That question sent shivers down Giyu’s spine. He was still reeling from Sabito’s death the year prior, and the question was out of the blue for him. “Well, uh… It was for a good friend of mine who died. His was gold and green, so I stitched everything together to honor him.”

“I’m sorry to hear about that,” Shinobu replied, feeling bad for asking the question. “It looks a lot prettier than mine. Mine is just a simple white coat. My older sister’s is so much prettier.” Giyu and Shinobu then looked to Kanae’s haori, which would later become Shinobu’s after she died. “The two of us are fascinated by insects, especially by butterflies, so Kanae-oneesan made it. After our parents were murdered, the two of us made it together. It helped keep us sane after what we had been through.”

“The other half of my haori was my original one,” Giyu further told her. “It was from my sister. She… She isn’t alive, either.”

Shinobu could not help but be enticed by his looks for some reason. “He’s cute,” she thought to herself. “That I can say for sure. Maybe my sister would be interested in him one day… Or maybe even me...” She then shook her head, confiding Giyu. “No, no, no. There’s no way he’d go for me. Kanae-oneesan is the prettier one. I’m basically a runt. I always have been.” She then told Giyu, “I’m sorry to hear that. You must care about them deeply.”

“Of course,” he nodded. “But enough of that. What kind of breathing style do you use? I use the Breath of Water.”

“I use the Breath of Water, too,” Shinobu replied. “My sister does, too, but she’s learning a new style.”

This piqued Giyu’s interest. “A new style?”

“The Breath of the Flower,” Shinobu explained intently. “It goes along with the whole butterfly theming she has since they and other insects interact with flowers a lot. It’s a pretty advanced subset of the Breath of Water, and most people generally take a year to learn if, but she’s learning it super fast.” She was clearly proud of Kanae based on her tone of voice. “Maybe one day I can do the same thing, or even invent my own breath style…”

Chapter Text

June 22, 1913

“Breath of Mist,” Mukago declared as she readied her sword, attacking a demon who bore two tentacles sprouting from his back that began to attack her. “Third Form: Scattering Mist Splash!” She then charged at the demon, slashing both of his tentacles quickly before readying her sword to strike his neck. “And now the First Form!” As her sword made a clean slash across the demon’s neck, decapitating and killing it with ease, she concluded, “Low Clouds, Distant Haze!”

As the demon’s head fell to the ground, he shouted to her, “You will pay for betraying our master! Former Lower Moon Four, your time will come!” The head and the body it was once attached to then faded away, the demon they belonged to slayed.

“Excellent,” Muichiro told her with a faint smile as he clapped. “You’re a pro at this, Mukago.”

She giggled and gave Muichiro a hug, telling him, “I couldn’t do it without you, dear.” She then kissed his cheek. “It’s your breath style, after all.”

“Now,” he told her as they split. “Let’s head back to my place.”

However, just as he turned around to walk the other way on the unlit road they had battled on, he heard Mukago suddenly cough several times. “Oh God…” As he turned around, he saw that she was grasping her stomach and trying to hold something in by her mouth with her other hand. “Oh no…”

“Mukago,” Muichiro asked her as he walked up to her, concerned for his Tsuguko and girlfriend. “Are you alri-?!”

Then, suddenly, Mukago pushed herself away from him before bending down slightly and opening her mouth, vomiting out of it onto the ground in front of her. “Fuck, I don’t feel so good!” She then puked again, the sickening sound of her vomit hitting the ground disturbing Muichiro. “I… I don’t know what’s happening. Mui, help me!”

“Okay, uh,” Muichiro replied as he tried to figure out what to do. “Ginko! Ginko!”

His trusty Kasugai Crow then came flying down from a nearby tree. “What do you need, Muichiro-sama? What’s wrong with Mukago-sama?”

“Go to the Butterfly Estate and tell them to prepare for Mukago’s entry,” Muichiro instructed her.

Mukago’s own recently-issued crow, another female crow named Rin, also flew down and joined Ginko. “Is Mukago-sama sick?!”

“She is,” Muichiro explained to her as well. “Rin, Ginko, go to the Butterfly Estate. Kocho-san needs to be made aware of this. I can take care of Mukago until we get there.”

“Yes, sir,” both crows replied before dashing off into the sky to deliver their message.

“Damn it,” Muichiro said to himself as he approached her again. “Why now?”

...

“Hmmm,” Shinobu said to herself as she looked over Mukago, who had stripped down to hospital clothes from her corps uniform. “I can’t see a reason why you’re sick so far. It can’t be food poisoning, unless demons can get it from bad blood or something.”

“We can,” Mukago replied, laying down on a hospital bed with a bucket next to her. “But Mui’s blood is fine, and so is the blood he gets from donors. I’d be able to tell if it was tainted or poisoned.”

“So that’s how you feed yourself,” Shinobu replied in curiosity. “I like that nickname you have for Tokito-san. How close have you two been?”

Mukago, not wanting to spill the secret that he and Muichiro were in a relationship, replied cautiously, “Well, we work together quite extensively, so…”

Shinobu, having a hunch something was up, calmly asked her, “Mukago, since you’re freed from Muzan’s Curse, you can get regular periods, right?”

“Yeah,” Mukago nodded, unsure of what she was getting at.

“Well,” Shinobu continued. “Did you miss one recently?”

That question shook Mukago, because indeed, she had. Immediately, alarm bells began to ring inside her head, realizing what Shinobu was getting at. “I, uh… I did… Two weeks ago.”

Shinobu chuckled, putting gloves on her hands. “I see. Anyway, let me take a look at your crotch area. I wanna see something.” She then grabbed a medical instrument located nearby, and put on a surgical mask as well for further protection.

As she lifted up part of her gown and inspected the area, Mukago began to worry as she felt cold metal between her legs. “Holy shit,” she thought to herself. “Does she think… Does she think I’m…”

“Well, well,” Shinobu told her. “I see Chadwick’s Sign in your cervix and vagina. That’s referring to when the skin down there looks a bit bluish from the area being engorged with blood. That, coupled with your sickness and your missed period, means that you are most likely pregnant.”

Mukago was shocked to hear those words. “Pre-... Preg-... Pregnant?! What the fuck?! Demons can get pregnant?!”

“According to Colby-san,” Shinobu politely explained to her. “Indeed they can. The only reason they don’t in Japan is because Muzan apparently didn’t trust you guys to make your own children.” She then stood up and removed her gloves. “Now, tell me, Mukago, who is the father? Don’t lie, by the way, because I will find out.”

Realizing she was running out of options, Mukago sighed. “I shouldn’t be telling you this, but… The father has to be Muichiro. I’ve… We’ve been having sex for two months now.”

“Sex with a demon,” Shinobu replied as her tone of voice slowly changed to a slightly angered tone, despite retaining her smile. “I’ve… I’ve never heard of such a thing, especially not among a Pillar.”

“Kocho-sama,” a Kakushi then exclaimed as he ran into the room. “We’re bringing in two badly-injured slayers! We need your assistance!”

“I’ll be right there,” she told him before turning around to walk out of the room. Before she did, she left Mukago with one warning, “Due to patient confidentiality, I won’t tell anyone. However, you shouldn’t broadcast that you’re fucking a Pillar to people in the corps. It wouldn’t look good on Tokito-san for him to be fathering a child with a woman who too many slayers still see as the enemy.”

Once she left, Mukago was all alone on her bed in her private exam room. “Pregnant… What the fuck… What kind of luck is that?”

Muichiro then knocked on the door, asking her, “Can I come in?”

“Yeah,” Mukago replied as he let himself in. “Hey, um, I have some news for you.”

“I already know,” the Mist Pillar explained to her. “I heard it through the door. I… I can’t believe it.”

The former Lower Moon Four lowered her head as tears welled up inside her eyes and began to fall down her cheeks. “I’m scared, Mui-kun. I’ve never been pregnant before, not even when I worked at the post-station as a tea waitress.”

Muichiro held her hand and assured her, “Mukago, look, we can get through this. This is our child, not just your’s.” As he rested his other hand on her stomach, he told her, “You know, you don’t have a bump yet.”

“Women don’t have that until later,” Mukago replied. “When that starts, we’re gonna have to tell everyone. Until then, we need to hide this as much as possible. I want to keep going on missions until we have to reveal it.”

“It’s risky,” Muichiro noted to her. “But we can make that work.”

...

June 23, 1913

During the later evening, James and Nezuko sat down in a room together, with James testing Nezuko to see if she had improved at all since she had been given some of his blood. “Okay, Nezuko,” he instructed her. “I need you to take that there muzzle off.”

Nezuko sighed, carefully reaching behind her head and untying it before placing it on the table. “Ja… Jam…” She was trying to say his name, but it was difficult since she had not spoken in so long.

“James,” he told her. “Say it with me. James.”

“Jame,” Nezuko then said, only missing the s in his name. “Jame… Jame… James…”

“Excellent,” he replied with a smile. “Nezuko, do y’all understand what I gave you on the 3rd of this month?”

Nezuko shook her head. “Gave… No…”

“I gave you some of my blood,” James explained to her. “Your big brother, Tanjiro… He wants to see if me givin’ you my blood would help you regain some semblance of sapience. With enough of my blood, you could also walk in the sunlight, but there’s a catch.”

Nezuko leaned in, curious to hear what he had to say. “Sunlight?”

“You will be vulnerable in the sun,” James explained. “American demons may be able to walk in the day, but they don’t got the ability to regrow parts of their body, heal from wounds, or use their Blood Demon Arts until the night comes. If you’re not careful, you could die from bleedin’ out before the night comes.”

“Yes,” Nezuko replied affirmatively. “Yes, yes!”

“Are you sayin’ you wanna continue with blood treatment?”

“Yes!” Nezuko seemed energetic and emphatic in her decision. “Yes!”

James then handed her a small vial of his blood. “Then drink this. Tomorrow, we’re also gonna experiment with injectin’ it directly into your body.”

Then, they heard the door to the room slide open as Zenitsu emerged, a wide grin on his face. “Nezuko-chan…”

Nezuko looked up and asked, “Huh?”

Immediately, Zenitsu was shocked to see her without her muzzle, and yelled out as his eyes widened, “Holy shit! She’s even cuter without it!”

Nezuko felt a slight blush emerge on her cheeks as James turned around and told him, “Do ya have to be that loud, Zenitsu?”

Zenitsu ignored him as he approached Nezuko, not caring about the fact that she had only been around a human without a muzzle once before since she had been turned into a demon. “Nezuko-chan, can you understand me now?” He was giddy with joy at seeing her without that pesky muzzle covering almost half of her face, her fangs clearly visible when she talked.

Nezuko’s blush intensified as she told him, “Dandelion… Talk?”

Zenitsu’s jaw dropped at her words. “Da… Dandelion?”

James could not help but break into a fit of laughter. “Oh my God, she thinks you’re a fuckin’ dandelion!”

Nezuko, confused, turned to Zenitsu again and told him, “You… Dandelion person? Nice person.” She then patted him on the head, tussling his blond hair. “Good dandelion. Good dandelion.”

Zenitsu’s face immediately lit up with a bright red as he yelled out, “This is fucking AMAZING! Nezuko-chan is patting my head! I’m beyond Heaven! This is Nirvana!”

“Keep it down,” James told Zenitsu with a hush. “Come on!”

…

Meanwhile, Enmu and Patrick Cleburne were sleeping together in a room in the Dimensional Infinity Fortress, Patrick having asked Enmu to show him how his ‘dream powers’ worked. Enmu had designed a rough sketch of a city street at night before he had Patrick ingest some of his blood, tied a flesh-made Connecting Rope to him, and then used his Blood Demon Art to put both of them to sleep together in Enmu’s dream. On the outside, a third demon sat in the same room, two buckets of water by his side when he was ready to wake them up with a Kick Event.

When both woke up inside it, they were standing in the middle of a bustling Japanese city street at night. Enmu told Patrick, “See? We’re sharing the same dream right now.”

“No shit,” Patrick replied as he looked around in awe at his surroundings. “This is amazing.”

“It gets better,” Enmu eagerly told him as everyone on the street suddenly looked to Patrick for a split second before turning back to their previous activities. “My subconscious now recognizes you as an outsider.” Their piercing stares shook Patrick, even if they only lasted maybe three seconds at most.

“What does that mean?”

“You’ll find out in about another fifteen seconds,” Enmu explained. “Don’t worry. I haven’t induced Permanent Dream Death, so if either of us die in here, we’ll just wake up as if we were subject to a Kick Event.”

“What happens in fifteen sec-“ Patrick immediately got his answer when gunshots rang out, forcing him down to the ground for cover. “What the fuck, Enmu?!” Several men then exited a Ford Model T car, all armed with rifles and pistols and looking for blood.

“I weaponized my subconscious,” Enmu replied as they both ran for cover into a building. “Once it detects an intruder, it sends armed guards to kill them!”

“You really thought this through,” Patrick told him. Then, a volley of shots rang out as two men armed with rifles aimed at them as they stormed the room they were in, and everything went black for a split second.

In an instant, both of them woke up in the Dimensional Infinity Fortress, lying in the same beds as before, having been killed in the dream. Patrick hyperventilated several times as sweat poured down his face, still in shock from being shot. “Fucking Hell, that was… Fuck, I don’t know what that was.” He then wiped the sweat from his forehead before looking to the pail of water next to him and reaching in to cup water for him to drink. “Damn it…”

“That’s the power of dreams,” Enmu concluded with a confident smile. “So, are you convinced of my abilities now?”

“Absolutely!”

Chapter Text

June 27, 1913

Obanai was worried as he approached a well-off house in Mitsuri’s hometown. Out front was a sign that read the following: “KANROJI RESIDENCE”. He asked his girlfriend, “So, this is the place, huh?”

“Yeah,” Mitsuri replied. “My dad’s work with photography brings a lot in for us, but it does mean that he wasn’t around too much, especially when I was younger. Being one of the only ones for a few towns tends to do that.” The two then held hands and walked forward to the front door of the residence, Mitsuri happily knocking on the front door. “Okay, while we’re here, pretend you’re a suitor for marriage.”

“Marriage?!” Obanai was shocked. The thought of becoming wed to Mitsuri was long a fantasy of his, but to have it happen so fast was like being in a dream. “Married?! Married?! To Mitsuri?! Me?! Us?! Marriage, a house… Children…”

As Mitsuri’s mother, who bore traditional black hair, answered the door, she greeted her daughter first. “Welcome home, Mitsuri! Say, who’s this fellow you have with you?”

Mitsuri lightly jabbed Obanai in the arm to remind him. “Ah, right. Kanroji-san’s mother, correct?”

“Indeed,” she replied with a bow.

“My name is Iguro Obanai,” he told her with his own bow. “I believe you are looking for a suitor for your daughter, correct?” He could not believe he was saying such words to Mitsuri’s mother, and under his bandages, a blush came across his face.

“Indeed,” her mother replied. “Come on in. You must be interested in her to come forward to us first. The first two times, we had to search for a potential suitor, and neither one worked out, I’m afraid.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Obanai replied. In his head, he thought, “I still wonder how any man could reject Mitsuri. She would be the perfect wife for any husband.”

“I’m glad to see a man has interest in our daughter,” she told him. “Especially one that seems to be from the Demon Slayer Corps like her. My name is Kanroji Shuka, by the way. My husband is Kanroji Masaya. Please, come on in.” She then turned to her husband. “Honey, I have some good news about Mitsuri!”

“I heard,” he replied as he emerged from a nearby room. “Iguro Obanai, huh? I’m glad you’ve taken interest in our daughter as your wife.” He then turned to Mitsuri. “Your brothers and sisters are all seeing their aunt tonight, so we’ll be all set to talk about the details.”

…

That same night, Shinobu was walking alone along the outskirts of a village, investigating reports of a demon who had been stalking travelers walking along the roads at night in the area. As she kept her head on a swivel, peacefully humming to herself and inspecting everything in her path, she suddenly heard a commotion behind her and drew her sword. As she looked to where the noises came from, she said, “Who’s there?”

To her shock, she saw two human shapes crash through the trees and onto the ground, followed by a grotesque shape of something that had multiple legs. Then, one of the human shapes pulled on what appeared to be ropes that ran from the trees onto the third shape, and she heard a sickening crunch before the head of the third shape came flying off. “Yeah,” a male voice shouted as the head rolled towards Shinobu after it hit the ground. “You got fucked!”

“A demon?” Shinobu saw the head dissipate into dust as it came to rest near her feet. “Then… Who killed it?”

A female voice shouted out to her, “Who’s there?” As the two demon killers walked towards her, they both came into view. “Are you here to kill us or kill the demon we took out for you? Either way, your job here is done, so leave.”

Shinobu’s trademark smile was wiped off of her face when she got a good look at both of them. Both had pale white skin with white hair and red markings on their face. Both also wore white kimonos, with the brother possessing red and blue eyes and the sister possessing white and red eyes. Shinobu, realizing she had seen demons with similar markings before, yelled out, “What the fuck?! We… We killed you!”

“No,” the sister explained. “You just killed all of the Spider Family that was left. We escaped the week before you slayers came, and one of our sisters had to pay for helping us with her life.”

“Don’t bring harm to us,” the brother then explained. “Ever since, we’ve been hunting demons. By escaping the grasp of Lower Moon Five, we’ve broken free of his control. Kibutsuji-san trusted Rui to the point that he transferred the curses he held on Rui’s family to Rui himself, and once we were free of him and he was dead, the curse was broken.”

Shinobu then drew her sword. “Are you two trying to repent for all the people you’ve killed?”

“Absolutely,” the sister told her as she drew a sword. “We’ve hunted demons and human criminals alike. There’s a reason thieves have begun to avoid several of the towns and villages around these parts. These swords we took from a highwayman certainly helped.”

“Reiko-oneechan,” the brother told the sister as he also drew a sword. “We’re dealing with a Pillar. I can tell.”

“You’re very good at perception,” Shinobu complimented him, feeling more at ease as she continued to talk to them. “Tell me, what’s your name?”

“Rinji,” he replied.

“Would you two happen to know a demon with rainbow eyes and silver hair, Rinji-san?”

Puzzled, Reiko and Rinji looked to each other first. Then, Reiko asked her, “Do you always ask demons this?”

“The only reason I ask is because my sister was murdered by one such demon,” Shinobu explained, lowering her stance. “One day, a slayer came back from a mission, telling me and my sister that there was a demon at a nearby village late at night that he was unable to kill before he was forced to retreat since he had human guards. My sister went out alone to take care of it, but two hours later, I decided to run after her.”

“What happened then?”

“I found my sister dead just as the sun was rising,” Shinobu continued. “The demon had run off because he didn’t have the time to eat her. Before she died, she told me what he looked like, and that he was an Upper Moon.”

Rinji sighed and told Shinobu, “I’m afraid we wouldn’t know his name then. We were kept in the dark about demon affairs aside from those that concerned Rui himself.”

“As I suspected,” Shinobu replied. “Anyway, that was four years ago. Since then, I have trained in swordplay and poisoning extensively. When I meet that demon, I will be ready, and before I battle him, I will tell him who I am and what I intend to do.” With a tone of confidence, she told them what she intended to tell the demon who had killed Kanae. “Hello. My name is Kocho Shinobu. You killed my sister. Prepare to die.”

Reiko sympathized with Shinobu easily, telling her, “I wish you luck on your quest. I hope you get to avenge your sister one day. I assume you’ve spent the last four years honing your skills and studying swordplay and poisoning.”

“Well,” Shinobu admitted. “It’s more of a pursuit than a study. I still have a job to do as the Insect Pillar. Revenge doesn’t pay the bills, after all.” She then put her sword away and gave them both a smile. “Anyway, I can see you two are no threat. After all, not once while I monologued to either of you did you guys attack me.”

Reiko nodded. “We have never brought harm to a Demon Slayer since we left the mountain. One attacked us after we saved him from a demon, unfortunately, so we’ve been hesitant to run into most humans.”

“I must say,” Shinobu replied. “That must have been very rude of them. Anyway…” She then suddenly pulled her sword out again. “How about this? We can engage in a sword battle. I still have to follow Demon Slayer Corps regulations.”

Reiko and Rinji looked at each other and nodded. Rinji then told her, “It’s only fair. We won’t use our Blood Demon Arts. From now until the end of this swordfight, we’ll fight fair.”

“Very well,” Shinobu replied. “I won’t use any of the forms of my breathing style. Now, begin!” The three of them then went at it, striking fast at each other. Shinobu deflected their swords quickly before jumping up to dodge a slash from Rinji. “I must say, it’s fun to fight demons as skilled in sword usage as me!”

Reiko told her as they traded blows, “Kocho-san, you seem like an honorable woman! I’d hate to have to kill you!”

“You two seem like honorable demons,” Shinobu replied. “But I’d hate to have to die!”

As the fight continued, Rinji asked her, “Your sword is very unusual! It looks more like a European fencing sword!”

“I’m the only Pillar that cannot decapitate a demon,” Shinobu explained as she dodged an attack from Reiko. “So I stuck to poisoning demons to death! My sword is meant for slashing rather than cutting, and has wisteria infused in it to allow me to poison demons!” She then managed to kick Reiko’s sword out of her hand. “Well, go and get it! I won’t attack you without your weapon!”

As Reiko quickly ran to grab her sword, Shinobu dodged an attack from Rinji, and eventually found herself trapped, with their swords stuck to each other by the force of their wielders clashing. “Your solution is pretty unique! I’m surprised more slayers don't do it!”

“Alas,” Reiko told her as she managed to kick Shinobu’s sword out of her hands before slashing her cheek. “It looks like this is the end!”

“Fuck,” Shinobu muttered to herself as she was forced to her knees. “You guys got me, I suppose. If you must kill me, do it quickly.”

“Hell no,” Reiko told her, much to her comfort. “I’d rather insult the emperor of Japan himself in front of his face than kill you. However, we can’t have you following us, and the original demon you were sent to kill is already no more, so please, don’t take this personally…” She then untied Shinobu’s hair, set down her butterfly hair pin, and whacked her across the back of her head with the hilt of her sword, knocking her out cold. “I didn’t want to ruin that hair pin of yours. It’s too beautiful to be destroyed.”

“Let’s get out of here before anyone else notices us,” Rinji told his sister. “I must say, Kocho-san was particularly good.”

“Indeed.”

…

About an hour later, Mitsuri and Obanai were sitting in the front room of the house alongside Mitsuri’s parents. Obanai, trying to think of something to make a conversation with, looked for a vase in a shrine in the same room, noting to her parents, “That is a really nice vase you have, though I wonder why it’s in that shrine. Isn’t that a bit excessive for a vase?”

Shuka, Masaya, and Mitsuri all looked at each other awkwardly. Shuka then explained as Masaya sighed, “Iguro-san, that’s not a vase. That’s an urn holding the ashes of my mother-in-law.”

Horrified, Obanai’s jaw dropped. “Oh, uh… I… I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to insult her.” He felt incredibly guilty for possibly insulting Masaya’s mother and Mitsuri’s maternal grandmother. “Way to fucking go, Iguro Obanai,” Obanai thought to himself. “This night can’t possibly get any worse than that.”

“No, listen, it’s fine,” Masaya assured him. “You didn’t know. I probably would have said the same thing if I didn’t know better.” He then got up from his sitting position. “Anyway, why don’t we break the tension a little and get a bottle of champagne?”

“Cham-what?” Obanai was confused, having never heard of the drink before.

“It’s a French sparkling wine,” Mitsuri explained to him. “My father got a large amount of it when he went to a photography convention in Paris four years ago.”

“Indeed,” Shuka added. “He brought back twenty-four bottles, and we’re down to six. It’s not often we break them out, so the fact that we are now shows this is a special occasion.”

“Okay,” Masaya then said to everyone as he emerged once more with a bottle. “I got the bottle.”

“I can open it,” Obanai insisted suddenly, wanting to make up for his earlier mistake. “It doesn’t look too hard.”

“If you insist,” Masaya replied as he handed him the bottle, much to Mitsuri and Shuka’s concern. “Have at it.”

Obanai, unfamiliar with how champagne worked, tried to pry the cork off the top with his bare hands, unaware that it was stored under pressure. “Damn it, come on… Come off already…”

“Uh,” Masaya replied in confusion. “I have a cork opener, you know.”

“I got this,” Obanai insisted, wanting to impress Mitsuri with his strength. “There, there, come on! I almost got it!” Then, in an instant, the cork came flying off, propelled into the air by the pressure the champagne was under. “Shit!” The cork then bounced off a wall next to Obanai and came back towards Mitsuri. He quickly moved in front of her and took the full brunt of the cork to his face, barely avoiding spilling the champagne as he did. “Fuck, I got hit!”

“Iguro-san,” Shuka asked him. “Are you okay?!”

“I’m fine,” he insisted as he rubbed a spot on his cheek where his bandages were. “Ouch… Damn it, that hurt.”

“Maybe you should take those bandages off,” Shuka asked of him. “I think you may have a bruise.”

Obanai protested once more, “I swear, Kanroji-san, I’m fine.”

“Take them off,” Mitsuri then ordered him as she reached over and began to slowly remove them from his face. As she did, his scars became completely visible to her parents, and so did a small bruise from the cork.

“Oh my,” Masaya remarked. “Those scars… They look painful.” Both he and Shuka were taken aback by how long and deep they were across his face.

“I… I was afraid you would see them,” Obanai explained as he stood up. “Your daughter knows they exist. We’ve both known each other ever since she joined the Demon Slayer Corps.”

Shuka asked, “Does that mean you’re one, too?”

“Yes,” he replied and bowed. “I am one.”

“Mama, Papa,” Mitsuri then told both of them as she stood up beside her boyfriend. “There’s something I need to tell you. You see, Iguro-san doesn’t need to meet me three times, because…” She then sighed. “Because the two of us already love each other.”

Shuka and Masaya both looked to each other and began to laugh, confusing the young couple. Masaya then spoke up first, asking them, “So let me guess. You were trying to have him pose as a marriage candidate to hide your relationship?”

“Oh boy,” Shuka remarked to her husband. “Where have I heard that before, huh?” The two then laughed again.

“I don’t get it,” Obanai replied to both of them, deeply confused. “What’s going on?”

“Sorry for laughing,” Shuka explained. “But my husband, Mitsuri’s father, did the same thing with me. When I was 15 and he was 18, we had been sneaking out at night to see each other a lot, and after a while, we decided to make our relationship known to my parents.”

“So I posed as a marriage candidate,” Masaya continued, a smile on his face as he recalled his youth. “And I was able to arrange the traditional three meetings for an arranged marriage to your mother, Mitsuri. Of course, what we were not expecting was that your mother was already a few months pregnant with you, so when you were born six months later, her parents were concerned.”

“They thought you were born premature,” Shuka added. “We had to tell them that we had been having sex since way before he met my parents, which was an incredibly awkward conversation.”

Mitsuri blushed, remembering her own sexual adventures with Obanai so far. “I see… Uh… So yeah, the two of us love each other.”

“I can tell,” Masaya replied with a cheerful tone. “I can arrange the three traditional meetings if you want, or we can wait and let the relationship flesh out more. It’s up to you guys.”

The couple then looked to each other and nodded. Obanai then spoke first. “I want to marry your daughter. That part is completely true. While we may need some time to get things settled until then, I do wish to one day take her as my wife. Ever since I’ve known her, she has been there for me at my lowest and at my highest. She has gotten me out of emotional slumps and out of bad situations in the field, and without her, I would probably be dead right now. I don’t have the best family history at all, given my family was low class and composed of thieves, but I want the chance to create the family I wish I had when I was a child.” He then closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I cannot imagine a life without her in it, and I thank the gods every day that I was able to meet her.”

“I know his family history,” Mitsuri continued as she held his hand. “And it’s not pretty, but I don’t care. My heart is dead set on him, no matter what anyone else may have to say about it. One day, we will have a family of our own, and I would love to have you two be part of it.”

Shuka and Masaya smiled, proud of their daughter for choosing a man who truly cared for her. They both stood up and bowed, telling them, “We give our blessing.”

Chapter Text

Shinobu woke up an hour after she was knocked out by Reiko and Rinji. As she stumbled to her feet, she looked on the ground and found her butterfly hair pin lying neatly near where she had laid. She quickly picked it up and redid her hair, tying it back together with the pin. She took a deep breath and told herself, “I need to study swordplay more. It’s clear I’m not good enough.” As she looked around, she saw that the two had completely disappeared. “They’re gone.”

As she turned around to return to the Butterfly Estate, her mission technically finished, she reminisced about her older sister and Kanao, reminded of them by the Spider Siblings.

…

6 Years Prior, 1907

As a 12-year old Shinobu and a 15-year old Kanae walked along a bridge in the middle of the day, the two talked about a mission they had recently finished, one of Kanae’s first as the new Flower Pillar. “For a second there,” Kanae remarked to her. “I thought we were gonna be killed, but that poison thing you did was really helpful.”

Then, Shinobu noticed a man in front of them that was pulling on something with a rope. “Hey, nee-san, what’s that?” As they both looked around, they saw that the thing the man was pulling on with a rope was in fact a little girl, no older than ten years. Shinobu expresses in disgust, “Oh my God, that’s fucked.”

“You’re not wrong,” Kanae replied. “I don’t feel comfortable just letting that girl be dragged around like that.” She then quickly walked up to the man, who was bald, and asked him, “Hey, sir, I don’t mean to bother you, but why is that girl tied up like that? Did she steal something from you?”

“She’s all dirty and flea-ridden,” the man scoffed, annoyed by her. “Plus, I don’t want her escaping from me.”

Kanae then approached the girl, who just stared at them with a blank expression. “Hello there,” she greeted her. “My name is Kocho Kanae. Tell me, what is your name, child?”

The girl did not reply at all. The man instead told them, “Isn't it obvious? Her parents didn’t give her a name. Now, get lost. I got important shit for her to do as my slave.” 

The man tried to push Kanae away, but Shinobu slapped his hands away from her. With a stern tone, she warned him, “Please, don’t lay a hand on my sister again, asshole!”

“What the fuck is your problem, bitch?” The man was now deeply angered by Shinobu telling him off. “If you want her that badly, why don’t you just buy this slave yourself?”

“That can be arranged,” Shinobu replied. “Tell me, is this enough to own another person?!” She then reached into her haori and tossed out a large amount of yen notes and coins, startling the man as she then ripped the rope out of his hands and ran, with Kanae following quickly behind her. “I’d pick that money up right now before the crowd and the wind get it, prick!”

“Wha… Hey!” The man then quickly grabbed up as much of the money off the ground as he could. He warned the shocked crowd around him, “Hands off, fuckers! This is my money!”

Kanae could only chuckle to herself. “Shinobu, are you sure this is a good idea?”

“We’ll be fine,” Shinobu assured her.

Kanae, not wanting the man to follow them, turned around and told him, “Sorry for the mess!” She then turned back towards the front, remarking to herself, “My, oh my!”

As the three of them ran, a police officer approached the man, asking him, “Okay, okay, what’s going on here?”

“Those two girls stole my fucking sla-,” the man began to tell him before he stopped himself, realizing he was talking to a cop. “Uh… I mean… They kidnapped my daughter…?”

A voice in the crowd told the officer, “I’m pretty sure I heard him refer to that girl as a slave!”

“Yeah, I heard it too!”

“Me three!”

“Fuck that guy! Slavery sucks!”

The cop sighed. “Sir, I’ll have you know that slavery is very illegal, and I’ll be taking all that money from you.” He then ripped the cash the man had picked up out of his hands and stuffed it into his coat. As his partner came up behind the man and restrained him, the first cop told him, “ And I am placing you under arrest for engaging in slavery.”

“This is fucking bullshit!” The man was enraged over how badly his day was going. “First my slave is taken and freed after I bought and paid for the fucking thing, and now I’m going to jail! Fuck this shit!”

…

June 30, 1913

As Véro walked down a hallway in the Butterfly Estate, she had the upcoming Final Selection on her mind. She was concerned that she was not advancing fast enough with her training under Sanemi, and was worried she would not be able to fend off demons successfully during the test. As she pondered to herself, she suddenly was jolted from her thoughts by bumping into someone. “Hey,” she shouted in French. “Watch it, assho-!” She then paused and looked up at a young man around her age, who was blushing madly upon running into her. She quickly switched to Japanese and told him, “My apologies. I didn’t mean to run into you.”

“Me neither,” the young man quickly replied. “I haven’t seen you before, uh… What is your name?” He then tried to fix his hair, which was mostly buzz cut with only a small bit of hair on the top left.

“Véronique Renaud,” she replied, looking him over. “What’s your’s?”

“Genya,” he muttered, still rather shy towards her.

“I must ask,” she said to him, noticing his eyes and seeing a resemblance to her teacher. “Are you in any way related to Shinazugawa-sama?”

That question seemed to cause concern for Genya, as he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “Yes, I am. I’m his brother. Are you his Tsuguko?”

“Soon I will be,” she replied, bowing to him. “I am learning the Breath of Wind right now. I’ll be taking the next Final Selection in the 1st District soon.”

“I wish you luck,” he proceeded to stammer out before turning away. “Uh… Again, my apologies for bumping into you!”

Véro could tell he was incredibly shy around women. “It’s fine. It was nice to meet you, Genya-san. You don’t have to be so shy around me.”

“I… I know,” he replied with a stammer. “

…

Meanwhile, in the Dimensional Infinity Fortress, Enmu, Akaza, and Patrick were beginning an experiment to show off Enmu’s abilities to Akaza, who was still somewhat skeptical of them. As Enmu scribbled away at a piece of paper with a pencil, he asked Akaza, “Would a busy city street in New York be too much for you?”

Akaza, deeply confused, asked in response, “Why?”

“Because that’s what I’m architecting for your dream,” Enmu explained. “While I am powerful enough to architect my own dreams without the risk of getting lost, you, on the other hand, aren’t used to this kind of dreaming, so if you were left to your own devices and designed your own dream, you’d run the risk of getting lost and being unable to tell reality apart from your dream.” He then held out his picture to him.

“Sounds unbelievable,” Akaza scoffed as he then took Enmu’s picture. “Anyway, let's get this over with.”

“Okay,” Enmu replied as he held his left hand out and a mouth spawned from it. “Blood Demon Art, Whispers of Forced Unconscious Hypnosis!” Immediately, Akaza fell to the ground, fast asleep in an instant. “Okay, now we just gotta make that connecting rope out of my flesh.”

Less than two minutes later, as Akaza stood in the middle of a busy New York City street in the middle of the day, a thing only possible in a dream for him, Enmu and Patrick suddenly appeared before him. “Enmu,” he asked him. “Where the fuck are we? Why aren’t we burning to death in the sun?!”

“In a dream,” Enmu explained. “Anything is possible. Now, since me and Patrick are intruders in your dream, your subconscious, which populates this place with people and animals and whatnot, may start to attack us if we start doing something weird.” As soon as he finishes his sentence, every single person in view of all of them suddenly turned their heads to him and Patrick before turning away after a few seconds. “See what I mean? Now, unlike me, you don’t have a weaponized subconscious as of now, so intruders are not automatically attacked by subconsciously-generated soldiers or police officers. I can easily get that arranged for you, though.”

“So when everyone stared at us, that was…”

“They were staring at me and Enmu,” Patrick explained. “Now, let’s walk around a bit.” The city streets were lined with signs in English, a language that Akaza was unfamiliar with, and a language that Enmu was only just beginning to understand. “If you have any questions about the signs here, feel free to ask so I can translate.”

“Good, because I got no clue how to read or speak English.” Akaza was amazed to see all the sights around him, from the tall buildings of stone and brick to the mix of horse-drawn and motor vehicles. “So this is New York, huh? This is amazing!”

A paperboy cried out on the street near them in English, calling out with, “READ ALL ABOUT IT! THE TITANIC HAS SUNK!”

“April 16, 1912 is our date,” Patrick told them both in Japanese. “The day news broke that the Titanic sank.”

“Interesting date,” Enmu could not help but comment. “Hard to believe it’s already been a year since then.”

Akaza, who had never concerned himself with human news, was confused. “What happened with the Titanic?”

“It struck an iceberg,” Enmu explained to him. “And it sank with 1,500 deaths and only 700 survivors, give or take. It was news all over.” He then pulled out his drawing notebook and a pencil, and began to sketch a completely different scene. “Once I’m finished with this, we’ll jump into the second level.”

Fascinated, Akaza asked him, “A dream within a dream?”

“Correct,” he replied. “I have Nakime in the real world setting a Kick Event for us to wake us up, but it has to be timed just right once we go to the second level. Patrick will stay behind here to help kick us awake.” Once he was finished with his rough sketch, he presented it to Akaza. “Take a good look at this setting. It’s a Buddhist temple. I’ll be the one dreaming this time.” He then once again held his left hand in front of Akaza. “Blood Demon Art, Whispers of Forced Unconscious Hypnosis!” Everything then went dark for Akaza.

When the two woke up again, they were standing in the middle of a field of grass and flowers, with a stone path leading to a Buddhist temple nearby. The calm and soothing atmosphere around them was a sharp contrast to the bustling American city streets of New York. Amazed by Enmu’s abilities, Akaza told him, “It’s completely different! Holy shit!”

“You got that right,” he replied. “My abilities have improved even more ever since Master Kibutsuji gave me more of his blood.”

…

On the same day, at the same time, a Sinhalese man emerged from a passenger ship terminal in Tokyo in the evening. He bore a black suit and tie, and held a briefcase in one hand. He looked around and sighed, telling himself in Sinhala, “This will be my most difficult journey yet. I just hope they won’t kill me or see me as a threat. Vijay Anula, this will be your greatest undertaking yet.” He then noticed a British man standing nearby on the street and decided to ask him a question. Switching to English, he asked him, “Good sir, do you happen to know where I could find Yoshiwara?”

The man, surprised to see him ask so bluntly to go to the Red Light District of Tokyo, replied, “Well, um, it’s… It’s in Chuo. It’s north of the port here.”

“Thank you,” Vijay gracefully replied with a bow. “I shall be on my way.”

“I’d be a bit careful,” the British man told him. “Get yourself checked out! Who knows what bloody diseases are over there?!”

“I’m not going there to have sex with a prostitute,” he rather bluntly replied. “I’m going there to seek answers.”

Chapter Text

July 2, 1913

“Should I introduce myself first?” Kagaya was sitting across from the visitor from Ceylon, who had made his way to the Ubuyashiki Estate after coming into contact with several slayers. “Or should you?” The two of them spoke English, a common language that both could understand and speak.

“It does not matter to me,” Vijay replied.

“You go first, then.”

“Thank you,” Vijay replied. “My name is Vijay Anula, and I am the former Crown Prince of the Demon Kingdom. My father, Nilushan, was the last king of the demons, Wesamuni XXV, before… Before he came along.”

“Muzan?”

“No,” Vijay shook his head. “Not him directly, but his Chinese apprentice and progeny, Huo Senghui. Ever since he became the first overseas imperfect demon progenitor, he has waged a war on my people, and has managed to reduce our numbers from over 500,000 to just under 7,000 today.” The sorrow in his voice was clearly apparent. “Including my father, my mother, all of my brothers and sisters, my wife, and all of my children.”

Kagaya was saddened. “I’m so sorry to hear that. Muzan has caused untold suffering of a similar caliber to many of the slayers in the corps.”

“We were the originals,” Vijay continued. “We can walk in the sun, we can live among the humans without trying to murder them, we can do so much… And yet it was the imperfect ones created by that bastard Muzan Kibutsuji that won out over us. Our kind has been through many tragedies and trials, from our migration from the Himalayas to Ceylon to the era of Company Rule in India, but this has been the greatest toll placed upon us. This is not even getting into the untold suffering Huo has inflicted on innocent humans in China, Tibet, India, and beyond. I come here to ask you to help us. If we can turn the tide of the war in India, we can get that much closer to closing the book on Muzan and his allies for good.”

“I see,” Kagaya replied. He considered his options for a brief moment, and then told Vijay, “I can send you several of our best swordsmen to Ceylon to gather intelligence and escort you back. Once we get a report from them, I can commit to fully supporting your cause. If what you say about your kind not going to war with humans is true, we will be close allies soon.”

…

July 4, 1913

At the Tokito Estate, Mukago was quietly humming to herself as she watered several plants outside, thinking about the baby now growing inside her, which neither she nor her boyfriend had told anyone about aside from Shinobu. Though the future was uncertain, she knew that from now on, she and Muichiro would have to take their relationship far more seriously. As she finished, she held her stomach, which was still not showing easily noticeable signs of pregnancy just yet, and told it as if she was talking to their child, “I just finished watering the plants, little one. I can’t wait for you to see them.”

“Mukago,” Muichiro then called out to her as he walked over. “How are the plants?”

“Good,” she replied to him. “All watered. Anyway, Mui, I was thinking about what to name our child.”

“I had some ideas of my own,” he replied as he gave her a kiss on the cheek and rested himself on her shoulder. “For some reason, the name Yuichiro keeps coming to mind. It sounds pretty similar to mine, though.”

“I think Yuichiro sounds like a great name for a boy,” Mukago replied eagerly. “If it’s a girl, I want to name it Yuko. Seems like we got similar ideas for names starting with Yu, huh?”

“I guess we do,” Muichiro replied with a chuckle. “You know, when we first started, I thought we were just doing this to fool around, but now… I can’t stop thinking about you, and it’s not even because of the baby. I’m…” He then took a deep breath. “I’m so glad I found you, and I love you.”

Mukago smiled and kissed him on the lips before telling him, “I love you, too, Tokito Muichiro.”

Muichiro then looked up to the sky, noticing a few clouds above. “Hmmm… I must say, I think I see a fish up there today. The clouds really can give off weird shapes, huh?”

“I see it, too,” she replied as she also looked up.

Muichiro then gave off a slightly devious smile and playfully grabbed Mukago’s rear end, making her slightly jump before she laughed. “I got you there, huh?”

“I see what you’re doing, young man,” she replied as she turned around and giggled. “And it’s a good thing we live in the country. Otherwise, we’d wake up neighbors with how loud you make me scream. Wanna fuck me outdoors?” A blush encircled her face as she grabbed Muichiro’s forearms.

“I’ve never tried that,” Muichiro realized. “So yeah, why not?”

“I’ve done it a few times,” she replied to him as she gently pushed him onto the ground. “And it feels amazing to have the wind and the sun wrap around your naked body. It’s fucking fun, Mui, and you’re gonna enjoy it.” As the two began to kiss each other once more, both began to strip each other of their clothes.

Then, the voice of a male crow interrupted them. “Tokito Muichiro! Tokito Muichiro! Report to the Ubuyashiki Estate tomorrow at noon for a special assignment! Bring your Tsuguko with you as well! That is all!” As the two looked, the crow then flew off as quickly as it came, clearly realizing it had flown in at the wrong time and wanting to leave as soon as it could.

“Well,” Mukago said. “That was a bit awkward. Anyway, let’s continue where we left off.”

“I just hope nobody fucking interrupts us again,” Muichiro replies, causing both of them to laugh. “I swear, I’m gonna lose it if someone does.”

…

James and Susamaru were watching Véro practice one last time at the Rengoku Estate before heading out to the Final Selection tomorrow. By now, she had a good grasp of the Breath of Wind, and they were both confident that she would pass. Sanemi would escort her to the event, and then would leave her to her own devices. “You’re doin’ a good job,” James told her in French. “Keep it up, Véro!”

“Absolutely,” she replied back in kind. “I’m doing awesome!”

Susamaru then asked James, “French, huh?”

“Yeah,” he replied to her. “Anyway, Kyojuro should be back in about half an hour. Once he’s here, we’re gonna prepare for that expedition to Busan.” He and Susamaru were to travel by ship to the Korean trading city of Busan, located in the southern end of Japan’s newest colony. Several local slayers had reported encountering an unusually strong demon from China who they believed may have been a member of the equivalent of the Twelve Demon Moons for Huo Senghui, the Chinese Progenitor under Muzan. Such a threat would warrant a Pillar being sent from Japan to the colony. “The trip should take about 4 days once we factor in your travel to Tokyo.” James would be unable to attend due to commitments with Véro.

“I’m gonna miss you when I’m away,” Susamaru told him, frowning slightly. “We should be back by the 15th, or the 17th at the latest.”

“I’ll still be here,” James assured her with a smile. “Don’t you worry.”

Then, all three of them heard a commotion inside the main house of the estate. They could hear Shinjuro yell something out before a door was heard slamming shut. Then, Senjuro was heard saying to himself, “Not this shit again.” As the younger of the Rengoku brothers walked outside, he told the three of them, “My dad’s in a bad mood… again.”

James felt bad for the kid. It had become clear to him ever since he had begun to stay with the Rengoku’s that Shinjuro was an alcoholic and was clearly deeply troubled by the death of his wife several years prior. “I’m sorry to hear that, kiddo. What happened this time?”

“He’s drinking, of course,” Senjuro confided in them. “James-oniichan, Susamaru-oneechan, I wish he wouldn’t.”

“I know, son,” James tried to comfort him. “I wish he would, too. I was in a similar place for a long time, a very long time…”

“He hasn’t been the same since my mom died,” Senjuro continued. “It’s so sad to see him like this. It’s like a part of him died when she did.”

Susamaru hugged Senjuro, telling him, “I'm so sorry this is all happening to you guys.”

…

July 5, 1913

“And then when you get there,” a Kakushi who spoke English and Japanese who would be accompanying Muichiro and Mukago on their mission to Ceylon as a translator. “Vijay says that you will meet with his friends.”

“Tell him that we look forward to the journey,” Muichiro instructed the Kakushi, who was named Shiro Nagamine, and had previously been a slayer before he had lost his left arm in combat.

“The Mist Pillar and his Tsuguko look forward to our journey,” Shiro told Vijay in English. “I certainly do so as well.”

“That’s good,” Vijay replied. “This will open up a new chapter of hope for our people against Muzan Kibutsuji and Huo Senghui. With this possible new alliance, we will be united in our struggle, and united, we will win.”

…

TAISHO SECRET #2

Hello! Time for a second Taisho Secret! As a side note, I’ll be doing these more often to give you more information on certain characters as the story progresses!

Susamaru first met Mukago shortly after she became a demon. Soon after, as mentioned in previous chapters, she would find herself running messages between demons, either from Muzan himself or from the Upper and/or Lower Moons. When she returned to Mukago, horrified and disgusted by the Snake Demon and her actions, Mukago told her that such things happen among demons, and that they just have to live with it and simply go about their own lives. In reality, Mukago herself was also horrified by the Snake Demon, but did not voice such concerns to Muzan out of fear of being punished for criticizing a potential Lower Moon candidate. 

Muzan himself was pleased with her setup and with how she ran things, and her deal with the Iguro clan and the constant stream of food in the form of human children was the main reason why Muzan considered her for a Lower Moon spot before Shinjuro killed her. He was furious at her death, and tried to send the former Lower Moon 4 to kill Shinjuro in revenge. However, he was able to kill him despite being caught off-guard. After this, Mukago was promoted to Lower Moon 5, and then two years before she abandoned Muzan, was promoted to Lower Moon 4 upon the death of the last one before her. Neither Yahaba or Susamaru were ever considered for a Lower Moon spot upon the deaths of two of the existing ones. Muzan merely told them this to give them both false hope.

Stay tuned for the next chapter! Also, if it has been released in your country so far, go watch the Infinity Train movie out now! It’s really good!

Chapter Text

Véro was at the site of the Final Selection of the 1st District of the Demon Slayer Corps, having been brought there by James and Sanemi earlier. As she stood in a group of about 22 teenagers and young adults, many of them noticed her for her unusual (for Japan) appearance. It was the first time any of them had ever seen a foreigner, much less a black person, and she could feel their stares aimed at her. “I doubt any of them mean it out of malice,” she thought to herself. “They’ve probably never seen anyone but other Orientals, much less a Negro. Well, quarter-Negro, but still. If I saw a man with purple or green skin, I’d probably stare, too.”

A girl about her age with an eyepatch and black hair came up to her, asking her, “Hello. What’s your name? You don’t look like you’re from around here. Were you a coal miner or coal seller?”

Véro could not help but stifle a laugh. “Coal miner or coal seller,” she thought to herself. “That’s a new one.” “No, I don’t mine coal,” she explained to her. “My name is Véronique Renaud, or just Véro. I’m from Canada. My skin is naturally brown-ish in color. I’m quarter-black.”

“Black?” It was clear she was lost, and was also not trying to sound rude. “I… I’m sorry I assumed, young lady.”

“You’re fine,” she assured her. “We’re called black by others. Either that, or Negro. There’s other words, but they aren’t too nice to use to refer to us. Quarter-black means that one of my grandparents was black, in this case my grandmother, and my grandfather and my father were not.”

“Ah, I see,” she replied, bowing to her. “My name is Sotozaki Chiyo. Unfortunately, my family wasn’t as unique as your’s.”

Véro, not wanting Chiyo to feel bad, assured her, “Don’t say that. Honestly, there’s so much more to my family than that. I’m sure your’s is interesting, too.”

“Perhaps they were,” Chiyo replied before pointing to her eyepatch. “Then a demon did this to me. Personally, the loss of my right eye isn't the biggest deal to me. It was the loss of my parents and my other three siblings. That’s why I’m here. I want to protect other families and bring justice to demons who kill innocent people. The one who killed everyone in my house is still out there. I survived by pure fucking luck.”

Véro was saddened by her story, but also knew that far too many people in the corps had similar stories as well. “I’m sorry to hear that. I shouldn’t have assumed.”

Chiyo, flustered, assured her, “No, no, no, you’re cool! Look, we both assumed wrong things about the other, okay? I called you a coal miner, and you thought my family was still alive. We’re both even.”

“You’re right,” Véro replied with a nod. “I guess we are. Are you ready to slay some demons?”

“I’m ready to give these fuckers what for,” Chiyo replied with determination in her voice.

…

Meanwhile, at the Butterfly Estate, Tanjiro had completed a second round of injections into Nezuko using James’ blood in the late evening, deciding to try doing it on his own to see what would happen. “Okay, Nezuko,” he told her. “Good girl… You took those needles like a champ.”

“Mmmm,” Nezuko happily replied.

“When I get more blood from James-san,” Tanjiro explained to her. “We’ll do more. With this, you’ll be able to return to what you were before all this happened, albeit still as a demon for now.” Tanjiro thought to himself as he wrapped up the used needles, “I know I said I wanted her to be human again, but… James proves that there are good ones out there, and that new foreigner the Oyakata-sama met with puts any doubts to rest about it, or at least he should. If Nezuko can’t turn back into a human, then I at least want her to be like James-san and Anula-san. She would be as close to normal as can be.”

“Hmmm mmmmm,” Nezuko said to her brother as she patted his head, wanting to comfort him. She then held her index finger up as if to tell him to wait before reaching behind her head and undoing her muzzle, setting it down on the table, shocking Tanjiro. “Onii-ha… Me… I not care if human. I wahn to normah.”

“Huh?” Tanjiro was stunned. “Wait, did you just read my mind, Nezuko?! You’re saying that you just want to be normal, right?” Nezuko nodded. “No shit… I was thinking the exact same thing…”

“Noh shit,” Nezuko innocently replied, causing Tanjiro to panic.

“Nezuko, no! That’s a bad word!”

“Noh shit,” she repeated as she stood up. “Noh shit!”

Zenitsu, passing by the room, heard Nezuko blurt out profanity and immediately ran into the room. “Nezuko-chan?! What’s wrong?!” When he realized she did not have a muzzle on, he smiled and gleefully told her, “Your muzzle is off! You look so beautiful without it, Nezuko-chan!”

Nezuko happily replied, “Noh shit!”

Zenitsu joined in with, “No shit is right!”

Inosuke, having heard the commotion, walked into the room in his bed clothes without his boar’s head mask, scratching his head. Deeply confused, he asked them all, “What the fuck?”

Tanjiro yelled out, “INOSUKE, NO-“

“What de fuck!” Nezuko now began to repeat Inosuke. “What de fuck! What de fuck!”

Inosuke, still confused, asked Tanjiro, “Kentaro, why is your sister without a muzzle and why is she yelling swear words?”

“It’s fucking Tanjiro,” he replied with a hint of fury in his voice. “And I was giving her some of James-san’s blood when I accidentally said ‘no shit’ in front of her!”

Aoi then ran into the room and yelled in, “EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP!” She was clearly frustrated with the commotion going on in the room, and wanted them to all quiet down. “Seriously, what the Hell is going on here?! Whatever it is, be quieter!”

Nezuko immediately shut up, thinking she did something wrong. “Me? Wrong? What…” As she began to cry, Zenitsu and Tanjiro immediately went to her to comfort her. “What me?” Tears fell from her eyes and onto her haori.

Aoi, feeling bad, also walked up to her. “No no no, please, Nezuko-chan. Don’t cry.”

“Don’t start crying, Nezuko-chan,” Zenitsu begged of her. “You’re gonna make me cry, too!”

Nezuko then looked at him and stopped her crying. “Cry… Wah…” She then hugged him, saying, “Aaah… Pretty flower…”

Zenitsu began to bleed from his nose as he internally began to panic. Nezuko was actually engaging in physical contact with her, something he never thought possible. “This is amazing…” He tried to contain his excitement so as to not startle her. “I can’t believe it…”

Inosuke yelled to him, “Monitsu, your nose!”

Aoi quickly snapped, “Quiet the fuck down, Inosuke!” She then turned to Tanjiro, asking him, “Why is your sister out of her muzzle?”

“I gave her more injections of James’ blood,” Tanjiro explained to her, not wanting to get in trouble. “She took it off on her own and spoke to me.”

“I see,” Aoi replied as she looked at her. “I see…” She then noticed Inosuke attempting to climb up the walls and onto the ceiling, shocking her. “Inosuke, what the fuck?! What are you doing?!”

“I got bored just standing around here,” he told her. “So I’m gonna try climbing around. I do it a lot at night to calm myself down.” He was surprisingly not shouting, and indeed seemed relatively calm, or at least, relatively calm for a person like him. “It brings me inner peace, Aoi-chan.”

Zenitsu immediately looked up at Inosuke on the ceiling, amazed at how smart Inosuke sounded. “ That is by far the most unexpected thing I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth, Inosuke. You even got Aoi’s name right.”

Inosuke, slightly pissed off by the remark, replied somewhat harshly, “What the fuck does that mean, Zenkotsu?!”

“Well,” Aoi told herself. “That explains those weird climbing noises I sometimes hear at night.”

…

Later that night, Véro and Chiyo were together in the forest, looking out for any demons that lurked inside. The forest was thick with vegetation, and the two could barely see around them in the darkness. “Wait,” Chiyo then stopped Véro. “Did you hear that?”

Véro then heard a set of footsteps behind them. “Behind us,” she whispered. “Get ready.” She then quickly used a free hand to draw a revolver from her belt and fired two shots in quick succession at their target behind them, finding that a demon was trying to sneak up on them. “Got ‘em!”

“Your bullets won’t do a thing,” the demon replied to them as his arm began to try to heal. “I can just hea-“ Then, his arm stopped healing. “Wait, what the fuck? Agh, why does it hurt?!” He began feeling a searing pain up and down what was left of his arm as well as in his right shoulder.

“Breath of Wind,” Véro then said as she holstered her revolver, having fired poisoned bullets. “First Form…” She then charged at the demon and unleashed a torrent of slashes with her sword, slicing the demon several times before landing a blow on its neck. “Dust Whirlwind Cutter!” As she stood in front of the demon, he fell to the ground as his head rolled towards her and began to dissipate into the air. As the body itself also began to disappear, she told Chiyo, “What Breath Style do you know?”

“The Breath of Thunder,” Chiyo replied. “I was taught it by Kuwajima Jigoro, the former Thunder Pillar, and another one of his students named Inadama Kaigaku.”

“I know a guy who was taught by Kuwajima-sama as well,” Véro replied to her as she wiped her sword with a cloth. “Does the name Agatsuma Zenitsu ring a bell?”

“Kuwajima-sama mentioned him,” Chiyo remarked. “Inadama-san didn’t like him too much, but Kuwajima-sama told me that he trusts Agatsuma-san more than Inadama-san when it comes to their personal motivations.” She then readied her sword. “According to him, Inadama-san couldn’t master the first form of the Breath of Thunder, but Agatsuma-san could, despite him otherwise being weaker. Anyway, I hear someone else coming.” She addresses whoever was walking towards them from the darkness. “Who is it?! We’re armed and we aren’t afraid to attack!”

“It’s just me,” then said another slayer trainee from the darkness. “No need to be alarmed.” He appeared to be confident and having a good time despite the challenging road ahead for the next week. “How many kills are you guys up to?”

“I got my first one,” Véro remarked. “Chiyo hasn’t had any yet.”

“I got two already,” the young man replied. “With an assist on a third.”

“No fucking way,” Chiyo replied in disbelief. “Two direct and one assist already?!”

Suddenly, the young man fell to the ground after a long tentacle with what appeared to be claws at its end struck him and went right through his chest, splattering Chiyo and Véro with his blood and spilling his guts on the ground. He screamed as he coughed up blood, “Fuck!” He then fell to the ground after the tentacle was ripped out of him, dead of blood loss in seconds.

“Holy fucking shit!” Chiyo then found the cause, a demon who possessed a third arm in the form of a long tentacle. “He just fucking killed him!” She then looked to the demon who did it and spat at him, “Come on, asshole! Fight me!”

“As you wish,” the demon sinisterly replied before launching its tentacle at her. She quickly slashed it with her sword, temporarily cutting it off as Véro stepped forward to battle the tentacle so Chiyo could focus on the demon himself. “Take this, humans!”

“I’ll take his third arm,” Véro told her. “Go for the kill!” She then spat at the demon in Québécois French, “Esti de câlice de tabarnak, va t'en, ostie de démon!”

“Got it,” Chiyo replied before taking a deep breath. “Breath of Thunder, First Form…” She then dashed to the demon with lightning-fast speed, striking it down with a single slash to the neck. “THUNDERCLAP AND FLASH!” As his head flew into the sky, his body went limp, as did his tentacle, and Véro stood back as it dissipated into the air.

“Nice job,” Véro congratulated her. “That was pretty cool!”

“Why thank you,” she replied with a bow. “I sure showed him what for.” She then turned to the dead young man whom the demon had struck down before them. “It sucks he got to him before we could kill him. Fucker got him before he even had a chance to react. How cruel.”

“You’re right about that,” Véro replied. “It is fucking cruel.”

Chapter Text

July 6, 1913

James was assessing Nezuko once again in the basement of the Butterfly Estate, having caught wind of Tanjiro’s injection of his blood into her. She again had her muzzle on, but it was clear that she was improving. “Her speaking has improved, right?”

“Yeah,” Tanjiro acknowledged. “She can’t form completely correct sentences yet, but she’s getting there.”

“Have ya done the sunlight rest on her yet?”

“No,” Tanjiro shook his head. “I don’t want to risk anything.”

“I can use my mirrors,” James replied as he got up and grabbed two small mirrors from a corner of the room. “This will focus an incredibly small ray of sunlight onto a small piece of her skin, like on her arm. If it starts to burn, I can quickly aim the mirrors away without causing permanent damage.” After positioning one mirror near a closed basement window, he pointed it out and instructed Tanjiro, “Open up that one window.”

“Got it,” Tanjiro replied as he priced open the shutters. Nezuko was on edge, fearing what would happen to her. “Nezuko, don’t be afraid. James won’t let the sun kill you.”

“Lemme just aim this right here,” James then said as he aimed the second mirror just right and directed a small beam of sunlight onto Nezuko’s right arm. The young girl closed her eyes, expecting the worst, but when the beam hit her arm, she initially didn’t feel anything. However, after about ten seconds, she felt a slight burning sensation and winced in pain slightly. Immediately, James directed the mirror away from her arm and told Tanjiro, “Close the window. We got a result. She’s greatly improved, but she’ll need a bit more of my blood. I’ll get you a few more vials and needles tomorrow.”

Encouraged by the progress, Tanjiro beamed to his sister, “Hear that, Nezuko? You’re doing great!”

Then, suddenly, Shinobu essentially barreled down the stairs to the basement, ignoring the three of them before she locked herself in a storage room. Kanao quickly trailed behind her, only to stop at the door as she heard Shinobu begin to cry. Kanao flipped a coin, checked which side it landed on, and then tried knocking on the door, asking her, “Shinobu-sama, come out, please.”

…

Several Minutes Earlier, Upstairs

“No, no, no,” Aoi yelled out as she and Shinobu tried desperately to revive a slayer who had been brought in the day before with injuries from a mission who had suddenly gone into cardiac arrest. They tried to use kappo, a martial arts method of resuscitation that was at the time considered the most advanced method out there, but it was not working despite them striking multiple parts of the body. “Wake up! Wake the fuck up! What the Hell happened?!”

“It was that injection,” Shinobu yelled out as she realized the battle to save the slayer’s life was lost. “We killed him! We fucking killed him, God damn it!” She then threw a stool carrying medical supplies at a wall in frustration. “No! Why?! It’s our fault, Aoi! We made this mistake! He would have lived if we didn’t give him that fucking injection!” She then wiped her forehead of sweat and looked over the body as Aoi quietly placed the covers of the bed over the body of the now-deceased slayer. “Fucking Hell, we’re so screwed. We are so screwed.”

“Shinobu-sama,” Kanao then called out as she ran in. “What happened?!”

“That slayer we brought in yesterday just died,” Aoi told her, downtrodden and full of fear from the realization that she and Shinobu had killed a patient that would have lived otherwise. “We fucked up. We really fucked up this time, Kanao-chan.”

Giyu also ran in, visiting that day to receive some supplies. “Kocho, what happened?”

“Go away, Tomioka-san,” Shinobu sternly told him in an uncharacteristically angry tone of voice. “I need to be alone.” As Giyu stood there, at a loss for words, she repeated her demand. “Did I fucking stutter? Get the fuck out of here!” She then pushed her way through Giyu and Kanao and stormed towards the basement.

Kanao shook her head and muttered to herself, “What the fuck… I’m gonna go talk to her.”

…

Aoi and Giyu joined Kanao outside the door as James, Tanjiro, and Nezuko all watched. Giyu asked Shinobu from outside the door, once again deeply concerned for her, “Kocho, open the door. Your little sisters are really concerned about you. I know you’ve been having a shitty past couple of days, but you can’t just shut yourself out like this.”

“Says you,” Shinobu replied to him, pointing out his hypocrisy and attempting (and failing) to try to give off her normal tone of voice. “You shut yourself out from almost everyone else among the Pillars except for me. Why should I be any different in this case?”

“Because I have nobody,” Giyu snapped back, deeply annoyed at her remark. “I have no family or friends that depend on me, Kocho. You have two little sisters, Himejima, Shinazugawa, and Kanroji. You have friends. You can’t afford to be like that. I can.”

Tanjiro was shocked to hear Giyu admit he had no friends. “He really thinks that, huh,” Tanjiro thought to himself. “What happened to him that made him feel so alone? Giyu-san, I… I want to be your friend, please…”

Shinobu stopped arguing when Giyu told her that. For a brief moment, there was silence, and then Shinobu broke it with, “Stop thinking of yourself like that. This is why nobody likes you, Tomioka-san, because you keep selling yourself short and shutting yourself out from people. It’s like you don’t want any friends, for fuck’s sake!”

“There she goes again,” Aoi remarked from the other side of the door. “Then again, she isn’t entirely wrong, Tomioka-sama.”

“Giyu-san,” Tanjiro then got up and asked Giyu. “Listen, I want to be your friend.”

Giyu sighed, looking at him. “Are you sure about that?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure,” Tanjiro affirmed. “You gave me and my sister a chance when nobody else did.”

“He’s right, you know,” James then spoke up. “You can’t spend the rest of your damn life as a recluse.”

Giyu quickly turned to James and snapped back, “What the fuck do you know about me? Shut your mouth right now.”

“You’re right, I know almost nothin’,” James retorted. “But what do y’all know ‘bout me? I shut myself out from everyone after my birth family died in Minnesota, and lookin’ back, I wonder why I ever did. It did nothin’ to help me, and it only made things worse. Most importantly, it prevented me from confessin’ my feelin’s to Julia for two whole years, none of which I’ll ever be able to get back and change.”

Giyu tried to form a reply, but realized he could not refute him. James arguably had once gone through the same thing Giyu was doing now. He simply turned back to the door and told Shinobu, “How long are you gonna be in there?”

“Fine,” Shinobu replied as she admitted defeat. “I’ll come out.” As the door opened, Shinobu stepped out. Her hair was now a disheveled mess, and her eyes were red from crying as she held her butterfly hairpin in one of her hands. “I’m gonna need the rest of the day off, Aoi. I gotta fill out the death report. Inform the Kakushi.”

“On it,” Aoi replied with a bow as she ran up the stairs.

“Kanao,” she then asked of her. “Do you mind helping me fill out the death report?”

“As you wish,” Kanao replied with a bow. “Shinobu-sama.”

“If you’ll excuse me,” she then told Giyu, Tanjiro, Nezuko, and James. “I’ll need to fix my hair.” She then went upstairs with Kanao and left, leaving the rest of them confused and still in shock.

“Jesus fuckin’ Christ,” James muttered to himself. “That was unbelievable.”

“Tanjiro,” Giyu then asked him. “May I speak with you?”

“Uh, yes, Giyu-san,” Tanjiro quickly got up and bowed with, fearing he was in trouble and was going to get yelled at by the Water Pillar. “James-san, watch Nezuko.”

“I shall,” he replied as the two of them left together. He then turned to Nezuko and told her, “Everythin’s fine, Nezuko. You’re not in trouble, and your brother ain’t in any danger.”

Nezuko just hummed to herself and looked around the room, wondering when her brother was going to come back. “Hmm… Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm…”

…

July 7, 1913

A ship bound for Colombo, British Ceylon, had just gone underway and was now many miles off the coast of Japan by the middle of the night. Vijay had personally paid for first-class rooms for him, the Kakushi he was with, Muichiro, and Mukago.

As Mukago sat on the luxurious bed in the suite, Muichiro was stunned by its beauty and its expensive furnishings. “I’ve never seen a room so majestic,” Muichiro said as he lost himself in the room. “It’s incredible. It really is. So this is how the upper class travel, I suppose.” In his young life, he had never known such luxury.

Then, the door knocked, and Mukago told the person, “Come on in.”

Entering the room was a Japanese ship steward. “Welcome to the RMS Athens. I see you two are Japanese as well, so I’ll be assigned to your suite.” He then noticed Mukago, and took note of her appearance as well as the couple’s youth. “Are you two traveling with your parents?”

“No,” Mukago replied. “We are traveling on official business.”

“I must ask,” the steward then continued with. “Miss, where are you from? I don’t mean to be rude. I am just curious.”

“Oh, that, well,” she replied as she tried to formulate a response. “I was… I was adopted by a family here. I’m from a small island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. I don’t know where, as my family took me in when I was only a baby.” She thought to herself, “I really hope he’s convinced.”

“I see,” he replied. “My apologies for asking such a personal question, Miss.” He then noticed that she had a very slight baby bump. “I see you’re expecting. Congratulations. How far along are you?”

“About three months,” Muichiro replied.

“Is she your sister?”

“No,” Muichiro corrected. “I’m the child’s father. We’re young, but not too young. I’m 20, and she is 19, and we’re married.”

The steward thought he made a mistake in thinking they were younger, and quickly bowed after a brief period of awkward silence. “My apologies. You two look rather young for your ages. If you need anything, just let me or another steward know. Thank you.”

As he left the room, Mukago asked him, “Why did you lie about that?”

“Because children born out of wedlock aren’t viewed too kindly by society,” Muichiro explained to her as he sat down on the bed next to her. “Especially Western society. If they see a 14-year-old and a girl who physically is 15 with a baby on the way, heads are going to turn. By the way, you came up with that Pacific Ocean thing well.”

“I guess I did,” she chuckled. “Muichiro, I gotta ask. Have you ever thought of actually becoming married?”

“I have,” he replied with a nod. “But I’m not sure how. My parents are dead, and your parents are long dead.”

“I don’t even know who the fuck my father was,” Mukago admitted with a shrug. “So we can’t get permission from anyone to legally marry.”

“Unless we get it from the Oyakata-sama,” Muichiro replied. “He acted as a surrogate parent when Shinazugawa-san was married to the elder Kocho-san, but that was before my time as a slayer.” Then, he heard the phone in his suite ring. As he picked it up, he answered with, “Hello? Room 1-24.”

“It’s Nagamine-san,” Shiro replied. “We’re in Room 1-38, just to let you guys know.”

…

Meanwhile, in another part of the ship, down in the deepest corridors, Reiko and Rinji had snuck on board through the cargo hold and were discussing their trip. “Okay,” Reiko told her brother. “So Osamu and Heizo should also be somewhere in the cargo hold, too. Remember, Osamu has time-based abilities, and Heizo has pyrokinesis. These two guys are no joke. About the only reason these two new Lower Moons aren’t Upper Moons is because there’s no room for more of them.”

Rinji replied, “Then we’ll have to act fast. If we don’t, this entire ship and everyone on board are in grave danger.” The two then nodded as Rinji checked a watch on his hand. “Okay, it’s 1945 hours. We can go up now without getting burned by the sun.”

“Let’s move,” Reiko replied as the two rushed out of the room they were in, determined to protect the ship and stop the new Lower Moons 2 and 3, who had just recently been appointed by Muzan and were on their first ever mission in their new ranks.

Chapter Text

July 8, 1913

Two new demons were sitting in a maintenance closet in the bottom levels of the ship. One was named Ichiro and was the newly-appointed Lower Moon Two. The second was named Hiro, and was the newly-appointed Lower Moon Three. Ichiro, who had black hair with a red streak down the middle, told Hiro, who had dark blue hair, “Okay, have you had your fill of people?”

“I nabbed a crewman last night,” Hiro replied. “Fucker almost screamed before I slit his throat and drank his blood. He tasted pretty fucking good, if you ask me. I’ve never had a taste of a Gujarati before, but if the rest of India tastes as good as he does, we’ll be in for a treat.”

“How marvelous,” Ichiro eagerly replied. “Eating only Japanese people does get boring after a good while. The occasional clueless foreigner is always a treat.”

“I think I still got an arm of his,” Hiro replied before he turned around and grabbed a dismembered arm from the floor. “Here we go. Dig in. It’s a day old, but it should still be good.” It had clearly been ripped off of his victim, and dried blood had caked the floor where it had laid. “The guy was a feisty little fuck, too, making it even better when I finally killed him. If I catch a human woman, I may take her in and violate her a bit before having my meal. I’m sure I can make them cum before I take their lives. If you’re there, I’ll even let you have at it. Maybe we can skullfuck the corpse, too. Maybe. I’m not making any guarantees.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Ichiro replied as he ate the arm. “We just need to make sure we don’t wake up anyone on the ship if we have our way with a human woman as our prey. I don’t want any fucking interruptions like last time. We barely escaped with our lives when that slayer surprised us.”

“That won’t happen here,” Hiro assured him. “This ship is full of prey. There should be no pesky slayers here, and we’re right in the middle of the ocean. Who the fuck are they gonna call for help? Besides, your time stop abilities should take care of anyone who wants to be a fucking hero.”

“You’re right about that,” Ichiro nodded. “The Jacksons tell me that Africans, or as they call them, niggers, have a unique taste. Perhaps there’s a few on this ship as workers too. Those two brothers are some crazy fuckers, I’ll tell you that.”

…

Meanwhile, back in Japan at the First District Final Selection, Véro and Chiyo had just confronted a particularly large demon with multiple legs that stood about fifteen feet tall, dwarfing the two teenagers. The demon told them from above, “Two little girls against someone like me? Pfft, how marvelous!” He then ate the decapitated body of another trainee, quickly devouring it in front of them with a sickening crunch. “Maybe you two can be my dessert!”

“You sick fuck,” Véro yelled at him as she angrily gripped her sword. “You sick little fuck!”

Chiyo told Véro, “Try to climb up the trees or something!”

“Don’t call me little, bitch!” The demon then tried to kick at Véro, but she just barely managed to dodge the kick as she quickly grabbed onto a tree and hurriedly climbed it. “I highly resent that!”

Chiyo then hacked at another leg of the demon, slicing completely through it and causing him to scream in pain as it began to slowly grow back. “Véro-san, hurry the fuck up over there!” She dodged a kick from the demon as she then attacked a second leg.

“Breath of Wind, Second Form: Claws-Purifying Wind!” Véro then jumped from the top of a tree and landed on her feet, standing on the demon’s shoulder just barely before slicing across its neck, delivering a decisive and killing blow. “Va au diable, mauvais démon!”

As Chiyo watched the demon fall to his knees and his head fall to the ground, a second and more normal-looking demon charged at her suddenly from the forest. She quickly dodged it and readied herself for an attack against it. “Thunder Breathing, First Form!” She then charged at the demon with lightning speed, quickly despatching it out of existence by beheading it. “Thunderclap and Flash!” As the second demon disintegrated into thin air, she said to herself, “Looks like tonight’s full of surprises. Véro-san, are you alright?”

“Yeah,” she replied as she came back down to the ground. “Now, let’s move on.”

…

Meanwhile, Obanai and Mitsuri were alone together in Obanai’s modest house in the countryside, enjoying each other’s company in a sexual manner. As the two began to rest after finishing, they talked about how they would proceed together as a couple in the future. They had been together for almost a month by then, and Mitsuri’s parents had given the go-ahead for Obanai to take her as his wife. Mitsuri told him, “I think we should have the ceremony in August. It would give us more time to develop.”

“I agree,” Obanai nodded as he sat up from the bed, fully nude along with his now fiancée. “I mean, if we didn’t know each other so well, I’d hold off until the end of this year, but knowing that we could be killed at any moment, I want to get it done sooner rather than later.” He sighed as he continued, “Mitsuri-chan, we both know that we’re in a very dangerous profession.”

“I know that,” Mitsuri replied to him as she got up out of bed. “Obanai, I’ve already told you that I don’t know what I would do if something happened. I can’t imagine a world where you don’t exist anymore.” She then embraced him from the side and kissed his cheek, her lips touching his scars on the right side of his face. “And I need to tell you something else.”

“What is it?”

“Well,” Mitsuri explained. “Ever since we began having sex, we’ve never used a condom. I’ve never told you to use one, and you haven’t used one at all. For a while, I was a bit concerned, but now…” She then took a deep breath before telling Obanai what she wanted to get off of her chest. “I want to have children with you, Iguro Obanai. I want to have at least one before either one of us dies, because you’re right when you say that neither of us know when our last day alive could be. I don’t care if it’s a son or a daughter, either, as long as the two of us make it.”

Obanai blinked several times before falling over onto the bed in shock, fainting as a small amount of blood came out of his nose. “Children… Children…” He knew full well what trying for children meant, and impure thoughts once again filled his head even though he had just finished having sex with Mitsuri.

“I’ll let you think about it,” Mitsuri replied as she walked to a nearby bathroom. “I’ll be right back.”

“Wait,” Obanai then interrupted her. “I… I would love to have children with you, Mitsuri. I want to raise our children in a family that’s better than the one I came from.”

Mitsuri smiled at his response. “Then get ready for another round when I get back. I know for a fact you can fuck me again. Lay down on the bed for when I return. I’m going for a ride.”

Obanai immediately covered his nose as blood once again spurted out of it, telling himself, “Bless you, Mitsuri… I know I’ve been blessed…” As he readied himself once more, he thought to himself, “How in God’s name did I manage to bed the woman of my dreams in this life?”

…

As Muichiro and Mukago ate dinner at a table alongside Vijay and Shiro, who now wore a rather expensive suit instead of his Kakushi uniform, the four of them discussed what would happen once they reached Ceylon’s capital of Colombo. “Anula-san says that once we arrive there,” Shiro translated for Muichiro and Mukago. “We will escort him back to his house, which is very close to the port. He will deliver the message the Oyakata-sama gave him about our assistance for the plight of his people.”

“I see,” Muichiro replied as he finished his dinner and looked out into the first-class restaurant around him. “Sorry if I’m kind of drifting in and out a bit. Something else is on my mind as well.”

Vijay, not understanding him entirely but feeling something was wrong, asked him in English, “Mr. Tokito, is everything alright?”

Shiro asked him, “Is everything okay, Tokito-sama?”

“Well,” Mukago explained for him. “It’s just that we have been getting some looks for being… Well, for me being me, and also since Muichiro and I are a younger couple. He was barely able to convince our room steward that he was 19 and I was 18.” Looking up to her horns and pointing out her red sclera, she added, “And my appearance certainly doesn’t help.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Shiro replied, saddened for the couple. “I think you two are a lovely couple, even for your age, and hey, in the Demon Slayer Corps, a young man like Muichiro having such a serious relationship so soon isn’t unheard of, given how death lurks around every corner.”

Muichiro then noticed a waiter rush outside of the restaurant as well as a well-dressed man. Vijay also noticed this, and said to Shiro in English, “Sounds like someone is hurt really bad.”

“Yeah,” he replied in turn in English. “They had a disappearance not too long ago on the ship they’re still investigating, at least as far as I know. I overheard some crewmen talking about it.” He then turned to the couple and explained in Japanese, “I think someone is hurt. It may be connected to a disappearance aboard the ship that happened recently.”

“A disappearance?” Muichiro was curious. “Well, this sounds like the plot of one of those English crime novels they have out there.”

Shiro asked, “You mean Sherlock Holmes, Tokito-sama?”

“Yeah, that one.”

Meanwhile, hidden in the vents above the first-class dining room, Reiko and Rinji looked down at the proceedings. “Shit,” Reiko muttered to herself in frustration. “Those two sick fuckers got another one.”

“This has gone on long enough,” Rinji followed up with. “We need to act, and act fast. If we don’t, someone else is going to die, and before long, they may be able to murder this whole fucking ship and take it over for themselves.”

“Precisely,” Reiko agreed before the two looked to each other and nodded. Then, they dashed off in separate directions in the vents, looking for the new Lower Moons Two and Three, determined to stop them before they killed a third victim.

Chapter Text

As Reiko ran down a walkway inside the ship, looking for any signs of Hiro and Ichiro, she suddenly came to a stop when she heard shouting behind her. “Who’s there?!” However, as soon as she came to a stop, she found herself face-to-face with Hiro, who had appeared before her out of thin air and struck her in the chest with a knife. The sudden attack threw her back several feet, and as the wound in chest healed, she suddenly felt weak and tired. “What the fuck did you do to me?” As she began to slur her words, she fell to her knees, her arms and legs feeling many times heavier than they were. “Fuck… Fucking Hell, what’s happening?”

“This won’t kill you,” Hiro replied. “This will just make you very tired for a while. Once you pass out, you’re coming with me.”

“Don’t… Don’t try anything, asshole,” Reiko spat at him as she began to slip in and out of consciousness. “My brother is… My brother is coming…”

“I’d like to see him try to beat me,” he replied before he violently kicked Reiko in the face, knocking several of her teeth out and breaking her nose. As the wounds healed, she finally passed out and stopped responding to him. Hiro smiled as he picked her body up and told her sleeping body, “I’m gonna have so much fun with you! So much fun! My brother will be sure to join me, too! It’s too bad you won’t be awake for most of it!”

Ichiro then ran over, asking Hiro, “Nii-san! Nii-san! What did you get for us today?”

“A demon girl,” he sinisterly replied with a sickening smile. “And I think it’s one of the two runaways from Rui-sama’s family. She sure looks pretty, doesn’t she?”

“I agree,” Ichiro replied as he cupped her face in his hands and began to slowly move down her body. “She is incredibly attractive. I’ve always wanted to have some fun with one of the girls in Rui-sama’s family, but he would have never allowed it. Now we can do so in peace.”

“I like your way of thinking, little brother,” Hiro replied. “Let’s take her to our little corner for a bit.”

…

Meanwhile, as Muichiro slept next to Mukago in bed that night, he found himself stirring in his sleep several times as he began to experience a dream. After a few minutes, he awoke in his dream to find himself in front of a modest rural house in the middle of winter. As the snow below his shoes flattened, he looked around and saw that there were no other houses around them. “Where am I? What is this place?” The air around him was cold and unwelcoming.

Then, a man with long dark and burgundy hair and markings on his face emerged from the house. He spoke Japanese in a manner that was rather old and more consistent with the early Sengoku Period, which puzzled Muichiro greatly. “Greetings, visitor! Come on in!” On his person was a sheath for a sword, with said sword firmly inside. “I see you possess a Demon Slayer uniform from the modern era. Tell me, what is your name, young man?”

“Tokito Muichiro,” he replied as he walked to him. “The 4th Mist Pillar of the Demon Slayer Corps.”

“4th Mist Pillar, huh… Tell me, which breath is that derived from?”

“The Breath of Mist is derived from the Breath of Wind,” Muichiro replied, unsure as to why the man had asked him.

“I see,” the man replied. “I see they’ve made more than a few nre breaths since the 15th century. My name is Tsugikuni Itoho.”

“15th Century? Tsugikuni? Then you must know of Tsugikuni Yoriichi.” Muichiro had heard of the aforementioned former slayer. “The one who almost killed Kibutsuji Muzan.

“Tsugikuni Yoriichi… Tsugikuni Yoriichi…” IItoho then pondered to himself as to whether or not to answer the question. “Now that’s a name I have not heard in a very long time, young man.”

Muichiro, curious, asked, “Was he dead by this point in time?”

“No, not yet, at least,” the man who claimed to be Itoho replied.

“Do you know him?”

“Of course,” he replied as he pointed to himself. “He’s me. I haven’t gone by the name of Tsugikuni Yoriichi ever since I was about 24. If I had to guess, I’m about 30 or so in this afterlife of sorts.”

“Afterlife?!” Muichiro was immediately scared of the implications. “Does that mean I’m dead?!”

“Of course not,” Yoriichi replied with a laugh. “You’re just visiting me is all. Come on in.” The two of them then entered Yoriichi’s humble abode, which contained a fire pit in the middle with a fire roaring inside. “You know, now that you’re in here, I suppose I owe you an explanation as to why you’re dreaming like this.”

Muichiro nodded as he sat down. “I suppose so, Yoriichi-sama.”

“No need to be so formal,” Yoriichi replied. “Call me however you want. Anyway, the reason you’re here is because you are in fact a descendant of me through my brother, Tsugikuni Michikatsu, and his wife, whose maiden name was Tokito. After he left the family, his son and daughter took their mother’s last name.”

“Why did he leave?”

“My brother was not perfect,” Yoriichi admitted. “He made mistakes, and over time, he came to regret leaving his family. He did so to become a Demon Slayer like I was, since before then, he was a samurai. Even so, he was still an incredible fighter, and one of the best swordsmen I ever had the honor of knowing. I know I sound biased since this is my family we are talking about, but it is true.” He then stood up and walked over to a box nearby. “Speaking of, I want you to have this. It will materialize in the real world when you wake up.” He then opened the long and narrow box and pulled a sword out with a black and yellow grip and a black hilt. “This was my brother’s sword. He used this from the time he started as a samurai up until he died. You can use it as your primary or secondary sword if you want.”

As Muichiro was handed the sword, he admired its looks and quality. “This sword is still well-kept, even after all this time. Say, what happened to your brother?”

Yoriichi sighed as he began to recount what had happened several centuries prior to Muichiro, the memories of which still clearly haunted him. “Well… The two of us had a young student of our’s who learned Michikatsu-niisan’s breathing style, the Breath of the Moon. I had the Breath of the Sun, by the way. Anyway, this student lusted for power and was jealous of his peers for even slightly exceeding him in any aspect, no matter how small or large.” As he got to the next part, he took another deep breath. “His name was Kokushibo, and his lust for power eventually led him to Muzan. Muzan agreed to turn him into a demon as long as he made sure to take out several slayers along the way. Once he was one, he helped Muzan hunt down the Demon Slayer Corps, and over the course of a few months, he almost wiped all of us out. Kokushibo betrayed and murdered my brother, and now he is Upper Moon 1 thanks to his rampage. The Breath of the Moon is also all but extinct except for him as well, since he wanted no one else to use it so nobody could surpass him.”

Muichiro was horrified to hear of what had happened to Michikatsu. “Why?”

“Kokushibo was not born a terrible person,” Yoriichi replied to him. “He was seduced by evil, and manipulated by Muzan. While there exist demons who were terrible people as humans, a majority were not born that way. Many of them simply felt as if they had no chance but to accept the so-called help that Muzan offered. Some were even turned into demons involuntarily, or were tricked into becoming demons, such as a lady I once met whom Muzan once had as a concubine. Her name was Tamayo, and Muzan pretended to be a doctor and offered her a miracle cure for a sickness that would have killed her.”

“I’m not sure why,” Muichiro noted. “But that name sounds familiar.”

“Perhaps she is still alive today,” Yoriichi replied. “She accepted this so-called miracle cure because otherwise, she would have left her children without a mother and her husband without a wife. Instead of giving her a cure, Muzan turned her into a demon, and then intentionally had her eat her own family while she was in a mindless state. By the time she came to, it was too late. The reason she is still alive today is because I spared her and freed her from Muzan’s control. My failure to kill Muzan and my sparing of Tamayo are why I was almost kicked out of the corps. Hearing her story is what made me realize that not all demons are terrible, and made me hope that one day, they could be free from Muzan.”

Muichiro could not help but think of James when he mentioned the idea of good demons. “Well, we have a few now! There are demons beyond Japan who are on our side! People are starting to change their minds, and it’s giving us a great advantage.”

“I had a feeling that was the case,” Yoriichi gleefully replied. “After all, it’s not often you see a slayer having sex with a demon, much less fathering a child with one.”

Muichiro blushed in response. “Please don’t tell me you saw or heard us.” He had had sex with Mukago before the two fell asleep.

“Unfortunately I had to,” Yoriichi chuckled. “You think it’s bad being listened to? Imagine being the one who has to involuntarily listen to it. It’s awkward. It’s really awkward.” Changing subjects so he would not have to keep cringing at the thought of his descendant and his descendant’s girlfriend having such relations, he told him, “Now, you are free to come back to this place in your dreams at any time. I’ll try to come around as a ghost, too. When we meet up, I will train you, as I suspect that Kokushibo has a strong interest in you, and I want you to be prepared when the time comes to battle him.”

“Thank you,” Muichiro replied as he stood up and bowed. “I will see you again soon, Yoriichi-sama.”

“Again, no need to be so formal,” he replied. “Just call me Yoriichi-san or something.”

“Of course, Yoriichi-san.”

In an instant, Muichiro suddenly woke up to Mukago shaking him awake. “Mui! Mui! Hey! Mui! Wake the fuck up!”

“Huh? What?!” Muichiro then sat up in bed, shirtless due to the weather, and looked around. “What’s going on?”

“There’s an emergency,” Mukago told him before she turned to the front of the bed. “And, uh… What’s with that sword that just randomly appeared in front of our bed?”

“It was real then,” Muichiro told himself as he jumped out of bed and grabbed it, astonished at how the sword materialized out of thin air and was exactly like the sword in his dream. “Mukago, what’s going on?”

“There are four demons on this ship aside from me,” Mukago explained to him. “Two are good, but the other two are Lower Moons and have been hunting crew members and passengers down. Come on! We have to go meet up with Anula-san and Nagamine-san! One of the two good demons got kidnapped, and they’re fearing the worst.”

“Let me get dressed first,” Muichiro replied as he put the sword down and hurriedly grabbed his corps uniform from the closet of their suite. “You should get your uniform on as well.” He then pulled out her uniform as well. The two had no idea what to expect, but were prepared for a fight, and it was a fight they surely would receive.

Chapter Text

“So,” Muichiro asked Rinji as the two discussed what to do. “You still possess the powers the former Lower Moon Five gave you, as does your sister?”

“Correct,” Rinji nodded. “Let me show you.” He then spawned a long spider web-like string from his wrist that flew into a closed door that led to a storage closet. As he tugged on the string, the door creaked as its hinges were severely weakened. Finally, the door was ripped off the hinges and fell to the ground with a loud thud. “That took a bit of effort, but yeah, that’s what me and my sister are capable of.”

“No shit,” Muichiro replied, impressed. “Well, do you have any idea where our enemies could be?”

“They’re somewhere in the bowels of the ship,” Rinji offered up. “But as for specifics, I unfortunately have no idea. Who knows what those two shitheads are doing to my sister?”

Mukago asked Rinji, “Are you familiar with the new Lower Moons?”

“Somewhat,” he confirmed with a nod. “And what I do know is enough information to determine that these guys are true monsters. In the Kansei era, there was a series of brutal rapes and killings of prostitutes in Shinmachi, one of Osaka’s red light districts.” He then took a deep breath, clearly distraught over what he had to say. “They only stopped when these two brothers that lived in the area became demons. I’ve heard rumors that these two, named Hiro and Ichiro, were in fact the killers. It’s estimated they raped over thirty women and killed at least twenty of them. If Hiro and Ichiro are the killers, and they took Reiko-oneesan, then that means…” He then choked back vomit in his mouth and took several rapid breaths. “Oh my God… Who knows what the fuck they could be doing to her?!”

Muichiro comforted the demon, who was about the same physical age as him, by patting him on the shoulder. “I swear on my life, we will find and rescue your sister.” He then turned to Mukago, Vijay, and Shiro. “Let’s go find those two.”

…

Several minutes later, as Muichiro and Mukago were looking around near a storage room for the two brothers, they suddenly heard footsteps behind them and panicked. Muichiro whispered to himself, “Shit!”

“Hey,” called a ship worker out in English with a thick Irish accent as he approached them. “What are you two doing down here?! This is a workers-only area of the ship! What are those swords for that you’re carryi-?!” Suddenly, he screamed as he was grabbed from behind and dragged to the ground. “Oh God! Somebody help me!”

Muichiro quickly ran to the man, sword drawn, and charged at Hiro. However, Hiro shouted, “Blood Demon Art, Time Stop!” In the blink of an eye, Muichiro was suddenly injured, with a deep cut on his side that went through his uniform and into his skin, and the worker that Hiro was attacking was now headless.

As the pain hit him, Muichiro shouted, “Fuck! Fucking Christ! He slashed me right on my right side!” As he took several deep breaths, he looked around and noticed that Hiro was gone. “And that fucker is gone!”

“And the worker he was taking,” Mukago pointed out. “He’s dead! His head is completely gone!” Surrounding the dead worker was a giant pool of his blood.

“And I’m right here,” said Hiro as he suddenly appeared behind Mukago. 

She just barely dodged a direct blow to her neck as she drew her sword. “Blood Demon Art,” she then called out. “Snowy Mist!” Suddenly, a giant blanket of fine powdery snow emerged, blocking Hiro’s vision and preventing him from seeing around him beyond about a foot before Mukago suddenly called out from another unknown direction, “Breath of Mist, First Form: Low Clouds, Distant Haze!”

“Fuck,” Hiro yelled out as he just barely dodged a blow to his neck, causing her blade to sink into the top half of his head above his eyes and cut it clean off as the illusion of snow around him dissipated, revealing a normal storage area around him. “Hah! You almost got me, but you’re not quite good enough, former Lower Moon Four!”

“I refuse to be associated with Muzan anymore,” Mukago called out to him. “I am Tsuchinoe Tokito Mukago, Tsuguko of the Mist Pillar, Tokito Muichiro!”

Muichiro was shocked to hear herself use his last name. “My family name! She used my family name!”

“I dare you to find your little spider demon runaway,” Hiro then taunted her as he prepared to run away from them. “Me and my brother are having a lot of fun with her right now! Good luck! Blood Demon Art: Time Stop!” In the blink of an eye, he was once again gone.

Muichiro kicked the ground, yelling out, “Damn it! He got away!”

“Fucking Hell,” Mukago muttered. “These guys really are all sorts of fucked up in the head.”

“Mukago,” Muichiro then asked her. “Why did you use my family name?”

The girl froze when he asked the question, trying to come up with an answer. “Because… Because… Because…” She then sighed. “Because I want to take this relationship more seriously, Muichiro. We are having a child together, and I don’t want to give birth to them out of wedlock.”

“Out of wedlock,” Muichiro repeated to himself. “Out of wedlock…” He then closed his eyes and sheathed his sword. “Mukago, I need to confess to you something. The truth is… I’m scared.”

“Scared?”

“I’m absolutely terrified,” Muichiro continued. “I’ve done things that most men don’t do for many years past my age, if ever. I’ve had responsibility after responsibility placed upon me for three straight years since I became a demon slayer. Look, I know I’m mature and responsible, but it doesn’t change the fact that I’m still only 14 years old.”

“And I’m stuck at 15 years old,” Mukago replied, not seeing what the concern was.

“But you’ve been around for so much longer because you’re a demon,” Muichiro replied back, correcting her. “You have experience in life, and I don’t. Demons don’t usually die normal deaths, and they certainly don’t live the relatively short lifespans of humans. You may be 15, but you’ve really been around for over 120 years.”

“127 to be exact,” Mukago added. “And look, Muichiro, I get that you’re scared. Do you think I’m not scared? I’m fucking terrified. I didn’t know demons could even have babies until Kocho-sama looked me over.”

“You couldn’t as long as you were under Muzan’s control,” Muichiro noted. “His curse specifically makes all demons with it infertile unless they break free from it.”

“I would have liked to have known that,” Mukago shot back, getting a bit aggressive in her tone. “If you think you’re unprepared to have a baby, take a look at me. I was told for my entire life I couldn’t have children, and now, I have one growing inside me that you put in there, for lack of a better phrase. Don’t… Don’t think I don’t want it, though.”

Muichiro then took a seat on the catwalk. “I know that, okay? I’m just… I’m just overwhelmed, okay? I’m scared, because for the first time I can remember in my life, I’m actually afraid of dying. I’m afraid of dying because I don’t want to lose you or the child.”

Mukago sheathed her sword as she sat down next to him. “That’s… I know that feeling. Muzan always criticized me for developing a Blood Demon Art that focused only on illusions, thinking I’d use it to run away from stronger demon slayers, and he was right. I ran whenever I came across a Pillar. My life has been defined by me running away from problems. I ran away from my boss when I was 15 and fell right into Muzan’s hands. I ran from fights against the best slayers around. I ran from Upper Moons looking to pin all their problems on a Lower Moon. Now, though…” She then clutched her stomach. “I’m not running from this.”

Muichiro put a hand on her stomach as well, telling her, “Me neither. I may be scared, but I’m not a coward. Mukago, if you want this child to be born to a married husband and wife, I can make that happen. The Oyakata-sama has done it before with Pillars.” He then hugged her. “We may be scared, but together, we can figure everything out.”

“Ask me,” Mukago replied to him. “Ask me that question.”

Knowing what she wanted, he split from the hug and held her right hand. “Mukago, will you marry me?”

The former Lower Moon Four nodded, a wide smile on her face. “Yes, yes I will.”

…

About 15 minutes later, Reiko had just woken up inside the hiding place for Hiro and Ichiro. She had been asleep the entire time, and was still incredibly groggy as she turned her head and blinked several times. “What… Where am I?” As she took a sniff of the room, she immediately was met with a foul stench. “Ugh, this place fucking reeks.”

“You’re awake,” Hiro replied to her. “Welcome.”

Reiko immediately noticed as she sat up in what turned out to be a small bed that all of her clothes were gone. “What the fuck?! What did you two do to my clothes?!”

“You’re concerned about your clothes?” Hiro then laughed, amused by her misplaced concerns. “That should be the least of your worries. Try using your Blood Demon Art on me.”

“Fine,” Reiko replied as she pointed her right hand at him. “Try thi-!” To her shock, threads did not emerge from her wrist. “Wait, what?! What the fuck did you do to me?!”

“That little poison we gave you prevents you from using your Blood Demon Art for about 24 hours,” Hiro explained. “Even though we haven’t restrained you, me and my brother are still powerful enough to stop you from running or resisting when you’re awake.”

“You bastard,” Reiko yelled at him as she got up and tried to run, only to immediately be stopped by Hiro, who suddenly appeared in front of her and forced her onto the ground. “Agh, shit! How did you do that?!”

“My Blood Demon Art allows me to manipulate time around a limited area,” Hiro explained to her. “I can stop time for a few seconds and move anywhere around me in that timeframe. Anyway, I’m surprised you’re expressing concern about your clothes when we’ve already had so much fun with you.”

“Fun?” Reiko realized immediately what he meant. “Fun?! You think forcing yourself on someone else is fun?!”

“Enough talk out of you,” Hiro replied as he quickly got on top of her. “Come on, let me see how far I can go while you’re awake. Me and my brother went at it a few times with you while you were asleep.”

For the next half-hour, the room and the surrounding area was filled with nothing but screams of pain and sorrow from Reiko. Ichiro joined in as well halfway through, and her pain only increased as he did. These two demons… No, these two monsters, even lower than demons who sided with Muzan… They had violated her like they had done to so many other women before. Her being a demon meant that she could recover quickly from injuries inflicted on her, which only prolonged her suffering at the hands of these two predators. Most people, even perhaps most demons, would be horrified and disgusted by what they did to her and the other victims they raped and/or murdered.

But Hiro and Ichiro, and even Muzan by extension, were not most people or most demons.

...

As Muichiro and Mukago, who had since caught up with Rinji, Shiro, and Vijay, approached, they could still hear her screams. Rinji could barely hold in his anger and fear for his sister. He thought to himself, “What are they doing to Reiko-oneesan?! Those monsters are going to pay when we get their hands on them!”

“These two raped and murdered women and girls who worked in the sex trade like I once did,” Mukago thought to herself. “And that alone makes them my enemy. I will not rest until they are slayed!”

As the five of them approached the room, they suddenly saw Hiro appear before them and fire off a shotgun in their direction, forcing them all to take cover as Shiro was hit. “Agh! Fuck!” Muichiro pulled his own revolver out and fired several shots in Hiro’s direction before dragging an injured Shiro over to cover. He had been hit by many pellets from the shotgun blast. “Fuck, he got me…”

“I know,” Muichiro replied as Mukago took aim and returned fire at Hiro, who was then joined by Ichiro, who was armed with a revolver of his own. As she quickly ducked down to avoid being hit, Muichiro told Shiro, “You’re gonna be okay, got it?” He then ripped off part of Shiro’s uniform and tried to apply pressure to the wound the pellets made in his shoulder to stop the bleeding. “Fucking Christ…”

“I’m right here,” Hiro then yelled as he appeared in front of Muichiro, Mukago, and Shiro with the shotgun, quickly taking aim. Muichiro fired three shots directly into him, which caused him to recoil back and fall to the ground in pain. “Damn it! Agh, shit!”

As Hiro’s wounds healed, Vijay ran over, barely dodging a bullet from Ichiro and asking Shiro in English, “Do you want me to take you?”

“Take me to the medical bay,” he instructed him as Vijay picked him up and carried him on his shoulders, his blood spilling on his clothes. “Hurry!” He then told Muichiro and Mukago in Japanese, “He’s taking me to the medical bay! We already told some soldiers on the ship about what’s going on! They should be down here soon for help!”

Then, the help that Shiro mentioned arrived. Two British soldiers aimed their rifles at Hiro as Vijay ran past them with Shiro and ordered in English, “Stop right there!”

Hiro and Ichiro fired at them, causing them to return fire as several more soldiers appeared. As Muichiro quickly reloaded his revolver with a speed loader, Mukago expended the last of her bullets. Muichiro exclaimed, “I hope they know their bullets won’t work on them unless they’re poisoned!”

Then, a soldier approached them and asked in Japanese with a noticeable Scottish accent, “Are you two alright?

“Yeah,” Mukago replied. “Do you speak Japanese?”

“Yeah,” he replied. “You’re that woman that Indian man referred to, right? We should get you out of here.”

“I’ll stay right here,” Mukago corrected him. “I’ll be fine. I’m a demon, after all.” Suddenly, she saw a pile of sand that seemed to move on its own wrap around the soldier. “What the fuck?! Get away!”

“Shit,” replied the soldier as he jumped out of the sand and on top of the metal container Mukago and Muichiro were using for cover just as Ichiro appeared from within the sand as it formed into a humanoid shape. “Holy shit! Demons can do that?!”

Muichiro quickly tried to decapitate Ichiro with a blow from his sword, but he quickly turned into sand once more and retreated from him, quickly reforming nearby. “Hah! You almost got me! My brother may be limited with how many times he can use his Time Stop ability, but I’m not limited at all with my Moving Sand ability!” This fight would prove to be one of the most challenging the young Mist Pillar had ever faced in his relatively short time as a demon slayer of three years, and would put both his training and Mukago’s training to the test.

Meanwhile, Reiko used the fight as an opportunity to escape, quickly running out of the room after having found her clothes and quickly getting dressed. As she ran in the opposite direction, she cried, tears streaming down her face as the pain of the attack truly hit her. Not the physical pain, but the mental pain, the anguish of being violated. She was angry at her captors, the world for treating her like this, and at herself for seemingly being stupid enough to allow this to happen. As she ran, she was quickly intercepted by two soldiers who raised their rifles. “Stop right there!”

Reiko quickly threw her hands up and stopped. She told them in broken English, “I… I am garbage. I violate… Violate, I am.”

“Shit,” said one of the soldiers in an Irish accent, quickly realizing what she was trying to say. “Did those two men rape you?”

“Yes,” she confirmed with a tearful nod. “Rape, yes.”

The soldier shook his head. “That’s bloody sick. This whole thing is so wrong.” He told the other soldier with him, “She may be some demon thing, but I can’t stop thinking of me own sister back home, lad.”

“I don’t blame ye,” replied the other soldier, also an Irishman serving in the British Army. “Let’s get her some help.”

“No sun,” Reiko quickly told them, not knowing what time it was. “No day, no sun!”

“Right,” replied one of the soldiers, remembering that Vijay had told them that the two Spider Siblings could not go out into the sunlight. “O’Malley, we gotta make sure this lass doesn’t go out in the sunlight, or she’ll die.”

“On it,” said the other soldier. “Don’t worry, young lass, we’ll take care of ya. We’ll make sure those two bad men don't hurt ya anymore.”

Reiko then went with the soldiers to the medical bay on the ship. She was relieved to be away from the brothers, but still shaken by what she had been put through. She had survived, but now had to deal with the aftermath of going through such a horrific act. She thought to herself, “I did nothing to deserve what happened to me! Why did they have to choose me of all people?! I… I don’t know if I can recover from this. God, please, give me peace of mind, for right now, I have none.”

Meanwhile, Rinji, who still was firing at the brothers from behind a different metal container with a rifle Vijay had given to him, yelled at the brothers, “This is for raping my sister, assholes!” He then emptied the last of his clip at them and retreated for cover, quickly pulling out his last clip and loading it into the rifle, thinking to himself, “Those monsters will pay if it’s the last thing I do!”

Chapter Text

“Poison will only get you so far,” a demon yelled at Shinobu and Kanao as he fell to his knees, slowly dying from a fatal dose of wisteria inflicted by the former. “It’s not the be-all and end-all!”

“You’re so full of shit,” Shinobu told a demon she was taking care of in the middle of the night alongside Kanao. “And you fucking know it.” Her fake smile taunted the demon as he began to fade away.

“You cunt,” he spat at her. “Your poison won’t save you all the time! One day, you will be destroyed!” As he faded away, he laughed maniacally, his laughter eventually stopping at his mouth disappeared followed by the rest of his head.

“Well, that takes care of that,” Kanao told Shinobu as she sheathed her sword. “Shinobu-sama, what’s the next order of business?” 

“Mitsuri-chan is photographing the scene of that demon’s crimes right now,” Shinobu replied. “She sure was tired when they called her at Iguro-san’s place, I guess.” She then pulled a small pocket watch from a pocket in her uniform. “It’s about 2:30 in the morning now.” She yawned as she looked to Kanao and told her, “Let’s start heading back.” As the two walked back, she thought to herself, “Kanao doesn’t know it, but that was actually a test for an American poison Colby-san wrote about. Sure enough, it works well on demons here. Perhaps using foreign poisons will be beneficial, since demons here can’t really build a good resistance to them…”

…

Yesterday

As Shinobu and James worked on a poison together in a small chemical lab inside the Butterfly Estate, the former asked the latter, “How similar is Dutch to German?”

“Well,” James replied. “They’re both related. They ain’t exactly the same, but there’s words they share. You speak Dutch, don’t ya?”

“Natuurlijk,” Shinobu replied in fluent Dutch to him. “Voordat de Amerikanen naar Japan kwamen, was Nederlands de belangrijkste westerse taal van de elite. Ik spreek niet zo goed Duits, maar ik versta er een deel van vanwege het Nederlands.”

James looked at her in confusion. He could pick out some words in what she said due to their similarities to both German and English, but was still lost on what exactly she said. “Uh… In English or Japanese, please?”

Shinobu giggled and replied in English instead to show off her skill in the language. “I said that I can speak Dutch because it was the main language of the elite in Japan before the Americans came. I cannot speak German very well, but I can understand some of it because of similarities to German.”

“You sound very good,” James replied in English. “Of course, the accent is there, but it’s all correct.” Switching back to Japanese, he asked her, “Anyway, how do you feel about Pillar Kanroji and Pillar Iguro being a couple?”

Shinobu set an empty test tube down. “I think they make a wonderful couple, and I’ve never seen Mitsuri-chan or Iguro-san any happier than they are now.”

James then asked, “Do you think you’ll ever find happiness like that?”

Shinobu sighed, realizing such a question would inevitably come up. “Me? No, not really. I’m… I’m not the kind of woman that a man would want. You know that I wasn’t always like this, Colby-san. I was rebellious and feisty in my youth.”

“Your youth? You’re eighteen years old, ma’am. You’re still young.”

“When you’ve been a slayer for seven years and counting,” Shinobu replied. “A field that has an average life of only five years of work before retirement or death, eighteen feels more like fifty. In any other profession, I’d be young, but here, I’m middle-aged. Eleven, the age I was recruited at, was the absolute youngest we have ever recruited people to fight.”

“Eleven? Jesus Christ…” James then remembered the existence of drummers in the Union and Confederate Armies in the Civil War. “Then again, when I was alive as a human, armies were still usin’ drummers. There officially were age limits, but most people didn’t give a fuck. The youngest drummers I saw were about twelve or thirteen. They weren’t supposed to actually fight, but in war, of course, shit happens, and sometimes they had no choice. I thought I was skirtin’ the line by fakin’ my age and enlistin’ at sixteen, but damn, I sure wasn’t alone out there.”

“The culture inside the corps is so different from that outside it,” Shinobu explained. “We’ve always recruited people in their adolescence from the rural countryside. It’s not often we had older people or people from urban areas join us. We have to grow up so much faster here, because if we don’t, we’ll get killed when we go out to fight. Such is life when you’re not only not recognized by the government, but they’ve tried to shut you down for being subversive for allowing women to fight despite supporting the Meiji Restoration.”

“They really fucked you guys over,” James could not help but remark.

…

Back on the ship, the battle between Hiro, Ichiro, and the Demon Slayers continued. Muichiro and Mukago had used up all of their poisoned bullets by now, but it seemed to barely have any effect on the two Lower Moons. Rinji had also used up all of his regular bullets. As the Scottish soldier who understood Japanese was telling the other two soldiers with him to retreat, Ichiro formed in front of them and stabbed both of them quickly in their throats and chests, killing them in a matter of seconds. He yelled out in English, “Fucking Hell! They got Jones and Mathers!” He then turned to Muichiro and asked him in Japanese, “Any ideas?”

“We just need to get lucky and strike as fast as we can,” Muichiro replied before he noticed that Hiro had appeared behind him using his second BDA technique, known as Future Sight. “Look out!” Muichiro then pushed the soldier aside and slashed at Hiro, cutting his arm off before he used his free hand to punch him in the face. He then kicked him away.

“That was too close,” the Scottish soldier called out.

“I guess I’ll have to use my new form.” Muichiro then readied his sword and took a deep breath. “Breath of Mist, Seventh Form: Obscuring Clouds!”

“Let me help you,” Mukago then told him as she readied an attack of her own. “Blood Demon Art: Snowy Mist!” With this, she would further obscure Muichiro with a wave of snow and a cold mist as he charged at Hiro.

His movements were erratic, and initially to Hiro, he seemed slow. However, when he blinked, he suddenly appeared right in front of him. He thought to himself, “How the fuck?! No! I couldn’t predict his movements in time!” He was able to dodge the first slash against his neck, but as he tried to run, he blinked again and saw that Muichiro was now right in front of him. “Shit!” He just barely dodged the attack, Muichiro’s sword hitting the top of his head and cutting off his scalp, causing him to yell out in pain, “Motherfucker!” By now, he could barely see where he was running due to Mukago’s Blood Demon Art, and as he ran into a guard rail, he heard Muichiro’s sword come down on him from behind. “No! Nooooo!”

Then, with a quick slash, Muichiro decapitated Hiro, cleanly slicing his head off and instantly killing him. As his head fell over the guard rail and into the bellows of the ship, Muichiro set his sword down, picked up his body, and tossed it over the edge as well. “Serves you right, asshole!”

As the Snowy Mist Blood Demon Art around him disappeared, Mukago and the Scottish soldier walked over to him. The latter was bewildered by what he had witnessed. “How did… Who… How the fuck… How…?”

“No time to explain,” Muichiro replied to him as he picked up his sword. “We still have one of those sick fucks left to kill.”

Rinji ran over, telling them, “Ichiro ran off! I think he’s heading for the top deck!”

“Well then let’s find him,” Muichiro replied. “It should be night time by now anyway, so you’ll be safe up there.”

…

Up on the top deck, Ichiro stood at the stern of the ship, looking out to the water in the dead of night and waiting for the presence of the demon slayers and soldiers who were chasing after him. He thought to himself, “This is my last chance to get out of here alive. My brother may be doomed, but I won’t let his demise get to me, not yet at least.”

“He’s right there,” shouted a waiter in English from behind him as he pointed him out to an able seaman. “Take him into custody!”

“Sir,” the able seaman told Ichiro in English. “We are having you placed under arrest on suspicion of murder on the high seas.”

“No,” he shouted to them in what little English he knew before he turned into sand and slithered beneath their feet. As the two of them panicked and watched in horror, Ichiro grabbed onto the able seaman’s right leg and crawled up it under his pants before his right leg suddenly exploded, causing blood to spill everywhere.

“Fuck,” he shouted. “He got my bloody leg! My whole bloody leg is gone!”

The waiter, covered in blood, shouted, “How the fuck did he do that?!”

Ichiro then reverted back to his normal self in front of the waiter and stabbed him several times with a knife, puncturing his chest and neck and instantly killing him. Once the waiter was done, he turned to the able seaman and told him in Japanese, “And now it’s your turn to die.”

Though he could not understand Japanese, he knew that he was next. “No, no! Please, I have a family in Newcastle! Don’t kill me!” The able seaman’s cries were ignored as Ichiro stabbed him several times on the ground and then began to dig into his flesh to consume him. As he ripped apart the pieces he ate in his teeth, the man’s screams stopped as he passed out from blood loss.

“I haven’t had a heart in a while,” Ichiro said to himself as he used his knife to cut a hole in the man’s chest and get to his heart, which was still just barely beating. With a swift motion, he ripped it out, using the knife to sever arteries and veins that held it to his body, and proceeded to consume it, coating himself in the man’s blood as it continued to pour out from him.

“Stop right fucking there,” Vijay yelled at him in English as he aimed a revolver at him. “You’re finished!”

“Not you again,” Ichiro expressed in Japanese with annoyance as he set what was left of the man’s heart down on the deck. “That gun won’t work on me.”

“I can’t understand you,” Vijay replied. “But I’m gonna guess you said something about my gun not being able to stop you. Well, I hope you comprehend that this gun isn’t the only way I have of defeating you!” He then dropped the gun and ripped off his suit coat and undershirt to become bare-chested. “Demonic Technique: True Form!” He then began to change shape right in front of Ichiro, shocking him as his upper body became grotesquely inhuman. His eyes widened, his teeth greatly sharpened and grew in size, his ears enlarged, and his skin turned almost pitch black on his back while retaining its fleshy color on the front. His lips were a bright red, his nails had turned into long claws, and his hair stood up and grew to make it look like a lion’s mane. Once his transformation was complete, he growled at Ichiro in a deep and husky voice, “A pathetic fake such as yourself would never be able to achieve this level of power.” His pants and underwear had been completely ripped off, and he now stood at ten feet tall.

“Go away!” Ichiro then transformed into sand again and tried to run from Vijay, but he quickly grasped the sand on the ground and held up pieces of him.

Despite his attempts to crawl out of his beastly hands, Vijay then yelled out, “Demonic Technique: Boiling Water!” In an instant, hot water emerged from his palms, burning Ichiro and causing him to snap out of his sand form as he screamed in pain. “Time to meet your end!”

Vijay then picked Ichiro up by his neck as he prayed in Japanese, fearing for his life. “Please, Buddha, grant me safety! Please, please, grant me safety!” Then, Vijay grabbed his abdomen with his other hand and proceeded to gruesomely rip Ichiro’s head off of his body after pulling at it for a few seconds, killing him instantly. He then threw his body down onto the deck just as some soldiers arrived alongside Muichiro and Mukago.

One soldier yelled out to Vijay, “What happened?! What’s going on?!”

“That demon causing you trouble is dead,” Vijay told them as he began to de-transform. Once he was back to normal, he brushed his naked body off and looked around. “So, this is a bit awkward. I’m gonna need some new pants. My old pair were ripped apart when I turned into my True Form.”

In disbelief, Mukago said to herself in Japanese, “Man, if Indian demons can do that, we got fucking boned in Japan.”

The Scottish soldier told Vijay, “We’ll, um… We’ll get ye your new pants soon enough.” He thought to himself as he looked over the rather gruesome scene of Ichiro’s first attack followed by his death, “This fuckin’ day has been somethin’ else, huh?”

…

July 9, 1913

Chiyo and Vèro sat underneath a tree as the evening began to fall onto the forest, counting their kills so far in the Final Selection Exam. “I have six demon kills so far,” Vèro told Chiyo. “How about you?”

“I have seven,” she confirmed with a confident nod and smile. “Looks like we’re already experts at this, huh?”

“I don’t know about experts,” Vèro replied. “But I’d say we certainly aren’t weak.” Then, she noticed something behind Chiyo. “Oh shit, Chiyo-chan, move!”

She quickly ducked out of the way of a demon who tried to grab a hold of her, just barely missing his hand as she pulled her sword out. “You thought you could sneak up on us, huh, asshole?!”

Then, a second demon grabbed Vèro by her hair and dragged her on the ground several feet. “Fuck, it got me!”

As Chiyo slayed the first demon with ease, she turned to Vèro and yelled, “VÈRO! VÈRO!”

Vèro used a knife she kept on her to cut her hair and free herself from his grasp, not caring about her appearance at all at the moment. As she fell to the ground, she came face-to-face with an eight-foot demon with massive arms who yelled at her, “Don’t get away from me, my meal!”

Vèro then charged at the demon, and as she did, she felt an odd feeling within her. “This is weird,” she thought to herself. “My head is telling me to… To eat it?! What the fuck?!” Indeed, as she slashed across the demon’s legs, she felt herself salivate, and as she picked up a piece of flesh she tore off, she almost on instinct bit down on it. Immediately, she felt a sharp pain in her chest as her eyes blackened and she collapsed to the ground. “Agh, fuck! My fucking chest hurts!”

“Vèro, are you alright?!” Chiyo then attacked the demon as well, slashing it several times before declaring, “Thunderclap and Flash!” As she did, she charged at the demon at a high rate of speed and rammed her sword into him, but she missed and instead cut off half of his head by mistake. “Fuck, I missed the neck!”

On the ground, Vèro stumbled to her feet as her teeth and nails sharpened, followed by a horn growing out of her forehead. She spat at the demon, “C'est le jour où vous mourrez, démon maléfique!” She then charged at the demon and clawed at its chest with her free hand before aiming for its neck with her sword in the other. Using only one hand, she was able to decapitate the demon with ease, killing it.

As Vèro then collapsed to the ground, Chiyo ran to her and asked her, “Vèro-chan, are you alright?!” The demon’s body had begun to fade away by this point.

“I…,” she said weakly to her as her horn and claws began to disappear. “I ate part of him, and I became like this… I don’t know what’s happening, Chiyo-chan… I’m scared…” It was clear in her expression and tone of voice she was frightened by this new development. “What the fuck was that?”

“I… I don’t know… But that doesn’t matter! You’re still Vèro to me!” Chiyo did not want her to see herself as a monster, so she took off her eye patch to reveal her empty eye socket. “Look, Vèro-chan, people thought I was ugly because I was missing an eye. We both are misfits, okay?”

“I see,” she replied as she began to lapse in and out of consciousness. “Fuck… I feel so tired… Chiyo-chan, by the way, that’s my seventh kill…”

“Vèro? Vèro?! VÈRO!”

Chapter Text

July 10, 1913

At the Butterfly Estate, Nezuko completed another round of blood injections from James in the basement, this time alongside Zenitsu, who could not help but stare at her. “Aaaah, Nezuko-chan… If this treatment works, I want to take you out to see the flowers blooming in the sun so badly…”

James was amused by his remarks as he put away a needle and told Nezuko, “Okay, that completes this round of injections. Do ya wanna take the muzzle off?”

Nezuko nodded and untied the back of her muzzle to let it fall to the table she sat before. “Aaah… Talking.”

“Good, good,” James replied. “Zenitsu, can y’all open up that one window near the stairs?”

“Sure thing,” Zenitsu replied as he got up. “Do you want me to move the mirrors when you’re ready?”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “Okay, Nezuko, we’re gon’ see how your skin reacts to a bit of sunlight. If it’s promisin’, we can upgrade to a larger mirror.”

“Okay,” Nezuko replied with a happy nod. “Okay.”

“Open ‘er up,” James instructed Zenitsu. As he did, the light bounced off of a mirror and onto a specific point on Nezuko’s exposed arm. “Okay, lookin’ good so far… Any pain, Nezuko?”

“No,” she replied as she shook her head. “No. This is good.”

After a full minute of exposure, James told Zenitsu. “Shut it. We got a good result.”

“It was nice,” Nezuko told both of them. “It was nice. Very nice. Sun was very nice.”

“Holy shit,” Zenitsu muttered to himself. “She… She’s resistant to the sun now?!”

“Only partially like me,” James explained. “I’m resistant to sunlight, but I can’t heal in the sun and I can’t really use my Blood Demon Art in the sun either.” He then turned to Nezuko. “Now, I need you to understand that the same applies to you. You need to pretend that you’re still human, and that you’ll die if you get hurt real bad, okay? Also, I don’t think y’all can use your Explodin’ Blood attack durin’ the day, either.”

“Yes,” Nezuko agreed, nodding her head. “Yes. Yes.”

“Also,” James added. “You may experience growin’ pains for the next month or so as your body adjusts to match your chronological age. Since you’re only two years older than when you turned into a demon, it should not be too much, but I’m not entirely sure since 12 to 14 might be a big jump due to puberty.”

“You mean,” Zenitsu then replied. “Nezuko-chan will grow into a young woman?!”

“Correct.”

As Zenitsu practically passed out from elation, Nezuko giggled in amusement. “Funny boy. He’s funny.” She then turned back to James. “I see.”

“If you feel like the pain’s too much,” James then told her. “You can always come to me or Pillar Kocho, and we’ll get you some pain medication.”

“Okay.”

“With all that said,” he concluded. “You should be able to walk in the sun now, but I’d wait until tomorrow to try it to let the blood I gave ya settle in.”

“Nezuko,” Tanjiro then called out to her from the stairs as he walked down. “Nezuko, how are you?”

“Oniichan,” Nezuko then called out, now able to properly say the term for older brother in Japanese without slurring it or mispronouncing it. “Oniichan!”

As Nezuko hugged a stunned Tanjiro, James explained to him, “We’ll do the ultimate test tomorrow in the sunlight. If it works, she can become as normal as one can be while still being a demon for now.”

“Nezuko…” Tanjiro tightly gripped his sister. “Thank God… Nezuko, you’re…” He thought to himself, “Even if she can’t go back to being human for some reason, she can at least be normal again. I haven’t been this happy since before our family was murdered.”

Nezuko smiled and told him as she returned the hug, “Oniichan, I love you.” As the two split, she then turned to Zenitsu and hugged him as well. “You are a good dandelion, Zenitsu.”

The blond young man could barely contain his excitement and joy at being hugged by Nezuko as his face lit up. “Yes! Yes! I’m a good dandelion!”

“My, oh my,” Shinobu said as she and Kanao then came downstairs to see what was going on. “What’s happening he-“ She stopped when she saw Nezuko without her muzzle, hugging Zenitsu. “Uh…”

“Pillar Kocho,” James then told her as he stood up from a table. “I’m happy to report that Nezuko should have Limited Sunlight Resistance by tomorrow. We will conduct a test close to the house in case anything goes wrong. As you can see, she has also regained her ability to speak, and is making a lot of progress.”

“I see,” Shinobu replied. “I will let the Oyakata-sama know of this development.”

…

Meanwhile on the ship, Vijay, Muichiro, Mukago, Rinji, and a few British soldiers met in a small library and discussed what had occurred the night before. “I suppose you are all owed an explanation as to why I can transform into a beast,” Vijay told them all in English, with the same Scottish soldier from before translating for those who could not speak it. “Well, among the Indian demons, we can call upon our True Forms, which will turn us into the beast you saw kill the other half of the pair of Japanese demons who attacked us. Humans, especially in Sri Lanka, usually think of us as possessing only these forms, because we tend to blend in well with humans when we aren’t in those forms.”

Through the Scottish soldier, Mukago asked him, “What about other demons? Can they do the same thing?”

“No,” Vijay shook his head. “Imperfect demons like Muzan cannot possess a True Form. However, a remnant of this ability to transform is seen in the fact that demons can change parts of their bodies at will. I assume your horns, markings, and skin and eye colors are all part of this transformation ability?”

“Correct,” the Scottish soldier said in place of Mukago. “When I first became a demon, I looked very different, and was more similar to my appearance as a human.”

“What I want to know,” then said a British Army officer. “Is why the bloody Hell those men murdered my soldiers.

“They were merely in the way,” Vijay explained. “Those two were really after our friends from Japan here, especially the brother and sister pair of demons.”

Rinji then asked through the Scottish soldier, “How is my sister? Is she alright?”

“She’s doing better,” Vijay replied with a nod. “But she’s still very shaken up. Shiro, on the other hand… His condition is getting wor-“

“Sir,” then said a soldier as he ran in before rendering a salute to the officer. “Private Chapel reporting, sir.”

“At ease,” the officer replied. “What do you have to report?”

“The Japanese man who was shot,” he replied. “He died of his wounds.”

Vijay was horrified. “Shiro is dead?” He immediately jumped up from his seat and ran for the ship infirmary. “No, no, no! This can’t be!”

Muichiro, Mukago, and Rinji immediately followed him. Muichiro thought to himself, “Nagamine-san?! It can’t be!”

…

Meanwhile, in the servant quarters, two men in uniforms were talking together in the bunks. “So the brothers are dead,” one of them said to the other in Japanese. “Well, that sets us back, and per Muzan, it makes us the new Lower Moons 2 and 3, Heizo.”

“Osamu,” Heizo replied. “We need to wait for the ship to dock. You saw what happened to those brothers, right? On here, we’re at a disadvantage as long as we are at sea. Those two may have been powerful, but they were reckless. It was only a matter of time before they were caught.”

“You have a point,” Osamu nodded. “Our idea of disguising ourselves as servants was a good one. Those traitors and that Mist Pillar won’t know what’s coming when we do strike.”

“Excuse me,” then asked a regular human servant in English. “I need some help with the infirmary. Are you guys available?”

“Sure thing, Charlie,” Osamu replied in a fake Chinese English accent. “Me and Chun Fung will be right there.”

“Thank you,” he replied. “Ho Yuen, if you don’t mind, can you also bring up a box to the infirmary too? It’s labeled Fragile and has medical supplies in it, so be careful.”

“Absolutely,” Osamu replied. The two had disguised themselves as Chinese servants from Hong Kong, and had adopted names to do so. Osamu had become Lee Ho Yuen, and Heizo had become Chan Chun Fung. Due to earlier treatments from the Jackson Brothers involving direct injection into the bloodstream as opposed to failed attempts with ingestion, both had become the very first demons ever created by Muzan to possess Limited Sunlight Resistance. Ichiro and Hiro may have been Lower Moon 2 and 3, but Muzan had told them that while they were their students, they would immediately take their places in the New Lower Moons if they died, which Muzan suspected they would due to their inability to control their depravity and blend in.

As the two left to do their work, Heizo thought to himself, “Our plans have worked! There’s no way we can be stopped!”

…

Later that night, as Muichiro slept, he was once again placed in front of Yoriichi’s house in his dreams. “I’m here again, huh?”

As he looked around, Yoriichi stepped out and waved to him. “Muichiro, you’ve returned!”

“I’m not sure how,” Muichiro replied. “But that’s not the concern. The Kakushi we were with… He died…”

“I see,” Yoriichi replied, feeling sorry for him. “Did you defeat those two demons on the ship?”

“Yeah, they’re both dead now, but… They… They found that one girl demon…”

“The spider ones?”

“Yeah, and they… Violated her.” Muichiro felt sick to his stomach while describing Ichiro and Hiro’s rape of Reiko. “They said those two would injure her, let her wounds heal, and then force themselves upon her while injuring her again. She’s barely talking to any of us.”

“I’m sorry for you all,” Yoriichi replied with a sigh. “Especially her and for Nagamine-san’s family.” He then brandished his sword. “Have you used the sword from my brother that I gave you yet?”

“I used it in the battle against the brothers,” Muichiro confirmed. “I felt… I felt a presence when I did, like someone was guiding me into making my cuts and slashes.”

“Good,” he replied. “Now that you’re here, we can practice. Now, remember, in the dream world, if I die, I just wake up back in my home. If you die, you wake up back in your bed.”

“Wait, you’re saying I can kill you?”

“Yeah, exactly. Don’t hold back in our practices, Muichiro.” Yoriichi was adamant in his demand. “Don’t be afraid to fatally injure me. Nothing that you do to me will affect my body permanently, and the same applies to you and your body.” Yoriichi then swung at him, causing Muichiro to quickly dodge and block his attack. “You were barely prepared! Do not lower your defenses!” The two then sparred again, with Yoriichi landing a slash on Muichiro’s shoulder.

“Agh, fuck!” Muichiro then blocked another hit from Yoriichi as he was driven further back into the surrounding forest. “Fucking Hell!”

“If you fight Kokushibo,” Yoriichi told him as they continued to spar. “Or any other traitors to the Demon Slayer Corps, you’ll have to contend with this! They’ll already be powerful due to Muzan’s blood, but they’ll be at an even greater advantage due to their corps training!” Then, Muichiro landed a blow on Yoriichi, but he barely flinched as his arm was slashed into by his opponent. “Not bad, agh… But you’ll have to do better than that!”

Just as Muichiro was backed up against a tree, Yoriichi managed to slice his right hand completely off, causing him to scream in pain. “My hand! You chopped off my fucking hand!” Yoriichi then stabbed Muichiro in the stomach, impaling him on his sword and slicing through his abdomen. “Aaah… Dead…”

“This was merely a pre-test,” Yoriichi told him. “I will train you when you next fall asleep for a while, and when you’re ready, we will fight again. When we do, you will strike me down instead.” As Muichiro’s vision faded and the pain slowly went away, Yoriichi smiled and told him, “You actually did kinda better than I was expecting, not gonna lie. I wish you luck when we next meet, Muichiro. No hard feelings, by the way.”

When Muichiro woke up, he did so in a cold sweat next to Mukago. As he was already mostly naked in bed, he checked his stomach and arms to see if his wounds were real. To his relief, they were not present in the real world. “Oh… Thank God…”

“Mui,” Mukago then tiredly asked him as she stirred awake beside him. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he replied to her before giving her a kiss on the cheek. “It was just a dream, is all. Nothing to be concerned over.” He then rested his head against the pillow and closed his eyes. “Everything’s fine, Mukago.” He thought to himself, “Yoriichi-san really is taking this seriously. The fact he killed me in the dream was enough of a shock.”

Chapter Text

July 11, 1913

Véro woke up in the Butterfly Estate after having been unconscious since the 9th. As she looked around, she saw James, Shinobu, Gyomei, Sanemi, Genya, and Chiyo in the room. “Where… Where am I?”

“You’re in the Butterfly House,” Shinobu explained to her. “You passed out in the forest.”

“Wait,” she then yelled. “Did I… Did I fail?!”

“No, no, no,” James assured her. “You passed. You were very active in your five days in the forest. Your uniform is being made now, as is your sword. We made sure to get you a similar uniform to Pillar Kocho, and not get one from Maeda-san.”

“Shinazugawa-sensei,” Véro excitedly called out to Sanemi. “Did you hear?! I passed!” However, Sanemi did not share her joy, and instead gave a look of disappointment and some disgust. “Shinazugawa-sensei, what’s wrong?”

“You eat demons,” Sanemi coldly told her. “How… How the Hell can you just eat demons? They’re monsters!”

“Shinazugawa-san,” Shinobu politely told him, despite Véro noticing she was holding back anger at his remarks. “We already talked about this. Don’t fly off the handle, please.”

“Quiet down, everyone,” Gyomei then calmly but firmly addressed both of them. “There is nothing wrong with eating demons. As I have already explained before Renaud-san woke up, this is a rare but not new power some slayers possess, and it has been used to achieve many good things in the corps. Genya, my own pupil, is a Demon Eater himself.”

Sanemi seemed angry at his own brother for this simple fact as Genya spoke up, saying, “Renaud-san, y-... You will be training with Himejima-san and me alongside your conventional Breath of Winds training under my brother.”

“That is true,” Sanemi begrudgingly added. “Unlike my brother, you can actually use a breath style, so you’ll have that to work on as well.”

“Demon Eater… So that’s why I suddenly felt the urge to eat that one demon…” She then sighed. “Ah, putain… Comme si les choses n'étaient pas déjà assez compliquées.”

“Ça pourrait être pire,” James replied in French. “Vous pourriez être mort.”

…

Meanwhile, Inosuke was passing the time by exercising outside, lifting heavy stones attached to ropes with no shirt on to help cool down. “Yeah, get some! King of the Mountains, here we go!”

As he repetitively lifted the stones up and down, Aoi took notice of him. “There he goes again with that King Of The Mountains crap,” she thought to herself. “How did he even come up with that?” As she stared at him and his workout, she suddenly found herself drawn to his abs. “Wait, why am I suddenly staring at him?” As he continued to lift stones, she suddenly developed a small blush and buried her face in her palms. “Oh my God, no, please, don’t think about that…”

“Don’t think about what?”

Shinobu suddenly interrupted Aoi, causing her to scream out, “Fuck!” As she turned around, she saw her older adoptive sister. “Oh, it’s just you, Shinobu-sama.”

“I must have really startled you,” she playfully told her. “Were you staring at Inosuke-kun?”

“No,” Aoi tried to deny. “Why would I do that?”

“He’s got a really strong body,” Shinobu pointed out. “But a really pretty face. I figured that someone around here would get a small crush on him.”

“The boy probably has zero clue how girls work. I can’t see him marrying anyone. He’s just… Too weird for that.”

Then, they both saw Inosuke take his boar head off to wipe off sweat from his forehead. “Damn, that was the toughest one yet. These fuckers don’t get any lighter.”

Aoi blushed and turned away. “I’m not looking.”

“Aoi! Shinobu!” Inosuke then waved over to them. “I need some slightly heavier rocks to lift!”

“You got it,” Shinobu assured him. “Slightly heavier rocks, coming right up!”

…

July 15, 1913

As Susamaru and Kyojuro walked through the front door of the Rengoku Estate, the former quickly kissed James before she asked him, “So, did we miss much?”

“Nezuko’s improvin’,” James told her. “And Véro is officially a demon slayer now.” He then turned to Kyojuro. “Sir, Nezuko is relearnin’ how to speak, and I’ve practiced every day by myself while you were gone.”

“Very good,” Kyojuro replied as he set his luggage down. “Very good indeed. Any other news on your granddaughter?”

“Well,” James then began to explain. “She’s… She’s a demon eater. We just found that out a few days ago.”

“A demon eater… I see.” Kyojuro knew of them, but had never run into any personally before. “That certainly is a rare trait, though not unheard of. Has she had any difficulty with the Breath of Wind?”

“None,” James shook his head.

“Even rarer, though again not unheard of. Most demon eaters can’t use breaths, but a select few can. If Véro continues to sharpen her skills in both areas, she might be one of the most powerful slayers of her generation.”

“I’ll be sure to tell her that. She could use the encouragement, since Pillar Shinazugawa isn’t treating her too well now because of it.”

Kyojuro sighed. “Of course he isn’t.”

James then developed a slightly angry tone. “I swear, I’m this close to givin’ him a piece of my mind. I get he’s her trainer, but what he’s doin’ ain’t right.”

“A piece of your brain?”

“It means that you’ll tell them you’re upset or pissed off at them,” James explained.

“Ah, right,” Kyojuro nodded. “I wouldn’t do that to Shinazugawa-san. You’re still just a Tsuguko, and he’s a Pillar. At the same time, though, I get why you’re upset, and if he’s doing what I think he’s doing, I agree that it’s not right.”

“Honey,” Susamaru asked James. “What’s he doing?”

“He’s bein’ harsher than usual during trainin’ with her,” James explained. “And he’s been sayin’ she’s a monster and shit. I get that he lost his family to demons, and he lost his wife to ‘em, but don’t take it out on Véro.”

“I remember when Kanae-san died,” Kyojuro added. “It really got to Shinazugawa-san. He was always kind of abrasive and stubborn, but he wasn’t as… As… Well, he wasn’t as much of a dick, to put it bluntly, until Kanae died. It was as if the last light in his life was smothered. They were only married for six months, but loved each other for longer than that.” He then affirmed, “But again, that’s still no excuse. I’ll see what I can do, because what you’re saying he’s doing is not right.”

As Kyojuro went into another room to unpack his luggage, Susamaru turned to James and smiled. “It feels good to be back with you. Say, wanna go to that secluded spot we found before I left near the creek and get caught up on what we’ve been missing?” She then nudged him with her elbow. “Huh? How about that?”

“I would love to do that,” James replied quietly. “You’ve only been gone for ten days, but it feels like forever since I’ve felt the touch of a woman.”

“I can say the same for the touch of a man,” Susamaru seductively told him as she ran a finger down his lower face and upper chest. “I think I’m getting addicted to you, James.”

“Then we’re both addicts,” James replied before he gave her a quick kiss. “And what I want to do most right now is physically show you how much I love you.”

…

Meanwhile, back on the ship, the mood remained somber after the battle with Ichiro and Hiro. Reiko was finally opening up about what had happened to her, but was still shaken by what the two demons had done to her. As she and Mukago talked privately in the latter’s room, she told her, “I felt so powerless, so fucking powerless, as they raped me. They would hurt me, let me heal, and then hurt me again. I’ve barely been able to sleep ever since it happened.”

Mukago felt sorry for the chronologically younger demon. Though the two were the same physical age and had both been the same age when they were turned into demons, Mukago had been around much longer. “Reiko-chan, I… I know how it feels to be violated by someone, to be taken advantage of and held down. I haven’t even told Muichiro, the father of my own child this.”

“You have?”

Mukago sighed and frowned as she nodded. “Indeed. When I was still working as a tea waitress and sleeping with some customers on the side, Muzan had offered me a chance to become a demon, but I declined for the time being. However, that changed one day when a man I had earlier had sex with voluntarily came back for another visit.”

Reiko was confused. “He came back?”

“Yeah, without paying. He snuck into where I lived somehow, and I woke up with a blade to my throat.” She then pointed out where on her throat the blade was held to. “I wanted to scream, but he held my mouth shut and told me not to scream. He then…” She took a deep breath. “He then had his way with me. Just like you said, I felt powerless. I felt so… So weak. So fragile. So helpless. When he was done, I found Muzan again, and I became a demon.”

“What happened to him?”

She then smiled. “He became the first meal I killed on my own. Of course…” She once again returned to a saddened expression. “Even after I became more demon-like and left that Post Station, I ended up getting bounced around by the Upper Moons as a sex toy for Muzan and the male Demon Moons to have their way with. The only Upper Moon that treated me with any respect was Upper Moon Six.”

“Six?! Daki?!”

“Correct,” she replied. “She treated me with decency because we were both prostitutes at one point, with her still being one. Her brother, Gyutaro, also saw me as a second sister he never had for a while.” As a slight blush came across her face, she told Reiko, “Now, Reiko-chan, you know that you don’t have to be with a man to have sex, right?”

“Sex between two women?” Reiko was somewhat confused. “How does that work?”

“We, uh, found a way,” Mukago admitted to her. “Me and Daki-senpai found a way for sure. We both also slept with some high-ranking demons, too, including Muzan. Occasionally, the two of us would team up if it was a demon’s really lucky day. She was super into sleeping with Muzan, which I never really got, since he wasn’t particularly good in bed.”

Reiko’s face by now was bright red. “Fucking Hell… What haven’t you done?”

“I ask myself the same thing,” Mukago admitted. “Now, though… Those days are gone.” She then caressed her belly, which was extended outwards from her pregnancy. “I found a young man who I want to settle down with. I know that as a human he’ll one day pass on and leave me behind, but I would rather spend a short 50 or so years with him than have never met him at all. Muichiro knows that he’s not my first, but he doesn’t care, because he loves me.”

Reiko smiled, feeling happy for her. “I’m glad to hear that. Maybe when me and my brother return to Japan, we can receive the same blood you did and have the same thing happen to us one day.” She then looked down at herself, having some doubts. “Though… I don’t know if I can be as lucky as you are and find a man who will accept me after what has been done to me.”

“The men who mind don’t matter,” Mukago assured her. “And the man who matters won’t mind. I’m not saying that finding a husband, or in your brother’s case finding a wife, is the only way to be happy, because it’s certainly not, but… It’s an option. It’s not necessary at all, but if you see an opportunity and your heart tells you you found something, go for it.”

“Are you gonna tell Muichiro-san the secret?”

“Well,” Mukago began as she struggled to find a concrete answer to Reiko’s question. “The secret… Well…”

“What secret?” Muichiro then suddenly walked in, having heard Mukago mention a secret. “Mukago, what’s going on?”

“Nothing,” she tried to deny. “It’s not a secret from me.”

“I heard Reiko-san mention you having a secret,” Muichiro countered. “Tell me, please.”

“Reiko,” Mukago told her. “Step out of the room, please.” As Reiko left the room, she told her partner, “Mui, I swear, I wasn’t-“

“Bullshit,” Muichiro replied, now getting somewhat angry. “You were keeping a secret. Mukago, I don’t want us to keep secrets from each other. What’s wrong?!” His anger also showed hints of deep concern for the mother of his child.

“It’s a secret, okay?!”

“I don’t want you to hide it from me,” Muichiro practically yelled at her. “Mukago, nothing you did in the past would make me not love you, so I’m begging you, tell me what happened! You don’t have to worry about me leaving you, because I’m never going to… At least not voluntarily. They’ll have to rip my corpse away from you before I leave you.”

Mukago was at a loss for how to react. She was touched by how devoted he was to her, but still had some doubts. Then, she finally made a decision. “I… I was raped when I was a human, Muichiro. I didn’t want to tell you because… Because…”

“Because you feared it would damage how I felt about you,” Muichiro finished the sentence for her as she began to cry. He then hugged her, telling her as he gently patted her head, “Mukago, I… I see why you kept it from me. I can’t believe someone did that to you.”

“Muzan had offered me the chance to become a demon right before, but I said no…” She tried to hold it together. “Then after the rape, I said yes, and… And the man who did it was my first victim. I felt so powerless, so weak… Becoming a demon gave me the power I sought…”

“It doesn’t matter now, though,” Muichiro assured her. “Not at all. I didn’t care about your past as a prostitute, so why did you think I would care so much about that?”

“I was ashamed I let it happen.”

“It’s not your fault,” Muichiro assured her as he wiped away her tears. “It really isn’t. It will never be your fault. Who you slept with and why, and whether or not you were violated, doesn’t matter anymore, because you’re mine and only mine now, and when we get back to Japan, we’re gonna make it official.”

Mukago cried quietly into his shoulder. “Thank you… Thank God for you…”

“Please,” he then whispered into her ear. “No more secrets.”

“Indeed,” she whispered back. “No more secrets.”

Chapter Text

July 16, 1913

After several delays, the day came for Nezuko to test out her Limited Sunlight Resistance. As everyone in the Butterfly House watched in anticipation, the three little Butterlfy Girls all shouted in encouragement, “You can do this, Nezuko-oneechan!”

Nezuko smiled through her bamboo muzzle before taking a step into the sunlight and closing her eyes. As she stepped fully into the sun, she felt no pain, no danger, and no alarm. Instead, she felt the warmth of the sunlight hit her body, a feeling she had not felt in a very long time. As she opened her eyes, she then practically ripped her muzzle off. “I can walk… Holy shit, I can walk…”

Not caring that her sister swore, Tanjiro wiped away tears of joy and told her, “Nezuko, we’re one step closer to normal.”

As he approached her, she turned around and told him, “Oniichan, it feels good to be in the light again. I haven’t felt this in such a long time!”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Tanjiro told her. “I’m so glad to hear that…”

“Yeah, I… I…” Suddenly, her smile turned into a frown as her expression changed from one of happiness to one of horror. “Oh my God… Oh my God, I remember it… I remember everything…”

“Nezuko, what’s going on?” Tanjiro immediately became concerned as Zenitsu rushed out to join them.

“Oh my God,” Nezuko said to herself as she knelt down on the ground. “The blood… The body parts, everywhere… I remember it all, oniichan. I remember that day perfectly…” She then began to take several deep breaths as a horrifying vision played in her head. “I see it. I see him going through the house. He got to me last. I tried to defend them, but…” She then began to cry. “I couldn’t save them, oniichan. I couldn’t save mom or any of our brothers or sisters. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” As Tanjiro tried to reach for her, she shouted into the sky, “Damn it, it’s all my fault! It should have been me, not the rest of them! It’s not fair!”

As most of them went inside, horrified by what had happened, James also rushed to meet Nezuko. “Nezuko! Nezuko!”

“Nezuko,” Tanjiro told her. “Please, don’t blame yourself.”

“No,” she told him. “It is my fault… I remember now what happened…”

…

1911, The Night The Kamado Family Was Murdered

At exactly 7:36 PM, a visitor came to the front door of the small Kamado house. As he knocked on the door, Kie answered it. “Hello?”

Before her was a man who appeared to be in his twenties. He was well-dressed for the weather, and also well-dressed in general. “Sorry to bother you so late, but do you know the directions to the town near here?”

“As a matter of fact, I do,” Kie replied happily. “You’re only about fifteen minutes away by foot. Just keep going south. Are you sure you don’t want to just make a stop here?”

“Mama,” said Nezuko as she came to the door. “Who is it?”

“It’s a traveler,” she told her. “He’s asking for directions.”

The traveler looked to Nezuko and smiled. “I see you have a nice family here. It reminds me of my own kids back in my hometown. Is your husband around?”

“He’s dead,” Kie replied. “It’s unfortunate what happened to him.”

“I’m terribly sorry to hear that,” the traveler replied with a bow. “I didn't mean to upset you.”

“It’s fine,” Kie assured him. “So, do you want to sleep here for a night? The walk down can be a bit rocky and rough at night.”

“I’ll be alright,” he assured her. “But thank you. I’ve made journeys like this by myself all the time. In fact, this is the first time I’ve had to ask for directions. I’m kind of embarrassed.”

“It happens to the best of us,” Nezuko assured the older man. “Don’t worry.”

“Well,” he replied with the tip of his hat. “I’ll be on my way. Thank you, madam.” As he left, what the Kamado family did not know was that this was no traveler, and he was not heading into the town down below at all.

...

At 10:42 PM, the sound of a window breaking awoke the entire family from their slumber in the cold winter. As Kie and Nezuko were the first to stir awake, they both adjusted their eyes and saw a man enter the house through the broken window. Immediately, both jumped up and sprung into action. Nezuko gathered her younger siblings, telling them, “Get up! Someone’s here!”

“Get the fuck out of my house,” Kie shouted at the man as she grabbed a rifle from the wall and aimed it at him, firing a shot and hitting him in the shoulder. However, to her horror, the wound she made immediately regrew and disappeared. “What the fuck?! Don’t tell me you’re a-“

Suddenly, the visitor, who was in fact Muzan Kibutsuji, transformed his right arm into a tentacle and stabbed Kie in the stomach, going right through her. “I’m a demon, indeed. I’m Kibutsuji Muzan, but it’s not like you’ll live long enough to use my name.” Her blood spilled all over the floor and covered the wall behind her. Within seconds, she was dead.

Several of the younger Kamado siblings cried and shouted for their mom as Nezuko yelled, “MAMA! NO!” She then yelled at Muzan, “You monster! How could you do that to her?!”

“Tell me your name,” Muzan demanded of her as he picked up the rifle Kie had used and found some ammunition nearby before loading it up. It was an older musket, so it took him a little bit of time to load it, but once he did, he once again asked her, “Tell me your name now!”

“Nezuko,” she replied. “Kamado Nezuko! Please, don’t hurt anyone else! I’ll do anything if you just let me brothers and sisters live!”

“Hmm,”  Muzan replied, thinking to himself. “A tempting deal. I do see potential in you.”

“Potential for what?!”

“To become a demon,” Muzan replied. “I could see it in your eyes, Kamado Nezuko. You could become a very powerful one, indeed.”

“I don’t give a fuck,” Nezuko yelled, uncharacteristically swearing in front of her younger siblings. “If you have to turn me into a demon, do it! Just keep the rest of my family safe, please! Don’t hurt them!”

“Fool,” Muzan thought to himself. “As soon as she turns into a demon, her little brothers and sisters will become her first prey.” He then nodded. “Very well. You shall become a demon, and I won’t hurt your siblings.” He then approached her as his nails on his right hand sharpened. “This may sting a bit, but don’t panic.” 

As he scratched her neck, Nezuko suddenly felt a sharp pain throughout her body. She thought to herself as she stepped back from her siblings and felt a sinking feeling, “What have I done? My God, what have I done?!” She then screamed loudly as her siblings cowered in fear and her teeth sharpened. Her eyes began to dilate and change form as her skin also whitened significantly.

“Welcome to demonhood,” Muzan congratulated her with slow clapping and a smile. “Kamado Nezu-“

Suddenly, he was cut off when Nezuko lunged at him, yelling angry gibberish and trying to claw at his neck. Instead of attacking and eating her siblings, Nezuko was instead trying to kill Muzan. One of her siblings, Takeo, yelled to her, “Get him, oneechan! Do it for mama!”

“Get the fuck off of me,” Muzan yelled directly at her. “Why the fuck can’t I kill you for defying me?!” Try as he might, he was unable to initiate demon self-destruction on her, and found that he had no control over her at all. After half a minute of struggling, Muzan finally came out on top and knocked Nezuko out with a blow to the head, but did not kill her. “I won’t kill you. You still possess potential, but you are far too defiant.” He then turned to the siblings. “As for you four..”

Hanako asked Muzan out of fear, “What are you gonna do to us?”

“DON’T LAY A HAND ON MY SISTER!” Takeo then grabbed an axe and tried to swing at Muzan, but Muzan punched him in the face and then grabbed him forcefully, twisting his head all the way around until his neck snapped, killing him, before tossing his body down on the floor. Nezuko began to wake up, and in response, Muzan stabbed her with a tentacle that formed out of his back, injecting her with a paralytic poison that did not harm her, but forced her to stay still and watch in horror as her siblings were murdered one by one.

As Haruka tried to run out with Rokuta, Muzan used a tentacle he spawned from his back to grab both of them and impale Haruka in her stomach and chest, killing her instantly. He then picked up Rokuta and used a knife to stab him in the chest and stomach several times before cutting his neck open, killing him.

Finally, it was Shigeru’s turn to die. He grabbed the rifled musket and shot him just as he tried to climb out of the window Muzan had broken in from. Once he was shot, he screamed at him, “DON’T KILL ME, PLEASE! DON’T DO IT!”

Muzan ignored his pleas and ripped an arm off with one of his own arms before eating it in front of him. As he bled out from the bullet wound and the ripped off arm, Muzan told him as he swallowed some of his meal, “Your sister shouldn’t have been defiant. If she complied, I wouldn’t have done this to you all.”

Nezuko then began to yell at Muzan, indicating the paralytic was beginning to wear off. As she yelled, she began to say specific words, which shocked Muzan. “YOU BASTARD! YOU BASTARD! I’M GONNA KILL YOU! YOU HEAR ME?! I’M GONNA KILL YOU!”

Shigeru had died of blood loss by this point. “You can talk already?! But you haven’t consumed any human flesh!”

“DIE! DIE, YOU MONSTER!” As Nezuko tried to get up, Muzan once again knocked her out, this time delivering a harder blow so she would be asleep for longer. By now, the entire house was a bloody and gory mess of body parts, bodies, and scattered objects and weapons.

“Fucking Hell,” Muzan said to himself as he took a deep breath. “That was way too fucking hard. I should not have had that much difficulty.” He then kicked a wall out of frustration with himself. “Fuck this shit. This whole thing was a bust.” As he let himself out of the house, he looked around to see if anyone noticed or heard what had happened. “Well, at least there’s no neighbors. Nobody could hear them scream. Maybe when that Nezuko girl wakes up, she’ll eat someone and join me then.”

…

Present Day

“So that’s what happened,” Tanjiro said as Nezuko finishes recounting what had happened the night their family was killed in a patient room at the Butterfly House. “Nezuko… I had no idea…”

“I’m sorry,” Nezuko once again apologized to her older brother. “I tried to save everyone, but I only made things worse.”

“How many times do I have to tell you?” Tanjiro was saddened to hear her sister still blame herself. “It’s nobody’s fault but Muzan’s. You were only trying to protect our brothers and sisters.”

“Nezuko,” Shinobu then said to her, having been moved deeply by the story. “I feel like I should be the one apologizing.”

“Why so?”

“I want to apologize for doubting your loyalty to us,” Shinobu admitted. “I had plans ready and made to kill you, because I did not trust you enough when you first came to us.” She was clearly not proud to admit such a thing. “I can see now that I was wrong. The fact that you… You fought Muzan right after you became a demon, and that you did it to protect your siblings… That’s someone I would fight alongside anytime. I would do anything to keep my own sisters safe, especially since I’m the only older sister they have left now that Kanae-oneesan is dead.”

Nezuko nodded. “Shinobu-chan, it’s fine. You didn’t have to do that. I understand why you did it.”

“Anyway,” James then told Nezuko. “You need to learn to not blame yourself. Y’all are gonna drive yourself mad if you do. The only person ya need to be angry at is Muzan. He’s the one who broke into your house and murdered your family, not you.”

Zenitsu watched from the doorframe, feeling terrible for Nezuko. “I’ve never seen her so upset before,” he thought to himself. “It pains me so much to see her cry. I could barely hold it in myself… But I have to be strong for her, not just as someone who loves her, but as a comrade!”

Inosuke also felt bad, watching from the same position Zenitsu was. “Monjiro’s sister was really affected by this. I’ve never known what it was like to be raised by a family, but from what everyone says, losing your family is tough.”

Tanjiro told Nezuko, “Nezuko, I’m proud to call you my little sister. Don’t you ever forget that.” He then gave her a kiss on the forehead. “You’re a Kamado, and you are strong just like me. If you want a way to channel your anger into something productive, you can avenge our family with me.”

“Become a slayer?” Nezuko was confused. “Me?”

“Correct,” Shinobu confirmed. “The Oyakata-sama is willing to commission you as one and have you learn a breath. He is just awaiting your answer of yes or no.”

Nezuko then stood up from the hospital bed. “Tell him he’s got an answer, and it’s yes. Muzan fucked with the wrong coal-sellers when he visited my house.”

“I’ll contact Urokodaki-san,” Giyu then unexpectedly announced from the doorway, having dropped by. “You’ll need a trainer, and he’s the best we have.”

“Tomioka-san,” Shinobu asked him with a slightly annoyed tone. “Do you have to just stop by like that randomly without telling me?”

“Regardless,” he followed up with, ignoring her. “Having Nezuko learn the Breath of Water would be our best bet. She can train with her brother, after all.”

“I never thought of that,” Tanjiro pondered. “That does sound like a good idea, Giyu-san.”

Chapter Text

July 17, 1913

Nezuko arrived at the home of Sakonji Urokodaki by herself, only carrying with her a spare sword given to her by the Butterfly Estate. As she took a deep breath, she adjusted her new outfit for the time being, which consisted of her pink haori plus a pair of spare pants and boots given to her by Shinobu. She still had not decided on what to have if she was to get a uniform, but knew to avoid the racy uniforms that Masao Maeda was known for trying to give to female slayers.

As she knocked on his door, Sakonji answered up without his mask on, surprising Nezuko. As soon as he looked at her standing in the bright sun, his jaw dropped. “Ne-... Nezuko?!”

“Urokodaki-san,” Nezuko then told him. “I’ve been sent here to be trained as a demon slayer. I have written orders from the Oyakata-sama and Tomioka-sama themselves, as well as an endorsement from my brother and Kocho-sama.” She then presented several papers containing these orders and endorsements to him.

“I see,” Sakonji replied to her. “Come on in, then. We shall discuss what will happen.” As the two sat down across from each other, Sakonji grabbed his mask and placed it beside him. “So, do you wish to truly be a slayer?”

“Indeed,” Nezuko replied with determination. “I want to avenge my family just as much as my brother does, maybe even more so. I saw everything that happened, and it haunts me.”

“I get that,” Sakonji replied as he put his mask on. “But… You do realize that you will be targeted heavily by Muzan for doing this, right? You also will have to resist the temptation of human blood many times due to running into injured slayers and civilians.”

“I understand all of that,” Nezuko affirmed to him. “I’ve resisted marechi blood from Shinazugawa-sama himself. I know I’ll be a high-priority target for Muzan, but I don’t care. I want to take the fight to him one day, and becoming an official demon slayer is my best bet.”

“I respect your determination,” Sakonji replied. “But it will be a lot of hard work. We shall begin your training immediately.”

…

Later that day, Nezuko and Sakonji looked out at the old running course he had built, which had been last used by Tanjiro two years prior. “Your brother ran this course many times during his training. You’ll need to evade and survive many traps. Just because you may heal doesn’t mean you won’t hurt.”

“Actually,” Nezuko pointed out. “During the day, I can’t heal until night falls.” She had by now tied her hair back in a ponytail.

“So that’s the drawback, huh? Interesting…” He then pointed to the start of the course. “Run down this hill with your sword.”

Nezuko then readied her sword and licked her fangs. “Alright. Let’s do this!” She then bolted down the hill, sword in hand. As she passed a tree, she ran into her first trap, a series of knives that shot out at her. Thankfully, she was quickly able to dodge them. After a few more seconds, she ran into a second trap consisting of a rope that would pull her up from one of her legs. However, she was able to use her sword and cut the rope off just as she was a few feet above the ground, quickly landing before getting back up.

Sakonji said to himself, “Well, she’s certainly doing better than her brother was at first.” 

However, just as he said that, Nezuko freaked out after almost falling into a trap hole with various blades at the bottom. “Fucking Hell!” Knowing she would not be able to recover from her injuries before nightfall, she quickly stopped herself from falling and walked around the hole. She then continued down the hill.

After five minutes of running, Nezuko finally reached the bottom, frazzled but undaunted. She had certainly done better than her brother did the first time, but still had work to do and stuff to improve on. 

“Fuck… That was harder than I thought…”

“Don't quit yet,” Sakonji then informed her. “You’re going to do sword swings next.”

“How many?”

“Let’s start with a thousand.”

“A thousand?!”

Sure enough, several minutes later, Nezuko was aggressively swinging her sword up and down, counting each swing out loud. As she kept swinging down, Sakonji thought to himself, “She’ll need some work on her sword techniques. She’s pretty much fine with agility and strength, but her current technique won’t be good for her in the field.”

…

Back on the ship, following the funeral at sea for Shiro, Mukago and Muichiro ate dinner together in the first-class dining area. The two were very quiet, still grieving over the loss of their translator. Then, after a few minutes, Mukago finally spoke. She told Muichiro, “I definitely have a defined bump now. I estimate I have about 6 months to go.”

“I can’t wait,” Muichiro replied as he smiled.

“I do still have some morning sickness, though,” Mukago noted. “Kocho-sama told me that normally, it’s gone by the 11th or 12th week… Unless, of course…”

“Unless what?” Muichiro was confused.

“Unless it’s twins,” Mukago replied. “If it’s twins, I’ll still have some issues with morning sickness for another week or two.”

“Twins… Twins…” Muichiro seemed to stare off into space as he repeated the word to himself. “Twins… God, why does that word seem so familiar to me?” As he continued to stare, he noticed the patterns in the ceiling above and took a mental note of them. “These patterns,” he thought to himself. “These… These also remind me of something… Why do the word ‘twins’ and these long dark and white patterns on the ceiling seem so familiar to me? I’ve never seen this pattern, nor do I recall being involved with twins before.”

“Mui?”

“Oh, right,” he replied to Mukago. “Sorry, I got lost in my thoughts there for a second. Anyway, I would be happy if it’s a single baby or twins. It doesn’t matter to me.” He smiled and looked at her stomach, wondering what was going on inside there as his child or potential children grew in her womb. “Only 28 or so more weeks to go, right?”

“About that,” she replied.

Meanwhile, while he served another table, Osamu watched the couple with anticipation. He thought to himself as he set down several plates, “We will strike soon, Mist Pillar and traitor! Just wait for us!”

…

July 18, 1913

James and Susamaru went on a mission together to a town about half an hour away from the Rengoku Estate by rail. As they walked around the town late at night, investigating reports of a mysterious serial killer roaming the streets and preying on young men, Susamaru remarked to him, “The town is so quiet at night. I can’t see how this demon, if he is a demon at all, is finding victims.”

“Me neither,” James replied with a shrug. “He ain’t breakin’ into homes as far as I know.”

Then, almost on cue, they heard a scream from a nearby alleyway. “Help! Help! Stop biting me! Get off of me!”

Susamaru sighed as she grabbed both of her swords. “Something tells me this is our target.”

“Yeah,” James replied as he grabbed his sword. As the two rounded the corner, James yelled out, “Hold it right there!” The two found a hunched-over man biting into the shoulder of another man, and as the hunched-over man looked to James, he immediately recognized him.

“Mister Colby,” the demon said to him in Southern American English. “We’ve finally met in Japan.”

“Knight 24,” James replied. “John Hill, First Sergeant of the 1st Battalion Alabama Artillery.”

“I’m glad ya remember,” he replied as he let go of his would-be victim, allowing him to run away. “I see ya have a new partner now, and she ain’t white. Seems to be a runnin’ gag with ya. First ya lay with a nigger, then a white woman, and now an oriental girl. What’s ne-“

Susamaru immediately shut him up by cutting off one of his arms with her swords. She shouted in Japanese, “How about you stop talking?!”

“Motherfucker, I can’t understand a lick of that language y’all speak,” John yelled back as his arm repaired itself. “How ‘bout ya leave this between me and that nigger-lovin’ Yankee, miss?!”

“Ain’t nothin’ wrong with lovin’ an oriental or a negro,” James replied as he prepared to attack. “I thought we taught y’all that 50 years ago. Now… First Form!” James then rapidly charged at John, slashing through his body several times and burning him but just barely missing his neck. “Unknowin’ Fire!” As the smell of cooked flesh emanated through the area, he turned around and again charged at him, only to be shot twice in the stomach with a revolver. “Fuck! He shot me!”

“Seventh Form,” Susamaru then shouted as she jumped into the air and readied herself to attack. “Fiery Spirits!” She then swung downwards as she landed in front of John, cutting off both of his arms at the shoulder.

Right at the same time, James grabbed his shotgun, ignoring the pain from the poisoned bullets, and screamed, “DUCK!” Susamaru quickly ducked out of the way as James fired at John’s head at point-blank range, completely blowing it off and splattering both of them with his blood and brains as his body began to collapse and break down. Once he fell to his knees, James got up and felt the wound, which was healing at a slower rate than usual due to the poison from the bullets. “Agh, it still fuckin’ stings.”

“Are you alright, dear?” Susamaru immediately ran to him and took a look at his wounds, concerned about the poison. “How bad is it?”

“I think it’s a weaker poison,” James inferred through his pain. “But it still stings like a bitch. Anyway… Agh… We gotta tell the Oyakata-sama we killed a Knight of the Moon.”

“We can worry about that later,” Susamaru told him as she put her swords away, put his sword back in his sheath, and carried him on her back. “Let’s get you somewhere safe.”

“Yeah,” James replied as he was carried by her. “Ah, fuck, the pain hurts… Fuckin’ Hell… You know, it feels nice to be carried by you.” He then smiled and whispered into her ear. “It kinda turns me on.”

Susamaru blushed. “Save that talk for the bedroom, dear!”

…

TAISHO SECRET #3

The Not-So-Great Ubuyashikis

As of this chapter, the last few leaders of the DSC have been genuinely virtuous people with good intentions. However, that was not always the case. There have been 97 Ubuyashikis who have taken the reins, and not all of them were exactly pure or good people. In this Taisho Secret, let’s take a look at some of the more scandalous ones.

First we have Ubuyashiki Takauji, the 14th head of the corps, who ascended to the position of leader in 1048 AD, during the Heian period and the Eishou era, at the age of 7 when his father passed away at 27. He was originally not supposed to be the leader, but his older brother by three years, Motosada, was killed under mysterious circumstances while on a hunting trip with his younger brother a year earlier. A rumor states that Takauji murdered his own brother when he was only 6 years old, fearing that otherwise he would die due to the Curse of the Ubuyashiki.

Regardless of how his brother died and whether or not he was involved, Takauji did not like many of the policies his father, Masanobu, put into place, and deeply resented his father on a personal level, so much so that a month after he became the leader, he literally had his father’s corpse dug up, dressed in the clothes of a DSC leader, and put on trial, accusing him of witchcraft, treason, and murder. A random slayer was appointed to give his responses. He was found guilty, and his body was tossed into a nearby river.

This caused an uproar in the corps among the supporters of Masanobu. After Masanobu’s corpse was seen performing miracles to passerbys, Takauji was ousted from the throne and then beheaded after just two months of leadership. He still has a younger brother named Tsuneyo, so the throne passed to him despite him being just 3. Tsuneyo would go on to rule until he was 24 when he died.

Another scandalous leader was Ubuyashiki Michiyasu, who ruled from 1604 onwards starting at the age of 9. His father died at the age of 23, and Michiyasu was his firstborn child. It’s said that he took the Ubuyashiki Estate and turned it into a whorehouse once he was a few years older. Michiyasu had a thing for foreign women, so much so that his wife, a Portuguese woman named Mariela, was the first and so far only recorded non-Asian consort to a leader of the corps. Mariela was a full five years older than him when he married her at 13, but given what else he did, this was hardly a concern by comparison.

Michiyasu reportedly fathered more children than any other leader of the DSC, and Mariela also reportedly was said to be scandalous. Aside from the seven children the two of them made, Mariela also had two half-Chinese children from a previous relationship out of wedlock in Macau and a third child fathered by a Dutch man during the marriage, and Michiyasu is believed to have fathered a further twelve children with five other women, including two Japanese women, a Korean woman, and two Dutch women. He also reportedly had a sexual relationship with his niece from one of his sisters, but this produced no children. It is said he also had sexual liaisons with several female slayers, including a Pillar, as well as the wives and widows of other slayers and Kakushi.

However, there were other issues aside from Michiyasu’s sexual deviancy. When he was 14, he reportedly was given a bribe to ordain a twelve-year-old slayer with less than six months of experience in combat as a Pillar by forging several documents about his number of kills. When he was 15, he reportedly had another Pillar who was otherwise legitimately given the position sworn in inside a barn because he was too lazy to perform it in a proper setting. He also liked to go on hunting trips frequently, and fought in combat against demons despite possessing no formal training.

Perhaps his worst offense was when he was 19 when a Kakushi serving him got on his nerves, so he grabbed a knife, stabbed him, castrated him, and then slit his throat. Around the same time, he also began butting heads with his last surviving brother, Masao, who reportedly was angry with him for allegedly having an affair with his wife. As a result, when he was 22, Michiyasu was ousted, but just a year later, he rounded up his supporters, kicked a now 16-year-old Masao out, and resumed leading the DSC as if nothing happened.

However, just a year later, fate caught up to Michiyasu, and he died the way he lived: Committing adultery. Specifically, he suffered what was most likely a heart attack while having sex with the wife of the then Flame Pillar. Masao arose to the throne again, and would rule until he died at 25, also taking Mariela as a second wife around this time and fathering five more children with her. All of the children Michiyasu fathered with her were declared ineligible to ascend to the throne, but were allowed to stay in the Ubuyashiki Estate and were raised as if they were Masao’s own children, a sign of his calmer and relatively more upstanding personality.

While we all have our guilty pleasures in life, perhaps the guilty pleasure of Keiichiro Ubuyashiki, leader of the corps from 1693 when he was 10 to 1704 when he was 21, was one of the more odd ones out there. It is said that for whatever reason, he liked watching horses mate, and found it hilarious. He would arrange to have the Ubuyashiki Estate’s stallions meet up with mares in heat and watch them all violently mate, all the while laughing like a madman. He also was accused of accepting bribes to appoint slayers as Pillars like Michiyasu was.

Perhaps his most infamous incident as a leader was the “Night of the Harlots,” where he, all the Pillars, and several High Priests from the DSC Ruling Council arranged a lavish party at the Ubuyashiki Estate. To accompany the party, Keiichiro hired fifty prostitutes from a nearby red light district, had them all strip down naked, and then engage in a hunt for hidden prizes around the estate. He then organized a contest where whoever had sex with the most prostitutes in a single night would win high-quality silk imported from China. This contest was open to women, too, and in fact, it is said that the only female Pillar at the time, the Flower Pillar known as Hanami Michiko, who also happened to be his wife, won the competition.

Speaking of Michiko, the reason she became Keiichiro’s wife was because as a Tsuguko, she had helped take care of him before he became leader when his father became sicker and sicker. She was four years older than him, and would have five children with Keiichiro. Soon after Keiichiro died, she retired from being a demon slayer after having served as one from the age of 12 to the age of 25, and became cultivator for the Breath of Flower. Despite her scandals and personal demons, she is still well-regarded among Breath of Flower users for being its first true cultivator and for developing three of its seven forms, having been taught the then-brand new breath style by the woman who created it from the Breath of Water.

Let’s all be thankful that Kagaya Ubuyashiki and his father and grandfather before him were nothing like the examples above, and hope that whoever Kagaya’s successor may be will also be virtuous and kind.

Chapter Text

July 19, 1913

James was laid up at the Butterfly Estate ever since he and Susamaru had killed the 24th Knight. He would have to stay in the hospital for a full day until the poison from the bullet he took was flushed out of his system. Unbeknownst to Shinobu, Aoi, and Kanao, Susamaru and him had secretly had some fun in the middle of the night on his bed before she retired back to a guest room, and they had done so in the nick of time, as TanInoZen returned right after they finished.

“So,” Tanjiro asked James in the morning. “How are you feeling?”

“Still not the best,” James replied. “I felt nauseous for most of last night, but I don’t anymore, at least.”

“I’m glad to hear that," he smiled back. “It must have been scary to get shot.”

“Not really,” James shrugged in his bed. “I’ve been shot before. After 50 years of fightin’ other people, ya tend to be desensitized to people pointin’ a gun at you and pullin’ the trigger. Still hurts like a bitch, though.”

“I can imagine.” As Inosuke walked in, Tanjiro turned to him and asked, “Inosuke, did you hear about what happened to James-san?”

“No,” he replied, interested in why he was laid up. “What happened to you, Jima?”

“James,” he replied. “And I got shot last night while huntin’ a demon. It was a poisoned bullet, too, so I got real sick. I felt like shit for most of last night.”

“Hmmm,” Inosuke then thought to himself as he scratched his boar’s head mask. Then, he came up with an idea on the spot and snapped his fingers. “Hey, I got an idea, Jeitaro! Why don’t you build up a resistance to guns by shooting yourself with smaller bullets and then building up to larger ones?”

Tanjiro was flabbergasted and horrified by Inosuke’s advice. “That’s now how that works!”

James could not help but try and fail to hold in laughter at his advice. “Thanks, Inosuke, but I don’t think that’ll be necessary.”

“Hello, everyone,” Shinobu then greeted them all with a warm smile. “Colby-san, how are you doing today?”

“A lot better,” he replied to her. “But I’m not yet out of the woods. That means I’m not yet finished with recovery, by the way.”

“I was just going to ask,” Shinobu replied, easily understanding the slang term once it was explained to her.”

…

Later that night, Tanjiro and James were both walking around the grounds of the estate, as neither could sleep. “So,” James asked the younger slayer. “Are you worried about your sister becomin’ a slayer?”

“Of course,” Tanjiro admitted. “I know she can fight, but… You never stop worrying about your siblings, especially when your parents are no longer around. My fear is that Nezuko will be targeted by Muzan heavily, since her powers will give her an edge in combat.”

“Are ya afraid she’ll be attacked by humans, too?”

“Maybe,” Tanjiro shrugged. “But I don’t know if people will think she is a demon right off the bat, given she’ll have a uniform eventually and walk in the sunlight.”

“I’m confident in her,” Shinobu then interrupted both of them, startling them as they turned around to face her. “Sorry to intrude, but I heard what was being discussed and wanted to offer my opinion.”

“I see,” Tanjiro replied. “I’m glad you feel confident.” He then sniffed the air for an unknown reason, confusing James and Shinobu. “Hey… Uh, Shinobu-san, you seem to be really angry. Is everything alright?”

Shinobu’s smile faded away as Tanjiro finished his sentence. “I… So you think that… Well, Colby-san already knows about this, but I don’t think I’ve ever told you, Tanjiro.”

“Tanjiro,” James explained to him. “Pillar Kocho’s sister was killed by a demon four years ago, and she’s tried to find that demon ever since.”

“Correct,” Shinobu confirmed. “Kamado-san, me and my sister, Kocho Kanae, were the only survivors after a demon murdered our parents. Himejima-san saved us, and after some convincing, he allowed us to become demon slayers.” She then rested against the wall of one of the buildings. “For the next three years, we fought together. She became the Flower Pillar, while I created the Breath of the Insect. During that time, we also took in Kanao and Aoi, the former of whom was a slave and the latter of whom was also an orphan like me. The plan was that Kanao would be my sister’s Tsuguko, and that Aoi would be mine when I became a Pillar. But…”

Tanjiro was curious. “What happened?”

“Kanae was murdered by a demon,” Shinobu explained. “My sister was sent out to investigate a cult that was suspected of working with demons. It had been six months since she had been married to Shinazugawa-san. Soon after that happened, Aoi was taken offline right after passing her final selection. She was too traumatized by what she saw. As an interesting fact, Tokito-san took the same Final Selection as her."

“Shinazugawa-san was married?!” Tanjiro was shocked by the news. “No way!”

“Yeah,” Shinobu replied with a faint smile. “The two were an unlikely match, but it was a good one. Shinazugawa-san was truly happy for the first time in a long time. But… When my sister went out on that mission, she never expected to run into one of the Twelve Demon Moons. She lost, and was killed.”

“Do you know who did it?”

“We didn’t have a name,” Shinobu replied. “Not for a long time. However, before she died in my arms, she told me that the demon bore silver hair and rainbow eyes. We theorize that she put up enough of a fight that the demon was unable to eat her before the sun came up.” As her voice wavered from emotion, she recalled more of what happened when her sister died. “I tried telling her to live, but she knew it was the end. She began to cry, and the last words she told me… They… They were ‘Forgive me, Shinobu. I tried.’” She was barely holding in her emotions at this point, but took a deep breath to regain control. “Ever since that day, I’ve been angry, Tanjiro. It’s only grown with the deaths of my three previous Tsuguko before Kanao became a slayer, all at the hands of Muzan and his allies.”

Tanjiro was shaken by her story. “So that explains your anger.”

“You may hear from Tomioka-san that I was different before my sister died,” Shinobu continued. “And he’s right. I’ve essentially tried to mimic my own sister and just keep smiling to cover up my grief, but every now and then, I let my old ways slip through. I’ve also learned as much as I can about swordplay and poisoning, so that one day, I can fight the son of a bitch who took my sister away from me. When I do, I will not fail, and the first words out of my mouth when I confront him will be…” She then took a deep breath and told Tanjiro of her saying. “Hello. My name is Kocho Shinobu. You killed my sister. Prepare to die.” To conclude, she told him, “So there’s your answer. Yeah, I’m angry, alright. I’m pretty fucking angry.”

The teenaged young man was at a loss for words, saddened and horrified by what had happened to Kanae. “I… That’s…”

“And another thing,” Shinobu told both him and James. “My sister believed in a world where one day, demons and humans would no longer have to fight each other. Ever since her death, I lost faith in that belief, but seeing you and Nezuko has renewed it. Colby-san, Tanjiro, I want you two to make that world a reality. I want this war to end once Muzan is dead and gone, and I have a feeling many demons would share the same belief if freed from his control. Perhaps one day we can oust him from within. Anything to stop more of our own from dying.”

“I was thinkin’ the same,'' James agreed. “There is a way to break the curse Muzan holds on all demons he controls, but… It is not guaranteed to work, but it is guaranteed to kill the person who casts the spell, assumin’ they don’t die of blood loss before they can do it.”

“So that’s the dilemma, huh,” she replied. “Well, when the time comes, one of us may have to make that sacrifice.”

Tanjiro was worried about the potential implications. “I feel bad for whoever has to do it when that day comes. I just hope they know that when it happens, their death won’t be in vain.”

…

July 20, 1913

Nezuko began another day of training by concentrating under a waterfall in private early in the morning, bringing her inner thoughts together and honing her concentration in silence. For about 10 minutes, she ignored the cold temperature of the water hitting her skin and focused on the movement of it from above and to her body before passing into the stream below her.

Then, a female voice interrupted her. “Are you concentrating well enough?”

Nezuko opened her eyes and was met with a short girl bearing a fox’s mask, blue eyes, and black hair in a red yukata standing on a rock in front of her. “Ah!” She immediately recoiled, covering up her body. “What the Hell?! You scared the shit out of me! Who are you?!”

“You’re Tanjiro’s brother, aren’t you?” The girl then knelt down to stare at her directly in the eye. “I’m Kakuma Makomo. I helped your brother out for a long time while he trained here.”

“So you did,” Nezuko replied to her as she got out of the water to put her clothes back on. “I remember him talking about you and a boy my age as well… Sabito was his name I think.”

“It is,” Makomo replied. “We haven’t changed a bit since Tanjiro left to go to the Final Selection.”

“Haven’t changed a bit?” Nezuko stopped partway through getting dressed as she pondered as to what the phrase meant. “Wait… How old are you, Kakuma-san?”

“I’m fifteen,” Makomo replied. “I’m pretty small for my age.”

“No,” Nezuko shook her head as she finished getting dressed. “You’re not fifteen. You’re far older than that.”

“Huh,” Makomo replied in surprise. “That’s the first time someone has said I look older than I am. It’s usually the other way around.”

“Not in that way,” Nezuko corrected her. “You’re not alive. You’re a ghost, and I can tell based on that comment you made.” She seemed apprehensive towards Makomo, having realized her secret. “What do you want from me?”

“No need to be rude,” Makomo assured her as she stood up. “Calm down. I’ll admit that I’m a ghost, okay? I’m not here to hurt you, Nezuko. I’m here to train you, and so is Sabito.”

“Wait,” Nezuko then asked her. “My brother killed the demon who killed you, Sabito, and all the other students Urokodaki-san trained. Why are you still here? You could have moved on.”

“You’re right. We could have.” Makomo then looked out to the forest around them. “But Urokodaki-san is all alone. He has nobody here but him. We couldn't just leave him by himself.”

“I can respect that,” Nezuko replied with a nod. “So, if you’re here to train me, what shall we do?”

“I’m glad you asked,” Makomo smiled. “Follow me.”

“Something tells me I’m gonna get the shit worked out of me,” Nezuko said to herself dejectedly.

…

About half an hour later, Nezuko was recovering on the ground after being beaten in a sword duel by Sabito, who stood over her with a wooden sword. “That was just a pretest. I wasn’t even operating at my full capacity, Nezuko. You need a lot of work, and you need to do it fast!”

“Yeah, no shit,” Nezuko replied as she got up slowly. Her injuries would not heal until nightfall. “I’m gonna be fighting during the night time, though, so I’ll have my powers to use as well when that comes.”

Sabito raised a good point by asking her, “What if you run into another demon who also has the same limited sunlight resistance as you? What if you have to fight a human and you don’t have a gun with you?” After some silence from Nezuko, he followed up with, “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Now, do what Urokodaki-san did for me and Giyu and swing your sword a thousand ti-“

“Wait a minute,” Nezuko then interrupted him. “You knew Giyu-san?! The Water Pillar?!”

“He’s a pillar now?” Sabito was surprised to hear the news as he took his fox mask off. “No shit… How do you know him? How’s he doing?”

“He rescued me and my brother after Muzan attacked,” Nezuko explained. “He’s… Very strange. Super quiet. Doesn’t really get along with others. I think he wears half of your haori.”

“And the other half is red for his sister?”

“Yeah,” Nezuko nodded. “Though I didn’t know he had a sister.”

“She died years ago,” Sabito nodded. “Before I met him. She was killed protecting him from a demon, and that’s the reason he came here. When I died, Makomo and everyone else that was a ghost with us was waiting for me. I was the last of Urokodaki-san’s students to die.”

“I wish we were born in the same timeframe,” Makomo commented to him. “But alas, we weren’t. Maybe next time, we will be.”

“Anyway,” Sabito told Nezuko. “Start swinging that sword. Tell Giyu he deserves that Water Pillar spot. Knowing him, he probably thinks he’s unworthy of it or some self-loathing shit like that.”

“That’s exactly what he thinks,” Nezuko confirmed, saddening Sabito as she began to count her sword swings out loud.

Sabito turned to Makomo and told her, “If only I could pay a visit to him. It sucks that he keeps beating himself up. First it was his sister, and now it’s me, like… What the fuck, man…”

“Nezuko, are you back there?!” Sabito and Makomo recognized Sakonji’s voice and disappeared quickly without Nezuko noticing as he walked up to her. “Nezuko, are you practicing?”

“Yes,” Nezuko shouted back, interrupting her sword swinging. “I’m doing a thousand swings! I already meditated under the waterfall for a while, too!”

“Good, good! When you’re done with that, let me know and I’ll give you another task!” Sakonji smiled under his mask. He thought to himself, “She’s getting right into it, just like Makomo did. She was always proactive with training back then.”

…

That same night, as Mitsuri calmly walked to a village near Obanai’s house to patrol for demon activity, she noticed a police officer talking to a man riding a horse up ahead “Oh no,” she thought to herself. “If he sees me with a sword and a gun, I’ll get arrested… Unless…” She then reached into the inner part of her uniform top and pulled a small wad of cash out. “Forgive me for what I’m about to do…”

“You can’t just ride recklessly like that,” the officer explained to the man, who was standing by his horse. “You almost ran me over.”

“I don’t see how that’s my problem,” replied the man, who seemed to be somewhat intoxicated. “You just need to move out of the way.”

“Officer,” Mitsuri asked the cop. “Is everything alright?”

“Huh?” The cop then turned to see Mitsuri. “Who are you? Why do you have a swo-“

“This is why,” she replied, handing the wad of cash with a smile on her face and a wink. “It’s for self-defense.”

The officer pondered to himself for several seconds before taking the money. “I see. Anyway, I should be good.”

“This fucker stopped me for no fucking reason,” the guy who had ridden the horse told her. “I wasn’t doing anything wrong!”

“Don’t be so rude to the officer,” Mitsuri tried to correct him. “He’s just doing his job like me. I’m a demon slayer.”

The officer asked, “Demon slayer? My partner back in the village mentioned them. They’re a rural thing, right? Vigilantes who fight the so-called ‘demons?’”

“They’re real,” Mitsuri confirmed to him. “And yes, we fight them.”

“Enough of this bullshit,” the man with the horse replied as he turned around. “I’m getting the fuck outta here, and I’ll run your ass over if you try to stop me.”

“No,” the cop ordered him as he tried to pull him off of his horse. “I’m not letting you go just yet. You have no form of ID, you almost hit me on your horse, I can smell alcohol on your breath, and you threatened me! Get off!”

“Let go of me,” the man shouted. “I didn’t do no robbery, man!”

“You look almost exactly like the guy we couldn’t catch yesterday!” The cop then began to wrestle with him as he stepped back onto the ground. “Hey, demon slayer, help me!”

“Right,” Mitsuri replied as she got involved. “Stop moving!” She began to pin him, using her strength to get him to stop moving for a few seconds before the man broke free again. “Come on!” Suddenly, both of them heard a loud popping sound. “What the fuck?!“ A second and third popping sound was quickly followed by Mitsuri screaming in fear as the cop fell to the ground, having been shot twice.

“Die!” The man with the horse then fired a fourth shot, grazing Mitsuri in the face as she pulled her own gun out just before a fifth bullet grazed her left ear. Right as it grazed her, she screamed in pain before pulling the trigger and firing off a shot before quickly cocking back her revolver with her thumb and firing a second shot. Both shots struck the man with the horse, killing him as she hyperventilated and the horse ran off into the woods in a frenzy, scared off by the exchange of gunfire.

“Fuck… Fucking Hell…” As the adrenaline rush subsided, the weight of what had happened began to hit her. “I just saw him die… I just killed him…”

“Kanroji-sama! Kanroji-sama!” Her crow, named Akio, then flew down from the trees to attend to her. “Are you okay?!”

“Yeah,” she told him as she wiped blood from her face from the cut caused by the bullet grazing her. “Just barely. We need to get help out here, Akio. Go to the village to get a doctor and this officer’s partner.” She then ran to the side of the injured officer, holstering her revolver as Akio flew at breakneck speed to the village. As she did, she thought to herself, “ That was way too close! Way too fucking close!” However, as soon as she checked the officer, she realized he was gone. “Fuck… No… No, no way!”

The officer had been shot in the head and in the chest, and by now, he was no longer breathing. As the blood from his wounds poured on the ground, Mitsuri checked his pulse and his chest for movement, but found nothing. As the realization he was dead set in, she took a deep breath and cursed herself for not being able to save him.

“Fuck me… Why this, of all things?!”

…

An hour and a half later, Obanai arrived at the local village police station. Out in these rural areas, the police were more likely to believe in demons and know of the demon slayers, especially if they were locals, and thus, Mitsuri faced no charges. Besides, they had more pressing matters to deal with due to the death of one of their own.

An officer comforted Mitsuri as she sat in a chair in the back room of the station, telling her, “It’s not your fault, Kanroji-san. You did everything you could.”

“But he still died,” Mitsuri replied, saddened by the officer’s death. “And that hurts.”

“I know,” the officer replied as another came into the room with Obanai. “Is that her husband?”

“Fiancé,” Obanai corrected him. “Soon to be her husband.”

“I see,” the officer replied as he walked out with his partner. “Congratulations, you two. Kanroji-san, you’re free to go when you and your fiancé are ready.”

Obanai then sat down next to her. “Mitsuri-chan, are you oka-“

Suddenly, Mitsuri hugged him, beginning to cry as she did. “I had to watch him die, Obanai… I had to watch him die…”

As she sobbed into his shoulder, Obanai comforted her with a pat on her head. “I know… I know… MitsurI, you didn’t do anything wrong.” He felt terrible for her. “Let’s go home. We can hunt for demons another time.”

“Yeah,” Mitsuri replied as she got up and grabbed her sword and revolver from the ground before putting both away in her sheath and her holster. “Thank you for picking me up, darling.”

“It’s what a husband-to-be does,” Obanai replied. “It’s my job to be there for you.” The two then walked out of the room together holding hands, an unusually strong public physical display of affection in Japanese culture, as Mitsuri wiped her face of tears. “I’ll fill out most of the report on this when we get back. Just go to bed when we get home.”

“Yeah,” Mitsuri replied with a nod as the two waved bye to the two cops at the station before walking out into the street, where several village residents were already gathered after hearing of the tragedy. As they all whispered to each other about what happened and about the two of them, Mitsuri could feel them staring at her, and it bothered her immensely. “Damn it,” she thought to herself. “Do these people have any sense of decency? Leave these guys alone! They just lost a friend! Hell, leave us alone, too!”

“Stop staring at my fiancée,” Obanai told the crowd, also annoyed by their stares. “It’s rude, you know! God damn, can people mind their own business around here?” The two then walked off into the night, returning home half an hour later. It had been a wild night, and the two looked forward to going to bed together.

…

Meanwhile, Enmu, Akaza, and Patrick were reading train schedules from various railroad companies in Japan, including both nationalized and private railroads, inside the Dimensional Infinity Fortress. As Enmu circled some dates, he told Patrick, “I have the date we can start right here.”

Akaza then asked, “Have you considered doing a test run?”

Enmu pondered to himself for a few seconds, internally debating his suggestion. “You know what,” he then told him. “That isn’t a bad idea, actually.” He then circled an earlier date. “This will be our test run. If this runs into some issues, we can rework our plan before the main series of attacks begin. If you want, I can initiate my part on one train, and Cleburne-san can test run his on another right behind it by a few minutes. If either of us need backup, Akaza-san won’t be far behind.”

“Excellent,” Patrick eagerly replied. “My friends, all of Japan shall soon know the power of us demons.”

Chapter Text

On the same night aboard the ship, which was now 10 days away from arriving in Colombo, Muichiro was once again training with Yoriichi in his dreams. As the two clashed, their swords meeting several times in the air, Yoriichi asked Muichiro in the middle of it, “When’s your fiancée’s due date?”

“In another 7 or so months,” Muichiro replied as he deflected a blow from him. “There’s a slight possibility it’ll be twins.”

“Twins, huh,” Yoriichi replied before he then almost stabbed Muichiro, with his target barely dodging the blow and the blade cutting his uniform. “Wouldn’t be the first time with our family line.”

“Exactly,” Muichiro agreed before slashing Yoriichi across the chest, landing a critical blow and spilling his blood. “How’s that?”

“Agh, shit,” Yoriichi muttered to himself in pain before covering up his wound with his free left hand. “Not bad, Muichiro… Not bad at all…” He then took a deep breath and gripped his sword with two hands once more. “Breath of the Sun…”

“Huh?” Muichiro noticed that a red haze had covered up Yoriichi as he began to charge at him. “Where did he-“

Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his chest as Yoriichi stabbed him with his sword and suddenly reappeared in front of him. “Solar Heat Haze!” Blood immediately poured from the wound as Muichiro coughed it up and began to pass out. “You still have much to learn, young Muichiro, but you’re getting a lot better. I’ll see you next time.” As his vision faded, Muichiro smiled and closed his eyes.

When he woke up from his dream, he sat up in bed and turned to Mukago next to him. He thought to himself, “I hope I get to wake up next to her for the rest of my life, however long it may be…”

…

July 20, 1913

Véro and Gyomei talked to one another as they waited for Genya to begin training for the day. By now, her uniform had just come in, and it consisted of similar pants to Shinobu as well as a regular corps uniform top. “Since you already know two forms of the Breath of Wind,” Gyomei told her. “You’ll be at a slight advantage compared to the younger Shinazugawa. However, be warned, he has trained under me for a longer period of time, and has honed his demon eater powers more than you.”

“I know that,” Véro replied.

Then, Genya arrived. “Himejima-sama, I’m read-“ He then noticed Véro was with him and blushed. “Renaud-san, I see you’re here, too.”

“Yeah,” she replied, walking up to him. “I’ll be training with you from now on. Why are you so nervous?”

“He gets like this around girls,” Gyomei explained to her. “Just give him some time.”

“I see,” she replied. "Well, Shinazugawa-san, I want you to know that I won’t hold back, and I don’t want you to hold back either. We are both students of Himejima-sama, after all.”

Genya nodded, trying to reduce his blush as best as he could. “Absolutely.”

“Okay,” Gyomei then began his instruction with. “Today, we’re going to go over sword techniques without using breaths. I want you two to first swing your swords five hundred times each, and then we shall undergo combat with fake wooden swords. I wish you both the best of luck when combat begins.” He then put his hands together in a prayer and bowed. “Namu Amida Butsu.”

Genya did the same, also saying, “Namu Amida Butsu.”

“Véronique,” Gyomei told her. “You don’t have to pray to Buddha like us. I was told by your grandfather you are a Catholic. I do not judge others for their beliefs. What do you say when you pray?”

“Amen,” Véro then demonstrated with a short prayer. “I do that. Thank you.”

…

Meanwhile, aboard the ship, as Mukago and Muichiro were reading books in the first-class library early in the morning, Vijay suddenly ran up to them, telling them in basic Japanese, “Follow me! Follow me!”

Muichiro and Mukago turned to each other before setting their books down on their tables and quickly following Vijay as they all ran out of the library. As they all reached Vijay, they stopped at the scene of a bloody murder inside a room that was being inspected by some British soldiers. “Oh my God,” Mukago said to herself. “It’s all over.”

Body parts and blood were strewn everywhere with little care for cleanliness, and it was impossible to tell where the victims were inside the room when they were killed. “Bloody Hell,” said a soldier to another in English. “If this ain’t the worst crime scene I’ve ever seen, I don’t wanna know what is.”

The same soldier with the Scottish accent who spoke Japanese then came up to Muichiro. “I thought we killed the bad demons on the ship.”

“I did too,” Muichiro replied. “But somehow, there appears to be another one. With this level of depravity, it seems like they want attention.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Mukago then told them. “Why can’t these guys just give up?! We already killed their teammates here!”

The Scottish soldier replied to both of them, “Until they give up or they die, they got our attention.”

…

Later that night, Osamu and Heizo walked through the corridors of the first-class section of the ship, looking for another victim to pounce on. As they wandered around the darkened halls, the latter asked the former, “Osamu, do you think we’ll run into our primary targets tonight? I got a feeling we will.”

“I had that feeling too,” Osamu concurred. “Perhaps tonight will be a decisive victory for us.”

“Perhaps you shouldn’t have talked,” then replied a voice in English from behind them. As they both turned around, they saw that Vijay was now standing before them down the hallway. “I found you two, and I got you right where I want you.”

“So you do,” Osamu replied in accented English. “Come at us, then.” He then rolled up his sleeves as his forearms turned into a metallic substance, enabling him to deliver hard punches and even slice up opponents. Meanwhile, Heizo placed his right hand on the ground, causing a shadow to suddenly appear on the ground and crawl towards Vijay. “You’re up against two Lower Moons. The real Lower Moons 2 and 3, to be exact.”

“And you’re up against a Crown Prince of Demonkind,” Vijay replied as he tore off his shirt and began to once again change form. “Now behind my True Form!” Just as he was about to complete his monstrous transformation, Heizo’s extended shadow reached him, and he suddenly felt as if he could no longer move. “Huh? What’s going on?!”

“You’re trapped,” Heizo replied as he then stood up, having total control of Vijay’s movements now. “I’d like to see you break free.”

“Agh, shit,” Vijay growled as he tried to break free from Heizo’s Blood Demon Art. “Come on!”

“With my Shadow Control Blood Demon Art,” Heizo explained as he made Vijay wave to him by waving at him. “You can no longer move your body on your own initiative.”

“Which will allow me to move in for the kill,” Osamu replied as he ran up to Vijay and punched him in the stomach with his metallic fist.

Vijay collapsed to the ground in pain as Heizo released him from his control to take a rest. “Fuck, that hurt!”

Suddenly, several gunshots rang out from behind and struck Heizo in the head. He staggered forward before regaining his footing and turning to the shooter, several bullet holes now on his face as blood poured down below. “Who the fuck did that?!”

“Me,” Mukago replied to him as she holstered her revolver and drew her sword. “If you want to fight someone, fight me.”

“I’ll get her,” Osamu told Heizo as he charged forward and attacked her. Meanwhile, Heizo attempted to form another shadow on the ground, but Vijay jumped onto the wall and dodged it, pouncing on Heizo.

“You can’t get away from me,” he growled at him.

Heizo then clawed into his body as he tried to redirect the shadow back to Vijay. “Get off of me!” Vijay replied by biting into his shoulder and ripping off one of his arms, causing him much pain and spilling his blood all over the walls as several guests got out of their rooms to watch the fight. “Fuck! Motherfucker, you ripped my arm off, bastard!” Vijay then was finally captured by a moving shadow once again, causing him to get off of Heizo and stand before him involuntarily as his ripped-off arm began to grow back. “Now who’s in control, asshole?!”

Meanwhile, Osamu tried swinging at Mukago, only for her to meet his metal fist with her sword before the two began to clash several times. “How do you like my ability?”

“Certainly unique,” Mukago replied as she deflected each blow he gave her. “But it won’t be enough! Blood Demon Art: Snowy Mist!” In an instant, Osamu stopped in his tracks as Mukago disappeared from sight and the hallway around him vanished in a flurry of snow and a cold mist, turning the visibility for him to zero.

“What the fuck?! Where did she go?!” 

“Breath of Mist: First Form: Low Clouds, Distant Haze!” Mukago then charged at Osamu from behind, swiping at his neck with her sword but just barely missing. Osamu retaliated by aiming a punch straight at her abdomen, causing Mukago to panic. In her panic, she thought, “No! He’ll kill the baby! I have to dodge!” She then ducked out of the way and fell to the ground as her illusion began to fade away. What seemed like hours was in fact just seconds as she took several deep breaths, horrified at how close her child came to possibly being killed.

“I remember now,” Osamu told her. “You must be that one demon who’s pregnant. Well, that certainly motivates me more to kill you, but not before I rip that bastard child out of your body for defying our master and laying with a demon slayer.”

“Don’t you dare touch my baby,” she growled at him, angered by his intent to kill her child as she sheathed her sword. “Fourth Form: Shifting Flow Slash!” She quickly unsheathed her sword and charged at Osamu, striking his neck and quickly decapitating him before he could retaliate with a metal fist. As his head came cleanly off, he screamed in anger before Mukago told him, “You’re finished, fucker!”

Meanwhile, Vijay began tearing into his own body, controlled by Heizo. “Damn it,” he thought to himself. “I need someone to attack him so he can break his concentration! If not, he’ll just keep making me hurt myself!”

“This sure is a sight to see,” Heizo mocked him. “I’ll keep making you hurt yourself until I feel like killing you.” He had begun to dig into his own skin to make Vijay do the same, but his injuries healed faster than Vijay’s due to his healing factor being weakened in his True Form state. He then drew a knife from his pants pocket and threw it to Vijay before forcing him to grab it from the blade, causing him to wince in pain. He then made the hand motions for stabbing, causing Vijay to repeatedly stab himself in the stomach and chest. “Good, good, let the pain flow through you.”

Vijay growled in excruciating physical pain, “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! God damn it, make it stop already! Make it stop!”

“Third Form: Scattering Mist Splash!” Mukago then attacked from behind with a circular slash of her sword, striking Heizo but just barely missing his neck by striking him at his shoulders, causing him to break his concentration and free Vijay from his control. 

As the rest of his body from the shoulders down turned around, it began to fade away as Heizo’s removed head, neck, and upper shoulders told Mukago from the ground, “You missed, bitch! What a pathetic attack that was!”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Vijay then replied as he stood over Heizo’s head and shoulders, which was still healing itself but doing so slowly due to the amount of body it had to regrow.

“Fuck,” Heizo thought to himself as a realized Vijay was now free. “I forgot about that!”

 “Goodbye!” He then picked up Heizo’s head and shoulders and bit down on his neck, killing him before ripping his body apart, splattering his blood on the walls. Within another minute, all traces of the two real Lower Moons 2 and 3 were gone, and Vijay returned to his normal state, albeit naked once again. “Well,” he told Mukago in English. “This is sufficiently awkward.”

Mukago blushed and turned away before taking off her haori and handing it to him. “Take it,” she told him in English. “Take it.”

Muichiro then ran towards them from behind, asking them, “Is everyone alright?! What happened to the two demons?!”

“We killed them,” Mukago replied. “But…”

“But what?!”

“They came close… Way too close...” She was clearly still shaken by the near-miss with Osamu given her tone of voice as she spoke to Muichiro. “They almost punched me in the stomach.”

“What?!” Muichiro was shocked. “Did they?!”

“No,” she shook her head. “The one that did just barely missed. It scared the shit out of me, though.” She then hugged Muichiro. “Mui, I… I don’t think I want to fight anymore until I have the baby.” Her serious manner as she told him this indicated just how much she had been shaken. “This fight… It got way too close for comfort.”

“I see,” he replied before they split. “I was thinking the same thing. Mukago, we can take you offline until you give birth if you want. I’ll make sure of it. Right now, you need to focus on the baby.”

“Agreed,” she replied with a nod. “Once the baby is born, I will return to combat. I don’t want to abandon my comrades permanently.”

The two then shared a quick kiss. “So,” her fiancé asked. “Now that we finally took care of the threat from Muzan, let’s have a nice, relaxing cruise to Colombo.”

“Right,” she nodded. “We can finally kick back and have some fun without having to worry about him or his underlings.”

“Uh,” Vijay then asked the couple in English, still naked aside from the haori Mukago gave him. “I still need pants… and underwear…”

The couple turned to each other and then turned back to Vijay. Mukago told him in accented English, “Yes. You get them.”

Chapter Text

July 23, 1913

“You still have barely learned a thing,” Sabito reprimanded Nezuko as she fell to the ground again after a sparring match with him. “You’re a bit further along than your brother when he first met me, but he set the bar pretty low.”

“Why must you trash-talk my brother so much?” Nezuko wondered why he kept insulting him, in her mind at least.

“I’m not,” Sabito replied. “I never said he still sucks. I’m just saying he used to suck.” He then took off his mask and wiped his forehead of sweat. “Damn, is it hot out. Your brother came up here when it was colder out, so at least we weren’t sweating like pigs when we first trained together. I always dreaded when summer came around and we had to work in 30 degree Celsius heat or higher.”

“I see,” Nezuko replied, blushing somewhat due to Sabito’s physique. “Uh… I’ll just go practice now.”

“You should,” he replied as she walked away. 

As she did, Makomo walked up to him and told him, “It’s way too fucking hot out. It’s like an onsen in here without the water.” She then took her mask off of her head and also wiped her forehead of sweat. “Wanna go for a dip in the water, babe?”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Sabito replied as he smiled and turned to her. “We can enjoy some quality alone time and cool off.”

Meanwhile, Nezuko practiced breathing techniques under the waterfall and upstream from Sabito and Makomo, letting the water cascade over her body as she closed her eyes and meditated, taking in the feeling and sound of the creek all around her, Any sort of sounds from the couple upstream were blocked by the waterfall falling on top of her. With every day, she gained more and more control over the Breath of Water, and after about ten or so minutes, she exited the water to get dressed in her clothes. She then picked her sword up once she was finished and took a deep breath. “Breath of Water,” she said to herself. “Third Form… Flowing Dance!” As her sword swung in the air, she danced in a flowing pattern, slicing the air all around her. Had anyone been standing near her in any direction, they certainly would have been slashed.

“That was a perfect rendition,” then suddenly replied Sakonji, startling Nezuko.

“Ah, Urokodaki-san!”

“Sorry if I startled you,” he apologized with a chuckle. “Anyway, that was very good, but there are still many more forms to learn. I’m confident you’ll be able to get enough down to where you’ll be ready by September, however.”

…

“The next Final Selection for the First District will be in September,” Sakonji explained to Nezuko later in the evening outside. “Probably starting on the 6th, a Saturday. Until that day comes, you will train as hard and as long as you can every day.”

“That soon, huh?” Nezuko was somewhat worried that she would not be ready by then. “I’m not sure…”

“Personally,” Sakonji then offered to her. “I think you’re further ahead than your brother was at this point. I think you’ll be ready when September 6th comes, as long as you don’t give up, Nezuko.”

“I see,” Nezuko replied, thinking to herself as she did, “I’m surprised he has so much faith in me. I’m not making much progress with Sabito-kun and Makomo-chan. Speaking of, should I ask him about them?” Deciding to be a bit daring, she asked her master, “Urokodaki-san, who were Sabito and Makomo?”

Those names immediately surprised Sakonji and sent a shiver down his spine. “You know their names, too… How do you and your brother know the names of those dead children?”

“Giyu-san told me about Sabito,” Nezuko lied to him. “And my brother told me about Makomo, but I don’t know where he heard about Makomo.”

“Those two never met in life,” Sakonji explained. “But they would have complimented each other well if they did. They were past pupils of mine who died in the Final Selections of years past. A demon I had captured kept murdering my pupils as revenge…” He then paused and sighed. “Until your brother came along and defeated him. The only reason Giyu survived was because he was knocked out during his Final Selection and carried out by Sabito, who was my last pupil before Tanjiro. He’s been hurt by it since, and the reason you may see him be so off-putting and aloof around the other Pillars is because he feels like he doesn't deserve his spot. I’ve told him many times that he is more than deserving of it due to his post-Final Selection record in combat, but he won’t believe me.”

“That explains a lot,” Nezuko replied. “Well, Urokodaki-san, I feel like sometimes, those two are still around, watching over us to this day.”

“Sometimes I feel the same way,” Sakonji replied as he took his mask off and smiled. “I may normally live up here by myself, but I never truly feel alone.”

…

July 26, 1913

Today, Mitsuri and Obanai were gathered together at the Ubuyashiki Estate along with all of the pillars, with the exception of Muichiro, and Mitsuri’s whole family. Today was the day the two had waited for ever since they announced their intent to marry each other. The weather was hot, but a gentle breeze helped everyone out as everyone waited for the bride and the groom to emerge. Susamaru whispered to James, “I wonder how they look.”

“It’s certainly different from the weddings where I’m from,” James replied. “But I bet they look great, regardless.”

Then, the couple emerged in traditional Japanese wedding ceremony outfits, with Obanai in a black kimono and Mitsuri in a white kimono. Obanai notably was not wearing his bandages around his face, allowing all to see the scars on his face in full. Ahead of them were two corps shrine maidens, who led them to an altar together to take their vows. Shinobu whispered to Giyu, “They look so beautiful, Tomioka-san. Mitsuri-chan looks so happy, as does Iguro-san.”

Mitsuri’s parents and siblings watched with pride as she took her traditional vows, with her father thinking to himself, “I’ve never seen her be happier than now, and that’s saying something.”

As a Shinto priest recited prayers for good luck to the couple, Obanai looked to Mitsuri and thought to himself, “She looks so beautiful in that shiro-muku. I truly am blessed to become her husband.”

Mitsuri, meanwhile, thought to herself as the prayers concluded, “My dream is finally a reality. The only part left is to bear at least one child, and I have a feeling we’re already part way there.”

...

About 15 minutes after the vows were exchanged and the ceremonial drinking of sake took place, James was explaining to Susamaru how weddings happened in the West. “All weddins’ pretty much convey the same message,” he told her. “But have different ways of doin’ so. When I was married, we did our’s in a church. Julia wore a white dress, and I wore a black outfit.” He then pulled a picture out he carried on him. “This was us at the weddin’.”

Susamaru looked at the picture in awe. “Her dress looks so exotic to me. It’s… Really pretty. That reminds me of something…” She then blushed as she asked him, “Um… What about us?” She thought to herself as she asked him, “I can feel my heart pounding with anticipation… What will he say?” Her heart raced inside her body as she awaited an answer.

“I had a feelin’ you’d ask me that,” he replied as he put the picture away. “Susamaru, I… I love you, and that won’t change.” He then took her by the hand and gently dragged her to a secluded area of the estate, making sure nobody else could find them or hear them.

“What’s this about?”

“I’m makin’ a commitment,” James told her as he reached into his left pocket and pulled out a ring. “This is how they do this where I’m from.” Upon presenting it to her, he got down on one knee and looked her directly in the eye. “Susamaru, thanks to you, I’ve learned how to love again, and even if our time together proves to be short, I want us to formalize our relationship. You saved me from a lifetime of loneliness, and for that, I will always be grateful. With all that outta the way… Susamaru, will you marry me?”

She immediately smiled, her heart practically jumping out of her in joy as she nodded, “Yes… Yes, I will!” The two then embraced and twirled around in joy before exchanging a kiss. Once they finished, James carefully slid the ring onto her left ring finger. “Is this another custom in your homeland?”

“Yes,” James replied as he finished and held her hands. “It means that you’re mine and only mine now.” As he perched her chin on his left hand, he once again moved in for another kiss, which she accepted by wrapping her arms around him and closing her eyes.

…

July 29, 1913

“Wait, you want me to give you a… Haircut?”

“Yeah.”

Shinobu was perplexed by the rather odd request from her comrade as they both stood outside of the Butterfly Estate. “Okay, but… Why me?”

“Well,” Giyu began as he turned his face away from her. “If my hair needs improvement, which it clearly does… I feel like your standards would be best.”

“My… Standards?” She then took a deep breath and tried to hold in a blush. “Tomioka-san, are you saying you like my hair?” After getting no response from him, she sighed. “You need to acknowledge my question, Tomioka-san. Just tell me if you like it or not.” She thought to herself, “He’s so hopeless sometimes, this time being one of them…”

“Yes,” he whispered.

 Not hearing him, she asked, “Pardon?”

“Yes,” he finally told her out loud.

“Well I wouldn’t mind doing that,” Shinobu replied. “If you really think that, I’d love to. Let me just get some scissors from inside. How short do you want it?”

“I don’t want anything past the bottom of the neck,” Giyu replied to her.

…

A few minutes later, as Shinobu diligently styled and cut Giyu’s hair, he asked her as he sat on a stool, “Tell me, how did you get so good at this?”

“Taking care of my younger sisters helped,” Shinobu replied to him. “But I began with this once my parents died. Me and my sister had nobody but ourselves to do our hair. Obviously, Himejima-san can’t exactly handle a pair of scissors on account of the whole being blind thing. Some of my favorite memories are of my sister cutting my hair. We weren’t always perfect, but after a while, we got really good at it.”

“I assume you cut his hair, too?”

“Himejima-san? Of course.” As Shinobu continued, her feelings for him flooded her mind. “I’m so close to him physically,” she thought. “And yet I still feel like there’s a gulf between us. Maybe I should close the gap… Wait, what am I thinking?” She then told Giyu, “Well, Tomioka-san, you’re all set.”

“Do you think it looks weird?” Giyu was worried that the haircut came out wrong. “Be honest.”

“I think you look very handsome, Tomioka-san,” she replied, startling him and even her. She thought to herself, “What the fuck, Shinobu… Why did you tell him that?!”

“No way,” Giyu thought to himself. “She… Complimented me?! She told me I was handsome?!” He then sighed and smiled. “You know, Kocho, hearing that from you is nice. It’s not often I hear you complimenting me.”

Shinobu’s trademark smile was gone by now, replaced by a look of longing. “I… See…” She thought to herself, “My mind is telling me not to do this, but my heart can’t take it anymore.”

“I may not say it,” Giyu continued. “But I really enjoy spending time with you. Honest. I promi-”

Shinobu immediately cut him off by bending down and closing her eyes, gently kissing his lips. Giyu, however, did not close his eyes in response. Instead, his eyes widened in shock. As she slowly opened her own eyes, she noticed this and recoiled. “Ah, Tomioka-san! Uh…” She quickly backed away, panic filling her mind as she feared that she violated his personal boundaries with the kiss. “I… I’m sorry, Tomioka-san!” After she bowed in apology, she quickly ran off. “You’re welcome for the haircut!”

Giyu wanted to call out to her, but he was so stunned by the kiss he could not bring himself to do it. “She… She kissed me?”

Chapter Text

August 1, 1913

“So she ain’t talkin’ to ya anymore?” James had been told by Giyu of the incident from the 29th while the two met up after a mission with Kyojuro. “I can kinda see why. Normally, girls don’t do that sorta thing so suddenly to someone they ain’t married to.”

“Yeah,” Giyu agreed. “I wonder why exactly she did that.”

“Wait,” James immediately interrupted him. “You… You wonder why?”

“I mean,” he shrugged. “I don’t know. I just don’t know.”

James sighed and wiped his face in disbelief. “Jesus Christ… Has she ever told ya anythin’ like ‘I care about y’all’ or somethin’ that implies she likes you?”

“Likes me? I mean, she’s my comrade.”

“No, no no… I mean, does she like you as more than a friend?”

“Well,” Giyu pondered to himself. “She did tell me one day that the moon was beautiful as we went to a mission together. When I asked her why she said that, she got a bit annoyed and looked away.”

“The moon is beautiful?” James immediately recognized what he was talking about due to the books he had read on the trip to Japan. “Tomioka… Have you heard of Soseki Natsume?”

“Who?”

“He’s an author and a poet,” James explained. “He came up with that phrase as a way to tell people they loved each other. If Shinobu is saying that to you, try to figure out what she’s really trying to say based on what I told you.”

Giyu paused to think to himself for a half-minute before returning to reality to answer James. “Sorry, man. I’m stumped.”

James immediately stood up. “I gotta step outta the room. I can’t fuckin’ believe this.” He chuckled to himself as he stepped out. Once he was out of the room and closed the door, he screamed in frustration before laughing heavily, amused and also deeply annoyed by how dense Giyu truly was. “This can’t be fuckin’ real,” he thought to himself. “There’s no way he’s this fuckin’ dense. I gotta be dreamin’.”

“Are you okay out there?”

“I’m fine, Tomioka!” He then stepped back in. “I’m fine… It’s just… You can be too dense for your own good sometimes. I’m tellin’ you, she loves you.”

Giyu paused as the revelation fully hit him. “Love… Loves me?” He was at a loss for words, perplexed as to why Shinobu would love someone like him. “Loving someone like me,” he thought to himself. “Who would subject themselves to that?”

“Yeah,” James nodded. “It’s easy to see once y’all think ‘bout it.”

“Fuck,” Giyu muttered to himself. “Why… My only question is what she sees in me. Seriously, what?”

James sighed, realizing he was once again dealing with some extreme self-loathing, though not to the near-suicidal levels Obanai possessed. “Oh my God, not this shit again… Look, Tomioka, I already went through this nonsense with Iguro, and I don’t really feel like puttin’ myself through that again, so I’ll let y’all solve this by yourself.”

“Wait, I-“ Giyu’s attempt to keep the conversation going failed once James walked out of the room. He was now left alone to sift through his mind and find an answer for his own feelings for Shinobu. “What did he mean by ‘this nonsense’?”

…

August 2, 1913

As Shinobu wrote down a combat report late at night after returning from a mission, Kanao walked in and asked her, “Shinobu-sama, are… Are you alright?”

Surprised to hear the question come from her, she turned around in her chair and faced her, replying, “Yeah, I’m fine. What’s going on, Kanao?”

The latter then sighed before taking out her coin and flipping it. Once it landed on tails, she continued the conversation, telling her, “Shinobu-sama, I don’t believe that. You’ve been quiet since yesterday. Did something happen?”

“What makes you think that nonsense?” Shinobu tried to deny anything was wrong. “What do you think is wrong?”

“Well,” Kanao inferred. “You were kinda weird after you gave Tomioka-sama his haircu-“

“Nothing happened,” Shinobu immediately interrupted her with, raising Kanao’s suspicions.

“I never asked you if anything happened,” Kanao pointed out before flipping her coin again. Once it landed on heads, she asked her, “Did he do something to you?”

Shinobu paused for half a minute as she gathered her thoughts. “I… Well… No, he didn’t do anything. It was me…”

“You did?”

The former then took a deep breath. “Kanao, you need to promise me that whatever I say in this room never leaves it under any circumstances.” Kanao immediately nodded silently. “I… I kissed Tomioka-san while I gave him his haircut.”

“You did what?!”

“Something just came over me,” Shinobu replied, guilty over what she did. “I just… Something in my heart told me to do it, and I did it. Why… I don’t know. I just… I keep thinking about him. Being so close to him like that, so intimate… It just drove me mad. I overstepped my boundaries and forced myself on someone who probably doesn’t even think of me that way.”

Kanao paused, taking it all in. “I… See…”

“I’m sorry I’m ranting about this so much,” Shinobu apologized to her. “It’s just that I’ve never thought of myself as someone who would be attractive enough to become someone’s wife. I always said that my sister got the better half of my parents’ looks. I don’t think he feels the same way about me at all, and I don’t blame him.”

“Okay,” Kanao replied before smiling and walking out of the room. “Have a good night, Shinobu-sama.” Once she shut the door, her smile faded away, and she thought to herself, “Why must she sell herself so short?”

…

August 3, 1913

Late at night, Enmu and Patrick boarded a train together as part of an experiment to see how to conduct their train attacks later on in September. Both had submitted fake names to board the train, which would take them from Yokohama to Nagoya. The time was 8 PM, and once they were past the city and in a more remote area, they could begin their attack. Before they did, however, they had to do something else.

Patrick told Enmu as the two sat down in a seat, “I’ll get ready.”

Then, an attendant walked over to them and asked, “Tickets, please.”

As Enmu handed him their tickets, he told him, “Have a nice night, sir.” Unbeknownst to the attendant, Enmu had secretly wiped a small bit of his blood on the ticket, and now that the attendant touched it, he was linked to him and his sleep induction/dream invasion powers. Enmu told Patrick as he walked away, “I’ll let him create his own dream instead of using an architect. I doubt he has a weaponized subconsciousness, so we’ll be safe when we enter.”

Around 8:30, thirty minutes after the attendant collected their ticket, Enmu quietly snapped his fingers and grabbed a hold of Patrick’s arm. The two of them then began to slowly and methodically count backwards together. “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one…” Once they both reached the number one, they closed their eyes and fell asleep instantly.

When the two closed and then opened their eyes inside the dream world, they awoke to find they were now in a daytime setting in a bustling rural town marketplace. Patrick told Enmu, “Well, this seems like a nice place.”

“Indeed,” Enmu replied. “Let’s fuck it up a bit.” The two of them then pulled out Type 38 rifles that were commonly used by the Imperial Japanese Army at the time and aimed them at the crowds, stunning the people within them before they opened fire. The rifles they used were based on real rifles they had seen that another American demon had stolen after a raid on a small army outpost. As they cut down several people in the crowds, Enmu shouted, “Why must you all run?!”

“Please,” begged a woman as she fell to the ground. “Don’t shoot me! Don’t fucking shoot me!”

“Too late,” Patrick replied before drawing a revolver and shooting her twice in the chest, killing her instantly. “You’re not real, anyway.” He then emptied the revolver out into the fleeing crowd, knocking down two more people with four shots.

“You really are a great shot,” Enmu complimented him. “Experience in the War of Northern Aggression must have taught you some great methods.”

“Fighting those fucking Yankees sure did,” Patrick agreed. “I wasn’t made a Brigadier General for nothing, after all!”

Then, a man’s voice behind them shouted, “Who are you two?!” As they turned around, they found themselves face to face with the same train attendant, this time dressed in normal non-work clothes. “Why did you infiltrate my dream?!”

“Because we could,” Enmu explained to him before he reloaded his rifle with another clip and shot him twice. “Allow me to tell you that if I kill you with this rifle, you won’t wake up. Normally, if one dies in a dream, they wake up like normal, but as for you, my friend, that won’t happen sadly.” He chuckled as he then shot him a third time in the head, killing him inside the dream and splattering his brains all over the ground. “Because those who I kill not only die, but lose their Spiritual Core!”

“So,” Patrick asked him. “Is that it?”

“Now we just gotta make a Kick Event to get ourselves outta here,” Enmu replied. “Or allow ourselves to get killed, since this man’s subconscious is bound to start attacking us now.” Indeed, the crowd which had once fled was now returning with a variety of clubs and blades as they angrily marched towards the two demons. “We don’t have much of a purpose staying here, so we might as well just let it happen.”

“Die, you monsters!” A man from the crowd then walked up to Patrick and stabbed him several times, killing him inside the dream before the man did the same to Enmu. “Die, die, die!”

Once both of them woke up, the two took several deep breaths before looking around and checking the time. It was now 8:32 PM, even though they had spent eight minutes inside the attendant’s dream. Patrick told Enmu, “I know where that attendant is sleeping for the night. When his colleagues wake up tomorrow morning, they’ll be in for a Hell of a surprise when they find his dead body. So, when are we attacking?”

“Probably in another hour or so,” Enmu replied as he wiped his eyes and yawned. “You said a few of your men were waiting at the next stop, right?”

“Yeah,” he replied with a nod. “Once they get on, we can take control of this train.”

“You know,” Enmu said to him as he looked out of the window at the moon. “The moon looks nice tonight. We picked a good night to experiment.”

“No kidding,” he agreed with a nod. “Victory will be our’s under the pale blue light of the moon.” He then pulled out a small coin and looked at its tails side, noticing two deep scratches on it. “And with that, I know for a fact we’re no longer dreaming. Have you set a Totem yet?”

“Indeed,” Patrick replied, pulling out a musket ball and then rubbing it with his fingers. “If I’m in a dream, this musket ball will multiply into two musket balls when I rub it with my fingers.”

Enmu smiled. “How unique. Mine is more tame. This coin has two scratches on the tails side in reality, but in a dream, it has no scratches.”

Chapter Text

At the next stop for the train, about fifteen American men hopped on board, all spreading themselves out among the various cars and taking seemingly randomized seats. The quantity of passengers boarding at the stop, and the fact they were all foreigners, did seem odd, but nobody thought to make a note of it or raise an alarm as several native Japanese passengers also boarded and took seats.

It was around 9:30 PM when Patrick asked Enmu, “Are you ready?”

“Yeah,” he replied with a nod before he drew a revolver from under his coat.

Patrick also drew a revolver and fired a single shot into the air, startling the many half-asleep passengers. He shouted in English, “Nobody fuckin’ move! This is a robbery, lads!”

Enmu also shouted in Japanese, “This is a robbery! Stay where you are, and nobody’s gonna get hurt!”

Another one of Patrick’s soldiers in the same train car also stood up and drew a revolver, shooting an attendant in the back as he tried to rush at Patrick and killing him. “Got him for ya, sir!”

“Good,” Patrick replied in English. “Go to the back of the train with the others in the cars behind this one and take control of the caboose, laddie!” He then told the crowd in Japanese, “Now, you all saw what we can do! We are not afraid to kill if we must!”

As Patrick ran to another car towards the front, Enmu told the group with a smile as he pointed the gun at the crowd and showed the mouth on his free hand, “Now… Soldier!”

“Yes?”

“Look away for a minute,” Enmu instructed him. Once he did so, he told the crowd, “As I was saying, now I need you all to go to sleep. Just close your eyes and fall into a deep, deep slumber, folks.” He then uttered, “Blood Demon Art: Whispers of Forced Unconscious Hypnosis!” In almost an instant, the entire car of 20 passengers fell asleep, collapsing into their seats after having shivered in fear of being shot. Once the last person fell asleep, he told the soldier, “I’m all set. You can look now.”

Once he turned around, he asked Enmu, “Now what?”

Enmu then pulled up one of his sleeves and began pulling at his own skin to make a long but thin rope out of it. “Once I’m done with this Connecting Flesh Rope, tie it to every person in this car, and then enter the dream of one of them. It doesn’t matter which. Find them and kill them inside the dream. Under my spell, they’ll die in the real world instead of waking up, but if you die by accident inside a dream, you’ll be fine. Be sure to set a Totem before you go in, something that has a unique quality.”

As Enmu walked to another car towards the front, the soldier said to himself, “A unique quality, huh?”

…

In the caboose of the train, Patrick approached three men who were all sleeping inside it after opening the door before yelling out, “None of you move! This is a robbery!”

Immediately, all three men woke up and looked at Patrick. They all then stood up and held their hands up in the air. The oldest of the three asked him, “What’s all this about?! Who are you?!”

“That’s none of your concern,” Patrick replied. “Now, I want you guys to stop the train as soon as possible. If we get to a station before then, pass through it. I have 15 men on this train on my side as well, and my main partner is taking care of the engineer up front.”

The youngest of the men asked the oldest, “Oumae-san, what do we do?”

“We do what he says,” he replied. “The last thing I want is anyone getting hurt.”

They all then heard screaming from behind them as Patrick turned around and came face-to-face with a fully uniformed Demon Slayer Corps member who was charging at him with a sword. Patrick shot at him once before drawing a sword of his own and clashing with him, holding him at bay with one hand as he bolstered his revolver. “So, one of you guys are on board?”

“I’ll slay you,” the slayer replied. “You may be a foreigner that’s powerful in America, but you’re in Japan now! I already killed two of your men!”

“You have?” Patrick then kicked him in the stomach, causing him to fall to the ground before he then shot him in the chest. “Well, it looks like you’ll need to bring a gun next time… Oh wait, you won’t have a next time!”

“Motherfucker,” the slayer spat at him as he felt his life drain away despite his attempts to stand up. “Second Fo-!”

“Shut the hell up,” Patrick replied before shooting him again in the shoulder, knocking him down. “Do you think I care about your little breathing trick? I don’t. Here’s a tip: Don’t bring a sword to a gunfight.” He then squarely aimed the revolver at his head and cocked it. “Now, do me a favor and say hi to your dead colleagues for me in Hell.” When he pulled the trigger, the bullet splattered his blood and brains all over the wall and floor behind the slayer, killing him instantly.

“Oumae-san,” said the middle-aged one. “This guy means business!”

“Now,” Patrick then told the trio of train workers. “Do as I told you before you end up like our little slayer friend here.”

A demon soldier of his then ran in, asking Patrick in English, “Sir, did y’all see that fucker that killed two of us?”

“I took care of him,” Patrick motioned to his body for the soldier to look at. “He won’t be bothering us anymore. We’ll mourn our Southern brethren later. Right now, we have a job to do.”

…

About twelve minutes later, the train had come to a complete halt in the middle of nowhere in rural Japan. Enmu had been slowly siphoning the passengers of their lives by putting them all to sleep, one by one, car by car. The only people they would spare for now would be a few of the crewmates. The rest had been ordered to the rear of the train and out into a nearby forest.

Once all twenty of them gathered in a clearing next to the tracks, Patrick had eight of his men line up, all of them holding rifles taken from luggage bags they had brought aboard. He told the twenty crewmates, “Stand at attention!” Once they all stood, facing the eight soldiers and Patrick, he told them, “Do not bother running, folks. You will only make your despair worse.”

Old Man Oumae, the old worker from earlier, shouted, “You wouldn’t dare!”

“Ready!” The eight men then readied their rifles. “Aim!” They aimed them at the crowd as a few began to look around for possible escape routes. “Fire!” A volley of gunshots then rang out as they fired at the crowd, striking most of them down as Patrick also fired into it with his revolver. A few tried to run, but they were cut down by another round of shots. “Go eat ‘em, boys! Take care of your hunger for flesh!”

As his soldiers began to eat the dead bodies of the men they had just shot to death, Enmu approached him. “I got only three cars left to put to sleep.”

“Good,” Patrick replied, extending a hand for a handshake. “We make a pretty damn good team, Enmu-san.” Noticing that he was confused, he told him, “We shake hands instead of bowing.”

“Oh, right,” Enmu replied, slowly shaking his hand in response. “I forgot about that. My apologies, Cleburne-san.”

The August 3rd/4th Train Heist would lead to the deaths of 22 railroad workers and 104 passengers (among them two slayers), as well as the robbery of hundreds of thousands of yen and massive amounts of cargo. The few who survived were held on the train and either forced into servitude by Enmu and Patrick for their future endeavors or sold off to other demons for consumption or slavery over the next few days. Muzan Kibutsuji was pleased with the results, and encouraged the two of them to formulate even more complex plans involving trains as a way to hopefully draw Tanjiro Kamado’s attention, or maybe even the attention of a Pillar.

…

September 6, 1913

After a further month of difficult training, Nezuko was finally ready to take the Final Selection Exam. Early in the morning, as she packed her belongings outside, Sabito and Makomo approached her, the two of them holding hands. “Nezuko-chan,” Makomo called out to her. “Nezuko-chan!”

“Yes?”

“We want to wish you the best of luck,” Sabito told her with a smile. “You’ve greatly improved since you first came here, and we want you to know that you have our full confidence as a slayer.”

Nezuko smiled. “Why thanks, guys. That means a lot to me.”

“Make us proud out there,” Makomo encouraged her. “You can do it.”

Nezuko then hugged both of them together, surprising them. “I will, trust me.” As she tightened her grip on them both, she told them as a few tears fell from her closed eyes, “Thank you so much… Please, tell me we’ll see each other again.”

“One day,” Sabito assured her with a pat of her head. “We’ll see you again.”

“We promise,” Makomo added. “With all of our hearts.”

As the three of them split off from each other, Nezuko wiped her eyes and sniffled. “Sorry, I got a bit emotional there…” She then chuckled, slightly embarrassed by it.

…

“Nezuko,” Sakonji told her as she sat across from him. “I am very proud of what you have achieved so far in your short life. You represent hope for the Demon Slayer Corps and all of humanity. You represent a hope that we can finally end this bloodshed and violence. With this, a new era begins for the corps.”

“I understand.”

“Now,” he continued. “There will be those who will doubt your loyalty to the corps, or may even try to harm you due to your status. I advise you to ignore them, and prove your worth by excelling at your job. If anyone keeps giving you trouble, you can always let me or the Oyakata-sama know, and we will put an immediate stop to it.”

“I don’t have time to dwell on those who hate me for something I did not choose,” Nezuko firmly replied. “Not when there are people whose lives need to be saved and a war that needs to be fought.”

Sakonji chuckled, admiring her determination. “You and your brother really are alike.”

…

TAISHO SECRET #4

The DSC Leader Assassination of 1882

In 1882, the corps was shocked when Ubuyashiki Ryou, the 95th leader of the DSC, was assassinated by a disgruntled Kakushi armed with a pistol while visiting a train station in a town close to the Ubuyashiki Estate. The circumstances leading up to his murder, however, are even more interesting than the murder itself.

The assassin in question was named Kurokawa Goro, born in 1848 to a poor farming family. His mother had postpartum psychosis and grew to be insane, and died when he was only four years old. Additionally, his four older siblings also died by the time he was ten, leaving him only with a younger sister. His father highly valued hard work and discipline, and instilled these values into Goro, often physically. These traumatic experiences molded Goro into a man who reacted harshly to even the smallest of criticisms. When he was 12, his father was killed in a drunken altercation with a British diplomat who had come to visit his town. Soon after, he enrolled in the Demon Slayer Corps, receiving training for the Breath of Water and passing the Final Selection at 13.

As a slayer, Goro was not particularly well-liked. His peers who passed the Final Selection with him did not appreciate his anger issues, his narcissism, nor his need for total approval from others. At the age of 14, after hearing of the Taiping Rebellion and converting to Christianity, he tried starting a newspaper themed around the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but it failed to attract any attention, and in 1864, the Taiping Rebellion was crushed in China. In 1868, he temporarily left the DSC to enlist in the newly-formed Imperial Japanese Navy and fight on the side of the Emperor Meiji against the breakaway Republic of Ezo in the Boshin War. 

During this war, he was involved in an accident where two boats collided. Everyone on his boat lived, but everyone on the second boat was killed. This convinced him that he was chosen by God to survive. After the Boshin War ended, he returned to being a slayer until 1871, when he resigned from the DSC and went to law school. He managed to (barely) pass a bar exam in 1875 and began work, primarily as a bill collector. Insight into how people tried to avoid paying bills allowed him to begin doing the very thing he fought against, and in 1878, he, his wife, and his two young children fled their home city of Sendai and settled in Nagasaki to avoid arrest for evading bills.

In Nagasaki, he reentered the DSC, this time as a Kakushi, and in 1879, he felt the need to divorce his wife, but found that he did not have a legally valid reason to do so. He came up with the brilliant (obvious sarcasm) idea of hiring and then having sex with a prostitute and having her testify in court, which worked for the divorce, but left him with syphillis. In the same year, he wrote a book about theology that was almost entirely plagiarized from the teachings of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but it failed to sell well. 

In 1880, his sister caught wind of his bill evasion, and several bill collectors persuaded her to write a letter asking him to pay his debts. He replied with a letter instructing her to, “Find the nearest 1 yen bill or coin in your immediate vicinity, use it to wipe your ass of shit when you go to the bathroom, and then rub your nose with it. That is approximately how much you are worth to Kurokawa Goro. With that, I hope to end our acquaintance.” He never spoke or wrote to her again.

In the year of 1881, he wrote a speech endorsing the selection of a slayer named Yamada Himiko for the position of Wind Pillar, largely because he was infatuated with her despite him being 33 and her being only 16 at the time. He somehow got it into his mind that if Himiko was selected, she would be so indebted to him that the two would fall in love, and that the Leader of the DSC at the time, Ubuyashiki Ryou, would also be so indebted to him for helping him choose such a great slayer to be the next Wind Pillar that he’d promote him to a high-ranking position as a Kakushi.

Of course, this speech was just a bunch of nonsensical rambling, and Ryou chose another slayer to be the next Wind Pillar instead of Himiko. This greatly angered Goro, and his anger grew even more when Himiko rejected him and told him rather loudly that she was expecting a child with another slayer of her own age. Following this, he renounced any faith in the current DSC administration. After years of cloud-chasing and risk-taking, only to be met with disappointment at every turn, he decided that his only other option was to kill Ubuyashiki Ryou as well as Yumeno Shinji, Himiko’s now-husband and the father of their child. He could not bring himself to kill Himiko despite his unrequited and obsessive love for her.

Having convinced himself that it was God’s will for him to kill Ryou and Shinji, he meticulously planned the assassination for seven whole months, and purchased a revolver with an ivory grip to stand out in a museum one day. He first tried to shoot Shinji, but changed his mind after seeing Himiko and him play with their infant son, so he escaped without them noticing. A few days later, on May 9, 1882, having found out about a trip Ryou was making to a nearby town, he hid in the town’s train station and ambushed him as he was about to meet with two other pillars once their train pulled up in the next few minutes. He shot him three times in the back and fled the scene, only to be arrested by police a few minutes later. Ryou died of his injuries two weeks later.

He was arraigned in a regular Japanese criminal court for Ryou’s murder, causing, for one of the few times in the DSC’s history, cooperation between it and the Japanese government. Goro was ecstatic to hear that Ryou had died, believing he would go down in history as an important figure. In court, he was removed twelve times and charged with contempt of court for yelling obscenities at just about everyone present, including his own lawyer. Halfway through the trial, he fired his lawyer and instead defended himself after said lawyer tried to get the court to find him not guilty by reason of insanity, a first in Japanese law.

What should have been a 3 or 4-day trial instead turned into a 20-day trial due to these interruptions. His closing argument was a long and rambling poem that once again was essentially nonsense about politics and religion. He was ultimately found guilty of murder and contempt of court and sentenced to death by beheading. When the guilty verdict was read, he called everyone present at the trial, “A bunch of unintelligent pederasts, fornicators, and sodomites,” a rather hypocritical remark given his past obsession for a young woman that was half of his age and already in a relationship and his own past infidelity.

On September 12, 1882, he was beheaded for the murder of Ubuyashiki Ryou. His final statement was yet another speech full of nonsense that he wrote that very same morning. He had put in a request for a small band of musicians to play when he was beheaded, which was in fact granted. His ivory grip pistol was destroyed several days after his execution to prevent his wish for it to be memorialized in a museum from becoming a reality. Ryou’s son, Ubuyashiki Genji, would become the 96th leader of the DSC, only to commit suicide due to stress in 1894, passing the position onto the 97th and current leader, Ubuyashiki Kagaya.

Chapter Text

As Nezuko was traveling to take her Final Selection, Shinobu was busy writing down notes in a medical report at the Butterfly Estate when she heard a knock at her door. “Who is it?”

“It’s me,” Mitsuri replied. “Can I come in, Shinobu-chan?”

“Yeah,” she replied.

As Mitsuri opened the door, she told her, “I, uh… I missed my period, Shinobu-chan.”

Those words immediately caused her to turn around and face her. “Wait, what?!”

“Yeah,” she replied, giving an awkward smile. “Eh… I haven’t told Obanai yet. I was supposed to get it, and yet I’ve gotten nothing. I’m telling him as soon as he comes back from a mission tonight.”

Shinobu paused for a few seconds before asking her, “Have you and him been having unprotected sex?”

Mitsuri blushed as she replied, “Yes. We haven’t used condoms once, and we’ve kept up a pretty consistent schedule of… those activities almost daily. We had plans to do it when he got back today.”

“Have you urinated more often?”

“Come to think of it,” Mitsuri pondered in response. “I think I have. That’s another sign, right?”

“Mitsuri-chan,” Shinobu then told her as she placed a hand on her shoulder. “I have no doubt in my mind that you’re pregnant.”

“Pregnant…” Mitsuri’s eyes lit up with life at hearing those words. “Pregnant…” She then sat down in a nearby chair in the office. “Holy shit… I’m gonna have a child… Me and Obanai are going to actually have a child.” She could not help but break out into a wide smile and laugh. “My God…”

Shinobu also smiled. “I’m glad you’re happy.”

Beneath her smile, however, Mitsuri could tell something was off. Once she had calmed herself down, she resolved to bring it up. “I… Well, before all that, I was gonna come in here and ask you about something else.”

“Oh? What is it?”

“It’s about Tomioka-san.”

Giyu’s last name sent shivers down Shinobu’s spine. “T- Tomioka?”

“Yeah,” Mitsuri nodded. “You haven’t talked to him in a month. You haven’t even gone on any missions with him recently. What’s going on, Shinobu-chan? This is so unlike you.” Shinobu turned away from her and did not answer her question. “Shinobu… Come on.”

“Well,” Shinobu began. “There’s…”

“There’s what?”

“Oh for fuck’s sake.” She then took a deep breath. “I kissed him a month ago,” Shinobu confessed. “And I haven’t spoken to him since. I don’t know why I did. I just felt this urge to do it.”

Mitsuri was surprised. “You… kissed him?”

Shinobu continued with, “I didn’t even ask beforehand. I was just cutting his hair one second, and then in the next, our lips met.”

“Shinobu-chan, it sounds like there’s some underlying feelings in that action.” She then stood up from her chair. “I’ve had a feeling for a long time that you felt differently about Tomioka-san than you let us all in on.”

Shinobu sighed. “Why would anyone think of me that way? Sure, I may have my own feelings, but I established long ago to myself that I was the runt of the family, the one no man would want.”

Silence filled the room as Mitsuri took in her words, shocked by how extreme Shinobu had tore herself down despite her own opinions on her looks. “You… You really think that way?”

“Of course I do,” Shinobu confirmed with a nod and a laugh. “When your sister was Kocho fucking Kanae, anyone with a body as small as mine would feel the same way. Next to her, I felt so small, and seeing her and Shinazugawa-san become married only confirmed what I already suspected: I was the afterthought of the two sisters, the one that everyone just sort of acknowledged was there.” She then closed her eyes and looked down at the floor. “And then the better half of us died.”

“Shinobu-chan, no…” Both sadness and anger were building up inside Mitsuri.

“I’ve long since resigned myself to the fact that I’m not good-looking or a candidate for marriage,” Shinobu added as she continued to put herself down. “I hate myself and the body I was born in, Mitsuri-chan. Every day, I wish the roles had been reversed. I wish I had died instead of my sister. I’ve longed to die in combat one day, and hopefully I can die fighting the demon that killed her. Every day, every God damn day, wish I was dead!”

Mitsuri was horrified by her words. “No… Shinobu, no! You can’t think like that! You can’t just ignore Tomioka-san after doing that with him, and you can’t just throw your life away! What the fuck?!”

Shinobu yelled back, “You cannot tell me what I can and can’t do!”

“Don’t you realize I fucking hated myself, too?!” Mitsuri’s statement caused Shinobu to pause. “Listen to me! I wasn’t normal! I never was, and I hated myself for it! I got told over and over again that I was too masculine for being physically strong, and I tried to change myself in horrifying ways! I dyed my hair black and tried going without eating anything for days on end!” By now, she had begun to cry. “I tried so hard, so God damn hard, and in the end, it still wasn’t good enough! I still got rejected by suitors! I still was called an ugly fucking ogre of a woman, and that stung so much! So fucking much!” She then wiped away her tears. “Then I found someone who actually gave a fuck about me and liked me for who I was, and now, we have a future together!”

“I have no future! My future is six feet in the motherfucking ground!”

“How can you say that?! You have two sisters who need you! I need you! Tomioka-san needs you!” She then sunk to the floor in despair. “Please, Shinobu-chan… I want you to be part of my child’s life. You’re my best friend. Please, stop tearing yourself down like this!”

Shinobu coldly began to walk out of the room. “I’ll let you sit here and think to yourself.” She then closed the door. “I’m done with this conversation, Mitsuri.”

Mitsuri, angered by her reaction, yelled at her through the door, “If you’re just gonna abandon me like that, then fuck you! We’re through! I never want to speak to you again, Kocho!” She continued to cry as Shinobu walked away to try to ignore her. “How… How could someone just abandon their own siblings and loved ones like that?! What the fuck is wrong with you?! I wish you could see how you hurt others! Maybe then you’d get it through your thick skull that people actually give a fuck about you! Maybe you’d realize how sad people would be if you fucking died!”

Shinobu by now was also crying, her friendship with Mitsuri officially over. She now had nobody but herself. “Damn it,” she muttered to herself as she pulled a cigarette from her pocket as well as a few matches. “Fucking thing sucks.” As she struck the match on the side of the wall and then lit a cigarette on her lips, she thought to herself, “I am alone. All alone. Nobody is there for me. Fuck my life. Fuck my life so much.” After taking a puff and blowing some smoke, she said to herself, “Well, that ends that.”

Meanwhile, Aoi and Kanao, who had both overheard the argument from another room without either of them knowing, were both horrified. Aoi was crying into Kanao’s shoulder, while Kanao was sweating profusely and deeply worried. “Why,” Aoi told her. “Why did Shinobu-oneechan say that?” She had called her by an honorific that she had not used in years, usually calling her ‘Shinobu-sama.’ As she wiped away her tears, she continued with, “I don’t want my sister to die, Kanao. Please, if she won’t take care of herself, do it for her.”

“I…,” Kanao tried to reply. “I… Aoi…” She was truly at a loss for words, and could not express the variety of emotions she was feeling in response to Shinobu’s depression and Aoi’s request.

“Please,” Aoi quietly begged her. “I don’t want her to kill herself in battle.”

“Okay,” she replied, still unsure of her answer but giving her one anyway. “Okay.”

…

Meanwhile, Nezuko had arrived at Mount Fujikasane, and was among 13 other people who had come to take the Final Selection. She had managed to walk along the path to the mountain entrance fine despite the numerous trees of wisteria surrounding her. The gap that made up the only entrance into the mountain was heavily guarded and under 24/7 supervision by slayers to make sure captured demons did not try to walk through it to escape. As she looked around at the group, she noticed that many of them looked tired and disheveled, indicating they had come a long way to come here.

Then, Kyojuro and Tengen appeared before everyone, coming out from behind the trees and presenting themselves to the crowd. “Welcome,” Kyojuro gleefully told the group. “You have all travelled very far to come to Mount Fujikasane. This, however, will be your ultimate test! For those who do not yet know of me, my name is Rengoku Kyojuro. I am the Flame Pillar of the Demon Slayer Corps, making me one of the top slayers in the organization. I use the Breath of Flames.”

“And I’m Uzui Tengen,” Tengen replied with a wave. “The Sound Pillar. I use the Breath of Sound. Beyond this wisteria is a field of demons that the corps has captured alive periodically over the years and released onto this mountain. Here, you will have to survive for a week. If you do, you pass, and you officially join our ranks.”

“Slaying demons is an inherently dangerous job,” Kyojuro further explained. “But that does not mean you cannot take measures to protect yourself! Use common sense, work together with your fellow participants, and never leave a comrade behind! While we cannot completely guarantee your safety, we can assure you that your training will not let you down. We shall let not even one ghost come back and say that their training let them down!”

“With that said,” Tengen concluded. “You guys have five minutes to start heading in. Good luck to all of you.”

Nezuko thought to herself as the two of them bowed, “That’s different. My brother said that two of the Oyakata-sama’s kids usually did the intro. Maybe they were busy…” Then, a young man her age looked over to her and suddenly looked away, frightened by her. “Huh? What’s wrong?” The young man did not answer initially. “Are you okay?”

“Aren’t you…” The young man, who bore a scar on his face, then turned around to face Nezuko. “You… You aren’t…”

Nezuko immediately realized what he was picking up on. “You picked it up, huh?” She immediately felt self-conscious, taking a deep sigh. “No, I’m not human.”

Then, a girl in the crowd raised her hand and asked, “Rengoku-san?”

“Yes?”

“I just noticed something off about one of our trainees,” she replied. “She… She looks like a demon.”

Those words immediately caused the entire group to start whispering to each other. Nezuko said to herself in annoyance, “Fucking… Why now?”

“Well,” Kyojuro answered. “I might as well address it. Yes, we have a demon among our ranks. She… Is very different. When you get into the corps, you will find that the war between humans and demons goes deeper than even the two of us thought possible. All I can tell you is that she will not bring harm to you. She may be a demon, but she is here to fight her own kind on behalf of us.”

“You have our word,” Tengen added. “Trust me, if she did do anything bad, we’d take care of it. Thankfully, we know her enough to know she wouldn’t do anything bad.” Nezuko smiled, slightly embarrassed they brought her up, but glad they defended her. “Kamado Nezuko lost her whole family to Muzan, and was turned into a demon against her will. She has partially conquered the son and has already fought against other demons on an unofficial level. You will not attack her as if she was an enemy, and that’s final.”

“With that out of the way,” Kyojuro concluded. “Begin!”

The girl who asked the question, who bore dark violet hair, readied her sword and thought to herself, “I’ll be the judge if this demon won’t harm us. What the Hell do those two know anyway? They look well-enough off to have never known what it was like to lose everything to demons!”

Nezuko meanwhile thought to herself, “I’m gonna not only survive these next seven days, but also kick ass while doing so! I’ll prove my worth in combat if people don’t think I have any!”

…

Inside the forest of Mount Fujikasane, Nezuko had walked toward the east with the help of a compass for about an hour and had not yet encountered any demons as she slowly traveled up the mountain. She was all alone, and as time ticked by, she grew more and more tense, expecting an attack at every turn. She said to herself with a sigh, “This is getting fucking ridiculous. I should have ran into a demon by now.”

“And that’s my cue to attack,” then shouted a voice from above before a demon with elongated legs and feet jumped from a tree and came down on her. Nezuko quickly deflected his attack with her sword and pushed him to the ground nearby. “I’ve been watching you for a good ten minutes!”

“Thanks for the fact,” Nezuko replied as she readied herself to attack.

“Wait a minute,” the demon questioned as he became confused. “Aren’t you a demon yourself? What the Hell are you doing?!”

“I’m not on your side,” Nezuko yelled. “I’m on the side of justice and peace!”

“I can’t even eat you,” the demon said in disappointment. “What a shame, huh? What a God damn shame. I can at least get some combat experience, though!” He then charged at her.

“Breath of Water,” Nezuko then called out as she charged at him. “First Form: Water Surface Slash!” She made a single, powerful slash towards the demon, quickly decapitating it with a slice of the neck and killing it. “That takes care of you…” As the demon’s body and head began to disintegrate, she sneezed several times in a row and said to herself, “Fucking shit, that damn wisteria from earlier must have made me sick.” She also thought to herself, “If my brother heard me say any of that, he’d be horrified. I don’t think he’s ready to hear his little sister say such language yet.” As she wiped her nose, she walked away and continued on her journey eastward.

Another participant noticed her and ran over to her. This participant was the same young man who had been afraid of her earlier. “Hey, Kamado-san!”

“Huh?”

“Are you heading to the East too?”

“Yeah,” Nezuko replied with a smile. “The sunlight will reach that area first. My brother told me about it.”

“Seems odd you’d want that,” the young man replied. “Won’t you burn in the sun?”

“Not anymore,” Nezuko replied. “But I won’t be able to heal myself if I get hurt or use any of my Blood Demon Art attacks.”

“Oh,” the young man replied, curious about her. “I’m kinda confused.”

“I still am too,” she jokingly added. “I barely heard about places outside of Japan before all this. Now they’re telling me the war on Kibutsuji and his demons has been going on for centuries beyond Japan.”

Chapter Text

September 7, 1913

Nezuko had stopped to eat a small animal she had hunted for herself during the daytime by a creek. She had first drank much of the blood before eating the meat largely raw. With American blood now in her, she was able to satiate her taste for human blood and flesh, which was already reduced, with animal blood and flesh. After she swallowed a small chunk of meat, she sneezed and said, “Damn, there isn’t even any wisteria around here. What gives?” As she put down the half-eaten animal carcass, she spat out a few hairs and licked her sharp teeth clean before looking around for any threats.

“Hey, demon girl,” then said a female voice nearby as the same girl from before that had asked Kyojuro about Nezuko approached her from the forest. “Face me!”

“Huh?” Nezuko turned around as she cleaned her hands in the creek water. “What is it?” She then noticed she had her sword out. “Aaaaand your sword is out… What the fuck do you want?”

“What the fuck makes you think you can just walk into here?” She was clearly angry with her. “I wanted to get into the corps to kill all demons, not spare some!”

Nezuko sighed, realizing what she was after as she pulled her sword out. “I really don’t want to fight someone I’m gonna have to work with later.”

“I refuse to work with you!” The girl was visibly upset. “Your kind took everything fro-“

“From you? Yeah, I figured. Welcome to the club, pal.” She then walked past her, warning her, “Don’t pretend you’re the only one who lost their family to demons. You’re not the first, and you won’t be the last. There’s more to the world than you, so get that through your head.”

The girl, angered by her further, then slapped Nezuko across the face as tears welled up in her eyes. Nezuko herself barely reacted to the rather hard and audible slap. “They murdered my parents and all of my younger siblings! For fuck’s sake, I had to just stand there and watch as they begged for their big sister to save them, and I failed to do so! I fucked up! I really fucked up! I wish I had died, but I lived!”

Nezuko initially did not say anything in response. She then mumbled, “Me too.”

“Huh?”

“I said,” she then told her as they locked eyes. “Me too. Some days, I wish I was among the dead, too.” She then restrained and lowered her arm before she could deliver a second slap. “I only became a demon because Muzan threatened to kill my younger siblings if I didn’t. He murdered them anyway, and I tried to kill him for it even as a demon. He let me live, but ever since then, I’ve had a target painted on my back, and the same goes for my brother. Now I’ve found a way to use the abilities Muzan gave me against him, and you’re just going to stand here and turn away perhaps one of our greatest assets in this war?!” She then sighed. “How troublesome.”

The girl was at a loss for words as Nezuko walked away. Once she was gone, the girl said to herself, “I… She… What?!”

Meanwhile, Nezuko thought to herself, “This is what Urokodaki-san meant when he said that the corps had become blinded with rage as the war went on. I can see why Shinazugawa-san was so angry at my presence now, even if he was in the wrong.”

…

September 10, 1913

Nezuko now had only 3 more days to go before the Final Selection ended. By now, she had racked up a kill count of five demons, just above the average reported kill count of 3.7 among slayers who passed the Final Selection. She had clearly proven her abilities and skills in combat, and looked forward to the 13th. As she walked down a footpath in the forest as night fell onto it, she felt an uneasy presence in front of her and readied her sword to attack. “Who goes there?!”

Then, she heard the loud footsteps of a particularly large demon, about 8 feet tall with three legs, emerge from the forest. In his hands were the mangled body of a half-eaten boy and a frightened but still alive girl. “A third snack?”

“Not quite,” she yelled at him as she drew her sword. “I may be your kind, but I’m not on your side!”

The girl called out to her, “Please, save me! This demon murdered my boyfriend!”

“I caught these two having a little fun,” the demon told her. “The taste of two humans in heat is incredibly delectable. They had just wrapped things up, too. Imagine if I had caught them in the middle of the act…”

“You’re sick!” Nezuko then charged at the demon, barely avoiding a kick from his right leg. “Second Form: Water Wheel!” She then spun vertically in the air before coming down on the demon, missing his neck but making a deep gouge in his arm and freeing the girl, who was still alive. As the two landed, she asked the girl, “Can you fight?!”

“He broke my sword,” she replied.

“Run away while you still can!”

Then, the boy’s sword fell to the ground. The girl grabbed it and told Nezuko, “No, I’m gonna kill this son of a bitch!” She then charged at the demon, yelling, “I’m gonna fucking kill you! Fuck you and your three legs, asshole!”

“What the fuck?!” Nezuko sighed, annoyed that she was going back into the fray. “Oh well… Fourth Form: Striking Tide!” 

She then charged forward as the other girl yelled out, “Second Form: Claw-Purifying Wind!” The girl, who bore brown hair and violet eyes, then unleashed four vertical slashes against the demon’s center and left legs from the right, cutting them off and causing him to fall before his legs could regrow.

Meanwhile, Nezuko’s attack managed to strike his neck, and in one blow, the demon was instantly decapitated, screaming in agony as he died, “No! This can’t be! I can’t die! I won’t die!”

“A bit late for that,” she told him as she sheathed her sword. “Now, fade into the night sky!” She then turned around and gave a short prayer to the demon she had killed before turning her attention to the girl she had saved. “Hey, are you alright?”

The girl was crying, cradling the body of her boyfriend, who had been cut in half and had been dead for several minutes. “Kengo… Kengo, no… I love you…”

Nezuko felt bad for the girl. “I’m sorry I could not save him.”

“We promised to make it through the Final Selection together,” the girl told the body before picking up his sword and aiming it at her stomach and smiling through her tears. “Maybe this will help. I’ll be with you soon, my love.”

Nezuko immediately noticed what she was about to do and yelled, “Wait, no!” Just before the girl could push the blade through her body, Nezuko tackled her to the ground and kicked the sword away. As she pinned her to the ground, she yelled at her, “What the fuck are you doing?!”

The girl burst into tears again, crying while still pinned to the ground. “I need to see him again! I can’t imagine my life without him! Please, let me join him!”

“No!” Nezuko was adamant. “You are not killing yourself! Don’t you fucking dare do it! Would he want you to give up, huh?! Would he?!”

The girl stopped crying for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and standing up, with Nezuko joining her. “I… We… We had lived together since we were young. My parents died in a plague, and his parents were murdered by demons. We found each other while wandering the streets.”

“How old were you?”

“I was seven,” she replied. “He was nine. We found a place of our own, far away from everyone, and he spoke of one day hunting the demons who took his family from him.”

Nezuko paused before asking her, “Who are you and how old are you now?”

“I’m Kawanishi Hoko,” she replied. “Or… I would have loved to be Miyata Hoko. Kengo’s family name was Miyata. I’m only sixteen now. He wanted to marry me once we graduated. We had ideas for a family and everything. Hell, we had been trying to make one.”

“So what that demon said was true?”

Hoko blushed. “Yeah. We almost succeeded in the recent past, but I miscarried a year and a half ago. It almost killed me.”

Nezuko was shocked to hear she had gotten pregnant and miscarried so young. “Holy shit… I’m fourteen, and I can’t picture myself bearing a child now or even at sixteen. Maybe seventeen like my mother, but…”

“Aren’t you the demon girl?”

“Yeah,” Nezuko nodded.

“Why did you save me?”

Nezuko explained, “Because it’s my duty to fight Muzan, not serve his interests.”

Hoko nodded. “I… I see…”

“With all that said,” Nezuko then told her. “I’m gonna accompany you until we finish this Final Selection together. I am not letting you kill yourself as long as I can stop it.”

“You don’t have to-“

“Yes, yes I do.” Nezuko was incredibly adamant. “Considering I just watched you nearly fucking skewer yourself, I’d say my worries are highly warranted.”

…

September 13, 1913

Finally, the day of triumph came.

In the early morning, Nezuko and Hoko both walked together to the same clearing they had first used to enter the forest. The two were tired and bruised, but alive, having survived the Final Selection. As the two walked into the clearing, they realized they were among the first to arrive, with only one other person arriving before them. “Well,” she said to Hoko. “Looks like we’re a bit early.”

“I guess so,” she tiredly replied to her, a makeshift bandage covering one of her hands. “Man, those last three days were fucking tough.”

“You aren’t kidding,” Nezuko replied. “Well, I hope more people join us.”

As a few more trickled in, Hoko noted to Nezuko, “I think we lost a few more aside from Kengo.”

“Unfortunately so,” she replied.

After a few more minutes, a total of 9 trainees had come back alive out of a total of 14 people who entered. Among the survivors included the girl who tried to attack and berate Nezuko for being a demon. Greeting them were Shinobu and Giyu, both of whom kept a few feet apart and did not interact with each other. Giyu told the trainees, “Thank you all for coming. You have all passed the Final Selection, and are now officially slayers of the Demon Slayer Corps.”

Shinobu then added with a smile that Nezuko felt was forced, “In any minute now, you will be assigned a Kasugai crow. Following that, you will then pick one of several ores we have laid out here to have a sword forged for you. Until the sword is delivered, you are free to use any of the weapons you used here. Additionally, you will be examined and measured for a uniform by one of our wonderful Kakushi, the support personnel of our organization.” Indeed, lying on a table before Giyu and Shinobu were several metal ores for them to choose from.

Nezuko smiled and thought to herself, “Now I’ve proven myself. Mom, Dad, Oniichan, Takeo, Hanako, Shigeru, Rokuta, I did it. I’m a demon slayer now. I’ll be able to protect mankind and avenge the fallen on an official basis from now on.”

Shinobu thought to herself alongside Giyu, trying to get her mind off of what had happened a month prior, “Nezuko-chan, I wish you well. Welcome to the Demon Slayer Corps.”

…

On the same day, Vèro was training by herself at the Shinazugawa Estate as Sanemi watched her cut off tree trunks in a rapid fashion using the Breath of Wind. As she cut the last one, Sanemi told her, “Alright, that’s enough. You’re good.”

“You know,” she then told Sanemi. “I haven’t gone on any missions since I came back from my Final Selection. When am I going to get one?”

Sanemi sighed, annoyed by her question. “Be patient, Renaud-san. Missions don’t just come flying out of the sky after a-“

Then, suddenly, Vèro’s crow came flying in and landed in front of both of them. “Vèronique Renaud! Vèronique Renaud! We need you to go to a mission! Head to Yokohama! Head to Yokohama!”

As Vèro smiled, Sanemi facepalmed and said to himself, “You gotta be fucking kidding me.”

“Alright,” she excitedly said to herself. “I got a mission finally!” She then took a small piece of paper from the crow that contained more info about the mission. “Okay then, off to Yokohama I go. Do you want to come with me, sir?”

“I’ll be fine,” Sanemi assured her. “I got reports to write anyway.” He then walked back inside and thought to himself, “I still can’t bring myself to trust her, even though she’s my own Tsuguko. I mean, eating demons? Who the fuck does that?! I’ll have to stop making excuses one day as to why she can’t go with me, though. The Oyakata-sama is starting to ask questions about why she hasn’t gone with me on missions, which is the last thing I need right now. Maybe she does need some guidance…”

“Ah, alright the-“

“No, wait!” Sanemi then ran back out, feeling bad for his initial decision. “You know what, fuck those reports. They can wait a bit longer.”

Vèro beamed with a smile of happiness. “Alright! Let’s go, Shinazugawa-sama!” She was ecstatic to finally go on a mission with her mentor. “I can’t wait to finally fight a demon in the wild!”

…

Later that day, Nezuko returned to Sakonji’s residence, where both he and Tanjiro were waiting outside for her. The latter was now back in service and back online after healing from his injuries. As she became visible to the two of them, Tanjiro immediately ran up to her and gave her a bear hug, a reversal of what Nezuko had done for him when he passed the Final Selection. “Nezuko! Nezuko!”

“Oniichan!” Nezuko quickly returned the bear hug. “I’m so glad to see you!”

“Thank God you’re okay,” he said to her as a few tears streamed down his cheeks. “I’m so proud of you, Nezuko!”

Nezuko giggled as she saw her brother cry. “Come on now, you don’t have to cry.”

“I’m just so happy, Nezuko.” He chuckled as he wiped away his tears. “I can’t help it.”

Sakonji then hugged both of them, taking off his mask in front of them and wishing them both, “Good luck to you both. I’m so proud of both of you. You’ll both make fine demon slayers. Tanjiro, of course, already has.” The Kamado siblings were shocked to see him take his mask off for such an occasion, but were happy to hear his words of encouragement.

“Now,” Tanjiro then told Nezuko as they all split off. “Let’s head back to the Butterfly Estate. We have to group up there and sign a few last things. You’ll also receive your sword and uniform there, Nezuko.”

“Sounds like a plan,” she replied with a nod.

Chapter Text

September 15, 1913

“That fucker better not give my sister that kind of uniform!” Tanjiro was audibly and visibly angry at what Shinobu had told him about a certain Kakushi. “What the Hell’s wrong with him?!”

“He’s a pervert,” Shinobu replied. “There’s a reason he’s called Scum Glasses. He tried giving me that kind of uniform when I was fucking eleven years old. Eleven, Tanjiro-san. Seriously, what the Hell, right? Me and my sister burned them and got male uniforms from another Kakushi. Kanae-neesan’s uniform did not fit too well given that, well…” She then pointed out her chest with her right hand, causing Tanjiro to blush as he realized what she was getting at. “Yeah, that, but eventually, the same Kakushi made one that better fit her. I didn’t have any issues in that department until I got older and began growing into a young adult, and when that happened, I also got a better fitting top.”

“Did Kanao get the same uniform?”

“Unfortunately yes,” she replied with a sigh. “She burned the top, but she liked the skirt for some reason. It stumped me and Aoi-chan, but to each their own, I guess.”

“Hey guys,” Nezuko then said as she knocked on the door. “I’m ready to come in.”

“Come on in,” Tanjiro then told his sister.

When she walked in, she smiled and told them, “So, how do I look?”

“Woah,” Tanjiro exclaimed as he observed her uniform, consisting of a normal uniform top as well as a skirt. “Wow, Nezuko, you look so cool!”

“Kanao-oneechan inspired me to get this uniform with the skirt,” Nezuko beamed with pride.

Then, all of them heard the distinctive cries of Zenitsu from down the hall. “Nezuko-chan! NEZUKO-CHAN!” He then ran in and saw her uniform as she turned around to face him, confused. He immediately stopped and looked at her uniform in shock. “No way… Nezuko-chan, you look…”

He then fell onto the floor, startling Nezuko. “Zenitsu-san, are you alright?!”

“I’m more than alright,” he told her as a trickle of blood came out of his nose. “I’m in Heaven.”

…

Soon after, Susamaru came home to the Rengoku Estate after running an errand for the family. Kyojuro welcomed her home and told her, “Welcome back! How was the trip?”

“Not too eventful,” she replied as she set down a bag of food. “The townsfolk here are really warming up to me.”

“That’s always good to hear,” he replied.

“Hey, dear,” James replied as he walked over and then gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, confusing Kyojuro. “How was the town market?”

“Crowded,” she replied. “But I managed to find what I needed.”

“I’m surprised you two are so open with your affection,” Kyojuro pointed out. “That’s not often a thing here.”

“It is where he’s from,” Susamaru explained. “And to be honest, I like it better that way.”

“Well as long as you two are happy, I won’t raise any complaints!” His energetic voice was audible throughout much of the house. “We all could use more positivity in our lives!”

Then, George flew in from a window with Ginko by his side before the two landed on the floor. “Hey there, fuckers!”

James, amused by his vulgar introduction in English, replied to him, “Hey there, George! What do ya got for us today?”

“A message from the boss himself,” he explained in English before switching to Japanese. “He wants the three of ya to start scheduling train rides on the Infinity Train!”

Susamaru replied, “That’s that train route that operates all throughout the night, right?”

“Yeah,” Ginko then replied. “All through the night! The Oyakata-sama thinks it’s being infiltrated by demons! A group of six slayers disappeared last night from the train!”

“Holy shit,” Kyojuro replied in disbelief. “Six slayers in one night?!”

“Yep,” George replied. “I could hardly believe that shit myself, but it’s real! Worse still, they think a group of demons from the South are involved!”

James asked, “Confederates?”

“Yep,” George confirmed. “It’s a bunch of traitors plus at least one Demon Moon of unknown rank from Muzan’s forces.”

“That definitely sounds like something that needs to be addressed,” Kyojuro said. “When do they want us to travel on the train?”

“Do it on the 19th,” Ginko replied.

“The 19th… That’ll be the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Chickamauga!” James’ realization sent a shiver down his spine. “That’s the battle I was turned into a demon at. Holy shit…”

“I was just gonna say that,” George pointed out. “Cruel coincidence, huh? Anyway, they may also send you a few more slayers. The boss ain’t sure yet.”

…

September 18, 1913

Today was the day that Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu would leave the Butterfly Estate and finally go back in service in full. Joining them this time was Nezuko, who would now walk beside them as a full teammate rather than be confined to a box like before. At the same time as they packed their things, James had just finished talking to Shinobu when he noticed Kanao sitting quietly by herself with several butterflies surrounding her. Tanjiro also noticed her and asked James, “What’s going on in that head of her’s?”

“She seems very blank,” James replied. “Like she ain’t opened up to anyone. I noticed that she flips her coin a lot to make decisions if she isn’t ordered to do somethin’ by someone else.”

“Huh… Let me see if I can talk to her…”

James smiled. “Atta boy. Go get ‘er, Tanjiro.”

As Tanjiro awkwardly walked up to her, he told her, “Hey there, Kanao. So, uh, we’re gonna be leaving soon, and I wanted to thank you for helping us in our rehabilitation.”

Kanao silently stared at him, giving no response before she pulled out her coin and flipped it. Once it landed, she told him in a soft and calming voice, “Think nothing of it. All I did was follow Shinobu-sama’s orders, after all. Bye for now.”

“So you flip that coin to decide things, huh?” Tanjiro was genuinely interested in her coin-flipping habit, and sat down next to her.

“Farewell.”

“I must say,” he replied. “That is unusual, but you make it look pretty cool!”

“Goodbye.”

Tanjiro could sense that even though Kanao was telling him goodbye, she wanted him to stay a little longer. “I mean really, you’re a pro at it!”

Kanao slightly giggled in response. “It’s nothing special. I just flip this to decide things when I haven’t been ordered to do something by someone else. For example, I flipped the coin just seconds ago to decide whether or not to talk to you.”

“I see,” Tanjiro replied as he got an idea. “If you don’t mind, can I borrow that for a second?”

“Absolutely,” Kanao replied, giving him the coin. “What do you have in mind?”

“This! This flip will decide if you listen to the voice in your heart from now on, with yes being heads!” Tanjiro then flipped the coin, thinking to himself, “Please, land on heads, land on heads, land on heads…” Sure enough, when the coin landed on his right hand, it landed on the side it wanted to. “Alright! I got heads!” He excitedly jumped up into the air and cheered for himself and Kanao.

“Heads…”

Tanjiro then clasped Kanao’s hands together, surprising her and leaving her starstruck as he told her, “You should know that it’s the heart that drives people! You should let your heart grow as strong as you possibly can, Kanao!”

As Tanjiro was about to walk away, Kanao asked him, “Wait a minute! How did you know it would be heads?!”

“It was just chance,” Tanjiro explained before he then chuckled. “Truth is, even if it landed on tails, I would have kept going until it landed on heads, but a first time win is even better!” He gave her a smile before walking away again, waving goodbye to her. “Good luck and have fun, Kanao! Remember, listen to your heart!”

As Tanjiro left, Kanao stood still, his words ringing in her head. “Listen to my heart… Listen to my heart…” She then covered her face as a massive blush engulfed it and turned it bright red. “Oh my God…” As she took a deep breath, she looked to the sky and thought to herself, “He told me to listen to my heart, and… He’s right. I need to stop relying on my coin for everything.” She then slowly walked back into the house, but before she could, she noticed James nearby. “Huh? Colby-san?” She blushed once again. “Did… Did you see all that?!”

“Yeah,” he replied, a smile running across his face from the wholesome interaction he had just witnessed. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone, Kanao. It ain’t nothin’ to be embarrassed about.”

“I know, I know,” she replied. “God, why am I getting so flustered?”

“Maybe it’s because you don’t think of him as just a comrade,” James pointed out. “Or even as just a friend.”

Kanao, confused, asked him, “As in what?”

“You must like him a lot,” James answered. “As in how a couple does before marriage.”

Kanao’s face lit up in red for the third time in a few minutes. “Uh, no… I don’t…” She could not even bring herself to deny it. “Maybe, well… Anyway, I gotta go do something.” She then walked away from him towards another part of the estate. “By the way, good luck on your train mission!”

“Much appreciated!” James then chuckled to himself as she rounded a corner. “It’s always nice to see young love blossom like that.”

…

Minutes later, Inosuke walked up to Aoi, having been egged on by Tanjiro and Nezuko to do so. As he nervously approached her, his boar mask in his arms, he told her, “Hey, um…”

Aoi looked up at him from hanging up clothes on a wire and asked him, “What is it, Inosuke-kun?”

“I just wanted to say thank you,” Inosuke told her in an unusually calm and polite tone. Well, calm and polite for Inosuke. “You really helped us a ton.”

Aoi smiled. “Thanks. You were a bit of a troublemaker, but you did well.”

“Troublemaker, eh?” Inosuke then nervously told her, “I look… Uh…” He quickly turned around and whispered to Nezuko, who was standing a bit of a ways away, “What was it?!”

“I look forward to seeing you again,” she mouthed to him.

“Right, um,” he then said to Aoi as he turned back around. “I look forward to seeing you again, Aoi.”

“As to you,” Aoi replied with a smile, making Inosuke feel a bit uneasy as he had never felt such feelings before in his life. “So, what do you guys have planned for your travels?”

“Um… Uh… For fuck’s sake, what was it... Oh yeah!” He then snapped his fingers as he remembered. “Shantaro, Hazuko, and Meikitsu wanted to go find the Flame Pillar and see if he knows about this weird ass thing Shantaro can do… Ugh, what was the name of it again? Dance of the Smoke Monkey? Dance of the Fire… Fire something?”

“Dance of the Fire God? Tanjiro-kun mentioned it to me already.”

“Yeah, Dance of the Fire God! That’s it!”

“I wish him luck on his quest for knowledge,” Aoi replied. “And I wish you luck as well on your journey.”

Inosuke then replied as he ran off to join the others, “Thanks for the luck!” He then waved to her as the four of them left the Butterfly Estate to head out on their quest to find Kyojuro Rengoku.

Aoi sighed to herself and thought, “He can be such a dunce… But he’s kinda cute- Wait what?!” She quickly shook her head and blushed. “Cute?! Why did I immediately gravitate to that?!”

…

On the same day, Mitsuri was finishing a report when she looked over at the telephone on her desk, conflicted about whether or not to use it. “Hmmmm… Fuck, do I do it or not?” She had debated calling Shinobu and apologizing to her for the argument, as the two had not spoken since then.

“You really should,” Obanai then told her, slightly startling her. “Sorry to scare you, but you haven’t been the same since you and Kocho-san stopped talking. I hate seeing my wife get upset like that.” He then walked over and hugged her from behind. “Come on, I don’t want to see you get upset, Mitsuri.”

“Alright, alright,” she replied as she picked up the receiver and turned a hand crank.

An operator immediately replied with, “Operator, connect me to the Uehara Family in the Town of Kumakita, please.”

“Uehara Family… Town of Kumakita… Aha, here we go.” The operator then connected her to what she thought was a regular house, but was in fact the corps switchboard.

“Demon Slayer Corps Switchboard,” a Kakushi then replied. “Do you have an identification code?”

Mitsuri then looked on a piece of paper for her identification code of the month. “Yeah, it’s gonna be, uh… 6-5-8-1-Tsuki.”

“6-5-8-1-Tsuki… Alright, Kanroji-sama, where do you want to call?”

“Connect me to the Butterfly Estate, please.”

“As you wish. By the way, congratulations on the baby.”

“Thank you,” she replied with a smile as she was connected to the Butterfly Estate.

Aoi answered with, “Butterfly Estate?”

“Aoi-chan,” Mitsuri asked her. “It’s Kanroji… Can you find Shinobu-chan for me?”

“Got it,” she replied.

Within fifteen seconds, Shinobu answered the phone. “Hello?”

“Shinobu…” Mitsuri took a deep breath. “I want to apologize for the fight we had. I said a lot of things that I shouldn’t have said, and I don’t want to push you away. I was wrong to yell at you like that.”

Shinobu paused for ten seconds as she thought of a reply. “I see. Well… Perhaps I was too harsh myself. Mitsuri-chan, you’re my closest friend aside from the girls here, and… I need you in my life as my friend.”

“I agree,” she replied, beginning to get emotional. “But please, promise me one thing.”

“What is it?”

“Don’t throw your life away for nothing,” Mitsuri begged her. “If you’re going to kill yourself one day, please, take out that demon that killed your sister with you. Don’t just die for nothing, please. If you die, I at least want to take comfort knowing that you died a champion and a hero.” She held back her tears as she concluded with, “Please, promise me that.”

“I promise,” Shinobu agreed. “I won’t die without taking that son of a bitch with me for the ride.”

Mitsuri wiped her eyes as she smiled. “Thank you… Shinobu-chan, at least try to find a way to live, too.”

Shinobu paused again before replying, “Okay then. I’ll try to find a way. I can’t make any promises or guarantees, but I will try.”

…

So, that wraps up Season 1 of the Hunter From America, folks. It’s been a wonderful 52 chapters, and I have enjoyed every last bit of it!

In regards to the aborted premature end of the series, forget about that. That’s old news, and it won’t happen again barring extreme circumstances.

If you have not guessed already, Season 2 will pick up with the Infinity Train Arc, or the Mugen Train Arc as many others call it. If you have not yet seen the canonical movie version, definitely put it on your bucket list! Both the English and Japanese versions are incredible! It really gives the manga version of this incredible story arc justice.

Special thanks to the following for their support and assistance: 

Radikcore 

Dccrulez

GetSnekt

LordCali4nia

SpineCricket

BlueLeaf10

Ultravioletheart

ReddSpiderLily

Czar_Cabbs

Lili of Muzantoes

Audi???

Aylién

Crisperia

Manu259

And everyone else I did not mention by name in the KNY, ZenNezu, GiyuShino, TanKana, and Rengoku Shrine Discord servers. Many of those listed above are also fanfiction writers and/or fan artists, so be sure to follow their stories/artworks as well if they are.

If you have not already, subscribe to the Breath of Fiction Podcast on YouTube! Myself, Radikcore, Dccrulez, GetSnekt, and LordCali4nia are the hosts, with Czar_Cabbs acting as our artist, and we have recently been joined by ReddSpiderLily as well!

Anyway, stay tuned for Season 2, which will also be 52 chapters long! You won’t have to look far, because they’ll be right here!

Chapter Text

September 19, 1913

Tanjiro, Nezuko, Inosuke and Zenitsu waited for a train at a nearby train station as Zenitsu explained what a train was to them. “Okay, so a train runs on a series of metal rails planted on the ground. It burns either coal or wood to boil water inside a massive metal tank to produce steam, which powers an engine inside the front car of the train and propels it forward. Each train has that, another car for carrying the coal or wood, a few cars carrying either people or cargo, and then a caboose at the back that will help the train stop on the tracks and also is the living quarters for the crew aboard. Do you all understand now?”

“I see,” Tanjiro replied with a nod. “So it’s not a guardian spirit, but instead a self-powered carriage on rails, right? No horses or people required?”

“Correct,” Zenitsu confirmed. “A bit simplistic, but that’s about right.”

“I’m still stumped,” Inosuke replied. “And not fully convinced this isn’t a mighty beast, either!”

“Oh God,” Nezuko facepalmed. “Here we go.”

“I challenge you!” Inosuke then pointed at the side of a train car. “Pig Assault!” He then charged at the train and rammed into it with his boat mask.

Zenitsu yelled, “Inosuke, what the fuck?!”

“Hey, what are you guys doing over there?!” A police officer then ran over, concerned about Inosuke’s actions. “Why do you guys have swords?! Where are your permits?!”

“Right here,” Tanjiro replied as he quickly pulled out four forged weapons permits from James, all perfect copies of legitimate permits issued by the Japanese government that allowed a limited number of citizens to carry guns and/or swords in public. “My apologies for our friend. He’s never seen a train before.”

The policeman then looked over the permits and nodded. “Very well then. Just make sure he doesn’t get too crazy, and keep those swords under control.”

“Absolutely, officer. Have a good day.” Tanjiro then bowed.

“As to you,” the officer bowed back.

Zenitsu told Nezuko nearby, “It’s a good thing Colby-san gave us those permits. Without them, we’d be screwed. Carrying guns and swords in public without a permit is incredibly illegal, and since we aren’t government-sponsored, permits are the only way we can legally carry weapons in public.”

“That sucks,” Nezuko replied as she pulled out a revolver from her weapons belt. As of the beginning of September, due to the experiments with the Pillars being a success, the corps began issuing guns to slayers in stages, and the four of them had managed to snag sidearms relatively fast. As she checked to make sure it was loaded, she told Zenitsu, “Hey, before we go on this train, I wanna thank you for protecting me back at that one house.”

Zenitsu replied in confusion, “Which one?”

“The one with the drumming demon,” Nezuko replied as she holstered her gun. “You didn’t even know I was in there, and yet you guarded my box with your life because of your devotion to my brother. That means a lot to me.”

As she patted Zenitsu on the shoulder, he lit up with happiness. “No way… Nezuko-chan… You’re welcome!” He laughed in joy as he danced around the platform, giddy with excitement from Nezuko’s complement of him. “This is incredible! Nezuko-chan complimented me!”

As Nezuko stared at him in confusion, Tanjiro told her, “You might wanna get used to that.”

“Yeah, I had a feeling that was the case, oniichan.” She then noticed a group of foreigners boarding the train. “Huh… I see a few foreigners over there, oniichan.”

“Yeah, now that you mention it… It’s odd that there’d be Westerners at this stop, much less a whole group of them.” Tanjiro then stepped on board. “But I’m not the kind of guy to be prejudicial.”

“I suppose you’re right,” she replied as she followed him on. Little did any of them know that these ‘foreigners’ would in fact become their enemies in a matter of hours.

…

On board the train, James, Susamaru, and Kyojuro were enjoying a meal together, with Kyojuro frequently commenting on the taste of they meal. “Tasty! Tasty! Tasty!”

“I think we get it,” James then told him as he raised a hand to him. “It’s very tasty, Rengoku-san, but there ain’t a need to repeat it so much.”

“Yeah,” Susamaru agreed. “No offense.”

“None taken,” Kyojuro replied, taking it surprisingly well. “I was getting a bit tired of it myself, in fact!”

Then, James noticed Tanjiro, Nezuko, Zenitsu, and Inosuke walking into their car. “Oh, hey there, guys! Welcome aboard! How’re y’all doin’?”

“James,” Tanjiro happily replied. “It feels great to be back in the field, I’ll tell you that. It’s actually a good thing we caught you guys, because I need to ask Rengoku-san a question.”

“A question?” James nodded. “Alright then.”

“Ask me anything,” Kyojuro offered to Tanjiro as he patted the seat next to him. “Take a seat, young Tanjiro.”

As Tanjiro sat down, he told them all, “So, uh, this is a bit odd, but I was wondering if any of you ever heard of the Dance of the Fire God.”

“Doesn’t ring a bell,” Susamaru replied.

“No clue,” James replied as well.

“Unfortunately, I have not,” Kyojuro finished with.

“Well,” Tanjiro then explained as two train attendants began collecting trash from their seating area and Nezuko leaned in from the seat behind Kyojuro and Tanjiro. “You see, my father did this dance every year called the Dance of the Fire God before he died, and it was this super complicated and powerful dance. My father wasn’t the strongest person either, by the way, so the fact he was able to pull this off at all was amazing. Anyway, the reason I asked you all is because I was able to turn it into a breathing style.”

Kyojuro and James both replied in shock, “A breathing style?!”

“Yeah,” Tanjiro nodded. “I used it in my battle against Rui, Lower Moon Five. It was more powerful than anything else I used with the Breath of Water. It felt a bit more natural, too. I was wondering if it had anything to do with the Breath of Flames due to their names both having fire in them.”

“Certainly a good observation,” Kyojuro replied. “But alas, I am not sure of any connection. My father does have a journal containing the full history of the Breath of Flames, and both of my Tsuguko have managed to copy it and even translate it into English for safekeeping and as a backup. Maybe you can find an answer in there.”

Nezuko asked James, “No way! You translated it?!”

“Indeed,” he nodded. “It was a pain in the ass since the Japanese in the journal went through several big shifts and changes in word usage and whatnot in the last few centuries, but I managed to pull it off.”

“Yeah,” Susamaru added. “There was Japanese in the beginning of the journal that I couldn’t even understand. That’s how old it was.”

“I see,” Nezuko replied.

Meanwhile, Inosuke stuck his head out of the window as the train sped down the tracks, shouting out into the sky, “Hell yeah, this beast is really fucking fast! Holy shit! I wonder if I can outrun this fucker, Monitsu!”

“Don’t you fucking dare,” Zenitsu yelled at him as he tried to drag him out of the window. “It’s too dangerous to be out there! Come on, dumbass!”

“You can’t stop me!”

“Yes I can!”

“Stop horsin’ ‘round,” James then warned both of them. “We gotta be ready! There could be demons on this train, and not the good kind!”

“Wait,” Zenitsu then stammered out. “De- De- Demons?! On the train?! What?!”

“Correct,” Kyojuro added. “That’s why the three of us are here. There have been a series of disappearances and train robberies on this route, and six slayers recently disappeared from here.”

“Six slayers?! Gone?!” Zenitsu was horrified. “What the Hell?! You’re telling me no place is safe?! That’s it! I want off this fucking train right now!”

“Come on,” Tanjiro admonished him. “This is our job!”

“If you stay,” Nezuko then tempted him with. “I’ll sit next to you for the whole ride, Zenitsu-san.” She then flashed him a smile, thinking to herself, “If he’s gonna basically obsess over me, I might as well use it to the team’s advantage.”

“Nezuko… Nezuko-chan, or demons… Nezuko-chan, or demons…” Zenitsu then paused for a few seconds to think before giving her an answer. “Fine, I’ll stay, but only because I’ll get to sit next to you, Nezuko-chan.”

James could barely hold in his laughter at Nezuko’s bargain as Tanjiro sighed in slight annoyance and Susamaru and Kyojuro looked at each other and nodded, both agreeing mentally that what had transpired was hilarious. James thought to himself, “Damn, Nezuko’s basically got Zenitsu by the balls, and he doesn’t even know it!”

…

A few minutes later, as James was showing the gang a new way he had developed of casting spells from his American spell book involving scrolls of paper with the spell written upon them, they all saw a train attendant come down the aisle to collect tickets. “Tickets, please… Tickets, please…”

“So yeah,” James concluded his little speech as he held up a scroll. “That’s how this thing wor- Uh…” He noticed that the attendant appeared to be tired and sickly, with numerous bags under his eyes and his voice almost devoid of life. “Hey, sir, are y’all okay? Ya don’t look too good.”

The attendant looked over to him and replied, “Just a bit tired. Thanks… For your concern. Tickets, please.” His eyes were similarly devoid of life, and as the gang handed him their tickets, he went through the motions of punching them with barely any energy in his body. “Thank you… Have a fun… Trip…”

As the attendant walked away, Inosuke asked the gang, “What was his problem?”

“He probably ran too many night time trips,” Susamaru inferred. “Definitely looks like extreme burnout to me.”

James then noticed another American or European man sit down in a seat towards the front of the car. He bore a grey hat and a business suit. The fact that he was not the only foreigner in the car was intriguing, and he thought to himself, “Another white man? Huh… I’m surprised to see another foreigner out in this neck of the woods.” He then looked over and saw that Inosuke had fallen asleep. “He must have tired himself out from his antics earlier,” he thought to himself. “I might as well get some sleep, too.” He then closed his eyes and rested his head on his fiancée, who smiled and closed her eyes as well, the two of them drifting off into sleep together.

…

Meanwhile, in the locomotive of the train, Enmu and Patrick talked to the same ticket attendant from before. “Good job,” Enmu congratulated him. “Now all of the passengers will be trapped in my architect-based dreams for them when they fall asleep.”

“Please,” the ticket attendant begged of them as he slumped to the floor. “Let me get some sleep now. I want to dream of my dead wife and daughter!”

“As you wish,” Enmu then replied as he waved his hand in front of his face, both him and the hand’s mouth telling the attendant, “Go to sleep… Go to sleep…”

Immediately, the man fell to the floor, unconscious and in a state of deep sleep. Patrick told him, “All of my men are in position. When the passengers are asleep, they’ll round up anyone who’s still awake and execute them.”

“Make sure they take care of any slayers on board as well,” Enmu told him. “We don’t want any surprises on our hands. I’ve given a few of them ropes so they can enter dreams and kill people if they must.”

“Are you gonna fall asleep?”

“Not yet,” Enmu shook his head. “I need to be awake for now. You’re free to enter a dream if you want, though.”

“Got it,” Patrick replied as he then pointed his gun at the train conductor. “You there, make sure you don’t let a single fuckin’ soul know about what’s goin’ on, or I’m gonna kill ya. Got it, laddie?”

“Yes, sir,” he replied, fear in his voice as he kept the train running. “When will I be able to sleep? Please, I don’t know how much more I can take of thi-“

“When we fuckin’ tell ya!” Patrick then pistol-whipped him to keep him quiet, drawing blood from his cheek. “Now shut up and do your job!”

“Yes, of course,” he meekly replied as he turned around and got back to controlling the train.

“Enmu,” Patrick then told him. “I’m gonna go to sleep soon. I’ll have one of my men stay awake in here to keep this conductor company and make sure he does his job.”

“Got it. I’ll design a good dream for you. It’ll be like you’re actually experiencing it in real life, in fact.” As Patrick then took a seat and began to fall asleep on his own, Enmu stepped out of the car and climbed on top of the train with ease despite it moving at a steady pace along the tracks. He took a deep breath as he looked out at the night sky. “To die in your sleep, surrounded by such pleasant dreams… It must be nirvana or heaven. I have truly blessed everyone on this train. The humans aboard will never wake up again, but they won’t notice it until it’s far too late. As long as those pesky demon slayers are killed first, I’ll be well on my way to gaining more blood from these humans as well as Muzan-sama and more powers to wreak havoc and further his goals of a demon-dominated world. With enough time, I’ll even be able to challenge Upper Moon Six and gain her spot. I’ll finally get the respect I deserve…”

…

When Patrick awoke in his dream, he was sitting in a chair in his adopted hometown of Helena, Arkansas in the middle of the day. He smiled as he looked around his modest house and said to himself in English, “Ah, it feels great to be back here. I haven’t been in Helena in years.” He took a deep breath and pointed out, “But I still remember it all like it was just yesterday that the War Between the States began.”

As he walked out of the front room and walked outside, he saw a modestly busy small town street in the middle of the day. He realized he was dressed in his Confederate Army battle uniform, designating him as a brigadier general, and as he looked around, he heard a familiar voice call out to him. “Patrick! Patrick!”

He immediately looked behind him as his eyes widened. “Sue?! Is that you?!”

“I took care of the-“

Susan Tarleton, Patrick’s fiancée before his untimely death at the Battle of Franklin in 1864, was unable to finish her sentence before he bear-hugged her, shedding a few tears as he did so. “Oh, thank God! It’s been so long, my love…” He began to sob into her shoulder, the emotions of meeting the love of his life overflowing in an unending stream of tears.

“So long? What do you mean?” Susan was confused and concerned for her fiancé. “I just saw you earlier. Is everything okay, Patrick?”

“I… I’m sorry,” he replied as he split from her. “It’s a long story, dear. Please, sit down.” As the two sat down on the front porch of the house, he thought to himself, “This is gonna be a long one to explain. Where the Hell do I start?”

…

James awoke inside his dream in front of a house in an unknown forest. The house seemed to be Japanese in origin, and it was daylight out as he looked around in confusion. “Huh… Where…” As he walked towards the house, he whispered to himself, “Where the fuck am I?”

Then, he heard the voice of his long-dead wife call to him. “James! Over here!”

He immediately stopped and looked to the front entrance of the house. “No way… No fuckin’ way…” There she was, standing and waving as she stood next to his dead son and held a baby girl in her arms, presumably the unborn child she had been carrying when she was murdered. “Julia! Julia!”

He immediately embraced all three of them as Henry asked him, “Daddy, what’s wrong? Why are you sad?”

“Oh thank God…” He began to shed tears as he brushed his son’s hair, something he had not done in years. “Thank God you guys are okay…” He then looked at his daughter, who could not have been more than a year old, and asked Julia, “Can I hold her? What’s her name?”

“Her name?” Julia was confused as to why he asked such a seemingly obvious question. “It’s the one you always wanted to name a daughter. It’s your sister’s name: Leah.”

“Leah…” He could see that she bore his wife’s brown hair and his original hazel eyes from before he was a demon. “Leah… I can finally meet you…”

Then, he heard another voice from behind Julia. “Hey, Jules, who’s here?”

“Alice?”

“Hey there, dear,” Alice then said as she saw James. “I see you’re home now. Susamaru’s crafting a crib for the baby.”

“Wait… What?”

“Wow,” Alice replied with a chuckle. “Did y’all hit your head on somethin’ on the way here? We’re your wives!”

“Wives?” James was astonished. Somehow, in some weird way, all three of his lovers were wedded to him. “Wait, Alice, how have you not aged?”

“You demonized me to save my life,” Alice explained. “You demonized Zeke too when those KKK horsemen attacked and killed us.”

“I did?” He then paused to collect his thoughts, which were running at hundreds of miles per hour. “This has to be a dream, ” he thought to himself. “But I can live with this dream… ” He then smiled and handed the baby back to Julia. “You’re right. I did, Alice.”

“Hey James,” Susamaru then asked him in Japanese as she approached him from behind, having stripped down to her pants and her chest band due to the heat as she wiped her forehead of sweat. “Can you find me another box of nails in the shed? I just ran out.” James immediately noticed that she was visibly pregnant, at least a few months along.

“Uh, yeah,” James replied as he turned around. “I’ll go get ‘em.”

As he walked off to find the box of nails she was referring to, Susamaru asked the other two wives in English, “Is something wrong with him?”

“He seems a bit off today,” Julia pointed out. “Maybe we can get Zeke and Vèro to watch the kids for a bit and have some fun.” She then told Henry, “Can you get your Uncle Ezekiel to watch you guys? Also, try to find Vèro somewhere around here. Your mommies and your daddy need to do something alone.”

“Okay,” he eagerly replied, always enjoying time with Ezekiel.

As he ran off, the three women all smiled at each other, plans racing through their heads as to how to surprise him with a good time. Alice guessed, “Maybe a little fun in the sun is what we all need.”

Chapter Text

January 10, 1910

A younger Nezuko meekly approached her father, who was putting away a box of supplies outside the home, and quietly asked him, “Papa… Hey, um, papa…”

Tanjuro turned around and asked her, “What is it, Nezuko?”

“I, um,” Nezuko replied, cautious and unusually shy as she asked the question. “Well, I… It’s about the dance you do every New Year’s.”

“The Dance of the Fire God?” Tanjiro was curious as to why Nezuko asked about it. “What do you wish to know?”

Nezuko then took a deep breath. “Can a girl do it, too?”

Tanjuro paused for a few seconds before he smiled. “I don’t see why not. Are you asking me if I can teach you it?”

Nezuko nodded. “Yes. Papa, I want to know how to do it, too. If something were to happen to Oniichan, I want to be able to take his place.”

Tanjuro replied in agreement, “I understand why you’re concerned. I’ll start teaching you tomorrow, Nezuko.” He then patted her head and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “I may grow weaker, but I will do everything I can to teach you it if that’s what you desire, my dear eldest daughter.”

Nezuko smiled and cheered, “Hooray! Hooray! I’ll get to do the Dance of the Fire God!”

…

Present Day

Inside Nezuko’s mind, a wintery forest landscape quickly emerged as she stirred awake inside the dream. As she stood up, she looked around her, deeply confused as to where she was. “Where… Where am I? Did something happen to me?” She then looked down at her outfit and noticed it had changed completely. She was no longer wearing a corps uniform and a skirt, but instead was wearing her old pink haori. She also looked at her hands and realized her nails were not claw-like anymore before reaching into her mouth and touching her teeth. “My teeth aren’t even sharp anymore… What the Hell is this? What happened to me?”

She then saw a few shapes move in the distance, and heard voices come from them. She quickly ran towards them, wondering who they were, but as she got closer, she heard one of them call out, “Oneechan! Oneechan!”

Nezuko froze in place as she recognized the voice and saw who the two shapes were. “Hanako… Shigeru…” She thought she would have never seen her siblings again after they had been seemingly murdered by Muzan, and the sight of them alive and well drove her to tears of joy. “Oh my God, you’re alive!”

“Oneechan,” Hanako replied with a question in confusion. “Why would we be dead?”

Nezuko quickly embraced both of them and sobbed. “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry… Thank God you’re okay… I missed you so much…” She held a tight grip on them as she drew them in closer, her sobbing echoing through the forest.

Shigeru asked her, “You’ve only been gone for an hour. What happened?”

Nezuko quickly smiled and wiped her tears away as she split up. “It… It’s nothing. It must have been a bad dream. That’s all. I just had a bad dream that something terrible happened to us.”

“Well it was just a dream,” Hanako told her with a bright and wide smile. “It’s not real, Oneechan.”

“You’re right… It was just a bad dream… Let’s go back home…”

As the three walked back to their home, Tanjiro was waiting out front, dressed exactly how he was before Muzan had come. “Hey there, Nezuko! How was your walk?”

“It was pretty good, Oniichan. I guess it was a long walk.”

…

Inside Susamaru’s dream, she stood outside on a bright summer day, watching two boys, one younger and one older, playing a game of baseball in the street. She immediately recognized both of these boys to be her brothers from when she was a human. “Huh… Tomoyuki-niisan… Daiki… What’s this?”

“Maeko-oneechan,” Daiki then called out to her. “Wanna play baseball with us?”

She had not been called by her former human name by anyone in years, much less by her former human family. “Yeah… Yeah, that would be nice.” Even though she knew something was not right, she wanted to stay. “Are you guys just gonna toss the ball around, or do you want someone to hit it with you?”

“You can pick up the bat we have over there,” Tomoyuki then pointed out on the ground. “It’s just a wooden stick, but it works.”

“Okay then,” Susamaru replied as she picked up the wooden stick and readied herself. “I’m ready!”

Tomoyuki then pitched the ball to Susamaru, who swung with a powerful swing and struck the ball, causing it to fly down the street and land next to a man pulling a food cart. He yelled over, “Be careful, you damn kids!”

“Sorry about that,” Daiki yelled over. He then turned to his siblings, telling them, “I’ll go get the ball.”

Susamaru thought to herself, “I always loved playing sports when I was a human, even if other people thought I was too boyish for doing so. I loved being a girl, and I still do. Who’s to say I can’t be a woman and also play ball sometimes?” She then caught the ball with her bare hands and tossed it back to Tomoyuki. “Throw it faster! Give me a challenge!”

“Try not to break a window this time,” Tomoyuki replied to her before pitching the ball.

…

An hour later in dream time, James was smoking a cigarette after having finished an interesting round of sex with his three love interests. It had been an hour and twenty minutes since he had woken up in the dream, but only 4 minutes in the real world due to dream time dilation. He walked outside, adjusting his pants and looking around before telling himself, “Okay, this has been a fun dream, but I think it’s time for me to go.” Suddenly, however, he noticed an unusual man walking around the quasi-estate that he had for himself and his family in the dream. He was holding what appeared to be a knife, wore a Confederate Army uniform, and snooped around the buildings. “Huh? Who the Hell…”

The man noticed James staring at him and yelled as he ran off, “Fuck!”

“Hey, get back here! Who the Hell are ya?!” James quickly pulled out his revolver and chased after the man, firing off two shots in his direction but missing. 

Finally, as they raced through the forest, James fired a third shot, striking him in the shoulder and bringing him down. “Fuck! Agh, fuck, you fuckin’ shot me!”

James then picked him up by the back of his shirt collar and aimed the gun squarely at his jaw as he demanded from him, “I want to know exactly who the fuck y’all are, and what the fuck y’all are doin’ inside my dream. I can tell you ain’t from ‘round here, ‘cause I’d never dream up a random Confederate like yourself. Y’all must be tryin’ to infiltrate my dream to extract information from me. Well, it ain’t gonna work like that.” He then cocked the gun to let him know he meant business. “Answer me, asshole! Who the fuck are ya?!”

“Fine,” he told him. “I work for Cleburne! I was sent here to find your inner core and kill it!” He prayed in his head that James would spare him if he told him what he wanted.

James instead then pulled the trigger and killed the man, which would wake him up in the real world. Most of his face was blown off by the bullet to his jaw, and he died almost instantly in the dream, the bloodied mess of teeth, bones, muscle, and skin that was once his face staining the ground with a deep crimson red. “Motherfucker. He must be makin’ dreams for us to keep us occupied.” He then had a sudden realization that horrified him. “Wait… If that’s the case… Oh no!” He immediately aimed the gun at the side of his own head. “I gotta wake up and find the others!”

With zero hesitation, James pulled the trigger and shot himself. In an instant, his vision went black for a few seconds before he awoke back inside the train car he had been sleeping in. As he did, he noticed the man who had infiltrated his dream standing in the hallway. He instantly knew that in the real world, he was a demon and a soldier working under Patrick. “Shit! You’re awake!”

“Yeah,” James replied before quickly pulling out his revolver and shooting him twice just as he pulled out his knife. As the soldier fell to the ground, stunned and injured by the poisoned sun metal bullets, James quickly grabbed his shotgun from the luggage compartment above and aimed at the demon soldier’s head. “Bye, fucker!” With the quick pull of a trigger, the soldier's head was blown off, splattering his blood all over the car before it quickly dissipated along with the rest of his body. Despite the commotion he made, he awoke not a single person in the train car. “Damn… Whatever that bastard did, they put us all in deep sleep. I gotta move fast!” He then reached into his backpack and pulled out a scroll with a spell written on it along with a knife. “Time to use my new spellcastin’ method!”

With a swift motion, James sliced one of his fingers in half and then opened the scroll, painting a single line in blood across the whole scroll before pulling out a match from his pocket, striking it on the side of a seat, and setting the scroll on fire. Within seconds of the scroll catching fire, James fell to the floor, asleep once more as his finger healed itself.

When he awoke, James was present in a pitch black void with several openings presented to him. As he looked at each one, he found Nezuko’s dream and thought to himself as he dashed forwards into it, “Here goes nothin’!” As soon as he jumped into the dream, he was surrounded by a wintery landscape and a forest. He quickly ran towards the sight of smoke, presumably from the chimney or fire pit of the Kamado residence, and drew his sword in one hand and his revolver in the other, hoping to encounter whoever was about to try to kill Nezuko’s inner core. He thought to himself, “I need to reach Nezuko in time!”

Nezuko happened to be outside with her subconsciousness’ projection of Tanjiro when he ran up to the Kanao’s residence. Nezuko quickly recognized him and yelled out, “Wait a minute, Colby-san, what are you doing here?!”

“Nezuko! Nezuko! This is a dream! You’re asleep!”

Tanjiro turned to James and yelled at him, “Get out of here! Get the fuck out of here!” He uncharacteristically picked up a spear from the ground and yelled at him, “If you don’t leave, I’ll kill you!”

“Oniichan, no! Stop it!”

Nezuko was unable to stop Tanjiro from charging at James and trying to stab him with the spear. “Get out of here, intruder! You’re not fucking welcome!”

“Shit,” James yelled out as he dodged a strike from him before drawing his gun and firing at Tanjiro, shooting him three times in the chest, the shots ringing through the forest and interrupting the quiet sounds of the flora and fauna around them. “Fuck, I shot him!”

“Oniichan! Oniichan!” Nezuko quickly ran to her brother’s body as he fell to the ground, killed almost immediately by James’ bullets as blood poured onto the snow and melted it due to the heat. “Why did you shoot him?! Why?!”

James yelled at her, “He ain’t real! He’s a projection of your subconscious! That’s why he attacked me! I was an outsider in the dream!”

“He… Isn’t real?!” Nezuko picked up his spear and threatened him with, “How am I supposed to know that?!”

“Because your family’s dead, Nezuko! None of this shit is real! The real Tanjiro’s in his own dream! These people y’all are with are just projections of your mind!”

Nezuko then dropped the spear and wiped her eyes of tears. “You… You aren’t lying… What do we do now?”

“We need to find the son of a bitch who’s trying to kill your inner core and kill him inside the dream so he wakes up.” James then started walking towards the house. “I ain’t gonna hold back against your family if they attack me, and y’all shouldn’t either.”

No sooner did he say that did Takeo, the next oldest sibling after Nezuko and Tanjiro, charge at him with an axe, yelling at him with an indescribable hatred in his eyes, “DIE, INTRUDER!”

James swiftly and decisively shot him once in the head, striking him down with cold precision. “I wasn’t in the mood for killin’ kids today…”

“Holy shit… Holy shit… You just shot him! What the fuck?!”

“They ain’t real!” James then pulled out another scroll from his backpack and cut part of one of his fingers off to draw a line on the paper within. He then quickly rolled it up again and pulled out a match, striking it on the side of a nearby tree and lighting the scroll on fire. “I figured out an easy way to cast most spells. I just write down the chant needed for it in a scroll, make a line through it with my blood, and then set it on fire. No more havin’ to make complicated patterns on the ground in blood.”

“I see…” Nezuko then watched in astonishment as a portal opened up. “Wait, what is that?!”

“It allows us to jump to other people’s dreams! We’re gonna go to your brother’s dream next!” He then ran into the portal, with Nezuko trailing behind him. “Hurry it up! We gotta save your brother!”

Chapter Text

Once James and Nezuko landed in Tanjiro’s dream, they bolted for the Kamado residence. Nezuko noted to James, “I see he dreamed of the exact same thing as me!”

“Makes sense,” he replied as they dashed around a tree. “You both had similar desires to meet your families again!” Then, just as they came in sight of the residence, James collided with a person at a fast rate of speed, causing both of them to fall to the ground. “Fuck! Shit!”

“Fuck!” The other person then yelled at him, “What the Hell?! Watch where you’re go-“ Then, he recognized James and asked him, “Colby-san?! What are you doing here?!”

“Tanjiro!”

“Oniichan,” Nezuko then asked him. “Are you aware you’re in a dream?!”

“Yeah,” Tanjiro replied as he got up and brushed his haori off to get rid of the snow and dirt on it. “I’ve been running around and trying to find a way out.”

Then, they all heard a familiar voice behind Tanjiro. “Oniichan, what are you doing?”

Nezuko looked over and immediately muttered as she realized who was talking, “Oh shit.”

Tanjiro’s projection of Nezuko was behind him, and she looked at the real Nezuko and James in confusion. “Oniichan, who are those people?”

“He’s right here, mommy!” The rest of the Kamado family, minus the deceased Tanjuro, then ran up the hill towards them. Shigeru told Kie, “Oniichan caught on fire and then ran away!”

“Tanjiro! Tanjiro!” Kie was clearly very worried about her son. “What’s going on?!” As soon as she said that, she and the rest of the projections stared at James and the real Nezuko. “Who are these outsiders?”

“For fuck’s sake,” Nezuko then said to her fake self. “I do not want to have to fight you. Please, step aside and let us take him.”

The fake Nezuko then dropped the basket of vegetables she had been holding on the ground before undoing her hair and letting it fall to the ground. “Get out of here, intruder…” Suddenly, she bent down and scratched the snow, her nails lengthening and her eyes turning a bright pink. “I said…” The three of them also noticed that her teeth had begun to sharpen as well as she growled, “GET OUT!”

Tanjiro expressed in shock, “She… She turned into a demon?!”

Kie then suddenly charged at James and Nezuko with an axe, yelling at them in unbridled rage, “Get out of here! Leave my fucking family alone!” She then swung down and just barely missed James before he drew his sword and decapitated her in one strike, an easy move for him since Kie was a human. Her head flew into the air by a few feet before falling to the ground, blood pouring from it and her neck as her body crumpled and fell over.

Rokuta, the youngest of the family, yelled as he cried, “Mama! Mama! No!”

Hanako yelled at James, “How could you kill our mommy?! Why did you do it?!”

The fake Nezuko then jumped the real Nezuko on all fours, growing and clawing at her as she tried to hold her back by jamming the blade of her sword in her mouth. “Get the fuck off of me!” As she tried to push her off, she began to have a flashback to the day she was turned into a demon, realizing that she was in the same position that Tanjiro had been in that fateful day. “To think,” she thought to herself. “I’m basically reliving what my brother had to go through…”

She then successfully threw the fake Nezuko off of her. She replied in response, “Get away! Get away’ GET AWAY!” She then charged at the real Nezuko again, who managed to cut off her arm and barely dodge a kick from her.

Takeo then yelled at the real Nezuko as he picked up Kiev’s axe and ran at her, “Go to Hell!” She replied by spearing him in the stomach almost on instinct with her sword, instantly killing him as she pulled her sword out and once again deflected a blow from the fake Nezuko. 

She thought to herself, “Forgive me, Takeo. It was the only way.”

As all this happened, James told Tanjiro, “You need to find another intruder! There’s someone in this dream that’s tryin’ to kill your inner core! If he does that, you’ll never be able to wake up! They’re another American like me, but they have a grey uniform on!”

“A grey uniform! Got it!” Tanjiro then dashed away from the horrid scene, eager to get the image of his family dying in front of him again out of his mind and vision.

Meanwhile, Nezuko continued to battle her fake self, even managing to chop off one of her arms. “Alright!” However, to her dismay, the arm quickly grew back. “Shit!” Her fake self roared at her as she then caught her arm and ripped it off with her bare hands, causing Nezuko to scream in pain. “Agh! Fuck! No, my arm!”

“Get away!” The fake Nezuko then roared at the fake Nezuko before she ripped her arm to shreds as she devoured it. “You’re not welcome!”

Shigeru egged her on, yelling at her, “Kill her, oneechan!”

“Rip her to shreds,” Hanako also egged her on with.

Nezuko was horrified to hear her siblings cheer on her opponent, but knew she had to focus on the battle at hand. “I need to finish this!” With her arm beginning to regrow, she realized she would have to use only one hand to wield her sword. She then took a deep breath and declared as she charged forward, “Breath of Water! First Form: Water Surface Slash!” She managed to just barely miss the fake Nezuko’s neck, but did cut off half of her head. “Fuck, I missed!” She then aimed at her again, yelling, “Second Form Improved: Lateral Water Wheel!” With this modified attack, she managed to finally decapitate her fake self with a horizontal spin, her head flying into the air before landing at her real self’s feet. “And with that, I’ve won.”

The fake Nezuko spat at her opponent as her arm and hand fully regrew. “This isn’t over! I’m living in your mind, whether you like it or not!”

Nezuko sighed as she ran to meet up with James and Tanjiro, her regrown arm fully exposed to the climate due to her shirt sleeve being ripped off. “Damn, it’s cold here… I hope they’ve found that intruder.”

As she ran, Hanako, Shigeru, and Rokuta all yelled at her, insulting her and telling her to leave. Hanako in particular yelled at her, “Get out of here! You’re not welcome! You were never welcome! How could you kill our sister?! You’re a monster! You monster!”

As she found them, she realized that they had found the intruder, but were not attacking him. “Hey, what’s going on?!”

“We got ‘em,” James replied. “But… He ain’t gonna pose a threat to us anymore.”

“He’s on our side now,” Tanjiro explained to Nezuko. “Tell her, Williams-san.”

“Right,” he replied in English. The intruder, named Thomas Williams, was a demon who formerly had been a Confederate soldier, and bore blond hair and dull brown eyes. “Well… How do I begin… I found this boy’s inner core, but…” He began to get emotional as he tried to continue. “But… There were these people inside leadin’ me to it…” He could no longer finish what he intended to say, and began to cry.

James explained in Japanese to Nezuko, “He says that these small beings of light led him to Tanjiro’s inner core and pointed to it. He was so moved by what they did that he gave up and surrendered to us as soon as we found ‘em.”

“These things,” Thomas added in English as he continued to cry. “They were so pure, so wholesome… I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I couldn’t fuckin’ do it!”

Tanjiro comforted him despite barely understanding what he was saying, telling him in Japanese as he patted him on the shoulder, “There, there, sir. You’re okay. You’re okay.”

“I’m sorry,” Thomas told him in response despite not knowing Japanese. “I’m so sorry…”

“Come on,” James then told him in English. “Let’s go. Y’all know how we gotta escape this.” He then told Tanjiro and Nezuko in Japanese. “Y’all know what to do.”

Tanjiro nodded, and drew his sword before holding it to his neck. “Take a deep breath, and cut… Take a deep breath, and cut…” He did as he said and then sliced his neck, splattering blood on the ground and ending his life inside the dream.

“I’ll fight with y’all when we wake up,” Thomas then replied before he drew a single-shot pistol he carried and aimed it into his mouth, pulling the trigger and blowing much of his brains and a lot of blood onto a tree behind him as his body fell over.

Nezuko muttered to herself, still disturbed that suicide was the preferred way out of a dream, “Fuck! That always makes me jump… Okay, I’ll go next.” She then drew her service-issued revolver and trembled as she cocked the gun and aimed it at her chin while James looked around to make sure the rest of the Kamado family did not follow them. “Come on, come on, come on… Pull the trigger, bitch, pull the fucking trigger…” Her words of self-encouragement did not make it any easier for her as her self-preservation instincts kept her from pulling the trigger.

As James looked around, he said to himself, “I really hope those kids didn’t follow us here.” Then, he heard a gunshot behind him and turned around. To his horror, he realized that Nezuko was still alive. “What?! No!”

Nezuko was indeed still alive, albeit barely. She screamed in pain as blood poured from her face, unable to vocalize words due to her jaw being completely blown off by a missed gunshot that only managed to blow off much of her face instead of killing her. She could not speak, but could scream in pain as chunks of her skin and bone fell from her face onto the snow.

“Holy fuck!” James was shocked to see Nezuko in such a state. “You… Ya fuckin’ missed! Holy shit! Okay, okay, okay…” He then drew his own revolver and found he had two shots left. “Nezuko, I’m sorry, but I have to do this.” He could see Nezuko attempting to nod as she writhed in pain. “I know, I know, this is gonna make it better, okay? Just hold on.” He then aimed the gun at her forehead, the barrel stopping at her skin, and pulled the trigger, killing her instantly and putting her out of her misery by splattering much of her upper head on the ground below. “My turn.” James then aimed the gun at his temple and pulled the trigger, shooting himself with his last bullet and immediately waking up from the dream.

…

Once back in the real world, Thomas told the others, “Just tell me what y’all need me to do, and I’ll take care of it.”

“In here!” Two soldiers then ran in, shooting at the group. “Shoot those fuckers!” Thomas immediately returned fire with his single-shot pistol as James also drew his gun and fired at the soldiers. Their poisoned bullets struck them down with ease, and as Tanjiro and Nezuko screamed awake, James ran up to both soldiers and blew their heads off with his shotgun, killing them.

“Guard the passengers in here from attack,” James told Thomas. “We’ll let the others know that you switched sides when they wake up.” He then told Nezuko and Tanjiro in Japanese, “Go to Zenitsu and Inosuke’s dreams and wake them up. I’ll go to Rengoku-san’s dream and Susamaru’s dream.” He then pulled another scroll out of his backpack. “This is my last scroll for the Dream Infiltration Spell. Y’all need to smear blood on the inside.” He then used a knife to cut his hand slightly to smear blood on it.

Tanjiro nodded and used James’ knife to do the same before handing Nezuko the knife. Once she did the same, Tanjiro asked her, “Which dream do you want?”

“I’ll go to Zenitsu’s,” Nezuko replied, and just as she did, Kyojuro suddenly got up and grabbed the Confederate soldier sleeping next to him by the neck, pinning him to the wall of the train with a loud thud. “Holy shit!”

“He must have sensed the intruder in his dream,” Tanjiro inferred. “We need to hurry.”

“On it,” James replied as he lit the scroll on fire and threw it out of an open window. A few seconds later, all three of them collapsed into sleep once more, all of them given assignments and ready to go to work.

Once they fell, Thomas grabbed James’ revolver and shotgun, ready to defend himself and the train from attack. As another soldier ran in, aiming his rifle at Thomas, the soldier yelled, “Traitor!” 

Thomas fired at him with the shotgun twice, managing to poison him enough to kill him outright. “Motherfucker…” He then checked the shotgun and reloaded it to full capacity by taking ammo from James’ backpack after seeing it was down to only two shells. “Sorry for stealin’ from ya, Jack.” He also grabbed James’ rifle, saying to himself, “I need to be more accurate. The last thing I want is to hit passengers with shot.” Once he put the shotgun down, he checked the rifle to see it was loaded and found that it was before looking up to find yet another soldier charging at him.

The soldier shot Thomas once in the arm as he yelled, “How could y’all change sides on us?!”

Thomas shot him twice with the rifle, striking him down as his arm wound healed. He then walked up to him and aimed the rifle at his forehead, telling him, “Because I saw the light.” He then fired a single shot into his head, destroying much of it and giving him enough poison to kill him. “Okay, that’s five solders out of 36 that Cleburne had on this train. I just hope those guys can make it out on time. I can’t last much longer on my own.”

Chapter Text

Inside Kyojuro’s dream, James quickly ran to his house, recognizing that he had been dreaming of the neighborhood his house was located in. Once he found it, he ran up to the front door and pounded on it, yelling, “Rengoku-san! Rengoku-san! Open the door!”

A few seconds later, Senjuro opened the door instead of Kyojuro. He immediately looked at James and said, “What are you doing here? You’re not from here.”

James quickly asked him, “Is your brother here?”

“Yeah,” Senjuro replied in a rather rude tone, highly unusual of him. “What do you want, outsider?!”

“Senjuro,” Kyojuro then asked. “What’s going o-“ He immediately stopped when he saw James, a look of surprise filling his face. “James? What are you doing here?”

“Get out of here,” Senjuro then yelled at James as he punched James in the stomach, knocking him to his knees. “You don’t belong here!”

“Senjuro!” Not understanding why he was suddenly attacking James, Kyojuro attempted to restrain his brother, only for him to break free and kick James in the head twice before James drew a knife and stabbed him in the back. “Senjuro, no!”

Senjuro turned to James and spat at him in a fit of rage, “Fuck you!” He then tried to bite James before he stabbed him two more times, killing him and throwing his body off of him.

Kyojuro pulled his sword out and demanded of his Tsuguko, “What the Hell is wrong with you?! Why did you kill my brother?!”

“He ain’t your brother!” James then got up and dodged a blow from Kyojuro’s sword. “This ain’t real! None of this shit is real!”

“It’s real to me!” Kyojuro then tried slicing off his neck, but James drew his sword and deflected it. “How could you betray me?! You monster!”

James yelled at the top of his lungs, frustrated that Kyojuro was letting himself be blinded with anger, “SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LISTEN TO ME! YOU’RE ASLEEP! THIS IS A FUCKIN’ DREAM!”

This immediately caused Kyojuro to stop in his tracks and look at Senjuro’s body with a bewildered expression. “A… Dream?”

“Yeah,” James replied. “That‘s what I’ve been tryin’ to tell ya! The reason your brother attacked me was because he’s a projection of your subconscious, and since I’m a foreign visitor, all of your projections will grow suspicious of me and eventually try to attack me if I disturb your dream!”

“Projection…” Kyojuro looked around as he heard his father stand up in the room next door. “Projection…”

“Give me that damn sword,” Shinjuro then angrily told Kyojuro as he ripped his sword out of his hands and charged at James. “Get out of here you damn pest!”

James shot Shinjuro twice, striking him down before he had the chance to attack him. “See what I mean? They all begin to innately attack me since I’m causing a disturbance in your dream. Now, come with me.”

“Right,” Kyojuro nodded as he accompanied James and they both ran down the street to try to find whoever was invading his dream. After searching down numerous alleyways and dead ends, they finally spotted a tear in the fabric of the dream. “Here! I see something!”

“Shit,” James replied as he found the tear. “It means that this guy’s already inside!” The two of them then ran through the tear into the outer layer of Kyojuro’s dream. There, they were confronted with a land of fire and smoke around them, indicative of Kyojuro’s inner being. “So, this is your inner subconscious, huh?”

Kyojuro remarked in disbelief, “Why am I not surprised…” The two then ran through the field, dodging flames left and right as they tried to find Kyojuro’s inner core.

Then, James spotted something odd. “Hey, over here!” In front of the bright red core of Kyojuro was another one of Patrick Cleburne’s soldiers, but they appeared to be floating in midair, suspended by their neck by an unseen hand. “Look at this!”

Kyojuro said to himself in disbelief, “What the fuck?”

As James looked at the soldier, he noticed what appeared to be hand marks on his neck. “This is really odd… He’s being strangled by an unseen force. It looks like he’s been held up here for a long time.” He then remembered something he saw in the real world. “Wait a minute! Rengoku-san, I saw you strangle someone in the real world!”

“You did?!”

“Yeah! You suddenly got up and slammed this guy into the wall by the neck!” He then pointed out the neck marks to him. “It must have affected him in the dream too, though since time dilation’s in effect, he’s been strangled for much longer here.”

“How much longer?”

“Well,” James then calculated. “One minute in the real world is twenty minutes here. If I had to guess, it’s been about two minutes since you strangled him in the real world, so he’s been hangin’ up here for almost 40 minutes straight.”

“Is he dead?”

James then checked the soldier’s body and shook his head. “No. He’s a demon, so he ain’t.” He then drew his sword. “But this will wake him up. Rengoku-san, I need ya to kill yourself in this dream to wake up.”

“Kill myself?!” Kyojuro was shocked. “Really?!”

“I need y’all to wake up first,” James explained. “And then I’ll kill this son of a bitch here. When he wakes up in the real world, kill him. I’ll kill myself here, too, once I’m done.”

Kyojuro sighed as he drew his sword. “If you say so. You’re the expert in this case, after all.” He then took a deep breath and slashed his own neck with the sword, cutting deep into it and quickly bleeding himself out. Within seconds, he dropped to the floor, dead and covered in blood.

James then swung his sword at the soldier and came down on his neck, decapitating him with one strike. Once his head rolled onto the ground, his body fell and began to disintegrate. James then pulled his revolver and aimed it at his temple, effortlessly pulling the trigger and blowing his brains out to wake up.

…

Inside Zenitsu’s dream, Nezuko looked around a pleasant and peaceful meadow next to a creek and waterfall. “Well,” she remarked to herself. “At least Zenitsu-san’s dream is peaceful enough.” As she carefully crossed the creek, she called out, “Zenitsu! Zenitsu! Are you here?!” Then, as she made landfall on the other side, she saw another person inside the dream and instantly recognized who it was. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, not again.”

“Who are you?” Another fake Nezuko then turned around and faced her. “Why are you here?”

“I’m here to wake Zenitsu-san up,” Nezuko explained to her fake self.

“You’re dressed funny,” she replied to her. “And taller. How old are you?”

“I’m going to be fifteen in December,” Nezuko replied to her. “You must be me from two years ago.” She thought to herself; “I’m surprised she hasn’t attacked me yet. Could Zenitsu’s projection of myself be far more passive than my brother’s projection of myself was?”

“I’m going to be thirteen in December,” the fake Nezuko replied. “I grew that much?”

“I grew by four centimeters,” Nezuko told her. “It’s not much, to be honest, though it felt like a lot since it happened over the span of like two weeks. A very, very sore two weeks. My back was killing me by the end.”

“Two weeks? Why?”

“Wait,” Nezuko asked her. “Are you a demon?”

“A demon? What’s that?”

“Yeah, just as I thought.” Nezuko then asked her, “Where is Zenitsu-san?”

“He says he saw an intruder,” the fake Nezuko replied. “And was going to hunt them down, whoever they were.”

“Nezuko-chan,” Zenitsu then called out from afar. “I’m back! I killed that son of a bitch! What are you doi-“ As he approached the two Nezuko’s, wearing blood-stained clothes and carrying giant shears also covered in blood, his jaw dropped as he saw two Nezuko’s. “Wha-... Ha… Nezuko… Two… TWO NEZUKO-CHAN’S?!” He screamed in joy as the two Nezuko’s looked at him in confusion. “THIS IS TRULY A MIRACLE!”

The real Nezuko asked the fake Nezuko, “Has he been fawning over you the whole time?”

“Yeah,” she gleefully replied. “He truly is amazing, isn’t he?”

“Wait a minute,” Zenitsu then asked as he looked at the real Nezuko. “You look older, and you’re… You’re a demon slayer?!” Blood trickled from Zenitsu’s nose as he realized she was wearing a skirt. “And you have a skirt…”

The real Nezuko sighed. “Yes, I have a skirt as part of my uniform. Zenitsu-san, you need to wake up.”

“Wake up? Why would I?”

The real Nezuko then grabbed a hold of his shoulder and shook him. “Because we’re all in danger! If you don’t wake up, we all could die! None of this is real!”

“Real?”

“Damn it, Zenitsu-san! You need to wake up!” By now, she was increasingly impatient with Zenitsu’s unwillingness to accept the fact that he was a dream, and decided to take decisive action to force him to do something about it.

She then drew her gun and aimed it at her head, prompting Zenitsu to try to tackle her. “Nezuko-chan, no!”

Nezuko fought him off and yelled at him, “You need to die to wake up! This isn’t real!”

“Die?! Won’t that kill m-?!”

Nezuko finally had enough, and shot Zenitsu in the face, instantly killing him. The fake Nezuko yelled, “ZENITSU-SAN, NO!”

“Fuck this shit,” she then said. “I’m outta here.” She then aimed the gun at her left temple and shot herself to wake up before the fake Nezuko could attack her.

…

Inside Inosuke’s dream, Tanjiro walked in a dark and desolate cave, deeply confused about the circumstances of Inosuke’s dream. “What the Hell is this place? It’s so damp and musty in here… What’s the purpose of this dream anyway?”

“Intruder,” Inosuke then called out from afar as he pointed at Tanjiro from deep within the cave. “Identify yourself to the King of the Mountains at once!”

Tanjiro then made out the projections of himself, Zenitsu, and Nezuko inside his dream, and as he did, his jaw dropped in bewilderment. “What the fuck…” The fake Tanjiro bore the ears and tail of a raccoon dog, the fake Zenitsu bore the ears, tail, and buck teeth of a squirrel, and the fake Nezuko, who still had a bamboo muzzle on unlike her real self’s current state, had the tail and ears of a rabbit. “No, seriously, Inosuke, what the fuck?”

“Wait a minute,” Inosuke then asked him in confusion. “Monjiro?! What… How?! You’re right beside me here as Underling 1!”

“Underling 1?!”

The fake Tanjiro then asked Inosuke as he, the fake Zenitsu, and the fake Nezuko all got into battle position, “Do you want us to take him out, boss?!”

“Not yet,” Inosuke instructed him. “Something really fucking weird’s going on here.”

Tanjiro then called out, “You’re in a dream, Inosuke! You need to kill yourself to wake up!”

“A dream?!” Inosuke paused as he thought to himself about Tanjiro’s statement. Then, after half a minute, he nodded. “I knew it was one all along, Kentaro!”

“It’s Tanjiro,” he corrected. “And I doubt you did…”

“I killed some guy with a grey uniform on,” Inosuke then told him. “I couldn’t understand the gibberish coming out of his mouth, but he was probably begging for mercy or something.”

Tanjiro gasped. “You already did?!”

“Yeah,” he triumphantly declared. “I won’t let anyone interfere with the Cave Expedition Team!”

“Then wake up,” Tanjiro instructed him as he pulled his sword and aimed it at his own neck. “That means the guy trying to kill your inner core is already awake! The others need our help in the real world!”

“Of course,” Inosuke replied as he pulled both of his swords and quickly decapitated himself, shocking even Tanjiro.

“Holy shit…”

The fake Zenitsu called out in horror, “Boss, no! Don’t die on us!”

“Sorry guys,” Tanjiro then explained to the projections as the dream began to fall apart around him, the walls of the cave trembling and crashing down. “This is the only way.” He then sliced open his neck, instantly killing himself in the dream and waking up.

In the real world, Tanjiro, Inosuke, Zenitsu, and Nezuko all woke up at the same time, just seconds after Kyojuro and James had done so. As he looked around, Kyojuro decapitated the soldier demon that had been inside Inosuke’s dream. He then turned to Tanjiro and told him, “Glad to see you’re awake.” He then turned to James. “That leaves only Susamaru-san then.”

“I’ll get ‘er,” James then replied as he cut himself with a knife and painted a very small pattern on the floor with his blood as the cut began to heal before putting his knife away. “I’ll have to do this the old-fashioned way. Remind me to make more spell scrolls when we get back to your house, Rengoku-san.” He then called out in English, “By the Grace of the Spirits, I ask them to allow me to enter the dream of Susamaru!” With a flash of red light from the pattern on the floor, James once again collapsed and fell asleep.

Tanjiro and Nezuko then looked at each other and nodded before Nezuko told Kyojuro, “We’re going to the top of the train to fight the demon responsible. We think his name is Enmu based on what my brother overheard. Whatever his name is, we know he’s Lower Moon One.”

“Lower Moon One? Got it.” He then told Inosuke and Zenitsu, “Guard James with your lives. I’m gonna go take care of as many of the soldiers as possible.with Thomas-san.” He then asked Thomas in English, “Are you ready?”

“Of course,” he replied as he finished reloading his Winchester rifle with poisoned ammunition. “Let’s get these fuckers.”

…

Inside Susamaru’s dream, James quickly found her as she played with her brothers in the street. “Hey, Susamaru! Over ‘ere!”

Just as Susamaru was about to catch a ball thrown to her, she stopped as she heard his voice, causing the ball to strike her in the shoulder. “Agh, fuck! That hurt!”

“Oneechan,” Daiki called out to her as he ran over. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to hit you!”

“It’s okay,” she insisted as Tomoyuki also ran over. “I’m fine. It just stung, that’s all.”

“Maeko,” Tomoyuki asked her as he helped her up. “Who’s that man over there?”

“That’s…” Susamaru then locked eyes with James and gasped. “Oh my God, that’s…”

Tomoyuki, worried for her, asked her, “Did he hurt you?!”

“No, no, no,” Susamaru insisted. “He’s… He’s fine, nii-san.” She then asked, “James, what the Hell are you doing here?”

“You’re in a dream, dear,” he told her. “Y’all know the rules, right?”

“I gotta… Oh my…” Susamaru knew the rules about dream infiltration and how to wake up already, and did not want her brothers to see her die. “Nii-san, Daiki, I need you two to go back into the house right now.”

“What’s wrong, oneechan?”

“Maeko?”

“I’ll be fine,” Susamaru insisted. “Please, go back in.”

“Oneechan!”

“Maeko, what’s wro-?”

Susamaru then screamed at him, “YOU’RE NOT REAL!” She took several deep breaths as tears fell from her eyes. “I said… You aren’t real… I’m sorry… I have to go… I have a mission to do, people to save, and a future husband to be with…” She tried to control herself, not wanting to part with her former family but realizing she had to.

Tomoyuki nodded, seeming to understand what she meant. “Daiki, let’s go inside. Your sister needs to save lives.”

As he took Daiki into the house despite his repeated protests, Susamaru drew a revolver from her person and aimed it into her mouth. “It won’t hurt, right?”

“It doesn’t,” James nodded as he also aimed his revolver at himself, this time into his left temple. “Three… Two… One!”

Two simultaneous gunshots then rang out as the two lovers shot themselves in the middle of the street, their vision immediately going black for a few seconds before they were met with the sights of the train, both hyperventilating and locking eyes before embracing in Susamaru’s bench seat. “Oh, thank God, you’re okay!”

“Same with you,” he replied as the two then shared a brief kiss. Once they split, he told her, “Tanjiro and Nezuko are going off to fight Lower Moon One, who’s behind the dreamin’ part. His name’s Enmu I think.”

“That’s correct,” Susamaru nodded, having gotten control of herself and her emotions. “I knew him. He was always a creepy sadistic motherfucker who was way too into dreams and trains. No fucking concept of loyalty or brotherhood, just constant Kibutsuji dick-sucking. He creeped out even most of the other Lower Moons, and the Upper Moons all thought he was annoying as Hell. Kibutsuji actually killed him as a human, but only made him a demon because he kept praising him and shit as Kibutsuji literally ate his organs. That guy is seriously fucked up in the head, even among us demons.”

“Holy fuckin’ shit,” James replied, bewildered by Enmu’s insanity. “We’re dealin’ with a real lunatic then.”

Chapter Text

As Nezuko and Tanjiro climbed on top of the train, they soon caught a glimpse of Enmu as he stood at the front of the train, his back to them. Nezuko shouted over to him, “Hey, asshole, we’re right here! Face us!”

“Hmm?” Enmu then turned around as both Tanjiro and Nezuko drew blades. “Good morning. So, my dreams did not work on you guys… How troublesome. If only you two had stayed asleep just a little bit longer.”

“How dare you abuse the dreams of others,” Tanjiro yelled at him in anger. “And how dare you manipulate others into doing your bidding!”

“How ungrateful,” Enmu retorted. “How fucking ungrateful… After all I did, after I gave you guys such wonderful dreams. I didn’t have to, you know. I could have created a dream where your family was slaughtered like fucking cattle. Would you have preferred that?”

Nezuko angrily yelled, “Shut your damn mouth, you piece of garbage!”

Enmu then noticed that Nezuko was a demon, and that Tanjiro bore hanafuda earrings, smiling in response. “I see… So, it’s you two who are on my master’s shit list… This truly is marvelous!” As he laughed, he exclaimed, “I have truly pleased my master, and by killing the two of you, I shall please him even more!”

“Breath of Water,” both of the Kamado siblings then said together before they deviated in terms of technique used. Tanjiro said, “Tenth Form: Constant Flux!”

Meanwhile, Nezuko declared, “Second Form: Water Wheel!”

As the two of them charged at Enmu with different but coordinated attacks, he merely smiled and held his mouth-bearing hand out at the siblings, declaring, “Blood Demon Art: Whispers of Forced Unconscious Hypnosis!” The mouth on his hand then declared, “Now, go to sleep!”

Immediately, Nezuko and Tanjiro both closed their eyes and fell asleep, the two just barely avoiding falling off the train. However, within seconds, the two opened their eyes once more and regained their footing. Nezuko called out, “Nice try!”

“Well,” Enmu replied to her as he dodged slashes from both of the Kamado siblings with his quick reflexes. “That was odd, but no matter!” He then held his mouth-bearing hand out again and declared, “Go to sleep!” Once again, Nezuko and Tanjiro fell asleep together before waking up within seconds. “Go to sleep!” Again, they woke up immediately after. “Damn it, go to sleep already!” As expected by this point, they woke up. Enmu thought to himself as they both readied another coordinated attack on him, “Why are they waking up so fast? Wait a minute… No, they couldn’t possibly be-“

…

As it turns out, the following had happened every time Tanjiro and Nezuko involuntarily fell asleep by Enmu’s hand.

The two woke up once again in the forest that they had grown up in, once again stuck in the winter. Tanjiro told his sister, “We have to die to wake up!”

“On it,” Nezuko replied as she drew her pistol and shot herself in the mouth, killing herself instantly just as Tanjiro sliced through his own neck, coating the ground with his blood and dying right after she did.

Due to the time dilation within these deep dreams Enmu created, the two practically woke up at the same time in the real world. Each time Enmu tried to put them to sleep, they repeated the same process of committing suicide to wake up, nullifying the effects of the Blood Demon Art he possessed.

…

“They are,” Enmu realized. “They’re actually committing suicide every time they go to sleep so they can wake up! I gotta say, that truly takes some balls to do. Not just anyone can do something so horrible to themselves repeatedly, even if it is just a dream.”

“You can’t win,” Tanjiro yelled at Enmu as he and Nezuko charged forward. “Now die!”

“Try this instead,” Enmu replied as he aimed his mouth-bearing hand at them again. “Go to sleep separately!” Both Nezuko and Tanjiro fell asleep, this time in separate dreams. “This time,” Enmu thought to himself as he watched them fall to the roof of the train. “They’ll just give into despair!”

…

While Tanjiro had a nightmare regarding his family mistreating him and berating him for surviving Muzan’s massacre, Nezuko was not faring much better. As she stood alone in the bloodied rooms of the Kamado house, her mother held the bloodied and badly disfigured body of Rokuta in her arms. “Mom…”

“How could you become a demon?!” Kie then spat at her own daughter, staining her face with her saliva. “The very thing that murdered your family?! You should have died with us!”

“No,” Nezuko replied in fear, backing away from her mother and wiping the spit off of her face. “No, this isn’t right, she wouldn’t do this!”

“You are a shame upon our family, Kamado Nezuko!” Kie then threw Rokuta’s bloodied body at her, staining her uniform with blood.

“No, sto-“

She stopped talking when the scene suddenly changed to that of the area immediately outside of her house. This time, she faced Tanjiro himself, who held his sword out and aimed at her neck. “You’re an abomination, Nezuko. I should have let Giyu-san kill you when he had the chance.”

Nezuko began to cry, hurt by what Enmu was putting in the mouths of her family. “Oniichan, please, stop!”

“Fuck you,” Tanjiro coldly replied to her. “You’re nothing but a cowardly girl who sold out her humanity to live longer. Do me a favor and shut your fucking mouth.”

“That’s not true! I stepped in to save my-“

Tanjiro slapped Nezuko across the face in response. “I said, shut your fucking mouth!”

“I need to get out of here,” Nezuko replied as she ran away from Tanjiro and drew a gun. Realizing Tanjiro was chasing her, she turned around and shot him, striking him down before quickly turning the gun on herself. “You won’t get away with this,” she thought to herself. “Now I’m angry, Enmu. I’m really fucking angry.”

…

When Tanjiro and Nezuko woke up from their nightmares, the former was about to yell at Enmu out of anger, but stopped himself when he noticed something was up with Nezuko. “Hey, uh, Nezuko…”

“Nobody,” she began as her claws and teeth began to sharpen, anger and resentment building up inside her. “And I mean nobody has the right to shove words into my family’s fucking mouth!” Nezuko charged forward, yelling at Enmu as she jumped into the air, “I’m gonna rip you to shreds!” It was clear that what Enmu had put her through in her nightmares had awakened untapped power within Nezuko that could only be accessed if she was enraged.

“So she thinks,” Enmu thought to himself as Nezuko’s sword contacted his neck and sliced cleanly through with brute force behind her swing. His head went flying into the air, and his body quickly went limp as it fell onto the roof of the train with a loud thud.

As Nezuko landed on the roof, she fell to her knees as she panted and hyperventilated, her claws and teeth retracting to their normal lengths and positions as she tried to calm herself down. “Okay… Okay… Okay…”

“That felt too easy,” Tanjiro then told Nezuko. “Like… This guy’s Lower Moon One, right? My fight with Rui was harder than this.”

“You’re right,” she replied as she stood up and turned around to face him. “Something’s up.”

“Hey,” Tanjiro then asked her. “Are you okay, Nezuko?”

“I’m fine,” she assured him. “I just got a bit angry, is all.”

“That really was too easy,” Tanjiro remarked. “Way too fucking easy.”

“You took the words right out of my mouth,” Nezuko agreed. “What if… No, that’s crazy, he couldn’t possibly-” Then, as a mound of flesh rose from the roof of the train, with Enmu’s head on top of it, Nezuko remarked, “Oh my God, he did…”

Enmu taunted the siblings, telling them as he rose over them, “You didn’t think I was gonna make killing me that easy, now did you? My whole body is this train now! Unless you can find my real head, you have no chance at stopping me from eating all the passengers!”

“Holy,” Nezuko remarked in shock. “Fucking shit…”

“We gotta tell the others,” Tanjiro then yelled out as he climbed back down into the train. “Nezuko, follow me!”

…

Back in one of the train cabins, as Kyojuro and Thomas killed two more soldiers, they suddenly were surrounded by the fleshy ingrowths of Enmu’s true body, shocking them. Thomas yelled out, “What in the blue God damn Hell is this?!” He then shot at the growths with his gun, but the bullets did not adequately hold it back.

“Look out,” Kyojuro then warned him in English before he readied himself to attack. “Breath of Flames, First Form: Unknowing Fire!” He then dashed through the entirety of two cabins at blazing fast speed, slicing the ingrowths within seconds and shaking the entire train heavily. As Thomas watched in awe, Kyojuro easily destroyed Enmu’s growths with his sword.

“Holy shit…”

Meanwhile in another cabin, Zenitsu screamed and fainted as soon as the growths appeared, causing Inosuke to yell at him, “Hey, wake up! Don’t fall asleep on me again, Tenjitsu!” He then looked at the growths and sighed to himself, “Damn it, I’m on my own, I guess… Oh well, this won’t be a challenge for me!” He then readied his swords and declared, “Breath of the Beast, Fifth Fang: Crazy Cutting!” He proceeded to slice just about everything in his general direction, causing the growths to back off of him and Zenitsu. “Yeah! Take that!” He then heard moaning behind him and turned around. “Huh? Himitsu?”

Zenitsu had managed to stand up despite still being asleep after he had fainted. “I will… I will…” 

As Nezuko ran into the cabin, she yelled, “Guys! Guys! Enmu’s body is the whole train! Everyone’s in da-!” Suddenly, a growth managed to catch both of her arms at once, paralyzing her for the time being. “What the fuck?!” She screamed as she tried to fight back. “Get off of me!”

Just as suddenly as the growths appeared, a still asleep Zenitsu then pulled out his sword and quietly declared, “Breath of Thunder, First Form…” With a bright flash of light, Zenitsu disappeared and the sound of a sword slicing through flesh was heard before the growths fell off of Nezuko and landed on the floor. “Thunderclap and Flash, Six Fold!”

Inosuke and Nezuko stared at Zenitsu in utter shock, both of them at a loss for how he was able to attack while sleepwalking. The former quietly remarked under his breath, “Holy shit…”

“I will protect you, Nezuko…”

Nezuko blushed, replying, “Zenitsu-san…”

“I will… Agh…” Zenitsu then fell over, snoring as he did. “Raaagh… Nezuko-chan…”

Nezuko, annoyed he had done so, sighed. “And there it is…”

At the same time, James and Susamaru held back Enmu’s growths in the front cabin right before the coal carrier and engine of the train. Susamaru declared as she drew her two swords, “Breath of Flames, Second Form: Rising Scorching Sun!” She then unleashed an arching attack, slashing upwards at a tentacle-like growth and killing it. “Honey, how are you doing?!”

“I got this,” James replied as he then declared, “Breath of Flames, Fourth Form: Bloomin’ Flame Undulation!” He then held back a growth that had tried to grab a hold of one of his legs before trying to go for one of his shoulders instead. “Take that, fucker!”

“What is this shit anyway?!”

“I think it’s Enmu’s body,” James correctly inferred without knowing it. “If it is, we gotta find his head somewhere on this damn train!”

Suddenly, a soldier stabbed Susamaru in the back with a bayonet and tried to grab her. She yelled, “Agh, shit!”

James quickly pulled his revolver with his free hand and shot the soldier with his last bullet. The soldier yelled as he shot back with his rifle, hitting James in the shoulder, “That ain’t enough!”

James screamed in pain, “Fuck!” As he did, Susamaru pushed the soldier off of her and stabbed him with one sword before decapitating him with the other, her stab wound now healing. However, as she turned around, she screamed, “Look out!”

A tentacle then grabbed James by the leg and suspended him upside-down. James was thankfully able to grab his sword and swing upwards, freeing himself. Tanjiro, having just walked in, yelled, “James-san, are you alright?!” He then slashed at another tentacle with his own sword before it could grab him.

As he got up from the ground, he was annoyed at himself for letting himself almost get caught. “Enough… Enough is enough! I’ve had it with these motherfuckin’ demons on this motherfuckin’ train!” He then looked at Tanjiro and said, “The train’s his fuckin’ body, ain’t it?”

“Yeah,” Tanjiro nodded. “We gotta find his head, and we gotta find a way to stop Enmu from attacking people with these growths.”

“I got an idea,” Susamaru then chimed in. “James, you said you can induce dreams, right?”

“Yeah?”

“What do they call it when they put an idea in someone’s head like that? You mentioned it to me a while ago…”

“Inception?” James chuckled. “Y’all are insane if ya think we can perform an inception on someone as experienced in dream infiltration and creation as Enmu.”

“Maybe you two can at least keep him distracted,” Tanjiro inferred. “Come on, you guys could try.”

“Fuck it,” James shrugged. “Why not? Tanjiro, you’ll have to come with us. We’ll need a third guy for this.”

“Got it,” Tanjiro nodded as James cut himself on his arm again to make the blood pattern necessary for the Dream Creation Spell.

As he did, Kyojuro and Thomas ran in, with Kyojuro asking, “What’s the situation up here?”

“The three of us are going to put Enmu in a dream,” Tanjiro replied to him. “James-san is gonna try to perform an inception on Enmu and get him to stop attacking us. We need someone to guard our bodies.”

“We can do it,” Kyojuro replied with a nod. He then asked James and Susamaru, “Are you two sure about this?”

“Yes,” both of them replied in unison.

“Very well,” he replied with a smile. “I wish you all of my luck. Make me proud, you two.”

Chapter Text

Susamaru, James, and Tanjiro awoke on a busy American city street teeming with life ranging from horse-drawn buggies to automobiles. As Tanjiro looked around, he asked the couple, “Where the Hell are we? This doesn’t look like something Enmu would dream of.”

“That’s because it ain’t,” James explained. “I architected this dream. Specifically, I dreamt up a city street in Chicago. Because Enmu’s entire body is the train, I was able to rope him into the dream as well. Now all we gotta do is find him.”

“And I think I found him,” Susamaru replied as he pointed out a man who looked just like Enmu up ahead on the sidewalk. “What do we do?”

“We kidnap that son of a bitch,” James replied as he drew a gun. “Hey, Enmu!”

The man they talked to immediately turned to them. He immediately replied, deeply confused, “Yes, that’s me. Who are you?”

“We wanna have a talk with you,” James replied as the three of them approached him and several onlookers watched them. “See that taxi? Get in.” He motioned to a taxi parked next to them that was awaiting its next passenger. To emphasize he meant business, he pulled a gun. “That ain’t a fuckin’ request.” He then turned to Tanjiro. “Get the driver outta here.”

“Okay, okay, okay,” Enmu complied as they all got in.

As they all climbed in, Tanjiro pulled his own gun and told the driver of the taxi, “Sorry, sir, but this is for your own good. Walk away.” The taxi driver quickly jumped out of the driver’s seat, allowing James to hop in. Tanjiro and Susamaru, meanwhile, stayed in the back with Enmu.

“So,” Enmu asked them all. “What’s this all about? Who are you people?”

“We’ll talk later,” James replied. “Now, here’s what’s gonna ha-“

He was soon interrupted by gunshots, one of which barely missed Tanjiro, who screamed, “What the fuck?!”

“Oh shit,” Susamaru replied as she drew her revolver and saw several men on horseback riding up towards the taxi. “I think it’s those guys up there!”

“Motherfucker,” James replied as he shifted into reverse and returned fire with his revolver. “This bastard’s got a weaponized subconscious!”

Tanjiro replied as he put Enmu down for cover, “A what?!”

“It means that his subconscious will generate armed projections to hunt down outsiders,” James explained. He then shot and killed one of the projections, yelling, “Eat lead, asshole!”

Tanjiro also returned fire, striking another projection and killing him. He then turned to Enmu and told him, “Just stay down! We got this!” The projections were armed with rifles, and as the last of them was shot, James shifted back into forward drive and sped off. “Is that the last of them?!”

“No,” James replied. “It’s gon’ keep makin’ those bastards until the dream ends or we get killed!” As they rounded a corner and went down an alleyway, he told the gang, “Let’s get somewhere where we can hide!”

…

Back on the train in the real world, Kyojuro and Thomas were successfully guarding the sleeping bodies of James, Susamaru, and Tanjiro from three soldier demons who were firing at them. Thomas held them back with suppressing fire from his shotgun as Kyojuro told him in Japanese, “Get back! I’m gonna take care of the flesh growths Enmu has on the first few cars all at once!”

Understanding his body language, Thomas moved back and reloaded his shotgun as Kyojuro readied himself. “Here we go…”

“Breath of Flames,” Kyojuro then began as he charged himself with power. “First Form: Unknowing Fire!” In an instant, a flash of light burst from his position as he sped through half of all the cars on the train at lightning speed, immediately killing off the growths Enmu had developed and permanently damaging them, hampering their ability to regrow. The attack was so powerful that it caused the train to tilt and wobble slightly, and once it ended, Kyojuro had traveled a total of five cars down the train. He simply smiled and said to himself, “And that’s how you do it.” However, his smile soon went away when a feeling of dread hit him.

“Holy shit,” Thomas said to himself in amazement. However, before he could say anything else, Patrick Cleburne had managed to shoot him twice in the chest, causing him to recoil in pain. “Motherfucker!”

“How could you?!” His former leader was clearly angry with him. “You’re a traitor! You betrayed your own brothers, and for what?! Just because ya saw some lights inside that oriental boy’s dream?!”

Thomas replied by shooting him, but Patrick was able to immediately stand back up and grab James’ sword. “Damn it!”

“I might as well deal with you this way!” As he readied the sword, he thought to himself, “One hit. I just need one hit to the neck.”

“Lord,” Thomas thought to himself in prayer. “Give me the strength to succeed!” He then picked up Tanjiro’s sword from his sleeping body. “Let’s settle this with a duel then, sir! May the best man win!” 

“Indeed!” The two then charged at each other from opposite ends of the train car before meeting in the middle with a clash of metal and the sound of slicing flesh, blood spilling onto the seats and the floor from both of them.

“Shit…”

For a few seconds, both stood still, the tension in the air incredibly thick. Then, Thomas’ head slid off of his body, confirming that Patrick had won the duel. “And with that, I’ve won.” He then turned to Thomas’ disintegrating body, telling himself, “‘Tis a shame you had to do that. You were a great soldier, Tommy.”

Suddenly, Kyojuro charged forward and attempted to decapitate Patrick. However, he deflected his blow and quickly ran to the back of the train car to climb up to the top. Kyojuro exclaimed in English, “You won’t get away!”

“You can either chase me and leave your comrades with no protection,” Patrick then told him before he left the car and threw down James’ sword. “Or you can stay behind! I leave the choice to you, young man!”

“Damn it,” Kyojuro muttered to himself as he realized he was right. “He’s right. If I leave now, Kamado and my Tsuguko will be unprotected. For now, I’ll have to hold back!” He sighed and thought to himself, “Please, hurry the Hell up in there, guys!”

…

Back in the dream world, the gang had hid out in a warehouse while James prepared to create a second layer of dreaming by once again painting a symbol in his blood for a ritual. As he did, Susamaru kept her gun pointed at Enmu the entire time. “You’re not going anywhere just yet.”

Enmu asked her, “What is he doing?”

“None of your fucking business,” Susamaru replied to him as she put the barrel of the gun up against his head. James then looked at her and nodded, to which she then whacked him across the back of the head with her revolver, knocking Enmu completely out. “Now he won’t know that we dreamt up another level.”

“Tanjiro,” James instructed him as he set his backpack down and pulled a spell scroll out. “This spell scroll will create an explosion when you set it on fire to cast it. Use this lighter to do it.” He then handed him the scroll and the lighter as well as a stopwatch. “In exactly ten minutes, set the scroll off. That will give us two hundred minutes, or three hours and twenty minutes, to work with in the next dream level before y’all initiate that Kick Event to wake us all up. Hold off any of the soldiers deployed by Enmu’s subconscious.”

“Got it,” Tanjiro replied. “I’ll hit the stopwatch when you cast your spell, James-san. What kind of dream will you come up with?”

“I’m gon’ go with a hotel,” James explained. “Somethin’ a little more closed-off in terms of an environment. In there, I’m gonna try to pull off a little trick on Enmu they call Mr. Charles.”

Susamaru replied in concern, “Mr. Charles? That’s way too dangerous, honey. Don’t do that. You told me yourself how dangerous it was.”

“What’s Mr. Charles?”

“Basically,” James explained. “I have to go in and convince Enmu that he’s trapped in a dream, which he is, mind you, but the trick is that I have to convince him I’m actually a projection of his subconscious that was created to help protect ‘em. It’s risky because it can lead to his actual projections findin’ me out and tearin’ me apart. I’ve pulled it off only once before successfully.”

“And that’s exactly why I don’t want you to do it,” Susamaru replied.

“It’s the best God damn way we can induce Inception, and that’s final,” James argued back. “Now come on. We ain’t got much time.”

Susamaru sighed and replied, “Ugh, fine.”

…

Back in the real world, Inosuke and Nezuko ran to the front of the train, having figured out between them were Enmu’s real head most likely was. Inosuke asked her, “Are you sure about this, Kazuko?!”

“It’s Nezuko,” she replied back as they ran into another car. “And yeah! It’s the most logical place he’d put his head!” As they saw Kyojuro up ahead, Nezuko asked him, “Rengoku-san! How’s my brother?!”

“He’s fine,” he replied as he turned to her. “So are James and Susamaru.”

“I think I know where Enmu’s head is,” Nezuko then explained to him. “I think it’s in the front of the train!”

Inosuke exclaimed, “The head of the beast is the perfect spot for this bastard’s real head!”

“It wouldn’t hurt to check it out,” Kyojuro replied. “I’ll work with Agatsuma and protect the passengers! I think our American friend Patrick is taking his soldiers all the way to the back of the train to flee. By the way, before you go…”

“What is it?”

“Nezuko,” Kyojuro then told her with a smile. “You have truly earned the title of Demon Slayer tonight. I saw how you protected the passengers and your comrades from harm. Any doubts in my mind about your loyalty are gone, and anyone who continues to have doubts about you… Well, they can honestly shove them up their ass, because they’re wrong.” He then chuckled. “I don’t really know what other way to put it but that.

Nezuko smiled. “Thank you, Rengoku-san.”

“Anyway, go get Enmu first,” Kyojuro then concluded. “What about Patrick?”

“We’ll deal with him later,” Nezuko replied before she and Inosuke then ran to the back exit of the car to climb up on top. “Enmu takes priority!”

Chapter Text

In the second dream level, Susamaru and James awoke in a crowded hotel lobby. They immediately nodded to each other and walked to the front desk, where they met a projection of a hotel clerk. “Good evening, sir,” the clerk addressed James in English. “Are you and your wife interested in a room?”

“Indeed,” James replied, pulling money out of his pocket. In the dream, he had converted the Japanese yen he carried to dollars. “We need it for just a single night. How much will that be?”

“A single night would be three dollars,” the clerk replied.

“This should cover it,” James replied as he handed over three dollars to him. “Here’s an extra dollar as a tip.”

“Why thank you,” he replied. “I’ll get your room key right away. Do you have a preference for a room?”

“Not particularly,” James shook his head. He then turned to Susamaru and told her in Japanese, “Now we have to find Enmu.”

“Where are we gonna find him?”

“He should be easy to reco-“ He then looked to his right and saw the man of the hour checking in at the front desk alongside him. “There he is…”

“Well, that was easy.”

James then walked up to Enmu, asking him, “Hey there. Is your name Enmu?”

“Huh?” He then looked at James with an expression of surprise on his face. “Oh, yeah, I am. Who are you?”

“You’re in a lot of danger,” James explained to him. “Follow me.”

“Follow you?” James then began walking away to find a secluded area of the lobby, with Enmu quickly trailing behind him. “Hey, wait a minute! I need to know why I’m in danger! What’s going on?!”

“I need to tell him in a place with no people,” James thought to himself as he rounded a corner and entered a men’s room. “If I tell him in a crowded place, the projections will look at me with suspicion.”

Meanwhile, Susamaru carefully went into the women’s room next door to carry out the next part of the plan, and the only part she agreed with: Pretend to be Muzan and induce Inception by suggesting Enmu to give up, so that a projection of Muzan in the next dream level would do the same. As she walked out, she had changed herself to look like Muzan’s infamous female form, with her voice changing as well due to the ability to change anything about yourself in a dream. “Okay,” Susamaru said to herself as Muzan. “Time to find him.”

In the men’s room, Enmu asked James, “Who the Hell are you?”

“I’m Mr. Charles,” James explained to him. “I’m the head of security you set up.”

“Head of security?”

“Not in real life,” James told him. “But inside your subconscious. I’m in charge of the weaponized aspect of your subconscious, and I believe that someone is trying to infiltrate your mind. Tell me, how did you get to this hotel?”

“Well, I…” Enmu stopped as he realized he could not remember. “I don’t know.” Then, the room shook somewhat, startling him to a degree. “What the Hell was that?”

“You’re inside a dream, Enmu,” James replied. “None of this is real.” He then picked up a small glass that someone had left behind in the men’s room and poured water into it. As he set it down, the water inside tilted somewhat to one side before resting back in its normal position. “See that? That wouldn’t be physically possible in real life. You should know, since your powers allow you to induce dreams in other people and infiltrate the dreams of others.”

“Right,” Enmu nodded. “I know all that.”

“When you weaponized your subconscious,” James once again lied to him. “You created me to lead the projections that would suppress any unwanted visitors.”

Suddenly, a man armed with a pistol ran into the men’s room. “Die, you piece of shit!” James replied by tackling him to the ground and disarming him of his gun as the two struggled before pulling out his own and shooting him in the chest, killing him.

“See that?” James lied to Enmu and told him that the projection that he created was actually an intruder. “That was one of the intruders. They’re comin’ after ya to commit Extraction.” Extraction referred to the more commonly employed opposite of Inception: The infiltration of someone else’s mind to steal secrets. As he handed Enmu the gun, he told him, “We can’t let these fuckers win, Enmu.”

Enmu took the gun and aimed it at his head, saying, “I know for a fact that if I shoot myself here, the dream will end.”

“Hang on,” James begged him. “Don’t do that! Normally, y’all would be right, but I think these kidnappers injected ya with a serum that don’t make that work. Instead, you would end up in a state of Limbo.”

“An infinite space in the subconscious…” Enmu then put the gun down from his head. “Of course… My master wouldn’t want me to do that.”

“Exactly,” James replied. “Your master wouldn’t want that. In fact, I think he may be in this dream.”

“Wait, really?!” Enmu was shocked. “He really came here just to see me?!” He smiled, laughing to himself in delight. “How marvelous! My master really does care about me!”

James then opened the door to let Susamaru disguised as Muzan in. “I believe y’all are Kibutsuji Muzan?”

“Indeed,” she replied with a polite smile. “Thank you, Mr. Charles. Your men have protected me from harm very well here.” She then turned to Enmu and took on a look of seriousness. “Bow down before me.”

With a snap of her fingers, Enmu was forced down on his knees. “Yes, Muzan-sama?”

“You have served me well,” Susamaru commended him. “As we speak, you have killed those pesky demon slayers in the real world, and I have Akaza taking care of the kidnappers who have put you in this dream. The boy with the hanafuda earrings is no more. Your colleague, Cleburne-san, is picking off any other resistance left with his own men.”

Enmu smiled, thinking his work had paid off. “I am truly glad to hear that, Muzan-sama. It was a bit tough, but we managed to kill those fuckers eventually.”

“Now that you have completed your task,” Susamaru told him. “You have one final mission: Go into the subconscious of Nezuko, that one traitor demon. I believe she is running around here, as she is the last of those pests to die. Mr. Charles will see to it that she is captured alive and dragged to his room.”

“My room is 529,” James told him. “It’s on the fifth floor.”

“After this,” Susamaru further explained. “You will go into her subconscious and destroy it. Upon doing so, you will return to the real world and cease all further combat activities, as there will be no more enemies for you to face on the train.”

“As you wish, Muzan-sama,” Enmu gleefully replied.

“Now,” Susamaru concluded as she walked out. “Get to it. I’m able to leave this dream by suicide due to my resistance to the serum your kidnappers used. I’ll be sure to take care of them in the real world.”

Once she was gone, James helped Enmu back up on his feet and gave him some speedloaders with ammunition. “Do ya know how to use a revolver?”

“Yeah,” Enmu replied. “Hairo taught me before the Flame Pillar killed him.”

“Good,” James nodded. “Y’all are gon’ be proficient when we’re done.” As soon as he said that, another projection ran into the men’s room, this time armed with a knife, but Enmu quickly shot him dead. “Good job!”

…

Back on the first layer of the dream, Tanjiro slashed through two projections armed with swords of their own before pulling out a revolver and shooting a third dead. He had now killed six armed projections within the dream, and as he reloaded his revolver, he said to the still and asleep bodies below him, “Come on guys, hurry it up in there.”

“In here!” Two more armed projections then burst into the room, both armed with rifles. “Die, bastard!”

Tanjiro dodged a bullet in a literal sense before decapitating one of them with a sword blow to the neck and stabbing the other with a knife he pulled from his belt in the chest before stabbing him again in the stomach. Now covered in blood, he spat on the ground and said to himself, “They’re not real, they’re not real, they’re not real…”

…

Back in the real world, Nezuko and Inosuke made it to the front of the train, where they found the conductor at the controls, armed with a knife. “Don’t come any closer!”

“Sir,” Nezuko asked him as she held her sword in one hand and pulled her revolver out with the other. “Please, put the knife down! I don’t want to kill any humans if I don’t have to!”

Suddenly, several arms of flesh sprung up from the floorboards. Inosuke yelled out, “Holy shit!” He quickly slashed at them, holding them off as Nezuko tackled the conductor, getting stabbed in the abdomen in the process and coughing up blood on him. 

“Come on, fucker!” As the two struggled, Nezuko managed to punch him in the head, knocking him out but not killing him as her wound healed. “There!” Nezuko then quickly holstered her revolver and slashed at an arm of flesh as a second grabbed her leg. “Fuck!”

“Hang on,” Inosuke then told her as he freed her.

“Breath of Water,” Nezuko then declared as she readied herself. “Sixth Form: Whirlpool!” With several circular slashes, she managed to cut off most of the top of the engine car and deal significant damage to Enmu’s body up front. As the pieces fell to the wayside she pointed to the ground and said, “His head is definitely here.”

“This will be too easy!” Inosuke then jumped up into the air, declaring, “Breath of the Beast, Second Fang: Rip and Tear!” With a powerful slicing motion, he cut into the metal floor of the engine car.

“His neck bone,” Nezuko thought to herself as she readied for another attack. “It’s time to finish this!” She then declared, “Breath of Water, Eighth Form; Waterfall Basin!” With a downward slash, she attempted to strike Enmu’s neck, but instead, she was deflected by several fleshy growths. “Fuck, he deflected me!” She then looked at the unconscious conductor and grabbed his body, telling Inosuke, “Haul his body to the back!”

“I’m the leader of this mission,” Inosuke told her. “But that sounds like a good idea, so I’ll take it!”

“I’m not sure who decided you were the leader,” Nezuko replied in confusion. “But okay, I guess…”

“He’ll be safe and sound, Kenko!”

“Nezuko!” As Inosuke left with the conductor, Enmu’s flesh rebuilt the train car and arranged itself in a circular manner around his neck bone. “What the fuck… This is… His healing factor is insanely high!” Nezuko then attacked an arm of flesh that came at her. “But I have to keep going!”

Chapter Text

On the fifth floor of the hotel, James and Enmu walked down a hallway, both ready to attack any threats coming their way as they stepped off the elevator. “Get ready,” James warned him as they stepped off.

“Get over here!” A man then aimed a derringer at the two. Enmu and James immediately shot him once each, killing him.

“Damn,” Enmu replied. “Are we gonna have to deal with this in the next level of the dream?”

“Possibly,” James informed him as they rounded a corner. Just as they did, two men tackled them to the ground. 

Enmu quickly punched the man who attacked him and aimed his free hand, which contained his second mouth, and told him, “Go to sleep!” In an instant, the man fell asleep on the ground just as James was able to shoot the man who tackled him and kill him. “That was too fucking close…”

“You ain’t kiddin’,” James replied as the two dusted themselves off and continued to Room 529. Once the two entered the room, James informed him, “Stay here. I’m gonna nab that Nezuko girl that’s infiltrating the dream.”

“You got it,” Enmu replied as he sat on the bed. 

In reality, James was going to get Susamaru, who would pose as Nezuko inside the dream. As he walked out of the room, he saw another man run up to him armed with a knife. James quickly punched him and slammed him into a wall, knocking him out. “Fuckin’ bastard…”

As he entered the women’s bathroom on the fifth floor, a female projection noticed him and yelled, “What the fuck are you doing here?! Get out!” She then threw a bar of soap at him. “Get the fuck out of here, pervert!”

“Fuck you, lady!” James then threw the bar of soap back at her. “Don’t throw soap at me!”

Susamaru quickly jumped out of a stall next to her, having just transformed her appearance to match Nezuko’s, and quickly tackled her to the ground. “Shhh, shhh, shhh!” She then pulled a knife and slit her throat, killing her. As she got up from the ground, she looked at her outfit, which matched Nezuko’s current DSC uniform, and realized it was now covered in blood. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

“Just leave it,” James told her. “It’ll make it more believable that you’ve been fightin’ here anyway. These damn projections are gettin’ more and more annoyin’ by the minute.”

“How’s my voice as her?”

“You sound just like her, dear,” James replied before the two began to move in for a kiss together. Just before they touched lips, James stopped himself. “Okay, hang on. This is weird.”

“Why?”

“Well, for one, ya don’t look like yourself.” James had stopped himself due to a feeling of awkwardness. “And two, ya look like Nezuko, and she’s a bit too young for me.”

“But I’m not Nezuko-chan, though?”

James sighed. “If I was to disguise myself as Tanjiro, would you want to kiss me, or would that feel weird?”

Susamaru pondered to herself for a few seconds before she replied, “Okay, yeah, I see what you mean.” She then reached up and gave him a quick peck on the lips anyway. “But I can still do that!” She giggled to herself before she looked in the mirror. “Wow… I look so much like her… So, what’s the plan, dear?”

“I’m gonna restrain you,” James explained. “And you’re gonna act like I caught you snoopin’ ‘round in Enmu’s dreamscape. I’m gonna then pretend to put you to sleep, and put Enmu to sleep for real. Once he’s asleep, you’ll wake up from your fake sleep, and you’ll put me to sleep in Enmu’s mind in a shared dream I create.”

“Got it,” Susamaru nodded. “Let’s go.”

…

A few minutes later, James knocked at the door to Room 529. “It’s me! Mr. Charles!”

Enmu quickly opened the door and was greeted with James dragging ‘Nezuko,’ actually Susamaru, into the room. “So, you got her?”

“Yep,” James replied. “Nailed the bitch about a floor below. She put up a real nice fight, but my men took care of that.”

Pretending to resist, Susamaru shouted as she struggled against the ropes binding her hands and feet, “Fuck you, asshole! Get me outta these fucking ropes right now!” She then spat on Enmu. “How ya like that, you bastard?!”

“I don’t appreciate that,” Enmu replied with a creepy grin on his face. “But when we’re done with you, you won’t be able to get angry anymore, because you’ll be stuck in a dream for the rest of your pathetic and short life…”

“I’ll put her to sleep,” James told Enmu. “I have ways of doin’ such.” He then snapped his fingers and told Susamaru, “Now, go to sleep…”

Instantly, she collapsed to the floor, managing to convince Enmu that she was out cold. “Not bad,” he told him. “Looks like I don’t have to use my special hand here.” He then laid down on the bed next to him. “So, I need to fall asleep now?”

“Indeed,” James replied.

“That’ll be easy,” Enmu told him as he aimed his hand’s mouth at himself. “Go to sleep…” In an instant, he fell asleep, knocking himself out cold.

“Get up,” James told Susamaru. “Put me to sleep with that scroll I gave you.”

As Susamaru got up, she opened the scroll up before she drew a knife and cut her thumb. She then painted a line of blood on the scroll before using a lit match James handed to her to burn the scroll up. “Good luck.”

“Thank you,” James replied as he laid down on the ground and soon after promptly fell asleep, the scroll spell working. 

Susamaru then locked the room’s door and went to the bathroom, telling herself, “Time to get out of these clothes and go back to normal…”

…

On the third dream level, Enmu and James appeared on a beach in what was presumably Japan. Enmu immediately turned to James and told him, “I think I recognize this place, Mr. Charles. Did that girl intrude in my thoughts that much?”

“Yeah,” James replied. “I guess she did. This is her subconscious after all.” Because this was actually James’ subconscious, he knew that he needed to make sure a projection of Nezuko appeared in it.

As the two walked down a boardwalk next to the beach, packed to the brim with merchants and visitors, they both looked around for Nezuko. Then, as they rounded a corner and headed onto a street, something odd happened to the street in front of them. “Hey, look at that!”

“Shit…” The whole street and all the buildings and people on it was curling up into the sky, and yet nothing happened. To the objects and people on the street, it was as if everything was normal. “She must be architectin’ her own dream,” James told Enmu. In reality, he had no idea why the street had suddenly curled up. He thought to himself, “What the fuck is happenin’ here?”

Enmu then stepped onto the curled-up street, which was now tilting at a 90-degree angle upwards. He walked on it as if nothing was wrong, and as he looked, he saw that from his perspective, ‘Mr. Charles’ was now standing in an odd way. “I’ve had this happen before. Come with me, Mr. Charles.”

James quickly joined him, leaving behind the normal plane for the vertical one. He then checked his stopwatch, which revealed how much time he has. “Okay,” he thought to himself. “About six minutes have passed in here, which is 18 seconds in the second level and about 0.9 seconds in the first level. Exactly 70 minutes have passed in the second level, which means 3.5 minutes have passed in the first level. I hope Tanjiro can hold on for another 6.5 minutes, Susamaru another 130 minutes, and us about another 43.3 hours. I’ll need to find a way to kill 43 hours with Enmu before it’s time to initiate the Kick Event. That also means we cannot kill the projection of Nezuko in this dream until the very end, or otherwise he’ll find out she’s not the one dreaming.”

Enmu asked him as they passed a bakery, interrupting his train of thought, “How long are we going to be here?”

“43 hours,” James told him. “The reason being is that Nezuko had a Kick Event planned in the real world that will go off in about 130 minutes in there. Even though we have to kill her here, we have to wait until it’s time for her Kick Event, or otherwise, we run the risk of being trapped in Limbo.”

“Oh yeah,” Enmu replied. “I remember that. We’ll find her and keep her alive for 43 hours, and then we’ll kill her.”

“Sounds like a plan,” James replied as he looked around and noticed something odd. “Wait a minute,” James thought to himself as he looked at all the people and realized he could not recognize any of them. “I don’t recognize these people. They can’t be from my subconscious… Oh fuck…” The horrifying realization hit him like a freight train. “Oh fuck! This ain’t my fuckin’ dream! This is Enmu’s dream! That means I gotta hope he’s created a projection of Nezuko to kill…”

…

Back on the second dream level, Susamaru readied explosives in the hotel room, placing them around James and Enmu’s bodies as she periodically checked her watch. “Okay… I got 120 minutes to go.” Then, she heard knocking on the door. “Who is it?”

As she grabbed a gun, a man on the other side demanded, “Open the door! We know you’re in there!”