Honeymouth

Red

TW: death, blood, violence, thoughts of... something akin to cannibalism

as usual, i'm only posting an update this soon because both this chapter and the previous one are pretty short

-=+=- are line breaks

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The air reeked of blood.

The scent of rust was pungent enough for anyone, even without Tanjiro's sense of smell, to notice. It was even harder to ignore when one happened upon the far-too-still bodies of their siblings, bathing in crimson.

" Stop !" Nezuko cried out, and Hitoshi felt his blood chill when she, cradling a bloodied Rokuta in her arms, dove out of the house.

He wondered, as he watched a 'man' with red red red eyes step out from the house and towards his siblings, if there was something wrong with him. If his crappy luck was potent enough to spread to those around him, just to fuck him over all over again.

" Don't ," his sister shouted, "Don't you dare touch him!"

Don't die , Hitoshi remembered hearing. He watched as the blank-faced man step forward, and with a wry smile, hoped that his other self wouldn't be too pissed at him for failing to beat his record.

"Don't," Hitoshi said, echoing his sister's words as he threw a hatchet straight at the man's face. Demonic Michael Jackson's head jerked to the side, eyes narrowing when a few strands of hair were pinned to the wall.

He raised his horribly unnatural gaze to meet Hitoshi's, then, and blurred , clawed fingers wrapped around Hitoshi's throat.

" G-guess ," he wheezed, " Y-you're not... a fan of the h-haircut. "

"You have no presence," Muzan said instead of acknowledging his words.

Hitoshi let out a dry laugh, even as he struggled, eyes briefly flicking to the side when Nezuko began slowly pulling herself and Rokuta away from the conflict. "S-so I've been t-told."

Muzan's gaze roved over his form for several seconds before his gaze caught upon Hitoshi's right ear. His grip tightened, veins bulging, and Hitoshi choked. "Hanafuda earrings...," he muttered, tone cold.

" Re-remind you... of s-someone? " Hitoshi forced out, baring his teeth at the demon.

Muzan's arm tensed, but his grip slackened moments later. "I—" He shoved Hitoshi away, suddenly, when a knife slashed through his sleeve. Both of their gazes jerked towards the right, where Nezuko stood, panting as she backed away with a large knife in her hand.

"S-stay away," she whispered, trying to project a confidence she clearly didn't feel, "D-don't hurt nii-chan."

While Muzan's glare intensified, Hitoshi felt his blood run cold. "Nezuko, ru —"

Blood splattered against his face, a pained gasp ringing throughout the air as Muzan plunged his fist through Nezuko's chest.

"Impudent children," he muttered, glancing at his bloodied nails and ignoring the bloodcurdling scream that was torn from Nezuko's throat when he ripped his arm free.

"You...," Hitoshi rasped, staring at the blood pooling around the girl's - his sister's - body. "You bastard."

Muzan turned back towards him, expression reflecting a mixture of rage and disgust. "That's all you have to say, after I've just killed your sister?" he asked, stepping forwards. Hitoshi flinched when he reached towards him, but the man grabbed his chin unforgivingly, claws digging into his skin. "This is what he's been reduced to? Pathetic."

Hitoshi's expression twisted, pulse picking up speed. She's not dead , he wanted to spit at him. She's not dead, and she won't die, because that's not how the story goes .

Instead, he hissed as Muzan pressed his claw into Hitoshi's skin, dragging it along his jaw until meeting his ear. "But you were right. You do remind me of someone. You certainly share his annoying tenacity and incessant need to protect . And, of course, that earring ." He leaned forwards, plunging his finger into Hitoshi's flesh and tearing a strangled noise from the teen's throat, "So perhaps," he murmured as thousands of fire ants began to scurry under Hitoshi's skin, "You will be the one to conquer the sun for me."

Muzan dropped Hitoshi's head unceremoniously, then, looking amused at the whine that escaped the teen's lips. He paused, briefly, before turning around to trudge back through the forest.

But with you here, a voice murmured within his mind, continuing his thought from before, this is no longer the same story.

Hitoshi's arm twitched uselessly in Nezuko's direction, and within moments, his vision was swallowed by shadow.

-=+=-

Violet eyes snapped open, nose catching a tantalizing, rich scent. His mouth watered as his claws dug into the ground, pulling his body towards the scarlet-stained snow.

His heart sang with glee as he inched closer. His blood spun through his veins, urging him to move move move , for himself, for Muzan-sama . To taste the piquant flavors of blood and flesh dancing upon his tongue, and to settle his aching stomach.

He crawled and crawled and crawled, and he reached a lump of color; a girl . With his fangs bared and claws extended, he reached forwards, and—

" Toshi! " someone cried, causing him to startle. " Nezuko !"

Tanjiro ran towards him - Hitoshi - with blood-stained sandals, and fell beside him. "Are you okay?" he asked, looking terrified. He glanced towards Nezuko, taking in a sharp breath. "W-what happened, 'Toshi? Everyone's..." He swallowed. "T-there's blood everywhere."

Hitoshi stared at him, peering into red, kind eyes, and vomited onto the snow.

---

yes, nezuko is dead, though it's not just because of a 'gotcha' or angst

i did it for a few reasons:
a.) If Nezuko was awake, I doubt she'd just leave her brother to die, and I doubt Muzan would let her get away with trying to stab him when he already has a target to give blood too (I mean, he literally murdered a group of people because they were drunk and bumped into him)
b.) Plot reasons I can't share. A pretty big hint is in the summary, though.
c.) Two demons, I feel, would be rather redundant and kinda overpowered, in the end (and therefore would remove the hardship that makes demon slayer into such a great story). I thought about making Nezuko a slayer instead, but she wouldn't have survived because of the point a.
I realize that most people won't like that decision - heck, *I* don't even like it, which is the main reason I plan to write another character-insert fic where Nezuko survives - but that's why, if you wanted to know ;,D

if you were wondering, hitoshi did try to save his siblings by taking them out elsewhere, which is why he was outside the house. due to an unfortunate series of events, though, they were picked off in small groups. i did write about it in other drafts, but it always turned out terrible, so i just decided to throw hitoshi into the action

anyways
Thanks for reading, even if you dip because of this death ;,D