The Demon Queen

The Bath

I tried not to watch Gyutaro as he was eating. I had never before seen someone eat so quickly and desperately in my life. He almost seemed to be like a wild animal, but I didn't want to make such a correlation to him. He didn't deserve to be labelled something like that.

When he was finished, he had soup liquid dripping from his chin. I then looked over his dirty body and ragged clothes as his somewhat droopy, bloodshot blue eyes gazed up at me.

"Would you like a bath?" I asked him.

"A ... what?" he asked after a short pause.

"A bath. It'll give you a better presentation for when I introduce you to Muzan."

"What's a Muzan?"

I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "Didn't Douma tell you? Muzan's the one who turns humans into demons, not me."

Gyutaro shook his head. "No. He told me he'd bring me to his Master. That's all."

All right. It seems that's me right now, I thought

"Oh, okay," I said. "So, would you like a bath?"

Gyutaro seemed to be in a state of mild shock.

"Look, if you don't want one, you don't have to take one --"

Even though you reek so horribly.

"Stay like that, if it's more comfortable to you. I don't care."

Even though you're stinking up the room.

Gyutaro looked to his sister, who had remained under his arm through the entire time he was eating. "And ... can Ume have a bath, too?"

I looked at her. She certainly needed to be cleaned, but she wasn't capable of washing herself in the state she was in. She was hardly alive, and was unable to do anything but breathe. In all honestly, I wasn't even sure if she could survive a transformation to become a demon. That was another reason why I wanted to extend a hand to Gyutaro and make him more comfortable, in hope he would somehow take the news better if his sister was incapable of surviving her transformation.

I looked back to Gyutaro. "Yes," I answered to his question. "She can't have the same kind of bath as you, but I can clean her up with a cloth."

"And me?" he asked.

"You can take a bath independently in a bathtub."

"Where will you be with Ume?"

"Outside the bathroom."

"No."

"What do you mean, 'no'?"

That was how I ended up in a bathroom with two naked young humans, wiping the ash, dirt, and grime off of one of them.

"Be very careful with her face. It's important,"Gyutaro told me, watching me from his place in the bathtub.

"I know. You've said she's very pretty and her face can't be ruined."

Damn it, Dandruff Boy. Will you focus on cleaning yourself instead of supervising me?

"You agree with me, don't you?" Gyutaro said with a prideful smile.

I glanced at him leaning over the side of the bathtub with his full attention on me. I then turned back to Ume, trying to ignore him.

"She's the most beautiful you've ever seen in your 5000 years of life, isn't she?"

My eyes shot over to Gyutaro. In a lightning-like speed, I slammed my hand on the top of his head and thrust him into the water.

"Will you shut up and clean yourself!?" I yelled as the bath water splashed all over me. "And I'm not 5000 years old! Do I look 5000 years old to you?"

Bubbles brewed in the water until I let go of Gyutaro's head and he popped back above water.

Gyutaro gasped for air. He then looked at me with a scrunched-up, angry face. "What the fuck was that for!?"

"You're annoying," I grumbled and went back to cleaning Ume.

"I'm annoying?" he said, pressing his teeth together. "No. You're annoying!"

"Wash up your damn hair. You smell like rat piss."

Gyutaro screamed and then shoved his head into the water. He started to aggressively scrub at his hair. I ignored him for a while, but soon got annoyed by the sound of his scrubbing himself so violently. 

"What the hell are you doing?"

Gyutaro didn't respond and continued to scratch at his face. His fingernails clawed through his skin in some places, mainly in the areas of his face covered by his dark birthmarks. Blood from the wounds he was inflicting onto himself dripped into the water and slid down his wet fingers.

Blood? I thought.

Gyutaro continued to claw at himself.

I looked at the blood rolling down his hands onto his arms.

My eyes widened. He's human! I thought. That blood ... he's actually hurting himself!

I set Ume down so that she lay on her back on the floor and quickly turned towards the bathtub. I grabbed Gyutaro's hands tightly and yanked them away from his face.

"What the fuck are you doing to yourself, you idiot!?" I yelled at him.

He stared at me in shock.

"Do you want to look like me or something!?" I asked him in a loud, scolding tone. "Do you want to cut yourself up so you have scars all over your fucking face!?"

Gyutaro was speechless.

"That isn't cleaning your face! Injuring yourself and making yourself bleed isn't cleaning yourself, you stupid Dandruff Boy! Stop doing this to your--"

"Onii-chan?"

The sound of the girl's weak voice immediately silenced me. I watched as Gyutaro's eyes widened. They immediately became filled with tears.

"Onii-chan?"

"Ume!" he exclaimed in a desperate cry and sprung out of the bathtub to go to her.