The Demon Queen

Reunion

With each of us fully armed with swords, and for Douma, his battle fan also at his belt, we set off to the Castle. As we moved, we could sense that the presences of many Demon Slayers were approaching the area, but they were still quite a distance away, especially considering the speed humans could travel at.

The smell of so many humans turned Kokushibou even more serious. The situation seemed to make Douma slightly nervous, as he was not expecting to be fighting such a number so soon. But I was not set aback, nor did I feel inconvenienced by the whole thing.

It was going to finish tonight. Gyutaro was going to be avenged. I was sure of it.

As we reached the Castle, I could sense Muzan inside, but something was strange. His energy wasn't right.

"Is there something wrong, Sakura?" Kokushibou asked at my hesitation when we entered the Castle.

"There's something weird about Muzan's aura," I said. "It's almost like he's not quite the same person."

BONG.

We were suddenly transported by Nakime's biwa into the room the Upper Moon meetings used to be held in. As the three of us all caught onto our surroundings, we froze.

Muzan was there, hardly looking anything like himself. His hair was long like it had been when he was a human, except it was silvery-white in colour like an old man's. Despite that, his face was still young-looking. His lower body was completely crimson red, as if all the blood vessels in his legs and hips emptied at the uppermost layer of his skin and were pressed flat. Further smashed blood vessels coated his arms and shoulders like twisting spider legs popping out from his flesh. A couple more were on his forehead, and his body was coated with the same X-shaped scars that I bore. Muzan looked at me, a feeling of shame in his eyes. He struggled to manage to speak.

Douma gasped. "Is that him?"

"M-Muzan?" I asked and stepped over to him.

"Sakura, be careful," Kokushibou warned and put a ready hand on his sword.

"Muzan," I said again as I approached him. I stood in front of him. "Muzan, you're --"

I was silenced by his hand lightly touching my face. He saw that my scars were of a brighter red than before. He frowned, full of regret and remorse.

"It got to you, too," he said. "The poison."

"It's fine. I'm okay," I said. I put my hand on top of his. "But you're --"

"Tamayo aged me," he said bitterly.

"We'll find a way to fix this," I said. "Once we kill all the Demon Slayers, we'll fix you. You can eat them all, and it'll help you recover."

Muzan hugged me. He held me tightly against him. I cautiously hugged him back, keeping in mind that there was the possibility that he'd devour me to save himself.

"Sakura," he said. "Even if I'm stuck like this forever, will you still be able to love me again? Even if I make mistakes and carry destruction with me wherever I go, will you still be able to love me again?" His head fell to my shoulder. "Will you not leave me alone?"

He seemed to be sincere. I couldn't pick up on any will to devour me or harm me. But still, I had to remain on guard. I couldn't completely trust him, and I would probably never be able to allow myself to trust him as I used to.

"I'm here, Muzan," I said and stroked his hair. "Muzan, I will not leave you, but I'm not sure if I can love you in the same way as before, after what you did to me. I want to fight with you, Muzan. I want to destroy all that has ambushed our lives and put us in fear. I want to create a world where you and I can feel safe and free. I want you to be free, Muzan."

I felt his tears at the base of my neck.

"Once we make a better world, we can see if we can return to the way things used to be ... the way things were before I got these scars that gave me the power to walk in the sun ..."

Muzan lifted his head from my shoulder and looked at me. To my surprise, his expression was not one of anger and hatred.

"Yoriichi passed some of his powers on to me, because he had such a strong purpose to kill me ... to lift the curse off of his Master ..." I said to him. "That's why I can go in the sun ... and why I can use Sun Breathing."

Muzan's eyes widened in shock. "Sun ... Breathing ...?"

I nodded. "So, will you fight with me, Muzan? And will you help me create a world where we -- where all of us that are left -- can live in peace?"

"I will," he said and kissed me.

Kokushibou came over. "I apologise to intrude on this moment, Muzan-sama, Sakura-sama, but we must prepare ourselves for the Demon Slayers. I can sense the humans getting much closer."

"Yeah, and I think they're really angry that their Boss is dead," Douma added.

Muzan looked at them. "You're right, and there's hundreds of them." He smirked. "The food for my regeneration is being delivered straight to my home."

"Muzan-sama!" Akaza called as he rushed in.

We all turned to face him.

"Muzna-sama! The Slayers have reached the grounds!"

BOOM!

A bomb was dropped from above right where we were standing.

The force of the bomb blew me away from Muzan. I fell right into Kokushibou's chest. He secured me with one arm and pulled out his sword with the other.

"Sakura!" I heard Muzan call. The bomb had created a thick, grey smoke with its collision into the Castle.

Before I could answer, another bomb was dropped. Douma screamed as his body was cut in half by the explosion. I felt Kokushibou grab onto me tighter as he protectively held his sword out in front of me.

"Get ready," he growled under his breath.

BONG!

I suddenly couldn't sense Muzan's presence in the room anymore.

"Muzan-sama!" Akaza's voice called.

"Nakime's biwa?" I asked.

BONG!

Akaza's energy disappeared from the room.

"They must have hijacked her!" I said. "There's not much time! Douma --!"

Douma quickly grabbed onto Kokushibou from behind. He laughed. "Wow, Kokushibou-dono, you are so --"

BONG!

We disappeared.