Slayer of the Five Leaf Clover

Chapter 37: Memories of the Demon Siblings

(No one's p.o.v.)

Flashback 

Hibiki was greatly loved by her parents from the moment she was born due to her beauty. They considered her a jewel because they believed that she would become an Oiran. Oiran is the highest-ranking courtesan in a red line district, which Hibiki's family was born in. Because of this belief, her parents showered her with love and affection. Then, when Hibiki's mother become pregnant for a second time, her parents were hoping it would be a girl, only to have their hopes crushed as it revealed to be a boy. While the mother and father were livid towards their son, Hibiki absolutely adore her younger brother. Sadly, the older sister had to watch her brother suffer for nothing as she got everything because of their parents' dislike of their second child. Dokuso's childhood was one of tragedy as his parents refused to give him any affection at all, not even feeding him or so much as acknowledging his existence for example. Despite his terrible life while living under the same roof as those two horrible adults, there was one light in his ever darkening and hellish life: his older sister, Hibiki. While their parents showed him nothing but cruelty and neglect, his sister showered him with the love and affection he deserved, telling him that no matter what, she would never leave him and that she would always protect him. When Dokuso turned 10, after asking for even a little acknowledgement, his parents gave him a terrible beating while Hibiki could do nothing but watch her beloved brother suffer. What they said to their son next shook her to her core, "You piece of trash! HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO US LIKE THAT! Lucky for us, your big sister will become an Oiran when she turns 15. Once that happens, we'll abandon you and enjoy our new lavish life!" 

 The truth was revealed to Hibiki right then and there. Her parents never truly loved her, they simply thought of her as nothing more than their ticket to an easier life. They simply pretended to love her so that she would use her influence as an Oiran to support them. It was at that point Hibiki decided that she and Dokuso deserved a better life, one that would have nothing to do with their terrible excuses for parents. So, on a dark, stormy night, the siblings packed up their belongings and ran away from home unbeknownst to their parents and never looked back. Having no other relatives, the siblings were forced to live on the streets and fend for themselves. A year later, Hibiki saw a notice in front of a bar saying that Shamisen players were offered to play music and they would get paid for their performance. Hibiki got the job mostly due to her beauty, but she was also quite good at playing Shamisen and was able to gain a source of income for her and her younger brother. 6 years went by, Hibiki was now 21 and Dokuso was 16, and things seemed to be going well for them until tragedy struck. Hibiki's boyfriend had been secretly stealing money from her gigs without her realizing, but Dokuso noticed and wanted revenge on the bastard who was stealing from his sister. Dokuso attempted to poison Hibiki's boyfriend, however the bastard caught wind of his plan and decided to deal with him. Armed with a knife, he attacked Dokuso by stabbing him in the back. Although, through a strange telepathic connection between the siblings, one that they became aware of a few years prior, Hibiki knew what happened to her brother and quickly made her way to his side. Upon arriving on the scene, she took the knife from her boyfriend and stabbed him multiple times until he died. 

 Hibiki quickly picked up her badly wounded brother and left the corpse of her boyfriend behind to search for help. Dokuso was bleeding out fast and his sister began to realize that she wasn't going to be able to save him in time and started to fall into despair. And just when it seemed that all hope was lost, Hibiki and Dokuso were found by a certain demon, one who had took an interest in the sister's beauty since she herself was beautiful as well. This demon was a woman slightly younger than the siblings before her with snow white hair dark colored, scandalous clothing, and symbols engraved onto her eyeballs that they couldn't identify. The female demon said, "It's very tragic, an elder sibling searching for someone to save their dying younger sibling. It's been a very long time and vaguely remember it, but me and my big brother were in the same situation as you two. Then, someone found us by chance and offered to help us, but he warned that we would lose our humanity in the process.  We accepted and we were reborn as demons. Seeing you both in this situation makes me feel sentimental, so I'll make you the offer that we were given so long ago. I will save you and your brother, but in order to do that, you must become demons like me. Just make your decision quickly, your brother is fading fast." Hibiki didn't hesitate for a second and made her decision, "I accept, please save my brother?" The demon scratched herself to make herself bleed before pouring it into Dokuso's wounds, triggering the transformation from human to demon. After that, the demon said to Hibiki, "To become a demon, a human must either ingest or be infected by demon blood. That's how we multiple. Now, it's your turn, cup your hands and drink every last drop I'm about to give you." Hibiki did as she was told and cupped her hands to catch the demon's blood before drinking all of it. The transformation wasn't exactly painless, but it was successful as the siblings had become demons. Time passed and Dokuso and Hibiki grew strong enough to be recognized as candidates for the 12 Kizuki by Muzan Kibutsuji himself. However, such positions must be earned by challenging and defeating a current member of the 12 Kizuki. And since demons had recently begun to prey on human aristocrats who have great magic power, the siblings have been hunting and consuming humans with Marechi or high magic power in order to grow stronger as well.

 Flashback over

  (Dokuso's p.o.v.)

  As my severed head was laying on the ground and slowly disintegrating, I asked the Demon Slayers, "Why would Demon Slayers give me, a demon, a painless death? I-i tried so hard to kill you two yet you both killed me mercifully, so why?" The one with ash blonde hair answered, "When you mentioned your sister, we realized that there were 2 candidates, what's more, you were siblings. Knowing that, we felt bad that our friends killed your sister. In fact, you two probably had a good before suffering the burden of becoming demons, right? We thought that you shouldn't have to suffer anymore. Please, be at peace and reunite with your sister in the next life, we both wish for your happiness." I couldn't believe what I was hearing, the people who killed me and my sister were actually showing sympathy towards a demon like me. All of the Demon Slayers I fought before all looked at me with hatred for being a demon, viewing me as nothing more than a man-eating monster. But these two looked at me like I'm a poor soul going through eternal suffering. This was the reason why they kill demons, to set them free from the cursed existence we were forced to live. As I realized that, tears began to pour from my eyes as I was about to completely disappear from the world and pass on to the afterlife to reunite with my dear sister. But before I did, I said one last thing to my saviors, "T-thank you."

 (Asta's p.o.v.)

 The demon had completely disintegrated while expressing his gratitude for setting him free of his cursed life as a man-eater. We took a moment to pray for him before Liebe suggested, "Let's go, Asta, we need to go meet up with the others." I nodded and we began running to the dungeon's treasure room to continue our mission.