Douma's obsession - Demon Slayer fanfiction

Meeting

"Miri!" A loud banging on her door awakened her. "Miri, are you in there?" the person on the other side of the door called impatiently. With her eyes half closed, Miri yawned and leaned on her elbows. "What?" she replied in a sleepy voice.

The next second, the door opens and a pink-haired head peers inside. Mitsuri's expression changes from stressed to amazed when she makes out both Giyuu and Douma in the bed next to Miri. Giyuu was on his stomach with his face buried in Miri's hair while Douma had his arm draped over her and Giyuu from the other side. All in all, it must look very cozy from the outside.

"There you are Giyuu! I've been looking for you too. Our meeting with the other Hashira's is in half an hour." She laughs and shakes her head. "Shit," Miri palms her forehead and quickly jumps out of bed to sprint to the bathroom. She didn't want to show up late again...

Slightly disturbed by her sudden disappearance, Giyuu lifts his head lazily to blink at Mitsuri. "I'll be right there..." he mumbles before dropping back into the mattress. "Douma, at least you should show up..." Mitsuri tries a little frustrated, but all she gets is a sleepy groan, which makes her give up.

Soon Miri rushes into the corridor where Mitsuri is waiting for her. "Still on time?" she asks and receives a quick nod. As they start to walk through the halls, Mitsuri nudges her from the side. "Spill the tea! How was it?" she whispers excitedly.

Miri can't help but giggle a little before she gives Mitsuri a suggestive glance and starts to tell her about the events of last night. Of course, she made sure to include the spicy details... after all, Mitsuri was her best friend.

"Giyuu did what?" Mitsuri gasps with open mouth. "I always knew there was more to him than this grumpy and unimpressed side of him." She proudly confirms herself and makes a fist pump. "Oh yeah, he definitely proved that last night," Miri chuckles as they both turn the next corner.

A large sliding door made of carved wood led into the next room where the meeting would take place. Some huge sitting cushions were arranged in a small circle around some candles. Miri could count eight of them.

Muichiro - the Mist Hashira - had already arrived. He sat on the opposite side of the circle with his legs crossed and his eyes as cloudy as usual while he stared at the ceiling. Like always, he didn't seem to notice them at all. His black hair fell smoothly over his shoulder as he laid his head to the side in thought.

With a gentle smile, the girls took a seat right next to him glancing around the room expectantly. They didn't have to wait long before the door swung open again and Sanemi entered the room, accompanied by Obanai - the snake Hashira.

Miri greeted them with a small nod. "Tell me, Mitsuri, is this everyone?" Obanai hums and gracefully sinks down on the seat right next to her. His snake curls around his neck and mirrors his interested glance towards Mitsuri, who blushes a little. She had had a thing for him for some time, Miri remembered.

"Hmm, except for Giyuu and the Upper Demon, we only need to wait for - Ah, there she is - Shinobu!" she replies, winking at Shinobu - the Insect Hashira - as soon as she spotted her. Miri watched in fascination as she walked across the room without making a single sound. It looked so effortless, yet her toes never seemed to completely touch the floor. She sat down next to Miri.

"Hello my friends, it's so nice to see all of you again. We can start now if you don't mind," she explains in a calm voice. The others murmur in approval before Obanai speaks.

"I assume we all know what happened here in our headquarters yesterday... my question is: how do we prevent it from happening again? Right now, we cannot trust any of the people in leadership positions. He says in a monotonous, descriptive voice. Okay, so he wasn't going to talk about the main problem right away...

The discussion began. Shinobu and Miri had several ideas on how they could organize the missions more efficiently without involving so many parties in the process. That way, they would be more flexible and it would be harder for spies to infiltrate them. "And what about all the people who are still here and have jobs? What about them?" Sanemi asks. That was a good point...they couldn't just kick all the other people out. It went back and forth.

In the middle of their discussion, the door opens again and the lights begin to flicker. The conversations immediately ceased to see who was late. One after the other, Giyuu and Douma trot in, still very sleepy. Miri wanted to slap both of them in the face out of embarrassment when a few knowing looks went around the circle. Why couldn't they just hurry up their lazy asses?

The atmosphere became noticeably tense as Shinobu and Obanai stared at Douma critically. Of course, all the other Hashiras could sense the dangerous power emanating from the demon, as well as the cold breeze that followed his appearance. Douma himself seems to be completely oblivious to this, as he yawns loudly. "I can give you all the names of my followers I sent here, if that will end this pointless discussion," he mutters, sitting down right next to Shinobu as if he belonged to them.

The next second, Shinobu was on her feet and pointed her Katana at him. "Who the hell decided it was appropriate for that demon to come in here?" she shouts. Guiltily, Mitsuri winks at her with red cheeks. "I thought we were going to talk about him anyway, so he might as well join us..." she explains awkwardly.

Meanwhile, Douma inspects Shinobu's poisoned Katana and taps his finger on it with great interest. "That's an extraordinary piece I would say..." he comments approvingly, "If I intimidate you that much, you can keep it of course," he adds putting on one of his dark smiles.

Shit, he was going to have things escalate! Miri already saw the disaster in her mind. Shinobu huffs. Before she could snap back at him, Giyuu intervened. "He's already here...so why don't we continue..." he suggests diplomatically. Thank God, at least Giyuu was half awake, Miri though and let go of the breath that was stuck in her throat.

"Okay, as you say Giyuu," she hears Obanai from the side. He had bent forward and looked between them with a scrutinizing expression. "But then you have to explain why we shouldn't kill this demon along with you and Miri, because you help him."

When it came to Miri's well-being, Douma wasn't in the mood for jokes anymore. A sudden coldness crept across the floor and through the pillows as he leaned forward to stare at Obanai with lowered eyes. "You can try to kill me, but I can't guarantee that you will live after that," he growls.

Obanai narrows his eyes. "Was that a threat?" he asks quietly grabbing the hilt of his own Katana.