foreign / demon slayer

CHAPTER 2

The breeze was gentle. I'm on my own time. After running around all night slaying demons left, right and centre.

It didn't tire me though, I'm not a being that requires rest. I knew this from a very young age. I knew since when I was tasked with taking care of the Ubuyashiki children.

I've been around since long before their birth. I'm not centuries old like the rest of what people mistake my kind to be.

See, I'm my own species, my own presence... my own extinction. When I die, all of me dies, thus my extinction.

I let my eyes fall to the stones on the ground, as I sat on the wooden patio that seemed to surround the entire estate. Why was I conceived? That's a stupid question, I already know why.

She was a rape victim. No one would care enough to listen to her even with her work status. They assumed she was trying to get the most out of her connections.

A presence other than my own. Hm.

I looked to my left to see what I remembered to be the water hashira. I have a feeling we understand each other when it comes to lost ones, though, I haven't really lost anyone. I never knew my birth parents. Only the death of my mother. The taste of her flesh. Still, I understand how it feels, I've witnessed those on the field watch their loved ones die.

He looked at me, his eyes never faltering when the wind brushed against his eyelashes. His hair looked messy yet tidy at the same time. What caught my eye wasn't his mismatched kimono, no, it was his eyes. His gaze, it told a carefully woven story.

"Aki... I apologize for Shinezugawa's words from yesterday. It probably won't mean much coming from me."

He looked calm. Why would he apologize?

"I assume you're the person he was talking about. What is your name?" Why was he Mr.Different?

He looked down for a second, he looked like someone who was constantly misunderstood.

"My name is Tomioka Giyuu... see, I'm not like the others, so he calls me different." I believe I'm starting to see the story unfold.

"He misunderstands you. He thinks you're full of yourself... Why do you believe you're not strong enough to be a hashira, Giyuu?"

There was a disturbance in the world at that moment. A true sense of bonding towards something as treacherous as me.

He looked at me with hope in his eyes, why?

Mother, I like this man. He's different.

I feel a sense of what people would call a sibling bond.

...

"Would you... like a hug... Tomioka?" I called him by his first name. Maybe he won't mind, I doubt he will. Especially with the way he looks at me. The atmosphere is comfortable, with the birds chirping in the distance.

He shifts closer to me, a little awkward at first, but he eases his way over. I open my arms expectantly, I haven't hugged someone since the early years of the Ubuyashiki children, am I doing it right?

Finally, the world unpauses as we meet each other's bodies. The contact is warm, not as warm as the sun's presence, but close. The hug is tight, and my shoulder becomes damp.

Why is he crying?

He mumbles something quickly, most wouldn't hear but I'm not like most.

"Thank you." You're welcome.

After a few moments, he pulls away turning his head quickly, wiping his tears. "I'm sorry..."

"Hm, don't be."

♪※⁜※⁜※♪

It was finally night. I had been tasked with making sure the children were safe and comfortable. I brought them glasses of water since I wouldn't be able to do so through the night as I still needed to complete missions.

I quietly enter their room. "Aki? Is that you?"

A gently bowed towards him. "Yes, Kiriya-sama. I brought the five of you water. Is there anything you need?"

He nodded his head and so I left the tray next to his futon for when he gets thirsty.

Immediately I left. Any normal human would think I had teleported with such a speed. But I didn't have time to lollygag. My first mission was on a mountain far from here. No problem.

♪※⁜※⁜※♪

What the hell? Muzan's presence? Shit. He doesn't know I exist, and the Ubuyashiki family would like to keep it that way.

It's best if I lay low and conceal myself. I quickly found a dead animal nearby and stripped myself of everything on my body, hiding it under the dead deer... poor deer.

"Blood demon art, concealment technique, second skin." My body infused into the deer using its rotting blood. I never liked doing this as my bones would grind themselves into tiny pieces until nothing was left.

I was lucky, as Muzan had calmly walked past the deer.

"Nakime, take me back." And in an instant, he was gone.

Why was he out here on a snowy mountain? There aren't any spider lilies... that's for sure.

I reversed my blood demon art, putting on my uniform and arming myself once again. Being naked isn't something I find wrong. In the end, everyone shares the same features according to their gender.

Quickly running up the mountain, following Muzan's footsteps, I end up at a house.

Blood... everywhere. No. Stop that. There are death row inmates who would taste better than the innocent. I shake my head, trying to abandon those thoughts.

I checked everyone in the house, six total bodies. Three of them are female.

Wait, this one here has a chance at living, if she becomes a demon that is. It's risky... but Kagaya said to save human life no matter what.

I bit my wrist sucking the blood to hold in my mouth. I then brought our mouths together, plugging her nose so she swallows the blood. To make sure this goes smoothly, I made a small cut along her palm, dripping the blood directly from my wrist into hers. Thanks to my healing factor, we were now both completely healed.

Why did my gut feel this way, as if I was doing something wrong?

Mother... did I make the right choice?