Wraith; | My Dearest Mother |

9

.Chapter Nine.
Upper Moons
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"Lady Nakime," he started, staring at the seated woman intensely. "Why is my mom trying to kill demons? I thought she was nice." She extended a hand towards him, pulling him closer and patting him head.

"Her mind is horribly twisted in the beliefs Ubuyashiki has fed her. She will kill the demons she encounters just to rid them of life." Ruby eyes were watery. "Douma said that I wasn't alive and she let me die. Would she kill me too?"

"Yes. In a demon slayers eyes, you are one of us. And they take that as a threat." Nakime knew she should have told him the truth, but sadly, he'd only want to see her again if she did. "Did she only want me back to kill me?"

She bit her lip at his saddened expression. What else could she tell him? She knew it was manipulation, and it would make him upset for her to say 'yes', but she had to keep up with such a selfish lie.

"Yes. She might have tried to kill you if I and Douma hadn't taken you away." It pained her to say things like that to him, knowing damn well it wasn't true and she was only doing this so she could be happy. But he was all she actually cared about.

As long as she had him— everything would be fine. And who was he to even judge her word?

Tanjiro did not think twice about what she said to him. Lady Nakime would never lie to him, she never has. Lady Nakime is not evil.

"It's gonna be okay. As long as you stay here, with me. Nothing can go wrong as long as you don't leave." Nakime could acknowledge she was a horrible person, but she knew if her child left then she'd be in the same pain Kie must have felt. The pain of losing your only son.

She pulled him into a hug as he cried, like a child. The thought that he was still, only a child crossed her mind. The mind of a child is easy to bend into a specific mindset if you so choose. "Mommy's here." She hushed quiet cries and rubbed his small back, humming.

He started calming down at the sound of her voice. Mommy's here, there's no need to cry. She'll keep you safe from the bad people who want to harm her little boy.

Tanjiro's legs dangled from a ledge, watching the upper moon meeting. Mother said he was aloud near them, and that she didn't want him to get hurt. She said upper moon meetings in specific got violent and messy.

So he was several platforms above, with a demon behind him. Nakime didn't want him wandering back down, so she forced the demon to stay with him. The only rule being 'I'll snap you like a twig if you so much as touch him with your filthy hands.'

"Hey, kid... uh— can you get away from the edge?" He asked, clearly not having any experience with children. "Why? Mom lets me do this a lot." He stated, watching a striped demon with pink hair punch Douma's jaw off. He had called him Akaza.

"Well, I don't want you to fall." He stepped a few feet closer. "Why do you think I'd do something so stupid?" He glanced at the demon man. He had odd purple hair and his hands had orange marks on them.

"Because you're a child."
"But you're acting more childish than me."
"I'm not the one at the ledge."
"I'm not the one who's failing at watching a child."
"I'm not failing!"
"Then why aren't you stopping me?"

That question came out of nowhere, considering Tanjiro wasn't doing anything. "Stopping you from what?" The man glared down at him. "This."

Tanjiro slit off the play form and landed on the roof that overlooked Nakime's seating. His landing was followed by a thud, which made the woman look up. She nearly gasped at the sight of ruby colored eyes staring down at her.

She suppressed a groan. She was going to kill that demon. Instead of signaling him to go back, she pat the spot next to her and he jumped down, landing gracefully on his feet.

That's something he's gotten good at. Jumping around and landing with stumbling or getting hurt.

"Yamai, I told you to stay with him." She took her eyes off the demon moons and looked at Tanjiro. "He was being annoying, and I wanna stay with you." She was slightly touched by the words, but didn't show it.

"Upper moon meetings get gruesome. The last one, upper three was almost killed by upper one because of his insolence." She explained. "I wouldn't be surprised if the same event occurred here."

"What does that word mean?" She hummed in confusion. "Insolence. What does it mean, mom?" She smiled at what he had called him. The minds of children are very easy to manipulate.

"It's like being disrespectful." He stared at her with curiosity. "But why was he punished?"

"Lord Douma is much higher than Akaza in ranks, yet he continues to fight with him." She explained, watching the exchange below her. Akaza was looking around for upper one, she supposed.

"But why didn't I get in trouble when I was mean to him?"
"Well, Lord Muzan told Douma not to hurt or kill you, remember?" He nodded. "You weren't punished because you are important. It doesn't matter what you say to Douma, because he isn't allowed to do anything about it."

"So I can talk like that to the rest of them?" He stared at Akaza who had just spotted a man sitting further away from all of them. Tanjiro could barely make him out himself. "Well," she started, putting a hand to her chin.

"I doubt upper moons one and three will put up with it. It's likely upper four won't do anything. I don't know about upper moon five. He's strange as he is ugly. And Uppermoon six has been dismantled by demon slayers."

Tanjiro kept staring at the pink haired man, who suddenly snapped his head in the boy's direction. Akaza raised an eyebrow at him. Tanjiro walked forward a few steps, before waving to him. Douma seemed to take notice to Akaza and turned around.

"Oh! Hello Tanjir0!" He yelled and waved back. Tanjiro flipped him off like the badass he is. "Ah! He's so mean to mean, Akaza!"

Akaza looked like he wanted to laugh. "Don't do that, Yamai." Nakime muttered to him. "But you said he won't do shit." She face palmed. "Please refrain from that language." She sounded a bit disappointed at his foul mouth. As if everyone on this planet doesn't have one, I was cussing rude bitches out at the crisp age of -73.

Akaza's honey colored eyes shifted to the sliver or white or blonde or whatever hair color Douma has (I literally can't tell wtf is it) haired man. "Who's that?"
"So you do like me!"
"Where did you get that from?" The man deadpanned.

"Well you hardly ever speak to me in a civilized manner!" He slapped his hands together and grinned. "So?"
"It must mean you still want to be friends!"
"I hate you."
"Sure."

"Who the fuck is he?" Akaza repeated. "Lady Nakime's child!" Douma finally answered. "At least I think."
"Is he or is he not?"
"I believe he is."
"That answers nothing."
"It kind of does."
"Just shut up already, I hate your voice."
"But how can I answer your question?" Akaza had several irk marks on his forehead and he was visible irritated.
"How long does it take for a demon to heal their vocal cords? Let's find out!"

"Can you both shut up? You're horrible influences." She was so obviously saying she didn't want Tanjiro to pick anything up from them.

Douma whined. "But you let me watch him!"
"In my defense, I couldn't find my first choice."