The Beginning of A New Era (DKT AU)

A meeting with an old friend

(Nezuko POV:)

I woke up in some white room. It took me a few minutes to blink against the bright sunlight before I could see anything. When my eyes finally adjusted, I noticed three more beds beside mine—occupied by Akira, Ishiyo, and Tengen. All three were asleep. I tried to sit up, but my back hurt intensely, so I had to lie down again. 
"Seriously?" I thought gloomily. "What am I going to do now? I can’t even stand!" 
"Well, you'll rest! Isn't that obvious?" I heard Tanjiro's voice. 
"Where did you come from?" 
"I've been in your head forever, sis. It took you way too long to wake up. That white-haired man has gotten up several times, but you can only lie there. And I thought you were a worthy opponent..." 
"Oh, shut up!" I snapped at him. Before the argument could escalate, Aoi entered the room. 

"Nezuko! You're awake!" she exclaimed in surprise and immediately rushed over to me. 
"How are you feeling?" 
"More or less okay!" I replied. "Except my back hurts a lot, but otherwise, I'm fine. How are Akira and Ishiyo?" 
"Are they your friends?" 
"Yes." 
"They're fine. They haven't woken up yet, but they're recovering quickly. They’ll probably be up by tomorrow." 
"And Tengen?" 

A shadow passed over Aoi's face. 
"I can't tell you right now. I'll explain everything when Murakawa and Takahashi wake up." 
"Oh, okay." 

Aoi checked me quickly and declared that I needed rest. She made me promise not to overdo it. Then she left the room, as there were other patients she needed to tend to. 

I looked over at my friends. One of Ishiyo's legs was wrapped in bandages, and Akira's arm looked strangely yellow. I hoped it was just from the medicine... Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. "It's Aoi," I thought. But why would she knock? 

"Come in!" I called. 

The door opened, and Zenitsu appeared. I barely recognized him! Zenitsu now had long yellow hair tied in a ponytail. He was taller than the last time I saw him, but he also looked much more serious than before. 

"Hello, Nezuko!" he greeted me as he entered, quietly closing the door so as not to wake the others. "How are you?" he asked. 
"I'm okay!" I replied. "I'm not fully recovered, but I'm much better than before." 
"I'm glad to hear that!" he said. I sensed a note of relief in his voice.

"Um, Zenitsu, sorry, but could you tell me what happened to that demon after we passed out? Is she dead?" 

The boy hesitated. 
"Alright, I’ll tell you, but don't let Aoi know I told you, or she'll kill me." 
"I promise, it’ll stay between us!" I assured him. 

"In that case... The demon that attacked you was one of Tengen's wives, who had been turned into a demon. Her name is Suma. One of the Hashira, Atsuko, captured Suma and took her to Kanao. Kanao gave her the medicine that turns demons back into humans, and now she’s relatively tame. Basically, she’s a slightly more evil version of you as a demon. Tengen had to go to great lengths to convince us, the Hashira, not to kill his wife. Let’s just say Suma is on probation. But if she shows even the slightest sign of wanting to kill, she’ll be decapitated on the spot." 

I was speechless. Suma and Tengen had been through so much... but at least they were both okay. 

"And the Hashira... I know about you, Kanao, and Inosuke, but are there others?" 
"Oh, yes! There are nine of us. Aoi and Senjuro are also Hashira. It took both of them about half a year of intense training to reach this level. I really admire them—both are so motivated! There are also two girls named Konomi Takeda and Atsuko Takahashi. The first one is extremely shy and, if you ask me, seems to have a phobia of people. Or at least, that's how it looks. The second one has Shinobu’s character—she's very kind and calm. Oh, and there are two boys. One is Hatanaka Takao. He’s very calm but rarely speaks. He reminds me of Tomioka. As for the last boy... we never see him. Kiriya-sama claims he’s the strongest among us, and there's a reason he never attends the Hashira meetings. None of us know anything about him. We don’t even know his name." 

"An interesting character!" I replied. "And Aoi is a Hashira? I didn’t know! I’ll have to congratulate her!" 
"Good idea!" Zenitsu smiled. 

At that moment, Ishiyo stirred, and I moved as close to her as I could. The girl opened her eyes. For a second, she looked surprised, but then her stony expression returned. 
"Ishiyo! How are you?" I asked her. 
"I'm fine," she replied gruffly and turned her back to me. She probably wasn’t going to say anything else. I wasn’t surprised by her reaction. That’s just how Ishiyo was. 

Zenitsu decided to leave the room, saying he needed to prepare for some mission. He assured me he would send a message through his sparrow soon, so we could communicate.

After that, Akira and Tengen woke up, and we talked for a while, sharing some funny stories. Before I knew it, it was time for bed. I lay down and pulled the blanket over my head. 
I thought a bit about this day and quickly fell asleep.

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(926 words)

If you're reading this now, I removed all ship moments. Let’s just say I got embarrassed... 😅