Gentle Old Eyes

26

So Kibutsuji Muzan, the name of the original demon as he discovered, or as he liked to call him Mu-chan, (haha gettit'? Cuz his name is Muzan and Zeno changed the z to ch but it still sounds mostly the same and hahaa??) created this weird demon hierarchy.

The 12 Kizuki didn't really exist that much yet back in good ol'1600. Zeno had heard back then some rumors about demons with numbers in their eyes, but those rumors had only started to spread in the very last years.

So the upper moons were something to be wary of, but the lower moons seemed easy enough. He encountered lower 2, and most of his information came from him. The demon couldn't say Mu-chan's name, and so he wrote it instead because of some curse and all and just wow. So complicated.

Ubuyashiki Kareki is the (horrible) name of the current head. He only recently became the head officially, as the former oyakata Ubuyashiki Kariya had stubbornly lived and already spent around 5 years only sleeping in bed, reaching a record of years lived for an oyakata.

As father Kariya couldn't really handle the corps while sleeping over 20 hours a day, Kareki had been handling his fathers duties since he was 12. This had managed to get Kareki already a lot of respect before officially becoming the head.

Kareki has two children already. One of which is a boy, namely one adorable 4 year old Ubuyashiki Kiriga who should be the one succeeding him.

Kareki, just like his name is starting to wither from the family disease. It hasn't affected the teen too badly yet as he is still indeed only 17. Zeno must wonder though, what kind of father is Kariya to name his heir 'dead tree'. Zeno can't be too sure though, the Kanji in his name could be something else other than the wither in Kare. Names during this period really are weird.

Kiriga though, is a lovely name combined from the kanji of mist Kiri and 'Ga' for 'gracious, elegant, graceful and refined'. As for how he knew the kanji in Kiriga's name, he saw the boy practice writing it. It worried Zeno a bit though, a 4 year old practicing writing their own name.

And even though it's normal to have children early, 13 for a man is still rather early even during these times. He cant blame the Ubuyashiki family though, with the rate the disease affects he only has around 25 years to live since birth and he needs to train the heir to be a proper oyakata-sama. Kareki was very lucky to have his father live right up until reaching age 30, an incredible feat for an Ubuyashiki.

Because of this curse all children including boys are raised as girls until the age of 13. Only the heir, oldest son gets special education but even then they act as girls so no one can tell which one is the heir. This hadn't been the case in Kameki's era, Kiyome had clearly grown as a boy.

Kareki, when he met the man was calm, just like Kameki. He had greeted him with eyes full of respect and sympathy. Kareki told him it was passed down knowledge in Ubuyashiki family that there lived a sleeping dragon god in this land who would aid 'the destined one' in defeating Kibutsuji Muzan.

Zeno had slightly wondered just how had Kameki passed down their conversation to his heir, Kiyome, and so on. And just how had the story changed in 2 centuries, he had referred in his conversation with Kameki to the protagonist as the empathetic child. He had told Kameki a short version of how he got his dragon god immortality, and the story had turned him into some sort of holy dragon with the passage of time.

Kareki explained that everyone in the Ubuyashiki family before him and his father particularly had been a strong believer of the dragon and destined one rising soon. And this was the reason Kareki knew even some of the details that should have blurred more with time.

The entire family is very interesting and so are their traditions. Zeno might stick around more often to learn more.

Well... he managed to contact the Ubuyashiki's again at least.