• 鬼の刃 • Oni no Yaiba

一

The nichirin blades, given to me by a pillar, while I was still a child, weighed on my hands, I had followed him there, to a stinking gutter, while he stooped in the intestines of a man, unaware of my presence, I positioned myself. People were talking and laughing loudly in the nearby streets.

Not that I was a hunter, or someone with combat experience, but the oni in question had killed children in my house, one of the houses in the Red Light district, and no one had even cared, because they were not considered important or worthy of protection, they were too ugly and therefore could not serve in the house, much less become oirans.

The smell of the viscera disgusted me, and I felt sorry for the victim until I saw his face.

I lowered my blades when I saw Hotoke-sama's twisted face from the pain of death, he was the owner of the house, he was the one who had kept my mother and sister working there for years, even when they wanted to get out of there and live a dignified life elsewhere, Hotoke-sama had also disfigured my face with a knife when I turned down one of his clients months ago. And most importantly, he was the one who was neglecting the lives of the fatherless children in his damn house.

I think my getas made some noise when I moved, as the oni tightened his muscles and as soon as I knocked the nichirin blades down on the floor, he turned to me, flaunting his hideous teeth.

By God, knowing Hotoke was dead made me almost show a smile that would match the oni's, I had always hated him, he was too despicable as a person.

Although the oni had killed him, it was this same demon who had devoured the children and I could not forget that.

He prepared himself for a jump, I took the blades again, and his weight collided with my body before I could prepare to strike a blow.

Of course, I wouldn't be able to strike anything out.

The oni didn't even speak, aiming at my neck he opened his mouth, ready for a bite - somehow I managed to nail the two little nichirins into it and he bellowed in pain, his claws had stuck in my arms and warm blood was starting to soak my favorite kimono. His strength was overwhelming and one of my thin arms gave in to it, the bone broke on the spot, making me scream, as he began to bite the blades in an attempt to break them, it seemed to smile as I watched my despair.

But if these were my final moments, at least I was relieved that my little family was free of the wicked Hotoke. They could live a quiet, happy life away from this district.

In a brief moment, in a delirium caused by pain, I thought I wanted to have ended Hotoke-sama, I wanted to have the strength to do it, I wanted to be the oni.

My thought was interrupted by a squirt of hot blood - the oni's head bumped into mine when it was separated from the neck by a larger blade.

A tall, muscular man with white hair raised the blade dirty by the devil's blood, he also raised the oni's head and plucked out my tiny swords as if they were toothpicks, depositing them beside me.

The body and the head of the oni disintegrated like smoke.

"Thank you." I thanked him, struggling to get up, because of the broken arm, what a excruciating pain.

"You did an flamboyant job defending yourself from the oni." That's a strange word to use, but after analyzing him well, I realized that his appearance was also unusual, a red painting adorned one of his eyes, and small crystals swayed from an adornment on his head. "No need to thank me, I was just doing my flamboyant job. I'll take you home, you need to treat your arm."

The man left me in the tatami at the entrance of the house, where I was greeted with a not very discreet cry from my sister and amazement from the other women who lived and worked there.

He instructed me to take care of my arm, and if he was curious about the blades, he hid his interest well - the old water pillar had given me both as a gift, when he saved my mother from a hungry oni, he had said that I was brave enough to try to attack the oni, even though I was a child.

And just a few seconds ago I was thinking about being an oni...

To have all that strength, it was tempting... especially for a weak person like me.

It could end in the blink of an eye, people like Hotoke, wicked onis too. I could hunt down all wicked beings, from humans to demons.

The pain took me out of my thoughts again and I realized that the man who had beheaded the demon was no longer there.

A demon hunter, certainly from a high level. You could try being a hunter, couldn't you? But that would stop me from killing humans.

What the hell am I thinking?

A feverish state struck me suddenly, and I ended up passing out, my sister's cries still echoed in my skull when I let the pain take me away.

"Mitsuko! Mitsuko!" she screamed, Mitsuko, a name that meant child of light, what an irony, now this child of light gazed lovingly at the darkness.

When had I become so corrupt?

I think I knew the answer to that.

Hello people, if you have read so far, arigatou from the bottom of my kokoro ❤ and p.s I swear Mitsuko is (almost) a good person.

This is a small introductory chapter, which might change ^_^ but anyway, I needed to write something about Kimetsu.

Gomen for the typing mistakes.