Chapter Text
“Wait!” Tatsu jumped in front of his brother as if it would do anything while a bead of sweat rolled down his neck, “He won’t kill anyone- I promise! Kamado girl was able to do it, so my brother can too!”
Kamanue was frozen in fear, cowering in front of the two hashira, and Kanae wore a nervous expression on her face while staring at the demon. Her hand was on the hilt of the sword, ready to strike if needed.
Shinobu was back to wearing her usual smile, “Ah, but how will we prove it? Your brother here has the number 6 in his eye, no? He’s a lower rank of Kibutsuji’s 12 Kizuki, he must’ve killed many people. Nezuko had a hashira, a former hashira, and proof that she never killed a single person on her side. What about him?”
Tatsu short circuited for a moment before replying, “He’ll starve! If he dares to try and kill a person, I’ll chop his head off myself. He can be useful, I promise. I just- please, let my brother live.”
“Shinobu…We should put that demon out of it’s mise-”
“No, Kanae. We should give these two a chance. We’ll just have to keep a close eye on them, one step out of line, and we can kill the two of them.” Her smile was gone now.
“...Are you sure?” Kanae’s voice was untrustful, but her eyes had a glimmer of hope.
“Yeah.”
“D-does this mean you’ll let me live? As long as I don’t kill humans and aid the corps?” Kamanue whispered shakily.
Kanae nodded and approached him, “Yes! Flower Hashira, Kocho Kanae. Nice to meet you and your brother! I’ve only once met a demon who aided the corps, in person I mean.”
Shinobu and Tatsu stared at their older siblings skeptically for different reasons.
Shinobu questioned herself with how Kanae could’ve ever met a demon like that, could she be talking about Lady Tamayo and Yushiro?
Tatsu was antsy, did his brother seriously just survive an encounter with a hashira with no violence? Even if he did fight, it would’ve been over in less than a second.
He bowed, “Lower 6…Kamanue. Thank you for sparing my life.”
“No last name?” Shinobu butted in.
He chuckled, “Well, er…I lost most of my memories after becoming a demon so…Tatsu?”
Everyone’s eyes turned to the demon’s younger brother and he squeaked at the sudden turn of attention, “Our last name is Nishiyama! I’m a mizunoto, Nishiyama Tatsu.”
“You can just refer to me as Kamanue or Lower Six.”
“Noted.” Shinobu nodded.
The four stood awkwardly together when Tatsu’s face lit up, “Hey! Kamanue, tell them about the Infinity Castle!”
“Infinity Castle…?” Kanae raised an eyebrow with a nervous smile, “Are you referring to this place?”
“I would assume, it is a castle and it does go on for seemingly infinity, and I haven’t yet properly introduced myself.” She looked at the demon, “You’re the only one who doesn’t know me. Insect Hashira, Kocho Shinobu. Kanae here is my older sister.”
“Two hashira…just great…” Kamanue muttered.
Shinobu replied with a sweet, “Hm?”
“Nothing! Nothing. Anyway! The Infinity Castle was created by a blood demon art, but as you can probably tell, given that you two are hashira, it doesn’t give off the presence of one. ”
Kanae giggled at Kamanue’s poor attempt to change the topic. He had quickly finished exchanging his prior experience with the castle. One topic he failed to talk about was his own death, and thankfully the hashira did not pry further. After the load of information was dumped onto the Kocho siblings, they shared their own encounter with the Infinity Castle.
Kamanue was able to finally ask a question he had been holding in, “Are you sure that the castle completely suits our needs? It’s likely a ruse.”
“I wish we were in a more comfortable place.” The young slayer blurted out.
“TATS-”
The floor opened up. They lost track of each other a couple times, but they all landed in the same area. A small one-story building, four futons on the floor. A long rectangular table accompanied by four cushioned chairs, each with their own color scheme and design for every person, or demon, in the house. Four empty plates corresponded to each of the chairs. The walls were a dry gray,
Shinobu and Kanae landed gracefully, Tatsu lost his balance for a second or two, but Kamanue just face planted. He grunted while standing up to examine the damage. His nose was crooked and blood was streaming out. He put a hand to it and simply held his nose. It adjusted slightly by itself, yet it didn’t look like it was fully healed. Blood kept dripping onto the floor.
“Are you not going to heal?” Tatsu plopped onto the chair that looked like it was for him.
Kamanue winced, “I need energy to heal, and I need blood for energy. I haven’t eaten a human in a really long time. I’d rather be alive with a broken nose than poisoned by a hashira.”
Kanae giggled at the joke, but stopped with Shinobu’s glare even though it was a playful one. Shinobu thought for a moment, then it was like a light bulb started up in her head, “Can you eat other demons?”
“Our master only allowed the upper ranks were allowed to eat other demons-”
“Well he’s not your master anymore, is he? Say his name.”
“I- I don’t know if the curse is still active!”
“If you truly don’t follow him anymore, say his name.”
“Shino.” Kanae spoke in the same voice as Lady Tamayo while scolding her assistant, Yushiro, for being wary of Shinobu.
“It’s fine! I’ll say it…” He paused for a few seconds before forcing out the words, “Kibutsuji Muzan!”
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
Eventually it turned to 30 seconds, then a minute. Nothing happened. Kamanue slumped his shoulders and sighed, “Man…I thought I was gonna die.”
“Me too.”
“Shinobu…”
“I’m joking, Kanae!”
Tatsu saw where Shinobu had gotten her authoritative presence from, but he comprehended that her sister was the one in control now, “Hey guys! We just completely moved on from the demon eating subject.”
“You are way too calm! I almost just died!”
“But you didn’t! I wonder if I can just…”
His words trailed off and a wriggling human…demon hand appeared on the plate with blood trickling out. Some of it got on the table. A small napkin appeared and Tatsu wiped off the blood.
“What are you guys waiting for? Sit down! Get some food for yourself while you’re at it.”
A rice ball appeared on his plate, devoured in a few bites. Kamanue stared with hunger in his eyes at the hand. He whipped his head around and turned his attention to the inexperienced slayer, “Tatsu, be more formal around the hashira! I’m a demon, but at least I understand that.”
Shinobu pushed back her chair, “I don’t mind.” she said with a sinister grin, “Also I’d be careful with the food! We shouldn’t trust the castle too much.”
Tatsu’s eyes widened. He laughed nervously while looking away and rubbing his neck.
Kanae sat next to her, “Me too, I don’t exactly enjoy being formal.” She gave a sincere smile.
Kamanue eyed the hand hungrily, and everyone else eyed him. He ripped off one finger and plopped it in his mouth. It was delicious. Another finger, the other, he ate until the entire hand was gone. He wiped the blood from his face with a napkin and absorbed the blood on his hands.
“It isn’t bad.”
Tatsu stifled a cackle, “‘Isn’t bad,’ you ate that in like 1 second!”
“You still have rice on your face.” Kamanue replied blandly.
He wiped it off quickly, “No, I don’t!”
“This is a great discovery! Lower 6 can eat other demons instead of humans! It doesn’t seem to have any side effects on his body…for now.”
“For now?” Kanae’s voice sounded as if it contained genuine worry and concern for the demon.
“Demons eating each other is very much uncharted territory, we know it happens, but it’s only been done with permission from Kibutsuji. This guy right here has supposedly escaped his grasp and eaten other demons that are under his control. I know one human that can eat demons while not turning into one due to his strong digestive system, so perhaps if we run into him we’ll ask about it.”
“I don’t like you talking about me as if there’s a chance I could be lying.” He said, annoyed at the hashira.
“Kamanue, I’m very much on your side, but our skepticism is justified. You have killed and eaten scores of people, being a former part of the 12 Kizuki only proves our point further.”
He remained silent for a while after Kanae’s response. Tatsu still couldn’t be bothered to take a shred of this situation seriously even though, earlier he was so intent on making sure Kamanue knew he didn’t forgive him, and had also been begging for his brother’s life. Maybe it was the assurance that the hashira were willing to trust the demon.
“This conversation sucks! Maaaan, I wish I could do something fuun! The airplanes at the Mist Hashira’s estate were-”
A stack of origami paper appeared on the floor, there was one half-finished airplane with a mist pattern on it, “Hell yeah!”
“Tatsu, stop using the Infinity Castle for your own wants, I doubt that it’s safe.”
“I agree, but there’s no other way to survive. We should try to only use necessities, but I guess we can make an exception just this once until we can confirm this isn’t dangerous.” Shinobu smiled softly at the immature slayer’s antics, so much joy and whimsy. Something she didn’t remember the last time she truly experienced.
Tatsu finished folding the already started airplane, proudly holding it up, “Another slayer showed me how to fold these things while we did the competition at his house.”
He skittered over to the window, opening it and throwing the plane. His eyes sparkled with enthusiasm while he watched just how far the plane went. It disappeared out of sight and Tatsu went back to making planes, writing messages in them too. He didn’t let any of the others look at them.
“It’s a secret! I can’t tell you.” He said.
☾.＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ ☁️ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊☁︎
Tatsu snored and Kamanue sat protectively next to him. The Kocho sisters sat at the table and conversed with each other for a while. Their conversation was purely whispers as to not wake up the sleeping Tatsu. Shinobu brought back a topic from earlier in the day. Kamanue’s ears perked up. Kanae’s entire body stiffened.
“You mentioned meeting a demon who escaped from Kibutsuji before Kamanue and Nezuko, yes?”
“...Her name was Tamayo. She had an assistant who I never was able to meet but his name was-”
“Yushiro. I worked with the two of them to curate drugs that were used against Muzan with permission from the master. I doubt it was enough though.”
“Yes of course. I do not mean to diminish your skills or Tamayo’s, but the demon king is a formidable foe. It’s a fact we must acknowledge. On a lighter note, how was working with those two?”
“Ah, Tamayo was kind and polite. I have to say I was a bit wary of her demonic nature at first, but I grew to respect her for the hatred she had for Kibutsuji along with how much time she devoted to her studies. Her assistant on the other hand was a bit…”
Kanae giggled, “Excessive? Yushiro was a bit much when it came to the topic of Tamayo, he was always glaring at me.”
“Exactly the word I was looking for! Himejima also knew of them, I think they met once or twice before hashira training began.”
Kanae looked at her empty plate with downcast eyes, “Himejima…I should’ve said goodbye to him before I departed on my mission.”
“It’s not your fault, that piece of shit Uppermoon Two killed you.” She dug her nails into the table.
“Please Shino, mind your language…You also forget I wasn’t the only victim of his. You were too.” Kanae moved her hand to hold Shinobu’s, her younger sister’s hand was shaking.
“I was no victim, my death was planned. I ingested wisteria poison into my body every day, enough so that I became the cheese in a rat trap for demons.” Shinobu’s grip tightened on Kanae’s hand as she lowered her head. The Flower Hashira noticed a couple tear drops falling onto the table.
She whispered the words that were exactly what the Insect Hashira needed to hear, “You did well. You no longer need to hold your rage. Our younger sister has advanced greatly over the years, and I have zero doubts in my mind that she will be able to kill him.”
Kamanue listened to every word, the two of them seem to have forgotten about his presence. Around the mention of what he assumed to be another hashira or at least another important figure in their lives, he decided it was best to not disturb them. He laid down discreetly and shut his eyes, pretending to sleep.
The mention of a younger sister brought the end of the conversation. He heard scraping of chairs and the shuffling of clothing while they walked over to the futons. He wondered for a moment how Shinobu and Kanae could ever feel safe sleeping next to a demon when he remembered a crucial detail. These two were hashira, they could pick up danger from a mile away, even while in their sleep. They could likely even fight while sleeping! Of course, not as effectively as being conscious, but still better than any ordinary demon slayer.
Kamanue heard soft sniffles coming from Shinobu for an hour at least before they ceased as she slept.