As Things Should Be

-8- Tamayo

It was supposed to be impossible.

She wasn't supposed to exist. By all laws of nature, of reality, of demons... Doma shouldn't have been able to hold his daughter in his arms. But he did; wrapped in a soft blanket and subject to the night air. The baby had grown fussy, though not out of hunger, only discomfort, and so Doma took her for a walk. Say what you will but not having to sleep had its perks, such as letting your love rest.

He bounced as he walked, keeping the child asleep and soothed as he paced his garden that was thick with lavender, humming a lullaby that he'd learned from Kotoha. He didn't sound nearly as beautiful as she did, but Mirakuru didn't seem to know a difference. She slept on just the same.

Doma smiled as he pulled the blanket away from the girl's face, taking in her chubby cheeks and small fingers. So small... so helpless...

All humans started out this way, round, helpless, and soft. All of them started out with wide eyes and a shrieking giggle that could force the most heartless of men to melt. Doma continued humming and bouncing as he smiled to himself.

He supposed every demon slayer was once like this too... every demon as well if you thought about it. What happened? What happened to make them so damn callused?

Was life that cruel? Doma studied the girl in his arms and wondered what life would do to her. She would also grow callused... that was life... but how? Would she keep her smile? Would she keep the wonder in her eyes?

Doma hoped so...

"You're doomed. You know that, right," a cool voice interrupted and Doma felt his spine grow rigid.

He whirled around, fan drawn as the suffocating scent of lavender, lily, and other heavy scents filled his nose. How had he been so blind? So unprepared? There was a demon so close and he hadn't even looked for it. He had assumed he was safe - that no idiot would step in his domain!

His lungs froze and he clenched his jaw, pulling Mirakuru closer to his chest. There, on the porch of the garden stood a very, very old face.

"Tamayo?" Doma laughed in disbelief. Surely not. Surely the traitor wouldn't so willingly show her face to him. 

Something ancient in him yearned to drop the child in his hands and drag that traitorous demon back to their master. She'd been allowed to live only because she wasn't a threat - that didn't mean Muzan didn't want her captured and put down. It was his duty to drag her back and put her down!

"Doma... it's been a while," she smiled softly as she stepped into the garden.

Doma felt strange. Like he was the prey here when it was so obvious that she should be the one trembling in fear. He was Upper Moon Two - her superior! He was Muzan's favored! 

"Wow, you must really have some sort of death wish." Doma chuckled darkly as he held his fan out in a warning. "Why on earth would you come to me? I'm sure you know what I'm going to have to do to you - "

"Turn me in? Go to Muzan, dragging me along kicking and screaming?" Tamayo asked coldly. Her eyes were hard and deep... like the frozen-over surface of a purple lake.

Somehow... it was off-putting.

"It is my duty as one of the Twelve Kizuki to turn you in," Doma grinned, his mask of a face hiding his mess of thoughts well.

Why was she here? What did she come for? What should he do? What about Mirakuru!?

Tamayo didn't seem the least bit concerned about his threat. She reached out and ran her hand over the guardrail of the garden, blood dripping from her fingers as her blood demon art made purple patterns dance in the corners of Doma's vision. That same blood dripped onto his garden, staining the ground that Inosuke would play in.