The Moon and The Sun Shared The Sky (akaren/renkaza)

Chapter Eleven

Akaza the next morning got up tidying his room before taking his dreadful walk down the stairs. He enters his foster mother's room but something feels off, the air is still and cold. He walks over as she rolls over to face him. Her poor condition suggested she wasn't going to be here much longer. Akaza looks confused at her movements, she should be conserving her movements.

" You're a demon— aren't you? " She spoke horse and poorly but the question frightened him. '' yes— " Akaza answered plainly and truthfully since she was due to die any second. " I knew you were the second night you had stayed. My only question is why not use the inn to service your hunger ", Akaza only looked confused at her lack of fear.

" I don't kill or eat women, and it's too obvious to take food from the inn " Akaza only told half the truth, this was the more logical reason but he also had formed a bond with her, there was no motivation to kill from this inn.

She speaks a mumble before her eyes close and her body becomes still. Akaza's blood runs still as he places his hand over her head— cold— Akaza's blood stills before dragging his hand over her mouth, she wasn't breathing, she had passed away. Akaza's mood becomes dismal. Akaza's eyes fog over but he swiftly wipes them, refusing to cry. It was daytime so he had to take her body and bury her later. He pulls the covers over her, rolling her over so her back is to the bed.

Akaza felt unusual, his head buzzed as the rest of him felt heavy. It felt as though the same thing happened many moons ago. Akaza's head spun as he sat propped up against the bed tears he could no longer hold pooling down his face. He swapped back to his demon form looking at his hands— was this his fault?— He wanted to become stronger and exactly at times like this, he felt sick. He felt weak like none of his training or willpower was amounting to anything. Why should he feel this way about humans though?

Akaza sat on the floor for hours, unwilling to move his body wouldn't— couldn't move. It had been at least four hours before the demon moved and he only moved to the nightstand she kept by her bed. He began pulling out the drawers, rummaging through them. He pulled out many letters and drawings. This town was quite cute, the drawings were with a tall man, a young-looking woman quite short and plump looking, and with a child between them, that or holding the child. The pictures began aging with the years soon the father leaving the pictures then soon there was only one picture looking quite recent of the woman he had watched die standing alone.

Akaza continued to rummage and found an image of the two of them she had taken saying it was mandatory for employees, she looked happy, her hand placed against his back, she truly thought of him as her son which was a bit weird but a genuine act. She took him in basically fostering him even though she had known he was a demon. Knowing he was a demon and putting up an unfazed front like she had was truly an accomplishment. Though this place was due to shut down once he buried her, her hard work protecting this place was put to waste with no family line left.

Akaza had a poor image of humans, they cheated and stole from one another for selfish gains, he knew he was a thief too at one point and he regrets that time believing it was also the same selfish gain he believed other humans to be desperate for, women had it the worst half the time being sold off by family because they were broke or too weak to provide; that's what he truly hated the ones in this world like that. The ones he hated second most were the weak in the demon slayers who believed they were part of the strong, the ones who run away, the ones who beg for their life after knowing once they joined, they were nothing more than cattle who pretend they are part of the strong.

Why was it that there was rarely a hashira that posed a challenge to him? Akaza pondered as his grip on the paper got tighter, wrinkling them in his grip.

Akaza begins tearing out the other things in the drawer, most of the items being preserved leaves, and letters. The letters seemed addressed to the mother from a demon slayer? All of the letters are seeming from this boy's perspective, all being stories of his adventures through the last one sent is telling his mother goodbye. Apparently, the demon he was supposed to fight was a lower moon and it was far too strong to him, he expected death and was ready for it. Taped to the letter was a picture of the boy in his uniform and haori surrounded by a bunch of other demon slayers. They were on a different mission and had stopped to get food, the woman had said her son got sick but he was just killed by demons. It was not out of the ordinary, demon slayers had a bad rep so keeping it a secret your son was one wasn't a big deal.

Akaza felt disappointed, what he found out only showed she had kept as much as she could from him. Which wasn't super surprising having only known her a little less than half a year, that didn't keep Akaza from feeling any less disappointed though. Akaza hated this part of human society, he always ended up creating friends and then had to leave, kill or watch them die. Akaza was suffocating in an ocean of repetition of the same foul outcome.

Akaza decides to get up since he wasn't exactly happy wasting his day on the floor. The room was naturally dark so it was impossible to tell if it was night or day without opening the window covers, which just so happened to be in the most inconvenient spot, right above the woman's bed. Akaza leaves all the notes, letters, and pictures on the floor as he goes to check the time of day. Akaza takes the lengthful stairs down and much to his surprise he had spent the whole day in her room being sad over the death of a woman he had barely known.

Akaza drags himself back up the stairs packing up whatever he seems she would need in the grave he has given himself the responsibility to make. He picks up a few of her drawings and images she had of her deceased son and husband but ended up knocking over an image she had framed on her nightstand, this one being colorized, the more he stared at it he began recognizing the pattern of all the images; all the images had the same forest in the background, he recognized it as well it had been the same forest he had entered the village from.

Akaza packs the colorized image, and a few notes and drawings, tucking them neatly into the woman's shirt since Akaza didn't have pockets. Akaza hoists the woman upon his back, taking the window above the woman's bed as an exit. The squeeze was tight but manageable. Akaza had decided to stay in demon form since if anyone saw them they wouldn't worry too much aside from the fact that Akaza was a demon. The trip to the forest is a lengthy one since the village has a lot of open space being surrounded by farms; Being surrounded by farms itself is scary for a demon since it's easier to get caught out in the open. Akaza can travel at high speeds so escaping was no problem since he only would face cowardly farmers, none of them even reach near enough speed to catch him with much ease.

Akaza reaching the edge of the forest spots two other graves, his suspicions had been confirmed. Akaza sets the woman down to the side of her son, and begins measuring the size he would need for the grave including the distance needed to not disturb the other graves. Once getting the measurement down he begins digging out the dirt making it around 6 feet deep, Akaza was unable to provide the body with a coffin so the job was much messier than the other two perfectly patted-down graves.

Akaza gathers some rocks to hopefully make a makeshift gravestone for her. Akaza, still crouched on the ground, closes his eyes and says a few prayers and wishes to the woman. Akaza's eyes flutter open as he slowly stands up " What do you want Douma. " A demon tall in stature with a defined build holding metal-plated fans in his hands steps out from the shadows "My my Akaza-dono your senses are certainly growing! " He claims happily with a condescending smile. Akaza's patience was already on a thin wire just from talking to the other demon for a few seconds.

"I'll keep it short Akaza-dono, Our lord wishes for you to join us in a few days, he wishes to talk to you about what you have been doing here? Since there's obviously a hashira here- " Akaza grumbles, turning his back to the other as he begins walking away. " I'll go in a day or two, I have to make sure me disappearing is justified here first- " Akaza doesn't stay to hear the others reply as he quickly runs off wanting to make it back and get food before it gets light out again.

~
1633 Words

^^ I apologize for this taking so long!