As Things Should Be

-21- Trial

"I won't go during the day." Doma looked up at the stars and felt himself take in a breath for patience.

"Daki, we have to - " he began.

"No!" She cried, crossing her arms and sitting on the ground like Inosuke used to do when he threw his tantrums. "No, I won't go if it's during the day!"

"Daki, it would make the demon slayers more comfortable and it makes sense from their perspective - " Doma tried to coax.

"And it traps us!" Daki snapped. "If this goes wrong we'll be caught in a trap, we won't be able to escape, we'll die!"

"We won't die," Doma lied through his ignorance and painful lack of knowledge that he knew may just kill them all. "We're upper moons, that's why they want to meet in daylight... because they know they can't kill us."

"We will! You know we will," Daki whined. "I don't even want to do this and I definitely don't want to go when the sun is out!"

"I'm with Daki," Gyutaro announced, surprising absolutely no one.

They sat around a rocky forest clearing. Kotoha, Mirakuru, and Inosuke had all moved to a safe location, close enough to the slayer headquarters so Doma could reach them if this went south but far enough so no slayers wouldn't stumble on it. It was actually an impressive little inn that charged a decent price and had a good amount of wisteria trees around to discourage any demons from venturing closer. It didn't do much against demon slayers though...

The moon was overhead but Doma could sense the sun was only an hour or so from rising. If they wanted to get to the slayer headquarters and even have these talks, they needed to leave soon. It had been hell and a half convincing Kotoha to let him go and even then, she had held his face and kissed him like it was their last.

He promised her he'd return... as much as he intended to keep that promise, the threat of a demon slayer's sword was closer than ever.

"We are four of the most powerful beings on this planet," Akaza spoke up from where he leaned on a tree. "Of course the humans are cautious. Meeting during the day makes them feel as though they have some control. If we all work together, there's no way they can kill us. If they try, we hold a shaded position until night comes. Our stamina can outlast any demon slayer, no matter how powerful they are."

"But we'd be at a disadvantage. We'd be on their turf, man." Gyutaro argued. "They'd have the upper hand - I can smell the wisteria from here."

"Then we cover each other's back. If one of you gets grotesquely injured or poisoned, we cover you until you're back at full. We would have to be conservative with our offense so we don't bring the place down around us. If we are attacked, staying inside and keeping the building together should be our top priority. Doma can keep slayers locked at bay, the two of you have long-range attacks, and I can cover our asses if they get too close - "

"That assumes we have to fight them," Doma interrupted Akaza.

"The odds of that aren't exactly in our favor," Gyutaro sneered.

"Yeah! You heard the hashira! He hates us!" Daki whined. "They all hate us! They won't work with us! This is going to be pointless!"

"Maybe," Doma soothed. "But... you two never would've done half the things we have if you were half a century younger, maybe they can surprise us too."

That was true. The idea of Daki giving up feeding or Gyutaro working with Doma was still a crazy fact that Doma could imagine still gave Muzan a headache.

"But they're humans," Gyutaro sneered.

"And so were we," Akaza smirked. "We changed. We grew desperate, maybe they have too. It's been centuries and they've gotten nowhere close to killing that bastard. We're the best shred of hope they've ever had."