Second Chances {Doukaza}

11

Good morning/evening/day/night wherever you are!
I hope life is treating you well!
We're time skipping to the next night, so Akaza and Douma have just left the infinity castle.
TW: slight swearing

Akaza's POV
Somewhere in the forest an owl hooted, alerting nearby creatures of our presence. So far, we hadn't encountered any life, other than a couple bats and foxes. To anyone else, this was a good sign. But to two demons with a mission to find the hashira, not so handy.

Our current goal was to find either a hashira, or the boy with hanafuda earrings that Muzan-sama was so intent on killing. Once we found one of them, we could follow their tracks until they returned to the hashira base. I stopped to sniff the air. "Douma, there are no slayers in this forest. I can't even smell any demons."

"Then why don't we go check somewhere else?" Douma smiled and ran off in a different direction.

"Hey- wait up!" I dashed after him. As the minutes steadily became an hour, it seemed like we weren't following any trail or path in particular. The further down the mountain we went, the more demons we encountered. Of course, upon seeing the 'Upper Two' and 'Upper Three' ranks on our eyes, they all turned and left the immediate area.

Eventually, Douma led us out of the forest and onto the outskirts of a large valley filled with houses. The village wasn't very busy, seeing as it was the middle of the night, but there were still a few lights on in bedroom windows and kitchens. So nothing special. For a village surrounded by a demon-infested mountain range, it was peaceful. I looked closer at the trees on the sides of the streets. Oh, that's why. All the trees were wisteria.

"So, what's the plan?" I asked.

Douma stared at the village for a few more moments. "Well, I could go down and kill a couple humans. See if that brings any slayers."

"Just you?"

"You don't have any tolerance for wisteria. And as much as I dislike the scent, I can stand it long enough to go in, kill a group of humans, and get out."

"Alright. Be careful and cover your tracks."

Douma nodded and began walking into the shadows of the buildings.

"And don't kill any women!"

I heard him laugh as he ducked into a dark alleyway.

I sighed, turning around to look for a place to sit. Instead, I saw a crow standing right behind me, staring judgmentally. A kasugai crow? Maybe. I adverted my eyes so it couldn't read the numbers there. Better safe than sorry. We don't need the corp to send three or four hashira. Walking past it, I sat at the base of a tree and leaned my back against the trunk. The crow followed, standing next to me. I held out my hand, which it promptly hopped away from.

"I'm a demon, little bird. I eat humans, not animals."

It tilted it's head skeptically before fluttering up to perch on my knee. I chuckled and closed my eyes, resting my head on the tree trunk as well. How long was it there? Does it know we're going after the hashira and the hanafuda earrings boy? I hope not. Then again, it might just be an ordinary crow.

A few minutes later, I heard the sound of footsteps in the long grass around me. I jolted up, shaking the crow off of me. Douma noticed the bird on the ground and snapped his eyes shut.

"I went into two family homes and killed the residents. Should we go now?"

"Yeah let's get out of here."

The crow watched us leave, lifting into the air and shouting "FUCK OFF! CAWWW!" as it went. Definitely not an ordinary crow.

Of course, we had no intention of leaving. Instead, we walked a little ways into the forest and then went all the way around to the other side of the village. Then, we waited.

Thankfully, it only took the rest of the night and the full day for any slayers to arrive. Even so, it wasn't anyone of interest, so we killed the group of three boys, as well as fetching another meal from the village. Douma kept trying to insist I try eating women for a change, but I refused each time, digging contentedly into the arm I was devouring.

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of angry screaming, and someone squeal-shouting in terror. What in the flying fuck is that noise?! I got to my feet and peered around a tree at the village. Two slayers stood at the edge of the village. They were young, probably around or between the ages of 15 and 16. That wasn't the strangest thing, though. One of them was wearing a gray boar head and no shirt, and was chasing the yellow-haired one around in circles while the yellow one cried hysterically in fear.

Strange, but not the slayers we need. We'll get rid of these two as well and wait for the corp to send a hashira or the hanafuda earrings child.

I decided to not go back to sleep, just in case they caught on to where we were. Not that they'd be able to do much. It looked like they would never get along, especially when the crazy one with the boar head drew his swords and pointed one in the yellow boy's direction. The boy shrieked and screamed someone's name, along with something about corp rules and no fighting fellow slayers. Honestly, it was quite amusing.

Just as the angry boar was about to jump at the scaredy-cat, a boy with red hair and a green-and-black checkerboard haori ran out of the village and held the boy back, wrapping both arms tightly around his torso. The angry one struggled, flailing his limbs around for a bit before calming down a smidge and putting his swords away. The red-haired one let go of him and began to lecture the boy about 'no fighting', 'against corp rules', 'scaring Zenitsu is bad', blah blah blah.

I took note of the slayer uniform and sheathed katana under his haori. This boy was a slayer too. He looked like the head of the group, or at least the one who kept the other two from killing each other.

I noticed something dangling from the boy's ears. I narrowed my eyes, trying to get a better look at what was there. Earrings. Hanafuda earrings. My eyes widened with excitement. I've got to go tell Douma!

I backed up and walked the short distance back to where Douma lay slumped up against a smooth rock. For a moment I just stared at the taller demon, contemplating laying down with him. No, we're just friends.

I crouched down next to him and shook him lightly. He growled softly and opened his eyes. "What is it, Kaza?" He asked groggily.

Kaza??? Did he just give me a nickname? I blinked a couple of times. "The boy with hanafuda earrings is here!" I whispered.

"Great. Now we can sleep." Douma pulled me down onto him, hugging me around my waist.

"W-what?? But you've been sleeping for hours now!" I tried to push away from him,  but he only hugged me tighter.

"And you haven't got nearly as much sleep as me. Stay."

I realized he wasn't going to let go of me anytime soon. I huffed frustratedly. "Fine. Just until sunhigh though."

Douma nuzzled his face affectionately into my shoulder. "Good enough~"

I relaxed at his touch, wrapping my arms around his neck like I had done a few nights ago after the fireworks. The slayers could wait, it's not like they were going anywhere.

Almost 550 reads! Dear lord! I totally didn't think this story would get this many reads so fast! 😃
Next chapter will be out before 10:30 pm in New York time.
(I got new gloves today. They're rainbow colored! 🌈)