Beauty and the Beast: Kimetsu High Edition! (InoAoi // Inosuke x Aoi)

Chapter 1: The First Meeting

"You ungrateful woman! Do you realize how much I am doing for you and your useless son?!"

Yugo Hashibira's violent rasp echoed through the whole house, shocking Inosuke up from his sleep upon the loud voice of his father. He cupped his ears as he knew—his father was going through one of his brutal cycles again, one that would involve his mother getting beaten.

Inosuke didn't want to do anything. He wanted to hide under his blanket and succumb to the heaviness of his eyelids, but he couldn't stand hearing his mother's soft whimpers.

She was afraid, anxious and terribly alone.

Alone.

He rolled off his bed and scurried down the stairs, withstanding himself as he heard more shouts and screams from his parents' room. Inosuke was given a room on the second floor while his father and mother shared a room on the ground floor.

It was probably to make sure he wouldn't notice them fighting each night.

Peeking from the bottom of the stairs, their door was closed, but that didn't stop his father's traumatizing tone to seep through the wood. As he raised his voice to dominate the fight, Inosuke shivered and his heart raced.

"Inosuke is your son! Stop talking about him as if he's a stranger in this house!" Kotoha exhorted, trying to defend her only child.

Exhaling in anger, his father shrieked, "Are you trying to fool me? Not even one second i'll accept him as my son when you've been sneaking around with another man behind my back!"

"Watch your mouth, Yugo. You keep talking about me while you've been hooking up with that woman from your office—"

Before she could finish her sentence, Yugo reached his boiling point and cut her off by hitting Kotoha Hashibira across her face, causing the frail woman to fall onto the floor.

Her cheek stung with pain and her voice disappeared into thin air, but not even once she let her eyes falter from the vicious look of his face.

"If I had known you're like this, I wouldn't even consider marrying you in the first—"

"Shut up!" Yugo interrupted, again, slapping her until her whole body crashed onto the ground.

The excruciating pain distracted her consciousness, making Kotoha lose a sense of her surrounding for a few seconds.

Inosuke's hands were shaking. Even though the door was closed, he could imagine perfectly what was going on inside the room.

His mother getting hurt.

His father in his usual violent storms that would stir up the whole house into bloodied chaos.

Involuntarily, fearing for the security of his mother, Inosuke mustered his strength and rapped the door, telling his father to open. He continued banging until his fists became battered with bruises, but he stopped once Yugo appeared with a disdainful stare.

Yugo didn't say anything to Inosuke, his eyes peering as if he was an utter piece of trash that the society wanted nothing to do with.

Not feeling comfortable with the silence, he spoke up, "What are you doing to mom?!"

Angered, her replied, "Who told you to involve yourself in this?! You better go up to your room before my hand flies onto your face!"

Yugo upheld a palm to threaten Inosuke.

The tiny boy didn't budge. He stood strong in his stance, even though it was secretly his legs not moving out of fear. He was about to collapse in any second, but each time he stole glances at his mother, newfound hope emerged in him.