Ch. 14 The Demon Doctor and her Assistant
"Muichiro, stop!" His sword was inches away from the mysterious man's neck when he halted. The voice came from Nezuko.
"Nezuko," Muichiro looked at her, relieved that she was okay. "I told you to stay there."
"Forget that. What is this place, and who is this..." Muichiro took a look at the guy, who was shaking a bit, and his presence hinted that he was a demon.
"He is my assistant, young man." Muichiro looked back at Nezuko to see a petite young woman behind her. She had long, dark brown hair and gentle eyes that did not possess pupils, only a haze of lavender.
"And who might you be?" Muichiro could sense that the woman was a demon too. Yet, her demeanor appeared friendlier than a typical demon.
"Perhaps, I should introduce myself," The Demon Woman giggled and helped her assistant get up from the ground.
"My name is Tamayo, and this man right here is my assistant, Yushiro." Tamayo bowed down a little, prompting Yushiro to do the same too (despite his reluctance).
"Tamayo....." Muichiro fell into silence upon hearing her name. 'Tamayo...Tamayo...Tamayo.....Wait!'
"Wait, so you are Tamayo, the former personal servant of Muzan!" He remembered being told about her by Yoriichi.
Tamayo looked at Muichiro, surprised. "Oh, you've heard about me. I see." She glanced at Yushiro and back at Muichiro. "But that was a long time ago. Things have changed since then."
"Yeah, a certain someone also thinks the same too.." Tamayo caught his hint. "Are you in some way related to him?"
"Well, he is my great-great-great-great-grand uncle if I got the number of greats correctly." Muichiro sheathed his sword for he knew he could trust her. Tamayo's eyes widened for a second before retracting back to normal. "Shall we go inside and talk in rest"
Muichiro nodded. "Yushiro led the young man, inside the house."
"Yes, mam!"
'Lady Tamayo is as beautiful as ever.'
So, Yushiro led him inside the house, it was neither too big nor too small. While walking through one of the corridors, Muichiro heard a faint sound of growling, which seemed to have originated from a demon
"I suppose that sound just now isn't from your assistant Miss. Tamayo?" Muichiro instinctively reached for the handle of his sword. "No, that was a freshly made demon that I captured so he wouldn't harm others and for experiments.."
"Experiments? And for what?" He was let into the room lit with candles, there were some small bookshelves and a table in its corner. There was a table with some papers scattered on it and a painting of a mountain with its top lit in red hung on the wall in front of him.
"Experiments to revert a demon back to a human." That piqued Muichiro's interest, Tamayo motioned him to sit down as she herself sat down on the Tatami floor. "Revert a demon back into a human!" Nezuko exclaimed.
"Yes.." Yushiro sat in between Muichiro and Tamayo as she continued speaking...
"Let me do a formal introduction of myself. I am Tamayo, and i am a doctor." Before Tamayo could continue herself she was cut off by Nezuko.
"A doctor? A Demon Doctor?"
"Hm, I suppose those words don't fit right seeing a demon feeds on humans."
"So does that imply that you don't...." Muichiro noticed Yushiro glaring at them angrily, his gaze shifted to Tamayo and back at Yushiro. 'Oh, I see.....'
"Not to the extent of eating their flash, I and Yushiro survive by drinking blood."
"But then isn't it difficult for you to treat humans-" Muichiro slapped his hand on her mouth, he gestured towards Yushiro who was overflowing with an alarming amount of bloodlust.
"Yushiro." Yushiro sat back calmly with his back straight, and Muichiro removed his hand from Nezuko's mouth. "As for your question young lady.."
"It's not that difficult, at least not for me but for other demons.." Tamayo looked at her hands and continued,
"My body's physiology has gone through considerable changes and I have removed Kibutsuji's curse."
"Kibutsuji's curse.?" Nezuko questioned curiously.
"Muzan places a curse on all demons that have assimilated his blood. If any demon divulges his last name 'Kibutsuji' out loud, the curse activates, which causes their bodies to stop regenerating and allows Muzan's cells inside the demon to take over and kill them, regardless of their original intent." Nezuko was shocked upon hearing about the curse and thought 'But why would he want to kill his people?'
Nezuko also realized something at that moment, "But I have said Muzan's last name multiple times, and yet I am alive, does that mean I somehow also broke his curse." Tamayo stared at the demon girl for a moment before speaking,
"That is indeed correct." Her response litted flames of happiness inside Nezuko's mind. "You were talking about changes, but what kind of changes?
"As I was saying, I made several adjustments to our bodies so that, we could continue living without needing to harm any human beings. We can survive on just a small amount of human blood."
"Blood..." Muichiro uttered calmly.
"I understand if you find it distasteful.... but I buy it from those in poverty. I tell them I'll use it for transfusion. But, of course, I never take enough blood to impair anyone."
"And Yushiro needs even less blood than I do, since I am the one who turned him into a demon."
"Huh? You turned him into a demon?" That confused Muichiro for as much as he knew, only Muzan and the upper caliber of the twelve kizukis can turn a human into a demon. Tamayo definitely wasn't an Upper Moon, so that aroused the question.
"You might wanna know, how I did it. As far as anyone knows, Kibutsuji and the Upper caliber of the Twelve Kizuki can turn a human into a demon and that's more or less accurate. It took me over 200 years, and, after all that, I could only turn Yushiro into a demon."
"2-200 years!" Nezuko was shocked upon hearing the amount of time it took Tamayo to turn just one human into a demon.
"It took you 200 years to figure out how to turn just one human into a demon?! Just how old are you, Miss. Tamayo?!" Muichiro just in time blocked the oncoming punch to Nezuko's guts by Yushiro.
"YOU SHOULD KNOW BETTER AS A LADY, TO NOT ASK ANOTHER LADY HER AGE DAMNIT!!!" Yushiro tried punching her a few more times but all of them were blocked by Muichiro.
"Yushiro, if you try hitting any of them again, I'll make you regret it."
"Yes, Mam." Yushiro retracted back to his original spot. 'She is beautiful even when she is angry.'
"I am sorry. I'd like to clarify further. Creating more demons is not my goal. And I only do so when necessary, the terminally ill or injured only when they won't survive. And, even in those cases, I always ask in advance if they would truly prefer to live life as a demon."
Muichiro stared at her for some moments and pondered on if he should truly trust her. He could tell enough from their conversations that she wasn't lying to him about anything, and then there was Yoriichi's testimony regarding her too.
"Miss Tamayo" Muichiro called for her name and stopped for some moments and finally drew his conclusion of trusting her. "You talked about how you were experimenting on turning a demon back into a human." He paused and took Nezuko's hand in his hand and clenched it tightly "Is it truly possible to turn a demon back into a human?!"
Back in Asakusa
"You are not coming Daddy?" A little girl asked her "Dad".
"No, Daddy has work to do. I have to go to a boring old business meeting. But I'll try to come early to share dinner with you." Muzan Replied calmly with a warm smile
"Oh darling,"
"Don't worry. Now hop in."
Muzan opened the door for them, as the woman and the little girl sat down inside the car. Before he could close the door, the little girl turned towards him "Promise, you will come home soon. Okay, Daddy." Muzan simply smiled and closed the door. "Be a good girl for mommy, Okay" He turned towards the driver, "Take them back to the house."
The car engine roared, as it moved away from Muzan and faded into the bright lights of the city, and so did the smile on Muzan's face.
Muzan turned around and walked into a small alleyway.
"Come on, let's hit one more bar!" A drunk man shouted, facing another big man and a woman.
"Are you alright there?" The woman also shouted, "Yeah I am fine, not even a little bit drunk and- heh?" The drunk man bumped into Muzan. "Hey, what the hell are you doing mister?!"
"....Apologies."
Muzan started walking again when the drunk man grabbed his shoulder, "Where you goin'?"
"I'm terribly sorry, but I am in a bit of a hurry."
"What the hell you'd say to me!" The man walked in front of Muzan, "Look at you all decked out in your fancy pants and clothes. People like you piss me off," He was now facing Muzan head to head, "You and your stupid pale face. You look like you're about to fall over dead."
His statement angered Muzan, prompting the pupil in his eye to become cat-like, the same as every demon on this earth. His eyes started shaking and he looked at the man in front of him.
"Aren't you gonna say anything or did you just croak."
Muzan raised his hand on the same level as the man's head and with one swift hit, sent the man crashing into a wall. The man fell over dead, blood spewing from his head, and the wall he crashed on became cracked from the impact.
"No" The woman gasped and reached over to the now dead body. The second man with them became angered and shouted "What the hell did you do to my kid brother?" Muzan approached him stopping only a foot away from the second man. "He is dead!" The woman exclaimed looking over to the second man.
The Man raised his fist at Muzan and shouted his last words, "You Bastar-"
Muzan kicked the man, sending him high in the air, gaging on blood mid-air, before landing back, now dead.
The Woman was shaking, as Muzan slowly approached her. Muzan dropped onto his knees, now facing the woman.
"So, does my complexion look at all, unhealthy to you?"
He lifted his hand and placed it on the woman's face.
"Does my face seem unusually pale?"
"Do I look a bit sickly?"
"Does it appear I'm not long of this world?"
"Do you fear for my life?"
He removed his hand from her face.
"You couldn't possibly be more wrong."
"I am very much alive and not far from perfection."
Muzan raised his index in front of him. The nail turned blue before growing out in a sharp edge. He pointed it at the woman's forehead and pushed it inside her skull. The woman gagged, and Muzan started flowing his blood inside her rapidly, causing the veins in her forehead to become black.
"What do you think would happen, if I gave you, a constant stream of my blood?"
Red colour veins spread out onto the woman's body as she started twitching violently.
"The Human Body is unable to withstand such a rapid transformation."
Muzan pulled his finger out of her forehead and her skin became purple with her eyeball becoming completely red. Red colour veins could be seen all around her body. Her Eyeball was twitching violently before completely retracting at the centre.
"And its cells are destroyed."
The Woman's body melted into red, she reached her arm towards his face but her arm as well as her whole body melted into a pool of red, burning into ash and dark smoke.
Muzan got up from his knees and snapped his fingers. Suddenly two demons appeared behind him.
"There's a Demon Slayer, who has a red colour mark, mist-shaped mark on his forehead and his neck"
"I want you to bring him to me"
"Understood?"
"Yes"
"As you wish"
Both the demons disappeared, leaving Muzan alone to reminisce about the Demon Hunter from earlier.
"That Mark."
"Those Marks are appearing again. Or......"
Back with Muichiro and Nezuko
"A way to make a demon turn a human again? There is."
Muichiro slightly stood up from his place and reached his hand towards Tamayo, when his hand was grabbed by Yushiro. "YOU KEEP YOUR DISTANCE FROM LADY TAMAYO!" Yushiro grabbed Muichiro's arm and ducked under and twisted it to body slam Muichiro, but Nezuko just in time stopped him from doing so by kicking Yushiro on his butt, causing him and Muichiro to fall on the floor.
"Yushiro..." Tamayo had a threatening aura around her at this point causing Yushiro to retract back to his original spot.
"I'm sorry. I only threw him. I didn't hit him." Yushiro sat with his back straight, looking at Tamayo.
"Neither is acceptable."
"Right."
"Muichiro, are you okay?"
"Yes, I am fine. Thank you Nezuko for saving me." Muichiro patted her head, earning a mewl from her.
Muichiro looked back at Tamayo, who was still glaring at Yushiro.
"Can you please tell me how?"
"There's always some kind of medicine or aid, no matter the wound or the element."
"While I do not know, how to turn a demon back into a human yet, but there must be a way."
Tamayo looked at Muichiro with determination, "And I promise that we are going to find it."
"For that, I would like to ask you to do something from your end for me. In order to discover a cure, I would have to study the blood of several different demons."
"Hence, I have two favors to ask of you."
"One being the permission to study the blood of Nezuko."
"And, Second.."
Tamayo paused. She inspected Muichiro, specifically the mark on his forehead and neck. 'To think that Man would have Descendants' She thought with a small smile that curled up on her face. 'While this young in front of me may not be his descendant, just being one from his family is more than a sign to say that the end to this demonic world is near.'
"I want you to provide me the blood of demons that you may end up killing on your journey, but not just of any demons....."
"I want you to provide me the blood of strong demons such as The Twelve Kizukis."
"I know, it is a hard task, so i wouldn't judge if you were to back out fro-"
"I Accept." Tamayo's eyes widened, and a big smile curled up on her face. And Nezuko looked at Muichiro's determined face, she herself was smiling ear to ear.
"Nezuko's condition is extremely rare, an entirely unique one. During her slumber of five years straight. I Believe her body changed during that time. In most cases, that long without food, human flesh, or some blood of an animal, any demon would grow violently.
'Lady Tamayo is as beautiful as ever. She'll be even more beautiful tomorrow.' Yushiro simped.
"However, Nezuko not only is maintaining her personality from the time that she was a human, but is showing none of those signs. That is nothing short of a miracle." Muichiro looked at her concerned which wasn't left unnoticed by Nezuko. So, she lept up and hugged him silently.
"I will now ask you one last time. Are these requests that I have made acceptable? If not pleasant.
"If it's the only way then we will do it!" Muichiro said with determination in his voice, his response suddenly caught something in Tamayo. "We?" Tamayo questioned. Nezuko sat back down on her spot and realized something.
"Oh yeah, we never told you about Tanjiro!" Tanjiro... Tamayo and Yushiro both looked at Muichiro as if expecting him to say something, which he did..
"Tanjiro is the older brother of Nezuko and my cousin" He paused and looked directly at Tamayo, "And a direct descendant of that man."
Tamayo's mouth was wide open, simply thinking of the possibility that there may be another person who was as strong as him, as strong as Yoriichi was too much for any capable brain to handle. 'It's not just a sign, it's straight up a call from the universe.'
'That man, Kibutsuji, his days are numbered'
Tamayo smiled widely, and so did Muichiro and Nezuko. Yushiro was quite confused about this whole intake of 'that man' but before he could say anything. He felt his talisman getting ripped apart by something.
"GET DOWN!" Yushiro shouted, rushing forward to cover Tamayo and Muichiro doing the same with Nezuko. Suddenly, Two tamari balls flew through the rooms, destroying anything in their way.
After bouncing around for a while and completely dismantling the room. The Tamari balls flew back to their owner. Their owner is a pale colour demonic woman with yellow eyes and black hair fading into orange-red at the ends. With her was another demon with pale skin, and short hair. His eyes were closed, but Muichiro noticed a pair of pale-ringed orange eyes on the palms of his hands, a red upward-pointing arrow marked on each of the irises with sclera of glowing dark green color.
The Demon with Tamari Balls laughed out loudly as she spun herself with her Tamari balls.
"Did you decide how we'll kill them?"
"Ruthelessly! Of course!"
The demon threw hew Tamari's balls back inside the house and laughed out loud.
Author: So...What do you see here? A new chapter perhaps? That's right this story is back. But, why did I suddenly stop updating? Well, the answer lies in the difference between this chapter and my other chapters. I yet again, changed my writing style to something that would be suited to readers' attention span, since this story was filled with unnecessary details of like every small thing, that only made it boring.
I also felt underwhelmed, about this story like and just in general lack of motivation. So, I stopped writing it with no intention of ever coming back, but well here I am. This story is quite something for me since whenever I think, I won't come back to write it again, I only find myself more drawn to it.
And so I have decided that in the upcoming year 2024, I will finish this story no matter what. And with that note, I shall see you in another chapter that totally isn't gonna come tomorrow but a week later.
Also mind telling me, if I made a good decision by having Nezuko do the goofy interaction with Tamayo in place of Tanjiro.
Well then, see ya next chapter.