Ayuna's pov
The days kept passing as always. I spent my days going to missions with others, visiting the Ubuyashiki's, visiting my friends, spending time with Giyu or doing absolutely nothing.
Until on one sunny day Mitsuri visited me and asked me if I wanted to go to the hot springs with her. I, of course, accepted immediately because the hot springs are the best.
I asked Giyu if he wanted to come along too and he said yes.
Three kakushis came and blindfolded Giyu and Mitsuri. Me on the other hand was placed in a small tank which was covered by a blanket.
Timeskip
"Ayuna, we have arrived! Let's say hello to the village eldest first!" Mitsuri cheered.
"Wait, we have to greet someone? Where are we?" for me, letting someone know a demon is here isn't a good idea.
Giyu: "We're in the swordsmith village. I thought you knew."
"Mitsuri, I thought we're going to the hot springs! Why are we in the swordsmith village?" I asked.
"The hot spring are in this village!" Mitsuri explained.
"Oh."
"Greetings to the two hashiras, feel free to rest here as long as you want. As for this fish... I have already heard from you." the village eldest glanced over the said goldfish who was in a tank.
The goldfish with antlers froze in the middle of the room not knowing what to say: "Hello...."
"As long as you don't cause trouble, you may rest here too." the village eldest continued.
"Thank you." I answered and we were finally brought to our rooms and I shared one with Mitsuri.
We chatted until it was dark outside so Mitsuri showed me the way to the hot springs. Giyu didn't come along since he said he will go later.
At the hot springs we met Genya, the younger brother of the wind hashira.
He ignored us and I could tell why but Mitsuri kept trying to talk to him.
I on the other hand sank my body into the water, closed my eyes and enjoyed myself.
I don't know when but Mitsuri got up and told me that she was leaving so I answered that I'll stay since I already got too comfortable and she nodded.
"I know why you're like this but can't you at least say one word? She wouldn't have turned upset if you did." I broke the silence.
He didn't say anything.
"Aw c'mon~ I didn't know that puberty hit you this hard. You pointed your gun at me when we first met." I pat him on the shoulder with my tail and he got more and more frustrated which was very amusing to see.
Genya looked away: "Sorry... about that..."
"Oh I'm not upset about that anymore." I answered, "let's talk about something else, how's your relationship with your brother? Did it improve?"
Genya immediately turned a bit happy: "It did thanks to you. How did you do it?"
I leaned back leaning on my tail: "Nothing much, just talked some senses into him. Well, he did shout at me but it was worth it, wasn't it?"
"Sorry about that he didn't mean it-" Genya hot interrupted by a familiar voice.
"Genya-kun, long time no see! And Ayuna, you're here too!" Tanjiro greeted us, took off his clothes and jumped into the water.
"Let me guess, you're here because of your sword?" I asked.
He nodded in response and asked me too, so I explained to him that I'm only for the hot springs here with Mitsuri and Giyu.
3rd person pov
Genya left later and Nezuko also joined them in the springs.
" Nezukooo~" Ayuna started to cuddle her demon friend since she's so cute!
Soon the Kamado siblings left too leaving the sea demon in the hot springs alone. She sighed while enjoying the silence, then she looked up to the night sky staring at the beautiful stars.
After some minutes she started to hum the melody of the song she sang back in her days living in the sea but she got stopped when she heard something cracking behind her.
"Sorry..." Giyu who stepped on a stick apologised, "I didn't mean interrupt you."
"I don't mind." she gave him a reassuring smile, "how come you're coming now?" she turned around to face him and she noticed the redness on his cheeks and ears.
Ayuna: "Nevermind, I figured it out. But it's alright since it's a puplic hot springs. Besides.... aren't we lovers?"
"I know..." he mumbled while still looking away. He was nervous since he was bathing with his lover all alone in the middle of the night, but it wasn't his first time he caught a glimpse of her naked figure.
He got into the water, closed his eyes and started to lean back. He expected to feel the uncomfortable rocks on his back but instead of rocks he felt scales on his back. He opened his eyes to check and just how he guessed, it was Ayuna's tail.
"The rocks are uncomfortable." she said as she started to look away while blushing a bit and the water hashira thanked her.
"Does it have a name?" Giyu began.
Ayuna: "What name?"
Giyu: "The song you were humming just now and back when we first met. I don't know the name yet."
Ayuna: "I call it 'a song of whales'."
Giyu: "How come?"
Ayuna: "There was one time when I sang this song, I could hear a whales response echoing in the atmosphere. It was very magical, but that was the first and last time hearing a whales cry."
"I see." he answered, "it's been a while since I heard you sing. If you don't mind, can I hear you sing?"
"For you." she said before she started to sing.
He listened to her song as he got more and more drawn to her beautiful voice.
As she finished the song Giyu commented, "beautiful as always." which made his girlfriend blush more.
-
Ayuna found out that the mist hashira was there too so she took her big parasol which Giyu brought with him and greeted the mist pillar.
Muichiro gave her a quick hello before he left and she was now concerned about a kid with a red mask who froze after spotting her. Tanjiro layed unconscious on the ground next to the kid.
Ayuna: "Uh...hello?"
The kid just flinched and took some steps back.
'I think I just wait for Tanjiro to wake up...' she thought.
The kid's name was Kotetsu and he wanted Tanjiro to train with the doll which was a copy of the first sun user but it had six arms.
Tanjiro introduced the sea demon to Kotetsu who wasn't scared anymore and after that his training started.
Ayuna spent her days either with Mitsuri, Muichiro, Genya or Nezuko since Giyu left the swordsmith village after three days.
The day where Tanjiro finally beat the six armed doll, she also met the extremely well-build Haganezuka, Tanjiro's swordsmith who got dazed at her presence.
Ayuna's pov
One night, I was chatting with Mitsuri happily until I started to smell blood.
Mitsuri: "Ayuna? What's wrong?"
"I smell blood...." I moved my head to different directions trying to find out from where the smell came from.
"Demons are here!"
I ran out and Mitsuri ran after me with her sword ready in her hands. I spotted a collapsed building with my ice spikes and I could tell it was the brooches I gave to my friends.
Tanjiro, Nezuko and Muichiro crawled out from the hole under the ice spikes.
"Are you guys okay?" I asked and Muichiro gave me a thumbs up while Nezuko and Tanjiro nodded.
The demon revealed himself and the slayers didn't hesitate to cut him but instead of dying, the demon got duplicated and then again, until there was four of them. The four demons represented four different personalities: anger, pleasure, joy and sorrow. Muichiro got separated from us fighting upper moon five while I stayed with the others. Genya also joined the fight and I tried to take the sonic scream in front of Tanjiro which I could take but my eyes started to bleed.
I turned serious because their menacing aura affected the slayers, "Find the real body!" I demanded the slayers.
"Oh? Did the sea monster just told those slayers?" one of the demon, Pleasure, said amusingly.
"She's the traitor, dummy." Anger answered.
"But we have to bring her to him!" Joy exclaimed.
"I won't let that happen." I interrupted them by freezing the ground beneath us.
The red demon, Anger, slammed his scepter on the ground to generate electricity but nothing came.
I chuckled angering Anger more: "Didn't you know? Ice does not conduct electricity."
Pleasure waved his fan creating a wind blast but Ayuna made an ice wall in front of her blocking the blast but it shattered once Joy used sonic scream.
I was paralysed for a moment and when I snapped out of it, I was dragged to the sky by Joy who grabbed me by my tail.
He threw far away in another random direction and what angered me was his comment, "Nice undies btw!"
(due to your long tail, you wear a dress)
A irk mark appeared on my forehead and I swung my tail to send out a scale at him and he turned into a goldfish midair. He flapped with his small wings which was his fins but he failed and fall down.
'At least one down, so I hope they can manage.' I focused on the direction I was falling and spotted Muichiro and Kotetsu facing upper moon five.
I landed on my feets and my legs turned purple due to the high falling but they started to heal slowly.
I was disgusted by the appearance of upper moon five, Gyokko.
"Perfection!" he exclaimed suddenly making me, Muichiro and Kotetsu confused.
"Look, we have something in common!" he continued and raised his body showing off his scales all over his body,
"And you look perfect! Just like a perfect art! PERFECTION! Be my wife!"
I hid behind Muichiro because I was very disgusted. So disgusted that I couldn't fight anymore and I thanked Muichiro who let me stand behind him.
"For the first time in my whole live, I have self doubts about my appearance..." I mumbled and Muichiro tried to cheer me up.
Muichiro: "Don't be. You have nothing to do with him."
Kotetsu added: "You look just fine! He should be the one with self doubts."
"Ayuna, stay with Kotetsu. I want to fight him." the mist hashira declared and I nodded in understanding.
"I'll jump in once it looks bad alright?" I announced and he nodded, so I took Kotetsu's hand and made some distance between the battle and us.
Muichiro got stronger so his fight was amusing to watch and then he started to roast Gyokko which made me giggle.
My eyes widen when Gyokko summoned thousand of needles at us. Fortunately, I managed to dodge them with my tail while the brooch created an ice shield around Muichiro.
Gyokko commented while inspecting the cloud brooch: "Perfect looks and also a perfect demon blood art!"
Soon Muichiro was trapped inside a bubble filled with water.
"You're at a complete disadvantage." I grinned while stepping forward.
Gyokko: "Oh? How's so my love?"
Many irk mark appeared on my head: "Stop calling me that, and to answer your question..." I touched the water bubble with my hand, "Because water is also my speciality!"
Nothing happened.
I moved my hands around expecting the water bubble to free Muichiro but nothing happened.
Gyokko started to laugh: "That bubble is my demon blood art! There's no way you can manipulate it!"
He summoned more fish like creature that launched at me and I managed to freeze them all.
Gyokko: "Water is also my speciality! Look, we match together very well! With your ice manipulation you look more perfect!"
I ignored his comment and tried to freeze the water bubble which trapped Muichiro but I stopped once I sensed his discomfort.
'I'm going to hurt him if I break the bubble by freezing it...he's going to drown!'
"Let him go this instant!" I summoned an ice sword destroying the frozen water creature around me.
"And what if I'm not, my love?" he snickered.
My patience was limited and he just crossed the line.
I launched at him but he always avoided me because he moved fast so aiming for him with my scales and turn him into a goldfish won't do. And I realise that I am no match for him or any upper moons.
I'm at a complete disadvantage.
"Octobus vase hell!" He shouted and suddenly he summoned gigantic tentacles from his pots which are very durable.
The tentacles wrapped around my throat, arms, waist and tail, trapping me and their grip turned more and more tighter.
Everything started to hurt as I tried to break free with no avail.
Blood dripped from my mouth until my body parts where squeezed apart.
Kotetsu: "Ayuna!"
3rd person pov
Before Gyokko could do anything else to the sea demon. Muichiro came to rescue her and they could sense that he changed somehow.
"I remember everything now." he said while positioning himself in front of the sea demon.
Ayuna focused on connecting her body parts and when she stood up again the fight already ended with Muichiro as winner.
"You don't look fine at all." he commented.
"Aw, he ruined my dress." Ayuna joked to light up the mood, "By the way, I'm glad you regained your memories."
Before he could say anything, Kotetsu ran up to them and hugged them. He was crying his eyes out because he was worried about their well being.
Ayuna also hugged him back while hugging Muichiro too, "Okay quick group hug and now we need to check on the others."
With that being said they ran to check on the others but before that Muichiro picked up Tanjiro's new sword from the injured Haganezuka.
They arrived on a cliff where they met Genya who looked down at Tanjiro and Nezuko following the real mini body of upper moon four.
Muichiro threw the new forged sword at Tanjiro who caught it but his focus was distracted by a bright light.
"Ayuna, the sun is rising!" Genya shouted and faced her but she was nowhere to be seen.
"She jumped down the cliff!" Kotetsu shouted.
"AYUNA!" Muichiro yelled after her.
Nezuko kicked her brother away who protected her from the sunlight in order to defeat the demon.
Ayuna ignored the pain in her leg and kept running towards Nezuko. Her body burned to, she picked Nezuko up and she ran as fast as she could into the forest some metres away from them.
However, her legs got burned away which caused her to trip, but she was able to throw Nezuko in the shadows.
"You need to live Nezuko!" she shouted as tears fell from eyes.
It was her end.
Her body was going to be burned away.
She could hear her friends calling for her name.
She didn't want to leave now. She found a new purpose and a new family, so leaving the world now was going to be her biggest regret. But if it meant to save the people she loved, then it was worth it.
"Farewell, my friends..." Ayuna closed her watery eyes waiting to be fully burned but the burning sensation stopped and she started to regenerate slowly.
She noticed that she was covered by a shadow so she turned around to see what or who it was.
"Nezuko?"
Nezuko smiled at her brightly: "O-ohayo!"
Tears fell down the sea demons face like a waterfall as she smiled back at her demon friend.
As one of her arms was healed, she used it to crawl towards the shadows behind a tree. She leaned against the branch of the tree and let her body to regenerate. But before she focused on her regeneration she glanced at Tanjiro crying figure who's back faced them.
Ayuna: "Nezuko, go greet your brother to surprise him."
Nezuko hugged her before she ran off to surprise her brother.
She spotted Muichiro, Genya and Kotetsu running towards her with worried expressions.
"Ayuna!" They cried out.
"Better hurry up so Mitsuri won't see me in this state." she said to herself before the two slayers and the kid collapsed in front of her.
"It's alright, I'm alive." Ayuna tried to calm them down.
Kotetsu: "But you're crying too!"
Muichiro rasped out between his cries: "Stop getting yourself killed!"
"I get it that you put us first but that's wrong! You need to prioritise yourself first!" Genya shouted as he tried to control his tears but failed, "That was close!"
"Ayuna!" They looked at Tanjiro who ran up to the sea demon who looked awful. Her skin on her face wasn't fully regenerated yet.
He hugged her after he got on his knees and she patted his back with her one healed arm.
Tanjiro: "Y-you *hic* didn't have to..."
Ayuna: "Let's not talk about that. I'll gladly do it twice."
Them: "NO!"
"Alright," Ayuna looked down at her none existent lower body and gasped, "Guys, I need a skirt."
Genya: "Wait what?"
Muichiro: "Oh right..."
They also looked down, then they turned to their right side and spotted the other half of the dress not far from them.
Before anybody could reach out for it, another voice joined in.
Mitsuri: "We won!"
Ayuna: "Oh oh."
When the love hashira spotted the burned sea demon she gasped and her eyes watered.
"Ayuna! Not again!" she exclaimed sadly "Why?!"
Ayuna: "Don't worry I'm fine now."
Mitsuri: "No you're not! You're also still crying!"
New tears formed in the sea demons eyes: "Alright I'm not fine! I was not ready to leave now!"
They embraced her in a group hug and let her cry out. It was the first time they saw her cry and the cause behind it was cruel.
"Mitsuri.. hic.. I need some clothes to cover my lower body!" Ayuna announced.
"Oh!" Mitsuri took her white haori off and covered her friend's lower body which started to regenerate.
Nezuko popped out next to them and she nuzzled into Ayuna with a worried expression.
She hugged back assuring her that she was fine.
"Also," Ayuna started, "don't tell Giyu about it. He'll get upset."
Muichiro: "Can't do, everything will be reported."
Ayuna: "Report everything to Kagaya-san and not Giyu."
-
"Great, great, great!" Kagaya exclaimed happily, "Another two upper moons are down now! Muzan will not sit still about it!"