A/N:
Before we start (or before you kill me), the name of the arcs will start corresponding with the manga from the next one, because this arc is a mash-up of two manga arcs, so yeah.
Anyway, hope ya enjoy!
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(~<Blood Arc>~)
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A scream echoed through the night, instantly grabbing my attention.
I simultaneously changed my path, opting to jump over the roofs instead of sprinting down the streets as I was doing- it was easier too, not to mention I could feel the demon's aura more acutely now, without all the other auras of the humans in this village.
'There they are-' I jumped off the house's roof I was on, opening my fans as I looked over the situation in front of me; the male demon was about to bite the human's neck.
'Lower level demon.' I concluded as I slashed him with the tip of my nichirin fans, distracting him enough to loosen his grip on the female, enabling me to grab her from her waist and move away. The demon moaned in pain, recovering almost instantly from the angry red slashes on his arms and neck.
I looked down at the young lady in my arms, smiling at her reassuringly as I gently ordered her, "Run. And don't look back, okay ma'am?"
She looked very scared and shaken- I almost assumed she would refuse to leave, but the demon's loud grunting got her back to her senses, almost making her stumble out of my arms.
"Calm down, Miss! Please do not scream, okay?" I gave her an unhurried smile, listening minutely to the demon's nearing movements behind me. "I'll handle it from here. Go run to your home, and stay in please." I smiled at her one last time before opening my bloodied fan once again and slashed the demon's eyes, making it give out a short scream and fall back in shock. The lady ran back, just as I had instructed her to.
After looking back for one last time to see if there were any more humans around, I looked down at the demon in front of me, waiting for the effects of the blood to arise.
'It's a more... savage one.' I mused as I saw it arise, slower than it first did. Its movements were sloppy and looked as if he was struggling.
I stood there indifferent, watching silently as the demon sprawled back onto the ground; its flesh melting off of its body and slowly catching fire. Within the next few minutes, there was almost nothing of the demon left, besides the blood spilled over the soft earthy ground.
'Looks like I have to use my blood again...' I frowned, looking around the bloodied earth around me, 'It's honestly a wastage of material, but I have to clean up regardless.' That, or else the police would suspect a murder and there would be a whole lot of chaos that I was not willing to deal with.
I sighed softly as I sprayed the red mixture over the bloodied ground, watching it catch fire within the second it touched the ground. The unnatural white flames of the fire (not for the first time) made me wonder the reason behind their odd colour. Maybe it's because of some reaction between my blood and the demon's? But if so, then why would it not happen when I inject the demon with the blood or when it disintegrates?
Soon, the white flames died down, leaving no trace of blood on the field. I stored the pitcher back in my satchel, securing the liquid left.
'I might need to make more tomorrow...' I thought wryly as I moved away from the area. The Sun would be up in an hour or two, so I still had some time to hunt for any demons in this area. I jumped over the wooden fence on the field, sprinting over to somewhere higher for me to sense the auras better.
It had been almost six years since I started using a pair of fans as my main weapons, almost five years since I mastered them and four years since I left the temple.
No, I was not a demon slayer- I was just a normal girl with abnormal blood and a fate she just couldn't get rid of.
After sprinting across the town to some higher grounds (poles, buildings, trees), I felt no inhumane dense aura that I was a bit too familiar with by now.
'No more demons here then, huh?'
For the last four years, the thing I've noticed the most is that demons majorly preferred infecting two types of areas- either the large cities where they can blend in easily, or the small villages on the countryside or mountain region where they could feed on humans without any major detection.
For the past four years of my life, I had moved across Japan, making connections and planting informants everywhere. My main focus for all this while, was to keep track of the plot and to protect myself from its effects.
'After all,' I thought bitterly as I jumped in from the window to the room I was currently staying in, 'I could not pretend to be a doctor for my whole life.'
I instantly laid myself back in the futon, pretending to sleep as I heard someone walk outside. The current family I was residing with were a very generous one; not exactly financially secure, but very generous regardless of that. The father, unfortunately was very sick and most likely had malaria, if the symptoms were to go by. I had provided him with some basic medicines and made them a list of things to add in his diet- like cinnamon, ginger and fever nuts.
Fortunately enough, they didn't minded me staying overnight for some last 'treatment', thus giving me the chance to scoot over the area for the demon I kept feeling the aura of since I entered this town, and to make a paste with my blood and some basil leaves.
My blood had some very distinctive properties than other human's blood, which I realized in my initial years of 'exploring'- even its texture differed from a normal human's blood by being thicker, colour lighter and the smell almost... non-existent. At least if fresh. I always knew my blood was a bit different than the others', but not how much until I got my wound treated by someone else.
But its corrosive nature in case of demon flesh came as more than just a shock- especially when it happened without a moment's notice. One moment the demon clawed out the muscles of my upper arm and on the other he was writhing in pain, cursing me as his flesh melted off in front of me. The only mystery that I had was what made my blood so special? Or so different?
Not that I didn't had any theories of my own about it- maybe my high intake of sunlight (that I did to keep my obnoxiously cold body warm), or maybe the high amount of vitamin-D in my body due to it? Or maybe I was a new kind of blood type- the one that is opposite of the marechi. Won't that be just brilliant? But then again, these were only theories.
I sighed again as I turned around in my futon, trying unsuccessfully to sleep. I was so used to nocturnal activities that I was now no longer able to sleep at night. The only time I ever felt sleepy nowadays, was when I was under the warm sunlight.
I sighed again, finally deciding to get up from my futon. No use trying to sleep when I couldn't. I changed my clothes back to my kimono- it was of milky-white in colour, with some beautiful baby pink cloud-ish designs on it. Its obi was of a darker shade of pink, with white string in between. Overall, it was a cute little kimono; one that gave me a harmless vibe and kept me in good graces of people with the image I upheld. Even the haori matched with the kimono- the same milky-white colour with (albeit much darker) pink cloud-ish designs.
I packed the basil-blood paste in a small box, wrapping it in a cloth along with some other herbs that might help with the joint pains causing due to malaria.
'Should I,' I peered at the window, noting the barely peeking Sun on the horizon, 'Leave now? I mean, I've made the paste...'
I slowly walked into the patient's room, an involuntary smile appearing on my face as I noticed the elder daughter sleeping beside her father with a wet cloth in her hand. After changing the water and gently prying the cloth off of the daughter's hand, I applied it on the father's head and gently nudged the daughter awake.
"...Dear?" I whispered softly as I noticed her waking up, "I have to go now, love. Can you tell your mother to add a spoon of this paste in your father's food, at least twice a day?"
The fifteen year old nodded, grabbing the box from my hands gingerly.
"Also tell your mother to grind the herbs in this small bag and make it into a paste to apply on your father's joints whenever he is in pain, okay? He'll be fine within a few weeks if you do so." I patted the young girl gently as she nodded sleepily at me.
"Onee-san..." she mumbled as I was about to exit the room, "Are you... going back?"
"Mmhm," I nodded, "Onee-san has other people to look after too, dear! So I have to go, okay? Please tell your mother that I am highly obliged to her for letting me stay the night." I gave her a closed eye smile as I quietly left the room.
I instantly wrote down a letter, briefing everything I said to the elder daughter, and left it in the plain sight of the dining table. Hopefully they will follow it as such.
(~<>~)
In my past life, I was girl who had almost no curiosity- after years of being denied answers and told not to ask 'stupid or irrelevant questions' by my teachers, I had lost all my curiosity back then.
But in this lifetime, I let my curiosity grow; I let myself question things and tried to find answers myself, just because I was not able to do so before. And even though that seemed like a good thing at first- helping me grow as a person and to discover many things -it emerged as a disadvantage at this moment.
Or moments, if I were to be honest.
Since I'd left the temple, I'd tried to secure myself some connections and informants who could keep me up-to-date with how the flow of supernatural things and presence of demons. It was only due to my connections did I not get arrested yet, now that I thought about it.
Regardless of that, even though I kept those connections and informants as something to help me avoid demons- and demon slayers -I could not, however, follow through it myself.
My curiosity was what first got me to hunt down a demon I once heard rumours of, but then it was my guilt and undeniable moral that led me to kill it. And unfortunately, this cycle continued ever since then, even more so when I got to know about my blood's distinct properties.
Once I got to know what my blood could do, I started using it as my own demon poison- experimenting it on the demons I hunted, watching it gradually take its effect. My science-student brain even nudged me to the idea of mixing it with wisteria essence, which I did and saw it corroding the demon from the inside out.
Earlier, my curiosity (and somewhat my moral) led me to hunt any demons I could find, but now the adrenaline rush and my bloody hero syndrome (minus the creating situation part, since the demon did it itself), didn't let me stop doing it.
It was still harmless though, until I found mount Sagiri... and met Urokodaki by utter chance, three years ago.
It honestly wasn't much of a meeting, to be honest- just passing by him as I crossed the fields near the base of the mount. But damn, did it made heart erratic and excited; it was like, I couldn't wait to see how things would go, how Tanjiro would look or how-
I took a deep breath, focusing my thoughts back on the present. Since that day, I just couldn't stop the excitement... The wish to see the one characters from the anime I so-long-ago watched.
I know, I know, I did I say that I won't get involved with the plot, and no, I won't- but there was no harm in trying to determine on what time span I am on the plot, right? That would only help me avoid them, so it shouldn't exactly be an issue-
My eyes widened as I noticed someone lying on the dirt path, a few meters ahead of me.
I hurried over to him, noticing his men's kimono and blue haori with little white clouds. I instantly kneeled beside him, gently moving his burgundy bangs over his eyes to check-
My breath hitched when I noticed that familiar 'scar' on the top left of his forehead, and those earrings hanging off from his ears...
'Just,' I gulped, slowly moving away from the boy laying in front of me, 'What are the chances that I'll meet Tanjiro, out of everyone, lying on the ground like this?'