Chapter Thirteen
「Promise」
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"You little brat, how are you still following me?" the peacock-feathered demon screeched.
The (apparently) female demon appeared from thin air as she spoke. Her skin was a veiny, pale grey surface adorned with flashy peacock feathers to form a dress. On the back of her head were more flashy feathers used as a hair piece.
"Weak things are easier to sense," (Y/N) apathetically taunted. She needed a way to keep the demon out in the open, and angering her seemed like the best option. The girl also noticed that the demon only appeared when she talked.
The demon gritted her teeth at the girl's insult, vanishing once again and fleeing faster this time. It was fruitless, however, as the (H/C) haired girl was still able to keep up. The peacock demon's aura eventually halted right at the outside of the village, and she appeared once more. This time, Tomioka, who was still trapped in feathers attached to her, appeared right next to her.
"Oh, I get it," the demon slowly started to conclude. She glared at the girl and pointed at the Water Hashira. "Since you're chasing after us, you must be his fiancée, right?"
(Y/N) paused and stole a glance at the Hashira. He couldn't speak for himself due to the feathers wrapped around his mouth. He looked at her blankly, seeming to await her response.
"Yes."
This would keep the demon angry, right? Plus, the girl figured it'd be amusing to piss off the demon even more.
Tomioka's eyes suddenly widened, and then he gave her a shocked look as the girl sensed his aura fill with disbelief.
"I knew it!" the demon bellowed with a growl, hands digging into her hair. "Ugh, I'm so jealous!" She bent over in distress, and (Y/N) sensed rage and envy in her aura. "Why can a girl like you woo a man while I can't? This is unfair! All the men in this village didn't want me, either!" She began to stomp around foolishly, and the (H/C) found herself scoffing at her idiocy.
"Wow," (Y/N) began with a fake sigh, "I can't imagine being so obsessed with attention that I'd demand random men to love me." She authoritatively inclined her head at the demon, toying with her. "How pathetic," she remarked with a degrading tone. The girl sensed the demon practically fume with boiling anger over her words.
(Y/N) dodged to the side as colorful peacock feathers sprouted from the demon's fingers and hurled their way towards her. They were thrown almost like little knives or darts, sending their way straight towards her. Still, they were very easy to avoid. Like feathers, they were light and small. Since she dodged, the sharp tips of the feathers pierced the dirt near her. Soon, they also all vanished into thin air.
The girl made eye contact with the Water Hashira who was glaring at her to free him so he could help. She ignored him. She was well suited enough to do this on her own.
"Do you like my feathers?" the demon cackled, her mood suddenly more confident. "Their as sharp as your blade."
The girl passively looked at her, replying nonchalantly, "They look cheap."
The demon gasped, "Then how would you feel if I were to touch your fiancé like this, huh?" With a taunting—yet still desperate for attention—smile, she wrapped her arms around the Hashira, who stiffened in disgust, and began to caress his cheek.
"Nothing," the girl replied indifferently. It wasn't like he was her actual fiancé, anyways.
"Nothing?" the demon confusedly gapped. "How?"
"You're so desperate and obsessive—it's ugly," she demeaned with a fake look of disgust. Though she was faking her emotions, the (H/C) haired girl wasn't lying; she thought the demon's desperation was repulsive. "My fiancé would never fall for that," she continued the act. Another gasp followed her words.
"Ugly?" the demon muttered in disbelief. "You called me ugly?" With her aura brimming with anger, she and Tomioka disappeared into thin air again.
(Y/N) spun around, feeling their presence appear behind her.
"Blood Demon Art: Alluring Feathers!"
More feathers, now red with the peacock demon's blood, sprouted from her fingers. They were thrown at (Y/N) at an even faster pace now, and more of them came after the other. The girl ran to dodge them, only to realize the feathers now began to follow her before gradually fading away. Clever, but easy for me to deter, she thought as she finally drew her sword.
Breath of Stars, Third Form: Gemini's Twins.
Her body split into two twin shadows, and she noticed the feathers split unevenly to follow the two. While the demon was distracted by her form, her real body made a dash to sneak behind the demon. With a jump and an easy slice, her head was off in an instant.
Hearing muffles next to her, (Y/N) quickly twirled her sword to slash off the feathers that encased the Water Hashira. He coughed as he landed, and looked up surprised to find the girl's hand outstretched to help him up. The Hashira reluctantly took it, and uttered a small and hoarse thanks to her.
"I told you," the (H/C) haired girl began again, turning her attention back to the fading head of the peacock demon. "Your feathers looked cheap."
"What? You killed me that easily?" the demon rasped in disbelief. Her slowly deteriorating face held shock and flowing tears. "I was dreaming—dreaming to become one of the Twelve Demon Moons and maybe woo that man!"
"Oh," the girl began, making her way to the head of the demon. "You're so worthless, you didn't even get the news," the girl insulted once more, using the tip of her foot to angle whatever was still remaining of the demon's head to meet her eyes. "Muzan-san disbanded the Lower Moons and let me kill them all," she informed as if it were obvious, a hint of a smile at the memory.
"You," the demon began to stutter at the girl's casual use of her leader's name, "I knew I sensed something off about you! You're close with—just who are you?"
(Y/N) scoffed, "You don't deserve to know." With that final remark, she stomped her foot down on the head, stopping the demon from talking again.
Tomioka, who slightly winced at her excessive actions, mumbled hoarsely, "You don't need to be that harsh. I could've slayed the demon on my own, (L/N)-san."
"Ah, so you do know my name, after all."
The two Demon Slayers (oh my goodness, she had to call herself a Demon Slayer now), stood still and stared at each other for a few moments. The Water Hashira's eyes then widened at the girl in realization.
"Did you use me as bait because I'm male?"
"It worked, didn't it?" she asked back. He sighed, and she grabbed the gourd of water that was secured at her waist and held it in front of him. When he sent her a questioning glance, she explained, "There's water in here; drink up." He made no move to take it. "Relax, I have no intention to poison you. This gourd was for myself."
His hand slowly moved to grab it, taking a few much-needed sips for his throat. He uttered out a thanks when he finished, and his voice sounded a lot smoother—though still very quiet, but the girl figured it was his normal volume—as he handed back the gourd. The girl noticed his eyes wander down to her uniform, before landing back on to her face.
"I'm going to take my leave now," he announced shortly, before turning to head presumably out of the village.
The girl didn't reply, instead waiting for his aura to fully leave the area.
"Why are you here, Douma-san?" she asked, though it sounded more like an annoyed demand. The demon popped his head out from another nearby wooden crate, which seemed to be used as one of his hiding spots. He quickly jumped out of the crate and ran to trap the girl in a tight embrace.
"When the sun went down, I remembered what the crow said and travelled north to find you, and then I followed you!" he explained himself happily. His face contradicted his tone, however, as he looked like he was on the verge of tears (and for a demon who never had emotions, he's been sad a lot more often nowadays, (Y/N) thought to herself).
The girl didn't reply, instead choosing to roll her eyes at his desperate and clingy (yet kind of cute, though she'd never admit that aloud) antics. She paused for a second, her senses picking up on something. Two people are watching us from behind a tree, she mentally noted. She decided to acknowledge them after Douma left.
"(Y/N)-chan!" Douma broken heartedly cried into the crook of her neck (he liked burying his face there—he thought her hair smelled nice), and as hard as he tried, he couldn't stop that sad feeling. "You never told me you had a fiancé!"
"It was an act, idiot," she sighed, but his aura visibly brightened when he heard this. "Why would it matter to you if I had one, anyways?"
"I don't know, but that gross sad feeling came back when I thought you did," he pouted, leaning back to look at her.
"Sorry," she apologized, though she really didn't know what she was apologizing for; all she knew was that she had to get the Upper Moon away from the area. "I'm no expert in emotional-related things."
"I know," he pouted again, looking down to the dirt while still holding her.
The girl reached up both her hands—one hand securing a hold on his jaw and the other giving him a long and comforting head pat, for she knew his aura always seemed to brighten whenever she gave him one. She felt him lean forward into her touch, and he sighed in a bit of relaxation.
"Let's go back home together," Douma muttered lowly. His eyes slowly shut at the feeling of the girl's touch on him, almost as if he was in a trance. And in a way, he was. An addicting, butterfly-like feeling blossomed in his stomach, and that only happened to him when he was within (Y/N)'s hold. On instinct, his arms snaked tightly around her waist and he pulled her closer against him. He leaned in, resting the side of his head against her own. "I don't want to lose you," he mumbled again, and the girl was convinced that he was just randomly spewing out words at this point.
"I need to stay here, Douma-san," she lied through a whisper. Her voice was sickly sweet—full of deceit and deception. What she needed to do was make him leave so that she could find out who was spying on them. "Go back, and I absolutely promise that when I come home, I'll spend extra time with you and give you head pats, okay?" she sweet-talked. Promises meant nothing to her. Deception was a good skill to have when she wanted to trick her victims before murdering them.
The Upper Moon Two practically fell for her sweetness, and he caved in to the empty frosting of her words.
"Promise? You promise hugs, too?" he requested meekly.
Empty sugar, empty promises.
"I promise," she whispered again next to his ear. She felt him shiver slightly from her warm breath on his skin, and then he slowly let her go with a grin.
"Okay," he agreed with a sleepy smile. "I'll be waiting for you, (Y/N)-chan!"
After his declaration, he left her at the village. And once again, she made sure his aura was entirely gone from her senses before she turned to face the large tree.
"He's completely gone," she announced loudly, calling out to the two presences. "So who are you two, and why are you spying on me?" She immediately sensed shock coming from the two auras at her words, meaning they didn't expect her to notice them.
She sensed one of the figures jump out from their hiding, but for some reason, she still couldn't see them with her own eyes. Suddenly, right on the patch of dirt where the girl sensed him, his figure appeared out of thin air. His face stared at her with a look of disbelief, his pale green hair a slight mess.
"How did you see past my cloaking spell?" he gaped.
"I can sense your auras," (Y/N) admitted. She didn't make a move to approach them yet; she could still sense their distrust in her.
She sensed the second figure slowly move out into the open as well, and the figure stood their ground next to the first one. The figure soon made herself visible, too. It was a beautiful, calm-looking woman, who had very sad eyes. Both of their auras were so odd.
Then, (Y/N) realized they were demons.
꧁꧂
【大正の秘密 | TAISHŌ SECRETS】
► (Y/N) really likes referring to the demon progenitor as "Muzan-san" in front of others, because the sheer shock on their faces is amusing.
► The girl thought the peacock demon was really pathetic.
► Tomioka was grateful for (Y/N), but he did think she was super brutal and unnecessarily egotistical towards the demon.
► Douma sat idly at the girl's house until sundown so he could go north and find her.
► He's keeping the promise of affection she made with him fully in mind.