"A doctor! You're a doctor now!"

Akiko bitterly chews at her cookies, seated on the couch at her parent's house in Tokyo. Of course, she's visiting against her will because Shinobu said it would be "good for her."

Akiko hates it.

Ray stares at the certificate in his hands, eyes wide with wonder and pride before he rushes over to hug his daughter once again, kissing the top of her head.

"And within four years? Hiratsuka our daughter is a GENIUS!"

Hiratsuka sighs, a hand to her forehead before she tries her hardest to peel Ray away from Akiko, "Dear, you're choking her. What happened to 'do no harm,' hm?"

"But look!! Our daughter is all grown up!!"

Akiko has to tear her 'certificate' away from her father, who has wet the piece of paper with his tears. Shinobu and Oyakata's signatures are smeared a bit now, but in all honesty Akiko doesn't really care.

It's just for show anyway. Something the demon slaying corps. whipped up for her to bring back to her family.

"Can I go to my room now?" Akiko snaps, and her parents stop their antics to look at her in shock. Akiko mumbles an apology under her breath, hands gripping her hakama as her shoulders tense up.

Ray's about to ask what's wrong, but Hiratsuka speaks out first, "Sure honey. Do you want dinner later?"

Akiko's already halfway up the stairs by the time Hiratsuka is done asking, and Akiko not answering is enough for Hiratsuka to understand what she wants.

Ray stares at his wife, a frown deeply settled onto his face.

"She's not getting any better," he claims, and Hiratsuka settles into the spot Akiko just sat.

"Don't say that Ray... Every time she comes back home, she's seen more and more and I'm scared she's lost a bit of herself..." She cups her face into her hands, sighing deeply as her eyes well up with tears.

Ray looks at his wife pitifully.

Truth be told, he's feeling the weight on his shoulders as well.

Hiratsuka and he discuss every night over whether it was a good idea or not to let Akiko leave them and study on her own. They receive letters every once in a while, but not enough to ease their pain.

"Maybe... Maybe it was something recent? She was happier last time, though that was around a year ago..."

Hiratsuka stifles a sob and Ray takes a knee in front of his wife, brushing the tears streaming down her face to kiss her eyes.

"Have faith in Akiko, love. She's an adult now. If she decides to continue her practice at our hospital then we'll be able to look after her, sure, but it's her decision to make," Ray frowns in the direction of Akiko's room.

Akiko isn't really having a ball either.

She's laying on her bed, staring up at the ceiling with her hands folded across her chest. She hasn't eaten anything since yesterday, but she's too tired to eat. But she can't sleep either.

Akiko would close her eyes and regret not making Tanjirou stay for treatment back at the red light district.

Her parents don't bother her until the next morning. They find her stared up at the ceiling with wide eyes, and the only way they can tell that she's even alive is by the slight rise and fall of her chest, the off beat flutter of her eyes, and the rhythmic clenching and unclenching of her fist.

They decide to just leave breakfast for her by her bedside table, but when Mika comes to pick up the tray around noon, there's only a bite taken from the plate.

"I tried," Akiko mumbles under her breath, to which Mika nods her head.

Hiratsuka tries her best to get Akiko out of the mansion, and on some occasions it works. But the minute she sees someone she used to go to school with, she'd drag her mother into an alleyway with the nastiest glare on her face.

"You'll get wrinkles honey," Hiratsuka cups her daughter's face into her hands, pouting playfully.

"S'fine," Akiko mumbles before tugging her mother out of the alleyway and dragging her feet down the streets of Asakusa.

It's during the night that Ray and Hiratsuka are particularly worried.

They can hear Akiko leave once the city's fallen asleep.

Sometimes she crawls through the window and hops a roof or two, and sometimes she'll tip toe down the stairs and past the maid's quarters before slipping out the front door.

They have faith that Akiko will tell them everything that's been going on with her in due time.

---

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to, Tamura-san," Tamayo gazes at the sickly girl with worry. There's a needle in her hand, but Akiko's already tightly wrapped a band around her right bicep.

There's a small ball in her hand and she's marked the point of entry, so she offers Tamayo a tired smile before nodding her head.

"I don't mind. You need the blood, don't you? We can talk while I give you some of mine," Akiko gestures to her displayed forearm and Tamayo smiles kindly, not a wrinkle on her immortal looking face.

She may be an old demon, but she looks far healthier than Akiko has ever looked in the past four years.

Akiko doesn't flinch when Tamayo inserts the needle, and it takes a second before the line of blood slowly makes its way into the bag on the floor.

She's donated her blood time and time again, and this occasion is no different. True, it's a bit odd for Akiko to think that her blood will be digested rather than used for surgeries or transfusions, but she reminds herself that it's for science.

"You seem more than relaxed doing this," Tamayo comments and the tips of Akiko's lips twitch up. Yushiro sits nearby, watching Akiko warily. She can see the distrust in his eyes, but she knows that he doesn't see Akiko as a threat.

What's she gonna do?

Drop like a bag of bricks out of malnutrition onto the two?

"There's a scientist that discovered different categories of blood. When I tested my blood a few years ago, I found that it matched the type where I could give my blood to anyone and they won't suddenly die. Since then, I've been donating blood for the demon corps in case of emergencies," Akiko explains.

Tamayo regards the young doctor with fascination. Time and time again, her eyes would look through Yushiro's blood demon art and she would find their new hideout with ease.

No wonder Yushiro doesn't like Akiko.

"I'm sure you're aware that Oyakata-sama has been keeping in touch with you recently," Akiko comments. The pencil in Yushiro's hand snaps and she raises a brow at the seething demon with mock curiosity.

Tamayo flickers her eyes to the floor, hands folded into her lap before she carefully nods her head.

"Then I'm sure you're aware of what it is that we have to do," Akiko can feel her core temperature drop, and she squeezes the ball every few seconds, counting her breaths too.

"If you think for a second that we'll help the demon slayers-!" Tamayo raises a hand to stop Yushiro's outburst. When she apologizes to Akiko, Yushiro merely clicks his tongue and takes his seat once more. He doesn't like how unnerved Akiko looks.

"Yushiro, I've had time to think of this. Tamura-san, Ubuyashiki-san and I have even been sending letters to each other," Tamayo sighs. Yushiro's face falls and his shoulders drop at the sudden realization of Tamayo's words.

Akiko watches as Tamayo silently stands from her seat, walking over to a small drawer before quietly opening it and picking out a thick folder of papers. There's also a small box, and by the clinking that Akiko hears she can only assume that there are some test tubes in the box.

"You'll find all my findings here. I've already written another copy of this folder, so this is for you to keep."

With a nod of her head, Akiko takes the folder with her spare hand. She wordlessly flips through the papers, eyes working at lightning speed as they brisk through the science behind demons, the genetic make up and the hypothesis for a cure.

"And you believe that with the blood of an Upper Moon demon that you received nearly two months ago that we can make the cure," Akiko says placidly, closing the folder. The slight nod in Tamayo's head is enough.

For the first time in a while, Akiko finds herself smiling. The taste of victory is so strong in her mouth.

It tastes of a peaceful day with Tanjirou, the two hand in hand with Nezuko under the sunlight.

If Akiko were a little nicer, Zenitsu would be with them too.

Tamayo carefully slides the needle out of Akiko arm, and she flexes it to return some feeling into her arm. When Tamayo wordlessly gives Akiko a piece of candy, Akiko blinks blankly at it.

She can't help but laugh a little, and Tamayo smiles at Akiko as well. It's a small gesture, but it's grounding to Akiko. A simple thank you that lifts Akiko's spirits.

Then, she bows lowly in her seat, forehead touching her knees with all the gratefulness in her heart.

"Tamayo-san... I believe that we will be the women that will change the world," Akiko smiles widely when she looks up, and Tamayo's heart skips a beat.

It has a nice ring to it.

The women that will change the world.

---

"The Mist Pillar has an abrasion on his right palm!"

"Can I take a break?"

Akiko's finally returned to the Butterfly Estate, waving her driver off as he drives away in the Model-T. Akiko sighs to herself, swatting Miruna from her shoulder before reaching down to heft both her suitcase and her physician's bag in both hands.

"Time to get to work I guess..."

Muichirou is waiting patiently on the engawa, his hands behind his back as he stares up at the clouds.

Akiko sees a small puddle of blood from under Muichirou's right hand and she pulls a rag from her pocket, seating herself besides the Mist Pillar in seiza position.

"Tokitou-san, I know you don't remember me but please stop bleeding on the engawa and give me your hand."

Muichirou blinks out of his stupor, but he nods his head and listlessly offers Akiko his hand. She's quick to clean up his little cut, from which she can see he received by tripping over a rock and stopping his fall with just his right hand.

From what she can see, he's killed another 34 more demons since Akiko last visited, and she frowns.

"Don't you have orders to only pursue upper moon demons?"

"The demons were in my way," he answers, and Akiko raises a brow.

It's actually her first time hearing his voice. He never talks and Akiko doesn't even want to bother asking him questions while she accompanies him on his missions. So the fact that he even answered her piques her interest.

"At any rate, you should rest your body. You're still developing, despite being such an incredible swordsman. And you don't know how to control your strength, so you've chipped your sword a bit," Akiko points out.

Muichirou looks at his sword, noticing that it is in fact chipped once again. He doesn't say anything, but Akiko can tell that he's making plans to have it resharpened.

"...Yeah, okay."

Akiko strains to smile, finishing up with her wrapping as she ties a great big bow on top of his hand. But Akiko remembers that he's still a child, so she sighs in defeat.

She pulls her suitcase close to her, popping it open and rummaging through the mess. Muichirou stares at her plainly, not much going through his head. He isn't even curious as to what she's looking for.

But he blinks in surprise when Akiko produces a bag of candy from her case.

"Hold your hand out," she commands, and Muichirou instinctively does as he's told. Akiko shoves a hand into the bag, grabs a fistful of the candy she bought from Tokyo, then dumps it into Muichirou's uninjured palm.

"You have to eat all of this, doctor's orders."

"...What's the point?"

Akiko looks into the bag, pulling out a lollipop from the West and unwrapping the paper cover before popping it into her mouth.

"I dunno. You're a kid right? Aren't kids super happy when they get candy?" 

~~~

happy holidays!