Everything smelled wrong.

They'd walked into a house full of dangers and, as Akaza beckoned, had knelt down before a table as bowls of food were placed in front of them with the strange bloodied ice-smelling demon apologizing for making too little food for their unexpected guests...

The Demon's voice had made Zenitsu pale as he'd explained something about not expecting so many guests so late. The demon's stance had made Rengoku tense. The demon's words had gone over Tanjiro's head as the smell nearly overpowered him from where he knelt, his heart hammering in his chest. That demon was immensely powerful and clearly unsettled by their arrival. 

The warm air of the house smelled thick with the residue of demons, but even that demonic scent had a firm and terrible metallic hint to it. Not a fresh scent of blood, but a deep one, like something had been left to soak in crimson for years. It clung to every demon of the house...

Except the youngest.

The little girl sat across from Tanjiro, slurping up her very-normal noodles as noisily as Inosuke before she finished first and slammed the bowl down. She smelled like Nezuko in a way, an off-putting scent of something inhuman, but it was very faint with a smell of a beating heart, hardly noticeable over the stench of Tanjiro's surroundings. 

Perhaps she wasn't a demon at all...

"DONE!" she cried, throwing her hands in the air as Inosuke gasped and slammed his bowl down next, also empty.

"No fair! I had more than you!" Inosuke cried indignantly.

"Nu-uh, I won fair and square onii-chan," she smiled sweetly, crossing her arms in smug satisfaction.

"Mom! Tell Miku I had more than her!" Inosuke cried as he looked to the head of the table.

"I can't do that," the table's head laughed lightly. "Besides, you two know your manners."

The woman who sat there, next to Tanjiro, was graceful in every sense of the word. There was a level of control in how she held herself that was very out of place with the predatorial demons that sat around her. She didn't look fearful or intimidated... she looked comfortable and smelled loving. She looked down both sides of the table, smiling as she gazed past Inosuke to the demons, her smile fading into something small and polite as she regarded the demon slayers. The demons who knelt on the tatami mat for the meal chose the opposing side of the demon slayers, save for Inosuke of course. It almost felt like a line being drawn in the sand and no one was sure if they should cross it.

There was Akaza, across from Rengoku, and the two of them seemed to simply stare at each other. Akaza was offered no meal and Rengoku hadn't touched his which was very out of character for the usually famished flame-hashira. Tanjiro had given the meal a good sniff and deduced that if it was poison... it was well masked.

"What are you two; animals? Use your damn chopsticks!" The ribbon-demon demanded as she walked past Inosuke and his sister, gently slapping both of them in the back of the head with a ribbon. She smelled sickly sweet, like perfume mixed with rotten corpses, reeking of danger. There was power in those ribbons that probably could've sent Inosuke's head flying off his shoulders but Inosuke only scoffed and his sister merely giggled at the gentle taps.

Zenitsu shared a side-ways look with Tanjiro that said he too had expected Inosuke to go flying.

"Gyutaro doesn't eat with chopsticks," the little girl teased as the demoness made her way to the windowsill to perch with the sickle demon who smelled like his sister, if not even more rotten.

"Stop fucking snitching!" The said sickle-demon demanded, looking over his shoulder with a horrified expression that would've been comical had Tanjiro's sanity not been climbing up his throat at the sickening smell of power and death.

"Language," came the gentle scold of the final demon at the opposing end of the table. He smelled the most peculiar, like the fresh rain on a cold day... with a very clear tone of blood in its puddles. His voice was ice, his body was tense and he kept looking at them with something akin to wariness.

That was the other, confounding thing. With all this stench of death and blood, Tanjiro could smell no malice. That icy demon, ex-Upper Two so the shadows in his eyes hinted, smelled only of mistrust... a scent that Rengoku-san, Zenistu, and Tanjiro himself all shared in spades.

The others though? The siblings perched in the window seemed impartial to the entire thing, Akaza's aggressive bloodlust that Tanjiro had first scented was completely gone, now replaced with a strange sort of curiosity as he studied the flame pillar's eyes. The human woman smelled warm, also mistrusting, but soothed and welcoming. 

They all sat in still silence for too long, even Inosuke noticed. He perked up after filling his bowl with seconds and looked around the table with an exasperated expression.

"Are we just gonna stare at each other all day or are we gonna - " Inosuke began.

"Patience, Inosuke," the woman murmured softly. "This is a lot, give them time."

"We don't need time," Rengoku stated firmly, a smile somehow still on his face as he glanced at Inosuke. "But I would like answers, Hashibira, if I am to refrain from killing these demons."

Well, that was one way to change the scents in the room. The icy demon's scent spiked with aggression though his expression hardly shifted, his rainbow eyes merely flickering over to the hashira on his left. The two siblings in the window glanced back uncertainly, preparing to flee or fight... Tanjiro couldn't tell, but he put a hand on his sword regardless.

"No need for that Kyojuro. None of us mean any of you harm," Akaza spoke firmly, throwing a glare to the siblings in the window who visibly forced themselves to relax. "If we did, you'd be dead."

"That would have to be seen." Rengoku's words were firm and somehow empowering. For a moment, Tanjiro almost believed they'd be able to take on every foe in this room. He believed it for only a moment though.

"We do not wish you harm," The icy demon echoed again.

"I have no reason to believe you," Rengoku laughed. "But I entertain this because you've done nothing to contradict it."

"Believe me then, if it's demons you mistrust." The woman spoke again, smiling as she did so. "My name is Kotoha Hashibira. You've met my son, Inosuke."

Inosuke grinned proudly before drinking his noodles straight from the bowl. Akaza shoved him, lightly though.

"Chopsticks you brat," the demon ordered under his breath.

"Don't tell me what to do," Inosuke hissed back, sticking out his tongue.

It was a foreign experience; watching man-eating demons give etiquette orders.

"On your left is my Love, Doma," Kotoha gestured to the demon on the opposing end of the table who gave them all a warm smile but a cold stare.

"Pleased to meet you all. Again, I'm very sorry for this... I didn't know Akaza planned on inviting company over - " Doma began with a bite in his voice.

"It was your Inosuke's idea, for the record," Akaza defended, putting his hands up. "I told him it was a bad idea."

"Then next time don't go pick a fight with a fucking hashira and I won't have to play peace-keeper!" Inosuke snapped, his mouth full of noodles.

"Finish chewing!" half the house scolded making Inosuke grumble back into his bowl. The girl, Miku, tried to hide her giggle in her hands.

It was terrifyingly confusing. On the one hand, nearly every being in this house could kill him and Tanjiro could smell it. On the other... there were scents and emotions baked into the demons over the smell of death and blood. Fondness, adoration, protectiveness; things that Tanjiro could remember his own home smelling like...

"I'm sure you're all very confused and, trust me, this isn't exactly something I hoped for. But you're all here now, for better or for worse, and I suppose that means some explanations are in order," Doma continued. "I am - was - Upper Moon Two. I served that man for many years and... yes, I can see it clearly in your faces, I committed atrocious actions on the innocent. We all did."

"Well not all of them were innocent per-say," the sickle-demon began, balancing one of his scythes on his pointer finger.

"We committed sins that we cannot atone for," Doma stated firmly, not even glancing at the interjected, and the sickle demon shrugged as he tossed said sickle in the air before catching it.

"You can atone for them, quite easily," Rengoku stated. "Avenging the deaths of those your murdered would certainly negate your evils."

There was no doubt every pure-blooded demon in the room tensed at the words.

"And then what? We die and he gets what he wants?" Akaza challenged, raising his chin. "No... No, I'm not going to die until the demon king is dead and no more suffer to his cowardice. That is our atonement, Kyojuro. That's what I told you; we have the same goal."

"But why?" Tanjiro found himself speaking before he could control himself. "What would make you turn away from Muz-"

"Ah - ah - Tanboku, you can't say that in this house," Inosuke hissed.

"You said the name all the way here!" Zenitsu cried.

"Yeah, but that's different. Miku's here," Inosuke explained frantically, gesturing to the girl at his side.

"I'm old enough to not use his name you know," Miku stated firmly, throwing Doma a firm gaze with the eyes that matched his. "I'd like to know it, I promise I won't say it."

Doma truly looked exhausted as he propped an elbow on the table and rested his face in his hand. Tanjiro didn't have to smell it to know what being overwhelmed smelled like and the tallest demon was definitely there.

"Miku..." the demon breathed.

"Please, Papa," she pleaded earnestly.

"Muzan Kibutsuji." It was Kotoha who spoke it at last and everyone in the house seemed to feel a chill at the name. Miku took in the name with an ounce of skepticism before nodding solemnly.

"Thank you, Mama," she murmured.

"You are old enough to know," Kotoha nodded. "You're old enough to know all of it." She then looked cooly to the demon slayers.

"When I was a young woman, I was married off to a cruel man. From that came Inosuke and escaping that marriage brought me Doma." The affection she threw across the table with her eyes was unmistakable and the waves of adoration the demon reciprocated nearly blind-sighted Tanjiro.

This wasn't a falsehood or a lie; those emotions were terrifyingly true and strong... and reciprocated.

"At the time, I didn't know he was a demon. But he took me in and he protected Inosuke and me when my husband came after me," Kotoha continued, she was looking straight at Rengoku now. "We fell in love, strangely enough, and each of us changed. I grew happier, and Doma grew more human."

"I grew remorseful..." Doma interrupted softly. "I became aware of myself and the monster I was, the monster I am. I vowed to change. I revealed myself and she accepted me... and I changed... too little too late perhaps, but I changed." 

"His change caught Muzan's attention and the demon lord tried to kill us... tried to punish him for becoming a better person," Kotoha continued. "Akaza was sent to kill us... but he spared us."

Akaza held up a hand, as if to reject the praise. "I did the right thing for once in my life... and I did it for this loser." He glared at Doma who chuckled at the faux aggression.

"So our merry little band grew," Doma grinned, looking Zenitsu, Tanjiro, and Rengoku up and down. "You can expect he was furious that two Upper Moons rebelled, especially Upper Two and Three, so he sent everyone he could after us and began culling his ranks of weakness and insubordination - "

"He grew fucking paranoid," the sickle-demon muttered.

"Language. Gyutaro," Doma chided again.

"Sorry! I'm sorry!" Gyutaro groaned. "But it's true!"

"He was so unfair! He tried to kill us for no reason!" the ribbon demon cried, whirling around to look at them all and rant like a child. "He told Gyutaro to kill me! My Onii-chan would never, but Muzy still tried to make him - so we escaped!"

"Funny thing is, we weren't moral like the rest of these crazy-ass ex-moons," Gyutaro muttered as he gestured to Akaza and Doma. "We would've continued to stay his attack dogs. We would've continued killing humans. But he pushed us away, he tried to make me kill Daki... and that's unforgivable."

"And that's how we got the twins," Akaza grumbled.

"We're not twins!" Both of the siblings snapped back.

"I'm like five years older than Daki!" Gyutaro cried.

"He's such an old man!" Daki whined.

"The point is, for better or for worse, for morality's sake or our own selfishness... we've sworn off human flesh and serving our master," Doma explained. "We feast on fellow demons, animals... and though it may sound disgusting, we receive shipments from a fellow escaped demon. They're blood shipments from donors, humanely received... and they satisfy us."

Tanjiro's heart almost jumped into his chest.

"Blood shipments?" Tanjiro breathed.

"From a very sweet doctor and her assistant," Kotoha nodded.

"You can't mean from Lady Tamayo - " he began.

It was too perfect to be a coincidence.

"Why yes, actually," Kotoha smiled. "You know her?"

Everyone was looking at him in wonder now, it was making his skin crawl.

"Well... yes, I ran into her when I ran into Kibutsuki. She helped save Nezuko and I - " Tanjiro began.

"OH MY GOD - Tonkujo, you have to show them your sister!" Inosuke announced, flying to his feet.

"Huh?" Tanjiro felt his mind go terrifyingly blank.

"Dad! They have demons allowed in the corps! Tanjiro's sister was turned into a demon, but she hasn't eaten anyone - she's weird but they've let her stay!" Inosuke addressed Doma but pointed to Tanjiro who suddenly wanted to get both he and Nezuko away quickly.

What would these demons make of her? What would they do to her?

Doma's eyes glinted with curiosity as he regarded Tanjiro and the box on his back. Tanjiro grabbed the straps over his shoulders and held them tighter while he glimpsed Zenitsu's hand slowly and shakily shift for his sword.

"That would explain the weird demon in the box," Akaza nodded to himself.

"Inosuke," Kotoha reprimanded firmly. "Enough. You can't expect them to feel safe and you definitely shouldn't force the poor boy to trust us... or demand that he shows off anything. Sit back down, and introduce us to your friends."

Inosuke obeyed, without any grumbling this time, and sighed. "Blondy's name is Zenkuku - "

"It's Zenitsu! Zenitsu! If we die here and I have to hear you call me something else one more time -" Zenitsu was definitely hysterical and it took Tanjiro gently nudging him to force the boy to stop himself. The lightning breather was trembling so badly Tanjiro could hear his sword shaking against its sheath.

"I'm Kamado Tanjiro," he tried to be polite and sincere, or at the least keep his voice steady. Kotoha's eyes brightened and she nodded at the names.

"It's nice to meet you, Zenitsu and Tanjiro; thank you for looking after my son," she smiled.

"Onii-chan doesn't need looking after, he's awesome!" Miku beamed. "But thanks for being his friends - he's bad at making friends."

"WHAT? Am not!" Inosuke cried, appalled and betrayed.

"He beat up all his boar friends once... they didn't hang out with him for a whole week," the younger sister continued to tattle.

"I did not beat up all of them, and if they didn't want to get smacked they shouldn't have challenged me!"

"You still hurt their feelings. "

"They came back!"

"Because they were good friends."

"So I make good friends!"

"No - you just happen to find good friends."

"Why are we counting pigs as friends!?" the sickle-demon interjected in shock.

"Shut it Gyutaro!" Inosuke cried.

"Anyway," Doma pressed with exasperation in his tone. He looked to Rengoku expectantly and his tone chilled. "And you, hashira, who are you?"

The eldest slayer met his gaze, his eyes burning and his smile still strangely bright even when his words held a bite to them.

"Rengoku Kyojuro, I am the Flame hashira."

Doma smiled. "Nice to meet you, Rengoku."

"I have one more question," the hashira demanded brightly. "Have you ever crossed paths with the flower hashira?"

"Flower?" Doma pondered, a wary look in his eyes. "I'm... not sure..."

"You mean Kanae-san?" Tanjiro interjected in confusion. What would she have to do with this?

"Pink butterfly lady?" Inosuke tacked on in shock. "Did all of you take on fucking hashira while I was gone!?"

"You know the butterfly ladies!?" Miku cried before someone at the table could reprimand Inosuke for his language.

"Well, 'course I know the butterfly ladies - how do you know the butterfly ladies!?"

"They tried to kill Papa!" Miku shot back, putting her hands on her hips. "Meanies - both of them."

"They were not mean, Miku," Doma corrected softly. "They were just doing their job."

"Which in turn meant they tried to kill you," Kotoha's voice was suddenly firm as she looked up from her food and looked cooly across the table. "That doesn't make them saints."

"Hold on Mom, they're super cool - " Inosuke tried to intervene,

"It may make them saints to some," Doma managed. "And I am a demon."

"So you have had a run-in with her?" Rengoku demanded firmly.

"You could call it a small skirmish," Akaza nodded. "We didn't stay long."

"Why do you ask?" Doma raised his head a bit and narrowed his eyes. "Are they alright?"

"Yes." Rengoku nodded with a strangely critical look in his eyes. "This fact assists your case. You spared a hashira... and there are theories about why you would disobey Muzan so readily."

"Theories? You hear that old man - real discreet you are," Gyutaro snickered. "The slayers already know about us."

Doma looked at the wall and Tanjiro thought he smelled a hint of anger, for only a moment.

"The entire reason our cover was blown was because someone -" he glared at Akaza " - did something he shouldn't have."

Akaza shrugged and looked cooly to the demon slayers.

"I killed people."

There was such a nonchalant tone in that explanation that Tanjiro took a moment to register the words, which in turn gave Akaza more time to speak.

"There were three men," he continued, holding his fingers up as a model. "One didn't understand what no meant out of woman's mouths. One was willing to turn the other way. And one was too happy to assist. I won't say I'm a saint, but  people were glad to be rid of them."

"We do not have the right to take lives - " Doma sighed like this was a repeated argument. Maybe it was.

Rengoku had his eyes narrowed but he wasn't reaching for his sword. Tanjiro felt that sense of wrongness descend on him again. This very conversation was a contradiction of everything he'd fought for.

"I didn't eat them," Akaza shrugged as if perhaps that made it better. "And I don't need to defend myself. I know that because I did it, it was wrong - but it needed to be done, and I was willing to do it."

"So you are willing to play judge and executioner." Rengoku's tone was dark.

"I don't like sitting by idle and watching innocents suffer. I'm sure all of you can understand that," Akaza's tone was equally dark.

"But you didn't have to steal lives, Akaza," Doma murmured.

"I did." Akaza sneered.

"This is pointless." It was Daki who spoke, rolling her eyes and she lounged on the window sill, still looking out. Perhaps they were watching for more demon slayers. "We're still demons and they're still humans, that's not going to change. Akaza's always going to have a bleeding heart, Doma's always going to scold him for it, and demon slayers will always hate us. Why are we still here?"

"Daki..." Doma warned.

"No!" the demon whirled around and jumped down from beside her brother. She strode up to the table, hands on her hips as she glared at them all. "Why are we arguing about this? It's useless. We won't change, Muzy won't change, and neither will these sword-swinging flesh bags. There's no way this hashira will listen to us - he doesn't trust or like us, I know we can all sense it! If he had his way he would kill us all so let's just go!"

"But it's not my place," Rengoku's voice cut through Daki's whine like his sword. "It's true... I do not like any of you, but the master would want to judge this. You are all anomalies in our work and upon Kanae's words, it's been asked that I invite you to headquarters if I deem you to be honest enough."

"Honest?" Kotoha asked. "Honest about what?"

Rengoku looked at her and Tanjiro saw something strange in his eyes. "You. Kanae claimed the demon protected and cared for two humans... one who shared a strange aura of a demon." 

Everyone at the table tensed and glanced at Miku.

"Me?" she asked, pointing at herself.

"Kanae claimed that you all could be detrimental to Muzan in ways we never could be and that making enemies of Muzan's enemies would only worsen our circumstance. She believes that demons and humans may be able to work together, and Master shared her sentiment so I will do as the Master would wish."

The room fell into silence and Tanjiro found himself reminiscing about the flower hashira and the kindness that flooded off of her.

It was true... Tanjiro could remember when Nezuko was first brought to light. It had been Kanae-san that had sided with Giyu before the Master had even left the house. She'd stopped the Wind Hashira when he had been ready to harm Nezuko. Tanjiro remembered it vividly, the scarred man had nearly stabbed through the wooden box when there'd been a flash of pink fabric and a smell of flowers. Kanae-san had grabbed the Wind Hashira's wrist and held it there while scolding him.

"Shame on you, Sanemi. You of anyone here should know the pain of losing your younger siblings and the lengths the eldest child would go to protect the little ones. Put your sword down and wait for the Master." She'd made the Wind Hashira falter and snatched the box from his hands, placing it down next to Tanjiro as she knelt back down, the wind pillar growing smaller under her glare.

The Wind Hashira, Sanemi had knelt back down silently until the time came to test Nezuko, then he had too willingly spilled his own blood to tempt her. Even then, Kanae-san had been quick to come to Tanjiro's aide. Reprimanding the Snake Hashira for being too harsh and smiling when Nezuko proved herself. She'd doted on Nezuko afterward as much as she doted on the other slayers... Tanjiro remembered fondly that evening he found Kanae braiding flowers into Nezuko's hair and the smile that had adorned his little sister's face.

Yes... if any of the hashira would have an open heart, it would be Kanae-san.

But Nezuko was different from these people... Tanjiro stared at them all and smelled the blood in the air. Nezuko had never given in to temptation. Nezuko had never harmed someone...

The box creaked open and Tanjiro felt panic flood his chest.

"Nezu-"

But she was already out. She stood in her short stature and looked around the table in wonder, studying each and every demon and human. It seemed she'd already recovered from helping them awaken in the train.

All the demons stared at her, she stared back.

It was Miku who broke the silence first, leaning over to ask Inosuke; "Is that his demon sister?"

Nezuko hummed as she walked around the table and stared at Doma who stared back at her.

"So the demon slayers really just allow a demon in their ranks?" Akaza pondered as he kept his eyes on the young demon.

"Ne... Nezuko's never eaten anyone!" it was Zenitsu who spoke up, a little shrill. "She's never harmed a soul! She's innocent, with a human heart."

The demons all looked critically at the little demoness and all seemed to ponder what she was and what she meant.

"I can remember Muzy talking a bit about her, she was the demon who broke away from him," Daki pondered.

Nezuko just stared at Doma.

"Is everything alright?" Kotoha asked as she watched this interaction, glancing at Tanjiro for confirmation.

"I... I don't know," Tanjiro managed, hoping Nezuko didn't take this room of demons to be a threat. "She's undergone some hypnotism to discourage her from eating humans... but that doesn't apply to demons so she may feel threatened or confused - "

Nezuko reached over and pat Doma's head. Even as he knelt he was taller than her so she had to go on her tiptoes to reach it.

Oh, the silence that followed felt like a tension that couldn't be cut... that was until Gyutato started cackling, doubling over as he held his stomach and laughed.

"Threatened!? Oh yeah, she's really scared!" Gyutaro wheezed as Nezuko continued to pat a very confused Doma. Daki snickered, Akaza tried to hold in a laugh, Inosuke and Miku joined the loud cackles as they saw their father's face, Kotoha smiled, and Tanjiro couldn't help but feel a cautious smile come to his face.

The air smelled less wrong now... still thick with danger, but a promising lightness to it; like the world after a rain.

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

Demons and humans. Demons and demon slayers together, under the same roof. Gyutaro watched it all with a bit of morbid fascination. He watched that flame pillar sit tense and ready to fight. There was a confidence resonating in his stature that not even the old him would feel comfortable rushing into. The other two were insects compared to the hashira, though Gyutaro would admit the boy with the box smelling of wisteria had thrown him off.

It had taken a while to deduce there was a demon in there... and that came with its own slew of consequences.

So the Corps was willing to work with demons. Gyutaro could see the way that idea sparked something in both Akaza and Doma.  It was no secret ambition; they'd discussed it plenty: 

How Mirakuru and Kotoha would be safer with their own kind. The demon slayers may be weak individually, but there were many of them and they weren't to be messed with. 

How they had the same goal as the demon slayers; to take down Muzan. To rip that man's pretty eyes out of his skull and watch as he squirmed in the sun. To listen to him beg just as they had grovelled. To make him suffer...

How it would never work; the corps would never accept them, never forgive them. Fifteen hashira had fallen to Gyutaro's hand and far more inexperienced slayers, Daki had more than half that. They'd walk into that place criminals and walk out murderers.

And yet... and yet...

The corps let a little human boy travel with a demon sister. They had enough faith in this demon, faith that she wouldn't snap one day and devour an innocent or her brother. Faith that she was stronger than her instinct.

Could they prove the same to the corps? That they were stronger than they once were? That they had shifted from their course...

Had they?

Sure they didn't needlessly kill anymore... they didn't eat humans. That didn't mean Gyutaro forgave the blessed, forgave humanity. He knew how ugly it could be... uglier than him...

"But you're not ugly, Gyutaro. The world is cruel and it tells us those lies; it's our hearts that make us beautiful and despite how hard you try, I know you have a good heart. I know you're a good person, I can see it in how you treat us."

Kotoha had said that. He risked a glance at the matriarch of the house and saw her studying the scarred boy... Tanjiro, if Gyutaro remembered correctly. She was studying him with a  familiar look in her eyes as Tanjiro explained coming home to a house of a dead family.

She'd given Gyutaro that same look when he told her that his mother tried to kill him... multiple times. She'd looked at him with that soft look and then she had hugged him. She'd hugged him and told him some shit about the world being cruel to those who never deserved it. She'd hugged him...

That had been an interesting day.

Gyutaro sighed and leaned on Daki as they watched Akaza do the dishes while everyone else seemed enthralled with the scar-boy's story of his sister, his run-in with Muzan, and his adventure getting the slayers to accept Nezuko.

The entire time it was painfully obvious that Doma was thinking of Miku.

Daki mindlessly began to run her fingers through Gyutaro's hair, setting out to braid some of it as she too listened to the story, pausing a few times when the kid got to the more nitty-gritty parts of his poor tragic past. Gyutaro rolled his eyes a few times... but he could appreciate it. 

He'd do the same for Daki if he stayed human... regardless of if she ate humans or not.

He glanced at the little demon girl who had taken to exploring the house, not yet daring to venture close to the siblings at the window. She couldn't have been much older than Daki had been when they turned, based on the boy's age. Gyutaro wasn't sure what to do with that information.

Minutes ticked by and the sun began to rise, forcing Gyutaro and Daki to retreat inside and draw the windows close. They took their new place in the corner, Gyutaro with a  few more braids than before and Daki with her head on his shoulders, bored out of her mind by the look of it. He began to return the favor by braiding her hair and that seemed to sooth the tension from her shoulders.

He would admit, the voices and the exchanging of stories and tense moments were lost on him as he focused on taming Daki's white unruly hair. Once she absorbed the last of her ribbon remnants from the red-light district she had returned to her true form and hair color, but that had been years ago... still, Kokushibo's sword swings lay fresh in his mind.

He nearly decapitated the young demon when he felt someone pat his head. It was Nezuko... she was staring at him with a bit of wonder and a strange bit of familiarity as she pat his head and watched him braid Daki's hair.

Great. What the fuck was he supposed to do now? Daki looked back nonchalantly at the little demon before closing her eyes and resting - not sleeping, obviously, but probably just tuning out the minor annoyances; mostly Inosuke.

Gyutaro finally voted to ignore the girl and set back to braiding. This was apparently the wrong choice as the girl leaned closer to study what he was doing.

"What the fuck do you want?" he demanded in a hiss.

As if to answer, she sat down in his lap and took some of Daki's hair in her hands, and began braiding.

What the actual fuck was supposed to do now? His first instinct was violence, but that was a no-go and he was trying to be better at that, okay? His second instinct was to be cruel, but that was something else he was trying to work on. His third instinct... he didn't have a third instinct so he just sat there in shock.

Daki was immediately alert as she felt someone else start braiding her hair. She glanced back skeptically at the little demon girl before coming to some conclusion, shrugging and returning to her original position.

"What the fuck am I supposed to do?" Gyutaro demanded.

"How am I supposed to know?" Daki shrugged. "Don't let her fuck up my hair."

"A lot of help you are," he hissed.

She only snickered and Gyutaro considered (for only half a second) yanking her hair.

"And you think they'll be willing to listen to us... to hear us out?" Doma's voice broke Gyutaro out of his world and he tuned back into the "serious conversation" happening over at the table.

"I believe so. No one would do anything until the Master willed it," the hashira explained. "But if the Master willed it - "

"Would any harm come to Kotoha... or Miku?" Doma pressed.

"Doma! We've talked about this," Kotoha scolded gently. "I won't go if they won't accept you."

"I just... want to know," Doma murmured, perhaps a bit ashamed.

After a few moments of silence, the hashira spoke again. "The corps would not harm innocents."

"Would they harm Kotoha, Miku, or Inosuke for what they know?" Doma pressed.

A moment. Then two.

Then finally; "I would not allow them to."

That made Gyutaro look up. The flame hashira was still sitting tall, but there was something in his gaze that was strangely more agreeable. Akaza walked over, having finished the dishes like a loser, and leaned on a wall.

"You would protect them?" Akaza asked.

"Inosuke is my tsuguko. And as far as I know, the other two would be considered innocent so I would not allow harm to befall them. I cannot say the same for you." 

"But your... your Master would hear us out?" Doma asked gently.

"Yes."

"Has anyone considered that this could easily turn into a trap?" Daki asked suddenly. "We go walking into the slayer's headquarters and they all jump up on us?"

"It's been considered," Doma murmured.

"And if they hear you out and decide that you're still guilty?" Kotoha challenged. "What do you do then?"

"Same thing we've always done... run," Doma managed.

"Oh boy, what fun," Gyutaro scoffed. More running, more close-calls. That would not be fun, maybe a bit more fun than running from Kokushibo... actually scratch that, it could be even less fun.

"But we need to consider what happens if they hear us out... if they agree to work with us," Doma explained. "We'd get a home. We'd get a legion, we'd get stability. Miku could grow up in the same house with friends and fellow humans. We all could stop looking over our shoulders... and we'd be closer to Inosuke. We could work with the demon slayers to develop new poisons... maybe even a cure..."

A cure? Gyutaro's head snapped up at the sound, as did the scar boys... Tanjiro. 

"There's no cure for demons," Daki spoke Gyutaro's mind.

"Not yet... but there may be..." Doma murmured and Gyutaro didn't have time to dissect how that made him feel.

Being human again? Being weak but still monstrous? Being - 

"I say we do it. We have more to gain than we do to lose," Doma explained.

"I disagree, to lose any of you is to lose something irreplaceable," Kotoha murmured, looking over all the demons. "It's a huge risk."

"But it may be a necessary one," Doma pleaded. "If they're willing to talk, we should talk."

"And if it goes south?" Kotoha asked. "If they try to kill you? Could you take on that many? Could you escape?"

"If we're together?" Akaza asked. "Without question."

The demon slayers tensed at that statement but Gyutaro felt his shoulders relax. It was true. Four (well three if you got technical) Upper Moons working together would spell ruin and surely the hashira knew that.

"It would be worth the risk... please," Doma pleaded.

Kotoha hung her head and looked around the table, her eyes sitting on the hashira's figure.

"Very well, but I will stay behind... with Miku and Inosuke," Kotoha murmured.

"What!?" Inosuke demanded.

"The slayers will not harm you - " the hashira began.

"I do not trust them to not use us as bait," Kotoha answered cooly, staring at the Flame hashira. "You may claim good intentions but I only trust my family. If Akaza believes that you can take on the slayers, then I will believe that. But you, Doma, fight best when you don't have to worry about us, so we'll stay back."

"What if a demon comes - " Doma tried to argue.

"I have a demon slayer now," Kotoha smirked proudly as she gestured to Inosuke. That made Inoske's eyes gleam with pride, his earlier outburst forgotten.

"Really?" he asked. Gyutaro grinned... the kid had no idea the grey area he was in. He was happy to serve his family even as they discussed the possibility of fighting the very corps he was in. God bless the idiots.

"Of course," Kotoha smiled softly, looking back to Doma. "This way, if it goes well, we'll come to join you. If not, you return to us and we continue running."

There were a few flaws in the plan, but if they moved somewhere new... and played their cards right... it wasn't the worst idea.

"Sounds good to me," Gyutaro nodded. "I like contingency plans."

"It's not the worst of ideas," Akaza agreed, looking to Doma and then the hashira. "What do you think Kyojuro, would that work?"

"Your asking someone on the wrong side," the hashira answered, something different in his tone as he looked at Akaza... and that difference made Akaza smirk smugly.

What was all that?

Nezuko hummed in his lap and began a new braid pulling Gyutaro to the task at hand. Whatever they decided he'd go along with it, even if it was suicidal.

That just seemed to be their life. As long as they all got to sit together at the end of the day and laugh about it, he'd be fine.

That was the strange thing now that he smiled to himself about.

No matter what the situation was, as he glanced from Kotoha's firm eyes to Doma's strong posture and Akaza's bright grin, he knew that they'd survive it.

After all, he hummed to himself as he finished a new braid, he'd always been too good at surviving.

(The demons: *sitting there*

Nezuko: Who are these sad lost demons? *speedruns adoption*

The demons & Tanjiro: Huh?

Gonna be honest - this was a pain to write. But it's been written so I don't have to worry about it anymore LOL. I know nothing exciting happened per say but I do still hope you guys liked it :) Have a great day/night and thanks a bunch for reading!)