Waking up to the sounds of someone screaming is not how Rui wanted to start his day. The fact that he's currently residing in the Insect Hashira's home alongside Tanjiro and Nezuko adds on to his annoyance as well, along with the fact that he no longer possesses the powers he once did as a member of the Twelve Kizuki. But he was the one who made that decision, so Rui would just have to live with the consequences of his actions.

He knew what would happen if he betrayed Muzan, Rui knew that when he first joined the Twelve Kizuki as Lower Rank Six. If any members of the Twelve Kizuki betrayed Muzan, they would either get instantly killed or permanently branded as a traitor, their powers fading alongside their place in his ranks. In Rui's case, Muzan was going to most likely send the others after him for his betrayal, since he was very close with Muzan...

To think that man had groomed him to be a killing machine from the start made Rui sick on the stomach. Did he treat any of the other demon ranks like that? Was it just him? Rui will never know...

Walking out of the darkly-dimmed room, Rui groggily rubbed his eyes as he walked into the hospital wing Tanjiro and the other demon slayers were staying in. There he found the source of all that screaming; a blonde boy with shortened limbs wailing as a girl with two pigtails was force feeding him some sort of liquid. He must've ran into his 'elder brother' sometime during the night and was most likely on the verge of turning into a demon before he got rescued, probably by that madwoman Shinobu.

Tanjiro motioned for him to come over and sit on the hospital bed with him, clearly annoyed by the blondes antics. Rui walked over and sat down beside him, scrunching up his face as he heard yet another high pitched wail.

"Is he always like that?" Rui whispered into Tanjiro's ear, earning a nod in return.

"Yeah, he is."

"I'm quite curious to see how he would react if he saw us sitting together," Rui said as he glanced over at a nearby depressed Inosuke, "What's up with him?"

Tanjiro shrugged, "I don't know, but it probably has something to do with why he's in the hospital."

"He probably ran into my 'father' and got his ass beat," Rui internally chuckled at the thought of the boar-headed guy getting his ass kicked.

"I just wasn't strong enough to-" Inosuke paused for a second before looking over at Rui, "YOU! YOU'RE THAT FLYING SPIDER I SAW IN THE WOODS!"

Rui blinked for a few seconds before responding, "I wasn't actually flying, dumbass, I was gliding through the air using my treads."

"You can actually do that?" Tanjiro asked with a shocked expression on his face, "That's so cool!"

"It's nothing special, really. I just do it so people will find me more intimidating considering that I'm...well," Rui gestured to his body, "Short."

"IF YOU THINK YOU'RE SO FUCKING INTIMIDATING, THEN FIGHT ME!" Inosuke shouted, causing Zenitsu and Aoi to look over in their direction.

"WAIT, ANOTHER SPIDER DEMON? ARE YOU HERE TO KILL ME?" Zenitsu shrieked, pointing a finger at Rui.

Aoi just looked at the group unamused for a few seconds before gesturing Rui to follow her, "Lady Shinobu wants to see you."

Rui's face paled at the mention of the so called Insect Hashira, "Shit...."

Tanjiro looked at him sympathetically as he patted Rui on the back, "I'm sure she just wants to check up and see how you're doing."

"Or I'm probably going to be sent for examination.....Yay...." Rui internally groaned as he got up off of Tanjiro's bed and followed Aoi out the door, "I'm so going to end up dead by the end of today...."

"She'll probably just run some tests on you," Aoi said as she led Rui over to Shinobu's office.

"Yeah, probably because I rejected Ma-Muzan's influence over me and had my eye yanked out by him as punishment. The Demon King has worser mental issues than I do, and that's saying something considering most of the demons who serves him also have mental health issues," Rui lightly shrugged, "That's just a known fact."

Aoi looked at Rui with concern written on her face. This boy, who was probably a year younger than her physically, has already been through so much in his life. Yes, he's done some horrible things in his life (and Aoi still doesn't forgive him for it), but in the end he's still just a kid.

"Well I, for one, think Muzan's a dick who needs to pay for his actions," Aoi sternly said as she turned to walk away, "Oh and by the way, former Lower Rank Five-"

"It's Rui," Rui interjected.

"Try not to get yourself killed, alright?" Aoi continued, shooting Rui a death glare before walking off.

"Seriously, do these people think I'm going to let my ass get killed easily?" Rui mumbled under his breath, "The audacity..."

"Of what?" Shinobu whispered into his ear, suddenly appearing behind him, "The audacity of what?"

Rui turned around and gave Shinobu an unamused stare, "And people wonder why you terrify me so much."

"Well I'm glad to know I can come off as intimidating to you," Shinobu shot Rui a fake smile as she opened the door, "Come on in, we got lots of work to do!"

"What are you going to do, dissect me?" Rui tilted his head in confusion as Shinobu closed the door.

"I wish, but unfortunately Oyakata-sama wants to keep you alive. Something about you being a key player in the defeat of Kibutsuji."

"And I think willingly breaking free of Ma-his influence is probably what contributed to my life getting spared," Rui added on as he sat down on a nearby stool.

"That's exactly why I called you here to my office," Shinobu said as she pulled out a nearby clipboard, "How exactly did you, a former member of the Twelve Kizuki, manage to break free of Muzan's influence?"

"I don't know, it really was all a blur for me. One second I hear his voice, then next I hear who I assume to be my parents whispering for me to overcome his will, and next thing you know I end up gouging my own eye out," Rui explained while gesturing to his covered up eye.

"Can I see your eye for a second?" Shinobu asked him.

Rui lightly shrugged as he moved his hair out of the way, "Sure, it's probably going to say 'Former Lower Rank Five' if I would have to guess."

"Um..." Shinobu looked at him surprised before grabbing a nearby mirror and holding it up to Rui's face, "You might want to see this for yourself."

"Oh...forgot about that part.." Rui mumbled under his breath as he stared at his reflection in the mirror.

Shinobu looked at him with a confused look, "Huh?"

"I'm officially branded as a traitor to my kind, though normally Muzan would put the brand on the traitors' hand.....Interesting...." Rui trailed off for a few seconds before covering his eye back up.

"Yeah, quite an interesting development indeed. You truly are quite the special case, aren't you?" Shinobu said as her gaze lingered over to her notepad.

     "Are you writing this down?" Rui asked her.

     Shinobu nodded, "I have never heard of a Demon Traitor before. Are they not that common?"

     "Me and Tamayo (if that ancient old hag is still even alive) are the only ones who have actually managed to betray Muzan and make it out alive. Everyone else either got hunted down by one of the Upper Ranks or ended up dying by M-Muzan's hand," Rui responded, "How I managed to stay alive this long is beyond my own understanding."

     "Fascinating," Shinobu gasped, "So there's another traitor asides from you?"

     Rui lightly shrugged, "Every demon has heard the tale of Tamayo before, how she betrayed that man and managed to get away from his grasps. Rather or not he branded her is still an open question."

     "Would you mind giving me a sample of your blood so that I can run some tests?" Shinobu asks him.

     "Couldn't be any worse than gouging my eye out," Rui rolled up his kimono sleeve as Shinobu got up and walked over to her desk.

     "I've heard from the others that they've been having nightmares about it," Shinobu opened up the drawer and pulled out a syringe, "Even I'll admit I'm still shocked that you're still alive after that."

     "Don't worry, I'll probably end up getting killed off eventually," Rui watched as Shinobu walked over to him and sat back down in the chair.

     "One could only hope," Shinobu responded as she pricked Rui in the vein and slowly drew out some of his blood, "Alright, you're all set to go now! Don't try to eat anybody on the way out!"

     Rui got up and shot Shinobu a nasty glare before exiting her office. He will never understand how people find the Insect Hashira to be remotely tolerable. Shinobu's fake persona and overall demeanor is enough to make Rui not like her, the fact that she tried to kill him with poison also adds on to his reason.

     "But my god is she terrifying," Rui whispered to himself as shivers went down his spine. How could someone almost the size of him be so annoying yet so terrifying? Oh how he wished the Water Hashira had beheaded him when he had the chance to....

     There's really no turning back now...unfortunately...