MUZAN'S MOOD IMMEDIATELY dampened upon returning to his fake wife's home. despite her ever-lasting riches and connections to the political world, she herself was too clingy for muzan's liking.

     "honey, where have you been?? you said your trip was only going to be for six days!"

     "I apologize, my love. there was something urgent that came up and it needed my dire attention", muzan smoothly lied.

     the woman huffed, as she pouted and turned her back towards the demon king.

     "did you even remember to buy me a gift on your way back?"

     muzan scowled, internally blaming kanna for making him forget such a thing.

     "how about I take you shopping now? the night is still young. I'll get you anything you want", muzan smiled, to which the woman had begrudgingly accepted the apology.

     "fine. however, you must stay with me for the next few days, okay?"

"where else would I rather be?", muzan chuckled.

anywhere. he would've rather had been anywhere, though particularly in his office mixing chemicals, while kanna worked on her little projects.

     "good! now, let me grab my purse and we can start heading out", the woman gleamed, rushing upstairs, as muzan patiently awaited for her return.

     the rest of the night was spent shopping around a nearby night market, where muzan simply paid, while his wife had pointed at things she liked.

     many things caught the woman's eye, but only one had caught muzan's.

     "my love, pardon me for a second won't you?", muzan stated, excusing himself as the woman was too preoccupied with the westernized dresses to care.

the demon king crossed over to the other side of the shops, watching as an old woman was inside by herself, attempting to rearrange some of her possessions.

the store was cozy, one would say, certainly claustrophobic. yet there was a welcoming aura to it that muzan couldn't exactly describe.

there were mirrors, vanities, jewelry of all sorts, and even tiny boxes to hold all those accessories in. the old lady smiled upon muzan's entrance into her petite store, where everything almost felt cluttered.

"good evening sir. what brings you to my humble store?"

muzan thought it odd he was even inclined to enter such a disorganized store, yet perhaps it was because it was the complete opposite of what he's used to shopping at that piqued his interest this time.

     kanna wasn't short of accessories made from famous jewelers, for she probably had at least one priceless item from every era that they've been alive in.

     muzan made it an unintentional habit to bring the dark-haired woman something when he was gone for longer periods of time.

     it was reflective off muzan as well, as he couldn't have the woman beside him dressed like a bum. she must be endowed with the elegance and grace of a lady, and accessories to accentuate that as well.

     "I'm...looking for something simple. a hairpin made of pure silver, or as close as you can get to full purity", muzan stated.

"now is this for a lover? a mother? or a friend?"

"what difference does it make?", muzan questioned.

the old lady chuckled at the demon king's question.

     "why of course there's a difference! just like flowers, roses are typically gifted to a lover rather than for family. hairpins are the same. to choose the right one, you must know who you're trying to convey your feelings to".

     muzan was hesitant to say family, for although kanna did have his blood in her, they weren't blood-related like that.

friends wouldn't be quite right either, as they have done many things that put them as more than friends.

"it's a lover, isn't it?", the old woman guessed.

muzan didn't love anybody per say. he wasn't even sure he was capable of love. and if he was, his love was transcribed as tolerance.

tolerance was probably a better word for it, as he did tolerate a lot of kanna's actions that he usually wouldn't had it been some other demons.

"she's my companion", muzan reinstated.

"for a companion...hmm, I'd recommend this one", the old suggested.

     bringing out a thin silver hairpin and handing it over for muzan to closely observe, the demon progenitor could distinctly make out the details on each petal of the lily.

     the lily itself was made of a pearly-white jade, with meticulous silver engravings melting into the pin itself.

     fit for a lady as esteemed as kanna, muzan thought.

     "I'll take it", the demon king stated.

     the old lady carefully wrapped it up and placed it into a drawstring pouch, easily allowing muzan to slip it into the inside pocket of his suit.

"may your present convey what you feel".

     muzan chose to ignore the old woman's words, as he just paid and returned to his fake wife before she got overly suspicious.

"darling, what do you think of this dress?", his wife asked, twirling around as the shop manager was hyping the woman up.

"beautiful as always", muzan smiled, taking out his wallet to pay.

     as the woman happily spun in her new dress, she had hooked her arm around muzan's.

     "shall we head to the next store then?"

     "anything you want, love".

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the twelve kizuki kneeled at the center of the platform, having to have been summoned by nakime abruptly.

the lower moons whispered amongst themselves, for some of them were still relatively new. none of them knew the reasoning behind their sudden arrival though.

lower moon six was the most nervous, even more confused when he had witnessed kanna walking hand-in-hand with a young, white-haired demon.

"greetings, lady kanna", the twelve kizuki spoke in sync.

"good evening", kanna warmly greeted back.

"lady kanna, may I just say that you look absolutely heavenly today? your skin is glowi—"

"dōma...let lady kanna speak...", kokushibo interrupted.

dōma pouted, as kanna let out a soft chuckle.

"I appreciate it", kanna replied, "however, today is not about me, but rather a blood battle that's going to ensue".

the lower moons gasped, as they each glanced around wondering if someone was trying to steal their position.

the upper moons were almost excited, hoping that they were the ones being challenged. after all, it has been a while since someone was brave enough to even do so.

"rui here has only been a demon for about half a year", kanna introduced, gently nudging the rank-less demon to speak for himself.

"I wish to challenge lower moon one", rui boldly stated.

everyone turned their gaze towards lower moon one — ubume. ubume although gave off a kind, motherly impression, was actually cruel and incapable of empathy, like most other demons.

her technique was not to be trifled with, as she was able to manipulate physical illusions and mask the area with a thick musky smell.

"I'd be honored", ubume smiled.

     "lady kanna, would you mind if I kept him after our battle? he reminds me of my daughter", ubume chuckled.

if there was one kizuki that kanna did not get along with, it'd probably be ubume. their ideals on children alone simply did not match in the slightest.

"isn't it too soon to be asking about that? after all, who said you will remain victorious?"

     akaza wasn't sure he'd ever seen kanna speak in such a hostile manner. it took a lot to push kanna's buttons, and ubume sure knew how to get to her.

"apologies for overstepping my boundaries then", ubume bowed, though her tone said otherwise.

rui turned towards kanna, to which the demoness had kneeled down so that she was within his eye-level.

"do your best, rui", kanna whispered.

"I will, miss kanna".

as rui hopped onto the platform in the middle of the infinity castle, the rest of the kizuki backed away, all except for lower moon one.

     "lady kanna, would you like to take a seat on my lap?", dōma offered.

     "I'm alright. thank you though".

     akaza rolled his eyes, as he didn't understand how kanna could possibly stand him.

"lady kanna, I've made a new pot for you. would you like to see?", upper moon five offered.

     "that's so swee—"

     "l-lady kanna, p-please make them stop fighting. it's scaring me...", upper moon four cried, crawling on the floor like a cockroach.

     "hatengu, it'll be alri—"

     "lady kanna!! I know we saw each other a few months ago, but there's this new kimono design that I want to wear. could you embroider it for me?", daki pleaded.

     "I definitely can if you show—"

     "lady kannaaaaa~ akaza-dono is being mean to me againnnn", dōma whined.

kokushibo could tell that the dark-haired demoness was getting slightly overwhelmed with the other upper moons, for kanna had started to discreetly back away.

"silence", kokushibo commanded, to which all the upper moons had quieted.

"let me know if you get tired", kokushibo uttered to kanna.

nodding, kanna was able to watch over the battle between rui and ubume.

as expected, ubume had trapped rui in an illusion. kanna could only pray that rui would be able to break out of it and slice the woman's head off.

'you must survive, rui'.

⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡ ⋆

AUTHOR'S NOTE: ubume & her technique is canonical — the other stuff 🤒 not so much...so please don't come at me 😭🫶