"now they'll be sleeping forever..."

warning: there will be violence later in this chapter. if that triggers you, i will mark where the triggering content begins and ends so you can skip it.

a few days later

hotaru was going on her first mission with enmu, and she was anxious. she didn't want to kill humans, but she couldn't say no to muzan, or he would kill her!

at first she considered only beating her victims until they were unconscious, but then she figured that enmu would probably know how to tell if someone was dead or not, so that plan went out the window.

after thinking about it, hotaru came to the conclusion that she had no choice but to obey muzan.

after all, a few lives ending wouldn't have a large impact on the world, would it?

she hoped not...

for this mission, she was wearing a beautiful golden-brown kimono with a gray-blue obi. on the hem, there were leaves embroidered in silver thread, and there were leaves embroidered elsewhere on the kimono, flying as if they were in a breeze.

she was going to wear trousers and a blouse to make fighting easier, but enmu told her he would be doing most of the fighting, so she should dress in a way that made her feel pleased.

"don't feel forced to dress differently just because you have to battle," he had said. "i'll take care of the killing, your only obligation is to watch and learn from me!"

hotaru was pleased because of this, and dressed in an extra beautiful kimono to celebrate. one part of her hoped enmu would notice and compliment her on her choice of dress, and the other part of her hoped he wouldn't notice, because she'd feel awkward if he did.

in the past few days, hotaru had gotten closer with enmu. he helped her feel comfortable with her new demon body, as he always lavished her with compliments about how pretty she looked. every night, he would give her the best dreams he could imagine, and secretly watch as she enjoyed them.

enmu was a kind demon, but that's just it. he was a demon, not a human.

despite being turned into a demon, hotaru still felt human. she didn't thirst for human blood, and she didn't feel any violent urges or any sudden rise of aggressive tendencies. and she still thought of muichiro.

was he looking for her, she wondered? did he still care about her?

had he forgotten her? was he with another woman?

there was no way to know.

at first, hotaru had been thinking of muichiro frequently. she missed him, and hoped he wasn't suffering much without her. at night, she would cry sometimes due to the pain of longing to see his face but being unable to.

she even asked enmu to make her dream of him, but enmu had refused, saying that it was best if she forgot her old life. she was a demon now, and nothing would change that, no matter who she dreamed of or yearned to see.

ever since then, enmu had made her dream of pleasant things, so that she forgot about her longing for muichiro and her desire to go back to her old life.

a knock on the door made hotaru jump up and run to it. she opened the door and smiled brightly at enmu, who was standing there.

"are you prepared?" he asked, smiling at her.

he's acting like this is a date or something, hotaru thought. he's so silly!

"i just need to grab my sword," she replied.

"don't worry about the sword! i'll be taking care of all the killing," enmu said.

hotaru chose to bring her sword just in case, and they proceeded to enter the human world with a strum of nakime's biwa.

it had been a while since hotaru had been in the human world, and when she saw how beautiful the stars were in the sky and breathed in the fresh air, she was immediately hit with feelings of nostalgia.

enmu noticed that her mind was wandering, and he hesitantly grabbed her hand to get her attention. he didn't usually show affection that way, but if it would get hotaru to be focused on her objective, it was worth it.

"where are our targets?" hotaru whispered.

"follow me," enmu hissed.

the two demons- when did hotaru start thinking of herself as a demon? she couldn't remember, but it didn't matter anyway- headed down the empty streets, careful not to make any sounds. it was the middle of the night, but you could never be too careful.

as hotaru followed enmu, she noticed that she was smelling a tasty scent on the night breeze. she didn't know what it was, but it smelled sweet and tasty, and she was drawn to it.

"you smell the humans, don't you?" enmu asked. "the scent is tempting... but i'll find you an even better meal."

after walking for a little while longer, enmu stopped at a quaint house with a beautiful variety of flowers blooming by the door. characters carved into a wooden sign by the door declared this the nakamura household, and bid any visitors welcome.

we probably won't be welcomed, despite the sign, hotaru jokingly thought.

"this is the house we'll be emptying tonight. you'll see why once we're inside," enmu said.

the two of them easily managed to pry open the door and sneak in. after they were inside, finding the bedroom was not at all hard. the whole family slept together in a room on futons, arranged in a neat line.

‼️triggering content begins here!! ‼️

first in the line was an older woman, probably the grandmother. enmu stood over her with a smile on his face, reveling in the joy of the dreams she was having, before snapping her neck in one smooth move.

‼️ triggering content ends here!! ‼️

"see how i do it swiftly? that limits the pain they feel. it's quite a merciful death, actually. now they'll be dreaming forever..."

hotaru tried not to look at the unnatural position of the grandmother's head, choosing instead to look around the room to distract herself.

she thought she could handle seeing others die- she had been a demon slayer, after all- but watching them get murdered in front of her and doing nothing about it was different. that was horrible. she couldn't stomach it. she doubted that she could ever.

the room was pretty bare as rooms go. there was a small closet directly behind the rows of sleeping people that was cracked open a tiny bit. in the closet, hotaru could see a demon slayer uniform hanging up on a hook.

suddenly, everything was clear. she knew why this family was the one chosen to be killed.

one of the members of this family was a demon slayer!

and hotaru thought she knew who it was...

lying at the second to last position in the line was a young man who appeared to be no older than twenty. his build and shape fit the uniform in the closet, and his muscular body appeared to be the body of a demon slayer.

‼️ triggering content begins here!! ‼️

hotaru leaned in closer to look to him, and suddenly she felt a sharp pain around her neck.

she looked down and saw that the young man's eyes were open, and that he had reached out and grabbed her throat to choke her. she began to gasp for breath and try to kick and scratch him with her claws, but he was strong and wouldn't let go even after she scratched his arm several times.

enmu, who was busy with the other members of the family, looked over to see what was wrong and saw hotaru struggling for breath.

quickly, he rushed over and drew hotaru's sword from its hilt, unsheathing it and beheading the man choking her in one swift movement. as his arm fell limply to the ground, hotaru collapsed to the ground as well, unconscious with bruises around her throat.

‼️ triggering content ends here!! ‼️

after finishing slaying all of the remaining family members, enmu gingerly lifted the unconscious hotaru up in his arms and carried her into the dream world he had created for her with the tree overlooking the city.

once he was safely there, he laid her down under the tree and, after a moment's hesitation, caressed her cheeks gently.

"you did great tonight," he whispered. "rest well, my little firefly. muzan will be pleased when i tell him of our success tonight."

with that, he entered the portal and disappeared, leaving hotaru alone in her dream.

a/n- triple update? unheard from me, i know! i just love this story so much, i had to update it again! i hope you enjoy what's going to be the last chapter i post today!

i'm kind of dissatisfied with the way i'm writing enmu, but what do you guys think? are you guys a fan of the more romantic enmu, or do you not want that?

do you think hotaru will be able to love muichiro again if they reunite, or will she choose enmu? what team are you guys on, enmu x hotaru or muichiro x hotaru?

anyway, i hope you guys have a lovely day/night and that you take care of yourselves <3 lots of love, thanks for reading my story!