Returning Home

Kamado Akina’s POV

I wake up in a pile of limbs.

“ Since when do you like cuddles? ” I snicker softly, Inosuke lets out a quiet yelp against my back, and quickly jumps out of the pile like I’d burned him. “ Aw, c’mon, Inosuke, you were so cute and soft like that. ”

The others start letting out tiny noises and moving, waking up slowly and ruining Inosuke’s chance of replying. I chuckle as everyone gets up and yawns, even Nezuko moves her mouth and lets out a soft breath around her little bamboo muzzle.

A knock on the door makes me jump up, but I land as silently as ever, and I pick up Nezuko hurriedly. I manage to get her into the box with only minor difficulty, and no injury.

“ Stay quiet, no matter what. ” I murmur to her, she nods, and I close the door to the box quickly. I quickly fold up the futon as Tanjiro opens the door and welcomes in the doctor and the house’s owner, and the boys all settle down in a row. I settle behind them as the doctor examines them, checking on their ribs and on Tanjiro’s leg.

“They’re all better.” He says kindly, they exchange excited looks, “Do you need an examination, ma’am? You returned with quite-”

“I’m fine, sir, thank you.” I tell him quickly, noticing how his eyes begin to drift to my chest, “Nothing else is needed at this time.”

They leave, the doctor slouching defeatedly, and I breathe a sigh of relief as the door closes behind them-

Taptaptap

“ Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! ” I snarl, turning to the door to the engawa with murder in my eyes, only for Tanjiro and Zenitsu to answer instead-

-and our two crows and sparrow to fly in.

“...Karasu.” I sigh heavily in greeting as she lands on my shoulder,

“Rough night for you too, eh?” She teases, I give her a look out of the side of my eye, “Well, grab some tea, kid, cause you’re about to hate today!”

“Could you not sound so gleeful when you say that?” I drawl, ambling over to Tanjiro and the others. “You make it sound like The Incident again.”

“Get ready for The Incident Two: Electric Boogaloo.” Karasu cheers, I pause, one foot still in the air. The boys look over, the crow in Tanjiro’s hand quickly hopping up and over his shoulder and clearly hiding behind him. “You’re going to see the Oyakata-sama again! ”

For one, thick, heavy moment, the room is completely silent.

Then we all start yelling at Karasu at the same time.

“ ORDER IN THE COURT! ” She caws over us all , and I growl at her heavily, “You kids have your own mission, and Akina has a meeting.”

“A meeting or a spanking ?” I mutter under my breath, crossing my arms with a huff, Karasu pecks my head in retaliation, and I snap my teeth at her sharply. “ I mean it! Am I getting yelled at or not?!”

“You think I get warning about that shit?! All I know is that you’re in the doghouse, Akina, so it doesn’t matter how much you bark- ” The boys almost swallow their fists, and Inosuke collapses in a heap.

Neither Karasu nor I am impressed.

“ Really? ” I ask,

“I make one pun - while chewing someone out , I might add - and you heathens act like this? ” Karasu asks, offended and distained, Nezuko shakes her box, and I hear her muffled giggles pouring out. “ Oh, a fourth heathen! ”

I sigh heavily and pinch the bridge of my nose, but gently offer a hand for Karasu to hop onto as I walk onto the engawa.

“Where am I meeting him for the disciplinary this time?” I ask tiredly, rubbing the bridge of my nose tiredly, Karasu quickly pulls a small note from her feathers and hands it to me. “Thank you, Karasu, I’ll see if the master of the House has my clothes ready or not.”

I manage to wrangle the three boys into getting ready, keep Inosuke from killing the master of the House over a good-luck ritual and explain it to him, and send them on their own way.

“You know,” I turn to the master tiredly, “After all these years, seeing you wander alone, it’s good to see you care for others.”

“I’ve always cared for others, ma’am.” I point out, more than slightly baffled by her words, but Karasu lands on my shoulder with a small chuckle as the little old master looks up at me.

“Yes, but have you ever kept track of them? Kept in touch with them?” She gently touches my hand, “I’ve only ever seen you alone, Kinoe, tended your wounds from solo hunts, seen you go out alone, heard of you barging in and slaughtering demons alone. When was the last time you were actually together with your family?”

“Christmas, eleven years ago.” I answer automatically, and even Karasu is silent for a beat.

“...da fuck? ” Karasu caws, I snort at her quietly,

“Being a slayer is dangerous - but being a slayer with a living, civilian family is even more dangerous.” I state, heaving a deep sigh as I look out after the boys and Nezuko. “I…I steal kills because I wanted to track down Kibutsuji before now. I wanted to make the world safe enough that I could go home and not worry about having someone burn it down to kill me - and have my entire family murdered at the same time.”

“But they died anyway.” Karasu says softly, the master gasps softly, covering her mouth with both hands, “And you weren’t even there to help Tanjiro - you couldn’t even train him. ”

“No.” I roll my shoulder sharply, startling Karasu into the air, and I turn away. “I wasn’t.”

I leap into the trees.

“Oyakata-sama.” I greet as I sit down next to him on the engawa - much to the horror of Tomioka-san and Kocho-san - and he turns slightly to give me a small smile and a warm chuckle. “You did not tell me that there would be others in this meeting.”

“Well, you are a-”

“I am not a Hashira, nor will I ever be.” I state firmly, he chuckles softly again, “Now, what exactly is the issue, Oyakata-sama?”

“There is a mountain, which I thought only had a few weak demons on it.” The smile drops from his face, and he looks down at his lap - where a crow rests. “I made a terrible mistake.”

“How many demons?” Tomioka-san asks, but I hold out a hand towards him and Kocho, sending them a firm look out of the corner of my eye. They hesitate, sharing a look before closing their mouths and returning to silence.

“There are five demons there, but…” I place a hand on Oyakata-sama’s shoulder soothingly, and he gives me a much weaker smile. “I believe there are members of the Twelve Kizuki on Mount Natagumo-”

“ Mount Natagumo!? ” Karasu swoops in from the fence hurriedly, “Akina, that’s where the kids went - that’s where Nez-”

I grab her sharply around the beak, yanking her hurriedly out of the air and into my arms.

“Thank you for the warning, Oyakata-sama, we will move out now. ” I state quickly, he blinks at me, looking amused as I quickly stand and bow to him.

“But- ”

“Now. ” I tell the two Hashira sharply, they splutter indignantly as I march past, but something Oyakata-sama does behind me must confirm something to them as they quickly stand, bow to him, and scramble madly after me.

“Did I hurt you, Karasu?” I release her once we leave the gates, and she hops up onto my shoulder easily.

“Not too badly.” She grumbles, “But you also owe an explanation and an apology to the two behind us!”

“No need.” Kocho-san replies, Tomioka-san splutters again, and I turn slightly to raise an eyebrow, “I heard about your brother becoming a Slayer - although, there is a strange, and… concerning rumor about him.”

“Rumors are for spinsters, Kocho-san.” I narrow my eyes at her, “Aren’t you a bit young for them?”

I leap into the trees and start a dead run before she can argue.

“Were you acquainted with any of these Demon Slayers?” Kocho-san asks, I let out a frustrated growl, “There certainly don’t seem to be any survivors in this area at least. We were informed that several Mizunoto joined the battle to combat these demons, but they might all be dead by now. Don’t you think so?”

Tomioka-san grabs my wrist tightly as my hands shake. Karasu’s shadow passes me overhead again, circling us.

“Let’s go.”

We start running.

“Doesn’t the moon look lovely tonight?” Tomioka-san murmurs to me at the same time that Kocho-san calls to him, he scowls harshly as she continues, “Since we’ve been given this joint mission, why don’t the two of us try to get along?”

“Because there’s three of us, and you are insulting her children. ”

“She insulted Oyakata-sama .”

“ He did not seem insulted to me. ”

“ Children, I will separate you two. ” I snarl, Karasu swoops down, and we stop, she droops heavily, every feather and muscle shaking with exhaustion and foamy drool dripping from her beak. “ Karasu? ”

“ Zen-itsu…collapsed…to the…west…needs…med-ic… ” She collapses into my hands with a wheeze, I look at Tomioka and Kocho, they shrug helplessly at me, and I sigh softly. “ Tan-ji-ro an’ I-no-su-ke face-ing giant spider man. ”

“You two think you can-”

Distant screaming interrupts me, and we all look up.

“Zenitsu.” Kocho deadpans,

“Giant spider demon.” Tomioka claims,

“...Tomioka, you are taking Karasu with you. ” I snap, grabbing the back of his haori before he can run, he gags as his uniform snaps taut, and I shove Karasu into his chest. He fumbles slightly, but tucks her into a pocket inside his haori. “ Now you two may go… since I only have one line of communication available and one of you is going to play medic to a chronic idiot. ”

Kocho leaps into the trees immediately, but Tomioka shoots me an amused smirk before sprinting off, and I sigh heavily as I leap into the air.

“ Tanjiro, when did you start causing so much trouble? You were such an unproblematic child… ” I grumble, chasing the sound of bad decisions being made.

BOOM

The forest shakes, the shockwave of force leading me much more easily than anything else I was chasing down.

“Well well, you’ve certainly grown into a terrifying young psychopath, Rui.” I drawl, looking down at the situation from the tree tops, and the demon child’s head snaps up to face me, his expression morphing into one of terror . “Careful now, those flies caught in your web are very dear to me. You wouldn’t want to be reporting any… mistakes …to Lord Kibutsuji like last time, would you? ”

“ ...you… ” Rui breathes lowly, his mouth barely opening as it forms the word, and all his blood-red webs break apart in his hands, falling away to dust. “ ...how are you still alive? ”

“ Spite, dear spiderling, is an incredibly strong motivator. ” I lunge forward, easily jumping off several branches, bounding off trees, only to land silently behind Rui as he frantically moves his head side-to-side trying to find me.

“Die. ” I slice his head off with a hiss, “ So that you can never touch my family again. ”

“They’re…” Rui’s head hits the ground, his body crumpling to it’s knees as Tanjiro twists to face us. “...your family ?”

“Yes. ” I snarl, unyielding as tears well in his eyes, “ Now and always.”

“Aneki?” Tanjiro whispers quietly, I look over to him - there is fear in his eyes. “Are you okay, Aneki?”

( Why is my baby brother afraid of me? )