Work Text
Upper Moon Two, a demon who is known for acting rather pathetic and annoying with his childish-antics, much to the annoyance of the demons ranked below him, especially Akaza. Muzan himself isn’t keen on his happy-go-lucky view of life, but he gets his work done. Muzan knows that deep below that mask of childish glee is a bloodthirsty sadist, a psychopath who only ever consumes women, in the name of “salvation”. A demon who has never truly had to exert himself in his battles, always playful and mocking, toying with his enemies and comrades, and especially his victims. Glittering rainbow eyes glow in the dark as he brandishes his golden fans, hiding the lower half of his face behind the lotus design engraved on the gleaming metal. Seated on a cathedra covered in gold, vine patterns intricately etched into the sides and a beautiful backboard, shaped like an open lotus with only the moon to illuminate him, he looks like a god. He smiles behind the fan, his eyes crinkling as he regards the young girl kneeling before him, shivering from a mix of nervousness and the low temperature. Who wouldn't kneel before such an imposing and hauntingly beautiful figure, the head of the Eternal Paradise himself? “Rise, my dear,” He says in a deep voice intended to come off as soothing, but he can't help but sound amused. After all, it's not every night he gets such a pretty little thing to fall at his feet. Most of the people coming to his temple are rather boring or useless plebeians, wishing for money, fame, fortune and whatnot. Sometimes, he doesn't even bother with consuming such filth. But this one, oh this young lady has captured his attention, a pretty little weed in a pile of mud. He’s gonna take his time with her. The girl sits back on her feet and meets his eyes, looking at him like he is the moon, shining through the darkness like he could be the end to her suffering, the tunnel of light to heaven itself. The room grows colder the longer she looks at him. Could he be an angel? Surely something this beautiful couldn't be anything but holy. He chuckles, the wondrous sound snapping her out of her thoughts. How long was she staring at him with her mouth agape? She gulps and sits up straight, her heart pounding as she smooths down the front of her green kimono with shaky hands, a large white sling across her torso holding something very bulky under her chest, curious. Long black hair flows into a loose braid that starts at her waist, which sways when she bows her head before meeting his gaze again, her large emerald eyes glittering with innocence. “M-My name is Kotoha, your divinity. I’ve c-come to your holy temple to humbly seek sanctuary.” Sanctuary? That’s new. His smile grows into a large grin that bares his fangs, still obscured from her view by the fan that is held by beautifully manicured hands, sharp lavender talon-like nails splayed over the engraving to hold it steady. With a click, the fan is folded up and held in his left hand. “Miss Kotoha…” he spells out her name slowly, his voice and unwavering smile sending shivers down her spine, “You seek… shelter?” He asks, amused by her rather meager request. She nods and places a hand on the bulk in the sling as she tries to build the courage to respond, “Y-yes.” He lets out an amused hum as he turns away, shifting his weight to rest on his elbow propped up on the arm of his cathedra, absentmindedly waving the closed fan around with his other hand. Oh how ethereal he is from the side, The moon lighting up his perfect skin, the bridge of his perfect nose, his lips- “May I ask why you have come to me, Miss?” He slowly turns to face her, his long blond hair gently shifting as he does, “I can tell you come from afar. You don't need to come all the way here just for a place to stay~” She freezes in place, did she do something wrong? Is he displeased? The room seems to get even colder as he bares his fangs in a knowing grin, “You’re running away, aren’t you?” Her head hangs low and her features settle into a soft sadness. As emotionless as he is, sorrow is by far the most beautiful emotion to him. He finds himself more intrigued by this girl every passing moment. “Yes, your divinity. I-” She is cut-off by weird gurgles, followed by a high-pitched shrieking that tears through the otherwise quiet ambience in his shrine. He blinks in confusion as she quickly unravels the sling to reveal the source of the noise… a baby? For the first time, his smug demeanor is replaced by one of genuine curiosity and surprise as warmth sneaks back into the room. His head tilts to the side and his brows furrow as he looks at the little thing in her arms while she desperately tries to shush the baby. A strange sensation fills his chest as he looks at her baby. He hasn't ever seen a baby this close up before, and it is... interesting. A chubby little human wearing nothing but a cloth diaper, squirming with its tiny hands and feet as she tries to soothe it, chubby face scrunched up as it cries. "Nowhere near enough flesh to sate a demon," he jokes to himself before he suddenly pushes the thought aside, disliking it even if he doesn't know why. He catches himself and quickly regains his composure, smiling at the pair. "Oh, who is this, Miss Kotoha?" He asks playfully, though now he is genuinely interested in her answer. She suddenly remembers the other person in the room and sits up straight, now that the baby has been soothed it rests against her chest and while grabbing at her kimono. Two pairs of large innocent emerald eyes stare at the grinning man, now in a more relaxed seated pose with his foot resting on his other leg and the fan tapping at his head. "A-Ah, your divinity-" "Just call me Douma," he gently corrects her, his gaze still fixed on the baby. "D-Douma... Um, this is my baby, his name is Inosuke." "Little Inosuke, huh? How sweet," he says with a smirk on his face. The baby just blankly stares back, ignorant of just how much danger the man before him poses. So tiny, so pathetic it's almost... "And... you're right. I-I am running away… from my husband and his family. They hurt me all the time, it became worse after I gave birth..." Douma started to tune her out, her voice was nice to listen to but he found himself staring at little Inosuke, who is busy gurgling and cooing while playing with his mother's kimono. Interesting how this defenseless little thing waves his limbs around with barely any control or logic. "...he beats me all the time, especially when Inosuke cries too much. I’ve had enough, please, help me!" Douma blinks when he realizes the girl before him has been reduced to a crying mess after divulging her story, much of which he barely paid attention to. "Oh, you poor little thing" he says, pretending to have listened. He gets the gist of her story, and abusive husbands and in-laws are nothing he hasn't heard of before, "Don't worry, Miss Kotoha, you and your little one are safe here. You have come to me to seek sanctuary, and I am not one to turn away such a heartfelt plea for help.” And he does so, while hiding his true identity as a demon. A few days later, when her husband and his family finally track her down and enter his temple. He cheerfully ushers two inside for safety before brutally murdering the family, consuming the women, and disposing of the men’s bodies. Luckily she doesn't pick up on the scent of blood when he returns with one of their necklaces as a gift for Kotoha. Not out of love, of course. He held the baby all the time, even more so than he allowed Kotoha to. He would hold little Inosuke in his lap and sway side to side while she would sing to him, her voice as sweet as honey, earning her the affectionate title of being his little bird . Not out of love, of course. He would pretend to sleep beside her with Inosuke in the middle, his palm gently tapping on the baby’s belly as he would watch over them. Not out of love, of course. This is the longest any of his prospective meals have lived, and he doesn't intend to kill her or the little one anytime soon. In fact, he even considers simply letting her for as long as she naturally can and simply consuming her then. Not out of love, of course, it’s understandable how other demons might think that way. But surely an unfeeling psychopath like him couldn't feel love. No, he’s sure that’s not why he’s doing this.
“It would be interesting ,” he tells himself as he plants a kiss on the baby’s head before slowly getting up and leaving the room, careful to not wake either of them up as he gently shuts the door and leaves the temple for his nightly carnage or in search for the blue spider lily.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
A few weeks pass by since Kotoha came to his temple, she has acquainted herself with every part of it and helps Douma by cleaning it for him, happily humming a tune for a sleeping Inosuke held by a sling across her torso.
“Douma’s day job must be tiring already, and he runs the temple at night? When does he even get to rest?”
She worries about him as she scrubs at the floor in the entrance with a wet rag.
“I know he insists on cleaning the room with his shrine on his own but maybe he’ll be happy if I do it for him. A surprise!”
She smiles to herself as she finishes up the entrance and makes her way over to the room she was told to avoid going into, especially at night. Surely, he can't be too busy right now. She walks towards the east wing of the temple even though she should’ve already turned in for the night two hours ago. This wing feels a lot more chilly than the west one as she walks past the pretty statues plated in gold. She starts to hear noises, must be some new followers of his. She giggles like a small child about to do something naughty but her mischievous glee is quickly replaced by horror when she hears muffled screaming. Fear grips her heart when she hears the screaming grow even more intense.
“Oh dear, what if he’s in danger!?”
Without thinking further, she holds the baby steady in the sling as she rushes towards the room and barges in, only to be greeted by a horrifying sight.
Douma whips his head towards the door as it opens, his eyes glowing brighter than ever. There is her sweet lover, her guardian and priest, sitting in a pool of blood and carnage. Many young women lie on the floor with their bodies horribly mangled and limbs dismembered. One young lady is still alive and desperately clawing away in a futile attempt to escape but Douma has her pinned down, eating away at her organs. Her blood curdling scream echoes throughout the room as Kotoha makes eye contact with a shocked Douma. She can read the now visible kanji in his eyes, Upper Rank in one eye and the number 2 in the other.
It’s like she can't even breathe as she holds Inosuke tightly to her chest, the sight of the carnage around her, the dizzying stench of iron, organs splattered everywhere. The tormented expressions on the womens’ faces even in death and of course, the one still breathing though her cries are dying down to pained moans.
Douma is in the center of it all, covered in blood, tearing apart at the lady beneath him with his claws…
He reaches out a bloody hand to her, attempting a warm smile, “Kotoha, my little bird… I told you not to come here.”
His voice snaps her out of her daze, her breath is shaky as she slowly backs away. The man she has loved these past few weeks
is a demon
,
a demon!
She has to get out of here. No looking back. She turns on her heel and runs, as fast as her legs can. Out of the east wing, out of the temple entrance and out of the gate, holding the baby close so he doesn’t get jostled around too much. Her lungs and muscles burn with the effort, but she cannot afford to slow down.
Douma sighs dramatically, “I’ll find her eventually, she won't get too far,” he muses as he decides to absorb the bodies instead of eating so he can get to her quicker.
Kotoha keeps running without looking back, tears blurring her vision as she bites her lip, trying not to scream. She ends up running to the edge of a cliff overlooking a large flowing river and meters below. She can barely hear the sounds of gushing water over the pounding of blood in her ears. She can’t turn back, for a few seconds she remains frozen as she tries to think what she can do to escape him, but there is nothing she can do… for herself. There’s nowhere else to run, they’re both going to be killed but Inosuke…
She pulls out Inosuke from the sling and whispers to her little one, dreading what she was gonna have to do and hoping it would save him from her fate.
"I'm sorry Inosuke. I'm sorry your mother is so foolish. I always fail. I always go to someone bad. I'm sorry, I'm sorry... At least this way… you have a chance… "
Tears stream down her face as she kisses him one last time, he looks at her with his adorable wide eyes, blissfully unaware and happy, swaddled up all nice and snug. Oh how the guilt weighs down on her, has she ever done anything right in her life? The air grows cold as she holds her baby up. She cries as she tosses him into the river, the light of her life splashing into the water and being washed away.
“I'm so sorry! Forgive me! Please, survive!”
She shivers as she tries to bite back tears. She watches as the river carries her baby away from her until he’s out of sight. She turns around to look to see if he’s nearby. The chill in the air is too much to bear as she clings to herself, desperate to stay warm.
What has she done?
“Now why’d you have to run, my little bird?~”
She yelps and flinches at the breathy voice whispering into her ear, crawling backwards in fear. Douma looks at her with an exasperated yet amused expression seeing her behaviour.
“Oh come now, you don’t have to be afraid of me. Haven’t I cared for you so lovingly these past few weeks?” he says, casually approaching closer knowing she’s backed into the edge of a cliff, “Am i not a much better father to Inosuke than your pathetic husba-” he pauses, noticing her sling is slack and empty. He scoffs and smirks, “Oh Kotoha, dear, did you really go and hide our baby from me?”
She can only hyperventilate in response, her limbs freezing in place.
“Darling, where is he? Where’s my little Inosuke?” He says he crouches right before her, “My sweet little bird, enough running away. I made a promise to protect you two, didn’t I? I intend to keep it," He extends a hand towards her, when she doesnt take it he begins to stroke her hair.
“Y-You won’t find him…” Her voice is barely a whisper, it seems more like she’s trying to tell that to herself rather than to him.
“Hmm? Heh, now where could you have possibly hid him in this short amount of time? Don't be ridiculous, Kotoha.”
She doesn't answer, but he notices how her gaze keeps flicking towards the river. He continues to grin at her while stroking her hair.
“Kotoha…?” His voice is noticeably less warm, as his hand rests on the back of her head, his sharp nails just grazing the skin of her neck. ”Answer me. Where is our little Inosuke?”
“Do… Do you p-promise you’ll keep us safe?”
He smiles again, seeing that now she is slowly easing up to him, “Of course, my sweet little bird. You two are
everything
to me.”
“I-I… I- the… the river…”
His soft and loving expression falters for just a second,
the river?
“Kotoha…” he prompts her gently, but there is no tenderness to his voice.
She bursts into tears and hugs him, clinging onto him as she cries into her shoulder. Douma pauses before hugging her, softly rubbing a hand up and down her back while nosing her neck.
“I was scared! So scared so I… I threw him into the river…”
Douma freezes in place. His expression darkening as his grip on her grows stronger.
She threw him into the river…? There’s no way a fragile baby could survive such a fall, even an adult human would barely make it.
His nails dig into her skin as he tightens his hold further.
“We can find him! If… If we just follow the river– Ack!” Her voice cuts off as she gets squeezed tight by Douma, who is unable to control himself. No one has ever seen him like this, unsmiling with such a deadpan look on his face. She squirms and cries out against his grip. Her body shudders before a sickening crack echoes through the cliff face. In Douma’s arms is now just a limp body, which he quickly absorbs. For a few seconds, the gush of water is the only sound that can be heard, the only movement that can be seen. Then he stands up, looking over the river with a blank expression for a few more silent seconds, watching the water ebb and eddy before chuckling to himself shakily, rubbing a hand over his face.
It was meant to be like this, I should have never waited to kill her.
He looks at the flowing water once more before heading back to the temple.