XIV

*****Nakime's POV*****

I started the short trek back to house, peeking at the tea packet Lady Yusa gifted me every five minutes.

I was very interested on what type of tea it was. I always enjoyed hot liquids back when I was a human, especially camomile tea. There's just something about the heat and bland taste that calms me down.

Although now, I'm not sure we can drink that tea fully. We can have a few bags, yes. But we must accompany it with flesh, else, it's basically a slow poison.

"I've never considered these downsides." I sigh and pout, wondering how we'll have to eat food with the tea. It wouldn't hit as hard.

The house is in sight and I quickly rush to the doorstep and go in.

Ever since that day, I've been very cautious about locking all doors and windows. Especially if Koku isn't around with me.

I smiled, remembering how he didn't let me go that entire night. The smile turned into a dastardly blush once I also recalled what other type of cuddling we did. "Koku, I'm back."

I raise an eyebrow once I don't receive a grunt in response or he doesn't just appear behind me.

"Koku!" I say louder and keep quiet, expecting an answer.

Nothing.

My heart beat picks up and I slowly drop my bag on the mat in the living room. Once I pick up my biwa, I slowly climb up the stairs, trying not to let out any sounds.I reach his room, quietly open the door and peek inside.

The room is empty. Everything is in place, neat and arranged (as always). I smile a little at how he's levels above me in organizing. As if being the strongest demon wasn't enough for him. I go back downstairs, check my room before I settle in the kitchen.

The question that runs through my mind now is 'Where did he go to?'. And even if he went somewhere, why didn't he tell me?

"... He'd better be okay." I mumble and tug on the sleeves of his haori that I decided to wear. Even if I convinced myself he was a grown man, a very strong grown man at that, I still worriedly scratched on my fingers.He hated it when I did that so I decided to keep myself busy by cooking. I'm sure he'll be hungry when he gets back.

I went to the fridge, pulling out some frozen pieces of well.....you know what, and then I placed it on the counter, pulling out a knife. Once I got the firewood ready and placed the chopped up pieces in a pot with some oil, I decided to go to the shed to get some natural spices and such.

I went outside through the back door and moved into the shed, coming out with some curry leaves and parsley. Until I heard a knock on the door.

The person knocked particularly loudly.

It wasn't Kokushibou. That is not even close to how he knocks.

I quietly drop the things on the counter and quietly grabbed my biwa (that was conveniently close) before moving to the door. I wanted to strike them with the platform from the outside but decided against it. It could draw attention if the person is a human and decides to scream.

So I nimbly held my biwa in one hand while I opened the door.

And I wasn't expecting this type of visitor for sure.

***3rd POV****

Yoriichi smiled as he finally caught sight of the house hidden amongst the drabness.

"Guess Kibutsuji does have brains after all."

He immediately knew it was where his brother and his pretty girlfriend where. He sensed her presence. He disappeared and appeared at the front door, smiling when he caught a whiff of something cooking.

She can cook?? Damn, she's a keeper. Wait, can demons eat normal food? They can't, right?

While he internally brainstormed, his hand went up and knocked a bit. He stood quietly, waiting for her to come open the door. He went through the millions of explanations he'd give her because he couldn't sense his aniki's presence. Without him, he wasn't sure she'd believe him but hey, trial and error right?

The door opened and he froze.

Now he has never seen any of the Uppermoons up close(except his bro). He's only seen them from afar, when he snuck out of Muzan's office one time. He recognized Nakime as the woman with the biwa but she was too far for him to really see her face.Now, he was up close with her.

And the first thing he noticed was his brother's haori on her.

The only thing on her. Her hair was packed in a messy ponytail and her bangs were parted, showing her one eye.

'Kibutsuji made such a beautiful woman a demon? Damn, I despise him even more.' He thought as he continued to eye her up and down.

Not in a lustful way, but more in an awe-like, proud-his-brother-snagged-such-a-baddie way.

He opened his mouth to speak but stopped when his senses spiked. He glanced down and saw her biwa, behind her.

'Crap.' He thought and jumped up before she could strum it. The platform moved up but he dodged it and landed backwards, away from the building.

She glared at him so much, he thought he must've done something to annoy her. She then tried to shut the door, but he saw it, and in under a second, he zoomed past her, into the house.

Nakime turned around in shock before it turned to resolve. Once he heard the click of the door closed, a platform shot out of the ground and moved to hit him. He expertly dodged and landed close to a window.

His senses spiked and he bent down, dodging the frames of the windows coming out in full force.

With every strum of her biwa, he dodged with ease.

Nakime was getting frustrated, and terrified.

He moved a thousand times faster than the slayers that tried to kill her. It was like he wasn't even moving, just blurring around.

She grit her teeth and played over twenty notes at the same time.

Yoriichi looked up and his eyes widened in shock when the very ceiling separated into segments, that rushed downwards with such a force. They all came crashing down on him causing dust to pick up.

Nakime smiled victoriously, thinking it was over until she heard the small pat of feet landing behind her.

Her blood ran cold when a hand was placed on her shoulder. How he survived that attack was above her. It was one of her top tier blood demon arts. Nakime quietly shed a tear as she gripped her biwa tight. She knew any other demon art wouldn't work on him, his aura was so.... powerful. All the hairs stood on the back of her neck as he walked in front of her, with a hand still on her shoulder.

'I'm going to die.' She thought as she gripped her biwa tighter.

The man was looking down at her with something akin to, worry? She knew she must've been hallucinating.He was saying something but she couldn't hear him, her heart was pounding too hard for that. She just wanted to tell Kokushibou that she was sorry for not being stronger.That was all that mattered to her now.

"Koku...." She whispered, slowly loosing consciousness.

As if they were connected in spirit, a long way from the entertainment district, Kokushibou paused.

His sword was bloody, he had just killed fifteen Kinoe rank slayers and he was about to hunt for more in the vicinity. That is, until this tightening feeling plagued him.

His heart clenched and his stomach churned. His thoughts just went to one person, Nakime.

He wasted no time in slicing the dead bodies to pieces similar to dust in a second before jumping off the ground to the roofs, quickly running towards the house.

He arrived in the district a minute later, running towards the house at full speed. He didn't even bother using the front door, he just bolted through an open window, into the living room.

The first thing he saw was Nakime on the floor, kneeling so his mind didn't register anything else. Rage filled his veins at the human who had the audacity to make his Nakime kneel on the floor.So he unsheathed his sword and moved like a blur, swinging it at the person in front of her.

Said person didn't even flinch or jump back.Just brought out his sword with the same blinding speed and clashed it with Kokushibou's. The metals grinded together and Kokushibou took that opportunity to look up at the face of the bastar-

"Yoriichi?" He asks in pure shock.

Yoriichi finally focuses on the person he was fighting and then he gasped happily, "Aniki!"

He thought it was a demon slayer coming to attack Nakime. And he wouldn't let that happen on his watch.

Kokushibou blinked before he released their metallic clash position, " What the fuck are you doing here?!"

Yoriichi scoffed before pouting, "Visiting my brother. Any normal person would understand that."

Kokushibou narrows his eyes, "Did you just insult me?"

Yoriichi gives him a sweet smile, "Of course not, aniki."

Kokushibou opens his mouth to speak again but stops when he hears Nakime slump on the floor.

"Shit." He curses and moves to her side, picking her up bridal style. Yoriichi looks on worriedly and frowns when he was glared at.

"You stay here . Got that?" He growls.

Of course he didn't want to understand but he decided to keep his distance, just for a little while.

He would love to apologize and be friends with her. In his eyes, she was very strong for a female demon that isn't even a member of the twelve kizuki.

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I'm sorry. I love cliffhangers?I wouldn't exactly call this one but meh. I promise to make the next chapter longer.

Pinky promise this time. Have a great day/night wherever you are and please, always cherish relationships.Especially relationships with family members.

Goodbye 🖤🖤_________________