The Demon Queen

A Talk with Kokushibou (Part 1)

"The two of you just appeared, connected to each other in two balls of flesh each the size of a human head."

I nodded. "I see."

It was close to one week after Muzan and I had encountered the slayer with the hanafuda earrings. I was sitting in a large room with Kokushibou, asking him about what happened over the past days. Only yesterday had Muzan and I finally regenerated into fully-functioning bodies.

Kokushibou patted a cloth to my face and neck. The wounds inflicted on me by the slayer remained open and were constantly bleeding. My entire body and clothing was covered in blood at all times.

"Eventually, I got to this temple, far enough away from the castle," he said.

"And killed the monk," I added.

Kokushibou continued to pat the cloth at my neck. "The old man had a heart attack upon seeing me, to be honest," he said. "I didn't even eat him. His case was pitiful, so I burned his body outside."

"I see."

"I killed some humans in the village at the bottom of the mountain to bring back for you once you and Muzan-sama regenerated enough to be able to eat," Kokushibou continued. "It helped you to recover at a steadier pace." He cautiously dabbed the cloth by my left eye, which I was still unable to open.

I flinched a little at the feeling of the cloth against the would in such a sensitive place.

Kokushibou bowed his head. "I'm sorry, Sakura-sama."

"Don't react so much. Muzan is sleeping, anyway. He 's not watching."

Muzan, who hadn't slept a minute during the entire week, lay on his stomach on a futon on the other side of the room. His bare back was covered with cloths soaked with an herbal salve to ease the pain of the burn marks from his wounds. Unlike me, he wasn't bleeding, but he was in constant pain in every place on his body that had been touched by the slayer's attack. Muzan described it as being like he was slashed by the sun.

"I mean, I really am sorry," Kokushibou said. He paused and lowered the cloth from my face. "You said that the slayer wore hanafuda earrings. Am I correct?"

"Yes," I answered. "And he had a reddish colour in his hair."

Kokushibou nodded and glanced down at the bloodied cloth in his hands. "I believe that slayer is my younger brother, Yoriichi."

"Your brother?" I remarked. "Hmm ..."

That's why something about the slayer reminded me of Kokushibou.

Kokushibou started to slowly fold up the cloth. "If you decide to kill me for it, I understand."

"No one's going to kill you. It's not like you made your brother attack us."

"I'm still responsible, somehow."

"No, you aren't. You can't choose your family and you can't control what they do or don't do."

Kokushibou looked up at me.

"Take it from me. You can't. The only one you can be responsible for is yourself." I smiled a little at his surprised expression. "Or find a new group to align yourself with. You can leave your family behind for a new one. That's what I did."

Kokushibou set the folded-up, bloodied cloth to the side and took a fresh one out of a bowl. It was soaked in a salve that was supposed to help promote clotting and wound healing. He placed the cloth against my forehead.

"Kokushibou," I said as he continued to dab the cloth over my face. "What does the name Ubuyashiki mean to you?"