‎‎

ch. 9

Karasu opened her eyes and sat up abruptly, surprising Shinobu who was examining Rengoku. Iguro and Sanemi jumped, everyone in the room was staring at her. Karasu breathed heavily, she was visibly agitated. "You seem quite energetic for a person who has been sleeping for 2 weeks, you should rest more, take it easy alright?" Karasu's eye twitched upon hearing Shinobu’s voice, she sighed, clearly frustrated by something. "Here, some blood. Don't worry, it's an animal's" Iguro held out a bowl of fresh blood and Karasu tried to take it but had trouble finding it, her hand trying to grab the air. Sanemi noticed something odd, "Hey… aren't you partially blind? You can still see right?"

Karasu kept quiet and sighed once again, she pushed back her hair and triggered her eye color change. She looked directly at Sanemi, "Yea, and you have that shitty haircut as always."

Iguro was shocked, "Did sleeping for 2 weeks make you completely blind? And how did you change your eye color?"

Karasu rolled her eyes, "You see, when my eyes are dull I am partially blind but sleeping worsens it so I'm completely blind now. I change my eye color in order to see clearly or when I'm using blood demon art, that's when the kanji appears. You got it?" Sanemi frowned, he wanted to say something but kept it to himself because Karasu was glaring holes into him.

Karasu stared at Iguro, her stomach grumbling. He lifted up a bear and she smirked. The hashiras watched as she wolfed down the bear hungrily, finishing it in seconds. "I guess you're not that dumb, Iguro. I've never thought of eating animals. Good job on taking your first steps." Karasu clapped, clearly mocking the hashira. He smacked her head and she winced in pain, "Hah! You looking for a fight now huh? As if you're strong enough to win, you infant." Karasu sneered as Iguro glared at her.

"Upper Moon Zero, right?" Karasu turned around, while trying to stop Iguro from smacking her a second time. She raised an eyebrow, "What do you want, flame hashira."

Rengoku bowed down, "Thank you, for saving me." His voice sounded genuinely grateful, which made Karasu's eye twitch. "Whatever, you should thank your Tanjiro for being lucky that he was able to meet such an amazing-" At the same time, Iguro managed to overpower Karasu and he smacked her again. "Ow! The hell?! Do you want me to change your diapers again?" Sanemi snickered and Iguro shot him a glare.

"Do you need me to help you too? I'll play peek-a-boo with you." Sanemi mocked, covering his face then showing it again. Iguro's eye twitched, Karasu saw the opportunity and slapped his back. The two laughed at the poor hashira, mocking him even further. Iguro smacked Karasu a few more times in the head and she screamed at him.

"Now, now, don't go ganging up on poor Iguro and please keep your volume down. There's a patient here." Shinobu smiled, hinting towards Rengoku who was staring at Karasu and Sanemi bullying Iguro for the past few minutes. Karasu rolled her eyes and Iguro smacked her again, she silently screamed at him while holding her head.

"Aww, are you gonna cry Karasu? Did you shit yourself?" Sanemi mocked, as Karasu shot him a glare. She was visibly angry and before she could retaliate, Iguro smacked her again. "Hey! Why are you ganging up on me now?! Sanemi you traitor, I'm going to kill you!!"

Karasu grabbed a frying pan from her sub space and chased Sanemi with it, she stumbled a bit. "What did I say about keeping your volume down? Karasu, get back in bed. You're still recovering, look at how you're having trouble walking!" Shinobu scolded.

"Yea, weakling." Sanemi nudged Karasu, making her fall. He panicked, "Hey, are you alright? I didn't mean to-"

"Go to hell you bastard." Karasu grabbed her frying pan and hit Sanemi with it. Then Karasu got smacked by Iguro again and dragged to the bed. She threw a long line of profanities at him. Now it was just Shinobu and the two patients, Karasu still had her frying pan beside her. Shinobu looked at it, then at her "Sanemi is gone now, you don't have to keep your frying pan."

"Yea, that's the thing. That bastard’s gonna appear out of nowhere and if he does, I'm going to kill him." Karasu had a murderous aura surrounding her as Shinobu just chuckled. She was busy bandaging up Karasu's arm full of cuts. Shinobu and Karasu locked eye contact which startled the hashira a bit, she began "I'm sorry, for being so hostile to you. You didn't deserve it. I-"

"Whatever, okay, I get it alright! I forgive you." Karasu hated it when people apologized to her over trivial things when she actually deserved it. Karasu had taken a life and she needed to be punished for it so she didn't mind that the hashiras treated her with hostility, in fact, she would rather they did just that. When they treated her with kindness, Karasu would feel guilty because she felt that she didn't deserve nice things after all she had done. The lives she had taken. The people she had manipulated. She was guilty of everything and it made her feel miserable for decades. Maybe all along Karasu knew that there was an alternative to human meat, but she didn't want to use it because she felt that she should suffer. It was a horrible feeling and Karasu hated it. She absolutely despised it.

It only took a few days for Karasu to fully heal and the girl was already walking around freely, Shinobu got some books for the girl and she spent her time reading them. She would be at the randomest of places, sitting on the grass, on the roof, or hanging from a tree. Sanemi came to Karasu and passed her her sword, “The swordsmith did an amazing job. I’m pretty impressed, the last time I ever held this was centuries ago.”

Sanemi paused and stared at her, skeptical “Wait, you used to be a demon slayer?” Karasu ignored the question and unsheathed the sword, she charged at the wind hashira with a smirk on her face. They clashed swords, as Karasu easily overpowered the hashira. She almost sliced Sanemi into half if it weren’t for him dodging it just in time.

‘What the hell?! She wasn’t this strong the last time we fought so how-’ Karasu kept attacking at an uncanny speed, Sanemi at death’s door each time. He struggled visibly to keep up with the demon. By the time they were finished sparring, Sanemi was gasping for air as Karasu held a blade to his neck while smirking victoriously. She didn’t let the hashira use his wind breath for a single moment.

“I finally feel so refreshed after resting for so long and not having to eat demon meat for a while.” Karasu commented, stretching but her victorious look turned into an irritated one when she looked at her trembling hands that had a symbol imprinted on it. “How annoying.” She mumbled.

“What’s wrong?” Sanemi asked, standing up. “What’s that?” He looked at the imprint that was glowing red. Karasu scoffed, “It’s just that bastard’s curse, it’s pretty strong when it comes to preventing me from ever becoming a demon slayer. A pain in the ass.”

Karasu looked frustrated, so Sanemi decided to say something he would soon regret. “Wanna go for another round?”