Demon King Muichiro

13: unexpected encounter

It has already been two years since he became the demon king, two years that he mostly spent inside the infinity fortress, two years of sleeping constantly, and a year and some months since he last went out to explore the world.

His visit to Rui's place was the last time Muichiro went out, usually he would have gone out much more frequently, but now that he can't go out in the sun, he doesn't have the need to explore, instead he prefers to sleep all day and night.

But today is a diferent story, he grew bored of the infinity fortress, and wants to go out to a city, it doesn't matter which one, he just wants to get out.

Even though Rui visits him frequently, seeing every day the same escenery for two years straight becomes boring.

So he went to where Nakime was, and told her that he wanted to go out.

He was surprised when she refused to take him out if he didn't went with another uppermoon at least, but he couldn't blame her, she probably didn't wanted to risk loosing her king like she did with Muzan.

She knew how clueless he could be, it was fine when he asked for Rui's place because there were more demons that could help protect him had something happened, but now he was asking to go to a crowed place without a scort, something she was not going to allow.

There were always the probability that he could encounter a demon slayer or even worst, a hashira.

So he was kind of forced to ask Kokushibo if he wanted to go out with him, he obviously agreed.

And that's how they ended in Tokio, with the rare sight of Kokushibo with only two eyes and the two of them walking to every store and post Muichiro found interesting.

They were heading to the next one, when a boy with a checkered haori, slightly red hair, maroon eyes, a weird mark in his forehead and a pair of hanafuda earings touched his arm.

Muichiro turned around, and he could see that the boy was visibly angry, he couldn't understand why would he be angry at him, he didn't do anything wrong and he can't recall having meet him before, so this is the first time he is seeing him.

Before he could ask the boy what's wrong, Muichiro sudently felt a murderous aura coming from Kokushibo.

He turned around and send Kokushibo a raised arrow, he didn't know why he reacted that way, or what made him react like that, but following his view, he could deduce that he was looking at the boys earrings and weird mark...

As if he recognized them.

And that was weird, because Muichiro is sure that Kokushibo has never meet this human boy before... Perhaps the earrings are related to someone from his past?

The boy didn't seem to acknowledge Kokushibo, he was too focused on Muichiro to notice the killing intent directed to himself, so Muichiro had to make sure he didn't get killed by Kokushibo, because he is 100% sure that would be the case if he keeps disrespecting him so openly like that.

And he doesn't want the boy to get killed, he reminds him of someone from his past before becoming a demon slayer, but he is unable to remember exactly who.

"Hello, can I help you?" -Muichiro asked the boy, not really expecting an answer.

The boy not smelling bad intentions from Muichiro, decided to answer him out of courtesy with a question of his own.

"Yes, my name is Tanjiro Kamado, do you happen to know how to transform a demon back to a human?... Kibutsuji Muzan" -replied the boy now known as Tanjiro.

Muichiro froze when he heared the last two words Tanjiro said, it is the first time he has been mistaken for Muzan, and he found he doesn't like it one bit.

So not knowing how to reply to the question he was asked, and too inmersed in his thougths trying to find an answer. Muichiro was almost too late to notice that Tanjiro has placed a hand in the hilt of his katana, ready to cut him down if worst came to worst.

And he couldn't help but panic when he noticed, he almost let his instints control him, but he couldn't make a scene here, at least not in the public eye if he doesn't want to be discovered by the slayers corps.

Not like it would be of much help if he lets Tanjiro go, since he is a slayer and could go back and report his appearence with Ubuyashiki, so the only thing that came out from his mouth was...

"I'm sorry Tanjiro, but you are mistaking me with someone else, I'm not the Muzan you are looking for, he is already dead" -Muichiro told Tanjiro with all honesty.

And Tanjiro frowned, because he was telling the truth, but that couldn't be right when he had almost the same scent as the one back in his house, the one that killed his family and transformed his little sister in a demon.

"But how could that be possible, your smell is so similar to the one responsible for my family's murder two years ago" -Tanjiro said in the point of breaking down, his master Urokodaki told him that Muzan Kibutsuji was probably the one to asault his his home on that tragic night, but Urokodaki didn't knew that in that exact night Muzan died.

The slayer corps forgot to tell the former slayers, turned trainers that Muzan's dead, and that a new king has risen, that is probably the worst mistake they had ever made.

"Look Tanjiro, I don't know why he sudently dropped dead, all I know is that I found him two years ago, chased him, he incapacites me, and then inyects me a huge amount of blood I don't even know how I survived it" -Muichiro told him, this being the first time he has spoken about how he became the demon king... He definitively didn't imagine it to be like this.

"But-but why? Why my family?" -Tanjiro asked.

"Boy, He probably killed your family because of the danger it represents, you holding those earrings is all I need to see to know the reason behind why he murdered your family, be gratefull you'r still alive" -Kokushibo interrupted in the conversation for the first time, finally having snapped out of his flashback for seeing those earrings.

He still wanted to kill Tanjiro for all the painfull memories he brougth back with his uncanny resemblance with his late brother, but he was aware that Muichiro wouldn't like that, so he refrained from doing it.

They would have continued the conversation, if they didn't got interrupted by a weird illusion, sudently flowers started floating around them, and for some weird nature forces, Muichiro and Kokushibo got pushed back, leaving Tanjiro behind in the illusion.

Kokushibo could recognize the blood tecnique, he remembered it belonged to the traitor Tamayo, but he didn't know if she still counted as a traitor now that they have a new king that didn't knew of her existence till now.

Muichiro thanks to the weird tecnique got a sudden flashback, of a woman that practiced the breath of the flowers, he remembered that she was announced death some weeks before he became the demon king.

He was becoming hopeful that the demon with that tecnique was her, that she was transformed in a demon like him.

So he ran away from it till he was in a closed alleyway far away from society, and in his panicked state, he called a pair of demons around the area and told them to bring whoever was responsible for the demon art.

And lets just say that the demons were ecsttatic to succeed in their first asignment from their new king, till the point where they won't accept a failure in their first asignment.