Chapter Text
The city lights were harsh; many people, from all groups of life, crowded the streets.
In a small alleyway, where no one would suspect any danger, a man in a military uniform slumped against the brick wall.
Recollections of a flame-haired man, with a sake bottle in one hand, and a katana in the other.
Every moment that he could recall made his blood boil. That moment was long ago, but his anger never left. In the moment, all the man can do is to put his gun into his mouth.
“Dammit-Dammitdammitdammit!” He yelled, as he shot a bullet into his head, the memories started to fade.
He breathed a small sigh of relief, smoke from the cold air came out his mouth as he wiped off the blood on his head.
Gritting his teeth, he stood up. He had enough of waiting, his anger was too far gone; he had to have his revenge now.
The mountains were no stranger to bears, but recently, the rumors of a man-eating bear had circled the small village, settled in the north.
It was hard to ignore, more and more people disappeared, especially the matagi hunters. In particular, a hunter named Matazo was the first to disappear.
Yae, his daughter, was the one most affected by his death after reportedly seeing the bear kill her father and his comrades in front of her. She wanted to avenge him, even if many had advised her to stay in the village, but it didn’t stop her from secretly sneaking out and going into the forest.
She had enough of the adults in her village, enough of having to stay put, she needed vengeance now.
“wow, Yae, that’s quite a bunch of stuff you need”
“I know- it’s just so that… in case I have a terrible fever”
“well— I can always come to your house when you’re sick, I’m happy to help”
“There's no need for that, I don’t want to burden you, Mrs. Shakou”
Yae picks up all of her essential supplies, bandages, antiseptics, and medicine for all kinds of common illnesses, and places them in her bag.
“I have to leave now, see you soon, Mrs. Shakou”
“c’mon Taro— we got to go!” Yae said, as her shiba inu hurriedly ran to her side obediently.
“you’re not going to the woods again, right?” Mrs. Shakou asked.
In the moment, Yae was conflicted, it was obvious that she was going into the woods; the hunting rifle strapped to her back, her clothes— lying would just make her more suspicious. But if she were to be honest, Mrs. Shakou might snitch and the matagi hunters would forcibly make her stay at home.
“...”
Yae couldn’t muster up any words, she knew it was wrong to ignore her elders, but at the moment, she was frozen in place.
“well— if you are, stay safe, Yae” Mrs. Shakou stated, as she went back into the building.
Letting out a small sigh of relief, Yae and Taro venture off.
As the moon settled in for the night, Yae wandered in the dark and snowy forest, following Taro’s trail.
The wind was harsh, with the only thing keeping Yae warm was her breath. Yae had to repeatedly call out Taro’s name to see if she was still close to him, as she didn’t bring any matches or a lantern with her.
!
A sharp cry was heard in the distance, the sound coming from a dog.
“Taro?” Yae called out, when no response was heard, Yae’s heart sank.
(No— it can’t be)
Yae picked up her pace, following the sounds of her poor dog’s barks.
She stopped in her tracks as she saw the scene in front of her.
Taro was inching backward as a bear came out of the bushes. He barked and growled, but didn’t bite.
The bear bared its teeth, growling at Taro and Yae, before getting up to stand on its hind legs.
Yae’s eyes widened in fear, instinctively, she aimed her rifle at the bear, her finger pulling on the trigger.
click
(shit!)
As the bear gets closer, Yae slips on the snow, her body falling onto the ground.
!
The bear suddenly dropped onto the floor, as blood started to trickle down onto the snow. Making Yae notice the bullet wound lodged into its head.
Yae turned around, where the gunshot was heard, expecting to see a matagi hunter.
Her eyes meet a silhouette of a man, his cape blowing in the wind as he holds a rifle in his arms.
Soon enough, he became more visible. His military uniform, the wolf emblem on his sailor hat, the grey mountain-like spikes framing his face, his sharp— wolf-like teeth, and ‘lower two’ engraved onto his white eyes that were surrounded by black sclera.
(what’s up with his look? Is he a yōkai?)
In an instant, Yae aimed her gun towards the yōkai, her finger hovering over the trigger, as Taro growled towards the yōkai.
“I know it’s jammed,” the yōkai said.
“And besides, no ordinary gun and bullets are gonna work on me”
Yae opened her mouth as if to argue against the paranormal marksman, but no words came out. In the moment she was in shock.
It was only when the yōkai pointed his rifle toward Yae was when she snapped back to reality.
“w-”
“you’re an idiot for going into the woods, knowing a demon is around,” the yōkai said.
Yae made a small confused expression at that claim, despite the sudden mood shift, her heart still beat fast.
“demons don’t exist”
“they do exist. You’re looking at one right now” The yōkai—demon(?) gritted his teeth, clearly annoyed at Yae.
“... I doubt it”
The demon now clearly angered, furrowed his brows at Yae, almost like he was trying to recall something.
“ah— you’re Yae, right? That matagi hunter’s daughter?”
“Hah? How did you-”
“I’ve heard quite a lot about you”
“For someone who wants to be a hunter, you can’t even protect yourself from a bear”
Yae— now agitated, grimaces at his statement. She can protect herself, she’s not a little girl anymore.
“I can protect myself, my gun was just jammed”
Hairo watches as the young girl (probably around 14-15) pouts at him pointing out her lack of survival skill.
“I can protect myself, my gun was just jammed” she argued.
“the only time a gun can get jammed is because its owner is incompetent”
Yae grits her teeth, her hands turning into fists as her dog barks at him. In her hand was a small pocket knife.
She sprinted towards him, her legs running as fast as a teenager can go.
Hairo was quick to dodge her attacks, almost like he knew when she was about to strike, it made her movements seem sloppy as well.
The dog tried to attack him as well, but he was faster than any dog, all his attempted bites never hit Hairo.
“dammit! Let me stab you already!” Yae said in a frustrated tone.
(this girl’s so annoying, I should just kill her)
Determination was fun to see in demon slayers, without it, the chase would get boring, and the sight of a demon slayer beaten down from their ego and into the death is the definition of ‘fun’ for Hairo. But seeing this girl who clearly isn’t competent, try so hard to prove herself was cringe-inducing for Hairo.
He managed to go from in front of Yae to behind her, kicking her down with his foot, her face fully planted onto the snow.
“see what I meant?”
“you’re incompetent, weak, pathetic”
A small choked sob came out of Yae. And then another, and another.
Hairo’s face falls flat, he knew she’d probably cry, but it’s uncomfortable to see. Crying was something that was already awkward to be around but there was something else about it that made him downright uncomfortable.
In the back of his head, something was telling him to not pull the trigger.
And there was something his mind was telling him— this scene, it felt so… familiar; Like déja vu.
In that moment, he felt sympathy for a human.
.
.
.
Hairo’s foot left Yae’s back, freeing her from his hold.
She quickly gets up and runs with her dog, tears streaming down her face as she leaves his view.
(... why does the name Yae seem familiar?)
“you encountered a strange man? What did he do to you?” Mrs. Shakou asked.
“... he restrained me and pointed his gun at me”
In a flash, Mrs. Shakou left the kettle that was boiling on the stove and kneeled down to match Yae’s level, begging her to never go into the forest again, in fear that the same man would do more drastic things.
“Please, Yae! Don’t go into the forest again!” Mrs. Shakou begged.
“... of course”
(what a terrible lie that was)
Yae had all of the essentials needed. Food, water, medicine, and ammo.
All of it was enough to sustain herself for about two weeks, just enough to get to the bottom of the mountain.
She was going to find her father, wherever he may be. And maybe then she could finally prove herself worthy, that she was capable of being a great hunter. Whatever that demon said, it didn’t matter now.
However, Yae would be lying if a part of her wanted to find her father to prove the demon wrong. That she is strong, capable, and competent.
It was easy to sneak out in the middle of the night, everyone was asleep by then. No one would suspect Yae to run away, far from the village to search for her father.
The hardest part was the fact she had to leave Taro behind, At some points during her trek, she turns her head back to wonder if it was the right choice to leave her dog behind. But it was, it was the right choice in the long run, bringing Taro would mean another mouth to feed, he would just be dead weight in the long run.
(The villagers can take care of Taro while I’m gone…)
The midnight breeze was nice to Hairo, it was one of the only things that calmed him down naturally.
His mind soon lingered back to last night, Yae— that girl, she was weird. In the very short time he had interacted with her, pity was the only thing he could describe when looking at the girl.
Had he gone soft? Whenever he kills a demon slayer, they would always drone on about their life, whether it be their reason to be a demon slayer, their loved ones and their hopes for a better future for them, or cursing him out.
It always annoyed Hairo, who rolled his eyes anytime a demon slayer let out their final words, but maybe those stories had affected him secretly.
In his mind, he was split between two sides, it irritated him, and the more he tried to ignore it, the more he thought about it. He pulls on his hair as he tries to make sense of all of this.
What did it mean when he let her free? Was it really pity that he felt? Did he sympathize with a human? What other explanation could it be other than pity?
His fingers dig into his head, as blood starts to bleed out, his gloves now tainted with his blood.
In a state of frustration and anger, Hairo takes a gun and shoves it into his mouth-
?
The sound of footsteps was suddenly heard by him. Making him snap his head back to see where the sound was coming from.
A demon slayer maybe? It would be nice to fight somebody who wasn’t a wild bear or a teenage girl whom he spared. Or maybe one of those matagi hunters, he had wondered what their flesh would taste like.
He followed the sound of footsteps, the only thing he could focus on right now was the sound of boots marking the snow.
He stopped as he finally found the source of the sound…
He raises an eyebrow as he sees Yae again in the forest. Annoyed at how she didn’t listen to him, just how stubborn was she?
He noticed that she had her rifle strapped onto her back, was she trying to hunt a bear? She didn’t have her dog with her though, so she was traveling all alone in the middle of the night, to hunt a bear without a hunting dog.
(wow, this girl is dumber than I thought)
He quickly made himself known, stepping out of the shadows, as he looks at the girl dead in the eye.
Yae quickly reacted to the sight, aiming her rifle towards him, her finger on the trigger.
“if you come any closer, I’ll shoot you dead!”
It was at the 4-hour mark when Yae felt a presence near her.
It wasn’t close enough for Yae to see, but she was sure something following her. She felt eyes burning onto her back as she moved.
Just in case, she takes her rifle, placing it close to her.
Was it a wolf? A bear? or god forbid...
Yae snapped her head back to see what was following her, the sight almost made her drop her rifle.
The demon, was here again, his face irritated at the sight of Yae.
Yae held her rifle close to her as the demon inches closer, with each step, she was close to pulling the trigger.
“if you come any closer, I’ll shoot you dead!”
“Go on then”
Yae’s face fell flat when he said that, clearly not anticipating his reaction to be so casual.
“what”
”Go on, shoot me”
Yae’s finger pressed on the trigger, causing a bullet to shoot towards his face.
Blood spilled all over the snow, as his head exploded, but despite this, his body was still standing, and moved?!
Despite not having a head, his body walked closer to Yae, which caused Yae to step back, her heart beating as fast as ever.
Yae watched in horror as his head regrew, all the bones, flesh, and skin that had been shattered by the bullet regenerated as if she hadn’t just shot him in the face.
In a panic, Yae decides to flee, running off as fast as she can. No matter what, she’ll find her father.