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keeper of kamigoroshi

Summary:

Ironically, when the Kage truly went through and thought about it, Tsuki Yumeko was without a doubt the most successful user of the Cursed Blade in every sense of the word.

AU in which Yumeko gets to keep Kamigoroshi.

Notes:

heyy tatsumis death IS mentioned but its not like central its like blink and you miss it

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

Originally, it was all but certain that Kamigoroshi - the blade that had slain the Great Kami on the night of the Wish- would be kept by the Kage for safekeeping, never to be given to another demonslayer again. As the Kage’s logistical deliberations continued though, some points were made that wriggled their way to the forefront.

How could they guarantee this security over the span of the next thousand years, in a clan that had never seen a daimyo besides Lady Hanshou in anybody’s lifespan? How would they make sure no future leaders would order the blade to be destroyed, to bury the awful memory of the destruction that night had left upon the Kage’s ranks?

Somebody brought up the point that the sword had only ever done harm in the Kage’s possession, so perhaps it should be kept elsewhere. Despite the fallacies in logic, the comment struck at an opportune moment. Many of the Kage were feeling a bit more emotional than usual in the wake of the Wish.

Lord Iesada slammed his fist on the lacquered table. “This is ridiculous,” he snarled. “If not the Kage, then who?”

This sparked a flurry of unlikely talk. Before anyone responsible could redirect the conversation, the names of random shrines, clans, and people were being thrown left and right. In another universe, all of these names would be passed over without too much serious consideration. In this one, impossibly, the mind of one Kage official lingered on a certain girl for a little too long.

Kage Masao actually agreed with Iesada, as much as he hated to admit it. He didn’t care at all for the idea of handing the sword off to someone else. But he had been straining himself a little too much in the wake of the power vacuum Hanshou had left, and provoking Iesada was just a little bit too tempting in this instance. He thought of the girl who made the Wish. Sure, why not? Anyone would do to piss off Iesada.

“Well, it seems we have plenty of options,” came the drawl tumbling out of Masao’s mouth before he could stop himself. Iesada’s left eyelid twitched. “Why, even that weird girl –Yumeko, I believe– could do it.”

There was silence for a moment...

...followed by a few whispered inquiries of “who?” by the uninformed...

...and then, to both Masao and Iesada’s combined horror, a collective “hmmmm” of genuine consideration.

Wait, really.

Ironically, when the Kage truly went through and thought about it, Tsuki Yumeko was without a doubt the most successful user of the Cursed Blade in every sense of the word.

Hakaimono hadn't possessed her; the girl had somehow been able to fight off its influence where the Kage's best demonslayer in centuries had failed.

She was clearly morally upstanding; against all odds and with great risk she gave up immortality and returned the Great Kami's pearl.

And finally -this one puzzled the Kage the most- there had been no evidence of an army where the Dragon had fallen, yet their few surviving scouts all reported the same thing: a battlefield littered with thousands of demon remains. Horns, fangs, claws; trophies left behind from the battle, not quite leaving the mortal plane unlike everything else erased from the Wish. Demon bones bearing deep scores from a blade that could only be Kamigoroshi.

And the only person the Kage knew was anywhere near that blade after Kage Tatsumi's death? That strange girl, Yumeko.

Of course, this only raised an even stranger question: How in Jigoku had a completely untrained commoner girl ripped through more demons in a single night than any demonslayer in credible history? And not only that, without the First Oni overtaking her? This in turn only brought more important questions to light. There were just too many inconsistencies.

Masao had finally just shut down the meeting for the night- something that Iesada tried to fight but every other Kage official overruled for the sake of avoiding migraines. Many more discussions were held in the same fashion before the clan could reach a conclusion.

Around a month later, a half-kitsune princess accepts the Godslayer with reverent, trembling hands.

Notes:

this fandom is soooo small lol. I love these books they are charming! I found like 70 percent of this in my notes app bc I forgot I wrote it ages ago. I cleaned it up and decided to post it. mostly into tbhx these days but I still think about sotf now and then! some more notes about this fic:

- the dynamic between Hakaimono and Yumeko lives rent free in my brain.
- I also love to think about how Yumeko must have looked from an outside pov during the battle which was part of the inspo for this fic. like she girlbossed her way into getting hakaimono's full power for free and then proceeded to kill a horde of demons with only the help of literal ghosts. like what if you weren't able to see the ghosts from an outside pov? how tf did she explain this to people afterwards
- Tatsumi probably lost his shit when he came in to help and saw Yumeko being possessed lolll