Chapter Text
Chapter 4 The Spirit Of Nagawani Woods
KANJINA PROVINCE
THE NAGAWANI WOODS
OUTSIDE NAGAWANI VILLAGE
THIRD PERSON POV
Young Mai Kojo looked around the woods fearfully. She had gotten lost while playing hide and seek with her older brothers and it was dark now. Night had fallen and the five year old girl was very afraid, more afraid then she’d ever been before in her young life. Somewhere in the woods a twig snapped and the little girl’s resolve finally broke. She began to cry big sad tears. She was lost and scared and it was dark and cold.
Mai just wanted to go home.
Footsteps could be heard behind her, a soft thump, thump, thump as the person walked. Mai spun around screaming but stopped when she saw what was behind her. It was a girl of eighteen years in a red and gold kimono, around her neck a ruby sun hung from a golden chain. At her waist lay two twin daggers, sharp glinting things thanks to the dim moonlight that did very little to help Mai see in the dark. The girl had wavy brown hair and bloody red eyes. The girls' eyes weren’t scary though, they were kind and gentle. Oddly enough though the girl had no lantern with her and seemed to have no trouble at all seeing in the dark forest. The girl smiled down at Mai, a gentle and reassuring thing despite the fact that her teeth were ever so slightly pointed. The girl in the red kimono bent down to Mai’s height.
“Hello there sweetie, are you lost?” asks the girl in a gentle tone, being sure to seem as un-frightening as possible.
“Yes,” sniffs Mai tearfully.
“Hey now, no crying. I’m going to take you home okay?” asks the girl.
“Okay,” says Mai, nodding and wiping her tears away. The blood eyed girl held out a hand and Mai gingerly took it. The girl’s hands were soft for the most part but held a certain ruffnes in the tips of someone who did lots of sewing and played a stringed instrument. As the two began to walk the girl in the red kimono began to hum a soft lullaby under her breath. Slowly as the time went on Mai grew tired and at one point they stopped so that the girl wearing a sun could pick her up and start to carry her.
The girl in red stroked Mai’s hair and eventually she began to sing.
“Deep in the forests, under the Oak.
A bed of grass, a soft green pillow.
Lay down your head, close your tired eyes.
And when they open again the sun shall rise.
Here it’s safe and here it’s warm.
Here the Orchids will guard you from all harm.
Here your dreams are happy and tomorrow makes them true.
Here is the place where I love you.
Deep in the forests hidden far away.
A cloak of leaves lit by Moonbeam rays.
Forget about your worries and let your troubles fade away
And when again it’s morning they’ll be washed away.
Here it’s safe and here it’s warm.
Here the Orchids will guard you from all harm.
Here your dreams are happy and tomorrow makes them true.
Here is the place where I love you.
Ladadadada…
Here is the place where I love you.
Deep in the forests hidden far away.
A cloak of leaves lit by Moonbeam rays.
Forget about your worries and let your troubles fade away
And when again it’s morning they’ll be washed away
Here it’s safe and here it’s warm.
Here the Orchids will guard you from all harm.
Here your dreams are happy and tomorrow makes them true.
Here is the place where I love you.
Ladadadada…
Here is the place where I love you…”
Before Mai even knew it they were at the edge of her village and she was being put on her feet.
“Can you find your way home from here?” asks the girl in red gently tucking a strand of Mai’s hair behind her ear.
“Yes. Thank you very much for helping me,” says Mai gratefully. She didn’t even know the girl’s name but Mai already knew…
When you're with the girl in red, you're safe.
“I was happy to help,” says the girl smiling gently. Mai then walked home, not turning to look back as the girl in red disappeared back into the forest under the cover of night. In the morning she wouldn’t remember the girl wearing the sun, just a pair of kind red eyes and the ghost of a soothing lullaby. Mai’s family would be overjoyed when she returned home and the girl in red, satisfied with her work would turn in to the monster of the woods, slightly pointed teeth turning in to fangs, nails turning into claws and senses sharpening, she would go into the dark and she would hunt.
(The lullaby Keiko sings to Mai is a re-written version of Rue’s lullaby from The Hunger Games. Orchids are used in the song because they symbolize safety amongst other things. Oak trees replace willow trees because I like them more and forests replace meddows because Keiko lives in a forest and the little girl had gotten lost in one. Other than that the lyrics have been tweaked in wording and length to avoid copyright issues.)
Over the next few months more children and even a few adults would lose their way in the vast woods and they would always be led back to the village without a scratch on them, safe and sound. All they would remember of the experience the next day was kind red eyes and a shadow of a song. Unfortunately though, much more frequently than the lost being returned home was farm animals going missing. Whole cows would disappear about once a week. The superstitious believed a spirit was leading the lost home and taking the animals as tribute and payment for giving the villagers aid. Meanwhile the religious believed there was a demon in the woods stealing away their livestock and damaging the memories of the townsfolk who entered its woods. No one really knew which it was. Until one day a young girl came to the village, she claimed to be here to kill the demon terrorizing the farm animals. She carried a katana and her confidence put the nervous villagers at ease. But the next day the girl turned up unconscious at the edge of the woods, lightly bruised with no memory of the past night's events except for a pair of cold red eyes and the feeling of a demonic presence. The girl with the katana left the next day. Weeks later another stranger came, he carried a katana as well and wore a half marron, half yellow and green coat over his black uniform. He was a demon slayer too, and was apparently better then the last one that had come. He went into the woods at midnight, as stealthy as a tiger and found a clearing,
he’d wait for the demon to come to him.
He was the hunter now.
KEIKO’S POV
I jump from branch to branch in the trees of the forest outside of the village I’d been watching over for almost a full year now. I’d been helping those who got lost in the woods get back home, and thanks to a pretty nice and subtle demon power I was able to make sure non one ever really remembered me. Though I do feel kind of bad for stealing their livestock every so often. A couple weeks ago a demon slayer came into my woods. I dealt with her easily and left her outside in the morning. Now they’ve sent another one in. Note to self, move away after I deal with this one, I’ve been here too long. Their starting to get suspicious of my activity. I pause and inhale sharply. I quickly pick up the new demon slayer's scent, this one being male, I follow it into a clearing, one that’s much too close to the cave I live in for my comfort.
This demon slayer is very different from the girl I faced before. This one radiates power on a whole other level of crazy compared to her, he must be really good at his job. He’s around my age and has fair skin and spiky black hair that falls down to his shoulder blades. He’s wearing a half maroon and half green and yellow jacket over his demon slayer uniform and wields a katana longer than the girl’s had been. His eyes though are what really catch my attention. They're deep blue, like the ocean. Beautiful but also scary and mysterious if you look too deep. Father took me to see the ocean once when I was young. I remember being so amazed with how big and how stunning it was to look at. This slayer's eyes give me a similar feeling. He’s not facing me completely but a part of me can tell that he knows I’m here.
Oh well I might as well introduce myself.
THIRD PERSON POV
Giyu Tomioka turned to face the demon he’d been sent here to kill as he heard them jump from the trees behind him. What he saw standing there wasn’t what he’d been expecting. Instead of the demon being tall, large and muscular or intimidating and deadly looking before him stood a girl a few inches shorter than he was with skinny arms and legs with no real muscle showing. She had two twin daggers at her hips and her fingernails were extended into claws. Giyu knew he couldn’t let her appearance fool him though. She was still a demon, still bloodthirsty, still evil and still strong.
But he was strong too and this demon would die tonight.
Giyu drew his blade content with ending things quickly.
The demon however seemed to have other plans.
“Now hold on before you try and kill me, why don’t we talk?” asks the gi-demon, he has to remind himself for just a moment. Demons aren't civil beings like humans.
“Talk? Talk about what?” asks Giyu, careful to not let his confusion show, he didn’t drop his guard for even a second.
“How about I disarm myself? Would that make you feel better?” asks the demon in red. The demon shrugs when Giyu doesn’t reply, taking off her belt and tossing it at his feet, daggers and all. They land with a soft thud and slight clinking of metal from the blades of her weapons. Her claws turn back into nails and she sits down in a crossed legged position. Giyu can’t help but glare at her, she is so strange even for a demon. Who just throws their weapons away when being held at sword point? Is she that over confident in herself? Does she not care about what happens to her?
“Well come on now put your sword away, we’ll talk and then fight if you really want,” says the demon offering a friendly smile. Giyu isn’t fooled by it for a second. He sits down but doesn’t sheath his blade, it rests on his knees instead.
“You have ten minutes demon,” says Giyu. Perhaps some patience is alright with this demon.
“Very well then, I suppose that’s all I need,” says the demon shrugging dismissively.
“What’s your name?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Because I need to address you somehow,”
“Fine. My name is Giyu Tomioka, happy?”
“Yes thank you Giyu-San,”
“What’s yours?”
“What?”
“I told you my name so you should tell me yours, so what’s your name demon?”
“Keiko, Keiko Akuma,”
“Akuma?” asks Giyu, raising an eyebrow. He recognized that name, it rung a bell of recognition in his mind.
“Yes,” says the de-Keiko, nodding.
“Like the Akuma family? The ones that were found brutally murdered and had a missing daughter? Those Akumas?” asks Giyu.
“Yes. I’m the missing daughter. My home was visited one night by a man who called himself “Muzan. I later discovered he was a demon, the first demon. He killed my family and turned me into one, a monster just like him,” says Keiko.
“But there’s one difference between myself and that man, I don’t eat people,” says Keiko.
Did she really see herself as just like the demon king?
“That’s not true, all demons eat humans,” says Giyu in defiant disbelief. A demon not eating humans was like a fish not living in water. Unnatural, impossible.
“No, I don’t eat people. The very thought makes me feel sick. Don’t you find it odd that all the people, especially the little children who got lost in these woods came out alive? Don’t you find it odd that they were never injured and could never remember how they got out of the forest the next day? Isn’t it odd that no one in the village has been brutally killed yet? Isn’t it odd that only farm animals have gone missing? If I was truly a human eating monster then all of those people would be dead and you would have come here much sooner. So isn’t it odd to you that no human has been harmed?”
“So let me ask you this Giyu Tomioka, do you really think I’ve eaten any humans?”
“Even if you haven-”
“Do you think I have? Answer the question,”
The demon's eyes narrow ever so slightly, hardening with a challenge, daring Giyu to avoid answering her question again. Giyu sighs and rubs at his temples, they just had to give him a mission that would be so damn complicated. And a demon that doesn’t eat people? How is it even possible? How has she managed to go multiple years without eating anyone? Giyu finally looks up after another moment of thought. His ocean eyes meet the unexpectedly beautiful red ones of the demon Keiko and all he can do is answer honestly.
“No. I don’t think you’ve eaten any humans Keiko. If you truly are surviving off of animal meat instead of humans like all the evidence points to then I will spare you and leave your forest without a fight for I now have no valid reason to kill you,”
At his words Keiko’s face brightens up and she smiles, something Giyu finds to be oddly charming.
“Excellent! I didn’t want to fight someone on your level of power anyway, I would have lost most likely,” says Keiko like it's nothing but a fact and with one swift motion she’s on her feet and putting her belt back on. Giyu stands as well, slower than the demon and sheethes his katana. A part of him nagged to just kill her now, that she was a demon and deserved to die, but the rest of him just couldn’t do it.
Keiko Akuma was an anomaly.
A demon that didn’t eat humans.
And Giyu Tomioka couldn't bring himself to kill her.
When morning comes Giyu leaves the forest, having not killed the demon of the Nagawani Woods, mostly confused but a part of him awe struck at the strange demon. He would certainly sooner forget his own breathing style then forget anything concerning Keiko Akuma at this point. Especially not her eyes, soul piercing but not at all unkind. A beautiful crimson, seared into his mind with a bright intensity.
And when the sun reached its midday peak Keiko Akuma would leave the province all together, a ghost in the wind. Never to be seen in that area again but for generations onward the people of the Nagawani village would tell stories of the kind red eyed spirit that led lost children home and of the ocean eyed swordsman that failed to kill her.