Chương 11: Interlude Gyutaro - Vow From Long Ago

"At what point did we forget? Even through hell… we will stay together."

Gyutaro's eyes shot open. He never was one to awaken peacefully; there was always something to worry about. A random Hashira that descended on their slice of peace, a samurai that ripped their life apart or that man who had remade them.

Or the constant, agonizing pain of hell's fire burning them.

As such, the demon envied those who could sleep peacefully. Yet, all he felt was confusion as he realized he was very much alive, and not currently on fire.

Idly, Gyutaro patted his body, feeling nothing out of place. His surroundings were also confusing. A high, stone ceiling rose up higher than any building he had seen, and he had to shield his eyes as weird lights blinded him from above.

"Is this… hell?" He asked himself, pondering if such a hell even existed.

Very quickly, he denied that possibility. His sins were heavy; that one odd demon slayer had made that fact abundantly clear. Neither he nor Ume deserved a second chance. However, he would gladly walk through hell with her. And apparently, he did?

His memories were jumbled with odd spikes of pain. His past– the one before becoming a demon– played over and over in his head. The mistakes, the pain, the insults, the cold, the hunger. All of it echoed in his brain enough for him to feel his regeneration kick in.

Then, there was the fire. The hell flame that scorched him to his very bones. It was unending and unforgiving as it let him heal just enough to survive, or actually, wasn't he already dead?

In a daze, Gyutaro roved over the circular room. He recognized some kind of armor and weapons over in one corner, but he paid more attention to the two people that stood across from him. They watched him, eyeing him like an animal watches a beast.

He had seen those gazes before. Hated them. Always judging him because of the way he looked.

"The hell are you lookin' at?" He growled, coughing as his throat felt horribly raw. The two only continued to watch him silently, and he could see a bit of pity in their gazes.

Gyutaro knew pity. Enough people had looked at him with those very same gazes. They were just like the rest, though. They never moved. Never stood up when it mattered. They just threw their pity around in order to gratify their own self worth.

"You certainly show appreciation in a… unique way." The taller of the two said. A male. Scrawny. Weak. Gyutaro didn't see much of a threat, but their voice sounded familiar. A dangerous sort of familiar.

He ignored that instinct to look at the small girl next to him. Behind her was a sword, and it was floating… Gyutaro blinked rapidly as if the sword would stop floating.

"I have to be dead." He realized, staring at the sword. Do swords float in hell? How does that even work? "Or that's some kind of magic nonsense."

"Well, I have no idea what exactly Val is, but I'm sure it is some kind of magic." The male said.

Gyutaro narrowed his eyes on the male as they spoke. They were too comfortable. Nothing about this interaction seemed to phase them, and the demon could feel that they weren't too concerned with his features or his attitude. There was something he was missing, but his memories seemed too spotty to put things together immediately.

"Do you even know who you ar-" Gyutaro's eyes shrank into pinpricks. He zoned in on a figure laying behind the two.

Ume. His sister. She lay on the ground, unmoving. Only now he realized that he couldn't feel her; her shared sensations weren't coming through the link. He always could feel her. Could feel what she did, see what she did, hear and smell what happened around her. Now, the absence of those sensations were a void that he never knew existed.

Gyutaro realized he probably was still in hell.

But that didn't stop him from acting. His muscles tore as she shot forwards. Crimson blood burst forth from his pores as they formed two hand scythes. He knew he was little more than a blur to normal humans, yet–

"Gyutaro Shabana."

The man spoke and the demon froze. It was as if time he stopped for him. His body stilled in the middle of the air; one hand, armed with his blood scythe, was outstretched, aiming right for the male figure's throat. Just a couple centimeters more and the demon knew he would have ripped the man's neck apart.

He felt his chest constrict, and if it wasn't for the fact that he didn't really need to breathe, Gyutaro knew he'd be suffocating. However, he felt his chest move slowly. So slow that it felt like the day would change to night before he finished a single breath.

At that moment, he realized that this ability probably extended over his sister. It was why he couldn't really perceive her senses since everything about her was slowed. Ume's wide eyes followed him, terrified.

They were wholly trapped.

Despite that knowledge, Gyutaro only looked into the baleful red eyes of the teen in front of him. Two rubies that shone with some unseen light. They didn't even shake with a weapon so close to taking their life. He felt that everything was open in front of this man. There were no secrets that could be hidden.

"Muzan…" he mumbled reflexively. Yes, the teen reminded him of that… that man. So sure of himself. So confident in his victory that never once did his eyes see defeat.

After he had gone through hell, Gyutaro had recalled enough of his life to know just how deeply that man had manipulated both he and his sister. How every interaction was another chain that bound them together. And as much as he hated to say it, Gyutaro deeply feared that man.

"Muzan? Is that someone you know?" The man said idly, stepping around the demon as if he were only a display piece.

"Muzan… is-" Gyutaro held his tongue as he realized he had said that man's name out loud. He waited for the punishment to come, but realized that… nothing happened.

"Is there something with Muzan?"

"Muzan." Gyutaro felt a shiver of fear as his sister said the name. When nothing happened, the two siblings locked eyes as they realized the simple fact that they could say that man's name.

The blonde man sighed, looking between the two demons. "I feel like I am missing something very important. Who the hell is Muzan?"

"W- where are we?" Gyutaro had to blink as he wondered just where the demure tone Ume used came from. He could tell his sister was forcing a role, but under the current circumstances, they couldn't fight against someone who could simply freeze them where they stood.

"My Magic Guild." the blonde said after squinting at the two.

"Magic exists in hell?" Ume asked.

"Don't know about hell, but I pulled you two out of there to where we are." The man said as if had simply fished them out of a river. Gyutaro tried to wrap his mind around someone who could do such a thing. He doubted that ma– Muzan could do such a thing. "I can send you back if you want."

"N- no, I don't want to go back there." Gyutaro wasn't ready for the sheer panic and fear that he heard from his sister's voice. At that moment, he knew that she wasn't acting when she said that; she was terrified of going back to burning in that hell hole.

"Good." and apparently, the blonde saw it. The demon could see the way that the man's ruby eyes shone with that new information. "Because, against my better wishes, you two are now part of my guild."

Gyutaro felt as if another chain had been wound around his neck. It was different from the one Muzan created through lies and subterfuge. This one didn't care much for masks or hidden faces; they simply showed the end that awaited them.

Instantly, whatever had been acting on his body disappeared. Gyutaro caught himself before he fell face first on the floor, and he saw Ume slowly get up, eyeing the blonde with no small amount of fear. After all, that was the only leash he offered, and sadly, it worked. Ume didn't want to go back to those flames, and Gyutaro didn't want to see her there, either.

The tense silence ended as the blonde clapped his hands, causing the two demons to flinch. A wide, toothy smile spread over the human's face as he said, "By the way, you can call me guild master or Locki. Whatever suits you best. As members of my guild, [you're entitled to everything that that title entails]. Including the duties that you need to take on."

"And what are those duties?" Gyutaro said stiffly. He wasn't used to being a servant, but if he just reasoned that this guild master was similar to Muzan, the demon could do what needed to be done.

"Nothing too bad. I can fill you two in slowly. After all, you two might need a bit of catching up to do in order to integrate into this world properly." the guild master said.

Gyutaro shot his sister a glance. She mouthed the word "world" to him, looking just as confused.

"I am sure you two will adapt fast." The guild master assured. "[Think of it as a new lease on life], really. A way to atone so that you don't need to go… back."

A new lease on life. That phrase stuck to the back of Gyutaro's mind. It reminded him of the time before he was a demon. Of the vow he made long ago with his sister, Ume.

"Right, we should all introduce ourselves since we will be working together. I have gone, so you're next." the guild master pushed the small girl with the floating sword in front of the two demons.

Gyutaro and his sister instantly tensed as they found the eye on the sword's hilt narrow at them. It wasn't quite a feeling of danger, but they both felt something… unsettling about that thing. Almost as if they were looking at a ghost.

"H- hello, my name is Kagura Mikazuchi. Its uhm, nice to meet you two?" the girl tucked her hands together and bowed awkwardly. It was something that Gyutaro reflexively expected his sister to call out. To strike the girl and humiliate their poor actions.

Uncharacteristically, Ume jerkily repeated the action as if she were only a puppet being strung along. "Likewise. I am–" she shot a glance at their guild master, "You can call me Daki."

Gyutaro went still as he heard that. His sister… she had been called Ume before they had become demons. Daki was the name they used for hundreds of years; the name of the demon who had terrorized, humiliated and eaten hundreds. The sister he had failed to save in the end.

In his head, Gyutaro felt that the words "new lease on life" repeat over and over again. He had always failed her growing up. If only he raised her right, she might not have ended up like him. Like a beast. A demon whose sole purpose was to spread more suffering.

"Call me Gyutaro." he said after a pause, feeling his thoughts in disarray.

That vow they had made long ago rang in his head. Where no matter how many times they were reborn, they would be siblings. And now, they were in a world without Muzan. A world where he had enough strength to protect her. A new chance they never had appeared before him.

Gyutaro eyed his sister with a renewed emotion.

No matter what kind of chain he wore or sins he had to commit, he resolved to at least be a better big brother this time.