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This couldn't be happening. This isn't real. This is all a bad dream and she'll wake up in her futon with her parents by her side with breakfast, just like they do everyday.
She refused to believe a demon was chasing her.
A demon; she almost wants to laugh at the realization. A real, living, breathing demon. These were the things her mother and father warned her about ever since she was a child? That can't be right–her parents... her parents told her demons were grotesque monsters; deformed and ugly, holding a face not even a mother could love!
The shadow that slowly caught up with her told her otherwise.
Feeling a hand wrap around her ankle made her scream and lose her balance.
As she looked at his form, she started tearing up. Her cheeks were decorated with falling tears as she realized who her assaulter was. "Y...y-you!" She called out, pointing a disrespectful finger at them from her place on the ground. “Y-you…! Why are you…!” Her words clogged her throat as her eyes locked onto a glowing pair of gold.
The same pair that had helped her carry her bags earlier that day.
"Do you mean me?" He questions in mock surprise, his dark eyebrows furrowing while his lips form into a fake pout. "Are you not happy to see me, Chou?" He has half the mind to use chan at the end of her name but decides to spare her the impoliteness. He may be hunting her, but being rude was never something he'd willingly do.
While the woman—Naofusa Chou, Chou being her first name—lied helplessly on the ground, the black haired demon with his hair in a ponytail, bangs covering most of his right eye, took daunting steps closer to her. "Aah, Chou... Were you on your way home? I was going to accompany you as it's dangerous to be alone at night..." He stopped until their feet were inches apart and leaned over in a slight bow with his arms at his sides, their gaze locked in a staring contest. "But, you see... I got terribly hungry."
"F-Fukui...!" She pleads out as she tries to back-crawl away. She's forced to stop when the male before her uses his foot to hold down her now dirtied kimono. She hates how she feels her body tremble in fright with hot tears gliding down her cheeks like a waterfall of regret and anger. Regret for not returning home to her family, and anger at the man taking away her safety. "Why... Why are you doing this?!" She yells out as she clenches her kimono sleeves in her hands. She tried to kick him away in a sad attempt of freeing herself yet is soon met with unbelievable pain when his foot stomps on her ankle as if she were nothing but glass waiting to be broken.
She can't find it in her to scream in agony, the burning sensation being too much for her brain to comprehend.
The demon before her hums in thought after removing his zouri clad foot from her limb. He straightens his posture as he speaks in a passive tone. "My name is not Fukui." He replies to her previous question. There's a moment of pondering in his eyes until he speaks up once again. "My birth name is Katashi Hirai. I am the older brother to Katashi Haruto, along with being the eldest son to both Katashi Saito and Katashi Kimura. I had been turned into a demon not too long ago when a man came and destroyed my village, leaving me as the sole survivor." Hirai steps over her body until his feet are planted on either side of her head. "He forced this curse upon me, that man. I have no choice but to obey." He lifts his foot and angles it to be placed on her neck properly, not caring to listen to her whimpering.
"W... W-why are you—Why are you telling me th-this...?!" She chokes out, her hands clawing at his zouri slippers in a last ditch effort.
Hirai places his foot harder onto her neck as he stares down at her in morbid fascination. "Because...
"If I don't kill you now, you'll suffer the same fate. Such a pretty girl...doesn't deserve that."
Crrr-ack...
–
The squelching sound of meat between teeth echoes in his skull while he feels his fangs tear into the flesh of the woman. It felt so disgusting–the blood, and the way it stains his face and clothes.
But it tasted so good.
Hirai faltered on his next bite, his teeth sinking into the skin but refusing to do any more damage. With dilated eyes, he snapped his head next to him where he saw a young looking demon with glowing cross-like pupils atop brown eyes. The other flinched slightly but stood his ground against the taller male. "H-hey, big brother..." The other started as his claws began to pick at his pale-red kimono. "I, um...!" He faltered before shouting out. "Let me have that!"
Hirai stared at the other with blank gold eyes.
"But I'm so hungry, big brother!" Haruto cried out, his small hand clinging to his brothers.
Letting out a breathy chuckle, Hirai squeezed his brothers hand with a smile. "When we get home, I'll have mom make you the biggest dinner ever for helping me today, okay?"
Haruto pouted and stared at the ground, his tears still falling but he cried quietly now. A moment passed as they walked before the youngest let out a small, "okay".
Before he can process his own mind, Hirai silently hands the smaller demon the chunk of meat he was eating before looking away and towards the woman's body on the ground. "Eat." He said as he mercilessly ripped off her arm and bit into it like a skewer.
The younger demon's eyes seem to sparkle at the opportunity to have a meal after so long, so with no hesitation he grins and shouts out a "Thank you, big brother!" which is then followed with a "Thank you for the meal!"
Hirai huffs in amusement as he keeps his eyes on his own portion. He doesn't question where the little demon came from or anything else. Right now, he felt a weird sense of peace. "You know," Hirai starts as he lets the bloodied arm rest on his lap. "Meals are always better in company, little demon." With little to no effort, he drags the woman's body between the two of them and smiled. "So, will you have dinner with me?"
The smaller demon's eye's shone with gratitude as he happily nodded his head. "Big brother is so nice! Will big brother let me stay with him? Please?" A pout formed on the younger boy's lips. "Mommy and daddy left me alone after I tried to bite daddy. I swear I didn't mean to! I just..." His eyes cast downwards as his shoulder sag. "He smelt...so good..."
Hirai said nothing as he let the words process in his mind. Ah, he thinks, he is very cute. "I see. That must have been very scary." His lips form a sympathetic smile. "Do your mom and dad live around here?"
"No." He replied with a shake of his head, his short auburn hair swinging with the motions. "We live suuuuper far! Usually it would take is a week to travel from home to here, but it only took me a few days!" His previous expression is gone in an instant and is replaced with a proud grin. "Go on, praise me! I came here all by myself! And really fast, too!"
Chuckling, Hirai placed a hand on the boy's head and ruffled his hair. "Mm, mm! You did such a good job, erh..." His golden eyes suddenly widened in surprise. "I don't know your name!"
"Huh?" The boy tilts his head upwards to look Hirai in the eyes before making an "oh!" face. "My name's Kawa Chouji! What's yours, big brother?!"
"I'm Katashi Hirai, but you can call me big bro Hirai."
"I can?!" Chouji lets out giggles as if told a big, dark secret. "Thank you, big bro Hirai!"
"No need to thank me, little brother–" he ignores the glimmer of affection in the little demon's eyes at the term– "Make sure you eat a lot, okay? We don't know when we will have another feast such as this."
Making a noise in agreement, Chouji wasted no time digging back into the flesh of the woman while humming in delight at both her taste and eating a meal with his newfound family.
Hirai resumed eating the arm he abandoned a few minutes prior yet ate more slowly as to keep a proper eye on Chouji. "Eat slower, little brother. You'll choke."
"Mmm, no I won't!" Chouji replies before immediately choking on the bone. He coughed it out a few seconds after but sat frozen as if processing what happened.
"Tsk, tsk. You should always listen to your big brother, Chouji." Hirai jokingly chastised.
"Ehh?! I'll never disobey big bro Hirai again!"