Main Content
Archive of Our OwnArchive of Our OwnHi, TheBrimmedHat!PostLog Out
FandomsBrowseSearchAboutWork Search
tip: austen words:10000-50000 sort:title
Actions
Entire Work ← Previous Chapter Next Chapter → Chapter Index Bookmark Mark for Later Comments Share Download
Work Header
Rating:
Teen And Up Audiences
Archive Warning:
Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Category:
Gen
Fandoms:
鬼滅の刃 | Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Anime)鬼滅の刃 | Kimetsu no Yaiba (Manga)
Characters:
Tsuyuri KanaoDouma (Kimetsu no Yaiba)Hashibira InosukeKotoha (Kimetsu no Yaiba)Kimetsu no Yaiba EnsembleTwelve Demon Moons Ensemble (Kimetsu no Yaiba)Original CharactersDaki | Ume (Kimetsu no Yaiba)Gyutaro (Kimetsu no Yaiba)Kochou KanaeAkaza | Hakuji (Kimetsu no Yaiba)Kokushibou | Tsugikuni Michikatsu
Additional Tags:
Alternate UniverseFluff and AngstCanon-Typical ViolenceCannibalismDouma is a Little Shit (Kimetsu no Yaiba)BAMF Tsuyuri KanaoDysfunctional FamilyBad ParentingDouma grabs Kanao instead of the Kochou siblingsAnd grabs Inosuke before Kotoha can chuck him off a cliffDouma: I'm not like a regular dad I'm a cool dadSwordfightingDubious MoralityConditioningKanao and Inosuke as siblingsBlood and GoreLoyaltyFamily Bondingno beta we die like the KamadosCultsTsuyuri Kanao-centricCanonical Character DeathHashibira Inosuke Being Hashibira InosukeTsuyuri 'if anything happens to my family I'll kill everyone in this room and then myself' KanaoPast Child AbuseMorally Neutral KanaoProtective KanaoVivisectionAnimal Abuse
Language:
English
Stats:
Published:2021-11-21Updated:2026-04-06Words:154,514Chapters:39/?Comments:1,970Kudos:3,614Bookmarks:794Hits:129,331
Iron and Ice
SkilledWarriorKiwi
Chapter 10: Bubbles
Summary:
Who saw the absolutely beautiful lad in todays episode??? ✨ baby boy baby ✨
Chapter Text
The bubble was translucent and shimmered with a delicate prism of colours.
Inosuke stared, eyes so wide and big the bubble was easily seen within the reflection of his pupils. His mouth was agape, chubby hands twitching as he sat in the pile of blankets and watched the bubble draw closer and closer.
Then it landed on his nose and burst and he jolted so much he fell over.
Kanao dipped the wand into the small pail of soapy liquid before waving it in the air. Another bubble appeared, long and wavering before splitting into two.
This time Inosuke lunged for them, little hands trying to swipe the bubbles out of the air as soon as they came close. Giggles shook his body, seemingly caught between laughing and trying to catch the bubbles. Kanao flicked the wand through the air, deliberately weaving it back and forth to create a burst of rippling bubbles.
One, two, three- Kanao watched as Inosuke managed to pop nearly all of them. A few had drifted over the edge of the wooden walkway to merge with the lotus-filled water below.
"Such a fine little hunter," Douma said.
He'd appeared next to Kanao, on the other side of the bucket. Sitting with his elbows on his knees and a calm smile upon his face. She had not even seen nor heard him.
She was rather used to his abrupt appearances. Inosuke just crawled over to the walkway edge, hands grasping for the few bubbles that had escaped him.
Kanao used her spare hand to drag Inosuke away from the edge, pulling him back over the blankets. He flailed, rolling on his back and swiping at her hand.
In response she blew out another ripple of bubbles right above him, which immediately ensnared his attention as he pawed at them like a kitten.
Douma reached out and touched the nearest bubble with a claw tip and Kanao watched intently as tiny snowflakes spread rapidly over the sphere. The ice crystals filled the entire bubble before it burst, snowflakes fluttering down to the ground.
Inosuke giggled, little face scrunching as some of the snowflakes settled on face. They quickly melted into water, leaving shiny tracks over his chubby features.
Kanao watched as Douma did the same to another bubble as it floated past. Making it ripple with snowflakes until it burst in a white flurry. She had seen snow but had not seen someone make it before. She thought it had fallen from the sky.
Then again Douma was a moon spirit. The night was cold so maybe that was why he could make snow. She wondered about the other moon spirits. Douma mentioned there were others like himself, another six who were stupid and weak and then there was one he did not name.
The moon had different phases, perhaps that was how they were sorted and how their magic worked. Kanao was unsure.
She dipped the wand in the soapy water and blew out bubbles, doing it several times in rapid succession so a thick cloud of bubbles were floating in the air.
Douma waved his golden fan at the herd of bubbles, driving them back towards Inosuke who immediately tried grabbing as many as he could. It was a very valiant effort, Kanao noted. For a baby he was quite fast even if it was more enthusiasm than skill.
Snapping his fan shut, Douma tapped a talon on the side of the small pail. It was covered in colourful childish drawings of animals, giving to her by Misaki. She wanted to try painting them later.
"They're the animals of the zodiac," Douma explained, flicking each picture with a nail while naming them, "Rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and boar. Taken from the Chinese zodiac in the fourth century, only difference is they have pig while we have boar. There's quite a few living on this mountain. The Japanese boar is actually called inoshishi. Hmm, almost like your little brother?"
They both looked at Inosuke, who was crawling about and lunging at the bubbles like a determined puppy. His face was scrunched up in an expression of intense concentration, eyes unblinking as he chased the bubbles with great focus.
"We also use the solar calendar instead of lunar as the Chinese. Though Japan only stopped using the lunar calendar last century, same as stopping using the zodiacs as measurements for twelve sections of the day. Honestly, it's annoying how they change things," Douma continued, tapping his shut fan against his lower lip. "Then again humans die so quickly so maybe they do these things just to entertain themselves."
Kanao did not know that. She knew what a calendar was but did not know other places used different ones.
"But anyway, the most fortuitous symbols in the zodiac are the dragon and tiger," Douma said, listing them off his fingers. "Heaven and earth, yin and yang, sun and moon. Unlike the rest I've never seen a dragon nor has anyone else I know, even the ones ten times my age. Kokushibo said I was being childish when I asked him so I'm taking that as a no. Same with That Man. I hardly think wondering if dragons are real is such a ridiculous notion, since demons do exist. But alas dear Kanao, dragons are just a myth like the gods. Funny, how the one monster many dismiss as stories are the ones which actually live while the other more popular ones are just legends."
She wondered if Kokushibo was another moon spirit. She could not seen any of the Paradise Faith members calling Douma a child. Kanao blew out another flock of bubbles. This time when Douma waved his fan the air grew chilly and several of the bubbles burst into a flurry of snowflakes. Inosuke managed to eat some of them before falling over in a wiggly giggly heap.
"I think we have all the other zodiacs here in the compound except tigers. Javan, I think, but they're getting more and more rare each year. Won't be too long before they're extinct, like the Honshū wolf which died out just a decade ago. Interesting, isn't it? Humans doing all this but the moment we demons eat some of them they lose their minds."
Kanao understood, even as she blew out more bubbles for Inosuke. No one cared when her parents beat her, starved her. When they killed her siblings, when they sold her. And Kotoha's husband had beat her as well. She wasn't sure why the woman disliked the fact Douma ate people so much. Animals ate each other all the time. She ate a rat alive once.
But it didn't really matter. Kotoha was dead and Kanao was looking after Inosuke now. She could teach him properly. He was already a lot happier a few months after Kotoha's death now that Kanao was singing to him each night, especially since Douma allowed her to keep him in her room. Her voice was less raspy but it was still stuttery and halting but Inosuke didn't mind. He'd always be asleep now by the time she finished.
She even sang a few of the songs and poems Douma gave her, even if his were more focused lotus blossoms, folklore or bloodshed. She even told Inosuke the story about the moon rabbit.
Though she was unable to speak to others yet. She tried once with Douma but just made a horrible croaking noise that made him look at her funny before asking if she was alright.
Inosuke meanwhile had managed to catch most of the bubbles before they popped or drifted over the edge of the walkway. The bubbles had been Misaki's idea, as Kanao had written her a message asking if she knew what children liked. The woman's face had gotten all funny when she read it and she'd given Kanao a hug but she'd gone to fetch the pail and a bar of soap along with the bubble wand. There could also be pipes used but Misaki said the wands were easier.
Another set of bubbles and again Douma made some of them burst into snow. One even froze to the point it looked like a glass bauble as it dropped to the wooden walkway with a solid thunk, shiny and pale blue and so cold it was misting. Inosuke swatted at it while trying to grab the snowflakes, knocking it off into the water below.
Kanao found it far easier to think or to act if she listened to Douma's advice; he'd suggested she keep doing things to make Inosuke happy, telling her to think upon the actions and see if they benefited himself or Inosuke and if they did then Kanao should do them. She would focus on that always, as it had been instrumental in her consistently calming Inosuke down as she'd been acting as his sister as Douma instructed.
A part of her also thought that it could be why she kept wanting to ask Douma if he was now her Otousan, since she knew now he didn't treat the other children in the compound like her and she knew of the secrets like the skulls and his eating but she still felt unsure. Since Paradise Faith belonged to him she had no right to demand or ask anything even if Douma didn't mind and would just give her things whenever he felt like it. Even him sitting with her, watching Inosuke trying to grab bubbles wasn't something he really did with the others. Maybe because they didn't know the secrets. Douma had said she was special, after all. Maybe she could make sure Inosuke was also special so she could keep him forever since Kotoha acted stupid and got eaten.
She'd been distracted by her thoughts enough it was Inosuke crawling into her lap that snapped back her attention. Lacking bubbles, he decided clambering up onto his sister was entertaining enough as he immediately flailed for her hairpin. She grabbed him, dropping the wand but with the abrupt weight of a giggling toddler caused her to lurch to the side and one of Inosuke's flailing arms hit the small pail. It flipped, splashing soapy water over her violet kimono and making the pail fly up and collide with her temple hard enough to slice open a gash which immediately began to leak red.
Kanao ignored that, gripping Inosuke tight as she rearranged her grasp so he was on her lap. He grumbled and squirmed in protest, trying to grab the pail from where it had rolled away. The edge above the horse had a smear of red.
"Ara ara, what a shame. Babies are so messy aren't they?" Douma's voice was its usual calm sweet self, even if some of the soapy water had splashed against his pants.
He reached out and swiped the pad of his thumb over the bleeding wound on Kanao's forehead. The strange chilly sensation seeped through the ragged flesh and then the pain vanished as he healed the injury. Kanao waited until he drew his hand away before she grabbed the discarded wand and blew out the last of the soapy water which immediately made Inosuke start giggling again.
Out of the corner of her eye she could see Douma suck the blood off his thumb before muttering something under his breath. Inosuke managed to grab the two bubbles, making their shimmering surfaces pop into nothing.
Douma then clapped his hands together, immediately gaining both of their attention. "Seems you're quite soaked Kanao, we should go get you some new clothes. And it should be around Inosuke's afternoon lunch time, shouldn't it? You're rather diligent about his feeding times, little mouse. Hm, maybe you could even give him some pork?"
Kanao nodded, quickly placing Inosuke on the blanket and bounding him into it. Speed was of the essence in corralling him she'd found, the baby ever eager to squirm out. Once done she lifted him up into her arms; he grew bigger each week. Soon she would no longer be able to hold him. The thought made her stomach twist as if she were hungry.
Douma also stood, towering over them both before he bent down to poke Inosuke on the nose. Immediately the baby grabbed his wrist and started biting at the offending finger. His little teeth didn't even leave a mark on Douma's pale skin. Then he let out an amused snort, tugging his finger free of Inosuke's maw before picking Kanao up. She kept Inosuke cuddled against her with one arm wrapped around him and the other patting his dark hair.
He smiled at them, all long fangs and glittering rainbow eyes, "You'll need sharper teeth in the future if you want to bite off my finger. Or a very sharp sword."
Kanao just hummed, letting Inosuke gnaw at the damp sleeve of her kimono as Douma carried them out of the room. She didn't want cut off Douma's fingers. Inosuke might want fangs though, since he liked biting people.
Actions
↑ Top ← Previous Chapter Next Chapter → Bookmark Comments (40)
Kudos
Efield, HIRO_Moon_18, Greekgods1hades, TheSecondC, Solsticalpine, Baypatatas, Hihoo, Egg3, Orange08, Mr_owoa, CherryPepsiPerson, It_has_to_mean_something, Herbig_Haro_24, Finchfrin, chatichy, TheTinnnMan, runninwhimsy, Dradiodemon, Just_Me_IDK, idk_myname, Shroomly_Enby, sleepycatjeans, SingDanceRead, Kiwiwbord, SelfProclaimedHermit2, FishyAngel, starlesslabyrinth, Jackthetimberlog, FluffyCatsrbestCats, TheydaGecko, RxAzazel, seashellsigh, Gray_Scale77, Lori_NS, Halogenicalis, A_Black_Hat, DevianYue, Puppetmaster13, whispers_ofthestars, designatedidiotnumber12, Circusafton, ChishiyasNiragi, gyokkopottery, Anzhelina_3, PeridotFallen, Nino_read_it, wistfulpetrichor, XxEstiaxX, Abomina__me, Nightmar3_wolf, and 1603 more users as well as 1961 guests left kudos on this work!
Comments
Post Comment
Comment as TheBrimmedHat
Plain text with limited HTML ?
Comment
10000 characters left
Footer
Customize
Default
Low Vision Default
Reversi
Snow Blue
About the Archive
Site Map
Diversity Statement
Terms of Service
Content Policy
Privacy Policy
DMCA & TIDA Policies
Site Status
Contact Us
Policy Questions & Abuse Reports
Technical Support & Feedback
Development
otwarchive v1.2.0.0
Known Issues
GPL-2.0-or-later by the OTW