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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
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Published:2021-11-21Updated:2026-04-06Words:154,514Chapters:39/?Comments:1,970Kudos:3,614Bookmarks:794Hits:129,333
Iron and Ice
SkilledWarriorKiwi
Chapter 14: Long Pig
Chapter Text
The housing was modest and compact, all tan and dark wood that glowed caramel in the golden hue of the street lights dotted along the road. There was an occasional tree amidst the buildings but a far cry from the lush green of Paradise Faith. In the distance Kanao could still hear the low drone of the inner city but further in the housing district the sound was muffled and low. The row of houses were orderly, neat and clean with some having potted plants in windowboxes or elegant wind chimes, and most of the buildings were dark and sleepy.
However the house the woman in the blue dress had entered was lit on the ground floor. Occasionally Kanao could see a silhouette pass the glowing window from her place tucked in Otousan's arms, where he was lurking up within the shadows of the rooftops and nearby buildings. In the distance there was a sharp beep of a locomotive.
"Looks like our friend is a night owl, like us," Otousan said, his breath cold on her ear. "How fortuitous."
Kanao did not really understand what that meant but carried on watching the house. It was surprising how few people ever looked up when they had been moving across the rooftops.
"I have an idea," Otousan brightened, his arms shifting around Kanao as his rainbow eyes glowed in the dark. "We could use the front door, just go on down there and knock. But alas, what would happen if she doesn't answer the door? Or refuses to let us in? Or hides Inosuke's present? What do you think we should do then, Kanao, so that doesn't happen?"
Kanao thought over the words carefully as her eyes scanned the house. Two floors and there was a small balcony on the second, with some little flower pots on the tiny ledge. The veranda door was shut, the windows dark but Kanao thought carefully and decided to answer.
"Then we should go in through the door up there," Kanao pointed at the balcony. "She locked her front door but people sometimes don't lock their windows or upstairs. And then we can see if she put Inosuke's present away. Then we can go downstairs and ask her and if she gets mad again you can talk to her."
A lesson well learned at Paradise Faith as Kanao would often accompany Inosuke in his crawling and climbing and breaking and entering. The upper floors were typically looked over, as if people could not climb and others forgot they could. And Otousan was good with talking with people, since the lady had been so angry before when Kanao tried.
"Also if she yells again, she might wake up the other people sleeping and that would be rude," Kanao finished. "But she might not yell at you."
"You are absolutely right! It would do no good for us to disturb the neighbours. What if they have to wake up early in the morning? It's near midnight, after all. We can't disturb the working-class people so we should be nice and quiet. I agree, you're so smart Kanao!"
She straightened up in Douma's grip as the praise, head bumping against his chin as he leaned forward as a fluttery warm spread through her gut.
Then there was the rush of air and they were on the balcony. A flick of sharp nails and breaking metal, and Otousan was pushing open the door to slink into a dark bedroom with Kanao still held tight to his chest. When he nudged the door shut, a ripple of white frost bloomed across the frame.
He was utterly silent as he walked across the room despite his size, with Kanao still and calm in his grip. Below them she could hear the whistle of a kettle and cutlery clattering but as she glanced around the dark room she could not see the skull nor any package that could hold it.
Otousan must have come to the same conclusion as he let out a hum low enough Kanao could feel it reverberate through her bones before he went out to the hallway. The other rooms upstairs were as dark and empty as the bedroom, with the downstairs light glowing up from the staircase. She could also hear soft instrument music curling through the air.
The woman downstairs did not notice them. She was in the kitchen, in the middle of chopping something at the bench with her back to them through the open doorway. Still wearing the blue dress with the pattern of roses. Otousan eyed her hungrily before sidling over to the front door, pressing a palmful of frost against the frame which spread swirling patterns of snowflakes across the dark wood. The living room was lit with a single golden lamp, filled with western furniture like a tall table surrounded by stools, glass and stone sculptures along the shelves and a potted plant in one corner. Photographs of a family were hanging on the walls. In the middle of the table was the source of the music, a golden gramophone with a dark disk spinning lazily upon it.
While intrigued by the device, Kanao kept her gaze sharp as she peered about the room. Looking intently for the skull before spotting the bag the clerk had put it in on a small side table just inside the kitchen doorway. She tugged on a strand of Otousan's hair to get his attention, pointing to the bag.
Douma grinned, long fangs poking over his lower lip before he put Kanao down. He put a finger against his lips and Kanao nodded, following him along silently as he stepped through the doorway. The woman remained oblivious to their presence, continuing to chop whatever was on the bench. Even when she paused to take the whistling kettle off the oven she did not notice them.
Kanao found it fascinating how the woman did not sense their presence. Kanao had been hunted by her otouto enough to be keyed in when she was being stalked by someone and she would spend much of her free time simply observing people.
It was only when Otousan knocked his knuckles on the door frame that the woman even reacted. Her body jolted violently, spinning around and stumbling back into the bench while still gripping the knife with an expression of severe shock on her face.
"Hello," Douma smiled at her.
"I- who are you?!" the woman shouted, eyes wide and panicked, "How did you get in my house!"
"We came through the door upstairs. But that isn't important."
"Like Hell it isn't! Get out!"
Ignoring her yelling, Otousan spoke, "I'm a kindhearted man. However, I take umbridge with you speaking so rudely to my daughter." His voice became more stern as he said, "Questioning my parenting is one thing but to call Kanao an entitled little brat- what an awful thing to say."
"Get out of my house before I call for the police!" the woman said, her hands tight around the knife.
"Unless you have them hiding in your pantry and cupboards then I really doubt they'll do anything. You see, my dear, I have no intention of letting you leave. Much less live after such callous, cruel words."
The woman's grip shook around the knife and Kanao wondered if it could hurt Otousan. She did not want him hurt over her.
"Do you have a name?" Otousan asked, stepping further into the kitchen with Kanao following at his side.
The woman's breath was coming in short pants, eyes flicking from Douma to the doorway beyond. The knife was shaking in her grip, the blade shining in the soft golden glow of the lights.
"Well since you won't tell me your name, I'll just call you Rin," Otousan shrugged. "Rin, what do you think gives you the right to insult my daughter?"
"Get out!"
Kanao blinked, suddenly alone in the doorway and Otousan was across the kitchen and lifting the woman up in the air with one hand firmly clamped onto her face. There was a strangled noise and Kanao tensed as the knife went into Otousan's shoulder. Only for the blade tip to snap, not even piercing his flesh. With his other hand Douma seized the woman's wrist, twisting it until bones ground together and the blade clattered to the floor.
"I see, you've decided to be difficult and not listen," Otousan said in a conversational tone. "That's fine, I'm quite a good teacher."
Kanao went to the small table shunted against the wall, deftly undoing the knot of the bag handles. She felt some tension leave her as her hands brushed over the curved tusks of the pig skull. Good, she had Inosuke's present.
There was a bang and Kanao looked up to see Otousan slam the woman against the cupboards, making it rattle. A jar of tea rolled off the bench and crashed onto the ground while the air grew colder. The woman's face was shining with tears as she ineffectively clawed at Douma's forearm, his hand still clamped firmly over her mouth. His hand was so large his nails were brushing against her hair while his thumb pressed against her ear.
The lady was being punished for her behaviour, Otousan was always right. Kanao knew that. Everyone at Paradise Faith would tell her that, and he always looked after her. No matter how many things she and Inosuke would break Otousan would never yell or raise a hand to them. The lady was being punished for being rude to her and not answering the questions and trying to stab Otousan with a knife. Even now she was still struggling, feet kicking at Douma's front and knocking against the cabinets as she flailed.
"So feisty, Rin," Douma drawled, nails digging into the woman's face hard enough to make her bleed. "You shouldn't be so noisy. You might wake your neighbours."
Suddenly he turned and threw her into the nearby wall, hard enough a portrait fell. Kanao pressed closer to the wall to avoid getting in the way, one hand grabbing the handles of the bag. Kanao watched as the woman stumbled to her feet, face bloodied and skirts swirling around her as she sprinted for the doorway.
Vines of ice burst from the ground, seizing the woman and yanking her back down to the floor with enough force it made the cabinets rattle. The woman let out a muffled scream as the vines wrapped around her jaw, tightened around her limbs to pin her to the floor like a butterfly in a glass case. Kanao studied the vines in fascination, noting the blooming lotuses of pale shimmering ice at the ends and glass-like leaves dotting their serpentine lengths. Despite the lady's panicked straining, the vines did not lessen.
"Tsk tsk," Otousan walked over to the captive woman, a golden fan held in one hand. He snapped it shut before tapping it against his chin, saying, "What did I say about being noisy? And you didn't even apologize to Kanao for your horrid behaviour. Oh dear. Whatever shall I do? Rarely have I encountered such a rude woman before. Just eating you won't do. I fear the lesson won't sink in, if that's the case."
Kanao relaxed against the wall, eyes following the blooming ice inching its way across the floor. The air was cold but tolerable.
"Oh!" Douma suddenly turned to Kanao with a snap of his fingers, smile wide and eyes glittering, "How about we use this opportunity for a biology lesson, hm? Remember how I told you pigs and humans are similar on the inside?"
Kanao nodded, the pearls in her hairpin bobbing with the movement.
"How about I show you then," Otousan said, smiling getting so wide his eyes shut. "Bring that stool from the living room over, wouldn't want anything to get on that nice kimono of yours."
Kanao obeyed, going to the living room to take one of the stools and bringing it with her into the kitchen where the woman was bound on the floor. Otousan settled down crosslegged next to the woman, the vines around her body constricting slightly. Her muffled grunts were soft, occasionally joined by the creak of the icy plants.
Kanao set down the stool a few feet from the woman and tangle of lotus vines, out of reach of the frost dusting the floor. Kanao sat down on the stool as primly as possible in a kimono, with her hands resting on her knees as she devoted her full attention on her father. Otousan grinned at her, before directing his gaze to the bound woman.
"Rin? Are you comfortable?" Douma leaned forward to stare down at the lady. She grunted, tear tracks gleaming on her face as she twitched and shuddered but the vines did not budge even as Otousan continued, "Don't worry, the cold means you won't bleed out that quickly! Kanao is such a lovely student, so attentive, but I do like to be thorough. You just lay there and be a good girl. Can you do that for me, Rin?"
The woman's breath was tight and panicked, wet and stuttering beneath the tangle of vines obscuring her mouth. Her fingers were digging into the floor, nails scrabbling uselessly at the frosty wood.
"Now, biology is the study of life," Douma said. "Very interesting stuff. It's all about anatomy, behaviours, physiology and origins. But in this lesson we'll be focused on anatomy. Do you know what that is, Kanao?"
Kanao thought over the question very carefully. It took her nearly a minute to answer, running through everything she had learned but it was one conversation with Rojin she felt answered the question. When he had shown her one of the lotus blossoms when he had been tending to the inside gardens, pointing out the petals, the stem, the leaves, the roots and how he explained it to her.
"It is how things are structured," she said.
"Yes! Very much so. Now, there are four major components of the human anatomy to the human body. Bones, muscle, fat and organs," Otousan said, counting off his fingers as he talked. "For the first group, the bones, there are two hundred and six in the human body, but when humans are born there's actually around three hundred! But when they grow they fuse together. Upon that there is the muscles, connected to the skeletons through tendons. Then there's the fat, which helps keep people warm and insulated, and if they start starving then their body will consume it. And of course the organs, my personal favourite. Everything from your heart and lungs to your liver and kidneys!"
Kanao listened intently; she was familiar with those terms, having seen them be used in the kitchens. Broth made from bones and fat, horumon where the offal was grilled or added to soups. Same with the meat, that was Inosuke's favourite so she knew how to cook it well. He always liked to eat thick chunks of meat, gnawing at it like a little beast and getting the juices all over his hands and face.
Douma reached out and ran his hand over the bound woman's brow, ignoring her muffled sobs as he spoke, "The largest human organ is actually the skin. Most people don't realize it's an organ and it is thickest on the back. Nice and chewy but makes for poor leather."
Otousan then told Kanao of what was in the human skin; the glands and layers. How the only part of the skin without hair was palms, soles of the feet and lips. Kanao did not know people were so furry. Through it all he kept patting the woman's face on the ground, long talons making near invisible lines of red on her pale sweaty skin.
"Hair isn't so tasty though," Douma made a face before he looped a finger through the lady's short dark hair and then ripped the coil free of her scalp. There was a muffled grunt, her body seizing as blood began to seep from the patch on her forehead. In the cold the blood quickly began to congeal as Otousan offered the lock of hair to Kanao.
She took it, inspecting it closely. Black like her own but wavy and curly whereas Kanao's own was straight.
"Black hair is the most common in Japan," Otousan said. "Also brown. But you get people with white hair and grey though it's a lot more rare. Also colour gradients, tips of it turning different hues. Or like mine! Golden hair is a lot rarer. My moron parents thought that was what made me special along with my eyes. And then there's us demons who tend to have such colourful hair, I know someone with pink hair. So fluffy! Not sure why its like that though, since That Man has black hair. But mine was like this when I was human. Well, besides the red up top. Not sure why that appeared but I do like the colour."
Kanao nodded. Yes, most people at Paradise Faith had black or brown hair. The older ones had grey hair. Or like Rojin, who was going grey despite his youth. But the skull in the vase room still had such long dark hair.
"But!" Otousan snapped his fingers. "Back to the organs! One of the most noticed of all on the human body is the eyeball! It tends to be the first thing people focus on when meeting each other. Even mine, before my rank was etched upon them. You also have special eyes, Kanao. You can see so much. But not all people can."
Then Douma reached down and nonchalantly plucked out the left eyeball of the bound woman. Her scream of agony was loud even while muffled, body thrashing violently against the vines as blood spilled over her face to splatter onto the floor as Otousan tugged the eyeball free of its crimson socket, a long thread from the orb snapping apart.
Smiling, Otousan let the eyeball rest in the palm on his hand while jostling it around as if it were a marble. He began to point out what each part was to Kanao, ignoring the strangled sobs and struggles of the woman on the floor as he did so. Kanao kept her attention focused on her father, also ignoring the muffled sobbing. Pupil, iris, optic nerve; all new things for her to learn. He even carefully cut open the jelly-like eyeball to pull out the tiny lens, nestled directly behind the iris.
"It's why the eye is such a good place to target someone when attacking," Otousan said. "The veins, see here? They're nerves. People tend to panic when blinded, even Slayers, and the eyeballs are so soft and easy to puncture."
Yes, Kanao nodded as she remembered. Her kanzashi was pointed. She could see how it would be easy to pierce an eye.
"Rin? You alright down there?" Douma looked down at the woman. Already the blood had filled her empty eye socket, the entire left side of her face stained in red, but it was now sluggish and thick. The cold preventing her from bleeding down. Otousan smiled at the woman who continued to sob in pain, before tossing the eyeball into his fanged mouth and swallowing it whole.
The blood on Otousan's hand seemed to sink into his skin, vanishing into his flesh as if it had never been there.
"Now, on to the other organs!" Douma clapped his hands together. "Most are inside the body, beneath the skin and muscles. I'll just need to crack her open. Don't pass out on me, Rin! This is important to Kanao's education. And don't worry, I'll make sure to freeze your veins shut as I cut. Can't have you dying on us."
He snapped open his golden fan, the lotus blossoms etched within glittering in the light of the kitchen. The vines shifted around the woman, shifting down to expose her torso as they wrapped more firmly around her limbs, throat and lower face. Her sobs were shaky, her remaining eye fixed on Kanao as tears leaked down her cheek.
With swift movements Otousan cut off the woman's dress, the dark blue fabric slicing easily against the razor-sharp edge of the fan. In short order the woman was naked, Douma tossing aside her ruined dress in a heap in the corner with the broken jar.
Kanao was unbothered, as occasionally she would share a bath with Misaki or the other women of Paradise Faith. The woman bound on the floor looked much the same as all other nude woman she had seen.
Then the edge of the fan deftly cut into the woman's chest, her body struggling violently against the vines as Otousan cut a long deep Y shape into her chest. Stretching down from shoulders to sternum, slicing down just before her groin. Tiny spirals of frost followed the cuts, preventing blood from gushing as the freezing ice seemed to seal the slices open.
Otousan tugged open the cuts, peeling back the skin to reveal the crimson, trembling muscle beneath. Kanao, even at a safe distance, could see how the heaving breath of the woman frosted with each exhale, the steam raising from the exposed muscles. The way her remaining eye rolled up into her head and her body started seizing as Otousan finished peeling open her chest.
"The muscles! Can't move without them," Otousan smiled at Kanao before he reached out to the exposed muscles, dragging a long nail down the twitching red mass.
He explained some of it to her, the streaks of white fat threaded through the red and thick yellow sacks of the breasts. The different ways different muscles were shaped, the abdominal, pectoral. The exposed bone of the sternum and clavicle. The most common muscle of the human body was the skeletal muscles, attached to the bones by tendons while smooth muscles surrounded the organs. The strongest muscle was apparently in the human jaw while one of the more powerful was located in the thighs and backside. There was also the muscles of the uterus, that could stretch and contract with extreme force.
"One of the reasons you ladies are so nutritious," Otousan told Kanao with a sharp grin.
Then he dug at the exposed muscle on the left side of the woman's ruddy chest to show the raised lines of the ribs, ignoring the way she was spasming and twitching on the ground. Her breath was strangled and sporadic, feet hitting the ground and fingers scrabbling uselessly on the floor.
"Rin? Have you passed out yet?" Otousan asked her conversationally as he carefully cut through the four uppermost ribs of her chest. "No? Oh it must be painful then. Don't worry, you're being so good for Kanao. She's learning so much with your help. Just think of nothing, for that's all that awaits you once I'm done."
When he pulled the curved bones free, muscles clung doggedly to them. He ate three of them, crunching upon them as if they were freshly fried tempura. He licked the blood off his lips before snapping the remaining one in half.
"See this different colour inside?" Otousan asked her, handing over the bloodied bone to Kanao. "That's the marrow. Do you know what marrow is for?"
"It is to make ramen," Kanao said.
Otousan laughed, "Well I suppose you're right! Tonkotsu broth looks all milky white because the pork bones are boiled with the marrow, aren't they? But in nature marrow helps produce blood cells. It helps keep the bones healthy and strong, so it is quite spongy compared to the bones themself. Touch it."
Kanao touched the marrow inside the bone, noting how it was indeed soft compared to the hard exterior shell.
He took the bone from her, swallowing it down with a sharp clack of teeth. Then he grinned at her, "And now for one of the most important organs in the human body! And just like a pig's. The heart. The heart is a muscular organ, one of the most robust and hardworking of all the organs in the human body! It is located just slightly left of the sternum and it is around the size of your fist."
She clenched her hand, looking down at her fist with curiosity. Her heart must be that big. Otousan's heart would be a lot bigger, since he was so much taller than her.
"A pig the same weight as a human actually have the same size hearts. So fascinating, isn't it? Do you think so, Rin?"
Kanao looked down to the woman bound on the floor; she was still alive but Kanao did not think she was aware of much. Through the split of her rib cage, Kanao could see the crimson mass of her heart. It was fascinating to see it pump, slow and sporadic. The woman must be very stressed but the cold meant her heart was slow. That must be why Otousan's own heartbeat was so slow, since he could do ice magic.
Reaching over the woman, Otousan stroked her unnaturally pale brow in a tender gesture before dragging his hand down her face, her throat, sinking in crimson furrows before burrowing his hand into the gap of the rib cage. He simply held the sluggishly beating heart in his hand for a long moment.
Otousan ripped out the heart. It stopped beating. And all movement and the strangled, choked sounds below stopped.
There, Otousan told Kanao about the heart. The valves and chambers, the aorta. How the largest arteries stemming from the human heart was the mesmeric, carotid, brachial and femoral.
"You slice open one of these veins and a human dies in minutes or even seconds," Otousan explained. "There is so much pressure in those veins it just sprays out everywhere. The easiest to reach is the carotid, which is in the throat. If you use your fingers you can actually feel your heartbeat through it."
Kanao did so even if Douma had to help guide her hand, the other holding the disembodied heart, until her fingers were pressed to the soft skin at the underside of her jaw. There she could feel the soft throb against her fingertips, the steady pulse of her heart.
From there Otousan went through the calm, steady task of showing her the other organs within the human body. The vines slowly slid back into nothing, dissolving into the ground as he swallowed down the heart and then cracked open the rib cage fully. He pried free the lungs, bright and pink. The left was slightly smaller to make room for the heart, he explained. He also breathed into them, through the fleshy tube of the trechea and Kanao watched in interest as they expanded like balloons before sagging again.
"Slayers have the most delicious of lungs," Otousan told her cheerfully, having bitten out one of the lobes to show her the root-like mass inside. "Because they have all these special breathing techniques. By far my favourite part of them to eat!"
There was the stomach, which Otousan said was the source of all energy in the body. The spleen, a small organ just above the stomach. The spleen helped filter blood and keep the body healthy just like the liver. The pancreas, which produced chemicals which the human system needed. The gallbladder, which produced bile for digesting. The kidneys, which helped control the volume of fluids. The intestines, the smaller rope-like ones and the ribbed large ones. Each time he would bite open the organ and let her see inside.
There was also the uterus, even if Otousan noted with some disappointment it was empty. He suggested they could find a full one later. Kanao found it strange how a human could grow in there. But then, trees grew from seeds so she supposed it wasn't that strange.
By the end of it the kitchen floor was a bloody mess, pieces of partially eaten organ strewn about and shards of bone scattered across the ground. The bloody red mass on the floor was largely hollowed, with only the limbs being intact. The rest gutted.
Each time she was shown something Kanao noted how similar the organs were to pigs. She had helped enough in the kitchens at Paradise Faith to know what offal looked like and it was interesting how close the two species were.
Then Otousan cracked open the skull to pry out the brain. Pink and wrinkled, Kanao found it fascinating as Otousan held it up for her to inspect. It was made up of three lobes, the biggest being the forebrain, the longer part near the lower side being the midbrain, while the part that had connected to the spine being the hindbrain and then the thick root of the brainstem.
"It's also why humans die when you snap their necks, since the brainstem is there. Break that connection and the human body cannot function. Of course you're quite little, Kanao. I don't think you can snap necks yet. So remember the veins, the eyes. Maybe when you're bigger you could do that."
Yes. Misaki had told her that as well. It was dangerous for a young girl like herself. Some people would try to harm her.
He then ripped out the throat of the body, pulling out a horse-shoe shaped bone from within with clinging bits of red hanging onto it. "The hyoid," he said brightly, handing it over to Kanao. "It's the only bone in the human body that isn't connected to the skeleton. Isn't that fascinating?"
Kanao nodded because it did sound interesting. When she gave the bone back, Otousan snapped it between his teeth like chopsticks.
The rest was the muscles in the arms, the legs. Muscles much like all others being red and thick with fibers. He even pulled them open to show her the arteries nestled inside, even if the blood was stagnant now and did nothing but ooze slowly like syrup.
Once done with that Otousan looked across the kitchen, eyeing the clock on the wall, "Hm, we actually still have quite a bit of time left before morning and we're all but done here anyway. It's only just after midnight. I have an acquaintance of mine working at the Yoshiwara district. Would you like to visit her, Kanao? You could tell her all you learned about the human body. She would also have many pretty fabrics, so you could wrap up Inosuke's gift! And I have to give her some of those boring books I picked up. What do you say? Or would you rather go home?"
Kanao thought about that for a long moment. She was rather tired but not yet exhausted. She was more accustomed with staying up long in the night. And if Otousan's acquaintance had pretty ribbons for her to wrap up Inosuke's present then she would be pleased. So after a moment she told him she would like to visit the friend.
Douma laughed brightly, "Oh wonderful! Daki will adore you, I just know it! Now how about you grab Inosuke's present while I clean up this mess eh? No good to ruin the floors."
She nodded, hopping off the stool as Otousan grabbed the limp body. She saw him press it against his chest like the facsimile of a hug while the blood upon the floor seemed to slither towards him to seep through his skin, before she turned and took the stool back to the living room and then placing it back at the table.
The gramophone was silent and after a moment Kanao turned the handle until the soft music began again. She would like to have such a device. She could ask Otousan when her birthday happened for such a thing for her to have and listen to music.
When she went back to the kitchen, Kanao checked the bag and pulled free the tusked skull. It was just as it was in the shop and she was pleased the lady had not damaged it as she turned it back and forth. Now the lady was dead and Kanao felt nothing. Instead she was pleased as she put the skull back and then hugged the bag to her chest, cradling it in her arms.
By then Douma had gotten to his feet and all evidence of the biology lesson was gone. The floor was clean, with not a drop of blood behind. It was if the woman had never existed. Kanao found it curious, how his skin had seemed to absorb the blood so quickly. It must be like his frost powers, Kanao decided.
Otousan smiled at her, approaching her on silent footsteps.
"Did you like the lesson?" he asked her, rainbow eyes gleaming.
Kanao nodded. It was very informative.
Still smiling he reached out and took one of her wrists, inspecting her hand carefully as he turned it back and forth. Kanao blinked slowly, letting him look over her hand. Then he checked her pulse before brushing a thumb over her temple.
"Ah, not a single shake or drop of sweat. You're such a smart, wonderful girl. What a load of hogwash that woman was saying," Douma said, taking Kanao's face in his hands. "Why would I want to change anything about you? You're the most perfect daughter anyone could ask for, Kanao."
He then leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss upon her forehead, lips cold against her skin and leaving behind the slightest hint of red.
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