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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 18: Birthday boy
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Inosuke was thrilled with his present.
He ripped off the silk so fast it flew up to the ceiling, the ribbon fluttering in the air like a butterfly before it landed on the tatami mat, before holding the skull aloft with an excited shriek.
"A pig head!"
"A babirusa pig," Kanao explained. "Their tusks can grow so long they puncture their brains."
"Cool!"
After the trip to Tokyo Kanao had slept until noon. Inosuke had been kept from bursting into her rooms by Misaki, who had spent most of the morning entertaining the excitable newly-turned seven year old. Now it was in the thick of the evening when she finally clambered out of the warmth of her bed, the trip taking quite a lot of energy out of her.
Kanao knew Inosuke would be extremely interested in learning about the Slayer and her fight with their father, but she knew such a thing was a secret so Kanao would have to wait to tell her little brother about it. And Kanao still felt uneasy over the fight and how Douma had gotten injured. Limbs sliced off, great rents drawing blood, impaled by a shining pink blade.
She also didn't know why she had been surprised to see her father bleed bright red. For some reason she thought his blood might be a different colour. Maybe pale blue, like his nails and ice magic. Or maybe his veins would be filled with snow.
Once she woke, she bathed and changed into a kimono of pale blue silk patterned with delicate purple lotus blossoms. By the late afternoon the hem was torn and sleeves dirtied from playing with Inosuke. Life at Paradise Faith was not much changed for birthdays, especially since Otousan never celebrated his own, and they tended to be more private affairs among family. The evening dinner was held in Douma's temple, a side room from one of the main chambers that had its own indoor pool and towering Buddha statue watching over all. Some of the older commune members were in the main chambers eating supper but the smaller room was solely for Inosuke's appetite.
Misaki was there, with one of the gleaming tortoiseshell hairpins Daki had given Kanao stabbed through one of her customary buns. The tear-drop emeralds sparkled as Misaki moved, cleaning aside a stain on the table with a damp cloth. Kanao had only wanted to keep her lotus kanzashi, though she had needed Douma's help to undo the elaborate style Daki had twisted her hair into before she'd gone to sleep. The other hairpins she kept in her room, liking how colourful they were. She hung some of them above the small engawa outside her room on pieces of twine like windchimes.
Inosuke ended up wearing the upper skull on his head like a hat, the molars resting against his brow and curve of the upper jaw digging along his temples. The lower jaw hung against his sternum like a necklace. The ribbon had been cut in two, to secure the upper and lower jaw together, letting the skull loll open.
In the room there was food absolutely everywhere; big bowls of steaming sukiyaki filled with fatty beef and noodles, pieces of fresh fish and chicken fried until crispy, heaping piles of battered tempura, any and every type of sushi sliced neatly and accompanied by tiny saucers of soy sauce, skewers of grilled eel basted in sweet sauce, a plate piled high with a colourful pyramid of dango of pink green and white, sushi rice stirred thickly with fresh shrimp, bowls of miso soup, several bowls of kimosui with the pale eel guts floating peacefully in the clear soup, kashiwa-mochi with the small sweet rice cakes wrapped up in oak leaves, a dozen bowls of udon from fried tofu and beef to pork and chicken, chilled soba on a bamboo tray, thick rice porridge stirred with several different herbs, fired battered balls filled with diced squid, long grilled pieces of corn covered in a soy sauce glaze and sugar, and five skewers of fried whole eel heads sweetened with unagi sauce.
Inosuke seemed immensely determined to eat from every single dish. Kanao and Douma kept giving him food the moment he swallowed down his current mouthful, with the boy sometimes eating things right from their hands like a starving hound. They got bitten fairly often when giving Inosuke food but neither Douma nor Kanao cared. At the moment he was stuffing the eel heads into his mouth, struggling to chew with sauce dripping down his chin and staining his hands. He was also sitting on top of the low table in front of them, completely ignoring decorum as he seemed determined to eat his own weight in food.
Not that he cared much in the first place, despite the disapproving looks he would get from others in the commune. Especially Kenji who would always scold them when Douma wasn't around. Kanao didn't understand why the bald man even tried anymore, after years of them ignoring him.
There had been an incident earlier that day where Inosuke bit another one of the children who made the mistake of getting near his food, so hard he drew blood on her forearm and the mother couldn't yank him off from where Inosuke was hanging on like a rabid wolf. Otousan just grabbed Inosuke by the scruff of the neck like a disobedient puppy, letting him thrash and growl while Douma healed the girl with his spare hand. It didn't endear the other children to Inosuke any better but he did not care and neither did Kanao.
Rojin at one point wandered over to wish Inosuke happy birthday in his usual distracted way. He seemed oblivious to the stains on the front of his kimono or how the tips of his long hair dipped into a bowl of ramen as he leaned over to pat Inosuke on the head. He was quick enough to avoid being bit by Inosuke, even if he tripped over his own feet and fell over with a thud when he jerked backwards.
Misaki meanwhile had given Inosuke a book about mythos; not uncommon in the Paradise Faith commune but these were all about legendary battles and fights and death which appeased Inosuke greatly. She had also helped in a large portion of the food preparation so Kanao understood it was also her gift.
"Though you really should slow down," Misaki said from where she was seated further down the table, a small plate of sushi before her. "We don't want you to choke."
"He eats almost like a duck, not really chewing," Douma observed, chin propped in a hand.
Misaki laughed. She had gotten very inured to Douma's presence as the years passed, Kanao noted. Kanao took another bite from from her stick of dango, before giving the rest to Inosuke when he tugged on her sleeve. He nonchalantly spat out the bitten stick when done, and Kanao put it on one of the empty plates. She then took one of the squid balls, munching on it like an apple as Inosuke began to messily eat one of the ramen bowls and getting broth all over the table. Whenever Inosuke would pause to drink or swallow, Kanao or Douma would use one of the rags to quickly scrub his face and chest clean of sauce though it would near instantly become dirty again. His messy hands would have to wait.
There was also sauce staining the lower jaw of the skull which was resting on his sternum. Even some wayward noodles from the ramen.
"At this point if you fall over you would split open enough food to feed a hungry family for a month," Otousan said in amusement as Inosuke finished off one of the bowls of meaty sukiyaki, poking Inosuke in the stomach. It was quite pudgy now.
"No family is getting my food," Inosuke bared his little teeth, a gap at the front. "It's mine, mine mine mine! I mean, you can have some Oneechan but just you. Anyway you don't eat this kind of food, Dad. Wait, do you celebrate your birthday? We should so I can get more food. Food for me. You probably have loads and loads we gotta catch up on."
"I don't really worry about my age at this point."
"Nuh-huh! I bet you're sooooo old we should start calling you Ojiisan."
"How rude. Where are your manners?" Douma scolded, though the effect was ruined by his fang-filled smile.
Inosuke just scrunched up his little nose while continuing to chant 'Ojiisan' at him. Then Douma's hand clamped over his face, so large it covered it, and shoved Inosuke down onto the tatami mat. He flailed, growing behind the hand keeping him pinned with all the ferocity of an angry wolverine, the skull banging on the ground as he squirmed.
Kanao took advantage of Inosuke being pinned to start tickling his sides. He shrieked, clawing at her hands and tugging at Douma's wrist but was pinned and unable to squirm free.
"Alright better stop before you throw up," Douma said, letting Inosuke jump back up who hissed at him.
"If I throw up I'll just eat it again," Inosuke declared despite his flushed face.
"Well now I don't have a lot of rules for you two but I think I'll draw the line at having you eat vomit," Douma said sternly, wagging a finger in Inosuke's face. He bit it, tugging at the appendage like an angry dog while growling.
Otousan raised his arm, Inosuke dangling off the ground and still with his teeth sunk into Douma's hand. After a moment Kanao reached out and grabbed Inosuke's sides and yanking her little brother off their father, Inosuke flopping back onto her lap. The babirusa skull clunked against her chest, the upper tusks digging into her chin as Inosuke squirmed. She stopped his squalling by stuffing one of the squid balls into his mouth.
"One last dish for the hungry little pig," Douma said cheerfully. He easily battered aside a quick little fist that tried to smack him in the gut as he gestured to Misaki, who rose and quickly left the room.
"Oh yeah?!" Inosuke was bouncing in Kanao's lap, only her grip around his waist keeping him from squirming free, "What is it, Dad? A whole roasted horse? I could eat that! I totally would!"
"No, not a horse."
"Aw."
"Next birthday, then."
"Yay!"
Douma rose and went about shooing any lingering members away, partially closing the shoji door to their room as he went to speak briefly to Kenji and another older member of the commune. He was still talking when Misaki returned, face flushed as she carefully maneuvered in a plate weighed down heavily with a massive tuna head which was nearly as large as Inosuke.
He instantly started scrabbling to be free, Kanao holding onto him with a vice grip, "Fish fish fish! It's so big, did you kill it?"
Misaki let out a wheezing laugh, managing to heft the great cooked fish head onto the table where it lay steaming. Its eyes were nearly as big as Kanao's fist, glossy and half sliding from its skull. Misaki wasted no time in dissembling the head, using a duo of long sharp knives to split the grilled skin to rapidly expose the meat.
"No, I didn't hunt it myself. But its nice and fresh," Misaki said with a smile as she hacked down the tuna's cheek. "I've slow roasted it for four hours so it'll be juicy and tender for you, Inosuke-kun."
Diligently and quickly Misaki cut down the head until it was a thick steaming pile of meat and bone on the plate, glistening and wet.
Kanao released Inosuke; instantly he clambered up onto the table and Misaki had to swiftly yank her knives back as Inosuke all but climbed onto the dish to start stuffing the meat into his mouth like a starving wild cat.
"Inosuke-kun! Stop being such a savage little beast!" Misaki exclaimed, though she seemed torn between horror and hilarity.
"Oh he's fine," Otousan said, as he re-entered the room. "I suppose that's the best way to eat an entire tuna head. Like bears do."
"You'd think he hadn't eaten for a week. He's been absolutely wild all day, Douma-sama," Misaki said, tucking the knives away.
"He's never had a whole tuna head before, so he must be so excited with your wonderful gift," Douma gave her a bright smile.
Misaki no longer giggled and blushed over his compliments, and the smile she gave back to him was genuine. As to when she patted Inosuke- ignoring the muffled growl he gave -and then gave Kanao a hug. She smelled of lilies.
"I'll clean up and then leave you to it," Misaki said as she started stacking one of the empty plates. "I'm sure you want to tell your brother all about your trip to Tokyo, ne?"
An incoherent mumble from Inosuke, which just made a lot of tuna spray out of his mouth while Kanao nodded. When Misaki left Inosuke was still doggedly eating the tuna, chewing away at one of the eyes while Kanao was sipping from a small bowl of miso soup. As usual Douma would have nothing beyond sake. Kanao still was unsure why he liked it.
Once Misaki carefully navigated her way from the room with her arms laden with dishes and slid the shoji door shut, Kanao told Inosuke about their trip to Tokyo, making sure to link her pinky through his so he knew it was a secret. It got fish oil all over her hand but she didn't mind. Inosuke was good at eating and listening when he wanted, Kanao knew. But he would only listen if he found it interesting and he found all of their trip very interesting, from wandering the streets to slicing up the lady to get his present. She recounted meeting the two siblings, Daki and Gyutaro. She tried to describe the duo as best as she could. What they looked like, sounded like. How they were like Otousan but not quite.
As she believed, Inosuke was interested in Gyutaro's toothy smile.
"So Genzaburou had really sharp teeth?"
"Yes, like a shark. His sister had teeth like Father."
"I want teeth like that! I wanna breathe fire, too. I can bite really hard now but I wanna eat stuff like-" Inosuke started to display his biting skills on the jawbone of the tuna. Most of the meat had already been nibbled from it.
"Daki certainly seemed to have taken a shine to you, Kanao," Douma said cheerfully. "Playing dress up and the like. Even did your hair and make up, such an adorable little doll. Usually she just yells and throws things at the little girls in her house."
Kanao nodded, ponytail bobbing. Daki did get mad, a lot madder than her brother, but she did not throw anything.
Inosuke brandished a fistful of tuna at them; Kanao accepted it but Douma shooed Inosuke's little fist away.
"I can't eat your food, you know that," Otousan said.
"Aw. But you said you can eat animals once," Inosuke said around a mouthful of tuna.
"Only if the meat is raw," he corrected. "I can't eat it cooked and its not particularly filling. And if I eat anything else it just sits in my stomach until I throw it up, which is quite unpleasant."
"What if you cooked a person into a pie? Could you eat that?" Inosuke asked.
"Can't say I have, but that would ruin the meat."
Inosuke looked down at the plate of tuna he was nearly sitting within, before grabbing a chunk of the grilled skin, "So...You can't roast someone and then eat 'em?"
"I prefer fresh. Human goes off really fast," Douma said with a shrug. "Like that rabbit you found in the field that one time that you decided to sneak back here in a basket? How it was all stiff and smelly. Humans get like that very fast."
"Then there was a lady at the lake that tried to kill Otousan," Kanao said.
"Oooh, really?!" Inosuke immediately started bouncing up and down on the table, mouth full of partially chewed fish skin. He had managed to eat a surprising amount, considering his earlier eating.
"She had a sword and butterflies in her hair," Kanao continued.
"A sword? Like a samurai? Hey Dad did she hack you up with it? Did she cut off your head? Did you die?!"
"Yes! But not really."
Kanao sat peacefully, taking sips from the bowl of miso soup that kept her hands warm. Douma was a much better storyteller than herself, easily satisfying Inosuke's rampant curiosity. Kanao also did not find the fight as entertaining as Otousan did, as she had been more worried about him than anything. But Douma did not have the same unease, making elaborate gestures as he described the fight in great detail and flourishes about getting his arm cut off or the movements of the butterfly woman. Or how he had names for all the pretty ice magic techniques he used, which excited Inosuke so much he started demanding their father show him right then and there.
"Oh not inside, the frost would start killing your lungs in such a confined area. Like frostbite."
"Nuh uh, I'm way tougher than that lady! I could handle it!" he flailed around with a piece of tuna, sending meat splattering around the table.
"Oh can you?"
Quick as a snake Otousan seized one of Inosuke's wrists, easily yanking the boy off the table and onto his lap.
"Hm, seems I've caught myself a piglet," Douma said in jovial tones, easily keeping Inosuke pinned in his grasp despite his squirming and giggling. "Oink oink."
Kanao finished off her soup, amused as Otousan kept Inosuke held tight against his chest. After enough thrashing Inosuke went limp besides a few determined kicks of his feet.
"Will you take me next time you fight a sword lady?" Inosuke asked, blinking up at Douma. The pig skull was lopsided on his head, dark hair tangled against the pale bone.
"I don't see why not," Douma shrugged. "But I can't really anticipate when they'll attack me. Especially the lady ones, they're quite rare unfortunately."
"Aww why? Oneechan is tough and she's a lady."
"She is, isn't she?" Kanao blinked as Douma patted her head. "You were such a good girl when that Hashira attacked me, weren't you? You made sure not to get in the way, and when she tried to die in the sun you stopped her! Such a wonderful daughter."
The conversation dissolved into Douma chattering about various fights he had gotten into while Inosuke listened with rapt attention. Kanao was unsure if she minded the topic. Otousan could heal very quickly but she still did not like the idea of him being hurt. But it seemed it happened relatively often? Kanao did not like that even if he could defend himself.
Eventually however Inosuke began to yawn, despite his determination to listen to their father's tales. It was when Inosuke started dozing, jerking back into alertness with angry snorts, that Douma insisted he go to bed.
"I ain't tired," Inosuke protested as he was lifted up in Otousan's arms with Kanao by his side.
"You'd had quite a long day," Douma said. "And eaten your own weight in food, so it's time to sleep it off."
"I can eat more," he grumbled.
"I'll have Misaki keep the rest of the fish for you for tomorrow. How about that?"
Appeased, Inosuke stopped his squirming. As they passed one of the indoor gardens, Kanao could hear the steady thrum of rain beyond. Otousan dropped them off at one of the bathing rooms, Kanao assuring him she could scrub off Inosuke. He kissed them both on the forehead before vanishing.
Scrubbing down Inosuke was always a challenge but he was covered in so much grease and sauce she had to scrub his skin pink in the soapy water. He protested and yelped but Kanao ignored it. He also bit her several times but they weren't hard enough to draw blood. She also scrubbed the pig skull clean, picking some wayward noodles from the tusks. Once done, Kanao left their dirty clothes in the basket knowing it would be picked up in the morning and then spent several minutes fighting with Inosuke to get him into his sleeping nemaki. As usual he shoved down the sleeves until it was at his waist but Kanao accepted it easily enough.
She half carried half lead a sleepy Inosuke back to his room, easily navigating through the dark. Inside Inosuke's room she carefully put the babirusa skull with his other collection of bones, the ribbon still tangled around the jawbones. A small lantern lit the room in low glowing golden light.
"Next time Dad's gotta take me when he fights some crazy ninja lady," Inosuke said, grabbing the book Misaki had given him from an alcove.
"She wasn't a ninja but she did have a sword. She said she was a Slayer."
"I want a sword," Inosuke said as Kanao settled down next to him in the nest of blankets. He always preferred heaping piles over a neat blanket of his futon. "No wait, I want two swords 'cause I'm twice as awesome. I could totally have two."
"You'll need to ask Father."
"I'll be super strong, Oneechan. We'll both be super strong. Just like Dad."
"Yes, we will," Kanao agreed. She did not like how helpless she felt when that woman was hurting Otousan. Being strong would be good.
"Oooh, read this story here," Inosuke chattered happily as he shoved the book against Kanao. "Tsunnamomo, a moon god! Maybe Dad is sorta one 'cause he hates the sun."
"He's an oni."
"Read it, read it!"
Kanao obediently set the book on her lap as Inosuke snuggled against her side, small and warm with his unruly hair tickling the underside of her jaw. She began to read, tone calm and flat as she spoke, "Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto was the god of the moon who was once married to Amaterasu Ōmikami, the goddess of the sun. He was very proud and violent. One day he was invited to a feast by the goddess of food, Ukemochi. But he saw how she prepared the meal by spitting out the fish and rice and game, while pulling other foods from her orifices like her nostrils. Tsukuyomi was so disgusted to witness such a thing that he killed her..."
Inosuke fell asleep like that, tucked against her as she recounted the mythos of the creation of day and night.
Notes:
But yea, if you guessed Inosuke was gonna start wearing animals skulls instead of his customary mask in this au then you're right 💀
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