#(Companionship is a luxury many only dream of. Thread)

[fangsofdestruction]

Soon, a small group of individuals were brushing through the fur of a giant Demon Dog. This used to be the sole responsibility of the Jaken line, but when the children were introduced into the mix, insisting on brushing through his fur, it was a task that ended up delegated to the children. A true shame, because it was a task the Jaken line could gloat over- being given the sole right to such a task showing how much Sesshomaru trusted them.

In reality, Sesshomaru was willing to let a number of people brush through his fur. He was confident that no one could cause him severe harm without losing their life in the process, so it didn’t faze him to care. He’d grown up with servants grooming his fur, so he was somewhat desensitized to the idea that only those you were close to could brush through your fur- and it seemed Mukuro was similar. She allowed the kids she’d just met to brush her tails after all.

Steadily, they were working through patches of fur when one of the children remembers something. “Jii-chan! Nee-san said she’ll be joining us!” The youngest one, Kazehime, blurts out excitedly. Sesshomaru lifts his head to glance at Mukuro as if asking for confirmation that she did say something of the sort. The nuance was different, considering she said she’d like to join the Gumi if she could. That was slightly different from saying that she is joining definitively.

The body language of the large canine remained relaxed and unbothered. It didn’t seem like he was put off by the idea that Mukuro would consider joining them. What Hebisuke said about him not caring to allow someone who tried to kill him to join the ranks rang true. A demon who could ‘will’ injuries to close and stop bleeding didn’t care for ‘minor trifles’.

What only a few understood, was that the reason for treating Mukuro well even if an imprisoned captive (while investigations took place), was that Sesshomaru was willing to allow her to join their ranks and be around other Demons. He could tell that she didn’t have much experience being around other Demons, because if she had, her assassination attempt would’ve gone much differently. He felt a sense of responsibility to allow her time to get used to other Demons and perhaps decide for herself is she wanted to remain among humans- or learn to mingle with her own kind.

It was a choice that Inuyasha should’ve had, and yet, wasn’t given the choice. He was forced into one.

Watching the children seemingly puff up with pride when Mukuro said that she found them delightful caused a soft chuckle to leave her throat。 Mukuro always thought of herself to be rather good with children and maybe it was some sort of material instinct within her, but she did always like spending time with children。 There were honestly times when she considered taking up babysitting or some type of child caretaking side job, but with her main career choice as dangerous as it is, she didn't want to risk children getting in the mix。

Mukuro let out a little hum as she nodded when he mentioned that brushing one's tail, or fur, was typically reserved for families or those with close bonds in general。 She recalled Hebisuke telling her such when they first interacted, she could see why of course, this was something that seemed like a rather intimate gesture。

There was a soft smile on Mukuro's lips as she watched the kids eagerly sit on Sesshomaru's lap in preparation to brush him and watch the demon patriarch morph into his true form for them to brush was a charming scene to watch。

「Oh--」 When the brush was held out to her, Mukuro quickly looked between the brush and Sesshomaru, but since he didn't say anything nor move in any way, Mukuro felt it was safe to assume he'd allow her to brush him。 For a moment she considered declining because brushing a full-on adult as opposed to children felt different, especially since this action was meant for family or loved ones, but maybe it was in her best interest to agree to fully show that she was still not set on harming him。 

「Thank you,」 The smile returned to Mukuro's lips as she grabbed the brush held out to her and took a spot next to one of the children as she began to brush him。

[fangsofdestruction]

Ken wasn’t an immediate suspicious character, but he may still be a character of interest to pay attention to. “Don’t forget, in this company is a mix of humans and non-human workers. Someone has infiltrated this place, an exorcist who intends to kill the non-humans,” there was a reason why Popo specifically chose to remind Mukuro of this fact. Interesting how Ken, as average as he was, was so well-liked across the board within the company full of humans and non-humans masquerading themselves as human. What reason was there for him to be so popular? “It’d be a good idea to start keeping a mental tab of who you think is a human and who isn’t.”

Though the topic of finding a diary or a journal, that was a very good idea, and Popo’s tail wiggles in delight, “Good idea. That should give you a hint. Tracking down any of her habits should give you some clues. If you want, I can go ahead and find a diary and set it aside for you.” It wasn’t something it would be disallowed to do, because Mukuro would be able to find the diary on her own later anyways. Expediting the process wasn’t an issue. Popo could easily return before the work day was over, so when Mukuro finally got off work, she can look through the diary without wasting her time in searching for it.

“At the end of the working day, or if an issue arises where your attention is needed, you may be prompted to make a choice, like deciding to overtime or choosing to help someone with their work. It’s up to your best judgement to decide. The results of your choice aren’t always immediate, but they do amount to something,” Popo explains. How easy would it be if your choice had immediate effects? Then you’d know to take every question seriously. Hard mode of course couldn’t make it too easy, so it threw in miscellaneous prompts as well, where nothing will proc unless you manage to trigger a set number of instances.

Mukuro frowned at that, damn, she thought。 She wasn't too surprised, truth be told she kind of expected it in a way given that the difficulty of the game she had been whisked away into was。  Mukuro also wasn't sure if the original host would record her calls, seeing as that wasn't something a normal person would do, but she'd still take a look just in case。 It's better to be safe than sorry, after all。

As she searched through the backlog of emails and messages, Mukuro could feel the frown on her face deepen。 Nothing really seemed out of place in the texts or emails, even the call logs didn't raise any flags for her。 She was about to let out a sigh and stop searching through the messages when Popo flew behind her head and gave her a word of advice。

With that nudge, Mukuro would go through the messages again, and this time with a more careful eye。 It became aware to her that after the news of the host character's mother passing answers to messages were shorter and more curt than how they read prior it was easy to assume that the change in responses was due to grief。 Maybe having played or some prior knowledge of this game could have helped Mukuro out more here, but going off what she's being given made it a bit more challenging and a bit more fun。

So Mukuro would note when the sudden change in texting tone happened and cross-check that with maybe a diary or journal that the host character wrote in daily or weekly? 

When Popo returned, Mukuro waited for him to give her what he had found before divulging what she had found out。 Mukuro gave a few small nods as Popo reported to her, maybe Mukuro was a bit bummed that something she had thought could be something of a lead turned out to not be something but。。。 that also meant that Ken wasn't a suspicious character。

「Hmn, alright, good to know then。 As for what I found, it seems that after being given the news of her mother's passing, the texting tone of the host changed from being polite to being a bit more short and blunt。 It could be due to having lost a loved one but。。。 I think I'm going to keep in mind the date and see if the host keeps a diary or journal somewhere and maybe looking through that would help paint a clearer picture。」

[fangsofdestruction]

Such was the irony in Demons living such long lives, the children were incredibly impatient and even a few seconds up to a minute still counted as ‘soon.’ The impatience was especially true for Kazehime, given that she’s able to travel as quickly as the wind blows.

The children seemed to ‘puff’ with pride at Mukuro’s comment about them being delightful. Sesshomaru could relax upon seeing that she genuinely found their company enjoyable. The Demons who would tolerate being around children didn’t number high on average- but they did make up the majority for anyone within the Gumi. That was mostly personal preference, of course, because Sesshomaru was very tolerant towards children.

They reminded him of his young ward, Rin, and a couple of descendants that came out of the union between his half-brother and his wife, Kagome.

Though initially shocked to hear that Mukuro allowed the children to brush through her tails, he did remember that she spent most of her time around humans. She likely didn’t know just how intimate an act that was because it was a display of affectionate skinship. He allowed the children the right because they were young and he was fostering a guardian-ward bond with them. Jaken was his subordinate, so allowing  such favors was warranted.

       ���Your tolerance for their request is appreciated. That is usually reserved for family or loved ones.❞

Soon, the children flocked to his side, the two girls opting to sit on his lap waving their brushes around excitedly. They were begging to brush through his fur. Tolerant and generous, he morphed into his true form and allowed them to brush.

“Do you want a brush too?” Tama asks Mukuro, holding out an extra brush. Considering the fact Sesshomaru didn’t budge, it was like he was giving her permission that he’d allow it. It truly spoke to how confident he was that nothing could harm him in the middle of this Demon mansion.  

「Oh?」 Hearing that he'd be coming by soon was a bit of a surprise to Mukuro, not noticing just how much time had passed since she'd been out here with the children and how he must appear here like clockwork since ' soon ' meant, " right now " as her gaze redirected to Sesshomaru when he walked into the courtyard。 It was also then she noticed that a lot more eyes were on her than she had realized, since upon Sesshomaru's appearance that familiar feeling of eyes on her dispersed。

She gave her own little nod in greeting as he approached and sat on a nearby large rock。

「Not at all, they've been quite the opposite actually, they're quite delightful。」 There was a genuine smile on Mukuro's lips as she spoke and shook her head slightly, 「I've had a delightful time hanging out with them~」

Mukuro gave a small nod when he took note of the fact that the children asked to be brushed, 「they were quite interested in brushing out my tails, so I was more than happy to also brush them in return。」 Mukuro had been prepared to be asked to brush them when she was first introduced to the children。

[fangsofdestruction]

“Unfortunately, if this were an easier game mode, you’d be able to unlock audio files. In hard mode, you won’t have access to these files on the premise that the original host wouldn’t have recorded the calls herself.” Perhaps it was rooted in realism, but it was really that it would make things a bit too convenient and easy for players, so ‘hard-mode’ removed that feature.

As Mukuro would search through past messages and emails, she’d see that there were no received emails informing the original host about their mother’s passing. Even if Mukuro were to look through call logs, there didn’t seem to be anything of note. The only calls the host received were from people at work, or the landlord. The only thing that could be seen was that at some point, the host had texted people at work about what had happened.

“Sure, I can look into him for you. Give me a few,” the feline flies behind Mukuro’s head to steal a glance at the phone, “Compare messages before and after the mother’s death.” That was all it said before it flew off to gather information.

If Mukuro were to look at past messages, she may notice something. The writing style changed after the news of the passing of the host’s mother. She was always polite and she wrote her responses conscientiously, but after the news, her responses became short and dry. Everyone surmised it was the effects of the news, but was that really the case?

Popo returned after about 10 minutes, “Did you find out anything? I got some basic information on Ken. His full name is Ken Suzuki. He’s generally well liked across the company, though he’s a bit daft. He’s friendly to everyone, is hard working, and is known to be very accepting of others.”

“He went to an average college, so he’s also a competent worker. The host often saw him on the subway, so they would occasionally chat in the mornings. He’s on friendly terms with most of the people in the company.” The guy sounded as normal as can be, in other words.

Mukuro hums as she listens to Popo and the more that Mukuro thinks about what to ask for, the more she doesn't know what exactly she is on the search for。 She had no idea how this character's mother was killed, what state the body was in, etc。 and she felt like knowing that information was rather crucial to know what to look for in a culprit。

When Popo would bring up that Ken could just be one of those types of people with no tact, Mukuro hummed again, it certainly was a possibility。 But it probably wouldn't hurt to get a bit of information on him just in case。

Then when Popo mentioned looking through past messages, Mukuro's mouth hung open slightly, how could she have forgotten to do something like that? She had searched for news articles but didn't think to look through personal messages to see how the notification of their mother's passing was delivered to the character Mukuro is currently inhabiting。 Pulling out her phone, Mukuro would unlock it and go through past messages and emails that seemed like they could hold any importance。

「Is there a way to listen to past phone calls? Or would this be something I have to find like how some game use audio files as a sort of collectable item? As for Ken。。​​​​​​​。​​​​​​​ maybe just having some standard background info on him wouldn't hurt。 」