#(Mukuro01)

[fangsofdestruction]

It certainly wouldn’t be easy at first, but at the same time, it may be easier than anticipated. Though one couldn’t say that humans and Demons didn’t share any common grounds with one another, it was true to say that there were aspects that humans couldn’t would struggle to understand.

For instance, you could be enemies one moment, and then within a month, be sworn brothers who vow to fight alongside each other battling through fire and ash together. Strength was tantamount to justice for many Demons, so it wasn’t unheard of for a Demon to swear fealty to the victor in battle. There was pride in serving a Demon of high caliber worthy of their servitude. Jaken’s line was a prime example of such, as the line of Imps have served their Lord Sesshomaru for centuries.

More than likely, all it would amount to is having to put up with scrutinizing stares for a short while before the rest of the Gumi come to accept Mukuro’s presence. Knowing this, Hebisuke stayed silent to hear her answer. He was a bit surprised to hear that she was receptive to the idea, considering she’d lived this long mingling among humans, so he’d half-expected that she did so because she preferred their company over that of Demons.

“It may take getting used to, but everyone warms up to people quicker than other Demons would. The Kumicho does prefer fostering an open environment.” No doubt because of his half-brother being a hanyo, and his sister-in-law being a Miko. Sesshomaru himself had once taken in a human child under his wing, so he didn’t have the attitude of discriminating against others based on species- just attitude and aptitude. “You weren’t the first who tried something against our Kumicho. You could ask Sai for those details.” Hebisuke was trying to help assuage her of any nervousness she may have due to the fact she’d been tasked to assassinate Sesshomaru before.

The girls didn’t know what Hebisuke was talking about, and Tama wiggles her tail a little bit in Mukuro’s hand. It was a behavioral quirk of hers for when she was annoyed: keeping secrets isn’t fun! Let them in on the secret too! “Are you done brushing? Maybe we can brush Jii-chan later!” Kazehime giggles.

Mukuro wore a genuine smile on her lips when the two younger yokai children were clearly excited when Mukuro saw them all as friends。 Since Mukuro really couldn't agree with or deny Tama's claim as to Tanukis being the best friend to have, Mukuro would just smile and nod, giving a little laugh as she did so。 

The Kitsune's attention would switch from one child to the next as the topic changed to humans having a fascinating imagination and those skills leading to the creation of Gods。 Mukuro's head would tilt slightly when she learned the method of how one of the children's parents was born, it sounded familiar to her, something she either read about in the texts she was provided here or during her typical late-night information deep-dives on the internet。 Since her knowledge before now was just limited to what human word-of-mouth was, and who could say how accurate that was, Mukuro was still relatively new to all of this but。。。 she was learning。

Mukuro was thankful for Hebisuke stepping in after Hime's small onslaught of questions, the moment did give her time to think through the questions a little more rather than having to answer on the spot。

「I'd love to visit more if I could,」 joining them。。。 would be an interesting route, on one hand, it would give Mukuro the chance to be around her kind more and that could be rather beneficial for her and she'd finally have a feeling of finally belonging somewhere。 But on the other hand, with the kind of first impression she gave here, there was the chance that a lot of people here could disapprove of the idea of Mukuro joining。 It's definitely something to see if she was given the option to。 「Joining。。。I think I'd like that。」

[animuras]

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.”

The man saying those words is dressed in a black coat maybe a size or two too large, a pair of leather gloves, and a blood red cravat at his neck. He’s grown quite fond of toying with whatever expectations this ensemble gives people, and if it’s not broken, no need to fix it. There’s enough that is broken to deal with. Like the windows and televisions in Golden Ward.

He’s not in Golden ward himself, and the TV he’s watching in this cafe, set to a low volume and with subtitles streaming below the newswoman’s face - is working fine.

It’s a cafe in Archimedes ward, decor torn between trying to evoke the same vaguely mediterranean feel of the surrounding area and the basic utilities of a modern cafe - a few small tables and chairs, trash cans, and the TV in the corner currently showing the news of some weird cat creature and his totally derivative little game.

“Those balloon things don’t even explode they just… move around? That’s both lame and cheating.”

The coffee here is as stuck between styles as the rest of the place, deep and bitter - meant to be taken with sugar, though his cup has none - and served with the grains still at the bottom. But its served in the large utilitarian sizes and disposable material of a quick stop coffee shop. Neither one thing nor another. That fits the man sitting there, flitting his gaze between the news and his phone - temporarily switched from gacha grinding to this cities social media.

He lets out a noise somewhere between a sigh and a groan. “This thing is taking itself way too seriously. Really, what kind of lines are those. Tropes are fine, but show some awareness.” He huffs. “And whats the point of breaking all the windows before you even start. People are supposed to do it themselves in panic, otherwise its just fancy set dressing.” The man continues, talking to the creature on the other side of the TV who in no way can hear him. 

The owner of the cafe says nothing, didn’t even react to the new story on the TV. Maybe, as an NPC, he’s just programmed that way. All these months later and it still amuses him to be in a place where that is so literal, instead of just a very apt metaphor to describe most of Tokyo. Or maybe this is just the normal human reaction anyone who thought they’d lived in a place like this for years would have. To ignore death and suffering and cat monsters taking their university drama credit way too seriously.

Not that Furuta is complaining. He’d come to this shop specifically because the man behind the counter wastes no time with pleasantries - just hands you the order, gestures vaguely at where the cream and sugar sits, and goes back to whatever else he’s doing. No smile, no conversation, no recognition the next time you come in, sit next to the window, and down a giant cup, not even bothering to filter out the grounds with your teeth.

“Catculator,” he mutters. “Really.” He takes a deep drink from his cup and then looks inside to see whats left - not much, maybe a few swigs, grounds included. He places the cup on the table, sliding it against the laminated surface drawing out the noise of it.

He’s not the only one whose come to this cafe today, of course, he’s simply been talking to the TV anyway. And most of them had done what most people do. Kept their heads down. Most of them.

Without any real warning, he leans his seat way back until it’s balancing precariously on only two legs, putting his head right over the table of the person behind him. He’s never met her before, but she’s been watching him so closely for the last few minutes, it’s almost like they’re old pals by now.

He looks at her upside down, and smiles. Ah, maybe from her point of view, it’s a frown. Well. Everything’s relative. “I know my hair is beautiful, but don’t just stare at the back of my head like that, I’m dyyyiing to know what you think of all this.”

>>> @mukuroultimate​

[balderdashsyndrome]

@nigrahaya 

“My oh my. Feel free to prove me wrong, but you seem like you might actually be able to help me kill time until I’m rid of these things.”

[fangsofdestruction]

The cat perched itself on top of a chair and starts licking its paw, thinking about her question. “You’re new.” Popo makes an obvious observation. “I was hoping it was a simple mistake in the system and hosts were exchanged, but that’s not the case, huh?” The cat continued licking its paw, tail swishing from side to side in aggravation. The system truly messed up big time. Too bad nothing could be done, it already tried sending Mukuro back many times already.

Flapping its wings, Popo lands right in front of her and waves its paw at her. “I’ll start off with- you were transported into this realm to play a game. Unfortunately, a mistake happened in the system and you took the place of the original player. Normally your life wouldn’t be in peril when playing the game in easy mode, but the original player was an experienced player.” Which was to say that if things didn’t go well, she may lose her life. Now that a very barebones explanation was done, Popo had to address the more important things.

“Alright Mukuro, I’ll ask the questions to establish a baseline. In your world, does magic exist? What is the average lifespan of your species? Do you have any special abilities? If so, what are they? Did you belong to nobility or does that not exist in your world? What was your occupation in your world? Describe the level of technology your world had to offer?” Popo looked around the room and flew over to a desk and pointed to a computer and a wall clock on the other side of the room. Popo was asking if she found these objects familiar or not.

It was imperative to know whether the technology of her world was up to par with what existed in this world. If it wasn’t, it may take Mukuro longer to adapt to this world. “Oh- also, when you say [Main Menu], what do you see?”

When she does, what appears to be a screen will appear before her eyes. She’ll see what looks to be a status page of a character, but all of the text is jumbled and impossible to make out. All she’d be able to see is what her character looked like, and it looked different from her actual appearance.

As in anticipating a question regarding this, “IF you see a status page, the character you see there is how you’ll appear to others, but when you see yourself in a reflection, you’ll only see how you originally looked. It’s a way to ensure players will feel connected to their new body.” It certainly wouldn’t do anyone any good if they couldn’t recognize themselves and be unable to play because of the body dysmorphia.  

Mukuro just minded her own business, having been standing in her home, looking at something on her phone when suddenly she was knocked out? Honestly, she didn't really know what had happened, that's what she had assumed until she heard a voice chatting to themself?

Again, hard to tell, but it was enough to rouse her to consciousness。

「--oud。。。 too loud,」 Mukuro comments and lifts a hand to her face, shielding her eyes as she began to slowly open them, letting her eyes slowly adjust to the lighting ( even if she assumed he was still in her home )。

There were a few things that Mukuro heard from the creature's frantic chattering about, but it was hard to keep up with whatever was being said given that she had just come to。

「Popo。。。?」 Mukuro blinks slowly, finally realizing what she was looking at, a cat? With wings? This had to be some weird dream right, they mentioned a game too, what game?

「I'm Mukuro,」 Mukuro introduces herself first, 「uh-- what else would you like to know?」 She never really knew where to go when someone would drop the ' tell me about yourself ' line。

[fangsofdestruction]

mcmcntomorii​:

「I’m Mukuro, Ito Mukuro,」 Mukuro introduces herself with a little smile, she was happy that she had someone else to converse with。 And she couldn’t really blame him for not reciprocating the ‘ nice to meet you ‘ she had given him, after all she’d be quite surprised if someone told her that they found it was nice to meet her。

Overall, Mukuro did feel a little foolish about how she didn’t know much about her fellow yokai and how that such a large community of them were almost within a stone’s throw of where she lived。 She had become too accustomed with living amongst humans not to mention she really didn’t keep in touch with any other yokai or demon or had any that were employers, or at least if she did, she had no clue。

Maybe living amongst humans had dulled her senses, she wasn’t too sure if that was possible but she wasn’t going to fully rule it out。

「I hope I didn’t interrupt your night。」

The snake boy blinks a few times before he motions for her to wait. He exits the inner courtyard, and within a few minutes, a soft rapping at the door sounds. “It’s easier to hear face to face than to mouth-read.” It wasn’t as though Mukuro was told that she couldn’t open the door for anyone who wished to visit, moreover she was given the okay to speak to others if they were open to conversation. Hebisuke was the one child who was given his own freedom to decide if he’d like to converse with Mukuro or not, and there was reason behind it.

Though he appeared a child, he was much older than he looked. Being part deity, the way he aged deviated from how normal living beings aged. It was purely based on the amount of divinity he housed within his body that dictated his appearance. By years, he was more or less a young adult, but in regards to the divine, he was nothing but a child wet behind the years. No where near qualified to become a Shrine Kami.

It was up to Mukuro to decide if she would let him in to converse or not.

“I hear you’re not too versed with Demon kind. I can help you with that.” He too didn’t quite fit in with other Demons, but he at least has been with them for quite some time now, so he could offer some information and insights for her.

[hxgure]

                    {☠} — It was bright and early in the morn, the former mercenary began one of his many daily rituals. A morning workout. A guy his age shouldn't take it easy, especially given that he was the muscle of Benriya. Just because he was no longer present, at least for the time being, in Ergastulum didn't necessarily mean he could just take it easy. He had to be in tip-top shape, this place was no different from where he's from. There are dangers lurking around every corner.

          'Two hundred forty-five, Two hundred forty-six, Two hundred forty-seven..' Muscular frame covered in a thin sheen of sweat, Nicolas took in sharp breaths as he continued to count the number of sit-ups. He was halfway done with the sit-ups portion, there were still a few more workouts he had to get to after this one. His stomach rumbled, indicating that he was in need of some food. Maybe he should have ate something before working out. Then again, he was low on food.

                    From the corner of his eye, he spotted a somewhat familiar face, a roommate most likely, peering from crack of the door to his room. A frown carved against his lips, not the least bit happy about being observed as he worked out, which caused Nicolas to cease his movements. Was she here for something? Bitch about the food? Just what was it? A frustrated sigh parted through thinned lips, baring his teeth ever-so slightly, as he signed to her-- now looking at her straight in the eye. «There something you need, girl?»

[queenharumiura]

Haru didn't have much of a knack for knowing when she was in danger, but she did have a good sense for 'someone is bullying Lambo and I need to get vengeance'. In this case, it seemed she happened to clue into someone thinking about her-- or they wanted to talk to her. She kept looking around until she noticed a familiar face.

"Hahi! Mukuro-san! Hello! Haru hasn't seen you in forever!" She thought that you were perhaps building yourself a chocolate castle and started living in it.

[fangsofdestruction]

The two little ones looked so excited to hear that Mukuro thought of them as friends and that they’re more fun. “Of course! Everyone knows the best friend to have is a Tanuki!” Well, in truth, they weren’t the best of friends if you were the gullible type. They did have a knack for playing pranks on people, but that shouldn’t be an issue for Mukuro. Kitsune were attuned to most illusionary work, after all.

“Humans have Disney!” The youngest one pipes up. It was the one thing that all the children liked that came from humanity, magical Disney princesses. “The human imagination and their skill in creation is fascinating. That’s how many Gods are born, from the fervent wishes and dreams of humans. That was how my parent was born, from the wishes of humans who wished for rainfall during a drought.” Of course, the death of the believers of the God were also the reason for the inevitable death as well.

Though Hebisuke knew about the reason for Mukuro staying at the Demon mansion, the other two did not. “Since you’re our friend, does that mean you’ll visit a lot? Or are you joining us?” The youngest one asks with a small tilt of the head. Hebisuke settles next to Mukuro and pats Kazehime’s head. “Slow down, Hime. You should let her think that through first.” There was the fact that she was essentially under house arrest, but there was also the fact that it would be too overwhelming to come up with an answer to such a thing right away. Joining a Demon faction was no walk in the park.

It was a life-style.

Mostly, it was for the weaker Demons to find a refuge to survive, and for some others, it was the strong who wished to serve underneath an even more powerful Demon. It was a matter of prestige. That was why Jaken and Sai were around. Everyone had their own reasons for joining or being against it.

It was something she’d have to think of for herself, but he had to admit that he was curious about what she thought about it.  

Mukuro's brushing paused for a moment when Tama tilted her head back to look at Mukuro。 She'd give a small nod as well as a soft ' mhmn~ ' when Tama had asked if she was really friends with humans and then explained to Mukuro why they didn't get to meet many humans。 It made sense, outside of the protection barrier, especially without some type of supervision, the children would possibly be easy targets for other demons。 

「I think you guys are a bit more fun, actually。 Humans don't really know about what I am or about my tails, so I don't get many opportunities to have someone else brush my tails or be so excited to do so。」 Mukuro hadn't met many Yokai up until now so she didn't really have many interactions to make a firm judgment on who was more fun than the other。

When Kazehim poofed back to the form she was moments ago, Mukuro looked up from brushing Tama's tail again to listen to her question。

「Yeah, you guys are。」 There's a smile on her lips as she answers, outside of Sesshomaru and Sai, the children here were the only yokai she's interacted with so far and they've shown her enough kindness that Mukuro would consider them to be friends with her。

[fangsofdestruction]

Kazehime was what you could call a glutton, so she couldn’t fathom not consuming your fill of food, especially since she’d been born into an environment where she wouldn’t have to worry about going hungry. The food quality here was excellent, so, to her, it was the same thing. If she wanted to have her fill of tasty food, she just needed to consume more. Spoiled with good circumstances, if you would. Hebisuke didn’t necessarily need to consume actual food, so he didn’t mind either way.

While the tiny one was spoiled and acted out at times, she was able to behave, possibly due to the strict influence of Sesshomaru and the other demons at the mansion. Both girls were quite contented with getting their fur groomed, happy that they could also get to meet the new individual. She was nice and pretty! She had the fluffiest of tails too! What was there not to like about her?

“Really?” Tama throws her head backwards to stare up at Mukuro, “You’re friends with humans? We aren’t allowed outside without supervision, so we barely get to meet any humans.” It certainly meant that they couldn’t make friends with any humans either. It was understandable, considering children were susceptible to being picked off by stronger Demons, so they couldn’t go outside the barrier without supervision. (It wasn’t to say that they haven’t escaped at least once before) “Are humans really so different from us? Are they more fun than yokai?” Tama asked curiously.

Kazehime ‘poofed’ back to her humanoid guise, “Are WE your first yokai friends?” The little weasel was asking the important questions here. Once the children came of age, they would have the choice to venture out into the world on their own or join the ranks of the Gumi. A few within their ranks operated outside the Gumi, blending in among the humans to help everyone acclimate into modern times. Really, TV was a game changer in helping the children stay indoors and not continue to try sneaking outside because of boredom.

「I think I'd rather have tastier food than more food,」 a soft laugh would accompany Mukuro's words as she gave her two cents on what the two young girls were saying。 The small smile on her lips would be maintained when Kazehime would hop out of the way for Tama to take her place。

Mukuro was a bit surprised at that, she'd figure that Kazehime would at least have protested a bit, but regardless, it was rather sweet to watch the youngest get out of the way for Tama to sit and then promptly get in Tama's lap when she morphs back into her smaller, weasel form。

When Tama had her tail ready for Mukuro's brush, she was about to playfully remark on how it'd be hard to brush the tanuki's tail given how much she was wagging it but Hebisuke had beaten her to it and so instead a soft giggle left Mukuro when she saw just how much Tama was holding back in wagging her tail after being warned。 Now that Tama's tail was a bit more still, Mukuro didn't waste any time in gently running the brush through the fur on Tama's tail。

「I have a few friends,」 Mukuro tended to not make many friends not only in just her line of work, but all those she knew were humans, so would not only the longevity of someone in the line of work she had was rather short, but the lifespan between her and a human was so vast that she saw no need to form rather close friends with humans。 But still, that didn't mean she never formed any friends, there were a few that she was on rather friendly terms with, but she wouldn't consider them close friends with her。 「All of them are human, I don't really have any yokai friends。」

[fangsofdestruction]

Kazehime grins, “without siblings, you get to have all the food! You don’t have to share!” The tiny weasel child giggles. For such a small thing, she was a voracious eater with the energy to match her appetite! “Food tastes better when shared though.” Tama interjects, to which, the weasel child gasps dramatically and nods her head. “Mmmnnnn… more food or tastier food…” what a hard choice! First world demon child problems.

At the suggestion that it was Tama’s turn to have her tail brushed, the little girl hops out of the way to let Tama take her place, sitting in front of Mukuro. It didn’t take long for the little weasel kit to morph back into her tiny form and jump into Tama’s lap. She was being careful as to not let her blades harm her playmate.

She was so small, that she could fit into both of Tama’s hands when curled up. She could probably stand on a single one of Mukuro’s palms comfortably. One could tell how excited Tama was with the way that her tail was wagging. “She can’t brush your tail if it’s wagging, Tama.” Hebisuke reminds her and the tail flinches and freezes in place. The tiny tremors showing how she was doing her best to refrain from wagging. “Do you have many friends? Are any of them human?” Tama asks curiously.

There was a soft laugh that came out of Mukuro as she continued to brush through Kazehime's hair, pausing for a moment just to prevent herself from accidentally tugging on the young yokai's hair while she waved her arms in excitement。

「I hope to be able to see that sometime~」 There was a soft hum that left her throat when Kazehime explained that Hebisuke didn't have any siblings and when Hebisuke clarified on what Kazehime meant, Mukuro gave a small nod and hummed again, 「I see。」

「Sometimes I do。 I've always wondered what it was like to have siblings, but I think I'm fine with not having any at the same time。」 Mukuro answered truthfully, a smile on her lips as she continued brushing through the youngest's hair, a little laugh leaving her lips when Tama said that brushing her tail is a real honor for Mukuro。 「Is that right? Well, I can't wait~ Speaking of though, I think it is Tama's turn to get brushed now, don't you, Kazehime?」

[fangsofdestruction]

“Kii-chan is veerrryy cute~” Kazehime replied, waving her hands in the air excitedly. Always fascinating just how much energy could be concentrated into such a small thing. “She stuffs her face with fruit and it’s funny to watch, like a hamster.” Hamsters are supeerrrr cute, so Kii-chan sharing some characteristics with them made her doubly cute, obviously.

“Hebi-hebi and I don’t have siblings either.” Kazehime states. “Well, she doesn’t have any littermates, she means. Her elder siblings must be out in the world somewhere.” Hebisuke interjects. It wasn’t as though Kazehime was the first child that Kaze no Tsuki produced, but they haven’t heard her speak of any of Kazehime’s siblings, for whatever reason there may be.

“Do you wish you had siblings?” Tama asks another question, seemingly curious about how Mukuro felt about the concept of having a sibling to bond with. She took over the brush that Hebisuke handed to her and she was skillfully brushing out the very last of Mukuro’s tails. When she finished brushing through her tail, she sits next to Mukuro to watch as she brushes through Kazehime’s hair.

“Eh? Yeah! It’s cute and very fluffy! It’s super soft! I can use it as a pillow!” Well, more accurately, a certain weasel child will curl herself into it like it was a pillow, anyways. “After Kazehime, it’s my turn! You can brush through my tail, a real honor, yanno?” Tama giggles, sporting a rather cheeky smile.

As Kazehime bounced excitedly in Mukuro's lap, she halted her brushing, not wanting the brush to get tangled in Kazehime's hair。 A small laugh bubbled out of Mukuro, the excitement from Kazehime seemed to be rather contagious to Mukuro, 「I hope she'll do that to me sometime then, it sounds so cute~!」 When the youngest settled down some, Mukuro would go back to brushing her hair, her gaze turning to Tama for just a moment as she asked Mukuro if she had siblings。

「No, I don't。」 There was a small shake of her head as she answered, Mukuro's parents hardly cared about her when she was born it seemed unlikely that she had siblings。

Another laugh would leave Mukuro when the children answered all at once, and it took a lot of Mukuro's will power to not let her tails wiggle too much in excitement from their compliments。

「I've never seen a tail like yours before Tama, I think it's very cute~」 Mukuro was truthful about both statements, not being around other demons as much ( as far as Mukuro had known anyway ) up until now, so she hadn't seen a tanuki's tail before and she thought Tama was already super cute in her tanuki form。

[fangsofdestruction]

The girls were settling into Mukuro’s presence well, enjoying the attention they were getting. Someone who wasn’t going to scold them or put them through studies was a good individual in their book. They were also allowed to brush through fluffy tails! The ‘best of the bestest worlds’ as they would word it.

“That’s Kii-chan! She’s real small and cute. She loves fruits and sometimes, sometimes-!” Kazehime was bouncing excitedly in Mukuro’s lap, “if you hold your finger out, she’ll hang off of it.” As Kazehime used to be the baby of the group, she was ecstatic once the little Demon bat was born a few decades ago. “Do you have any siblings?” Tama asked curiously as she wondered if there were others like Mukuro who would allow their tails to be brushed. It wasn’t the norm, after all.

“It’s really pretty~!/They’re beautiful.” The children answered in unison. Hebisuke finished brushing out one of the tails and he handed the brush to Tama, so she could brush out the last one. “My tail is bushy and has three colors! There’s… white, brown, and light brown!”

With a smile, Mukuro accepts the brush she was given by Kazehime and when the young demon settles in her lap, Mukuro doesn't waste a second and starts brushing the younger one's hair gently。 The smile continues to stay on Mukuro's lips as she notices Tama moving to sit next to Mukuro。  A small laugh leaves Mukuro's mouth as she manages to continue brushing Kazehime's hair even as she starts swaying side to side。

「Ahh, that does remind me I remember seeing a small bat when I first met Hebisuke,」 Mukuro says, pausing her brushing momentarily as she recalls the small that was with Hebisuke on the night they first interacted。 「Well I hope I get to meet her properly someday,」 her head tilts back to look at Hebisuke when he gives his suggestion of when Mukuro would most likely be able to meet Kii-chan。

「Is that right? I'll keep that in mind, thank you Hebisuke。」 Mukuro will have to keep an eye out on the moon phases, 「it is! Do you like it?」 The tails that weren't being brush wiggled happily at the question。

[fangsofdestruction]

Kazehime smiles brightly at the offer to brush the hair she had in her humanoid form. She hops into Mukuro’s lap and she hands her the brush she had been using to brush out one of Mukuro’s tails. Tama handed the brush she was using to Hebisuke to he could brush out a tail himself. It was more than evident that the two demon children were excited about meeting a new person in the gumi and loved getting brushed (or doing the brushing).

The tiny girl in Mukuro’s lap was humming a cheery tune as she swayed from side to side happily. Tama patiently sat next to Mukuro, “Kii-chan is the youngest of us, and she’s a bat. She sleeps a lot during the day so she only comes out during the night. She usually plays with Hebisuke or Jii-chan.” The eldest didn’t have a curfew to abide by and Sesshomaru took it upon himself to create a rapport with all the children under his wing.

“She’s small and cute! She loves fruits!” Kazehime adds. Their youngest didn’t have a humanoid form, so she was always flying around as a tiny bat demon. “You might be able to meet her if you stick around when the moon is high.” Hebisuke suggests as he carefully brushes through the tail in his hands, admiring how silky smooth her fur was. He’d also never seen a fox with pink fur before, “is your fur color natural?”

Mukuro had no idea that having her tails brushed could feel this good, it was like someone brushing her hair but better! This was definitely something that if it was done when she was tired, Mukuro would have easily been lulled to sleep by this。

「Sure, I'd love to brush your tail~」 Mukuro says with a smile that was rather short-lived when it was pointed out that Kazehime had a tail that couldn't be brushed, 「well she has some hair in this form, doesn't she? I could brush that if she'd like。」 It's no tail of course, and with Kazehime being a weasel, Mukuro couldn't imagine that type of fur was easy to brush。

When another demon child's name was mentioned, Mukuro tilted her head a little as she tried to recall if she heard that name before, 「Kii-chan? Who's she?」

「Well I wouldn't mind that, as long as Hebisuke would want to, I don't see why not。」 Mukuro's gaze turns to Hebisuke with a small smile。

[fangsofdestruction]

The girls with two different brushes in hand sat on either side of Mukuro. As she had more than one tail, that meant both girls could brush a tail at the same time! How wonderful! Everyone else (aside from Sai, who wouldn’t let them touch his tail) had a singular tail. The girls would take turns brushing through a tail.

They were clearly experienced with it brushing through tails because they were able to guide the brush through the fur gently and smoothly. “You can brush my tail next! It’s very fluffy.” Tama offers, to which the other little girl puffs out her cheek in dismay. “Kazehime’s tail can’t be brushed.” After all, her tail was a blade, characteristic of a kama-itachi where parts of their limbs were blades.

Her fur was also short, being a weasel, so there wasn’t much to brush to begin with. Hebisuke pats the top of her head and ruffles it. “At least your fur is soft to the touch. I only have scales.” He says these lines with practiced poise, and it still brings a smile to her face no matter how many times she’s consoled the same way.

“Too bad Kii-chan is still young. She’s still asleep.” She was young in Demon terms, anyways. When she’s old enough, she’ll be able to stay awake longer so she can play with the others more often. Tama finished brushing through one of the tails sooner than Kazehime could, and that was probably due to the fact that in her real form, Kazehime had blades in place of her paws, so fingers were foreign to her, so she could be a bit clumsy.

“Can Hebisuke brush a tail too?” Tama asks. There were more tails that could be brushed!

Mukuro listened intently at Hebisuke's clarification, nodding along as she listened, Mukuro felt like that wasn't really something she read from the material she was given。 She wasn't too surprised though, after all, she was still relatively new to all of this so having her learn such a weakness of the hanyou probably wouldn't be seen as a wise move by most。 

Watching the little Tanuki's ears wiggle and how her chest swelled with pride made Mukuro laugh a little their actions made them even more cute in Mukuro's eyes especially when the excited yips would bubble out of the young girls when Mukuro let loose her tails。 Honestly, she was  bit excited herself, she never really had the chances to show off her tails to anyone before so to have someone be excited to see them made her swell up with pride this time。

「Nice to meet you both~ I'm Mukuro! I'd be honored if you brushed my tails,」 a grin set on her lips as she spoke to the girls。

「I don't mind at all, but I'll keep that in mind if I ever feel too overwhelmed。」 Mukuro figured she did well with kids, she was always good with kids when having to interact with some。

[fangsofdestruction]

The Kumicho’s fur always shone brightly underneath the moonlight (or the sunlight for that matter), and it was always in pristine condition considering he cared for keeping his fur in good condition. If it wasn’t one of the kids insisting on brushing through his fur, it was usually Jaken’s task in maintaining his fur. Not many had the honor of being allowed to touch his fur, so it was certainly something Jaken could boast about.

It was probably due to this that the children insisted on brushing his fur as a way to feel as though he cared much for him- which wasn’t false. As the weakest of the Gumi, it was his duty as the leader to care for them and to watch over them. Their well being and their growth was of great importance to him, both instinctively, and also because of Rin’s influence on him centuries ago.

“Not all Demons have a factor that makes them feel weaker or stronger, but there are individuals where timing is important. In the case of Hanyou, there is a period of time when their human blood takes over and they lose their Demon-heritage. I believe it happens once a month?”

Due to this being such a glaring weakness, it was a closely guarded secret for all hanyou.

The little ears of the little furry creatures wiggled with excitement. The tanuki seems to puff out her chest with pride- they ARE very cute, weren’t they? She could use her cuteness to scam humans- just as her ancestors would! With Mukuro letting out her tails, excited yips came from the girls and poof! Just like Hebisuke, the girls could assume a humanoid form, with the aid of the trinkets they wore that had a spell cast upon it.

“Can we brush your tail? You can brush mine! I’m Tama!” The once stout Tanuki introduces herself. She looked to be around 8 years old in human years. She has a toothy grin and her red fur was translated into red hair. Her green eyes shining with excitement, and the scar that ran through her eyebrow was more noticeable in a humanoid form than her real form. A tiny girl climbs onto Tama’s back. Her shoulder length hair kept swaying as if the air around her was constantly playing with her hair. Perhaps to be expected of a kama-itachi who could ride the winds. “I’m Kazehime! Hiiiii!” The young 5 year old appearing child waves her small hands at Mukuro.

“You’re always free to tell them no if it’s a bother. They can be a bit of a handful sometimes.” Hebisuke says, giving her an out if she wanted it. Most Demons didn’t do well with kids, at least not for prolonged periods of time.

There was a bit of a solemn thought that crossed her mind when Hebisuke said that his parents would have liked her visiting, that maybe if Mukuro knew of his parent's shrine and she visited maybe his parents would still be around。 But then again, Mukuro had no clue if just one person visiting a shrine could cause much of a difference。

As Mukuro tried to recollect the information she had read in the material that Sesshomaru let her borrow, Mukuro could recall that there wasn't many written accounts of a union between mortal and deity which would imply that whenever it happened either there was no one there who could record it, or if it was more of an oral tale that got lost over the years。

Mukuro was brought out of her thoughts when Hebisuke began to state that the Kumicho enjoys moon-bathing and spoke about how his fur looks pretty in the moonlight。

「I only got a small glimpse of it from my room, but I have no doubt that his fur probably looks quite ethereal in the moonlight。」 When Hebisuke explains that he also feels the strongest in the light of the full moon, Mukuro hums softly, she never really thought about if she felt any stronger in the light of a full moon over any other night。

Just as Hebisuke's hand gestures and his attention is turned to the side, one of Mukuro's vulpine ears pivots towards the familiar noise of figures approaching。 Turning her own attention to the side, Mukuro's lips draw back into an excited smile when she spots to two girls。

「Oh, they're so cute~」 The comment just sort of escapes from her as she gives a small wave in greeting to the two, 「hello you two~ It's so nice to finally meet you!」 Spotting the brush, Mukuro immediately remembers the fact that brushing was a big thing for them and in the next moment, brought out her four tails。

[fangsofdestruction]

“I’m sure my parent would have liked that if they were still around. My parent enjoyed visitors, human or Demon.” Of course, that was assuming that the Demon wasn’t one who were harming humans. As a God birthed from the faith of humanity, there was a bias towards the humans, but amnesty could be given to Demons who were civil. Not all Demons were bad as some could turn a leaf and serve shrines like the kitsune. They were commonplace for shrines, serving as guardians and messengers of Inari.

There were a few details about deities and mortals in the materials that Sesshomaru provided, but not many. It wasn’t that often that deities and mortals had unions and had records that survived to tell of their tale. This was especially the case such as Hebisuke’s parents, where one parent wasn’t able to speak verbally and most humans couldn’t directly speak to a God. Their story was one that would be whispered into the wind and disappear.

“Mhm, the Kumicho enjoys moon-bathing. His fur looks very pretty in the moonlight. I think it’s because my parents powers were always strongest on nights of the full moon, but that’s when I feel the strongest as well.” Like parent, like child. His attention turns to the side and he makes a hand gesture. A small tanuki and a little kamaitachi approach. The little weasel child waved one of her sickle-paws as a greeting and the tanuki was holding a big brush between her teeth. Clearly, it was meant for grooming one’s tail.

“As long as you approach them slowly, their parents won’t be too on edge. Kazehime’s mother is more lax than Tama’s.” Hebisuke explains. The weasel chirped in response when her name was called and the tanuki pup barked. It made sense that Tama’s parents were more sensitive about Tama’s well-being considering they’d lost her brother many decades ago by the hands of humans. The girls were excited to meet Mukuro finally and to see the fluffy tails that they were told about. Another member to add to the fluffy tail party! Knowing how their parents were on edge, the girls were mindful by taking it slow.

Mukuro picked up on how his eyes would shine when speaking about his parents, which would bring Mukuro's opinion on not asking Hebisuke's about his parents or any other stories he would love to share。

When Hebisuke would explain why his parents would enjoy the spot he chose, Mukuro gave a nod as she listened。 It was interesting to hear that his parent was associated with water divinity, she didn't know a whole lot about shrines and those who are associated with them。 So this all was still relatively new to her ( although the reading material that Sesshomaru let her borrow and read has really helped with that ) but she was still learning。

「If it would be alright with you, I'd like to visit them with you at some point,」  well other than now of course, but she'd like to see if visiting during a full moon would feel different for her。

Mukuro gave some more nods as she listened to Hebisuke describe his parents and the gem on his forehead, she recalled him talking about them briefly when they first met。 It still made her a little sad to hear his mother passed shortly after he was hatched, but at least the gem he had was something that was passed down from her。

However as she learned more about Hebisuke and his parents, it made Mukuro want to read up more about unions between mortals and divine beings。 Maybe there's more books on that elsewhere。

When learning that Sesshomaru is also out here during the full moon, Mukuro hums softly in interest especially when learning that he calls the moon an old friend。

「This seems to be a pretty popular spot when it's a full moon then, huh?」