"Yumi? YUMI?!" Trimika Sasaki yelled as she frantically looked for her daughter. The hedges and bushes were overgrown and she had herself to blame.
"I swear I hope she didn't get kidnapped! Or worse, bitten by a garden snake!" Trimika exclaimed as she looked all over for Yumi. Until she stopped and heard small giggling coming from the bushes.
Trimika scrambled to find the voice until she found Yumi. Her kimono and obi were dirty along with her face and there was leaves and twigs tangled up in her mahogany hair. Her dimwitted smile and bright, blue eyes vaught her mother off guard and Trimika's facial expression softened.
"Yumi, what did I tell you about playing in the bushes?" Trimika sighed, mainly with relief. "Oh mother, I found a new friend!" Yumi exclaimed. Trimika looked around warily, scared a thief might have came in and Yumi mistaken them for a new friend.
"Who are they?" Trimika asked. "Mr. Scaly!" Yumi cheered. "Mr. Who?" Trimika repeated. The next moment a garden snake crawled out of Yumi's kimono and looked her mother dead in the eye.
"AHHHH SNAKE!" Trimika yelled as she pointed at it. "Mother, I would love to introduce you to Mr. Scaly." Yumi said. "Throw that dirty thing put of here!" She yelled. "Awe, he actually was great company." Yumi said, looking disappointed.
Trimika sighed again. "Mr. Scaly is a snake that needs to be in his natural habitat. Which is FAR from here." She smiled, hiding all of her fear while shaking slightly.
"Mother, he has no home. Can he stay here?" Yumi pleaded as she hit her mother with the puppy eyes. Trimika sighed. "No, he is not staying here Yumi... now please, for the love of God, let him back into the wild!" Trimika exclaims again.
"OK then," Yumi sighed sadly as she let the garden snake slither off of her palms and into the bushes again. Trimika finally eased out again. She smiled.
"Now why don't we make something to eat? Just the two of us?" Trimika smiled. She knew Yumi loved cooking. Yumi nodded her head vigorously and ran out of the bushes to join her mother.
"But first, get washed up." Trimika replied as she frowned.
🌌
The sun set low in the sky and the food sat perfectly on the table. Yumi's father, Ayatio Sasaki adjusted his glasses and patted his daughter on the head. "Well done Yumi for helping you mother cook tonight." He smiled. Yumi nodded as her eyes lit up.
A sudden cold breeze moved through the house through the window as the trees started to rustle and rain started to pour down on the family. "Well, looks like we have a storm coming." Sanako replied as he walked up to the window and shut it.
"I hope it is not a bad one like last time. That was horrible." Trimika said, looking worried as she put down glasses of water on the table. Yumi and Ayatio nodded in sync.
The family feasted on their shares of food. They ate like there was no tomorrow. But then there was a sudden knock on the door. "I'll get it!" Yumi exclaimed as she got up in a flash and ran to the door. She opened it and she was hit with a huge gust of cold wind and the smell of rain.
A woman was standing in front of Yumi that neither of them have ever met before. Ayatio got up from the floor and walked cautiously to the door as he ushered Yumi away. Yumi walked back to her mother and the two looked worried at Ayatio talking to the mysterious woman.
"Hello? Are you lost? Do you need directions?" Ayatio asked. "No, the storm is very bad tonight. I wanted to know if I can stay the night?" The woman said in a low voice. It sounded like a cold whisper.
"I am terribly sorry but you cannot stay. We have very little space in our home for extra visitors. I am afraid you must find somewhere else." Ayatio said with a empathetic look. The woman sighed. She did not argue nor did she turn away and walk off. "I see..." The lady replied.
Ayatio nodded.
She then took a long, pale, bony finger that had a very sharp nail painted in blood red and put it on her father's forehead. Ayatio was about to talk up but then stopped before he could. He stood there like a statue and then the lady released it after long. "Now may I stay?" The lady asked in the same tone.
To Yumi and Trimika's surprise, he nodded.
🌌
The lady became an additional member of the table as she looked at all the mouth watering food. However she did not eat and refused to eat. "Why would you not like eat? Do you not like eating?" Yumi asked as she turned to the lady.
"I just do not feel like it." And for the first time since the Sasaki have ever met the woman. She smiled. She had the smile of a small, innocent girl. Her facial expression softened and Trimika and Ayatio eased out to her.
"Are you sure, with all of that traveling, you must have worked up an appetite somehow?" Trimika asked with a worried look. "No thank you! I just cannot!" She beamed as she flapped her hand. "Suit yourself, but we do have leftovers so you can have those if you change your mind." Ayatio smiled at her.
The lady then looked around and noticed something that caught her eye. "Ayatio?" She asked once she learnt all of their names. He looked at her and hummed in response. "What do you study?" She asked. "How do you know?" Ayatio asked. "No reason, just spotted the study room." She replied.
"Oh, just a few studies on medicine, poisons, flowers." Ayatio listed. The lady's eyes lit up. "Really? Are you a doctor?" She asked. "Both of us are doctors." Trimika stepped in quickly. The lady nodded intrigued.
The lady then looked down at Yumi. "My mother and father are the coolest doctors!" Yumi exclaimed as she held her fist in the air. The woman giggled politely. "They must be indeed." She remarked. The lady then turned back to Trimika and Ayatio. "Why do you ask? Are you also a doctor?" Trimika asked. "Well yes actually. My father worked with medicines, poisons and flowers too so it grew on me as well." The woman explained.
"So both you and your father are doctors?" Ayatio asked. She nodded again. "He was very fascinated with flowers and hunted for flowers to make medicines." The lady told them. "Well, he must be a very skilled man then!" Trimika exclaimed as she beamed at the lady. Yumi could have sworn the lady's face darkened when her father was mentioned to be very skilled.
"Yes...he is." The lady said as she paused. They sat in silence until Yumi yawned. "I'm tired..." Yumi said as she rubbed her eye from tiredness. Trimika giggled. "Well let's go to bed then." She said as she got up to pick up Yumi. Ayatio also got up and so did the lady. Ayatio turned to her then.
"You can sleep on the futon. I have told you about limited space. The woman nodded as she looked at the futon. "Also I must thank you for letting me stay." The woman said as her voice became serious and she bowed down. "It is alright." He smiled. He was about to walk of when he turned to look over his shoulder.
"Also I'm sorry about your father..." he told her. "It is alright, I'll get over it...sooner or later." The woman said. "Well good night." Ayatio said as he made his way to sleeping his wife and daughter. The lady turned to sit on the futon. "Yes good night...forever." the lady said as razor teeth started to show and an evil grin move up her face.
🌌
The next day the sun shone brightly. Birds could be heard and it all seemed so happy and peaceful. Yumi woke up but her mother and father were not in bed with her. "Mother? Father?" Yumi asked as she walked around the quiet house.
However when she walked into the living room, her parents bodies were found. Yumi stood there as her whole body froze and she turned pale. Trimika's body was loosing a leg and her jaw was hanging from her head. Her skull was cracked. She lost an arm as well and it was shoved in her eye socket. Yumi did not want to know where the eye was.
Trimika's stomatch was pierced through and all of her organs were spilled in front of he. Her neck was broken as her head was twisted all the way around and was sagging down. Her eyes looked dead and she was surrounded by blood. Lots of it.
Ayatio's eyes were carved out and shoved into his mouth as both of his arms and legs were ripped out and shoved into his stomatch and throat. It was also stabbed. His back was stabbed and his spine was ripped out and strangled around his neck.
Yumi stared in shock because she didn't know how to react. She just stood there. Frozen in motion. She tried to look around to find the mysterious woman that came the night before. However she did not see her. Yumi wanted to cry but could not find the tears to. Her parents were mangled their limbs shoved in different places Yumi thought was impossible. But the woman did so.
Yumi then remembered the lady asking her father about his medicine studies and how she told them her father was a doctor. Yumi ran to her father's study all to find it empty. It used to be full and scattered with many different things from flowers to book and papers. But now it just showed a wooden table with nothing on it.
Yumi felt hatred, betrayal, anger and sadness all at the same time. She didn't know what to do next. She felt hopeless and alone. But how could a human mangle another human's body in such a way? Yumi thought to herself. But she did not care.
🌌
The house was quiet for a long time until Yumi heard a knock at the door. She quickly got up and ran to open it. She was praying to God that it was not that woman. But it was another woman. She wore a pastel pink kimono and her hair was tied like an orian.
She had a man with her who seemed to be her husband. "Oh thank the heavens! She is alive!" The lady yelled I'm shock as her husband cheered as well. Yumi was confused.
Turns out, the couple heard about a mysterious woman roaming the village and they heard screaming and ripping coming from the house. They wanted to step in but the couple thought they were just hearing things.
They saw Trimika and Ayatio's bodies mangled behind Yumi and they both screamed for their lives. "OH MY LORD! THIS IS HORRIBLE!" the lady yelled.
Yumi then saw a man with white hair and angry looking eyes walk up behind the couple. "So she is the only one that survived?" Sanemi asked as he looked unfazed at the bodies and then Yumi. "Unfortunately, yes she is." The man said sadly.
Sanemi nodded. "Can you two take care of her?" Sanemi asked them. The shook their heads. "We cannot, we are too old to take care of a small child. We were thinking you could. But you are a demon slayer and with all the corpse missions-" Sanemi stopped her.
He looked at the small girl and then at the bodies behind her. He sighed.
The next thing they knew, Yumi was walking off hand in hand with Sanemi after they burried her parents. She could not wrap her head around what happened or how it happened or even why. But she would hopefully be safe. This man knows what he is doing. Her father and mother told her all about the demon slayers. Yumi did not feel like the old Yumi.
She was the new Yumi. She almost felt like she didn't know who she was anymore...