Chapter 8: The Demon Girl and The Grimm Girl

Scarlet was just getting finished with her bath in the bathhouse, until she smelt two new smells from outside. She raised an eyebrow up wondering who they were, she got dressed and finished the third bottle of sake.

"Ugh... the smell and sight..." Tanjiro said as he had just finished puking his guts out, he slowly stood up straight as he wiped his mouth. "Did a demon do this? No... It still smells fresh and looks fresh too. So either it happened before the sun came up or...."

Before Tanjiro could finish speaking, Nezuko moved in her box making it fall over on its side. He glanced over to the box as he walked over and tipped the box back over. "You don't want to see this, I know you can smell it. But this is just a terrible scene."

Nezuko knocked the side of the box with her fist, as if she was answering back to her brother. There were then a few more knocks after, Tanjiro would knelt down as he put the straps over his shoulders as he picked the box up. Scarlet on the other hand was standing outside the bathhouse as she had her arms crossed and leaned against the wall, she eyed the demon slayer and his box.

"Ara, I didn't expect a slayer to show up here all by his lonesome with his sister in toe." Scarlet said as she could smell the similarities of the two being brother and sister. Even though Nezuko was a demon, her eyes locked onto Tanjiro as she smirked. "You're too late. The demons had already come and gone." Clearly this was a lie, but Scarlet said all that with a straight face.

Tanjiro stood there as he looked over at Scarlet as he was confused as to why she was spared, he couldn't smell any evil or murder on her. "How did you? That's impossible, the demon should've noticed you were still alive. They don't let anyone live."

Scarlet simply shrugged as she stretched her arms up and popped her back. "I don't know what to tell you, but I guess you can say... I'm lucky." She snickered as she started walking off. "There's not really any point in getting this place cleaned up. The smell of blood would still be in the air."

"Hey wait a minute." Tanjiro said as he went to catch up with her. "How did you know I was a demon slayer? And how did you know a demon was here?" He was very curious as he watched Scarlet stop in her tracks. "....Are you the demon who did this?"

Scarlet turned her head to the side as she looked at Tanjiro. "Trust me kid, if I was the demon that did this. Wouldn't I be hiding in a dark area or in the shadows? I have a good sense of smell."

"So like me then?" Tanjiro asked.

Scarlet scoffed a little bit as she looked straight ahead. "We're nothing alike." She started walking again as she looked over at one of the houses and went inside.

~~~

After a long day the Demon Slayer corps had sent some of its finest members to clean up the mess. Tanjiro was helping out while he had left Nezuko in the house where Scarlet was at, the demon girl had her box placed in a darker part of the house but half of the house was basically covered in shadows, Scarlet had found herself some more alcohol to drink but not any food. Then again, she knew that Grimm could choose to eat or not to eat. She glanced over to Nezuko as she noticed the demon girl was eyeing her, she tilted her head to the side as she walked over to the Grimm girl.

Nezuko stopped half way as she was still in the shadows, she didn't dare step out in the sunlight. Standing where the shadows had reached their limit, Nezuko plopped her butt down and stared at Scarlet for a good moment. Scarlet noticed as she glanced over to the window and stood up, she closed the window as the entire house went dark. The Grimm girl had lit some candles and lanterns as she didn't see any technology, suddenly out of nowhere. Nezuko clinged onto Scarlet's right leg as she looked up at her.

"Hey, what the hell?" Scarlet asked as she raised her arms up and looked down at the child. "Why are you hugging my leg?"

Tanjiro came into the house as he saw what was going on, he couldn't help but laugh a bit. "My sister is a demon yes, but I had help from someone to make it to where she's only hostile to demons who kill for sport. Basically.... if you were a demon who decided not to kill for sport and follow Muzan's orders. She wouldn't kill you, same for humans..."

Scarlet raised an eyebrow up as she looked at him and then down at Nezuko. "So... let me get this straight, she sees everyone as family??" She wanted to speak up about her own family but didn't, she knew that she needed to find Queen and kill her. But also knew that this entire multiverse and dimensional traveling was going to be like last time. She did know that this time however her mother wouldn't be a problem, she despised Salem. And with her mother dead, Scarlet still had no emotions to show that she cared for her dead mother.

"Yeah, that's what we did." Tanjiro said as he looked at Scarlet thinking there was something wrong with her. "Something wrong?"

Scarlet blinked as she shook her head. "No, I just spaced out that's all." She felt Nezuko hold onto her leg still as she looked down at the demon.

"Nezuko must see you as a sister figure... we were part of a big family but a demon killed them all... except for her. They turned her into a demon." Tanjiro said as he clinched his fist and looked down. "That's why I'm going to find a cure to turn Nezuko back to normal."

Scarlet looked over to Tanjiro as she sniffed the air. "Someone's coming."

Tanjiro glanced up as he looked over to Scarlet. "It's okay. I know who it is." He then left the house as he glanced over to see Inosuke. "They sent you here too huh? Where's Zenitsu?"

"Yeah the slayer corps sent me here, as for Zenitsu. They sent him on another mission, but he'll be meeting up with us later on." Inosuke said as he looked at Tanjiro. "Is Nezuko inside the house behind you?"

Tanjiro looked back at the house and then at Inosuke. "Yeah, but she's not alone in there. We ended up running into the only survivor of the village... But something about this person seems a bit off."

"What do you mean?" Inosuke asked curiously.

Tanjiro looked at him as he took him further away from the house, in case Scarlet was listening in on the conversation. "I mean, she seems different. You know how some of the demons we've encountered had different color eyes and pupils?"

"You didn't mention this person was a she, but alright. Go on, what about this?" Inosuke asked again. "Are you thinking she's a demon or something?"

Tanjiro wasn't sure, he was stumped on what to decide. "I don't know, I just know both of her eyes are black like the night sky and her pupils are red. Not to mention, she seems to have vampire like fangs as well."

"Does she now? That's going to be troublesome if she were turned into a demon by Muzan's blood." Inosuke said as he walked over to the house. "I'm going in to see this person for myself."

Tanjiro gulped nervously as he followed behind him, once Inosuke opened the door to the house. Nezuko was back in her box and Scarlet was drinking from a sake bottle, Tanjiro noticed Scarlet was drinking a bottle of sake as he was curious on why she was and if she was even old enough to drink alcohol

"Uh...." Inosuke and Tanjiro said looking at the Grimm girl. "Aren't you a bit young to be drinking?"

Scarlet stopped raising the bottle up as the rest of the sake went from the bottle and into her mouth. She swallowed as she looked at the two, she didn't seem to be drunk but that was her fourth bottle of the day. "Aren't you two a bit young to be asking an adult that question?" Which was true in a way, even though her body didn't show it. Scarlet was still an adult in her own little way.

~~~

Night fell as everything was completely dark out, Inosuke was in the bathhouse as he didn't know what was going to happen outside. Scarlet was walking around out in the village as she was looking for some food that may have still been fresh after the slaughter she had done the other day, she noticed the bento box shop as she walked over to it and opened one of the bentos as she sniffed it. It smelt fresh still, plus there was sushi and other sorts of food in the box.

Scarlet grabbed three as she boxes as she went back to the house and placed them down, she didn't want to let her guard down for a moment. She still had a pair of chopsticks in her pocket which she quickly took out and caught someone's fist with them, she turned her head to the side as she saw a demon.

"Muzan sends his regards!" The demon spoke, this demon had two horns on his forehead and pointed ears. He seemed similar to the horned demon from before, but this one seemed more quicker on his feet.

Scarlet smirked as she elbowed the demon in the gut as she twisted the chopsticks around and snapped his fist. "Does he now? Does he want me dead that badly?" Scarlet went for a fatal kill, but the two horned demon quickly stepped aside and headbutts Scarlet hard.

Scarlet winched in pain as she felt her forehead bleeding, she growled as she felt her blood trickle down her face. She licked the side of her lip as she swallowed her own blood, the two horned demon didn't even pay the color of Scarlet's blood any mind. But none the less charged head on towards Scarlet.

The Grimm girl smirked as she wiped her forehead and waited for the demon to get closer to her. She had smeared her blood on the chopsticks as she went in for a stab to the eye and throat, she had made sure the chopsticks were sharp enough to stab someone or something. Once the two horned demon had gotten closer to her, Scarlet stopped time with her semblance, she quickly stabbed one stick into his eye and the other into his throat. She then grabbed Black Rose from the side of the house and sliced the demons arms off.

Time resumed when Scarlet blinked, she grinned as she watched the demon become confused and puzzled. It wasn't if he was a upper or lower class demon, or just a normal demon doing Muzan's dirty work for him. "What did you just do? I had you, and now look at me!"

Scarlet cackled as she picked up the demons severed arms. "Thanks, I've been looking for a meal to eat." She stuffed both of his arms into her mouth and started to swallow his arms. The two horned demon was now terrified of what was going on.

"You're not human.... just what are you?" The demon asked as he was backing away from Scarlet, he heard her slurp up his arms and gulp them down with ease. "What the hell are you?!"

Scarlet licked her lips as she noticed Tanjiro behind the demon. "That's classified information, and something I can't share with you. Muzan will find out the hard one when we cross paths again, as for you..."

"Water breathing, first form... water surface slash" Tanjiro said as he held his sword and generated enough momentum to create a powerful single concentrated slash. He then swung his sword straight down slicing the two horned demons head off.

Scarlet watched as she saw the demons head roll onto the ground towards her feet, she stopped the head with her left foot as she glared down at him. "When you get to hell, tell them to be afraid of the killer of all demons." She raised her foot up and stomped on the head with enough speed and force that the demons head caved in.

The demons body fell over onto the ground as Tanjiro took a small breath and put his sword away, he glanced over to the bathhouse where Inosuke was at. "I won't tell any of the Demon Slayer corps members what I saw.." He turned his head to look at Scarlet. "....Just what are you that makes you so terrifying for a demon to back away? You swallowed his arms with no guilt or struggle."

Scarlet put Black Rose down as she yanked the chop sticks out of the demons head and throat, she eyed them for a bit as she cleaned them off and put them into her pocket. "I'm a Grimm, a creature of darkness. A hybrid to top it off as well. Half Grimm half human." She looked at the lifeless body on the ground as she glanced at Tanjiro. "I'm not helping you slay these demons, I have my own goal. If we cross paths again, don't think for a second I won't try to hurt you or your friends."

Tanjiro gulped as he saw Scarlet's eyes glowing a blood red, he nodded slightly. "R-Right..."

The Grimm girl sprouted her Nevermore wings and flapped them, she flew into the air and glanced down as she saw Nezuko poking her head out of the window looking up at her. Scarlet didn't say anything or show kindness, she instead flew off into the night leaving the village. Tanjiro looked over at his sister as he walked over to her and started rubbing her head.

"I guess she'll be our enemy the next time around." Tanjiro said.