The Fractured Mirror

The nights bled into one another. Time lost its meaning within Muzan’s domain. There was no sunrise for Tanjiro anymore—only the endless silver of the moon and the ever-present hum of hunger beneath his skin.

And yet, there were moments now when hunger was not the loudest voice.

He sat before a mirror, one Muzan had ordered brought into his room. The reflection staring back at him was both familiar and foreign. His eyes glowed faintly in the dark, pupils thin like a predator’s. His skin was pale, unearthly, and his once-calloused hands now bore claws meant for tearing.

“I don’t look like myself,” he murmured, almost to the reflection, almost to the silence.

A voice answered anyway. “You look perfect.”

Muzan appeared behind him, his reflection sharp and commanding in the mirror’s glass. He rested a hand lightly on Tanjiro’s shoulder, fingers cold but steadying.

Tanjiro’s gaze flicked between his own reflection and Muzan’s. Theirs was a strange pairing—the predator and the fledgling. And yet… somehow, in the mirror, they looked like they belonged together. That thought unsettled him.

“I feel…” Tanjiro hesitated. “Like I’ve lost something important. Like my heart keeps reaching for something that isn’t there.”

Muzan’s grip tightened subtly, silencing him. His voice was velvet over steel. “You are searching for ghosts. Empty echoes. What you have now is real. What you have now is me.”

Tanjiro turned slightly, looking up at him. “Why me? You could have chosen anyone.”

For the first time, Muzan’s expression softened, though only by degrees. “Because you are strong,” he said. “Even before you became mine, you fought to protect what you loved. That spirit… it is wasted on weakness. But with me, that spirit will thrive.”

Muzan leaned closer, his lips brushing Tanjiro’s hair, then his temple—kisses that were both possessive and strangely tender. Tanjiro’s chest ached, his body torn between comfort and resistance, but he found himself leaning into the touch despite himself.

Later, Muzan led him once more to the garden. Tonight, the moonlight painted the flowers silver, and the stillness was almost peaceful. They walked slowly, Muzan’s hand entwined with his, their steps echoing softly across the stone path.

“Does it frighten you?” Muzan asked suddenly.

Tanjiro blinked. “What?”

“Belonging to me.”

The question struck him harder than it should have. He should have said yes. He should have resisted. But the words that escaped his lips were softer, more uncertain.

“I… don’t know.”

Muzan chuckled low in his throat, the sound dark but pleased. He drew Tanjiro closer, their foreheads nearly touching beneath the pale moonlight. “In time, you won’t question it. In time, you will wonder how you ever lived without me.”

Tanjiro’s lips parted as though to argue, but instead Muzan pressed another kiss against them—slow, unhurried, almost coaxing. And though Tanjiro’s mind screamed against it, his body betrayed him once more, trembling but not pulling away.

When the kiss ended, Muzan whispered against his lips:

“Good. You’re learning.”

TO BE CONTINUED

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