I feel like I got this out relatively quickly, but either way I had a lot of fun writing this chapter and hope you all enjoy reading it as well!

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After Oka fell asleep, you kissed his forehead once again. You stood up, feeling your knees wobble in exhaustion. Misa popped around a corner, surprising you again. "Misa, what's wrong sweety?" You questioned as she ran up to you crying.

"Can you read me a bedtime story too?" She questioned as she rubbed her eyes. "Were you asleep?" You asked softly as you rubbed her back. She nodded in response, "nightmare," she whimpered.

You cooed at her, rubbing her back and guiding her to the library. Once you entered you moved towards the bookshelves, thumbing through the titles. "What story would you like?" She looked up at where your hands were, scanning through them as well.

Her eyes widened at the sight of one particular story. "Can you read Kintaro's Adventures?" asked with enthusiasm. You nodded, grabbing the book and her hand and having her guide you back to her room.

Once you entered she crawled into her bed, tugging the sheet up to her chin. "Which one of his adventures would you like to hear?" You opened the book, finding the contents, and reading through the adventure's titles. "The Rolling Rice Cakes please," she spoke politely. You nodded, thumbing to the page number and beginning to read.

As you were reading she began nodding off, trying hopelessly to stay awake to hear the end of the story. She was unsuccessful and fell asleep a little over halfway through the story.

You continued reading for another minute or two, just in case her sleep was very light. When you looked up again she was still asleep, so as quietly as you could, you stood up and put the book back next to her bed.

You crouched down to kiss her forehead as well and pulled the comforter to cover her better. You smiled down at the young 10-year-old and quietly exited her room and shut her door.

You turned and were startled by Akaza staring at you. You almost jumped out of your skin, clenching the fabric over your heart. "Good god Akaza could have given me a warning," you huffed, heart only barely slowing down after Akaza scared you.

He quirked his head, a small smile coming over his face and a light chuckle leaving his mouth. "Sorry mother," he snickered but said nothing else. "What did you need?" You questioned as you walked towards the kitchen.

He trailed behind you, his hands clasped behind his back. "Just curious where you were, didn't see you for a while." He remarked. You released a breath through your nose, "Misa and Oka needed bedtime stories. Misa had a nightmare, and poor Oka needed some attention."

Akaza waited for you to turn around, and rolled his eyes with a huff. As soon as you turned back around, however, his face was neutral again. "What are you doing now then?" Akaza asked as he moved closer to you.

"Preparing breakfast for tomorrow," you stated as you moved around the kitchen. Akaza hummed, only standing nearby and watching, waiting for instruction. You gave none, so he just stood there and waited for you to finish.

After you had washed your hands you turned your full attention to him, cocking your head in inquisition. "Do you need something Akaza?" You spoke candidly.

A small flush covered his cheeks, and he turned away from you, opening up his posture slightly and showing his palms forward. You smiled sympathetically, coming forward and leading him toward the family room.

You opened and closed the door behind the two of you, and sat down. You tugged him into the empty space in front of you. He was facing you but sunk into an embrace with your hands carding through his hair.

His head rested against your shoulder, his breath slowing the longer you stayed together with your hands moving through his hair, occasionally dipping down and gently sweeping across his forehead.

Not long after you felt his breathing slow and heard his slight snoring begin. You couldn't help the small giggle from escaping as you heard him snore in your arms. You looked down at the demon in your arms, a sweet smile taking hold.

At that moment you felt your own exhaustion catch up with you, slamming into you like a train. With that, you maneuvered yourself into a more comfortable position and allowed sleep to grab hold of you.

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You awoke to a sharp burning sensation. "Ow, shit," you grit, frantically searching for the source of the burn. You felt alarmed as you saw the beginning rays of the sunlight touching your exposed leg.

With a grunt in pain, you shifted Akaza off of you, limping out of the direct sunlight and pulling him with you. Fuck, fuck fuck, you chanted as you tried to drag him through the halls. You kept running into direct sunlight, and as the morning wore on it became more and more apparent how royally screwed you were.

"Come on," you growled and tried to shake Akaza awake, "wake the fuck up." He wasn't waking so you shook your head and reared your arm back. A loud resounding crack echoed through the halls.

A deep reverberating growl followed quickly after. Akaza tackled you into the sun, you both hissing in pain. In your effort to get out of the sun, you broke the fabric of the door next to you, which created a more concentrated beam of light.

You both were trying to scramble away, seeming to get trapped by light on all sides. Akaza still hadn't fully woken either so he was still trying to fight you whenever the space permitted.

"God dammit Akaza stop!" You yelled as you were trying to pry his grip off of your upper arm. His eyes were delirious, snapping at you like a wild animal as he continued to fight you even as his skin burned.

The abundance of noise produced by the two of you fighting drew the attention of both the slayers and your other children. Sasori and Arita were the first to see the fight between the two upper-level demons.

They skid to a stop in front of the two of you after running out of their rooms, and as the younger children came out of their own rooms they ushered them away as quickly as possible, hoping that you would be alright.

They could both see the myriad of burns on both your and Akaza's skin, but they knew they had no chance of separating a fight between the two powerful demons, nor could they block the sun from touching you as it would only put them in the fray of the flying claws.

Mitsuri and Rengoku ran to the scene as quickly as they could, swords drawn and at the ready. But they stopped when they saw the fight between you and Akaza, confused if this was on purpose or not.

They quickly realized this was not a sanctioned fight, however, not only by the look on your face but when they saw the burns covering your skin. They both stepped forward, thinking about ending the fight, but you grabbed Akaza's jaw, jamming it open with your arm, and turned to yell at them.

"Stay back!" You yelled with your face pinched in agony as Akaza's fangs dug into your skin. They saw how your canines had grown, poking out from your lips as you grit your teeth at the pain of the sun actively burning your skin.

Both the slayers noticed that you and Akaza were burning at a slower rate than other demons did, but it was an afterthought as they both worried for you. They knew that it was in their best interest to stay out of the fight but they wanted to help in some way.

Rengoku turned to Mitsuri, "get the kids out," he commanded as he ran off toward the main building of the estate. Mitsuri nodded after her former master, jumping over the two of you and rushing into the house.

Mitsuri was unsure what Rengoku was running off to do, but she got straight to work, filing the kids out of the house. After she had jumped over the two of you she rushed down the hall, seeing Arita poking his head out from a door frame.

"Arita," she stage whispered. Arita's head snapped to her, eyes sharpening before softening at the sight of her bright pink and green hair. "Did you break up-" he was cut off by a loud growl and a responding hiss.

He shook his head in disappointment, the sounds giving him the answer he was looking for. "Sorry," she called to him, "(Y/n) said not to, so I'm here to get you all out," Mitsuri spoke as she crept forward and entered the room all the children were huddled in.

Mitsuri could see the fear on some of the older kid's faces, the younger ones had their ears covered and eyes pinched shut. Mitsuri felt sad at seeing how scared the children were, but she shook off her personal feelings and rushed inside the room, and closed the door behind herself.

"Okay," she commanded and caught all of the children's attention. "I'm going to break the wall, and we'll go out single file." She spoke as she went over to the wall, shifting her sword so the pommel was facing the wall.

She shifted her stance, wrenching her arm back and smalling the pommel of her sword into the wall. It took another two strikes before the wall broke, and from there she tore the hole open so that they could fit through.

"Rué and Ide out first, then Suou and Oka," Mitsuri commanded. Arita and Sasori grabbed Rué and Ide and pushed them through the opening in the wall. They protested, not wanting to be left alone. Sasori tried to comfort them, but they wouldn't let go of the older two.

Arita's brow twitched and he grabbed them both and pushed them through the hole, grabbed Suou and Oka, and shoved them out after the younger two. Arita rounded on the last two, "Misa, Rō, out." He ordered. The last two scrambled out of the hole, not wanting to be tossed through like the younger four.

Arita made Sasori exit before him and turned towards Mitsuri to tell her to leave first as well. But before he could get a word out she had pushed him and he tumbled out of the building.

He was annoyed and upset at first but she was jumping through before he could voice any of his complaints. "Now, get to Shinobu. She'll be able to take care of you. Head that way," Mitsuri pointed away from the fight and each of the children held each other's hands and ran off.

Mitsuri was glad how well they listened, but her mood was quickly soured at seeing you and Akaza tumbling around. Akaza had you pinned to a tree, thankfully in the shade so you had both stopped actively burning, but you were barely fending off his snapping jaws.

Mitsuri noticed how Akaza's eyes were glazed over, and she had an assumption that he was either in an insane dream, or Muzan was somehow controlling him. She attempted to step forward again, but your eyes flit over to her, a sharp glare and shake of your head following.

Mitsuri felt useless, seeing how injured you were and how every time someone tried to intervene you told them no. "Please let me help!" She yelled to you.

Mitsuri quickly realized how much of a terrible mistake that was. Akaza stopped trying to eat you, his head slowly turning towards her. Mitsuri felt the heat of panic invade her chest.

"No!" you shouted, scrambling to your feet. Akaza had come at Mitsuri, straight into the sun. Mitsuri had only just been able to bring her sword up, stabbing him through the abdomen.

You ran into the sun, tackling Akaza off Mitsuri and tossing him into a nearby tree. You were crouched in front of her, heaving in pain. "You alright?" You questioned, preparing for when he tried to come after you again.

Mitsuri was wheezing, having not expected the attack. "Yeah," she huffed, trying to sit up. "Stay down," you ordered as you pushed down on her shoulder. "If he thinks you're dead he'll leave you alone."

"What's happening?" Mitsuri questioned. You shrugged, "not sure, I've never seen this happen before, but killing him doesn't feel right." You answered, hissing once again at the burning sensation of the sun. You rushed back into the shade, waiting for Akaza to get up and come after you again.