(spoilers for both Douma's canon and Mirrored Sunset backstory below the cut)
Douma was still revered for his uniqueness, and still became the figurehead of the Eternal Paradise Cult. And, for a long time, he still felt nothing for the world around him and its inhabitants.
So what changed in Mirrored Sunset? What allowed Douma to become a Demon Slayer, and later Hashira, instead of Upper Moon 2 of the Twelve Kizuki?
One day, somewhere between Douma turning eighteen and twenty, a girl came through the doors of the temple. Horribly bruised, terrified of her own shadow, and her only possessions being the clothes on her back and the baby in her arms. Her name was Kotoha, and she was seeking sanctuary from her abusive husband and father of her child, Inosuke.
Douma became the closest thing the enamoured as he was capable of with Kotoha. The other souls of the Eternal Paradise Cult always looked to him for their answers, revered as little short of divine, but not her. No, Kotoha never came to him to solve her problems. But she sought him out for another reason. Company.
Over the months since they met, Kotoha and Inosuke slowly broke down Douma's walls. It was an otherwise mundane day, one where Douma was playing with Inosuke while Kotoha laughed alongside her son, when that final layer was cracked open. When Douma realized how much he cared for the Hashibira family. And how much he truly could no longer stand to remain with the cult his parents had founded around them.
They left it all behind. Douma gathered Kotoha and Inosuke in his arms, and declared they would vanish and never return to the gilded cage. They ran in the dead of night, hand in hand with Inosuke in Kotoha's arms once again.
They would cross paths with a demon, and the Moon Hashira who would save them and guide them to the safety of the Corps. And Douma took up fighting. To protect his family. And Kotoha, though not becoming a Slayer, also learned to fight. After all, demons weren't the only threat to their little family. The Eternal Paradise Cult would undoubtedly try to retrieve their unwilling leader, and would surely go after the woman and baby who, as far as they believed, stole him away.
I'll probably write a proper story of this, since Douma is definitely one of my favourite backstories in this AU, but this is what I got so far!
I think I'm some form of multishipper? I gravitate towards canon ships, but I have nothing against non-canon ones as long as they're not proships lol
(Rambling under the cut lmao)
If you've been around my blog before, you know that Gentan has a firm grip on me, it's a very sweet and adorable ship in my opinion. Though lately I have been deep in the Tankana trenches if you've noticed lol
Some might know that I also ship Sanegiyuu, but I want to make it clear that NO, Sanegiyuu is not canon, if I say that it is, then it's a joke😭💀 I've also drawn Shinogiyuu before, since I do think that it's a cute ship.
Yoriuta, Amakaga, Hakukoyu, and Obamitsu will always have a special place in my heart, no questions asked.
Inotan is cute as well, I've drawn fanart for an Inotan fanfic before. (The art is here and the fanfic is here if you're interested)
Inoaoi? They're stupid and crazy, I love their chaotic energy. They're perfect for eachother fr fr
Zennezu? Zenitsu could be a little less crazy about Nezuko, and women in general, but it's not a proship, and Nezuko seemed okay with marrying Zenitsu, so I have nothing against this ship lol
Rarepairs? I love them :3 (As long as they're not proships >:( I'm not touching a ship if it's a proship)
Lately I've seen the ship between Sumire (one of Kamado ancestors) and Michikatsu's unnamed son, and I would like to say that I may or may have not grown a small soft spot for that ship. It's a bit fun to think about how they'd end up together, and I think they are around the same age, so it wouldn't be a proship?
Now, most popular demon ships in my opinion tend to be... weird. A lot of it is just killer x victim, which is just so not my cup of tea. (I've seen Doukoto around as well, and in the canon universe that's just... not it for me. Maybe in the Kimetsu Academy or in a swap au they could work, but not in canon)
I won't say much about demon related ships, since I personally don't ship any of the demons with anyone, except for Akaza/ Hakuji with Koyuki for obvious reasons. But if you do ship any of the demons with someone, you do you, as long as it's not weird and a proship.
A bonus mention: Michikatsu x his ex wife.
This ship causes so much fights in the fandom, and I genuinely can't understand why. Yes, Michikatsu left her. No, he didn't hate her.
At the end of the day, that is just a ship, and... yeah, it kind of is canon, just in the background. No, shipping them is not the same as shipping Shizu with Kyogo or Nakime with her ex husband. We see one manga panel of them, and I would say they at least look civil with eachother.
If I had to say, they had a polite relationship—not a loving one, I doupt they were in love lol—and didn't hate eachother. They could work more in an au or something, like a swap au or something similiar, but their relationship in the canon isn't toxic.
ALSO
The KNY fandom could calm down with the arguments about ships💀 They're literally fictional relationships between fictional characters, and romance isn't even the main focus of the story.
Ship anything you want. Focus on rarepairs or just ship explicitly canon ones. As long as you're not hurting anyone or shipping a proship or 1nc3st, I don't care, and nobody else should either.
I personally tend to like canon ships, since they're the ones we've been given most content about, but I also like non-canon ones.
Please don't send anyone death threats because they ship something else than you. At the end of the day, we have bigger problems to worry about, so let's not lose our shit over if Ship 1 is more likely to be canon that Ship 2, okay? :D
Ok what's promised is debt and here I upload the doukoto comic that I promised you a year ago on my twitter (which by the way will have the other parts in Spanish and Japanese) so enjoy it.
