BUTTERFLY : SHINOBU KOCHO (PART ONE)

Part 1: Chapter 6; The Beauty in Destruction

Before long, she was starting to remember the moments of the previous night, and her cheeks were beginning to tint pink again.

She remembered the comfortable warmth of Sakusa's chest against her cheek as she lay in his arms, hopping from rooftop to rooftop under the moonlight, and the soft smile she felt creep up on her lips the longer she had the privilege of feeling such a bliss inside of her.

She remembered the faint sign of the defensive Hashira letting down his walls, breaking out into a smile that made her heart skip a beat, a sight she admittedly wanted to see at least one more time, just to get a glimpse of such a beauty.

Shinobu stopped completely in the middle of the now-empty street, staring down at the ground with a frown, and a sad look in her eye.

Tch......stupid Sakusa, I haven't even known you for a week and you're already causing problems for me.....

Just when she was about to give up on her searching, however, she heard a sound, one unlike any other.

A faint, but chilling repetitive thumping in the distance.

Shinobu's blood ran cold simply from the sound she heard, it was worse than demonic.

It was....unholy.

W-What is that.....

Part of her didn't want to know what the source of the hollow and terror-inducing thumping was.

It started slow, and soft, but gradually sped up and increased in potency, wearing Shinobu down like a weight on her shoulders.

She tried to think of what this could be, what this chilling aura could be.

I-Is this a Demon Art? In broad daylight? W-What could be causing this, it's horrifying, and cold, it's like death is ringing in my head.....

She had to know what was causing this sound.

Finding Sakusa could wait, this energy was enough to incapacitate a civilian if it kept going on for much longer.

So Shinobu broke out into a sprint towards the sound of the thumping, her stomach churning and her mouth getting dry just in anticipation.

With every metre she ran, getting further and further away from Shimabara and deeper into the forest surrounding it, the sound grew louder.

The thumping was ringing through her head at this point, practically deafening her completely.

Needless to say, Shinobu was shaking.

T-This pressure, so intense....

The butterfly girl wanted to sprint in the other direction, she was so scared. The beating was endless and repetitive, growing in tempo and volume and practically ringing in her bones.

Passing tree after tree, Shinobu barely even knew where she was anymore.

The thumping was the only constant, killing her senses with its arctic cold aura.

Seconds turned into minutes turning into hours turning into days for her, the thumping in her ears being the only constant.

Shinobu began to pant and her pace grinded to a crawl, her vision getting blurry and her palms beginning to sweat.

The pressure was growing to be too much.

She slowed to a limp, panting and gasping for air, completely lost.

Is this.....where....I die.....

She was certain she would never make it out.

The thumping remained, ringing in her ears like an incessant drumming killing her in the slowest of ways, reducing her thoughts to nothing, driving her to insanity.