BUTTERFLY : SHINOBU KOCHO (PART ONE)

Part 1: Chapter 19; An Ally

Shinobu jolted upright out of the covers in an instant, gasping in fright and panting furiously, shaking in a cold sweat as she whimpered softly.

It was another nightmare, the same as always.

The same situation, where Doma kills her sister in front of her.

S-Shit....why did it happen again....

The butterfly girl, however, was taken by surprise when she glanced around at her surroundings.

Where...am...I..?

She was in a bedroom, no doubt about it, lying in a futon next to a bowl of warm water with a towel to her left, and a folded pair of clothes to her right, the articles of fabric being a beige yukata, obi, and undergarments, along with a pair of pants.

".....what is this...?" Shinobu mumbled in confusion.

The wall on her right was lined with opened windows, letting in some light, which told Shinobu that she was somewhere in the daytime, and the warm weather told her that she was definitely sometime in the late spring, or early summer.

The door to the bedroom was in the far left corner from her, and aside from that, there was not much else of note in the plain-looking room besides a drawer, and a desk with a lantern behind her, with her needle blade lying atop her haori.

For some reason, however, she had a strong sense of deja vu from this place.

Hm....I should find out where I am.....

Shinobu leaned forward, and instantly felt a searing pain in her side.

A-Agh!

The butterfly girl instinctively reached down, and a flash of memories hit her like a truck.

The memories of her fight with Razel, how she had tried to fight using Sakusa's methods, only to be let down the instant she tried, how she had thought she had the upper hand so many times, only to fall just short and almost die once again,

and then he flooded her mind, bringing a blush to her cheeks.

How he stopped the world with the shimmer in his ruby red eye, how he brought a warmth to her skin with something as simple as a sentence, how he saved her with a raging strength unlike anything she had ever experienced before in her life, as if he was a god or something not of this world.

His smile was stuck in her head.

That stupid, stupid smile.

That smile that made her feel as though she would be safe, that smile that made her feel light and filled with life, like a cloud in the sky was pulling her up into the air, to soar and fly high above the mountains and treetops.

The smile that gave her a fuzzy feeling in her chest that pissed her off so much.

God, everything about him pissed her off.

But even so...

....I can't get your stupid face out of my head, you dummy....

As Shinobu tied the yukata around her waist, there was the sound of the door sliding open, along with the clinking of what she guessed was a teapot.

Oh? Who could that be?

The door opened, and in stepped someone Shinobu did not recognize, a young woman, who gasped in surprise when she saw the butterfly girl upright and looking back at her.

"Oh! Miss Kocho, you're awake!" The girl exclaimed with a smile.

As the girl put down the tray of teacups and tea she had in her hands, Shinobu finally managed to get a good look at her.