BUTTERFLY : SHINOBU KOCHO (PART ONE)

Part 1: Chapter 32; Climax

It didn't annoy her so much that he was saying and doing things with her, like staying up late with her to pass the time when she couldn't sleep, making her favourite tea after training without her asking, and worst of all, giving her praise for different things throughout the day in the most casual of ways.

No, what annoyed her the most, was the fact that he meant literally nothing behind his actions.

For someone who was so perceptive in a battle and who could pick her apart and read her like a book so easily, he was completely oblivious and dense when it came to his own actions.

It was only the obvious (and often unintentionally lewd) things that got to him.

One time, just when she thought she was able to undress for the night and slip into a nightgown, a certain red-stained idiot walked right in, evidently looking to yell at something.

What he got instead was an eyeful of something he should never have seen, an instant bloody nose and a foot to the face.

That was an example of his obliviousness in full value that day, and just as he had now, he was still clueless to the effect his words could have on her.

"I-I...see...." She muttered again, this time only because her cheeks were too flushed for her to think of anything else to say.

Tch, damnit, it's happening again....

"Alright, so, here's what I was thinking for you." The redhead explained, with Shinobu listening intently.

"You're a glass cannon, so to speak. You're lightning fast on your feet and given enough time, you can make a poison for just about any demon, but you're tiny. Like, really tiny."

Yeah. I know. I'm the tiny one, and you're the big freaking mutant that's over 40 centimetres taller than me. Big whoop.

"You're really light and nimble, but that's at the expense of having less stamina and much less durability than someone like me." Sakusa said, "That's why there's a fighting tactic that's practically built just for you."

"Ah~, and what's that, Saku-san~?" Shinobu replied.

"Simple. You finish the fight as quickly as possible, in one strike."

Yeah...no, sorry, Sakusa......

Finding the female demon out of the corner of her eye from where she hid, concealing her presence to the best of her abilities, Shinobu lost all concentration and rationality, reverting back to the anger she bore within her.

Her violet eyes, coated in bloodlust, stared down the girl flying in the air, with veins lining her forehead in rage.

The plan Sakusa laid out for her was simple;

"Strike early with your new breathing form. Get your strongest poison as deep into the demon's blood as you can, and then play the waiting game. Don't think for a second that just because you can run faster, jump higher and attack with more ferocity that you can match her one-on-one. Razel is going to come at you with the intent to kill from the very start, she's not going to be dicking around again. So strike hard early, Kocho, and play the waiting game. Throw a couple more insurance injections here and there,"

"But don't attack any more than what is absolutely necessary. Hide in the shadows, and let the poison work its magic."

No.

That plan wasn't going to work anymore.

Not for her, and not for Yae.

She wasn't going to sit back any longer, slipping away when Razel got too close to her position and waiting for her to detonate the whole city trying to find her out.