With an elegant and composed slash of his blade, the demon began to vanish into ash.
Falling to his feet from the heights above, his long, unruly black locks flowed behind him, along with his mismatched haori.
Maintaining his stoic composure as he walked away from the corpse fading from existence, the man, unbothered by the cold, slid his katana back into his sheath.
Another demon killed, another day he lives on.
He trudged his way back to the village, ready to tell them that he killed another one of their citizens, that he ended the life of someone a family within the community most likely held dear.
No, they were gone well before then. Demons are the furthest from human a creature could become.
He looked down at the ground beneath his feet, puzzled.
If this was indeed true, if it was right that demons and humans could never once coexist, then why did he let those siblings go all those months ago?
He continued to second-guess himself constantly during this time, wondering if he made the right decision to let the demon sister live, and to recommend them to Master Urokodaki and have them trained to be demon slayers. He questioned whether or not it was right to make the choice he did. Maybe that demon girl already ate her brother by now, maybe they were both dead.
That was the most likely outcome, and he would have to live with it.
It's been a while since he was confident in himself, and sure of the decisions he decided to take.
A crow flew above in the clear night skies, its caw attracting his large blue eyes upwards.
It was his crow, circling him, searching for a place to land.
He stopped walking, letting the old bird fly down to a branch on his right.
The old crow had tears in their eyes, however.
Something within him churned around, an uneasy feeling coming over him.
"D-....Dead..." The crow sputtered,
"D-Demon Slayer Yae.....i-is dead....."
His eyes, constantly displaying an expression of indifference and stoicism, flared open for a brief moment.
His jaw widened slightly, though no words escaped his lips.
He had nothing to say, no way to react.
So, he didn't.
".....I see."
He turned his head away from the crow, and continued to walk.
The crow followed close, turning a blind eye to the bitter tear that hit the ground.
Once again, he began to second-guess himself.
Maybe he shouldn't have given those bullets to her.
Fast forward another month or so, and...well,
nothing has happened, literally nothing.
Shinobu was still healing up, Sakusa's wounds opened a few times and he was screaming like a baby, they went about the most boringly average routine every single day, recovery was the most agonizingly stagnant period in Shinobu's recent memory.
They did not do anything.
Well, aside from when Shinobu felt good enough to start working on Sakusa herself (severe fatigue and a few torn muscles was all she really suffered that was of note, while Sakusa had literal holes in his body, so naturally, she was healed up before him), there was almost nothing different from their previous relationship before.
But, of course, she didn't want anything different. No, no, nothing different at all.
She was completely fine with this.
She was content just being his partner, sticking around in each other's company as the summer months faded away and autumn replaced them.
It wasn't like she cared, no, not at all.
She was fine.
.....okay, maybe a little less fine than she said she was.
He was still an obnoxious loudmouth, consistently barking at her and calling her names out of nowhere.
"Oi, pancake, move your ass, I'm getting tired carrying all this food home!"
"Shut up, brat, I'm trying to sleep! Go read downstairs if you're gonna stay up all fucking night!"
"God damnit, you little shit, you made my egg too spicy! I feel like I'm gonna cough up blood if I eat any more!"
Even remembering that last one was infuriating, given how she actually got out of bed early to make him breakfast.
She might have expected him to be a little abrasive still, and considering how this was hereditary and completely out of his control, she might be able to turn a blind eye to it. But the butterfly girl was hoping that he'd at least smile a little more for her, or even show a kind gesture every once in a while, like making her breakfa-
No, wait, scratch that, he'd just make her tempura.
Shinobu got dressed that day, feeling almost at her peak once more. Five week's worth of rest was enough for her muscles, fractures and cuts to heal, using her breaths.
Sakusa recovered soon after, despite the fact he looked like swiss cheese at the end of his fight with Irire.
The plan was to head on down to a nearby lake for some fishing, only around an hour's leisurely stroll away. It was mostly because it was closer than Nagasaki was, and people didn't usually frequent the area the Kakushi described to them, mostly due to the fact that the red uniforms they wore were a telltale sign of the Kari, also known as horrifying monsters nobody would want to come across.
So, that meant that for a good kilometre around them, there would be nobody but themselves.
"Hey, Saku-san~, the day is real nice, isn't it~?"
The boy to her right couldn't agree more. Holding the rods, both their bags, and a few more materials over his shoulder, Sakusa looked up at the trees hanging over top of their pathway down towards the lake, nodding.
The sun was out and did provide them with some warmth down on their bodies, but there was a strong, cooling wind blowing in from the sea that left the temperature blissfully mild, a perfect early-autumn's day.
"Yup," the redhead hummed in agreement, "it is pretty nice out."
Turning towards the girl on his left, he said, "You better catch something since we're gonna be eating whatever we get for dinner, Kocho."
"Yes, yes, I know, Saku-san~!" Shinobu replied, "Don't worry, I'll catch something!"
I will not catch something.
Fast forward two hours into the day, and since the two teenagers waded knee-deep into the chilly, calm waters of the rocky lake,
neither one of them had so much as a nibble on their lines.
Sakusa caught a stick, a brick, a shirt, a bundle of weeds and a pair of panties already, but no fish. Shinobu hadn't gotten a single thing, however, and by the looks of it, she'd be waiting for her first bite until she was dead.
So far, nothing.
They were just standing there, waiting in silence.
Shinobu had never been so mind-numbingly bored.
She snuck glances over at the boy beside her, slightly furrowing her eyebrows as he started stomping his foot in the water impatiently, as if he was waiting for a late train to arrive at the junction.
Clicking her tongue in her thoughts, Shinobu said, Look at you all annoyed, as if you didn't pick this spot out yourself....I bet you're scaring the fish off with your giant shadow covering so much of the lake.....
"Hey, Saku-san~," The butterfly girl called out to the scowling redhead, "Why don't we just head back now, and maybe take a trip down to the city instead~? It's still bright out, we could make good time if we go now~!"
"Not happening, pancake."
....Again? Really? You were staring at them when we went to the beach, so maybe you could stop telling me I'm flat from now on, you prick!
"I walked an hour to get here, and I want a damn fish!" Sakusa grumbled, "You can just pull out one of the rod racks from the bag I brought and set it up if you're getting tired, but I'm staying here until I get myself a goddamned fish!"
Oi. Sakusa. You've caught everything except a fish today. Just give up.
"Ah, haha~, oh, well~!" Shinobu waved the boy off, and waded back towards shore, walking over to the bags put up against a tree a good distance from the lake itself.
As she opened the bag, however, she heard a pair of footsteps behind her.
She turned around, and there he was, with a defeated expression on his face, slouched shoulders and the rod in his hand.
".....get me one of those too." Sakusa limply pointed at the bag.
The two teenagers shoved their rod racks into the ground, making sure that they're firmly embedded in the ground so that whatever fish they may catch won't just pull them right out into the water. They parked themselves up against a tree with some rice balls and water, and began to wait once more.
Once again, nothing happened.
The two ate in silence for the most part, with only occasional small talk filling the void between them as they ate.
Shinobu clicked her tongue in her thoughts. She didn't remember things being so awkward between them.
The butterfly girl quietly observed and gauged the mood of the boy beside her, sneaking glances and trying to recollect if there would be anything that happened recently that could make him turn so cold so suddenly.
Her mind drew a blank, however. Sakusa was just too unreadable at the moment.
She didn't like that, of course.
She never likes anything this guy does.
"Hey, Kocho."
Her violet eyes widened the instant she heard him call her, and the girl with the butterfly haori darted her head in his direction a little too enthusiastically.
"Yes, Saku-san~?" She said, a genuine smile creeping up onto her lips.
Shinobu froze up a bit and gasped, however, when she saw that Sakusa was only a dozen centimetres away from her, glaring down at her with a fierce ruby orb.
...eh?
W-Why are you so close....?
She pulled back on impulse, but the boy in red and black only cupped the back of her head before she could manage to get any distance between them.
Shinobu gasped at the action, letting out a small whimper as the teenager leaned towards her.
Sakusa was inching closer and closer, forcing a deep red blush onto the girl's cheeks.
N-No, stop it!
Wha-What are you...doing...?!
Panicking in her thoughts, her body refused to react, instead, only staying still, peering back at the boy studying her with innocent, glossy violet eyes.
The panic began to slow and dwindle with every second she lost herself in the ruby in front of her.
"Kocho," Sakusa muttered, "I need to ask you something."
"Yes, whatever you need, Saku-san." Shinobu replied without even so much as a pause to take in his words. She let her thoughts slip out off of her tongue.
"Can you do whatever it is I ask of you, Kocho?" He repeated himself, his voice getting an octave deeper to match his serious demeanour.
"Yes, Saku-san." Shinobu replied immediately.
"Good."
"Kocho," Sakusa continued. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, however, and he lifted his gaze from her, turning his head off to the side for a second. He let out a huff, leaving Shinobu feeling a little on edge, anticipating through the silence.
Then, he spoke again, his tone suddenly quiet.
"Did Kanae....ever....mention me....at all?"
Shinobu froze again.
.....huh?
"....Kanae....mentioning you....?" Shinobu thought out loud. The question didn't process in her mind until later, and she furrowed her eyebrows in suspicion.
Why would Kanae talk about him in the first place, let alone to her?"
"Well?" Sakusa pushed a little, pulling his hand away from the girl's raven locks and letting her head go from his grasp. "Did she talk about me at all?"
Shinobu paused for a second, this question was a difficult one to answer for her. For one, it's been over two years since her sister died, and she only just met Sakusa a handful of months ago, meaning any mention of his name would have just gone in one ear and out the other.
It would've been difficult to recollect that far anyways, given how she shut out a few memories here and there to spare herself the suffering of crying in her bed, remembering those moments.
So, Shinobu shook her head. "No, Saku-san, she did not."
The boy seemed to flinch for a moment, his eye flaring up and then returning to his usual stoic expression.
"....I see." Sakusa pulled away completely, shuffling back into his place against the tree, lifting one knee and hanging his arm over it as he planted the other hand beside him.
He didn't seem to be affected by her reply whatsoever, however. He seemed indifferent.
"Ah, well, I guess it makes sense." The boy simply shrugged, "She wouldn't want to talk about someone like me around you anyways."
Shinobu furrowed her eyebrows again.
Something was up, it didn't take a genius to tell. His indifference to her reply, his lax comments, the way he suddenly brought something up like this so suddenly, she could already tell there was a deeper meaning behind what the boy in black and red said.
Her interest- no, her worry was piqued.
Just what did this boy know that she didn't?
"Saku-san, because you asked me that, I can ask you something in return, right~?" She asked cheerfully, feigning her jolly nature to mask her growing concern.
"Yeah, whatever." The boy replied through a mouthful of rice.
All cheerfulness was instantly stripped from the air as Shinobu began to speak, her tone firm and the complete antithesis of the carefree nature she put on earlier.
"Sakusa." The butterfly girl jerked her head towards him, her expression firm and tight.
"Why do you ask so many things about my sister?"
Sakusa paused, and stopped chewing.
He didn't speak, instead, only staring off into the lake they sat in front of.
Shinobu kept her eyes on the boy beside her, tensing up with every passing second of silence.
Part of her didn't want to know the answer to the question she just asked. Sakusa evidently had some form of relationship with her deceased sister, but what that relationship may have been, was a total mystery.
Friends? Rivals? A sibling-like bond?
....or maybe....
No, that was the last thing she would want to hear from him.
That would break her.
Her stomach churned in her core as Sakusa let out a sigh, tossing the rest of his food away and turning his head towards the girl beside him.
"....Kanae was special to you, right?" He said.
"Of course, she was my sister." She didn't so much as pause in her reply. That answer was obvious.
Sakusa paused again, trying to find the right words to say. He spoke again.
"Kocho....for two long, painful years, I wasn't allowed to know what happened to Kanae. I wasn't allowed to attend her funeral, I wasn't allowed to go to her grave, I wasn't even allowed to know who or what got to her."
"They kept everything from me. The other Hashira refused to tell me anything, not even Gyomei could bring himself to say anything to me on her death, and I've known him for seven years. I tried to ask Oyakata-sama on multiple occasions, but he only diverted the conversation. They gave me no explanation, no clarity, not even a little bit of guidance or the slightest idea of how she died. I was beyond infuriated, and I took it out on everything and everyone. I even attacked some other demon slayers in my rage, and destroyed a part of a village when I took out my anger on a pathetic little demon cunt and went overboard on them."
"So tell me, Kocho," Sakusa said, sharpening his blood red eye as he looked down on the girl beside him, "Why do you think that is, huh? Why do you think they kept this from me?"
Shinobu remained silent, staring at the ground, biting her lip.
She didn't know.
Sakusa waited another second, then with a long sigh, he said,
"It's because they were afraid I would go berserk, and destroy everything around me."
Standing up and leaving a shocked Shinobu on the ground, Sakusa's bitterness returned once again as he looked down on the girl beneath him. "Don't ever think for a second that Kanae wasn't special to me, Kocho. She was special enough to me that the Demon Slayer Corps, a militia designed to slaughter man-eating demons and combat a life form capable of destroying all of Japan,"
"Feared what I, a human, would do to them, if she ever lost her life."
Shinobu kept her eyes glued to the floor, feeling like she needed to throw up.
What Sakusa just told her, was the last thing she ever wanted to hear.
She didn't need to be told exactly who Kanae was to him.
She didn't need to be told that Kanae most likely felt the same way.
She didn't need to be told that whatever they had between each other was still held by her mission partner,
and she didn't need to be told that the feelings inside of her were just plain wrong, if that was the case.
Looking over at Sakusa out of the corner of her eye, Shinobu Kocho felt no bitterness towards him. All she could do was weather the discomfort and sinking feeling inside of her.
She watched as he walked towards the rods, and caught a fish, the first one of the day.
The next day, Hisao came home.
Sakusa stood on the top of the mountain, staring off at the landscape, admiring the twists, turns and abstract nature of the coastal region.
If you looked closely, and if you had a keen eye, you could make out the ocean, far off into the distance, a blue clearing among the trees and cities pressed up against the shoreline.
It was peaceful, with only sounds of the wind singing in his ears keeping him company so high up.
His bird came in, however, swooping down from above, carrying a note on his foot.
The large eagle landed beside him, and allowed Sakusa to crouch down and remove the letter from his foot.
The second the Hashira unraveled the note and read it, however, he froze in shock, letting out a choked gasp as the note flew out of his hands and into the wind.
Oh....oh fuck.....already...so soon?!
Sakusa, with his face twisted in panic and worry, raced off of the mountain peak and back inside, rushing towards Shinobu's quarters down below.
Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit! This ain't good, this ain't fucking good!
Practically bouncing off the walls as he slipped past the Kakushi and down the staircase, the red-stained Kari boy burst down the door of the butterfly Hashira's quarters.
Shinobu darted her head towards her door instantly, and though she began to bark in her thoughts about the lessons of privacy and respecting her boundaries, the look on Sakusa's face alerted her that now was not the time.
Panting, with a ruby eye wide with shock, Sakusa said, "Kocho, we have a big fucking problem."
The butterfly girl felt a chill run up her spine as the man, who was normally oh so firm and thick-skinned the time that she's known her, displayed a look of genuine worry, one she had not seen from him that many times before.
Whatever this was, it was big.
"The Archangels are back, Kocho." Sakusa told her, "and this time,"
"There's three, all gunning for Shimabara Bay."