chap 1

You're so pretty!

The night air on her tense muscles was nice, Shinobu had to admit.

It wasn't often that she finished a mission this early. Her crow had told her that there was a small concentration of weak demons near a northwestern village. The village was large, but secluded, so the demons killings weren't very hard to point out. However, those demons were more a side hustle, as her other (rather more important) mission was to hunt down a powerful ranked demon that not a lot of info had been collected on.

This demon was likely to be a member of the Twelve Kazuki, and since Shinobu was quickly climbing the ranks in the core, this was the perfect opportunity to prove herself a worthy candidate for being a hashira. She would admit, though, that she was a bit nervous. This mission did seem a bit more in her sister's range of skill and has little to no information on her prey, which she relied heavily upon so she could properly prepare. But she was nothing if not resilient carried herself onward.

Again, killing the smaller, more weak demons was child's play, and she had finished picking them off with her poisons in less than an hour. Now onto the main course - the demon moon. She had prepared her most potent chemicals for this occasion and wanted to get a good idea of the enemy before she prepared her weapon just yet. After all, she didn't want to use her best material if the demon moon wasn't all they were cracked up to be.

She quickly explored to outskirts of the town looking for a inkling of her next target. Exploring took a whole other hour as the it was hard to find clues when there was still mangled bits and pieces of victims scattered around the woods by the previous demons. She wondered if she'd have to take another day to hunt until she came across something very odd on the trees deep into the wood.

She briefly hovered her fingertips above the cold substance before pressing down gently.

"Frost?" She raised an eyebrow.

Considered that the demons she had killing were more close to the village and didn't harbor such abilities, Shinobu quickly estimated that this was the work of her next target. Following the trail of frozen leaves and grass, she finally stumbled upon the remaining carcass of what appeared to be a young woman, although it was hard to tell as the it was mostly just bone. The sight was nauseating but she pushed the feeling down her throat and reminded herself of her duties. Even after everything she's seen, nothing can truly make her get over the horrid vision of a fresh victim.

She fastened her pace through the tress as she just wanted to get this over with. The faster she did this, the faster she could go home, the faster she could see her sister's, the faster she could become a hashira. The thought of her goals pushed her through the growing scent of blood and iron - she could tell she was getting closer.

Finally, after what seemed like a decade, she reached the end of the icy trail

-

-

-

but no demon.

'Dammit,' she thought to herself, 'where-'

"Hello there!"

The sound was ****** into her ear from behind. She immediately threw her body as far away as she could to distance herself from its user.

Her eyes quickly caught the sight of her opponent. A man - blond tainted with red on the top, pale skin, towering frame (easily over 6'), and very strange eyes. In his hands he held two closed golden fans, likely his weapon of choice. She didn't fail to notice the red splotches of blood spilled on his attire.

"Hello! Wow so pretty! Hi! What's your name?" He asked with almost a child-like innocence, much to her disgust considering the blood on his clothing.

She straighted herself out before answering.

"Hello, names aren't important. What is important, however is telling me how many victims you've claimed in the nearing town as of now."

It was a small pleasure, but she did like to converse with the demons she was about to slay even if they were blood thirsty monsters. Slaying was more that vicious brutality after all. She wanted to get in touch with what was left of their humanity before they met their end, and it helped her gather any information she would need when giving her following report.

"You're so pretty! And cute too! Are you a hashira?" His face continued to maintain its innocence.

'Of course he skipped over the question' she thought. He was kind of annoying. She sighed before starting again with a frustrated smile.

"You said that already... How about I tell you about myself AFTER you tell me about yourself" She pointed to herself and him accordingly. She didn't want to underestimate him but his naive demeanor was making that difficult.

"Oh okay! Lemme think..." he brought a fan up to rest his chin upon as he searched his mind. If he wasn't a demon, she might of thought he was cute.

"....I'd say that I've eaten about four women from this village - I've only been here about a day or so. You were talking about just this one right? I couldn't even begin to know how many I've eaten so far."

His answer was grotesque but helpful... Wait a minute.. did he say woman? Just woman?

"Woman?"

"Oh yes! Don't get me wrong, I'll eat whoever when I'm hungry, but woman are so much more nutritious!" His eyes brightened at his own words and his smile widened. He continued, "but none of them were even half as beautiful and lovely as you! Now tell me about yourself! Come on now, I'm listening." His fan came up again so he could rest his head against it, intent on listening to her next words.

She swallowed her disgust and hesitantly responded.

"My name is Shinobu Kocho, and I was sent her to slay you - so please don't make this too difficult." She readied her nichirin blade that she had already armed with poison during his long rambling. She was done talking to him.

-

-

-

'Shit'

She hadn't even thought to check his eyes during her assessment of him, she was distracted by his careless attitude

Upper moon two

TWO?

Now she knew why he was so careless

She knew she was facing an a Twelve Kizuki but how did they not catch that it was an Upper Moon?

She continue to prepare for her attack but this time her attitude was different. She recognized that this was her final stand, and that the chances of her making it out alive were in the negatives. She cursed herself for taking his presence so lightly and foolishly believing she would soon become a hashira.

'I'm sorry Kanae, Kanao, Aoi. I wish I was stronger.'

Right at the moment she was about to strike, she felt cold hands around her waist, gripping from behind. Any oxygen that had been in her lungs was now gone. How had he moved so quickly? She couldn't even see him.

His hands firmly held her, destroying any chance she had of getting away. When her mind finally cleared she resorted to flipping her sword and trying to jab him from behind, and to her surprise it worked.

He released his hold, and she used this opportunity to distance herself again. It was pointless to try running away entirely,if her poison worked she wanted to finish the job and if it didn't he would catch her eventually. She wasn't one to flee in fear.

The flesh around the stab wound in his side was the first to start melting, but the rest of his body was quick to follow suit. What was left of his hands reached up to cup his mutilated face as his eyes had started to spill out. But the sight isn't was startled her.

It was his laugh. How was he laughing if his face was mel-

Her thought was cut short as his hand released himself and he looked up. His face - no his whole body - was pulling itself back together. Her poison, her most powerful one at that, had merely slowed him down. She felt her heart shatter.

"Well that didn't do much, but that's okay! You tried you best. That did really hurt though!"

He disappeared from her vision,  but the sensation of his hands on her waist again replaced it. She felt him tower over her from behind.

"You can make it up to me later."

Her vision went dark.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***