Of all the people. Why you? //KNY//

A luxury we can't afford

Shinobu was brought back to the real world as her door opened, revealing Muichiro.

"Shinobu... thanks for your help..."

"Oh, your welcome Muichiro-kun, but what brought this on."

"I'm leaving tonight...I have a mission...then I'm going back to stay with the tall man.

"Himejima-san? We're you staying with him before coming here?"

The boy nodded, feeling a little ashamed at not remembering his name.

"Oh...ok, well be safe Muichiro-kun and if you ever need anything your more then welcome here.

The boy simply nodded before taking a step closer to her. He reached out with his arms and hovered for a moment before offering out his hand to her. Unsure of what to do with this gesture Shinobu just took his hand in hers.

"Be safe Muichiro-kun" she said sincerely receiving a nod in return as the boy left as quickly as he entered. Despite him only being at the butterfly mansion for a few days Shinobu felt as if she'd built a strong relationship with him. She even admired his skill. To become a hashira at just 14 was seriously impressive and after watching him train she had no doubt he deserved the title.

Closing the door she settled into her chair and began to work on everything she'd ignored in favour of Tomioka and Muichiro until night fell. She did have a mission tonight, nothing too complicated though for someone of her skill level. The demon had killed a few lower ranked slayers so the master decided to send in a hashira. It was more about sending a message to the lower ranked slayers then necessity, the hashira were held in very high regard by the rest of the corps. Most were afraid of them. She understood why someone would be afraid of Shinazugawa or Iguro, even she held some fear towards them,but not her.

"I'm nothing special, the only reason I was chosen to be a hashira was because of my medical knowledge." She thought to herself on the way back from her mission.

As she arrived back at the butterfly mansion she was greeted by Aoi at the entrance, normally Kanao would be there as well but she also had a mission that night.

"Welcome back Shinobu-sama"

"Thank you Aoi, has Kanao returned yet?"

"Not yet no" the younger girl said, clearly worried about her sister.

"I'm sure she'll be fine Aoi, she's a competent slayer." Shinobu said trying to reassure her. In truth she didn't really have much faith in Kanaos' abilities, physically she was competent but mentally she was lacking.

"Kanao has no drive, no desire to succeed, the only reason she's a slayer is because Kanae told her to train hoping it would get her to open up" Shinobu thought trying not to doubt the young girl.

"I'm going to get some sleep now Aoi, you should too ok." She said, seeing how tired she looked.

"I'd rather wait for Kanao, she's not normally gone this long."

"Waiting won't make her come back any quicker, I'm sure she'll be here when you wake up."

"Ok" Aoi said reluctantly following Shinobu inside.

"Good night Aoi"

"Yeah"

Her response annoyed Shinobu, but she decided to just let it go as she left for her own bedroom her eyes growing heavy. As she expected sleep took her almost instantly.

8 hours later

"Shinobu-sama! Wake up!"

Shinobu bolted upright, suddenly wide awake

"What! What's happening!" She said matching Aoi's panick.

"Kanao still isn't back yet! Her rooms empty!"

"What, her mission shouldn't have taken this long." Shinobu replied panic being replaced by confusion.

"It's not like Kanao to be late. I'll have my crow deliver a message to the master, her missions probably just taking a bit longer then expected." She said trying to calm Aoi down, but she didn't really believe what she was saying. Her mission wasn't the kind that would take more then a few hours.

"Ok, please let me know what he says."

"I will,Aoi" Shinobu said offering as positive a smile as she could muster, as the Aoi left to start her day.

Shinobu called for her crow telling it to ask the master about Kanaos whereabouts and as quickly as it arrived it had left to deliver its message. Shinobu began her normal morning routine in an attempt to take her mind of her missing sister, despite how worried she was there were people that were relying on her.

Shinobu's mind raced at the thought of what might've happened to Kanao, although there relationship had been strained from the start she was still her sister and the idea of losing another one made her sick to the stomach. What troubled her most was how little control she had over the situation, she didn't know where Kanao went or when she left. The only thing she could do was wait and patience never was her strong point.

All day she waited, until her crow finally returned telling her to head to the masters estate urgently. This did nothing to calm her mind. She bid farewell to an Aoi that at this point was distraught and left for the masters estate, arriving in record time.

"Welcome Shinobu, I've just received your message. It is..." the master spoke

"Troubling"

The pit in Shinobu's stomach grew even deeper at his words, if the master was troubled she didn't want to think about what might've happened to Kanao.

"Last night Muichiro's crow had called for help, Kanao was the nearest slayer."

"And...what happened" she spoke, trying not to throw up after what she just heard.

"I received a short message not too long ago from Kanao's crow"

"Shinobu...I'm afraid I have bad news" the master said solemnly as tears began falling from Shinobu's eyes.

"The message said...upper moon 4-" the master spoke but was interrupted by Shinobu's cries.

But it got worse.

"Shinobu please...listen to what the crow told me."

Shinobu tried to pull herself together, but the loss of her only remaining sister and Muichiro was too much for her.

"No,no, no no no no, this can't be happening not again, this is a dream, it's one of those dreams, it has to be" she thought, she couldn't take it again, she couldn't fail again.

The master reached out and touched her shoulder, but she shoved him away turning to him with nothing but resentment.

"You did this! You sent them to their deaths! They're dead because of you!" She screamed, but it didn't help.

"They were only children! They didn't deserve to die! You killed them! This is your fault!"

"I know" the master said tears streaming freely down his face.

"I sent them to their death, their blood is on my hands. All I can do is apologise. I know it won't bring them back, and if I could give my life so that they may live then I would. I'm sorry Shinobu." The master said his eyes full of regret.

"No. I'm sorry master. I-I shouldn't blame you. It's his fault, not yours."

"Hers" the master said, Shinobu not understanding.

"It's her fault...the message I received from Kanao's crow...upper moon 4...Kanae"