Demonslayer Short Stories

Trust & Obsession Part 2 (Hantengu Clones Angst and Fluff)

Arashi awoke in a strange room and bed. She sat up. When did I fall asleep? She patted her side and on the bed around her. And where's my sword? Memories of the previous night suddenly flashed through her mind. Oh.. right. Shit. Did they kidnap me? Shit! She flopped back onto the bed, grabbed a pillow, and screamed into it, careful to mind the burn on her shoulder. The gold fused to her skin was surprisingly flexible, allowing her to move her shoulder with minimal resistance, like armor. Just, y'know, a lot more painful than armor.

The door to the room swung open, and Arashi shot up to a sitting position again and tried to look somewhat dignified, erasing any fear from her face. A demoness with chaotic black hair with gray horns poking through stepped in. Arashi gasped and scooted back as she read 'Upper Four' in her deep purple eyes.

"Woah, relax!" The demoness raised her hands. "I'm not going to hurt you." Her voice sounded like honey, and it rang with truth and trust. Arashi relaxed a bit, wanting to trust her–until her read the 'Trust' kanji on her tongue. Then her guard was back up and her arms were tensed, though her emotions were conflicted. Half of her wanted to get as far away as possible from the demon, and the other half wanted to relax and trust her.

"Who are you?!" Arashi demanded.

"My name is Shinrai." The demoness smiled warmly and sympathetically. "I'm sorry about my... brothers."

"If you're brothers are the emotion demons, they're fucking jerks." Arashi grumbled. Rust-orange eyes and degrading words rang through her mind, and she flinched. "I'm sorry!"

Shinrai gave her a sad smile. "It's alright. They are... a handful sometimes. Usually I'm there to stop things like this from happening, but I was dealing with other slayers. By the way, how'd you manage to make them change emotions?"

"I.. don't know." Arashi mumbled. She wished she hadn't, but... "Where are they?"

"I forced them to stay outside." Shinrai half-joked. "They've been in guilty/worried mode since I found them huddled around your unconscious body. Do you want me to call them?"

"No!" Arashi yelped. "I mean.. please don't."

Shinrai laughed. Her laugh was warm and comforting. Trustworthy, even. No! Arashi, snap out of it!

"I'll tell them you need some time alone." Shinrai exited, closing the door behind her. Arashi sighed once the handle clicked. I need to get out of here. She looked around. No windows, that's not good. Should I try the door? Where even am I? Why didn't I ask that Shinrai girl? Eh, she'd have probably lied anyway. But she seems so nice.. Because she the goddamned embodiment of trust! Stop it, Arashi!

~~***~~

Shinrai closed and locked the door behind her and sighed. She rubbed her temples. A raging migraine had been pounding in her head since her fight with the slayers. Not important. I need to yell at the others. She stepped outside onto the forest floor and was immediately attacked by strings of "Is she alright?" to "Is she mad?" to incoherent sobs and apologies. Shinrai quieted them with a wave of her hand.

"First of all." She eyed each and every one of their worried blue eyes. "What on earth did you do to her shoulder? Why was it covered with gold, and why was it swollen and burned?!"

All four demons flinched and cast their now guilty gray eyes downward. Sekido was the one to speak. "I- We got carried away. We were under the influence of the new emotion. We- we're really sorry.."

Shinrai sighed, bringing her hand to her face in an act of annoyance, but really just hiding a smile. It wasn't everyday you heard Sekido apologize. Or stutter. "Just don't hurt her again. Also, you all suck at kidnapping. The door wasn't locked when I went in, and she also wasn't chained or restrained in any way."

"Oops." Urogi offered, eyes flickering between green and gray. Shinrai furrowed her brow slightly. It was so hard for them to change emotions first, that's what they'd said before when the girl was still asleep. I still don't know her name.. So why could they switch so freely now? Did their powers change when switching, or did they stay the same? Did they get more powerful? The 'Obsession' apparently made them feel more powerful.

"Shinrai." Karaku snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Don't zone out now."

"Sorry." Shinrai shook herself. "What's her name?" At the silence that ensued, Shinrai sighed. "Don't tell me you forgot to get her name."

They all shrugged, and Shinrai spun on her heel to re-enter the room. They are just like children.

~~***~~

A week had passed since Arashi was with them. She'd befriended Shinrai, but still stayed afraid of the other four demons. Shinrai had to pass messages back and forth for them. All of the messages were variations of I'm sorry's. Arashi actually found herself liking it with the demons. Well, with the one demon. She hadn't seen the rest since they'd taken her. One day, however..

Shinrai started at her hands. She felt like she should be panicking, but she wasn't. She couldn't. She stared at Arashi. "It's draining me." She said, her usually bright tone dulling and emptying. "They're draining me."

Arashi tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"I'm losing them." Her shining purple eyes turned empty and devoid of emotion. "My emotions. I knew the others were getting new feelings from somewhere, but.." Shinrai stilled, arms slackening and heads dropping. She would've fallen to the ground if Arashi hadn't caught her, though only barely.

"Shinrai!" Arashi yelled, slapping lightly at the demoness's face. "Shinrai, wake up!" She shook her shoulders. "Shinrai!"

Shinrai recovered slightly, and her violet eyes glimmered with a small light.

"I'm sorry.." she managed to rasp. The light flickered out, and Shinrai's eyes grew stark and cold. Moments later, she slowly started to disintegrate.

A few moments later, as if on cue, the four clones barged into the room. "Shinrai!" They yelled simultaneously. There eyes became dark green, and their emotion was distress. "Shinrai!"

"What-what's happening to her?!" Arashi shrieked. "Why is she dying?! I thought you clones couldn't die unless Hantengu did!"

"Her emotion.." Urogi touched his sister's hair. Her body was almost all gone, only her head and clothes remaining. "When a clones loses their emotion, they die."

Aizetsu converted back to his usual emotion, and collapsed to his knees beside Shinrai, tears streaming down. "I'm sorry..!"

"But- she can't be dead! She can't die!" Arashi sputtered desperately. "Right?" She looked at Sekido, who was standing next to her. His eyes became gray, and when he opened his mouth, Arashi could see 'Depression'.

"She's gone.." he muttered, somehow keeping his composure. "She's gone..!" His eyes flicked between red, black, gray, and a sickly green color, and Arashi had to look away.

On her other side was Karaku. His emotion had become pale indigo denial. "She's not dead.. she's not dead.. she's not.." He clutched his head and turned away to hide his tears. "She's not.."

Arashi glanced around at the clones: Aizetsu bawling his eyes out, Urogi caressing his sister's decaying face, Sekido trying to sort through his conflicted emotions, and Karaku shaking and trying to hide his crying. They looked so unlike the demons who had been torturing her the other day, and Arashi couldn't help but feel terrible.

"She-"Her voice cracked. "She said she was sorry-"

"For what!" Sekido yelled, eyes pausing briefly on red before resuming their cycle. "We did this, didn't we." He turned to Shinrai. The kanji on his tongue blurred so fast as his emotions became more and more conflicted.

"I- yes..." Arashi hesitantly put her hand on his shoulder. He jolted at the contact and suddenly pulled her in a hug. Arashi gave a surprised squeak as he buried his head in her hair. Slowly, tentatively, she returned the embrace, trying to keep herself from crying. One by one, she felt the others join the hug.

"We're sorry." They said at the same time.

"It's fine." Arashi assured. They all sat there and watched, crying silently until Shinrai finally disappeared.

-~-~-~-

Weird chapter, sorry, I can't write angst.