The Flower and the Butterfly

The Last Fight Begins

It was all dark again. Everything was dark around me; I could only see hatred and resentment, thoughts I had never had in my mind, but something stood out in that midst... Blood, a lot of blood, in my mouth, on my body, on my hands... Power, yes, I wanted power to... kill. But kill whom? Shinobu... But I didn't want to kill her... I loved her... I didn't love, I didn't love anything, I didn't love anyone. In this world, we are alone; if someone reaches out to us, they will put their selfish desires above us. Again, I was left to die. Again, forced by someone to do something I didn't want. And again... I was alone, only with the darkness around me... A noise arose in this place, a noise that made me look up... A butterfly? Are there living beings here? The small insect approached me...

-"Mitsuri! Mitsuri!" It shouted...

-"Why are you calling me? Did I do something wrong?" When it got close enough, I stretched out my hand to touch the butterfly. When I realized it, I was crying and apologizing repeatedly while hugging... Yes, now the memories returned, everything that happened was clear now... They came to save me after I had turned into a demon. I hurt them and said terrible things, thought terrible things. The taste, the guilt of having eaten people, lingered in me...

-"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! For everything I did! I'm sorry!" I was shouting in tears. When I noticed, Shinobu was still alive. She was waking up, hugging me back and looking into my eyes. She was crying, but at the same time, smiling with relief.

-"Mitsuri, it wasn't your fault... It was mine... So... be quiet..." She gave me a kiss, a very long one. I closed my eyes and placed a hand on her left cheek. I felt some of the blood that was dripping from her forehead fall into my hand. She needed care.

-"I love you... I will never make that mistake again! So... don't apologize for something you didn't do..."

-"Shi... Shinobu... You need care... Let's hurry... We have to get out of here..." I said, crying and even stuttering a bit from nervousness.

-"We... can't... I have bandages in my pouch..." I didn't understand, why couldn't we leave? But before I could answer that question, I took the bandages that Shinobu mentioned and started to close her wounds with them. Wounds on her arm, on her forehead as I mentioned, on her leg, and even on her stomach... It was an intense fight. They could have killed me at any second; probably, my demon body wasn't resistant, not even to Shinobu's weakest poison, but still, she wanted to save me and get hurt...

After stopping Shinobu's bleeding with the bandages, I asked:

-"Shinobu... What's happening? I only remember we were in the village, fighting against a lower moon and... Then everything went dark... After that, blood... pain..."

-"Mitsuri... I made a grave mistake that day. I... let the lower moon two turn you into a demon... I was afraid of seeing you die... of losing you... I ended up making this selfish choice, in a desperate act to save you... It worked in the end, we managed to create a cure but... I shouldn't have done that..." Shinobu looked down, she seemed really remorseful for what she did. I placed my hand on her shoulder.

-"It's okay... Now, I'm back here... So, let's talk about this later..." Shinobu swallowed hard; she still hadn't looked me in the eyes. Then she continued speaking...

-"We managed to save you and kill the lower moon two, but we can't go back yet. Oyakata-sama... he... died. Our mission is to end this once and for all... We must kill Muzan..." She finished her explanation, and I swallowed hard. I didn't expect this to happen right now... But Shinobu didn't seem fit for battle; even with the victory, she still looked sad and hurt.

-"Shinobu... You don't need to be sad; now everything is alright, I'm here, you don't have to blame yourself anymore... You only did what you thought was right at the moment..." I lifted her head by the chin with one hand and patted her cheeks with both hands. Then, I bit her cheek, pretending to be a little angry, even knowing it was silly...