Don't Leave (Kimetsu No Yaiba)

Candy 2

Butterfly Estate, The Next Day...
It was early in the morning, small birds were chirping softly, and the sun had just awoken. Kanao woke up; just opened her eyes; when her crow landed on her window and exclaimed with its usual loud voice. "Kaw! Kaw!" It shouted, "message! Message! Message from the great oyakata-sama!"

Kanao immediately rose to her elbow, staring at the crow to hear what it had to say. The crow pattered lightly towards Kanao and stood before her. "Dear my Kanao, please come to the Demon Hunter Headquarters this instant. I have some words to speak." The crow continued, "kaw! Kaw! And that's it! Don't be late, miss Kanao! Kaw! Kaw!" It pattered back to the window and flapped away to the sky. Kanao contemplated on it until it was out of sight. She then turned to her Demon Slayer Corps' uniform, then averted her eyes to her sword which was leaned ok a wall, near her big chest, accompanied by a painting of her... and you.

***

"Sister Kanao! Are you ready?" Said the little three nurse sisters; Naho, Kiyo, Sumi; through the hallway. Kanao appeared from a turn, sprinting towards the three then passed them by to the oldest nurse sister, Aoi Kanzaki. "Sister Shinobu is waiting for you at the headquarters." Said Aoi, "here's your lunch." She handed Kanao a bento box wrapped in a pink colored cloth. Kanao emotionlessly took the bento box, and bowed. Then she rushed out of the door without any words spoken afterwards.

Sumi walked up to Aoi with a frown. "Sister Kanao is always so silent."

Aoi sighed, turning to the opened doors. "Leave her be. She won't speak unless she's ordered to."

***

Kanao sprinted pass trees and hopped over bushes. She feared that she'd be late, so she paced her steps up as she made her way to the Demon Slayer Headquarters. She ran faster, and swiftly ricocheted from tree to tree, jumping from rock to rock like a ninja. Moments later, a bright light came from the end of the forest, Kanao dashed out of the shade, and finally reached the headquarters. "You're just in time, Kanao." Said a soft, gentle voice. Kanao twisted to the right to see her eldest sister smiling at her....
Shinobu Kochō.

The smile was a little forced, and she could see a sinister side behind that pretty smile of her sister's. Shinobu has been acting like this ever since you left; copying the way you speak, and inheriting both your good and bad habits. From the way you look at people to the way you sleep. Everything from top till bottom. Kanao bowed respectfully as a greeting, and Shinobu simply grinned as a payback. "Come inside, the others are waiting." She spoke with elegance.

***

The room was dim, plain, and boring. There was nothing else other than a mattress in the room. Not a shrine, not a pillow to sit on, not even a table or a furniture other than the mattress. Kanao was new to the building. She does not know anything about the great oyakata-sama nor what the Pillars normally do in the headquarters. However, none of that matters to her, the only question she had in mind was why did the crow also deliver the message to her when the great oyakata-sama normally bathes his attention only on the Pillars? Why her? Why now?

Suddenly, a boy who seemed to be younger than Kanao herself, crawled towards her and scanned her from top till bottom. "So you are Tsuyuri Kanao, huh?"

"Muichiro, you're being too close to her." Said a girl with pink hair, making a worried expression. "Kanao-chan is new here, so why don't we just greet her the normal way and try not to scare her?" She came up to Kanao with a happy smile, accompanied by pink blotches on her cheeks. "Good morning, my name is Mitsuri Kanroji, and I am the Love Pillar! Nice to meet you!" She giggled sweetly, "Muichiro here is the Mist Pillar and he's fourteen years old, just like you!"