Finding You

chapter 9

As Shinobu flutter her eyes open, she gasp. This was not her home, no. This wasn't her fluffy and warm, scented futon. This was someone else's futon, but surprisingly, this was also very... Comforting. Finding herself not caring for anything else in the world that was happening at the moment, the Insect Hashira dipped her face into the pillow and took a long good sniff at that wonderful musky smell; the smell that she unconsciously longed for.

A satisfying sigh left Shinobu's lips as she turned her head side way to let the lower half of her face sink into the soft, fluffy and musky pillow. It smelled so good, so intoxicating that the Hashira just couldn't be happier smelling the same smell forever. She closed her eyes again, eyelids heavy as a sudden wave of tiredness rushed over her. It was uncomfortable, sure, not knowing where she was, and knowing this was not her home, but Shinobu was extremely tired for whatever reason.

She couldn't remember what happened at all. Her guts told her to be greatful though, as for the person that prepared this all for her was nice enough to set out this nice, comforting futon for her.

As a certain small, purple-hair Hashira was about to droop into the oblivion of sleep, it hit her like a slap in the face.

Blood.

Goosebumps spread over her like wild fire, little hair stood up at her neck and sent chills down her spine as her nose twitched and sniff in the desire to taste blood. This was not happening. As human as she was, as the person that hated demons so much in their lives, the demons that took away her everything and just walking away, going off with a bloody mouth from the following taste of her comrades, Shinobu would've hated the blood and wouldn't be so... Blood-thirsty wouldn't she? Right?

Wrong.

Panicking as the two sides of her battle eachother of what to do, the small Hashira brought up her nails up to her eyesight and checked them. Shinobu wanted to scream. They were long and was a very pale purple, kind of like the tips of her hair but very pale. Her nails were sharp and looked like it could tear someone apart.

Panting heavily, Shinobu sat up as fast as she could and felt the buzz around her body. Fingers immediately rushed up to check her teeth. Oh no. The white, pristine conditioned teeth of Shinobu was normal, but what wasn't normal was that four of her teeth were long and sharp, like Nezuko's. After how long Shinobu hadn't seen Nezuko, she could still never forget the little girl as for her loyalty towards the Demon Slayers Corps.

Wait a minute.

Her teeth were like Nezuko's. Her nails were like Nezuko's, the only thing different was that Nezuko's nails were a pale pink colour. And the unforgettable part. The blood lust.

Was... Was she a demon?

Tearing hard at her hair, Shinobu slammed her head on the futon while was still kneeling. Shaking and buzzing, she gritted her teeth as her eyes widened. Was this some kind of joke? Everyone knew how much she hated demons, was this some kind of sick prank? Never, she would never admit to be a demon. No matter how good Nezuko had turn out, she couldn't be a demon herself. She was born to kill! To destroy all the blood-thirsty demons, to decapitate them all as their pathetic body waste in the sun, to rot as her poison cut their way into their core.

Tears leaked out of her eyes. Shinobu didn't know it yet, but her eyes had change like Nezuko's eyes had change after becoming a demon. The tears just won't stop. She didn't cry because of sadness, no, it was of frustration. The Insect Hashira's grip on her hair tightened, her eyes kept on scrunching and widening of frustration and pain as she let out sounds of grumbling and wailing, not admitting the truth of turning into a demon.

The worse thing that was deep in Shinobu's core was she didn't know what happened to her poor pathetic self. The last thing she remembered, was...

As it suddenly came, everything clicked.

Scrambling to stand up, the little Demon Slayer's face was a mess as so her hair. Tomioka. Where was he? She needed to see him, to be near him.

They were in a forest; she recited to herself; not just any forest and unfortunately, the one that had took Tomioka away from her. She was bitten by a demon as the small Demon Slayer was in a daze, a shocked as to finally see the love of her life again.

Something told her it was near morning since after her little mind racked through all the memories, she remembered the last time she saw Tomioka was over midnight. Nearing the door, her little hand reached out to slide the door open.

The stupid thing will not open.

Shinobu had small hands and was weak in physical abilities, sure, but at this hopeless point of time she was not a Demon Slayer anymore. Shinobu was a demon. Hands grabbing her kimono, Shinobu lifted a pale and slender leg up and kicked the slide door open. The kick was overpowered and the door fell down, not broken in pieces but can be no longer in use.

The surprised woman stared at her leg strangely than down at her kimono. This wasn't her soft, pink cube-pattern kimono, it was a pale blue with flowers on them. 'Comfortable', she thought, but the thing that truly surprised her was her power. Shinobu was a weak child since small, and grew up depending on poison to kill demons in which she couldn't even decapitate them. Now with just one single kick she had knocked down the whole door. It was strange, even if Shinobu hadn't accept the fact that she was a demon and was still deeply sad, she felt... Better to know that she wasn't hopeless after all.

Peeking her head out the door, she tip-toed out side and searched around. Leaning forward over the corner as to some fact hide herself, the little woman's hair fell forward with her. Surprised, Shinobu almost screamed. Again, this must be some kind of sick joke. Her hair was very long, down over her waist a little, sure, but her hair now was so long that it touched the wooden floor and was so long she didn't even notice that she was dragging it over. Her purple-blue tips was even longer. Speechless, Shinobu just couldn't comprehend everything. Being a demon was weird, and she didn't want to be one. Not now, not ever.

Her eyes was puffy from all the crying and hair was messy from all the grabbing, but she kept on going. Her bare feet was cool against the floor as she glide like a ghost over the cold floor. The hallway was dark and cold, but her cheeks was warm. All this feeling surrounding her felt so familiar, like this was somewhere she knew.

How stupid of her. This was definitely the Estate.

The smell of blood picked on her nose as she grumbled in her tiny voice for a little, scrunching up her nose to avoid smelling it. The smell of people, of human was close by, but she chose to ignore them and go find Tomioka.

Out of nowhere, a small creature bumped into her. She used the word 'creature' because this 'person', she supposed, didn't have the smell of human's blood to it.

In the dark, two glowing eyes stared back at Shinobu's eyes. They were... Pink. Pink and the irises were like... Diamonds.

The purple-haired woman gaped.

Nezuko. It was definitely Nezuko.

Nezuko's eyes were so memorising, it was no doubt Nezuko. The smaller demon cocked her head to the side in a questionable stare before widening her demon eyes. The height difference was not much since Shinobu was small, but she was a little taller anyway. With the bamboo in her mouth, Nezuko let out a few little surprised noises before grabbing ahold of Kochou's small wrist and dragged her somewhere. Definitely somewhere that Shinobu had no idea whatsoever.