[Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba] Stay With Me [GiyuShino]

Chapter Fourteen: Train Station

A/N: You can probably tell from the title but this is kind of a filler chapter heheh. Sorry about that! I just wanted to have a chapter that mostly focuses on Mitsuri and Shinobu's friendship and stuff.

It's noisy. So incredibly noisy. I stick close to my companions so I won't get lost in the crowd. We're at the train station, waiting for our train. Shinobu suggested that we wait near the front of the station so we won't miss our train. She weaves through the crowd expertly, keeping her head down so as not to attract unwanted attention. Beside her, Kanroji does the same, although she can't hide her unusual hair color.

As the station is so crowded, I understand why Kanroji wasn't able to block the hand that wraps around one of her braids and pulls hard. She squeaks and grabs her head, obviously in pain. The man who grabbed her hair sneers, and Kanroji looks panicked.

"What's with that weird-ass hair? You some kind of freak or something?" The 'leader' of their little uneducated group speaks up from behind the man grasping her braid.

"Freak, freak, freak!" The rest chant loudly, causing some passerby to stop and stare.

Kanroji's eyes fill with tears although she doesn't let them spill, at least not yet. She looks around at all the people staring at them and focuses her gaze on the floor, looking upset. In front of her, Shinobu stops in her tracks, her hand still wrapped around her friend's wrist and tilts her head up.

"Kanroji-san," She says, as if prompting her.

I step forward, wondering if I should intervene, since the Love Pillar doesn't seem as if she's going to do anything.

"Hey, you've got a pretty face. If it wasn't for your ridiculous hair, I might have been interested in you." The man tugs her braid and turns her face so her eyes meet his. Kanroji lets out a startled squeak and looks as though she wants to run away.

"Kanroji-san," Shinobu says again, firmly, slightly turning her head back to catch her friend's eye.

The leader of the group lets out a low whistle, and the rest of his lackeys turn in Shinobu's direction. "Hey," He walks over to her and sweeps some of her hair out of her face. Shinobu does nothing but lean slightly away from his touch, still keeping eye contact with her friend. She's not smiling, and the look on her face is somewhat cold, as if she's scolding her. "What's a beauty like you doing with a freak like that? Why don't you come with us? It'll be lots of fun." He leans in until his face is mere inches away from hers and looks her body up and down, tongue darting out to wet his lips.

Shinobu just turns her face even further from his, so she doesn't smell his breath, I think, and speaks to her friend again. "Kanroji-san!" She hasn't raised her voice yet, but the tone of her words his harsh, and seems to hit Kanroji like a slap to the face.

She takes a deep breath and tries to compose herself.

The leader darts his hand out to Shinobu's side and she moves, just barely, so his fingers still ghost down her side. He smirks as she fixes him with a hard stare. She seems determined not to move until Kanroji does something, and, knowing that it's probably important, I force myself to stay still, gritting my teeth. Kanroji notices the stiffness of my posture and looks apologetic.

The next thing the leader does is what finally gets her to move. He grasps Shinobu's waist, hard. She flinches, letting out a exhale full of contempt, but still holds her ground. Kanroji whirls on the man holding her braid and pushes his towards a pillar. He collides with it, hard, and slides down, probably unconscious.

"I can't forgive you for mocking the 'me' who's precious to her comrades!" She says, eyes set determinedly.

The instant Kanroji had moved, Shinobu had forced the leader to kneel on his knees before her, one of her hands twisting his arm so that his elbow dug into his back, forcing him to stay down. "You should learn to behave." She hisses close to his ear, the cheerful note in her voice sending chills down the man's spine. "Or you'll remain single and lonely forever." She giggles lightly at the end of her sentence as if she's just told a funny joke.

She leans down a bit further, and the man lets out a grunt of pain. Then, all in one elegant movement, she straightens up and lets go of his hand, then continues to make her way through the crowd, Kanroji and I following quickly after her.

"You did well, Kanroji-san!" Shinobu tells her friend, smiling innocently. "Although, and this is just my personal opinion, if you insult them instead of telling them you can't forgive them, it'll be more fun." She winked sweetly at the older girl.

Kanroji looked a bit shook, but recovered quickly. "Y-You were right, Shinobu-chan. That felt good. Thank you for giving me the confidence to stand up for myself!" Kanroji immediately wrapped the smaller girl into a tight hug.

"Um, Kanroji-san? I can't breathe."

A/N: So, yeah, this chapter was basically just Shinobu hyping up Mitsuri but it will be important for the rest of the story. I felt kinda weird writing it though qvq