BUTTERFLY : SHINOBU KOCHO (PART ONE)

Part 1: Chapter 6; The Beauty in Destruction

Six days later, and the pain in Shinobu's ribs shot right through her core the second she rose from her bed when she woke.

O-Ow! She winced in pain, holding her side.

Her eyes shot open, though, when instead of feeling her uniform and haori like she expected, she felt bandages wrapped around her core and chest, and her shirt to be nowhere in sight.

The realization settled in and a flaring blush rose to her cheeks.

D-.....Did Kari-san........

DID THAT PERVERT UNDRESS ME AND TIE THESE BANDAGES AROUND ME!?

Shinobu had never felt so violated, and with veins popping out all across her head, she put on a black shirt she found on the ground and her uniform pants and stomped her way out of the inn room, making sure to conceal her blade until she could use it to cut up the boy's body for his crimes against common decency. She quickly did her chin-length hair up as fast as she could, though she didn't care for the loose strands poking out if it meant she was this much closer to gouging Sakusa's eyes out for peeping on her.

The inn was incredibly simple, it was only a three-story building with a dozen or so rooms on every floor, with Shinobu and Sakusa's balcony overlooking the streets below. It wasn't much of a view, nothing like the Nagasaki wisteria house or even that of her own Butterfly Mansion, but just knowing that they had a quick, easy way of leaving for nightly patrol was pleasant and convenient to keep up their cover story.

Speaking of that, Shinobu was definitely not excited with having to keep that up as she saw the inn keeper sitting at the front door as she tried to leave the building, especially when she saw the smile on the lady's face when she saw the young woman pass her by.

"My, my, rough night, Miss Kocho~?" She said with a teasing tone.

"No, no, not at all, Miss Innkeeper~!" Shinobu replied with a cheerful smile, "I'm just going off to find that little bi-I mean, my husband, would you happen to know where he went off to~?"

"Oh, yes, he left only minutes ago, most likely to go buy you some lunch like a good lover since it's the midday~!"

O-Oh? I hadn't realized I slept so long....

"W-Well, in any case, I better go, can't keep him waiting!"

"Oh, of course, of course!" The innkeeper waved off the girl as she jogged out the door, smiling to herself over the girl's choice of attire.

An hour later, and Shinobu still hadn't found him.

She had traveled across half the city, running through the streets, alleyways, rooftops, even entering the snobby, rich parts of the city where men and women flashed their wealth to everyone else around them, covered in pearls and elegant yukata in the middle of the day.

Just like everything else, it annoyed Shinobu greatly.

However, the thing annoying the raven-haired girl the most was that still, Sakusa was nowhere to be seen.

As she walked through the streets back to their inn, she huffed in annoyance, feeling a little abandoned.

Tch, so, that man strips me down and decides to bandage me up, and leaves me alone in the room to do fuck-all....if you're going to care for someone, at least check up on them, or something......

She hadn't realized it, but as she progressively took pace after pace, her smile began to fade and her shoulders began to slouch. After a couple seconds, her mood was reflected on her face for all to see.