BUTTERFLY : SHINOBU KOCHO (PART ONE)

Part 1: Chapter 10; A Challenge

"W-......What did you just say?"

"I said you're always angry, Miss Shinobu~"

Sephir stared the stunned ravenette down with a smirk, waving his chopsticks around in the air. "I hit it right on the money, didn't I~?" He said.

Shinobu was completely speechless. She was totally confused as to how Sephir figured her out.

Did she slip up and reveal herself to this demon, showing her true feelings when they fought?

Had she gotten soft and made herself known to everyone?

She thought she had embodied her sister's personality completely, that Kanae's dream of befriending the demons and coexisting alongside them had completely covered her own malicious and hate-filled anger, that nobody would ever be able to see her for who she really was.

And yet, with Sephir's smug look on his pale, fanged visage, she was sure she had been discovered.

"H-How," She muttered, "H-How did you know?"

"Oh, please, as if there haven't been dozens of people with the exact same personality as you before~" Sephir chuckled, "So many people bore the hatred that sits within your heart as we speak, a vehement hatred that only those who's lives have been taken by us demons can bear."

"I've lived for hundreds of years, Miss Shinobu, don't let my dazzling looks fool you~" Sephir winked and stood up straight, taking his weight off the countertop, "I've had plenty of time to see, fight, and kill at least fifty Hashira over the course of my life, and countless Demon Slayers. Those swordsmen and swordswomen all felt some form of hatred and anger towards me, in their dying moments before I tear them limb from limb, and I've been able to figure out just what gives you humans away when you're angry."

"I can smell the anger practically steaming off of your bodies, I can hear the rush of adrenaline through your veins, I can taste the heat in the air, and I can feel the bloodlust on my skin. I can tell when you're angry,"

Sephir snapped his fingers, and instantaneously, Shinobu was shot out of her seat and blasted into the wall behind her, forcing a groan out of her throat as she collapsed to the ground.

"Just like that~"

The young Hashira felt her breath leave her lungs as she gasped for air, doubled over on the ground with an evident scowl on her panting face.

"I don't......think this...is how you're supposed....to treat your dates.....demon~!" Shinobu spat with a smile returning to her face.

Sephir's grin grew as he approached her, evidently amused as he said, "Oh, please, I know you're someone who likes it rough anyways~"

YOU BASTARD-

"Yeah, that's me, I told you I was illegitimate, remember~?"

Sephir grabbed the shaken Hashira by the hair, yanking her up to face him, their faces only inches away from each other, squatting down to meet her furious gaze.

"To be honest, Miss Shinobu, I was maybe expecting a little more from you, I mean, you've got all this anger in you, but you choose to hide it." Sephir furrowed his eyebrows a bit as he spoke, "I mean, I get you wanna avenge your sister and all, but doesn't it say a whole lot when the little brat with the stronger soul manages to outlive the kind and gentle big sister?"

Shinobu's eyes shot open and veins creased her forehead the moment the silver-haired demon mentioned her sister.

"Wouldn't it just be better to use that anger buried deep within you to make something of yourself, instead of being a mediocre medic who can't even cut off a demon's head~?"