BUTTERFLY : SHINOBU KOCHO (PART ONE)

Part 1: Chapter 18; I Said I'd Protect You, Remember?

Shinobu's violet eyes fluttered open, though her vision was still blurry with blood clouding her orbs.

W-Where, am...I.....

She glanced around her surroundings, and the butterfly girl could barely manage to make out certain things.

She took a glance to her right first, and then to her left, blinking every once in a while to try and fizzle out the fuzziness in her eyes.

Ah.....it's the sand of the beach.....the moon is setting, dawn must be arriving.......

Just ahead of her though, around half a dozen meters away, however, Shinobu could make out three distinct figures standing in front of her, one with their massive back turned towards her.

...hm...? Who.....could that-

Oh.....no....

Shinobu's eyes widened in horror when her vision began to clear, and the figures began to come into view.

The first, with their back turned to her, was undoubtedly Sakusa, while the other two were Irire and Razel, standing before him.

Sakusa was standing off against two Archangels, with Shinobu to his back.

K-Kari-san!

The butterfly girl tried to lean off the tree trunk, but a sharp pain shredded through her like a saw across her waist as she did so, and she instinctively reached for her side, her eyes widening in realization.

K-Kgh, damnit, that demon stabbed me, I forgot....

But more importantly...

"K-....Kari-s-san!" Shinobu managed to sputter our a few words, but it was more than enough to bring a searing pain to her lungs.

S-Shit! My ribs!

"Oi." The boy bluntly called out.

"Eh?"

Ignoring the pain as she adjusted herself on the tree, Shinobu looked over towards the crimson-haired teen, and just like magic,

With something as simple as a look over his shoulder, and with a smile that could make even the most stubborn of women crumble like dust, everything became seemingly fine in the world around her.

"Just rest, Kocho."

For just that one moment in time, sparkles and hearts surrounded Sakusa in Shinobu's mind, his words echoing through her head as he spoke.

"I told you I'd protect you, remember~?"

Y-You.....

The butterfly girl's cheeks heat up in a flash of red, and her heart began to beat out of her chest.

His nonchalant attitude, his composure, the stupid reassuring smile on his lips, the confidence in that heart-wrenching ruby eye, every little sliver of a detail Shinobu could pick apart across that dirty, cut up, gorgeous face of his brought her closer and closer to frustration.

For the millionth time, Shinobu was once again angry at Sakusa, and for the millionth time, it was because of what he could do to her with something as simple as a smile.

You need to stop that, S-Sakusa....

my heart can't take it....

"Now then,"

Almost like the flip of a switch, the warmth and comfort surrounding the boy dissipated right out of the atmosphere around the trio, replaced by a hollow, cold, and merciless bloodlust as Sakusa turned his head back towards the demons,