BUTTERFLY : SHINOBU KOCHO (PART ONE)

Part 1: Chapter 20; Sakusa's Condition

"He didn't start out like that, I had managed to patch him up so well at first."

Shinobu listened intently to the grim words of the young girl sitting before her at their table in the kitchen, their expressions identical as they sat with the teacups in their hand, staring down into the drink with furrowed eyebrows and quivering frowns on their lips.

Yae had given her important information as they spoke, more about her and more about Sakusa and the events after she had blacked out.

"I met Tomioka after he had come to deal with a demon in my village, like I said," the girl explained, "But after he had beheaded my father....I tried to end it all. I put my shotgun in my mouth and tried to pull it, but for some reason, the trigger jammed and he tackled me down and restrained me before I could do anything more to myself."

"Before Tomioka found me, I was quite the stupid girl." Yae scoffed with a smirk, "I was stubborn, and I never used my head. I got into fights often, and the whole village thought I was some crazy girl who couldn't keep it together."

"But Tomioka.....he took me in. He gave me a place to stay for a few weeks, and while he was still as much of an insensitive dick as he's ever been, he helped me get back on my feet after I had lost everything. In time, with his help, he taught me to be calm, patient, and more honest with how I was feeling inside, instead of butting heads with everyone around me, even if he didn't mean to."

"So, even if he left for another mission before the winter had even finished,"

Shinobu's eyes fluttered and her eyebrows furrowed when the faintest of blushes appeared on the young girl's face, and an awkward feeling in her stomach began to pool within.

"I still want to do whatever I can to make up for what he did for me." Yae said with a bashful smile.

Oi. Tomioka-san. How did you get something like this to happen. She's clearly into you. You. Giyu Tomioka, the perpetually-hated Hashira, the gloomy dunce I tease constantly.

Shinobu, internally at least, was completely dumbfounded, but kept her composure nonetheless.

"So, you found us when you had been following a bear?"

Yae nodded. "I did. I asked Tomioka if he had any friends besides me, and he mentioned you."

Huh? Tomioka considers me a friend?

I thought I was just a bully in his eyes....

"Oh, and he also said you were short, nauseating, and you wore a haori that made you look like a bug." Yae told flatly.

I'm going to stab him. This is why nobody likes him.

"But," Yae continued, "The only reason I managed to find you guys was because he told me about you."

"Oh?" Shinobu tilted her head in curiosity, "How so?"

"I recognized the haori." Yae replied, pointing to the patterned cloth in the corner of Shinobu's bedroom, "It looked somewhat like Tomioka described, so I searched around the area to see if you were anywhere to be seen."

"O-Oh, is that so~?"

"Mhm. Afterwards, I gained some help from this huge eagle that came soaring above me, that ended up picking up Mister Kari in his talons and flew him to the Wisteria House here. I followed him over with you on my back, and for three days after we arrived here, you didn't wake up."

Woah, I was out for three days?

"Oh, I see." Shinobu mumbled.

A brief silence overtook the two, the air heavy with tension and worry. Even if Shinobu wanted to, she couldn't ignore the condition she and Sakusa were in after their fight with the Archangels. Her ribs were cracked, she had multiple stab wounds to her side, she suffered multiple fractures across her body, and Sakusa....