Heads Or Tails

Chapter 1

Kanao's Point Of View

"And heads..." the boy says and looks at me with the brightest smile.

What in the world makes this kid so happy? He's fighting demons for a living. Plus... Demon Slayer Corps members aren't really what you say happy.

"Now Kanao, I want you to promise me you'll listen to your heart... Do what you want to do without being afraid." Tanjiro says glancing over at me.

He has my coin so I can't really flip it. I nod, a small smile appearing on my face.

"Talk again soon? I'd really like to get to know you." the boy says and speeds off.

Yeah as if... Things are more different then they seem to be on the surface...

~end of memory~

"Kanao? Kanao! Come on snap out of it." a familiar voice calls out, a sigh at the end of their sentence. I jump a bit and look over, seeing Shinobu. "I wanted to tell you breakfast is done. It'd be better to daydream without an empty stomach to distract you if you're going to daydream." she tells me, in which I nod in response.

I get up from the floor of my room in the Butterfly Mansion and work my way to the table, seeing food on the table. "Thank you." I say to Shinobu in a soft voice before I sit down and eat.

That boy... That memory... I can't help but think of it. Did I really catch his attention that much? He was so persistent and upbeat, but yet so gentle and kind. I hope he's doing well... He had left with his sister and his two friends to go on a mission yesterday, I believe the same one that Mr. Rengoku was sent on. I'm positive he'll be okay, he doesn't seem like the type to be easily defeated.

Oh no I'm getting lost in thought again. I finish eating and get up, getting told that Shinobu and I will be running a few errands in town. Nodding, I take care of my plate and go to brush my hair and get ready to go out for the day.

However, while getting ready I get caught off guard by a sudden bad feeling. With a frown, I wonder what it could be. I shake it off after a few minutes though, assuming I could just be getting ahead of myself. It was still fairly early in the morning, how could have anything bad happened or be happening this soon?

After a few more minutes I put my butterfly pin in my hair and walk out, meeting Shinobu by the front entrance to the mansion.

"Ready to go?" Shinobu questions, looking at me. I simply nod in response, giving her a small smile. The both of us walk out and head towards the direction of town, arriving after a bit.

We look in a few shops to start off and I take in all of the scenery, looking at the buildings and the people. In the distance I see a small dot on the horizon getting bigger little by little. Once it got closer I could make out a Kasugai Crow approaching. With a soft frown forming on my face, I tug on the sleeve of Shinobu's kimono gently and point at the crow once I get her attention.

Shinobu sees the crow and frowns as well, not having to say words to show that she knew that the crow's appearance couldn't bear good news. The crow hovers in front of us once it got to us, saying the words that neither of us ever expected to hear.

Mr. Rengoku had died early this morning after battling an upper moon demon courageously. However we were also told that the boys and Nezuko had lived, which was sort of a silver lining.

"My my!" Shinobu exclaims, not saying much else. However I could tell that this news impacted her more than she's leading on. I don't say anything, I simply frown and look down.

Once the crow leaves, Shinobu gently grabs ahold of my arm. "Change of plans, Kanao. We're going back early that way we can get things prepared for the ones returning, I'm sure that at least a few of them are injured." she says. I nod and follow her as we go back prematurely.

Mr. Rengoku... I hope that the afterlife treats you well. I think to myself.

As soon as we return, Shinobu gets Aoi, Sumi, Kiyo, and Naho to explain the situation and what's happening. She gives them all time to let their emotions out, offering hugs before they calm down a bit and get to work setting up.

It doesn't take long for us to finish as we all work together fairly well. Now all that's left to do is wait for them to return which is quite possibly the hardest part in my eyes. No one knows how badly hurt they could be, we won't know until they get back and even then it might be too late. They could be severely injured and out for days, weeks, months even... Or they could get out with only a few scrapes and bruises. It's all just a guessing game, a roll of the dice, a flip of a coin. It's a guessing game, a spin of fate and we have no choice to play it and hope to get the best outcome.

It takes a little while, but after a wait we see people walking up to the entrance of the Butterfly Mansion.

"It's them, they're here." Aoi calls out, running out of the room to help along with the three younger ones. I follow suite, walking after them. I want to make sure everyone is okay, especially the boy.

I see the boy being helped a bit by his peers and run over, helping as well to get him inside and patched up. He seemed to be the worst wounded, a gash in his side that seemed very deep.

Once all of them get situated in their individual beds, Shinobu does what's needed to be done in order to patch each individual up, along with offering pain medicine to which Zenitsu cried and yelled over, much like last time. Inosuke was depressed like last time as well, a different kind of depressed likely because of his fallen comrade. The biggest difference though was the fact that the bot, Tanjiro, was completely quite and not as upbeat. I couldn't blame him though, they're all going through something traumatic and depressing.

Once the other girls leave to check up on Nezuko, I walk over to Tanjiro who was starring at the sheet below him. Once he noticed me walking over, he seemingly begins to tear up a bit which was an... unexpected sight to say the least.

"I..." Tanjiro starts, the tears beginning to flow. "I'm sorry that I couldn't save him, I should've just tried harder and maybe he'd still be here..."
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thank you xophoenixx for giving me the idea for the first part of this.