Broken Wings- Shinobu x Fem. Reader

The Truth

The sun was high in the sky, even with that being said Tanjiro still shivered. The mountain's cold was nothing to underestimate. He looked to his right where Shinobu was, she was also visibly struggling against the harsh winds and cold.

"Maybe we should stop for a while. Y/n isn't going anywhere, it's the middle of the day."

Shinobu shook her head, "Nope. No way. We're so close. I won't let go this time."

Tanjiro sighed, "What are we gonna do when we get there? Take her back? Kill h-" Shinobu had met him with her sword to his throat. "Enough Tanjiro. All you have to do is be there. You won't be making any of the decisions. Your mission ended back in the village with the three demons." Tanjiro thought back to the village, they only cleared two of the four demons. The one sprinted up the mountain, and the other one was Y/n. Looking up towards the top of the tree line you could make out the outline of a roof. Bingo. Shinobu pointed, "That's where we'll be soon." Tanjiro nodded. They were almost done. They did the hard part. They found Y/n, but now what will come to follow with her?

"Are you ever going to tell me? What happened.."

Shinobu kept walking but slowed her pace, "I guess, if it helps put in perspective what I'm going through right now." She lowered her head slightly, Tanjiro couldn't tell if she lowered her head out of respect or out of shame.

"I remember waking up, usually she's looming over me waiting for me to wake up so we could go grab breakfast together before training and getting our missions. But this time she wasn't there. I hated the feeling of change, of her not being there. I started freaking out, looking around frantically. I threw on my clothes and ran out into the hallway, my hair wasn't even presentable" Shinobu let out a small giggle as she adjusted her hair. "She was out in the hallway talking to some of the other trainee's, but they weren't her friends. Yet they all seemed so happy? Laughing? It was so weird. Finally Y/n looked over at me and waved goodbye to the others. 'I hope you didn't mind, I got breakfast with some of the others. Bonding you know?', that's what she told me. I questioned her until she broke. She told me of her mission. I have no idea why she planned on hiding it. I was happy for her! This was the chance she was waiting for, later that day I got my mission changed to hers. I had to be there for her big mission, and as much as I loved her, I knew of her reckless hero behavior. I had to be there to keep her safe, if she can't do it for herself, I'll do it." Shinobu cracked her neck, "She wasn't happy when I told her of my mission change. She was furious actually. 'Do you seriously not trust me enough to do this? I'm not by myself. This was for me. I can provide for myself. I'm going to have to be able to take care of myself as a hashira. This was my chance to do that. Everyone already thinks you have to save me, and that we're attached at the hip. A little space would've done us both nicely.' She took off after she said that and I couldn't find her until the day of the mission, about two days later. Looking back at it now, her anger was justified. But as at 17 it just seemed so cruel. The mission had 7 total, all of us being trainee's still, me, Y/n and 5 others. She kept her distance from me the whole mission. She was mad. She was proving a point. Petty, but whatever. I wasn't there to drag her down. I was support from a distance. One night was especially hard in the mountains, the cold killing two of our forces. Then to make our luck even worse we ran into an upper rank demon. Not even the demon we were supposed to exterminate. We tried our hardest. But even with five, it wasn't even close. The demon fancied my butterfly patterns claiming it was so welcoming and familiar. I was terrified. I froze, there was yelling all around me. The demon was moving closer, and tears started coming out of my eyes. Y/n was a quick thinker. She kept throwing rocks at him until he was practically forced to go after her. Y/n took off in the opposite direction. Yelling at me and the other trainee's to go. One was already dead, and the other two were limping. 'GO. THERE'S NO USE IN YOU DYING HERE. I'LL BE FINE. I'LL SEE YOU AT BREAKFAST IN A FEW DAYS.' There it was. She flashed that stupid grin of hers. It made me grab the other two and sprint down the mountain. I have no idea what could have possibly happened next. Your guess is as good as mine. We made it back fine, or at least I did. One of the trainee's died and the other was paralyzed from the waist down from frostbite in addition to her injuries. So it was just me. When I confided in the others and tried to seek help for her, they claimed they found nothing. Not even a trace of a fight. No blood, no body, and no Y/n. Even her crow was missing."