A Butterfly Frolicking in the Water Chapter 36, a kimetsu no yaiba/鬼滅の刃 fanfic

This is a big warning for spoilers from the manga. Some events will be very similar in the manga while others will be deviating from it.

If you have not read the manga, this arc will be confusing to you.

This is the last warning.

"Blah" — Speech

"Blah" — Speech in another language

'Blah' — Thoughts

[ Blah ] — Text

*Blah* — Sound effects in speech

(Blah) — Author's notes

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters of 鬼滅の刃| Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba; they belong to Koyoharu Gotōge. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Sigh

Shinobu places the vial down and watches as the liquid trail down the kunai blade. After it being coated, she places the kunai down. 'Hopefully that's enough.' She rubs her hands and glances at a letter on her table. 'Another vague letter from Tamayo-san. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I miss our sessions together. At least I get more time to train with the others.' Shinobu picks up the letter and reads it again. 'What did she mean by 'Use the opportunity to get Giyuu back'? I tried to send her letters asking about it but there's been no response.' She shakes her head and places the paper back. 'Enough. I've wasted enough time on it.' Shinobu stands up and stretches her arms over her head. 'Mnnhm.' Shinobu blinks and starts for the door. 'I wonder when Kanao-chan will come back.'

A spot of burgundy red passes the corner of her vision.

'Hm?' Shinobu stops and turns to the side to see part of Giyuu's haori. 'Ah. This one.' She walks to it and picks it up. With the fabric close to her face, Shinobu looks at the stitched-up sewing of where the holes used to be. 'It took me a very long time to find the right shade to fix it, but I believe it was worth it.' She sighs, 'Sorry for not finding the rest of your haori Giyu—'

CAW

Emergency Summons!

The Ubuyashiki Estate is under attack!

Follow me!

Shinobu stares at the flapping crow as her heartrate spikes up. 'No…No!' She stuffs the sleeve into her haori and runs to her cabinet. Opening the drawer, Shinobu stuffs as many of her tools into her pockets as she can. 'I hope this is enough.' She storms out of the office and runs into the courtyard to see the group of slayers and kakushi members practicing first-aid. She stops in front of them. "This is not a drill! The Ubuyashiki Estate is under attack! Notify the rest of the Corps and report to your squad leaders!"

Everyone freezes at the news.

"PREPARE FOR BATTLE!"

The group explodes into a sea of activity as they move and run out of the courtyard.

'Good.' Shinobu turns to the crow and—

"Sensei!" Aoi runs along the engawa and stops close to Shinobu.

"Aoi-chan. You have authority of the Estate."

Aoi blinks before she gulps and sets her shoulders. Shen then nods, "Yes Sensei. Good luck out there and come back to us with everyone."

Shinobu nods, "I will. Take care." She jumps up to the roof and follows after the crow.

. . .

. . . . .

. . . . . . .

. . . . .

. . .

Huff

Shinobu jumps from tree to tree as she follows after the crow. 'Kami, was the estate this far away?' She jumps up to the highest tree on a hill and spots a compound in the middle of the forest. 'There!' She jumps down and continues her way there. 'Oyakata-sama please be saf—'

BOOM

A huge explosion bursts from the middle of the compound. Shinobu staggers a bit as the shockwave hits her. As she recovers, she stares at the black smoke rising from the aftermath.

'No…'

"No!"

Shinobu shakes her head starts to run toward the smoke. 'It… It can't be true.'

Seconds felt like hours before Shinobu finally spots a clearing amidst all of the fire and smoke.

"You bitch!"

Shinobu jolts at the voice. 'That's Sanemi-san.'

"What did you do to Oyakata-sama?!"

In the middle of it, she spots a half-naked man with Tamayo's arm in his chest with multiple syringes around his body. 'Tamayo-san?' Close by, there's Gyomei with his axe and chain-ball out.

Gyomei turns to them. "It's Muzan! Kibutsuji Muzan! He won't die even with his head cut off!"

Shinobu's vision narrows on the half-naked man. 'It's him!' She draws her blade as she jumps from the branch and toward them. 'Butterfly Dance: Caprice.' As she gets closer, she spots the other Pillars and Tanjiro perform their attacks on Muzan. 'This is it!'

Muzan smirks.

Fwoosh

All of sudden, shoji doors appear underneath all of them. 'What the-' She looks down to see geometrically impossible hallways as she falls down.

Muzan shouts, "You seriously thought you could corner me!? You're all going to hell now! You pathetic demon hunter pests! I'm slaughtering you all tonight!"

'As if.'

She then hears Tanjiro shouts back. "You're the one going to hell Muzan! You're not getting away! I will defeat you for sure!"

"Come and get me if you can Tanjiro Kamado."

Clack

The doors close and everything else become muted. As she falls to the ground, Shinobu twists her body to move toward a wall. Once she touches the wall, she bends her legs and jumps off to a floor.

Thud

Shinobu rights herself and looks around. 'What is this place?' Rooms of various sizes seemed placed next to each other. 'Is this a blood art? Must be an Upper Rank to have this much space and buildings.' She walks through a hallway and spots a pond of lilies and koi fish. 'How are they alive-' She stops and sniffs the air. 'Blood.' She looks at the door nearby. 'It's in there.' Shinobu moves closer to the door and slides it open.

Crunch

Shinobu pales as the sight:

There are wooden platforms where multiple bodies of women are strewn around a male figure. The platforms themselves are surrounded by water and lotus lilies.

"Hm?" The figure turns around with an eaten arm. "Oh someone's here?" It then grins, "Oh a girl! She looks so fine and delicious. Thanks Nakime!"

'…No…' Shinobu sweats at the figure's features, especially the kanji in their eyes: Upper Moon 2. She gulps and slowly shifts her hand toward her blade.

The demon tips its hat and smiles, "Why hello there. It's very nice to meet you. My name is Dōma. It's a very nice out tonight isn't it?"

Shinobu stares at it.

Rustle

One of the figures reach for the Pillar. "He…H-Help me!"

'One of them is alive!'

Dōma raises a finger to its lips. "Shhhh. We're talking right now." It raises a fan—

Shinobu sprints and picks up the woman to the other platform.

Fwossh

Shinobu shivers as the temperature drops down.

"Whoa, you're really fast. Are you a Pillar?"

She ignores it and smiles at the woman. "Are you okay?"

"Ah…Ah—"

Spurt

Shinobu widens her eyes as pieces of the woman slide from the body. No matter what, her medical mind can't help but note the damage. 'The cut was so clean that the bone didn't hinder the slice.'

Flop

Shinobu stares down at the bloody remains.

"Ah, don't worry about her. You can just leave her there and I'll make sure to gobble her up later."

Shinobu turns her head and stares at the demon as it flourishes two golden fans.

The demon causally swings one of the hands up and down. "I am the founder of the 'Eternal Paradise Cult'. My duty is make sure all of my worshippers, including myself, happy. So I'll eat her up without leaving a speck."

Shinobu suppresses her eye twitch. 'Focus. So this is the demon that killed my sister and turned Giyuu.' "…Make everyone happy? That girl was screaming for help."

Dōma smiles, "That why I saved her. She not feeling any pain nor feeling any suffering so she has nothing to be afraid of. You know, everyone's afraid of dying and that's why I eat them up." The demon places a hand on its chest. "All of my worshippers, feelings, flesh, and blood are forever inside me. I made sure to accept, rescue, and guide them all to enlightenment."

'…Hah?' Shinobu can't hold back her scowl. "There's no way you're sane. You make me vomit."

"Ehhhh? How come you're being this harsh to me when we've just met? What a sad life." It spreads its arms. "If there's anything bothering, speak up. I'll be sure to listen to your woes and we could smooth it out."

Twitch

Shinobu grits her teeth and grabs her haori. "Anything bothering me?! You're the one who killed my sister! Don't you recognize this!?"

"Hm?" The demon blinks and tilts its head. "Ah! The Flower Pillar from before? She was such a sweet and cute girl. I couldn't eat her because of the sun was coming up." It sighs, "I really wanted to eat—"

Shinobu draws her sword and reaches for a kunai as she charges at it. 'Dance of the Bee Sting: True Flutter.' She aims at its left eye.

"Whoa!" The demon steps to the side. "You're fast but predictabl—"

Shink

The demon stops as a kunai is embedded in the left eye. "Eh?"

When the demon dodged, Shinobu swung her other hand and threw the knife into the eye. 'Got you.'

The demon immediately swings a horizontal slash where ice lotuses appear in mid-air and fly toward Shinobu.

Shinobu backflips away from the attack. 'So cold!' She can see her breath turning into mist. 'It's cold enough to rip someone's lungs into shreds! Concentrate on your breathing!'

"You got me good with that knife there." It pulls out the knife. "But you can't kill a demon with just that. You got to go for the neck."

'The cure is in. Now I just have to stall until someone comes.' Shinobu shifts her stance. "I suppose so."

Purple veins appear around the eye.

Shinobu blinks at that. 'Huh?'

"Guh!"

The demon drops to the ground and cradles the wound.

Shinobu clicks her tongue. 'Dammit. I must have grabbed some of poisoned ones when I was rushing out.' She glances at her pockets. 'Hopefully that was just the one. If anything, I'm certain my blade is coated with the cure.' She looks up as the demon has both hands on the ground and coughs up blood. 'Now's my chance!' She charges again. 'Dance of the Bee Sting: True Flutter.' Shinobu aims for the hea—

A figure appears in front of her and swings a sword.

Shinobu widens her eyes. 'Wha—'

Whoosh

She ducks under the strike and backflips out of its range.

"Ah thanks for that Mizu. She was so rude to interrupt me." Dōma raises its head and the purple veins disappear. "But will you look at that, this poison was definitely stronger than the one you used on the spider lady but I was able to decompose it. So sorry…"

Shinobu doesn't hear anything else as her jaws drop at the new demon in front of her. With the mask gone, Shinobu can see new features of his face. 'A slayer mark on his right cheek. Pale face. His eyes…so he's Upper Moon Four. Did he…?' Shinobu bites her lips. 'Focus,' Her eyes then trail up and a corner of her mouth quirks up. 'Kami why is your hair so short Giyuu." Her eyes widen and she covers her mouth. 'Dammit! Did I say that aloud?'

Mizu tilts his head. "Do I know—"

Dōma hugs Mizu from behind. "Oh you two know each other Mizu-chan?" Before Mizu could reply, Dōma rocks them back and forth. "Hey you didn't tell me that you knew a cutie like her. That's no fair. You have to tell me about these things."

"My apologies Dōma-sama."

Shinobu feels herself lost. 'Dōma…sama?'

Dōma cradles Mizu's face. "You totally should have brought her with—"

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HIM YOU FREAK!"

Dōma blinks at the shout. "Oh my. Based on that reaction, are you his partner by any chance?"

Shinobu grips her sword handle and glares at it. "…"

Dōma smiles and claps his hands. "Oh wow you totally are." It tilts its head. "Hmm…"

Shinobu tries to calm herself. 'What is that monster thinking now?'

Dōma snaps its fingers. "I got it!" It looks at Mizu and holds onto his shoulders. "How about you eat her?"

Her heart stops.

Dōma continues, "You get to follow Muzan-sama's order and have your partner as your first meal. It's a win-win." It sighs, "It's amazing that the Fortune Gods smile down on us. Now before you go after her," Dōma hops to another platform where they are cushions on the wooden floor. It sits down and lies across the pillows. "Take your time with her. This is your reunion after all." It flips out a fan and fans itself. "Also give me a good show before you eat her."

'Fucking Freak.'

Mizu nods. "Yes Dōma-sama." He turns to Shinobu and brings the flesh-katana up in a guard.

"Giyuu please…"

Mizu stares at her.

She bites her lips and touches the syringe underneath her haori. 'Should I use it now? But he doesn't look like he remembers me and Tamayo-san-' Shinobu's eyes widen. 'Tamayo-san! That was her back then and she had her arm stuck in Muzan. Did she get to use the drug? Wait, the letter. Was that what she meant by giving me an opportunity since Muzan is weakened?' She focuses back on Giyuu. '…This is it.'

"Oh by the way Mizu-chan, this girl can't cut your neck and has to rely on her poisons to kill you." Dōma tilts his head. "Though I think at your rank you can nullify it too albeit longer to do so and it'll probably be more painful for you. Like I said, take your time since she isn't really a danger to any of us."

"Understood Dōma-sama."

'…Oh my Kami.' Shinobu does everything she can to not smirk at them. 'This is going in my favor, but still, I don't think Giyuu is going to make it easy.' She then shifts her stance into Flower Breathing. 'Help me one more time nee-san.'

Dōma holds up his finger. "Aaaand go."

Mizu charges forward with a single thrust and Shinobu twists her body in mid-air to evade it. 'Sixth Form: Whirling Peach.' She uses the momentum and swings at his sword.

Clang

His sword stays in place.

'Of course.' Shinobu reaches for the syrin—

Mizu turns his sword and swings to the side. Shinobu widens her eyes as she is flung away from him. 'Such power.' As she lands on the wooden bridge, Mizu is already there with his sword raised overhead. 'Dammit!' Shinobu holds her sword in hopes to deflect the attack.

'Eh?' Shinobu looks at his face as it contorts for a second and his eyes lose focus. 'Now!' Shinobu unclasps the syringe and thrusts it at Giyuu.

Mizu gains back his focus as he steps out of her reach and brings his sword down.

'Damn.' Shinobu breaks her thrust and steps back to avoid the strike.

Clap

"Wow it's almost like you two are dancing together."

Shinobu re-settles her stance. 'What was that? Why did he hesitate? Does he…' She switches the syringe to an overhand grip and moves it behind her sword. "Well Giyuu, I've always wanted a dance with you."

Mizu tilts his head.

'Fifth Form: Peonies of Futility.' Shinobu charges forward with nine swinging attacks to which Mizu effortlessly blocks every one of them. 'Good.' After the ninth attack, Shinobu does several thrusts at his heart. Mizu swipes each stabs and returns with a diagonal slash. Shinobu jumps to the other bridge and glances at the monster.

Dōma claps again. "Ahahaha. So nice. More Mizu-chan more. Dance with her now."

"Yes Dōma-sama." Mizu jumps at her and swipes at her head, though at a slower speed.

'Yes!' Shinobu jumps back again and Mizu chases after her. Throughout the fight, Shinobu uses several of her sister's technique to which Mizu would evade or block. She on the other hand would deflect or evade his attacks before she would jump to a different area. On several occasions, Shinobu had close calls of stabbing the syringe into Giyuu, but he keeps evading those. "Tch. Just stay in one place will you Giyuu?"

In the middle of all of this, Dōma has a constant smile on their face. "Oh this is wonderful." It sighs, "I should have kept some of the ladies to snack while this performance is going on."

Mizu had several moments of delivering the killing blow, but he would slightly hesitate which gave Shinobu enough time to doge or counterattack. In this moment, he does it again and pauses his attack. 'Now! Dance of the Bee Sting: True Flutter.' Shinobu dashes forward and aims her sword at his torso.

For once, Mizu widens his eyes but he parries the attack to the side.

'Perfect.' Shinobu continues the momentum until she in front of his face and swings her other hand to—

His other hand grabs onto her wrist.

'Damnit.' Shinobu tries to pull her hand out but he keep his grip on her wrist. 'Come on—'

"Why?"

Shinobu jolts, "Huh?"

"Every time I almost kill you, my head hurts. Why? Why do I feel like this? Who are you?"

Shinobu lips quirk up. "You're such an idiot Giyuu. It's so simple. You love me."

Mizu tilts his head.

"And as your wife, I love you too." Shinobu drops her sword to grab Mizu's shirt and pulls him down for a kiss.

Mizu eyes widen comically and his grip slackens.

'Now!' Shinobu breaks out of the grip and swings her arm again to plunge the needle into the back of his heart. She pushes the plunger and the entire cure—

Push

Flap

Shinobu gasps as Mizu shoves her away where she flies to the end of the wooden bridge. 'Kami that hurt.' She takes deep breaths and looks up to see Giyuu crouching down. In front of him was the haori sleeve. 'The sleeve!' She looks down and reaches for her haor—

"Ghrk!"

Suddenly, Shinobu feels herself weightless and something gripping her neck. Instinctively she grabs onto it and tries to rip it off but it wouldn't budge. A second later, she looks down to see a pale hand clenched around her neck. She looks forward to see Dōma frowning at her.

It tilts its head. "Say, what poison did you give to Mizu-chan?" It looks back to see Mizu holding onto the sleeve and staying motionless. It looks back at Shinobu. "Even with his lower rank, he should have broken it down already."

Even though she could barely breathe, Shinobu smirks, "The best kind." She clenches her feet and small blades appear on her heels. Using the demon's hand as leverage, she swings her legs up and slams down on the shoulder. At the same time, Shinobu unclasps a pocket and pulls out a syringe. 'This one is tailored for you, freak.' With her heel blades embedded, Shinobu twists to the side to throw the syringe underneath the armpit.

Shink

'Hopefully that got in between the rib cage.' After a second, she feels the hand slightly slacken and she took the chance rip out her heel blades and pulls herself out of the grip.

Thunk

Groan

Shinobu's back ache as she drops to the hard wood floor. 'Ow,' She then remembers to back up from the demon.

Dōma looks at the syringe. "Huh?" It pulls the needle out and brings it up. "Is this what you injected Mizu-chan with? It doesn't feel like your other poisons."

Shinobu coughs and gingerly touches her neck but draws her fingers back. 'Definitely bruised.' She sneers at Dōma. "Wis – cough – wisteria isn't the only poison you idiot."

"Ehhhh really?" Dōma drops the syringe to the ground. "Well sorry to say but I guess this poison didn't work out for you."

'We'll see how you'll feel when you become a human,' Shinobu coughs again.

Dōma start walking toward Shinobu. "What a shame but you've done so much despite being so weak that you can't cut a demon's head. In addition, you couldn't even do anything to my Mizu-chan." It raises a fan over its head. "I know I said Mizu-chan should eat you, but I hope he doesn't mind I get some of your pretty legs."

'Bastard.' Shinobu glances between his legs but she widens her eyes. 'Wait where is Giy—'

Flutter

Shinobu blinks and catches Giyuu by Dōma's side with his sword in mid-swing.

Shing

Dōma's arm fly off in a spray of blood but the demon tilted its head to evade the swing. Instantly, Dōma swings its other hand at Giyuu and ice lotus petals fly outward. Giyuu ducks and shoots off toward Shinobu.

"Ah!" Shinobu feels herself picked up and taken a far distance away from the ice attacks. She feels herself placed on her feet and she freezes up when Giyuu is in front of her. 'No I got distrac—'

Giyuu caresses her neck. "Are you okay Shinobu?"

Shinobu's shoulders slightly jolts before they relax and fights her urge to recoil as she leans her cheeks down onto his touch. "Took you long enough."

"I'm sorry."

"Oh?"

The both of them turn to Dōma who has its arm regenerated.

"What's this Mizu-chan? Come back here."

Giyuu holds up his sword against Dōma.

Dōma frowns, "So you regained your memories huh…" The demon opens both fans. "What a shame."

Giyuu keeps his stare at Dōma as he pulls out her sword from his sheath and gives it to her. "Here."

Shinobu accepts it. "Thank you." She sheathes it and lets the cure coat her blade again before she pulls it out. 'There's so many things I want to say and ask but,' She glances at the demon as it taps its feet. 'Now is not the time.'

Step

Shinobu turns her head just as the door opens to reveal Kanao and a crow with talisman on its chest.

'That's Tama—'

"Nee-san! You're ok—" She stops when she spots Giyuu's demonic features.

Shinobu quickly raises her hand. "It's fine Kanao-chan! He's with us now. I gave 'it' to him."

Kanao's eyes widen but she nods and stands in between them facing Dōma. "…It's good to see you again Giyuu-sama."

Giyuu nods, "Mhm."

Dōma smiles, "Oh another pretty girl? Well at least I got something good to make up for losing you Mizu-chan."

. . .

. . . . .

. . . . . . .

. . . . .

. . .

Kiriya stares at her sister. "Are you sure?"

Kanata nods her head. "Yes Kiriya-sama. The crow heard the statement from Kocho-sama and report that Tomioka-sama is not hostile toward them."

"This is good." He turns to her other sister. "Give the report to everyone that Tomioka-sam…-san is our ally."

Kuina nods, "Yes Kiriya-sama."

Outside of the room, Tengen leans back and smiles, "There you go. You finally came back to us."