After losing consciousness due to an unknown being weakening her, Shinobu wakes feeling nauseas and a terrible pain in her stomach. She has the urge to hurl but she focused on her trembling and partially paralyzed body.
"What...happened...?"
According to her last memory before she all of her strength was drained away in an instant, she heard a voice whispered to her. Shinobu compared how slightly similar that voice to a young demon she encountered a long time ago.
Help...somebody...help us...!
No...no...please no!
Stay away...stay away! Aaaaahhh!
Desperate pleas and agonized cries rung in her hear while her head feels slightly dizzy. Shinobu woke up in an d abandoned house and not she found herself lying on the ground somewhere in the mountains.
"I...I need to return"
Her first thought as soon as she woke up is to return to her allies while it's still broad daylight. Without her weapon, she has no means to defend herself against a demon attack.
"..."
It then crossed to her mind on how the other demon slayers will react when she had died.
"How will I explain it?"
Shinobu contemplated as she walks down the mountain, hoping everyone wouldn't be too shocked to see her alive again. Kanao, Giyuu, Tanjiro and the others...she wondered how they will feel seeing her alive.
"...?!"
Just then, she felt another urge to hurl, sensing something awful in her stomach. This is the same feeling whenever someone consumes food the their stomach rejects. Her knees surrendered to the ground.
"What happened...while I was unconscious...?"
When she was rendered unconscious by a glimpse of what seemed like a distant memory of someone, Shinobu has no recollection of what happened afterwards. When she came to be, she was lying somewhere in the mountains with no idea how she got there.
"That demon. What did she do to me?"
Even with her stomach still in pain, Shinobu slowly threads her path. Not only the abdominal pain hindering her movement but her body feeling weak under broad daylight.
"Ugh! It hurts everywhere..."
Her vision begins to blur and her legs is being drained of its strength. With Shinobu losing focus of her path and surroundings, she tripped and stumbled down a slope where her head had struck to a rock then her body slamming against a tree.
How careless...
Once again, Shinobu is knocked out unconscious but her own fault this time. Just as she surrenders to the pitch black darkness, she hears footsteps in the distance.
(Humans?)
She tried to stretch out her hand but she couldn't even lift a finger. The weakened Shinobu, frustrated at her current state, is forced back into the darkness again.
That was careless of you...
Good thing you can't die...
...as long as I'm here...
Just keep on sleeping...
...until night falls... Shinobu
In the midst of that darkness, she caught a glimpse of the young demon. While her form isn't fully visible, she saw a pale skinned girl with white or silver-like hair. She couldn't identify her but she saw the sinister smile in the form of a young girl.
"...?!"
Shinobu immediately opens her eyes, the first thing she saw is the ceiling then the four corners of a house surrounding her. She looked to her side where her hair that she thought was destroyed when she got mauled was folded neatly beside her. She wondered how she woke up wearing the same clothes she had before she died.
"Where...am I...?"
Her hand gently touched the forehead where someone had bandaged. Shinobu, without a second thought, stands up to analyze her surroundings but not before grabbing her haori.
"You're awake! Nii-chan, papa! The lady is awake!"
Shinobu first spots a young girl who called his brother and father with a bright smile on her face. Slightly confused, Shinobu follows the girl outside where she meets the so called brother and father.
"Miss, you shouldn't move much. You took quite a fall after all" The brother worried
"A fall?"
"Yeah. When my dad and I found you, you were unconscious down a cliff. We're both surprise you're alive"
Shinobu then remembered she stumbled and ended taking a fall when she couldn't clearly see her surroundings. Her head was struck against a rock then her body slammed against a tree where she feel unconscious shortly after.
"That's right. I remember falling down..."
"Good thing my son and I found you or you could have died from your injured or attacked by wild animals"
The father sighs in relief, thankful that he and his son found Shinobu and treated her injuries in time. Though said injuries already healed in the span of Shinobu being unconscious.
"You don't look like you live in the mountains. What were you doing deep within anyway?"
"I don't remember. I just woke up and I don't remember how I got there" Shinobu shakes her head
"Where are you from?" The young girl asked her
"I live a bit far away and I was trying to get back home"
"Night will fall soon and you don't want to be travelling at night. Monsters lurk out here, young lady"
A woman, the mother of the boy and the young girl offered to let her stay till next morning due to how dangerous the night is with demons lurking everywhere.
"That's right. The night is dangerous...especially without a nichirin sword"
If she only had her uniquely designed katana, Shinobu would have little fear travelling anywhere at night as she is a demon slayer...or at least she was.
You're going to regret that decision...
She caught an image of the demon waving her finger with a sly smile, warning he that she made the wrong decision. Of course, Shinobu ignored that vague warning and chose to stay with the family who treated her wound.
"..."
As the sun begins to set and the sunlight that kept the demons away fades, Shinobu begins to shiver and breaks in a cold sweat. She felt a tingling sensation from head to toe and her throat itching.
And so it begins...my feast that is...
Inside her own mind, Shinobu felt her neck being coiled around her limbs being broken by the squeeze of an invisible force.
Have you wondered why you can hear my voice inside your head?
"W...what do you mean?"
That's because...I'm currently stuck with you, Shinobu. Forced to exist alongside you...like a permanent part of you...
"You...!"
When the demon revealed herself to Shinobu, she recognized the parasite who had been whispering to her all this time. It was the same demon she and Kanao had defeated some time ago. On her last memory of the young demon, Shinobu poisoned her but that only weakened her so Kanao swung her blade and heavily wounded the demon that was somehow wounded before their encounter.
"You're still alive? You were on the ground dying...just like me..."
Not only the supposedly dead demon revealed herself to be alive but she seems to have aged a bit too, about fourteen to fifteen years old.
That's true that we were suffering the same fate. Now it's because of that cursed fate that we're in this situation
"...?!"
Thanks to my flesh and blood implanted in you...that you're still alive...and I'm still here
"By using my body...?!" Shinobu figured it out
Hahaha. You figured it out. You may be the weakest pillar but you sure are quick to understand
Shinobu felt ripping the demon with her bare hands if she wasn't restrained for mocking her physical weakness compared to other demon slayers.
Now then, Shinobu... it's time I feast...on the unknowing humans that is...
Before Shinobu fully loses control of her body, she dragged her feet away and fled the house as quick as possible.
"Hey-"
Concerned, the brother followed after her after she suddenly rushed outside. Shinobu didn't care where she was going as long as she's far from the village. She knows the demon will kill them if she stayed any longer.
Fighting is no good...
"...!"
She felt her body paralyzed, the demon seizing control over her movements and overtaking the owner of the body.
I told you...fighting is no good...
Shinobu begun to display demonic features such as fangs, elongated nails, and a demon's distinctive eyes. Both she and the unseen demon let out pained groans as if they're both rejecting something in their shared body.
You consumed a lot of bad stuff I don't like...
"...?"
Because of that it's difficult to use you during morning...
Shinobu's thoughts begun to spin, losing control of her own movements but she resisted the demon.
"Hey, why did you run away all of a sudden?"
The brother, one of the family member that found her unconscious, managed to catch up to her. The sight of a human, even with a small open wound, struck Shinobu's hunger.
(No...! I'm getting the urge to eat this man)
As the human walks closer, Shinobu's urge to sink her teeth into his flesh grew until...
"...!"
...she lost control over herself and assaulted the human as soon as he got close enough. For Shinobu, everything went dark for a moment. Only when she snaps back to reality she realized she had killed the human, his blood on her mouth and on her hands.
"What...have I done? What...did you make me do?!"
Why blame me when you were the one who ate that man? You're body became a demon because of my infused parts. Do you think I wanted to be stuck with you?
Furious at the demon for making her kill an innocent person, Shinobu bit her lip. The demon retaliates by growling at their shared cursed fate now.
Can you really go back now that you killed a human?
"...?!"
You'll kill more humans...and soon demon slayers...just like any other demon
"I will never kill my own allies"
A demon's hunger is irresistible...
Unable to restrain her anger, Shinobu punched a nearby tree and ended up breaking it in half rather than scream her frustration.
Look on the bright side. You're only a demon at night...since I'm weak to sunlight and that bad stuff in your body...
"I will make you pay for this!"
You're blaming me for something you did? I can't even do anything with what I am right now. Don't go pass off the blame to make yourself feel better!
"That's..." Shinobu couldn't say anything back
I lost my body and became stuck with you not because I wanted to! I'm too weak that I'm nothing but a voice for the time being
The demon argues with Shinobu, who blames her for slaughtering an innocent family earlier. She has little to no freedom except for her retained senses and awareness.
This is what you are now...Shinobu...
"I'm not...a demon!"
Shinobu has deep hatred for demons and to become one once night falls is one of her greatest nightmares that came true. After all, she became the very thing she swore her vengeance on. The very creature that took her parents and sister's life.
"Forgive me..."
She clenched her fists as she looked at her first victim before she is forced to flee before a human or demon slayer could find her. She doesn't want to increase her victims so the best thing to do is stay away from humans before her hunger overwhelms her.