Disclaimer: First Chapter
Story Start!

It hurt to breath.

'He broke a few of my ribs for sure... this will weaken my ability to use Total Concentration Breathing... why didn't he kill me though?' Shinobu instantly assessed her situation the second she woke up. Her eyes scanned the room as she remained flat on her back, and she looked down at her body using the smallest of head movements.

She was in her pants, and her chest was bandaged up, with a LARGE bruise right across her sternum from what swelling she could see. Her pants leg was pulled up so that her broken ankle could be wrapped.

She looked and she saw her sword sheath was destroyed, and her broken sword was broken into even more pieces. After she had passed out, he had destroyed her weapon and sheath seemingly to make sure that she couldn't fight him again.

There he was.

"I can feel that... neat killing intent, but with your broken ankle and 6 broken ribs, you won't be fighting anymore. Also, you have no weapon anymore to fight with... our fight is over now." Naruto stated without even looking in her direction. With just her killing intent, he was able to figure out that much.

He grabbed a bowl of stew, and he slid it across the room towards her.

'... This bastard... he breaks my body... and now expects me to trust his food?' Shinobu thought as she looked at the stew. There was meat and veggies in the stew, and all things considered she must have been asleep for awhile, because she was famished. The scent of the hot stew was enough to water her mouth for her. "... Very charitable... for the one who... broke my body in the first place." Shinobu didn't take his meal into her lap.

Even as she forced herself to sit up.

"It's not charity, it is respect. You might not be suited for the path of a warrior, but you are still a warrior with great skill. You brought yourself to your limit, and I respect all the effort it took for you to get as strong as you are... so eat and regain your strength." Naruto turned his head to look at her.

"So you can fatten me up... you break my ankle so I can't get proper training, and then give me a high calorie meal to put meat on my bones." Shinobu shot at him, her smile was morphed a little, and the veins around her forehead were pronounced. She was so visibly angry just from that.

"I didn't choose to become a demon." Naruto responded to her.

"... No, I guess you didn't." Shinobu sighed and looked away from him. "... What is the real reason why you haven't eaten or killed a human since becoming a demon?" Shinobu asked him, since she could tell that he was hungry. She grabbed the stew he offered her, and she stared at her wavering reflection in it.

A demon with some semblence of his human memories, that had never eaten a human after transforming was rare.

This was the first demon she had ever heard of that didn't eat humans, or even kill them.

"I already told you, because it's gross... humans and demons don't seem too different to me. I don't have a lot of my human memories, but the ones I have are bloody... this is a chance for me to turn over a new leaf I guess." Naruto glanced towards Shinobu. "... Eat, recover your strength."

Shinobu threw the stew at him, covering him in it's contents. She gave him an actual glare, her smile now completely a frown.

"No, I refuse to believe a demon like you actually exists... demons are evil, they eat humans without caring about the families those humans leave behind. My sister... my sister... my sister would have loved to meet you." Shinobu growled and put her hand against her face.

Why did this guy have to smile at her?

Her sister had a dream, for humans and demons to be able to live amongst each other in peace.

She refused to believe that this man even existed, somebody that proved her sister was right. A demon her sister would have been happy to be friends with, who showed no signs of giving into his hunger and devouring an injured, helpless human.

"That is... interesting, and she was eaten by a demon... have you gotten revenge, or have you gotten justice for her?" Naruto could tell by context how her sister died.

Shinobu returned her glare to him.

"What is the difference... revenge, justice... I hate demons, and want them all to suffer..."

"... but you also want to fulfil your sister's dream too, so you want to find a demon you can be friends with... but you don't want to find them either... a contradiction... you wish to fulfil your sister's dream, but at the same time, you hate the idea of your sister being killed by demons, and then getting along with them... your desire for revenge is higher than your desire for justice." Naruto smiled at her with a twinkle to his eyes.

Shinobu bit her lip so hard that she started to bleed over her chin.

"What is the difference?"

"Revenge is purely to make yourself feel good, and it accomplishes nothing... justice brings evil to light, and it is used to protect others from becoming victims."

"I don't need a demon lecturing me on justice."

"I was once human too, remember... ah... yes... I remember why I killed those 1,000 samurai now. Heh... talking about justice and revenge jogged that memory." Naruto laughed as he remembered exactly the reason why he went on a rampage and murdered so many people in a single night.

Shinobu didn't ask him a question.

"... My sister really would have loved to be your friend..." Shinobu whispered that to herself, hating herself because she knew exactly how her sister would react to this meeting. She would have been carefree and happy to talk to such a friendly, understanding demon.

Naruto turned his head to grin at her.

"Then, to your sister... may she watch over her sister, and her new friend, from the afterlife in peace." Naruto pushed a second bowl of stew to Shinobu.

Shinobu was confused, and angry.

"What?"

"Well, if your sister would have wanted to be my friend, then I consider your sister my friend... and I pray that my friend watches over me from her afterlife. I'm friends with your sister now, and let us rejoice!" Naruto popped the cork off of a sake gourd sitting next to him, and he drank deeply from it. He finished it all off, before he smiled at Shinobu again with some sake dripping from his chin. "... Go on, eat up... I don't want my friend's sister to go hungry!"

"YOU'RE NOT HER FRIEND! SHE IS DEAD!"

"Of course I'm her friend, because your sister is here right now. She can hear every word we're saying, because she loves you... your sister is always watching over you, so of course she can hear my offer... and if she wanted to be friends with demons, then of course she would accept my friendship..."

"SHUT UP! HOW DARE YOU SAY SOMETHING SO CORRECT ABOUT HER!" Shinobu hated how she couldn't call him a liar, and how he was correct. She would never disrespect her sister by saying anything he was saying was false, because despite never having met her, he seemed to know her well.

She would have loved to be his friend.

"Hahahaha!"

"It isn't funny, stop laughing!"

"It is hilarious, and I know your sister is laughing with me! I can't see her, feel her, hear or, smell her, or sense her... but I know right now, your sister is laughing! She is happy, and she is laughing at how cute her little sister is being right now!" Naruto couldn't help but laugh. Shinobu was turning bright red in the face.

There he was, doing it again.

That was exactly what her sister would do, and right now at the very moment she spoke with the man, it was almost like she could see her sister next to him. She could see her sister sharing a drink with him, laughing with them as the two talked.

Shinobu quickly turned her head away from the image.

'... Is he just mocking me?'

"By the way, what is my new friend's name... and do you want to properly introduce yourself now... as a friend?" Naruto asked her.

...

"I'll relent... you would be her friend, but you aren't my friend."

"I'm sure my friend would be sad her sister didn't see me as a friend... and what is my friend's name?"

"Kanae Kocho..." Shinobu had no response to deny him anymore. It was like he knew her sister so well, despite having never met her before. "... how do you know so much about her?" Shinobu asked Naruto.

"... because you're a beautiful, strong, and graceful woman... she must have been even more beautiful, stronger, and more graceful for you to idolize her so much. She must have been an amazing woman... she wanted to be friends with demons, so I can't see her as anything but a kind, loving, soft spoken girl with a great nature... easy going too... maybe a bit of an airhead, but I would bet her heart was always in the right place... that is the Kanae I imagine in my head at least." Naruto could only imagine her based off context clues that Shinobu was unknowingly giving him, and he found his mental image to be of an amazing woman.

Shinobu smiled.

"You're right... you really are right... my sister was... she is all of those things... of course..." Shinobu couldn't look Naruto in the face when she spoke. "... of course you're right... of course you're right..." Shinobu lifted a hand to eyes when tears started to blur her vision. "... you and she would have been..."

"There is no would have... me and your sister are friends, because she is here, right now... watching over you. She heard my offer of friendship, and she accepted... she accepted my friendship, so even if death is keeping us apart, your sister is my friend."

"You're right... you're completely right... you are her friend, because that is just who she is." Shinobu was crying.

It heard to breath, but crying felt so good to her. She felt a huge weight on her shoulders get lifted at the idea that after death, even after death her sister managed to achieve her dream. She felt, she knew that her sister didn't die for nothing.

"Now, as your sister's best demon friend... I am asserting my authority as friend, and telling you to eat. Your sister and I would hate to see you neglecting your health like this." Naruto pointed to the bowl of stew in her hands.

"I-"

"Eat up Shinobu, or do you want to make your sister angry... if I know my friend, I bet she would be upset at you for refusing her friend's kindness."

"Yes, but..."

"Eat up, eat up and heal."

"Yes, eat and get your strength back."

Shinobu turned her head like lightning hitting the ground, when for a split second she was SURE that she had heard her sister talking to her. She started to eat the stew he prepared for her. She stopped for a moment when she saw him take his sword, unsheath it.

"Finish that by the time I get back, you'll need seconds to regain your strength."

'... He... he really is trying to help me heal I guess.' Shinobu watched the man leave the small home.

She never though she would see it happen.

Even in the afterlife, somehow her sister had managed to make a new friend.

Chapter End!
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