swordflash | Catch-all: Ms. Shinobu

I was . . .

[ Truthfully, he wasn't in a good mood at the time and he let it show. His other hand lightly clamps over the section of his forearm that was shot by Fluffybutt weeks ago. ]

I'm better now, though. There's not even a scar.

No scar?

[ That seems a little odd to her. It shouldn't have been that long ago for him. ]

[ It's odd, and a fact that still fills him with ambivalence. ]

I was healed a few weeks later. I had way more injuries before that, but they're all gone.

I'm glad you were healed. Enduring a bullet wound on top of other injuries is not easy.

[ It's a lot, and it does show that Zenitsu is tougher than all his whining and crying. ]

You were strong.

[ Shinobu is always looking at him in such a kind light. It's enough to put him in a pensive mood, even as the trial continues to replay in front of them. ]

I've got Mr. Kim to thank for that. Without him, I would've succumbed to those injuries.

[ Then he wouldn't have gone on to have all those significant encounters with the people at the mansion. He would've just perished, useless to the last. ]

[ mr. kim KILLED YOU, ZENITSU.

But Shinobu doesn't know that. Good lord. She can only take him for his word, and Zenitsu isn't usually someone who outright lies. ]

I'm glad someone was thinking of you. It looks like you endured quite a bit.

[ Mr. Kim brought him back to life when he didn't have to. It counts.

But he's endured, all right! ]

My arm burned a lot after I was shot. Nothing like that happened to you on the island, did it?

[ frowns in zenitsu

Shinobu smiles. Haha! ]

I wasn't shot at, no, but I experienced quite a few effects while exploring the island. Something like what affected those who slept outside the cabins on Thursday nights.

[ She's not lying. ]

[ She had better hope that he's dead by the time her movie reel comes up. ]

What kind of effects?

[ More like, it'd be nice if she were dead before then.

Cheerfully: ]

Things like smelling like smoke or feeling chilly for a whole day. Hearing things and having my hands stained with blood.

[ They can both be dead. ]

B-blood? We didn't experience anything like that during our break-ins at the house.

[ No. Some people live to have to descendants, and others don't. ]

Yes, I investigated a cursed shrine, and it didn't like to be looked at.

[ That's not a lie. ]

[ Somehow, she manages to describe it in a flippantly horrific way. ]

Why does everything have to be cursed? I'm tired of this!

So am I.

[ Cheerfully. ]

I'm very tired of all of this, but we are still here.

You don't sound like you are, though. It's kind of impressive.

[ The secret is she she's always tired, Zenitsu. Tired of the unfairness and the injustice of this entire murder game business. Sick and tired of it. ]

Well, I'm glad you think so. It means I'm doing something right.

[ This is a secret to which he's not yet privy. It makes him wonder. ]

How do you do it?

I think about my family.

[ They are always what keeps her going, what keeps her strong, but sometimes...

Things are really difficult, and well, he doesn't need to know what happens. ]

Your family?

[ His immediate thought goes, of course, to her parents. Then he wonders if she has siblings, and if they're as lovely as Shinobu herself. Someone as extraordinary as her must have an extraordinary family. ]

Yes. My parents, who always said to help and share the burdens of others. My older sister, who still had kindness in her heart for demons after everything. The girls who live with me, who I hold as sisters in my heart, who do their best everyday.

All of them are so lovely and so dear to me.

[ In her mind, there is no one more important than her mind. In her heart, there is no one she cherishes more.

In the way she speaks, in the way she acts, she tries to do as they would, but she has never been as kind or as good as any of them. ]

[ He realizes then that most of Shinobu's family have passed. Admirable parents who've been lost for one reason or another; as well as a sister, perhaps to a demon. (A fearful pang cuts through his chest, followed by a wave of sorrow for her loss.) But there are those whom she holds dear still, and Shinobu's words bring the aged visage of Jigoro to his mind's eye.

He doesn't know what it's like to have parents or a sister, but he understands what people held as family in the heart mean to him.

It's almost strange, being able to relate at all to a Pillar. Still, it's more proof of how awesome Shinobu is, to carry their legacy like this. ]

They sound amazing.

They were the best people in the world. Even if we lived simple lives, it was happy.

[ She smiles, all her love and all of her grief shining in her eyes. She's not ashamed of how she feels about her family, and she won't hide it.

They have made her what she is, and even if what she does here is one failure after another and she can no longer make them proud, her love will still remain. ]

Is there anyone you have like that, Zenitsu-kun?

[ Hers is such a lovely smile. When he sees it, he can feel with certainty that she loves her family. Knowing that, it's a precious expression. ]

I don't have parents, but Gramps is the one who taught me how to wield a sword. He's the only one who never abandoned me.

[ Does Shinobu know Jigoro? Zenitsu wonders as he faces the screen, on which the trial continues to play. Probably not, but it wouldn't surprise him if she does. ]

He used to be a Pillar before an injury led him to retire. Having only one leg didn't seem to ever slow him down, though.

[ Zenitsu knows. Boy, does he know. ]

[ Does Shinobu know an old Thunder Pillar? We just don't know! When did he retire?

She can tell how much Zenitsu loves him. ]

He sounds like a great man, who saw your potential as someone who could be a demon slayer and someone who deserves to be loved.

You know that, don't you?

[ At the age of 35, reportedly! Was Shinobu even alive back then?

Those aren't the exact words that Zenitsu would use, but he won't deny that there must be love between them. If not for that, he wouldn't have made it this far (or even be a demon slayer). ]

Yeah. I guess I do.

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wisterin - 2020-06-29 05:09 (UTC) - Expand

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