Chapter Text
Sanemi hit the wall and rolled out of the way of a thrusted blade. Upper Moon 2 grasped the blade at his back, unsheathing and slashing down at the demon slayer in a single motion. The demon’s eyes widened; even a high ranking demon couldn’t resist his Marechi blood.
His blade had cut deeper than Sanemi expected, but he could see Makomo taking advantage of the opening he had created. Her little body was battered, but she was moving faster than ever before. The wavy mark on her cheek extended up around her one remaining eye, and that eye glowed with ferocity. She swung for the demon’s neck from behind.
Nirichin clashed with demon flesh. The battlefield was enveloped in an inky, swirling darkness. “You couldn’t cut all the way through,” the demon’s voice echoed. “I can’t say I’m surprised.”
Goosebumps rose on Sanemi’s skin, and he lifted his katana just in time to clash blades. At once the weight of the attack was gone.
Metal shattered, and Makomo screamed.
“Makomo!” Sanemi snarled.
“Shinazugawa?” Her voice was off. There was no strain in it. Like she hadn’t been fighting alongside him this whole time.
Shapes appeared in the dark. There was light, swirling like dust in the dark. He twisted again, bringing his blade up to block another heavy- then feather-light- blow. His heart pounded. He could still sense her somewhere, just out of his sight. She was alive. Something like her was alive. He had to trust that it was her. He had to focus .
“If they will comfort you in these final moments, value your memories of that girl.” The demon’s voice murmured. He flung something- someone- Makomo toward him. That other Makomo-thing sprang at her. They were close enough for him to make out in silhouette. This strange Makomo being was slower, but moving toward the one he had known with the same ferocity she saved only for demons.
Its blood demon art! Sanemi recognized this trick. He followed the line connecting this dopple; it was more a feeling than sight, and he threw his blade at the demon- there was no other way to get there in time. Diving for Makomo, he pulled her body close, and rolled.
He was struck by sunlight, the ground around him kicked up dirt, and he realized immediately that it wasn’t Makomo in his arms anymore. Even worse, the air was extremely cold; frost crawled up the half of his body he had intended to shield her from harm. He couldn’t move quickly with the cold shock, but his eyes darted to the thing in his arms; he would have to fight whatever this demon had tricked him into grabbing with his bare hands. But upon seeing what it- what she was, he froze.
Kanae blinked up at him, her eyes wide. Her lips were cracked from the icy air, and she was struggling to breathe. She looked different- younger than he had remembered, though he could not, in the moment his mind raced through his memories of her, see any real difference in her face and features.
He dropped her onto the ground and jerked his gaze away. They were outside, in an alley between two buildings. It was dawn. The sun was rising, and the shadows were disappearing around them. This is another trick. “Where are you?!” This is a trick! “I’ll kill you!” That demon had not made anyone but his opponents appear before, let alone someone long dead. But nothing else can explain this!
“That’s too bad…”
His gaze shot to the end of the alley. There was an unfamiliar demon there; one that looked like he had blood poured over his head. This was the demon that had killed Kanae. What’s going on?!
“I was going to eat her, but you got in my way. Now the sun is rising…” He turned his gaze toward the sky. “It really is sad.” He turned and, though Sanemi could see his retreat, he could hardly force his body to stand, let alone follow. He stared after that demon. He could sense no more enemies. But this still wasn’t right. It couldn’t be.
“Kanae!” Shinobu’s shriek broke through his stupor. When he turned to see her, he was shocked by how small she was. She had always been tiny, but no, she was a child now. Fourteen. She was fourteen when Kanae died.
“I’m okay.” With some struggle, Kanae pushed herself up.
Shinobu threw her arms around her shoulders, eyes filled with tears.
Kanae stroked her hair. “I lived,” she breathed, sounding as baffled as Sanemi felt. But the statement was followed by a cough, and that cough by a fit that had blood dripping down Kanae’s chin. She struggled to regain her breath and get the words out. “Because of… Sanemi.”
Hearing his name on her lips after so long,the pain came back to him. Kanae said my name? His wounds were serious. I saved her? Without a threat, his slayer mark wasn’t empowering him the same way. Kanae is alive? His lungs stung, and he was losing blood. Or am I…?
He shuddered, his mind slipped, his breathing grew unsteady. Hitting the ground felt like a harder blow than the entire fight that had preceded it. He was present long enough to hear the voices of the Kakushi, to see their forms blurring around him. And then it all went black.
“You don’t look like you’ve been taking care of yourself,” Kanae rasped, gently running her finger over his old scars- old for him, new for her. She wasn’t touching the fresher wounds. After a couple weeks they were still healing. And though he would normally press to be let go by now, the situation had him mentally stuck. He expected Kanae to be out and about by now, too, since her injuries weren’t as severe and she seemed energetic. But maybe she felt attached to him. He only watched her as she went on, thoughts still swirling. “Didn’t I tell you to be careful?”
“I’m sorry,” he said lamely.
She blinked up at him. “You really changed.”
He cleared his throat. It still hurt, healing from the cold. “When was the last time you saw me?”
She gave him a quizzical look. Her smile quickly returned. “It’s been a couple months, hasn’t it?”
He stared at her.
“But you look like you’ve aged much more,” she noted. “I wrote to the master and he said that you should have been on a mission some distance from here when I fought, but he’s informed you about it now.”
A prickling discomfort climbed his arm, and he pulled it from her grip. I don’t belong here. Of course she would notice… But what had that demon done to him? It couldn’t be anywhere close while they were in the protection of the Butterfly Estate. He opened his mouth and closed it again, a frustrated grumble rising in his throat. What should I be saying? He remembered the Makomo-thing lunging for his companion. There was no guaranteed way to tell the difference between that demon’s blood demon art and its target without seeing their connection to the demon itself. But being so out of place like this, he was feeling less like the real Sanemi and more like a Sanemi-thing. So how long until someone pointed it out?
“I don’t know how to explain it. I can’t think of who else you could be.”
He would rather die than dance around it. “That demon’s blood demon art. Obviously one of us is fake.” His voice came out rough- but more from cold damage and lack of use than his usual gruffness.
Again, her expression turned curious. “Which demon?”
“What do you mean what demon?” he snapped. “Upper Moon Two.” Would she know by now? Maybe he was too harsh. But as a Hashira, she should have heard the rumors at least. “The one that can make you fight yourself.”
“The demon I fought was Upper Moon Two, and his Blood Demon Art was ice attacks,” she said bluntly. “I’ve never heard of a demon like that.”
“Kaw! Kaw!”
They both looked up to see a crow swoop down at the windowsill. Sanemi recognized his own Kasugai crow; the paper talisman was still on its head. His eyes widened. He hadn’t seen it in the weeks since he arrived.
“Something is wrong!” It cried as Kanae opened the window. “ Something is wrong!”
“What is it?” Kanae asked. “What’s wrong?”
It flapped furiously past her and perched on Sanemi’s bandaged arm.
“I know as much as you do,” Sanemi guessed, trying to calm it down. “Did you hear from the master?”
It shook its head. “ To the master! It lifted off, deciding that reporting to Ubayashiki must be the best course of action. Sanemi was inclined to agree; he would have a better picture of the situation. And it would be a great comfort to hear directly from his own crow that he was alive. In the moment that it lifted off and flapped out the window, however, it was dive-bombed by another crow.
Sanemi’s eyes bugged. “Hey!” he yelled. Coughing followed as his healing lungs and throat reacted to the exclamation.
His crow hadn’t recovered from the battle, even if it was weeks ago. It was still exhausted. The other crow dove at it again as it struggled to keep aloft. Feathers flew off of it on impact. This crow was not playing, it was using its talons and beak to rip and tear. His crow tried to return blows, and the two birds tumbled to the ground, screeching in fury.
“Stop!” Kanae commanded. “Stop it right now!” She shoved the window further open and jumped out, landing lightly on her feet. She grabbed the attacking crow and yanked it away.
Sanemi followed after her, slower and in more pain. With a sinking feeling, he realized the crow in her hands was also his. Its body was smaller and younger, but it was surely his. It struggled to get free before catching sight of Sanemi. It’s mouth went agape for a moment.
And then Sanemi’s crow, the one he expected to really be his, labeled with the talisman, sprang into the air again. It attacked with a fury that was not just in retaliation, but with murderous intent. It took him several tries to grab it with his injured hands; both he and Kanae had to work together to keep them apart.
“Die!” the younger crow screeched.
“You die!” the older screeched back. Wings buffeted the air, and talons struck out, but the birds were too far apart to hurt each other. The damage they had done in the short time they had fought was evident, though; Sanemi would see the blood dripping off their black feathers, chunks of flesh gouged out, and large patches of feathers missing. His older crow was missing an eye.
“Why are you fighting?” Kanae demanded, but neither bird seemed able or willing to explain.
A cold, sinking feeling that had been in Sanemi’s gut since Kanae had started speaking to him about who he was resurfaced. “Because one of them is the work of that demon,” he asserted. He pulled his crow close. It was starting to still. “If it’s here, then the demons slayer it’s assigned to will follow.”
Kanae stared at him. He felt almost guilty. Clearly she didn’t have the full picture. But it wasn’t something he wanted to think about long enough to explain. The words came out bitter. “I don’t want to be around when the Sanemi you know gets here. I’m leaving.”