THIS IS MY ART!
The seasons passed much the same way.
Sasori continued to look for stronger demons, but he found very few worthy of turning into puppets. None like that lower moon one he had fought. He held a huge grudge against Obanai for it, and Shinobu began to sense it soon after her first session fighting against Yahaba. But that was far from her thoughts on this night.
The forest path ahead grew darker as night fell, and the sense of urgency drove Shinobu, Kanae, and Kanao forward, their footsteps swift and silent.
The demon had fled with a small child... a child which the demon mentioned had rare mareechi blood, making them a prized target.
Shinobu had grown stronger, and more confident since beginning her training under the puppet master. Her agility honed and her poisons perfected, she did not hesitate as she dashed forward! Ahead of her, Kanao ran just behind Kanae, having only recently passed the final selection, this was one of her first real missions.
The demon ran into a cave at the end of the forest path, and Kanao glanced at her coin, awaiting Kanae’s word. “We need to go in,” Kanae instructed with urgency weighing on her soft voice. Kanao nodded, pocketing the coin, and together they advanced into the cave’s depths. The air inside was heavy, thick with the scent of blood and damp earth. Shadows loomed, and from within, the hiss and growl of more demons echoed off the stone walls. Shinobu narrowed her eyes, fingers tightening around her blade.
"Stay sharp," Kanae whispered as they moved deeper.
The Flower Pillar’s instincts proved correct. As they rounded a bend, demons surged from the darkness!
The three girls moved as a professional team, synchronized in battle! Kanae’s graceful Flower Breathing techniques cutting through demons with lethal precision, Kanao mimicking her every movement! her skills blossoming despite her inexperience.
Shinobu darted forward, her movements precise and fluid, her katana a blur as she injected poison into a demon's neck! With a swift flick of her wrist, another demon fell, convulsing under the toxin’s rapid effect!
Flower Breathing: Fifth Form – Peonies of Futility!
Kanae’s blade danced in the dark cavern, slashing through multiple demons with an elegant yet devastating flurry, each strike like a blooming flower before it scattered. The cave echoed with the demons' pained howls as Kanae’s blade sliced through their ranks!
Meanwhile, Kanao rushed ahead with an explosive, yet gracefully delicate burst of speed!
Flower Breathing: Second Form – Honorable Shadow Plum!
Her blade sliced cleanly through a demon’s head, a graceful arc of petals trailing in her wake.
A burly demon clawed at Shinobu in a rage, but she twisted her body out of the way of his attack, and jabbed her sword into its exposed chest! The poison coursed through it instantly, as he fell to his knees and began to crumble.
Dance of the Centipede: Hundred-Legged Zigzag! Shinobu shot forward, dispatching the remaining four demons at once. They had barely even known what hit them as they fell to the ground one after another.
“Ara ara!” Kanae cried with pride. “I’ve never seen you do that before Shinobu, is that what you’ve been working on with Sasori-san!?”
The Truth was, it was the fear of losing Kanae, the scenario that Sasori went out of his way to remind her of, that pushed her to develop such a technique. Hearing her sister praise her for it, made Shinobu want to cry with joy, but she held it in. “We musn’t waste time Nee-san,” Shinobu replied. “Lets go save that child!” Shinobu ran ahead, Kanae and Kanao now following after her, and Kanae couldn’t help but feel her heart dance a little, at how much her little sister had grown.
Finally, they reached the demon they had been chasing. He stood near the back of the cave, the child cradled in his grotesque arms, the boy’s small body limp and lifeless. The demon grinned, blood dripping from his fangs.
Shinobu’s breath hitched, though she remained outwardly composed. Her eyes, however, betrayed the storm of emotions within her—rage, sorrow, guilt. The child couldn’t have been older than five.
It was too late.
Kanae’s soft gasp of horror broke the silence as she stepped forward, her blade trembling ever so slightly. Kanao looked up at her, awaiting instruction, but Kanae’s voice caught in her throat.
Shinobu stepped forward.
Dance of the Bee Sting: True Flutter.
The demon’s body collapsed, and the cave fell silent, but the weight of their failure remained.
She didn’t cry… she made sure not to cry in front of anyone except for Kanae whenever she could help it… But the anguish in her chest felt like it might suffocate her as she knelt beside the boy’s lifeless body. Her grip tightened around her sword’s hilt. "Why?" The question echoed in her mind. "Why does it so often end this way? Why were demons so cruel?"
She swallowed her emotions, stood up, and looked to Kanae, who placed a hand on her shoulder. "We did what we could," Kanae said softly, her voice laced with sorrow. “You take Kanao home and get some rest. I’ll wait here for the Kakushi, and then I’ll make my report to Oyakata-sama.”
Shinobu nodded. “For Kanao’s sake.” she said, sheathing her sword.
***
Shinobu said nothing of this the next day, as she worked with Sasori. The work had become less frequent, but still, hoping to avoid future tragedies like what she had witnessed the night before, she was determined to give it her all. Sasori remained, however uncomforting; someone whom she continued to feel freer around. There was still that odd comfort that she could not describe to anyone or even herself; about being held to such a high standard, and striving to meet that standard.
But on this morning, the silence between them was soon broken when the door creaked open, and a figure staggered in, breathing heavily. A bloodied and broken Demon Slayer; collapsed to his knees, his broken sword clattering to the floor. His black hair was matted with sweat, and his small, intelligent eyes darted around, barely focusing on the two figures in the room. Shinobu gasped and immediately rushed to the man’s side, trying to help him. “My name is Kinuta,” he said in a pained voice, “rank-”
“Please don't talk,” Shinobu said. "You're hurt. Let me—"
Kinuta's voice trembled as he interrupted, his breathing shallow. "I... don't want help. I know that I’m done for… the demon was upper moon five, I barely managed to escape, but… this poison, and these wounds will kill me soon."
“Don’t give up! We can treat poisons!” Shinobu cried.
“I already told you,” Kinuta rasped. “I don’t want help when I can’t be saved.” His eyes locked onto Sasori. "I want you... to turn me into a puppet."
Shinobu froze, horrified. "What?"
"I've heard about you..." He said ignoring Shinobu. "You can turn people into weapons so that they can continue fighting after death, right?"
Sasori raised an eyebrow, only mildly curious as he placed his tools down. "Why should I turn you into a puppet?"
Kinuta took a deep breath, gathering the last of his strength. "I’ve mastered all six forms of Thunder Breathing... and achieved the rank of Kinoe."
Sasori’s unimpressed response came swiftly. "Boring."
"I have a great sense of hearing too…"
Sasori tilted his head slightly. "Those with an affinity for Thunder Breathing often do, or so I’ve heard," he said, inspecting Kinuta with cold eyes. "But right now, I’m just annoyed that you're bleeding all over my sterile floor."
Kinuta coughed, blood staining his lips as he smirked weakly. "I can hear your heartbeat… and the heartbeat of this girl. I can hear vibrations from both of you… they tell me who you are." Sasori’s eyes narrowed slightly, intrigued despite himself. Kinuta continued, his voice softer. "You didn’t get a full night of sleep last night… haven’t in a long time. Your heart rate, the sounds you make unconsciously… They tell me you work endlessly. You emit such a cruel sound… and an intensely lonely one. I almost pity you." His gaze shifted to Shinobu, who stared at him in shock. "This girl next to me… she gives off a kind sound, but she's angry too… always angry, not just at you. And I can tell by listening to the sounds of your digestive tracts, that you both eat very little, but she prefers more flavorful, alkaline foods. You, on the other hand… you eat only for nourishment, nothing more."
Kinuta’s breath hitched as he struggled to stay conscious. "Could my sense of hearing… be transferred… into one of your puppets?"
Those were his final words. His body slumped to the floor, the last of his life fading away.
Shinobu closed her eyes, and after a moment of prayer, found herself trembling. "You can’t… you can’t really be thinking of turning him into a puppet… can you?" Her voice shook, her grief and indignation barely contained.
Sasori knelt beside the corpse, his eyes scanning it with clinical detachment. "He made a convincing case."
Shinobu’s fists clenched. "What is a human life to you?" she demanded, her voice rising in a tearful outburst.
Sasori didn’t even look at her as he began preparing his tools. "Go home and rest," he said calmly, his tone cold and authoritative. "Come back for your next lesson at the same time as usual tomorrow morning. Today’s lesson is dismissed."
Shinobu looked down. For a moment, she looked like she was about to speak up.
“Do you need something before you go?” Sasori asked with his normal formality.
“No, Sasori-san,” she said softly, right before turning to leave.
Once the Shoji door closed, Sasori looked down at Kinuta’s body and frowned. “I must be going soft. Who is that girl to lecture me? And why did I send her home? I should have made her stay and watch how it's done.”
He grabbed Kinuta’s body, and took it into another room of his workshop, the one where he turned demons into puppets. Creating a human puppet was much simpler, because the body did not disintegrate after it was killed, and therefore, the procedure could be done on a lifeless corpse, one that would not fight back. He stripped and cleaned the body, and then hung it upside-down, before making the incision, and draining the blood. While he waited, Sasori adorned himself with gloves and an apron, and got his operating table ready. The Organs would be carefully removed, and the body completely dried. And then came the fun part… networking the body’s Chakra, and revitalizing its abilities, before fitting it with extra weapons.
“Kinuta,” Sasori said as a nostalgic smile crossed his lips. “Your wish will come true, you are going to live on, and kill many more demons…” His hand touched Kinuta's lifeless shoulder. "You are my soldier now."
***
Kanae was surprised to find the door already opened when she returned home with Kanao that day. She immediately sensed something wrong. “Shinobu?” She called. It was too early for her sister to be home.
“I’m hear Nee-san,” Shinobu called from the living room.
Kanae knew immediately from Shinobu’s voice, that something was amiss. “Kanao,” she said barely above a whisper as she leaned in close. “Why don’t you run to the clinic and ask Aoi-chan if she could use any help?” Kanao smiled and nodded, before dutifully bouncing out the door, and running off to the clinic.
Kanae walked into the living room, where a wet and red-eyed Shinobu was waiting for her, with subtle desperation.
Kanae immediately knew that it was more than just the failed mission last night, and Shinobu told her what had happened.
“I don’t know who he is Nee-san! I’ve spent more than a year under his tutelage, and I don’t know what turned him this way, or if he was just born evil, but he makes me sick to my stomach! How could a human treat other humans like a demon!?”
Kanae appeared visibly disturbed herself. “I knew he was capable of turning humans into puppets,” she confessed. “And I knew he had considered doing it to me… My recovery after all, was a miracle… But I had only ever thought of it in those terms… I wanted to empathize with Sasori-san… but I didn’t realize how I would feel about such an act until I heard…” she couldn’t finish. She hung her head. “I knew Kinuta-kun, Shinobu.” And though her voice did not crack, Shinobu watched with dismay as silent tears fell from Kanae’s face… Her Nee-san… crying.
“It doesn’t surprise me that he would want this Shinobu.” Kanae said, her voice now becoming affected by the fact that she was indeed crying. “Kinuta-kun was always logical. If he had heard that there was a man who could turn people into puppets and use them to fight the demons, he would have seen it as a way to keep fighting and serving the corps even after death, but it just seems so… so wrong..." Kanae paused, and the muscles in her face tightened, as she tried to control herself. "I wish he had come to me instead of him! Even if I couldn’t have saved him… He’s not a tool! No matter how badly we want to defeat Muzan, humans should never be treated like that!”
Shinobu found herself crying anew now. “Nee-san, I’m so sorry, this is my fault.”
Seeing and hearing her sister like this, Kanae immediately composed herself. Wiping her tears away, she took Shinobu gently by the shoulders. “You have nothing to be sorry about Shinobu, none of this is your fault at all. You saved my life by persuading Sasori-san to save me, and by bringing him into the organization, his research has indeed saved lives.”
Kanae put her hand to her chest. Though she had healed unexpectedly fast, there was still a scar, and she had never fully regained her strength. She often doubted her own continued ability to fulfill her function as a Hashira, and remembered the fact that her missions since that incident had been much less frequent, and less dangerous. She hadn’t been sent on a single solo mission since then, and spent more time in the clinic. But Shinobu… her once helpless baby sister, had blossomed so beautifully. She was already becoming strong in her own right, using such creative means to overcome her lack of physical strength, but Sasori’s training had no doubt accelerated that potential. Kanae found it uncharacteristically hard to admit as she looked at Shinobu, looking up at her with those big trusting eyes, waiting to hear her big sisterly wisdom; that at this moment, she considered Shinobu to be stronger than she was.
“...and as for your training with him…” Kanae continued with the utmost candor, “Shinobu, it is undeniable how much stronger you’ve become, and in a way, we owe that to your time with Sasori-san. I… I am hurt to admit it, but I’m afraid that before then, I had been holding you back. I could not, and still cannot help but see you the same way that I saw you when you were first born. My little sister whom I would always protect. One thing I do not regret, was allowing you to learn from someone who would push you to reach your full potential.”
“Nee-san…”
“But Shinobu,” Kanae continued “It's possible that you’ve learned all you can from him. Sasori-san will remain Sasori-san. But you… watching you grow has been like watching a baby bird begin to take flight. I think you can do it on your own now. Spread your wings and fly.”
Shinobu looked down thoughtfully. “Your right Nee-san. I’ve learned all I can from him. I’ll always be grateful for all he has done, but he is still…” she hesitated. She was about to call him ‘an evil man’ “I still cannot empathize with him no matter how hard I try. Even though I respect him from the bottom of my heart, I still felt such a deep primal fear from being around him… and I ignored that fear until today. He’s still expecting me tomorrow morning. I’ll go there, and tell him what I’ve decided.”
Kanae nodded. “He is still helping the corps, but I believe your making the right decision here, Shinobu”
***
Susumaru screamed. She had been fighting for so long, and yet the only reason she was still alive was because this thing she was fighting seemed to be toying with her!
It appeared to be a demon slayer, and carried a Nichirin sword, but it was not human… It floated above the ground, and appeared to be made of metal and wood.
“DAMNITTTT!!!” she screamed, as she revved up three Temari balls in three arms and threw them straight at the Kinuta puppet! One of the balls hit it right in center-mass, but instead of the puppet breaking, a shrill sound echoed from it, forcing Susumaru to slam her hands over her ears in pain.
From his hiding place in the trees, Sasori smiled. “This puppet’s body does not have an extra limps of hidden weapons. I felt that gimmick would be disrespectful to a warrior who had offered his body so willingly to me… But I did cover it in several thin layers of metal. With a series of holes.
Using the unique Chakra that lay dormant in Kinuta’s body, I can convert any sounds that effect those holes into offensive frequencies. This demon is now helpless.”
With a flick of his fingers, the Kinuta puppet shot forward!
Thunder breathing, Second Form: Rice Spirit!
Each of Susumaru’s six arms, and both of her legs above the knees were severed, and she fell to the floor.
But with the sound frequencies violently vibrating from the Kinuta puppet, her normally advanced regenerative abilities were rendered useless!
Desperately, she hobbled away on her stumps, and Sasori allowed her to create as much distance as she needed to regenerate her limbs.
She stood up, and the Kinuta puppet turned towards her.
Knowing that she could not outrun it, Susumaru jammed her fingers into her ears, destroying her ear drums so that she wouldn’t hear the frequencies, so when Kinuta charged at her again, she dodged, escaping with only a minor slash to the shoulder.
And yet, she fell to her knees, and vomited blood.
“It’s useless to block your ears,” Sasori mused. “Kinuta’s sound-based attacks are wave-based. The vibrations will still effect your body, even if you’ve destroyed your own ears.” A wolfish grin spread across his face. “Being cast into this new world, has spurred more creativity.”
Susumaru was crying now.
“Go on, regenerate.” Sasori silently urged.
Susumaru raised her head to the tree line and cried out, “Kill me! Just kill me please! Whoever you are!”
“Not yet, I still haven’t tested everything this one can do.”
A strafing slash from Kinuta cut across Susumaru’s back, making sure to hit all of the most painful nerves.
She gave a blood curdling scream, and then regenerated her arms and the Temari balls in their palms.
“Take this!” She cried, turning around, and hitting the Kinuta puppet point-blank with three of them!
It had little effect other than triggering more vibrations, and Susumaru writhed on the ground in pain as they emanated from Kinuta’s puppet body.
She continued to cry, and beg to be put out of her misery, but Sasori only smiled, greatly pleased with his work. The Kinuta puppet had turned out even better than he expected. Any blunt attack to it would only backfire on the attacker, and as long as Sasori was outside of it’s range, he would be unaffected by it… but even more impressively, was the puppet’s sensory abilities. It was a simple matter for a puppet master to create a visual link between his eyes and the puppet’s eyes, but even in this pitch black forest, Sasori would hear the birds falling out of the trees, all while the dangerous frequencies were filtered out.
Susumaru continued to cry.
"Please! Please just kill me already! Whoever you are! I can't take any more of this! Please kill me!"
Chakra threads looping around trees and their branches, Sasori would operate Kinuta without being anywhere near the battlefield, and still hear better than he had been able to hear before. And yet, the cries of a strong opponent reduced to this; were music to his ears.
“THIS-” he declared with pride and triumph. “-IS MY ART!”