Kimetsu No Yaiba: Cannibal Corps

Fluttershy hasn't been with her friend long. She even admits that she hates him not having a name, something she promised to give him. Despite all of her short comings related to her new friend, he never turned his back on her. Even if Fluttershy herself believed she failed him, he'd stay by her side without much thought, but with loyal determination to help her.

Her fragile confidence was delt a massive blow when her friend was sent to the infirmary with his teacher. No one had heard the fight despite evidence of it being inside the dorm rooms. She believed that if she had been awake, he wouldn't have been attacked. She would have prevented him from getting attacked. She would have prevented him from getting hurt. She could have prevented a lot of things in her mind.

At the same time, thoughts crossed her mind if she actually was awake. She wasn't strong enough to do much and her gentle personality made it easy for others to manipulate her. Fluttershy wondered if she would have been killed if he wasn't there. She was terrified of what could have been. What could have happened if she did try to stop it.

Fluttershy hit her lowest low in her life and she felt like a failure. She felt if she had tried to help; she would've died, but if she didn't; her friend would have been hurt. She felt less than a failure, she felt like dead weight... She felt useless. Her friend could have died and she was not only unaware, but completely useless even if she was awake.

Uncharacteristically of her, she was frustrated that she was both helpless and useless. Her hands were shaking from both the fears and her own frustration, but others assumed she was holding in her tears. In reality, behind that long pink mane hiding her face was an expression of anger and rage. Oddly enough, she never experienced such emotions in her life, but after the attack, it was all she could express.

She rubbed her hands together as she thought in a vain attempt to calm herself while sitting outside of the infirmary. She was doing breathing exercises to calm herself as much as possible, but it wasn't working. She never thought she was capable of such emotions, but she understood why she felt them. A part of her couldn't forgive those who hurt her friend.

"Ara Ara, what a face on such a cute filly?" A voice said before Fluttershy looked at it. It was another mare with a haori resembling an insect's wings. Underneath it was a dark purple uniform and a butterfly hairpin was holding her hair up. On her hip was a katana with a tsuba resembling a blue, for peddle flower. "Interesting, from what I heard, there was only one casualty, so what is with that expression?"

"I feel useless," Fluttershy confessed, "My friend could've died, but I was asleep. No one heard the attack and he faced the monster alone. If I was awake, it wouldn't have been so bad. I could've helped him, but if I tried, I would have died... What's wrong with me?" She had never confessed such strong emotions before since she felt as if it was her burden to bare, but this mare gave off an air of comfort and calmness she never felt.

"It's best not to dwell on"what ifs". The past if gone, the future uncertain, but the present shapes all." Fluttershy didn't acknowledge her words. It didn't help her in the slightest. She still felt useless and the advice was still to cryptic for her to understand.

"If that's all you have to say, just leave..." Fluttershy felt awful that she couldn't do anything. She hung her head. Her thoughts were no longer of anger or rage... Only sadness. The mare stayed silent for a second as tears fell from the filly's eyes. She remembered when she was in her shoes. Years before they had met... She remembered what her master told her when she couldn't find the strength to leave her room. When she felt as if she killed her sister. When she felt like she wasn't enough.

"Do you believe that what ifs make up for what happened?" Fluttershy raised her head a bit. Her shy demeanor coming back a bit. "I always think back to what I could've done to save my sister, but it doesn't bring her back. You're friend is alive and will recover. No doubt he's going to think about what if he could have saved the mare that died. What if he was stronger than those he fought? What if he had stayed where he was?" Fluttershy stared at the mare with a small smile as her words started to make her feel better. "Everyone has those thoughts, but we must learn from those experiences to not repeat our mistakes again." The mare held her hand out to the filly who took it hesitantly. The mare held Fluttershy's hand gently. Fluttershy wondered how this mare could weld such a weapon with such small hands. "My name is Kocho Shinobu, what's your name?"

"My name is Fluttershy, nice to meet you." Fluttershy removed her hand from Shinobu's. She was still frustrated, but knowing that what she could've done was out of her hands made things a little better.

Shinobu did have to ask her to know when was still thinking about what happened, but she had an idea. The Hashira was a little hesitant to ask her because of what happened to the others. All her other successors all died by the hands of Demons; however, if her friend survived an attack from a demon, then she would have a better chance of living.

"Would you like to gain the strength to protect him?" Shinobu asked. Fluttershy's head turned to the Hashira quickly, a shocked look adorning her features, but she thought about it. Shinobu could read her like an open book, but was a little shocked about what she said as well.

She knew that it would mean hurting others, but does abstaining from violence really justify not acting. Sure she was meek and scared of almost everything, but what if her friend got into another fight? What if he couldn't run fast enough or fight them off?

"Y-yes, I'll do it!" The filly declared much to the joy and fear of the Hashira. Shinobu placed her hand on the kashira.

"I promise that I won't let you die... Not again. You don't deserve that fate young Fluttershy." Shinobu thought after hearing Fluttershy's response. She couldn't help but be excited to teach her Breathing Technique and this time, she will make sure she is trained to perfection before going to Final Selection.

"Ms.Shy, they're awake," The nurse said before Fluttershy tried to run in. She was stopped by the nurse. "Be careful, we underestimated how badly the sun would harm him and he's still a little sore. Be gentle." That caught Shinobu's attention as it was an odd thing to say about someone except for one creature. Shinobu instinctively pushed her katana out of her saya.

Fluttershy immediately disregarded it, knowing that her friend could take it, and pretty much tackled him back on his bed. He was fine, but his arms were regenerating, but a majority of his wounds were completely healed. Fluttershy hugged him with a bone crushing hug which he tried to reciprocate. Not having hands made it quite difficult to do so.

"I'm so glad you're okay," Fluttershy said as she pulled away from the young demon. He couldn't blame her, they had gotten really close before moving to the school.

"I told her to take it easy," The nurse said while grumbling to herself about the students not listening. Fluttershy looked away bashfully after realizing what she did.

"Anyways, everything will be fine. I'll heal like I always do and be back on my feet in no time." The demon said while giving her a reassuring smile.

"You never told me, Fluttershy..." Shinobu walked in, her face devoid of emotion, but holding back a vicious fury, "that you're friend was a demon... And Lower Moon 1 at that." Much to the demon's credit... He didn't know who she was talking about.

"What?" He asked in confusion before Shinobu began to pullout her katana. "Wait, you got the wrong demon! I don't know anything about this Moon 1 or whatever you call it business!" He paused after that. He hated using the excuse over and over again, but he had to swallow his pride. "I can't remember anything before I woke up a few weeks ago. All I know is what Kanae-Chan told me."

"DON'T YOU DARE SAY HER NAME, DEMON!!!" Shinobu shouted, no longer holding back her hatred for the demon's. "IT'S BECAUSE OF YOUR KIND THAT SHE'S DEAD!!!" She had completely taken her sword out of its sheath and prepared for attack.

"THAT'S ENOUGH, SHINOBU!!!" Another voice yelled from behind a curtain. It was obviously female from the sound of it and there was a faint silhouette of a mare on the other side.

"K... Kanae-Chan..." Shinobu said before throwing open the curtain... Finding her sister still alive, but mostly injured. "You're alive..." The Hashira hugged the ex-Hashira before backing away. "Why are you defending this... Demon after how you were left?"

"Easy, he has no memories before a few weeks ago. Who he was is gone... Or at least for now. I was thinking about teaching him as my new Tsuguko." Silence filled the room after it was explained why she had him around. Two were confused about what she was talking about while the adult was just plain clueless as to why.

"EEEEH!!!" The three yelled after everything processed in their minds.

"You want him to be your successor?!" Shinobu asked in a very loud tone.

"That's not important! What is that you know who I am?!" The demon yelled in shock before Fluttershy covered his mouth. She wanted to know what they were talking about. So far, both her and the demon were clueless about what happened despite getting front row seats.

"Yes... But I'm afraid to tell you." Kanae said while looking away. She wanted to get off the topic of wanting her successor to be a demon boy.

"Why?" Fluttershy asked, her tone was a little shaky. "What was he like to have Ms.Kocho be scared to tell him?" It didn't make sense to Fluttershy how someone who's normally kind and gentle to be afraid.

"You were... One of the most sadistic and confusing demon. Not only in battle, but also just interactions." It was so odd hearing that the demon who couldn't bring himself to hurt someone willingly, was so evil. "One interaction we had, you nearly killed twenty Slayers before randomly retreating. In another, you used pressure points to paralyze a Hashira before having a friendly conversation. Not to mention how often your Blood Demon Art changed. Your last one allowed you to create clones." It was odd for the demon to hear this, but he couldn't exactly remember it. He didn't know if he should or shouldn't be punished for something he had no memory of.

"Oddly enough... I've been thinking if my past was really that awful, but I never expected it to be that bad; however, why is my Blood Demon Art fire and not clones?" He began to rack his brain trying to find any clues to what his Blood Demon Art actually was. He tried to create I've instead of fire, if Blood Demon Arts were as flexible as a demon's body, the it should be easy to make a new one, or at least have the basics of one. However, all that came out is fire. Something came to his mind and he smiled. "I know what my Blood Demon Art is." He then looked at Kanae. "Did I ever use the same power once?"

"Well, yes, but after we killed a demon with a similar Blood Demon Art, you wouldn't use it again. We assumed that you believed that we adapted to it and stopped. Why do you ask?" The demon smiled, showing off his fangs.

"Because I never created a new Blood Demon Art, I copied them. Hearing about myself a bit and how I always had different Arts allowed my brain to make a connection from gut feelings and fractured memories. I copy Blood Demon Arts and used them to fight. It allowed me to be unpredictable and keep the upper hand. The only problem is that I could only copy a set few, and flames was the only one I kept. If my vague memory is anything to go by, then I can keep at most three more Blood Demon Arts."

"Did you gain anything else or did you only get the explanation of your Blood Demon Art?" Fluttershy asked, she was wanting to know what he's capable of before anything happens.

"Only my Blood Demon Art, anything related to those memories were vague and hard to remember clearly, but if you wanted a name, I have to apologize about that. Besides, I'd rather you give me a name Fluttershy, a new name for a new life given by my first friend." Fluttershy blushed not expecting such high praise from him. Despite her meekness, she was just as curious about him as anyone, and having a pony that helped her earlier, a well trusted teacher, and a friend she spent a lot of time with helped her come out of her shell a bit.

"Well, how about Nova? It means 'new' in old Equish and I think it's quite fitting for you; a demon starting a new." The demon chuckled a bit before giving a hearty laugh.

"It's perfect, now I don't have to keep being called 'you'." He said while the two sister look at the two with soft smiles. Shinobu accepted that he is completely different than he was before and should give him a chance.

"In any case, we still have demons to stop. Would you help us, Nova?" Shinobu asked before the demon healed his hands completely before getting out the bed. He was happy that his kimono didn't burn with him.

"I will, they're after me so I should at least help protect people. Not to mention that I'm a demon cannibal, so my claws should be able to cancel a demon's regeneration." Shinobu smiled hearing that he was a Cannibal type demon. It was all the more reason to keep him around since he was infinitely valuable.

"It'll have to be just you two, I can't do anything with how I am." Kanae said as she smiled a bit. "Fluttershy is out too, she doesn't have the necessary knowledge to kill demons, so it'll just be you two."

"Hai!" The two said before looking outside the window to check the time.

"It'll be overcast at noon, take advantage of the weather and train. You're going to need it." Kanae said before the two left only get a kind smile from both Nova and Shinobu. Soon, the former Lower Moon 1 will know how a Demon Slayer fights. They had to beat the demons that remained. "Good luck." The infirmary door closed leaving the filly and ex-Hashira alone.

"... Wanna play Uno?" Fluttershy asked, not knowing what to say.

Kanae sighed not really wanting company at this moment. "... Yes that'd be nice."