Chapter 45

The trio ran out of the bar, Habuki and Inmu followed Kyoshi as they jump from rooftops towards the aura they felt. They were headed straight towards it because it felt like a Hashira's aura.

The three of them together could take out a Hashira within a second let alone Kyoshi going by himself. As they ran, Kyoshi's eyes finally pinned onto one person.

It was a woman in a rather colorful uniform, but the fact that she was carrying a sword and wore the same pants as a demon slayer confirmed who she was.

She was the Insect Hashira, Shinobu Kocho.

Her head turned towards the roof Kyoshi landed on and she looked right at him with a smile as she waved with her eyes closed.

Kyoshi waved back before bolting off again. Shinobu's figure vanished as she chased after him. He was leading her to the back of the city where it was more deserted so they could fight.

As he reached a good enough place, he stopped running and got in fighting stance as he threw his sword to the side. He wanted to handle this fight with his Rinkaku, which was the name he gave to his tails.

Shinobu made it and as she saw him standing there ready to fight, she giggled. Kyoshi showed a confused expression as he lost his smile seeing that he may not be able to test his Rinkaku like he wanted.

"I'm not here to fight, I'm on Yui's side." Shinobu said as she displayed her usual smile.

"What? Yui? That girl from the village?" Kyoshi asked.

"Yup, although you look older than the drawing, I'm sure you're Kyoshi right?" Shinobu asked.

"Yeah…what drawing?" Kyoshi answered as he changed back to his regular form.

"Hmm, let's talk about this somewhere else. Outside is a little…"

Shinobu cut her sentence short as she saw that Kyoshi understood what she was saying.

"Alright." Kyoshi said as he made a gesture with his hands.

Inmu and Habuki jumped down from the rooftop behind her. She smiled towards them and they came walking over towards them.

"I was hoping to see you in action~ Watching her fight a-"

"Inmu, stop talking." Kyoshi said as he activated his Kakugan threatening to put him under his control.

"Anyways, you sure Muzan would be cool with you meeting a Hashira like this?" Habuki asked.

"Yeah, it's not like this is the first time. I'm just hoping I could get the full story this time. I also want to know why Yui's name keeps popping up." Kyoshi said.

"You must be worried about your girlfriend?" Shinobu asked.

"Girlfriend? No, we're nothing like that. Actually, it's far off from that after the encounter we had." Kyoshi said as he remembered almost eating her alive.

"I see, but Yui did say you two had a special encounter. Could I hear about it once we find a place to talk?"

"Sure, but I wanna hear about why you Hashira are after me first."

Shinobu nodded and the four of them silently made their way back to the bar. Apparently, she was scheduled to come to the bar today anyways and meeting them was a coincidence.

"Well, you first." Kyoshi said as he leaned back in his booth seat.

"Alright, I assume you already know about the order our leader put up about you right?" Shinobu asked.

Kyoshi nodded his head signaling for Shinobu to continue.

"Well that order started because Yui and her guard, Masako, came to a meeting set with our leader and told them about you. Apparently you're good with and without a sword."

"I guess."

"She drew us out a description so we could identify you quite easily." Shinobu said as she put the drawing on the tabel. Kyoshi took it and looked it over before nodding.

"When Yui told the leader of the corps about your strength a vote was held and the Hashira were split. Some of us wanted to find and either recruit you or get you a meeting with Yui. The other side wanted to kill you."

"I know. I already talked to the Demon Hashira about that. Who all wants me gone?"

"Quite a few. Rengoku, Sanemi, Gyomei, Kanroji, Iguro and Tokito." Shinobu said.

"So six of the nine well 10 Hashira want my head? Cool, so I'm assuming the peaceful ones are you, the Demon Hashira, Water Hashira, and…Sound Hashira."

"Yup. Have you met all of them yet?"

"No, I met Toshiro, the Serpent Hashira and the Mist Hashira. I beat the latter up pretty well. I don't think there dead though, you got their bodies yet?" Kyoshi asked as he tapped on the table.

"So you've already fought Iguro and Tokito?"

"Yup, but you still haven't gotten to the point of this meeting. If it's about joining the DSC then I refuse."

"It's not about that. Recently, two of our Tsuguko have vanished. Both mine and Tengen's, the sound Hashira. My theory is that Seikichi found out about you and was going to leave and Kanao tagged along with him." Shinobu explained.

"I do remember Toshiro telling me about Seikichi training under the sound hashira when we met. So they left secretly? What about the crows?"

"We've sent out scout crows, but none seem to come back. We assumed they left to search for you on their own since we kept this a secret from Seikichi."

"So you want me to help look for them?"

"Not necessarily, I just want to be sure that if you three do cross paths, I want my Tsuguko to return home in perfect shape and health." Shinobu said.

Her smile carried some harmful intent with it which could be seen from her aura.

"I don't eat girls. Anyways, I won't make promises, but I have an idea. How about this, you gather everyone that wants to meet me peacefully and I'll come there with my student.

We'll have a full meeting then so we can end all of this running around and get to business."

"And what will this meeting be about? You already said you don't want to join the DSC, so there wouldn't be anything to discuss." Shinobu said.

"No, there would. While I'm not an advisor or anything of my gramps, I can still give him a nudge in a certain direction. I don't know how you guys see Muzan and I really don't care, but he's got a plan and project for all demons.

I think life would be easier for both sides if we can come to an 'agreement' of sorts."

"Hmmm, I don't know. That's too vague of an explanation. Plus, how can I trust you? You could plan to bring us together and we get surrounded and ambushed."

"How can you trust me? The same way I'm trusting that you're actually a peaceful demon slayer and not one that wants to kill me, but using the good demon slayers story to pull me in.

Besides, you don't have to believe me. I'm just putting my thoughts out there." Kyoshi explained.

"I see. Well then I'll see what I can do." Shinobu said as she prepared to get up.

"Hold on. I have another question. That thing about a serum that can turn demon back into humans, is it true?" Kyoshi asked.

"We'll discuss it at the meeting. Give me a moment." Shinobu said as she took a notepad and pencil from her pocket.

She started writing and once she was done, she ripped the paper off and sat it on the table in front of Kyoshi.

He picked up the paper and read it.

Location: Ishikari River

Time: Dusk-Midnight

Terms: Kyoshi will come to the written location with a single student of his own. All present at the meeting will be Giyu, Shinobu, Tengen and Masako.

"Alright, well I guess that's all. We'll put this into effect let's say…a week from now?" Kyoshi suggested.

"Fine with me." Shinobu said as they both stood up and shook hands. She turned to leave, but the owner of the shop hopped over the counter, dramatically slid in front of her and took a small box from his back pocket.

"Lady Shinobu, you've come to my miserable Ramen shop so many times within my five years of owning this place and every time you're here it fills me with vigor to continue doing what I'm doing.

Watching you smile when you eat my Ramen has made me infatuated with you. So, will you please marry me?!"

He opened the box and there was a golden ring with a fairly nice sized diamond on it. Seeing this, Kyoshi, Habuki and Inmu were stunned for a moment before Kyoshi started clapping.

"That was beautiful!!" He said as Habuki and Inmu got in on the clapping. While there wasn't a lot of people in the shop at this hour, they too started clapping, but Shinobu cleared her throat and reached her hand out on his shoulder.

"Thank you, Mr. Kanagi, but I'm sure there's someone more deserving out there. I'll have to refuse." She said, leaving the owner stunned.

She then left the shop as it was drowned in silence. The owner started tearing up as he slouched over and started crying.

"Wow, another one." Kyoshi muttered as the three of them were about to walk past him out and the shop.

"Wait, it's your fault." He said with snot coming from his nose.

"Huh?"

"It's your fault. She likes guys with abs and muscles and long luscious hair, and a handsome face and-and-and."

"Alright, c'mon, clean yourself up. This is embarrassing, you got a shop to run." Kyoshi said as he tapped the mans shoulder.

When Kyoshi told him to clean himself up, he wiped his nose on Kyoshi's are becoming he was still shirtless.

"Alright, I'm seriously gonna kill the next fucker that does that." Kyoshi said as he wiped his arm on the mans haori.

"Now go take that diamond, cash it in, get money, and go find some bitches in the red light district." Kyoshi said as the three of them left the shop yet again…

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I need more people for my Pokémon gym, what are you doing?

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