76. Changes In Demon Corps

While Leo was flung to a distant country, chaos erupted in his own.

Muzan kept to his word, he unleashed his fury towards the people. Bodies kept piling up, the people were scared and refused to go out of their homes.

The corps only had that many people, and Kagaya knew Muzan was doing this to spread out their forces. If a Hashira went out alone Moons would definitely attack. So all they could do was to reduce the damage they took.

Today all the Hashiras were called by Kagaya.

"No! Impossible, I don't agree, let those f*ckers suffer!"

The wind Hashira, Sanemi Shinazugawa was arguing with the Sound Hashira, Tengen Uzui.

"Sanemi, this is what we have always hoped for, an official position. Just think for once, if we are officially accepted our jobs woulbe be much more easier."

Sanemi scoffed, "We are doing fine without their acknowledgement! For a thousand years the Corps has been begging them to officially grant us a title, did they do it? No!"

"Those greedy little f*ckers kept us hanging, we had to go around the normal people to do our work, like a sneaking little cat! Now that the world is descending into chaos, suddenly they become so kindhearted to give us an official position?"

"F*cking hell no!!!"

Some of the other Hashiras also shared the same opinion as Sanemi's. Kagaya didn't interject, he listened peacefully. At a certain point he asked.

"Sabito, what do you think?"

The others stopped speaking and looked towards a boy with peach coloured hair. He had a scar on his face, this was Sabito.

The playful boy was gone and in his place stood a war veteran. Beside him stood Makomo and Giyu, the three of them had a different air than before.

On that day Leo disappeared they felt remorse and hated themselves for being weak, however they decided to believe in him and looked forward to the day when he returned.

When Muzan flooded the lands with demons the three of them didn't cower and stood as the vanguard. They lost count of how many demons they have killed, and through these battles they grew.

Sabito thought for a moment, "We should accept it."

"Sabito!!"

Sanemi growled at him.

Kagaya raised his arm, Sanemi unwillingly shut up.

Kagaya nodded at Sabito, "Continue."

"Like Uzui-san said, our jobs will become easier once we are an official organisation. Also the government doesn't care about us because we have no foothold among them. Once everything settles down we may be sidelined."

"But this is also an opportunity, the people trust the government more than an organisation they had no clue about. Once we get an official position we can slowly spread out our fame, the government will have a hard choice to make if they want to get rid of us."

"If we can solidify our place within the government and the military, then our missions would be much more easier. The military and local officers are spread around the country."

"Slayers had to travel from one place to another to address the problem of demons, but if we can work with the government we can station slayers all over the place."

His reasoning was sound, even Sanemi didn't voice out any opinion however from his expression he still didn't like the idea.

A beautiful girl with pink hair, the Love Hashira, Mitsuri Kanroji asked, "Won't the knowledge of demons cause panic?"

This time Kagaya answered her question, "Our designation will be as Special Operations Department. The true nature of our job will only be known to people with certain authority. And knowledge of demons are already spread out. It's just that only people living far from rural areas believe in them."

With such sound reasoning most of the Hashiras agreed to accept an official position. Sanemi still had a grumpy look on his face.

Giyu who didn't speak all this time said quietly, "He would agree."

Everyone turned silent.

After a while Sanemi got up and walked out, before he left, "I agree."

Kagaya smiled, he turned towards Gyomei and said, "Go to the capital and receive the declaration."

The Rock Hashira, Gyomei Himejima bowed, "As you wish, Oyakata-sama."

...

Sabito and co. were preparing to leave when they saw Shinobu.

Her hair had grown considerably and she looked much more beautiful.

"Are you going to leave without saying even a hi?"

She asked.

Sabito and the rest didn't speak.

Shinobu sighed, "It's not your fault."

Sabito stared at her for a second and said, "We could have killed Muzan if we were stronger, and he wouldn't have gone missing!"

"Sabito!"

Giyu yelled at Sabito.

"I am sorry."

He apologized and walked away.

Makomo came beside Shinobu and said, "Don't mind him, he is just upset."

Shinobu said seriously "I told you guys before, it's not your fault that he... don't blame yourself. I believe he will come back."

Her words softened by the end of it. Even she wasn't sure if that would happen or not, all she could do was wait.

Makomo sighed, "I too believe he will come back. Anyway, I have a mission, I'll see you when I get back. Hang in there."

She patted her shoulder and left. Giyu nodded to Shinobu and quickly followed.

Shinobu walked back to the Flower mansion. Her mood was quite down and she couldn't concentrate.

She sat beneath a tree and buried her head into her arms and silently cried.

Where are you idiot?

Every passing day she couldn't help but worry. There had been no news about Leo for a weeks, under such circumstances her faith was slowly breaking down.

At this moment Kanae came by. She saw her sister and couldn't help but sigh.

"Shinobu, come let's eat."

She cheered up and called out to Shinobu.

Hearing her sister Shinobu wiped her tears and got up.

She sat down and ate quietly. Finishing her meal she got up to return to her room.

"Don't lose hope, Shinobu. He will return."