Why Is Your Cat Green?

Historian Butterfly AU Chapter 2

Shinobu x Female OC

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 3: Coming soon

An 18 year old Fukuro walked up to the middle school as kids were just starting to leave the building. Her hair was down showing off how wavy it was. She seemed to be wearing contacts and some makeup as well. She looked around for a few moments before someone slammed into her side.

“And here I thought Kurasshu was my nickname,” Fukuro teased as she looked at the young boy clinging to her legs.

“Dang it! I was trying to scare you! How did you know it was me, big sis?”

“Older sisters know these things, Akio. Now where is Emiko? You didn’t leave her behind to be trampled by the crowd again did you?”

“That was one time!” Akio exclaimed, lifting his arms up in the air to emphasize his exasperation. “And that was a complete accident! I swear she was right behind me a minute ago! But then I saw you and got excited.”

Fukuro laughed and patted her little brother on the head. “It's fine. She probably is not far.” She looked around for a few moments before she spotted a familiar flash of platinum blonde hair. Her eyes locked on to the person and it was Emiko. Emiko was nervously making her way out of the crowd of students. She fiddled with her hands and kept her eyes on the ground. “Hey Emiko! We’re over here!”

Emiko perked up at Fukuro’s voice and looked up. Once her eyes locked on to Fukuro’s own, the nervous look on her face disappeared, and was quickly replaced with one full of joy. Her smile was not much bigger than a very small gentle one, but the look in her eyes said she was a lot happier than she looked. She immediately ran over to Fukuro and lept into her arms.

“Whoa!” Fukuro stumbled back a bit as she was not expecting the sudden added weight. Thankfully Emiko was small so Fukuro did not fall or drop her. “Hey kiddo, how was school?” she asked as she set Emiko back on her feet.

Emiko’s voice was barely above a whisper. “...Good…”

Akio interjected as he leaned against Emiko and used her shoulder as an armrest. “You should have seen her in biology class today! We had a trivia game and thank god I had her on my team because I would have failed if she hadn’t helped me. She got us the win and our teacher gave us some candy for winning! Everyone was basically dying while they tried to answer the questions and Emi was just answering them with no effort!”

“...Akio beat all the kids in track today…” Emkio muttered.

“It was easy as cake!”

“...Except for Kumi…He ate her dust,” Emkio finished.

“Emiko!”

Fukuro laughed at her sibling’s antics. “Well that certainly sounds like a good day. Don’t worry Akio, I’m sure you’ll beat her next time,” she said as she patted him on the head.

Akio pouted. “I bet I can run all the way home within 5 minutes. That will show you that I’m the fastest. You guys will be far behind me!”

“That’s a shame. I was going to buy you and Emiko ice cream, but if you want to rush ahead…”

Akio immediately perked up. “You know what? Being the fastest is overrated anyways.”

Fukuro laughed as she walked with her siblings holding onto Emiko’s hand as Akio jumped around excitedly.

***

“Fukuro, can you help me organize the cleaning supplies?”

Fukuro looked behind her and gave Kiyo a smile. “Sure! Let me just finish helping Naho with the sweeping real quick and I’ll be right with you!”

It had been two weeks since her sudden travel through time. Fukuro’s injuries had healed for the most part. She was worried about where she was going to go at first, but Shinobu ended up offering to let her stay at the butterfly mansion since she had nowhere to stay. Fukuro was incredibly grateful, so she decided to use her time to help around with chores. In any free time she had left, Fukuro spent either researching or getting to know Shinobu and the rest of the residents of the estate.

It was a little embarrassing to admit that she had gotten attached to everyone very quickly. Kiyo, Naho, and Suma were just so cute! She loved kids a lot and it helped that they were always so sweet and helpful when Fukuro was adjusting. They reminded her of her own siblings a bit.

Fukuro had first met Aoi when she was scolding her for reopening her wounds again. Her stern demeanor was enough to make Fukuro shrink back a bit and she was 5 years older than her for Pete’s sake! But it didn’t take long for Fukuro to realize that Aoi was truly a very caring and kind person under her mask. It took some time to get past Aoi’s walls, but after about a week Aoi started showing Fukuro her softer side a lot more often. She even started making sure that the mansion always had natto in stock when she found out it was her favorite food, despite the fact that most people don’t like the dish.

Fukuro didn’t know what to think about Kanao at first. She was convinced that she hated her after she bumped into her and, despite her apologies, Kanao didn’t respond. Fukuro was actually pretty stressed about it until Shinobu explained that Kanao simply had trouble doing anything that didn’t require orders, which included talking. Fukuro made it her mission to track Kanao down and try to get to know her as much as she could, which wasn’t often because she was training for final selection. Fukuro still hadn’t learned much, but Kanao did not seem bothered by it and Shinobu seemed to be glad that Fukuro was making an effort. She really liked Kanao a lot since she reminded her of her younger sister.

Then finally there was the master of the butterfly estate, Shinobu. She was always patient with Fukuro, even when she would excitedly ask her everything about the demon slayer corps. She never seemed to find Fukuro’s clumsy nature annoying. In fact she seemed to find it endearing. She gave her a place to stay with her own room before Fukuro could even ask her. She always made an effort to check in on Fukuro without it feeling overbearing after her freak out. She even gave Fukuro a kimono, when she asked. Even if her old clothes were repairable, Fukuro thought it would be safer to wear something from this timeline and not her own. Fukuro couldn’t deny that she found Shinobu very attractive in more ways than looks. Whether or not those feelings would continue to grow was something that she would find out after time passes. But for now Fukuro was satisfied with the relationship that they had, even if she knows very little about her.

“You don’t have to help us with all of the chores you know. There are probably better things you could do,” Aoi said, walking by with a basket of laundry.

Fukuro set her broom off to the side and went to join Kiyo. “I don’t mind. It keeps me active. Besides, it gets boring reading my notes over and over again. I should really try to find a library. It would be nice to go to a nearby town and take a look around. Maybe find a way to actually make some money. The thought of finding some new books to read makes me so ex-AHH!” Fukuro proceeded to trip over the medical supplies that Kiyo had gotten out to be able to organize them.

“Just be careful so that you won’t get yourself killed,” Aoi said.

“Will do, ow.”

***

Fukuro couldn’t sleep. She had developed a bad habit of working late into the night or just not sleeping at all, so it was difficult to try to get a decent night's sleep every night. Even before that she didn’t sleep well as a kid. Fukuro just always seemed to be more active at night. Ironic considering her name. She did have medication for her insomnia back home, but obviously she did not have access to it now. Usually Fukuro would just work or read, but she didn’t want to accidentally wake anyone up. She also did not want a lecture from Shinobu or Aoi. But she had been staring at the ceiling for what felt like hours, and she couldn’t take it anymore!

Fukuro got out of bed with a sigh. She went through her beat up bag, and pulled out what was by far her favorite source she found on her expeditions. It was an old diary of a girl who Fukuro assumed was a demon slayer. She wrote about her work as a demon slayer a bit, but most of it was about mundane things like how cute one of her friends looked in her old kimono or gushing about the boy she obviously liked. It wasn’t the best source in terms of research, but Fukuro liked the passionate writing of the person’s day to day life.

Fukuro wandered around the halls a bit before she decided to go outside to get some fresh air. She looked around for a place to sit and saw a ladder that someone must have left out. She climbed the ladder up to the roof, and sat down. It probably wasn’t the safest option, but she liked being in high up places. It was easier for her to relax. Fukuro would commonly go to roofs, trees, or bunk beds just to read a book. Another thing that was ironic considering her name.

Fukuro let out a sigh and opened the diary carefully. The pages were old and worn, and some of the writing had faded. She wondered how much longer this diary would last. It would be a sad day when it eventually falls apart. Sure she had a scanned pdf of the diary back home, but she obviously couldn’t use it right now and might not ever again. That thought was almost enough to make Fukuro cry.

“It’s a little late to be reading a book don’t you think?”

Fukuro squeaked as she fumbled to keep herself from dropping the diary she was reading. She looked to the side and saw Shinobu looking at her with the same smile she grew used to, as well as an amused spark in her eyes.

“You scared me Kocho!”

Shinobu responded with a small giggle. “Mind if I sit here?”

Fukuro shook her head and Shinobu sat down next to her.

“So what are you doing awake on the roof so late?”

“Oh! I couldn’t sleep, so I decided that reading would be a better use of my time instead of staring at the ceiling. I like being high up when I want to relax so I used a ladder to climb up here.”

“If you find anything about your room uncomfortable then you can tell me. I don’t mind.”

“No! No! No! The room is great! I have really bad insomnia, so I have a lot of trouble sleeping! I’ve tried different relaxing teas, but they don’t work. I used to have medicine for it but I left it at home and I can’t exactly go back…” Fukuro trailed off to think of a way to phrase her words that didn’t make the fact that she was from the future obvious.

Shinobu put her hand on her shoulder. “You do not have to say anymore if you don’t want to, Fukuro. I understand.”

Fukuro sighed in relief. She was pretty sure that Shinobu thought she lost her home to demons, even if she never said it. Fukuro felt bad that she was deceiving Shinobu, but it was easier than the truth or trying to make an excuse on her own.

“It’s just hard, you know? It’s not that I don’t like it here, because I really do. You all have been so nice to me and I can’t be more grateful for you letting me stay here. But I miss my family a lot. It’s both nice and heartbreaking how much the girls remind me of my little siblings.”

Shinobu’s expression didn’t change but there was a curious glint in her eyes. “I did not know that you had any siblings.”

Fukuro scratched the back of her head with a sheepish look on her face. “That's because the subject never really came up before. I also did not want to annoy anyone by rambling about my siblings. Once I start it’s hard for me to stop.”

“I think it’s cute that you’re so passionate about the people and things you care about. If you are comfortable with it I’m happy to listen.”

Fukuro’s cheeks grew bright red from the compliment. “Gosh, where do I even start?”

“I think their names would be helpful,” Shinobu teased.

Fukuro blushed even more in response. “Well I have one younger brother and one little sister. They’re twins and are both 5 years younger than me, so they’re around Aoi’s age. My little brother’s name is Akio and my sister’s name is Emiko. Despite the fact that I was WAY older than them we were still very close. Akio was a very loud and energetic kid. He’s very passionate about what he does, and can be a goofball. He and I were always teasing each other, but it was all for fun. It actually sounded like we were insulting each other, but we both knew we didn’t actually mean what we said. His nickname for me was Kurasshu because the earliest memory he has of me was when I was trying to help my mom take care of him but I ended up tripping and crashing into a trashcan.”

Fukuro could feel the heat radiating off of her cheeks as Shinobu put a hand to her mouth to try to muffle her laugh. “Sorry, sorry. I’m not making fun of you I promise.”

Fukuro pouted a bit, but she wasn’t offended at all. “It’s fine, get your laughs out now.”

“It sounds like your brother was a handful.”

“But he was also a very polite boy too. Akio always showed everyone around him respect. He would be running around the house like a maniac, but as soon as our parents told him to stop he did without a fight. No yelling was necessary. A lot of people would be very surprised because only close friends and family actually got to see both parts of his personality. Emiko was very shy and quiet. When we were younger she would only talk to my parents, Akio, and I because she would get so nervous. She was selectively mute until she was 14. She’s the genius of our family. Akio and I could never beat her in any trivia games unless all the questions were either sports or history related. Last time I checked she was planning on becoming a veterinarian, but she also has a passion for theatre so she might try to have a career in that field too. Emiko was always the sense of reason when we all were together. My clumsy nature and workaholic tendencies combined with both Akio and I having no sense of fear when it comes to dangerous situations are not the greatest combination.” Fukuro laughed as she seemed to be looking back on a fond memory. “We had a lot of fun together and ended up in a lot of crazy situations.”

“It sounds like you had a very wonderful family,” Shinobu said.

Fukuro nodded. “Yeah I did,” she said absentmindedly. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. “So why are you awake so late? Aren’t you always the one lecturing the other slayers on how important it is for them to get plenty of rest?”

“Is that teasing I hear? I didn’t know you had it in you, Fukuro,” Shinobu teased, which turned Fukuro’s cheeks a bright pink. “I had a lot of work to do today, and I must have lost track of time. I decided to get some fresh air before going back to work.”

“You’re still planning on working?! But it’s so late!”

“May I remind you that we are both in a similar situation.”

“Hey! This time it is not because of my bad working habits. I genuinely can’t sleep!”

“Well then, I’ll start having a better sleep schedule when you do.”

“That would be impossible unless you can make your own medication for it.”

“Challenge accepted.”

The playful banter ended with both girls laughing. Fukuro was a lot more open about it while Shinobu’s was quieter with her hand muffling her laugh.

“What are you reading anyway? It looks like a very old book.”

“Oh! This is a dairy I found on one of my explorations. The person who wrote this is just so bubbly and bright that I can’t help but smile and be in a good mood whenever I read it. It’s hard to think of the world as such a cruel place when I read about someone who is able to see something good in everything and everyone.”

Shinobu hummed as she thought of something. “Sounds a lot like a close friend of mine. I should introduce you to her when I have the chance. I think you would get along quite well.”

“I would be honored to meet any close friend of yours Kocho. Let’s just hope my social skills don’t make me humiliate myself.”

“What’s with the formalities? I thought we were friends, Fukuro,” Shinobu teased. Before Fukuro could respond to defend herself Shinobu continued. “I think your social skills are just fine. You have a very charming personality that shows itself in the cutest ways. Besides, my friend is not known for being judgmental.”

Fukuro was pretty sure that her face was bright red at this point. Why does someone so pretty have to be such a tease?! “As much as I trust your judgment, it's going to be hard to make a good impression when I am half awake and sleep deprived. Hopefully I find a way to fix that problem. Aoi is going to be so mad when she finds out how late I have been staying up. I already made a mess of the medical supplies today, and I know she thinks I work too hard,” Fukuro said.

“I heard about that. She also told me that you’re interested in getting a job.”

“I just want to feel useful, you know? I know the help with the chores is appreciated, but I know Aoi and the girls don’t actually need it. I’m not opposed to learning combat, but I don’t think becoming a demon slayer is the best choice to make. Not right now at least. I also suck at anything medical! The amount of times I have almost gotten myself killed because I almost took the wrong medication is honestly concerning. I know that as Hashira you get paid any amount you want, but l feel bad for constantly leaching off you.”

“Trust me when I say that helping the girls out with the chores and keeping the girls company is more than enough help. They’ve grown really attached to you, despite the fact that you have only lived here for 2 weeks,” Shinobu said, her smile becoming a bit gentler than before.

Fukuro sighed. “I know. I just wish I could put what I am good at to use. But I don’t think many people are looking for a girl who is good at researching stuff. Especially since I don’t have access to a lot of sources right now. Even if I don’t find a job in town, a library would be nice.” Fukuro turned her head away from Shinobu in slight embarrassment. “Gosh, I kinda made this conversation about all of my insecurities, haven’t I? I’m sorry for rambling and bringing the mode down.”

“If you don’t stop apologizing then I will make you go through a day of training with Kanao.”

Fukuro gulped. She had seen the type of training that Kanao would do and it was insane. Fukuro might be fit, which was only due to her experiments with total concentrated breathing, but she was pretty sure Kanao would completely murder her within minutes. “Yes ma’am!” Fukuro exclaimed before letting out a yawn. “The sun is going to come up soon so I should probably try to sleep. Are you coming with me?”

“I think I’ll stay out a little bit longer.”

Fukuro had started to climb down the ladder. “Alright but go to sleep soon okay. We can’t have two sleep deprived workaholics here.”

Shinobu giggled. “Have a good night Fukuro.”

“You too.” Just as Fukuro finished her response her foot slipped. “Well sh*t.” She ended up falling off the ladder hitting the ground with the solid thud. “Oww.”

Shinobu peeked her head over the roof. She looked both concerned and like she was barely holding back her laughter. “Are you alright down there?”

“I’m fine!”

Shinobu jumped down, landing on her feet with seemingly little effort. “Perhaps I should take you to your room so that you don’t hurt yourself more.”

***

“You want permission to have access to the Demon Slayer Corps main library?”

Shinobu took a deep breath before answering Ubuyashiki. She wouldn’t say she was nervous, but she definitely was asking for a pretty big favor. “For the new girl taking residence in my estate, Master. She has taken an interest and I think her skills in research could be of great use to us. She managed to figure out almost entirely how the corps works with only a few books and scrolls that she found by herself. She hadn’t even met a corps member until we met.”

“Ah, yes. Fukuro Hitomi. She is quite the interesting young woman. Her ability to gather information would be a great asset right now. But I would like to be certain of some things first.”

“What do you mean? Do you think giving her access to this information would be dangerous?”

“No, not at all. My concerns are more personal. It is nothing that you should worry yourself about. I would just like to meet her in person. If you could bring her to me for a private meeting I would be most grateful, my child.”

“Of course Master. Right away,” Shinobu said before she gave Ubuyashiki a bow before walking out of the room.

Ubuyashiki smiled. “An interesting woman indeed. I wonder if your presence is apart of something much bigger than we realize.”

***

Welcome to I have never written for Ubuyashiki before and I have no idea how to write him! I’m really sorry for this chapter took so long, I honestly did not think it would take me so much time! School suddenly decided to hit me like a truck so I had very little energy. The amount of times I wrote a scene for this chapter, then decided I did not like it, and then delete it was immense. Hopefully the nest one is less of a struggle. I know not a lot happened in this chapter but I hope it’s still enjoyable! I’m thinking of doing small headcannon and fun facts posts to keep up some content between chapters. The little details I think are cool, but I won’t be able to go in depth with in this story.

Historian Butterfly AU: Chapter 3

Shinobu x female oc

Masterlist

It was late at night. But despite the ungodly hour someone was still awake and didn’t look like she was going to sleep anytime soon

Fukuro kept looking between several different documents and took notes as she did so. She was so focused on what she was doing that she literally lept out of her seat and tumbled onto the floor when she felt a hand on her shoulder. But not before she punched the person on the chin.

“Ow…”

“Holy shi-ow!”

Fukuro looked up and saw that the person who startled her was her housemate, Kenta. “Kenta? What are you doing up?”

Kenta held his chin and gave Fukuro a slightly irritated look. “I woke up and wanted a glass of water. Besides, shouldn't I be asking you that? It’s 4:00 am. Why the heck are you still working?”

Fukuro got up and walked into the kitchen. “Don’t act like you’ve never pulled all nighters for research.” She grabbed a mug from the cabinet and was about to make herself more coffee, but Kenta quickly stopped her.

“Oh no. You’re going to bed. You just finished that huge project you had been stressing about. You need your rest.”

“But this is important! I think I’m going to make a breakthrough!”

Kenta took the coffee cup from her hand and put it away. “Your breakthrough can wait until you’re not functioning on coffee and 3 days with no sleep. Besides how important can researching the existence of demons be?”

Fukuro gasped in mock offense. “There is so much more to it than that! It’s about answering the unknown. Exploring every possibility. Understanding why people believed in demons.”

“Whatever you say. But you’re going to bed. Come on.” Kenta began to basically drag Fukuro to her bedroom. “You’re lucky Zoey can sleep through anything.”

“I’m telling you Kenta. Someday my research is going to matter. So I’m going to do all I can now!”

***

Fukuro fiddled with her hands nervously as she made her way to Master Ubuyashiki’s mansion. When Shinobu told her that he had requested to meet with her she was shocked. She had immediately begun to worry that she had done something wrong. Shinobu had assured her that she wasn’t in trouble, but that just made this meeting even more nerve wracking! At least if she was in trouble she could mentally prepare herself. But instead she was left wondering what the heck the head of the demon slayer corps wanted with her! Fukuro knew that Ubuyashiki was incredibly kind from what her Gran Gran and Shinobu told her, but his title was still rather intimidating.

When she got to the mansion all she could do was stare at the entrance, nervously. Am I supposed to knock or am I supposed to wait here? Should I go in or am I supposed to just announce my presence? Is the meeting even supposed to be inside? Is it supposed to be outside? Why didn’t I ask these questions before I left?!

“Excuse me? Are you Fukuro Hitomi?”

Fukuro nearly jumped out of her skin as the voice snapped her out of her thoughts. She let out a small squeak as she quickly looked over at the child that she had failed to notice due to being on the verge of a mental breakdown.

The young girl had pale skin and large, purple eyes. She had white, shoulder-length hair styled into a blunt bob with bangs and sported a red ribbon on the right side of her head. She was wearing a dark blue Hōmongi kimono decorated with purple flowers along with a maroon obi and a pink obiage and juban under everything.

Fukuro cleared her throat, embarrassed that she had been caught so off guard. “Y-yes that’s me!”

Luckily the kid did not react to Fukuro’s awkwardness at all. She gave Fukuro a little bow to show her respect before speaking. “Please follow me. Master Ubuyashiki is expecting you.”

Fukuro nodded and let the girl lead her through the estate. They stopped at a large door.

The girl knocked on the door and raised her voice. “Father, Ms Fukuro Hitomi has arrived.”

“Please come in.”

Without a word the girl opened the door and gestured for Fukuro to walk in. She did, albeit nervously. Ubuyashiki was sitting at a small table with some tea. The kid guided Fukuro to the table and gestured for her to sit down, which she did.

“Thank you Hinaki. You may go now. I would like to talk to Hitomi here in private,” Ubuyashiki said softly.

Hinaki bowed to Ubuyashiki, despite the fact that he could not see it, and left the room, closing the door behind her.

Fukuro looked nervously at Ubuyashiki for a moment before frantically bowing her head, despite that he once again could not see it.

“It is a pleasure to meet you Master Ubuyashiki! I really hope that I’m not troubling you!”

“This is no trouble at all Ms Hitomi. It is a pleasure to meet you as well. Welcome to my home. I have heard some interesting things about you.”

Despite how soothing his voice was, Ubuyashiki’s words increased Fukuro’s nerves tenfold.

“O-Oh? Nothing bad I hope,” she said with a nervous laugh.

“Please relax Ms Hitomi. I can assure you that you are not in any trouble. I just have some questions for you, that's all.”

Fukuro let out a small sigh as her shoulders slumped. “O-Okay! Sure! Ask me anything!”

“I’m curious where you got that necklace of yours from. Were you aware that it had a compartment with wisteria poison in it? If you pushed the button on the top in a certain way a needle would come out so that you could inject the poison into someone. The person who fixed it was very intrigued by it. I would also guess that’s how the demon that chased you died the night we found you.”

Fukuro fiddled with her necklace and stared at it curiously. “No, I had no idea that it could do that. This necklace was a gift given to me by my great grandmother. She never told me where she got it. She said that the necklace would protect me from danger, but I didn’t realize she meant that literally.”

“Ah yes. Ms Kocho did mention that your great grandmother was a kakushi. That is why you are so interested in demons, correct?”

Fukuro’s eyes lit up at the mention of her great grandmother. “Yes sir. She would always tell me stories about them when I was little. She would tell stories about the Hashira, random missions that she stumbled upon, and even mundane ones about her bonding with her fellow kakushi! She apparently went to the swordsmith village at one point too! The details are a bit fuzzy since I was 6 when she died, ” Fukuro quickly realized she was getting side tracked and cleared her throat awkwardly. “Sorry for rambling sir.”

Ubuyashiki just laughed. “No need to apologize, my child. It is a rarity to find someone with enthusiasm such as yours these days. A shame in my opinion.” He took a sip of his tea. “I am surprised you thought the demon slayers disbanded given your closeness with a family member who seemed to have spent a long time with us.”

Fukuro was glad that Ubuyashiki could not see her because she immediately started sweating bullets. Crap! I mentioned that to Shinobu when we first met, didn't I? I didn’t know I was in the past yet so it slipped! Of course me knowing the demon slayers being disbanded would look weird if I was from this time. Don’t panic Fukuro! Just improvise your excuse! If you can defend your college thesis on the fly then you can handle this!

“I think I just kinda told myself that it was. My Gran Gran never told me the demon slaying corps was disbanded, but I figured that it had to be since I had never seen a demon before and most of my family was convinced that her stories were nonsense. Surely she would just show us the corps to show that she was telling the truth right? Maybe she just didn’t want to put her family’s life at risk? Being involved in the corps at all is a huge risk, even if you’re not on the front lines. That didn’t stop me from making trying to prove the existence of demons my new obsession. Honestly I was very lucky to have never met a demon until 2 weeks ago,” Fukuro explained. Everything she said wasn’t a complete lie, but she definitely wasn’t telling the truth either.

“True. While it is a shame that you never knew for sure about our existence, I can not blame your great grandmother for trying to keep her family safe.” Ubuyashiki put his tea down. “I have one last question for you. How did you try to prove the existence of demons? Ms Kocho mentioned that you did a lot of research, but it would be very difficult to find research on us that isn’t from our library.”

Fukuro let out the small breath that she had been holding. He seemed to have believed her lie and was thankful for the change of subject. She could easily talk about her research. “Honestly? It’s mostly a lot of guesswork and estimations. Instead of looking for information that directly mentions demons or the demon slayers, I research areas where they might have been. I look into areas that have sudden increases in death rates or disappearances that are not easily explained. I then compare these cases with research based on my Gran Gran’s stories. If the results are similar to areas that, in theory, had demons attack in the past, then there was a good chance demons were there. It’s not 100% correct, there can be a number of reasons why people start to die suddenly, but it does narrow down possible demon locations. I then do further research at those locations. That’s actually what I was doing when I was found.”

Ubuyashiki let out a hum. “Interesting. I don’t suppose you have any specific examples?”

Fukuro’s eyes widened in surprise. She quickly racked her brain for an area that would make sense for this time. “Actually, yes I do. I don’t suppose you’ve heard of the bandit attacks in the village 3 days north of here, have you?”

“Indeed, I have. A lot of our suppliers and slayers have been avoiding the route because of them. But I’m guessing you think the issue is more than just some bandits?”

Fukuro nodded even though Ubuyashiki couldn’t see it. “Mm-Hmm! The attacks have happened mostly to carts or merchants, which is why everyone thinks they’re bandits. But there are a few things that make me think that the attackers might be demons. First off is the obvious fact that the attacks have only happened at night, with either no or few survivors. The second is that this isn’t usually when bandits are active in the area. This village is along a trade route so bandit activity is common, but this is the off season for most of the products that come through the area. Some research into previous years shows that bandit activity slows down dramatically during this time. Most move to busier areas with more valuable products. Those that stay are usually inexperienced or desperate and tend to be caught pretty quickly. Finally the third reason I’m suspicious is because the valuables of the missing merchants are almost never stolen. The goods are usually damaged, but other than that they’re almost untouched. But the people are always missing or found dead. Bandits would usually run off with the goods. But a demon would care more about their next meal, which would be the people.”

Fukuro realized that she rambled for a while and her cheeks were flushed in embarrassment. “That’s the basics of my thoughts at least. It would be much better explained if I had my notes. Sorry if I just bored you.”

Ubuyashiki didn’t say anything for a few moments. Fukuro suddenly realized that his expression changed and he seems to be deep in thought. “Ms Hitomi, if you had to guess, if these issues are caused by demons how strong would they be?”

Fukuro’s jaw literally dropped. She never expected to be taken so seriously. She’s pretty sure that this was the most interested that anyone had ever been with her research. She quickly shut her mouth and thought for a moment before answering.

“It’s hard to say. I think that if demons are attacking that village then there is probably more than one. Some attacks appeared to have happened at similar times so either the demon has a partner or they have a blood demon art that would allow them to achieve that. Either way I would consider the demon to be moderately strong. Some of the village soldiers have gone missing too, and most are decently skilled. I wouldn’t say this is Hashira worthy, but I wouldn’t send in a rookie slayer either. I’d recommend at least 2-4 people who have been slayers for at least a year. Of course this is all based on speculation, so I’m being extra cautious.”

Ubuyashiki looked like he was about to respond, but his crow suddenly flew into the room and landed on the table. “Ubuyashiki, you have a meeting with the kakushi in 10 minutes!”

“Time must have slipped by. I will be there shortly.” Ubuyashiki told his crow before looking at Fukuro again. “Thank you for giving me your time Ms Hitomi. But I’m afraid that I must cut our conversation short. I do hope we can have another conversation like this again. It was quite interesting.”

Fukuro quickly stood up and bowed her head. “It’s no problem! Thank you for having me.”

“Do you need an escort to show you the way out?”

“No thank you. I remember the way. I’ll leave you to your business then!” Fukuro said as she quickly left the room.

Ubuyashiki looked at the crow perched on the table. “I know you just came back from delivering a message my friend, but I would like you to send a message to a couple of demon slayers.”

***

Two weeks had passed since her meeting with Ubuyashiki and Fukuro had mostly forgotten about it. She was spending her time helping the girls like usual when Ubuyashiki’s crow suddenly flew up to her telling her that Ubuyashiki requested to see her again. So Fukuro was freaking out.

“What did I do? Aoi what did I do?!” Fukuro said as she shook Aoi by the shoulders.

“Will you stop that!” Aoi yelled as she pried Fukuro’s hands off of her. “Stop freaking out so much!”

“How can I not freak out?! It’s only been 2 weeks since I last saw Master Ubuyashiki! Why would he want to see me so soon?! I’m not even a corps member, Aoi! What if I offended him the last time I saw him?!”

“Why the hell would he wait 2 weeks to confront you on that?! You’re overreacting!”

“But what if I’m not?!”

“Is something wrong here?” Shinobu asked as she came from around the corner.

“Shinobu! Thank god! Can you please talk some sense into Fukuro? Ubuyashiki called for her again and she is freaking out!” Aoi said, looking very irritated.

“Alright let’s calm down. Fukuro come with me. We can talk on the way to Master’s place, okay? Let Aoi get back to work.” Shinobu said as she gently took Fukuro’s hand.

Fukuro still looked worried, but she took a deep breath to calm herself. “Yeah. That sounds like a good idea. Sorry Aoi.”

Aoi sighed in response. “It’s fine, just don’t shake me like a rag doll next time,” she said as she grabbed the basket of laundry that Fukuro made her drop and walked away.

“Come on, let’s go.” Shinobu led Fukuro out of the Butterfly Mansion, still holding her hand. But instead of heading to Ubuyashiki’s mansion, they headed to the butterfly garden instead.

“Shinobu? Why are we heading to the garden? Isn’t it a bad idea to keep Master Ubuyashiki waiting?”

Shinobu let out a little hum before sitting them both down on a bench. “Normally I would agree, but I think you need to calm down first.”

“But what if Master Ubuyashiki gets upset? I don’t want to make him-“

“Fukuro.” Shinobu’s voice sounded gentle but firm, effectively cutting Fukuro off. She took Fukuro’s other hand into her own. “Master is one of the most patient and kind people I have ever met. He can wait a couple extra minutes.” She paused and looked at Fukuro for a moment to see if she was going to object. When Fukuro said nothing she continued. “Now can you name 5 things you can see?”

Fukuro looked around. “I see flowers, and butterflies. There are a couple bumblebees too. There’s clouds in the sky…” Fukuro paused and almost panicked by over-thinking the exercise until Shinobu gave her hands a soft squeeze. She locked eyes with her and calmed down a little. “You.”

“Good job. Remember, you can take as long as you need. Now 4 things you can hear?”

“Your voice, birds chirping, and the flowers moving in the breeze. I think I hear some slayers training in the distance.”

“3 things you can feel?”

“The wooden bench, the fabric of my haori, and your hands.”

“Good, 2 things you can smell?”

“I smell the flowers and I think I can smell perfume. Are you wearing perfume?”

“How observant. Yes I am. Now what is 1 thing you can taste?”

“I can still somewhat taste the lemonade that I drank before the crow came.”

“Great. Now I want you to take a deep breath in and out okay?”

Fukuro followed her command and realized that she felt a lot better. She started to feel embarrassed for getting so worked up.

“Are you feeling better?”

“Yes, I’m really sorry about that. I just panicked and couldn’t think straight,” Fukuro said, her cheeks starting to turn pink in embarrassment.

“It’s okay Fukuro. Most people would be stressed in your situation,” Shinobu said, finally letting go of Fukuro’s hands. “Does that happen often? While your reaction wasn’t as big, you were very nervous the last time you saw Master.”

“Kind of? It’s pretty normal for me to get a little anxious, but it’s more of an awkward tension than full blown panic. I think I’ve just been on edge lately,” Fukuro said, looking at her necklace and fiddling with it.

“Any particular reason you feel like you’ve been on edge?”

Fukuro bit her lip. She knew she couldn’t be 100% honest. That was part of the reason she had been on edge. But she also felt like she needed to open up at least a little bit in order to make some progress. She took a few moments to gather her thoughts before she spoke. “Where I’m from we tend to act differently than people do in most places. I feel like I need to constantly watch what I say or do because while something might be acceptable back home, it would be very bad if I do it here. I know mostly what I should and shouldn’t do, but knowing it is different than putting it into practice. I hate feeling this way because it feels like I’m lying or putting up an act. I feel guilty, but I can’t do anything about it. I feel like an outsider.”

Fukuro didn’t notice that tears started to form in her eyes. “I miss home. I miss my family. I miss my friends. But I can’t go back. I won’t see them ever again! I wish I didn’t feel this way because everyone has been so great to me, but- ” Fukuro cut herself off as she began to cry. She was honestly a bit embarrassed but she couldn’t stop herself.

Fukuro felt Shinobu’s hand touch her shoulder. Fukuro immediately hugged Shinobu in response. Shinobu immediately returned the hug and let Fukuro cry her heart out. Shinobu just let out some gentle hums until Fukuro had no more tears to cry. Once Fukuro’s sobs calmed, Shinobu finally spoke.

“Fukuro can you look at me?”

Fukuro looked at Shinobu with her tear stained face. Shinobu wiped the tears from her eyes. “You have no reason to feel guilty. It’s okay to miss home. Its okay if you’re still grieving. It’s okay to still feel like you don’t quite belong. But believe me when I tell you that in this past month you have already taken a place in both mine and the girls' hearts. Please don’t feel like you need to be perfect around any of us. I understand wanting to put on a mask in front of others, but please know that none of us are going to hate you if you mess up. I don’t think you realize that you have a natural gift of worming your way into people’s hearts.”

Fukuro almost wanted to cry again because she was so touched. “Thank you.”

Shinobu gave Fukuro a soft smile. “You’re welcome. No how about we go to that meeting of yours? I think Master will start to get worried if we take much longer.”

Fukuro almost immediately launched herself off the bench. “Crap! I totally forgot! Now I look like a mess!”

Shinobu laughed as she stood up and patted Fukuro on the back. “There. There. If it makes you feel any better I think you look very pretty and eye-catching.”

Fukuro just blushed and put her face in her hands.

***

Fukuro nervously messed with her hair. “Are you sure I look okay and not like a blotchy mess that cried my eyes out a few minutes ago?”

Shinobu laughed. “Yes, you look as beautiful as always. Now go! Master has been waiting long enough. I’ll wait out here for you okay?”

Fukuro took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay. Here I go.”

Fukuro walked up to the mansion. Before she could open the door it opened showing the kid on the other side. She looked identical to the kid from last time, except for the hair piece she wore, which was a yellow ribbon.

“Oh hello. You’re a different girl from last time right? Are you here to take me to Master Ubuyashiki?” Fukuro would be lying if she said the kid did not make her nervous. It looked like she was staring into her soul.

“Yes. Follow me. Master Ubuyashiki has been expecting you.”

Fukuro followed the girl to the same room as last time. Ubuyashiki thanked his daughter and she left. But Fukuro did manage to catch that the girl’s name was Nichika, meaning that she was right when she guessed that this was a different girl than last time. Fukuro once again sat down.

Ubuyashiki was already sitting down with a warm smile on his face. “Thank you for coming to see me Ms Hitomi. I apologize for the short notice.”

“There is no need to apologize. I’m sorry that it took me so long to get here. I ended up being held up with some personal matters.”

“Do not fret about that my child. I promise you that this meeting will be a short one with good news.”

Fukuro tilted her head to the side. “Good news? About what?”

“Remember that village you told me about 2 weeks ago when I asked for an example of how you research demons?”

“Yes. Is that what this meeting is about?”

Ubuyashiki nodded. “Indeed. After you left I sent some demon slayers to the area. It seems that your theory was correct. The deaths in the area were caused by a couple of demons. They were mostly attacking merchants in order to avoid being discovered. Luckily the slayers I sent were able to take care of them. I must thank you. If it wasn’t for you those demons would have killed many more people. It probably would have taken months for us to figure out that there was probably demon activity in that area.”

Fukuro was shocked. Her theory was actually correct! She had never had the chance to prove her theories before and barely anyone took her seriously back in her time. She wanted to squeal in happiness. She barely managed to contain herself.

“I’m guessing that thanking me is not the only reason I’m here right?”

“You are right. There is something else I wanted to talk to you about that I unfortunately was not able to last time we spoke.” Ubuyashiki took a quick sip of his tea before continuing. “I am not sure if you are aware of this, but the reason we had our last meeting was because Ms Kocho requested that you be given access to the demon slayer corps library. She had said that your research skills might come in handy.”

Fukuro was not aware of this. She was shocked but also incredibly touched. Shinobu did that for me? I have to do something to thank her when this is over. I guess she was really serious when she told me she cared about me.

Ubuyashiki continued speaking. “After what happened it is no exaggeration to say that she was correct. So if you are willing I would like for you to work for the Demon Slayer Corps. You would receive payment of course.”

Fukuro’s mind kinda broke. “What?”

“Our library is full of resources about not just the corps, but of Japan as well. I would like you to use those sources and research to help locate demons in areas that we might overlook. But I also want you to work on locating Muzan Kibutsuji.”

Fukuro’s eyes widened. “The demon king?”

“Yes. I do not want you to feel too much pressure about finding him. The demon slayer corps has never been able to in the past. But I have a feeling that we may finally be able to turn the tide soon.”

Fukuro thought for a moment. This was almost like a dream come true. Sure a lot of the circumstances sucked, but to finally have her work be useful was something she always wanted. But is it really okay to do this? Am I changing the future too much? I already know that the demon slayer corps eventually wins, but I don’t know when that is! But I’m stuck here now. I might as well try to help people while I can.

“It would be my honor to use my knowledge to help serve the Demon Slayer Corps.”

***

So it’s been a long time huh? I’m going to be honest I had plans to discontinue this, but I felt the urge to write again. I’m going to continue to write this story at my own pace when I feel the urge. Updates might come often, they might not. Anyways I have no idea of this is my best or worst chapter so let me know what you guys think. Poor Fukuro has some issues. I really want to emphasize how bad it can be to need to hide who she is while also struggling with missing home. Don’t worry I plan on getting to Shinobu’s issues soon.

What if the Danganronpa V3 Characters Were Given Digimon? Pt 3

Part 1, Part 2, Part 4

Here’s what I originally wanted to be included in the same post as Kaede, but the Tumblr app hates me so I had to copy and paste everything into a separate post.

Maki Harukawa

I think Maki was the easiest one for me so far. I already had sort of an idea of what I wanted do with her. I think it also helps that she had a lot more screen time compared to Kirumi and Kaede who both died early game. Some of those ideas changed, but I am proud of this line overall.

Rookie: ToyAgumon

I know this one is a little weird, but hear me out on this one! Honestly this rookie choice was a bit last minute. I had originally planned to use Commandramon, but I decided to use ToyAgumon as my default pick instead because I know I want to use it if I end up doing Mukuro. I settled on ToyAgumon because I wanted something that was related to the fact that Maki was first said to be the Ultimate Child Caregiver. While that talent ended up being fake she was still raised in an orphanage and had to look after the younger kids a lot. I really wanted to give Maki a seemingly cute and/or child-related digimon early in her line that transitions into something more dark and deadly. ToyAgumon is literally a digimon made of legos so the child connection is definitely there. This will reflect how her talent went from something sweet like Ultimate Child Caregiver to something much more sinister like Ultimate Assassin. My original line did not have that aspect so when I realized the overlap I would have if I end up doing Mukuro, it did not bother me so much when I ended up changing it. If the colors through you off we could use ShadowToyAgumon instead, since it is just silver.

But I do still think that Commandramon is an amazing pick that you could easily use as the rookie instead if you prefer. It fits well with Maki’s assassin talent and it hints at her talent in using different types of weapons. But no matter which rookie you prefer I think both will be a good transition into their Champion form.

Champion: Sealsdramon

For anyone that prefers Commandramon, I am sure you will be happy to know that I used its default champion form. I originally was not going to use this one because I didn’t think it looked like a Maki digimon. I briefly thought about using BlackGatomon or Meicoomon, because once again I liked the idea of using something cute and both alluded to darker themes. But I was having trouble making those two picks work, so I decided to look into Sealsdramon more in depth. They are literally used as assassins in the digital world. I take back what I said in the beginning this is a perfect digimon for Maki. I also did not notice this until I started typing this post, but Sealsdramon uses knifes, which is Maki’s main weapon.

Ultimate: Aegiochusmon Dark

I know I said I wanted to avoid repeats, but this is a different form and Kirumi’s Aegiochusmon would be an alternate digivolution anyway, so I am not counting it as one. It still has some animal/dinosaur like aspects so I think the transition works okay. I did think about using Sealsdramon’s default digivolution Tankdramon, but I think that focused too much on weapons. I will admit I am a bit Aegiochusmon obsessed so maybe there are better digimon to use than it’s dark form for Maki. But I did actually put some thought behind this one. I really liked the idea of giving Maki a vaccine type digimon that looked evil/more like a virus type. I know that technically wether a digimon is a virus, vaccine, or data type don’t actually determine wether a digimon is good or evil, but I still like the idea. Surprisingly not matter what form Aegiochusmon takes it still remains a vaccine type digimon, even if it takes the dark form. Since vaccine types are usually depicted as the hero-like digimon, I thought having an evil looking vaccine type would serve as a good parallel for Maki. She seems like a cold-hearted ruthless assassin, but in reality Maki only became an assassin to protect the orphanage she grew up in. Underneath that tough and cold personality is a person who really cares about the people she is close to. Maki is not a bad person. LadyDevimon was also a digimon that was a strong contender though since a mostly portrayed as evil digimon would be put in a more heroic role if this was an anime/fanfiction. The parallel would not be made in the exact same way, but it would still exist.

Mega: Gaiomon

Since Maki’s digivolution line got darker and more evil looking as it went I wanted a mega that at least kinda looked like it could be a villain. While Maki is not a villain in Danganronpa a lot of the V3 cast treated her like one when they found out she was the Ultimate Assassin. Also if this was an anime/fanfiction Maki would totally be the edgy character with the edgy looking digimon. I will die on this hill! I was originally going to use Lilithmon since the transition from a more feminine digimon like Aegiochusmon would make sense. But then my dumb*ss completely missed that both Sealsdramon and Aegiochusmon Dark both had blade-like weapons. So I was like wait I can’t have a digivolution line for Maki with no blade wielding digimon. Her main weapon is a knife (at least I think it is since she even has her own sprite of her using one). So I eventually settled on Gaiomon since it had some very obvious blades, and it looks kinda edgy. Also the dinosaur like base serves as a nice connection to the rest of the line. I will admit that most of my thought process was based on my own stupidity, but I actually really do like this pick. I am glad I didn’t use Lilithmon because I don’t think her whole lust theme would fit Maki anyways. I did also think of using Reapermon since an assassin is associated with death, but I didn’t think it fit as well. It’s still a solid choice.

Now Maki is one of the few characters that I will not give a dark digivolution too. This is mainly because most of Maki’s digivolution line looks evil or like the dark form of something. If you want one really badly you could use Reapermon I guess?? I just didn’t think giving her one would fit very well. Instead I am going to give her an alternate Mega in the form of GuardiAngemon.

To explain this it’s time to go back to fanfiction/anime territory. As I mentioned earlier I think Maki would most likely play the role of the edgy/standoffish character in the series. Similar to Kiriha in Xros Wars or Rei Katsura from Appmon (yes I do consider Appmon to be a part of digimon. Sue me). I can see her having a distant relationship with both her digimon and the rest of the cast. Possibly also struggling with a lot of self loathing due to her assassin work. But overtime she grows to trust her friends and partner digimon, as well as herself. This could happen in a big final battle or something similar and instead of becoming Gaiomon her partner becomes GuardiAngemon a holy angel digimon of light. Maki is finally “embracing the light” and after giving her a very evil/dark looking line I think her digimon becoming a literal angel would fit that theme well. This is not me saying that Gaiomon was actually a dark digivolution. It’s more of a your lack of trust and self loathing was not letting your digimon reach its fullest potential situation.

I settled in GuardiAngemon because the angel digimon are the most obvious forms of light and good. I thought her mega doing a complete 180 would be fun. Also because it has blades for arms and I wanted to keep the blade theme with Maki. It is a shame that the dinosaur theme is gone and the connection is very small, but that’s digimon for you.

That’s it for Maki! As you can see while I am very proud of this line, and there were a lot of other strong options for me to give her. Once again I would love to see your guys’ opinions on what digimon you think would better suite the characters if you think mine are kinda crazy.

This is the way you’re supposed to do pranks!

ppl who celebrate fictional character birthdays are annoying pass it on

Maybe I can finally get over my writer’s block