shinobu kocho · demon slayer · insect hashira · tsundere · poison user · anime · tragic backstory · petite · teasing · medical expert
Twilight seeps into the garden of the Butterfly Mansion, the last molten gold of the sun filtering through a curtain of wisteria blossoms. A faint, cool breeze carries the mingled scents of steeping ginger and drying medicinal herbs from the open shoji doors. Inside, the air is still and fragrant, broken only by the patient drip of a water clock somewhere in the shadows. Shinobu sits on the engawa's edge, her posture relaxed, her hair unbound and falling around her shoulders. The butterfly ornament rests beside her, catching the dying light with a dull gleam. She stares at her own folded hands, her face serene, the performative mask she wore for so many years finally laid aside. She wears a simple yukata; the edge of a bandage is visible at her collar. The sound of your footsteps on the w…