I made my way through the familiar corridors of the Butterfly Estate. The scent of medicinal herbs grew stronger with each step, mingled with faint traces of chemicals and rare plants. I passed by a few attendants who offered polite bows, but I barely registered them. My thoughts were on her.
Shinobu Kocho—calm, intelligent, sharp-tongued, and deceptively gentle. It had been too long since I saw her, and I knew she'd buried herself in work even more than usual after my departure.
I reached the wooden sliding door to her laboratory. From within, I could hear the soft clinking of glass and the occasional scratch of pen on parchment. There was no conversation—she must have been working alone today.
Instead of knocking, I decided to surprise her.
Quietly, I slid the door open just enough to slip inside. The room was warmly lit by the late afternoon sun filtering through the paper windows. Dozens of labeled vials were neatly arranged on shelves, and several open books lay sprawled across the main desk. In the center of it all stood Shinobu, her back to me, her hair tied up neatly and her butterfly-patterned haori draped over her shoulders. She was leaning forward, scribbling notes into her journal while a distillation flask slowly bubbled beside her.
I closed the door behind me with a gentle click. Her pen stilled slightly at the sound, but she didn't turn around.
"I'm a bit busy right now, Aoi," she said. "Unless someone's bleeding out, please handle it—"
"Even if it's me bleeding emotionally?" I said softly.
The pen slipped from her fingers. She froze.
Slowly, she turned around.
Her eyes met mine. For a heartbeat, there was silence—pure, loaded silence as the tension built between us. Then, something subtle shifted in her gaze. Her violet eyes, usually cool and controlled, shimmered with unmistakable warmth.
"You're here," she said simply, her voice barely above a whisper.
I stepped forward. "I told you I'd come back."
"You did." She tilted her head slightly, a slow smile forming on her lips. "And yet, I half-thought you'd vanish like a dream. Traveling from world to world… even I wondered if you were real."
I smiled back. "I'm as real as the fire in that flask."
She glanced at the bubbling flask for a moment before turning fully toward me, folding her arms. "You should've knocked. I might've spilled acid on myself."
"Then I would've kissed the pain away."
"Charming as ever," she said, walking toward me.
There was no hesitation in her steps, no pause. She stood directly before me now, her eyes scanning my face as if searching for something—confirmation, perhaps, that I truly stood there.
"You haven't changed," she said after a moment.
"You have," I replied. "You seem more tired."
Her smile wavered slightly. "That's because you left. You, the one who could kill the Upper Moons like they were nothing, just disappeared. We had to go back to being careful again."
I reached out and gently cupped her cheek. "I'm sorry."
She closed her eyes at the touch. "I knew you'd return. I just didn't know when."
"I came as soon as I could," I said. "I've been handling things in other worlds. But this world… I wanted to see it with my own eyes. To see if it's becoming the peaceful place we hoped."
"And?" she asked.
"Yuki told me demon attacks have slowed down. Muzanette hasn't made any new demons. Tamayo's helping. It's working."
Shinobu nodded slowly. "It is. But we're not done yet. There are still remnants. Still dangers. But for once, it feels like we have the upper hand."
She stepped in closer, resting her forehead against my chest. "I missed you."
I wrapped my arms around her. "I missed you too."
For a moment, neither of us spoke. We simply stayed there in the quiet of her lab, wrapped in each other's presence. The world outside, the monsters, the missions, the pain—they all faded.
She eventually pulled back, her usual teasing expression returning.
"Did you visit the others first?"
I chuckled. "Mitsuri greeted me with a storm of kisses. Nezuko ambushed me. Aoi kissed me. You're the last one."
She raised an eyebrow. "So I'm your finale?"
"More like the one I knew would make the biggest impression."
She smirked. "You're not wrong."
Then she leaned in and kissed me.
It was soft at first, slow and deliberate, like she was savoring it. But it deepened quickly, her hands gripping my haori as if afraid I might vanish again. I returned the kiss with equal fervor, pouring into it all the emotion I'd kept bottled up.
When we finally broke apart, she was slightly breathless. "If you plan to leave again soon, at least spend tonight here."
I nodded. "Of course. I'll stay."
She smiled, genuinely. "Then let me finish up here, and we'll have dinner together. Just us."
"Sounds perfect. But before that..."
~~~
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