Historian Butterfly AU: Chapter 3
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.
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.”
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!”
“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.”
“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.
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