Aya struck first, blades singing through the air, striking for Shinobu's neck, only to slash through air.

Landing one foot and twisting, Aya hit the ground. She pivoted, and swiftly struck again.

"Poison Breathing, first form..."

The slayer breathed through her teeth.

"Overgrown Poison Ivy Garden!"

Aya struck a multitude of times, making an inescapable cage of curved swords, the two scimitars seeming to multiply, each one covered in a deadly poison. 

"Heh......what an odd technique...." Funny. Shinobu's voice seemed to come from behind her, wasn't she inside the sword cage? 

The slayer stopped the technique, to see Shinobu gone from her technique.

Aya turned around, so see the demon mostly untouched, aside from one scratch on her cheek that healed instantly. "That's so messed up. Wisteria poison?" The demon asked, glancing at Aya's swords. 

"I can smell it. Your swords are covered in poison. Wow, that's a gruesome way to die, isn't it?" Aya didn't answer as she waited for the poison to take effect.

It never did.

"Oh, whoops. One little detail I forgot to mention...." Shinobu grinned, and suddenly Aya felt very, very cold, like someone had just thrown a bucket of ice at her. 

"I'm immune to wisteria, which includes the poison~"

Aya's breath hitched. So the poison wouldn't work.

She'd have to cut off the demon's head.

Readying her blades again, Aya took another breath. "Poison Breathing, third form...."

"Creeping Nightshade!" 

The slayer brang her scimitars up, before striking forward and lunging in a zigzag pattern. She had taken inspiration from Shinobu's Insect Breathing, from when she had thought the woman was dead and not a demon.

From when she still respected her.

Shinobu just stood there, a slightly surprised look on her face, as if she recognized the form. Or was it the movements?

Aya's blades connected her the demon's neck. Her victory was cemented, until....

They didn't go through. Her scimitars stayed there, against the neck, not going through, even as she put as much force into her strikes as possible. "How amusing, how you are a Mizunto and going after an Upper Moon."

Ata didn't see the hand coming, at least not until it came crashing over her left eye. Shrieking and stumbling back, Shinobu's claws just missing her eye but still dragging enough that the skin would be severely damaged.

The scratches traveled from just above her left eye all the way down to her jaw before Aya leaped away, clutching her face. As much she could tell, her eyes wasn't damaged, but her face was in such pain she really couldn't be sure.

"Blood demon art, Wisteria Presence."

Aya watched in horror as the purple smoke from the battle with Maaya formed. One flap of Shinobu's wings, and it came towards the slayer at top speed. 

She quickly tore off a piece of her haori and covered her mouth, but there was still the matter of her wound.

"The poison that comes off my wings is extremely dangerous to humans. You'll be dead in seconds, as soon as it touches that wound." Shinobu said as the smoke thickened and soon it was impossible to see the demon.

Seconds, huh?

Aya took a breath.

"Poison Breathing, fifth form....."

She was probably going to die. Hopefully Kanao found her body before Shinobu ate it.

"Deadly Hemlock."

Aya dove into the smoke, and began to slash like crazy. She could practically feel the poison making it way through her body as she went deeper. Every instinct in her was screaming to run, far far away, and find Kanao.

She persisted, trying to find something, anything to hit, running on pure instinct.

Something hit her in the wrist, causing her right scimitar to fall to the floor. A brief flash of panic went through her, she couldn't properly perform techniques with only one sword.

In a flash, her other scimitar was gone as well, and before Aya could go pick them up, she was grabbed by the wrist and thrown, away from the smoke.

She hit a tree, and the world went white.

Aya's parents weren't killed by demons. In fact, they were killed by humans.

It made sense, their family was high class and close to the emperor as a result. Killing them and ending their line would damage Japan's government harshly.

No one knew who the assassin was, only that they snuck into the estate at night and poisoned the food. 

Aya's parents and siblings died soon afterward, and because Aya was the last one standing, the police and guards all though it was her who killed them. However, the girl hadn't, and when they were about to execute her, she ran.

Running into Kanao soon afterwards was pure coincidence, and at first Aya thought she was going to bring her back to the guards, but the woman took her under her wing, promising her a life full of adventure and excitement, along warning her about the demons that lurked in the shadows and hunted under the moonlight.

Aya laughed her off, before Kanao took out her blade and showed it her. It was then that Aya realized she was serious, and took her up on the offer. 

Aya owed Kanao her life.

Shinobu would give the girl this, for a low ranking demon slayer, she sure was powerful. 

The fight wasn't like with the Hashira girl, that one made Upper Three break a sweat, but she had underestimated Aya.

Aya. It sounded like.....

Aoi.

Shinobu shook her head as an image of a black haired girl with pigtails and blue eyes blossomed in her mind. She didn't know these people. Not at all.

She'd kill the girl. How had the slayer survived her poison, she wasn't sure. 

The demon grasped her hand into a fist, before punching and aiming for the head, but before it could connect....

Her arm was chopped off, she was kicked away, and stood before her was a Hashira with a much more powerful presence than then the other one. 

Why did she look familiar, and why did pride flow when looking at the woman?

Kanao heard the sound of a person being thrown against a tree, the sharp crack and shriek of pain. It was then that she knew, that Aya had found Shinobu.

Was Kanao in the right mental mind to fight her old master? No. However, she would, to keep her little sister safe. 

Even though she was going to give Aya a firm talking to when they got back.

She gasped softly. There was Shinobu. Leyona wasn't lying or seeing things, that was Shinobu. 

in her shock, she didn't notice the smoke, that had previously dissipated, returning.

"It's good to see you again, Master." 

Shinobu flinched back a bit, before throwing her wings wide. "I don't know who you are." She spat, and Kanao felt like claws had raked across her heart.

"Then allow me to introduce myself. I am Kanao Tsuyuri, the Flower Hashira." She took a deep breath to calm herself as something flashed in Shinobu's eyes.

That was when a great pain started in her chest, followed by her coughing terribly. Blood spit from her mouth, and as much as Kanao fought to keep it down she couldn't.

Kanao then realized what that sweet smell was, and why her vision was tinted purple.

Poison fog, a mockery of Shinobu's past life. 

Kanao regulated her breathing to slow the effects, and charged. "Flower breathing, first form...."

Kanao never got to finish that sentence, for she fell to the ground, her sword falling out of her grasp with a thump, the poison having moved faster than any normal one would, even fast than the previous Upper Six or the spider boy's did. 

Shinobu stared at her, and for some reason tears came out of the corners of her eyes when she heard the Hashira's final thoughts.

Nee-san.....

I forgive you.

Kanao expected to be greeted by Kanae when she got to the afterlife, but no one was there.

No one at all.

She glanced around, seeing miles and miles of pure white. The woman wanted to get up, but decided no to.

"Hey, Kanao." 

That voice.....

Kanao whipped around, standing up to see a slightly short black haired girl with blue eyes. For a moment, she thought that is was Aoi, and for a moment fear came over her, but it wasn't. Kanao frowned.

"Who are you?"

The girl smiled sadly. 

"It's me, Cat. I'm here to bring you to the afterlife." Kanao's eyes widened, before she began to stutter.

"This....what about Aya?" Cat shook her head.

"I'm not sure. If she dies, you'll be notified to you can come get her." 

Kanao looked around again. "Where's....Kanae?" It felt weird to say the name, she never spoke of her, even to her students. "Kanae's not here, not yet at least. Come on." Cat held out her hand, and Kanao hesitantly took it. "Wait.....is Kanae alive?" 

Cat once again shook her head.

She had her doubts, and if this was Cat, but then the girl smiled that familiar Cat smile and Kanao knew it was her.

She blinked back tears as the she moved on, guilty that she had to leave so many behind and confused but somethings, but she had to trust in them.

Shinobu stared at the unconscious Aya and the dead Kanao.

Kanao, like the girl in her memories. She called her nee-san.

Was....was that her sister?

The memories didn't matter.

Hesitantly, she picked the two butterfly pins in Hashira's hair out, before deciding she'd give them to Neito. 

Neito liked collecting stuff like this.

Shinobu left, unsure of why she didn't kill Aya and a little surprised about somethings.

Upper Moon Three wasn't sure who she was anymore. 

Shattered Legacy Secret

Leyona's crow is named Tsu.

I am very sorry for this chapter.

I'm very sorry for the next, and the one after that.

This physically hurt to write.

But I think I did good with the fight scene and Kanao's death????

I think????