Picture created by @LDCat996. Your amazing, thank you for this amazing piece of artwork.

"Shit!" Leyona shouted, trying to hold up Maaya. The two Upper Moons had fled, leaving an injured Hashira, two shattered Innkeepers, a dead girl, and two slayers who couldn't believe what just happened.

Aya stared in horror at the discarded leg, her dark brown eyes wide. Veyrum and Aiden stood silent over Minty, and even as the sun rose there was this terrible feeling of terror.

This wasn't how their first mission supposed to go.

"Aya! How the fuck do we stop bleeding on a leg? You payed attention in Aoi's medical classes more then me, right?" Leyona looked towards Aya, who wore a haunted expression.

"Aya!"

"I....yeah." Aya said, her voice quiet as she ripped off a decent piece of her haori. The Upper Moon had cut off Maaya's leg near the middle of her thigh, much to Leyona's semi-relief. 

Aya shoved the cloth against the stump, her hands trembling slightly, nowhere near the steady and practiced hands of Aoi. 

Several feet away from them, Veyrum was standing over Minty's body, while Aiden was clutching it close to his chest, not letting go. Tears flowed freely down his cheeks, while Veyrum's hands where curled into fists, his eyes gleaming with unreleased tears.

Finally, Veyrum broke, slumping down to his knees and sobbing as he apologized over and over to his dead sister for not being there, not protecting her.

Leyona didn't spare him a glance.

In her mind, this happened all the time. Things could be ripped away as soon you got them, with no explanation at all. 

They weren't special.

Aya glanced over, pity in her dark brown eyes, until Leyona coughed loudly and they went back to treating Maaya, who had passed out ages ago.

"Get the kakushi." Leyona ordered her crow, who cawed loudly before flying away. Her arms where getting tired, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could hold Maaya up. Her body was built towards stamina, her bones and muscles less tense and thinner than the average human beings, making Leyona able to run for long distances but also slightly weaker than the average human as well.

Facing off against Upper Four had taken a lot out of her. The air he had.....along with Upper Three....it reminded her of Maaya's, Kanao's, and, when she was alive, Cat. It was like a Hashira's air.

In fact, it was exactly like Cat's aura. Powerful, with pieces of demon and demon slayer, and Nezuko, in the brief meeting they had.

It made sense for Shinobu, as she was the former Insect Pillar, but Upper Four?

Unless....

"The bleedings' stopped." Aya finally said, not letting the cloth down. Her whole arm was shaking, and she sweating like mad. "The kakushi should be here. Weren't they hanging around-"

"Hey." Both looked up to see a pissed off looking Aiden, quivering with rage. 

"Your demon slayers, right? Why didn't you do anything?" He shouted, and Aya flinched slightly while Leyona set Maaya's head down on the ground lightly. Veyrum didn't move to stop him, he had taken his sister in his arms, standing up with a tearful yet somber expression.

The black haired boy clearly knew what his brother was doing, and yet didn't stop him.

Knew that guy wouldn't help us. Leyona thought with disgust as she turned back to Aiden. "We couldn't. The demon was to strong for Maaya to handle, what do you think we could have done?"

Guilt panged in her chest at that. Why hadn't she helped? Maybe the fight might turned out differently. Maybe Maaya would be not at death's door, held up by a slayer with minimal medical experience, and another who had failed her duty as a demon slayer.

Leyona should have been the one to get hit, not Maaya.

"Still! My sister is dead, your friend here is hurt, and two of them of them got away!" Aiden screamed, grabbing a hold of the collar of Leyona's demon slayer uniform.

The slayer shoved him away quickly, her hand quickly flitting to the hilt of her sword just as the kakushi arrived. "Everyone has lost someone. It happens eventually. Get over it." Leyona snapped, Aya getting up as the kakushi put Maaya on a piece of wood that was cushioned slightly, then ran off.

One stayed behind, and stepped between the two people. "Let's relax here, alright?" He said, slightly trembling when Leyona's gaze turned to him. 

Aiden glared at her, then stormed back to Veyrum, who let the kakushi take the body of his sister.  They exchanged words, before the kakushi shoved a wheelie looking platform and put Minty on it, closing her eyes to make it seem like the girl was simply sleeping on her back.

Leyona looked away, and Aya took Leyona's hand. If it had been any other scenario, the light-brown haired girl might be flustered, but now she just rubbed her thumb across the back of Aya's hand, trying to comfort her in some way.

In her head, however, Leyona could only think that this was her fault.

Kanao didn't know what to expect when the kakushi wheeled in an unconscious Maaya, and two traumatized looking Aya and Leyona, to the emergency medical room. Aoi saw this, quickly gave Naho the pain-killer medicine, and ran after.

Leyona and Aya merely sat down, Kanao on the other side of them.

Silence fell over the trio.

"What happened?" The woman asked, her voice slightly quieter than usual, and a frown on her face. Aya glanced at Leyona, wanting her to speak.

The girl in mention stared at the floor, before she began speaking.

"It was terrible, Kanao. I'm sorry."

Kanao's face was full of horror. She had been stony faced the entire time, until Leyona revealed that Upper Three was Shinobu.

Now Kanao was as white as a ghost, her eyes wide and brimming with tears. She took a shuddering breathing in, before getting up. "Get some rest. You will need it." The woman said, before making her way to her office and lightly shutting the door.

Leyona stared at the ceiling, mulling over the events of today. It was light out, so she wasn't sleeping a wink, but even if that wasn't the case Leyona was sure she wouldn't be sleeping a wink.

She shifted a bit again, trying to get comfortable, but never seemed to be. Clutching her stuffed cats to her chest, Leyona closed her eyes again.

If  I hadn't been so Kami damn prideful, Maaya would still be slayer. Maybe, if I hadn't ran off that day, none of this would have happened.

Tears fell silently.

Aya didn't understand the feeling curling in her chest. It was sharp and bitter, nothing like she had felt before. It was directed at Shinobu, the butterfly demon as well.

Was it hatred?

Yeah, it was. Aya hated Shinobu.

The girl gripped her futons' covers, her knuckles turning white from the strain.

She hated someone for the first time in her life, normally she was a forgiving person. Hell, she forgave that Kaito guy when her and Leyona first met.

So why did she hate Shinobu?

Maybe it was the expression on Kanao's face, the one that looked like she wanted to cry and punch something at the same time.

Shinobu would die by her blade, just you wait.

Shattered Legacy Secret

Minty was buried in the Inn's backyard, in a grave with a very pronounced gravestone.