"NEE-SAN!"

Aiden screamed, racing towards the demon. Veyrum was quiet, tears brimming in his eyes as he stared at his sister's corpse.

"Aiden! Get back!" Maaya shouted as her eyes tracked an arm coming straight at him. In a second, she was in front, slashing the arm that was coming towards the Innkeeper. The demon stumbled back, it's arm regenerating in a second.

Leyona took a breath, preparing to unleash her third form, only to be stopped by Aya. "We have to do something!" She said, gritting her teeth. Aya shook her head, pointing towards Maaya and the demon.

"That's an Upper Moon."

Those four words made Leyona's blood run cold.

Upper Moons where still feared by the Corps, even if they were weaker than before, they were still a threat. 

Now one was here. 

Leyona and Aya wouldn't stand a chance, and Veyrum and Aiden certainly didn't.

Maaya had to kill it.

Leyona checked it's eyes-why hadn't she done that before?-and saw the kanji for three.

Suddenly, Maaya's chances of succeeding where a whole lot slimmer.

Shinobu hadn't expected three slayers to come at her. One she could handle with ease, two as well, three was a bit iffy, but she could still handle it.

Why where two hanging back then, shielding the two boys?

Shinobu drew a breath, taking in the slayer's scent. 

Hashira.

Well, this wasn't good.

"Blood demon art-" Shinobu wasn't able to finish the sentence as a blade came crashing across her mouth, her words dying in the air. She kicked back as the katana came closer to her neck then what was comfortable.

The Hashira flipped in mid air, landing solidly on her feet. It made sense now, as Shinobu took another breath of air, the other two where Mizunoto, probably fresh from Final Selection.

"Breath of Strength.....first form...." Shinobu tensed up, before darting forward. The ground shattered beneath her feet, and the demon girl yelped, darting back. "Earth Shattering Legs!"

At speed that was impossible for a human being, Maaya lunged forward. So this was the strength of a hashira, Shinobu had never fought one before. The scent of strength was intoxicating, it swamped her demon senses.

Upper Three grinned, accepting the challenge.

"Wait, isn't that Shinobu?" Aya and Leyona where watching the fight. Poisonous gas flooded the place, Maaya beating it away with various attacks. In the first thirty seconds, they had debated joining in, before Aya decided that Maaya could probably handle it and Leyona agreed. She wasn't scared at all, what were you talking about? 

She was, actually, handling it very well.

"Uh..." Leyona searched her memory of the name, until it clicked.

"That dead girl? The one I accidentally insulted?" Aya gave her friend a look at that question, and when she saw that Leyona was dead serious, sighed and nodded. This threw Leyona into a panic.

"But she's...."

"A demon."

Silence settled over to the two, unless you count the cracking of cement and the hisses of pain from both the demon and Maaya. The two younger slayers watched as their fellow butterfly girl proceeded to nearly kill Shinobu about three times, whether on purpose or accident they didn't know.

"But...why?" Leyona asked, disbelieving that the Insect Pillar, the person that Kanao had held in the highest regards, the one person that their Master pushed them to be like, was a man-eating, killer demon.

Aya didn't have a good answer for that one.

This is why we needed to talk, Leyona Easki.

Leyona involuntarily shivered.

Maaya refused to let up, refused to falter for one singular second. If she did, she might misstep and either get killed, or miss the chance to kill the demon.

The hashira had noted who Shinobu was the moment she lay eyes on her opponent. The shock was still there, but Maaya kept her mind focused on the task at hand.

Her mind worked at sixty miles an hour, clocking movements that Shinobu was making while also checking on the girls at the corner of her eyes. She purposefully fought recklessly, pushing Shinobu farther and farther away from Aiden, and Veyrum, who was trying to get his alive brother and dead sister away from the carnage.

Another presence entered, slightly weaker then Shinobu. Maaya continued her onslaught, until she heard a shriek. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Leyona, barely holding off against a spiky haired demon, wielding a katana. Aya was the one who shrieked, before collecting herself and charging towards the demon.

Time stood still as Maaya watched as the demon disarmed Aya in a second.

Leyona suddenly looked terrified, and since Maaya's full attention was on her friends, she didn't notice Shinobu darting towards her at incredible speed, before she got football tackled. The force of her getting shoved into a cement floor by an Upper Moon knocked all the air out of Maaya's lungs, and the Hashira instinctively gasped for breath.

Inhaling the toxic fumes of Shinobu's blood demon art while doing so.

Leyona wasn't sure how much longer she could hold up.

Between the crushing force of Upper Four's aura, the toxic gas that slowly inching its way towards her and Aya, and the blade wielding demon who had just slashed Aya's sword in half, Leyona was sure she was going to give out at any second.

However, Leyona could win this. She was one of Kanao's students, a future Pillar. She could beat this demon, just like at Final Selection.

This was when her confidence and pride nearly killed her.

"Give up you bastard!" The Paper Breathing slayer shouted, sliding her sword off of the demon's katana and aiming for his exposed neck.

She didn't even notice the free blade coming towards her stomach before it was to late.

Blood sprayed into the air, Aya screaming a name. Blood roared in Leyona's ears as she stared.

The sword hadn't gotten her.

Oh no.

It had gotten Maaya.

Upper Four had just cut off Maaya's leg.

He had left his neck exposed on purpose.

Neito watched the light brown haired slayer fall to the ground after being pushed by the Hashira. He smiled thinly at the trembling smaller one, before glancing behind him.

The sun would rise soon.

Sparing a glance towards Shinobu, the two darted off in the same direction.

Lord Muzan would surely reward them for this.

Maaya had never wanted to be a slayer.

Who would?

It was a world full of death and violence, watching demons tear their own families apart and listening as crying got silenced because you where to late.

The ones who did live always had this broken, shattered look to them. On the outside, they would seem to be fine, but if you really looked, you could see the empty, dead gaze and their slightly sluggish movements.

Maaya's own family had been torn apart, all because she hadn't payed attention.

It was spring, flowers just starting to bloom and the weather no longer freezing.

Maaya was talking with many of the other foster children. Her name had been Tamaki, and they were closer than what Maaya had once imagined siblings were. They had been drawing, Tamaki drawing a boar that she had seen wandering around earlier and Maaya a family portrait of them and the other people in the foster care.

It was getting late, not that Maaya nor Tamaki had noticed. Both didn't notice the dark mass of smoke either.

Not until it had grabbed one of the other kids. This one was the biological son of the family, and they loved him dearly. Black hair, dyed with green stripes, and maroon eyes, he was friendly and treated them like they were going to stay forever.

The demon killed him, snapping his neck while Tamaki and Maaya watched. 

Tamaki screamed, and raced towards the door. The demon was on her in an in instant, snapping her neck as well before turning it's gaze onto Maaya.

The girl's blood went cold.

"Maaya? Tamaki? It's bedtime-" The mother didn't even know what was happening, but she died next. The demon licked her lips, washing away the blood. "I'll be back." She hissed, before darting down the hallway.

Maaya was frozen in place as she heard a loud snap come from the parent's room.

It was then that Maaya stood up and took off running.

However, in the present, Maaya would never be able to run again.

Shattered Legacy Secret

Minty was born with natural fangs and a tendency to bite people. She stopped the biting after she turned six.

I'm starting to notice that I never make certain characters' have more depth.

Maaya's the start of that ending. Not right now, but in the future.