stolen time

Ch63

With a blow of a wind her body dissipated, the petals blew violently towards the group of demons, feasting upon a dismembered human corps. though it was not out of the ordinary for them to do so, these demons had a look of fear engraved into them while they hurriedly ate, as if they were being strangled by the neck it was a fear of death one you wouldn't normally see in demons.

her body reappeared meters before as she attacked one of the 15 demons whom looked identical. Her blade slid through its limbs and off with its head, Ayame waited for it to fade but instead it simply turned into a liquid and reformed itself like nothing happened.

"So they're clones that would explain things" she thought looking up towards the demon who had a features resembling that of a feline.

"Demon?"

"Or"

"Human?"

"No"

"Matter"

"Enemy"

5 of its clones said one by one, bearing their fangs and claws they leaped from the sides of the trees around them, circulating ayame as they gained speed attacking her in a rhythm before joining the circle again.

When the next one came ayame leaned back dodging its attack she grabbed hold of its leg with her left hand, bringing her blade down its back with the other, she split the demon in half straight down through the middle. crashing her blade into the earth with a alarming thud it melted back into a liquid once more escaping from her tight grasp.

"Well this is bothersome"

She said continuously dodging them, unable to detect which one is the real body she decided to use a different method. sheathing her blade she closed her eyes calmly in silence, misleading the demons to assume she had given up her life as they all charged towards her at once.

Once they were close enough she jumped up twisting back half a backflip so her face was facing down towards them, she brought up a bloody palm close towards her mouth.

"Kekijutsu harems aroma" she blew into her palm and mist brushed down towards them.

Once the demon inhaled the smoke it's movement's became unstable as it was barely able to stand up, the clones melted leaving only one body behind as it layed defenceless in a futile struggle, ayame flipped back stepping upon the side of the tree trunk behind her she copied the demon and charged towards it separating its head from its body.

Twirling her blade she flicked the blood onto the ground before sheathing it back in the scabbard, by the time she turned around to face it the demon had already disappeared along with the remainder of her technique.

"Oyakata sama pardon for the disturbance but I have completed my task, it wasn't a group of demons but multiple clones of one demon, and it seemed to haunted by something there was a look of fear instilled in the demon and it didn't seem like it was eating by choice but rather it was forcing itself to eat large amounts, I'm assuming it has something to do with trying to gain favour from muzan"

She said frowning as she looked towards the pile of dead bodies, with the looks of desperation and fear from their last moments before being murdered still engraved upon their lifeless faces.

"I see well done ayame, hopefully the souls of the victims can rest peacefully now in the land of the dead, please return safely"

"Hai..."

She ended her communication with ubuyashiki, walking over towards the corpses she moved them and layed them down side by side, sliding her hands over their eyelids shutting their soulless eyes.

She still had time before sunrise, using this time she dug graves for the dead victims, before she covered them in dirt she searched for anything significant to represent them like a hair pin, a picture, or accessories placing them on top of their graves for their families to recognize them.

Giving them a prayer she stood up and walked to the town below, pinning up a message to inform the villagers the mountain is safe once again and the victims had been layed to rest, leaving back to the rengoku estate shortly after before the sun began to dawn.

*****

She was back within her room, sliding the fusama closed she slowly slid down to the floor with her legs to the side and head hung down, the anger and grief within her swelled as the faces of the dead bodies flashed inside her head. Bashing her fist into the ground, ayame unintentionally created a dent. From children to elders there were no discrimination in their victims with only the intent to gain power in their minds, all for the sake of recognition from that man.

"Ayame nee-san? Are you back?"

She heard a small tired voice behind her door, she stood up putting on a mask to hide her anger she slid the fusama open to see senjuro standing with his bed hair and groggy eyes.

"Sorry did I wake you? I was about to change my clothes and I accidentally knocked over a box"

Ayame said with a soft smile the same false smile she always wore. He rubbed his eyes to clear up his vision, despite ayame was standing between the space of the slid apart fusama senjuro was still able to see a freshly made dent in her tatami floor near the wall and he was able to quickly catch on that she must've saw something that had upset her.

"No... I was already half awake... I'll draw you a bath"

"It's alright I can do it myself you should go back to bed it's still early"

Ayame replied smoothing out his hair as she ran her hand through its soft strands patting it down after.

"I'll will after... so just relax for a bit while you wait"

And without waiting for her reply he already started to make his way towards the bathroom, "kyojuro you're really lucky for having such a kind and caring brother" she thought, she slid the fusama shut placing her wagasa down she grabbed a clean yukata and a kanzashi for her hair.

Removing her dirty clothes she sat down on the wooden stool pouring a bucket of warm water over her head feeling the warm water wash over her cold skin, brushing her hair to the front she carefully washed it with shampoo, scrubbing from the scalp all the way to the ends.

Dumping another bucket of water over her head she brushed back her bangs that covered her view, she stood up walking towards the tub with her hair dragging behind, She submerged herself into the warm comforting water feeling all the tension wash away, leaning back against the wooden edge of the tub with nearly closed eyes she let her mind wonder until the bath grew cold.