stolen time

Ch89 omen dr

Running with his sword at his side tanjiro followed the occasional sounds of ayame's bell ringing in the distance as she jumped through tree to tree, slaying any demons that approach them along the way.

There were much more low leveled demons than they had expected and soon enough the serene ringing of a bell became more and more scarce for tanjiro to hear.

"Ayame san! Can you please slow down a bit!"

He shouted up into the air slowing down to catch his breath, normally he would've been able to track her by her distinct scent but due to the windy weather it was hard for him to pinpoint her location. He started to walk around in attempt to find and catch up to ayame but the more he walked the more he went astray.

"Ehh? Nezuko I think we lost ayame san"

He said with downturned brows as nezuko responded with sounds of scratching within the box, sighing he closed his eyes and began to put his katana back within its sheath ignorant of the fast approaching existence behind him.

He heard a high pitched soaring sound looking behind him his eyes widened at the closing in object, moments before impact the view of someone's back hand appeared crushing the small object in its palm.

"Ayame san! Where were y-"

"Shhhh be quiet"

She interrupted with a menacing frown upon her face, she slowly opened her palm to see the slowly disintegrating object that resembled an eye clicking her tongue she hurriedly turned towards tanjiro.

"Tanjiro kun we don't have much time we need to leave now!"

She grabbed his arm and hurriedly began to teleport them back to the demon slayer corps.

"Eh?!? But ayame san we have-"

He gasped as his face went pale from the very scent of the person he loathed to bits "kibutsuji muzan!" He thought, right before his face scattered into petals he saw fusama slides appear on the ground with a slowly emerging man. With a blink they were back at the safety of the corps.

"Ayame san that's!"

"Yes it's muzan, this is bad I didn't expect him to catch onto me so quickly, tanjiro kun you should retire for the night I'll be reporting this to oyakata sama"

Tanjiro hesitantly agreed, walking towards the gate he glanced back one last time to see ayame waving him off with a closed eyed smile, he waved back with a sullen smile and made his way down the road.

Once he was completely gone ayame's wave came to a halt along with her smile, opening her eyes up into a serious glare she looked towards her bloodied hand.

"It seems i became to relaxed after coming here, things will only get worse from now on" she thought as the timer for her freedom began to tick slowly.

******

The next morning came and it was time for the monthly hashira meeting with the addition of ayame, she had sent word about the issue yesterday night and it will be discussed with everyone during the meeting to decide their best course of action. Though ayame suggested that she immediately leaves to prevent any harm to fall upon the corps but like the kind hearted man ubuyashiki was he refused that idea.

"Akami san~! It's so nice to see you again"

Mitsuri said running towards ayame with her arms spread wide, they greeted each other with a hug while the rest of the hashira arrived one by one.

"It has been a long time hasn't it Mitsuri san how are you doing?"

"Great! I was just out having some breakfast with iguro san before it was so delicious you should join us sometime, but what about you Akami san? You seem a little down"

Ayame smiled in silence since the reason behind it will be revealed in due time, they were lead into one of the inner rooms where the meeting will be held and in the middle sat a silver haired woman instead of ubuyashiki.

"Greetings to you all, oyakata sama is under the weather so I amane ubuyashiki will be attending in his stead"

The hashira and ayame all bowed their head paying their respects to her before beginning with a Status report on their current situation and any important information they had obtained, and once all the main subjects had been covered it was finally time for ayame's concern.

"Before we end this meeting, there is something else I would like to inform you about that Akami ayame san had reported yesterday night upon returning in a hurry with kamado tanjiro, it seems she has been discovered by kibutsuji muzan"

Everyone gasped while some scoffed as they turned their gaze towards ayame whom sat there in silence with her eyes closed as if she were in a meditative state.

"That means the bastard will be actively trying to look for her right? Great we can just use her as bait and lure the bitch out"

Scoffed sanemi with a devilish sneer.

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea at first but your plan won't work, muzan is a coward he won't show himself and instead use the upper moons to do his bidding, and even if he does show himself he would either get rid of me for good and leave or make me one of his minions by force like he did before"

Ayame said shutting down sanemis suggestion with a side glance towards him.

"Hmu, this is quite bad, in that case we should keep ayame off duty for now! Or at least have another hashira accompany her"

Kyojuro suggested with a fist held up high, everyone agreed with his statement and the meeting came to an end.