stolen time

Ch90 rr edit

"What"

Kyojuro frowned in disbelief. Squinting his eyes towards the way the man came,  he could see small lights of flames presumably from the villagers as he helped pull the man to his feet.

"For now we should get him back to town, we'll go look for them after making sure of the situation"

Ayame suggested while walking up to them. The man kept silent still in a state of shock yet conscious enough to give a nod, allowing them to escort him back. The people gathered into a circle with frowns on their faces, and cries from a mother sitting by the side with another near by for support.

Those who knew kyojuro were elated to see him there as he arrived with the exasperated man, rushing towards them in a hurry.

"Oh my god! Hiroshi you're alive, and you even brought Rengoku san!"

An old woman said as she scurried over gaining the attention of the rest as they looked over their way. Both kyojuro and Ayame noticed few of the villagers had sustained some injuries, especially the crying mother which they assumed was from trying to protect the kidnapped children. With all the ruckus it wasn't long before the mother took notice of their presence as well when she looked over with a desperate gaze.

She barely stumbled up with a bloodied foot with a missing waraji slipper.

"Please! I beg of you please bring back my children!! I'll give you anything I have! Just please...my children..."

The woman sobbed uncontrollably while being held back by Ayame with a worried frown, otherwise the woman would've collapsed to the ground and grovelled by Kyojuro's feet.

"Kyojuro, you go look for the kids I'll join you after I treat some of badly injured people"

Ayame said gaining a nod from kyojuro in agreement. He immediately began talking to the villagers who were present at the incident, and were able to deduct that the demon had taken them somewhere in the nearby woods just before sunrise of this morning for the purpose of luring more people towards them he assumed.

Kyojuro immediately departed towards the woods with a hand on the hilt of his katana. His eyes darted back and forth for any signs of life in the freshly rained forest with dew still remaining on the leaves. Upon his next step he felt as if time slowed as a tingling burning sensation came at him from his side.

Jumping back he managed to dodge a spider like appendage sharper than any man made blade cutting winds through the atmosphere. A demon then appeared through the bushes with an unsettling crackling following it. It's lower body had limbs that were of sharp needle like legs and long human arms in rotation, and an upper body of an anorexic decaying man. But despite its horrendous appearance, what concerned him the most was one of the children bound between his bladed arms.

"It's seems I have found who I'm looking for!"

Kyojuro began to draw his blade, but not even after an inch of his blade being unsheath he was stopped by a threat he couldn't ignore.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, I'm sure you know this isn't the only child in my possession. One wrong move and I'll have the other killed by my younglings"

He sneered bringing the shaking girl closer to his head and exposing her neck. Kyojuro frowned being put into a predicament he didn't know how to escape, whether it was a bluff or not he didn't want to take the risk, but thankfully relying on his trust and a familiar presence lingering behind he knew his job was to buy time. Standing up straight and taking in a breath of air, he let go of the handle and raised his hand up.

"Release the children"

Kyojuro sternly called, but as expected the demon didn't heed his request.

"And why should I do that? This is my hard earned lunch you're talking about...unless you're willing to trade yourself you do seem much more nutritious"

The demon cocked its head to the side and once it made up its mind it began scurrying towards kyojuro in a flash. On instinct Kyojuro's hand headed towards his hilt, but it didn't go unnoticed as the demon intercepted him with one of his handed limbs.

"Ah i wouldn't do that if I were you, you don't want the child to die do you? Though I will permit your useless struggle as I do enjoy the chase"

The demon squeezed his limbs tighter around the trembling child as their eyes screamed for help desperately since their voice couldn't. Kyojuro was left to fend for himself in hand to hand combat, something he had never done before with a demon. Dodging left and right kyojuro kept his distance from the bladed limbs the best he could, and parried the ones with hands, but his best wasn't always enough as cuts formed around his body.

He jumped back to create distance from the demon giving him just enough space for him to catch his breath and think of a solution. He placed on hand on his forearm and gripped his sleeves, ripping them off swiftly the next second to wrap around his hands. Doing the same to his other sleeve he made them into substitute boxing gloves, hoping they would be strong enough to block the blades of the demon.

Taking a risk he went for a straightforward attack in hopes of somehow releasing the child out of its grasp. Using one hand to deflect any attacks he put all his strength in the other as he struck the hard shell of the demons body temporarily stunning the demon. Kyojuro prepared for his next attack while the demon staggered, aiming at an angle towards the limb wrapped around the child but unfortunately he greatly underestimated the recovery ability of the demon.

Just before his fist landed where he needed it to be he felt an electrifying pain to the side of his waist, realizing he had been stabbed he still tried to go for the child having gotten so close only to be flung away from another arm. Kyojuro groaned as he hit the ground worsening his wound, getting up to a kneel he touched his wound before looking at his hand checking its severity. His brows frowned at the sigh of his drenched hand, but thanks to his adrenaline it kept the pain to a minimum.

"That was a nice try but it's futile"

The demon cooed moving closer with each clatter of its legs. Kyojuro looked up towards the demon with a frown, having been pushed to a corner his options were limited. He watched as the demon closed in when relief washed over him, along with the ring of a bell the child along with a few limbs of the demon disappeared from its grasp.

"Finish it kyojuro!"

His gaze shot up to a nearby tree and there Ayame sat holding 3 children including the one that had just been in the demons grasp. A smile grew on his face as his hand flew to the hilt of his katana before the demon could react, as the demon never suspected Ayame's presence as she was also a demon.

(I just realized how much these few chapters suck, I thought the pace was a little too fast with what I had planned at first but didn't have anything good 🥲 if anyone has some better ideas or something you want to see please tell me I need ideas for fillers)