⎣Demon Slayer: Yōkai Wife⎤ [雪花] |Kyōjurō Rengoku x Yuki-onna!Reader|

18: Winter Run

"Wake up, [Name]-chan!"

You are suddenly snapped awake as your dreams of Kyojuro are shattered.

Your mind was still a bit fuzzy as you blinked and glanced to see a pair of wise, honey-brown eyes staring down at you.

"W-what?"

"I said, rise and shine!" Otsune says.

"Listen, I need you to run to the village and get me some white leaves and tiger roots from the market!" She adds.

You glared at her impassively before rubbing your eye as you fully woke.

"Hmm, okay," you mumbled before looking around the room. You were in the guest bedroom as memories of last night came back to you.

You stayed and slept with Kyojuro last night.

You looked to the side, and you saw that he was gone.

"W-where's Kyo?" You asked your obachan.

"I'd sent him out to go get some firewood! He got up early this morning, and he didn't want to disturb you." She explains.

You groaned before taking the pillow and burying your face in it as you huffed in frustration.

Sexual frustration, that is!

It'd all been a dream as you inwardly cursed the old woman for waking you.

Damnit Obachan! Just when your dream was getting good!

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The journey to the village had been unforgiving! The pricks of pent-up sexual frustration still gripped you like a vine.

Your mind was still recalling the dream you had about Kyojuro.

It all felt too real to be a dream, and the more you kept thinking about it, the more your body tingled with unwanted sensual feelings.

Apparently, you were experiencing the effects of the so-called "pink stomach," the female equivalent of something called blue balls. Your walk would've been so much easier if you traveled by horse or carriage since you felt like trash.

Perhaps agreeing to sleep with Kyojuro was a mistake because now you were gradually beginning to grow impatient with this whole trial thing.

Any more of his kisses, gentle caresses, and sappy nicknames, you might not make it before you're wedded!

Maybe you should just skip the trial and get straight to it. You're so ecstatic to be Kyojuro's soon-to-be wife that you may as well do like a bird and raise your tail feathers and beg him to fuck you senseless.

But you didn't wanna rush things.

Granted, Kyojuro did seem to have an insatiable lust for you. But there's no doubt he wanted your relationship to be simple and clean, and you refused to let the two of you become sex-crazed monsters.

Though that doesn't necessarily sound like a bad thing.

Regardless, Kyojuro's a good man, with the looks and charisma to back it up.

Maybe it's you who's the insatiable one?

It's likely due to all of the pent-up frustration from being alone, and now that God has given you the perfect man, you've become something akin to a promiscuous woman.

Seriously, were you really that desperate?

You growled, "Pull yourself together, idiot! It was just a stupid dream."

Well, it is said that having wet dreams is a sign of desperation.

Nonesense!

"This is what I get for letting Kyo tease me all the time! I swear, he's doing it on purpose, just to tick me off." You said to no one but yourself.

By the time you'd left the village and reached the cobblestone path with the red torii gate, the sky had turned grey as it begin to snow again.

There's a reason why it's called "Snow Mountain." It snows more here on Yukiyama than it does in Hokkaido.

At least during the summer, there's sunshine, and in the spring, the snow melts.

*Sɴᴀᴘ*

You immediately stopped and quickly glanced in the direction where the sound came from.

'What was that?' You inwardly thought, your eyes scanning the area for anything.

There's nothing but wilderness and snow.

*Sɴᴀᴘ*

Ok, that sounded like it came from your right as you looked, but you still didn't see anything.

You figured it was just a wild animal or an old branch that had fallen from a tree, as you hesitantly carried on your merry way.

But before you could pass under the torii, you spotted something on a nearby tree.

Stepping closer to get a better look, you noticed it was an ofuda (tailsman) nailed to the bark of its trunk.

A wisteria one in fact.

You remember Otsune placing these all over the village in order to warn off demons. However, upon closer inspection, you noticed that the paper had been ripped and that the tree had claw marks.

A bear must've done it.

Suddenly, the idea of it being a demon crossed your mind as you felt a chill run down your spine.

Now you're spookin' yourself out.

'C-calm down; there's no reason to get all paranoid. It's just overexaggerated imagination playing tricks on you.' You inwardly think to yourself.

Granted, there hasn't been a demon in Kazahana since Kyojuro came and killed the first one.

You decided not to think about it and just hurry home.

However, as you turned to leave, a grunt escaped you upon colliding with the solid body of someone.

"Ah, s-sorry!" You quickly apologized, glancing up to see an unfamiliar face.

"It's quite alright, Miss." the stranger replied kindly with a smile.