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

51: Road to the Dark Shrine

It was completely night when you and Kyōjurō left Miss Chin's antique shop.

You both stood on the beginning of the dirt road that led deep into the woods where the supposed temple was located.

Kyōjurō held up a lantern whilst you checked the map, "if we continue straight, the temple would be on the right?" You say.

"Sounds easy enough." The Flame Pillar nods, before shining the light towards an old wooden plank that was covered in grapevines and moss, which had piqued his interest.

Path to Kuromiya temple - No trespassing.

Kyōjurō's eyes narrowed as he shined the light back towards the dark and foreboding trail, lined with a tremendous amount of tall trees and undergrowth that led to darkness.

"Stay close to me, my love." He tells you and began to set foot on the path without further ado causing you to follow suit, not while giving worried glances over your shoulder.

Several minutes into your trek it started to rain and you felt an eerie shiver run down your spine as you cling to your lover. It's not that you were scared, it's just every noise you heard in the darkness, from twigs popping, crickets chirping, and frogs croaking, and owls hooting; made you jittery.

"D-Do you honestly think we'll find anything at the temple, Kyō?" You couldn't help but ask, glancing around every once in awhile.

"Don't know, but for as long as I've been a demon slayer, I'd learned that some demons prefer to dwell in isolated regions away from humans. So, I wouldn't be surprised if we encountered one at the temple." He replied.

Well, that'd only made you even more nervous as you both continued onward.

After several more minutes of walking, you both came to a stop at some tōrō, traditional lanterns made of stone and broken steps that lead uphill.

"That must be the way up the old temple?" Kyōjurō deduced, as he glanced up and spoted an outline of a torii gate.

Once reaching the entrance, you were both met with not a temple, but the sight of an old abandoned Shinto shrine.

"It's a shrine?" You arched a brow.

"Wait, didn't one of the documents say that the temple was rebuilt into a shrine?" Kyōjurō ponders.

"Now that you've mentioned it, yeah. I'd also remembered reading something about a priest who killed his shrine maidens and later committed suicide." You tell him.

Indeed, the shrine was old with fungus, rot and moss. And though there didn't seem to be any signs of life, it still gave off an eerie presence.

"Kyō, I sense a evil aura coming from this place. Even Fuwa is shaking." You say and Kyōjurō glanced to see the little dwarf flying squirrel who was tucked inside your shirt pocket, quivering in fear.

He gently took his hand and caressed Fuwa's forehead with his finger in order to soothe her.

After awhile, Kyōjurō slowly drew his sword, before slowly starting towards the battered wood doors of the shrine. You the same, slowly unsheathing your naginata and readying yourself─in case something jumps out as your lover cautiously opened the door.

The foul smell of decay and mildew whiff through as the two of you slowly entered. As suspected, the shrine was empty aside from an old broken altar and old dusty China cabinet that housed several shintai. However, what really caught you and Kyōjurō's attention was that the walls were covered completely in a astray of strange paper tailsmans. Each marked with strange red symbols and unknown kanji lettering.

There was also this faint stench of iron evident, making you suspect the red markings were written in blood. However, there didn't seem to be any sign of demons nor was there anything of particular interest except from a weird looking painting.

Creepy.

Sitting the lantern down, Kyōjurō went over to inspect the paper tailsmans, taking note of the strange red markings. Who ever made these, had terrible penmanship? A majority of the characters were a mixture of Japanese and Chinese lettering.

The Flame Pillar then furrowed his brows in confusion at one odd symbol that didn't look like a word or kanji.

" 𖨆 "

It reminded him of those stick figures one would find in children's drawings.

Curious, Kyōjurō went to touch it and as soon as he did, the unimaginable happened when suddenly the tiny drawing came to life! He flinched as the dark tiny figure immediately leaped from the paper and onto the back of his hand, where it stayed there.

Internally panicking, Kyōjurō tried to get it off, but it was no use! It was sticking to his skin like a some kind of permanent tattoo.

"Kyō, I've found something?"

Unfortunately, you hadn't been paying to him, so he decided not to tell of his predicament as Kyōjurō quickly hid his hand in his sleeve, before turning towards you. He'd didn't want to worry you─and the mark didn't seem to be affecting him in any way, shape, or form.

"W-what is it, my love?" He walked over to where you were.

You pointed to an old rug on the floor, before knocking on the floorboards, "It's hallow here." You say.

"Help me move this?"

Kyōjurō nods and crouched down to help you move the rug. Once done, you both were surprised to see a secret hatch. Glancing at each other warily, you both cautiously opened it to see a staircase leading downwards.

"I'll go first." Kyōjurō says and you watched closely as he slowly descended.

After making sure it was safe, Kyōjurō soon held his arms out for you and with no hesitation, you jumped into his arms as he caught you.

You both turned to see a dimly lit stone corridor with floral fusuma doors that aligned the hallways and one at the far end. Whereas the shrine had seemed smaller on the outside, it was definitely at lot bigger on the inside. It also looked really polished and new to be considered abandoned.

Suddenly, the fusuma door at the far end aggressively opened, which startled both you and Kyōjurō as you glanced to see someone standing there.

"Welcome Demon Slayers! So glad you could make it! I most certainly been expecting you!" Said a cheerfully eccentric male voice.