The trees swayed in the wind as the two Hashiras walked along the narrow road. It was quite foggy that day, so they decided to stay close to each other. Judging from how far they went, they were probably somewhere in the east side of Mount Yoshino.
Suddenly Giyuu stopped. Shinobu turned to him, confused.
"What is it? I don't smell or hear anything."
Giyuu walked over to a tree on the sidewalk. He laid his hand on the tree's trunk.
Is this what I think it is?
He went over to the other side of the road and pulled a hidden rope, soaked in mud. At that moment, the tree's 'trunk' opened up and shot out tiny knives tipped with wisteria, almost hitting Giyuu.
"What the- Tomioka-san!" Kochou scolded as she held her chest. "Don't scare me like that!"
"I recognize this trap..."
"What?"
Giyuu looked back at the knives, his eyes wide. He pulled one of the knives out and carefully inspected.
Sabito always loved this one. He always tripped it whenever going down the mountain.
Shinobu stared at him, wondering if Giyuu just got a brain disorder.
"Tomioka-san!" She called again. "Did you hit your head or something? What are you even doing?"
Giyuu stopped fondling the knife, realizing what he had been doing for the past 30 seconds.
"Nothing." Giyuu thrust the knife back into the tree. "It was nothing."
Shinobu was far from satisfied. "Huh?! What kind of answer is that?!"
"Like I said, it was nothing."
"Like hell it was. You stared at it for a long time."
Giyuu was already annoyed. Thinking about Sabito for too long caused his heart to sting.
"It reminded me of my old sensei." Giyuu finally admitted.
"Urokodaki-sensei?" Shinobu asked. "But isn't he supposed to be in Mount Sagiri?"
"That's why I'm so surprised."
"Huh. That trap was actually quite clever. What other traps did he make?"
Oookaay... Giyuu thought. The conversation ends here.
Shinobu got nothing back. Relatively annoyed by this, Shinobu decided to ask some more questions.
"What was he like? Why did he wear that mask? Who was he related to?"
Giyuu still kept silent after what seemed like a hundred questions. Shinobu decided to switch tactics.
"Was he always making traps like this?"
"Yes."
Well, better than nothing. Shinobu thought.
"Did he have multiple students?"
"Yeah."
So he taught a lot of slayers...
"Did you get that silent attitude from him?"
"Maybe."
Quiet, too...
"Did he ever invite you to picnics?"
"No."
Prefers tough love, huh?
"Did you ever think he was an airhead?"
"Sometimes."
Shinobu chuckled. No wonder why he was Tomioka-san's teacher.
"Sounds like an interesting guy..."
The two Hashiras paused. Their senses were stimulated, and they immediately knew something was wrong. They marched on, and soon they found a village. A very empty village. For some reason, the feeling was amplified the closer they got to it.
Why do I feel it now? Shinobu asked herself. The sun is still up! No way a demon is lurking here...
The town's doors opened as people with straw hats came out. Two, four, dozens of people opened their doors, all wearing hats. Giyuu and Shinobu both knew what was going on.
"Tomioka-san..." Shinobu whispered, her smile still intact.
"Yeah, I sense it too. Explains all the hats." Giyuu replied.
"So, what should we do?"
Giyuu cleared his throat and walked through the street. Shinobu walked beside him, tense and confused.
One of the demon villagers walked up to them with a big smile, covered by the shadow cast from her hat.
"Welcome!" She chirped, although it was quite obvious it was an act. "Do you need a place to stay?"
"Actually, we don't need t-" Shinobu spoke up, but was interrupted by Giyuu. "Yes please."
"Right this way, then!" The demon woman said. Giyuu followed, a very confused Shinobu beside him.
"Tomioka-san, do you have a death wish?" Shinobu asked, a nerve visible on her forehead.
"Twenty one, twenty two, twenty three..." Giyuu muttered under his breath. Shinobu finally realized. Giyuu was counting all the demons in the village.
"Here we are!" The demon woman smiled as she presented a relatively cozy-looking two-storey hotel. However, there was a group of about five demons all waiting in the doorway.
"No way I'm going through that." Shinobu whispered to Giyuu.
"Yeah, me neither." Giyuu replied.
"So what happens know?"
"We run."
"Wait, what?"
Giyuu turned and ripped the demon woman's hat off her head. She immediately burst into flames, screaming in pain.
"RUN!"
Giyuu and Shinobu bolted for the trees while the other demons chased after them, protected by their straw hats. Soon, they got so deep into the forest that the sunlight barely pierced through the trees. The demons, with this newfound safety, started taking off their hats and threw them at the two Hashiras.
Giyuu and Shinobu dodged as much as they could. The demons weren't stopping, and the forest only seemed to grow larger.
Giyuu's eyes suddenly widened. He saw a long rope on the ground, cleverly hidden by the roots of trees.
What is this thing doing here?!
"Jump!" He yelled.
"What?!" Shinobu didn't understand clearly.
Giyuu grabbed Shinobu's arm and flew over the rope. They both landed on their backs.
Shinobu got up first. "What the hell was that for, pervert?!"
"Wait..." Giyuu raised his hand and pointed at an incoming demon. Of course, the demon didn't notice the rope, and his foot got caught on the rope, and both ends of the rope wrapped around the demon's leg. The two ends were pulled up from a tree which raised the demon off the ground. As the demon struggled, a dark shadow started descending from the trees, causing twigs to snap and leaves to fall. The shadow landed on the ground. From the little sunlight, all that could be seen was a Nichirin blade, blue clothing, and a red tengu mask.
The demon's head dropped and rolled over to the side while the body remained on the rope, dangling in the air.
"Urokodaki-sensei?!" Giyuu shouted.
Urokodaki stood up and sliced the rope holding the demon's body, sending it to the ground.
"Well?!" Urokodaki yelled. "Don't just stand there, get a move on!"
END OF CHAPTER 3
Wohohoah! Quite a ride, huh?
What do you think about Urokodaki showing up? Leave your thoughts, reviews, criticisms, and violent reactions down in the comments!
*update*
Sorry about the frantic unpublishing and deleting 😅 had to remove some accidental views I gave myself, and I HATE fake views.
Anyway, see ya in chapter 4!
-Mr. Veyrum