A New Beginning

Enemies

"They are here." Shinjuro said, his golden eyes scanning around the house in the middle of the forest, it was the perfect spot for a demon to hide, and not only that but the demon seemed to be pretty intelligent after having this family under her control for generations. As well as staying under the slayer's radar for so long.

This was definitely not a normal demon that they could mess with.

"Rengoku-San," Giyuu groaned as she approached from behind the bushes, "Are you sure they won't notice?" She said while extending her sleeves from the intricate lime green kimono with red and pink camellias they had exchanged with the girl.

"The only thing will be your eyes which are more sapphire instead of turquoise, however it should still be fine." He reassured her with a smile before looking at the house, the doors opening a woman came out.

"Go now-wait, do you have everything ready?" Giyuu nodded, taking a small dagger from the inside of her obi, and putting it back again.

"Alright. You know the signal by now so go."

And so Giyuu did.

She walked towards the house, ready to simply pass inside by just saying a simple hello until she was hit in the head by the woman.

"You fool child! What are you doing out here!" Giyuu flinched, she didn't expect to be found out this fast already.

"It's already past the afternoon! What is your excuse for coming so late tonight?"

"I'm sorry, I got lost today." She hoped that would be a good lie to pass it up.

"Hm, alright, now go inside, you still have to feed that child for tonight. Obaa-san has been waiting for you to show up and give him the food."

"Okay." Giyuu hurried inside the house, upon noticing no one was around, she let out a sigh of relief, it seems they had almost caught her.

Her blue eyes looked around the rooms after taking out her zori, the place was big, too big. The halls filled with extravagant decorations and elegant paintings that would certainly cost more than her own house.

From eastern to western, well, they were in a trading port so it wasn't a stretch that a lot of culture from different countries would be here.

"Kanroji-chan also seemed to know a lot about western culture." Giyuu picks up her pace between the halls as she notices the women coming in from the rooms. She did her best to avoid talking to them and looking them in the eye, but something felt strange.

There are no men or boys here.

What a fortunate scenario she had just appeared in, if she wasn't a girl then they would have caught them for sure, and the demon, knowing it was strong and smart enough that a hashira was sent to this mission, would have likely ran away or killed more than Shinjuro could have saved.

Giyuu shook her head, there was no reason to keep thinking about the past, instead she focused on finding the kitchen first, and probably a clue in finding a long lost comandre, a future hashira fits him better.

"You! After so long you finally appear!" The old lady said as Giyuu entered the room, being welcomed with a harsh remark and a metal key being thrown at her face.

She was starting to regret coming here.

"I'm sorry, I'll get on with it right away." Giyuu said before grabbing the small wooden table with a greasy smell on it, it was food but the amount of grease and salt spilling out of the bowl made her feel pity for whoever was going to eat this.