Priceless Smile 2

Chapter 67: Back In Time

     Giyu then grabbed one of the journals from the chest box as he opened it and read the first page.

"Today, Master came back from a mission and bought me my favorite food. I'm so happy since it's been so long since I last ate it. As always, peaches taste delicious when they're at season."

Giyu then flipped the page again wondering who's the owner of the journal he's reading.

"I'm still learning to fly with my wings. It does hurt whenever I fall but I always try. Curse that bastard who chained me up! Even after knowing that I'm a demon, he took advantage of me being weak! Curse him! I hope he go to hell and suffer! I really hate him!"

Giyu just tilted his head a little as he read another page.

"Fujikase-san's really scary when she's angry. It makes me shiver. I swear I won't go inside her room ever again!"

Upon reading that, Giyu remembered Aoki being beaten up by Fuji back at Kazumi's Hidden Estate. He then guessed that the journal he's reading might be Aoki's.

"So, whose journal is it?!" Kyojuro asked with his usual loud voice.

"Aoki's I think." Giyu nonchalantly answered as he continue to read.

As they look at the contents of the chest box, Aoki just suddenly appeared on the veranda. He looked at them with his tired dull eyes. He's wearing a plain orange colored yukata with a white belt.

"A-Aoki-san." Tanjiro stuttered.

"You shouldn't have.... opened that scroll." Aoki said in a hoarse voice.

They all looked confused when they saw black mist suddenly surround them. Tanjiro then dropped the scroll that has the painting as the mist is coming out from it.

They all fell on the floor as they slowly lose consciousness. Kagaya tried to call Aoki's name as he look at him who just stayed at his place.

As they fell unconscious, Aoki then grabbed the scroll as he close it and the black mist disappeared. Just that, Fuji and Kai came too as they look at the unconscious bodies.

"I didn't expect them to open it." Aoki said as he blankly look at the scroll.

"Let them be, they're on their own now." Fuji replied.

     The slayers opened their eyes just to wake up in a field covered with flowers and grasses. The sun shining brightly upon them as the wind blows.

"This is.... the same place I saw in my dream." Kagaya said as he look around.

"Where is this place? Is this also a dream?" Shinjuro asked himself as he look at their surrounding.

Just then, the flowers and grasses suddenly wilt as the skies turned gray in color. The wind became colder as black mist gather at one spot in front of them and there appeared a lady. She has a long black wavy hair ending just above her knees, she's wearing a red kimono reaching the ground with black butterflies and white flowers as a design and a plain dark red haori over it, her plum red eyes looked at them as her red lips didn't even stretch to a smile at all, she has a blank look on her face.

'This lady somehow makes me think of Muzan. She looked like him.'
Tanjiro thought as he look at her.

"Just so you know, I can read your mind." She finally spoke as she look at Tanjiro.

He flinched a little hearing her voice and meeting her eyes looking at him.

"Who are you? And where is this place?" Sanemi asked attempting to hold his sword but his hand held nothing, this made him surprised.

"Just a woman who wanted to talk with everyone of you. Seems like my blood demon art still worked after hundreds of years." She answered.

"What do you want?" Kagaya asked.

"My name's Hanare, and all I wanted to do is to show and explain everyone what's truly happening. To explain Kazumi's side that everyone of you refused to see."

"Hey, listen here. If you're some sort of a demon planning to devour us, I swear we'll kill you once we wake up." Obanai glared at her.

"Watch how you talk to me young man, I'm thousands of years older than you. And how are you suppose to kill someone who's already dead?"

"T-Thousands?! Just what the hell really is going on?!'
Shinjuro exclaimed in his mind.

"As you know, Fujikase, Aoki, and Kai had already said that there was a progenirator before Muzan. According to what I saw from everyone's memories while everyone's being transported here. And so, I wanted to show everyone what actually happened back then. More than four hundred years ago. During the Sengoku Era." She explained.

(A/N: Sorry, I'm quite confused whether the Sengoku Era's 300 or 400 years away from Taisho Era. My apologies.)

"Alright, so you mean you're going to send us back in time?" Gyomei asked.

"Yes, but only as a dream. Now don't be some sort of stubborn brats and stay put on your own places. I'll punish anyone who disobeys." Hanare answered as she snapped her fingers and in an instant, their surrounding changed.

They're now standing on the garden of what seemed like a pleasure house. There they watch a girl with a long black hair lose walking on the veranda towards what seemed like a room. They couldn't see her face at all as her hair's blocking it. She then stopped in front of a door as she sat down the floor and started to scribble on the paper with her brush. But as they look closely, instead of using ink, she's using her own blood coming out of her tiny fingers.

"That girl.... is a demon." Giyu pointed out.

"Yes she is. Now she's performing a blood demon art." Hanare replied.

As they watch her finish what seemed like a painting, she sticked it on the shoji doors. The paper stayed there despite not having anything behind for it to stick on the doors. As the child walk away, they walked towards the room and saw the painting.

She painted a man being dragged by what seemed like hands coming out of the floor as he try to crawl out. His face distorted as he scream. But they didn't hear any sound coming out of the room.

Now their surrounding changed again as they saw the same child now wearing a thick elegant kimono made up of silk and her hair styled properly with numerous hair sticks and pins with thick make-up on her face.

"Don't tell me.... oh no! oh no! no! no! DON'T TELL ME SHE'S AN OIRAN!" Tengen blurted out, his hands with open palms pointed at the child.

"She is. Despite being young, they put her in the rank of an oiran." Hanare replied nonchalantly as she clenched her hands under her long sleeves that covers them.

"But isn't that too ridiculous. She's a child." Shinjuro said looking at the child with pity.

Just then, they saw people open the room she went to last night. There they carried a dead man out of the room covered with a white blanket. They could hear people murmuring at each other about what might've happened. They also noticed that the paper's no longer on the shoji doors or anywhere to be seen.

The child then turned around as she leave alongside another girl beside her not affected by the commotion at all. But they noticed one thing.

Her eyes have opposite colors, they're heterochromatic.