We'll protect each other (SabiGiyuu)

27

Ayyyyyy how are you guys?
Sorry for not updating recently, I've had so much homework to deal with.
Keep being awesome!

TW: minor description of gore

Sabito's POV:
The murky fog grew thicker and thicker the deeper I crept into the village, as did the faint scent of blood. A warm, salty tang hung in the air, swimming through the fog like a shark. Every few times I inhaled, the taste would catch the back of my throat, leaving me feeling sick at the thought of what was causing the awful smell.

Soon, the haze was so dense, I could barely see two meters on front of my face. It was eerie to say the least, and a tad bit unnerving. A demon could be standing silently behind me, and I wouldn't be able to see it.

Turning my head, I looked behind me to check of there was anything there. Not seeing any life forms, I drew my eyes up to the rooftops.

Would the view be any better from up there? I scanned the nearby houses, searching for the insect hashira. Where did she go? Isn't it her job to 'grade' me on this?

I slashed through the air with my katana, hoping to disturb the fog enough so that I could see. Instead of casting it away, a high pitched shriek shattered the silence around me.

I whipped around, running blindly in the direction of the noise. I passed one, two, three, ten houses, coming to a stop when the sickening crunch of bone drew my attention to a thin alleyway.

Slowly, cautiously, I turned to face the small space.

Damn this weather- I can't see anything!

I crept forward on silent feet, trying not to disturb the fog that wound mindlessly around my body. My right foot nudged a heavy object gently, and I glanced down to see a gruesome corpse laying torn on the ground.

Holy shit-

The body was torn nearly in half, it's gut turned out so all his/her intestines spilled over onto the street. The person's skull was shattered, and blood dripped off the walls and floor around me. The body was so mangled, I had no way of telling what gender they were, how only the person was, or what they were doing.

Choking back a gag at the terrible stench radiating off the corpse, I thought furiously, What did this!?

Backing away from it, I nearly jumped out of my skin when I felt something tug harshly at my ankle. Swiping wildly with my sword, I cut through nothing but thin air, and continued to be pulled quickly across the open street.

Please don't let Shinobu be watching right now...

I chanced a glance behind me to see what was dragging me, and saw nothing. My leg simply hung in the air, like I was being pulled by an invisible being.

That's not possible. Clearing my head, I thought back to when I first noticed the awful smell. That was the scent of blood. I'm not wrong about that.

I twisted to one side, wrenching my leg away from whatever was pulling at it. I began to run in the opposite direction to get my bearings back, but once again, I was hit roughly in the side by something I couldn't see.

Or can I see it, I jumped to my feet and onto a nearby rooftop, clear of the fog, and I'm just not looking in the right place?

As I thought, two snaking tendrils of the dense water-vapor shot after me, like octopus tentacles reaching for a clam.

The demon can take the form of fog!!

Suddenly, the tentacles dissipated, fading away into the darkness.

What-

A jarring pain struck me in the stomach, almost like I was being torn apart from the inside. Bending over, I coughed up dark red blood onto the rooftop.

I fucking breathed in some of it in earlier, didn't I?!

I rapidly emptied my lungs, making my way up to a higher vantage point before I took a heaving breath in. Besides my momentary lack of oxygen and the fact that my mouth tasted like blood, I was fine. Recovering my steady breathing, I narrowed my eyes at the fog, which seemed to look back at me hungrily. It might have just been my imagination, but could feel something staring at me.

I can't go back in there, and I have no idea how to kill this thing.

I ended up watching the village for about ten minutes, silently calculating ways I could go in without breathing the fog into my lungs. Glancing up at the moon one last time, I leapt down into the smothering cloud of mist. I clapped my sleeve over my mouth, breathing slow, controlled breaths through the thick fabric.

Taking a couple steps forward, I surveyed the area.

Is it just me, or is the air a bit clearer?

I wasn't wrong, I could see the houses on the other side of the small road, a feat the fog had prohibited a minute earlier. Unfortunately, being able to see the houses also meant I could see the four-legged, translucent creature working its way towards me at a confidently slow pace.

It didn't look like a physical being, though I knew it had to be. Fog wound up it's legs and around it's body, blending it's already hard-to-see form into the background. The thing's eyes were glowing a pale, light blue, the same color as the decorative row of feathers that ran down it's back. I could see it's skeleton through it's translucent skin, but it really creeped me out that there were no visible organs.

Minus the blood that stained it's mouth and both lower jaws (it's lower jaw was split into two separate mandibles), the demon was quite beautiful, and it was the first non-humanoid demon I had ever seen.

At least, it was beautiful, right up until it raised itself onto its hind-legs, now standing at at least twice my height, and let out a menacing growl.