Chapter Text
Rengoku was assigned a mission to visit a village in the mountains. His crow had told him that there had been people vanishing at night and the demon only seemed to be targeting couples. His Kasugai informed him that another Hashira would be meeting up with him later on. He did not know who was the closest to him nor did his crow give him any information about who would be with him. He just hoped it was someone who would be willing to get along easy with him to fool the demon.
He followed his crow as he soared through the sky. He was ordered to finish the mission quickly so nobody else would get killed. He had just finished up one of his missions where he had headed to a small town where there had been sightings of a demon. He had found out that the demon had demon blood art, it had illusions and created multiple of itself but only one was real. It didn’t take Rengoku long before he beheaded the demon, only for him to get called for another mission. As to not waste time, he headed right away to the location. Yet he could feel his body tired from walking nearly hours. But nonetheless he arrived quicker and was ready to slay the demon.
His Kasugai was nowhere in sight but Rengoku did not worry. Instead he found himself at the village he was needed at. He kept his sword behind his back so as to not draw attention. He scanned the place, he could sense the aura from everyone was heavy and gloomy. He continued walking to find a place to spend the night as well as also looking for his partner that would pair up with him.
Rengoku continued walking around and checked to see if he saw his crow anywhere. There were some shops which sold accessories and food, the people seemed tense. Rengoku proceeded to browse through the village. He would need more information about this demon, he was going to need to talk to people. Yet hardly anyone seemed to be around, possibly to avoid going missing. He glanced and saw a woman selling flowers and she seemed to be alone.
He began to walk up to her.
“Hello ma’am!” Rengoku smiled brightly. The woman blinked at him before a small smile appeared on her lips.
“Hello young man, I haven’t seen you around here, are you new around the village?” She asked as she seemed to be examining him closely. Rengoku paid no mind to it and allowed her to stare at him.
“Why yes, I was walking around and decided to stop by,” Rengoku replied. He looked around, seeing some flowers of hers. She hummed and turned to her side to pour water into her flowers. “In fact, I’ve heard of people going missing around these parts, do you have any information about this unusual activity?” He noticed the woman froze and began to tremble in the slightest. The silence was filling the pause between them. Then suddenly the woman turned around and Rengoku saw the fear in her eyes.
“As in fact I do know a few things about it,” the woman spoke softly now barely above a whisper, her lip quivering and she looked back down, avoiding Rengoku’s gaze. “B-but i do not wish to speak about it!” She pursed her lips and shook her head, strands of black hair swaying to the side.
“Do not worry ma’am, whatever information you would be willing to tell me would be very helpful to me,” Rengoku gave her a smile trying to put her at ease. He could not tell her yet that he was a Hashira to slay the demon, he couldn’t risk his identity to be known to the demon. The woman’s eyes fluttered up at him and she took a deep breath before speaking.
“If you must know, during the night, mainly couple’s will be walking around late at night and enjoying the moon. Up in the mountain’s here you can see the moon closer and it is an absolutely lovely sight to see. Many people would take their loved ones here to kiss under the moonlight and watch the stars gazing by.” She said with a smile planting on her face and her eyes stared up to the daylight.
“But recently, people have gone missing when they left to see the moon. The first occurrence, nobody seemed to pay attention but I was still cautious. I knew the couple as they would come by nearly everyday to buy flowers and lay next to each other to watch the sky. Yet when they never appeared I grew troublesome and soon that’s when everyone started to notice that people were going missing during the night. Now people are being cautious and close up early and lock themselves in their homes so as to not end up missing like the rest.” Rengoku saw the tears welding up in her eyes and his face softened.
“And the only people going missing are couples?” Rengoku asked which he earned a nod from the woman.
“Most people are afraid to go out alone and either way they stay inside where it’s safer,” She sniffed and wiped her tears before they could fall.
“Do you know where people first started going missing?” Rengoku questioned.
“No, everyone goes different places to watch the stars, well they used to,” she whispered at the end and stayed silent. Rengoku frowned and shook his head.
“Well you are quite the kind woman for telling me this, why don’t I buy some flowers from you to ease your trouble?” Rengoku smiled softly, the woman blinked before shaking her head.
“No, I couldn’t ask you of that,” she sheepishly smiled at the Hashira but Rengoku cut her off.
“I insist!” he beamed at the lady and she couldn’t help but give him a more gentle smile. She picked some blue flowers, along with a necklace and flower crown and walked over to him.
“These are hibiscus flowers, they are truly beautiful and would often be shared with loved ones,” she smiled. Rengoku stepped closer and leaned down so she could place the necklace and crown on his head. He stood up straight once more and watched her smile brighten. She gave him the rest of the flowers and Rengoku was mesmerized by them. The dark blue were gorgeous and seemed to glow, he wondered what they would look like under the night sky.
“Thank you very much ma’am!” Rengoku grinned and reached into his pockets and placed a bag of money on the counter. The lady startled, blinked before frantically wavering her hands.
“I can’t ask this much of you!” She shook her head and pushed the money back.
“It’s my pleasure, please do take it as a sign of my gratitude!” Rengoku gently pushed the money back and he started to walk away before she could try to give it back to him.
“Thank you mister!” He heard her cry out and his grin softened.