CHAPTER 18:

Their pastime after dinner every night had become to listen to the kicks of the baby growing inside her womb. Sitting down on the futon, she laughed as she tried not to get tickled while Giyuu pressed his ear against her belly. His eyes widened when he heard a series of consecutive bump bump bump! "The baby's saying hello!" Sayuri crooned. "That's your father, little one..."

When Giyuu was teaching in the village, she found ways to keep herself busy. She made it a habit to come down to the village market at least once every two weeks. In addition to buying some meat and vegetables, she also had to buy clothes two sizes larger for herself since her belly was getting rounder and rounder by the day. She also made time to knit and sew baby clothes, with her husband helping out in building a small basket made of straw and hay where the child could sleep in.

It was like any ordinary day when she came to buy a roll of fabric so she could create her own pair of hakamas. Kororo happily accompanied her around the marketplace as they chose from various prints and patterns. The vendors were nice to her, giving them their best prices and discounts while wishing her the best in her childbirth.

She was handing out her payment when she saw a familiar figure by the ramen stall. That long hair with a short yukata, matched with a pretty face was hard to come by. It was Akiko, the oiran girl. Sayuri remembered the night she headlocked the poor girl and couldn't help but laugh to herself. 'Perhaps I should get along with her now that she's getting married to Shinazugawa,' she mused. She was still thinking about it when a beefy man accidentally bumped into her from behind.

"Out of my way," he was unapologetic as he did not even stop to check if she was alright.

"Tch, so rude," she sneered. He did not even care that she was expecting. She stood from a distance to look at the man who headed towards the ramen stall.

When the man came towards Akiko, the girl's face lit up. "Hisashiburi, Suga-san," she had a seductive smile. The man grabbed her hand and dragged her to a nearby alley. The oiran girl was startled but did not protest as she followed him.

Sayuri bent down and moved a little closer to listen to their conversation. They were murmuring a few words in hushed tones which Sayuri assumed to be a recap of their previous meeting.

"Does he know?"

"The Wind Pillar has no idea." Akiko confirmed. Sayuri did not like the sound of it.

The man seemed pleased, his smug smile plastered on his face. "Good. Keep him within arm's reach."

Whatever they were plotting was more sinister than the ruckus at the village of Yoshiwara. But who was this man? Was he a spy? A henchman?

"I told you, my charms work all the time, Suga-san." The oiran girl flipped her hair. Sayuri was disgusted at the very idea that the other woman was just playing with Shinazugawa all this time.

'That woman,' Sayuri muttered under her breath. If she weren't pregnant, she would have given her a beating once again.

The huge man crooned at her, tipping her chin up to see her face. "I know I trusted the right girl."

"So, what's the plan?"

"Lay low. I have spies posing as guards at the mansion. Ubayashiki won't know what's coming." He had his evil smirk.

Akiko placed her hands on both hips. "You are not a crime lord for nothing."

'Crime lord?!' By this time, Sayuri pressed her ears against the wall to hear more. "He was Akiko's customer after all." She probably wrote a letter to the crime lord that she was getting married to a Hashira. All this time, they had been in touch behind Shinazugawa's back. Thoughts were still running around her head when the oiran girl and the crime lord bid each other goodbye and went their separate ways. Neither of them realized that someone had been standing by watching their interaction all along.

Sayuri had to warn Ubayashiki. There was no time to waste for they could be in danger any moment. Hastily, she went back to the house to drop everything off. She then left a note for Giyuu and took her sword, just in case, hoping hard she wouldn't have to use it. Taking Kororo, she then headed for the Demon Slayers headquarters, before everything was too late.

There was no one guarding the gates when she arrived. Sayuri already had a bad feeling about this. She then came down Kororo and looked for any signs of movement. Pursuing the other direction, the horse also tried to sniff out the scent of the Ubayashiki siblings. When Sayuri turned around the corner, she saw the guards unconscious on the floor.

Two henchmen dressed up as guards of the Ubayashiki family then appeared before her. Unsheathing her sword, she managed to block the attacks with lull, knocking them down to the ground. Not bad for someone pregnant at all. Her breathing was steady, thanks to Giyuu teaching her the Total Breathing Constant. She then heard the whinnies of Kororo, motioning her to follow the other direction.

There were muddied footprints on the ground. Sayuri was trying to trace the tracks into the garden when someone knocked her from the left. She hit a glass pane as she backed away, shattering it into pieces, while her sword flew a few feet away. She tried to catch herself as she slowly knelt to the ground in pain. Sayuri winced as she felt some pain on the right side of her hip.

"My, my, I really am sorry... I didn't mean to do that..." one of the henchmen was coming up to her, his eyes filled with malice. "Especially to someone pregnant…"

"Get away from me." She stood up, but as soon as she removed her hand from her hip, blood stained the tips of her fingers. There was a huge gash on her side, near her back.

"What a brave woman," the other henchman sneered at her as he picked up her sword. "You'd put your life and your child at risk to save them?"

He pointed the tip of the sword right at her stomach. It was a checkmate for Sayuri; she didn't know what to do anymore. She then heard a voice behind the two henchmen.

"Don't touch her. I'm the one you want." Kiriya appeared from his hiding place. His twin sisters were nowhere to be found, but Sayuri prayed hard that they were hidden somewhere safe.

They all looked at the young boy. If they wanted to get to the emperor, they would have to extract all information from this child they all called Master. It felt as if the henchmen had won the jackpot when they saw him unarmed yet, unafraid. "Oi, oi," they chuckled. "This seems to be our lucky day…"

Kiriya begged them to spare her once again. "You can take me, as long as my sisters and Sayuri are safe."

It seemed like a good trade for the henchmen; they wouldn't be able to take everyone hostage even if they wanted to, and the crime lords told them not to kill unless absolutely necessary. The young Master was their main target all this time. "Tch, we have no need for women, anyway."

The henchmen grasped Sayuri by the arm as they tied her up and locked her in the cellar. They then proceeded to bind the young Ubayashiki as well.

"You won't get away with this!" Her threats fell on deaf ears as the men rode away with Kiriya as their loot.

For what seemed like minutes, she struggled to remove the cords around her. They bound her too tightly, as the rope chafed against her wrists and ankles, rubbing her skin raw. She then heard the creaking of a closet door and felt her heart stop. Who was that? There were light footsteps trying to get into the cellar, picking the lock and attempting to remove the chain around it. She closed her eyes and prayed that someone was there to help her.

The door to the cellar then burst open. "Sayuri-san!" She felt the cords broke free as the twin Ubayashiki sisters let her loose. Their faces were dirty but there seemed to be no scratches or wounds on them. They were both shaken at the realization that their older brother had been taken away. "H-he told us to be s-silent while we were h-hidden in t-the kitchen c-cabinet…"

Kuina and Kanata tried to stop the bleeding on Sayuri's hip by putting pressure on it with a torn piece of her sleeve. Moments later, Giyuu entered the headquarters in ruins. Kororo had fetched him from the village when the henchmen were tying his wife up. "Sayuri! Oyakata-sama!" He entered the mansion.

"O-over here!" One of the Ubayashiki twins called out. Following the voices, he then kicked the cellar open, breaking it off its hinges.

"Giyuu!" Sayuri tried to stand up, but failed. Kanata and Kuina had to help her up.

The first thing that he saw was the wound at her hip. It was about the length of a hand. He stopped the bleeding by cauterizing it first. "I won't forgive them if anything happened to you and the child…" He gritted his teeth, trying not to conjure the scenarios in his mind had it been totally different.

The kakushis then came in and placed a gauze on her side, asking her not to move too much, while they transported her to the Butterfly Mansion, with Giyuu on Kororo following behind. They also tended to the guards who were knocked out at the very beginning. But they knew Sayuri had the worst of it. "We have to stitch this up," they notified her worried look.

While they were tending to his wife, Tomioka then asked his crow to send word about what happened. He relayed everything to all the Demon Slayers in his short note, asking them to gather all together at the Butterfly Mansion as the Ubayashiki estate had to undergo some drastic renovations. All the Demon Slayers who got the message met up in the evening.

Sanemi was visibly upset by everything that happened. "Akiko ran away when I confronted her. I should have known right from the very start." He balled his fists. Tomioka wanted to tell the Wind Hashira that he deserved better, but he was concerned about a lot of things and tried to focus on those.

The twin girls were unscathed but still shaken by everything that happened. They sobbed in front of the Demon Slayers when they were pressed to recount everything. Kanata was the first to compose herself, "They took Kiriya-sama away!" They were clearly traumatized and feared that they would lose the only other member of their family. After calming down, they explained what happened from the very start: some of the henchmen posed as guards and when the young Master confronted them of being spies, they lashed out on him, but not before the real guards tried to protect and hide them.

Tanjirou was sympathetic to the girls. "You were very brave," he commended them, before facing the Water Hashira. "Tomioka, what did General Nakamura tell you? We're going to need all information about the crime lords to track them."

He tried to jog his memory. Recalling his last conversation with General Nakamura, he knew they were going to gather one last time to ask for a ransom from the government. He also remembered that the last place they were supposed to gather at was the Oriental Pearl den at Yoshiwara. Then there was the skirmish at the village of Hinohara. After that, they were planning to ambush the Emperor at his summer palace. "Their hideaway should be in the middle of all those spots," he theorized, "They can't travel that far with all those henchmen and their weapons."

One of the twin Ubayashiki sisters spoke," A-anou… there's only one place left to look into." Apparently, they had been marking all meeting places where the crime lords had been last spotted. One of them was the underground alley called the Midnight Dragon.

The Demon Slayers were panicking amongst themselves at the loss of their leader. This was the very first time someone ever got a hold of the head of the Ubayashiki family. "We have to get him back," Tanjirou exclaimed. "We owe a lot to Oyakata-sama!"

Kanao stood by his side. "Do you think they'll hurt him?"

"They will try to extract as much information from him about the emperor."

"What should we do?"

They all looked at Tomioka who took a step back in surprise. Ever since the Battle against Muzan and the attack at Hinohara, he seemed to be the person with the best strategies, luck and skills combined. But he knew he was no leader, not by the slightest chance. He did not have the calming effect in his voice the way Oyakata-sama did. Heck he was not the best at giving speeches at all. The Butterfly Estate was silent for a while.

Sayuri tugged his sleeve to prevent him from spacing out. Even though she was supposed to recover, she asked Aoi and the nurses to discharge her early so she could partake in the meeting. "We have to infiltrate their hideout," her voice was filled with confidence.

He looked at Sayuri.

Sanemi spoke. "I agree with her."

After the Battle at Hinohara and the skirmish at the headquarters, she had gained their tremendous respect. They all listened to her intently, with all the Demon Slayers giving their best ideas and knowledge in the battlefield. It was decided that Urokodaki will guard the Ubayashiki twins to ensure that the henchmen would not be coming for them. The rest of them will try to ambush the Midnight Dragon and retrieve Ubayashiki, that is if they could get past the henchmen and the crime lords themselves. The twin girls also added more pertinent information: apparently, there were only two remaining crime lords left, but their henchmen still stood in large numbers.

"One of them is named Suga," Sayuri recalled it when she overheard Akiko in the alley.

"The other one is Sasori," Kanata added. "We should be careful about them," they told the remaining Demon Slayers. "They won't stop at nothing."

They all agreed about it, but they were not afraid to risk their lives for the young Master. Their loyalty is to the Ubayashiki family, after all.

When the meeting was done, Giyuu sat on the chair beside the gurney where Sayuri was resting. He also helped tuck her in, making her comfortable on the warm bed. Aoi asked her to recuperate for the mean time since she didn't want the wound to burst open with her movements.

"The nurses told me that your wound shouldn't affect your pregnancy," Tomioka told her, his hand on top of hers. "But that was really reckless of you."

"I had to."

"I know. They probably would have taken all of the Ubayashiki siblings had you not intervened." His voice was neither angry nor displeased. It gave Sayuri the impression that this was his way of giving praise despite the glum situation.

"You will try to lead them, won't you?" She was still thinking of Oyakata-sama, hoping that he was still alive and fighting, despite being captured. "Kiriya has to be retrieved at all cost." The young Master saved her and the unborn child, after all.

Tomioka's eyes bore into hers. She already knew him all too well. Giyuu was a man of honor; he would do his best to save the life of an innocent, especially their Master. He would have to step up and lead the remaining Demon Slayers with all of his gathered knowledge about the crime lords, even though it scared him, even though he was no leader in his mind. Sayuri would prepare more antidotes and healing serums in case they try to make use of poison once more.

He didn't say anything as he gently brushed the hair away from her face.

"I don't know what you're up to," she continued when he did not respond. "I can't just seem to separate you from the battlefield."

"I'm sorry."

"Go do what you think you need to do," she encouraged him, holding his hand. "Then come back to me. We'll be here waiting." She massaged her belly. That was the beauty of Sayuri; she understood Giyuu and would support him even in the toughest of times. The Water Hashira nodded silently, deeply thanking the gods how lucky he was to have been married to such an amazing wife.

END OF CHAPTER

Author's Notes: Here we go! This chapter is all about the calm before the storm, so let's hope for the best! I just realized I have a thing for names that start with an 'S' (Sayuri, Satoko, Sachiko, Sayako, Suga, Sasori…) LOL