"Obanai." Shizuka said, "Okay then, Obanai, this is Gabriela, she will be assisting you."

"I don't need assistance." Obanai said,

"Shizuka! Shizuka!" the crow shouted again.

"Alright, Shin-chan, where are the children?" Shizuka asked. "I'll take them back to their houses and go back to the corps, you'll have to stick with Obanai for now."

"They're in that house." I pointed the house's direction."

"Okay, see you later." Shizuka said and nodded at Obanai before leaving.

"Where are the children?" Obanai asked as I pointed towards the demon.

"The sun is about to rise again, tell me, where are the children?" Obanai asked, stepping on the demon's shoulders.

"I-I don't know." The demon mumbled.

"He's lying." I said,

"How can you tell?" Obanai asked.

"He's ki is different, his eyes are shaking, and his hands are quivering." I said, "That's a sign of guilt."

"I'm telling you I don't know!" the demon shouted. "I was just ordered alright!"

"Ordered by who?" Obanai asked as he took his foot from the demon's shoulders.

He then started quivering in fear, "No one... No one... No one." It was as if he was being choked, he was panting for air.

He then started attacking Obanai, without hesitation, Obanai sliced his head off.

"We can't get answers this way." He said. "What are you doing?"

I closed my eyes trying to use the eight form again, I closed my eyes and sense that there was a demonic presence in one of the cottages behind the large trees. Then I heard someone squeal.

"There it is!" I said,

"Where?" he asked.

"I know this might sound out of place but, please follow me." I smiled at him, running towards those large trees surrounding a little cottage.

"They're inside." I told Obanai as I stood on of the trees' branches.

"I can sense them too, stay here." He said.

"I can help too." I said.

"I can manage," he said as he jumped of the tree and approached the cottage.

He kicked open the door and after a few minutes, he managed to rescue four other children. He signaled me to come down, and I did. Turns out there used to be 7 children held captive here, and they claimed that the other three were eaten, traumatizing the remaining children, that explains the blood and the three torn kimonos on the floor. We looked further into the cottage and on the corner, there were three dead bodies of the kids that were eaten, seeing them with my two eyes up close made me gasp for air. If only we came here earlier, we could have saved the three from being eaten.

Obanai looked at me and said, "I know what you're thinking."

I looked at him, "You were thinking that if only you and Shizuka came earlier, these three kids wouldn't have been eaten."

I stayed silent, "Come here, help me bury the bodies. It's not your fault, if you think it is then you'll never move forward." He said, carrying the dead bodies.

I helped carry the dead bodies and buried them, I prayed to God, hoping on their next life, they would live a happier full life.

The remaining children on the other hand were still terrified but, we managed to calm them down. The parents whose children have died were devastated and I felt their pain, losing someone very important to you, that hurts like hell, yet moving on is the only thing we can do to be able to move forward.

As Obanai and I left the village, we started talking.

"The demon back there, did you immobilize him on your own?" he asked.

"That demon multiplied itself into two so Shizuka took care of the other one." I explained.

"Still, that was a caster demon who practiced Blood Demon Arts." He explained, "Impressive for a Mizunoto such as yourself."

"Arigato (Thanks), Obanai-san." I smiled.

"What is your last name Obanai-san?" I asked.

He stayed silent, "Iguro..."

"Oh, Iguro?" I asked.

"Yes, why do you look surprised?" he asked.

"My grandmother was an Iguro as well." I smiled. "We might be family."

"I don't have a family." He said.

"Eh?" I replied, but I changed the subject thinking that it might be a sensitive topic for him.

"Well, can you tell me more about you Hashiras?" I asked.

"Why would I do that?" he asked in a serious tone.

"I wanted to know more about them." I said, "And, you."

"Me?" he asked as he looked at me with a confused look.

"Of course, we might be family after all." I smiled.

He laughed, "Okay then, we have Mitsuri, the love pillar, Shinobu, the insect pillar, Tengen, the sound pillar, Mitsuri-"

"You said Mitsuri twice." I said,

"Did I?" he said, "Okay, Mitsuri, Shinobu, Tengen, Gyomei, Muichiro, Kyojuro, Sanemi, Shizuka, and myself."

"Eh?" I said, "Weren't there 10 pillars?"

"10? I thought we were only 9." He said.

"Uhm." I paused, "Do you know that man with long black hair?"

"You must mean, Muichiro?" he said.

"He had a solid pink-red on the right side of his haori and geometrical squares on the left ." I explained.

"Oh, you meant Giyu?" Obanai asked.

"Giyu?" I said.

"Tomioka Giyu, turns out I forgot he was also a pillar." He said.