Playing with the candy that the oiran Koinatsu had given him, Tanjirou couldn't stop thinking about the legend of Tanabata.
On the seventh day of the seventh month, the lovers Orihime and Hikoboshi reunited, crossing the skies to enjoy their time together that, although brief, had to be enough for them for an entire year until they could see each other again.
At the start it hadn't been like that. Her father, good intentioned, had looked for a husband to be with Orihime during the time she wasn't weaving the clothes he liked so much.
But their love ran so deep that both Orihime and Hikoboshi neglected their duties as celestial beings, which brought the wrath of Orihime's father, who separated them as a punishment for their disobedience.
The story had a happy ending, otherwise it would be too sad for Tanjirou to like it. Thanks to the benevolence of the skies, Orihime and Hikoboshi were allowed to see each other once a year, as the rest of the time was dedicated to their duties. It was a punishment nevertheless.
Tanjirou believed it was similar to the girls that lost their footing in that district.
"It seems that the madame from the Kyogoku house fell down a window and died." The whispered name of the house peaked his attention, recognising it from Aya's mouth as the house she, Kanao and Zenitsu had been sold to. "How horrible, right? We should be careful."
"I've heard lots of girls have been losing their footing lately," the other girl in the oiran's room whispered back. "So scary."
"Um, excuse me." Tanjirou crouched down over their shoulders. "But, what does 'lose your footing' mean?"
"You don't know? 'Losing your footing' means running away without having payed your doubt to the house," explained the shortest girl. "A lot of girls do so with their lovers. It's not common, but there are cases where it happens."
"However, if they find you, the consequences are terrible." 'Just like Orihime and Hikoboshi's celestial punishment' Tanjirou thought, "Lately, a lot of girls have been running off without a trace, supposedly with lovers."
"They say that the oiran Suma-"
'Wasn't that one of Uzui's wives?'
The door slid open and the oiran Koinatsu, who Tanjirou had originally come to see, appeared slim and wrapped up in clothes he could only dream of buying.
"Spreading rumours isn't okay." And although her words were scolding, the oiran's face remained as sweet as always. "You shouldn't talk about those girls... no one knows what really happened, to them and you're already old enough to stop gossiping like this." Then her gaze landed on Tanjirou and all the packages he had brought to her room. "You're Sumi, right? I heard you came a little while ago."
Tanjirou managed to mutter a little 'yes', choking back a strangled sound as he was too taken aback by the oiran's beauty. She smiled sweetly at him and left some candies on his hand.
"Thank you very much. Take this for your hard work." Which only led Tanjirou to be even more flustered at both the oiran's appearance and personality.
'I should ask about Uzui's wife,' Tanjirou mused.
"Is... is it true that the oiran Suma has lost her footing?"
Koinatsu looked at him with a crease in between her perfect eyebrows:
"Why are you asking me that?"
"It's... it's just that-" 'Come on, think about something, knucklehead!' "Suma is my... my big sister!"
"Oh..." Koinatsu and the girls tried not to look too horrified when they saw his face, horribly contorted because of the lie that pained him so much to tell. But the oiran finally relaxed and started narrating.
Like many others before and after her, it was rumoured that Suma had lost her footing along with a lover. This was majorly believed because of a diary, probably fake, where her desire of running away to love freely was written passionately. The diary had been suspiciously left wide open in a desk placed in Suma's empty room the night she disappeared.
Everyone simply believed it was only natural not to know anything at all after that,even if they got her or if she managed to escape successfully. Because everyone knew that, just like Hikoboshi and Orihime, that the negligence of one's responsibilities imposed by birth and the circumstances around them would only bring a divine punishment.
'Losing one's footing' is, somehow, what he and Aya had been doing too.
Despite the fact that they had been strictly forbidden from seeing one another, once Tanjirou was done with his chores and everyone got so busy they didn't pay attention to the new maiko, he slid Nezuko's box on his shoulders, stepped outside the house by the window and, carefully, making sure no one saw him, he went up to the roofs.
From there he followed the red tiles, hiding in the shadows and the corners. With the skills of a demon slayer used to coexisting with the night, he quickly saw the usual place where he and Aya reunited every night and sat down to wait.
How did it all start? To tell the truth, not even he could tell.
One day Aya appeared on the window, claiming she was just passing by, merely a coincidence, really (the way being on a second floor window could be a coincidence escaped him). But then she appeared the next day, and the day after that and the one after that and all the ones that came until she stopped calling it a coincidence and they started meeting intentionally.
The oiran Koinatsu's candies were strawberry flavoured, one of Nezuko's favourites. So Tanjirou handed one over to her sister who sat next to him on her favourite form, that of a child, and looked up at the shiny candies without uttering a single word... like always.
A tanned hand appeared suddenly, taking the candy away from his hand and taking the wrapping away.
"I hope I didn't make you wait for too long," Aya smiled at him, handing back the unwrapped sweet to Nezuko.
"Not at all, we've only been here for a few minutes," Tanjirou recomposed quickly, wondering just how quiet she had had to become in the past few months so not even he heard her coming.
"I'm glad, then." Nezuko took her respective place in Aya's lap and she started braiding her head as if it was second nature. He would have liked to say these little escapades were to satisfy Nezuko's complaints regarding her loneliness now that they were all separated and she had gotten used to seeing everyone at the Butterfly Estate. He was also being affected by it, but maybe that was part of the reason for him, too. "Nezuko's skin is really warm, did something happen?"
Aya took his sister's hands in worry, letting them go not too long after with a little hiss. "She's as warm as a stove."
"Ah, really? I hadn't noticed." Without warning, Aya pressed her forehead against his, and the smell of wisteria didn't take too long to fill, like it usually did, every corner of his nose.
"Of course you hadn't noticed, you're just as warm or even worse than her!"
Tanjirou nodded, rather dumbly. Her voice reached him distorted, as he couldn't, in any way, look at anything else that wasn't the face in front of him.
"Aoi-senpai has a very effective remedy against fevers, I can ask her for it if you want." Aya brushed a strand away from his face, softly rubbing the scar on his forehad. It did not hurt, but it did tickle him along with... the appearance of a very strange feeling on his stomach.
"I can't believe the madame doesn't like your scar, I think it has its charm," Aya continued. And he gave her a little hum to indicate that he was listening despite the fact that she didn't seem to notice how much he was blushing.
Being this close, Tanjirou could see every single one of the lashes that framed her earth-colored eyes, the light tan on her skin after a rigorous training under the Summer Sun, and even the way she pressed her lips together was clear to him. A shiver ran down his spine when Aya licked her lips, seemingly not even aware of it.
Father, grant me strength, Tanjirou pleaded with a little gulp.
"... And promise me you'll tell Shinobu. It really worries me, Tanjirou." He was lucky enough to tune in just when Aya finally stopped talking, at which he nodded, clearing his throat a little when Aya rubbed at his scar for the last time and went back to keeping their distance, hands going back to Nezuko's hair again.
"How is it going for you in your house?" Aya wondered, braiding being so easy to her she didn't even need to look. "I haven't found anything yet."
Tanjirou furrowed his brow slightly. The smell of lying attacked his nose strongly, and he wondered if the reason why was because Aya wanted to win, although he knew that Aya had dropped her competitive side long ago, so he preferred to trust in her and think that the reason she had was good enough for her to hide something, even from him.
"I finally heard something about Uzui's wife," he started, explaining all he had learned about 'losing one's footing'.
He didn't mention anything about the connection he had personally made between it and the Tanabata myth. Nevertheless, Aya hummed and said:
"That reminds me of Tanabata."
Tanjirou stiffened for a moment as Aya brushed away a strand from her face and finished Nezuko's braid, topping it with one of her pink ribbons.
"I mean, I guess it's bad that they gave up their responsibilities, but don't you think that means they loved each other a lot? Every time my father told me the story I cried, I think it's the only myth that has made me cry so much, does no one think about how Hikoboshi and Orihime felt?"
Aya sniffed, with an unexpected shine on her eyes. Tanjirou tried to free himself from the sadness that had sticked to his throat and talk. His eyes had watered, too.
"But they forgot about their responsibilities, that's why the Sky King punished them."
"Then the Sky King can fuck off," a frowning Aya sentenced, taking Nezuko in her arms. "I won't worship such cruel gods, my Amidda Buddha would have been more benevolent."
"That's a pity, because everyone in my family adores those gods." Despite his playful tone, Aya flushed, hiding her face against Nezuko's head, who had started playing with her kimono.
"I'm not saying they aren't good gods to worship..." Tanjirou raised his eyebrows, smiling. "Grandma, mum and I worship Buddha, obviously, but my father followed your gods with great devotion. He adored the sea god the most, thanking him for the rain and good harvests despite the fact that he was a traitor, because although he had been selfish with the distribution of the world, he blessed us with rain and lots of rice."
"He always sat down with me on the porch to see the rain and he prayed. Sometimes, he even offered gifts to the night god." Her fingers suddenly stopped petting Nezuko's head. "Thanking him for... having hidden him as a child from the police or furious farmers and merchants."
Tanjirou hummed. "What does that mean?"
She shrugged and offered him a closed eyed smile, resuming her petting. "I don't know, I never asked him." Then she turned to Tanjirou, tapping her fingers against his knee. "What about you and your Kagura?"
He pointed at his own hair and eyes. "We've adored the fire god for generations, isn't that right, Nezuko?" His sister nodded absentmindedly. "When I was born people said that he gave me his blessing and that it was a sign of good luck."
'Because of the red!' Aya exclaimed, and he nodded. "Every year we perform the Kagura to worship him so he brings us good fortune in the charcoal business."
"Every year?"
Tanjirou gave her a new nod. "All of them. My father taught me first, and then it was me who taught my younger siblings."
Aya frowned slightly. "Wasn't it too hard without him?"
"A little bit," he said, moving so he could touch Nezuko's cheek with his hand. "But by then I was already twelve."
The expression on Aya's face softened. "Isn't twelve too young of an age to have that much responsibility?"
"If not then, when?" Tanjirou did not believe there was a correct age for tragedy to struck someone.
"But you were just a kid..." she muttered again.
"Is sixteen that different from twelve?"
Aya bit her lip and did not reply.
The sound of Nezuko humming what he guessed was some song as she braided some loose strands on Aya's hair was the only thing they heard for a few minutes. Along with the rustle of the few brothels still open this late and the little men wandering the streets, drunk, most likely, it only reminded them of why they were where they were and what they had come to do.
"They loved it."
"Hm?" Aya looked up, believing his mutter to be an imagination just for a second. Tanjirou's throat makes a little sound when trying, and accomplishing, the great task of not sounding heartbroken.
"My siblings, they loved seeing me perform the kagura... I think you would have liked to meet them."
Aya's face reflected all the grief that was lacking in his.
"No," she said, placing a hand on his knee. "I think I would have loved it."
Tanjirou believed this was the first time in a long while that someone had cried for him, and it felt confusing and comforting in equal measures for someone to hug him so strongly.
"I would have loved it..." Aya hiccuped against his neck. "I really would have."
'This is not your tragedy,' Tanjirou thought, taking Aya by her shoulders to dry her cheeks with the back of his hand, keeping her far enough so he could look at her face but close enough so she would still be sitting on his knees. 'Why are you shedding tears?' Curiously, he could not shed any more.
"It's okay, Aya," he said, and he offered a smile to prove it. But she took his hand, still on her wet cheek, and gave it a gente squeeze.
"But this world was so cruel to you." Now she started rubbing slow, soft circles on the back of his hand. "You've done so much for me, and I would only like to do the same for you."
"That you're my friend and that you're here with me is more than enough." Seeing the worried crease in between her eyebrows, Tanjirou continued. "I promise."
Aya pressed her lips together, still doubtful.
Stubborn in not letting go of his hand, Tanjirou placed them both on top of his chest. Her cheeks turned red once they noticed the quick beating under his ribs.
"You make me really happy."
Aya's eyes shine with tears once again and Tanjirou pressed her against him quickly enough for her sob to be muffled by his checkered kimono.
"Once I defeat Muzan Kibutsuji and Nezuko goes back to being human," he started, softly pressing his lips against her forehead, as Aya shivered under his arms. "I'll take you to the house I grew up in and I'll perform the dance of the fire god just for you."
A little sniff came from Aya.
"There's nothing I would like more than that."
And in that little, insignificant moment, he was happy.
He did not want to think about Tanabata, he did not want to think about the gods, that never let him have what he wants or allow him to taste happiness for too long, shattered time and time again by the smell of blood. He didn't want to think about demons, that taint this beautiful world with their cruelty.
So he wondered, naively, if there was any way to change the ending of Hikoboshi's and Orihime's story.
Now he was halfway through the story, when both could enjoy one another and forget about who they were and what they had to do.
But he feared the celestial punishment that came later.
'No!' he told himself, grabbing tighter onto Aya. 'I'll change the ending, I'll prevent it from happening again, I won't allow anyone to snatch away my happiness!'
It was then when Nezuko, rummaging through his big brother's pockets as they hugged each other, stumbled upon the photo camera Yuu gave him for his birthday.
Aya stepped back and looked down with puffy eyes.
"Did you really bring that thing?" She asked, sniffing again.
Nezuko rose the camera in the air and looked through the objective, humming in disappointment when she could still see the reality in front of her. Tanjirou snatched it away from her hands and carefully took it in between his.
"I also brought the album... I just couldn't help myself."
They were the only things Tanjirou brought to the Red Light District with him.
Going through the album at night, Nezuko sleeping beside him, on her box, he had realized there was no picture where it was just him and Aya.
"Hey," Tanjirou suddenly said. "Let's take a picture."
Aya rose a single eyebrow. "Hm? But you already have a lot."
"Yeah, but I want to take one now. Nezuko can do it."
His sister's gaze went from one human to another, instinctively sensing her name being thrown around the conversation.
"Do you really think she can?" Aya asked, as Tanjirou handed the camera over to Nezuko.
He replied by wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pressing her against him. Aya did not show any sign of distaste. Instead, she placed her chin on Tanjirou's shoulder and wrapped an arm around his waist.
The photo they took that day would not be something to remember what he lost, but a promise he made to himself, and everyone else, that he did not fight for his present, but also for his future.
Because Tanjirou Kamado will change his story and he won't allow it to be nothing but a happy ending.
ᵒᵒ✿ᵒᵒ✿ᵒᵒ✿ᵒᵒ