the little paths we find ourselves upon

By: Aviantei

[Twelve Shots of Summer: DECK 9/12]

[Parameters: "XV-Devil" & "XVI-Tower"]

September

Some celebration
and some pieces of sadness
are what life's made of

The beginning of September was nothing but chaos as we worked on preparing for Zenitsu's birthday. Considering how close to the start of the month it was, I'd been getting my ducks in a row since the end of August. I'd tried my best to come up with some sort of surprise, but it turned out I was no good whatsoever at that sort of thing, and thus I'd relented and asked Zenitsu for what he wanted straight up. Lucky for me, he was excitable about damn near anything, which meant he just requested a party with our friends, plus a special date with just the two of us, and could we have eel and also please wear the one skirt and top we bought out in the city, it looks so good on you Rairi, I'll even wear the matching one, okay?

He was so cute, how was I supposed to say no?

And in that lay the crux of the matter, because having our friends over meant that the Thunder Estate was now filled up with guests, which meant that I as a host had plenty of running around to do. We at least had the space for everyone, so there weren't any awkward sleeping arrangements, and we somehow had the bedding as well (though some of it was on its last legs, so replacing them was a task to put on the future me problems list), but it was still a whole lot of people in a place that most of the time hosted me, Zenitsu, and Kimiko-san and her coworkers throughout the day.

I now appreciate all the work the staff at Ubuyashiki Manor did last month even more now, I thought, rushing some extra pillows I'd forgotten to the room where Tanjirō and Nezuko were staying. Not to mention Kimiko-san. I'll have to give her a bonus or something. That thought would have to wait for later, though, as I slowed myself down so as not to crash into the guest room door, took a short breath, and knocked.

"Oh, Rairi-senpai!" Tanjirō's voice said through the door, that nose of his having figured out it was me without my even needing to say anything. I did what I'd gotten permission for, finding Tanjirō already having walked up to the door to take my pretty light load off my hands. "Thanks for bringing these over. You didn't have to rush it; we would've managed."

"It's not like it was a problem. I just realized I forgot to do this before you guys got here, so I wanted to take care of it before I forgot." I had no doubt that I'd find a bunch of other things to do for the party preparations, and I didn't want to leave the Kamado siblings hanging from my own dumbassery. "Besides, you two traveled a long way, so you can rest a bit. Is everything else comfortable?"

"It's great!" Nezuko said from further back in the room, already sprawled out on top of the futon I'd provided. "Your and Zenitsu's house is so nice, Rairi-san. You've got plenty of rooms and everything."

Considering the Kamado house was much smaller, I could empathize with the feeling. Before I'd come to Kimetsu, my house had been pretty average for the three of us living there, so the Thunder Estate was pretty massive in comparison. "Well, so long as you're here, you can go wherever you like. Make yourself at home." Nezuko's face lit up in pure excitement.

"Onī-chan," she said, hopping up and giving Tanjirō a pleading look, "let's go explore a bit, okay? We still have time until tonight's dinner, right?"

"Yeah, it should be about an hour." At least, if my internal clock wasn't super off or anything. It had smelled like dinner whenever I'd passed by the kitchen, so that was my best estimate. "Go have some fun; we'll be able to find you whenever things are ready." Between Tanjirō's nose and Zenitsu's ears, we'd be hard pressed to lose something. Excitement kicking in, Nezuko was already heading to the door, her hair flying behind her as she raced out. "Have fun!"

Tanjirō chuckled. "Thanks for being patient with her. She's been way more excitable ever since the start of the year." If I'd spent several years without being all the way conscious, I'd be excited to go out there and live my best life, too. "Sometimes, I can't believe it's real. She was asleep for so long, and then even after she woke up it took her most of a year to be able to talk again. Whenever I see her like this, it almost feels like none of it even happened in the first place, but…" Just like Zenitsu and I had had to accept, Tanjirō had experienced his fair share of things he could never go back from, the lingering effects of Kibutsuji's attempted possession and transformation on his eye and arm the least of them all. In time, you could adjust to a physical injury, like how I'd gotten for the most part used to my leg and prosthetic, but missing people were a lot more difficult to overcome. "Ahh, sorry, we're supposed to be here to enjoy a party, and here I am thinking about all sorts of sad stuff!"

"It's fine, it's fine, I get it." I was pretty much in the same boat after all—having a birthday celebration without Sensei or Kaigaku around still felt strange, though I'd been through it once with my own back in February. "You can be too hard on yourself, you know, Tanjirō-kun. Just do whatever you need to." We all had enough PTSD as it was; no need to make it worse with a giant dollop of depression on top.

"Thank you, but I want to have a good time today. This is what we were all fighting for, wasn't it?" I couldn't quite argue with that. Tanjirō clenched his fists, looking beyond determined. "Alright, I'm gonna have a good time with everything and make this the greatest party ever!"

I chuckled, enjoying his enthusiasm. It was nice to see that Tanjirō could still smile like that after everything, though part of me couldn't help but worry. Yeah, he was still a Good Boy Protagonist, filled with kindness, but he'd still gone through a lot of shit. In my own experience, holding any of that back was never a good thing, though I couldn't tell if that was what was going on or if I was just projecting. Place your bets; the odds are fifty-fifty, so anything could happen.

"I already planned to make it the best party for Zenitsu, but I appreciate your help, Tanjirō-kun." Nothing would make Zenitsu happier to see the people he cared about having a good time, since he was a giant sweetheart. Tanjirō and Nezuko were part of that team, too. Inosuke was the odd one out of the Protag Squad, but even he had a sweet side under all that gremlin energy, when you went deep down. "But if you need anything, you have us, okay? So you can count on me, no matter what. I'm just as bad, so that's why I'm gonna call you out and tell you make sure you're leaning on your friends when you need it, alright? You can be the eldest son all you want, but I'm your senpai, dammit."

I hadn't meant to give a lecture, but that was the shit that happened when I opened my mouth. Where a handful of people would have argued with such criticism, the studious look on Tanjirō's face and the way he nodded showed he was absorbing the advice with all he had, which was more than I deserved. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind, Rairi-senpai. Thank you very much for the advice!" He topped it off with a bow, which was a move I'd seen several times by then, but I still hadn't gotten used to it.

Well, so long as Tanjirō was happy, I suppose I didn't have much room to complain.

After a bit longer of work, it was dinnertime, which also meant it was party time. Kimiko had already went about gathering up all our guests, so all that was left was to pick up the main guest of honor. Sure, with his ears, Zenitsu would be well aware that everyone had gathered together, but was the day going to be that special without me pulling off a fancy escort? No, I didn't think so.

With that in mind, I smoothed any wrinkles out of my clothes, flipped my braid back over my shoulder, and knocked on Zenitsu's bedroom door. "Agatsuma-sama, I've come to bring you to your party." Feeling a bit extra, I waited for Zenitsu to slide open the shoji before dipping into a bow. Glancing up, I could see he was already blushing, which meant we were off to a good start. Staying in character, I offered out my hand. "Shall we go?"

"Y-yes." He took my hand, squeezing my fingers tight. I squeezed back in return, dropping a kiss on the back of his hand before heading towards the kitchen, linking our arms together. Zenitsu followed, but he was so focused on me that he missed the step in the hallway, starting to fall in a spectacular trip.

"Whoa, careful there." It took a bit of bracing myself right on my prosthetic, but I was able to catch Zenitsu before he tumbled right to the ground. "You need to be careful, sweetie. I don't wanna see you get hurt any day, let alone on your birthday."

"Mmhmm." Since Zenitsu was already a blushing mess, I gave him an extra smile, which just made him bury his face in his hands. "You're way too cool, Rairi."

"Oh, you think so?" I got a nod in response, but he wasn't pulling away, so there was no reason to not go all out. "Well, I can always give you some extra treats for today. Hold on, okay?"

"What do you—whoa!" It didn't take much more than me squatting down to pull Zenitsu into a princess carry for him to yelp and cling onto my shoulders. "You don't have to do this. I don't wanna make your leg any worse, plus Aoi-chan is here, and she'll yell at me if you get hurt because of me!"

I adjusted my grip and got to heading to the dining room, not slowing down in the slightest. "I wouldn't be doing this if I couldn't handle it, you know." Zenitsu gave me a deadpan look, which I decided wasn't worth arguing with. "I promise I'm okay. Let me spoil you a little bit more, okay? I don't get to do this often."

"I mean, I didn't say I didn't want it…" Yeah, that was what I thought. "I love you lots, you know."

"And I love you just as much." Zenitsu squirmed a bit, but it wasn't enough for me to lose my grip on him. "I'm carrying you all the way to the dining room for dinner. Any objections?"

"No…"

"Good." I wasn't about to steal his thunder for today or anything, but after struggling to get into my regular mobility for several months, it felt good to be able to do something at that level without much issue. It made a whole lot of things seem possible, that was for sure. "I've missed being able to do stuff like this. I'm gonna carry you everywhere, just you wait."

Zenitsu giggled. "I'm looking forward to it." He hugged me closer, his ear resting on my shoulder. "You sound so amazing whenever you're happy." For whatever reason, I could feel myself start to blush at that. "And you sound so cute whenever you're flustered, too. I love it!"

"So long as you're enjoying yourself. Besides, you're adorable whenever you're happy, too." I didn't need to have special ears to appreciate that. What more could I want than Zenitsu's red face and giggling combo? Not a whole lot other than his complete and utter happiness and health, which we were lucky enough to have. Keeping up my stride, we were almost at the kitchen. "Alright, you ready to make our big entrance?"

"Let's do it!"

Grinning all the while, I breathed, dashing into the dining room at a moderate speed, though with just enough Total Concentration augmentation to make sparks appear around us. For a bit of additional flair, I even did a quick lap around the room. Someone had started up a small round of applause, while I could hear Inosuke shouting about how he wanted to join in and Aoi holding him back. After a few extra laps, I slowed down, easing Zenitsu down into his spot at the head of the table and dropping a kiss on the top of his head before taking my seat beside him and grabbing hold of his hand.

"Okay, everyone. One, two—"

"Happy birthday, Zenitsu!"

At the end of the week, all of our guests had left for home, and that left us with the remains of their presence to tidy up. Just like with preparing for their visit, handling all the cleanup was a bit too much to just expect Kimiko and the others to take care of, so Zenitsu and I joined in the efforts. When it came to bedding, there was so much to clean up and an extensive amount of washing to do, so we were running back and forth from the bedrooms to the nearby stream, where Kimiko was leading the charge of scrubbing. With our efforts combined, we managed to get everything onto the waiting spots, and then we dropped down on the edge to take a short break.

"At least the weather's nice for this today," Zenitsu said, shading his eyes as he looked up at where the sun was high. The temperature was decent, too, but if we were going to get our job done, now was the time. "Once we get it all washed, it should dry out by the end of the day, so that'll be good."

"Yeah, and it'll get the majority of the rough work done, too." There were still a handful of things to do, but I was of the mindset that if you got the suckiest part out of the way first, everything else would follow through without much issue. I stretched out, sucking in a nice breath to keep my shoulders limber. "Man, I should learn to do some cooking already. It would be nice to make something for Kimiko-san instead of making her do all the hard work."

"You say that, but I do enjoy cooking, you know." Zenitsu and I looked up to where Kimiko had come over to us. She was in full hardcore work mode, with an apron tied tight around her kimono, her sleeves tied up at her elbows, and her hair under a dust cloth. "I'd much rather have some help with this work instead. Rairi-sama, you're experienced with the washing. Would you mind giving me a hand with the larger futons first, so they can have more time in the sun?"

"Not a problem at all."

I pushed myself off the porch, taking a moment to rebalance myself before rolling up my own sleeves. With a few somewhat rusty movements, I managed to tie them back, hauling a few blankets with me over to the wash basins. From there, it was a matter of dumping them in the water—warm but not blistering hot—and scrubbing like no tomorrow. The good news was that none of our guests had made a giant mess (not even Inosuke! I was so proud of him), so washing wasn't too much of a hassle, other than the sheer number. With my and Kimiko's powers combined, I had faith we'd be done in an hour or so, barring any unexpected messes.

Zenitsu came over to give me some encouragement, then he went off to get started on wiping down the guest rooms. Kimiko and I chatted a bit while we washed—for the most part, plans for meals the next few days, which involved working our way through leftover supplies from the party. Other than that, though, we worked in a focused silence, stopping our scrubbing for nothing but helping the other rinse out the blanket in the water so we didn't lose it downstream. After finishing my latest futon, I wiped off my forehead on my forearm.

"We're starting to get a pretty big pile here," I said, observing our stack of dripping blankets. "I'm gonna go ahead and take these back to hang up in the courtyard, and then I'll come back to help with the rest."

"I'd appreciate that, Rairi-sama." Kimiko offered me a smile and a wave, and I squatted down to heft up the load into my arms. Persevering through the dampness, I managed to make it halfway back to the house before I saw Zenitsu, and he was running our way at a breakneck sprint that seemed a bit too much just to come and check on us.

"Hey, sweetie," I said, adjusting my hold on the blankets so I didn't drop the whole thing as I came to a stop. "How's the cleaning goi—"

"S-sorry, no time to talk." A little run like that wasn't enough to make Zenitsu out of breath by any means, but he still didn't slow down to less than a powerwalk as he kept going. "Kimiko—Kimiko-chan. It's her grandmother. She—"

"Go." Zenitsu nodded, racing off at high speed again. Whatever was going on, Kimiko needed to know before I did.

Besides, even without being told anything, I had a vague idea of what the news was, and I didn't like my conclusion one bit.

Before Sensei had picked up Zenitsu and before Kimiko had taken over leading the home care team, the one in charge of managing the Thunder Estate had been her grandmother, Saori.

Saori was, in short, a total badass. She had a stern demeanor that took no shit, not even from Sensei, and she always kept the house in impeccable shape. If I'd been in a better state of mind back then, I would've gotten to get to know her more, but I did remember thinking she was cool, just for the fact that it was clear Sensei respected her. In time, she had chosen to retire, enjoying a relaxing life at home and letting Kimiko inherit her spot.

And now, a few years later, she'd collapsed at home out of nowhere. It was one of those events that wasn't surprising, given her age, but still wasn't anywhere near easy to accept. The moment Zenitsu had told her the news, she'd raced home, laundry be damned, and we planned to give her as much time off as she needed should things be heading in a more…unfortunate direction.

We'd gone through a similar loss after all. The least we could do was offer her much more courtesy than what we'd had after Sensei's passing.

But until Kimiko returned and asked us for anything, all we could do was wait and work on the chores. With one person out of the picture, things went the slightest bit slower, but we managed to finish the laundry and wiping down the rooms and taking stock of our food and even some cooking together. By the time we were done with all that, three days had passed, and Kimiko hadn't come back. Concerned, we sent Tanaka after her, and he came back with a letter.

Saori wanted us to visit.

Given how long Kimiko had been out, we could be forgiven for thinking things were dire. Which was why it felt so surreal to make it to their family home and find things bustling.

It was a decent sized home when compared to the average size for our town, though it was nowhere near as massive as Thunder Manor. Even so, it was much more dense in people, four generations of family under one roof. Kimiko had siblings, one younger, one older, and it was the latter who had had a child who wasn't even half a year old yet, so things were…lively, no sense of doom and gloom whatsoever.

"I told everyone there was no sense in worrying," Saori said from where she was sitting in her futon. Her hair had long since turned gray, and she had plenty of wrinkles, but you could still see Kimiko in the broad set of her forehead and the shape of her eyes. "Yes, I'm old, but I lived a long life that I'm happy with. I even got to meet my great-grandchild. It was a matter of time before I started slipping." Her tone was matter of fact and there was no trace of remorse in her eyes—as said, a total badass. "I'm not going down just yet, but I know it'll happen soon. Still, I'm ready for it."

"You can say that all you want, but that doesn't mean you don't need some extra help around here," Kimiko said, brave enough to use that same scolding tone she threw at me when I was being a dumbass. Between Saori's condition and the newborn baby, there was a lot going on, even with all the people around. Not even missing a beat as she collected dishware for tea, Kimiko continued, "You were still helping out with half the cooking and cleaning, you know. I won't stop you from doing what you want, but at least let me help out while you rest."

"And let you ignore your own duty? You have a job to do. Don't let me get in the way. It's because you keep cleaning things up for them that no one's started to pick up your slack."

"That's not true. Satsuki's started to learn how to handle laundry and even can go grocery shopping on his own. If anything, you're being the worrywart."

Staying seated, Zenitsu leaned towards me and whispered, "You don't think Saori-san asked us here to try and drag Kimiko-chan back to the Thunder Estate, do you?"

"I hope not," I murmured back, "Kimiko-san's stubbornness is genetic, and I don't fancy my odds of winning against either of them." Not without some collateral damage happening in the process, at the very least. I cleared my throat before raising my voice: "You don't have to worry about us, Saori-san. We're managing well enough. I know Kimiko is your pride and joy, but you trained everyone else well, too." Small in number as they may have been, our staff was more than capable of handling things while one person took a well-deserved break. "I'm sure Kimiko-san just wants to spend more time with you."

"Thank you. That's what I've been saying." Finished preparing the tea, Kimiko dodged out of the way of her youngest sibling—who didn't look older than ten by my estimation—before setting the tray down and pouring us all a drink. "You're important to me, Obā-sama. Even if your death is inevitable, that does not mean I cannot cherish the time I have left with you."

Saori accepted her tea, not even flinching as she took a sip from her still steaming cup. I, being much more of a baby, just cupped my cup in my hands, admiring the way long years of use had stained the cracks in the surface to a beautiful green between the pale glaze. "If you spend all your time by my side, it'll be that much harder to get back into the swing of life when I am gone. Go out and enjoy yourself more. I know you find great pleasure in your work, and I'm not about to get in the way of that anytime soon."

Kimiko frowned, stopping just short of clicking her tongue. From my perspective, they both had good points—though as someone who'd lost my loved ones in sudden ways, I couldn't help but empathize with Kimiko just a little more. Sure, it could've been harder to part with everyone then; that didn't mean that one extra day wouldn't be worth it.

"We're willing to give Kimiko-chan whatever time or schedule she needs," Zenitsu said, offering the solution he and I had agreed upon in advance. "If she needs a flexible arrangement, that's alright." Saori turned her stern expression on him, and he half-yelped before ducking a little bit behind me.

"What we're saying," I added, "is that we don't think there's a need to choose between two extremes." If Kimiko took an extreme, we'd support her, but the opportunity for compromise seemed nigh. Of course, talking drew Saori's gaze to me, which was kinda scary, but I didn't sense any animosity, so she seemed willing to listen. "We lost Sensei without any opportunity to give a proper goodbye. And we'd like to prevent that for someone else if we have the power. That's all we're aiming to do here."

Having said my piece, I took the wise path for once and shut the fuck up. In the end, none of this was my or Zenitsu's decision. But Kimiko was more than just our employee— over the past several months, she'd become our friend. She was always looking out for us, so we were going to do the same and look out for her.

Simple as that.

There was still a lingering silence, all of us managing a substantial dent in our tea. "Kuwajima sure was something," Saori at last said, looking nostalgic. "I was surprised whenever he took you three brats on. We hadn't had that many people at the estate in years. He'd trained plenty of students, but I hadn't seen him get attached to anyone in such a long time." She sighed. "You three were good for him. Don't forget that."

"…We won't," Zenitsu said, his voice a whisper. Yeah, I was tearing up a bit, too, though that wasn't enough to distract me from something I'd noticed.

"You're changing the subject, Saori-san," I said. Kimiko blinked, and Zenitsu looked just a bit terrified that I'd do something like challenge Saori—though I'll note neither of them seemed all that surprised. "If you think there's something valuable in the relationship we had with Sensei, then I'm sure you can recognize that Kimiko-san sees you as important as well, yes?"

I topped my sentence off with a smile, hoping to ease any potential ire that came my way. But Saori just looked amused more than anything, and I couldn't quite tell if that was good or bad. "Jigorō wasn't kidding whenever he mentioned that you don't hesitate to speak what's on your mind." Yeah, I wasn't sure if that was good or bad, either, but it was how I was, so I just had to live with the consequences, now didn't I? "Very well. Kimiko, I trusted you to take over caring for the Thunder Estate, and I should show that trust in you now. You may make the decision you like in this matter, but it would make me feel better to see you keep up the rest of your life as well. But if you were to take an extra few days off, I won't begrudge you that." Saori put her teacup down, waved Kimiko closer, then pulled her granddaughter into a hug. "You've become a wonderful young woman, and I'm very proud of you."

In all the time I'd known her, Kimiko wasn't one to cry—and the same held true in that moment. She did, however, return the embrace. "Of course I am. You helped me become the person I am today," she said, and Zenitsu struggled to hide his loud sniffle. "Now you're the one who said you weren't going away just yet. Don't start talking like that already."

"You're quite right."

In the end, Kimiko reduced her schedule working for us by one day a week, but she seemed even more passionate about her work than before.

One day, Saori would pass on, but until then she could enjoy the time she had left, knowing that she would leave a wonderful legacy behind once she was gone.

[Author's Notes]

This was one of those shots where I had a rough time making the prompts function just right. I knew from way before I decided to do this project for [Twelve Shots of Summer] that I wanted to cover Zenitsu's birthday, but the prompts were some of the more...angsty cards, so I had a tricky time making it work. But I figured it out, and that's what matters.

Thanks to paulavara140 for the numerous series faves and follows, as well as thanks to xxr3lax1ng3ndxx for the faves on og walk steady! You guys are super duper cool.

I feel like my issue with any project is that I always dump a giant pile of OCs into the mix, so I hope it's still enjoyable. Saori's a character I've been tinkering with as part of my eventual Kuwajima backstory project, so I was glad to have her play a role here!

Next Week: October, featuring the prompts "XVII-Star" and "XVII-Moon." Please look forward to it!

[07.29.2023]