A Happy Birthday

(Me and my friend's birthday was June 4 and I'm uploading this on the 5th. No excuse, I was just lazy. Have some... fluff and misc stuff.)

A shifting and winding base. Forever moving and constantly expanding as time passed. This ever changing terrain was caused by none other than the-

*Strum*

The biwa demon, Nakime. Calmly sitting on her perch and playing her song, and even with her relaxing music the location was still constantly moving. The Infinity Fortress. Unending Castle. It had several nicknames for it but there was the constant of it never ending. As long as Nakime played her biwa, there wasn't an end to this base.

Right now there was a single demon walking through the hallways of this fortress. She looked perpetually sad but her inner feelings weren't the same. 'I wonder where Kokushibou is…' A two headed snake slithered around her neck, two forked tongues flicked into the air to smell their changing surroundings. "Nakime." She looked up to the player and didn't get the same look down. "Where is Kokushibou?"

"Upper Moon One is currently training with Upper Moon Six." She continued her casual strumming as Katachi looked around. "The two of them have been going at it for some hours now."

"Ohh Katachi~" The sweet voice of a blonde demon. Douma just hurried out of a doorway waving his hand towards the macabre demoness. "How have you been?" He got close to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, a smile on his face. "I've been bored for a while today~ Have you been doing anything fun?"

"Not today no… I've been looking for-"

He cut her off with a completely jovial expression. "For Lord Kokushibou? I know that he's with Lord Koujo~ He's getting ready for that challenge against Lord Hantengu! It's in a couple weeks after all."

"Then we should go find them. I wanted to speak to Kokushibou." Katachi looked up to Nakime and was about to ask for quick transport but she was cut off again by another presence.

"Oh?" That calm and mature voice could only belong to one demon among them. "What are you all up to now? Master Muzan didn't have anything for us for the upcoming days."

Douma changed priorities and looked at the beautiful and elegant- "Lady Ayaka~"

Ayaka's eyes were twitching and she slowly looked down at her shoulder, more specifically the arm in a red sleeved shirt. Her eyes started turning more and more red instead of the vibrant orange they were. Her emotions were becoming more and more clear with each millisecond that Douma's arm was touching her. "Take that arm off of me."

Douma just smiled and waved that off. "Oh it's nothing Lady Ayaka~ I love spending so much time with all my cherished friends!" He pulled out a golden fan and started to fan himself off, almost like it was starting to get really hot all of a sudden. The Infinity Fortress was always a fairly cool temperature so why was it getting so hot now? "A bit stuffy in here now isn't it Lady-"

"Arm." Vibrant red fire filled the space in front of the blonde demon's head and the air warped from the heat, waves of distortion showing the heat of the fire as Ayaka took out her own fan and started cooling herself off. "I warned you. Hm?" Her hand felt lighter all of-

"I remember Kokushibou talking about not disrupting the hierarchy in the past. Ayaka…" A tendril of shifted flesh and warped bone retreated back into a monochrome sleeve, a fan hit the floor right beside a hand. "Please don't disrupt the hierarchy again, am I understood?"

Ayaka's hand grew back and more deep red flames emerged to create a hand shape and pick up her fan, eyes squinting as she recovered her accessory.

Some gargled words for a second and then Douma's flesh healed enough for his mouth to show, and now he could start talking. "No no~ It's fine Lady Katachi!" Even with half a face he still had a wide smile on his face. "Just like with Akaza, I let her hit me with those flames. We at the top should always try to get along with those weaker than us, right? And if this is how Lady Ayaka has to warm up to me then I'll-"

"Shut up." A few lighter red flames started to appear in the air but Katachi's arm immediately shifted to a tendril again, a warning. "I apologize… I forgot myself." It sounded like her teeth were clenching hard through every word and her eyes were still a burning red with those black slits.

Douma looked unbothered as his face was no longer melted, now he was smiling and back with Katachi. "Let's go find Lord Kokushibou~ I'm sure he wants to see all of us!" And so the group, complete with a very reluctant Ayaka, started walking with no real direction. With their intent clear they didn't actually have to know where they wanted to go in this place.

"Lord Douma~! I was looking for you!" Namika just appeared with a happy smile, her feelings always so clear… Even as she rode on a chair made of a large tree stump with tendril roots walking along. "Where are we all going?" The second she asked was when Katachi opened a door and the training area was all they could see. "Ooh! Are we training again? I wanted to practice a-"

Two people were using that room and they were using it for what it was meant for. "You're making some progress…" He swung with dozens of moon blades trailing the attack and a sword made out of durable flesh responded, the crescent blades were sliced apart and Koujo approached in a spiral of burning slashes. "But now you're going back to an inferior breathing? I see…"

Andrea was writing in a notebook and lazily watching this spar. The actual events didn't matter much in his mind. 'Letting him have those little flames back could be very useful… pequeño problema.' His vest and shirt crinkled as he leaned forwards to watch Kokushibou deliver slash after slash against his younger partner. The junior Demon was defensively slashing his blade against the onslaught of attacks, but he couldn't do anything against Kokushibou's direct attacks.

"Still sloppy." History repeated itself with these training moments between the two. Koujo was pinned against a column by his own practice weapon, and Kokushibou was standing there with his own still in hand. "Improvements, but there's still room for more." He blinked and twitched his head back to avoid a kick towards his face, the demon he pinned pulled himself free and drew his weapon again. "As a swordsman you shouldn't try to strike with-" A droplet. Just one drop. Blood on his chin. The cut closed and his several eyes focused on the child in front of him.

"I fight. Sword or no sword, I'll fight…" For a second his eyes lost some of their haze… and he attacked. The other high ranked demons showed up in time to see Koujo recover and the hole in his shoulder close up, and they all watched as a barrage of flames started assailing Kokushibou's sword from several directions at once.

"Woah!" Namika's exclamation didn't make anyone look away from the clash of flames and destructive moons. "No wonder he cut Gyokko and Kinmachi's heads off! It's amazing!" She was cheering as powerful flames deflected and cut through crescent projectiles, but this wasn't a real fight despite one of them putting in so much work.

Katachi watched Kokushibou closely, his movements were lazy, sluggish, like he was barely even taking this seriously despite all of his attacks being so much faster than what most living things could process. As amazing as it was that this new Upper Six was even managing to stop the long ranged attacks, everytime he got close he was immediately forced back by Upper One's real attacks.

Ayaka watched the spar with that fan still carefully in her hand, and even with the excitable pinkette next to her she was focused intently on what was going on. "It looks like the new one of you is even stronger than we thought. I'm curious of how far he really can go."

She was wriggling herself back and forth on that improvised stump of a chair, her green eyes glinting in the light. "Maybe he can be my new friend?" Her fangs were so prominent in her smile, and the positivity wasn't infecting anyone other than her Moon.

"Of course you could be his best friend Namika~ He looks like he could use a treasured friend." Douma was so cheery even with Ayaka and Katachi looking at the fight and the long slashes that damaged the younger Demon.

The pink haired girl was overwhelmed by her future friend keeping up with Kokushibou's amazing attacks. "Yuki never wants to train anymore but he looks like he does! He's even giving Lord Kokushibou trouble."

The gloomy demon was quick to cut in. "Kokushibou isn't trying." Everyone looked at Katachi and her dejected expression. "His movements are slow, not even a fifth of his full ability." Namika and Ayaka looked at the fighting and… couldn't actually tell that the highest among them was holding anything back.

Douma on the other hand- 'Oh I see… Lord Kokushibou is making small twitches in response, his reflexes are telling him to attack with more force.' Despite being so calm and cheerful he was perfectly able to analyze

Koujo was striking hard and healing the massive cuts on his body, his own swings alternated between burning strikes or powerful swings with azure moons. The fire behind his eyes was dim but still present. A flaming strike caught his sword against his mentor's and now they were looking eye to eyes, and then they both thought exactly the same.

A flood of yellow and blue, the air was filled with chaotic moons. "Oh!" Vines. Vines sprouted from the floor into the air.

"Just great!" Red fire. Deep red fire went into the air, burning the moons and the vines in its way. Namika and Ayaka's blood demon arts acted as a perfect barrier to stop any moons from hitting any of them. Granted, it would've been superficial damage they all would heal from in moments but they were all wearing nice clothes. "Those two almost ruined my clothes. That's not- That- Oh my."

Katachi was looking right at the swordsmen as drips of blood started to leak from her nose. Her eyes were locked onto the taller example of a fighter with long dark reddish brown hair, hanging freely and reaching his waistband. Rippling muscles on a sculpted body, grayish skin and perfect proportions. His body was the culmination of years of hard work and grueling training. He was carved like marble and built like a champion.

His three sets of eyes narrowed in judgement until he pulled back and let his stance drop. "You're not the same whelp you were months ago. A show of my mentorship…" He swayed his long hair away from his upper body, his muscles rippling and moving as he did. "But I'll also give some credit to your abilities as a demon." He pulled out a hair tie and started to fix his hair back into its ponytail. 'Though from what I know you have so much more progress to make.' His eyes looked to the right and he could see a crowd, and he'd say something once his hair was fixed.

Ayaka had her face hidden by her fan but that liberty didn't go to Katachi, her light blush was obvious to anyone looking. Namika was looking at the other example of a fighter. Crimson hair sweeping down to his upper back and sticking to his firm muscles, a light coat of sweat keeping his locks there. The black markings on his arms spread to his chest in soft curves that connected at his sternum, like a seasoning to add flavor to his toned body. Namika was trying to make sense of why she couldn't look away… and nothing was helping.

"I like fighting." He ran his hands through his own hair and started stretching and tensing his own chorded muscles as he went. Supple skin showing the movement of his powerful body the higher his arms raised up, then he tensed his abs and leaned his body to the left to inadvertently show off even more of his toned muscles. "As long as you teach me more Moon Breathing I'll keep challenging you." He stopped his stretches to flick away some sweat on his forehead but at that point he noticed Kokushibou's lower body tense.

Douma was about to say something but he was beaten to the chase by someone else. "Why were you all watching our training?" Kokushibou, in all his shirtless glory, was standing behind them and he was frying the brains of two demons in that group. His tone was calm but he did expect an answer out of them, regardless of how stupid it could've been.

"Lady Katachi started bringing us here~ I just followed her lead." Deflecting blame and-

"Katachi…" Kokushibou walked up to her and rested a hand on top of her head. "Happy birthday. May twenty-fourth, I know it well enough."

The others looked at her with mixed feelings, particularly the apathetic Lady Ayaka not caring much about the birthday girl. "Feliz cumpleano amiga. Lo siento, no tengo un regalo." Andrea was on the same overlook and not a soul among them could actually understand what he just said, but it sounded like he was celebrating Katachi's birthday.

"Ooh! This means I can get a little party together, and we can all show up for Lady Katachi!" Douma started to celebrate the idea of a party for one of his most cherished friends… Then he looked around to see that Kokushibou left at some point. "Oh, where did Lord Koku-"

"After the foreigner said his words. He was gone before you started talking." Ayaka's coldness extended to leaving as well. "I don't have any reason to stay for this little celebration." Then she walked into something- Someone. She walked into a red haired someone.

"Celebration, is it a holiday?" Koujo was still shirtless and now he was with them. Namika went right up to him with all her cheerfulness and- His head started to hurt. Veins started bulging and his eyes turned to slits. He was getting mad! The fog was clearing and Andrea was behind him with both his hands pressing hard onto the boy's head.

"What the hell was that?!" A dark red aura was coating his hands and it made Koujo calm down from the bloodlust he was starting to feel. "I'm starting to think Carmen couldn't do anything right! Her control shouldn't be interfering with mine."

Douma held his fans up with a curious expression. "Control? He did seem a bit strange. And for your information, yes Koujo. Today is the twenty-fourth of May, Lady Katachi's birthday!" He slung an arm around his friend with a smile.

"Birthday… That's mine. I was born on the twenty-fourth." Andrea let him go and went back to his notebook.

Namika jumped for joy and hurried to her new best friend. "That's two birthdays today! We can have a party for two!" She stopped her hopping in place once she noticed she was looking slightly up to him, and that her arms were locked onto his biceps. Strange feelings in her mind but that didn't matter at all in the face of the fun that everyone was about to have with the party.

"Namika, you take the birthday pair to get ready. I'll have the privilege of setting up the party! Akunin! Gomi!" He started jogging down a hallway and calling out. "We have things to do~!"

Well… then there were three. The sounds of warping flesh and bone quickly reminded some of them that there were four. Ume was out and on her Moon's back as his guard. "Today's your birthday? Hmm." She looked like she was thinking as they all started going towards the seamstresses so he could get his upper body covered again.

…

…

…

Katachi didn't expect anyone to actually do anything for today but it was welcomed. She just walked into a nice room with Namika pulling both her and her birthday twin inside. Well decorated with beautiful ornaments hanging from the walls… the fact that they were human bones didn't matter. Two boys with hair as blonde as Douma's were setting up even more of the bone decor. One was much shorter with blue eyes, and the other was taller with red eyes.

"Happy birthday!" Douma appeared out of nowhere and threw clusters of colored fabric pieces into the air. His jovial mood bled into the air and the boys who were focused on decorated stopped to give their own smiles and raised fists into the air.

Katachi looked around the room and graced her face with a small smile. 'He really did set up this nice party for us.' It wasn't often that Upper Moon Two did anything like this for his friends- 'Okay I won't say his friends. I know that Douma's faking his smiles, regardless of what Kokushibou told me, I could've found out myself.' That barely noticeable smile was obvious to anyone who was around her long enough.

There was a bowl of hands and severed fingers resting on a table with a label of "finger foods"… okay that made her laugh. A beautiful soft sound that nobody heard.

"What was that?" That almost nobody heard. Koujo was right beside her with a raised brow, and a quick glance showed that Ume was with Namika and the higher Eclipse was twisting the lower Eclipse's hair into braids. "You laughed."

Oh right. "Well I found something funny. And I'm happy that our birthday is being celebrated with our… friends. I do wish Koku was here too but he never was one for things like this." She looked down at Koujo and was glad for her similar fashion to Ume. Her footwear was the only thing that kept her above someone since she was small on her own. "You don't look like you're enjoying yourself. Is something wrong?"

He was silent. He just looked around the room and took in the two blonde boys putting the finishing touch on the decor. A skull hanging from the ceiling was the star on top of it all. "My head's splitting." Koujo didn't hesitate to put his left hand into a fist… and then punch himself right above his left eye and blow part of his head off!

Katachi was surprised at that sudden action but his head was healed before she could comment on him doing it. 'Why would he go and do that? He- He doesn't like hurting himself does he?'

Now that his head was back, Koujo looked like he was thinking hard about something. "It's my birthday? And I'm celebrating with all my friends…" It was soft but Katachi could see his body tense and his eyes start to water. "Why do I feel sad when everyone's happy?" His voice wasn't cracking but he was crying… it was actually awkward with how stoic his face was when Katachi could tell he was distressed.

"Hey hey, new best friend~ Why are you crying?" Namika was confused and looking closely at her new friend's tears. "It's your birthday! That's a happy time." Once again she was jumping for joy and holding both of Koujo's hands, but he still had tears running down his face. The bubbly girl was-

"Headache." Once again he blew off part of his skull and Namika's smile didn't waver at the disturbing moment. Each time these headaches started he felt the urge to do that… and for whatever reason it actually helped. For an instant Namika's hair turned indigo but then it was right back to pink. 'Must've been the headache. She's right, this is a happy time for me and Katachi.' He turned back to the gloomy demon and pulled out a shiny stone. "I don't have a real gift. But I have this cool rock."

Katachi's eyes shone and she accepted the stone with a smile. "Thank you. I started a rock collection with Koku some years ago, and this one is very nice." The twin headed snake around her neck started slithering and hung its body closer to Koujo with flicking tongues grazing his forehead. "Would you be happy if I painted you something?"

"That sounds really nice! Koujo would love that as a gift right?" She was hugging him close in direct contrast to his blank emotions. "I'd love a painting myself! I could hang it in my garden!" Then it clicked in her head. "Oh wait… it's not my birthday!" She bopped herself on the head playfully but that's when she got an answer she wanted.

"Katachi. Paint Namika and me. I want that as a gift. Namika wants one and it sounds nice."

Koujo's request made Namika's eyes glimmer and Katachi smiled again. Then the moment was cut short by those blonde boys softly tugging at Katachi's clothes. "Lord Douma is coming with gifts." The bigger one alerted them to the highest rank coming back and the smaller one stomped a foot and waved his hand to let a reddish black gas flow into the air.

"Everyone should pay attention since Lord Douma's back." He was speaking with veneration towards Upper Two and speaking of the devil- demon. Douma came in with two things, and one of them made everyone start to salivate.

"I have gifts~! For Lady Katachi, I brought this beautiful skull of a girl~" He handed the skull to her and she saw that it was decorated. "I even embedded some jewels into it! Making it even more beautiful~ I hope you enjoy it!"

Katachi was looking over the skull and slowly she started to grin at the gift. She knew well enough that Douma didn't actually feel this way, but he could at least act like it enough to give her this lovely skull. This was a very valued gift since gemstones were just rocks of a very high tier. "I love it, Douma, thank you so much."

Somewhere off in the distance… Six eyes opened wide with bloodlust.

Now was his other gift and it was much more lively. With a casual toss, Douma threw the gift right onto a large table in the room. "And the other gift is for the newest Upper Moon Six~ I don't eat men myself, so this is a gift solely for you and anyone you want to share with."

On the table was a tied up and struggling demon slayer. His hair was black and his eyes were a light shade of brown. Gagged and bound on a table surrounded by demons… yet he didn't look scared. 'Where the hell did this freak bring me?! And why is that demon wearing our Corps pants?!' The cloth in his mouth wouldn't let him voice these opinions. But he'd think them as hard as he could.

Koujo sniffed and looked at this struggling slayer with apathy. "He's a marechi." He was still drooling but he wasn't even thinking about going for this innocent man. "I don't kill humans." Ignoring that he wiped out an entire district, and some people that didn't evacuate in time, he still wouldn't kill anyone to eat them.

Douma just shrugged that off and remembered something. "Akunin! Gomi! We have to go somewhere, we'll have to catch up with our friends later~!" He led the boys away while Ume quickly put herself onto Koujo's back, now with her hair braided into four long braids.

"You left me to finish the other two by myself, Namika. And who's the marechi?" She really was a lot more serious now and her tone showed as much.

Katachi grabbed the leg of the slayer and started squeezing firmly. "This is a meal for Koujo and I, but he doesn't want to hurt someone who's still alive." With one more squeeze everyone heard the man's femur shatter like glass, and his muffled screams filled the air right after. "But a marechi isn't as good when they aren't fresh." Her eyes went to the writhing and sobbing man on the table and her nose was blessed with an even sweeter smell. She saw where some of his pants were cut from her grip and below that was delicious red blood. "I broke the skin with my nails."

'Fucking demons! They're messing with me! Fuck this hurts!' He was trying to break loose but each shake of his body just made that shattered bone hurt even more. 'Lightheaded! Damn it, focus!' He had to stay calm. Slow down. The pain was gonna make him suffocate on this cloth if he didn't calm down and take in the air he needed.

Luscious green vines sprouted from the floor and reached up to the man on the table. "If you don't wanna hurt him then I have an idea!"

'What the hell is this bit-' It was fast. "MMFFHM!" Ripping and tearing of his flesh. The vines pulled his left arm out of the socket and then right off his torso. Strings of sinew and blood dropped onto the floor and yellowish bone got exposed to the temperate air of the Infinite Fortress. The pain was making the man struggle harder and he was starting to lose his vision. Everything was turning blurry from it all and for some reason it was getting cold.

"Here! I took the arm and you can eat it now!" She was drooling herself but the birthday boy came first, especially since Katachi was grabbing the man's attached arm and hand. "It's a marechi~ They taste so good and make you even stronger!" Namika put the arm right in Koujo's face and watched his eyes linger on it.

"It's already off… It's a waste if I don't eat it." A bite right through the arm, bone and all, the gourmet taste flooded his mouth and the delicacy gave him a small increase in strength from just that bite alone. "This is what a marechi tastes like?" He took the arm from her and devoured it in the blink of an eye. The entire limb gone in an instant and the blood stained his mouth in large clots.

Katachi twisted and pulled the slayer's hand from his forearm in a spray of delectable crimson fluid. Bile rose in the slayer's throat but with his mouth covered he couldn't let it out, and it went right back down. Choking him. 'FUCK! NO! NO!' He couldn't even struggle to work the cloth off his face, but all his mental spirit was forcing him to try.

"I have to thank Douma for this sometime. His flavor is one of the best I've had." Katachi was carefully eating each digit on the severed hand, not getting even a drop outside of her mouth. Each bit of this delicacy had to be savored like the rare delight it was.

Namika went ahead and decided to rip off the broken leg with her vines again and blood spilled onto the table, flowing onto the floor in a display of wasted nutrition. At this point the man wasn't even moving… 'Oh he died? Well now they have to eat faster or else it won't taste as good.' As if she didn't help brutalize him, she went right back to Koujo with it and started using her nails to cut off a piece. "Here you go, birthday boy! Say 'aah' for this!" She held up a chunk of-

A pink sash grabbed the limb and pulled it away from a surprised Eclipse Two. Ume was scowling and had the marechi's leg in her stark white hand. "Aren't you Upper Moon Two's Eclipse? Why are you acting so nice with Koujo?" She held the leg down and Koujo took another large bite of flesh, once again he enjoyed the taste as it coated his taste buds. Metallic but sweet, but also had a tang of flavor like citrus.

She was about to retort… then she actually thought about it. 'Why do I actually care? Hmmm…' Now she was scratching her pink hair in contemplation. "Well… I dunno! I like being Lord Douma's Eclipse, but Koujo is my new best friend! Why wouldn't I wanna do stuff for him?"

Ume wasn't the brightest fork in the bulb drawer but she knew a thing or two from her life about what Namika was doing. "Yeah yeah sure. Don't forget that you have your own Moon, and I have mine." She watched Koujo take another bite of that leg then looked right back at the gently swaying Busujima girl. 'If that rainbow eyed bastard took her as an Eclipse then she's bad news.'

Katachi watched the conflict while tearing off another chunk of the slayer, ripping through his uniform to get to that succulent flesh. 'I wonder… What's Koku doing right now?'

"Ooh! Koujo there's some blood on your face."

The green eyed girl pointed right beside his mouth and he ran his tongue against his skin to clear the space. "Did I get it?" He was about to just take another bite but then Namika closed the gap and tapped a finger against the spot, giggling like a geisha.

"Got it!" Then she took that finger and held it out. "Here, don't waste a drop~"

Ume's eyes started twitching now. This girl was so nice just a couple minutes ago when she was doing her hair, and now she was doing this. 'Namika…'

Koujo blinked twice at the finger then locked his lips around the fingertip in front of him. 'It's another drop of blood and I shouldn't miss it when it belonged to a marechi. They're too valuable for me to waste any of one.' They were rare bloods for a reason. He didn't even think about the blood dripping onto the floor from Namika's taking the leg he went right back eating.

Her blood was boiling and her sashes started to coil around and get ready to-

"Ume." Mismatched eyes that belonged to a melancholy demon met Ume's and she pulled her sashes back while Koujo crunched on the leg again. "Thank you."

A white hand clenched hard. Ume didn't like this girl who was acting so nonchalant about her doing this. 'You're so annoying!' She could think it all she wanted but despite her carefree attitude… Namika was Douma's bodyguard for more than him just liking her around. 'Whatever, it's their birthday. I'll let it go.'

Now that he was dead, Koujo grabbed the marechi's head and ripped it right off. Not really hurting anyone with this. "Happy birthday Katachi." He took a bite right out of the skull while Katachi started eating another chunk of flesh.

"Thank you. We should get Douma something in return." She handed a piece off to her snake. One head was holding the skull gift and the other bit the hunk of meat and started swallowing it down.

"Next time I spar with Kokushibou I'll ask if he knows what Upper Two likes. Maybe I can get him a new fan." His head didn't hurt now but for some reason he had something itching in the back of his mind. Well it probably didn't matter. Then he felt a hand come to rest on top of his head and he looked Katachi in the eyes. "What are you doing?"

"You're rising through the ranks fast. Challenging Hantengu? You're even training with Kokushibou." She smiled with bloody teeth. "Centuries and he never trained with anyone until you. He keeps saying something about you… Happy Birthday Koujo. I hope to watch your fight." A smile didn't really fit her vibe… but for some reason Koujo felt the corners of his mouth turn up ever so slightly. A happy birthday with his friends. The fog was getting just a little bit more clear now.

'¿Que? Y algo mas trabeja. Ay… Necessito las mujeres mayor.'

Author's Notes: Wow, I'm so sorry that this took me a week. I'll try to be quicker with the next one.