Eventually Tanjuro decided that his Training was going to take too long to complete, and he decided to cancel it. "I apologise everyone. But we don't have time for you to complete my training. You should all move on to the Serpent Hashira's Training instead" Tanjuro apologised. Nezuko and Sanemi were particularly confused, "But Dad, you're training is fine!" the white-haired boy protested. "It's taking too long. I would have only had a month with you, and it's nearly been that long. Most of you are still stuck against Gyutaro, and the ones who've completed that training are nowhere close to defeating Hakuji.
Please, for your own sake, move on" Tanjuro said, before he entered the Love Estate. As he sighed to himself, Tanjuro wondered what he had been thinking setting such a difficult Training. From what he's heard, all the other Hashira have got basic skill as theirs. He was the only one whose Training Regimen was different. It made sense why hardly anyone was improving. Hakuji, Gyutaro, Ume and Sayuri hurried after him, "Lord Tanjuro! Why did you cancel your Training? They were doing well?" Gyutaro asked in confusion. "It was taking too long for everyone to complete. We didn't have enough time for everyone to complete all of my training, and also do the Hashira's.
If I was the only one training everyone, it would have been fine, but I'm not. All of the Hashira except for Miss Shinobu are participating, and they have worked hard on setting up their own training for everyone. If the Corps Members only have time to participate in mine, then they won't get the experience they need from the rest" Tanjuro explained. Suddenly both Kie and Shizu ran up to him. "Are you done? With the Training?" Kie asked. Tanjuro smiled and kissed them both, "yes I am. Why don't we spend some time with our children now?" he asked. Both Demon women beamed in excitement.
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After her excitement wore off, Shizu realized what she was doing and let go of Tanjuro to walk a distance away from him. The Demon King looked at her sadly, knowing that she was thinking about what he'd told her before. "Shizu," he began. "Yes my Lord?" the Demon woman asked, looking up at him. "About what you told me previously. I did talk to Kie and Mr Uzui about it. I think you're wonderful Shizu. Really. Even before you became a Demon, you were so strong and amazing. When I asked Kie about this, she gave me her permission to have a relationship with you as well.
However, despite how much I admire you, I'm not quite sure if what I feel for you is the same love that I feel for Kie. And honestly, we don't have the time for me to figure it out. We need to focus on this training and killing the remaining Upper Rank Demons as well as Muzan before we can even begin to worry about our relationships. So, could I ask you for some time after all of this is over to think about my own feelings on this?" Tanjuro asked. Shizu looked down for a moment, then back up at him and smiled, "of course. I don't expect you to know how you feel about me right away, especially when we have so much else to focus on. I don't mind giving you some time to think once we've killed all the other Demons" she replied.
Tanjuro smiled back, "thank you Shizu. I really do mean I will think about this later, I promise. I'm not going to just ignore your feelings. Also, no matter what, I will always love and protect our children, okay? So please don't worry about them".
Tanjuro sighed. He hoped she knew how much he cared about her. Not just as one of his Demons. He really did love her, he just wanted to wait until they had the time to really spend on that. As they made it back to the Love Estate, Tanjuro smiled as he saw all of their children playing together. Along with one new face. Haruka was happily talking with Rei, who was smiling and nodding to whatever she said. "We're back!" he called. All at once his children stopped what they were doing and looked up at him. "Dad!", "Daddy!", "Papa!" the children cried, running over to him. More happy cries were heard as they saw their Mother's with him as well.
And suddenly the group of Demons was being mobbed by all of their children. "Are you finished your training?" "Where are Tanjiro, Nezuko and Sanemi?!" "Come look at this picture we did!" "Papa!" they all spoke excitedly over each other, before Tanjuro knelt down to catch the two excited toddlers. "We missed you Papa!" Koto cried, while Rokuta started to cry. "Oh, hey, it's okay. I'm here now. And you had your Older Siblings and Mother's, so you weren't by yourselves. There, there, shhh" Tanjuro soothed the little ones, cradling them close to him. He looked at the rest of their children, "Let's go inside and get comfortable, and then we can talk, okay?" he asked calmly.
So the children went back inside with their Father and Mother's.
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Tanjuro listened patiently as his children talked about what they'd been doing while he was running his Training, and answered questions about what he'd done. "Where are Tanjiro, Nezuko and Sanemi?" Hanako asked again, Sumi nodding beside her. "Tanjiro needed to rest for a while, so he's at the Buttefly Estate, and Sanemi and Nezuko have moved on to the next Hashira's training" Tanjuro explained. "Is Tanjiro okay?" Shigeru asked worriedly, Takeo trying and failing to keep from looking worried. "He'll be fine. The Butterfly Nurses are very skilled" their Father assured. Hiroshi and Shuya nodded in understanding, but both looked slightly nervous.
"If you're finished with the training, would you play with us?" Shuya asked, his other Siblings smiling eagerly. Haruka looked unsure, looking between her Mother and Tanjuro. Rei put her hand on her Daughter's shoulder, making her look up at her, "if you want to go with the other kids to play with Lord Tanjuro, that's fine with me Dear" she said with a smile. "Yay! Let's play, let's play!" Shuya cheered. "Hold on, Dad just finished his Training, wouldn't he want to spend some time with our Mom's first?" Sumi asked, looking up at the adults.
"It's fine, if you want to, play" Kie said haltingly with a smile. Tanjuro watched with a warm smile as his children actually stopped and thought about what they wanted to do. "Wait! Dad and Mom's don't need to sleep because they're Demon's, right?" Shigeru asked. "Yeah?" Hanako replied in confusion. "Then that means they can do what they want to do tonight while we're all sleeping!" the boy said triumphantly. Most of his children cheered, except for Takeo, who looked down. He knew that Tanjiro was busy training, and he should be happy to spend time with his parents, but-
"So! I'm assuming you all want to do different things, let's take turns, so that I can play with all of you equally, okay?" Tanjuro asked kindly. Everyone agreed, and they all wrote down what they wanted to do with their parents, and Tanjuro, Kei and Shizu spent the rest of the day playing with their children.
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That night, after all of their children had gone to bed, Tanjuro, Kie and Shizu all sat together talking. "Lord Tanjuro, when we are human again, can my children and I stay with you?" Shizu asked. Tanjuro looked down in thought, "well, our old house wouldn't be big enough for all of us. I'm not going to kick you all out of anything, I'd never do that to any of you. But maybe we should think of moving," he looked over at Kie, "I know our family has lived on Mount Kumotori for generations, but it is true that we'd need more space now. Either we renovate our house to make it bigger, or we move somewhere else into a bigger house" Tanjuro said.
"Besides, with the amount of money our family makes as Demon Slayers, a portion of which I have been saving up, we could afford a new house, and many more things we'd all need for our family." He added. The black and silver-haired Demon woman looked down in thought. Her memories of her old home were foggy, but she remembered a small house, lots of wood, cold snow, a furnace and warmth. Maybe it was the way she remembered it, but Tanjuro's words implied that the house really was as small as in her memories. Definitely not big enough for his family as it was now.
Even so, a part of her wanted to go back to that small house, the one that she and her family had lived in together before. Kie looked down at Rokuta, who was sleeping in her arms. She smiled, stroking the toddler's hair gently. "As long as we're together" she said. Tanjuro nodded, "yes, as long as everyone is together, safe and happy, I really don't care where we are. In fact some of our children could move into the house on Mount Kumotori when they grow up, while we live in a bigger house. What do you both think?" he asked. "I agree with Kie" Shizu replied.
"Alright. Then it's decided" Tanjuro agreed. Kie smiled and hugged her baby boy close to her. As he watched the boy, Tanura couldn't believe both that it had nearly been two years since he and his Wife had become Demons, and that it had only been two years since then. It both seemed so long since then and such a short amount of time. That night, their children slept soundly, feeling safe with their parents protecting them. Meanwhile, Muzan Kibutsuji was getting ready to make his move in the shadows.