~~~~~~1910~~~~~~
"Flame breathing, first form and flower breathing, fourth form; Crimson flame!" Tanya shouted as her blade clashed with her sparring partner, Rengoku. His sword flashed red and yellow while hers flashed red and pink. "That's it! You got it!" the flame Hashira shouted excitedly. They had been training with Tanya's combined breathing whenever they could, she even managed to learn the fourth form of both flower and water breathing, though with much strife as she still was not as in tune with either form as she was with flame breathing. Suddenly Tanya felt a tinge of pain in her left side and pulled away letting the flame of her sword dissipate. She coughed a little.
Rengoku gave a concerned look "you okay Kocho? Did we push too far again?" Tanya wiped her forehead "yeah, let's stop for now Rengoku…" they had both discovered a couple of months ago that when Tanya uses two breathing forms at once it messes with her own breathing as well, it mostly only affects her when she does it multiple times in a row, and when she cannot take any more her sides or chest her from lack of air in her lungs. It was then that Senjuro walked out with a teapot and some cups. "The tea was ready just on the time it seems."
The three of them sat down on their knees as they took some sips from the cups of tea. While Rengoku was excitingly telling his younger brother about his most recent venture against a demon that he had fought in a rushing river Tanya thought to herself, 'hmm, it seems he really only asked once.' she was of course thinking about when the flame hashira asked her to go to a festival with him, three years from then. She still thought it was of course absurd, but it seems he knew her better than she thought. Tanya did need to think about whether or not she actually wanted to go or not. Even a year later she still is not sure. The Rengoku brothers were focused on their conversation, especially Senjuro who kept asking questions about the plant life near the river, which led to a longer talk about the scenery around them. To anyone else, talking about fauna and nature life instead of an epic duel in a river would be distracting. But the elder Rengoku knew that his brother was not a fighter, and was more than happy to discuss something else.
Tanya smirked, 'somehow, despite being able to read what people want, the smiling idiot does not get that screaming in a library is a frowned upon.' she said as she thought back to a week ago when the two happened to be called to the same mission at a library. That demon was hell, but they somehow managed to slay it without burning any books, though the floors and walls had certainly seen better days. She shook her head, she had distracted herself from her own thoughts about Rengoku's request. Tanya needed to think because to her she was unsure of where her attraction lay, in her first life she was a man, but her life back then was far too busy to even consider a partnership with anyone male or female. In her second life, she was not attracted to any of the men she worked with and was attracted to Viktoriya, though she was now unsure if that attraction was something she confused with close companionship since the woman had basically been her first actual friend.
"Stop talking so loud out there! I am trying to sleep!" Tanya's thoughts, as well as the brother's conversation, were cut off by the Patriarch of the Rengoku family, Shinjuro shoved the door open. His face beat red from how drunk he was. The elder Rengoku sibling raised his hand and shouted "I APOLOGIZE, FATHER, we will be quieter." Shinjuro just scowled "whatever, if my sleep is interrupted one more time there will be hell to pay, BOY." with that he slid the door shut with great force.
Tanya sighed "I still don't get why you deal with him." Senjuro and Kyojuro gave the same answer "he's our father after all." she shook her head. "Whatever, next time we train we are doing it at the Butterfly mansion. Shinobu being present would likely help my recovery if my breathing gets too intense or limited." she thought about her adoptive older sister, who had become the insect hashira. The girl had 'shed' her intense personality and replaced it with a smiling, passive-aggressive feminine woman. She also was sure Kanao was starting to train as well since she had seen the silent girl swinging a Nichirin sword in the yard a couple of times. Kyojuro rubbed his chin "that makes sense! The elder Kocho would be perfect to train with as well, give you more swords to fight against!" Senjuro grasped his brother's arm "careful, he said to be quieter remember?" Tanya shook her head, Shinobu's style was made to make up for her weak arm since she could not cut the neck of a demon.
Meanwhile, Weiss was facing off against three demons at once. They were in the mountains, the demons snickered and circled around the muscly demon slayer. "Well, are you just going to stand there and admire me? Or are you going to actually approach me?" Weiss asked as he got his large blade off his back and began swinging it on its connected chain. The demons all ran at him, but he just smirked "Stone breathing, third form; stone skin!" He spun the blade around with the chain, not only deflecting the demon's incoming attacks but managing to cut through two demons' necks as well, leaving only one.
"You're left open human!" the remaining demon shouted as it launched itself at Weiss while he got his sword back, the demon was about to get a bite in his arm, but suddenly a flashing light hit the demon in the back. "AHHHH!" it yelled in pain, as Weiss took this opportunity to finish the demon off. He held his blade on his shoulder and looked at the source of the light beam attack. Seeing Gunner staring him down. "Been a while since I've seen you. What, did not want that demon to be the one to kill me?" Gunner shook his head "shut it, I saved you because I want you to let me pass without trouble."
Weiss grinned, he had seen Gunner earlier that day, and the whole reason he was even on the mountain was that he was chasing after the beam demon. "Well, I would have been fine either way. But…" he saw Gunner had taken a lot out of himself with that blast, it was likely the demon had skipped out on eating humans for a bit now, otherwise, he would be just fine. "I can let you go for now." Gunner nodded, he went to leave but Weiss asked loudly "Hey where are you going? Just in case I am ever in the neighborhood." he grinned cheekily. Gunner sighed "not that it is any of your business. But I am heading to Asakusa in Tokyo. Probably won't be there for a while though." with that he left without another word to Weiss.
~~~~~~1911~~~~~~
"Remind me why I am here?" Tanya spoke as she blew a long strand of hair out of her face. Currently, she was in a sewing shop, not getting clothes sewn or new material for such a thing. But to get her hair cut. Viktoriya laughed a little "because you kept complaining that your older sister was busy and that you needed someone to cut your hair. And I could not do it because my arm is broken." she said referring to her arm in a slang. Both she and Granz went on a mission and she got it broken, Granz was fine and only needed a day of recovery so he was already off on a different mission. The other woman that was here, Erya giggled in between her conversation as she listened to the two of them talk. "You know if you had your hair more well kept there would be fewer knots." the women pulled out and cut away a couple of knots in Tanya's hair. "Hey! That hurts you know. And its not my fault that my hair gets messed up enough in the field, after a while you start to forget to clean beyond when you take a bath. Tell em Viktoriya!"
Erya tilted her head "now, I believe I'm not supposed to know that either of you is a Demon slayer, so what is she supposed to tell me exactly?" she winked at Viktoriya, who nervously rubbed the back of her head. After constantly having to make up excuses to a worried Erya whenever she came over cover in injuries, Viktoriya just told the women outright. There may or may not have been boozed involved then. Tanya snickers to herself, 'she got poor Viktoriya drunk on purpose didn't sh-' "OW!" She yelped out as Erya pulled away at another knot. "You know Viktoriya or I could teach you how to cut your own hair right? Maybe even teach you how to beautify it. Sure the butterfly broch you have is cute, but how can you keep up your cute girl look if your hair is messy all the time?"
Tanya loudly grumbled, Viktoriya tapped on Erya's shoulder and whispered "I told you she hates being called cute." Erya smirked cheekily "oh. I know." hearing the women giggle Tanya just grumbled louder 'she is lucky Viktoriya is here, or I'd punch her in the gut.' after her haircut was done Tanya put her yellow butterfly broch at the base of her pony-tail again. "thanks…Muller" somehow Erya had managed to keep the same last name in her previous life, maybe Being X was just being lazy when he reincarnated her. Erya clapped her hands together " just call me Erya, Elena and Muller are to formal for me. But, now about those beauty lessons~?" Tanya gave a pointed look "no. but I will ask Viktoriya to teach me how to cut my own hair. Nothing more." Viktoriya raised her unbroken hand "um…I am still here. But sure I can do that."
Erya snickered "meanwhile, we can still teach you some basic-" Tanya threw her arms in the air "you know what, I am out of here, see you back at the butterfly mansion." she promptly left before Erya could coax her into "beauty lessons" the last thing she needs is her hair and face messed with by the women. As they watched Tanya storm off Erya chuckled "well, that the girl that the Mary gal is into?" Viktoriya nodded, having brought Mary here to change her father yukata into Haori to wear over her demon slayer uniform. "And you also said that this Rengoku fellow is also into her?" Viktoriya nodded again, she sorta felt bad that she basically was gossiping about her friends behind their backs, but not enough to stop.
Erya laughed "cute, tough, furious, I can see why." her eyes narrowed "maybe I should join her love triangle, make it a love square or whatever." Viktoriya tapped her fingers together and said "I-I think Tanya has her plate full already." the other woman, seeing her 'friend' trying to dissuade her even though she was joking. It was adorable. She placed her arm over Viktoriya's shoulder "maybe though, there is already a beautiful woman in my life that I don't need to do that." Viktoriya's face went beet red.
Back at the butterfly mansion, Shinobu watched as Tanya walked in with a look of grave annoyance on her face. "Tanya, great you made it. Aoi needs help training some folks in rehabilitation. Can you help her with that?" Tanya looked at her and raised an eyebrow "last time I did that you complained I went too hard on them." Shinobu nodded "yeah, but kanao is not ready for it, and besides…I think Aoi is worried they will try something." Tanya smirked as she realized Shinobu wanted her to instill the fear of the devil in their hearts "alright." she walked inside with her wide scary grin.
Shinobu giggled and walked outside the mansion. "Hello Tomioka, did you stop by for something?" she said as she had already seen the water hashira waiting outside her gate. "No, not particularly." he went silent, a vein popped a little on Shinobu's forehead "Tomioka, don't you know its creepy standing outside a mansion full of females for no reason? Are you a pervert or something?" she said with her teasing tone, poking Giyu's arm multiple times. After he still did not respond, she just felt even more annoyed "well do you at least want to come in for tea or something to eat?" Giyu just shook his head.
Shinobu's eyebrow twitch "this is why people hate you Tomioka" she muttered under her breath. "Fine…wait" she saw that dripping down from one of Giyu's hands was some blood. She quickly grabbed it much to his surprise "Tomioka, why did you not mention you were bleeding? No- more than that why did you not come inside and tell someone?!" Giyu shrugged "you and the others seemed busy. So I decided to wait" Shinobu wanted so so badly to drop her smile and berate him with the fury she used to. But she calmed herself down and pulled on Tomioka's none injured arm "come on you big dummy, can't have a pillar walking around with a bloody arm. It can get infected." Giyu said nothing but followed as he was pulled inside.
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"So…yeah. That's what happened." Mary spoke with her shoulder slouched. She was speaking to Wilibald and Tanya, the latter of which was busy fixing her frizzy hair. "That's rough Sue," Wilibald said as he watched with his head leaning into his hand. Mary had explained to the two that just as she was leaving to head out on another mission she saw Kaigaku was about to beat up Zenitsu. So she got in the middle, Kaigaku and her blades clashed after that, and his thunder breathing messed with her hair. Tanya sighed "I still think you should go to Viktoriya for this, I can barely cut my own hair right." it had been a few months now and Viktoriya, as well as Shinobu, had taught her how to cut her own hair. But Tanya only wanted the basics, she did not want to even give them the opportunity to do anything else with her hair.
Mary faced flushed pink a little, something only Wilibald saw. "S-she was not around." she was only sorta lying. She actually ran into Viktoriya when she entered the town and did ask for her help. But Viktoriya insisted she gets help from Tanya. The teasing she got was too much to bear so she just agreed. Luckily for her, Tanya and Wilibald had both arrived at the same time from a different missions. Wilibald was there just in case he improperly dressed a wound on his knee. But he had done it well enough so he just got a new cover and ointment for it. Tanya had not been injured on her mission.
Tanya wiped her hands, "they're as good and straight as new. You'll need to do your own braids though." she went to put the scissors and hairbrush she had back inside the butterfly mansion. As mary did her own braids she though was thinking to herself, 'I can't keep my hair from frizzing over due to my junior student. But Tanya comes back from an actual mission unscathed.' Mary was still trying to sort out her feelings. She still had not fully forgiven Tanya for killing her dad, even if she understood why. She was sure she still had feelings for Tanya, so she obviously did not hate her. But she doubted Tanya felt the same way about her. "So, you're thinking about Tanya right?" Mary's face goes red as she had forgotten Wilibald was still there. "N-no I am not Koe!...M-maybe. So what?!"
Wilibald shrugged "nothing, while I don't really have a problem with who loves who. Unless you are a woman like Viktoriya's girlfriend, I doubt you'll find many men or women willing to be openly gay." he met Erya once, and that was all he needed to learn that despite not being a demon or a demon slayer, she was scary. Mary nodded "yeah…" her own religious beliefs aside she knew Wilibald was right. Society was not at that point yet, she hoped it one day would though. "Hey don't sound like that. I am sorry. I can't say for sure where Tanya lands. However, if what I heard from Kocho…the older one is right, you may have already lost in the fight for her love." Mary was about to ask what he meant, but then Tanya walked out.
"Hey! What did I miss?" neither said anything related to the conversation they had, just saying they caught up is all. The three went back to talking amongst themselves. Mary was thinking about what Wilibald said, remembering back at the military base in Takoi village. Her eyes fell on Tanya 'I can be happy if she's happy…' she told herself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"S-stay away!" A demon shouts as backs away from two demon slayers, Tanya and Rengoku. The demon was not sure was made it more nervous. The males' unflinching positive grin, or the females' patented wide and devil-like smile. "WE CAN NOT LET YOU GO!" Rengoku shouted as he prepared his sword for another attack. "I think he can hear us without the yelling. But yeah, sorta brought this on yourself when you attacked that farm." Tanya said without remorse as she was already starting to release her breath.
The demon clenched its fist and closed its eyes "f-fine. You die first then!" the demon's arms split off from its body. It was attempting to attack both at once. It would not go well for the demon. Both cut each respective arm before it even got a foot away from the demon. And before the demon could react, its head was cut off by Tanya. As the demon dissipated they two sheathed their swords. "That went well!" Rengoku shouted, "now let's head back to the farmer to let him and his wife know his farm is safe now." Tanya chuckled "I think you just want more of those rice balls they gave us when we arrived." he did not deny her statement.
Later Tanya and Rengoku were waiting outside, the farmer couple had somehow managed to get them to stay for the night even if they really did not have to. Rengoku had enthusiastically agreed, and so Tanya was stuck not that she minded, would save them the trouble of having to find a hotel or lodging in the nearby town. Tanya rubbed her stomach "I don't think I have eaten like that in a while." she sat as dinner had just finished, the wife kept bringing out portions, both Tanya and the husband had to keep up with Rengoku's fast eating, fearful he would eat it all otherwise. "Yes, but it was quite GOOD!" he shouted, yet he too was rubbing his stomach.
The wife peeked her head out the door "the beds are prepared. Now are you two sure you did not want them set up in the same room?" she asked with a large smile. Tanya and Rengoku just nodded. "Alright, still don't understand why a couple, even an unmarried one would want to sleep in separated rooms. "I already told you at dinner lady, we aren't a couple." the wife closed the door without hearing her finish. Tanya grumbled, thankful that the moonlight was not enough to show off her new pink cheeks. After a few more moments of hearing crickets chirping and winds blowing against the long grass Rengoku stood up "good night Kocho, see you in the morning." Tanya nodded tiredly "good night, I'm probably only going to be up a few more minutes myself."
After Rengoku went inside Tanya sighed before yawning. Next year, that's when Rengoku was going to ask again. Likely not right away, especially since there were only a few months left of this year. She shook her head "that idiot has infected me. I should be thinking about how I only have half the time left now before my time limit is up and I lose to Being X." she spoke softly, and she shivered a little. However, the cold stopped as Tanya saw the grass was no longer moving. She tested it out and sure enough, she could not move her body much, frozen in her self-hugging position.
Tanya sighed, "what?" was all she asked, staring at the two nutcracker dolls in front of her. Red and Blue. the blue one, Being Z spoke first "oh I just have to know, what are you going to say to Kyojuro when he asks you again? It's killing me inside!" both Tanya and Being X were physically exhaled. She could not believe a supposedly 'higher being' was obsessing over her love life. Something she never really even thought about in either of her previous lifetimes. At least not that much. "Not telling. Don't know yet, but I may turn him down just to piss you off." Being Z made a faux crying noise "oh, can't believe Tanya hates me now as well. And that would be mean to Rengoku if you turn him down because of me!"
Tanya would have rolled her eyes if she could right now. "Is this really what you wanted to talk to me about? Do you two really have nothing else going on?" Being X grumbled "no. Z is just dumb." Z made more Faux crying noises "you both are mean!" ignoring his female half being X spoke more. "You are at your halfway point, Tanya. And you aren't even close to finding Muzan, much less killing him. Which is good for me. But just a reminder, you don't get do-overs." Tanya's face grimaced "yeah I know, once again I ask, is this really why you had to talk to me now. Or am I right in that you two have nothing else going on?" Being X went silent. Being Z spoke up "well, guess X has gone into silent mode. Bye~"
Time unfroze, Tanya once again became cold. But she smiled widely "you're such a bad liar Being X, trying to get me worked up. You would not have tried to mock me unless you had reason to be nervous about me beating you. Heh." she went inside to sleep, having one of the best night of rest that she had in a while
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