Summary:
takes place during chapter 20.
after waking up in a touchy situation, Tanya starts to remember the events of the previous night.
"Uhh…" Tanya groaned as her crusty eyes struggled to open. 'My head hurts' she thought to herself, and she also felt a little sick in her stomach. 'I also feel a little warm right now.' her eyes were finally forced open, and she saw pecs staring at her directly in the face. "Huh?" her eyes tilted up, seeing Kyujuro's soundly sleeping form. She had fallen asleep next to him many times, and more than a few times he had wrapped his arms around her, The difference this time? He had no shirt on, or under his shirt. His top was completely exposed.
"Ah!" despite her headache Tanya managed to get out of the smiling man's hold and back away, her face as red as a cherry blossom. She patted herself over, thankfully she was still clothed, even if she was wearing her uniform from the night before. She pulled the blanket up more, his pants were still on as well. After a few moments passed, Tanya was able to clear her head though her face was still a little red. 'I've seen him shirtless before, why am I so embarrassed by it now though?'
Through her headache, she realized she was having a small hangover, and slowly began to remember the events of last night, her 18th birthday as well.
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18 years…...
Were what started the thoughts of Tanya Kocho, formerly Tanya Von Degurechaff. She gulped down a little, which she refused to believe she would lose to being X, she only has twelve years remaining before her 30-year deadline was over. She had never been much of a birthday person to begin with, but thoughts of how much time had passed versus what time she had left, needless to say, Tanya was not really in the mood to celebrate her birthday.
Still, though, Shinobu and Viktoriya had already bet it up, and miraculously the butterfly mansion had no patients today, a rarity to be sure. Tanya sighed 'Being Z did this, didn't she? I fail to see how this is 'helping' me' she thought to herself, knowing the other Being enjoyed seeing moments like these. But she had thought 'help' would mean helping her against bullshit set up by Being X, not this! She would berate Being Z, but unfortunately, she could not speak to them unless they spoke to her as well.
There was a knock on Tanya's door. Standing there was Viktoriya and Erya, Tanya was already getting a bad feeling. "Hello there Tanya, I heard it was someone's birthday today." Erya had a stretchy smile on her face, she really did not like where this was going. "Yeah, now leave me alone, if you want to bother me wait till the dinner starts." Viktoriya sighed "wish Shinobu was not busy putting the three girls to bed, she could have helped us with this." Tanya raised an eyebrow "help with what?"
Erya took out a green dress with flowers enshrined all over it, both Viktoriya and her made jazzy hands as they motioned over it"Tada, this dress was made to fit your new measurements, a perfect birthday dress." Erya giggled "I am sure Rengoku will like it both on and off." Tanya's eye twitched more than it has the whole time she has been here. She grumbled "first off, no, second off, never say something like that again. Ever!" she was blushing slightly.
Erya gave a disappointed look "oh you are one of those waits till marriage kinda gals? Do you demon slayers even get married?" Tanya was about to respond when Viktoriya cut in "oh, well Uzui is married, to three wives remember." Tanya was again going to respond but this time Erya cut in "oh that's right, so Kyujuro and Tanya can get married. Imagine that." feeling like she was not in the conversation despite it being about her, Tanya took out her sword, and cut the dress half, Viktoriya only just managing to pull her girlfriend out of the way before she could get caught up in it.
"The hell?! I worked hard on that!" Erya shouted loudly, obviously ticked off. 'Now she knows how I felt.' Tanya sheathed her sword and said "I will pay for it. But I am not wearing a dress or any things like that. Just wearing my uniform and that is it." she said this all in a calm tone as if cutting the dress had made her feel at ease and quite soothed. Viktoriya did not want to ruin the sudden good mood Tanya was in, it was her birthday after all. So she pushed Erya out of the room with her, saying "see you soon Tanya."
Tanya sighed, "finally." she took the cut-up dress and threw it away, she was never putting something like that on, ever. "Honestly where do those guys get off." she sat down and planted her chin in her hand, she would leave, but without even a mission as an excuse, Tanya was stuck. 'I am probably the only one who thinks birthdays are a waste of time.' she of course had her reasons for thinking that, in her first life birthdays just seemed like a waste of time and money, and in her second life war was to great a focus. She had very little opportunity to celebrate anything, much less celebrate birthdays, even when Kanae would throw her one when she was still around, Tanya did not care for it.
'I have twelve years left, damn I, I should have never wasted a year and a half training those three!' she thought to herself, as Eighteen years had gone by, she was Kinoe but was not even sure if she was close to being a Hashira, and she was not even close to finding Muzan, much less killing him! Frustrated Tanya clenched her pants 'I won't lose Being X! Not yet'
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Later as Tanya and Shinobu were walking together, Tanya has a blindfold on. "Is this really necessary?" she asked as it just felt inconvenient for her to have to be guided by Shinobu, mostly because she memorized the entire mansion and could actually find her way around blindfolded. Shinobu huffed "no, it would ruin the spirit of it all. Besides, Sumi, Kiyo, and Naho were the ones that insisted it is a surprise." Tanya sighed and said in a somewhat annoyed tone "but they are asleep."
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"
Everyone shouted to Tanya, who gave a small "thank you." the people there were Shinobu, Kyujuro, Tengena, his wives Makio, Hinatsuru, and Suma, Victoriya, Erya, Granz, Wilibald, Sanemi, and Giyu. as well as some boy who Tanya saw around the mansion a few times, supposedly Shinobu is treating him for amnesia. 'Is his name Muichiro? I think.' she thought to herself. Mary and the others Tanya knew had also been invited, but Mary and Weiss were on missions. While Oabanai and Mitsuri were away as well, though they had completed the mission they were still stuck up north. Not that Tanya minded, fewer people causing her a headache over her birthday.
Tanya sat in between Shinobu and Suma, the worried girl poked Makio "S-switch with me." Suma whispered as she was worried Tanya would explode at her if anything pissed her off. After much deliberation, Makio changed seats. Suma hugged her tightly as she tearfully thanked her. "What happened?" Tanya asked as Makio shrugged "don't worry about it birthday girl." the 'birthday girl' rolled her eyes.
"YES, I AGREE GIYU!" Kyujuro yelled as he, Sanemi, and Giyu were talking about which was the strongest of the hashira. "Don't agree with him! He only said one thing" Sanemi yelled, Giyu shrugged. Kyujuro gave a strong nod "yes, but it is hardly a contest. Himejima is the strongest of us!" Sanemi growled a little "Bullshit! He did not even argue why." after swallowing some rice Giyu said, "all you two have been doing is listing off your own feats, not even considering the other hashira." Kyujuro nodded again in agreement, siping down a bit of the brownish drink in his cup. "Grrr, you're right! But we can settle which is the strongest of the hashira in this room at least!" Tengen's head perked up "yo, can I get in this?" he also grabbed Muichiro, who was busy looking up at a lamp till then. "You as well Tokito!"
As the five male Hashira's decided on how to settle it, except for Muichiro as he was nibbling on some salad leaves without even realizing that he was doing it. Tanya gave a hard sigh, as in between eating the food she took sips of the white drink in her cup 'I swear I recognize this.' she thought to herself as she shrugged and drank more of it down. "I will get more of that for you." Erya offered as she brought the clear pitcher with the drink in it to pour more in. Viktoriya gave a small giggle, her face seemed a little red. But Tanya paid it no mind.
The boys shouted out "hurrah!" as they figured out how to settle their 'argument' after a while, with all of them except Giyu and Muichiro looking a bit flushed in the face, the cups they had, as well as one pitcher nearly empty. "They drank that much? They were only talking for twenty minutes" Erya scratched the side of her head. Shinobu giggled "they probably got excited about what they are going to do." She looked over at giyu, a small vein popping as she thought 'except him and Muichiro I guess' while Tanya, in between sips said "idiots are what they are." she would complain, but at least this would hopefully mean no ear grating birthday songs. "Shouldn't you take part in it Shinobu?" Tanya asked the insect hashira, who hummed and pretended not to hear her adoptive sister. 'She just doesn't want to show off that she is weak armed'
They decided on an arm-wrestling contest, with poor Granz also being dragged in even though he was not a hashira. Wilibald managed to stay safe by being the referee. "Alright, as agreed upon each of you will face each other once. The one with the most victories at the end wins, who is ready!" suddenly all of them shouted out "YEAH!" except Giyu, who simply nodded. Muichiro also shouted it out but meekly and while staring out the window where could barely make out the stars.
"Whoooo! Go, Lord Tengen!" Hinatsuru shouted out, with Makio shouting with equal vigor "Show em what you got Tengen!" Suma pumped her fist up a little, though somehow fell backward. "Seriously?" Tanya was less than amused by the women, 'are they drunk?' she said as she sipped down more of her drink. Makio gave a cheeky grin "what? You aren't going to cheer on your boyfriend?" Tanya grumbled "no, I am not. If he wants to be an idiot and play 'who has the biggest dick', I ain't getting involved." just as she swallowed, Suma of all people, in a semi-drunken stupor said, "it's not like you would know what Kyujuro's looks like right?" Tanya nearly coughed up her drink. The other women at the table laughed hard, partially because it had come from Suma. Tanya crossed her arms "o-of course not. What kind of person do you think I am?"
"Tanya is a wait 'until marriage' gal." Erya in between giggles. Tanya grumbled again, finishing off her next cup. "If that is the case, you should just b get married. After all, as demon slayers, you never know when either of you could kick the bucket." what Hinatsuru said, while it could have been said in a better way, was true. But Tanya, even in her slightly tipsy state, was too focused on her goal of beating Being X to want anything like that sort of commitment in her life. "I never said I was that kind of girl, and no, I don't…" she stopped, 'Wait…' she realized she was tipsy, the drink. 'Sake?!' her head creaked over to Erya, who winked back at her as Viktoriya, full-on drunk said "I think she is on to us." Tanya's eyes twitched, she could have stopped, but it had been so long since she had the taste of anything alcoholic, and by golly did she need it.
Tanya mouthed 'I am going to kill you later for this' to Erya, but poured herself more. Erya just smiled back. The order was set, so the boy prepared. Sanemi had to pull Muichiro back, as the boy started to wander off just as they were about to start. "Let's get this started!" Tengen shouted loudly, as the others shouted outback, again, except Giyu and Muichiro. The first match was Granz v Tengen. The poor boy only managed to last two seconds. "Woooo! Yeah Tengen!" his wives shouted out close to Tanya's ears which annoyed her. The sound Hashira gave them an air kiss as if they were his adoring audience, which technically they were.
Next was Sanemi v Kyujuro. The arm wrestling they had seemed to last long, though sanemi seemed close to winning. "KYUJURO! You better pull yourself together!" hearing Tanya yell out suddenly gave the fame hashira enough power to force Sanemi's arm down. "AHHH!" the wind hashira yelled as he banged his head against the wall. Tanya and Kyujuro gave thumbs up to each other. Tanya grinned widely, she was getting drunker and leaning into it more. She stared back at the wives of Tengen and grinned widely. Erya giggled and thought to herself 'sneaking in drinks certainly led to some unexpected entertaining moments.'
Next was Muchiro v Giyu. the water hashira could tell Muichiro's mind was elsewhere, as the mist hashira was not even pushing back. So Giyu threw it and Muchiro "won" his round. The boy blinked "oh…I won." and then looked back at the ceiling, following the outline of the wood. After that was Muichiro v Kyujuro, and Kyujuro won. But he felt bad, yet Muchiro did not care either way. "The outline of the wood leads to nowhere." making it clear where his mind was.
A few more drinks were had, as Tengen faced Sanemi. "Grrrr," The wind hashira pushed and pushed with all his might. He managed to pull the hand down a little. But then Tengen chuckled "the flashiest way to beat someone is to make them think they can win." and then instantly slammed down Sanemi's hand. "WHAT?!" in truth Sanemi and Tengen were not too far off in strength. But Sanemi's strength wavered due to how drunk he was. And then Giyu v Granz, the latter tried his best, but giyu won in the end.
Then came Sanemi v Giyu, the wind Hashira seemingly foaming at the mouth in his drunken state. "I've been waiting for this for a long time you 'better than you all' piece of shit!" Giyu's mouth opened agape, as he had no idea what Sanemi was talking about. Willibald had them start. They clasped hands and tried pushing the best they could. "What did you mean by 'better than you all?'" Giyu asked as they arm wrestled. Sanemi growled "hardly ever talking at the meeting, only hanging out when you are forced to by Kocho, or immediately leaving if not forced. You must think you're hot shit if and better than all of us if you never want to be near us."
Giyu went silent, and then in a quieter tone that only Sanemi could hear because the others were still cheering, "I do that because, unlike you all, I am not worthy of being a pillar." despite Sanemi having slammed Giyu's hand down, instead of celebrating, stayed silent. Giyu got up, having lost all but one round. Sanemi moved away as well but clenched his fist. 'I'm going to beat that bastard up, thinking he is not worthy, master Kaguya would not have picked him if that was true!' after that was Granz v Muichiro, the former won, again because Muichiro was not paying attention. Granz sighed, 'at least I did not lose all of my rounds.'
Finally, it came down to Kyujuro and Tengen, the only two so far that have not lost around yet. The others decided to give in, so it came down to these two. "You ready Kyujuro? My wives are watching, so I cannot let my flashy moves go to waste." the flame hashira nodded as he placed his elbow on the table "my girlfriend is watching, she be very disappointed if I lose. So my flaming passion will win today!" he said before both of them gave a small drunken hiccup. They clasped their hands together. "Go, lord Tengen, go lore Tengen!" Makio and Hinatsuru shouted, Suma attempted to shout as well, but it mostly came out as incoherent garbles. "Beat his ass Kyujuro!" Tanya, drunk as a sailor, shouted out.
The two matched up, neither willing to give the other even an inch of victory. Flames formed in their eyes as their hands and arms grasped and kept still as long as they could. Everyone was watching closes, even Muichiro managed to do that. Even if he was more focused on how the table seemingly shook beneath them.
As the two clashed, Makio put her arm around Tanya. "What d-r do you want?" Tanya would be horrified if she could barely keep up basic speaking, it was usually one of her most powerful tools. "Well, how about we make a little wager. If our husband wins, you have to marry Kyujuro as soon as possible." even drunk Tanya flinched at those words "h-how does that ben-e-ifit you?" her speaking terminology failing her more. Makio giggled "because even though Mitsuri is trying, it would be nice to have another married friend." she was still drunk, but Makio seemed to know exactly what she wanted. Tanya grumbled, "if Kyujuro wins?" Makio leaned over to Hina, who nodded. And then Makio leaned back at Tanya and whispered "there is still oil-filled water left over from the cooking. Enough to spill on the lady who snuck in the alcohol. If Kyujuro wins, we will let you use it instead of dumping it before we go." even when drunk, Tanya's devil grin was as scary as ever. Though her drunken state made her forget, she could just use the water either way now that she knows it is in the kitchen.
Still, neither Kyujuro nor Tengen was giving in. they were sweating, and huffing air. "YOU ARE QUITE STRONG UZUI!" Kyujuro shouted as loudly as he usually did. Tengen grinned "your strength is flamboyantly resistant as well Rengoku, But I will win." Kyujuro's permanent smile increased, both hands grasping each other as intensely as they could. But then, both of their elbows slipped. They stared blankly, but Kyujuro managed to take this to his advantage since the hands slipped with Tengen's hand facing down. He retightened his grip and slammed the hand down. Kyujuro stumbled a little as he stood up, but he raised his arms in victory. "I WON! HAHA!" he shouted triumphantly.
Tanya stood on the table, using it to jump onto Kyujuro's back. "You did it Kyujuro! We won!" she kissed him lightly on the cheek, too drunk and too caught up in the excitement to feel embaressed like she usually does. "YES! … we?" he had no idea about the bet, if he did, he might have at least been a little upset. "So sad, lord Tengen lost." Suma cried a lot. Tengen walked over to his wives, "Nah, it's fine. I will get him next time, he just got lucky." he nearly fell over when he sat down, rubbing his hand as it was feeling a little sore.
Later as the party continued, in the middle of talking to Willibald some dirty but tasty-smelling water was suddenly dumped onto Erya. "What the hell?!" she turned to see Tanya and Makio staring down at her, both holding two sides of a pot. "Got ya! that's for getting us drunk! WOO!" Makio then ran off, Tanya humming as she went back to her seat. Erya for once was the one fuming, but suddenly drunk Victoriya started licking her "ha, ha, you taste weird right now babe." and another reverse first, as now it was Erya blushing deeply instead of Victoriya. The brown-haired girl continued to lick Erya, who remained a frozen blushing mess. While Willibald went to go stop Sanemi from destroying a door.
Shinobu maybe would have been made that the floor and carpet would smell all day, Aoi would when she woke up in the morning for sure. But the insect Hashira, drunk, was busy flicking rice at Giyu. "only won against you water breathe junior. I don't remember you being that weak." unlike usual where she would tease Giyu with these types of comments, drunk her was closer to her previous self. And there were poisonous tones in her words. It made Giyu visible shake.
It was late into the night. Sanemi had fallen asleep headfirst on the table, as did Viktoriya and even Erya who had gotten drunk as the night went on, the two of them laying on the other. Willibald was unfortunately the responsible one that had to make sure everyone was not going to break anything. 'Ugh, I am taking a day off after this.'
Meanwhile, Tanya and Shinobu were glaring at each other. Why? Neither of them could remember. Kyujuro was nearby, drunk, but ready to stop Tanya if need be. Same for Giyu for Shinobu, but he was not drunk. Finally, after moments of just glaring over an argument neither remembered Tanya said "you're just, you are just jealous because you haven't got together with water boy behind ya. Probably because you hide behind a smile!" Giyu flinched, but Shinobu spoke up before him. "You would not be with flaming smiles if you had not lost a bet to begin with! You don't know how to handle any emotions except rage!" the two ladies glared harder "GRRRR."
The two stopped glaring. "We know what we must do. Kanae-nee would have wanted this anyways." Tanya pointed out, and Shinobu nodded. "Yes., nee-san would have." Giyu gave a confused look, as did the dazed Kyujuro. Suddenly both of them grabbed the respective males behind them, and started wandering dragging them away. "Where are we going?" both Kyujuro and Giyu asked in sync. "Rooms. For privacy reasons!" Giyu was concerned which only increased when Kyujuro shouted "OKAY!" Willibald saw them leaving, and opened his mouth but Tengen, carrying his coddling drunk wives said "don't. If they are about to do what I am about to do, its best you don't follow."
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Tanya did not remember much after that, she vaguely remembered taking off Kyujuro's clothes for a second, but she blushed and waved that memory away. She grumbled, and marched up to the door and slide it open, Shinobu in the room across from hers did the same. "YOU! This is all your fault!" the two stopped, they did everything at the same time.
"So…you managed to avoid it as well?" Tanya nodded, she peered into Shinobu's room, and she saw Giyu was awake, but reading in the room, she wondered if he had been like that all night. Shinobu seemed even more embarrassed than Tanya was. 'I could tease her, but I think just this once we are in the same boat.' Shinobu clenched her fist, Tanya could see one of the biggest veins in her sister's head popping now. "Tomioka said he made me stay off him till I fell asleep and watched to make sure I was okay…" Shinobu said with a small blush on her face. "Now, If you can excuse me I need to yell at Giyu." the tired hashira flinched at the mention of his first name instead of his second "wait why-" Shinobu slammed the room shut.
Tanya sighed, she entered the room she came from, seeing Kyujuro waking up. "Ah, GOOD MORNING TANYA!" the girl flinched, rubbing her head "ah, Kyujuro doesn't that hurt your own head?" he shook his head "NOP-" he stopped when he noticed Tanya glaring at him. Sighing she sat down on her knees, she looked ashamed "I know we got drunk last night, but I am sorry that I forced you to well…you know." Kyujuro rubbed his chin "oh we didn't. Though we did make out a lot." Tanya blushed profusely "I see..well g-good." she was glad at least one mistake was missed, but she was still embarrassed.
"My memory is a little fuzzy as well. But, I remember your face. You seemed mixed of pleased and very worried as you unbuttoned my shirt." Kyujuro's face blushed a little "I could tell you, while not against it, maybe did not want to do 'that' just yet. So I stopped it. Well, more elicit parts anyway." Tanya stared up at Kyujuro who was looking away from her. She held her chest 'damn it, feelings suck.' she told herself as she went up and planted a kiss on his forehead "thank you for stopping it Kyujuro. I just…I need more time." Kyujuro's smile widened "I know! I am not upset, I am a little at myself, but that is just because I did not try to stop it sooner." Tanya laughed a little "you and me both."
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Almost two hours later and the Kocho sisters walked out of their respective rooms, "so why did you take a while?" Tanya shrugged at her sister "I don't know, guess putting off Aoi's incoming berating." Shinobu giggled "that is nice." Tanya gave her a side-eye glance "and from what I was hearing, you were 'talking' with Giyu for quite a while." Shinobu hummed with a graceful smile "I have no idea what you mean~"
Kyujuro walked out of the room, he was going to walk with Tanya but then Tengen swung his arms around his shoulders. "We gotta have a rematch Rengoku. We were both drunk before I am sure I could win now!" the shorter male nodded "SURE! A little late though, I am famished!" behind Tengen came Willibald and Granz, the other holding ice packs to his head. After them was Sanemi, who seemed pissed off more than hungover. "So, did you and smaller Kocho do the devil's tango, was it flashy?" Tengen asked with a grin, Willibald sighed as he had hoped it was all forgotten.
The flame Hashira shook his head, keeping his composure "NOPE! I believe Tomioka might be the same as well." hearing that seemed to calm Sanemi down a little. It was then that Giyu walked out of Shinobu's room, putting on his Haori over his demon slayer uniform. "HEY TOMIOKA! Are you okay?" Giyu nodded "I am fine, why?" Kyujuro scratched his head "oh, just we heard yelling from Shinobu's room. I only heard parts of it, 'Giyu.' Though Tanya said she heard all of it."
A few moments of silence passed, and Giyu adjusted his haori one last time. "Shinobu was angry with me." Willibald nodded "I imagine so, but it was also her fault." Giyu shook his head "she was not mad about that." all of them gave a curious look. "What was she mad about then?" Giyu seemed to adjust where he was standing, a small bit of sweat went down his forehead. "She was madder that we did not. And demanded we rectify it," he spoke in a monotone way, not giving them more than what he said. Kyujuro, Tengen, Wilibald, and Granz said one after that other "r.…" "...ec…" "...ti…" "...fy?"
Giyu then walked away. Sanemi growled, and clenched his fist "YOU FUCKING BASTARD! HOW DARE YOU SLEEP WITH KANAE'S SISTER!!!!!!" it took the combined effort of the four others to hold Sanemi back from outright killing Giyu right then and there.
Meanwhile, as she helped Aoi and Shinobu clean up, Tanya thought to herself 'yeah birthdays are a mistake…' she clenched the broom 'just another reminder I am on a time limit…'