To Run or To Become Foundation
Kamado Akina’s POV
“He was…re-numbered? You’re sure, Akina?” Oyakata-sama asks me softly, I sigh through my nose, and Ubuyashiki-san peers at me nervously as I flex my hands around the warm tsutsu-gata. “Why would Muzan re-number the Kizuki? The last time-”
“Let’s not talk about that.” Ubuyashiki-san suggests hurriedly, I feel my smile go slightly stiff-
(-blood, blood, why is there so much blood?! When was I last out!? When did I see the sun last?! I need to find the sun I need to find the sun find the sun find the sun find the sun-)
“Is something breaking?” Oyakata-sama asks quietly, I blink, the walls no longer red, the floor no longer slick with blood and corpses, and-
-and Ubuyashiki-san is looking very scared of me.
I place the tsutsu-gata down gently, I run my hands through my hair gently and slowly, and I brush the wisteria flowers and twigs off my shoulders and lap gently. I do not meet their gazes as I gather my feet under me, the flowers and twigs quickly turning to ash and dust now that they are not attached to me.
“I believe that it is time for me to return to Butterfly Mansion, Oyakata-sama.” I tell him softly, inhaling deeply, quietly, gently, even as my eyes sting and my nose burns, “I hope you and Ubuyashiki-san have a good night, sir.”
“We hope you have a good night as well.” Oyakata-sama gives me a warm, comforting smile, but Ubuyashiki-san’s is shaky, uneasy - fearful.
I wait until I turn around to let the tears fall.
Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and (surprisingly) Inosuke all cower behind Nezuko, who had shaking knees as she made her best scary face at Haganezuka, who has his knives out, but is hesitating at her.
“Well, at least some lines, you won’t cross.” I mutter dryly from the doorway, Shinobu snorts loudly, Aoi peeks out curiously behind her, and Kanao stops walking past in order to peek under my arm.
“She’s in nothing but a house yukata, Kamado-san!” Haganezuka replies, sounding exasperated, all four kids pause in their cowering, “It’s improper, and the fight wouldn’t be fair!”
“I’m pretty sure I was in a house yukata the last time I-”
“That was an entirely different circumstance!” He yowls behind his mask, I immediately get an evil grin on my face as I sidle up to him, Shinobu nervously attempts to snatch the kids, but I slam a leg between her and my gremlins as I throw my arms around his shoulders.
“Oh~? I think I could change the circumstances for you, Hag-an-e-zu-ka-san ~” I give him a flirty wink-
-and he drops his knife with a particularly high-pitched shriek, then runs screaming from the room as everyone stares at me wide-eyed.
“Pick your jaw up off the floor, Shinobu - or don’t you call yourself a lady?” I snark with ease, turning to the kids again, “Alright, show of hands, who broke their sword this time?”
Tanjiro and Inosuke. Only.
“Why am I surprised?”
Haganezuka (reluctantly) modifies the design of Inosuke sword to actually look like his swords so that he doesn’t destroy them, he also agrees to stop chasing and threatening my children.
That last discussion may have included a touch of threatening, but he agreed.
Unfortunately, I get my mission the next day, but Rengoku agrees to watch over the boys’ training, and even offers to bring Senjuro over to cheer them on. I remember how his little brother was the last time I saw him, and suggest that maybe Senjuro could come help out Naho, Kiyo, and Sumi instead. Then Shinobu butts in and suggests that maybe he could come in and see what he likes and we have to explain that Senjuro has never been here before and doesn’t know what could kill him.
Shinobu didn’t respond to that, but looked offended.
As Rengoku agrees, and as I leave for my mission, I realize that my kids are safe here. I can return to the cycle list if I want to.
(Do I want to?)
FOUR MONTHS LATER
“Hey.” I grab Tanjiro, whipping us both around the corner of the barn as the lights of the house turn on, he gasps quietly, and Nezuko cracks open the door of her box. “Nice job, Tanjiro.”
“M-Akina.” I smile at him warmly, and gently ruffle Nezuko’s hair as she blinks up at me, “W-what are you doing here? I-I thought-”
“Sorry I’ve been gone. The mission took longer than I thought.” I rub the back of my neck sheepishly, he gives me a nervous smile back, but Nezuko gets mad, “I-I know, I know, Nezuko, I could’ve sent Karasu, I should’ve sent Karasu-”
“It’s not a problem! Really! It was only a week, Akina.” Tanjiro hugs me tightly, “...it was only a week…”
“I know I heard something over here.” Someone says, I gently hug Tanjiro back, one hand going to my swords as I watch the shadows in front of the barn.
“Let’s go home, Akina.” Tanjiro murmurs against my chest, Nezuko sulks at me from the box, and as I look down at them…
…
(Oh. Mom, how they’ve grown. Don’t worry, they’re still small, but…)
“Yeah,” I kiss Tanjiro on his scar, “Let’s go home, kids.”
(...they’re not babies anymore, are they? How much longer can I call them ‘kids’? ‘Teenagers’ even! But look at them…)
“Please stop, will you?” I pause, Tanjiro stops walking too,
“Nooooo!” We look at the gate to Butterfly Mansion,
“Please let us go! I-” I drop my arm from Tanjiro’s shoulders, easily striding forward,
“Stop yammering. Just shut up!” Inosuke and Zenitsu inch closer on each side of the fence, but I hold up a hand easily at them as my eyes narrow.
(He sounds panicked…)
“Please stop!”
“Please let them go!”
“K-Kanao!”
“Lady Kanao!”
“Kanao!”
“Lady Kanao…”
“Kanao…”
“Could you be more unflashy? Stop that yanking. Did you forget that you just received orders?” He makes a ‘hmph’ type of noise, I feel my lips twitch, “Say something, dammit! You really are unflashy!”
“Ch-Charge!”
“Charge!” The girls start chanting, I hear him yelp loudly, along with a telltale ‘thump-thump’ of tiny, soft fists hitting harder, slightly armored flesh.
“Hey! You brats! Knock it off right now!” I cover my mouth as he yelps loudly, a branch creaks above me, I look up.
Should we save him yet?
I clamp a hand over my mouth at the small sign Rengoku holds in his younger brother’s lap as they sit in the tree. Senjuro is very concerned by the girls’ treatment and is almost halfway out of his brother’s arms, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, yet somehow livid.
“Yeah, let’s go kick his ass some more.” I giggle up at him, Rengoku throws his arms in the air at the chance of harassing his best friend, and quickly jumps onto the fence. Inosuke makes a protesting noise as Senjuro gets thrown into his arms, but Rengoku and I move too fast for him to argue against.
I snatch the girls-
-Tengen Uzui yelps again-
-gets his ankles kicked out from under him by Rengoku-
-I deposit the girls on the veranda-
-Rengoku bitch-slaps his best bro-
-and I karate chop Uzui unconscious.
I slam a stack of reports to the table in front of the tied-up Uzui.
He yelps loudly as he wakes up.
“The demon you are tracking is known as Warabihime. Their oldest name is Daki. They are one of the Upper Moon Six.” I deadpan, Uzui starts to panic and strain against the chains tying him to the chair. “Why do you need Aoi and Naho and just how badly did you fuck up?”
“How did you manage to get this information so fast?! I’ve been working for weeks-”
“Ah.” Rengoku murmurs, smiling peaceably, “He fucked up that badly.”
I sigh tiredly, pinching the bridge of my nose.
“I take it you’ll need one of your usual kits for the Entertainment District?” Rengoku asks me cheerfully, I raise an eyebrow at him, and he deadpans at me. “I am not stepping foot in that saitei.”
“Easy there!”
“No need for language, Rengoku!”
“That is my territory-!” We all try to flatten his ruffled feathers, but he waves us off.
“I’m just not going, okay? I don’t like the Red Light District, okay? It’s a bad influence.” Rengoku huffs, I feel my eyebrow twitch and do my best to not raise it. “But I remember the stuff you used to pack when Father would send you on undercover missions or ask for assistance with a case in someplace unsavory-”
“Name one place that I can’t fight my way out of, Kyojuro.” I gently card my fingers through his hair, revealing the throbbing vein on his temple for everyone else to see. “I’ll be okay now, just like I was then, alright? I’m still alive, aren’t I?”
“You don’t act like it, do you?” Shinobu asks softly, a muscle jumps on my back, and the vein on Rengoku’s face throbs harder, throbs bigger…
(Oh.)
I blink, suddenly feeling like a pit opened up in my stomach.
(They noticed.)
I hesitate. Opening my mouth slightly, then pausing heavily, the words sitting heavy on my tongue, in my throat. The three of them stare at me, long and hard and with far, far too much knowledge in their eyes.
“I’ve…” I retract my hand, closing my eyes tightly.
(It’s not snowing, surprisingly. Our mountain is tall, but I guess it is starting to become the height of summer right now. There’s flowers blooming everywhere, though. Birdsong, and bumblebees floating through almost as thick as the pollen.
Not quite as thick as the lump I get in my throat when I see my family’s graves, but pretty close. It’s been over two years since they died, but the mounds are still visible, just barely, and I kneel to pray in front of my mother’s first.)
“I just…think it’s time I retired.”
They go slack-jawed.
“When are we even supposed to retire from this gig, anyway? Death? I have kids now, you guys. I have to make sure they have someone to come home to, right? They need consistency. A foundation.” I close my eyes again, remembering the flowers on the graves, the way I made little nameplates for each one, because Tanjiro told me which grave was which one, every time he told me what his nightmares were about. “They need a family.”