Demon Slayer One-Shots (Part 2)

Stars (TanjiroxKanao)

Was it a miracle? 

Was it just chance? 

Or was it fate that brought her, standing here in front of him today? 

They had done it. 

Tanjiro looked at his bride, with her smiling, and looked at her, up and down. 

Muzan was defeated. 

Nezuko was human. 

Everyone was safe. 

Everyone was happy. 

So why didn't he feel the joy and the love,  compared to the emotions coming from the rest of the party guests?

"Tanjiro?" Kanao's hair was in front of her face, unusual for her, as her hair was usually in a ponytail. 

"Kanao, I'm sorry, I was just distracted. I need to go take a breath of fresh air." 

Surprised, but willing, Kanao nodded and Tanjiro stood up from the festivities and bowed, leaving his sister and her fiancee at the table with his wife. 

It was dark out. The moon was shining, and the stars were glittering, unlike the hole in his heart. He had done it. He had overcome the Demon King. He had turned Nezuko back. She was happy. 

He was happy. 

Wasn't he? 

But that gaping hole in his heart was so large that he couldn't help but feel the gap slowly widening. 

"Tanjiro?" Kanao whispered, looking at her husband stare at the moonlight with a pained expression. 

Rushing to her, Tanjiro looked at her with confusion. 

"Why aren't you back at the party, Kanao-chan?" Tanjiro asked, brushing her cheek with her hand gently. Kanao leaned into the touch, but shook her head. 

"It's a little too wild for me. Besides, I think that Inosuke is getting hung up on the alcohol." Kanao laughed to herself. Tanjiro grinned. He could imagine him going that. 

"I was worried about you." Kanao rubbed the palm of his hand gently. Tanjiro's head snapped back to look at her. 

That was new. 

Usually, he was the one worried about her. 

Tanjiro sighed. 

"It's nothing, Kanao-chan." he smoothed the pants of his tuxedo as he settled on the edge of the balcony. 

Kanao frowned. 

"Tanjiro, I've known you for six years. I've hit you in the back of your own hard skull with my heel. I've chased after your sister and taken care of you whenever you were injured or sick. Trust me, I think I know." Kanao smiled humorlessly. 

"Yeah, I think that left a bruise." Tanjiro groaned, rubbing the back of his head, slick with gel. 

Kanao laughed. 

"Tanjiro, tell me what's wrong." she begged. Tanjiro looked at her. 

Sighing, he gave in. 

"I just... I miss them." Tanjiro turned around to look up at the moon again. He was sure that they were watching over him, but for once, in his selfishness, he wished that they were actually here, hugging him and encouraging him. 

"Who? Your family?" Kanao asked. Tanjiro nodded. 

"My family. Mitsuri, Obanai. Rengoku, Muichiro, Gyomei, Shinobu. Everyone else that I had failed to protect." Tanjiro's eyes began to well up with tears. 

"Tanjiro." Kanao firmly put her hand on his. Tanjiro looked at her. 

"Can you see the stars?" 

He blinked. What relevance did this have to his family? 

"Yes." 

"That one glittering there is Shinobu-san. The red, fiery one, is Rengoku."

Tanjiro stared at her. Kanao looked up, closing her eyes, the other one slowing before the other, as a result of her use of Equinoctial Vermillion Eye. The eyes were glowing rather brightly. Kanao smiled. 

"That's how I remember them. That's how I- how I stayed strong." Kanao opened her eyes and began to point out the rest. 

"The other stars... they're our loved ones, our family, our friends." Kanao pointed out more stars, before looking at a group of seven stars, which were glittering brightly. 

"Tanjiro.... that's your family." Kanao embraced him from behind, resting her chin gently on his shoulder. 

Rokuta...

Hanako...

Takeo...

Shigeru...

It was a wonder that they hadn't faded away completely. 

...

"I can see them, Kanao..." Tanjiro quietly whispered, grasping his wife's hands as they stared at the stars of their open-roofed house. Kanao looked at him, before slowly closing her eyes. 

In the distance, another star appeared briefly, before another appeared beside it, forever circling, forever together.