giyuu and shinobu strolled together under the dim orange sunlight of the afternoon, making their way to the site of tanjiro's 16 birthday. (i'm super sorry if the dates aren't accurate.) as they crossed campanula bridge, giyuu felt shinobu's hand tug at his, and worry clouded his cerulean blue eyes.
"are you hurt?" he asked shinobu, his dark brows pinched together.
he picked up the small lady's hand gently, and examined it carefully. eyes narrowing at every crease in her hand, he turned it over to restart this examination. this was met by giggles from shinobu, her face pink, and a hand drawn over her lips.
"tomioka-san, you are so dense, you know?" she laughed, slapping him playfully in the arm.
"dense? how?" the clueless man asked, dropping shinobu's tiny hand.
"i was just trying to hold your hand, stupid. you're such an idiot."
"oh."
giyuu remembered holding hands with his sister in his earlier years. they would go anywhere like that. tsutako said it was to ensure that giyuu wouldn't get lost.
the water pillar's gaze dropped.
tsutako had also held his hand during her last breaths.
moments passed, before giyuu grasped onto shinobu's hand, knowing deep down in his heart that tsutako would have wanted him to.
the lovers walked like that, fingers entwined until arriving at their allocated destination.
∘₊✧───⋆♥⋆───✧₊∘
the hashiras, zenitsu, nezuko, inosuke, and aoi hid in different places around the dark lake. the sky was ink now, and the stars twinkled brightly up above.
they had set up a long table by the murky waters. cushioned seats that counted up to 16 seats lined the table neatly.
luckily, mitsuri-chan had volunteered to bring out some of her own furniture to the surprise party. at the moment, the table and seats were covered by a large black cloth.
aoi and mitsuri were holding a cake in tanjiro's favourite colours. black, teal, red, and a sprinkle of white were formed to make the base cake. figures were gently carved out of cake batter. they displayed a mini tanjiro, a giant boulder which signified tanjiro's training (thanks to urokodaki's suggestion), and his kitsune mask.
it seemed that tengen had a secret talent for cake decorating. he had helped mitsuri and aoi create the beautiful cake. 16 white candles were cautiously placed on the cake. everyone had made sure that inosuke was kept away from the cake, so that he wouldn't finish it cake before the party even began.
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(this is basically what the cake looked like. happy 13th, russel.)
kanao was sent to retrieve tanjiro, and they were bound to be nearby already.
every guest apart from aoi and mitsuri who were holding the cake beheld balloons in vibrant colours, reflecting tanjiro's colourful personality.
"there they are!" iguro hissed so that everyone could hear.
shinobu caught mitsuri's smile widen, as the two figures of kanao and tanjiro drew closer and closer.
"kanao, what are we doing?" tanjiro asked nervously, looking around confusedly.
as soon as tanjiro turned his back on kanao, she dashed behind a black bush next to shinobu, and grabbed a bright yellow balloon.
"k-kanao?" tanjiro said, his voice quivering.
kanao gave everyone the 'ready' queue, and they all sprang up from their hiding spots, screaming "happy birthday!"
rengoku and gyomei pulled the black cloth from the table to reveal brilliant, dazzing lanterns ablaze.
it took a moment for tanjiro to process what was happening, before tears filled his eyes, and he leaned in for a big, warm group hug, which sanemi avoided, patting tanjiro's head instead.
the night turned out to be a big success, and tanjiro was able to receive the wonderful birthday that he deserved. deeper into the night, a surprise guest showed up. it was in fact urokodaki-san, who was fortunately able to join in the joyful festivities.
the night was now quieting, the stars sprinkled and spritzed artistically across the black canvas. the party was getting ready to disband, hushed conversations uttered between one another.
at last, giyuu finally spied shinobu a few metres away from him in an expressive chat with the love hashira.
"shinobu." giyuu called to the woman.
immediately, the chatting silenced, and everyone at the party slowly turned to face giyuu.
"we're leaving." he said.
the expressions of everyone slowly turned from confusion to delight.
as shinobu made her way up to him, and hooked their arms together, her face was bright and full of smiles.
and only as they were a distance away from the party did shinobu say, "tomioka-san, you just called me by my first name."
∘₊✧───⋆♥⋆───✧₊∘
two lovers sat soundly by the lake, gazing up above at the twinkling stars witch lit up the world by telling kind tales with happy endings, deciding together what fate to give the two.
∘₊✧─── 𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 ───✧₊∘
written: 09/01/23 published: 09/01/23
a/n: happy belated new years, everyone!! <3
edited: 31/07/23
a/n: omg guys i finally finished editing the whole book 😭😭 i'm like officially done with this ff now. expressing my gratitude for all the comments and votes you guys have left. thank you for reading 💗
