▪Deadly Thorns and Violent Storms▪

Chapter 45

Tanjiro's POV:

I can't believe Hanako and Shigeru saw me and Zenitsu kissing... what if they tell mother?!

Not that her knowing is a problem, I'm just.. not ready to tell her yet.

Maybe the announcement for cake will make them forget about it, that would be the best for them and for us.

Tengen and Kyojuro started walking off and Senjuro followed closely behind his big brother.

"Well- you heard Kyojuro, let's go..!" I exclaimed to the twins and they thought about it for a second, then happily ran over to Takeo and Rokuta to tell them about the cake.

Zenitsu and I reluctantly went after them, but someone placed their hand on my shoulder and I turned to see Nezuko staring at me.

"You go ahead, Zenitsu." I said to him.

"Wha- oh." He turned and saw Nezuko crossing her arms. "Yeah, okay, see you in a bit then."

Inosuke ran up behind him and threw his arm around him saying, "Looks like it's just you and me, now!!!"

Zenitsu rolled his eyes. "And everyone else at the party."

"..."

Then they both walked away from us and towards the birthday boy.

I sighed as I watched him go, then Nezuko stepped in front of me and pouted. "Are you telling mother? Or are Hanako and Shigeru?"

I dropped my head in embarrassment. "I- I didn't mean for them to see- us."

"I know, but they did." She shook her head, "And what were you thinking anyways?! There are a lot of people here, anyone could've seen you!"

"I just.. wasn't thinking! Okay..?"

Nezuko frowned. "Don't cry, please. I'm only trying to look out for you, brother."

She wrapped her arms around me and spoke again. "Let's go back and join the party now, okay?"

I took a deep breath and agreed, then we walked over to them and everyone was crowding around Tengen, you could barely see anything cause of all the costumes in the way.

"Alright, alright, everybody sit down and we'll eat this flashy cake!" Tengen grinned.

As all the guests took their seats noisily I made my way over to Zenitsu and he had saved me a spot next to him.

I sat down and I saw that Giyu was sitting on the other side of me. I noticed no one was really talking to him, so I said, "Hi, Giyu! I really like your costume!"

His bored expression didn't leave his face as he stated, "I'm not wearing a costume."

"Oh! Um.. well.. uh.."

Just as I was stuttering, Shinobu must've heard what I had asked him cause she sat down in the chair next to Giyu and leaned towards me and said, "Giyu here thought he was too good for a Halloween costume!"

"No. I just couldn't pick what to be." He explained plainly.

"Well, that's fine!! Uh, what are you dressed as Shinobu?"

"A butterfly, obviously!!" She waved her arms causing the butterfly wings to be more apparent.

"Hers was so predictable." Sanemi came over and leaned on her chair. "We were all placing bets on what she'd dress up as, and I won."

"Oh, really?" Shinobu rolled her eyes then turned to Giyu once again. "And what did you bet I was gonna be?"

"Er.. well I just said you'd have a cute costume..." he murmured under his breath as his cheeks turned a slight pink color.

We all looked at him confused, did he just blush?

"I'm sorry, say that again?" Shinobu looked like she didn't know how to react.

Sanemi on the other hand burst into laughter. "You're such a nerd, Tomioka."

Then Tengen called everyones attention back to him, he was sitting at the head of the table infront of a big and flashy cake.

"Here are the candles!" Kyojuro grinned and placed them on the table.

"Oh, trick candles?" Tengen said.

"What? How'd you know?" Kyojuro asked exasperatedly.

"Because they're still in the package."

"Oh," He paused, "That's my bad."

Tengen laughed. "Sometimes I can't tell of you do it on purpose or not."

"I promise you I do not!"

"Just light the candles already!" Sanemi called out from behind us.

"I am!" Tengen paused then added, "In a flashy way, of course!"

He did infact light the candles in a flashy way, then he leaned back in his chair with a grin, "So can I blow them out now, or do we need the cheesy song first?"

"Cheesy song!" Mitsuri and Kyojuro cheered together.

Inosuke muttered loudly to Zenitsu, "What cheesy song are we singing?"

Zenitsu groaned. "Inosuke, are you kidding me right now?"

"Yes, of course!" He replied very unconvincingly. "I'm kidding, I definitely know the song."

"Suuure."

Then everyone started to sing the happy birthday song, aside from Inosuke, who clearly didn't know what it was.

"Thank you all!" Tengen said and blew out the candles, "Though I won't lie, that was a pretty terrible song! Do any of you take music lessons?"

"No!" Kyojuro provided helpfully.

Tengen blew the candles out again, and stared exasperatedly when they lit themselves back up. "How many times do I have to do this?"

"Just keep doing it until your weak little lungs give in." Obanai suggested casually.

"Yeah, my lungs are going to fail because of seventeen measly candles."

"Slice the cake already!" Sanemi shouted impatiently. "Geez, it's like I have to tell you all what to do!"

Tengen started handing out slices of cake on flimsy paper plates, once my siblings had gotten theirs Tengen said, "I'm not sure if there's enough cake for everyone, so to maximize it you two can share a slice."

He handed me the plate, and grinned knowingly, "But I'm sure you two won't mind~"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Zenitsu muttered angrily but didn't try to get another piece.

I thanked Tengen then me and Zenitsu went over to my siblings and Inosuke.

"Mm!" Inosuke grunted, "This is good!

"Yeah, we can tell you like it," Nezuko said, "You already ate it all."

Rokuta started to eat his with joy, "Yummy!"

My other three younger siblings followed his lead eagerly.

"If you're trying not to show that you two are dating infront of the little ones then you should probably stop feeding eachother." Nezuko said in an amused tone.

Zenitsu turned pink, "We are not! We're just eating off the same plate..." He trailed off with a huff.

I laughed awkwardly and tried to change the conversation, "So, did you all see-"

"Hey!" Zenitsu yelped suddenly. "That was mine you boar!"

"But it's good! And you weren't eating it!" Inosuke chewed and swallowed.

"It was on my fork!"

"It wasn't in your mouth!"

"It was about to be!"

I watched the two of them bicker over the slice of cake, which was pretty cute, I could get used to this.