Tengen just stood there in shock as Hotaru stormed out. He couldn't believe he even said something like that to her after everything that she'd gone through.
And he certainly didn't want Miyuki to spiral.
"I'm sorry you had to go through-"
"I'm okay," she had the same blank face as she did when he refused to train her and kept throwing her out. He felt bad for every single thing he put her through in the beginning. He knew how difficult it must've been for her with a father like that. His father wasn't very different either.
"Are you sure-"
"I'm certain." She cleared her throat to clear her head. "Let's go home."
"Will you go after him?" Tengen hesitantly asked her.
"For what?"
"Don't you want to talk to him?"
"You heard what he said." She picked herself up and headed towards the door, "I'm not his daughter anymore."
———
Once she got home, she excused herself to go to the bathroom and locked herself before staring at her reflection in the mirror and, more importantly, the bruise on her face. "It's okay, he probably doesn't mean it." She couldn't stop the waterworks anymore. Her own father had disowned her and she was more than upset.
She couldn't help but feel disappointed in herself, she silently wept all the pain out and washed her face.
She lost her husband. She lost her child. And then another one. Rengoku died because she couldn't get there on time. She'd given Tengen so much trouble. And her father was so tired of her that he disowned her.
And then she cried some more, from the bottom of her abysmal heart, keeping her voice down for she couldn't bear to upset Tengen any more.
She let the cold water soothe her face before stepping out.
"Dinner's ready," Tengen examined her puffy face.
"Why, thank you," she smiled like nothing bothered her anymore. "You didn't have to. I would've cooked for us."
"Eat up," he kept his words at a minimum, giving her the space she needed. She sat in the chair opposite Tengen and looked down at her torso; she could've had her baby if she wasn't so stupid, or so she thought. She ate a little and thanked him for the meal.
"Is that all you're eating?" His appetite was going for a toss with how weak she looked.
Miyuki was finally spiraling.
"Please don't mind me. Have a full dinner, Tengen sama, I'm going to... sleep for a bit." Her weak smile went straight through his heart.
He soon joined her in bed. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer to him before burying his face in the crook of her neck. He missed her, he missed holding her, and he missed her scent. "I love you, baby." He kissed her goodnight as he fell asleep in her warmth.
He woke up to an empty bed and paused for a second to scan the room, "Yuki?" He quickly got out of bed and went straight to the bathroom. Empty. He went to the balcony and the other rooms to look for her. He couldn't sense her in the entire house. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to focus on the noise from his surroundings, his brows knotted when he heard something a little away from her house.
"What part of 'grounded' does she not understand?" He quickly took her keys before heading outside.
"Tanjiro, you'll never be able to beat Muzan this way!" She was training them, "Zenitsu..." she looked at him in disappointment, "you'll have to forget about Nezuko."
"WHAAAAAAT?!"
"And Inosuke..." she didn't know what she could tell him, "you're a weakling! Don't bother calling yourself a God!"
"NO! THAT CANNOT BE!"
She chased them around during their training, "you're all too slow! So slow that you need to go back and take up your Demon Slayer exams again! The first time they passed you must be a mistake!"
Tengen wasn't too worried about her now. He saw that she was trying very hard to keep herself afloat. By doing exactly what he did — grinding an underling.
"Haha! Not too bad, Yuki!" He joined her, "I see that you're whipping them into shape."
"I'm really bored. When I was a regular member of the Corps, I had never been grounded. Now look at me, I'm a Hashira and I've been grounded twice already." She shook her head in disappointment.
"You deserve both of them." He smiled at her before looking at the kids, "okay, listen up! I have a fun activity planned for you."
"You do??" The three kids were a little excited.
"I want to see if Miyuki has taught you well, so I'm going to let you fight me." He announced, "you three against me. If you land even a single blow, Miyuki won't be grounded anymore."
"That is so not fair," she put her hands on her hips and shook her head, "uh uh... they're exhausted already".
"So, you give up?" He cockily asked, "here's your chance at freedom."
"We'll do it!" Tanjiro was the first to raise his hand, "so, if we get Miyuki san out of detention, will she join us on our next mission?"
"If Master agrees, I don't see why not?" Tengen agreed.
"We will try our best then!" Tanjiro's energy was already back up, "I'm sure Miyuki san would want to join us on our next mission to the Swordsmith Village! They're expecting a full-scale demon attack soon."
"Say what now?" Miyuki was completely thrown off by what he said, and so was Tengen. They were both unaware of that fact and Tengen soon realised why Ubuyashiki grounded her. Pieces of the puzzle were falling back into place as Tengen put two and two together to understand why her father also disowned her so close to their mission.
"Those two think I'm a fool, don't they?" She turned around to look at Tengen. "These kids will fight you and win."
"And after that, I'm going to take it up with Ubuyashiki san himself."
YOU ARE READING
Kitty - Sanemi x OC x Tengen
Fanfiction"What if you want to go back to Shinazugawa one day?", Tengen was desperate for an answer, he didn't even bother hiding it anymore. "Why would I want to do that?", Miyuki asked as she nursed the wound on his torso. Her busy hands kept his mind occup...
