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The ring of torches is the only part of the ground without snow covering it as a lone figure, wearing ceremonial robes and holding an oddly shaped sword, clearly not made for combat, continues to move in the middle of it; his movements flowing from one to the other with practiced ease, not even needing to think in order to perform the next one.
That was a result of both how long he has trained those moves and how long he has been performing them.
'It's almost sunrise.' Tanjiro thought as he could notice the first rays of sunlight peeking from the top of the mountain.
He didn't allow that to interrupt his focus as he began the second last form of his family's dance.
From the corner of his eyes, he caught sight of a pair of purple eyes staring at him, a smile on the woman's face that made him smile as well as he moved to the last move.
As the sun touched his form, Tanjiro finished the last set, maintaining his position for a few moments before relaxing.
"Good work." Kanao's voice made him look in her direction and saw her walking towards him.
"Thank you." He said as he moved to meet her halfway. "Were you okay? The dance goes from sunset to sunrise so I told you, you can go to sleep whenever you want." He moved the paper that hangs from the hat from his face, showing a concerned look in his red eyes, and properly looked at her.
"I know but I didn't want to leave you alone." Kanao smiled. "Besides, I couldn't stop watching even if I wanted to."
He smiled sheepishly at that.
"So your family does this every year?"
"Yes, it's a tradition that has been going for many generations." The red haired man nodded. "I used to stay up watching my dad perform when I was little, my mom had to carry me back home more than once." He chuckled at the fond memory. "I felt a bit bad about it but I still did it for a long time; I always thought 'this time I'll stay up the whole night', I only managed that the last two years before he passed away."
"I'm sure they didn't mind." Kanao giggled. "I can understand why you would want to keep watching, it's a beautiful dance."
"Yes, I'm very happy I get to perform it."
"And you did a great job." She added before kissing him on the cheek. "But now, let's go back home; we may be used to staying up late from when we fought demons but we still need sleep." Kanao grabbed his left hand with her right one.
"True." Tanjiro nodded and intertwined their fingers as they began to walk home.
"Hey, um…" Kanao averted her eyes and held his hand tighter.
"What is it?" He asked calmly.
"That dance… do you think I could perform it with you?"
Tanjiro's eyes widened and he stopped walking, making Kanao do the same, her eyes widening as well, but in fear that she might have said something wrong.
"I-it's okay if you don't want-hmp!"
Before she could say anything else, Tanjiro pulled her close and kissed her, his free arm moving to her back to hug her.
Kanao reciprocated after a moment of surprise, her own free hand moving to his hair and passing a hand through it.
"I would love to perform the dance with you." Tanjiro said after they stopped the kiss, his forehead resting against hers. "We'll need to prepare another set of clothes and a sword."
"I'll work on it." Kanao said with a wide smile. "We have an entire year, I'm sure I can make the clothes in that time."
"Yeah… hmm…"
"What is it?"
"Don't make them red."
"Hm?"
"Pink or purple suits you better." He explained with a grin.
"I'll keep it in mind." She giggled. "What about the sword?"
"I'll make it."
The two resumed their walk, Kanao hugging Tanjiro's arm.
"About the moves… there is something I want to try."
Kanao looked up at him with an expectant look.
"We need to practice and see if it would work but… do you think you could use the Flower Breath techniques to go along the Dance of the Fire God?"
Kanao's expression turned thoughtful for a moment.
"Maybe… I can't tell for sure by just remembering your performance, the Breath of Flowers doesn't have as many forms, though."
"Yeah, but they will overlap eventually."
They continued to talk about it the rest of the way home, a smile on both their faces.
Next year is ceremonial dance is promising to be an exciting one.