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Tanjiro walked, that's almost everything he has done ever since he was born, walk on top of this invisible road that circled the planet.
His clothes contrasting with the stars and the darkness around him, a red cape that matched his hair hanging from his shoulders, a dark orange suit with matching pants, black gloves and boots; his presence could rightfully be called a light in all the darkness of the cosmos.
As the one in charge of the Sun's power that graces the third star, he must walk around it in order to make sure it's distributed.
Ever since he was born that has been his duty, his reason for existing; he has never once complained about this, because there is nothing to complain about.
Looking at the planet, with its greens and blues and life and knowing that he is helping it, that's more than enough to make him smile and feel fulfilled.
For a long time, he did just that, walk and observe; seeing how life continued to flourish.
Tanjiro honestly thought that this would be his existence for all of eternity and he would have been content with it.
Before he met her, that is.
"Kanao." He smiled softly and greeted another presence, similar to him, that was walking ahead of him on top of a different invisible road; even without seeing it, he could tell it was there and it sometimes overlapped with his own, leading to them meeting.
"Tanjiro." She smiled back as she waited for him to get closer.
He can still remember the first time they met clearly, even after so much time has passed.
Like always, Tanjiro was walking around the third star, 'Earth', his mind distracted with idle thoughts as he observed the planet.
That's when he felt her presence, someone like him that was also observing this planet.
He raised his gaze and saw her.
Dressed in a long dark purple dress with small white dots that reminded him of the distant stars that are always surrounding him, her black hair tied in a side pony tail by a hairpin in the 'shape of a crescent moon', her words.
Tanjiro's eyes widened in surprise, as did hers, when they locked gazes; they were so shocked that the two had actually stopped walking for a moment.
"Ah… hello." He said after recovering and starting to walk again.
"…hello." She answered, starting to walk again as well. "You are… the one in charge of the sun." It wasn't a question.
"Yes, my name is Tanjiro." He nodded. "Oh… I think my father mentioned you… the one in charge of the moon?"
She nodded.
"It's nice to finally meet you..."
"Kanao."
"It's nice to meet you, Kanao." Tanjiro smiled but he noticed the distance between the two had begun to widen. "Ah, right, we have a different road to walk."
Kanao simply nodded as she turned around.
"I hope we meet again."
He saw her flinch and look back at him over her shoulder, her purple eyes wide before turning back around and walk away.
That was the end of their first meeting.
"Is something wrong?" He heard her voice, pulling him from his thoughts.
"No, just remembering the first time we met." Tanjiro answered.
"I was really surprised at the time… even more the second time."
"You really worried me then." He chuckled. "I greeted you and you looked like you've seen a monster."
"To be fair, you were really…" She trailed off with a small frown, as if thinking of the right word.
"Enthusiastic?" Tanjiro offered.
"Yes, I think that's a good word." Kanao nodded and giggled. "You just waved at me and yelled my name when you saw me, I don't think my reaction was that strange, considering."
"I was just really happy, I hadn't talked with anyone since I took my post!"
"Still, the way you just lit up the entire area was a bit much." She said back with a grin.
"…I won't deny that." He chuckled as he scratched his cheek. "I did worry if I had scared you, you didn't even say anything that time."
"I told you before, I was just overwhelmed." Kanao smiled. "I can think of various things to call you Tanjiro, scary isn't one of them."
"Thanks!" He smiled back but it fell after a second. "Ah, seems time is up."
"Yeah…" She nodded as the distance between the two began to increase. "I'll see you later."
"Yes." They waved at each other goodbye and soon enough, they couldn't see each other anymore.
Tanjiro let out a sigh.
"It's alright… we'll meet again eventually." Saying that to himself, he looked again towards the planet to distract himself. 'I wish I could see this with Kanao.' But his mind didn't let him.
Their meetings never lasted too long, the roads they walked would move close allowing them to talk with each other, sometimes for longer periods of time than others, but they would eventually separate, leaving them once again walking alone.
Tanjiro could tell the moment it would happen, and he knew their paths would move close once more eventually, but he couldn't help but feel a pang in his chest every time they said goodbye.
'And I thought I would never have anything to complain… well, it's not like it's fair to complain about this, it's not anyone's fault.'
Despite knowing that, he still wished for their paths to overlap more often.
'Hm… now that I think about it…' He moved his gaze from the planet to the path in front of him. '…maybe… it would take time but… yes, I think it could work.' Tanjiro continued to walk, a smile in his face at the idea he just came up with.
Their next meetings continued like always.
They would call out to the other depending on who is walking in front at the time, they'd talk about what they've seen in the planet below, something that happened in one of their earlier meetings, or anything else that came to mind; then they would smile as their paths separated and say 'I'll see you later'.
Yet both their smiles dropped as soon as the other wasn't seeing them.
'Just a bit more.' Tanjiro thought after she was nowhere in sight, his eyes dropping to look at the path he must walk. '...so this is what being impatient feels like, huh? What a strange feeling.' He chuckled at the thought.
In their next meeting.
They had done the usual greeting and were talking when Kanao suddenly got quiet and looked at their paths.
"Is something wrong?" Tanjiro asked.
"It's just… I feel like our paths are moving closer." She answered. "It must be my imagination." Kanao giggled for a moment but got quiet when she noticed Tanjiro's expression.
"It's… not your imagination." He confessed. "I can influence my path to a certain degree so… I've been moving it closer to yours so they would overlap."
"…really?!"
Tanjiro might be compared to the sun but he would swear that nothing is brighter than the way Kanao smiled at that moment.
"Yes!" He smiled back, a sense of relief at knowing she was happy with the idea. "It won't be for too long but… we'll be able to walk the same path; it will still take a bit more, though."
"I see- ah!"
"Oh…"
The two got so distracted that they didn't notice their paths were separating again.
"I'll see you later!" Tanjiro called out.
"Yes." Kanao said back. "And…"
"Hm?"
"I… I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO WALKING SIDE BY SIDE WITH YOU!" She had to yell since they were a good distance away now but it still caught Tanjiro by surprise, he had never heard her raise her voice like that before.
"ME TOO!" But he answered by reflex.
For the first time in a long time, the two finished one of their meetings with a smile that didn't go away.
It was finally the day, Tanjiro and Kanao's paths would overlap.
The two had noticed during their last meeting, their paths had been the closest yet, but neither really mentioned it; maybe it was nervousness or they didn't know how to approach the subject, even now the two were wondering how to react when they see each other.
"Ah…"
"…hello." Tanjiro said when they caught sight of each other, their steps getting them closer and closer.
"I… I've been wondering what to do when our paths overlap." Kanao confessed.
Only a few more steps.
"Me too, it feels that just talking like usual wouldn't be the best way to spend this time." Tanjiro smiled sheepishly.
"It really wouldn't."
"So… I came up with something."
Two steps until their paths overlap.
"What is it?"
One step.
Tanjiro offered his hand, Kanao stared at it for a moment before raising hers to take it.
Zero.
"We still need to move so." He gently took her hand and moved a step closer to her. "I thought… we could do so like this."
Tanjiro moved his other hand to her back but not touching her and still keeping some distance between the two.
"If you don't want to-"
Before he could finish the sentence, Kanao moved closer and hugged him close, her face hiding in his chest.
Tanjiro couldn't help the large smile that formed in his face and he let go of her hand to hug her with both arms while she moved hers to his neck, her face still hidden.
They continued to move like this, dancing more than walking, their steps a bit clumsy at times and stepping on each other's toes in more than one occasion but neither complained.
"Kanao."
"Yes?"
"…I want to see you." Tanjiro said; there was no need for him to explain.
"…alright." She nodded before moving her face back from his chest and look at him.
Their gazes locked, red mixing with purple as they continued their dance, forgetting for a few moments about everything else.
…
"…it's about time." Kanao sighed.
"Yeah." Tanjiro nodded, their paths were about to separate once more.
"When… can we do this again?"
"Not for some time, I'm afraid." He sighed. "We can still meet to talk but… it will take time to make our paths overlap like this."
"I see…" She looked down. "I'll miss this… but we just have to wait."
"Yeah…"
"What's wrong?" She looked up again.
"…there is something I want to do before we have to separate." He brought his right hand to gently cup her face. "I want to kiss you."
Tanjiro thought her smile when he first told her about their paths overlapping was the brightest thing he would ever see but her bright red blush just now came a very close second.
"…I want to kiss you too." She answered, bringing her left hand over his right one and leading into his touch.
If his reflection that he could see in her eyes was any indication, his smile was as bright as hers right now.
They were about to reach the point where they would have to separate again but Tanjiro couldn't bring himself to do it, stopping in his tracks, he leaned forward and gently touched her lips with his own, his half-lidded eyes staring into hers.
The two moved closer, continuing the kiss until they felt it could cause trouble for the planet below if they didn't move.
Slowly, they broke the kiss and shared another smile before starting to walk again, their hands intertwined as their paths separated and stretching their fingers to stay in contact for just a moment longer.
"I'll see you later."
"I can't wait."