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It was around late afternoon at the former Water Hashira’s estate when Shinazugawa Sanemi and Tomioka Giyuu went outside to enjoy the weather of the day. At one point in time, it would have been strange to see these two together, especially as relaxed as they were now. Nowadays, long after the disbanding of the Demon Slayer Corps, the two men were almost always seen in each other’s company.
The two were enjoying the good weather as well as a lunch of salmon and rice when an annoying little yellow blob with a large bundle on its back came bounding up the road toward them.
“Tomioka-san!” called Agatsuma Zenitsu in his typical whiney tone.
Sanemi stood from where he sat next to Giyuu before slowly approaching the blond.
“Shinazugawa-san! You’re here too-“ he squeaked as the former Wind Hashira drew closer.
Sanemi’s gaze shifted towards Giyuu for a moment before he rolled his eyes. “I live here, brat.”
Zenitsu looked down. “Right,” he stuttered, shifting back and forth on the balls of his feet.
It was at this moment that Giyuu chose to speak up, “What is it you need, Zenitsu?’ he asked calmly.
The younger man squeaked again. “Well, um, I was hoping if you could, um. If it’s not a bother—”
“Spit it out!” the white-haired man growled, tired of the other’s stuttering.
Zenitsu turned around to reveal the contents of the bundle on his back. There, sleeping peacefully as though they weren’t being rather loud, was a child slung to his back.
“I promised I would take Nezuko out into the city but Tanjirou and Kanao are busy and I didn’t want to have to tell her that I didn’t check with them ahead of time so can you please watch our child just for a little while?” He cried quickly.
The two former Hashira stared at his flabbergasted. Out of all the stupid things they anticipated coming out of the blond’s mouth, being asked to be babysitters for the night was not one of them.
Noticing his companions’ surprised stupor, Zenitsu decided to take advantage of it by carefully but quickly removing his child from her sling and thrusting her into Sanemi’s arms.
“What the hell?” the white-haired man spluttered. He went to yell at the former Demon Slayer, but before he could the cowardly man had taken off back toward town.
“I’m sorry! I’ll come to get her after sundown!” he squealed before running out of view.
Giyuu blinked his eyes and turned to his partner. “Did that really just happen?”
“It sure fucking did,” Sanemi responded; the man was in such shock that his voice didn’t even contain its usual bite.
The two stared down at the small… thing that had been dumped on them. Despite all the noise they had been making, the child still slept soundly in Sanemi’s arms. She had dark hair and bore a striking resemblance to her mother. Briefly, they wondered whether she would have her mother or father’s eyes.
Snapping back to reality, the former Wind Hashira cleared his throat before shoving the child into his companion’s arms. “Well, clearly, he came looking for you, so you should take care of it.”
Giyuu, having grown bolder in recent years, shoved the child back to Sanemi with a shake of his head.
“I would have no idea how to care for a child, you at least had younger siblings.” He stated.
Sanemi scoffed. “Do you know how long it’s been since then? And what about that time you helped with Uzui’s kid?” he gave the child to Giyuu.
“That was one time. Not to mention the parents were there and I didn’t perform any of the actual care.” The black-haired man handed the child back.
The two continued like that: bickering and passing the child between them.
“I don’t even like kids!”
“It’s not like I do either,”
Then, as if sensing that she was unwanted, the child awoke. The two men suddenly went silent, praying to whatever God was out there that the thing would just go back to sleep.
The child, however, did the exact opposite of that and began wailing louder than a train’s whistle.
“Look what you did!” Sanemi berated his partner.
“It’s not just my fault,” Giyuu argued. “It doesn’t matter anyway, what are we supposed to do about it?” he asked, gesturing to the crying child.
The white-haired man sighed heavily. “If it’s crying, that means it’s either hungry or needs to be changed.”
The two men made eye contact for less than a moment before nodding their heads at each other.
“I’ll get the leftover rice ready,” Giyuu said quickly before running inside their home.
Sanemi once again stared down at the child in his hands. It continued to wail louder and louder.
This was going to be a long day, he thought before following the black-haired man inside.
“Here comes the spoon,” Giyuu deadpanned, bringing a spoonful of rice toward the child’s mouth. Seemingly fed up with the man, the child smacked the spoon from his hand, sending it flying back at his face, covering him in rice.
Beside him, Sanemi began roaring with laughter before looking at the baby. “Nice job, kid. Maybe you aren’t all bad.”
Giyuu’s frown sunk in a bit more than usual. “Well if you like her so much why don’t you try,”
The white-haired man snatched the spoon from his companion. “Fine, let me show you how it’s done.”
“Here comes the murderous demon train,” Sanemi cooed in a fashion very much unlike himself. To Giyuu’s surprise, the child opened her mouth and took the food without complaint. Spoonful after spoonful made their way towards the child and were readily consumed, leaving the small bowl the rice had been in without a grain left.
The former Wind Hashira then lay the baby on his shoulder and began to pat her back.
“What are you doing now?” Giyuu asked curiously.
Sanemi rolled his eyes at the cluelessness of his partner. “Burping it, obviously. It’ll get sick if you don’t,”
The black-haired man nodded his head and watched as Sanemi walked around the room whilst patting the child’s back. While he had been aware of the white-haired man’s once numerous siblings, he never realized the amount of skill it likely took to care for all six of them.
A small burp erupted from the child, snapping Giyuu out of his thoughts.
“Is that it?” he asked.
Sanemi patted her back a bit more. “Usually, there’s a bit-“ Without warning, the child burped loudly before getting sick all over her caretaker’s back.
“-more,” he finished his thought with a disgusted tone. He knew this was a possibility, but the feeling of vomit on his back did not make for a good time.
With a heavy sigh, the white-haired man handed the child to his partner. “I’m going to go change; you watch the brat.”
He moved towards the door to the next room when Giyuu asked, “Is it going to do that again?”
“Maybe, good luck with that!” Sanemi said childishly before exiting the room.
Giyuu set the baby across from himself and stared at it. Maybe, if he didn’t touch it, it wouldn’t do anything weird like get sick or cry. As he looked at the child, he felt as though it was staring straight into his soul. It had the same piercing pink eyes as its mother; the kind that felt as though they could hold a whole conversation without any words at all.
A pungent smell snapped the former Water Hashira out of his musings. His eyes widened as he looked at the child who was giving him what he felt was a devious smile. A smile that seemed so evil and innocent that it near reminded him of the long-passed Insect Hashira.
Giyuu looked around the room frantically. Sanemi had yet to return and the black-haired man had no idea how to change a diaper. Despite holding Uzui’s children before, he never had to feed them or change any diapers. This was all new territory to him.
As the smell continued to worsen, Giyuu knew he was on his own for this one. Running to a nearby closet, he pulled out a clean baby-sized towel.
“Alright, I can do this,” he told himself as he removed the child’s clothes. With each layer he removed, the odor filled his nose more and more. Honestly, how did Uzui do this every day? Giyuu had faced down the Twelve Kizuki and their Leader, but somehow a dirty diaper scared him more than anything had before.
The black-haired man was ready to give up and wait for Sanemi when he heard a small voice in the back of his head. It was Sanemi’s voice, heckling him for not being able to do something as simple as change a diaper.
“C’mon pretty boy, scared of a little dirty diaper? Had it so easy being the youngest. Can’t even do something as simple as removing a diaper and putting on a new one.”
With a newfound determination, Giyuu began to remove the diaper. The child laughed and kicked her legs as the man nearly avoided getting sick from the sight. He quickly cleaned the thing and wrapped it up in a fresh towel.
With his task complete, the former Water Hashira flopped down onto the floor. The child, curious about the strange man, poked him right in the face. Just as he closed his eyes, Sanemi came waltzing into the room wearing a particularly smug grin.
“Had to change its diaper, huh?” He walked closer to inspect his partner’s handiwork. ”Nice job not fucking it up,”
“I’d like to see you try,” Giyuu huffed.
“But you already did it so well!” Sanemi laughed loudly.
The black-haired man sat up slowly, “What do we do with it now?”
Sanemi looked outside; they had maybe an hour before sunset when that stupid blond was supposed to come to get his kid.
“Entertain it, idiot,”
“And then I came in, the most powerful Wind Hashira, to save everyone’s asses from doom!” Sanemi regaled.
The two decided to sit out on their porch telling stories to the small child as they waited for the parents to come to collect her. It had started with simple retellings of their Hashira days, but the tales Sanemi told soon got grander and grander, so much so that they barely held an ounce of truth.
“I slashed the demon’s head off in an amazing whirlwind. I was fucking cool, right Giyuu?” he said bumping the man’s shoulder.
“Yes, very cool,” he replied with a soft, barely-there smile.
Just as the white-haired man was about to begin another fantastical story, another voice sounded from a distance.
“Giyuu-san!” the feminine voice called. Looking towards the road, Giyuu spotted Zenitsu and Nezuko coming towards them. Even after all these years, it honestly warmed the former Hashira’s heart to see the woman getting to live a normal life.
“Thank you so much for watching our daughter while we were out,” the woman thanked as she ran towards them.
“It was no trouble,” Giyuu said, “To be honest, Sanemi did most of the work.”
Nezuko turned to the white-haired man who was currently holding her child. “Thank you so much Shinazugawa-san!” she said with a bow.
He stood from his spot before handing the child off to her mother. “No problem kid,” he told her with a soft smile.
The woman turned to coo at her baby and Sanemi took the opportunity to stare down Zenitsu. He pointed at the man and quickly gestured across his neck before putting a finger to his lips. The blond nodded vigorously before ducking behind his wife.
“Did you have a good time, sweetie?” Nezuko asked her child.
The baby began to babble for a moment. “F-f-“
They all stared the at child in anticipation. Was she going to speak her first word?
“Fuck!”