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It's Kyojuro's birthday, which means there's too many people in the Rengoku estate.
Akaza doesn't mind Kyojuro's father and brother, he doesn't mind his friends or the baby slayers. But there's too many people today. It's so many people in the same damn house.
And they all look the same ! He's been searching for Kyojuro for an hour and keeps finding other different Rengokus. Kyojuro's cousin Muijuro, Kyojuro's uncle Sanjuro. He thought he'd found Kyojuro but it was only his female cousin Hikaru. He wanted to scream.
It was like being in a room full of suns. And everyone talked so much ! They all looked at Akaza like he was some sort of rarity or antique.
A wrinkly hand took his arm and an old woman with blond and red hair in a tight bun pulled him aside.
“Who do you belong to?” She asked loudly. Akaza identified her as grandma Kiyoharu. Akaza didn't know if she was the reason Kyojuro was so loud or if she was just old and hard of hearing.
The question threw him off the first two times she asked it, but after a while he was explained by Senjuro that she was asking who's son he was , because old ladies like her wanted to know who's son everyone was.
“Obasan, I already told you, I'm Kyojuro's demon.”
“What?”
“I'm Akaza, obasan!” He said loudly. Grandma Kiyoharu nodded and dragged him to the garden.
“Come to the garden with this old woman, won't you?” She said, pulling on his arm, he'd never let himself be dragged by anyone, but grandma Kiyoharu was persistent and he wasn't about to pull away from an old woman . “You're nervous, you're making me nervous. Let's sit outside for a while.”
Grandma Kiyoharu sat on the little bench by the pond, watching the koi. She told Akaza that when Kyojuro was born she'd come to the house to help Ruka Rengoku give birth. He laughed when she said Kyojuro had a really big head so the birth was very difficult.
Then she told him about Ruka, how she liked the pond, and how she liked magnolias, and that she used to sing for her sons. Grandma's memory wasn't so good, but she remembered Ruka well.
“One day, when my grandson isn't such a blockhead, you'll be taken to the fire.” she said suddenly, Akaza frowned.
“The fire?”
“Yes, all the people that marry into the family are taken to the fire! You have to kneel before the family fire, and stare at it while the people of the family chant, and then Kyojuro has to take your hand and walk around the fire with you.” She looked at Akaza finally and stood from the bench. “It is only natural, considering your relationship.”
Akaza understood she was saying this was some kind of marriage ritual. He scoffed.
“Grandma, demons and fire don't go too well. And who says Kyojuro will want to make an honest demon out of me?”
“Don't be silly, boy. You are wearing his hashira uniform’s button around your neck, I am old, not stupid. You wouldn't be here if he didn't want you to go to the fire.” Grandma Kiyoharu walked away, back into the house. “Go to the kitchen, the wives and husbands who don't look like walking torches are there, just as overwhelmed as you are.”
Akaza did as he was told and indeed, a smaller group of men and women chatted more quietly. One of the women had a child in her lap with the same fire-like hair and the same big eyes as any other member of the family. She turned to Akaza and smiled at him.
“You are him, aren’t you? You are Kyo-kun’s demon, right?” She pats the seat next to her gently. “Come sit, we know it can get overwhelming out there.”
Akaza would rather not, these people looked too normal, and while he wasn’t using his real form, he knew they didn’t entirely trust him no matter how much Kyojuro liked him. He decided he’d sit a little further away, then turned to the child on the woman’s lap, who looked up at him with big shocked eyes.
“Don’t mind Shizuka, she’s always looking at everyone like that.” The woman says nonchalantly, like her kid staring at people with those big owl-like eyes is the most normal thing in the world. “I am Sakura, and this little one is Shizuka.”
“Shouldn’t her name end in Haru or something?” Akaza raised a brow, the other women there laughed, one of the men puttered around the kitchen and another was just outside in the backdoor that led to the other side of the garden, smoking a cigarette. Sakura laughed.
“Yes, she was supposed to, but we checked her horoscope and none of the names we had in mind were auspicious. And since she’s always been very quiet since she was born, we decided to name her Shizuka.”
“At least someone in this family is quiet.” The man smoking finished his cigarette and walked inside. “Hikaru will talk your ear off if you let her.”
They all proceeded to talk about their significant others and how much they talked, how loud they were or how much they slept, ate or drank. Sakura smiled at Akaza.
“I guess you got lucky, Kyojuro has always been a little different from the rest of his cousins. I guess it’s mostly because he had to be an adult too soon.”
“At risk of sounding like grandma… Who do you belong to?”
Sakura smiled, knowing exactly what he meant with his initial comment.
“I am Rengoku Gojuro’s wife.”
“No way, you married that one ?” Akaza almost falls off his seat. Another one of the women laughed. Sakura frowned a little.
“What’s wrong with Gojuro?”
“He looks like he’s always smelling shit! You’re lucky you’re pretty, or that kid wouldn’t stand a chance out in the world!”
“He does not !” Sakura defended, but the other women laughed and agreed with Akaza.
“Yes he does! Always looks like he ate something sour!” One of the women said.
“You know if you hadn’t married him he probably would have been an old bachelor his whole life right?” Another woman asked. Sakura blushed and looked down. “He’s lucky your marriage was arranged, he wouldn’t have married any other way.”
“Are… Are you safe?” Akaza ventured to ask, Sakura looked at him like he was the sweetest creature.
“Gojuro may look like you all say, but he’s never been anything but kind to me, and he loves our Shizuka, even if she’s still so very quiet.”
“I guess not everyone in this family can be as good looking as Kyojuro.” Akaza smiled and looked very smug.
“I mean…” One of the women took her tea cup and sipped her tea quietly, looking away. Akaza glared at her.
“Alright alright, no fighting over who has the better looking Rengoku, from afar they all kind of look the same.” Sakura mumbled, placing Shizuka on the floor. Everyone, even the men, looked like they definitely agreed with her.
They were shocked for a moment when they saw Shizuka walk over to Akaza and extend her arms, demanding to be picked up. Akaza looked at everyone, unsure of what to do. Sakura looked at him and then at the child. Right at that moment, Kyojuro walked into the kitchen and his whole face lit up seeing Shizuka with her little arms extended to Akaza.
“There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you!”
“I’ve been looking all over for you !” Akaza replied, still unsure of what to do with the toddler demanding to be carried.
“That’s certainly weird, Shizuka-chan isn’t good with strangers!”
“It’s what I was about to say, I’m surprised she even willingly went to Akaza-san. You can pick her up, it’s fine.”
Hesitantly, Akaza picked the little girl up and sat her in his lap. Shizuka looked up at him with big yellow eyes, as if she knew perfectly well he was not human, and she wasn’t afraid of him. He’d never felt so scrutinized in his life.
“She’s looking at you like she’s doing kankagari and you’re the flame.” Sakura laughed.
For the rest of the evening, little Shizuka clung to the demon and refused to move from his lap, until she fell asleep and Sakura and sour-faced Gojuro had to leave. Everyone slowly began leaving the house, Kyojuro finally joined Akaza in their room, lit some incense for his mother and crawled under the futon.
“I don’t even have the energy to open my presents.” He mumbles, holding on to Akaza’s waist and burying his face on the demon’s neck. “I’m so tired…”
“Sleep.” Akaza kissed the crown of his head gently. “I don’t enjoy your family, but I had fun tonight.”
“Mm… I think my niece has a crush on you.”
“She’s three years old, no need to be jealous.”
“When I die you’re coming with me, I’m not taking any chances.”
Akaza laughed out loud and could clearly hear Shinjuro banging on the wall to make them shut up. He liked being part of this family.
“Oh, Kyojuro?”
“Mmm?”
“Happy birthday.”