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Tengen tested the waters by blowing a gulp of air outwards, his grin growing when he saw he could see his own breath. It was wintertime and cold as hell. The nine hashira decided to participate in their own personal snowball battle against each other, something about honing their abilities. In truth, they just needed a break. Tengen felt a bit more relaxed as he unraveled his head wrap, allowing his hair to fall again. They all dressed in slightly warmer clothing than their usual preference for uniform and haori, it almost felt like a different world. They couldn’t embrace it for very long but it was.. Nice. To escape their work just for a bit and give their minds a bit of a rest.
Tengen cradled together a ball of snow, patting down the lumps that escaped his initial grip. He soothed down the sphere to the perfect snowball as the corners of his lips curled upward when his eyes caught wind of Kyojuro in the corner. Forming together his own snowball no doubt. He ran towards Kyojuro as he immediately threw his arms in the air to show peace, “I mean no harm!” It was comedical. A 6’6” man that held both his arms straight up, making him appear even taller, it helped that Kyojuro found the sight amusing as he started up his boisterous laugh. Tengen enjoyed these moments, when Kyojuro’s voice felt like the only thing that he could hear. It’s what made being around Rengoku Kyojuro so nice, he hears everything at a single time. To have a voice to dominate everyone else's that it feels like he was the only one talking felt like a lifeline.
“Alright! I’ll hear you out!”
“It’s hard to believe that when you have a snowball aimed straight at me.”
“I haven’t heard anything yet! This is just a precaution.”
“You wound me. You’d believe I’d attack you when I’m raising my arms high into the air?”
“Yes. One hundred percent yes.”
“..Fair enough, but hear me out-”
Tengen dropped down enough for Kyojuro to let down his guard a bit, finally lowering that damned icy ball. The corner of his lips always curled into a smile when he was around Kyojuro; loving his booming energy and flashiness that matched his own. He scooted up to sit beside Kyojuro who had the same planted smile adorning his face at all times. It was humorous almost, a break from demons to enjoy such a childish act like a snowball fight between all the hashira.
“Okay I’m thinking, I hear Giyuu not too far from here. We could easily overpower his defenses if we go from two different sides.”
“Are you suggesting we team up Uzui?”
“Naturally!”
“Giyuu does have the upper hand when it comes to defense.. Alright! I like it! Let’s go!”
They set pace towards deeper into the mountain. Giyuu preferred areas that were permeated with a lot of trees. Having grown up on Mount Natagumo, it was an environment he was used to. Unfortunately, it meant he knew how to maneuver around the forest very well. They soon spotted Giyuu who didn’t look engaged in the game at all, but they knew better than to lose their guard. Immediately Kyojuro threw a snowball that was aimed for his abdomen while Tengen followed with a snowball aimed higher. Giyuu turned towards them, unsurprised at their team-up, he threw up a towel that caught the two snowballs as he ducked downwards. Kyojuro quickly threw down another snowball towards Giyuu but Giyuu had already thrown one at the same trajectory on the other side, making the snowballs collide and unable to proceed further. He kept his senses sharp as his eyes tried to follow where Tengen had gone, uncharacteristically out of sight. Still, Kyojuro kept him busy as they followed into a sequence of Kyojuro throwing snowballs towards him and Giyuu being able to parry each one. Suddenly Giyuu noticed a shadow getting bigger towards him on the ground as he instinctively shot his eyes up to see Tengen carrying two snowballs in each hand as he hurled himself towards Giyuu airborne. Giyuu jumped backwards but Kyojuro managed to throw a snowball at his chest whilst he tried dodging the four snowballs from Tengen. Falling back with a small ‘oouf-’ as the snowball slid down his winter shawl. The sight was enough for Tengen to fall into a symphony of laughter as Giyuu looked totally deadpanned as they all watched the snowball leave a trail of water as it slid down.
Giyuu turned towards them with his everso natural frown. “Do you guys have any shame?”
“Not a bit.” Tengen smiled as there was truth to the fact. He enjoyed how little shame held back Kyojuro, it was what made him so lovely to be around.
“Better luck next time Tomioka!”
Kyojuro's voice radiated through the air as he grabbed Tengen’s wrist in pursuit for their next victim, it was downright an ethereal moment. Tengen slowly quieted his laughter as he became acutely aware of where Kyojuro’s fingers were placed on his wrist and the adrenaline that now ran through Kyojuro’s veins. They were both running on it, but he felt the warmth Kyojuro always radiated fall into his own skin and it was addicting. The man had no right looking this beautiful with snowfall landing throughout his blonde, red-tipped hair. Not too far along their descent of the mountain, a kasugai crow followed them cackling.
“Tomioka Giyuu has been eliminated! Tomioka Giyuu has been eliminated!”
Causing Tengen and Kyojuro to grin at each other as now the rest of the hashira would be on guard, it made the game all the more exhilarating. They stopped by a tree as Kyojuro stayed on watch as Tengen focused on hearing everything. He could hear 6 pairs of footsteps from different directions but not closely enough he could discern their position in the forest. Suddenly, one of the pairs of footsteps, that were most definitely Shinobu’s, had started making their direction. “Kocho is heading this way Rengoku!” He turned towards Kyojuro as the younger one nodded before running off into the treeline. Tengen blew a short hum in agreement as it would be best to get some distance against a small monster Shinobu.
Before long, Shinobu had arrived and clearly undeceived by the trailing footsteps Tengen had tried planting. She pulled her arm up with a snowball in hand teasingly raised into the air.
“Come out, Uzui. Your big feet gave you away! I know you’re still here!”
Tengen raised his arms as he prepared to throw the four snowballs he somehow fit in his hands as Shinobu darted his head towards Tengen’s direction-- sensing the change in wind direction as Tengen’s weight pushed against the air. She threw two snowballs airborne up in the air towards Tengen as the former shinobi narrowly managed to turn his head enough to avoid the two snowballs. The insect hashira never relented though as she avoided Tengen’s initial two snowballs, pulling her arm to launch another two at Tengen.
“My feet are perfectly proportional to my body thank you!”
“Don’t you know? My last medical exam reported they were quite large for someone of your body mass.”
“As long as I'm healthy- it doesn’t matter.”
“Your poor warts are gonna burst under all that weight.”
“You!-”
Tengen slid his foot through the snow to kick up a small wall of snow between him and Shinobu- visibly unbothered by the feeling of light snowfall that covered her legs now. It was simply hard to discern where the sound pillar was as he could make his footsteps as light as feathers. Nevertheless, she scooped a larger ball of snow as she aimed it wherever she felt the wind follow as she drilled her wrist in the upcoming direction. At this time, Kyojuro had managed to stay majorly undetected in the middle of Tengen and Shinobu’s skirmish. In that time, he had managed to accumulate a large pile of prepared snowballs as he watched the two hashiras battle head-to-head. It was amazing to even have the ability to follow their movements, for every snowball they each threw, they were able to parry off of it and dodge another further. It was so mesmerizing- Kyojuro almost wanted to keep aside to keep watching.
Of course, he couldn’t leave Tengen to that fate as he stepped into the frey. Shinbou realized the flame pillar’s presence before sensing the onslaught of snowballs headed her way as she barely managed to avoid most of them. Unfortunately being caught by two snowballs towards her stomach, causing her to relent as she fell onto the snow-piled ground.
“Ah.. I should’ve realized you two would team.” She commented as she dusted the thrown snow off her body. Kyojuro smiled towards her, “It was a good fight Kocho!” Before turning towards Tengen who tightly gripped a now melting snowball in his fist.
“We’re gonna talk later about patient-doctor confidentiality.”
“I didn’t know Rengoku was here, it couldn’t be helped.”
“You most definitely did.”
“I did not.”
Kyojuro and Tengen ran off as Kyojuro decided to not inform Tengen that Shinbou whispered in his ear- ‘I definitely did.’ Choosing to just allow Tengen to guide them to their next victim.
Except it felt like everyone was dropping like birds.
“Kocho Shinobu has been eliminated! Kocho Shinobu has been eliminated!”
“Obanai Iguro has been eliminated! Obanai Iguro has been eliminated!”
“Kanroji Mitsuri has been eliminated! Kanroji Mitsuri has been eliminated!”
“Tokito Muichiro has been eliminated! Tokito Muichiro has been eliminated!”
“Wow-” Drawn out by a whistle by Tengen, “That’s most of them.”
He closed his eyes as he focused on the footsteps he could hear. Now that more people were eliminated, it was easier to tell the position between the last two Hashira. He could hear particularly heavy steps on his right and much lighter ones towards.. His front?
Fuck, it’s Sanemi isn’t it?
Tengen darted his eyes upwards as he realized Sanemi was fucking barreling towards him. He immediately lowered his chest as the rise of his wide ribcage almost made contact with a snowball. He just narrowly missed that. Tengen dug his fingertips into the snow as he tried to grip onto any flakes to form into a ball. It was a messy, desperate attempt at a ball. He threw it upwards, more of an attempt to draw his attention away than hit him in all honesty. Sanemi never relented. Kyojuro was able to throw a few more prepared snowballs as Sanemi tensed his body as the sight of Kyojuro appeared from behind Tengen.
“You guys are teaming up!? What the hell was the point of this battle then!”
Sanemi looked like he could melt the snow he stood on from the way he boiled under his skin.
Tengen smiled as he was finally given the leeway to make some proper snowballs, “Hey! We never said anything against teaming up!”
“Dumbass! It was an unspoken understanding you clearly did not get! We all thought it’d be a free-for-all!”
“Under that same logic Shinazugawa! It was understood that we also didn’t place any rule that restricted teaming up!” Kyojuro interjected, maybe not the best decision. It only made Sanemi more furious.
“You two!- It’s not a challenge if you two team up!”
Tengen threw two snowballs that tunneled toward Sanemi, hoping to catch him while he was in his dumb rant. Of course, it didn’t work, only made a vein in Sanemi’s jaw pop.
“Could you be any less shameless?!”
“How is it any less a challenge? You get to test your abilities on two other Hashira!” Tengen boomed, his pristine white hair slipping more and more out of his ponytail as he moved around the snow.
Sanemi seemed to be in thought for a second, before grinning at the idea of being able to challenge himself. A feat that was hard to achieve through ‘mindless’ corps members and a few demons. He prepared himself in a stance as he formed together a few snowballs in his hands whilst Tengen gathered a few clumps of his own.
Honestly no snowball fight ever has to be this serious.
Tengen first leaped onto a sturdy tree that if Shinobu was here-- would definitely make a jab about the tree crumbling over because of him. Kyojuro managed to close the gap between him and Sanemi, trying to inch away at any space that kept them far. Aware of Kyojuro’s ability in close-combat, Sanemi made sure to kick off any chance of Kyojuro reaching him as he navigated backwards, deeper into the forest. All the while throwing snowballs into the air to make Tengen have to move all the more carefully while dodging snowballs mid-air. One of the snowballs almost hit his feet, causing an instinctual reaction to lift his foot upwards to avoid the junk of snow but it ended up causing Tengen to lose his balance on the hardy branch he was on. He lost his footing as his body was pulled down to gravity but luckily, and thank his grip strength, he managed to hold onto a branch a few meters down the branch he was originally on and avoided falling onto his fucking ass. He hung a bit as he swung his body to gain enough momentum to gather stability again but in that time being, Kyojuro would have to fare by himself for a while.
Taking notice of Tengen’s situation, Kyojuro moved their skirmish away from where Tengen was. Sanemi had constantly tried to near himself to get a better aim to eliminate Tengen while he was vulnerable but the Flame Hashira had him boxed into the west side of the forest. Trying to deal with Rengoku there and then, he pushed up flights of snow with his foot sliding across the ground and kicking it up to derail Kyojuro’s focus on him but to no avail. Kyojuro had jumped back and set pursuit in his direction again, tossing a snowball airborne towards the Wind Hashira and another towards his chest. Sanemi seemed to be in concentrated delight as he found himself unable to advance and unable to find a clear path to eliminating either Tengen and Kyojuro, grinning as he avoided both the snowballs that barreled his way.
Sanemi pushed forward as he managed to get in the direction of Kyojuro’s side, his eyes drifting a bit slower than he would like as he caught sight of Sanemi. Unable to move his body in time to avoid the hurdling snowball that Sanemi threw the moment he dashed, he felt another weight pulling him to the ground which made Kyojuro’s body tense up as he didn’t know who the hell was behind him. He grit down on his teeth as he shot his eyes behind himself as he felt his body’s right side feel the icy cold of snow from being pushed into the ground. Unable to see anything but broad shoulders, Kyojuro refocused his eyes onto Sanemi who was falling backwards from a snowball thrown at him.
A snowball thrown at him?
Kyojuro looked down at the arms that held him tightly as he felt his entire body relax as he recognized Tengen’s winter shawl. Gaudy and ‘flamboyant,’ how Tengen always decided to portray himself.
Despite being submerged in the snowfall of the winter season, his cheeks and neck felt a little bit warmer.
“That was too close.. You alright Rengoku?”
“Yes! Thank you for that save!”
“Hey, don’t thank me just yet. Shinazugawa is probably madder than ever now.” Tengen groaned while getting up, not excited to hear Sanemi’s intelligible rants about eliminating him.
Tengen dusted off the snow that landed on him as Kyojuro followed suit and began to wipe off the snow as well. His hands brushing over a bit slower than usual as his brain was still processing the fact his body inadvertently relaxed upon realizing it was Tengen who hugged him.
Kyojuro’s body was naturally stiff from total concentration constant, he made sure he was always on guard for danger even when he was with friends. Yet relaxing because he trusted Tengen? Embarrassing.
Sanemi seemed like a vein was about to pop from his jawline as he sat upwards from the snow. “You!- Fuck!”
Tengen snickered as he watched Sanemi boil over, his teasing knowing no bounds. “Okay now try saying it backwards.” Or regard for his life because Sanemi looked like he was gonna kill him.
“Fuck you!”
“There we go.”
Sanemi only bursted in anger as Tengen equally erupted into laughter. Kyojuro joined in the erratic joy that was very much one-sided as Sanemi definitely had a vein popped now.
Although Kyojuro was less focused on Sanemi’s exasperation and instead how much he wanted to always be in this moment. This insouciant, serene, placid moment that he has the pleasure to experience. He realized early on that he never wanted to live with regrets weighing him down, and that stands true to now. And somehow, Tengen always managed to worm his way into the future Kyojuro wanted to imagine for himself. Maybe it’s the fact they were so similar and joined at the hip whenever possible. Maybe it was the fact that days felt kinder from Tengen’s overwhelming generosity. Days were never dull, nights haven’t been more forgiving, that’s what it was like being with someone as gentle as Tengen.
While Kyojuro won’t deny that Tengen can be too exuberant for some people. But what made Tengen so amazing to be around was his overabundance in kindness. His hearty laughter was downright infectious. His words were an example of everything he exactly was with barely any hints of deception. He was truly himself and chose he rather be no other way and it was the kind of earnest and honest life Kyojuro had always admired.
The crow ended up cutting through his line of thought, squabbling, “Shinazugawa Sanemi has been eliminated! Shinazugawa Sanemi has been eliminated!”
Only three left.
It was strange how absent the stone hashira had been from their little game, where was he anyway?
They got their answer in a little less than three minutes.
--
Standing over them, with the biggest snowball that had ever been made, probably.
The snow was as unforgiving as it could be as the massive snowball was dropped on them, basically encasing the two despite both of their taller statures.
“Rengoku Kyojuro has been eliminated! Rengoku Kyojuro has been eliminated!”
“Uzui Tengen has been eliminated! Uzui Tengen has been eliminated!”
—
With their game finished, Gyomei declared as the winner. The hashira headed into Uzui estate as the nearest home to their contest. All gathering over cups of tea as they warmed up in his home.
“We had a good run, Uzui!”
“Would’ve been better without a mountain of snow dropped on us.”
“Yes, there was a lot of snow. But still a fun experience!”
“Rengoku, what if we got hypothermia.”
“I wouldn’t let that happen!”
Tengen rolled his eyes a bit more playfully as he leaned into his palm that now rested on his chin, “Really, I’m actually dying of the cold right now.”
Of course, leave it to Kyojuro to take anything he says seriously.
Before Tengen could realize what was going on, Kyojuro had already scooped Tengen into his arms akin to a groom to his bride. Literally swiping Tengen off his feet.
Tengen, the fucking behemoth of a man, standing at 198 centimeters, weighing at 209 pounds, has actually no experience with being picked up. Not too strange when you recall his giant frame but a bit pitiful to anyone who realized that meant he was never picked up even as a child.
So when a significantly smaller individual is able to lift him more than 4 inches off the ground, it’s cause for adrenaline and just slight fear.
One, Tengen just got dumped almost 10 tons of snow onto him, and falling on his ass now would worsen his mood even more. Two, being lifted felt absolutely exhilarating in all the ways he didn’t know it could feel. Is this what everyone experienced when he lifted people onto his shoulders?
Heat crawled onto the surface of his skin as suddenly maybe he wasn’t ever that cold in the first place.
Kyojuro carried Tengen into what he assumed to be Tengen’s room, setting him down finally.
“There you go! Now you can really warm up in here Tengen!”
“..How generous of you.”
“No problem!”
Tengen buried himself into the soft futon that welcomed him every night, yet it felt achingly empty. “Well? Aren’t you cold too?” He lifted a portion of the futon invitingly for Kyojuro, hoping that he would take him up on the offer.
Kyojuro stood over Tengen as he watched Tengen’s arm outstretched with the blanket of the futon open for Kyojuro’s place inside. Contemplating for less than a second as he gave a ginger smile, taking off his winter shawl and laying it next to the futon. He climbed inside and found the space was quite spacious, most likely to accommodate Tengen’s wives as well but for now, he enjoyed the comfort that the soft fabric had to offer.
“Thank you! For almost taking us to victory! And providing the warmth of your home!”
Tengen smiled as he placed a hand onto his ear, “Come on Kyojuro, inside voices please.” Falsely groaning as if it really mattered, it didn’t, in fact Tengen hoped Kyojuro’s volume would never change throughout the years. Enjoying its ability to overpower every other sound in the vicinity. But of course, knowing Kyojuro, he cupped a palm over his mouth like it would do anything to lower his sound. “Oh my apologies! I did not intend to hurt your ears!”
This time Tengen let out an actual groan as he removed Kyojuro’s hand away from his mouth, “I was joking, talk as loud as you want Rengoku.” Reassuring his level of volume. “And anyway, it’s my pleasure to have you in my home! Still a shame we didn’t actually win.” Kyojuro leaned into the pillow of the futon as he rested on his back, closing his eyes facing the ceiling. Tengen inched his body closer as if to steal some of Kyojuro’s natural body heat. “Well, it wasn’t too bad. I’m glad I got to pair up with you Tengen! I wish we had more chances to.”
It was a silent kind of understanding, it was a rare occurrence for the hashira to meet at all. An unfortunate understanding you had to have for their line of work after all.
It felt strange, the entire day had felt like a dream. They normally could’ve never indulged themselves like this, much less in such a childish manner. Amidst their sworn oath to keep fighting against demons was the desire for today to never end. It had been fun, this break and all, of course it has to end. Kyojuro can only act as if the only reason he agreed to the snowball competition at all was because it took place in the morning, so he’d still have time to hunt demons at night.
Amongst his thoughts, Kyojuro felt Tengen swing an arm under his neck and over his chest. It was an embrace for a lack of better words but it spoke volumes that Kyojuro could never hope to reach. For a few more hours he’d be safe in Tengen’s arms and he was safe to close his eyes and indulge in this freedom just a bit more. It was the same strange safety he felt earlier when Tengen held onto him, a strange feeling that was becoming increasingly welcomed in Kyojuro’s eyes. A mutter of a thank you as he closed his eyes as well.
Tengen felt his ears steady at the beat of Kyojuro’s heart that had finally calmed, it stewed frequently throughout the day so to hear the steady beat felt like the life line he had grown to associate Kyojuro with. Enjoying the feeling of Kyojuro wrapping his arms around Tengen’s back as Tengen’s arms were still around Kyojuro’s neck. Mumbling out a good night as they basked in each other for one night amongst the unforgiving winters.