Work Text:
He looked up to the night sky. The snow falling and the people cheering for the upcoming year. Another one. There's always another year after that one.
And again,
He survived.
His hands were clean, but he felt they were heavy and sticky. He was sent to clean some curses. Working on the 31th... The holidays meant nothing to the Zen’nin clan. He never got a Christmas present. Or a birthday one for that matter.
At least this year he was alone. Better alone than with his older brother teasing him for breathing. Or existing. One day he would shut his mouth. But alas, Toji was big but he was still a 15 year old boy. His limbs were starting to take shape, but he got them dirty with curse-juice after miss calculating the distance, he was getting taller.
Maybe today he could go to some street in Tokyo and steal something sweet. Heck! Maybe a tourist would even GIVE him a sweet if he spoke something in broken English.
Nah.
A sweet is not worth the trouble of getting caught by the Zen'nin. He knew he was being monitored. It's yet not time for it. Hold your strength and leave when you're strong enough.
He took a deep breath.
Yeah.
Another year where he would indulge in some snow and leave at that.
But he couldn't help but dream of, one day, having a nice birthday. In a cozy home, eating udon.