Chapter Text
"Chop chop, everyone! We've only got 5 minutes till they get here!"
Sanemi rolled his eyes as he hung another paper snake on a drawer handle, "Urgh Uzui...bossy little bitch."
"Heard that, Shinazugawa! Unless you'd like to be on streamer detangling duty, you'd better have those paper snakes up and ready!"
"Okay fine!", Sanemi grumbled as he hung another paper snake over a drawer handle.
He hated parties; they were always too loud and too messy, making it a pain to clean. So why was he here? Well, Uzui dragging him was one. But Obanai was his best friend and it was his birthday. At least that's what Kyojuro said.
Obanai still hid behind him or clung onto his robes when he got scared, but other than that...it was as if Obanai wanted nothing to do with him as children. They used to joke around and tease Tomioka, or train together all the time as adults. But now Obanai only clung to Tengen and Gyomei whilst Tomioka clung to him instead!
He huffed a sigh as he placed another paper snake on top of the shelf. He could care less about how the decor looked. How could he when he felt angry...and jealous? It wasn't fair at all that his best friend would choose the other hashira over him! Even Tomioka got a less frightened look from Obanai than he did whenever they walked by!
"Tomioka! Are you insane!"
Sanemi covered his ears and prayed he could magically teleport to another room away from Uzui's noise.
"Why would you put the paper snakes on the floor? Do you want Mei Mei to crush them?"
"Well, snakes belong on the grass and they can't climb shelves since it's a smooth surface. It would be wrong. Obanai would know that."
Sanemi shook his head and quickly picked up one of the paper snakes on the floor to be placed on another shelf; 'Leave it Tomioka to argue with the party master. I can't be bothered.'
"Aesthetics, Tomioka! You've got to think of the aesthetics!", Uzui pointed to the paper snakes that now littered the ground like an agility training ground, "Now redo these snake decorations! Chop chop! We've only got two minutes left!"
Sanemi huffed another sigh as Tomioka stood in the middle of the room staring blankly; 'Urgh this Tomioka. Didn't he know how to think for himself?'
He grabbed some of the paper snakes on the ground in a bundle and shoved them at Tomioka, "Just follow what I did and hang them over the drawer handles."
He pointed to the paper snakes that hung limply like bundles of soba noodles over each drawer handle, "It's literally so simple."
"Oh okay...", Tomioka gave a small smile as he limply held the bundle of paper snakes, "Thanks, Nems."
"Whatever.", Sanemi rolled his eyes and ignored the oddly warm feeling in his chest, "Just hurry up before bossy Uzui shouts again."
"I heard that!", Uzui called over his back.
"Urgh! Shut up!", Sanemi stormed off to a corner of the room for a break before the chaos that was about to unfold, "Stupid Uzui and his stupid sharp hearing."
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Obanai clutched his stomach as it churned again.
He was already leaning against Mei Mei for a hug, and Mui was sitting on his lap playing with Maru, but it still felt bad.
He already tried jumping, and waving his hands, and counting from 1 to 100 three times, and watching Maru make shapes in the grass while he slithered. Mei Mei hugging him did help a little but it was still bad.
He wanted to go back to Mei Mei's room and hide under his blanket until the pain in his stomach went away. But it was going to be lunch time soon which made him want to vomit, but he had to try and eat if not Mei Mei would be sad again.
"Are you alright, baby cat?", Mei Mei asked gently, "Is something wrong?"
Obanai bit his lip and shook his head. It was his birthday today and his stomachaches were always worse on his birthday. A long time ago, he swore Ms Rengoku had explained to him why his stomach hurt more but he forgot now...he was always too stupid to remember things that people told him.
"You're holding your stomach, Obanai.", Mei Mei squinted slightly as if trying to look at something more clearly, "Does your stomach hurt?"
Obanai forced his hands aside and shook his head. His stomach churned again and he wanted to hold it. But he was making Mei Mei worried which was wrong, so he couldn't do that anymore.
"If you need anything, any medicine or if you want to lie down, you can tell me. Alright?", Mei Mei rubbed his back with his warm hands, "It's okay to tell me if your stomach hurts. We can always eat later if you need time to rest."
He shook his head; he had to be a good boy and do as he's told. He already did it wrong the last time by not listening to mother when she asked him to kneel in front of the big snake. Which is why Auntie and his sister had to grab his arms and-
He gritted his teeth and tried not to cry as vomit started to climb up his throat. He didn't want to think about that anymore but it wasn't helping but he didn't want to vomit on Mui's robes and make him dirty-
Muichiro babbled loudly and tapped Mei Mei's knees.
"Is something wrong, Mui? Do you need something?"
"Ba! Ba!", Mui gripped and pulled Mei Mei's finger towards Obanai, "Ba ba!"
Obanai quickly clung his hands around Mei Mei's neck, "I want sleep."
"Ah...you're tired, baby cat?", Mei Mei gently patted his back which made the vomit go away, "Let's go back to our room, shall we? Then you can take a nap before lunch."
He nodded and rested his head on Mei Mei's shoulder as he picked both him and Mui off the floor, and started walking back to their room.
He closed his eyes and felt the warm softness of Mei Mei's robes on his face; 'Mei Mei is here. Everything will be okay...everything will be okay.'
----------------------------------------
Giyuu was very confused.
He didn't usually know what he was feeling but right now? He was very sure that he was confused.
"Stop stepping on me!"
"Quit shoving me!"
"Shh! Keep quiet! I can hear you from the other side of the room!
"You can hear everything from the other side of every room! That doesn't count!"
"Well, it's definitely going to count once they come in and hear us screaming across the room!"
"We've already been here for forever! My legs hurt!"
"I SUGGEST WE STOP SHOUTING!
"You should stop shouting!"
"WHAT?"
Giyuu sighed and pressed his palms harder over his ears. He tried telling Papa Urokodaki and Tanjiro that the other hashira were far too noisy to be friends with, but they didn't believe him. It's not that he didn't want to try being friends but it hurt his ears all the time when they were this loud. If they could all be quieter and talk less, maybe they would all actually have a better time.
He shifted his weight to stretch his leg-
He fell over.
"Argh! Tomioka!"
"Ow Nems! You're sitting on my leg!"
"That's not my fault!"
"I told you guys to be quiet! What about that don't you understand!"
"It's all Nems' fault!"
"My fault! You-"
Sanemi turned to face him with a deep frown, "Can't you see you're making everyone uncomfortable? Get up already!"
He fumbled to stand on his legs that now had imaginary pins and needles jabbing them as Sanemi and Shinobu shifted themselves.
Sanemi shot him another glare, "What are you doing?"
"You asked me to get up so I'm standin-"
"Squat down!", Sanemi yanked him downwards, "Not much of a surprise if you're standing there, staring at them, is it?"
'Is that a legitimate question?', Giyuu frowned, "I don't know. It could be-"
"Don't be a dummy! Of course it isn't!", Sanemi rolled his eyes, "Don't tell me you've also never had a surprise birthday party before!"
Giyuu stared at the wood grain of the cupboard in front of him. It was hardly interesting but it was better than looking at the clumps of dust.
He had tried to tell Tengen that Obanai might not like a surprise party; he personally didn't like them either given how loud they were and it always left him confused on what he was supposed to say and do. He remembered how his parents and Tsutako tried it once, and Tsutako got confused why he didn't smile when she jumped out and showed him his present. He had told her back then that if she wanted him to smile when she jumped out, she could have just told him. And then she said that it's not the same if she told him what to do like actors in a play.
But that was probably just him being weird and different from the other kids again.
"Nems?", he made sure to ask more loudly so Sanemi could hear him clearly.
"What!", Sanemi frowned, "Stop being so loud! We're supposed to be quiet!"
"Oh.", he made a mental note to make his voice quiet again, "Are you sure Obanai will like this? What if he doesn't understand that he's supposed to smile when we jump out?"
Sanemi looked up and down at him with a frown; 'Did a ball of dust get on his hair?'
"What's there to understand?", Sanemi turned away and continued frowning, "I just hope they come soon so I don't have to keep squatting here."
'Hm...that makes sense.', Giyuu nodded and looked at the wood grain again, "I hope they come soon too."
"Well, Obanai better like it.", Sanemi muttered but it was unclear if he was meant to hear it or not, "I didn't waste play time just to prepare all this for Obanai to cry again."
----------------------------------------
"Ah...there we are. Our room.", Gyomei smiled gently as he felt tension leave Obanai's body as a sigh, when he gave a slow pat on his back.
He could guess that Obanai was burrowing his face into his haori given how tightly he gripped onto its edges, but that was expected given the limited amount Ms Amane had explained regarding Obanai's fear of women. Obanai had since made progress to giving a small wave if any of the female attendants or Tengen's wives greeted him. But today he refused again, burrowing his face and keeping himself extremely still when Hinatsuru had walked past.
Obanai was usually content to sit in the garden as well, and had recently started walking on the grass to explore along with Muichiro and Kaburamaru. He would usually tell Muichiro when their outdoor play time was over and attempt to usher him inside. But the roles had reversed today with Muichiro dragging his finger over to call Obanai...not to mention how Obanai was nervously asking to go to bed when he had just woken up and had breakfast-
He paused at the door; the silence wasn't right. As far as he knew, he sensed six other bodies in the room and yet...silence. It was probably the other hashiras since they weren't out playing in the garden.
"Children? Are you there?", he called out.
Silence.
'Perhaps the children are having lunc- But if they were having lunch then who did these six bodies belong to?'
He readied his stance. It didn't help that he now lost the strength he had trained so hard for but it didn't matter. He failed once in protecting his young charges but he wouldn't fail them again. It didn't matter even if his arms gave out again, he would fight till his heart stopped.
Obanai squirmed as if hoping to disappear into his haori altogether.
"Don't worry, baby cat.", he braced an arm over both Obanai and Muichiro, "I won't let them hurt you."
A sharp inhale.
His heart thudded as it sent blood pulsing through his body.
He took a step-
POP!
"SURPRISE!"
'What?'
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY OBI!"
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY OBANAI!"
Obanai stiffened.
And so did he.
Frozen to the ground again, but now for a completely different reason.
'What was going on here?'
"We were supposed to say happy birthday Obi! Not happy birthday Obanai!", Tengen called out to Sanemi on his left, "Who messed up? I swear I heard someone!"
"It wasn't me! It was Nems!". Shinobu.
"What! It wasn't me!". Sanemi.
"It's alright guys! Either way, the party's still cute!". Mitsuri.
"We weren't supposed to use his name?". Giyuu.
"No matter!", Kyojuro boomed, "The surprise was a success!"
"Success?", Tengen pressed, "We could barely even coordinate on what to say! We're hashiras, we should be better than this!"
"Oh my god! No one cares!", Sanemi retorted, "Jeez! You're so noisy and annoying!"
Gyomei patted Obanai's back gently again as he started to whimper; he needed to figure out what was going on. And quick.
"Children, what's going on?"
"Kyojuro said it's Obanai's birthday today!", Mitsuri chirped up, "So we decided to decorate the room and give Obi the cutest surprise party ever! Isn't it cute?"
"Mitsuri, you can't ask that!", Shinobu chimed in with a whisper that everyone could hear, "Mei Mei's blind! He can't see the decorations!"
"Oh my goodness! I forgot!", Mitsuri exclaimed, "We should ask Obi instead!"
'Birthday party. Catch up to speed, Gyomei.', he chided himself, 'Questions later.'
"Ah yes...", he patted Obanai who now stiffened like the wooden floor, "Perhaps you can-"
Mitsuri tapped his arm that was carrying Obi before he could stop her, "What do you think, Obi? Did we do a good job? Is it cute?"
Obanai gripped tighter onto his robes.
"Nobu and I drew lots and lots of snakes and pasted them on the walls and we didn't colour them so they'll all be white like Maru! Kyojuro and Tenny made all the streamers black and white like your haori too!"
She pointed to the drawers around the room, "Tenny's wives and Amane helped with making all the origami snakes too! They're so cute, aren't they? Sanemi and Giyuu helped to hang them on the drawers!"
"Yea!", Shinobu ran back to them now with a paper snake in her hand.
"It's a snake!", Shinobu made the paper snake lunge towards him with a giggle, "Sss!"
Obanai whimpered as he turned his face away.
All the hashira were shouting.
White and black snakes were placed all over his room.
He thought the snakes were made of paper. That they were fake ones that wouldn't move. But Shinobu brought one to him and it moved towards him, hissing just like Maru and the big snake.
'The snakes are safe ones. Shinobu is just playing pretend with you!', Ms Rengoku told him in his head.
But he didn't know...if the scary ladies made it...what if Mother had asked them to make them so they would bite him. Or what if they came towards his face again and cut-
"Is something wrong, Obi?"
He heard Mitsuri ask from behind Mei Mei's robes.
"You don't like them?"
He peered out from Mei Mei's robes and nodded; he didn't really know what she was asking but it was better if he said yes. Saying yes always made Mother happy so it'll make her happy too.
Tears beaded in her eyes as Mitsuri quickly turned away and muttered to herself, ""You don't like it...but why?"
'All your fault! Again!', Mother was scolding him in his head again
He tugged on Mei Mei's robes; he thought Mitsuri would smile but now she was crying and his eyes were getting blurry-
He shook his head.
He had to. Stop. Crying.
"Why don't we take a look around the room, baby cat?", Mei Mei patted his back, "Maybe you'll find something you like."
He shook his head and held Maru closer to him as Mei Mei nudged him forwards. He really didn't want to go near all the snakes that would try to bite him like the one that Nobu had in her hand.
"No, I'm scared.", he wanted to say like Mei Mei taught him so many times but his throat and chest hurt and he couldn't talk and Mei Mei couldn't see, "Mei Mei-"
He covered his mouth as vomit climbed up his throat again.
A bowl of rice.
He looked away from the plate on top of the shelf. It was the plate that had all of his safe food; a bowl of miso soup, one umeboshi plum, and one bowl of spinach ohitashi.
Well...it was supposed to.
Now it had a bowl for rice, other fruits, and other vegetables that he couldn't remember what they were called.
He knew that the miso soup and spinach ohitashi would still taste the same, and he was being naughty to have stomachaches again...but it was scary now.
"Hey bud! I got my wives to make a whole platter for you!"
'Look when people are talking to you!', Auntie shouted at him inside his head, 'Stop doing weird things!
He knew he was being bad by looking away. He really didn't want to vomit. But at least he tried to make his hands stay still instead of waving them about...right?
"I've got all your favourites and some other stuff for all of us to share too! Can't let the plate look empty for a birthday party!"
'How dare you be so selfish to claim the whole plate for yourself! Greedy.'
He nodded; Mother was right. It made his stomach hurt to look at it but that was okay! He could just watch Mei Mei and Mui eat it! And not open his mouth so he wouldn't vomit or cry-
"RO RO!"
His shoulders felt weird as Yo-wo tapped them. He thought Yo-wo's hands would move away but they stayed there, and Yo-wo was too loud and forgot his quiet voice again-
"We've got a whole bunch of games too!", Yo-wo continued to boom, "I've even asked Sen to find the hanafuda pack from home too so we can play it the way you like!"
He pressed a finger into his ears and nodded. He didn't want to play but Yo-wo wanted to play so it was best he said yes.
'Think of the garden. Think of the garden.', he told himself as he kept his fingers in his ears while Yo-wo continued shouting about the different games they would play.
----------------------------------------
'This is taking so long!', Shinobu rocked on her heels next to Giyuu.
Tengen had told her this party would just be like the one she had back at home where everyone would eat and play games and sing the birthday song! But so far, none of that has happened and Obi looked more like he wanted to cry than play games!
'What a big baby! Even I don't cry anymore during birthday parties.', she pouted at that thought.
She still remembered the last time she had a birthday party. It was before Kanae and her parents became butterflies and flew away. And she still remembered why she cried; it was Kanae's birthday but she wanted the plate of mochi her parents had bought at the store.
It felt unfair back then, why Kanae had a bigger plate of mochi than her. So she snuck one and stuffed it in her mouth when Kanae looked away to talk to her parents. Kanae scolded her for stealing when she found out, and her parents had chided her for being disrespectful.
She stared at the plate full of fresh fruit, especially the pile of freshly cut strawberries and melon. She held back the urge to grumble as she watched Kyojuro continue rambling to Obanai about games; couldn't they eat already! She was getting hungry! And bored! And hungry!
"Yu-yu!", she whispered.
Giyuu continued to stare around the room.
"Yu-yu!", she took a big breath in and stomped her foot, "Dummy Yu-yu!"
"Don't call me that.", Giyuu replied monotonously, "What do you want?"
"Well I wouldn't need to call you dummy, if you answered! Dummy!", she stuck her tongue out, "I'm hungry! I want the strawberries!"
"Oh okay.", Giyuu turned away to look at Kyojuro and Tenny who were huddling around Obanai.
She stepped on Giyuu's toe.
"Ow.", Giyuu exclaimed quietly.
"I said, I'm hungry! I want the strawberries!", she tiptoed to whisper in his ear, "Get me some!"
"Oh. Okay.", Giyuu nodded and turned to walk away-
"Wait!", she snuck a glance at Tenny who had his back turned.
She handed Yu-yu the paper snake in her hand and tiptoed to whisper in his ear again, "Put this is Tenny's shoulder and say boo!"
Giyuu looked at the paper snake and looked back at her with a small frown, "Why would I do that-"
"Don't ask questions!", she hurriedly shushed him before Tenny turned around, "Get me strawberries and put this on Tenny's shoulder! That's it!"
Giyuu held the paper snake gently, "Okay then.", and walked away.
She kept her giggle as soft as possible as she walked to stand next to Nems, 'Tenny's going to scream so loud it's going to be so funny!'
----------------------------------------
Obanai looked around the room with his fingers pressed into his ears. His eyes hurt from wanting to cry but he knew it was wrong to do it. Mei Mei always told him to be brave and try, so that was what he was supposed to do.
He tried to look over Yo-wo and Tenny who were too tall; Nems stood angrily in a corner, Nobu and Tomioka were talking. But no Mei Mei and Mui.
He looked at the floor as his stomach started to hurt. He wanted to rub it but that meant taking his hands off his ears which meant his ears would hurt. He wanted to ask Mei Mei to help rub his stomach but Mei Mei wasn't there.
'Tenny isn't looking.'
He hurriedly waved his arms about as quietly as he could to make the pain in his chest go away. But it wasn't getting better and only Mei Mei could make it better and Mei Mei wasn't here and he was all alone and it was too loud-
Something white appeared on Tenny's shoulder. The same paper snake Nobu was holding.
'I should tell Tenny, "There's a snake!"'
But his hands couldn't leave his ears so he couldn't tap Tenny's arm to call him and his throat hurt so he couldn't talk.
'It's not real. It cannot bite you.', he turned away from the paper snake and shut his eyes-
"...ou okay, Obi?"
Mitsuri was talking to him. He nodded.
"Are you sure?"
He waved his arms and turned away as she peered at his face from underneath. It wasn't the right thing to do but he couldn't stop on time.
"You look sad and scared...is it too much for you?"
'Look sad and scared?', he shook his head. There was no sad and scared on the walls or the floor so that was wrong...but maybe someone put it somewhere for him to find and he missed it-
A loud scream made his ears hurt.
His ears buzzed.
"Who put this on me?", Tenny continued shouting, "That's disgusting!"
'Obanai good boy. Obanai good boy. Obanai good boy. Obanai good boy.'
He closed his eyes before he could cry-
"It was me."
He looked up.
The paper snake in Tomioka's hand.
“Happy birthday Obanai.”, Tomioka’s face remained the same as he looked back at Tenny, “Boo.”
‘Mei Mei?’, he looked around.
He didn’t know what boo meant but he knew it always meant something scary was going to happen.
He clutched his stomach.
It hurt.
‘I want poo. I’m scared.’
He wanted to tell Mei Mei that but no Mei Mei. And no Mui.
His eyes became blurry.
'Stop! Crying!'
"What's wrong, bud?", Tenny's hand came towards him-
He squatted on the floor.
A loud cry.
“Bud, what’s going on?”
“I want poo!”, he tapped his stomach, “I want poo!”
“The toilet?”, Mitsuri turned to look at him, “Kyojuro and I can go with you! Squish and Squash will protect you!”
“No no!”, he looked away as Tomioka caught sight of him waving his hands about.
'You can always hide in your blanket when you feel scared, baby cat. I'll leave it here and you can use it whenever you want.'
Yes.
Mei Mei made that corner for him with his blanket and safe toys so that he didn’t have to cry when he was scared.
He ran to his corner of the room-
A pile of boxes.
“I don’t want!”, he pointed to the boxes, “I want poo!”
“Those are your presents, bud!”, Tenny smiled and pointed to the boxes, “We weren’t planning to open them now but we can always open them once you’re back from the toilet!”
He shook his head as more tears came out, “I don’t want! I don’t want!”
He pushed the boxes away from his blanket that was now hidden behind them, “Yucky! Yucky, yucky!”
“Hey! You can’t say that, we made those for you-“
“Yucky! Yucky, yucky!”, he used his foot to move them away even though it was wrong.
Mother and Auntie used to make him smile when they gave him presents too, and then they would squeeze his cheeks and make him open his mouth to make him eat rice-
Something sat on his blanket that he didn’t recognize.
"Is mine!", he tried reaching for his blanket but it was too far away but he didn’t want his toes to step on the boxes because rice could come out.
“Is mine!”, he looked around the room for Mei Mei again.
Why was he gone?
“You want your blanket?”, Tenny walked towards him, “Why didn’t you say so, bud? Ican help you get tha-“
The boxes toppled.
One landed on his foot.
He wanted to stomp the pain away but it got worse, “Is mine! IS MINE!”
“Woah, bud! Slow down-“
He reached out for his blanket in Tenny’s hands, "MINE! MINE! MINE!"
A hand reached out towards him, "Whaa’s going on-"
He pushed the boxes away.
"Hey! You're going to break them all like that!"
He didn’t want to push but it was too late.
"ANGRY!"
Why. Couldn’t. Tenny. Let. Go!
‘Rude child! Ask nicely!’
“Angry!”, he wiped the water away from his eyes but more kept coming, “Angry!”
"Do you want something?”, Mei Mei knelt down in front of him, “What do you want?"
“Is mine?”, he tapped his chest.
Maybe Mei Mei will understand.
“Is mine?”, and pointed to his blanket again.
“I’m confused, baby cat.”, Mei Mei frowned, “Did someone take something you wanted?”
“Is mine!”, he gripped his hair so he wouldn’t hit.
“What is Obanai’s?”, Gyomei frowned, “Can you tell Mei Mei?”
He couldn't.
‘Stupid boy, use your words!’
“I want?”, he hit his head hoping that the words Mother wanted would come out, “I want?”
"Don't hit your head, baby cat.", Mei Mei placed his hands on his head, “You’ll hurt yourself.”
He screamed.
Why couldn't Mei Mei understand! He had to hit so they would get out-
“I want Mama?”, maybe Ms Rengoku could help him, “I want Mama?”
“Mama? Mama isn’t here.”, Nems replied with a frown, “None of our Mamas are here.”
What?
He screamed before he could stop himself.
“Seriously!”
“What? It’s true!”
He covered his ears.
People shouting.
Bad.
“It’s still uncalled for!”
“You snatching his blanket is uncalled for!”
Too loud.
He already covered his ears but it was still too loud.
“Guys, I don’t think we should argue here! Obanai’s still upset and-“
“Shut up, Kanroji! Jeez, you’re annoying!”
“Hey! That was mean! You’re a mean big brother!”
“Children, you are not helping-“
“Hey, I was trying! To help! Unlike someone over there-“
“Excuse me?”
He waved his hands even though they were really painful because his chest was more painful- wait no. It was his stomach- no, his ears. His hands-
“Boys.”
“Say that to my face, bossy bitch Uzui!”
“I already did-“
“Enough! All of you!”, Mei Mei’s voice still boomed even though he placed his hands over his ears, "Leave the room and think about what you’ve done! All of you!"
He gritted his teeth trying not to cry but his chest and stomach really hurt.
"But Obanai-“
"Now isn't the time.”
‘Mei Mei is here. Everything will be okay.’, he tried to think of the garden as Mei Mei rubbed his thumbs gently on the sides of his head.
"Bring them outside."
"But-"
“Don’t make me repeat myself, Tengen.”
He forced the water away from his eyes.
Tenny frowned.
‘Tenny angry? Obanai bad?’
Tenny turned and walked away.
‘Of course you are.’, his sister scolded him in his head, ‘You always screw everything up, don’t you?’
Everyone walked out of the room slowly.
Only the black and white snakes on the walls and drawers remained.
He still didn’t know who put them there and maybe he was being bad not to let the snakes bite him like the scary ladies wanted-
‘1…2…3…4…5…6…7…8…9…10...’
He pressed his hands over his eyes. It hurt and the chest and stomach still hurt. But at least he wouldn’t do more wrong things by crying.
“Are you alright, baby cat?”, Mei Mei took his hands away from his ears.
He tried to open his mouth…his throat hurt. He nodded.
“Was it too much for you?”, Mei Mei asked with his quiet voice, “I was outside talking to Ms Amane when Mitsuri came to find me.”
Thump.
Oh no.
“She told me that you needed some help because you felt scared. Was that what happened?”
Ms Amane. One of the scary ladies. She made his stomach hurt whenever she walked past but Mei Mei always told him to say or wave hello. He didn’t like it but it made Mei Mei happy when he did so he tried.
Mei Mei had never talked to Ms Amane for a long time but he knew from last time when he would tired during the late night parties and Mother would pinch his arm for interrupting while she talked to Auntie. If Mother didn’t like it, Mei Mei wouldn’t like it too and now he made Tenny and everyone else upset-
“Obanai, is everything alright?”, Mei Mei sounded sad, “You can tell me if there’s something wrong.”
'Use your words!'
He waved his arms.
‘Birthday- no. Angry- no. Who angry- no.’
He saw the boxes. The snakes. Smelled the rice.
‘Loud. Scary. I don’t want.‘
He hit his head so his words could come out-
Mei Mei grabbed his hands, "Don't hit yourself, baby cat. You’ll hurt yourself.”
He moved Mei Mei’s hands away to wave them faster.
The boxes.
The snakes.
His room.
It didn’t look like his room.
Messy.
Dirty.
‘Move the boxe- no. Take the snakes awa- no. Take blanket. Sleep- no. Too messy. Angry-‘
“Angry birthday?”
No! He didn’t want to say that!
“Angry birthday?”, Mei Mei frowned, “Obanai feels angry about what?”
He pointed to the boxes and the snakes, “Angry birthday?”
“Are you pointing to something?”, Mei Mei squinted, “What are you pointing at?”
‘Just say what it’s called!’
He waved his hands more even though they hurt again. He wanted to! But he forgot how to put his words together and there was too many of them!
“Angry birthday!”, he stepped on his feet so he wouldn’t stomp, “Angry birthday!”
“Something makes Obanai angry? Can you show me?”
He looked around again.
Too many boxes.
Too many snakes.
Maybe he could show Mei Mei one by one-
“Do you want a hug?”, Mei Mei opened his arms, “We can calm down first and you can show me later.”
But there were too many and they were going to bite him and Mei Mei-
“No, no, no!”, his ears hurt from shouting again, “Angry birthday! Angry birthday!”
“I know you’re angry, baby cat. But we can solve it when we’re calm-“
Mei Mei touched his arms.
Yucky.
Painful.
“I want poo!”, he hit his stomach but the pain didn’t go away.
“Obanai wants the toilet?”, Mei Mei put out a hand for him to hold, “We can use the toilet first and clean up later.”
“No! No! No!”
Everything was wrong.
It was wrong for his room to be messy.
He had to clean it.
“Mei Mei! I got it!”
He covered his ears as Kyojuro ran in without using his quiet voice again, “No, no-“
“What did you get?”, Mei Mei frowned.
“Obanai doesn’t want-“
A stomp.
A scream.
He didn’t want to do that.
“Angry birthday! Angry birthday!”
It hurt his feet but he couldn’t stop anymore.
“It’s alright, let’s calm down first-“
“I can help!”
“What?”
Big footsteps.
He fell on the floor.
"Kyojuro no-“
His body hurt.
He pushed Yo-wo.
Too heavy.
He rolled.
Pushed.
Kicked.
Screamed.
Scratched.
Yo-wo didn't move.
“Kyojuro, this is too dangerous-“
Thumpthumpthumpthump-
It hurt.
"-his blanket, Mei Mei!"
“What?”
Hot.
He hit the floor.
Screamed.
Hand hurt.
"Hurry! I can't hold on much longer!"
'GET! OFF! ME!'
Only screams came out.
'Noisy boy. Shut up!'
He wiped the water from his eyes; he didn't want to cry and scream anymore but he couldn't stop.
'Deep breaths, baby cat...deep breaths.'
He tried to smell the pretend flowers like Mei Mei taught him-
He coughed.
Chest hurt.
He pushed harder on Yo-wo-
Hands hurt.
He stomped.
Kicked.
Feet hurt.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
Too loud-
“Here.”
His blanket covered his eyes.
He pulled it to his lips.
Soft.
Safe.
Thump…
Thump…
Thump..
Thump..
‘I’ll always keep you safe, Obanai.’
Mama Ruka.
"-t'll be better not to lay on top of him. He might get a heat stroke..”
"Ah yes!”, Yo-wo was too loud again but his ears hurt less, “I shall make space then!"
Yo-wo moved.
Thumpthumpthumpthumpthumprhump-
"No no!", he hugged Yo-wo tighter, "No no!"
He tried to keep his mouth closed so he wouldn't cry but it was too painful...
It was too heavy with Yo-wo lying on top of him but he didn't want to be alone in that room again. Mui and Tenny already left him alone and he didn't want Mei Mei and Yo-wo to leave him alone too...
Maybe he made Mei Mei too angry by being a bad boy and now Mei Mei didn't want him anymore. He could always make up for it by being a good boy and eating his dinner later, but everything was too...hard and loud and scary.
"Kyojuro can stay here with you then.", Mei Mei gently patted his head, "I was just worried he might be hurting you, that's all."
A slight coolness met his skin as Mei Mei moved his wet hair away from his face. It was nice that it didn't stick to him in a yucky way now that he thought about it...
“And when you’re ready, you can show me what happened, alright?”
He nodded and tried to smell the imaginary flowers again like Mei Mei taught him. Now that his chest hurt less. But it was hard for the air to go in-
He coughed.
“Taking deep breaths…that’s a very good idea, baby cat.”, Mei Mei smiled, “It’ll be easier if you sit upright to do it. And if you want a hug, I’m always here.”
He reached for Mei Mei as Yo-wo moved away and held Mei Mei’s hands, “I sorry…”
"It's okay, my baby cat.", Mei Mei's warm arms hugged him, “Was it too much for you?”
He nodded, “Yes…”, and remembered to use his words even though his throat hurt.
“Ah…that would make sense. Tengen likes to throw big parties and it can be too loud. Shinobu and Sanemi say the same thing sometimes.”, Mei Mei patted his back softly, “We can take some time to rest and then we can clean up together with Kyojuro, alright?“
He nodded into Mei Mei's robes; it was…warm and nice but his whole body was still painful.
Pat...
Pat...
Pat...
"Everything will be alright."
He coughed before he could stop himself. It wasn't nice to cough on Mei Mei's robes but his chest felt less painful.
'Mei Mei can't see. Mei Mei doesn't know.'
He closed his eyes and tried to sleep while Maru nuzzled his face and he held his blanket.
Mama Ruka had made it for him and always told him that he could use it to wipe his tears and to feel safe whenever he was sad or scared. It got dirty a lot since he brought it out whenever they went to the market or when he had to eat, but Mama Ruka never scolded him for it.
She just asked him to help with washing it and she would sing while they watched it dry outside afterwards.
“-elp too?”
He shook his head to wake himself up; how did he not hear Yo-wo talking when he was so loud all the time?
“I can help to take them down! I’m very fast!”
Fast? Yo-wo was fast at doing many things but he didnt know what Yo-wo meant right now; was he talking about playing the demons and slayers game? He never liked that game. He was always too slow.
“Kyojuro is asking if he can help us with taking the decorations down.”< Mei Mei was always nice to him even though he was slow, “Can he help?”
“Mei Mei will help you?”
Was Mei Mei not going to help him anymore?
“Of course I will help, baby cat.”, Mei Mei patted his head, “Mei Mei will help you, and Kyojuro will help you.”
“Mei Mei and Yo-wo help you?”, he remembered the last time he got upset when Mei Mei would not say it as two sentences. But he remembered what Mei Mei explained to him, that he could use the word ‘and’ when talking about two people.
“That’s right, baby cat.”, Mei Mei’s smile became bigger, “What a smart boy.”
He didn’t know why Mei Mei would call him smart but he nodded anyway, “Mei Mei and Yo-wo help you.”
“Umai!”
He knew that Yo-wo liked to say that word when he was happy, though it wasn’t the right word for people to understand sometimes.
Yo-wo held his hand and pulled him up to stand, “Let’s clean!”