Kyojuro gave me a very dark and serious expression that freaked me out. I shivered.
Akaza: "U-uhm.."
I looked at Senjuro who was also giving me a death glare. I didn't even think a kid that adorable could make such a terrifying expression. Both of the Rengoku siblings stared at me as if I just insulted their mother. I looked at Tanjiro who had facepalmed. Nezuko didn't even look at me but I could tell she was frozen. Damn, these people are vicious.
Akaza: "Er.. Well.."
I sighed. I was about to say something, but Senjuro interrupted me.
Senjuro: "Father came back to get some things, then left."
Kyojuro looked down at his brother.
Kyojuro: "Then why were Akaza and Nezuko in a defensive formation?"
Senjuro hesitated for a moment.
Senjuro: "Akaza insulted him for being a bad father, and then he attacked Akaza. Akaza fought him off, but couldn't physically kick him out because of the sun, so Tanjiro kicked him out."
Kyojuro looked at me and Tanjiro.
Kyojuro: "Is that right?"
The two of us nodded slowly. Kyojuro sighed and put his stuff down. There was a bag of groceries he had wrapped around his shoulder.
Senjuro: "Is your arm alright?"
Kyojuro: "Yeah, It's fine."
Akaza: "Thank goodness.."
Kyojuro sat down at the table. He looked at Senjuro.
Kyojuro: "Could you go get me headache medicine from the washroom? I'd get it myself but I feel like falling over right now. Plus, I doubt these guys would know where it is."
Senjuro: "Oh, sure!"
Senjuro left the room. I sat down next to Kyojuro. He smelled like medicine and flowers. Kyojuro looked out onto the porch.
Kyojuro: "I put the headache medicine in an unusual spot so it's gonna take at least 5 minutes for him to find it. But 5 minutes is enough time to tell you guys something about myself."
I tilted my head a bit. Why would he trick his brother?
Akaza: "What is it, Kyojuro?"
He sighed and went into serious mode again.
Kyojuro: "..I'm not an idiot, you know."
Tanjiro and I went wide-eyed and froze again.
Kyojuro: "Sure, I may seem somewhat oblivious at times, but I am extremely intelligent. I mean, how do you think I became a Hashira? Just by power? No. It takes more than power to become a Hashira. What happens if you're in a life or death situation in which you need to come up with a plan on the spot? If I were truly that thickheaded, I might be dead right now."
We definitely underestimated him.
Kyojuro: "I know Shinjuro came back and attacked Senjuro. I mean, how else could you explain the bruises on Senjuro's neck? How else could you explain the impact marks on the fence? How else could you explain the hoarseness in Senjuro's voice? How else could you explain the slight limp in Senjuro's walk? How else could you explain why Senjuro didn't finish his chores, then he ALWAYS finishes his chores. Like, even if you ask him to take a break, he always finds some way to sneak away and finish them."
He was right. We wouldn't be able to explain all of those factors.
Kyojuro: "He knows how much I worry about him. I'm sure the reason he lied was so I didn't have to worry. I appreciate his concern, but what would have happened if I hadn't figured this out? And we had left him alone again only to be abducted by Shinjuro a second time? That's extremely concerning to me. As his older brother, and now his guardian, I need to know about every bad thing that happens to him. Akaza, Tanjiro, if you want to gain my trust, then it's your job to tell me if my brother is in danger. It's my job to worry about him, because if I feel that he isn't safe, I'll do something about it until I can say with confidence that he is safe. So you guys have to tell me this stuff, alright?"
Tanjiro: "We know, and we're sorry."
Akaza: "Honestly, I was against his plan."
Kyojuro: "Then how come you didn't tell me the truth?"
I went silent.
Akaza: "..I don't know.. I wanted to, but the words didn't come out."
Honestly, I didn't want Senjuro to be right about the fact that Kyojuro might have depression, and that stress would just make it worse.
Kyojuro: "I'm impressed Senjuro was able to convince both of you to lie, especially when Tanjiro has a good heart and would never lie to anybody. Of course, if Senjuro is willing to lie about a problem this big, then it worries me even more to think that he could be lying about a lot of things. For all I know, he could have been abused whilst I was gone on my missions. Who knows what that psychopath might have put him through."
Kyojuro let out a concerned sigh. A minute later, Senjuro jogged back into the room.
Senjuro: "I found it!"
He held out the medicine. Kyojuro put his normal expression back on.
Kyojuro: "Thank you, brother."
Senjuro smiled at him as Kyojuro patted his head. Senjuro sat down on the other side of him.
Akaza: "It's getting kind of late, I can tell the sun is going down from where the shadows are angled on the ground outside."
Kyojuro: "Yeah, I'm hungry."
Senjuro: "You're always hungry."
Kyojuro: "Valid."
Kyojuro sighed. He looked over at the bag he set down earlier.
Kyojuro: "Since we have company over right now, and as the host, I gotta make something for you guys, but I can't really do that in my condition.."
Senjuro stood up.
Senjuro: "I'll do it."
Tanjiro stood up as well.
Tanjiro: "I'll help. I used to help my mother cook for my 5 younger siblings."
Senjuro: "Thanks."
Kyojuro chuckled.
Kyojuro: "Here's the thing. Mitsuri taught me this sushi recipe, so only me and her know the recipe for the dish I'm wanting to make."
I stood up and stretched my arm.
Akaza: "Well then guide us through the recipe, hot stuff."
Kyojuro flushed pink. I actually didn't mean to say that out loud, but now that I did, I don't regret it.
Senjuro: "I-"
Tanjiro: "EYO?"
Even Nezuko blinked at us.
Akaza: "Kyojuro, your face is kinda pink." 😏
Kyojuro: "Th-THAT WAS UNCALLED FOR!"
I winked at him and he looked like he was gonna kill me. Suddenly, Nezuko said something to me telepathically that I'd never expect a kid her age would say.
Akaza: "WHAT?"
At the speed of light, I turned to look at her. She was doing the eyebrow thing.
Senjuro: "Oh god, what is she telling him?"
She continued to say more things that further embarrassed me, and my face became more flushed than Kyojuro's. I quickly put my hand on her bamboo stick (as if I was shutting her mouth), before I had reached my melting point.
Akaza: "NEZUKO, THAT'S ENOUGH! YOU DON'T HAVE TO EXPLAIN IT TO ME!"
Tanjiro: "What'd she say???"
I took my hand off her bamboo stick. Nezuko turned to her brother and gave him a wholesome innocent expression.
Akaza: "She said some things that I'd never expect to come out of her mouth.."
Nezuko: 😇
Kyojuro, Senjuro, Tanjiro: 🤨
Akaza: 😵💫
Tanjiro: "I'm starting to think Lady Kanroji has too much influence on you."
Nezuko: 😉
Kyojuro gulped.
Senjuro: "U-uh.. anyways.. Let's just get to cooking. I picked up ingredients and they're in the bag by the door."
For the next hour, Kyojuro guided me, Senjuro and Tanjiro through the sushi recipe. We made a couple mistakes, and the final product might not have been what Kyojuro had expected, but at least we had fun making it. Of course, we made a bunch of extra sushi for Kyojuro. We all sat down at the table. Senjuro served himself and Kyojuro. Tanjiro took some sushi for himself. Kyojuro was about to dig into his food when he looked at me.
Kyojuro: "Want some, Akaza?"
I hesitated. Tanjiro looked up from his food.
Tanjiro: "Wait, Akaza can eat human food? I thought all demons hate human food."
I looked at Tanjiro and glared at him.
Kyojuro: "Eh? But he ate rice this morning with me and the other Hashiras.."
I looked away.
Kyojuro: "..Akaza? Were you lying when you said that you could eat rice?"
Akaza: "..Well no, I can eat rice, It's just that after becoming a demon, all food tastes like shit."
Kyojuro: "Dude, If you had told me that, I could have eaten your rice."
Akaza: "Well, I felt challenged by Sanemi saying I could only eat humans, so I ate it to prove him wrong. Sure, it tasted like shit, but I felt challenged."
Senjuro: "Dang, all food tastes bad?"
Akaza: "Yeah. Like seriously, even the most gourmet of food made by professional chefs taste like dirt."
Senjuro: "That sounds like a true hell for Kyojuro. Not being able to eat food anymore."
Kyojuro rolled his eyes. Tanjiro put his hand on his chin.
Tanjiro: "So how is Muzan able to fit into society and even be part of a human family so well if every time he has a meal with them, he hates it?"
Akaza: "Well, he's used to posing as a human, so I'm sure he's used to eating human food as well. When a demon needs to eat like a human, we'll usually choose a dish that has a good texture, so that we'll still be able to somewhat enjoy the dish."
Tanjiro: "Huh."
Kyojuro: "So Muzan poses as a human?"
Akaza: "Yeah, which is probably why you guys haven't been able to track him down yet. He's pretty good at posing as a human, although once you spot him, you can easily tell he's different from the rest. Normal people aren't able to tell, but I'm sure it's really obvious to Demon Slayers."
Tanjiro: "When I encountered him, I sensed his presence from a long distance away."
Akaza: "Well, I can tell you have a good sense of smell, and when it comes to his scent, it's quite noticeable. Well, unless he changes his gender."
Tanjiro and Kyojuro choked on their food.
Tanjiro: "hE CAN CHANGE HIS GENDER??"
Akaza: "Yeah. A lot of us can."
Tanjiro stared at Nezuko.
Akaza: "Er, I don't know if she can. Depends on how much blood he gave her. Since I'm an Upper Moon, I received a lot of his blood so I can."
The four of them stared at me.
Akaza: "What?"
Kyojuro: "Well, let's see your female form."
I blushed.
Akaza: "Err, I would but.. It takes a while to fully transform my body and having breasts is annoying as hell.. No offense Nezuko."
Nezuko, telepathically: "Nah, understandable."
Akaza: "So, no thanks."
Senjuro: "Well, if he doesn't want to, let's not force him to."
Kyojuro: "Alright, but I wanna see that someday."
The fact that Kyojuro wanted to see my female form made me both happy, but also concerned. It made me happy because he was genuinely interested in what I'd look like as a female, but the fact that he was genuinely interested started making me second guess myself.
What if he didn't actually like my physical form?
Would I have to be a female for the rest of my life just for him to like my appearance?
——
GUYS GO FUCKING LISTEN TO "Set It On Fire" BY DIVIDE MUSIC RN. ITS THE GOOD FUCKING FOOD.
TRUST ME YOU'LL LOVE IT
For those of you who've gotten this far, thank you so much for reading 💀
Idk if I've said this before but:
At first this story was supposed to be some shitpost fanfic and i didn't expect it to go that far, but yall rlly seem to love this story 😳
So I thank you for not having lost interest yet 🤗
By the way, I changed my username to my display name (Akazocial) because thats what im usually called on my other social medias (Plus i like Akazocial more than Suneater_Wilson) and I changed my pfp too
One last thing:
Should I get Instagram? 🤔
So maybe yall could see my art..? (-. -.)
Update: i got instagram
My username is, well, akazocial