#Rengoku teacher au | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

zoeydripdoria · 7 months ago

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Teacher's Pet ୨୧

*Kny college AU

18+ minors DNI !!

⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢﹉﹉﹉﹉﹉୨♡୧﹉﹉﹉﹉﹉⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢

As you turned around, your gaze immediately locked onto a man with long, blond hair, the strands framing his striking face with unruly perfection. His eyes were the most unique color you had ever seen - a vivid red with gold flecks dancing within them, almost like tiny embers trapped in ice. You couldn't help but feel mesmerized by his beauty, and for a moment, you couldn't find your voice. He smiled at your obvious awe, his lips curving into a playful smirk.

"I take it you're new here?" he asked, his voice smooth as silk. It was deep and resonant, with just the slightest hint of an accent that sent shivers down your spine.

You finally found your voice, "Y-yes, I am. My name's Y/N." You extended your hand in greeting, feeling self-conscious about your own appearance in comparison. You had always thought of yourself as plain-looking, with your hair and average features.

"Ah, a pleasure to meet you, Y/N," he said, taking your hand and giving it a firm shake. "I'm Professor Rengoku. I've only been here a few weeks, but I must say, it's been quite refreshing teaching such a lively and eager class. I hope we can work together to further your education." His smile widened, revealing a dimple in his left cheek that made your heart skip a beat.

"I-I would love to work with you, Professor Rengoku," you stammered, your cheeks flushing. You were grateful when he let go of your hand, or you might've been redder than a tomato by now. "Thank you for your help."

"Oh, don't mention it. Now, if you don't mind me asking, what class are you here for?" He leaned against the wall, crossing his arms over his broad chest, and tilted his head slightly to the side. The sunlight streaming through the window behind him cast his features in a warm, golden glow.

You hesitated for a moment, feeling self-conscious about admitting your lack of familiarity with the department. "Well, I'm actually not quite sure." You laughed nervously, hoping he wouldn't think you were completely clueless.

He grinned widely. "Ah, I see. Well, I teach World History I, World History II, and Eastern Cultures. Which one are you interested in?"

"Oh! Well, I'd love to take your World History II class. I think it sounds fascinating." You felt a thrill of excitement run through you at the thought of learning from someone so knowledgeable and charismatic.

"Wonderful!" He exclaimed, clapping his hands together. "I'm sure you'll love it. And if you ever need any help finding the room or navigating the campus, don't hesitate to ask. I'm always happy to help a new student." His warm smile made you feel welcome and at ease.

You smiled back, feeling grateful for his kindness. "Thank you so much, Professor Rengoku. I'm really looking forward to it."

"Excellent!" he exclaimed, his eyes shining with enthusiasm. "Oh, by the way, I have office hours every Thursday from two to four. Feel free to stop by if you ever have any questions or need some extra help." He paused, tilting his head to the side again. "Unless you'd rather not, of course. I wouldn't want to impose."

You considered his offer for a moment. On one hand, you were nervous about asking for help, but on the other, you didn't want to pass up the chance to learn from such an amazing professor. "No, no, I'd love to take advantage of that," you said, mustering up your courage. "Thank you, Professor Rengoku."

"Wonderful!" he exclaimed, clapping his hands together again. "I'm sure we'll have some stimulating discussions." He paused, studying you for a moment. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I should be getting to my next class. It was lovely meeting you, Y/N. I look forward to seeing you in class soon." With a final smile, he turned and walked away, leaving you standing there in awe of his presence.

As you continued to stand there, you couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement and anticipation building within you. You couldn't wait to start your first day of class with Rengoku and dive into the world of World History II. The campus was bustling with activity, and you found yourself eagerly exploring your surroundings and meeting new people.

Finally, you located the classroom building where Mr. Rengoku's World History II class was held. The room was spacious and well-lit, with comfortable chairs arranged in a semicircle around a large wooden table. At the head of the table was a podium, and behind it hung a beautiful tapestry depicting scenes from ancient civilizations. As you took your seat, you couldn't help but feel grateful for this new opportunity and excited to begin this journey with Mr. Rengoku by your side.

The rest of the class filed in, filling the room with a buzz of conversation. You recognized a few familiar faces from the orientation sessions, but most of the students seemed to be new to you. When the clock struck eight, the door swung open and Mr. Rengoku walked in, his presence immediately commanding everyone's attention. He smiled warmly at the class before taking his seat at the podium.

"Welcome, everyone, to my World History II class!" he boomed, his voice filling the room. "I hope you're all as excited as I am to begin our journey through the fascinating world of ancient civilizations. Before we start, though, I just want to remind you of a few important things. First, my office hours are every Thursday from two to four, and I encourage you to come by if you have any questions or need extra help. Secondly, please feel free to email me anytime if you have questions or concerns about the class. And lastly, always remember to put your name on your assignments!" He paused, looking around the room with a twinkle in his eye. "Now, with that out of the way, let's begin!"

He launched into a captivating lecture on the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, weaving together stories of brave emperors, cunning politicians, and tragic heroes. You found yourself hanging on his every word, taking notes frantically but not wanting to miss a single detail. As the class progressed, you noticed that Mr. Rengoku had a talent for making even the most complex historical concepts accessible and engaging. You couldn't help but feel grateful that you had chosen his class.

At the end of the hour, the bell rang, signaling the end of the first class period. As students began to file out of the room, you stayed behind, eager to speak with Mr. Rengoku. You approached him hesitantly, not wanting to seem overly eager or annoying. "Professor Rengoku," you began, "I just wanted to thank you again for being so welcoming and for making the class so interesting. I'm really looking forward to learning more from you."

He smiled warmly down at you. "Oh, Y/N, you're quite welcome. I'm just happy to share my passion for history with such an eager audience. If you ever have any questions or need help, don't hesitate to ask. And remember, my office hours are every Thursday from two to four." With a wink, he added, "I'll expect to see you there."

Your cheeks flushed at his comment, and you found yourself suddenly more self-conscious. "I-I will," you stammered, nodding quickly before hurrying out of the room. As you made your way to your next class, you couldn't help but feel a mix of excitement and nervousness about your newfound connection with Mr. Rengoku. You hoped that you could maintain his interest and confidence in your abilities throughout the rest of the semester.

The rest of your day flew by in a blur of lectures and notes. You tried your best to focus on the material, but your mind kept drifting back to Mr Rengoku and his class. You found yourself looking forward to Thursday afternoons, not just because of his office hours, but because you genuinely enjoyed spending time with him.

As the weeks passed, you began to feel more and more comfortable in his presence. You started contributing more in class discussions and felt confident enough to approach him with questions after lecture. He always took the time to engage with you and offer guidance, and you couldn't help but feel grateful for his support.

The more you learned from him, the more you realized just how passionate he was about his subject. His lectures were no longer just recitations of facts; they were vivid storytelling sessions that brought ancient civilizations to life. You began to understand why so many students flocked to his classes and why he had such a reputation as one of the best professors at the university.

One particularly cold afternoon, as you were leaving campus after a late-afternoon class, you noticed Mr. Rengoku standing outside of his office, wrapped in a thick scarf and shivering.

"Professor!" you exclaimed, hurrying over to him. "Are you all right? You don't look so good."

He smiled warmly at you.

"Oh, Y/N, thank you for your concern. I'm just feeling a bit under the weather today. But don't worry, I'll be fine. Why don't you get to your car and head home? You must be cold too."

You hesitated for a moment, but something inside you urged you to stay. "I-I could give you a ride home if you'd like," you offered timidly. "I'm not in a rush, and it's on my way."

His eyes lit up at your offer, and he smiled gratefully. "That would be very kind of you, Y/N. I would appreciate that very much." Together, you made your way to your car, and as you drove through the quiet streets of the campus, you found yourself chatting with him about your favorite historical novels and movies. It was a pleasant, easy conversation, and you felt a sense of closeness with him that you hadn't experienced with anyone else in a long time.

When you finally pulled up to his house, he insisted on paying you for the gas. You protested, but he wouldn't hear of it. "No, no," he said, handing you a crisp twenty-dollar bill. "You've done enough for me today. I hope you'll accept this as a small token of my gratitude."

You took the money, feeling both touched and a little embarrassed. "Thank you, Professor Rengoku," you said quietly. "It was really nothing."

He smiled gently at you. "Oh, Y/N, you're far too kind. But I do appreciate your kindness. I hope you know that I consider it a privilege to have you in my class. Now, go home and get some rest. You've earned it."

With one final smile, he closed the car door and waved goodbye. As you drove away, you couldn't help but feel a warm glow in your chest. It had been an unexpected turn of events, but you were glad that you had been there for him when he needed someone. And you couldn't help but hope that he felt the same way about you.

As the days went by, your relationship with Mr. Rengoku only grew stronger. You continued to excel in his class, and he continued to shower you with praise and encouragement. Sometimes, after class, he would invite you to join him for coffee or tea, and you would spend hours discussing history and your shared interests.

One afternoon, as you were leaving campus, you noticed a flyer on a bulletin board advertising a local museum's upcoming exhibit on ancient Egypt. Intrigued, you grabbed the flyer and tucked it into your bag, intending to ask Mr. Rengoku about it later. That night, you texted him, asking if he would like to go to the exhibit with you. He replied immediately, expressing his excitement and gratitude for the invitation.

The day of the exhibit arrived, and you met up with Mr. Rengoku outside the museum. He looked dashing in a dark suit and tie, and you couldn't help but feel a flutter in your stomach when you saw him. As you walked inside, you felt a sense of anticipation building inside you. The exhibit was spectacular, with detailed displays of artifacts and informative placards that brought ancient Egypt to life. You and Mr. Rengoku spent hours exploring the exhibit, engaging in deep discussions about the significance of each artifact and the culture that had created it.

Afterwards, you decided to grab lunch at a nearby cafe. As you ate, you couldn't help but feel a sense of contentment and peace. You realized that you had never felt this way with anyone else before, and you knew that this feeling was something special. "Y/N," Mr. Rengoku began, his voice soft and earnest, "I want to thank you for inviting me today. This exhibit was truly wonderful, and I'm so glad I got to share it with you."

You looked up at him, feeling a blush creep into your cheeks. "Thank you, Professor," you said softly. "I'm glad you enjoyed it too. It means a lot to me that we could share this experience together."

As you finished your lunch, you couldn't help but wonder where this newfound connection was leading. You knew that he was your professor, and that there were certain boundaries that needed to be respected, but you also couldn't deny the intense feelings you had for him. You found yourself fantasizing about what it would be like to be with him outside of the classroom, outside of the museum.

When the check came, you reached for your wallet, intending to pay for your own meal as you always did. But before you could even pull out your money, Mr. Rengoku had already grabbed his credit card and left a generous tip. "Y/N," he said gently, "please let me treat you today. You've done so much for me already. It's the least I can do."

His words made you feel warm inside. You knew that you had formed a special bond with him, but hearing him say it out loud made it all seem so real. You couldn't help but feel grateful for his kindness and his friendship. As you left the cafe, hand in hand, you knew that your life was about to change in ways you never could have imagined.

Over the next few weeks, your relationship with Mr. Rengoku deepened. You continued to excel in his class, and he continued to praise your work, but now there was an added layer of intimacy to your interactions. You found yourself spending more and more time together, exploring the city and sharing your favorite experiences. You talked about your hopes and dreams, your fears and insecurities, and it felt as though you could discuss anything with him. Despite the risks, you couldn't deny the happiness you felt when you were with Rengoku.

As the weeks turned into months, you found yourself falling deeper in love with Mr. Rengoku. You continued to excel in his class, but now your focus shifted from just getting good grades to impressing him in every way possible. You started to wear your hair down more often, and you began to experiment with more daring outfits. You felt confident and beautiful when you were around him, and it showed.

One night, as you were walking home from a late-night study session at the museum, Mr. Rengoku took your hand in his and led you to a quiet bench overlooking the city. The moon was full, casting a warm glow over everything. He turned to face you, his eyes burning with desire. "Y/n," he whispered, "I can't keep these feelings inside any longer. I want to be with you, truly be with you. Will you let me?"

Your heart raced as you stared into his eyes. You knew that this was the moment you'd been waiting for, the moment you'd been dreaming of since the first day you met. You leaned forward, pressing your lips against his, feeling the warmth of his skin, the softness of his lips. He wrapped his arms around you, pulling you closer, as if he could never let go.

Time seemed to stand still as you kissed, lost in the moment. You could feel the tension building between you, and with each passing second, it grew more and more intense. Finally, you broke apart, gasping for air. "Mr. Rengoku," you whispered, his name falling from your lips like a prayer. "I want this too."

He smiled at you, his eyes filled with love and desire. "Then it's yours," he said, before leaning in to kiss you again. His lips were soft and warm against yours, and you could feel the strength of his arms as they held you close. You moaned into his mouth, feeling a shiver run down your spine.

As you continued to kiss, he began to explore your body with his hands, tracing gentle circles around your nipples, teasing them until they hardened. You arched your back, pressing your chest against his, wanting more. He reached down, unbuttoning your blouse slowly, revealing your lace bra beneath. He ran his fingers along the delicate fabric, teasing your nipples until they were hard and erect.

Your heart was pounding in your chest as he continued to touch you, his hands moving lower, over your hips, to your skirt. With a gentle tug, he pulled it up, revealing your black lace underwear. You felt his breath against your thigh, and you shuddered with desire. He looked up at you, his eyes dark and intense, and you knew that he could see the need in your eyes.

He leaned in, kissing you again, as his fingers traced a path down to your center. You gasped, arching your back further, pressing your wetness against his fingers. He circled your clit, teasing it mercilessly, until you were moaning his name. Finally, he pushed two fingers inside you, filling you with his touch. You cried out, feeling overwhelmed by the sensations coursing through your body.

As he continued to thrust his fingers in and out of you, you wrapped your legs around his hips, urging him to go deeper. You could feel the heat building between you, the need growing stronger with every passing second. You knew that this was it, that you were finally with him, truly with him.

"I want you."

He pulled back, looking down at you with eyes filled with desire. "Are you sure, my dear?" he asked, his voice hoarse with lust. "Because once I take you, I won't be able to stop."

You nodded, biting your lip, the words caught in your throat. "I want this," you managed to whisper. "I want you."

He smiled, his fingers finding your clit once more, rubbing it gently before pushing inside you.

"Then take it," he growled, thrusting his hips forward.

You cried out, feeling the weight of him as he filled you completely. He began to move, his rhythm steady and sure, driving you wild.

You wrapped your arms around his neck, arching your back as he took you harder and faster. The sensations were overwhelming, the pleasure coursing through you like a raging river. You felt your body trembling on the edge, the release building inside you.

" Ren-," you gasped, your voice barely audible above the pounding of your heart. "I'm close."

He groaned, his thrusts becoming more urgent. "Then come for me, my dear," he whispered, kissing you tenderly. And with those words, you felt yourself falling, plummeting over the edge, as your body was wracked by an intense, shuddering orgasm. Your muscles clenched tight around him, and he followed you over the edge, crying out your name as he spilled his release deep inside you.

As your passion reached its peak, he arched his back, pressing you deeper into the wall, and you then felt the first wave of release wash over you, followed by another, and another. Your body convulsed in his grip, and you let out a hoarse cry into the night, as your essence spilled forth, mingling with his on the cool cobblestones below.

You collapsed against him, your heart still racing as you felt the aftershocks of pleasure wash over you. He held you close, kissing your neck, your cheek, your lips, as you both caught your breath. You were finally together, truly together, and it felt like everything you'd ever wanted.

He pulled away, looking down at you with a mix of tenderness and desire. "My dear, that was... beyond anything I could have imagined." His fingers traced lazy circles on your stomach, making you shiver.

As the last tremors subsided, he leaned in, kissing you softly on the lips. "There's more where that came from," Mr. Rengoku whispered, his breath hot sending shivers down your spine.

"Come with me." And with that, he took your hand and led you deeper to his apartment complex, toward a world of pleasure and desire that you had only ever dreamed of.

The air inside was thick with anticipation as he guided you through the stairs and finally to his apartment.

Finally, he led you into his dimly lit room, the walls adorned with beautiful wall art, and billowing curtains. In the center of his room stood a large, four-poster bed. So dimly lit, casting shadows that danced across the walls and ceiling.

"This is where we belong," he said, his voice a sultry purr. "This is where we can be free, and explore our desires without judgment." With that, Mr. Rengoku turned to face me, his eyes burning with an intensity that sent shivers down your spine. He reached out, running his fingers through your hair, before trailing them down your chest, teasing at the buttons of your shirt.

Your heart raced as you watched him, helplessly drawn to his touch. You wanted nothing more than to feel his skin against yours once again, to lose yourself in the heat of the moment. As he undressed you, his hands gliding over your body with a familiarity that bordered on intimacy, you couldn't help but wonder how long this night would last, and if you'd ever be able to go back to the way things were before.

But for now, you were content to let yourself be swept away by his touch, his words, his presence. He climbed onto the bed, purring invitingly, and you followed, unable to resist the pull of his gaze. As you lay beside him, you felt a sense of peace wash over you, knowing that this was where you belonged, with him, in this world of passion and desire.

And as he kissed you again, his lips soft and demanding, you gave yourself over to the moment, surrendering to the rapture that only he could provide.

The bed shifted beneath you as he moved against you, your bodies intertwined like two dancers in a sensual waltz. His hands roamed freely, exploring every inch of your skin, leaving trails of heat in his wake. He nipped at your earlobe, sending shivers down your spine, and whispered words that made your heart race and your breath catch in your throat.

You could feel the tension building within you, the need for release growing more insistent with each passing moment. As he guided your hands to hid hips, urging you on, you pressed forward, eager to please him, to make him feel the same intense pleasure he had given to you.

The bed creaked beneath you, the blanket beneath you soft and inviting as he arched his back, pushing your hips up to meet yous. His breath came faster, shallower, as his fingers dug into your shoulders, urging you on.

With a growl of satisfaction, he threw his head back, his eyes closed tightly as he surrendered to the sensation. "Yes," he moaned, his voice rugged and raw. "That's it..."

You felt your own release building, threatening to overwhelm you. You couldn't help but arch into him, meeting his movements with equal fervor. "I-I'm close," you managed to say between gasps for air.

He opened his eyes, meeting yours, and in that moment, you knew he wanted you to stay with him. He wanted this night to go on forever. "Stay with me," he whispered, his voice soft and gentle, despite the urgency in his touch. "Don't let go."

You ran your fingers through his hair, feeling the soft strands slip through your fingers like water. His skin was warm and smooth, and you could feel the muscles in his back tensing as he arched into your touch. He moaned, a deep, throaty sound that sent shivers down your spine.

And as he came apart beneath you, his body shuddering with pleasure, you felt your own release wash over you, hot and powerful. Your breathing slowed, becoming shallow and ragged as you clung to each other, your bodies still tangled together on the bed.

The silence that fell between you was deafening, but it was a silence that felt right, felt intimate. It was as if you had shared something sacred, something that bound you together now in a way that went beyond words or understanding.

Finally, he shifted slightly, propping himself up on one elbow to look up at me. His gaze was steady and intense, as if he were trying to imprint every detail of your face onto his memory. "Will you stay?" He asked, his voice barely above a whisper. "Will you stay with me?"

You lay there, your heart still racing, your body tingling with the afterglow of your lovemaking. His fingers traced gentle circles on your back, his touch soothing and comforting.

The air in the room seemed to shimmer with a sense of peace, of contentment, and you couldn't help but wonder how you would ever be able to go back to the way things were before. Would you try to forget this night, this connection you'd shared? Or would you find a way to carry it with you, like a secret treasure, into the chaos of your everyday lives?

You knew that the answer to that question would depend on him, on you, and on the strange, inexplicable bond that seemed to exist between you. For now, all that mattered was this moment, the warmth of his skin against yours, and the feeling of being completely and utterly known and accepted, just as you were.

“Yes, I'll stay with you” you uttered.

As you drifted off to sleep, his soft breaths and the gentle rise and fall of his chest lulling you into a deep, dreamless slumber, you couldn't help but feel a sense of hope, of possibility. Perhaps, somehow, you would find a way to make this work, to make your lives together as beautiful and as meaningful as this one perfect night.

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chiharuhashibira · 1 year ago

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Here we go with our Part 5 finally ^^

I am thinking if I'll make a Part 6 of 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐘𝐨𝐮 or no, but it depends on y'all loves and my magic plot bunnies.💓 In this chappy, I want to resolve one of Y/N's concern, sooooo this might all be about that, but I promise it'll be sweeter.

Taglist: @unofficialmuilover @sofilsworld @skeleton-the-gangser @ahashiraswife

𝓜𝓪𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓵𝓲𝓼𝓽

𝑩𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒀𝒐𝒖

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚅

𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐢 𝐗 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫!𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 (𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐀𝐔)

<𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 | 𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫>

Content Warnings: Curse words, Slightly Suggestive

"Here's your coffee..."

It has been a few days since you reconciled with Sanemi. It has also been a few days since you agreed to go out with him. Yes, this hot math teacher is now your boyfriend, and you adore him so much.

But despite this, both of you decided to hide it from the school for now. It's not that you're not proud of it. You just don't want the thought of other people invading your privacy. You are the total opposite of Mitsuri and Obanai, as the couple made it clear that they're together. Mostly, it's because Sanemi's friend is just too easy to get jealous of.

Oh well, Sanemi can easily be jealous, but both of you decided to keep it lowkey.

And yet, there are times that Sanemi can't keep his hands to himself. He would sneak kisses on your cheek when you were alone in the faculty room. He would even slip his hands under the table and entwine them with yours when he was sitting with you at lunch. Even if he acts harshly, he'll make sure to send you sweet text messages, which you never thought he'd do. He's too fluffy inside that facade.

Sanemi and you still haven't kissed on the lips. Surprisingly, the man easily gets flustered. Perhaps soon you will feel his lips, but perhaps it will happen if you initiate it.

You'll never know that Giyu is getting the hang of these. With the sudden closeness between you and Sanemi, your best friend knows that something is happening behind the curtains. But knowing your best friend, he's not the type of guy who'll intervene or ask too much, so he just lets you. And yes, Giyu is prepared to punch the hell out of Sanemi if he breaks your heart, despite the fact that he will not admit it. And the man will make sure that his scars double because of it.

You had this little mission in you to make your best friend and your boyfriend on good terms, but it seems like it isn't working. Giyu doesn't fight with Sanemi, but yes, the latter makes sure that the former hates him to the guts. There are times where Giyu will even ask you why Sanemi hates him so much, and even if you know the reason, you don't want to tell him, as your boyfriend might get madder at him.

"Thanks babe." You said this as Sanemi placed the coffee on your table. You were reading a history book while listening to your favourite song. Your boyfriend had decided that he would visit you for the first time, and that made you happy, so you let him. You want his company as much as you want to just cuddle with him, inhaling his minty scent.

Sanemi plopped down in the space beside you and draped his hands across your shoulders. "What are you reading, baby girl? I'm here already, yet you seem to still be busy."

Baby girl.You felt a tingle in your stomach as you heard this come out of Sanemi's mouth. You turned to look at him and placed your book on your lap. "Ooh, so the baby boy wants my attention?" You teased, pinching his cheeks, which made him roll his eyes.

"Stop calling me baby boy, babe. I can definitely put a baby inside of you now if I want to."

"What the heck!"

His words made you blush madly, so then you kicked him with your feet, which made him fall down the couch, laughing like crazy. Again, he is teasing you, which is somewhat amusing, but you are a little taken aback by his words.

"Idiot! I'm just kidding!" He said, massaging his butt as he stood up, still laughing from your reaction.

You were about to throw a pillow at him when, suddenly, your doorbell rang. Who might it be? As far as you know, it is Saturday, and no one has ever visited you before.

Unless it's... "Fuck it's Giyu." You muttered under your breath, which immediately made Sanemi look at you with a sudden annoyance plastered on his face. "The fuck? That asshole visits you?" He groaned and gave you an angry look that caused you to roll your eyes.

"Obviously, he is my best friend."

"Who cares? Just open the door!"

You sighed and walked towards the door. Yes. You know that Sanemi's jealous; that's why he started to throw a fit. Sanemi's somehow childish sometimes, and one of those moments is this one.

Ignoring your fuming boyfriend, you opened the door, and there Giyu stood, handing you a cake. "I bought this from Kamado-kun's bakery. It's your favourite." He says and that made you smile. "Thanks Tomioka-san. Why don't you come in?"

"WHAT IN THE HELL, Y/N?" Sanemi yelled from the living room when he heard you invite Giyu in.

The poor man blinked in surprise. His suspicion was confirmed. He had seen Sanemi's car parked near your house but decided to ignore it. But now it's all clear. "That's Shinazugawa-san's voice, right?" He asked you with his brotherly mode activated. "Uhhh... Tomioka-san—"

"Why are you here, Shinazugawa-san?"

Giyu entered the house, crossing his hands at Sanemi, who was sitting on your couch with a crossed leg.

"Why do you care? Tsk!" Sanemi blurted out, standing and crossing his arms at him as well.

"Uh guys..." You tried to intervene, but the two seemed to be in an intense staring contest. You can't deny that Sanemi looked so hot while glaring at Giyu, but of course, you pushed your thirsty thoughts away and went between them, raising your hands on their faces, which definitely shocked them.

"Hey idiots! Listen, okay? Please? Or I'll both kick you out of my house."

"What's happening then?" The two men asked in unison, and that made you sigh for the nth time.

You turned to look at Giyu, taking Sanemi's hand and holding it tight.

"Tomioka-san, Shinazugawa-san's my boyfriend."

"What? You hate me for that?"

Thirty minutes had passed, and the tension had faded. Thankfully. You never expected that in those thirty minutes, you could change the way your boyfriend looks at your best friend.

After you told Giyu that Sanemi was already your boyfriend, all his thoughts were confirmed. Even if he wanted to protect you that much, he also wants you to be happy, and Sanemi makes you happy right now, so he respects that.

Giyu went in front of Sanemi and bowed his head. "Please take care of my little sister. I know that she'll be in good hands when she's with you." He said that, claiming you as his little sister, which made you blush a bit. Sanemi blinked in confusion, telling Giyu to stop bowing to him. The ravenette man's remarks made your boyfriend blush as well.

And there, Giyu smiled at Sanemi for the first time. His kindest smile made all the coldness in Sanemi's heart melt. "Dude, stop grinning; that's spooky!" Your boyfriend said that, which made Giyu and you chuckle.

"Sanemi's just flustered at your cute smile, Tomioka-san."

"He surely is."

The teasing eventually became a conversation that finally led both men into this moment. Sanemi and you sat across from Giyu, with him slicing the cake for the three of you.

"Just to settle this, Tomioka, why on earth do you think you are different from us? I believe you're not fucking better than me."

Sanemi suddenly blurted out, seemingly curious about the reason behind the man's detachment. Giyu looked up at the man and blinked in confusion. "I never thought of that, Shinazugawa-san."

Sanemi gritted his teeth and slammed the table with his hands, which surprised you and Tomioka. "Why? Because you think I'm no good? The fuck, I'm gonna—"

"What? You hate me for that? You thought that I thought I was superior to you?"

Giyu sighed and crossed his arms. You patted Sanemi's back, trying to calm him down. Sanemi leaned back, crossing his legs again. No words came from his lips, and that gave you the chance to look at him. Even though he gets upset easily by things, he is still so adorable.

"I never thought of that. I even think all of you are a hundred times better than me; that's why I tend to say I don't belong there."

"Oh." Sanemi's tensed shoulder relaxed with his breathing. He looked at you, and you just gave him a smile, urging him to listen to Tomioka.

"Even back in high school. I saw how hardworking you are, so I always thought that you deserved to be noticed more. I wanted to be friends with you; I tried, but you hated me that much, so I just dealt with it."

You looked up at Sanemi and held his hand again. "That's why I always wondered why you all avoided Giyu so much. He's a great person. He acted as my brother when I lost my family in a car accident. He and Tsutako-sama took me in, and that's why I'm still in. But yeah, Giyu's not just a great talker, and I've been dealing with that all my life."

That's the first time that Sanemi heard about your family, and sadly, you've already lost them. Your lover looked at you with sadness in his eyes. Sanemi squeezed your hand and pulled you near him, giving you a warm side hug.

He wanted to know more about you, but one step at a time.

"Tomioka, look. I'm sorry, man. I misunderstood you." Sanemi let go of you, stood up, and bowed to your best friend. Tomioka blinked in shock once again but didn't do anything, as he doesn't know how to handle Sanemi at all.

"Shinazugawa-san, let's be friends."

You smiled at Giyu as he made your boyfriend blush, but the math teacher just hummed in agreement as he looked away, hiding his reddened face.

That day ended quickly, with Giyu leaving the both of you early and apologising for barging in and interrupting you. And yes, Sanemi was nicer to him. He'll still throw some curses and insults, but not like before.

And you watched them like a proud mother as Sanemi sent Giyu out the door, shaking his hand for the first time.

Sanemi went beside you after that, and both of you just decided to watch a movie together.

But yes, the night came, and you woke up on Sanemi's shoulder. He was staring at you, which made you blush hard.

"Baby, what's the matter?" You said, rubbing your eyes as you tried to compose yourself from the adorable sight in front of you.

"I love you." Sanemi muttered, and in a blink of an eye,you felt a warm but soft sensation on your lips. Realising that Sanemi had kissed you, your heart started to beat faster than before, and you felt like the heat on your body was quickly rising up.

Letting your emotions go, you wrapped your hands around Sanemi's neck, deepening the kiss that made the man chuckle as he slowly ran his tongue on your lips, asking for entrance.

Fuck, he's a great kisser.

You parted your lips a bit, and Sanemi took that as the chance to explore your mouth, your tongues fighting for dominance as his hands slowly wrapped around your waist, pulling you over his lap.

Drunk with passion, Sanemi pulled out for a breath, ironically taking your breath away with how flushed his look is. The man slowly came near you and whispered in your ear.

"How about I really put something inside you now? I think you'll love it, baby girl."

Shivers crawled across your skin as you heard those coming from his lips with his super-sexy voice. Sanemi placed his hands on your face, looking at you with eyes glistening with a mixture of passion and lust.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

"What do you think, Y/N, baby?"

𝑻𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒖��𝒅…

𝒀𝒐𝒖! 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌? 𝒀𝒆𝒔? 𝒀𝒆𝒔? 𝑯𝑨𝑯𝑨!

Oh my gosh~ I want it so much >.< Sanemi, so naughty!

Anyways, thank you for reading this chapter~ And good news, more chappies will come hahaha! My plot bunnies are awake soooo hihi ^^

Hope you'll also check my other stories! Send a request if you want me to tailor one, specifically for you fufufu~

Also, for easier navi, Imma put this here as well:

Thank you so much and see yah on the next part! Love yah!

~𝓒𝓱𝓲𝓱𝓪𝓻𝓾-𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓷🌸

<𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 | 𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫>

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strawberrymochin · 4 months ago

Text

A Letter.....Long Lost!

kyojuro rengoku x fem!reader

word count- 12.2k

synopsis- the discovery of an old letter from kyojuro rengoku's room shakes the world of tanjiro. he thought he fulfilled every wish of rengoku. however he missed one. tanjiro needs to deliver it to the one it was written for; but the letter has nothing written except a name 'y/n'. who is y/n and how will tanjiro find her?

genre/warnings- post war timeline/ mentions of death/ slice of life/ angst/ fluff/ lots of flashbacks/ kamaboko trio going on a quest to find reader/ emotionally unavailable parents/ just read it i swear it wont disappoint/ comfort/ scenes of rengoku and mitsuri training/ mentions of mugen train

a/n- i had this idea in my head and i literally wrote this in two days. Loosely based off a film I'm obsessed with...this is my first time writing a long fic. im hella nervous. it will have a sequel with a reincarnation au and smut. not fully proof read, ignore small errors.

Nezuko chimed in as urokodaki made his appearance. Soon more people will join in. Kanao and aoi are helping in the kitchen, making several dishes while inosuke is trying to get aoi give him some to taste.

Tanjiro and zenitsu are spreading out the mats for people to sit and get comfy.

“urokodaki sensei! Please come and join.” tanjiro said noticing his former teacher, carrying a huge basket wrapped in a cloth with water patterns similar to his haori. Nezuko trails behind him bringing another basket.

“i brought some mitarashi dango and some hanami-zake for everyone.” said urokodaki with a soft voice, that made nezuko wonder if he was smiling under his tengu mask.

It's been 2 years since the war ended. People lost their dear ones with a pain bearing smile. Some endured injuries that would sustain through out their life marking them as ‘crippled’; while some sacrificed themselves for the greater good.

Seasons changed since then.

So did several people.

People who turned their hearts into stone, heavy from guilt of their family dying; who suffered from the culpability of being protected…

“giyuu san’s here too, please sit inside with the others while we get the stuff ready.”

“yeah how's your sister? I brought her some new kimonos”

A mild smile forming on his lips.

Tanjiro’s eyes widened a bit. It's kinda still new to him seeing such a soft side of the guy who barely used to smile.

……have let their guard down, allowing themselves to move on, now that there's no more threat hanging in the air.

People who had been afflicted by the remorseful long sleepless nights of trauma; killing the one who once bore them in her womb; whose eyes had become dull and frantic, dying inside in agony…..

“oi tomioka! Move outta my way!” grumbled sanemi, throwing a box wrapped in a delicate green cloth in tanjiro's direction as he catches it with difficulty. Having a hand crippled like an old man is sure a poor thing, not that tanjiro minds that.

“ahh the scary guy's here again! Don't touch the box tanjiro. It must've been poisoned!!!” shouted zenitsu, panicking around, hiding himself behind tanjiro.

“What did you just say?” Sanemi’s eyes narrowed at zenitsu, veins becoming more prominent, ready to throw a first at the blonde head's face.

“Goddamn shinazugawa! Don't scare the kid…” said giyu, grabbing his wrist and pulling him inside. “Wh-you’re such a creep tomioka!”

“Kk.”

“Stop giving me that kanroji face!” sanemi said as shivers ran down his spine. Somehow a smiling tomioka was scarier than muzan to him.

…have let go of their distraught, accepting the dreams which they wanted for their loved ones. Fulfilling it in their place.

“Both of them are creeps!” Zenitsu said digging his nails into tanjiro's skin as he spit curses on them. “Zenitsu they are gone now, can you please give this box to kanao san, it smells of fresh ohagi.”

“I'm telling you…it's fuckin poisoned”

“It's not, zenitsu…don't be like that” tanjiro pushed him away with the box. He then took up a broom and started sweeping any other leaves that fell down from the trees.

Pink flowers blossomed everywhere, now that another peaceful season had arrived.

Kanao had suggested nezuko and aoi that they should spend time together this hanami festival. Nezuko and aoi agreed to that instantly. Thus this is how they ended up inviting everyone at tanjiro's, whose house was surrounded by a lots of cherry blossoms.

Kiyo chan naho chan and sumi chan were playing with tengen’s baby as Suma kept pestering urokodaki san for loosening his face mask (I can't blame my lil curious mommy). Makio was sure annoyed at her behavior while hinatsuru just chuckled. Murata sat stiff in the presence of four former hashiras.

Almost all of them had arrived. Except the rengokus.

Aoi brought them some appetizers, as they kept on chatting. After decorating the food all of them would join outside admiring the moment of bliss.

“Senjuro Kun and shinjuro san ain't here yet right?” Asked tengen.

“They haven't made their arrival yet” announced aoi, “however tanjiro san is waiting outside for them, the food is almost done, we can start after they get here”

“HAHAHAHA…. RUSHING IN LIKE A BOAR!!!” inosuke dashed in with a sakura onigiri in his mouth, from the kitchen. “WAhahhh scar guy!! Fight me!” As expected from inosuke, nothing could ever stop him. At first he was a bit spooked seeing a lot of people at once and sticked to aoi till his normal composure returned.

“Still that dumb boar head! Will he ever get mature?” Sanemi grumbled lazily. “I agree” said giyu, smiling at sanemi, which almost made his stomach churn. Tengen bursted out in laughter, “I see you are still in spirit huh? Quite flamboyant of you.”

“YEAH THE GOD OF MOUNTAINS INOSUKE SAMA IS ALWAY—” Aoi smacked him on his head and dragged him away while muttering some apologies to the hashiras.

“He's still much of energy…and his voice has become much hoarse ain't it? I still remember taking those kids on that mission. And this kid in particular was such a ruckus.” Said tengen, stretching his arms.

“Isn't it good to see all of us after so long without having to fear losing someone?” Said hinatsuru, makio and Suma smiled at each other.

“But we had already lost many people.” Sanemi sighed. He wished he could apologize to genya. If life ever gives him another chance he would like to be a little less aggressive.

“If you keep sulking like that, your brother will definitely curse you from heaven.” giyu took a gulp of the matcha tea, sanemi sent at tanjiro's a month ago.

“Now that there are no demons, you two get along with each other quite well don't you think so?” Tengen threw the snarky question at them.

“what the—”

“I wish rengoku could have seen you guys like this…remember the one time himejima san told us that oyakata sama wanted to see giyu smile….”

“See me smile?”

“Yeah, what a waste of time i swear.”

“Rengoku disappeared for a while to buy glasses in order to make giyu smile.” laughed tengen.

“It didn't work though and then kochou emotionally blackmail me to make him laugh.”

“Oh so this is why you wanted to have sake daikon with me?” Giyu smiled again at sanemi.

“I swear if you make that kanroji face again at me, I will kick you on your balls.”

“Everyone food’s ready, let's go and sit outside!!” Said nezuko halting the heated nostalgic conversation of the two.

Murata finally lets himself relax a bit as the hashiras start moving out. Urokodaki slammed a hand at his back, as he felt his stiff posture return. “Don't be so stiff we aren't gonna ask you to duel.” murata’s cheeks reddened in embarrassment as urokodaki laughed off at the kid's nervousness.

These days are indeed peaceful.

Senjuro made his appearance a bit late. He apologized for his fathers absence, blaming on his health. It's not been that best for a few days.

“Oh goodness, is he really going to be fine, we can go run a check up on him you know?” Kanao offered an idea, worried about the shinjuro’s health.

“Thanks a lot. Actually there's something that has been troubling us for a while.”

“Is everything okay?” Tanjiro's asked with concern lacing his eyes. Sanemi noticed, he had always been kind. He was kind to his brother. During hashira training when tanjiro stepped over the line, it actually made sanemi kinda happy and relaxed. Atleast genya had someone in life he could rely on.

Shinjuro's put down his bowl and chopstick on the mats as he brought his hand to his knees.

“There's something we found a month ago….while cleaning aniki’s room.”

Not only tanjiro but tengen, giyu, sanemi, zenitsu and inosuke froze for a second. The untimely death of the young guy was such a sad event that has ached their hearts for a long time.

Tanjiro could smell senjuro’s emotions and it was odd. It wasn't sadness, or guilt, or anger. It was pity. And somehow it stinged tanjiro, the same way it did years ago.

Senjuro took out some bunch of old papers from the sleeves of his yukata.

Tanjiro's throat felt dry and uneasy. It were a bunch of letters.

All of them looked like they were forgotten for months. The letter envelopes had stained yellow and some even have their edges teared off. But it sure emitted a strong smell. The smell of kyojuro rengoku. Tanjiro's still remembers the distinct hints of his aura. And it somehow still lingered around these letters. Especially the one which was sealed.

“What is it?” asked aoi, finally breaking the deafening silence. A strong gust of wind blew the pink petals along with the letters from senjuro's hand. It's scattered around the mats as all of them tried to collect them.

“Y….y/n?” read nezuko aloud. She hold the sealed letter in her hand as tanjiro extended his palm to grab it. It had tear stains. One side of it had brush marks written ‘to y/n’. The ink has now blurred a bit. But it was still readable.

“What's the meaning of all this?” Tengen asked, grabbing one of the opened letters in his hand. Giyu had hold of one reading in pure shock, while sanemi pondered from the side. Eyes as shocked as giyu’s.

“What happened tengen-sama?” asked makio, seeing all of their disturbed expressions. Zenitsu tried to snatch away the papers from inosuke who was trying to eat it.

“We found these letters from aniki’s room. A lady named y/n had sent those letters to him. An—?”

“And that lady was his lover?” asked giyu.

“What nonsense!”

“He never mentioned any of that to me.” frowned tengen.

“Nor did aniki said anything about it at home. At that time our father didn't pay us any attention. He was drowned totally in despair from the death of our mother. Seeing us only infuriated his anger and sorrow. Aniki would train or be at missions and he was rarely at home. He never told me anything about that….”

‘A letter?’ thought tanjiro. He started sweating all of a sudden. He thought he fulfilled all his wishes but—

“Rengoku san! Please think about yourself, can you stop the bleeding with your breathing technique?” Tanjiro has muttered those words back then, panickingly, devastatingly.

He wanted rengoku to say yes. He wanted him to live beside him, fight beside him, eat beside him. But he didn't get that as an answer.

“No, very soon i'll be dead. Before that happens, i need you to hear me out. I have a younger brother named senjuro. Please tell him to follow his heart. And walk down the path he feels is right.” Rengoku’s face had the same content smile, which warmed their hearts up. He continued, “And tell my father to look after himself…and lastly…”

Rengoku went on and expressed his views on nezuko. It felt like a warm hug. Someone has accepted nezuko. Not because they pitied her but since they saw her true potential and that she was no harm to humans. And now when he remembers it clearly, there was something rengoku whispered before his heart stopped pumping.

It was a faint whisper. So subtle that tanjiro thought it was his ears ringing. But now that he recalls, after he said he trusted them as a slayers, he whispered a few words

“and the lette—”

Rengoku stopped mid sentence as tanjiro kept weeping. He wasn't looking at tanjiro but something behind him. It made him smile as he took his last breath.

“Oni-chan? What happened? Are you okay?” Nezuko pulled tanjiro out of his daze. Everyone was looking at him worriedly. Even sanemi was worried.

“I've not fulfilled rengoku san’s last wishes. I- i haven't. I haven't delivered…how can I be so dumb!!”

“What? Tanjiro san! Calm down! You told us everything aniki wanted to say to us.” Senjuro tried to comfort tanjiro.

“No…before dying he whispered something. I thought my ears were ringing but he did whispered something. It was about a letter.” tanjiro kept on babbling as everyone felt dead silent even senjuro couldn't move his hands.

The sealed letter stayed in tanjiro's hands.

Something that belonged to the girl named y/n.

Something probably dear to kyojuro rengoku.

Some words which were waiting since 3 years.

But…..who is y/n?

The rest of hanami festival gathering went by silent. Senjuro entrusted the letter to tanjiro as per as his request before leaving early since he need to be home before sunset to check upon his father. Murata and urokodaki san accompanied him on the way.

“That's completely ridiculous. None of us have any idea who the fuck this y/n is? how are the fuck are you even planning to find her?” Sanemi spit out bitter words at tanjiro, sitting on the porch, watching the sun slowly turn a deep shade of orange. It reminded him of rengoku’s odd hair colour. It's funny how not only he, but his tsugoku also had weird hair colour— a colour which was dear to Iguro obanai.

Tanjiro lowered his head, smiling a bit. Sanemi changed a lot, even if he speaks harshly, he can only smell pure concern. “But I can't start a new life without paying my debts. Rengoku san saved my life. Whoever lady y/n is….I need to deliver this letter to her.”

“I get what you're saying…but there's no address in any part of the letter. Moreover you are being hesitant on opening it. How do you think you will find her then?” Tengen spoke from the back, alerting the former wind hashira and tanjiro. Both wondered how long he's been eavesdropping them. They expect nothing less. He was a hashira and before that he was a ninja. Even after losing one arm and one eye, he still holds the same power.

“Honestly, I've no idea. But I just can't sit and let it slide.” said tanjiro.

“you’re getting married to kanao next year. Better focus on that. Don't get into useless troubles hanging her off.” sanemi said lazily, yawning and getting up to his feet, stretching a bit. “I will be leaving then. Take care.” Tanjiro didn't reply to him.

Tengen shared a look with sanemi. His eyes shooting a mischievous look filled with pride. Tengen has been in a mission with tanjiro and he knows how stubborn he can be. He knows how pure of a heart he had. And how he even had empathy for demons. He knows sanemi have to surrender infront of him.

Annoyed, sanemi rolled his eyes, “if you're that insistent on finding the girl, then why not refer to kasugai crows. Rengoku's crow might know something about the girl.” He suggested as tengen was in literal awe. He never thought sanemi could ever think logically with his brain. Tanjiro’s head perked up in joy at his idea. Now he finally has a path to look up. Sanemi felt awkward and took his leave, avoiding to look in their eyes.

“Ah! Shinazugawa san! Thanks for the idea!!”

“That brat finally seems to work a bit humane ain't he ?!” A deep laugh bubbled up tengen’s throat.

“I’m happy that he has softened a little now that demons have perished. However, about rengoku san’s kasugai crow, do you know where do I get in contact with it?”

“About that, i would recommend writting letter to kiriya sama. I'm sure he would know.” Tengen patted his head with a reassuring smile.

Soon he took his leave with his wives and giyu, since they were going to an onsen. Basically makio Suma and hinatsuru dragged him along forcefully. Giyu looked a bit tired but he was happy.

Things changed and improved rapidly in a short time. Zenitsu and nezuko got married last year. Murata also got engaged. Tanjiro couldn't help but wonder if the lady named y/n had moved on or not? Will rengoku san be happy if she found someone else? Will he be sad? He looked at nezuko smiling at zenitsu as he played with kiyo, naho and sumi. He looked at inosuke giving his shiniest acorns to aoi. He looked at kanao, smiling delicately, just like shinobu did.

He was happy.

But was the lady named y/n happy in her life?

Kanao looked at him and smiled. She came near him and took his wrinkled hand in hers. “Tanjiro san, you know I would really like you to deliver this letter to y/n san before we start a new life.”

“Even if it takes time?”

“Even if it does. I will wait for you for an eternity.” Tanjiro chuckled as red tints his cheeks. How pure kanao’s heart is? How did he get so lucky to have her in his life? God knows.

“Then I will write a letter to kiriya.”

After a few days, a letter arrived from ubuyashiki's. Along with that two kasugai crows were found circling over the house. Among them one belonged to tanjiro, when he was a demon slayer— tennoji.

The other was the one who accompanied rengoku till his last breath. Kiriya felt sad for rengoku and wrote his kind regards to tanjiro sending the crow to him. His name was kaname.

The crow looked pretty much normal and wasn't as hot -tempered as tennoji.

This was the first time tanjiro had seen him. “Hello, kaname san. Sorry for summoning you all of a sudden. But I wanted to ask you something…” the crow didn't reply, but tilted his head at tanjiro.

“I-ahh- do you know anything about a lady named y/n?”

The crow remained quite for a while, as if reminiscing the days which followed great sorrow. “Master's…y/n sama…master's lover…letters…”

His words were what tanjiro was expecting. Tanjiro finally saw a path clear.

“Can you tell me where she lives?” Asked tanjiro hopefully.

The crow shaked his head,“i don't know.”

Slightly disappointed, tanjiro started asking how she looked. The crow wasn't exactly able to describe her. Accepting his defeat, he asked the crow where he saw her for the first time. Maybe if he goes there, he will be able to find her.

“tokyo…capital…mission..”

the crow wasn't that helpful, they only got to know two things.

First- whoever this y/n is, she was rengoku's lover.

Second- rengoku's crow saw her in tokyo, the capital.

This indicates maybe rengoku and the people who went to the mission in tokyo as said by the crow, if alive, they might know something about it. Tanjiro wrote updates to the others.

A few days later, giyu’s letter came along with some sweets. In that he wrote that rengoku went to tokyo for a battle with lower moon 2 back then. Oyakata sama had assigned him to that mission, before he was a hashira. There were a bunch of people accompanying him, one of them being kanroji mitsuri.

Oh! Mitsuri kanroji was his tsugoku, tanjiro almost forgot about that, he got excited to ask her when reality struck him down. She died after the war. Even if she knew y/n tanjiro couldn't ask her.

He continued reading the letter from giyu as the path which formed in his mind started getting blurry.

Upon hearing from tanjiro, kanao dropped by at the kamado’s. She said she might have one way to get to know about y/n. Tanjiro's eyes perked up at kanao’s remark, which almost made kanao’s heart jolt since he was so cute.

Kanao explained, when shinobu was alive, she had once told her that mitsuri was close to a kakushi couple. She further said that mitsuri used to write letters to them about her missions on a regular basis. Those two even came to congratulate her when she was promoted to hashira. She said it was nice to see that a girl around her age so lively.

Tanjiro wrote a letter to kiriya again. And next week when tanjiro went out with inosuke to sell some charcoal in the city, a couple came to visit them.

Nezuko welcomed them, while zenitsu narrowed his eyes on them, especially upon the male.

When tanjiro returned home he was delighted to find the kakushi couple still waiting for him. They didn't hide their faces anymore. Dressed normally as regular citizens. Honestly they were pretty young, and tanjiro admired how they served the corps group keeping them intact.

“I'm so glad you both came.” Tanjiro bowed infront of them in gratitude.

“Oh no, that's completely fine. We are happy to be of any help. Oyakata sama said you wanted to know about mitsuri.” said the woman.

“Ahh not exactly about her, but for instance, do you have any idea if she ever mentioned a name called ‘y/n’?” tanjiro said pulling inosuke back beside him as he kept munching on the snacks for the guests. The guy gave him a creeped stare as he focused back on tanjiro's words.

“y/n? No I don't think so….she ever mentioned that name. Did she tanaka san?” The woman said.

Tanjiro felt anxious as the guy named tanaka tilted his head to think a bit.

“Nope I don't think she did.”, he clarified.

“Oh….” Tanjiro's voice was barely a whisper, that even inosuke sat straight checking if he's alright.

“Is there something else we can do, tanjiro kun? You look upset.”

“No no…it's fine. I was just trying to deliver a letter to rengoku san's love—”

“Rengoku san? Kanroji san’s master ain't it?” Tanaka spoke before tanjiro could finish his sentence.

“Yeah.”

“Oh my god? The one whom rengoku san loves was y/n?”

“You guys know her?” Hope shined bright in tanjiro's eyes. So did a fervent fear. Fear of disappointment. Fear of not being able to pay his debts. Fear of not fulfilling rengoku san's last wish.

“We didn't know about her name but kanroji san used to tell us about her…isn't it shimi san?” The guy turned to his wife with a fuzzy smile on his face.

“Yeah, she seemed so happy, wanting to have a love like them.” Said the wife.

And for the first time till now tanjiro wasn't let down. “Really? Did she lived in tokyo? Rengoku san's crow said he saw her for the first time during a mission.”

“A mission? No.” The wife let out a chuckle, “it started way before that. Kanroji san said….. ”

“Ahh! Master! Can we please have a break! I'm tired from hitting the sword, my limbs are sore.” Mitsuri cried barely holding another strike from her master.

“Haha you got tired this fast, we haven't even started.” the blazing hair resembling fire, moved swiftly as the guy attempted another strike on mitsuri, but thanks to a call outside, he stopped midway.

“Wait a bit, I will be back in a while.” Said kyojuro rengoku, her master. ‘i will be happy if you don't come back for a while.’ she thought as she collapsed on her knees, to exhausted to move.

“Ahh senjuro kun! Bring me some snacks please!!!” She shouted hoping for the little kid to hear.

A bit later, rengoku comes back. Senjuro looked at his elder brother, frowning while holding a letter. Mitsuri sat beside senjuro, who brought her some onigiris.

“What's that master?” She asked, stuffing another onigiri in her mouth.

“Even I'm confused. It's a letter but it wasn't delivered by a kasugai crow but by a postman.”

“Huh? Maybe it's from some neighbour wanting to lower your voice while eating.” Senjuro said shrugged off his shoulders as mitsuri suppress her laugh bubbling on her throat, almost choking on rice. It wasn't an irregular thing that neighbors anonymously complained about kyojuro shouting ‘umai’ every time he ate.

“Open it.” Said senjuro, curious what type of sarcastic words they might have chosen now.

Kyojuro did as his little brother requested. However kyojuro didn't reacted after reading the letter.

“Today's practice is over. You can relax.” He, then ordered senjuro to boil him some bathwater, shooing him away.

Senjuro obeyed his brother, while mitsuri felt kinda odd, yet she was happy to have a day off.

As soon as both of them left the backyard, rengoku blushed like crazy. The letter was still in his hand as he tried to digest the words.

“A love lett—” a big palm shut mitsuri’s mouth, preventing her from shouting. Yet she was squealing. “I thought you left! You've gotten quite quick in sly footing didn't ya? I'm impressed.” He finally removed his hand from mitsuri's mouth.

“Ofcourse you made me practice for 23 hours without sleep. Anyways, what's written in that?”

“Do you want me to make you practice for 2 days straight?”

“Naah I'm fine! But master, I'm happy.”

“Okay.”

“And curious too. Please let me read it.”

“No!”

After shooing mitsuri out of the backyard he tucked the letter in his sleeves. This letter was sure weird.

“Rengoku san thought that she didn't read the letter, but she had a strong memory and could remember each word after seeing it once. She was so excited telling us about that.” said the wife, looking outside the window at the moon.

The flame of the lantern flickered a bit. “So that might mean that the letter should be among those papers…”

“Woah zenitsu! I thought you were asleep?!”

“How am I supposed to sleep if you're talking that loudly idiot!”

Yeah the paper. There were a lot of papers. Some were smudged and unreadable, so they didn't read all of them. Tanjiro went over their cupboard and brought the bunch of papers.

“Can you identify the letter among them?” He asked the guy to inspect. The couple looked at each other. “Maybe we can try but the writings aren't clear.”

“Please if you can. I need to deliver that letter.” tanjiro bowed his head down begging to the couple.

“You're a nice kid, Tanjiro kun. We will surely help you.”

It's been more than twenty minutes since they are reading each and every paper. Inosuke got bored and slept on the tatami mats. Nezuko was already asleep so they didn't wanted to bother her.

“Yeah maybe this one. From what Kanroji san had explained, this seems to be the one.” The guy tanaka handed the delicate piece of paper to tanjiro.

“However, in each of these letters, she referred herself as his wife…I didn't know he was married…?”

“Huh?” Tanjiro frowned upon the man's words. ‘what?’ he checked the letters again. And the guy was right, y/n did refer herself as his wife. They didn't read the papers as carefully since they were long, they just assumed she was his lover. But rengoku san wasn't the one to hide such crucial information.

Tanjiro was confused, they were so focused on finding the address of y/n that they ignored reading the letters, which could provide information about her.

Tanjiro spent the entire night reading each word carefully. Fingers running across elegant handwriting and smudged ink. As he kept reading those with a pain in his heart. There were in total 7 of those letters, which were written to rengoku. And the one which tanjiro kept seemingly in care— the sealed one; one which has a strong smell of rengoku’s aura; one with tear stains.

The couple spent the night in their house and left the next morning after breakfast.

This helped but not that much. However the path had become clearer.

He knew that the girl was from a nice family who had hands in education from the curves in each characters of her words.

Second, she had mentioned that he had saved her and her friends from a fire, in yokaichi.

“I'm leaving for yokaichi.” Said tanjiro during breakfast.

“Eh? Oni- chan?”

“Don't worry nezuko, oni-chan will be back soon.”

“I will also go!” Said inosuke, “inosuke-sama will protect kamaboko gonpachiro, his minon from any harm.”

Tanjiro chuckled at how inosuke shows his care for him, “fine then.”

“Zenitsu san you also go with them…”

“Ehh, but nezuko chan won't you be lonely without me? I know you will be lonely without m—”

“I won't. You guys will be back soon. Till then I will be at butterfly mansion.”

“B-but nezuko channn!!!!” Inosuke dragged him away as nezuko watched the poor soul. She felt bad but she wanted him to be with her brother. She just felt that the three of them should go together.

The three of them finally reached yokaichi town. It was small but quite dense in population. Tanjiro felt that this was an advantage for them since they stories and folks might spread fast in a vast social surroundings.

“Inosuke, zenitsu let's ask the older citizens first, since they might be living here for a while, they must have known about any fire incidents.”

“I was about to say the same thing as you.” Snorted the board masked guy rushing off in the east direction. Zenitsu simply nodded and went in the opposite direction, sulking. He has been giving tanjiro silent treatment since he had to leave nezuko alone.

Tanjiro sighed as he started finding old citizens nearby asking about a fire incident.

After asking a few of them, he sighed, it didn't really do any help, since many weren't able to hear and some weren't able to remember. When he asked the youngsters, they ran away seeing his old crippled hand.

Tanjiro, let down, returned to the spot where they had started searching. Inosuke was already there tapping his feet as he was waiting for the others.

“Did you find anything?” Asked tanjiro.

“Nahh! They were mere cowards. Running way from me. Though I liked it! Everyone should fear the great inosuke sama.” As expected from inosuke, zenitsu was yet to return. Both of them decided to wait till he comes back.

After a while, zenitsu came back. His sulking still hasn't tailed off. “Ahh zenitsu! Did you find anything? You took so long!!”

Zenitsu didn't reply.

He stared at him with dead eyes.

Oh god! Zenitsu’s moody phases are the worst, especially if it's an urgent task. The whining and sulking from a few years ago flashed in front of tanjiro’s eyes.

“You turned mute or what?” said inosuke, already having enough of zenitsu’s tantrums.

But the only reply that came from the blonde was an eye roll. Inosuke got pissed, ready to throw hands at him if not stopped by tanjiro.

“Zenitsu, I will get nezuko chan make sweet washagis for you when we get back home.”

“Really!! You better do that. I can't even explain how much I've missed my dear wife nezuko chan. She must be so lonely without me.” Babbled zenitsu, finally speaking for the first time till they left home.

“She won't.”

“Stop making snarky comments you stupid boar head. What do you even know about pure love between me and nezuko chan?!!!”

“Ahh zenitsu! Did you get to know anything?”

Zenitsu considered tanjiro a while, before giving in, “At the very west of this town, there's an inn. People said it almost burned down about four years ago…I looked for its owner but they said he will be back late.”

Tanjiro let out a breath. If that's the case, then the owner might remember the incident clearly. If only he could provide any useful information.

“Btw do you really believe whoever this y/n is…she's still alive?” Zenitsu scratched the back of his neck, shooing away the mosquitos ready to feed upon his blood. It's been long three of them are waiting in front of the inn for its owner to arrive.

“Let's just not lose hope.” The inn did looked like it suffered severe consequences from whatever happened 4 years ago. Most of it has been repaired but the aura and the smell can still be recognised. There are still some wooden planks with burn marks which are yet to be repaired.

“May I ask who you three are?”

A chilly voice turned their attention. There stood a thin, frail boy, barely an adult. His eyes were small with hair falling down on his brows. He speculated about them with a suspicious look in his eyes(especially on the boat masked guy). Was he the owner? He looked too young for that.

“Ahh good evening! I'm tan—”

“If you're wanting to stay the night, go somewhere else, I'm not opening the inn today.” He replied coldly before tanjiro could even introduce himself.

“Ahh no, you're misunderstanding…. actually we are here to ask you something about the incident four years ago…”

The look on the boy’s face changed from suspicion to disgust.

“Well…I don't wanna talk about it. You guys can leave.”

“No please, at least hear our questions. It's really important.”

“As if I care.”

“Hey fucker! If you don't answer I'll break each and every bone in your body.”

“Stop it inosuke!” This isn't going any better. It's almost night, they also need to find a place to stay.

“tanjiro can you move aside a bit” said zenitsu, without waiting for his reply, he went to the kid. Apparently he whispered something in his ears which seemed to have creeped the guy out.

Tanjiro gulped. He must be desperate to go home and see nezuko. Sometimes he forgets that their coward friend can be hell scary when it comes to nezuko.

“Okay. He's ready to spill anything he knows.” The look on the kids face made it clear he didn't wanted to recall anything about that incident. However tanjiro had no choice but to push him off the edge.

“Hey I'm sorry if we're causing you any trouble, but you know we really need to know anything you know about a girl named y/n.”

“Y/n?”

“Yeah. Heard it before?”

“No. There were none with this name.”

“Eh? Can you try to recall. There must be someone. A girl who was saved by rengoku san. A guy whose hair was similar to fire.”

“Kyojuro rengoku you mean? He pretty much saved everyone. The inn you see here, is small. Before the incident also it was small and not that popular. Only a few people stayed here occasionally. So I can be sure there was no one named y/n.”

An ‘oh’ is just what tanjiro could manage. The boy got inside the house behind the inn. The night fell and they were still in the same position as before.

Inosuke was throwing tantrums in hunger, so they decided to go to an udon shop nearby. Perhaps they should not lose hope. Thinking empty stomach is not always the best option. This they were sitting in the shop waiting for their order to come.

“But she did mention in those letters that she was saved by him. How come the owner doesn't know anything about that?”

“I already told you we should have broken his bones, monjiro.”

“I think it's useless, let's just go back home to my nezuko chan.”

“Zenitsu! What if you were in place of rengoku san? Would you be happy if your last words don't reach nezuko?” zenitsu went silent at that.

They stayed silent till three bowls of hot udon were placed infront of them. Tanjiro and zenitsu thanked the server for the food whereas inosuke just shoved his head into the hot udon bowl. “You guys seem a bit tense, is everything okay? Asked the old man, the owner of the udon restaurant.

“Yeah we're just a bit disappointed.” Said tanjiro. “Haha and why so? Got rejected by a girl? Can't blame her, it's your hand.” The old man pointed at tanjiro's crippled hand. “What happened that's it's such in a bad condition?”

“Oh! It's…from…from a fight.” Tanjiro smiled, it's hard to offend him anyway,“ i already have a fiance and we are getting married soon.”

“Oh my god! Please forgive my mean words then. I wish you both happiness.”

“Thank you.”

“Then why pull a sad face. My udon tastes the best when you eat it with a good mood, ya know?!”

“Haha, I'm sure it will still taste good. Actually we were here wanting to acquire some information about the fire incident 4 years ago.”

“Oh that was such a bad one. If there wasn't that guy everyone would have lost their life…”

“Rengoku san? You mean?” Tanjiro's eyes perked up. “I see, you know kyojuro. Yeah, that boy was a regular in my shop. Although it's been more than three years since he last visited, i wonder how he's doing? Tell him to visit once, the old man misses him.” the man bursted in laughter while the three of them couldn't even managed to smile even once.

How are they even supposed to tell him, tell him that, “rengoku san died three years ago while saving us from…” zenitsu's voice trailed down into nothingness. So did the old man's. They didn't knew if he's aware about demons so they didn't exaggerated it anymore.

No one spoke for a while.

“I see. What did you guys want to know then? I'm sure you were close to him if he gave up on his life for you all…”

“do you know anyone named y/n? I need to deliver this letter to her.” tanjiro took out the yellow stained letter and handed it to the old man, who squinted his eyes on the writings, drawing a wrinkled finger tracing it's shapes.

“Y…y/n…..yeah she asked me to send some letters to his residence. The kid was young and beautiful.” he returned the letter back to tanjiro.

“She did?!”

“Yeah…that kid almost begged me to not tell kyojuro anything about that.”

The three of them looked at each other. “Can you tell us more about her?” “Do you know where she lives?” “Can I get a refill?” The three of them threw questions at the old man's face, whose lips creaked a bit. “Hmm, I don't know where she lives but I can tell you about her.” He said taking inosuke’s bowl to the counter for another refill.

The restaurant was almost empty so they went and sat on the round seats opposite of the counter.

“It was about four years ago when she appeared in my shop after kyojuro left….”

“umm excuse me…” you said

“Yeah young lady, what would you prefer?” asked the owner pointing at the chart hung on the wall which displayed all the items on the menu.

“I will take a hot tempura udon please.” said the girl beside you.

“And you miss?” The owner directed the question towards you. “Umm I will take anything you prefer.” “Ehh is that so? Fine, I'll make you the tastiest bowl of my special udon.”

“Just tell already…!” The girl beside you whispered into your ear, which was audible to the owner, he chuckled a bit. “Can you shut up….!!”

“I will if you say it…!”

“Okay fine!”

“Umm…if you don't mind, is there any way you can ask the address of the man who just left a while ago?” you asked hesitantly, fiddling with your fingers.

“Kyojuro you mean? I already know his residence, he made me deliver udon to his place before.” the owner said trying to keep his composure, young kids are just so bold nowadays.

“Is that so?” your eyes shined dreamily.

“Why harbored a crush on the man you saw a few mins ago? Hahaha!!” you felt blood rush to your cheeks as you couldn't find words to answer his question.

“She wants to thank him for saving her.” said the girl beside you. “Atsuko!” Atsuko just gave a smirk, ignoring how she threw you in such humiliation.

“Ah…if you don't mind then can you please deliver this letter to him anonymously. Don't tell him I asked you to send it. Please…I can pay you for that..”

“I don't need any payment. I will do that. You can just come and enjoy my special udon sometimes.” the owner accepted the letter from your hands, tucking it in his sleeves. “And maybe watch that man you talked about…he comes here around weekends.” The man hinted you the place which kyojuro normal has his lunch. And if you weren't blushing any harder, you felt your entire face burn with embarrassment. But you want to do it anyway.

Atsuko giggled beside you excited to see what happens next.

“So you delivered the letters in her stead?” asked zenitsu.

“Yeah…she kept coming back with letters for a good six months, if i remember correctly. Maybe kyojuro replied to them…”

It fell silent for a while. The only sound echoing was of inosuke slurping on the noodles.

“So, while you delivered letters rengoku san didn't knew her?” The guy with red eyes pointed the question at the owner.

“No i don't think so, she never came when he used to visit, that is, the weekends.”

“Can you tell us what was the name of her friend again?”

“Atsuko…if I remember correctly..”

“Can you describe how she looked?”

“Ehh? I can't really remember people's faces clearly, but she was very beautiful, big eyes with a nice soft skin. Her hair was long and dark. She had a soft voice. She looked like she belonged from a privileged family. So did her friend.”

“Oh is there anything specific you remember about her?”

“Hmm…let me think…if I'm not wrong rengoku once mentioned her name to a boy who tagged along with him. If you go to him i believe he could provide you some answers.”

“Really? Who was he?”

“His name was….daisuke I guess. He used to wear a similar black sort of uniform like kyojuro.”

After finishing their meal, tanjiro payed for everyone and thanked the old man for all that information. They went to a nearby inn and spent the night.

Tanjiro wrote some letters updating each one of their current status. And he sent a crow to kiriya requesting him to take a look if there's any former slayer named Daisuke and used to frequent his missions with rengoku.

The next day around afternoon, tennoji returned from ubuyashiki's. He said there was indeed a slayer named Daisuke. He had suffered severe injuries from the war and now lives in his village.

As directed by tennoji, tanjiro's crow, they went to the south east from their current position. After two days and one night of sleeping in the jungle without the fear of demons, a village appeared. It wasn't that populated. After asking a few kids, they showed the path which led to Daisuke’s hut.

“Umm excuse me? Daisuke san?”

“Yes, wh— ta…tanjiro….aren't you tanjiro?” the guy said, he was blind from one eye similar to tanjiro, with a missing arm and a limp leg. Tanjiro felt sorry for him.

“Yes, they are inosuke and zenitsu. Sorry for being a bother….”

“Oh no please come inside. I will get tea for you…” he said excited.

“Oh, you don't have to. It's fine. Actually we wanted to ask something….”

“Yeah? Please come in. I will surely help you as much as possible.”

They entered the hut and sat on the tatami mats. Even after pleading not to bring any snacks, Daisuke brought some rice crackers for them.

“Please have them.”

“You didn't have to.”

“Oh it's nothing. Now what did you wanted to ask about?”

“It's about y/n.” Tanjiro said as the rest simply focused on rice crackers. A hint of familiarity glistened in Daisuke's eyes. “Y/n? You mean the one rengoku san was madly in love with?”

Madly in love with? Tanjiro felt a pinch in his heart. Rengoku san must have adored you. The sealed letter had tear stains. Did rengoku cried while writing that?

“Ah…yeah…I need to deliver this letter to y/n but I don't know where she lives. Did rengoku san ever mentioned where she lived?”

“A letter? Why sent a letter when he was so adamant about that?”

“Adamant?”

“Yeah…he said that the pages limited his words to her. He was so desperate wanting to see her that he spent like 2 weeks searching for her without taking rest after his missions.”

“Seriously? So how are you supposed to recover from those injuries?” Daisuke said to his senior with an exasperated expression.

“It will heal when I get to see her face.” Said rengoku, bandaging the cut from a demon's blood arts whom he just killed.

“You're gonna exhaust yourself from build up fatigue.” The sun rays kissed the soil painted in crimson from the shedded blood.

“I will be fine. You go and take rest.”

“I can't believe you're going to find the creepy girl sending you creepy letters claiming herself as your wife.” Daisuke let you a sigh at rengoku's stubborness.

“In that case I gotta meet my wife.” Rengoku's laughter echoed among the vast field.

It still echoed in Daisuke's memories.

“So rengoku wasn't married…?”

“Naah. Honestly I think, after rengoku san’s mother died, he had faced severe neglect from his father. He was the oldest son of the family, so he had to be strong for his sibling. But sometimes we forget, even the strong needs someone to back for them. Even they need some kind words to let go all their tiredness and have a tight sleep. Even they need someone who assured them that they have a bright future…”

That's right. Tanjiro had seen how shinjuro, rengoku san's father, disrespected his sacrifice. He was so lost and depressed in his wife's loss that he forgot about the ones who need the most care— his kids.

Daisuke continued, “when the letter came from y/n, rengoku san must have read comforting words for the first time since that. He used to reread those letters a thousand times when he was free. Sometimes I wondered if he ever got bored doing that…but I knew he didn't. A starved man will eat anything. And I knew he was emotionally starving.”

Zenitsu and inosuke stopped eating rice crackers. Rengoku's death solely hurted them as much as it did to tanjiro, but they never thought it was that deep. That it was something beyond his life as a demon slayer.

Zenitsu could relate. After all he was an orphan. And rengoku was too, being in a situation similar to him, where his only parent was emotionally unavailable for him. He felt sorry for him.

No one dared to say anything. The silence was piercing their hearts like splinters of iron.

“Fun fact was that he did find her,” Daisuke chorted a bit before continuing, “and he literally begged her to marry him…”

Rengoku searched from cabin to cabin in the steam train. In the last letter you mentioned you were going to aomori to visit your relatives by train.

After a bit of negotiation he learned that there was only one train which was going to stop at aomori. This is how he ended up buying tickets at the last moment getting in the train, to find you.

He hasn't seen you before. He wondered how you would look. Even more beautiful and kind than your letters. Even more beautiful than the slight hooks of the curved kanjis you had written his name. Even more beautiful than the blazing sun.

He had checked almost the entire train. The content smile on his face has now thinned into pursed lips. He was nervous. What if he fails to find you? What if he never gets to find you? What if he never gets to see your face?

What if he didn't recognise you?

He flashed all the passengers in his head before lowering his head. None of them carried the same demeanor your letters did. He couldn't imagine any one of them being you.

He entered the last cabin. It was empty. However this cabin seemed a bit different. It had a narrow passage on the right with doors while the opposite side had small rooms. It seemed private. One previously booked by someone.

Rengoku turned back to return to his cabin when the door beside him shot open.

Inside was a girl, who seemed to have frozen for a while.

“Y/n?”

The girl’s eyes widened at the name which left rengoku's lips. She shut the door close, but it didn't closed, something was blocking it. The girl looked down, realizing rengoku had slipped his feet in to prevent her from doing that.

He barged the door open. “Y/n right?”

The girl remained silent for some time.

“I apologize to you with all my might rengoku san. Please forgive my intrusiveness.” you said, lowering your head, nervous at the sudden appearance of him.

“God you're even more beautiful than I thought…” you shoot your head up only to see him looking with such dreamy eyes at you as if you're the only thing he's ever wanted to look at. And it made your stomach churn. Guilt rushed in each of your veins.

“Rengoku san, i shouldn't have wrote those letters to you.” You say. Your friend had warned you before. You didn't listen.

“Why?” He took a step closer.

You gulped before answering,“i wrote nonsense, pretending to be your wife I'm very sorry yo—”

“Then don't pretend anymore.”

“Huh?”

“Be my wife.” Rengoku suggested. His face now inches away from yours.

“And then she ran away?” Said daisuke, barely containing his laugh.

“Yeah…did I do something wrong?” Rengoku said with visible confusion plastered on his face. It was rare to see any expression other than his smiling face.

“Of course she would run away.”

“and why so?”

“Rengoku san, a girl thinks about her future first after marriage. She knows nothing about you.”

“But she wrote me lett—”

“Which you didn't answered….since you thought you couldn't fit your words in papers.” Rengoku couldn't say anything in his defense. It was true rengoku never replied to any of your letters. When he received the first one he thought someone was pranking him. But then the letters came continuously, one each month. He slowly fell in love with those. He fell in love with your letters. And somehow, he fell in love with you.

“Then what do I do?”

“Be honest, tell her about your salary and your job, tel her you can take care of her needs.”

“Yeah? Kk I'm going then…”

Rengoku stood at the aomori station waiting for you to get on the train for your return. Upon spotting you, he called out for you. The train had a delay and he had a good 1 hour to make things clear.

“Eh? R-rengoku san!”

“I work in demon slayer corps. And currently I'm in the highest rank which is kinoe. I get a decent salary of 42,500 yen. I live with my younger brother and father. My mother died a few years ago from illness. I spend my day training, slaying demons and rereading your letters,” guilt rushed through your veins again. “I promise, I will fulfill all your needs and treat you like my queen.”

“rengoku san...”

“sorry i didn't replied to any of those, I just couldn't express myself much in writing. If possible I would like to crawl into a hole. However you don't need to worry. I will make sure that I keep you happy.”

You frowned at his words, unable to explain him. How could you do that to him?

“Y/n san, let's make the words on the letters true. Let's be husband and wife. I know that I work in an organization that isn't approved by governm—”

“Rengoku san, shall we walk while talking? We are blocking the road.” you change the topic, not wanting to talk about it.

“Sure.”

Rengoku continued telling you everything…everything about him. From his childhood till his mother's death. From his father's neglect, to his way up to kinoe, from his sword to the number of demons he slayed. You didn't believe in demons before, but now that rengoku tells you about this, demon folks is something you want to believe. You wanted to believe in everything he said. Even if he's telling the dumbest thing, far from reality, you wanted to believe it.

“Y/n san! Look here!” You turn back to rengoku.

Click.

“And did she said yes?”

“Maybe. He didn't mention her answer. He was so happy that finally he met her.”

“You must have seen her then…can you tell us how she looked?”

“I think I might have a photo of her. Rengoku san, asked to recieve a photo delivery, since he had a mission from the previous oyakata sama.” Daisuke got up limping to the one of the backrooms of his hut. He returned a few minutes later, handling a black and white photo to tanjiro.

Inosuke and zenitsu peeped from the sides to take a look at the long awaited moment, when they finally get to see y/n.

The photo was black and white, but tanjiro felt it was still colorful to rengoku san. In the photo there was a girl, young, with long beautiful hair, in a loose braid. She wore a flower hair ornament, which must have shone in gold back then. She was just how the udon owner described her, big doe eyes, pretty mouth, she looked educated. She was dressed in a floral patterned kimono. Zenitsu wondered what sort of colour the kimono would have been. He wondered if he could get a similar one for nezuko as a souvenir.

The girl was beautiful. Inosuke thought, she had similar smile to shinobu, he wondered if his mom’s smile was like that.

The girl's reflection reflected in several mirrors behind her, and one of the mirror had caught the reflection of the one clicking the photo— kyojuro rengoku.

“The last I heard from rengoku san, he said she wanted to meet him before taking the mugen train mission. He seemed happy, maybe she agreed eventually to marry him….if only he didn't…” Daisuke didn't finished the sentence, considering his surroundings.

They sit in deafening silence for a bit.

A bit later tanjiro thanked Daisuke for the rice crackers and his help. He asked if it were okay to take the photo with him. Daisuke had no problem with that. After bidding farewell they continued their journey, unsure what to do next.

After two days of staying at an inn, cluelessly with no idea how to find y/n, inosuke suggests to go to the station from where they got on mugen train.

“If we go to that lord's land and ask the people over there and show this painting of this long haired girl, then some might recognize her.” He had said.

“First of all that's a train station, second it's a photo. How can you still be the same stupid even after 3 years?” zenitsu cringed hard.

“wha—”

“Inosuke’s right zenitsu, we should go there and ask the people over there.” tanjiro said halting the cat and mouse fight which was about to start between the two.

Daisuke had said rengoku was about to meet her before the mission, which means before getting on the mugen train. Even if it is difficult, some locals must have seen even one glance of her.

The next morning, as per inosuke's idea, three of them left for the station.

“Umm excuse me…” said tanjiro, forwarding the photo in front of the local he stopped on his way, “can you tell me if you've seen this girl?”

The man gave a disgusted look at tanjiro. “no I haven't.”

“Ehh? Are you sure you haven—”

“I don't have time for bullshit.” He went off ignoring tanjiro. Strange. People here are less friendly, some even get irritated if stopped on their way.

It's almost lunch time, zenitsu and inosuke had tried to stop the locals as tanjiro asked them about you. It was clear that this ain't ending soon. Especially when they've got nothing good in hand.

“Let's go buy something to eat.”

“YEAH! I'M HECK HUNGRY!!”

“I saw a kid wearing glasses, selling bentos…let's buy some then…she went in that direction.”

Upon seeing the kid, tanjiro asked her to give them three boxes of bentos. It seemed similar to the ones they had three years ago. The girl was about to leave after receiving her payment, but tanjiro's instinct told him to stop her.

“Wait!” The girl turned back to him as zenitsu and inosuke watched him, confused. Tanjiro put his hand inside the sleeves of yukata, taking out the only photo they had of you.

“Have you ever seen this girl around here?”

The girl squinted her eyes behind the round glass frames,“y/n san! Isn't she y/n san…”

Zenitsu’s eyes popped out, he wondered if tanjiro's a mind reader or something, how can he be so quick?

“Yes! You know her? Can you tell us where she lives?” Tanjiro asked desperately.

“She never mentioned that to us…” the girl said frowning her eyebrows.

“Oh…how did you know her then?”

“Well, a demon slayer who saved us three years ago, requested…”

You waited for kyojuro to come. The sun shone brightly above you. The empty roadway started getting crowdy. You've had enough.

“Y/n san. You wanted to see me?” kyojuro had become a hashira now, and amongst his tight schedule he barely had time for you. It's not like you were disappointed, but still…you and kyojuro often talked through phone booths, after you've suggested that casually one day while strolling with him. Last week when he called you, after what felt like years, you said you wanted to meet him soon. ‘fine meet me at the near hinakawa station, I will be waiting.’ he'd said.

Though it was you, waiting for him to come. You've felt distant from him. And you didn't like it.

“I ran away.” You announced looking in his honey drizzled eyes. Though you aren't sure if it were your overthinking but those eyes seemed a bit dull today.

Kyojuro didn't say anything, maybe confused how to interpret your words.

“my family's against us. And I'm against them. I left the old relations to form a new one. With whom I love. Let's get married.” You said taking his hand in yours.

Kyojuro said nothing but wrapped you in his arms. You hugged him tighter, never wanting to let go. “I'm not alone anymore.” He said before nuzzling his face on the crook of your neck.

Yes. You've always wanted to hear these words from his lips. You've wanted to let him know that he's not alone even when he thinks he is. You wanted him to know that there's someone who will always support him even if he's father thinks he has no talent. This was the reason you wrote him letters in first place. This was the reason you let yourself get tangled in a world far different from yours— in the world of kyojuro rengoku.

He left soon saying he will be back after completing a mission. He said he will send someone to you and asked you to wait for him till then. And you agreed gladly. About half an hour later a girl wearing round steel rimmed glasses along with her grandmother appeared.

“Y/n?” You nodded your head at them. “Rengoku sama asked us to keep you safe till he gets back. If you don't mind then you can come home with us.”

You got to know from the grandmother, how the rengokus had saved their lives two times. You've never seen kyojuro fight, but you knew he was hella strong. Still your heart sinks into your stomach whenever he mentions a mission. You've never encountered demons, once you didn't even believed in them, and now here you are nodding at each of those demon tales of the grandmother.

It didn't mattered anyway as long as he comes back safe. You have to wait for a while for him to comeback….after all you weren't done….you still had an important thing to say.

“Then?”

“Then days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months, the slayer never made its return. She left eventually, thanking us. We told her to wait for a while more…but she was too stubborn.” said the girl, fixing her specks again.

Tanjiro couldn't believe what he heard. Rengoku had so many things going on in his life. He had more priorities than him and his friends. Someone who was more important. Someone who left her entire family for him.

Yet.

And yet.

He chose to save them sacrificing himself.

He wondered if the you hate him now.

Zenitsu and inosuke were too stunned to speak. All of them were on the verge of crying. To think…that he couldn't return because of them. To think that they played a role in ruining you happiness. That he died saving them.

“She said she was going to asakusa at her friend’s house, named atsuko.”

Tanjiro bowed at the girl, he couldn't manage thanking her, since he knew if he draws one more breath trying to talk, he would break down right there.

The three of them took a train to asakusa after eating those bentos. They looked similar because rengoku had bought the same boxes from that bento girl 3 years ago.

Inosuke was oddly quiet inside the train. The other two also barely chatted before reaching their destination.

Tanjiro had visited asakusa before and he didn't liked that experience very much. Especially the narrow lanes. This time the city looked more developed than before. And it was more crowdy too. They made their way as the girl has previously informed, that atsuko works as a teacher in a big school for aristocrats.

Coincidentally, tanjiro found the same vendor from his last visit. Back then nezuko wasn't able to savor his ramens since she was a demon. He wished he brought her along. They ordered a steaming bowl of ramen, as the vendor was delighted seeing tanjiro again.

“Where that bamboo girl you carried along with you?”

“She's at home right now.”

“Don't give my wife stupid Nicknames.” ,shouted the blonde at the vendor. Tanjiro apologized in his stead as he kept fuming. “So why are you three here all of a sudden? It's been long ain't it?”

“Yeah we're looking for a girl named y/n. She has a friend who teaches in a big school named atsuko.”

“Y/n never heard that sort of peculiar name…”

“are there any big schools in this area, where aristocrats study?”

“Umm…there are a lot of big schools, you could go and ask at the library. There's only one library here and all the school students or teachers borrow books from there. They must know something about that.”

“Oh really! Thankyou very much.”

Without any further do, the three of them went to the public library after eating.

“Woah this is so big.” Tanjiro said.

“It has so many books shall I borrow some for nezuko chan” zenitsu got lost in his dream world. Inosuke was quite whenever he gets in a new environment with a lots of people, so tanjiro didn't bother checking at him.

However, inosuke tugged on tanjiro's yukata pointing at something with his boar mask tugged on his head. Tanjiro could see his eyes popping out.

“What happened tanji—” zenitsu choked on his spit. Tanjiro’s jaw dropped, his mouth open wide. Inosuke was pointing at a picture hung on the wall. Tanjiro took out the photo hurriedly from his sleeves.

There's no mistake. This was indeed the same girl. Underneath the painting was written ‘princess akiko’ in bold letters carved carefully on metal.

“But isn't her name y/n?” Said zenitsu. What's going on? Before tanjiro could say anything, a woman in her twenties bumped into them while rushing.

The photo slipped out from tanjiro’s fingers.

“I'm so sorr—” the women's words halted as she looked at the photo lying on the ground in front of her. She picked it up before tanjiro could.

“Where did you get this picture from?” She asked as if it were a taboo to have this.

“Ahh you know y/n?”

“Y/n?”

“She looks similar to the girl in that painting” the boy with the boar mask declared.

“For the hundredth time inosuke it's a photo.” said zenitsu.

“She doesn't looks like her. She is her. She is princess akiko. The youngest daughter of the imperial family.”

What?

Three of them couldn't believe their ears. “But her name is y/n…” whispered tanjiro in a low voice.

“Just who are you?” She looked at the picture carefully, as if hiding it from the world, “isn't this rengoku?”

“You know rengoku san?”

“That's the man who saved us from a fire incident in an old town. And then became the main reason of the storms in akiko’s life.”

Tanjiro's eyes widened at the mention of the fire incident “Are you atsuko?”

The women nodded, surprised they know her name. Tanjiro, then explained the whole matter.

“I see.”

“This isn't right akiko…you shouldn't have continued writing letters to him in first place.” Atsuko said trying to persuade her not to run away.

“I can't. I can't live here. They will never accept him. And I can't live without him.”

“Akiko, try to understand…rengoku loves y/n.”

“And i am y/n!” The sound of the rain pouring down increased.

“You are princess akiko. Y/n is just a fake name, you created to hide your real identity when decided to write him letters. I supported you then since i thought it was a one time thing.” Atsuko shook the girl's shoulders trying to bring her to the path she considered right.

“But I don't wanna be akiko. I wanna be y/n…y/n rengoku.” Tears fell from the eyes in front of her as sobs escaped her lips.

“You're playing with rengoku’s feelings. Even if you run away, how do you intend to tell him the truth? You can't pretend to be y/n your entire life akiko.”

The girl didn't answered atsuko. That day slowly came to an end along with the rain. And Akiko did run away to rengoku, away from her pointless life, being a puppet in her family's hands.

“She returned a month after she ran away. When I asked him about rengoku she said nothing. Soon her brother came and took her away.” Whispered atsuko in a voice so doleful, that it was clear, it hurted.

“Did rengoku san knew she was a princess?” Zenitsu asked.

“He probably didn't. Akiko's family arranged several politicians later to set her up but she caused such a ruckus that her family gave up at last.”

“Do you know where she is now…i need to deliver this letter to her.” Each word tasted like bile to him. He couldn't even imagine how miserable it had been. You literally rejected a crystal palace only to live a normal life with him. Which didn't even come true. How feverishly would it have hurt? How apathetic fate was…

“She lives in osaka, running an orphanage. You would find her there. Shall I get someone two drive you three over there?”

“That will be very thoughtful of you” said tanjiro.

Atsuko arranged a driver, who would drive them to the orphanage, they expect to find you in. The car ride was even more silent than the train one. Inosuke, even, didn't make any fuss seeing a car for the first time.

‘So this is where princess akiko lives.’ thought tanjiro. The building was similar to butterfly mansion, nothing that luxurious but quite spacious. The driver left soon after dropping them.

They crossed several corridors of children buzzing like bees. Laughter echoed among the hallways. How wonderful of a place for someone who lost their parents. Similar to them. They wondered if they would have grown up in this orphanage if they were born here.

Finally they reached to what seemed like an office. Similar to one shinobu used when researching herbs, the one which kanao uses now. They entered with a knock.

“Y/n san?”

Your head perked up at the name, which once your beloved used to refer. That beloved who never came.

Your heart ached a bit expecting kyojuro. A melancholic smile forms on your face seeing three kids infront of you. Of Course it wasn't him.

“yes?” you said gently, trying not to give in to your emotions.

But tanjiro could smell it. He smelled the intense grief bubbling within you. He could imagine how long you've bottled up your emotions.

Without saying much, he took the letter out of his sleeve placing it on your desk.

“It's been waiting for 3 years.”

“Huh?”

“Rengoku san wanted me to deliver this to you. Sorry this took so long.” your hands froze at his name. Your chest heaved without even you realizing as you grab the letter.

A single drop of tear fell on the spot which had been previously stained with tears. Tears of kyojuro rengoku.

Your fingers shaked tracing your name on the letter. The name which he used to call. Y/n not Akiko.

You teared the seal, taking out a paper. It was filled with words. Words, he never thought he could express on paper.

Dear y/n,

If you're reading this, then I'm sorry. I might have broken my promise of protecting you forever because by the time you read it— I will be dead.

Y/n i wanted to tell you, that I've loved you. I have loved you from the very beginning. Before even I saw you. You were the one who protected the flame in my heart. While others told me to set it ablaze, you made me learn how to keep the flame burning.

You were as beautiful to me as the rising sun. So bright, so clear. You were the epitome of my life. I wanted to live a peaceful life with you, in which my father let's go of his depression. In which your family accepts us. In which we don't have to hide from others. I wanted you to have my surname.

Your words were like the first rain of summer to me. You saved me from quenching my thirst by your words. I have been starved…. starved for so long that I forgot what being hungry for love feels like. Until you came into my life. you healed my heart, handled it as if it's porcelain.

I thought papers were something I would never choose to express myself with. But look at me now. Haha. I don't know why I'm writing it now, but I just feel like, the time’s soon going to be over. And I feel like I will be gone without seeing your face.

Please don't hate me for that.

If I get to spend my life with you I will probably burn this off, but if this letter somehow unfortunately finds you…I want you to know, I gave my best. I gave my very best to save the ones surrounding me. That I fullfilled my duty till the end. So don't feel sad.

I still can't believe you chose to love me. If possible I would like to meet you in another birth, in another universe without demons, where I will be yours, completely yours. You're the best thing that happened to me, y/n. You're just perfect.

But I must say….you’re dumb for choosing a man who bets his life for others, leaving the silver spoon you had in your mouth.

Sadly, our time was limited in this birth. Good bye princess akiko.

~ your kyojuro

The letter fell from your hands. Your lips quivering as you barely contained your tears, which stained the letter.

You just managed a smile at the kids who brought you this letter. He was no more. And you couldn't believe that. He knew you were Akiko not y/n. The truth you weren't able to tell him.

“I'm sorry for making this long. Rengoku san died saving us from a demon, 3 years ago” said tanjiro, tears staining his cheeks. So do the others, barely containing their emotions.

“oh! But i-im glad you all are safe. H-he fulfilled his duties right?”

“Does it hurts?” Tanjiro asked.

“A lot.” And if he wasn't seeing things, he saw rengoku for one second with a silly smile on his face, maybe wondering how to comfort you.

The second he blinked his eyes he was gone. What remained was his letter. Tanjiro handed the photo to you before leaving. He wondered if in another birth he gets to see the both of you reconcile.

He took a deep breath wanting to return to kanao. Maybe he would just ask her to marry him this year. He doesn't want to waste anymore time away from her.

“Where were you?” Asked zenitsu to inosuke, who went missing for a while. They are currently waiting for a train to go back home.

“To buy this.” Inosuke showed a butterfly hair pin decorated with blue crystals. It was beautiful.

“Woah. Who did you buy it for?”

“Aoi.” Tanjiro chuckled at his bluntness, while zenitsu smirked. It's funny how inosuke still gets both of their names incorrect but he never made a mistake in saying aoi’s name correctly. Who knows they might have two weddings…

Now that tanjiro had finally payed off the debt, he wished you happiness as he looked forward to a happier future. He will remember you, not as princess akiko, but as y/n.

“Let's go! I can't wait to see nezuko!!”

“Zenitsu watch out your way!!”

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