▪Deadly Thorns and Violent Storms▪

Chapter 44

Zenitsu's POV:

After Inosuke's... interesting entrance, Tanjiro's siblings all went off to play with Shinobu's sisters.

"Hey, wait! They're animals like me!!" Inosuke shouted after the kids and got on all fours and ran their direction.

"He's insane..." Nezuko said and started to walk away, too. "I'm gonna go hang out with Aoi and Kanoe, I'll leave you two alone."

"Bye, Nezuko!" Tanj waved to her then turned to me, "Sorry about all of that with my siblings.. they obviously don't know about.. us."

"It's okay, I haven't exactly told Gramps either, but I think he knows."

He nodded and thought for a second then said "Your costume does look cute on you."

"Tanj!! There are still people around!" I whispered loudly.

"No one's paying attention, it's fine."

"Oh, be quiet." My pout turned into slight smile.

We both must've had the same idea, because we looked around then back at eachother. Our hands intertwined with one anothers and as we stepped closer, we kissed.

It felt nice to be in Tanjiro's embrace, I had completely forgotten that we were at a birthday party. And that there were other people here, not only people from our classes, but their siblings, too

I felt a tug at my onesie's sleeve and Tanjiro abruptly broke away from the kiss and yelped.

"Big brother...?" I turned to see who it was, but I could already tell by the voice of the speaker.

Hanako and Shigeru's big, innocent eyes were staring up at us, each of them with one of their hands on our sleeves.

Our hands were still locked together until we realized both of our grips were getting tighter and Shigeru looked down at them.

"Um.. hi, guys..!" I exclaimed weakly, I was trying to talk for Tanjiro, who was standing there in utter shock.

"Brother what were you doing?" Hanako asked him.

"I- well- we were just.." Tanj looked like he was trying to think of something as fast as he could, but had no idea how to explain what they just saw.

"He was just- looking at my costume!" I didn't know what else to say, after all, I didn't know whether they'd seen us kissing.. or if they just saw us standing really really close.

Hanako and Shigeru looked at each other then back at us. She whispered something in her twins ear and they both slowly started to back up.

"Where are you two going?"

As soon as I asked the question they turned and bolted, screaming "Big sister!? Big sister, where are you??!"

"No, wait-!" Me and Tanj yelled at the same time and chased after them, but we were too late.

They found Nezuko faster than I thought they would, and they were already jumping up and down at her, both talking at the same time so it was difficult to make out what they were saying.

"One at a time, please!" She shouted, obviously concerned. "What's wrong?"

Tanjiro jumped in front of his little brother and sister before they could say anything and said, "Nothing's wrong, Nezuko!"

Kanoe and Aoi were staring at us skeptically, I didn't even realize they were there before.

Nezuko pushed him aside and knelt down to her younger siblings height. "What did big brother do?"

"He- him a-and yellow boy they were-" Shigeru stuttered.

"They were really close!" Hanako got close to her ear and whispered but it was still loud enough for us to still hear her, "I think Mr. Zenitsu.. gave big brother a kiss!"

Tanjiro turned as red as a tomato and covered his face and I copied his actions immediately.

Kanoe and Aoi had begun to giggle. Nezuko gave an amused sigh, "Well, that's very interesting, but I think brother should explain to you what they were doing."

"I-uh-well, see-!" Tanjiro started to stutter. "We were... Uh-um-"

"Hey, Monjiro, Monichi! What's all the screaming?!" Inosuke shouted as he walked over with three people following behind him.

"Hi, Inosuke..." I muttered.

Inosuke's POV:

I saw Aniki and a little Aniki over near Lord Tengen, so I decided, as their best buddy I would join them.

"Hello Lord Tengen and Aniki!" I shouted as I ran towards them, "Who's the miniature you?"

He laughed and patted him on the shoulder, "This is my little brother, Senjuro!"

"Hi..." Aniki Jr. whispered.

Lord Tengen laughed, too. "Very energetic, right Inosuke?"

I thought for a second before saying, "No, not really."

Then there was a loud noise behind us and we all turned around, Monichi and Monjiro were chasing some of the little Monjiro's around.

"No wait-!" They both yelled at the same time.

Lord Tengen watched intently, "Finally, something flashy! Let's check it out!"

Aniki looked a little hesitant. "I dunno, Tengen, it's not really our business..."

"It's my birthday, you have to do what I say!" He grinned. "I am older than you after all!"

"Only by a few months." Aniki sighed, "Okay let's go, birthday boy."

We quickly walked over to where Monjiro and Monichi were.

They were both red in the face and Monjiro was franticly explaining something to Nutella and the other tiny Monjiros.

"Hey, Monjiro, Monichi!" I said, "What's all the screaming?!"

"Hi, Insouke..." Monichi murmured.

Monjiro jumped and started to stutter again. He sure is having a really hard time speaking right now. "I-Inosuke! Hi T-Tengen! And Kyojuro! And, uh-"

"Senjuro!" Aniki provided helpfully.

"Oh, Senjuro!" Monjiro rubbed the back of his head, "We were just-uh"

"What were you all doing?" Lord Tengen asked curiously.

"He was telling me and Shigeru why he and Mr. Zenitsu kissed!" The little cat Monjiro said.

He burst into laughter and started nudging Aniki, "Kyojuro, what an unflamboyant situation!"

"We didn't- we did not kiss..!" Monichi shouted.

Everyone was standing around them, just staring.

I believe the little cat Monjiro and the little bunny Monjiro. I've seen Monjiro and Monichi... kiss, I might've freaked out, too.

"How do we know you didn't?" I asked him, not that I care or anything.

"Okay! Uh, we might have-" Monjiro said nervously, looking at us for our reactions.

"Okay, mystery solved, time for cake!" Aniki exclaimed.