#anyway here's my musings for the day.... | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

minteayoongimakesmewoozi · 1 year

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been thinking about this for a couple days now, so... a lil bit of royalty!au teehee

Ayame said she was raised in a family of blacksmiths.

Who would know better?

Her hands and arms had been scarred, even before she became Shishou's apprentice. They thought it was from the forge.

They didn't know it was from archery practice.

She had an excellent sense of balance. From the forge, she would insist. From working the billows.

Wrong. It had been from horse-riding.

Her stitches were clumsy. Because she had never been well-practiced in her mother's teachings. Her mother had been a seamstress. At least her embroidery was passable.

No, her mother had never been a seamstress. Noble women never mended their own clothes.

Nobility was one way of referring to the Higichi family of Okutama. Kuge was another.

Hime was not simply a childhood nickname.

"Hime," Tanjirou whispered, eyes wide, "what are you doing here?"

Here, on Mount Kumotori.

Ayame furtively glanced around, but they were alone. Tomioka-san had long fled, and it was only herself, Tanjirou and Nezuko.

"It isn't Hime, it's Ayame," she said sharply. "I'm here as a Kisatsutai trainee, not as... and I gave up my succession. There are - there is no more Ayame-hime. Just Ayame."

She knew they had a strange upbringing. They were the same age, but they were never the same station. Tanjirou, as a guard. Ayame, as royalty.

But there was only one Higuchi and two Kamados left. And she had given up her succession, the same way Oniichan had done the same before her.

Hime was just a childhood nickname now.

Tanjirou paled. He clutched his oni sister close and choked back a sob. There was no more Higuchi family. Only Higuchi Ayame.

But that didn't make him any less her guard.

Tanjirou was not unfamiliar with a katana. With Breathing Styles, with Breath of Water, but not with a sword in hand.

But Tanjirou said he was raised in a charcoal burner's family. It wasn't a lie. His family had burned charcoal for Okutama.

They were not merely charcoal burners.

He had grown up with a sword in hand, and he had learned to swing it under his Otousan's tutelage. His father had been the guard to O-Junhiko-sama. Tanjirou was meant to be the guard for O-Akihiko-sama. Then, O-Ayame-hime.

No, just Ayame now.

There was no Higuchi family.

But there was the Kamado family, however small.

He didn't know if Urokodaki-san had figured out he was familiar with a katana. He already knew how to do basic strikes. He had spent his childhood sparring with Hi - with Ayame.

There was no Higuchi family.

There was Higuchi Ayame.

There was the Kamado family, reduced to two.

The Kamados had always guarded the Higuchis.

"Hime," Tanjirou gasped as the obi sliced into his shoulder, and Ayame crashed into a building.

She didn't scold him for using that old title. He wasn't sure she was conscious.

Wasn't sure if she was breathing.

He was her guard. He was supposed to protect her, even though she told him time and time again that he was just Tanjirou, and she was just Ayame.

"You don't have to live your life protecting me. I don't want that. I can do it myself."

That was what she had said after they fought Kyougai. He hadn't wanted to agree, but she was stronger than him now. She was one year his senior when it came to all things Kisatsutai. She didn't need protection.

He couldn't have protected her even if he wanted to.

Too distracted by the civilian behind him, he had rushed to protect that man instead of his hime. (Ayame had always been hime to him, even when they were children.)

Warabihime threw her hair over her shoulder. He didn't have to breathe in to know she was satisfied with the destruction she had caused. Buildings lay broken. People were screaming.

And his hime was not with him.

Anger rushed through him as blood dripped from his eyes, staining his cheeks with crimson tears.

He was supposed to protect his hime.

He was going to cut down the false Warabihime in her name.

"Tengen-san found out."

"Eh?"

"In Yoshiwara."

"Eh?!"

Ayame crossed her legs and frowned at him.

Tanjirou winced. He was still recovering from his coma, so he couldn't even dash away. Not that he would want to. Even if Ayame didn't think she was royalty anymore, he was her guard and would continue acting as such.

"You called me Hime," she said, accusatory. "When Gyuutarou was going to stab me. On that roof."

Tanjirou winced once more. Ah, that...

It had slipped from his mouth without a second thought. He might call her Ayame to her face, but she was still O-Ayame-hime to him. He hadn't meant to!

She continued, "He thought it was strange, so he did some digging. Found out that I'm kuge. Which means he knows you're buke."

His eyes widened. "No!"

"Yes." She crossed her arms as well. "So. He knows."

"Has he - has he told anyone?"

Zenitsu and Inosuke flashed through his mind. They knew the stories Ayame and Tanjirou had told of their families best, which meant that they knew the least about the true nature of their families. They were both nobility, and they did their best to act like they weren't.

Ayame shook her head. "He didn't tell anyone." She pursed her lips. "Zenitsu might suspect, though. He was in earshot."

Tanjirou groaned and covered his face with his hands. What a mess.

"We should've just told everyone," he mumbled.

He didn't have to look at her to know she was glaring at him.

"No! I don't want people to know I'm kuge. They'll start thinking I'm unsuited to be a Demon Slayer. I'm a tsuguko. I can't let that happen."

"Hime..." A sharp pinch to his ankle. His leg jerked, almost causing him to kick her off the bed. "Ow - Ayame."

She nodded in satisfaction. "There. Isn't it better when you're just Tanjirou and I'm just Ayame? Look at everything we've done since we became normal people. I don't want to lose that."

Normal people, huh? He didn't think anything they were doing was normal. If they were normal people, she would be a blacksmith, and he would be a charcoal burner.

She would not be his hime. She would just be Ayame.

His heart fluttered in his chest.

"You're beautiful," Tanjirou breathed.

It was wrong. He knew it was wrong, these feelings that welled up in him, but he couldn't help it.

Because Ayame was seated before him, wearing his haori and the sunflower hairpin that he bought for her, and she was looking at him like she wouldn't look at anything else.

"Ayame," he whispered.

Not Hime. Just Ayame.

Her fingertips were rough as they skittered across his jawline, but so, so gentle. He couldn't help but lean into her touch.

He was just Tanjirou, and she was just Ayame.

Her lips pressed to his and it felt like fireworks bursting to life in his chest. It was Hinokami Kagura burning him up from the inside, but it didn't matter as long as she kept holding him so gently.

His hime.

His -

Hime.

She was kuge, and he was buke, and it looked like the same thing on the surface, but it was wrong.

It was wrong, but why did it feel so right?

But it wasn't. It was wrong.

Because she was O-Ayame-hime, and he was Kamado-kimi.

It was the same thing on the surface, but it wasn't the same thing at all. They were of different ranks - not just in the Kisatsutai, but in life as well.

Otousan always told him to never forget his duty.

He was his hime's guard, and nothing more.

"Tanjirou," she whispered. His heart ached, even as it was soothed by the way she called out to him. As if they could stand on equal ground. "I - Tanjirou, I - "

"I can't," he croaked.

Her hair was so soft, ink-black tresses spilling over his fingers. He was undeserving of such a position; his hands were never allowed to touch her. They were meant to protect her.

Even if it meant from himself.

"I can't." No, don't look at him like that. Don't look at him like - "I can't. I'm sorry. I - "

I'm not worthy, Hime.

Tanjirou knew she would come to him. She was always braver than him.

"I think," Ayame murmured, "I'm falling in love with you."

"Don't say that," he said, even as his heartbeat fluttered in his throat and his chest swelled with emotion. "Don't..."

How could she? When she was O-Ayame-Hime, and he was Kamado-kimi.

He dropped to a bow, forehead pressed to the tatami. Showing her the respect she deserved.

"Tanjirou - what are you - ?"

"O-Ayame-Hime, please forgive me."

Her breath hitched. Her scent swirled around him, suzuran and charcoal, sadness and grief.

"I'm not - "

"As your guard," he continued, "it was inappropriate of me. I apologise."

"Tanji - "

"Hime."

"..."

He didn't lift his head. It wasn't proper.

Her voice was cool when she said, "You are forgiven, Kamado-kimi. Please raise your head."

Oh. He hadn't heard her use that tone with him since...

"No more Hime or O-Ayame-hime. Just call me Ayame, and I'll call you Tanjirou. Okay? We're - we're friends now. Right...?"

Tanjirou slowly straightened. His throat was tight, but even if he could muster any words, it was - it was inappropriate for a mere guard to speak without being spoken to. He kept his gaze on the tatami in front of his knees; a guard shouldn't lay eyes on a princess unless they were in public.

"Kamado-kimi, raise your head."

At his hime's command, he raised his gaze to meet hers.

She sighed. "So that's it, then?"

Tanjirou took a deep breath.

"That's it, then."

It was time they both remembered their places.

Tanjirou's nose wrinkled at the burning scent of alcohol.

“It's tradition,” said Zenitsu. He swallowed a mouthful of his sake and claimed Ayame's seat for his own. “Sorry that didn't go the way I planned. I forgot how quick your reflexes are.”

He shot his older friend a mildly annoyed look.

“Zenitsu…”

“We all knew it was gonna happen anyway. I just thought I'd give you guys a kick in the ass. Get things moving along, ne.” Zenitsu glanced at Tanjirou. “I didn't hear whatever you guys were whispering about, don't worry. The music was too loud.”

A sigh of relief slipped from Tanjirou's chest. He forgot about Zenitsu's incredible hearing.

To stave off more questions, Tanjirou sipped the sake dish in his hands. The alcohol was just as burning and unpleasant as he remembered.

“Ne, it's about to get more dangerous.” Zenitsu tipped his head back. “Not for us, but for Ayame-chan. She'll be fighting in battles that we can't help her with soon enough.”

“That's true…”

"So, whenever you call her Hime, it makes her really frustrated. It's not like she's helpless."

Tanjirou choked on air. "Zenitsu...!"

"You're not subtle. I've suspected for a while now." The blonde laughed to himself. "A real-life princess, and you're acting like this? You really are an idiot, aren't you?"

"Ze - Zenitsu! Quiet down!"

"No one's listening, it's fine." He drank another mouthful of sake. "Ne, you're living the life most guys dream of. Why won't you just be honest?"

"It's not like that. She's my hime, and I'm her guard."

Zenitsu nodded. "Yeah, yeah, but she's never treated you like that. Ayame-chan's always treated you as Tanjirou, you know."

"That..."

His protest died in his throat.

That was true. Since the moment she met him again on Mount Fujikasane, they had been standing on equal ground. Tanjirou and Ayame, not Kamado-kimi and O-Ayame-hime.

Zenitsu knocked his shoulder against Tanjirou's. “She'll need all the luck she can get, either way,” the blonde said lightly. “Inosuke and I already gave her good luck kisses, but don't lag behind too much. I'm sure it'll mean a lot coming from you.”

Tanjirou gaped. “Wh-When did you…!”

Zenitsu laughed. “Ayame-chan's right. Your situational awareness is terrible.” He tipped the rest of his sake into Tanjirou's cup. It almost sloshed over. “Drink up! Then you won't chicken out.”

Zenitsu stood, stretching his arms up. His hands landed on his hips.

“Y'know, the idea of you finding happiness before still irritates me a bit,” his eyebrow twitched, “but if it's you and Ayame-chan, I can't help but root for you guys. I guess it's 'cause you're my best friends.”

Warmth that had nothing to do with sake bloomed in Tanjirou's chest.

Zenitsu hadn't known they were kuge and buke. Even then, he was still rooting for them. He didn't understand how different their stations in life were, but maybe it didn't really matter. Not when they were this far away from Okutama.

Tanjirou gazed down at his sake dish, then drained it. It still burned, and it was bitter and unpleasant, but he felt a little more ready to face things.

“Help me up,” he bade.

Zenitsu grinned. “Over to your hime, ne? Come on, slowpoke.”

It was easy enough for Zenitsu to elbow his way through the small crowd. They almost seemed to part, especially when they saw Tanjirou.

Ayame was laughing about something with Aoi and Genya. She didn't laugh loudly, but her shoulders shook with mirth. Tanjirou kept his eyes on her sunflower clip – the sunflower clip he gifted her. The gift she accepted, even though it was far beneath her station. A hime should be adorned in fine silver and gold, not cheap copper and brass

You're beautiful.

“Ayame,” he called out.

She turned towards him, a question in her eyes.

His hand cupped her jaw, keeping her head still. Her eyes widened as he ducked in close and pressed his lips to her cheek.

Cheers and catcalls erupted around them, but all of Tanjirou's senses were honed in on the feeling of her cheek against his lips. Embarrassment and suzuran mingled as Ayame went completely still.

“Tanjirou, what – ?”

“For good luck,” he echoed, reluctantly pulling away.

Blue met red.

Her eyelids fluttered, her cheek growing warm beneath his fingers.

Still beautiful.

“As a… friend?” she said hesitantly.

He smiled, pulling his hand away. His fingers hooked in her kumihimo cords, thumb brushing over the one he had made with Zenitsu and Inosuke.

“As your friend,” he agreed.

After all, kuge or not, she would always be his hime.

#me as a writer #fog in the summertime #fits #fits au #fits royalty au #tanyame #higuchi ayame #kamado tanjirou #i'm not sure if kamado-kimi is the right term for tanjirou #i'm trying my best here #some bits ripped straight from fits canon but changed to be royal au flavoured #seriously this was just supposed to be ayame and tanjirou musing about the differences between their cover stories and their real lives #i'm not sure if kuge and buke are the right terms for them either #this also brings in question the idea that the kamado are a samurai warrior class #also makes me wonder why they didn't use hinokami kagura as breath of sun #i say this as if this isn't MY au #was gonna end it in swordsmith village but then i decided it was too sad #the tanjirou pov from ch92 had NO RIGHT to be so perfect #anyway this has literally been in my mind for. literal days #but i just wanted the image of ayame using a bow to be in people's minds #long post #agatsuma zenitsu #i like to think that zenitsu just became aggressively more bestie after he found out ayame was kuge #just cos he thinks a princess should have THE BEST best friend in the world

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