Ubuyahiki was thrilled with your response, which Rengoku had so kindly forwarded to him, and wrote you a detailed response as to the conditions you brought forward. He'd happily provide and protect your children, and meet you at night.

He had no problems meeting you at night, while it did put them at a disadvantage you would die if you went into the sun. Therefore, he would take the handicap of meeting you during the night.

He was giddy for the next few days, awaiting the meeting, and finally, see Rengoku again. Seeing that Rengoku was okay was a vastly different feeling than just hearing it.

⬛⬛⬛

Rengoku had still trained just as hard as he had before, yet he was more distracted than usual. He kept drifting the last letter you had sent, which had been signed with what appeared to be a kiss. There was slight coloration at the bottom of the letter, which he had never seen on your previous ones.

He couldn't fight the blush from rising to his cheeks at the thought of the letter. He had grumbled when he read it and rewrote the words on a separate piece of paper before sending it to Ubuyashiki.

He would not admit that he rewrote the letter because he wanted to be able to keep it. Nope, that was not at all why he rewrote it and then sent it to Ubuyashiki. He set the letter next to his sword, which he hadn't been using very often during training.

He had switched to using a weighted Bokken, specifically one that was heavier than his current sword so that he would be able to handle the lighter blade more effectively in the future.

He was nervous about seeing all the other Hashira at the meeting, he didn't want to acknowledge that he was afraid of them ridiculing him. He would just have to take the insults and hope they didn't dig too deep. I am a grown man, and a Hashira, a few mean words mean nothing. He thought, nodding to himself as he continued to train.

⬛⬛⬛

You had continued with your boring cycle of watching over the estate and the nearby village. There weren't any demons nearby because of the demon slayers being so close. You knew you would be taking someone with you to the meeting of the rest of the demon slayers.

You knew you were strong but not strong enough to take on all the Hashira that would be present. You needed to get into contact with Akaza quickly before it was too late.

You whistled, hoping your owl would be nearby. She was, hooting as she landed on your shoulder. You pet her, handing her a prewritten letter to tell Akaza to meet you in the nearby village. It was brief and wildly vague considering you didn't want anyone else to intercept the letter and figure out what was going on.

She cooed and took off towards where Akaza was reported to be. You watched her leave, hoping she'd be able to catch him in time. You knew Akaza would be the best bet out of all of your children. He had freedom because of his high rank, and because of the said rank, he was often sent off on missions. Missions where he had very little if any supervision.

You'd just have to wait and hope they would come back together. You'd just have to hope, which is all you can do. Shit, you thought. You'd have to send a letter to Tamayo too so she would know that someone would be coming to get your children.

"How am I gonna do that without waiting for Arelis to get back?" You mumbled to yourself, pacing to try and get your mind working. You perked up, snapping your fingers and letting out a little gasp. "Kaname! Rengoku said I could call him if I needed to get ahold of him."

You were still pacing around, about to call out for the crow, "but Rengoku said I could use Kaname if I needed to talk to him, " you huffed but decided it would be better to apologize than to ask for permission.

"Kaname!" You screeched. You hear an indignant squawk, but a rustle of leaves and the wind rushing under feathers. He squawked again but landed on your shoulder nonetheless. "Why hello Kaname, I need you to do me a favor."

He cawed but nodded his head. You huffed out a laugh, "thank you Kaname. I need you to give a letter to Rengoku or tell him you won't be available for a few days. And then I need you to head to a very specific town to drop off this letter. Can you do that?"

He squawked again and took off towards the mansion. You came to the conclusion that he would be back momentarily. And you were right. He cawed, perched on your shoulder, and crooned at you. You took some seeds you still had left over and let him eat them out of your hand.

He cooed his appreciation as you prepared your letter for delivery. He had finished his seeds and you gave him the letter, he cawed, taking off towards the town where Tamayo was. You had whispered the name to Kaname, not wanting any peeping ears to hear.

You sighed, anxiety washing over you as you hoped everything would fall into place as it needed to. Your hair stood pricked suddenly, goosebumps washing over you and causing you to shiver. You felt a presence behind you, the hair all over your body standing up.

You breathed out deeply, focusing on the feeling. It was hot. That's weird, you thought to yourself as you tried to remain calm. Your next action was instinct.

You ducked, down, swiveling on a foot so you could turn, and pushing a hand towards the feeling abruptly, in the hopes of pushing it back. You heard a groan, feeling the weight push against your hand.

You peeked one eye open, seeing fiery hair in your direct line of sight. "Oh my goodness Rengoku!" You cried, guilt-ridden at having hit the slayer. He groaned again in response, clenching his abdomen. "Oh my goodness, Rengoku I am so sorry. "

He waved his hand at you, leaning up slightly. "It is I who is at fault. I apologize for scaring you, I just got the message from Kaname that he would be leaving for an undetermined amount of time and I needed to know why."

"Oh, Rengoku I'm sorry. I had already dispatched my bird to send a message to someone else and I needed to get a letter to my children so that they would be updated on what is going on. I'm sorry I had to use Kaname."

You paused, "but how did you know where I was?" You questioned, genuinely curious as to how Rengoku found you so quickly. "Kaname told me," he huffed as he slowly stood to his full height.

You nodded but stayed silent, unsure as to how to proceed. Rengoku suddenly choked, "did you say children ?" he asked. "Yes?" You said it as more of a question than a statement. "Did you not know about my children already? I had a whole conversation about this during the Mugen train incident with Tanjiro."

Rengoku blanched, he'd be so oblivious and hell-bent on protecting everyone that he hadn't even processed that entire conversation. "I-uh no," he stuttered, flushing in embarrassment. "I have eight, not including the grown ones. Akaza and Tamayo are two of my oldest," you explained light-heartedly.

If Rengoku was drinking water he'd have spit it out. "Akaza is your son!?" The man asked incredulously. "Well yes, technically. I reformed him, so he became one of my children. I didn't give birth to him but that doesn't negate that I'm the only maternal figure he's ever had," you spoke so nonchalantly about the whole situation.

Akaza had no idea how lucky he was, considering what Rengoku wouldn't have given to have someone like you in his life when he and Senjuro were younger. There was only so much he could do for his younger brother.

Rengoku admired you for being able to parent someone you weren't related to so easily, but he guessed that's what Ubuyashiki did too. He also found himself so undeniably envious of Akaza and being able to have that parent in the demon's life. He was envious because his brother was never able to experience that.

Senjuro would never be able to have that with someone, and that brought an uncontrollable feeling of forlorn fall over him. He knew he was not at fault for his mother's death, but he still felt, somehow, responsible.

"He," Rengoku swallowed a lump that was trying to form in his throat, "he is very lucky to have someone like you," Rengoku commented, clearly crestfallen.

You, being the mother you were so used to being, quickly picked up on his change of emotions. "He is, but I'm just happy that I was able to help him. But I do feel awful for hurting you. I'm so sorry that I hit you!" You changed the subject, sensing the fact that the topic of parental figures upset Rengoku in some capacity.

"It was my fault for sneaking up on you. You were only reacting on instinct, I should be the one apologizing." He smiled, flushing again due to his occasional bashfulness.

You smiled back at him but elected to say nothing. If he wanted to talk to you he would, you did not want to pressure him into a conversation.

"What about your younger children?" He asked hesitantly. You beamed, you loved talking about your children. "I have eight, four boys and four girls. The oldest two are Arita and Sasori. Sasori is always helpful when it comes to household chores but Arita enjoys manual labor, like tending to the house repairs or the gardens, he says he does it because he wants to be the best husband when he grows up." You laughed at that.

"The youngest two, who are six, are Ruè and Ide. They are both well-behaved but mostly observe the older ones. I forgot to mention, Sasori and Arita are 12." You took a pause for breath, making sure Rengoku was still paying attention, which he was doing with rapture.

"The eight-year-olds are Suou and Oka and the 10-year-olds are Misa and Rō. Suou and Misa love tending the garden, they are both great with plants and animals. Oka and Rō are still figuring themselves out, but they do everything with little complaint. They are children so I don't expect peace and unwavering compliance to be a constant." You sighed, missing your children terribly.

"It sounds like you love them all very much," Rengoku murmured. "I do, I love them all so very much, and I would do anything for them," you whispered into the night sky. It was dark and the stars were beautiful.

Rengoku nodded, feeling the same way about Senjuro. "I have a younger brother," he suddenly spoke out. He wasn't 100% sure why he was telling you this, but it felt right.

"His name is Senjuro he's 12, the same age as Sasori and Arita. I'm sure they'd get along well. He stays with Father, but he wants to follow in my and our father's footsteps as a Hashira and I hope he does whatever his heart yearns for. I don't wish for him to follow the 'family tradition' simply because that is what it is."

You nodded, understanding what was going on. "I'd love to meet him if you were okay with that. I'm sure Sasori and Arita would love to meet him too, they don't get the be around kids their age very often."

You both sighed, "I'd like that, actually," Rengoku broke the silence. You smiled again, "well then. Once everything is sorted out and their safety is ensured I will bring them to meet you. Once you meet them then you can decide whether they can meet your baby brother."

He was thankful that you would allow him to meet your children first before setting them loose on his poor brother. He was sure they wouldn't harm him but Senjuro wasn't around kids his own age very often either.

"I can't wait to meet them," Rengoku smiled down at you, a warmth flooding both of your chests unknowingly.