Sometimes Uzui proposes little games that although rarely she allows herself to partake in them, though this one she can't help but sit out of thanks to her curious nature.

Or

Shinobu partakes in a challenge to ignore your partner for 24 hours all spurred on from YouTube video Mitsuri had once been recommended.

A/N: I don't think I need to tell you why you shouldn't do this in real life.

-linebreak-

"Please tell me your joking," And with an evergrowing grin, Uzui shakes his head accompanied by Mitsuri too.

"I'm not,"

Shinobu often wonders how she gets herself in this situation, how she ends up in the cafeteria as Tengen languidly pitches back in his seat, his wine-red eyes screaming mischief as a large grin exposing his teeth stretched across his face. Misturi leans against the arm of the man's chair, eyes twinkling with something she can't identify, she sits across from them, leaning her weight against the table as her arms are braced up against it. Her older sister is watching from behind her but she can already imagine the amused expression on her face.

"Who doesn't like a good ol' challenge once in a while? If it works for people on Youtube it can work for us?" She has to resist the urge to say that it's most likely faked and if not they get paid a huge amount to do it.

"This seems particularly unwise..." Kanae speaks up from behind her. "I don't think Sanemi would forgive me if I took part in this and that I could even do that to him in the first place."

"How much?" Shinobu presses, gaining a brow raise from him and her sister. "Much what?"

"How much do you get if you win?"

"Whoever wins geeeetsss..." For dramatic effect, he drums his fingers on the table as he drags out the word. "... A fourth of the losers paycheck along with them paying for their dinner for a week."

 Shinobu audibly gasped and Mitsuri jumped up in her seat. 

"I'm in!" A beam spread across her face as mirth twinkled in her eyes. "No questions asked, count me in."

My god that was fast, she thought staring up at her friend, then again, Mitsuri did eat a lot and was also a spice fiend so it's no doubt that those payments for her dinners might be weighing on her pockets bit. 

"Count me in too," She stares up, wide-eyed at her sister, she's wearing an expression of anxiety and shame but there's a twinkle of mischief in her eyes. "I just hope he can forgive me but I want to gift him something special for his birthday along with a nice evening but I want to make sure I have enough money for it." Shinobu frowns at her, brows furrowing slightly. "You know if you need money you can always come to me right?"

And she just shakes her head, waving her hand. "I know, and I do have enough money for it but it'd be nice to have some more as a just in case." With a knowing smile she shook her head, her sister always took the phrase 'better safe than sorry' to heart something she had picked up on.

"I'm joining too," A voice suddenly spoke up at her side and she jumped, turning around quickly, blinking rapidly. She was faced with one of her husband's interns: Tanjiro. Well, that certainly was a surprise.

Before anyone could even think about opening their mouth he answered it for them, "More money would just be nice in general and if you don't I'm telling Oyakata-sama and your partners." and Uzui just chokes on his drink, coughing as Mitsuri with a solemn expression pats his back. As he recovers, Tanjiro slides into the seat a few seats away from her, folding his hands in his lap and she's given the chance to mull over her decisions. 

Shinobu won't lie, she's awfully curious about what Giyuu would do, like some obligation she had, had been lifted, and his reaction would be interesting nonetheless, although she isn't quite sure that he'd notice, with her being knee-deep in work, she's sure a little more distance than usual would bother him or really tip him off. She can make this work, easy. What's the worst this challenge really could do?

As Tengen regained his composure he looked at her, weakly and vaguely gesturing with his hand. "What about you? Gonna sit there lookin' pretty or tell us what you think?"

Fuck it, she has a card up her sleeve none of them had making this easy, it's not like Mitsuri would get that far anyway, she's sure her heart couldn't handle it. 

"Alright, I'm in too,"

"Good, good," To signify this he rubs his hands together something like a villain would; she supposes this is the foreshadowing of some sort. ", it starts now and ends tomorrow at 12 PM," She quirked a brow. "But it's 11 right now?"

"About to be 12," He points out with a finger. "it's not going to be exactly on point so why bother?" She nodded back, ignoring the sound of the door to the Cafeteria opening only looking up as Mitsuri and Tengen make a noise of interest, Kanae humming, and Tanjiro walking away finally. She looks around and spots who other than her husband entering the room.

Kanae makes a move to walk away and softly pats her back, leaning down to whisper in her ear- and she can hear the smile on her face when she says it. 

"Good luck," And good luck indeed because her husband looks brighter than usual, which means something good must have happened, very good. Something he'd want to tell her about and celebrate about it later, so, this was not going to be easy. She'd need that luck desperately.  Uzui and Misturi follow her lead without any words of encouragement, unlike her sister.

Giyuu slid into the seat next to her, pressing his legs against hers, looking at her with a cheeky expression before softly kissing her cheek. "Guess who just finished the case he was on?" She flinched at the gesture, forcing back the warm bubbly emotions building in her chest and focus on eating her meal, out of the corner of her eye she could spot Sanemi watching with mild amusement, raising a brow but being distracted by his ringing phone which prompts him to walk out of the room.

"It was me... Finally figured out what was going on, the police have already gone to go arrest the suspect I decided I'd stay behind to tell you about."

He nudges her, pressing his shoulder against hers which she knows means he's trying to hold her hand, and usually- usually- she wouldn't have a problem doing that but she knows the others are watching so she can't. Instead, she scoots away from him, even moving her plate as well ignoring the noise of dissent that he makes as a result, and also pulls out her phone. He starts to look over her shoulder and she can feel the irritation start to creep in, this is becoming far harder than it should be. 

"Hey, who are you talking to, can I-" Far more harshly than she would have liked to, she turns away from him so it's no longer in his view anymore. 

"So you'll talk to whoever that is but not me?" She can hear the venom in his voice and she takes it as her hint to leave. She gets up, ignoring the noise of both confusion and sadness that comes from his mouth, shoving her phone in her pocket, and picks up her food. 

Despite seeing him slump in the corner of her eye, and she can assume is a sad expression painting its way on his face, she moves over to the table where her sister is, soon joined by Mitsuri. Sanemi tries to sit at the table, with a little persuasion by Mitsuri and her, they shoo him away by stating that this is girl time and he isn't allowed as Kanae tries her best to look busy with her phone; they manage, and soon after that leave to go back to work and she doesn't see Giyuu since then.

-linebreak-

It's an hour away from the time she plans to get off, everyone else should be leaving about now, and Shinobu is in her office texting her sister and learning how she already failed only a few hours into the challenge resulting in her having to stifle a laugh. Then the door opens and her head raises at the sound, there are only a few who would visit her now and she hopes it isn't who she suspects.

She looks towards the door, and just as she hadn't hoped it was the person she was hoping to see, Giyuu. She should have expected he'd do this.

He peeked in the room, looking out of place and she just looked back at her phone, paying attention out of the corner of her eyes. "Um... Hey..." He started, shifting the weight from one foot to another.

"I'm going to go, see you at the house, love you." She didn't even nod and he sighed, closing the door behind him he walks over to her desk and lean against it. On her desk laid her hand, the one unoccupied with her phone, he reached for it, hesitating slightly. He squeezes her hand gently, and she doesn't squeeze back, but instead pulls her hand back and places it gently against the desk. No reassuring squeeze back or anything, that's...

That's it...?

He's drawn towards the golden band that shines in the evening sun's light, although slightly worn with a few years of wear it never lost that same shiness it had on the day he put it on her finger. His fingers curl into a fist, shaking as the ring on his finger feels suddenly heavy. 

"Kocho..." His voice is quiet and gentle despite there not being any need to, and that's not even mentioning that that's not even her last name anymore, she took his when they got married though he would have easily taken her's if she so desired but in a twist of fate she wanted his instead, but from the looks of things... It seemed as if she didn't want it anymore, he'd have to get used to referring to her as Kocho from now on.

His wife's eyes snapped up to meet his but he shied them away, placing his dangling hand back at his side.  

"Do you...?" Do you hate me, are the words his mind supplies but he bites them back, knowing there are better ways to phrase it, he needs closure before he does anything drastic despite how much the tears want to spill at the mere thought of it.

He needs to hear it for himself.

With a deep breath, he braced himself, curling his hand into a shaking fist. "Do you not love me anymore?"

Out of the corner of his vision, he saw her still, almost flinching at the words. She looked at him, eyes swelling with frantic panic, alarm, actual emotions that others than ones he identified as disdain. It was a surprise that she would feel this way, he half expected her to shrug it off, not even looking at him and set in stone his beliefs, but instead, she did the exact opposite.

"W... Why would you ask that?!" She's acting like it's an unreasonable question to ask with her behavior of recently, of recent weeks. He can't help but look away from her, turning around completely, hugging himself, biting his lip to prevent the influx of tears. He heard her get up from her chair but didn't bother looking at her despite it.

"Giyuu, why would you ask that? No- why would you even think that?!" Her voice sounds pained, fear is in it, and the strain in it strains his heart to, breaks it almost, breaks it even more than already has been.

"Wh... Why do you think Kocho?!" He turns on his feet and his voice is shaking, he doesn't trust it, doesn't trust himself to be able to go on without breaking down into tears but he has to know. He has to. 

"Y-you've been practically ignoring me more than a-a week now i-it feels like you don't l-love me anymore, I-" And then he cuts himself out with an ugly sob that wracks its way out of his curls in around himself, gripping tightly at his forearms. He should have known this would have happened, Giyuu should have known this would have happened. 

Since when can he have nice things? He should have known she would leave him, leave him for someone better than him since he wasn't really that good, to begin with. He was a horrible human being truly so why would she love someone like him? 

Exactly.

"Oh dollface, honey, no-" Footsteps sound against the floor and stop in front of him, hands he notices that contain tiny tremors in cups his cheeks and tilt his head down at her, but he closed his eyes, not that it matters. "Giyuu please look at me,"

With tear-filled eyes, he cracks them open and looks at her through blurred vision and she looks... Genuinely concerned?...

Her brows are pulled into a crease, lips shaking as her eyes are tinted red, what looks like about to cry as her purple eyes stare up at her swirling with concern, fear and what looks like guilt. "Giyuu I would never- I swear on my grave I never meant to make you feel like this, I-I'm so sorry, I'm so fucking sorry this is all my fault I thought you were okay, I was wrong- I'm so sorry. I love you more than anything in this world- than anything in this UNIVERSE! I love you so much then you can imagine."

Her husband just sniffled despite her reassurances, frowning. "T-then why don't you wanna t-touch me or be with me a-anymore?..." She felt something grab at her heart and crush her into millions of pieces, guilt tearing into her even more, this was all her fault. Fuck this stupid challenge, it's a challenge, if anything they all know who's going to win in the end so really it doesn't matter. 

Giyuu is far more important than some stupid challenge.

"I'm so sorry I didn't realize sooner- I don't think there are words I can use to tell you how sorry I am, you deserve so much better I-I'm sorry."

She buries her hands into his spikey locks pulling him in for a tender kiss, eliciting a gasp from him which ends up with him sobbing in practical relief, soon after melting into the kiss as he cups her cheeks with shaky hands.

"I'm so sorry," She mumbles against his lips, pulling back and staring at him with eyes filled to the brim with tears. "I'll show you how much I love you, I promise," He only mumbled, moving his hands to wipe away his tears.

"You're so perfect," She said between a sudden onslaught flurry of kisses, trailing down his lip to his chin and then to his neck, she felt his breath be caught in his throat. "I love the sound of your voice," Another kiss, then a nip at the neck.

"Your hair looks gorgeous regardless of how it's styled,"

"I love you so much, I'm so lucky to have you in my life," And he keens under her, she can feel the heat radiating under his skin as he buries his head in her shoulder, gripping tightly at the fabric of her clothing. "Koko-"

"I'm so sorry I hurt you, you only deserve good things, you're so patient for putting up with me." He tightened his grip on the fabric even more. "Shinobu, please-"

"I love that I get to wake up at your side every morning, but most importantly I love you. I love you so much, I love you-" She felt his breath hitch and the fist in her clothes brought her down into a kiss, wordlessly, she buried her hands in his silky hair.

Shinobu nips at his lip, resulting in a gasp where she starts to lick deeper into her husband's mouth, eliciting a moan from the older man, feeling saliva start to drip down from her husband's mouth.

This is extremely unsanitary.

Shuffling backward, she pressed him against the desk, her hands finding the small indents in his hips, pressing into them with circular motions before digging into it with her nails. Shinobu pulled away, her breath fanning her beloved's puffy lips, she presses a quick smooch to his lips and then trailed tender kiss after kiss from his lips to his collarbone and down to his neck with a few nips snuck in. Giyuu huffed under her, letting out a moan as she sucked at the sensitive part of his neck.

She smirked against his skin knowing she was the only one who got to see him like this, the golden band on her finger proved it. With nimble fingers, she moved to unbutton his collar, ignoring the sounding cough with a roll of her eyes. "Be good for me and be patient won't you?" She continues working on loosening a few buttons, not expecting a response until she gets one.

"Couldn't even last till you got home, could you?" It's followed by a laugh as she hears what she assumes is the swatting of the doorway. Shinobu isn't quite sure she jumped so far up in her life, and she's jumped off of trees she climbed up as a kid. Rapidly she wrapped the palm of her hands around her husband's neck and stepped back, turning her head sharply back, her face as red as the blood that had flown to it; she's sure Giyuu's face didn't look any different.

"Didn't anyone ever teach you to knock?!" And he just laughs again and gives her finger guns with a wry grin. "Get ready to hold up your end of the deal,"

"Deal?! What deal?" Giyuu exclaims and she squawks, pulling her hands away she looked towards Uzui who was now backing away. 

"Excuse me, but what deal did you make?" She looked back at her husband who was starting to button up his shirt as he glowered down at her, she giggled and gave him a cheeky smile. 

"I... I can explain?..." His glower only strengthen as he folded his arms over his chest, frowning, nervously, she lightly laughed up at him.

She ended up sleeping in the guest room that week, and Tanjiro ended being not the only one she had to buy dinner for that week, nevertheless, she didn't mind, she deserved it for the way she ended up treating him.

-Omake-

Sanmei lets out a sigh as he feels Kanae thread fingers through his hair, he feels like he deserved this. He was draped across the couch Kanae placed in her room just for cuddling and sleeping on, his head on her lap. "You're an idiot,"

"I know,"

"But you're my idiot, and I wouldn't have it any other way." He heard her giggle and felt her softly kiss his forehead, an infectious smile tugged at his lips. 

"I love you too,"

With a smile, he leaned up and met her lips for another kiss, cupping her cheek tracing her bottom lip with his thumb when he pulled away, a soft expression splayed painted on his face. 

"I know,"

A/N: Btw please comment, I love every comment no matter how small or large they are, they help me want to write more, motivate me, so don't be shy to tell me what you think! Whether you be new to me or old the same applies to anyone who reads.