Some say that a good man's anger is the most dangerous, most powerful, and the most fearful emotion in the world. Put them in the battlefield and no man is ever safe. Tanjiro had shown a good example of what good anger feels like. This isn't the first time that he displayed such pure anger, unless if someone closest to him gets critically wounded, then there's a reason that he should be angry at Inosuke. Earth, on the other hand, displays raw anger than he had never felt while battling against someone who hurts his close friends. This isn't just any normal anger that any impatient people felt.
This is boiled anger.
"KNOCK IT OOOOOOOOOOOOFF!!" Were the loud roars emanated on the two gentle souls.
Tanjiro was the first to land a hard punch as he can muster, followed by Earth doubling the blow by another rock hard fist. The solid fist is digging his way into Inosuke's flesh. Earth can hear Inosuke's ribs cracking from his punch and he gasped out air. Earth skidded him a distance away from Zenitsu holding the box.
"He broke his bones!" Zenitsu eyes were wide. "Talk about overkill! You nearly broke every ribs he has!"
"That's more than enough from me." Earth said with a cold expression and tone.
"Aren't you a member of the Demon Slayer Corps?!" Tanjiro, hand creating a fist after he punched Inosuke, angrily glare at him. "Don't you get why Zenitsu and BoBoiBoy refuses to draw their swords?! It's because it's taboo for us to draw our swords on each other for no reason!"
Zenitsu had chills running on the back of his spine when he sees Tanjiro's face, anger clearly presented from the former gentle one earlier.
"But here you are, giving them a one-sided beatdown! Is that fun for you?! You're the lowest of the low!" Tanjiro clenched his fist so hard, his knuckles almost turned white.
"Grrr..!" Earth is too busy giving the boy one of his rare glares. Which spelled anger, frustration, and even something that is underused, a killer intent.
Inosuke, somehow survived the multiple punches earlier, instead from groaning in pain, only laughed with some mix of spitting out saliva.
"Oh, so that's why? My bad. In that case, let's fight barehanded."
Tanjiro held out his hand. "No! I don't think you get it all!"
"I don't think reasoning with this guy isn't gonna help, Tanjiro." Earth cracked his knuckles. "Here he comes!"
Inosuke sprang back up and lunged at them.
"Stop! We're not supposed to fight each other, period!" Thus, another fight is initiated. Inosuke used a kick on Tanjiro when the latter dodged by maneuvering towards the side. Inosuke goes for jabbing Tanjiro on his middle torso and once again he evaded most of them. Inosuke did a roundhouse kick but missed. Although, he's able to grab Tanjiro and spins him around using his own body to disorient Tanjiro's vision. By the time he done it, Inosuke tried to roundhouse kick him again, only to be evaded again.
'Look at him! How can he move like that? I mean, they busted that guy's ribs pretty badly.' Zenitsu, with a bloody nose, spectated while holding the box. Shoichi happened to be by his side and brought out a white cloth.
"Quit attacking Tanjiro!" Earth intercepted and threw Inosuke off by grabbing his body, kneed him in the chest, and tossed him sideways. Inosuke quickly recovered and delivered one swift kick, which was blocked by Earth holding his foot firmly before slamming it down and elbowed Inosuke, causing him to fall over. The boar masked boy flinched although he did manage to sweep Earth off his feet then used the advantage to kick Earth on the head.
"Actually, aren't they running afoul of the taboo themselves? They did break his bones." Zenitsu said while Shoichi wiped away some of his blood off of Zenitsu's face.
The whole facade continues with Inosuke stubbornly trying to land every hits onto both of them as much as possible. Basically a two-on-one fight is unfairly advantageous and is playing dirty. Inosuke, however, is fairing quite good against the two of them. Even with broken bones, they can still keep up with each other. The only speciality in combat Inosuke is good at are low-based movements and wild, unorganized attacks. Tanjiro is still inexperienced in CQC, mostly because he's more adept at using a sword more than hands alone. Whereas Earth practiced martial arts in his time and knows what his opponent is going to throw next.
'Th-This guy...' Earth countered Inosuke's punch, but redirected his punch onto Tanjiro, making him stagger. 'His attacks are bizarrely low! It's just like... Just like...'
Earth had recognized this attack pattern before. It was one time back when he was still training to use his Lightning Breathing Techniques, he was attacked by a wild boar. He saw the same wild beast in Inosuke.
'...battling against a four-legged beast!'
Still slipping away from the beast's kicks, Earth flexed his whole body lower than Inosuke. 'Target him low! Even lower than your opponent!'
Even if he did swung his leg at Inosuke, the latter ducked under the swing with his superior flexibility and axe kicked Earth's head onto the ground.
'No way! He still managed to kick me even while I'm attacking him from below? His flexibility joints, they're unbelievably superhuman!'
A hard kick was enough to send Inosuke flying by Tanjiro. Inosuke abruptly made a harmless landing.
"Pretty amazing, aren't I?! Pretty amazing, aren't I?!" Inosuke boasted.
'He said it twice! Singing his own praises...' Zenitsu wiped the blood off of his nose with a handkerchief.
"And look what else I can do!" He showed them that he can bend his entire body backwards until his head is in between his legs.
"Cut it out! Don't do stuff like that!" Tanjiro scolded.
"Stop that or you'll bust any more of your bones already! It's gonna get worse than before!" Earth intertwined.
Inosuke adjusted himself back to his original position. "Worse? Fine by me! Nothing can top the pleasure of this moment!" On that note, he sent barrages of attacks directly at Tanjiro.
"You need to think hard about the future!" Tanjiro blocked them.
"What do I care?!"
Too annoyed to deal with his stubbornness, Tanjiro grasped Inosuke's shoulders and reared his head and butts his own. "You need to... CALM DOOOOOOOOOOOWN!!!"
Zenitsu placed a hand on his forehead. "Aaaaaaahhhh! That sound! Are your skulls fractured?!"
Earth can also feel the sound caused by Tanjiro's headbutt and cringed. "That's gotta hurt!"
Inosuke took many steps back from the headbutt and froze in place. His head was hung low, making his mask slipped and fell off from his head. Tanjiro and Earth gave a good look at his unmasked face, and they didn't expect his face to be like any other.
"HUH?! A GIRL?! HUH?! YOUR FACE!" Zenitsu was beyond surprised at the boar's face.
"He looks... feminine?!" Earth said, not leaving his eyes on Inosuke.
"What the hell?" Inosuke holds his forehead that is leaking blood and looked on them. His thick, black hair reaches just past his shoulders, fading into blue at the tips and forming an unruly and uneven fringe that falls just above his eyes, puffing out before curving and thinning towards his forehead and large soft pale green eyes that goes along his feminine features.
"You've got a problem with my face or something?"
"N-No..." Earth muttered. "Nothing at all."
"You're one creepy guy, you know that? You've got such a ripped body, but there's a girl's face sitting on top of it."
"Why the hell are you staring at my face like that?!" Inosuke threatened Zenitsu.
"I-I'm not! I'm not looking at your face!" Zenitsu ran and hid behind Teruko, and earned some groans of displeasure from the male siblings.
"We don't have a problem with your face! It's quite petite, fair-skinned, and therefore attractive!" Tanjiro complimented his looks with a serious face.
"You're a corpse! Come at me!" Inosuke taunted.
"Not happening! I'm not gonna attack you anymore!" Tanjiro declined.
"You!" He pointed his finger on Earth. "We're not done yet! Fight me at your best!"
Earth shook his head. "No can do. I had enough fighting for now."
"Don't back out from a fight, you spineless coward!" He pressured on.
"Leave him alone! He has nothing to do with this!" Tanjiro shifts his attention to him.
"Try head-butting me one more time!"
"Nope, I'm done!"
"I said do it! Come on!"
"You sit yourself down! Are you okay?!"
"Hey, Big Forehead and Brown Moron. Let me tell you my name. It's Inosuke Hashibira! Don't you forget it!"
"What characters do you use to spell that?!" Tanjiro asked.
Inosuke was taken aback. "Spell? Spell... I don't know how to read or write! That name is written on my loincloth—" Suddenly, Inosuke stopped talking and froze completely.
"Huh? What's wrong? He stopped all of a sudden." Earth wondered. 'This sound he's making. He sounds like he's gonna pass out!'
"What's the matter?" Tanjiro noticed the silence wafting around Inosuke. The latter simply shakes slightly before rolling his eyes on the back of his head and collapsed on the ground. Foam practically flows out of his mouth and his forehead, that Tanjiro damaged it using his own, has blood engraved on it.
"Aaaaahhhh! He collapsed! Is he dead?! Is he dead?!" Zenitsu freaked out with Inosuke collapsing suddenly.
"Hold on, let me check." Earth squat down then listened intently for any signs of life coming from Inosuke. Aside from the growing foam out of his mouth, his heart is still beating and appeared to be breathing slightly.
"No worries. It's just a concussion, because Tanjiro here really head-butted him the hell out of him."
"Are you okay, Tanjiro?" Teruko asked.
"Yeah." He said, not once he sound hurt from the pain from headbutting.
"Amazing! Can I touch your head?" Teruko asked then Tanjiro merely accepted her request.
"B-BoBoiBoy... Can I ask you something?" Zenitsu approached the brown haori boy. "Look at Tanjiro. He just headbutt that wild boar like a wrecking ball and not a drop of blood from Tanjiro's head. How hard is it anyway?"
Earth shrugged his shoulders, not knowing what to answer for that. "Maybe he got it from his mom? Who knows. I never got to ask him how he got his hard head."
"Tanjiro, your head is so hard!" Teruko was enthralled.
"You think so?"
Earth made a small grin. "Hehehe. Awesome!" And as if on cue, he let out a violent cough, causing him to get down on both knees. He clutched on his chest like his heart is literally about to burst out.
Everyone came to him at once. "Are you all right?!"
Zenitsu heard something behind him. It was Lightning, still unconscious from the wild boar, and he started to glow. The glow became brighter and the light made its way towards Earth and he then reverted back to his original form.
BoBoiBoy is still clutching his aching chest, the pain that his Lightning form received multiplied to a certain degree, and he collapsed without uttering a single word.
"BoBoiBoy!" Tanjiro caught him in both arms. "This is not looking good! He suffered too much damage!"
The morale suddenly turned into a full panic. Zenitsu darts his head everywhere, like he's trying to look for an easy answer to this problem. The siblings are mumbling to each other. Tanjiro watched as his best friend is breathing very heavily and looks like his life is on the line.
"He'll be all right. He just needs time to rest." Tanjiro said calmly, knowing full well his friend is going to make it through the pain.
"In his condition, he'll be unable to do anything for now." He side glanced Zenitsu. "Can I trust you to keep an eye on him?"
"M-Me?" Zenitsu points at himself.
Tanjiro nodded and pointed at the trees nearby. "That's right. Just carefully carry him over there."
Nodding, Zenitsu grabbed BoBoiBoy's arms and slung it around Zenitsu's neck and slowly walked to the trees. He placed the injured boy under the trees' shade and checking to see if there's not a single thing that would naturally cause any harm yet nothing is there, which is good.
"Also, may I borrow your haori for something?" Tanjiro said afterwards. "We might want to do something to Inosuke as well."
In his own mindscape, he's physically invulnerable. On the outside is the downside, he felt himself getting lifted by someone and gently lowering him to something. He felt like it was the work of his friend, Zenitsu, since he saw his intentions were clear to have a reliable person by his side.
"You did it."
There's that voice again.
"Good job, BoBoiBoy. I knew you always have it in you."
BoBoiBoy slowly opened his eyelids. And was met with a purplish-black void around him, a haven made for himself whenever he's passed out unconscious.
"Who's..." His voice was raspy and tired. When he raised his head up, that's when he had his eyes glued to the person that he never thought he would meet.
"You look surprised. It's because we haven't seen each other for a long time now, have we?"
BoBoiBoy slightly shakes his head to get rid of the sleepiness feeling resonating in him. Once he's fully adjusted, he recognized the person really well.
"F... Fang...?" He whispered.
The latter smirked. "Hey there. You still know me."
His lips quivered. "Of course... Because... I... yeah..."
Fang's eyes scanned at the Demon Slayer, former TAPOPS member, and was baffled to see how much he has changed in a span of two years.
"Have you looked at yourself in the mirror? You sound different, your hair got longer, you grew a growth spurt, and your hands... they look like they've gone through hell."
BoBoiBoy giggled. "Yeah, I did."
"I bet you are now popular in this new world. But still, I'll keep being more popular than you. Don't you forget it."
He sweatdropped. "Sure."
Fang then got serious. "BoBoiBoy, do you realize the situation you're in already?"
He tensed up by the seriousness in his voice. "N-Not yet, I guess. I'm still trying to figure out on how I ended up here."
"Figures. You haven't even started investigating any clues on how you got here." He stated.
"What was I suppose to do? I can't just stand around and do nothing all the time!"
"If you looked hard enough, I'm sure you'll bound to find some clues."
BoBoiBoy crossed his arms. "Easy for you to say. You're from the other side and I'm not. Plus, this world had less technology than back in our original world!"
Fang suddenly paused, making BoBoiBoy worried and stepped forward.
"Fang?"
His mouth speaks for him. "Are you really certain... that this is an alternate world?"
His heart sank at the moment. "Uhm.. That's..."
"Is that your only conclusion? Is this what you had in your mind that could possibly conjure something so farfetched?"
The other boy's hands balls into fists.
"Getting a little angry, huh? Well, let me assure you with this." He tossed something to BoBoiBoy and he caught it brashly. He opened his palm and he's surprised to see his own power watch sitting there in his palm.
"Wh-Where did you find this?!" He demands to know.
"Actually, what I tossed you isn't entirely materialized. So when you wake up, you'll find that thing no longer in your hands." Fang explained.
"But why did you throw this at me if you know that it's not real?" BoBoiBoy said with confusion in his face.
"I'm giving you a reminder."
"Reminder?" He repeated.
"Yes. Besides, how are you able to hear the beeping sound? The only technological thing that would make that kind of sound is that watch on your hands. You're hearing senses never failed once, right?"
His eyes widen. It would make total sense of how he should be able to hear it, even if it's a mile away, BoBoiBoy can still faintly hear the watch's beeping noise.
"You're right!" He exclaimed in bewilderment. "There's still a chance... There's still a chance I can find my way back home if I find it!"
Fang smiled, only for a short while and frowning after. "I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you."
BoBoiBoy temporarily stopped cheering. "Eh?"
"Let's say you did find your power watch, then what? What would you do after that?" He tested him.
"I'll contact you guys! It's much easier that way!" BoBoiBoy quickly said without thinking any further.
"And what if it doesn't work?" Fang raised an eyebrow.
"Fang, come on. You're not helping me feel any better. Aren't you suppose to be helping me instead of being like that?" BoBoiBoy had a frown on his face and stared at Fang.
"..." Instead of a reply, Fang chose to stay silent. This made the other boy nervous. If that silence meant that BoBoiBoy must have spoke a contradiction to his own statement, he'll have to figure out another way. The silence is deafening them and BoBoiBoy decided to break the ice.
"I'll find my way back home. I know you guys have been waiting for me, and I know Tok Aba is worried sick about me. Just you wait. I'll be coming back to my world. I swear!" BoBoiBoy shouted, hoping his words reached Fang's ears. When it reached, Fang snapped up and faced BoBoiBoy directly.
"BoBoiBoy..."
He smiled. But was replaced with a grim one.
"...you're being too optimistic, confident of this whole thing. I wouldn't guarantee that you can find your way back because... because..." Fang bit his lips, afraid to say the last bits of his words from spilling.
"Because...?"
Despite being inside of his own mindscape, it felt too real to even feel all these feelings swirling up inside him. Nervousness kept bottling up and had to be revealed at some point.
"BoBoiBoy... You are—"
Before Fang can even finish, everything went white.
He snapped awake by the sounds of screaming emanating across his current spot. It was Inosuke that screamed and chasing after a scared Zenitsu to ask him to fight him.
"How did—nghh!" A sharp headache surged inside his own head and he fell over from his sitting position. He held his aching head, hoping for the pain to go away. Once it's gone, he sluggishly stood up and went his way to the group and stammered along his steps.
"What the hell are you guys doing?!" Inosuke yelled.
"It's a burial." Tanjiro answered. "You help out, too, Inosuke. There are still people who were killed inside the house."
"What's the point of burying the corpses of creatures? I'm not doing that! I'm not helping out!" Inosuke rebuked. "Forget that! Fight me!"
"Can this guy even shut up for one second...?" BoBoiBoy complained, still holding his head that continues aching.
"Eh?! BoBoiBoy?!" Zenitsu stopped hugging Teruko from behind and staggered his way to him. "What're you doing? You should still be resting!"
BoBoiBoy kindly waved him off. "No worries, Zenitsu. I..." He shakes until he stumbled and lost his footing. Zenitsu managed to grab him before he could fall down. He then set him back down beside the trees and is going to look after him.
"Thanks. For once, you're kinda helping me in return for protecting you." He beamed a smile towards the blonde.
"I'm worried about you, you know? You look so pale and haven't got much rest." Zenitsu genuinely looked concern. It made BoBoiBoy feel all warm inside. He couldn't stop smiling towards him.
"Hey, what are they doing?" BoBoiBoy asked while pointing at Tanjiro and Inosuke having their moment.
"Oh, Tanjiro has the brightest idea of dragging that boar to help us do the work. And let me say this, that guy's a loon, don't you think?" Zenitsu said.
"Hm."
Tanjiro just longly stared at Inosuke for a couple of moments before saying something. "I see. You can't do it because your wounds are hurting you."
He was so way off from that. Inosuke was shocked to hear that from him and a vein appeared on his face.
"Those two are beyond help! They're both crazy!" Zenitsu said.
"Is he trying to rile him up or what?" BoBoiBoy mused and watched him intently.
"No, that's okay. After all, we all have a different pain threshold. Moving everyone who died outside that house, then burying them by covering them with dirt is a lot of work. Zenitsu and these kids and I will do our best, so don't worry! BoBoiBoy is out of commission and he needs to rest up!"
'He doesn't know that I'm right over here, awake.' BoBoiBoy sighed.
Inosuke grits his teeth frustratingly so.
"You should get some rest, Inosuke."
Inosuke begged to differ, in his own way.
"Sorry to ask too much of you!" Tanjiro ended it off with a grin.
"Oh boy, here it comes." BoBoiBoy practically covered his ears.
"HUUUUUUUUH?! DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME, DAMMIT! I'LL BURY A HUNDRED, NO, TWO HUNDRED OF YOUR CORPSES! JUST WATCH! I'M GOING TO BURY MORE THAN ANYONE OF YOU!" Inosuke hopped in the air and flailed like an angry, helpless child. He started getting to work and ran back inside the house in search of the dead corpses while screaming all the way.
"You didn't just use reverse psychology on him, did you, Tanjiro?" BoBoiBoy chuckled. Afterwards, Tanjiro came to check up on him and said that he was fine. Next, Inosuke came back with more dead carcasses and threw them inside the whole Tanjiro made, much to Tanjiro's scolding for disrespecting towards the dead people.
As helpess as he is right now, BoBoiBoy decided to sit this one out and have all of them do the work. He may feel like he wanted to but he needs to know his own limits when it comes to things such as this. As fair as it may sounds, it just doesn't sit right with him. He's all about getting things done.
He stared at the sky, the blue sky that always looks down on them 24/7. His earlier conversation with Fang resurfaced in his mind. He hadn't gotten much of a chance to listen to his last words before coming back into reality. But even so, the reminder of him locating his power watch still remained as his objective, make it secondary if he wanted it to be.
'I didn't get to hear what he had to say.' He remembered albeit a little vaguely. 'Just a little longer. I'm gonna find it if that's the last thing I'm gonna do.'
He sat down with the rest of them praying for the people who were unfortunately massacred by Kyogai and the rest of the demons inside the house. Meanwhile, Inosuke is running somewhere and butts his head against the tree bark.
"What is that person doing?" Teruko stopped in mid-praying to see Inosuke continuing to hit his head against the tree.
"Better not look." Kiyoshi recommended.
"Yeah." Shoichi added.
The three boys silently prayed until they heard Tanjiro's crow cawed on the sky while circling around them.
"Descend the mountain! Descend the mountain!" The crow said.
"That crow is talking!" Shoichi is surprised since it's his first time seeing and hearing the crow talk.
"Just don't think anymore." Kiyoshi said.
"Okay." Teruko said.
"All right, follow me! Follow yours truly!" The crow said.
Inosuke stopped hitting his head against the tree bark and saw Tanjiro and the whole group preparing to descend the mountain.
"Hey! Where are you going!" Inosuke asks.
"We're descending the mountain." Tanjiro responded.
"We're not done with our battle yet! Especially with you, yellow haori!" Inosuke pointed at Tanjiro and BoBoiBoy.
"Can't you give it a break already? I'm getting sick of it." BoBoiBoy rubbed his temples to ease his stress.
"Give us a break already. And plus, you're tired, aren't you? Come on, we're heading down." Tanjiro said.
"Huuuuh!? I'm not tired!" Inosuke bent down and rushed to them. "Let's fight!"
"I feel like this is going to take forever..."
Once they have descended down the mountain, the rest of the siblings all said their gratitudes towards the Demon Slayers, minus Inosuke since he's seen butting his head everywhere to the trees.
"Hold out your hands!" The crow ordered for Kiyoshi to held out his hands and so he did. Despite him being startled, he still held it out. The crow puked out what looks like a demon repellent, much to Kiyoshi's grossed out reaction.
"That will ward off demons. You with marechi, keep that on your person!" The crow explained.
"It smells like wisteria." Tanjiro said when he smell the scent of the wisteria.
"Wisteria?" Kiyoshi said.
"It's a flower that demons can't abide. You should hold onto that." Tanjiro explained.
"Yeah. It's quite useful to have in your arsenal. It's best not to lose them on your way home, okay?" BoBoiBoy added.
"Mhm! Thank you so much!" Kiyoshi and the other siblings are going on to their separate ways. "We're truly grateful! We can get home on our own."
"Maybe we'll see each other again." BoBoiBoy waved to them farewell.
"Maybe we will! I'll even send you one of my favorite stuff as a gift!" Teruko happily said. BoBoiBoy kindly declined his gift part.
"I'm never going to get used to that guy hitting his head everywhere. Seriously, that can cause brain damage." Zenitsu muttered as he watched Inosuke slammed his head to a tree bark.
"You tell me." BoBoiBoy agreed.
"Take care, now!" Tanjiro waved them farewell and watched as they
With all that, the crow acts as their guide to their next destination. The Demon Slayers marched their way and followed down the path leading to somewhere where the crow is taking them. All in time, Inosuke eventually tagged along in their little group and that stirred up some trouble along the way.
"Fight me!" Inosuke kept pestering them to have a battle with him. "I swear I'm going to find a weak point and bring you down, losers!"
"Our names' not loser! I'm Tanjiro Kamado!" Tanjiro corrected.
'If he says anything that would make me pissed, I'm gonna be throwing him in the ground.' BoBoiBoy had many tick marks circled around his head. Zenitsu backed off from him for seeing him so irritated.
"Gonpachiro Kamaboko! I'm gonna bring you down!" Inosuke formed some sort of stance against Tanjiro. Meanwhile, BoBoiBoy snorted from the newfound name he came up for Tanjiro.
'Okay, I'll give him that. But oh boy, is his mind is that of a simpleton. Reminds me a lot as Leaf.' He sighed and remembered his previous element, Leaf.
"I wonder if I should train and get all of them?" BoBoiBoy cups his chin with his hand, wondering if he should obtain all of his elements even his secondary tiers and his fusion forms.
"Who the hell are you talking about?!" Tanjiro, annoyed, started an argument to Inosuke.
"That would be you!"
"No, it's someone else!"
"GAAAHHH! CAN YOU TALK ANY LOUDER!?" Zenitsu roared, making the two silent. BoBoiBoy is still in deep thinking to realize what just happened. He bumped into Zenitsu and he immediately stopped.
"Sorry. I didn't see where I was going."
Trying to blow off some steam, Zenitsu asks if he should let the two go on ahead and BoBoiBoy unknowingly agreed with it. By the time when BoBoiBoy and Zenitsu are behind the still raging duo ahead of them, Zenitsu initiated small talk to pass the time they have.
"So... uh..."
He made it awkward.
"Uhh... hey Zenitsu."
"Hey BoBoiBoy..."
An uncomfortable and awkward silence made it seem tense the more they kept themselves quiet. Not wanting that, they tell each other their interests, their hobbies, their favorite food, the places they've gone to, and such to keep the time flowing by smoothly. One thing they really have in common is instruments and they have fun chatting what they had thought in their minds.
"What is Tanjiro to you, BoBoiBoy?" Zenitsu shifts another topic between his relationship on the dark redhead.
"Tanjiro... Well." He paused to let some appropriate words enter his head. "He's a really nice person and a bit naive. He really cares a lot for his loved ones. He and I are like brothers. We traveled and been with each other for two years. You can say that nothing separates us from all the things we encountered."
Zenitsu nodded. "You say that you traveled with Tanjiro for two years?"
"Yeah."
"Where did you two meet?"
BoBoiBoy went into his thinking pose again. "We met in his hometown which is very far from here. I mean, not really at his hometown, we kinda met when he found me all injured in some snowy path."
Zenitsu noted to what he said. "You were injured?"
"I was. But don't worry." He beamed at him for a sign of comfort.
"What's in the past, stays in the past. We don't have to look back anymore because the only way to look is forward."
Zenitsu awed and kept a mental note of that. He felt like he could learn something by being around him. After their talk, they fell into silence. The only sounds around are the constant arguments of Tanjiro and Inosuke ahead of them and their footsteps.
*Beep*Beep*Beep*Beep*Beep*
There it was again. But this time, even louder. BoBoiBoy darts his head everywhere. His eyes flurries everywhere in search of the noise he picked up.
'It sounded closer! Oh my god! Where is it!? Where is it!? Where is it!? Where is it!? Where is it!?'
His eyes finally landed on the one thing that could possibly be the source of the sound. It came from—
"What's with this thing? It never stops going off with that creepy sound."
Zenitsu.
"I swear I need to figure out what this thing is. I can't sleep properly with this thing on." He went through his haori and pulled out an orange power band designed fo—
"ZENITSU! GIVE ME THAT!" BoBoiBoy snatched it away from Zenitsu and that made him startled completely. BoBoiBoy couldn't have believed it. His power watch, his lifeline, was in Zenitsu's possession the whole time.
"Whoa! What was that for?! You could've snatched my heart too when you done that!" Zenitsu had a mini heart attack.
"Zenitsu..." BoBoiBoy, in all seriousness, looked at Zenitsu. "Where did you find this thing?"
Zenitsu gulped, confused as to why BoBoiBoy went serious all of a sudden. "I found it in a middle of a pathway before I met you guys. At first, I didn't want to touch it because it's been making those sounds that I find it to be really creepy. But the back of my mind kept screaming at me to pick it up and I did as that. Is it by chance yours?"
BoBoiBoy nodded. "Yeah... Yeah, this is mine." He kept a close eye on it and even scanned all around the watch. It looked battered and some cracks were clearly displayed on the sides of the screen. The B logo that was once there in his watch, isn't showing. The features that was there were all on a timer, meaning, he can't access any of them, any forms of communication, contacts, or accessing his previous elemental arsenal, unless the time reached its limit.
At an angle, it looked like a regular watch.
"Anyways, sorry for almost snatching it away from you without warning. I should've known that you had it all along."
"But you clearly didn't. Well, if you had asked me about this particular thing, I would've shown you. I'd still receive the same reaction though." Zenitsu pointed out.
"My bad. Sorry." BoBoiBoy rubbed the back of his head. He kept fiddling with the watch, but the watch isn't responding with his various touches, only the beeping resounded in it. He figured it must've been a reboot. He recall one time Ochobot stated that if his power band has been making 7 consecutive beeps, it would most likely be a reboot. From what he heard, the watch made 5 beeps a moment ago.
Not to take any chances, BoBoiBoy reapplied it back to his wrist, letting himself feel the same old 15-year-old self again. The nostalgia was short lived but the feeling stayed.
"You called that a watch, right?"
"Yeah."
"But it looks kinda bulky, and really advanced for me to read the time. What buttons do you use to press it?"
"I don't know. I think it needs time to make itself go back to normal." He believed that to be the case.
"Hey! You two!" They heard Tanjiro yelling. "You're lagging behind! C'mon!"
BoBoiBoy put his hand near his mouth. "Yeah! We'll be right there with you!"
"Come on. Let's not keep them waiting any longer." Zenitsu walked with a steady pace, BoBoiBoy soon followed. It's best for him to fiddle around with the watch later, seeing as he is going nowhere if keeps messing with it any longer.
Night time had broke. The full moon illuminated brightly in the night filled sky. Their destination stopped to a house with a wisteria family crest plastered on the gate's entrance.
"A wisteria family crest..." Tanjiro looked at the logo.
"Rest time! Rest time! Since you've sustained injuries, you're to rest until you're fully recovered!" Tanjiro's crow announced.
"Oh yes! Finally! This is what we deserved after a long day!" BoBoiBoy felt all of his worries wash away by hearing the good news. Suzume bounced up and down on his palm, sharing his enthusiasm.
"You sure it's okay to rest? I just fought a demon while injured, you know." Tanjiro was unsure.
"Are you crazy, Tanjiro? You still want to keep going with those broken bones of yours?" BoBoiBoy cannot believe what he just heard.
"Ke-ke-ke." The crow spoke in its bird language.
"Ke-ke-ke?" Tanjiro repeated, not knowing what the crow meant.
"Let's eat this thing." Inosuke suggested and pulled the crow by its feather.
"What?!" The crow said frightened.
The gate opened to reveal an old woman. "Yes?"
"Ah! Sorry to bother you so late at night!" Tanjiro excused.
"A monster! It's a monster!" Zenitsu cried out.
"Hey you!" Tanjiro and BoBoiBoy said.
"Who the hell are you?" Inosuke walked up to the old woman. Tanjiro stared at him in disbelief while BoBoiBoy watched on with wide eyes.
"I see you're a demon hunter." The old lady bowed down to show her respect.
"You look pretty weak." He said while poking her hair wrapped in a bun.
"HEY!" Both boys yelled for seeing Inosuke being rude to the elder woman.
"Come in." She gestured for them to come inside her household. They entered the front yard and followed the old lady in front of them.
"That old lady sure walks fast!" Zenitsu peers his head to see the old lady. Inosuke in the background looks at his surroundings randomly.
"You okay? You sound so terrified with her around." BoBoiBoy picked up a weird sound coming from Zenitsu.
"I'm not okay. I don't wanna talk about it." Zenitsu held his hands together. BoBoiBoy chose not to push the topic further. It's a subject for another day.
"This is where you'll be staying." The old lady said and led them to a room with neatly folded kimonos. "A change of clothes."
Another room she led them to is a place where they can eat. "And here is your meal."
"SHE HAS TO BE A MONSTER, GUYS! THAT OLD LADY'S A MONSTER! SHE'S SO QUICK, IT'S EERIE! SHE'S A MONSTER! A MONSTER HAG—" Tanjiro shuts him up by bashing his fist in Zenitsu's neck.
'It sounds like he went through a traumatic experience with some old people he knew.' BoBoiBoy thought.
The boys sat on their knees, sans a certain boar, and ate their meals respectively. Inosuke just kept munching his food using his hands.
"Use your chopsticks." Zenitsu suggested but Inosuke didn't listen. He grabbed another bite and looked at both Tanjiro and BoBoiBoy with an intentional smile and laughed. He later grabbed one of their food and ate it as soon as he grabbed it then made a taunting face at them. All of them looked at him with weirded-out reactions.
'Yeah, I'm not falling for that one, Inosuke. You gotta try a lot harder than that.' He wouldn't let Inosuke get the better of him by that action alone. He continued to eat his meal in proper silence.
Tanjiro, oblivious or pretending to be naive, grabbed his own food in a bowl, and offered it to Inosuke. "If you're that hungry, you can have this, too."
Inosuke expected for Tanjiro to act all annoyed and would probably lash out on him but he got a different outcome instead. He screams in annoyance as steam lets out of him.
"Here."
"NOOOOO!"
'He's totally forgotten about the box! Gimme a break, you thug! Moron! Eyelashes!' Zenitsu thought.
Once they're done with their meals, they are ready to go to their next room, which is for them to sleep in. They opened the door to reveal the old lady from before.
"Your bedding." She offered the four their separate beds.
"THERE SHE IS! THE MONSTER HAG—" Tanjiro smacked him on the head again.
"She's not a monster, what do you mean?" BoBoiBoy wants to know why he called her a monster.
"First come, first served!" Inosuke plopped down on a bed and claimed it as his own. "I'm taking this one!"
"That's fine. Sleep wherever you want." Tanjiro only smiled. Inosuke ticked again.
"Where do you both want to sleep?" Tanjiro asked them.
"I'll go for the furthest one." BoBoiBoy pointed at the bed closest to the wall.
"Uhh..." Zenitsu is still deciding which bed he'll choose. However, Inosuke shrieks and threw a pillow directly at Zenitsu's face, doubling him over.
After choosing their beds, the old lady had them checked out with a doctor she brought over. The doctor checked for their pulses on their chests one by one and handed them the results. Apparently, every one of their ribs were cracked proportionately. The doctor left and the boys were in their beds to close off the night they had.
"Who would've guess that all four of us had broken ribs?" Zenitsu talks about their injuries. Zenitsu only has 2 broken ribs, 3 for Tanjiro, and 4 each for BoBoiBoy and Inosuke.
"This knot hurts more than my ribs." Inosuke revealed his forehead to show a big red lump formed by Tanjiro's headbutt.
"Wow. You bashed him really hard, Tanjiro." BoBoiBoy whistled.
"Sorry." Tanjiro apologized.
"Hey, you'd better apologize. It really hurt, you know. Getting pounded to a pulp like that even when we fought back. Say you're sorry." Zenitsu refers to Inosuke and wants an apology from him.
"I'll pass." He calmly declined.
'Huh, he sounds so different when he speaks like that combined with his unmasked face. If only he acts like that instead of constantly shouting all the time.' BoBoiBoy thought and letting his whole body relax.
"Say you're sorry!" Zenitsu yelled.
"I'll pass!" Inosuke replied.
"Just say you're sorry!" Tanjiro added, wanting to get this over with.
"If you're gonna be like that, we're not eating with you anymore." Zenitsu gave him a warning.
"Huh? What's up with that?" Inosuke slightly glared at the blonde.
"Meals always taste better when you eat together, you know." Zenitsu stated.
"He's right about that." Tanjiro added.
"That is a fact. It's because I love eating food with my friends, they always taste better." BoBoiBoy commented, earning him smiles courtesy from Tanjiro and Zenitsu.
"Did you guys hurt your heads or something?" Inosuke asked cluelessly.
"Who are you to talk?!" Zenitsu angrily said.
BoBoiBoy sighed. "I can't really blame him. He barely interacts with anyone other than asking them for a fight."
"Is there something I can help you with?" The old lady asked from the outside of their room.
"MONSTER!" Zenitsu freaked out.
"HEY!" Both boys between Zenitsu scolded.
"According to the crow, this house with the wisteria family crest belongs to a family that was once rescued by demon hunters. That's why they take care of people for free if they're demon hunters. That's what I was told, but I never thought they'd show us this much hospitality." Tanjiro narrated.
"Eh? It's no wonder why the old lady decided to bring us in without asking who we are except we're demon hunters." BoBoiBoy laid there while looking at his power watch, trying to get it to work. He'd been at it for several minutes now.
"Just how great is the Demon Slayer Corps?" Inosuke said while placing both hands behind his head and closing his eyes.
"Now that you mention it, Inosuke, why did you join the Corps?" Tanjiro wants to know.
"Huh?"
"You had some kind of reason, didn't you?" Zenitsu also got curious.
"A member of the Demon Slayer Corps barged in on me on my mountain so we conpeted to see who was stronger, and I seized his sword." Inosuke explained only a little bit.
'What an unfortunate soul.' BoBoiBoy and Zenitsu both thought.
"And then, I heard there was something called Final Selection and the fact that demons do exist." Inosuke stated.
"So that's why you joined the Demon Slayer Corps?" Hearing it satisfied Tanjiro's curiosity. "And hey, so you and I both grew up in the mountains, huh?"
"Don't lump me in with you and that guy!" Inosuke replied while staring at Tanjiro and BoBoiBoy.
"Actually, I don't live in the mountains. I'm more of a city boy." BoBoiBoy shared and corrected that statement.
"I don't care." Inosuke blankly said, making BoBoiBoy sweatdrop and cried comedically.
"Unlike the both of you, I don't have any parents or siblings! Testing my strength against other living creatures is my only pleasure!" He concluded and puts on his boar mask again.
"Is that right? Is that right?" Tanjiro had fake tears in his eyes, knowing that Inosuke isn't going to be buddies with him even after sharing them as mountain boys.
And soon, everyone were silent once again. Inosuke probably had gone to sleep already, leaving only the three remaining ones awake. BoBoiBoy gazed towards Zenitsu. He looked like he wants to say something to Tanjiro with him moving his eyes at him all the time. He sat up and shook Zenitsu gently.
"You had something to say to Tanjiro, right?" He grinned at him. "Go ahead. Ask him."
He felt hesitant, somehow, but worked up the courage to ask Tanjiro on why he and BoBoiBoy are traveling with a demon.
"Zenitsu... You knew about that and still protected the box, huh? You really are a great guy, you know that? Thanks!" Tanjiro praised him.
"He is, isn't he? And also, the way he holds his own against Inosuke is such a great feat." BoBoiBoy also gave his praises towards the blonde. Hearing them praising him made him blush and cuddled up his pillow.
"You... You two shouldn't heap so much praise on me! Ahihihihi Ahihihihi!"
"Heh. You're like a child." BoBoiBoy grinned.
"I've got a keen sense of smell. I knew it from the start. How kind you are, Zenitsu... and how strong..."
"No, I'm not strong. Don't give me that." He said it as if he had no hope in himself. Tanjiro stuttered along his lines.
"You're not strong? You proved yourself you are one by standing up to Inosuke in the first place." BoBoiBoy shoved some evidence to prove his fact.
"I was confident at that time because of you. Now, I don't know if I can do that again."
"But didn't you say to me that you would believe in yourself from now on? What happened to the Zenitsu I once knew?"
He also wanted to point out that Zenitsu unleashed his breathing technique against a demon whilst falling asleep. However, if he were to bring it up, Zenitsu would less likely want to believe him and would call him a liar for deceiving him. He'll have to come up with a new way to draw out his inner personality.
Zenitsu hung his head low, thinking to what he said earlier. It's true he said, but was he ready for it? He's still mentally weak. He hoped he can bring out his confidence and bravery within him by being around them, he thought.
"Let's all get some sleep. We still have a lot of days ahead of us." BoBoiBoy said as he yawned and stretched his arms up. Zenitsu was about to go to sleep when he heard noises coming from inside Tanjiro's box. He panicked and sprang up.
"It's trying to come out! It's trying to come out!"
"It's all right." Tanjiro tried to calm him down.
"How can it be all right?! Huh?! Huh?!" Zenitsu started to yell.
"Shush! It's the middle of the night, Zenitsu!" Tanjiro continued trying to calm the panicked boy down.
"I just want to sleep..." BoBoiBoy said drowsily.
'Why won't they take the bait? Even when I stole their food... Come to think of it, why did Big Forehead get mad a couple of times? I forgot.' Inosuke thought then spread his arms to the sides.
The box slightly opened, much to Zenitsu freaking out about it.
"KYAAAAAHHH! OH MY GOSH! IT'S NOT EVEN LOCKED?!" Zenitsu exclaimed. "P-P-PROTECT ME! SOMEONE PLEASE PROTECT ME! BOBOIBOY! PLEASE PROTECT ME!"
"Hey! Stop clinging onto me!" BoBoiBoy pried Zenitsu off of him, which resulted in him falling near the box.
When the box completely opened, Zenitsu eeked but until he saw a hand, that's when he loses it.
"IT'S OOOOOUUUUTTTT! I GOTTA HIDE! I'M SO SCARED!" Before he could hide himself inside a closet, Nezuko went out of the box while staring at Zenitsu.
"Nezuko!" Tanjiro smiled upon seeing her.
"Good evening, Nezuko." BoBoiBoy greeted her with a smile while rubbing one of his eyes.
Nezuko begins to slowly grow herself back into her original height in just a matter of seconds. Zenitsu watched on with wide eyes. Once Nezuko reaches her normal height, her beauty sparkles in Zenitsu's eyes, making him react in a shocked manner.
"Huuuh?" Inosuke watched her do her thing then stretched his arms. "That's too much thinking." He went to sleep afterwards.
"Zenitsu... Nezuko's my—"
"Tanjiro..."
Zenitsu is shadowed by a yellow light within him. Electricity flows within him as well as it sparked in his whole body.
"Listen to me." He said with a low tone.
"Z-Zenitsu?" Tanjiro nervously stared at Zenitsu.
"This isn't good..." BoBoiBoy continued to watch.
"Listen to me." Zenitsu's eyes were fully round and had veins, making him terrifying to look at. "Just who do you think you are?!"
"Okay. I'm not gonna be involved." BoBoiBoy said and kept silent.
"So, you've been traveling with a girl this cute? With a girl this cute in tow, day after day, you've been traveling, and you've been on cloud nine the whole time, huh?" Zenitsu balled his hands into fists.
"Zenitsu, it's not like—"
"GIVE ME BACK ALL THE BLOOD I SHED!!!" Zenitsu yelled in an outburst. "I... LISTEN, I... I DIDN'T GIVE IT MY ALL JUST SO YOU COULD SPEND TIME IN LA-LA-LAND, MAKING OUT WITH A GIRL! THAT'S NOT WHY I ALMOST GOT PUMMELED AND KICKED BY THAT WEIRD BOAR, RIGHT?!"
"Zenitsu, calm down! What's gotten into you all of a sudden?!" Tanjiro held out hs hands.
"DEMON SLAYER CORPS IS NOT SOMETHING YOU'D JOIN FOR FUN! GUYS LIKE YOU GOTTA BE PURGED! IMMEDIATELY!" Zenitsu raged.
'Hehe. Wait 'til he hears that Nezuko is actually Tanjiro's sister.' BoBoiBoy thought with a mischievous smile.
"Come to think of it, there's also the crime of thwarting my marriage earlier and I can never imagine what would happen if it weren't for you guys." Zenitsu grabbed his sword out of nowhere then slowly draws it out. "PURGED IMMEDIATELY! DON'T EVER UNDERESTIMATE THE CORPS!"
"Good night, guys." BoBoiBoy wouldn't rather be in their little circle and decided to sleep it off for the night.
"A GUY LIKE YOU! A GUY LIKE YOU!" Zenitsu rampaged around the room, trying to attack Tanjiro.
"ZENITSU, CUT IT OUT!" Tanjiro pleaded for the blonde to stop.
"MOCK THE DEMON SLAYERS CORPS... AND YOU'LL GET SENT TO HELL!"
'What a fine night this turned out to be...' BoBoiBoy sarcastically thought then buried his head inside of his own pillow, trying to doze off and muffle the noises they're making. He felt Nezuko sitting down next to him and she laid her head on the pillow.
'I can't... breathe...! Nezuko!' He flailed his arms but Nezuko didn't budge for one second. She gave one of her eye-smiles at BoBoiBoy.
"YOU SHALL FEEL MY WRATH!"
I made it. Phew. I had much fun writing it because of the lockdown we have in my city and I couldn't do anything about it. I'm just taking my time doing this chapter and what do you know? It reached 8k words for just a single chapter!
The rest is just going to be nifty, well, it kinda depends. But let's see where I'll lead this story into.
Good news is, BoBoiBoy finally found his power watch! The issue for this is that it couldn't activate for a reason.
Thanks for reading and I'll see y'all in the next one.
~ ja ne :)
Scrapped scene:
/Inosuke: Fight me! I swear I'm gonna find a weak point and bring you down, losers!
/Tanjiro: My name's not "loser"! It's Tanjiro Kamado!
/Inosuke: Gonpachiro Kamaboko! I'm gonna bring you down!
/Tanjiro: Who the hell are you talking about!?
/Inosuke: That would be you!
/Tanjiro: No, it's someone else!
/Zenitsu: GAAAAAAHHH! CAN YOU TALK ANY LOUDER!?
/BBB: And for your information, Inosuke, I'm BoBoiBoy!
/Inosuke: ...
/BBB: ...
/Zenitsu: ...
/Tanjiro: ...
/Inosuke: Rizal Bin Ismail! I'm gonna bring you down!
/BBB: *TRIGGERED* MY NAME'S NOT RIZAL!!!
