Zenitsu had longed to be among people again; he had missed the sights and sounds a town, large or small could provide. Just being surrounded by people just seemed to say 'hey, you're not alone, you're welcome and safe'. Even if one seemed to blend in and was invisible, it was only natural to want to be among your own kind.

Now though, he was beginning to realize that this was probably a mistake. His hearing was good, that was no secret, but now he was hearing everything to an uncomfortable degree. It was all he could do to not put his hands up to his ears to block the sounds out; of course, he knew that wouldn't work. The smells of restaurants, concession stands, and the market swirled and filled his head also, to the point where it blended into one big stink. It was just too much, but one smell stood out even above that: the humans. He could smell everyone around him, hear them...almost taste them, it was overwhelming.

His head suddenly hurt that sent a whole ripple through his body, sharp enough to send his hands flying to his head. For the briefest moment, in his mind's eye, he saw someone he'd never seen before, or had he? He had to find a quiet spot just to compose himself. He was feeling overstimulated just from being in town. It was making him hallucinate! He looked around, hoping to find a back alleyway soon he could slip into or—then he heard it; the subtle yet unmistakable sound that sent him in near hysterics.

'Is that another demon?!' Zenitsu looked around frantically. He was aware that the demon was presently far from him, but the fact that he could hear it and it sounded like it was MOVING was enough to send him in a panic. He looked towards the direction he could hear it; it was so soft and quiet; it was amazing that he could even hear it over everything else. How was it moving? Was it just his overactive imagination? It must be, it had to be.

"Are you alright?" asked an older man who touched his back out of concern. He jumped and spun around quickly to look at who had touched him.

"Don't touch me!" he yelled out in a panic. Now this kind of behavior wasn't anything new from him whenever he was completely stressed or frightened. What was new though was the growling undertone that made his words sound more like a threat than a panicked statement. The man shrank back, along with several other people. He yelped and blindly ran, just ran in a direction. He had to push his way between people, trying not to completely bowl people over. He just had to get away, find a quiet spot to make everything stop. He did manage to find a back alleyway, ran down it until he ran into a dead end. At first, he leaned up on the wall with his arms, but then found himself scaling the tall wall. He crawled down the wall...like a damned lizard but it was safer to go down like that. He dropped down and kept going, eventually finding a quiet abandoned building and went inside.

As soon as he was deep enough inside the building and listened to make sure there wasn't anyone there, he took off the mask and hood, so he could breathe better. He sat down near a wall and held his head while his elbows rested on his knees. He was gasping, having a full-on panic attack. He'd never had one for just being in a town before. He began his usual mantra chant of 'I'm fine, everything's fine' when this sort of thing happened for no particular reason. It had been a long time since his last 'out of the blue' panic attack, he was too busy to wonder what caused it. It took a while but eventually, he didn't feel like he was completely out of control anymore. He closed his eyes when his breathing was finally under control and normal, but it gave him a chance to listen to his surroundings that caused new anxiety to flare up. He wasn't alone in the building anymore.

Tanjiro had made his way to the main gates of town; it was his only lead. He closed his eyes and sniffed the air, thankfully there wasn't any wind today. The smell was faint in the air but it was unmistakable; it was the same smell from the cart. He jogged down where the demon had headed, it looked like it went towards the market square. As he sniffed and followed the scent trail, he noticed something strange. The scent trails went from stall to stall, like it had been looking at the items for sale.

"This doesn't make any sense," Tanjiro murmured to himself, "could this demon be like Lady Tamayo and Yushiro?" He heard a commotion up ahead and ran over to find out what it was. There was a small gathering of people all surrounding someone. He got closer to find out what was going on.

"Is everything alright," asked Tanjiro, "can I do anything to help?" An older man turned to him and smiled, but seemed troubled.

"No, don't trouble yourself, son," he said, "it's just a simple first aid situation, that's all." Tanjiro looked past the man to see others trying to help another man put on antiseptic medicine on his arm. He had four long shallow cuts on his arm, his eyes went wide.

"What happened," Tanjiro asked turning back to the old man.

"It was strange," said the man with a slight tremble in his voice, "there was another boy, about your age I think," he said placing his hand at his chin, "he seemed to be having some sort of trouble. I approached him and he," he paused and simply shook his head, "panicked and ran off. As he ran off, he pushed through a large crowd; you see the results." Tanjiro looked at the crowd and clenched his hands.

"Which way did he go?"

"That way," pointed the man.

"Thank you for the information," Tanjiro said while slightly bowing, then ran off in the direction. He started sniffing again to pick up the trail, he did notice that the smell was stronger and was now slightly unpleasant to smell; a clear indication that whoever he was smelling was anxious or frightened. It would only help him find the demon faster, but he couldn't help but feel bad that it was scared. They didn't have a reason to be...didn't they? He paused to get his bearings when he felt the box on his back shift slightly; Nezuko was awake.

"Sorry for it being so jarring for you Nezuko," Tanjiro said, "but we've got to hurry."

He ran into an alleyway, that led to a dead end. He looked around, wondering where it could have gone. He sniffed several times when he realized the smell of the demon was strong against the wall. He approached it and noticed that there were deep holes in the wall.

"He," Tanjiro got closer to the wall and felt the holes, "he climbed the wall." He looked and backed up, seeing how high the wall was; determining how far and high he'd have to jump to scale the wall himself. He ran back, then ran forward and took the leap. He neatly cleared it but when he landed, he forgot that he had a broken leg and ribs. His breath hitched and he nearly saw stars from the pain. He slowly stood back up, cradling his ribs. He cursed himself, he should have taken a safer route or had been more careful at the very least! As he was breathing he caught the scent of the demon, it was close.

"I'm the eldest," he said through gritted teeth, "push through it, and get things done." He made his way towards an abandoned building; the smell was getting stronger, it had to be here. He cautiously entered and looked around. It was dark, perfect for a demon, but as he went deeper into the building the more melancholy the smell became. Soon he didn't have to rely on his nose, he could hear someone speaking, repeating the same phrase over and over. They sounded distressed.

He turned a corner and there it was, sitting at a wall with his head in his hands, slightly rocking. This...this wasn't what he was expecting; he didn't even know where to start. The smell in the room was heavy in the air, but it wasn't dangerous or aggressive, it smelled sad and confused. It broke his heart. Soon the demon leaned back and took a final breath and seemed to relax, but then suddenly tensed up and looked over towards him. He yelped and scuttled backward into a corner, his right hand scratching the wall the entire time, looking at him with wide eyes.

"Wait, please," the demon wailed waving his left hand as if it would somehow ward him off, "this is all some sort of mistake! A big one! I'm sorry, I'll leave, I promise! I just needed some space, that's all!" Tanjiro first looked at the long deep claw markings it had left into the wall from simply backing away, taking note to avoid those hands at all costs. Then he noted something more surprising to him; the demon was wearing the Demon Slayers uniform and he also had a Nichirin Blade.

"You were a Demon Slayer," Tanjiro said in surprise. The demon seemed slightly offended.

"Well, so are you." There was a pause, and the demon seemed to realize what he just said.

"WAIT, YOU'RE A DEMON SLAYER," he yelled out at the top of his lungs, trying to back further into the corner as if he would somehow merge with it and escape.

"Hey, calm down. I'm not going to do anything. Please," he knelt in front of him placing his hands on the demon's shoulders, talking calmly and slowly, "take in deep, slow breaths."

Zenitsu was trying his utmost best to calm down, but even having the faintest idea that this guy in front of him was going to kill him had put him right back over the edge of hysterics. Somehow, he managed to calm down enough to finally notice that wasn't just him and the Demon Slayer in the room. He was still breathing heavily, but he closed his eyes and listened: there was that demon sound again, and it was...right next to him. He looked up; the sound was coming from that box the Demon Slayer was carrying. It was an unusual sound though, nothing like he'd ever heard from a demon before. Not at Final Selection, not at...that time, never.

'Why is a Demon Slayer carrying a demon with him?'

"Are you feeling better now?" asked the Slayer. Zenitsu looked up into the face of his supposed killer. Any remaining fear of death washed away when he looked at that honest, smiling face and listened to his gentle sounds. He'd never had heard such sounds like that from anyone before, not even from Gramps. He didn't even have anything in his mental audio library to compare it to, it was such a new experience, he nearly cried from it. He never wanted to stop hearing it, but then he was puzzled.

'How can someone who makes such sounds have such a terrible job,' he wondered, 'all you see and do are terrible things when you're a Demon Slayer...so why?' His confusion must have been evident because the slayer's expression shifted from that pleasant smile to a slight frown.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"Uh, no," Zenitsu answered slowly bringing a hand to the side of his face, "no, just a little confused. The gentle sounds you make; it should be illegal, you know." Now it was the Slayer's turn to be confused. He tilted his head, causing his hanafuda earrings to gently jingle, only adding to his unique sound.

"Gah, stop it," Zenitsu whined as he tried to halfheartedly push the slayer away, "you're only making it worse! I came in here for peace and quiet, emphases on quiet, you hear me?!" Tanjiro instinctively grabbed at the demon's wrists when he'd had started to push at him, (those claws were so long and sharp) but when he looked at the red, pouting face in front of him, he couldn't help but smile.

"I'm sorry," he said with a small chuckle, causing another exasperated sound from the demon, "I didn't mean to cause any further distress in you. I'm Tanjiro Kamado, what's your name?"

"Zenitsu Agatsuma," he replied. Zenitsu suddenly realized that Tanjiro was that one kid at Final Selection, the one that broke the other guy's arm! Why didn't he realize that earlier? He wondered if Tanjiro recognized him as well. Then another thought popped into his head, wasn't his face the same one that flashed in his head earlier? This didn't make any sense.

"Zenitsu," Tanjiro said a bit more seriously, "I need to ask you some questions, they're very important." Zenitsu raised an eyebrow at that but nodded.

"How are you able to walk around in the middle of the day?"

"Oh that," Zenitsu said raising an arm to point to the material underneath his uniform, "it's not because I'm special or anything, it's because of-" he suddenly stopped talking and both hands shot up to the sides of his head. He looked like he was in intense pain.

"Zenitsu what's wrong," Tanjiro asked placing a hand on his shoulder. He could smell the distress wafting off of him, but something was underlining it, something he had smelled before that made his blood boil. Suddenly, Zenitsu didn't quite look like himself anymore, and there was a deep guttural growl that made all the hairs on Tanjiro's neck stand on end. Then everything happened so fast he didn't know exactly how he managed to react properly. Zenitsu lunged at him, claws and teeth bared and ready to kill. Tanjiro somehow grabbed Zenitsu's wrists to prevent him from using his hands and used one leg to push his body high up so he couldn't bite down on his neck or any other body part. His free leg was hopelessly flailing about. The position he was in was painful, Nezuko's box was still on his back, which he was currently pinned on top of.

'What happened,' Tanjiro thought looking up at Zenitsu's distorted face scowling down at him, 'one minute he was perfectly fine, now he's literally trying to kill me! Something's wrong,' he pushed harder with his leg to get Zenitsu higher off of him, 'his smell is slightly different than it was. It's like there's two different smells mixed together. I need to do something fast, it's taking everything I have just to keep him off of me. I can't even let go of his arms to get my sword,' he glanced to his side, 'and Nezuko can't help me. She's trapped in the box I'm pinned on.'

"Zenitsu please," Tanjiro said as he pushed harder with his leg and arms, trying to ignore the threatening growling inches away from him and the drool dripping down on him, "get a hold of yourself! Whatever's wrong, you need to fight this! Fight it!"

Zenitsu's mind began to clear a little. It was hard to look through tunnel vision but things were beginning to clear slowly. Something was wrong, he knew that much at the very least. The last thing he recalled was that he was talking to Tanjiro then his head felt like it was going to explode. Then there was only one, very powerful thought in his head: eat the person in front of him. His mind was clearing up even more and suddenly realized what he was doing. He looked down and saw Tanjiro doing all he could just to keep him off of him. He was confused, why would he want to hurt Tanjiro? He hadn't done anything to him! Worse of all, the desire was still there, like his body had its own agenda.

"I'm...I'm sorry," Zenitsu said looking down at Tanjiro, both of them disgusted at the ribbons of drool dripping onto Tanjiro's face, "something's wrong. I don't know why but-" he suddenly winced and his back arched from the sudden pain. It felt like his whole middle was currently trying to rip itself apart; if Tanjiro currently didn't have his knee firmly lodged into his gut it probably would have hurt even worse. He was still heavily salivating, his stomach hurt, and the unnatural thoughts only made it harder to think clearly. Something had to happen; he had to take the edge off soon or someone was going to die, and it was most likely going to be Tanjiro. He heard something quietly crawling in the rafters of the room, that would have to do. He somehow got out of Tanjiro's grip and leaped away (making the pain in his head all the more excruciating) and landed right where the sound was; thrusted his arm through the ceiling and snatched blindly. He somehow caught it. He fell from the ceiling and landed on his back but he had what he needed in hand and that was all that mattered. He was aware that Tanjiro was talking to him but it sounded muffled and far away, probably for the best. He just needed to take the painful edge of the deep unnatural hunger away. Whatever the cost, as long it wasn't human life, it would be fine.

"What are you doing?" Tanjiro asked as soon as the shock wore off and he saw Zenitsu on the ceiling and wall on the far side of the room.

'How'd he move so fast?' he thought as he got up from the uncomfortable position he was in. He suddenly flinched when he realized his broken ribs had been inflamed. He cradled his ribs and grimaced when he felt one of his ribs slightly move when he put his hand on it.

'It's broken even worse than before,' he looked up when he heard Zenitsu fall to the ground hard, it was as if he didn't even attempt to land properly.

"Are you alright?" he asked genuinely concerned, he went to stand up but his ribs screamed at him causing him to stop. He looked over at Zenitsu and saw that he had a black rat in hand. It was squirming desperately in his hand, biting and scratching but he wasn't even reacting to it. What happened next would likely stick with Tanjiro for the rest of his life; Zenitsu shoved the rat headfirst into his mouth and just kept shoving it in. Tanjiro was worried that he was going to choke, but soon the rat had completely gone down his throat, whole and alive. He didn't know what to think about what the hell he just witnessed, but when he saw Zenitsu's reaction all he wanted to do was help.

Zenitsu was horrified at his actions. He had to eat something to stop the pain and hopefully those thoughts and the rat had to be it, but he had no intentions to eat it whole and alive! All he wanted was to eat it as fast as possible, he supposed he did just that. Hell, he was surprised he was able to do so in the first place without choking! The fur had felt weird and gross on his tongue and throat; he'd probably feel that gross sensation for some time. His hands were still clasped over his mouth in quiet horror but a hand did slowly fall on his upper belly when he felt the rat squirm in it. However that didn't last long when his stomach contracted and slowly crushed it, he could hear the bones snap and grind, it made him nearly gag. The blood and weight of the rat seemed to do the trick for the moment, as he didn't feel like he was going to completely lose control again.

"Zenitsu," said the quiet voice of Tanjiro, who had seen everything, and his eyes and sounds betrayed his horror and confusion but also his caring nature, "what happened?" Zenitsu realized that despite being attacked by him and seeing him at his most animalistic, Tanjiro still was concerned and worried about him. He broke. He started to weep loudly, covering his face with his hands in some sort of sad attempt to hide from Tanjiro's gaze.

"Don't look at me," he said between sobs, "I don't deserve it! I'm sorry, I don't know what happened, I truly don't! I had to do something or I'd...I'd... I'm sorry! I'm a glutton, a monster, I—"

He stopped when he felt Tanjiro pull him into a deep hug. Zenitsu was shocked and taken aback. He sat there quietly for a moment, but then started to weep again and despite himself, found himself wrapping his arms around Tanjiro.

"What are you doing," he wailed, "I just attacked you! You dumbass!"

"No, you didn't."

"Are you stupid," Zenitsu yelled, "I did too! Did you hit your head on your weird box?! How are you not dead yet?" He would have continued to insult Tanjiro's intelligence but he noticed that he began to salivate heavily again on Tanjiro's shoulder; this naturally didn't go unnoticed by said owner of shoulder. Zenitsu started to panic and tried to get out of the hug.

"Let go," he cried as he shoved him away, unknowingly pushed on Tanjiro's sore ribs, "you're still in danger you idiot! Please just...go."

"I'm not doing that," Tanjiro said sternly but with a small whinge of pain, "what's wrong, what can I do to help?"

"What do you mean," Zenitsu said, "I don't know why but for some reason just looking and being near you is making me insanely hungry. You should be on your knees thanking God or whoever that rat was in the ceiling, or that would have been your neck, I'm sure! If you want to help, leave!"

"Is that all," Tanjiro said with a laugh that made Zenitsu start questioning this guys' sanity, "if that's all then let me get you something." There was a pause.

"Is there anything you particularly li— "

"ARE YOU SERIOUSLY THAT DENSE," yelled out Zenitsu that made Tanjiro jump, "I mean, honestly, HOW are you still alive?! I tell you all that and you just go 'oh la-de-da~ let me help you~' Seriously how?! HOW?! Do you do this with every demon you find?!" His eyes drifted to the box on Tanjiro's back.

"Of course not," Tanjiro said standing up, "but tell me what you need and I'll get it. You're in serious pain," that caused pause in Zenitsu, "so please, let me help you." Zenitsu closed his eyes (couldn't help but notice the drool dripping off his chin) and sighed.

"You're so stubborn," he said as he wiped his chin, "fine. If only to get you away from me. I can only eat raw meat and blood and I eat an embarrassing amount, like a lot," his face flushed with shame, "so there. I've told you."

"Understood. I'll be back as soon as I can. Please stay here until I come back."

"I will," Zenitsu found himself saying. Tanjiro gave a reassuring nod and smile as he turned and left the room. Zenitsu couldn't help but smile when he left, but when he did he got a strange feeling like someone had been watching and he had done something very wrong. He got up and made his way back to where his discarded mask was, hoping it hadn't been cracked. Thankfully it hadn't been. He sat back on the ground and decided to just wait for Tanjiro to come back, maybe try to get a quick nap in? Doubtful but it was worth a try. He folded his haori into a makeshift pillow and laid down, closing his eyes and trying to block out what happened.

When Tanjiro returned, Zenitsu was surprised that he had bought and brought four, FOUR mind you, whole ducks from a butcher. He felt bad because one: duck was expensive as it was priced per pound and he had bought four of them, all for him he was sure. He didn't want to let Tanjiro's money go to waste so he did his best to eat everything of the ducks, even the rubbery feet he didn't particularly want. It wasn't that hard...he was such a glutton anymore it was embarrassing. Tanjiro watched in quiet fascination with the first duck as he ate making him slightly uncomfortable, but as he started the second, he started to ask questions. Namely as to why he had attacked him. He didn't have a good answer for him so naturally, it was best to start at the beginning: his transformation. He gave his best retelling of the events that led to his demonization but he couldn't help but notice that as he spoke, Tanjiro's gentle sound was slowly being overridden with a righteous anger noise. It was even nearing a vengeful sound that he rarely ever heard from anyone let alone someone like him.

"I'm not sure why me," Zenitsu said as he absentmindedly wiped his hand over his mouth as he reached over for the fourth duck, "but here we are. As to answer your question: well, I'm not sure why but before we met I got this weird...I don't know how to exactly describe it. Like, a flash of a memory that wasn't mine? I don't know, but I saw you," he said waving a hand lazily not really looking over at Tanjiro, otherwise, he would have caught the scowling from him, "and kinda panicked. So I came in here. Then you came in here, we talked then it kinda happened again, only this time it felt like my head was going to explode and-" he looked over and saw Tanjiro's face and stopped talking. He even heard him clench his jaw so tightly and grind his teeth; he wondered if he had cracked a tooth from doing it.

"Tanjiro, are you okay," Zenitsu asked cautiously, "I don't like that look on your face. It kinda scares me."

"Damn you Kibutsuji," he muttered quietly under his breath, "he's hurt so many. Forcing others to do your bidding...implanting unwanted desires, you bastard..."

"Uhh...who's Ki—" but before he could even ask Tanjiro sprang forward and covered his mouth so fast that it pinned him to the wall behind him. Zenitsu was shocked by that but he was more shocked by Tanjiro's panicked reaction looming inches from him. 'He's flipping moods faster than I do.'

"You can't ever say his name out loud, EVER," Tanjiro said louder than he was going to, "promise me you'll never say that name! PROMISE ME!" All Zenitsu was able to do was nod. Hearing the panic coming from Tanjiro meant he was very serious about this, whatever it was. He eventually backed away from him, letting go of his mouth and Zenitsu sat back up and took in a shaken breath.

"I'm sorry," Tanjiro said sadly, "but trust me, you can't ever say that name. Something...bad will happen if you do."

"Like what," Zenitsu said trying to lighten the mood, " will I die or something?" The look Tanjiro gave him was so serious and sincere that Zenitsu's small smile faded.

"Oh," then he thought about it, "wait...I'VE GOT A SELF-DESTRUCT PHRASE I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT?! Why is being a demon so damn complicated?!" His small tantrum and flailing about caused a small smile to return to Tanjiro.

"Zenitsu, how were you able to hear me," Tanjiro asked, "I was barely whispering."

"I've got really good hearing," he answered after swallowing another mouthful of duck, "always have. I'm lucky you said something too! What if I just happened to say that name out of the blue and just...I don't know exploded or something! Were you never going to tell me? So cruel!"

"I was, believe me, I was going to!" Tanjiro said frantically. Zenitsu huffed. There was a slight pause of no talking between the two as Zenitsu quietly (as he could) ate and ignored Tanjiro's staring at him. 'I wonder where does it all go?' Tanjiro thought to himself as he watched. Zenitsu's face flushed with embarrassment and he turned away from him, Tanjiro wondered why and shrugged at his strange reaction. Eventually, Tanjiro's eyes wandered over towards Zenitsu's discarded mask. He went over to it and picked it up.

"What's this?" he asked.

"Oh, that's my mask my uncle made for me," Zenitsu said looking up then back down at his meal, "isn't it great? It helps protect me from not only the sun but from letting people know I'm...uh, what are you doing?" He looked back over to see Tanjiro sniffing the mask with an intense look on his face.

"This smells like my Sensei," Tanjiro said to him.

"Stop being weird," Zenitsu said not hiding his annoyance, "and put down my mask. It's very vital for me to be out in the sun."

"So," Tanjiro said lowering the mask, forgetting about the sent of Urokodaki, "you can't just walk around during the day on your own then?"

"That's right," Zenitsu said finishing up the last of the duck, "we were talking about that before things went south, weren't we? No, it's because of these clothes and the mask I can," he said showing the special material for the first time to Tanjiro, "they protect me during the day! I haven't had them for long, but they've made all the difference," he looked up, "you seem sad."

"Oh no! I'm very happy for you, really I am," he said with a smile, "but I was hoping...It's nothing." he said waving it off, tracing the Lichtenberg markings of the mask with his finger as a distraction. Zenitsu simply shrugged and stood up.

"So what are you going to do now Tanjiro," he said while stretching his back, "go back to whatever your mission is, I suppose?"

"Actually," Tanjiro said, "my orders were to come to Iruma and wait for further instructions." Zenitsu paused.

"That's weird, those were the exact same orders I got too," he pulled out his letter to show Tanjiro.

"Wait, you're still getting orders," his eyes sparkled and he excitedly put his hands on Zenitsu's shoulders, "so you're still a Demon Slayer?!"

"Honestly, I think it's a bit of a fluke," Zenitsu said trying to squirm out of his grip and quickly taking the mask from Tanjiro and put it on, "they probably don't know about the whole 'I'm a demon' thing yet. Wonder why we both got the orders to come here though." Tanjiro shrugged happily, making Zenitsu wonder why he seemed so happy about him still being a fluke Demon Slayer.

"We should probably be waiting outside for our crows to give out the next order," Tanjiro said.

"Alright, let me get ready first," Zenitsu said still behind the mask.

"I'll be outside waiting," Tanjiro said brightly, then left the dusty room. Zenitsu lowered the mask and quickly wiped his mouth and chin from the drool that had run over when Tanjiro got close to him. He sighed (growled?) in frustration. The craving was unfortunately still there, he still wanted to eat him, even with a full stomach. How frustrating and disgusting. It would go away...right? Damn implanted…whatever it was. He put on his hood, mask, hat, and gloves and followed Tanjiro outside.

Hey all. Sorry if this chapter isn't all that great, I actually had a hard time with it. The dialog (and kinda gross situation) was actually hard for me to write so wee~ Plus Tanjiro is kinda hard to write 'believable' if you know what I mean?

So now we'll pick up to where the two will have officially meet in canon!

To the Tsutsumi Mansion!