Hey all. I hope this chapter is alright. I kinda don't like it because it's basically 'to me' is "cut and paste" the chapter because the majority of the dialog is ripped right from the show...eh~ Oh well... So to make up for it, have a nice long chapter.
Please, if you spot any spelling errors or have any feedback, let me know! :)
Zenitsu joined up with Tanjiro who was patiently waiting for him just outside the building. He adjusted his hat and mask just to make sure they were tightly fastened on. As soon as he stepped into a patch of light, Tanjiro's eyes sparkled with amazement; his eyes darting up and down his uniform.
"Amazing! So how does the material work exactly," Tanjiro asked excitedly, "who made them?"
"Uh...actually," Zenitsu said, his voice the only cue in indicating his embarrassment, "I don't know how it works? My uncle is the one who got them for me," he looked at one of the gloves and rubbed his thumb and forefinger together, "I think they're made from the same materials as our uniforms if that helps any." Tanjiro looked like he was about to say something when a crow landed sharply on his shoulder, flapping its wings as if it was angry and cawing loudly, making both boys jump.
"New mission! New mission! Both of you need to head to your next mission! Team mission!"
"We hear you," moaned Tanjiro, "you don't need to shout when we're right next to you!" Meanwhile, Zenitsu was in shock and awe at what he was witnessing. He nervously pointed to the bird while the other hand blankly clasped at nothing near his chest.
"T-That crow is-is talking?!" Tanjiro seemed confused at Zenitsu's reaction to his crow. Sure he was surprised the first time he'd heard Tennoji talk, but not at the level Zenitsu was showing and it had been months after all since they'd received their crows.
"Doesn't your crow tell you where to go?"
"Of course not," Zenitsu said as if what he was asking was absurd, "besides I didn't get a crow, I have a sparrow," He looked around in the sky as if he was looking for something, "he disappears from time to time. It's okay though. He certainly doesn't talk and isn't unnatural like that!" He pointed to the crow on Tanjiro's shoulder, in turn, the bird flew up, cawed menacingly, and started to attack him.
"AH! MY EYES, IT'S GOING FOR MY EYES!" he wailed and flailed about until he eventually hid behind Tanjiro and buried his masked face in Tanjiro's side so that the crow couldn't get to his eyes. Tanjiro tried his best to get his crow to stop the attack and was getting self-conscious of all the unwanted attention of the scene of a crow repeating "Baka!" over and over again and the wailing that Zenitsu was doing. Tanjiro wasn't one to be embarrassed often, but this was one time that he felt it. There was a sharp chirping sound that got the crow to temporarily pause his attacks. Zenitsu looked around, recognizing the sound.
"Chuntaro," he called out, "where are you? I hear you but I can't see you!"
"You mean this is your Kasugai," asked Tanjiro who gently took the sparrow from the top of Zenitsu's hat, "this cute little sparrow?"
"AH! There you are! Where did you go...again?!" There were several chirps from the bird that Tanjiro listened to intently.
"He said he had 'important business to attend to'."
"Wait. What," said Zenitsu as he turned his attention from Chuntaro to Tanjiro, "you can understand bird language? Come on, you're lying, right? You're just trying to trick me! Average birds can't possibly be that smart enough to form sentences like that." That's when Chuntaro started flapping and chirping in Tanjiro's hand furiously. Zenitsu looked at Tanjiro, who went slightly red in the face and looked away, clearing his throat.
"I'm...not repeating that."
Eventually, they started on their way but before leaving town Tanjiro decided that he wanted to get something to eat himself; seeing how patient and generous he had been with himself, Zenitsu found nothing wrong with that. They found a small section where there were several yatai's all gathered around each other. It seemed as if it would be counterintuitive to do so but apparently, each yatai appeared to be thriving so, what did they know. Tanjiro picked a yatai that sold oden; Zenitsu couldn't help but to look at the large pots of cooking oden and only could reminisce the missed flavors. At the end of the quiet meal, there was a disturbance at another yatai that made everyone look over.
"You've had more than enough," said the owner to a no longer wanted customer, "look at yourself, it's not even noon yet and you're already at this sorry state? Go home." With that, the owner went to guide the man away, but the man pushed himself away and promptly fell down hard.
"What's going on," asked Tanjiro, "is that man alright? Is he sick?" The owner of the oden yatai grunted.
" 'Sick' is one way of putting it. That man recently lost his family," he started cleaning his working area, just to keep his hands and eyes busy, "and most likely lost his mind. Says a demon killed them," he scoffed at the idea, "who believes in those tales these days. Probably a feverish idea his drunken brain came up with to help ease the pain." Tanjiro and Zenitsu watched the drunkard attempt to get up only to fall back down. Tanjiro couldn't stand by any longer and went over to the man to help him up because underneath the disgusting stench of the alcohol, was the overpowering smell of agony and loss, something he knew all too well.
"Come on," he said to the man, "Lean on me and I'll take you back to your home."
"What fuckin' home," the man drunkenly slurred and shoved Tanjiro away, "just fuck off."
"Come on Tanjiro," Zenitsu said quietly, grabbing his arm to lift him back up, "he doesn't want to be—"
"You," the drunkard suddenly said with so much venom in his voice that it made the hairs on Zenitsu's neck stand on end. He looked at him and felt if he didn't faint on the spot it would be a damn miracle. The drunkard was the father from the house...the one that had been attacked, the one with the graves. Before he could think about it any further, the man got up (not in the most graceful fashion) and grabbed at Zenitsu's haori, and started to shake him.
"You! You damn MONSTER! It's all your fault! You lured the other one to the house, didn't you?!" At this point the two of them fell to the ground, Zenitsu was struggling to get the man off of him as gently as he could while the other was grasping for his mask.
"Take it off," the man was yelling, completely in hysterics at this point, "take it off and show everyone what you really are!" Here the man was ripped off of him by several other people.
"Are you alright Zenitsu?" Tanjiro asked as he helped him back to his feet.
"I'm fine," he quietly replied as he readjusted his mask. They both watched as the drunken man was kicking and screaming about how he was a demon and everyone was laughing at his expense.
"You, you're a Demon Slayer aren't you," the man yelled at Tanjiro, "why aren't you doing anything?! Do your damn job and kill it!"
"The man has gone completely insane," mumbled a bystander.
The police eventually came and arrested the aggravated man, it didn't help his cause that he still insisted that Zenitsu was a demon and that he should be the one to be taken away. There was an uncomfortable air between Zenitsu and Tanjiro as they left town, but as soon as they left and were alone, Tanjiro was the first to speak:
"Did you two have a history? When he saw you, all I could smell off of him was hate and regret." Zenitsu sighed, he knew that this was eventually going to be brought up.
"Yeah. While I lived in the woods, one night I was too far away from one of my safe places to spend the day, so I took refuge under a house...his house. When night fell and as I was leaving, he saw me. I ran away of course but a few days later, another demon came and killed his family."
"I see," said Tanjiro, but then turned to him with a bit more hope in his voice, "but don't think it was your fault."
"I hope it wasn't," Zenitsu said a little downcast. An hour later as they walked in the woods, Zenitsu was back to whining, complaining about the walk and most things in general. Some of the things he complained about were how the crow was too fast in leading them, how it was too loud in ordering them, and especially about their upcoming mission.
"Hey Tanjiro," Zenitsu said with a whimpering tone, "are you sure you want me to come along? Remember how I told you about the last demon I came across and how I didn't even kill it? Other slayers finished it, I had to run so they wouldn't kill me instead! I'm horribly weak so perhaps it's best that I should just stick this one out." Zenitsu was also worried about what had happened in the abandoned building, but he didn't want to voice it just yet to Tanjiro. However, Tanjiro was silent to his pleas, either he was too focused on the task at hand or he just simply ignored him.
Soon a large mansion came to view and the two of them stopped, as the crow landed on top of the building. It was very large and well kept, despite its apparent age.
"I smell blood," said Tanjiro, "but this sent..."
"You smell something," asked Zenitsu.
"I've never smelled anything like it before."
"I don't know about any smell," said Zenitsu as he put a hand to one of his ears, having some trouble with it being covered, "but do you hear that sound? So do you want me to come along after all? I'm still worried about what happened in that building."
"I'm not," said Tanjiro dismissively, "but, what sound?" He turned to look at Zenitsu, but then noticed two children, a girl, and a boy, huddled together looking intently at the two at them.
"K-Kids," Zenitsu noticed, shivering just as hard as the two kids.
"I wonder what's wrong," Tanjiro said, approaching the two, "Hey, guys, what are you doing here?" However, instead of reassuring the two of them, the two small children became more frightened. Zenitsu could hear their hearts beating hard in their chests, and wondered who was more frightened them or himself.
"Okay, wanna see something cool?" asked Tanjiro kneeling to their height level and reaching into his haori. He pulled out Chuntaro who stood peacefully in his hand.
"Ta-da! It's a tame sparrow!" Chuntaro then started to 'dance' in Tanjiro's hand.
'Chuntaro, you little traitor,' Zenitsu thought as he watched on, 'damn you! You probably like him better than me...can't blame you, but-' His thoughts were interrupted when he heard disturbing sounds coming from the house. He turned his full attention towards it to listen. It sounded like several people running...one sounded hurt, several demons inside, and worse of all, that creepy drumming that never seemed to stop. He didn't like this at all.
"Tanjiro, hey what is this sound," he finally said, "this creepy sound never stops. Is it a tsuzumi?"
"Sound? I don't hear any sound," Tanjiro said. However finally, the drumming seemed to be loud enough for the others to hear as they all turned their attention towards the house as the drumming became more and more rapid. Then without warning, a man was what it appeared to be, thrown out the second-story window. The man was visibly hurt, but when his body hit the ground, there were loud snapping sounds and blood splattered everywhere.
"Don't look," Tanjiro yelled at the children. All Zenitsu could do was look, frozen with terror at what just happened. Tanjiro was at the man's side in an instant, giving him comfort in his last moments. Zenitsu knew he was dying, he could hear the man's heart rate slowing, even the organs shutting down, he had heard it several times with the animals that he'd killed. The smell of the man's blood was filling the air, and the fact that it was making him hungry was all the more exasperating. However, the sound of Tanjiro's sorrow pulled him out of his self-pity.
"Tanjiro, by any chance, is that guy these kids'..." he was interrupted when the whole house seemed to roar. It made the kids and Zenitsu cower but Tanjiro was firm in his resolve; he had a mission to do and he was going to avenge the fallen man.
"Hey, is this man your—" Tanjiro started to ask the children.
"H-He's not our brother," the boy answered, his eyes firmly closed and arms wrapped tightly around his sister, "Our brother is wearing a persimmon-colored kimono." Zenitsu could hear the slight relief in Tanjiro's heart. So the children's brother was still alive, but for how much longer?
"Alright, Zenitsu, come on! We need to go inside and defeat the demon inside!"
Zenitsu was whimpering, he didn't want to go inside, not. at. all. But at the same time...his eyes drifted back towards the dead man and he hated how he wanted to go over there and...he felt and heard his stomach growl.
"Okay, okay I get it! I'll go, I said I'll go!" Zenitsu said more to convince himself than anyone else.
Tanjiro took off the box from his back and set it down next to the children.
"In case of an emergency, I'm leaving this box behind. Even if something happens, you two will be protected." Zenitsu wasn't so sure about that; the demon inside the box was more likely to run away than anything if it even could leave the locked box. Hell, that's what he'd do.
"Okay, we're going now." Tanjiro turned towards the house and walked towards it, Zenitsu reluctantly followed behind. Once inside and in the dark, Zenitsu took off his hat and masks and nervously wiped his brow and face, hating how hard he was sweating and crying from the fear of the house. He also took off the gloves because of how damp they were from his face. As they went deeper into the house, he couldn't help but shiver from fear from what he was hearing coming deep within the house.
"Tanjiro, hey Tanjiro," he quietly called out, "before we continue, you'll protect me, right? You know how horribly weak I am, so you'll protect me from whatever's in this place...right?" Tanjiro stopped walking and paused for a second.
"Zenitsu, I hate to tell you this, but," he turned towards him, "I've got a broken rib and leg from my previous battle. Neither of them are fully healed yet so-"
"YOU HAVE BROKEN BONES?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN BROKEN BONES," yelled Zenitsu
at the top of his lungs, forgetting where they were, "don't you go breaking any bones on me! If you've got fractures, then you can't possibly protect me! we're absolutely dead! I'm a dead man now, 99.9% dead! Broken bones?! How could you?!" Tanjiro was in quiet awe of Zenitsu's mental breakdown, not sure what to do in this situation as he watched him writhe on the ground in fear of the situation.
"Zenitsu, you've got to be quiet and calm down," he tried to reason, "you'll be alright! You're a demon, after all, you can't be possibly killed."
"Don't try to feed me your empty promises! You're just sugarcoating it!"
"I'm not! You're going to be fine! I can tell, all right? Zenitsu, you're—" Tanjiro paused, making Zenitsu pause as well.
"Stay back," called out Tanjiro, making Zenitsu think it was a demon attacking, so he jumped up and shouted. However, it was the two children following them into the house.
"You two shouldn't be here," Tanjiro said sternly.
"We're sorry," said the older boy, "but we heard scratching sounds coming from inside that box."
"E-Even still," said Tanjiro as he went to comfort the small girl, "it pains me that you left it behind! I mean, it's more precious to me than my own life!"
"H-How so," asked Zenitsu, who was curious as to why a box that had a demon would be so precious to someone like him. But before Tanjiro could even think of answering him, the boy started stammering and pointed violently at Zenitsu.
"H-He's a m-monster too!" Zenitsu's hands immediately went to his face, realizing his mask wasn't there.
"It's alright," Tanjiro tried to reason with him, "there's nothing to be afraid of! Zenitsu's not like—" There was a sudden rumbling throughout the house that caused the entire party to pause. Zenitsu took a step towards Tanjiro, but the boy panicked when he did that and bumped into Tanjiro and his sister, pushing them into the adjacent room. Then suddenly, the two of them were gone.
"Gah! Where did they go?!" Zenitsu looked in the room, it wasn't even the same room! He looked over at the boy who was slowly backing away from him.
"S-Stay away from me," he called out and ran off. Oh, perfect! Just what he needed! The LAST thing he wanted to do was to run after a kid in a spooky house full of demons that'll rip his face off!
"Kid, wait up! Don't go running off like that," he went after him as he turned the corner, "It's dangerous! You might attract a bad guy you know!?"
"You're the bad guy," yelled out the kid over his shoulder, eventually he ran into a corner and had no choice but to stand in the corner but held firm, shivering, pointing an accusatory finger at him, "you probably just want to eat me, don't you!"
"I don't want to eat you," he sighed, but as if on cue, his stomach rumbled loudly. The kid gave him such a 'I told you' look.
"Look," Zenitsu said trying to get the situation back under control, "let's just go," he gently grabbed the kids' arm, "we need to get you outside so I can focus on getting back to Tanjiro." The kid squirmed in his grip, and he had to be careful not to accidentally scratch him. When they got to where the front door was, he opened the door but instead of finding the outdoors as he had expected, there was another room.
"What?! You've got to be kidding me? I was sure this is where the front door was! Have all the rooms rearranged?" He started opening random doors, hoping that one of them would have the outdoors behind them. He was so focused on finding the exit that he didn't hear that behind one door was a person. He opened it and was shocked to see what appeared to be some sort of human-animal hybrid between a man and a boar. He could hear the intent to attack within the creature building up.
"IT'S A MONSTER!" He barely had time to duck from the sword swing from the creature. He looked up and saw that the creature was preparing another attack.
"Hahahaha! Come on now, don't be like that! Draw your sword and FIGHT ME!"
"NO-THANK-YOU," said Zenitsu picking up the boy and running for his life. He ran as fast as he could, hearing the angry repeating phrases of 'fight me' beginning to fade as he ran blindly. Soon he felt it safe enough to stop running and set the boy down as he tried to regain his breath. Now they were completely lost.
"Now what?" asked the boy quietly. Zenitsu looked at him, seeing that he was still afraid of him but was now at a loss of what to do.
"We'll keep looking for Tanjiro and your sister," he said trying to steady his voice, then decided to mimic Tanjiro who seemed to know how to speak to kids really well by kneeling to the boy's height, "while avoiding all the monsters as best we can. Look um, what's your name?"
"Shoichi," he answered a little reluctantly, "and my younger sister's name is Teruko." Zenitsu nodded.
"Alright then Shoichi, let's continue to-" he saw that Shoichi's face paled and was looking down and to the side, so he looked behind him. He wished he didn't. Crawling out from beneath the floor was a demon. It was a dark grayish brown with two sets of eyes, small horns, arrow patterns on its limbs and nose, and worse of all was that hideous tongue. It cackled and smiled when it approached, crawling on the ground like a lizard.
"So, we have a new demon in the mansion," said the demon; it somehow managed to speak with that massive tongue swinging around but it still sounded garbled, "that means I'm no longer the lowest in the pecking order." He chuckled at the thought. "Alright brat, hand over that kid and I won't push you around too hard."
"Seriously, two demons in five minutes," cried out Zenitsu, "how bad is my luck anyway?" Before he could say anything else, he felt something wet hit his left hand with such force that made his whole arm feel like it was on fire. He looked down at his hand and saw that it had been split right in two, right down the middle. However, it wasn't like that for long, it quickly healed, the bones and tissue fusing back together. The sounds of it healing made Zenitsu slightly nauseous; soon his hand looked as if nothing happened to it at all. He whimpered at the sight.
"Now that I've given you a slap on the hand," the demon chuckled, "I'll repeat myself. Hand that kid over. I'm sure he'll be most agreeable to the tongue." Zenitsu instead took Shoichi by the hand and they both ran from the tongue demon, who chased after them.
"Stay away! Just stay away from us! Stop doing that creepy crawl!" Zenitsu shouted looking over his shoulder, "T-T-This child doesn't taste good, not at all! He tastes awful! I'm serious, okay?! He's all skin and bones and dry as hell! Just trust me, alright?!"
"How will I know," laughed the demon, "until I have a taste?" Zenitsu heard the tongue whipping in the air again, and he instinctively took Shoichi to his chest and moved to the right. As soon as he did, a water jug that had been near where they'd been standing split down the middle, spilling its contents. Zenitsu could only imagine if that had been Shoichi or himself...split in two. Another attack and forced Zenitsu to burst into a room, both sprawled out on the ground.
"Zenitsu," Shoichi called out as he pulled on his arm, "get up!"
"I-I can't! Almost all of my fear is in my knees now, at least eighty percent!"
"This is no time to whine now," Shoichi scolded as he pulled harder on Zenitsu's arm, wondering why he had been afraid of him in the first place, "now get up!"
"Just leave me behind, he's after you! Just leave me and run, I'll buy you time to run while he's chewing on me. Make a run for it!"
"I can't do something like that," Shoichi said instantly, as if Zenitsu suggested something completely ridiculous, "I won't leave you behind." Zenitsu's heart swelled at his words.
'What a great kid this is! Even though I'm an ugly demon and making terrified sounds, he's willing to stay by my side! I gotta find a way to protect this kid! He's not even double digits yet, it'd be way too tragic if someone like him were to die so young! But how? I'm too scared to even get back up...I'm so miserably weak!' He heard a sound and turned around. The demon was crawling up into the room.
"I'm gonna guzzle his brains through his ears," he said with a sadistic smile. Well...that was Zenitsu's worse fear, having something eating his brains through his sensitive ears while he was still alive. Hearing his worst fear going to be performed on someone right in front of him was enough to make his world go black.
The next thing he knew he woke with a start. He was standing up in the room in a new location, he heard a sound behind him so he turned to look, and right at his feet was the rolling head of the demon.
"AHH! IT'S DEAD?! All of a sudden it's dead! How's it dead? What the Hell? This is really weird? YUCK!" He looked at the disappearing body of the demon, as the ashes gently burned away then looked up at the shocked and confused face of Shoichi. There was only one explanation for this situation. He ran up to the boy and flung himself onto him, wrapping his arms lovingly around him.
"Thank you! You saved my life! Even though you were afraid of me you stayed by my side and saved me! I'll be forever and eternally grateful for what you've done for me! Why didn't you tell me earlier you were so powerful? It should be me who should be afraid of you!"
"What are you talking about?" asked Shoichi, who was completely confused about what he just witnessed. Moments ago, he thought he was going to die, then Zenitsu calmly rose up to his feet and fast as lightning killed the monster. And speaking of lightning, he looked around the room, the electricity that had radiated off of Zenitsu's body left scorch marks on the floor; on the far left wall, he could see a large slash mark...probably the same one that the sword...
"Did you say something?" he heard Zenitsu ask him innocently. He looked at the demon in front of him, not quite sure what to make of it. It seemed like he really didn't know what happened. He shook his head.
"No. Uh, no forget it," he told Zenitsu, "we should go now, okay?" For now, it was probably best to let the monster think he was stronger than him...maybe it would keep it from possibly eating him, he could still hear its belly grumbling even now. Even though it was highly doubtful it wanted to at this point, it was still best to have a backup plan.
"Yeah," Zenitsu agreed, "let's keep looking for the others." He took Shoichi's hand and the two continued on their way.
As the two of them continued in the house, Zenitsu listened closely for Tanjiro's sound, hoping it would guide it back to him. However, there were at least two other demons in the house, he could hear them...and a human? It wasn't Tanjiro, so he wasn't sure what he was hearing. Maybe it was someone else lost in this hell house. Then he could hear voices, coming from a few hallways away. It sounded like Teruko and another voice he'd never heard before, and...
"I hear them," Zenitsu said excitedly, tugging on Shoichi's arm, "I can hear Tanjiro and Teruko, this way," he started running, dragging Shoichi behind him. They came up to another shōji screen and opened it; inside was a room with Tanjiro, Teruko, and a third boy, most likely the brother in the room. Shoichi broke away from Zenitsu.
"Kiyoshi," he called out with tears in his eyes, "Teruko! There you are!" Kiyoshi reached out for his younger brother, relieved to see him. When he looked up and saw Zenitsu however, he panicked and quickly picked up a nearby tsuzumi and went to strike it.
"No, it's alright," Tanjiro tried to reassure him, "this is Zenitsu Agatsuma. He's a Demon Slayer like myself. He's with me." However, Kiyoshi's fear never left him and he never let go of the tsuzumi; he was staring at Zenitsu with more fear than Shoichi ever did. Zenitsu felt bad, the kid looked absolutely exhausted with dark circles underneath his eyes. He slowly approached the group, he didn't want to spook the kid any worse than he already was.
"I'm glad we found each other," Tanjiro said to Zenitsu, all he could do was quietly nod with a small smile. He turned his attention away and looked around the room, something smelled really nice, he just didn't know what. Whatever it was, he wanted to find it.
"Now then," said Tanjiro turning his attention back towards the eldest brother, "can you show me your wounds? You've done so well for hanging in there on your own." Kiyoshi's lip trembled and he couldn't hold it in any longer, he started to cry into his hands, his siblings started to quietly cry when they saw their strong older brother break down. Tanjiro smiled and started to pull out a first aid kit that he always carried, but Zenitsu was confused; now the smell had a slightly salty smell to it? What was going on? He shook his head and knelt next to Tanjiro.
"This ointment here is amazing! My master gave it to me," Tanjiro said as he put some of it on his fingers to put on Kiyoshi's wounds. As he did so, Zenitsu couldn't help but notice that the nice smell was coming from Kiyoshi's wound and a duller version of the smell from him. He shook his head and put his hand to the side of it. He didn't want to admit it, but the smell was starting to make him feel almost giddy. He also noticed he was swallowing more often than usual.
"My master always wears a tengu mask," Tanjiro told the children, pulling him from his thoughts.
"Tengu," said Kiyoshi, "really?"
"It's true, he never takes it off. I've never seen his face." Zenitsu found himself pulling out his mask and looking at it, gently rubbing one of the eyebrow ridges of the mask.
"Are you talking about Sakonji Urokodaki?" Zenitsu asked quietly.
"Yep," Tanjiro turned to him with a smile and a look in his eyes that said 'don't worry, I know', then turned back to the kids, "my master's ointment so amazing that it works in a split second, you won't feel any pain soon." He tied a clean cloth that was with the kit over the wound.
"There, you're all set! Now, do you think you can tell me what happened here, if you can?" Kiyoshi looked away, it almost looked like he was seeing something miles away. It was more than obvious that he was traumatized at what had happened, and it was like ripping a fresh wound open just thinking about it over again. Hell, the events weren't even over yet, if one was being practical.
"A monster took me away and brought me here," he said as deadpanned as he could, perhaps it was his way to keep himself together, "and it was getting ready to devour me. But then," his eyes narrowed and his voice started to waver, "two other monsters showed up out of nowhere and started to fight to the death over who was...who was," tears started streaming down his face, but he kept going, "who was going to e-eat me. And t-then, when the larger monster defeated the one with the tsuzumi's growing out of him, he dropped one of the tsuzumi. I was able to reach it and pick it up, and when I struck it, the entire room suddenly changed, and the monsters were gone. It's the only reason why I'm..." he couldn't finish and broke down crying. His siblings comforted him as best as they could. Zenitsu picked up the joyful, relieved sounds radiating off of the siblings and it made him genuinely happy, but it also made that smell all the more, he hated to admit, appetizing. Like it was only adding flavor to it. His stomach growled, but thankfully everyone was distracted enough that they didn't notice. He placed a hand on it and pressed down, cursing his stupid demon body and its stupid cravings.
'Not now,' he thought, as if he'd somehow will his body to be still, 'please be quiet.'
"A demon with tsuzumi's," mumbled Tanjiro, placing a hand to his chin, "so that was him. He mentioned marechi or something like that."
"That's right," Kiyoshi said, his eyes went wide, "he kept calling me 'Marechi'!" There was a loud caw that filled the air followed by "What is 'Marechi'?" that made everyone jump. Tanjiro's kasugai crow had somehow come into the room.
"It refers to the owner of rare blood," the crow continued as if nothing had happened. The children all huddled together in fear.
"Where the Hell did you come from?!" yelled out Zenitsu. He swore his heart had jumped out of his mouth. The crow in turn jumped at him and started pecking at him.
"Cut that out," said Tanjiro as he took the crow in hand, "what do you mean by 'rare blood'?"
"The blood of all living things can be categorized into different types, idiot," the crow said as it hopped out of Tanjiro's hands.
"And the ultimate marechi, the rarest of blood types and most uncommon of them," he waved a wing towards Zenitsu using him as an unfortunate example, "for a demon, a single marechi human has the same nutritional value as eating one hundred humans!" Suddenly all eyes were on him, three sets very judgmental, one set not quite so much. He went to say something but as if God himself hated his very existence and loved the serendipity of the situation, his stomach growled again, fiercely this time and he couldn't help but be embarrassed.
"For demons, marechi is a feast, a delicacy! Marechi is their favorite food! They'll stop at nothing to get their claws on—"
"We get it okay," Zenitsu said taking a backhanded swipe at the crow making it shut up, "you don't have to rub it in!" He looked over at the kids and all of them, especially Kiyoshi looked at him as if he was going to jump them.
"I should go," Zenitsu said quietly, standing up to leave the room.
"Zenitsu you don't have to go," Tanjiro said as he stood up as well; grabbing his hand to stop him from leaving.
"Yes, I do," he said more sternly to Tanjiro, looking back at the burgundy-haired boy, "they're scared of me and besides," he leaned over towards him and whispered in his ear, "you heard it Tanjiro, and it hurts." Tanjiro's sound faltered but evened out.
"Alright, we'll talk later," said Tanjiro, "outside."
"Yeah, outside," he turned his attention to the kids who all yelped in surprise, "stay safe everyone." He turned around and was grateful that he was able to hold in his tears before leaving the room.
He was hopelessly lost. He was probably just going around in circles at this point, but he still ran. He was so upset with himself it was unbearable. He finally settled on just going into a room and sitting on the floor, feeling sorry for himself. Why did his stupid body have to be like this now? He didn't want people thinking he was a monster, hell he didn't want to think he was one either...but the truth of the matter was there, he was one. Whether he liked it or not, he was a demon, and demons had their own desires...and they desired to eat people. There was a mirror in the room he was in and he noticed his reflection...he hated seeing that greedy beast on the other side. He put on his masks and gloves, he didn't want to see it anymore. Suddenly the room flipped and he was in the air and was falling down through several rooms. Before he could even grasp on what was happening, he was shot outside the second-story window, 'just like the man from earlier,' was all he could think before he had time to react. He somehow managed to roll safely onto the ground from the height and speed. He was also grateful for putting back on his equipment...otherwise he would have been burnt alive. He looked up at the window from where he had fallen from.
"Thank you, Gramps," he mumbled to himself, "for all those times you pulled me from the tree. If I hadn't learned how to roll from falling from a height I'd probably have..." He paused when the smell of blood hit him again. The corpse of the man was still in the spot from where he'd fallen...but now he was hungry...and he'd never had to deal with a situation like this before.
'I could drag the body into the shadows,' he found himself thinking. He was suddenly horrified about thinking like that! He smacked the side of his head and closed his eyes. His belly was taking over his mind and it was driving him insane.
"I can't handle this," he said grabbing the sides of his head and forced himself to turn and walk away, "why am I like this? I hate myself!" He sat down, pulling the hat as far down on his head as it could go with his eyes closed, and tried to ignore the smell and his stomach's complaints. Minutes later, he wasn't sure how many, he realized that the creepy sounds were silent now. He looked over towards the house. He didn't hear any more demon sounds from the house.
"Did you do it Tanjiro?" he asked quietly as he looked at the house. He went to stand up but then he could hear thunderous footfalls charging towards the entrance.
"What's this, what's this, what's this!" Zenitsu asked nobody as he was worried that maybe he missed the sound of a demon.
"Comin' through," said a voice, "comin' through!"
"GAH! It's the monster boar!" cried out Zenitsu, backing up. He listened to the 'monster boar' and realized that it wasn't a monster at all, but a human. That didn't mean he still wasn't scared of him.
"Gahahah! I'm sensing a demonic presence." the man in the mask said as if he was thrilled at the idea of finding another demon to take on. Zenitsu realized from listening to his voice that this psycho was the fifth survivor from Final Selection. The one who ran up first then ran down before anyone else. What an absolute psychopath.
"Found it!" the guy called out as he started charging towards Tanjiro's box. Zenitsu's eyes went wide. He couldn't let anything bad happen to Tanjiro's box! Even if it had a demon inside it, Tanjiro considered it more precious than his own life!
"Stop it!" he found himself yelling out and throwing himself in front of the box. The wild boar stopped and looked down at him with genuine curiosity.
"Well well, if it isn't little piss-my-pants demon who ran away from before. Who the hell do you think you are? You're not worth my time, now get out of my way!"
"I'm Zenitsu Agatsuma," he said not flinching from his spot, even though he wanted to, "I'm with the Demon Slayer Corps, just like you!"
"Demon Slayer Corps," the boar asked, "YOU, a member? Don't know much about that, but if you're seriously a member, then you know we got to get rid of that thing! Now, get out of my way, and maybe I'll consider sparing you."
"I'm not moving," he said with a firm voice that even he didn't know where it came from, "this is Tanjiro's—"
"Don't argue with me demon! If that's the case then I'll demolish him and that box together! Now move," he raised one of his swords and swung it at his neck only stopping it mere centimeters from slicing his head off. He flinched but didn't move from his spot.
"Damn you," grumbled the boar.
"Inside this box is something I'm not letting you touch! It's something precious to Tanjiro!"
"You damned idiot," said the boar, clearly losing his patience with him, "there's a demon inside that box, and I want to fight it! I can tell it's really strong."
"Of course I know there's a demon inside, I've known that from the very beginning!" yelled out Zenitsu. That was his first mistake. He raised his hands defensively when he saw the boar raise his weapons, then suddenly felt a searing pain in his shoulders; both swords had been plunged deep into his shoulders and went completely through them.
"You bastard," the boar yelled out, "you're just protecting your own kind, aren't you?!" he was lifted up with the swords and flung away.
"I'll kick your yellow ass in a minute, I wanna fight this demon first!" He turned back towards the box and raised his now bloody swords, the blood gently ashing away in the sun, and went to attack but was tackled by Zenitsu.
"Let go of me, dammit! You'll get your turn in a minute," said the boar as he elbowed Zenitsu in the back of the neck and flinging him off of him, "you're so annoying!"
"You're not laying a finger on it," said Zenitsu as he grabbed the boar's leg, which got him kicked in the face, cracking the mask.
"That's something precious to Tanjiro," Zenitsu growled out, flinging the boar as hard as he pleased, giving him time to wrap himself around the box. Perhaps if he wasn't so caught up in the moment, he would have thought about climbing a tree with it.
"You're not touching it until he gets back!" He had never wanted to know what it would feel like to be stabbed with a sword, let alone a serrated one, but here he was, being repeatedly stabbed and gouged with two of them. It hurt, badly and it also burned as if the sword was recently taken out of a forge. Must be part of the whole Nichiren 'absorbing sunlight' aspect. He felt it go deep inside him, cutting organs and bones, perhaps he deserved some of it for the disgusting desires he had. It didn't matter though, his wounds healed quickly, but the pain remained. He was doing his best not to cry, if this is how he was to die, he was going to die like a man, damn it.
"Move it," the boar said, giving him another chance.
"I won't!" He then felt kicks to his head and body, the boar was getting more and more frustrated with him, the sound he was making was even sounding ever so slightly...ashamed? Like he didn't like what he was doing?
"Come on, move it," he said sounding frustrated, "draw your sword and fight me! Use those damn claws! DO SOMETHING!" Zenitsu was aware that there was a new sound that had entered the area. He looked up and saw that Tanjiro and the kids had made it outside. That was good, they were all safe.
"Tanjiro, I protected it...because you said," he hated how his voice sounded so weak from the few blows he received from the wild boar, "that this was...more important than your own life."
"After all that damn bluster," said the boar as he continued to kick into him, "you still won't even draw your sword, you dumbass? You won't even use your claws and fangs? What good are you? If you're a fellow Demon Slayer, then let's see you fight!" The blows continued, Zenitsu wondered how much longer he would keep going before he'd decide just to end it.
"Enough," said the boar, "if you're not going to move then I have no choice! I'm going to kill you then get at that box!" Well, this was it. It had been a good run...well actually no, it really hadn't been, had it? He got turned into a demon and shamed Gramps and the Corps. He really couldn't blame the raging boar man, he was just, doing his job after all. This was...probably for the best...he couldn't even protect a damn box.
"Knock it off," roared out Tanjiro as he rushed over. Zenitsu just barely looked up when he saw Tanjiro's punch catch the wild boar's chest and sent him flying. He flinched because he heard the ribs breaking from that hit. He even started to shrink away from Tanjiro. He'd heard the drums of anger from people in the past, their hearts thumping so hard that he'd worried they'd explode, but Tanjiro's? It sounded like a burning inferno. Like the anger had been smoldering for years, and it finally erupted into a backdraft. What could have triggered it? He looked up at Tanjiro and realized if Tanjiro truly had wanted to, he would have killed him back at that abandoned building.
"Aren't you a member of the Demon Slayer Corps yourself," yelled out Tanjiro, "Don't you get why Zenitsu refuses to draw his sword or attack you? It's because it's taboo for us to draw our swords on each other for no reason! And Zenitsu might be a demon, but he's one of us! And here you are, giving him a one-sided beatdown, and then about to kill him! Is that fun for you?! You're the lowest of the low!" Then surprising both of them, the boar started laughing, although it did sound slightly painful to do so.
"Oh," chuckled the boar with a slight cough, "so that's why he's being such a little bitch? My bad," he suddenly sat up, "In that case, let's you and me fight bare-handed and see who's the strongest!"
"No," said Tanjiro, backing up slightly, "I don't think you understand," the boar charged at him, "We're not supposed to fight each other, period!" But it was too late, they began a hand-to-hand fistfight that was simply amazing to watch. The boar was all over Tanjiro (literally in one attack), but somehow he was able to avoid most of the attacks. Zenitsu wondered how both of them were able to move like that with broken bones.
"M-Mister," a timid voice came from behind Zenitsu, he sat up and turned and saw that the eldest boy, Kiyoshi had approached him, "um...I just wanted to say...sorry about earlier. I was just...scared and," Zenitsu just waved a tired hand to silence him.
"It's fine," he said hoarsely, "I understand. I'm getting used to it myself." Kiyoshi smiled softly and went back over towards his siblings with a limp.
"Pretty amazing, aren't I?! Pretty amazing, aren't I?!" crowed the boar man, catching Zenitsu's attention.
"Look at what else I can do," said the boar, contorting his head down on the ground between his legs while still standing...it was seriously gross-looking. And the psycho was laughing! Was he wrong thinking this guy was human?
"Stop that! Don't do stuff like that! You've got broken bones, you're going to make them worse," Tanjiro tried to reason.
"Worse? Like I care! The thrill of the fight is all I care about!"
"You need to think about the future!"
"I don't care!" Here it seemed Tanjiro had his fill of this guy, he grabbed both of his shoulders.
"You need to CALM DOWN!" he yelled and headbutted him so hard that the sound alone made Zenitsu want to throw up.
"Ah! That sound," he said grabbing at his own forehead, feeling phantom pain, "are your skulls fractured?! Both of you probably have brain damage!" The boar stumbled, clearly dazed from the hit and his mask fell. The face behind that mask...was not what he was expecting. He'd imagined either a scarred battle-ridden face or a gruff bearded one but behind it?
"Eh? A girl? You've got a girl's face!" Zenitsu blurted out before he could stop himself. It was strange, the wild boar had such feminine features: Long eyelashes, fair skin, and soft lips. If that face had been on a girl's body, Zenitsu would have been swooning. It was little wonder as to why he hid it behind an ugly boar hide...nobody probably would take him seriously with a face like that.
"You've got a problem with my face or something?"
"You're one creepy guy, you know that right," Zenitsu finally said, "you've got such a ripped body but there's a girl's face sitting on top of it." Not that he was...jealous or anything like that. The boar glanced his way and scowled at him.
"Why the hell are you looking at my face like that?"
"I-I'm not," Zenitsu said getting up and hiding behind Teruko as if she was some sort of shield, "I'm not looking at your face!" He could hear the disappointment coming from the other two siblings but he didn't care, he didn't feel like getting stabbed anymore. He'd been stabbed enough to last the rest of his lifetime thank you very much.
"We don't have a problem with your face," said Tanjiro, "it's quite petite, fair-skinned, and therefore attractive!" The boar glared at him.
"You're a corpse! Fight me!"
"Not happening," said Tanjiro, standing firm, "I'm not gonna attack you anymore!"
"Try head-butting me again!"
"No, I'm done!"
"Do it, come on!"
"You should sit down, are you sure you're alright?"
'This is a strange fight,' Zenitsu thought as he watched these two argue. He did catch that the boars' name was Inosuke Hashibira as they continued their argument and apparently he couldn't read or write...figures that someone like that couldn't. Then suddenly Inosuke froze.
"W-What's wrong?" asked Zenitsu.
"He froze," muttered Shoichi.
Inosuke suddenly fell down, foaming at the mouth with his eyes rolled back in his head. Oh God...he died. Tanjiro seriously killed him.
"He collapsed! Is he dead, did he die?" yelled out Zenitsu, causing worry among the children.
"He's not dead," Tanjiro said wiping the blood away from his nose, "It's probably a concussion because I head-butted the Hell out of him."
"Are you okay Tanjiro?" asked Teruko.
"Yep," happily replied Tanjiro.
"You're amazing! Can I touch your head?" Tanjiro smiled as he leaned down so Teruko could reach it.
'That's scary,' Zenitsu thought, 'there's not a single drop of blood from Tanjiro's head and yet it knocked the wild boar flat! How hard is it anyway?' Tanjiro went over to Inosuke, took off his haori and made it into a pillow, and placed it under his head.
"Just want him to be a little more comfortable," he said turning to him and the kids with a smile.
'This guy is too much,' Zenitsu thought. He sighed and took off his bloody haori.
"Even if it's bloody," Zenitsu said, "do you think this'll help?" Tanjiro looked shocked, then pleased.
"That's so thoughtful of you Zenitsu," he said.
'Not really,' Zenitsu thought, 'you thought of it first. Stupid forehead, he's acting like I had the original idea.'
"Come on," he said placing a hand on Zenitsu's shoulder, "our job isn't done yet. We still have the bodies to bury."
"Oh, yeah," Zenitsu replied, "that..."
"Don't worry," Tanjiro said, "it'll be easy with you helping," 'stop talking you stupid forehead idiot', "especially with you digging the graves."
"Huh?" Tanjiro gently grabbed Zenitsu's wrists and raised his hand high and waved his hand around.
"Your hands are perfect for digging the graves! I'll go in and gather the bodies while you get the graves ready," he leaned in closer so only Zenitsu could hear, "it's alright," he tapped the side of his nose with a smile, "don't worry about it." If it was to make Zenitsu feel better, it had the opposite effect. It only made him feel worse. Did that mean he could smell the want and need to feed? He felt so low right now.
"Thanks, Tanjiro," was all he could quietly say at the moment. Tanjiro patted his shoulder twice and started gathering rocks. Zenitsu sighed and found what looked like a good spot for a grave.
It...actually was easy digging. Sure he had dug out that badger hole, but it was already dug out and in soft soil, this ground was hard, but not all that hard. By the time Tanjiro had the rocks gathered for the first grave, Zenitsu already was started on the second grave.
"Good job! I didn't think you'd be this quick! We don't even know how many people are in the house so don't dig too many," he said with a sad smile, "when Inosuke wakes up, I'm sure he'll help us out!"
"And maybe he'll start flying too," muttered Zenitsu under his breath, "crazy pig face."
"Don't be like that," Tanjiro said, "I'm sure you're only irritable because—"
"Because what," Zenitsu growled out, looking up harshly at him, "go on, say it."
"Because he attacked you," Tanjiro said quietly.
"I...oh," Zenitsu said digging his claws into the dirt, feeling stupid. He knew that wasn't the real reason, Tanjiro was just being nice about it, "let's just get this done and over with, okay Tanjiro?" Tanjiro simply nodded and left him to his work.
The late afternoon's golden-red hues were the very kind of days that Zenitsu wished that he had a simple life where he could quietly sit back with a lovely wife and enjoy the world's splendor...but no. Here he was, walking down a mountain path with a crow screaming above them, a wild insane boar screaming at Tanjiro to fight him while slamming his stupid head into trees for some God-only-knows reason while Tanjiro was shouting at him to stop. What kind of people did these kids think that the Demon Corps was filled up with? Probably a bunch of psychopaths at this point.
He looked over at the kids, the two younger ones helping their older sibling walk down the path. They looked exhausted but so happy to be together again and heading home. He smiled, but the wind brought Kiyoshi's smell towards him and it made his mouth instantly water and stomach grumble. He sighed, those kids did have every reason to be afraid of him he thought bitterly. Soon they came to a fork in the road and it was time for the two parties to split. Zenitsu really, REALLY didn't want Shoichi to go, but seeing that Kiyoshi was a marechi or whatever the term was, he needed the extra protection. Shoichi would be more than capable of protecting Kiyoshi...he just wished it was him he was protecting.
"Open your hands," the crow said to Kiyoshi as it flew down near him. He did as told but instantly regretted it when the crow regurgitated a violet bag into his hands. There was an instant foul smell in the air that burned Zenitsu's sinuses and lungs, it even stung his eyes.
"Demon repellent," the crow cawed out, landing on Tanjiro's shoulder, "That will ward off demons. You with marechi, keep that on your person at all times!"
"It smells like wisteria," Tanjiro said looking at the small bag.
"Wisteria?" asked Kiyoshi.
"It's a flower that demons can't tolerate," he said to him, looking over and seeing Zenitsu's distress, "you should hold onto that. Maybe even convince your parents to plant wisteria plants and trees around your home."
"We will," Kiyoshi said, "We can get home on our own now. We are truly grateful for what you've done for us."
"Take care now," said Tanjiro waving goodbye. Zenitsu would have said something, but he was ready to throw up from the horrible smell of the wisteria. It was starting to make him feel nauseous and he was worried that if he did open his mouth he would throw up, so he settled on waving goodbye as well.
His head felt clearer once they had some distance from the children and that stupid bag, he didn't feel quite so sick. He was just thankful that he didn't faint from the smell alone.
"That stuff was horrible," he whined to nobody in particular, "it stank and burned my nose and eyes! I thought I was going to puke! Why did that stupid bird have to give it to them when I was so close?! Uncaring bird!" He looked over at his two travel companions and noticed that they were too busy arguing to notice his whining. He huffed...not that he had wanted an audience to his complaining...but a little sympathy would have been nice! He heard a soft chirp on his shoulder and saw that Chuntaro was back.
"There you are," he said reaching up and petting his wayward bird, "at least YOU understand me! It was terrible Chuntaro...that mean crow spat up wisteria and it made me sick! It didn't even consider MY feelings! So cruel!" The sparrow didn't say or do much but having something listening to his whining made him feel a bit better.
Night fell, and he was able to take off his soiled gloves and look at his cracked mask. He felt bad that his gift from Uncle Sakonji was cracked. Maybe he'd get something to fix it? The crow led them up to a large house, much larger than the one they had come from with large bamboo walls surrounding it; a great wooden gate with a wisteria crest painted on it.
"A wisteria family crest," Tanjiro noted.
"Rest time, Rest time! Since you've sustained injuries, you're all to rest until fully recovered! As ordered!"
"Are you sure it's fine to rest," asked Tanjiro holding his crow, not unlike Zenitsu would his sparrow, "I just fought a demon while injured, you know?"
"Let's eat this thing," said Inosuke grabbing the tail feathers of the crow. It wasn't having any of that, it took flight as soon as it could. The side door of the gate suddenly opened and behind it was...a little old lady. She was small, couldn't have been any higher than four feet tall. But something was...off about this old lady. Zenitsu had heard old people's hearts in the past, they sounded soft and tired like they were getting ready for their final sleep. But this lady's? Her heart was strong, loud like it was someone half her age. Like she had years, no, decades left in her! She looked frail, but her song told a different story.
"Yes?" asked the woman quietly.
"Sorry to bother you so late at night ma'am," Tanjiro started politely.
"A monster," Zenitsu interrupted, his hands trembling near his face in horror, "it's a monster!" It was the only explanation! How on earth could someone sound so young yet look so old?!
"Hey you," yelled Tanjiro, "be polite!"
"Who the hell are you?" asked Inosuke approaching her. Tanjiro was shocked, how could these two be so rude!
"I can see that you three are the demon hunters I was told about," the old woman said, bowing at Inosuke as he approached.
"You look pretty weak," Inosuke said poking at her well-kept hair.
"Hey," Tanjiro yelled out, "please be more respectful!"
"Please, come in...all of you," said the woman turned around. As they walked inside, Zenitsu noticed how fast the old woman walked compared to the three of them. It was creepy! Unnatural!
"That old lady sure walks fast," said Zenitsu to Tanjiro, "it's creepy! She scares me!"
"You should be nicer Zenitsu," Tanjiro whispered to him, "after all, you probably scared her first. You're not wearing your mask, remember?" Zenitsu gasped, a hand shot up to his face. Damn it, Tanjiro was right! He forgot to put it back on!
"Well," Zenitsu stumbled with his words, "of course she's not scared! She's a monster hag after-" he stopped when he felt a sharp pain in his head when Tanjiro smacked the top of his head, hard. It kinda reminded him of when Gramps use to smack him with his cane.
"Stop it," Tanjiro said, "she's not a monster, be kind to our host." He could even hear a twittering sound coming from Chuntaro...bird laughter probably, little traitor.
"This is where you will be staying," said the little old lady as she led them to what appeared to be large guest rooms, "I've already prepared your change of clothes and your meals." Tanjiro bowed and thanked the old woman and went to change his clothing. Zenitsu went to do the same, however, the old woman gently grabbed his wrist and it made his heart stop.
"Please," she said politely, "come with me."
'This is it,' he thought, 'this is where she takes me into a back room and sucks out my brains! AH! I told you Tanjirooo!' However, she led him into the backyard where tied up to a tree with a rope was a large pig. Zenitsu was a little confused.
"I was already informed of your needs," said the little old woman with the same smile and polite tone, "I've placed all the necessary items needed for you nearby. Once you are finished, I'll be more than happy to clean up." Zenitsu looked down, there was a bucket and knife near the pig, more than obvious what it was meant for. He went to turn to speak to the woman, but she was already gone. So creepy! He sighed, he had questions, LOTS of questions, like what did she mean by 'she'd been informed of his needs'? Who besides Tanjiro and Urokodaki knew of his existence? Maybe when he next saw her he'd ask, but for now, he needed to eat, he was starving.
As he ate he noticed something, something he didn't want to admit but he finally had to: after smelling all the human blood and the marechi, it just made the pig taste bland. Yeah, it did the trick in filling him, but he was slowly realizing that eating animals was like the equivalent of eating junk food. Filling for the moment, but not really what he needed. He chewed on the bones, liking how the taste of the bone marrow was still pretty good, despite the blandness. He wondered how much longer he could hold onto the hope of not eating a human, it was getting harder and harder to do so. He was also noticing that Uncle Sakonji was right, he was starting to eat more and more. Before there was no way he'd been able to eat this whole pig, but there were only the unwanted scraps left, and that left him feeling disappointed. Which was crazy to think about, the pig was as large as he was. Maybe because he had been hurt and was trying to regain energy? He hoped that was it.
He left the backyard and got changed into the fresh clothes provided by the monster hag lady...maybe he shouldn't think of her like that but she was so scary! He joined up with Tanjiro and Inosuke, both of them already in bed.
"There you are," Tanjiro said, "we were wondering where you were."
"I was eating my dinner," Zenitsu said crawling into bed.
"Ah, that's good," said Tanjiro, "do you feel better now?"
"Yeah," Zenitsu said as he pulled the blanket over his head, "can we not talk about it?"
"About what?" asked Inosuke. 'Here we go,' thought Zenitsu bitterly.
"Zenitsu's a bit embarrassed about how and what he has to eat," Tanjiro said, "especially the amount."
"HA! I bet I could eat twice as much as he could," Inosuke said with a laugh. Zenitsu poked his head from the blankets and gave him a deadpan look.
"No you couldn't," he said, "you don't know anything about it, you dumb pig head."
"Bet I could," replied Inosuke.
"I just ate an entire pig that was my size," Zenitsu said sitting up, "there's no way you could even eat a leg!"
"Bunetsu doesn't look like he did," he said pointing to him, "Monetsu is lying!"
"WHO are you talking about!"
"Enough you two," Tanjiro hushed, "people are trying to sleep!" There was more talking about Inosuke and how he became a Demon Slayer (more like how he bullied someone out of his swords) and other such things, but Zenitsu's mind and eyes traveled back to Tanjiro's box. There was no way he could let the question sit another night, he had to ask. He sat up and took in a reassuring breath.
"Tanjiro, since nobody's asking, I'll ask: Why are you traveling with a demon in a box?" He turned and looked down at Tanjiro, who looked very surprised at his question. He expected a myriad of different explanations, but all Tanjiro did was sit up with a gentle smile.
"Zenitsu," he said, "you knew about that, and still protected the box? You really are a great guy, you know that? Thank you!" Zenitsu could feel the blush rush to his face, he rarely got any praise in his life, and whenever he got any, it always made him feel more proud and happy than he really should feel.
"You really shouldn't say such things about me," he said very embarrassed as he nervously chuckled.
"No really," said Tanjiro putting his finger to the side of his nose, "I've known from the start how kind and strong you've always been." Here is when Zenitsu's mood fell.
"No, don't give me that. I'm not strong. Please don't say that." Tanjiro looked upset when he said that and was going to say something else, but that's when the box made a sound as if something was shifting inside it. Zenitsu was on his feet in a second, looking intensely at the box.
"It's trying to come out," he cried, "It's trying to come out!" He could hear it shift around as if it was trying to get its bearings, then hit on the door.
"It's alright," Tanjiro said, trying to calm him down.
"How can you say that it's alright? It's trying to come out!" He was fully panicking.
"Shush! Be quiet! It's the middle of the night, Zenitsu!" The little door of the box suddenly opened up slightly. Zenitsu screamed at the top of his lungs.
"Oh my GOD! It's not even LOCKED?! Are you INSANE!?"
"QUIET!" Yelled out Inosuke, kicking him square in the back and sending him flying towards the box. He rolled a bit before coming to a stop near the box. He quietly yelped when the box's door opened even more; then a small hand reached out of it.
"IT'S OUT," Zenitsu yelled, making a full run for it, scratching and ripping the tatami mats in his desperate attempt to escape the monster of the box. He went for the closet, perhaps if it didn't see him go for the closet? Maybe he could hide from it? Maybe it was blind, who knows?
"G-Gotta hide! It's gonna-" he turned to look at it and...and...it was not what he was expecting. A small girl? A little girl with a bamboo muzzle? The little girl shuffled out of the box, it seemed hard for her because the pink kimono she was wearing was far too big for her.
"Nezuko," Tanjiro said happily. Zenitsu was going to ask a question but suddenly the little girl started...to grow? It was the strangest sound, he had never heard a body grow so rapidly before...didn't it hurt? Then suddenly, before his very eyes was probably the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Beautiful wasn't even the proper word for it. Nothing could describe what he was gazing at. He was absolutely gobsmacked.
"Well, that's too much thinking," Inosuke said quietly and instantly fell asleep.
"Zenitsu," said Tanjiro reaching out for Nezuko's hand, who took it gently, "Nezuko is my little sister. There's nothing to be afraid of. Would you like to meet her?" Truth be told, Tanjiro was slightly worried about Nezuko meeting Zenitsu. He didn't quite know how she'd perceive him and he'd be very upset if she saw him as a threat. He hoped she saw him as a human, like Lady Tamayo and Yushiro, but it was all up to her. Zenitsu slowly approached, he was slightly nervous, as he always was when first meeting girls.
"Um, h-hi Nezuko," he said nervously reaching out a hand, "i-it's nice t-to finally m-meet you." Nezuko for a moment didn't seem like she was going to do anything, but then she let go of her brother's hand and stroke the side of Zenitsu's head. Tanjiro was very pleased with this.
"Look Zenitsu, she likes you," Tanjiro said happily. Zenitsu wasn't sure what to make of this situation. He'd never had this much contact from a girl before! He'd dated seven girls in the past, and none of them had ever so much even let him hold their hand. It didn't matter, he was feeling warm and happy inside, some of the reason was not only was because an actual goddess was giving him attention...but because he wasn't alone anymore. Here was someone who understood what it was like to be a demon. He couldn't wait to talk to her about-
"Zenitsu?" asked Tanjiro.
"Yes Tanjiro," replied Zenitsu, not looking at him; his eyes lost in the pink pools that were Nezuko's eyes.
"Are...are you purring?"
"Eh!? What do you mean," he held his breath, he didn't know if he was or wasn't, "I-I don't know! Don't be weird Tanjiro." He folded his arms in embarrassment, but then he felt Nezuko pat him on the top of his head. He chuckled at the feeling, and yes he was slightly purring but he didn't care, he had someone who could relate to him, and he felt at peace.