Zenitsu was never ashamed to admit he loved flowers. Even when he was little, he loved the look, smell, and even feel of them. Even if it did get him relentlessly teased and belittled by both boys and girls for his enamor with the delicate blossoms. Perhaps that's why he loved flowers so much, they were nonjudgmental; they were incapable of such things. When he was young, he had thought that plants were silent but as he had grown, he'd learn that if he listened very, very carefully they did in fact have their own unique noises as well. It was even different if the plant was distressed. Perhaps, that was why he liked plants most of all; out of all living things, they were the quietest.
He was currently trying his best to make a flower crown (his claws didn't make it any easier) but Hisa had shown him more tricks about making them. Hisa, the 'monster hag' he had called her. She was anything but. She was just a nice old lady; if there was anything scary about her, it was how she would just pop out of nowhere to give aid to her guests. She also had a great flower garden and was more than willing to let him use it. Soon he had a simple but very pretty crown for Nezuko. He turned towards her, who was still sitting quietly next to him in the garden looking off into the distance.
"Look Nezuko," he said holding up the crown, "I finished it!" Her gaze slowly panned over toward him, as if she was merely reacting to her name more than anything. He was still nervous in presenting the gift, placing it on top of her head as if putting it on too hard or too fast would somehow hurt her.
"I, uh...I hope you like it," he muttered quietly as he clattered his claws together. It took her a moment to even notice that the crown had been placed on her head. Nezuko's fingers gently brushed against the flower crown on her head, as if her fingers had some extra sense that he didn't understand. He nervously waited for any response. He kinda had...a history when it came to giving girls flower crowns. Only three of the seven girls he dated didn't make fun of the fact he liked flowers, and the only one didn't make fun of him making crowns...the one that ran off with his money. However, her eyes 'smiled' and she made a happy grunt. He let go of the breath he didn't realize he was holding.
"You-you really like it," he asked genuinely surprised, "I mean, it's not the best one I've ever made," he raised his hands up clicking his claws again, "these things kept getting in the way." She didn't respond to him, only stared at him but seemed content with the crown. He smiled and sighed, he should be happy as well, that was probably the most he was going to get out of her.
Zenitsu thought back to the first night of meeting Nezuko, how eager he was to talk to her and ask questions only to be pulled to the side by Tanjiro and given the whole story. Naturally, he felt bad for Tanjiro and Nezuko, but it was...something he had sadly grown accustomed to. Nearly every Demon Slayer had the same story: either their entire family or someone they loved was killed by a demon. Same song, same tune. The only difference with Tanjiro's was that he had somehow stayed the same person. He'd personally seen people snap or become completely different people...their songs being rewritten and warped...he hated hearing it. It seemed like he (and Inoske if he thought about it) was one of the few who didn't have a personal tragic story related to joining the Corps. Besides, Tanjiro had a goal: turn his sister back into a human. Was it a feasible one? He didn't know for sure, but it gave Tanjiro hope.
The other thing he'd learned about Nezuko was unfortunately, she...wasn't like him. Not like any demon to be honest. Apparently, she healed and regained her energy by sleeping. Sleeping! There's no way he could do such a thing, and at one point she fell asleep for two years! Just who were these Kamado siblings? Were they related to saints or something?! To be perfectly honest...he was jealous. Yes, jealous. He wished he could do the same thing, but he wasn't like that. But, at the same time, that wasn't saying she wasn't suffering. It had to be uncomfortable, sitting in a box most of the time, even if you were sleeping. Not to mention, she had to be, just had to be hungry; you couldn't tell him that she wasn't. He knew first hand how much it hurt and bad it was, but she managed it much better than he ever could. Also, she seemed to be in a constant state of 'fog', like she was there, but not enough to have a conversation with. That was fine, he could hear her well enough. Tanjiro didn't understand, but he could hear her muffled thoughts. Tanjiro thought she was 'like a child', in a way yes, but...buried deep down, she was there. You just had to listen carefully.
She suddenly got up and trotted away into the yard and then bent down, it seemed like she was looking for something. He was a little confused but then she came back with something in her hand. When she got close she finally presented it to him: it was a single dandelion flower. He tried not to let it show on his face, but for the past three years...he didn't have the nicest history with dandelions. When his hair changed color...everyone pointed it out and would always tell him how much he looked like a dandelion. Kaigaku was particularly cruel, saying how perfect it was because it just showed how much of a weed he was.
"You think that looks like me," he said quietly to Nezuko, "yeah, I guess that kinda does." However, he didn't hear any ill intent coming from her. In fact, when he looked up at her, she seemed pleased when he agreed with her. She took the small flower and placed it behind his ear, then started to stroke the side of his head. He smiled, how could he think she had any ill will against him? Nezuko was just too cute and innocent for such thoughts! That's when he felt his chest vibrating again, oh gosh he was doing 'that thing' again.
"Nezuko stop~," he said blushing putting his hands to the side of his face, "you're making me do that thing again. It's embarrassing.~ You're the only one that makes me do that; it's completely involuntary you know."
"You two seem to be getting along nicely," said a voice from behind. Zenitsu sat up straight instantly and went completely silent. He turned to see Tanjiro standing behind them, smiling but Zenitsu could definitely hear very subtle irritation coming from him.
"Ah! Tanjiro," he said waving his hands, "we-we were just sitting out here enjoying the garden! N-Nothing more!" Tanjiro chuckled.
"If I truly thought you were going to do anything wrong," Tanjiro said with the same tone, but his eyes quickly flashed, "trust me, you would know." Zenitsu quietly whimpered, he really, really didn't want to be on Tanjiro's bad side. However, Tanjiro's attention quickly shifted towards his sister, who seemed to want to show him the flower crown.
"Oh, did Zenitsu make that for you? It's wonderful," he smiled brightly, "it's really pretty Nezuko!" Zenitsu smiled, Tanjiro wasn't being snide when he said that, he was probably the second person to truthfully complement his crowns, the first being Gramps of course. Then right afterward he hit him on the head to continue training, saying that he could focus on flowers when he was an old man...heh if he ever live that long now.
"Zenitsu, I need to talk to you about something," Tanjiro said a little more seriously, "it's important." He was a little nervous now, it was just a simple flower crown! Tanjiro sat between Zenitsu and Nezuko, ( 'Of course he did' Zenitsu thought.) and folded his hands in his lap. He wished Tanjiro wouldn't sit so close...he was still struggling with...that.
"You know how I'm doing everything I can to return Nezuko to human," he said looking down at his hands, his smile now gone and tone very serious.
"Yeah," Zenitsu said, rubbing the back of his neck, "you told me a few nights ago. It's really admirable of you," he looked away, almost dreaded saying it, "but do you think it's even possible?" Tanjiro did something he wasn't expecting: he smiled and looked at him as if he already knew the answer.
"It will be," he said, "maybe not right now, but that's what I wanted to talk to you about. You and Nezuko aren't the only demons who don't attack humans. There are two others, Lady Tamayo and Yushiro; they're working on a cure."
"A cure?"
"Yes," Tanjiro's eyes glistened with hope, "and I'm working with them. What Lady Tamayo needs from me is to gather blood samples from demons closely related to Muzan; ones that were created directly by him, or ones that have ample amount of his blood in them and send it to her to use for her research to create the medicine." Zenitsu silently nodded, he didn't want to get excited about a 'supposed' cure. Even if, and that was a BIG if, she was able to somehow create such a thing, it could take years, even decades...who knew if he would even live that long; it was only a matter of time before he met a rule-abiding Demon Slayer and it would be 'off with his head' for him.
"That's why," Tanjiro continued, "I wanted to ask you for a blood sample." Zenitsu was pulled from his thoughts and looked over at Tanjiro with a bit of shock. He wanted to instantly say 'no thank you, I hate needles' but when he saw that infuriating look of hope on his stupid forehead face...how could he say no now. Then he saw Tanjiro's face fall slightly, why? Then he felt the drool trickle on his chin...oh great. He turned from him and quickly wiped it away.
"Uh, sure," he said trying to cover his embarrassment while scooting away from him, "I mean if you think it'll help."
"I do," Tanjiro said, not bringing up what happened, "You said so yourself, Muzan himself turned you, so you've got a very direct relation to him." Tanjiro didn't want to say that whenever Zenitsu had his...moments, such as now, he could just faintly smell the stench of Muzan underneath Zenitsu's smell and it infuriated him. He worried that it would only upset him though so he kept it to himself.
"I've already written a letter to Lady Tamayo," Tanjiro said pulling out a folded piece of paper from his front pocket, "to go along with your sample. It talks about you and the...whatchamacallit type you said you were." Zenitsu chuckled.
"Yeah, well...hopefully she knows about that."
"I'm sure she does, she is over two hundred years old, probably more, and I've also asked her if we can somehow remove the curse from you," he said putting the letter back into his pocket, "so maybe you don't have to worry about saying his name."
"And other things," Zenitsu said a bit bitterly. There was a tense pause for a moment, but then Zenitsu sighed and stood up.
"Well, if you think it'll help, then sure. What do we—OUCH!" He jumped when he felt something sharp sink into his right cheek. He looked down to see a knife-like object sticking into him, filling up with blood. He quickly looked at Tanjiro in shock, who looked at him with shock as well.
"Y-You...You ASS, my ASS," he directed both hands to the knife that was currently stuck in the side of his butt to emphasize his anger, "what did you stick in my ass?!" Then he instantly blushed on what and how he phrased it.
"GAH! Look at what you made me say!"
"I-I'm sorry," Tanjiro said, looking very sorry and small, "I thought that you were ready!"
"Ready?! Ready for WHAT," he pointed to the knife again, "to be assaulted with whatever this is in the most perverted way possible?!" He looked at it again and nearly fainted.
"What if I get an infection from this? You better get on your hands and knees and apologize!"
"Okay, okay I get it," Tanjiro said standing up and trying to get a grip on the handle of the knife but Zenitsu kept dodging, "but first let's take that out."
"NO! It'll hurt!"
"And having it sit in there doesn't hurt?"
"Of course it hurts you hardheaded jackass," Zenitsu wailed, "but I'm not emotionally ready for you to-" but before he could finish, Nezuko pulled the knife out, making Zenitsu bite his lip and suck air between his teeth. He looked at her who had a very innocent look on her face. He could feel the tears welling up in his eyes, but all he said was:
"Thanks Nezuko, it didn't hurt at all when you pulled it out.~" He didn't see Tanjiro's eyes roll ever so slightly.
A few days later, Zenitsu wasn't feeling very good. He wasn't sure why, but he blamed Tanjiro's stupid needle knife giving him some sort of illness. For some strange reason, his back hurt and he would get periodic headaches. It wasn't like he wasn't resting or eating enough, Hisa was more than generous in that department. Almost too generous. He felt guilty, it wasn't like he was a 'cheap date'; it had to be expensive to feed someone like him. However, when he voiced his concerns with her, she simply smiled and waved them off and wouldn't hear another word of it. It was a strange kind of not feeling good, like...he felt tired, but also felt like he had a lot of pent-up energy too. Even Inosuke seemed to know something was up and wasn't as physically forceful as usual with him. He'd spent most of the past two days in bed, not feeling good enough to wander the garden or house grounds like usual. Now though, he was feeling restless. He decided it was time to write some letters. He first got pen and ink and the first letter came very easy:
Dear Uncle Sakonji,
How have you been doing? It's me, Zenitsu Agatuma. You know, the demon you had in your house for a few days? (just to make sure you remembered me)
I'm writing you to let you know that I'm fine...I think. I've met Tanjiro Kamado, your former student, and we're currently resting in a Wisteria Crest House. He's a great guy, I'm surprised you didn't mention him once while I stayed with you. I'm not saying it's the reason why, but maybe you were nice to me because of your history with Nezuko?
I'm sorry to say that I also have another companion, an idiot boar head (who literally wears a boar mask) named Inosuke Hashibira. The idiot doesn't even know how to read or write so I'm not worried about him reading this, also he cracked my mask you so lovingly gifted me! I had to ask Hisa for glue to fix it. She's the lady that's hosting us.
I'm...a little worried. I haven't been feeling very good, I don't know why. Hope it goes away soon. Hope you're doing better than I am. Also hope Tanjiro is writing to you too!
With lots of love,
Zenitsu
P.S. Yes, before you even think it, I'm going to try to write 'that' letter to 'that' person.
"Hey Chuntaro," he called out, thankfully the bird was still around this time, "could you take this letter to Urokodaki Sakonji? You know, the grumpy guy with the mask?" The bird twittered for a moment, he sighed, he didn't know bird language but he knew what he was talking about.
"Yes, yes," he said, "I'll have another letter for you by the time you get back, I promise." Chuntaro seemed satisfied and took the letter and flew off, Zenitsu sighed. He grabbed another paper and for the longest time just stared at it.
How do you just tell in a letter 'hey Gramps how are you oh by the way I'm a demon now. That's fine, right?' It's something he didn't ever want to say to the old man, but at the same time, he wanted to let him know he was...alive at the very least. By the time he had...something he had twenty crumpled pieces of paper, 'Sorry Hisa', he muttered, and only had the bare bones of a letter:
Gramps,
Hi. How are you? I'm alive. I'm sorry I haven't written, but I've been busy. Resting at a Wisteria Crest House. Will write back soon.
Zenitsu
"God, it looks like something Kaigaku would write...if at all," he said looking at it, "but...short and sweet is for the best." He folded the letter for when Chuntaro would return to give to the bird. His head and back hurt and he just wanted to lie down and rest. He crawled into bed, tossed the covers over his head, and went to sleep.
Tanjiro was worried. Throughout the night, Zenitsu kept making odd noises with grunts of pain. Even his smell started changing slightly. He had tried a few times to wake him, but it would only end with warning growls that came from underneath those covers. Eventually, Inosuke was the one to tell him to stop.
"Gomparou," he said looking hard at him as he grabbed his arm, "leave Banitsu alone. You'll get your face ripped off if you keep poking."
"But," Tanjiro said, too upset to even correct Inosuke about his name, "we can't just let him suffer."
"Nuthin' we can do," he grunted, "just have to wait and see."
" 'Wait and see'," Tanjiro said a little irritated, "what do you mean?"
"Don't you feel it Kontamaou, it's like a beetle or a frog," he said a little grim. It wasn't a question, more like a statement. Tanjiro was confused, but closed his eyes and sighed, then looked over at Nezuko's box, who was peeking out of it. She seemed curious as to what was going on as well.
"You're right," he said defeated, "we'll just, wait and see." Tanjiro tried to get some sleep that night, but he didn't like how Inosuke kept silent guard in the corner of the room all night long. When he asked why he was doing that: 'I'm the boss, it's my job' was all he said. Boss of what, Tanjiro wondered?
Zenitsu woke up feeling exhausted. Like he had done a full day's worth of training while under Gramps while he was having a really bad day, then had to do house chores under Kaigaku's eye, never a good combination. At least he was feeling better, even his backache and headache were gone. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, only to see a battle-ready Inosuke standing in the corner of the room, with Tanjiro looking at him with worry.
"Look, boar head," he said yawning, "it's way too early in the morning for this. Maybe, maybe mind you, I'll wrestle with you later, but right now I'm a little groggy." Inosuke lowered his swords and Tanjiro seemed very pleased with something. Listening to the two of them, he could hear relief practically vibrating off of Tanjiro and mild disappointment from Inosuke but with a small hint of relief as well.
"Zenitsu," Tanjiro said, "you're okay," he was looking him over with a strange look on his face, "I mean, do you feel alright?"
"Well, I'm a little tired," Zenitsu said raising an eyebrow at Tanjiro's strange behavior, "but other than that" he went to brush his hand through his hair, "I'm fi—"
That's when his hand was caught short on something hard. He slowly raised the other hand to examine the top of his head. Hands shakingly discovered two very real, very not wanted bony horns on top of his forehead, right below his hairline; about the with of his eyes from what he could tell just from feeling them and about three to four inches long.
"M-Mirror," he sputtered out, "I need a mirror," he stood to get up to fetch a mirror, he turned towards the drawers when something in the room fell over, he turned to see what fell when something else was knocked over behind him.
"Oi, Kamitsu," Inosuke yelled out, "Stop swinging that thing around!"
"What," Zenitsu asked when he felt something hit him on the shoulder, he spun around to see what it was only to hear more things go flying.
"Stop it Inosuke," Tanjiro said walking over to Zenitsu, "can't you see he's upset and scared? Zenitsu," he said gently, "you...you probably need to sit down for this."
"Okay," he said quietly, trying not to freak out but as soon as he went to sit, he stepped on something that sent pain clear up his spine. He yelped and turned to look down, only to see something he wished he could erase from his memory forever. He was standing on his...tail. A long thick scaly, rat-like tail with a small tuft of hair (fur?) that was the same color as his hair at the tip of it and went up a little further along the spine. That was too much. He sank down burying his face into his knees; his new limb wrapping around himself tightly.
"What else is wrong," he started crying into his knees, "I'm too afraid to look."
"Nothing," Tanjiro said instantly and was at his side and wrapping his arms around him, "there's nothing else different! Promise!" He just sat there quietly with him while he let Zenitsu cry and process exactly what had happened to him. However, Inosuke had other ideas on his mind.
"I expect that wrestling match later today," Inosuke said as if nothing was going on as he wrapped up his swords, "so don't mope around too long."
"Inosuke," Tanjiro said shocked.
"What," he said looking at Tanjiro, at least it looked like he was, kinda hard to tell with that mask on, "you're both acting like Gonizue died or something! He's still the same wimpy crybaby he's always been," he said pointing a finger at him, "so why are you acting like he's completely different or something?" Tanjiro looked at Inosuke with Zenitsu peeking up from his knees; Tanjiro smiled at him.
"You're right, you're absolutely right Inosuke," he turned to Zenitsu, while Inosuke went off saying 'Of course I am! I'm the boss, I'm always right!', "You're still you. Just because you have," he paused to find the most delicate way to put it, "new...parts...doesn't make you any less of a person." Zenitsu with tears still fresh in his eyes reached up and felt one of the horns.
"I just don't understand what exactly happened," he said quietly, finally standing up wanting to get a mirror to finally look at himself, "or how it could even happen."
"Well," Tanjiro said putting a finger to his chin, "my master Urokodaki talked about morphed demons," he said looking at Zenitsu as he fumbled around for a mirror, "demons whose appearances change after consuming many humans."
"But you know I haven't," Zenitsu said, finally finding a mirror, "only animals."
"Yes I know but," Tanjiro said with a frown, "aren't you one of those—"
"Ugh, don't remind me," Zenitsu moaned as he looked at the horns, turning his head from side to side. They were black because of course they were; but they also much like the rest of his body, had the Lichtenberg effect with them, so they had a faded golden crackle look throughout them.
"You know...for horns...they're not that bad. I kinda like them."
"There you go," Tanjiro said with a smile and pumped his fist in the air, "turn this into something positive!"
"The only one thing that's been positive about being a demon for me," Zenitsu said deadpanned turning towards Tanjiro, "was it fixed my overbite."
"You had an overbite?"
"It wasn't very big, but yeah," he said putting down the mirror, "but now I have something even more noticeable." He turned and looked down at his now twisting tail. It was obviously prehensile and quite long too, it might have been as long as he was tall, he wasn't sure at this point. he didn't have control of it quite yet and it seemed to have a mind of its own as it was currently wrapping itself around his leg. It was certainly an odd sensation, to say the least.
"I don't think I'll ever get used to this," he mumbled as he looked at it, "and besides how am I going to explain to Hisa what happened to my yukata!" It was true, the yukata was torn right where the tail had 'come out' and ruined it.
"She'll understand," Tanjiro said.
"And what about my other clothes," he said, starting to work himself into a panic, "I'll have to fix them, and wait—MY MASK! What if I can't put my mask on now?! I can't handle this! I need a hug," he ran over to Nezuco's box and hugged it, "Nezucooo~ you'll hug me, right?"
"Um...Zenitsu," Tanjiro said, "how can she come out if you're blocking the door to the box?" However, Tanjiro couldn't pry him away from the box no matter what he did.
Hisa was more than understanding about the yukata, especially when Tanjiro was the one that explained the situation to her. She was kind enough to take both sets of his pants and tailor them to have a fly with buttons, but until sunset, it would just have to stay wrapped around his leg since he had no protecting clothing for it. The next few days were spent just getting used to the new limb. He still didn't like the idea of having one, especially now that Inosuke learned it was a weak spot for him and would pull on it all the time just to get a rise out of him and would even pick him up by it. He despised Inosuke whenever he did that, it hurt dammit! However, one perk was that Nezuko seemed to like to play with the tuft on the tip, even as far as putting a bow one time on it. Normally, he'd have been humiliated, but seeing it was Nezuko...and nobody else saw it, it was fine.
He did get the letter sent off to Gramps, but Chuntaro seemed irritated (and even slightly frightened of him) in taking another letter so soon. But he did send the letter, and it was the last time he saw Chuntaro for the longest time. Did he offend it by insisting he take the letter? He felt bad, he'd make sure to give it extra beans the next time he saw him. It was around their sixth-week mark from first resting at Hisa's when Tanjiro's crow came one day to give them new orders. They were all to go to Mt. Natagumo together. Not that he wanted to leave such a nice place, but they had orders now. Also, the fact that all three of them were to go to the same location was…concerning. They gathered at the front gate of the house, Zenitsu adjusted his mask on his face as best he could. Tanjiro had helped him drill holes into it so it would still fit on his face, good thing the horns weren't a weird shape so the mask could hook on them easily. At first, he was worried about having his horns exposed; thankfully they seemed to be much like his claws, but it only served to make his head feel hot if exposed too long to the sun.
"We're heading out now," Tanjiro said turning to Hisa, "Thank you for everything you have done for us." Tanjiro and Zenitsu bowed, Inosuke kept standing with his hands on his hips. Hisa returned the bow with a smile.
"Now then," she said pulling out a fire striker, "for good luck."
"Thank you so much," Tanjiro said again, turning around while looking back, same with Zenitsu. Inosuke was curious as to what exactly was going on. When Hisa started to strike sparks, it seemed to enrage Inosuke, he had no idea as to why she would be doing something so ridiculous and potentially dangerous. He had lived in the woods after all and knew that fires were nothing to take lightly.
"What do you think you're doing you old hag?!" He was about to leap onto her but Tanjiro grabbed onto him and held him back while Zenitsu took a protective stance between him and Hisa.
"She's striking sparks for good luck," yelled out Zenitsu, "It's a purification ceremony because we're going on a dangerous mission, you boar-headed moron!" After getting Inosuke to calm down, the three stood in front of her to wish her farewell, after all, it was possibly the last time they would ever see her.
"It has been an honor in serving and hosting you for the past six weeks," she said to them, "remember to always live your lives with great pride. I wish you all luck in your upcoming battle." The two Slayers bowed, while one looked on, not understanding what she was talking about. As they ran off, Inosuke was the only one who looked back at her.
A little ways off as they jogged towards Mt. Natagumo, Inosuke's thoughts could no longer be contained, and he had to voice them.
"What did that old hag mean," he muttered loudly, " 'great pride'? 'luck in battle'? I don't get what she was talking about!"
'This guy is totally clueless,' Zenitsu thought to himself.
"Well, now that you mention it," Tanjiro said, thinking hard about it, "it's kinda difficult to say. 'With great pride'," he quietly muttered the last part to himself, "I guess it means you know your place and as long as you behave properly, you're never ashamed of yourself. Also, she's praying for our safety, or at the very least hoping we don't get hurt."
"Huh," Inosuke said, "So...what is this 'place' and what do you mean by 'never ashamed'?"
"Well," Tanjiro started.
"What does it mean to 'behave properly'?"
'The exact opposite of what you do,' Zenitsu thought.
"Why the hell would that old hag pray or even care about our safety anyway? She has nothing to do with us, so then why? She has no clue to what her own 'place' is now, does she?" With that, Tanjiro made an irritated huff and jogged ahead of the other two.
"Hey Tanjiro," Zenitsu whined, "don't go too fast!"
"I won't be beaten," yelled out Inosuke as he sped up to catch up with him.
"Waiiiit uppp," whined Zenitsu as he didn't want to go any faster than they already were.
By nightfall, they were nearing their destination. While it was nice that he could finally take off his extra gear and pull out his tail; he was grateful because it was getting a little cramped wrapped around his leg the whole day. But as they got closer and closer to the mountain, the less and less he wanted to approach it. Not only did it look scary, but it also sounded scary. He could...hear things. He wasn't sure exactly what, but he just didn't like the sounds that were softly echoing off the mountain, like foreboding whispers.
"Wait a second," he said sitting down, wrapping his arms around his legs, "would you guys wait just a second?"
"Zenitsu, what's wrong?" Tanjiro said looking down at him.
"I'm scared okay," he said with tears starting to peak at his eyes, his tail involuntarily wrapped around his chest and arms, "now that we're close to our destination I'm really, really scared all right?!" The two others looked down at him. Tanjiro looked slightly put off, but It was impossible to see how Inosuke looked with his mask on (he was just too focused on the mountains' sounds to listen to the other's)
"Why the hell is he just sitting in the middle of the road," Inosuke grumbled, "how creepy is that?"
"Who are you to talk, Pig Face," yelled out Zenitsu, angry that he called him creepy, "Don't tell me you two aren't getting creepy vibes from that mountain!" He pointed towards Mt. Natagumo, he swore he could hear faint screaming coming from there. The other two turned to look at the upcoming mountain and only looked at it.
"Still," Tanjiro said turning towards him, "what good will it do just to sit there. We have a job to do."
"I told you he's creepy," Inosuke said with a sigh.
I am NOT," Zenitsu said pointing towards both of them, "in any way creepy! I'm normal! I'm the normal one! You guys are the abnormal ones! You're both insane!" The wind changed direction and Tanjiro suddenly looked very serious and his head snapped back towards the mountain.
"What? What's wrong," Zenitsu asked quietly, it wasn't like Tanjiro to get serious like that, "hey..."
"What is this smell," he said as he took off towards the mountain. Inosuke was quick to follow.
"T-Tanjiro! Come on," he said standing back up, "Don't leave me here all by myself! Wait up!" It took him a moment to catch up to the other two, but when he did, he saw a little way up the road was another Demon Slayer, possibly around their age face-first into the ground. Was he hurt? Dead? No, he was moving, trying to crawl towards them and crying, begging for help.
"Something must have happened," said Tanjiro as he and Inosuke rushed forward.
"Wait, hold on," Zenitsu said, too afraid to go any further. It could have been a trap, something didn't seem right about the situation.
"Are you alright," asked Tanjiro as he knelt next to him to examine any possible wounds, "What happened?" But before he could even get an answer from him, the boy was suddenly yanked backward high and fast, back into the forest canopy. Everyone was shocked at what they just witnessed.
"They were attached to me too," the Slayer cried out in horror, "please save me!" Then he was suddenly jerked to the left and was out of sight. Zenitsu had both hands covering his mouth in horror, he might not be able to see what was happening to that kid, but he could hear it. The bones breaking and popping, the muscular tissue and skin ripping apart. One quiet whimper came out when he didn't hear the noises anymore. It took Tanjiro slightly longer to react...he must have smelt the blood on the wind.
"I'm going in," Tanjiro quietly said. Inosuke pushed past him and then grabbed onto his sword handles.
"I'll lead the charge, while you two follow behind me shivering. This is making me hungry for the fight." Zenitsu wasn't sure if he could move from his spot. He was still hearing noises in the distance but, he also didn't want to be left alone. He was feeling so conflicted. When he saw the two of them charged towards the mountain, he cursed both of them for being so stupid and then cursed himself for being even more stupid for following them.
They marched in the woods, and Zenitsu hated to admit it, he felt strangely familiar with it. He was clinging onto Tanjiro's haori like a small child, but dammit he was really, really scared! He kept tripping on his tail as it kept trying to tuck itself between his legs, eventually, he had to wind it around a leg just to get it out of the way. Inosuke was leading the group but paused and raised his hands to his face. There were fine, silvery spider webbing covering his hands.
"What the hell is this," he muttered. It didn't feel like any spider webbing he had ever come across. It almost felt like the stuff was made out of spun metal.
"Jeez, this place is covered in spider webs! What a pain in the ass," Inosuke said as he tried to get the webbing off of his hands, noticing that the webs had slightly cut into his skin.
"Inosuke," Tanjiro said.
"The fuck you want," he said, irritated that wimpy spider webs had cut into his skin.
"Thank you, you encouraged me when you said you'd come with me up the mountain," Inosuke didn't get what he was saying while Zenitsu felt jealous, he came up as well too dammit, "that twisted ominous scent I picked up from the mountain, it was making me scared. So, thank you." Inosuke stood there for a moment, it seemed like he was lost in thought.
'Probably takes a lot of brainpower to even think about anything,' Zenitsu thought to himself, 'no wonder he's standing there like he's stuck.'
"I'm also glad you came up too," Tanjiro said turning to Zenitsu who was still clinging to his haori, "I admire your bravery." Zenitsu scoffed at that.
"I'm not brave, I'm—" but he didn't get to finish when they heard someone walking further up ahead of them higher up the hill. They could see it was another Slayer.
"Let's go," whispered Tanjiro. When they got closer to the lone Slayer, Zenitsu could hear the sheer panic in him. He looked calmer than his heart was telling. Tanjiro went to gently touch his shoulder, but he had sensed their presence and quickly turned towards them, hand on his sword ready to attack; he only paused when he saw that it wasn't a monster to kill him but only Tanjiro. The kid certainly looked like he'd personally seen Hell itself.
"We've come as backup," Tanjiro said, "I'm Tanjiro Kamado, Rank Mizunoto. This is—"
"Mizunoto," the other boy interrupted, seemingly upset, "Mizunoto?! Why didn't they send a Hashira?! No matter how many Mizunoto they send, it's not going to do any good! It's pointless!" Then without warning, the boy had a fist punched right into his face.
"Inosuke," Tanjiro yelled out, forgetting he was supposed to be quiet.
"Shut up," Inosuke yelled out, picking the other boy up by his hair and bringing his face close to his, pushing Tanjiro away with the other arm, "As far as pointlessness goes, your existence itself has no point at all! Now tell us what's going on, you spineless piss-baby! You make Xinetsu look competent in comparison." Zenitsu stayed quiet about the comment, he was just happy that the other boy hadn't noticed he was a demon yet, they had stumbled onto him too fast for him to properly gear up and it would be too noticeable now. So he stayed hidden as best as he could behind Tanjiro.
"Who the hell is this guy," the boy said, "did you forget I have seniority?" The other boy, Murata he eventually said his name was, told the story of how once their party of ten slayers came up the mountain, without warning they all started killing each other. Even some of the dead bodies had risen up to began attacking the living. It sounded horrifying.
"I've never heard of a Demon Blood Art such as that," Zenitsu said looking around the woods thinking that one of the slain slayers would suddenly pop out, "usually if it does control people, it can control only one at a time." Murata suddenly gasped and stood up and raised his sword.
"What are you doing?!" Tanjiro said as he also stood up, thinking that maybe he too had been possessed by the mysterious forces of the forest.
"He's a demon," he said referring to Zenitsu, "either help me or get out of the way!"
"Wait," Tanjiro said trying to stop Murata from attacking, "it's not like that! Zenitsu's one of us! He's a member of the Corps!" Murata looked at Tanjiro like he had grown a second head, then looked at Zenitsu as if he was some sort of disgusting creature.
"Can't you see he's a morphed demon," he said looking at Tanjiro as if he was just barely learning about demons, anger hanging off every word, "do you know how many humans he must have eaten to get to this stage?!"
"I've never had," Zenitsu said in his defense, only to have Murata's attention back on him. He shrank back as Murata moved forward, only to have Inosuke's fist in his face for the second time of the night. Zenitsu flinched, he could hear the cartilage in his nose breaking and shifting. His eyes would be black and blue by tomorrow morning.
"Fuck off," Inosuke growled at Murata, standing between Zenitsu and Murata, grabbing his hair again only more violently this time, "Zenitsu is one of my minions," his voice was thick with the undertones of promised death that even made Tanjiro shrink back, "You want to mess with my minion, you have to go through me first." Zenitsu was touched, not only did he finally get his name right but there was the sound of small but genuine pride and friendship when he heard his name being called out. He supposed the boar-head could be nice, in his violent, strange way of doing things. Murata looked at the two 'official' slayers, dumbfounded.
"You're both insane," he finally muttered out, trying to straighten his broken nose, "but," he said after a long pause, "these aren't normal circumstances. We'll talk about this" he gestured towards Zenitsu, "after the mission." Tanjiro firmly nodded, Zenitsu could only sigh, his worst fear was confirmed.
The four of them quietly walked deeper into the forest. Tanjirou and Inosuke keeping an eye out for anything, while Zenitsu had his ear out for whatever could be in the shadows. He couldn't help but notice though, the looks Murata kept giving him now and again. He felt bad, but there wasn't anything he could do at the moment to convince him that he was 'one of the good guys'. He could hear the terror that Murata was experiencing, and he convinced himself that it was part of Murata's paranoia about him.
"I think," suddenly Tanjiro said making two of the three others jump, "it might be a good idea if we split up."
"Wait, you can't be serious," Zenitsu said, wondering why he suddenly wanted to split up, wasn't he supposed to be the smart, sensible one of the group, "that's probably the worst idea you've ever had!"
"We'll be able to cover more ground that way," he said placing a hand on Zenitsu's shoulder, "and we'll be able to find each other easily. I can smell you out, and you can hear us."
"Hold on," he said finally putting the pieces together, "you want ME to go out on my own?"
"You're strong," he said placing the other hand on his other shoulder looking him dead in the eye, "and you're also a demon. You can regenerate, while we can't and besides," he slyly nodded towards Murata, "it's for his sake." Zenitsu sighed, if it was for the benefit of the mission then, so be it.
"Okay," he said, "I'll go south then," he started walking away, "you guys stay safe."
"We will," Tanjirou said brightly, "you too." As soon as Zenitsu was out of sight, Murata started up again.
"So, are you going to tell me about it," 'it' referring to Zenitsu, "and how you two," but before he could even start, Tanjiro of all people grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to the side.
"First off," Tanjiro said sternly, "Zenitsu's not an 'it', and secondly, of course we're going to tell you," he said letting go of his arm, shocking Murata who rubbed at the sore spot, "A Demon Slayer who can't tell the difference between a good and bad demon should really rethink about being one."
Well, it was official, he was lost. He wasn't even sure what he was looking for. He really did look for any of these 'walking corpse' slayers, but he didn't so much as hear anything of the sort. He at one point tried to make his way back to where he thought the others might be, but he soon realized he was turned around and completely lost. He wandered for a bit, calling out the others' names but then in frustration he sat down on his ankles and started to cry.
"Nezuko, Tanjiro," he called out, "Wild Boar... Chuntaro...even Murata would do." But he heard no reply from the woods. He sat there miserably wiping the tears away from his eyes; he hadn't felt like this since he first had turned, and even then he had Chuntaro. Now, he was completely alone in a dark, creepy forest. He whimpered and sniffled quietly when he felt something land on his head and heard a chirp.
"C-Chuntaro," he looked up as best he could, but he could feel the bird's little talons digging into his scalp, then there was an irritated chirp that could only come from his Chuntaro. He reached up and snatched the bird from the top of his head and started to nuzzle him fiercely, tears still streaming down his face.
"You came after me in this dark creepy woods? I'm so happy I won't even ask where you've been! You're so adorable! Second only to Nezuko but still!" The bird was desperately trying to get out of his grip but was eventually released.
"I'm sorry for everything," he said standing back up, not mentioning he didn't know exactly what he did wrong in the first place, "Thank you for sticking with me! All right, let's go look for Nezuko, and I guess the others together!" The bird landed on his head as they started to walk deeper into the woods. After a few minutes of silence, Zenitsu nervously chuckled.
"You know, it's just like old times," he said looking around, "just you and me in the woods...only this time there's something that actually wants to kill us," he nervously chuckled again, then heard something rustling right next to him. He jumped and shouted, but then got irritated when he saw it was just his tail hitting and shaking a bush.
"Ugh, stupid thing," he said grabbing it and holding it tight as he continued to walk.
"Nezuko," he called out, "Tanjiro, where are you guys?" He heard what he thought a branch break behind him. He panicked and booked it, running as fast as he possibly could in a direction. After he was out of breath, he stopped and rested his hands on his knees just to catch his breath and calm down.
"Where the hell are you guys," he said looking around nervously, "Tanjiro, Inosuke? Why the hell did we have to split up in the first place?!" A murder of crows suddenly started to fly away from the forest, scaring the metaphorical shit out of him. He still was looking in the direction where the crows had taken flight, having a bad feeling.
"What was that?" he asked Chuntaro. It wasn't like a murder of crows to suddenly take flight with no provocation.
"You know what," he said gripping his hands tightly, "this forest is starting to make me mad! As soon as I find the others, we're leaving! I don't care how much Tanjiro whines, that Murata guy was right, this is a Hashira job! I mean, my first job was supposed to be 'nice and easy', and look what happened to me!" He walked for some time down a path he'd found, hoping it was taking him back towards the others, but his mood was getting very sour because not only was he lost alone in some deep, dark, demon-infested forest but he was getting hungry. He hadn't felt like this in weeks, he'd been spoiled by Hisa's generosity so now that he'd gone more than a few hours without eating from the set schedule he got used to, he got cranky.
"This is so annoying," he said kicking a rock away, "I can't find Tanjiro or Inosuke anywhere! This sucks, I mean where the hell did they go?!" He came up to a fork in the road, looking down directions.
"Which way," he barked out, too irritated to make a rational decision. He took in a breath to whine about something else but noticed the pungent smell. It wasn't like anything he'd ever smelt before.
"Not only does the situation stink," he pinched his nose, "it literally stinks around here too, stinks! I think I'm gonna cry." He had been hearing the rustling of the little spiders running around the forest floor, but when they started to get closer and closer to him he finally had to say something about it.
"And the sounds of the spiders rustling and walking around is so damn creepy," he lifted his tail high, not wanting them to climb up it, "I'm sure they're just doing their best to survive but still! I don't want them on me!" He heard something moving behind him that made his back crawl. He had enough, he was a scary demon wasn't he, why not act like it and spook whatever it was away.
"Shut up dammit," he said turning around to point at whatever it was, "just stay still and be quiet!" He wished he hadn't looked behind him. About eight feet away, slightly smaller than his chest was the most godawful thing he'd ever seen. It was a giant, leathery spider monstrosity that had a bald human head on it. Its bulging eyes stared blankly up at him.
"WHAT-AM-I-EVEN-LOOKING-AT?!"
For the second time that night, and faster this time he ran as if his very life depended on it. Trying (very loudly) to process what the fuck he had just seen. Wishing and bargaining to whoever was listening to his whining that if this all somehow turned out to be a nightmare and he'd wake up in Nezuko's lap, he'd be more than happy to plow two acres of fields and give it everything he had. Eventually, he came to a screeching halt when he saw a bizarre and frightening sight. Strung up in an open dusty area (couldn't call it a meadow, meadows were pleasant and nice) was a small, single-room house strung up with spider webbing with the door facing downward. Among the webbing were other people strung up, some fellow Demon Slayers, other poor common folks who just were in the wrong place at the wrong time, but they looked...sick. Several of them were in different stages of a transformation, the furthest one along looked like that weird spider baby thing he saw. All of their hearts sounded distressed but slow.
'What the hell is this,' he thought looking up at the house and people, 'are those humans who are being turned into spiders...and is that house floating?! No, I can see threads attached to it too.' He finally took in a breath and gagged from it. The smell from earlier was much stronger here. It was like a deep rotting smell and something else he couldn't identify.
'This would kill Tanjiro if he was here right now,' he thought to himself, pinching his nose again, but he still could taste it in his mouth, 'I'm tearing up and my throat hurts from it!' Suddenly something in the house shifted and there was a creaking sound. He whimpered and shrank back. Descending from the house, was a spider demon. A demon with the body of a spider, but the head of a human, the size of its body wasn't all that large, maybe the size of a twelve-year-old...but that's a spider the size of a damn twelve-year-old. One eye seemed to be constantly squinting in amusement while the other one was wide open, looking down at him.
'It's too damn huge,' Zenitsu thought as he looked at it as it lowered itself down and down, finally looking at him with a curious smile.
"What do we have here," the demon said tilting his head to the side, his smile never leaving his face, "a new demon in the forest? Have you spoken with Rui yet," he said with a chuckle and moving his legs around, "perhaps he'll find you a spot in our family. It has gotten slightly smaller as of late, he's been in such a bad mood recently."
"What are you muttering about?" he yelled up at the creepy spider demon, not noticing Chuntaro climbing into his front breast pocket, "I don't know what you're talking about! I'm with the Demon Slayer Corps," he said pointing to his uniform, "so stop talking to me! I don't like guys like you, all right?" The spider demon laughed hard at that like it was the best joke he'd heard all year.
"What are you talking about? You, a demon? In the Demon Slayer Corps?"
"I already had this argument tonight," he yelled up at the demon as he decided to climb up a tree to get a better vantage point (and possibly run away like last time), "so shut up!" The demon laughed down at him, only adding to his irritation.
"Just what do you plan on proving on insisting standing with your supposed fellow hunters," he sneered down at him, "buying yourself time? Proof to yourself that you have some sort of supposed 'humanity'," he said as he lowered himself lower to the ground, "face it; you're living a fantasy. The second the higher-ups in your little organization realizes you exist," he made a quick slicing motion across his neck with one of his spider legs. "and that will be that. But if you stay with us, you can live for centuries!"
"You might be right about some things," Zenitsu said sadly, "but you're wrong about one thing, your average demon don't last longer than a few years or so. They either get too greedy and grab the attention of the Slayers," he pointed up at the spider, "or they mess up and get caught by the sun, either way, they slip up."
"Oh don't go all high and mighty about greed on me," the spider demon chuckled, "We're both morphed demons! We both know how we got to this state." He smiled at Zenitsu.
"I've never touched human blood or meat, thank you very much," he yelled and scratched the tree in irritation, "I don't know about you but I know for a fact that I'm-"
"No better than me," the demon sneered, "do you honestly think you're the first demon to ever try to hold out? Go for months or even years," he said wiggling his legs, "without feeding on humans? Trust me," his eyes narrowed and for the first time, his smile vanished, "you're not the only one who tried and eventually lost that fight." Zenitsu was silent...he didn't hear a bit of a lie in the demon's words.
"Are you saying that you tried?" he found himself asking. The demon's smile returned with his chuckle.
"Me?! Never," his eyes narrowed, "but there were family members, long gone now," he said looking up briefly, as if he was missing them, "that had as they put it, 'put up a good fight'. One, went ten whole years, then there was a harsh winter...and well," if a spider could shrug, he did, "you know. It's only a matter of time before you give in too, you know, and you'll wonder why you held out for so long."
Zenitsu was about to say something when he felt something crawling up his tail and back. He turned and looked; there were those weird baby spider things from earlier crawling up the tree and two of them on his back. If that wasn't a 'bad touch' situation, he didn't know what was, but from being upset from everything of the night and to have one of those things literally inches from his face looking into his soul was enough to finally push him over the edge, and he fainted.
He woke up a little while later slightly aware of what was going on; he was in a middle of a fight with the spider demon and those little spider things. Strange enough, he felt calm not realizing he was at the peak of his threshold consciousness, even when he felt the little spider things swarming him. He felt he had to summon something from within him, just to simply imagine what the thunder breathing would be like if it actually used lightning. Suddenly the little spiders scattered away from him like they were repelled from him by an unseen force. He was aware something was building up inside of him, it felt so much like when lightning struck him, but this time it didn't hurt, only tingled.
"Thunder Breathing, First Form," he said, aware that his voice sounded strange but kept going, "Thunderclap and Flash," as soon as he said it, the ground around him broke apart, but he wasn't focused on that, all he focused on was his technique and the demon in front of him, "Sixfold!" He saw the demon spray something towards him, but he dashed away from it; performing the Thunderclap and Flash, watching the demon trying to hide in his house. That wasn't going to work. He stood on top of a spider webbing on the final dash and jumped as hard as he could; as he approached and went to slice the neck of the demon, lightning literally struck at the same time his sword connected, exploding the house in electricity. He still traveled upward thanks to the momentum of his jump, and he had a clear view of the destruction of his attack. It was like there had been a bomb planted inside of the house, wood, and debris scattered everywhere. Since the house was no longer the central supporting structure of the strange spider web, everything came tumbling down, including the hanging victims.
Zenitsu landed on his feet but hard, now fully awake. He was shocked at what happened but didn't think too much about it, he had other things to worry about. He turned his attention towards the people who'd fallen while hanging. He closely examined them, not knowing what to do for them. They were poisoned with...something, he just didn't know what. One Slayer who wasn't nearly as bad as the others, but still poisoned stayed still. He didn't want Zenitsu to know he was awake, thinking he was just looking for his next meal.
"They seem all right enough," he mumbled to himself, "I need to go get help for them though," he stood back up and looked for the path he'd come from, thinking he found it he ran down it; unfortunately for him, it wasn't the one he had come down.
He ran some ways down the path but had to stop when he felt his legs buckling underneath him. He ended up nearly collapsing into the dirt, but caught himself and sat down near a tree. Whatever demon blood art he possessed, it must have taken a lot of energy to pull off. He felt something stirring in his breast pocket, he gently opened it up with one of his claws.
"Chuntaro," he said surprised, "what are you doing in there! Come out you silly thing," he said trying to gently get the bird to come out. Chuntaro seemed dazed but only because of how constricting the pocket had been. Zenitsu gently cupped the bird in his hands as he sat on the ground.
"You know, you're lucky you went in that pocket instead of my haori one like you usually do," he suddenly realized, "you could have been electrocuted you dumb bird," he rubbed the side of Chuntaro's face with his thumb, "but I'm glad you're safe." He leaned back onto the tree and rested his head against it. Now that everything was calm for the moment and he was calm, he realized how much energy that blood art had sapped from him. It's not like he knew he had a blood art in the first place, and how to control it. All he knew right now was he really, REALLY needed to eat and soon. He hoped he would come across some sort of animal soon, but other than the crows and spiders, he hadn't so much as heard any other animal in the woods. He picked himself back up and pushed forward down the road.
Fifteen minutes later, he came up to another small clearing. There was a female slayer knocked out in the center of the clearing. He jogged up to her, he just didn't have the energy to run and looked her over. She didn't seem all that injured, but he was more worried about her...current condition.
"Come on now," he said irritated, trying to get her in a more comfortable position, "couldn't they let her not do this mission? She's at least six months along now," he looked down at her swollen stomach, "not that it's any of my business or anything, but still!" Then he noticed her face, it looked swollen and purple. He didn't like this situation. Her eyes seemed to start to flutter, that was good, he could ask her what had happened. Her eyes suddenly burst and little white spiders crawled out from her eye sockets, the same kind that had been throughout the forest; they were also crawling out of her nose and mouth. Zenitsu gasped in horror and backed away, that's when her belly ruptured and a whole slew of spiders spilled in all directions. He was going to see that in his nightmares for the rest of his life.
"And who are you," said a small voice to the side of him just beyond the trees. He turned and saw that there was what appeared to be a young demon boy, no more older than eight. He had chalk-white hair and skin with two red spots under his eyes, similar to the last demon he'd encountered; he even wore a white kimono, so it was easy to see him standing in the dark shadows of the woods.
"What happened to her," Zenitsu asked in horror, pointing to the body of the Slayer.
"Did that surprise you," asked the boy with a gentle smile, "she's not dead yet, just paralyzed. She will be soon though," he looked at the body, "if you want, you can have it. You sound hungry." "What," asked Zenitsu disgusted, "that's not what I asked!"
"Oh, you mean the spiders," he flashed a toothy grin, it would have been adorable...but it seemed more like a smile from a creepy serial killer, "see, my job is to make more spiders for Mother and Big Brother. To do that, I need warm bodies. So I paralyze them," He raised his arm and it shifted into a tentacle with a small hook at the end, "and well, let your imagination do the rest."
'This isn't a kid,' Zenitsu thought taking a step back, 'his thoughts are way too mature and he's way too creepy!'
"Don't worry," he said giggling shifting his arm back to normal, "I can't make spiders with other demons, so you're safe. Are you joining the family," he asked stepping towards Zenitsu, "it'll be fun to have someone new! It hasn't been as much fun since Older Sister ratted out our other Older Sister," his face went darker when he thought of the memory, "I liked the other one better. She was actually nice."
"This supposed 'family' of yours sounds twisted," Zenitsu said with a growl. However, he wasn't expecting the demon to smile.
"It is," he agreed, "but once you're in, you're in and there's not much you can do about it." There was a growling noise and Zenitsu cradled his stomach. The demon boy chuckled.
"I already said you can have her," he said pointing to the body.
"I don't want that," he growled out.
"Well, what else is there," the boy asked, his grin small and innocent-looking, "believe me, there are no other living things in these woods, so your only choice is that," he pointed to the slayer, who was violently twitching at this point, clearly dying, "or just starve. I don't care either way." Zenitsu was tired of this demon, he went for his sword.
"Oh, that's cute," said the demon with a smirk, "I can tell you're exhausted," and before he even knew what happened, his sheathed sword was taken from his belt by the demon's tentacle arm and tossed so high and far away that he couldn't see where it landed, "but nice try."
'Good one Agatsuma,' he thought to himself, 'way to let your guard down. Now what do I do,' he backed up a bit, 'I can't kill him without my sword.' The demon was the first to attack, extending and wrapping his tentacle around his neck and dragging him down and closer towards him.
"I was being very friendly," he said to him when he brought him down face to face, "but you had to go and pull a Nichirin Blade on me? Who do you think you are?" Zenitsu gathered what little strength he had left and after plunging his claws into the kids' skull and sent such a high voltage shock into him that it temporarily paralyzed the demon. It probably had fried his nervous system and all major organs and was taking some time to heal. Zenitsu unwrapped the tentacle from his throat and went to wipe the foam from the side of his mouth that had formed from being choked, but accidentally got some of the demon's blood in his mouth. It was a strange taste, not like regular blood; it was thicker with a strange aftertaste. His eyes dilated, to the point where the iris looked like a small golden ring. He started to feel weird like everything slowed down and the world sounded muffled. It was hard to breathe, like being choked all over again. He fell on top of the demon, trying to get back up but couldn't.
'Am I poisoned,' was the only thing his hazed mind could come up with. He tried once again to get up, but when he looked down at the stunned demon, quiet whispering thoughts went through his head.
'Go on,' the voice whispered soothingly, 'you're tired. You've earned it.'
"I...don't..." he slurred out, collapsing on top of the demon.
'Then just relax,' the voice purred soothingly, 'and I'll handle the rest for you.' The strangest part was, the 'voice' in his head didn't sound like his own, and he swore he'd heard that voice before. He didn't like what the voice was implying, but he was so exhausted and felt odd, he just wanted to sleep. He closed his eyes and the world faded away.
He couldn't believe he had been so stupid, he didn't think that demon would have such a powerful blood art at such a weakened state. It fucking hurt, whatever he'd done to him! He couldn't move, no matter what he tried to do, couldn't even breathe. He probably wouldn't be like this if Rui would have let him be his true form, but no...he had to be a fuckin' kid. As soon as he was able to move, he was going to rip that demon apart! He felt the blond demon fall on top of him. What was he doing? He was acting like he was drugged or something. He was trying to hurry and heal, he needed to get up and—
Suddenly the other demon rose up a bit, still lying down on him but was 'looking' down at him. His eyes were completely dilated and his face was blank. It looked like there was not a single thought going through his head. He wanted to tell him to get away, but he still couldn't move. Then the demon slowly went to his neck and bit down on it. He then could feel the fucker start drinking his blood.
'You bastard,' he thought, 'you're trying to get a meal out of me?!' He could finally feel his arms and legs again and slowly went to try to push the blond demon off of him. But as soon as he started to move, he felt claws sink into him and he was electrocuted again, harder this time, stunning him all over again. After what felt like forever the demon finally unlatched from his neck.
'About damn time, you greedy pig. I'm going to rip your tail off and shove it down your throat!' The demon lazily started to rip off his kimono, then started to cut into his chest with his claws.
'What the hell are you doing,' the demon thought, 'I'm not a human prey, you stupid bastard!'
It hurt, there was no denying it. He'd had been 'eaten' once before, by Father. He'd gotten on his bad side once and had his lower end bitten off. Thankfully Mother was always on his radar because how meek she was. Rui was so odd on choosing who played which roles, letting a little girl playing a mother. But this guy, he was going so...slow. He wasn't even chewing, taking a bite, then swallowing. Something was off about this guy. He could feel his arms and legs again, but this time he wasn't going to let him know it. As soon as his guard was down, he'll attack and get him off of-
He was shocked again, and he wasn't even moving. What the hell was even going on? His right arm was completely gone now, had been for some time...too long of a time. Why wasn't he regenerating? Was it because of this demon's blood art? Was it somehow stopping him from doing so? This was unprecedented. No matter, once the bastard had his fill he would stop, then he would be sorry. It went on for an ungodly amount of time; to the point he picked up his eating pattern: Ten bites, then a zap. How much longer was this torture going to last? It didn't even seem like he was slowing down, just kept at that strange lazy pace. What was this thing, a bottomless pit or something? He started to feel a strange burning sensation, but it wasn't connected to his body. It could only mean one thing: there was more of him inside of that bastard than there was outside. He was starting to panic. He truly was being slowly eaten alive and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. He couldn't even cry out for help or anything. He'd never felt so helpless in his life...maybe karma did exist after all. He felt the demon pick him up to get a better angle at him.
'There's not much left of me,' he thought bitterly, 'am I...am I going to die? It burns so much. If I had known this was going to happen,' he thought as the top of his head was spun around, the only thing left, 'I wouldn't have tossed the sword. I would have rather had a quick death, than what's probably in store for me.' He got one last quick glimpse of the moon before his world went dark.
Zenitsu felt Chuntaro pecking and dancing on the side of his face. He was always irritated whenever Chuntaro did this, but right now he was feeling too sick to say anything about it. He opened his eyes and could see the white kimono that the other demon was wearing was next to him, only now it was ripped up and bloody. What happened? He slowly sat up, looking around for the demon, but he didn't even hear it. He went to stand up, but he felt dizzy and bloated, but managed to get his feet underneath him.
"What happened," he asked Chuntaro, not like he would get a straight answer from the bird, "I feel sick." He looked down at the kimono, then at his hands, both red with blood. He felt his face, it was also sticky. There...there was no way. No way at all. This had to be a trick or something. Besides, yeah demons did eat limbs off of each other but they never could truly eat one another...right? He felt the reassuring weight of Chuntaro on top of his head.
"You don't happen to know where my sword is," he asked the bird, trying to take his mind off of it. Chuntaro took off and started to guide him to where he had seen the sword. He followed as best he could, but he still felt, for better terms, drunk. As he stumbled around, he tried to listen for any flowing water, to not only wash his hands and face but to get the weird taste out of his mouth, plus to hopefully help the horrible heartburn he was having. He tripped on something and face planted into the dirt. He looked to see what it was, only to realize he tripped on his sword. He grabbed the sheath of the sword, not wanting to stain the handle.
He eventually got up and with the sword in hand continued down into the woods, looking for and eventually came across a river, a fairly large but shallow one. He bent down and splashed water on his face and cleaned up as best he could, then cupped the water in his hands to sip it. It also helped clear his head a bit. Now that his hands were clean, he also tried to clean the sheath and put the sword back at his hip. That's when he noticed that not only did he feel bloated, he looked it too.
"Can tonight get any worse," he mumbled as he stood up. He walked blindly into the woods again, hoping to come across anyone at this point. He thought he could hear fighting to the east so he headed that way. As he was walking, he started getting paranoid that someone was watching him. He paused and looked nervously around. After a moment, he decided that it was just his nerves and imagination getting the better of him.
"It's probably nothing," he muttered, then sighed, "what a horrible night."
"Oh, I disagree," came a light airy voice directly into his ear, startling him, "good evening, don't you think that the moon is lovely tonight?" He turned slowly to see a pretty young woman, standing right behind him, uncomfortably too close. She was a fellow Demon Slayer, that much he could see, but the way she carried herself told him that she wasn't an average one. Her haori had an unusual pattern, it reminded him of a butterfly's wings. She didn't seem...hostel, she was smiling after all. He looked up at the moon.
"Yeah," he agreed, "the moon looks really big and bright tonight, doesn't it?" She hummed in agreement. He thought about the woman behind him, he could have sworn he had seen that pattern of haori somewhere. He yelped when he felt her grab and pull on his tail.
"Oh my," she said with the same airy voice, stroking the fluff on the tip, "I've never seen a demon with a tail before. How very interesting."
"R-Rude," he said taking his tail in hand and pulling it away from her, "don't do that! You wouldn't like it if I suddenly pulled your hair or ear now, would you?" She never answered him but kept that same smile on her face. Now that he thought about it, she seemed to be quietly assessing him. She was starting to creep him out. He listened to her, and it was only now he realized that her song in her sounded...angry, like seeing him completely enraged her. It went completely against what she was showing on the outside. Perhaps she wasn't as friendly as she was letting on.
"Look," Zenitsu said letting his tail go, "I've been looking for two of our fellow Demon Slayers, Ta—"
" 'Our fellow'," the girl repeated, she seemed amused by his phrasing.
"Yes," he repeated, " Tanjiro Kamado and Inosuke Hashibira, and there was another one we met up called Murata," her eyes slightly narrowed when he said that, "We split into groups and now I can't find them, have you seen them?"
"I don't know about the first two," she said, "but the third one, well," she smiled brightly and tilted her head, "he almost was killed by another one of your fellow demons by being melted in a yarn cocoon." Zenitsu was shocked.
"Is he okay?!"
"Not to worry," she said brightly, "the only things he lost was his dignity and clothing. Other than a broken nose, he seemed unharmed." Zenitsu closed his eyes and sighed in relief. There had been too many deaths tonight. He was suddenly kicked in the chest and knocked flat onto his back. Before he could even react, the girl was straddling him right at his hips. He didn't know if he was more shocked from the blow or flustered by where she was sitting. It only got weirder when she started to press down on his belly and seemed to be doing an abdominal examination.
"My my, such a full tummy," she said a little more flatly, "and how many humans have you eaten this night?" He could hear the anger dripping off of each syllable, despite her calm pleasant tone.
"None," he said trying to back away from her, but she simply moved with him, "I haven't ever eaten any humans! I've only eaten animals!"
"Hmm," she clearly didn't believe him and kept pressing down, and it felt strange, "there's no need to lie to me, but judging on how your stomach feels, I believe you're full of demon," she said.
"W-What," he sputtered out, looking down where her hand was, "I...are you sure, how can you tell?"
"Oh yes, I'm quite sure," she said pressing down hard, to the point where it hurt, "you see, I know what kind of demon you are," her voice lowered slightly that sent shivers up his spine, "Esurient Demons may be rare but there have been detailed documentations of them eating other demons and what signs to look for."
"Can you tell me," he asked, she gave him a subtle strange look, "because I don't know. I faced off against a demon a little while ago and—"
"Ah yes," she said, "it reacted to that, it seems to be very upset that you ate it. Although I probably would be too."
"Wa-you...you're saying it's still alive?!"
"And will be for some time," she said finally letting up and sitting up straight, "although I cannot say how long it will eventually take to kill it. I originally was skeptical about the documents, but seeing it in person; well as a pharmaceutical expert, It's truly quite fascinating," she said with a hint of joy that Zenitsu didn't share, "I'll have to start experimenting with acids with my poisons! This has been a very informative experience," she said, he could suddenly hear intent to kill in her voice, "but I'm afraid now our time together must end. Normally I would like to befriend a demon, but seeing the kind of demon you are," she went for her sword, "I'm afraid I simply cannot allow you to live."
Zenitsu panicked, and without thinking his tail wrapped around her belt and flung her off of him. She wasn't expecting it as well, as she barely recovered from being tossed. He got up, he needed to get out of there and fast. He readied his Thunderclap and Flash: eightfold to escape, however, he didn't know where she had gone. She had already started her attack! It was now or never! As his attack started, he could hear her coming from above. He moved, and couldn't help but have a bit of a flashback to his first mission. He kept running, unlike his first mission he was now faster thanks to him being a demon. He could hear her chase him high up in the trees, but thankfully as he zigzagged through the woods, he somehow lost her.
He sat down to catch his breath. Now that he had a quiet moment, he remembered where he had seen her haori. Gramps had shown him a photograph of the current Hashira Pillars of the Demon Slayer Corps, but it had been taken several years ago. That haori was the same one he'd seen on a female Pillar, but this girl wasn't the same one from the photograph. Did that mean she was a Hashira? He was really lucky, really REALLY lucky. He should have died. He probably just used the rest of his life's luck right there. He stayed still and silent, he didn't want to be attacked again, he had enough of that for one night. But as he sat there, he swore he could faintly hear Tanjiro...and that Slayer girl.
"Is she talking to Tanjiro," he whispered. He listened harder, they were so far away.
"She's my little sister," he could hear Tanjiro begging someone, "So...You see..."
"Is that so? Poor thing," the girl slayer said, "In that case, I shall use a gentle toxin to kill her, so she won't suffer, all right?" Zenitsu gasped, she was going after Nezuko! He couldn't let that happen, no matter how scared he was of her! If there ever was a true innocent demon in this world, it was her. He got up and ran as fast as he could towards where he had heard the voices coming from. As he ran, it sounded like the others were running away as well. No matter, he had to find them and help! Soon though as he sprinted thinking he was nearing Tanjiro and Nezuko, he stumbled onto a strange sight: The butterfly woman was in a backward chokehold, her arms pinned by her head by another male Demon Slayer with a mismatched colored haori. He looked like the same Slayer Tanjiro described to him that had been the one that had first tried to slay Nezuko all those years ago. When he stumbled onto them, they both stared at him.
"Um," Zenitsu said, "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
"Look Tomioka," the girl Slayer said casually, as if she wasn't in a chokehold, "it's the strange Esurient Demon I told you about. Now do you believe me? You truly thought I would lie about something as serious as this." The male slayer instantly let her go and assumed a battle stance.
"Wait, hold on," Zenitsu said, backing up "I'm not here to hurt anyone! I just wanted to—" "You take the left," the man apparently named Tomioka told her, "I'll go right. Don't let it get away from you again, Shinobu."
"Don't be spiteful," she said to him, "are you still angry that I pointed out that people don't like you?" He could hear the man's song scratch at that...like she had taken a record player and scratched his soul.
"I can see you two need a moment," Zenitsu said as he tried to back away, "so I'm just gonna go look for my friends and—" but before he could finish, the two of them began a team attack. He barely had time to react and would have been killed if a voice hadn't rung out.
"Message! Message! A high-priority message from headquarters," a kasugai crow cried out. The two slayers paused their attack, leaving a trembling Zenitsu alone as he realized he had come literally inches from death.
"Tanjiro, Nezuko, and Zenitsu are to be taken into custody and brought back to headquarters!" All three of them paused and looked up at the circling crow.
"Tanjiro and the demons, Nezuko and Zenitsu, are to be taken into custody and brought back to headquarters! Tanjiro, dressed in a checkered haori, with a scar on his forehead! Nezuko, a demon girl with a bamboo muzzle! Zenitsu, an Esurient Demon dressed in a triangle patterned haori, blond hair, and a long tail! Bring them back! Bring them back! Bring them Back!"
"Oh great," Zenitsu said as he sat down on his haunches, "what did I do? Did I break a rule I didn't know about? What did Tanjiro and Nezuko do?" He looked up and saw the two demon slayers approach him.
"Hold on," he said as he started to get his gloves and mask out, "I can already tell what you guys plan on doing, so let me at least get ready for sunrise, at least let me have that please!" Surprisingly they allowed him to put on his gloves and masks and tuck his tail back inside. As soon as he buttoned up the back of his pants up he turned and said:
"Okay, do whatev—" and he never got to finish what he was going to say, the hilt of Tomioka's sword hit him right on the sweet spot on his neck, knocking him out instantly.
Time for Taisho Secrets:
Between this chapter and this one, Inosuke got Zenitsu's name right on the seventh try.
I'd like to say it wasn't intentional...but it was.
Since I don't have a beta reader, I use NatrualReader, and now Grammarly, to help me correct my stories.
By the time this chapter was written and corrected, it was 24 pages long with a word count of 14,522, the longest chapter of any of my stories.
*as of corrections it is now 14,276 lol lots of lost words and sentences in this one~