AN: I posted this as a series on ao3, too. If you prefer that sight you can find me under energonbunny!

Nezuko wiped the sweat from her brow as she trudged along the dirt road. The day had barely started and it was already a sweltering one. She considered taking off her haori to combat some of the heat, but then she'd have to go through the trouble of taking Tanjiro's box off of her back and then putting it back on again and it simply wasn't worth the effort.

"The next location is southeast!" The crow given to her at the final selection fluttered just over her head, "Hurry, hurry! Southeast!"

"I know, I know." Nezuko looked up at it, "I'm going as fast as I can without wasting-"

"PLEASE!"

The scream stopped her in her tracks and her attention returned to the road in front of her. The crow seemed just as surprised as her, actually coming to rest on her shoulder to assess the situation as well. Just ahead of them was a blond boy clinging onto a girl with dark hair. His arms were wrapped around her waist and his face was pressed against her stomach.

Nezuko began moving when she saw the girl place her hand on the boy's shoulder and try to shove him away.

"I BEG YOU, I BEG YOU!" The boy shrieked as he pulled at the girl's kimono, "I DON'T KNOW HOW LONG I'LL LIVE, SO PLEASE MARRY ME!"

A sparrow flew at her as she came closer but Nezuko brushed it off to the side gently, storming towards the boy and grabbing him by the back of his haori so she could yank him up and off of his knees. It took more strength than she had expected but she refused to let out a grunt or stagger back and reveal that to him. The girl he'd been wrapped around took the provided opportunity and escaped a few feet away, smoothing out her kimono with shaking hands.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Nezuko demanded, "And right in the middle of the road, no less! Have you no shame?! No honor?! Can't you see that she doesn't want you clinging to her like that!"

Now that she had hoisted him up properly and could see more than just his back, she realized there were tears actively running down his cheeks and snot dripping out of his nose. She also recognized his outfit as an identical match to her own outside of the haori, which meant he was a demon slayer. The thought horrified her.

"Ah, your uniform!" He seemed to have realized the same thing she had, "You're the one from the final selection!"

Nezuko let go of his haori and let him fall to the ground, uncaring of the pained hiss he let out. Now that he'd pointed it out she could remember him from the final selection, but then he'd been quiet and snot free and now he was disgusting in more ways than one.

She turned to the girl and put on a smile, "You should go home, miss."

"Thank you," the girl said gratefully.

"Wait!" the boy protested. He hadn't even bothered to get up from his knees, but he still shuffled towards the girl as he resumed screeching. "SHE STILL NEEDS TO MARRY ME! SHE LIKES ME!"

What little tolerance the girl had left seemed to evaporate all at once and she stepped forward and slapped the boy hard across the face. He was so shocked that he didn't even make a sound, hand coming up to where she'd struck him and his wide eyes filling with tears once more. When he didn't immediately move away or strike back the girl realized she could continue her assault and she started to strike him anywhere she could reach. His head, his shoulders, his chest–none of it was safe from her onslaught.

"Shame on you!" The girl cried as she continued with her attack, "When did I ever say I liked you?!"

Nezuko let her hit him a few more times but decided to have some pity when he raised his arms up to protect his head. She moved behind the girl and hooked an arm around her stomach, pulling her back from him.

"That's enough, miss." Nezuko told her.

"I only talked to you because I thought you were sick when I saw you squatting with your head in your hands," the girl continued, her voice rising to an even higher pitch. She strained against Nezuko's hold, "I never said I liked you!"

"But, but…" the blond put his hands to his chest and leaned towards her, "Doesn't that mean that you talked to me because you're worried about me because you like me?!"

The girl went limp in Nezuko's grasp and Nezuko had a hard time not just dropping her. Both of them were too shocked by the boy's astoundingly atrocious thought process to even do anything for a few seconds. The girl soon righted herself and broke out of Nezuko's hold, Nezuko still too baffled by the boy's response to even thinking of stopping her.

"I HAVE A FIANCE ALREADY! AND EVEN IF I DIDN'T I STILL WOULDN'T LIKE YOU!" She yelled as she stormed past him, though she made sure to stay out of reach. "I can see that you're actually completely fine, so I sincerely hope I never have to see you or think about you again!"

"Wait!" The boy scrambled off of his knees and turned to follow her but the girl broke out into a sprint. He turned his attention back to Nezuko with a glare, "Why did you have to come along and ruin—what sort of expression is that?!"

Nezuko wasn't sure what expression was on her face, but apparently it told the boy exactly how disgusted she was with his actions.

"Don't do that!" He fell to his knees again and his hands went to tug at his hair, "Don't look at me like I'm something disgusting you stepped on! It's all your fault I didn't get married, so what are you going to do to make it up to me?!"

She just stared at him because she didn't have a response. Nezuko couldn't think of anything to say to a sleazy coward. Tanjiro and her mother would be disappointed in her for thinking that way and not giving him the benefit of the doubt; it was only that thought that made Nezuko inhale to try to pick up more from his scent. He smelled overwhelmingly like an oncoming storm, but just underneath was the scent of static in the air just before lightning struck. There was strength there, underneath all those tears and that snot, but she couldn't pick up anything else. Her nose had never been as good as Tanjiro's or their father's.

So far it seemed like this boy was the antithesis of what a demon slayer should be. She knew if Tanjiro had remained a human, he would have been nothing like this sniveling creature in front of her. He would have tried to destroy every demon that crossed his path so he could save as many lives as possible.

"I'm seriously going to die, you know!" He shuffled towards her, arms outstretched. "I'm super weak and can barely fight! I'll die before long! You need to protect me before I get married!" His eyes widened for a second as a thought seemed to strike him, "You could marry me! In fact, you owe it to me for chasing her away!"

Nezuko desperately prayed for patience, "Let us exchange names before I give you my response. My name is Nezuko Kamado."

"I'm Zenitsu Agatsuma!"

"Agatsuma-kun..." Nezuko made sure to address him properly so he wouldn't think it was alright to address her in an overly familiar way, "I cannot consider anyone for marriage until my brother approves of them."

Zenitsu nodded slowly to show he understood. Wanting family approval was a normal thing when it came to a marriage, after all, and not something he could argue with. Nezuko had been counting on that, since it seemed like Zenitsu was probably heading to the same demon infestation as her and she didn't want to deal with his coming on to her the entire time.

"Why do you want to get married so bad?" Nezuko asked, "Why does a demon slayer want to be protected? Shouldn't you-"

"I didn't want to be a demon slayer!" Zenitsu cut her off with a wail, grabbing on to the sleeves of her haori. "You have to try to understand, Kamado-chan! I was deceived by a woman and I have a lot of debt! The guy I owe money to sold me to some other old guy and he says as repayment I had to train under him and kill demons!"

"Bu-"

"I thought I was going to die under that hellish training regime he made me endure! DAY AND NIGHT!" Zenitsu's breathing quickened as he began to tremble, "And then I thought I was going to die during final selection! But I got lucky and didn't even have to fight a demon! But now… now! I've never fought a demon, Kamado-chan! I'm super weak, I won't make it! I can't do this! I can't-I don't want-I don't…"

Zenitsu had worked himself into such a state of fear that he was having a panic attack. He wrapped his arms around himself and shook. Nezuko crouched down next to him and rubbed soothing circles onto his back as she considered what he said. Why had he claimed that he never fought a demon before? She'd smelled the demon blood on him and seen the wounds at final selection. But she couldn't smell a lie on him, so how could that be?

"You're heading southeast, too?" Nezuko asked.

Zenitsu sniffled and nodded his head.

"If you stick with me then I will do everything I can to ensure your safety," Nezuko promised.

The promise came easily because it was something she would have done for anyone, but Zenitsu looked at her with such a shocked and vulnerable expression that she almost felt bad for him. She decided not to tell him that she was still wounded from her last battle because she wasn't sure his heart could take it.

A few hours later, Nezuko had defeated the drum demon. She'd even managed to do it without hurting herself much more than she already had been, so she was quite pleased with herself. She returned to retrieve Kiyoshi and Teruko, allowing Kiyoshi to climb on her back, and then hurried them all along to the exit. She was desperate to get out in the sun once more and to get Tanjiro back.

"I can smell Zenitsu and Shoichi," Nezuko realized as they neared the entrance. "They're both waiting for us, but…"

"But?" Kiyoshi leaned against her back fully and tried to peer over her shoulder as if that could let him see outside before she even turned the corner into the foyer.

"Big sister?" Teruko prompted.

Nezuko didn't bother responding to them, instead breaking into a jog. She was pretty sure that it was Zenitsu's blood she was smelling and she was picking up the scent of that boar headed boy. Boar head hadn't cared about stepping on Teruko or trying to fight Nezuko with a demon a couple inches away from them, so she knew that he wouldn't have any mercy on Zenitsu either. Or Tanjiro, if he picked up on his presence.

When Nezuko turned the corner, she stopped dead at the sight before her. Zenitsu had wrapped himself protectively around Tanjiro's box and he was covered in bruises, abrasions, and dirt. Boar head stood next to him with his swords out and Shoichi was off in the treeline, watching with tears streaming down his face.

"Move!" Boar head kicked at Zenitsu, "Or pull out your sword and fight, coward!"

Zenitsu caught sight of Nezuko standing motionless, "Kamado-chan… I've made sure he couldn't get it…"

Zenitsu's face was a mess: his nose was bloody and his right eye had swelled up and was already turning black. But there was no trace of tears on his face, nor was he shaking. She could pick up the acrid scent of fear, but it was almost completely buried under the strong scent of determination and sharp spark of anger. For some unfathomable reason he had allowed himself to be beaten instead of letting boar head get at the box.

Nezuko took a deep breath to steady herself and crouched down so Kiyoshi could climb off of her back, but it wasn't fast enough. Boar head kicked Zenitsu in the face and knocked him over onto the ground and Zenitsu's grasp on Tanjiro's box meant the whole thing tilted over with him.

"I'LL JUST SKEWER YOU ALONG WITH THE BOX, THEN!" Boar head yelled as he loomed over Zenitsu, a sword held at the ready.

She saw red. What had Zenitsu done to deserve this? What had Tanjiro done, locked away as he was with the sun beating down? Why did some of the strongest people think they had the right to pick on the weak?

"STOP IT!" Nezuko hollered.

With anger boiling through her veins she pushed herself and ran straight at boar head. It jarred her broken leg something awful and made tears sting her eyes, but she didn't care. Nezuko did a jumping front kick, intending to get him directly in the face, but boar head also ran straight forward and closed the distance faster than she anticipated. Boar head shifted into a stance to swing his swords with his legs slightly apart, so when Nezuko raised her leg for the kick she instead landed a direct hit right in between his legs. He crumpled to the ground with a wounded noise, swords dropped in favor of curling up and holding his hands protectively over his groin.

Nezuko hadn't meant to fight dirty like that, but as she watched him lie there and whimper she wasn't overly upset with the results. She picked up his swords and looked over her shoulder to check on the others. Zenitsu, Shoichi, and Kiyoshi were all looking at her with wide eyes and pale faces. Teruko had her hand over her mouth and was obviously trying not to laugh. Nezuko turned her full attention back to boar head, who was trembling slightly.

"Don't you know we're not supposed to fight each other!" Nezuko reprimanded, tossing his swords towards where Zenitsu still knelt on the ground. "There's a reason Agatsuma-kun didn't draw his sword against you, and it's because he actually has some honor!"

Nezuko moved to step away, but boar head uncurled from his ball and raised his head. He started to laugh and a shiver ran down her spine. He sounded insane.

"I see, I see! That's my bad, then!" Boar head continued to laugh even as he flipped himself upright. "Then we can just use our hands! And feet!"

"I refuse," Nezuko stated. "I'm not at my peak condition right now so it wouldn't be a fun fight."

"Hah?!" Boar head shouted, "If you won't fight me then I'll just get that demon in the box to do it!"

Nezuko had known he'd picked up on Tanjiro's presence given how he'd been trying to get at the box, but she hadn't been sure if Zenitsu had as well or if he was just protecting the box because he knew it was precious to her. She shifted her stance so she could gauge Zenitsu's reaction while keeping boar head in sight in case he came at her. Zenitsu didn't appear to be surprised at all at the revelation, nor did he seem to be in disbelief. And he didn't move away from the box at all. He'd known all along.

Boar head took the opportunity to rush at her. Nezuko broadened her stance and dropped low so she could handle him, but he flipped right over her. She turned to watch as he ran straight for Zenitsu and Tanjiro's box and his swords. She cursed herself for her stupidity and immediately started running to try and catch up to him, but her broken leg refused to be pushed as badly as she had pushed it even just a moment ago.

Zenitsu scrambled up from the ground with Tanjiro's box still clutched in his arms when he realized boar head was coming straight at him. His eyes were wide and his arms trembled, but his feet were planted firmly.

"Kamado-chan said this box is more important to her than her own life!" Zenitsu cried, "I know there's a demon in here, but if it's that important to her there has to be a reason! I won't let you hurt something important to her!"

Boar head got to his swords with a triumphant laugh, "Then you can fight me, coward!"

"The house!" Nezuko yelled, "It's still dark in there! He can run freely!"

Zenitsu broke into a sprint towards the house before she had even finished talking. He was far faster than boar head and left the irate boy shouting curses after him, but that meant he was faster than Nezuko, too. Boar head may have been left in the dust but he was still closer than she was, and because of the pain in her leg she'd been forced into a simple jog. She'd barely gotten the open entrance of the house into eyesight when Zenitsu made it inside.

Once inside, he went straight for the shadows at the back of the foyer and dropped Tanjiro's box on the ground. He then turned to face the doorway and shifted into a defensive stance just as boar head rocketed inside.

"TANJIRO!" Nezuko shrieked. "RUN!"

Nezuko couldn't see the box with Zenitsu blocking it, but only a few seconds passed before she saw Tanjiro stand up to his full height just behind Zenitsu. She reached the doorway just as boar head leaped at Zenitsu and knocked him to the ground. He stepped directly on Zenitsu, pinning him to the ground with his weight on his chest. Zenitsu let out a cry of pain and she could see Tanjiro's eyebrows furrow.

"Finally!" Boar head crowed, "M'name's Inosuke Hashibira! Fight me, demon!"

"No, Tanjiro!" Nezuko caught the angered look on Tanjiro's face and knew something bad was about to happen to Inosuke,
Don't hurt-"

But it was too late. Tanjiro saw something that didn't look quite human step on top of and hurt someone who was definitely entirely human, which meant he saw Inosuke as an enemy. Before Nezuko could finish telling her brother not to hurt him, Inosuke had raised his swords in an obvious move to strike. Tanjiro stepped forward with a foot planted on either side of Zenitsu's head and put his hands on Inosuke's shoulders, surprising him just long enough so that Tanjiro could slam his head into Inosuke's without him bringing his swords down.

Inosuke went limp in Tanjiro's grasp, head lolling back enough that the boar mask fell off.

"HE'S DEAD!" Zenitsu squealed. She was honestly a bit impressed with the new high note he'd just reached, "THAT CRACK! HE KILLED HIM! WITH HIS HEAD!"

"He's not dead," Nezuko sighed. "Just unconscious. Put him down, Tanjiro."

She wasn't sure what had done it, maybe the boar mask falling off or Tanjiro just getting a second to really pick up on Inosuke's scent underneath the smell of demon blood and without having to worry about getting cut up, but he seemed to have realized Inosuke was a human after all. His eyes had gone wide and filled with tears as he carefully lifted Inosuke up into his arms and stepped away from Zenitsu. Tanjiro then sat down and cradled Inosuke to his chest, stroking his hair.

"A GIRL!" Zenitsu sat up and pointed at Inosuke, "A GIRL FACE! THAT'S UNNATURAL!"

It had been a long day for all of them, so Nezuko decided she'd let that one pass. She went and retrieved Inosuke's swords from where they had fallen and took them deeper into the house and tossed them into a random room. She returned to the foyer to find Zenitsu standing up and watching Tanjiro card his fingers through Inosuke's hair with a strange expression on his face. He at least seemed far more composed than he had been a moment ago, and was no longer raving over Inosuke's pretty face.

Zenitsu glanced at her, "I had wondered why you would travel with a demon on your back, but now I see that he's no normal demon."

"He's my older brother," Nezuko told him. "My family was attacked and he was the only survivor. I didn't realize what had happened to him because I'd never encountered a demon before, but he stopped himself from eating me and he's never hurt a human before." She glanced at Inosuke's limp form, "Well, never hurt a human who wasn't waving a sword at him, at least. I think the boar head and all the demon smells threw him off."

"Hashibira deserved it," Zenitsu scoffed.

Nezuko had to smother a laugh at that. She took a moment to look Zenitsu over, cataloging the visible injuries he had gotten and trying to figure out how many of them had been from protecting her brother. Her impression of him had changed and she no longer thought he was just some coward. There was still so much fear inside of him, strong enough that she'd been able to smell it on him this whole time, but he had the strength to do what he thought was necessary when pressed, and that showed more bravery than she had imagined him capable of.

"You protected him even though you knew he was a demon," Nezuko hugged Zenitsu before she could think better about it. "Thank you, Zenitsu-kun. You're a good person."

"Ahahahah!" Zenitsu burst into embarrassed laughter, and when Nezuko pulled away she could see his face had turned bright red. "It was nothing, Nezuko-chan! I knew someone as kind as you had to have a reason to be carrying around a demon!"

"Not many would do that," Nezuko refuted. "So you have my gratitude. If my brother were normal he'd thank you as well."

"Brother…" Zenitsu blinked a few times and then whipped his head around to look at Tanjiro, "It's his approval I need?!"

Of course he had picked up on that little tidbit. Nezuko just put on a smile and turned on her heel, heading outside to where Shoichi and Kiyoshi had started to dig a grave for one of the dead.