Title: dandelion fluff
A/N: For the InoTan zine! Inosuke's contented fluff-expression is adorable.
Summary: There was something wrong with Inosuke. Every time he saw Tanjirou, he felt light-headed and content. In the middle of battle, while eating, during training—it didn't matter where, didn't matter why. Maybe he was coming down with something.
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1.
Inosuke ground his feet into the wet dirt. Knees bent, shoulders hunched, he pointed a sword toward his left and right, offering himself maximum protection. In the dark forest, he could just make the glowing eyes of two female demons as they circled him, both looking more beast than human. They snapped their jaws, drool dribbling out the corner of their mouths.
He could do this. They were beasts and he was the king of all beasts, the king of every mountain. And maybe his side hurt from that last attack and his nose felt kinda broken, but that was all in the course of fighting. It wouldn't be a real battle without injuries. Spitting out blood, he roared, "Let's fucking go!"
His enemies rumbled in response. Twigs snapped as one of the demons rushed toward him. She leaped in the air, hand outstretched, and Inosuke whirled around to face her, slashing at her with both swords. As he lopped off an arm, she planted her feet on his sword and sprang off, knocking him off balance.
Inosuke's arms wind-milled as he tried to find purchase in the ground and regain his balance. It was to no avail—his feet slipped on the muddy ground. Sensing an opening, the other demon charged.
"I've got you!" she snarled, quickening her pace until she was only two steps away.
Shit. Inosuke twisted his body, a half-hearted attempt to parry her attack. Just as her claws almost reached him, Inosuke saw someone barrel into the forest clearing.
"Inosuke!" Tanjirou shouted, and suddenly a green blur tackled the second demon. His sword slashed through the air, barreling down on her with the power of a tsunami. She barely managed to dodge, the tips of her hair falling to the forest ground.
Now that he was safe, Inosuke quickly turned his fall into a flip. Landing heavy on his feet, he panted as he stood back to back with Tanjirou. "That was my prey!" he grunted, slightly miffed by the helping hand.
"I know, I know." Unphased, Tanjirou stepped closer until their backs touched. "But you looked like you needed a little help." He looked over his shoulder and smiled at him reassuringly. "You aren't alone, right? You have me."
Inosuke stared at him and his overly bright, cheerful smile. At the man whose back stood ramrod straight, supporting Inosuke's sore one until he too could stand tall. For a second, his grip on his swords went slack and a warm feeling ran down his spine until his toes curled. There was something just very pleasing about it all.
However, they were in a battle and Inosuke shook himself out of it. This feeling could get him killed. Besides, what was that first thing Tanjirou had said? That he needed help? He, the great Inosuke, master of the forest, needed help?
Oh, fuck that shit.
Gritting his teeth, Inosuke charged furiously at the first demon, roaring, "I DON'T NEED HELP!"
2.
"So we just have to cut these up?" Zenitsu muttered, tapping a wooden post in the middle of a clearing. His eyes narrowed as he inspected the post from every angle, his fingers prodding each notch and whirl. At the end of it all, he rubbed his chin before finally giving a satisfied nod. "It's just a wooden post."
"Well, that's what they said," Tanjirou pointed out, looking a little perplexed as he rubbed his neck. "What else would it be?"
"Huuuuhhh?" Zenitsu shot Tanjirou an exaggerated frown, his expression warping into a parody of itself. "The final test was fighting demons on a mountain. You think they'd give us anything as simple as attacking a wooden post?" He snorted in disbelief. "You're a dummy."
"Well…" Tanjioru bit his lip, unable to refute the point. Weakly, he pointed out, "We're recovering."
"And remember the last time we recovered? Huh? Huh?" Zenitsu walked up Tanjirou, leaning further and further to the side with every word until he was almost perpendicular to the ground. He'd do anything to make his point, no matter how ridiculous it was.
"That was…I mean…" Tanjirou scratched his cheek. "We learned a lot."
"Still hard!" Zenitsu straightened up and gestured at the posts. "This is easy! Finally!" He raised his sword, a goofy expression on his face. "We can slack off after this."
Inosuke got up from where he was squatting, done with listening to the conversation. His limbs were limber now, his body taunt and ready for training. Taking a deep breath, he expelled it sharply through his nose. "YESSSSS!" he grunted, shaking his arms back and forth.
"See, even Inosuke agree—" Zenitsu paused. Inosuke? Agreeing? The world would end first. "Inosuke?"
"I'LL GET THE POSTS!" he roared, charging forward to the three wooden posts. His feet pushed down firmly into the earth, dirt spilling in his wake. Crossing his swords to an X, he cut the first pole just as he was running straight up it. Before the post could fall over, he kicked off it, spiraling at the other two in a whirlwind of slashes. As he somersaulted through the air, he gave one last slash before landing hard on the ground. Behind him, the logs exploded.
Well, no, they didn't exactly explode, though it felt that way. Instead they all shattered into woodchips and Zenitsu didn't know how he was supposed to react to that. Awe? Shock? He was working with the human equivalent of a bomb.
"Wow!" Tanjirou ran over to Inosuke's side, eagerly clapping his hands. "That was amazing, Inosuke!"
Well, that definitely wasn't how they should react. "Don't encourage him!" Zenitsu shouted, a lone voice of sanity amidst the sawdust carnage.
"It is, isn't it," Inosuke stood up, resting a blade on his shoulder as he puffed his chest out with pride. His ego inflated, he smirked (and boar heads somehow could change expressions, however strange that was). "I defeated them all."
"You did great," Tanjirou continued to praise, hugging Inosuke tightly.
For a moment, Inosuke's face went oddly blank and Zenitsu wasn't sure how the hell he was doing that with the carcass on his head. Just as quickly, though, Inosuke recovered and crowed, "Try to beat that, Tanosuke!"
"It's Tanjirou."
Oh god. Zenitsu groaned. They were creating a monster.
3.
"This is great!" Inosuke praised, tearing into a chicken leg with his sharp incisors. If there was one thing he didn't miss about his home, it was the food. As weak as people were, they managed to make some really good things. Chewing, he raised the leg above him. "GREAT!"
Zenitsu stared at him, a disgusted look on his face. "Don't talk while you eat."
Snorting at the stupidity of the request, Inosuke shoveled even more food in his mouth. If he wanted to talk, he'd talk. If he wanted to eat, he'd eat. And if he wanted to do both, he'd do both! "Why?"
"Ugh." Zenitsu winced, shuffling sideways so he could sit further away from him. "There are ladies present!" He leaned forward to look past Inosuke and Tanjirou to where Nezuko was sitting. A goofy smile broke on his face and he apologized, "I'm sorry, Nezuko, that you have to see all this."
"Our siblings did the same thing," Tanjirou answered, a jovial smile on his face. "Besides, it's great when food's enjoyed."
Zenitsu rubbed his eyes, shaking his head pityingly. "Oh, and she's used to such hardships too."
"What hardship?" Inosuke grunted, not understanding the point of this whole discussion. And why was there so much talking when they were supposed to be eating? A waste. An utter waste. His chopsticks scratched the bottom of the rice bowl and he looked down to find he'd finished his food. Unfortunately, his stomach wasn't entirely filled. He could just yell for more, but the last time he did that, Aoi had yelled at him. Which wasn't a problem, he could take her. No, it was how Shinobu and Kanao had looked when he'd argued back that worried him.
"Hey."
Inosuke looked up from his bowl to find Tanirou holding out his plate. Pushed to the side were three strips of chicken and a piece of daikon. "What?"
"For you," Tanjirou explained, holding the plate insistently. "This is your favourite, right?"
Now that he thought about it, yeah, it was. Automatically, he reached out to snatch it before stopping himself. "But it's yours." He looked at Tanjirou in askance, not understanding what was happening.
"It is, but I want to give it to you," Tanjirou said easily, guilelessly. Maybe that's what Inosuke liked about him—unlike most humans, there were no lies with Tanjirou. He was exactly what he presented himself. Just like with the forest, like with the wild animals, Inosuke didn't have to think too hard about what Tanjirou was saying.
Inosuke blinked. Like. Tanjirou. Like. His brain tried to process the connection between them, the non-food, non-forest connection, but he short-circuited and gave up. Tanjirou was giving him food, what else was there to think of?
"Great!" Inosuke snatched up the remaining pieces of chicken before Tanjirou could change his mind. As he chewed, he pointed his chopsticks at Tanjirou. "I'll get you something better!"
Tanjirou blinked, surprised, before breaking out into a big smile.
4.
Inosuke stood by the foot of the bed, crossing his arms and glaring at Tanjirou, There were probably other, better ways to go about this. He could not think of a single one of them. Honestly, he could not really think at all, not when he was staring at a heavily wounded Tanjirou. Thick, white bandages criss-crossed his abdomen, the section overtop the injury taking on a pinkish hue. He was starting to get used to this sight, of Tanjirou lying in a bed with Nezuko hovering next to him, and something in him twisted at the thought.
This wasn't something he wanted to get used to. He didn't want to see it again, period. If he could just drag Tanjirou out of bed—no, Aoi had said that while not life-threatening, it'd take weeks to heal.
Not that this should have happened at all. Inosuke breathed out through his nose, expelling his air forcefully, before stomping over to Tanjirou's left side. On the right, Nezuko watched him curiously, just as quiet as she'd ever been.
"Why?" Inosuke growled, biting out the word like it had personally offended him.
Tanjirou swallowed. "Why what?"
"This." Inosuke gestured at his bandages. "You protected me. I didn't need it."
"Ahh, but…" Tanjirou tried to sit up and winced at the movement. Sweat beaded across his skin at the effort and he groaned as he forced his body to move. "I…"
In a fit of rage, Inosuke grabbed a pillow from the next bed and stuffed it behind Tanjirou's back. "Use this."
"Ah. Th-thanks." Tanjiro leaned back onto the raised pillows with Nezuko's help.
"Why?" Inosuke repeated, feeling jittery. His fingers twitched, aching to grab a sword, to change something, anything about the situation.
"You were in danger," Tanjirou breathed out, wiping his forehead. "I didn't think—I just moved. I didn't want you to get hurt."
Well. That was a first. The law of the beasts was survival of the fittest and here was a man who defied all that. No, not just defied—challenged it and won. Inosuke could feel his brain turn to mush for a good second before he managed to claw his way back to reality.
This was barely acceptable. Inosuke had done the same before but he hadn't gotten half as injured any of those times. He glared at Tanjirou. "I could protect myself."
"I know, I know." Tanjirou nodded apologetically. "It's just…you're…" His ears burned red and he looked away bashfully. "You know…"
"I don't know," he growled back, not at all understanding what this strange performance was.
"Well…" Tanjirou was now a bright pink, almost rivalling Nezuko's eyes, and he cleared his throat awkwardly. "I mean, it's because we're friends. Yeah. That's it."
Friends. Inosuke could feel his brain threatening to turn into mush again.
5.
Inosuke sniffed the air. Smoke lingered, interlaced with the earthy scent of roasted nuts and mushrooms. Strange. He didn't hear any panicked animals or the familiar crackle of a forest fire. Then again, he wasn't in a forest, he was in one of those sickly sweet smelling safe houses. The Wisteria trees were in full bloom and it was a miracle he could smell anything over that.
Following his nose, Inosuke stepped out onto the veranda. Now outside, the smell grew even stronger, and he chased after it through the massive backyard of the tiny mansion. As he crossed a koi pond, he heard a low humming sound.
Tanjirou. Inosuke could recognize his voice anywhere. The same applied to his scent and it had been a long time since they'd first met, hadn't it? Just ahead, a familiar green figure tended to a small fire. The humming stopped as Tanjirou looked up and spotted him. Waving, he gestured for Inosuke to come closer.
"What're you doing?" Inosuke asked, crouching down to inspect the fire. It burned off mostly twigs and dried leaves, no doubt all gathered from when Tanjirou had cleaned the yard. He liked to keep busy like that. "Burning the place down?"
"No, no, no." Tanjirou laughed, shaking his head. With the long stick he was using to tend to the fire, he gently pushed out a small bundle. It had burned to a charcoal black, but bits of writing identified it as a newspaper. When Inosuke stared at it distrustfully, he added, "It's safe."
Inosuke bristled. Again with the unnecessary worrying! Brashly grabbing it, he growled, "I'm not scared!" Just as quickly he dropped the bundle, still hot from the fire. "Hot!"
"I didn't think you'd just grab it!" Tanjirou dropped his stick and rushed to his side. He'd been doing that more often these days. Reaching out for Inosuke's hand, he patted his pockets for a handkerchief. "Are you okay?"
Tanjirou's touch was as cool and calm as his water-breathing, and Inosuke could feel his mind turning into dandelion seeds, ready to be blown away at the slightest wind. That was another thing that happened often these days and he felt like he was just one thought, one realization away from figuring out why.
But he wasn't quite there yet and he grunted, "I'm fine."
He didn't remove his hand.
6.
"Tanjirou!" Inosuke roared, slamming the sliding door open to the room Tanjirou and Nezuko shared. Without waiting for a response, he flipped on the light, bathing the room a pale yellow.
"Whaa—" Lying on his futon, Tanjirou blearily sprang to his feet. Fighting back a yawn, he shambled to his sword. "Is it an emergency?" he asked as he grabbed the hilt of his weapon.
Inosuke snorted. "Nothing as stupid as that."
"Huh?" Tanjirou rubbed his ear and blinked the sleep away. Shaking his head awake, he repeated, "It's not an emergency?"
"No." Inosuke strode across the room, down with the unnecessary discussion. "Something better."
"Better than an emergency?" Tanjirou reluctantly let go of his sword and leaned against the wall. Stretching his neck left and right, he considered it. "Better good or—"
"Great," Inosuke crowed, grabbing Tanjirou's hand. There were many ways he was described but patient or tactful was not one of them. Leaning closer, he grinned wildly. "Tanjirou."
"You aren't wearing your mas—" Tanjirou blinked, realizing what he'd heard. "You said my name right."
"I love you," Inosuke barreled on, staring intently at his face.
Tanjirou's jaw fell open, a strange sound between a squawk and a croak escaping his lips, and his skin instantly turned a beet red. "You…"
"I love you, damnit," Inosuke repeated. He liked the sound of it and now that he'd said it once, he wanted to say it again and again. To roar it to everyone they met. Maybe he could do that to Zenitsu after this. Or Nezuko.
But first he needed Tanjirou to snap out of whatever state he was in. His face was still a bright red, a bashful yet goofy smile on his face, and for once Inosuke realized what he'd looked like whenever he went into his dandelion fluff state.
It looked stupid.
He had to make sure to never do that again.
"What about you?" he grunted, even though he had a good idea of what the answer would be.
"I…" Tanjirou shook his head, breaking out of his thoughts. His smile grew even wider and he clutched Inosuke's hand back. "Me too."
"Great!" Inosuke sharply exhaled through his nose, pleased, and let go. "Now to tell everyone else."
"Huh?" Tanjirou clutched the empty air. "Wait, now? It's midnight—"
It was too late, Inosuke was already out of the room.
