First meeting
Hello everyone!
This fic is made as a birthday gift to a friend of mine; I hope you enjoy it Crisperia!
WARNING: This story has MAJOR SPOILERS for the current manga chapters, I recommend you don't read this if you're not up to date with it.
With that said, on with the one-shot!
Disclaimer: I don't own Kimetsu no Yaiba.
It has been two months since the final battle against Muzan, every member of the Demon Slayer Corps that was lucky enough to have survived had been taken to the Butterfly State for treatment.
For some, it was almost a miracle they were still alive, such as the Snake Pillar who was almost eaten alive by Muzan, others sadly passed away before any treatment could be delivered such as Himejima.
Kamado Nezuko, now finally a human again, had been helping out with their treatment, listening to any and all instructions given by Aoi and running around to ensure her and the other doctors they called could focus without issues.
After a long week, the ones that had survived looked to be in the way to recover, they weren't quite out of the woods yet but they were all mostly fine, although still asleep.
Such was the case for the two people that the former demon was the most worried about, her own brother Tanjiro and the man that, not counting the older Kamado, had spent the most time with her when she was a demon, Zenitsu.
There were many things she wanted to tell the two, she honestly doesn't even know where to begin and has been using the time that wasn't spent worrying about them trying to sorting that out to no avail.
'Inosuke-san didn't give me the best advice.' She thought with a chuckle, the teen with the boar mask had been the first to wake up and, after properly introducing herself and talking for a bit, she opened up about her worries.
The Hashibira had simply told her to 'say everything, it's not that hard!'.
While his intentions were good, Nezuko needed a bit more than a 'just do it!' advice.
'Well… I guess I still have time to figure it out.'
"WAHHH!"
A cry coming from her brother's room immediately caught her attention and she ran there as fast as her legs could carry her, not bothering to knock before opening the door.
"What's wrong?!" She yelled in panic until her brain caught up to what she was seeing.
Kanao was crying next to her brother's bed, the two had spent a lot of time in his room due to their mutual worry for the red haired teen and had formed a bond. Kanao would usually ask something related to Tanjiro, such as stories from their childhood, and Nezuko was more than happy to answer.
She genuinely had nothing but praise for her brother and she could easily tell the Tsuyuri had something more than a crush for her older brother; she had secretly given their blessing to their relationship, remembering some of the interactions she witnessed between the two when she was a demon but kept that to herself, she would wait until Tanjiro wakes up to tell her that she has her support.
Speaking of which.
"Good morning, Nezuko."
Without thinking, she lunged towards the bed and hugged her brother as she also began to cry.
"O-Onii-chan I… I'm so happy you're awake I-I can't- I don't know how to begin to thank you, you… I'm so happy!" The black haired girl stuttered and continued to thank him as she hugged him, afraid that he might disappear if she stopped.
Eventually, the two girls stepped away, still wiping away their tears.
"Sorry for worrying you, you two." Tanjiro said in a weak voice, clearly still tired.
"Don't worry, as-as long as you're fine then it doesn't matter!" Kanao answered through her hiccups.
"Y-yeah sniff I'm just so happy you're awake!" Nezuko added.
"Yeah… we have a lot of catching up to do Nezuko… I think that will have to wait for a bit, though." The red haired teen said with a chuckle.
"Y-yeah."
"EVERYONE, ZENITSU-SAN IS AWAKE!" The three heard the voices of the 'caterpillars' call out.
"Zenitsu-san!" Nezuko repeated, almost moving to leave the room. 'N-no, wait, first Onii-chan and then-'
"Go." Tanjiro spoke up, interrupting her thoughts.
"Eh?"
"You want to go see Zenitsu, right? Go, I'll be here when you come back, tell him I hope he recovers soon."
She didn't bother to ask if he was sure, she knew the answer, so she just hugged her brother and thanked him once more before leaving the room.
"Is that fine?" Kanao asked, mostly calm now.
"Yeah, I can tell she was really worried about him… plus, I think they have a few things to talk about."
"What things?"
"Similar to some I want to talk with you." He answered, making Kanao blush.
"Oh… wait, and… you support them?"
"As long as Nezuko is happy, I'm fine. I should tell Zenitsu that the next time I see him."
Kanao smiled fondly before sitting at the edge of his bed and began to caress his hair.
"Is something wrong?"
"No… my heart just told me to do this." She answered.
Nezuko ran once more, this time towards the room Zenitsu was at, it was fairly easy to find since.
"OWWW, EVERYTHING HURTS!" The blonde was making quite the ruckus.
"I know, that's why I'm giving you sedatives, if you would stop flailing around for a second it would be easier!" Aoi scolded him, even though relief was clear in her voice.
"Zenitsu-san!" Nezuko called out when she entered the room and immediately approached his bed. "I'm so happy you're awake!"
"Eh…? Nezuko-chan?!" The Agatsuma yelled. "Wait, this sound… the medicine worked! You're human again!"
"Y-yes, I am… wait, never mind that! Are you alright?! Your injuries…"
"Oh, yes, you don-ITAI!" The blonde suddenly yelled when Aoi had stabbed him with a syringe. "What are you.. doing… oh, that feels better…" He said looking a bit sleepy all of the sudden.
"That should take the edge off." Aoi said simply as she got up and grabbed her things. "I still need to go check on other patients, please stay with him and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." The Kanzaki told Nezuko.
"Y-yes, I understand." She nodded and waved her goodbye until Aoi closed the door.
"Ahh… I'm really glad… Nezuko-chan is human again…" Zenitsu said with a happy sigh as he relaxed on his bed.
"Yes, I… I am really happy you're awake… there are a few things I want to talk about… oh, and Onii-chan says he hopes you recover soon."
"Onii… oh, right, Tanjiro… wait, so he is awake?" The Agatsuma asked in surprise.
"He just woke up a bit before you actually." Nezuko answered happily. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you two planned it." She added with a chuckle.
"Hehehe… I don't think we could have done that even if we did plan on it…" Zenitsu answered. "…is something wrong?"
"I… I just want to thank you." The Kamado revealed with a wide smile. "When I was a demon… well, you were scared at first from what I remember but then… you never treated me badly and even came talk to me… and… well, I remember…" She trailed off as her cheeks turned red. "You… you kept saying that you want to marry me." Nezuko finally said in a very quiet voice that Zenitsu only heard due to his superhuman hearing.
"Eh… ah!" His face immediately turned crimson and it even looked like some steam was coming out the top of his head. "I-I-I-I did say things like that a-a-a-and-"
"I… I wouldn't say no." Nezuko interrupted him, again in a very quiet voice.
"Eh?" For once, Zenitsu's reaction to her words wasn't to explode in happiness or stutter, he just stared at her. "Th-then, when I recover let's talk to Tanjiro and-"
"W-wait, you misunderstand!" The black haired girl interrupted again. "I… I'm really happy you feel that way but… I want you to know me first."
"Know you?" The swordsman repeated.
"I know a lot about you Zenitsu-san." She said, this time speaking clearly and with a wide smile, if still somewhat red face. "You're kind, you know a lot about flowers, although you can… overreact in certain situations you don't leave others behind to try and save yourself and I can go on."
Zenitsu blushed and began to scratch the back of his head in embarrassment at the praise but didn't interrupt her.
"That been said… I want you to get to know me first, if you still want to… you know… after, then I will happily say yes." The Kamado explained.
"I see…" The Agatsuma smiled. "My feelings won't change Nezuko-chan… but if that's what you want then I can wait."
"Great!" She exclaimed, her smile the happiest the blond had ever seen. "Well… I guess we should introduce each other first…" Nezuko said a bit sheepishly. "I'm Kamado Nezuko, it's very nice to meet you Zenitsu-san."
"Yes, likewise, Nezuko-chan." He answered with a similar smile.
The two spent the rest of the day together, getting to know each other.
And here it is.
I really hope I did a good job with it, I find it a bit difficult to write ZenNezu stuff and it doesn't help that I'm always paranoid about the things I write.
But, I will leave that judgement to you.
Happy birthday again Cris, I really hope you enjoyed it!
Until next time.