A blanket of untouched white snow glistened under the first rays of dawn. Shallow and shaky breaths could be heard along with the crunching of snow from two pairs of feet. The only snow disturbed being the snow prints that the boys left behind them as they forced themselves to move forward.
They had been walking awhile now. Their job had been completed a couple hours ago. They were victorious in their efforts to kill the demon targeted. Of course they didn't all come back unscathed.
Zenitsu had a black eye, a split lip and a dislocated right shoulder. If Inosuke were awake he would most likely be yelling at the blonde saying that putting your dislocated shoulder back is "easy" and then dislocating his own shoulder just to prove it.
But the said boy was out cold. He was shivering and breathing unevenly. Even with Tanjiro's haori the pale boy continued to shiver. They were getting really worried for him. He had hit his head on a rocky mountain wall due to a blast to the front by the enemy demon. After that he fell from several feet in the air, resulting in a sprained ankle. At some point the blood from his head had begun to drip onto the pure white snow, staining it a rich cherry colour.
The redhead who was carrying him wasn't too banged up this time. He only had a split lip and a bloody nose. However he was exhausted due to using hinokami kagura two times and now the exhaustion was stiffenting his muscles. It was difficult but he was going as fast as he could, especially out in the cold.
Tanjiro had to make it back. He wouldnt dare let another comrad die. Not him. Not Inosuke. He just needed to focus and stay calm. All he had to do was stay calm and control his breathing. They were going to make it.
Suddenly, Tanjiro saw something flying straight at him.
"Caw!"
It was his kasugai crow.
"Tennoji! Please, let someone know we are on our way back, but we need help. We're injured."
"Caw! Okay!"
Relief washed over the pair, but they kept trotting onward. It wouldnt be long now before the kakushi appeared. But they couldnt let their friend die. They had to keep moving.
Within fifteen minutes he could see familiar figures ahead. He knew it was the kakushi, he could smell the familiar crews scent.
His eyes blurred, legs slowed and he dropped to his knees. He could barely hold the both of them anymore. He fell on his shins, still tightly holding the boy on his back. Tanjiro threw an arm in the air to wave hoping that they could see the trio of injured swordsman. Once he began to hear voices he dropped his arm along with his head and consciousness.
oOo
Dark lashes slowly fluttered open. Inosuke's blurried eyes adjusted to the light. He looked over to see an IV in his pale arm attached to a tube with a bag full of blood. He looked back down seeing the blonde fast asleep with his arm in a sling. It was then that the boy realized that they were back at the estate.
Wait. Where was Tanjiro?
Emerald eyes went wide and the blue tipped boy whipped his head in the opposite direction. He immediately sighed with relief once he saw the redhead sleeping peacefully.
He didn't give a damn about himself. He knew that he would be fine. He was the great Inosuke, Inosuke Hashibira, King of the mountain. So of course he would be fine. But his underlings, his friends, he worried for. He knew they weren't weak, but he still worried for nevertheless.
Inosuke started to feel a pain in his heart. He was feeling guilty, although he wasn't sure if he understood this feeling. He wasn't used to feeling like this.
He couldn't protect them. All he did was get knocked out in the end. If that never would have happened then his underlings might be okay. His friends wouldnt be hurt. He felt like a foolish king. He was no king of the mountain. He was just a sad, weak fool.
A gentle and soft voice snapped the guilt ridden boy away from his thoughts. It was Inosuke's favourite sound.
"I'm glad you're alright, Inosuke."
The boy focused his eyes on the redhead who was laying on his side, looking very tired. He wore a small smile. That warm smile that Inosuke loved. Although he wouldnt admit it out loud.
"Yeah, yeah! I'm glad you're not dead too." Inosuke's voice cracked and he began to cough. His throat was dry and lips were chapped from the cold. The redhead slowly got up and grabbed the water from his bedside and held it out for the coughing boy.
"But I was really worried you know." Tanjiro's eyes teared up and he gripped the glass a bit tighter. "When I carried you, even after wrapping up your wound, you were bleeding so much. We almost thought you wouldnt make it..."
Tanjiro had really been the one to save him. Even he could admit that he would be dead had Tanjiro not taken care of him.
Inosuke then noticed that he was wearing Tanjiro's haori and blushed lightly. He was then reminded that the boy had carried him in the cold. That meant he was very close to Tanjiro and the thought of it made the boar boys heart speed up. That annoying and confusing feeling again.
"Quit your crying already. I'm alright. And I didn't need your help! I would've been just fine." He snatched the water from the redhead and downed the whole glass.
"Don't be stupid! That was a wicked hit you took to the back of your head. Don't be ungrateful." A certain blonde interrupted. "You made me worry too, idiot."
Inosuke turned to the boy. "Hah?!"
"We were both worried." Tanjiro said.
"We thought you were gonna die from blood loss or brain trauma!" Zenitsu exclaimed.
A short girl with pigtails then entered the room, interrupting the boys.
"Sorry to eavesdrop. But since I'm here to tell you anyways, you should know that your injury itself caused you to lose a quite amount of blood. About 30 percent. To be honest I'm surprised you're not still unconcious right now. You'll most likely have a concussion for awhile. Thankfully though there's no sign of any fractures. So make sure to get plenty of rest and don't do anything stupid."
She turned to address all of them, her arms crossed. "Zenitsu and Inosuke. You two will be in here for two weeks recovering and then you're off to rehabilitation training. Tanjiro, you should be just fine after a day or two of resting. Just make sure not to overdo it.
"Yes ma'am." Tanjiro sat up as he spoke.
"Anything you say, Aoi." Zenitsu said in a flirty tone. That earned an eye roll from the girl in return.
Inosuke didnt respond. He was pissed that he was even there in the first place. How could he have been so stupid to run off on his own and then get knocked out? What a complete dumbass. He felt so useless. Useless. Useless. The word kept circling around in his head.
"...suke. Inosuke!" Tanjiro's sweet voice pulled the blue tipped boy from his thoughts.
Emeralds met garnets. Inosuke's face was filled with previous anger and confusion at the sudden call of his name.
"We've been calling you. Aoi already left. She's going make dinner and we're heading to the baths." Zenitsu started.
"You should come with us. You'll be able to relax there." Tanjiro continued with his concern.
The boar boy whipped his head away, eyes planted on the sprained ankle infront of him. His fists clenched and lips were pressed.
"Inosuke?" Tanjiro questioned again when he didn't recieve a response.
The savages head dropped, eyes hidden by dark bangs. He was beginning to shake. Tanjiro could smell frustration and just a bit of salt.
"Where's my fur?" He asked in a low tone.
"We left it behind by accident. We'll have to go back for it later." The blonde answered.
"Later?! Didn't you hear what pigtails said?! We're going to be here for two weeks! You want to leave my fur just wherever the hell for two weeks in the snow?!" Inosuke pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. "Fine. I'll just go and get it myself." His legs swung over the side of the bed and planted his feet on the floor.
"Wait, no!" Tanjiro tried to warn. But the very moment that pressure was put on that bad ankle, the boy yelled in pain and dropped to the floor, pulling the IV stand with him as it clattered to the floor. "Inosuke!"
Tanjiro jumped up from his bed, despite his extremely achy body. He was at the injured boys side in a matter of milliseconds. Zenitsu was already off his bed as well helping the scarred boy.
They lifted him by his arms and managed to seat the boy back onto his bed.
"You can't push yourself, Inosuke. We just got here." Tanjiro scolded, yet his voice was so sweet that it made it sound not so much like a scolding.
He knew he didn't have to yell at the boar boy for him to listen, unlike Zenitsu. He was pretty obedient when it came to the scarred boy. Tanjiro never really knew why but he had his suspicions. His nose never fooled him. But there was always a scent of uncertainty and that's what made the redhead hesitate.
Tanjiro leaned down to examine the injured ankle. He lightly grabbed it and Inosuke hissed at the slight pain. "Sorry, sorry!"
The redhead stood up and grabbed two long wooden weapons, unfamiliar to Inosuke. "Here, these are yours. "
"What the hell are those?!!" Inosuke interrupted. "And where are my swords?! Those are the saddest weapons I've ever seen. I'm not using that pathetic garbage." He huffed, crossing his arms and turning away.
"They're crutches, idiot pig. You use them to move around when you have a leg injury. You've never seen them before?" Zenitsu responded with a deadpanned look.
They still just could not believe he grew up in the mountains and raised by boars. As loud mouthed and savage-like as he could be, he was a very innocent boy.
"What'd you just call me? I'll bust up that other arm for ya!" Inosuke pushed off the floor with his good foot and lunged at the blonde.
The blonde yelped as he jumped behind his bed to shield himself. Tanjiro wrapped his arms around Inosuke's torso, holding him back from beating the blonde boy.
After Tanjiro finally calmed the boar boy, the trio headed to the washrooms.
Zenitsu went off on his own to wash up, however, Tanjiro offered to help Inosuke with washing his hair and changing his bandages.
Once the boys were all clean, they dried off and changed into their hospital wear. Zenitsu went off to find Aoi to check on dinner, leaving the pair.
As they sat on Tanjiro's bed, he carefully dried Inosuke's wet hair with a towel. Once dried, rough fingers combed through the dark locks down to their vibrant blue tips.
It wasn't the first time Tanjiro had helped with the boar boys hair. The first time, Tanjiro had noticed that Inosuke was having a hard time washing his hair due to knots. He offered to help and Inosuke fell in love with the sensation. He continued to ask the scarred boy and eventually it just became normal.
Tanjiro finished off by dressing Inosuke's head wound and then door opened revealing the pigtailed girl pushing in a cart full of trays of food as Zenitsu trailed in behind her.
Tanjiro wasn't quite the only thing that could tame this beast. Food was another.
"Hey! Is that for me?"
"For the three of you, yes." Aoi said sternly, signaling him to take a seat in his bed and sending shivers up the savages spine.
Okay, maybe Aoi was also another thing that could tame the boy, however it was not in a good way. In a scary way. A very scary way. But the food really did make up for it.
The three boys took their seats in their own beds as the pigtailed girl served each of them and then left them to eat in peace.
Inosuke immediately began scarfing down his rations, using his bare hands of course.
"You really need to use your chopsticks. Watching you eat like that every time is sickening."
"Hah?! Look away then if your pathetic stomach can't handle it, stupid Chuitsu."
The savage picked up the utencils upside down and began spooning rice into his mouth. It wasnt that he couldnt use them. He just preferred using his hands. It was just a preference. But he would show that weakling he was capable.
"Zenitsu's right though, Inosuke. You really should learn properly. If you want I can teach you how. I can show you a neat trick that my dad showed me when he taught me how to use chopsticks."
"A twick?" Inosuke responded mouth full of rice.
"Yeah! Hang on just a sec." The redhead placed his chopsticks down and got up from his bed with a slight wince. "I'll be right back." And he left the infirmary.
Inosuke looked over at the blonde who just shrugged. Just a second later the redhead was back with a strip of paper and a rubber band.
"Hey, that's my origami paper for mine and Nezuko's stars." The blonde cried.
Zenitsu often did origami with the demon girl. They made all different kinds of origami in their spare time together.
"Sorry Zenitsu, but I just needed one strip. I hope you can forgive me for borrowing one." Tanjiro flashed an apologetic smile and bowed. Who could really be mad at that face?
"Yeah, I guess it's fine." The lightning user pouted.
Tanjiro then continued with his task. He began rolling the paper up like a sushi roll and then held his hand out to the boar boy. "Inosuke, can I see your chopsticks?"
"Whatever. Here." The savage handed the other his utensils and watched the other intently.
The scarred boy placed the now rolled up paper inbetween the two sticks and wound the rubber band around them, securing the paper in place. "See look," He tested it out by opening and closing the sticks. "Now you can use them more easily."
Inosuke was given the new contraption his handy friend had made. He copied what Tanjiro had done and pressed his fingers down on the sticks to make them move. After practicing that very simple moment he decided to try it on food. The boy smiled brightly once he realized how easy it was. Without hesitation, he continued to scarf his food down.
Tanjiro smiled softly. It made him feel a bit better to see the boar boy in a better mood. Even if it was just due to food. Seeing Inosuke smile widely made the tanned boy feel warm inside.
However, Zenitsu grimaced at the sight. "Ugh, I was wrong. Just watching you eat in general makes me sick."
Inosuke swallowed the last bit of his food and slammed his chopsticks down. "Hah! Pathetic Monitsu! Get over it. You're just jealous because my chopsticks are cooler than yours!"
"Yeah, right. That's not even the issue here!"
The boys continued to bicker as Tanjiro just chuckled nervously.
Once the trio was finished eating dinner, Tanjiro let Nezuko out of her box. Zenitsu immediately at her side to greet her.
"Nezuko~" The blonde cooed, as he hugged the demon girl with his good arm. She hummed and returned the hug.
"Zenitsu! What are you up to? Leave Nezuko alone." Tanjiro grabbed the boy up by the back of his pajamas and removed him from his younger sister.
"She let me hug her! I swear! Please don't kill me dead!" Zenitsu begged, his palms pressed together as he ugly cried.
Tanjiro had his doubts. He'd never seen her allow Zenitsu to hug her. She was usually running away from him. But maybe he had just been a little more focused on something else or someone else to notice their growing relationship.
Before either of them could say a word, something separated the two boys. It was Nezuko, her arms spread out on either side of her, her face determined but also soft. She thought of all of them as family. She didn't want anyone fighting.
"Wh- Nezuko?"
She grabbed the arm that held Zenitsu and squeezed. Her eyes begging.
This was definitely new.
Without too much hesitation, her brother freed the crying boy.
"What did you do, Zenitsu?"
"N-nothing I-I swear!" He sniffled and swallowed hard. "I've just been taking your advice since our last talk."
Tanjiro did recall what he had said to him back then.
"It's kind of like a cat. If you smother them too much then it will run away and stay scared of you. But if you stay back and wait patiently, the cat will eventually come to you. If you really do like her then you should give her space. Let her come to you."
As Tanjiro thought more about it, he did notice that Zenitsu has been a lot less clingy with Nezuko lately. He was trying to make a change. He was proud of Zenitsu for that and respected him for it.
Zenitsu led Nezuko into the next room over to practice some more origami. Nezuko seemed to like it a lot, so Zenitsu showed her everything he knew. The hopping frogs were her favourite.
Tanjiro followed suit to not only make sure Nezuko was okay but he needed to speak privately with his freind as well. He reassured Inosuke that he would be right back.
Once the three were in the other room the scarred boy spoke up without hesitation. "Zenitsu, I need to talk to you. You're my best friend so I know I can trust you with this. I think I-"
"Let me guess, you want to tell the boar that you're in love with him right?" The blonde interrupted, hitting the nail on the head.
"How did you-"
"Your heartbeats. I can literally hear everything. Every time you guys interact they're so loud and are beating so fast. How could I not know?"
Tanjiro sighed. "That's a good point. But I just don't know what to do about it." Tanjiro ran his fingers through his red hair in slight distress.
"Tanjiro, Tanjiro, Tanjiro." Zenitsu clicked his tongue and threw his good arm around his friend's shoulder so fast that it made the red haired boy jump. "Listen buddy. You wanna tell him how you feel right? All you need to do is listen to my advice and you and him will be all lovey dovey in no time."
"And since when are you a love guru?" Tanjiro responded, raising an eyebrow.
"Psh, I've always been popular with the ladies Tanjiro. You just haven't seen me in action. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about."
Tanjiro's face went deadpanned. "I don't know if your advice is going to work then. Inosuke isn't exactly a lady that I'm dealing with here."
The sudden realization came to Zenitsu. "That's true... B-but! It should still work all the same! Relationships are relationships. You just have to treat the other with care and make them your whole world. What you need to do is make him realize his feelings first. If you come off too strong, he may reject you. So make him realize it first and confess to you then you can tell him that you feel the same way. Then you can ask him out and do whatever you guys want, if you get my drift." The blonde raised his eyebrows.
Tanjiro blushed at Zenitus last words. "And how exactly am I suppose to make him realize his feelings?"
"Well, I can already tell that he's somewhat bothered by his increased heartbeating, so he's already somewhat aware. You just need to pull it out of him a little more until he can't stand it anymore. He's too blunt and has no shame so I'm sure he'll go straight to you about it at some point. What you need to do is overwhelm him with care, whether it's through words or actions. Hugging, holding hands, compliments and reassuring. Let him know you're there for him no matter what. You're already really good at doing that, so just add a little more to the mix and he'll eventually get overwhelmed by his feelings. He's already pretty much there, so I give it about a week or so. Less than that if you're persistant enough."
"You think that will really work?"
"I'm positive. You can always trust me. We're best freinds, remember? I would never steer you wrong."
"Alright, thanks Zenitsu. I'll try that." He went over to Nezuko who had just finished making a jumping frog origami and was making it hop all over the short table. He smiled and patted her head. "Goodnight Nezuko. Enjoy your time with Zenitsu."
The demon girl hummed happily in response.
Tanjiro smiled and headed for the door, just before leaving he smiled back at the blonde. "Oh and Zenitsu?"
"Yes, Tanjiro?"
His smile now sinister. "Behave yourself around Nezuko okay?
The lightning user stiffened his whole body, now terrified. "Y-yes! Of course!"
Tanjiro then left, heading back to the room where Inosuke was.
Inside the room Aoi had collected their dishes and was now doing a final check of the day on Inosuke's wounds. Once finished the girl was gone. The two boys were left alone.
"So how are you feeling?"
"You kiddin'? I'm feeling better than ever!"
Tanjiro could smell that lie a mile away. But he didn't really need to smell anything to know that the savage was lying. He already knew that he would never actually admit to any pain he was in. He could see the exhaustion written all over the boys face. After the events that took place that day, they were all exhausted.
"Well I'm glad to hear that you're doing better." Tanjiro flashed his signature smile, making Inosuke's heart speed up and his cheeks turn red.
"Of course I'm doing better! I'm not that pathetic! But y'know I am pretty tired after eating all that food. So I'm gonna hit the hay." Inosuke tucked himself in bed and rolled over, his back facing the redhead.
He didn't know why, but Tanjiro had been making him feel weird for awhile now. But the feeling was becoming more intense. Inosuke liked the new feeling but he didn't understand it at all and that pissed him off.
He wasn't really mad at the redhead, just at his stupid feelings of whatever this was suppose to be. Thinking about it was too much for Inosuke.
Instead of dealing with them he snuggled his flushed face into his pillow and clutched Tanjiro's haori tight. He had a hard time oarting with it after the days events.
It smelled of the redhead. Lightly sweet like amber and spicy like evergreen and just a touch of coal. The mixture of smells lulled the blushing boy to sleep.
"Goodnight, Inosuke." Tanjiro whispered, shutting off the light. He could have sworn he heard a small "goodnight" in response. It made him smile warmly as he pulled the covers over himself and closed his eyes.