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Nezuko sheathes her blade.
The sharp scent of ash, as the demon withers away, stings at her nose, causing tears to prick her eyes. Previously kneeling, she stumbles to the ground, her legs too wobbly. She tries to steady her breathing, sharply inhaling. The demon was finally down, she prays it rests in peace. Her brain then falters, providing her a reminder that she had been separated from Zenitsu, Inosuke and her brother, Tanjirou, mid-battle.
She strains her vocals, calling out their names. “Tanjirou!” she scrambles up to her feet, hobbling over to a nearby tree. “Tanjirou! Zenitsu! Inos-” her voice falters, hacking, spluttering on her words. She leans against the tree, bent over, blood dripping to her knees.
She then looks up, the crunching of gravel getting louder, closer. The approaching footsteps belonging to Zenitsu. “Nezuko!” he sounds alarmed, quickly rushing to her side to aid her safely back to the Wisteria Family House. “That demon really battered you up, huh?” a pathetic, but appreciated attempt to lighten the mood. “It split us up somehow, and I think there's more than one it.”
“What do you mean? I chased the demon down and killed it.” her brows furrow, clearly confused. But then she recalls back to when she had fought the dreadful swamp demon, capable of using a 'self-splitting' Blood demon art.
“A single demon with the ability to split itself into three separate entities, that's the type of demon who was targeting us,” he explains, “Oh god, it looked so gross!” Zenitsu shivers and whimpers as he continues, “I believe that as soon as Tanjirou jumped out of the box to protect you, the demon realised it was truly outnumbered, it split itself into three, leading you and Tanjirou away from each other, as well as Inosuke and I.”
She frowns, “Where are they now? Where's Tanjirou? Where's Inos-” she splutters again, choking on her own words.
Zenitsu encourages her to stop talking for the time being, to only open her mouth once she's fully recovered. “All I remember is fainting, waking up, and the half I was left alone with had already began to wither away-” he whines, mid-sentence. “It just looked so ugly, I bet it killed itself once it realised that!” he then pauses, “Ah- but, I would've risked my life to protect you, Nezuko! I followed you, and maybe Inosuke went to back up Tanjirou? He's always clinging to him and trying to one-up him anyway... as if he can one-up a demon in physical strength, that moron.”
Nezuko could trust her brother, as well as Inosuke, to fend for themselves. Despite this, worry still clouded her mind. “Thank you, Zenitsu.” she appreciates his presence, “I hope they can make it back, safely.”
...
“You really are a special demon, huh?” Inosuke spat, carrying a weary, injured Tanjirou down the mountain on his back. “Special one or not, I'm still going to show you that I'm stronger!” he declares, choking on his own cough shortly after. Tanjirou hums, concerned, to which Inosuke simply ignores in favour of boasting how, he too, could beat a demon without the use of his swords - how, he too, could also challenge a demon in a fist fight. How his swords were simply 'extras', how he didn't need them, his passion to triumph burns hotter than a thousand suns.
Inosuke then stops in his tracks to glare behind his shoulder, fixing his gaze on Tanjirou (well, with the frozen-in-place eyes of the boar mask). “I only used my swords because we had to get rid of it once and for all!” he exclaims, grumbling. “You should've just stayed down, what were you thinking? Jumping in front of me like an idiot, now your arm is all fucked up! I could've taken care of it by myself, you got that?!”
He tries to drill it into Tanjirou's skull that he didn't need anyone's help, especially not his, to kill a 'weak' demon. But Tanjirou simply returns a soft eye-smile, he assumes Inosuke's just highly concerned about him and really cared about his health. Tanjirou appreciates his 'doting' words, humming in gratitude.
This causes Inosuke to almost choke, feeling his face heat up, an infiltrating warm fuzziness making him suddenly light-headed. He grunts, facing back around and continuing the trek towards Wisteria House. “I can't stand you, demon!” he yells, almost bursting the other boy's ear drums, refusing to let himself grow soft over his tender gaze. Man-eating monsters weren't supposed to be 'cute'.
And they certainly weren't supposed to be making his cheeks flush hot.
Damn demons, ruining his whole life.
All of a sudden, his back feels weightless - Tanjirou had hopped off of him, despite now sporting a limp. He's standing right in front of Inosuke, looking him up and down. “Wh-” he curses the stammer, "What are you doing?” he finally snaps at him, praying that Tanjirou didn't have some sort of magical demon x-ray vision to see through his mask to reveal his blushing face.
Tanjirou out-stretches his bruised hand, sleeve still ridiculously torn, hovering over the crown of Inosuke's head, “Demon-” and gently patting him there.
The woozy, yet warm, feeling returns.. he welcomes it.
“Big brother always used to give my younger siblings and I head pats, Inosuke! It's his way of showing that he loves you.” Nezuko explains, stifling back mischievous giggles, watching a deep red blush sear through the hot-headed boy's cheeks.
Tanjirou was smiling again, humming, content. Inosuke seems to have calmed down, sporting a more relaxed posture. He's always a bit concerned about the reckless boy, part of him wishing he was immortal too, it pains him to see his sister's friends- his friends all bruised up. As much as it was worrying though, it wouldn't be nearly as cool if Inosuke was immortal. He threw himself into any battle, no matter how impossible the odds looked for him, proving himself to be braver (or as Zenitsu described it, stupider) than anyone.
Inosuke snaps back to reality, staring straight into Tanjirou's sincere, loving gaze. “You really, really are a special demon, Tanjirou.” he mumbles, for no one but them to hear. This was their moment. Their really, really special moment together. Inosuke rarely keeps things to heart, he's an always moving forward type of guy, but he'll be sure to treasure this moment. Dearly.