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After receiving the bone crushing hug from Al when he's finally out of Gluttony's stomach Ed prepares to fight the one who the homunculus call 'Father'. Only his silhouette is visible but then he appears in the light. Ed looks up to find their own father's face staring back at them and Ed has a moment of panic thinking the being they were fighting all along is his own father.
When the Elrics recognize his face, Father admits his amazement that Edward and Alphonse are Hohenheim's children, before healing Edward's wounds and restoring Alphonse's missing arm. He also adds how he can't hurt them as they're sacrifices. Ed wonders why he doesn't recognize them, because no matter how bad of a father Hohenheim is, he would never act like he doesn't know them.
Edward and Alphonse use their alchemy to attack Father, but to no avail. He is entirely unharmed by their attacks before he merely stomps his foot to seal off all alchemy in Central. Then he orders Gluttony and Envy to kill Ling and that takes a turn when Ling accepts the Philosopher's stone and agrees to become Greed. That's the last thing Ed sees before Father snaps his fingers, does some alchemy trick for sure and the sensation of going through the door is back again, but this time Ed rushes towards Al and doesn't let go of his hand until the gate opens again and they're on a grassy land. Ed has a feeling that this doesn't seem like Amestris. What did Father do? He rushes towards Al to make sure he's okay.
"Nee-san, where are we?"
"I don't know but the sensation was the same as when we went through the gate, but this doesn't seem like Truth to me." Ed replies.
Ed and Al both try their alchemy and succeed in doing so but Ed says, "We can't open the gate unless we know for sure what kind of circle he used to send us here, plus we are not sacrificing any more of our limbs."
Al gets up and points towards a road, "You're right, let's ask around?"
Ed nods and starts walking with Al. As they're walking they spot three boys with swords: one wearing a boar head, one carrying a big box on his back and one, well that one doesn't seem to have anything unusual about him.
They are looking at Al cautiously and as soon as Ed sees the boar guy's hands go towards his sword, he gets in front of Al, his protective instincts kicking in. The red haired guy says something to the boar head guy and he seems to calm down. As they get closer the red guy speaks up cheerfully, "Hello! My name is Kamado Tanjiro, these are my friends Agatsuma Zenitsu and Hashibira Inosuke," and points towards the yellow haired guy and boar head guy respectively. "Who are you guys?"
Ed replies, "I'm Edward Elric and this is my younger brother Alphonse Elric. Can you tell us what place this is, we seem to be lost."
"I'll tell you if you fight me!" Inosuke yells while pointing towards Al (always wanting to spar with the biggest person present).
Not one to turn down a fight, Ed smugly agrees, "Oh yeah, let's see what you got, sword boy."
Unfortunately for him, Al and his stupid carefulness gets in between and he stops Ed by holding his collar from behind. Meanwhile, Tanjiro is doing the same by hugging Inosuke from behind. "Inosuke. Stop! They're humans and they're lost. We should help them instead of fighting with them."
That catches Ed's attention, "You mean there are beings here too who are not humans?"
This time Zenitsu speaks up, "What do you mean by too ?" All of them regard each other silently until Tanjiro says, "You're near the butterfly mansion, around 10 km away from Tokyo, Japan"
"Tokyo, Japan?" both brothers say in unison.
"Is that a made up country?" Ed asks.
Zenitsu frowns and says, "Where the hell are you guys from that you don't know where Japan is?"
Alphonse replies, "we're from Amestris."
"Is that a made up country?" Tanjiro echoes.
Now both the groups look convoluted and Ed decides it's best to start from the beginning. What has he got to lose anyway, right? So he tells them about his country, how it has alchemy and even shows it to them. He also tells them how they were chasing after the bad guy and got thrown into another world. However, he leaves the part about his missing limbs and Al's missing body, for understandable reasons. After a while Al takes over, telling them about basic laws of alchemy, homunculus, Philosopher's stone and how they got here because of the gate of Truth. "I know it must sound all unbelievable to you, but that's the truth, I don't know if anything like alchemy exists here or not but we have proven it so please believe us." Al finishes.
All three boys are now gaping at them. Tanjiro is the first to recover but right before he opens his mouth to say something, Inosuke interrupts him and says, "I have a question. If you're the elder brother, how come your younger brother is so much taller than you?" while pointing at Ed.
Ed cannot deal with this again, that too in a different world. He yells, "What did you say boar head?" and starts throwing hands, sputtering and what not. Inosuke yells, "Who are you calling a boar head?" He also takes a fighting stance. Al stops Ed yet again and Tanjiro stops Inosuke. "Let me go Gonpachiro." Inosuke yells, still struggling in Tanjiro's grip.
Alphonse says, "We can see you're carrying swords, is it a custom thing or are there beings here too that we need to know about?"
Tanjiro sighs and tells them about the demons and how demon slayer corps fight them and protect humans, trying their best to keep humans in the dark, the less they know, the better.
"I think since you come from even a more bizarre world than ours, you can easily accept what we're saying." Zenitsu concludes. "We can head to the butterfly mansion, I'm sure the corps won't mind hosting you. Plus you need a safe place to research and figure out how to go home."
"Oh! Thank you, we only have to figure out the transmutation circle and there's a strong chance of us going back then." Ed says.
Ed and Al follow the boys towards the butterfly mansion. As they get inside they spot many people wearing a black uniform and cloth that covers their head and mouth, only showing their eyes. They also catch sight of other slayers, who are mostly women, confirmed by the sword kept at their waist. As they enter the mansion by the sliding doors they spot a woman with black hair which is tinged purple at the end. She has purple eyes and a friendly smile. Tanjiro bows to her and says, "Kocho-san, I'm sorry for bringing visitors here but these brothers claim to have been lost and we also confirmed that they're not from our world. My sense of smell tells me that we can trust them."
Ed looks puzzled at that, what sense of smell is he talking about?
Then Zenitsu adds, "I can confirm they're telling the truth, by my enhanced hearing."
Ed once again fails to get it and questions whether these are superhumans or something?
Tanjiro, Zenitsu and Inosuke explain everything they learned to Kocho and she looks thoughtful and says, "I don't know what help we can be regarding research seeing we don't have alchemy in our world, so I'm afraid you will have to rely on things you have already learned. But feel free to stay here and ask for anything you need."
They both nod. Al says, "Thank you for being so welcoming, we hope we are not causing much trouble."
Ed and Al sit on the floor near a table and ask for pens and papers. They start to draw symbols and transmutation circles. Ed draws the transmutation circle that helped him get out of Gluttony's stomach. He says, "Alright this is it. This was the circle I used to get out of Gluttony's stomach and passed through the truth gate. I'm thinking we might have to tweak things a little bit seeing this is an alternate world, not a reality and truth scenario." Al looks at the circle curiously and it doesn't take them much time to come up with a solution which they then accordingly change in the circle.
"I think you're right Al, now the only thing that remains is where do we find something that we can pay as a toll to the Truth guy as we pass through the gates." Ed wonders.
Tanjiro says, "You said last time you used the souls of humans to do that. What if you use a demon here? They eat humans and are super strong because of it. I'm guessing they tie down the souls of the humans they eat and have their soul power. Because I remember when I slayed a big demon in my final selection, all the kids he ate finally got free and were able to pass on in the afterlife."
"Hey that could definitely work, and this way we won't have to feel guilty for sacrificing someone or something else. Thank you!" Al thanks Tanjiro.
"Now all we need to do is find a demon who has eaten enough humans and that's definitely not my favorite part." Zenitsu adds shakily.
"Let's go! Let's go! I'm all ready to slay a demon!" Inosuke cheers, obviously having fun as fighting anyone is his favorite part of any day.
"We can't slay him Inosuke," Tanjiro looks at Inosuke hoping to make him understand, "if we slay it, Edward and Alphonse won't be able to use it as a sacrifice."
"So we have to hold a demon down while keeping it alive and being in it's proximity but not cutting it's head off? And I thought this couldn't get worse." Zenitsu whines and looks like he's about to cry.
This trio of boys sure is diverse, Ed wonders thoughtfully.
Just then, a crow enters the room through a window and sits on Tanjiro's outstretched arm and starts cawing. Tanjiro listens for a while, nods along and is about to speak up when Ed interrupts, "You can understand what he's saying?"
"Yes I can," Tanjiro replies, "every demon slayer is assigned a crow who gives them information about missions and the slayers can understand the birds they're assigned." Ed and Al nod in understanding.
Tanjiro listens for a while and then announces, "Alright everyone we have to head south towards the forest beneath Mount Roku. Apparently a demon has been spotted there and it would cause problems if it got out of the forest. We don't know how powerful it is, but its stink will tell me how many humans it has eaten."
"Listen, you said that your swords are made from a special metal called Nichirin, right? Do you have some part of the ore that I can blend into the blade of my arm? I'm sure it will be helpful even though I have less practice with swords. I am capable of alchemy and hand to hand combat. Maybe we should give it a try?" Ed suggests.
"We don't have it lying around. The corps asked us to choose a metal and then the sword makers forged our swords. Also, it will only work if it changes color once you hold it, and seeing as you don't have any breathing technique, I doubt it will change its color. But there's no harm in trying, seeing you don't need a whole sword but a small part of Nichirin ore" Tanjiro says and stands up to walk towards the door, "Let me go ask Kocho-san. I'm sure she will have some information."
As he leaves, Ed looks around the room and starts idly chatting with the two boys asking about their final selection and why they chose to become demon slayers. "I've been meaning to ask but I don't want to pry, what's in that box that Tanjiro carries around his shoulder?"
Both Zenitsu and Inosuke look at each other wondering if it's okay to tell Tanjiro's story to practically a stranger. A pause, then, "I guess it's Tanjiro's story to tell. Let's wait for him and he will tell you." Zenitsu says.
Right on cue, Tanjiro enters the room with a smile on his face, "Good news everyone, Kocho-san said that there must be some ore left in the storage so she went to fetch that and told me to go wait with you guys."
All of the boys are now looking at Tanjiro and Ed is sure his face looks like he wants to ask something so Tanjiro prompts him, "do you want to ask or say something?"
"We don't want to be rude but what is in the box that you carry around? You don't have to tell us if you're uncomfortable." Ed says with understanding in his voice.
"It's okay, we're going to fight a demon together and that means we need to trust each other. The box has my sister, Nezuko." Ed and Al look at each other with shocked expressions.
"Why do you keep your sister in a box?" Ed demands with a hint of confusion in his voice.
"Actually, the reason I became a demon slayer was because my family was killed by one and my sister was turned into one. Thankfully she doesn't attack me or any other human so the corps made an exception for me, trusting my teacher, Urokodaki Sensei and the hashira who found me, Tomioka-san. He found us when I was leaving my village with Nezuko. At that time I thought Nezuko was only unconscious but as soon as she started attacking me Tomioka-san came to protect me. But I didn't let him slay my sister because I still believed the real Nezuko was in there. She was the only family I had left. When Nezuko protected me by standing in between me and Tomioka-san, he trusted Nezuko and let us go. He also sent me to Urokodaki Sensei, who trained me and also made this box for Nezuko." Tanjiro concludes by patting the box and goes for the latch, "Do you want to meet her? I'm sure you would like her. She's lovely."
Ed and Al look at each other but recover from the shock quickly. Well if all these humans trust her even as a demon then she must be trustworthy so they nod and say in unison "Of course."
Tanjiro unlocks the latch and Nezuko is out of the box rubbing her eyes, looking like she just woke up. Ed and Al take her appearance and she grows a bit taller in front of them as soon as she's out of the box. She's wearing a pink kimono and has a piece of green bamboo in her mouth. For protection maybe? So that the humans don't get scared and she doesn't get the urge to eat one? Ed wonders ideally. They can see the similarity between Tanjiro and Nezuko, and with one look anyone can easily conclude they're siblings. Just like the Elrics are , were, Ed corrects himself sadly. "Well since you trusted us enough I guess we can tell you our story too." Ed says and starts to retell how they committed the taboo and how Al now doesn't have a body and is a soul bound to the armor. They also tell how they saw the truth and that's why they can easily do alchemy without needing a transmutation circle. Al removes his head and shows them the seal that binds him to his armor "Nee-san gave up his arm to bring back my soul from the Truth guy. That's why we just want to return to our world and get our bodies back."
As soon as they all see Al's empty armor, all of them get wide eyed because of shock, even Nezuko looks shocked and Zenitsu points at Al and clamps a hand over his mouth so as not to start screaming. He looks terrified.
How does this guy even slay demons if he gets scared so easily? Ed wonders.
They recover soon after that, except Zenitsu who still looks a bit spooked but it's better than before. "And we will definitely help you. We will do our best to capture the demon and make sure you have enough time to draw the circle." Tanjiro says in response to Al's statement earlier.
"Thanks again everyone, it means a lot." Al looks pleased.
Just then Kocho enters their room with a little ore in her hand and sets it on the table, "Here you go, I guess that will be enough."
"Yes! It will be more than enough. Thanks!" Ed chimes and claps his hands. He keeps the ore on it and makes the blade by also blending the ore with it. As soon as he's done it he starts to admire his handicraft. The blade turns to a golden color meaning the Nichirin blade will do its job perfectly. "This looks so cool. Goes with my style, don't you think little bro?" Ed shoves an elbow into Al's arm and Al huffs and replies, "Definitely your style Nee-san" chuckling a bit.
"Hey, don't mock me like that." Ed pouts.
Kocho is looking at them in amusement and wondering about the alchemy Ed just did. It sure was an extraordinary thing to watch.
"Shall we get going now?" Zenitsu asks.
Everyone nods and they head to the door. Tanjiro lets Nezuko in the box again and closes the latch, straps it over his shoulders and begins walking.
They head to the South as told by Tennoji, Tanjiro's crow. The sun is beginning to set and the sky is a beautiful shade of orange and red. Ed admires it all. It's been a while since he just took in nature during a walk. He hasn't stopped much since 3 years to appreciate the surroundings around him. The wind flows slowly and his braid sways with it. He looks back to see Al following him and he too seems to take in the surroundings around him. Just then Ed's stomach rumbles loudly and the three boys look back and chuckle a bit. Tanjiro says, "Since there's a bit of time for the sun to set and the demon won't show itself unless the sun has set completely, shall we head to the nearby river and cook some fish?"
Ed nods, he hasn't had fish since Izumi Sensei put them in a forest for a month. He's not sure he will like the taste now but he needs the energy, plus he can't exactly be picky in another freaking world . They all head towards the river and Tanjiro takes the box off from his shoulder. He keeps it near a tree, under its shade.
Inosuke yells and Zenitsu almost jumps, "The king of the mountain is here!!! I will catch fish for you Gonpachiro!!," Tanjiro gives him a blinding smile and replies, "I'm sure Inosuke, but we need fish for everyone present here. Can you do that while I light the fire?" He doesn't correct him for saying his name wrong, again. He has given up long ago.
"Don't give me an order, I'm the boss you know. You're my underling!" Inosuke barks, pointing at Tanjiro.
"Of course Inosuke. I trust you, that's why I want you to catch the fishes." His blinding smile still stays in place and Inosuke has come to a halt. Then he huffs irritatedly, "Stop making me feel all warm and fuzzy," he says while blushing furiously. Tanjiro chuckles in return while Inosuke walks towards the river, chest out and proud. He starts to catch the fishes, clearly having experience before.
Alphonse watches the interaction amusingly. He looks towards Zenitsu who has the same look Al gets when he looks towards his brother and Winry. He shuffles around to sit with him and whispers, "Is there something going on between them?"
"Thank you!" Zenitsu almost yells but as Ed and Tanjiro look back to see what the commotion is about he dips his voice low and says again, "I thought I was the only one who saw something between them. I've been meaning to say something but as you know Inosuke will dismiss me as he doesn't have any clue about what's platonic and what's not. And for Tanjiro, I'm sure he will be all like "I'm like that with everyone, Zenitsu." And I don't want to make things awkward seeing they are the only friends I have so I have been keeping quiet. I also hear their heartbeats, you know? And it definitely beats faster if they're in close proximity or having a moment. They're the only ones left to realize that they like each other."
Al smiles internally, "ah just like Nee-san and our friend Winry. We all grew up together and I can always see Nee-san blushing whenever they talk about how much they care for each other, indirectly of course. I haven't said anything as well because everything has been so busy and we barely get time to meet Winry, but I hope Nee-san realizes soon otherwise I will take action."
"Can you talk to Tanjiro?," Zenitsu is giving him an expectant look, "I don't want it to be coming from me. If a stranger can see it, he will be more inclined to believe it I guess. Plus you will be gone today and I don't want to jeopardize my friendship with them by saying something. If Tanjiro comes to me I will definitely tell him about the heart beats thing but till then, I am scared to broach the topic."
"Of course. You won't have to deal with the pining anymore. It sucks, believe me, I know." Al chuckles a bit, "Whenever the time is right I will definitely say something."
"Thank you Alphonse. You're a good boy."
And Al almost gets emotional. No one around his age has called him a boy since he got in this state. If he can help with this, he surely will.
Looking towards the group, they see Inosuke has gathered a bucket full of fishes that should be impossible for any inexperienced human to do.
Tanjiro and Ed have started the fire to cook it. They find some sticks nearby and everyone starts roasting them while Al sits beneath the tree beside Nezuko. After they have all eaten and are full they get up and start their journey once again. It has gone full dark now and they're almost in the middle of the forest. All three boys' senses get heightened and they nod towards each other. The nearby bush rattles and Ed looks towards it while Tanjiro whispers, "It's here and it stinks very much, I guess it'll be worthy as a sacrifice." Ed and Al nod and take a fighting stance, Ed is ready with his automail blade. Al closes his hands in a fist, and all the corps boys have their swords out.
The demon gets out of the trees and he's much bigger than them. He jumps towards Tanjiro and on reflex Tanjiro goes towards his neck. He sees the thread after a while but halts, he slashes his arm off and because he changed his direction mid-slash, he lands on his side meanwhile the demon's arm is cut off but it's regenerating quickly. Damn, Tanjiro thinks, this demon is almost on the level of that rejected 12 moon, drum demon, this will be hard.
As Tanjiro recovers Inosuke is slashing the demon and going towards his neck but he yells, "not his head." And he too reminds himself of the new condition and only manages to cut off his limbs. As the demon is regenerating they both get up and the demon says, "well, well looks like someone doesn't have it in them to kill me."
"We have a promise to keep, that's why we're not killing you." Tanjiro almost snaps.
Meanwhile Zenitsu is shaking a bit behind them and the demon chooses to attack him first, the more down the better. He uses his blood demon art and spike like things grow out from his back. He sends some flying towards Zenitsu. Tanjiro is late to block all of it, and it hits Zenitsu on his forehead and within a second he's unconscious.
"One down four to go," the demon says triumphantly. "Don't worry he'll wake up in a few hours. Of course, if I don't eat him first." He laughs evilly.
"You demon." Tanjiro says it like a curse word and goes towards the demon, "Let's attack Inosuke," he says and jumps, this time together with Inosuke, the demon uses his blood art once more and while trying to defend it, it cuts in two places of the strip that's hanging from his shoulder. The box almost falls and in order to save it, Tanjiro has to once again stop his attack. He picks the box with the still right strap and lands on the grass with a thunk. Damn, now he can't wear it and fight and he won't leave Nezuko unprotected. Inosuke once again manages to cut off his limbs, this time all four of them because of his dual swords. As he jumps he slashes down towards the demon's shoulder and cuts off both his arms and while landing he does a spin and cuts off both of the demon's legs along his thighs. The demon falls and it will take him a few seconds to regenerate. Inosuke's got it for a while so Tanjiro runs towards the Elrics to hand Nezuko to them.
Meanwhile Ed and Al are too stunned to move. Everything happened so fast that they didn't even get time to react. These guys are definitely professionally trained. They shake themselves a little and come to their senses. Ed moves towards Zenitsu to take him somewhere safe and Al sees Tanjiro running towards him. "Please protect her with your life. We got this." Tanjiro says.
"But I can help-" Al starts saying but Tanjiro interrupts him.
"Please. There's no time." Tanjiro says again and starts going towards the demon.
Al nods and takes the box with him and starts to walk away a safe distance. He stays a few feet away from the demon and watches the fight so that if anything goes south he can at least rush towards it. Tanjiro and Inosuke once again are ready to face the demon but before they can even draw their sword the demon attacks with his poisoned needles again.
He sees Ed trying to wake up Zenitsu, but Zenitsu gets up and WHAT THE HELL? are his eyes closed? And he says, "kaminari no kokyu, ichi no kata, hekireki issen" The duo is ready to strike the needles by changing the type of their breathing mid slash but in a flash Zenitsu dodges all of the needles and is even able to cut off demon's limbs once again. They get a few seconds to breathe so Ed hatches a plan of attack and says, "I will create a platform for you so that the demon doesn't have it's height advantage."
The corps boys nod and Tanjiro turns towards Inosuke, "Inosuke we have to do the monk cut again. Are you ready?" Tanjiro asks.
"Hey anything you can do, I can do too. Let's go!" Inosuke boasts.
"Zenitsu go for it's limbs, if you're listening, because that will take him much more time to regenerate."
Zenitsu nods while sleeping and Ed claps his hands together, touches the ground and creates four platforms for all of them to rise to the demon's level. The demon snarls and this time the needles are even more in quantity, if that's even possible, but this time the boys are ready and they dodge the needles again. They go for the attack with their swords raised above their head to cut the demon up. Ed dodges using the automail blade on his hand. Inosuke and Tanjiro cut the demon from the middle, one on either side as it's huge and their swords meet in the middle, near the demon's navel. Zenitsu gets its limbs and Ed goes to cut up the torso that's left in a diagonal cut, knowing all too well that he can't cut (near or) his neck as a dead demon won't do them any good.
While slashing the demon, one of the needles pierces through Inosuke's arm. It's nothing he hasn't suffered before but this particular set of needles feels more powerful than the previous ones and leaves him bleeding heavily. The cut is deep and since he doesn't wear the demon slayer uniform there's no buffer to cut through first. It goes directly to the meat of his arm. He shakes the arm once he lands on the platform and Tanjiro jumps towards him yelling his name. As he tears a piece of cloth from his haori Inosuke lays his head on his lap and Tanjiro mutters out, "How many times do I have to tell you to be safe?" his voice cracks due to worry.
"Don't worry about it Monjiro." Inosuke smirks beaneath his mask breathing a bit heavier than usual. He lets Tanjiro tie the wound.
Tanjiro mutters, "I know you know that's not my name." Inosuke chuckles a bit and removes his mask to wink upwards at Tanjiro. Tanjiro blushes and finishes up tying the wound and says, " I guess we're done here," and gets up before helping to get Inosuke up on his feet. Inosuke puts his mask back on and crosses his arms as Ed lets the platforms down.
As soon as the needles gets dodged some of them come flying towards Al who dodges it with his hands and armor. One still manages to poke through the wood a bit and Al gets Nezuko out who is thankfully not injured. He asks her if she will be okay to stay inside his armor as that will be more protective. The fight is almost over now and he doesn't want the dying demon to play any tricks and hurt Nezuko. "Will you be okay if I keep you inside my armor for a bit? The fight is almost over and you can get out as soon as it's safe for you." Nezuko nods and hums her consent. Al takes off the head of his armor and leans down so that Nezuko can climb in. He picks up her box as soon as she's safely inside and is settled. He gazes up towards the place where the demon is lying on the ground, obviously taking it's time to regenerate but it's hard when you're chopped into so many pieces.
The platforms Ed raised, comes finally down as Ed does his alchemy again and they all keep a watch on the demon. Ed calls out for Al, "hey Al! Let's draw the circle quickly! We're ready to go." Al nods and starts walking towards his brother. They do a quick work of drawing the circle beside the lying demon. Some of his limbs get attached again and they cut him up again after moving it inside the circle. After a few minutes Zenitsu stops snoring and wakes up. He freaks out when he sees the demon and screams, "Who did this? When did this happen?" Everyone just shares smiles and Tanjiro gives him a pat on his shoulders and replies, "Don't worry about it. We'll talk about it later. Okay?" Zenitsu nods and Tanjiro smiles at him.
Tanjiro moves up towards them to take the box in which Nezuko is still there. Al hands him the box and says, "Oh I almost forgot!" Al removes the torso part of his armor and there Nezuko is, still sleeping peacefully and it lights up Tanjiro's face in a soft smile. He opens the box and Al helps him to get Nezuko inside it while Tanjiro latches it close. Meanwhile Ed is saying goodbye to Zenitsu and Inosuke, Al sees his chance and says, "You know I can see when anyone likes someone. I have been with my brother for long enough to know about his feelings for our friend but I'm giving him time to figure it out." Tanjiro's face scrunches up in confusion and he looks at Al like he has no idea what he's talking about, which, to be fair, he doesn't. So Al says again, "I can see the way you look at Inosuke. I don't know how he looks at you but his body language says that he likes you too. Life is too short for people like us to wait to realize our feelings for someone special. Take this as an advice from a well-wisher and talk to him. I really hope you talk to him." Al smiles internally and joins up his armor plate once again meanwhile Tanjiro is left there standing, looking like he just realized it too.
"All right" Ed yells which snaps Tanjiro out from his reverie. Ed turns towards Al and nods once. They all wave at each other and Ed claps his hand once more and braces for the gate to open. They go through the same sensation once again while the demon fully disintegrates away. None of their limbs seem to get taken from them so that's a plus. No rebound, Ed thinks thankfully.
Once the gate opens up and throws them out, they're back at the central again, topside which is another thing to be thankful for. Who knows what would have happened if they faced that Father guy again. They rush towards the headquarters to tell Roy what they now know.
~~
On the other side of the world Tanjiro, Inosuke and Zenitsu make their way towards butterfly mansion once again. Tanjiro is holding Nezuko in her box, in his hands as the strap is now broken. He is thinking about what Al said and tunes out of the conversation. He doesn't tune back in until Inosuke shakes his arm and asks, "What are you thinking about?" Tanjiro shakes his head and replies, "Nothing."
Zenitsu speaks up, "Since the butterfly mansion is a few miles away can we stay in a nearby wisteria house?" Both boys nod and Inosuke replies, "Yeah that's a good idea, Chuitsu." Zenitsu looks offended and Inosuke smirks beneath his mask.
After walking for a few minutes they reach a wisteria house where a fresh change of clothes, warm food and good bed awaits them. After completing their night routine they all lie down to sleep. Tanjiro's brain is too wired to calm down after the realization of his feelings for Inosuke and he keeps tossing and turning. Finally he gives up on sleeping and walks out towards the verandah. He sits there and admires the sky, also thinking how and when he fell this hard for Inosuke. He keeps on wondering and turns when he hears footsteps behind him.
He turns and looks behind him. It's Zenitsu rubbing his sleepy eyes and he says with a yawn, "Why are you not in the bed?" Tanjiro's replies, "Just too much on my brain that I can't seem to fall asleep. What about you?" Zenitsu nods in understanding and replies, "I woke up because of the need to use the bathroom and saw you missing so I wandered out here and found you."
Zenitsu sits beside Tanjiro for a while waiting for him to speak up, he knows exactly what's going on, thanks to his advanced hearing. He also thanks Al internally. Tanjiro finally whispers in a low voice, "Zenitsu, when did I fall for him?" He sounds so scared like the child he is. Zenitsu sees an expression on Tanjiro's face that he doesn't even see while he is facing the worst type of demons. His heart breaks a little for his best friend. Zenitsu hugs him from the side, "hey, it's okay." He replies. "I think it's good you figured it out. Honestly I think it happened after our trip to Mount Natagumo. He was very injured and I saw how you cried just because you weren't there to save him. I kind of knew then, what you two have is something special."
Tanjiro is still frowning and he starts ranting like a scared kid. "I can't do this Zenitsu. What if I worry about him too much and won't be able to concentrate on the mission. I already worry about Nezuko. I won't be able to concentrate if I keep worrying about him too. What if he doesn't even like me that way? " He almost yells. "I'm going to stop you right there." Zenitsu holds his palms up, "I've heard both of your heartbeats when you're in each other's proximity, be it sparring or the moments after a mission. I can tell without a doubt, he likes you too. And about the mission thing, I know you know that Inosuke is more than capable of taking care of himself and I agree that it won't stop you from worrying about him but you can't just bury your feelings away forever. You should give this a chance, think about it." He pats Tanjiro on his shoulder and meets his kind eyes, where some of the worries seem to have dissipated away because of his words.
"Let's head back, yeah?" Zenitsu says and yawns once again. Tanjiro starts to nod but they hear one more set of footsteps and turn their heads to look towards the door. The door opens and Inosuke stands there without his mask. Tanjiro's breath catches and he thinks he will never get over how pretty Inosuke is. Zenitsu nods towards him and slyly makes a move to get up and says with a smirk, "You two lovebirds enjoy, I'm sleepy." He playfully shoves Inosuke's shoulder and moves inside.
Inosuke sits beside Tanjiro and asks, "What's a lovebird? And why did Monitsu call us one?" Tanjiro blushes a bit and stammers out, "People who are in love are known as lovebirds Inosuke." Inosuke frowns, "Okay," he says nodding his head clearly not understanding everything, thanks to his lack of social skills.
"And why did he call us that?" Inosuke repeats. Tanjiro was hoping that Inosuke won't ask about it again but now he's got no option but to answer honestly. He sighs, "Because I like you."
"Well I like you too." Inosuke replies with a dazzling smile. Tanjiro gasps a little and adds, "No no, I like like you."
"Like like you?" Inosuke asks with a frown. "Why are you talking in riddles?" He says and points a finger at Tanjiro, "Tell me clearly what you mean."
"Inosuke, I don't like you as a friend, I like you as something more, like a partner. I don't know if you understand the meaning of love because that's what I'm trying to tell you. I have feelings for you." Tanjiro says shyly.
"What kind of feelings? How do you feel?" Inosuke tilts his head a little clearly out of his depths here.
Tanjiro knows how he gives words of appreciation so freely to everyone around him. He never thought it would be this hard to explain how he actually feels about Inosuke to him . He starts once again, "Whenever I look at you, my heartbeat seems to get faster. I smile more dazedly at you, maybe you noticed, maybe you didn't. And I want to be around you all the time. It could also be the warm and fuzzy feeling you get whenever I compliment you or smile at you. That's what having feelings for someone is like." He says facing down and looking at the ground. He builds up his resolve and looks at Inosuke. He picks up Inosuke's hand and puts it over his heart which is beating steadily, Inosuke startles a bit but doesn't pull his hand away. Suddenly the frown in his face seem to clear up and his mouth opens up a little. Oh.
Oh.
He also realized it now. Of course Zenitsu wasn't lying but it was very hard to make Inosuke see how he really feels about him. Inosuke opens his mouth and closes it again like a fish. Tanjiro chuckles a bit. They're staring at each other. Tanjiro's hand is still over Inosuke's, which is on his heart. Inosuke finally says, "Yeah, that's how I feel around you." Tanjiro blushes and breaks eye contact. Inosuke takes Tanjiro's hand and puts his hand on his bare chest where his heart is supposed to be. It's beating fast too, he's not lying. Tanjiro blushes more and his face is now like a red tomato. Inosuke is seeing this and now blushing as well. They pull their hands away slowly and start looking at the sky. "The moon is lovely tonight, don't you think Ino?" Inosuke hums and asks, "Ino?" Tanjiro blushes but adds, "I like that nickname." Inosuke smiles and says, "Yeah? Now I like it too. So." A pause. "Now what?"
"What do you mean?" Tanjiro asks, he doesn't want to push Inosuke into doing something he doesn't want to. Inosuke replies, "As I've seen because of Monitsu, people who like each other act differently with each other. Now, I'm not sure about what they all do but I guess you know. So talk to me and tell me everything. Maybe we can move forward from here?"
"You really want that?" Tanjiro asks emotionally. "Of course." Inosuke replies. "Now tell me what all happens."
"Well I don't want to exactly put a label if you don't like it but I would like us to be boyfriends." Tanjiro says, smiling.
"Boyfriends? I like the sound of that." Inosuke smiles back.
"And uh, people who like each other go out on dates to eat and stuff."
"You know I'm always up for eating."
Tanjiro laughs a bit.
"Does this count as a date?" Inosuke asks, curious.
"If you want it to." Tanjiro looks at him.
"Yeah I do." Inosuke looks back. "What else do people do on dates?"
"Hand holding. Cuddling. Kissing." Tanjiro blushes as soon as he says it, the last word is almost a whisper. If Inosuke wasn't sitting so close and it wasn't so quiet because of the night, he is sure he would have missed it. "How's kissing supposed to work?" Inosuke asks curiously again.
"Umm" Tanjiro stutters out, looks at Inosuke and cradles his face in his hands, "Is this okay?" He asks for consent. Inosuke nods. It seems like all the breath has rushed out of him. "Tell me to stop whenever you feel uncomfortable and I will, okay?"
"Okay" Inosuke replies with a nod.
Tanjiro shifts a bit more closer and kisses Inosuke's forehead, then his nose, then his cheek and finally his lips. It's a peck at best and he moves away to look at any signs of discomfort on Inosuke's face.
Inosuke opens his eyes, half lidded, and seems more than okay with kissing. He takes Tanjiro's face in his hand and kisses him roughly. The kiss is all tongues and teeth. It's not perfect by any measure, seeing they don't have any experience with this before, but the enthusiasm more than makes up for it. It goes on for a while until they both run out of breath and come up heaving. They open their eyes and look at each other, all smiles and cheeks tinged pink.
They hold each other for a while longer and the daze gets broken when Inosuke yawns. Tanjiro grins, "Let's go to sleep, we can continue this tomorrow." Inosuke nods and stretches his arms above his head.
They get up and walk towards their room where the mattresses are, hand in hand, their hearts full of hope at the beginning of something new. They go to sleep with a smile on their face, bodies shifted closer to each other, legs almost tangled. After a few minutes both of them start snoring and rest in a dreamless sleep.