#tanjiruo

“Shit...How much longer can I keep this up..?” 

No swords, no sense of direction and openly bleeding wounds, Inosuke was running blindly through the trees on instinct alone.  He could hardly see where he was going, the pitch black of the night almost completely clouding his vision.  Inosuke had been knocked unconscious at some point during the fight, and when he awoke he was separated from Tanjirou and Zenitsu, and he had absolutely no clue where to begin looking for them.  He knew he couldn’t allow himself to sit on the forest floor and wait for a demon to find him, so Inosuke had dragged his bleeding and worn body off the ground and took off.  

Some time had passed since he started moving, and his vision was getting blurry.  But he could sense the forest was still crawling with demons, their appetites not satiated with the victims already eaten.  He had to find a way out and fast.

“Damnit Gonpachirou, how could you just leave me like that you scared little shit?!”  

Whatever, he could think about how cowardly his comrades were at a later date.  For now, it was all Inosuke could do to just keep himself upright... and it was getting increasingly more difficult to move his legs.  It felt as though he had cinder blocks on his feet and hands, dragging and slowing his movements down significantly. 

“...could this be the effects of some demon’s Blood Demon Art...?... no way am I this weak...”  

Even his mind had grown hazy, and his thoughts wouldn’t even coherently formulate any longer.  The cloud over his mind and body was getting thicker and thicker, blurring his vision and swaying his steps.  His eyes closed before he saw the rest, but he faintly registered his body falling forward.  The haze he had been fighting then completely took over him, and Inosuke was out.

-

Waking up to a man conveniently passed out 10 yards from your door was not exactly what you had expected when you first left your little cottage in the morning.  How long had he been there?  You hadn’t left your home in days, your work as a village medic keeping you beyond busy in recent days.  It was flu season, and the locals had you mixing high volumes of medication to treat their sick.  

But now, facedown on the forest ground was a man with crusted cuts and bruises all over his body.  The top half of him was completely exposed to the elements, and his body shivered despite the warm spring air.  He was definitely in need of help.  

Quickly approaching the man, you brought one hand to his shoulder and one hand to his hip to roll him over.  Now with his face visible, it was clear that he was no man but actually a boy, and close to your age if not a little older by the looks of it.  The build of his muscles and broad shoulders had thrown you off, but knowing that you weren’t bringing some creepy older man into your home put you somewhat at ease.  He lay face up now so that you could easily see the planes of his face.  

“...so pretty...”

Even through the dirt and mud he was gorgeous- the prettiest male you had ever seen.  Dark hair fell to about his shoulders, strong and healthy but in desperate need of a wash.  His eyelashes were so long that you were almost positive they brushed the tops of his cheeks.  A strong nose, plush mouth and full brows drew you in so dearly and gently that you nearly forgot you were meant to be helping this boy get healthy.

Your immediate struggle was actually getting Pretty Boy into your house.  No matter how many ways or times you tried, there was no way that your strength was enough to maneuver both yourself and Pretty Boy through that skinny doorway.  A sigh of annoyance left your mouth, as you tried to rouse the boy from unconsciousness at least enough to support some of his own weight.

“Please, I know it hurts but I need you to help me.  Other wise I can’t heal you”

A moment of silence passed, and then you heard it.  The tiniest of hums, accompanied by the slightest nod of his head.  

“...mmkay..” 

His voice was mangled and strained, a barely there sound but definitely there enough to be heard.

“Alright, we’re gonna do this all in one go, okay?”  

He nodded slightly again.  You threw one of his arms across your shoulders and grabbed his bare waist with one of your own hands.  Admittedly, it was hard not to stare at him- he was absolutely ripped.  And ridiculously heavy, even though he didn’t seem to be all that tall.

“Ugh shit- okay just, uh, just hang on to me okay?  I’m so sorry I hope this doesn’t hurt to badly”  

Taking a deep breath, you forced yourself to stand, pulling Pretty Boy up onto his feet.  He let out a low wine of pain, and your heart hurt with guilt.  

“I know, I know, I’m sorry I just need to get you inside and then it’ll get better”

The walk over to the entryway of the house was no better, some of his wounds tearing open again and causing the boy to let out small groans.  Had he been conscious to begin with, you were sure he would’ve passed out from the pain.  Countless cuts, deep ones, had begun to bleed all down his front, back and sides. His legs were no exception, a concerning amount of blood clearly seeping through the pants and linens he wore.  

It was by some miracle that you got him through the doorway and into a chair by the hearth in the main room of the cottage.  Before he could lay down, he had to get cleaned up.  The urge to stare nearly overtook you, but the doctor inside your head reminded you that it was beyond rude and creepy to see a suffering person in that way.  Even if you had given Pretty Boy his name for good reason.  

The walk into the house seemed to rouse him just enough to barely keep himself upright in the seat, although his head fell forward and his body swayed ever so slightly.  Keeping an eye on him, you grabbed a basin of hot water from it’s place over the fire and hauled it beside Pretty Boy.  Kneeling down beside him, you yanked off his boots and (although it felt wrong) you also tugged his pants and linens down his legs as well.  Before your eyes could do any amount of wandering, you grabbed a towel and draped it over his waist, doing your best to protect his modesty.

Wetting a separate towel with a gentle cleaning soap, you began to scrub away the dirt and blood packed into his skin.  Taking extra care around the wounded areas was more difficult than you anticipated; it seemed that as more dirt washed away, more cuts appeared.  What on earth happened to this boy?  It was clear that he had been cut by a sharp weapon, a sword most likely.  But these tiny scrapes that kept appearing were hardly deep at all and yet they didn’t stop bleeding after being cleaned.  

Real, genuine worry settled in as you realized that for once, you may have stumbled upon a patient that was hurt beyond your skills of healing.  

You finished bathing Pretty Boy, leaving his hair for a different day, and managed to dress him in a loose robe that wouldn’t agitate his cuts too badly.  It seemed like hours had passed by the time you actually got to stitching up his wounds.  Some, as you discovered, were truly not that deep but they bled like no tomorrow.  The effects of some poison? A demon?  You had no way of knowing without Pretty Boy telling you how he had gotten to banged up in the first place.  

The next 24 hours would be the most critical for him, as most patients that didn’t regain consciousness within that time almost always never woke.  You did your best to test the state of his awareness, asking him questions and just talking to him for hours on end as you resumed your work for the locals.  It was kind of nice to have someone to listen to your rambling throughout the day.

Aside from feeding him and redressing his wounds every few hours, there was nothing more for you to do other than apply herbal serums and topical pain relievers.  It was a boring 24 hours, which you were grateful for; no healer liked surprises in their patients.  

Until about 26 hours had passed by your count, and Pretty Boy finally reclaimed his consciousness.  

-

A gentle warmth, a soft touch, and a sweet voice were the only things Inosuke registered for a period of time.  No source of anything was known to him, but the feeling of danger had passed and had been replaced by a welcome sensation of total safety.  Something he hadn’t genuinely felt in years.  

He became aware of his surroundings slowly, like his mind was still clearing away that fog, but he had made enough progress to at least see.  A house?  He turned his head.  A fire.  His hands stretched out, feeling his unfamiliar clothes and bed, but there was no panic settling in despite waking up in a strange place.  

“Are you awake?”

That voice- it was the same sweet voice he had been hearing.  Inosuke struggled to do so but turned his head towards the voice.  He felt his eyes widen as he took in your features.  Had this girl been speaking to him while he was out?  What had she been saying?

Inosuke had only ever been around girls his age at the Butterfly Mansion, and those girls had put him through hell in training.  How was he meant to talk to you?  Tanjirou was much better at this kinda stuff than Inosuke.  Hell, even that wacked out Zenitsu guy had more experience talking to girls. 

“What hurts the most? Are you hungry at all?”

Inosuke never took his eyes off your face, only managing a single nod in response.  What was this feeling?  Nervousness?  No- it was something similar to nervousness but also distinctly different at the same time.  Inosuke couldn’t put his finger on it, so he settled to just accept the emotions as they came.  

You turned to grab a bowl of something hot, and you placed it on the ground as you knelt down next to Inosuke.  A bit of your legs were exposed from beneath your kimono, but Inosuke’s eyes were brought back to yours as you gently placed your hands on him to help him sit up.  

You watched him just as intensely as he watched you, and Inosuke recognized once again that he had next to no experience with girls.  Even less experience with pretty girls that smelled good and had soft skin like you.  The closer you came to him, the more he noticed the differences between the two of you.  He was rough muscle and hard edges where you were plush softness and sweet curves.

Inosuke swallowed, a certain hunger hitting him in full force and dragging him out of his stupor.  Everything that followed in the next days went against Inosuke’s normal sense of pride.  He allowed you to feed him, redress his wounds, and even wash his hair with no complaints.  In fact, he noticed that he even spoke to you in a different way than he spoke to Gonpachirou and the other slayers- his tone significantly softer, never once rising to a yell.  

And while Inosuke was aware of these changes in himself, he wasn’t embarrassed by this kind of weakness around you.  Not once did you rush him to get well to return to training.  Not once did you make him feel lesser than because he had been defeated in battle, even after Inosuke told you what he remembered of the incident.  He might even say that he enjoyed the vulnerability you accepted from him.  

-

As he regained his strength, Inosuke stuck to you like glue.  You could’ve likened him to a puppy with separation anxiety, but Inosuke was much prettier than any puppy you had ever encountered.  His green eyes were always already watching you whenever you turned to him, and he seemed to prefer to remain close to you as much as he could.  

A tug on your sleeve whenever he wanted something, fingers creeping around your own when you strayed too far from him out in the forest, hugs before heading off to sleep.  The only times you weren’t with Inosuke was when you bathed or slept.  The cottage was tiny, only one main room serving as a kitchen, living and work space plus a tiny upstairs room with a bed where you slept.  So even if you wanted to take some space away from Inosuke (which you didn’t), you really couldn’t.  

You couldn’t ignore the connection you had established with Inosuke, a quiet sort of love taking over your heart in just a short 3 weeks.  But in recent days it became clear to you that Inosuke really didn’t need your help anymore.  If he wanted to, he could easily bathe, feed himself and redress what was left of his wounds.  It hurt, but you knew he didn’t need you anymore.  

You knew that your feelings for Inosuke were very much reciprocated, but another, louder part of your mind was angry at you for holding Inosuke back from returning to his real life.  You desperately wanted to be needed by him, and you never wanted him to stop holding your hand or looking at you with such pretty eyes.  But you couldn’t allow yourself to be so selfish any longer; Inosuke had a life to get back to, friends that were searching for him, and goals he wanted to achieve.  All of which he had told you about, Tanjirou and Zenitsu in particular.  

Inosuke must have noticed your dampened mood, because on the night of his last day with you, he creeped up the stairs and into your room.  His eyes seemed to illuminate in the dark, as he lifted the blanket and got into bed next to you.  

“Why won’t you smile lately?”  

“Because I’m gonna miss you ‘Noske” 

“I already said once I get back with the other slayers i’m gonna come back for you ya know”  He brought a hand across your shoulders as the front of his body engulfed the back of yours, bringing you impossibly closer to him. Tears threatened to spill over and your voice shook as you replied,

“Yea but... you- I just... I like being needed by you”  Your voice came out in a whisper, embarrassed to be admitting your selfishness to him.  

“So what? I- uhum, I kinda... like being taken care of so... it’s... it’s only okay if it’s you though.”  You could practically hear the bashfulness in his voice, your own cheeks heating up at his admission.  

“... So you’ll definitely come to visit me right?”  

Inosuke didn’t answer in words, instead just burying his face into your hair and giving a small nod. 

- 

The next day was a hard one, Inosuke finally stepping out to find Tanjirou and Zenitsu.  He seemed to be at war with himself, stuttering over his words a bit more than usual, engulfing you in warm hugs at random more than once.  When it came time for him to leave for real, he only got about 30 feet from your door before stopping.  He took a deep breath, turned around, and walked back only about 5 steps towards you.  He seemed to think better of whatever he had planned though, because he only loosed another breath, a frustrated sigh, before turning away again and going back on his way.  

Weeks had gone by with no sign of your green eyed Pretty Boy, and you missed him dearly.  He really had no way of communicating with you unless he tracked his way back to your cottage, but you still kept an eye out for him.  Multiple times you thought you had seem him on your way to the village or when you went into the forest to gather herbs.  Multiple times you turned to say something to someone who wasn’t there anymore, cooked too much food that couldn’t be eaten by just one person.  

You continued on this way for a while longer but now that the spring flu season had ended, the summer heat had kicked in with no regards for those who had to work endless hours in the rice fields.  Many older people in the village had fallen ill to heat stroke, which caused fever and sporadic fainting spells; all things to be concerned about in the elderly.  This was your fourth time this week going out to restock your cache of herbs, hoping to make enough medicated serums to last each patient the rest of the heat wave.  

Concentrated on the task before you, you didn’t acknowledge the form barreling towards you until it was nearly right on top of you.  Loud yelling suddenly tearing your attention to the boar running at you full speed.  

“HEYYY!!”

“What the hell?!?”  You screeched as your entire body was thrown over a very human shoulder, your basket of herbs thrown somewhere unknown to you.  

“Inosuke that’s so rude!  You can’t grab people like that you’ll scare them!” A brunette boy with a mark on his forehead scolded your captor, almost like an older sibling setting a younger sibling in line.

“Hah? Y/N isn’t afraid of me, what the hell are you talkin’ about?”  Wait... 

“Nosuke?? Is that you??? What happened to your head?????”  The boar’s head definitely had Inosuke’s voice, and his body was still the same ripped form you remembered so well.

“HAH?!?! Are you sayin’ you don’t remember me Y/N??”

“What? No! How could I forget you ‘Nosuke? I’m just sorta... confused?  What the hell is on your head Inosuke..?”

“You idiot!! She’s never seen you in your mask, we held on to it for you while you were healing!  Even Inosuke can get a wife with that ugly thing on his head and I haven’t been married a single time yet”  A smaller blonde boy seemed to crumple under the weight of his own words, tears forming as his voice wobbled as he prattled on to himself.

“Ah wait a minute!  You must be Tanjirou and Zenitsu!  ‘Nosuke told me lots about you guys when he was with me!”

“HEY! Don’t talk to them, talk to me!”  Inosuke turned his body with you still on his shoulder, angling your head away from his friends.  His voice was rougher and louder than you had ever heard from him, but if you were being honest this slightly angry demeanor seemed to fit him better than the softer one he showed you before.  

“It’s nice to meet you Y/N, oddly enough we’ve heard a lot about you from Inosuke since he got back”  Tanjirou had a knowing smile across his face, as your cheeks heated up from his insinuation.  

Inosuke seemed to bristle at that comment, a growl leaving his throat as he began to stalk off in the direction of your cottage, leaving his friends and your herb basket behind.  

“Stupid Gonpachirou just tryna’ talk to you like that when I’m right here.  Hey Y/N!  You only need to talk to me when I’m around!  I’m way stronger than those guys!”  His grip on the backs of your legs on grew tighter the more he spoke, his obvious jealousy sort of endearing.  A little childish, but it still stole your heart all over again.  So just to humor him, you said with a happy smile on your face,