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Zenitsu runs through the woods in haste, following the smell of blood and sounds of despair. Up above him is Tanjirou, jumping from tree to tree, a look of horror on his face. Knowing his knack for smells, Tanjirou’s most definitely disturbed by the raw odor of blood seeping in so deep in the forest.
They’re too late. People have already died.
Zenitsu can hear Tanjirou’s heart shattering from above as he takes a gigantic leap forwards, leaving him to catch up.
And when he does, the sight is disgusting.
“Tanjirou.” Zenitsu shakily stutters, walking up to the redhead as he stares ahead in fear. “Th-That’s--” He hears the voices of the people digging deep in the recesses of his mind, begging for help.
Tanjirou doesn’t let him continue his words, only raising a hand to block Zenitsu from coming any closer.
There’s a monster right in front of them, a horrific amalgamation of people and limbs clawing at the air, as if to reach for something to pull them out of the pulsating flesh that’s seemed to bind them with each other. Zenitsu can hear every single thought inside of it, every cry, every scream, every roar--
“Stop.” Tanjirou pulls him in his arms, forcing Zenitsu’s head on his chest. “Don’t cry. Just listen to me, Zenitsu.”
He’s crying? Zenitsu touches his cheeks and sure enough, he feels tears staining his cheeks. The sounds must’ve gotten to him.
He could’ve started panicking by now, screaming or just anything, but it seems that he’s too unsettled to even react like himself.
Tanjirou squeezes him close, and he closes his eyes to focus like the redhead says.
It calms him down a little, Tanjirou’s gentle sound, but the despair of the people keeps getting through and--
--a demonic sound.
“Tanjirou!” Zenitsu pulls away and turns back to the ominous figure poised to strike behind them. “It’s--!”
The redhead reacts fast, pushing the blonde away as he slashes the demon’s claws away.
“Aim for the neck, Zenitsu!!”
Zenitsu tries to ignore the voices, and positions himself to strike, then launches himself off his forefoot. He's inches away from cutting the demon’s head off when he hears the voices again. The ringing in his ears distracts him and he misses his mark, only ending up slicing the demon’s face in half.
He falls to the ground and stumbles clumsily back on his feet, Tanjirou appearing behind him to support as he watches the demon's hollow head.
The voices scream louder. It tells them to hurry, please, save them there's not much time, soon they'll become one with the flesh and it'll--
The demon charges again and Tanjirou has to pull Zenitsu to the side, just so he wouldn't get caught. He swings his sword and cuts its thin legs off, and the demon tumbles down to the ground. Oddly enough it doesn't regenerate, it's upper head that's been lopped off only stares at them with beady eyes, as if it's already done what it wants and just wants to play with them.
Tanjirou grips his collar, pulling him from his thoughts. Zenitsu can hear his anger, but he can hear the worry too. “Zenitsu, what--”
“I can’t Tanjirou I just--” This time he knows he's crying. The tears burn his eyes. “The sounds they’re so--it’s too loud--they’re so loud I--” Zenitsu looks for words to describe the feeling, but he can't. All he knows that it's too loud, and he needs someone to turn it off now.
Tanjirou looks like he doesn't understand, frowning skeptically, but he still grips Zenitsu's forearms, acting as an anchor. “Zenitsu.” He grounds out, meeting his unsteady gaze with his own determined one. “Focus.”
“Tanjirou.” He inhales shakily, unable to stop the tears from flowing again. I’m sorry I’m so weak Tanjirou please just rip my ears out I don’t want this I “I can’t.”
Tanjirou doesn’t respond, but keeps staring into his eyes, searching for something. Zenitsu just wants to cry and tell him to give up just leave him here Tanjirou I’ll just get in your way please--
Tanjirou does nothing of that, only leaning back and sliding one of his hands down to grip on his own. “If you can’t.” He murmurs squeezing Zenitsu's hands in his. “We will.”
They face the demon again with their joined hands, watching as it’s lanky body hobbles over to them with eerie steps.
Zenitsu feels himself shake in fear as the voices grow louder again. There were thousands upon thousands of thoughts descending on his head, all screaming for help. Was the demon doing this? Was he amplifying their cries? Or was Zenitsu just that pathetic that he has to be constantly reminded that they were too late, so late, almost everyone in the village is gone and--
He can’t do this he can’t do this he can’t do this--
Tanjirou tightens his grip on Zenitsu’s hand one more time as he poises himself to strike.
Zenitsu looks back at him, hearing the same brand of fear from Tanjirou but none of it in his eyes, and he breathes.
They can do this.
The battle ends with a flash of fire and lightning.
Tanjirou doesn’t dare let go of Zenitsu’s hand. From the glazed look on the blonde’s face, he didn’t take today’s mission too well. He’ll make sure to bribe Inosuke back home to keep him quiet.
Luckily, Shinobu’s reinforcements arrive and they take care of any remaining people not fully absorbed into the mass. They had to amputate some, but most were just glad to be alive. They didn't really know why the flesh hadn't disappeared with the demon when it was defeated, but that's a question that Tanjirou's mind is too tired to ask about.
The next question was what to do with the pulsating monstrosity, they can’t bury it due to its size and cutting it up into pieces would be just painful since it’ll be like raising a sword against a human. It's confirmed to have amassed a collection of human hearts inside, causing the pulses.
When Tanjirou hears one of them suggest burning it, he steers Zenitsu away. He didn’t want the blonde to hear anything more.
Instead, he swings their hands together slowly as Tanjirou walks a familiar path to another village, just a short trek from the place they got called on to.
“Do you want to get something sweet on the way home?” He murmurs as low as he could, pressing near Zenitsu to comfort him with his presence. “My treat.”
Zenitsu doesn't answer, but the slight squeeze to the hand that he earns is what he takes as a yes.
Tanjirou does end up being able to bribe Inosuke into being quiet. Though, it wasn't bribing in a sense, he just had to challenge the boar to a silence contest and he was all set.
However, his efforts to keep the estate quiet were useless when the blonde isn't even actively there.
Zenitsu's been spending his time more and more in the woods, which Tanjirou would respect, but he's been missing dinner and breakfast too many times now. One time, he'd even spent two days without telling them.
It got him a motherly scolding from Shinobu and an endless stream of hugs from Tanjirou himself.
Now, Tanjirou wants to approach him and talk, but he's afraid that he might scare the blonde away with his sound. The blonde might just want some peace and quiet, after all. He'll just have to deal with the small moments he gets when Zenitsu comes back from his alone time.
Like right now.
"Zenitsu." He tries to make his footsteps loud enough when he comes near, so he wouldn't startle him. "How was today?"
The blonde nods idly, in the middle of slipping his sandals off to step on to the floor. "Better."
"Did you eat before you go?" Another nod. "Now? Have you eaten dinner now?"
Zenitsu hesitates, but when he sees Tanjirou's worried expression, he shakes his head petulantly.
Tanjirou just smiles and pulls him to the kitchens, to look for something to eat. They find Inosuke there, who's rummaging through the drawers for something to munch on as well. For a midnight snack, probably.
He doesn't scream like he usually does, and instead mimes aggressively when he wants to talk to Zenitsu, still immersed with the bet he has with Tanjirou. It makes Zenitsu chuckle a bit. Tanjirou's proud of him.
Tanjirou often sticks close nowadays when it was time to sleep and Zenitsu would protest adamantly, because is is embarrassing Tanjirou I can handle myself!! Tanjirou knows better than to follow the blonde's wishes when its bed time and embraces him anyways, noting the grateful scent the blonde gives off.
He knows Zenitsu dreams about the battle and he knows Zenitsu likes the company, he just won't admit to it. In a sense he's happy that Zenitsu's being a bit stubborn, since the old Zenitsu wouldn't hesitate to jump into his arms and cry all night, but he can't say he didn't miss Zenitsu's overt clinginess.
When the whimpers would start, Tanjirou would pull him close and hum to his ear. Sometimes it's a song his mother would sing, but sometimes it's just humming for the sake of humming, anything to keep Zenitsu's mind off the nightmares of screaming voices in his head.
Nine times out of ten it would work, but in the rare times that it doesn't, Tanjirou talks to him instead. He's not really sure if Zenitsu's even coherent enough to catch it, but with the way Zenitsu clings closer and how his cries grow quieter, he assumes he is.
Usually when Zenitsu wakes up, he'd scream and rip himself away from the embrace, running out the door out of embarrassment, hiding himself in the woods. Today was apparently a special one because Zenitsu chose to stay, idly playing with the sheets over them.
"Good morning." Tanjirou rasps, happy at the thought that Zenitsu was finally comfortable enough with his company to spend more time inside for the morning.
Zenitsu just kind of hums in reply, and buries his face into the pillow. Tanjirou doesn't mind the silence, and instead moves his hand over Zenitsu's hair to comb it roughly.
The the blonde decides to speak, muffled into the pillow. "You sound too loud, Tanjirou."
Did he? He wasn't really thinking about anything in particular. He blinks, he's not sure how to fix it. "Should I, lower the volume?"
Zenitsu snorts. "I don't know, can you?"
Tanjirou laughs quietly, "If I could."
Then Zenitsu turns quiet again, leaving Tanjirou to think about how to actually turn the volume down on his sounds. Was it his thoughts? He doesn't think Zenitsu's a mind reader. Maybe it was his heart? The sound of thumping might be annoying if it's constantly in your ear.
Before Tanjirou could even think about slowing down his heartbeat, the blonde speaks again. "I don't want you to." He says more clearly, turning his head to face Tanjirou's gaze head on. "It's nice."
That's nice, Tanjirou thinks. No slowing down his heartbeat, then.
"What do I sound like?" He asks, just out of curiosity.
Zenitsu purses his lips, caught off guard by the question. He stares at a random patch of skin on Tanjirou's neck, thinking.
"Hm. Like the sky and--" As if realizing something, he cuts himself off, looking off to the side with his cheeks turning red.
Tanjirou frowns, curious. "And?"
Zenitsu locks gazes with him again, watching his expression, before shaking his head with a smile. "Nevermind."
Then Zenitsu decides to press his face unto Tanjirou's shoulder, breathing softly. The red tightens his embrace and presses a cheek on Zenitsu's hair. He smells trust, happiness-
-and love.