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Inosuke was looking for Tanjiro, a fact the everyone in this particular wisteria house was aware regardless of whether or not they wanted to be. He was itching for a fight and Zenitsu had run away from their sparring match, screaming, like the coward he was. "Whatever" Inosuke thought to himself "Genjiro was a better opponent anyways".
He stomped towards their shared room, he'd checked for Tanjiro everywhere else, briskly barging in and shouting his name wherever he went. Unless he had gotten himself stuck in a tree, he had to be in there, and if he wasn't then Inosuke would simply save him from whatever tree he was stuck in, then spar with him.
"Wrenjiro come spar with me" he demanded barging in, practice swords already in hand. Tanjiro jolted his face away from Nezuko's forehead and turned to face the door. It was rare to see Nezuko out of her box during the day especially when she was asleep, Tanjiro instinctively shielded her from the doorway with his body.
He relaxed once he realized who the sudden guest was.
"Sure Inosuke, just give me a moment to put Nezuko back into her box." He motioned for Inosuke to come inside the room so the boar headed boy closed the door behind himself, leaving the room in complete darkness.
"What were you doing?" Inosuke asked as Tanjiro easily picked up his sister in her small form. "I was brushing Nezuko's hair" he explained, shaking the hairbrush in his hand to emphasize as he carefully lay Nezuko back into her crate as comfortably as he could.
"Hah?"
Tanjiro paused for a moment " Inosuke do you not brush your hair?" it shouldn't have surprised Tanjiro to hear this as Inosuke had been living in the wilderness and it's not as if hair brushes grew on trees. When he had seen Inosuke with his mask off his hair had looked beautiful and silky so he had never really thought about it.
"Why would I do that?" the feral boy asked, Tanjiro felt his heart sink at this. His head was filled of memories of his mother's gentle hands combing through his messy hair, how she would take her time to comb through all of her children's hair and tell them how lovely they looked. Inosuke had never gotten to experience that.
"Would you like me to brush your hair Inosuke?" Tanjiro offered, wanting to share what was a treasured experience to him with Inosuke.
Taking this as an insult towards Inosuke's ability to brush hair he yelled "No! I can do it! Give me that."
Snatching the hairbrush from Tanjiro's hand, throwing his mask off haphazardly, carelessly ripping the hairbrush through his tangled hair.
Tanjiro winced practically feeling his own hair being ripped out.
"The hell?" Inosuke yelled as he tried to yank the hairbrush out of a tangle, the more it refused to budge the harder he yanked.
"Inosuke stop stop stop!" Tanjiro desperately grabbed at Inosuke's arm in an attempt to defuse the situation and save Inosuke's hair from himself. Inosuke naturally, as he would any grab, dodged this.
"Inosuke! I'm trying- I'm trying to help you" he grunted as Inosuke pushed him away still yanking at the hairbrush.
"Inosuke! Inosuke!" he spoke sternly but also urgently.
"Shut up I can do it!" the stubborn boy replied, leaving Tanjiro no choice.
Tanjiro tripped Inosuke onto the futon going down with him, in a swift movement he brought his arm around Inosuke's neck and put him into a headlock, trying to keep his head as still as possible while attempting to dislodge the hairbrush from his hair.
Responding to this Inosuke moved his grip from the hairbrush the to arm wrapped around his neck, scratching and pulling at it while kicking his feet. Tanjiro seemed to be succeeding in keeping Inosuke still but he had forgotten one of Inosuke's unique talents which he paid for with Inosuke twisting his body and landing a kick square in Tanjiro's face.
They sung a duet of "ow" and "fuck" as Tanjiro recoiled, tugging out the hairbrush from its firm hold in Inosuke's hair, freeing it at last.
"Why the fuck would anyone do that to themselves?!" Inosuke yelled.
"Inosuke that's not how you do it!" Tanjiro yelled back.
"Then what the hell are you supposed to do?!"
Tanjiro took a deep breath, bringing the hairbrush up to his hair he combed through it with ease.
"See? It's not supposed to hurt, let me show you."
Inosuke huffed but he resigned himself to the fact that he couldn't beat Tanjiro at brushing hair if he didn't actually know what that entailed.
Crawling up behind Inosuke he asked "Is it okay?"
"Obviously, just hurry up and do it"
Being given the go ahead Tanjiro experimentally ran his fingers through Inosuke's hair. While the top was as silky smooth as it looked the ends of his hair were where the problem lay, the puffiness of the ends came from the tangle of hair which were deceitful covered by a mask of silky smooth hair.
Tanjiro did not know enough about hair to know what in the world would cause that to happen and he sure hoped he knew enough about brushing hair to fix it. Inosuke was being more patient than should ever be expected from him, Tanjiro smelt the impatience building in him so he pushed those worries aside and began.
Taking a bunch of hair into his hand he glided the hair brush down the top of Inosuke's head and slowed down as he approached the dreaded birds nest. Taking hold above the mess and as gently as possible he began to brush out the tangle.
Inosuke shuddered as the hairbrush made an audible effort the work with the hair beneath it.
"Does it hurt Inosuke?" Tanjiro had done all he could think of to lessen Inosuke's pain but if he still felt it then it may be a lost cause.
"No, shut up keep going" Inosuke snapped, Tanjiro would have suspected that he was simply acting tough but he smelt no pain from Inosuke.
Pondering what exactly could be causing Inosuke to shudder, perhaps the disconnect between hearing his hair get brushed and not feeling it made him uncomfortable? Tanjiro continued his brushing. Inosuke's hair put up a good fight against his caring brush but in the end was defeated, the faded blue tips lay flatter than before, still thick but longer, climbing his neck like ivy on a wall rather than curling around his jaw.
With more confidence Tanjiro moved onto a different bunch of hair, he felt he had gotten the hang of it so it would go by quicker. Starting again he appreciated Inosuke's uncharacteristic patience however worried he would get bored and leave before Tanjiro was done he decided it was best to strike up a conversation to keep his interest.
"Inosuke, how often do you wash your hair?" He asked, hoping this may help him decipher the mysterious properties of Inosuke's hair.
"Ha? You expect me to count?" Inosuke's replied to what he felt was a very stupid question.
"Hmm, okay well do you wash it when you bathe? How often do you bathe then?" he pried.
"Why the hell would I do that? I just take a bath when there's blood on me, hair doesn't bleed" Inosuke answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Tanjiro briefly stopped his brushing in shock, Inosuke didn't even wash his hair regularly? His hands continued to work but he couldn't help but let his mind wander.
Nezuko was famous in his hometown for being the town beauty with her long silky hair being admired by the younger girls. Nezuko wasn't however born with long silky hair, she worked hard to maintain her hair, brushing it out daily, combing oils through it, washing it regularly, and yet...
Inosuke, raised in the wild, never taking care of his hair STILL from a distance had hair as beautiful, maybe even more beautiful than Nezuko! Life simply wasn't fair, Tanjiro vowed to himself to keep this a secret from her.
Finished with the back and sides, Tanjiro crawled on his knees to Inosuke's front.
"Almost done Inosuke" he smiled, Inosuke returning him with a frown. Well Tanjiro had come too far to stop at the first sign of a frown, with only his fringe left to do he pressed onwards.
Running his fingers atop the fringe he found the texture was unfortunately the same as the ends had been.
"Did you cut your own hair Inosuke?" He asked as he began to separate the fringe layer by layer working slowly and carefully.
"Duh, I just use my sword when it gets annoying"
Life really is unfair Tanjiro thought to himself, though most of his haircuts recently had been by sword, just not his own. All finished he looked down to appreciate his work. It was definitely a difference, before the puffiness had made his head look bigger, now the smoothness almost gave him a more delicate look. Strands of his fringe once a solid unit now separate, falling independently onto his delicate features. His hair was longer than expected, the ends tickled his neck like arms reaching for his strong collar and shoulders. Tanjiro felt himself reaching too.
Running his fingers through Inosuke's now completely silky hair Tanjiro felt he had just made the most attractive person he had ever met even more attractive, this was a success.
"All done Inosuke" he smiled sweetly, subconsciously laying his hand on Inosuke's head, not realizing until he felt Inosuke lean his head into his palm.
Tanjiro was a bit shocked at the sudden gesture, he hadn't realized what he had been doing and certainly hadn't expected Inosuke to reciprocate. Inosuke nodded further into Tanjiro's hand and so he reciprocated by patting his head, more on an automatic level but his this seemed to be what the man had been looking for. His eyes fluttered shut and he gave out a content hum.
Tanjiro was baffled, had Inosuke always been craving physical affection like this? Had he just not noticed? Praise had always been his method of rewarding Inosuke and yet he had never thought to pat his head before?
Ah that must not be the case, he must have considered it before but decided against it, he must have been afraid he wouldn't be able to stop, that his hands move from his head down to caress his cheeks, trace the line of his jaw-
"Oi, do the thing you did to Nezuko to me"
Huh?
Inosuke broke through the moment with a demand that Tanjiro did not quite understand, "But I already brushed your hair?"
"No not that! The thing you did, where you put your put your face on her head" Inosuke explained, oh, Inosuke had seen Tanjiro give Nezuko a kiss to the forehead.
Tanjiro felt his cheeks flare red, a kiss to the forehead was an innocent show of affection but to hear Inosuke demand one from him right after he had let his mind wander felt extremely embarrassing.
"I-Inosuke, that's something you only do to people you like or people you care about okay?" he half heartedly tried to explain his way out of doing something he did actually very much want to do.
"So? You like me." Inosuke assured him and he was right, maybe even more right than he knew. Tanjiro gulped, his petty resistance already defeated he leaned down to Inosuke's forehead, brushing his hair aside he planted a chaste kiss onto his bare skin.
It was simple, there weren't fireworks or loud cheers, Tanjiro pulled back quickly but Inosuke seemed satisfied with this outcome. Tanjiro was almost a little disappointed with it, that he wasn't going to be demanded to do anything further but alas. The carefree boy shot up and much to his dismay shoved his boar mask over his head, likely ruining his hair, all while Tanjiro was too shell shocked to stop him.
"Okay now fight me Kentaro" Inosuke demanded, seemingly bored with hair brushing deciding he would rather just beat Tanjiro in combat.
Tanjiro regained himself, letting out a sigh for letting himself think too much about it all, he stood up and followed the feral boy to the back yard, not too confident on whether he'd be able to stop his mind from wandering during their sparring.