Chapter Text
It all starts with an acorn.
Both Tanjiro and Zenitsu know that Inosuke is an animal, perhaps not literally, but his null contact with any human activity and being raised by wild boars make him act as one.
However, Tanjiro knew that he wasn't bad. Inosuke might be a bit gruff, self-centered, and definitely a screamer, but he wasn't bad, actually, he had quite a fondness for both the wine-haired and blond-haired boys, though he will show it in his strange and violent way.
Therefore, it isn't so strange that he doesn't know the concept of a gift.
Inosuke doesn't have a birthday. Wild boars don't celebrate the birth day of pack members, so the blue-haired boy never had a party or anything special for that day, much less a gift. He knows a date close to what his birth could be, but there is nothing more than that.
So the concept had taken out of Zenitsu.
— Why are you giving flowers to Nezuko? — He had asked him one day, after the blond had given the girl a small daisy, who happily hummed with it in her hands.
— It's a gift. — Zenitsu explains normally, although Inosuke continues with the same confused expression. Sure, he obviously has to explain everything from the beginning. — A gift is a valuable object that you give to someone you love.
Inosuke still didn't change his expression, one eyebrow raised. — That flower didn't cost you any money.
The blond sighed, but still wasn't losing patience, so he continued explaining. — Inosuke I didn't want to say "valuable" in that sense, with that I mean "meaning." There are many reasons to give a gift, such as for a birthday, because you saw something that reminds you of someone else, because you try to show your love or affection. For example, I gave Nezuku a flower because she is pretty like the flowers.
The boar boy thinks for a few seconds, the words echoing in his head to find meaning or rather to understand how it works.
However, his attention is diverted to the black-haired girl, mysteriously and just as Zenitsu had said, she looked happy with the little flower, running to Tanjiro probably to put the object in her hair, which her brother did with a smile on his face.
That was another thing on the long list of things Inosuke didn't understand, the strange feeling on his stomach that occurred every time his gaze met Tanjiro. He felt like he had eaten something wrong, his organs churning as if they wanted to change places, further intensifying his movements when Tanjiro looked back at him, worse if it was one of those silly smiles, when the boy closed his eyes and a very pretty curve stretched across his face as he leaned slightly to the right.
Unintentionally, his mouth speaks before he can stop it. — Can you make a gift... To see someone's smile?
Zenitsu didn't want to ruin that, he fought against his impulses not to waste one of those so short lapses in which Inosuke is calm and conscious.
— I'm surprised you got it so quickly.
However, that obviously didn't turn out exactly as he thought. He could swear with his own life that it hadn't been with that intention, but apparently he had ended up teasing the boar boy.
— What the hell does that mean?! — It isn't surprise to him that Inosuke already has the swords out. — I'm the great Inosuke! Of course I understood your nonsense!
— Ah?! I knew it! You are but a wild boar and you can't know what it's to give a decent gift!
The sudden fight that ensues due to that doesn't even surprise Tanjiro, leaving Nezuko go back to her box, proceeds to separate those two.
The way he does it is very sudden.
It isn't like you strictly have to have a "valid" reason to give someone a gift, much less a strict procedure to follow, but the way Inosuke does it remains spontaneous.
Maybe it's because he didn't even plan to do it, it isn't like he was thinking of giving something to Tanjiro...
Occurs while walking back from a dangerous mission.
They are really wounded, there aren't broken bones or severe traumas that need immediate healing, but there are enough cuts and bruises around their bodies to feel that the return trip is much more difficult than the outward journey.
They rest for a moment, walking in such a way without giving even a break would be counterproductive, so they are obviously grateful to stop even for a few moments to regain strength.
Except of course, Inosuke.
He likes to explore around, hit some trees or hunt something easy to carry, sometimes looking without searching for anything specific.
But fate wants his gaze to be directed at a small and insignificant object on the floor at that moment.
Actually, he wouldn't have paid attention to it if it hadn't been because he had accidentally stepped on that acorn, who had fallen as innocent from the tree as the others, but who dared to have the gall to injure the foot of the great Inosuke.
He was about to hit it with his sword, if it wasn't because he noticed something curious about it.
It had probably been caused by the stomp that only seconds ago he had left on it, but it was really interesting anyway, to the point of leaving his sword aside to take the small fruit from the ground and examine it with his eyes.
There was a crack in the acorn. A crack that seemed to be about to break its delicate structure, but that wasn't what caught Inosuke's attention, he had seen those things before, but this time his thoughts went elsewhere.
He thought in Tanjiro.
The crack in that acorn formed right at the top. Where the edible part of the fruit began, the perfect coffee was now stained by an open crack that made it look a peculiar black.
Inosuke's mind inevitably flew to that wine-colored hair. His friend had a similar mark, that scar on his forehead that joined one of his many peculiarities.
For some reason, that acorn made him remember what Zenitsu had said about the gifts too.
"You give someone a gift to show your affection."
Those words that he used to find so rare, little by little began to make sense over his head; Of course he liked Tanjiro, he was his favorite subordinate after all, so it wouldn't hurt to give him something to make that aspect clear.
However, perhaps the way he gave it to Tanjiro hadn't exactly been a good messenger.
He had thrown it to him directly on his return, the boy was resting his eyes for a moment, before that small fruit fell on his crossed legs.
Tanjiro then also took the acorn, seeing that there was nothing unusual about it other than the characteristic crack. He smiled then, he didn't have to look to know that Inosuke had given it to him, the scent was more than enough for him.
— Thanks Inosuke. — And there it was again, that stupid smile that churned his stomach. Although this time, it wasn't precisely because he felt... Rare, if not that he had become concerned when the boy gave signs of trying to eat the acorn.
— Its not for you to eat it stupid Gopachiro! —Inosuke stopped his hands, holding them before he could process what he was doing and pulling them back quickly when he realized it.
At times like this, he was grateful to have his mask on his face, or the other would have managed to see the pink color on his cheeks.
— Huh? — Tanjiro looked surprised though. —Don't you want me to eat it?
— Of course not stupid! — Inosuke signaled him entering then. — It's a gift! I want you to keep it!
The understanding then easily hits Tanjiro. Okay, it's kind of weird for someone to just give you a cracked acorn and not want you to eat it but yes keep it, but with Inosuke it was better not doing too many questions around his actions.
— I get it. — However, the wine-haired boy keeps his smile. — Thanks for the gift Inosuke, it's nice of you.
— Can you two shut up?! I want to rest! — Zenitsu evidently complains about the "scandal" they are making, although their claims only provoke more screams from the boar.
— Huh?! Are you so weak that you need to sleep after a walk?! I'll kill you for being a hindrance on the road to success!
Tanjiro would worry at another time about where he's going to safeguard his precious acorn, for now, his job is to make sure that his friends don't kill each other.