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The battle was over.
Muzan is dead.
Tanjiro is human again.
And here they were days after, bloody and bruised, clumped under the roofs of the Butterfly Estate.
The battle did really happen, Zenitsu thought as he looked at his bandaged arms. His heart felt lighter. Defeating Kaigaku and putting, if not all, at least a fair amount of justice on his master's inevitable death made him less grieving.
Zenitsu sat up, rubbing the back of his head. The room was noisy because more than half of the patients were awake and asking for assistance. Glancing at the blue-haired girl near the medical shelf, he saw how exhaustion was evident in Aoi's features. Suddenly being given responsibility of the whole Demon Slayer Corps' medication and grieving the loss of Shinobu took a toll on her, but she tried her best not to make it too obvious. Zenitsu can hear a very heartbreaking sound from her.
"Akari! I'm hungry!" The boarhead shouted, banging his fists on his bed. Aoi snapped to look at him, annoyed. "You just ate ten rice balls! Ten!"
"Boss Inosuke wants more!"
"Argh, fine! Kakushi! Give that dumb boar a whole basket of rice balls!"
"Haha! That's more like it!"
Zenitsu just sighed. He looked at the bed beside him and saw a still-sleeping Tanjiro and Kanao on the other bed. For some reason, after Tanjiro regained his senses, he crawled towards Kanao first and the two refused to break hand contact until they both passed out.
The Wind Pillar looked dejected, and Zenitsu remembered that he had lost the only family he had left. Tomioka-san was looking distant, and Zenitsu picked up a sad sound from him as if he was grieving heavily.
Many things had happened.
He looked at the human girl holding her brother's other hand as she fell asleep sitting on a chair, head leaning against the bed.
Zenitsu looked at her, relieved and forlorn at the same time.
Ever since she came back to being human again, Nezuko hasn't talked to him since. She looked at him as if he was a wall. Aoi said that she may have lost her memories and he could just wait, but remembering his times with Nezuko made his heart ache.
She stirred and opened her eyes, pink irises landing on Tanjiro and she smiled warmly at her brother's peaceful state.
She was there, on arm's reach, and yet she was so far away.
What if she never remembered me?
Zenitsu shook his head vigorously that he got dizzy. He tried to stand up and a frantic Kiyo ran towards him. "Zenitsu-san! Please stay in bed until you fully recover!" She waved her hands in front of him trying to stop him. He just smiled at her. "I'm just going out for some fresh air."
"But..."
"I'll be fine." He walked past her and slowly made his way towards the garden. He sat under a tree and looked at the flower bushes in front of him, where he would pick flowers at night to bring to Nezuko and Aoi would beat him up in the morning. He gazed at the white roses lined up at the bush.
It reminded him of Nezuko.
So beautiful and pure.
Zenitsu was terribly afraid of demons, but upon seeing Nezuko for the first time back at the wisteria home, he didn't mind if she was one, because he fell for her instantly.
Sure, he was perverted and a woman lover. He has his fair share of past girls. Tanjiro would always have his doubts whenever Zenitsu says that his love for Nezuko is real.
But he knows that it is.
And if she doesn't remember him, he knows that it will hurt as much as did when he lost his Grandpa.
Maybe even more.
"Zenitsu-kun?" A familiar voice called out to him and Zenitsu's eyes landed on Nezuko walking towards him.
He felt his heart do a painful flip. She is so beautiful. He smiled when she sat beside him, leaning against the tree. "Yes, Nez- Kamado-kun?" He said. Nezuko doesn't remember you yet, idiot, he said to himself. Have some manners.
"Please, call me Nezuko. You saved me a lot of times, after all." She said, smiling at him.
"Oh really, that was nothing. It was my job as a demon sla-" Zenitsu stopped and processed her words. He looked at her smiling face, eyes glistening and expectant. "You remember me?"
The girl beamed at him and nodded. She took his hand on hers and rubbed circles around his palm. Zenitsu felt warm, as if he was about to melt.
"How could I forget my savior? My mind was hazy after I became a human, but I slowly started to remember my memories as a demon and of you always protecting me, Zenitsu-kun. Back at when Inosuke-san tried to kill me, back at the train, and all the nights that you would bring Shinobu-san's goldfish bowl and give me flowers just to make me happy." She squeezed his hand. Zenitsu felt his lip twitch with affection. This girl...
Nezuko looked at him again and smiled widely. "That's why I wanted to say thank you! Thank you, Zenitsu-kun! For always saving me. My brother was right. You really are strong!" She held out her arms, and Zenitsu hurriedly leaned in to her embrace.
"I will always protect you, Nezuko-chan." A tear escaped Zenitsu's eye. The girl sighed as she hugged him tighter, resting her chin on his shoulder.
"I know you will."
_
(2 years later)
"Zenitsu-kun! Let go of me!" Nezuko chuckled as Zenitsu jumped from tree to tree, carrying her in his arms. The boy shook his head. "Nah-uh! There's something I want to show you, Nezuko-chan!" The girl giggled and let him carry her until he jumped down and put her down on the grass. She looked at the view. They were by a cliff that had a great view of the forest below.
"So Zenitsu-kun, what did you want to talk about?" She faced his direction, only to be met by a huge sunflower. She laughed and took it from a smiling blonde. "Oh, Zenitsu-kun! Always full of surprises, aren't you?"
"That's not the surprise." The boy grinned. "Flip it over."
Nezuko did what he said, and surprise flooded her being as she saw a metal circle embedded behind the flower. "Zenitsu-kun..."
"Nezuko-chan..." his voice trembled nervously, now that he was doing what he always wanted to do ever since he saw her, "I'm an idiot. I've been fooled by a lot of girls, and I'm a big coward." He stepped closer and knelt in front of her. He held Nezuko's other hand. The girl bit back a smile. He caressed her palm with his thumb as he felt himself about to cry.
"I don't have any family. I had Gramps to consider closest to family, but he too was taken from me. And now that I met you, I want it to be you." He stood up and locked eyes with her. Nezuko let her tears fall freely.
"Nezuko-chan, will you be my family?"
The girl nodded, pink eyes shining with warmth. "Yes!"
Their hearts lurched in their chests as Zenitsu lifted Nezuko by the waist and spun her around in circles. Her melodic laughed echoed through the sunset air and her radiant smile lit Zenitsu's life more than ever.
"Agatsuma Nezuko sounds nice." She said, holding his hand as they walked back towards the house.
"Tanjiro's not gonna kill me, is he?"
She laughed and playfully swatted his arm. "He'll just headbutt you, I think." The blonde paled.
"That is way worse than being killed!"
Her laugh stopped his panic as he found himself being enticed again. He pulled her closer, brushing his lips against hers. Nezuko recovered from shock hurriedly and smiled against his kiss.
"Hey, that was unexpected. Alert me next time." She swatted him again. He caught her hand and squeezed, letting out an exasperated sigh as he saw the redhead waiting for them, arms crossed.
"At least prepare an ice pack for me later."
Nezuko giggled.
"Gladly."