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"AH HA HA HA!" Loud laughter startled the birds, and they took flight. Tanjiro watched as they flew away, wings flapping quickly in their hurry.
"How does he get so much energy?" Zenitsu whined, his voice sounding more nasally than usual. It was clogged from the cold.
Snow dripped from the branches above them, and although the path they were walking on was mostly clear, it was still wet and muddy, sticking to their shoes.
Tanjiro smiled, adjusting Nezuko's box on his back. "I think it's nice! Keeps us motivated." Both boys watched Inosuke dart back and forth ahead of them on the mountain pass, swords out in both hands, challenging anything within the vicinity to fight him.
"I think you're delusional," Zenitsu responded flatly, and Tanjiro gapped at him.
"That's not very nice!"
"SANTARO! FIGHT ME!"
Immediately Tanjiro swiveled back to shoot a smile at Inosuke, an instant refusal springing easily to his lips, "It's too cold remember? We need to keep our strength up!"
"LIAR!" Inosuke pointed one sword at him, boar head somehow looking angry in its clear blue eyes. "You don't look affected at all! Not like weakling over there."
"Hey!" Zenitsu protested feebly.
"I grew up on a mountain," Tanjiro explained lightly. "I'm used to the cold."
"Seems unnatural, it's freezing," Zenitsu complained, burrowing further into his clothes. Half his face was covered by a scarf, and he wore more layers than usual.
“I grew up on a mountain! In fact, I’m KING of the mountain, I don’t need this stupid thing!” Inosuke declared and Tanjiro’s eyes widened.
“Wait, Inosuke, no—”
But it was too late. Although Tanjiro had only managed to get a scarf on him earlier before the boar man had ran off, swearing, it was still better than nothing.
Immediately, he rushed towards Inosuke, the two of them grappling; Inosuke trying to rip off the offensive cloth, while Tanjiro fought to keep it on him.
"I'm still—wearing—ah—more layers than you!"
“SO! I’m not a weakling!” Inosuke argued.
Zenitsu stopped walking and watched the fight, not bothering to intervene. "I'm cold," he muttered petulantly to no one in particular.
Finally, Tanjiro ended up winning their little bout and he stepped back, breath heaving, a thin layer of sweat dripping down his back. Inosuke crossed his arms, likely sulking beneath his mask. Luckily, he'd had the sense to sheathed his swords before Tanjiro came at him.
"Let's make camp, hm? We won't make it down the mountain before nightfall anyway. Zenitsu, can you hear water nearby?"
"No," the other boy sniffed loudly. "I've heard a few streams as we've walked by, but most are frozen over, I can hear it crackle sometimes."
"You haven't heard anything lately?"
They discussed back and forth as Inosuke fidgeted beside them. Finally, the boar man lost his patience and with a roar, ran into the treeline.
"Inosuke!! Wait—andddd he's gone." Tanjiro sighed as Zenitsu tried to snort with his stuffed nose, making him cough instead. "Come on, let's go after him."
Apparently, Zenitsu was too tired to argue because he simply nodded and started trudging through the snow after their friend.
By the time they caught up, Inosuke was at the edge of a large pond, frozen over. He posed proudly when they arrived. "SEE? I am the BEST!"
"Wow, Inosuke, great job!!" Tanjiro praised and the other man seemed to puff up with the compliment, happy steam erupting from the boars' nostrils. Coming closer to the edge of the pond, Tanjiro carefully pressed a foot on the edge. When it easily held his weight, he smiled wide with excitement.
"Zenitsu! The ice seems really thick!" he called over his shoulder.
"So?" came the immediate sassy reply. "Just cut it."
"We should go ice skating!"
"Absolutely not," the lightning user said. "You can get a cold all on your own." He sneezed and Tanjiro tactfully didn't comment that it was likely Zenitsu already had one.
Tanjiro rushed to his side and gently lowered Nezuko's box on the ground. "Keep track of Nezuko then, won't you?" Quickly Zenitsu grabbed the box closer, making cooing noises. He always liked to watch over Nezuko. "Make sure to build a fire!" Tanjiro added before he darted away, pretending like he couldn't hear Zenitsu's complaints.
"Inosuke! Wanna ice skate with me?"
"IS IT A WAY OF FIGHTING?" Inosuke grabbed him by the shoulder and started shaking him. Tanjiro laughed and danced out under his palm, the place where Inosuke had touched felt tingly and warm.
"No, it's just something fun. Here, I'll show you." He stepped onto the ice and pushed off, gliding away on his shoes.
It was a little awkward, the ice not quite flat and he had to brace himself in weird aways to stay upright but it was worth it. Inosuke made eager noises of interest which made Tanjiro's stomach flip with butterflies. It was always nice to find something that interested the other boy, especially when it was non-combat related. And, Tanjiro could admit if only to himself, he liked it when he had all of Insokue’s attention, when he wasn’t trying to challenge him to a fight.
“It’s okay,” Tanjiro said, when the silence had stretched too long and Inosuke hadn’t moved from his spot on the shoreline. “It won’t break, it’s too thick.”
With a loud cry, Inosuke rushed onto the ice before promptly slipping and falling onto his stomach. Tanjiro covered his mouth with a hand, trying to suppress his giggles. Zenitsu had no problem letting out a bark of laughter that easily echoed over to them, making Inosuke rage, limbs flailing around as he tried to get onto his feet.
Tanjiro slid over and reached out for him. Inosuke froze for a moment, boar eyes staring eerily back at him before he accepted the help and Tanjiro braced himself to tug Inosuke up on his feet again, wrapping his hands around the other boy's wrists.
"Careful," Tanjiro instructed once Inosuke was standing again. "Don't lift your feet so much, it's less like walking and more like slipping forward."
"Hmph," Inosuke huffed but followed his instructions. They stumbled their way together, Tanjiro sliding backwards, focused on keeping Inosuke upright as he wobbled. Along the way, they had joined hands, though Tanjiro couldn't say when it happened.
Though their way was clumsy and uncoordinated, Tanjiro couldn’t be happier. He giggled frequently as they struggled their way along. It’d been ages since he’d last ice skated! Normally they had better shoes for it, ones that would glide easily across the ice, but it was a normal enough occurrence for his family.
He could still hear the sound of his siblings' laughter ringing in his ears.
Inosuke was grunting as they went, clearly focused on Tanjiro's feet and trying to mimic the way he was stepping.
"You never did this on your mountain?" Tanjiro asked on a whim.
Another grunt. "For what? Getting too cold would be a death sentence, 'specially in winter. Not that I'm weak or anythin'!"
"Of course not!" Tanjiro was quick to reassure. It made sense though. Inosuke didn't talk much about his past but from what tidbits Tanjiro was able to gather, he spent most of his life alone.
Why would he risk his life to have a little bit of a fun alone, when the breaking of the ice beneath him would spell out a death sentence? For that matter, why would Inosuke even consider this something to be fun?
Tanjiro’s heart ached for him. His family always had each other. Though there was risk involved, Tanjiro was taught from a young age what to look out for, how to save himself if the unthinkable ever happened and he dropped into the icy waters beneath the ice.
Inosuke never got anything like that.
"Oi." A hand shook out of his grasp and poked at the middle of his brows. "Gonpachiro, stop thinking whatever sad thing you're moping about."
"I'm not moping!"
The boar head stared back with an air of disbelief and Tanjiro smiled shakily. "Okay, okay, I'll stop. I'm just glad we could do this now!"
"Could still drown, it’s not like that guy would help us."
"I heard that!" Zenitsu called from the shoreline.
"You'd save me," Tanjiro said with utter certainty, staring right at Inosuke.
Silence for a beat before Inosuke grabbed back his empty hand. "YOU BET I WOULD! NOW. TEACH ME MORE!"
"Right!!" Tanjiro laughed, imagining he could see the blush on Inosuke's cheeks beneath the mask.
They spent the rest of the afternoon on the ice, slipping and sliding. More than once one or both of them would fall and slap painfully against the ice. At one point, Tanjiro tripped and ended up flat on his back, Inosuke pointing and laughing at him so hard, tears sprang up from underneath the mask.
That was, until Tanjiro caught his hand and pulled him right down with him.
It ended up in another minor scuffle and they were probably going to wake up with some nasty bruises the next day, from falling but also from each other.
Still, when Zenitsu called them in for supper, Tanjiro couldn't help but feel taller than the mountain, heart filled with joy and love for his friends.