Work Text:
At age 10, everyone receives their soulmate mark. The initials of one’s soulmate appears on the skin right over someone’s heart, looking as if written in their soulmate’s handwriting. For Tanjiro’s family, the appearance of one’s soulmate mark is always a big celebration. As big as someone’s actual birthday. And that’s why he found himself surrounded by his parents, younger siblings, and close friends on the day of his tenth birthday, waiting for his exact time of birth to arrive. Each of them waited with bated breath as the clock ticked closer and closer to 4:37 in the afternoon. Two minutes to go.
Tanjiro exchanges looks with his three best friends sitting on the couch with him, Zenitsu, Muichiro, and Senjuro. Muichiro looks intrigued, Senjuro seems excited, and Zenitsu seems nervous, though that doesn’t surprise Tanjiro as nervous is Zenitsu’s constant state of existence. He then looks over at his mother, who gives him a soft, warm smile that eases any doubts or anxieties he may have in that moment.
He then looks right in front of him as his sister, Nezuko, younger by only a year, walks up to him. She’s holding their father’s phone above her head, the screen lit up and facing Tanjiro’s direction to show him the time. She makes a small, happy humming noise as the time turns from 4:36 to 4:37.
“Feel anything yet, onii-chan?” Hanako asks him immediately, looking at him with wide eyes.
Their father’s hand falls to Hanako’s head, ruffling her hair slightly. “Be patient, dear Hanako, it can take a few moments to actually appear. She lets out an impatient whine as Takeo and Shigeru huff at her sides, also impatient.
Tanjiro giggles quietly at his siblings as he feels a hand touch his shoulder. He turns to his left to look at Senjuro, who gives him an encouraging smile. Tanjiro beams back at him and nods, and that’s when he starts to feel it. It’s a very strange sort of feeling. A strange tingling warmth that starts right above his heart and spreads halfway over his chest. He gasps and brings his hand up to touch where it is on instinct. As soon as he moves, everyone in the room reacts, everyone abuzz with excitement.
The redheaded little boy immediately shoots up and rushes over to the mirror hanging on the wall in the middle of the living room. He pulls his shirt off, too focused on seeing his mark to feel any sort of embarrassment at doing such a thing in front of his friends. Everyone else follows him, crowding around him as they all look in the mirror and at the newly appeared mark on Tanjiro’s chest.
Just a couple of inches underneath Tanjiro’s left collarbone are two letters in handwritten cursive. He brings his hand up to trace his finger over the initials gently. I.H.
“What kind of name starts with I?” Zenitsu asks from beside the redhead, his nose crinkling up.
Muichiro brings his hand up and flicks the side of Zenitsu’s head. “Probably a cooler name than yours.” He quips.
Zenitsu gasps and pouts, bringing his hand up to rub at the spot Muichiro had flicked. “Tanji, Mui’s being mean againnnnn.” Zenitsu whines, but Tanjiro is too focused on his mark to pay much attention to anything going on around him. As he stares at his mark, his entire body feels warm and fuzzy, like he’s tucked under a big, cozy blanket.
After a few more minutes, his mom places a hand on his shoulder while his dad holds up his shirt. “C’mon, my sweet boy, it’s time to head to dinner.” His mom tells him softly. Tanjiro slowly pulls his hand away from his chest and grabs his shirt from his dad, pulling it back over his head and turning to face everyone, unable to keep the giddy grin off his face for the rest of the day.
~*~
It isn’t until over 24 hours later, close to bedtime the next night, that Tanjiro finds out he gained more than just his soulmate’s initials. See, whenever one’s soulmate is injured, flowers appear on their body in the exact same place as their soulmate’s injury, no matter what kind of injury it is. Big or small, serious or not, there’s always flowers, and the flowers that appear with each injury represent the emotions that their soulmate feels right when they receive the injury. Eventually, once the injury heals, the flowers fade. Unless the injury scars, then the flowers stay. When the injury is bad enough to scar, there can also be phantom pains.
When someone’s soulmate already has scars by the time the soulmate mark first appears, not the most common occurrence given how young people are when the mark first appears, the flowers for the scars appear around the same time as the initials, though sometimes it takes awhile.
When Tanjiro’s mark first appeared, he never noticed any flowers marked into his skin, and truthfully, he’d forgotten that it was even a possibility. But that next night, when his mom is helping him get ready for his bath, he admits to her that both his right side and back have been quite sore all day and he’s not sure why. Her brows furrow in concern and she tugs up his shirt to inspect his side, but immediately gasps.
“Mama…?” He asks uncertainly.
There’s a deep frown on her face and she doesn’t reply, instead saying, “Arms up, sweetheart, I’d like to check your back.”
Now feeling anxious, Tanjiro does as she says, holding his arms up as she tugs off his shirt and turns him around gently in order to inspect his back. At first, there’s nothing. No movement or sound from his mom and he squirms slightly, very much wanting to know what’s going on. So, he instead turns to his sense of smell, sniffing the air around him to try and figure out what’s going on with his mom. He’s still learning to pick up the differences between each scent and what each one means, but he’s got most of them memorized, especially when it comes to those closest to him.
Filling the air is the scent of sorrow and concern and he frowns deeply. Is mama okay? He wonders. Before he can ask the question out loud, though, he feels a painful sting on his back as his mother brushes her fingers over his right shoulder blade and he immediately pulls away from her touch instinctively.
His mother sighs softly. “Honey. It seems that your soulmate has a few scars.” She says. Tanjiro’s eyes widen. She doesn’t need to say anything else, he already knows what that means.
He looks down at his side and sees a cluster of aconites and tiger lilies in a line from about an inch above his hip and down, disappearing where his clothes block his view, but from the soreness he’s felt all day, he knows that those flowers stop a few inches down the top of his thigh. Aconites and tiger lilies. He’s spent the last few years studying the meaning of each and every flower, reading through them all over and over until he had them memorized. Aconites represent fear. Tiger lilies represent anger.
He quickly turns around and moves past his mother, hopping up onto his step stool and trying his best to angle himself so that he can see the right side of his back. He manages to see just enough to know what flowers make up that scar. Calla lilies, Amaranthus, and more aconites. Sorrow, hopelessness, fear.
He faces forward again, his back to the mirror. His mother is now standing in front of him, a look of concern on her face as she watches him. He looks up at her, his bottom lip wobbling and tears pricking at his eyes. “Is my soulmate okay, mama?” He asks quietly, his voice shaky.
“Oh, sweetheart, of course they are.” She immediately reassures, pulling him into her arms and embracing him tightly, careful not to touch either of the flower clusters. He clings to her, sniffling. “These are already scars, Tanjiro. They wouldn’t be this detailed if they were fresh wounds. I’m sure your soulmate is just fine.”
He nods after a moment, pulling back and rubbing at his eyes to clear the moisture from them. “Alright, mama.”
~*~
Over the years, Tanjiro received many flowers from injuries, many of them becoming scars. A few more of those injuries were filled with the same negative emotions as his first flowers, but after about a year or so, any injuries his soulmate ended up with were filled with completely different emotions. Things like excitement, frustration, and pride. His mom and dad always say that whoever his soulmate is, they must be quite a reckless person, but Tanjiro’s just glad that there hasn’t been any more injuries or scars like those first ones. And, honestly, it’s not like Tanjiro doesn’t have his fair share of scars as well.
Tanjiro is now 22 years old and in his 4th year of university, majoring in Soulmate Botany and minoring in Biology. It’s the beginning of his first semester of his senior year and it’s also the first time he’ll be attending classes without any of his friends joining him, as none of their classes overlap this semester. But, in full Tanjiro Kamado style, he takes it only as an opportunity to make new friends. So far, he’s become friends with a sweet soulmate couple, Kanao and Aoi. The two of them have been together for the past 7 years, apparently. The two of them, along with Kanao’s brother, just moved into town not that long ago and transferred to the university.
Today was like any other day, nothing different about it at all so far. Tanjiro is waiting for Kanao and Aoi in one of the many common areas of the main university building, as the three of them planned to walk to class together. He was looking down at his phone, scrolling through some notifications, when he feels a presence approach him.
The redhead looks up and comes face to face with Kanao giving him a soft smile, Aoi not too far behind her. “Good morning, Tanjiro.” Kanao says in her quiet timber.
“Good morning to you both!” He beams at them, his ponytail swishing behind him as he puts his phone into his pocket.
As the three of them begin walking towards their next class, Tanjiro feels a slight sting that quickly fades into a warm tingle across his finger. His brow furrows and he looks down to see a new cluster of flowers covering the top half of his left pointer finger. “Huh.” He says, filled with curiosity. One of the flowers that has appeared is familiar, having seen it quite a few times. However, two of them haven’t ever appeared on his body before, not that he knows of.
“Oh? What’d your soulmate do now?” Aoi asks, looking at his finger as well with a raised eyebrow.
“Which flowers do you have now?” Kanao asks, looking just as curious as Tanjiro himself.
“Gardenia, Iris, Ranunculus. Surprise, hope, attraction.” He says automatically, like reading directly from a textbook.
“Attraction, huh?” Aoi gives him a look full of mischief. “Seems like your soulmate is exploring the field a bit.” She says teasingly.
Tanjiro snorts and shrugs, shaking his head at her. “I don’t really care if they are, Aoi. It’s not like we’ve met yet.”
“It truly doesn’t bother you?” Kanao asks, her head tilted to the side slightly.
“Not at all.” He answers truthfully. “My soulmate’s love life before we meet is nothing for me to be concerned about. As long as we end up together eventually.”
“You’re pretty weird, Kamado.” Aoi quips.
“You’re one to talk, Kanzaki.” Tanjiro quips back, nudging her with his elbow. The three of them share a laugh as they continue their walk.
~*~
Two days later, Tanjiro finally gets to meet Kanao’s brother. The two of them aren’t biologically related, though aside from that, he doesn’t know much else since it isn’t brought up in conversation very often. But today, Kanao and Aoi invited him out to lunch, telling him that Kanao’s brother would also be joining them, and Tanjiro was happy to say yes.
Entering the small restaurant near the university dorms, it doesn’t take long for him to spot Kanao and Aoi’s butterfly hair clips. As he makes his way over to the booth they’re sitting at, he spots a third person with them. He can see a full head of black to blue ombre hair pulled back in a short ponytail, bangs covering most of their forehead and almost falling into their eyes. But before he can register any other details about the person, they’re stumbling past Aoi out of the booth and hurrying to stand right in front of him right as he reaches the table.
His eyes widen slightly as his vision is suddenly filled with bright green eyes and a sweetly flustered face. “Hello!” He greets kindly, giving them a warm smile.
“H-hey!” They greet him, the person brings a hand up to rub at the back of their neck as Tanjiro hears giggles coming from the two women still sitting down.
For a moment, the two of them just stare at each other. Tanjiro finds himself completely captured by their eyes. There’s something about the bright green that reminds him of sunlight shining on fresh grass. He looks away from the person’s eyes only to observe the rest of their face. Soft, pink lips with a natural upturn, a small nose with clusters of freckles dotted all over it that spread across their pink-tinted cheeks. They were so…cute. The thought surprises him and he blinks.
Someone clears their throat right as Kanao speaks up. “Introductions, Keke.”
Those green eyes widen slightly and they hurry to take a small step back and hold out their hand for Tanjiro to shake. “I-I’m Inosuke Hasibira!” They exclaim, grinning widely.
Tanjiro finds that grin infectious and returns it with one of his own as he grabs Inosuke’s hand to shake. “Nice to meet you, Inosuke! I’m Tanjiro Kamado!” He replies, giving their hand a firm e shake before letting go. “Not to make you uncomfortable or anything, but what are your pronouns…?” He asks curiously.
“Oh!” Inosuke pulls their hand back and taps their fingers against the tops of their thighs. “Uh, w-well, any, a-all!” It’s clear their words come out louder than intended, as they wince as soon as they finish speaking. “I-I don’t really, uh, care what pronouns are used f-for me, you can c-call me anything.” Inosuke stumbles over his own words and Tanjiro can smell how nervous he is, though he’s not sure why.
Hoping to put them at ease, he gives them a warm, reassuring smile and nods. “That’s good to know, thank you, Inosuke. My pronouns are just he/him.” He informs him.
“Great!” Inosuke nods.
“You weirdos gonna sit down or what?” Aoi asks from behind Inosuke.
“Oh, of course!” Tanjiro slides in next to Aoi, Kanao on her other side and Inosuke sliding in right beside Tanjiro.
“Tanjiro, Inosuke is my brother.” Kanao informs him as she slides a menu over to him, Inosuke already grabbing his.
“I see. How are the two of you related, by the way? I know it isn’t biologically, but you never really specified past that, Kanao.” He looks between her and Inosuke curiously.
“Through marriage.” Inosuke pipes up, causing Tanjiro’s attention to settle on him. “My mama’s married to Kan’s legal guardian, Shinobu.”
“Oh, wow, that’s cool. How long have they been married?” He asks curiously.
“About nine years now.”
“That’s so sweet. They’re soulmates, I would assume?”
“Yep! Found each other a bit late, though.” Inosuke says, a slight frown appearing on their face.
“Yes, but they still found each other eventually, that’s what matters.” Kanao speaks up, and Tanjiro watches as the siblings exchange a meaningful look that he doesn’t quite understand. Then Aoi speaks, and they both return to their normal expressions.
“We ordered you a sweet tea, Tan, since we figured that’s what you’d want anyways.” She says as the waitress appears to bring their drinks to them.
“Thanks, A, that’s perfect.” He tells her gratefully as he takes the glass from the outstretched hand in front of him.
As Inosuke reaches for his own drink next, something catches Tanjiro’s eye that he hadn’t noticed before. On Inosuke’s left pointer finger, there’s a bandaid wrapped around it. “Hey, Inosuke, what happened to your finger?” He asks them, only slightly concerned.
The black-haired man looks confused for a moment, brows furrowing, before realization lights up their face and they look down at their finger. “Oh, right!” Then his expression turns sheepish. “I just got a little papercut yesterday, it’s nothing really.” He admits.
“Yeah, it’s completely nothing compared to all the injuries that she’s gotten on purpose .” Aoi says, putting great emphasis on the last two words. “Swear, this one doesn’t even know what the word “safe” even means .” She grumbles.
Tanjiro raises an eyebrow at the comment as he starts looking through the menu. “Awww, do I worry you, Miss Aoi?” Inosuke asks, peeking past Tanjiro and batting their eyelashes in a way that reminds the redhead exactly why he had to question Inosuke’s gender in the first place. Right, he said any pronouns. That means “she” as well, just like Aoi used. He reminds himself.
Aoi immediately responds with a roll of her eyes. “In your dreams, Hashi.” Kanao and Tanjiro giggle at their banter and the rest of lunch goes by filled with laughter and fun conversation.
~*~
After their first meeting, Tanjiro sees a lot more of Inosuke. The two of them don’t have any classes together, as both their majors and minors are quite different, Inosuke majoring in Photography and minoring in Art. But they walk each other to classes and meet up in the common areas or for lunch sometimes. The third time they see each other is when they exchange numbers and start talking outside of school as well.
Tanjiro finds himself enjoying his time talking to Inosuke much more than he realized that he would. In fact, he enjoys it in a way that he’s never felt before with anyone else. Senjoru, currently his roommate, keeps teasing him about it, making comments about how smitten he is with his new friend. He’s even commented a time or two about Inosuke possibly being Tanjiro’s soulmate, and while he usually just brushes off such things, Tanjiro can’t help but imagine it sometimes, being with Inosuke in that way. He can admit that it feels right. The feeling he has when he’s around Inosuke is the same one he’s always felt when he touches his soulmate mark. That same warm and fuzzy blanket wrapped around him.
Not only that, but Inosuke has the exact right initials. I.H. Inosuke Hashibira. That can’t be a coincidence, right? He questions internally. The signs are adding up and Tanjiro has noticed enough of them to convince him that he should ask Inosuke about their mark. And so, on a day in which he has the apartment to himself and no classes to attend, he invites Inosuke over to hang out for the afternoon. And now, Inosuke, having accepted his invitation, is knocking on the door.
Tanjiro opens up the door with a grin. “Hey there, Ino!”
“What’s up, Tanpachiro?” Inosuke greets, stepping past him and into the apartment.
He closes the door behind him and then turns around and gestures to the entire living room. “Make yourself at home. Do you want something to drink?” He asks them, hoping the answer is yes so that he can spend just a little more time preparing himself.
“Yeah, surprise me.” Inosuke tells him, flopping down on the couch.
Tanjiro chuckles as he walks into the kitchen and to the fridge, pulling out two peach sodas. Closing the fridge, he leans his head against it for a moment, taking a deep breath. He can do this. It’s just a simple question. ‘What are your soulmate initials and do they happen to be in my handwriting?’ Yeah, so simple. Not like the answer could possibly change his entire life or anything like that. He shakes his head at himself. There’s only one way through it and that’s to just spit it out.
He walks back into the living room. “Hey, Inos-” Tanjiro freezes as he lays eyes on Inosuke again.
In the few minutes he spent in the kitchen, his friend has adjusted his position on the couch so that he’s now upside down, now bare feet hanging off the back and head hanging close to the floor at the front of the couch. There’s nothing too surprising about the position. From what he knows about Inosuke so far, something like this is perfectly normal. The thing is, the position has caused all of Inosuke’s bangs to hang down towards the ground along with the rest of his hair, revealing their forehead to Tanjiro for the very first time since they first met each other.
And with that reveal, Tanjiro finds another piece of evidence to add to his ever-growing list that leads to the conclusion of Inosuke being his soulmate. On the left side of Inosuke’s head, is a cluster of flowers. Gardenia and Amaryllis. Surprise and determination. That in itself isn’t anything out of the ordinary, except for the fact that those flowers are in the same exact spot that Tanjiro’s scar on his forehead is at. The one he got when saving his younger brother from being hit with a steaming hot kettle. Surprise at the incident and determination to not let his sibling get hurt.
Inosuke looks away from his phone and at Tanjiro, his head tilting to the side slightly once he sees the surprised look on the redhead’s face. “Tan? You alright?” He asks.
“Y-yeah, uh, I’m fine.” He replies, taking a deep breath and shaking his head as if to clear his thoughts. “Those are some pretty flowers on your forehead.” He comments casually, walking over and setting both of the sodas on the table in the middle of the room.
Inosuke’s eyes widen slightly and Tanjiro sees a slight shade of pink come to his cheeks as he turns his body and sits on the couch normally in one motion. “Oh yeah, they are pretty cool, aren’t they?” Inosuke clears their throat.
“When did they show up?” He asks the black-haired man, sitting down beside him a little closer than he normally would.
Inosuke looks away from him, tapping his feet on the floor. “Ah, when I was about 13 or so. Been awhile.”
Tanjiro swallows and licks his lips. “Oh, cool. I got the scar on my forehead when I was 13.” He informs him
“Really? How’d you get it?” Inosuke turns his head to face him again, the scents of anticipation, anxiety, and curiosity filling the air around them.
Tanjiro gives him a bright, warm smile. “My little brother, Takeo, was almost hit with a hot tea kettle that had been knocked over. I jumped in the way and took the hit instead, giving me this.” He taps his finger against the scar.
“Oh, wow. Sounds like something you would do.” Inosuke tells him, his tone slightly teasing. The redhead giggles a little before falling silent, neither speaking up for a moment. Then he decides to speak up again.
"Inosuke…what are your soulmate's initials?" Tanjiro asks quietly, his words barely above a whisper as he locks eyes with those bright greens.
Inosuke looks back at him, the look on his face the softest Tanjiro had seen from them. "T.K." He utters out. "Yours?"
Tanjiro sucks in a breath as soon as he says those letters, his heart nearly beating out of his chest now. "I.H."
The other man's eyes sparkle as soon as it leaves his lips. "Kanao and Aoi kept teasing me that first week we met 'cause I kept swearing that you were my soulmate as soon as I first saw you. They didn't believe me until the signs started adding up." He tells him.
A wave of warmth travels through Tanjiro. "What? In the restaurant?" He asks.
"No, idiot. In the common area, couple days before that." At Tanjiro's surprise, they continue. "I was in the room that day when you met up with them. I had just finished talking with my sister about something when the two of them walked right over to you and I watched them walk over, which led to me seeing you. I looked at you right as you looked up and it's like you were glowing ." He explains.
Tanjiro feels heat rise to his cheeks, knowing without a doubt that a blush is now covering them. He scoots closer so that now their legs are pressed together and Inosuke accepts the physical contact immediately, reaching up and brushing a lock of red hair behind his ear. "I knew right then and there that I had to meet you. Talk to you. Because I knew you were the one, immediately. But then the paper in my hand - a map of the school that I was still trying to memorize - slipped and sliced a cut across my finger. It distracted me and by the time I looked back up, you had already left with Kanao and Aoi. So, I asked them to introduce me to you."
"You really knew this whole time?" Tanjiro asks him, voice full of awe.
"Of course I did. I am smarter than you, after all." Inosuke quips, some of his usual cocky attitude bleeding through. In response, all Tanjiro can bring himself to do is laugh and surge forward, pressing their lips together.