Chapter Text
"Say your goodbyes, because I might not come back. No, in fact I know I won’t be coming back."
Maybe Zenitsu was being a tad too dramatic. But solo missions had that effect on him; it sent him into a state of panic to see others go. To not know if they'd come back. Tanjirou's fist solo mission had been harder on him than on Tanjirou himself. He had cried and begged for him to stay. And when Tanjirou had waved them goodbye, a sad look on his face, Inosuke had said:
"Don't do it again, Monitsu."
"Do what? And my name isn't-"
"That. You're making it hard for Senjirou to leave, and it's already hard for him."
At first, Zenitsu had been a little hurt, but later on he had taken in Inosuke's words. Reflected on it. Understood what he meant. He didn't want to slow Tanjirou down, to worry him about leaving. He wanted to be a better friend for him, so when Tanjirou had come back, he had all but jumped in his arms to hug him and apologize and tell him he was certain he'd come back, to Tanjirou's surprise.
But this time he was the one that had to go. And Inosuke's words rang again in his chest. He understood them even better now. If his friends had pulled frowns and sad faces, he would be even more reluctant to go than he already was.
Why him? And why did he have to go alone? Didn’t they know how weak he truly was by now? And why was Inosuke smirking?
"I guess some of you will be glad to never see me again", he said, glaring at Inosuke.
"Cm’on, Zenitsu, don’t say things like that", Tanjirou intervened before the boar-headed teen could reply. "You’ll come back sooner than you know!"
"Monjirou’s right. You need to come back quickly so we can train again. So stop whining already!"
"I’m not whining!"
Ok, he kinda was. And it was maybe true that Zenitsu wanted to stall a bit: every minute spent with his friends was a win over being all alone out there like he’d been for most of his miserable life. Wandering in a street, bare feet, scraps on his knees and hands, starving and exhausted from walking all day. No one to lead him, feed him, tell him it was alright. No one to love him. Until he met his Gramps. Until he met Tanjirou and Inosuke and Nezuko-chan too. Leaving them tore his heart to pieces, and so he whined and complained and made a fool of himself, but at least he could stay a bit longer with them. It couldn’t last forever though. Chuntaro pecked a strand of his hair to remind him that it was time to go. Zenitsu huffed a trembling breath.
A hand took his: Tanjirou had gently opened his palm and placed an onigiri in it. Zenitsu blinked. An onigiri, just like when they first met. An onigiri they had shared. He tried to stifle a sob that was rising in him, and failed: tears were already forming in his eyes.
"Inosuke and I made it for you", Tanjirou smiled. He said nothing about Zenitsu’s tears, didn’t make him feel bad about it.
Zenitsu couldn’t believe the boar had cooked something, even less that he had cooked for his "minion", but Inosuke’s proud stance achieved to convince him. He looked as happy as when he tormented Zenitsu by forcing him to train with him or chased him around the estate. Tanjirou probably had to coax him into cooking with him, but Inosuke was not one to do things if he didn't want to.
"Thank you so much", Zenitsu whispered in a strangled voice.
He clung to their sounds as long as possible. They were caring, and a little worried for him. Even if they didn’t show it, their sounds betrayed them. Even if they were behind him as he left the Wisteria estate, Zenitsu could picture them so clearly it was like they were walking alongside him.
Tanjirou’s, gentle, peaceful, and calm like a sunrise sending specks of orange over a stream in the mountains. Inosuke’s, brutal, vigorous, dynamic like a chase after a prey in the woods, frantic and breathtaking and unstoppable. Their heartbeats lingered in Zenitsu’s ears.
He let out a breath when he felt Chuntaro landing on his head to rest there as she often did to be comfortable. Zenitsu felt slightly better when his sparrow did this. He wasn’t completely alone.
After a long walk through the woods, Zenitsu finally reached the village where the demon had been located. His feet hurt, and he would have done anything to sit for a moment, rest if he could. But the sun would be setting soon; the demon would come out at night, and he’d have to hunt him down and cut his head off. No time to rest. And the sooner it would be done, the sooner he’d come back to Tanjirou and Inosuke.
Zenitsu crossed a wooden bridge that led to the first houses. It was a southern little town, it reminded Zenitsu of the village he was born in and where he had wandered before being taken in by Gramps. But surprisingly enough, not a sound could be heard, except the shuffling of feet in the dust. As much as he tried to hear whispers and secrets, Zenitsu couldn't make out a single voice speaking in the whole village. Weird. It was the first silent village he'd ever come across.
"Here we are, Chuntaro", he spoke softly.
The sparrow was nestled near his heart, lulled by his heartbeat, covered by his haori. Probably napping. Zenistu couldn’t blame her; he was tired too. But he felt the need to talk to someone, so he continued on:
"We should probably ask around about the demon."
It felt almost disrespectful to break the silence here, but the atmosphere was heavy, but Zenitsu didn't know why. Was the presence of the demon the cause of such a silence hanging in the air?
He slipped into a crowded but still silent street - crowded was a bit exaggerated, but for such a quaint little town, there were enough people in that one street to feel a bit suffocated - and tried to stop an old woman that was coming his way.
"Excuse M’mam, do you-"
She did not stop, on the contrary she went on, her shoulder bumping into Zenitsu’s. A little disoriented and surprised, he turned and stared at her as she scurried back to her house. The movement, mainly Zenitsu being pushed and spinning around to look for someone to ask, woke Chuntaro up, and she flew to a wooden pole, chirping angrily.
"Sorry, Chuntaro..."
He guessed she was in a rush and did not have the time to answer his questions, so he tried again with a man.
"Sir, please, do you know anything about-"
But yet again, he did not stop nor even spare a glance in Zenitsu’s direction: he only continued walking, unseeing. Now it was becoming excessively evident that everyone in this town was willingly ignoring Zenitsu. Which was... weird, to say the least, and a little disconcerting. He was more used to being the center of a morbid curiosity, with his blonde hair. People often cast looks of surprise or disgust above their shoulders at him, and then they tried their best to ignore him. But in this village, people passed by him like they didn’t even see him.
He was startled away from these thoughts when he felt his haori being gently pulled. There was a little girl trying to get his attention. She didn’t look like she was more than five years old, and it looked like she was on her own.
"Can I help you?" he asked her.
She didn’t reply, only looked at him with big, curious eyes. Just like her hair, they were black and as deep as a well. She looked a bit like Zenitsu before he'd been struck by lightning.
Quite suddenly, she released his yellow and orange haori and her hands flew into rapid gestures. At first, Zenitsu stayed dumbfounded, but then he understood: she was signing. The little girl was probably deaf, or mute.
Zenitsu crouched to be at her level, and pointed to his own ears, then to her. He didn’t know sign language, but was trying his best to ask her if she could hear him. The little girl shook her head no. So she was deaf. She then repeatedly made a hand gesture to her chin, but Zenitsu had no idea what that meant.
"Are you hungry?" He said and reached in his pocket, hoping she could read a bit on his lips, and it seems she could, as her face lit up.
He retrieved the onigiri Tanjirou and Inosuke had prepared for him and held it out for the little girl.
"My friends made it for me", he smiled, "but you can have it."
The little girl looked at it, then up at Zenitsu’s amber eyes, as if checking if it was really okay for her to take it. It reminded him of himself, a younger version of himself, the first time he’d ever trust his Gramps. When he had given him food for the first time.
He nodded, and let the little girl take the onigiri, which she began to eat with a look full of gratitude. He didn’t feel sad to see the gift that his friends had made him in the hands of a stranger, because it was a little girl that probably needed it more than he did.
But then a shout made him jump, while the little girl, unbothered, continued to eat.
"Momoko!"
A woman was running in their direction, looking a mix of relieved and frightful. She laid a hand on the little girl’s shoulder, immediately getting her attention. Recognition lit the girl's gaze, and she jumped in her arms. That must have been her mother she was looking for, Zenitsu thought. But when the woman turned her glance to him, the blonde braced himself.
He was convinced he would get slapped for giving the little girl something to eat, or be called a freak for having such ugly hair, but the woman did something completely unexpected: she grabbed him by the wrist, and dragged him behind her, ignoring his weak protestations.
The woman led them both, the little girl named Momoko and Zenitsu, to what seemed to be her house, and ushered him inside, practically pushing him into the room. It was already lit with candles that shed shadows all around.
He raised his hands in self-defense as soon as he was let go of, prepared to see fists going down on him. But it never came. The middle-aged woman was staring down at him, hands on her hips. She was frowning at him, and it made her wrinkles even more apparent. But it wasn’t out of pure anger. Her sound was full of worry.
"Boy, are you out of your mind? You want to die out there? It’s almost sundown!"
Zenitsu only returned a stunned silence, then he understood: she didn’t know he was a demonslayer. But then again, was he really? He was more a coward than anything else.
The little girl signed something to her mother, which kneeled to plant a kiss on her cheek and hug her tightly. She then responded in the same fashion, with hand gestures that seemed to point at Zenitsu, although he didn't know what they said. But then Momoko got out her mother's embrace and went to Zenitsu. She gripped his haori again, pulling at it a bit as if she wanted Zenitsu to follow her, and his blade appeared from under it, carefully sheathed at his side.
"You... You’ve come to slay the demon that is plaguing us", the woman whispered.
Her look had completely changed. Before that, she looked at him like he was a reckless child, but now she was staring at a teen thrown into war against bloodthirsty demons. Almost with pity and heartbreak. It made Zenitsu feel weird and mushy inside, because he had never had someone look at him like that before.
Momoko gave up and released him before running up the stairs.
"You’re a demonslayer."
He nodded to her remark, his bangs moving swiftly before his eyes.
"I need to know more about the demon", he explained, "but no one seems to want to tell anything..."
"That’s because they can’t hear you."
Zenitsu froze, and raised his glance to look the woman in the eye for the first time since he’d been dragged in her house. She had the same black eyes as her daughter.
"Are they deaf too?" He asked, and it came out really dumb, but the woman only shook her head. Sadness passed like a shadow on her face.
"No. Everyone in this town wears earplugs when night approaches."
"Earplugs? Why?"
"To protect themselves from the demon. See, this demon has been pestering us for weeks now; its shrieks and screams are so loud that that it is impossible for us to sleep. We are forced to cover our ears as soon as the sun sets, not to fall into its trap."
Zenitsu was about to ask what trap exactly she meant, when a piercing scream rang outside. It was distant, and yet so close. It resembled the screaming of an infant that would cry out to his mother. But the sound was... Weird. Almost... Fake. It almost sounded like it was a crafted sound. He couldn’t help but cringe internally. That shriek was NOT natural. It was the sound of a demon. It was foul, agressive. It almost physically hurt him. And he had to fight that thing?