Opposites - Inosuke x Zenitsu

1. Demon

Zenitsu's POV:

"N-Nezuko?! Sweet Nezuko?!" I called out into the dark forest. The air was bitterly cold, and every breath stung in my lungs. "T-Tanjiro?!" Tears streamed down my cheeks as the fog around me thickened. "I-Inosuke?!" I cried out, realizing that no one could hear me here.

I was completely alone as the fog closed in around me. I sank to the ground, weeping, while the fog enveloped me, and I could only see white. There was no one to help me... no one... I was alone.

Suddenly, I received an invisible blow to the stomach, and before I could comprehend it, I woke up. "WHO, WHAT, WHERE, HOW?!" I asked, looking around frantically. I was still on the mattress in one of the rooms at the Butterfly Estate, where we were staying temporarily, as neither Tanjiro nor Inosuke felt like sleeping outdoors. No forest, no fog, but instead... punches to the gut?! I looked around to figure out where those damn blows came from. The answer didn't surprise me much. "HEY! MOITSU! GET UP ALREADY, OKAY?!" Inosuke yelled at me, standing next to my mattress. "KEEP YOUR FILTHY PAWS TO YOURSELF, YOU BOAR!" I yelled back at him. I swung my leg and kicked him right in the stomach, sending him flying back. "Serves you right, you monster!" I shouted.

Suddenly, I heard someone groaning beside me, so I turned around. It was Tanjiro, who had woken up from all the commotion and was now looking at me reproachfully. "Hey, hey, Tanjiro! It wasn't me! It's all this guy's fault!" I pointed frantically at Inosuke. "He's lying, Gapachiro!" Inosuke protested loudly. But Tanjiro seemed half-asleep and not entirely present. With a tired look, he turned to the wall clock, which showed 4:00 AM, while we could hear Nezuko scratching and whimpering in the box. She was probably awakened by the noise as well.

Tanjiro exhaled and pulled the blanket over his head. "Inosuke... Zenitsu! It's 4:00 in the morning, so please! Let me sleep a little longer! We've only been back from a fight for 3 hours, and I'm totally exhausted. So please... let me sleep a little more!" He was right. I was still quite tired, and it was still pitch dark outside. But... that was probably all Inosuke's fault! Why did he even wake me up?! He just wanted to annoy me! Inosuke was about to protest, but I just snapped: "Shut your damn mouth now! You heard him! Give it a rest and let us sleep!"

With those words, I turned away, offended, and pulled the blanket over my head as well. I didn't want to admit that I was actually a little relieved that he woke me up from that terrible dream. Then it was quiet for a while. After some time, I heard Tanjiro's breathing even out again, indicating that he had fallen back asleep.

So, I started to relax as well. But just as I was dozing off, suddenly, someone pressed a hand over my mouth! "Mhhh!" I tried to scream, but the person pressed their hand even harder on my mouth. Now I could see the person who was covering my mouth in the silver moonlight: It was none other than Inosuke. Of course! Did he want to play some kind of prank on me again?! If so, it wasn't funny at all! Annoyed, I tried to yank his hand away, but he removed his mask and looked at me with an angry expression. "Shhh! Keep your mouth shut, or do you want to die?!" he hissed.

I stared at him, my anger turning into fear. "Listen, and keep quiet, okay?!" He now loosened his hand slightly, still staring at me angrily and making sure I didn't make any sudden moves. Once his grip had loosened a bit more, I took the opportunity and finally pulled his hand away from my mouth. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!" I snapped at him. "Shhh! DON'T BE SO LOUD, DAMMIT!" he whispered. "OKAY, THEN TELL ME WHAT-" "IT'S NOT TANJIRO!!!" What? I was somewhat surprised. "W-What do you mean with Tanjiro?" I asked worriedly, turning my head to Tanjiro. But Inosuke took my head and turned it back, so I was looking at him. "Don't. Look. At. Him." he growled.

"He'll notice!" All my anger had now completely vanished, and I listened to Inosuke attentively. "So, listen to me, Manitsu-" "My name is Zeni-" Inosuke covered my mouth again. "It doesn't matter now! The fact is, that's not Mankoricho! That's a demon!"

I stared at Inosuke, now shocked. "W-What? The one b-beside us is a d-d-demon?!" I stammered, as Inosuke removed his hand from my mouth again. "But what makes you so sure?!" I asked. "I tested it just now!" Inosuke whispered. "I annoyed him and you earlier. You reacted normally, but Sinjiro? He reacted completely differently from usual!" What? What was he saying? "Mannjiro would never complain after a fight, you know? Besides, he would have made a big fuss when that weird demon started scratching in the box!" Shocked, I looked down. "I-Inosuke..." I started. "This is probably the first and last time I'll say this, but... you're right!" I whispered.

I now realized it too! And he's been behaving differently ever since we arrived at the Butterfly Estate! "I want to try something, so shut up for a moment, okay?!" I said to Inosuke, closed my eyes, and focused on the sounds coming from Tanjiro, or whatever that thing was sleeping next to us.

Normally, a person's resting heart rate is around 60 to 90 beats per minute. In the waking state, for Tanjiro's age, it's about 80 to 100 beats per minute. So, I listened carefully to detect his pulse.

I hoped so much that it would be normal and that Inosuke and I had just imagined everything, and that it really was Tanjiro Kamado!... but unfortunately, I was disappointed: His pulse was probably between 200 and 300! That was way too fast, and a normal person would have died from such a high pulse, but for a demon, this pulse was normal!

We had learned that from Mrs. Kocho. Back then, I had dismissed this information as 'unimportant,' but luckily I had still remembered it! Fear now gripped me more and more. I opened my eyes again.  "Inosuke... I never thought I would say this again, but... you're right... once again..."

Inosuke looked at me triumphantly. "Well, I'm the boss, you know?!" he said proudly. "Yeah, yeah, you're so great." I said annoyed. "But now we have other problems. What should we do?" I didn't mean to sound so desperate at the end of the sentence, but the fear had completely enveloped me. Just like the fog in my nightmare, but with the difference that I wasn't alone: My Nezuko was still there!

Oh no, Nezuko! How could I forget my sweet Nezuko?! But it was still dark outside, so we were in an advantage when it came to Nezuko: As long as it remained dark outside, we could escape with her! "Inosuke, I have a plan! We'll grab Nezuko and sneak quietly to Mrs. Kocho. We'll tell her that there's a demon here that looks just like Tanjiro, and she'll take care of it while we go look for Tanjiro. He's probably still at the place where we defeated the last demon. Maybe he's even fighting another demon. We must find him!"

I got up quietly now and stood next to Inosuke. Thanks to our laziness, we hadn't bothered to change, so we had just fallen into bed with our clothes on. "I'm the boss, got it?!" "Yeah, yeah, Inosuke, stop bothering me!" I said a bit louder than intended. "So, we'll just go quietly and slowly now—" Boom! Suddenly, something exploded behind us. I was thrown against the wall on the other side of the room and lost consciousness.