Opposites - Inosuke x Zenitsu

31. Concealment

Zenitsu's Pov:

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No... This couldn't be true, right? There she stood with a small bouquet of flowers and a wrapped gift in her hand... "OH ZENITSU!" Tanjiro's head suddenly blocked my view as he hugged me almost as tightly as Inosuke. Shortly afterward, Nezuko's warm arms embraced me. By the way, Inosuke and Kanao were standing nearby, lightly smiling. I think both of them didn't want to ruin our 'best friends forever and always' moment.I was really grateful that they respected our moment so much, but... But I couldn't see Aoi anywhere!... Huh?... Did I... Did I just imagine her?... Was I having hallucinations already? Well, honestly, I didn't care for a moment because I was just enjoying the moment with Tanjiro and Nezuko, my definitely best friends. So, I hugged them back and pressed my face against Tanjiro's turquoise-black haori and Nezuko's patterned pink and black kimono."I thought you were going to die!" I suddenly heard a bright girl's voice very close to my ear, and I knew it was Nezuko's. I had never heard her voice before... but I didn't get scared and just hugged her even tighter. Tanjiro looked at me and stroked my hair."Oh no, are you seriously injured?" he asked worriedly, and only now did I feel a thick bandage tightly wrapped around my head. Now that I noticed it, I also felt a pulsating ache at the back of my head. "I-It's not that bad..." I replied uncertainly, smiling insecurely, and gently touched the wound at the back of my head, making it hurt even more. But I didn't show it. They would just worry more.Then suddenly, I saw another person entering the room, and no, it wasn't Aoi Kanzaki: it was Shinobu Kocho!... With... a syringe... But at least she was smiling again as usual. When I was almost dying and glanced at her at the edge of the cliff, she looked quite serious and angry... She had really scared me when her purple-violet eyes shone down on me like lasers through the dark stormy night. But just before reaching my bed, she stopped in front of Inosuke. Everyone stared at her confusedly. Especially Inosuke looked quite bewildered. But suddenly, without losing her smile, she raised her hand... AND SLAPPED INOSUKE! Inosuke was so surprised that he couldn't hold himself and was thrown to the ground. Everyone jumped, and I heard Kanao scream something."What the heck?!" Inosuke angrily started as he got up, but when he noticed that she didn't change her expression when she slapped him. "Stupid wild boar boy!" she said. Suddenly, she grabbed him by the cheek and pulled him up again. "You could have died, you know? Y-o-u c-o-u-l-d h-a-v-e d-i-e-d!" Inosuke whimpered in pain and tried to push Frau Kocho away, but she held his arm firmly with her other hand. "Do you understand me?" She was still smiling... creepily. "Y-Yes, Frau Kocho!" Inosuke grumbled, albeit somewhat reluctantly. "Good!" Frau Kocho smiled and finally let him go. Inosuke was thrown back again and fell down. He turned slightly red and looked away in shame, but fortunately, we were distracted as Frau Kocho now approached us again with the raised syringe. "I'm sorry, but I have to ask you to leave because I need to give Zenitsu his medication, and then he needs some rest! I hope you understand that!"Everyone, except Inosuke, nodded understandingly and shuffled towards the exit. "I-" Inosuke wanted to protest, but both Kanao and Nezuko took him by the hand, and Tanjiro put a hand on his shoulder, saying almost inaudibly, "It's okay, Inosuke! He needs to get completely healthy again! Please understand that!"Inosuke sighed once and then threw a longing look at me, but I just nodded with a slight smile. Inosuke then had to smile a bit too and finally let himself be dragged away by Nezuko and Kanao. The door closed, and I was alone with Frau Kocho. However, she didn't pay any attention to me, turned around, and went straight to her table with all the bottles and microscopes, "So? How do you feel today?" she suddenly asked without looking into my eyes.I was so surprised that she had interrupted the silence so abruptly that I could only stammer uncertainly, "Well- Um-.. Good- Well... my head... Um, it hurts a bit... So-" "You've been sleeping for three days, you know?" she interrupted me and still didn't turn around. "I-" "Aaand..." she interrupted me again, filled her syringe, and finally turned around. "Guess who's been here the whole time..." She still smiled and sat down a bit in front of me."I-" "Your Inosuke! You can really consider yourself lucky to have someone like him, you know? He stayed with you for three days! He held your hand, talked to you, tried to read something to you (even though he's not good at reading), he stroked you, gave you little kisses-"He did all that? I think I blushed a bit just now... Since when was Inosuke so... so sweet? I mean, he was always so... eccentric and not at all gentle, and now... Awww... that's somehow sooo cute! "...H-he did all that?" I asked again just to make sure I didn't mishear her, as that just didn't fit Inosuke at all."Yes, yes!" Frau Kocho replied immediately and rolled up my hospital gown. (Oh, I just noticed it now! I changed clothes! Wait- Who changed me?! Did I- Who- Was I-... I hope it was Inosuke... I mean... well...) "He even refused to go to sleep in the bed and always sat on the floor next to you!" She lightly pressed on my upper arm to cut off the blood so she could inject the syringe. "Really... I wouldn't have expected that from him..." She turned my head away, and shortly afterward, I felt a prick."Oh, by the way... Aoi wants to talk to you again." She said after a short pause, and a white plaster later. I choked on my own saliva and turned my head back to her. "...W-What?" Her expression now looked somewhat darker. "She seems really sorry... She kept asking about how you're doing, and... you know... I promised her I would talk to you, and... she's standing outside the door right now, and I told her I'd let her in when she can."Zenitsu's Pov:So I was right after all: Aoi Kanzaki was here, standing right in front of my room!... Whether that was good or bad, I didn't know myself. "Hey! Hey, little one!" Frau Kocho snapped in front of my eyes, and I flinched. "Well, do you think you could talk to her?" I bit my lower lip and looked at the curtains. "Yes. I also need to talk to her again." I replied."Understood, so..." Frau Kocho stood up and opened the door... And through it came Aoi. Her hair didn't look as shiny as usual, and her whole aura didn't seem as confident anymore, but rather... sad. But I think she had every reason for that! Serves her right! She kissed Inosuke even though he didn't want it, and she's definitely not innocent in this whole damn situation! I'm not saying she's responsible for everything that happened in the last few days! Definitely not! But she must definitely bear her share of the blame! SO! I HAD NOT AN OUNCE OF PITY FOR HER! NOT A TINY BIT! Aoi had, as I noticed a few minutes ago, a small bouquet of sunflowers. When she looked up, there was a moment of awkward silence where we just stared at each other. Suddenly, the door slammed shut, I looked up, and realized... Frau Kocho damn well left!!!At that moment, I really thought: SHINOBU, (uh, I mean Frau Kocho,) PLEASE DON'T DO THIS TO ME, AND DO NOT LEAVE ME ALONE WITH HER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!!!! But without giving Aoi or me another glance, the pillar of insects disappeared as quickly as it had come... And I was alone with Aoi. All alone. None of us said a word. We didn't even look at each other. She just looked sadly at the ground, and I just stared out the window, which was nothing special at all.I just didn't want to look at her... Or actually, I wanted to pierce her with an accusing 'death stare,' but for some reason, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I felt the strange feeling I had when I fell still in my whole body, and I still remembered all the pain I had when I lay there, thinking I was going to die, and the feeling of helplessness almost choking me. And since this was definitely partly her fault, I got angry, but I was also a bit scared of her. Not just because of the accident: I was also afraid that she might pull something like she did with Inosuke last time or maybe even something worse. But most of all, I was afraid of her because I felt like I couldn't trust her words anymore: She had promised me in a long monologue not to touch Inosuke, then she said she just wanted to talk to him, left me believing it, AND THEN SHE KISSED HIM?!?!"Hey..." she suddenly broke the silence. I turned my head to her somewhat surprised. However, with a deliberately angry expression. "Hey." I replied with an accusing tone. Again silence. "How..." She cleared her throat while I watched her every movement closely. "...H-How is your leg?" She tried to smile at me, but when she saw my death glare and remembered what she had done, she just looked down again."It's so-so." I replied half-heartedly. "Z-Zenitsu, I'm really sorry, I-" "And I should believe you?" I interrupted her. Anger rose within me. "You promised to keep your hands off Inosuke, and then... and then you do something like that!?" Aoi looked up again. Perfect. Now she could see how angry I was. "Zenitsu, listen to me, that-" "No, you listen to me now, Aoi!!" I interrupted her, and my voice became noticeably louder."I thought you were sensible! You should know how much I love Inosuke, right?! So how could you do something like that to both of us?! If you like Inosuke so much that you'd go so far for him, then you would also want him to be happy!" Aoi's voice also became louder now: "I-I just didn't think, okay?! I was just- I don't even know what got into me!" She clutched the sunflowers tighter. "But it! It really is sorry, PLEASE BELIEVE ME!!" Wow. So... Did Aoi have teary eyes? Did it really... Still, I turned away and stared at the curtains."I- I don't really expect you to ever forgive me, but-" "It's okay." I only replied briefly. "W-What?!" "It's okay, I said!" I repeated, still audibly angry. "If you really feel sorry to the point of starting to cry, I assume you really mean it this time too. Besides, if you cry now, I wouldn't be any better than you."A small glimmer of hope shone in her eyes. "But that certainly doesn't mean I've completely forgiven you, okay?!" Aoi nodded eagerly. "I'm also sorry for freaking out..." I grumbled in the end. Even though I didn't look, I noticed the slight smile on Aoi's lips. "Thank you, Zenitsu. I promise you, I will never touch Inosuke again! 'Y-Yes... but of course! Thank you very much, and get well soon!" I heard the door slam shut again. Phew. I really got upset. Tiredness came over me as I turned to my favorite falling-asleep side.I had no idea what the medications Frau Kocho injected me with earlier did, but suddenly, I was extremely tired. I yawned and couldn't keep my eyes open anymore. Actually, I didn't want to sleep yet... I... I wanted to talk to Inosuke again and thank him for all the beautiful gifts and bouquets, but... Everything turned black before my eyes.

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