Nezumi To Inoshishi (ねずミ と いのしし) || InoNezu

2- Sleepless nights

I've had enough of point of views, so this chapter and the other upcoming ones shall not have their own POVs. Thank you very much...

HayuChan5 kicked me on the face. On my right cheek with her left foot to be specific.

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As Inosuke fell asleep, Nezuko stared at his sleeping face, patting his head. She was silently envious of his carefree lifestyle and childish nature. She didn't get to be that childish when she was a child because she had to be mature at a young age to be able to take care of her younger siblings with her brother, Tanjirou.

Nezuko looked away, not wanting to harbour any ill feelings for the boar masked boy. Their futons were only inches apart and Nezuko went back to her futon to sleep again until morning came.

She took a step towards her futon and was about to take another when her ankle was caught by a hand, causing her to fall over her futon. She turned her gaze to the owner of the hand and surprisingly, it was Inosuke.

Nezuko's eyes widened, she thought Inosuke was awake again. "Oi, oi, oi. Who said you were allowed to leave?" Inosuke mumbled. Nezuko squinted her eyes and sure enough she saw a sleeping Inosuke with his brows knitted tightly together. She sighed in relief. It looks like he's having a nightmare.

°°°

Zenitsu stared at the ceiling of the room as sleep didn't want to take care of him. Zenitsu sighed and sat up, listening to the melodies of his friends' breathing. He silently hoped that it would lull him to sleep.

...

A full minute had passed already and sleep was still kilometers away from him. This made him annoyed and he started grumbling about how life is unfair and how he should have been asleep minutes ago.

While he was so busy in his own little world, he didn't noticed that Tanjirou woke up to his complaints.

Tanjirou placed his hand on Zenitsu's shoulder, that had him flinch and tremble violently in fear that another demon had gotten inside the house without them noticing.

Zenitsu slowly turned around, face paled all the while shaking and sweating.

"T-t-t-t-tanjirou! D-don't touch my shoulder so suddenly! A-at least call out to me first! I could have gotten a heart attack and died you know!! What would you do about it then!? And I haven't even got a chance to marry yet! And-and-and-! And if I die now, who would... no one would..." Zenitsu's tears streamed down his cheeks silently as depressing thoughts filled his mind.

Tanjirou hurriedly tried to calm the blond. Patting him on the head, rubbing his hand on Zenitsu's back in a circular motion, resting Zenitsu's head on his chest, and a kiss on the forehead.

After a series of repeating that cycle, Zenitsu calmed down and left Tanjirou's comforting embrace to face him.

"Tanjirou?" The blond asked relunctantly. "Yes, Zenitsu?" Tanjirou answered in a calm and soothing voice. Zenitsu shook his head gently and stared at the wall behind Tanjirou as if it was the most interesting thing in the world, not answering the redhead's question.

Awkward silence fell over the two like a huge blanket. Tanjirou had had enough of it already and decided to break the silence.

"Zenitsu, why weren't you asleep yet?" Tanjirou asked in concern.

"Ah, that. I can't fall asleep. Or rather, sleep seems to have been avoiding me." Zenitsu answered with a small chuckle. Tanjirou frowned.

"You should've woke me up. That way, you're not the only one suffering from sleepless nights." Tanjirou scolded lightly.

"I would just be bothering you. Besides, I'm going to sleep now. You should get some rest too. You're injuries are worse than mine." Zenitsu laid himself on his futon and closed his eyes. It was true that he was sleepy after crying.

Tanjirou stared as Zenitsu yawned and closed his tired eyes. He stood up and pushed his futon closer to Zenitsu's. He kissed the blond's forehead and both of his closed eyes. He said a quick good night to him before going back to sleep.

That night, Zenitsu wasn't able to sleep a wink because of the kiss.

°°°

It was early in the morning when Nezuko woke up. The sun was about to rise and she was about to stand up when she remembered the events the night before.

She tried forcing his grip off her ankle but if she used too much force, she was afraid he wouldn't have arms to use for demon slaying. She tried shrinking but she was caught trying to crawl away by Inosuke's hand.

Nezuko, without any more ways to get away without hurting the other, kicked Inosuke. Inosuke, being kicked multiple times by the demon, furrowed his eyebrows and immediately opened his eyes. His green eyes met a pair of pink ones, ones that belong to the one kicking him repeatedly.

Inosuke jumped up and screamed at her. "Oi! What do you think you're doing!? You think you can get away from kicking me!?" He poked Nezuko's forehead repeatedly

Nezuko, being the polite girl she is, bowed her head as a small gesture to ask for forgiveness. And that small gesture made Inosuke's face to flush lightly.

"J-just go away already!" Inosuke stomped away to the blond's room, leaving Nezuko with two futons to fix.

°°°

Inosuke angrily slammed the door open. "OI! MONJIROU! MONITSU! LET'S GO TRAIN!!!"

Zenitsu sat up tiredly. He had dark bags below his eyes and had teary red eyes. "Oh, Inosuke. Good morning to you. Had a nice sleep?" Zenitsu asked with a raspy voice.

"Woah. You look terrible." Inosuke said, shocked to see the blond who could sleep through anything not getting enough any sleep.

"Next time, let's share the room. I don't want to share with Tanjirou anymore." Zenitsu said before passing out.

"Eh? Oh, good morning, Inosuke." Tanjirou greeted with a smile.

•••

This chapter is a bit longer than the first one but I hope you enjoyed!! Welp, this chapter has more tanzen than the first which makes sense. So, thank you for reading. I burned my hand with hot water and it still kinda hurts.