the flowers and you - inoaoi

p r o l o g u e

A/N
this story takes place after Tanjiro arrives at the butterfly estate for their recovery training / after the spider family arc.
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"Medication," she snapped, standing over the bed. The boy (Aoi had questioned if he was actually human numerous times since his arrival) didn't budge, the ugly boar mask pulled protectively over his face, which the nurse was yet to actually see. "Hey! Medication, didn't you hear me?" He remained still, the mask's dead eyes staring up at the ceiling. Placing her hands on her hips firmly, she considered her options. Either she could yell more, or simply force him up.

After the hassle she'd gone through with the last patient, a whiney boy with odd hair and an extremely deformed body, she was not in the mood to put up with more stubborn patients. She tapped his shoulder harshly. He rolled over onto the other side away from her.

He'd been like that ever since his arrival. According to the other patients admitted alongside him, he was usually loud and boisterous. She assumed the fight on top of that mountain had roughed him up and made him face the reality that being a demon slayer wasn't some game. But Tanjiro, the only pleasant demon slayer in their trio, had insisted that he was strong and able to fight demons - according to him, the boy was just wallowing in self-pity for losing a fight to a demon.

"Hey, you're body's weak right now. You need medicine to fix it," she edged on, getting ready to yell. The blond boy behind her watched nervously, his arms and legs shrunken to an absurd degree due to almost being spider-afied.

"Hey, pig-face, get up!" She snapped, harshly trying to pull him up. Reluctantly, he did sit up. She smiled tiredly, glad that she was one step closer to finishing. The demon nest that was Mount Natagumo had deffinetly been one of the worst she'd heard of. She reached for the bottom of the mask, yanking it up.

Underneath, to her surprise, lay an odd sight. A thin, pale, feminine face looked dully down at the duvet covering it's body. His eyes were wide, although clearly not as wide and bright as usual. His face was a mixture of two things, both extremely unsettling, and oddly attractive.

In short, Aoi Kanzaki wasn't sure what she had expected, but it certainly wasn't what she saw.

In her brief silence, standing taking in his face, she felt a warm, anxious feeling, like thousands of catipillars feasting upon her insides in a frenzy of unadulterated hunger.