KNY | The Mechanics Of Love (Tanjirou X Zenitsu)

Chapter 20 | Messy Parenting

Zenitsu's POV

I sat on the edge of the apartment building and sniffled back a few tears. I was alone and it was night, I was so, so, sad right now. And hurt and betrayed, more than anything I thought that Kanao wouldn't have sold me out. But she did.

I heard the door coming up to the roof open, and the shuffling of steps coming towards the edge where I was sitting with my feet over the side of the building.

"You shouldn't sit there, you could fall, y'know" I heard Tanjirou say as he sat down next to me.

"You'd catch me" I mumbled.

"Yeah, I guess I would," he sighed. There was a moment of silence, "Are you ok Zenitsu?"

"No, I'm really upset about this," I told him, "She betrayed me"

"It comes with the territory" he said calmly, "Your friends start to get scared and figure it's better to stay away"

"Inosuke wasn't scared, he did what I asked which is rare even at the best of times, and this is not one of them" I sighed as I flopped down on my back with my legs still dangling.

"Ok, but consider this, your friends aren't the same. You need to think about how different they are" he reasoned.

"I guess, but we've always been close, she should know I would never do anything to her" I sighed as I looked up at the bare, dark sky.

"She knows the civilian Zenitsu would never hurt her, but you've changed so suddenly in such a short amount of time. You're a public enemy now, and I think she's gotten scared of you because you seem to be content with where you are right now. She doesn't really know you anymore and she's become scared of the person you are now" he explained.

"But I haven't changed," I grumbled.

"But she doesn't really know that," he said.

I sighed, "I guess that's fair, but it still hurts"

I felt him settle his hand down on mine and intertwine our fingers together, I felt somehow calmed by his presence. I sighed and squeezed his hand, and then I felt a smile creep onto my face as he squeezed my hand back.

"Everything's going to be fine," he mumbled reassuringly.

"I've already been declared a public enemy, how am I going to ever get back to normal?" I asked, "I'll probably be sent to jail and then what'll happen to you?"

"I never planned to resurface here actually, I planned to find Nezuko and then reveal myself around that area" he said.

"They'd wonder what happened to you?" I said in a questioning tone.

"Yeah I guess, but I wouldn't have to turn myself in. I could just get a job somewhere and ease myself back into society" he said, "And if people start asking questions then I can just say that when I ran away some old granny found me in the woods and took me in and I only left to return to the city because she had died. I don't know something like that"

"That sounds like a pretty solid backstory," I nodded.

"You could come with me," he proposed.

"Everyone already knows what I look like, my face has been all over the news" I said as I shook my head.

"You can dye your hair and have some sort of immunodeficiency disorder that requires you wear a mask whenever you leave the house, I know someone, I can have those papers forged in 2 days" he shrugged, though he was serious.

"But what about my family?" I asked.

"Any family member that really cares about you will keep their mouths shut," he said.