Pinky Promise {InoTan}

1

Hello there! Due to a lack of motivation for my Sanegiyuu story, I'm starting this one too ^^

TW: very minor swearing throughout the entire story, mentions of death

This story starts right after Inosuke and Kanao defeat Douma. Any canon events before this are kept the same, unless specified otherwise
One last note, the Shinobu hate was alright at first, but I'm a little over it, so please refrain from putting any hate for her in my comment section.
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Inosuke's chest hurt. A pain colder than ice, yet it burned like someone had placed a red-hot iron on his bare skin. And no, it wasn't anything to do with his heart or emotions, but the deep twin slashes that cut into his chest, and the scattered gashes in his arms. At least, he wouldn't admit it. He wasn't going to acknowledge the tears streaming down his face, or the quiet sobs that made his body tremble.

The fight wasn't over yet, he knew that. Kanao was somewhere behind him, gathering up the broken butterfly hairpins of her sisters. She was crying too, shedding tears she was previously incapable of.

They would have to get moving soon, though, and assist the other demonslayers in battle. Other swordsmen, the hashira, their friends, were slaving away against the remaining uppermoons. These children didn't have the luxury of stopping to catch their breath. They could breathe when the air was clear, when it wasn't tainted by the metallic sting of blood, haunted by the promise of death, or clouded by the overwhelming presence of demons.

Steeling his resolve once more, Inosuke grit his teeth and shakily rose to his feet. Not bothering to wipe his tears, as he'd only succeed in smearing blood across his face, he started looking around for his mask. That bastard took my fur.. where'd it fall? I need to find it.

"Inosuke.. here." Kanao, knee deep in the water of Douma's room, held up the boar hide in her free hand. In the other, she clutched both hairpins and her katana tightly.

Calming his irregular breathing, Inosuke reached out and took the pelt back, letting it dangle at his side. "Good work!" His voice cracked. "Now let's get out of here and find the others!"

He hadn't felt this feeling before. It was heavy and suffocating, the loss of someone close to him. Inosuke had just lost a mother figure, and realized the mother he never knew existed was lost before he got to know her. But with it came a blazing rage that made him feel all fired up and powerful.

"Wait.. we should patch ourselves up first," Kanao reasoned. "So we don't get weaker from our injuries."

Inosuke huffed, but knew that he shouldn't ignore the wounds hindering him. "Fine!"

She proceeded to hand him a couple cloths for makeshift bandages, showing him how to properly wrap the cuts and tie the fabric off. She was even kind enough to help him get them around the bigger ones on his chest, a process which he only managed to slow down with all his squirming.  When they were finally each done and self-diagnosed ready to go, the two young slayers set off.

She knew this was a suicide mission, Kanao thought, walking over to put an arm around Inosuke and support him as they made their way out of the upper rank's room. She died for a reason. But why? Shinobu-san, why couldn't we have just been normal sisters, and lived happily? She didn't bother stifling her cries, she'd been silent with her pain for too long.

Inosuke rejected Kanao's assistance, which took the form of refusing to put all his weight on her, and pushing himself to help keep her on her feet, too. "You're gonna need to stop crying before we start fighting again," he stated firmly. "Or you won't be able to see the enemy's attacks." Kanao glanced up at him. He looked like he was confused, trying to concentrate and figure something out. After a moment he continued, his voice uncertain. "Shinobu would get mad at us if we died, so we're not going to disappoint her!" He finished with a confident shout, taking off down the maze of corridors at a slightly quicker pace. "We're going to make the demon boss pay for looking down on us!!"

That's right. We'll make him suffer and die like the annoying rat he is.

He remembered Shinobu-san's name! Kanao marveled at the fact, easing into a jog to keep up with Inosuke. Her body still ached, but it was bearable.

Gonpachiro is okay, right? Where's a damned crow when you need one?? Looking around wildly, Inosuke tried to pinpoint where the others might be fighting. Growling frustratedly, he stuffed the boar hide back over his head, shaking it a few times to get comfortable in the mask. This place is like a thick forest- but worse! It's bad enough that it's hard to sense things from too far away in here, but it's so DAMN BIG!! It has to go on forever!

Latticework and paper-thin walls repeated endlessly around them, the structures occasionally creaking or shifting slightly with some unidentified force. The infinity castle's labyrinth stretched far beyond what the human eye could comprehend, it's near-constantly changing innards making it a nightmare to try and navigate. Oftentimes, the more lost you were, the closer you were to where you wanted to go. Naturally, this wasn't of any help to the hapless demonslayers trying to weave their way through the corridors. To them, it was as previously mentioned: a fucking nightmare. The only guiding light they had were the kasugai crows barreling through the stale air on black-feathered wings, many bearing papers with demonic properties. The corvids had the job of keeping track of the sunrise countdown, leading slayers to their next destination, and announcing who was still alive. That said, they also bore news of death.

Crows have always been seen as birds of death, a clear cut sign that someone or something met their grisly end nearby. This made them a fitting bird to seek out demons, which brought death, and to lead demon hunters to them so the oni could know the meaning of pain.

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A feathered bullet tore through the air around it, angling it's wings just right so that it was met with little to no resistance. High IQ or not, the bird couldn't fully comprehend the scale of what was happening. It's kind had mainly been bearers or good news so far; other than the insect pillar- who was doomed to death from the start- no hashira had been killed, and three uppermoons had already been disposed of. (Douma, Kaigaku, and Akaza)

Letting out a harsh caw, it made a tight turn into another hallway. It was currently heading for Inosuke Hashibira and Kanao Tsuyuri, two of the younger corps members.

Troublesome kids.. troublesome beyond belief, but good fighters.

The crow had expected to find two beaten down slayers with minor injuries, sure, and with that assumption it was spot on. It did not expect, however, to happen to fly right into Inosuke's masked face.

"HEH?? Get out of my face, food-with-wings!!" Inosuke shouted, batting the bird away.

"Not food! No eating!" Messily flapping its wings to right itself, the corvid flew in tight circles above his head.

"Is Tontaro alright?"

"It's Tanjiro.." Kanao corrected him.

"Kanjiro."

"Close."

"Soichiro."

"Nevermind."

"Tanjiro Kamado and Giyuu Tomioka defeated Uppermoon Three and made it out with non-life-threatening injuries!" The bird crowed.

"Thank goodness," Kanao breathed, glad her friend and the hashira were okay.

Inosuke snorted. "That demon is weaker than the one we killed, so of course underling one and half-and-half haori guy are okay!!" As he was busy sparkling proudly, Kanao asked the crow to take them to where they could be useful. With a slight hesitation, as if receiving orders, the bird agreed to bring them to rendezvous with a few other slayers.

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I like sharks :3
I want to boop a shark
The bigger the water puppy the better