There's Nothing Left

CHAPTER I - Difference

-━°⌜ 赤い糸 ⌟°━-

THIRD PERSON POV

Snow elegantly fell from the gloomy sky, dancing around gracefully as snowflakes started to form.. Zenitsu looked up with a blank expression, his eyes didn't shine, shimmer or glow at the beautiful sight. It's as if he found it boring, this was unusual behavior from him.

Suddenly, something disturbs this peaceful silence for him. "Zenitsu?" A voice calls out from behind, startling him completely. He turns around swiftly.. and finds his best friend, Tanjiro, to be face-to-face with him.

"Ah.. hey Tanjiro." Zenitsu says, calming down and staring at him with an unreadable expression, which makes Tanjiro feel a little unsettled, usually, Zenitsu would probably be on the floor right now screaming and crying because Tanjiro must've startled him. He assumed that Zenitsu must be in a bad mood, but if he is he manages to try and distance himself from others. The only thing that was different about his behavior was his personality, and that made a huge change of his demeanor altogether.

This made Tanjiro quite puzzled, but he decides to go with the safest option, and ask Zenitsu if something was wrong;

"You alright? You're kinda acting different." Tanjiro says quietly, crossing his arms and raising a brow. There's a slight pause for a moment, before Zenitsu replies in a soft manner, pretty much shocking Tanjiro. "I'm alright, why?"

His responses seem to be more.. soft, and short, as if he isn't much interested in getting the conversation going. Zenitsu's usual responses were more.. long, loud (Well, not as loud as Inosuke of course.)

The thought of this made Tanjiro even more unsettled, it's as if he was talking to a whole different person, he grabs Zenitsu by his wrists, careful not to touch his hands.. but even his wrists, they were abnormally cold. Something was definitely off, "I'm asking again.." Tanjiro pauses, taking a deep breath. "Are you alright? Maybe we should head inside.. you're shivering." He adds, putting his palm up to Zenitsu's forehead to check his temperature, but Zenitsu stops him midway through his motions, grabbing his wrist. "I'm fine.." He mutters, looking a little irritated.

It was still hard as hell to make out what he was actually feeling tho, it's as if.. it was more than just a bad mood.

A single drop of sweat ran down Tanjiro's face, feeling uneasy, he grabs Zenitsu again and starts to drag him, running to the main plaza of the area. Zenitsu attempts to stop him, but it's clear that Tanjiro wasn't planning on doing that anytime soon.

He seemed concerned, really concerned.

-━°⌜ 赤い糸 ⌟°━-

ZENITSU'S POV
A/N, I suck at 1st person pov's so I'm sorry if this sucks- (This is also my first book so feel free to leave any complaints 😭)

Why is he so worried..? There's nothing wrong, why is he wasting his time on me anyways?.. I don't deserve to be treated in such a.. good way?..

I look around as he drags me along with him, he was fairly right. I was cold, I was shivering. But it wasn't that big of a deal, I could've just freezed and it would've been no problem. There's no reason to be so concerned over something as useless as me. (IM SORRY THIS IS SO DRAMATIC SJWOWKSK-)

A few moments have passed, and we've finally arrived to the destination of where he was taking me, I look up at the building. It was none other than the Butterfly Estate, I wasn't surprised that he took me here.

He knocked on the door, not taking a moment to look at me. He just seemed that type of worried that he needed to get whatever he was doing as quick as possible, and I found it to be quite pointless. Besides, he was shivering too. I wasn't the only one cold, so why is it such a big deal when it comes to me?

My thoughts had been suddenly interrupted by the door slamming open.. "What is it!? It's so early in the morning!" A feminine voice speaks up quite loudly, I look up from the ground to see Aoi, Aoi Kanzaki. "Could you call Ms. Kocho..? I need her to check something.." I hear him say in a worried tone, why is he calling her over? There's nothing wrong.. even if something was off, shouldn't he inform me..? It couldn't possibly be about me either, I notice Aoi staring at me with a weird expression, as if she was noticing something off aswell. I personally didn't like this amount of attention being given, yet there is practically nothing I can do to stop it.. I just don't get what's so different..?

What is going on?

-━°⌜ 赤い糸 ⌟°━-

TANJIRO'S POV

I wait patiently for Aoi to get Shinobu over, she also seems to notice that something is different about Zenitsu. I'm concerned.. his usual behavior isn't like this, if I told Inosuke he'd freak even if this is just one interaction, but I have a feeling it's something different.. something more than a bad mood, I could just be overreacting, maybe Zenitsu is just tired..?

I sigh, and finally look back at Zenitsu. "Are you sure you're feeling okay?" I ask, there's definitely something off and I can sense it. He just stares at me for a moment, before speaking. "I'm sure.. could you please stop asking?" I was about to respond with something, before he interrupts. "I'm sorry for asking.. but why are you so concerned?.. What's going on..?" He asks, I stare at him with a guilty expression, maybe I'm just overreacting and putting him through concern aswell, I don't want to hurt his feelings if I tell him why, I know Zenitsu can be sensitive when it comes to terms of this.

I think for a moment, before speaking up. "You're just.. acting different.." I pause, his expression is still just blank, no movement to it at all. It's a bit creepy, honestly. I've dealt with people like this many times before, for example, Giyuu. But when it comes to someone like Zenitsu, a sudden personality change aswell as a demeanor just doesn't sit right with me, I know how to deal with Zenitsu when he's sad, or upset.. but this is just, different.

My train of thoughts come to an end as Shinobu comes to the door, she does look quite tired, I feel guilty for waking her up just for this. She looks over at Zenitsu, then at me. "May I help you?" She asks tiredly, smiling. I sigh, "Could we come in? It's a bit hard to explain." I give a fake, light chuckle and she nods.

Me and Zenitsu both take off our shoes before stepping inside the manor, she leads us inside an empty room and takes out two futons for us to sit on. I thank her, and sit down on one.

I look over to Zenitsu, and a single drop of sweat runs down my face, yet again. I don't know whether it'd be rude or not to talk about this topic infront of him, Shinobu notices that something is wrong, and asks Zenitsu if he can step out for privacy, to which he agrees.. and quite quickly aswell, he'd usually complain over it and argue before doing so, but he followed the command without any argument whatsoever.

"...He's acting very.. different."

-━°⌜ 赤い糸 ⌟°━-

HI!!! This is my first ever book (as long as first ever chapter I've written) so I'm sorry if there are any mistakes (as long with behavior, I forgot on how Tanjiro addresses Shinobu so I just made him say "Ms. Kocho"- please correct me on if I'm wrong or anything 😭)

Anyways, sorry that this wasn't quite juicy or just honestly interesting. First chapter, so it's gonna be a bit of a harsh impression! :')

Word Count - 1314