Pinky Promise {InoTan} (hiatus)

5

Timeskip until after the dkt (Demon King Tanjiro) crisis. This was also the exact same as in the manga. Now I can start to get creative.
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Exhausted and emotionally drained from the two battles, no one wanted to do anything but take a long and well deserved rest. Tanjiro must have had the same idea, as he slipped into a coma soon after he turned back into a human. After the journey back to the Butterfly Mansion- during which Inosuke demanded to be near his sleeping friend the entire time- Aoi was able to assure them that Tanjiro would be completely fine with the aid of some treatment. Zenitsu crawled into a hospital bed as soon as the opportunity arose, and his injuries were all properly tended to. Nezuko was happy to be roomed near her brother, worried, but overjoyed that all of their lives were on a better track now that Muzan was dead.

While the rest of his friends were complying easily with the doctors' orders, Inosuke refused to let them tell him what to do.

Being the goblin he was, despite being battered and bruised and completely spent of strength, Inosuke summoned the energy to slip out of bed and make his way into the hall. Glancing both ways before proceeding, he huffed quietly and set off to Tanjiro's room. He hadn't seen him in a few hours; maybe the doctors had left?

There were still medics running up and down the corridors, bandages and medicinal supplies bundled in their arms. I guess a lot of people got hurt, Inosuke thought. He recalled the piles of dead corps members scattered across the city streets and frowned, something like sadness descending down over his mind. None of the doctors seemed to notice him, so he continued down the corridor.

Bringing a hand to his chest, Inosuke ran it gingerly over the most painful spots. Of course, they'd given him pain medication and wrapped and stitched up the lacerations, but they still ached whenever he so much as took a breath. It didn't help that he'd also probably broken a few ribs. Ouch.. damn that spider-rat. He hit Tangoro pretty badly, too. What was up with his face? It was like there was a huge bug on it.. Inosuke let out an explosive exhale.

A kakushi ran past the young slayer, accidentally bumping into him and rushing away with a quietly uttered apology. She looked like she was in a hurry. He at least had the sense to only snort in annoyance and continue on.

When he reached the door to Tanjiro's room, Inosuke was disappointed to find that there were still a few people in there. He could hear their voices quietly trickling through the thin walls. Backing away, he hid- albeit quite badly- behind a potted plant. A few minutes later, a couple doctors came out of the room, speaking with each other in hushed, concerned tones. They were turned away from Inosuke as they left, so they didn't notice him. He got up, sneaking over to the doorway and poking his head around the corner.

Aoi was just on her way to check on the scarred boy when she saw Inosuke peering into the room. "Hey!" She quickened her pace slightly to stand in the threshold and block the entrance. "What're you doing out of your room??" Placing her hands on her hips, Aoi frowned. She understood him wanting to make sure his friend was fine, but having received some pretty bad wounds himself, he should be in bed, resting. "Tanjiro's doing fine, you don't have to worry about him."

"Why's he still sleeping, then?"

Aoi thought about that for a second, thinking of a way to explain it so that Inosuke would understand. "People heal faster when they're asleep. Speaking of which, you'll never get any better if you're running around and getting into trouble." She raised a finger to point back in the direction of Inosuke's room. "Go rest," instructed Aoi sternly.

Inosuke huffed. He took a step back, making it look like he was going to leave, but quickly turned and shot past the butterfly girl into the room. He ran to the wall opposite the door, ducking behind Tanjiro's bed and remaining crouched there between the bed and the wall.

Letting an exasperated sigh escape her, Aoi met the stubborn boy's gaze. Seeing that he wasn't going to give up without a fight, she simply shook her head slowly. "You have until I get back from the laundry room. Then, you have to leave."

"Deal!" Inosuke released his death grip on the sheets, standing up.

Aoi left with a nod. "Stubborn boar," she muttered.

Glowing in light of his small victory, Inosuke turned his attention to the reason he bothered coming down in the first place; Tanjiro. The boy looked peaceful now, even with the bandages wrapped around his injuries and the IV stuck in his arm. The needle earned itself a frown just for being there. Inosuke didn't touch it, though, he knew better than to mess with it- it looked important.

Climbing onto the mattress, Inosuke sat cross legged on the foot of the bed. If he'd had his mask on, no one would have been able to see the upset expression on his face. Alas, the boar hide was covered in blood after the battle, and needed to be cleaned. Slowly, Inosuke drew his knees up to his chest and hugged them tightly to himself. He rested his chin on his knees. Brow furrowing, Inosuke removed his gaze from his friend, looking instead out the window at the bare cherry trees outside. The spindly branches would begin to flower in a few months, light pink blossoms that every year were around for no more than a week, but were always a pretty sight. They would float down from up there, covering the ground in a blanket of soft round petals.

Tanjiro had told Inosuke once that the beginning of April was one of his favorite times of the year. Coincidentally, that was when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. A tiny smile worked its way onto Inosuke's face. He hoped Tanjiro would be awake by then, so he could enjoy the week of tiny pink flowers. Personally, Inosuke didn't see the appeal, but he could tolerate the little things if they made Tanjiro happy.

He hesitated, frown returning. Why did he care about Tanjiro's feelings and not so much Zenitsu's? He mulled that over for a good minute or so before giving up and shifting to lay horizontally across the bed on his back. There wasn't a ton of room this way, but his injuries were starting to hurt again and he didn't particularly care if he had space to lay down or not.

I'm hungry..

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SPOOKY SEASON!! Please- I'm so excited T^T and for basically no reason, too