Pinky Promise {InoTan}

7

Tanjiro had found himself in a peculiar situation. He knew he was asleep, floating lucidly from dream to dream to the occasional nightmare, but he couldn't wake up. His eyes felt heavy, like they were glued shut. So he waited, and waited, for his body to wake on its own. Even unconscious, he could tell when and who came near him. A cold, worried, tired smell followed what he guessed were doctors of some sort. Aoi carried a heavy, sad scent with her. Inosuke- it always made Tanjiro happy when Inosuke's chaotic muddle of scents slipped into his room, bringing a different side smell each time. Most notably was the dead mouse, and the citrusy orange. The rodent incident had brought along an angry reaction from Aoi, who had, Tanjiro assumed, scolded Inosuke (who definitely didn't listen), taken the mouse, and thrown it out. Inosuke pouted for a while after that.

Tanjiro hadn't caught a whiff of Zenitsu yet, so he thought the older boy had to stay in bed for something. Whatever it was, he hoped he hadn't caused it. That would just kill him inside to know. Inosuke was hurting too; he could tell by the occasional stab of pain that invaded his scent. He wanted to hug both of them, bring his friends close and apologize for losing himself in the battle. But he couldn't, not when he was like this. 

At the moment, Tanjiro was getting over a strange nightmare, not as scary as it was confusing and foreshadowing. It helped to know that Inosuke was just an arm's length away, making the end of the mattress dip down with the added weight. Dreaming of one's own death has a way of unnerving one into needing some sort of comfort, even if just by a presence. The tiny weight of one of the tangerines resting on his stomach helped, too, though a hug would fare better.

The weight on the bed shifted. Tanjiro collected his scattered, foggy thoughts best he could, and managed to wonder whether Inosuke was leaving. The boy's scent moved also, though not by much. A new scent, Aoi's, as well as another doctor's, entered the room. With an unrecognizable prick of emotion, somewhat similar to pride or surprise, Tanjiro noticed that Inosuke became defensive when the other two came in. The next spanse of time was confusing, as the emotions got mixed and he could only catch the stronger flashes of protectiveness, anger, more anger, and then Inosuke's scent receded.

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Inosuke sat up as Aoi and a doctor walked in. He frowned, tilting his head to the side in question.

"Come on, off the bed," Aoi ordered, gesturing for him to move. "The doctor needs to do a general checkup."

"What does that mean?"

"Check his heartbeat, blood pressure, et cetera."

Despite her description containing nothing of concern, Inosuke didn't miss the tiny nudge she gave the physician, or the needle he hastily hid behind his back. A sharp jolt ran down Inosuke's spine, and he gripped the sheets again defiantly. He didn't want to let the stranger stick a needle into Tanjiro. As far as he was concerned, that would hurt him.

Aoi shot him a glare. "Seriously?"

"Better believe it!"

"Aren't masks against the hospital policy..?" The doctor whispered to Aoi, who gave him an exasperated look.

"This one is an exception," she explained tartly, waving a hand to encompass Inosuke, who was still watching the offending doctor behind the fibers of his boar hide.

"Ah.." the doctor stepped forward, keeping a wary eye on the strange boy as he prepared the needle and syringe. That was his first mistake. His second was attempting to approach and insert the needle while Inosuke was within five feet of him. Inosuke threw out a hand to block the path of the tool, nearly getting pricked in the process. The doctor chuckled. "Move your hand, please," he smiled, gently pushing his palm to the side. Inosuke slapped his hands away, causing the needle to clatter to the floor.

"Inosuke Hashibira!" Aoi exclaimed, pointing stiffly to the corner of the room. "Go sit over there if you're so intent on watching over Tanjiro like a hawk, but if you break one more thing I'll take away your visiting privileges."

"You can't do that," Inosuke huffed, keeping his arm between the stunned doctor and Tanjiro.

"Watch me, see if I care when you pout about it," said Aoi, crossing her arms.

"I'm not trying to hurt him, if that's what's stressing you out," the doctor told Inosuke. "This shot will help him get better quicker, and keep him healthy while he's asleep!"

Inosuke had to think hard about that one. In the end, he got up grumpily and stalked over to the corner Aoi had pointed to. Leaning his back against the wall, he huffed angrily and glared daggers at the doctor while he went on with the vaccine and a few other tests. He bristled when the doctor had to move the tangerine so he could pull back the blankets, and paid close attention when he checked Tanjiro's emanciated* arm.

*emanciated: frail or feeble, often from lack of nutrition or an illness

When the doctor was finally finished, Aoi nodded to Inosuke, as if she knew he was rearing to get back to doing nothing but keeping Tanjiro company. Grinning, he took a leap onto the mattress, cannonballing into the blankets and nearly giving Aoi a heart attack. "Careful!" She chastised firmly. Inosuke didn't hear her, or course, as he was too busy inspecting the area on Tanjiro's arm the doctor had injected the vaccine into. He poked the spot, not roughly, narrowing his eyes at the slight swelling that was appearing. Questioningly, he turned his head to Aoi. "Perfectly normal," she said, following the doctor out of the room.

Left once more in the near silence of the hospital room, Inosuke kept his eyes on the doorway for a moment longer before looking back at his friend. His gaze drifted down to Tanjiro's relaxed hand. He'd heard from Zenitsu, who'd heard from Murata, that when they had tried to take away Tanjiro's sword on the battlefield, he'd been gripping the handle so tightly that they couldn't free it from his grasp. At the time, the sun breath user had been unconscious and barely living, so it was even more impressive.

Wordlessly, Inosuke slipped his hand into Tanjiro's.

It felt strange- he'd never held anyone's hand before. But the longer he stayed that way, the more he found he actually liked it. It was another way of being close to Tanjiro, therefore; it was safe. He gave his hand a tiny squeeze.

Inosuke stared at their interlocked hands for a minute, trying to mentally work out whether this was something he should be doing. After a little bit, he snatched his hand away and brought his knees up to his chest. Even later, he slipped off the bed and left, taking his blanket with him.

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Hi :)
I hope you're all doing okay
If not, throw whatever's troubling you out the window