~BRAVE~ (Tanjiro X Reader)

Short series (1/3)

My feet skipped through the hallways of the wisteria household. Just last night, Inosuke was being stupid and decided to eat something that wasn't really meant for eating.

An unknown mushroom.

He seemed okay for a couple of hours but that never stopped Tanjiro from his constant scolding. Honestly, he's like the dad of the whole group. But he has his childish moments too.

Inosuke turned purple only after two hours of consumption. He said that he felt fine and that there was no need to worry. But there clearly was something to worry about.

After we decided to turn to a wisteria house, Inosuke would constantly bicker with the three of us. Yelling at us to usher on with going back to headquarters. He convinced the other two boys but Nezuko and I wouldn't have it.

"I'm not going to let my now PURPLE friend go into headquarters without knowing the side effects of the thing you just ate. What if it's poisonous!" I countered at them. Tanjiro and Zenitsu locked their gazes to the ground in contemplation.

Even Inosuke couldn't disagree with my argument. He sighed to himself before grumbling and making his way towards the wisteria house.

Tanjiro smiled and bumped my shoulder with his. He was proud that I was able to convince the heart-driven boy.

Finally, after a good night's rest, I was on my way to check up on the boar-head. As I walked down the hall, a baby's cries interrupted my train of thought.

Did the owners of the house have a baby? My curiosity about it grew as I got closer to the boy's room. 'oh no. oh no. oh no.' I screamed in my head. My assumptions we're already evident but I just had to make sure. Before I knew it, I started running to my friend's room and I slammed the door open.

"Uhh. (Y/n)?" Tanjiro's back was turned. But he amazingly knew it was me. Ahhh. It's my smell, isn't it?

The smallest little head peeked out from Tanjiro's shoulder. He's sharp green eyes looked me up and down before his chubby hands ushered me to hold him.

Inosuke had turned into a baby.

Tanjiro turned around fully, revealing the smallest Inosuke I had ever seen. My eyes sparkled at the sight. When was the last time I've even seen a baby?

Inosuke's hands reached out towards me. His eyes began to water when he knew that I wouldn't want to hold him right away.

His hair wasn't as long as it was. He had short black hair and somehow he still had the lighter ends. He was one of the cutest babies I had ever seen.

"UWWAAAAA!!" I squeaked while I stole him away from Tanjiro. I was a little hesitant at first. The sight I saw with Tanjiro holding a baby made my heart melt.

I began crying before Inosuke had. The two boys in the room observed the seen with confusion written on their faces.

What's with that reaction?

I held Inosuke with one arm while I poked at his cheeks with my hand. Happy tears running down my face. He looked me up and down and touched my own cheek. Babbling nonsense, like he was telling me to stop crying. That only made me cry harder.

He only had a diaper on and he was just as shirtless as always but he had that baby tub. It was all the better.

"Does he know what happened? I mean, he isn't purple anymore right?" I smiled at the two boys behind me. Zenitsu looked at me like I was crazy but Tanjiro's eyes held a much more softness to them. He must've felt the same way I did.

But it was a weird situation.

"Zenitsu, why don't you go back and try to find that mushroom to see what it was?" I told him. "I mean I wouldn't mind if you ate it too." I mumbled that too myself only to laugh shortly after. I'm sure he heard it though.

"Yeah sure, I would but I don't know what it looked like at all. He ate it before I could get a look. He thought I would steal it from him." Zenitsu facepalmed but Nezuko reaches over from her spot on Tanjiro's back to give him a cute pat on the head for comfort. She had opened her box just to pat him. How cute!

"You could at least try?" Tanjiro recommended. "I would come help you, but I think Inosuke would be trouble for (Y/n). Considering how much of a handful he already is."

Inosuke's chubby baby hands kept poking at my face while I made an unimaginable amount of cooing noises. I couldn't tell whether it was him saying I wasn't capable of taking care of a child by myself. Because he was far fetched. Or if he was making an excuse to stay with me

Did his heart clench a bit too? Like mine did for him.

"He's probably hungry knowing him. Let's go get him some peas or something. Nothing too hard. Well...Maybe? He was raised in the forest right? How did he even survive out there as an infant?" I questioned.

Zenitsu quickly ran off into the kitchen to make some soft peas. Luckily, the owners of the house had plenty from their garden. I placed Inosuke down on the floor and all he could do was stare at Tanjiro blankly. It was kind of scary. He wouldn't even blink.

His hands finally started to guide him on the floor while his knees followed. He wasn't quite old enough to walk but he sure crawled fast. He started to tug at Tanjiro's Haori and talked in his mad baby nonsense.

Even though he was a child, I could definitely see the anger in his crazy sharp eyes. He must have been angry that he looked like that.

"Where's his mask? Did it shrink too?" I started looking around the room for the familiar boar face.

"It's right here." Tanjiro walked on the opposite side of his bed and grabbed it. Unfortunately, it wasn't as small as it's owner.

"We should probably put it somewhere. Let's hang it so that it doesn't get stepped on." I suggested.

"We'll bring it with us to the local library." Tanjiro said. He held up the mask as he admired it. Where did Inosuke get this from anyway?

"The library? Why the library?" I asked. Inosuke started to play with his fingers. Like it was the first time he discovered them.

Tanjiro laid the mask down in his lap as he sat down on the bed. He gave me one of his signature closed eye smiles and I just had to look away. He was too bright. "We have to research that mushroom don't we? We know the side effects so that's what we should look for. Headquarters doesn't need us right away...right? If they did, they would send Tennouji for us."
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Original release date: August 10 2020.

Short series will be updated each Tuesday for two more weeks.