"...itsu, Zenitsu!"

Someone was calling him? Zenitsu opened his eyes and saw the sky again.

"Zenitsu! Thank goodness are you alright?" Shoichi cried, there were tears in his eyes as he looked at him. Zenitsu sat up, his back hurt and he was sprouting a massive headache. His brain felt shooken up too.

"When the room spun around, we got thrown outside and we fell from the second story window" Shoichi said hesitantly, he looked concerned for some reason.

"Did we now?" Shoichi nodded. Zenitsu smiled at him, he was happy to see that Shoichi was okay.

"You were protecting me, so I'm fine, but..."

"I'm glad to hear that. So, why all the tears?" Zenitsu questioned. He went to scratch his head because it felt itchy but when he felt something wet he pulled his hand back and examined it.

His hand it was...

Red.

It-its blood!

"I GET IT NOW! I FELL RIGHT ON MY HEAD, DIDN'T I?"

"Yes" Shoichi replied tearfully.

"Am I gonna- am I gonna die?" Zenitsu's shouting didn't help as he became lightheaded "ahh, my head is starting to spin"

Out of the blue Zenitsu heard loud footsteps approaching them quickly from inside the house. He didn't hear the tsuzumi anymore, and he could faintly hear the sound of Tanjiros heartbeat, as well as three other humans.

"What's this? What's this? What's this?" Zenitsu freaked as it came closer.

"Comin through! Comin through!" Without any warning the doors flew open and that monster burst through from earlier.

"AHHH! THERE IT IS AGAIN! THE MONSTER BOAR!" Zenitsu wailed as he held Shoichi close and turned his back to the boar without realizing it, instinctively protecting him.

The beast just cackled as it looked around "I'm getting a demonic vibe"

Suddenly something clicked in Zenitsus head "Wait a second! It's that guy! I could tell by his voice, he's the fifth survivor of Final Selection! The first to rush up the mountain and back down. Mr. Impatient!"

"Ah, found it!"

Zenitsu followed the Alphas gaze and his heart jumped when he saw Tanjiro's box a few feet away. He was talking about the box? Why? Was he planning to do something to it, or the demon inside? Zenitsu could mull over it long as the guy rushed towards the wooden box and Zenitsu sprung into action. He couldn't let the guy mess with it! It was Tanjiros! And he said it was important to him!

"Stop!!" He yelled as he stopped in front of the box just in time to make the Alpha skid on the ground to stop himself from colliding with the blond. They guy stepped back looking down at him.

"Who the hell are you? Get out of the way!" The Alphas voice commanded his Omega. Every word wanted to make the Omega shrink back in fear but he refused to, this wasn't an Alpha that he had to listen to! Not if it would end up having Tanjiro hurt!

"I'm Zenitsu Agatsuma! I'm with the Demon Slayer Corps like you!"

"Demon Slayer Corps?" The boar leaned down a little, raising his twin jagged swords "Then I shouldn't have to tell you! We gotta get rid of that thing! Now get the hell out of my way!"

"I'm not moving!" Zenitsu yelled back at him. The voice clawed at him to listen to the command but he refused to give into it "This is Tanjiros-"

"Don't argue with me! If that's the case, I'm gonna demolish him and that box together!" He threatened. He swung his sword close to Zenitsu's face, but stopped over his shoulder, his figure was intimidating and Zenitsus body shook in fear and will to reject the commands.

"Why, you..."

"Inside this, inside this box is something I'm not letting you touch! Something that's precious to Tanjiro!"

"Hey, come on! What are you talking about? There's a demon inside that box! Don't you get that?"

"I've known from the very start! I knew he was traveling with a demon, because the sounds demons make aren't anything like human sounds. But I can pick up a sound to gentle and kind from Tanjiro, it makes me want to cry. So kind, I don't think I've heard something like it before"

"Tanjiro, despite being a Demon Slayer, is traveling with a demon. But I'm sure he has a reason for that, and that's a reason i can accept! I believe that! I-I'm going to ask Tanjiro directly myself, so, you can just back off!" The Omega yelled.

Zenitsu couldn't react fast enough to dodge when he was kicked harshly, and kicked to the side. The Alpha paid no mind to him as he prepared to kick the box. Zenitsu jumped at him and pulled him down, getting hit on the back as the boar shoved him away "Get off me dammit! Your so annoying!"

The male got up and faced the box again but as he made a step towards it, he lost balance and fell when Zenitsu grabbed his ankle, stopping him once more :You're not laying a finger on that box!"

The guy kicked him again leaving a bruise over his left eye as he tried to get Zenitsu to let go of him, but he didn't move.

Instead Zenitsu grabbed him with both hands and flung him away as far as he could, using the breathing technique he learned "That's something important to Tanjiro! You're not touching it until he comes back!" Zenitsu yelled as he pulled the box close to his chest to shield it.

"Damn you" The male growled as he shook his head, that's twice he's been thrown around like a doll today! He got up quickly and kicked Zenitsu again and again. Zenitsu felt blood dripping from his mouth and nose, when the Alpha ceased his assault for the time being, he heard the sound of a sword near his body and he flinched at it. He didn't need to see it to know how close.

"Move!" he demanded.

"I won't!" Zenitsu shouted as he ducked his face to try and protect it. The Alpha growled, he didn't understand why the punk didn't get up and fight, he could feel power emanating from his body but he refused to attack him! It was irritating.

"Take this! Move it! Draw your sword and fight me you spineless punk!" The boar kicked him a couple times before taking a fighting stance and waited for Zenitsu to make some sort of move. When Zenitsu heard the familiar tune in his ears sing again he looked up with hopeful eyes, and his heart leaped for joy when he finally saw Tanjiro after their forced split up.

"Tanjiro I protected it. Because you said this was more important than your own life Zenitsu said weakly, everything hurts right now The thing is..."

"After all that bluster, you still won't draw your sword dumbass?! If you're a fellow demon slayer then let's see you fight! If your not gonna fight get the hell outta my way!" The boar continued kicking him repeatedly

"If you don't move, I'll just have to skewer you along with that box!" He raised one of his swords and prepared to stab Zenitsu.

"KNOCK IT OFF!" Tanjiro yelled after his shock withered away. Zenitsu jumped at his words, he was shocked at his voice, full of anger "Knock it off!"

Tanjiro curled his hand into a fist and aimed straight for the Alpha as he sprinted forward with all the strength he could muster, taking in a controlled breath, his blow struck the boar. A cracking sound echoed and he was thrown back several feet.

"AHH! HE BROKE HIS BONES!" Zenitsu yelped as the sickening noise struck his ears. Zenitsu saw Tanjiro step in front of him and take a defiant stance, his stomach fluttered and turned at the sight, and he held the box closer as he eyed the Alpha on the ground. Zenitsu's Omega side couldn't help but swoon over the fact that an Alpha like Tanjiro was protecting him like this.

Tanjiro clenched his fist tighter in anger, he hasn't felt like his since he found Muzan in that city and threatened to kill him when they met again. Zenitsu had looked so beaten up and injured. It pained him to see the blond in so much agony because of him. He had protected Nezuko, and in turn got hurt for it because of his mistake of leaving her all alone. It was his fault that Zenitsu got hurt. He furrowed his brows as he glared at the other Alpha.

"Aren't you a member of the Demon Slayer Corps? Don't you get why Zenitsu refuses to draw his sword?"

"Its because its taboo for us to draw our swords on each other for no reason! But here you are, giving him a one sided beatdown! Is that fun for you?" Tanjiro trembled as he tried containing his rage, he loathed people that picked on the weaker and timid "You're the lowest of the low!" Tanjiro growled, venom laced in hostile words.

Zenitsu shrunk back at hearing Tanjiro like this. He couldn't imagine someone so kind hearted become so full of hate and hostility towards another. He guessed he was wrong about Tanjiro not being able to defend himself against others if he needed.

The boar chuckled on the ground in front of them "Oh, so that's why? My bad, in that case let's fight barehanded!"

"Wha-"

Tanjiro couldn't believe his ears.

"No! I don't think you understand at all! First-"

The Alpha got up quickly using the momentum in his legs to stand back up and rushed Tanjiro.

"Were not supposed to fight each other period!" He said desperately to make the other understand as the Alpha ran at him. He put up an arm to make him stop his charge but the boar ignored it as he continued, he backed away a bit.

"Fighting barehanded doesn't make it alright!"

Tanjiro instinctively went to grab his sword but discarded the idea. He couldn't use a weapon like that against the guy. He dogged a kick, and a few punches that flew his way.

"Listen to me!"

Tanjiro pleaded to get the other to stop attacking. Suddenly the Alpha grabbed his shoulders, and lifted himself off the ground spinning on him as he tried to force Tanjiro down with a type of head lock.

The boar let him go and threw him, almost enough to knock him off his feet, and he launched another kick to Tanjiros face, it was a close call too, Tanjiro could practically feel the Alphas sandals graze his chin.

Zenitsu looked at the two Alpha's fighting in disbelief as Shoichi ran over with tears, he asked him if he was alright and apologized for not trying to help out in some way.

"Look at him! How can he move like that? I mean he heard it clearly no doubt, Tanjiro busted up some of his ribs" Zenitsu said as Shoichi approached him.

Tanjiro dodged again as the Alpha shot towards him with great speed, he launched himself from the ground with just his bare hands, throwing a kick at his legs, he tripped him and swung another kick at Tanjiro's side sending him back a little.

Tanjiro tried retaliating by swinging his own kick at Inosuke, but the boar just leaned back dodging it, and came back up like it was nothing for him, in his surprise Tanjiro couldn't block the punch that made contact with him.

"Actually, isn't Tanjiro running afoul of the taboo himself?" Zenitsu questioned Shoichi as the boy took out a handkerchief from his pocket. He lightly cleaned Zenitsu cheeks that were stained with blood "He did break his bones after all"

The boar grabbed Tanjiro with that headlock he had been trying to do earlier and his time be successfully threw Tanjiro down, and his back hit the hard dirt. He didn't waste time though and got up hitting the Alpha's masked covered chin on his way up.

Next thing he knew the guy went down and tried tripping Tanjiro, swiping his feet to make him lose balance again. Tanjiro backed away and the other Alpha followed giving him, with no time to counter properly he head butted straight into Tanjiro, he was fast enough to block with his arms though, crossing them in a cross like shape.

Tanjiro gritted his teeth painfully he was definitely going to have bruises there later, and his ribs ached, demanding him to stop and rest, but adrenaline kept it to a minimum, bearable enough to continue fighting.

More kicks and punches were thrown each other's way, and Tanjiro struggled to keep up now, as he noticed something was off.

T-this guy, his attacks are bizarrely low! It's just like, just like, battling a four legged beast! This guy was really skilled he had to admit, he'd never seen a fighting style like this, he barely had time to react to each new attack. He dodged another kick and leaned down low too.

Target him low, even lower than him!

He braced his weight on his left arm and brought his right leg over to kick the boars side but was shocked when he missed. The guy did a split to dodge him!

He tried pushing himself back when he saw the Alpha's foot swing around from the back, but he couldn't move away as it smacked him face first into the ground. His nose felt like it was burning as it leaked out blood.

The flexibility of his joints, its superhuman! He felt the weight on his head lift and the guy did a few backflips to create some space between them.

"Pretty amazing, aren't I? Pretty amazing, aren't I!" He sung, flaunting his skills at Tanjiro.

Zenitsu scowled, "He said it twice! Singing his own praises..."

Zenitsu wiped the blood off his nose and mouth before pinching the bridge of his nose to stop the bleeding. He breathed through his mouth as he did this.

He was obviously trying to compete against Tanjiro, to see who would end up being the winner, at least that's what Zenitsu thought.

He huffed in fake amusement.

Typical Alphas.

"And look what else I can do!" He hollered again, he leaned back drastically as his spine bent unnaturally and he put his head under his legs, while doing this, he was laughing his heart away which Zenitsu can only assume was smugness at his special talent.

Could this guy get anymore insane!? Zenitsu screeched at the sight. No human could do that! Especially with broken ribs! Was he possessed?!

"Cut it out! Don't do stuff like that when you've got broken bones! It's gonna get worse!" Tanjiro scolded him.

"Worse?" The Alpha huffed at him in reply as he charged Tanjiro once more "Fine by me! Nothing can top the pleasure of this moment!"

He went for more punches and Tanjiro dodged.

"You need to think hard about the future!" Tanjiro yelled, he would continue hurting himself just for a fight? That made no sense! Surely the guy was hurting right? Tanjiro did his best to block the hits coming his way.

"Why should I care!" The Alpha shouted back, getting a kick straight to Tanjiro's gut. Tanjiro felt his breath knocked out of his lungs. He hit him right where his ribs were and he felt like keeling over.

"You need to..."

But determined to stop the guy, he forced himself to ignore the pain and to grab the Alpha by the shoulders, and lifted his head, preparing to headbutt him.

"Calm down!" Tanjiro yelled as he hit the other's forehead with great force. Tanjiro heard a scream and recognized it as Zenitsu's panicked voice.

"THAT SOUND! ARE YOUR SKULLS FRACTURED?!"

The boar stumbled back clumsily as he forced himself to steady his body. The boar mask couldn't hold itself in place as he looked own and it slipped over his head to the ground.

Zenitsu looked up in surprise when he saw the mask fall, and so did Tanjiro.

"HUH? A GIRL? WHAT? YOUR FACE!" Zenitsu looked at the Alpha with shock. No way!

"What the hell? You've got a problem with my face or something?" The wild boar asked, not paying any mind to the blond on the ground directing his eyes to Tanjiro's dark velvet ones.

"You're one creepy guy, you know that?" Zenitsu spoke as he looked over the Alpha, he's never seen such a thing before! He expected a mean looking Alpha, maybe even with some scars littering his face, not some weird pretty boy! "You have such a ripped body, but there's a girl's face sitting on top of it"

"Why the hell are you staring at my face like that?" The Alpha said demandingly, but Zenitsu could hear the insecurity in it. It didn't make the blond any less scared though when the Alpha glared at him.

"I-I'm not!" Zenitsu yelped as he ran to the kids, shivering as he hid behind Teruko "I'm not looking at your face!" He denied, hiding his face.

"We don't have a problem with it, your face is quite petite, fair skinned, and therefore attractive!" Tanjiro complimented.

"Your a corpse! Come at me!" The Alpha growled.

"Not happening! I'm not gonna attack you anymore!" Tanjiro said as he grounded himself.

"Try headbutting me one more time!"

"Nope, I'm done!"

"I said do it! come on!"

"Sit yourself down" Tanjiro said "Are you okay?"

"Hey, big forehead! Let me tell you my name, it's Inosuke Hashibira! And don't you forget it!" Tanjiro looked at him determinedly, he's never heard that type of name before.

"What characters do you use to spell that?" He asked, genuinely curious. Inosuke looked at him with shock.

"S-spell? I don't know how to read or write! That name is written on my loincloth-" he stopped as he pointed to himself and he stood there for a good few seconds.

"What's wrong?" Zenitsu murmured to no one in particular.

"He froze" Shoichi stated.

Everyone looked at Inosuke with confusion.

"What's the matter?" Tanjiro asked. Inosuke stood there for a moment before he leaned back and fell.

"Ahh! He collapsed! Is, is he dead?" Zenitsu looked passed Teruko's hair as he looks at Tanjiro, who looked slightly concerned for Inosuke. He was still breathing.

"He's not dead, it's probably a concussion, because I headbutted the hell out of him. It just took a while to catch up i guess" Tanjiro answered. Teruko walked up to him and Tanjiro saw she looked worried.

"Are you okay, Tanjiro?" She asked sweetly.

"Yeah" he nodded at her, her eyes brightened as she smiled at him.

"Amazing!" She praised as he lifted her hand "Can I touch your head?"

Tanjiro bent his knees a little to get down to her height, "Sure!"

Zenitsu sat there, gob smacked when he saw Tanjiro's head. That's scary, not a drop of blood from his forehead. How hard is it anyway? He shook, glad he was on Tanjiro's good side and not the other's. Well, the wild boars passed out at least. He'd be happy if it stayed that way.

"Tanjiro, your head is so hard!" Teruko laughed, as she knocked on his head a few times after poking it to test out how hard it was. Tanjiro chuckled as well "You think so?"

She nodded eagerly and smiled a big smile. Shoichi and Kiyoshi looked on with wonder. Tanjiro turned his attention back to Inosuke and walked towards him, kneeling beside him. He removes his black and forest green checkered kimono and folds it neatly on his leg before he lifts Inosuke's head with care and placed the clothing under his head.

Zenitsu tilted his head, that tune he had memorized by now had made its appearance during the middle of the Alpha's fight, but he didn't understand why it did so quickly. I mean, Tanjiro was basically seething at Inosuke in the beginning.

He felt dizzy with all this happening at once and placed a hand on his forehead. Today was so exhausting. He sighed heavily, stumbling slightly as he stood up, he must've lost a lot of blood. He tracked over to Tanjiro's side and sat down by him. Tanjiro was currently wiping the blood on Inosuke's forehead.

He stopped to look at Zenitsu.

Zenitsu had tried to disregard the sound he heard nearing the end of their fight. It was another sound of bone cracking when Inosuke hit his stomach and Zenitsu had remembered it was probably Tanjiro's ribs he mentioned weren't healed when they went into the house.

If he wasn't so cowardly he probably could have fought Inosuke instead of having Tanjiro injure himself more, just because he was too weak to do anything. He gripped the pants of his uniform under his hands.

"Here" Zenitsu said as he took off his kimono and laid it over Inosuke's form.

He would help Tanjiro with whatever it was he needed right now. It seams helping his crazy boar guy was first on the list.

Tanjiro smiled softly at him as his earrings jiggled as he moved "Thank you Zenitsu" he sounded thankful to normal people, but Zenitsu could hear sadness and disappointment behind them.

Zenitsu's eyes widened. What? For what? Did he do something make the Alpha upset? Or was it something else? He didn't get an answer as Tanjiro finished cleaning off as much as he could off the passed out boar before getting up. Zenitsu saw Shoichi approach them as he held two swords.

"He left this over there" Shoichi said as he placed them down next to Inosuke neatly. Tanjiro thanked him for picking them up.

Zenitsu felt a chill pass through him. Those swords were a nightmare of fiction! How the hell did those things not break or something, they looked so brittle and scary.

Those things had been so close to lopping off his own head.

Tanjiro looked at Zenitsu as he eyed the swords, fear and distress plagued him again. He placed a hand on Zenitsu back and rubbed soothingly again. Zenitsu just sat there, enjoying the safety his scent gave off. When he pulled away Zenitsu was disappointed at the loss.

"Come on Zenitsu, we have to go find the body's of the people who died and bury them" Zenitsu jumped as Tanjiro gestured to the mansion again.

"W-what you want me to go back into that hell maze again!?" Alright, Zenitsu admits he promised to help Tanjiro with whatever he needed help with but come on! Can't he just stay here! He nearly died multiple times today and he didn't want another near death experience anytime soon to add to his book!

"NO! NO! NO! YOU WANT ME TO GO IN THERE? WHAT IF WE GET SEPARATED AGAIN? THAT HOUSE IS CURSED I TELL YOU! CURSED!"

"Zenitsu..." Tanjiro groaned tiredly.

______

If you were wondering why I didn't put Tanjiro's POV throughout the story last chapter it's because it wouldn't be much different and honestly I would have been bored writing it, so I'm sure it would be just as boring to read. Thank you guys so much for the feedback and inspiration! it really means a lot and fuels me to continue writing so much, so thank you! <3<3<3