(time skip to monday cuz I can do that)

Tanjiros POV

I sneakily crept out of the house and started walking down the cracked sidewalk. I messed with my hair, it felt kinda weird since I had styled it to cover my eye. The streets were dark and the air was moist, 'It'll rain today' I thought.

(Author-chan really be obsessed with the rain tho😅🤣)

My body ached from all the bruising, shivers went down my spine as I thought of yesterday, the things Berry said.. It doesnt normally hurt. But this time it did. My arm right was what hurt the most, I had drenched it in cold water but it was still crazy sore, I landed on it when I fell down the stairs. It was a bit swollen and a giant purple splotch covered some of my elbow and my upper arm, I sighed. 'Maybe today will be better...'

I walked up to Zenitsu, Murata and Inoske, "Good day, my good sir!" Murata greeted me, "Heh, good morning" I responded "What's up?" I noticed Zenitsu avoiding eye contact, 'I wonder what's wrong this time' I ignored it and kept talking with them until the bell rang. Although I tried to ignore it, it still bothered me.

I sat next to an easel in art class, I just sat there while Miss Mitsuri explained what we were doing, she said we were to pick one colour and paint whatever it is we want, and we can inly use that one colour along with black and white for the whole painting, we can use other shades of the colour though. I decided to use yellow because it reminded me of Zenitsu, the way he can be so calm yet so sad at the same time. I looked at the empty canvas, trying to think of something. I wasn't always the most creative person, for obvious reasons. So I took the paintbrush in my hand and started to paint, at first I had no fucking idea what the hell I was doing. But after a bit of messing around I started to get an idea of what I wanted to do. I had never really painted anything, but in that moment I felt calm and quiet, being able to create something that was truly my own, it felt fantastic. Playing with all the different shades to make one painting felt like magic, I used a couple different brushes to mess with the shading and texture. I was about halfway done when the bell rang, I felt a little disappointed to have to put down the paintbrush but I did. "Oh wow Tanjiro this looks great!" Miss Mitsuri came over and complemented my painting, "You think so?" I felt a little insecure about other people looking at something I had made "Of course! I think it looks great! You'll definitely be getting an A in this class if you keep it up!" she cheered me on, which felt weird. People dont usually cheer me on like this, "Thank you, that's really nice of you" I said timidly. She nodded and walked off, I wrote my name on the back of the canvas and rinsed off the paintbrushes. I stood next to the sink, ruffling the bristles of the paintbrushes, I heard the door creek open then closed. I turned and looked over my shoulder, it was Kanao. "Hello Tanjiro", she said lowly "Hi Kanao," I said, still turned away from her. "We haven't talked much since our date" she started "Yeah, I've just been a bit busy lately" I was half ignoring her half listening. "Well I was thinking maybe we could go on a second date?" she asked, I really didn't want to say yes, but this is a pretty good cover up. "I guess, I dont know when I'll be available though" I said as I continued to scrub the paint off my hands, she started creeping up behind me. "How 'bout now?" she said "Wait what?" I turned to her and she suddenly came up to me and pushed our lips together. 'WHAT THE FUCK!?' my mind was racing, 'HOLY SHIT WHAT DO I DO!?' I tried to subtly push her off, but she wouldnt budge, and I couldn't move away because I was pushed up against the sink. She wrapped her arms around my neck as I tried to escape her grasp without appearing rude.

"Hey Tanjiro are you-" the door swung open, to reveal a very surprised and hurt, Zenitsu. Kanao parted our lips "Do you mind?" she said sassily "Sorry" he backed out the door while keeping his head low. As soon as the door closed, "Now, where were we?" she licked her lips. "I'm sorry I have to go" I said quickly, I pushed her off and grabbed my bag before leaving the room, I heard her scoff as I left.

I hurried down the empty hall trying to find him, I looked through all the hallways but couldnt find him. I burst into the cafeteria, I scanned the area quickly then left when i didnt see him. 'Where could he have gone?' I thought intensely, 'The tree outside by the school?'

I ran around the school all lunch period trying to find him, I even considered going to his house, but that just seemed a bit extreme. The bell rang and my search was over, I sulked as I walked over to my locker to get out a few textbooks. "Hey have you seen Zenitsu?" Murata came up from behind me "He went to look for you but he never came, and I saw you burst into the cafeteria. Did something happen?" I was too upset to come up with a decent lie "I didn't see him, I was in the art room during lunch" he just nodded. "Ok, well I'll see you in class" he walked away.

All throughout the rest of the day I couldnt stop thinking about Zenitsu, about what he thought, how he was feeling.

"I still think they give too much homework!" Inoske kept complaining about the homework as Murata kept trying to explain it was part of the curriculum. "Homework is important! It exercises our mental capacity to think!" They argued like this all the way home.

I had chosen to take the long way back to hell, through the park. The same park where me and Zenitsu had first kissed. I ran around like a maniac on drugs, looking for him, I didnt find him though, which stressed me out even more. Its one thing to go on a meaningless date, but its another thing entirely to have her attack me in front of him, then ever so rudely chase him away! I mean what was she thinking?!

I went to place after place after place, but I still couldnt find him. And after hours searching, I realized I had missed the most obvious spot, I slapped myself across the forehead and went back to where it all started.

I walked into the alley, I was a bit anxious being so close to my house. It was a bit chilly, but I paid no attention to it. And there he sat, against the wall, doodling in a notebook.

Zenitsus POV

Seeing Tanjiro with Kanao made me really sad, 'Why would he kiss her? Am I not enough for him? Is he having second thoughts?' I couldnt help but have doubt, it was already hard enough with everything that's happening with Aoi. So I had avoided him the rest of the day, during lunch I had gone into the janitor's closet under the staircase as to hide from him. And conveniently enough I didn't have any classes with him in the afternoon. And so when the bell rang I stayed in class longer than I usually do to make him think I had already left. 'Jesus christ, who knew relationships could be SO dramatic, those happy couples that I always used to see on the street are liars!'

I sat in the alley with a notebook and Aoi's homework in my hands, this time she wanted me to think of a cool idea for art class, it has to be indigo. OH. MY. GOD. She could not stop stressing the fact that it had to be INDIGO, not even blue or purple, but indigo. She had also given me the honour of having to write her entire english paper, how nice of her. I heard steps walking towards me, I started praying that it was a mugger. But no it was just Tanjiro, "Hey" he said softly as he bent down in front of me. "What?" I couldn't help but be a bit rude, "I know you're mad but it was-" "I'm not mad" I responded before he could finish. "You're not mad?" he asked "OF COURSE IM MAD!" I snapped at him suddenly, "HOW COULD I NOT BE MAD WITH YOU RUNNING AROUND KISSING OTHER PEOPLE!?" and so this time tears weren't forming at the corners of my eyes, I was just fucking furious. He looked away, I could tell I hurt his feelings. I then thought back to what I saw the other day, the way that man screamed at him, I couldn't help but feel extremely guilty. I grabbed him by the sleeves of his sweater and pulled him into a hug, cuz even though I was still kinda angry, I dont want to make him feel like Im angry to the point where I just want to break up. "Just dont let it happen again. Ok?" he nodded as I held him, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have let that happen" he mumbled into my shoulder. I just patted him on the back, "It's not your fault, Kanao's just that kind of person" And we just sat there hugging, he let go of me and sat beside me. He watched me as I worked on Aoi's homework, and to be honest it made me kind of anxious. "What's that?" he asked, pointing to the sketch I had made for Aoi's painting, "Oh it's nothing, just a silly little sketch!" he grabbed it and looked at it, I wanted to grabb it away from him but I couldn't without looking suspicious. "It's a really pretty sketch Zenitsu! Is this what you're going to do for that art project where you can only use one colour?" he asked. "Oh um no, I had another idea for that project" I said in the calmest voice I could possibly muster, "Oh ok" he handed me back the piece of paper and I continued to doodle on it until it looked 'acceptable'. I sighed and put my pencil down next to me, I stretched my back, causing it to make a popping sound. "Uhgg, I need a break" I grumbled, "Want to go to the park?" Tanjiro asked from beside me. "Yeah, the park sounds nice" We both got up and started walking to the park, mid way Tanjiro grabbed my hand and intertwined our fingers together, I instantly felt the blood rush to my face.

We were sitting at a park bench, just talking when I heard something, "Did you hear that?" I asked. It sounded like a high pitched squawk, "Hear what?" he asked, confused. I then got off the bench and started to follow the sound, whatever it was it definitely sounded in distress. Tanjiro followed me as I wandered around the park trying to find where that sound was coming from, "What're we looking for?" Tanjiro asked me. "I don't know what it is, but I know Im hell bent on finding it!" Tanjiro just chuckled at my response, "Whatever you say then!" he said cheerily. After another little while my ears led me to the source of the sound. I stopped in front of a cluster of low bushes, "Oh I hear it now! It sounds like a bird" Tanjiro said in pure fascination. "It does" I reached down into the bushes and poked around until I found something, "OW!" I jumped back into Tanjiro as a stinging pain went through my finger. "Are you ok, what happened?" Tanjiro asked in a concerned voice, "Something bit me!" I yelled. Tanjiro stepped forward and grabbed at the bushes until he was able to parted them completely, I looked over his shoulder and saw a small, injured bird. It tweated violently, as we stared at it, "I think that's what bit you" Tanjiro said. It then suddenly burst into the air, I screamed violently as it flapped pathetically towards me. I ran away but it followed, Tanjiro ran behind me and the bird as I ran like a psychotic maniac. At one point in my screaming rampage I tripped on something and landed on my face. Tanjiro ran up to me "Are-you-ok?" he panted, I mumbled something about being a complete failure at life. He just said "What?", I pulled myself up and sat on the grass, when the little bird came flapping towards me again. I screamed and covered my face with my arms, I couldn't see it but I felt the little bird land on my head and nestled itself into my hair, I froze. "Oh my god, you look so cute!" Tanjiro exclaimed, he helped me off the ground and kept staring at the tiny bird on my head. I tried to shoo it away but it wouldn't budge, Tanjiro just stood there and laughed at me quietly. I then gave up when the small bird wouldn't move, I stuck out my hand carefully, the little bird waited a second before jumping onto my hand. I cupped my hands around it and held it carefully, it was a chocolatey brown with some light beige and a black spot on its chest. I noticed that its wing was slightly crooked and the feathers on that side were really ruffled, "It's injured!" I said suddenly "Yeah, I wonder what happened?" Tanjiro said a little sadly. "We need to help it!" I said in a determined voice, "This is a wild animal Zenitsu, and Im pretty sure it's illegal to take animals out of the park" Tanjiro said. "I don't care! Im taking it home with me and Im going to make sure it doesnt die!" the bird was starting to shiver so I slid him back onto my head, it moved around for a bit before getting comfy. "Onward!"

Tanjiros POV

At first I was a bit confused by what Onward! meant, but then I got the idea when he started to run away.

We sat on his bed with the tiny bird in an old shoebox, it was wrapped in a bunch of small towels and rags. "I need to name you!" Zenitsu said to the small bird, "I know! I'll name you Chuntaro!" the small bird chirped happily at the name. "You shouldn't get so attached y'know, we're gonna have to set him free eventually" I told him "Yeah, yeah sure" he brushed me off and continued to care for Chuntaro.

We were cuddled up on his bed, I had my head rested on his as I hugged him from behind. The sun was starting to set and the air was cool, my arm around his waist and our hands interlocked. I looked down a bit and reached for his neck, I started leaving a trail of butterfly kisses, he laughed slightly as I kissed him gently. Then suddenly that damned bird got in the way, Chuntaro flew in and landed on Zenitsus shoulder and started pecking me on the forehead violently, "OH MY GOD, WHAT THE HECK!" Chuntaro stood his ground on Zenitsu's shoulder (and yes Zenitsu had confirmed that it was a boy), squawking at me like a savage animal. Zenitsu laughed as Chuntaro jumped around on his shoulder as he screeched at me outraged that I even touched Zenitsu. "Aww, are you jealous?" Zenitsu asked the bird as he sat up and cupped Chuntaro in his hands, then out of nowhere he changed his entire attitude, from raging bird to one of those happy chickens you see in those commercials. Zenitsu laid back down and set Chuntaro on the bed next to him. In all my time, I never thought I'd have to fight a bird for love and attention.