Tanjiro Kamado was the prince of the Demon Slayer Kingdom, but he wasn't exactly thrilled about it. Just a couple days ago he'd turned 20, and according to his mother, it was time for him to get married.
"You can't wait forever!" She called from upstairs. "If you do, you'll end up like that Tomioka!"
Tanjiro whipped around to face his mother. "Giyuu chose to marry Sabito! He didn't want to marry Miss Shinobu! Besides, she's very happy to be alone!"
His mother scoffed. She began telling him about 'proper' marriages and other things of the sort. As much as Tanjiro loved his mother, she never understood that people could love whoever they wanted, even if they weren't part of a royal family.
Tanjiro felt his face heat up in frustration as she began talking about opposite sex marriage. "I'm going outside!"
The red haired king-to-be stomped off out of the throne room, ignoring the guards who shouted at him to treat the queen better. Tanjiro ran and hid behind a large bush, beginning to cry.
It wasn't uncommon for his mother to act this way. Ever since he came out as also liking men as well as women, she'd been trying to convince him that he was 'better' than that, whatever that meant. Tanjiro loved his mother, but he was starting to think that maybe she didn't love him quite as much.
He looked up at the dark sky sprinkled with stars and sobbed softly. He closed his eyes and slumped against the bush.
Tanjiro pulled his knees and arms towards his chest.
But then he smelled something.
"A boar?" Tanjiro raised his head. "No... this smells like a human too."
He stood up on shaky legs and walked along the court yard, following the scent of the boar man. He closed his eyes to focus for a second.
A small sniff that most definitely could've been a snort came from across the fountain. Tanjiro opened his eyes and gently made his way there. The fountain itself was a white gleaming marble, with sculptures at the head of mightly Slayer Kings of the past. Now though, water just poured out of their throats and into a wide pond. Coins of every stone and metal imaginable were scattered there, from visitors from all over the world who wanted to pay their respects.
Tanjiro knelt down beside the small boar.
"Hello?" The boar reeled up and snorted again, only to wince and fall back. "Oh dear, are you hurt?"
The boar whines and Tanjiro leaned closer, inspecting it. Several gashes along its side suggested a fight, perhaps with another boar or larger animal. Tanjiro scooped the boar up and set it down carefully on his lap, reaching over the fountain and taking water in his cupped hands. He gently dropped the cool water onto the wound, the boar squirming but eventually letting it happen.
Tanjiro did this several times until the water, when washed off, came clean with no blood. The prince smiled. "There! Now your cut is clean at least."
"I have to go now," Tanjiro started picking up the boar again. "My mother will be worried, and she'll probably have a fit about me running off because of a boar."
The boar stared up at Tanjiro, a look in its eyes making him stop from getting up.
"You're... not a boar.. are you?" The eyes below him gleamed. "How do I help you?"
The boar stood up and jumped on the fountain, sitting down again. Tanjiro did the same and looked skeptically at the boar.
"Now what?" The boar nudged his head towards the water and made a jumping motion. "You want me to take you into the water?"
The boar 'nodded', and then nudged his head at Tanjiro as well.
"And you want me to go in too?" The boar seemed to smile. "In the freezing cold water. In winter?"
The boars smile faded and it started to look down. "But what the hell." Tanjiro grinned. "My mother would hate it."
With that, Tanjiro took the boar and placed it in the water, and sat himself down in as well. He closed his eyes in shock because of the cold and heard splashing. His eyes opened suddenly and he stared quickly at the boar to see... no boar?
In its place was a young man, around Tanjiro's age he would guess. His hair was shoulder length and dark blue until you got to the tips of his hair, then a bright blue beamed out. His eyes were emerald green, a beautiful contrast to his slightly tanned skin.
The boar man smirked.
"Am I a human or what?!" Tanjiro laughed loudly.
"You're a human!" The boar man roared with glee and stood up suddenly, and as he did Tanjiro turned the color of a ripe strawberry. "Ah. Um, you're not... you're not wearing clothes."
The boar mans arms lowered and he sunk back down into the water, pulling his legs up to his chest in embarrassment. Tanjiro giggled.
"What?! You never seen a dick before?!" Despite sounding snarky, the boar man's face was bright red.
Tanjiro covered his face and tried to suppress his laughter but to no avail. "Yeah I have it's just- pff- you seemed so confident."
"What's your name, you ass?" The boar man crossed his arms and glared at Tanjiro with his eyes, a funny look because of the grin stretching across his face.
"It's Tanjiro Kamado. And you're...?" The boar man smirked.
"My name is Inosuke Hashibira, and I'm the strongest person in the whole fucking world!" Tanjiro pulled off his coat and handed it to Inosuke. "Oi, what's this for?!"
"Do you don't freeze to death. Come on." Inosuke stood up and fumbled with the buttons until Tanjiro helped him and brushed him off. They both were shaking from the cold water and colder air.
Tanjiro took Inosuke's hand and led him to the castle. "I think we'll get along."
I tried ok.
