"Tanjiro!" Y/n cooed and ran up behind him. "Hows it going?" he asked and smiled.
"Oh, hello Y/n" Tanjiro greeted with a kind smile and put down the tea kettle he was carrying back onto the counter.
"Pour me a cup, will you?" Y/n asked and slid over his own, small cup. The other boy nodded and carefully poured in the rest of the tea.
"Enjoy" Tanjiro smiled gently and angelically, forcing Y/n to grin in return.
"You're a ray of sunshine, you know that?" the e/c eyed boy chuckled and ruffled up his hair before skipping out of the room, carefully cupping his tea in his hands.
"Uh... thanks..?" Tanjiro thanked awkwardly, a light blush dusting his cheeks.
Y/n made his way down the halls to a small, secluded room. He closed the door behind him and exclaimed slightly when he spotted 2 other people there, Asahi and Shinobu.
"Ah, Y/n!" Shinobu grinned. "Join us for tea, will you?" Y/n hummed in response and sat down cross-legged across from the female Hashira, next to his mentor. "Feel free to help yourself to some snacks" Y/n didn't have to be told twice. He immediately pounced on the spring rolls, stuffing 5 into his mouth at a time. Shinobu gazed at him in surprise. "Ara ara, how did someone as stoic as Asahi raise such a barbarian such as yourself?" she scolded. Y/n, who was sipping his tea, burst out laughing, making some dribble out of his mouth. He slapped his hand over his mouth. He replayed what she said in his head before laughing once again, this time his tea spewing out from between his fingers. He couldn't hold it in anymore, so he just laughed cheerfully. Asahi turned red with embarrassment.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Y/n panicked and immediately started using his sleeve to clean up the tea he spilled. "He's anything but!" he countered Shinobu. "I once played an emotional piece on the piano and he was a blubbering mess!"
"I did not raise you to humiliate me like this" Asahi muttered and crossed his arms across his chest.
"You shut up, you did nothing but smack me around. Besides, I'm not complaining" Y/n shrugged.
"Eh?"
"You're far more emotional than I am, which is comforting. It showed me that I have nothing to be embarrassed about when it comes to expression. Your wide range of emotions gave good feedback because you knew how you felt. It made me feel validated and that it was okay to have different opinions. Plus it was nice to have a parental role that felt something other than rage" Y/n looked up to find Asahi practically in tears. "E-eh?! I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" he apologised repeatedly.
"No, no" Asahi shook his head. "I'm just glad I raised such a good kid" he smiled softly.
"Hm, how wholesome!" Shinobu cooed.
"Anyhow" Y/n changed the subject. "I should go before I spill any more tea on you. I'll be on my way!" he waved and with that he was out the door. The boy skipped through the halls back to the infirmary where he and his friends spent most of their days. He opened the door to see Tanjiro talking to a familiar boy with black hair. Murata was his name probably.
"Hey, Murobo" Y/n misspoke on purpose and plopped himself next to Tanjiro on his bed. The red headed boy leaned his head on the e/c eyed boys shoulder, who flinched and tensed up, but he soon relaxed when he realised it was someone familiar.
"It's Murata!"
"Oh god, Inosuke's rubbing off in him..." Tanjiro sighed, honestly a little scared.
"Anyway, the Hashira are scary!" Murata shivered. "They were all furious, talking about how the corp members are dropping in quality. Some of the soldiers on the mountain didn't obey orders, so they demanded the names of their trainers" he really just complained until Shinobu arrived.
"Hello!" she greeted cheerfully.
"Hello! Goodbye!" Murata hurriedly excused himself and rushed out.
"How are you all feeling?" the Hashira asked
"Much better, thank you" Tanjiro answered.
"Then we shall start rehabilitation training!"
"Now?" Y/n complained.
"Yep!"
The boy groaned in annoyance and buried his face into his pillow.
"If you dont come with me, I will tell Asahi that you're misbehaving!" Shinobu threatened with a smile. Y/n instantly hopped out of bed. He was brave, but not that brave.
--
After a couple of hours of training, Inosuke, Y/n and Tanjiro sluggishly lugged themselves back to the room in which they were staying. They all looked as if they had just experience the mother of all horrors.
"Huh?! What happened?! Whats wrong?!" Zenitsu wailed in shock. No one responded. They just face planted onto their beds.
The following day, the group of 4 lugged themselves over to the training room. Everyone looked depressed and Zenitsu was trembling like a leaf behind Y/n.
"Zenitsu starts his training today, so I will explain it again!" Aoi spoke loudly with a confident stance. "First! You will lie down over there and those girls will loosen up your stiff muscles. Then, reflex training. Each of these cups contains a medicinal tea that can be applied topically. You will compete to see who has to take the medicine. If your opponent holds down your cup before you can raise it then you need to drink it. Then, full body training. To put it simply, we play tag. You will be competing against me and Kanao over there" she explained.
Inoauke, Tanjiro and Y/n sulked, while Zenitsu looked furious.
"Excuse me, can we have a moment?" the blonde boy requested and dragged the 3 outside.
"Do you have a question?" Tanjiro asked and gazed at him innocently.
"No, just come here"
"No" Inosuke refused.
"Just come!" Zenitsu snapped. It ended up shocking everyone, so they just obediently followed him outside. "Gah! You scum! You trash!"
"W-what?" Y/n asked and frowned.
"Sit down and listen up you idiots!" Zenitsu ordered.
"What'd you say?!" Inosuke demanded.
"Shut up!" the blondie screamed and slugged him in the face.
"Zenitsu! What was that for?!" Tanjiro asked. "Say you're sorry!"
"No! You say you're sorry! Why did you come back from heaven acting like you came back from hell?! You were having a jolly good time playing with girls, but you came back every day looking wrecked! Bow down deeply and apologise! Offer to commit seppuku!"
"You dont know what you're talking about!" Tanjiro argued.
"Shut up you straight laced, sweet talking stick in the mud!" Zenitsu wailed.
"Hey! What the hell?! Apologise to him!" Y/n demanded.
"Shut up and listen! We get to touch girls! They're gonna massage us! When we play with cups, our hands touch! When we play tag, we get to grab them! They have nice chests, great butts and strong thighs! When they pass by, they smell good! Just look at them! Waah! Joy!"
"Don't say such nonsense! Losing to girl is embarrassing!" Inosuke barked.
"Oh, cry me a river! You grew up in the mountains! I bet you haven't spent any time with a girl before! You never learned! How sad!" Zenitsu mocked.
Inosuke snorted. "WHAAAT?! I've stepped on plenty of girls!"
"Thats horrible!" Y/n shuddered.
A couple of minutes of arguing had passed, and Y/n finally managed to convince Zenitsu to come inside. The blonde boy giggled happily as the girls massaged his body, despite him being in excruciating pain. Y/n stared in disbelief. While he was beating Aoi left and right, everyone was still losing.
Y/n was one of the first to pass the regimes, eventually so did Inosuke and Zenitsu, leaving Tanjiro still covered in the medicinal tea.
Eventually the blondie and the boar stopped coming to training. The e/c eyed boy came every now and again, but usually it was just Tanjiro.
Y/n sighed in boredom and put down his book. He looked over at his gang. They were all doing different things. He sighed a little louder to prove a point. Like a fish being attracted to a hook, Tanjiro quietly looked up from what he was doing. "Something wrong?" he asked.
"I'm bored"
"Why dont we do something together?" Tanjiro offered and smiled kindly.
Y/n turned a little red and shot up in bed. "Oh! Thats fun! Lets all go! I heard the town area around here is beautiful!"
A couple of minutes of bustling have passed, and finally the group of four was out in the bustling town. Their interactions mainly consisted of Zenitsu crying, Inosuke and Y/n squabbling and poor Tanjiro trying to calm them down. Otherwise, it was peaceful. The four boys were chewing on some squid on a stick and laughing.
"Y/n?" a woman tapped the e/c eyed boy on his shoulder. He exclaimed a little in fear as eyes widened and his pupils shrunk in horror. He seemed somewhat calm as he turned around to face her.
"...Hello mother" he smiled nervously.
"Dear god! I thought you were dead!" She breathed and gave the boy a tight hug. His shoulders tensed.
"Well, Im not..."
Tanjiro sniffed the air. He smelled fear off of Y/n. He looked between him and the woman in worry.
"What're you wearing? And who are they?" she asked with a smile, though disgust and distaste laced her words.
"I'm a demon slayer" Y/n smiled shyly.
His mother threw her head back as she started laughing. "Oh, honey, you're not strong enough to be any kind of slayer" she laughed in amusement.
Y/n's expression fell. "I'm a demon slayer" he insisted. "I know you're going to ask me to come home. I won't"
"Excuse me?" his mothers eyes narrowed. "You choose this foolish lifestyle over me? Your family?" she placed a hand on his shoulder, making him flinch and back away.
"You're not my family" Y/n argued sternly. "Family doesn't hurt each other" he took in a deep, shaky breath "You hurt me... a lot"
A loud clap rung through the town. Tears brimmed a pair of e/c eyes as their owners hand moved up to their cheek. She slapped him. His mother slapped him. A large red mark spread across his cheek.
Zenitsu covered his mouth with his hand, a chill running up his spine. Inosuke grabbed his katana. Tanjiro's eyes widened and his hands trembled in anger. "How dare you?!" he barked. "How cruel must you be?!"
"Don't tell me how to raise my child!" the woman yelled back.
"Raise?" Tanjiro started quietly. "Raise?! You didn't 'raise' him! You disciplined him! Your job is to teach him love and how to be decent, not fear!"
"You dont speak to me like that!"
"I. Dont. Care!" Tanjiro hollered. "He-" the red head pointed at the brunette "is scared of making mistakes. He's scared of affection!"
"As he should be!" the woman argued.
"You crushed him. You've made him bitter, he believed that kindness is weakness. Me and my friends had to teach him how to love. He suffered through your insults and your degradation. He is broken, and he will never be your son!" Tanjiro finished his rant.
The woman just huffed in annoyance and grabbed Y/n's wrist. He panicked and tried to break free. "We're going!" she demanded and tugged on his arm.
"Oi!" Inosuke hollered and grabbed the boys other arm. "He's not going anywhere" he hissed.
"Let go of him. Now. Before I report you for child abuse" Tanjiro threatened in a low voice. The woman gritted her teeth and glared at the group hatefully before turning on her heel and quickly storming off.
Y/n looked shattered. He broke down. Tears streamed down his blank face. He was shaking. With a loud sob, he dropped to his knees. The gang crouched around him and Tanjiro pulled him into a hug. "It's okay... you're safe..." he whispered and buried his nose into his h/c hair.
"I don't wanna go back... I'm scared..." Y/n whispered and held onto Tanjiro's haori.
Zenitsu and Inosuke huddled around them protectively as well. "You're safe..." the blonde boy reassured softly.
"How-" Tanjiro choked as tears swelled up in his eyes. "How could anyone hurt their child...?"
"I'll cut her hand off if she lays a hand on you" Inosuke promised, rather aggressively.
Y/n sniffled as a smile tugged on his lips. "Thanks guys... You're the best... I don't deserve you..." he wrapped his arms around everyone, especially Tanjiro, endlessly grateful for his friends' unlimited kindness.