Muichiro's pov - two days later

"Muichiro eat, you barely ate anything," Mitsuri said, pushing the plate back to me. I only looked down on my lap, not wanting to eat anything more.

"Come on Muichiro, she's right,'' Tanjiro said. He grabbed the fork and picked up some food with it before putting it close to my lips.

I sighed and ate it. I've been feeling weird for the past 2 days, the bite mark was getting worse and more painful although I still didn't tell anyone.

After I was forced to finish my food I went back into my room to get some rest. There was nothing to do and I wasn't feeling well anyway so all I could do at this point was sleep.

I sat down on Tanjiro's bed where I've been sleeping for the past days because I can't even look at Genya. I rolled my pants up and looked at the bite mark.

It was much worse, it was spreading a lot. It was really painful and was stinging a lot every time I touched it but it wasn't enough for me to tell anyone.

I laid down on the bed and closed my eyes, trying to fall asleep.

…

I woke up a while later, feeling hot and sweating. I groaned and turned to the other side. "You okay?" I suddenly heard, making me jump.

It was Tanjiro "god, you scared me" I placed my hand on my chest and sighed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to" he laughed awkwardly.

"You've been sleeping for a while, it's almost 9pm"

"Huh? Really?! ... I guess I was just really tired, I'll go take a shower now"

"Are you feeling okay? You've been sleeping a lot and you are sweating"

"I am fine, but thanks.." I said quietly and grabbed my pajamas before rushing into the bathroom. I shut the door behind me and placed my pajamas on a sink.

I took off my clothes and got into the shower. I grabbed the shower head and turned on the water. Everything was going great until the water touched my wound.

I just dropped on my knees, grabbing my leg in pain. I tried not to scream so I bit my lip so hard it started bleeding. I leaned against the wall, still grabbing my leg in pain.

Tears were streaming down my face at this point. I let go of my leg and looked at the wound. It was looking even worse, the black pimples around the wound spread, they weren't big but there was a lot of them and there were really red spots covering my leg from toe to knee.

"I need to tell someone.. b-but what if they really k-kick me out of the shelter? Wh-what if t-they'll kill me?!" I thought and placed my hand over my mouth.

I pulled my knees to my chest and pulled the shower head on my chest, sobbing. I was so scared that they would do something like that but I knew there was one person who for sure wouldn't do that.

Tanjiro's pov

After a while Muichiro came into the room, he seemed like something was bothering him and his eyes were all red. He placed his clothes back in a closet and sat down on my bed.

"Tanjiro.. I" he said while looking down. I waited for him to finish the sentence but he said afterwards was quiet "nevermind… I'll go back to sleep"

He laid down on the other side of my bed, facing the other way from me. "Alright" I said and pulled him a bit closer to put a blanket over him as well because we only had one. "Goodnight" I said and Muichiro as well replied with "goodnight"

…

In the middle of night I woke up due to Muichiro rolling over, breathing heavily. "Muichiro?" I said and slightly shook with him.

He was sweating a lot and when I touched his skin it was burning hot. He slightly opened his eyes and looked at me "Muichiro, are you feeling okay?" I asked.

Muichiro just closed his eyes again tightly and shook his head, breathing heavily. "H-Hot.." was all he said.

I quickly stood up and went to grab a cold towel and a glass with cold water. I sat back down next to Muichiro and helped him sit up, leaning him on me.

I wiped the sweat off of his face and kept the towel on his forehead. "Here, drink this" I said and handed him a cup with water. He nodded and took couple small sips.

"Are you sick? You're really warm" I said, touching his forehead and cheeks. He stayed quiet. "Come on Muichiro, tell me what's wrong, does something hurt?" I asked, waiting for him to answer.

He just suddenly started crying. "Muichiro.. hey what's wrong?" I asked him. "I-I c-can't say… t-they will k-kick me out" he said quietly.

"Huh? Who?" I asked once again, not understanding anything he said. "L-Let's go s-somewhere more private please.." he said quietly while looking at Genya.

He then took my hand and led me away from the room. Everyone was already asleep so we just sat down in the kitchen. "So, can you now tell me what's wrong?"

Muichiro slightly nodded and sat down on a chair next to me before pulling up his pants, revealing a bite mark looking thing.

"S-Something bit me w-when we were bucketing the wa-water.. I-I was scared to tell anyone b-because I thought I am infected n-now too and t-they would kick me out of the shelter a-and-" he suddenly stopped and just looked at his lap, tears slowly falling down from his cheeks.

I pulled him into a hug. He got on my lap and wrapped his arms around my chest, with his head laid on my shoulder.

"I-I don't wa-want them to hurt me.." he said quietly. "Muichiro that's nonsense… they wouldn't hurt you.. you are their friend, I am sure they would do anything but hurt you.."

He just slightly nodded and reached for a tissue. "Promise me to tell everyone tomorrow, a-"

"N-No! I can't! T-They… T-They.."

"Muichiro calm down, it's okay, I'll help you, okay? I won't leave you alone in this and if things escalate, I won't let them hurt you"

"T-Thank you.." Muichiro wiped his tears and laid his head on my shoulder once again. "How are you feeling? Does your leg hurt?" I asked.

"It's just.. really hot… my leg doesn't hurt as much as when it touches water.."

I placed Muichiro back on his chair and went to the freezer to grab a bag of ice. I sat back down on my chair, grabbed Muichiro's wounded leg and placed it on my lap.

"I'll try to lay ice on it, it helps the pain most of the time, if it starts to hurt, tell me immediately" I said and Muichiro slightly nodded.

I laid the bag on the wound. Muichiro flinched a bit and grabbed his leg. "You okay? Does it hurt?" I asked immediately.

Muichiro shook his head "no no it's okay, it's just really cold…"

"Alright, just hold it on for a while before we go to bed," I said. Muichiro slightly leaned back "do you think.. that I-I am not infected?.. I mean.. it has been two days and it's only getting worse"

"That's why we need to tell everyone, you don't know when it will get worse and if you actually might be… you know"

"S-So you really think I am infected?" Muichiro asked quietly. "Don't worry, it'll be fine, you remember how Yuichiro got infected, am I right? He was in extreme pain and then got turned… I am sure you'll be fine"

He slightly nodded and pulled the ice off of his wound "it's starting to hurt.." he said quietly. "Alright, let's go back to bed now"

Muichiro nodded slightly and we both headed back to bed.

Next day

"I-I don't want to tell them.." Muichiro said quietly, grabbing onto my arm. "Come on, you know you need to" I replied, trying to force him out of the room.

He let go of my arm and backed away from me, shaking his head. I could see he was holding back tears once again so I came over to him and hugged him, trying to keep him calm.

"It'll be okay, I promise, if you want I can tell them but you need to show them, alright?" I said. He just buried his face into my chest without any other answer.

"The wound is getting worse since yesterday, it's spreading, you need to tell Shinobu so she can try to do something with it, okay?"

"C-Can you promise me something?"

"Of course, what is it?"

"I-If they'll try to do something… w-will you protect me?"

"Of course I will, I won't let them do anything to you, alright?"

"Thank you…"

"It's no problem, let's go tell them now, alright?"

"Okay.."  Muichiro replied and grabbed onto my arm again.

Once we got into a kitchen where Shinobu, Sanemi, Genya and Mitsuri sat everyone looked towards us, clearly knowing we were hiding something.

Muichiro was hiding behind me, grabbing onto my arm tightly, refusing to talk. "Alright, so.. Muichiro has this bite mark on his l-"

"Bite mark?! Show me right now!" Genya yelled out, immediately rushing towards Muichiro. When he saw the bite mark he grabbed Muichiro by his shoulders and started yelling "how long have you had this?! Why didn't you tell me?!"

Muichiro was just staring at the ground, repeating "I am sorry" over and over again. Shinobu stood up and took a look at the bite mark "was it by that fish thing that got here?"

Muichiro nodded slightly. "Alright, come with me, I'll take a look at it," Shinobu said and led Muichiro into her lab.

Muichiro looked back at me, signaling me to come with him. I nodded and followed next to Muichiro. We got to Shinobu's lab and she told him to sit down on a bed.

Muichiro sat down on the bed and looked down, still holding my hand. Shinobu grabbed Muichiro's leg and looked at the wound before taking a skalpel "may I?" she asked.

Muichiro grabbed onto my hand tighter and nodded. I sat down closer to Muichiro and pulled him closer as Shinobu placed the skalpel near the wound.

She then started cutting. Immediately Muichiro started groaning in pain, soon not able to control himself, getting overwhelmed by the pain.

"It's okay Muichiro, it's done" Shinobu said, bandaging Muichiro's leg. "Let's keep it like this before I do something with it, you should probably stay here and be.. tied up you know, in case something happens"

…

"It'll be safer for everyone here, alright?" Shinobu said while chaining Muichiro's hand to a bed. He nodded, laying on the bed calmly, not resisting.

"Does anything hurt? Are you feeling sick?" She asked. Muichiro just shook his head slightly and looked away. "Alright" she then turned to look at me "if anything happens, if his temperature suddenly be extremely high or low, tell me"

I nodded and Shinobu then left. I sat down next to Muichiro and ran my fingers through his hair "I told you they wouldn't do anything"

"I am tied up to a bed if you haven't noticed," he said quietly. "I know I know but… nothing worse happened you know.. and that's the main thing"

"Y-Yeah I guess…" he replied and laid his head on my lap. "Will you stay here with me? Until I am allowed to leave myself?" Muichiro asked and I nodded "of course I will, I won't let you be here alone"

"Thank you Tanjiro… may I.. call you Tanji maybe? I like giving people nicknames"

"Sure, do you want a nickname too?"

"Call me Mui, please?"

"Alrighty, Mui it is" I smiled. "You should probably sleep now, you are still feverish"

"Can you please move the chain first? Shinobu tied it badly, I don't want to sleep with my arm like this"

I nodded and helped Muichiro move the chain. "Thank you" he said and laid back down. "You will stay here, right?" He asked.

"Don't worry, I'll stay here the whole time until you wake up"

"Thank you Tanji.." he said and closed his eyes, soon falling asleep on my lap while I was caressing his back.

...

Word count : 2112