Muichiro's pov

I woke up, seeing Tanjiro and others surrounding me. "Tanji, what's going on?" I asked, trying to sit up but I was fully tied to a bed.

"Wh-What's going on?! W-why am I tied up like this?" I thought to myself, starting to panic. "Let's start now, shall we?" Shinobu said, while staring at Genya.

Genya grabbed his katana and came over to me. He looked at me and lifted up his katana "infected bitch" he whispered.

I was panicking, crying hysterically. "S-Stop! Don't do it!" I yelled out, trying to get away from him.

…

"STOP!" I yelled out, sitting up and looking around. It was a nightmare. "T-Tanji.." I said, tears streaming down my face. He was gone.

"H-He's gone… b-but.. h-he promised to stay.. what if someone comes here a-and.." I stopped my thoughts and started crying harder.

I was scared out of my mind, I was scared that they would try to hurt me.

The door suddenly opened and Shinobu walked in.

"Muichiro are you alright?" She asked. I was unable to answer, everything seemed scary and dark so suddenly. I just wanted Tanjiro here to hold me and comfort me.

Shinobu came towards me, trying to lead a conversation with me but I couldn't force myself to talk. I pushed myself against the wall, pulling my knees close to my chest while hugging my pillow.

"What's going on here?" I heard someone say. "T-Tanji.." I looked up to see Tanjiro. I immediately stood up and fell off of the bed due to being chained.

I was trying my best to reach for Tanjiro. As I reached my hand to him the bed started to move, almost falling on me but Tanjiro stopped it. "Muichiro, what has gotten into you?!" Tanjiro yelled out.

I just grabbed onto Tanjiro tightly and started sobbing "you promised to s-stay here!" I yelled out. Tanjiro picked me up and sat down on the bed with me, sitting me down on his lap.

"What happened? I just went to get something to eat, I was here the whole time, I promise" Tanjiro asked me.

Tanjiro's pov

"N-Nightmare.." he said quietly. "Mhm.." I hummed and pulled Muichiro closer to me "shh, it's okay, I am here now, alright? No need to cry". Muichiro nodded with his head still on my shoulder.

…

Soon enough, Muichiro just continued sitting on my lap, holding onto me tightly. "Better now?" I asked and Muichiro gave me a tiny nod.

"Alright, now tell me what has suddenly gotten into you, I left for like fifteen minutes"

"Nightmare… bad nightmare"

"What was the nightmare about?"

"Everyone here… trying to murder me"

"So that's why he was panicking so much… thank god he's at least not scared of me" I thought to myself and slightly pulled away from the hug "it was just a nightmare, no need to be scared now, alright?"

"Alright… sorry.."

"It's alright, just next time don't immediately panic, alright?"

"How could I not panic when you're not here?! You promised to be here and when I woke up you weren't… I was scared y-you left me or that… so-something happened to you.."

"Don't worry, I am here now and I won't leave again and if I have to walk away for a couple minutes, I'll inform you about it first, alright?"

"Okay… thanks"

"How are you feeling?"

"Good, I guess… still tired"

"Alright, get some rest if you want, I'll stay here with you"

Muichiro nodded and got off my lap, laying his head on my lap instead. I pulled a blanket over him and let him rest.

…

"Alright, your fever is not that high which is good, I'll take a look at your leg" Shinobu said and grabbed Muichiro's leg. She unbandaged his leg and looked at it.

"It's not looking any better or worse which is good I guess, I'll change your bandages" she said and grabbed her medkit.

"I took a look at the flesh I cut off, it doesn't look any similar to Yuichiros or that womens flesh so that's good I gu-" she suddenly stopped talking when she took a closer glance at his wound.

"Wh-Whats wrong?" Muichiro stuttered out. "There's something moving in your wound" Shinobu replied.

"What?!" Me and Muichiro both yelled out at the same time. Muichiro immediately started to panic, trying to look at the wound and see the moving thing.

"Muichiro, calm down, it'll be fine" I tried to calm him down. "Muichiro it's fine, I'll take a look at it" Shinobu said, grabbing Muichiro's leg once again.

Muichiro wrapped his arms around mine and started quietly whimpering, clearly scared and worried. "Alright, there's… there's for sure something moving… may I.. take a closer look?" Shinobu asked.

"What do you mean by that?" Muichiro asked anxiously. Shinobu put on gloves and grabbed a skalpel. At that point we both knew what she wants to do. "Isn't that too dangerous?" I asked.

"That thing in his leg is alive, it's just a matter of time untill it spreads" she replied. Soon she said the skalpel on Muichiro's leg and sliced it, making Muichiro scream in agony.

She put the skalpel away and slid her fingers into the open wound. Muichiro could only hold onto me while screaming and crying uncotrolably in pain. "Stop! Stop! Stop!" Muichiro yelled out.

Shinobu stopped for a second and looked at Muichiro. "J-Just let me c-catch my breath.." he said quietly.

I ran my fingers through his hair as he held onto my hoodie tightly, sobbing quietly into it. Genya suddenly ran into the room "what's going on?!" He yelled out.

He walked over to us and grabbed Muichiro's chin "are you okay?!" He asked. Muichiro, who was unable to talk, just laid his head back on my chest, shaking slightly.

"What's wrong with him?" Genya asked. He was clearly worried, which was on one side good because they haven't been keeping a good relationship with each other for the past few days. I was glad he was still caring about Muichiro and his health.

"Genya, hold his leg, he keeps on flinching with it" Shinobu ordered him and Genya did what she asked. "What the fuck is that moving thing in his leg?!" He yelled out.

"We don't know! We are trying to pull it out" Shinobu said, sliding her fingers back into the wound. Muichiro immediately grabbed onto me and started screaming again.

"Muichiro it's okay, try to calm d-" Genya tried to say but was immediately interrupted by Muichiro "calm down?! D-Do you even know H-How much it hurts?!" He yelled out between sobs.

Shinobu kept on trying to grab the thing in his leg while Muichiro kept on crying harder and harder. "Okay, I got it! Genya, hold the leg tighter!" Shinobu yelled out. Genya nodded and grabbed onto Muichiro's leg tighter.

Soon enough Shinobu finally pulled out the thing from Muichiro's leg. It was a decently big snake looking thing. "It's okay Mui, it's done" I said, trying to comfort him a bit.

Muichiro was holding onto me for dear life, trembling violently while sobbing into my chest. "Here, can you bandage his leg? I'll look at this thing" Shinobu said and handed me some bandages before leaving the room.

"Tanjiro, can you please.. leave for a minute? I want to have a word with Muichiro" Genya said, taking the bandages away from me. I nodded and left the room.

Muichiro's pov

Tanjiro pushed me off of him and left the room, leaving me and Genya alone. Genya grabbed my leg and started bandaging it gently, "later Shinobu will take a look at it and stitch it" he said.

I looked away, not wanting to talk with him. "I am sorry I said such things to you, I was just really mad and stressed out about things, I understand if you need a break… and… maybe want to break up" Genya said quietly.

My heart sank "H-Huh? N-No I-.." I didn't know what to say, I just bursted into tears. Genya pulled me into a hug and I started to apologize, over and over again. I was panicking "he won't break up with me, right?"

"Shh, don't cry… I am not going to break up with you, I would never… I just thought that you might want to.."

"N-No.. I-I just.. I-I was.. scared.."

"Scared?"

"M-Mhm… S-Since we come here.. w-w started f-fighting more a-and.. I-I was scared t-to mess up again.. "

"Mui… I am so sorry" Genya said and kissed my forehead. "I-It's fine.. I-I am just glad we talked it out.." I smiled "but… I still think it would be better for us so maybe… take a little break from each other.."

"That's okay, I understand" Genya replied before starting to bandage my leg again "You got pretty close to Tanjiro, huh?"

"Y-Yeah.. he's really nice, I really like him.." I replied, smiling slightly. "That's good, I knew you two would get along," Genya smiled.

"Alright, it's done" Genya said, being done bandaging my leg. "Shinobu also said you had a fever, how are you feeling?" Genya asked. I lightly shook my head "I am feeling okay now, just the pain in my leg is unbearable"

"I see, I'll get you some painkillers" Genya said and stood up, walking out of the room. I smiled as he left, being happy that we finally talked it out.

…But there was this feeling, this weird feeling that I have around Genya and Tanjiro. The feeling is the same, it's weird "am I… in love with Tanjiro?" I thought, hugging my pillow.

"Tanjiro is nice, handsome, kind and funny… but so is Genya" I sighed. "Maybe I just developed a really strong connection with him, a really good friendship maybe" I thought to myself.

"Mui!"

"H-Huh?" I looked up to see Tanjiro. "You spaced out, are you okay?" Tanjiro asked. I nodded "yeah I am fine, sorry I was thinking about something" I replied.

"It's okay, so how did it go with Genya?" He asked. I smiled "we talked it out but I suggested we take a break from each other, at this situation it would be better if we just stay apart so there are no more fights"

"That's good, I am glad you two are good with each other now. It was sad seeing you always looking down" Tanjiro said.

"Was I? Sorry" I apologized. "No no it's okay, no need to apologize, it's understandable how you acted, it must have been hard to go through so much and then being on the edge of breaking up with someone you've been with for so long" Tanjiro said, rubbing my back.

I nodded, my cheeks turning slightly red. "Alright, I got the painkillers," I heard Genya say. He sat down next to me and handed me two painkillers and a glass of water.

I quickly gulped down the painkillers and drank every drop of water. "I'll take a nap, I am exhausted" I said quietly, rubbing my eyes sleepily.

"Alright, do you want me to stay here with you?" Tanjiro asked and I immediately nodded, moving as close as I could to him and laying my head on his chest.

"Sleep well, Mui," Tanjiro said and ruffled my hair. That was the only thing I remember before immediately falling into a deep slumber.

Tanjiro's pov

While Muichiro was sleeping, Genya looked at me and began to say "you know how there was this flood in the shelter… well it got into the storage room.. where I am going with this is that our food supplies are pretty limited now, if we don't want to leave the shelter we need to start rationing it"

"I see, well.. if we have like two meals a day, how long will that last?"

"About two weeks, it's not that bad but we still need to pay attention to who's eating what"

"Okay, I understand"

"One more thing"

"Hm?"

"Sanemi is thinking about another expedition, he wants to go out before we completely ran out of food and he wants to take you out with him, together with me and Muichiro because last time when it was only me and him, it was rough"

"Wouldn't it be better to keep Muichiro in the shelter? He's still n-"

"We'll see later on, at this state I wouldn't have even though about letting him go out of the shelter but if he gets better and will agree on going, I'll let him go"

"Alright, if you say so"

"But you are going for sure, right?"

"Hmm I think so, it is getting really boring here and I want to see how it looks outside and of course I want you help you too"

"Alright, that's good, I'll talk to you more tomorrow about it when Sanemi gives me more info"

...

Word count : 2185