Tanjiro's pov

"No no, you are doing it wrong again.." Muichiro sighed in desperation, trying to teach me how to use katana correctly and how to fight with it.

"Sorry, it has been a while since I did something like this" I replied, scratching the back of my neck awkwardly. "It's fine, it took me a while to learn it too and I eventually did so I am sure you will be able to master it as well sooner or later"

"Yeah, thanks, I'll try harder now" I said. Muichiro nodded and grabbed his katana, preparing to charge at me once again.

…

After a couple minutes we decided to call it a quit for today and get something for breakfast. While we were making out food, I suddenly saw everything starting to shake slightly.

Muichiro noticed as well "maybe it's another small earthquake?" He asked but before I could say anything, everything started shaking even more, making things fall over everywhere.

I sat down under a table and pulled Muichiro under as well. He was sitting between my legs while I held him close, covering his head with one of my hands in case the table wouldn't be enough to protect us.

He held onto me tightly, shaking slightly, mumbling something under his breath. The walls started cracking and there was water coming out of the sink, slowly flooding the room.

"We need to do something! We need to stop the water!" I yelled out and got from underneath the table, rushing over to the sink to try to stop the water.

"Tanjiro don't! It's dangerous!" Muichiro yelled out, trying to pull me back but I refused. "Tanjiro watch o-!"

Muichiro's pov

A pot that was on a shelf fell right on Tanjiro's head, knocking him out immediately. "Tanjiro!" I yelled out, trying to reach out for him.

I pulled him back under the table as the water kept filling the room slowly. I was holding Tanjiro close to me, trying to wake him up but nothing seemed to work.

At this point the water was already soaking my clothes. I felt my arm suddenly start to hurt. The water soaked my bandages, making the water touch the wound, making it more and more painful as time passed.

I buried my face into Tanjiro's shoulder, repeating "please wake up… please.. wake up!" Over and over again.

After a while the shaking stopped but yet I was still under the table, too scared to make a move. Suddenly, Mitsuri ran into the room, seeing me and Tanjiro under the table.

He immediately ran towards us and helped me get out as I kept on holding Tanjiro, trying not to get overwhelmed by the pain in my arm once again.

"What happened??" Mitsuri asked. "T-There was water everywhere… T-Tanjiro was trying to stop it b-but.. the pot fell on his head.." I said quietly.

"Okay, I'll take him to Shinobu's room, are you alright? Are you hurt?" She asked and I shook my head "no.. I am fine"

"Alright, can you please start bucketing the water here? I'll come to help you soon". "Alright.." I replied and went to grab a bucket.

…

While me, Mitsuri and Sanemi were putting the water in buckets and throwing the water out. I noticed something swimming in the water.

I thought I was just hallucinating so I didn't mind it at first but then I saw it again before feeling a sharp pain in my leg. I dropped the bucket down and immediately lifted up my leg.

I saw a bleeding mark on my leg, it had small holes and there were these small black pimples forming around it.

"Muichiro! Move your ass!" I heard Sanemi yell at me. "Sorry!" I yelled back and grabbed the bucket again. Trying to look for the thing that bit me.

"W-wait.. i-is this thing infected?... Am I infected now too?" I thought to myself, starting to panic a bit. "S-Should I tell someone?... N-No that's stupid I'll just say that there's something in the water"

"Mitsuri!" I yelled out. As soon as I did Mitsuri ran into the room "yes? Is something wrong?"

"I saw something in the water.."

"Like something alive?"

I nodded slightly. "Did you say how big- OH SHIT I SEE IT!" Mitsuri yelled out and immediately got on a table, pulling me up as well.

"Look at that bitch, HA! you can't get up here! SANEMI!"

"What?!"

"There's something in the water! Catch it!"

"Why me?!"

"Cuz you're a man"

"Muichiro is too!"

"I SAID CATCH IT!"

Sanemi after that didn't say anything and looked around for that thing while me and Mitsuri stayed on the table. I took a look at the bite mark to see it looking the same, luckily.

"This is pain… we will just do this all day.. god I would rather go listen to Genya's constant complaining about all this" she laughed.

"Y-Yeah" I replied with a quiet laugh at the end. "I caught it!" We heard Sanemi yell out at us. Mitsuri immediately got off the table and went towards Sanemi to probably laugh at the thing he caught.

"You caught it? God finally! Now this ugly thing w- oh my god that thing is- what the heck is that?" She said, clearly confused and disgusted.

I didn't listen to them after that, I just hopped off of the table and started putting water in buckets once again.

The bite mark on my leg was stinging a lot but I tried to ignore it.

…

"Muichiro you can go check on Tanjiro now, me and Sanemi will finish this" Mitsuri said and I nodded. I walked into Shinobu's room to see Tanjiro laying on one of the beds.

I sat down next to him and sighed, seeing his head bandages. The bandages were slightly colored with blood.

I sighed and laid down next to him, laying my head on his chest and wrapping my arms around his waist. All I wanted now was him to wake up.

I closed my eyes and soon fell asleep right next to Tanjiro, in hopes of me waking up to him holding me in his arms already awake as well.

Shinobu's pov

"What is that thing?" I asked while staring into one of the buckets, seeing a fishlike looking thing. "I don't know, I think it got here by the sink when it broke due to the earthquake," Sanemi replied.

"I'll take it to my lab and take a look at it"  I said and grabbed the bucket before carrying it to my lab.

I laid the bucket next to the table and looked inside it. "Hmm.. what to do with you.. I don't want to touch it but… it doesn't look right, maybe it's infected… I should probably kill it and inspect it somehow" I thought to myself and looked for something I could kill it with.

Eventually I just went to grab Genya's katana and repeatedly stabbed the thing until it was just flowing above the water, dead.

I laid the katana on the floor and put on some gloves before picking up the fish thigh. I laid the thing on a table and started to cut it open. It's insides a very dark gray, almost blackish color.

I grabbed a skalpel and sliced some of the flesh off and placed it aside. I then continued cutting off its insides and flesh until it was all chopped up.

I placed the flesh under the microscope again to see those little maggot-like things but they looked different now. They were bigger and moving much faster, they were gray mostly but some parts were yellow colored.

I sighed and looked away from the microscope. "They look different from those I took from Yuichiro's body… maybe they are not infectionist…"

Tanjiro's pov

"U-Ugh my head" was the first thing I thought when I woke up while grabbing onto my head. I felt something on my chest and hugging my waist. It was Muichiro.

I didn't want to wake him up because he was still asleep so I just ran my fingers through his hair, waiting for him to wake up.

…

"Ngh.." I heard Muichiro groan, finally waking up after a while. He grabbed onto my shirt and looked up, his eyes immediately widening "Tanjiro, y-you're awake!" He yelled out and immediately wrapped his arms around my neck.

I smiled and wrapped my arms around him too. "I was so worried! Thank god you're okay! Are you feeling okay? How's your head?" He asked.

"Calm down Muichiro, I am feeling okay, don't worry" I replied, trying to calm him down. He nodded and sighed in relief "okay..".

"So? What happened again? Everything is kinda blurry for me" I said, laughing slightly.

"There was another earthquake.. it made the sink break and there was water everywhere, you tried to stop it but everything was still shaking so a pot from the top shelf fell on your head, knocking you out immediately"

"I see.. well how's the shelter? Is there a lot of damage?"

"There is a lot of water still and some cracked walls but nothing else"

"That's good, I'll go help others with the water"

"No! You should rest!"

"Come on, I'll be fine, I already told you I feel okay, alright? You should rest though, you are pretty pale"

"I feel fine, just tired, I'll go help too"

"If you say so"

…

After a couple hours everything was finally done. I wobbled into my room, exhausted. Genya was sitting on our bed, immediately looking at me when I entered the room.

I turned my gaze away from him and walked towards Tanjiro's bed where I laid down. I heard Genya groan before hearing footsteps coming towards me.

He grabbed me by my arm and turned me around, making me face him. He looked mad, really mad. "Are you just planning on ignoring me forever?!" He yelled out.

I tried to get out of his grip but he held me tight, tightening his grip second by second, making it painful.

"G-Gen, it hurts" I said quietly, closing my eyes tightly. He didn't listen, he kept on holding me tightly, saying once again "are you still mad about that thing with Yuichiro? Do you want me to apologize? Because that's not gonna happen, what you did was stupid and I won't respect that… I should have not listen to you in the first place and kill him when I had the chance"

My heart dropped as I shook my head "D-Don't.. please" my eyes filled with tears immediately. He let out a silent "tsk" under his breath before letting go of me and leaving the room.

I hugged Tanjiro's pillow and buried my face into it, sobbing quietly. "Why is he acting like this? Why is he so mean? What did I do wrong?" I thought to myself and sobbed harder.

Suddenly a door to the room opened again but now it was Tanjiro who entered the room. "Muichiro, are you alright?" He asked and went towards me. He sat down on the bed next to me and I looked at him with tear-filled eyes.

He opened his arms and I snuggled up in them, hugging him tightly. "Another fight?" He asked and I nodded. "H-Hes gonna kill h-him.." I stuttered out.

"Huh? Who?"

"G-Genya will k-kill Y-Yui" I started to sob harder. Tanjiro shook his head "I am sure he wouldn't do such a thing, he would never do that to you, I am sure he has a lot of bottled up anger and accidentally let it out on you… I am sure he wouldn't kill him, alright?"

I slightly nodded and leaned my head on Tanjiro's shoulder. He ran his fingers through my hair and wiped my tears "there there, don't cry, you know Genya is not like that"

"Y-Yeah.. sorry.."

"It's alright, I understand that all this was already a lot and this just made it worse, I understand your reaction"

"Thanks.." I replied and closed my eyes. Tanjiro put a pillow behind his back and wrapped a blanket around me, letting me sleep in his arms.

...

Word count : 2056