Tanjiro does his best to salvage the situation at hand.

-linebreak-

Positioning his foot on a rock, Tanjiro launches himself towards the falling boy, frantically and desperately trying to get there before he hits the ground, dropping down and sliding onto his knees and managing to catch him in his arms. Leaves swirl flutter past them as his knees make an impact with the ground. The older boy falls into his arms and he wraps his arms around their waist, holding tightly just in case the two of them go tumbling down the slope of the mountain. Thankfully, he stops sliding as soon as he started and is only left with knees that are scrapped and an unconscious boy in his arms.

He looks towards Inosuke with a panicked look, who he can't exactly tell what he's thinking or looks like but he's told everything he needs once the boar rushes towards the demon, charging up some kind of attack.

The blonde weakly moans and whimpers into his chest, lolling his head to burying into his boyfriend's chest. The red head's lip starts to quiver as he can only hope that Inosuke knows what he's doing because who knows how long this has been going on and how worse it can get if they don't get him somewhere and quick.

"Inosuke! I'll take him to whatever is nearby, can you handle this?!" He looks back at Inosuke is already launching an attack at the demon and he feels the partial worry he had washed away, but then it's almost immediately replaced by guilt flooding over him, remembering earlier the day, oh he had fucked up and this was all his fault.

I have to fix this, I have to fix it, I have to, is the only thought on his mind, he's about to start running, to take him somewhere safer but then he pauses. How long had this been going on? How long had this been going on and he hadn't realized it?

Is that why he had been more sensitive to sounds recently? Why he had been so sensitive when it came to anything recently? Why he had been so sluggish during training yesterday, why he didn't want to get out of bed this morning, it wasn't because he was just tired. How badly had he messed up?

A loud shout breaks him out of his thoughts. "GET MOVING YENJIRO OR ELSE!" Before he realizes what he's doing, he's running. Running as fast as he can in the hopes that help nearby. Anything works, an inn, a medical inn, the Wisteria House or Butterfly Mansion- he'll take anything!

Please world... Just give him something.

-linebreak-

Zenitsu isn't sure what happens after that, he falls to the ground possibly? It makes sense if that's what happened because his head throbs far much more than it did earlier. Everything feels heavy, like a rock is laid on each of his limbs. He felt all of it, heard every little sound, every little movement which sent waves of dizziness coursing through him.

 He's laying on a bed yet it feels like the bed is floating and spinning around like some twisted carousel. Then he feels as if his head is being lifted up, gently cradled, and placed onto a soft surface which sends his head spinning even more, yet despite that, it fills him with a sense of undeniable warmth blooming in his chest like how a flower blooms at the first rays of the sun.

He cracks open his eyes which are barely open to being with, everything is blurry. But there's a warmth to that blurriness, or at least a blob of it, red, black, and green, the colors are familiar. They address with him feathery light touches, careful hands threading their way through his hair, softly scritching at his scalp. He let out a sigh hazy relief coursed through his veins as the black dots at the edge of his vision consumed it whole.

Zenitsu isn't quite sure what happened next but he knows that in brief blurs the next few moments are filled with hazy blurs of comfort.

-linebreak-

The only thing nearby is the Wisteria House, while not as desirable as the Butterfly Mansion he'll take virtually anything other than having to set up camp in the woods without any proper supplies. 

God knows what they'd catch if they stayed out there or who'd attack them while they slept, Inosuke would try to take guard duty but would end up asleep only an hour or two from pure boredom and Nezuko was sleeping- bless her heart, taking guard duty when they had to sleep in the forest when she really didn't need to- and it didn't seem like she would be waking up anytime soon. He was all on his own for now trying his best to transport the blonde which was easier said than done, carrying people isn't exactly an easy task, especially when trying to go down a steep slope and not fall down it, sliding and digging his heels into the dirt to stop himself from stumbling.

Although eventually, despite how much he stumbled, after a grueling amount of minutes passed he managed to make it to the Wisteria Mansion with dirt scuffing his outfit and more out of breath than he'd like to admit. But he was there nonetheless, in front of the place that that'd help solve it all. So with a careful step, he hit the gate not so loudly with his foot, substituting it with a knock.

He gets no answer and knocks again his arms starting to tire as the seconds pass by and his anxiety starts to grow. Of course, they'd be asleep, he scolds himself, it's nighttime why wouldn't they be? He shakes his head, turning on his heels to walk off when with a creak the gates open.

He turns to see Hisa with a kakushi weary with tiredness by her side. Ah, it really is late huh? He isn't given much time to process his thoughts until he's crowded at his side by a now alert kakushi, making grabbing motions at the blonde so she can bring him in. In a fit of panic, he carefully helps put the older boy on the kakushi's back and he runs into the building out of his sight. Tanjiro turns to look at Hisa with a frown. 

"Is he going to be-"

"Rest assured, Akio knows what she's doing," He only nods and the elderly lady lets him in the house and they make the walk to a room, what kind of room he's not sure, his thought have become so convoluted with so many thoughts and worries and seconds seem like hours and minutes seems like days and no matter how hard he tries to tell himself it'll be okay all he can think about is that this is his fault because he didn't notice it sooner.

And it crushes him. 

Tanjiro frankly feels like a horrible person a horrible boyfriend as well, he should know these things yet he hadn't. What kind of person is he?

Eventually, they stop in front of a door, the red-head letting his thoughts have free rein as Hisa pushes it open to reveal exactly who he hadn't expected to see. Zenitsu laid on an unoccupied futon next to a few others which no one occupies, he's wearing a nemaki issued by the Wisteria House, he can tell by its pastel green color and the pastel purple around the collar and sleeves along with the bottom, he also sees a kakushi in the room too, placing medicine near his side, along with a bowl of water a small linen towel hanging over the side. 

"Do want to help me, deary?" Hisa says breaking the silence and the redhead just fervently nods and sat next to her unsure what to do. The elder look towards the kakushi- who he can assume is Akio- and gently tells her she can go back to rest and she'll come to get her if she needs her. With a lethargic nod accompanied by a yawn, Akio wishes the two a goodnight with a bow and leaves the room, her footsteps echoing behind the door until they disappear completely. 

Tanjiro just turns towards the old lady, patiently waiting for her directions. Slowly, she reaches towards the bowl pulling it towards herself and dipping the towel in the water, squeezing the excess water out of it. She looks up at him, that gentle smile never leaving her face. "If you want to help me, do you think you can help hold his head up so he won't choke on his medicine later?" Wordlessly he nods moving to slip Zenitsu's head on his lap as she dabs the sweat off of his forehead, dipping it in water and squeezing it out then, leaving it on his forehead and moving to get the medicine. 

Then, he stirs, while only briefly he does, letting out small murmurs of confusion as he squirms slightly, briefly cracking open his eyes then closing them. Tanjiro just shushes him, running a hand through his hair whispering words to try to lull him back to sleep. As he falls asleep, silently Tanjiro swears to himself to protect him as long as he can. 

Hisa- the old lady that ran the mansion- did her best as he held his head up on a tilt in his lap to spoon the syrup into the other's parted lips, Tanjiro watched on with bated breath, lips curved into a frown.

"Is he going to be okay?" He asked, and the old lady just nodded, placing the spoon off to her right side right next to the bottle of closed medicine. She reached to her other side and grabbed the towel that hung on the side of the bowl of water, wringing it out and then placing it on the blonde's forehead, dabbing away the sweat on his forehead, lowly humming. "He should be fine deary, with some rest and proper care it'll be fine,"

Tanjiro let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you,"

"I know it's not the Butterfly Mansion but this'll have to do," The redhead just shakes his head a grateful smile curling on his lips, placing a hand on the old woman's shoulder, patting it. "There's no need to be like that, I'm just glad I can get some help,"

Hisa just nodded, wringing out the linen towel once more and then placing it on the blonde's forehead, then, turning towards the teen. "Now where's that other boy with you? He hasn't gone out and gotten himself hurt now, has he?"

Tanjiro just shook his head, lip quirking up in a slight smirk. "No no, I ended up sending him to go get Shinobu-san from the Butterfly Mansion," Hisa just looked away. "Ah, I see..."

Not sure if he offended the old lady or not he bowed his head at her, an apologetic wearing an apologetic expression on his face. She watched him with a raised brow but said nothing. "I'm sorry if you think I'm doubting your ability to help him, I'm not, I just fear that a demon blood art might be behind this."

Hisa, with a smile of mirth, cracked onto her face, she shook her head, moving her scrawny hand to pat him on his head. "I understand boy, there's no need don't apologize."

Tanjiro faintly smiles at her and then turns towards his boyfriend. Yeah, everything will be alright, for now at least.

A/N: :DD