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Bonding Over Pain

Summary:

Zenitsu receives letter, bonds with Genya over their brothers, and Zenitsu talks to Sanemi at Genya's grave.

Notes:

So I had this idea and urge to write this so uhmmm yea, I suck at writing conversations and actions and stuff so this is pretty short. :P

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

Zenitsu leaned against a tree as he huffed. How the hell did Tanjiro and Inosuke manage to move that big ass boulder!?

I'm doomed, I'll never pass this training! How the hell am I supposed to move that boulder?? Who on earth does the stone hashira think I am!? I'm not a bear like him!! 

He continued to speak to himself in his head when his thoughts were interrupted by his sparrow chirping at him frantically.

"Gah! What now?"

His sparrow kept chirping whilst holding something. 

"Huh, a letter?"

Ugh this better not be another mission!

He thought to himself as he opened the letter. 

Are we even supposed to go on missions? I thought we weren't since we're doing this stupid hashira training...

Whatever, he fully opened the letter, his eyes skimming over the words. The first few sentences made his brain stop, and his stomach drop. Wow hey that rhymed! Never mind that-- what the fuck did he just read?

"huh.."

He reread the letter over and over, he couldn't breathe. His mind was swirling with-- well, everything.

He couldn't think. He reread the lines over and over and over again. Time felt like it stopped, this wasn't real. It's a joke it has to be. 

Jigoro Kuwajima--

Seppuku 

Kai--

Up-- six

He felt sick, like he was going to throw up. His mouth felt full with saliva all of a sudden and he had to turn to the side to throw up, he panted heavily as if he'd just been forced to run for hours by Uzui.

He clenched his fists, crumpling the letter with it whilst his hold body felt like it was shaking. He was so angry.

He stared, or glared, at the boulder as if it was it's fault and walked towards it before aggressively trying to push it and then slamming his head down against it. 

"Ahh...GAHH... Fuck you... FUCK YOU!"

He bashed his head against the boulder again as he felt blood drip down his face along with tears. 

Stop crying, get up. Move the boulder. Do it you pathetic piece of shit. 

After a while, he still couldn't move it. He skipped dinner and sat on top of the boulder, he didn't feel like facing anyone.

The blood from his head dried uncomfortably on his face, he wanted to punch himself in the head and make his head bleed again. He was filled with rage.

After some time of sitting in silence, clenching the letter in his hand, Tanjiro had showed up asking if he was alright and leaving some food for him before leaving. He didn't want to trouble Tanjiro again, or anyone els ever again for that matter.

He knew what he had to do now. He would kill that bastard. 

 


 

Zenitsu sat alone, staring at his food. He startled when he heard someone speak to him. 

"Hey uh, Zenitsu... right? You gonna eat that?" 

"GAH! Oh... Uhm, Genya hi." 

Genya rolled his eyes and scoffed as he sat down next to Zenitsu. "So..."

"It's nothing I'm fine." Zenitsu said quickly and so obviously lying. 

"I was talking about your food..." 

God, I'm having a crisis and all this fatass cares about is my food?? 

"Oh. Yeah sure eat it, I'm not hungry." The blonde rested his chin on his hand as Genya snatched his food and scarfed it down.

"Seriously though, what's with you." He said as he swallowed the last of the food. 

Damn big back.

Zenitsu sighed, he had a feeling he wouldn't leave until he told him. He also had a feeling something big was coming up soon, so he might as well spill. 

"My senior... turned into uppermoon six and made my gramps commit seppuku. He's a total asshole, I don't know what I was expecting. To be honest I viewed him as a brother, though it's not like he cared about me anyway."

Genya was thankful he wasn't eating right now because he was definitely not expecting that. 

"Oh..." He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, I mean what do you even say to that? Though in some ways, he related to him. 

"I don't know about the whole... turning into a demon thing, but.. I can kinda relate."

Zenitsu looked up at him curiously. "Yeah..?" 

"Yeah. My brother, Sanemi, he hates me. He tells me I'm not even his brother, we had a rough past so I don't blame him for being mad at me but..." He sighed. "I don't know... I wish he'd accept me.

Zenitsu was seeing Genya in a completely different light now. 

When Zenitsu first met Genya, it was at the final selection. And to be frank, he was terrified of him. Then he had recognised his sound once again at the butterfly mansion. And lastly, the time he properly met him when he was dragging him away from that maniac brother of his. 

Which he got punched in the face for, like what the hell!? 

So his overall opinion on Genya was that he assumed he was just a total asshole like his brother, not to mention the fact he was scary as hell. 

But now, Zenitsu could tell he wasnt really all that scary, sure he looked it, but now that he's sat close next to him, he can really see him. The narrowed eyes weren't because he was always mad, it was just how his eyes were. 

The scar was just something from his past, and in all honesty, it's kinda cool... Anyway. He saw Genya as someone trying to be recognised by his brother, sort of like himself.

"Y'know.. when I first saw you I thought you were some type of huge jerk or something, but I was wrong, you're not that bad honestly." He smiled at the taller boy. 

Genya looked surprised then scoffed with a small smile as pink dusted his face. 

"And, for what it's worth, I don't think your brother hates you... I mean I have really good ears and I can tell how people feel, I've heard his sound and... I'm pretty sure he doesn't hate you."

Genya looked shocked and somewhat unconvinced. "You must've got that wrong..." He mumbled then shook his head. "But, thanks anyway."

Zenitsu smiled as Genya smiled back, they continued to talk to each other under the golden light of the sun setting. 

 


 

After the final battle, everything was calm. Muzan was dead, all demons were gone, it was more quiet, and Nezuko chan was human again!

A lot of people died, though their deaths were not in vain. Their sacrifices were not pointless.

His skin burned and itched at the wounds that were once open and sore. His face was burning underneath the bandages and some stitches. He didn't even want to look in a mirror, he knew they would scar and he hated it. 

Maybe it's a punishment for killing him. 

He shook his head as he trudged up a pathway towards a cemetery. It was quiet. 

He stopped when he got to one grave, Genya Shinazugawa. He didn't know him as well as Tanjiro did, but he liked to of considered him as a friend. 

"Ah... Agatsuma."

He froze when he heard a gruff voice behind him and turned around to be met with Sanemi Shinazugawa. How did he not hear him?? Maybe he was lost too deep in his thoughts.

He was still scary as hell but he was less angry and aggressive after the war.

"Uhm oh S-Shinazugawa... I'm uhm--"

He looked back towards Genya's grave.

"I was just visiting... Genya. We were... sort of friends, I guess."

Sanemi's face seemed to soften a bit at that. "Ah is that so... Huh. Well I'm glad he had more friends than just Kamado." He scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

Wow this is awkward.

Zenitsu thought to himself as he smiled.

Sanemi sat down next to the blond as they sat in silence. It was awkward but peaceful at the same time. 

It was a bit more depressing when he remembered that Genya wasn't actually buried here, he'd overheard Sanemi talking to someone once a while ago saying he wouldn't of been buried or anything at all because of the way he died. 

He heard since Genya turned into demons when consuming one, (which he had found out himself from talking to Genya before, which also didn't go without screaming) Genya's body had been sliced in half and disintegrated into thin air.

His body had turned to dust just like a demon, just like Ka--

He flinched when he felt a hand rest atop of his head. Then he realised he was crying. 

"Me and Genya didn't get along well, mainly because of me. I didn't want him becoming a demon slayer, I wanted him to live a normal life." Sanemi sighed as he patted the top of the blonde's head. 

"I'm glad that... even though I was a total asshole towards him, he still had friends that cared for him. So, thanks."

Zenitsu stared at him with shock, was this the same white haired maniac that tortured multiple demon slayers during the hashira training? 

"It... Well we kinda.. related to each other I guess. We... I, well." 

Sanemi waited for him to continue, looking at him expectantly. 

"Well... No offence but uhm, we kinda bonded over, well, how our... b-brothers treated us." He fidgeted anxiously. 

Sanemi stared at him before sighing. 

"Well uh... wow," He huffed out a laugh. "you have a brother then...?" 

"Well, he was.. He's not really my brother I guess. He was my senior, I... uhm... He turned into uppermoon six, I... had to kill him during the battle against Muzan."

Sanemi's eyes widened a little, he ruffled Zenitsu's hair before letting his hand rest by his side. 

"Must've been awful."

"I mean it's not like he cared anyway, he never saw me as his brother. He didn't even care when my gra- master killed himself because of him becoming a demon! But that's fine I guess, he was always an asshole anyway. I don't know what I was expecting, I was hoping to see maybe some kind of... regret? Remorse even! But he didn't care, he never did, he was never satisfied. I just wish I was better, maybe if I wasn't there to begin with he wouldn't--"

"Stop, it wasn't your fault alright? If he was a self centered piece of shit, then that's his fault. Don't blame yourself for this kid, I was shitty to Genya but I never blamed him for how I was. So don't blame yourself for how he was."

At this point he was crying an entire river, he felt so guilty and awful. The cuts across his face burned and itched as he furiously wiped his face. 

Then the white haired man did something so strange that he thought he was hallucinating from the lack of sleep and food. Sanemi pulled him into a hug and patted him on the back before stepping away. 

"Better not tell anyone that I just did that you little shit." 

Zenitsu laughed as he wiped his face again. Who knew the crazy, frenzied, maniac of a hashira could be nice? 

The both of them froze. Oh shit, did he actually say that out loud?

"UHM I--" 

Then to his surprise the elder just laughed.

"Well, colour me surprised, didn't know a little wimp like you would even dare to insult me."

"Wait... But I thought you were colour blind...?" 

"You little shit--" 

Before he could get choked to death or buried alive, Zenitsu ran for his life (literally). 

Maybe in another life he and Kaigaku would get along. 

 

 

 

Notes:

Genzen my favourite stupid silly haircut guys. This can be seen as platonic or romantic I couldn't decide so yeah

I ALSO LOVE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN SANEMI AND ZENITSU I love the idea of Sanemi being like an older brother figure to Zenitsu they're so cute