Tanjiro had always carried you everywhere. You were his little sister, after all. But whenever he had a solo mission, he’d leave you in the care of one of the Hashira. Usually. Today, though, none of them were available, which left him no choice but to entrust you to Zenitsu and Inosuke.

You were only a year younger than the boys mentally, but ever since becoming a demon at twelve, your body hadn’t aged. Sometimes you looked twelve, other times even younger. At the moment, your form resembled that of a six-year-old—and the reason was simple: Zenitsu had been shamelessly flirting with you, and you’d fled straight into Inosuke’s lap to escape him. That’s exactly why Zenitsu always needed “supervision.”

Luckily, Inosuke was scary enough to keep him at bay. One glare, and Zenitsu wouldn’t dare step closer.

Inosuke was—reluctantly—letting you braid his hair. Normally, with how long and wild it was, you could tie it in messy braids that dangled a few inches above his shoulders. But now? His hair barely reached below his jawline.

Each uneven strand stuck out at odd angles, the shorter spikes slipping through your clumsy little braids no matter how many times you tried to fix them. It gave him an even wilder look than usual, like the short, scruffy fur of some beast.

Standing on his boar helmet to reach, you huffed in frustration when the braid fell apart for the third time, but Inosuke just leaned back against the wall, arms tightening around you. He didn’t say anything—he never really did when it came to this—but the steady grip holding you in place made it clear he wasn’t planning on letting you fall.

Zenitsu pouted off to the side, muttering about how his hair would “probably look amazing in braids,” but Inosuke ignored him. His shorter hair might have made braiding impossible, but it didn’t matter. You’d come to him for a safe place, and he’d given it.

And maybe, just maybe, he thought to himself, Tanjiro would owe him for this later. What better way to earn something from his friend than by protecting his little sister?