Chapter Text
Last Satoru remember, he was in an Airport scene surrounded by the people he’d come to appreciate and lost.
Why that bastard Toji was there is beyond him — did he seriously go to heaven?
But all was well because Suguru was there, looking like they’re still in high school. Still so young, not yet carrying heavy burdens.
Haibara and Nanami were there. Amanai, Kuroi, Yaga… It's the perfect dream— to see everyone you’ve mourned in one place again.
“She said if you’d like to become someone new, go North. If you’d like to return to who you once were, go South.”
Satoru never cared to think about what lies beyond life after death.
He died as was intended of him. He had fulfilled his purpose for the future — he still believed they would carry on from where Satoru Gojo’s life ended.
As such, unlike the others in this airport, Satoru has no regrets.
“Hey, Principaaal!” Satoru’s voice echoed across the open space, shouting in the man’s direction. “Thought ‘ya said no Jujutsu Sorcerers die without regrets?!”
Laughter comes easy at the jab. A vague memory of Sukuna praising Satoru comes and goes. Satoru knows he’ll have the last laugh over the old-age sorcerer eventually.
All is well and Satoru’s conscience is at peace. He’s surrounded by people he’d lost and his ending is the least of his problems now.
“So?” Suguru suddenly spoke once the laughter died down. “What’re you gonna do now, Satoru?”
Satoru turns to him, confused at the question. “What’s there to do?”
“You tell me.” Suguru gives him a teasing look, expression still gentle on the ends. “You seem to have regrets you haven’t acknowledged yet, compared to how all of us have already faced ours.”
Satoru gave him his most expressive scowl, “I don’t have any regrets. I already made sure to leave extra measures for that. Except… except maybe you, Suguru. You’re my number one regret.”
“How romantic.” Suguru laughs lightly, shaking his head. “But I’m not talking about that, we already know that one.”
Then, Suguru points to the space to Satoru’s left.
“I’m talking about that.”
Next to Satoru’s left was a bundle of white cloth.
It was a baby.
Satoru feels himself in stasis.
There’s a rhythmic beating of something echoing around him.
A heartbeat?
It’s a calming sound, albeit a foreign beat.
It’s not like Suguru’s or Megumi’s or Tsumiki’s—
Satoru does not recognise the owner of this heartbeat. But he has no choice but to cling to it nonetheless. Because it’s both everything and the only thing he has right now.
He curls more to himself and stutters—
His soft head collided with something equally soft.
Oh.
He’s in a womb.
He’s a baby.
There’s another baby with him.
The heartbeat becomes more distinguishable now that he’s taken notice.
That heartbeat had come from this new roommate of his.
New?
“The fuck is this?”
“It’s a baby, Satoru.”
“I know that!” Satoru turned to him glaring, before returning his gaze back to the baby. “What’s it doing here?”
Haibara and Nanami strained their heads to look at the new addition, curious gaze settling on the small thing.
“Is that you, Gojo-senpai?” Haibara asks, standing up from his seat to look closer.
And that’s another thing, isn’t it? The baby had white hair, identical to the natural colour Satoru has.
“No way, this baby looks ugly.” Satoru sneers, poking at the baby’s cheek unkindly. It didn’t squirm at all. “I saw my baby pictures. I did not look like this.”
“I’d say you look identical enough. I saw the photos.” Suguru looks over his shoulder, swatting Satoru’s hand away from the baby. “Is it dead?”
“Aren’t we all dead?” Nanami drawls, his head dropping on his arms resting on the bench’s backrest as he looks over the baby as well. “What does that mean for the baby?”
White hair, looking identical to Satoru Gojo.
Haibara picks it up with practised ease, peeking under the covers, “Oh, it’s a boy.”
“Did you have a secret brother, Satoru?” Masamichi Yaga finally comes over, looking at the baby.
“As far as I knew, I was an only child.” Satoru shrugs, scratching his head in thought. “My parents succeeded in life by giving birth to the strongest so they got their status improved for the better. I don’t think they had a plan to create another one after, or maybe the clan told them against it. Might cause a conflicting complex or something.”
“Maybe they were right to assume.” Suguru teases, “You’re exactly the type to build up a sibling-complex.”
Satoru pulled a face so extreme he had a double chin from the strain, absent-mindedly accepting whatever Haibara passed. “What? No I’m not.”
“Yeah? Then why are you holding the baby like that already?”
Satoru looked down at himself, surprised to suddenly have the baby in his arms, his head angled against the teen’s heart. “What the?! When did this happen?”
Satoru tries to wrap his presence around the other, only managing to land the other’s head by his chest.
The baby, Satoru surmises, is weak.
What are you? Satoru often wants to convey to the other. Who are you?
The heartbeat Satoru hears often stutters. It does not beat like a regular heart would — it stops and accelerates, it would turn faint and then it would boom.
Satoru could do nothing for the other.
Their cords were entwined around each other in a way it definitely shouldn’t.
Satoru could do nothing about that either.
He can’t do anything and so, he mourns early.
He does not fully understand what’s happening, yet he mourns for the loss.
Why can’t Satoru do anything? Shouldn’t he be able to do everything?
Isn’t he the strongest?
Why is he the strongest?
“Wow, Gojo-senpai. You don’t know how to hold a baby at all!”
They send him snickering looks, finding his inexperience amusing.
Satoru was hunched over, arms uncomfortably extended to the side as he held the baby like he’s a hot potato. “SHUT IT!” He looks like he’s moments away from tossing the baby.
Finally having enough, he holds the baby upright. The cloth on his head slipped down, further revealing white hairs and his arms finally freed from the cloth.
The baby’s hand moved while his eyes still closed, arms spreading in front of him — touching the hands that held him, trailing it and his small hands only ghosting to where Satoru’s face is.
“Wait, he’s actually awake?” Suguru looks surprised, bringing a curious finger around the baby’s palm and small fingers closed around it before letting go. He still has his hands hovering over Satoru’s face.
“Do babies his age not open their eyes yet?” Satoru looks him over, his glasses slipping down to look at the baby closely.
“All babies can open their eyes, even newborns.” Yaga informs them. With gentle force, he coaxes Satoru’s hold to lessen the distance between him and the baby. “But this little one seems…”
The baby finally felt Satoru’s face in his palm. Feeling his cheek, his nose — someone takes his glasses off of him as the baby feels around his eyes.
“...blind?”
Satoru felt it happening before it did.
The other’s life was always so brittle — you can barely tell he’s there at all if Satoru wasn’t so close to him.
They’re moments away from being born when the other died.
He died.
Satoru’s twin died and he cried as he was forcefully taken away from his twin.
He felt his soul rearrange itself, now placing the missing other half—
But Satoru denies the merge.
Get back.
Go back.
Give him back!
The presence of Satoru’s strong burst of energy only lasted for a few minutes until it was gone again.
The sorcerers in charge of guarding and assisting had been in awe of his eyes and cursed energy until they turned alarmed and confused, shouting questions as to what happened, where is it, why is it gone—!
Then a midwife shouted commands again and informed everyone that there’s another baby. Did no one know there were gonna be twins?!
No one knew.
Even Satoru didn’t know.
In those few minutes that Satoru had his soul completed, memories of another life played in his mind instantly. The life of Satoru Gojo, the strongest sorcerer alive. He became the rightful heir of the Gojo Clan, revered and praised for his Six Eyes and Limitless. He was the one and only friend of Suguru Geto, together as the strongest duo, the betrayal, his death. Satoru was a teacher to children who had the potential to shape the world to how Satoru views it should be. More deaths, the fight, his sacrifice— his last act.
Satoru’s last memory was being at that airport.
Satoru stares at the baby in his hold.
There’s a familiar sensation that envelopes his entire soul as he stares at the baby.
It’s like seeing something you cherished long ago pop up randomly again. The memory that was just at the back of your head resurfacing again, reminding you why you cherished it so much the first time.
He cradles the baby again, properly this time — almost instinctive as he tucks his sensitive head to his chest.
“I had a brother?”
Satoru’s voice lost all its levity and the others mourned with him.
“A result of the world’s equivalent exchange,” Yaga voices, expression downturn as he touches the baby’s cheek who tilts his head towards the touch. “You were born with Six Eyes, your brother was born with none at all.”
Fingers gently ghosts over the baby’s closed eyes, feeling nothing underneath.
The words strike Satoru straight to his soul, lips quivering at the truth.
Satoru lives, and the other doesn’t.
“You were a twin, huh.”
Toji had approached them, his hand waving to his back lightly before fully approaching them. There was a woman standing by the coffee stand, her hair reminds Satoru of Megumi’s wild hair.
“What’re you doing here?” Satoru glares, his hold on the baby turning protective. “And how would you know that?”
“Felt conversational.” Toji shrugged, “Just sayin’ if it were the Zen’in and they found out years later that one of their twins developed the Ten Shadows Technique, they’d have the useless twin dead after confirming. You know how it is with the conservatives' views on Twins and Jujutsu.”
“Monochorionic (Identical) twins share the same soul and are the same person, essentially.” Yaga informs them solemnly. “In terms of cursed energy, the two will only drag each other down as they live.”
“Then, Gojo-senpai’s twin is here as a baby because…”
“Gojo’s birth shifted the balance of the world. Curse and curse users alike felt that phenomena. That’s all the confirmation the Gojo Clan would need to figure out what they need to focus on.”
Satoru looked absolutely outraged as the pieces fell together, nevermind that it came fromToji of all people. To even figure out such a secret only after his death makes everything else just as shitty.
“Did they even give a name before killing him?”
His twin did not cry upon birth. But the sorcerers did not care.
They handed him to his mother, and Satoru’s eyes had been watching the entire time.
He cried for his brother.
He wailed and wailed. The midwives try to calm him but he’ll only do so once he confirms his brother is still alive.
He can’t live this life alone again — not after knowing that he wasn’t even supposed to be alone in the first place!
The woman who birthed them cried as the baby was in her arms.
She cried and cried just as much as Satoru did. Then—
“I’m sorry.”
She did not name Satoru’s twin.
Instead, she placed a crushing weight upon his chest, the devastated expression on her face as she does so will forever be engraved in Satoru’s skull. His brother did not fight — could not fight because he’s already too weak to even cry.
Satoru’s eyes burned as he witnessed the scene. His cursed energy leaking out dangerously as the soul he tries to vehemently denies returns to him fully once more.
How dare you how dare you how dare you howdareyouHOWDAREYOU
Give him back!
The last wisp of his brother’s soul extinguishes as he dies for the second time.
It was not a painless death. But was his brother even awake for the most of it?
Is it simply meant to be? Was his brother destined to die every time before Satoru even gets to know him? Is that his fate to this world? To be an unnamed cannon fodder in Satoru’s life, meant to only fuel his status as the strongest sorcerer of this era?
No. He can’t just accept that!
He can’t go on living now that he knows of this!
Give him back.
The realisation that this might’ve also happened in his first life only further his distress.
Satoru is the strongest.
What kind of man with that title can't even save his own brother?
Satoru just wants his brother back.
That was him, right? The baby in that airport limbo.
Don’t leave! Wherever your soul ends up, get back!
At that moment, Satoru did not care for what happened after.
So much for going south.
“You’re going back already?”
Amanai Riko approaches the group, Toji finally deciding he’s had enough of conversations and returns to his patient wife.
Satoru looks up, someone's slipped his glasses back to his face. “What?”
“Well, you look like you just came to a decision.” Riko grins at him, hands at her back in a carefree posture. “Do you even have a plan?”
Does he?
What was he planning?
Someone slapped his back.
Suguru.
“You should start with your brother, Satoru.” Suguru gives him a smile filled with understanding. “At least after you do that, you won’t be alone.”
“Right… my…” Satoru looked down and blinked, “Eh? He’s gone…”
Suguru looked at him disapprovingly, “What, did you step on him or something?”
“Seriously, Suguru!” Satoru stands up in a panic, raising his feet simultaneously and looking behind him for good measure. “Where can a baby that small even end up?!”
The others only laugh at his expense. Are they not worried at how Satoru literally lost a baby?!
Suddenly, Satoru’s back collided with someone. That person tripped on the floor at the impact — Satoru is a tall and sturdy teen, after all.
“Ouch! Look at where you’re going, old man!”
“Old man?!” Satoru immediately bristles, looking down at the smaller looking teen. “You’re the one who should be looking at where you’re going, brat!”
The boy was a black haired teen with as much untamed hair as Satoru had when he was that age. He wore a blue jacket under the same colored blue top and pants with orange collar and linings. What a weird fashion statement, in Satoru’s opinion. Who wears such gaudy orange goggles nowadays?
“Why… why is he…”
Satoru’s birth mother hiccups, staring at the baby on her arms in horror.
Mere moments ago, his brother had turned blue and died of asphyxiation. Mere moments ago, Satoru had regained his full soul and the full potential of his cursed energy again.
It’s still there, but then, so is the life of his brother.
What once were white hair dimmed to black. The color of his skin turned healthy once again.
At the back of his head, Satoru thinks he recognises him.
“H-How…”
All eyes turned to Satoru, belatedly realising that he’s been staring all this time. His crying has stopped without them noticing, yet somehow, the air around the twins felt heavy.
Satoru’s eyes shined brightly, fixated on where his twin is, then at his supposed mother who flinched at the intense look.
“I… I can’t…” She cried, crumbling as she held one of his sons — still alive. “I can’t do this…! I can’t do that again…!”
Then, a knock.
“Young master, the Clan Head summons you. He asks you to bring the boy.”
His birth father is shaken, looking between his wife and his children each. “Which one? Satoru?”
“He seeks to meet the Honoured One at a later time. He means the other twin, young master.”
“I— I’m coming with him.” His birth mother suddenly declares. Already attempting to stand with his brother in her arms. Not caring about the fact that she had just given birth to two babies just literal moments ago. Ignoring the fact that she had just killed the son in her arms moments ago.
Satoru also wants to be present in that summon.
However, once again, he can’t do anything.
Why can’t he do anything for his brother?
The boy squints his coal eyes at him as he stands up, putting fingers under his chin for good measure. “Wow. For a moment, I thought you were Bakashi. Your hair is somewhat similar, but yours are lighter.”
“With a name like that, the comparison feels like an insult.” Satoru tilts his head at him, arching his back down to meet the boy’s gaze. “What’re you doing here? This place is for loved ones only, kid! Except for that ugly old man in the farthest who kills teens for fun. He’s an anomaly.”
“My wife’s here, brat! Watch what you say!” Toji hollered, having heard him despite the distance. His wife still laughs at his antics, lucky bastard.
“Hell if I know why I’m here, anyway! I was just with Rin at the training ground.” He paused and thought about his words again, scratching his head the same way Satoru does often, “Or I was going to? I just died and planned to meet her there? Nevermind. Why am I in this place instead?”
“Hell if I know what you’re even talking about.” Satoru looks around. No one else is paying them mind, except Suguru. Suguru’s eyes will always be on Satoru. “How’d you die, anyway? You look young. Did you die while on training? If so, that’s hilarious.”
“Hey, I died in a war! Don’t look down on me!”
Satoru’s lined up jabs receded at that. Expression turning empathetic towards the boy— because that’s what he is to Satoru right now.
“Hey, don’t do that. Don’t feel bad, seriously.” The boy scrunched his face at Satoru disgustingly, double chin appearing. “I started that war, fyi.”
Satoru’s jaw dropped, “Are you pulling on my leg, kid? How can a twerp like you start a war?”
“I didn’t die at this age.” The boy rolls his eyes, as if everything he’s saying is just casual facts. “I died in my early 30s, I think. I stopped counting. I just prefer being this age because Rin died at this age. It’d be weird if I spent the afterlife with her in my 30 year old appearance, don’t you think?”
“Hey, Suguru, do you hear this kid?” Satoru turned to his best friend with a disbelieving stare. “He’s saying he started a war.”
“Even I could incite a war at that age, Satoru.” Suguru laughs. Isn’t everyone being too carefree?
Satoru cried of genuine relief when his brother was returned back to him. He cried and cried to the point that it was the longest time he’s cried, even counting his record on his previous life.
News of the woman’s death didn’t mean anything to him. Whether she died trying to protect his brother or not didn’t matter to Satoru.
What matters is that his brother is with him, sleeping soundly and alive.
At night, Satoru strains himself to keep vigilance. He knows how the old bastards think and plan.
“… they’d have the useless twin dead after confirming. You know how it is with the conservatives' views on Twins and Jujutsu.”
It’s amusing to watch someone come inside their nursery, a weapon to kill his twin at hand. But then they’d lock eyes with a wide-eyed Six Eyes, cursed energy spiked in attention, and the idea that Satoru might one day remember them and hunt them comes to mind and they’d bail.
He does not leave his brother’s side. Ever.
His brother can glare and glower at Satoru all he wants, but the baby has yet to realise just how low the clan is willing to go to keep their higher status against the other clans.
But apparently not low enough to attempt to earn their Honoured One’s ire.
At least they still know their priorities.
There’s a lot of things that do not align with the baby Satoru remembers.
Still, his brother’s soul still remained the same. Isn’t that the perfect outcome? Satoru does not care what happens behind the scenes for as long as this boy is still his brother.
And everything is fine. He’s still his brother!
His brother had been blind, yet now he has the most striking red eyes that can turn himself intangible! But the way Satoru sees it, it actually seems like his brother is transporting parts of his body in a different space. He’s sure they’ll talk about it eventually, so Satoru just simplifies everything for now.
It’s no good if he keeps straining it, though. His brother’s eyes need to stay. It’s… it’s cruel on Satoru's part if he ended up depriving his brother the ability to see again.
Satoru has always had an eccentric personality. He doesn’t care if he looks like an idiot singing Twinkle, Twinkle little stars over and over again in an attempt to condition his brother not to strain his eyes.
“Obito!”
Satoru later learned the true meaning behind the name his brother was given. It’s not the most kind meaning.
Why couldn’t they have just kept it with the noble name meaning ‘commander’? He thinks Obito would have suited the name growing up. But no, they had to go through entirely different languages to connect his name to death.
Though maybe that name has always been tied to his soul through fate.
Satoru stands up to his full height, letting out a sigh as he looks down at the kid who hasn’t left his gaze. “What’s your name?”
“I don’t wanna tell that to someone who reminds me of someone I don’t like.” the boy crosses his arms to his chest, “Stranger danger and all that.”
“You’re still saying that at 30?”
“Which of us looks like an old man?”
“Brat! This hair is naturally white!” Satoru drops a fist at the boy's head, knocking it for good measure. “And I just want to call you something else instead of ‘kid’ and ‘brat’!”
“Stop it, fine!” The boy shoves Satoru’s fist away and attempts to fix his even more wild hair now. “If you must know, my enemies also know me as Tobi!’”
“That sounds like a childish name for a war criminal.”
“It was an alias. And the childish personality came with it!”
“You sure it wasn’t just you trying to pretend to be young again?”
“No?? It was a strategic cover!”
Satoru really likes Obito.
He likes spending time with Obito so much that the memory of his previous life is nearly forgotten. What use is a memory that only stresses him further? Is Satoru not allowed to simply cherish this new childhood and replace it with his dreary ones?
Obito worries about Satoru, too. He can tell that much and wow, is this what drives that half-curse to cling on to his student so much? To just be acknowledged by Obito is enough to lengthen Satoru’s lifetime, good thing no one’s around to judge Satoru’s actions yet.
Obito’s judgements are enough.
Satoru knows that when Obito calls him ‘ugly,’ it means Satoru is being too mushy and he appreciates it enough. Obito rarely pushes Satoru away!
Obito is too cute for this world.
He has the skill to evade Satoru, but he only uses it for moments it’s actually needed. (During baths, when he literally can’t breathe, and when Satoru miscalculates his throws— man, baby muscles are so hard to control!)
Six Eyes don’t allow you to stockpile memories — that was a skill Satoru simply hones as he grew up out of necessity. He needs to know a lot as the Strongest.
As such, the brain of a baby makes it easy to forget a lot.
He still remembers bits and pieces. Pretty purple eyes. Blue ones, as well as honey coloured eyes. For specific memories to resurface, Satoru needs an even more specific reminder.
Like whenever the clan still tries to separate him from Obito, he’s reminded that they’re a bunch of idiots for still thinking that Obito needs to go. At this point, Satoru has settled on just thinking that they just want to take Obito away from him because he’s keeping Satoru away from his endgame as the Strongest Sorcerer.
Obito is not a weakness, Satoru doesn’t know what more he needs to say to instill that fact into their brains.
And then, Yaga.
“Twins…?”
The way Masamichi’s voice genuinely sounded so surprised stopped Satoru’s condescending words.
“You.. really didn’t know?” Satoru asked, looking down as he himself got lost in thought.
“No…? Every sorcerer received the news from the higher ups that you were finally born, we all felt your arrival actually. But it wasn’t mentioned anywhere that you were…” He stopped in his sentence, thinking it over. Misamichi looked deep in thought, looking between the twins. “... but you’re not identical.”
Now Obito’s out of the loop.
“That’s what I’m saying!” Satoru’s voice stressed, as if he’d been saying this over and over.
“What are you saying?” Obito asks.
He rolls his eyes when Satoru manhandles him suddenly, shaking his shoulders as if asking for more of his attention. “You see, Tobi. The clan elder actually—!”
How could Satoru forget such a key difference?
Obito’s soul is the same. But so is Satoru’s.
They were born identical twins, inside the same single embryo.
Obito’s black hair made it easy for him to forget that fact. Obito’s hair used to be white. The baby’s hair at the airport had been white.
“Obito’s death can still benefit you, Satoru.” The old Clan Head tells him when Satoru suddenly barged in after making sure Obito had slept back then.
“I keep telling you, I don’t need it!” Satoru bursts out, an irritated expression on his face. “I know myself better than you do!”
“You are being blinded by your own affections!” The Clan Head stresses. “Death will continue to follow you two nonetheless! It’s how it’s always been for twin-borns! It’s better it to be that thing than you—”
“If he dies…” Satoru’s voice drops to a growl, glaring at the old man with eyes that hold no lies. “I will kill everyone and then myself.”
“How do I leave this place?”
“Beats me. I’m trying to leave myself.”
Tobi turns to Satoru in question, “Why are you trying to leave? Isn’t this where your loved ones are?”
Satoru crouches down on the floor, dropping his chin on a hand that’s resting over his knee. “I just found out I used to have a twin brother. I’m trying to save him.”
“Oh, you meant ‘to leave’ as in ‘to go back.’” Tobi crouches down next to him, planting his chin over two of his knees. “What was he like? You’re brother.”
“I wouldn’t know. He died when we were just born, I think. I just found out after I died.”
“That sucks.” Obito offers lightly before colouring his tone with disbelief. “But time travel? Really?”
“Who cares? Isn’t it just being reborn again?” Satoru shrugs. “I’m just going South.”
“Does going South mean something to you?”
“‘Dunno. My kouhai said that if I want to return to who I once was, I should go South.”
“And for North?”
“Go that way if you want to be someone new.”
Tobi thinks over the words. “I’d want that. To go North.”
“What, you regret ever starting a war?” Satoru attempts to tease, but the words fall short to the serene expression on Tobi’s face. It did not match his words.
“I regret letting them use me for it.” Tobi offers him a pensive smile, “Everything in my life was manipulated to push me over the edge. I gave in to their words about a better world because of the circumstances they placed me in. I figured it out in the end, but I was just so far gone already, you know?”
Tobi reminds Satoru of someone he had long forgotten. Someone who would’ve kept living under the words and orders of someone else had that person not make him see who he should actually listen to and look after.
Satoru gulps down the knot in his throat, “You, uh, had no one to pull you out of it? Ever?”
“I saw him kill Rin, she was both our friend and teammate. I hated him so much already — how could he ever hope to snap me out of it? Even when I figured out that Rin had jumped to her death of her own volition, I still hated him because he’s still alive and she’s not.” Obito laughs despite himself. His voice sounds too young to be able to say such things. “It’s fine. I did turn a new leaf in the end eventually. I… fought to save the two kids that would save the world and even saved him. I thought, well, he should keep on living for a while longer. Rin and I were just gonna wait for him. I even let him use my eyes for a bit after I died!”
“Believing in the future, huh.” Satoru finally calms his nerves, smiling to himself. “Can’t say I don’t relate.”
Tobi recognised the understanding there. Satoru didn’t need to tell his own story for Obito to understand. Maybe they were much more similar than they thought. It was just that they took different paths, but the destination had been the same.
“I think I figured it out.”
Suddenly, Satoru is his 14 year old self wearing a light blue hoodie, standing the same age as Obito as he points at two boarding gates.
“It’s that way, our next flight.”
“Eugh, did you say that because I’m Tobi?”
“You chose to put yourself in that situation.” Satoru laughs.
Tobi laughs as well for a moment, before looking over the boarding gates again. “Neither of the two is gonna lead me back to Rin, is it?”
“Maybe not.” Satoru offers a tone of apology. “But it’s still North.”
“No other choice, huh.”
Satoru needs to think. He needs to think because his brother is dead. Again.
Why is he dead again? It’s the third time already!
He died in his sleep this time — In his sleep!
Satoru had ended up crying and begging for his brother again.
He said he’ll wake up! What a liar.
Obito is such a liar.
Satoru stands over his still form.
Why did Obito die the first time?
He had been weak.
Why was he so weak?
“For someone with so much cursed energy output as you, you would have needed a lot of nutrients to be born as healthy as you were.”
The old Clan Head sits in his office as Satoru barges in suddenly. He had been confronting him about Obito — constantly asking questions he hadn’t before ever since Obito refused to wake up.
“Essentially, Satoru, you were simply too greedy that Obito could not get enough to sustain himself.”
In other words, it was Satoru’s existence that doomed his twin to die in the womb. Cursed energy is still negative energy. That, too, played a role in his twin’s weakened constitution. Being next to Satoru like that must’ve been suffocating.
It was Satoru who had taken that chance from his twin to be born healthy.
“A result of the world’s equivalent exchange,” Yaga voices, expression downturn as he touches the baby’s cheek who tilts his head towards the touch. “You were born with Six Eyes, your brother was born with none at all.”
Everything Satoru has had ended up depriving his twin to have anything.
His second death was at the hands of their own mother.
And his third…
It was the result of Obito’s soul not settling properly.
Okay.
So Satoru just needs to anchor him back.
He stands in front of Obito again.
“You really were the same souls, huh, Tobi?”
Give him back.
“I don’t care where you ended up in that you turned out like that, Tobi.”
Don’t leave. Wherever your soul ended up, get back here.
“So don’t stay dead and come back to me, Obito.”
“Go South, Obito.”
“Go South with me.”
“Did you find your brother, Satoru?”
They both turn to the voice. Behind them, everyone had gathered to watch Satoru.
“That’s unfair, Gojo-san looks cute as a kid!” Riko gushes with a disappointed edge, this kid.
“I’m not his brother?” Tobi answers the question, out of the loop.
“Couldave’ fooled me.” Toji snickered, then let out a wince when his wife hit him suddenly. “Woman, calm down.”
“Don’t tease the kids, Toji. The two brothers just met again!”
“But I didn’t say anything bad about them!”
“Oh, shush and let them have their moment.”
“I’m not his brother!” Tobi stresses, confused as to why he’s suddenly subjected to this kind of bullying. “We don’t even look alike!”
“You absolutely do.” Suguru laughs out. “And I’m the one saying that.”
“I’m an only child!” Obito heaves out a frustrated sigh, nudging Satoru next to him who hadn’t said anything to even defend his own honor. “C’mon, tell them it’s not true, Satoru.”
All the while, Satoru had been staring at Tobi nonstop.
“Go South with me.” Satoru suddenly said, unprompted. “Obito.”
“I didn’t give you that name.” Obito turns to him, alarmed yet curious. “Did you know my name this whole time?”
Then, Satoru’s gaze turned soft. So sudden that even the others were looking at him like he’d grown literal six eyes.
“Your soul went on quite an adventure, huh, brother?”
Obito remained dead asleep and the old Clan Head died of old age.
Satoru didn’t need to dirty his hands to get rid of the bastard. The same thing had happened in the previous life anyway, he just had to wait.
Satoru hates waiting because it means that he can’t do anything but.
He’s useless and can’t do anything else to help his twin.
But it’s fine.
Satoru can wait.
For all his life, he’s always been waiting for his match to show up.
Suguru was there, but it’s different with him, you know?
Suguru will always be Suguru.
Right now, Satoru is talking about his brother.
It’s their birthday today.
He wishes for Obito to just take his hand and trust him.
Obito stares at Satoru’s offered hand in suspicion.
“Why should I?”
“What’s wrong with being the same?” Satoru asks instead.
“You know I wasn’t the best person.” Obito reminds him with a firm tone.
“Who cares? I wasn’t either.”
Obito’s brows knit together. “We’re not the same, Satoru. Not like that.”
“Can’t you just trust me on this?”
“I don’t even know you long enough for trust.”
At that, Satoru let out a hefty laugh. “Ha! You’d be surprised, Tobi. I’m actually here right now to make sure you wake up.”
“But I’m already dead.” Obito said bluntly.
“Don’t say that, Tobi.”
Satoru gives him a sad smile, tilting his head.
“You’ll make your brother cry.”
Satoru cries as he blows out two birthday cakes on his own.
It’s been so long.
Satoru’s been waiting and waiting and waiting. Why is he taking so long?
He curls around his brother still-form. He feels so cold it just makes Satoru let out a series of pleading again.
“Don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me again. Pleasepleaseplease—”
Winter snow came early as if to mock Satoru further. The cold always manages to seep through their room despite Satoru changing and upgrading their heating system.
He pleads and pleads — pleasepleaseplease—
“Pleasepleaseplease wake up, Obito.”
“W-wait… huh?!” Obito panics, his arms waving around, not knowing what to do when Satoru suddenly bursted out crying. “H-Hey! Are you okay?! Why are you suddenly crying, man?”
“I can’t continue living this life again without you. Now knowing that you were supposed to be with me in the first place—” Satoru heaves out, arms reaching out and clenching Obito’s blue jacket. “I can’t— I’ll see you dead again and I’ll be all alone again!”
The people around them blurs away. In the middle of the wide airport, it’s now only just the two of them around.
Satoru’s fingers tighten in the fabric of Obito’s jacket, like he’s afraid that if he lets go even a little, Obito will disappear again.
“Don’t go,” Satoru says, voice cracking. “Just— come with me. Please.”
Obito furrows his brows, both concerned and confused. “Satoru—”
“I’ll stay with you,” Satoru rushes out, words coming out jambled. “No matter what happens after this. I mean it.”
His grip trembles.
“If you lose your sight, I’ll be your eyes. If you can’t walk, I’ll carry you. If the world hates you, then I’ll stand there and hate it with you.”
Obito stares at him.
“I waited for so long that we didn’t even get to celebrate our birthday together.” Satoru continues, quieter now. “You need to wake up, Tobi. I–”
The empty airport stretches endlessly around them, silent except for Satoru’s uneven breathing.
“You were supposed to be with me from the start,” Satoru chokes out through tears. “So if you die, I’ll— Y-You—! You’re not allowed to die, Obito. If you get yourself killed, I’ll follow after you. Do you understand?!”
Satoru lashed out suddenly, shaking his hold on Obito’s jacket.
Despite this, however, Obito made no reaction.
Obito’s hands rose, before it gripped around Satoru’s wrist so tightly that the latter winced at the sudden force.
“You’re so hopeless, Satoru. Did they ask too much of you, so much that you’re leaning on me as some kind of crutch?”
Satoru freezes, tears still clinging to his lashes.
Obito stares at him for a moment, something heavy settling behind his eyes. Something akin to an understanding for everything settled under those layers.
“If you’re gonna curse me, I might as well return the favour, right? That’s how this world works, doesn’t it? Fine. I’ll come back with you — under one condition.”
His grip tightens just a little—not painful, but firm enough that Satoru has no choice but to meet his gaze.
“If there ever comes a day where everyone is demanding that I die for you…” Obito’s voice drops, steady and unwavering. “…then I’ll just kill you myself and follow after you.”
Satoru’s breath catches.
“To hell with this world if they need just one person to carry it so badly.”
The words hang between them, raw and absolute.
And then they were much younger again, wearing matching montsuki clothing at 6 years old.
Obito exhales quietly through his nose, some of the tension leaving his shoulders.
“So stop acting like you have to bear everything alone.”
His grip loosens slightly, though he doesn’t let go.
“Let’s go South, then.” He tugs at him, changing his grip to his palm instead. “You said you’ve been waiting long?”
Satoru sniffs, trying to wipe the still flowing tears off his face and eyes. “Too long.”
“My bad, Toru.” Obito grins at him, gentle on the edges.
Satoru’s heart warms at the sight, and it’s like the wait wasn’t actually as long as he thought it was if this was his destination.
“I missed you, Tobi.”
“I’m sure I missed you too, Toru.”
This moment in the limbo will not be remembered by either of them, but words hold a powerful force. After all, there’s no curse more twisted than love.
As they passed through the South's boarding gate together, a red-eyed crow followed them overhead, unnoticed.
“Well, that was cute. Itachi should be next anytime now. Somewhere. I think. In a different world? Seriously? Man, this will be such a long wait!”
