Chapter Text
There was blood everywhere. Her clothes, her hair, her hands. Who's was it? Her's? Her brother's? Her father's? Chiasa wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer. Burying her face to her father's chest she sobbed helplessly. Teru was fine. He was unconscious and his arm bent at an awkward angle (the bone poking out a bit) but he would live. Her father on the other hand...
"Now, now Chiasa. No more crying, alright?
Won't you send your poor old man with a smile?"
Chiasa lifted her head to face her father with wet eyes and tear soaked cheeks. "Bu-but I don't want you to go. You can't go" the seven year old sobbed, clinging tighter to his robes.
The man smiled sadly at his daughter.
"I don't think I have much of a choice, kiddo. But I've seen enough of that crying face of yours, all I want is to see that cute smile of yours one more time before I go" he chuckled weakly, cupping the girl's face with cold hands. The edges of his vision was getting fuzzy and he knew that it could be any moment that it faded completely. His daughter had been born a colic infant and as she grew older her gloominess never left. But in the rare instances she'd smile it was like the sun peeking out after a lifetime of rain. And so he'd hold on stubbornly until he could have one more glimpse of the sun before the darkness consumed him.
"O-okay" the girl sniffles, rubbing the tears from her eyes and with shaky fists.
She smiled. It was weak and watery, but her father met it with one of his own, brushing a stray tear from her eye with a thumb.
"Ah. There it is."
•••
When Gojo-sensei had sent Chiasa on a mission to recover a special-grade cursed object alongside Megumi she didn't imagine that'd entail chasing a teenage boy 11 miles. In her mind it was going to be an over and done with job, allowing Chiasa time to explore the country-side and try some of that Sendai specialty zuke-don.
But now that she was standing outside a hospital with her hands on her knees and desperately gasping for breath, Chiasa realized that she had been horribly wrong.
Her only comfort was seeing her usually frigid partner just as winded as her. Misery does love company.
"Why...couldn't...we call...a cab" Chiasa panted, her legs feeling as if blood and bone had been replaced with cement.
"Cause...then...we would...have...lost him" Megumi replied, chest heaving and face flushed. The dark haired boy stumbled to his full height, taking deep breaths, and looked down at the still hunched over girl once he gained his composure.
"We should...take a minute...to recover. We'll find the boy...after" he stated breathlessly.
Chiasa looked at him with glassy green eyes,
"Water first...Barry Allen after"
Megumi nodded decisively, "After water"
•••
What was meant to be a five minute break before resuming their search turned into an hour as the two realized two very important things.
One, they had no clue where the vending machines were in the hospital. This led to a twenty minute search. Another five minutes were spent scourging for yen and once they acquired the required amount it took twelve tries and ten minutes for the machine to accept their money. Thirty five minutes later and the two were prepped to find the boy (the cursed energy that exuded from the special-grade object assured them he had not yet left the premises). But once they resumed their mission, they came across their second realization - they had no idea where the boy was in the hospital.
The cursed energy was to widespread to use it to track him down and so Megumi and Chiasa were left with no other option than to resign themselves and ask for help.
And so thirty minutes later the two sorcerer's found themselves face to face with the teenage boy possessing Sukuna's finger.
"Yuji Itadori, correct." Megumi he stated, both he and Chiasa learning the boy's name from the friendly receptionist who directed them here, "Megumi Fushiguro and Chiasa Miya from Jujutsu Speciality High School. Sorry but there's no time. The cursed object you have is extremely dangerous. Hand it over right away"
Chiasa smiled reassuringly at the boy, internally cringing at her partner's straightforwardness. To a regular boy (well, that's an understatement considering no normal boy could run as fast as he could, plus earlier she watched him throw a metal ball like it was nothing) like Itadori, Megumi probably came off as some weirdo with eighth-grade syndrome.
"Cursed object?" the boy asked, confused (rightfully so).
Megumi, not wanting to interact with another person anymore than he had to, held up his phone with the said cursed object displayed on his brightly lit screen. "This. You have it right?"
"Hm?" Itadori came closer to get a better look at the picture and his face lit up it up in recognition, "oh yeah! I found it.". If he hadn't made her chase after him 11 miles Chiasa would've found him rather cute, like a golden retriever. As it stands her legs were still sore and she was a bit bitter over losing precious time to tour the country-side and check out that famous specialty zuke-don. At this rate, it was going to be a while till she and Megumi could sit down to eat. Because there's no way she was going to settle for a convenience store bento when it's their last night here once they acquire the cursed object.
Itadori backed up and shoved his hands in his pocket.
"I don't really mind giving it back, but my senpai have taken a liking to it. I'd at least like an explanation."
"..."
Both Chiasa and Megumi paused at that, Megumi's face pinched in annoyance and Chiasa's smile twitched.
"Megumi-kun demanded you hand it over because it was a dangerous cursed object after the two of us came all the way just to get it from you. I'd say those are some pretty big red flags that there's something very wrong with the very creepy box you somehow came across" Chiasa mused, her bright smile not matching the coldness in her green eyes.
"That doesn't explain how its dangerous" Itadori stated, his expression doubtful.
Megumi sighed in irritation.
"Nationally, the average number of unexplained deaths and missing persons exceeds 10,000 annually. The majority are the result of the negative energy that flows out of people...the result of a curse."
"A curse?" Itadori questioned, rubbing the back of his head and seeming even more skeptical.
Closing her eyes, Chiasa mentally steeled herself for what she was guessing was going to be a long lecture. But why are we...well Megumi...giving the non-shaman boy a crash course on curses, Chiasa inwardly lamented. All the brown-haired girl wanted was to grab the cursed object and go get some zuke-don.
"It doesn't matter if you believe me or not" Megumi scowled, "and so places where large crowds gather, like schools or hospitals, are susceptible to receiving that energy. Pain, regret, humiliation...the more people dwell on such bad memories the more these places become receptive to those feelings. For that reason a cursed object is often found in such places as a talisman. The object you found is such an item"
"A talisman? Isn't that a good thing? How's that dangerous?"
"Think of it this way, supervillain vs petty criminal. No petty criminal is gonna wanna mess with someone more dangerous than them. Same applies to curses, the more evil placed on a cursed object the more lesser curses steer clear. Problem is that while the cursed object's power is sealed, it's not exactly permanent. Over the years the seal weakens and the cursed object transforms from a ward to a magnet, attracting curses to feed on them. And well lucky you, you've picked up a special-grade object, the most dangerous type of all!" Chiasa chimed in, tired of being sidelined for Megumi's big speech. If she had it her way she would've simply knocked out Itadori and grabbed the cursed object rather than wasting time with the 'curses for dummies' lesson.
Also irritated with all the time wasted, Megumi glared at the boy. "Now before anyone dies hand it over" he demanded. Extending her hand Chiasa beamed brightly at the boy, as if she hadn't just been contemplating knocking him out and taking the cursed object (and maybe a few yen for snacks on the train ride home).
"So Itadori-Kun, we'll take it off your hands and be on our way!"
The peach-haired boy shrugged indifferently and handed over the cursed object, "like I said, I don't care" he said with mild annoyance "but you better explain this to senpai"
Chiasa simply maintained her friendly smile and opened the box.
Her smile twitched.
Her ohshitohshitohshit alarms went off in her head and she came to the devastating realization.
It's going to be convenience store bento tonight.
She could've cried right there.
Seeing the empty box, Megumi grabbed Itadori by the collar, "where are the contents?!" he growled, voice tinged with equal parts panic and anger.
Itadori scowled, "like I said my senpais have it!"
"Where do they live?!"
"Not sure, somewhere in the Izumi distr..." Itadori trailed off as if realizing something.
"What's wrong?" Megumi questioned.
"They mentioned something about..." Itadori rubbed the back of his almost sheepishly "...peeling off the seal tonight at school". Megumi dropped his collar and backed up in shock and horror. Chiasa prayed to Kami-sama that Itadori's idiot friends survive till Megumi and Chiasa get there so that she could kill them herself. Instead of dining on zuke-don tonight she was going to be stuck cleaning up whatever shit-storm those idiots unleash.
"Wha-?! Is that bad?"
Chiasa's smile was sickly sweet contrasting sharply with her blood-chilling gaze that sent a shiver down Itadori's spine.
"Well you're friends are going to die tonight...that is to say if they're not dead already. So I’d say it’s worse than bad, Itadori-kun?"
•••
It was already to late when the three teenagers arrived at the school. The air was heavy with cursed energy and from the potency of it there was no doubt in Chiasa's mind that the cursed object had been unsealed. Chiasa sighed, this was going to be unpleasant.
Itadori, who seemed as doubtful as before, looked completely bewildered as he felt the immense pressure of the cursed energy. Chiasa swallowed an amused snort and began to scale the fence. She just wanted this shitty night to end already.
"You stay here" Megumi commanded, "where's the club room?". Chiasa looked down at them from her perch atop the fence. Poor Itadori looked shocked...did he really think that after a five minute introduction to curses the two experienced sorcerers were gonna let him tag along?
"Hold on I'm coming with you! It's bad right! It's only been a couple months, but they're my friends! I can't abandon them!" He exclaimed.
Oh...he did.
Megumi just shot him a glare as made his way over to join Chiasa, "stay here" he repeated. And with that he hopped down to the other side and made his way to the school's entrance. Chiasa followed his lead and also jumped down, but lingered for a moment.
"Don't mind Megumi-kun, thats just how he is." Chiasa gave the boy a sympathetic smile, "if you're really willing to do anything to help your friends then there’s one very important thing you can do."
Itadori looked her eyes in eyes, face set in determination, "what is it?"
"Buy me a bento, preferably a hashed beef and omurice doria and a green tea"
And without further hesitation the brown-haired girl turned around and left the shell shocked boy behind as she ran to catch up to Megumi.
"EHHH!"
•••
The man's cold hands fell limply from his daughter's face as he took one last rattling breath.
He died smiling contently.
A choked sob burst from the girl as she grasped for his hands to hold tightly, squeezing them and hoping for a small squeeze back.
"Huh, you really are cursed, aren't you Dovey."
The girl looked over her shoulder with tear-blurred eyes and anxiety gripped her chest as the monster that haunted her nightmares for as long as she could remember crouched beside her. Two matching grins and four red eyes looked back at her with amusement. The girl squeezed her eyes shut tightly gripping her father's hand.
"You'renothereyou'renothereyou'renothere" she chanted, tears spilling down her face.
A mocking laugh reverberated through her demolished home and the girl's eyes snapped open.
He wasn't there.