Chapter Text
Yuuji snuggles up against his source of warmth. Shifting a bit before sighing in content.
“Yuuji,” He hears his warm source voice sternly, albeit softly as well. “What are you doing?”
The little human peeks one of his eyes open with a playful smile, looking up at the other. “You’re warm!” He tells the older male happily. “It makes me sleepy Suku.”
The older of the two, dubbed as ‘Suku’ huffs and rests one of his large hands on Yuji’s spiky pink hair. “Did I say you could?”
“You would have dropped me as soon as I climbed to sit on the crook of your arm!” His childish eyes sparkle with amusement and knowing.
“Cheeky little brat-“
Yuuji cuts him off by pulling himself up to place an innocent kiss on ‘Suku’s cheek. Giggling behind his small hands as he watches the other grumble lowly to himself while turning his head the other way.
He slips back down to sit on the crook of Suku’s arm as the older continues to walk down the dirt path of the forest. “How much farther do we need to go?”
“A day more...” The older replies but not meeting the boy’s gaze. “Your old man was buried near your parents after all.”
The child hums as his gaze shift down to his lap where he fiddles with the hem of his yukata. “Can we stop by the clearing so I can pick up some flowers for them?”
“You humans and your disgusting emotions...”
Yuuji pouts as he quickly looks back up at Suku. “So you don’t like my kisses filled with love?”
Suku’s lips are pulled into a thin line as he doesn’t reply back to the boy in his arms. However, Yuuji just wasn’t willing to let this go.
“Suku!~ Tell me!~” Yuuji whines while pushing his hands against the muscles of Suku’s arm. His eyes get glossy and tears are starting to collect in the corners of his eyes. “Do you not like me anymore for giving you kisses?... You never seem to like them when I do it...”
He sniffs as he uses the end of his sleeve to wipe off a collection of pooling tears from one eye. Only to stop when one of Suku’s hands cup his cheek.
“Stop it...” Suku’s tone oddly sounding somewhat apologetic. His crimson colored eyes meet his honey brown ones carefully, mindful not to scare him. Not that it would anyways. “I do not dislike your affection... I’m just not use to those kind of things.”
Yuuji does his best to look at Suku with a slightly embarrassed look. Then he narrows his eyes in determination like he’s set something up in his head within a few minutes. “T-Then,” He starts off with a little stutter. “I’ll just have to give you all my love so you get use to the affection, Sukuna!” Yuuji exclaims.
“Do your best, Yuuji.”
“Yuuji-sama,” A voice calls for the teen’s attention, who is standing on a wooden bridge over a small river canal under the moonlight.
The pink haired teen turns his head to see who is calling him. He smiles in greeting before speaking, “Bari, what brings you here?”
Bari stands off on the edge of the little bridge looking up at the gentle human. Wearing a nice three piece suit in black much to the human’s amusement sometimes.
“Some of the low level curses caught sight of three Jujutsu Sorcerers in the area. One of them being dangerous to us known as Gojo Satoru,” He informs to Yuji with haste. “We must move off site for safety.”
“Do I have to move with the group?” Yuuji asks with a tired tone. He had always moved off site of the lower level area in one of the farther forest close to Sendai when Jujutsu Sorcerers came to sweep the area for curses. “I’m human anyways... they might just leave me alone if they see me.”
Bari shook his head not wanting to take any chance for Yuji to get into any kind of trouble. “Yuuji-sama, this is for your safety. Please comply, we don’t have much time.” Yuuji already knew he wouldn’t comply but tried anyways for the sake of trying.
Bari, unlike the lower level curses in this area of the forest has intelligence and skill. He had met him during the time his grandfather was in the hospital, ironically finding him on his way to visit his grandfather at the hospital injured.
Yuuji had to rain check the visit in order to treat the injured curse back to health. By the time Bari recovered he had stares at him like an idiot with two heads. The curse had asked he a few questions to which he answered honestly and confused the guy even more. In the end, Bari had devoted himself to protecting the human teen until his inevitable end.
“Alright,” He sighs as he turns and takes a few steps towards Bari. “Let’s get going then.”
Bari nods and leads the way down the dirt path while Yuuji follows after him. Humming a familiar tune that been playing over and over in his head since he could remember.
+++
An hour into their walking Bari stops him to listen to their surroundings. “Something’s off...”
Yuuji looks around for a moment and couldn’t really sense anything. No a show for bloodlust or ill intent like most curses who have no control over themselves.
“Bari-“
Something cuts through the air aimed directly at Bari. Yuuji, with quick reflexes, kicks the curse out of the way to avoid injury to both of them. The force of his kick makes them both fall to the ground.
“Yuuji-sama!” Bari exclaims, but not too loud, quick to get back on his feet and pull out his weapon. A wooden sword, a bokken wrapped in a few thin vines with thorns. He swings it a couple of times as he gets into a defensive position near the human.
Yuuji turns over to look what was aimed at them with concern. A long thinned out nail had embedded itself into the trunk of the tree not too far from them imbued with curse energy.
Next a playful whistle catches their attention. Walking out of the lush greenery of bushes and think truck trees is a tall man with white hair. Covering his eyes is a black mask wearing a dark uniform of some sort.
Bari’s posture stiffens as Yuuji notices as he comes to stand from the ground. The curse’s gaze never looking away for a second from the taller male.
“Oh? A curse with a human that hasn’t been hurt yet?” The mysterious adult questions curiously. “Now that’s rare~”
Bari clenches his teeth, his grip at the hilt of his bokken tightening. “Run,” He tells Yuuji lowly.
The teen had surely heard him. “But-“
“Run!”
Yuuji one step back before turning to run away. However, he crashes into something, no, somebody. The pinket winces in pain before looking up to meet eyes with a black haired teen about his age in the same uniform as the person Bari is facing.
The unnamed person grabs at his wrist tightly to which he proceeds to struggle in his grip. “Let me go!” He exclaims as he uses his unnatural strength to throw the guy onto his back.
“No-“ Bari gets kicked to the ground when he got distracted briefly from Yuuji’s short dilemma.
“Bari!” Yuuji exclaims as he runs back to help the curse. He runs to the taller male to push him off but there was this kind of force pushing him back. “What?...”
The guy had the audacity to laugh a him for a moment in his struggle to help his friend. “That won’t do much, but I was surprised by your strength earlier.” The man muses as he grabs Yuuji’s wrist. “There wasn’t even cursed energy behind it either.”
Bari grits his teeth together before swinging his bokken up to try and at least get Yuuji out of the way of the sorcerer. The same thing happens, something is stopping the attack just before it hits. The white haired male kicks him back to the ground.
Yuuji looks to Bari worriedly. “Please let Bari go! He means no harm!”
“He’s a curse though,” The guy says quiet playfully. “He may be tricking a human like you, you know?”
“Bari wouldn’t,” Yuuji tells him firmly. “He’s not just some mindless curse who can’t control himself. He’s intelligent and knows his own priorities. He’s also my friend.”
“Y-Yuuji-sama...” Bari says feeling touched that the human is protecting him and thinks of him as a friend.
“Then let’s make a little deal,” The man holding them still offers.
Yuuji looks at him with caution. “I don’t make deals with strangers.”
“Let’s start with introduction! I’m Gojo Satoru~” He cheerfully says before waving his hand to someone who comes out of the bushes with a narrowed look. In her hands is a hammer and a few nails. “With me are my students, Kusagaki Nobara and Fushiguro Megumi~”
“Oi sensei! What do you think you’re doing giving our names like that?! It’s dangerous you know!” The female teen, Kugisaki, exclaims frustrated.
Fushiguro, who Yuuji had thrown a few minutes earlier, had gotten off the ground checking his face for any serious injury. “Gojo sensei...”
Yuuji felt the grip on his loosen so he pulls his arm back to his side, rubbing his other hand over the place that Gojo had held him. “Itadori Yuuji...” He tells them his name with a slight pout. “My friend here is Bari as I said before.”
He goes over to the fallen curse to help him back on his feet, dusting a few places off the other side suit once he’s upright again.
“Thank you Yuuji-sama,” Bari gratefully thanks while Yuuji waves the thankfulness off politely.
Yuuji smiles at him softly before looking back to the three sorcerers who had regroup together. “So, what was the deal you mentioned earlier?”
“A trade of information of the sort,” Gojo tells him straight.
Yuuji glances at his friend for a quick second before responding. “So what information are you looking for? Bari maybe able to help you since he’s the one usually in charge of this area.”
Gojo pulls out his phone and does a few thing with it. Then turning it around to show a picture to Yuuji who looks confused as Bari lets out a little choke sound upon seeing the photograph.
“A special grade curse object is what we’re looking for~ The higher ups said it would be in the area.” Gojo looks to Bari who shifts his eyes to avert his gaze. “You wouldn’t happen to know about it would you?”
Bari looks to Yuuji's back, said person too focused on the picture on the phone to notice. He then looks at Gojo and gives a slight nod of the head in confirmation. “Most of the mid and high level, mindless curses left the area in order to try and retrieve to power for themselves. Wanted an upgrade as some humans would say... It’s not in this forest I assure you, the location of that curse object is in the town a bit farther out from here on educational grounds.”
“At a school,” Nobara says looking to Megumi who nods to her right deduction. “Where?” She asks Bari with a stern look.
“I believe it’s located formally from Yuuji-sama’s old school. I did notice on my walks that some kind of curse energy was leaking out from there... I never really bothered checking since I was focused on making sure my ward got around safely.” Bari replies with a little uncaring shrug to his shoulders.
Yuji looks to Bari surprised at his last words in explanation. “Bari! Why didn’t you tell me something was weird was happening?”
“Because if I had told you, you would have gone to try and fix it yourself. You know how recklessly impulsive you are, Yuuji-sama!” He argues back with no room for argument which the pink haired teen once again shows a pout and crosses his arms over his chest.
Bari huffs and turns his attention back to the Jujutsu sorcerers. “Anyways, the more powerful curses in this area are finally making a move towards the source because they sense the seal weakening around that curse item your looking for.”
“Then we’ll accept this information, but I have one last one.” Bari stands a little stiff upon Gojo coming back into the conversation. “But I’d like to have Yuuji-kun plug his ears.”
“Huh? Why?” The teen asks confused by the request.
“Because this is something personal for Bari over there. It shouldn’t be took long.” The man makes a gesture for him to cover his ears like a child who isn’t suppose to hear something.
Yuuji looks to Bari who nods for him to comply with a reassuring expression. So he presses the palms of his hands against his ears with a sigh and closes his eyes. He didn’t need to close his eyes but it would provide for some quiet thinking to himself.
Gojo makes a sound of approval and turns his attention back to the curse who had been nothing but helpful in their search.
“Why are you trying so hard to protect a human?”
“Gojo Sensei-“ Megumi holds his tongue back when his teacher holds a finger up to tell him to be quiet.
“And don’t give me that excuse that it’s because he saved your life. A curse like you wouldn’t follow any human,” The six eyed jujutsu Sorcerer adds.
The tall curse sighs and rubs the back of his neck as he responds. “You’re right, but your also wrong. I want to make it clear I would have sworn to protect him but with conditions.” He looks up from the ground to look at the three sorcerers with a more serious expression than before. “Tell me Gojo Satoru, unlike your students, have you heard the old tale of the Prince of Curses.”
“The Prince of Curses?” Megumi and Nobara parrot his words back in confusion.
Gojo looks equally confused as he levels with the curse across from him. “I can’t say I have, but please do share with the class.”
“The tale of the Prince of the Curses is one pass down from old curses to modern ones of today. Maybe if you ask your superiors, they would also tell you the same thing with a few holes.” The curse taps his pointer finger against the round end of his bokken.
“I tell you now that the Prince of Curses is one to be feared by both Curses and Sorcerers alike due to being someone of great importance to the King of Curses.”
“Ryoumen Sukuna, a special grade that was notorious long ago. It was luck of those sorcerers back then to be able to seal the horrid curse during his terror.” Megumi says remembering a memory of the time he had been introduced to the information of the sealed curse.
Bari nods once or twice to his words. “Besides the mindless, us intellectual curses need to be constantly aware of the human’s around us because one of them might be him reincarnated.”
Nobara stops him there by holding up her hand. “This Prince guy is human?”
“Odd yes?” Bari says as he takes in their expression. “Sukuna was never known to care for something, much less a human. So when curses witnessed him abiding by the human child’s wishes they were all confused. It was a lesson sooner learned that no one, not curse nor human were to mess with his human ward. One little slip of making his Prince cry one would be doomed for death or possibly more depending on who was responsible.”
“So your assumption is Yuuji here is that reincarnation of that human Sukuna cared for so long ago,” The teacher muses as he looks at Yuuji again who is politely still doing what he asked. He’s quiet and looks relatively calm about the situation dispute being weird from the norm. “What brings you to think he is this so called Prince of Curses?”
“Because he seems to align with the three check points related to being so. His resemblance to Sukuna is uncanny but more soft if you noticed in relation to depictions of the King.” The curse points out the features on the resting face of the teen next to him. “His family line is similar in death, his parents had died while he was a baby and is raised by his grandfather before he died as well.” Bari knew this because of the time he got to spend hanging around Yuuji. “Finally his name is Yuuji. Formally the first Yuuji didn’t have a family name after having been long forgotten but I have no doubt he is the Prince of Curses.”
Bari takes a breath and keeps his gaze on the three sorcerers taking in his fed information. He give them a moment to process before continuing more about Yuji’s role as the Prince of Curses. “Yuuji-sama being reincarnated means Sukuna is meant to be reawaken from his slumber soon. To prevent or bring tragedy, Yuuji-sama is the key factor in influencing how Sukuna will proceed onto modern world.”
Nobara clicks her tongue thinking about the information. “Sounds like a double edge sword to me. If Itadori were to be removed and Sukuna doesn’t find him, he’ll bring terror. Another if would be Itadori reuniting with the King of Curses and talks to the guy to bring about terror. What a bummer.”
“Which is why I am merely supervising Yuuji-sama to make sure he stays on the right path,” Bari voices calmly. “He has no memory of his previous life with Sukuna. Yuuji has also been influence by his grandfather’s care to do good.”
The curse looks to his human ward with a small smile tugging at the corner of his lip. “I believe if and when he does meet Sukuna, he can convince the King to simply enjoy this life without unnecessary bloodshed.” He looks to the Jujutsu Sorcerers serious now as his gaze narrows onto them. “There are similar stories of how he died involving the likes of sorcerers such as yourselves. I tread carefully on how you act around him for your future’s sake.”
The group of three exchange looks with one another that Bari is unsure how to name. Gojo is the one to speak again.
“Alright, that will be all. However I will be checking in on Yuuji-kun here from time to time for his own safety.” There is no doubt the powerful sorcerer will not let this information slide. He’ll also be asking about the topic of the Prince of Curses when he gets back. “If you could point us in the right direction we’ll leave you two be for the time being.”
Bari turns around and points to the distance where a large white building is located with a school flag. “If you go straight from here quickly you’ll be able to make it there in less than a few hours depending on your pace. Assuming you guys are fast it shouldn’t take less than an hour.” He told them before tapping on his human friend to loosen his position.
Yuuji opens his eyes and removes his hands from over his hands. “Done?”
“Ah, they’ll be leaving now.”
The pinket looks to the sorcerers and smiles like he hasn’t been so not too long ago. “Good luck with your mission I guess.”
“We’ll see you around Yuuji-kun, Bari-kun!~” Gojo exclaims as he waves goodbye to the pair like a child. His students following him with weary glances back over their shoulder at Yuuji.
They face forward to their man child of a teacher’s back skipping ahead, fast might they say. Looks like they’re about to change the pace to get to the curse object before any of the higher curses could get it.
+++
Once the three were gone, Yuuji looks off to where that had disappeared.
“Yuuji-sama shall we return to your home so you can rest?” He faintly hears Bari say to him in the background.
Yuuji eyes drift to the school buildings roof peeking slightly above the trees. “We should go...”
“Yuuji-sama?”
Before he can even think of moving forward, his own legs already make haste to follow after the three jujustsu sorcerers without a second thought.
Bari is none the wise to the situation, so he follows quietly like a shadow.