Work Text:
Yuuji blinked up at the vast, expansive sky above him, brown eyes wide with wonder. Giant, puffy white clouds softly dotted the otherwise subdued blue sky. As the clouds slowly glided across the horizon, the breeze back on Earth followed suit. The long, wild grass and dandelions Yuuji sat in gently swayed in relation to the wind, whistling and whispering all their secrets around him. Yuuji closed his eyes, sighed and listened.
“Tell us about your adventures.”
Blinking furtively, the young cub looked towards the voice and felt his smile widen when eyes similar to his own blinked back at him. When the other spot beside him began to rustle, Yuuji whipped his head towards it inquisitively. The tyke hardly had time to react as a large, almost familiar palm tousled his pink tresses. Yuuji soon erupted into giggles as he flitted his gaze between the two, warm smiles seated on either side of him with an equally warm smile on his own face.
“Okay!” Yuuji easily conceded, scooting back slightly so he could look at his two new friends easier.
The little tiger’s tail then swish ed happily behind him against the grass as he regaled the two people beside him of his adventures. He told them about the time he’d built sandcastles with his friend Megumi, the wolf cub, and how he’d valiantly rescued him after a terrifying pervert had dared approach them. He described Sukuna, the big, mean, terrible curse of a man he was often told to stay with, in terrifying detail before following up with equally descriptive tales on how he’d rightfully put the good-for-nothing jerk in his place. Stories of brothers he didn’t know he had, other friends he’d made, and the other adults (the alleged pervert included) who took care of him then rushed out of the toddler’s mouth in rapid succession.
Yuuji took a breath and was just about to recount the time he’d chased away this terribly mean bunny from his newest friend Junpei, the field mouse, until a voice calling for him gave him pause.
“Yuuji! Time to go!”
A deep sadness quickly washed over the cub, causing his ears to droop and his tail to still. Before he could wallow in his despair for too long, a smaller, more delicate hand than the one who’d tousled his hair grabbed him gently by the shoulder and pulled him close. Yuuji slowly closed his eyes as a gossamer kiss reached his brow, bringing with it a sense of calm but also…
The child’s eyes shot open when he suddenly felt something wet roll down his cheek. Yuuji looked incredulously towards the sky, expecting to see dark, billowing thunderclouds accompanied by the rain that usually came with it. To his surprise, the sky was unchanged. When he glanced to either side of him expectantly for answers, Yuuji’s surprise only grew as he realized: he was sitting all by himself.
The tear that he’d thought was rain dribbling down his flushed cheeks and onto his hand was all Yuuji needed to spring upwards and run towards the adult calling for him. Grass lightly crunched beneath his boots while the breeze blew against him slightly as the tyke closed the distance between himself and Gojo’s waiting arms. As soon as he felt the ground disappear beneath his red-booted feet, Yuuji draped his arms over the adult’s shoulders and squeezed tightly.
Gojo blinked in surprise beneath his blindfold as the toddler in his arms hid his face in the crook of his neck. This wasn’t the cheery disposition he was used to seeing from the excitable tiger cub. Gojo lightly rubbed the back of the slightly shuddering toddler in his arms.
“Who were you talking to, Yuuji?”