Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“So… it stuck its hand in you?" Ieiri Shoko asked. Again.

“Yes.” Pinching the bridge of his nose, Nanami Kento sighed for the fifth time in the span of two minutes.

“Inside your chest?”

“Yes.”

“And you don’t feel anything?” she asked with a puzzled frown.

Kento felt the light touch of her latex clad finger prodding at the middle of his chest. Right where he had seen the curse sink it’s arm before he exorcised it.

“No.” he said truthfully. It had been an easy job overall. The curse was a Grade 2, nothing he couldn’t handle, but it was faster than he had anticipated and it got close enough to touch him and… well sink its arm into him.

“Well, I can’t find any leftover curse residue. And there’s no actual wound…” the doctor sighed and pulled her latex glove off her hand with a snap. “You’re as healthy as can be, Nanami.”

The blond man nodded, he felt fine. Unsettled, but overall fine. He couldn’t argue with Shoko’s assessment, however, and attributed his restlessness to the fact that he had witnessed a deformed creature elbow deep in his chest cavity.

“Thank you, Shoko-san.” Kento said, taking his declared bill of health as his dismissal and began to pull his shirt back on

“Anytime.” she gave Kento the faintest of smiles and reclined in her seat, most likely still mulling over the situation.

“Aw man, don’t tell me I missed the examination.” a third voice chimed in, slight whine in the tone. 

Kento’s heart did that little annoying quivering sensation that it always did whenever he was near the strongest Sorcerer.

Shoko snorted softly, while Kento pointedly ignored the white haired man as he let out a wistful sigh. “Such a shame, but I suppose I’ll content myself with the small glimpse I was able to see.” the sorcerer went on, his playful pout all but vanishing as he turned to the doctor. “How is he?”

“He. ” Kento fought hard to keep yet another sigh from spilling past his lips. “Can answer for himself, Gojo-san. I appreciate the concern, but I am fine. The curse wasn’t tangible enough to cause any damage.”

“Well, that’s a relief.” Gojo stuffed his hands in his pockets, becoming once more the picture of nonchalance. “I was not looking forward to telling young Itadori that his favorite mentor had been mercilessly skewered.”

Kento leveled an unimpressed glare at the teacher but let the matter drop. He ignored the way that his heart picked up in speed in his chest, leaping with glee at the sight that was his former classmate. 

There were moments, just like this one, where Kento often wondered if it was some cosmic joke that he was unable to grow out of his crush for the silver haired Sorcerer. It had grown and blossomed over the course of his highschool days and no matter how much the blond tried to reject the idea with logic and persuasions, the incessant fondness he held for Gojo Satoru remained.

The heart wants what the heart wants. Satoru had said that once, long ago when they were younger. Children, really. It was a flippant passing comment spoken without much thought--in response to someone scolding him for all of the sugar he was inhaling.

The saying had unwittingly stuck with Kento, and perfectly described his predicament. He was fond of Gojo and his silliness, and no matter how annoying the older man could be, he somehow found himself falling more in love with him.

“I’m submitting the report now, clearing you of any wounds but I recommend you take a few days off in case whatever happened has a delayed reaction.” Shoko spoke as she typed away at her laptop, the clicking keys tapered off into silence when she entered the last word and submitted whatever report she had been working on.

“Understood.” Kento fastened the last button on his suit jacket and thanked her one last time.

Satoru walked alongside him, uncharacteristically quiet for a few moments until they reached a junction of the school.

“Are you sure you are fine, Kento?”

The softness in his voice was enough for the butterflies that had previously settled within Kento’s stomach to get riled up again and flutter about his insides.

Kento turned to meet Satoru’s impossibly blue eyes and again his heart ceased to work for a few beats. The clear cerulean hue of his eyes never seemed to fail in stealing Kento’s breath, they always drew him in and held him there, urging him to take a closer look, to close the space between himself and Satoru and just give in.

But Kento never let himself entertain that pull for too long, too many years of fighting against it granted him just enough strength to pull his eyes away and resist the enticing invitation.

“I am. It was an odd experience, but there is nothing to worry about.”

Satoru hummed, not entirely convinced by the sound of it, but also knowing that pushing Kento on the matter was not going to get him any results.

“Alrighty then.” he conceded. And much to Kento’s surprise, a flippant joke wasn’t made at his expense. Instead, he thought he heard something else from Satoru.

It sounded as if he had said, “I’m glad.”

But when Kento went to look in his colleague’s direction, the space where Satoru had been standing was empty and void of the sorcerer.

Kento felt the loss immediately, as he often did whenever Gojo decided that he would rather be elsewhere. Leaving without a proper goodbye and just vanishing to wherever his whims took him.

Sighing and pushing away his disappointment, Kento made his way out of the campus grounds and towards the city where his apartment was.

“Gojo-sensei!” Yuuji rushed at him as soon as Satoru turned the corner. “How is he?”

Satoru smiled. When he had first paired up Yuuji with Kento for his lesson, he hadn’t expected Yuuji to take such a shine to Kento, much less vice versa. But the kid had done it, he had done what Satoru could only wish he could. Get past the wall that Kento hid himself behind. 

He could at least be happy that he wasn’t as alone as before, he was willing to take on a mentee. Satoru couldn’t say he wasn’t hurt he wasn’t the one to crack Kento’s shell, but he was glad that it was a step in the right direction for the other sorcerer.

“Never been better, Yuuji-kun!” Satoru’s grin widened. “He was feeling a little tired though so he took off, but he’s as fine as can be.”

Visible tension melted from Yuuji’s shoulders and the student sighed in what Satoru could only call relief. “That’s good, I heard he was rushed in to see Ieiri-san.”

Satoru waved a hand in dismissal. “A false alarm, greatly exaggerated. Trust me. Now, about that training exercise we were working on.”

“Oh yeah!” Yuuji gained his excited smile as he proceeded to tell Satoru all about how he was beginning to learn incorporating his cursed energy into his fists.

They spent the rest of the afternoon working towards strengthening Yuuji’s control over his cursed energy until he was exhausted and tucked into bed.

Satoru clicked off the light and was about to retire to his own bed, pausing at the doorway.

An uneasy feeling had settled and grown in the pit of his stomach since that afternoon, after his talk with Kento. The blond had insisted he was fine, but Satoru couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something amiss about the whole situation.

If what he had read from Shoko’s report, then the curse had actually done some damage to Kento, tangible or not they worked on cursed energy, and they damaged things. Still, he couldn’t really hover around Kento without the other getting upset at him, but maybe checking in on him with a bottle of sake would be taken in a better manner?

With that plan in mind, Satoru tapped into his abilities and teleported to two places, a convenience store for some candy and booze, and then to Kento’s residence.

“Oh, Nanamin!~” Satoru sing-songed when he appeared within the stoic sorcerer’s apartments.

Instead of the usual silence that accompanied the apartment, soft sniffling reached Satoru. Immediately his guard went up. Every light within the apartment was off and the sniffling continued deep in the house. Nanami never left the lights off this early… it was only 9, and he didn’t cry… did he?

Satoru’s worry worsened as he settled the alcohol and his sweets on the kitchen counter and made his way into the apartment.

“Mom.” came a sad sounding cry, and Gojo paused at the end of the hallway, his heart beating heavily in his chest.

The crying came from a child. But why was there a child in Kento’s apartment, and why was he calling for his mom?

“M-mom.” a broken sob that time and Satoru found the source of the cries.

There at the edge of the living room where a ray of street light illuminated the floor of Nanami’s apartment was a small bundle of clothes and a boy right in the middle of them. His eyes were wet and red, cheeks streaked with salt and tears. His mop of golden locks was disheveled and sticking up in every direction

His large sad eyes looked at Satoru, but instead of fear that one would expect on a child who had just seen a stranger walk into his space, the child wiped at his eyes and rushed at Gojo’ wrapping his little arms around his legs. “S’... d-ark.”

Satoru’s heart went out to the small boy that clung as tightly as he could to him, the power of Limitless momentarily deactivated as he crouched down to the child’s height.

“It is quite dark in here isn’t it?” Satoru’s voice was soft, not wanting to scare the child.

The boy nodded. “It’s scary.”

Satoru hummed, the dark could be scary, but he didn’t want to reaffirm the child’s fears. “Let’s turn on a few lights, how does that sound?”

The kid nodded and taking Satoru’s hand the pair made their way to the first lightswitch, dispelling the dark to Kento’s apartment and easing the child’s worries. His grip on Satoru’s hand remained tight and unwilling to let go even as most of the apartment was now washed in the soft golden glow of the incandescent lighting. However, his distress had eased significantly and Satoru smiled. “Let’s get you a warm towel to clean you up a bit.”

The child followed him obediently into the bathroom where Satoru sat him on the counter as the water ran warm.

Wiping away at the dried tears and snot, Satoru offered the kid another kind smile. “There, all better… do you know how old you are?”

The kid’s face scrunched up adorably as he mulled over the question and after a few beats of silence, he lifted up a hand with his thumb folded in. “I’m four.”

“Four huh, that’s cool kiddo. And hey, do you know where a big gloomy looking fella is?”

The boy shook his head in answer.

Satoru frowned, worry gnawing at his nerves once again. It was a mystery he didn’t like. Kento wasn’t at his apartment but a child was-- Satoru’s thoughts came to a screeching halt as he took notice of a small detail he had brushed aside in his haste to calm the boy. He was practically swimming in a large button-up dress shirt that looked suspiciously like the one he had seen earlier.

“My name is Gojo Satoru, do you want to tell me yours?”

The small boy, again, considered this, looking up at Satoru, no suspicion or fear to be found, just innocent trust. “My name… is Nanami Kento."

“Oh boy…”

Chapter Text

“Kento-chan,” Satoru called out to him softly. “you have to let go for the doctor to look at you, c’mon.”

The blond head shook furiously–absolutely refusing to let go of his shirt–burying his face further into Satroru’s chest instead.

“No. She’s scary.” came a mumbled reply.

At that Satoru cackled, unable to help himself and earning the full weight of Shoko’s glare. 

The woman raised a perfectly sharpened scalpel in her hand and Satoru immediately sobered, coughing into his fist to dispel the giggles that threatened to take over him once more.

“Sorry, sorry I just wasn’t expecting that.” his lips quivered with the smile he was barely keeping at bay.

Clearing his throat one last time, Satoru patted the golden locks of his small friend, coaxing him to look up at him. “Kento-chan, that isn’t very nice. Shoko-san just wants to have a little look at you, to make sure that you’re okay. Can you let her see you, please?”

Kento’s large green eyes looked up at Satoru, bottom lip out in the most adorable pout the Sorcerer had ever seen. Satoru instantly melted at the sight and tightened his hold on Kento, he was so close to giving in to the child’s demands. But even Satoru had to admit that he was worried about the age regression Kento had undergone in just a few hours.

He didn’t want to think the worst about their scenario, but Satoru was genuinely worried about Kento’s existence. What if Kento was ceasing to be? What if he was turning younger and younger until there was nothing of him left?!

“Satoru.” Shoko snapped him out of his spiraling thoughts and the white haired man offered an apologetic look.

“I know, I know.” he offered the young boy in his arms a smile, “I’ll be right here holding your hand the entire time. And after we can go get some Taiyaki, would you like some Taiyaki Kento-chan?”

It took a second, but Kento finally gave them a reluctant nod and let his hold on Gojo’s uniform loosen, his eyes downcast and pout still on full display as he let himself be seated on Satoru’s lap on the examination table.

Kento’s small fingers were barely able to wrap around Satoru’s index and middle finger, but he held on with all of his might as Shoko ran through her routine.

“This is insane.” she muttered under her breath. “I checked him over not even six hours ago and he was fine, his heart was slightly accelerated, but it was nothing to be concerned about.”

The doctor took a hold of a needle and sighed. “Distract him for a minute, will you?”

“Distract him?” Satoru parroted, “With what? I’m not exactly well versed in child rearing here.”

The dark look came over Shoko’s face again and Satoru relented, “Alright, but don’t blame me if it doesn’t work out.”

Gojo Satoru wasn’t bad with children, at least that’s what he had gathered from the very few extremely rare occasions he had interacted with them. And therein lay the issue, Satoru had only interacted with children in passing. He made a silly face here or there, a show off of his abilities and the kids would love it. But the kid in question was Nanami Kento, who couldn’t stand Satoru on his best days and simply tolerated his existence. Sure he was clinging onto him now, but Satoru was sure it was only because he had been the one to find the regressed Sorcerer.

Had someone else saved him from his fear, Satoru suspected they would be treated in the same manner.

But, because Satoru was the one that found him he knew that in that moment he was Kento’s safe space. He was the one that the child Sorcerer was looking to for comfort and Satoru would be damned if he did anything to make this experience even more frightening than it already was for Kento.

“Kento-chan, give me a high five?” Satoru asked with a smile, holding his palm up to the toddler, who regarded his palm thoughtfully before trying to give him one of the most hesitant high fives Satoru had ever seen.

Of course with his Limitless ability, their palms never touched and Kento was taken aback, pulling his hand back and trying again.

”Okay let me try.” Satoru chuckled softly and asked Kento to put his palm up and high fived it, stunning the child who must’ve thought that Satoru couldn’t touch him in return.

“How did you do it?” Kento asked, trying again at landing his hand on Satoru’s.

“Magic of course.” Satoru grinned letting Kento land a high five and giving him a wink, “See?”

Despite their little game, Satoru was left unsettled by the end of their visit. Shoko was merciless in her blood sampling, collecting four vials of blood from Kento before she relented and let them go without even a lollipop for their good behavior. But Kento handled it like a champ, only flinching momentarily when the needle met his skin.

“I’ll call you when I get the results in.” Shoko had said before they left, her expression still puzzled.

“That wasn’t so bad, right?” Satoru tried when he and Kento stepped out of Shoko’s office.

The toddler was nestled between the crook of Satoru’s arm and his chest, bundled in a throw blanket that Gojo had found within the apartment. Kento’s head bobbed a little, his very sleepy eyes glanced at Saroru, giving but a small noise in reply.

Satoru would have burst out laughing at the sight if he wasn’t so conscious of how tired Kento was. Despite how timid and easily spooked he was earlier, there were still traces of the Kento that Satoru was familiar with, such as his quiet reservedness.

“I think that Taiyaki is gonna have to wait till morning.” Satoru said softly, making his way down the open halls of the school.

Satoru had a faculty issued dorm room on school grounds just like every member of staff and the students of the institution, but lately his plans called for a minor change of residence.

“Hold on for a moment, ‘kay?” he told Kento as if the child didn’t already have Satoru’s shirt bundled within his little fist.

It wasn’t much of a relocation, heading to the abandoned bunker underneath the High School, but it was actually a genius move if Satoru did say so himself. What hiding spot could possibly be better than right underneath their noses?

Safely tucked away from the reach of moronic old men and their shady-ass agendas, Satoru finally let out a breath of relief. “Okay Kento-chan, I don’t have anything that fits you but a t-shirt should do for now. Do you like Digimon ?”

Satoru took the sleepy murmur as a yes and grinned, toeing off his shoes at the door and heading towards his room.

A few minutes later Kento was tucked in and softly snoring in the middle of Satoru’s bed. With how tired he was, Kento was quick to drift off to sleep, the worst of his worries and fears washed away with the gentle illumination of a low light lava lamp.

Unfortunately, the light did little to ease Satoru’s own unease. He moved away from the tiny mass of blankets and pillows and perched on the edge of the mattress, fingers weaved together and finally free to let his worry show. The strongest Sorcerer let out a shaky breath as he rested his forehead against his hands.

It wasn’t rare to lose a comrade in their line of work, even children weren’t exempt from the dangers that lurked within the Jujutsu world. Satoru just never imagined that it would have happened– could happen to Nanami Kento. The young man that had been scouted for Jujutsu High. He had no known lineage or history to speak of when he had been introduced to their world, he had no obligation to follow in the path others set out for him and yet… he did it because he believed he could be of some use to the world.

Satoru will admit that he hadn’t thought much of the blond teen back then, he found him amusing only because he was so easy to tease. But pretty soon Nanami Kento began to show unprecedented talent, rising well above many of their peers and becoming one of the best Sorcerers Satoru had ever seen.

Kento held Satoru’s highest form of respect and admiration.

And… Satoru really couldn’t imagine his life without the stoic, no-nonsense Sorcerer.

Running a hand through his silver white hair, Satoru peered at the sleeping form in his bed.

Satoru would be lying if he said he didn’t find the predicament surreal, just hours ago he had been walking side by side with the blond Sorcerer who showed no signs at all of being anything but the picture of health, and now… neither he nor Shoko knew the extent his regression would take.

Satoru’s phone chimed softly somewhere in the apartment and the man sighed, judging by the ringtone it was not Shoko but rather a different faculty staff, one of the old men presumably. Not that it make him any more eager to find the device.

Moments later it chimed again and he ignored it, deciding that whatever it was could wait until the next morning.

Satoru pushed himself off of the bed and with a last look in Kento’s direction, he paused. This version of Kento was so small, so peaceful in comparison to the one he knew. He wasn’t encumbered by the expectations and pressures of society or the world he swore to protect.

Satoru’s heart warmed at the sight and his resolve steeled, not just for Nanami’s current predicament but his goal in life to make life better for other Sorcerers, to reduce the loss in their numbers.

‘Goodnight, Kento.” Satoru whispered into the room and left the room, leaving the door open a crack in case the child woke up during the night.

“Gojo-sensei.”

Satoru buried deeper into the covers, and instantly regretted the action when his neck ached in protest.

“Sensei!” The whisper was louder this time, more panicked. “There’s something in your room.”

Any and all hopes of going back to sleep were dashed away when the previous night's events rushed back at him and Satoru groaned, poking his head out of his warm cocoon. His one open eye was met with the sight of a worried looking Itadori Yuuji, his eyebrows knitted in concern as he looked to his teacher.

Lazily Satoru reached his hand out, still within his comforter, and rubbed the space between his pupil’s brows.

“Relax.” He mumbled, sleep heavy in his voice. “It’s too early to worry about it.”

“But Gojo-sensei.” Yuuji tried again, swatting away the blanket. “I’m telling you there’s something here.”

“Mhm.” Satoru hummed, letting his hand fall back onto the couch. “Let him sleep, ‘s still too early.”

“It’s almost ten.” Yuuji said with a small frown and Satoru pouted in return. “Exactly, early. But fine, the couch isn’t comfy anyway.”

Pulling himself into an upright position Gojo stretched out his long limbs until his joints let out very satisfying and pressure relieving pops.

Yuuji let Satoru stretch and yawn, the little pensive frown back on his features. “But? Did you sleep on the couch because of what’s in your room?”

“Excellent observation skills, Yuuji-kun.” Satoru teased lightly, “I unfortunately did sleep on the couch.” he sighed, rubbing at the soreness of his neck. Satoru was way too tall for the couch, but it was the only place he could somewhat comfortably lay on within the underground apartment.

“Let’s continue this over a cup of coffee, yeah?”

An over-sugared cup of coffee later and with the promise of a pancake-fueled morning, Satoru summarized the previous day’s events.

“So… the little mountain of blankets is Nanamin-san?” Yuuji asked with a tilt of his head.

“Correct!” Satoru grinned, “Who would have thought that our gloomy but talented Nanamin was such a cute little kid. Ah, you should see him, Yuuji, he's a little angel with his cute blond hair and big green eyes, and the squishiest cheeks!”

Yuuji’s eyes sparkled and his mouth formed a small O. However, he was quick to shake the look off of his face. “But why is he a kid?”

Satoru shrugged, pushing stray locks of his hair away from his eyes. “My best guess is the Curse he last fought, there was mention of it coming in contact with him before he exorcised it, so unless this is some odd curse technique of his we can safely assume it was the Curse.” 

Yuuji nodded, going back to flipping. “So like the scar dude?”

Now it was Satoru’s turn to look at his student in question.

“The freaky dude with the freaky patchwork all over his body that transforms people into curses.” Yuuji explained, pointing to his face briefly of where the scars were on the guy. “He morphs people’s souls and so their appearance changes too. He explained his ability more to Nanamin-san when he fought him first.”

“I’m gonna have to get my hands on that report.” Satoru mused, confident that it would shed more light on their situation. Nanami Kento, was after all, known for his meticulously detailed reports.

Speaking of work related issues. Satoru excused himself and went in search of his phone, remembering only then that it had been trying to get his attention last night.

“Gojo-san?” The Sorcerer paused in his pursuit to see the partially hidden face of little Kento peeking out of his bedroom, large eyes uncertain. 

Satoru’s lips formed an easy smile as he waved to his young friend. “Kento-chan! Did you sleep well?”

The boy nodded, “Yes. Um… I gotta go.”

“Go?” Satoru repeated, confused. “Go where?”

“Go.” the young Sorcerer emphasized and something inside Satoru’s mind clicked, lightbulb lighting up with realization.

“Oh! You have to go.” he quickly motioned for Kento to follow.

Kento practically appeared next to him, taking hold of Satoru’s extended hand and bouncing in place.

“It’s right over here, no worries.” Satoru said, pushing the door to the restroom open and guiding the child in. After double and triple checking that he was okay and could do what he needed on his own, Satoru breathed a sigh of relief.

He was so glad someone had the presence of mind to train Nanami to use the restroom by himself. The last thing Satoru needed in his life after all was Kento’s age magic wearing off while he was helping him go.

Kento and Satoru had made their way through the house–stopping by real quick to find the white haired man’s phone, and to the kitchen where Kento hid behind Satoru, warily eyeing yet another person he wasn’t familiar with.

This person was at least kinder looking than the previous one they had met. He was smiling brightly and making his eyes form little crescents on his face. “Wow Nanamin! You really are cute, do you remember me? Itadori Yuuji?”

Just like with Satoru, Kento could feel an inkling of familiarity that just fit with Itadori Yuuji, but it wasn’t nearly as strong a feeling as the one that he felt with Satoru. When Kento had woken up in the dark apartment, he was scared and lost and he couldn’t find the lightswitch. He had wanted his mom but instead a stranger came to him and instead of being even more scared, Kento had felt safe.

With the scary lady, he hadn’t felt threatened exactly, just scared.

But unlike Ieiri-san, the adult with pink hair and big smile put him at ease, enough so that Kento felt comfortable enough to answer him, even if it was a shake of his head.

Kento didn’t remember him, no. But he wouldn’t mind getting to know him. “Nice to meet you, Itadori-san.”

The pink haired man’s eyes grew slightly and his smile, if possible, grew brighter. “Oh my gosh he’s so cute, Gojo-sensei! He called me Itadori-san!”

Above him, Satoru chuckled and Kento felt a large hand run gently through his hair. It startled him for a moment before he relaxed into the motion once realizing who it was. Kento pulled his attention away from the smiling man and up to Satoru, who also offered him a smile.

“After breakfast, Yuuji-kun is going to look after you for a bit. Is that okay?”

Kento’s hands instinctively tightened on the material of Satoru’s pants at the thought of the tall man leaving him.”You’ll be back?”

The hand that had been carding through Kento’s hair paused and ruffled his hair affectionately. “Of course kiddo! I just need to run a few errands and I’ll be back before you know it, okay? But for now do you want some waffles?”

Excitement bubbled up in Kento at the mention of the breakfast food. “Yes! Waffles!”

“Waffles?” Yuuji looked less thrilled about the prospect of a fluffy stack of waffles. “No, sensei, I made pancakes.”

“Pancakes? Ah, pancakes are so boring.” Satoru whined.

“Eh?!” Yuuji’s face made Kento giggle, the pink haired man was somewhere between shocked and insulted. “I told you I was making pancakes.”

“But waffles are much more fun, right Kento-chan?” Satoru said, pout giving way to a smile. “Waffles have all these little pockets for you to put your syrup in, pancakes are just flat boring discs.”

“But I made them special.” It was Yuuji’s turn to pout and Kento’s worries of staying under his care eased.

Kento decided he liked Itadori Yuuji. 

Chapter Text

"How about, nope."

"That is not a call you can make, Satoru." The gruff reply came from one of the shrouded men.

"We are discussing the second occurrence of a previously unrecorded and dangerous Cursed technique. Which closely resembles the very same technique being used by a Special Grade Cursed Spirit. Nanami Kento must be relinquished to us for examination." Countered another.

"Examination, is that really what we're calling unnecessary poking, prodding and overall abuse of a child these days?" Satoru retorted, his tone was calm, he even held the small hints of the mischievous smile he was known for. But internally, he was boiling with rage.

The cluster of old men who ran the world of Jujutsu Sorcerers broke out into harsh murmurs, balking at his claim. Satoru caught the eye of a couple of them as they openly glared, they were outraged that he would even insinuate that they would torture children.

"We do not intend to harm Nanami Kento, we simply wish to understand the nature of the Curse Spirit that did this to him." Gakuganji spoke up for his peers.

"And how exactly do you plan on getting from point A to point B? The kid isn't exactly radiating any residue Cursed energy." Satoru said, hoping that fact alone was enough to dissuade them.

Unfortunately, and predictably, it was not.

"Had he been brought before the council before allowing nearly eighteen hours to pass by between initial contact with the Curse and now we could have had the chance to extract it from-"

"Let me stop you right there." Satoru's tone shifted away from feigned nonchalance to a decisive iceyness. "The mere fact that you know of Nanami's current state of age means that you read Ieiri's report, wherein she clearly states that there was no sign of residual energy when he went in for a check up less than an hour after his mission. So, how exactly would you have extracted what was not there to begin with."

The murmurs erupted again. This time, however, they hurled insults and aspersions at the young Sorcerer, though it was nothing he hadn't heard before; insolent brat, ill-mannered child, contemptuous fool, insufferable wretch.

Gojo Satoru would count himself as a man of high patience-in some cases. However, whenever he dealt with the higher-up congregation of old decrepit bastards, well, his patience wore thin.

"This is nothing more than another of your asinine whims, boy!" an elder spat out, clear venom in the voice. "First you stop the proper claim of the Zenin's on the Fushiguro boy, then the whole Ryoumen Sukuna vessel nonsense, and now this. Does your impudence know no limits? When will you finally be satisfied and cease to meddle in matters that do not concern you!"

The air around the room became heavy, so incredibly dense and cold that it was almost as if a blizzard was making its way through the small space as Satoru's anger reached a new height.

When will he cease to meddle?

Him?!

Gojo Satoru was the only person in the room who had cared about what happened to young Megumi when his father all but sold him to the Zenin's. He was the one who saw Yuuji as more than just some Vessel that could hold Sukuna, the boy had potential, talent that was rarely seen outside of their small closed off circles.

Satoru was trying to ensure the continuation and well being of all of humanity. But it wasn't just about that, the long term goal be damned. Satoru was trying to save much more than just the world. He was seemingly the only person in the room with a heart, these people would claim to have an interest in Kento only to cut into him with the same callous indifference that they would hold for an insect they stepped on.

He knew that the old bags of shit were not at all happy that the custody of Megumi had not been given to the Zenin house, and were even more displeased with the delayed execution of Sukuna's vessel-Yuuji-enough so to plan his assassination. But what they failed to see was that Satoru intervened because they were powerless children.

Megumi hadn't been asked if he was fine with being uprooted and tossed into the Zenin house to be their little soldier. Just as Yuuji hadn't meant to be the vessel for the King of Curses, it was an in-the-spur-of-the-moment decision of a foolish kid. And likewise, Satoru was sure that given the choice, Nanami wouldn't have opted to be reverted back to a child.

So Satoru took on their misfortunes. He stepped in and blocked Megumi's integration into the Zenin household. He gave an innocent and reckless teenager more time to live his life. And he would do the same for Kento.

The 7:3 Ratio user may not like Satoru all too much given his history of annoying Nanami every chance that he got, but he wasn't about to let that stop him from doing what was right.

"Well, I can tell you that today will not be the day. That's for sure." Satoru smiled wickedly, "I will not be handing over Nanami Kento to any of you. Once he makes a full recovery, you can ask him if he would like to be examined, but until then you're gonna have to keep your crusty mottled decrepit old hands to yourselves."

Disgruntled cries rose to new heights around Satoru, but one of them-Gakuganji-met Satrou's eyes. "Do not forget you are still to report to assigned missions and attend to your class you have no time to be taking in a child of that age."

Satoru recognized the statement for what it was, a poorly veiled threat.

"Aw Gakuganji, don't worry yourself into an early grave on my account. I have it all covered." Satoru waved the principal's concerns away. "But speaking of the class, I should be heading back to them."

"I mean it's cute that you call me by my last name, but I like it more when you say my name, so c'mon let's try again." Kento sat on the floor with the pink haired young man.

"Okay now repeat after me: Yuu-ji." he enunciated each syllable to Kento, again.

Kento tilted his head curiously at Yuuji. It wasn't that he couldn't pronounce his name, he knew could. Kento was good with words.

"But, you're an adult." he said, confused as to why Yuuji would ask to not be referred to as Itadori-san.

"What?" Now it was Yuuji's turn to look confused, "I'm not an adult, I'm fifteen."

Kento regarded Yuuji for a long moment. He was tall, like an adult, he was older, like adults, not wrinkly like some of them but neither was Gojo and he was an adult. He knew big words too. And he was fifteen. All in all that cumulated into an adult in Kento's book.

It was needless to say that Kento didn't buy it. "Yes you are."

"I'm not, though!" the corners of Yuuji's eyes crinkled with laughter. "How old are you again? Five?"

Kento opened up his palm, looking at his fingers as if they really helped him count instead of reminding him his age. Then he tucked in his thumb and showed Yuuji his palm. "No, this many!"

"Oh, okay!" Yuuji nodded along and gently uncurled Nanami's finger again before displaying his own two hands, all ten fingers fully splayed. "I'm this many see, so not that old."

Kento looked at all three of their hands and fingers. There were many fingers, way more than he had on his own and that fact alone was enough for him to decide that he truly wasn't convinced.

"That's alot." He finally said, much it seemed to Yuuji's dismay.

The teen hung his head in defeat, quite sure he would not be winning this battle with the toddler. "Please just call me Yuuji."

Kento didn't reply to that and instead used the opportunity of Yuuji's lowered head to reach out and touch the pink locks of the other's hair, giving him unrestrained pats.

The action seemed to work too, because Itadori laughed softly and lifted his head. "Alright alright, enough of that. What do you want to do while we wait for Gojo-sensei to come back?"

Kento's smile fell at the mention of the absent Sorcerer, "when is Gojo-san back?"

Yuuji probably picked up on the change in Kento's mood because his smile became sunnier, more upbeat. "Soon, I promise. But in the meantime do you like dragons? I saw a cool movie in sensei's collection we can watch."

"I like dragons!" Kento nodded and Yuuji offered him a hand, pulling him up from his spot on the floor and helping him onto the couch.

"Let me go get it and we can watch it together."

Kento took a moment to look around the house, it was a little messier than the previous one he had seen, a bit darker too with it's dirt colored walls and dimmer lighting, but unlike in the other house Kento didn't feel too overwhelmed and frightened. In this house he knew he wasn't alone, Yuuji was there to keep him company and when Gojo finished with his trip he would come back too.

The little Sorcerer held onto that fact, Gojo would be back soon, and let it comfort him further.

He could faintly hear Yuuji rummaging somewhere in the house, muttering to himself about bears and punches.

Within the first few minutes of the movie, Kento was entranced by the story of a boy who found and befriended a dragon.

Toothless became Kento's favorite character instantly and unbeknownst to him, he would light up every time that the little dragon would come back on screen and his mouth fell open when he saw how the dragon breathed fire.

"Itadori-san!" Kento pulled at the young Sorcerer's sleeve when the credits began to roll. "Can we watch it again?"

Yuuji seemed to consider the question for a moment before he grinned and nodded, "Sure thing Nanamin. Did you like the movie?"

"I wanna be a viking too!" Kento said in lieu of answering.

The pink haired teen chuckled and nodded, "yeah, being a viking would be cool too. I'm sure dragons are easier to deal with than Curses."

Kento frowned, not understanding what exactly Yuuji was saying but he was quick to discard the older's mumbling and settle back into the couch cushions to watch the movie again. The very same excitement that had filled him earlier came back when he saw the little dragon once more, immediately enamored with the creature and it's mannerisms.

They were halfway through the movie, and Hiccup-Kento thought his name was silly-was showing his friend how to fly on his dragon.

Kento looked away from the movie long enough to share a thought with Yuuji. "If I had a dragon I would share him too."

"Aw really?" Kento didn't see Yuuji's expression, but his voice was funny, a little higher than normal. "You would share your dragon with me, Nanamin?"

Kento scrunched his nose at the suggestion. "No."

"Ah, what?" the pink haired Sorcerer frowned, pouted really, at the child. "You just said that you would share your dragon."

"I will." Kento agreed easily, because he had been telling the truth. He was willing to share. "With Gojo-san."

Yuuji made an indignant noise in response, "aw man that's not fair why does he get a ride and I don't?"

Amusement bubbled up inside the little Grade 1 Sorcerer with the exaggerated expression of his caretaker, "cuz."

"That's not an answer." Yuuji whined, "I would give you a ride if I had my own dragon Nanamin, so why won't you give me one back?"

"You got your own dragon." Kento said after taking a moment.

"I said if," Yuuji stressed, eyes large and sad. "I thought you liked me Nanamin."

The child hummed, "I like Gojo-san more."

"That's cruel." Yuuji pouted, sliding in his seat on the couch, "I'm way more fun than Gojo-sensei."

Kento didn't reply to that, but he did lean into Yuuji's side, yawning as the movie went on.

When Gojo returned to the little hideout a few hours later he chanced upon the adorable sight of Kento curled up against Yuuji, both of them in deep sleep as the television displayed the home menu of How to Train your Dragon.

The strongest Sorcerer smiled to himself and pulled out his phone, snapping a few quick pictures of the pair for safekeeping and letting them rest.

He had visited his students earlier, checking in on their progress and was pleased to find out how well they were doing.

Satoru was in the middle of putting away some sweets he had picked up when there was a tug at his pant leg, and a sleepy Kento holding onto him. "Welcome back."

A smile came easily to Satoru who bent down to greet his small friend, "Hey Kento-chan, have a good nap?"

Kento nodded, rubbing the sleep from his eye. "Mhm. Itadori-san and me watched a movie."

"Oh, did you?" Satoru asked, gently lifting the child into his arms. "Did you like it?"

Kento nodded again, sleep still weighing heavily on the young boy. "I liked it. I like dragons."

Satoru ruffled his hair fondly, "I'm glad you did 'cuz dragons are super cool. And hey I have some awesome news, while I was out I got you some clothes so we can get you out of that, how does that sound?"

The young child who looked down at the large Digimon shirt that nearly swallowed him whole, he blinked at it for a moment and then finally nodded. "okay."

"I hope you like what I picked out for you, Kento-chan." Satoru said, and made his way towards the bedroom where he had set the clothes down.

With some help from Gojo, Kento was clothed in more fitting clothes than the oversized t-shirt from earlier and Satoru couldn't help but be proud of himself for guessing the correct size of his young friend.

"Oh you look so cute!" Satoru cooed, making a mental note to take a picture later. He had dressed Kento in a pretty simple outfit, a pastel blue t-shirt and dark green overalls with a little cartoon bear patch sewn into the chest pocket.

"Let's wake Yuuji for lunch before making him train. He slacked off enough already." Satoru grinned, while his initial plans for training Yuuji hadn't involved bringing a pint-sized Kento along, he could make do. Gojo was nothing if not multi-talented after all and contrary to what the pile of worm food thought, Satoru was capable of taking care of a child while also safeguarding Yuuji from them.

Satoru would be there for the people he cared about no matter what.

Chapter Text

Kento's mouth was open wide in awe as he watched the two adults fight with one another.

Yuuji was fast, and he was strong too! Though he wasn't nearly as fast or strong as Gojo was. Nanami was enraptured by the two Sorcerers, amazed at how easy their movements seemed, how practiced they looked, and how powerful.

Of course, young Kento couldn't exactly put all of his excited feelings into words, he just knew that what he was witnessing was super cool! It was like a movie in real life!

His head zipped from side to side, trying to keep up with the movements of the two training. The apple slice in his hand was long forgotten in favor of his fascination.

"Gojo-san!" Nanami's shout burst out from his small chest. "You're so cool!"

Though it was imperceptible to Kento, the white haired sorcerer faltered for a moment, allowing a small opening to make itself known to his opponent. And Yuuji, of course, was not about to miss his chance.

Kento saw the moment that Yuuji pulled his arm back and launched his attack, landing a solid blow on the blindfolded man who didn't even flinch at the contact. Satoru's Infinity ability was still in effect, providing him with the defense he needed to withstand the heavy blow from his sparring partner.

Their fight went on for a while longer, and when they finally took a break Yuuji came jogging to the toddler, sunny smile fully on display. "Did you see that Nanamin! I managed to hit Gojo-sensei, aren't I cool too?"

Now that the excitement of seeing a real action scene unfold had died down in Kento's system, the little Grade 1 Sorcerer pouted at the student, "No. You hit Gojo-san."

Yuuji's face turned to that of shock at the accusation in the kid's tone. "What? But Nanamin, that's how you play."

Kento just huffed, turning his head away from the teen.

"Are…" Yuuji's voice was a mix of surprise and distress. "You can't seriously be mad at me Nanamin! Sensei and I were just play-fighting and-and I didn't even hit him."

"No." Kento crossed his arms over his bear overalls and Yuuji's head fell in dismay as Gojo made his way over to them, the sound of his light footsteps making Kento's head turn back forward to the strongest Sorcerer.

Kento jumped to his feet and dashed away from Yuuji, running to the white haired man that caught him easily in his arms and lifted him high up off the floor. Kento smiled happily, holding onto Gojo's shirt as the Sorcerer closed the distance between himself and Yuuji to give his student a light pat on his back.

"Why so glum Yuuji, you did pretty good today. You would have landed a pretty solid punch to anyone who wasn't me."

"Nanamin is mad at me." Yuuji bemoaned, wilted where he was crouched.

Gojo turned to Kento who nodded in affirmation. "Itadori-san hit Gojo-san."

"He did, didn't he?" Gojo agreed easily, his smile morphing into a sad little pout as he sniffled playfully. "Yuuji-kun is so mean."

Although the strongest Sorcerer was just joking with the small child in his arms, and teasing Yuuji while he was at it, to a young Kento his hurt was all too real. The wobble of the white haired man's lips made him even more upset for Satoru and he reached out to try and wrap his arms around Gojo's neck in what he hoped was a comforting hug. "There, there 's okay."

Satoru stiffened in Kento's for a split moment before he relaxed and returned the hug to the child in his arms.

He gave two last playful sniffles. "Thank you Kento-chan, I'm feeling better already."

Kento didn't immediately let go, but eventually he pulled away but not before gently patting Satoru's snow white locks. "You're okay." he nodded decisively.

Satoru chuckled and turned to Yuuji who still looked pretty crestfallen at the situation. Normally Gojo would tease his student a little more, but he was refraining. Satoru was mindful of the fact that while he hadn't been in the best standing with the 7:3 Ratio user, Yuuji had and was not taking the toddlers' sudden disposition towards him as easily; it was, after all, easier to be liked than disliked.

"I am, but you know who else could use a get well hug?" Satoru grinned at Kento.

Kento's large green eyes peered up at him, head tilted to the side adorably. "Who?"

"Young Itadori of course," Satoru gestured to the dejected looking teenager by their side. "I think he needs a big get well soon hug."

Kento's head followed the motion and the toddler scrunched his nose a little, brows furrowed in a baby version of Nanami's best look of annoyance.

Satoru could see the clear reluctance on the regressed Sorcerer's face, but something in the child softened and with a somewhat reluctant nod he agreed.

Chuckling to himself Satoru set the child down and watched with unrestrained fondness as Kento did his best to gather Yuuji in his tiny embrace.

Yuuji made a soft sound in the back of his throat before the teenager scooped Kento up into a hug and crushed him against his chest. "Aw, I can't stay mad at you. I didn't want to hurt Gojo-sensei, I promise."

Kento relaxed in the happy student's arms but quickly began to squirm with protest and was relinquished back to Satoru who smiled at the two boys. "Yay we're all friends again! And now that we have that settled, I believe I promised my little friend some taiyaki, right Kento-chan?"

Large green eyes sparkled with joy as Kento's smile took over most of his face, the blond boy giving a few quick enthusiastic nods. "Yes please!"

"So polite." Satoru chuckled and turned to Yuuji, "wanna come along? Tokyo's pretty big so I think we can pass inconspicuously amongst the crowd."

Just like Kento, Yuuji's eyes gained a happy shine to them and the teen pumped a fist in the air. "Hell yeah taiyaki! Can we get some sushi too, please sensei?"

Satoru hummed, tilting his head to the side as he considered the request. "I suppose a certain someone would be upset with me if all we fed him were sweets and pastries so yeah, sure."

Yuuji whooped and rushed out of the training room with a yell of "Let me shower real quick, wait for me please!"

Satoru smiled and started walking to the main part of their current home, "While he does that let's go find you a hoodie, can't have you getting a cold on me, Kento-chan."

When Kento had first seen the crowds he had felt a pang of fear at the thought of being lost amongst the sea of people. He hadn't even realized he had unconsciously held Gojo's hand tighter until he was being lifted off of the ground and onto the white haired man's shoulders with a soft. "I gotcha, don't worry."

Kento was reassured by Gojo's presence. He felt calm and placated enough to enjoy the scenery.

And what a scenery it was! Kento was beyond amazed once more, though this time instead of being mesmerized by the movements of his two caretakers, he was entranced by the lights, sounds, and just everything that was around him in the big city.

His small hands loosely held onto the white head of the tall man. Gojo had switched out his blindfold in favor of some dark sunglasses, so his hair was currently down and allowed Kento more room to see.

"You doing okay, Nanamin?" Yuuji asked when they had walked a few blocks through the busy streets.

Kento nodded, looking down at Yuuji and unbeknownst to him, flashing him the widest smile he had. Kento couldn't explain it even if he tried, he was just unfathomably happy in the moment, he was with Gojo who he cared for very much and accompanied by Yuuji who—despite his outbursts of displeasure with—he liked a lot.

"Good." Yuuji flashed him his trademark sunny smile.

They were out in a lively section of the city, there were so many things to see and smell and from his vantage point Kento felt like he could see even further than ever!

There was a man who had three dogs on leashes, struggling to keep them from walking in their own separate directions, and a mom who was sharing ice cream with two children; there was a man who was rushing down the street looking very concerned at his phone. Some teenagers were racing down the sidewalk on their skateboards, and some old ladies stopped to look at a street vendor's flower cart. Kento even saw some awesome looking posters in a shop they passed by.

"Okay, here we are!" Gojo's voice pulled Kento out of his sightseeing to a brightly lit restaurant, Kento blinked up at the words, managing to recognize a few of the letters and symbols but not enough to read the words.

New wonder after wonder followed them it seemed, because the next thing to hold the majority of Kento's interest was the conveyor belt that they were seated next to. Little plates of food passed by them and Gojo and Yuuji helped themselves to them, asking Kento whether he wanted to try them or not.

Unsurprisingly, Kento looked suspiciously at each dish that Yuuji offered him, but readily accepted almost every piece of food that Gojo asked him to try, even if it was something that he had rejected from Yuuji before.

Gojo chuckled and served up a small plate for Kento, giving him a pair of training chopsticks for him to try out as he spoke with Yuuji.

Kento, wanting to impress the Sorcerer, picked up the chopsticks and tried to pick up an egg sushi vaguely paying attention to his caretakers.

"The Exchange Event is in a week, do you feel ready to reunite with everyone?"

Kento heard Yuuji hum across from them. "I really can't wait to meet up with everyone, but yeah, it will be weird. I mean, last they saw me I was…"

Satoru chuckled, waving off the young Sorcerer's worries. "Trust me after they see you they'll be crying tears of joy and forget all about that."

Yuuji, it sounded, wasn't convinced.

"And what about," Yuuji made a noise. "Where will he be?"

It was Gojo's turn to hum in thought. But whatever it was he was about to say was interrupted when Kento pulled on his sleeve and held up his chopsticks that held the Tamago sushi roll proudly. "I did it!"

In a swift motion, Gojo leaned down and ate the offered piece of food, grinning widely. "Great job Kento-chan, thank you."

Kento preened under the praise and giggled when his hair was ruffled. He stopped listening to the rest of the conversation in favor of feeding Gojo whenever he was able to finally get the chopsticks to do what he wanted.

When it was evident that both Yuuji and Kento had had their fill of sushi, the three of them took to the streets again, though instead of Kento atop Gojo's shoulders he was in between Yuuji and Satoru, each of them holding one of his hands in theirs.

From down below the city was still amazing to see, not as scary as it first seemed, but he did miss the tall perch of Gojo's shoulders.

"Have enough room for taiyaki Kento-chan?" Gojo asked him, peering down.

"Uh-huh." Kento nodded, already giddy with the thought of having some of the delicious breaded pastry.

"What kind is your favorite, Nanamin?"

Kento hummed thoughtfully contemplating the question as seriously as any four-year old could. "Custard!"

Yuuji chuckled, "I like that one too, my favorite is red bean."

Kento tugged on Gojo's hand, "And you, Gojo-san?"

"My favorite?" he tilted his head in thought, "there's so many to choose from, custard, chocolate, sakura… matcha even. But if I had to pick one, definitely Nutella."

Kento 'Ahh'd' at the response, agreeing that Nutella was a good flavor but was unable to voice it because his attention was stolen by a nearby window.

"Gojo-san!" Kento pulled on his guardian's hand, his other slipping out of Yuuji's hold to point at a window display where a lot of stuffed animals were proudly displayed. "Look!"

The strongest Sorcerer followed the pointing finger and paused, scooting the three of them off to the side and away from the bustling streets. "I can't believe I didn't pick up any toys for you earlier, you must've been a little bored. Do you want one of them, Kento-chan?"

Kento looked up at Gojo, large eyes sparkling as he nodded happily because yes he wanted one of them. "I want that one, please?"

Gojo chuckled, "How can I say no when you asked so politely, c'mon let's get you a few toys."

A walk around the store later, Yuuji was carrying a few bags worth of toys not only for Kento but himself as well, a reward for being a good student Gojo had called it, but most importantly, Kento had the stuffed cow that he had seen in the window display, the small round fluffy creature held to his chest as they resumed their mission to find some taiyaki

Not even five minutes later, the three of them were sitting at a park bench, each of them with a taiyaki fish in hand, Kento was savoring his when he suddenly thought of Gojo and offered him a bite, smiling when the older man agreed and took a small bite from his fish, offering one in return.

Two bites later, Kento felt bad for his favoritism and offered Yuuji some of his fish as well, smiling softly when the pink haired Sorcerer thanked him and took a small bite.

"You're welcome." Kento murmured and ate the rest of his fish feeling happy and full. Though it didn't take long before he was starting to feel the pull of fatigue, the day's activities finally catching up to him.

Kento leaned on Gojo, his eyes beginning to feel heavy as a yawn left him.

"I guess it's time to head back." Gojo said softly, scooping Kento into his arms. The air around them shifted and the noise died down to silence, Kento belatedly realized that they were back home, away from the city and all its hectic activity.

"Mind putting that away Yuuji? I'll get Kento ready for bed." Gojo was gentle with Kento, he carefully wiped his face with a warm washcloth, brushed his teeth, and fitted him in a cozy pajama set and tucked him into bed.

"Goodnight, Kento-chan." Gojo whispered into the night. The soft trill of a phone ringing somewhere was the last thing that Kento remembers hearing before sleep finally took him.

Chapter Text

"Where did Kento go?" Satoru mused playfully, his fingers gently massaging the small head under the towel, trying to dry the blond hair underneath as best as he could.

"He was around here a second ago." He continued speaking aloud when the little bundle under his fingers quivered with silent giggles.

"Ah there he is." Satoru grinned, sliding the towel far enough back to let Kento peek through. "I was beginning to think I lost you under there."

"I wasn't lost." Kento smiled, "I was right here, Gojo-san."

"Would you look at that, you were." Satoru gasped in mock surprise and ruffled the damp locks of the little Grade 1 Sorcerer making him let out a trill of laughter. "Alrighty, let's get you dressed and ready for the day, okay?"

The toddler nodded and Satoru smiled, together the two made quick work of getting Kento dressed in yet another pair of overalls and a long sleeved turtleneck. Satoru had overheard that the weather was supposed to be mildly chilly that day and wanted to be prepared just in case it went over the threshold of mild.

"Yuu-ji-kun~" Satoru sing-songed when they rounded the corner and into the kitchen. "What's for brekkie?"

"Good morning sensei, Nanamin." Yuuji turned around with a bowl of steamed rice in each hand, and set them on their corresponding spots. "Nothing too grand. Rice, miso soup, steamed sweet potatoes, and rolled omelet, dig in."

"Ah everything looks delicious as always, Yuuji-kun." Satoru praised his pupil, sitting Kento in his chair and sliding him a spoon, making note to get him a pair of training chopsticks for him to use at their home.

To think that the great Nanami Kento would be using training chopsticks, Satoru almost found it funny, were it not for the looming sense of dread that hung at the back of his mind. He couldn't see any further proof of regression in the young Sorcerer. Kento still looked four, was still able to speak and function as well as any toddler his age could, and he was taking that as a good sign.

He hadn't heard back from Shoko just yet, and Satoru wasn't entirely convinced that 'no news was good news' when his colleague had lost literal years of his life.

"Gojo-san?" Satoru's eyes looked down to a confused Kento, and then across the table to an equally concerned Yuuji.

"You alright sensei? You spaced out for a bit there."

Satoru smiled good naturedly and dug into his food. "I'm good, I'm fine, it's just really early. Who woulda known that Kento would keep the same internal clock as before?"

Kento peered up at the mention of his name, but a quick pat to the head was enough to placate him and have him focus back on his food.

Yuuji seemed to accept the answer and moved on, "So what's on today's agenda?"

Turning his head in a pensive manner, Gojo sighed. "I got a tip that our esteemed principal Yaga is going to have a meeting with the shriveled up prune from our sister school in Kyoto. But it seems that they were told two different meet up times, so I should probably let them know of that mistake. And I really should check in on how Megumi and Nobara are doing with the second years. So a bit of a busy schedule."

"Oh, so does that mean Nanamin and I get to hang out again?" Yuuji asked, practically bouncing in his seat.

Satoru was almost sad to burst his bubble. "Unfortunately, no. I'm going to be taking him with me this time, I can't have the bags of dust thinking I leave him all alone who knows where and use that as ammo to take him. Besides, you have training of your own to do. When you're done with breakfast you'll find that I borrowed another friend from Yaga, it will teach you how to dodge faster. You should reach level 7 by the time Kento and I come back."

Whatever sadness that Yuuji might have felt at the thought of being left without Kento to keep him company was quickly replaced by excitement towards his new challenge and assignment. The teen smiled happily, content with his agenda and tackled his breakfast with newfound vigor.

Kento was upset.

His eyebrows were furrowed and drawn tightly together as he glared intensely at the grass below him.

He was trying hard, but his eyes were refusing to listen to him and the corners of his vision soon began to blur.

After their breakfast Gojo sent Yuuji off to do his training and put a light coat on Kento along with his shoes and teleported them out of their home to a different place. But unlike the night before, Kento was not met with the vibrant life of the city but a quiet and desolate place full of pillars and old buildings.

Kento wasn't upset about the setting, he was fine with silence and the calming environment. What he was having a hard time accepting was that he was surrounded by people he didn't know and Gojo was no longer with him.

The white haired man had led him down the halls, telling him he was going to meet some of his friends and that he would be gone for only a few minutes.

"It won't take too long, Kento-chan, I just need to have a quick word with old man Gakuganji and then I need to run a couple of things past Principal Yaga for the games next week. After that I'm all yours, okay?"

Kento hadn't had much of a choice but to agree.

And so Kento had been quickly introduced to some of the scariest people since meeting Ieiri-san.

Gojo had gently coaxed Kento to let go of his hand and prevented him from hiding behind his long legs like the previous two times.

"These guys are really fun, especially the really gloomy looking one right there, he has some neat tricks he can show you. I promise I will be right back okay?" Gojo waited until Kento gave a resigned nod to his reassurance, agreeing to stay with the group even though he wanted nothing more than to hold onto Gojo and ask if he was sure he couldn't be brought along.

Gojo smiled softly and tousled Kento's blond hair affectionately. "Take good care of my precious Nanamin~ I'll be back in a jiffy."

With a final wave towards the group the Sorcerer had vanished. And Kento had retreated from the people whose names he had already forgotten due to distress.

And that was how Kento ended up sitting underneath a tree, glaring at the grass under his shoes and trying his best to not cry.

"I heard about this from one of the higher ups, but I didn't know whether it was just a rumor or not." One of the ladies said with no clear emotion in her voice.

"Salmon." Kento wasn't sure why someone was speaking of fish, but his voice was softer, calming to a degree.

"Heard about what Maki?" The other woman asked, "How sensei had a whole ass kid hidden away? Did you know Megumi?!" Kento hunched his shoulders, he didn't like how loud and bossy she sounded.

There was a sigh and a voice softer than that of the fish person spoke next. "That idiot doesn't have any kids, I don't think the world is ready for a mini-Gojo running rampant in the streets. But yeah I heard about the incident too."

"Oh my god what incident are you two talking about?! Someone better spill the beans before I lose it." The loud woman yelled and Kento ducked his head lower. Gojo said he would be back soon, a few minutes, but Kento wasn't sure how many minutes had passed yet and how many he had left to go.

There was a sound of shifting clothes, sounds of dragging feet and the loud woman thankfully sounding fainter and farther away. With all the commotion, Kento hadn't heard the sound of approaching footsteps until a shadow sat down to his left. "Nanami-san?"

Kento resolutely looked at the singular spot on the floor, bottom lip quivering. He wanted Gojo back.

"Do you remember me, Nanami-san?"

Kento shook his head, he didn't know any of them. That was part of the problem, he was alone with a bunch of strangers and he wanted Gojo back, or at the very least he wanted Itadori back.

Another soft sigh spilled from the man next to him. "Okay… that's okay. My name is Fushiguro Megumi, a first year at Jujutsu Tech and a student of that moron Satoru Gojo."

"Stop it." Kento felt wetness on his cheek and he turned his full watery glare at Fushiguro.

The spiky haired man spluttered, looking surprised with Kento's outburst. "W-what?"

While next to him, the strange one said, "Cod roe."

"That's not true!" Kento said louder, "Take it back!"

The first year was perplexed, looking even more lost than before as he looked back to his white haired companion. "Take what back? My introduction?"

"Bonito flakes." the man shook his head helplessly, looking equally confused.

Kento wiped away at his tears,"Take it back, y-you meanie!"

"Woah woah woah, I leave the four of you for three minutes and you find a baby to torment? That's not cool." A new voice reached Kento and he looked up to see a giant panda. Had he been placated and calm, maybe Kento would have enjoyed seeing a live talking panda, but as it was, he was upset and could not find it in himself to be curious about any pandas at the moment.

"We're not tormenting him." one of the girls said, returning from where she had gone and crouched down near them. Looking expectantly at the wild haired man she made a gesture with her hands. "Well, what are you waiting for Fushiguro? Take it back."

"I don't even know what I'm supposed to be taking back." Fushiguro retorted, exasperated.

"Well you better find out what it is soon, that idiot is usually easy going but I don't think he'd appreciate us making Nanami-san cry." the girl with glasses frowned at Fushiguro.

Kento wasn't sure if he was sad or angry or both, he was sorely missing Gojo and Yuuji and the strangers around him were just plain mean, calling Gojo names and then pretending that it was okay and they hadn't said what they said.

"You're mean!" Kento sniffled glaring at the group of people. "You're all mean! Leave Gojo-san alone."

"Gojo-sensei?" The brown haired girl piped up, looking curiously at Kento. "Are you upset that Maki called sensei an idiot?"

"Stop calling him that!" Kento balled up his fists, angry tears rolling down his cheeks.

"Looks like you hit the nail on the head Kugisaki, that is what is bothering him." The panda said from where he had taken a seat near the silver haired man who nodded in agreement. "Salmon."

Fushiguro's eyes had widened just a small fraction, regarding Kento with part realization and part confusion. "But—"

Whatever he was about to say was cut off by Kugisaki cuffing the back of his head. "Don't make the kid even more upset than he already is, apologize."

Fushiguro held the back of his head with a prominent frown, glaring at the girl who hit him. "I was just going to say that normally—"

He was again cut off but this time by the other woman, who poked his side with the blunt end of a sword. "Just apologize will ya?"

"Alright, okay." Fushiguro sighed and his annoyed expression was momentarily put away, "I'm sorry Nanami-san."

Kento sniffled, not feeling any better despite the apology he was given.

All eyes went to the black haired boy again when Kento didn't stop crying and the boy glared back. "What? I apologized, why is this on me?"

"Because that was a lame fu-dging apology." the brunette chided and a round of agreements sounded around the others.

Fushiguro tsk'd and looked away from Kento muttering under his breath so low Kento couldn't hear what he was saying.

The first year tilted his head back, rubbing the side of his neck for a moment before righting his head and lowering his blue eyes on Kento. "I'm really sorry that I called Gojo a moron, and I'm sorry that my other apology sounded dismissive. Gojo is…'' the teen paused, his face contorting weirdly, "he's not that bad. He's actually a pretty cool teacher."

"Oh how sweet!~" Kento—and everyone else's heads—turned to the all too familiar voice, to see the tall lanky man with his phone in his hand and a broad smile on his face. "It's about time you sing praises to my awesomeness, Megumi-chan."

The Sorcerer pocketed his phone and strode over to the small group, gently picking Kento off of the ground and wiping away at his cheeks with a handkerchief he had seemingly materialized from thin air.

Gojo's mouth was set in a sorrowful frown, "Were the mean old kids picking on you Kento-chan?"

Kento shook his head, relaxing in the teacher's hold and blowing his nose into the soft fabric when instructed. "No."

"Then why so sad, kiddo?"

"You went away." Kento said, bottom lip quivering as his emotions started to calm down now that he felt safe again. "I missed you."

"But I'm here now." Gojo smiled and looked to the rest of the people gathered, who looked on in confusion and bewilderment. "And the kids aren't half bad right?"

Kento said nothing and just held onto the strongest Sorcerer.

"Okay so is someone going to explain or what?" The awkward silence was finally broken by none other than the haughty girl who had grown impatient enough to ask.

Kento felt Gojo's chest vibrate with a low hum before he heard it. "Well it's a pretty long story, but the gist of it is that I'm looking out for Kento while he recovers. So as long as he's like this he'll be tagging along to some of our lessons."

"Okay but why is he like that, with you?" Fushiguro asked.

Another chorus of agreements sounded off, "Salmon." "Yeah…" "That is weird."

This time Kento felt Gojo shrug. "Because I am the most awesomest person ever! You all can learn a thing or two from him, right Kento-chan?"

Kento peered behind him, and immediately shied away from all of their questioning glances, keeping quiet.

Satoru chuckled, "isn't he adorable?"

"Do you think you should be encouraging that?" the girl with glasses asked, "even you can't be that stu-dense enough to know he won't be mad when he comes back."

"I would think his Ratio technique would do some damage even to you." the panda said, "since it has the power to forcibly make a weak point in any opponent."

"Not to mention when he goes into overtime." Fushiguro supplied helpfully.

"Salmon."

Gojo chuckled nervously, and adjusted his hold on Kento to rest him more comfortably against his hip. "Ah I'm sure it won't escalate that bad, trust me. Anywho! What were we doing today?"

"Megumi was sparring with Panda and me, he's gotten pretty good at hand to hand. And Nobara has been doing endurance training with Toge." The girl adjusted her glasses after giving her report.

Feeling much better, Kento peered over his shoulder to the student Sorcerers when training was mentioned. He wondered if they were training just like Yuuji… Kento's eyes widened in alarm and he turned to the group. "No hitting Gojo-san!"

All eyes came to settle on him again and Kento frowned, elaborating. "Hitting is bad."

The bossy girl with the light brown hair let out a little giggle that turned into another small bubble of laughter before she lost control and laughed. "Oh my god that is so precious! He is genuinely worried about us hurting you isn't he?"

The stern looking girl cracked a smile too, but said nothing. Meanwhile the panda twitched an ear, "Nanami-san really cares about you, Gojo-san."

Above him Gojo beamed proudly, "Of course he does, he adores me. Don't you Kento-chan?"

Kento nodded. He cared about Gojo very much, enough so that he missed him when he wasn't around, and was always happy to be near him. Kento was happiest when he was around Gojo because he deeply loved him.

"Gojo-san is my best friend." Kento said, honesty ringing in every word he spoke, "And when I grow up, I'm gonna marry him!"

"Eh?!" Six pairs of eyes fixated on Kento again.

"Come again?"

"What?!"

"What did he say?!"

"Mustard Leaf?!"

"Ah Kento," Gojo let out a nervous chuckle again, "that's—ah that's not something you say without meaning."

Kento frowned, he was serious. And he did not appreciate being taken lightly, so he puffed out his chest and made himself as tall as any four year old in someone's arms could. "I mean it! I do! I will marry Gojo-san when I am big, like you!"

Chapter Text

Satoru had never felt as astounded and baffled as the day that little Kento proclaimed his plans of marrying him.

On any given day with any other given colleague-turned-child Satoru would have followed their lead and played along with the childish fantasy. He would have indulged and encouraged it for all it was worth just for the shits and giggles, but for some inexplicable reason, he couldn't do the same with toddler Kento.

His students hadn't been as gracious though, especially the second years. Maki and Panda ran with the silly notion and teased Satoru with mentions of bells in the distance right next to the funeral organ, because "let's face it, he's gonna blame you for all of this."

"I'm not the one encouraging it!"

"But your attempt to stop it was weak."

Even Toge was against Satoru, agreeing with the rest of his friends. "Salmon"

"Knowing Nanami-san, he would have preferred you upset him, made him cry even, instead of letting him say that he's going to marry you." Megumi drawled from where he was sitting with Nobara, who was reading a fashion magazine.

And perhaps Megumi was right. A little hurtful, but right.

Satoru endured his class' jests until they grew tired of it and moved onto their training once more. In the meantime, he sat back and watched, with toddler Kento going around and picking flowers, presenting them to Satoru and asking about their names and colors.

After repeating the names of both the flowers and the colors to himself a couple of times, Kento would nod and settle the flowers around Satoru and go off to find another blossom to pluck.

Nobara had cackled at the sight of Kento surrounding Satoru with picked flowers and random leaves, but made no other comment.

When it finally came time to part ways and join Yuuji, they found dinner ready and very delicious. Yuuji had made his meatballs again and Satoru couldn't be happier, he was in the middle of cutting one down for Kento to eat easier when Yuuji asked if anything exciting happened while they were out.

"I'mma marry Gojo-san." Kento wasted no time at all to declare his faraway intentions to the young Sorcerer.

Understandably Yuuji choked on his own spit and Satoru resisted the urge to slam his face onto the surface of the table. Kento had met a talking sentient panda bear, one would think that would be more exciting for a child but no, not for Kento.

Yuuji—sweet, understanding, and marvelous Yuuji—graciously coughed into his first, pulling himself together, "Ah well… He does like you best. His words not mine."

Yuuji hadn't elaborated on whether it was little Kento, or normal aged Nanami that had said those words. And Satoru hadn't asked.

That night of little Kento's bold profession, Satoru was finding it very hard to fall asleep, and it wasn't because he was on his couch for the third night in a row. Rather, it was because his mind refused to let him sleep in favor of replaying Kento's confession. Which in turn, left Satoru pretty conflicted, on one hand he was immensely flattered that baby Kento was so taken with him that he had developed a little crush on Satoru. But on the other hand, well, he was positive Nanami would kill him for not diffusing the situation then and there even if Nanami's child self was the one who had more or less proposed.

Don't get him wrong though, Satoru wasn't placing any stock on the child's promise. He was very much aware of how loose tongued and frivolous children were with their words. They said anything and everything in between with no real care to their meaning nor the consequences and impacts they had on others.

Satoru was sure that the infatuation young Kento held for him was nothing more than an attachment he had formed because Satoru rescued him when he was first cursed and scared of the dark.

And even though Satoru knew that there was no real meaning behind Kento's words and actions he couldn't help but think back to the true version of Kento. Maybe that wasn't fair to say, seeing as how the toddler was just as real as the older version of himself—he just wasn't the person Satoru pictured when he envisioned Nanami Kento.

This younger, more affectionate version of Kento was just a passing moment, and soon—date still to be determined—Nanami would be back to his usual grumpy self and quite possibly kill Satoru for this one single day.

Would he really? His traitorous mind whispered to him.

And therein lay the root of Satoru's sleep deprivation, these little whispers that refused to let up in their insistence that maybe just maybe this tiny version of Nanami Kento was the manifestation of unfiltered and honest thoughts that belonged to the older Nanami.

But that made no sense to Satoru, who knew without a shred of a doubt that he had single handedly lit the fire that burned whatever bridge there was between him and Kento long ago. He knew that he could be a bit too much, Shoko and Geto had both informed him of that on multiple occasions. And yet, Satoru couldn't help himself when it came to the blond Sorcerer, he was just so fun to tease, he liked getting a reaction out of him, to see something else in his green eyes other than that dull look he wore, even if it was annoyance.

Satoru enjoyed his company and his bluntness, his inability to shy away from topics that others would find strange or ridiculous. Kento was there to oppose Gojo when he needed a new perception of things, when Satoru was letting his ego get the best of him the ex-salaryman was always there to knock him down a peg or two, bringing him back to a level of humility he could live with.

Satoru supposed he never gave much thought to the dynamic that he shared with Kento. He always took for granted what he had with the young Sorcerer, a rock that was always there when Saroru was feeling lost and needed some company. It was very one sided on his part, with Gojo always reaping the benefits of their friendship and very rarely giving anything in return.

In the end, Satoru came to realize that he didn't really hold any silly illusions that he would be in any better standing with Kento due to this small act of kindness.

Kento would give him a curt nod, possibly a low and murmured thank you and a promise not to kill him for inciting his marriage outburst, but that would be it.

Satoru and the Grade 1 Sorcerer would slide back into their not-quite-friends-but-just-above-acquaintances roles and continue with their lives as if that incident never happened. At least that was the best that he could hope for, that everything would return to normal. But would it?

Would he and Kento just be able to go on as they had before? Satoru wasn't sure and that uncertainty scared him more than he cared to admit.

Satoru spent countless hours running through those thoughts again and again until, at some point, he lost consciousness and slept for what felt like a fraction of a second.

Kento woke up as he had in the past couple of days, bundled in a large bed with the little cow he had named Shiro.

The small child wiggled out of his bed with his stuffed toy in hand and waddled into the hall and to the couch where he had found Gojo sleeping in the past three days. Kento felt at ease when he saw the mound of limbs under the blanket and blinked sleepily at his guardian. The small knot in his chest loosened and Kento breathed easier knowing that Gojo was nearby, but as he got closer, the toddler frowned.

Gojo looked like he was having a nightmare and the little Sorcerer felt for him, it was awful feeling scared and lost.

Kento thought back to how when he was feeling scared or lonely the tall white haired man was there with a smile and a warm embrace, pulling Kento up into his arms and soothing the fear away.

Logically, Kento knew that he couldn't pick up the adult, he was too small and Gojo too big, but that wouldn't stop him from giving him a hug to ease away his worries.

With his mind made up, Kento lifted the blanket draped over Gojo and snuck under it. The toddler hefted himself up onto the couch, gingerly making his way up to where Gojo was sleeping and slotted himself against his chest, pressing Shiro between them and wrapping his small arms around Satoru's longer one.

The rigid posture of the teacher eased against Kento, his breathing became softer, and Kento once again felt lighter at this discovery, happy that he could provide some sort of comfort for his caretaker.

While Kento wasn't particularly sleepy and his mind told him that it was indeed morning despite any cues like the sun or a clock, he found the inviting warmth cozy and ended up drifting off to sleep once more, giving himself and Gojo a peaceful two hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Surprisingly, Gojo woke up first, stirring slightly and immediately stiffening before tugging his arm away from Kento, waking up the toddler who only held onto the limb tighter.

Bleary green eyes peeked up out of the blanket to meet impossibly blue eyes that blinked once, twice, three times before recognition settled within the azure gaze.

"Kento-chan?" Gojo stopped trying to free his arm and relaxed into the cushions again. "How did you end up here?"

"I like your eyes." Kento said instead, keeping his gaze on the beautiful blue, "looks like the sky."

Silence followed the child's statement and Gojo let out a soft snort, "Thanks kiddo, have you been awake long?"

Kento shook his head. "No."

"Had a nightmare?" Gojo ventured and again Kento shook his head in a negative.

"Just wanted to cuddle then?" Satoru chuckled, the teasing tone completely going over the child's head.

The soft laughter, though, stopped when Kento nodded his head.

Blue eyes regarded Kento with a brief sadness the child didn't catch before a soft gasp of surprise left the older Sorcerer. "And Shiro's here too, did he want to cuddle also?"

"Shiro makes the bad go away." Kento explained simply and Gojo said nothing to that, letting the gentle silence come over them again. Kento silently watched Gojo until he was sure that Satoru didn't look scared or sad anymore.

Once satisfied, Kento started to scoot away from Gojo, mindful of the edge of the sofa. He pulled his hands free from Satoru's arm and the man made a displeased noise above him. "Kento-chan~" he whined, "no you were so warm."

Octopus like limbs wrapped around the toddler that let out a peel of laughter as he struggled in vain to free himself. "Gojo-san! No, stop! Gotta get up."

"But why, it's so nice and warm here." The white haired man hugged Kento to him, snuggling his cheek to the top of the giggling child's head.

Kento laughed and let the Sorcerer get his fill of hugs before he squirmed out of his grasp and took Shiro with him. "It's daytime Gojo-san, we gotta get up."

"How do you know it's daytime if there's no sunlight?" Gojo questioned, but sat up either way.

"I know." The toddler said easily, offering up no more explanation and watched as Gojo stretched out his long limbs before folding his blanket and setting it back on the sofa.

Gojo smiled and ushered the child in the direction of the bedrooms, "Fine keep your time telling secret, let's go wake up Yuuji so he can make us breakfast."

"'Kay!" Kento took Shiro with him and the two burst into the teen's room, they jumped on the bed until the teen was awake and laughing with them.

After a delicious breakfast provided by Yuujii, Kento sat with Shiro in the training room observing Gojo and Yuuji train, a perpetual frown present on the toddler's face for most of the time. He was still unhappy that this game of theirs could involve hitting Gojo but the white haired man placated him with a promise that he would be okay.

After some time little Kento was nodding off, getting ready for a nap when the blaring of a song exploded from his left, making him jump and clutch Shiro to his chest.

Gojo materialized out of thin air a moment later, silencing the song by placing the phone to his ear. "Yo Shoko! What's up?"

While Gojo spoke to the person on the phone, Yuuji trotted over to them and dropped to the floor with Kento. "Oh man, I really needed a break." Yuuji smiled sheepishly, slightly out of breath.

"You doing okay, Nanamin? Not too bored?"

Kento shook his head, and took the opportunity to lean against Yuuji to get more comfortable, the sleep coming back after the shock of the ringing phone had faded.

"Oh yeah we can make it… actually, you know what he just fell asleep." Kento heard Gojo's voice in the distance.

"Yeah, no I'm not waking him up, he looks so cute when he's asleep! Bye see you in an hour or two!~" the sound of a camera click was the last thing Kento heard before sleep fully took him.

Later that day Kento was pressed firmly against Gojo's chest, his green eyes screwed shut and small hands balled in the fabric of his long sleeve shirt. "No."

The scary lady, Ieiri-san, sighed heavily. "Kento please stop being difficult, I just need to look you over."

Kento pursed his lips, he didn't like it here, the lady was scary and she took alot of his blood before. Kento had been sleepy and tired and frightened before, but now he was well rested and alert and he decidedly did not want to be poked by the lady again and have her take all of his blood.

Kento hunched his shoulders and pressed in further against Gojo.

"Toru, please, a hand?"

Gojo shook momentarily with subdued laughter. And then there were nimble fingers in Kento's blond hair. "What's the matter Kento-chan? You're not still afraid of Shoko are you? She's a friend, remember?"

Kento's head shook as much as he was able to in his current position. His muffled words sounding like "mham-pile."

There was a beat of silence. Two.

"Sorry kiddo, you're gonna have to speak up there, what was that?" Satoru asked, still carding his fingers through the soft blond hair.

Kento wanted to continue staying hidden in Gojo's arms but the older Sorcerer managed to coax him out of his space. Kento didn't glance back at the tired looking woman, and in his best whisper he warned. "She's a vampire."

There was another momentary lapse in silence as the two friends let Kento's words sink in.

The chest Kento was attached to trembled briefly and an odd noise sounded from above him, caught between a cough and a snort. But before Kento could even try to identify the sound, Satoru shook again, boisterous laughter erupting from him and filling up the quiet office.

"He-" Satoru gasped in between his laughter. "Oh my-he called you-a-a" he dissolved into an uncontrollable fit of laughter that had little Kento curious enough to peek out of his hiding place to look up and see Gojo with his head thrown back and the hand that wasn't securely holding Kento to him pressed against his blindfold.

His laughter was uncontrollable and completely unappreciated by the looks of Ieiri-san who had her arms crossed over her chest and glaring daggers at Gojo. Whatever bout of bravery that Kento had gained in that small moment with Gojo's fit was quickly dashed away by the dark look on the doctor and he hid once more.

The action seemed to sober up Satoru though, who quieted his cackling down to small snickers as he gently patted Kento's head again. "Oh man, that was good. He and Yuuji watched an episode of Scooby Doo last night that had some vampires as the villains so it's probably still fresh on his mind."

"Awesome." the doctor deadpanned and sighed, a long suffering sound. "You done?"

Gojo made a contemplative sound, and after a quick laugh he said, "Kidding! I'm just messing with ya. But Kento-chan you can't go around calling people undead monsters, you hurt Shoko-san's feelings."

Kento's lip pushed out as he peeled himself away from Gojo, guilt pooling into his chest as he looked up to the man who smiled gently at him. "I'm sorry."

"Not me you have to apologize to, bud." Gojo inclined his head and Kento followed the action, and met the dark eyes of the woman. Kento felt bad that he had hurt her feelings, it wasn't really his intention to hurt anyone. But to the small four year old boy she really did look scary, with her pale skin and dark purple bruises under her dark eyes. And the last time he was at her office she had taken alot of his blood from him. Yuuji said that they took people's blood to eat it.

Gojo, as if reading his thoughts, patted Kento's back soothingly. "Shoko-san needed to check something in your blood to see if you weren't sick last time. She's very nice, I promise. She just doesn't go outside too often, or go to bed on time."

Again, the teasing in Gojo's words were missed by the child in his lap who absorbed that information and took it as truth. His mouth falling open in a small O, as the reasoning to her scary appearance made sense. So that was why Yuuji said it was good for Kento to sleep early the night before.

"I'm sorry for calling you a vampire, Ieiri-san." Kento apologized, finally letting himself be turned in Gojo's arms to face the woman who no longer looked as tired as before. But she wasn't looking at Kento, but rather at Gojo with a new puzzling expression.

"I accept your apology, Kento-kun." Ieiri said after a moment and even offered him a small but no less warm smile and proceeded to do a series of little games with Kento. Like making him breathe in and out slowly, covering an eye and asking what animals he sees with each eye, what he hears when she had a weird tool by his ears and how tall he was.

Pretty soon Kento was bouncing Shiro on his lap as Gojo and Shoko spoke above him.

"Any changes?"

"None, he's stagnant, so that's a small relief. How has he been, emotionally?"

"Different, the same in some ways but… he's less standoffish than what he shows you. He's a pretty sweet kid to tell you the truth."

Out of the corner of his eye, Kento saw Shoko take a seat but continued to pay her no further mind.

"Hmm, so he may have fully regressed, unfortunately we don't know anyone who had contact with him during his childhood. The samples I tested held no answers either. The cells and everything just point to him being a normal toddler. Did you find anything out on that report that mysteriously went missing a couple days ago?"

Kento looked up when Gojo let out a heavy sigh into his hair and gave him a curious look, but the older man had his attention on Ieiri-san. "Short answer: nope. It was insightful to a few things though, the Curse that did this to him can't be a weaker version than the one he and Yuuji faced, since the Special Grade kills the victim upon contact with their soul. And as you just said, it looks more like his clock was reversed than him being actually changed."

Ieiri-san sighed. "And we're back to square one. I suppose we should be happy he's remaining as he is for now. And it's only been three days since the incident, nothing much to do but wait and see. Bring him in every two days and we'll continue monitoring his growth."

Kento perked up when Gojo stood up with him in his arms and both relief and excitement bubbled in him, "We can go now?"

Gojo laughed and settled Kento on the floor, "Yeah we're done here, say thank you to Shoko-san for taking care of you."

Kento hesitated for a single moment before bowing politely in the woman's direction, "thank you much Ieiri-san. Bye-bye!"

The next few days were more or less repetitive, with Satoru waking to Kento climbing onto the sofa and cuddling with him until Kento decided it was no longer time to sleep.

Then they would wake Yuuji and either help him train or head out to see the other kids and check in on their progress. On the days that they visited Megumi and the others, Gojo and Kento stopped by Shoko's office where she would run some quick tests on Kento and declare him a healthy child. And each time that Kento met up with the doctor, he warmed up to her a little more. She was nice, but she really needed to sleep more and maybe see the sun with more frequency.

Unfortunately, she and Yuuji were the only two gaining any progress in terms of getting Kento to ease his dislike for them. Satoru would have chalked it up to the fact that Kento had been rather fond of the two before his incident, but that wouldn't be fair for the second years and Megumi, who had known Kento for ages now.

Instead the small blond child held an unyielding disdain towards Megumi in particular, refusing to let the first year attempt to rectify his mistake from their first meeting. He was more friendly with the second years but he was still wary of them. Kento seemed to like Panda the most if only because he resembled his cow, Toge's speech confused him and Satoru had a sneaking suspicion that Kento only liked him because he was the most mild-mannered of the bunch. Whereas Maki and Nobara were quite loud and intimidating for the child's liking, but he was at least willing to be around them.

The biggest challenge, Satoru had come to find out, was that he had to keep Yuuji a secret from the others and had to make Kento understand that Yuuji was their secret friend and they were working on a surprise for the others. He didn't entirely get it, but he listened to Satoru and honestly, it certainly helped that Kento was fairly reserved and unforthcoming when it came to the students.

The teasing from Satoru's students had thankfully become near non-existent despite Kento's little proclamations of marriage from time to time. The kids, after all, had much more important things to think about, such as their strategy to defeat the students of their sister school when the tournament finally began.

A week passed by before any of them were aware of it, and on an early morning Satoru was actually awake before Kento, a small frown downturning his lips as he watched his young friend that would be accompanying him to the tournament observation room. There was no avoiding Gakuganji, nor was there anything stopping him from trying anything against either Yuuji or Kento.

Well, nothing but the strongest Sorcerer, Gojo Satoru.

Chapter Text

"You just can't take a kid to a—what did you say it was? An observation room—and not pack the essentials." Yuuji fretted early that morning, stuffing a small backpack with snacks and little miscellaneous toys.

"I was going to take snacks." Gojo countered, helping Kento into his tiny sneakers. "And Yuuji's going to be in the movies, that's what's gonna keep us entertained, right Kento-chan?"

"Ye-es!" Kento was a ball of excitement, Yuuji's own enthusiastic energy rubbing off of him and making the toddler bounce on the balls of his feet.

"Itadori-san is gonna kick butt!" Kento cheered, grinning at the teenage boy who beamed at the confidence in little Nanami's words.

"Heck yeah he is!" Satoru agreed easily, ruffling the soft golden strands. "Yuuji and his friends are gonna be the winners and we'll all go out for ramen after, sounds good?"

Kento nodded happily and Satoru couldn't make his smile any smaller if he wanted to.

After Kento was tucked into a light jacket Yuuji fitted the backpack onto the child and pressed Shiro to his chest.

With Kento all ready to go, Satoru glanced at his other charge and gently nudged his shoulder. "Hey, you okay Yuuji?"

The teenager blinked momentarily, adjusting his gaze on Satoru before giving him a smile. One that Gojo could see didn't reach his eyes the way it normally did.

"Just don't know what I'll say to the others." Yuuji confessed, "they thought—think I'm" he glanced at Kento who was bouncing Shiro in his arms and drew an X over the middle of his chest where Sukuna had previously taken Yuuji's heart.

It wasn't like Sotoru had forgotten that small detail in his plans, he was one of the very few people that knew of Yuuji's supposed death and the very one to suggest they keep it under wraps while he taught Yuuji the basics of Cursed Energy. He just had to remind himself that not everyone thought on the same level as he did, and that situations were handled differently from person to person.

"Don't worry Yuuji," Satoru said softly, "they'll be so happy to see you they won't be able to speak through their tears of joy. You've got this kid."

When Yuuji didn't look any less dispirited, Satrou called to Kento, "Kento-chan~ remember those super awesome get well hugs of yours? I think Yuuji-kun could really use one."

The regressed Sorcerer perked up at the suggestion and without needing further prompting, he and Satoru both rushed at the student, hugging him in a group hug. Kento holding onto Yuuji's shoulders with all of his four-year-old might.

The dark cloud over Yuuji's head all but dissipated between Satoru and Kento's hug and his smile returned. "Thank you Nanamin, Gojo-sensei."

Pulling away from the teen when Satoru was satisfied they had quelled his worries, he pulled Kento along with him, but the toddler lingered for a moment. He pushed the fluffy stuffed cow towards Yuuji. "You can borrow Shiro. He helps."

Yuuji's eyes sparkled with emotion and Satoru himself was warmed by the act. The fondness that Nanami had held for Yuuji before his regression had returned though the fact that he greatly preferred Satoru's company did not go unnoticed.

"Okay Yuuji-kun! The time to make your re-debut has come, and remember just go with the flow." Satoru wiggled his arms as he said this, earning a laugh out of both Kento and Yuuji.

During Yuuji's jack in the box performance, Kento hid behind Satoru warily and watched those around him.

The students from the other school were much scarier looking than Gojo's students and the other adults weren't any better. The old man in particular Kento found an immediate and profound dislike for. The old man didn't speak to him directly, but rather shot a few words to Gojo.

The Grade 1 Sorcerer openly glared from the safety Gojo's long legs provided. Kento didn't like the way the old man's eyes lingered on him or on Yuuji. And he especially didn't like the way he looked at Gojo. It also didn't help the man's case that he looked as unfriendly as they came.

The other two adults didn't fare any better in Kento's book either, the lady with traditional clothes was not all too nice to Gojo and the stoic man with glasses was better but only marginally so.

"O-kay~" Gojo clapped his hands, dispelling Kento's glare with the old man and pulling up his attention. "Now that we're all acquainted, let's start the games, shall we? Take it away Principal Yaga!"

And that was how Kento ended up on a large sofa chair with a large desk in front of him. It took next to no time for Kento to grow tired of the images on the projected screen, mainly because Yuuji was never the focus of any of them. Kento endured less than five minutes of the boring images before he was turning to Gojo with a full on pout. "I wanna see Itadori-san."

The white haired Sorcerer hummed, "there is a surprising lack of Yuuji up there, isn't there? The feed around him keeps getting cut off."

A woman with half of her hair falling over her face sighed behind them. "Animals are quite fickle creatures and sharing senses with them can be tiring."

"So it seems." Gojo intoned, and then smiled at Kento, "I'm sorry Kento-chan, it's not Yuuji's turn yet. Why don't we color him a picture in the meantime, hm? I think he packed you some crayons in there right?"

Kento perked up at the suggestion and nodded, pulling his backpack into his lap and rifling through it until he pulled out an arsenal of crayons and the coloring book filled with various sea creatures.

Opening the book to a page with a seal on one side and an octopus on the other, Kento stretched to push the book towards Gojo's desk. "You color one too, Gojo-san."

Taking the book from the toddler, Gojo smiled, "I would love to, but I can't use it if you're coloring because your desk is so far away."

Kento paused and gauged the distance between his chair and desk and then to Gojo's, the small less-than-a-foot space seeming abysmal to the child, leading him to frown. He wanted to share with Gojo but he couldn't do that because their seats were so far apart, even if Kento was big and strong enough to push his desk next to Gojo's he wouldn't be able to because it was bolted onto the floor.

Kento's pout lasted for a few minutes before a solution popped into his head and he gathered the box of crayons in his hands. Then the toddler wriggled out of his seat and joined Satoru in his, smiling when the man adjusted himself to accommodate Kento on his lap.

"You do this one, please." Kento pointed to the seal and put his crayon box on the table.

Just as the toddler began to color in his cephalopod, Gojo playfully whined, "Aw, I wanted the cool octopus."

The purple crayon came to a pause on the page and Kento set it down to look through the box and pull out a light blue crayon.

There were two reasons Kento had chosen the octopus as his drawing, one was that Kento liked the octopus because it had a little hat with a fish on it; and second was that he didn't want to color the seal because it was on Gojo's side and he would be coloring upside down and that was silly. So he opted to convince Gojo into coloring the seal by giving the strongest Sorcerer his favorite color: Blue. Kento folded Gojo's fingers over the thin stick of colored wax and moved the large hand over to the seal. "The seal is cool, it has a ball."

Gojo twirled the crayon in his fingers idly as he seemed to consider Kento's reasoning on the seal. "Hm, you're right Kento-chan. The seal is balancing a ball on his nose, that's a really cool trick isn't it?"

Kento nodded eagerly, happy that Gojo was happy with his assigned coloring page.

"Might I remind you, Satoru, that this isn't a nursery. Are you here to observe the progress of your students or to play at daycare." a gruff voice spoke up and Kento looked up to see that all eyes were on him and Gojo and not the images playing on various televisions on the wall.

Kento didn't like the way the old man was talking to Gojo, he disliked how mean and rude he sounded. The toddler bristled with anger for his caretaker, but before he could defend his friend, Gojo spoke up.

"A little of both if we're being honest, Gakuganji. But so far my students don't seem to be the ones falling behind, whereas yours?" Gojo flicked his wrist over to the screens and pointed with the crayon to a monitor where a blond girl was bopped in the face with a squeaky hammer of all things.

"Let's just say we're looking at another win. I know I trained my students well, did you?"

"Gojo." Kento recognized the warning in the tone.

The white haired man, however, laughed good-naturedly. "Just stating the obvious Principal Yaga, I was worried his vision was so poor he wasn't able to make out which team was in the lead."

There was a snicker behind Kento and Gojo, just as an indignant huff was exhaled by the old man and a grumble from the lady to their right.

This time it was Satoru who placed a crayon in Kento's hand, "Don't worry about the living mummy kiddo, he's just mad he doesn't get to color with you and eat the yummy snacks Yuuji made us."

Appeased, Kento smiled at Satoru and went back to coloring, the outline on the paper only serving as a suggestion to the child who painted his image in a rich purple, though he was very careful to keep the octopus' hat from becoming stained with color, he wanted to leave it white.

While Kento was absorbed in his task of adding different shades and tints of violet to each tentacle, Gojo was speaking softly above him—commenting on the students most likely. Occasionally Gojo would add color to his own page, and small details like little stars, sparkles, and ribbons to the background.

When Kento finally set his colors down, half of a Shokupan was placed in his hand much to his delight.

"Thank you Gojo-san!" Kento beamed and happily bit into his fruit sandwich.

The small sorcerer received a fond pat to his head in reply.

Kento glanced up to a screen where Megumi was training with a student from the other school and a bunch of frogs. He frowned, still no sign of Yuuji on any of the screens. He was about to voice his second complaint over the lack of his favorite student being shown when all of the pages on the wall next to Utahime burst into red flames, frightening the toddler who jumped in surprise.

"Is it… over? They all burned red."

"That's odd, my crows aren't seeing anything."

The adults began to murmur amongst themselves just as confused as Kento was about the meaning behind the flames. His large eyes went to Gojo, the sandwich in his hands now forgotten. "Gojo-san?"

The white haired Sorcerer smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, everything is fine. The other teachers and I are going to go take a look. I'm going to need you to stay here with Mei Mei, okay?"

Kento shook his head immediately, he didn't know what the red fire meant, or why it was putting everyone on edge. But he didn't like the thought of Gojo leaving him alone after all of the warning signs around him.

"Aw Kento-chan, don't make that face," Gojo grinned, gently poking his cheek. "Just a few minutes okay, I promise. In the meantime you can show Mei Mei all of your cool puzzle games and how good you are at them."

"Okay." Kento's voice was small and thick with emotion, but he held back his tears this time, even as Gojo gave his head a quick pat and set him down on the chair. The teacher was then clapping at the old man and the scarred lady ushering them out of the room with a smile on his face.

"That damn Satoru is racking up quite the bill." The woman with equally white hair as Gojo said, her brown eyes landing on the small child. Her smile was kind as she stood and went over to where Kento was.

"Come now, everything will be alright. You needn't worry for him, he's one of the toughest fuckers I know. Though don't tell him I said that."

Kento sniffed and rubbed the budding tears in his eyes. He didn't want to be told that Gojo would be fine, he wanted to make sure himself that he was okay. And what about Yuuji and the other students? Who was looking out for them?

The small child worried for the others as Mei Mei took the seat he had once been in, her eyes far away, and on the monitors that really didn't show anything but random shots of the forest that surrounded the school.

Kento's eyes went down to the sandwich that was half eaten and unappealing, his appetite was gone and he didn't think he could finish it. With another sad sniffle, he looked away from it, and his gaze landed on the open door. They hadn't closed it on their way out!

Kento looked from the door to Mei Mei, took a deep breath and dashed out of the room.

There were several things that weren't adding up for Satoru's liking. The first being the anti-him barrier placed around the competition grounds, the second was the nature spirit. It was the same one that had rescued the Special Grade Curse that had attacked him all of those months ago. And then there was the man that he had to turn into a stump for endangering his students.

Was everything just a diversion? And if it was, why was it? All of the students were accounted for and unharmed for the most part, Megumi had assured him that he was just tired but would recover. Yuuji had a few minor knicks and bruises but with Sukuna's healing abilities there was really nothing to worry about.

Satoru didn't like this mystery, it was grating on his nerves and itching the back of his mind. But before he could try to reevaluate the players and events of that afternoon, his phone began to thrill in his pocket.

The name on the screen was foreboding and Satoru answered it immediately with an easy cheer in his voice. "Mei Mei! I know we didn't hash out the details, but—"

"Satoru he ran out." Mei Mei cut him off, "I looked away from him for a moment and he ran out."

Satoru's blood ran cold at the same time that he felt his stomach drop. "What—but where—why didn't you go after him?"

"I was paid to watch the monitors Satoru." She reminded him in that same damned calm manner that was not at all calming to the strongest Sorcerer.

"I was paying you to watch him!" Satoru yelled into the phone and before he knew it he was already on the move, his phone in his pocket and his senses extending to their limits.

What could have possessed Kento to leave the safety of the observation room? Had he thought that Satoru was back and rushed to someone pretending to be him? How long ago had he gone? Perhaps he should have asked this of Mei Mei before he had hung up on her. But Satoru was hardly in his right mind to think rationally at the moment, not when his mind was racing with gruesome possibilities of what could have happened to little Kento.

Satoru wasn't sure if Kento could see Curses at his young age, was it something that had developed earlier or later in his life. He doesn't remember Nanami ever mentioning it, and in the past week that he and Kento had spent their time together they hadn't really encountered any Curses for him to be sure.

What if he couldn't see them yet and he accidentally ran into one while he was alone? He was defenseless, he was a child and he had no one looking out for him!

Satoru reached the faculty grounds in record time, his blindfold still hanging around his neck as he strained the limits of his Six Eyes, looking for any sign of the child in his care.

Fear and worry gnawed at his very person as his search grew more and more desperate with each passing second. There was no way that Kento was the target of this little stunt was he? Why would he be, why would a Curse need a—the Higher ups were stupid old farts but even they wouldn't have orchestrated this event right?! They wouldn't have endangered the next wave of future Sorcerers just to get their hands on Kento would they? No that was ridiculous… and yet they had sent all of his first years on that suicide mission less than three months ago.

Anger was quickly fighting to become the primary emotion fueling Satoru's actions, but concern still held tightly on his heart. The cold sick feeling of fear was coiling it's sharp thorns into him and making it very hard for the raging inferno of his ire to take over.

Kento where are you?! Kento, please! Please be alright!

His name repeated in his mind in a desperate mantra. And he shouted his name out all the same, not aware of the action, but very aware of the silence he got back.

Despair was churning the pit of Satoru's stomach, turning it inside out and quickly threatening to make him sick. He paused momentarily to take a breath, his throat felt raw and his lungs burned with the need to take a breath, something that Satoru didn't think he needed, not when he had other more important things to do.

But he took that small milli-second break and then he heard it! A sniffle.

It was like deja vu, and for a moment Satoru wasn't standing in school grounds but rather inside Kento's apartment, all of the lights were off and a child was crying into the darkness.

Satoru's legs were moving before he could tell them to do anything and in two long strides the image of a cowering child was projected into his far seeing eyes and relief hit him with the strength of a tsunami. It crashed and flooded into him until he was running and scooping up the child into his arms, tenderly crushing the child to his chest.

"G-Gojo-s-" the child gripped his shirt with all the strength that his little hands could.

"I—" a sob wracked his whole body, and Satoru sagged against the nearest wall. He let himself slide down until he was wrapped protectively around Kento, shushing him gently while rubbing his back as soothingly as he knew how. "It's okay, deep breaths. It's okay I'm here. I'm here now."

"So s-scared." Kento hiccuped.

"I know, I'm sorry." Satoru whispered. "You're okay kiddo, all the scary things are gone now."

Kento shook his head, "the patch man."

Gojo's hand motions froze and he looked down to Kento who was still clutching onto his shirt, appearing so much smaller and vulnerable. Little hiccups and sniffles still left the distressed child.

Patch.

The freaky dude with the freaky patchwork all over his body… Yuuji's voice came to Satoru and his eyes widened. More questions flooded his mind, did Kento run into him, did he remember him? Was the patchwork man responsible for the attack on the students?

As shaken up as Kento was, Satoru knew that asking everything in his mind now would only yield muddy answers, so he held back the flood of questions and instead reassured Kento that everything was fine.

It took several minutes for Kento to finally quiet down, and when he did Satoru finally let himself breathe a sigh of relief and uncoiled himself from his protective position. "Feeling better?"

Kento didn't look up just yet, keeping his face pressed to Satoru's neck where the child's tears were beginning to dry. His hands finally let go of Satoru's shirt to wrap around him in the fiercest hug the four year-old could muster. "'m so happy you're ok, Gojo-san."

Chapter Text

Satoru smiled softly as the last magnet clicked into place on the spotless surface of his stainless steel refrigerator.

His and Kento's coloring from earlier that day hung proudly upon his previously bare appliance. It certainly brought back memories of when he had the fridge plastered in drawings that Megumi had made for school, or progress reports, tests, and report cards that the young Sorcerer would bring home before they were tucked away in a box in Satoru's room. Megumi had insisted that Gojo no longer decorate his fridge with his various accomplishments and childish doodles, Satoru complied... after various threats of a fire erupting in his house while he was away.

Perhaps when Nanami was returned to his older self he would be more considerate of Satoru's feelings and let him keep these on his fridge without threatening to burn his house down. A small little thank you for taking care of him while he was young and needing a guiding hand. 

Chapter Text

While it was concerning that the attack on the school resulted in all six of Sukuna's fingers being stolen along with a few other high Grade Cursed objects, Satoru was relieved that both his students and Kento were safe.

Unfortunately for Satoru-the greatest and strongest Sorcerer there was-that meant he was tasked with finding the missing items. That in turn meant he would be on an extended mission. Which was no big deal normally, but now he had a child to take care of again-and a very attached one at that-Satoru was reluctant to take off for however long the mission required of him.

Of course, Satoru knew that he couldn't ignore his job, especially one of this level of importance. One Sukuna finger running rampant somewhere in the world was bad enough, but six of them in the hands of a single person or Curse was-at the very least-concerning. But, Satoru wasn't sure how Kento would handle the separation.

While Kento's attachment to Satoru was undeniable, it had increased in the past few days after his scare with the Patchman. The incident had spooked the regressed Sorcerer to the point that Kento started having nightmares about it, and from what Satoru could tell, they were not easing up in the least. Satoru was concerned for his young friend, he could only imagine the horrible things a child's brain could come up with to fuel the fear instilled in him from his encounter.

This was the main reason Satoru didn't like the idea of separating from Kento for too long. He didn't want Kento to endure his terrors all alone. The mere thought of the young child dealing with the trauma caused by Satoru's carelessness by himself hurt Satoru.

And so, Gojo was having a hard time justifying running off to who knows where in the world to chase down this mystery. Satoru didn't want to right the failures of the useless old farts who couldn't safeguard the Cursed objects, instead he wanted to be there for Kento and help him through his distress. But his hands were, unfortunately, tied on the matter.

Satoru briefly toyed with the idea of taking Kento with him before throwing it away and scolding himself for even considering it. His next fleeting thought involved the brief notion that he could work his investigation during the day and come home to Kento in the evenings like some regular 9-5 job. It was tempting, but Satoru knew that he had to give his undivided attention to his job, otherwise one tiny little mistake could cause irreparable damage on a catastrophic scale.

Satoru tried to reassure himself that Kento would be fine.

If the past few days were any indication; Kento would be okay for most of his time away. So long as the sun shone Kento was the same bright and happy child he was before his encounter and was even willing to interact and play with Yuuji and company a little more. Nighttime was the tricky part, once the shadows started to get longer and the dark crept in Kento retreated to Satoru's side, sticking to him like glue.

It had escalated to the point that Kento was unable to sleep alone anymore even with the bedroom door wide open and the hallway light on. The first night he had stayed down for two hours before he went in search of Satoru and curled up next to him, wiping at his eyes and asking to stay.

Satoru didn't have the heart to deny the request. There was just something about the toddler's attachment and his large green eyes that pulled at Satoru's heartstrings and he found himself giving into the child's request. And so he let Kento sleep next to him, and even went as far as to cradle the child when Satoru was woken by his restless turns and soft whimpers.

The second night Satoru stayed with Kento in Megumi's old bedroom until the little Sorcerer fell asleep. The lava lamp from the underground bunker was on his nightstand and provided enough light to bathe the room in a warm golden glow; and after a thought, Satoru left the bedroom door open again and the hallway light on hoping this would ease Kento's worries over the dark. But within the hour the toddler was yelling for Satoru, ambling over to him with tears and terror in his eyes.

"Gojo-san, I'm scared."

"Stay, please."

"Don't go."

Guilt weighed heavily on Satoru's heart like a ton of bricks each time that he had to watch Kento try to stay awake as long as he could just to avoid his night terrors. Satoru tried to lull him to sleep by leaving the TV on at a low volume, when that didn't work he played white noise on his phone, and even played a lullabye on his piano; but none of that really eased his worries until on the third night a tired Satoru spoke to him about everything and nothing in between. Only then did Kento finally stop resisting sleep and let himself be taken to a more or less restful sleep.

It was on that third night when the Good Will Exchange Event finally ended that Satoru got the call from Principal Yaga. He was to leave the next morning and follow the razor thin trail of a possible lead they had uncovered to retrieve Sukuna's fingers.

Satoru could argue that he shouldn't be dispatched solely based on the possibility of a lead, but he was acutely aware that he was the best that they had. If anyone could see what wasn't there and get to the bottom of the mystery, it was him.

Satoru's covered eyes landed on the small form of his friend, the unshakable and admirable Nanami Kento, the white haired Sorcerer exhaled a pitiful humorless huff of a laugh.

He hadn't felt this conflicted about going on a mission in ages. Not since Megumi had been younger and a new addition to his life. The separation anxiety had been easy to miss with Megumi because he hid it behind his anger and indifference whereas Kento expressed it freely and actually asked Satoru to stay with him. But at the end of the day when Satoru was away, hating that he had to worry Megumi, he knew that it was for the best. If Satoru could do his part of being the greatest then he would be protecting his charge. And that was what he had to tell himself again, it would help Kento in the long run.

As much as he was loath to do so, Satoru knew that there was no avoiding the responsibility he owed to the world not just as a Jujutsu Sorcerer but as the Strongest. He would hate being away from Kento just as much as he hated being away from Megumi but he would make sure to return as soon as he could with a little souvenir if possible.

But until he could properly make it up for Kento, Satoru had to make sure to get him a proper babysitter… or three.

Funny how the tables have turned. Satoru thought to himself, pulling his phone from his nightstand and opening the group chat he shared with his other kids.

Gojo:

Hello wonderful students of mine! [1:37]

you up? (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ ✧ﾟ･: *[1:37]

Megumi:

it's almost 2, what [1:38]

Yuuji:

Hi sensei! 😊 [1:38]

Nobara:

what's up? [1:39]

Are we getting a mission? [1:39]

Gojo:

Correct! the three of you have been specially

selectred to take care of a very important

mission! [1:40]

Selected* [1:40]

Megumi:

Is it another finger? [1:40]

Gojo:

Nope [1:41]

Yuuji:

another special grade curse? [1:41]

Gojo:

wrong again [1:42]

Nobara:

I'm starting to think it's gonna be some

lame mission in the middle of nowhere [1:43]

Gojo:

wow you guys are really bad at guessing

lmao [1:43]

Megumi:

if it isnt anything important then why cant

it wait till morning? [1:44]

Gojo:

i believe I said it was /very/ important tyvm [1:44]

not my fault you're all terrible guessers [1:45]

Yuuji:

Are we going undercover? ✨✨ [1:45]

Megumi:

why woyld we go undercover? [1:46]

Nobara:

for the funsies duh [1:46]

Megumi:

No but rlly, y? [1:46]

Yuuji:

lol Fishiguro gave up on spelling [1:47]

Nobara:

Fishiguro lmaoooo [1:47]

Gojo: 🤣🤣🤣[1:47]

Megumi:

-_- [1:48]

Nobara:

aye a Fishiguro selfie [1:48]

Megumi:

I'm going to bed [1:50]

Yuuji:

Megmi no pls m just sleepy [1:50]

Megumi replying to Gojo: 'Correct! the three...'

Can we pls get bk on track so i can sleep? [1:51]

Gojo:

Yes yes ofc! [1:51]

I've bo doubts you've all heard the rumors going

arond over the events of the attack suring the Good

Will event. I cant say much but I've been called away

on some stupid mission to investigate that and so i

will be gone for a bit [1:53]

Nobara:

kay? And? [1:54]

you leave on these missions all the time why

is it a big deal all of a sudden? [1:55]

Yuuji:

O! [1:55]

Do you need us to take care of Nanamin? [1:56]

Gojo:

Bingo! We have a winner! 🥳 [1:57]

I have personally hand selected the three of you

to take care of our beloved Nanamin~ [1:57]

Megumi:

yeah, idk. He kinda hates me [1:58]

Yuuji:

he doesnt hate you Megumi, he just

doesnt like how you treat Gojo-san [1:59]

Nobara:

So what were like a babysitting service now? [1:59]

Gojo:

Ah, think of it less like a bbysitting thing and more

like a favor to your most favorite teacher? [1:59]

besides! He doesnt hate you, no 4 year old is

capable of hating, they dont know the emotion

yet [2:00]

Megumi:

yeah thats convincing [2:00]

Gojo:

It'll only be for a couple of days, 4 max [2:01]

I woulda asked Shoko but shes worse with kids

trust me, why do you think i never left you with

her lol [2:01]

And since Kento is currently, the one needing the

looking adter, well you guys are my next best

chance [2:02]

Not to mention he loves Yuuji best and he will need

as much help as he can get [2:02]

Nobara:

K i'll bite, how much doesit pay? [2:03]

Gojo:

My undying love and gratotude? [2:04]

gratitude* [2:04]

And you know, peace of mind knowing that

little kento is being properly looked after? [2:04]

Nobara:

Yeah neither of those has a numerical

Value 🤔 [2:05]

Gojo:

Extorted by my own students… [2:06]

Man I'm proud of u [2:06]

50,000¥ each per day, fair? [2:07]

Nobara:

Hell yea! See yall tomorrow! [2:07]

Yuuji:

👍 [2:08]

Megumi:

Fine. Nite [2:08]

After sending his own 'Goodnight' and an abundance of varying heart emojis, Satoru locked his phone and set it to charge once more.

Satoru settled into the abundant pillows on his side of the bed and let out a chest heaving sigh. He wasn't joking when he told his students that he had specially chosen them for the job, Yuuji was great with Kento, and Gojo was convinced that he was the only person that could calm Kento down when he became upset. And while the same couldn't exactly be said for Megumi, there was no one as familiar with Gojo's house than the wild haired Sorcerer; and well, Satoru couldn't very well let Nobara miss out on all the fun could he?

Leaving the young Sorcerer in the hands of his students was a small relief he would have to content himself with until he returned. And truly, Satoru believed in his students. He knew they would do right by Kento, he just couldn't shake the sense of guilt that pooled in the pit of his stomach.

"I'm sorry, Kento."

"Alrighty guys! Megumi knows where everything is. Emergency numbers are on the memo pad by the fridge. I left my card for groceries and food on the table, and while I will have my phone on me, I'm afraid I won't be able to answer at all times, but I'll do my best."

"I have to take care of something Kento-chan, but don't worry I'm leaving you with Yuuji and the others, okay?"

"I will be back soon, I promise. Be good alright!"

The tall Sorcerer tousled Kento's golden hair with a kind smile and waved goodbye to the others, promising one last time that he would call when he was able to and for the older kids to behave.

"Nanami?"

"Nanami-san?"

"Nanamin?"

Kento heard all three voices calling for him, some farther away than others, one of them-Fushiguro-was the closest, but even he hadn't found Kento's hiding space yet.

"Nanami, this isn't funny, come out right now!" Kento's frown deepened with the demand and he hid further in his spot. Kugisaki really did sound mean sometimes.

"Geez Megumi, I thought you knew the place." the woman continued, still sounding some distance away.

"I know the general layout and where Gojo keeps things, but that doesn't mean I know all of the hiding places." Fushiguro shot back.

"Excuses! And you, you had one job Yuuji how did you end up losing a kid?"

"I got a text from Gojo-sensei, I literally took my eyes away from him for a second." Itadori groaned from somewhere in the house. "He was right there and then not. Nanamin, hide-and-seek is over now, you can come out of hiding."

Kento buried his face into the soft fur of his little cow plush childishly believing that if he made himself smaller and unseen that he wouldn't be found. He wasn't playing hide and seek, he was just hiding and he wanted to stay that way.

The small Sorcerer had run into Gojo's room, grabbed a blanket and shimmied under the older man's bed. There was enough light filtering in from the open curtains that the bottom of the bed wasn't scary yet, so Kento wrapped himself up and stayed absolutely still and quiet with Shiro, wishing that Gojo would come and find him again.

Kento had managed to stay hidden for a good ten minutes until there was a light tug to the edge of his blanket.

Green eyes peeked out from his cocoon and met the gentle pair of golden eyes of a dog, the creature was lowered on his belly, quietly regarding Kento with its intelligent eyes.

Kento frowned and pulled further into the blanket. Once there was a good two feet of space between him and the beast, Kento tried to shoo the dog away. But the animal stayed where it was, its pink tongue lolling out and seeming to smile at the toddler, no doubt swishing its tail behind it.

A moment later the skirt of the bed was lifted and Megumi peeked in. "Good boy," he whispered, patting the dog's head. The dog nuzzled into the pet and melted away into the shadows, leaving Kento and Megumi alone.

"Nanami-san?"

The little Sorcerer sunk his head back into the blanket, hiding his head away and pressing his face into Shiro's black and white fur.

Fushiguro sighed. "Hiding isn't going to bring him back, Gojo's on an assignment and won't be back for a few days until he's finished with his job."

When Kento didn't answer, the older Sorcerer continued. "I know how you feel, Nanami-san. It's not easy seeing him go, and even less easy to stay behind and wait for him to come back. But it'll be okay Nanami-san."

"No you don't! You don't care!" Kento cried out, finally getting the courage to face and glare at the teen. "You don't even like him."

Kento had seen the dislike Fushiguro held for the tall Sorcerer. He had seen the way he spoke to him and how Gojo always tried to be friendly with the wild haired teen, only to frowned at and turned away. How could Fushiguro say that he knew how Kento felt when he didn't even care about Gojo.

Megumi frowned, retreated his head and just when Kento thought that he was going to be left alone the spiky haired bully returned.

"It's complicated… kind of? Not really, I don't not like Gojo." Megumi said, pillowing his head in his crossed arms, he was now lying on his tummy the way the large dog was when it found Kento.

"Ah, maybe I should avoid double negatives…" the Sorcerer exhaled, trying again. "I do like Gojo and care about him, he just annoys me. A lot."

Kento's face scrunched up, and Megumi huffed out a breath. "I don't mean it in a bad way, so you don't need to glare at me like that. He's annoying, anyone with two brain cells can tell you that, but it grows on you… He's childish and conceited and can be pretty stupid sometimes, but he's also kind and smart and pretty selfless."

Fushiguro's small smile was soft as he continued. "When I was little Gojo took me in and took care of me. I'm not gonna lie, it was a tough adjustment for both of us. But after a while I realized that he's not so bad. He didn't have to take care of me, you know, but he wanted to and I appreciate that. So yeah he's annoying and weird and embarrassing but I love him."

Kento's glare lessened until it became non-existent the more he listened to the dark haired student. He felt the sincerity behind his words and the dislike he held for Fushiguro Megumi for being so mean towards Gojo began to ebb away as he realized that Fushiguro was just really bad at showing people he liked them.

The last words he said though, brought the glare right back and little Kento lifted his head from Shiro's fur to pout at Fushiguro. "You can't marry him."

"Huh?" Fushiguro's confusion lasted for a moment before he scoffed, "why would I ever want to marry someone like him?"

"Cuz Gojo-san is awesome!" Kento boasted, "He's cool and fun and can color really good and he's the best!"

Megumi hummed, as if he was considering Kento's pitch. "Yeah no, I don't see it, he's pretty selfish and a brat, you can find someone better Nanami-san."

"No!" Kento shook his head adamantly, "I love Gojo-san! He's the best I know so!"

A thoughtful look came over Megumi, but instead of fighting Kento on it again he let it go. "You know, when Gojo used to leave for long missions when I was little I made him cookies with my babysitter. That way he had something sweet to snack on when he came back. Do you want to help us make cookies for Gojo?"

"Gojo-san loves treats!" Kento recalled with a small gasp his green eyes shining with glee. "I wanna make him cookies! Can I? Please?"

"You can." Fushiguro agreed easily, "but I don't think we can bake under a bed."

Kento's excitement faded a little and the small Sorcerer retreated to his spot behind Shiro. The reason he was underneath the bed in the first place came back to him and emotion swelled within him again. Kento didn't understand why Gojo had to leave, "I want Gojo-san to come back."

"He will. He promised, remember? And Gojo always keeps his promises."

Kento nodded silently, and he scooted further out of his cocoon. "Gojo-san likes sugar cookies."

Fushiguro's smile was kind this time and he nodded, "He does. C'mon let's go make him some, okay?"

Chapter Text

“Gojo-san is gonna love my cookies!” Kento was giddy with excitement, enough so that he was unable to stay still as Yuuji dried his hair.

The teen chuckled as he gently massaged the water out of Kento’s hair. “I bet he is! You didn’t tell me you were a baking chef Nanamin.”

Kento beamed proudly when he peeked out from under the towel. “I love baking!”

Itadori smiled and swaddled him inside the soft towel. “It was fun, but next time let’s try to keep the flour out of your hair okay?”

“Mhm.” Kento agreed easily and practically bounced inside of the towel, still buzzing with energy after the day's events. After Megumi had coaxed him out from under the bed they had rejoined Yuuji and Kugisaki in the kitchen where a quick inventory sent them to the supermarket to pick up a few necessities.

Gojo, Megumi explained, was not the best baker or cook so he didn’t keep his cabinets stocked as well as he did back when Megumi used to live with him.

And since they had to rely on public transport instead of Gojo’s teleporting ability, the trip took a little longer than any of them had anticipated. Still, little Kento forewent his afternoon nap in order to make cookies with the help of his three caretakers.

The first batch was… yucky. Yuuji said that someone had accidentally swapped the sugar for the salt so he banned everyone from touching the two containers.

The second time around Kento was helping Fushiguro with shaking the bowl with the holes in it while Fushiguro poured the flour and somehow a big pile of it fell onto his hair like snow.

It had been very funny and Kento had even caught a small chuckle from Fushiguro towards the end, and even though Yuuji scolded them he too wore a warm smile.

When no one was looking, Kugisaki snapped a picture of them and saved it to her gallery.

By the time that the new batch of cookies was finally in the oven the kitchen looked like a particularly hungry burglar had ransacked the place. Kento, though, paid it no mind and instead rubbed at his cheek, a frown prominent of his young face

He didn’t like feeling as if there was a hard forming shell on his skin.

“Itadori-san.” Kento whined, pulling at the older boy’s pants. “I wan’ it off.”

Now that Kento was all fresh, clean, and belly full of delicious cookies and milk, the fatigue of the day was finally catching up with the small Sorcerer.

Kento was nestled into Yuuji’s side, cuddling into the warmth of his caretaker while How to Train your Dragon 2 played on the TV. Fushiguro was sitting on the floor. He had taken over the coffee table with multiple books and papers and from what Kento had been able to tell he was making some really awful doodles that were scribbled all over the page with no color in sight. Adjacent to him, Kugisaki was sprawled on the single couch, her back to one armrest and legs dangled over the other. She was rapidly tapping away at her phone and grinning at it as if it were a puppy.

The movie was just reaching the point where the Dragon Riders were making their heroic stance when Kento’s eyes started to get really heavy, and his head tilted and rolled onto Itadori’s side.

“Sleepy, Nanamin?” Yuuji asked softly from above him.

The blond toddler shook his head as best as he could even though he curled further into the pink haired teen’s side. Kento was so sleepy all of a sudden. Sleep sounded like the best idea to him, but there was something he had to do. Something he had to wait for.

“‘m not sleepy.” Kento murmured, wiping at his obviously tired eyes. “Gojo-san gonna call, he said.”

Somewhere in the background Kugisaki’s tapping paused and so did Megumi’s scribbling.

“I can wake you up when he does.” Yuuji tried gently, “you can take a nap while you wait.”

Kento shook his head a little more forcefully that time. “No I wanna talk to Gojo-san.”

Yuuji paused, his warm brown eyes a little sad, “Nanamin…”

“He’ll call.” Fushiguro’s low voice pulled their attention to the other student. “It might take a while but he will call.”

“Psst, Megumi is it smart to lead him on like that?” Kugisaki stage whispered from her spot. She glanced at Nanami who couldn’t quite understand what she was alluding to and went back to poking furiously at her little device. 

Despite not understanding what Kugisaki had said, apprehension plagued Kento. His hand tightened on Yuuji’s sleeve. “Itadori-san?” 

Fushiguro’s phone buzzed, bringing both Kento and Yuuji’s attention in his direction.

“Look, I know by experience.” the wild haired teen said, looking away from his phone with a scratch to the back of his neck. “He never missed a check in call, no matter how late. C’mon let’s take a walk.”

Fushiguro stood from his spot on the floor and stretched out his long limbs similarly to how Gojo stretched out when he woke up.

Kento watched as Fushiguro approached him with an extended hand, “walking always helped me stay up a little past bedtime.”

“Walking?” Kento repeated, his sleepy eyes regarding the offered hand.

“We can walk Divine Dog.” he suggested, motioning to the door that led outside.

Following his gesture, Kento went rigid and unconsciously pressed himself closer to Yuuji’s side. “No.”

“No?” the wild haired teen questioned, “No, you don’t want to walk Divine Dog?”

“No!” Nanami said a little more forcefully as the panic pushed away any semblance of sleepiness he had accumulated throughout the night. He didn’t want to go outside, it was dark outside and Gojo wasn’t there to look for him if he got lost again. And if he got lost the patchman would come back to look for him and eat him! 

Kento didn’t want to get eaten! 

With fear fresh in his min, Kento shook his head vehemently and retreated as far back as he could into the space between Yuuji and the couch. “No, no, no!”

“Hey, hey it’s okay.” Yuuji wrapped an arm around Kento, who held onto his sleeve with a white knuckled grip. “No walks, we get it, right Megumi?”

Looking lost, but remorseful, Fushiguro raised his hands placatingly. “Yeah, no walks. Sorry Nanami-san.”

“ He’s there.” Kento mumbled into the fabric of Yuuji’s sleeve.

Above him, Nobara mouthed, ‘ he?’ . Yuuji shook his head at her, a signal that he would fill them in later.

“Don’t worry Nanamin, he can’t come in here, I promise. And besides you have big brother Yuuji to look after you, remember?”

Kento shook against Yuuji, the fear of running into the man with mismatched eyes and ugly serrated flesh still freezing the blood in his veins. But the reassuring smile he was getting from Yuuji was enough to warm him some. 

Instead of answering, Kento nuzzled into his side. “I want Gojo-san.”

“I know Nanamin,” Yuuji soothed, running his hand through Kento’s golden fringe. “He’ll be back soon. But hey, how about instead of walking outside, we walk inside Gojo-sensei’s house, Right Megumi?”

Kento considered Yuuji’s proposal. Walking inside the house seemed like a silly thing to do, but Fushiguro had said that it could help him stay awake… and now that the adrenaline of his fear was subsiding, the fatigue he had gained earlier began to creep back in. The small Sorcerer basked in the warmth his favorite caretaker provided for a minute longer before he finally nodded and wiggled off of the couch.

He needed to stay awake, Gojo was going to call any minute now. “Inside is okay.”

Smiling in relief, Yuuji stood and took a hold of Kento’s hand. “Great I’ll walk with you too Megumi, you coming Nobara?”

“Nah, you boys go ahead.” she said, looking back down to her phone.

Kento yawned big when they left the living room and entered the kitchen. He wanted to ask Yuuji to pick him up and off his heavy feet, but that would only make him even more sleepy and he was not going to miss Gojo’s call.

The three of them walked slowly, taking in the sight that was Gojo’s household. To the toddler there wasn’t much to see. Gojo’s house was clean and there was very little furniture or pictures up on the walls. It was very simple colored too, mostly silver and black with some blues mixed in. Truth be told, the only things of ample color in the house were the coloring pages that decorated the refrigerator, each one signed with either Kento or Gojo’s names.

“You know what’s funny?” Yuuji’s voice was soft, a little sad. Maybe he missed Gojo too.

Fushiguro hummed from his place next to Yuuji, prompting his friend to continue.

“Back when Gramps was… away I used to go out at night too. Jogged a lot to clear my head and tire myself out more than to stay awake though.” 

Fushiguro didn’t say anything to that, but Kento held onto Yuuji’s hand a little tighter for some reason.

They went around the whole house in silence after that and were back at the couch when Itadori’s phone started to sing in his pocket.

Kento immediately perked up, his sleepy haze giving way for bubbling excitement. 

While Yuuji fished his phone out of his pocket with his free hand, Kento wiggled his hand free of Yuuji’s hold and with renewed energy, he climbed onto the couch as fast as he could and clung to Yuuji’s sleeve trying to look at his phone. “Is it him? Is it Gojo-san?”

The smile the pink haired student sent his way said it all. Kento bounced on his feet until Yuuji placed a steading hand on his back and placed the phone in his small hands.

The call was already answered when Kento placed the phone to his ear. “Gojo-san?”

The voice on the other end sounded a little rough, not as cheerful as Kento was used to, but it was undeniably Gojo’s. “There you are Kento-chan, did I wake you?”

Kento shook his head before realizing that Gojo couldn’t see that. “Nuh-uh.”

“No? Don’t tell me the kids are keeping you awake. Are they not being nice like they said they would?”

Unable to keep his excitement to himself, Kento smiled into the phone. “We made cookies! An’ went on the train! An’ went to the store! An’ Itadori-san put me way up high so I can reach!”

“Oh wow.” Gojo intoned cheerfully into Kento’s ear. “It sounds like you had a lot of fun Kento-chan, did you get to eat a ton of cookies for me?”

Kento's smile fell into a pout for two reasons. “No, Fus… Fus-Fushigoru-san said too many cookies is bad for you.”

And the cookies are for you . Went unsaid by the toddler.

Gojo burst into laughter, “He would say that, that party pooper. But I suppose he has a point can't have you getting a tummy ache because of too many cookies.”

There was a pause in their conversation before Gojo asked. “What else did you do today?”

Though Kento was happy to finally be able to speak with Gojo and hear him laugh, it also made him painfully aware of the Sorcerer’s absence. “I miss Gojo-san.”

Satoru wished for nothing more than to be able to reach through the phone and console the small Sorcerer but even he had his limits… even if they were few and far between. “Aw Kento-chan, it’s alright. I’ll be back soon and we can eat all the cookies and ice cream you want.”

The reply he got back was quiet, “Do you miss me?”

If Satoru’s heart wasn’t already aching for the 7:3 Ratio user, it shattered at the child’s barely there voice. Of course Satoru missed him, his hand had itched to reach for his phone more times than he had dared to count, it had been a struggle to keep himself from giving one of his students a call to see how Kento was doing. Worry plagued him through the majority of the day, he wasn’t sure how Kento was handling their separation, was he upset? Mad? Crying? Satoru didn’t like to see anyone cry, but the tears his young friend shed were beyond soul shattering.

And though Satoru knew he was in the best hands that he possibly could be, he still worried if Kento was eating well, did his nap go well? Did he wake up looking for him and get scared because he didn’t?

“Gojo-san?”

The sadness in little Kento’s voice snapped Satoru from his spiral and he shot up from the plush surface of his temporary bed. 

Satoru rushed to answer him. “ Of course I did! I do! I miss you a whole lot, Kento-chan. But I promise I won’t be gone too long okay, I’m gonna do my job super quick and be back before you know it. Have the kids been good?”

Kento didn’t sound too convinced, but he was momentarily placated and Satoru breathed a little easier knowing that he was no longer on the verge of tears. “Mhm, Fushigoru-san said we can color tomorrow.”

“That sounds great!” Satoru poured as much cheer as he could into his voice, trying hard not to let the exhaustion that was gnawing at him leak into his voice more than it already had. “Remember to tell them that the pages go on the fridge after you’re done, and hey ask them to take you out too, there’s a park just down the street. It’d do Megumi some good to get out of the house once in a while.”

“Okay… Gojo-san?” there was a big infectious yawn that resounded through the phone.

Covering his mouth with the back of his hand, Satoru tried his best to reply “Yeah?”

“‘m sleepy. Can you tuck me in?”

Instead of pointing out the obvious, Saroru’s lips quirked into a soft smile. “Of course, tell Yuuji to put me on speaker?”

There was shuffling on the other end of the phone, a soft boop and then Yuuji’s voice. “Hey Gojo-sensei, how’s it going?”

Laying back down on the large bed, Satoru no longer tried to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. “About as great as I expected. But can’t really argue with the fossils back at home on this without them throwing a temper tantrum so… is Kento leading you to the bathroom?”

“Yep, he’s pulling his little stool out now, aw it has a little giraffe on it!”

Satoru smiled proudly, “he picked it out himself, help him with the toothpaste will you? And the foam cleanser after.”

Gojo listened to his student’s gentle instructions and the sounds of water running, clothes rustling and teeth being brushed.

“Yuuji will keep you company, alright Kento-chan?” Satoru murmured into the phone, “He promised he would stay all night, right Yuuji?”

“Yeah! Nanamin and I are gonna have the best slumber party ever, right Nanamin?” Yuuji’s enthusiastic voice carried into the room and Satoru rolled his eyes fondly.

“No party, sleep now.” Kento’s tired voice said, “Goodnight Gojo-san… Shiro says goodnight too.”

“Sleep tight kiddo, Shiro, and you too Yuuji. And if Megumi is by any chance lingering at the doorway, goodnight to you too!” Satoru resisted the urge to send a playful kiss into the phone’s receiver if only to ease Kento to sleep. He could tease Megumi to no end on a different night, when Kento was not in danger of being plagued by ever present nightmares.

“Night, Gojo-sensei; we’ll update you tomorrow morning” Yuuji yawned and after a moment, and with a reluctant heart, Satoru ended the call.

“Take care Kento.” Satoru whispered into the emptiness of his rented bedroom. The large space was too empty, too quiet. Satoru had gotten used to someone being there, whether it was one of his students or most recently Kento.

Even if the accommodation was temporary, Satoru had gotten used to it too fast. He had gotten used to having Kento around too fast.

“You’re spiraling again.” Satoru groaned into the void.

It was best not to think about it, he focused instead on what he had learned that day. It wasn’t much but one of the Curse Users that had infiltrated was not so good at hiding his presence as they thought. It also helped that with a little persuasion, the stump being held at the school confessed to making weapons for a certain air headed individual not too long ago. Gojo would start there and hopefully have a better lead in the next couple of days.

Chapter Text

"Gojo-san!" Kento's elated cry rang loudly though the apartment at the same time that someone else called out "Kento-chan, wait!"

The older Sorcerer's warning fell on deaf ears, however, as the small child catapulted himself from the floor and into the hastily outstretched arms of the white haired man. The bags previously in his hands thudded softly to the floor.

"You're back!" the tiny blond toddler chirped happily, "You're back! Welcome home!"

Satoru was unable to hold back the laughter that escaped him as he cradled the small Sorcerer protectively against his chest, the heavy feeling of worry and disquiet that had taken hold of his soul finally melting off and letting him breathe for the first time in the last five days.

"I'm am, thank you! And I'm sorry it took a little longer than I thought, but!" Satoru's tone brightened as he tilted his head to get a better look at his young friend. "I brought back some souvenirs, wanna see?"

Pulling away a smidge Kento sent a curious look to the fallen bags before slotting himself right back under Satoru's chin. "Nuh uh."

"No?" Satoru repeated, puzzled but amused nonetheless. "You don't want to see what I brought home from my adventure?"

With a little grunt-like sound, Kento's hold on Satoru's uniform tightened and a muffled noise that resembled 'Nu.' was pressed into the fabric.

"He's been really clingy the past day and a half." Yuuji piped up from where he stood at the kitchen entrance. "We think it's just cuz he missed you though."

"Is that true Kento-chan?" Satoru couldn't help the playful tone that rose in his voice, nor could he contain the happiness that bubbled in his chest. "Did you miss me?~"

Instead of a verbal answer, Kento tried at a nod.

Warmth settled in Satoru's chest, "You're adorable."

"You really have no sense of self-preservation, do you?" Megumi murmured, joining Yuuji.

"Oh c'mon Megumi, look at him," Satoru defended, "he's like a little koala, how is this not the cutest thing you've ever seen?"

The statement had no sway upon the frowning student, in fact he actually deepened his frown. "I'm just saying, think twice before encouraging it."

"You have to admit though, he is pretty cute." Nobara finally joined them, soft smile in place. "I don't really know what he was like before, but he's a really sweet kid."

"Yeah no, I choose life." Megumi deadpanned, retreating to the kitchen without further comment.

Yuuji laughed, coming to the same conclusion as the rest of them: Megumi was unable to deny none of their statements even if he didn't verbally say it.

"I'm taking that as a yes!~" Satoru called after him, unable to keep the grin off his face.

"But onto the more important topic." Nobara's smile widened, "does the extra day count as overtime?"

Satoru barked out a laugh. Nobara really was something else, and Satoru couldn't say he didn't admire how goal-oriented she was. "I dunno… what do you think, Kento-chan? Did the kids do a good job of taking care of you?"

"What?! Hold up, what do you mean you don't know?!" Nobara fumed, though Satoru's attention had diverted away from his student-who started listing off her points on why she in particular deserved a higher pay rate-missing her argument entirely.

The toddler was still pressed against Satoru's neck, his hold on Gojo's uniform remaining strong. "We made cookies."

"That's right, you did, didn't you. What else did you do with them? Did they take you to the park?"

A nod was his answer. "Kugisaki-san beat up the mean kids."

"Mean kids?" This was new. Satoru's blindfold clad eyes peeked up to Yuuji who smiled sheepishly at him.

"Well, uh," the kid squirmed a little under Gojo's hidden gaze, no doubt feeling the weight behind it. "We took Nanamin to the park like we said and there were some kids who weren't so nice and uh things were said… we didn't want to worry you."

"Speaking of," Nobara cut in, crossing her arms, "there's an extra protection fee for that."

A myriad of questions rushed through Satoru's mind. What exactly happened? What did they do? What did they say? Did they make Kento cry? Where were their mothers? Where were the first years? Were you alone? Are you hurt?

"Honestly they were all talk." Nobara supplied with a huff, oblivious of Satoru's darkening mood. "Just a bunch of delinquents in the making but a good conk to the head set them straight. I'd like to see them try to bully another kid half their size again."

Who dared to bully his precious Kento? Did these punks really think that they could just torment his cute little friend and Gojo would let it slide? Satoru swore that he would protect Kento and if that threat happened to be some kids in a park-

"Pst, Nobara, might want to cool it," Yuuji stage-whispered to his classmate. "I don't think Gojo-sensei is above beating up first graders either."

"He is definitely not." Megumi reappeared with a few bags in his hands and one slung over his shoulder just in time to toss in his two cents into the conversation. Distantly Gojo heard the teen's long-suffering sigh. If anyone had any experience in witnessing just who Satoru was willing to pick fights with, it was the inheritor of the Ten Shadows technique.

"Gojo-san?" Kento's large green eyes came into Satoru's line of vision as the toddler finally pulled himself far enough away from Gojo in order to look up at him. The quiet worry in his voice tore Satoru away from his thoughts and back to the apartment where he became acutely aware of the eyes on him.

Gojo hadn't noticed the sudden tension that rose between the five of them even as it grew thicker and heavier the longer he stayed silent. It wasn't until there was a small chubby hand in his hair that the tension that had built up in his muscles began to ease away.

"'s okay." Kento patted through Satoru's silver stands. "No be sad, Gojo-san."

It took a moment for Satoru to dispel the frown that had formed on his lips, but with Kento's help he was able to shake the thoughts from his head.

Satoru's easy-going smile was back into play in a matter of moments. "You're right Kento, no need to worry about it now." I'm just glad you're okay.

The uncoordinated but well meaning patting lasted for another moment before there was a sudden wet pressure against Satoru's cheek and his brain paused for a single moment.

What was it that Megumi had said? About self-preservation?

"Mwah! All better!" Kento declared, his mood brightening. "Eat cookies now?"

Satoru wasn't sure he could move from his spot, the bags he had brought from his travels were still at his feet, forgotten and probably melting. Raindrop cakes are meant to be eaten pretty fast after all.

"Well. would you look at the time." Nobara cleared her throat and pulled Yuuji and Megumi alongside her. "We have that thing we need to do, remember?"

"Thing?" The confusion in Yuuji's voice was as clear as day, but Satoru didn't pay it any mind. "What are you talking about Nobara?"

"Just! Follow me you idiot!" she grunted, probably with the effort it took to haul Yuuji across the hall and around an immobile Gojo Satoru.

"I'll just bill you my rates, enjoy the rest of your weekend sensei!"

"Ah, Nobara, I didn't say bye." Yuuji whined, and Satoru heard his final goodbye before the door was hastily closed behind them. "Bye Nanamin!"

"No no, the pig goes here." Kento chided the older Sorcerer, wrapping both of his small hands as best as he could around his wrist and guiding Gojo to the right placement of the farm animal on the puzzle game.

The white haired man laughed, the action causing his chest to rumble against Kento's back from where he was leaning against him. "But Kento-chan, I want to put the pig over there where all the grass is."

Gojo made to move his hand back to the indent on the board clearly meant for the sheep, but Kento's hands tugged his wayward hand back. The toddler couldn't control his giggles even as he scolded his caretaker, "Gojo-san, no!"

"But the pig wants to play in the grass, he told me so."

More laughter from the child. "That's silly, pigs don't talk."

"You got me there, but c'mon Kento-chan~" Satoru urged, laughter lacing his words as well. "Let's be anarchists and cause some trouble."

"Trouble is bad Gojo-san." Kento argued, though his laughter made his point much less effective.

"But it's so much more fun being bad." Gojo countered with a smile as bright as the sun, but he relented, finally allowing Kento to lead his hand towards the pig outline and drop the pig in it's rightful place on the wooden board.

"Noo~" Joyous laughter filled the house even as Kento shook his head in denial to Gojo's statement. "You're not bad, you're good!"

"Aw my cute little Kento, I'm nowhere near as good as you." Gojo scooped the toddler from the floor and up to his chest where he smooshed his cheek against Kento's head nuzzling the toddler who once again dissolved into peals of laughter.

Kento was glad that Gojo was more cheerful now, when he had gotten home he was a little sad but eating cookies and the biggest raindrop Kento had ever seen with the little Sorcerer had eased his mood and in no time he was back to playing with Kento and laughing with him.

Kento really loved Gojo's laugh, every time he heard it it filled him with warmth and an indescribable happiness. And just the mere assurance of knowing that Gojo was happy enough to laugh meant everything in the world to Kento, he wanted Gojo to always be happy.

"And so smart too!" Gojo praised Kento, still snuggling the top of his head. "How did you get so smart on me huh?"

"Pactice." Kento beamed. He then pressed the little white cat cut out into Gojo's hand and wrapped his arms around Satoru's dominant arm, snuggling against him. "Do the cat next."

"Well I would," Gojo mused, making a show of trying to move his arm. "But I seem to have a little Kento trapping one arm and the other is asleep, look I can't move it."

Kento's mouth formed a small O as he peered at Gojo's limp arm that was 'asleep'. Gojo followed his gaze and nodded solemnly, "Sorry kiddo, looks like it's bedtime."

"Oh is quiet time." He concluded putting a finger against his puckered lips the way Yuuji and his friends would signal when it was time to go to sleep.

Gojo nodded seriously, pressing his lips into a thin line, agreeing to remain quiet.

Kento wasn't terribly sleepy, he had taken a nap with Fushiguro earlier in the day and the excitement of having Gojo back with him was still buzzing in his veins, but Gojo looked tired again.

Somewhere along the way since his return, he had lost his blindfold and was wearing a pair of dark sunglasses, but even those couldn't hide the droopiness in his energy. So Kento didn't argue when Gojo pulled them off of the floor and towards the bathroom to start their bedtime routine.

The main reason, however, that Kento didn't mind the call for bedtime was the fact that it was cuddle time with Gojo. The little Sorcerer eagerly slotted himself against the taller man, Shiro pressed between them as he soaked in the warmth of his caretaker's embrace. There was nowhere else Kento felt safest in the world than in the arms of the Special Grade Sorcerer, Yuuji had been fine to sleep against but his hugs just paled in comparison to Gojo's.

And another thing that Yuuji lacked, was the world's best storytelling voice.

"Gojo-san?" Kento yawned into the silence of the room. "Tell me a story?"

Gojo caught Kento's yawn and exhaled one of his own, "Hm, okay. Of course, it'll have to be a short one though cuz I'm pooped."

Kento wiggled closer to Gojo, already invested in whatever story he was about to tell. "Okay!"

"There was once a little boy, his name was Eri." Gojo began in a soft tone.

"Eri lived right next to a forest where many magical creatures lived. There were trolls, and gnomes, and unicorns. But best of all, there were dragons. Of all kinds too. There were big ones that could fly and breathe fire, snake looking ones that lived in the water, some with feet like birds and wings too instead of arms. And these dragons, they loved Eri because he loved them.

"Every day he would sneak into the forest and play with the dragons and other animals. But one day the dragons were gone and the forest was quiet. Eri searched high and low for them, from the highest trees to as deep as he could swim in the lakes. But nothing. Eri couldn't find a single one of his dragon friends. So Eri got sad and with nothing to do, he headed home."

Gojo's story was paused by another big yawn.

"Mh, sorry. Anywho, on his way home Eri came across something he never imagined he'd see. It was an egg as big as his head! It was covered in scales that changed colors with the light and when Eri touched it, it was warm! Eri knew enough about chickens and eggs to know that he needed to get the egg to someplace warm so he took it home and covered it with blankets.

"He checked it every day and night, always keeping the egg warm until one day, weeks later a cute little golden dragon hatched." Gojo yawned again.

"They became best friends and they lived happily ever after. The End."

Kento whined in protest. "No there's more."

Gojo chuckled, and tapped his forehead to the squirming child's. "Nope, I'm afraid that's it for today Kento-chan, time to sleep."

The toddler grumbled but melted into the embrace, appeased by the contact. "Will you tell me more later?"

"Of course." Gojo's smile could be felt in his words, but so could his fatigue. "Good night and sweet dreams, Kento-chan."

"Night." Kento whispered softly, and promptly yawned into his pillow.

Gojo no longer replied to that, and after some moments his breathing eased out turning deep and shallow.

Cradled in his hold, Kento smiled for the hundredth time that day. He was still elated with the fact that Gojo had returned to him, he had kept his promise to come back to Kento and that just made him so happy.

His time away had been long for the small toddler, even if he did find himself in good company with Yuuji, Megumi, and Nobara. They had been great caretakers but they didn't stop him from missing Gojo, Kento had felt a little lonely and sad without him.

Kento missed everything about Gojo, his smile, his laugh, his silly stories and mannerisms, the way he was always so kind and attentive towards him, how he hugged him and even though Kento didn't see his eyes often, he missed them too. Kento just missed Gojo and every day his missing feeling became worse until he was cranky and fussy and clinging onto Yuuji.

"I love you, Gojo-san." Kento whispered into the dimly illuminated room, snuggling his cheek against Shiro's soft fur and small hand clutching the sleeve of Gojo's long sleeve night shirt, not noticing the interruption in Gojo's rhythmic breathing.

Chapter Text

"How is this a training exercise?"

"Oh! Oh! I know this one!" Yuuji enthusiastically waved his arm in the air, not waiting to be called before answering Megumi's question. "It's to help us regulate our Cursed Energy and keep it constantly steady even when distracted!"

"But we already know how to do that." Nobara stated with a slight frown. "So that doesn't add up."

"Course it does!" Gojo's perfectly crafted mask was in place as he grinned and stepped up to the ticketing counter. "Five for Happy Feet please."

"The penguin movie?!"

"Singing and dancing penguin movie, excuse you." Satoru corrected his fiery student. "But no, we won't be doing the Cursed Energy training. Today is one of those movie in class free days, I figured you kids could use the down time after your big fight with that last Curse you fought. Besides, this is as much your treat as it is Kento's. He saw an ad for it the other day and wanted to check it out, right Kento-chan?"

The child at his side smiled brightly, "I wanna see the bird do this!" Kento proceeded to stomp his feet in the most uncoordinated dance imitation Satoru had ever seen.

Satoru could see why Nanami's back up career hadn't been dancing. The poor kid had two left feet.

And yet, the silly little display of his was the most precious and adorable dance show Satoru had ever seen. He clapped enthusiastically. "That was great, Kento-chan! Bravo!"

Yeah. Satoru had no sense of self-preservation, but the adoring look he received from Kento made the risk of an early grave entirely worth it.

"Gojo-san!" Kento tugged at his sleeve. "share popcorn with me"

Satoru smiled at the tiny 7:3 Sorcerer. "You don't want one of your own, kiddo?"

Kento shook his head adamantly, "Nuh-uh, I wanna share with you!"

"Aw Kento~" Satory cooed. "You're too sweet. It's almost enough to sate my sweet tooth. But okay we can share the popcorn, and the candies okay?"

The five of them splurged at the concessions stand until each of the first-year's and Gojo's arms were piled high with junk food.

"We better eat something healthy after this." Megumi grumbled under his breath, and immediately refused to give up any of his treats to Yuuji who 'helpfully' offered to eat some of the processed sugar for him.

"Okay then, everyone settled?" Satoru asked his little group and when a chorus of affirmatives rang out, they headed towards their theater and seats.

Halfway through the beginning movie credits, Satoru had discovered that 'sharing popcorn' was actually just Kento feeding the popped kernels to the Special Grade Sorcerer rather than actually sharing the snack.

"Gojo-san, ah." Kento tapped at his hand and Satoru obliged, opening his mouth to eat the popcorn. The smile he received each time Kento was able to successfully feed him eased his frayed nerves a little more until the dark anger left behind from his earlier meeting was no longer a raging inferno in his chest.

"I can't believe there hasn't been a change yet." Shoko tilted her head back to send her gaze to the ceiling.

"It has been three weeks and there hasn't been a single change. Have you noticed any… blips? Facts a normal kid wouldn't know, momentary recognition?"

The way that she was wringing her fingers in the hem of her lab coat told Satoru that she really wanted to reach for a smoke, but for the moment her restraint was holding firm.

Shoko's concern was mirrored in the man that held the sleeping child. Kento's age regression had been steadily worrying him after his return from his investigation. It had been nearly a month, the change had lasted too long. And though it wasn't customary for Curses to last very long on people, Sorcerers especially, it wasn't unheard of. Tsumiki was a prime example….

"No. He's been pretty consistent in his mannerisms." said Satoru, after the silence had stretched too long between them. "The night-time paranoia is easing a bit, but at least he doesn't wake up screaming in the middle of the night anymore so that's a plus."

"That's good to hear." Shoko intoned. "If Kento is going to revert back to a child and start fresh then the least he can get is a trauma free ride."

Satoru hummed, he really couldn't agree more.

"And you?" Shoko's finger looped around a lock of her hair. "I don't think I've asked how you're faring with everything."

Satoru's shoulder rose and fell in one effortless motion. "I don't really think it affects me all too much, I'm not the one who lost at least half my height and respawned as a four year old."

"You know that's not what I mean, Toru." there was a small hint of fondness in the doctor's voice, her dark eyes regarding him in that quiet inquisitive way of hers. "I don't think I've seen you without Limitless this long since you mastered it."

She would be the one to notice, Satoru thought distantly. But she wasn't wrong. Satoru had been keeping his use of Limitless at its lowest in years. In the past few weeks Satoru had his technique activated for a continuous amount of hours only when he was away from Kento. When he was home or with the kids, however, Satoru had to make a conscious effort not to turn on Limitless. After nearly a decade of having his ability constantly surrounding him it had become almost instinctual, second nature. And now that he had Kento frequently asking for skinship, well, Satoru was using Limitless less and less.

"It was disconcerting, at first." he confessed, shaded eyes lowering to the child cradled in his arms. "But you try telling him no when he asks for a hug, when he looks at you with those big green eyes of his all misted and earnest, well it damn near breaks your heart."

Shoko snorted softly. "You were always a softie, you know that? It might do Kento some good for you to say no sometimes, can't have him coming back spoiled rotten."

Satoru laughed, containing the sound to a soft chuckle so as to not wake the little Sorcerer. "Wouldn't that be awesome though! Just imagine him demanding you get him some ice cream and take him to whatever the adult equivalent of a toy store is Shoko, it's hilarious!"

"Says you." Shoko returned, and in a much quieter voice she added. "They called me in today, asking about him. They were pretty quick to remind me I was on thin ice after the Itadori stunt we pulled."

Satoru could feel the exact moment that his features soured. "You too, huh? Can't say I've never not been on thin ice with them, but don't worry it's under control for now. The hoard of the living dead just has nothing but free time on their hands and instead of busying themselves with eating brains like all the other zombies, they decided they want to take a more proactive approach to Kento's situation. They borderline demanded that I let them look after Kento and actually tried to tell me that he would be better off under their care, as if they had any credible references to a happy upbringing."

Satoru exhaled a tired sighed letting his shoulders fall with the action. "When this first happened, they wanted to see if the Curse Spirit was similar to the Patchy one that alters souls. But today, the way they said they want to take in a kid with no ties to any Jujutsu Clan, it's a little alarming to say the least. They actually tried to make a case out of it, saying that I had no reason to look after him, like if I had a fucking agenda in taking him in. The whole conversation was infuriating Shoko, and ultimately I told them where they could shove their proposal but." the Sorcerer paused.

"I can't help but think back to how they worded that sentence as they did. To have a reason to look after Kento, as if there was some ulterior motive anyone would take in a lost adult-turned-child into their care for anything other than compassion. And so, I came up with a theory: that they're viewing whatever Curse happened upon Kento as a sort of Fountain of Youth. Since you know, he did revert back to a healthy little kid and about all of them are next on any Reaper's lists. They had mentioned examination the day they found out about the Curse, and while it is possible they did want to link Kento's Curse to Patchy, its more than obvious by now they are two separate things, but where Patches kills upon contact… this one rejuvenates."

"That's a dangerous theory." Shoko mused. "And rather stupid on their part. We have no concrete evidence to know if this is permanent, he could revert back any day now. Not to mention that the Curse that did this was exorcized so to replicate it is beyond our means."

"Yeah, you try telling them that." Satoru seethed. The warmth radiating off of the tiny bundle in his arms was the only thing that was keeping his anger reeled in.

"Well, should the need arise and the kids are unable to take care of him for you, call me?"

Satoru smiled, he could feel that it was a tired, brittle thing but it was one of the more genuine smiles he had had all day. "Thank you, Shoko."

Kento's eyes were wide with fear, pupils blown and unseeing. There was a scream somewhere in his mind, held back from escaping by the tightness he felt in his throat. His legs shook either with the effort of keeping him standing upright, or quite possibly due to the feeling of ice that suddenly robbed him of all the warmth in his body.

He was scared. Terrified.

Kento had never known a fear as instinctual and paralyzing as the one that had seized him.

"I knew you looked familiar."

All it had taken were five little words to have him frozen in fear while his heart threatened to hammer its way out of his chest.

Kento's body had immediately tensed up at the sound of the sickly sweet voice, a wave of sickness washing over him, twisting his stomach into painful knots and leaving him without so much as a breath.

The small child's hands had automatically tightened around the soft fur of his little cow, the poor stuffed animal shrinking into his chest the harder Kento held onto it.

As if pouring out of the shadows a figure began to materialize, the very same one that had haunted Kento in his most recent nightmares. Only now he wasn't asleep, he was awake and the thing was real.

And it was there for him.

The creature wasn't a person, Kento could feel that in his soul, it was shaped like a person in every way that it could be. But it didn’t move like a person, it didn’t speak like a person. Even though the only thing that was visibly off about it were the crisscrossing scars that held its mismatched body parts together Kento could see it for what it was, a Monster. It disguised itself well to look like all regular people but Kento just knew that whatever that creature was it was anything but a human being.

Kento was caught in its sight, the dead dual colored eyes boring deep into his soul in a way that made Kento feel as if he was reaching into him and actually touching the precious part of him that made him Kento.

"But there's something missing." the thing said, taking a step closer to Kento.

Run! His mind screamed desperately at him Get away!

Kento wanted nothing more than to put as much distance between himself and the thing in front of him, but he couldn't muster the strength to do anything. His feet were as heavy as lead, rooted to the floor beneath him and anchoring him to his spot.

"Ah," the thing slammed its closed fist onto its palm and Kento flinched violently. A look of overjoyed realization came over the thing's distorted patched up features. "I know what it is! Your soul is smaller."

Something akin to annoyance came over it then, "Why is that?"

The sound of Kento's gulp was drowned out by the rushing sound of his heart in his eardrums.

He was in danger.

He needed to go. Get to safety.

He wanted Gojo.

The thing in front of him was a good two meters away from him, it wasn't even close to touching Kento, and yet he felt as if he was inside the lion's mouth. One second away from being devoured. All it would take would be one bite from the dangerous creature and he would cease to exist.

Go. Go. Go!

Somehow, Kento managed to take a step back. The movement felt agonizingly, painfully slow and sluggish, but that one tiny small step gave him enough energy to take another and another until there was another meter between them.

And then he ran.

He didn't know where he was running to exactly, but Kento knew that he needed to get back home. He needed to reach Gojo, he would know what to do, he would make the patch thing go away just like he did before.

But Gojo was still at home, asleep.

Kento had woken up earlier than usual and with too much energy to stay in bed and rather than wait for the older Sorcerer to wake up so that they could go outside and play together, Kento let him sleep. Gojo had been very tired lately, and Kento didn't know why but he suspected that his tiredness came from taking such good care of him.

Rest was good for him, and Kento would come back soon, he just wanted to swing in the playground down the street with the other kids.

So Kento snuck out from underneath the pillows and bedding and went to slip on his shoes, not tying them for the pure reason that he didn't know how. So he just stuffed his laces inside his shoes and headed out. The sun was barely peeking out in the sky, washing away the shadows of the night with its golden rays.

Kento had made it to the park, only mildly surprised to find it empty but not minding the solitude since some of the other kids weren't so nice to him. He spotted the swings and was making his way towards them when something made him pause. And that was when the disembodied voice spoke to him. When the nightmare began.

Kento's loose shoes slammed against the soft ground of the park, his shoelaces had been tugged out of them from the friction of running, but he couldn't stop in order to fix them, Kento needed to keep going. Even if he knew it was bad and dangerous to run with untied shoelaces, Yuuji would be disappointed in him, but Kento was scared and he knew that if he stopped for any reason, it was all over.

For one terrifying moment, Kento's shoes slipped on the dew covered grass of the park, pitching him forward in his dash but before he could fall to the ground some instilled reflex in him helped him right himself, continuing in his run.

Which way was home?!

Kento's tiny shoes touched the sidewalk. His eyes searched the area wildly, looking for anything that would give him a hint that he was heading in the right direction. Was that building always there? How about that flyer? Kento didn't know and that scared him even more.

I'm lost. Kento thought with a horrible sinking feeling that churned his insides. Tears sprung to his eyes as Kento felt himself slow. He needed to be fast, he needed to keep going, please. He needed to get to Gojo! Kento's feet pushed on, even though his lungs screamed for air, his muscles burned with the exertion and his heart felt like it was one second away from exploding.

He had to keep going!

And then the world stopped. Kento slammed into something so solid and hard that he was pushed back from the force.

What little breath was in his struggling lungs was knocked out of him when Kento hit the floor.

A horrible heart sinking laugh rang out around him. "You got slower too! How hilarious!"

The cackling got worse and Kento shut his eyes, closing his mouth tightly in order to keep the sick feeling that was coming over him at bay. Bile rose up his throat but he swallowed it away as best he could, taking deep breaths through his nose.

The thing was in front of him, Kento hadn't even heard it gaining on him, hadn't seen it coming and yet, it was standing in front of him, an ugly distorted grin splitting his face from ear to ear. "So how about it, wanna chat?"

The thing's head tilted in an awful unnatural angle. "We go way back after all."

Kento's fingers curled tightly around Shiro, the small plush's seams ripping under the strain. A sob broke free from Kento's heaving chest. "Help! Gojo-san!."

Chapter Text

"Gojo-san! Gojo-san! Kento was bouncing on the balls of his feet, the overflowing excitement that bubbled within him unable to stay contained in his tiny body any longer.

"Do I look cute?" the little blonde asked, his large green eyes peering up at his caretaker and a smile as bright as the sun.

The Strongest Sorcerer chuckled warmly and scooped Kento up into his arms. "You always look cute, Kento-chan."

"But!" Gojo relented when Kento's laughter mellowed out. "You look extra cute like this."

"Really?"

How could Satoru say anything else but "of course!" to those sparkling eyes? It would be a crime to all of the Universe for Gojo to not agree with his own statement.

But why would he have the need to lie? Kento was cute at any given time, but today there was an extra little kick to his adorableness.

It had started when Kento woke up from his nap with the messiest case of bedhead Satoru had ever seen, and unable to help himself, Gojo had teased him about it to the point that the little Sorcerer had huffed and puffed and pouted until Satoru fixed it. So Satoru gathered some hair ties, a hairbrush and his Briogeo anti-frizz hair oil.

Satoru's deft hands made quick work of Kento's unruly hair and styled it neatly into a new little hairdo in which the small child sported two little fountain shaped pigtails atop his head.

Satoru had meant it to be another quick little tease, to poke at Kento's buttons and possibly get another pout out of him, but to his surprise, the small child had loved it, finding it beyond funny and opposing Satoru's offer to remove the fountains.

That was when Kento asked if he looked cute, and how Satoru found himself unable to say no.

"I like them, cuz Gojo-san made them." Kento said then. The earnestness in the child's words melting Satoru into a puddle of affection.

Not for the first time–nor last if he was being completely honest–Satoru found himself taking another step towards Nanami's chopping block. "I'm glad like it. Can I take a picture of us, Kento-chan?"

"Yes!~" Kento agreed easily and snuggled closer to Satoru, wiggling in excitement at taking a photo with him.

Satoru smiled and rose his phone up to get them both in the frame. "Say cheese!~"

Chapter Text

Satoru was slow to wake, the warm lull of sleep unwilling to let him go as much as he was reluctant to depart from its embrace.

Five more minutes.

The infamous phrase was whispered somewhere in his sleep fogged mind. Or perhaps he spoke it aloud. Satoru wasn't entirely sure, he was too caught up in the warm fuzzy limbo between consciousness and sleep.

Sleep was just so good! So nice and warm and–his arms were surprisingly empty of a little Sorcerer. That's strange, Satoru made a displeased noise in the back of his throat and began to pat down the bedding.

"Kento-chan." Satoru's whine was muffled by the pillow placed over his head. "'imme cuddles please.~"

It wasn't long before the Sorcerer's long limbs eventually reached the edge of the bed and still they remained painfully empty. Satoru grumbled beneath his pillow, sorely missing the toddler's presence.

"Don't tell me you're up already?" he asked the silent room, a jaw cracking yawn following his question.

Pulling his head from under his pillow, Satoru pouted into the room, "I thought our sleeping-in training was finally paying off, what happened?"

When he didn't get an immediate response, the sleepy Sorcerer huffed and pushed himself up and out of the warmth his comforter provided, "Kento-chan? Did you start the day without me?"

Once again, he was met with silence. Satoru's eyebrows knitted together in concern and he tried again. "Kento?"

Anyone who was familiar with Nanami's older version would think that young Nanami Kento was a naturally quiet child, what with his general quiet disposition. But Satoru had learned that while yes, Kento could be a very calm and mild mannered child, he was still a kid. And as such Kento was very prone to making some sort of noise wherever he went, even if it was more subdued than the average toddler.

This silence that had invaded Satoru's home was…foreboding. Haunting. Terrifying.

A spark of panic shot through the white haired Sorcerer with enough force to dispel all traces of sleep from his mind. Why isn't Kento answering?

Satoru shoved the duvet and numerous pillows off of himself and was on his feet faster than a blink of an eye. He rushed to open the curtains, nearly ripping the rings off of the rod in his haste, to let the light of the sun into the room. A quick second glance to the bed proved that Kento was, in fact, not hiding in the sheets.

Satoru's Six Eyes took in and analyzed everything. The lonely bed, the empty space underneath it. All four corners of the room, and even the closet that suddenly looked much larger than Satoru had ever thought possible despite the overcluttering of items he stored in there.

Empty.

The bedroom was empty of the young 7:3 Ratio user. And beyond that the rest of his home was also quiet. Still. Vacant.

For one small, tiny optimistic moment, Satoru dared to wonder if Kento had regained his previous body while asleep. Perhaps Kento had reverted back to being the grumpy old Nanami Satoru knew and loved and maybe, just maybe he had gone through that transformation in relative silence. And then Nanami had very quietly–in his embarrassment–slipped out of the apartment before Satoru had a chance to notice… it was a possible if not stupidly outrageous theory.

Satoru really didn't have an inkling of an idea of just how such a transformation was supposed to go down, but he was relatively sure that it wouldn't happen without any sort of something. A puff of smoke, an electric vibration in the air, weird dazzling lights, hell maybe even a small change in the Earth's rotation would have happened?

A phenomena of that caliber must certainly call for some physical reaction, right? Not just a silent whisper in the dark that left all those involved wondering if the previous three weeks had even occurred at all.

Satoru would have to think himself mad in that case.

But before Satoru could start to question his entire existence the proof of those three weeks were sitting right there. Made concrete with the little the stack of childrens books at his bedside. A pair of little toddler-sized socks that lay innocently next to his closet door. A lone blue crayon that had been presumed missing a few nights ago peeking out from underneath Satoru's dresser. Random lego blocks waiting for the right moment to catch him off guard and strike him down. A childish drawing atop a stack of graded papers where the word "Gojo-san" was scrawled messily over a somewhat human looking mix of sticks and circles.

The little ember of optimism that had dared to flicker to life within Satoru died, however, when the Sorcerer realized that if Kento had reverted back to his older self, there would have been a leftover imprint of Nanami's Cursed energy in his apartment. Satoru's Six Eyes would've caught onto the residuals immediately and there wouldn't be an awful gut churning sensation brewing in the pit of his stomach that just seemed to grow with each second that dragged past him.

Satoru could only conclude that Kento hadn't reverted back, he was just gone. Missing.

Satoru's heart seized in fear, and a shaky breath left him when he took a small step forward… he paused. He didn't have a direction to go in. Where did he even start?

Satoru's bright blue eyes stared ahead, seeing every single thing around him and yet nothing at all. Even though his room was bathed in the warm light of the early morning sun, Satoru couldn't unsee the sinister darkness lurking in the depths of the waning shadows within the too large space.

Where is he?

Swallowing his disquiet for a moment, Satoru surged forward, looking under and around everything in his home even though he knew that his apartment was terrifyingly void of a little toddler. His eyes had told him that already, but Satoru had to make sure, just in case.

Minutes later he stood by the front entrance of his apartment, the door slightly ajar and one pair of little blue sneakers missing.

Shiro is missing too. Satoru thought distantly, offhandedly.

Thick coils of dread began to ensnare Satoru, threatening to bring him down to his knees. Just like the situation during the Goodwill Exchange Event, things weren't adding up.

Kento was missing, again. But unlike last time, there was no reason for Kento to be missing. The little Sorcerer had left Mei Mei and the safety of the observation room in order to find Satoru, but this time Gojo had been right there next to him, so then why? And more importantly, where had he gone?

Satoru was drawing a painful, nauseating, grotesque blank. He didn't know where to look, but he knew that he had to move. Do something, anything.

Ice seemed to crystalize in his veins threatening to consume and paralyze him with the fear that he would not be able to find his young friend. Satoru was terrified that he had once again failed to keep those he loved safe. And to someone so small, so reliant on him.

Stop. Stop it!

Satoru clenched his fist, took a deep breath and pushed away at the terror clawing at his soul, he couldn't let it get a hold of him. He wouldn't let it get the best of him. Satoru had to remain calm. Letting himself slip into some sort of hysteria was not going to help anyone, least of all his small ward. He needed to stop jumping to the worst conclusions and start thinking logically about everything. If Kento was not in his apartment, and his shoes were missing, then that meant he was outside of his apartment unit. So, Satoru was to start there.

Blindfold and shades completely disregarded, Satoru teleported outside of his apartment complex with practiced ease. He towered above everything, the people below nothing more than little specs with how high he was. Buildings and walls built a chaotic maze underneath him, and though everything was super small from his height Satoru could see it all.

His Six Eyes took ever single miniscule detail in. He scanned over the pedestrians walking the streets, the dogs being let out for their morning walk, the toddlers that parents and older siblings guided along, the cars that drove by, down to the little playground where the first years had taken Kento.

No. No. No.

Millions of images whirled past Satoru's vision, and each of them was not what he was looking for, every one of them was wrong. Nothing he saw was connecting to Kento, there was nothi–there!

Not even a second managed to pass between the time when he saw the little object to when he appeared at the mouth of an alley, a tiny discarded shoe laying at the entrance.

To any passerby it would appear to be nothing more than a single abandoned shoe lost by a careless toddler, but the little object was so so much more to Satoru. It belonged to Kento, of that he did not doubt. He had chosen that little pair of blue and white shoes himself, he had helped Kento write his name inside of the lip when his young friend had asked. It was undoubtedly his.

With a trembling hand Satoru picked up the little shoe and stilled. The residual Cursed Energy that was clinging onto it was soul-crushingly dark and malicious. Satoru had to fight himself from crushing Kento's shoe in his hand, the Energy coming off of it was so toxic and vile… a Special Grade curse for sure but why would it target Kento who had no Cursed Energy of his own to speak of.

Satoru would have to learn the answer to that when he found the Curse that was foolish enough to take Kento from him.

With a lead now in his possession, Satoru examined the residuals, quickly finding the lingering traces. They were fading, nearing non-existent to anyone who didn't know what they were looking for but for someone who possessed the Six-Eyes, well the culprit may as well have left a flashing neon sign pointing to their whereabouts for Gojo to follow.

With his own Cursed Energy radiating off of Satoru in angry, volatile waves, smaller curses were quick to clear out of the area and those unlucky enough who avoided escape disintegrated the moment Satoru passed by them, exorcised without so much of a thought from his end.

The path Satoru followed lead him right down to a manhole. And anger once again rose to the surface of his being when he noticed a little ball of poly-fil stuffing caught on the edge of the lid…

Kento was trying his absolute best to stay still, to make himself as small and unseen as possible as the thing was tossing Shiro up into the air and giggling maniacally to itself.

"I really couldn't believe it when I saw you back at the school." the monster said, squeezing Shiro between his palms.

"I thought it was you, but I couldn't stick around long enough to make sure. I had a mission to complete and the boss doesn't really have a temper I want to mess with so I couldn't say hi." he continued, pulling at Shiro's tail.

Kento watched as the human-like-thing pulled and pulled until a riiiiip was heard and little Shiro lost his tail.

The small 7:3 Sorcerer flinched violently, a fresh batch of tears painting his dirtied cheeks. Kento wanted to tell the monster to stop, to leave Shiro alone, to let him go home. But words were an impossibility. He couldn't make a sound even if he wanted to. He so desperately wanted to be brave, and to protect his precious stuffed cow.

But the sad truth was that Kento didn't have the strength to do anything but shiver in fear.

"Just as frail as you humans it seems." the monster sighed, disappointed. And began to pull the stuffing from inside the toy until it became bored and tossed Shiro's empty husk onto the dirty sludge covered floor beneath them.

"But you didn't tell me," the creature rounded on the toddler, it's large blank eyes looking at Kento, and it's demented smile wide and terrifying. "How did you change your soul, huh?"

Kento didn't know what the thing was referring to. What did it mean by 'change his soul'? Kento's Soul was just what it was right? A little light that made him who he was? At least that was what Megumi had explained to him after they read a story together when the kids were looking after him in Gojo's absence.

How can someone change a light? It didn't make sense. And Kento tried telling it so, "I–I 'unno"

"You what?" it asked, raising it's voice and causing Kento to wince.

"You spoke so clearly the last time, what happened? Loose your tongue as well?" the monster asked of him, coming closer to Kento.

Kento shook his head, he didn't know what the thing wanted, other than terrorize him and ask questions he didn't have answers to. Kento wanted Gojo, he wanted Shiro, he wanted Itadori, Megumi, Nobara, he would take that weird mean old man and lady from the event over the monster, he just wanted someone.

"Go on, tell me!" The monster yelled, and for a long awful frightening moment, time seemed to slow down as Kento saw it grow a multitude of arms like a spider. And each of those arms was reaching out to Kento.

His little heart beat rapidly against his chest as a high pitched terrified scream was torn out of the child.

However, before a single one of those hands could reach Kento his vision was obscured by a familiar smelling shirt. And a gentle voice was shushing him, assuring him that everything was fine now, that he was sorry. He was here. Gojo was there.

The relief that slammed into Kento only made him cry harder as he clung to the shirt and the man on the other side of it. He couldn't speak, too stunned and terrified to do anything but wail into the shoulder of his caretaker.

He had been so scared, so completely and utterly terrified of the monster that he had been so sure that it was going to eat him and he would never see his friends or Gojo again. But he was here now and Kento was sure that everything was okay now, because Gojo was strong and brave and he could defeat any monster.

Kento's terrified and shaking hands held tightly onto Gojo, trembling against him as he heard Gojo speak over him, no longer offering reassurances but a certain death to the monster and all Kento could think was good.

In the next minutes, Kento couldn't say what exactly happened, he was sheltered under the safety of the fabric Gojo had provided him, it muffled the words and the sounds that followed. It was a quick but no donut brutal affair, when Gojo exorcized the demon. But Kento didn't focus on that, he couldn't really comprehend what Gojo had done, all he knew that was that Gojo had saved him. Gojo was right there and the nightmare was over.

Gojo was careful in his movements after that, always keeping one hand to the middle of Kento's back, reassuring him of his presence and eventually the sickening smell of the sewers was gone and Kento could make out light through the fabric that was over his head.

"Kento-chan?" Gojo's voice was so soft, so quiet and it brought fresh tears to the toddler's eyes. "Can I remove this? Please?"

Kento was still hiccuping, his entire body trembling with emotion after his sobbing had subsided, and though his little hands had yet to lose their tremor, he pulled at the shirt, just enough to glance up at Gojo. Kento's large green eyes still wide and shining with unshed tears. "I–I–'m so–sorry Gojo-san."

Gojo's eyes already filled with concern, softened impossibly so as he crushed the toddler to his chest. Enveloping him in a trembling hug much like the last time Kento had been found. And just like the time before, Gojo comforted him. "Shh, there's nothing to be sorry for Kento. It's okay, you're okay."

Kento's tears flowed freely again, the tremble in Gojo's voice breaking his heart in a way he couldn't rightly express. So he apologized, again and again until he was sobbing again and unable to make any more coherent words.

In response, Gojo pressed a soft kiss to the top of Kento's head, "It's alright Kento-chan, it's all alright now. Let's go home."