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“Your hair looks like fucking shit.”
At first, Yuuji almost thought he was going insane. Maybe he’d finally fucking snapped. Odd though, he’d always expected it to be Sukuna’s voice he heard when that happened, just to add an extra layer to it all, to leave him wondering if the curse was actually speaking to him, or if it was all in his head.
Not Nobara. No, he’d never predicted Nobara.
But it made sense, didn’t it? His best friend, the one he’d let die right in front of him…
Of course she would haunt him.
And then he saw the glowing nails launch over his head, burrow into the minor curse that had thought it wise to pick a fight with their little group.
His whole body locked up as he watched the curse implode beneath the oh-so-familiar curse technique.
“Ah…?” Heavy footsteps thudded behind him, and an arm was slung around his shoulders. “I said your hair looks like fucking shit, Yuuji,” Nobara hissed in his ear. “What, I’m not around to berate you, so you think you can stop taking care of it? I worked hard on this!”
Yuuji was scared to turn his head, terrified if he did he’d realize it wasn’t really her, even if every other sense told him it was true. “Nobara…?”
“Yeah, Nobara.” She tugged him closer, keeping her arm hooked around his shoulders as she stepped in front of him. “Hey, Yuuji,” she said with a soft, small smile. “How’re you doing?”
He bit his lip to keep it from wobbling, but he couldn’t stop the burning tears from dripping down his cheeks. “Shitty,” he admitted, before grabbing her, and smashing her against his chest in a feverish hug, never wanting to let her go ever again.
Nobara chuckled and rested her head against his chest. “Think we’re all doing shitty, but it feels a little better to see you again.”
Yuuji rested his chin on top of her head. “You know… your hair isn’t looking too hot either.”
She flicked his shoulder. “I was in a fucking coma, asshole.”
Yuuji sniffled, and slowly pulled back to examine her face. Her eye and a good portion of the skin around it was covered by a large eye patch, with a bright red rose embroidered on it. Jagged scar tissue branched out from underneath the fabric, and he dreaded to think about what was hidden beneath it.
“Hey.” She jabbed a finger into his chest. “Don’t fucking look at me like that. Cut that shit out. I already know what’s going on in your stupid thick head. Besides…” She shrugged. “Looks like your face got a little fucked up too, and I didn’t stop that, so we’ll call it even.”
It wasn’t the same. The damage wasn’t the same, and even if it was, it still wasn’t comparable. How could she even—
“I said stop it!” She grabbed his hand. “Now come on. Where’s Megumi? I didn’t sneak out of Jujutsu Tech to find you guys just to find you wandering around alone, did I? I assumed you guys had some kind of smooth operation going on without me.”
“Oh…” Yuuji rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, I don’t know about that. But come on, I just took a walk for some alone time.” Well, as alone as he could get, when Sukuna decided to be a menace, but by the grace of god, he’d been mercifully silent today. “But come on, I’ll take you back to the others. I’m sure Megumi will be thrilled to see you.”
Nobara squeezed his hand, and used her other one to readjust the strap of her backpack. “Made a few stops while I was looking for you. Wanna redye my hair, and I’ll redye yours?”
Frankly, Yuuji’s hair was the least of his worries at this point. He hadn’t cared enough to find any pink dye or take the time to do it, but Nobara had insisted upon doing his hair for him ever since they’d met, in exchange for him helping her with dyeing her own hair. Not that she really needed his help, after all, he hadn’t even realized she wasn’t a natural ginger when they met, but…
He knew what she was doing, and honestly, they both probably needed it.
“Yeah, sounds good.”
“So… what are you doing?” Choso leaned around Nobara, examining as she painted the pink dye into strands of Yuuji’s hair.
“Dyeing it. Making it more pink,” she said, not even batting an eye as the curse leaned even closer. “Want me to do yours?”
“No.”
“Then back off, you’re blocking my light and I don’t wanna miss any strands.” She waved him off, a small splatter of dye landed on his cheek as she did so.
Yuuji snorted, not surprised that Nobara had accepted the half-assed explanation about his new “brother.” She’d gone straight to treating him the same way she treated everyone else, and didn’t even care to ask for any details on how they were supposedly related.
Not that Yuuji would be able to offer her any, but he appreciated that she wasn’t making him talk about anything that had happened at Shibuya.
Choso tilted his head, and swiped the dye off his cheek with his thumb. “Why would you do this?” he asked as he stared at the vibrant color.
Nobara shrugged. “Fun. And Yuuji likes pink. Shoulda seen how fucked his hair looked when we met and he was doing it himself.”
“Hey! I was doing the best I could!”
“Yeah, and it wasn’t great.” Her fingers dug into his scalp.
“So long as you’re having fun.” Choso shuffled to the other side of the fire to sit next to Yuta, who looked like he was about to doze off on Megumi’s shoulder.
Geez, how the hell had they all ended up here? And Nobara was dyeing his hair.
“He seems fun,” Nobara said, jerking his chin in Choso’s direction.
“He’s… something.” Honestly, Yuuji wasn’t quite sure what to make of him himself, but he didn’t mean them any harm, and that was good enough for him right now. “Not sure about the whole brother thing yet, but he’s sure convinced.”
“Yeah, I dunno. But I think a brother would be good for you,” she said, then tapped the side of his jaw. “Turn your head. Can’t see on this side very well.”
Yuuji swallowed thickly, but obliged. “Could they not… Could no one restore it?”
Nobara barked out a laugh. “Shit, Yuuji! We’re lucky my brains didn’t leak out! No, I wasn’t getting the eye back! But I’ll live. The eye patch is cool as hell, eh?”
“You look like a low budget pirate,” Megumi said from across the fire.
Nobara flipped him off. “You’re just jealous.”
“Of your missing eye?” He scoffed. “Yeah, sure.”
“I like the rose,” Choso said.
“Thank you, Choso!” Nobara said with a bright grin. “At least someone around here has taste. I worked hard embroidering that.”
Yuuji screwed his eyes shut, unable to even muster a smile, despite the fact that his friends were clearly trying, likely for his sake. Obviously Nobara couldn’t just be okay with the fact that she’d lost an eye, and to Mahito, at that. She’d barely made it out of Shibuya alive! And she was joking about it, laughing like it was no big deal, like it wasn’t all his fault.
“Yuuji?” Nobara sat down next to him, and peeled off the dye-covered, disposable glove. “I’m sorry, we can—I won’t talk about it if it bothers you.”
“No, I just…” He hung his head. “It’s my fault. How can you act like it’s no big deal, when it’s all my fault?”
Part of him expected some kind of angry outburst from her, an intense denial, as that had been what he’d gotten from Megumi anytime he said something like that, but Nobara merely sighed.
“Don’t say that kinda shit, Yuuji. Don’t… Fuck man, just don’t.” She leaned against his shoulder. “I don’t blame you. I’m never gonna blame you. And I feel sad knowing you wanna blame yourself for this shit. So just… just don’t.”
Yuuji opened his mouth to protest, five thousand reasons for why Nobara should blame him and should never feel sad because he was just being truthful, but Megumi cut him off.
“She’s right. Our lives are all fucked enough, man,” he said. “Stop trying to make it worse for yourself for our sakes, especially when we don’t even feel that way ourselves.”
Choso hummed, the noise probably one of agreement, but he was still a bit difficult for Yuuji to read at times. Yuta just let out a soft snore from his place slumped against Megumi’s side.
Yuuji shook his head. “It’s not that easy… You don’t get it, it’s—it’s—”
“Next time Sukuna decides to pipe up, tell him I said fuck you,” Nobara snarled. “And I’ve got a nail for all four of his goddamn eyes.”
“Wha—Huh?”
“I’m not stupid, Yuuji,” she said. “The fucking prick is responsible for what happened at Shibuya, and the asshole is probably saying all kinds of shit to you about things. Well, I’ll tear him limb from goddamn limb for upsetting you! You’re no fun upset!”
“You can’t fight him, Nobara. No one can.” And please don’t ever try. He just needed to find the rest of the fingers, and get executed. If anyone tried to fight Sukuna, it would be Shibuya all over again.
And Yuuji didn’t think his sanity would survive it a second time.
He still wasn’t completely sure it had the first time.
“Yuuji… I just don’t want him to take you away from us. From me,” Nobara whispered. “I just can’t let him do that…. Would you let him take me away like this, if everything were reversed?”
“I… I have to die, so he can die, Nobara. I—I can’t—”
“I don’t want him to take you away from me while you’re still alive!” she shouted as she clutched his jacket. “He’s been stealing you piece by piece, and he got a helluva piece in Shibuya, and I can’t let him take anymore. I just can’t, Yuuji.” She glanced towards Megumi, as if asking him for help, for him to add his own desperate pleas.
Megumi shook his head. “She’s right… I don’t want you to die, Yuuji. Of course I don’t. But if you’re dead set on it, what can I do? But like Nobara said, I don’t want to watch him kill you before you actually die.”
“I…” What could he say to that? That he was sorry Sukuna got in his head? That he was sorry he acknowledged the things done with his body were his fault? He didn’t want to hurt his friends, to put them through anything else if he could help it, but…
How could he just stop losing himself to this curse?
“Yuuji, please… At least let us help you, let’s try and smile every now and then for each other, yeah?” Nobara requested.
“I like when you smile,” Choso said. “You smiled when she showed up.”
Yuuji liked seeing Nobara and Megumi smile. It happened less and less, like his own smiles had slowly disappeared, but it did help. It helped him believe his friends were okay, even after everything that had happened.
“I feel better seeing you,” Yuuji told Nobara. “So maybe I can—I’ll try, Nobara.”
She took a deep breath, and grabbed his hand, like she didn’t ever want to let him go. “Good. Now come on, I know my roots look like shit. It’s your turn to do my hair.”
“Yeah.” Yuuji reached for her backpack, the corner of his mouth twitching. Not quite a smile, not sure he could manage that quite yet. But having Nobara back… it was something, and he wanted to try for her. “They kinda do.”
“Oh, fuck you!”