Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sukuna was having a no good, very bad day. Actually, 'very bad' couldn’t even begin to describe it.

First, Yuuji's club forms were tampered with by that idiot coach, who then had the nerve to challenge him to win back his right to make his own decisions. His brother had restrained Sukuna from shredding the stupid coach to pieces where he stood. Yuuji had then proceeded to exact his revenge by publicly humiliating the coach in the game. Or that’s what Sukuna pretended happened, anyway, since Yuuji was too kind for that and likely didn’t even notice it.

Then their Grandpa had wanted to talk to them about their parents, completely out of the blue after so many years. He had told them to be surrounded by people at their deaths and not end up like him. And then he’d died and Sukuna was still too shocked with it to notice Yuuji’s odd behaviour at their Grandpa’s death.

And then as if they weren’t distressed enough—what the fuck was wrong with Yuuji why was he acting so unbothered he didn’t understand—an urchin-haired boy in some strange school uniform showed up at the hospital and demanded some dangerous ancient cursed finger back from them—that Yuuji had apparently found and given to his occult club seniors and didn’t even tell Sukuna, what was wrong with his brother—

And now... freaking monsters were real, man, what had his life become?

That darn finger, what was so special about it that these monsters—curses, whatever—were all so horny for it?! And if it was so dangerous, why had the sorcerers cult only sent one kid to retrieve it, is everyone out of their minds today?! How had Sukuna of all people ended up being the only one thinking reasonably?

Things were quickly getting out of control and then his brother, as some weird coping mechanism maybe, had started muttering their Grandpa’s last words to them over and over like a mantra. And before Sukuna could stop him, he had ran inside and straight into harm’s waiting arms. Yuuji had always been way faster and stronger than Sukuna believed was humanly possible for a 15 year old.

What kind of a big brother (8 minutes older, alright?) would he be, if he just let Yuuji throw all his self-preservation away and stood doing nothing like a useless log with arms and legs?

So that’s how he was here now, on the roof of their school, after checking that their seniors were still alive on his way up. And he came to the sight of his twin struggling to hold himself up on the monster’s teeth and not fall into its mouth like a tossed peanut.

Peanut brain, this brat was, really. Sukuna thought he had an honest-to-god heart attack right then. 

And he had that fucking finger in his fucking mouth. Sukuna felt so bad about being glad that their Grandpa won’t be able to see this shit. He would probably die again of heart failure at his grandson carelessly throwing his life away like this less than an hour after his death.

The idiot was still struggling to survive when he suddenly tossed the finger in the air, yelling something about gaining cursed energy, and then expectantly opened his mouth to the sky as if waiting for a treat for his stupid, stupid actions.

Oh, hell no.

Sukuna didn’t hesitate. He straight up tackled the side of the ugly demon trying to eat his brother and jumped up to punch it in its jaw. The curse's hold faltered, as did Yuuji’s footing on its teeth. But Sukuna was there to catch all of his 80kg self in his immediately protesting arms. The things he did for this idiot of a brother...

“Sukuna!” Yuuji exclaimed in surprise. Did the brat seriously think Sukuna would just wait outside while he all but committed suicide in fighting such dangerous creatures all by himself?!

“The finger!” he yelled again.

Sukuna turned his gaze up and sure enough, gravity was proving itself to be the superior force even to cursed things such as a millennia old dried up human finger. With his arms currently occupied with a most likely injured twin, Sukuna opened his mouth and casually caught the finger between his teeth.

...and then immediately regretted it. Gross. What the fuck was he thinking?!

“Itadori!” The sorcerer kid was still there, right, and by the looks of it, he also had his ass beat quite thoroughly. He was even bleeding, which made Sukuna wonder just how many bruised ribs Yuuji had sustained in his heroic rescue of him.

“Get your brother and the finger away from here before the curse can consume it!” Urchin-hair shouted.

As if summoned, the roof beneath him rumbled and the curse decided to show its ugly mug again. Sukuna had barely a second to dodge before it tried to grab him. Lifting Yuuji wasn’t easy and he may not be as strong as his brother but Sukuna was still stronger than most adults even. So he ran with Yuuji in his arms, the finger still in his mouth and a disgusting glob of bad luck persistently following him.

What was his life anymore?

“Sukuna, no!” Yuuji started squirming and swear to god, if he wasn’t so worried the idiot was probably injured Sukuna would have gladly thrown him down the stairs for getting in this mess in the first place.

“Wha’ a ‘oo 'oing?! Gee shill ol I’ll dlop ‘oo,” Sukuna said through the finger between his teeth.

His threat was ignored, however, “That’s right, put me down and give me the finger. Fushiguro can’t defeat the curse on his own and we can’t kill it without cursed energy either. I need to eat that finger to kill it.”

Was he insane?!

“Tha’ sho gloss, wha' a fuk!” 

“It’s the only way—” he was jolted as Sukuna sidestepped another grabbing attempt “—or else we’ll all die!”

All? In that case...

'This is a stupid, stupid idea!'

‘But, whatever, many insane things have already happened, what’s one more?’

Sukuna twisted his body around and out of reach, being careful of Yuuji. His arms were getting sore, he didn’t think he could hold him for much longer. He could see the urchin-head attempting to do his sorcerer thing but failing, and the damn curse looked nowhere near done with the chase.

So Sukuna opened his mouth and dragged the finger in with his tongue.

The effect was immediate.

He could feel the finger travelling down and then connecting with him. Like a long lost part of himself, like it was always meant to be. Like something deep buried inside of him just awakened and he could take on the whole world without breaking a sweat. A foreign yet familiar power surged through him, originating from his gut and travelling up to his arms.

And suddenly Yuuji wasn’t so heavy anymore. The panic he felt was gone in the wake of this new power and Sukuna faced the curse head-on, a grin forming on his face.

Adjusting Yuuji to only one arm was effortless as he freed his other hand. A tickling sensation went up his nails and wrists to his back and then his face. Sukuna wasn’t so sure it wasn’t an out of body experience when he waved his claw-like hand—what was that on his wrist?—and the curse before him fell, sliced to tiny pieces.

A heavy silence descended the sudden display of power.

“Nii-san?”

Sukuna blinked and was overwhelmed by the wide range of his vision. He blinked again and then felt them—another set of eyes. Huh.

“Ni, Nii-san...?” Yuuji’s unsure voice called again.

Odd. Yuuji never called him that unless he was trying to butter him up to get something or when he was genuinely hurt or upset. Nii-san—he hadn’t said when their Grandpa died. Nii-san—he was calling now after Sukuna had killed the curse.

Killed the curse...

“Itadori!” Urchin-head! “Get away from him, he’s no longer your brother, he’s no longer even human!”

What was he on about?

Urchin-head clenched his hands with a determined expression, “Under Jujutsu regulations, Itadori Sukuna! I will exorcise you as a curse!”

Wait—back up a bit. What? Curse?

“No!” Yuuji jumped out of his arms and then hissed as he landed on his feet. He put his weight on his left leg and limped to his side and Sukuna was going to beat him up for getting hurt. “Fushiguro, what are you doing? He’s my brother!”

“No, Itadori, he has lost his humanity. He shouldn’t have even survived consuming the finger. There’s only one explanation: the curse has incarnated in his body!” Brat sounded quite confident spouting such nonsense.

Sukuna decided to step in then, “Oi, oi! What are you talking about? I’m standing right here, you asshole, and I’m not a curse!”

The sorcerer seemed to hesitate, “The marks on your face and body beg to differ.”

“What marks—?” But sure enough, there were black marks on his wrist. He pulled up his sleeve to see the same bands were on his bicep as well. Sukuna stared at them, wondering the how and the what, but then they disappeared right before his eyes. Even the extra set of eyes disappeared along with them as his vision returned to normal. Well then. “Now there are no marks, see?”

Urchin-head looked like his whole world had been turned upside down in that one moment. Sukuna would’ve sympathized if he himself wasn’t so utterly confused.

“What’s the situation?” Great, another one from the sorcerer cult. Where had he even appeared from, even Urchin-head looked surprised?

“Gojo-sensei?! Why are you here?”

The guy with the blindfold on (seriously?) looked completely unbothered by the destruction around them and casually waved in greeting, “Hey.” He then leaned into Urchin-head's face. “I wasn’t planning on coming, but man, you’re roughed up. I should show the second-years. Face this way~” And then he began clicking pictures of his injured student. What kind of a teacher was this, seemed more like a lunatic to Sukuna.

“The higher-ups wouldn’t shut up with a special-grade cursed object gone missing,” Blindfold continued, “so I stopped by while doing some sightseeing.” He looked up from his phone to his student, “So, did you find it?”

Beside him, Yuuji nervously raised a hand and let out an, “Um...”

Blindfold's attention quickly snapped to them, “Hm?”

“Sorry, but... my brother ate it.”

An awkward silence fell between them. Blindfold seemed speechless. Well, it did sound quite absurd if you took out the whole 'struggling to survive' thing from the explanation.

“For real?”

“For real,” all three of them answered at the same time.

The white-haired man finally turned to him. He tilted his head as if studying him. Then Sukuna blinked and suddenly found his personal space being invaded by black and white.

“Hey!” he exclaimed and took a few steps away from Blindfold and towards Yuuji.

The childish teacher, however, just grinned creepily, “Oh wow, this is hilarious, you did eat the finger! And survived! This is good~”

Sukuna was already irritated by his behaviour. “Aren’t you being a bit too cheery?” he grumbled.

Blindfold ignored him, “Who might you be, who has managed to merge with a special-grade cursed object?”

Sukuna had no intention of answering him if he was going to be ignored. Yuuji, however, was not so petty, even on the behalf of his brother, “He is Itadori Sukuna, and I am Itadori Yuuji.”

Now the sorcerer looked intrigued, “Twins? ‘Sukuna’, you say?” He turned back to Urchin-head, who just shrugged at his questioning look. Apparently that was answer enough for Blindfold and he straightened to look at them, losing some of his earlier playfulness. “You won’t happen to know what that finger actually was or who it belonged to, do you?”

Sukuna shook his head, but Yuuji had a thoughtful look on his face, “Fushiguro said Ryoumen... something. I didn’t pay much attention since my friends were in danger.”

Blindfold nodded once, accepting their answers before clapping his hands, “I’ll tell you then. That finger belonged to an ancient cursed being, Ryoumen Sukuna, the King of Curses.”

All air left his lungs at that. What?

“What?” Yuuji echoed his thoughts, looking from Blindfold to Sukuna and then back.

“Yes. And your cursed energy signatures are quite similar to the finger's. I thought it was just because you ate it but it truly seems yours. But you—" he pointed at Yuuji “—are also surrounded by the same cursed energy as your brother and the finger, although it is heavily muted, which is expected in your case.”

Urchin-head stood up, eyes wide in some kind of earth-shattering realisation, “Sensei. You mean—?”

The man didn’t look at him though, he continued to stare at them through the Blindfold and Sukuna could feel the intensity of it in his gut. As if he was looking straight into their souls.

“You can feel and recognise the power of the Six Eyes, huh? Already so powerful...” he commented nonchalantly.

“Whose eyes?” Yuuji asked in confusion, still favouring his left leg. Sukuna wanted to tell him to go sit down but he couldn’t seem to take his mind off of the overwhelming feeling he felt in the air or the darkness that he felt surrounding him.

Blindfold smiled, seemingly impressed for some reason, “So you can even recognise our individual cursed energies now, and you just used cursed energy for the first time. Hmm, looks like I was right.”

Sukuna wanted to snap at him to just spit it out at that point and be done with. Yuuji—and Urchin-head—needed medical attention and this guy was wasting time trying to be dramatic about some big reveal. Just as he opened his mouth, though, Blindfold finally came to the point:

“You, Itadori Sukuna and you, Itadori Yuuji are reincarnations of the King of Curses, Ryoumen Sukuna. And Itadori Sukuna has just awakened his dormant powers after consuming the flesh of his previous incarnation. Congratulations, you’re a jujutsu sorcerer now!”

This day just went from 'very bad' to 'absolute worst' real quick. What even was his life anymore?

Sukuna stared out of the window of the hospital room. Yuuji was sitting beside Iguchi's bed and Sasaki after the disaster of last night. He was explaining the incident to Sasaki and reassuring her that it wasn’t her fault it happened. Sukuna tuned him out, lost in his own thoughts.

Last night seemed like a dream—a nightmare. Just the day before their lives seem to have turned completely upside-down. Their Grandpa died (was that just yesterday? It seemed so long ago now with everything else that happened afterwards), their school was attacked by monsters, Yuuji, their seniors and that Fushiguro kid nearly died and then it turned out that Sukuna had merged with the curse that had started it all. 

Fortunately, their injuries weren’t that serious, except Iguchi’s. Yuuji had a few bruised ribs and scrapes on his arms and legs. His right leg was twisted during the fight but otherwise he was fine. Sasaki came out mostly unharmed, surprisingly. Sukuna himself was perfectly fine, the curse in him had healed him from whatever scrapes he had according to the creepy sorcerer. Urchin-head's head was bandaged up and his other wounds were treated before he was sent to his hotel room by his teacher to rest. He was the only one who was roughed up so badly but he said he’d had worse before so Sukuna didn’t worry much.

He had seen them last night though, loitering around the hospital without a care—those cursed beings. They were way smaller than what they were up against in the fight but still he’d kept Yuuji close to him, who could not see those creatures.

Gojo Satoru, or Blindfold as Sukuna had taken to call him, had explained to them that Yuuji likely would never see those beings again without assistance. Last night was one of the exceptional cases, he’d said, near-death experiences allowed even non-sorcerers to see curses.

And Sukuna was yet again reminded of how close he’d come to losing the only family he had left in this world. Yuuji was apparently 'Heavenly Restricted', something that was common among twins in the sorcerer community. It meant that, in simple words, all the cursed energy was granted to Sukuna in their mother’s womb, while Yuuji had none of it and was instead granted physical prowess. That explained why his twin had always been so inhumanly strong and fast.

It did not, however, explain how they both were reincarnations of the King of Curses. Gojo had theorized that Ryoumen Sukuna's soul had probably split while trying to take a human form and instead of one body it manifested in twins—one with Ryoumen Sukuna’s physical powers and the other with his cursed technique. The curse also apparently had four arms and two faces so maybe that was also a factor in his soul splitting into two people.

But that’s where it stopped making sense though. Blindfold had expressed his confusion on the matter of how Ryoumen had even reincarnated when some of his fingers, parts of his very soul, were still scattered and missing. The Jujutsu Tech—sorcerer cult, school, whatever—had only one while Fushiguro was sent to retrieve the one Sukuna ate. But it turned out, after thoroughly examining the twins with both cursed energy and the Six Eyes of Blindfold, that both Yuuji and Sukuna had five fingers each merged with their souls since they were in the womb. Gojo, after finding that out, said the power of the curse was probably too much for one soul to hold so it was evenly split between the twins. That amount of fingers were enough to reconstruct Ryoumen's soul but not enough to completely resurrect him.

And that’s how came about the Itadori twins, carved from the same soul, sharing the same powers and connected to each other through their souls.

“Fragments of Ryoumen Sukuna’s soul, his fingers that is, are still missing, but I doubt he would ever be able to resurface again,” Blindfold had reassured them, “Between you and Yuuji sharing his soul it’s not possible anymore for him to manifest as a curse again. It’ll just be like gaining power-ups the more fingers you collect. Ah, I can’t believe we made so much effort to seal that guy while all we had to do was shove his fingers into a foetus and wait for it to multiply...” Fushiguro had given him a creeped-out look at that. Yuuji and Sukuna had mirrored his expression.

Movement in his peripheral jolted Sukuna from his thoughts. Yuuji stood up from the stool he was sitting on beside Sasaki. He looked at him, gave a half-hearted smile that looked more fake and then exited the room. Sukuna went after him, nodding once at the girl who nodded back and saw his brother walking down the hallway, his shoulders hunched with a burden he’d decided to carry all on his own.

He grabbed Yuuji’s arm to stop him but the boy didn’t turn to look at him, keeping his eyes downcast. “Yuuji...” Sukuna said, imploring his brother to talk to him, because heavens knew they needed to, after everything that happened last night, after the revelation of their existence, after their Grandpa's death.

“Nii-san,” Yuuji said in a soft, pleading voice after a minute of them just standing like that. His figure slumped and shrunk in on himself as if losing his will to put on a brave face any longer and a quiet sniff left him. Sukuna didn’t hesitate to turn him around and wrap his arms around him.

Yuuji clung to his shirt like a lifeline, like he was the only thing keeping him on his feet right now, like the only thing in the world he’d left to lose anymore. And Sukuna wasn’t much better, his brother was the only thing he’d left now, the only constant in his life that was quickly spiralling out of his control like water through a fist in just one day. He needed this as much as Yuuji did.

He didn’t know how long they stood in each other’s arms in the surprisingly empty wing of the hospital before Yuuji rested his head in the crook of Sukuna’s neck and sniffled, “He’s gone, Nii-san. He’s... he’s gone...”

Sukuna rubbed his back in comfort. He wasn’t so good at this thing but he at least knew his twin well enough to know what calmed him down when he was upset or stressed, so he started to play with his unruly pink tufts with his other hand. His hair had so many knots and was dirty from the fight but so was Sukuna so it didn’t matter.

“I know, Yuu. I... I know.” A lump formed in his throat, thinking about their Grandpa. “But don’t worry, we’ll be okay. Nii-san is here for you, I’ll protect you.”

Yuuji had always clung to that part of their relationship for some reason. He had said all throughout their childhood that even if it was just 8 minutes’ difference between them, Sukuna was still his older brother and he expected to be treated like the younger one. Maybe their parents' absence had fucked him up, too. Sukuna had always thought his brother was much kinder and friendlier than him, but maybe this was how he coped with his abandonment issues; by being kind, selfless and caring so others won’t have to feel what he felt. The only other person Yuuji had ever depended on besides their Grandpa, was Sukuna. 

He knew what he had to say now.

“It’s not your fault.” Yuuji made a questioning sound and turned his head on Sukuna’s shoulder to look at him. Sukuna put a little distance between them so he could make firm eye contact with him before continuing, “Last night isn’t your fault, Yuuji. None of this is. Those sorcerers said the seal on the finger was weakened, that’s why they were looking for it. If you hadn’t found it someone else would have, and I don’t think they’d have been lucky enough to be the curse’s reincarnation to survive that.

“And even if that Fushiguro kid had gotten to it first, who’s to say he wouldn’t have been attacked anyway? Then he would have been alone and likely not survived. And then no one would know we are the keys to eliminate the danger of Ryoumen once and for all.”

Yuuji had tears in his honey-golden eyes. Sukuna had always believed they were brighter than his own even though both of their eyes were the same colour.

“And that thing about having proper deaths? Yuuji, listen to me carefully: not everyone around you can have proper deaths, that’s not how the world works. Someone could be hit over by a car in front of you and that wouldn’t be a proper death. It would be an accident and there’d be nothing you could do except blame yourself for no reason if you cling to that thought. We can not save everyone, Yuuji, it’s sad but it’s reality. Grandpa was lucky to not have had to suffer in his last moments but you can’t say that about everyone now, can you?”

Yuuji thought his words over, a sad yet resigned look on his face, “Then... what about what Grandpa said?”

“Grandpa said we should save people, doesn’t  matter if it’s just one life we save, don’t you remember?”

Apparently, he really had forgot. Grief must have clouded his thoughts.

“He... did say that.”

“Yes, he did. But I don’t remember him saying that we should not think about our own selves and sacrifice our lives away at the drop of a hat.”

Now, he looked guilty. Good.

“Sukuna, I...”

“You what? Do you have any idea how scared I was when you just ran away like that to fight that curse? How would you have felt if I had done that? You get so worried and angry when I get into fights yet you risk your own life in front of my eyes without much thought, do you have any idea how angry and upset I am with you?!”

Gone was the emotional moment they were sharing as Sukuna’s anger resurfaced. All Yuuji could do was silently listen to his brother lecture him, knowing he was in big trouble now.

Good. The brat would not get away without a punishment.

They had just showered and changed when Blindfold showed up at their door. How he knew the address, Sukuna didn’t know but he suspected Yuuji had told him. But he seemed like a creep so he wasn’t so sure.

They collected their Grandpa’s remains while the creepy teacher stubbornly stuck to them, talking about the horrors of being a jujutsu sorcerer.

Yuuji seemed more like himself now. He was far from okay with their Grandpa’s remains still hot to the touch from the cremation but his eyes held the brightness Sukuna had so missed in just one day. His brother would be fine, with time. For the meantime though, Sukuna was there to look after him.

After they closed the urn, Gojo presented them with another finger. Correction: he presented Yuuji with another finger.

Sukuna was already in front of his twin then, shielding him from the cursed object. “Oi, what are you doing?”

Gojo, as they’d quickly learned, was unbothered by his hostile tone, “Aw, how cute, protecting your baby brother.” Sukuna was this close to whacking him in the head. “But I’m afraid you will have to let Yuuji-kun eat it. The power between you two is imbalanced right now.”

“What do you mean?” Yuuji questioned from behind him. Fifteen years with him had made him learn that disobeying Sukuna while his protective instincts were going haywire was a big no-no.

“You both have five fingers each merged with your souls, at least that was the case until last night anyway. Now Sukuna-kun here has an extra finger in his system and need to neutralise it by having you match his number since your souls are connected. Otherwise he would slowly go bloodthirsty if the powers remain imbalanced for very long.”

He looked to be telling the truth, but what did Sukuna know about all this reincarnation thing? He had no idea until yesterday that there were sorcerers roaming freely in Japan and hunting cursed monsters. Yuuji tapped his shoulder and he turned his head to look at him.

“I think he’s telling the truth.” So maybe he hadn’t been so subtle in hiding his doubt and suspicion. Then again, they were connected or something like that and had been able to understand each other without words from a young age. 

“Let me do it.” Yuuji's eyes held conviction, for what he didn’t know, but he suspected the possibility of his brother slowly going bloodthirsty was his motivation right now.

Sukuna stepped aside. He wasn’t going to force his decisions on Yuuji and he had already proven time and again that he was perfectly capable of making his own decisions—except last night, but that was different, the less was said about last night, the better.

Gojo gave Yuuji the cursed finger and Sukuna watched with anticipation and anxiety as he swallowed the thing whole—had Sukuna also done that? Gross—and then his eyes snapped open with a jolt of his body as black markings appeared on his face. Sukuna felt his own face tickle and he looked down to see the bands appear back on his wrist.

Beside him, Gojo tensed as if waiting for an attack and before he had to think about ways to protect his brother if the man snapped, Yuuji was gagging in disgust, the marks now gone from his face. Gojo grinned, impressed, and Sukuna would admit he was too. He had lost himself for a moment in the power that came with the finger but Yuuji managed to suppress its influence very quickly. What a proud brother moment this was.

Fushiguro also appeared after a while and Gojo told them that they would join the Tokyo Metropolitan Jujutsu Tech to train as sorcerers.

“Our first-years count just raised to four! Or wait, should I count you two as one since you share the same soul?”

“There’s only two other students besides us?!”

“Yep. You, Sukuna-kun and Megumi-kun over here, as well as another girl.”

“Wow. You really lack man-power, huh?”

“I told you! There aren’t many capable sorcerers who survive in this job. Were you even listening, Sukuna-kun?”

“Don’t call me that. Blindfold.”

An exaggerated gasp. “You take that back, four eyes.”

“No, I won’t. Six eyes.”

(Yuuji and Megumi just closed their eyes and shook their heads in exasperation.)

“You know,” Yuuji said, leaning against the door of Sukuna's dorm room at the sorcerer school, “your eyes had changed colour when you ate the finger.”

Sukuna looked up from where he was unpacking his clothes to stare questioningly at his twin. “What?”

Yuuji entered the room and sat on the bed beside the suitcase. “Your eyes had turned blue as soon as you ate the finger. They looked so pretty though. Like... like winter!” He looked happy to find a decent comparison.

Sukuna smiled indulgently; at least his brother was acting like himself again. Maybe that weird test the principal made them take finally snapped him out of it.

“Like winter? And what does winter look like?”

“Winter, you know. White snow, bare trees, cold winds. Fog.”

“I didn’t hear a single blue thing in there. How are my blue eyes like winter if winter isn’t even blue?”

“But winter is blue. Just like summer is yellow and autumn is orange, winter is blue!”

Throughout their banter Yuuji had managed to fold away all of his clothes and arranged them accordingly. Sukuna gave him a look and he just grinned cheekily.

“I wanted to ask you,” Yuuji said, folding his legs under him and shoving the suitcase down the bed, “did my eyes turn blue too, when I ate the finger?”

Sukuna kicked the now empty suitcase under the bed and plopped down on his back beside his brother on the bed, mindful of the folded clothes. “No. They were the same yellow.” He smirked. “Like summer.” He laughed as he was swatted by a sock.

Yuuji was grinning too and he was glad to see the mirth return to his eyes.

“But we did kind of resonate, I guess. I felt the markings appear on my face too the same time as yours did.”

Yuuji put away the sock beside the other clothes and scooted towards Sukuna's spread out form, hand immediately going to play with his hair. He glared up at him but didn’t complain knowing both of them knew he was as weak to being played with his hair as his brother. It relaxed him and he closed his eyes.

“It happened to me too,” Yuuji said, twirling a strand around his finger, “the first time you ate it that night.”

Sukuna hummed in question.

“I resonated with you too. The marks tickled and these appeared but did not open into another pair of eyes like yours.”

He opened his eyes to see his brother pointing to the skin underneath his eyes where two identical dark crescent shapes were present. He reached out a hand to his face, a black nail (yeah, he had to live with it now because it wasn’t nail polish) tracing the shape that wasn’t there before. He hadn’t really paid much attention to Yuuji’s face with everything that was going on but now he felt stupid no noticing them sooner.

“Is that a thing now, us resonating with each other every time we eat a finger?” Sukuna asked distractedly, still tracing the closed eyes.

Yuuji hummed, “I don’t think it’s about the fingers at all. I think it’s got to do with our souls being connected like Gojo-sensei said.”

He paused. “The soul connection... So like, what, we can telepathically talk to each other too now?”

His twin looked down at him with narrowed and slightly judging eyes, “Please tell me you’re not thinking something along the lines of those cheesy soulmate romances you read.”

Sukuma felt his face heating up. “What cheesy romances? What are you talking about?”

Yuuji had a knowing glint in his eyes that sent shivers down his spine. “Oh, I think you know exactly what I’m talking about. You’re just a closeted hopeless romantic, Kuna, just admit it.”

This was an attack on his reputation and dignity and he would not stand for this! Sukuna jumped up to sit on the bed and grabbed a pillow. Yuuji shrieked but it was already too late to run away. He was soon being assaulted by pillows and smothered in the sheets, the neatly-folded clothes a complete mess around them. His shrieks and laughter echoed through the open door and down the empty hallway.

Fushiguro yelled from two adjacent rooms away for them to keep quiet and let him rest.

Jujutsu Stroll:

“Sukuna,” deadpanned Yuuji from below a tree, looking tired and haggard. “Please, get down from there.”

Sukuna swung his legs back and forth from the highest branch he was sitting on. He grinned down at his twin. “But, Nii-san! I can’t come down on my own, I’ll get hurt. Why don’t I jump down so Nii-san will catch me!”

“No!” Yuuji shouted in alarm. “Don’t jump! For God’s sake, Sukuna, enough, I get it. I won’t act recklessly again, just please, I beg you, please come down.”

“I am trying to come down, Nii-san! I’ll jump, you’ll just have to catch me!”

“No!”

A few metres away Fushiguro and Gojo were looking at the twins' antics.

“What’s going on?” Gojo asked.

Fushiguro sighed, “Itadori is punishing the other Itadori for recklessly endangering himself the night we fought the curse.”

“Punishing? How is this punishing?”

“Itadori made the younger Itadori the big brother for today and since has been getting in ridiculous situations to stress the younger one out. He has been doing it since morning and even though the younger Itadori knows what’s going on he still falls for Itadori doing something reckless to himself,” Fushiguro explained.

Gojo turned to his student. “Just call them by their names, Megumi, that was so hard to understand.”

The teen didn’t care though. “Good,” he simply said.

Gojo turned back to the two arguing brothers.

“Nii-san! Catch!”

“Aaaahh!!"—thud—"Sukuna, what the fuck?!”

Chapter Text

Sukuna was ready to bang his head against the nearest wall and knock himself out from this meeting.

The higher-ups had been going on and on for far too long with the same repetitive shit and he couldn't give a damn anymore about the need for proper manners instructed to them by Principal Yaga. So he finally gave up the pretense of paying attention as he yawned wide and slumped his body against his twin, resting his head on the other's shoulder.

If any of these geezers were glaring at him right now in disapproval, Sukuna wouldn't know with the several screens obstructing their figures from them in the dark candle-lit room. Not like he cared about their perception of him anyway.

Blindfold, who had been dominating the conversation (argument) so far, glanced briefly at the movement from Sukuna. Sukuna looked back at him and raised an eyebrow in challenge, to which the man just turned back to the latest talking-screen without a word. He didn't tell him to straighten up so Sukuna considered it permission enough to drape half his body against his brother's side, slumping on him with a bored sigh.

"Stop it," whispered Yuuji through the corner of his lips. His back was ram-rod straight and the tension in his body made him a rather stiff pillow that Sukuna tried to loosen by subtly wiggling against him.

"I said stop it, Sukuna!" Yuuji whisper-shouted, trying to shrug him off.

Sukuna was nothing if not stubborn. He leaned more of his weight on his brother and started wiggling more aggressively. "What? Blindfold doesn't mind."

Yuuji grunted at an accidental poke in his ribs. "You're not leaning against Sensei's body. You're leaning against me. Off."

Sukuna scoffed, "No way I'm going near that. He has a freaky invisible barrier around him."

The man in question turned to look down at them again and made a questioning sound at the mention of his name. One of the screens on the right was currently talking (shouting, more like) and the teacher seemed completely unbothered by it if the easy smile he's had since they entered the room was any indication. Yuuji smiled reassuringly at Gojo and waved his hand in dismissal, and Sukuna seized the opportunity of loose posture to make himself comfortable on his brother. 

Yuuji pinched his arm in retaliation, making Sukuna hiss quietly. Damn, he hated how strong his brother was sometimes. Fucking ouch , was he tring to rip his skin off? But he didn't try to shrug him off again so Sukuna considered it a win regardless.

Today they were supposed to go pick up the fourth first-year. That was the initial plan Gojo had informed them about, anyway. After spending the morning scaring the shit out of his brother by pulling ridiculous stunts, Sukuna had eventually forgiven his recklessness when Yuuji had at last snapped and punched his face for being a dick. (Really, such a violent way of asking for forgiveness. He can't even have the perk of teasing his twin as the older one.)

Then the principal had come to the dorms when Yuuji was sheepishly applying ice to the bruise on his cheek. Yaga didn't even frown at the scene, looking already done when the day had just barely even started. He informed them that the school's higher-ups had called for an urgent meeting and especially demanded for the "cursed twins'" presence.

Sukuna's hackles had immediately risen at the name, but Yaga told them it's what the jujutsu authorities were currently referring to them as because of their origin.

So it turned out, Blindfold had cheated the higher-ups by only telling them a carefully omitted summary of the mission. He told them just the necessary details and when it came to the special case of the Itadori twins, the white-haired idiot had just offhandedly said they were potential sorcerers he happened to come across on the mission and brought to the school as powerful assets. He even lied to them about the cursed finger, saying Fushiguro and him exorcised all the curses in the vicinity but still didn't find it.

Then the broomstick lied to Yaga by telling him the complete story and assuring him the higher-ups had agreed to his proposal of training Ryoumen's reincarnations without any conditions. Yet despite all this, the tower of lies completely spilled when Yaga got doubtful and went to talk to the higher-ups himself. And now Gojo, Yuuji and Sukuna were all accused of lying to authority and trying to misdirect them.

At the end of the explanation, Yuuji had facepalmed so loud it echoed in the stunned silence. Sukuna would have facepalmed too if his face wasn't already throbbing, so he'd settled for cursing Gojo Satoru for creating such an unnecessary mess.

So now, instead of going to pick up their fellow classmate who would be arriving soon and perhaps sight-see while they were at it, the three of them were stuck in a meeting where everyone was shouting at the top of their lungs and throwing random accusations at Gojo for abusing his status and trying to provoke them (they were right, for once, in Sukuna's opinion). Sukuna hadn't even heard half of what was said and yet he felt like his ears would soon melt off.

Then a particular sentence caught his attention.

"Ryoumen Sukuna is a threat to jujutsu society, have them sealed up at once, Gojo Satoru!"

Sukuna straightened now and narrowed his eyes at the screen on his left. Rage coursed through him and he clenched his fist. Yuuji's quick reflexes in encasing his wrist in his hand was the only thing that stopped him from punching through the screen to whoever was behind it and giving them a piece of his mind.

"Hm?" Gojo hummed, still as relaxed as he'd been when the Principal had forcefully dragged him to the meeting. "Ryoumen Sukuna is dead," he stated, silencing all the screens at once.

Sukuna could hear himself breathing; it was so quiet all of a sudden. He couldn't help the small shudder that went through him at the words.

(He didn't think he'd ever get used to these people saying his name and referring to the most evilest creature to ever exist on earth.)

Gojo continued, the smile still on his face, "Ryoumen Sukuna died the moment Itadori Sukuna and Itadori Yuuji split his soul into two, and in extension his powers, when they were in the womb. Not only did they manage to eradicate the worst curse of them all, they also survived doing it and lived their lives without any troubles to the age of fifteen. I think that's impressive and indication enough they don't carry any of Ryoumen's evil traits.

"You should be happy the curse is no longer a problem, no?" He turned his head to stare at all the screens arranged in a circle around them. "Now we don't have to worry about more than half of the cursed fingers because of the Itadori twins already having absorbed them. It was troublesome anyway to routinely replace the seals and worry about when the next finger would surface and how many sorcerers would be sacrificed trying to retrieve it. I mean, just the day before yesterday, Fushiguro Megumi almost died during the mission. It would've been such a shame if we'd lost the Ten Shadows Technique user of the Zen'in blood just like that, don't you agree? Don't worry though, he's almost recovered from his injuries."

Sukuna couldn't imagine any of these people being worried for Fushiguro. But he understood the teacher's tactic in mentioning his status. Fushiguro sounded important to the jujutsu society.

"Yuuji and Sukuna saved him and prevented future casualties of both civilians and sorcerers by their mere existence. And let's face it, you people aren't exactly strong enough to protect anyone, not even yourselves. You need powerful sorcerers to do that job."

The screens were still silent. Yuuji gaped up at Gojo with a horrified expression while Sukuna internally guffawed at the blatant insult of the authority. Gojo was the one to wave his hand at Yuuji in reassurance now.

"Anyway," he turned back to the screens. "What I'm getting at is that the reincarnations of Ryoumen Sukuna-," he stressed the address pointedly, "-are too valuable to just kill off in fear. That is why you also suggested sealing them off instead of executing them, didn't you?"

Now that it was brought to attention, Sukuna- realised it too. If they were such a danger, why keep them alive?

Gojo's smile thinned into a serious expression now. He took his hands out of his pockets and rested them on both Yuuji and Sukuna's shoulders.

"I propose Itadori Sukuna and Itadori Yuuji be put under my care to train as jujutsu sorcerers and track down the remaining fingers of Ryoumen and absorb them to eradicate the threat of the special-grade curse once and for all."

Sukuna tried not to get distracted by the long fingers of the teacher actually making contact with his shoulder and gripping reassuringly. There was no barrier that he'd sensed earlier hindering the touch. He didn't know what it meant.

After a long moment of quiet murmurings that stretched on long enough that Yuuji started to fidget, earning a squeeze as well from Gojo, one of the higher-ups finally spoke, "And if the twins lose to the corrupt powers of the curse?"

"It won't come to that, I'm sure!" The man replied cheerfully, not taking the possibility seriously at all.

The screens made several displeased sounds.

"That's not enough," a higher-up spoke.

Gojo leaned away from the brothers but didn't take his hands off their shoulders. "I dunno what to tell you, man. Do you need a written agreement with my signature?"

"Could you take this seriously for once?!"

Gojo heaved out a long sigh, "Alright. If that's what this has come to, then..."

He looked up at nothing yet Sukuna got a feeling that he was staring at all the screens at once. "If the twins lose control of their powers then I will be there to subdue them. But if it comes down to sealing them again-" His voice held no playfulness all of a sudden, "-then I will stand with the Itadori twins."

Silence reigned in the wake of his declaration. 

Sukuna glanced at his brother and saw him looking up at the teacher with a mixture of awe and horror. He was sure his brother was thinking the same thing as him. Why was Gojo putting himself on the line for them?

"Hmm…" One of the screens hummed in contemplation, breaking the tense silence. The higher-up behind it sounded disgruntled when he said, "Alright, Gojo. You have trained Okkutsu Yuuta to become a valuable asset to Jujutsu High. We trust you'll do the same with the cursed twins as well."

Sukuna clenched his fists again. That name…

"After all, you are known for your keen eye for talent and strength. Are you certain you can make the heavenly restricted boy useful too?" It sounded like they were trying to remain on Gojo's good side with the reluctant acquiescence.

But this bitch was asking for a thrashing now. Useful?! Fucking skeleton, I'll show you useful!

Unaware of his violent thoughts, Gojo affirmed the higher-up's words. "Absolutely. If Yuuji's Heavenly Restriction can cause the dormancy of Sukuna's cursed techniques then it won't be baseless to assume Sukuna's cursed energy can aid Yuuji as well. Their case is similar yet quite different to the Zen'in twins — they aren't only considered one soul in two bodies, they are one soul split into two bodies. So it stands to reason their connection will work differently to the Zen'in sisters and instead of hindering their growth will actually help them improve their individual skills."

Whatever he was saying was bouncing off completely over Sukuna's head. The one thing that he could understand was that his brother had been the reason he couldn't see curses before and Sukuna was the one that could help Yuuji become stronger somehow. And apparently that possibility was the thing they needed to completely turn the meeting in their favour.

"Fine, then. Make the boys stronger and kill Ryoumen Sukuna once and for all. The cursed twins are now your responsibilities, Gojo. That means every action they take is your responsibility too, whether it be good or bad."

Gojo agreed easily, "Of course! Wouldn't have it any other way! Besides, I've already got experience with this arrangement.

"So now if that's settled, we'll take our leave! Enjoy your bleak room, folks!"

And then he guided the twins out the way they'd come, not waiting to be dismissed.

When the afternoon sun abruptly hit his eyes after hours in the dark room, Sukuna instinctively raised a hand to shield his eyes, wincing at the sudden brightness.

They walked for a few steps before Yuuji halted beside him. "Gojo-sensei," he called.

Gojo turned back to look at him. "Yes, Yuuji-kun?"

"... What you said inside about standing with us if we lost control… Is that true?"

"Of course."

Both of them looked up at him in surprise. He hadn't even hesitated.

"I just said that to shut them up and get those grandpas off your backs. They never wanted to kill you both but keep you sealed and in their own control. With my threat on the table now they won't hound you anymore about your progress and demand your sealing at the slightest mistake. Now they can't actually do anything so it's all fine! But I am hundred percent serious, Yuuji-kun. If something does go bad you both can rely on me." He smiled. "I'll be on your side!"

Sukuna felt his chest constrict at the sincere words. Yuuji's heartfelt voice helpfully distracted him from thinking over it.

"Thank you." Yuuji said it with so much feeling. The grateful expression on his face was one Sukuna had never seen before. Sure his brother was the polite one of the two and more expressive in his appreciation of others but that look. He looked as if he was thanking a savior who'd saved their lives from doom, and maybe that wasn't so far off the mark. Sukuna had no idea what "sealing" actually entailed — it could be anything from preserving them whole and alive to storing only parts of their bodies like the sorcerers had done with Ryoumen. Both terrifying prospects in and of themselves.

And Gojo had said without a second thought that he'd stand with them.

Gojo tilted his head at Yuuji's gratefulness, making his gravity-defying hair flop over to the side. "Whatever are you thanking me for?" He sounded genuinely confused.

Don't make Sukuna like this guy, no, don't do it.

Yuuji smiled. It was smaller and softer than his usual bright smiles.

"For saving us, sensei! You took responsibility for both of us and risked your job to prevent us from getting sealed. Thank you so much! We won't disappoint you, right, Sukuna?"

Sukuna shoved his hands in his pockets and inclined his head just slightly, ducking it down a moment later.

Gojo laughed. "Don't worry, Yuuji-kun, there's no haste! And don't worry about my job either, they are the ones who need me, not the other way around. They can't fire me from my position."

"Still," Yuuji insisted, "we are very thankful that you stood up for us."

"It's nothing, really-"

"Just take the damn thanks like a normal person, will you!" Sukuna snapped, heat traveling up his neck as he averted his gaze.

From his periphery, he could see Gojo looking taken aback at his words.

"That translates to "thank you, sensei" in Sukuna-speak," Yuuji, ever the brain-to-mouth-filter Sukuna lacked, did the damage control immediately, still smiling but with a warning glare in his gold eyes that he directed at Sukuna.

Sukuna huffed but shut up.

Then a large hand flopped over his head and ruffled his hair, making him look up in startlement.

Gojo was grinning down at him. "You're welcome, Sukuna-kun," he said, patting his head twice more before pulling away. "Alright, I think we're forgetting the actual plan for today. We have to pick up your classmate. I've instructed Ijichi to drive you all to the location — don't forget to tell Megumi!"

"You aren't coming with us?"

"Oh, I'll be there. I just have a few things to finish up here. Also, your uniforms must have arrived by now." He raised a finger. "It's a surprise for you two, do tell me how you both like it! I told Ijichi to deliver it to your rooms so go get changed before leaving."

"Don't you think you bully Ijichi-san too much? Is he your personal errand-boy?" Sukuna commented. 

He had met the assistant manager the day before when the man was hauling cardboard boxes to their dorm rooms. When Sukuna had questioned about it, he'd said Gojo-san had instructed him to put the twins' stuff in their designated rooms. The man had looked too thin and overworked to be doing such heavy-lifting and Sukuna had taken pity on him and told him they could do it themselves. The man had brightened up with so much joy it felt like Sukuna had offered him a feast after months of starvation.

"Whatever are you saying, Sukuna-kun? I do no such thing." How can a man lie with such ease and faux innocence, Sukuna wondered.

"Whatever. We have to get ready. Come, Yuuji." He grabbed his brother's arm and started dragging him away towards the dorms.

"Bye, sensei! See you later!" Yuuji waves behind them.

"Bye, Yuuji-kun! Bye, Sukuna-kun!" Blindfold called back.

"What do you think?"

Sukuna looked away from the mirror to look at his brother standing in the doorway of his room. Yuuji had a grin on his face as he showed off his new uniform with his hands outstretched beside him and chest puffed out proudly.

Sukuna let out a quiet huff. What a dork.

He noted they had identical uniforms. Both of them had hoodies, stirrup leggings and the same jacket designs, but the colours of their hoodies and shoes were different. While Yuuji shined bright in red, Sukuna wore a deep blue with matching shoes. Did the Blindfold put custom-design requests for them? How the heck did they even get ready in such a short time?

Yuuji raised his eyebrows expectantly. "So?"

Sukuna adjusted his hood over the jacket as he looked his twin over. "Mm. Suits you."

"I know, right?"

He frowned when he noticed something. "You buttoned your jacket?"

Yuuji looked down at himself. "Hm? Oh, yeah."

"But you don't like buttoning it. Didn't you say it restricted your movements?" 

And also hugged his body so tight the whole school became aware of the toned muscles his brother tried to hide under his hoodies. Well, he did not exactly try to hide them, but he never flaunted them either, which Sukuna, for the life of him, couldn't understand why. He'd also felt a little envious and pressured (by himself) to catch up to his twin, he'd admit. But now that he knew why his brother was so physically gifted he felt quite secure in his own body. Fifteen-year-olds wished they could have a body like Sukuna's, nevermind his brother's.

Yuuji patted his jacket. "I only said that about my previous school uniform. I'd grown out of it really fast and it was really uncomfortable to move after buttoning it up."

"Wait — why didn't you say anything then?! We'd have bought you a new one!"

"I didn't want to be a bother. Besides, we were about to be in high school in just a few months anyways. It really was nothing."

Now Sukuna felt really shitty for not having noticed his discomfort before. This would not be the first time Yuuji had silently tolerated discomfort because he felt like he would burden others if he talked about it. Sukuna really needed to work on picking up on things like that.

"You really need to stop behaving like this and tell me when something bothers you." Of course, if his twin would just communicate that would be really helpful too.

Yuuji didn't say anything, instead started fidgeting with his sleeve, averting his eyes from Sukuna's. Sukuna was about to demand he agree but then he noticed the unsure and worried look on his face. 

Oh, he had an idea about what could be on his mind.

"Sukuna…" Yuuji started, hesitant. It sounded the same as when he'd called Gojo earlier. "We won't lose ourselves to the corrupt powers, right?"

He'd just told him to speak about what's bothering him, but he wasn't sure he could be of much help with these kinds of worries. Because to be honest, Sukuna still hadn't fully realised the gravity of the situation Gojo's proposal had put them in. Or maybe he had subconsciously been trying not to, he didn't know. But now that Yuuji had addressed the big fucking elephant in the room, he had no choice but to really think about it.

And the implications of that possibility did not look good.

"Gojo said we need to balance the fingers between us so we won't lose control of ourselves. That really doesn't sound so difficult, we've practically been doing that since we were babies, right? I think we're good."

Were they really? He didn't actually know. Can they really be certain of anything now after everything that happened in one night and changed not only their world but their entire existence? That their very existence came from something so evil and vile that even in death it could wrap its hand around their throats and take control of them. Gojo had said this job was full of risks, that the uncertainty of life is the only constant for a jujutsu sorcerer. But if the risk came from within rather than from an outside force, what could they possibly do? If one of them lost themselves to the darkness within, what's the other supposed to do?

Sukuna didn't even want to finish that thought.

'It wouldn't come to that.'

Yuuji had a doubtful look, like he could sense Sukuna's line of thought. It was there for just a brief moment before he plastered a reassuring smile on his face. "Yeah, we can do it. If not us then nobody else can."

Sometimes Sukuna wondered how Yuuji could see through him as if he was made of glass. Was it the soul connection or just brotherly instinct? He can never be sure.

"Right. Yeah."

"Hey, you two," another voice interrupted.

Yuuji turned around, startled to see Fushiguro standing behind him in the doorway. "Oh! Fushiguro."

"I've been waiting for you two for the past ten minutes," Fushiguro said, staring accusingly at only Sukuna for some reason. "How much longer are you going to take to get ready, Itadori?"

"Why are you only accusing me?"

"Because this is your room," he answered, eyes unimpressed. "And Itadori is clearly already dressed and is not the one standing in front of the mirror."

"Alright," Sukuna conceded, raising his hands to point at himself and Yuuji, "but you do know that we are both Itadori, right?"

Fushiguro rolled his eyes. "You know which one I'm referring to. Now come on. Gojo-sensei texted me to come to Harajuku."

"Eh? Not at the station?" Yuuji questioned, following behind the taller boy.

"No. And I don't know why," Fushiguro added quickly before Yuuji could open his mouth to inquire further.

Sukuna pulled the door to his room shut and turned the lock before following behind the other two. As he stared behind their backs, Yuuji's doubtful face flashed before him.

'No. It wouldn't come to that.'

Jujutsu Stroll:

In the fight for who got to sit next to the door so they could stare out at the city, somehow in trying to break the argument and solve the issue, Megumi came to sit between the Itadori twins.

He looked annoyed, as was understandable, stuck between an excited Yuuji bouncing in his seat as he 'oohed' and 'aahed' at the passing sights, and Sukuna who grumbled about the traffic and the noise every two minutes.

In a desperate attempt to get the two annoyances on both of his sides to stop irritating him, Megumi decided to divert their attention from the bustling Tokyo to something else. He grimaced at the idea but he had no other options. They'd completely ignored his request to keep quiet several times, so now he had to do the most dreadful thing.

Starting a conversation.

"So…"

A painful silence passed. Nobody seemed to have heard him over the honking cars.

He couldn't do this. What should he even talk about?

"How was the meeting with the higher-ups earlier?"

Like a switch had been flipped, the brothers froze all of a sudden. Megumi cringed. He was so bad at this.

"Yeah, it went well," Yuuji answered after it seemed like Megumi had been regretting all his life decisions for ages.

Sukuna followed quickly after, "Yeah, everything's cool. Blindfold created some trouble earlier but we're all good now."

"Yeah," Yuuji said again, still staring outside. "Sensei's so cool! He really stood up for us!" His voice lacked all enthusiasm however.

Sukuna wouldn't turn around either. "Eh, he's not that cool."

"You're just saying that because you don't want to admit that you actually like him."

"Don't put words in my mouth, brat."

And then again, silence.

Megumi stared between the two brothers uncomprehendingly. He caught Ijichi-san's eyes in the rear-view mirror and the same confusion was mirrored on his face.

That was… weird. 

"That's… good to know. I'm glad you both didn't end up in trouble."

"Yeah," they said at the same time, and then went back to staring outside, this time silent and unmoving.

Megumi stared down at his lap. At least they weren't bothering him now.

He fucked up.

Chapter Text

"Thank you for dropping us off, Ijichi-san," Fushiguro told the assistant manager in the car.

Ijichi-san smiled, making stressed wrinkles appear all around his eyes. Sukuna grimaced in pity.

"No problem, Fushiguro-kun. Gojo-san should be arriving soon. I'll be going." And with that the man drove away.

Sukuna stared after the car. "That guy always looks super overworked," he commented to the dark-haired boy beside him.

Fushiguro answered, "That's because he is." He turned to him. "Gojo-sensei loves bullying him and pushing all his paperwork over to him."

"Yikes. Having to deal with that guy. "

"Hmm. It's truly unfortunate."

"Hey!"

Both of them turned around to see Yuuji walking over with three popsicles in his hands. When had he even disappeared to buy them?

"What are you two talking about?" Yuuji asked, loud and excited as he handed one popsicle to Fushiguro.

Sukuna crossed his arms over his chest. "Forget that. Tell me when the heck did you sneak off to buy these?" He gestured to the ice treats. "Is this small Sendai where you can roam around as you wish and climb trees? You see the crowd all over the place? Don't go wandering off on your own again."

However, his brother curled his lips in annoyance. "We all have phones! Even if I got lost we can find each other."

Sukuna frowned harder and leaned in his twin's face. "Shut up! Who knows what kind of troubles you'd end up winding yourself in if left unsupervised!"

"Eh?! What's that supposed to mean?! I can take care of myself just fine!"

"Yeah." Sukuna felt a mocking smile forming on his face. "I saw "just fine" the night you were dangling over a curse's mouth. Sure, "Can take care of myself just fine." Just shut up and listen to me."

Yuuji glared. He looked truly pissed off. He pointed a finger in his face, "You-!"

"Alright!" Fushiguro interrupted, stepping between the twins and pushing them apart. "Enough, you two. You're not kids. Stop fighting in the middle of the street, there are so many people here."

"Tell him that, Fushiguro!" Yuuji shouted. " He's treating me like a kid! We are the same age!"

Fushiguro tried to calm him down, "Itadori-"

However Sukuna interrupted him this time, "I'm still older! You should listen to me and stop acting so careless!"

"An eight minutes' difference means nothing!"

"Hey, now-"

"Woah, why is there a shouting match going on?"

All three of them turned at the same time towards the new voice. Gojo stood there, watching Fushiguro trying to hold back both Sukuna and Yuuji at the same time to prevent an actual fight breaking out in a public place.

"Go-Gojo-sensei…" he croaked out, struggling to keep the bulkier than necessary brothers apart.

In the face of the teen's distress though, Gojo simply waved and called back an enthusiastic, "Yo!"

Sukuna could swear he heard Fushiguro growl not unlike his demon dogs in frustration.

"What're we fighting about?" Gojo asked, unbothered by his student's murderous glare.

"Sensei!" Yuuji exclaimed and ran towards the man at once. His sudden absence from the little ring of shouting match that had formed made Fushiguro lose his balance and stagger. Sukuna quickly steadied him by the hand that was still gripping his shoulder before he could fall face-first into concrete.

"Why are you both so heavy?" Sukuna heard Fushiguro mutter under his breath and frowned in mild offense, having half a mind to let go of him to tumble gracelessly.

Yuuji bounced beside Gojo and tugged on his arm like the little kid he'd just claimed he wasn't. "Sensei, I bought popsicles but Sukuna doesn't want any. Here, you can have it!"

This brat!

Gojo smiled. "Sure, Yuuji-kun, I'd love to have one. But the ones in your hand have already melted."

"Eh?" Yuuji said, then looked down at his hands. Sure enough, the two popsicles were now sagging sadly in their wrappers, having succumbed to the heat a long time ago in their argument. "Eh?!? Nooooo… My popsicles…" Yuuji cried at the realisation.

"Should've just listened to me," Sukuna said and received a heartbroken and angry glare in return from his brother, intense enough to melt ice. He just scoffed back at him.

Fushiguro heaved out a tired sigh. "Jeez. Will you two stop? We are not here to fight."

"Right," Sukuna agreed. "We're here to pick up the fourth first-year. So where the heck is she?" He turned to Gojo. "Oi, Blindfold, where is she?"

"First, she is the second first-year, not the fourth. Her entry was decided before you and Yuuji," Gojo answered, patting his wrinkled sleeve where Yuuji had tugged on him (wait — where was Yuuji again?). "Second, she should be here by now." He tried to look around as he said that. As if he's not weird enough that he's wearing a blindfold and towering over everyone's heads at an insane height, he also has to pretend he can see perfectly fine with the dark cloth covering his eyes. What an embarrassment. 

That reminded him, "Hold on, where's Yuuji again-?"

"Ah! There she is!"

The teacher's announcement made both Sukuna and Fushiguro look in the direction the man pointed towards, only to come across another freaking embarrassment (Jujutsu High had a knack for that, or what?).

"What the hell? Don't run away from me! Come out and say it!"

The poor bastard currently trying to get out of the enraged girl's hold pleaded pathetically, "I'm sorry! Please let me go!"

"We're about to talk to her ?"

The sudden voice at his side startled him. Sukuna immediately scowled when he realised it was his own brother with popcorn in one hand and ice cream in the other and with weird glasses on his face.

"This is kinda embarrassing," he had the audacity to say.

Fushiguro eyed him from the other side too. "So are you."

"Leave that aside, where the fuck had you disappeared off to yet again? Didn't I just tell you to stick close?"

Yuuji only side-eyed him from the top of the stupid glasses then went back to staring at the new specimen of their group.

"Oi, don't ignore me! I told you-"

He is again cut-off by the blindfolded electric pole shouting out to the arguing girl, "Hey! Over here!"

The red-haired girl looked up towards them, her grip on the pathetic man she'd been terrorising loosening in surprise. The man took full advantage of the opportunity to slip away with tears in his eyes as the devil-incarnate turned her sharp eyes to the six-foot tall paintbrush waving at her from the top of the pedestrians' heads.

Instantly, she exclaimed, "Damn, what's up with that blindfold?"

"This isn't over yet," Sukuna whispered to his twin as Gojo introduced himself to the newcomer. "We are going to have a long chat about respecting those older than you and staying alert in unknown places."

Yuuji only replied with munching. Sukuna's eye twitched, but before he could berate him further, the younger of the twins finally answered, "You cannot milk the older twin card forever. And you are not my guardian, we're both minors. I don't need lectures from you."

He glared at the glutton. "Your tongue's gotten sharper since Gramps died."

Yuuji paused in shoving more popcorn in his mouth and turned his blazing amber eyes to glare heatedly at him. "Shut the fuck up and mind your own business," he hissed.

'Yuuji rarely snapped, you've gone too far.' Yet Sukuna's mouth ran faster than his brain, " You are my business, you immature brat!"

"What, you think you can boss me around now that Gramps is gone?!"

"I never fucking said that, I'm only speaking for your own good!"

"You're being unnecessarily paranoid and trying to control my actions, is what you're doing!"

"Hey! Hey, hey!" Fushiguro was suddenly blocking his view. That's when Sukuna realised he'd lost himself again while arguing and was now grabbing Yuuji's hood. "Can you two please not start fights every few minutes in the middle of the street? I've tolerated this long enough and I'm tired of separating you both. Itadori, let go of him."

Someone spoke up from a distance, "What's up with those two? Still fighting?" 

Gojo answered them, "I guess so."

Sukuna begrudgingly let go of Yuuji and turned to look at Gojo and the girl walking towards the three of them. He noticed her luggage was no longer with her.

Fushiguro sighed like the nth time. "Sensei, you should be the one diffusing the situation instead of roaming around like a tourist," he told the man.

The girl narrowed her eyes. "Oi. We went to keep my stuff in the coin locker while you three were busy bickering like kids."

Fushiguro quickly defended himself, "I was trying to break them up, not bickering."

"What's the deal anyway, huh?" The girl continued, ignoring his defense. "You both look like twins but still have been fighting since the moment I saw you two."

Sukuna curled his lips in annoyance. "Can't twins have arguments? We only share a face, you know, not a brain."

Gojo nodded wisely. "Good argument."

Fushiguro eyed him in exasperation, "Sensei…"

"What? I'm not getting involved in the business of two brothers. I'm sure they have a lot to talk about regarding what happened this morning."

"This morning… You mean the meeting with the higher-ups?" Fushiguro eyed the twins on both of his sides. "What happened there?"

"Nothing!" Everyone was startled when it was Yuuji who shouted, looking panicked. He laughed awkwardly to mask his outburst. "You don't need to worry about it, Fushiguro. We already told you, everything's fine."

"Yes," Sukuna agreed readily. "We were not charged with lying to and misdirecting the authority and are now officially allowed to be trained as sorcerers. That's all." 

Even he was not ready to disclose the conditions attached to that freedom. He shared a glance with Yuuji, who nodded back at him. Yes, it would be best if the others don't know about the whole sealing thing. It would only complicate things if they started doubting their control over their powers and turned against them at the slightest mistake.

The girl eyed them warily. "You were charged with misdirecting the jujutsu authorities?"

Yuuji answered, "It was an accident! We had no idea we were misdirecting anyone."

"It's his fault," Sukuna added, gesturing to the blindfolded weirdo behind her trying to look all innocent. "He is the one who lied to them. We were just roped in along with him."

Gojo gasped, "Suku-chan, how could you? I vouched for you and your brother!"

A vein popped in Sukuna's temple. He growled out, "What did you just call me, you six-eyed freak?"

And back with the faux innocence, "Hm? Did I call you something? What did I call you?"

But the small smirk playing on his lips betrayed his act. That bastard, he just wanted Sukuna to repeat it, didn't he? And to think earlier in the day he was actually grateful to this guy for standing up for them.

"Oh, you…"

"Enough already!"

Sukuna couldn't complete his threat due to the hit he received on the back of his head from Fushiguro.

He looked up at the taller boy in shock. "Did you just hit me?"

Fushiguro, looking thoroughly pissed off and absolutely done at the same time, admitted, "Yes. And if you don't start behaving soon I'll do it again. You too, Itadori," he directed at Yuuji when he snickered loudly. That made his twin shut up instantly.

Fushiguro sighed, yet again, and turned to the red-haired girl, "I believe introductions are in order."

She flipped back her hair, resting her other hand on her hip. "The name is Kugisaki Nobara, boys. I'm the one woman in this group and possibly the only one with a brain."

"Now, listen here-"

"Fushiguro Megumi."

Sukuna glared at being interrupted again but kept quiet.

"I'm Itadori Yuuji. I'm from Sendai," his twin said, pointing at himself like an idiot.

Sukuna clicked his tongue. "Itadori Sukuna."

The girl — Kugisaki, gave them all a long hard look. Then she turned her head away and scoffed, unimpressed. "I always get stuck with unfortunate circumstances."

Okay, she was getting on his nerves now.

Yuuji slumped. "She took one look and sighed."

Fushiguro said, "You two didn't really create the best first impression either." He turned to Gojo, "Are we going somewhere from here?"

Blindfold chuckled like the creep he was and said, "We do have all four of you together. Not to mention, three of you are from the countryside. So of course we're going-," he paused for dramatic effect, "-on a tour of Tokyo!"

And for some reason, him, Yuuji and Kugisaki all started jumping on the sidewalk chanting, "Tokyo! Tokyo! Tokyo!"

"We love Tokyo!" Yuuji and Kugisaki exclaimed in unison purely by chance for two people who met just a few minutes ago.

Of course, they attracted the attention of the passersby. They gave them weird and judging looks. Fushiguro looked like he wanted to disappear from second-hand embarrassment.

"This is a teacher?" Sukuna questioned, not for the first time. Fushiguro just sighed. He'd lose all the air in him soon like that.

Meanwhile, the three dumbasses were still yelling loudly. "TDL! I want to go to TDL!" Kugisaki shouted while Yuuji climbed on Blindfold like an actual tower, hugging his neck and nuzzling his cheek and everything, with the older one reciprocating with full enthusiasm. What the fuck?

"Idiot!" Yuuji finally jumped down from their teacher, thankfully before Sukuna got ready to physically pull him down. "TDL's in China!" He told Kugisaki. "Let's go to Chinatown, Sensei!"

"Chinatown's in Yokohama!"

"Yokohama's part of Tokyo! Don't you know that? Look at a map!"

"The hell?! Quit spouting nonsense!"

'Who's bickering like kids now?'

Gojo decided to intervene, surprisingly, before the debate got too heated, "I will now announce our destination." He didn't even raise his voice, yet the bickering children instantly dropped down on one knee before him, like a pair of loyal knights waiting for their general's orders.

"Huh," was all Sukuna could say. Fushiguro looked like he was going to melt into the floor.

Then taking a deep breath, still standing in the middle of the street, mind you, and further making the dark-haired teen more embarrassed, Gojo grandly announced their destination, "Roppongi! 'pongi! 'pongi! "

'What the hell…?' Where the fuck did the echo come from?!

The two dumbasses still echoed him for some reason, "Ro! Ppon! Gi?!"

A lady passing by them startled at the shout. Fushiguro looked like he wanted to pass out.

This time, Sukuna shared the sentiment.

And so obviously , the liar fucking lied like a liar does and if this was Roppongi then Sukuna was half the reincarnation of an ancient cursed being.

Oh, wait, the latter part was actually true! Unlike some liar's words who fucking lied to kids, to his own fucking students even, like the shameless bastard that he was.

"There's a curse here," the liar said.

No shit, Sherlock, did you not see the dark aura practically dripping off the building? Fucking jackass. Oh, wait, he was wearing a blindfold like the idiot he was. Fucking Blindfold.

"You liar!" Yuuji and Kugisaki both despaired, shouting out his inner thoughts quite loudly, as they should. Fucking liar, rip his eardrums to shreds.

Yuuji covered his eyes as if he couldn't bear to see the disappointing sight in front of him instead of the sights he was promised. Sukuna almost patted his back in comfort. "This isn't even Roppongi!"

Kugisaki angrily pointed at the building covered in dark energy, "You were toying with us country folk!" Yes, curse that city bastard.

"There's a big cemetery nearby," the liar continued, unfazed as always by two of his students chewing his ears off. The guy was really infuriating, Sukuna wanted to punch his jaw so hard. "The double whammy of that and an abandoned building brought out a curse."

"Who does he think is responsible for the rice he gets to eat, huh?!" Exactly, Kugisaki! The audacity!

"So they really pop up more often around graves?" No, Yuuji, he distracted you from the betrayal!

"The issue isn't the cemetery itself." No, Fushiguro, don't misdirect his attention further, he should be allowed to express his anger at being tricked and having his hopes shattered by his own teacher! "It's the fact that people associate cemeteries with fear."

"Oh, it was the same for schools, too, wasn't it?" Damn, he got completely distracted.

Kugisaki paused in her angry tirade. "Hold up. He didn't even know that yet?" Not you too, Kugisaki! Damn it, did no one know how to hold a grudge?

Fushiguro furrowed his brows. "To be honest…"

'Here we go.'

"He swallowed a special-grade cursed object?!"

"Technically, they both are actually reincarnations of that curse so it was basically gaining back what's theirs, I guess."

Kugisaki, however, seemed to only hear what she wanted to. "Both of them ate the cursed object?! Gross! Unbelievable! That's so unsanitary and disgusting! No way, no way, no way!" She wiggled back like a worm.

Yuuji yelled, offended, "What?!"

Fushiguro muttered, "I agree with her."

Sukuna had nothing to say, neither did he want to. Fucking liar.

"I want to know what all of you are capable of," the said liar told them. "Just think of this as a field test. Nobara, Yuuji, you two go exorcise the curse inside that building."

"Geh," Kugisaki cringed.

"Huh? But I thought only curses could exorcise curses, right? Sukuna and I can't use any jujutsu yet."

Blindfold gave one of his creepy smiles that he probably thought was comforting, and pointed at them both. "You two are basically half-curses already. There's cursed energy flowing throughout your body. Though controlling that energy isn't something you can learn overnight so use this." He handed Yuuji a sheathed blade.

Sukuna saw Fushiguro's eyes widen in surprise as the blade was passed to his brother.

Yuuji unsheathed the wide-bladed knife and stared at it in awe as it gleamed in the sunlight.

Gojo explained, "It's the cursed tool, Slaughter Demon. It's a weapon imbued with cursed energy. It'll work on curses, too."

Yuuji resheathed the knife just as Kugisaki scoffed, "Lame."

Contrary to what she thought, Sukuna had to admit the blade really looked impressive. But the thought of his brother fighting an unknown curse with just a knife as his only defense didn't sit right with him. The sight of him dangling over a curse's teeth wouldn't leave his mind.

"Oi, Blindfold," he called their teacher, scowling at the thought of that night repeating itself. "Why can't I go in as well? Do you have so little faith I can fight whatever's inside? Should I remind you, I was the one who saved everyone's lives that night?"

Gojo simply tilted his head at his words and Sukuna had an uneasy feeling that he was assessing him. Still he didn't back down, meeting his obstructed stare with stubborn eyes.

A hand fell on his shoulder. Yuuji's bright smile soon came into his view. "Relax, Sukuna. You already fought a big curse that night and it was badass as hell. But you shouldn't exert yourself by taking on another curse so soon. We still don't know how your cursed technique works. That night was an exception, Sensei told us."

"You talk as if you know everything about this jujutsu stuff." Sukuna shrugged his arm off, feeling guilty immediately after but refusing to back down. "I am joining in the exorcism and that's final."

"Sukuna, you really shouldn't-"

"Did you listen to anything I said? Hm? You roamed around in the crowds as you pleased, didn't you? Even though I told you not to, you didn't listen. What makes you think I will listen to you now, brat?"

Yuuji frowned. "Oh, so when I don't say the things you like to hear I'm a brat, huh? Other times I am mature enough to be responsible and make my own decisions, but whenever I disagree with you I'm suddenly a brat?"

Sukuna sighed, trying to calm himself down. "Yuuji. This is not the time for another argument. I am coming with you and that's final."

Frustrated, his twin turned to Gojo, "Sensei, put some sense into him! It's not safe for him to go inside!"

Sukuna argued, "That's exactly what I'm trying to say!"

"Sensei, please!"

Gojo gave them a long appraising look, or at least it looked appraising. Then he clapped his hands together. "Sorry, Sukuna-kun. But Yuuji-kun's right. We do believe you've inherited Ryoumen's slashing techniques, and those can be very volatile if not restrained under a proper and solid range. And you've yet not started practicing with it so it would be very risky, not even to yourself but your teammates as well, to send you in there without proper training."

Sukuna gritted his teeth at that. He could put Yuuji at risk instead of protecting him.

Gojo continued, "Yuuji, on the other hand, is Heavenly Restricted. He doesn't really need cursed energy to aid his movements. He's pretty agile and strong on his own. All he needs is a curse-imbued weapon to exorcise the curse. So sending him in and not sending you along with him is the safest and best option."

He hated that he was right. Sukuna gripped his arms tight enough he could feel the new long nails digging in painfully through the layers of his jacket and hoodie. "Fine," he ground out at last, scowling down at his shoes. "Fine. Go and fight, exorcise, whatever."

Gojo clapped his hands again. God, he was really annoying (especially when he was right). "All right then, it's settled! By the way, Yuuji, did you bring the box with you that was delivered to you along with your uniform?"

Yuuji startled and started fumbling with his clothes. He opened his jacket and pulled out a brown rectangular box from an inside pocket. He opened it and showed it to Gojo where a pair of red-framed glasses sat on a black piece of satin cloth.

"Is this what you're talking about, Sensei?" He asked.

"Yup! Those are your special jujutsu glasses. Go on. Put them on for me."

Yuuji did so and looked around, letting out an astonished, "Woah!" when his eyes fell on the cursed building.

Gojo grinned. "Do you see it now?"

"Woah, Sensei, what is that? It's so freaky! It looks like my previous school when that curse had attacked but um… less dense, I guess?"

"Curse-imbued glasses," Fushiguro clarified as he came to stand beside Yuuji. "They allow non-sorcerers to view through a jujutsu sorcerer's eyes. What you're seeing now, we see it everyday everywhere."

Yuuji gaped. "Cool," he breathed out.

Fushiguro knitted his brows and muttered to himself, "How is that cool?"

Kugisaki huffed again, still unimpressed (when was she ever impressed, at this point?). "Lame. He can't even see cursed energy. How do you plan on making him a jujutsu sorcerer?"

"Where there's a will, there's a way." "He has dormant cursed energy of the King of Curses."

Gojo and Fushiguro stared at each other, both having spoken at the same time. The latter looked exasperated with the former.

"Anyways," Gojo said. "Off with the mission, you two! Good luck!"

With that, Kugisaki strapped a utility belt on and Yuuji secured the knife behind his back as they both walked towards the building.

"And also!" Gojo called behind their retreating figures. "Yuuji-kun, don't lose the glasses! The moment they're off you won't be able to see any curses or cursed energy!"

Sukuna felt his temple throb. Because that just couldn't have been said earlier, could it? It had to have been spoken as a fucking afterthought! 

"Bastard," he told the blindfolded pain in the ass. He knew Sukuna would have fought harder to join in if he knew that crucial detail.

The man just smiled in response. 

"Come, let's sit here and wait. I'm sure this is gonna be good," he said and led Fushiguro towards a small bench on the side. Sukuna didn't move. "Come on, Sukuna-kun. This may take a while, you'll get tired standing there."

Gojo dropped down to sit beside the bench, letting Fushiguro take up the seat, leaving enough room for Sukuna. So he can be considerate. Of course, Fushiguro was still recovering.

"You are a bastard," Sukuna repeated, louder this time, not moving from his spot. 

Fushiguro raised his eyebrows at him in surprise, but then shrugged in a 'fair' manner.

"Why would you say that?"

"Why? You know Yuuji has no experience in these things! You haven't even started training us and you already sent him on an exorcism with that self-centered girl! We don't even know if she can be trusted to have his back! I should have gone instead."

To his surprise, Gojo let out a laugh at his outburst. Someday he'd really punch him hard, invisible barrier be damned!

"Ah… you really don't get it, do you? No offense to you or your brother, but that Yuuji…" He tapped at his temple. "He's missing a few up here."

'What the fuck did he just say?!'

Sukuna came to stand before him, glaring at him in warning. "Watch your tongue, you lunatic piece of shit!"

Yet again, the man was unfazed. "That's a new one," he muttered. "But as I said, take no offense. I'm just speaking from what I've seen of him so far. And you too. In fact, that analogy applies to you as well."

"What?!"

"You both have no hesitation when it comes to killing these things that take the form of living creatures, albeit bizarre-looking ones. And it's not like you both have been familiar with curses for a long time, like Megumi. You both used to live normal high school lives." 

He leaned on his knees, looking up at Sukuna with a serious air around him. "We've seen plenty of jujutsu sorcerers, even those with talent, give up in frustration because they couldn't conquer their fear or disgust. In jujutsu sorcery, every sorcerer lives for himself. There's no room for fear when it comes to fighting curses. The sooner they discard it, the faster they will be able to thrive in this world, rather than just surviving."

Then the teacher leaned back again, the air around him turning back to nonchalant once again. "It's not Yuuji I want to test today. You both have already shown you can be pretty crazy to swallow a cursed object whole. So today I want to confirm how crazy Kugisaki Nobara is."

Fushiguro, who'd been silently listening the entire time, spoke, "But Kugisaki has experience, right? Little late for that now, isn't it?"

Gojo answered him, but he didn't look away from Sukuna, "Curses are born from human minds. So their strength and numbers grow in proportion to the population. Do you think Nobara understands that curses in Tokyo are on a different level than those in the countryside?"

Sukuna didn't know when the tightness of his muscles had loosened from being seconds away from attacking to listening in enraptured silence to what could only be the first lesson on jujutsu sorcery Gojo was giving him. He was sure Fushiguro, as he'd previously said, knew about such basics already.

"When I say "level", I don't just mean the amount of cursed energy they have. It's their cunning." Gojo leaned back further against the wall, a smile appearing on his face as if he enjoyed the challenge of such enemies. "Monsters that have gained wisdom will often force cruel choices upon you, with the weight of human lives in the balance. Fear, thus, in such situations, brings you down. It's better to back out early if you're going to let fear dictate your decisions."

He turned to look at Sukuna again and Sukuna couldn't hold his intense gaze that seemed to bore into his soul, to the soul that came from the worst evil of the world. He was saved from it when a shout came from inside the building, making everyone look up just in time to see a giant hairy ball jump out of the building.

Fushiguro instantly got to his feet. "I'll exorcise it." 

Sukuna readied himself too.

"Hold on," Gojo said confidently, surprising both of his students as he remained seated.

But then the curse jerked mid-air, a painful grunt leaving it as huge metal spikes pierced its body out of nowhere. It fell with a gurgling scream and disintegrated into nothing before it even hit the ground. The cursed building almost immediately lost the dark aura at its exorcism, turning back into a normal abandoned building that had not been maintained for a long while.

In the silence that followed, Sukuna was startled by Gojo's laugh.

"Nice," the man praised, looking pleased. "She's crazy, alright," he remarked gleefully.

Sukuna could only stare at where the curse had existed just a few moments ago.

When Yuuji and Kugisaki came out of the building a few minutes later, cheering and high-fiving with a kid sitting on his brother's shoulders, Sukuna rushed towards them.

Yuuji halted mid-step at finding him suddenly before him. He looked unsure and like he was expecting a scolding. But Sukuna only grabbed his chin and tilted it this side and that, lifting his arms and circling around him to look for any injuries.

"Mmph," Yuuji let out, muffled by Sukuna's fingers on either side of his cheeks, his new red-framed glasses askew on his nose. "Thuthuna 'et 'o."

Satisfied with finding no damage on his twin's body, Sukuna did as asked. He looked up at the kid who tried to hide in his brother's pink hair at his gaze. He could feel Yuuji's expectant eyes on him, searching his face.

But he walked away without saying anything, letting Gojo ask about the mission and the kid. He could feel Yuuji's eyes on his back as he did so. 

"You should tell him clearly."

Sukuna was lost in thought, playing with a stray rock with his foot as the kid Yuuji and Kugisaki had rescued guided them to his house. He could have hung back with Kugisaki and his brother but… he didn't really want to.

He looked up at Fushiguro. "What?"

The taller boy's gaze was fixed at Gojo's back who was walking a bit ahead with the kid. "Itadori. You should tell him you worry about him."

Sukuna paused momentarily before he scoffed and resumed pushing the rock with his step. "Yeah, right. As if he doesn't already know that. I wouldn't have jumped between him and a monster if I didn't worry about him."

Fushiguro still didn't look at him but his mouth tightened as if he was holding in his words. He never uttered them though, and silence descended upon them once again.

Sukuna wondered why he'd felt the need to give such an unnecessary advice out of nowhere. It didn't seem like him to initiate a conversation, much less butt in somebody else's personal matter.

"I live over there! Thanks again!"

He looked up at the kid's voice and watched him sprint to his house. Gojo waved to him from a distance then turned back to face the two of them.

"Well then, side quest completed! What should we have for dinner?"

"Whatever it is, you are paying," Fushiguro swiftly replied.

"Of course, of course. Gotta make up for the sightseeing prank by treating everyone to food, right? Sukuna-kun?"

Sukuna felt his ears heat up. So the blindfold had noticed his sour mood.

They walked back down the way they'd come. The sun was setting, colouring the sky in bright pink and orange, and gazing at it, Sukuna realised their first day as Jujutsu High students was almost over. He thought back to the day's events and couldn't believe all that had happened in just a single day.

'Aren't our lives moving a bit too fast?' he found himself thinking.

In one night their whole world had changed. The next day their lives had been uprooted from what they've always known and they were thrown into a dangerous world completely unknown to them before. Then the next day they'd been threatened to be sealed, were promptly saved, fought with each other, gained a new teammate and Yuuji even had his first exorcism mission. All of that in one day.

Had he perhaps kick-started something by swallowing that finger?

'I miss Gramps.'

Had it really just been a couple of days since his death?

As they rounded a corner, they were met with Yuuji and Kugisaki sitting right where they'd left them. Sukuna moved his gaze to stare at the houses when they neared them.

"Good Joseph!" Gojo exclaimed, waving. "We made sure the kid got home."

Promptly, the two stood up and took up defensive stances, somehow in sync with each other. Gojo stopped.

"Now shall we go grab some food?" He proposed after a moment.

Instantly, the two's demeanor took a one-eighty and changed completely, still in synchrony. They shouted excitedly, "Steak!" "Sushi!"

Gojo gave them two thumbs up. "Leave it all to me! And you, Megumi? Sukuna?"

Sukuna droned, "I'm fine with either." He could see Yuuji trying to catch his eye so he glanced at Fushiguro next to him, only to find the dark-haired boy disinterestedly scrolling through his phone, not paying attention to the conversation.

Gojo leaned over as well, waiting a brief moment for an answer before abruptly pulling Sukuna, Yuuji and Kugisaki and leading them away from the brooding teen. "Okay, let's go."

Fushiguro made a startled noise before his hurried footsteps caught up to walk behind them.

Sukuna extracted himself from the hand on his shoulder to hang back a little, unintentionally falling in step with Fushiguro. Gojo gave him a short glance but said nothing.

"Oh," Kugisaki spoke after a while when the sky was turning into soft pinks and purples. "I forgot about my biggest haul of the day." She turned to point at Yuuji. "Hey, you, go fetch my things."

Sukuna narrowed his eyes at her back.

"Huh? Why should I do it? I thought we were even."

"We won thanks to my cursed energy. Got a problem with that?"

"What about my raw strength?" Yuuji argued.

Kugisaki retorted, "Your monstrous power from eating weird shit?"

"It's not just that! Right, Suk- ah, Fushiguro?"

Yuuji looked behind him, carefully avoiding looking at his twin. Sukuna did the same, pretending he hadn't heard the slip-up.

However, Yuuji frowned at the sulking look on Fushiguro's face. "Huh? What's the matter, Fushiguro?"

Gojo answered in his stead, "He's pouting because he didn't get to join in."

Kugisaki teased, "What a child," making Fushiguro glare down at his shoes. 

"Pfft," Yuuji snickered, before bursting into laughter. He was walking backwards with the sun highlighting his figure in soft glows, and for a moment, Sukuna forgot about their fight, forgot about sorcery and their Grandpa and the threat of the higher-ups. All that remained in that moment was his last family, laughing carefree with all the innocence in his youthful face that Sukuna didn't think was left in him anymore.

Fushiguro's words rang back in his head. Tell him you are worried about him, of that innocence slowly fading away too soon because of your mistake, because you failed to protect it. What kind of an older brother just agreed to pull his younger brother with him into a job he knew would either end in death or in pain that will leave him broken forever?

'Fear, thus, in such situations, brings you down. It's best to back out early if you're going to let fear dictate your decisions.'

Sukuna stared at Yuuji's smile and feared.

Jujutsu Stroll:

"Oh! Itadori, is that…?"

Sukuna didn't have enough time to register whether he was the one being addressed or his twin, before Kugisaki abruptly grabbed his hand while walking.

"Oi! What are you doing?!"

She shot him a bland look. "Relax. I'm not interested in you."

"Then let go of my hand already!"

"Not before you tell me where you got your nails done!"

Sukuna was about to yank his hand back, being nice to a girl be damned, but paused at her words.

"Huh?" He said intelligently.

"Your nails. " Kugisaki brandished his own hand to him, splaying his fingers for a better view. The long black side-effects of swallowing a cursed object stared back at him.

"I didn't peg you for the self-care type but these are neat! Tell me you got them done after coming to Tokyo. I won't have to search for hours for a good nail salon then!"

She bounced excitedly on her feet and Sukuna felt just a little bit bad for shattering her hopes. Just a bit. She had called him and Yuuji freaks.

"I didn't get my nails done anywhere. They came with my techniques."

"Eh?"

"..."

"..."

"For real?"

"For real."

"..."

"..."

" Aagh! Why can't I get nice painted nails with my techniques, but a guy who doesn't give a shit about this stuff does?! How is this fair?! Instead I get construction nails and creepy straw dolls to do voodoo! This is pissing me off! "

Sukuna scratched his ear, wincing. "Can you not shout in my ear — wait, did you just say voodoo and construction nails?"

Kugisaki glared. "Yeah. They are my cursed techniques, what about it?"

Sukuna stared at her for a moment, an awestruck look on his face. Then he grinned with his teeth like a child on Christmas.

A few steps away, where Yuuji was silently watching their conversation, he felt a shiver go up his spine at the look on his twin's face.

"Oh, no," he said.

Gojo looked at him. "That went rather well," he remarked. "Now everybody gets along."

Yuuji still looked skeptical, however. "I have a feeling it's going to be a getting-along-like-a-house-on-fire well."

Megumi looked like he shared the sentiment.