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Sukuna was a first year high school student living with his ailing but still very loud and bad-tempered grandfather, Wasuke, and toddler baby brother, Yuuji.
Sukuna had known of his abilities as a cursed user and about the jujutsu world in general but had mainly kept out of their radar by completely suppressing his powers at will. The family, although they didn’t have any idea, was descended from the King of Curses, and Sukuna inherited his powers.
Yuuji was seemingly a normal child, having none of Sukuna’s powers. However, when their grandfather had to stay in the hospital for longer periods of time and Yuuji was left alone in the house while Sukuna attended classes, Yuuji would befriend the small curses roaming around their neighborhood.
Sukuna understood, Yuuji was lonely in the house, there were no other kids he could play with because he couldn’t go to the park, so, being the unbiased sunshine that he was, befriended the curses no matter how grotesque they looked. Sukuna was alarmed at first, knowing how dangerous curses were, but they were docile whenever they were with Yuuji.
Sukuna let it be because Yuuji wasn’t hurt and seemingly enjoyed the curses playing with him. But Sukuna never failed to threaten them if they ever tried to hurt even a strand of Yuuji’s hair, and it pleased him how the curses cowered (well, the curses Yuuji played with were small fries and Sukuna wouldn’t even need cursed energy to get rid of).
But it all came to head, one day, when their grandfather died.
Sukuna hadn’t known Yuuji’s powers were only suppressed by the very presence of their grandfather, and his passing opened the only lid covering all of it. Coupled with Yuuji’s grief at their grandfather passing, a large amount of curses, big and small, flocked their tiny neighborhood, enough for normal civilians to notice. They didn’t see the curses, but they had seen the fluctuating of lights, the sudden accidents when there shouldn’t be any cause of such accidents, and these made the fear and anxiety in town build until more curses came to feed off these emotions.
Sukuna was fighting off such curses when Megumi arrived, assigned the mission to stop whatever or whoever was making the curses come to the town when the cursed energy in the place shouldn’t even generate that much curses.
Megumi had erroneously deduced that Sukuna was the one controlling the curses when one large special grade protected Sukuna from his shikigamis’ attacks.
Megumi continued to battle it out with Sukuna when Gojo arrived, stopping hordes upon hordes of curses that were starting to gather where they were fighting at the empty school grounds. Gojo had seen what was happening and bluffed attacking Sukuna, seeing how more curses were protecting him.
What they didn’t expect was a loud cry of, “Don’t huwt Suku-nii!” as Yuuji emerged from one group of curses that barely survived Gojo’s attacks and ran to Sukuna, crying and hugging his big brother.
“What the fuck are you doing here!” Sukuna cried in alarm, crouching and meeting Yuuji halfway, panicked that his baby brother was in a place where danger was. “I told you to stay at home!”
“But my fwiends teww (tell) me a bad man huwt Suku-nii!” Still not letting go of his hold on his nii-chan, Yuuji’s crying face turned towards the two men in black uniforms. “Pease don’t huwt Suku-nii! Pease don’t makes him go with Jii-chan!”
“What are you talking about, brat? I’m not going with Jiji,” Sukuna said.
“But they’s make you go with Ji-chan!” Yuuji said, crying even more while pointing towards Gojo and Megumi. “I teww my fwiends to heps Suku-nii because I’s not wike Suku-nii to weave and go with Jii-chan!”
“I’m not gonna leave you, Yuuji,” Sukuna said, hugging his brother and wiping his tears. “I’m never gonna leave you.”
“Ah!” Gojo said, clapping as if in understanding, making the other three people look at him. “I see.”
Gojo made his way to the siblings but stopped on his tracks when Sukuna’s face hardened and Yuuji looked afraid, the curses standing behind the siblings growling as if in response to the threat.
Instead, Gojo lifted his hands up as if in surrender and then, slowly, got down so he was crouching. He smiled, addressing the younger sibling, “Yuuji-kun, was it?”
Yuuji still looked at him afraid but nodded his head.
Gojo pointed to Sukuna, “And that’s your Suku-nii?”
A look of determination crossed Yuuji’s face as the arms that wound around Sukuna’s neck tightened, as if challenging Gojo to attack or take his brother away from him, determined that he would protect his big brother from anything or anyone. But still, he nodded In response to Gojo’s question.
“And all those behind you,” Gojo said, motioning to the curses behind them, “they’re your…pets?”
“They my fwiends!” Yuuji declared, offended that his friends were called pets. “We’s pway evewyday!”
Sukuna looked behind him in alarm at the huge curses behind them, before turning back to Yuuji. “Yuuji, your friends are small.”
“Mm,” Yuuji nodded, fiddling with his fingers as he told Sukuna, “I’s make them big so they’s heps Suku-nii.”
Sukuna looked back at the curses again. They were definitely not the same curses Yuuji played with every afternoon. “Can you make your friends small again?”
Yuuji glanced at where Gojo and Megumi were before turning back to Sukuna and shaking his head.
“They won’t hurt us,” Sukuna said, before turning to Gojo to say, “You won’t attack us right?”
Gojo raised his hands up again and said, “Nope!”
Yuuji gave Gojo a skeptical look, “Pwomise?”
Gojo gave Yuuji a grin and a thumbs up, “Promise!”
Yuuji gave Gojo one more skeptical look before turning to the curses behind them and nodded. Immediately, the huge curses changed their sizes back to their original 1-foot selves and ran towards Yuuji and Sukuna, hiding behind the two.
Megumi’s shock was evident in his face. “Unbelievable. They’re Grade 4 curses now. How did they become Special Grades?”
“With his potential,” Gojo started, “I wonder if he’d be able to control Shikigamis and Cursed Dolls.”
Megumi looked at Gojo in alarm, “Can he?”
Gojo shrugged his shoulders.
This irked Megumi. “Can you be serious for once? That kid has the potential to be a special grade sorcerer!”
“And I’m pretty sure the kid-who-has-the-potential-to-be-a-special-grade-sorcerer’s big brother’s already one.”
Megumi looked at the siblings in disbelief.
Sukuna didn’t like the look on Megumi’s face. “What?!”
Gojo started, “Suku-nii, is that your real name?”
“It’s Sukuna.”
Gojo nodded. “Sukuna-kun. How would you like to transfer school?”
There was a beat of silence and then, “What?”
Sukuna hoisted a sleeping Yuuji to ensure he was comfortable as Sukuna carried him.
They had just paid their respects to their grandfather’s grave that morning and, carrying what little property they had, were finally on their way to Tokyo.
Sukuna assured Yuuji that they would come back from time to time, to maintain the house they left behind and to visit their grandfather’s grave.
It was Gojo who explained to Sukuna why what happened happened, that it was most likely a combination of their grandfather, the lid keeping Yuuji’s powers, dying and Yuuji’s emotions that attracted the curses in their hometown. However, because the curses only responded to the grief of Yuuji’s loss and there was no proper orders from Yuuji, most of the curses ran amok, causing trouble and disturbances in the small town.
Yuuji’s grief at the loss of his grandfather also meant his fear of losing the only person left with him. So when Sukuna tried to stop the curses on his own, Yuuji’s fears had somehow made the curses protect Sukuna. That’s when Megumi came, mistakenly thinking that Sukuna was controlling the curses when some of them protected him.
Gojo also commented how Sukuna was holding his power back against Megumi, guessing correctly that Sukuna knew the extent of the damage he could inflict if he went all out and the fear of his baby brother becoming collateral damage was the only thing holding him back.
Gojo was also blunt with Sukuna, that considering how much damage Yuuji had caused (whether intentionally or not), he would be taken into custody or executed right then and there, something Gojo knows would be catastrophic had he done it because there would be nothing holding Sukuna back.
“So now, you’re taking me and my brother hostage,” Sukuna deduced, sat at the back of the car and cradling his sleeping baby brother, glaring at Gojo, who was sitting on the passenger seat, through the rear view mirror. Ijichi, the one driving them, visibly flinched at the sudden flare up of cursed energy from Sukuna, while Megumi, who was sitting with Sukuna at the backseat, oscillated his glance between Gojo and Sukuna, hands itching to call his shikigami should it be needed.
Instead of acknowledging the sudden increase of cursed energy, Gojo just laughed. “That’s one way of putting it.” When Gojo’s laugh died down, he continued. “I have a dream, you see. Jujutsu society is an oppressive world ruled by conservative, traditional, misogynistic, and arrogant fools. Like a bargain sale on rotten mikan. I want to reset that garbage jujutsu world. Killing the people at the top is easy,” Gojo shrugged.
With the prowess Gojo had that Sukuna had witnessed, he was sure it would be easy for Gojo to do.
“But they’d just be replaced with the same brand of fools,” Gojo continued, resting his chin on his fist as he looked out the window. “It wouldn’t bring about change. That’s why I chose education. To raise strong and clever comrades, all of them with their own talent and powers. I want all of my students to be at par with me. No. I want them to be stronger than me. To bring the change jujutsu society sorely needs. Or at least,” Gojo looked at Sukuna through the rearview mirror, “to protect those who are oppressed by it.”
Sukuna couldn’t see it behind the blindfold but he knows Gojo just looked at the sleeping toddler in his arms.
It wasn’t much but this was probably the best chance Sukuna and Yuuji had. Sukuna knows he can’t keep running. Yuuji deserves a better life than that.
Gojo explained to him what would happen to them now, how Sukuna would start as a jujutsu student and take on missions while the school would take care of his and Yuuji’s housing and food, and Sukuna would earn a stipend for every mission he completed. Gojo had also assured him Yuuji would not be separated from him and would be taught to hone his skills, too.
If he was going to be taught how to properly use his power and still have a way for Yuuji to live a normal life with him, that was already a win.
Honestly, Sukuna didn’t know what to expect when he started in Jujutsu Tech. He didn’t need to make friends. He just expected to learn and go on missions and spend as much time with Yuuji as he can.
But everyone was quickly taken to the bright toddler.
Yuuji was initially reluctant to befriend Megumi and Gojo, seeing as they were the ones who attacked his Suku-nii when they met.
However, as soon as Yuuji saw Megumi’s shikigamis— how he played with Gyokuken, being surrounded by the many, many rabbits, hanging on Nue’s head as he flew or Orochi’s head as he slithered about, and playing catch with Gama— whatever anger he had with Megim quickly dissipated. It also helped that Megumi was quick to indulge Yuuji whenever he requested to see his shikigami, especially Gyokuken or the rabbits. (Megumi had designated a specific rabbit to be with Yuuji when he was at the school and the rest were in class or away for missions. Yuuji wasn’t able to keep the curse ‘friends’ he had from Sendai because they were curses bound to the place. Having a rabbit companion with him had absolutely made Yuuji happy.)
Maki and Nobara were the elder sisters Yuuji couldn’t have. Both spoiled Yuuji in their own ways. Nobara, who would usually go shopping for herself, now buys stuff for Yuuji. And Maki would teach Yuuji how to handle weapons and teach him self-defense techniques just right for someone his age.
When Panda was around, Yuuji would sometimes be found sitting on Panda’s shoulders, or when they were in the common room, Yuuji would lean against Panda and serve as his cushion. Yuuji had fallen asleep on Panda numerous times already but the cursed doll didn’t mind.
Toge, even with his limited vocabulary, was able to play with Yuuji. In fact, the duo and Panda got in more trouble playing pranks on others (mainly Yuuta and Megumi). Sometimes Gojo would join in and chaos would ensue.
Yuuta, for his part, was ready to put some distance with the brothers, especially since he didn’t know yet how Rika would act with the two newcomers. He was surprised when Rika was quickly taken to the boy and even developed a protectiveness on him. Whenever Yuuta came back from missions, Yuuji would be the first one Rika greets and Rika always looked forward to spending time with the boy.
The other students had told Sukuna they hadn’t seen Gojo as much as when he and his baby brother arrived, and Sukuna was sure it was because of Yuuji. It was hard not to like Yuuji and Gojo always came to visit.
Like Megumi, Yuuji was wary of Gojo at first, but a few snacks here and touring Tokyo there (when the students were in class or on a mission, Gojo would just suddenly show up and take Yuuji with him for sightseeing and flying, much to Yuuji’s delight and excitement), and Yuuji had quickly enjoyed being with Gojo.
Other staff in the school— Yaga, Ieiri, Ijichi, and Nitta— had also taken to the younger Itadori. In fact, Yaga had made a curriculum for Yuuji that would make sure he wouldn’t be left out in his education at the same time he would be practicing his cursed technique. It was more playtime than actual class, with the four adults, plus Gojo and Nanami, taking turns with Yuuji’s education. However, since the priority was their current duties as sorcerers and education of the high school sorcerers, Yuuji’s ‘classes’ happened only a few times a week. Even then, the adults had been consistently making time for the young toddler.
Gojo was almost kicked out of being Yuuji’s teacher because his classes involved bringing Yuuji across Japan to sightsee and attend festivals while fighting (special grade) curses, usually without informing Yaga.
“Suku-nii, wook, wook! I dwaws (draws) you! I dwaws evewyone, too!” Yuuji excitedly said, showing Sukuna, who was doing his homework in the common room. The other first years were in the kitchen preparing dinner (they took turns) while the second years should be back in time for it.
Yuuji was very proud of his drawings, even if they were scribbles of each person distinguished with different colored crayons. But it was something that made Sukuna smile, ruffling his baby brother’s hair. “That’s great, brat. You should show that to everyone.”
“I’s show Gumi-nii and Bawa-nee!” And quickly ran to the kitchen where Nobara and Megumi were preparing dinner.
In the end, Sukuna and Yuuji had adjusted well to their new life in Jujutsu Tech. Yeah, there were still shitty times, especially with the higher ups (something Sukuna always shielded Yuuji from) but the brothers were blessed with what they have now. And they still had each other. Sukuna would make sure of that.