Chapter Text
yuji opened his eyes squinting a bit from the harsh light coming in through the window, he was laying down in his twin sized bed covered in his blanket, he turned to face the ceiling and put his hand on his forehead, something feels off today.
he got up with a groan and rubbed his eyes than put his green slippers on, he looked down and saw he was still sleeping in his school uniform and sighed.
'yesterday was so exhausting i didn't even bother changing...oh well at least i don't have to change right now..'
the teen lazily wobbled up and grabbed his phone to see what todays plans were or if there was any mission assigned to him..to retrieve sukunas fingers..
a message from 'gojo sensei' was shown, -be ready!!~ today you get to hang out with nanami again for a special grade curse that's reported to have a finger!! X99-
yuji's chest tightened and his eyebrows furrowed, he clenched his phone glaring at the message for a moment, 'what's up with me today..'
putting the phone in his pocket he walked out of his room to head to the cafeteria where he knew his friends would be since they always wake up before he does.
'maybe im just hungry.. i didn't even eat dinner last night, that must be it!' he tried to reassure himself as he entered the lounging food area that was empty other than the two familiar faces.
"fushiguro! kugisaki!" yuji beamed as he walked up to them looking at megumi sigh at his friends energy so early in the morning and nobara rolling her eyes as she kept scrolling through her phone looking at hand bags.
"morning idiot!" the brunette girl said not looking up from her phone. yuji smiled and sat down in the chair across from her and next to Megumi's.
megumi than pushed a plate of scrambled eggs and sausage close to the the pink haired teen, "we grabbed you a plate since gojo had texted saying you'd be sent on a mission this early.."
"wahh! you guys are so considerate! you grabbed me a plate!" yuji said starting to munch down on the food before him happily before scrunching his face, "IT'S COLD!"
"well maybe wake up on time and it'll be pipping hot for ya next time!" nobara huffed putting her phone away and standing up than smirked down at the pouting yuji, "anyways me and megumi have have been assigned a mission together this morning! there's another finger near the middle of Tokyo so we might all see each other since yours is near it too!"
megumi got up and pushed his chair in going to stand by kugisaki, "well head out now.., make sure you don-" "i wont die! i know, i know!" yuji cut megumi off making the tall raven sigh and start walking out of the the door nobara following behind but turned around to wave to yuji before walking out the door making it close leaving yuji alone.
he looked down to his plate smile fading, the fork went into the cold sausage and brought it to his mouth to bite into and chew bitterly.
"nanami sensei!!"
"itadori-kun, how are you?" nanami looked down to yuji from his white board where he had his map laid out with red markings and circles.
yuji smiled "im fine! so what's with today's mission? gojo sensei wasn't very detailed in the message.."
"of course he wasn't..."the older man sighed rubbing the bridge of his nose at the irresponsible man gojo is. "come here and take a look at this map." yuji walked up with curious eyes observing the map laid out on the board. "what's with the red markings?"
nanami moved his finger up to a red circle "these are where the patched face curse has been reported to be spotted..you wont have to worry about them though." he moved his finger over to a yellow triangle mark. "this is the house of the yoishinos.. you and ichiji will be headed there to determine if yoshino junpei is a curse user or not.." nanami finished off turning to look back down at a now frustrated looking yuji.
"wait waitwait- what do you don't have to worry about?? aren't these the spots where sukunas finger might be located?" yuji protested lifting his hands as he talked. ichiji behind him flinched and started shaking in fear as not many are able to speak up to the tall blonde man like that.
nanami narrowed his eyes slightly. "you're a mere child. special grade curses have nothing to do with you, you're not yet on a level where you can handle yourself against something that powerful.
yuji scowled at that, "cant handle myself??! i literality have the king of curses inside of me! you cant jus-" "enough." nanami put his hand on yujis hair firmly. "i said you're going to the boys location so that is what you will do. this mission is too dangerous for a kid." he took his hand off of the pinkets head and walked over to the chair that he put his suit jacket on to grab it but than felt yuji grab his wrist making him turn his head. yuji was looking down biting his lip.
the teen than looked up with desprate and confused eyes "nanami sensei.." a broken voice came through as if he was about to cry making the blonde man pause.
"hAha.. its funny.. its so f-funny that you say im a kid in this situation-"
nanami was now fully facing yuji again concerned at the boys out of character attituded. "itadori-kun-"
"you say im a kid.. that i cant handle myself but- but you.. you're literally going on a mission to retrieve a finger that's g-going to bring me a step closer to my execution.."
and with that nanamis eyes went wide, and ichiji ran out of the room quickly in fear to make a call.
"i didn't mean-"
" you didn't wanna think about it r-right..?" yuji looked down to his feet tears welling up in his eyes, he knew something was off today.. his tight chest, his slow breathing, the slight burn in his eyes and the ever so annoying chuckles of sukuna in his head. this is bad, he cant just let out his emotions on nanami.. his teacher was right..but for some reason the words wont stop.
"you don't want to be reminded that your mission is to help execute the said c-child you want to 'protect'..? is that not hypocritical??" yuji stared up with tears now dropping from his cloudy doe eyes, teeth clenched.
nanami was speechless, yes, the first time in many, many, years.. he's unable to think of something to respond with.
"do you even..-hic- do you even know what my life is like right now?!"
"itadori-kun wai-"
" do you know how it f-feels to watch everyone around me running around to find all the fingers all the time..?" yuji crouched to shield himself into his knees from who knows what but right now he feels so stupid for talking this way. so vulnerable, and so.. childish...wait..isn't he child still..? 15 is still considered a kid right...?
Nanami looked down eyes wide clenching his fists unable to say or think of the right thing to say, he's never been the comforting type after all ..and god does he hate that about himself at the moment.
"you can't possibly k-know... the only people i see everyday.. going around and desperately looking for the very thing that will lead to my death...and-and looking so happy while they give it to me- i just-hic-" yuji was now sobbing into his lap lifting his hands to wipe his eyes of the salty tears.
"everyday- i think about it- i try to make everyday seem fine b-but- im s-scared- im so so so so scared! -hic-" yuji cried shaking his head in his hands now his body shaking and his breathing is short, the older man kneeled down and placed a hand on yujis shoulder. "yuji, clam down." he said firmly laced with concern, even if he was speechless at the young boys feelings he knew the last thing he needed happing is yuji having a panic attack.
"h-how can i..?" the pinket said looking up from his hands eyes wide with fear and watery, "h-how can i calm downnnn??" yuji wailed pushing away from his 'teacher'.
"how should i calm down when we have 8 finger out of the 20..?? is it wrong for me to b-be scared? i haven't even helped enough people- how am i going to face grandpa w-when i die- how do i-" yuji kept sobbing now clenching his hair into his fist trying so hard to pull himself together but his heart was racing fast and tears would not stop. his face was flushed and his eyes were squinted while his bottom lip quivered with every word.
"yuji please-"
" you know..when- hic- when i was with the others on the missions to retrieve the fingers- i was selfishly hoping we'd fail to get them b-because-hic- i wanted to spend even a day more with them- i wanted to have more time with everyone so- so i always hopped we would f-faill aghhhh-" yuji screamed in his hands at his confession. he literally wanted to take that secret to the grave. this whole situation was a humiliation ritual to him right now but his feelings keep leaking like a broken dam.
yuji looked up yet again to meet nanamis shocked face, the silence annoyed him beyond words, he likes nanami sensei and he has zero hatred towards him so he doesn't mean what he says next he knows it.
"why are- you staying quiet?! say something! you hold yourself so high as a responsible adult b-but you cant even comfort a kid who c-cryinggg---" yuji sobbed with each breath he took moving his shaky hands to clutch onto the older mans suit, "say something!- call me s-selfish! call me dumb!-hic- t-tell me it'll be okay! that i'll be okay- p-please!-"
nanami stayed quiet and he would slap himself for it later but the absolute distraught yuji was displaying left him with his lips parted and speechless yet again that morning.
yuji than let go of the hems and looked at namami in betrayal, "y-you cant even tell me it'll be okay can you...because you cant tell me that my execution is avoidable... i knew that..im sorry..im s-sorry..ims-orryimsoryry- i "
"yuji!"
yujis eyes went wide 'nonononononono-'
he turned his head praying to whatever god there was that the voice isn't to he knows it belonged to..please anyone but him. please please.
it was gojo, nobara, and megumi.... of course the gods abandoned him, he has a demon inside of his body Afterall.
his breathing quickened and sweat began drop from his neck and forehead, his eyes were blurry and shaky but he sees it. he sees the expression on their faces.. pity.
"yuji calm down. your breathing is too harsh." gojo calmly said walking close to his shaking student. "shhh..." he crouched down rubbing circles onto yujis back while yuji looked at him face paling from the realization.
" how..h..how long have you g-guys been here-" he asked fearing the answer.
nobara bit her lip and looked down furrowing her brows, megumi looked away still having a look of concern but not wanting to answer, but he knew not responding would only make his friend panic more.
"almost since the start. ichiji called me as soon as he noticed you start to look out of it." of course they can rely on gojo to say it.
yuji wheezed into his palm looking away from the people in the now spinning room. he cant believe he let out all of that stuff in front of them.. they heard the part where he hopped the missions would fail...they heard him say hes scared.. they- he cant- he cant be here right now- he doesn't feel well- his heart hurts so badly.
"yuji ease your breathing p-"
yuji shot up from the floor and dashed out of the room as fast as he can ignoring his friends calling out for him.
"YUJI- WAIT-" nobara and megumi tried to go after him but gojo stopped them, "the hell are you doin?! we need to go after him!" nobara yelled up at her teacher and megumi grunted in annoyance.
gojo patted both shoulders and smiled down reassuringly, "you guys cant catch up to him, he's too fast, just leave it to me and you guys can meet us at the campus." the tall white haired teacher than disappeared in front of them.
..."SHIT!" nobara cursed kicking nothing on the carpet floor. megumi glared at the floor.
"GOD WE'RE SUCH ASSHOLESSSS!! HOW DO WE JUST IGNORE SUCH A IMPORTANT DETAIL?! HE'S GOING TO GET EXECUTED AND I COMPLETLY FORGOT ABOUT IT!" nobara yelled putting her hands on her forehead clenching her teeth.
"you're right. he acts so casual and energetic all the time so it's easy to forget what's going to happen after...we get all the fingers.." megumi added.
nanami on the other hand was still shell shocked, he failed. he failed as an adult.
yuji was running away to go knows where, just far away from his friends, he cant possibly look them in the eye after that tantrum he just threw. he cant he just cant. he's fast, abnormally fast for a regular human. but he knows it will only take a few moments before gojo manages to track him down. thats...that's assuming that gojo was even after him right now.. why would he go after such a whiny useless student.. his life's purpose is to just to shut up and eat the damn fingers...they give him his own dorm room..a phone..and food and water...what right does he have to complain..? he's such a ungrateful wuss.. useless.. they can just throw him in a cell and make him eat his own shit and sukunas fingers.. he doesn't deserve this kind treatment. especially after his outburst.
yujis breathing quickened, he stopped running and got into a alley to sit next to a dumpster clutching his sides as he hyperventilated thinking of what kind of 'punishment he'll receive after saying all those things, "i-i dont- hahh- i dont- ah- n-no- na-" yuji shook on the floor hands on his head failing to notice the footsteps approaching him.
"yuji-kun." a silky husky voice rang out making yuji shakily look up praying that gojo had not caught him so soon..but the voice was not familiar... neither was the face.
"ha-h-who are-" yuji looked into the mans eyes in fear, his chest heaving as he saw the stranger reach out his large hand with a sly smile.
"p-please do-dont hu-hurt me i don-dont wanna -d-di-hic-i dont wanna d-die please no ple-" the teen said in a broken voice as the hand went behind him.
"go to sleep."
dark, everything went dark with one swoop of the mans hand against his neck and he collapsed forward but the stranger wrapped his hand around his waist and held him steady to not fall.
"i apologize, but you mustn't exert your body that much~" kenjaku whispered into yuji's ears before the two of them disappeared.
gojo was pissed to say the least.
he had a good track of where his yuji was headed and out of no where the trail falls flat. as if he just disappeared or vanished mid air.
he floated down into an ally where he had last sensed the cursed energy and pulled down his head band off to use his six eyes more precisely but still nothing other than a lingering essence of sukunas remaining cursed energy.
gojo pulled the cover back onto his eyes and started heading out of the ally.. he put his hands in his pockets and a vein appeared on his neck.
a civilian just so happens to be walking besides the ally as gojo walked out but than let out a loud scream when the dumpster crushed in on it self out of no where.
he looked at gojo in disbelief but every survival instinct in his body told him to run away from this man.
-end of chapter 1-
this was inspired by the episode in season 1 where yuji cries saying he doesn't want to die :'(