Chapter Text
Prologue:
December 31st, 2011
Beads of sweat dripped down Natsumi's forehead as she tried to control her labored breathing. She never knew she could feel so much pain. While biting on a small hand towel, she thought "who would even hear me if I screamed?". She was holed up in a cheap hotel by the shore in Yokosuka. All the tourists and locals in the area were out celebrating with their loved ones. Were they celebrating the end of the year or welcoming the new year?
In her current condition, Natsumi almost felt a sense of relief knowing this terrible year was almost over. Her relief was short lived when she remembered that soon her life will change forever. She was scared the new year would be even worse. Crippled in fear, she forgot to keep breathing, making it so oxygen was not going to her brain. Suddenly, a sharp burst of pain came ripping through Natsumi, snatching her away from her thoughts. Natsumi had never felt pain like this in all her years of jujutsu sorcery. No curse could ever hurt her more than the curse of love. In that moment, all she could think about was a familiar set of blue eyes. With her focus on those eyes, she found the last shred of strength to push one more time as she was crouching over a large towel on the floor and finally dropped the small towel from her mouth to allow herself to let out a scream, followed by a big inhale. She held her breath, looking down at the small creature she caught in her hands. She held her breath as her heart sank, the creature wasn't moving. After what felt like hours, but merely seconds, the small creature opened its mouth to catch a breath before crying with ferocity. Relieved, Natsumi exhaled and finally allowed a smile to crack at the corner of her mouth.
Natsumi allowed herself to sit on the floor and brought the baby up to her chest. She grabbed a clean towel from the corner of the bed and started wiping the blood off the infant. A beautiful little girl had been born. By some sort of miracle, Natsumi was not as scared anymore. She couldn't make any sense of it. Maybe this new year wouldn't be so bad after all.
Within the hour, Natsumi and the baby were both clean and in bed. As Natsumi was holding her bundled up baby in her arms, she thought about how she was no longer alone, but she still felt lonely. A wave of melancholy washed over her as she looked at her beautiful baby and realized she had nobody to share this moment with. Studying the baby's face, she noticed her tiny button nose, small pouty lips, long eyelashes. Was her tiny baby resembling a certain friendly face? Or was she just extremely exhausted and sleepy?
"It's not fair" she thought, "It's not fair for me to hide such a secret". Natsumi grabbed the hotel phone with her free hand and started to dial one of the only numbers she had stored in her memory. She held her breath as the phone rang. She felt like a fool, calling him just minutes before midnight on New Year's Eve. Maybe he had plans, like everybody else in the whole world right now. Just as Natsumi was about to hang up the call the ringing stopped.
"Hello?" She froze as she heard his voice for the first time in 6 months. It was quiet on the other line. "Maybe he didn't have plans after all" was the first thing she thought when she was able to get her thoughts in order.
"Who is this?", Satoru said, this time sounding annoyed. As Natsumi opened her mouth to speak, the first firework nearby shot up and illuminated the sky with a bang. "That's it", Natsumi thought, "I gave away my location". Fireworks on New Year's Eve aren't tradition in Japan, so they can only found in certain places on New Year's, like Yokosuka. Natsumi panicked as Satoru called out from the phone again, this time raising his voice. She believed she had made a mistake and immediately went to hang up the phone, but not before her disturbed baby let out a weak cry.
"Oh no...", she thought. "What if he...?", she didn't want to think about Gojo hearing the baby cry. "Maybe he'll think it's a prank call from one of his students. Yeah... he probably didn't even hear the baby from the sounds of the fireworks".
But that wasn't a risk Natsumi was ready to take. He couldn't know about the baby. As the world's strongest sorcerer, he was destined for so much more than this. Than them. Even though they needed him, the world needed him more. That's why she ran away in the first place. Besides... How could she keep her baby safe if she went public? Her and the baby would only be liabilities to Gojo. As much as it hurt her, she knew what she had to do. She had to run, again.
...
Gojo, who just a minute ago was slouching to the side in his chair with his chin resting on his fist, was now fully sitting up with his back straight. He no longer felt sleepy or groggy, no, he was fully awake. The call had fallen silent. The only noise in the room was the ticking of the clock on the wall and Gojo softly breathing with his mouth hanging open as his heart raced. The sound of the fireworks were startling for sure, although uncommon, it could be expected in certain places on New Year's Eve. That's not the part he was hung up on. Did he really hear a tiny cry, or was his brain playing tricks on him?
Gojo finally put the phone down from his ear and looked for the Caller ID. An unknown number. Not a Tokyo area code. Could it be her?
Natsumi had left without saying a word 6 months ago. One ordinary morning he woke up and she was just gone. Didn't give the school a notice either. Gojo's first suspicion was Geto. Could she have ran off to join his cult? She did always show understanding and compassion to Geto, even if she insisted she disagreed with him.
Gojo being Gojo, he of course found her quickly in Osaka. He couldn't make sense of why she would run off to Osaka, where they first made love. He didn't make himself aware to her. He just watched her from afar. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary and there was no sign of Geto or anything related to his cult. He figured maybe this is just what she wanted. That was the part that hurt the most. For the first time in his life, he felt his ego shatter. The one time he allowed himself to be both emotionally and physically vulnerable with another person, they ran away and abandoned him for what seemed like no reason at all. He could've went up to her and demanded an explanation. But he didn't. He refused to seem weak and denied himself the closure. First it was Geto, now her. He didn't know why she left him, and his massive ego wouldn't let him figure out why. No matter how badly he wanted to drop to his knees in front of her and beg for her to come back, he wouldn't do it. And now, he had already lost sight of her. He didn't know where she was, but he knew he could find her if he really wanted to. And he did... Although... He couldn't possibly allow himself to chase after someone who didn't want him.
"I only want what makes you happy. Even if I'm not."