Chapter Text
“I’m going to be late again! Shit, I really am dead this time.”
Words are powerful within Jujutsu society. Sorcerers with cursed speech can use their words to curse others easily, but everyone can forget that curses can be born from human emotion.
“Can’t you see I’m doing this to protect you?”
Humans know that their words can hurt others, be used to stab others in the back, double down on a lie. But those non-sorcerers will never understand how their words can manifest, and fester into something that they could never imagine.
“Not even death will stop my love for you.”
It’s important for Jujutsu sorcerers to remember that their words also can be just as powerful as anyone else's words.
“Focus! Don’t miss the shot!!”
It’s something you have to remind yourself constantly because your family is cursed enough as it is.
. . . “You’re a strong kid, so try to help others.”
The sun brightens up the small hospital room, spreading its warmth. He hates when it gets like this. His eyes crack open slightly and immediately glares at the woman who opened the blinds. Once the blinds are fully open you turn and look at him, a teasing smile on your face.
“Hey old man! Glad to see you’re still kicking.”
He grumbles, “Shouldn’t you be at that school in Tokyo?”
You hum, contemplating. Walking over to the sink in his small room you grab a glass of water.
“I should be, however my students and I are about to go on a mission.” You hand the water to him, he takes it begrudgingly.
“Is that what you call your little wilderness retreats?” He says after having a small sip of water.
“You know they’re more than just 'wilderness retreats' old man.” He looks up at you as you straighten your posture.
He scoffs, “They’re dangerous, that's what they are! And don’t call me old man, you really should respect your elders.”
You shake your head at him, rolling your eyes. Still as stubborn as ever, you think.
“Either way, old man, I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be gone for the next few weeks or so.” You walk around the space, tidying up the room from the last time you visited. “I’m monitoring my students so that they can grow as sorcerers.”
He coughs and you stop. He waves his hand, dismissing your concern and takes another drink of water, “I don’t care about what you do with your life-”
“Just don’t involve Yuji into jujutsu, I know Wasuke.” You walk over to the window and grab the flowers out of the vase that Yuji brought over from the other day. Wasuke opens his eyes a bit more now and notices the small frown on your face.
“It’s for his safety,” He grumbles, setting his water down.
“I know,” you look down at the wilted flowers, picking at some of the darkened petals. Ever since Yuji was born it was agreed upon by Wasuke and your sister that you and her would not use your cursed techniques around him.
While Jin and Wasuke were somewhat aware of curses, they couldn’t see them let alone fight them. They only had an awareness of cursed energy, having an unsettling feeling creep up their spine, a feeling of death, the urge to run to save your own life while you still could.
As you’ve gotten older and had joint custody of Yuji, that agreement your sister made with Wasuke extended to you. You only agreed to his terms when you realized that Yuji couldn’t see curses or wield cursed energy.
Since the day you held Yuji in your arms as a child you swore to protect him no matter what and despite only being 16 when you gained custody of him you did what you thought was right.
You sigh, “Aren’t your nurses supposed to check in with you?” You look at the clock in the room, “Like now-ish?”
Wasuke hummed, “They’re probably just yapping to each other about useless things.”
“Yapping?” You snicker.
He bristles, “That’s what those nurses do!” He crosses his arms and you can barely contain a laugh from how grumpy he looks. He gives you a sharp glare and you start chuckling, “Such a grouch as always. Never change.”
A quiet knock brings your attention to the nurse standing in the doorway, covering one end of the phone.
“Excuse me, Mr. Itadori, you have a call.” The nurse steps inside the room as you wave at her while smiling.
She smiles back before returning her attention to Wasuke getting closer to his bed, “It’s your grandson again, asking if you want him to bring-”
He starts yelling at the nurse, “Leave me alone! Tell him not to come here! He should go to his club!!” He attempts to snatch the phone out of her hands, “Go to his club!!”
“Damn old man! Always asking for respect and yet not even respecting those who take care of you,” You run to help the nurse deal with Wasuke but she just hands you the phone.
“I’ve got this, don’t worry,” She winks at you. You shake your head and bring the phone up to your ear.
“Yuji?”
“Oh hi Auntie!” You can sense his smile coming from his voice.
“Shouldn’t you be getting ready for school, young man?” You jokingly ask.
“I am! I am! I’m just doing my usual call with Grandpa. Speaking of which you rarely visit him, what’s the occasion?”
“I’m going on a school trip with my students for a few weeks. I just wanted to give him a heads up,” Wasuke was finally relaxed enough for the nurse to start taking his vitals. “And I’m now giving you that same heads up.”
“Gotcha! I hope the trip goes well for you guys!”
“Thanks hon,” A small twinge of anxiety manifests in your chest as you notice a small frown on the nurse's face.
“And I know I say this all the time but make sure to call me immediately if anything happens. I’ll come over,” You snap your fingers, “like that.”
“Don’t worry Auntie! We’ll be fine.” You grimace at his assurance. Maybe you should talk to Yaga about moving the trip to next week. “I’ll make sure to keep my visits up with Grandpa.”
You try your best to not sound worried, “Alright Yuji, I’ll talk to you later. At this rate you will be late for your classes.”
“I know, I know! I’ll see ya later Auntie! Love ya-” And the line goes dead. As you bring the phone down from your ear the nurse walks up to you. You notice the grave look on her face and you try to not think too much about it.
“Miss, if I may, can we step outside and speak for a moment?”
You hand her back the phone. Shit. Maybe you will call Yaga.
“Of course, I need to head out anyway.” You give her a smile to try to relieve some of the tension. You glance over at Wasuke who has his eyes closed but his arms still crossed.
“Hey old man, I’m gonna head out now,” He gives you a squinted glare, “Don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone, like die. alright?”
The nurse steps out of the room waiting for you outside. He keeps your gaze, “Hmph, no guarantees.”
It was your turn to glare right back, your voice firm, “Wasuke.”
He turns to face towards the window. Your shoulders deflate and you try your best to brush off your anxiety. As you start to walk outside he calls out your name. You stop just outside the door frame.
“Take care of Yuji when I’m gone,” He mutters, still not looking at you.
Before you leave you look back at him and smile, “You know I always do.”
You step out of the room and you feel like you’re able to breathe again. It’ll be okay, you try to reassure yourself, he’s just being his usual grouchy, asshole self-
“His lung cancer is worsening.” The nurse spits out.
“Oh.”
“I’m sorry miss-” The girl begins to ramble and none of her words reach your ears. Your eyes glaze over and you nod along to whatever she’s telling you at this point. At least his death won’t be from a curse, you thank whatever God granted this to happen. You focus on your breathing and try to pay attention to what the nurse is saying.
“-in a stable condition right now, but I’m not sure for how much longer.”
“Well if he uses his call button then you’ll know,” You try to joke, she doesn’t smile.
“We’ll give you a call if anything happens,” And you nod your head and you try to think of what to do next. Your movements out of the hospital are mechanical and don’t feel right. Your legs are moving on their own and the sinking feeling in your chest hasn’t left yet. With a blink of your eyes you go from outside the hospital to standing on a train platform waiting for the next train into Tokyo.
Come on focus, you reason with yourself. There’s no need to get worked up now when nothing has happened. Once the train arrives you walk on to the nearest car doors that open and miss the two individuals who get off a few cars ahead of you, but one of them looks over at you.
The small smile that graces his lips is unmistakable and the smile turns into a smirk. His student keeps walking away so he’s unable to call out to you with a snarky remark. He’ll have to save it once he recovers that cursed object the Elders keep hounding him about.
“You can’t be serious Sensei!”
“Bonito flakes!!”
“We don’t need you to chaperone us, we’ll just leave on our own!”
“Guys!!” You wave your arms and your three students settle down. . . barely.
Panda is the one to break the silence first, “Why are you canceling our mission? Aren’t those second grade curses still in Sakata?”
“Salmon” Inumaki nods in agreement.
“I’m not canceling your mission outright, it’s just-”
Maki speaks up, “We don’t need your supervision. We’ve gone on missions by ourselves before. Why do you need to come?”
“Due to the sightings of multiple second grade curses in one area I need to at least supervise.” You pinch the bridge of your nose. “While I know you all are used to working together, I suggested to Yaga that-”
“You suggested?!” Maki gawks, “You’re worse than Gojo sometimes.”
Your eyes widen and you go slack-jawed. She did not just-
“Tu-na!’
“Maki!”
“I’m just saying! We’re strong enough to take care of ourselves, don’t you guys agree?”
“I do, but Maki you can’t just say that about Sensei! She’s nothing like Gojo.”
“And thank God for that.” You mutter and Inumaki smiles.
“I just don’t see why she needs to watch us all of a sudden.”
“Is it a crime to see how my students are progressing? I want to see the improvement myself.” You cross your arms and straighten your stance trying to regain control.
Maki pushes the hilt of her naginata on the ground in frustration. A small puff of dust is swept up into the air.
“You can’t see it during our sparring practices?” Maki’s eyes meet yours in a fiery gaze, your eyes don’t leave hers. Damn her stare is intense!
“I can, but watching you fight a curse in real time is different than in practice. . . you all know that much.” Panda and Inumaki nod their heads in agreement, Maki looks away with disdain.
You place a hand on Maki’s shoulder and she looks up at your calm expression, “I want to make sure you’re implementing the techniques I’m teaching you in practice. If they aren’t working then we’ll try something different.”
“I had to go on three different missions with Hakari and Hoshi before I figured out what type of combat worked best for them. It’s important to not be reliant on one type of fighting, it becomes a weakness if you can’t defend yourself another way. That’s why I want to oversee your mission.”
Maki still doesn’t look pleased but with the way her eyes softened you can tell she accepted your answer.
“So how long are we waiting?” She asks.
“We’re leaving tomorrow rather than tonight,”
Panda smiles, “Oh that’s nothing! I thought we weren’t going on that mission for a few months.”
“Mustard leaf?”
“Oh it’s nothing really,” you lie but when you see the side eye that Inumaki, Panda, and Maki give you you sigh in defeat. It’s been a long enough day and you can already feel the headache coming on.
“Alright, if you must know, a family member of mine is about to pass and I want to make sure my nephew is in a good spot before we head off on the mission.”
A bird call breaks through the silence as you start to move away from the training grounds. The evening sun is slowly setting, giving reprieve from the heat of the day.
It was rare for you to mention your family to anyone at Jujutsu High, only Yaga knew about them and even then he barely knew anything. The three students look at each other trying to search for what to say next.
Panda quietly speaks up, “You have a nephew?”
“I do,” A smile creeps onto your face as you remember your call with him earlier.
“I guess he can’t see curses then?”
“As always, you are correct Maki. He’s just. . .” you stop walking and look up trying to find the right word, “. . .human.”
A harsh tone rings out disrupting the tranquil calm.
“Excuse me for a moment,” You hold your hand out to the three apologetically as you bring your phone up to your ear. You move away from your students walking out of their earshot but you can hear whispers of what they’re saying.
“Do you think-?” Panda starts.
“It’s possible.” Maki finishes, the three of them try their best to overhear what the conversation is.
You take a quick breath to calm your nerves as you answer the call, “Hello?”
“Hey you actually picked up for once!” You gotta be fucking kidding me-
“Gojo?” you ask exasperated.
“Did you miss me? Admit it, you missed me~” his voice sings out.
You roll your eyes, “Hardly, why are you calling me?”
“Can’t I just talk to you without needing a reason?”
“No Gojo.”
“Ugh you’re no fun like this!” What did he just-? Wait, don't engage, it will only raise your blood pressure. You can hear the bustling street sounds from his end of the call.
“Aren’t you supposed to be retrieving that cursed object? You wouldn’t shut up about it at last night’s meeting.”
“I sent Megumi to retrieve it for me, although now that you mention it.” You overhear Gojo talking to a street vendor before talking to you, “It has been a while since I’ve seen him, I better call to make sure he’s okay.”
“Glad I can help you with that.” You speak with little enthusiasm.
“Buuuuuuuut I’ll call him in a bit,” You can hear his smile, “For now I’m talking to you Sweets.”
“Satoru-” you warn.
“Which flavor of kikufuku did you want again?” He interrupts.
“What?” He can’t be serious.
“Flavor, Sweets,” Annoyed with having to repeat himself, “Which did you want?”
He is serious. Panda and Inumaki are slowly creeping closer towards you trying to be as quiet as possible but they’re failing. You’ll work on stealth training when you all get back from the mission. You take a few more steps away from them and you hear a frustrated groan out of Panda.
You pinch the bridge of your nose and mutter, “You need to get that cursed object dumbass, not sending Megumi to do your job and getting kikufuku!”
“I just wanted to be sure-” A ringtone interrupts his voice. Finally a chance to get off this call.
“Oh I’m sorry,” Your voice drips mockingly, “Someone more important is calling,”
“Wait- more important? Who’s calling you-?!”
You hang up his call without answering his question and bring your phone up with the new call, “Hello?”
“Hello is this-?”
You recognize the sound of her voice- “Yes this is she.”
“Hello Miss, I’m one of the nurses here at Sugisawa Hospital and I just wanted to call to inform you that Wasuke Itadori has passed.”
The silence that fills the air is deafening, which is surprising considering the call you just had with Gojo. Your head hangs low as a sad smile forms on your face.
“I see,” your brow furrows and wonder if Yuji was there when it happened?
“Yes, he actually was the one to alert us of it happening,” did you just say that outloud?
“He’s even filling out some of the paperwork on your behalf as of this moment.”
Inumaki points, “Tuna, tuna.” Panda and Maki turn to see you walking back towards them, determined.
“Yes, I understand. Thank you for the call, I’ll be on the next train to Sendai in just a few moments.” You hang up the call and look at your students. They’ve never seen this side of you. There’s a fire behind your eyes, face stern as you pocket your phone in your pocket..
“I’ll see you all later tomorrow when I’ll meet you on the train to Sakata. Your train is going to leave in the morning, I’ll get on at Sendai.” You tell them voice unwavering. They nod their heads and notice the small trail of cursed energy starting to build from your legs.
“We’re sorry for your loss, Sensei.” Panda says and you smile.
“Don’t be, at least he had an honorable death.” And before they could say goodbye you’re gone.
Flashes of greenery pass by as you sprint through Japan. It’s been about a year since you’ve had to travel this long of a distance using your technique. It’s worth it to get more stamina and test your limits.
With your technique you’re able to manipulate your own blood stream. By manipulating your blood you’re able to greatly increase the amount of oxygen your body needs for your blood cells. It’s something you learned when you were first using your technique.
With this you’re able to run much faster than any human possibly could, and that’s even without using cursed energy. You remember Gojo taking you to see some X-Men movie and he pointed to Quicksilver saying “Hey that’s just like you! Except you know he’s better cuz he doesn’t have to use cursed energy to get even faster he’s just that fast alrea-”. You punched him for that.
The distance is starting to get to you though. After 40 minutes you reach Sendai and you’re out of your reserve of stored cursed energy. Gasping for breath, you run towards the hospital and go up the stairs to the level they kept Wasuke on. The floor is practically deserted and feels very liminal. The hum of the hospital lights and a nurse typing on a computer are the only things you can hear.
“Pardon me,” You walk up to the nurse at the front desk, “I was told that there might be some paperwork to fill out. I’m Wasuke Itadori’s daughter-in-law.”
The nurse looks up at you and smiles. You try your best to smile back but something feels wrong; like there’s a curse nearby but you can’t feel any cursed energy. Maybe it’s the totem they use at the hospital.
“I remember seeing you here earlier today, I am sorry for your loss. Wasuke was a good man.”
You want to laugh but instead say, “Grumpy as all hell though.”
“True,” The nurse looks back at her computer and types. “So looking through the records here there’s just one thing Yuji didn’t fill out.”
“Only one?”
“Yes, do you happen to know how Mr. Itadori wanted his body to be. . .” She trails off and looks at her computer to avoid your gaze. These weren’t easy conversations to have and you can understand why she didn’t want to ask Yuji this question.
You nod solemnly, “Cremation please.”
She nods back and types it into the system, “I just need your signature.”
You sign for it and the nurse gives you one more smile, “Perfect, thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome,” You turn to leave but quickly turn back to the nurse, “I meant to ask when I first came in, but do you happen to know where Yuji is?”
The nurse thinks for a moment, her face scrunched up in concentration.
“If I remember correctly,” She looks at you, “Yuji was talking to someone who was wearing something similar to you; he mentioned something about curses and Yuji’s club then they left.”
Anxiety builds in your chest, so you were feeling cursed energy earlier. You need to focus.
“Thank you,” You barely say as you rush out the door. Once you get outside you start heading towards the direction of Yuji’s school or at least you think you’re heading in the right direction. You only visit during holidays and even then you’re sometimes held up due to missions.
Focus, you try your best to find a trail from the cursed object. It’s faint but it’s strong enough to follow. You imbue your run with cursed energy and make it to his school in record time.
The school reeks of death- You can sense Fushiguro and three humans inside so as you near the gate you just hop over it, adrenaline now taking over.
A protective sense washes over you and your cursed energy increases. You travel up the stairs skipping over every other step trying to sense where specifically these curses were. Making it to the fourth floor you can overhear, "NUE!" before the curse crashes through the walls, going outside.
You run towards the rubble and try to look out the gaping hole the curse made but you can’t see outside.
“Help-” You barely hear it due to the commotion just a few feet away from you but you see two of Yuji’s classmates, one unconscious and the other fighting to stay awake on the ground.
“I got you, don't worry.” You pick them up the best you can without causing more harm, “What are your names?”
“Setsuko Sasaki and he’s-” She chokes out a sob.
“He’s gonna be alright, focus on your breath.” You tell Sasaki and she tries her best.
“He’s Takashi Iguchi-” Sasaki whimpers before- THUMP! “You idiot-!”
You need to get them out of here now and kill the curse that Fushiguro is dealing with.
“Alright Sasaki, I’m going to take you both to the hospital. I need you to close your eyes for me alright. It’ll only take me a minute.”
She barely nods her head and once her eyes are closed you instantly sprint them both back to the hospital you were at a mere 5 minutes ago.
You wish you had the time to stay and make sure they would be okay but as soon as a couple nurses take them from your arms you tell them the kid’s names and you sprint back to the school.
I’m not gonna make it-
The second you return to the school, the strong cursed energy presence is gone but there’s two sources of energy coming from the school Fushiguro and. . . ? Confused, you work your way back up to where the curse broke through the wall. You can suddenly feel Gojo’s presence but that still doesn’t explain the other cursed energy output you feel. CRASH!
You step outside of the gaping hole and run up towards Fushiguro who’s holding a bag.
“Fushiguro!” As you run towards him, you notice he doesn’t seem to realize you're there. You look up towards the ongoing fight and you pale.
. . . Sukana? But-?
“Ah Sweets! I was wondering when you would show up,” Gojo says while fighting Sukana with ease. You feel like you’re going to throw up. Gojo punches Sukana away from where you and Fushiguro are. Once Sukana gains his footing he starts running towards you all.
“You Jujutsu sorcerers are always such a pain in the ass in any era!” Sukana yells out as he uses his cursed energy to destroy the ground you’re standing on. You close your eyes to brace for impact but you never feel it. As the dust settles Gojo has his hand up using his Infinity to keep you all safe. The last thing you hear is Gojo counting to 10.
Sukana stands frozen in place and his eyes close. His head bobs right back up and you really are going to throw up. You feel like you’re underwater and can’t breathe. This cannot be happening-
“Auntie? What are you doing here-?” Gojo puts his fingers up to Yuji’s head and knocks him out.
Before Gojo could question what Yuji just said, you suddenly drop to your knees, tears welling up in your eyes.
Yuji is Sukana’s vessel. You. . .
failed.