Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A normal, boring Monday. Work, school, stress. Nothing unusual, just like how ordinary this student is. But they were fine with what they had, they liked it that way. 

A family of four, and they were the youngest. Decent grades, no record of violence or bad behavior; an unassuming, plain, orthodox student. From waking up to get ready for school, to studying, then resting, relaxing to sleeping, they lived just like any other. 

Even their death wasn't special. They weren't murdered (thank god), they didn't die of an illness, they didn't die contently with family by their side after reaching an old age. 

No, they died after getting hit by a car. 

.. They told you that it wasn't special. What, were you expecting something more interesting? Less common? (Less cliche for this type of fic?) 

Just another number on a data sheet now, they suppose. Or, would've been. 

__

Their body ached. It felt like they were hit by a truck- bad analogy, considering what happened. 

They probably broke some bones due to the impact of the car (oh god, was that why they couldn't feel their limbs?) And that bone most definitely pierced through their skin. 

That explained the bleeding. Oh, and the fact that they were walking on a road filled with rocks and dirt instead of pavement didn't help. Man, they were lucky they didn't end up face first after getting hit by that car, the situation would be so much worse if they got dirt in their eyes. (Actually, would it be better? If there was dirt in their eyes, they could explain their tears as irritation from the dirt. If there was dirt covering their eyes, they wouldn't be able to see their situation. Wouldn't be able to see themself dyi..) 

Oh no, there was a chance they had internal bleeding! That would suck. That would suck so bad. (Was that why they couldn't breathe? Why they were suffocating? Was their blood in their lungs? Were they drowning in their own blood?) 

The nearest hospital was over 3 kilometers away. 

And they were in the middle of fucking nowhere. 

‘I'm going to die, aren't I?’ The realization struck them. 

They don't want to die. They have friends, family, who might miss them. They still haven't achieved their dreams. 

Tears prick at their eyes (not that they weren't already crying), agony coursing through their body. Both physically and mentally. 

A much more quiet thought, I still haven't watched Jujutsu Kaisen with my friends like I promised I would. 

It felt like hours, or was it just minutes? Bleeding out on a road sure doesn't improve your time perception. Every single second was spent in excruciating pain. 

They could feel it, their time was nearly up. 

They were going to die. 

“Ah… th.. this is ironic.. c-came to.. finish the.. Job.., huh?”They said weakly. 

Their vision was starting to blur, probably from the blood loss. Their final thought, as they lay weakly on the rocky ground. 'I'm sorry, mom, dad. I hope it isn't you who finds my body.’

The pain subsided, their body growing numb. Then, everything went black, and they knew no more.. 

___

On a much less normal day, Two, no, not yet, one sorcerer and one civilian ( albeit very physically strong for one) try to retrieve a special grade cursed object. 

Of course, you already know this story, don't you? 

This is..not exactly that story. 

__

Megumi was not one to make assumptions. Jumping to them, especially in the field of sorcery was a one way ticket to death. 

But Megumi could tell that Yuji Itadori was a good person. 

“They're my friends. I can't just stand by!”

If only Megumi were stronger, were faster. Itadori would still be alive right now. 

One in a million chance, and it was just his luck, as the curse holding Itadori exploded. 

And then, the King of Curses looked straight at him. 

__

It was dark. The feeling was indescribable. It felt as if it was in a sea of something thicker than water, Its limbs flailing. 

Was this the ‘afterlife’? It was nothing like people had thought it to be. Or, was this hell? It sure seemed like it. Anyone would go crazy spending eternity in this space, this void of nothingness, with only yourself. 

After either a millenia or less than a second, it couldn't tell, suddenly, light infiltrated through the space. blinding, pure, light. 

. 

. 

. 

He, no, not quite, She? Not that either, They? Acceptable? They woke up. 

They weren't supposed to wake up. 

‘I thought I..Did someone bring me to the hospital on time? Then why am I on a rooftop?’ They turn around and see an injured cosplayer. 

The Fushiguro cosplayer looks at them with shock,apprehension, and for some reason, fear. 

‘Oh.. Is this the afterlife? Are they.. too? Did they die in cosplay? Man, that would suck. Did that weird space I was in earlier cause me to enter their afterlife? I'd be shocked too if someone entered my afterlife. I'd apologize, but I have no idea how to get out.’

The longer they look at the Fushiguro cosplayer, the more tense they seem to get. 

‘Really though, how did they get their cosplay to be so realistic? They look exactly like what an IRL Fushiguro would look like. Maybe they were a pro cosplayer?’

Just as they were about to explain that they didn't mean to intrude, a voice suddenly called out. 

“Hey, what do you think you're doing with my body? Give it back!”

Huh. That sounded a lot like Junya Enoki, Yuji's Japanese voice actor. Maybe this wasn't the afterlife. Maybe they were on anesthesia and this was a drug induced hallucination, or something. 

Wait a goddamn minute.. 

Wait wait wait! backtrack,what? They recognized that line. They've read this so many times in fics, and watched it once. 

That line is always said to Sukuna, or Sukuna's equivalent in whatever AU. 

Oh my God. That made them Sukuna. 

‘Did I isekai or transmigrate or whatever as Sukuna like those SIkuna fics?!’

If they were Sukuna, that explained why the Fushiguro cosplayer- er, well, actual Megumi Fushiguro was so tense. 

But almost every Isekai or transmigration happens because the transmigrator/ the one who isekais died. 

So, they really did die. Ah. 

.. They'll process that later. 

“Don't move! You’re no longer human. Under Jujutsu Regulation, Itadori Yuuji… I will exorcise you!”

Man, hearing that in real life was insane. Really though, facing Sukuna was a death wish, especially since Fushiguro was injured. What was he thinking? 

‘We should really get them to a hospital or something-’ Suddenly, they get pushed down, down, down. 

They land face first in the blood-water. Damn. 

“Wait, really, I'm fine!” They hear Yuji say. 

“More importantly, we're both pretty beat up. Let's get to a hospital.”

Hold on, how could they understand them? They didn't speak Japanese? At least, they were 99% sure they didn't. They seem to have gotten the average SIkuna treatment of having blurry memories of their past life. To get this straight, it was like an author's draft for a story, one in which they haven't decided the names of those characters yet, or the specifics of the story, simply a sketch of the plot. 

They could remember their experiences with clarity, their friends, their family, but they couldn't put a finger on their names and faces. 

It seems as though they've gotten the starter package of Isekai, transmigration, whatever, too, as they have a built-in translator. 

‘Oh, please let the translator be a two-way translation and translate my words into Japanese!’ They were so screwed if not, because Sukuna, who was from the Heian era, would most definitely NOT know modern english, especially since Itadori probably doesn't know english, so they can't just pass it off as “I gained that info thru possessing my vessel”

“Whats the situation?”

Huh, that sounded like Gojo. 

Wait, Gojo?! Oh my god. They were going to see Gojo in real life. Wow. 

‘Man, my friend would have been screaming her head off in excitement if she was in my position.. Though, I am glad that she isn't.’

Wait. 

Gojo. 

Gojo fights Sukuna in the series. They were currently Sukuna. They also didn't know how to fight. Oh fuck. 

‘It's not like I have to, riiight? In some SIkuna fics I read, they managed to avoid a fight with Gojo. I can totally do that.’

“Gojo-sensei?! Why are you here?”

“Hey.I wasn't planning on coming, but man, you're roughed up. I should show the second years. Face this way! ” the man said playfully, and they could hear the sound of a phone’s camera shutter going off multiple times. 

“The higher-ups wouldn't shut up with a special-grade cursed object gone missing. So I stopped by while doing some sightseeing.”

“So, did you find it?”

“Um.. Sorry, but I ate it.” a short moment of silence. 

“For real?”

“For real.” Fushiguro and Yuji said in unison. 

Damn. It's even funnier in real life.

Step, step, step. Ah, Gojo's probably getting closer to Yuji to confirm with his six eyes. 

“Damn, it really did combine with you. That's hilarious.” the wielder of the six eyes said. 

They sighed out of relief internally, well, mentally, as they couldn't do it externally due to Yuji having control over his body. They feared that Gojo would realize that they weren't actually Sukuna, his six eyes showing him a disturbance or something, even though that hasn't happened in any SIkuna fic, or well, at least the ones they read. 

“Anything off with your body?”

“Not particularly.”

“Can you swap out with Sukuna?” 

Oh shit, game time. Operation "don't get beaten to hell and back by one Gojo Satoru" is on the go! 

“Sukuna?” 

“The curse you ate.” Gojo explained. “Oh.. Yeah, I think I can do that.” Yuji confirmed. 

“Then, give us ten seconds. Once ten seconds are up, come back to us.” They know that Gojo is doing this to see if Yuji could actually suppress Sukuna, and to gauge Sukuna at 1/20th of his power. 

“But..” Yuji says worriedly. “Dont worry, I'm the strongest.” Gojo assured Yuji. Strongest doesn't mean invincible. They've never read it, but they know due to spoilers that Gojo lost against Sukuna. 

“Megumi, hold on to this.” Oh, wait is that the Kikufuku?! 

“Hm, is this Kusa mochi? It seems it has evolved from the one in my memories. Based on its appearance, I assume it has continued to be a delicacy for the nobility, or its equivalent in your era. How delectable. These were not made for someone like me, and yet I consume them anyway. For who has the right to prohibit me from taking what I desire? How has time treated this dessert,I wonder? I shall try for myself.”

What. 

That is not what they meant to say. What they meant was; “ Oh man, that looks delicious, I really want to try some!” And not that. 

“Um.. Gojo-san, I think they want to try the mochi?”

“Oh?”

WHAT. oh god,right, they said it out loud. Well, at least now they can confirm that the translator is two-way. Small mercies. 

“Then, tell him that he can have some if he can beat me in our fight. But, just so he knows, there's no human meat inside.”

Nope, nope, nope! No way! There was no way they could beat Gojo fucking Satoru in a fight. Even ogkuna couldn't at 1/20th of his power! 

“I don't think he wants to?” Huh? Could Yuji feel what they're feeling? How did he know? 

“Huh, really?” Satoru didn't expect that. He expected Sukuna to be itching for a fight. Maybe he was a little less bloodthirsty than what the records and scripts described — they were written by sorcerers, after all. But Satoru still needed to see if the kid could suppress Sukuna or not. 

“What, is the King of Curses scared of little old me? Is he afraid he'll lose?”

Yes, actually. Also yes. Gojo would send them flying into the exosphere if they were to fight! 

They quickly think up an excuse on the spot as to why they didn't want to fight.

They audibly scoff. “As if. I know how to pick my battles, even I understand that in my current state, merely a fraction of my power, I wouldn't be able to beat a Sugawara with the six eyes, possibly limitless too, considering your bold claim of being the strongest.” 

“He's saying something about knowing how to pick his battles? Sugawara, six eyes, limitless? What?”

“Tell him he's a couple centuries too late then, we're no longer Sugawara, we're the Gojo clan now.” ‘Looks like Sukuna really isn't as bloodthirsty as the scriptures portray. He might not even be as arrogant,considering the fact that he acknowledged I was stronger than him right now.’ Gojo thought.

Man, lucky! They took a wild guess and took one of the popular fanon Heian! big three clan names to seem like they were from a thousand years ago, as in, the actual Sukuna. 

“If that's the case, he can have the mochi if you switch with him, but you have to switch back after 10 seconds,’kay?” Gojo decided to sacrifice one of his precious Kikufuku to see if Yuji could suppress Sukuna, seeing as Sukuna wasn't up to fighting. 

Suddenly, they were pushed forward. They were now in control of Itadori's body again. 

They walked over to Fushiguro, who tensed as soon as they came by, and grabbed one of the Kikufuku inside the paper bag. 

They took a bite and- Dear heavens, it's amazing. What did they put in this? Are we sure this was made on earth? 

They continued eating the mochi as they tuned out Gojo counting down. 

“Should be time.”

Then, they were pushed down again. Thankfully, this time, they didn't land on their face. 

“Oh! I can taste everything he eats, I wonder if he can do the same? Man, that mochi was delicious.” 

“I'm shocked. You really can control it.” they can hear footsteps, likely approaching them. 

Gojo knocks out Itadori. 

__

“What did you do?” Fushiguro asks. 

“Knocked him out.”

“If he isn't possessed when he wakes up, he might have potential as a vessel.” Gojo says casually. Then, he looks at Megumi. 

“Now, I have a question for you. What should we do with him?”

“Even if he is a vessel.. Jujutsu regulations demand Itadori be executed. However.. I don't want to let him die.”

“Your personal feelings?” Gojo asks to confirm. 

“Yes, please do something about this.” Megumi confirmed. 

Gojo chuckles lightly, “Now it's a request from a precious student. Leave it to me!”

. 

. 

. 

“Are you.. Sukuna?” Yuji asks the person standing in front of him, both of them in a lake of red liquid (is it blood?). 

Chapter Text

Meanwhile, While Itadori was passed out.. 

. 

. 

. 

Man. They really wished they had a mirror here. Those package deal historical manwha full body mirrors would be really useful right now.

(or maybe manga? They didn't know if there was a difference in Sukuna’s appearance between the two.) Sukuna brought to life, but it wouldn't hurt to check, I mean, what if they looked completely different? 

Wait a minute.. 

SIkunas, or, well, most of them, could summon things in their domain. They really hoped they were one of them.  Ooh, they hoped they could spawn a phone in the domain. With WiFi, please. Oh, if they made a tiktok (or whatever social media that existed in 2018)account here, would it translate to making an account in the real world?!

Excitedly, they tried testing to see if they had the ability to imagine things into existence in the domain. 

MirrorMirrorMirror

They thought, no, tried to manifest their desire. 

... Nothing happened. How dissapointing.  How were they going to pass the time without the internet? They hope Yuji has a lot of manga.

They sigh deeply, thinking about the inevitable boredom that awaits them in the future. Unfortunately, it seems like they werent one of the manifesting-items-in-their-domain Sukunas-

Thwack! 

A small, handheld mirror suddenly fell from the sky, hitting them on the head. At least the glass didn't break? 

"What-ow.." While caressing their head with a hand,(How would they even use those extra limbs, since they were so used to having two, well, probably? They didn't think they were an amputee,and they doubted they had extra limbs. If they did get two more arms as a freebie,would they have to learn how to use them, as a newborn would with their own hands? They were immediately more grateful that they had the normal number of limbs.) They looked down to see what hit them, and spotted the mirror. 

Huh, never mind then, looks like they spoke too soon. 

After checking themselves in the mirror, they can confirm they look just like Sukuna. Well, it'd probably be more worrying if they didn't, because that might mean they weren't a SIkuna but rather, someone who was Isekaid, with their own body.

That would suck very bad, because they didn't know how to use cursed energy instinctively, like Sukuna would, and also because their scare factor probably went down by like, a million. So while it was good that they did look like Ogkuna, they did wish they knew what they looked like before being dumped into Jujutsu Kaisen, both to compare the difference of what they look like now and then, and also just to have a piece of their identity with them, even in memory.

They wonder though, was it possible for change their appearance? Yeah they know Sukuna looked like that because Yuji was his vessel, but could they not? They probably couldn't look too far off from Yuji in terms of their face, but their hair was likely free game. 

They tried to change their hair, nothing crazy, just making it longer, maybe just above the shoulder? 

it worked. 

Their hair tingled as it grew magically to a longer length. The most appropriate description like the pins and needles sensation, only much more pleasant. 

They looked at their hair in the mirror, and it actually looked quite nice. Their hair was probably the same color as Yuji's, maybe a shade lighter or darker, with a layer of brown hair underneath, mirroring Yuji's own. If they were being honest, it kind of looked similar to Amity Blight from, what was that show called? Bird House, or something? They couldn't recall the name of the show, but their hair looked a bit like Amity Blight's, just without the brown roots at the top. 

Uh, now, how to get rid of the mirr- oh! The mirror slowly vanished from their hand. That's really convenient. 

They touch their head, running their hand across their hair, and wow. Their hair was soft, and silky. What type of haircare did OGkuna use? They would have done many.. not-so-legal things to not have hair like this. 

They look around the domain, to see red, more red, even more red, oh, some bones, and red. 

They let out a deep breath. 

They hope time passes here fast. Being left alone in silence for a few hours with nothing to do didn't seem like it could be a very fun time to them. 

The silence stretched, loud, and overbearing, despite the fact that it went against it's very definition. 

If they had their phone, or if their were friends were here, the silence wouldn't even last a few minutes-

Their friends. 

... 

Ah, right. They were dead.They wouldn't be able to see their friends or family ever again. Would never be able to return home after a long day, and.. the memory quickly escaped their grasp, like a fool trying to keep water from spilling in their hands, no matter how hard they tried to hold onto it, they lost it. 

A hollow, empty feeling quickly overcame them. 

Tears slowly went down their face, and they eventually wiped it off. 

Everything, everyone, was gone. And yet.. They don't remember. They don't remember any of them, don't remember anything important. 

But.. 

I'm alive. 

Thats more than what they could ask for, mere moments ago. They would miss their friends, their loved ones, until the end of time itself, despite being unable to remember their faces and names (by god did they wish they could remember), but that doesn't mean they shouldn't live this life to the fullest. Doesn't mean they should waste and squander this second chance. 

'Infact, I know that some of my friends would kick my ass if they knew I spent the entirety of my new life unable to move on from them. Especially in a fictional- no, I won't be like those characters who view the new world they're in as fiction, this world may have been fiction to me in the past, but it's real now, and these people are real too. Especially in a world with what you could call fantasy elements in my old world, every anime fan's dream.'

They would grieve their old life, but they won't let that grief hinder their new one. 

Mind set, they patiently wait for Itadori to wake up so Gojo could tell them about his execution and it's postponement-

Thump! 

Huh?What was that noise? Was that supposed to happen? 

They decided to check it out, out of curiosity, moving towards the place the sound came from (or well, where they thought it came from) 

'Oh my God please don't be a jumpscare this place is eerie enough as it is with its very bloody red..everything.' They thought, approaching the origin of the sound, and-

huh??

Lying there, in the blood lake ( not the time, but is it possible to remove the damn lake? Or, at least, change the blood into a different liquid? The metallic stench was going to drive them crazy! And they wanted a kool aid pool.) was the unconscious body of one Itadori Yuji. 

They stared at Yuji. '.. You can be unconscious in your own mind? That's possible?' Slowly, Itadori's eyes opened, looking straight at them, his body shooting up, now standing straight instead of laying. He was drenched in the blood-water, Itadori's clothes were wet, his yellow hoodie stained red with the liquid. 

Well, the ones in their.. headspace? In their domain, whatever it was called,was. The one in the real world was ripped to shreds. Definitely unsalvageable. RIP Yuji's yellow hoodie. 

As they looked at Yuji, they realized one thing. 

'Wait a minute, this didn't happen in canon????'

.

. 

. 

Yuji was having the craziest day of his life. 

First, his grandpa died. ( it still didn't feel real. He was going to get cremated tomorrow. From the moment he was hospitalized, Yuji had known this could happen. But knowing it will happen doesn't mean being prepared for when it happens.) 

Then, he found out monsters, er, curses, were real. Then he ate a curse, or a cursed object, same difference. 

And now he was..somewhere, somewhere with a very strong metallic scent engulfing the room, his wet clothes sticking to his skin uncomfortably, and staring at the curse he atestaring at the curse he ate. (He didn't seem  all that bad actually, I mean, they weren't violent. All he really did was hijack Yuji's body [technically unwillingly? He didn't exactly ask Yuji to eat his finger.. It's even weirder once he seriously thinks about it] and eat mochi.) 

To be honest, He looked like him. Like, a lot. As in, they could be twins. The only real difference was that his hair was longer than Yuji's, and there were two scars underneath his eyes, his eyes also had a redder shade than Yuji's own.

"Do you really look like that? You look a lot like me." He blurted out. 

The.. curse? Sukuna? blinked. Once, then twice. 

"Technically? I look like this because you became my vessel after eating that cursed object. Hosts of vessels usually take on the form of their vessel."

"So.. " Yuji trailed off. 

"Are you.. Sukuna?” Yuji asks the person standing in front of him, both of them in a lake of red liquid (is it blood?). 

Sukuna(?) pauses for a moment. 

"..Yes, I am Sukuna." He confirms, though somewhat hesitantly? 

"Nice to meet you then, Sukuna! My name is Itadori Yuji, I'm into girls like Jennifer Lawrence!" Yuji introduced himself to the curse, probably not a good idea, but Sukuna didn't seem malicious. 

.. Sukuna pauses yet again, now accompanied with a strange look. 

"Did your guardian never warn you about the danger of interacting with those you are not familiar with? what ridiculously silly term for this issue do you use for it in this era again?" They pause, as if looking for a word. "Ah,stranger-danger?"

"Well, you aren't a stranger, are you? We know each others names. Plus, you can't really be a stranger, we're like roommates now! Only, our shared room is my body."

Sukuna sighs, and mumbles something suspiciously like “ What is with this era? Back in my days, if a stranger tried to talk to you, it was stab first, ask questions later.”

Yuji gasps. "Oh, we're like the modern day Naruto and Kurama! You're in my body like Kurama, only, you're less grumpy, at least as far as I can tell."

Sukuna's eyebrows furrow. "I thought you were a civilian, unaware of the world of sorcery, before consuming my finger. How do you know of vessels? I assume this 'Naruto' is a vessel of this era, or, a famous one after my sealment. Before you came to be my vessel, were you perhaps one of those people, who live in the middle of the world of non-sorcery and sorcery?"

Yuji stares dumbfounded at Sukuna. 

"Um, no, I was a normal highschooler.. Do you not know Naruto?" Yuji gained no reply, as Sukuna only stared blankly at him. 

"Okay,how about a television?"

"A what now?" He questioned. 

"Okay, so once we wake up, lets go watch some Naruto!" Yuji decided. 

" ‘Watch’ Naruto? So it means that this vessel is still alive. I was right then? This Naruto is a modern-day vessel, of a likely modern-day curse named Kurama."

Yuji shakes his head. ".. No. You'll see later."

"In this domain, I am able to summon certain objects. Try to send a mental image through our host and vessel bond of what the appearance of this 'television' is. I might be able to conjure it."

"..How do I do that? "

"Mm.. Focus, focus on your feelings and senses. There should be a thread, connecting you and me. Picture yourself grabbing it, and then think of the television."

"Okay..?" Yuji focused on his feelings, his grief, his happiness, confusion, and-

There! A thread!  A thin thread, that had an indescribable color. First, it was a deep, crimson red, like the liquid in the domain, then amber, glistening,bright amber, like the gemstone, then fuschia, a perfect blend of red and pink, and finally, a color Yuji had never seen before, a mixture of purple, orange, and green. 

He pictured himself grabbing onto that thread, and then pictured a TV, the shows he'd watched playing. 

"If I were you, I'd move away from where you're standing right about now." Sukuna suggested. 

Huh? What did he mean by that? 

A TV fell just an inch beside Yuji, startling him. "Gah?! " he yelped in surprise. 

"Thats why I told you to move."

"You could've just told me that it was going to fall down?!"

"True, but where's the fun in that? " Sukuna smiled mischievously. 

Yuji walked closer to the TV, ignoring Sukuna's slight smirk. 

'Wait a minute, we have a tv, but theres no remote and no outlet. I'm not sure if dying in here means dying in real life, so I don't really want to get electrocuted.' Yuji did not feel like dying today, thank you very much. 

"So, how does this thing work?" Sukuna asks, knocking on the TV screen. 

Before Yuji could explain that they probably couldn't use the TV, Sukuna managed to turn it on. 

"Hm, do you open it with your voice? Open."

The TV turned on. Huh. Cursed energy (if that's what Sukuna used) was really cool. 

"Figuring that if the TV could turn on with voice commands, it could also switch channels, Yuji experimented. "Naruto. As in, the one from 2002, not shippuden." 

The TV started playing the intro of Naruto. 

"Ah, I see, so it's an anime." Sukuna said out loud. 

???????? 

"You know what an anime is?" He said, shocked. Sukuna knows what an anime is, but not a TV? How did that make sense? 

"I gain some information from possesing my vessel, it's why I am able to speak and understand modern Japanese instead of speaking in, as you call it, chūko-nihongo." Well, that explained why his yukata didnt look like the ones in stores. 

Yuji's mind plays back to the word Sukuna used. chūko-nihongo?? "Wait a minute, you're from the Heian era?!?!"

"Yes?"

. 

. 

. 

You can't blame them. Acting as a clueless ancient being was really fun, okay? They couldn't wait for Yuji or anyone else to introduce them to memes, they were going to have so much fun. 

(Man.Yuji's introduction was even more ridiculous in real life, especially when it's directed at you. How would they react when Todo says the line™?) 

Yuji gasps. "Oh, we're like the modern day Naruto and Kurama! You're in my body like Kurama, only, you're less grumpy, at least as far as I can tell."

Ah, yes, one of the SIkuna classics. A Naruto and Kurama reference and comparison. (Okay, they admit that maybe they were having too much fun pretending to be a millenium old curse. Just a bit.) 

Honestly. They took a gamble earlier. They had no clue if the TV would turn on with voice recognition, as there was no remote nor outlet, but they had nothing to lose but their dignity if it failed ( at least, to themself. It would be reasonable to Itadori if 'Sukuna' didn't know how to turn on a TV, 'Sukuna' was from a thousand years ago, after all.) 

And they kind of slipped when they mentioned anime, but they covered it up pretty well, thankfully. Bullshitting works wonders! 

They managed to watch the entirety of the first season of Naruto before they woke up. 

___

"Ohayo."

"So, which one are you right now?"

~~~~~~~~

Art of SIkuna when they found Yuji!! 

Chapter Text

“Ohayo.”

“So, which one are you?” The figure says, as Yuji's eyes start to open, his vision slightly blurry. 

“Oh, it's the Gojo!” a voice mumbled, but Yuji couldn't tell where it came from. It felt like it came from inside him, but that couldn't be right. 

“Gojo..?” He repeated what the voice said. 

The white haired man smiled. Why did he seem so familiar to Yuji? “That's me, alright! Gojo Satoru, I'm in charge of the first years at Jujutsu High.” The man introduced himself. 

At the same time, the voice from earlier mumbled again, this time, accompanied with an unusual sensation, but Yuji ignored it. “ Jujutsu High? How obvious can they get? Really, the sorcerers of the modern era have gotten quite bold.” Even the voice was familiar. Why was everything so familia..- Sukuna! They watched an entire season of Naruto in.. wherever they were yesterday! 

Wait.

Sukuna? Jujutsu.. Gojo.. Curses.. 

“Fushiguro, Senpai!” Yuji tried to get up from the chair, but ropes held him back. Ropes? Why was Yuji tied up? 

Yuji looked around. Now that his vision was more reliable he found that the room was filled with talismans, so many talismans. 

“I'm not sure you should be worrying about others, Itadori Yuji. It's been decided that you’ll be executed.” eh?! Sorry, what? Why was Yuji being executed? So suddenly? 

Gojo looked at Yuji, but it felt like he was looking at something other than him, like Gojo was looking inside him. 

“That must suck for you, Sukuna, or, I'm assuming you are the mouth that formed on Yuji's cheek. One in a million chance to get a vessel without them exploding, and he's going to get executed. It'll be awhile until you can get another opportunity like this.” Gojo said. 

A mouth spoke on Yuji's cheek, and he yelped in surprise from the weird sensation. On instinct, Yuji slapped the side of his cheek where the mouth spoke. 

"Hey, it's just me!" Sukuna exclaimed. 

"I wonder how reassuring it is to hear that it's 'just Ryoumen Sukuna.' I'm sure it was plenty, back in the Heian era."

Sukuna scoffed. “I see the Sugawara's never lost their special technique of being universally annoying.Tell me, do you have a habit of dramatics, six eyes? If so, I pity the poor souls who have to interact with you on a daily basis.” The mouth said. 

“Oh? You sound like you're confident about something, do share with the class.”

“If you really were going to execute the kid, you'd have done it when he was asleep, especially since he's in this room full of talismans. Him not being dead right now is proof that he isn't going to be executed, or, at the very least, it will be postponed indefinitely.”

“Well, aren't you smart? To recap, this is what happened..” Gojo started explaining the story, from when he first came in. 

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“With that, let me say it again. You're~ being ~ executed ~.” Gojo finished recapping. 

Yuji had a weird expression on his face “ Based on what Sukuna said, I'm probably not going to face immediate death, but the recap and current events don't line up..”

“Hey, hey, I did my best. The execution's still on, but I got your sentence postponed, like what Sukuna said. Let me explain.” Gojo pulls out a finger from his pocket. 

‘Why does he just have that? Does he just carry it around? What bacteria does that have? It looks like a bioweapon.’ Yuji wondered. 

Wait a minute, why did that dismembered finger feel familiar- Yuji definitely shouldn't be feeling that a mummified finger was familiar. 

“This is the same as the cursed object you ate.”

oh, right. He ate a cursed object yesterday, that's how he got in this situation in the first place. 

“Sukuna, that's your finger?!” Yuji blurted out. Right, Sukuna was old. That finger must have existed for over a thousand years, some how without decomposing. 

“It is.. Centuries of time seems to have done my body no favors.” Yuji couldn't see his face, but from his tone Yuji knew he was put off. Which was fair, seeing your (possibly rotten?) dismembered finger would make anyone nauseous or disgusted. 

"Wait a minute, if that's your finger, then why didn't it decompose?" Yuji asked. 

"That's because my finger became a cursed object, and cursed objects don't decompose, well, they can rot, as you can see with my finger." He said in disgust.

"Oh, Yuji-kun, you seem to be acquainted with Sukuna over here?” Gojo pointed out. 

“Huh? Oh, yeah. When I was unconscious, I landed in..” Yuji trailed off. “My domain.” Sukuna answered for him. 

“Sukuna's domain, and then we watched some Naruto.” Yuji continued. 

Gojo paused. “You watched Naruto? With Sukuna?”

“Yes..??” Why did it sound like a big deal? It was just anime. Maybe it was because Sukuna was a thousand years old, and didn't know what anime was before? 

“Thats hilarious.” Gojo grinned widely. “So, who's his favorite character?”

“So far, his favorite characters are Kakashi and Sasuke.”

“Really? I thought he'd like the snake guy more.”Suddenly, Gojo's already wide grin grew even wider. “Yu~ ji~ tell me if he cries when Ji-”

“Wait!" Yuji cut off Gojo. Sukuna should have the ultimate Naruto experience; filled with tears! "No spoilers, we aren't at that part yet!”

“Alright, alright. Really though, who knew Ryoumen Sukuna would be a fan of anime?”

“... I can appreciate art when I see it fit.” Sukuna, who was still manifested as a mouth on Yuji's cheek, said. 

“Ah, anyway, let's get back on track. There are 20 of these,” Gojo points at the finger. “We currently have six in our possession.”

“Twenty? Each finger and toe?” How did Sukuna lose all of that? 

“No, I had four arms.” Sukuna clarified, (Four arms? Cool! But probably inconvenient, imagine trying to get a shirt. You'd have to order a shirt with four arm holes, or one with a rather large arm hole.)and Gojo nodded. “Sukuna had four arms, so there are 20 fingers.” He reiterated. 

Gojo throws the finger up, and slams it at a wall, the talismans burning up like ordinary paper. What the hell? 

“As you can see, we can't destroy it. The cursed object is just that powerful. The cursed object grows stronger everyday, and the seals of modern-day sorcerers can't keep up. That's where you come in!” Gojo explained. 

“Huh?”

“What six eyes is saying is that, once you die, I die with you. They want to get rid of me through you.” Sukuna cleared up. 

“Bin~go~. What I proposed was that if they were going to kill you anyway, why not kill you after you've absorbed all of Sukuna? Those cowardly higher-ups agreed, so now you have two options.” It was more like Satoru threatened them to agree, but it was practically the same thing at this point. 

“You can die right now, or you can find all the parts of Sukuna, and die after you've absorbed them.” He explained the 'ultimatum.' Of course, if Yuji did not wish to, he wouldn't have to. Satoru would find a way to ensure Yuji lived, with force if he had to. (Knowing those old geezers this is very likely. Those damn higher-ups, that didn't give a shit about anyone but themselves, and their power.) Megumi had asked after all (and Megumi barely asks him for anything! You'd think a decade of knowing each other would warm Megumi up more.)and this kid had done nothing to deserve death. 

“Wait, Gojo-san, sorry, why do I have to die? I know Sukuna is a curse, but he doesn't seem that bad. He hasn't hurt anyone since he showed up.” Yuji questioned. 

“Mm, Sukuna isn't just any curse. He's the King of Curses. The most powerful to have ever lived. That's why they want him, and therefore you, dead.” One of the reasons, at least. The other reason being that he killed many, many sorcerers. 

“Oh.” Yuji remembers the curse at his school, who nearly ate Sasaki senpai trying to get to Sukuna's finger. 

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“Gojo-san. I still don't understand why me and Sukuna have to die, but if I consume and absorb his fingers, would it lead to less people getting hurt?”

“Of course.” Though it wasnt common for it to happen, special grade fingerbearers would form, and if Yuji ate those fingers, the probability of it happening decreased, therefore, resulting in less deaths. The fingers with a moderately more powerful presence would also no longer emit cursed energy that attracts curses. 

“Then, I'll do it.” Yuji decided.

“Are you sure? If you plan on finding Sukuna's fingers, then you'll have to witness some pretty gruesome scenes. A body torn apart is on the better end of deaths caused by curses. I can't guarantee you won't end up the same way.”

Yuji Thinks. Thinks about Fushiguro, Sasaki-senpai, Iguchi-senpai, and his grandfather. 

“You're a strong kid, so help others.” his grandfather's last request played in Yuji's mind. 

“I'm sure.” Yuji wanted to honor that last request. 

“Then, do you want to eat this finger right now, or do you want to wait a bit more?” Satoru asked. 

“I'll eat it right now.” Satoru hands him the finger, which Yuji swallows. 

Well, that's the second one. One-tenth of a whole. Satoru waited in anticipation for what would happen. Would Yuji still overpower Sukuna, or would Sukuna take control of the body? And if that did happen.. would Sukuna drop his nice, amicable act, or would he continue it? 

The telltale signs of Sukuna's control start showing up on Yuji's body, as he clutches his stomach and started behaving erratically and chuckling. 

“Gross! Sukuna, why do you taste like that?” A mouth manifested again, “I don't know, why do I taste so disgusting?! Eugh.”

“You taste so gross that it's funny.” Yuji's speech slightly slurred. 

“What does that even mean? Is this a modern slang I don't understand?” Yuji and Sukuna bicker slightly in the background. 

That settles it. It's not just a physical tolerance, he can control himself against Sukuna without issue. We haven't seen someone with talent like that in a thousand years. If trained properly, Yuji could become quite a great sorcerer if he wanted to. 

“Oh, is something wrong?” Yuji asked with concern. “So, does that mean you've steeled your resolve?” Satoru responded with a question instead of answering. 

“Not at all. I'm still wondering why we have to die, but I can't just do nothing when I have a way to do something about people dying because of curses.” Yuji looks at the picture of his grandfather. “That last request is gonna be a pain in the ass..” But Yuji has his mind set on following it through. 

“I've already made up my mind on how I'm going to die. I'll absorb Sukuna's fingers so less people will be hurt.”

“Nice! I like people like you. By the way, make sure you've packed by the end of the day.” Satoru casually mentioned. “Hm?" Yuji blinked. "Are we going somewhere?”

“Six eyes mentioned something about being in charge of the first years at Jujutsu High, and since you've absorbed me, you have access to cursed energy now. You're probably going to be transferring to that school.” Sukuna explained. 

Satoru opened the door, revealing one tall, black haired teen with bandages. 

“Tokyo.” Fushiguro said impassively, then stared in shock once he noticed the mouth on Yuji's cheek. 

“Dont worry, Yuji's still in control of himself.” he then turns to Yuji (and Sukuna) 

“Fushiguro! You're looking good!” Yuji gave him a big thumbs up. 

“You think so after seeing this?” Megumi, who had multiple bandages on his face, deadpanned. 

“By the way, Sukuna is correct. You'll be transferring to Megumi's school!” Satoru offhandedly mentioned.

“Eh?”

“Tokyo Jujutsu High school.” Megumi said.“Like I mentioned,I teach there, and you're the third first year!” Satoru added. 

“Wait, isn't this too quick, wait, only three students?!” Yuji exclaimed. Everything was moving so fast! 

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Yuji looked around.“Is this really Tokyo? It's really deep in the mountains.” It was a bit of a pain to travel from Yuji's home in Sendai to the outskirts of Tokyo. Would Yuji have to commute all the way here everyday? 

“Even Tokyo looks like this on the outskirts.”

“Wheres Fushiguro?” Yuji questioned. "He's been treated by a sorcerer, he's fine now, and  he's fast asleep and recovering.” Gojo explained. That's a relief! 

"Can you tell me more about the school I'm going to transfer to?"

“Of course. Tokyo Jujutsu High school is one of the only two Jujutsu educational facilities. On the surface, it's known as a private religious school. Many sorcerers continue to use it as a base after graduation, so it's a pillar of the Jujutsu community, not just in education, but for support and mediation in missions.” Gojo informed Yuji. 

"Gojo-san, if there are only a few students in each school like you told me, then why are there two schools?"

"Like I said, these schools are a pillar of the Jujutsu community. Kyoto and Tokyo are rather far apart, so sorcerers can go to either one depending on what's closer. Also, you know how Kyoto was the old capital of Japan, right? When they made Tokyo the new capital, the school was built. Well, more like repurposed. Before, it was more of a meeting ground for sorcerers." Gojo explained. 

They continue walking, now nearing the entrance of the school. "Anyway, you're about to have an interview with the principal.”

“The principal?”

“Screw it up and he could reject your admission, so go all out.” Gojo says, like Yuji's life may or may not depend on his admission. 

“Huh?!? So what then, immediate execution?!” Yuji exclaimed. “Probably? No schooling, no missions, no access to my fingers, so they probably won't have a use for you.” Sukuna said, also calm for some reason, despite the fact he will also die if Yuji died. 

“Wait, Sukuna, un-manifest the mouth on my cheek! I don't know how the principal would react to you yet.” Yuji flailed his hands, and with that, Sukuna removed the manifested mouth on Yuji's cheek. 

“Huh, he actually complied? Well, what an amusing body you have now." Gojo commented. 

Suddenly, Sukuna remanifested his mouth on Yuji's hand. “Sukuna!” Yuji slaps his palm on the hand Sukuna manifested the mouth on, on instinct. (This is the second time, Yuji! Please stop slapping them..) 

“What? It's not on your cheek. I just want to say something to six eyes.” Technically, they were following what Yuji told them to do, since its not on his cheek, but rather, his hand. 

“And what does the great Sukuna want to say to me?” Gojo said in a teasing manner. 

“..Buy us more kikufuku.” The King of Curses said, causing Gojo to grin. “Who knew the King of Curses was weak to sweets?”

“ Hmph. Whatever.” He said, un-manifesting the mouth on Yuji's hand. 

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. 

They found out what was going on. Why sometimes, even though they definitely didn't know that information before or meant something else, the thing he said came out differently. Why their way of speech sounded so fancy and ancient. 

They had the “Elegant Cheat” from Bureaucrat to Villainess, Jujutsu Kaisen style! 

Or should they call it, Ancient Being Hack, or something, seeing as it was making them sound older. (like genuinely as old as Sukuna) 

Yuji's admission into Jujutsu High was okay, it went the same as in canon. (Hearing Yuji's introduction doesn't get any less ridiculous when you hear it a second time, they can confirm. Yuji,do you introduce yourself like this to everyone? Please tell them he didn't. ) 

If they were going to be honest, if they didn't know that they were going to live because of the plot, they definitely would've freaked out when they were told they were going to get executed. Dying once was enough for them, thanks. Give them like,  a 70 year cool down before doing that again. 

Props to Yuji for not freaking out as much as they would've. Yuji has a backbone of steel, which they envied. 

Really though, what surprised them was that Yuji defended them. 

“Wait, Gojo-san, sorry, why do I have to die? I know Sukuna is a curse, but he doesn't seem that bad. He hasn't hurt anyone since he showed up.” They recalled what Yuji said. 

Yuji was right though, they haven't really done.. Anything remotely murderous or evil since they came here. Was that going to be a problem? What if it changed the plot? They mean, it wouldn't really change much, since they barely knew anything about it, but the few snippets of plot they knew could be useful. 

.. Now they were getting worried. Should they try to act a bit more like ogkuna? What if the universe folded into itself because I was so OOC some of the plot lines wouldn't work out? That hasn't happened in any SIkuna fic, but that doesn't mean it can't happen! 

Yikes! Dying again would suck, Dying but dragging the entire world down with me would suck even more. 

Mind set, they will atleast try to act a bit more like Sukuna in the future. For their own, and everyone else's sake. 

. 

. 

. 

“Woah! This place is huge!” Yuji says while playing on the (rather large) bed. 

“All the second and third years are out at this moment.” Gojo said. 

At the same time, while having the sliding door open, Yuji yells “Hello!” 

“But you'll meet them soon enough.”

“Is anybody home?” Yuji says, looking into the closet. 

“As I mentioned,there aren't many of them.”

“But there's really no reason for you to fight, too, is there?” This causes Yuji to pause. What did Gojo mean by that? Yuji did have a reason to fight. 

“Fushiguro and I could retrieve Sukuna's fingers. You could just wait here.”Gojo suggest, and someone scoffs. “Six eyes, you should respect the brat's decision. If he wants to learn how to fight to regain my fingers, then he's going to do it. This brat wouldn't be here if he didn't want to.” It was Sukuna, who once again manifested a mouth. 

“Sukuna is right. It's fine, I said I'd do it, so I'll do it!” Yuji paused, thinking. A slightly amused smile creeped on his face. "Though, lazing around.. While Fushiguro came in all beaten up to bring me a finger would be a funny sight.”

“That's true. Well, I know there's no way in hell you're not gonna fight.” Gojo agreed.

“Hey! You were testing me?!-” Gojo put a finger ( as in, his own, not theirs, just for clarification. Man, their fingers have been mentioned so many times.) near Yuji's mouth, the universal sign to be quiet. 

“If they were that easy to find, we would've found them all already.” Even after a thousand years, they only had possession of six of them, now four. 

“Some have a presence that's overwhelming, while some don't. Some have already been absorbed by a curse spirit, like what nearly happened at your old school.” Yuji thinks back to that night. What would have happened if the curse ate Sukuna's finger? 

“Theres nothing more troublesome when it comes to searching for them.But now we have you.” Gojo continued. 

“Eh?” Yuji was confused. Why was he important in finding Sukuna's fingers? 

“They want to use you, well, me, as a way to track down my fingers.” Sukuna revealed. "Oh, so like a gps but for your fingers?”

“A what?” Yuji waved it off. "I'll explain later.” he said. 

“That's right! Maybe Sukuna should reconsider his career options, he should be a teacher instead of the king of curses, don't you think? He seems awfully good at it. Sukuna, theres an open position for teaching here if you want it. Just don't try to eat the students.” Gojo said, walking towards the door. eat??? Why the hell would they eat people? 

“Oh, and by the way, Yuji, we're going out tomorrow to pick up the last first year, ‘kay?” Gojo says as he leaves the room, and Yuji waves him goodbye. 

Wait a minute. “Brat? Are you mimicking Kurama?!” 

"What?! No I am not!” Sukuna denied vehemently. 

“But Sukuna, you didn't call me a brat before you watched Naruto with me and I told you that Kurama, who's going to show up later in the show, called Naruto a brat at times!”

“That is not true!”

“Definitely is!”

Like little children, they played a game of "Did and Did Not."

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. 

. 

… Never mind. Trying to act more like Sukuna backfired. Greatly. (No, Yuji! They were not trying to act like Kurama, they were trying to act like Sukuna! wrong.. symbiote? Was there even a term for the people/things vessels host?) 

After a bit more teasing from Yuji, they decided to watch some more anime. They watched some more Naruto, some My Hero Academia, and even some Haikyuu. 

( “I believed this to be a sport about something called a.. ‘volleyball.’ Why are they pulling out knives? Was I wrong in my assumptions that is an anime about sports?”

“No, no, Haikyuu is a sports anime. Ihave no clue why they're suddenly using knives?I think it's a figure of speech. Maybe.”) 

In the middle of watching an episode of anime, Yuji asked him a question. “Do you know any cool stories from the Heian era?”

They, assuming that Itadori meant more anime, responded. 

It was one of their all time favorites, 

Demon Slayer. 

Tanjiro Kamado, the eldest son of a family of coal burners, becomes an onmyōji, joining the organization which was given an imperial order to hunt down demons and evil spirits. 

In Demon Slayer, demons were humans who fell victim to forbidden curses, karmic corruption, or demonic pacts. The progenitor of demons, Muzan Kibutsuji, was a sickly person, and was given an elixir to cure his illness. Unfortunately, it turned him into a demon instead.

These demons feast on humans, and are categorized as beings caught in the “hungry ghost” realm. 

Amaterasu, angered at the demons for eating humans, cursed them to be unable to walk in the sun. 

Nezuko, who regained enough of her sanity, managed to prevent herself from eating any humans, and thus,became a tamashii, who was stuck between being a ghost and a human. 

The story telling of this anime was amazing, and they couldn't wait to watch it again. They told the plot of the anime to Yuji, vaguely, of course, and without the spoilers, since Yuji might want to watch it. 

Huh, why did Yuji seem kind of pale? 

“Seriously?” Yuji asked. 

“Yeah. It was unbelievable to see it in real time.” that animation was insane! The budget they had must have been really high. All hail Ufotable's animators. 

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. 

The Heian era was crazy. Curses cannibalized on humans in the past? Curses were human in the past? Wait, but curses couldn't be in the sun without burning in the past. What happened? 

“Demons couldn't walk in the sun right? How did that change?”

“Huh? Mm, I kind of forgot how. It's been a long time.”

A thousand years was definitely a reasonable amount of time to have forgotten something. 

“Yeah. It was unbelievable to see it in real time." Sukuna said. He lived through that insanity?

. 

. 

. 

They continued watching anime, man, they missed anime from their time. They really wanted to rewatch Apothecary Diaries right now. Ahh, how they missed 2025 anime. They can't believe they have to wait seven more years for them to release. (They couldn't believe that it's been SEVEN years. Wow. Time sure does fly.) 

“Hey, Sukuna?” Yuji called out. 

“Hm?”

“I can't help but notice that you pause slightly whenever we say your name, like you're uncomfortable with it. Why?”

Oh, shoot really? They must not be familiar with being called Sukuna yet. Luckily, they had an easy excuse. 

“Ryoumen Sukuna is not my name, rather, it is a title given to me by the sorcerers of my time.” They're prettyyy sure that's canon. Probably. Hopefully? Not like the actual Sukuna could correct them. (Thankfully, because if the actual Sukuna were here, they'd be dead again much earlier.) 

“Oh.What is your name then? Would you like me to call you that instead?”

Huh. What was their name? It was at the tip of their tongue, a single pull needed to reach inside their memory. What was it? 

Z.. Ze.. Zen..? They struggled, trying to remember their name, trying to prevent the memory from disappearing. 

“.. Zenin?” That didn't sound completely right, but it sounded familiar.Was it the name of their friend and not them? 

“Zenin?” Yuji repeated. 

“It has been over a thousand years since anyone, including myself, has spoken my true name. It might have been my name, or the name of a friend.” They explained. 

“Do you want me to call you Zenin..?” Yuji asked. 

“.. If you wish to, then I will not stop you.”

Really though, why did that name sound so familiar? They had a feeling it was important, but they didn't know why. 

Whatever.. It's probably nothing. 

Probably. It was just a name, after all. 

. 

. 

. 

It was night time, and Yuji was asleep, leaving them alone in their domain. Now it's time to face one of the biggest problems almost every SIkuna has, and will have to face. 

Since they were a SIkuna now, they too had to face this problem, unfortunately. 

“How the heck do I use cursed energy, and how the hell do I use Sukuna's techniques???” They had no idea where to even start. What even are Ogkuna's techniques? 

It was very important to learn, as Sukuna had to save Yuji in the detention center arc, and then kick Mahito's ass for looking into their soul or whatever happened. They just knew Sukuna needed to be powerful. 

Wait, Mahito. 

Oh my god they could save Junpei. They'd never watched or seen him, but according to their friend, he was someone who Yuji befriended, but died because of that Mahito guy. 

..But saving Junpei needed them to be able to use and master their techniques. 

They faltered. 

‘R.I.P Junpei, whoever you are. You will be missed, sorry dude.’

. 

. 

. 

They were joking, obviously ( okay, maybe they were being a little serious, but only slightly.) 

 To use cursed energy, you first had to access your body's negative emotions to manifest it, then channel the energy for various purposes. 

Thanks, Reddit. (They could recall that, but not the name of their friends? Mother? Father? Their memory was rather selective.. It seemed to really like Jujutsu Kaisen information,which was useful to them, but couldn't they have even a little knowledge of their loved ones? Of themself?) 

… it sounded easy in theory but it was hard in practice when you've never done it before. They could feel the cursed energy coursing through their body, but they had no idea on how to release it. 

After the third attempt ( third times the charm, right?) They succeeded in using cursed energy, … and then promptly sent a chunk of their domain into the abyss. Oops. Thankfully, it seemed to regenerate, which was great because they didn't want to find out what happened if they fell into that abyss. 

Ah, yes, another bane of SIkuna existence; control of energy output. 

Damn.. They had their work cut out for them. Not to mention, what the heck were Sukuna's techniques called again? 

“Uh, chop, slash, dice? Uh, there was a technique about a cutting style, cant remember the name, um, maybe something else. Break down? Disintegrate? Dismantle?”

“Woah!” They nearly chopped off their arm! 

This was going to be a long, long, long training arc. 

. 

. 

. 

After hours of fooling around and nearly killing themself in their domain, they finally managed somewhat-decent control and output of cursed energy.

They were now able to coat themselves in cursed energy for defense, strengthening their body to be able to take blows against foes. "Oh my god? Im doing armament haki in real life. That's crazy.”

It turned out using cursed energy was a lot like gaming, as in, using a charged attack. Who said gaming was useless? It saved their life (from themselves, but who knows? It might actually save their life one day!) 

They knew that Sukuna could use fire, and that he had another technique, but they couldn't recall the name nor how to use it. 

.. A problem for another time. They had a guaranteed 8 hours to train, maybe more, everyday. They could probably do this, maybe. 

!!! Oh, They were going to meet Nobara soon! And Panda, Inumaki, and Maki! Todo too! 

Oh, Todo.

'Sorry, Yuji. I'm gonna have to let you get beat up for the sake of the plot and your training arc, please forgive me. It's for your own good, I swear.'

Um. 

What were they going to do about Shibuya? 

.. They had no idea what the hell was going to happen in Shibuya, aside from slight spoilers. 

Hold on, what even was the culling games? Past a bit of Shibuya, they had no clue what was going to happen. 

Uh. 

They now realized they definitely didn't have enough information. They were really starting to regret not reading or even watching Jujutsu Kaisen past episode one. 'Okay, Ill just make educated guesses! memory of my past life is really selective, so maybe I read more spoilers and I'll remember them soon!'

Heres to hoping. 

Chapter Text

They're beat, seriously. The eight long, long hours Yuji was asleep for was hell. Their body was so so sore. They were never doing eight hours of training again without a two and a half hour break in between each hour. 

They were kidding(.. mostly) of course, they needed to get stronger for important arcs in the story. 

But they wished they spent half that time sleeping, too. (Could curses even sleep? How the hell did ogkuna even turn into a curse again?) Their muscles throbbed with a dull, annoying pain. 

They spent all that time practicing, and it was worth it, but the amount of times they nearly killed themself was downright embarrassing. Thank God that nobody else was with them. 

Expanding on what they said before, using cursed energy was a lot like a charged attack in video games, the cursed energy flowing through their body gathered up in one spot, usually the arms, and built up until it was ready to be released. The more cursed energy gathered up, the stronger the attack would be. 

Stronger sorcerers ( of course, if they were excluding their cursed techniques, because depending on the technique,even if a sorcerer was weak, they could defeat a stronger sorcerer by clever use of their technique.) were stronger because they were able to produce more cursed energy than weaker sorcerers in the same amount of time. 

Of course, this is why increasing one's cursed energy capacity was so important. Yes, ye could produce strong attacks, but you're going to face cursed energy depletion sooner than you can defeat your opponent. 

(Gojo Satoru was such a cheat. He was born with basically unlimited cursed energy, and a rare cursed technique, actually, was six eyes also a cursed technique? Because if it was, this guy had two cursed techniques. He really did deserve the title of the strongest.) 

Really though, at least they could use cursed energy now. it was an improvement from when they couldn't direct their cursed energy outwards at all. 

Now, when they were talking with Yuji in their domain on the day they met, when they watched anime together, they explained to him how to send them an image through their soul-bond, which probably (?) uses cursed energy. 

To recap, they couldn't use cursed energy at the time. As in, had no idea how to, never used it once. 

So how did they explain it to Yuji, while being unable to use cursed energy themself? 

They completely bullshitted it! 

In some fics they read, if either Yuji or Sukuna or Sukuna's equivalent felt something too strongly, they could feel the other's emotions through their soul-bond. 

Now, they had no idea if ‘sending images’to each other's minds was possible here, seeing as it was a popular fanon (probably? Maybe it was canon, they couldn't tell. All the Jujutsu Kaisen they consumed was from fans.) in fics (usually used to just torture Yuji even more, like Sukuna sending images of Junpei's death to Yuji repeatedly after he died.) but to their surprise and delight it did work. 

Speaking of images, they missed memes so much. They missed their phone and apps. Sure, being in JJK was exciting and fun, aside from the uh, dying part, but man did they miss their own time! Wait, they didn't even get to watch Wednesday Season 2 Part 2 yet! Now they had to wait sevenseven more years to watch it! Noo!!! 

(Wait, does this mean they have to go through quarantine again if the world doesn't go to shit? Surely not, right? There's NO way Corona Virus is going to be in Jujutsu Kaisen.. On the bright side, they knew the ending of My Hero Academia and several other mangas and animes. They could laugh at others online trying to find out who the traitor was. Ahh, Traitor Kaminari, Jirou, Uraraka,Hagakure, and several others. How they loved reading those theories.

Even Traitor Izuku was fun, despite it making no sense.) 

During their training montage, they did find out something interesting though. 

It seemed that the Isekai Translator™ works on all languages ogkuna could speak. 

Including ancient Japanese from his time. 

They have an idea. 

A very brilliant, amazing, smart idea. 

Totally. They only have good ideas. Trust them. 

. 

. 

. 

Yuji woke up to a wave of exhaustion. Which was weird, as he actually felt well-rested. The exhaustion didn't seem to come from him, so why was he-

Oh, right, Sukuna! 

Why was Sukuna exhausted?? Was he okay? Maybe incarnating took a lot of energy from him? 

“ Awaken, child, for the first of the month has arrived.” A voice that was becoming rather familiar said. 

“What?” Yuji blurted out, forgetting about the exhaustion he felt from Sukuna. The language Sukuna was speaking sounded like Japanese, but he couldn't tell what Sukuna was saying. “My apologies, I forgot you weren't able to understand. I meant ‘Wake up, it's the first day of the month.”

“Hm? Does the first day of the month mean anything?” Yuji questioned. 

“Ah, yes. But it makes sense for you to not know this tradition, for even in my time, it was rather rare to see someone practice it.” Curiously, Yuji asked, "What's the tradition about?”

“On the first day of the month, people ate beef in the morning or at night. Doing so symbolised luck and prosperity for the month.”

“ Oh! Uh, do you want to buy some beef later?”

“No, thank you. I do not require any luck, you however, will need all the luck you can.” Sukuna warns, like an omen to come. 

“Mm..?” What did Sukuna mean by that? Why would Yuji need more luck? 

“I have my suspicions that those sorcerers, the.. higher-ups, as six eyes calls them, are not just going to back down so easily from executing you. They might do something, be careful, Yuji.” Sukuna paused for a bit,and added “After all, if you die, I die as well. Who knows when I'll be able to have another vessel?” Was it just Yuji, or did that last part feel like an after thought? 

“Child, are you not meant to be getting prepared right now to fetch the last child, your classmate?” Sukuna reminded him. 

Oh, right! Yuji scrambled to get ready. 

Yuji's vision goes white, as he is bombarded with an image of a wilting rose. Yuji stumbles, not expecting that to happen. 

"Oh, my apologies. I did not mean to blind you with the image. I was unaware that would happen." Sukuna apologizes. 

Oh, so Sukuna sent them the image. Wait, how did he know Yuji got blinded? 

"How did you know I was blinded by the image?" 

"Ah, I see everything you see, so when you received the message through our soul-bond, I too saw it through you eyes." He explained. 

There was something that didn't make sense, though. "Why did you send me an image of a wilting rose?"

"In my time, gifting someone a wilting rose meant many things. Whether sadness, dissapointment, mockery, or strangely enough, amusement or laughter. As I cannot physically give you a wilting rose, I decided to send you an image instead."

A wilting rose for amusement and laughter? How would that work? 

"So, for what reason did you give a wilting rose to me?" Yuji got his answer in the form of their soul-bond, where he felt faint amusement from Sukuna. 

Amusement? Why? 

"Yuji, you are a minute away from being late from meeting Ten Shadows." He says, amused. 

Oh crap! 

. 

. 

. 

Yuji opened the door frantically, seeing Fushiguro, who just stepped out of his room, outside. 

“ Oh, Fushiguro!” Yuji called out. “Eh? You're next door?” Fushiguro said in surprise. 

“You look like you're doing well now!” he complimented. 

“Ha.., really, there were plenty of other rooms, weren't there? He couldn't have picked anywhere else? This was an unwelcome favor. ” Fushiguro mumbled. 

“Wow, it's so organized.” Yuji looked into Fushiguro's room. “Hey, you're unwelcome.” Fushiguro slammed the door at Yuji, causing him to caress his head. 

“Come on, Itadori. We're going to pick up the last first year, we're going to be late."

Yuji smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, I didn't realize what time it was."

".. It's fine. Gojo-sensei's going to be late by at least 10 minutes anyway."

. 

. 

. 

“Hey, Fushiguro. Why are there only three first years? Isn't that too few?” Yuji asked. 

“Until recently, have you ever met anyone who could see curses?”

“Ah.”

“Jujutsu sorcerers are a small minority. so, it's normal for us to be so few.” Fushiguro explained. 

“Oh, by the way, didn't you say I was the third?” 

“Their entry was decided a while ago. By now you know what our school's like. Everyone has their own unique circumstances.” That, Yuji does know. 

“Sorry for the wait!” Gojo says, holding a paper bag of something. Then he looks at Yuji, and smiles. “Oh, your uniform made it in time, I see.” 

“Yeah, it's a perfect fit! Though it's slightly different from Fushiguro’s? It has a hood, for one.” Yuji pointed out. “That's because the uniforms can be customized upon the request of a student.” Gojo clarified. 

“Huh? But I never put in any requests?” Yuji asked in confusion. “I was the one who put in the custom order.”

“Huh, okay.”

“Be careful, Gojo-sensei has a tendency to do things like that.” Fushiguro said in slight annoyance, looks like he has experience.

“More importantly," he continued. "Are we in Harujuku because the other first year is here?”

“Yes, it's where she asked to meet.” Gojo confirmed.

" Yuji." Sukuna called out, this time only in Yuji's head. "Ask Six Eyes what's inside that paper bag."

"Gojo-sensei, what's inside that bag?" Yuji complied. 

Gojo turns to look at Yuji. "You want to know what's inside? Reallyy want to know?"

"Yeah!"

"Itssssss..." Gojo drawled out, "Kikufuku from Sendai!" 

"Yuji!" Sukuna half-shouted. " Ask him for one? Use whatever charm or charisma you have against him! I suspect this man to have a chronic adoption problem. He looks like he has one. Use that against him to get one of those kikufukus!"

...Huh? Chronic Adoption Problem? What did that even mean??? How do you look like you have it? Was this a Heian joke Yuji didn't understand? Yuji chose to not think too much about it, figuring it was a joke. 

"Gojo-san, Sukuna wants some of the Kikufuku. Uh, he's asking very nicely, so please give him some." Yuji asked Gojo. 

"Sukuna wants some of the Kikufuku?" To that, Yuji nods. "Thats~ too~ bad~." Gojo said in a singsong voice. 

For some reason, Yuji pictured Sukuna pouting, but he immediately dispelled that image, it wasn't likely. 

"But, " Gojo continued. "Once we meet up with the last first year, you can have some. That's practically the same, no?" Gojo offered. (They would bet money that it was 100% thanks to Yuji's adoptable teenagerness. Talk to the wall, no one will change their mind.) 

Yuji did a mental high five with Sukuna. Mission success! 

. 

. 

. 

A brown haired girl was inquiring about a modeling gig, while the guy recruiting was trying to run away from her. 

Yuji looked at Fushiguro. “We're about to talk to her?”

(“I'm sorry! Please let me go!” The man begged) 

“This is kinda embarrassing.” Yuji says, wearing his glasses, and holding his crepe and popcorn. 

Fushiguro sent a look at Yuji. “Look who's talking..” 

“Hey! Over here!” Gojo yells, beckoning the girl to come over. Gojo, no! They loved Nobara, but she was a force of nature Not To Be Reckoned With™

. 

. 

. 

‘Nobara's finally here!’ They thought, despite their thoughts from earlier. Nobara was fearsome, but they stan her for that. 

The girl introduced herself as Nobara, Kugisaki Nobara.  

“I'm Itadori Yuji. I'm from Sendai!” Oh, thank god Yuji didnt introduce himself like that. 

“Fushiguro Megumi.” 

Kugisaki shot a weird look at them both. 

‘She's probably thinking about how unlucky she is, or something. What does she usually say Yuji looks like again? A potato?’ 

Kugisaki sighs. “ I always get stuck with unfortunate circumstances.” Oh, they were right! 

Fushiguro and Yuji looked at each other again. 

“She took one look at us and sighed.” Yuji said under his breath. 

Fushiguro looked towards Gojo's direction. “Gojo-sensei, are we going somewhere from here?” 

“Hm, well we do have all three of you together!” he looked at Yuji, then Nobara. 

“Not to mention, two of you are from the countryside.”

Gojo smiled. “So of course we're going.. On a tour of Tokyo!”

“Tokyo! Tokyo! Tokyo!” Yuji and Nobara chanted. “We love Tokyo!!” The two said in unison. 

“TDL!! I want to go to TDL!!”  Nobara exclaimed

“Idiot! TDL'S in Chiba! Let's go to Chinatown, sensei!” Yuji argued. 

“Chinatown’s in Yokohama!” 

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

“I will now announce our destination.” Gojo said, and the two kneeled down, waiting for his answer. 

“Roppongi!”

“Ro! Pong! Gi?!” The two cheered simultaneously. They, (as in, Zenin) stifled a laugh. They definitely weren't going to Roppongi. 

. 

. 

. 

.. This was definitely not Roppongi. Yuji should have known as soon as he felt amusement from Sukuna. 

“Theres a curse here.” Gojo, the liar, explained. 

“You liar!!” Yuji and Nobara accused Gojo. 

“This isn't even Roppongi..”

“You're toying with us country-folk!”

“There's a big cemetery nearby. The double whammy of that and an abandoned building brought out a curse.” Gojo ignored their accusations. 

“So, they really do pop up more around graves?”

“The issue isn't with the cemetery itself.” Fushiguro looked at Yuji. “It's the fact that people associate cemeteries with fear.” He continued. 

‘Ah, that made sense,’ Yuji thought. 

“Oh, it was the same for schools too, wasn't it?” Yuji pointed out. 

“Hold up. He didn't even know that yet?”

“To be honest..” Fushiguro trailed off, then explained. 

“He ate a special grade cursed object?! Gross, unbelievable! That's so unsanitary and disgusting! No way, no way, no way!”

“What?!” Yuji exclaimed. 

"I agree with her." Megumi said, adding salt to the wound. 

Unexpectedly, a mouth formed on Yuji's cheek. “So are you guys calling me unsanitary and disgusting? Ouch..?” They take back their words, they do not stan Kugisaki Nobara, cancel her. (Just kidding!) 

Chapter Text

For a moment, everyone paused, and time seemed to stop.

The silence was broken by one Kugisaki Nobara.

“What the hell is that?!” She yelled, punching Itadori's cheek. Itadori put his hands in front of his face to protect himself, but it was in vain. “ Wait, wait a minute!”

He caressed the cheek Nobara punched. That girl packed a mean punch! “I'm the one being hit!”

“Well, I'm not opposed to that.” Nobara murmured.She looked at Itadori. “What was that anyway?” It was probably a weird cursed technique. 

“That!” Gojo clapped his hands, “is our dear Yuji's roommate!” What? Was it the technique of Itadori's roommate? 

“It's the curse he ate.” Fushiguro explained. What?! 

“Oh, and his name is Sukuna!” Itadori smiled. WHAT???? 

“Eh?!” Nobara staggered backwards slightly. “Is he being for real?” Nobara glanced at Fushiguro then at Gojo. “Hes being for real.” Fushiguro said, while Gojo nodded  enthusiastically.

They're joking.. They're not joking. 

‘I really do have the worst luck!’ Nobara despaired internally.

“Anyways, the reason why we're here is because I want to know what all of you are capable of. Just think of this as a field test!”

“Nobara, Yuji,” Gojo looked to the direction the two were in. “You two go exorcise the curse inside that building.”

“Huh? I thought only cursed energy could exorcise curses, right? I can't use any Jujutsu yet.” Can't use cursed energy yet? How new is he? 

“You're basically half a sorcerer already. There's cursed energy flowing throughout your body.”

“Though, controlling that energy isn't something that you can learn overnight.”

(... Ehe? Why did they get the urge to sneeze all of a sudden? Did they get a cold? Could curses even get colds? Does a common cold curse exist? If cursed can get colds, and a common cold curse exists, if enough cursed have colds, can it create a common cold curse from curses?)

“So use this.” Gojo hands Itadori a knife. “It's a cursed tool called Slaughter Demon. It's a weapon imbued with cursed energy. It'll work on curses too.”

Nobara looks at the weapon and turns around, uninterested.“That's lame.”

“Oh, and one more thing!” Gojo said, causing Itadori to turn his head backwards. 

“Dont let Sukuna out. If you use him, you'll get rid of all the nearby curses in a flash. But you may bring even more trouble with you, as his presence might attract even more curses.” Where's the mention of him being a bloodthirsty maniac? 

“Got it, I won't let him out!”

“Hurry it up!” Nobara called out

“Yeah, yeah.” he said, walking faster.The two entered the building.

.

.

.

Meanwhile..

“I think I'll go too.” Megumi said, sitting on a bench with Gojo.He waved him off, “Don't push yourself. You're still recovering.”

“But someone needs to keep an eye on Itadori, right?” That was true. Yuji couldn't use cursed energy yet, not to mention, Satoru didnt trust Sukuna to not pull anything, seeing as he was clearly more than the brute in history. But, the curses here are only around grade 3, and Yuji had insane physical strength, rivaling that of someone with a Heavenly Restriction. 

Plus, Satoru was here if anything went wrong. 

“True, true. But the one we're testing this time isn't him, it's Nobara.” How would she react, to the curses in the city? 

. . .

Kugisaki sighed. “What a pain. Why do I have to deal with curses after coming all the way to Tokyo?”

“Huh?” Yuji said, trailing after her. “You didn't come here to exorcise curses?” What else did she come here for, then? 

Kugisaki turned her head and glanced at him. “Let's split up to save time. I'll start from the top and go floor by floor. You start from the bottom. Let's get over this quick and grab some sushi from Ginza!”

“Hold on, let's take this a bit more seriously. Curses are dangerous, you know?” Yuji warned her. If they were anything like the ones from Yuji's old school when he met Fushiguro, then they'd have to be careful. 

She grits her teeth, and runs down the stairs to go to Yuji's location, and promptly kicks Yuji in the stomach, sharp pain immediately stabbing into him. Kugisaki, you're wearing heels! 

Yuji:0 Nobara: 2.

“I don't want to hear that from someone who was a normie until recently!” She grumbled.

Yuji clutches his stomach. That hurt like hell!

“Your emotions have been all over the place today!” he yells. She was surprised,nonchalant,angry,happy, all in less than 30 minutes!

“This is why girls don't like you!” She yells back. 

“How do you know if they don't like me?!”

“Are you even popular enough to talk? Bitch..” Yuji muttered under his breath, then sighed.

Yuji felt it first, then heard it. Just as the claw of the curse came to impale him, Yuji managed to remove the claw, slicing it with Slaughter Demon.

‘! That was close!”

“Do.. you..need.. a receipt?” The curse spoke, well, spoke was a rather generous description, it was intelligible at worst and what you'd expect zalgo text sounds like in real life.

The curse charged at Yuji, but he managed to duck and pierce the curse’s chest.

Yuji ran back to the curse, getting a few slashes in at its legs to immobilize it and finally doing a jump attack, stabbing its head.

The curse flailed around as Yuji squatted on it, the knife still in its head, and finally, it stopped moving.

“I give you my congratulations, for exorcising your first curse. This is a great achievement for all sorcerers.” Sukuna says.

“Thank you, Zenin.” Yuji says in response, using the name Zenin told him about for the the first time. 

Zenin says nothing in response, but Yuji can feel his surprise-warmth-happiness from their soul-bond.

“Let's get a move on.” Yuji decides.

.

.

.

(“And, that Yuji.” Gojo continues.

“I'm pretty sure he's missing a few screws up here.” Gojo points at his head. To be fair, what Jujutsu sorcerer doesn't? 

“He has to be, to have no hesitation when it comes to killing these things that take the form of living creatures, albeit bizarre looking ones, that try to kill him.”

“And he's not familiar with curses, not like you, or me, who have been familiar with curses our entire lives.”

“This is a high school boy who used to lead a normal life.” key word; used to.

“There are plenty of sorcerers. Even those with talent, have given up in frustration because they couldn't conquer their fear or disgust. You know this, don't you?”

“So, I want to confirm how crazy she is.”)

.

.

.

“Hey, you, curse.” Nobara says Irritatedly.

It doesn't respond, does it think it can hide itself? 

“I mean you, mannequin in the center. You actually think you're hidden there?” She could feel its cursed energy, after all.

She grabs her nails and hammer, preparing to use her technique. “If you don't come out, I'll just exorcise you there.”

(“But Kugisaki has experience, right?” Megumi pointed out. “Little late for that now, isnt it?”

“Curses are born from human minds. So their strength and numbers grow in accordance to the population.” Gojo said.)

Nobara uses her cursed technique, imbuing the nails with cursed energy, and striking with her hammer.

The nails hit the curse, causing it to bend over backwards.

(“Do you think Nobara understands,” Gojo continues. “That curses in Tokyo are on a different level than those on the country side?”)

An eye forms on the mannequin, much like the mouth that formed on Yuji. ‘Creepy. Seriously. Let's get this done with,fast.’ Nobara thinks.

And then even more eyes form.

“You may want to pull those out,” Nobara suggests, and the curse starts struggling slightly.

“Or my cursed energy will flow into you.” cracks start forming on the curse’s head and-

SHATTER!

Its head shattered, its body crumpling down. Nobara smirks.‘I nailed it. Pun absolutely intended.' She thinks, ah, time for sushi~

Oh, right, she might have to help potato looking guy. Whatever-

‘!’ She instantly became more alert. What was that sound? Was there another curse?

. . .

It was the sound of a child crying, clearly scared. ‘A Child?’

“Must have snuck in for some fun and encountered the curse.” she sighed, approaching the kid. “Hey, it's all right now, you can come out.” She beckoned the boy.

The boy shook his head. ‘Eh?!!’ Nobara was shocked. 

‘Well, I guess kids don't warm up to beautiful women.’ She thought. “I guess I'll call Itadori.” She said out loud.

“Wait!” the child cried out “don't leave me here!” He said in fear. Suddenly, an arm, an arm of a curse phased through the wall, grabbing the kid's head

The curse waved the kid slightly in front of it, slight laughter, or a chuckle or whatever, came out of it, the curse was taunting her.

She turned to attack the curse, but paused. She couldn't attack the curse, the boy would get caught in the crossfire.

It, amused, used its finger, pointing at the child with its sharp nails. Sharp enough to slice, to draw blood.

The boy cried out, definitely scared out of his mind. 'Shit! This curse has intelligence?'

(“When I say ‘level’, I don't just mean the amount of cursed energy they have.” Gojo resumed.

“It's their cunning. Monsters that have gained wisdom will often force cruel choices upon you, with the weight of human lives in the balance.”)

‘Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!’

‘Damn it! The curse isn't even that strong! It’s likely grade 4, being generous, maybe a low grade 3! But..’

‘It's aware of that! That's why it chose to take a hostage!’

‘... Calm down. If I die, the child dies too, but if the child dies, I won't die. Logically speaking, it's better if I survive, atleast!’ She gripped her hammer tighter.. and then dropped it, along with her nails and satchel.

“I'm unarmed.” She says, holding both hands up. “Let the boy go.”

The thing smiled. It did not let go of the child. ‘I'm such an idiot! See? It's not letting him go at all!’ Nobara thought.

“.. I wish I could have seen Saori-chan one last time.” She says, her final words.

… that is, if the wall didn't start cracking, revealing a.. Fist?!

“Huh? I missed?” A familiar voice said. Itadori!

.

.

.

To be honest, when Yuji said he couldn't use cursed energy yet, they really wanted to instruct him on how to use it.

They restrained themselves, though. Only on threat of Yuji, and therefore also (maybe?)Nobara's death(s). It was possible that if they instructed Yuji on how to use cursed energy, he would get too distracted trying to use it, and then, even if just a second or two, would be too late to dodge an attack. Without Yuji, Nobara might have died, but it was possible that Gojo would have saved her, or maybe Fushiguro.

There were a lot of possibilities, but they didn't want to risk it, because those two's lives were on the line.

They did not want to be the cause of Yuji and Nobara's deaths, and more importantly, they did not want them to die. They were only 15, only teenagers, having to face such traumatic experiences. They should get to live long, healthy, happy lives. 

They decided to let things go as in canon (? Maybe? They didn't do anything,so they assume this is what happened in canon, probably.)as nobody got too hurt.

Anyways.

Man. Seeing everything in real life was crazy! Everything was so much cooler when you could see it in real life, not just behind the screen. Yuji looked so kickass when he exorcised that curse!

It also made everything so, so, so much scarier.

They swear, when the curse with the claws tried to grab Yuji, they nearly had a heart attack. Thankfully, Yuji came out unscathed. And again, he looked so cool doing it! That backflip on to the curse and then stabbing it? Awesome!

(It was honestly unnecessary though, they could admit. Looks like Yuji was learning well from the Aura Farming King™, that is to say, Gojo Satoru.)

After that curse though, they weren't able to find any more. That was good, they probably couldn't take any more stress, they'd have a heart attack. (Well, in spirit they would? Physically they couldn't, seeing as uh, they didn't have a heart to have a heart attack.)

...

They were nearing the top floor. Yuji and Nobara still haven't met.

“She's still on the top floor, really? Has she not found the curse yet, or something?” Yuji muttered, wondering.

No way, Nobara has more experience than Yuji. She should be able to find the curse faster than hi... 

They could sense three cursed energy signatures. One was Nobara, one didn't have enough cursed energy to be a sorcerer or a curse, and one felt slightly similar to their own. A curse. 

“Yuji.” They say, dead serious.

This doesn't give Yuji a good feeling. It was the first time he's heard Sukuna speak in this tone. “.. Zenin? What's going on?”

“There are three sources of cursed energy in the top floor. I can identify one as Nobara, and one of them is probably a curse. But the third one.. they don't have enough cursed energy to be a curse or sorcerer.”

“So, that means..”

“They’re most likely a normal person, who got caught in the crossfire,yes.”

Yuji rushes, as they direct him to the sources.

There is a wall in the way. Shit, they were going to have to go the other way around, they didn't have time for that- Yuji punches through the wall. Huh, they forgot that Yuji was absolutely cracked in physical strength. 

Wait, Yuji punches through the wall?

Yuji??? PUNCHES???? through the???WALL???

As in, the concrete wall?

Are we sure he doesn't have a heavenly restriction, or whatever it was called? 

Really sure?

What the hell did Kenjackass or whatever that guy's name was do to Yuji?! Inject steroids into him at birth?!?

“Huh? I missed?” Yuji says, as if it's completely normal to be able to punch through concrete walls.

.

.

.

The curse nearly got away, but thanks to Nobara's, very cool, technique, they managed to exorcise it.

(Imagine all the possibilities! Nobara didn't have to only use her nails and hammer- that would be limiting herself. Her technique, resonance, was amazing. Instead of nails, she should use something that can easily dismember, like small, but sharp knives, assuming there was a weight limit, and that it could not be trained to become heavier. That way, she could easily meet the requirements for resonance more.

And she could detonate things with her cursed energy at will, if she could imbue her energy into something like a smoke bomb, her cursed energy might enter her opponents airways, and it might be possible for her to explode her enemies bodies- ah, they were getting off track.)

“We won.” Nobara said. Yuji sends a look at Nobara. “This is why I told you it's dangerous to go alone, and you need to take it seriously!”

“You never said it was dangerous to go alone!” She said, walking closed to Yuji and the child. Well, she's got you there, Yuji. 

“And what have you been eating that lets you punch through walls with your bare hands?!” She points at the hole in the wall.

‘My fingers.’ They want to say, but that would require forming a mouth on Yuji's mouth. On a regular occasion, they would've, but they didn't want to scare the kid beside Yuji who just went through something traumatic.

Later, however, it was fair game.

(They also want to know the answer to Nobara's question — but they were literally living in the same body as Yuji! How was he so strong? They knew Kenjackass had something to do with it, but how much of it was them?)

“It wasn't even reinforced concrete!” Yuji also points at the hole in the wall. (What the fuck. Wasn't there a newton's law of motion that prevented this from happening? The one about an equal and opposite reaction, where if you exert force on an object it exerts the same amount of force back on you? How did Yuji not injure himself? His bones must be strong as hell!) 

Like that makes it any better, Yuji! Do you know other people who can break through concrete with their bare fists?! 

Chapter Text

After exorcising the curse from yesterday, they ended up actually going to Roppongi. Nobara, of course, did a crap ton of shopping (Yuji was made into her personal gofer, carrying the shopping bags.) 

"Now, as promised!" Gojo pauses, and exclaims. 

"What promise?" Yuji slightly tilts his head to the side in confusion. 

"I did say I was going to share some of my Kikufuku once the first years united, so here it is." Gojo pulls out a box, from the paper bag. He opens it to reveal amazing, glorious, appetizing, wonderous, Kikufuku. 

Gojo, did you know they loved you? Please keep buying these. 

. 

. 

. 

They decided to train again once Yuji fell asleep. 

They spent more hours on training, with successful results. They still couldn't use most of Ogkuna's techniques since they didn't know how it worked, but they'd been refining dismantle lately, and they'd say they've been making good progress. 

Instead of nearly accidentally chopping off their hand, now it's only nearly slicing their skin! What an improvement! They still struggled with energy output, sometimes their attacks had too much power, and other times it lacked power. 

They hope that one day they'll master their techniques and cursed energy enough that they'll be able to pull of their own domain expansion. 

Huh.Their own domain expansion. They wonder, would they have the same domain expansion as ogkuna? Or would they have their own? 

(Would it be better to have their own, or have Sukuna's? They won't have the knowledge advantage, since they have no idea how Sukuna's domain expansion works, so they'd have to work equally whether it was their own or Sukuna's.

If they had Sukuna's, it was guaranteed to be powerful, seeing as, you know, King of Curses? But if they had their own.. A Domain Expansion represents your innate Domain brought to life, right? And an innate domain represents the soul and mind of a person. They wanted to have a piece of themself. No one knows what Sukuna's techniques are, much less his domain expansion, so if they did have their own instead of Sukuna's, it should be fine, right?) 

Only time would tell, they suppose. 

... Man, the food they ate yesterday(well, Yuji ate, but they also tasted it so, same difference) was amazing. It's probably because all food taste better when you didn't buy it, at least not with your own money. 

They would for real kill to be able to have the cooking skills required for a meal like that again, or even just being able to eat food that delicious once a month, or twice, anything, really. 

'Mm.. Wasn't there a chef character in JJK? What was their name again? I remember they were really good at cooking, I hope I meet them soon. I can force.. Mm.. encourage Yuji to undergo tutelage with them.' They thought, no, planned. 

'Hold on, isnt Yuji good at cooking?' They were getting hungry. Yuji wasn't awake yet though, and they didn't want to wake him up to make them something, hell, they didn't even need to eat, seeing as they were a curse now, it was more for pleasure than survival, but.. 

'Old habits die hard,im too used to needing sustenance for survival.And eating is nice, I like food. Food is amazing and a divine gift.'

They could just wait until Yuji woke up and made himself breakfast ( if he had the energy to) and steal a portion for themselves. (They wondered, would the food they eat be more flavorful if they ate with the mouth-formed-on-Yuji's-body?) 

. 

. 

. 

When Yuji woke up, he was greeted by a voice. Yuji was finally getting used to that. 

"Morning, Yuji." Zenin greeted him. "Good morning, Zenin!" Yuji greets back with a yawn, stretching his arms. 

Yuji looks to the endtable beside his bed, on top of it was his newly bought stick note pad; his to-do-list reminders. He got it yesterday when they went shopping after eating, at Nobara's insistence. This wasn't something he'd usually get, but Zenin convinced him to buy it. Well, more like convinced him to let Gojo buy it for them. 

("You should buy something to remind you of stuff you have to do." Sukuna suddenly said. 

"Huh? you mean, like a to-do-list?" Yuji questioned. With Yuji, to an outsiders point of view, talking to himself, the three (Gojo, Kugisaki, Fushiguro) paused to look at him. 

"Hey, are you chatting with that guy? Sukuna?" Kugisaki asked. "Yeah?" Yuji replied. Kugisaki turned to face their teacher. 

"Is it fine for him to do that?" She said doubtfully. "Well, he doesn't seem hostile, as far as we can tell, so for now yes." Gojo answered. 

"Anyways, what's this I hear about Sukuna asking for a to-do-list reminder? Is he trying to keep track of all his nefarious plans?" Gojo's teasing smile became even more amused. "Or is he trying to keep track of the animes he's watched?" 

"The king of curses watches anime?!" Fushiguro and Kugisaki were left dumbfounded at this revelation. 

Hey, Gojo. Did you get the memo that they were supposed to be acting like a less blood-thirsty version of Sukuna, but still Sukuna nonetheless? Exposing that does NOT help that image!!! Their [honestly pretty bad, considering they were known as a mass murderer.] Reputation!!) 

It was blank, as there were no new missions were assigned to him, and today was a weekend, so no school or school work. Hm, what to do? Usually at the weekends, he read manga, or watched TV, or even did some karaoke, and at the end, he would visit his grandfather. 

Well, Yuji won't be able to do that anymore. 

But, Yuji could still do the rest of things he did, just this time it's going to a be a two-player thing, now that someone else inhabited his body. 

Speaking of Sukuna.. they had a brilliant idea. Amazing, really. They were going to introduce him to memes. Man, seeing a thousand year old being reacting to memes was going to be hilarious. 

But first, they needed to eat. Yuji was getting pretty hungry. Yuji bought some pasta noodles yesterday, so he was going to try and make something. 

. 

. 

. 

As always, they were right. Yuji was an amazing cook. They could cry tears of joy right now. It was just a simple miso butter pasta, but the flavors burst in their mouth. The sweet, savory flavor of the miso combining well with the creaminess of the pasta. 

'I hit the jackpot.' They thought giddily. ' I'm going to eat like a king on a maybe-regular basis.' 

Yuji, who was chewing on his pasta, swallowed and asked. "Hey, Zenin?" This caused them to snap back, no longer lost in their thoughts. (that mainly consisted of all the food they wanted to try. Food in anime looked so good, and now they can try it all.) 

"Yes?" They questioned, wondering why Yuji called them. "I felt curiosity from you through our soul-bond when I was eating the pasta. Was there not anything like this in the Heian era? "

Uh oh. How were they supposed to answer that?! They were so screwed- 

("Hey," the name..? How were they so sure it was a name? the sound that came after was intelligible, and unable to be made out. " I wonder why we never see them eat anything like pasta in Demon Slayer. Did they just not like pasta back then? Since you're studying culinary, you'd probably know, right?"

They scoff. Who? " What am I, the all-knowing chef? Do you think I know the history of all cuisine ever?" The person earlier smiled sheepishly. 

"Lucky for you, I do know. Demon Slayer's set in the Heian era, and the pasta we're familiar with wasn't really a thing until the 12th century.") 

What was that? Whatever! Lets dwell on the random flashback later!! 

" Indeed, this type of noodle didn't exist in my time, so it is a surprise to see it, as I've never encountered it before." 

"Oh."

"And," they continued, " Dairy products were not primarily used for consumption, but rather, medical reasons in my time." They knew this one from a tiktok. It could be educational, sometimes! They paused momentarily, as if thinking. "The only dish I know consisting of dairy that was quite popular was so."

"Sō? They really named a dish that?" Yuji asked in disbelief. "Oh, it's a different kanji." They cleared it up. 

They pause, as if shocked. ".. Does that not exist anymore?" Yuji shakes his head. "If it is, it's not popular anymore. Ive never head of a dish called so."

"Ah.. Then, next time, when you will head to the market to buy your supplies, buy the ingredients for so. I will teach you how to make it." They said. "Alright!" Yuji said enthusiastically. "It's a promise then." He smiled brightly. 

Yuji stopped smiling for a second, and questioned. " What are the ingredients, though? What if one of them is extinct? It has been a thousand years."

"Mm, not to worry. Dairy products still exist, yes? The meal you are eating contains dairy. So has only one ingredient; milk."

"... Just milk? Seriously?"

"Just milk." They confirmed. 

"I want to ask you something else." Yuji said. "Go for it." They responded. 

"Yesterday, when I woke up, I woke up to a wave of exhaustion. It wasn't mine, atleast, it didn't feel like it. Was it yours? Are you okay?"

Some odd feeling overtook them. That was odd, did their training's aftermaths finally catch up and starting to take a toll on them? 

"I was alright. I was simply.. sharpening my skills. A thousand years dormant did not do them any favors, I've gotten a little rusty."

"Oh! You were practicing cursed energy?" They made a sound of agreement. 

"Dont push yourself too much, okay?" Oh, Yuji was probably slightly bothered by waking up to exhaustion despite having plenty of rest. Their bad. They'll try not to push themselves too hard,( no promises) or build up their endurance.( this one is promised.) 

. 

. 

. 

"Sukuna." Yuji calls out again, having finished washing the dishes. 

"Yes, Yuji?" They answer back, mentally sweating as Yuji might ask another Heian question, that they might not have the answer to, and might not be so lucky as to receive a flashback from their past life. (They still haven't really processed that. Were they going to have their memories again? Grieving over their friends and family was hard enough on remembering their experiences alone, would it get worse when they could put a name and face to those experiences?) 

"I wanna show you something cool!" He says, pulling out his phone. 

It's a YouTube video. 

Not just any YouTube video. 

A meme compilation video. Ohohoho. 

'Yuji, you sweet, summer child. You are a thousand years too early to be challenging me in the art of the memes.' They think, cackling maniacally internally. 

They decide to do a little bit of trolling. ".. A.. meh meh? What exactly are you showing me?" They ask in false confusion. 

"It's pronounced like meem!" Yuji says. "It's like.. a joke but in image or video form." He pauses. "You know what a video is, right?"

They make a noise of confirmation. Yuji plays the video. 

The first thing they see is Ugandan knuckles. Ugandan Knuckles. Just now, the realization that they were in 2018 hit them. 

And it hit hard.

Oh my God, they were reliving 2018. Someone send help. 

Instead of receiving help, the song "Hit or Miss" started playing in the background of the video. 

And then T-posing popped up. My god, when was the last time they thought about T-posing? Back in 2018? Well, now in 2018? 

"What. What is this." They say, with a hint of fear and confusion. Part of it isnt even fake. They'd have to live through all of 2018 to 2020? Again? They looked back upon those years with nostalgia, but they did not want to relive it! 

'We had god awful fashion choices back then. You mean i might be surrounded by people wearing galaxy hoodies, or god forbid I might actually have to wear one if Yuji owns one and I take control for whatever reason. God, things that seem really cool in the past, er, right now are just cringe to me now, like dabbing. And Fortnite dances." They think with horror. 

"It's a meme! " Yuji says, smiling. However, they were committed to the bit. "What- These make no sense. I do not understand."

Yuji laughs. 

They continue watching memes for the next two hours or so. 

It is simultaneously the worst and best two hours of their new life. 

. 

. 

. 

They were watching more anime, this time, One piece, as Yuji apparently never watched it before. 

 ( "It's just too long for me, it's like what, a thousand episodes?" With that, They introduced Yuji to One Pace, by using Yuji's phone's voice search and 'mispronouncing' One Piece.) 

Yuji's eyes flickered away from the screen. "Hey, can you tell me more about that story? The one with demons? How did they evolve to resist sunlight?"

Huh, did Yuji want spoilers on Demon Slayer? did he get spoiled online that Nezuko overcame the sun or something? 

"To be honest, I don't remember." They said truthfully. "Ah, it's okay then." Yuji accepted their answer. 

! "Oh, did I tell you about this story yet?" Have they told Yuji about this anime yet? 

Death Note. They rather liked the anime, and wanted to introduce it to Yuji, if he hasn't already watched it. 

"Hm? Tell me what?"

"There was this guy, Light Yagami. Basically, he hated criminals. He gets the power to kill criminals with only their name and face." There! They've said the plot of death note, but rather vaguely if Yuji hasn't watched the show. 

Was it just them, or was Yuji slightly paler? This happened last time too. Weird. 

"What was the name of their power?" Yuji asks. 

"Hm? Oh, Death Note." Yuji doesn't seem to recognize it, so they assume he hasn't watched it yet. 

"Death note? Why?" Uhhh, how to explain without spoilers? 

" He needs to use special paper as a medium to use those powers, he notes down their name on the paper. " The notebook was the power, but that would mean explaining shinigamis, and they feel Yuji should know about Ryuk without spoilers. 

"Is there.. any drawbacks to his power?"  

Er, what to say.. ah! " He kind of,loses his soul? Oh, and if he gets caught by someone who doesn't have the same power as him, he'll die."

"What? There were multiple people that could use that technique?"

"Yes, he was able to share the ability with others. This was rather risky, seeing as the government was after him for killing thousands."

. 

. 

. 

Seriously. The Heian era was crazy! First, Curses eating people, and then some guy playing judge, jury, and executioner on criminals with a cursed technique using paper! He loses his soul in exchange, too! Multiple people could use that technique! 

How did people live in the Heian era? There must have been so much cursed energy due to fear! 

'Sukuna lived through all of that?'  Yuji thought worriedly. It must have been hard for them. 

'Ill make some of the 'so' he was talking about next time. He might be a bit homesick, after all, this is his home, but it's become unrecognizable to him. It might be nice to have a reminder of home.' Yuji decided. 

'Ill make some for his birthday! Or any dish from the Heian era.'

'Wait, when is his birthday?'

With that, Yuji also decided to find out when Sukuna's birthday was. 

Chapter Text

The past week or so went by like a breeze. They and Yuji fell into a routine, consisting of waking up (it'd be rather concerning if they didn't), eating (Their personal favorite part of the routine), studying, 

( "Sukuna, do you understand how to solve this??" Yuji whispered while glaring at the math problem, like if he looked at it hard enough the paper would magically solve itself.

Yes, they did know how to solve this problem. However.. The bit™ comes first. "Let me see.." They say, willing their eyes, the ones below Yuji's, to open. 

... "What am I looking at??" They say in faux confusion and shock. 

"A math problem." Yuji says sadly. 

"Where are the numbers, then? Why are there letters? There aren't letters in Math?"

Yuji let out a sound of pity, for both of them. "A lot of things have changed in a thousand years, and this, is one of them.") 

Sleeping, well, one of them slept. The other trained. Speaking of training, they should probably start teaching Yuji how to use cursed energy now. When was the detention center arc again? Oh well. 

Wake up, eat, study, sleep(or train). It was a pretty good routine, if they do say so themselves. 

Slight grogginess entered their senses, ah, Yuji was waking up.

" Good morning, Yuji." They greet him. "Morn'g Zhen' " He greets with a yawn. 

They sigh. "I told you doing karaoke all night was a bad idea. What if you have a mission today?" The detention center arc was probably near. 

Yuji physically couldn't, but if he could, they knew he'd be sending him a look or a side eye. "Hey, you enjoyed it too!" He accused. 

"You also sang, the only reason you arent tired is because you're a curse who doesn't have the same physiological needs as humans! " he continued. 

Well, that's true, but like all parents say, Do as I Say, Not as I Do! 

"That's exactly why it was a bad idea, it's firm for me since I dont really need to sleep, but you do." They chided. 

Okay, being honest, it really was fun.

( Gojo ended up singing despacito, despite Megumi's annoyance. Yuji and Nobara sang along with him, to Megumi's vexation

'These three are the people I'm going to be with, likely for the rest of my time at this school, or even past that. That is, of course, if we don't die.' Fushiguro thought exasperatedly. 

... 

On Nobara's turn, she sang 'God is a Woman' by Ariana Grande, with Gojo cheering her on. Damn girl! Those high notes were insane. 

When it was Yuji's time to shine, he sang 'This Girl is on Fire', of course, as a reference to Katniss Everdeen, and therefore Jennifer Lawrence. 

Seriously, Yuji??? 

Originally, Megumi wasn't going to sing, however, after being forced  ahem.. convinced to sing, he ended up singing 'Sugar We’re Going Down by Fall Out Boys.'

Megumi actually had a pretty good singing voice. Damn. 

Nobara was slightly dissapointed at the lack of teasing material, but she did enjoy his singing ( not that she'd ever admit that to his face) 

It was then, Yuji called out to them. "Hey, Sukuna?"

"Mm?" They made a sound of surprise, not having expected Yuji to talk to them. 

"Everyone but you has had a turn, do you want to join karaoke?"

"Yeah, come on! Join us, lets hear it." Nobara joined in. "Is the King of Curses' singing voice as fearsome as his legend? Why don't we find out? " Gojo teasingly said, also joining in. 

Alas, Megumi, the voice of logic, who remembers that Sukuna is in fact the King of Curses and that annoying him was definitely a very bad idea, decided to step in. 

"It's rather late. We should finish now, we might get a mission tomorrow." He said. 

All three of them (Nobara, Yuji, Gojo) booed him, causing his lips to turn into a thin line and his eyes showing clear irritation. 

So, do you want to?" Yuji asks. Mm, there's no harm in doing a bit of Karaoke, why not? 

"Why not. I suppose I can indulge you this once." They knew what song they were going to sing, the songs has been stuck in their head for days. However, the problem was, if (again, the world doesn't go to shit, and) Kpop Demon Hunters will be produced here, they'll question how I knew the song before it was released. 

It was very good that they had a translator cheat, then. 

And so, they formed a mouth on Yuji's cheek, Yuji put the mic near their mouth, and they started singing Take down in ancient Japanese. 

"Takedown, takedown, Takedown, down, down, down (It's a takedown). So sweet, so easy on the eyes, but hideous on the inside! " They said with passion, finally, they can get rid of the ear worm! 

"Whole life spreading lies, but you can't hide, baby, nice try. I'm 'bout to switch up these vibes, I finally opened my eyes, It's time to kick you straight back into the night!" They continued, despite the confused look everyone was giving them as they didn't understand the lyrics. 

"Cause I see your real face, and it's ugly as sin.Time to put you in your place, 'cause you're rotten within!" Ooh, it was nearly their favorite part. 

"When your patterns start to show,It makes the hatrеd wanna grow outta my veins. I don't think you're ready for the takedown,Break you into pieces in a world of pain 'cause you're all the same! " 

"Yeah, it's a takedown! A demon with no feelings, don't deserve to live, it's so obvious, oh~! " They finished singing, happy to finally be able to sing the song out loud so they can get over their ear worm. 

That was amazing!" Yuji clapped. "But what's the meaning of the song? It sounds like the language you spoke to me on the first day of the month." 

"It's because I sang it in the Japanese of my time. As for the meaning of the song.." They trailed off. How were they going to explain this? They guess the vague truth would be fine.

"Mm.. It is a song against Demons." They say. Vague, but the truth. 

Yuji pauses. "Demons? Like the ones you told me about?" Oh, Yuji got it right! The song is for a fictional show like Demon Slayer. 

"Indeed."

"What's this image hearing about Demons?" Gojo butted in. "Gojo-Sensei!" Yuji exclaimed. 

Yuji then explained the plot of Demon Slayer, or at least, the spoiler-free version they told Yuji. 

"So, in the Heian era, there were Demons. They ate people, basically. Um, they were weak to sunlight and burnt when in direct contact to it."

"Oh?" There was a tone of recognition in Gojo's voice. Huh, did he watch the anime? "So, how did the 'Demons' overcome the sun?" Was that just a really popular and unavoidable spoiler in this world? 

"Mm, I don't know. I tried asking Sukuna but he doesnt know either." 

A flash of realization appeared in Yuji's eyes "Oh! And there was this guy, uh, what's his name again? Light Yagami? He had this power to kill people by writing their names and knowing their faces." Why was Gojo a little stiff? Whatever. Death Note probably isn't as popular in this world than in my original one, what a shame. They liked the story. 

"Seriously?" Nobara huffed. "The guy was just playing judge, jury, and executioner?" Oh, if Nobara didn't like Light now imagine what she'll think of him when she watches how he treats Misa and Takada. 

"Did he get defeated?" Fushiguro questioned. "Probably?" Yuji says with uncertainty. "Sukuna said that to defeat him, someone had to find out how their power works, and they shouldnt have that power either. " 

"Multiple people can have that technique? Is it an inherited technique?" Fushiguro asked. Oh, did Fushiguro think the Death Note was like the Kekkei Genkai in Naruto? 

"No, apparently he could share his technique?" 

"Share it? That's possible?" Why wouldn't it be? Does Kugisaki also think it's from Naruto or something? Is Death Note really not that popular here? 

Gojo mumbled something, but they and Yuji couldn't hear. Eh, it's probably nothing important. They were only talking about anime, after all.) 

"Oh, then since you don't really have to eat either, I don't have to make you breakfast." Yuji joked.. Hopefully. 

But just in case, they took back their words. "I apologize. I now realize my words and actions do not line up, and I was being hypocritical. I should not speak on this matter, forgive me. "

Yuji smiles, and laughs slightly. " Let me get prepared, then let's go get milk." Eh..? Were they actually in an AU instead of Canon Jujutsu Kaisen? Was this a runaway! Yuji Jujutsu Kaisen AU? I mean, they were all for it, but it was rather unexpected, and honestly a little out of character for Yuji?

"I don't know how to make 'so' yet, though. So you'll have to teach me." Yuji continued.

Ohh.. 

. 

. 

. 

"So, I only have to stir milk while it boils to make so? Are you sure there's no other ingredients?" Yuji asks incredulously. 

"I am sure, yes." They confirm. 

Yuji pours the two liters of milk into the pot, on high heat, and begins stirring. 

. 

. 

. 

Wow. The room smelled amazing. It was like a batch of cookies were just freshly baked. 

Yuji had been stirring for around, 10 minutes or so? The consistency of the milk was starting to change. 

. 

. 

. 

Yuji had been stirring for around quarter to an hour, and the consistency of the milk was rather thick now. Man, was this time consuming! 

. 

. 

. 

After an hour of stirring, the milk was no longer liquid, more reminiscent of cookie dough. He was done! All that was left was to put it in the fridge to harden. 

. 

. 

. 

It was done. The so had hardened enough to be cut into cubes. Yuji turned to taste one, hoping the taste was worth the effort. (Of course, even if it wasnt, it'd be fine. Curiosity on what a thousand year old dish tasted like was only part of the reason, the main reason was because Yuji wanted to give Sukuna, Zenin, a reminder of their home since it's changed so much. That alone was worth the effort.) 

..It was delicious. Yuji could see why exactly it was popular back in the Heian era. The so had a crisp texture at the top, and the taste was like a sweet cheese. 

"It's pretty good, right? Does it taste like what you remember?" Yuji asked Zenin. 

For a moment, Zenin didn't respond, and there was silence. It was over the next moment, and Yuji was hit with a rush of familiar-happy-and.. a hint of sadness? Why- ah. Everything Sukuna has ever known — has changed. He must have homesickness for a place he'll never be able to return to, yet that place still exists, just unidentifiable. 

Yuji couldn't imagine what he must be feeling right now. 

. 

. 

. 

It was delicious, it really was. They didn't doubt Yuji's cooking at all. 

So, why were they feeling like this? 

They wanted to cry. Why? It was just a dessert. Why did it evoke such, such feelings? 

Such feelings, like familiarity. There was no reason for it to feel familiar, to feel nostalgic, to feel like home.

Why did it feel like home? 

It.. must be a flavor they were familiar with in their past life, what food was it from? They don't remember. They knew they were fond of cheese, aside from liking its taste, there was a reason for them looking at it so favorably. 

Was it a comfort food? Was it one of their loved ones specialty dishes? Was it something convenient to make, and it grew on them? 

They could not remember. 

They wish they did. 

"Hey." Yuji makes them regain their senses, having lost themself in their thoughts, their grief. 

"I know how it feels to lose something, so I know how hard it is. I can't imagine what I'd feel I if lost everything I knew. " He says, in a comforting voice. 

"I know nothing can replace your home, and I'm sorry you lost it. But, how about making some new memories with us? What do you feel about that? We can do some of the traditions and stuff from your time! "

That, that sounds nice, really. 

They wanted to make memories, good ones, in this new world. They didn't want to resent this world, on the crime of not being the world they were originally from. 

They believed they were grieving, really. Grieving in silence, they thought. What they were really doing, was distracting themselves with anything and everything to stop themself from thinking. Thinking about the fact they could never return hadn't really sunk in, and when it did, they did their best to ignore it as best as they could. They realize this, now. 

They had really taken their words of ' not letting their grief hinder their new life' too seriously, huh? 

Not anymore. They will let themselves grieve, for real this time. They will have to accept they would never be able to go back to their old world, without using their new world as a distraction. 

They smile, shakily, not that Yuji would see it, but it is a genuine smile. " I would like that. " They say. 

Yuji smiles, and it stabilizes their own smile. "Alright, then!"

. 

. 

. 

Megumi was having the most unusual week of his life. Even more unusual than the normal-unusual sorcerers live through. 

First, when Itadori ate Sukuna's finger, he prepared to have to write a casualty report. 

When The King of Curses incarnated, he felt fear like no other, and attempted to summon Mahoraga. 

And then it turned out that Itadori was still alive, against all odds. 

And then, despite Gojo-Sensei challenging him directly, Sukuna did not fight him, despite all records pointing to him jumping at the chance for a fight against anyone foolish enough to challenge him, he'd thought he'd be even more eager, seeing as it had been over a thousand years since the curse had fought anyone, had a taste of bloodshed. 

But no. 

Sukuna was.. peaceful, as strange it was to describe the King of Curses that. No, it was more appropriate to say 'clever'. Sukuna was clever, he knew that at a fraction of his power, he wouldn't be able to defeat Gojo-Sensei, who he identified as a six eyes and limitless holder. 

Clever curses were much, much worse than curses who were brutes. 

. 

. 

. 

“Now, I have a question for you. What should we do with him?” Gojo-sensei had asked.

Megumi knew what his answer would be. It wasn't logical, it was uncertain if Sukuna would be able to overpower Itadori in the future, if he did, Sukuna might go on a rampage, killing thousands. A single life was not worth a thousand more, choosing to save Itadori would be a selfish decision. 

And yet.. “Even if he is a vessel.. Jujutsu regulations demand Itadori be executed. However.. I don't want to let him die.”  He had responded. 

Megumi did not want Itadori Yuji to die. He had only known him for a short period of time, but he knew Itadori was a good person, like Tsumiki. 

And a good person's life should not be wasted. 

Megumi did not know if he'd come to regret choosing to save Itadori, but he hoped that day would never come to pass. 

. 

. 

. 

They, coming from the kitchen, reached the hallway where their rooms were. 

Yuji was in front of Fushiguro's door, holding the plate of so. 

"Yo, Fushiguro!" He said, knocking on his door, holding the plate with one hand. 

A few seconds later, the door opened, revealing one Fushiguro Megumi. 

"Itadori? What do you want?"

Yuji held the plate near Fushiguro's face. "Do you want to try some? It's a dish called so."

".. sō? It does seem like.. something" Fushiguro said with a weird expression on his face. 

"Is it edible?" Fushiguro asked. "No side effects?" He added on. 

"..? Yes?" It looked like Fushiguro didn't believe him. 

creak! 

It was the sound of a door opening. Both of them looked towards the source of the sound. 

"Oh, Kugisaki! Do you want to try some?" he offered

"Hah? Try what?" He pointed at the plate of so. "Who made it?"

"Oh, I did." With this new information, Kugisaki looked increasingly more concerned than she was a few seconds ago. " Does it harm the health?"

"What? No! I can cook just fine!" He said, defending himself. This made Kugisaki look at him incredulously. She walked closer to Fushiguro and Yuji to inspect the dish. 

"What is this?"

"Oh, it's a dish called so. It was a popular dessert back in the Heian era, Sukuna told me about it." He explained. It had the opposite effect, though. 

Kugisaki backed away slightly, looking even more doubtful."Ive heard of them using weird ingredients or methods in the past for cooking. Whats in that, Itadori?"

"Theres nothing strange in it, I swear. I only boiled some milk and stirred it for an hour."

"For real?" She asks to confirm, and Yuji confirmed. 

Kugisaki and Fushiguro shared a look, a message between them. 

They get nearer to Yuji, grabbing one of the so's on the plate, bracing themselves like they're on death row preparing to be executed. 

They take a bite, and.. 

"Oh, this is actually pretty good." Kugisaki compliments, and Fushiguro nods slightly. 

"See? I told you guys it'd be good!"

. 

. 

. 

They ended up watching anime, somehow. They decided on watching Naruto, for Fushiguro committed the crime of having never watched it before. 

("Fushiguro, even Sukuna has watched Naruto, come on!") 

To their surprise, Megumi's favorite character ended up being Hinata. 

("Hinata? Really? I thought you'd like Sasuke more, with him being so similar to you and all." Kugisaki commented. 

"She reminds me of someone." Is all he gave as an explanation.) 

In Yuji's opinion, the highlight of their hangout was the Naruto and Sasuke VS Zabuza scene. 

("It appears Sasuke has.. yeeted Naruto." Sukuna says, seriously. 

Kugisaki and Fushiguro's brains bluescreened. 

"Okay, it was already weird enough for the King of Curses to be watching anime with us, and now he's using slangs? Itadori, what are you teaching this fossil?" 

"... I had assumed the term 'yeet' was used when one threw something. Was I wrong in my assumptions?" Sukuna said, like a clueless old person without a lot of knowledge of the modern world.. Which actually perfectly described him.

"Dont worry,you used it correctly." Yuji assures him. "Oh, then, that's lit." 

Kugisaki and Fushiguro lost even more brain cells.) 

They ended up looking at a few memes after watching Naruto, and one of them even made Fushiguro let out a slight chuckle! 

Fushiguro! Slight chuckle! 

It was one of Yuji's proudest achievements. 

Yuji was having a good time here at Tokyo Jujutsu High. He feels as though the people he's met here are people he's going to be with for a long time. 

It felt like nothing could go wrong.

~~~~~~

Moments before disaster lmfaoo

Chapter Text

After yesterday's hangout with Fushiguro and Kugisaki, they ended up starting Yuji's cursed energy training, at long last.

(“Okay, so, you know of our soulbond, yes? Do you recall how you were able to transmit your mental image of a Television to me? Using cursed energy is quite similar to that. In fact, when you projected that image to me, you used cursed energy. After all, cursed energy is the manifestation of negative human emotions like fear, anger, grief, and sadness. To use cursed energy, you have to direct it outwards, not inwards, like you did with our soulbond.” They explained.

“.. Huh?”

“ Ah.. I apologize, I got carried away. I'll try to explain it better, it's a little hard to put into words.”

“Remember what you did with our soul-bond? You focused on your feelings, right? Do that again, instead, this time, imagine spreading those evenly, across your body. Then, gather that energy, all in one spot, whether it be your arms, or legs, and attempt to attack.”

Yuji blinks. “ Sorry.. I still don't get it.” he said guiltily.

“Mm..” They made a sound. “Then, let us take a different approach. You may require a different method of teaching, perhaps a more demonstrative and.. hands on approach will do you good.”

“How, though? It's not like we can meet physically-” Yuji cuts himself off. “Oh, are you going to bring me to your domain, like last time?” He questioned.

“Indeed. However, the issue is, If I was the one who brought you into my domain, I do not recall how I managed to do so. Additionally, it may have been you, who brought yourself into my domain.”

“Oh, that would be pretty bad too. I don't know what I did to pop up in your domain.” Yuji scratched his head.

“Say, Yuji.” They call for his attention. “Before you entered my domain, what was the last thing you were thinking of?”

“What I was thinking of? Mm.. Oh, I was thinking about how I could taste what you eat, even though I wasn't in control of my body.”

“So, your last conscious thought was of me, correct?”

“Yeah?” Yuji wondered what this was leading up to.

“I believe that a requisite for you to be able to enter my domain, is that we must both be consciously thinking of each other, and then you must fall unconscious. Hm. Perhaps, if the opposite were to occur, you would bring me to your innate domain.”

“Wait, I have a domain too?” Yuji was surprised.

“Yes, every living being does. Think of it as your mindscape, it is the ‘physical’ manifestation of one's soul and mind.”

‘The physical manifestation of one's soul and mind? What would red mean, then? Sukuna's entire domain was red, from its sky to the liquid.’ Yuji pondered, just as Yuji was about to ask, Sukuna continued.

“I suggest we try my hypothesis, who knows. It may work.” Yuji agreed, and he started preparing to go to sleep.

“If all goes well, then I'll see you in my domain, Yuji. Goodnight.” Sukuna said.

.
.
.
As always, as soon as Yuji fell asleep, they came back to their domain. What did they mean by ‘coming back?’ If they chose to, then they could see what Yuji sees. It was kinda like using binoculars, really. When they don't want to anymore, they get thrust back into the domain.

Speaking of the domain, this had been a thought they've had for awhile, since the day they came to this world.

Could they change their innate domain? They didn't really like the current appearance of their domain. Way too much red. (Not that they didn't like red, of course. It just gets to a point.)

‘Ogkuna was such an edgelord. Eugh.’ They thought in distaste.

Blood lake? Mountain of skulls ? How much more edgy can it be?

They knew that they definitely didn't want their domain to look like this anymore, but what did they want it to look like?

They closed their eyes, thinking,and what came to mind was a cozy, homely room. A bookshelf, filled to the brim with books of different sizes next to the couch, on it, a tattered, well cherished pillow saying “ we love you, —!” The stain on it completely covered the name. In front of the couch was a coffee table, a picture with a frame above it, and next to it, a small, potted plant.

Oh.

That, that must have been their living room in their past life. A pang of sadness and fondness hit them at the same time. They couldn't remember the story behind the stain on the pillow, but the feelings it evoked suggested a rather funny story, one they looked fondly of.

..It was nice. The room they mean, and the fact that they (thankfully) didn't have a taste as awful as Ogkuna's.

They smiled, happy at being able to remember the room, and opened their eyes..

To see a living room. As in, the one they were just imagining in their head. (Not that they were complaining. This was a welcome set of events.)

Quickly, they turned their head toward the picture frame, hoping that a picture was there.

…

They really should have expected it, but the disappointment still hit them hard. They sigh, looking away from the picture frame, but then, at the corner of their eyes, they spotted something.

‘Huh?’ They went closer to inspect the picture frame. On it, was written a message.

‘Hey, here's a picture we took at the celebration when we moved in, it felt like it only happened yesterday, right?
-Yuzu’

Yuzu. Yuzu. Yuzu. The name repeated over and over again in their mind.

They finally had a name. They finally remembered something of them, even if it was just the bare minimum.

They stare at the name written on the frame, then thinked back on the flashback they had when Yuji made that pasta.

[They scoff. Who? " What am I, the all-knowing chef? Do you think I know the history of all cuisine ever?" The person earlier smiled sheepishly.

"Lucky for you, I do know. Demon Slayer's set in the Heian era, and the pasta we're familiar with wasn't really a thing until the 12th century.”]

Were they their chef friend from their flashback? Maybe Yuzu was a nickname. Or it became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

They smiled, holding on to the picture frame for a few more moments before setting it down on the table once more.

‘Huh, did it not work? Where's Yuji-’ they cut themself off, realizing.

‘Oh shoot! I forgot why I came here!’ They thought. ‘Oops! I hope it'll still work, I don't know how much time passed while I was reminiscing.’

Right on cue, something was falling from the sky.. Yuji!

‘What if he hits something?!’ They thought worriedly

They scramble, trying to catch Yuji before he gets injured, but thankfully, he somehow lands on the couch.

Phew!

They approach Yuji’s unconscious body, standing in front of him. Like before, Yuji's eyes open.

“ Zenin!” he whooped, and they waved back. Yuji blinked, looking around the room. “ I remember this place being a lot more red.”

“Renovations took place. I was getting kind of sick of the red. ” they half-joked.

“Speaking of the red, was there any reason why it was so red when I first came here?” Yuji asked.

“ No clue. When you ate my finger, and I was incarnated, I awoke to that place.” Technically the truth?

“Oh.” Yuji walked to the bookshelf, and pulled out a book. He looked at the cover in confusion.“Is this ancient Japanese? I can't understand the title.”

“Hm? Let me see.” Curiously, they move closer to Yuji, taking the book from his hands.

Their brain short circuited. In their hands, was a (not as much) familiar (as it should be) book. Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint.

ORV doesn't have an ancient Japanese translation?????

Oh, maybe since OGkuna didn't know english, it was automatically translated to a language he knew. That made sense.

“So, what does it say?” Yuji questioned.

“Hm.. How do I translate this to the Japanese of this era, again? Ah, it is called ‘Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint’.”

“Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint?” Yuji repeated, and they nodded.

“As you can tell, it is a story about a reader. That one reader.” They smile fondly, looking at the book again. “Perhaps I can read parts of this story to you one day. Be warned, though. This is a rather long novel.”

They put the book back on the shelf, and looked back at Yuji. “ For now, though, let us do what we are here to accomplish.”

“Right, training!” Yuji remembered. “So, how are you going to train me?” He asked.

Wordlessly, they grabbed a book from the shelf. (Not ORV, obviously. They would never do that to the sacred texts.) There was no title on the cover, but just to be sure, they skimmed over the book, checking to see its contents. Fortunately, there were none.

“The pages are blank?” Yuji questioned in curiosity. They nod, “My memory regarding the books of my time is not very reliable, so the selection of books is rather limited.” More like their memory in general wasn't very reliable.

“Tonight, your training will be dodgeball, but with these books. And you won't be dodging them, but punching them, with cursed energy.”

Yuji blinks. “ Are you training me or is this an excuse to throw books at me?”

They snort. “Child, I do not need an excuse to throw books at you. If I wanted to, I would. I am not going to throw books at you for fun, this is for your training. ”

Yuji looked doubtfully at them, (Hey! They were telling the truth, honest!) and then warily at the book they were holding.

“Is it really going to be okay if I punch it? It'll break if I punch it normally, I don't know what will happen if I punch it with cursed energy.” He said.

They remember the day when they met Nobara ; Yup. The book would totally break if Yuji punched it. Maybe even disintegrate.

Seriously, who can just casually punch through concrete???

(No, Yuji. It did not matter if it wasn't reinforced!)

They had a solution, though. “Trust me.” They smiled, and Yuji nodded.

“This won't hurt.” They assure. Probably, they think. Yuji looks at them in confusion, that is, until they throw the book at him.

Yuji punches it on instinct, and immediately regrets it. “Cold, cold cold!” He exclaims, caressing and breathing on his hand to warm it up. Huh, cold? The book was cold? “Did you put that book in the freezer or something?” He said in slight annoyance.

“No, I simply imbued it with my cursed energy. I was not aware that it produced a frosty sensation for others.”

Yuji's eyes lit up. “ You infused your cursed energy into the book? Like Slaughter Demon?”

They nodded. “Yes, I did it to reinforce the book against your attack. As you can see, the book has not been broken beyond repair.” Yuji looks at where the book was, and huh, it really wasn't broken. Not even a dent!

“I'm going to keep throwing books with my cursed energy, until you manage to attack with cursed energy, okay? Keep going until you can hit this book,” They point at the book on the floor, moving closer to the book and Yuji, then sliding it away with their feet. “Your goal is to strike it with your cursed energy, give me all you’ve got, Yuji.” They moved back to their starting position,behind the book they just sent sliding. Yuji tilted his head slightly sidewards, grinning in determination, a clear sign of confirmation.

“Are you ready?” They asked, their hand resting on the books on the shelf, ready to send them falling down, and Yuji gave them a thumbs up. “Okay, go!” They said, and the books fell down with a thump.

Instantly, they bent down to in order to have easier access to the books, and Yuji came running towards them.

Holy crap he's fast! Are we sure he's not taking anything to be this fast and this strong??

They threw a book at him, which he punched, but winced at the icy feeling, still unused to the sensation. Nonetheless, it did not deter Yuji.

He rushed at them, but they threw a book at his legs, causing him to lose his balance, and then aimed a book at his eyes, making Yuji flinch.

“Yuji, curses will always use tricks like these! They don't fight fair, so be prepared!” They yelled, as they threw another book at him.

“Got it!” He said, punching the book away, and continued moving.

Finally, Yuji reached the book, and struck down on it, hard.

Nothing happened. “Ah..” Yuji said in disappointment.

“Do not worry, it is normal for you to not be able to do it on the first try.” They comforted him. “And, other than usage of cursed energy, there is something else you have to work on.” They continued.

“Huh?”

“You have great intuition, which is good for battle, however, you are a little slow in your reaction time, which is not ideal. I assume that you do not get yourself into fights often?”

“No, I wasn't really the type.” 

“That does make sense, I am unable to see you getting into many fights, without good reason. You could've dodged some of my throws instead of hitting them, in a real clash, this would be a waste of cursed energy, and you would become more prone to cursed energy depletion, which would be a death sentence for you. We'll have to work on that. ”

“ Do you wish to try again? We may continue tomorrow if you'd like.” They offered. Yuji shakes his head. “Nah,I'm still good to go. Though, I'll take up your offer on training tomorrow.”

“Very well then.” They agree. “If you're ready?” They ask for confirmation, which Yuji gave. 

“As much as I can be.” He said, getting into position. “Go!” They exclaimed, signaling the start of their training again. 

They throw a book at Yuji'd head, however, he tilts his head to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack, and continues on to his destination. 

Next, they slid a book to Yuji's legs, while they tossed a book at his hands, to which he slapped away, now somewhat used to the feeling of the cold from the books. At the same time, Yuji jumped to dodge the book coming for his legs. Wow, Yuji was a pretty fast learner. 

Yuji then reached the book, smacking it. Again, it had no effect. 

“Hey, you reached it faster than you did the previous time. Be proud of that.” They praised him. “Maybe third time's the charm, as they say?”

“Maybe third time's the charm.” Yuji repeated, a confirmation to continue. 

They flung a book at Yuji, but he, having expected this, redirected it back to them, making them adjust their position to avoid it, and therefore losing their momentum. 

“Nice one!” They called out. “Thanks!” they received in turn, as Yuji ran to them. 

They once again slid a book towards Yuji, but instead of jumping to evade it, he used the book to slide towards them. Yuji quickly recovered, dashing to the goal, and punching it. 

He didn't expect it to, so that's probably why it worked. 

The book shattered into pieces, flying across the room, and so did their floor, actually. 

“Aha..” Yuji smiles sheepishly. “Sorry for breaking your floor.”

But they were not mad, they were sporting a rather large smile, actually. “Congratulations on using cursed energy for the first time, Yuji.” They clapped, and Yuji smiled at them. 

“Oh, and don't worry about the floor, since it's part of my domain, it'll be fixed in a few hours or so. There won't be any lasting damage.” They waved the destruction of their floor off. 

“Does it also fix messes? Because..” Yuji trailed off, and their eyes both scanned the room. 

It was a complete mess. Books were scattered everywhere, in every direction. Yikes. 

“... No. I'll.. worry about it later. Let's go watch some animes, I want to go, hm, what was that term you said? Oh yes, I wish to chill.” Yuji was maybe regretting introducing Sukuna to modern slang. It didn't feel right hearing it from a thousand year old being.

“Let's continue your training later, it'll be easier for you now since you’ve managed to use cursed energy for the first time. If all goes well, let's celebrate tomorrow.” They said, and they ended up watching a few episodes before continuing their training.) 

. 

. 

. 

They trained for a few more hours, so far, Yuji was able to land a punch with cursed energy, maybe every 4 or so hits. Which was good progress! They also managed to teach Yuji on how to coat his body with cursed energy, making his body more durable and stronger. (Not that Yuji needed any more physical strength,seriously.) At this rate, by the time the Detention Center arc comes, Yuji was definitely going to be prepared! 

Unfortunately,in the end they had to postpone the celebration because they were assigned a mission. They were supposed to evacuate inmates, without engaging with a curse. 

It was supposed to be easy. No harm or injury was supposed to come to them, seeing as it was an evacuation mission. 

It was fine. Yuji's been assigned to a few missions already. So what if Gojo's not there? That didn't mean anything. Gojo was a powerful sorcerer — he got sent on missions all the time. It's not weird for him to be on a mission. 

(Why did they feel so uneasy? It made no sense. This mission didn't have any combat, so there was no reason to be worried. Nothing wrong is going to happen. ) 

. 

. 

. 

“Our windows identified the curse womb three hours ago. Once ninety percent were successfully evacuated, they made the call to seal off the center. Citizens within a 500 meter radius have been evacuated as well.” Ijichi informs them. 

“Windows? Are they people who are in between the world of sorcery and non-sorcery?” Yuji repeats the words Sukuna said to him, one of the first few when Yuji met him officially. 

“Correct, they are people who are able to see curses, but are unable to use cursed energy, let's continue.” Ijichi says. 

“Detainee Block 2, at present, five detainees remain with the cursed womb. If this cursed womb is the type that metamorphoses, we predict it will become a special grade cursed spirit.” Their chest tightened when they heard this, and they convinced themselves it was going to be okay. There was no way they were going to encounter one so early on. 

“This current case, is abnormal and extremely urgent. Do not fight under any circumstances. If you are to encounter a special grade, your options are to run or die. Please listen to your fears, remember that your mission is to strictly verify and rescue the survivors.”

Their stomach churned. The apprehension in their gut grew deeper. 

It was fine. It was going to be fine. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

+ bloopers lmfao (apparently impregnate can be a synonym for imbue) 

Chapter Text

There was a woman, asking for her son's whereabouts. (Is Tadashi.. my son, Tadashi, alright..?)

“Please step aside. There's a possibility that someone has spread poisonous gas throughout the center.” Ijichi says, and the woman, the mother, lets out a shaky breath. “We cannot share any more details at the time.”

“No…” she says, holding her head in her hands, and collapsing to the floor. “Why, why is this happening?” She cried.

Jesus, Ijichi. Couldn't you have picked a less worrying excuse? They understand that they need to keep sorcery a secret, but telling someone that poisonous gas has spread, especially to a worried mother, was a bad idea. Especially when said mother's son could be in danger.

Yuji clutches his fist at the sight of the woman crying. “Fushiguro, Kugisaki, Sukuna. We gotta save them!”

“Of course we are.” She says in turn, Fushiguro only let out a ‘hm,’ but Yuji takes it as agreement as well.

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.
.

They walk closer to the entrance of the prison, as Ijichi tells them to be careful from behind, putting up his veil.

“Emerge from darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure.” He says, and suddenly their vision is now tinted black.

So! Cool! They wanted to learn how to do that, they didn't know what the function of veil was, but it was cool. Probably to hide them, considering the meaning of the word ‘veil’.

“Huh? Sukuna, what did you notice- woah, it's becoming night!” Yuji says, just as awestruck as they were.

“It's Veil. There's a residential area nearby, so the barrier conceals us from the outside world.” Fushiguro explains. They were correct, then!

“Incredible!” Yuji exclaims, while Kugisaki not-exactly mutters. “Ignorant.”

Fushiguro does a weird hand sign, like one you'd find in Naruto, what is he-

“Divine dogs!” He calls, summoning a white dog. Oh right! Ten Shadows! They forgot about that. “He'll let us know if the curse gets close.”

“Oh, I see.” Yuji says, crouching down to touch the shikigami. “Good boy, good boy, we're counting on you, okay?” He cooed, rubbing the dog's head.

Hold on, wasn't the dog important in the Detention Center arc? They're pretty sure it died, unfortunately, but the dog was used for.. something. It's not likely for there to be a special grade, but it's probably best to keep the dog alive, both for the detention center arc, and also just because they don't want the dog to die.

“Wait.” They interject, forming a mouth on Yuji's cheek. “Eh, Sukuna? What is it? ” Yuji calls out in confusion.

“Ten Shadows, dispell your shikigami. I will let you know if that curse is nearby.” They demand.

Immediately, Fushiguro looks at them with suspicion. Fair, if they were him, they'd be suspicious too.

“I think we should let the old guy do it.” Kugisaki defended them unexpectedly, though offhandedly, more like a suggestion.

“What?” Fushiguro looks at her in surprise. “If we do encounter a special grade, you'll need everything you can to live.” She said, then looked at Yuji.

“Besides, he gains something from this too.” Kugisaki jerked her thumb towards him. “This idiot dies, Sukuna dies too.” She explained.

Fushiguro very, very reluctantly dispells the dog shikigami. Yes!! With that, they unmanifested their mouth on Yuji's body.

“Let's go.” He says, a tad grumpily if they do say so themselves, entering the prison, Yuji and Nobara following suit.

All of them enter, and, huh?- the room they entered didn't look like a prison at all.

What was this place?

“Wait!” Fushiguro says, holding an arm out to prevent them getting further. They, Kugisaki and Yuji, made sounds of surprise, looking around.

“What is this ?” Kugisaki asks, and Yuji, equally as confused, points out “This is a two-story dorm, isn't it?”

“Okay, calm, calm down. It's a maisonette.” She rationalizes. But Fushiguro knew there was something else going on.

‘It's the deployment of an Innate domain due to cursed energy. It's my first time seeing one this large.’ He thinks, shit, it was definitely a special grade. Then he realizes.

“The door!” Fushiguro yells, looking backwards, towards the door.. which was not there anymore.

“The door’s gone!” Yuji exclaims.

“How?! We just came in through here, didn't we?!” She points at the location where the door was when they went in. Yuji nods, and the two start chanting “What should we do?”, like they already went insane.

Damn, these two match each other's freak so hard, and Fushiguro is their babysitter.

“Tsk. I should re-summon divine dogs.” Fushiguro says, readying to summon them again, but they stopped him.

“It'll be fine.” They assured. “That sorcerer you were with is still outside, no? I have memorized his cursed energy signature.”

“Ah, really?! Sukuna, amazing! You're the best!” Yuji praises, while Nobara says “That's handy.”

“You are both way too calm!” Fushiguro exclaimed irritatedly.

“Come on, Fushiguro!” Yuji smiles. “We'll be able to rescue people and ourselves,too.”

Fushiguro doesn't say anything to that, but continues walking. He pauses and looks at both of them. “Let's keep going.”

..They would bet money that those two were a popular ship in their old world.

.
.
.

While walking, Fushiguro suddenly pauses momentarily. Why?

They get their answer once Yuji sees it as well, god, they wish they didn't receive an answer.

In the corner, was a pile of bones, blood (human bones. human blood. God, that was someone, someone went through that-) and a person. Their hand didn't have their skin anymore, it was pure bone. His upper and lower half were separated, the lower region tossed carelessly to the side. For better, or for worse, (Definitely worse, there was no damn better in this situation.) They were unable to see any of their organs. Gone, or covered by all the blood. They didn't know which option was better.

They felt like they were going to be sick. Definitely. God, that happened to a person. If they had organs of their own, they would be vomiting everything, even their own bile right now.

Yuji rushed over to the only identifiable victim's body, and..

Scratch being sick. This was going to be in their dreams, forever.

“Atrocious.” Nobara comments.

“That makes three casualties, right?” Fushiguro counted.

“Okazaki Tadashi” the name tag said. It's the son of the woman outside. Shit.

“Is Tadashi.. my son, Tadashi, alright..?” They, both Yuji and them, recall what the woman said.

The sinking feeling in their stomach grew deeper, as dread settled in their body.

“.. Let's take this body back.” Yuji suggests.

“Huh?” Nobara let out a sound of confusion.

“It's that woman from earlier’s son.” Yuji explained. “But..” She continued, it would be detrimental to them to rescue civilians while carrying a body around, and detrimental if they needed to run from a curse.

“His face is still identifiable. His mother won't accept it if we tell her he's dead, but we don't have a body.” He continues, but Fushiguro grabs him from the hood.

“We have to find and verify two more. Leave that corpse behind.” Fushiguro says.

“Quit joking around! When we turned around, the way we got in here was gone!” Yuji exclaims frustratedly. “We won't be able to come back to it later!”

Fushiguro's grip on Yuji's hood grew tighter. “I didn't say to come back for it, I said to leave it behind!” He yells, just as frustrated, and it makes Yuji look at him in surprise.

“I.. have no intention of risking my life, to save someone I had no intention of saving in the first place!”

.
.
.

“I.. have no intention of risking my life, to save someone I had no intention of saving in the first place!” Fushiguro says.

No intention? No intention to save him? What did he mean by that? Yuji grabbed Fushiguro’s collar.

“No intention of saving him?! What do you mean?” He demanded.

“This is a Juvenile detention center, Jujutsu sorcerers are granted access to all information about the scene beforehand.”

“This Okazaki Tadashi.. hit a little girl on her way home from school while driving without a license.” Fushiguro revealed. “It was his second offense of driving without a license.”

Even then, nobody should have died like he did. Everybody should be given the chance to be buried properly.

What about his mother? What has she done, to not even be able to bury her son?

Fushiguro looks at him, directly in his eyes. “I know you're stuck on saving lots of people, and guiding them to proper deaths. But, what are you going to do when someone you saved kills someone else in the future?” He asks.

But..wasn't it the same way with Yuji?

He was going to be executed for the crime of being Sukuna, Zenin's vessel, before Gojo-sensei managed to delay his execution.

But, Fushiguro asked, asked Gojo-sensei to find a way to spare him, even though, at the time, they couldn't be sure Zenin wasn't going to rampage as soon as he got control over Yuji's body, (Which, is unbelievable now, but not as much when they first met.) Yuji could have ended up killing someone, though indirectly through Sukuna, yet Fushiguro still saved him, if this is what he believed in, then why?

(Yuji is aware. He might still kill people indirectly. There is no way to tell if Zenin will be able to take control completely in the future. And if that happens, the sheer power of Zenin's cursed energy will attract many curses, possibly leading to the death of others. It is not his fault, nor is it Zenin's, but he, they will still be the indirect cause of those deaths.

Yuji being alive right now was selfish. It can, and will, put others at risk. But.. Yuji thinks about his grandfather's last request again.

“You're a strong kid, so help others out.”

Yuji wanted to honor that last request, even if it was selfish.

It was human nature to be selfish.)

Yuji said exactly what was on his mind. “Then, why did you bother to save me?!” He yelled.

A now familiar sensation happened, his cheek tingling. “You two, enough. You have a mission to get done!” Zenin scolds them.

His tone slightly softer, he says. “I'm sorry, Yuji. It's not a good idea to drag a body with us. For one, if there are any survivors, they'll be scared if we carried a body. Second, and I hope, that it's only a hypothetical situation, if you are running from a special grade, Tadashi's body will only be dead weight and slow you down.” He explains, and Yuji's heart sinks, at being unable to give that woman even slight closure.

“But,” he continues. “That doesn't mean you have to leave without anything. Rip off his name tag from his shirt, or, if you have your phone, take a picture of him.” He offers.

Wordlessly, Yuji nods, and crouches down, grabbing the dead inmate's shirt, and ripping out the piece with the name tag.

“Are you two done? Finally.” Kugisaki says. “Sukuna’s right, you're both idiots. We have a mission to do! I can't believe a man who lived before Psychology existed is better at communicating than you both-”

“KUGISAKI, RUN!” Zenin yells, startling them all. Just as Kugisaki made the move to run, she fell into a black puddle.

“Kugi..saki?” Yuji calls out.

“Yuji, Fushiguro, run! It's a curse, likely a special grade. We'll find Kugisaki late-!” Zenin's distressed shout was cut short, as the special grade appeared in front of them.

Yuji and Fushiguro stood frozen in place, at the sight of the special grade.
Move. Move, move, move! What am I doing, move!

His grandfather's last request plays yet again in his mind.

Just as Yuji was about to unsheathe Slaughter Demon, Zenin yelled, no, screamed at him. “YUJI! Move, now!” On instinct, Yuji swerves downwards..

Crack! The walls behind Yuji now had a large dent. If that attack had struck Yuji..-

Fushiguro grabs him, and they roll to the side. The floor sustained heavy damage from the attack the cursed spirit did.

“Sukuna's right— Itadori, let's run and find Kugisaki later. We can't fight this.”

“Fushiguro, I can't escape after getting this close-” Yuji gets interrupted by another attack, destroying the floor even more.

The curse laughed. Mocking. Playful. Like a predator with its prey.

“Fushiguro, Fushiguro.. Fushiguro!” Yuji called out thrice, before he got any response. “Find Kugisaki and get out of here!”

“I'll keep the curse busy until you two are out. As soon as you're out, give me some kind of signal! Once you do, I'll switch with Sukuna. ” Yuji said.

Fushiguro looks at him like he's crazy, but Yuji can see a hint of concern. “ You won't be able to fight that, it's a special grade!”

Yuji knows. However,

“Look closer at it. It’s having fun. It's obviously toying with us.. I can at least buy us some time.”

“No!” Fushiguro objects. This was clearly a suicide mission-

“Fushiguro. Please.” Yuji smiled at him.

Fushiguro darts his eyes away from him. “.. Dont die.” He says, making a move to find Kugisaki.

.
.
.

They pushed that awful, awful, awful feeling enveloping their senses, body, mind away, interrupting Yuji and Fushiguro's argument.

They understood both sides. They wanted to bring the body of the prisoner back to his mother, but it just wasn't possible, too risky for them. Three lives were already taken, they would not let three more be added to that number.

But.. they could still give the mother something, right?

They play peacekeeper, and convince Yuji to rip off the name tag instead.

Nobara speaks, and they mustered up all their self control to not laugh. But then, their amusement very quickly turns to dread, as they felt something.

The feeling screamed ‘THEIRS! THEIRS, THEIRS THEIR-’

There was so much cursed energy. So, so much. More than any curse Yuji has faced so far. Their blood ran cold. This.. was a special grade.

“KUGISAKI, RUN!” They yell, but it was too late.

The dark, malicious hole swallowed her up, leaving empty space where one Kugisaki Nobara once was.

Shit, shit, shit! They were too caught up in Yuji and Fushiguro's argument that they didn't notice the special grade. Why didn't they notice the damn special grade?!

A prison, Gojo's absence,a special grade.. This was the detention center arc. They thought in terror.

Then, the cursed spirit attacked Yuji, and it would have been successful, if they didn't tell him to move. (God, what if they didn't notice it fast enough? What then?)

Yuji lost a hand in canon in the detention center arc, right? They thought.( If they didn't tell Yuji to move, would it play out like canon? Worse? His death? Their heart clenched at the idea of Yuji dying.) It was just an interesting detail, back when this entire world was fake to them, but now,

Now, it was horrifying. The thought of Yuji losing a hand scared them, it scared them so very, very much. On a screen, it was just words, drawings, characters which didn't hold much meaning to them. In real life- Yuji is their vessel, a real person, their friend, who might have gotten their arm chopped off.

Shit. They thought, like a mantra. ‘Why didn't I train Yuji earlier? I thought, by the time the detention arc came, he'd be prepared..!’ guilt and regret built up in them.

As they say, regret always comes at the end.

.
.
.

The room was dark, and seemingly infinite.

“Damn it, where am I? It's so dark. I can't see a thing.” Nobara muttered, looking around. North, black, west, and east, inky darkness, the South, where she came from? Pitch black.

Then, she felt it.

!

Cursed energy! The curse's presence!

Nobara readies her nails, preparing to use her technique. Her eyes widen-

‘How can there be so many of them?!’ There were so many floating mask curses!

.
.
.

A black haired, teen boy fell, and continued falling through the incomplete domain.

“Nue!” He said, performing the ritual needed to summon the owl shikigami.

“Itadori, Kugisaki.. Don't die on me, you two!” He ran, searching for Kugisaki.

“Divine dogs!” Megumi called, and two dogs appeared. “Find Kugisaki!”

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.
.

‘What do I do? If this is really a special grade.. I don't think I can beat it. I only started my training yesterday. But for now, it's fine, I only need to buy ti-’ Yuji's thought process was cut off, the curse sending a blast of cursed energy, which flung Yuji to the wall, dropping Slaughter Demon in the process.

Yuji let out a breath. ‘I covered my body with cursed energy last minute, like what Zenin taught me. I think it softened the blow.’

Meanwhile,the curse smiles. Its new plaything is more durable than the rest! It's going to have so much more fun, fun fun!

Yuji looks up, and the curse is staring straight at him. Damn it!

Yuji tries to cover his body with cursed energy to act as a protective layer again, but-

Clang!

It was the sound of Yuji's defense being shattered. The curse broke through his defensive layer like paper.

Thud!

Something fell, but what? Huh-

A liquid stained his shirt. It felt sticky, his clothes now sticking to his skin. In moments, Yuji could smell an odd odor.

It wasn't bad. Just.. Weird. It had an oddly sharp, strong, metallic scent.

He could recognize this smell. The scent Fushiguro carried around, when Yuji first ate Sukuna’s finger, the scent when Yuji scraped his knees when he was six, the scent that filled the air when Yuji entered Zenin's domain for the first time.

The scent of blood. His eyes widen in recognition, causing the curse’s own to curl up in delight.

He quickly looks down, and he finds blood, pooling up beneath him. He looks to the side, and there his arm lay, dismembered.

A wave of nausea quickly hit him, but Yuji didn't have enough time to think, as another attack came barreling at him.

Yuji tried, once again, to coat his body with his cursed energy, but the curse tore through the defense yet again.

“Ugh!” Yuji groaned, as hot blood spilled from his side, having gained a new wound. Yuji instinctively touches the side of his stomach, only to wince at the pain.

Another strike from the curse was coming, and Yuji struggled to gather cursed energy bro spread throughout his body, unused to using cursed energy in rapid succession.

The curse, once again, broke through Yuji's pitiful defense, leaving yet another injury on his body. With every attack, the nausea grew. Maybe it was a side effect of being hit with highly concentrated cursed energy.

Yuji recalled, recalled how the curse managed to move so fast he couldn't see it. Right, it was playing with him. It could have attacked him, killed him, without him being able to do anything, but it let him see it. It let him think he could protect himself, it wanted to draw it out. It enjoyed it.

The shock of the loss of his arm wore off, and the pain exploded. It stinged, the pain coursing through his entire body, overwhelming his senses. It hurt.

Arm sliced off, without anything stopping the bleeding. Open wounds on both sides. At the rate he was going, Yuji was going to bleed out.

Yuji looked up again once more, and was blinded by the light.

Smash! Yuji's body was thrown against the wall, which destroyed it, and he fell through to another room with several loud thuds and thumps.

Yuji was worse for wear. His face was scrapped, he was bleeding from the nose, missing an arm, and actively bleeding out. Things could be better.

Yuji panted, trying to catch his breath. But not even a moment later, the curse came through the hole in the wall.

He tried to stand, his mind screaming at him to MOVE! But his legs only trembled, and he had no strength to stand, much less fight or defend.

The curse let out another assault, the room reverberating with cursed energy. Trembling,Yuji stood up, pushing himself to his limits, and desperately stuck his arm out, stumbling in the process, trying to gather every drop of cursed energy to give himself any protection against the onslaught.

The sheer power of the pure cursed energy radiated so much heat that it started burning Yuji, to the point it disintegrated his skin and bones.

Good news, the heat cauterized Yuji's wounds, stopping the bleeding. Bad news, Yuji has no hands.

Oh, and it burns.

‘It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts!’ Yuji couldn't think straight because of the pain.

(If Yuji shed any tears, he, and no one else but one would know. The heat vaporized any and all tears that may have existed.)

‘If only I hadn't picked up that finger back then- stop, what am I thinking?’ If he hadn't eaten that finger, Fushiguro could have died. He could have never met Zenin, or Gojo-Sensei, or even Kugisaki, and yet..

‘Stop it. Don't think.’ Yuji tells himself. But images are flashing in his mind, images of the most recent events of his life.

‘But, I want to run. I want to run, I want to run! I don't want to die here.’ He thought, as his hand kept disintegrating.

‘If I died here, could I really consider that a proper death?!’

“Just.. Dont think!” He yelled out loud, trying to stop his spiraling, the memory of his grandfather's last request playing again, like a record on loop.

The cursed energy reaches him, and sends him crashing into a wall again.

The pain was sharp, cutting, but Yuji was getting used to it now, and it wasn't the most painful thing.

No, the most painful thing was Yuji’s realization, while he was in the air, being flung to the wall. ‘Oh. I’m weak. I'm not strong.’

Yuji collided with the wall, and he let out a sad chuckle, which sounded more like a pained whine. “I was so full of myself. I thought that I was strong, strong enough to choose when I died.”

But he was wrong.

Yuji did not want to die, not now.

“Jujutsu sorcerers never die without regret.” He recalled what principal Yuga said, during his admission interview.

“Yuji.” A choked voice said. Yuji had never heard this voice like this. Zenin sounded.. scared.

“Yuji, get, get out of here. Run. At the rate you're going, you're..” going to die was left unsaid. “Yuji. Kugisaki and Fushiguro will be fine. I can sense Kugisaki’s cursed energy again, and their signatures are close by. They'll be okay, Yuji, please.” He said, panicked. Yuji found that tone to be weird with Sukuna's voice, he could never have pictured Sukuna sounding so scared.

“Zenin..If I run now, i’ll lead the special grade straight to them, I can't do that. Zenin, I'm sorry. You've only experienced the modern world for a few weeks, and because of me, that might stop.”

If Yuji was going to die, he would at least die what he considered a proper death.

Yuji gathered all the cursed energy he had left in his leg, exhaustion dawning on him the moment he did, and tried to kick the curse.

But it caught his leg. “Damn.. it.” He said weakly, while the curse mockingly laughs at him.

Awooo! The sound echoed through the domain.

‘That howl.. It's Fushiguro's signal! They're safe.’ Yuji realized.

“Zenin.” Yuji called out. “I'm going to switch out with you, okay?”

“Okay.” Zenin agrees. “ When you wake up, everything is going to be fine. Trust me. For now, just..sleep.” He tells Yuji, and Yuji believes him.

Black markings slowly appear on Yuji's body, and the curse lets go of their leg, intimidated by their presence.

They let out a sharp exhale, everything hurt. How did Yuji manage to stand? They look at the problem they had to face, the curse.

They now had to fight a special grade, with no hands, their nervous system screaming “THIS IS PAINFUL” at them in every direction, every second, and probably Zero real combat experience. ( If they did, they didn't remember any of it.)

Fuck.

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.
.

When Yuji's arm was sliced off, all they felt was horror. They couldn't think, only feel.

Yuji, oh god,Yuji, YUJI- they stopped watching, bringing them back to their domain. They clutched their stomach and curled, as they dry heaved from the nausea.

They hesitate, not wanting to see Yuji get hurt anymore, but..

‘What if he dies? What if he dies, and I'm not there with him, because I was too afraid to see it?’ They thought, and went back to being a powerless spectator.

With every attack from the special grade, their nausea grew, even when they thought they couldn't possibly feel worse.

Yuji is bleeding, bleeding, bleeding out. Bleeding out and dying.

And there is nothing they can do to help.

If the curse didn't kill both of them soon, then the guilt will.

…

Yuji loses another hand. Every single time they want to say something, anything, to help Yuji, their mouth dries, shuts, and refuses to budge open. It was like they were petrified by Medusa, turned to stone.

“I was so full of myself. I thought that I was strong, strong enough to choose when I died.” They hear him say, and they disagree.

‘No, Yuji. It wasn't your fault. It was mine. I knew this was going to happen. I should have trained you earlier.’ They think.

‘It is my fault you are going to die.’ But they can't accept that. They won't be able to live with themselves if it was, and so, they begged.

Begged for Yuji to run, to live.

Yuji did not run.

…

“Zenin. I'm going to switch out with you, okay?”

After agonizing hours of being completely fucking useless, they could finally do something.

“Okay. When you wake up, everything is going to be fine. Trust me. For now, just..sleep.” They swear, that it will be fine. When, not if, when Yuji wakes up, he'll wake up to relieved faces of his friends.

They'll make sure of it.

Chapter Text

Ahahahahaha. They were going to have such a fun time, wonderful time! Absolutely amazing, would recommend. 

Not. This was the scariest moment of their new life. Their heart beat so fast, you'd think they'd get the Demon Slayer mark despite it being a whole ass other anime. 

They sweatdropped, as they look at the special grade in front of them, and then looked at the stump, where Yuji's hand once was, and at the missing space Yuji's arm was supposed to be. 

The tight feeling in their stomach lingered, never lessening nor dissipating. 

'Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! I never trained my legs as much as my arms, because I never thought I'd be in a situation without any of them!' If, no, when they got out of here alive, they were going to give their legs as much attention as their arms. 

They'd say at this moment, they clenched their fists in frustration and anxiety, but again, they didn't have fists. 

The special grades eyes widened, and quickly let go of Yuji- their leg, as if scared, like a predator came hunting for their prey. 

That made no sense. 

'I'm the one who's supposed to be scared?! I'm going to have to fight a special grade with only my legs. Why is it scared? Of me? But not Yuji?' They wondered. 

It was then they remembered, they were a SIkuna. 

'Right, right. Sukuna has a strong presence, so that's probably why it backed off.' A glance at the cursed spirit told them that it was still frozen in place. 

Unmoving, and vulnerable. Open to attacks. 

'Alright, Alright. I can do this. I can do this, it'll be okay. Let's attack while it's still, and try to win the fight as fast as I can.' They reassured themself, as in the back of their mind they begged themself to move, either to run or fight. 

Even with their legs shaking, trembling, they ran, praying they wouldn't trip, ruining their momentum. 

They ran, using Yuji's superhuman physical abilities, jumped over the curse, and gave it a backwards kick. 

They infused their leg with cursed energy, using all their disgust, fear, worry, channeling it into that attack. 

The force of their kick sent the special grade flying, into the same dent it sent Yuji.

There was a thump, and a weird, thick, purple liquid splashed onto their face. It had an awful scent, the smell of blood, smoke, and a disgusting smell of rot, with a sickly sweet undertone. 

The moment the blood hit their skin, they felt even more awful than before, their feelings swirling in their gut, like it was expanding. 

Yet.. It also made them feel.. better. Not in regards to their feelings, obviously, they probably won't be feeling any better until Yuji gets treated, and even then..but it felt as if they were just a tad bit stronger, like they recovered part of the cursed energy they used in that kick. 

They looked downwards, checking what hit the ground to cause that sound. 

Please. Don't let it be Yuji's limbs again, please. They begged, not wanting to witness the consequences of their actions, the consequences Yuji had to face, despite not doing anything. 

It seems as if their prayers were answered. There, was an amputated leg. But it wasn't theirs, Yuji's. (Thank god.) 

It wasn't even a human's. The leg was muscular, large, and a greyish shade of blue, with long, sharp, red claws at its feet. 

It was the curse's leg. Quickly, their eyes shot up to where the curse was. 

The debris of the wall cleared up, revealing the curse, missing a leg. Its thigh was cut open, oozing purple liquid. 

'Purple liquid? The liquid that hit me is the curse's blood?'

The curse glimpsed at them, and it got into a kneeling position, not like one would with a king, but like one would in a marathon, with one leg bending, and its hands on its sides, while its head was down. 

They hurriedly put a layer of their cursed energy over themself, anticipating an attack, but.. 

The curse's thigh transformed into weird, unusual shapes, as it grew longer. In mere moments, the curse had its leg back. 

'It can regrow its limbs back?!' They thought in dread. 

How were they going to defeat this curse? Every second they started to doubt themself more. Were they strong enough to defeat this curse? 

Their mind flashes back on their promise to Yuji. “Okay. When you wake up, everything is going to be fine. Trust me. For now, just..sleep.” They had said, and Yuji trusted them to fulfill that promise. 

'No. I will defeat this curse. I promised Yuji I would. I will do it, even if it's the last thing I do.' They swore to themself, steeling their resolve. 

The special grade, with its regenerated leg, barreled towards them at full speed, imitating them by trying to strike them with its feet, but they were prepared. 

They angled their body downwards,bending their knees outwards, tilting their head to the side, and barely dodging the attack, but as they were going down, they saw an opportunity to counter attack. 

They lifted their leg, aiming to strike the curse's own. They directed the cursed energy that formed a protective later towards their foot, and their attack once again dismembered the special grades leg, sending it flying towards its face. 

The curse lost its balance,and it fell to the ground. "RAGH!" The special grade let out a screech of annoyance. All of a sudden, the prey let out a terrifying aura, and it became strong, much stronger than before, stronger than the rest. It was annoying! It wanted to have fun with its prey, but it was becoming a pest! 

With the short time frame given to them, they quickly widened the distance between them and the curse. 

"DISMANTLE!" They yelled, loudly and desperately, willing Sukuna's technique to work. Cursed energy shot out of what remained of their, Yuji's arm towards the floor, where the curse was. Instantly, they felt exhausted. Using Dismantle in the outside world rather than their domain took a larger toll on them. At this rate, they were going to face cursed energy depletion. And if they couldn't fight the curse anymore..

'No, don't think about it. Only think about what's happening right now, not the possibilities.'

Sukuna's technique cut through the curse's last leg, and now it couldn't move (unless it moved like the guy from 'getting over it.') And they were pretty sure healing lost limbs takes a lot of cursed energy, so it'll need more time to recover. 

It cut through the special grade's leg, yes, but it also completely shattered the floor. 

So now they were both falling. 

They gazed down. That was a long way down, and the only thing that could break their fall was the water, and they didn't exactly trust Minecraft MLG's to work in real life too.

To their side, was the special grade. 

They had an idea. A very dumb, risky idea, but it gave them a higher chance of survival than taking the full brunt of their fall. 

They angled their body towards the cursed spirit, and landed on its torso. They were going to use it as a cushion for their fall. 

The special grade grabbed their legs, likely having the same idea as them, but they raised their feet slightly,kicking its chest hard, knocking the air (Do curses need to breathe? Do they need to breathe?) out of it, and the curse coughed, causing more purple blood to splatter on their face. 

Gross. At least they restored some of their cursed energy because of it. (Maybe?) 

Splash! Their impact caused the water to ripple strongly. 

Once the curse hit the water, they jumped away from it to avoid being dragged down with it, and jumped onto a floating piece of the broken wall. 

Good news, the disgusting purple blood was washed away. Bad news, they're completely drenched, soaking in water. It also stung like hell. Their cauterized wounds flaring up in pain. But it was okay now, now that there wasn't an immediate threat. 

'Has the curse been exorcised, or at the very least, neutralized for now? Whatever. It probably can't heal itself for now, let's get out of here. A grade one sorcerer or higher, like Gojo can deal with this. I have to get Yuji to a healer.' They thought. 

'How do I get out of here thou-'

Burst! It was the sound of something getting out of the water. Their eyes widened, and turned, only to see the curse right in front of them. 

The special grade grabbed their throat, and slammed them into a wall. 

"Ugh!" They groaned, struggling to breathe as the curse had them in a chokehold. The curse then punched them in the stomach, causing them to let out pained gasps. 

That punch had little cursed energy. It was not designed to kill, but to hurt. 

They distributed their cursed energy through their body to protect themself. The special grade punched them again in the stomach, but its blow was heavily softened by their protection. 

But stronger endurance with cursed energy didn't mean they suddenly developed infinity. 

The punch of the curse pushed them deeper into the crack of the wall, causing the loose, sharp parts to cut their clothes, digging into their skin uncomfortably. 

They tried to land an attack of their own, sending their cursed energy downwards, and tried kicking the curse away. Keyword, tried. 

The curse managed to catch their foot with its other hand, blocking the attack. Shit. They grit their teeth. 

The curse smiles, devilishly, evilly at them. They tense, panicking, trying to remove their foot from the curse's grasp, but it had a tight grip on them. 

SNAP!

It was the sound of their bones breaking. They let out a strangled gasp, as the curse continued to hold their leg tightly, making the pain worse. The leg was now tender and sensitive to outside stimuli, which was not ideal for them in this situation. (Or ever. Is there a situation where breaking your leg is ideal? Well, in situations where it's that or death, they suppose.) 

Their leg throbbed violently, and their muscles spasmed harshly. They could feel a slight tingling sensation, it was not a clean break. They definitely had shards of bone stuck in their body. They hoped none of the shards tore through their tissues, and that they didn't have internal bleeding. Breaking a bone like this should hurt much, much more, but they were probably in shock. Or their nerves were damaged when the curse broke their leg. 

'Oh my god, I hope the damage isn't permanent. I'm so sorry, Yuji.' They thought regretfully. 

Adrenaline coursed through them, as well as a hint of nausea. It did not make for a good combination. 

With the adrenaline from fighting and the new fuel, they headbutted the special grade, causing it to lose its grip on their leg and neck. Their eyes blurred, black spots filling their vision. They most likely had a concussion. They held their head down, and winced, as water droplets fell onto their injured leg. 

The curse recovered quickly, and grabbed their throat again, this time, its grip much tighter, to the point it restricted airflow. 

"Cough.. cough!" They started choking. Shit! With their concussion, if this goes on for any longer, they were going to pass out! 

"Dis.. mant-ugh!" They groaned, the curse having punched their side. Their side, which the special grade inflicted a wound on before. 

Tear! The wound reopened, and they felt a sharp pull where the injury was. The site of the wound was inflamed, red, and swollen. Only starting the healing process. Now it would have to start again. 

Blood came out in waves, they wouldn't be surprised if Yuji developed anemia after this. 

Drip, drip, drip. Their blood flowed downwards, and they flinched when it hit their injured leg. 

Their vision was now fully blacking out, their head pounded as they were hit with the combination of their concussion, lack of oxygen, and blood loss, all at the same time. 

Lack of oxygen, as the curse was choking them. With its hand. 

"Dismant-!" They said, looking to cut off the arm choking them, but they cut themself off, as the hand holding their neck grew hotter, hotter, hotter, NO! the special grade was using cursed energy! "DISMANTLE!" they screamed, more desperate than ever before, and the hand was sliced, clean, undeservingly so, and yet it was too late. 

Their throat burned, and hurt, hurt, hurt. The cursed energy of the special grade burnt the skin of their throat, much like it did with Yuji's hand before. 

They opened their mouth, despite how painful it was to do so to scream. Scream because of the situation, scream because of the pain. 

And yet, no sound came out, despite feeling like they were screaming so raw, so agonized. 

The curse came closer, once again, but this time, they had no means to defend themself, to attack. Three of their limbs were unusable, and their vocal cords were damaged. 

Of course, they could try and attack with their only good limb, but there was a chance that the special grade would just remove that leg too. 

So, what now? Should they just be on the defensive the entire time? Wait until their cursed energy depletes, so they're unconscious when the special grade kills them? So that they don't have to die in pain? 

They were so tired. They were exhausted, and in pain, and overwhelmed by everything. 

They were so guilty, that despite their promise, Yuji would die, would die because of them. But they were also slightly relieved. Relieved that their pain would end soon. 

It was so unfair. 

It was unfair to them all. It was unfair to Gojo, whose student died while he was sent on a mission, probably set up on purpose so he couldn't save Yuji. It was unfair to Fushiguro and Kugisaki, who were collateral damage in this mission. The end, their and Yuji's deaths, justified the means, Kugisaki and Fushiguro's possible injuries or death, in the eyes of the higher ups. 

It was unfair to them. Who was only just given a second life, a second chance, only to die less than a month later. It was unfair to them, to die for crimes they've never committed. 

It was unfair to Yuji. So, very unfair to Yuji. Who was only 15,and yet was set to be executed for wanting to save someone else. Who was promised a safe, happy reunion with his friends. 

Yuji, who, only a few weeks ago, didn't know what cursed energy was. 

No, no, no, no! Was there really no way? No way to live, to escape?! 

'Kugisaki.. Fushiguro.. Those two are still waiting for Yuji to get outside safely. If I, if we don't get out of here, will those two wait for a long time? Will they never find Yuji's body? And that mother..' They think about the name tag in their pockets. 'If we don't get out of here, she'll never have the last remaining thing of her son.' They thought. 

It hurt, so badly. But, if they died, the only one affected wasn't just them. 

Yuji, Gojo, Kugisaki, Fushiguro, that woman.. 

There was a way. There had to be. 

A way for them to survive, and get out of here. 

They think back on the special grade, how its limbs mutated until it regrew. 

Could they do that? If that curse could do that, then they should be able to as well, right? OGkuna was the King of Curses. He could do whatever and anything curses or sorcerers can, aside from their techniques. 

And this particular curse was made from Sukuna's finger. All its capabilities came from Sukuna. 

They can do it. But how, was the question. 

'If cursed energy is from negative emotions, and negative emotions are great for destruction, then obviously, Reverse Cursed Technique can be done with positive emotions. But if I'm remembering correctly, and god I hope I am, because this could save our lives, Gege had a bullshit explanation of RCT with math. Something about two negatives makes a positive.' 

Now, that explanation was absolutely nonsense to them. But they had an idea that could work. 

'The second law of thermodynamics states that energy can not be created or destroyed, rather, it changes forms. So I'm assuming that negative cursed energy actually transforms into positive energy, and it doesn't really 'multiply', as that would mean it created energy. Unless for some reason Cursed energy is the exception to the laws of thermodynamics, then I'm fucked. But let's say it isn't, and it follows the law..' Their eyes lit up. 

'Then, if we take Gege's vague explanation into consideration, where a negative energy times itself makes a positive energy..' They thought back to the time they trained Yuji, where they imbued their cursed energy into the book. 

'If it's possible to imbue objects with my cursed energy, it's possible to absorb the cursed energy of an object.' Everything had cursed energy. People, animals, objects. It was just that some had more than others. 

'So, if theoretically, I absorb an object's cursed energy, it will mix with my own, right? And if I direct that mixture to my wounds, along with my non-compound cursed energy, combining them.. That would technically mean I added my own cursed energy to itself,'multiplying' it, as objects have minimal cursed energy.'

The curse stepped over, slowly, like a predator toying with its prey before killing and devouring it. 

But they wouldn't be its prey. Now, they were.. less afraid. (They'd be lying if they said they weren't. Who wouldn't be afraid in this situation?) 

As soon as the special grade took another step forward.. 

They pulled, pulled on the cursed energy of the objects around them, the parts of the wall, the ground, the water, the rocks, and direct it inwards, to them. 

They felt the foreign energy enter their body, but their body didn't reject it, due to the small quantity. The foreign cursed energy merged with their own, and they quickly directed it to their throat, and sent their own, plain cursed energy to coat their throat. 

For the first time since this entire thing started, they felt good. It felt like a numbing balm on their throat. 

Their throat tingled,and once it finished, they instinctively knew. 

Their throat was healed. They did it, they used Reversed Cursed Technique. The feeling of giddiness overcoming their body. 

"Oh." They gasped, and took a deep breath, and it felt as if they breathed in air from a luscious, healthy forest, full of wildlife, when all their life they've lived in a polluted city. 

Laughter bubbled up in their throat. 

And. 

It. 

Didn't. 

Hurt. 

Not even slight soreness, it felt like they could go into full blown cackling, and not feel a thing. It was amazing! It was like their mind was filled with fog, euphoric fog, that made them feel elated. It was like they'd drunk multiple bottles of liquid courage, their confidence boosting tenfold. 

"Ha.. HAHAHAHAHA!"  They laughed, deep gasps interrupting every now and then. It sounded a little unhinged, but who was going to judge them now? The curse? Those motherfuckers who sent Yuji to die? 

At the sound of laughter from the annoying pest, who was supposed to be a fun toy,  it paused. If it was laughing, then it's throat was okay. If it could speak, it could use that painful-cutting-fast technique. It feared that the pest could beat it, now that the pest could heal themself. No! 

Growling, the fingerbearer rushed towards them, trying to destroy their throat once more. 

"Ahahaha! DISMANTLE! HAHAHAHA!' their laughter turned into full blown cackling, as they used Sukuna's technique. 

The sound of something being sliced echoed through the room. 

Thud! 

Something fell, hitting the floor hard shrieking, and for once it wasn't them. It wasn't them, it wasn't them, it wasn't them! It wasn't them, writhing in pain pitifully, waiting for death. 

Now, the positions were reversed. Now, it was the curse in their position. The curse was split in half, crosswise. Oh, how the tables have turned! 

They pushed themself away from the dent in the wall, and walked, no, limped towards the curse, healing their injuries as they do, the first one they healed was their side, closing the reopened wound, and making it seem like they were never injured, not even a mark left. Not a single piece of evidence, aside from their torn and blood stained clothes. 

Next, was the arm the curse chopped off from Yuji. They would need to pay back the favor, after all. They felt their bone, muscle,nerves grow back, and their brain recognized the newly grown arm as part of them, and started sending blood towards it. The feeling was strange, not bad per se, just strange. It was a lot like when they changed their form for the first time, when they grew their hair. But this feeling was more blissful, intoxicating. (Dangerously so. It made you feel like you were invincible, so you needed to keep a cool head. They weren't thinking straight at all at the moment.) 

After using the Reverse Cursed Technique thrice, whether it was the adrenaline, or they got familiar with it quickly, they started using it without thinking, instinctively, naturally, like blinking. 

They walk, their steps confident, like they never once were during their confrontation with this curse. 

Looking at this curse again, their blood boiled.Their anger, simmering hot. How dare it? 

How dare it touch them? How dare it touch them and theirs, much less have the audacity to hurt them? 

This curse touched what was theirs, they didn't know if it was the one who took Nobara away, but it was going to pay the price anyway. It was going to pay the price of taking away something Megumi cherished in another life, even if it didn't happen here. 

It was going to pay for everything it did to Yuji, in both lifetimes. For all the tears it caused, for every drop of blood. 

It was going to face the consequences of its actions. 

"Hey, is that all you're made of?" They smiled mockingly. "There you were, acting all high and mighty earlier. Where is that now? Come on, it's just a little bit of pain. Try harder.' They curled their hands towards themself, a clear signal for the curse to come at them. 

The curse tried firing a concentrated beam of cursed energy towards them, but they slammed its head into the ground with their foot (specifically, the one the curse broke), stopping the attack. 

"Weak. Weren't you so arrogant, so full of yourself a few moments ago? So haughty, all because of your borrowed power?" The curse was using a fraction of Sukuna's power, after all. "You're so noisy, when you think you're hunting your prey, but you're as quiet as a mouse when the positions are reversed, huh?"

It was time to give back all they were given, every single last wound, tenfold. 

Sukuna grinned. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Ok so I hit you guys with the sad for too long now its time for the funny. 

"Itadori Yuji is to be executed on the crime of being Ryoumen Sukuna, The King of Curse's vessel, as he has committed multiple atrocities such as mass murder against sorcerers and humanity."

Zenin:

Zenin after using RCT for the first time:

Chapter Text

Sukuna looked at the pathetic, cut in half curse in front of them, and sneered. 

Its torso mutated, growing as it reformed its body, much like they did a few moments ago. "Good, good. That should be doable even for you. It'd be embarrassing to remember that you nearly beat me, if you didn't." It was already embarrassing to remember it now. 

The curse got on its newly recovered knees, trying to stand, but failing. Ha, puny, weak curse. 

They walked over to it, and crouched beside it. "What's wrong? Tired? Arent you a special grade, hm? Aren't you born from one of my fingers, hm? Are you insinuating that I'm weak, by being this pitiful?" Sukuna mocked the curse, and then felt irritation at it. Was it trying to make a fool out of them by behaving like this? 

The curse roared, enraged. By their words, they wonder? Does this curse hold intelligence like a proper special grade should, or is it a mindless beast, fueled on power, like those lower grades, those inferior curses?

It tried to throw a punch at them, but they easily swerved their head to the side. Pointing at the arm that tried to hit them with their index finger, they activated their technique. "Dismantle." They said calmly. (That would be a lie. They said it far too happily. Ah, vengeance was so sweet. Hm, people said it was cold, too. Perhaps vengeance was ice cream.) 

The curse grunted in pain when it lost its arm,sounding more like a growl. "Now it's my turn." They grabbed a small shard of the wall, that got stuck on their clothes, and threw it at the curse, stabbing its eye. 

The curse let out a guttural screech when the shard hit one of its eyes. "You look like you've got something stuck in your eye. Here, let me help you out." They grabbed the protruding part of the shard, and shoved it deeper into the curse's eye, causing it to shriek again. 

"Oh, my bad. I didn't mean for that to happen." Sukuna said sarcastically. "You can just heal it, can't you? Don't be so dramatic."

The curse did indeed try to heal the eye, however, when it did, the eye started bleeding purple blood again, as the reformed eye burst because of the shard. 

"Oh, you can't? Well that's too bad. It's fine though, you already have three other eyes. The rest of us only have two, dont be so greedy. You don't need a fourth one anyway."

The curse then grabbed Sukuna's ankle, it's nails digging into their skin, piercing it. 

Sukuna hissed, and raised their knee, and did a sidewards karate kick, making the curse collide with the wall, into the dent. 

The dent which the curse nearly killed them in. And the one where the curse was going to die.

They walked towards the curse slowly, freely. Mirroring the situation they were in earlier, only in reverse. 

"You're slower now, and you're fighting less. Is it because your instincts are telling you you can't win? Or is it because you aren't used to the pain?" They wondered out loud. 

Now close to the dent, they promised. "Don't worry. I'll help you get acquainted with pain all you want. And it's free of charge, aren't I nice? But first.."

Now directly in front of the curse, Sukuna ripped it's other arm out. "RGGH!" The curse snarled. 

Looking inside the arm, there was only meat and blood inside. "Hm. A little hollow, huh? Cursed spirits don't have  much bones. I wonder if that means I'm the same?"

They walked further away from the curse, just in case it tried something. They wanted to remember every last minute without disruptions, after all. But it was fine if it did, it made the experience more exciting.

They angled it diagonally, and squeezed the arm, like it was an orange full of juice. Some of the blood spilled on their face, and onto their clothes. 

'Sorry, Yuji. But your clothes were already bloodstained and torn, so it should be fine.'

The taste of the blood was horrid, thry imagined that if it tasted like anything, it would taste like water from a dirty terrarium, mixed with urine from someone with a UTI, and the cherry on top, was sewage water. To put it short, it was horrible, like the finger, their finger, that Yuji had to eat, only, it was worse because they were the ones to have to eat it. It seems that taste is more intensified when thry're in control, or is it that it's lessens when they aren't? Oh well, anyways, they had to drink an undeterminable amount of mililiters of that stuff. 

It was because of the power, of course. If the blood making contact with their skin restored some of their cursed energy, then what more when they consumed it? 

Thankfully, their experiment was not in vain. Their cursed energy thrummed, and they were vitalized once more. 

"Ahh, how amazing." The rush of power was so thrilling, so wonderful. 

They glanced back at the curse, who was still stuck in the wall. "Tsk. I guess I have to make this quick. Those kids are still waiting for us outside." Sukuna said, annoyed. 

"But that doesn't mean I cant give you what you owe."

"Dismantle!" they said, grinning from ear to ear. The curses throat ended up with multiple gashes. It let out a weak croak, unable to form a louder sound. 

"Hurts, doesn't it? You're lucky I don't know how to use that fire technique." If they did, the curse would know their pain, exactly as they felt it, no, even more than that. 

The curse still had the shard of the wall in its eye, and they got an idea. They think back to the time they were training Yuji, when they imbued their cursed energy into the book. "Cold, cold cold!” Yuji had exclaimed, caressing and breathing on his hand to warm it up. Objects recently imbued with cursed energy are cold.. Perhaps, in different circumstances, it can be hot, but they didn't really have a way to test it out right now. 

But it didn't matter if it was cold or hot, all that mattered at the moment was that the temperature was high. 

They infused the shard piercing the curse's eye with their cursed energy, making it highly concentrated. 

POP! The sound was loud, sharp, and violent. As expected, the shard couldn't handle the temperature, and shattered, leading to it exploding in the curse's eye. 

" It's a little irritating to have an uneven amount of eyes, no? let's fix that. Dismantle!" 

The curse's other eye received multiple cuts, and was leaking blood. Sukuna wondered if it recovered cursed energy by having it's blood on itself, but they figured it wouldn't matter. 

The curse would die before it regained any substantial amount of cursed energy. 

But just for good measure, and also because they wanted to test it out, seeing as they've only slashed diagonally.. 

"Dismantle." They said, and they cut the curse's eye vertically. 

Huh. So they can cut straight. It would have been nice to have that information 10 minutes ago, when they believed they were going to die. (They aren't going to die. Not now. Not soon. They won't. ) 

'Tsk.' Sukuna was irritated by the reminder that they nearly lost to this thing. 'I'll have to work on my technique and my capacity after this. I won't lose to something like it again.' (Not when losing means theirs, Yuji's, possibly many other's deaths.) 

Glaring at the curse, they then smirked. "What's wrong, oh mighty special grade?  Isn't this fun? Isn't this what you wanted to do? Come on, laugh! Laugh like you wanted to!"

The curse opened its mouth, but no sound was coming out. 

'What a shame. It would've been better if the curse had the ability to speak. I could've heard its pleas of mercy.' Sukuna thought in disappointment. 

They sigh deeply. " Ah, whatever. Playtime's over. I've gotta get out of here."

They look at the curse, one final time, and smiled. "Dismantle."

SLASH! 

"Dismantle. Dismantle. Dismantle." They sliced off the curse's body, starting from its feet, until its knee. 

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" they laughed, maniacally, hysterically, mad with power. 

AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! 

AHAHAHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa!

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. 

Ha. Ha. Ha. 

Ha. 

Ha, oh god, what were they doing? They faltered slightly, the high of Reverse Cursed Technique finally wearing off. They realized they were clutching their stomach from their previous laughter (cackling), and looked up. 

Their eyes shook just as much, when they saw the product of their actions. The special grade didn't have anything past its thighs, two of its eyes were busted, one unable to be healed, and it's throat was damaged to the point it was unable to make sounds. 

They did that. They did that to it, a living being. 

... It wasn't that they cared that this curse was hurt. They could care less if the curse died, really. The curse hurt, killed several people, hurt Yuji, hurt them. It had it coming to get injured, to die. It was just that.. they did it. They did it, and took pleasure from its pain. They enjoyed every single second the curse spent writhing in agony. They enjoyed causing it pain, causing blood to spill from its body. They even drank its blood to replenish their energy. 

.. 

And they don't feel bad. They feel bad that they did something so inhumane, that they tortured it, and had fun doing so, but they don't feel bad for doing it to the curse. Not after what its done. 

If they had to pick over dying or doinh that again, to save their and Yuji's life, they would. Even if it was cruel, they would do it a hundred times to ensure their survival. 

That, that scared them. If torture wasn't off of the table to save their own hides, what was? Would they stop at nothing to selfishly live? Would they let others die? 

They remembered, remembered how they mocked the curse, how they toyed with it, like a child, no, a beast with its food. 

If they liked causing fear, inflicting it and pain on others, 

What made them different from the curse? 

Their hand shook, the same hand they used to do all of that. They felt sick, a feeling they've gotten quite acquainted with (I'll help you get acquainted with pain all you want.)  because of today. 

They held their throat and clutched their stomach, bunching over, but this time, it wasn't to laugh. How could they laugh in this situation? 

Laughter didnt rise up their throat, but something else definitely did. 

The taste was bitter, foul, and left a sour taste in their mouth, literally. Their chest burned, along with their throat. 

Kneeling, they coughed, throwing up what was either bile, or Yuji's breakfast, or both. Sorry, Yuji. 

As they coughed, inhaling deeply,trying to suck in all the air they could, they started thinking.

If they were capable of being this sadistic, 

What was stopping them from being just like Sukuna? 

Their (Yuji's. They don't have one,after all.) heart stopped at the thought. They didn't want to be like Sukuna. They didn't want to be the cause of people's fear. They didn't want to anticipate fights, bloodshed, causing said bloodshed, they didn't want to hurt people for fun. 

No, no, no. They weren't like Sukuna. They didn't do that for fun. They did it as revenge, to make the curse pay for what it did to them. No matter how weak the reason was, they did it for something other than boredom-

But they did, didn't they? The special grade didn't do anything to harm their eyes, but they did it to the curse anyway, for fun, as an experiment. 

If they had anything else left in their stomach, it would have been on the floor already. But they didn't, so all that happened was that they were left with a bitter, fearful feeling in their (Yuji's) heart. 

Were they.. a good person? 

'I thought, at the very least, I was decent. Someone with morals. But..'

They glanced up at the curse just in time to see its thighs mutating. It was trying to regrow its limbs. 

They had to kill it before it did. They weren't in any state ( that is, mentally.) To continue fighting. They had to end it, now. 

In their mind, they hesitated, and yet their hand, while trembling violently, still stretched forward, pointing towards the curse. 

"Dismantle.." They said quietly, weakly, and the curse was cut into a near equal half, except strangely enough for one part, vertically, its body falling on the sides it was cut, like a fruit. 

Slowly, they walked over to the remains of the special grade. 

'The special grade was a fingerbearer, right? It had one of Sukuna's fingers. I should.. go get it.

They crouched besides one of the halves of the curse, the one with a larger half, and turned it over, revealing quite a lot of purple blood, spilling over some organs ( oh god. That was horrifying, if they pretended it was the organs of a pig would this awful feeling in their gut go away?)and.. in the dead center, in the circle, was a finger. A mummified finger, Sukuna's finger. Oh, right, indestructible. So that's why the cut was uneven. 

They cringed, remembering the horrible taste of the finger. 

'Whatever. After today, it's not the worst thing. Whats one more horrible thing after a series of events that are horrible?'

They angled the finger (like they did to the curse's arm?), to ensure they'll consume it without having to chew on it. They'd rather not savor the flavor, thanks. 

Once they digested it, they felt a rush of power, but it didn't last very long. (Thank fuck. They acted completely crazy while high on power.) 

The moment they ate the finger, the floor shook. 

'What? What's going on now?' This was the most stressful, nerve wracking day of their life. Probably both lives. 

Actually, everything was shaking. The floor, the walls, the ceiling. 

'Is this because the curse is dead, and can't maintain the domain anymore?' They'd figured out later on that the reason why the inside of the detention center was different from the outside was due to a domain, like the one they're usually in when they're training. 

'Except it's brought to life, like a domain expansion. It's similar, but, it's.. incomplete?'

Back when they were intoxicated by power, they noticed that the.. air, well, the presence? It was hard to explain. They noticed the area, the innate domain weakening, as the curse struggled against them. They paid it no mind at the time, but now they realize that it might be important. 

'Oh, the domain's closing because the curse is dead.'

It was fine. They saw a few clips of Sukuna VS Fushiguro. Fushiguro never mentions anything about the domain closing being dangerous, only that the curse was dead. 

It was going to be fin-

The ground shook even more violently, and they fell to the ground. 'Shit! I didn't think the innate domain would literally be breaking, though. I have to get out of here.' 

They stood up, to try and find the exit of the domain. Suddenly, the room started distorting, switching from the prison cells to the innate domain, repeatedly. 

CRACK! Things started to crumble, as the incomplete innate domain came tumbling down. 

You can't make something out of nothing, after all. The curse used the detention center as space for it's innate domain. 

'Crap, crap, crap! I need to find the exit, NOW! ' they ran, trying to escape the falling rubble. 

A large shadow overcast them, and they tried to outrun it, to enter the light. 

CRASH! 

The rest of the bridge, the one they fell from last time, collapsed, and a large part of it fell on them. 

"Ugh.." They caressed their head. They had another fucking concussion! 

'Why did is the detention center breaking?! This wasn't mentioned at all... wait.' The feeling of the domain weakening. The special grade was using too much cursed energy, and the longer it expended itself, the weaker its incomplete domain got. They're pretty sure Sukuna killed it within a few seconds, to maybe like 3 minutes max in canon, but they took longer with the curse, so it gradually lost its cursed energy. That was probably why it started attacking less in the end, trying to conserve its cursed energy for regeneration. 

When Sukuna killed the curse in canon, it probably had as much cursed energy it could have. But when they killed it, it didn't, so the domain started collapsing when it died. 

They cursed internally, and tried to use Reverse Cursed Technique on their head to stop the bleeding, but it didn't work. 

It. 

Didn't. 

Work. 

'What? Why is it not working? Why isn't it healing?' They thought in panic. 

It was then they registered their exhaustion. They were so, so tired. They struggled to keep their eyes open, their eyelids suddenly feeling so heavy. Just a short nap would be fine, right.. No! 

Why were they exhausted?! They were fine just awhile ago! They tried to use RCT again, but to no avail. 

'Shit. Fuck, okay, we can heal it later. At least we arent missing any limbs anymore. Lets try to coat our body with cursed energy for protection.' They tried to do so, but it also didn't work. 

'What? Even making my body more durable doesn't.. Oh. This is cursed energy depletion.' They realized. They won't be able to use much cursed energy, if any at all, and they were exhausted to their bones. It was a miracle they were still awake, and not unconscious, bleeding out on the floor. 

It turned out the energy boost from the curse's blood is quite short. That was probably why curses weren't hunting each other for their blood. 

What horrible timing to be hit with cursed energy depletion. They truly had the best luck. 

'Okay, okay. Calm down. Just push the rubble away, and then run, or walk, or hell, crawl, whatever I'm capable of, until I reach the entrance. It's doable.' They thought, but it was harder to execute in reality. 

Despite their exhaustion, they managed to remove the rubble pinning their body down, albeit with shaking hands. Thank whatever higher power was up there for Yuji's superhuman strength. 

Unfortunately, they didn't have such luck regarding their legs, as they had no strength to walk. 

'Crawling it is then..' Thankfully, they wouldn't have to worry about anymore falling rubble, as the room was now fully the detention center, no more innate domain. Hooray. 

They were pretty sure they were on the second floor below, so they had to crawl all the way up.. great. 

This was going to take them awhile, wasn't it? 

. 

. 

. 

Megumi was irritated at Itadori. 'Does he really want to risk our lives to save a convicted prisoner?' He knew that Itadori was set on giving people a proper death because of his grandfather, but it just wasn't possible. You couldn't save everyone. 

'.. He's like Tsumiki.' He thought, comparing them. They were both too good to people that didn't deserve it. 

"Then, why did you bother to save me?!” Itadori had yelled.

It was a question that Megumi had been thinking over, the first few days after Itadori ate Sukuna's finger. 

He had his answer now. 

Megumi saved Itadori Yuji because he knew he was a good person. He saved Itadori because the world was unfair, and he wanted the world to be more fair to good people, like his sister. 

He didn't save Itadori because it was logical thing to do. He saved Itadori because he didn't want to see a good person die. 

It was a selfish decision, but Megumi was okay with that. 

He was a sorcerer, not a hero. 

Their argument was broken up by the most unexpected person, Ryoumen Sukuna. 

"You two, enough. You have a mission to get done!” The mouth on Itadori's cheek had yelled at them. 

"I'm sorry, Yuji. It's not a good idea to drag a body with us.It's not a good idea to drag a body with us. For one, if there are any survivors, they'll be scared if we carried a body. Second, and I hope, that it's only a hypothetical situation, if you are running from a special grade, Tadashi's body will only be dead weight and slow you down.” He had said, and if Megumi was hearing this correctly, he said it softly? Like a parent comforting their child. 

Was the King of Curses actually fond of Itadori? 

Megumi didn't have more time to ponder, as Kugisaki got taken away, and the special grade appeared. 

__

" I'll keep the curse busy until you two are out. As soon as you're out, give me some kind of signal! Once you do, I'll switch with Sukuna."

That was a horrible idea. The curse could kill Itadori in seconds. 

Fushiguro looks at him like he's crazy, because Itadori was, and voiced out his thoughts. “ You won't be able to fight that, it's a special grade!”

“Look closer at it. It’s having fun. It's obviously toying with us.. I can at least buy us some time.” Itadori pointed out. 

“No!” was Itadori insistent on dying?! 

“Fushiguro. Please.”  Itadori smiled at him.

Whether it was the confidence of Itadori in that moment, or the knowledge that the King of Curses would be fighting the special grade, Megumi relented. 

Megumi averts his eyes away from him. “.. Dont die.” He hopes he won't be regretting this decision. 

__

He found Kugisaki, facing off a few curses, and he heard her mutter something like ' I should have brought more nails with me.'

Looks like he needs to step in, then. 

He sends Divine dogs to attack the curses, and they successfully exorcise the curses, and started eating them. 

"That's disgusting." She pinched her nose. " Wait, Shikigami..?-" Kugisaki turns to look at him. "Fushiguro?" 

"Kugisaki. We're getting out of here."

"Wait, where's Itadori?" She said, following after him. 

"He's fighting the special grade."

"WHAT?!-" he cut off her yell. "To be more exact, he's stalling the special grade until we can get out, and then he'll switch with Sukuna."

__

Megumi was standing outside of the detention center, with Kugisaki next to him. He tried to convince her to go with Ijichi to get treated, but she refused. "I'll wait for that guy with you. My condition's not that bad, I don't have a single injury." she insisted. 

So now they were both waiting for Itadori to come out. 

'It's been around 15 minutes since I've sent the signal. He hasn't come out yet.' Megumi knew letting Itadori fight the special grade alone would be a bad idea, why did he agree? It was practically suicide to do so. 

'.. There's no telling if Sukuna would comply with helping Yuji. He doesn't act hostile, but that doesn't mean he'll be cooperative, especially since we're planning his death.'

Then, Megumi felt it. The domain of the curse closed! The special grade has been killed. Itadori managed to persuade Sukuna into helping, now all that's left was for Itadori to come out safely. 

..It's been five minutes since the domain fell, and Itadori still hasn't come out yet. 

"What's taking him so long? Didn't the curse get exorcised?" Kugisaki wondered out loud. 

Megumi was a few more minutes away from going inside himself to find out what happened to Itadori, and where he was, when Kugisaki suddenly pointed out. 

"Hey, that's him, right?" Megumi looked at the direction where Kugisaki was pointing at, and there in the distance was one Itadori Yuji. 

Megumi was about to say something, before he got a better look at Itadori. Megumi's eyes widened. 

Itadori, who was bleeding from his head, had his clothes severely torn, and looked like he was barely standing. 

"Itadori?!-" his concerned exclamation was cut short by Itadori calling out their names. 

"Huh..? Kugisaki, Fushiguro, is that you? Y're safe..Good.." Itadori said weakly, and Megumi was unused to that normally loud voice being so quiet. 

"Can.. you g's.. give th's.. to the mo'he..? 'Anks.." Itadori pulled out a ripped off name tag from his pockets, labelled 'Okazaki Tadashi'. 

Itadori immediately collapsed after saying that, and Kugisaki and he caught him. 

He checked Itadori's heart for a pulse, pressing his palm into Itadori's chest, hard. 

There was a pulse. It was weak, and irregular, but there was a pulse. 

"We need to get him treated, now!" He said. 

Chapter Text

Megumi was running with Kugisaki, to where, he couldn't tell. What he could tell was that Itadori needed medical attention,and quick.

He clutched Itadori's body, his chest was rising up, and falling down, but it was slowing to a concerning rate. 

"Shit!" He hears Kugisaki curse. "We're too far away from the school. It's all the way back in Okutama, and we're in Inagi. That's two hours away by car, and a lot longer by foot." That's two hours too long. Itadori might not make it in two hours. (Heart beating too slow. Not breathing enough. Bleeding.) 

He wanted to, really, Megumi did. He wanted to summon Nue and fly towards the school.. But, if he used Nue, he might be seen. Nue might be invisible to non sorcerers, but he was. Even if Nue was faster than walking on foot, it wasn't strong enough to carry him for long distances, much less three people. 

It was unfair, that Itadori would die, and they would get away scot free. 

... 

But the only thing fair in the world was that it was unfair to everyone. 

His mind flashed back to his sister, Tsumiki. "If I have the time to curse someone, I'd rather spend it thinking of those precious to me." She had said, always so nice. There was doubt about how she was a good person. Tsumiki deserved happiness more than anyone else. 

But she was still cursed, like Itadori was still going to die. 

Megumi saved Itadori that day out of a wish for good people, even if only some, to receive fairness, like Tsumiki should have. 

But the cruel, yet fair world cares not for your wishes. 

"There has to be a hospital here! This isn't a rural place!" Kugisaki frustratedly yells, breaking him from his thoughts. 

'Right. A hospital. Since Itadori's injuries were likely inflicted by the curse, treatment from a non sorcerer might not be as effective. 

But it'll mitigate the damage long enough so he can get treatment from a non sorcerer.'

The sky darkened, and thunder roared. It was fitting for the situation they were in, but it didn't help them with their nerves. 

Drip.

Water droplets fell onto the ground, the start of the rain. 

Kugisaki looked around as they continued to run, searching for a singular hospital, but if there were any, no one would be around for at least 500 meters. 

It started to drizzle, not quite raining. The droplets hit their faces, and it mimicked the motion of tears, like foreshadowing. 

It was as if the world was already mourning the loss of a good person like Itadori Yuji, the rain its tears, and the thunder its sobs. 

'No! Itadori's going to be okay. We're going to find a hospital. There's no way there isn't one with people after we leave the 500 meter radius.' He assured himself. 

He was slightly regretting telling Ijichi to leave, because they would have already been in a hospital by now if he hadn't. 

'No. I told Ijichi to get a grade 1 if possible, so that Itadori would be rescued, just in case Sukuna wasn't being cooperative. There was no way to tell what his condition would be when he came out.' He reasoned, but alas, emotions do not have a good record of mixing with reason. 

Speaking of Sukuna, it seems that the fondness in his voice was false.. that didn't feel like it was right, though. Inexplicably, Megumi felt that the softness in Sukuna's voice was real, despite being illogical. 

But these past few weeks have been illogical, too. Who would have thought the King of Cursed would be into anime? Into Karaoke? 

No, perhaps the emotions Sukuna felt were all real. It just wasn't enough to bring him to help Itadori, when he didn't get any benefits in return. Even if Itadori died, Sukuna would still have 18 fingers in the world. More than enough to defeat the majority of sorcerers. 

Fondness was not friendship, was not trust, was not love. 

Fondness did not save Itadori Yuji. 

"Fushiguro!" Kugisaki called for his attention. "Is that..?" She trailed off, pointing at something, a car? 

Ijichi's car. Megumi has never felt so relieved to see a car before. 

The car stops, and the car window rolls down. 

"Fushiguro? Kugisaki? What are you doing here? Where's Ita-" Ijichi pauses, his eyes landing on what, who Fushiguro was holding."..dori." he finishes weakly. 

"Oh, my students are here?" A familiar face peeks out from behind. 

"Gojo-sensei!" The two call out in unison, in relief. 

"What's got you two all worked..." He trails off, once he sees the situation. 

Gojo-sensei doesn't continue talking, his gaze presumably on Itadori. Megumi has seen it before, but he isn't used to the normally playful and laidback man being so serious. 

"Ijichi, open the door." Gojo-sensei says, and wordlessly, Ijichi complies. 

Gojo-sensei walks up to him, and takes Itadori's unconscious (unconscious, not dead) body from his hands. 

"He's a little cold." Gojo-sensei states, and as if reacting to his words, his blood freezes over. 

"I'm taking him to Shoko. Ijichi, drive the kids back." Gojo-sense turned around to leave. 

"Wait," Kugisaki turns to stop him, but Megumi blocks her with an arm. "He's not going to walk." He explains, and she stares at him confusedly. "Then how is he-" when Kugisaki looks at the space where their teacher used to be, he is gone. 

"Our teacher is Gojo Satoru, the strongest."

. 

. 

. 

When Satoru was sent on a mission overseas, in America, he didn't think too much of it. He was sent on missions, not very often, as not many things required the strength of Gojo Satoru, but often enough that a mission wasn't unusual. 

The mission was simple enough, exorcise a special grade curse born from racism, which has killed two American sorcerers, one being a grade one sorcerer, well, at least by their standards. America has a different way of grading curses and sorcerers, and Satoru really doesn't feel like going into that right now. 

America would have dealt with it themselves, however, most of their special gardens were elsewhere, away from the country, or would only be able to reach the area after the damage was done. 

So, America resorted to asking for help from her allies. Unfortunately, America was big, meaning it had a large population. (Also, she had a reputation for all the negativity of her people.) 

That meant the curse would be strong, very strong. (In the eyes of anybody else, of course.) 

Few could take on a curse at that level, so obviously, Japan sent one of their own, who was capable of doing so. 

Who better to send than Gojo Satoru, who could teleport to America in a blink of an eye, and defeat the curse just as fast? 

And say, the relationship between America and Japan was strengthened, therefore strengthening their own positions, or that America would end up owing Japan a favor? What an 'unexpected' boon. 

Damn old geezers. 

So, that was how Satoru found himself in the outskirts of a city in Minnesota, chasing down a curse. It was really annoying, as the curse had the power to look just like every other white American. 

The curse was devastatingly lethal against a group, able to divide them with its technique, forcing them on one side or the other, and convincing them the other side was the enemy. 

Taking it down solo? Much more effective, but you have to watch out for civilians, as the curse will use them against you. 

Which again, is why Satoru is in a forest in a city in Minnesota. 

'There it is. ' He thinks, finding the signature of the curse. Moving forward, he sees someone. A teenage girl? 

'I can see the curse's energy all over her, she must be the curse.. no. Looking closer, I can differentiate her cursed energy from the curse. The cursed energy of the curse is just suffocating her own. What is she doing here? The curse likely used its technique on her-'

Satoru's train of thought, irritatingly, was cut short, as he felt a domain opening. 'It's not the girl's. So, it's the curse's, then.' 

The world felt as if it was divided in half, 'us', and 'them'. The girl (? Maybe? Satoru doesn't want to assume.) was one of 'them.'

Usually, this was the part where people tried to kill the 'enemy'. But fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on whose perspective it was.), all Satoru felt was very mild annoyance towards her. 

If you looked around, the curse was nowhere to be seen, invisible. But Satoru knew this wasn't the case. 

'The atomic particles of the ground aren't behaving as they should.' He thought. 

'It should be acting differently, because of it reacting with the cursed energy, but not like this. It's not reacting to the cursed energy emitted by the domain. It's reacting to something stronger. It's reacting to the curse.'

The curse was underground, no, blending into its domain. Satoru's shadow was a darker shade than it was a few minutes ago. The curse transformed into a shadow. 

It was then that the girl rushed at him, influenced by the technique of the curse, but Satoru easily side stepped. 

"You're going to need to try harder, if you want to beat me." He says, as he watches his 'shadow' move a fraction too late. 

Stomping on the ground, Satoru sent the curse flying, its form distorting from a shadow to something vaguely human. It had the shape of a human, but had no eyes, no mouth, and its skin was a ghostly white, much like a mannequin. 

Satoru was slightly disappointed and annoyed that this curse was so weak. He thought that a special grade in America would prove to be more of a challenge. 

(Also, being asked why he was following a random person every now and then was troublesome. Satoru could see right through the curse's disguise, but regular people couldn't. It was the technique of the curse, after all. It was a little surprising for people to be able to see a curse outside of deadly situations, but he supposed it explained why exactly the curse concentrated so much of its cursed energy into its body.) 

It was more annoying to track down the curse than to actually fight it. 

Satoru leaped, enforcing his leg with cursed energy and kicked the curse in the air, beheading it. 

Its blood splattered, but it never reached him, and instead hit the ground, much like its body as its head rolled on the ground. 

Thud! 

Something else fell. Satoru turned around to see the girl from earlier on the floor, likely recovering from being released from the curse's technique. 

'She's not unconscious.' He realizes, looking at her. Her eyes were slightly opened. 

Walking over to her, he asked. "You good? Need me to call an ambulance?" Satoru's English was a little rusty, not having used it in a while. 

The girl's eyes fully opened, as she stared at him. "No, I'm fine. Ugh, I just.. need to lay down for a bit." She said, she muttered something that suspiciously sounded like "Also, I'd sooner die than pay 300 dollars for only a check up. What is wrong with American Healthcare?" 

"Can I ask you something, though?" He nodded. 

"What the heck was that thing?!" She exclaimed. "That, was a curse. Curses are born from the negative emotions of humans. You should hope you never encounter one again." He explained. 

The girl blinked. "A curse..? Huh, looks like my dad wasn't just making up stories to entertain me." Oh? the girl had a sorcerer for a parent? 

She looked down quietly for a moment, but bounced back just as fast. "Whatever! I'm a 15 year old highschooler, and I have a math test tomorrow. Let's worry about this never, not like I'm gonna deal with it ever again." She got on her knees, and slowly stood up, shaking the dirt off from her pants. 

"Thanks for saving me, blindfold guy." She said, walking away from him. 

'A 15 year old highschooler, huh?' Satoru was reminded of his own students. 

'Hm, I should buy them some souvenirs. Ha, imagine if I got Megumi dog pajamas .' He snickered. 

... 

He decided to get the first years matching animal pajamas, Megumi's was already mentioned (specific, Great Dane Pajamas), Nobara got fox pajamas, and Yuji got Tiger pajamas, as well as food consisting of candy to more savory food like barbeque. 

As for the second years, he got them matching animal headbands, Panda of course, having a panda headband, Toge having a dog headband, and lastly, Maki having a wolf headband. He also got them some food. 

Of course, Satoru didn't leave himself out, and decided to match with his students. He bought himself cat pajamas and a cat headband. 

Satoru checked his phone. 'It's been around 30 minutes since I left Japan. Eh?' Satoru had a notification, from Principal Yaga. 

'After you left, your students were assigned on a rescue mission in Inagi.' The message said.

They were assigned a mission immediately after he left? 

Satoru doesn't have a good feeling about this. 

He decided to go back to Japan, now. 

... 

Satoru was now in an alleyway in Inagi. He could be over reacting, and his students were completely fine. However, he wouldn't put it past those bastards to set something up while he was gone so he couldn't intervene. 

If he truly was worried over nothing, it would be okay. He'd just be supervising them, then. 

In the corner of Satoru's eye, around a few kilometers away, he saw a familiar vehicle, and a familiar face. 

He ran closer towards the vehicle, and called out Ijichi's name. "Ijichi!" The car braked.

Gojo-san?” Ijichi questioned, pulling down the car window. “I thought you were overseas on a mission?”

“I finished quickly, and came back when I found out my students were sent on a mission.”

At the mention of his students, Ijichi's face hardened. "Gojo-san, please come with me. Your students need back up, they've encountered a special grade."

A special grade? What were the odds, that his students were sent on a mission where they encountered a special grade on  the day he was also on a mission? 

Satoru knew it was a damn set up. 

... 

Yuji's body was cold, colder than it ever should be, unless he was in the snow in winter, or cold from the air conditioner. Not cold from blood loss. 

Where was Sukuna ? Satoru thought that if Yuji were to be dying, Sukuna might drag Yuji's pain out, but would ultimately heal his wounds out of his own self preservation. Because even if he continued to live, Sukuna would be weakened by 1/9th of his power, and who knows when he would get another vessel? 

Satoru was wrong. Like the scriptures, his assumptions of Sukuna were incorrect. 

He ran into the building, gripping Yuji tightly. 

"Shoko! Are you there?" He yelled, a tad desperate, but who would tell? 

"Satoru?" A tired voice called out. "What's going on-" She pauses, as she sees the injured teenager in his arms. 

"Put him on one of the beds, i'll-" Shoko says, but it's too late. 

Yuji is pale, too pale. 

His chest wasn't rising. He wasn't moving. The atoms in his body were completely still. His heart wasn't beating. 

Itadori Yuji, at 15 years old, less than a month after being promised that his execution would be postponed, was dead. 

Not for the first time, Satoru wanted to kill the higher ups. 

"No.You won't be able to do anything for him anymore."

Shoko's tense face slightly relaxed. "Does that mean he's..?"

Satoru nods. 

. 

. 

. 

Nobara was having a horrible day. First, the entrance of the detention center was nowhere to be seen, next, Itadori and Fushiguro started fighting, even though they had a mission to do. And then she was taken by a curse, wholly unprepared, not having enough nails to take them all down. 

She was saved by Fushiguro, who told her that Itadori was suicidally fighting the special grade. 

She was grateful, of course (not that she'd ever admit it to his face), that he saved her, as Nobara couldn't tell if she'd be able to defeat all of those curses without her nails. 

However, her pride took some slight damage from being saved like that, as if she was weak. She wanted to redeem herself, she didn't want to have to be saved. 

She wanted to fight the curse with Itadori, as he was surely being overpowered, being unable to use cursed energy. But Fushiguro said that Sukuna would be fighting the curse soon. 

Nobara was prideful, but she wasn't stupid. She knew that even if she helped Itadori, so that they could leave the detention center, they would lead the curse right to them, possibly outside the detention center as well. If she joined in, there might not even be a difference in power, only casualties. It was a special grade after all. 

Once again though, The King of Curses was going to fight the special grade. He got that title for a reason. Nobara may not exactly trust Sukuna, but she did trust his desire to continue living. 

Even if it pissed her to do so, all she could do was wait for Itadori to come out safely. 

... 

It's been five minutes since the special grade was exorcised, and Itadori still hasn't come out. 

Nobara didn't feel good about it at all. Was he injured and couldn't get out by himself? 

Her suspicions were proven correct when she saw a figure in the distance, stumbling towards them. 

"Hey, that's him, right?" She asked Fushiguro, just to confirm. 

She watched as Fushiguro's eyes widened, and Nobara looked back at Yuji to see why Fushiguro was so surprised. 

.. 

Itadori was worse for wear, his clothes were torn, slightly burnt, and he reeked of the stench of blood. Blood dripped from his head, and his eyes were unfocused. 

"Huh..? Kugisaki, Fushiguro, is that you? Y're safe..Good.." The idiot says, like he isn't a strong wind away from passing out. He pulls out something from his pocket, the name tag of the prisoner those two were fighting about earlier. 

"Can.. you g's.. give th's.. to the mo'he..? 'Anks.." He says, near incomprehensibly. And then he passes out. He would've fallen face first if she and Fushiguro didn't run to catch him. 

Fushiguro pressed his palm against Itadori's chest, checking his heartbeat, and his eyes shook. 

"We need to get him treated, now!" He yelled, so they started running, to get Itadori to a hospital. 

... 

After Gojo-sensei took Itadori ( he teleported? Was that his technique?), both Fushiguro and she got into Ijichi's car, driving back to Tokyo Jujutsu High, where sensei apparently was. 

Again, they were all the way in Inagi, and their school was in Okutama, a good two hours away. 

They had to wait for two hours to find out what happened to Itadori. Whether he would live or not. 

The ride back was quiet and tense. (Itadori would've been the one to break the tension.) 

It was safe to say that it was the longest two hours of Nobara's life. 

... 

After two hours more or less of waiting, driving back to the school, of Nobara yelling expletives internally, they were finally back. 

She quickly got out of the car, Fushiguro soon following, but Ijichi stopped them. 

"You two, wait. Itadori may be being treated right now. I'll check on his condition, and tell you both about it later." He says, and they reluctantly agree. 

If Itadori pulled through this, he was so going to get it for stressing her out like this. 

. 

. 

. 

Yuji's corpse was lying on one of the autopsy tables, as Shoko was making his autopsy report. 

"Hmm.. I think it's likely his death was caused by blunt force trauma? I don't think that it was because of any damage he sustained from the curse, because Itadori doesn't seem to have any injuries aside from his head injury. And that injury seems to have been caused by heavy impact of something." She says. 

No injuries caused by the special grade? Impossible. Satoru saw what happened to one of the prisoners when he looked inside a window of the detention center. If Yuji fought the curse, he should've gotten moderately to severely injured, not seemingly unscathed. 

But, both Shoko and his eyes were saying the same thing. Itadori Yuji did not get harmed by the curse. Satoru couldn't see any sign of an attempt of blood clotting from anywhere aside from his head, so Yuji truly wasn't injured. 

That is, at least, visibly. 

"But I don't believe that's the case. Itadori only had moderate blunt trauma, it'd be more obvious if it was severe." She continued. "You gave him to me a few minutes after he died. He was cold, but that shouldn't be the case after such a short amount of time. His body should've been a little warm. The only reason I can think of is blood loss, but that makes no sense.. "

Because the head injury wasn't severe enough to make Yuji bleed out. 

So how did Yuji bleed out to death, while having no other injuries? 

Satoru strained his eyes, as his blindfold blocked most of the information he got, only leaving the atomic level sight of cursed energy. With it, he was able to see like a regular person, albeit much, much farther and clearer. He looked at Yuji's still body once more. 

Bone cells, blood cells, more cells.. A slight trace of Yuji's cursed energy, as well as Sukuna's, extremely faint positive energy... 

Positive energy? 

There shouldn't be any positive energy in Yuji's body, the only way was.. 

To use Reverse Cursed Technique. 

That explained it, why Yuji bled to death despite not having any injuries. Sukuna healed the injuries given by the fingerbearer. 

But it didn't explain why Yuji died, because if Sukuna used RCT to heal Yuji's injuries, he'd still be alive right now. 

Again though, Yuji's cause of death was blood loss. 

'It isn't that infeasible that Sukuna used RCT on Yuji, but Yuji still died of blood loss anyway. ' He thought. 

Sukuna was from the Heian era, a thousand years ago. They weren't as medically advanced, death by blood loss was likely much harder to prevent. 

Cursed techniques were also doubtlessly less developed in the ancient times, as sorcerers had to go through a millenium of history to reach where they were now. That included usage of RCT. 

If you put those two facts together, it was understandable that Sukuna didn't regenerate the blood too, as he lacked modern biological knowledge. 

'There's also no telling when Yuji switched with him. Yuji could have already lost a lot of blood before switching with Sukuna and his body wasn't able to pump out enough blood, while keeping up with Sukuna's movements.'

Satoru's train of thought was interrupted by the sound of knocking on a door. 

The door opened, revealing one Kiyotaka Ijichi. As soon as he saw them, he bowed. "Excuse me, Gojo-san, Ieiri-san. I'm just here to check on Itadori's condi..tion.." Ijichi saw Yuji on the autopsy table, then. 

"Condolences, Gojo-san. I'm sorry. I told them that if they were to encounter a special grade, their options were either to run or die, that fighting was absolutely not an option." He said regretfully. 

"It was intentional." At this, Ijichi's eyes widened in confusion. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"There was a special grade. Sending first years to rescue five who may or may not be alive, should be out of the question." Satoru explained. 

".. Besides, with Yuji, I was the one who forced the issue and got his execution indefinitely suspended. Some higher ups who didn't like that took advantage of my absence and the special grade to tactfully dispose of him." He said somewhat bitterly. If Satoru had been there, those cowards wouldn't even have thought of the idea in fear of going against him. 

Ijichi's eyes shook, as he put a hand to his mouth. "If the other two also died, it'd be more harassment for me, and two birds with one stone for them." He continued. 

"But..!" Ijichi interjected. "No one expected it to become a special grade by the time the dispatch was issued."

Satoru sighed. "Searching for someone to blame is a pain. Maybe I should.. Kill all of the higher ups." He said in a stronger tone, making Ijichi gasp. 

Someone, Shoko, also sighed. "Satoru,  Don't torment Ijichi too much. He's got it rough, you know? He's stuck between us and the higher ups. Anyways, you're not usually this emotional. It looks to me, that you've taken quite a liking to him."

"I've always been a nice guy who cares for my students." He replied. 

"Is that so?"

Ijichi cleared his throat, and spoke. "Gojo-san, Ieiri-san, please excuse me again. I have to tell the other first years of Itadori's condition." He bowed again, and left. 

She turned back to look at the body. "So, this is Ryoumen Sukuna's vessel?" Shoko said, gesturing at Yuji. 

"I can take him apart as I please, like we agreed on, right?" Part of the two hours they spent here was talking about what was going to happen to Yuji's body. Satoru felt like Yuji would appreciate his body being used to potentially save people. 

"Make sure to get good use out of him." He confirmed. 

"Of course I will. Who do you think I am?" She put on her gloves, and grabbed a scalpel. 

. 

. 

. 

Ijichi came back after a few minutes, looking solemn. He didn't seem like he had any good news to share. 

"Ijichi-san, what's Itadori's condition?" Fushiguro asks, and Ijichi bows at a 50(?) degree angle. "I'm sorry for your loss, Fushiguro, Kugisaki. Itadori...has been proclaimed dead."

She knew that was a very real possibility, but.. 

"Hey, quit messing with us. This isn't funny." She snapped. Ijichi only looked guiltier. "I'm sorry, it's true." He said, still bowing. "If you need me, I'll just be over at that building." Ijichi walked away. 

Nobara scoffs. "The nerve to be joking right now." 

... She didn't really think he was joking. Ijichi didn't seem the type to joke in a situation like this. But the alternative was that Itadori was dead. 

She wasn't even that close to him. It didn't matter that much to her. 

She stormed off. 

... 

She decided to calm herself down with one of her favorite things to do; shopping. 

She got herself a few nice things, a new parasol, some clothes for the upcoming summer heat, and some food. 

It was a bit of a drag to carry all these bags, though. She could carry them, with ease, but why do it if you can get someone else to do it for you? 

Nobara wished she dragged Itadori along. 

She would've made him carry her bags for her-.. 

"Can't believe I lost my gofer." She said in mild annoyance. 

She turned, walking towards the shop's exit, only to see a somewhat familiar face. 

'Why does she look familiar?' She squinted her eyes at the woman, trying to recall why she could recognize her. 

It was the woman from earlier. The mother of one of the inmates. What was she doing in Okutama? Did she travel for two hours to visit her son, and got the 'news' that poisonous gas spread throughout the prison? 

'They'll probably retrieve the bodies of the inmates. I don't have any business with her anymore.'She ignored the woman, shoving her hands into her pockets, only to feel something rectangular, and made of polyester. On the side, was the texture of dried blood. 

'The prisoner's name tag." She realized. She took it when Itadori handed it out to them. 

"Damn it." She cursed, moving towards the mother. "Hey!" She yelled, calling for the woman's attention. "You, there,with the brown jacket, light blue satchel bag, and brown hair. You were in Eishu Detention Center a few weeks ago, right?" She turned to look at Nobara. Her eyes were slightly puffy and red, indicating that she'd been crying. 

"Yes..? Oh, yes, I was. Do you need anything, miss..?" The mother asked. 

"I was one of the people investigating the scene, I'm a student who had to analyze the situation."

"Then..! Can you tell me what happened to Tadashi? Is he okay?" The mother asked desperately. 

Nobara grabbed the slightly bloodied name tag from her pocket, and held out her hand towards the woman. 

"I believe this belonged to him." Okazaki Tadashi, the name tag displayed. With shaking hands, the mother took the name tag. 

"They might retrieve the bodies in awhile. I'm sorry for your loss, ma'am." The mother's eyes watered, and she rubbed the tears away. 

"Thank you for letting me know." She clutched the tag, as if it were the most precious thing in the world. " I didn't know if I could last another few hours not knowing what happened to my son." She sniffed, and the dam holding back her tears broke. 

"My son, my dear T- Tadashi... he was a good kid. But he got in with the wrong people, and was influenced by them. Young miss, I can see you have a bright future. Please think hard about the people you choose to have in your life." 

"Thank you again." The woman bowed, and then left. 

Nobara went back to her dorm carrying multiple bags by herself

... 

Coming out of her dorm, she saw Fushiguro sitting alone. 

Nobara plops down on the staircase beside him. 

He spared her a glance for a second, before saying, "So. Itadori's dead."

"Tsk.Give everyone a proper death, he says. Then he goes and dies."She scoffs, then looks at Fushiguro. " Is this your first time having a partner die?"

"First time for one my age." He replied. "You seem to be taking it well, then." 

"Same goes for you." He looks at her. 

"Of course. I only knew him for less than a month. I'm not some simple woman who breaks down bawling when a guy I barely know dies. Jeez." But her lips betray her, even as she bites it, they wobble without her consent as she thinks of the times she spent with the idiot. 

The day she met him, that karaoke night, when he made her a dessert called 'so', when they, as a group, hung out in his room watching anime and looking at stupid memes. 

Itadori Yuji was most definitely not someone she would choose to be part of her new life in the city, but that didn't mean she wanted him out of it permanently. 

Fushiguro averts his gaze, looking down, and they fall into a still silence, which he surprisingly breaks. ".. It's hot,huh? "

"Yeah. Wonder if it's time for summer uniforms."

She heard the sound of footsteps, and a shadow cast over her. 

"What's this?" An unfamiliar voice said. "You're looking more glum than usual, Megumi." The stranger commented. 

"This a wake or something?"

"Zenin-senpai." Fushiguro greets, hold on, she called Fushiguro by his first name? Senpai? They know each other? 

"Don't call me by my last name!" The girl berated him. 

"Maki, Maki!" A voice calls, gaining the girl's attention, Nobara looked to see who the source of the voice was, only to see.. A talking panda?! 

'A shikigami? No, shikigami can't talk.'

"I'm talking here, can it wait? " She says. The panda paused for a moment. "Y-you actually don't know why they're so down?" It stuttered. 

"What are you talking about?" She, Maki, questioned. 

"Someone really did die yesterday! One of the first year boys!" The panda not-really-whispered. 

"Bonito flakes." The white haired boy beside the panda said. What the hell? What did that have to do with Itadori dying??? 

Maki made a weird face. "You guys should've told me sooner!" She pointed at the two. "Now I look like some heartless, cold-blooded demon!"

"That's exactly how you came off." The panda agreed. "Tuna and Mayo." The white haired dude should probably eat lunch before having this conversation. 

She glares at the two, annoyed. "You're supposed to make me feel better!"

Nobara stares at them with a blank look, and turns her head towards Fushiguro. "Who are those guys?"

"Our second year upperclassmen." He says dully. 

"You have to be kinder to your underclassmen." It (?) scolded Maki. 

"There's more to kindness than being soft on them." That, Nobara could agree with. She could appreciate someone being considerate to her, but not going easy on her. 

"Zenin-senpai is the best of all the students at wielding cursed tools." Fushiguro introduced Maki. 

"Salmon Roe." That sounded like agreement? Or maybe disagreement. It sounded like a genuine response, though. 

"That's the cursed speech user, Inumaki-senpai." Ah, so that was why he was speaking in ingredients. Nobara didn't expect it, as most cursed speech users used sign language or wrote down what they wanted to say. 

"He's a bit softer when Yuta's around, though." The Panda added. Yuta? 

"Panda-senpai." Just that?! No explanation whatsoever?! They were just going to move on? 

"There's one more. Okkotsu-senpai, who's the only one I can openly respect, " Fushiguro stands up. "But he's overseas right now."

Whatever about the second year abroad, this was bothering her. "You're not adding more about the panda named Panda?" Real original, by the way. 

Fushiguro doesn't respond. 

... 

"Man, sorry about this. And when you're in mourning.. Please forgive us for that." Panda-senpai apologizes. 

"The truth is, we'd like you to participate in the Kyoto Sister School Exchange Event." Panda explained. The what now? 

"Kyoto Sister School Exchange Event? What's that? " She asked. 

"It's a get-together with the other school in Kyoto." He explained, then glanced at the second years. "Though isn't that event mainly second and third years?"

"Those stupid third years are suspended right now." Maki informed them. "So you need to participate."

Wouldn't that mean they'd have to battle against the second years of the Kyoto School?

. 

. 

. 

Sukuna's vessel was dead, as they planned. It wasn't intentional for Gojo Satoru's mission and the cursed womb problem to intersect, but why wouldn't they take advantage of an opportunity? 

They decided to send the first years on the mission, in hopes that the vessel would die. If the other two died with him? Even better. They could use that as leverage against Gojo Satoru's supposed invincibility. 

That Gojo really needed to be knocked down a peg. Even with the six eyes and limitless, he was not above the higher ups, was not above Jujutsu society. 

A reality check, that he couldn't always have his way was due. 

He already managed to prevent Okkotsu Yuta's execution, they would not let him get away with preventing another, much less that of the King of Curses' vessel. 

What a shame they weren't able to get rid of the other two. Oh, well. At least the main goal was achieved. 

Ryoumen Sukuna, and by extension, his vessel, was too dangerous to be left alive. 

. 

. 

. 

It was dark, dark, wet, and smelled like metal. 

Whatever liquid he was laying on was soaking his clothes, sticking to Yuji's skin, and the odor was making his headache worse. 

Yuji opened his eyes, his vision blacking out and blurry, he was greeted by shades of dark red alone.. except for something, someone, a figure in front of him. 

Colors of pink, brown,beige, white, black, blue, his brain recognized. 

The figure was standing over him, he couldn't figure out their expression, but he heard them let out a sound of surprise. 

'Who..?'

Yuji's vision went fully black, and he returned to the warm embrace of sleep. 

Chapter Text

Yuji woke up again. He got on his knees, and tried to stand, but he stumbled, and fell into a sitting position instead. 

At least he didn't have an awful migraine overtaking all his senses, made worse by the overpowering metallic stench, and the strange stickiness he felt, this time. 

His vision was still blurry as he opened his eyes, and he was met with red red red. From every corner of his eye, even as Yuji gained clarity, all he could see was the red. 

Much like a cold coming back at full force after a few hours of relief, the metallic scent came back. 

Yuji scrunched his nose, the smell overwhelming him, having just woken up. Not to mention, he was cold, very cold. 

Yuji shivered, and hugged himself for more warmth, but it didn't help. The coldness grew, and Yuji felt a pang of emotion. 

What? 

Why was Yuji emotional? There was nothing to be emotional about. Sure, he was still sticky, and wet, and the scent of blood clang onto him and was everywhere-

Yuji's eyes shot open, observing his surroundings. What he saw wasn't the nice, cozy, white, beige, and homely look Zenin's domain had, the one Yuji had been in only yesterday, but rather, the crimson, bloody, seemingly endless domain Yuji first entered. 

Red, crimson,metal, wet, was all he could see, smell, hear. As time passed, the coldness worsened, seemingly directed at Yuji. But the liquid was lukewarm,and the air wasn't cold. Why was it so cold, then? Each time the domain grew colder, his emotions also deepened. Yuji couldn't pin-point exactly what he was feeling. 

No. It was better to say that he wasn't very familiar with what he was feeling. Yuji inched his body backwards on instinct. 

Like prey backing away instinctually from a predator. 

It took Yuji a moment, but he recognized what he was feeling. 

Fear. Fear for his own life. 

Yuji wasn't used to feeling it, so he didn't recognize it instantly. Not that Yuji hasn't been afraid before. He has, he's been afraid for his grandfather, for his senpais, for Fushiguro, for other people. But he's never really been afraid for his own life. He's never really had to, with his physical strength that could get him out of most dangerous situations.

Until recently, that is. A few hours ago, Yuji feared. Feared for his life, and wanted to continue living. Fear to the point of paralyzation. 

The fear now was just as intense as it was then, if not more. 

The coldness likely came from whatever was causing this fear. It was so cold, that you'd think he's got hypothermia, so cold that his limbs were becoming numb. (Or was that from the fear again?) 

Yuji noticed his hands were shaking, and his eyes probably were too. Actually, maybe he wasn't shivering from the cold, but trembling in fear. 

But what was there to be afraid of? 

Sure. Sukuna's current domain wasn't exactly welcoming at the moment, not the home he expected, and it was all bloody and red, but it was still Zenin's domain. 

Zenin's domain, which meant only he and Sukuna were there. (Probably? They never tested out if they could bring other people in.) 

There was no way Yuji was afraid of Zenin.

Zenin was his friend. His friend, who, while powerful, has never tried to harm him. Zenin, who had no understanding of memes at all. Zenin, who watched anime with him, and enjoyed everything Yuji cooked. Zenin, who trained Yuji on how to use cursed energy. 

Yuji would fear a panda more than he would fear Zenin. 

Slowly, Yuji relaxed. There was nothing to be afraid of. 

He looked up.

Yuji saw white. White? Bones. 

There was a large pile of bones. As if this place wasn't ominous enough by itself. 

Looking further up, Yuji finally saw something familiar, a familiar face. It was one he saw in the mirror everyday, with minor differences. The person was sitting on the top of the mound of bones. 

"Zenin! " He yelled, sighing in relief. The cold, the pressure he felt subsided momentarily, before coming back again with a vengeance, the pressure was concentrated on Yuji, and Yuji alone, it felt like someone hit him in the gut with dry ice. Yuji's entire being trembled, and he fell to the ground once more, his hands on the floor, shaking more intensely than it did previously. 

"Hm?" Zenin let out a sound of surprise. "Oh, you're awake at long last." He said, his tone slightly mocking. Mocking? Hearing him talk like Yuji was beneath him was strange, very strange. From day one, Zenin has always treated Yuji like an equal. And.. it didn't sound real, like he was doing it naturally, that it was Zenin's true feelings. His voice was a little strained, like he was forcing these words to come out of his mouth. Yuji would know. Zenin did say he took an identical form of his vessel, of Yuji. 

"Zenin..?" Yuji asks, confused. Why was he trying to act condescending if he didn't want to? ".. Why is your domain back to how it used to be?" He questioned hesitantly. 

"I felt like it. Are you questioning my decisions?" Sukuna's tone changed in a dangerous manner. 

"Besides, I have no use for such comforts of the modern era. There is no need for them. How I let myself become ensnared by your words and enthusiasm enough to fall into temptation is beyond me, Itadori."

What? Itadori? Zenin has always used Yuji's first name. Something was wrong. 

"Comfort is a luxury, and luxuries are for the strong." Zenin continued. 

"Itadori. You are weak." Zenin states, like it was the truth. It was the truth, and they both knew it. 

"I know." He says, because Yuji was weak, compared to many things in this new world Yuji became apart of. It became clear when he was fighting against the special grade, when he was going to die. 

"But I won't be forever! " Yuji swears. With enough training, Yuji will become stronger. Strong enough to choose when he died. 

'Wait a minute, did he say Itadori? Zenin doesn't call me by my last name-' Yuji's thoughts were interrupted by a kick to his gut, sending him rolling across the domain. Yuji digested some of the water-blood on the way, and it tasted just as it smelled, metallic, coppery, with a sweet undertone. 

Yuji got up into a sitting position, clutching the side of his stomach. "Eugh.." He coughed out the metallic tasting liquid. A figure appeared in the reflection of the blood-water, causing Yuji's eyes to shoot up. Zenin's expression was still the same as it was earlier, mocking, condescending. 

"Of course you won't." Zenin says with his chin up, looking down at Yuji. " You will either die now, as pitiful as you are, or you will become strong enough to become a proper sorcerer."

Staring directly into Yuji's eyes, Zenin says, no, states. "Ryoumen Sukuna requires a strong vessel. You do not meet that requirement. So, show me. Show me that you have the potential to be my vessel."

Zenin grabs Yuji's arms, and throws him into the bone mound. The bones dig uncomfortably at his back, the smooth texture rubbing against every inch of his skin, unnerving Yuji. 

"Fight back, vessel! Or I will kill you." None of his situation makes sense. Why was he acting like this? How long was Yuji unconscious? The last thing he remembered was Zenin promising him he'd wake up safely to his friends, and Zenin wasn't acting like this at all. 

The bones grew cold, cold, cold, freezing cold. As if Yuji wasn't already cold the entire time. The last time Yuji felt this cold, was when he punched the book Zenin imbued his cursed energy into. Yuji scrambled to get away from what was essentially a mound of dry ice now. 

Zenin walked to the pile of bones, and grabbed one (How didn't he drop it immediately because of how cold it was? Especially with his bare hands?) and then aimed it at Yuji. He barely managed to move in time to Dodge it. This reminded him a lot of when Zenin was training him, only, Zenin may actually be trying to kill Yuji. Yuji was still unsure if dying here meant dying in real life. He didn't want to know. 

"I want to make one thing clear. I don't care about you, or those other kids. I only cared about how you could serve me, or how you could stave off my boredom." He said, but Yuji didn't believe him. If it was true, why was he gritting his teeth so hard? If it was true, why did he sound like he was trying so hard to make it seem like he believed it? 

With a skeletal arm, Zenin lunged at Yuji, sending both of them to the floor, and like a baseball bat, he used the arm to try and hit him, but Yuji pushed Zenin off with his legs, which was a mistake, because Zenin threw the arm at Yuji's head midair, giving the arm more momentum when it struck him. Yuji's head fell to the wet ground, causing him to caress it in pain. "Ugh.." He groaned, his head pounding, much like the headache he had earlier. 

Zenin, who landed on his feet, simply stared at Yuji. "You were taken out of commission that fast?" He said, seemingly dissappointed. "I was right, then. You are too weak. Itadori. If there is a way to cut off our connection as vessel and curse, you should find it. You are not fit to host me." This, unlike everything else Zenin has said in the past 20 minutes or so, was real. Zenin genuinely believed this. There was no hesitation or strain when he said it. 

With that, Yuji wanted, wanted to prove that he was capable. Yuji meant it when he said that he'd consume Sukuna, Zenin's fingers, to protect other people from being harmed. He couldn't just sit still while other people were in danger because of his inaction. 

(It kind of stung, that Zenin didn't see him worthy enough. From the start, Zenin has always believed in him. 

“Six eyes, you should respect the brat's decision. If he wants to learn how to fight to regain my fingers, then he's going to do it. This brat wouldn't be here if he didn't want to.” He had said, when Gojo-sensei suggested he could lay back and let Fushiguro and him do all the work, even if he was just testing Yuji. 

“I give you my congratulations, for exorcising your first curse. This is a great achievement for all sorcerers.” Zenin genuinely congratulated him. 

And, when Yuji was training with Zenin.. 

"Congratulations on using cursed energy for the first time, Yuji.” Zenin applauded him. Pride leaked through their soulbond, but it didn't take a magical thread to tell Yuji that Zenin was proud. He could see it in the way Zenin had smiled at him, all wide and happy. He was proud of Yuji, that he managed to use cursed energy for the first time, even though Zenin, who was a thousand years old, definitely knew more advanced, impressive techniques and use of cursed energy. 

Yuji knew all of that was real. He could feel it, he believed it, he trusted that it was real. 

When he was arguing with Fushiguro, Zenin stepped in and stopped their fight, reminding them that they had a mission to do. 

When Kugisaki was taken, Yuji could feel faint fear-shock-anger, which at first, he thought was his own, but looking back, it was definitely Zenin's. 

When fighting against the special grade, and Fushiguro's signal came through, when Yuji asked to switch out with Zenin, he readily agreed. 

Those actions are not one a person who would drop others, even if they knew each other, because they were weak, would take. 

Zenin could have let them continue arguing, causing them to be too distracted to sense the curse. 

If Zenin truly didn't care about them, he wouldn't have felt all of that when Kugisaki was taken. 

Zenin could have refused to switch with Yuji, leaving him to die. 

Zenin could have chosen not to train him, possibly causing him to get killed. 

But he didn't. He chose to do all of that.) 

Yuji didn't know why Zenin was acting like this. But he was going to prove that he was capable of being Zenin's vessel. 

"No." He refused, staring back into Zenin's eyes, so similar to his own. 

"No? Stubborn brat. What makes you think you have a choice?" Zenin scoffed. "Fine, I shall give you one last chance to prove yourself. It is quite amusing to watch you flail against me."

Zenin's eyes narrow slightly. "Hm.. I have an idea." In moments, something fell from the sky, and into Zenin's hands. Yuji recognized that weapon. He was just fighting with it a while ago. 

Slaughter Demon. 

"Itadori. Fight with this. It might close the gap between us, just a little. I do enjoy a challenge, after all. Maybe you'll be able to fight me for more than a minute with it." He dropped the weapon at Yuji's feet. He didn't have to. He claimed it was to have more of a challenge, but Yuji called bull. Zenin could have chosen not to give him the weapon, and gotten an overwhelming victory. 

"Come on then, brat. Entertain me, for the last time."

Yuji got to his knees, grabbed Slaughter Demon, and charged.

. 

. 

. 

As their chest, their being burned, (like their throat, throat, throat- no. They can speak just fine. It was hard to spit any words out, but that was just the bone-deep exhaustion, their vocal cords were fine. It wasn't damaged. It was fine.) they continued to crawl. 

They were so close. They were nearing the exit of the detention center. They had to get out, they had to see Kugisaki and Fushiguro, Yuji had to see Kugisaki and Fushiguro and Gojo and eventually Maki and Panda and Inumaki and Todo and so many others, they had to crawl, crawl towards the exit because if they stopped now, Yuji never would, he'd never see or meet them again and it'd be their fault, why didn't they train him more when they had the chance to, they knew this was coming-

They let out a pained gasp, as exertion hit them hard. It felt like they were pulling at their muscles with a damn horse, and every slight movement led them to a world of pain and soreness. 

They could tell they were going to pass out soon, with their light-headedness, their blurry, blacking out vision,  and the spreading numbness of their body. 

'No, no, no, not now!' They screamed at themselves, begging their body to keep moving, just until they were with Kugisaki and Fushiguro. 

With the adrenaline now fueling them, they shakily got on their feet, and slowly started walking out of the exit. Every step was unstable, and put them at risk of falling, collapsing, fainting, but they pushed through. 

They were outside. Finally. 

"Itadori?!" A concerned voice yelled out Yuji's name. That voice sounded a lot like Fushi..guro.. 

Unfocusing their eyes, they looked at the two figures more clearly. 

In the near distance, they could see Kugisaki and Fushiguro. 

Huh..? Kugisaki, Fushiguro, is that you? Y're safe..Good.." They said weakly, and even that sent them closer to the edge of unconsciousness, taking part of what little energy they had left. 

'They're safe.' They thought in pure relief. 

They're safe, They're safe, They're safe. Thank fuck. 

Their mind was hazy, and it was gradually getting harder to think. With their last bit of consciousness, they decided to do what Yuji would've wanted to do. 

"Can you give this to the mother?" They said, grabbing the slightly blood stained ( probably theirs, them and Yuji, or the prisoner's blood.) name tag from Yuji's pocket. Well, at least that's what they think they said. In reality, it was likely less comprehensible, but they knew they got their message through since Nobara grabbed the name tag. 

Their eyelids suddenly felt like it weighed a million tons, causing them to close their eyes. 'I did it.. I'm gonna take a short nap. It should be fine, right? Yuji.. You're okay now.' They think, falling to the realm of sleep. 

.. 

They woke up, in their domain. They took in a deep breath, sucking in as much air as they could. Their chest didn't burn at all, (neither did their throat) infact, nothing hurt. 

If they were here, did that mean Yuji was awake?

They tried to see out of Yuji's eyes, but to no avail. All they saw was pitch black darkness. Yuji wasn't awake yet. So was he here? 

They scanned the room, but Yuji was nowhere to be found. Their domain was really out of place with what just happened. OGkuna's domain seemed more fitting, but also, still too edgy for their tastes. Also, they want to lie down on a bed for a couple hours staring at the wall after what just happened, thanks. 

'Whenever Yuji appears in the domain, he always wakes up in mere moments. Maybe it's like that, he only shows up when he's about to wake in the domain.'

Yuji.. They clenched their fist. 'I'm going to train him, like I should've before, once he wakes up. By the time the exchange event happens, he'll kick Kyoto's ass. I mean it this time.' They promised. 

But then, a hollow feeling crashed into them abruptly, causing them to kneel from the impact. 

But they didn't even pay attention to the immediate uncomfortable sensation from kneeling, too busy focusing on the information that instinctively went into their mind. 

Yuji was going to die, is dying. 

They panicked, their breaths quick, their heartbeat (not theirs.They didn't have a heart. It was Yuji's heart. Yuji's heart, which they were borrowing.) quickening to a speed they never had before, even at the prospect of their own death. 

No! After all of that, Yuji couldn't just die! They defeated the special grade! They got the mother some closure! Yuji should live, because the conflict was resolved. There was nothing else to do or to fix. 

Yuji lived in canon. 

Yuji lived in canon, they know he did, and because they fucked up, somehow screwed up canon, Yuji was going to die. 

It was their fault. They were complacent, not expecting the special grade to go harder on Yuji. But they were wrong. Now Yuji was paying the price. 

'This is so unfair!' They wanted to scream, scream until their throat was sore, was raw. (And yet, it was for selfish reasons as well other than grief over unfairness, grief for their friend. They wanted to scream, to be loud, for proof that they could still do it. That their voice wasn't taken away from them. That they could still defend themself.

Even now, they thought of themself.Even as most people wouldn't even be thinking of themselves as someone they knew was dying, here they were, being so self-centered. 

They.. weren't a good person, were they.) 

They didn't want Yuji to die. They didn't want Yuji to face the consequences of their actions. So, they pulled. 

They tugged on Yuji's cursed energy, and on theirs, guiding it towards Yuji's heart. Slowly, but surely, the gaping hole they felt was closing. It wasn't nearly as fast as they wanted it to be, but it was filling up, and that was all they could ask for. 

They sighed in relief. 'It worked..! Now, all that's left is for Yuji to get treated, and then he'll be okay.'

A second later, one Itadori Yuji fell from the sky. It was proof that Yuji was getting more stable. They stood over Yuji's body, waiting for him to wake up. 

Suddenly, their domain distorted, switching between their domain and Sukuna's, eventually landing on Sukuna's. 

'.. Sukuna's domain is my domain's default form. I'm still exhausted from using all that cursed energy, and I'm using all of the cursed energy I recovered on keeping Yuji alive. I don't have enough cursed energy to sustain my domain's form.'

It was fine. They were more than willing to sacrifice a few moments of comfort to save Yuji's life. 

Yuji's eyes opened, and they were ready to jump at him, to hug him tightly, because they didn't ever want to lose him again. They've already lost so many of their loved ones, not to death, but to the loss of memory, but it was practically death anyway. 

As the saying goes, you die twice. Once when you stop breathing, and once when someone remembers you for the last time. 

They don't know the feeling of losing a friend to the fair, yet cruel hands of death, and they'd rather keep it that way. 

But just as fast he opened them, he closed his eyes, and once again fell asleep. Then, he started to fade.Like a fool, they tried to grab onto him, but it was as if Yuji was water, escaping his grasp even more as he gripped tighter. 

Yuji was gone. He wasn't in the domain anymore ( dead, dead, dead) 

Calm down. He isn't dead. If Yuji was dead, they would be dead too. ( was that all there was? Did they only care that Yuji was alive because it meant they could continue living? Their stomach recoiled at the thought.) 

The hollow feeling didn't get worse, it was still getting lighter. Yuji was alive, they reassured themself. 

He had to be. 

.. 

They didn't know what they were going to do if Yuji died. (Nothing, because they'd also be six feet under.) They just knew that they wanted him to be alive. (Or did they only know self preservation?) 

They..can't be so friendly to Yuji anymore, they realize. Yuji should never trust the King of Curses. He shouldn't trust them. It will only hurt Yuji. His reward for trusting in them was a lost arm and hand. What more if he continued to trust them? A leg? An eye? His life? 

They would rather a distrustful Yuji than a dead Yuji. 

If they act closer to Sukuna's personality, Yuji will distance himself from them. Probably. They know Yuji definitely wasn't close with Sukuna in canon. They can train Yuji under the guise of beating the crap out of him, like the original Sukuna definitely would, while throwing arrogant remarks every now and then. 

It was decent for a half baked, spur of the moment plan. One of the most irritating things in the world was having someone look down on you, after all.

They climbed the bone mound, sitting on top. They had the best view here to see if Yuji fell down again. (What if he didn't? What then?) 

They waited, for a moment, minute, three, five.Yuji still didn't show up. They ignored the way their heart picked up its pace again. It's fine. Yuji is alive. Yuji is alive. Yuji is alive. 

Thud! Something fell. 

.. They didn't want to look over. What if it wasn't Yuji? What if it was a stray bone, like what happened a few minutes ago? They wanted to spare themself the pain of the going through the high of foolish hope, then the crash of the large, high waves of disappointment, more like a tsunami, really. 

But what if it was? What if it was Yuji, and they didn't come to help him after a traumatic situation? The idea of doing so made the anger,exhaustion,fear circulating through their mind expand, the emotions finding new fuel like blood to a shark. 

They took a small peak, bracing themself for the inevitable emotions soon to come, no matter what the outcome was. Down below, what fell was.. 

Yuji. Itadori Yuji. They exhaled weakly, the relief threatening to knock the air out of them. He's okay, he's okay, he's okay, I knew he was going to be okay. 

Yuji looked just as he did this morning, his pink and brown two-block styled hair, his brown eyes, and most importantly, two arms, two hands. He was whole, not missing any limbs. 

Safe, safe, safe

Their chest grew heavier, tighter, with the reminder that if they didn't screw things up, Yuji wouldn't have lost both of his hands, and one arm. They made things worse than in canon. They don't know how they did, seeing as they haven't changed much other than being nicer to people than the original Sukuna ever was, so that meant they were the problem. They were the only unexpected variable, the only one capable of starting a series of change like domino cards. It was their fault. 

"Zenin!" Yuji yelled, and almost immediately relaxed at the sight of them. 'No, Yuji. You shouldn't let down your guard around me, it should be the opposite really. I don't want to hurt you. But with my role in this world, and with me being an unanticipated factor, bringing unwanted change to a predetermined script, you're bound to get hurt. please. Cut off ties with me. Ignore me. Hate me, do everything you can to live while getting rid of me.' They thought desperately. And if Yuji wouldn't? They were going to do it themselves. 

They narrowed their eyes, pushing themself to look haughty, arrogant, condescending. They prayed that it worked. 

"Hm? Oh, you're awake at long last" They said, smiling with all their teeth. The smile didn't reach their eyes, but all the better for the image they were trying to portray. 

"Zenin..?" Yuji asks, concerned, confused. Yuji shouldn't be concerned for them. 

"Why is your domain back to how it used to be?" Yuji questioned slowly. 'Because I ran out of cursed energy again to save your life, and I couldn't maintain the form my domain took, so it reverted back to this.'

They can't say that, though. It would only lead to Yuji being more concerned. So instead, they say, "I felt like it. Are you questioning my decisions?" They feel as if it was something Sukuna would have said, if Yuji were to ask him that question. 

"Besides, I have no use for such comforts of the modern era. There is no need for them. How I let myself become ensnared by your words and enthusiasm enough to fall into temptation is beyond me, Itadori." They add, just for good measure. But there really was no need. They didn't need to eat, didn't need to sleep, didn't have any bodily functions humans needed. They did it because they wanted to, because it was familiar. 

"Comfort is a luxury, and luxuries are for the strong." They shouldn't have allowed themself to spend so much time lazing, not when they were so weak. The time spent goofing off could have been put into training, so that this situation never would have happened. 

"Itadori. You are weak." They said, but that was a lie. Yuji was one of the strongest people they knew. If they were in his situation, no matter how old they were, they knew they would have already gone through a mental breakdown or two. They know they would have already died. So Yuji was strong, so much stronger than they were. Strength wasn't only physical strength, or fighting capabilities, after all. 

“I know.” Yuji states like it was a fact, a fact that he was weak. No, he wasn't. Yuji was strong, that event only shook his belief that he was. 

"But I won't be forever!” Yuji promises, and they wholeheartedly believe it. Yuji would definitely get stronger, without a doubt. They know he will. But they have a job to do; get Yuji to cut off ties with them. 

So, they kicked Yuji. Not with cursed energy, of course, but it still had an alright amount of force in it.

"Of course you won't." They agreed, accidentally letting out their true thoughts. "You will either die now, as pitiful as you are, or you will become strong enough to become a proper sorcerer." They added quickly, to cover the truth of their feelings. 

“Ryoumen Sukuna requires a strong vessel. You do not meet that requirement. So, show me. Show me that you have the potential to be my vessel." They stare into Yuji's eyes, trying to telepathically send their message across. ‘Yuji. You don't need to prove yourself to me. You should know your worth. Please. Recognize that. Recognize that, and leave me.’

Just to get their point across faster, they grab one of Yuji's arms (it's there, it's there, he still has both his arms, he's fine.) and flings him into the bone pile. 

They momentarily wince.’Did I throw him too hard..?’ They wanted to check Yuji's condition, but they had a role to play. 

“Fight back, vessel! Or I will kill you!” The threat felt even more hollow as the words left their mouth. They knew that they wouldn't really be able to kill Yuji, no matter the circumstances. They just hoped Yuji didn't know that. 

They imbued the bone pile with their cursed energy, as little by little, they can feel themself recovering their cursed energy. It was just to drive the point home that they were willing to kill Yuji. Even though it was a bluff, a lie. 

Yuji scrambled to get away from the bone mound, it was probably very cold, like what the book they imbued their energy in last time apparently felt like. 

They took a bone from the pile, and threw it at Yuji. They knew, based on his reflexes, that Yuji would be able to dodge.

"I want to make one thing clear. I don't care about you, or those other kids. I only cared about how you could serve me, or how you could stave off my boredom.” They spat out, gritting their teeth, the words feeling like ash on their tongue. False, false, false. They did care about those three. But it seemed their care only made things worse. 

They grabbed an arm from the pile, and tackled Yuji, causing both of them to end up on the floor, with them on top of Yuji. 

Yuji kicked them off, sending them into the air, but they threw the arm at him, possibly giving him a concussion. 

“Ugh..” Yuji groaned. Definitely a concussion, then. They landed near Yuji's feet, "You were taken out of commission that fast?" They said in faux-disappointment. 

"I was right, then. You are too weak. Itadori. If there is a way to cut off our connection as vessel and curse, you should find it. You are not fit to host me." They didn't think Yuji would agree at all, but they hoped this at least made Yuji more wary of them. More open to the idea of separating. So if the opportunity to do so ever came, he would take it. 

And, they were telling the truth. Yuji wasn't fit to be Sukuna's vessel. Yuji was so young, too young. He was only 15. He shouldn't have to deal with any of this. Yuji didn't deserve to go through any of this. 

"No." Yuji, as expected, refused stubbornly. They expected it, but they wished Yuji would have done the unexpected and agreed. 

Knowing they can't persuade Yuji through words, they decide to do it with action instead. 

"No? Stubborn brat. What makes you think you have a choice?" They scoffed. "Fine, I shall give you one last chance to prove yourself. It is quite amusing to watch you flail against me." It really wasn't. They didn't exactly enjoy being such an ass to Yuji. 

Summoning Slaughter Demon, they dropped it at Yuji's feet. "Itadori. Fight with this. It might close the gap between us, just a little. I do enjoy a challenge, after all. Maybe you'll be able to fight me for more than a minute with it." They wanted to give Yuji a means to defend himself from them.

"Come on then, brat. Entertain me." Yuji charged at them, and they hardened their resolve to fight. 

. 

. 

. 

Yuji ran, and tried to punch Zenin in his jaw, only for him to catch his hand. 

"Tsk. How predictable-" Yuji cut him off by grabbing the arm gripping his hand, swinging him 180 degrees in the air. 

Zenin landed on his feet, a slight smirk plastered on his face. "Clever. But maybe you should look where you aim."

What? 

Zenin was standing next to the forgotten skeletal arm that gave him his concussion. 

Crap. 

Zenin ran towards him, the arm in hand, and Yuji prepared to dodge. He threw the arm at Yuji, and Yuji swerved his body to the side to avoid it, but what he didn't see was that Zenin slid downwards. 

'! The arm was a distraction!' He realized, but it was too late. Zenin grabbed his leg and pulled, causing Yuji to lose balance and fall. 

The arm would have hit him on the head again if Yuji didn't block it with Slaughter Demon. 

Yuji quickly got back on his feet, not wanting to be attacked while he was down. He tried looking for Zenin, but he wasn't anywhere to be found, that is, until he looked up again. 

He was falling from the sky, and by the looks of it, he was going to land on Yuji. The moment Zenin was near him, Yuji used the handle of Slaughter Demon to push him away, striking Zenin in the chest. 

They were now facing each other. Yuji had a fighting stance, ready to move, while Zenin's hand was on his hip, the epitome of confidence and nonchalance. 

"Sukuna, no, Zenin, I'm going to prove that I can handle it. I can handle being your vessel." Yuji promised. 

Zenin's eyebrow raised slightly."Then back up your words."

With that, they came clashing against each other once more. 

Yuji dodged blow after blow, Zenin doing the same in turn. Yuji didn't want to use the blade of Slaughter Demon, as he didn't truly want to hurt Zenin. And it seemed like Zenin didn't want to hurt Yuji that much as well, seeing as he wasn't going all out. If Zenin beat the special grade, then Zenin could have ended this fight a while ago. But he didn't. 

Zenin gave him a punch to his side, which made Yuji wince, but in doing so, Zenin left his head open, so Yuji punched his jaw. Zenin slightly flinched, but showed no signs of pain. He then ducked under, causing Yuji to back away, anticipating an attack. 

Instead, Zenin punched the floor, with cursed energy. 

The floor cracked, and sent both of them flying, along with some debris. 

While in the air, Yuji quickly grabbed one of the shards flying with them

'Shouldn't be that hard, right? I can put cursed energy in my fist, I can put cursed energy in this shard.' He thought. With that, he directed his cursed energy to go into the shard. 

'Eh? It's not cold? Oh, maybe it's only cold for other people. That's why Zenin didn't immediately drop the bones or that book.' 

Yuji threw the shard (thankfully, it was very blunt and not sharp!!) at Zenin's forehead. The sudden coldness surprised Zenin, and he lost his focus. 

Seeing an opportunity, Yuji adjusted his body so that he would land on Zenin once they were on the ground. 

Thud! They finally reached the floor, with Yuji on top of Zenin, their positions from earlier were reversed. 

Yuji pulled on Zenin's scarf. "Zenin, take me seriously. Don't hold back, I'm supposed to prove to you that I have the potential to be strong, right?" 

Zenin scoffed, a disbelieving expression on his face. "You're only on equal terms with me now because I'm holding back. What more once I go all out?"

"I'll lose." Yuji says, and it was the truth. "But if I can last a serious fight against you without dying, then that means I can be your vessel with enough training." 

Zenin threw Yuji off of him, and readjusted his scarf. "Brat. A serious blow from me would mean death, don't be an idiot." Zenin got into position, ready to pounce. 

Yuji braced himself for the attack, spreading out his cursed energy for protection against the hit in case he couldn't dodge. Yuji still couldn't understand why they were in this situation. Why was Zenin acting like this? What happened while Yuji was unconscious?

Yuji's eyes slightly widened in realization. The soul-bond! Yuji could know what Zenin was feeling towards the soul-bond! 

Yuji focused, focused on his feelings and senses, on the metallic smell, taste, and slight pain he was trying to ignore. He focused on his confusion, his concern, his determination. Yuji saw the thread, as magical as it was the first time he saw it, and grabbed it in a rush. 

The thread was like a gate, and once it opened, it revealed everything Zenin was feeling. 

Fear-concern-anger-fear-fear-fear-

Relief-worry-happiness-regret-

Self loathing-bitterness-regret-relief-pride. 

These emotions all swirled together, hitting Yuji all at once, overwhelming him. 

'This is what Zenin is feeling? Why? What does he regret?' He thought, shocked. Yuji had confirmation now, no, he always believed that Zenin cared about him, about them. Yuji had proof now, to make Zenin believe it too. 

And Zenin was proud of him, of his progress. Yuji realized that he never actually had to prove himself to Zenin. 

Proud of him.. Concerned.. the way he's acting right now, like an asshole who only pretended to care, trying to get Yuji to quit being his vessel if it ever became an option.. He's trying to make Yuji stop hunting for his fingers for Yuji's safety, isn't he? 

Too bad. Yuji made his bed, and he's going to lie in it. 

Zenin finally pounced, and punched Yuji's stomach, Yuji immediately grabbed the hand that punched him, trying to stop the fight so he can have a proper talk with him, but Zenin anticipated that, and elbowed Yuji's side harshly, but Yuji didn't let go of his arm. 

"Zenin. I know you care." Yuji says, and Zenin looks at him as if he's stupid. " Can you not hear, Itadori? I have already told you that I never did, never have, and never will care for any of you."

"That's not true." Yuji denied. "You could have chosen to let me die when I fought against that curse. You could have chosen to not tell us the curse was there. You could have chosen not to interrupt our argument. But you did."

Zenin only sneered at him. "What don't you get, Itadori? I only did those things because it wouldn't be entertaining if I didn't, and don't you remember? Once you perish, I will as well. I only saved you for my own safety, nothing more. I merely pretended to be your friend to watch as you realized I never was." Every word sounded even faker than the last. With the context Yuji has now, everything made a painful lot more sense.

"Then tell me! Why can I feel your worry, concern, relief, and pride through our soul-bond?" This caused Zenin to freeze, his eyes widening only a smidge, but Yuji was able to catch it. Zenin recovered very quickly, but they both knew he saw it. There was no denying it. 

Zenin slapped his hand away, causing Yuji to lose his grip on him, and Zenin moved backwards. 

"You're still new to using cursed energy. You're clouding the connection with emotions you want me to feel. I'm not actually feeling that, brat." Zenin sighs, as if he was talking to an annoying, small child. 

"Don't lie to me!" Yuji yells, a little irritated that Zenin thinks he would fall for that. He knows it's not what he wants Zenin to feel because why would he want Zenin to be bitter, to be afraid? These emotions were Zenin's and Zenin's alone. 

"I'm not." Zenin lies. "You're only deluding yourself with the lies I fed you. I'll be nice then, and burst your delusion." 

"I'll even give you what you were asking for earlier. I'll take you seriously, Itadori." He smiled again, all teeth, which Yuji would have interpreted to be dangerous earlier. But now, all he can perceive this smile as, was desperate. Zenin knew he was caught. 

Zenin moved a step forward, and instinctively, feeling the danger, Yuji moved a step back. "Brat.. If you don't want to be cut in half, move now. Wake up, and don't return." Zenin warned, but Yuji stayed put. 

Zenin sighed, and it was a little shakey, as if he was scared. "Fine then. It's your funeral." He said, pointing his index finger at Yuji. 

"Dismantle."

Time seemed to stop, and Yuji's body started shaking slightly, as the invisible attack undoubtedly came closer to Yuji. But he made no move to dodge. 

Yuji closed his eyes, bracing himself for any pain that may come.

It never did. 

Zenin tackled him once more, rolling them away from the spot Yuji was less than a moment ago. Yuji coughed, as he consumed the blood-water again. Looking up, he saw Zenin. Not Ryoumen Sukuna, the character Yuji now knew Zenin was playing in order to get him to leave, but Zenin. Yuji's friend. 

Zenin's facade dropped, and now he revealed his true self. His eyes watered, tears threatening to spill, his eyebrows were furrowed, and he looked angry, concerned, worried. 

He grabbed Yuji's hood harshly. "Why the hell didn't you move, Yuji?!" He yelled, so very afraid, a tone he never expected to hear from Zenin. "I could have killed you!"

"Because I knew you wouldn't. I trusted you not to. "

Zenin's face relaxed slightly, going slack. His eyes widened, and he gaped at Yuji in surprise. "What..?"

"I trust you, Zenin. You're my friend." Yuji says easily, because it was the truth. 

".. You really shouldn't." Why wouldn't he? Zenin has never done anything wrong to him. He's always been nice, kind. Zenin has given him every reason to trust him, and none to not.

"But I'm going to, anyway." Zenin sighs, and goes to a crouching position, offering a hand to Yuji, which he took. 

"I guess that means I can't convince you to stop searching for my fingers." Zenin smiled bitterly. 

Yuji shook his head, and approached Zenin, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Zenin. Please be honest with me. What happened when I was unconscious?" 

Zenin sighed. "Very well, then. When you switched out with me, I had to face the special grade. I.. defeated it. It took me longer than what I would've liked, as I had to get used to fighting." Hm, it made sense. Zenin hasn't fought in over a thousand years. "Because I took longer, it depleted its cursed energy, so once it died, the domain came crashing with it. The curse had used the space of the prison for its domain, so it meant that the prison destabilized as it returned to its original form." He explained. 

"We then started suffering from the effects of cursed energy depletion, and had to get out of the prison, but we had barely any energy to do so. We got out, thankfully, and I fell unconscious in front of Fushiguro and Kugisaki. We should be getting treated right now." That didn't explain the emotions Zenin felt from earlier..? 

Zenin must have seen his confused expression, because he continued. "Once I ended up back in my domain, you were nowhere in sight. So I waited. And as I waited, I began to think. I thought about how it was my fault you got those injuries. Yuji.. I suspect foul play. I believe they wanted to kill you despite your sensei's interruption."

"Yuji.. They don't want to kill you for you. They want to kill you for me. They want to kill you because you ate my finger, because you're my vessel. They would have never batted an eye if you were just another kid. You should've been another kid, if not for me." Zenin's voice cracked. 

"And then, while I was thinking, I felt it. I felt you dying. I panicked. I guided my cursed energy and yours to your heart, in an attempt to save you. It worked. I.. was scared. I didn't want you to die. Because.. You're someone I've grown attached to. Because if you died, it would've been my fault. All my cursed energy went into saving you, so I didn't have enough to maintain the form of my domain, so it reverted back to this.”

"I didn't want you to die. And I thought that if you lived, that you should part ways with me. That you should live a normal life. That's why I was acting like that earlier."

Yuji squeezed Zenin's shoulder. "Zenin. It's not your fault at all." He said firmly. "You didn't want me to consume your finger. You didn't want me to get executed. You didn't plan for me to go on this mission. And.. It was my choice to lead this life, remember? I chose to look for your fingers, to keep people safe."

".. Your only options were that or death, though. Doesn't seem like much of a choice to me." He says. 

"Remember when Gojo-sensei tested me about letting him and Fushiguro do all the work? Actually, I don't think it was much of a test, looking back, he looked a little too serious. Like if I chose that option, he would've been fine with it, even if it was harder than having me look for your fingers. I chose this, Zenin." He reassured him, and pulled Zenin into a hug, surprising him. 

"Thank you." Yuji whispered. "Thanks for saving me, both times. Thank you for being my friend. I'm happy to have you in my life. Thank you for being a good, caring person, Thank you for being you." Zenin hugged him back, tightly. They let each other go after a few moments

"..Do you really mean that?" Zenin asked. 

"All of it."  With that, Zenin hugged him back tightly. They let each other go after a few moments.

"Thank you, Yuji. I needed that. I'm sorry for being a jerk." Zenin apologizes. 

"It's fine. Fushiguro is a jerk everyday and I'm not mad at him." At this, Zenin stifled a chuckle. 

Suddenly, the domain distorted, from its crimson red to the beige and white they were familiar with. 

"Oh, great timing. After everything that's happened I need to lie down.. for a few hours." Zenin says exhaustedly. 

"Good idea." 

Zenin looks at him, not with fake condescension, but how he usually looks at Yuji. "Hey. We haven't watched any anime in awhile. Do you want to..?" He suggested. 

Yuji smiles. "Of course!"

.. 

Because heavens knew they needed it, they watched a happy slice of life anime. 

Yuji was half asleep on their couch, as the episode was coming to an end. They squeezed Yuji's hand, causing him to wake up. 

"Hrgn..?" Yuji let out a sound of confusion. 

"Nothing serious, sorry. Just wanted to thank you for not giving up on me, even when I wanted you to."

Yuji smiled. "Anytime, Zenin. That's what friends are for!"

"Yeah, friends." They admitted for the first time out loud, and Yuji grinned at them. 

Zenin smiled back, and after hours of distress, they were happy. 

~~~~~~~

Yayayayaya hello!!! Thank you all so much for nearly 400 kudos and 8k hits!!! 

I've comissioned some artists for this fic recently, so here's some of their art!! 

Zenin in this chapter!! 

Zenin in chapter 11(specifically, after they drink the curse's blood) 

I've comissioned more artists but they're yet to finish, so you'll see them next chapter!! (Or in the discord server)