Chapter Text
The morning sunlight illuminated the Zenin estate’s Dojo, as Ranta Zenin swept up dirt, dust, and bits of dried blood from bloody training sessions from the floor with an old straw broom.
A member of the Kurkuru unit leaned against the entrance to the Dojo, watching Ranta clean.
“Oi, Ranta? Y’sure ya don’t want me to take over?” The older man scratched the back of his bald head, “I’ve heard Nabito’s been wanting to speak to you about an engagement to some rich bitch or something, right?”
Ranta continued cleaning, though raised his head, no longer looking down at the floor of the Dojo. The puddle of blood beneath him was slowly being absorbed into the broom.
“It’s my duty as a man to help anyone beneath me. Just because I’m a member of the Hei, it doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be working as hard as you guys do!” Ranta gave the older man a small smile, before returning to cleaning the fairly large pool of blood beneath his feet.
The broom was drenched in fresh blood.
The older man chuckled, shaking his head, “Well shit, thanks Ranta. I’ll make sure to save ya some breakfast!” With that, he threw a hand up over his shoulder, and walked away.
Ranta looked down at the pool of blood rising beneath his feet as he kept sweeping, and sweeping…
“I need to show I’m a pillar for them to stand on. I need to protect those beneath me. I need to take on the burdens of those weaker than me.” He repeated a familiar mantra he had told himself a thousand times before, as the blood continued to rise, higher and higher, completely engulfing his legs.
He dropped the broom, letting out a sigh as he watched it sink into the blood. The entire Dojo was now filled with rapidly rising blood, and it kept rising and rising, up past his waist, and towards the fairly short Sorcerer’s head.
“I’m going to miss breakfast at this rate, aren’t I?” Ranta sadly muttered to himself, completely oblivious to the absurdity of the situation as the blood finally engulfed him, obscuring his vision in a dark red void.
“One of us has to get engaged to a Zenin, seriously?!” Akane was the first to break the silence after her father’s announcement to the gathered Tendo sisters.
“I know it sounds bad, but I’ve heard he’s a NICE boy!” Soun’s head rapidly turned from right to left, scanning the faces of each of his daughters.
Kasumi was still smiling, yet her eyes held only disappointment, directed squarely at her father. She had already reluctantly accepted her presumed fate.
Akane looked shocked, more betrayed than angry.
Nabiki looked a little surprised, but far less so than her little sister.
“Well, obviously it can’t be me. The Zenin’s are obsessed with keeping their bloodline pure, and I can’t use cursed energy.” Nabiki looked at her two other sisters with a sympathetic smile on her face.
“Why?!” Akane looked up at her father, that look of betrayal on her face dug into Soun’s very soul.
Soun shamefully cast his gaze downwards ,”It’s… It’s complicated. We- Ahem, the /Tendo/ clan has a great debt to the Zenin clan. One that their clan’s head, Nabito, has asked we finally pay. I’m sure you’ve heard about the state he was left in after the Shibuya Incident. I thought he would’ve only wanted our heirloom, but… He wanted one of you as well, for a nephew of his.”
“This is completely ABSURD! We’re being traded like-like we’re… Sacks of rice! This is the modern day, how is this even allowed?! And right after that mess in Tokyo, why are we even bothering with these stupid marriages when the entire world now knows about-” Akane’s rant was cut short by Kasumi, who calmly stood up from the small table they were sitting at.
“I’ll do it.” Kasumi stated simply, her voice near emotionless.
“No-No-No, wait! No!” Akane looked up at Kasumi, then to her father, “You can’t send Kasumi, they’d tear her apart! Even I know the Zenins are a bunch of misogynistic pigs, and Kasumi doesn’t even know how to use her cursed energy!” Akane shot upwards, her shock and panic threatening to overwhelm her completely, as cursed energy involuntarily flickered around her body.
“Can’t you just say no, Daddy? What’s the worst they’d do?” Nabiki, despite her shrewd nature, was far less knowledgeable of the world of Jujutsu compared to the rest of her family.
Soun’s head remained hung low.
“They would destroy us, and take our family’s heirloom for themselves.” Soun’s voice trembled. Nabiki seemed to realize the seriousness of the situation, shooting a worried glance towards her eldest sister.
A fire ignited within Akane’s soul, spurred on by her father and sisters, “I’ll do it instead! Send me, I’ll get engaged to whoever this old bastard is instead of Kasumi!” Akane made her proclamation with a hand on her chest. She was determined to save her eldest sister from whatever fate awaited her there.
“If any of those pigs try anything, I can handle myself.” It was a flimsy half-truth. Akane was at most, a grade two sorcerer, one that never received a formal education in Jujutsu outside of her father’s training.
Kasumi’s reluctant acceptance turned to shock, every single Tendo was staring wide eyed at Akane.
“Akane…” Kasumi looked down with pity at her youngest sister.
Soun raised his head, his face stricken with strain, “If… If that’s what you want to do Akane. We’ll do it. We’ll speak more about this tomorrow, and prepare you for your first meeting.” And on that grim note, the Tendo clan meeting was concluded.
Akane stood at the large metal gate leading out of the small Tendo estate, nestled in a rich part of Sendai amongst other large homes. As did her father and two sisters.
“Now remember, they want THIS cursed water! It’s imperative you get this to them no matter what! Protect it with your life if you must, Akane.” Soun reached out with a shaking hand, placing an old clay bottle into Akane’s hands.
Akane let out a grunt of acknowledgement. She looked miserable. Despite the young woman’s good looks, her body was clearly one sculpted by a lifetime of training and hard work. She was a tomboy, that much was obvious to anyone who looked at her, especially thanks to her neck length black hair, which was kept in a short, messy bob cut. She was wearing a blue kimono, much to her visible discomfort. She looked down at the unlabeled clay bottle she now held in her hand, the so-called “Tendo Family Heirloom” she had heard so little about.
“What even is this, dad?” She looked up at her father, who cleared his throat and prepared himself for an explanation.
“Long ago, my master once travelled to a village of sorcerers within China. When he left, he took this with him. Cursed water, capable of transforming anyone it touches.”
Akane listened along, a little surprised as her father stopped talking, “Transform them into…?”
“I don’t know.” Soun flatly responded.
Akane let out a wheezing, pained noise.
“My master didn’t like talking about his time in China, nor did he ever tell me exactly what that water did. What I know for sure is that Nabito was extremely interested in that water. I presume it might have some sort of healing property, similar to reverse cursed technique, which is what makes it so valuable in their eyes. Especially for a man in his state.” Soun finished his explanation with a shrug of his shoulders, “But that’s all just theory my girl! I’ve got absolutely no idea what’s so special about that water.”
Akane swiftly turned around with a huff of annoyance, reaching into her Kimino and pulling out a polaroid photograph of the man she was supposed to be engaged to. Ranta. A lithe, leanly muscled young man, roughly around the same age as Nabiki. Eighteen at most, probably? His messy black hair was tied back into a low ponytail, and he was smiling at the camera.
“Honestly, he looks kinda cute.” Nabiki peered over Akane’s shoulder to get a better look at the picture.
Akane scowled at her elder sister, “He’s probably a misogynistic PIG!” Akane rebutted, as she began to stomp away from her gathered family.
“Please come home safe, Akane!” Kasumi called out to her little sister, watching the grumpy, angry young woman finally exit the Tendo estate.
“Meet him, give them the water, and then home! Please be polite!” Soun called out to his daughter, who gave a grunt of acknowledgement in response as she climbed into the taxi waiting for her.
If looks could kill, just about everyone in Akane’s way would be a dead man. It had been one long ride to the Zenin estate. To even call it an estate would be an understatement. It made the wealthy, upper class house the Tendo’s lived in, in a nice high end neighborhood look like a shanty town.
The taxi dropped her at the very edge of the property. A dirt road led into a gigantic forested area, and beyond that Akane saw many rooftops through the lush forest ahead of herself, with the largest towering above the rest, presumably the main house.
With the clay bottle clutched tightly in her hand, she made her way down the dirt road. At first, things seemed relatively normal. As normal as being in the private land of a gigantic family full of backwards misogynistic sorcerers could be.
Then, Akane saw a ruined building. A small one, probably a cabin or something. Reduced to rubble, with only the stone base of the house remaining. She moved onwards anyway, assuming it had been recently demolished in some sort of training exercise.
Then she came across what she could only describe as a “line” of destruction. As far as she could see in one direction, there were nothing but flattened, wrecked trees. It was like a speeding car had blasted through the forest, wrecking everything in its path.
Steeling herself, she continued onwards. Her fathers words rang in her head. She needed to deliver this water, even if her meeting with Ranta fell through.
“It’s probably just some stupid training exercise.” She muttered to herself
She finally reached the clearing of the woods after a few minutes of walking. A stone path led upwards towards the gigantic Zenin compound, built upon a gigantic stone foundation, raising it high up into the sky.
It was in ruins.
Parts of the rooftop had been blown off, and while a significant portion of the gigantic building remained intact, it was clearly in bad shape.
Akane looked over her shoulder, at this point she was thinking about just turning around and running away. Something terrible had happened, that much was obvious. From the looks of things, it had to be somewhat recent.
No. She had to deliver this water.
She marched onwards, steeling her nerves and making her way into the compound proper.
“Hey, is anyone here?!” Akane called out, as she walked around the gigantic, wrecked building, searching for a way inside.
Silence.
After a while of searching for a way in - Or any sign of life, she eventually came across a large lake, and beyond it, a gigantic crater. What had once been the Zenin Dojo.
And right there, on the wooden pier leading out to the lake… Was a man. A young man - Slumped over on the half destroyed wooden pier in a pool of his own blood.
It took a moment for Akane to realize what she was staring at, the gigantic crater, and the corpse of the man she was supposed to marry.
She took a step backwards, shaking. Akane was a tough girl, but she was no killer, no warrior. The only corpse she had ever seen was her mother’s in a casket. And right beside her dead fiance, floating in the lake, was a middle aged man’s head. Fresh, from the looks of it. Maybe an hour or so old.
Akane screamed, falling backwards onto the stone path she was walking along.
“T-THAT’S A DEAD BODY! I-IS SOMEONE HERE?! ANYONE?! PLEASE- PLEASE HELP!” She shrieked at the top of her lungs, desperate for someone else to come and handle this horrific situation she had unfortunately stumbled upon, for someone else to pick up the burden of witnessing the horrors laid bare before her.
A wheezing, pathetic noise came from the “corpse” on the wooden pier.
Ranta was alive.
Blood continued to pool around the boy, trickling down the wooden boards and into the lake proper. His eyes were closed, blood trickled out of them despite this, along with every other orifice Akane could see.
Akane scrambled back to her feet, for a moment completely forgetting about her hatred of this situation, and how much she already despised this boy. She knelt beside him, rolling him over onto his back.
“Can you hear me?! Are you alive?! Ranta?!” She shook his body.
No response. The bloodied Zenin continued to breathe erratically. Shallow breaths without any rhythm.
He was going to die. And Akane knew it.
“No-No-No!” She let go of the dying man, panic threatened to overwhelm her once again, until… She looked back at the clay bottle, dropped on the pier behind her in her panic. The cursed water, water that could heal someone. At least, that’s what she thought.
She looked back to Ranta, the dying Zenin. For a moment, she wondered if this was worth it. If a man like him even deserved this water. She thought about walking away, and telling her father what had happened. The Zenin family was in ruins, Ranta was dead, they had no more debt to pay.
They were free.
She couldn’t bring herself to let him die.
Her leanly muscled arm shot out, grabbing the clay bottle, and with a flick of her thumb the cork popped out cleanly.
“Please work.” Her voice trembled as she dunked the water, which looked as ordinary as the water in the lake beneath her onto Ranta’s face.
Blood. He was drowning in blood. He couldn’t see. He couldn’t feel. He couldn’t move. He could barely breathe. He heard someone - A woman calling for help. He couldn’t make out the words, or what she was saying.
He needed to help them.
That was his duty as a man.
And of course, that was their place as a woman.
Weak. Fragile. A creature that needed to be protected. A creature that shouldn’t fight.
From the depths of the blood surrounding him, a figure emerged. Naoya Zenin. His leader. His superior, and his mentor.
“How can you protect anyone, if you can’t even protect yourself, Ranta?” The smug looking blonde jeered, before disappearing into the blood around them.
With a sharp gasp, Ranta took a long deep breath of air in. His eyes shot open next. He saw the sky, it was painfully peaceful, almost mockingly so. Clear blue skies, with only a few fluffy white clouds floating far above.
‘Did we win?’ It was the first thought that crossed his mind, as he began to struggle to move. He was surprised he survived, he fully expected to have killed himself with the overexertion of his cursed technique. His attempts to move were fruitless, it felt like every muscle in his body was either cramped, or numb.
“Hey?!” A female voice called out to him. There was water? Blood on his face? It made it a little hard to see. He painfully moved a hand up towards his eyes, trying to wipe the liquid off of his face.
The most beautiful woman he had ever seen was looking down at him. She was kneeling, dressed in a traditional blue kimono. Her short fluffy hair perfectly framed her face. A cute face. Beautifully cute, in the sort of way that made Ranta’s heart flutter. And those eyes, those big beautiful brown eyes, he could almost see his reflection in them.
“W-Who…?” He reached out towards her, completely captivated by the beauty of this incredible woman.
She jerked back, away from his lithe hand. Ranta grimaced, shame and anger overwhelming him at the thought of such a woman rejecting him.
Wait. Since when was his hand /lithe/?
“Do you feel… Uh, okay? Normal, I mean…? Oh- And I’m Akane.” Despite her reaction to his attempt to touch her, the beautiful woman, whose name Ranta recognized from somewhere, seemed very concerned for Ranta. This made sense, as Ranta had almost just died.
That wasn’t important right now. Neither was this beautiful woman, sadly. He needed to make sure the rest of the family was okay. He needed to make sure his friends, and brothers were alive.
“I’m- I’m… O-Okay.” Ranta began to force himself to sit upright, his strength already starting to return to his body. He coughed violently, realizing something was wrong with his voice. He definitely didn’t usually sound like that. Had straining his body to such an extent messed with his vocal chords?
The worried, beautiful woman continued to kneel in front of him, looking at him with a very worried and concerned look on her face.
“G-Good. That’s… That’s good. I thought you were a goner, but I guess that water really did save you!” She let out a sigh of relief.
Ranta nodded.
“Wait, water?” He tilted his head. As he did so, his messy red hair fell in front of his eye.
His hair wasn’t red. Was it stained with blood or something?
As feeling slowly returned to his body, he felt wrong. Inherently wrong. There was a weight on his chest, his legs felt too… Plump, and his arms felt weak, like the lean muscle he had worked so hard to maintain had suddenly vanished.
He was beginning to panic. Something was wrong, very wrong. His breathing quickened.
Akane reached out, grabbing his now lithe hand, which oddly enough was smaller than her own, “Don’t freak out, but… Uh, you… You’re a woman now.”
“WHAT?!” Ranta shrieked in her now distinctly feminine voice, looking down at her body to see… A pair of breasts, and a very feminine figure.