Chapter Text
Ah, nothing beats spending time with your children. (Sans Suguru but damn him! Gojo wants to think of something other than his dead partner-best friend-person, whatever, for once)
Gojo’s two kids students, Kugisaki Nobara and Itadori Yuuji had gone shopping for the afternoon, since Nobara realized Yuuji doesn’t have much of a wardrobe, and she recently discovered that he looks good with make-up on, so she wanted to buy things to try on him. When they’d found out about Gojo’s unbelievable wealth, Nobara often wanted to go shopping, and she’d ask Gojo for money, and who was Gojo to refuse giving a few hundred yen? Which left Gojo and his basically adopted son Fushiguro Megumi to themselves.
Gojo suggested Megumi trained with Maki for a bit, which Megumi agreed to. After a lot of Gojo watching Maki kick Megumi’s ass at offence (Which is Gojo’s graceful opinion, wasn’t that bad, he’s on a similar level to Utahime when she was a student, Maki is just way to good at striking, slashing and combos.), his defense position was somewhat better. He was holding up his guarding, his blocking had increased in accuracy and he was practically spot on with bracing. Which was when Maki decided to be generous and gave Megumi some mercy.
“You’re getting better at defence, ‘Gumi” Gojo said, sliding beside his son on the stairs in front of the training area.
“Tch, I need to get better at attacking too,” Megumi said, rubbing his neck,
“Don’t beat yourself up about it! Besides, it’s Maki-chan, you know she’s not going to go easy on you,” Gojo said, ruffling Megumi’s hair.
“I guess that’s true, but I don’t know how I can get stronger,” Megumi replied,
“Hmm, that's something you have to figure out on your own, though you could ask some of the sorcerers I know who also have Shikagami,” Gojo hummed,
“..I’ll think about it,”
The older cracked a grin at his son, enjoying the moment. It was peaceful, comfortable, and it made Gojo’s heart warm.
Then— They both freeze.
Because they feel it.
Cursed Energy.
Not just any cursed energy.
Such a powerful force it could rival Gojo’s.
Gojo straightened up immediately, covering Megumi as he stood in position to strike.
Then—
They hear noises.
And it’s rustling of leaves and trees from their right side.
And out comes a hooded figure.
Gojo and Megumi stand ready. But Gojo notices several things.
For one, the man, presumably, doesn’t seem to be in the mood for fighting, he’s not even taking a stance. He’s holding his hands up in surrender exactly where Gojo sees them, to show that he isn’t a threat, probably. He doesn’t appear to be here for fighting as well.
The man starts approaching. Gojo shields Megumi.
Secondly, this man, this white hooded figure… Is taller than Gojo?!
Unbelievable! Gojo was known for being one of the tallest beanpoles in Jujitsu Sorcery! How did this man even evade Gojo’s Six damn Eyes?!
Before Gojo could make a move, though, the hoodie guy’s lips started moving.
“Gojo-sensei… Fushiguro-kun, knew I’d find you here, sorry about the cursed energy, It’s just how I find sorcerors.”
Now this was one hell of a surprise! This guy knew both Gojo (He is the strongest, he expected that) And Megumi! Not only that but for Gojo, there was something…. Something about his voice that felt familiar. Not to mention that he addressed Gojo as “Sensei”.
“Who are you? How do you know us?!” the shortest of the three barked,
“Fear not, Fushiguro-kun, you do know me, but you don't… it’s… Complicated, you’d rather not be listening to that because you wouldn’t believe it.” The hoodied man said, placing his hand under his chin, probably thinking about how to explain his situation.
“Now, now!” Gojo interrupted, this man clearly wanted to talk to them, so it shouldn’t be a big deal, plus, Gojo could deal with it if he ever changes his mind. “See, I need to know who you are if we needed to talk,” Gojo said, pointing at the man with one hand and putting the other on his hip,
“I would rather not show you, I just want one thing, then I will be on my way, and you’ll never see me again, truly.” The masked man replied, with his hands back in his pockets,
“Whatever that is, I’m sure you can do, after we know who you are,” Gojo replied, it appears as though the man also did not want them to see him, Gojo would need to get closer it he wants to see past that shadow covering that man's face.
“I’m certain, you don’t need to know, I’m just a… Sorcerer that has been living… Under, you could say, this certain task requires only a second of your time, hopefully..”
“What could I possibly do in a second?” More than a million things but continue,
The man took his hands out of his pockets, so that he could extended it,
“A hug,”
Oh?
“You have incredible strength, yes? And my grip is tight as well, I was in dire need of a hug so I thought, why not get it from the strongest himself? Someone who’d have the same grip strength as me?”
“Have you lost someone in your life?” Gojo asked, a bit too soft,
A beat, “Yeah”
Gojo could feel the tiredness from that one syllable that rolled off his tongue. It felt… So empty, it was laced with guilt, shame and regret, but more over, acceptance, like everyone he’d known had vanished before his eyes. It was something that Gojo could relate to. Something so personal about having the title of the strongest. That did it for him.
“C’mere, you only get this once,” Gojo extended his arms, watching the man basically perk up as Gojo turned off infinity, then man came forward,
He wrapped his own body around Gojo’s.
Gojo could basically feel the tension in this man’s body as he practically melted into Gojo’s arms, he must be carrying a lot. Just like Gojo’s burden, though, it seems, this man might be carrying a lot more.
The man didn’t want to let go, and for some reason, so did Gojo. This was… Familiar, familiar in a sense of having experienced this before, but it felt so… Foreign at the same time.
Eventually though, they pulled apart, “Thank… You… So much, Sensei” He could feel the choked sobs that this man was holding in.
Though, the man turned to Megumi now, “Fushiguro-kun, is it possible if I can get one from you too?”
Megumi gawked, “What?”
Gojo frowned, because this man somehow knew them, personally. Under Six Eyes, he could feel how wrong he felt. As if he didn’t belong here. He recovered faster than Megumi though,
“‘Gumi, it’s fine! I just had it and it was fine, I’d know, with Six Eyes after all, just give him what he wants!” Gojo chirped, giving him a thumbs up,
Megumi looked skeptical, but he decided to trust Gojo’s instinct, besides, knowing the amount of cursed energy this man had, he would rather not get on the man’s bad side,
Megumi stepped forward, and the man met him in the middle, wrapping his arms around Megumi.
Megumi… He felt as if the man was shielding him, protecting him from god knows what, this man was holding him like he mattered more than the world, and it was how Megumi hugged Tsumiki. Like he was afraid to let him go.
Eventually though, the man let go, hesitating, but he stepped away from Megumi’s personal space.
“T-Thank you, thank you so much Gojo-sensei, Fushiguro-kun, you’ve made my day so much better. I can’t— I can’t thank you enough,”
The man brought a hand to wipe away tears, “‘M sorry, it’s just… It’s been a really, really long time since I had that…”
Oh how cruel.
Gojo would love to give him one more.
The man turned to Megumi, “Thank you, Fushiguro-kun, I know you rarely do that,”
Megumi appreciated that, but it still felt very off that this man knew them.
Though in this angle, where the sun shone in the man’s face, Megumi was able to get a good look,
He could see the scars the man wore, the defined shape of the man’s face, he was definitely mature, an adult, but the Megumi took a look at his eyes and—
The world stopped for a second.
Because those eyes.
Golden Brown. Just like a certain someone. But these eyes, they weren’t reflecting anything related to the pink-haired boy Fushiguro knew. Those eyes were a window to his soul. And that soul was pitch black with years surrounded by darkness. Empty, as if there was nothing to hold on to. There were bags under his eyes as well. That made him look so much more mature, but not in the sense of grown up. In the sense of being robbed of his childhood.
The black haired boy’s eyes widened as he took the face in full. This was an exact replica of his classmate. Except that he was older by a few more years, had a lot more scars on his face, grew white hair instead pink. And lost the shine in his eyes that he was known for.
Megumi stumbled back, “I-Itadori?!”
Gojo turned to the man, mouth agape, who flinched when hearing that name. As if the universe was against him, there was a sudden gush of wind which threw his hoodie back. Revealing the eerily similar yet drastically different but most definitely, Itadori Yuuji.
“Yuuji-kun?” Gojo asked cautiously, approaching the man,
“Oh no, this is bad,” Yuuji— No, Older Yuuji murmured, to no one in particular
“Yuuji-kun wait, don’t go anywhere, please let’s talk, come on, you said it yourself, you haven’t had this in a while, come on, I even turned off infinity,” Gojo ran to older Yuuji and grabbed his wrist,
“Sensei…” Older Yuuji whispered, it was so quiet Gojo wouldn’t have heard if he wasn’t used to Megumi’s silent whispers.
“Yuuji-kun…” Gojo whispered back, this time he didn’t waste time, and wrapped himself around his student’s older self.
Older Yuuji’s posture was breaking. Oh god, how long has he been holding this?
Gojo tilted his head up to see that the older version of his student had screwed his eyes shut, Gojo took the opportunity to place two fingers onto his forehead which made him immediately fall into Gojo’s arms.
The teacher did a backtrack and realized that although Yuuji was so tall, he was so… Light… Gojo could carry him in one arm. Was this malnutrition? Was he depressed? How long has he been like this? How long has he been like this and no one could help him?
He gathered Yuuji up and started moving to the teacher’s lounge, since there was Gojo’s room. He thought that Megumi’s room or younger Yuuji’s room would be too much,
He gently placed the older version of Yuuji on his bed, Megumi sat by with him, but then he’d gotten a text from Kugisaki and younger Yuuji saying that they were back.
“You go, ‘Gumi, but don’t tell them about this,” Gojo told him, Megumi nodded, he got up and headed to the door, but hesitating at the knob,
“When he wakes up… Can I talk to him?”
Gojo let out a breathless chuckle, “He’s going to be asleep for more than you think, but I’ll let you talk to him when I think is right,”
Megumi held onto that chance and left, which left Gojo to watch over a sleeping older Yuuji.
He definitely did need a lot of sleep, considering that Gojo had barely placed his fingers onto older Yuuji’s forehead and still managed to render him unconscious.
There are still alot of questions in Gojo’s head.
Though, older Yuuji might need a lot of energy for that, well then, let him rest to gain his energy. In the meantime, Gojo needs to entertain the kids of the present!