Chapter Text
“...Makoto-sama? Makoto-sama are you alright?”
Those were the first words Yuuji heard when he awoke. He slowly blinks awake, and his eyes open to a young man shaking him. Makoto…? He sits up slowly and feels a pounding in his head.
When was the last time he had a headache from being overwhelmed with cursed energy? Why wasn't he using the reverse curse technique? The man wastes no time in reversing the negative energy, healing his mind so it can handle seeing the cursed energy around him.
“Makoto-sama, can you hear me? Are you alright?” The man calling out to him is dressed in traditional clothes. Yuuji frowns, the higher ups no doubt.
He pulls away from him, shuffling away. “Who are… you…” His words trail off as he realises the voice escaping him is too young. Yes, Yuuji's voice is definitely too young for his ripe age of 83 but this… he sounds like a child.
The man starts worrying over him, calling him ‘Makoto’ again and instructs him to stay put while he gets a doctor.
Who is Makoto? Why is this person calling him that? Yuuji stands up and he realises just how short he is. His gaze lands on his body and limbs. Short and stubby arms that are still developing, some baby fat still present in his growing body.
His clothes are traditional, a purple-grey yukata with a dark blue obi. What is…? Yuuji tries to find a mirror, his gaze lands on a hanging mirror that's too tall for him.
He opens a drawer and finds some futons in storage. It's difficult to lift with his small frame but he drags it toward the mirror and steps on it. He can only see his head but that's enough.
The first thing that catches his attention? The extremely pale brown hair that almost looks grey or blond. There's a cool tone to it too but that's not as obvious. Then his eyes, they're not brown anymore. They're pinkish, a mix of light brown and pink.
His hair is still dual toned with half pale brown, almost blond, and dark brown and his hair is cut short, making the fluffy tresses look even more soft. The elderly man in him wants to coddle the boy he's seeing. What an innocent face, so precious and small. If he wasn't the kid right now, he'd probably be tempted to give the kid some candy and rub his hair while telling him to be a good boy for his parents.
Okay, so he’s a really cute kid. Why?! He has half a mind to panic but the logical part of him remains calm. There's definitely something wrong but he doesn't have enough information.
The man from earlier comes back with an older woman. She gently asks Yuuji to step down from the futon so he can't fall and hit his head.
It's weird to be cared for so much, Yuuji's not saying his grandfather was uncaring but the man followed the teaching philosophy of ‘Mess Around, Find Out’. Oftentimes, Yuuji would do things and get hurt and the man would offer basic first aid before letting the kid live with his consequences.
The lady, who seems to be some sort of house doctor, starts examining Yuuji. She checks his tongue and his eyes, she also asks him some prodding questions.
He gets his name wrong, his home, the people around him. The more questions he gets wrong the more concerned the old woman looks. “Please call Shinji-sama and Jinka-sama,” the woman orders and the young man leaves swiftly.
While he's gone, the woman asks Yuuji even more questions. All of which the boy can't answer, aside from the question about cursed energy and curses. Must be a sorcerer clan, Yuuji thinks as the woman looks at a loss.
Soon, his ‘parents’ arrive. An older man with pale brown hair and reddish brown eyes and a slightly younger woman with dark grey hair and dull pink eyes. “Oh Makoto…” the woman rushes to his side to brush his hair. The woman's cursed energy fluctuates from her distress and Yuuji feels a deep sense of guilt.
“My poor baby… can you recognise Mother?” She cups his cheek as her pink eyes look at him with fragile hope. Yuuji tentatively shakes his head, watching helplessly as the woman's eyes water.
His ‘father’ is less panicked over the situation, choosing to speak with the doctor than check on him. While his ‘mother’ hugs him in tears, Yuuji can overhear the conversation with the other two adults.
Apparently, the boy he is right now has extremely high cursed energy sensitivity or something of that sort. A good sign for a sorcerer if he wasn't just a child. The stimulation from the cursed energy gives the boy headaches so severe he supposedly suffers from fainting spells often. It doesn’t sound believable though…
Yuuji looks around curiously. If the current level of sensitivity is what the boy experiences every moment, he can understand why the boy has such trouble without any reverse curse technique or a barrier for his eyes.
The doctor theorises that Makoto, the boy he is right now, likely suffered from some kind of brain damage from the fall this time. An extremely unlikely thing in Yuuji's opinion but he's no expert in childcare or how fragile kids are.
For now, the family treats him with care and makes him rest for the next week while repeatedly checking to see if he can remember anything.
Yuuji comes to learn more about his family as he ‘recovers’ from brain damage. He's from a sorcerer clan that he's never heard of in the other timeline, even weirder is the name of his clan which is Ryona. The connection to Ryomen Sukuna is odd but the name being quite literally "double exorcism” makes it credible that it might be an extremely old and forgotten sorcerer clan.
The old clan claim also stands since Yuuji quickly learns his household is quite large, with a multitude of servants and relatives. Unlike the big three clans, Kamo, Gojo, and Zenin, the Ryona clan doesn't seem to have a strong political influence on Jujutsu society.
The man never bothered to put himself in the whole sorcerer clan business so if he had to guess, it's probably something similar to Inumaki-senpai where they're a prestigious clan for their cursed technique.
And another thing about his life as Makoto, daily exorcisms when the doctor deemed him sufficiently recovered.
His father, Shinji, is a strict man who instructs Makoto on how to properly use his technique. It's an ability eerily similar to Shrine since it's all about making slashes and cuts.
“You've gotten better, Makoto,” Shinji would praise him when he does well. The man would usually carry him in his arms after a mission is complete, which for a elderly man like him is somewhat embarrassing but his child legs get tired way too easily… He picked his poison, and he'll live with it.
Of course, during the missions Yuuji makes sure to hold himself back, using barely any of his cursed energy when attacking so it looks appropriate for his age.
His father seems to be impressed by Makoto's sudden improvement after the memory loss but thankfully doesn't press the boy on it. Meanwhile, Makoto's mother makes Yuuji's stomach churn with guilt.
Every day, once the boy comes back from his daily exorcisms, she will come to coddle him and pamper him while trying to get him to remember anything.
His favourite food, his favourite toys, their favourite games and the lullaby she sings. Yuuji recognises none of it. It makes him sick to his stomach every time the woman covers her face to cry so Makoto can't see her.
Yuuji bites his lips, it's most likely his pre-pubescent body but he feels irrationally emotional whenever his mother cries in front of him. He doesn't know what he can do to help the woman, how can he try when he's not even her son?
Something like a voice within speaks to him. All it wants is to not see the woman cry. Yuuji doesn't know how to comfort her yet the voice keeps edging him to help her.
He walks closer to the woman and grabs her yukata. “M… Mama… don't cry… Makoto will be good, promise…” as those words escape him, the dam of emotions within him shatters and the raw unfiltered emotions of a toddler shake his very core.
Yuuji- no, Makoto starts wailing as he clings to his mother and begging her to not be sad anymore. Random events from Makoto's life flood into his mind, his favourite grilled saba, red bean jelly, a hand-sewn security blanket his mother made for him.
As he recalls those events, he cries to the woman in a desperate attempt to lift her spirits. He promises to eat the pickles with his fish, he swears he won't eat all the jelly by himself again, he promises her he won't make her sad again.
As he says these things, Yuuji can't help but recognise that these are the words of Makoto. The short 7 years of life the boy lived pale in comparison to Yuuji's 83 and yet a fragment of the boy is still in him. Or perhaps, he is the boy. He's only just remembered another life.
None of that matters now as he understands, he is Ryona Makoto and the year is 1995. He has loving parents and this is not a timeline he's familiar with.
This peaceful family is something he wants to protect, he will protect it.