Chapter Text
Itadori yawned, adjusting his backpack. He had this weird, nagging uncomfortability in his stomach, and the reason was unknown. He sighed and put it to the side, it was probably nothing, or maybe this foodie was just hungry. He’s leaning towards that second option. Yuji crosses the street after being given the signal. He wondered if his parents were making dinner. Wasuke usually helped after being told countless times not to or he finally gave in and grumpily watched TV on the couch, glaring at them every chance he could get. Yuji smiled at that thought. It was a long day at school. Quite frankly, he wasn’t the smartest guy out there.
He finally made it to the doorstep. Yuji grasped the knob and turned it, trying to open the door. It wouldn’t budge. There was a metallic scent in the air that he couldn’t figure out. Remembering his keys, he reached into his pocket and grabbed them, juggling with them until he could find the house key. He pushed the key into the keyhole, then twisted the knob successfully, opening the door.
Red, there was red. The floor was red, the walls were red, the furniture was red. Red happened to be Yuji’s favorite color, but not this red. This red was wrong. So, so very wrong.
His keys clattered to the floor. Was he breathing? If he tried, would it really work? Would his lungs give in? A guttural scream escaped Yuji’s throat before he could even understand what was happening.
Everything was broken. When I say everything, I mean everything. Even the heavy air was broken. Yuji’s heart wasn’t broken. It was completely, totally obliterated.
A groan broke through someone’s lips. Yuji couldn’t tell who’s lips they were. He looked over, and there was his grandfather. Yuji’s breath hitched. He was hyperventilating while not getting enough air through each gasp and sound. He tried to move, but his legs were shaking uncontrollably. If he moved, he’d most likely fall face forward.
His grandfather had small little cuts on his face, only visible for the bloody red beads forming and sliding off of his face, onto the floor. Thick, warm, red liquid was pooling around him, his white shirt absorbing half of it, changing colors. Wasuke’s eyes closed shut, then reopened, introducing a tear to the family of liquids on his face. Mixing with the blood, it streamed down his cheek before hitting the ground noiselessly. If you were to look down, you’d be able to tell that two of his five fingers on his left hand were gone, God knows how.
Jin was leaning against the broken wooden dinner table, facing Kaori. Kaori was smiling. No… That’s wrong. Yuji’s mother shouldn’t be smiling. She should be sobbing and screaming and trying to process what the hell just happened in her house. But no, she was smiling. And that smile turned into a grin. She laughed so softly. That sound didn’t fit the situation whatsoever. She brought the knife in her hand up close to her face so she could examine it, while pinning Jin down.
“Oh, Jin. We have an audience! Our very own son. I mean, I didn’t create this masterpiece just for it to go to SHIT. Right, honey?”
“Kaori… What the FUCK do you mean… What have you done…? You’re a monster. YOU’RE A FUCKING MONSTER!”
She used her left hand, the one pinning Jin down to crush him farther into the table with menacing anger.
“You don’t get to call me a FUCKING MONSTER, babe! You knew all a-fucking-long. My own hag of a father knew and he warned you, Jin baby. He warned you. How can one be so… So oblivious? Am I that pretty, babe? AM I THAT FUCKING PRETTY?”
“I TRUSTED YOU!”
“NO FUCKING SHIT, JIN! AND OH… THAT WAS A BIG FUCKING MISTAKE YOU MADE THERE.” She laughed cruelly. “Big, big mistake, baby.”
Yuji finally got his voice to work after minutes of trying. “M-Mom…?”
“Yuji! Quick question! There are so many ways to kill a person with a knife, really. So many ways! How should I kill your father? Choose wisely! Five seconds!”
“Five!”
“Four!”
“Three!”
“Oh… Yuji.. TWO!”
“Couldn’t make up your mind? Me neither! ONE!”
She cackled and shoved the knife straight into Jin’s arm, a horrifying screech escaping his lips.
“OH, YOU LIKE THAT, BABY? I CAN GIVE YOU MORE! I’M SO FUCKING GLAD YOU LIKE IT!” She pulled the knife out of his arm and repeated the same steps with his other. “SCREAM, JIN! SCREAM!” She went for the legs next, the same steps again. He screamed and cried and begged to no avail.
“Sorry, baby. Was that too much? Yeah… You’ll die soon. I give it a minute.” She kissed him on the lips. “You were a fun time, really. I’ll end it for you a bit quicker. Thanks for everything, baby.” And with that, she slit his throat. He tried breathing and failed, choking on the blood that stained his teeth red and pooled out from his mouth. She licked the blood away before kicking the table down, along with him. Jin Itadori was dead.
Yuji tried stepping forward. He staggered and only got an inch closer to his destination before Kaori somehow got to Yuji in seconds. He tried to move, tried to run, tried to scream, tried to do something. Anything. He’s worthless. He already watched his father die and he just stood there like the pink haired pussy he is.
Kaori grabbed his hoodie with one hand and showed off her knife, twirling it for Yuji to see. Then, she brought it up to her own forehead, where a long stitched scar was. She poked at it with the tip of her knife, making it bleed.
Yuji had silent tears streaming down his cheeks, and Kaori used the knife to wipe them away, giving him a small cut. “You're crying for a ghost, Yuji. The woman who gave birth to you is long gone. I am Kenjaku. I simply used her flesh as a workshop to build you.” She spoke like a scientist explaining something to an experiment, cold, intentional.
"Look at your own hands, Yuji. You've always been stronger, faster, and different from the other children, haven't you? That's because you aren't fully human. You are a masterpiece of engineered malice. Half-human, half-curse, designed by my own hands." She chuckled. "Next year, a deity named Master Tengen will require a new body to maintain the world's balance. The world thinks a little girl named Riko Amanai is the only option. But they are blind. I created you to be the true Star Plasma Vessel. Your soul is the key that will unlock everything. Go to Jujutsu High, my child. Let them find you. Let them see what you are. And let's see how long they can look at a monster like you before they try to break your heart."
Yuji stared at his mother with shaky bloodshot eyes.
"Go on, Yuji. Run to those precious sorcerers. Cry to them. Tell them what you are. They will look at your tragedy, and do you know what they will do? They won't comfort you. They will lock you in a cage, call you a savior, and march you straight to your execution. I don't need to force you into that tomb, my child. The hypocrisy of Jujutsu High will do it for me."
And with that, Kao- Kenjaku gave him a kiss on the head before walking out the front door and politely closing it, leaving Yuji with his murdered family, his real family.