Chapter Text
It was an odd feeling of floatlessness before being slammed down onto the world of the living.
Gojo Satoru found himself popping out of a bush after he accidentally tripped on a stray stone somewhere, leaves in his hair as he grimaced, brushing them all away with his hand.
“What a landing,” he dryly said to himself before trying to look around.
Only to find that he cannot see anything.
“Huh?” Gojo could feel something soft blocking his vision, a cloth? When did he even put on a blindfold? His fingers grasped at the black fabric before tugging it loose.
Immediately his vision was bombarded with information he did not even ask for as soon as his bright blue eyes took in the environment. Some kind of
school
Location: Sugisawa High, Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture
Cursed Energy: Ten Shadows, Unknown, Sukuna's Finger
Time: Night
, the
wind
Environment: Light Breeze
Speed: 4 mph
Carrying: Dust, pollen
felt kind of nice, was that a molecular structure of a
falling leaf?
External Parts: Lamina, Petiole, Veins
Internal Layers: Waxy Cuticle, Upper Epidermis, Palisade Mesophyll, etc.
Leaf Type: Ginkgo
“Ow!” He hissed, massaging between his eyes and trying to shut down the extra senses that kept flowing into his brain without a tap to turn it off. “What the hell?”
It hurts so bad! I’m getting a headache from this.
Gojo placed his hands to cover up his eyes, but he could still faintly sense everything and it was slowly driving him insane!
He instinctively pulled the fabric that he just tugged off and hover it over his eyes. As if by magic, his eyes no longer tried to greedily grab every single thing in his sight and dissect everything to its basic form... like snorting crack and getting high from vision.
So he tied it back up over his head, not sure how he was able to make it work in the first place because it kept slipping off.
“I’m just tying it into a bow.” Gojo did a quick bunny ribbon loop at the back to make sure it stayed and nodded to himself.
And now... everything was back to darkness.
“Damn.” Not really helping. At all.
It was a horrible walk back, trying to clumsily navigate the area while mostly fully blind was something else.
The sky was dark with an ominous lingering taste in the air, or was it his blindfold making everything dark? He could vaguely see the difference in hues of color of a light-colored school building with the background of trees and the light of the streets.
This looks… awfully familiar? Like he had seen this place before.
There was the structure of something large, probably a door and a stair up to the school’s rooftop.
“My guts are telling me to go up there, but how do I even-” he walked right into something hard. Gojo immediately grabbed his face and let out a tiny cry in surprise.
“Ouch! What did I just walk into?” He rubbed his nose, then his forehead. Before tugging his blindfolded up slightly to come face to face with a
concrete school wall.
Material: Reinforced concrete & steel-framed structures with plasterboard
Cursed Energy: None
…
Gojo pulled the fabric down before his eyes could revolt against him.
“My eyes are both magical and not magical at the same time.”
The rooftop was quiet after the near-death experience. Fushiguro was bleeding from his head while Yuuji was standing unharmed after almost just being eaten by a curse the size of a small house.
Something had taken over Yuuji’s body, and for Fushiguro… the mission had been compromised.
”Huh? I kinda thought he’d fight me on that more.”
Yuuji tilted his head, crossing his arms. ”Also he just told me that he’s still here and- Sheesh, that I ‘shouldn’t presume to try denying him at least consciousness'?”
The pink-haired teen stuck his tongue out a bit. ”I wasn’t gonna anyway but that’s a kinda creepy way to say it, man.”
He looked as if he was listening to something once again.
Then he grinned. ”Oh, yeah, ok sure. I mean you don’t seem that bad, heh-”
”Itadori!” shouted Megumi, wide-eyed.
”Don’t agree to anything the curse says, it’s extremely dangerous! And it can take over any moment-!” he wanted to warn the other but he didn’t finish the thought because-
The worst case scenario had come to light.
Gojo found himself reincarnated into the world of Jujutsu Kaisen. As in, the literal epitome of traumatizing teenagers craft events, the series.
Which… he’ll panic about it and let his brain catch up to the implication later.
Huff, huff.
“Hold it right there, curse!” He kicked the door to the rooftop right open to see… a blurry something and a pink blurry something past his blindfold. He leaned forward and caught himself on his knees. “Let me- cough, catch my breath.”
“Gojo-sensei!” Fushiguro raised his brow, wondering why his teacher took the stairs to the rooftop. He didn’t expect to see the other sorcerer here considering the fact how flippantly he was over the phone not a few hours before.
“Sensei, why did you take the stairs?”
“Exer- huff- cise.” Gojo raised one finger up to pause for time.
“... and why is your forehead pink?” He slowly lowered down both of his arms just as Gojo almost tripped right into him.
“No reason in particular!” Gojo chirped, deducing that the voice was mostly Fushiguro and quickly side-stepping away before he could really trip over his own student.
Huh, I have a student.
“Okay, I may have hit a wall on my way here-” Fushiguro’s eyebrow shot up as he heard that, wondering if it was a joke and he was pretty sure it wasn’t from the blood loss. “-but say, what happened to that finger I told you to go get?”
The story, right. Keep it canon! Can’t accidentally change things and mess around with the timeline.
“Oh that? I ate it.” Yuuji pointed to himself with a sheepish look.
Gojo just stared. No way. Oh no. He knew that voice.
“Does it taste good?” He blurted out loud while Fushiguro stared in disbelief at the sorcerer’s back.
“Tastes… tastes good?! It’s a cursed finger, sensei!” Fushiguro’s eyes twitched.
Gojo immediately raised his hands up. “Okay okay, I was just wondering! Why would he eat it if it tastes like anything!”
“Actually, it tasted more like a bar of soap.” Yuuji threw his thoughts into the matter, still standing on the rooftop and awkwardly waving his hand around. “Sorry about that, it was an emergency!”
“That sounds reasonable enough for you to eat a cursed finger from thousands of years ago, not knowing you’d die from a poison, makes sense. Makes sense.” Gojo nodded his head seriously, hand under his chin.
“It… doesn’t make any sense.” Fushiguro deadpanned.
“Of course it doesn’t!” Gojo groaned to himself, before curiously turned to look at Yuuji. He couldn’t see anything much right now, but he already knew who inhabited that body. The dreaded King of Curses.
Which he will not be testing out if this kid could handle the curse inside of him or not. He already knew that Yuuji could, so letting the curse take over that body for ten seconds like in the anime was out of the question!
Gojo currently didn’t have the slightest clue how to fight or use Cursed Energy right now.
"And you!" Gojo immediately got up to Yuuji and placed both of his hands, no infinity at all, on Yuuji's shoulders, feeling the soft hoodie under his palm. "Under any circumstances, let the curse inside you out or we'll all die!"
Fushiguro stared at Gojo some more.
Gojo's fingers twitched, before almost pleadingly whispered, "Please don't let him out."
There's no "Nah, I'd win." It would be "Nah, I'd be dead."
Yuuji blinked. "Uhh. I mean, okay- Huh?"
Another blink, eyes glancing to the side, almost as if he was listening to something.
"I... Guess? The curse guy- ah, Sukuna okay- doesn't seem mad about that? Though he sounded kinda confused."
A scratch on his cheek, considering, staring at the blindfolded adult. "Maybe he's chill...?"
"... chill?" Gojo stared at Yuuji like he had grown a second pair of eyeballs. "The King of Curses... is... chill...?"
They both stared at each other while Fushiguro also stared at whatever the heck was going on right now.
"... like ice cubes?" Gojo asked again just to make sure, even though his question didn't sound like it made any sense.
Yuuji stared at him, brain cogs working overtime.
"Uhhh, no. At least I don't think so? I meant that he's... Cool? Not about to blow a fuse?" A slight smile on his face, his arm traveling to scratch the back of his head.
"I mean, the King of Curses sounds like a scary endgame boss but he's not yelling at me bloody murder or anything, just saying his name and... sorta agreed with you not to? Or maybe he just doesn't feel like it?"
"I- well... um," Gojo faltered, this wasn't what he remembered happened in the canon story. But maybe this was a good thing.
How much of it was true and how much of it was false?
Was the King of Curses just trying to bide his time to kill them all later? Quiet now, surprised them with confetti?!
"That's... great!" He realized that he zoned out for too long like a blue screen computer before pulling his hands away from Yuuji’s shoulder and slapping on a grin.
"But man! Glad to have that sorted. So, do you want to be kidnapped into a school of sorcerers with cool powers?"
Yuuji stared at the adult before him as he froze and the teen wondered what was up with the blindfolded guy dressed in the same uniform as Fushiguro.
The other teen... didn't seem very impressed by anything at the moment. Ouchh.
"I mean... Sure?"
'You may as well find out more about the world you have been thrown into, brat.’
Yuuji opened his mouth, then closed it. He wasn't sure if saying anything... curse monarch? voiced to him would be a good idea. Though...
"Yeah, yeah sure. I should... find out what's up with everything yeah? But..." He looked around. "I'm guessing I should keep quiet about Sukuna, then?"
"Yup!" Gojo popped the 'p' at the end before smiling widely. "Kidnapping it is!"
He then pointed two fingers in front of Yuuji's forehead, tapping gently.
...
And then waiting. Gojo stared, but Yuuji was still standing. Not going to sleep, not fainting. Nothing.
"Right... normal escort it is then." He awkwardly pulled his hand back before shuffling over to Fushiguro, who was half-stumbling on his feet, squinting at how weird his teacher was currently acting. "Psst, do you know the way back to Jujutsu High?"
"What?" Fushiguro looked at his teacher like he was telling a bad, terrible, and untimely joke. "Just teleport!"
Gojo stared some more. Right, teleport.
...
How... how does one do that?
"We could... take the train?" He suggested slowly.
"... a train." Fushiguro deadpanned before glancing at Yuuji, then back to his teacher. "But you said you don't know where the school is?"
"... no..." Gojo awkwardly trailed off. When he noticed the other trying to do something with his hand, Gojo immediately grabbed at Fushiguro’s arms before the other could run off or try to jump from the building without a parachute.
"Just- help me out here, Megumi-kun!" Gojo threw in a flutter of his lashes. Wait no, that was under his blindfold. "I'm tired and sleepy from work. My brain is scrambled!"
Fushiguro’s eye twitched before letting out a long sigh and shuffling along. Both Gojo and Yuuji shuffled after him like a group of lost ducklings. “Fine. Train.”
Fushiguro stepped off at the station carrying a bag of kikufuku souvenirs he found near a bush outside the school (pretty sure it was Gojo-sensei’s from the lingering cursed energy around it), only to realize his sensei didn't follow.
And now both Yuuji and Gojo were lost. On the uh, on the train. Because Yuuji thought Gojo was a responsible adult, or just... a trust-worthy teacher.
"I think we missed a station," Gojo said after they totally did not fail to get off at the right time.
Yuuji turned to look at him, eyes wide after just waking up from the train ride.
"Itadori-kun," the sorcerer stammered, unable to keep the nervousness from his voice. "I can't remember the direction."
He patted at his pocket and quickly turned on the screen of his phone. Though darkness greets his vision. Right. Blindfolded. Gojo mentally groaned in his head. He doesn’t want to use his eyes again!
"Oh no. We're lost!" exclaimed the teen, worried and wondering how this happened. Yuuji tapped at his phone to find Fushiguro’s phone number, only to realize that uh didn’t… have… the other sorcerer on the list.
But before he could panic too much, he felt... something odd on his cheek... And suddenly a deep, resonant voice spoke to them both.
The one lone eye staring at the Strongest with a considering air.
"The other brat stepped out at the last stop. Unless I am mistaken about how this form of transport operates, simply walk out when the machine stops again, and then return one length of travel. There is no need to... whine, my Vessel."
Gojo flinched at the voice that suddenly said between them. His head turned to look at the... vague shape of cursed energy around the face.
Eyes? Mouth? It was really hard to see with the blindfold on. But if he took it off, then his head would explode from sensory overload!
"That's... surprisingly helpful." Even he could stop and appreciate a helping hand… helping mouth?
Even if it came from the King of Curses.
Gojo coughed lightly into his fist before beaming brightly. No panic, panic only made things worse. "Right! Then we should get out on the next stop and go back to the previous station."
Then he turned to look at Yuuji instead of Sukuna on his cheek, cracking a small grin. "This is what happens when you try to use public transportation, kiddo."
Yuuji smiled and chuckled. “Yeah, public transportation is a little confusing.”
"The curse inside of you... is a lot more cooperative than I thought," Gojo hummed, tapping a finger on his cheek. “Weird.”
"I am not a mere monster from history books, Gojo. Although I certainly wouldn't deny your... Proper wariness. I am still a being of power, as slivered as I may not be at the moment."
Voice steady, lone crimson eye still boring into the sorcerer with Intrigue, the curse continued.
"As long as you take good care of my Vessel I am indeed willing to cooperate. And... I desire to speak with you in the future. Arrange so without painting a target upon him with my presence, sorcerer. I shall wait... patiently."
A little smile.
"Do not abuse my leniency."
Gojo just laughed slowly, hard to tell if it was a self-deprecating laugh or a 'Oh no, I'm dead' laugh.
"Maybe not the 'speaking' part." He waved his head around as they came to a stop at the next station.
"Our worlds are better apart, you see?" Then he pouted before gesturing Yuuji along off the train. "Curses and sorcerers cannot get along. They'd cause an international incident!"
The curse simply continued to stare at him silently, contemplating, as the two walked onto the station.
"I mean, maybe... You could be the first one?" Yuuji suddenly spoke up, voice contemplative. "I know that's like, different, but it's a thing that shows up pretty often in stories right? Maybe..."
He paused, feeling a certain... atmosphere appearing, compelling him to let the curse within him speak instead.
"Although the child speaks in a naive way-" "Hey-!" "-his words are not... utterly incorrect. I believe you ought to reconsider making myself displeased by not granting me... a chance, sorcerer."
A pause, a ruse of contemplation as if the further words were not yet thought of.
"You do require my silence to not break apart your ruse, no? Then, make myself use up the desire to speak with you - and I suppose the child - rather than before the ones who would wish him harm of execution."
Gojo raised an eyebrow under his blindfold, a faltering grin before quickly pulling it back up again. "Are you threatening me by any chance, King of Curses?"
This is creepy! Is the King of Curses usually this talkative?
"My, my, the audacity! When you're stuck inside a teenager's body." He smiled cheekily before turning to look at Yuuji.
"Here's what we're going to do, Itadori-kun... and Sukuna." Gojo pointed his finger at (probably presumably) the teen's chest. "The higher-ups of the Jujutsu would freak out if they realized you can house the evil King of Curses in your body. So you must pretend that you don't have an evil curse. You're just... someone I decided to adopt on the side of the road!"
Then he paused before looking at the quiet station, "For your safety and everyone else, you must not let him out no matter the situation. He's strong, Itadori. Don't let his 'compliance' fool you."
Gojo blinked then added again, looking back at the teen. "Oh, and he eats people."
"He has the insatiable urge to sink his teeth into flesh like a vampire." Gojo started to ramble before patting Yuuji's head. "And I am currently, desperately, in no position to be able to stop such a curse if you let him take over your body."
Yuuji was still digesting everything the strange adult before him said- adopt him from the side of the road???- when the curse... spoke once more.
Stare still firmly upon the sorcerer.
"Oh?"
Amusement, intrigue, and something yet... deeper, hidden within the blood-hued eye.
"I was under the impression that you are a very powerful sorcerer, Gojo. And yet you seem unsure of your ability against even a sliver of myself? How puzzling, when just a moment ago you acted as if a threat against you was foolish..."
A little... Chuckle.
"I suppose we all gain certain impressions upon first glance. Perhaps you may be willing to... Reconsider your rebuttal. We just might find ourselves... 'getting along' very well, especially with our mutual desire to keep my Vessel in one piece."
Gojo looked uneasy under the gaze of the curse. Reconsider?!
A hum, calm and regal in sound, coming from Sukuna.
"I shall as well be much more inclined to go along with the plan you have just conveyed, if you do..."
"It is foolish to threaten me," Gojo scoffed, waving his hand around as he replied to Sukuna. "Because..."
Because...? Gojo thought about it. He was supposed to be the strongest sorcerer of today. Even though he currently didn't feel like it.
"... because I'm the strongest sorcerer of this era. So you better watch it." Gojo threw a thumbs up just to gain a small semblance of confidence.
I want to shrivel up like a raisin and cry.
"But you? Wanting to... ‘get along'?" Gojo hummed, leaning up close to stare at the red eye. "I find it hard to believe."
Well that was interesting.
Instead of the curse saying anything though, for now, the teen did so instead. "You're the strongest sorcerer, Gojo-sensei? Woah..."
Ah, right. That... hasn't come up before, did it?
(Things shuffled around, one may suppose.)
With sparkles in his eyes, the soon-to-be-sorcerer continued, quite stocked at the new information.
Even if he was still kind of confused.
"That's so cool! I mean, you haven't been acting like that much but I guess you're just the humble kind, eh?" A grin, brightening just a bit more from the ongoing uncertainty pushing on the kid's shoulders.
The day was not going well for a while now, after all- even if he took things in stride so far
“Hey, I am awesome! Don’t judge a book by its cover now.” Gojo flashed a smile before reaching his hand up to ruffle Yuuji’s hair, a small squawk was the reward.
"I guess... I don't have to worry too much with you around, then! Though, you did say you have some... problem, sensei?" The teen started to raise his hand to scratch his cheek, but realised it's currently occupied and quickly switched the hands holding onto the train, doing the gesture with the other.
"Or is Sukuna just that... strong? He did say he's, uh, 'slivered' though, so you could probably... definitely take him?"
"He most likely could indeed, my Vessel, albeit not easily." Suddenly sounded the unnerving voice once more after such a pause, tone... unreadable.
(Sinister yet calm, oddly... soft, even.)
"I was once known as the strongest myself - and I am unsure how the sorcery world has changed, but I do know that the particular... combination of traits your new teacher has makes one quite formidable."
The white, inhuman pupil surrounded by crimson traveled down and then upwards once more, as if examining the one standing next to his turned Vessel- then, returned to continue staring directly into the sorcerer's veiled eyes.
"Although I fear him not, I do respect his strength and what he represents, as well as... Some other features."
'Other features?' mouthed the teen in confusion while Gojo awkwardly shrugged as the curse(?) continued his thought.
"Is it truly so difficult to believe I may be interested in conversing with... something perhaps even nearing a peer, sorcerer? You are verily intriguing, as I hope you are aware."
Another smile, soft, regal, yet... dangerous.
(At this point it may have been unclear if the King of Curses could do anything without such an undercurrent.)
"It's quite uncouth to pique the interest of a monarch only to then deny them fulfillment…”
"I can totally take him." Gojo let out a laugh after being quietly flabbergasted by how talkative the curse was, he had missed his moment to reply, patting Yuuji's back and in turn, Sukuna.
I can totally not take him.
"Enough talking, we're going back to school, your majesty!" he purred before dragging them out of the next station, following the sounds of the busy people out of the train’s door. He'll unpack all of that later.
"Maybe I like playing hard to get. Do you like how charming I am then?" Gojo smiled.
The curse only huffed quietly before fading from Yuuji’s skin, back to being smooth once more.
They found Fushiguro waiting outside, still... with blood running down his forehead. "Can we go now?"
"Right on, my little prickly urchin! We'll go back to school, get you healed up and then~" The sorcerer turned to Yuuji and patted his head, "As for you, I think you have a business to attend to before we fully whisk you away to Tokyo."
The teen gave him a slightly confused blink at both the pat and the statement, but then understanding filled his eyes - and so did a sad note. "Ah, right. Yeah..."
With all the insanity of the day he... forgot for a moment about the painful loss he experienced as well.
(Or, perhaps he simply didn't want to think about it.)
Regardless,
"Can you... come with me, sensei?" He changed his posture ever-so-slightly with a glance to the side, perhaps subconsciously, and then looked back onto the adult sorcerer. "My friends are going to be recovering right now and I would rather not be alone, y'know. It's fine if not, Fushiguro still needs to get his head healed and all..."
The aforementioned teen let out a sigh and crossed his arms. Before Gojo could speak up. "I already waited this long, may as well do more for this kind of thing."
"Fushiguro..." Yuuji started, straightening up a little.
"Don't think about it too much." interrupted the other, not wanting to hear his likely words of gratitude at the moment. "The-" He tensed up for a second, then let go. "-curse talked about getting me to a healer soon so I wouldn't mind spiting him a bit."
Gojo’s gaze softened as he turned from Fushiguro to Yuuji, “Sure, I’ll go with you.”
Though he did look slyly in his other student’s direction and ruffled his head as well. Everyone was getting a headpat and no one could stop him!
“Look at you, already being worked up by your personal feelings.”
Fushiguro squinted at his teacher, letting him pat his head once before swatting it away, no infinity? “And I’m doing something about it.”
Gojo let out a genuine laughter at the weirdness befalling on the conversation, trying to lighten up the mood and began to lead them out of the station to go back to the hospital.
Only to then realize he had no idea where the place was and they all had to turn around and backtrack. This time with Yuuji leading the group instead while Fushiguro sighed in exasperation.