SPOILERS POST SHIBUYA-ARC, particularly reveals from chapters 143 and 145 that comes from a head-canon of mine.
DISCLAIMER: All characters mentioned are owned by the great Gege Akutami. I am merely using their characters and inducing more pain to satiate my heart.
Part 4 of 3 AM Jujutsu Fics
DESIGNED
After thousands of years and over a hundred failed attempts, Kenjaku finally succeeded.
He finally created a being that existed between a human and curse; the future of all humanity. The child, who shared features similar to his father, had sharp intuitive eyes and striking pink hair. He held no apparent cursed energy but with small test trials, Kenjaku discovered that the child was able to absorb and sustain it.
Still, It was too early to tell if the child was capable of using the energy he absorbed, but the fact remained that the child could serve as a basin for cursed energy. It did not matter how powerful the cursed energy was, the child simply ate it up like a gluttonous entity that devoured everything without fail. This knowledge led Kenjaku to a new conclusion. Not only did he create a special specimen, he created the perfect cursed vessel.
Kenjaku's plan was simple.
He would nurture the child to the best he could, feeding him numerous curses and determining his capacity to command cursed energy. Then, he would destroy the Star Plasma vessel and force Tengen to become a cursed spirit. Once Tengen transcends humanity, the child would be able to absorb his cursed energy. Kenjaku only had to possess his child to gain and merge his and Tengen's barrier techniques.
That was the best outcome. However, after being alive for so long, Kenjaku also knew the opposite was probable.
The child, despite his ability to absorb cursed energy, might not be able to use it; simply hold it. Kenjaku had no use for a half-breed that couldn't utilize cursed energy. If the latter was proven true, all he had to do was try again.
He waited for this moment for a thousand years, he could do so again. After all, it wouldn't be as difficult now that he knew the proper factors to create half-breeds.
Jin Itadori named their child Yuuji, blessed with his father's heartfelt wish that he would grow to help others, a sentiment that Kenjaku could care less about. Itadori has served his usefulness.
If Yuuji was to grow completely loyal to him, Kenjaku needed to be the only person the child relied on. The boy's father had to go. Wasuke Itadori, also had to be disposed of. Kenjaku couldn't afford any loose ends that Yuuji could potentially escape to.
Kenjaku succeeded in killing the father but failed to secure Yuuji. He became too complacent against a weakened old man. Wasuke was one step ahead of him, and called out the sorcerers to intercept his then female vessel.
The elder Itadori disappeared with Yuuji, leaving no trail behind them.
Kenjaku was left without a body to control and had to settle for less until he was presented with a better one. As if fate had finally aligned with his goals, Kenjaku was blessed with the perfect body. A sorcerer by the name of Getou Suguru, whose cursed technique manipulation was the exact technique Kenjaku needed to assimilate Tengen.
Even if Yuuji ended up as a disappointment, Kenjaku had no qualms letting the elder Itadori keep his spoils. Getou was everything he needed. With his new body in place, Kenjaku started moving his pieces accordingly. He searched for the Prison Realm to seal away the six eyes. Killing Gojou Satoru would only pass his technique to the next of kin. It needed to be locked away from the world so as to not inconvenience him.
Getou's fanatical church was a huge help in spreading his search, and while he rallied high-grade curses to his cause, his followers also located one of Sukuna Ryoumen's fingers. It rotted inside an old thermometer box that was kept by an unsuspecting antique collector, far away from the hands and influence of curses or jujutsu sorcerers.
It was then when Kenjaku realized his creations part in all of this. He finally had a reason to find his son once again. It all boiled down to one chance in a million. However, if Sukuna's unmeasurable cursed energy was paired with Yuuji's ability to absorb cursed energy, there was a high possibility that Yuuji could contain the King of Curses.
At his command, the church searched for a child with rose colored hair and golden brown eyes. The state in which he found Yuuji Itadori was horrendously pitiful.
The child lived a normal life under Wasuke Itadori's care. Kenjaku almost wept at the state of his creation. The boy lived alone in a small apartment for two, the reason as to why, as Kenjaku would later discover was because the elder Itadori fell ill and had been confined in a hospital since.
True to his name, Yuuji helped those around him regardless of whether it was requested of him or not. He was constantly surrounded by peers that took most of the day before he disappeared in the hospital where Jin Itadori lay in the evening. The nurses ogled at his compassion and always provided him food before he left for the night.
Everywhere he went, Yuuji attracted people like moths to a flame. He was a shining beacon of positivity that people welcomed into their lives without hesitation. He exuded warmth in the way he smiled and talked, his simple mindedness also urged others to protect him for no reason.
Everyone wanted Yuuji, and the boy welcomed their love with open arms. He wanted to be surrounded by others, and rightfully so. Yuuji shone the brightest when he was with other people because behind closed doors, Yuuji's mask fell off like it was nothing.
The vibrant spark in his eyes dulled to resemble a serene lake in a cold night, undisturbed by waves with the winds gliding smoothly and quietly over its surface. The colors that painted his personality were washed away by a gentle waterfall that left him a blank slate, silently waiting to be remade again.
When left alone with his thoughts, Yuuji no longer lit up the room, he much closely resembled the black hole that devoured cursed energy without feeling full.
There was this metaphor that Kenjaku heard in one of his lives. The saying claimed that a person's heart starts with an empty cup. Children learn how to feel and act around others, based on what ideals and feelings adults pour into that cup. If one were to show kindness, that goodwill will be kept in that child's cup and in turn can be poured into another's.
It was a cycle of give and take, giving and receiving.
However in Yuuji's case, his cup was broken. He learned to accept all that he received; he learned to be empathic, be kind, and to always put others first from the people he cared about, even more so from Wasuke who taught him so. Regardless of this, Yuuji's cup never became full.
He devoured what he could, but it slipped away the moment people stopped pouring into it. The crack was unnoticeable. It was but a small tear in his heart after all, but it made all the difference. There was hole inside Yuuji that he could not fill no matter how much he plastered it with fleeting moments.
Only those that truly watched him would come to understand this. The young boy hid his deficiency so well by blending in with the crowd and mimicking how they acted. He learned to feel based on how they did. Over time, he learned how to fake emotion. No one could see what was so perfectly hidden. That was how Yuuji lived. One mask at a time.
Kenjaku supposed it was but the fate of someone separated from his father and mother so early at birth, with nothing but a cynical old man for company. He watched as the boy bid his peers farewell and ran, almost desperately to a hospital where his old man lay. A mere child of fourteen carrying a heavy burden no one should.
Behind his smiles and caring front, Yuuji only truly felt and understood one true emotion. Loneliness.
Kenjaku understood his son's struggles. Yuuji was alone because he hadn't found his purpose yet. No matter, he would give him his purpose and reason to live soon enough.
When he first made himself known to Yuuji, Kenjaku hijacked the body of a frail old woman that lived near the outskirts of Yuuji's school. He made himself look helpless, not that he needed to act the part too much; the old woman's body was a pain to move around in. Truly, he'd grown fond of the vitality of Getou Suguru's body.
Yuuji usually took this route for his morning run so it wasn't out of place for him to pause when he saw the familiar old woman struggling to bend down and cut overgrown grass.
"You need help with that?"
Kenjaku looked up at the boy's golden brown eyes and smiled. "Oh dear," he played it up. "I shouldn't bother you young man. You go on and head your way."
Yuuji didn't leave right away and leaned by the fence. "It's alright, I have time."
"Oh very well. A couple of young hands would help clear out this mess much faster after all."
"I have an old man that would love to be in your place. He never lets me help with anything, so I get back at him by helping others that want it instead."
Kengaku chuckled. He picked the perfect host at this time it would seem. "That old man of yours doesn't know what he's missing."
That got a laugh out of Yuuji. "I'm pretty strong, so this'll be easy. You can rest easy, gran."
Kenjaku was well aware of just how powerful the child was. He had seen how powerful Yuuji was even without consuming cursed energy. It was possible that aside from being the perfect half-breed he's ever made, Yuuji also had Heavenly Restriction placed upon him.
"I'll be sure to pay you afterwards."
"No need. I'm doing this because I want to."
It didn't take long for Yuuji to notice the old shrine within the property. He let his curiosity get the better of him and found the old thermometer box where Sukuna's finger lay, wrapped in century old binding seals.
Kenjaku watched as the Yuuji held the finger in his hand and stared at it with mild fascination. "Granny, what's this creepy looking thing?"
"Bah! An old myth that keeps the children out of the forest grounds at night. Are you familiar with curses, boy?"
Yuuji tilted his head and furrowed his brows. "I always thought they were bedtime stories. You know, stories with lessons in them. Is this a real curse?"
Kenjaku chuckled. It's the strongest curse there is. "Bah! All hearsay. No such thing as curses. It was supposed to bring death and bad luck, but look at me, still alive at 97 and the only bad thing it has brought upon my garden is growing weed. You can keep it if you want."
"Seriously? Cool. My senpai's would love this. They're into all these creepy occult stuff."
Kenjaku could care less. All that mattered was that Yuuji absorbed the curse within himself and Kenjaku gambled with that slim chance. He already planted the young curse in the school days prior to meeting Yuuji.
Once the seal is broken, that power hungry curse would not hesitate to devour the finger unless something else, or someone else, eats it first.
Yuuji pocketed Sukuna's finger and left, grateful for the wrong reasons. Kenjaku waved him off, satisfied with his progress. Now all he had to do was wait.
"I expect much from you, Yuuji Itadori."