Can't catch a break

by nahesa

Yuuji wakes up feeling awful and something tells him that today isn't going to be mutch fun. Getting sick sure sucked, but beeing sick while Sukuna was stuck in his head? He really wasn't sure if this demon was a blessing or a curse sometimes

Hey guys!

So, here's another JJK fic, I really hope you'll enjoy this one as well. I'd really love to hear your opinion on this, so please leave a comment.

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Yuuji Itadori generally did not believe in stuff like having bad days. To him, every day had its own ups and downs, making each one unique and in no way better or worse then the last or next one. He simply tried to enjoy whatever good things life decided to throw his way. This kind of thinking had intensified tenfold after he'd been told he was to be executed. Whatever remained of his life was way too little and too precious to waste it by being in a bad mood.

Today however, he was seriously beginning to reconsider this optimistic way of thinking.

The first thing the cursed teen noticed upon waking up was a vicious pounding in his head, making him wish he could simply skip training and stay in the dark and comfortably quiet warmth of his room.

Sadly, skipping out of Gojo-sensei's training was something no one dared to do. There were only rumors about what had happened to those who had been brave enough to do so. Apparently, Inumaki-senpai had once overslept, this prompting their teacher to get very creative in waking him. The poor curse speech user had never said anything more specific about the matter then a panicked 'Salmon!' before discreetly fleeing the scene, way to traumatized to be able to talk about it in more detail.

Groaning, he rolled onto his side, already starting to miss the comfort of his bed the second his blanket slipped off his body. His muscles seemed to be unusually stiff and he was shaking slightly. When he finally managed to get himself upright, he had to steady himself against his desk with one hand to avoid falling over as the room started to sway dangerously around him.

Breathing in deeply, Yuuji tried to will those awful feelings away. Gritting his teeth in determination, he walked towards his bathroom. He just needed to power through this. As soon as he was up and running and had something to do, he'd surely be fine, right?

Maybe he would feel better after taking a shower. Stepping under the warm spray of water, he could feel himself starting to wake up at least a little bit more.

The soothing heat of the water also did wonders for his aching muscles. Sadly, he was running late already and couldn't afford to stay in the shower for much longer.

After mustering up the strength to move again, he finally turned off the water, quickly dried himself and then started putting on his uniform. Looking at himself in the mirror, he couldn't help but wince at his appearance.

Judging from the displeased grumble coming from the, by now very familiar, voice of the curse inhabiting his body, Yuuji wasn't the only one who'd noticed how awful he looked right now. Over time, the teen had come to understand that even if Sukuna didn't give a shit about him, the curse still demanded his vessel to be at least somewhat presentable during the day. Something about him disgracing Sukuna or whatever...

His face looked pale, he had dark circles under his eyes and looked utterly exhausted. His posture was a bit hunched over as well, making the teen look as if he could keel over any minute. He was seriously considering texting Gojo and calling in sick for the day. Knowing his teacher, this would sadly not mean he would be left alone to rest. The man would definitely insist on checking up on him every other hour, being his usual loud self in the process and that was something, Yuuji wasn't sure he could handle right now.

There was no avoiding the man either way, so Yuuji discarded the idea of skipping once and for all. If he'd have to deal with other people anyways, he could at least try being productive in the process and partake in classes, right?

Turning away from his less then satisfying reflection, he finally grabbed his stuff and headed out of his room. For a brief moment he was thinking about getting some breakfast, but quickly decided otherwise, when his stomach clenched painfully at even the smallest thought of food.

Choosing to forgo his normal morning routine of having breakfast with his classmates all together, he headed outside, slowly walking towards the main building while sending out a quick text to them, informing them about him having gone up ahead already. Yuuji didn't want them to worry, or even to be late because they were waiting for him or something.

For the first time since joining Jujutsu tech, he was actually happy about having lessons about stuff like curse history and talismans, as well as completely normal subjects like math or English for the next few hours. Normally, he would spend those lessons trying his best to actually listen and then precede to fail spectacularly at that. Sometimes, the topics were just way to boring to hold his attention for more then a few minutes, other times Sukuna felt like nagging him and sharing his own thoughts and memories concerning what they were being taught, His version being far more bloody and violent then their teacher's.

Of course, spending his time listening to an angry curse instead of Gojo-sensei wasn't very wise, but sometimes he couldn't help it. The king of curses was very good at forcing his own thoughts into Yuuji's head after all, drowning out everything else that was happening around him in the process.

Also, Sukuna hated it when Yuuji ignored him, so the teen mostly obliged the devil incarnate for the sake of his own mental health.

The curse had even managed to drag him into his domain during lessons from time to time.

Apparently, the king of curses was just as bored by math and history as his vessel. Now that Yuuji thought about it, it was kinda funny.

It was a true miracle that no one had noticed yet.

Walking through the still empty hallways of the main building, he slowly made his way towards the classroom they were supposed to meet up at in about half an hour. Skipping breakfast had completely made up for the time he'd lost earlier by staying in bed longer then he normally did. Once there, Yuuji happily collapsed into one of the seats closest to the windows. He reached out and opened the closest one, the fresh air doing wonders for his still aching head. Deciding to simply rest until classes started, he put his head down onto his desk and closed his eyes.

'You know brat, you're being even more pathetic then usual today.'

Great, he'd really hoped Sukuna wouldn't destroy his short period of peace this soon. But of course, the curse had impeccable timing when it came to being annoying as hell.

Also, Sukuna was being obnoxiously loud again, making him flinch in discomfort as the pounding in his skull grew even fiercer.

"Leave me 'lone, you're being too loud… Not feeling good" If he were in his right mind right now, he would probably not have acted this vulnerable in front of that asshole, but right now Yuuji just couldn't think clearly enough to register that maybe admitting weakness in front of the monster inside his aching head wasn't one of his better ideas.

Cruel laughter echoed through his skull as the curse continued to taunt him. 'Aw, poor little human. You really think I care?'

Of course he didn't After all, there was no one in the world who was more aware of how little that bastard cared about his vessel's well being then said vessel himself.

The next twenty minutes were spent with the two of them keeping at it, Yuuji trying to get Sukuna to shut up and said curse making fun of him and doing his best to intensify his discomfort even further.

To Yuuji's annoyance, Sukuna was surprisingly good at that.

When finally, the classroom door slid open, revealing Megumi and Nobara, Yuuji was almost ready to either scream, cry or maybe punch a hole through the nearest wall, although that one would take way more effort the he had the energy for right now. How could one cursed being be this skilled at torturing and annoying the hell out of him?

It really wasn't fair.

"Ah, there you are Itadori!" For some reason, Kugisaki looked furious. "If you decide to skip out on making breakfast on us again, at least make sure there are leftovers from dinner or something else for us to eat before leaving, got it?!"

"Good morning to you too Kugisaki." He couldn't quite keep the annoyance out of his voice, even if it was mostly not directed at her in the first place. "I don't remember agreeing to be your personal chef for the rest of my life, did I?"

Open mouthed, the auburn haired girl stared at him, completely caught of guard by his hostile behavior. "Jeez, sorry I said anything Mr. Sensitive!" Angrily, she slammed her bag onto her desk.

"Cut it out you two, It's way to early for you guys to be fighting already!" Megumi didn't look like he wanted to deal with their usual bantering this early in the morning. "But seriously Itadori, are you okay? You seem a bit off today." The dark haired teen looked at him, apparently scanning him from head to toe.

"Sure, just didn't sleep well, that's all." He really didn't feel like talking to his classmates right now. Dealing with anyone else besides Sukuna while feeling like absolute crap was more then he was capable of right now. Actually, even dealing with said curse exclusively was more then he could handle at this moment. To his great relief, Megumi just exchange a quick glance with their female classmate before shrugging and sitting down as well, not saying another word.

Not for the first time, Yuuji was grateful for his friend's calm and quiet personality.

'Oh, I'm sure I could make him scream… Wouldn't you like to know how loud this one could get if I really put my mind to it?'

"Shut up!" Annoying him was one thing, but threatening his friends? He really didn't take to well to that. Growling he pressed his hands against each side of his head.

"Hey! We weren't even talking!" His friends looked at him as if he'd just insulted them or something. "Seriously Itadori, what's wrong with you today?"

Crap, he hadn't noticed he'd been talking out loud again. Normally, he was way more careful about how and when he talked to Sukuna directly, Usually, he'd simply use his thoughts to converse with the curse and vise versa.

The confused and hurt look on his female classmates face send guilt rushing through his body, making him feel like he'd just swallowed a huge lump of ice. In the back of his mind, the king of curses seemed to be having the time of his life as he evilly snickered at his host's misfortune.

"Sorry, not you guys." How was he supposed to get through classes like this? His head was spinning again, making the nausea from before reappear with renewed strength. Feeling his face pale even further, Yuuji put his head back down onto his arms, hoping the other two would just leave him be.

Of course, fate was never this generous.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see confusion, and then realization on his two friend's faces, that look changing to something dangerously close to pity only a second later.

Megumi got up and slowly walked towards him, eyes as attentive as they could ever get. He could hear the dark haired male stopping right next to him, could almost feel the sharp gaze lingering on the back of his head.

"You sure you're good for class today? Don't forget we'll be sparring later as well."

"Yeah, don't worry. I just need something to distract me with, so might as well stay, right?"

"Okay, but if he's bothering you this much already, maybe Gojo-sensei could do something to-"

Shaking his head, Yuuji hissed as this sent sharp pain shooting through his skull. Gritting his teeth in order to suppress a pained groan, he looked away from his still worried friends. "It's okay, really, there's nothing he could do about it anyways. Don't worry about it Fushiguro, okay?"

Thankfully, Megumi didn't say anything else on the matter, only shrugged and went back to his seat after silently nodding. "Well, if you say so..."

Just as Yuuji hoped to get in another few minutes of peace, maybe even a little nap before Gojo-sensei arrived, said man rushed into the room just as energetic as ever and for a change perfectly on time.

Seriously, what had he ever done to deserve a day like this in the first place?

"Well, good morning my faithful disciples!" Satoru was being even more loud then Sukuna had been all morning.

Taking a deep breath, Yuuji prepared for, what was sure to be a very painful and exhausting day.

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The second he walked into his first year's classroom, Satoru immediately knew something was up. Of course, it was still early and having to sit through hours of theoretical lessons was boring, even for him as teacher, but never before had his kids seemed this on edge when faced with a few hours of sitting in class.

Especially in the morning when they'd usually be busy trying to stop yawning long enough in order to greet him properly

Kugisaki looked more grumpy then normal, sitting with her arms and legs crossed, staring ahead with a look that would certainly be able to terrify even the most vile of curses. Megumi however was a completely different story. The teen seemed nervous and tense, glancing at his rose haired classmate from time to time with a look of attentiveness and concern on his face. Also, Kugisaki and Fushiguro both barely reacted to his enthusiastic greeting, only absentmindedly reacted to his presence.

And this brought his attention to his third student. Yuuji looked to be somewhere between half asleep and completely miserable. Even though his honey brown eyes were open, they looked dull and seemed unable to recognize what was in front of him. And to top it all off, the normally energetic teen had his head pillowed on his arms, making him look like a sleepy little puppy.

Also, Satoru didn't like the almost grayish tint Yuuji's face seemed to have.

All things considered, he really wasn't happy with the state his class was in.

Well, he'd just have to keep a close eye on them for now. If there was something bothering them, he was sure the chaotic trio would confide in him sooner or later if they needed his help.

At least, he hoped they would.

"So then, who's ready for another couple of exciting hours full of learning interesting facts about curses and history?"

Judging from the look on their faces, no one was.

Was he imagining things, or had Yuuji just flinched and turned, if possible, even more pale at his announcement?

Narrowing his eyes behind his blindfold the sorcerer started his lessons. It was always funny to see how long each of the kids could stay attentive through such a dusty subject.

Normally, Nobara would be the first to quit, doodling around and trying not to fall asleep. In complete opposition to that stood Megumi, who seemed to be able to actually pay attention to the entire lesson on most days. And then, there was Yuuji, who tried his best, but always seemed to get distracted somewhere along the way, just staring ahead with an empty and far away look in his eyes.

However, today was different.

From the start, none of his students seemed to listen to him at all. Normally, he wouldn't have allowed behavior like this, but since he still couldn't deny that something was definitely wrong, he decided to go easy on them.

Instead of going through some old and dusty books with them, he decided to forego productivity all together and just allowed them to watch a couple of movies. To be quite honest, he really didn't feel like teaching today anyways.

Until noon, nothing of major importance happened.

When it was finally time to wrap things up, take a break and then continue with physical training outside, he was surprised to find Yuuji leaving the classroom right away. Normally, the kid tended to stay around and have lunch with his friends. Him acting this closed off definitely was not normal for the most social one out of all the first years.

Before the other two could leave, he called them over. Time to get to the bottom of this.

"So then, anything happening? The three of you seemed kinda distracted today."

Both teens shared a look and then nodded, Megumi looked almost relieved at the opportunity to share, whatever was bothering him, with his teacher.

"It's just… Yuuji's been acting a bit off today. When we wanted to have breakfast this morning, he had already left, only having texted us saying that he'd gone ahead already."

Beside him, Nobara nodded fiercely. "Yeah, idiot didn't even make breakfast. I had to eat cereals this morning!"

Before she could continue, Megumi cut her off, starting his explanation before she could get really worked up. "Anyways, when we got to class, he was already here, unusually grumpy and quiet. He even snapped at Nobara for calling him out on having left like that. A bit later…" Pausing, the dark haired shadow user looked a bit uncertain.

Gently putting his hand on the kid's shoulder, he encouraged him to continue. "So, what did he do?" Of course, he had a theory about the cause for Yuuji's strange behavior already. After all, there wasn't much in this world that managed to completely eliminate the young curse vessel's normally bright and happy disposition.

"Well, it's just… After we'd been sitting in silence for a while, he kinda snapped and demanded that someone should 'shut up'. He also looked completely exhausted. We asked him about it and he just said that he wasn't talking to us, so we figured that it had something to do with Sukuna."

Gojo nodded. He'd thought as much already. Still though, none of that did explain why his student had looked like death warmed over earlier.

"I see. Did he say anything else?"

"No, not really."

"Okay. Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on him." Even if he now had at least been informed about what was bothering these two, he still needed to make sure his troublemaker number one was okay.

If he didn't know better, he'd say the kid looked sick.

Now that he thought about it, he really wasn't sure if Yuuji even could fall ill in the first place. After all, curses didn't get sick. Of course, the teen was only half curse, but still… Shouldn't that prevent any common illnesses?

Also, slipping up like that and talking out loud while conversing with Sukuna wasn't really like Yuuji either. The teen normally took great care not to let anything concerning his curse show in order not to worry anyone. So, either Sukuna had really riled the kid up, or Yuuji had been too distracted to pay as much attention to this then he normally would.

Either way, in his opinion, none of those options were all that good.

Looking at his watch, he decided that further investigation during their afternoon activities would be necessary.

He just hoped it wasn't anything too serious. If Sukuna was the cause for all of this, things could get ugly. There was essentially nothing he could do to help his student when that curse was concerned. He couldn't count how often he'd longed for an opportunity to get a few good hits in on that guy. Sadly, whatever he could do to hurt Sukuna would hurt Yuuji as well. And that was something he cold never do.

This realization left him almost hoping something else was wrong, something he would be able to take care of, even if this meant that his student currently had even more shit to deal with then on a normal daily basis.

"Satoru?" Looking up startled, he realized he'd completely forgotten that he'd been in a conversation just now. His other two students looked at him expectantly, hoping he would come up with a brilliant solution like he would normally do when something was wrong.

Smiling at them brightly, he started walking towards the exit. "It'll be okay, I'll take care of it. You two should probably use the rest of your break to eat something though, you'll definitely need it later."

As he left, he couldn't suppress a grin upon hearing Nobara's frantic shriek upon realizing that they had barely five minutes left of their lunch break.

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As soon as he was able to, Yuuji left the classroom as fast as possible.

Normally, he would have been happy at being allowed to watch movies instead of sitting through ridiculously boring lessons, but today, the loud music, dialogues and special effects blaring through the room combined with the flickering lights of the TV had almost been to much to bare, especially combined with the almost constant string of commentary coming from the curse inside his body.

His head felt as if Todo was kicking it over and over once again, making him wish he could just pass out. On top of all that, he had started to feel really cold, this making him shiver almost constantly.

Right now though, he had even more pressing matters to attend to. For the last hour or so, his stomach had been churring and cramping, making him feel extremely nauseous. He didn't understand why though, after all, he hadn't even made the mistake of eating anything at all today!

Finally reaching his destination, he curled up on the cold, tiled floor in front of the toilet, barely managing to close the door properly before he could feel bile making it's way up his throat.

It felt as if the entirety of his insides had decided to rebel at once as he retched, bringing up nothing but stomach acid in the process. He couldn't remember a time he'd actually felt this miserable.

When it was finally over, he simply curled into a tight ball as shivers wracked his body. The sheer amount of unpleasant sensations keeping his body in their tight hold was almost enough to make him cry in misery.

What should he do now? There was no way he could make it through their planned sparring session without either hurling again, or passing out.

He just wanted to go back to his room and sleep for the next week, only waking up again when he was feeling better.

Shaking his head, he used the wall for support as he tried to get back up to his feet, only stopping briefly as a stab of pain raced through his stomach yet again, making him almost be sick for a second time. If he didn't show up soon, the others would start to worry. Yuuji really didn't want that, especially since he'd caused them enough trouble earlier already.

Swaying slightly, he flushed the toilet and then opened the door, carefully setting one foot in front of the other, making his way slowly to the sink where he then preceded to wash his hands and face and rinse out his mouth.

Not bothering to take a look in the mirror, he left. The way to their training grounds felt unimaginably long. Normally, it didn't take him more then a few short minutes to get there, but today, he felt as if he had been walking for almost an hour until he finally got there. To his surprise, he was still the first one to arrive.

Counting his blessings, Yuuji made himself as comfortable as he could after sitting down on the ground. The warm afternoon sun felt amazing on his chilled body, making him almost doze off and forget all about the torture that was yet to come.

'You know brat, if this is bothering you so much, why don't just skip?' Was he imagining things, or did Sukuna sound less angry then usual? If he didn't know better, the curse's voice sounded almost worried under all that annoyance.

"'m okay, besides, if I decide to skip out on practice, everyone is just going to be super annoying later on, so might as well get it over with, right?" An image of Gojo-sensei's grinning face shot through his mind and he couldn't suppress a groan. "Especially Satoru."

'Stupid kid. I couldn't care less about if you make yourself even more sick then you apparently are already. Watching your pathetic struggles while trying to act fine in front of those sorcerers is more fun for me anyways. Seriously, how can you even stand being this weak and pathetic? As my vessel, you should at least try to have some digmity!'

"You done now? If so then please be quiet, you're hurting my head."

' Oh? And here I was thinking you actually liked it. Looking at the way you act sometimes, it's hard not to think of you as some kind of masochist my little human.'

Just as Yuuji was about to shoot back any insult that came to mind, another sharp stab of pain raced through his skull, cutting his comeback off, leaving only a pained whimper to escape his throat.

'See brat? That's what I was talking about. Just go rest.' With that, the curse finally went silent, at least for now.

And just on time as well. The second his headache had calmed down to a more manageable level again, he could hear people making their way towards the training area he was currently sitting at.

Shakily, the rose haired teen managed to somehow get back onto his feet without needing to steady himself on anything. Maybe the short break in the sun had helped more then he'd initially thought?

An annoyed snort somewhere from the back of his mind had him discarding this hopes again right away.

Turning around, he saw his teacher and his classmates walking towards him. Smiling, Yuuji raised his hand and waved at them. Acting as unfriendly as he'd done this morning wouldn't solve anything anyways. It would only cause the others to worry even more about him and that was something he didn't want.

"Ah, Yuuji-kun, there you are, we were wondering where you ran off to earlier!" Even if his teacher looked as nonchalant as always, something seemed a bit off. He was sure he could have figured out what exactly was going on in Sensei's head if that man wouldn't be wearing that damn blindfold all the time.

Scratching the back of his head, he returned his teachers kind smile. "Yeah, sorry about that, just needed some fresh air after sitting inside for so long!" The second he closed his mouth, he knew his teacher wasn't buying it.

"But weren't you sitting right next to an open window all morning?"

"S-sure, but uhhm… you see… Being outside is still way better then that, don't you think? Especially since the weather is so nice today!"

Even to his own ears, his lie sounded pathetic. He was almost unable to hear his Sensei's reply over the howling laughter coming from Sukuna right now.

'Man, I knew you couldn't lie to safe you life, but that was just fucking hilarious!'Yuuji was sure, the king of curses would have fallen off his throne from how hard he was cackling right now if it weren't for his inherit power and elegance.

"Yuuji? Hey, are you listening?"

Snapping his attention back to the three humans surrounding him, he could feel his face blush slightly. He'd been so distracted by Sukuna that he hadn't even noticed how close they'd come just now, or that Satoru was still talking to him.

"Oh, sorry Satoru, I just… got a bit distracted."

"Yeah, I've noticed. You've looked a bit distracted ever since this morning. Is everything okay?"

He could practically feel those hidden blue eyes piercing through his very soul as the white haired sorcerer looked at him.

"Y-yeah, I'm good, nothing out of the ordinary…" Well technically, that wasn't a lie, right? He was sure he wouldn't feel half as miserable if Sukuna hadn't been yelling at him all morning.

'Hey now little one, it isn't my fault you're to weak to handle a simple conversation."

He didn't even grace that with an answer.

Thankfully, Gojo-sensei seemed to have decided to leave him alone for now. "Okay then, if that's the case, why don't we start sparring? I'll be teaming up with Nobara, and you will train with Megumi, got it?"

All three of them nodded and then followed the older man onto the training grounds.

On his way there, Yuuji needed to be very careful not to fall flat on his face. Everything was spinning, his muscles were aching and his legs shaking. If this kept up, Megumi wouldn't be sparing with him for long.

When the two boys had finally positioned themselves accordingly, Yuuji felt already as if he'd just run a marathon. Taking a deep breath, he prepared for Megumi's first strike.

In his current state, it would probably be best if he didn't try attacking at all. As screwed up as he was right now, it was more then possible that he'd accidentally misjudge his strength and hurt his friend. He'd quickly learned that the only people he could spar with without having to worry about this were Gojo-sensei, Maki and Todo.

So, when his friend started attacking, Yuuji simply blocked and evaded any hit or kick Megumi tried to land on him. After a few minutes of this, they'd fallen into a steady rhythm. Thankfully, he was still able to keep up, despite all his symptoms steadily getting worse with each moment that passed.

Gritting his teeth, he did his best to ignore all this in favor of focusing on their training.

He was so focused on this, he completely forgot about being careful. One of his blocks was executed with far more force then he'd wanted to use, his body acting out of simple reflex, trying to avoid getting hurt.

The moment his hand made contact with Megumi's body, he realized his mistake.

Before anyone could react, the shadow user was lying on the ground, having been not only blocked but completely thrown away by Yuuji's careless actions. Thankfully, he didn't look hurt, only surprised.

"Hey, Yuuji-kun, didn't I tell you to be more careful when you aren't sparring with me?" Gojo-sensei and Nobara had stopped in their tracks when they'd seen Megumi go down just now.

"Ah, yeah, sorry Sensei!" Turning around, he extended his hand in an effort to help Megumi back onto his feet.

"Sorry man, are you okay? I really didn't mean to knock you over."

"I'm good, just caught me off guard there." The dark haired teen grabbed onto his hand. But just as Yuuji was about to haul him to his feet, his classmate twisted around and used his momentum to flip him over and pull him down onto the ground, apparently trying to use his position to land a good hit.

All of this happened so fast, Yuuji's spinning and pounding head couldn't keep up with it any more.

Just as he hit the ground, he could make out Megumi's face over him, going from grinning victoriously to confused and then shocked as Yuuji's eyes rolled up into the back of his head and everything went black.

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The second Satoru heard Megumi's surprised yelp, he turned around and looked at the scene in front of him.

The raven haired sorcerer was on the ground, his classmate standing over him, a look of utter shock on the kid's face. Quickly counting one and one together, he called out to the two of them, wanting to know what the damage was.

He'd noticed very early on that Yuuji was far stronger then he looked, his raw physical strength even surpassing Maki's. He'd made sure to tell the kid to make sure not to go full force during training, but instead match the strength he used to his opponents.

Normally, this wasn't a problem, but sometimes, when Yuuji got distracted or reacted reflexively to something, this method didn't really work.

More then once did this end in some of the others having to get severe bruises and fractured bones treated.

Thankfully though, they seemed to have gotten lucky this time.

Having Megumi flip his classmate over and onto the floor was reassuring to say the least. This was all the proof he needed in order to know that the raven teen was okay.

However, when Yuuji stopped moving upon impact, the relief he'd just felt vanished.

"Itadori? Hey, you okay?" Megumi knelt down next to his friend, worry clear on his face. Satoru and Nobara started walking over to the pair, their pace quickening as it got apparent that the rose haired teen wasn't moving at all.

Kneeling down next to his students, he first looked at Megumi, then to the other one. "What just happened?"

The shadow user looked ready to panic. "I don't know! I just flipped him over and then he stopped moving!"

Frowning, he looked down at the clearly unconscious teen. He'd noticed his charge looking even worse then this morning as soon as he'd laid eyes on him when he had returned from lunch. But he never thought it was this bad.

Thankfully, the rose haired teen was, even if heavy and ragged, still breathing, so that was good, right?

Kneeling next to Yuuji's head, he gently tapped the kid's face, hoping to get some sort of response out of him. While doing that, he noticed the heat radiating off the teen's skin, making him aware of the high fever his student was running.

Sadly, his efforts didn't seem to pay off and Yuuji remained stubbornly unconscious.

Sighing quietly, Gojo looked at the other two kids, who were in a pretty similar position to himself.

"Kugisaki, would you mind running back to the main building and get Ieri-san? I'm not completely sure what's wrong with Yuuji yet, so I'd rather not risk moving him around to much, alright?"

Nodding, the young woman got back onto her feet. "Sure, I'll be right back. And if that idiot wakes up before I've returned, tell him he's an idiot and that he's as good as dead once I get my hands on him!" Turning in one fluid motion, she sprinted off, running as fast as her legs could carry her.

"I… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt him, I don't know what just…" Megumi still looked utterly shocked, staring at his friend, unable to comprehend what exactly he was seeing.

Roughly patting the dark haired teen's spiky head, he managed to redirect the kid's attention onto himself and away from the still unconscious teen on the ground. "Listen Megumi, I'm pretty sure this wasn't your fault, okay? You know just as well as I do that he normally wouldn't clock out like that from a simple rough landing, right? He hasn't looked well all morning and considering that he has quite the fever, I'd say he's just sick."

Apparently, the optimism he'd put into his voice did what it was supposed to do and calmed Megumi down a bit. "Okay… thanks Satoru."

Now that this was settled, he could finally focus on their biggest problem. Aside from the obvious fever and unconsciousness, he couldn't really make out much more then earlier today. If he wanted to get more information, he would either have to somehow wake Yuuji up, or wait for Shoko to arrive.

And since he never was one to wait around for long, he once again started to poke at his student's face with renewed strength.

Despite the confident look he wore for Megumi's sake, he actually had no idea about what to do in their current situation. Even if he undoubtedly was the strongest, this still didn't mean anything when it came to situations like these. After all, he was a sorcerer, not a doctor.

Hopefully, Kugisaki would be back soon.

As if the heavens had been listening, he suddenly could hear a pair of footsteps running their way. A second later, his very out of breath student skittered to a halt right next to him, closely followed be their school's physician.

"Oh my, what did you do this time, hm?"

"Awww, why do you always assume it's my fault? Besides, Megumi did it!"

"Hey! You said it wasn't my fault!"

"Anyways, mind telling me what exactly happened? Nobara-chan here only told me that Itadori-kun collapsed during training and that you have no idea what's wrong." Taking position on Yuuji's other side, the dark haired women got to work and started checking the teen over.

"Well, that's pretty much what's happened, although I've noticed him looking unwell since this morning. Also, I think he's got a fever." He really wished he could have told his former classmate anything more helpful, but this really was all he'd got for now.

"Okay, thanks. Would you mind giving me some space to work? Since he's kind of unique, I may have to examine him a bit more thoroughly then I would do with any other student."

"Sure, tell me if you need anything." Backing off a bit, he and his remaining students silently watched as she went about her work, checking on numerous things he could only understand about half of. After about ten minutes, Shoko seemed to be done.

With her usual tired expression, she looked at him. "As far as I can tell, he'll be fine. It doesn't seem to be a curse and I don't think it's poison either. The most likely cause is probably some kind of summer flu. That's all I can tell you without any further analysis. Of course, as I said earlier, he's a pretty unique one and there is really no way of knowing if anything else might happen, so I suggest you keep a close eye on him, just in case."

Of course he knew what she was talking about. They had no way of knowing if Yuuji being sick like this may or may not have any influence on his ability to keep Sukuna contained. Also, having him weak and vulnerable would make it easy for any of their elders to attempt another assassination on the poor kid.

Satoru was very grateful to have her on his side. The simple fact that the doctor had though about checking for any visible signs of poisoning had made it pretty clear to him that she was thinking along the same lines as he was.

"Thanks Shoko, I appreciate it." He really meant it. She was one of the few people he completely trusted when it came to taking care of his kids.

"Don't mention it, after all, it's all part of the job, right?" Combing her fingers through her hair, she finally got back to her feet, apparently preparing to leave. "I think it would be best if you took Itadori-kun back to his room and just let him rest until he feels better. Do you know if he's experienced any other symptoms besides his fever?"

Before Satoru could answer, Megumi nodded and spoke up. "Yeah, I think he may have a headache. Also, I don't think I've seen him eat or drink anything at all today." Beside him, Nobara nodded.

"Okay. When he wakes up, try to get him to drink something. Also, if his symptoms get worse or some new ones appear, call me. And if he hasn't woken up by tonight, call me as well. And last but not least, no training until I say so. I guess he only collapsed because he pushed himself too hard despite being ill." With that, she walked off, leaving him, Megumi and Nobara to take care of the rest, but not before handing over fever reducers and a few mild painkillers as well as a small bottle filled with some sort of thick liquid which, according to her, was something against nausea.

Once this was taken care of, Satoru quickly scooped up his still unresponsive student and asked the other two to hold on to him. Teleporting back to the dorms would be way faster then walking, not to mention far less exhausting. Even if Yuuji wasn't particularly tall, his body still consisted almost purely of muscles, making him far more heavy then he looked.

He teleported them right into Yuuji's room. Once there, he didn't even need to say anything before his students pulled back the blanket on the bed and started taking off their classmates shoes since Satoru was still having his hands full with the unconscious teen and because of that was unable to do so himself. Once this was done, he sat Yuuji down on his bed and quickly took off the kid's uniform, leaving him only in a t-shirt and his underwear.

Putting him into bed and tucking him in properly was the last thing he could do for now besides requesting for the others to go off and get him cold water and a few pieces of cloth. They needed to do something to get Yuuji's fever down. Maybe once they'd managed to do that, his student may actually feel like waking up again.

################################################################################

The first thing he noticed upon regaining his senses was him lying in something wet and cold, which was strange since he clearly remembered being on their training field just a minute ago. Inhaling deeply brought the unpleasant smell of blood and decaying flesh to him, not helping with his still upset stomach at all.

His limbs felt heavy, way to sluggish and cold to move them at all, so Yuuji decided to just stay where he was for the time being.

His foggy brain needed a few more moments to start wondering about his current environment in earnest, finally prompting him to open his tired eyes, ignoring the pain this action caused his poor, abused head.

Seeing the reddish light all around, and the huge rib cage towering over him made it pretty clear where he was.

Groaning, he closed his eyes again, hoping he'd just disappear and wake up back in his body again soon, preferably someplace warm and comfortable. He simply couldn't deal with this now, damn it!

"You know, that's not a very polite way to greet my, don't you, brat?"

Of course, he was here. And really where else would he be anyways? Still though, Yuuji had really hoped against all odds that the curse would take pity on him and simply leave him alone for the time being.

"Pity? Come on my stupid vessel, you should know me better by now." How Sukuna managed to sound this bored all the time would forever be an eternal mystery to Yuuji.

"Stop reading my thoughts, 's creepy."

"Why, because you said so? Since you do belong to me, brat, your thoughts do so as well, so stop complaining." Bones ground together and shattered as the curse made his was down from his throne and towards Yuuji.

The teen really wished to have enough energy to at least get to his feet right now. Feeling kinda weak in Sukuna's presence was normal, but feeling as pathetic and vulnerable as he was right now all while basically cowering at the curse's feet simply wouldn't do. Sadly though, his body still refused to move more then one arm, and even that drained more of his depleting energy then he cared to admit.

Yuuji couldn't help but flinch violently when something cold touched his throat, ghosting over his burning flesh as light as a feather.

"Also, little human…" The soft touch suddenly turned violent as clawed fingers harshly dug into his soft flesh, breaking his skin, drawing blood and preventing him from breathing properly. "Don't you dare try ordering me around ever again or I'll put you out of your misery permanently, got it?"

When had Sukuna come this close? Just now, it had sounded as if the curse had been speaking directly into his ear. Opening his eyes slightly, Yuuji couldn't help but whimper in surprise as he found Sukuna's face only inches away from his own. His golden eyes found two pairs of red ones, their color reminding him of blood, rubies and fire all at the same time.

Currently, all four of those mesmerizing red orbs were focused on him and him alone, making him almost shiver even more, and this time, not from his fever or the cool liquid he was still lying in. In moments like these, he really understood why Sukuna was considered a king. There was something unbelievably powerful in his gaze, an expression that commanded absolute obedience and respect.

He was so distracted that he almost didn't notice the curse slowly easing the pressure off his windpipe. Only when he suddenly got more air into his lungs then anticipated did he realize that Sukuna had let go of his throat completely.

"How pathetic. Are you not even going to try to defend yourself?" Sighing, the curse then preceded to grumble under his breath. However, instead of getting up and walking away in boredom, Sukuna seemed to bring his face even closer to the human's, making him briefly wonder what the hell that monster was up to now.

Just as Yuuji's tired brain had finally decided that trying to move away would definitely be the best cause of action, the curse still towering over him did something Yuuji hadn't expected at all. With an inhumanely graceful and fluid motion, Sukuna brought his forehead gently down to touch Yuuji's, while using one of his free hands to hold his vessel's head so the teen couldn't pull away, even if he'd wanted.

Frozen in place by shock and confusion, the teen didn't even try to do anything to stop the curse. No matter how hard he thought about it, he still couldn't come up with any logical reason for Sukuna to act this…gentle towards him. Any other time, the curse would definitely have tried to use Yuuji's weakened state in order to torment him or try taking over his vessels body by force.

What Sukuna was doing right now seemed… almost caring, maybe even like the way a very close friend or relative would act towards the sick teenager. It made the King of curses almost seem human.

However, when a displeased growl left the curses throat, Yuuji was once again reminded of just who and what he was dealing with right now. "Sukuna...what are...-"

"Shut up, brat."

"But-"

Suddenly letting go of him and getting up, Sukuna glared at him. "You know human, if your fever wasn't high enough to screw with your brain, I would rip off your head for talking back to me like that." With an annoyed huff, Sukuna walked away a few steps and glared at the human, who was still on the ground before him. If the situation were any different, he would have really enjoyed seeing his vessel at his feet like that.

Yuuji was still completely lost, his poor brain not in the proper condition to deal with the curse's enigmatic personality at all right now. And speaking of said curse...How did he even know how high his fever was exactly?… Slowly, it dawned on him. Had Sukuna really just checked on his fever? This made his head spin even more. Since when did that asshole care about his health? This was so confusing!

To top all this off, the sudden movement of the curse letting go of his head had made him feel nauseous again. Before he could analyze this mess he currently faced further he just barely managed to turn on to his side before another painful round of retching and gagging started to shake his weakened body.

How could he even get sick in here? It wasn't like his body was here, only his soul was pulled into Sukuna's living space whenever the curse decided to have a chat in person, or needed someone to entertain him.

In all his misery, he didn't even consider the fact that he was literally throwing up at the king of curses feet. Later, he would consider himself lucky to not have barfed all over Sukuna. The chance of the curses white Kimono getting soiled would have been pretty high if said being hadn't decided to move away when he did. There was really no telling what sort of punishment he'd have faced if he'd dared to do that.

Strangely enough, Sukuna stayed completely silent through the entire ordeal, simply standing and watching.

When Yuuji was finally done, his throat burned and his stomach felt hot and was still hurting. Cold sweat was covering his entire body and he shook even worse then before. Breathing heavily, he curled up as tightly as he could, Yuuji clenched his eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable pain of being ripped to pieces because surely, Sukuna wouldn't just let the fact slide that Yuuji had just dirtied his domain like that.

After a few seconds had passed and still, no punishment had been dealt, the rose haired teen started to get really nervous. He wished he'd have the strength to move, but no matter how hard he tried, his limbs still didn't do much more then twitch around uncoordinated, making him look like some sort of dying animal.

Sighing in defeat, he let his body relax again. No matter what Sukuna would do to him, he wouldn't be able to avoid it anyways.

"You done yet, kitten?"

Was he? Judging from how he still felt, his stomach could decide to act up again at any moment. He felt so miserable, he didn't even think about the weird nickname the curse had just used for him.

Instead of answering, he managed a half-assed shrug, not trusting his voice to be anything more then a pathetic, hoarse whisper right now. And really, even if he was feeling like shit, he would definitely do nothing that would make him look even more pitiful then he was apparently doing already.

Suddenly, he felt himself being lifted out of the water. Only a second later, his clothes were dry and he was placed on something soft and warm, both sensations nothing, he would never have thought of feeling in Sukuna's domain of all places. Pressing even closer to whatever source of warmth he was currently resting against, he let a relieved sigh escape him. Even if he still felt weak and like absolute crap, this was way better then where he'd been before.

Inhaling deeply, his nose filled with the scent of fire, incense and something earthy, almost like trees or a forest maybe… whatever it was, Yuuji found himself quite contempt with this scent. It reminded him of… something. Almost familiar, but slightly out of reach, as if he should remember what this was, but couldn't for some reason. As if he'd known this scent for his entire life and only now realized how much he'd missed smelling it.

It made him feel strangely peaceful.

"...mmh, smells nice… 'm tired..."

For a while, he decided to not question and just enjoy whatever this was, but when he felt his 'bed' shift under him slightly, he couldn't help but open his eyes.

Okay, he was definitely still in Sukuna's domain, that much was certain. What was strange however was the fact that he didn't seem to be anywhere close to the cold red fluid that covered the entire ground in the place. Also, he was resting on something soft and silky. On closer inspection, it was some kind of white…

Gasping in shock, he tried to move, to roll away, his survival instincts kicking in full force. This couldn't… no. No way was he actually…?

Before he managed to make any headway towards getting away, something gripped him forcefully, stopping his every movement as if it was the easiest thing in the world.

Slowly lifting his gaze, he found himself once again starring into four crimson eyes, this time accompanied by a slightly amused grin directed in his direction.

"So, brat, you're still awake then?"

"S'kuna…?" He was dreaming. This was the only explanation he could think of that would make sense. This was simply his fevered brain cooking up something weird. Because in reality, there was simply no was this was happening. The simple thought of Sukuna cradling him on his lap and letting Yuuji use him as pillow, bed and heating blanket all at once was simply ridiculous.

Maybe his fever was even higher then he thought? He should probably have gone to Ieri-sensei right this morning, or at least during lunch. Maybe he wouldn't be in this mess if he'd just done that instead of being a stubborn idiot.

"You know kid, I told you to rest, but you refused to listen. And as much as I would like to punish you for disobeying me earlier, having you look even more pathetic then you normally do annoys me and is an insult to my person. You are to rest until I say otherwise, understood?" There was absolutely no room for argument. Also, Sukuna's eyes spoke of unimaginable pain and suffering if Yuuji were to decide not to listen to him this time.

Only nodding, not daring to say anything to the clearly annoyed curse, Yuuji closed his eyes and let his head fall back on Sukuna's chest, right where it had laid earlier. He would never have imagined this monster, his personal nightmare, to feel this warm and… alive.

Of course, he knew he shouldn't let his guard down, especially not this close to a course while being completely at said curse's mercy, too weak to defend himself, but… it just felt so good resting like this… Only this once, he told himself. Only this once he would listen to Sukuna.

Yuuji didn't even question it when he felt sharp claws carefully comb through his messy pink hair, nor did he think too much about the purr that seemed to come from deep within Sukuna's chest, having a weirdly calming effect on him.

As he finally drifted off to sleep, he couldn't help but smile at the mumbled words he herd from his body mate.

"If you ever tell anyone about this, I'll make sure to obliterate everything you ever cared about my weak little vessel. But don't worry, I'll keep you alive. After all, you belong to me and I take good care of my things." Maybe it was his fevered brain that played tricks on him, but strangely enough to him, Sukuna sounded almost… gentle as he threatened him.

Maybe this was the only way the curse knew how to show affection? Deciding that this was a question for another time, Yuuji finally let his eyes fall close and his mind drift away, still feeling the rhythm of Sukuna's breath and the warmth from a pair of strong arms enveloping him as he snuggled closer to the curses broad chest.

################################################################################

After they'd gotten Yuuji settled, the remaining first years and their teacher all decided to stay in the same room, only leaving to get snacks, medical supplies or to go to the bathroom. None of them felt like continuing training after the scare they'd gotten earlier on behalf of their still unconscious friend.

Also, Ieri-sensei's warning not to let Sukuna's vessel out of their sight was still ringing clearly in everyone's minds. Thankfully, up until now, there was no sign of anything happening with the king of curses at all.

Now that things had calmed down to the point, the three sorcerers were basically just waiting around, Satoru could finally find the time to think a few things over. First of all, he berated himself for not doing anything about Yuuji's clearly less then satisfying physical condition sooner. He'd seen him looking really unwell first thing in the morning, but had decided to let the kid deal with it by himself instead of doing the responsible thing and dragging him to the infirmary.

If he'd sent him to Shoko back then, his student probably wouldn't be knocked out with a pretty impressive fever right now.

Also, they should probably have done a bit more research. There was still a lot about Yuuji's role as a vessel that they didn't really know much about. It was still a mystery why he could contain Sukuna at all without dying. Also, they needed to take a closer look at how this was affecting the teens body, with Yuuji being half curse and all. Situations like today were bad. Sitting here, basically not knowing what exactly could happen during the next few hours was less then desirable.

Of course, he would never subject the teen to any sorts of experiments, but they should probably let Shoko examine him a bit more closely then she'd done right after he'd joined Jujutsu tech, as soon as he was recovered from whatever it was, Yuuji was ailing from right now.

Sure, his former classmate had told them it was some kind of flu and probably no poison or curse, but since they basically didn't know anything at this point, they just couldn't be sure.

At least, he was pretty certain that Sukuna wouldn't allow his vessel to die. The curse had brought Yuuji back once already, and even if he didn't know at what price, this had still made it pretty clear that the curse didn't intend to die just yet himself or loose the only vessel that was able to contain him in over a thousand years.

Sighing, he looked at the other two teens in the room. Megumi was sitting on the edge of Yuuji's bed, currently replacing the wet cloth they had put on the sleeping teen's forehead. Kugisaki had commandeered the only chair in the room, switching between scrolling through her phone and watching the other people in the small bedroom. Satoru himself was sitting on the floor cross legged, keeping a very close eye on his charge's cursed energy in order to be able to react in the fraction of a second, should he feel Sukuna taking over or try anything else that could be classified as anything that wasn't harmless.

"Satoru?"

Looking at Megumi, he nodded. "What is it? Did anything change?"

"Yeah, I think his fever has come down a bit, but I'm not completely sure. Do you still have that thermometer?"

Nodding, he got to his feet and stretched before walking over to the bed. From only looking at the rose haired teen, he really couldn't tell if Megumi was right or not. Yuuji still looked awful. Pale and sweaty, cheeks flushed an unhealthy shade of pink. Even in unconsciousness, the kid was shivering. Sadly though, this was the only form of movement they had seen from him since getting back to the dorms.

Taking out the requested item from one of his pockets, he knelt down next to the bed and carefully inserted the device into his students ear. After waiting until the reading was done, he pulled it out and looked at the display.

"I think you're right Megumi! At least, we're below 40°C now."

Relief could be seen on his students faces. Kugisaki sighed and put away her phone. "Finally! It would be a real shame if he got like brain damage or something. Not that there is much that could get damaged in the first place, but you know…"

"Awww, come on Nobara-chan, it's not fair to be mean when Yuuji-kun can't even defend himself!"

"Gojo-sensei is right Kugisaki, although I do have to agree with you that Itadori needs to grow a few brain cells if he pulls stunts like the one today."

In surrender, Satoru lifted his hands. "Okay, maybe you're right about that one Megumi-kun. And don't worry, I'll make sure he won't be doing something like this again. Hiding illness or injury is dangerous, especially in our line of work where one mistake can potentially lead to the death of civilians or your comrades."

"Oh, don't worry Sensei, we'll give him a piece of our minds as well, right, Fushiguro?"

The dark haired teen simply nodded, determination clear on his face.

"Great!" Clapping his hands, he was just about to go back to his spot on the floor, when a low groan could be heard from the bed. In a matter of seconds, Kugisaki had jumped over to their sick comrade. Now, all three of them were intently staring at their friend, who for the first time since passing out, showed some actual signs of waking up.

"Yuuji-kun?" Gently combing his long and slender fingers through those soft, damp, rose colored strands of hair, he tried to rouse the teen. He could see Yuuji's brow furrow as the kid tried to curl in on himself, almost completely disappearing under his blanket.

He couldn't help but coo at this adorable sight.

Shaking his student's shoulder lightly, he called out to him again. He really didn't like seeing how long it took for the kid to come back to them. Finally though, he seemed to make some headway at last.

Yuuji moved again, turning onto his other side, now facing him directly. Bleary golden eyes opened and blinked tiredly a few times before closing again.

"Mmmmh… sleepy… S'kuna… 'm cold..."

He, Megumi and Kugisaki couldn't help but stare at each other and Yuuji in disbelief. Maybe the young curse vessel was feeling worse then they'd initially thought? Satoru could really think of no other reason for the clearly very confused teen to call out for that curse first thing upon waking up.

"Yuuji!" This time, he was being a bit harsher in his efforts to wake up the sleeping teen. His voice sounded almost commanding, loud and clear, all gentleness gone from his tone. Weather the kid was confused from his fever or not, he would definitely not give Sukuna a chance to answer the teen's sleepy call.

Also, Yuuji really should know better then to try depending on that monster in the first place, no matter what condition he was in.

Still though, Yuuji refused to do more then groan pitifully before disappearing under his blankets completely.

Apparently, Kugisaki had seen enough. The girl roughly grabbed Yuuji's shoulder and quickly ripped the blanket off her sick classmate.

"Hey, come on you idiot, you've slept long enough now!"

Apparently, the sudden lack of warmth and comfort did the trick. Satoru watched in relief as his student finally opened his eyes fully and seemed to actually recognize them.

Nobara cheered and roughly shoved her classmates shoulder. "Man, If you hadn't woken up now, I would have been seriously pissed at you."

"S-sensei?...Kugisaki? I...-" Before he could continue, Yuuji suddenly leant over the edge of his bed, heaving. With a disgusted shriek, Nobara jumped away, narrowly avoiding the pitiful amount of stomach acid Sukuna's vessel managed to bring up before dry heaving a few times.

When he was done, the poor kid flopped back down onto his bed before finishing his sentence. "...- don't feel good."

"Wow."

"You don't say!"

His two healthy students both started at their friend as if he'd lost his mind. If the situation wasn't this serious, he would have laughed out loud at the sight of his adorable trio.

Gently patting Yuuji's head, he smiled at the teen. "Well, my dear student, I guess we agree then. That definitely makes things easier"

"why am I in m' room? Weren't we… training?"

"Oh, so you remember that much then? That's good." Looking at his student's confused face, he decided to get serious. "Yuuji-kun, you collapsed during training because you are sick. Ieri-san said that it is most likely some kind of flu. You basically overexerted yourself despite being ill and caused yourself to get worse. You should just have told us you weren't feeling good, you can trust us, you know?"

After the kid had nodded carefully, Satoru continued.

"I'll have you know that you caused quite a bit of trouble for us. But enough of that. Why don't you tell Sensei how you're feeling right now?"

Yuuji seemed to contemplate that for a moment before answering. "Sorry, I didn't… mean to worry you."

"That's not what I asked, kid."

Fumbling around uncoordinated, Yuuji seemed to feel around his bed for something, only to sigh in relief when he found his blanket again a few seconds later. Pulling the warm piece of fabric over himself, he looked at his classmates before his gaze turned back to his teacher and he finally answered the question that he'd been presented with a minute ago.

"I'm really cold and tired. Also… head hurts and everything's spinning and… I feel like I'm gonna throw up again."

Nodding towards Megumi, the teen immediately got up and brought over a trashcan and a few used rags to clean up the small puddle of vomit that was still on the floor.

"Okay, and when did all this start? If I remember correctly, you seemed fine yesterday, right?"

"Yeah, I… I woke up this morning and felt awful, but until lunch, it wasn't too bad."

"Alright, and what's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, sorry it's just… My head hurt really bad and Sukuna just kept being really annoying, only making it worse. I started throwing up during our break, even though I didn't even eat anything at all today."

Yuuji sounded frustrated and tired, almost as if he was about to start crying at any moment now, as he once again curled up tightly before groaning and clenching his mouth shut.

Seeing what was about to happen, Satoru sat down on the spot Megumi had occupied earlier. Sliding the bucket closer to the bed, he gently rubbed circles on Yuji's back. "Shhshh, it's okay, just breathe. And don't try to fight it, You'll only feel worse if you do."

It took less then thirty seconds before Yuuji was once again leaning over the edge of the bed, retching and coughing, bringing up next to nothing. A little bit of bile dribbled into the bucket, but that was it. The poor kid couldn't help but sob as his stomach convulsed again painfully giving him almost no time to catch a breath.

This time, the ordeal lasted for almost five minutes. By now, tears were leaking out of those warm, caramel eyes, the pain and effort from continuously throwing up proving to be too much for his charge.

When it seemed like his student was finally done, he carefully pulled Yuuji back onto the bed and tucked him in gently.

Breathing heavily, the young curse vessel pulled in his arms and legs and shivered as he tried to at least feel some semblance of warmth. Satoru rarely had to deal with one of his students getting sick. Normally, Shoko would handle whatever came their way in that department, but right now, the thought of just handing Yuuji off to someone else like that was unbearable.

"Hey, you're gonna be fine, okay? There are just two things I need from you before you can go back to sleep. First, I need you to take some medicine and drink a little bit. Do you think you can manage that?"

"I… I don't know, I can try, but… I...-" Hearing the normally bright and happy teen sound this weak and exhausted really saddened the teacher a great deal. Why were things like that always happening to Yuuji of all people? The poor kid was already dealing with so much, so why didn't anyone ever decide to let him catch a break?

"That's good Yuuji, I'm not gonna ask you to do more then that, I promise."

Then, he turned to Nobara. "Kugisaki-san, could you go and grab a glass of warm water?"

"Sure." The girl looked kinda happy to be able to get out a bit. Ever since Yuuji had thrown up for the first time after regaining consciousness, she had been very quiet and had looked kinda pale. Apparently, their hard-as-steel-girl wasn't good with vomit.

"Megumi, could you maybe open the window for a bit? I think some fresh air might do all of us some good." The teen did as he was told and then sat down on Yuuji's desk, attentively watching Satoru and his classmate.

While they waited for Kugisaki to return, Satoru continued to stroke Yuuji's back silently, only speaking when it seemed as if the teen was about to fall asleep again.

When finally footsteps could be heard from outside, Satoru felt relieved. He just really hoped his charge would be able to keep the medicine and some water down. If he couldn't, they really would have no other choice but to bring the kid to Shoko again and have her deal with this properly. Since Yuuji hadn't had any food or water for the entire day while running a high fever, getting some fluids into him was their top priority right now.

Quickly, he got out some of the medications his former classmate had recommended. First off was something against fever and pain, secondly something against nausea.

Nodding his thanks to his female student as she entered and handed him what she'd been sent out to retrieve, he sat the glass down on the nightstand and then looked at Yuuji, who seemed to do his best in order to stay awake.

"You still with me kid?"

After receiving a soft nod for an answer, he smiled gently at his student. "Good. You'll need to sit up for a bit, but don't worry, I'll do all the work, you just relax."

Gently reaching around the fevered teen, he slowly lifted him into a sitting position. Once he had Yuuji leaning safely against his chest, he reached for the water, bringing the glass close to his students mouth. "Take small and slow sips, okay? I don't want you to make yourself sick again or something. Also, I can't give you any medicine until we have at least gotten some water into you, so please try to keep it down, at least for a little while. When the medicine kicks in, you should be feeling better right away."

"...'kay…" Shakily doing as he was told, Yuuji slowly sipped at the water he was being offered, only stopping from time to time to wait and see what his still upset stomach would do with the foreign substance. All things considered, it went pretty well. Yuuji managed about one third of the glass before pulling away, shaking his head vehemently when Satoru tried getting him to take another sip.

Admitting defeat, he handed the glass off to Kugisaki, before reaching for a small plastic cup filled with some clear liquid, as well as a couple of small white pills.

"You did very well Yuuji, Now I just need you to take these." Before the teen could protest, Satoru quickly slipped the pills and the medicine into his students mouth. "Just swallow and then, you can lie back down, okay?"

It was pretty obvious how hard this was on the teen, but after a few attempts and barely suppressed gagging, Yuuji finally managed to force down the offered medication.

"Good, now I only have one question for you before I'll let you sleep again. When you woke up earlier, you were calling out to Sukuna. Mind telling me why you would do something like that?"

It was apparent that it took a few seconds for the question to fully sink in. The moment it did however, something interesting happened. Yuuji's pale face flushed slightly and the teen turned his head away.

"D-don't know… can't remember doing that."

"Oh, really?"

After another shaky nod against his shoulder, Satoru decided to drop the topic for now. After gently lowering Yuuji back down onto the bed, he looked at the other two in the room. Both had watched and listened during their interaction and both looked just as unconvinced as he felt. After all, Yuuji was a terrible liar and to anyone who knew him, it was quite obvious that he hadn't been answering truthfully just now.

This either meant that it was something really embarrassing, something, Yuuji was certain they would greatly disapprove of, or something that could potentially be dangerous to them.

"We'll talk about this when you're feeling better, Yuuji-kun, bur for now, try to get some rest. I'll stay here the entire time, so if you need anything, just tell me."

When he turned back to Yuuji, He noticed that the kid had already nodded off again.

################################################################################

To her great relief, the medicine Gojo-sensei had given her classmate seemed to be working very well. At least, Yuuji didn't seem to be as uncomfortable as before. Also, he hadn't thrown up again, which she was very grateful for. For the most part, Nobara was pretty much unshakable, but when it came to unsanitary things like vomiting or eating thousand year old mummified fingers or something, she just couldn't help herself.

Seeing her friends puking out his guts had really not been on her to do list for today. Sitting around inside said friends stuffy room for the entire day hadn't either, but at least, she had her phone to distract herself with.

Of course, she understood why that idiot needed to be watched. With the delicate situation he was in, they couldn't afford to take any risks. If Sukuna managed to get out whenever Yuuji was sick, their superiors would undoubtedly kill her friend right away. And even if nothing of this sort happened, there were still enough people who would definitely take advantage of the situation and try something if they left Yuuji alone.

Still though, all of this destroying her plans for the afternoon completely just sucked.

After checking her social media accounts for what felt like the hundredth time in the last five minutes, she couldn't take it any longer. It had been almost three hours since Yuuji had briefly woken up, and since then, nothing had happened. She was bored out of her mind right about now. Also, her stomach was growling pathetically and she really needed to move.

"Hey you loosers, I'm gonna go downstairs and grab some food for us. Don't expect me back before an hour, I'm gonna order delivery and take a shower. I feel like my hair is reeking of vomit." Not waiting for a reply, the auburn haired girl got to her feet and quickly left the room, not bothering to ask her companions for their food preferences. They'd simply have to be happy with whatever she felt like getting them.

First, she went into her room to collect some clothes, then she preceded to call the nearest pizza place since it was cheap and wouldn't ask any questions, the employees already used to deliver their products to the weird, traditional school out in the middle of nowhere.

She was pretty sure, Yuuji wouldn't be joining them for dinner. Earlier, he'd looked ready to hurl just from drinking some water. There was simply no way he would be able to keep something as heavy and fatty as pizza down right now.

Well, better for her wallet anyways.

Just as she was about to get to the showers, footsteps downstairs called for her attention. Not knowing who it was since they didn't expect any company, she silently and quickly grabbed her hammer and a few nails, dropping the pile of clothes she was carrying onto the dusty floor of the hallway and strained her ears to precisely locate the intruders current position.

What if the higher ups had decided to send someone to 'visit' Yuuji for a bit? Of course, with Gojo-sensei there, no one would be able to lay a single finger on their friend, but still, it would be best not to let whoever it was get any closer then necessary.

Tiptoeing towards the noises, she thought to herself that if this really was an assassin, they really needed to step up their game. Being this loud was pretty unprofessional.

Before rounding the last corner that separated her from the person walking around their dorm building, Kugisaki pressed her back against the wall and carefully peeked into the next room, which happened to be their kitchen.

To her surprise, and relief, she didn't find some stranger in their home. Instead, she was met by the big and furry form of Panda-senpai, who despite looking like an animal, apparently didn't have the stealth ability that most non human creatures possessed.

Relaxing her shoulders and putting her weapon away, the first year cleared her throat and stepped around the corner.

"Yo, Senpai! What are you doing here?" The huge cursed corpse flinched rather comically and turned around as fast as he could just after Nobara let him know she was there. "It's pretty unusual seeing you sneak around our dorm at...-" Looking at the nearest clock to confirm the time, she continued. "...-half past nine in the evening. Did you need anything?"

"Ah, Kugisaki-san, don't scare me like that, panda's are sensitive, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry, but I'm really not in the mood to care right now." Seriously, what did she look like? Maybe the new school nurse or errand-girl or something? She hadn't gotten one damn minute to her self since getting up this morning damn it!"

Thankfully, Panda seemed to have gotten pretty used to her almost constantly harsh behavior by now. He just chuckled and did his equivalent of a smile. "Wow, Kouhai, you seem to be in a pretty bad mood today! Did anything happen?"

"Why don't you answer me first?" She couldn't quite suppress the annoyed huff that escaped her at the end of her sentence. Later, she would definitely regret being this mean to the older student, but right now, she just wanted to fucking shower and have pizza!

"Oh, sorry about that, I was actually looking for Satoru. I wanted to ask him something concerning the last mission he went on together with us second years. Apparently, he borrowed one of Maki's tools again and didn't return it. I just thought it might be better I come here to retrieve it, since she is so angry right now, she'd definitely try to hit him. After all, she's still pretty pissed about him loosing her slaughter demon."

Kugisaki could definitely picture that. Maki cared about her arsenal almost as much as Megumi about his Shikigami. Who ever touched one of them without permission, or even dared to break them, would have to face divine punishment.

"That's pretty generous of you, don't you think? I mean, if he lost it or simply forgot to bring it back, he should deal with whatever Maki-senpai has in store for him, right?"

Panda only shrugged. "Maybe, but I wanted to take a walk anyways, so I really don't mind." Looking around the room, her furry senpai once again seemed to be searching for something. "So, is he here?"

Remembering his question from before, the girl nodded. "Yeah, he's upstairs in Itadori's room."

"Oh, so he's busy then? I hope nothing happened?"

His concerns were definitely understandable. Normally, their teacher wouldn't go into their bedrooms, only staying in the kitchen or common areas when he visited. The only times he actually accompanied them to their personal living quarters were when he needed to privately talk to them, or something was seriously wrong.

Sighing, she shrugged. "Well, it's nothing too bad I guess. Just Itadori being sick." Wrinkling her nose at the still fresh memory of her classmate throwing up, she crossed her arms to suppress a shiver.

"That doesn't sound good, do you guys need any help? I may not look it, but whenever one of the other second year students is sick, I'm the one taking care of them."

"Nah, I think we've got it covered. Sensei is just staying because that idiot passed out during training and was running a pretty bad fever for a while. Also, since we don't know how Sukuna may react to this, or if the higher ups or some other guys wanna try killing Itadori again, Satoru though it best to just chill up there until Yuuji's okay again."

Contemplative look on his face, Panda nodded. "That makes sense. So what did he catch? Food poisoning?"

"Nah, although he did throw up a few times earlier. Ieri-sensei said it's most likely some kind of flu or something. He should be back on his feet a few days from now."

"Poor guy, that doesn't sound like much fun."

Her senpai seemed genuinely worried. That he and the other second years were this close to Itadori was quite interesting, especially considering the fact that they really hadn't known Sukuna's vessel for all that long. Yuuji really had an interesting ability to basically make everybody he met like him instantly. Even She had succumbed to this phenomenon right after the two of them had worked together for the first time on that mission in Roppongi.

"You can say that again, damn princess gave us one hell of a scare, I can tell you that much. But, he wouldn't feel this crappy if he'd just called in sick this morning instead of trying to push himself through training like nothing was wrong. Well, anyways, you said you wanted to see Gojo, right? I think no one would mind if you popped in there really quick." Turning around before he could say anything else, she walked away, her former destination still on her mind. "And now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get showered before the pizza guy comes with our food."

Leaving her senpai to his own devices, she finally made it to the bathroom. Taking off her clothes, she sighed in bliss as the warm water flowed over her body, washing away that awful stench of sickness from her body. After using way more shampoo, conditioner and body wash then she'd normally do, she just stood there for a few minutes, thinking today over.

Now that she knew what was wrong with her friend, she almost felt bad for snapping at him this morning. The state he'd been in, making breakfast really wouldn't have been very pleasant. Also, she thought that maybe, she had gotten a bit too accustomed to her friend cooking for them almost daily.

But damn, it really wasn't her fault if Yuuji's stupid food was so fucking delicious!

Once she was dressed again, Nobara barely managed to get to the school ground's entrance before the food got delivered. Balancing three boxes of pizza on one, and a bag filled with cold drinks in the other hand, she finally made her way back upstairs. When she entered Itadori's room, she was surprised to find not only Gojo and Fushiguro, as well as Panda-senpai, but also and surprisingly enough, an awake Yuuji, who had been sat up against the wall, so he could at least sit without having to be held up by someone else.

Said teen was also trying to not to be too obvious about the fact that he was totally cuddling into their senpai's soft fur right now.

Now that he'd really slept instead of being knocked out and had gotten some medicine in him, he actually looked a lot better then before. Of course, he still looked sick and fevered, but at least, his eyes seemed more awake and he was actually talking without slurring his words like he'd done earlier, which meant that his fever had gone down even more then before.

In one hand, Yuuji weakly held the glass of water she'd fetched for him before he'd gone to sleep. Kugisaki was relieved to see that it was almost empty now.

Once he noticed her arrival, a tired smile could be seen on his face.

However, upon noticing what she was carrying, his smile that had been pretty genuine before turned a bit forced. Also, he tentatively put his drink back onto the bedside table.

"Aw cone on Kugisaki, pizza again?" Megumi didn't look very happy upon inspecting the food she'd brought. "Did you at least order different ones? If we're gonna have only pepperoni and olives, I'm out."

Scowling, she threw one of the boxes in his general direction. "Check for yourself you damn whiner! Also, don't complain, you didn't pay for it!"

Panda, who had been sitting on the bed beside Yuuji, apparently decided that this was a good moment to leave. Once the big, furry cursed corpse started moving away, a small whine escaped Yuuji, who'd been snuggling against his senpai up until now.

Damn, she should have taken a photo.

"Well guys, I guess I should head back now, otherwise the others will start to wonder where I've disappeared to, sorry." The last word was directed at the sickly teen on the bed, who flushed slightly and then looked away, much like he'd done earlier when he'd been asked about Sukuna.

After their Senpai had finally left, she settled down in the middle of the room. Taking the one pizza she'd specifically ordered for herself, she started to eat, not caring if her actions may be considered rude. The last box was quickly slid over to Gojo, who took it with a saddened expression, apparently disappointed from the lack of sugar in his meal. Wisely though, he stayed quiet.

"Yuuji, are you okay?" When Fushiguro's voice broke the silence, Nobara looked up at her two male classmates. Nothing she'd seen or heard since coming back had warranted such a question, so she was curious what the black haired male had noticed just now.

When her gaze landed on Itadori however, it was pretty evident what he meant. Their classmate was intently looking out the still opened window, doing his best to breathe evenly. Also, his face had changed from pale to a sickly gay-greenish color again, which didn't bode well for her peaceful dinner at all.

################################################################################

When he'd woken up again, Yuuji felt, much to his surprise, way better then before. His headache had gone down considerably and he didn't feel like throwing up at all right now. Maybe, the medicine Gojo had given him had actually worked?

Also, he wondered what exactly had woken him. His teacher's and classmate's voices normally didn't disturb him when he slept and for a change, Sukuna had actually allowed him to rest peacefully without torturing him with nightmares one more bloody and gruesome then the other.

Silently thanking his curse, he only received a slight feeling of annoyance as an answer, which was more then he'd expected. On top of thet, he felt as if Sukuna was currently focusing his attention directly onto him, even if he wasn't interacting at all, just watching in silence. This sensation was weirdly calming, especially after what had happened in Sukuna's domain when he'd been unconscious earlier.

Also, even if he'd slipped up slightly upon waking up, calling out for the one that longed to destroy him, he'd miraculously been forgiven. If being sick caused Sukuna to become more bearable towards him, then maybe he should consider getting ill more often.

'Don't you dare, brat. This is more then annoying enough as it is. Also, if you ruin my body like that, I won't be as merciful the next time around."

"...'s still my body you know?"

"Yuuji?"

Damn it, he'd been talking out loud again. Now opening his eyes completely, he found his teacher, as well as Megumi and Panda-senpai staring at him. To see the huge doll was weird since he didn't know why it was here, but at least this explained why he woke up in the first place.

'Serves you right my little, idiotic vessel, your skill and self restraint are lacking severely, like always.'

Groaning, the teen rolled onto his back, feeling his muscles aching as he uncurled his arms and legs from around his body. The sudden lack of warmth made him shiver again slightly. Pulling his blanket closer around his sweat soaked body, he did his best to sit up. It took him a few seconds, but somehow he managed to do at least that much. Leaning against the wall, he smiled at the three people before him.

"Hey." In the back of his mind, he could still hear the king of curses complain and growl at him, but decided to ignore it for now.

"Ah, so he lives!" Grinning, Gojo-sensei gently ruffled his hair. "Is Sukuna giving you a hard time again?"

Shaking his head, he tried to reassure the others. "No more then usual, don't worry about it." Still smiling, he turned to Panda-senpai. "Yo, since when are you here?"

Internally, he sighed in relief as the big and warm body sat down next to him, providing warmth and comfort in an instant. Without consciously noticing what he was doing, he was already cuddled up close to the older student.

"I've just come in a few minutes ago. Maki send me to retrieve one of her weapons from Satoru."

"Hmmhm." At this point, he really didn't care. Panda was just soooo comfortable. But even so, something felt… amiss. Being held by Sukuna earlier had felt kinda different.- His senpai sure was warm and fluffy and unbelievably soft, but…

Being cared for by the curse had made him feel… contempt and safe in a way, he couldn't properly describe.

Also, he was pretty sure that no one besides Sukuna could make him feel like before. He hadn't felt this relaxed and at home ever since his grandpa had died.

As he sat here next to Panda, he found himself missing Sukuna's scent, his warmth and the clawed and strong fingers that had carded through his hair, softly scratching and massaging his scalp in the process.

Sure, he enjoyed , ruffling his hair as well, but it just didn't feel quite this relaxing.

Also, the cursed corpse's warm and sunny scent just… wasn't enough, didn't feel right to him. Sure, it was familiar, but it completely failed to put his nerves to rest the way Sukuna's presence had done earlier. He found himself wishing to just go back there and rest against Sukuna once again.

At those thoughts, he could almost feel the curse smirk at him from his throne.

'Getting a bit greedy now, are we, little vessel?'

Damn it, he really hated when Sukuna was reading his thoughts like that.

"-tadori? Hey, anyone home? You still awake?"

He hadn't noticed he'd spaced out again. Looking at Fushiguro, who now had one hand firmly on his shoulder, he nodded. "Hah?, sorry, just got distracted."

He could see his classmate furrow his brow, undoubtedly analyzing what he'd just said. "Okay, anyways, Gojo-sensei just asked how you were feeling. Try focusing on us a bit more from time to time, okay?"

"You're right, sorry." Turning from his friend to his teacher, he continued. "I'm good, Sensei." Grinning, he gave them a thumbs up, before letting his head drop back onto Panda-senpai's shoulder. He started feeling sleepy again.

"Nu uh Yuuji-kun, I don't think so." A hand gently tapped his cheek, hindering him in his efforts to fall back asleep completely. Groaning once again, he stared at his teacher, irritation shining in his honey eyes.

Judging by the surprised look on his the white haired male's face, Yuuji had managed to copy the annoyed look Sukuna wore almost constantly to perfection.

"Come on kid, you can go back to sleep once we're done. And now, I'll ask again. How are you feeling Yuuji-kun? And anything like 'I'm fine' won't count, got it?"

"Okay, fine. But really, I do feel better. At least it don't feel like Todo is kicking in my head again anymore. Also, I think I'm kinda thirsty." And tired, but he didn't say that out loud. After all, it was pretty obvious.

Gojo seemed pleased with his answer and reached out to hand him some water. "That's good, do you mind if I take your temperature?"

After he shook his head, his teacher pulled some device out of his pocket and put it into his ear. Back when his grandpa was still alive, the old man had never bothered with modern things like this. The old man had only owned a simple thermometer, nothing fancy like this.

When the thing finally beeped and was pulled from his ear again, he was kinda relieved. And judging from the smile coming from the white haired man in front of him, he was as well.

"Now look at that! All the way down to 38.1°C, that's really good. Do you think you can manage some food? If I remember correctly, the last time you ate was sometime yesterday, right?"

Just the thought of eating made his stomach clench painfully, making him almost vomit again right then and there. Hastily shaking his head, he clenched the glass he still held in one hand, while shrinking back into the wall as far as possible.

"Woah, it's okay, I won't force you to eat, at least not yet, so don't worry!"

Relaxing slightly, he nodded. Now, everyone was silent, at least until the door opened, revealing a freshly showered Kugisaki. Excitedly, he greeted her, only noticing seconds later what she was carrying. Those square boxes, the smell of pepperoni and molten cheese… Normally, those things would make his mouth water, bu right now, she might as well have dragged a rotting corpse in here, the effect would have been the same.

When Panda Left, he was shortly distracted by the sudden chill that once again took over his body. He couldn't quite help the pathetic noise that escaped his throat, but he could worry about his dignity later. Now, he was once again starting to shiver.

Just as he thought that things couldn't get worse for now, the remaining three visitors started happily eating their pizza, completely forgetting the fact that he currently wasn't very fond of food at all.

With each bite they took, he felt himself getting more and more disgusted. His body felt hot and cold at the same time and the urge to throw up what little water he'd managed to keep down almost got too strong to resist. Turning his face away, he tried to focus on the scent of the night air and trees slowly drifting in through the window.

It helped, at least a little bit, but it wouldn't do much good in the long run.

Another deep breath brought to him the scent of moist earth and trees. If only…

He wished that scent would mix with other, stronger odors, with fire and burning incense. Somehow he just knew that this would help, would distract him.

Yuuji really didn't want to throw up again. His muscles were still sore from the last few times. Doing this once again surely would be painful.

Clenching his teeth, he focused on anything that wasn't food. Right now, even Sukuna's violent and bloody memories would make him feel better then watching his friends devours cheesy pizza to their hearts contempt.

When Megumi suddenly asked if he was okay, he would have loved to laugh, only refraining from doing so because he was scared he might lose the battle against his stomach if he did.

"Itadori? Are you okay?"

Looking at his friend he nodded curtly, before facing towards the window again. Seriously, how could they be so insensitive towards his condition after taking care of him for the entire day all of a sudden?

'Oh, come on little one, you know humans are cruel and selfish, don't you? Also, you should just tell them to leave. I do not wish to lay eyes on them any longer.'

But he couldn't do that, right? Not after they'd sacrificed their entire day for his sake. Silently telling the curse 'no', he prepared to just sit on his bed and wait for his companions to finish their dinner, no matter how bad it might make him feel.

'Fine, since you're just useless right now, we'll do it MY way.'

Suddenly, he could feel Sukuna open his eyes on his cheekbones. The curse seemed to glare at everyone in the room, emitting murderous intent so strongly, it was impossible for anyone to miss. Sukuna had acted so fast, Yuuji couldn't do anything but let it happen. He was just happy that the curse had refrained from trying to take complete control of his body and was only making his presence and displeasure known to the others.

In an instant, his teacher and classmates had dropped their food and were on their feet, ready to fight. Normally, Sukuna would simply manifest his mouth and open one of his eyes, but to have Yuuji looking at them with one set of golden and one of red eyes and an expression that could very well come from Sukuna himself apparently made it pretty hard for his friends to separate him and the curse.

Seriously, Yuuji really didn't care if he looked annoyed as hell and maybe a bit pissed right about now. Neither Sukuna, nor his comrades were doing him any good right now, damn it!

It was apparent that they didn't know who they were dealing with right now. Since four eyes normally meant, Sukuna was the one in control. However, the lack of black tattoos on his skin seemed to confuse them.

"Megumi, Kugisaki, come over here." Gojo-Sensei's voice was calm, but firm. He had one hand raised in case his domain was needed, ready to cast at a moments notice.

"So, it's been a while since I've had to ask you this question, but I think now might be the appropriate time to do so. Which one are you right now?"

Yuuji just sighed and slowly raised his hands. "Sensei, I swear, If you cast your domain, I will hurl again."

While he spoke, he did his best to force Sukuna, as well as his own annoyance, from his face. After some struggle, the curse decided he'd scared the humans enough and closed his eyes again.

"Yuuji-kun…?"

Nodding, he slumped back down onto his mattress. "Now could you please take your dinner somewhere else? I want to sleep and doing that while my room reeks of food is impossible" He had no idea how much of his sentence had made it through the pillow he was currently lying on face down, but apparently, it had been enough since he heard his friends quietly apologizing and then taking the offending items away.

When it was finally quiet again, he lazily opened one eye, only to be met by his still clearly concerned teacher's face, the other students no where in sight.

"Sorry 'bout that sensei…"

"Nah, don't sweat it, okay? I'd just like to know what the hell that was all about. It didn't look like what he's normally doing, right?"

"Nothing much, he's just annoyed at me for being sick and at you guys for making it worse, 's all. Also, opening both eyes is something he does from time to time, mostly though only when we're 'lone."

"I see. Also, I've gotta say, that look you had on your face had me almost convinced he had taken over your body." Gojo-sensei sounded almost impressed.

"Yeah, I've learned from the best after all." Groaning, Yuuji closed his eyes. He was so done with today, seriously.

He heard the man laughing quietly, before fiddling around with something, But at this point, Yuuji was to tired to care anymore and too tired to move his head and see what exactly his teacher was doing.

"You should take some more medicine and then rest, we'll talk more tomorrow. I'll be downstairs if you need anything, okay?"

After mumbling an affirmative response, he took whatever his teacher put into his mouth and forced himself to swallow, vaguely remembering doing this earlier today as well. When Sensei finally arranged his blanket over his body comfortably, Yuuji was already half asleep.

"Good night Yuuji, I'll see you in the morning." Footsteps could be heard for a moment, then the sound of his door being pulled shut, only leaving a small crack open.

When the Sick teen drifted off, the last thing he did before finally succumbing to sleep was to send a silent 'thank you' to Sukuna.

Really, it was kinda funny that the only one who managed to actually make him feel better was a curse. Maybe there really was something seriously wrong with Yuuji after all. Or he'd simply gotten used to the one, he shared his body with.

No matter what it was, feeling this contempt In the king of curses presence surely was strange for a human.

###

Thankfully, after that first awful day, Yuuji started feeling better quickly. Sure, it still took him a few days until he could actually eat properly again, but all things considered, he'd gotten off pretty easy according to Ieri-sensei, who'd told him that the flu could easily last for up to two weeks.

Also, he did his best to deflect any questions concerning Sukuna, his teacher and fellow students decided to ask him, especially when it came to the duo's strange behavior during his illness.

The first day he was allowed to get back to training, they were thankfully sent out on a mission, which caused the others to finally stop questioning him all the time.

Soon after that, the entire incident was all but forgotten.

Those precious moments he'd shared with his curse were something the two of them would keep to themselves forever, not even talking about this among each other. As soon as Yuuji had been well again, Sukuna had gone back to his usual uncaring and antisocial self.

Some nights though, he he actually managed to sleep easier when imagining Sukuna's scent and his gentle touches, but he'd never tell anyone about this.

This was their secret, and for a change, it was one he was happy to keep.