When We Were Dreaming
Summary: This story is about that awkward moment when two insanely powerful individuals realize they have technically grown up together despite their births being a millennia apart and one was practically born to be the other's enemy. Needless to say, NO ONE was expecting THIS. The Fates really liked their games, it seemed.
Only, it would seem that the dream would never actually end, for the next time Satoru went to sleep, he woke up yet again in the same forest, in the same exact spot as the night before. Ryou came barreling through the foliage not long after, having apparently, yet again, seen some sign that told him Satoru was there. Satoru, who still had no idea how dreams actually worked at that time, had only been happy he got to continue dreaming his first and clearly meant to be favorite dream ever and went along with their pre-made plans to check out the abandoned temple.
Satoru had been fascinated by the things he could see in that temple as Ryou rambled on every little story and fact he knew about the temple before the 'gods' exiled the humans from it. There may actually be some merit to the stories, because the temple's grounds were overrun by nature spirits that Satoru didn't have the chance to see around the Gojo compound, or anywhere else except deep in the forest, where humans didn't usually go. Ryou was oblivious to them, but he was definitely sensitive to the curses that also resided in the temple.
It's hard to tell whether it had been curses that had scared the humans away or if the nature spirits had chased them away, as there seemed to be no signs of a massacre or some sort of mutilation, as was usual if curses were involved, so, really, it could be either or maybe even both. Satoru's Six Eyes can only tell him so much, when he has nothing to reference his information against, being as young as he is.
Still, he and Ryou had a good time competing to see who will exorcise more curses. They both had their advantages - Ryou was older, faster and physically stronger, but Satoru had better control of his cursed energy and sight of the whole compound and its surroundings at all times - and they were both skilled. Somehow, they ended up having the exact same number when they found themselves exorcising the last curse, a grade one one that had tried hiding from them. They were both sweaty and dirty and tired, but the abandoned grounds were now curse-free and even the nature spirits living there seemed in a better mood, no longer looming ominously but rather dancing around the temple and through the forest. When Satoru told Ryou that, the older boy puffed up his chest in pride before just plopping down on the ground for a well earned rest.
Somehow, they fell asleep there and Satoru woke up to the real world, sad that he didn't get to say goodbye to Ryou this time. What if it was the last time he sees the other boy? He'll be devastated to not have gotten at least a goodbye.
Except it wasn't and no goodbyes were needed. Because that night Satoru dreamed the same dream again - Ryou chastised him for disappearing without a trace, because he'd woken up the next morning in the abandoned temple with Satoru nowhere in sight and no signs as to where he could have disappeared off to; Ryou had worried Satoru had found a way home and had thought Ryou insignificant enough to not need a farewell, which Satoru had vehemently denied and promised never to do so long as it was within his power - and then again and again, for an entire week, before he got curious as to whether this was normal.
It turned out that no, it was not. It was so far from normal, Satoru may be living in an entirely different world altogether. Which might just be the case. The forest surrounding Ryou's village was completely different to anything Satoru had seen before, but books suggested that forests used to be like that before the industrial revolution or something.
Really, Satoru didn't need much to deduce from that he was dreaming about the world from the past, or some imaginary world that supposedly took place in the past. Asking Ryou some questions - that the older boy wrote off as a kitsune's curiosity in humanity and their 'weird' ways - confirmed that and cross referencing what the older boy told him took him about a year until he realized he was probably dreaming about the Heian era. The golden age of curses.
Whether Ryou was a real person or just someone Satoru's mind made up, he's not sure if he'll ever be able to find out.
But for years, Satoru would dream of his first friend, growing up with all sorts of 'adventures' under his belt. Ryou eventually asked him if Satoru can only appear at night or something, because he's always nowhere to be found during the day, even after he started inhabiting the temple they'd cleared of curses, and the young Gojo dreamer had just made up some nonsense about spending most of his days in his 'true form' that was too much for human minds to comprehend without hurting them. Ryou, who'd never before listened to myths or legends, just accepted it as the truth and let it go.
For two years, Satoru enjoyed all sorts of games and 'adventures' with his dreamed-up friend, exorcising curses together, luring in deer to be petted - Satoru seems to be capable of attracting animals, because he's apparently partially a nature spirit, too, as a 'kitsune', which is cool, as Ryou seems to like animals and the temple grounds definitely looked more lively with random forest creatures milling about at odd times of the day and night - and even fixing up the temple grounds a bit. Ryou did most of the work there, which brought about to Satoru asking him if his nightly 'visits' didn't leave Ryou tired the next day to work, which made Ryou ask him in turn what Satoru thought Ryou did in daytime.
Turns out, Ryou wasn't a farmer boy. He was one of the most gifted jujutsu sorcerers in training under the guidance of an experienced sorcerer who doubled as a priest for the people who can't see curses and Ryou's days were filled with studying and training. His food was provided for by the temple the priest served in, as were his clothes and other most basic needs, even the shack of a house he lived in. Satoru is yet to see it, but it definitely sounded way smaller than his bedroom back in the real world, something which he pointed out - replacing the word 'real' with 'his' - and Ryou got all huffy and indignant that his living arrangements were being compared to that of a kitsune.
Since he knew of Ryou's daily life now - and no, apparently Ryou didn't get too tired from their nightly games, as his lessons started later in the day since the priest had to hold services and ceremonies at the temple in the mornings so Ryou had a chance to sleep anyway - Satoru offered for them to study and train together, too, so Ryou can get even better. That way, he can ensure his living arrangement as well as his future, not just as a career, but making sure he can save his own life when he's fighting curses as a full-fledged sorcerer one day. Satoru also somehow got stronger during their training sessions. He's not sure how, but his tutors and trainers were all very impressed by the progress he seems to be making practically - literally, not that they knew - overnight. Not physical strength wise, but rather his concentration, his control and even the amounts of cursed energy he could access and have under full control. The biggest saving grace for the Gojo clan was that Ryou had taught Satoru how to mask his immense cursed energy, so that curses stop being so easily attracted to his power. That's, apparently, how Ryou had met his own master, too, because he was stupid strong but didn't know how to mask it.
They both made leaps and bounds, as sorcerers and academically. They both got wiser and better when fighting. They both seemed to be brighter by the day, enjoying life just that bit more than the day before. It was impossible not to notice.
Some days were bad, like that one time Ryou nearly had both of his arms sliced off by a special grade cursed spirit he and his friends had been sent to exorcise. Or when the Gojo compound was attacked again, by a hoard of grade one and two curses. They'd had no choice but to let Satoru fight. His parents died that night, as did many others, leaving the Gojo clan with only a couple of gray-haired elders, two male capable fighters and three female and the servants that had survived the assault. Both Ryou and Satoru gained their due recognition, which changed Satoru's life more than he thought a single, what to him is a regular, event possibly could.
The Gojo family was small, especially in comparison to the other two Big Families. This was especially true after the latest attack. And yet they were one of the most financially stable institutions within the jujutsu world, one of the most influential and one of the strongest. The last attack was still a great blow to their family, so the remaining members agreed to host a party for Satoru's sixth birthday and finally let the rest of the world see Six Eyes. Satoru himself wasn't so thrilled about it but he had no decision-making power within the clan, nor will he for another few years since he was so young despite him already being treated like a god by the other Gojo and the servants that worked for their family.
The party itself was extremely dull. The guests even more so. There was only a couple of kids close to Satoru's age and they were all either really weak and bragging about simple accomplishments that Satoru had conquered around the time he first started dreaming about Ryou or were so extremely arrogant and entitled that even Satoru - who had been told, multiple times, by Ryou that he often acted like that as well, even if he'd said it in fond exasperation - felt uncomfortable around them. Especially the Zen'in heir. He seems to have it stuck in his head that he's on the same level as Satoru when Satoru can already fight off multiple special grade curses on his own and the little Zen'in hadn't even faced a single curse on his own.
There was, however, someone from the Zen'in clan that intrigued him. A man more ghost than an actual ghost, with no presence if one could not see nature's energy besides cursed energy like Satoru can with his Six Eyes. Servants had been leading Satoru away from a group of Kamo elders that had been ogling him when he'd sensed someone behind him. Or rather, he'd sensed a void in the flow of nature's energy behind him and when he'd looked behind himself, there he was. Tall, broad shoulders, choppy black hair, a scar at the side of his mouth. The only reason he could identify him as Zen'in at all was his facial features, because he sensed no cursed energy in this man - or teen? He couldn't be sure. What he was sure of was that those startling green eyes had looked at him in a similar way to how Ryou had when they'd first met: a sort of scared awe and a realization that there was more to Satoru than his small body. But there was also a cold sort of calculating gaze and a sneer on his face, too, which melted when Satoru's Six Eyes met his.
That guy sure looked startled that Satoru had sensed him. He was probably used to being completely overlooked, be it by design - the Zen'in were infamous traditionalist fools who believed the quantity of cursed energy was everything; their views of this man were obvious without the fact that he was dressed in the same clothes as their servants, which was stupid - or because no normal jujutsu sorcerer would be able to sense him.
Before Satoru could possibly say anything to the intriguing Zen'in, the servants gently ushered him towards his own clan's remaining elders and soon the man was out of his sight, obscured by other, 'more respectable' guests.
Satoru did not see him again for the rest of the celebration, but he was stuck for half an hour with the Zen'in heir, which was so boring. He would really like it if Naoya-kun just left him be.
Thankfully, he was not required to attend the whole party, since he was 'still just a child' - as if he wasn't probably the most powerful person within the compound - but he didn't make a fuss, since it meant he can finally go to sleep! And sleeping meant dreaming of Ryou! Ryou was always fun.
When he opened his eyes to the familiar sight of the temple's shrine, where he usually slept and waited for Ryou's arrival, he could already sense the older boy was nearing the temple's grounds, so he left the shrine and raced down the long stairs to meet him at the entrance. He'd gotten used to the difference in temperature in his dream as opposed to reality, so he wasn't bothered by the heat and actually welcomed it after the cold, formal party he'd just been part of. Ryou had showed him last year what a 'proper' birthday party should be like when Satoru had told him it was his 'birthday' - it wasn't, not in his dream's timeline, since it was always summer there when his birthday came around - and Satoru definitely preferred it when Ryou brought him some traditional sweets as a small present as opposed to what he'd just been put through.
He greeted his friend with a big hug, which actually made Ryou stumble, because clearly he hadn't been expecting him to all but tackle him, but they both went down with childish laughter, even if the twelve year old complained about almost crushing the mochi he'd brought. Spending time with Ryou was still Satoru's most favorite way to pass the time and he hoped he would never stop dreaming.
"Huh? He really didn't have even an ounce of cursed energy?" Ryou asked as Satoru told him how he met ("What do you mean, met!? Did he see you!? When was this!? What if he followed you back here-!?" "Relax. It was a long distance from here" - technically true - "and he was too shocked to follow me when I turned around and left." "That was still reckless, Satoru! He could have hurt you!" "Come now, Ryou. You know better than anyone how strong I am." "That doesn't stop me from worrying, you fool!") that particular interesting Zen'in. It was, of course, an altered, abridged version of the events, since Satoru still kept it a secret from Ryou that he was just some weird sort of dream because he feared the dreams would stop if he revealed their nature to his dreamed-up friend.
"Not even a little. I didn't know that was even possible. I mean, even ordinary, non-sorcerer humans have some cursed energy, even if they don't know how to use it or don't have any innate techniques. It really surprised me," admitted the white haired boy and Ryou hummed, thoughtful.
"Well, I have heard of something like that before, if I'm honest, but I honestly thought it was a rumor. I think it's called a Heavenly Restriction or something. It trades cursed energy for superhuman strength and speed, if I remember correctly. But I'm still pretty sure that the person has at least a little cursed energy ..."
Satoru looked up from his mochi - Ryou had introduced him to sweets last year around Obon and Satoru really liked them, since they tasted great and they made his mind feel a little less fuzzy when he wasn't wearing anything to cover his eyes or even when he was; Six Eyes could really overstimulate his receptors, since he saw for miles and sensed perhaps even further, not to mention that all of his other senses were also extremely enhanced when he wore no eye-coverings. Nowadays, he spends more of his daylight hours with covered eyes than not, since he can move around perfectly even with a blindfold on, but it never seemed to be an issue in his dreams, which he was thankful for. Especially since Ryou had admitted about three months into their friendship that he really liked Satoru's eyes - to blink at his friend. "For real?"
Ryou shrugged. "I've never met someone like that before, but it is possible, apparently, if you've ... met that guy. But it's rare or something. I think the ... Kamo have one person like that. The Zen'in, too."
"You know about the Big Three Families?" This was news to Satoru! Wait, if Ryou knew about the Big Families, then how did he not recognize Satoru for a Gojo-
"Three? I thought there were only two?" Asked Ryou with a confused frown.
"I- There's one on the rise, I think," he hurried to excuse, searching his brain for his clan's history lesson. When did the Gojo family come into being, again? And when into power? In the Heian era, right? And they were in the Heian era, though he's not sure as to the exact chronology. It could be that he was right and that the Gojo family was on the rise to power. The Limitless alone would make them politically more powerful than most other clans, but it was Six Eyes that made them part of the Big Three Sorcerer Families. Or it could be that it's already happened and that Ryou doesn't know about it because he doesn't live near a bigger city.
"Eh, could be," shrugged Ryou. "You travel more than me, it would seem, and this sort of thing never really interested me, to be honest. My friends were always more concerned with it than I was."
"Aren't you interested in who might be the strongest?" Satoru asked curiously. Being The Strongest was part of who Satoru was, since he was born. He got the title before he could even start training jujutsu, so he can never escape it. He has to live up to everyone's expectations of him. It's his destiny or something. That's what everyone always told him. And after meeting so many people outside of his own clan members and servants, he could see why they'd say that. He was definitely stronger than any of the people who'd come to his birthday party and he could tell that even those of his own generation will never grow to be on par with him. The difference now was already staggering and Satoru had no plans to quit training and letting himself become weak. But he wanted to know Ryou's view on these things. Ryou wasn't bound by 'destiny'. He came from nothing and could do whatever the hell he wanted, whereas Satoru had no choice but to pursue jujutsu, because if he didn't, he'll be dead, the Gojo clan will be dead and so many other innocents will die, too, because of the rise of curses that was, apparently, caused by his birth.
"Not really," the twelve year old said after a bit of musing. "You see, one day, they will all know my name, so knowing theirs now is pointless," he said with the same arrogance he'd somehow picked up from Satoru, no doubt. Cockiness looked good on him. And it's not arrogance if you can back it up with skill and power, really. Or knowledge. "Besides, I already know who's the strongest."
"Oh?" Satoru asked, his six tails swishing this way and that. It was always disconcerting to wake up and find them gone. He didn't like his ears as much, because Ryou liked to mess with them but they were super sensitive, thus making Satoru feel really weird. Ryou always just found that really amusing. Satoru did not. But his tails were soft and fluffy and the best blankets in existence. Both Ryou and Satoru agreed on this, the few times Ryou decided to sleep in the shrine with him if the weather was too bad to make the short trip back to his village. Plus, having the tails' fur brushed was one of the best feelings in the world and Ryou also found it super relaxing, so it was a win-win situation for them both. Satoru makes Ryou do it at least twice a week. Ryou even went out of his way to buy a really expensive - for this era - comb and brush for him. Ryou really was the best.
Satoru just wished he was real.
"You," Ryou said, with complete confidence, meeting Satoru's eyes. Ryou had once told him that people found his red eyes unnerving, but Satoru really liked them. They were pretty, but when he'd told him as much, Ryou had laughed and told him he should really look into a mirror before he goes saying things like that.
Satoru knew people found his eyes beautiful, but he also knew they were unsettled by them, too. Everyone who knew about the Big Three Families knew about their techniques and the Six Eyes was, by far, the most feared, because it brings people to near godhood. And Satoru's eyes, in particular, made people uneasy, because none of the other Six Eyes users had ever had as much cursed energy as him, nor were they as good at controlling it at such a young age as he was. People didn't go blindly predicting Gojo Satoru would become The Strongest one day. It was already clear.
It still surprised him Ryou thought so and he felt his cheeks heating up. "You can't know that."
"But I do," his friend countered. "You're way stronger than me right now and have better control. You more often than not defeat more curses than me when we go together on a hunt. And you're still so young. You'll get even stronger."
"But so will you."
"Yeah, but I'm human and you're not," pointed out Ryou and Satoru had to stop himself from retorting that he was as human as his friend. Because here, he wasn't. Here, he was a kitsune, a spirit meant to be divine or something. Ryou didn't know none of this was real, that Satoru had dreamed this whole place and him up because, apparently, probably, he was bored or lonely.
He hadn't been lonely since he first returned to this dream and to Ryou.
"Then that's all the more initiative for you to get stronger, so we can stand as equals at the top," said Satoru instead, trying to sound as authoritative as the elders always make themselves sound.
Ryou just blinked down at him in surprise before howling in laughter. Satoru didn't see what was so funny. To him, it made sense. He may be young, but even he knew the saying 'It is lonely at the top', so if there were two people at the top, then surely it can't be so lonely, right? Ryou never let him feel lonely. Loneliness wasn't a concept he knew of since meeting Ryou. Ryou had first made him recognize it, only to then chase it away forever, and Satoru didn't want that loneliness to ever return.
Ryou was his first friend, will no doubt be his best friend ever, even if he wasn't real. Satoru couldn't imagine it being any different. That's how he wanted his life to be. Even when these dreams eventually inevitably stop, Satoru will never forget Ryou.
"You know what, brat? You've got yourself a deal. One day, I'll get just as strong as you and we'll stand together at the top," promised Ryou, giving him his hand to shake. Satoru immediately took it and wondered if it was a good idea to make a binding vow with a figment of his imagination. Well, he figured it can't be that bad, if it's only a dream, even a precious one.
It's a dream worth living, and that's all that matters.