Chapter 7
Strap in, Friends! It's a long one.
"You deliberately disobeyed school policy," Yaga said. He paced back and forth at the front of the classroom while Kaia cowered at her desk. She folded her hands together and pressed her tongue to the roof of her mouth to stop herself from saying anything stupid. "You know the school's security precautions, yet you ignored them when you left without express permission. The only time you are allowed to leave the campus is either on a mission or with permission. And yet neither of those things applied here."
"I know. I'm sorry, Sensei," she said as she hung her head low between her shoulders.
"As you should be. You almost died!" he snapped. He pivoted on his heel and Kaia winced as one of the cursed corpses, a brown teddy bear, jumped around on the ground beside him. She was waiting for it to punch her, but it didn't. It just followed Yaga around like the good little servant that it was.
"I know I shouldn't have left, but it's a good thing I did or else my sister would be dead. And I won't let anyone make me feel guilty for that," she said very quietly. She held her breath, waiting for the punch from the corpse for her attitude, but there was nothing.
Instead, a warm heavy hand rested on her shoulder. She looked up, expecting to see a cold stare from Yaga, but instead was greeted with a rather serene look on his face, free from the tension and wrinkles that were normally there when he reprimanded her.
"I know, Kaia. I'm glad you're both safe."
The heat behind her eyes that she'd been fighting off for over two hours came back with a vengeance. The guilt, the shame, the anger she felt all morphed into one. The words were so stupid. They were so simple, yet they were the only words she'd been wanting to hear without even realizing it.
She sniffled and buried her face in her hands to hide her tears from her sensei. She tried to quiet her sobs but couldn't, and they slipped through the cracks in pathetic little whimpers and yelps.
"It's hard being a sorcerer, Kaia. It's why I'm so tough on all of you. And while I'm not happy you broke the rules, it takes a hell of a lot of courage to sacrifice yourself for your sister the way you did," Yaga said gently. She cried harder until her sobs turned to hiccups. She pushed her face harder into her hands as if that would make her tears stop, but it didn't. "But let's work on your control so you never have to sacrifice yourself again. Okay?"
She sniffled and hiccupped and cried, but eventually pulled her shaky hands away from her face so she could look at her teacher through foggy eyes.
He wore a kind smile and she hiccupped one more time before attempting to smile back at him.
"Okay."
3 months later
Stuck in the hidden room at Kyoto Jujutsu Tech, Kaito Murakami stood before a group of jujutsu society's higher-ups. Many of them were hidden by shadows, but most notably were Principal Yoshinobu Gakuganji and Naobito Zen'in, illuminated by the ominous candlelight in the room. It was stupid and dramatic and over-the-top and Kaito hated it.
"There's been movement in Okinawa, Kaito," an elderly woman whose name Kaito didn't know said from somewhere on his left. "Mentions of a curse around your ancestral home."
"The house and its grounds have been warded to the heavens and back with the help of the Gojo and Kamo clans. There are no curses there. Not even Sukuna could withstand the seals," Kaito said. He refrained from rolling his eyes the way he might have done at sixteen and instead opted for crossing his arms and staring directly at Gakuganji.
"Bold words coming from the sole survivor of some hidden tragedy," Gakuganji drawled as he stroked his white beard.
"The house didn't have wards back then," Kaito said right away. He refused to let that old bat get under his skin. Gakuganji knew nothing of the hell he'd been forced to face. No one did. Not even his own wife. And if Ren didn't know, then these condescending pricks wouldn't get to know either.
"You should have never left," Gakuganji said immediately. "That thing that haunts the grounds won't be satisfied without fresh blood."
"There is no thing," Kaito snapped. "I don't understand why you all seem to think there is. There was never anything on the grounds."
"Then what about what happened to your father? What about what happened to poor Kaname?" the same elderly woman from before asked.
Images played on the back of Kaito's eyes. The memory of a walk around the house early in the morning, the casual talk of the upcoming semester at Jujutsu Tech, the birds chirping in the distance. He remembered the moon shrine. The pond. The little girl. The smell of metallic blood in the air as his father fell to his knees.
"My father's death had to do with the family's cursed moon technique. It had nothing to do with the land," he said, though his voice sounded like it was lightyears away.
"I'll cut to the chase since no one else will," Naobito cut in. He sipped on something out of a small white cup, and Kaito was willing to bet it was a particularly strong brand of sake… The useless alcoholic. "Is there or is there not a special grade curse that lives on the land and drinks the blood of the Murakami in exchange for your ridiculous cursed moon technique?"
Kaito couldn't help it when the sigh escaped his lips. He'd been listening to this damned rumor for his entire life. He'd so desperately hoped and prayed that when he left Okinawa that the rumors would maybe cease.
"Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds, Naobito? You don't hear me blaming a special grade curse drinking the Zen'in blood in exchange for the ten shadows technique, do you?" he retorted.
Kaito must have struck a nerve because Naobito stood up without finishing his sake and had to be forcefully held back by Gakuganji's outstretched arm.
"How dare you insult the Zen'in," Naobito snarled.
"And how dare you insult the Murakami by suggesting a special grade curse gave us our power," Kaito snapped right back.
"Enough!" the old woman shouted. "You claim the house has wards on it, yes?"
Kaito stared at Naobito, never once blinking while the older man did the same. He refused to look away first, and knowing Naobito, he would have refused as well. However, having Gakuganji and the rest of the elders must have done something to keep the man in his place because a moment later, he scoffed and looked off to the side while he finished his drink.
"Yes," Kaito confirmed. He looked in the direction of the woman's voice but saw only shadows. "The Kamo and the Gojo can attest to that."
"The house may have wards, but are they still intact is the real question," Gakuganji said. He leveled a cold stare at Kaito and for the first time, it worked because Kaito found himself holding his breath and waiting for the other shoe to drop.
"Yes. The wards are intact," he insisted. He was so sure of himself. He knew the wards and seals he placed were powerful, especially because he was naturally gifted with sealing jujutsu and placing wards. But after what happened with Maha and Kaia? After Satoru Gojo found the broken seals around the house? He doubted himself.
"Then the cursed energy around your property? Are you saying it's related to something else?" Gakuganji pressed.
"Yes! I'm saying this alleged cursed energy is unrelated," Kaito insisted yet again. He could feel his blood pressure beginning to boil. "The wards go out from the house by at least a mile. The closest a cursed spirit could get to the house would be no more than a few hundred yards."
"I don't like it. We should send someone out there to investigate," Gakuganji said. He gave a dismissive wave of his hand and looked across the room at one of the other shadowed figures around Kaito.
"I agree. Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto are going to Okinawa in the morning. They could take a look," a man whom Kaito couldn't see suggested.
"No, they're escorting the star plasma vessel. It has to be someone else," the old woman said. Others interjected. Some said Kaito should go, others said Yaga or Gakuganji should go, someone even suggested sending Yuki Tsukumo. They all spoke as if Kaito wasn't there and it brought forth a fury in him that he hadn't felt since he buried his father as a young man. The higher-ups had no earthly idea about the things within the Murakami ancestral land. They had no idea the effort Kaito went through to make sure no one in his family would ever have to set foot on the grounds ever again. The higher-ups were privileged and cruel, casting judgments from their ivory towers.
His hand clenched into a fist.
"I have a better idea," Gakuganji said when the arguing failed to cease. "We'll send Kaia out there. Kento Nanami and Yu Haibara are to go to Okinawa in the morning to guard the airport while the star plasma vessel is there. Send the other first-year. Send Kaia instead and make her investigate the area."
Kaito's eyes widened.
"That isn't a bad idea," Naobito said.
"I agree. Besides, we don't know what wards are active and inactive. Even if they're all active, she'll be able to access certain places that others wouldn't because of her blood."
"She isn't particularly strong though. She's barely a Grade 3 sorcerer."
"Well, if what Kaito says is true then it shouldn't matter how strong she is because there won't be any curses."
"No," Kaito deadpanned in a dangerously low voice when the higher-ups refused to shut the hell up.
"What was that, Kaito?" the elderly woman asked.
"You don't get a say in this, Murakami. We'll send your daughter there and—"
"I SAID NO," he roared, eyes livid and blood pumping in his ears.
There was a pause of silence before the old woman spoke again, saying a clipped, "stop acting like a child, Kaito. Kaia will go investigate the house and there is—"
"The house can sit there and it can ROT," he shouted when the old fools refused to listen to a word he said.
The silence descended over them again. Naobito snickered between sips of sake, the old woman tapped her foot on the wooden floor, and Gakuganji stroked his beard and stared at Kaito through the veil of a shadow that covered the left side of his face.
Clearly, all that needed to be said had been said. Kaito took his leave after that, stalking out of the room without uttering a single word. He was furious. He could feel the heat in his face and his heart thumping in his chest. He knew it didn't matter what he said. Those insufferable jackasses would do what they always did. They would ignore his protests and send Kaia to Okinawa in spite of them.
She would be fine, of course. He knew that much. The wards were powerful enough to keep anything that stalked the land at bay. The things that lived on the land would remain in hiding when she arrived. He wasn't worried about her per se. But he was worried about what she might find. Worried about the impact it might have on her.
If he thought it would fix anything, he would tell her to burn the house to the ground while she was there. He would tell her to burn everything. The house, the land, the fixtures, and anything else that might have been there.
It would fix nothing though.
He could only pray that she didn't stay long when she was inevitably sent to Okinawa. He could only pray that the wards were still intact and that there would be nothing left for her to find.
"My mission is what?" Kaia asked in disbelief as she looked at the report Ijichi handed her after stepping off the plane at Naha airport. The words were clear but she had a hard time wrapping her head around them. It just didn't make sense.
Go to the Murakami ancestral home and assess the land for any cursed spirit activity? What the hell did that even mean? Did her father know about the mission? Why not send him instead? He was a Grade 1 sorcerer and Kaia was a measly Grade 3. It just didn't make any sense. She didn't even know where the house was. Her father had never taken her there as a kid, never mentioned the address in passing, and didn't have photos of it anywhere in the house.
"I don't know. I was just told to give you the report upon your arrival. Why? Is it bad?" Ijichi said. He led them through the relatively quiet airport. There weren't many people coming and going, making Kaia wonder if jujutsu society influence was to blame for that. She followed Ijichi out of the airport to where Nanami and Haibara were standing outside in front of the entrance. The sun already had gone down and a crescent moon hung high in the sky accompanied by a smattering of stars. They seemed to stand out more in Okinawa than they did in Tokyo and it gave Kaia a sense of ease.
As they approached, she noticed that Nanami's arms were crossed and his posture wasn't as stiff and tight the way it usually was. There was actually a slack to his shoulders and his head was hung low. He must have been tired from being on guard duty all day while Gojo and Geto played babysitter on their super top-secret escort mission.
"Murakami! Ijichi!" Haibara said. He shot them a huge grin and waved them over. "You here to relieve us of duty since Geto and Gojo are staying another day? We could really use a break. My back is killing me and—"
"We're not here to relieve you of duty, Haibara," Ijichi said. He rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"I've got my own mission. Sorry to disappoint," Kaia said.
"In Okinawa?" Nanami asked, eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"Yeah," she said. "I'm supposed to go to my family's ancestral home and scope it out for any cursed spirit activity, but I have no idea where it is. There are some general instructions, but they get really vague towards the end and I'm pretty sure the house has some heavy wards around it to keep people out. Knowing my luck, I won't be able to find it."
"That's kind of a weird assignment," Haibara said. For once, that sunny smile was missing from his face. Instead, one brow arched above the other and he cocked his head to the side.
"I know," she said in agreement.
"I mean, yeah. There are all sorts of crazy rumors about your family but—"
"What the hell is the obsession with my dad leaving Okinawa? Ever since coming to the school, the only thing I've heard about are these stupid rumors. I didn't grow up in jujutsu society and neither did Nanami, but you guys did. So what gives?" she asked, cutting off Haibara. She didn't mean to snap, but with such an odd mission (especially when Gojo and Geto were in the middle of a particularly important one), she wanted answers.
Haibara and Ijichi looked at each other and Kaia noticed the way they shifted uncomfortably from one leg to the other.
"I'd also like to know," Nanami said when they failed to answer right away.
"It isn't a big deal," Ijichi said, though he refused to look at Kaia or Nanami.
"It isn't!" Haibara added. "The stories that I heard growing up were always the same. That the Murakami were cursed and. Well. It doesn't really m—"
"Please don't say it doesn't matter. It matters to me," Kaia said before he could change his mind about telling her.
Haibara sighed, "right. Okay, so the story goes something like this. The Murakami of Okinawa were allegedly cursed a thousand years ago and that's what led to your family's cursed moon technique. The story was that one of your ancestors killed a child in cold blood and offered her body up to the spirit of the moon and stars. The spirit supposedly accepted her body and bestowed your ancestor with the gift of immense reflexes and future-sight.
"But the gift came with a caveat. The little girl's dead spirit would forever haunt your ancestor. It haunted him for years until it drove him mad enough that he slaughtered his entire family, killing all but his youngest son. The spirit of the girl then killed your ancestor after this final deed. Once the grounds of your home were stained with the family's blood, the curse—the little girl grew stronger but she went dormant. Then, the surviving son grew up, had his own family, and his daughter inherited his father's gift of strength and future-sight. But the cycle continued. The one gifted with the power would go mad from the little girl's ghost, slaughter their family, and the little girl would slaughter them and go dormant. All while the curse and gift would both grow.
"But then, after years of this happening, another one of your ancestors had enough. He refused to lose his mind and slaughter his family. He sought out a witch to protect him. The witch gave him what he asked for, but that too came with a price. There would be something that lived on the grounds. So allegedly, the witch gave him a special grade curse. It would protect them from the madness of the little girl in exchange for blood. It worked. The little girl didn't drive anyone mad, and because she would stop killing your ancestors prematurely, your family's technique strengthened. And on and on it went.
"So at its core, the rumor of your family is that your ancestor murdered a little girl in cold blood which is why you're haunted by a curse every night. And also that your family's cursed technique exists because a special grade curse has been feeding off your blood all these years and giving you strength while it protects you from the little girl," Haibara said. His face was twisted into a frown, brows knit together, and lips pursed into a firm line. Ijichi wore the same expression, only he wouldn't look at her the way Haibara did. Haibara, though obviously uncomfortable with the truth, at least had the decency to look her in the eye as a friend.
Kaia only had one thought though as he looked at him.
"…You seriously believe that crap?" she blurted.
"Well, it's been told to most kids from the time they started learning about curses. It's always been kind of an omen. A warning to not get involved with spirits and curses and things you know nothing about," Haibara said right back.
"That doesn't explain why everyone was so pissed about my dad leaving Okinawa. If any of what you just said is true—and I doubt it is—then shouldn't everyone be happy he left that messed up place?" she pushed.
"Well, see. That's the thing. You would think that, but—"
"You would think that but from the moment Kaito Murakami left Okinawa, strange things have been happening here. Increases in suicides and violent crime, sightings of cursed spirits, and an uptick in haunted locations and unregistered cursed energies. It all correlates to the timing of your father's departure," Ijichi interrupted with wide eyes behind his glasses.
"Ijichi," Kaia said as she rubbed her forehead with her thumb. "We're on a tiny little secluded island. People get crazy when they're isolated for too long. I'm sure it's nothing."
"It seems awfully suspicious to jump to conclusions like that. There's a rumor about her family and jujutsu higher-ups automatically assume that an increase in crime is related to her father's departure from the area? That's absurd," Nanami said.
"Thank you! Finally! Someone with some common sense," Kaia groaned. She checked her watch as the hand indicated it was 10pm. She needed to hurry up and get moving. She had to be on one of the morning flights the next day and she still had no idea where the house was or how to even get there.
"You wanted to know so we told you," Ijichi muttered.
"And thank you for telling me," she said. She looked away from her watch and divided her attention between her three classmates. "I've got to get going and find this supposed house of evil. I don't suppose anyone wants to come?"
"Sorry, but no. We're guarding the airport and I can't let Geto down," Haibara said, eyes twinkling with admiration. Kaia held back the urge to scoff at the mention of Suguru Geto. In the three months since the incident at her house, he hadn't changed his attitude at all. He was always trying to be nice to her, go for runs with her, and just be an overall friendly guy to her. She'd been cold and callous to him, but he couldn't be deterred. Kaia knew he was only pretending to care because he was interested in her curse, and she worked hard to make herself remember that since it was easy to forget when he was smiling at her or defending her when Gojo was being a prick.
Speaking of, she hadn't seen him much since the incident at her house. She wanted to talk to him and ask about his domain expansion since it gave her migraines for a month and she still had some lingering side effects, but never got the chance. And with his current mission, she realized she probably wouldn't get the chance to talk to him until at least next semester.
Regardless, she didn't want to talk to Gojo that badly and she sure as shit didn't want to risk running into Geto.
"Heaven forbid you disappoint your precious Geto," she mumbled.
"Aw, don't be like that, Kaia. He's a nice guy," Haibara said with his usual sunny smile.
"Oh, of course," she said, knowing full well that her sarcasm was biting. She nodded at Nanami and changed the subject. "I guess you're on guard duty too, huh?"
"I am," he said as he pushed his ash blond hair away from his face. "Say the word though and I'll come with. I want to see this evil house for myself."
"Nanami! You can't just ignore your duty!" Ijicihi shouted.
"I'm not. That's what you're here for, right? To be one of our replacements? I know Yaga wasn't happy about our shift getting stretched to forty-eight straight hours since those idiots extended the trip," Nanami said. He kept his arms crossed and gave Ijichi a bored look that made the younger boy sweat.
"Well yes, but—"
"Did you want to accompany Kaia on her mission instead?" Nanami asked.
"What! Are you crazy? I would never set foot on that land!"
"Great. We'll be back in a few hours," Nanami said.
Kaia grinned and left the airport with Nanami at her side. Having another person with her on this mission (that technically was supposed to be a solo one) was a huge weight lifted off her shoulders. It made it that much easier to follow the directions to the house and it made her feel safer.
Not that she felt unsafe. Contrary to that belief, she actually felt calm in Okinawa. The night air was warm, albeit a little humid, and it felt good on Kaia's skin. In fact, it was warm enough that she was able to take her school jacket off and tie it around her waist and enjoy the warmth in just a black t-shirt. Unlike the city back home, the smell of the sea was all around them while on the island. The warmth of the climate and the smell of saltwater both calmed her anxieties and made her feel stronger. Made her feel like she was fully in control of herself for once.
Why on earth would her father ever want to leave such a beautiful place?
As they followed the directions to the Murakami property, Kaia twisted her thick hair into a messy bun to get it off her sweaty neck. Every so often they would glance at the directions with a flashlight and continue on their way, but as they went, it became more and more difficult to follow the directions at all.
They had turned off the main road some time ago and walked down a dirt path that was surrounded by thick evergreen trees and plant life that Kaia couldn't identify. There were flowers and palm trees and mangroves. It was all so beautiful and she wished she could have seen it all in the sunlight so she could better appreciate it, yet at the same time, the vegetation was making it exceptionally difficult to know where the hell they were.
"We're lost," Nanami said after they passed one particular tree with roots so gnarled it looked like it could have gotten up and walked on its own for the third time.
"Yeah," she mumbled in agreement. She looked at the directions again, reading over a note about a dirt path that would take them through mangroves along a stream up to the main path of the house. But there hadn't been a stream. They had looked everywhere and still hadn't found one. The dirt beneath their feet was certainly soft from the humidity, but it didn't seem wet enough to indicate a body of water nearby. She didn't get it.
"Could this be part of the wards your father placed?" Nanami asked.
"I doubt it. We've got to be what? A mile out? Why would he place wards so far away?" she asked, handing the directions back to Nanami and turning in a slow circle, hoping her eye would catch something they hadn't noticed before.
"Why would he place wards at all?" Nanami asked, though the tone in his voice made it more of a statement and less of a question.
She didn't have an answer and she wondered the same thing herself.
"Maybe we should—what's that?"
She pointed her flashlight at a tree so the fluorescent beam fell on what looked like a white piece of paper with black scrawling on it.
"So he did place wards this far out," Nanami said, bringing voice to her own thoughts. Kaia walked closer to the seal. It was placed on one of the thick branches of one of the many evergreens in the area. She thought it was an odd place for a seal. Evergreens were a softwood and would break easily in poor weather. Why would her father place a random seal on a random tree so far away from—
"Whoa," Nanami said.
Kaia went to ask him what was wrong, but then she saw it. It wasn't one branch with a seal, it was the entire trunk of the tree. How did they not see that? She was sure she'd looked at the tree multiple times. Why was she only just now noticing it? And it wasn't just one tree with seals, there were several others around them with seals as well.
"All right then," Kaia said under her breath. "Looks like we're going the right way after all."
Now that they were aware of the seals, Kaia and Nanami were able to identify the energy radiating from them. It actually became somewhat easy to find their way to the house after that. The stronger the energy repelling them away was, the more they knew they were on the right track. But that didn't mean it was easy to get to the house. It wasn't. The wards and seals would force them into circles. They'd end up confused and disoriented, wondering what they were doing in the woods. There was even one time where Kaia completely forgot about her mission and wanted to go back to Tokyo.
She thanked whatever higher power there was for Nanami because without him there to keep her grounded, she would have abandoned the mission by now with the way the wards and seals were screwing with her mind.
They continued on until things got quiet. Too quiet. Quiet to the point that there was no sound of the wind rustling the leaves or animals walking around or even insects flying in the sky. It was silent. Unnaturally so.
"Usually when it's quiet like this, you'd expect cursed energy. But I don't feel any," Nanami said as they walked through the forest, completely and totally off of any path whatsoever.
"Somehow that makes it worse," Kaia said back.
They walked alongside a pond as a stone path started to emerge. The path was cluttered with grass, twigs, and dirt, but her boots still walked on something hard. They must have been getting close. Kaia pointed her flashlight in the direction of the pond and noticed a dilapidated shrine in the middle of it.
She narrowed her eyes, trying to see it clearly as an unmistakable wave of nausea washed over her.
Breathing hard against the pain in her stomach, she winced at the shrine and tried to take in its details. It looked almost like a little wooden outhouse. There was a pointed roof, walls, and an opening of the shrine. There was a stone or a plaque pushed against the back wall of the little structure along with a rope that hung down from the ceiling in front of the plaque. She didn't detect any cursed energy on it, but she refused to get any closer. There was something about it that her body rejected, and she was overwhelmed with a dark feeling of hatred for the little structure.
It wasn't until she looked away from it did her nausea dissipate.
"There's a crescent moon on it," Nanami said, gesturing to the bottom of the shrine with the beam from his flashlight. Kaia only looked at it for a quick second to avoid the queasiness. Part of her wondered if it was related to her family's cursed moon technique, but the part of her that hated the shrine was stronger.
"I don't like this. Let's keep moving," she said.
They did. It wasn't long before they reached the house, as they were able to use the hidden stone path as a guide to take them farther up. And after only a few moments, they reached the infamous ancestral home of the Murakami. She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting. Maybe a giant mansion or a compound like the Zen'in. She got neither of those. Instead, the ancestral home of the Murakami that had existed for over a thousand years was just that.
A simple home.
There must have been a gate at one point that blocked the house from trespassers, but the only thing left of the gate was the walls. The door itself was gone and because of that, they had a clear view of the house.
It was medium sized, not too big and not too small. The roof was the color of wet clay, a muddy orange color that was tiled with broad eaves. The walls of the home were white and there were expansive outer corridors that wrapped around the house. In fact, the outer corridors were wide enough that they almost resembled a veranda with the way the storm shutters were left wide open.
It was actually a little underwhelming.
"This is it? This is the place my dad has been running from for over a decade?" Kaia muttered. She stepped through the empty gateway and looked around at the overgrowth. The Murakami must have really loved the outdoors because the house and plant life were almost one and the same. She took a few more steps forward and turned around when she noticed that the sounds of Nanami's footsteps at her back were gone.
He lingered at the gateway, looking at everything with his eyes narrowed and blunt blade drawn.
"What are you doing over there? Don't make me walk around this creepy property by myself," she said, walking back over to him.
"I can't cross," he said.
"What?"
She walked through the empty gateway so she was beside him and immediately walked through it once again. She had no trouble walking forward, so when she looked back to see Nanami stretching out his hand and having it stopped at where the door of the gate should have been, her mouth suddenly felt dry.
"Everyone says there are wards and we've experienced them ourselves. No sounds of wildlife or the ocean or wind. We saw how far back the seals showed up. They probably only get stronger the closer you get to the house. I can't cross this line," he said.
"I guess only a person with Murakami blood can approach the house itself," she said under her breath. She tried to touch Nanami's hand but felt a strange barrier separating them.
"That would make sense."
She flashed her light around the courtyard and house before she said a quick, "I'm gonna walk around for a little bit. I'll be back in twenty."
"I don't like it here, Kaia," Nanami said. His eyes flickered between her face, the house behind her, and the woods around him. "I don't feel any cursed energy, but something isn't right. Something is off."
She knew what he was talking about. She could feel it herself. It was hard to explain. It felt a bit like heaviness on your soul. Felt a little bit like someone was watching you. Felt like there should have been cursed energy even though there wasn't.
"Well, you have your weapon and this place has been warded to high-heaven. I don't think we have to worry about curses or curse users."
"I don't think so either, but you can acknowledge it right? Something is wrong here," he said lowly. His eyes met with hers and she couldn't look away. She wasn't scared. Neither was he. But if he kept talking like that, she would be scared.
She checked the watch on her wrist and saw it read three minutes to midnight.
"Something is wrong here," she admitted. "It's almost midnight, which means my curse is going to show up soon. So I'm going to get moving."
Nanami's face twisted.
"I don't like that you'll be in there alone with a curse. If something happens, I won't be able to get to you."
"It'll be fine," she said right away. "It's actually a good thing. She kinda acts as a shield or a warning. If something tries to touch me, she freaks out and gives them away. At least, that's what happened at my house. I don't think she's too keen on letting something else kill me when she has a claim on my life."
Nanami's lip was still curled.
"I hate that you're so comfortable with this curse," he muttered.
"You haven't even seen her. She's kinda cute."
"Seriously?"
"No, she's an absolutely terrifying dead little girl. But if I acknowledge that, she'll scare the shit out of me and I've worked really hard not to piss myself every time I see her. So yeah, let's say that she's cute," she said quickly. Her flashlight was starting to dim. Not enough that it was flickering or giving signs that it might die, but enough to make her want to get moving as fast as possible.
He sighed, "fine. I'll see you in twenty."
"Sounds good," she said. She started to walk away and just as she was about to turn a corner, Nanami called out to her.
"And Kaia, if you're not back in twenty minutes, I'm calling Ijichi."
She rolled her eyes. Definitely not something she wanted. He would call Yaga and then all hell would break loose.
"Noted," she shouted as she disappeared from his sight.
Okay. Her mission was to determine if there was any cursed energy or cursed spirits around the house. She probably didn't need to actually go inside to make that determination. With the wards, she would have been sensitive to any cursed energy that didn't belong to her or Nanami. It would have been easy to notice it with the silence and stillness of the land. Truthfully, her mission was probably already complete.
She was curious though. She wanted to see the house and all its legends for herself. She decided to start inside and finish with a quick sweep of the courtyard. And right as she started to head for one of the entrances, she became aware of the sudden influx in cursed energy. She recognized it though, and craned her neck over her shoulder, shining her flashlight at the little girl behind her.
"You recognize this place?" Kaia asked, though she didn't expect an answer. The little girl didn't move or give any indication, but Kaia noticed that her cursed energy seemed… Stronger. A little wilder even.
Weird.
The first floor of the house was cold, though that made absolutely no sense given how warm it was outside and how every single door, window, and shutter were wide open. She looked around the entryway. The house was very traditional compared to where her family currently lived. Instead of drywall and glass, there were sliding panels of translucent paper in wooden frames everywhere. Only most of the paper was ripped or eaten away by insects and mold. And when Kaia looked up, she saw the traditional wooden joint frames tied together with rope, impressed that they still held together so well.
She walked through the house, passing the kitchen and sitting area, and looked around at all the artwork on the walls. Beautiful paintings of the ocean, stars, dragons, and tigers. They didn't have a single piece of artwork in her family's current home, and Kaia couldn't help but wonder why after seeing every single wall adorned with art in her ancestral home. If her father grew up with such an incredible display, why not take at least one painting to remember the house he grew up in?
She paused in front of one painting, not because it was exceptionally beautiful or anything like that, but because of how simple it was. It was a solid black crescent moon on a bed of white. Nothing else. No stars or extra details. Just a moon. It was so alluring, grabbing her attention in less than a second.
Then her stomach twisted as she thought of the shrine in the middle of the pond for some reason.
Suddenly, she hated the painting.
Kaia turned on her heel and kept moving. She walked through the house until she reached a set of stairs. Her flashlight dimmed as she shined it up into the darkness and hesitated. She sensed no cursed energy, so there wasn't a threat. Yet still…
She pushed ahead.
The bedrooms were up there and she walked through them all. They all looked the same, each having the traditional setup. Screened walls, beds on the floor, artwork on the walls. Only she noticed that some of the bedrooms actually still had sheets on the beds and… And clothes lying around. As if leaving was completely and totally unexpected. She even saw a few trinkets lying around in the one room. A little teddy bear covered in mold. A rusted princess tiara.
She felt a chill go up her spine as she entered the last room. It was the emptiest of the bunch. There wasn't a scrap of anything personal around to make her think about the person who once lived in there and that's why she thought it may have been her father's. Of all the rooms, it was the only one that looked like it'd been cleaned out. Part of her wished there were residuals around so she could confirm it, but the house was void ofany and all cursed energy.
Finding nothing of interest, she turned around to exit, only to notice an open closet door against the sidewall. She tilted her head to the side and pointed her flashlight at the open door to see a shrine?
She walked closer and dropped to her knees to get a closer look. It wasn't intact and clearly had been dissembled. Or rather destroyed? It was identical to the shrine in the pond from earlier. There was a plaque, the rope hanging down from the top, and a carved crescent moon. Only unlike the one in the pond, this one looked like it'd been smashed with a sledgehammer. The roof of it was caved in, the walls were splintered, and there was a massive crack running up the entire smooth plaque. When Kaia tried to get a closer look at what exactly was on the plaque, she found her eyes couldn't quite focus on it.
It looked like a moon. Or maybe a wave? She just couldn't—if only her flashlight was a little brighter, maybe then she could…
And then her flashlight went out.
Kaia yelped in surprise as she was plunged into darkness. Her heart skipped what felt like twelve beats and she jumped up. She imagined being in her house three months ago with Maha. Remembered getting yanked back inside by the back of her hair. Recalled the overwhelming amount of cursed energy.
She forced herself to take in a deep breath. There was none of that here. No cursed energy. Just a dark house tucked away in the middle of the woods. Nothing more. Nothing less.
She banged her flashlight against her palm a few times and it flickered weakly back to life. When it came back on, it immediately landed on the little girl. She was right where Kaia had left her, still being a little creep and staring her down with jet black eyes.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but you are the least creepy thing in this house," Kaia said to the curse, though she knew it wouldn't respond. She pushed a lock of hair away from her face by tucking it behind her ear and left the bedroom to go back downstairs. She hurried down the steps and the minute her foot hit the landing she felt the wind get knocked right from her lungs and she fell down, landing directly on her back.
Groaning, Kaia looked up at the ceiling. She went to push herself up but felt a cold wave of air rush over her body, clouding her eyes until all she saw was blackness.
A little boy with copper-colored hair brown eyes walked through the forest. He moved between an older man and woman, keeping his head down as they walked. They were quiet and moved in unison. The boy occasionally glanced up between his parents before he hastily looked back down, his jaw tight and fists clenched at his sides.
They reached a stagnant pond. The top of it was covered with algae as flies swarmed around it. It had an odor to it. Smelled like death.
The three stopped on the edge of the pond and got on their knees, bowing before a shrine that stood in the middle of the wretched body of water. The woman clutched the thick mud between her fingers, the boy's upper lip curled, and the man… His eyes glowed an uncanny whitish-purple and a full circle in the center of his forehead did the same.
The shrine didn't move, but the water around it rippled.
The boy looked up at the older man. At his father. Winced when his father's hand found the back of his neck and shoved his face into the mud.
The water rippled more, clouds of algae breaking up at the sudden movement.
All the while the boy gritted his teeth, tears gathering at the corner of his eyes.
"What the hell was that?" Kaia groaned, rubbing her forehead.
Remembering where she was, she threw herself up into a seated position, no longer covered in that strange coldness. She whipped around to make sure her curse was still at its allotted distance, and it was, but it had a curious look on its face. Usually, the little girl looked neutral and unbothered. But now. Now she glared at Kaia with brows slightly furrowed and lips pulled down into a grimace.
Kaia took a step back and her curse took one step forward as was expected. She wasn't usually threatened by the little girl, but the way she looked at Kaia now… It wasn't normal.
Deciding to listen to her sense of self-preservation for once, Kaia inhaled deeply, focused her cursed energy, and breathed out a directed stream of blue fire at her curse until she disappeared in a cloud of black mist.
She sighed and pressed her hand to her chest, trying to force her heart rate to calm down through sheer willpower alone. What the hell was that vision? Had that been her father? It sure looked like him with the reddish-brown hair and big brown eyes. And that man with him? Was that his father? It had to be because he had the cursed moon technique. And what the hell were they all doing at that shrine? It didn't make any sense.
"KAIA."
Nanami.
Kaia checked her watch and let out a string of her curses when she saw that it'd been well over a half-hour since she left. But that couldn't be right, could it? She didn't stay long in the house. She'd only walked around a few rooms. How could that have taken so long?
"I'm coming!" she shouted, hurrying out of the cold dark house and back into the humid night air.
She went out the front door so Nanami could see her coming. He was right by the empty gate, standing as close as the wards would allow him. Relief flooded her and she jogged over to him, careful not to trip over any of the growth, and reached him a few seconds later.
"What the hell were you doing in there for so long?" Nanami snapped, grabbing both of her shoulders and forcing her to look at him. "You said twenty minutes! It's been double that!"
"I'm sorry!" she said, putting her hands over his to try and make him relax, try and prove to him that everything was all right. "I don't know what happened! I swear I wasn't in there for more than ten minutes. There must be some type of spell or something that makes time move slower in there."
Nanami didn't seem to care as his thumbs pressed tighter into her shoulders.
"What happened? Are you okay? Do you need to see Ieiri?" he demanded, looking directly into her eyes.
"What? No? Why would I need to see Ieiri?"
Nanami didn't seem impressed, though the tension in his brow lessened and he finally let go of her.
"You were screaming," he said lowly.
"No, I wasn't? When?"
"Just now," he said, face settling into a glare. "You were screaming bloody murder."
"I was?"
Nanami huffed, "did you hit your head or something?"
"I mean, probably," she said. "I… I got this weird vision? Premonition thing? I don't know. Just—nevermind."
"…You had a vision?"
"I said nevermind! It doesn't matter! The point is that there's no cursed energy or cursed spirits in there," she said. She could feel her face heat up, embarrassed by the strange look Nanami was giving her. She shouldn't have said anything. She didn't even know what the hell she experienced back in that freaky ass house. She needed to not open her mouth and say dumb things to her friend.
"So you're all right then?" Nanami asked, no longer looking at her as if she had five heads.
She nodded.
"Okay, good. Let's get the hell out of here. The longer I stand here the more creeped out I get," he muttered as he glanced around them.
"Couldn't agree more," she said.
They started to head back the way they came, a heavy silence hanging between them. That wasn't typical for the two of them. Things were normally easiest with Nanami, yet she felt like they were walking on eggshells.
They walked through the thick woods and passed the pond from before, the one with the shrine in it and the one from her vision. Or flashback? She still didn't know what she saw. Maybe it had been some fever dream from her fall down the stairs.
"You know, there are three of those shrines on the property. One there, another in the courtyard, and one in the graveyard at the back of the house. Any idea what it's for?" Nanami asked after the pond was well behind them.
"There's a graveyard?" Kaia asked, staring at the ground and trying desperately not to trip over the thick brush.
"Yeah. It's technically separated from the house so I was able to walk around it. Thought it was an odd place for the shrine. Especially when there are two others on the property."
Kaia's head spun. She didn't know what the damn shrines were for but they made her sick to her stomach and gave her a migraine when she thought too long about them. Unable to contribute much else, she said the first thing that came to mind.
"There aren't three on the property," she said under her breath.
"What?"
"The shrines. There aren't three," she said. Bile rose in the back of her throat. "There are four."
Nanami was quiet for a long moment, the only sounds came from his feet snapping twigs. She knew what he was going to say. She had the thought herself.
"Four? Are you sure?"
"Yeah. There was one in the house, although I think my father might have tried to destroy it. That's just a theory though."
"Why the hell would your family—a very traditional family at that—have four shrines on the property? And why the hell would one of them be in a graveyard with the connotation that comes with that number?" Nanami asked. She didn't have an answer for him because she truly didn't know. It was even weirder when she thought more about it because her father was such a superstitious man. When her mother gave birth to Maha, he supposedly made the hospital staff move her to a different room because she was originally in room 9. She highly doubted that a man who would go to those lengths would be comfortable having four disturbing shrines in his home and having one of them be in a goddamn graveyard.
"I have no idea but I don't like those shrines. Not one bit," Kaia said firmly.
"I don't either. I'm honestly surprised there was no cursed energy on the property," Nanami said. "There is something wrong with that place, Kaia."
"Yeah," she admitted. She suddenly wanted to talk to her father more than anything else in the world.
"…You should never go back there," he said quietly.
She nodded absentmindedly. There was nothing outright wrong with the property. There was no cursed energy. No cursed spirits. Nothing supernatural like that. And yet, just the thought of the house sent shivers up her spine. She almost wished a curse had been there. At least then that would have explained the sense of dread that coiled in her gut.
"Don't worry, I wasn't planning on it."
"Good."
Kaia was flown back to Tokyo that morning. Nanami stayed behind with Haibara and Ijichi to guard the airport while Geto and Gojo continued their mission. She tried to sleep on the plane but failed miserably, and by the time she was back at the school, she just wanted to curl up in a ball and sleep for sixteen hours. She felt so drained.
Yaga wasn't there for her to give a report to. He'd been called away on another mission. Apparently, the job that Geto and Gojo were working was an even bigger deal than she imagined, because the school was completely empty. Not even Shoko was around. Everyone was sent away, all save for one auxiliary manager who was there to make sure Kaia didn't leave the school. He'd told her now was not the time to act up and that she should write her report and lay low until Geto and Gojo returned.
Kaia didn't argue with him. She didn't have the energy or desire to. But instead of going to write her report, she went to the common room and immediately picked up the phone and called home for the first time in three months.
Ring! Rin—
"Murakami residence," her father's voice greeted.
"Dad?" Kaia asked softly.
There was a pause, followed by a heavy sigh. She hadn't spoken to either of her parents in so long. It'd been her way of punishing them for when her mother slapped her across the face. Kaia knew it was cold. She knew her parents, especially her mother, felt immense remorse. But Kaia hadn't cared. Not until now.
"Sweetheart," her father said, voice full of relief. "I'm so glad you called. How are you?"
"I just got back from Okinawa," she said, choosing to cut right to the chase. She rubbed her temples as a headache formed behind her eyes.
"I see," her father said quietly.
"I was on a mission to go to the ancestral home. Scope it out for cursed energy," she said. She waited for her father to interject. To explain himself. To explain something. He didn't. He just let her continue, uninterrupted. "It was hard to get to the house. I almost didn't make it, but eventually, I did. I guess that's because I'm a Murakami, right? The wards can only affect me so much?"
She hoped for an answer, but she still didn't get one. Her dad just hummed.
"I had my friend with me, but he couldn't get beyond the gate. I went inside by myself and—and…" She imagined the artwork of the crescent moon. The bedroom with the teddy bear. The broken shrine within the closet. "Dad, what happened there?"
"Nothing outside of the usual, Sweetheart. What happened there is exactly what has always happened there," her father said cryptically.
"Yeah, but what does that mean?" she pressed.
Her father hesitated before answering with a soft, "tragedy. Tragedy is what always happens there."
She wanted to push for more. Wanted specifics on what exactly that tragedy meant. Wanted to know why she'd never been to Okinawa before and why she'd never heard stories of her father's side of the family.
But she couldn't. Her throat closed up and her stomach tied itself in knots.
"There's no cursed energy or spirits, but there's something wrong with that place," she said after she'd taken a couple of deep breaths.
"Yes. There's something deeply wrong with that place."
Her eyes felt hot but she didn't know why. All she knew was that she missed her parents and her sister. All she knew was that she wanted her mother to know that she forgave her for what happened.
"Daddy, I don't ever want to go back there," she whimpered as the tears spilled over.
"You won't, Sweetheart. I promise you won't. I'm so sorry that the higher-ups sent you there. I told them—I begged them not to."
She sniffled and wiped her eyes as her father continued to apologize for the mission and reassure her that she would never have to go to that place again. Promised her that he placed the most powerful wards known to jujutsu society around the property so that everything wrong with the land would stay inside the land.
But then a new voice joined the conversation from the other line.
"Kaia? Is that you? Sweetheart, I'm so sorry for what happened! I was scared and it was totally out of line for me to lash out the way I did—"
"Mom, stop! It's okay! I forgive you. I'm so sorry that I didn't call," she said, still crying like a child. She didn't know what it was about the Murakami grounds, but she felt an intense sense of gratitude for her family. She found herself terrified that if she didn't love them hard enough that they might just disappear right from underneath her.
She spent the next hour on the phone with her whole family. Her parents talking about their mission to Istanbul. Maha talking about what universities she was applying to. Kaia telling them about her training and her friends. By the time she hung up, her eyes were dry and she was smiling from ear to ear. She didn't think about Okinawa again. She didn't think about the Murakami ancestral home or the shrines or the vision.
She walked into the empty room that she still shared with Shoko and laid down in her bed. For the first time in a long time, she didn't dream of dilapidated houses or lullabies sung by old women.
Instead, she dreamt of sky-bright blue eyes.
Author's note
I'm sure this is common knowledge, but just in case-the whole 4 shrines thing freaks Kaia out because 4 (as well as 9) is considered an unlucky number in Japan. The reasoning depends on where you look, but from my understanding it's because 4 is pronounced the way "death" is pronounced. So naturally, she's freaked out.
Drop some feedback with a review please and thank you! See y'all in a week.