Notes:
Obligatory grammar warning.
—oOo—
He has heard of him before. To be precise, he heard of him from the clan elders. Sometimes they just talk way too much. They spoke of a new ocular jujutsu technique that emerged within the Zenin Clan. Some of them were doubting the legitimacy of this news and some of them were outright denying the mere possibility, thinking that this was Zenin Clan's ploy to undermine their newly regained standing within the three jujutsu great clan. A reasonable mistrust, especially when he considers that both their clans have never seen eyes to eye since that conflict four hundred years ago. There has been no change in Satoru's life due to this news. He continues his training. The elders continue to put their expectations on him. And he continues to oblige.
Things changed when he once again heard gossip about that youngest Zenin. They said that his eyes were not actually his innate cursed technique, instead he has some variation of foresight-based technique. Satoru doesn't think that this is a particularly incredible technique, knowing the future and whatnot, for him nothing would change. The only interesting part he could think of is the kid's eyes. Both of them are in a similar predicament. If the kid's eyes work like his, it should boost his cursed technique somehow. However, until Satoru meets him, he would hold back his judgment.
The rumors began to grow more outrageous than before. They spoke of people who went to the kid to divine their future. Many of his words were proven to be accurate. This is unsurprising, it is the kid's technique after all. But then, weird and unexplainable things started to happen the moment people tried to resist the kid's reading. As if they were being cursed, they got outrageously unlucky until they, once again, follow the path according to the one they got from the kid's reading. It caused many people to raise their eyebrows, not only reading the future, but the technique also actively demands the person to fulfill their 'fate.' Ridiculous, that was his first thought.
Now, standing in front of the kid. Satoru watches as the kid's cursed energy moves silently inside him using his Six Eyes. It hasn't changed its form or shape. So still, with no ripples, not unlike the lake behind him. The kid's expression may change, but his emotion remains placid. As if nothing could move him. It is reasonable to assume that he won't be able to satisfy his curiosity if he doesn't actively ask. He knows this type of person, very tight-lipped, unless pried open, they won't talk.
"Ne Nao-chan, speak to me." Satoru had never gone out of his way to speak to someone before. He doesn't know if he does this right. He should be, he's able to do anything on his first try before.
Satoru watches in silence as Naoya put down his book on the spot where he previously sat and looks up at him. Up close, Satoru sees his eyes. Green, people say that it should be red when his ability was active. Right now, there isn't even a speck of red on his iris. Would it simply change the moment he activates his ability? Even when inactive, Satoru perceives a great concentration of cursed energy in his eyes area compared to the rest of his body.
Naoya opens his mouth and slowly speaks, "Satoru-san, please allow me to touch and hold your hand."
There was no strange emergence of cursed energy when he previously spoke. Well, until now. The moment Naoya utters 'please' is the moment Satoru sees and feels a trickle of cursed energy imbued itself within his words. It shouldn't matter, he has more cursed energy than the kid, he should have been able to overpower the command.
He doesn't.
Instead, he watches his hand move on its own. "You…!" He reinforces his entire body, especially his right hand. It doesn't work. Why? To be able to take control of some part of his body with that little amount of cursed energy, the only reasonable reason is that there are some rules he doesn't know. Rules that don't follow the usual convention.
Never mind, his Infinity is active. Naoya won't be able to touch him.
Satoru watches in trepidation as he feels his Infinity down. He watches as the kid holds his right hand and once again speaks, "Please, don't feel agitated. I won't harm you." He is not agitated! He is just worried. Satoru doesn't notice that his breathing is faster than normal and his face turns pink.
He only realizes that he is indeed agitated when his breathing returns to normal and begins to calm down. Except, he doesn't want to calm down, he wants to shake off the kid's hold on his right hand and reactivate his Infinity. The calming effect must have been the result of that second command, and his Infinity is down because of his first command. The words 'allow me' came into his mind without any prompt.
After a few seconds, Naoya releases Satoru's right hand and folds both of his hands into his kimono's sleeves. "Please, don't be angry." He is not. He wants to be angry with the kid in front of him, but he can't. There is nothing wrong with his brain, he knows that Naoya's technique won't affect the physical aspect of his brain. But even then, he can't feel or muster any real anger.
Clenching his left hand, he tries to summon that hot simmering emotion people call anger. He never feels that emotion, the closest thing he ever feels that bubbling intensity is when he realizes those lowlifes' moronic ambitions to kill him a few months ago. Even then, what he feels that time was indifference at best and disdain at worst.
He simply doesn't get angry like that. They are not worthy of his anger.
"Stop using please." Satoru grits his teeth and forces the words out of his mouth. Surely, it must have been the trigger word. He is still standing right in front of Naoya while the other boy acts as if he doesn't feel or know any of his anger.
The most frustrating part is. Naoya probably doesn't. Because there is no anger inside Satoru.
"Um." Just um, no elaboration.
The stillness around them magnifies with every second they spend in silence. He won't answer the kid. Naoya better has a good explanation or ask for his forgiveness, because he is petty and he can hold a grudge for years.
"Satoru-san, this is your request. It is unreasonable for you to be angry." He wants to sigh in frustration. Does the kid seriously think that he shouldn't be angry from the fact that he just took control of some of his bodily functions without any prior warning? From the reading that he got, Naoya's cursed energy remains still. He is not being affected at all! He is not feeling guilty. He should be.
All of sudden, he wants to stomp his feet and leave, but he won't. He is Gojo Satoru, what would it looks like if someone see him getting angered so much by a kid that he chooses to leave?
"You just took control of my body." His voice sounds accusing, but could anyone blame him?
"No, I didn't."
"You did." Satoru's voice may or may not come as a whine. Hearing his own voice, he snaps his mouth shut and scowls. Creases formed on his forehead and his nose scrunched up.
"It's not that bad. Your body just took some liberty and grant my wish." Technicalities, Satoru doesn't care, especially when the result is the same. He pouts and folds his hands into his kimono's sleeves.
Naoya's expression remains composed when he suddenly sees a little ripple in his cursed energy. After that, Satoru watches the kid opens his mouth and closes it again. What? Does he suddenly find his conscience?
"If it helps, I can't harm you with this technique and it's not permanent. You're entirely lucid during the whole encounter." It does somewhat ease his mind. Not entirely, but it helps. A guarantee hit in the exchange of lethality.
"Yours is not similar to Inumaki's."
"No, it's not." Naoya shifts his gaze from him towards his abandoned book. He takes the book and examines its cover while thumbing the page gently. Slightly bowing his head, some strands of his long hair slip and covers the side of his face.
"So, what's your conclusion?" Oh, he still wants to talk. He doesn't want to see Naoya's annoying face and turns his back from him and walks to the edge of the lake a meter in front of him. The water is clear but he couldn't see the bottom. There are countless dried leaves floating on the water. They stuck at the edge of the lake. He then sees a ripple of water at the edge of his vision that is caused by other falling leaves. Following that, Satoru feels his hair mussed up by the wind. The Northwesterly wind that heralds winter.
Bored from looking at the perfectly ordinary lake. Satoru turns back and strides toward Naoya's place. He sits down. Looking up, he looks at the graying sky. It's going to rain soon, and the meeting would probably end after an hour.
Without looking at Naoya, he speaks with the certainty of someone who is very sure of his knowledge.
"You only need to use a minuscule amount of your cursed energy to do it."
"Hm, correct."
"It doesn't affect my cognitive function."
"Correct."
"It's like hypnosis but difficult to resist, even if someone knew something amiss, they still can't refuse."
"You're correct."
Finally, Naoya stops fiddling with his book and properly looks at him. "See, it's not that bad." Satoru sniffs and looks away. He looks to his left side and sees nothing but vegetation. Behind those trees, he could clearly see a sizeable amount of cursed energy coming from the main building where the meeting is held.
They are mind-numbingly dull, so he refuses to stay in that place any longer than necessary. He also saw Naoya's eldest brother that choose to stay with the old man Zenin. That was quite intriguing, the old man only brings his eldest and youngest to this gathering.
Satoru thinks that everyone with proper functioning eyes would place a bet on the youngest to be appointed as the heir. Why the old man bothers to bring his eldest son? Ehh, it probably has something to do with his maternal clan. Politics and all that.
Well, thankfully he doesn't have any brothers.
Anyway! Everyone else is uninteresting. The only interesting thing, or someone, in this place, is the one beside him.
Satoru ponders for a while and realizes that the three please(s) he was previously subjected to were very concise and strict. What if the command was open-ended?
Eh, he could just ask, no need to beat around the bush when the source is right here beside him. "What if your command was open-ended?"
"It shouldn't."
"But what if?" Satoru insists like he always does.
"The target would continue to execute the command. The duration depends on the amount of cursed energy that I use." Ah, so that's why he only uses a minuscule amount. The three commands only lasted a few seconds at most.
"Example?" Naoya sighs and closes his eyes. Honestly, Satoru doesn't think he is tired, but he always behaves as if he is perpetually done with everything around him. He's probably somewhat reluctant to answer his question.
"If I say, 'please get me Kasagiya's sweet,' and overdose the amount of cursed energy I use while giving this command, the target will continue buying me sweet until their money is gone. Then they would think about their next step. Should they somehow earn some money to buy me more sweets, or should they just rob the shop? I don't control their action. How they proceed would entirely depend on the target's judgment. As long as my cursed energy still remains in their system, they will continue."
"Well, theoretically that's what would happen. I never carelessly gave a command to someone. So, this is only conjecture."
What a bothersome ability. But Satoru is confused. Foresight and command, what is the similarity between these two techniques? Red and Blue, while different, both still have the same root, Limitless.
The only similarity between the two is their effect to bend someone's will. But, what's up with reading the future nonsense? Well, unless it's not a foresight in the first place. Does his reading really force someone to follow what he sees in their future?
Suddenly, he feels his heart stutter.
"What did you do?" Satoru asks and Naoya looks at him, confused. "When you touched my hand."
There is recognition in his eyes and Satoru dreads the thing that's about to come out of Naoya's mouth. "Your fate." What fate? He has none of that!
The boy beside him looks into his eyes, searching for something he doesn't know. "Do you want to know it…? Your fate." Naoya ignores his silence and continues, "if there's a book that recorded the fate of your life, would you open it?" Seemingly unbothered, he looks straight into his eyes.
He huffs and answers, "what do I need that book for? I know what I'm going to do without that stupid book." This is useless, really.
"Even if it would save your loved one, would you still refuse?" What loved one? He doesn't have one.
Satoru doesn't answer his question and asks him back. "Why do you believe in your foresight so much anyway? What if it's not foresight in the first place? What if it's actually your ability that forced those people to follow your vision? The only similar thing between both your foresight and command is their ability to force your will onto someone."
"Impossible, I saw more than a hundred people's future. Most of them are ordinary and only some of them are noteworthy. I can see eight years into your future in just mere seconds. Satoru-san, are you saying that I have enough cursed energy to control these people's lives for years without me noticing some dip in my energy pool?"
Satoru knows it doesn't make sense either, but what should he believe? Should he believe that there's a higher being that controls someone's fate and would actively enforce it onto humanity the moment it judges that people stray from their path? He's sorry. Not really. But he can't accept this.
"Then, if it's not your ability that caused those unexplainable things to happen. What do you think actually happened?" He doesn't believe in the inevitable, he doesn't want to. If he does, does he even have free will in the first place? He is only seven years old and already has an existential crisis. Satoru thinks that he could safely put the blame on Naoya. If it somehow causes him to lose his head from overthinking too much… Well, just wait.
"It doesn't matter what I think. What I see is the truth. What I read is beyond a mere assumption. What appears before my eyes is reality itself." The boy speaks without severing their eye contact. Satoru finds no doubt from the way he speaks. Satoru thinks he finally finds someone more arrogant than himself. An achievement really.
"Well, you could just say that you don't understand your ability. That's why you don't answer my question." He swings his leg and looks away. Doing this monotonous motion, filling the silence that pervades the atmosphere between them. He doesn't look at the boy beside him and suddenly hears a chuckle.
"Satoru-san, whether you are right or not. You're free to believe whatever you want; I will respect your wishes. But, please… grant me this opportunity to witness your effort in defying your fate." What the… he wants to beat the boy beside him.
"You …" He quickly turns around and glares at him. This time, he can feel a faint heat of annoyance.
"Satoru-san, you will die on August 2006."
—oOo—
Notes:
He calls Itachi a kid when he's only half-year younger than him.
It is Satoru's assumption that Itachi's technique automatically enforces itself, causing people that their future already read to continue to fulfill their 'destiny' even when they already got their script and want to change it. Is it correct or not? We will see in the future.
He reasonably thought that Itachi's speech technique would work like Inumaki's (can be resisted by cursed energy, it's not.) He only saw a trickle of cursed energy, so little that it shouldn't matter at all (normally).
Anyway, what do you guess regarding its limitation? This is from Satoru's POV, so he's not very clear on this subject.
I know that Itachi said some arrogant words. Totally intentional haha. I want to show that he really believes in what he saw.