Chapter Two.

Weekend Nightmares.

"He who is born to be hanged shall never be drowned." — Unknown.

5:30PM

"Your destination is to the left."

Putting her car into park, Asami sighs when she sees the abandoned hospital in front of her, knowing that whatever was in there was definitely going to be a hassle to exorcise. Not to mention, she hadn't been on a mission in over a decade, meaning exorcising a special grade curse wasn't going to magically be easy for her. Hell, if she wasn't careful, there was a chance she could leave here in a body-bag instead.

Perhaps if she had continued exorcising curses throughout the years then maybe she wouldn't be as anxious as she was now, but the fact was, when she had left the world of jujutsu, she had also given up on her duties as a shaman, refusing to exorcise a single curse. The most she'd ever do was try and prevent curses from manifesting by keeping her temper in check and occasionally making people's days. Rather than that, she'd simply avoid anything that came across her way, always telling herself that there was a sorcerer on their way, and that doing that kind of stuff was no longer her responsibility.

Was it selfish of her? Perhaps. Did she have any regrets? No. Because as someone once told her, once you exorcise one curse, you'll want to exorcise another, meaning in order to live the peaceful life she wanted, she had to be exactly that, a selfish person. Someone who only lived for themselves and not for others. That's the kind of person she was.

Double checking her gear, Asami mentally prepares for what she's about to face, muttering a faint, "Stupid hags," under her breath, as she damns those wrinkly prunes to hell. Sighing, all she can do is pray that the kids had remained in their dorms like they were instructed to.

Making a hand symbol, Asami forms her curtain, "Emerge from the darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure."

Soon, day is turned into night.

Looking at her work, she lets out a confident scoff, "Looks like I still got it," she smirks.

Entering the cold facility, Asami tries to ignore the pounding feeling in her chest as she cautiously looks around, waiting for this so-called special grade curse to come out. Slowly walking down the corridor, she instead chooses to focus on the sound of a dripping faucet, her eyes skimming over the chipped walls of the hospital.

"Come on cursed spirit. Come out, come out wherever you—"

Creeeeeaak.

Quickly grabbing a throwing knife from her leg holster, Asami takes aim at whatever it is that's behind her, expecting to see some kind of creature. Instead, all she sees is a cracked wooden door that leads to a single-patient room.

Hesitantly entering, Asami is greeted with a cold gust of air, causing an eerie chill to run down her spine. Shoulders still stiff, she makes sure to cover all corners of the room, slowly lowering her knife when she confirms that there isn't any nearby threat. Only then does she begin to quietly observe the room, frowning when she sees the tiny hospital gown that lies on the bed. Next to it is a dust-covered toy along with some wilted flowers.

Running a gentle hand across the fabric of the gown, Asami can only imagine the amount of grief this hospital holds. Paying her respects, she decides to exit the room, beginning to feel suffocated. She needed to find this damn curse and leave.

Sighing, Asami begins to walk towards the staircase of the building, 'Curses tend to linger at their point of origin, meaning if it's not on this bottom floor then perhaps it's near the roof of this—'

"Hahaha…hahahaha…."

The sound of a child's laughter echoes down the hall.

Stopping dead in her tracks, Asami feels her heart stop, "What the…" she turns around, eyes widening when she sees a foot coming her way, slamming her to the wall beside her.

Crashing onto the floor, Asami's body ends up breaking through the drywall, causing the air to fill with nothing but debris. Vision now blurry, Asami clutches onto her stomach as she begins to cough, feeling as if her throat was burning.

"Damn it," she mutters, not exactly surprised when she hears the sound of a taunting laugh, the finger-bearing curse standing only a couple of feet away from her. Feeling something drip down her forehead, Asami slowly brings a hand to it, grimacing when she sees blood.

"Tch," she scowls, getting back up on her feet, "Aren't you an ugly thing," she carefully studies the appearance of the curse in front of her, finally sensing it's familiar energy presence.

"Ah, so you carry one of Sukuna's fingers," she hums, "Not only that but…."

She spots the two decaying bodies in the room, assuming they were people who went on a ghost hunting trip gone wrong.

"You seem to be quite smart. Able to mimic the sound of laughter while also pitching it in a way that makes it sound like a child's. It's probably how you lured these two into their deaths, " she concludes, pulling out a handful of her throwing knives.

"I guess it's a good thing I have experience in exorcising finger-bearers like you."

From there, the battle begins.

Forming a web of pure cursed energy, the cursed spirit slings it at Asami, the young woman barely managing to dodge it in time. At the same time, she also throws her set of knives, smirking when she hears it screech in pain. Aside from her deadly precision, the knives had also been imbued with cursed energy, making up for the restriction of her own.

Watching the knives explode, Asami knows that a simple attack like that won't be enough to exorcise the curse. What it did give her was time to run and think of a plan, 'Based on the destruction of this place, I'd say the cursed spirit doesn't have an innate technique yet. Like a child, it's limited to only creating rapid blasts of cursed energy. It explains why its domain is incomplete.'

Looking back, Asami sees the cursed spirit suck in a deep breath of air, forming a ball of cursed energy with its mouth. Quickly grabbing onto the ventilation poles on the ceiling, Asami pulls herself up before the blast can rip her to shreds, fingers getting clammy as she hears it laugh. Clearly, it was having the time of its life toying with her.

'Still, if I even attempt to approach it, it'll only use its blasts of cursed energy to burn me into ashes…' she scowls in annoyance, the sound of its taunting laughter beginning to get on her very last nerve. It was strong, she'd admit that, but if she played it smart, the chances of her making it out of here alive would be almost guaranteed.

Trying to remain calm, Asami feels an incoming headache, unsure if it was due to her growing annoyance or the fact that she was tossed like a ragdoll earlier. Either way, all she knew was that she needed to end this fight as soon as possible, as she had other matters to attend to.

'Think Asami … think….' she tries to devise some kind of plan, but it was hard to do that when her levels of cursed energy were already extremely limited to begin with. Unlike other people, she couldn't go swinging her fists around with a vast amount of energy imbued into them. If she did, she might as well consider herself dead.

'Just because it has a massive amount of cursed energy, doesn't mean it's unlimited,' she takes a deep breath in, knowing what she must do.

Watching it grin, Asami scoffs, "Don't think you've won this," she slowly begins to walk towards the cursed spirit, cracking her neck from side to side as she prepares to play an intense game of cat and mouse.

Getting into stance, the red head smirks while making a gentle motion with her hands, "Come to momma…"

From there, a chase ensues, the cursed spirit blasting several bombs of cursed energy in her direction, using its natural strength and speed to its advantage. Meanwhile, Asami slides and jumps over any obstacles that are in her way, aware that she had its claws only inches away from her neck.

Making a sharp turn, Asami tries to throw a knife in its direction, but instead it grabs her right arm, twisting it with a wicked smile on its face. Wincing when she hears a sharp cracking sound, Asami immediately lets out a pain-filled groan, using all of her strength to throw the cursed-spirit across the building before it could completely rip her arm off.

Biting her lip, Asami wants nothing more than to let out a bloodcurdling scream. Instead, she holds onto her arm, panting for breath as she watches the curse get up from the pile of rubble it sits in. No longer was it smiling like before.

Flexing its muscles, the wretched thing begins to form several rings of cursed energy around itself, ready to send a blast that'd kill the woman once and for all. Letting out one final giggle, the cursed spirit waves at Asami, deciding to mock her one last time, "Hehe—Hm?!"

Suddenly, the cursed spirit frowns, confused as to why his rings of cursed energy weren't releasing themselves. If anything, their bright golden color was slowly beginning to dim, becoming a shade of pastel yellow until soon enough there was nothing around him.

It had finally reached its limit.

With her hair now covering the upper half of her face, Asami softly chuckles, blood still oozing from her forehead, "My turn," she whispers, looking up with a smile on her face.

Sensing the spike in her cursed energy, the cursed spirit gulps when he sees the red glow that surrounds the woman. Soon, it finds itself dodging her attacks, unable to channel its own cursed energy.

Sucking up the pain in her arm, Asami continuously strikes at the grotesque thing, "Like hell was I going to die here," she grunts, executing a number of combos.

Attempting to put up a fight, the cursed spirit swings its arms in frustration, no longer having the upper hand in both speed and strength. Going back and forth with each other, the two both land and miss their shots.

Landing a kick to its head, Asami uses her left arm to pull out a knife, deciding she needed to finish this once and for all, as she was now beginning to lose stamina. Continuously slashing at it, Asami slices through its left arm, rendering it useless, "One piece at a time," she tells herself, waiting for the perfect opportunity to finally….

"Gotcha!" she cuts off its right arm before propelling herself into the air, placing both hands to the side of its head and throwing it to the wall once more.

BOOM!

Half of the building comes crashing down, Asami now desperately panting for breath as she falls to her knees, completely worn out. By now she was certain that her right arm was dislocated, her attempt at lifting it being an utter failure.

Slowly getting up from the ground, the cursed spirit smiles when it sees the position Asami is in, knowing it's won. Though it was still surprised at her sudden increase in speed and strength, in the end, it just wasn't enough. Making its way towards her, the finger-bearer sharpens its claws, ready to slice her head open until…

It suddenly freezes in place, eyes widened as its fingers begin to twitch, unable to move.

It was now Asami's turn to do all the taunting.

"Seems like you've used up all of your cursed energy," she laughs, getting back on her feet as she begins to inch towards the cursed spirit, now confident in her victory.

"It's too bad you can't speak. I would've loved to hear your opinion on my cursed technique," she hums, relishing the fearful look on its face, "What? Did you think that just because I was throwing knives that I wasn't going to be too difficult of an opponent? That you could just toy with me like some predator?"

Grabbing it by the throat, Asami forcefully pushes it up against a wall, "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Just because I wasn't using cursed energy, doesn't mean I don't have any, nor does it mean that I'm weak," she seethes, chuckling when she sees it try to fight the hold she has on it.

"Aw, what's the matter? Things moving a little slow for you? Almost as if you have no aim, right?" she mockingly pouts, placing a finger on its chest, as its death was now imminent.

That's because in the curse's mind, everything now seemed to be moving in slow motion, unsure if it was real or not. For every punch it threw, it felt as if it was moving at a snail's pace, almost like some kind of dream.

"I bet you're wondering what's going on, huh?" Asami smirks, deciding to give the finger-bearer an explanation, "Like I said, this is just one of my cursed techniques. I personally like to call it the Dream Technique. You see, at the end of the day you … things…. are made out of human emotions. Whether you know it or not, that means you have fears and dreams just like the rest of us. You even have nightmares."

"When we humans dream, our body basically becomes paralyzed during the REM stage of our sleep, preventing us from acting out the things we physically want to do. It's why you can barely move right now. You're stressed, you're…." she attempts to stifle her laugh, "You're scared."

Letting go of the curse, she allows it to stand on its own two feet, "I have to say, it's always fun to see that look on an opponent's face," she pauses, looking down at the cursed spirit who was still struggling to stand up straight, "That look of fear before death."

Honestly, she didn't mean to seem so excited, but the fact is, it had been years since she'd done something like this, meaning she just couldn't help it. For some reason, there was something exhilarating about exorcising a curse. Like a drug, it provided a rush that you simply couldn't find anywhere else.

Sighing when she sees the curse's legs begin to move, Asami knows that she has to wrap this up, "Well, it's been fun doing this with you, but I really have to go now. I have some brats to go and take care of," she sneers.

"Thank you for the practice though. I was beginning to think that I'd forgotten how to do this, but thanks to you, I've remembered just how easy this technique of mine is to use," she gruesomely pierces her hand through its chest, a sly smile on her face, "All it requires is a touch to the head."

And just like that, the curse explodes, any remnants of its pitiful existence now gone in the blink of an eye.

With one of Sukuna's fingers now in the palm of her hands, Asami lets out a deep breath, feeling as if she were going to faint at any given moment. By now, her muscles were badly aching, as she was barely able to keep herself upright. Perhaps it had something to do with all of the blood loss, or maybe….

'The dream technique used to never bleed me dry like this. In fact, it used to be something I could do in my sleep,' Asami thinks to herself, a worrisome look appearing on her face, 'Hopefully it's because I haven't used it in so long because if not, then it's definitely an effect of the…'

She shakes her head, deciding not to dwell on it too much, as she had bigger fish to fry. She needed to get back to Tokyo, and quickly at that.

Grabbing her phone, Asami feels her heart drop when she sees the amount of missed calls she has from Ijichi. Not only that, but the messages she had seemingly sent had a little red, "Failed to Send Message" underneath them.

"Oh no," she whispers to herself, frantically clicking on one of his voicemails.

"Okada-san," Ijichi's voice is shaking, "T-The boys are in danger, I'm c-currently on the way to the hospital with Nobara to get her treated, please make your way back as soon as you can!"

With her mind now racing, Asami's eyes quickly scan through the hundreds of texts he had sent her, finding the address of the juvenile center the boys were currently in.

"Damn it!" she yells into the void, wanting nothing more than to kill the higher-ups. Running back to her car, Asami ignores the grueling pain that was spread all throughout her body, as time was now of the essence.

Shoving her key into the ignition, the woman practically slams her foot on the gas pedal, driving as if her own life depended on it, "Come on, come on, come on…." she tightens her grip on the steering wheel, knuckles having turned white.

Swerving from lane to lane, Asami finds it difficult to drive with one hand, but at this point it didn't matter. She needed to find those kids. She needed to protect them.

Mumbling a string of curses to herself, all Asami can do is pray that she'd make it on time. If only she knew that time had already ran out.

Meanwhile…

"I have to say, I'm impressed. All she had was a couple of knives and a tiny fraction of her cursed energy, and yet, she was able to exorcise a special-grade curse. And not just any curse, but a finger-bearer," an unknown voice says, having watched the whole ordeal from afar,

"I like her already," they chuckle, "Now to report back to Geto-sama."

Report:

July 2018.

Kanagawa Prefecture.

Yokohama City.

Abnormal deaths have consistently occurred near a local abandoned hospital for the past two weeks. Sorceress, Okada Asami, was assigned to exorcise the curse thought to be responsible. Successfully exorcising the special-grade curse, Asami was able to retrieve another one of Sukuna's fingers.

7:10PM.

Sprinting out her car, Asami runs inside the juvenile prison, panting for breath as she discovers the monstrous destruction of the building.

'What the…' Asami gulps, spotting the remains of the curse who, unbeknownst to her, had just been exorcised by Sukuna himself, 'There's no way…'

Not only was the curse a special grade, but it was identical to the curse she had just exorcised in Yokohama. Two finger-bearers in one day? That was impossible … right?

Knowing she didn't have time to think, Asami continues to run. Right now she had to find those boys. Seeing that they weren't here, she follows the trail of spewing cursed energy, realizing that a battle must've ensued even after the exorcism, for there were a number of destroyed buildings around her.

'Damn it, what the hell have you done Yuuji!' she grits her teeth together, knowing that destruction of this caliber and magnitude could only be caused by one thing, 'Or should I say Sukun—'

Asami's breath suddenly hitches, her running having come to an immediate halt.

Silence fills the air.

Throat having gone dry, Asami finds herself unable to move as she stares at the lifeless body of Itadori Yuuji. In front of him stands Fushiguro Megumi, who currently had an impassive look on his face, having accepted the reality of the situation.

Around them, the rain quietly splatters onto the cement.

"It's—" he pauses, hesitant to continue, "It's too late," he solemnly says, clenching his jaw as he stares at his classmate of about two-weeks. He was dead.

Itadori Yuuji was dead.

Softly placing a hand on top of Megumi's shoulder, Asami tries her best to keep her composure, "You should wait in the car."

Not bothering to give her a verbal response, Megumi quietly begins to walk away, but not before looking back at Yuuji one last time, whispering a final goodbye.

Fingers trembling, Asami slowly walks towards the boy, wanting to see for herself. Crouching down, she turns his body so that it'd face forward, fighting back tears when she sees the tiny smile on his face, "Yuuji-kun," she quietly calls out to him, wanting nothing more than to hear him laugh, to tell her that this was another one of his childish little pranks.

Placing her warm hand to his cold cheek, Asami bites down on her lower lip when she realizes that he truly was dead. Honestly, she didn't understand why she was getting emotional. She hardly knew the boy. If anything, she should be feeling elated. He was the sole reason why she returned to the world of Jujutsu. Still, a part of her couldn't help but feel like she failed him. Yuuji was a special boy. One who deserved to live.

Running her hand through his salmon-colored hair, Asami softly chuckles as she remembers their first encounter with each other, and just how excited he'd been to meet her.

"I-I love your performance in 2105: Plague, the one with the zombies and you go—" he'd then go on to mimic the gun she holds in the movie, childishly making its lazer sounds with his mouth, resulting in his classmates going red in embarrassment.

"I know which one," is what she'd say, an awkward smile on her face.

He'd then follow up by excitedly announcing that he had plans to watch her latest movie, causing Asami, who often found teens his age to be annoying, to laugh.

In the later days, he'd then go on to introduce himself as Yuuji Itadori, who in Asami's eyes wasn't Sukuna's vessel, but a regular teenage boy.

With a single tear now rolling down her cheek, Asami gently brushes her fingers over his eyelids, wanting to make sure he was at peace, "I'm sorry kid," she whispers, her voice shaking.

This right here is exactly what she'd been talking about that night on the bench. That being a jujutsu sorcerer was nothing but being a spoke on an endless wheel of death. Tomorrow, that wheel was going to keep spinning whether she liked it or not.

Slowly getting up from the ground, Asami pays her final respects before walking back to her car, head empty of any thoughts. It isn't until she sees Ijichi running towards her that she's brought back to reality.

Raising her left hand, Asami signals at him to stop, as there was no use for him to be in such a rush. Hair wet from the pouring rain, the young woman keeps her gaze on the ground, "I'm taking Megumi home, you should focus on getting the body out of here," she says, unable to utter Yuuji's name.

From there, the look on Ijichi's face goes from one of pure panic to one of genuine sorrow, "D-Do I call—"

"I'll call and tell him," Asami hums, deciding to take the burden off of Ijichi's shoulders just this once.

"I…." she closes her eyes, letting out a deep breath, "I think he'd want to hear it from me."

Report:

July 2018.

West Tokyo City.

In West Tokyo City, at the Eishu Juvenile Detention Center, in the sky above the exercise yard, an unnamed apparition of potential special-grade was witnessed by multiple non-jujutsu sorcerers. Since it was deemed an emergency, three first-year students were sent to the scene. Of those three students ... one died.

Itadori Yuuji, also known as Sukuna's vessel, was ultimately killed by the very being that possessed him. His body is set to be examined by Ieriri Shoko.

9:30PM

And so that night, after dropping Megumi off at the dorms, making sure Nobara was okay, and getting her own injuries partially treated, Asami now lingered over her phone, scared to make the inevitable phone call.

She knew Satoru, and she knew that he wouldn't blame her nor Ijichi, for the people who had the real fault in all of this were the higher ups. Then again, did it really matter? Their student was dead. The boy who had yet to live out his youth was dead. Itadori Yuuji was dead and there was just no changing that.

Slowly dialing his number, Asami finds herself itching for a cigarette, the sound of each and every ring acting as torture for her. Seeing that he wasn't answering, Asami prepares to press on the red button. That is until….

"Asamiiiiiii," he playfully sings, "How are you and the kids?"

"Satoru, I have something—"

He begins to ramble, "I bought you guys some souvenirs that I think you guys will all like…"

"Satoru."

"I bought Yuuji this doll with 20 arms because you know, he's Sukuna's ves—"

"Satoru," Asami calls out to him once more, but this time her voice cracks, causing Satoru to go dead silent.

"Asami?" his voice is filled with nothing but concern,"What's wrong?"

Closing her tear-brimmed eyes, Asami tries to remain strong, knowing that deep down she was on the verge of going into hysterics, "Something happened and I think—" she pauses, taking in a deep breath, "Just come back home."

"Come back to me," are the unspoken words that follow.

"Did something happen to the k—"

"Yuuji's dead."

The phone clicks.

The Next Day.

Staring at the body on the examination table, Asumi once again places her hand to his cold cheek, almost as if wanting to confirm it for a second time.

Meanwhile, in the background, Satoru and Ijichi discuss the intentions of the higher ups, Asami choosing to ignore them until….

"Maybe I should just kill all the higher ups!" Gojou yells, frowning when he sees Asami place the sheet over Yuuji's body. Though she wouldn't admit it, he knew that she believed that this was all of her fault.

Lowering her head, Asami slowly makes her way back to the wall, avoiding Satoru's intense stare. She looked like a mess and she knew it. Not only was her left arm now in a sling, but she also had multiple bandages wrapped around her forehead, all a result of her battle with the special-grade curse. Sadly, Shoko had been out of town yesterday, meaning Asami was going to have to wait till later today in order to get both her arm and head completely healed.

But the thing is, it wasn't her injuries that were the cause of his concern. It was the dead look in her eyes. It was the same emotionless look she had over 10 years ago when—

"You're being emotional for once!" Shoko suddenly enters the morgue, ready to dissect the body of Sukuna's vessel, also known as Itadori Yuuji.

Mentally muting the conversation between her two former classmates, all Asami can do is stare at the wall in front of her in silence, not exactly a stranger to this room. Hell, by now she was certain that she knew the exact tile count of this hellish room. That's how often she'd have to come here back in her day.

"Hey," a voice brings her back to reality, "You okay?" Satoru asks her, his voice laced with genuine worry.

Asami nods, "Yeah I will be, I'm just—" she pauses, deciding that she was going to be completely honest with herself, "Just a little sad," she whispers, softly smiling as the image of a grinning Yuuji appears in her mind, "they don't make 'em like him very often."

Clenching his jaw in anger, Satoru wants nothing more than to enact some kind of revenge on the higher ups, "I should kill them, I mean look at what they've caused," he mutters, referring to Yuuji's lifeless body, as well as Asami's injuries.

Asami chooses to remain silent, too tired to say anything. Right now, all she wanted to do was go back home and sulk. Watching Shoko put on her gloves, Asami finds herself tempted to just walk out. That is until….

Asami feels her heart drop, having noticed something from afar, 'Did his finger just twitch?'

Soon, a lifeless body magically comes back to life.

"Hey, you guys. I'm about to get started… you just gonna sit there and watch?" Shoko asks, confused as to why she was being stared at with widened eyes, unaware that behind her, the unthinkable had just occurred. Turning around, Shoko immediately goes pale, the corpse she had been ready to dissect now sitting in front of her, observing his naked self.

Meanwhile, Asami and Ijichi both have their mouths wide open, unable to comprehend what they are seeing. Satoru, on the other hand, simply laughs as if he had this all planned out.

"H-He's alive," Asami manages to breathe out, eyes glistening as a smile forms on her face, feeling nothing but pure joy.

"Welcome Back!"

A/N:

And so we get a look at just one of Asami's cursed techniques! Though I didn't specify it now (but I will in the future) this dream technique of hers does have a time limit. The reason it's the easiest technique for Asami to use is because it requires the least amount of cursed energy, and has no repercussions. Also if you didn't catch it, in order to use this technique, she must make contact with someone's head using her hands. Although it may seem like something easy to do, if you're fighting a skilled person/curse, it's definitely a lot harder than it seems.

Music Inspiration:

Jigoku Shoujo OST- Michiteiku Yami

Jigoku Shoujo OST- Ankoku Illusion

Jigoku Shoujo OST - Aware Na Kage

Jigoku Shoujo OST - Kakugo

Jigoku Shoujo OST - Setsunai Omoi

Jigoku Shoujo OST - Eizashite

Revised 1/13/22.