Chapter Eleven.
Heal & Hope.
"You sir are a horrible driver," Asami complains for what felt like the hundredth time in the last hour, feeling her stomach become queasy after noticing how much of a bad driver this man that Miguel must've hired was, "Let me drive," she nudges the man's shoulder from behind.
Looking at his boss, the man gives Miguel a worrisome stare, only making the sorcerer sigh.
"We're almost at our destination," he says, and Asami glares at the man.
"You said that an hour ago," she harshly mumbles, beginning to impatiently tap her foot up and down in anxiousness. God how she hated bad drivers. There was just something about not being in control of the steering wheel that she despised. The only person's driving she didn't hate was…
"Hmph," she crosses her arms, a recent memory coming to mind.
Tightening her grip on the steering wheel, Asami yawns, finding that it was getting harder and harder to keep her eyes completely open. She was currently entering her sixth hour of driving, all because Satoru forgot to book plane tickets in the country they were visiting for a mission. Now they were stuck having to drive all across the country and try and make it back to Japan before the end of the weekend. This meant less stops and more black coffee. But coffee could only do so much…
Yawning a second time, Satoru begins to notice Asami's tired expression, the speed of the car, which had early on been consistent, now beginning to falter. Staring at her from the passenger seat, he debates on offering to take her place. Not because he didn't want to, but because he knew Asami hated being in the passenger seat. Rather than rest, she'd probably be nagging him on things he could do better when driving.
Sensing his stare, Asami glances at the man beside her, immediately frowning, "No," she says, knowing exactly what he was about to offer.
He softly chuckles, "Asamiiiii—"
"No," she repeats, beginning to tap her fingers against the leather steering wheel, "If your driving is still anything like it was years ago then no thank you," she adds, now pretending to be fully awake despite her body yelling at her to go to sleep.
Pouting, he nudges her shoulder, "Come on, just for an hour or two, just so that you can take a quick power nap."
She remains silent, deciding that maybe ignoring him would work best in this situation.
But of course he relents, "Asamiiiiii," he continuously pokes her shoulder. Her jaw clenches in annoyance, feeling as if she was in a car with a toddler.
"Satoru," she says, giving him a quick glare.
"I promise you I'm not a bad driver," he shoots her a reassuring smile, the look on her face telling him that she was actually considering stopping.
And after a silent moment of debate, she sighs, pulling into the side of the road, "Only because I'm tired," she sternly barks at him, taking off her seatbelt and preparing to switch with him,"See and I wouldn't even be tired if you had just booked the flight," she rambles while getting out of the car and stomping her way over to his side, "But nooo of course you forgot because you think since you're Gojou Satoru that you can just—"
Eyes widening, she feels a finger get placed over her lips,"Shh," he shushes her, softly running a hand through her hair, watching as her expression went from that of annoyance to pure shyfulness, "Just relax Asami," he pats her head while her cheeks become red in embarrassment.
Avoiding eye contact, she fakes an eye roll while crossing her arms, "Just drive," she mumbles, and Satoru only laughs, endeared by the woman's behavior.
Attempting to make herself comfortable, Asami gulps when she sees him begin to reverse, unsure of why he was doing that when all he needed to do was just merge back into the lane ahead. Closing her eyes, she tries to remain calm...
That is until she felt herself jolt forward.
"Satoru!" she yells, punching the man in the shoulder, his laughter now ringing in her ears as the car comes to a sudden halt.
Giving him a death stare, she begins to take off her seatbelt, ready to take her rightful place behind the wheel, "You are such an asshole! I should've known better than to—"
Continuing to laugh, he grabs her hand in an attempt to stop her, "Asami, I did that on purpose."
"Like hell you did," she retorts, beginning to push his hand away.
"I'm being serious," he grabs her by the sides of her face, squeezing her cheeks, "You. Need. To. Trust Me." he sounds out, booping her nose, "Just relax," he repeats his words from earlier, grinning at the flustered woman.
"Fine," she murmurs, her cheeks still being squeezed by his hands, "But I want a blanket, I'm freezing," she pushes his hands away, and Satoru nods, grabbing his fluffy blanket from the backseat.
Softly placing it over her, he begins to drive again, Asami this time actually following his command and relaxing in the car seat as much as she could, the scent of his cologne surprisingly giving her comfort. Of course that didn't mean she wasn't keeping a cautious eye out, but it seems that he wasn't lying when he said he wasn't a bad driver.
Hearing the sound of his soft hums, Asami feels herself begin to daze off, that sleepy feeling that she'd been fighting off earlier now beginning to completely take over her. Snuggling further into the blanket, Asami softly smiles as she hears the sound of the car smoothly driving against the road pavement, any worries she had now gone.
And soon the sounds of her soft snores could be heard, Satoru grinning as he continued to drive, feeling obnoxiously proud of being the only person capable of getting her to give up the steering wheel.
Admiring how peaceful she looks, he takes advantage of the empty roads beside him to quickly snap a photo of her, reminding himself that peaceful moments like these, that often made him feel like the happiest person on Earth, weren't something to be taken for granted. Especially not in the world in which they were a part of, where sorcerers are considered lucky to die a peaceful death.
Shaking his head, Satoru tries to shrug off his intrusive thoughts, not wanting to believe that anything bad would happen this time around. Asami was beside him now and that's all that mattered. And this time he'd make sure that everything would end up just right for them.
Yawning, Asami stretches her arms over her head, hazily looking around.
Frowning, she looks at the digital clock of the car which reads 7:30AM. Satoru and her had switched places at around 10PM the night before. That means he'd been driving for over 9 hours already. Glancing at him, she studies his lively appearance, wondering how the hell he was still driving.
Thinking that she must've been shifting in her sleep, he fails to notice that she's awake, continuing to keep his eyes on the road while rhythmically tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. Using the rare opportunity of him not being a complete nuisance, Asami silently admires him, wondering what he could possibly be thinking in that head of his.
She had to admit, the man was definitely a looker, especially now that the sunrise was hitting him in a way that gave him a soft glow, his crystal blue eyes peeking through the sunglasses that were hanging on the lower bridge of his nose. He almost looked angelic in a sense.
Blushing, she feels like a creep for staring at him, but she couldn't help it. Because even though so much had happened in the past, when it was just them two by themselves, none of that mattered. There was just something about him that was so … comforting. Almost like a breath of fresh air.
"What are you singing?" she quietly asks him, catching him by surprise.
"Oh you're up!" he chuckles, giving her a quick glance before focusing on the road again.
Lifting herself up from her slouched position, she nods, stretching one more time, "You should've woken me up," she says, not exactly mad, but instead feeling guilty.
He shrugs, "You needed the rest," he says,"Besides I'm used to not sleeping."
Originally, she wants to say something about him sleeping like a baby that night at the hotel, but ultimately decides against it, not wanting to bicker this early in the morning. Instead she softly combs out his hair with her fingers, moving the loose strands that were covering his face away, whispering a tiny,"Thank you Satoru."
Smiling, he continues to tap his fingers against the steering wheel, their destination not too far.
Raising a brow, she realizes her question from before wasn't answered, "So what are you singing?"
Remaining silent, he debates on whether to answer to her, knowing that she'd only roll his eyes at his answer, "You really wanna know?" he asks, spiking her curiosity even more.
Nonchalantly nodding, she most definitely rolls her eyes when she hears him sing the childish song that was …
"F is for friends who do stuff together, U is for you and meeeee," he sings, and Asami dramatically sighs, "N is for anywhere and anytime at all…" he "passes" her the imaginary mic, waiting for her to sing along.
Staring at him with a deadpan look, Asami curls her mouth, "Come on Asami, you know the lyrics!" he pokes fun at her, "I'll sing em with you," he offers.
"Down here in the deep blue seaaaa…" they both sing, Satoru of course being more enthusiastic about it than Asami.
"Solo time!" he continues pointing the so-called "mic" that was his right hand.
"F is for fire that burns down the whole town, U is for Uranium … bombs," Asami begins to struggle to hide the forming smile on her face, her mouth twitching because of how much she wanted to laugh, "N is for no suuurvivooors when you!" she covers her mouth with her hand, a rare childish laugh coming out of her mouth and she begins to clutch onto her stomach with her other hand, the two now having a fit of giggles.
"You're," she throws her head back, tears coming out her eyes as she continues to laugh, "an idiot," she breathes out, wiping the corners of her eyes. And soon the whole car ride becomes them going back and forth singing different not only different Spongebob songs but music from when they were teens. And though the day would go by in the blink of an eye, the memory became one that'd stick with them forever.
"We're here," Miguel announces, bringing Asami back to reality.
Gulping, she shrugs off the swelling feeling in her chest, confused as to why her sudden departure was barely sinking in right now. Sighing, she takes off her seat belt and steps out of the car, observing the beautiful village she was now standing in front of.
Kids were running around with the brightest smiles on their faces while both women and men were happily walking alongside one another, shopping in the colorful marketplace which was thriving with business, merchants selling things from fruit to unique art. There was also music being played from not too far, the drums being the most prominent sound.
"So this is your home, huh?" she glances at Miguel, and he nods.
"Come on, follow me," he says, the three of them maneuvering their way around the market, Asami quickly noticing that she was getting stares. Of course she figured it was probably because she was the newest foreigner around here, but a part of her felt that there was perhaps another reason for the stares. Especially considering how different they all varied, some stares being that of fear while others were of curiosity, and of course not to mention the ones that were of hate.
"Tch, not a very friendly place," she mutters, Yuuta, who was walking closely behind her, hearing her.
"Don't worry, they gave me those same looks when I first arrived," he whispers beside her, "It's because almost everyone here is a sorcerer," he says and suddenly everything begins to make sense for Asami.
"No wonder you had no problem accepting my compliance, as long as you got me to this village without a fight then your job was done," she scowls at Miguel, "Means if I want to leave, it's not happening without a fight, especially considering that I'm outnumbered."
He smiles, "You got it," he chuckles, "You're intuitive, but there was no way you could guess my hometown would be a community of sorcerers."
"Mm," she hums, observing the people with a more refined eye, "And here I thought Japan was the gold mine for sorcerers."
"You guys' are. The bare minimum of being a sorcerer means being capable of seeing cursed spirits, and only a handful of the people here have powerful innate techniques," he surprisingly admits, an uncaring tone in his voice.
Asami scoffs, "And I'm assuming you're not telling me which ones for precautionary reasons."
He nods, continuing with his lecture, "Compared to Japan, not many sorcerers appear overseas, including here in Africa. But over the past centuries, the sorcerers of Africa came together to form their own village, and somehow my ancestors created their own small barrier to optimize our cursed energy. Of course, it's not as powerful as Tengen's but it does the job."
Confused, Asami raises a brow, "No way the higher ups in Japan would let you all do this without putting in their own two cents."
"Unlike Japan and the rest of these superpower countries, the elders in my village don't want to play politics and pretend to be superheroes. It's why we prefer to remain as a tight knit community and curse free. Especially knowing how sorcerers are often ostracized by clueless humans," Miguel adds, and the faces of three little kids appear in Asami's mind, recalling their torn up and beaten faces that were filled with fear.
Asami frowns, "So I assume Suguru told you what he saw," she says, now realizing who exactly Miguel was. Satoru had mentioned him once as being one of the leading commanders in Geto's "family" of sorcerers. Miguel must've been the man with the tool that was capable of disrupting Satoru's cursed techniques.
"He didn't have to, I've seen the several cases before," Miguel tries to act nonchalant, but Asami could see right through him.
"Tch, so much for not playing hero…"
He scowls at her, taking offense to her statement, "I'm not, but I did wish to see Geto reach his dream. It's why I left the group after his death," he truthfully states, Asami giving him a wary look.
"So then why the hell is this kid working for you?"
Yuuta perks up at the mention of himself, "He's the one um … training me."
Asami makes a squirming face, "Huh?"
Miguel rolls his eyes, "That boyfriend of yours forcefully recruited me into training this brat…"
"First of all, he's not my boyfriend," she mutters, her face going in red in both annoyance and embarrassment, "and second, training for what?"
"Did you not see that monstrous curse called Rika?" Miguel says with attitude, not exactly directed at Asami, but more at the number of times that curse of Yuuta's has tried killing him. Luckily, Yuuta was now trained well enough that he could (for the most part) control her at his will, along with consistently imbuing his katana with cursed energy during battle. And it was all thanks to Miguel, something the man couldn't help but be a little smug about.
"Oh, that … thing."
Yuuta frowns, "She's not a thing," he defensively says, for the first time genuinely looking upset, "And she's not a curse Miguel-sensei…" he reminds the man. Miguel apologetically raises his hands, forgetting that the boy didn't like being reminded of his childhood lover's fate.
Yuuta frowns, "She's just … Rika," he says, and Asami remains silent, noting that the topic wasn't something to be pushed on … not now at least.
"Anyways, the elders also told me you're supposed to know where the hell I can find more black rope," Miguel mentions, and if Asami wasn't already confused before, she certainly was now.
"Black rope?" she pouts as she begins to think about what that could possibly be, "Oh, that must be that tool you used to try and defeat Satoru," she says, unaware that the rope was destroyed by her infamous ex.
"You got it," Miguel says, feeling himself become peeved at the memory of the man, "It took the sorcerer's in my village decades to weave it, and your boyfriend destroyed in less than 10 minutes."
Deciding to be the bigger person and ignore his "boyfriend" comment this time, she instead rolls her eyes, "Well I hate to break it to you, but I don't know where or how the hell you make that, nor where you can find more."
Miguel then stops walking and turns to look at her.
Staring at her through his sunglasses, Asami knows that he doesn't believe her.
Staring at him right back, she keeps the uncaring look on her face, unfazed by his intense stare, "It's true, I don't. I would have no problem telling you if I did," she shrugs.
"Hmm we'll see about that," he mumbles, "Come on, we're here," Asami looks past him to see a large hut, eyes widening when she feels a chill go down her spine. The hut was practically spewing out cursed energy, enough to have her convinced that by going in there, it'd result in her death.
But before she can protest, she feels herself get pushed inside, finding a group of elderly sorcerers' sitting on decorated pillows that were placed on the floor, ancient ornaments dangling from the ceiling of the hut while an eerie chiming sound fills the room.
"Okada Asami," an old woman with grey hair says, dressed in traditional clothing, "We've been waiting for you," she gives her a creepy "welcoming" smile.
Furrowing her brows, Asami takes a couple of steps back, preparing to make a run for it … only to bump into the chest of Miguel. Giving her a knowing look, he motions to her to continue walking forward, already knowing what was going through her head.
Cautiously doing so, she continues to study the area, the most prominent thing being the fire in the middle of the room. Gulping, Asami subconsciously begins to grab for her knives, forgetting that she had been disarmed since the longest.
Having noticed her hostile behavior, the woman slowly gets up from her seat, grabbing the cane alongside her. Miguel, quickly running to go help her, says her name in the process.
"Madame Ogechi," he gently grabs her from the wrist, helping her get up. And though Asami now had the opportunity to escape, it was like her feet were glued onto the floor, incapable of moving no matter how much she wanted them to.
"Don't be afraid child," Madame Ogechi makes her way to her, and though Asami towered over the very short woman, she could feel the immense prowess the woman had.
"W-What do you want?" Asami accidentally stutters, immediately clearing her throat, for her act of confidence was beginning to falter.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, the woman grabs Asami's hand, gently rubbing small circles around her palm, almost as if studying the texture of her skin. Closing her eyes, Madame Ogechi hums some kind of prayer under her breath, a frown appearing on her face when she was done.
Looking up at the red-haired woman, Ogechi shakes her head, "What have you done child?"
Asami pulls her hand away, "What are you talking about?"
"Your powers… what have you done to them?"
Eyes momentarily widening, Asami quickly becomes defensive, scowling at the woman, "I don't know what you're talking about," she lies through her teeth.
"Don't lie to me little girl," she counters back, the two having an intense staredown.
Feeling her eyes water, Asami quickly blinks away any forming tears, anger now coursing through her veins, "I'm not," she grits her teeth, knowing damn well she was.
"So then do you know where we can find more black rope? Do you know how we can make more in a short amount of time? Do you know the names of our ancient ancestors? Do you know the history of your people? Do you know of what's to—"
"No!" Asami interrupts her, clearly agitated by all the questions, "Sorry, but I don't know what the hell you're talking about," she says, throwing elderly respect out the window, "You have the wrong person."
Madame Ogechi then snaps her fingers at Miguel, signalling him to grab her the drawing that had been made by the ashes of the fire weeks ago. Following her orders, he hands her the crumpled paper. Displaying it to Asami's face, the old woman frowns, "This is you."
"Tch, that looks nothing like me," Asami says, despite the drawing looking exactly like her.
"Don't be afraid Okada Asami," the woman repeats her words from earlier, reaching for her hand once again, this time imbuing her own cursed energy into the red headed woman's hand. Suddenly, glimpses of the past appear in Asami's mind, resembling that of electric shocks. Asami screeches out in pain, covering her ears with her hands.
"You come back to us alive and healthy, you hear me?"
"Geto Suguru, but you can call me Suguru."
"Do you always have to do that?"
"Do what?"
"Show off like I'm going to praise you one of these days?"
"Stop it," Asami begins to violently shake her head around, shutting her eyes closed.
"There you go! You got it!"
"Tell her she looks pretty."
"I-I think I really like you…"
"Do … Do you think he's in a better place?"
"Stop it," she repeats, tears beginning to uncontrollably fall down from her eyes.
"I love you Asami. I really do."
"Escort the girl … and erase her."
"So you need to get up and fight like never before because we need you! I need you Satoru!"
"I don't want to die! Please! I just want my mommy! Please! I don't want to die!"
"I-I'm sorry."
"Please," she cries out, feeling as if she couldn't breathe.
"Let's leave Satoru, let's run and never look back."
"I can't Asami."
"I said stop!" the ornaments dangling in the room suddenly explode, while the fire becomes ferocious, a deadly energy filling every inch of the room, running chills down everyones' spines.
Continuing to clutch onto the wooden table she had been grabbing on, tears darken the caramel colored wood as they continue to drip down from her eyes, her breathing now slowly becoming stable, "A binding vow," she mutters.
"I made a binding vow around ten years ago…" she whispers, voice shaking, "In exchange for the will to live, I promised myself I'd never use my powers to their fullest extent," she sobs, grabbing onto her chest as she continued to feel as if she was suffocating.
"And if you ever were to, it'd mean your imminent death..." Madame Ogechi says, staring at the woman with a look of sympathy, understanding that the woman had emotional scars that were much deeper than the ones visible to the eye.
"Because I should've died a long time ago…"
Tokyo, Japan.
"In today's world news, the city of Chefchaouen, Morocco seems to have suffered from an unusual earthquake over the past weekend, wrecking a number of buildings along with causing a casualty of two people, their bodies discovered under a mountain of rubble. But locals say that—"
Yuuji turns off the TV, yawning in the process. These days he found himself extremely bored. Because if he wasn't training with Gojou, then he was here in his apartment doing absolutely nothing!
Originally, he understood why Gojou couldn't take him out as much, for the tall man was always busy with missions and paperwork, but even Asami would find time in her day to try and do something interesting with the pink haired boy, whether it be having him help her plan out lessons or taking him out to some cafe in Tokyo, he would never find himself as bored as he was now.
Sometimes, he couldn't help but think that Gojo's sudden lack of enthusiasm was rooted in Asami's sudden departure. Honestly, he couldn't blame him if it was. Yuuji had first hand witnessed the subtle (but also sometimes completely obvious) love the two had for one another, always acting like an old married couple.
But if there was one thing Yuuji was sure about, it was that Asami was going to come back, or at least that's what he'd been telling himself since her departure. It was the reason why he wasn't currently moping around and feeling sad. Asami was going to come back. Point blank.
"Yuuji-kun, time for training," Gojou sighs while entering his apartment, placing his keys onto the counter and grabbing himself a cup of water. And though Yuuji couldn't see the man's eyes, he was sure that if he could, he'd see the blatant exhaustion the man emitted.
Noticing that the boy wasn't moving from the couch, Gojou turns his attention to him.
"Something wrong?" he asks.
Yuuji nods his head no, nervously scratching the back of his neck, "Well I was just hoping we could take a break today," he awkwardly chuckles, "Maybe go out to Tokyo."
Remaining silent, Yuuji frowns when he sees his sensei shake his head in dismissal, "You know we can't Yuuji."
"But Asami-sensei would always take me out, and well there's this cafe we were going to try before she left and well—"
Feeling his mood sour, Gojou interrupts Yuuji, "I said no," he firmly states, placing his empty cup into the sink, "Things have changed if you can't tell…"
Yuuji knits his brows, "I know, but—"
"But what?" Gojou counters back, aware that he was acting completely out of character, but God was he just tired. Tired of Yuuji acting like Asami was going to walk through the door any day now, tired of having to constantly put up his cheerful act, and just tired of acting like he was okay with Asami's departure.
Face falling, Yuuji looks away, "Nothing um … I should start changing," he says before quietly walking into his room, leaving Gojou to feel like complete shit all by himself.
Africa.
Asami silently stares at the mess her outburst had caused, her mind elsewhere as she watches Miguel and Yuuta clean up the mess, the elders silently discussing God knows what to themselves. 'I need a cigarette' she thinks to herself, her fingers still slightly trembling, itching to get their hands on the small piece of tobacco.
And to think this was all happening because she idiotically decided to give herself up. Had she known this was what was going to happen, and she would've tooth and nail to remain free.
"That's almost impossible …. That boy has enough cursed energy to do it … it's never been done before …she could kill all of us..." she hears the group of elders murmur different incoherent things.
"If not for us, then for her," she hears Madame Ogechi say, "The child needs to heal."
Remaining silent, the elders nod, for in the end Madame Ogechi's word was law. Remaining where she was, Asami stares at the old woman who begins to approach her once more, this time feeling extra defensive.
"Don't think you'll be able to pull what you just did a second time," she mutters, glaring at Madame Ogechi.
"Hey—" Miguel prepares to tell Asami off until he sees Madame Ogechi raise her hand, signalling him to stay shut.
"She has every reason to be upset Miguel," she says, "I forced an answer out of you, and that was wrong of me," she apologizes to Asami, slightly bowing in the process.
Asami stares at her cautiously, not at all trusting her, "How the hell did you do that?" she asks the burning question that'd been in her mind.
"Do what?"
"What you did with my memories, making me see them in glimpses…"
Madame Ogechi gives Asami a close eyed smile, "I didn't do anything that you're not capable of doing yourself."
Asami raises a brow, completely confused as to what the old hag meant by that, "Tch," she scowls, "Well did you get what you want?"
Madame Ogechi shakes her head in dismay, "As long as you have the binding vow in place, what we seek will never be found. Which is why we need to unbind the vow."
Asami accidentally lets out a laugh, covering her mouth in a petty matter, "You're hilarious."
"I don't recall making a joke young lady," Madame Ogechi frowns, suddenly taking offense to the woman's rude behavior.
Asami scoffs, feeling like a high schooler all over again.
"Using an ancient ritual, we believe we can unlock the memories that bind you to the vow, along with your full power. Usually the ritual is one that results in guaranteed death because of the sheer amount of cursed energy that's needed, but because we have this blessed young boy in our presence," she turns to Yuuta, "The chances of death are extremely low."
Asami frowns, not a fan of the word "death".
And before they knew it, Asami was turning on her heels, walking out of the hut.
"Hey, where do you think you're going!" Miguel runs out, calling out to her while nudging at Yuuta, who was right beside him, to go and get her.
"No way am I staying or being apart of any stupid old ritual!" she yells while continuing to walk away, sticking out her middle finger in the process, "I'm doing just fine with my binding vow in place!"
"Asami-san!" Yuuta begins to follow her, too scared to actually do anything.
"Fuck off kid," she mutters, regretting focusing on the conversation while walking to the hut, as now she was completely lost.
"Miguel-sensei's not just going to let you—" she suddenly halts and turns, his face colliding with her chest. Face reddening, he looks up to see a scowling Asami, her eyebrow raised at what he'd just accidently done, "I-I'm sorry! I-I didn't mean to, it's just that y-you—"
She places her hands on her hips, purposely imposing herself on the young boy, "Did I not say to fuck off you pervert," she interupts him, "What part of, no way am I staying there, did you two not understand?"
"But why not?" Yuuta asks a little too eagerly.
She scoffs, "Because that place reeks of death," she responds with, "And I'm not trying to die! Not anytime soon at least."
"But you're not!" he frowns, backtracking on his words, "At least I don't think you are... "
"Tch, exactly," she says, continuing to walk away.
"Please Asami-san!" he grabs her hand, causing her to turn back around. Preparing to push him away, she stops herself from doing so when she sees the desperate look on his face, "Please," his eyes water, and Asami feels a mysterious pang of guilt.
Noticing that she wasn't saying anything, he uses the opportunity to convince her, "I-I don't know you well, and I personally can't promise you that they won't try killing you in there, but," he pauses, gulping in the process, "But I can promise you that I'll do everything in my power that they don't."
Her face becomes one of cautiousness, "And what makes you say that?"
The answer comes quick to him, "Because you're important to Gojou-sensei," he says, "And Gojou-sensei is important to me."
Remaining silent, light brown eyes stare into black ones, seeking for any sign of untruthfulness. Damn did she hate that white haired idiot back in Japan. He just had to be brought up wherever she went. And she of course just had to have idiotically fallen in love with the man. 'Dumb stupid idiot,' she thinks to herself, mentally cursing the man.
Continuing to stare at him, she wonders about what the boy was truly capable of. Was he really as powerful as Satoru described him to be? Because honestly when fighting him, it didn't really seem like it…
But maybe that was because he had to capture her alive. This boy did in fact defeat Suguru, which meant that clearly he was capable of doing some heavy damage. But damn… to put her life in his hands?
'Tch,' she frowns, unsure of whether to follow her heart or trust her brains. Shaking her head, she wants nothing more than to…
'Go back home,' she scoffs, aware that the decision to leave home was entirely hers, 'Home..'
And soon the mental image of the man everyone has been mentioning all day appears in her mind, along with the students that she ultimately grew to have a soft spot for. But in order to go back home, she had to learn to forgive herself, she had to accept and move on from her wrongdoings. And that's what Madame Ogechi was offering her…. an opportunity to heal.
Pushing Yuuta's hand away, she glares at him, having made a decision, "Fine," she begrudgingly says, continuing to uphold her usual cold demeanor, "But if I die in there, I'll make sure that I'm the second curse to be following you around," she pokes her finger into his chest, referring to the infamous Rika.
Nervously nodding, he feels a drop of sweat trickle down the side of his forehead, realizing just how grave the task he'd just thrown onto himself was. Watching Asami make her way back into the hut, Yuuta feels a hand get placed onto his shoulder.
"If you can consistently imbue her with your cursed energy for the next couple of days without killing her that means you've mastered controlling and manipulating cursed energy," Miguel says, Yuuta completely unaware that the man had been following them, "Think of it as a final exam."
Sighing, Yuuta pushes his hair back in anxiousness, "Let's just hope that all goes well."
Meanwhile...
Knocking on Yuuji's door, Gojou hears a mumbled, "Come in."
And if Gojou hadn't already felt like shit, what he had walked into made him feel like the lowest scum of the Earth. It was the view of Yuuji depressingly laying in bed, still in his pajamas, watching the recorded memories of Gojo, Asami, and him that he had captured on his phone, a small smile gracing his lips as he scrolled through them one by one.
Sitting on his bed, Gojo finds himself at a loss for words.
"I…" Yuuji pauses, eyes becoming watery, "I know she's not coming back Gojou-sensei…" he says, his voice weak, "But can't I hope? Can't we hope? I mean it won't hurt us, will it? To wish and hope that she'll come back…" a single tear falls down from his eye, and it was only then that Gojou realized that Yuuji had long ago understood that the woman wasn't coming back, but like himself, was also putting on the facade that everything was fine. The only difference being that Yuuji was drowning himself in the feeling of denial rather than acceptance.
"I mean we were all so happy … weren't we Gojou-sensei?" his voice slightly cracks.
They were ... they truly were. Ever since Asami's return, Gojou would find himself actually looking forward to work, no longer minding the number of missions he'd be assigned if it meant occasionally getting to go on one with her. Or how he'd always interrupt her lessons with the first years, Nobara and Megumi not minding too much if the day's lesson had been too boring. Not to mention the weekends of training Yuuji that always brought laughter and new memories for the three of them and how he and Yuuji would always help Asami cook afterwards, never leaving her with too much work.
In a sense, they were like a little happy family …
"She's…" he glances at the photo on Yuuji's phone, it being one where Asami was posing with a genuine smile on her face, nothing but pure happiness radiating off the captured memory, "She's going to come back," Gojou says for the first time, features softening as he continues to look at the picture, feeling … hopeful.
"R-Really? You think so?" Yuuji says, a grin appearing on his face.
Gojou nods, laughing, "Yeah, why wouldn't she? We're her home."
Continuing to smile, Yuuji gets up from the bed, "You know Gojou-sensei, if we wish hard enough, it might actually happen!" he enthusiastically says, the childlike glimmer in his eyes making Satoru subconsciously smile.
"Come on, let's go to that cafe you want to go to so bad," Gojou says, watching the boy quickly change and run out the room, yelling out an excited, "You're the best Gojou-sensei!" in the process.
Sighing to himself, Gojou knows that innocence like Yuuji's would one day be destroyed, hoping he wasn't there for the day it happened … but for now, like Yuuji said, it didn't hurt to hope…
"Mm he forgot to turn off the TV," Gojou mumbles to himself, quickly scanning the screen in front of him, "Mysterious earthquake in Chefchaouen, Morocco?" he reads the large text out loud, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
Turning up the volume he listens to the interview of a local resident, eyes widening at what he hears.
"Yeah, it was crazy! No one wants to believe me but I know what I saw! It was a boy and this lady fighting! It was like something straight out of a movie!" the man pulls something out his pocket, "This headscarf was the exact color of her hair, look!"
A crimson colored headscarf.
"No fucking way," Gojou whispers to himself, "Asami's in Africa…"
And who else was in Africa that could possibly fight her to that extent…
"Yuuta…."
Gojou runs out of the room, preparing to book the next flight to Africa as soon as possible.
Africa.
"You ready?" Miguel stands behind Asami, who was currently fixing the cultural robe that had been given to her to change into, it's bright yellow designs contrasting with the color of her hair. Pushing loose strands behind her ear, she looks at herself in the mirror one final time before nodding.
"Follow me," he says, leading her to an entirely different hut, the first thing she sees when entering being a coffin-like shrine in the middle of the room. It almost resembles that of a sacrificial table, only that this one was painted with an array of patterns along with sacred texts being written on the handles of the table. Surrounding it were large wooden sticks of fire, several of the elders holding hands around the room, silently mumbling incoherent things to themselves.
"Come here child," Madame Ogechi motions to her to come to the center, patting the surface of the pillowed bed.
Gulping, Asami slowly sits down, hesitantly laying her body down, but not before looking at a nervous Yuuta.
Deicing it was best to give him words of reassurance, she grabs his hand, offering him a small smile, "You got this," she says, unsure if she believed her own words.
"Remember Yuuta, if it becomes too much, you stop, and we resume another day," Madame Ogechi reminds him, "We have all the time in the world, don't we?" she looks at Miguel and he nods, unaware of the fearful figure that was well on his way to the village.
"And Asami, remember you need to relax and let go. Go back to the day you made the vow, " Madame Ogechi gives a stern look to the woman, Asami exhaling a deep breath of air in response.
"Okay everybody, let's get started," Madam Ogechi grabs the hands of two elders, filling in the remaining gap that had been left just for her.
"By earth and air, by fire and water, so shall you hear our call. Powers of birth and rebirth, powers of silence and peace, heal the sacred one's body and mind, and allow us to visit the past," they all simultaneously say, the fire in the room growing. Focusing on the spinning wheel on the ceiling, Asami tries her best to relax.
"Now Yuuta," Madame Ogechi instructs Yuuta to begin imbuing the woman with his cursed energy, Asami hearing Yuuta mumble a faint, "I'm sorry."
Slowly, she feels his cursed energy flow throughout her body, a relaxing feeling washing over her as she closes her eyes, feeling as if she were about to knock out.
"I understand you're scared to hurt her Yuuta, but you need to use more energy, slowly begin to add more," Madame Ogechi says, and Yuuta gulps, having purposely used only a fraction of his cursed energy.
Feeling the same electric shocks from before, Asami feels her heartbeat begin to race as glimpses of past memories begin to sporadically resurface, the haunting screams of villagers echoing in her mind as her pupils begin to constrict. Eyebrows violently twitching, the spinning wheel on the ceiling becomes fractured, "I-I can't," Asami whispers to herself, hysteric tears falling from the corners of her eyes as she begins to sob, "S-Satoru," her voice cracks, "H-Help me."
"Asami!" she hears several voices call out to her, trying to pull her out of the trance she was in, but it was all too much, "Asami, get up!" two hands forcefully pick her up from her lying position, Asami letting out an ear shrieking scream.
Panting for breath, Asami looks up to see a scared Yuuta along with the rest of the elders looking at her in shock. Miguel is quick to hand her a cup of water, feeling hostile himself after what he just saw.
Quickly taking a gulp out the cup, Asami catches her breath, staring at Madame Ogechi, "I can't do it," she whispers, still in a state of shock, "It's too much, I can't."
"I need everyone except Yuuta to get out of here," Madame Ogechi harshly commands, everyone staring at her in confused silence before following her orders. With it just being them three in the room, Madame Ogechi makes her way toward Asami, "Lie back down."
Staying still, Asami timidly nods her head no, "I can't Madame Ogechi, I'm sorry."
The aged sorceress frowns, "You can't or you don't want to?"
Asami remains silent.
"I assume whatever happened that made you make that vow must've been quite traumatic," Ogechi grabs Asami's hands, giving her a comforting smile, "But in order to unpackage that trauma, you need to allow yourself to stay open and vulnerable. Or else you'll never truly be happy. I mean that's the reason why you came back isn't it? Because you want to be happy."
"Because I want to be happy," Asami repeats in a whisper, looking down and remembering what she'd done to Yuuji, and how much of a monster she felt like. Slowly, she lays back down, Madame Ogechi grabbing her hand along with Yuuta.
"I think we approached this completely wrong," Madame Ogechi chuckles, "Rather than going back to the day you made the vow, I want you to go back to where you believe your story began and try to recall a memory that brought you joy in that period. And from there we'll begin," she squeezes her hand, giving her a reassuring smile.
"Aren't you going to recite that spell of yours?"
Madame Ogechi nervously laughs, "If we're being honest, that was really all for show," she says, causing Yuuta and Asami to comedically gape their mouths open, "Had you thinking though, didn't we?" she teasingly winks.
Rolling her eyes, Asami makes herself comfortable, "I'm ready."
"Okay then, Yuuta you know what to do," the boy nods, beginning to transfer his cursed energy to Asami once again.
"Remember Asami, go back to a time where you were happy, a time where you believe was the start of it all," Asami hears the old woman say, deeply inhaling as she feels her body become afloat.
"Think of something or someone that brings you comfort," Madame Ogechi rubs small circles onto Asami's palm, helping soothe her as she feels the young woman's heart pressure go up, "Everything will be fine Asami."
Gently closing her eyes, Asami thinks back to her high school days, 'To the start of it all, huh?' she thinks to herself, having asked herself that question many times in the past, 'A time where I was happy…'
2005.
Panting for breath, Asami jolts from bed, desperately trying to catch her breath. Looking down at her fingers, she sees that they're trembling, whatever nightmare she had waking up her in cold sweat. Placing a hand to her temple, she squirms at the headache she has, unable to remember what she'd done the day prior to have her wake up like this.
Yawning, she runs a hand through her hair before rubbing her eyes and looking around her colorful dorm room which was decorated with a variety of things such as boy band posters, circus family photos, string butterflies hanging from the ceiling, and glow in the dark stars. She had to say, she was quite proud at how her room came out. When she first moved in, the room was dull and boring, but now it was every teenage girl's dream room.
Getting up from bed, she goes to the bathroom to brush her teeth and shower, changing into her usual uniform once back in her room.
'Now let's see what's on the schedule for today,' she happily thinks to herself while grabbing her planner. It'd been three months since her arrival at Jujutsu High and each and every day she was finding herself feeling more at home, her friendships with both Shoko and Suguru blossoming into something she considered special. Not to mention her classes were as easy as pie, the teachers here not at all being strict. Honestly, she assumed it was because they all figured the students' here would become sorcerers, but their casualness in teaching could also be contributed to them being sorcerers themselves.
Skimming through the pages, Asami hums a small tune to herself while looking for the most recent week, assuming that because her alarm didn't go off, that today must've been a free day.
"Hmm…" she raises a brow, growing frustrated at the fact that she couldn't find it.
KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.
Asami jumps at the sudden loudness of whoever was banging on her door. Immediately going quiet, she walks to her door, wondering who the hell it could be. 'Hm, maybe it's Shoko,' she thinks, recalling the number of times Shoko's loudly knocked on her door for minor inconveniences, 'Or maybe Utahime…' Asami nervously laughs, unsure if she wanted to gossip right now.
Gulping, she plasters a fake smile on her face, not wanting whoever is behind the door to feel unwelcome. That was until she opened the door…
"Oh … it's you," she frowns, looking up to see an annoyed looking Satoru who currently had his arms crossed like a child.
"Tch," he scowls at her, "You're late!"
Oh right … she had training with him today.
"My bad, I didn't realize I had to train with you today…" she fakes a pout, feeling her mood sour.
He rolls his eyes, "Liar. I've been waiting at the courtyard like an idiot for the last hour! You know, unlike you, I have important things to do with my day."
Getting defensive, she glares at him, "Well maybe if you weren't so late last time, I wouldn't have marked you down for 1PM instead of 12PM on my planner! But nooooo! You think you get to do things on your own time!"
"I told you I was going to run late!"
"Yeah, like 3 minutes before you arrived!" Asami retorts, preparing to slam the door shut.
"My phone service sucked!"
She scoffs, "Like hell it did…"
Shoko, who was returning from some shopping, hears her two classmates bicker from the end of the hall, immediately turning around and deciding to find something else to do with her day, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire of their argument.
"I cannot believe I'm being forced to train an idiot like you!" a cross popping vein appears on Satoru's forehead.
Asami's mouth dramatically gapes open, "ME?! AN IDIOT?! Clearly you haven't met yourself because let me tell you—"
"You two just love fighting, don't you? Might as well kiss already," they slowly turn to see Suguru with his hands at his hips, the boy having received a text from Shoko saying that her dorm hall was in need of immediate help.
Faces reddening, the two teens notice just how close their faces were to one another, immediately pulling away in embarrassment.
"Hmph," the two cross their arms, purposely looking away from one another.
Sighing, Suguru shakes his head, "Masamichi is expecting to see some kind of progress soon," Suguru reminds them of their task, "Means you two are going to have to get along at some point," he sings in a teasing manner, a knowing smile on his face.
"Yeah, well if someone here wasn't late today, we could've gotten started…"
"You were late last time!"
The two prepare to bicker once more until they see Suguru raise his hands, signalling to them that they needed to shut it, "Okay, he was late, you were late, why not call it even?" he says, trying to create middle ground between the two.
Remaining quiet, Suguru assumes that their silence acted as their answer.
"Good, I assume you two have forgiven each other then," he nervously laughs, both Asami and Satoru muttering inaudible things to themselves, "So why not just start training right now, if you want I'll be on the sidelines for today just to make sure everything rolls smoothly," he offers, and the two both look at eachother, silently agreeing to the idea.
"Okay then, let's get going!" Suguru smiles, the two begrudgingly following him, for this memory here was where it all started.
A/N: And so the story officially jumps into the past! From this point on, the story (for the most part) will be set completely in the past, starting from 2005, BUT will occasionally hop into the present. I want to estimate for around the next 8-10 chapters as it's a retelling of Asami's past! Many questions will be answered and do not worry, there will be the building of a certain romance along with some fluff for those who will miss present day Asami and Gojo LOL.
In this chapter we learn that Asami made a binding vow with herself in the past in an effort to limit her own powers! I feel like i sort of obviously hinted at it in the past, but this chapter finally has her confessing it sooo :D Gojo also seems to be on his on his way to Africa soon eeeek let's see how that goes. Also, the song they sang in the car (for anyone who doesn't recognize it) is the F.U.N song from Spongebob! The idea randomly came to me so I just had to write it in, but I feel like it was a good way to show the subtle acts of love Gojo would do for Asami so luckily it flowed nicely. (knowing my luck it'll be canonically confirmed that Gojo doesn't drive but we'll see LOL)
Anyways, I'm so happy to have reached this point in the story. It's what made me want to write this story to begin with haha, so I'm definitely going to have fun with it.
Please let me know your thoughts on this chapter and/or theories. Reviews always make my day a little brighter and definitely motivate me to write haha! Anything is appreciated! See you all next update ! :)
P.S: In Chapter 145 we see one of the sorcerer's in Miguel's village, but we're not told her name so just note I completely made up the name "Madame Ogechi" . If her name happens to be something else then I'll either come back and change it OR we're just going to pretend this is some other sorceress of the village.