Disclaimer: I do not own Jujutsu Kaisen. It is property of Gege Akutami. I only own the original characters appearing in this story.

4th Curse

Sudden Encounter

突然の出会い

totsuzen no deai

It had felt like an ordinary day to me, apart from the state my mom was in in the morning. She was flushed and dizzy, and she didn't even have enough strength to cook my breakfast. Thankfully, my bento was premade the night before, and there was some bread left in our loaf. My mom barely had enough energy to be surprised or worried when I successfully used the toaster and buttered it all on my own.

She looked so worn out first thing in the morning, that I was really worried about her. I'd tried to convince her to let me stay home and nurse her, but she wouldn't have it.

I was only convinced to leave the house when she promised me that she would call Hana-san in a little bit. I hope Hana-san had already been over to see mom. She looked really bad…

But here I was at Benkebetsu elementary school, doing my best to not show my concern for mom on my face, so as not to bring down Hotaru and Hiroto's moods along with me.

When break time came along at 10.30, everyone was let out into the yard to play with the toys that the school provided. I was passing the ball back and forth between Hiroto, Hotaru and another boy in our class when I accidentally missed the ball and it went rolling away behind me.

"I'm sorry, I'll go get it!" I called to the other three and took after the ball to an area behind the school building.

When I finally caught up with the ball, there was already something there with it.

I groaned. Yet another curse loitering around the school grounds again. I couldn't just leave it be. Who knows what it would do if I left it unchecked…?

And so, that's why I set about my usual routine whenever I came across a curse that wandered too close to my important people.

I raised my hand slightly, directing my cursed energy as I focused on grabbing one limb, then another. Once I had it in my grasp and it struggled and flailed within it, I pushed and pulled cleanly and ripped it apart, just like the others.

It was becoming completely commonplace, by this point. It didn't bother me at all to take down these things. It was like swatting a fly, almost.

I let out a sigh, relieved to have gotten rid of it, and went to pick up the ball that had been at its feet. I crouched down and grabbed it, and as soon as I lifted my head slightly, I nearly had a heart attack.

…Because peering down at me from over the fence that surrounded the daycare's grounds… staring right at me with a laser focus through white lashes were two crystalline, light blue eyes, visible beyond drooping black sunglasses that sat low on his pale nose.

Since the fence was the chain-link kind, I could also see the black gakuran like uniform with golden buttons, and his hand grasping at the fence.

He seemed just as shocked as I was, but after a few moments of staring at one another, a wide grin spread across his face. And it was terrifying…!

"I finally found you…!" I heard him murmur, and a chill ran down my spine for some reason.

I scrambled to my feet and turned tail, sprinting away from the fence as fast as my tiny legs could take me.

When I arrived back at Hiroto, Hotaru and Ken-kun's side, I was heaving for air, a cold sweat running down my back. My friends seemed alarmed at how scared I looked and asked what was wrong.

When the teacher that was watching over the school yard noticed the commotion, she too came over and asked me what the matter was. I gulped, my throat tight and painful and looked up at her to tell her.

"A-A stranger… was looking through the fence at me…" I said and her eyes flew wide open in alarm. She acted quickly, ordering all of the kids to head back inside right away and though many protested, everyone was corralled inside. As our teacher guided us in, looking around cautiously, she asked me where I'd seen the stranger and I answered her.

She took the information in with a nod and had me join the other kids in the room used for home economics class, before joining the other staff to relay the information to them.

As I sat down with my classmates, I curled up into a ball and thought to myself.

Gojo Satoru…. What are you doing here, all of a sudden!? I know I was expecting a sorcerer to show up. I'd been expecting someone like Nanami, perhaps, but to send someone like him all the way to Tobetsu of all places?! It doesn't make sense.

Gojo Satoru is the World's Strongest Sorcerer. Surely, he only gets called out to the biggest, most dangerous curse sightings, right?

And yet, here he is in Tobetsu. Why is he in Tobetsu? Surely the situation here isn't big enough for someone of his caliber… could there be another reason for him being here?

I sighed out.

I mean, I know it was my goal to get close to him eventually at some point in my life. That god said that he was to be my protection in this world, after all. But I'd been expecting to wait until I was old enough to enroll at Jujutsu Tech, after being recommended by my mom who had some kind of connection to the Jujutsu world.

But here we are, seeing each other for the first time ten years ahead of schedule! Because it's so sudden, I don't feel ready to face him yet.

Especially since…it feels as though he'll have all the answers to the mystery I'm living in right now. Who I am and why curses are drawn to me, why I resemble him and… the reason why my mom wants to deny the existence of curses in general.

I want to ask him about it all…it's what I've been wanting to find out ever since I woke up as Himawari. But at the same time, I think I'm scared to find out the truth.

What should I do if he's still there when daycare lets out for the day?

After the day was finished, the staff at the school were still concerned about the stranger I'd told them about, even though both they and the local police officer that had been called in to investigate had found nobody, so our teacher escorted us one by one to our homes.

As we were taken along by our teacher, I was puzzled about why Gojo Satoru, who'd looked pretty excited to see me despite it being our first meeting, hadn't shown up outside the front gate.

As the number of kids in our teacher's care became fewer and fewer, however, I managed to spot him in my peripheral vision, finally.

It was like he was observing and laying in wait for when it would be just her and her teacher alone. My house was the furthest away from Benkebetsu so mine would be the last stop on the route, but how would he know that?

Was he waiting to approach us on our own? What did he want?

I huddled closer to my teacher's side, watching as he finally approached us. I grabbed my teacher's cardigan and tugged it, getting her attention and drawing it to Gojo's figure coming closer.

She immediately hid me behind her body and faced him, "Are you the one who was watching our children, earlier? What do you want? I-I'll call the police…!" she said anxiously, as Gojo stepped closer.

He waved his hands placatingly, pushing on an affable smile and laughing nervously.

"There's no need for that, ma'am! I'm not a suspicious person." He told her.

"Forgive me if I don't believe you," my teacher cautiously frowned at him, reaching for her phone in her pocket.

Unphased, Gojo continued, "I think you've got the wrong idea. Actually, that girl and I are siblings, you see." He said, with such a straight-face that it dumbfounded both my teacher and myself.

Siblings…he says. It's not a theory I've discarded – it's certainly possible, given my hair and eye colour. But my teacher doesn't know that. Nobody does, apart from my mom.

And how on earth would he even know that, just from seeing me use my cursed technique?!

"That's the biggest load of bull I've ever heard!" Teacher snapped at him and he raised his brows at her.

"My, such language in front of a child so young~" he teased and Teacher flushed, covering her mouth and looking down at me. Was that even that bad of a swear in the first place?

Gojo stepped ever closer to us, using her flustered state to close the distance some more.

He continued, reaching down to me with an open palm, "You're probably confused because we don't appear to share the same features. But if you do this," he paused, and his hand met my head. He grasped at the locks of my brown wig and I gasped, reaching up to grab my wig as well but it was too late. With a swift tug, my teacher finally saw what had been hidden underneath.

She gasped audibly, bringing her hands to her mouth as she stared in surprise at my white hair poking out through my half-removed wig cap.

"Wha…? B-But I don't understand… why is Himawari-chan's…" she stuttered.

"Himawari? Is that what she's being called, here?" Gojo asked, peering down at me with a knowing look. After a beat, he added, "That's not her true name. This is Gojo Yukine. My little sister." He informed us.

"But why…? Sato-san never mentioned this…" Teacher was having just as tough a time with this as I was. I couldn't stop staring at him, and my eyes stayed glued to his own as he squatted down in front of me, the wig still in his hands.

"Of course, Sato-san wouldn't mention it. She doesn't want to go to jail for child abduction after all." Gojo practically snapped, bitterness towards my mom clear in his voice. He pushed aside that bitterness, and replaced his frown with a smile, his eyes warming up; "But I finally found her… It… It took me five years but I finally found you, Yukine." He said, a wobble appearing in his voice towards the end.

What the…hell?

I shook my head, unable to believe what I was hearing as I stepped backwards. I looked up to my teacher for help, but her cheeks were flushed and her eyes kept darting to Gojo nervously. To be fair, I imagine many would be like this in front of that guy. He's not 2020's most handsome anime guy for nothing. But because of that, I couldn't get my teacher's attention.

"Oh dear… What do I do? This is crazy…" she murmured, fully believing what Gojo was telling her. Well, I guess the matching white hair is rare enough to be quite convincing.

It's convincing even to me.

…You will have the protection of the world's strongest…

I'll be protected by the world's strongest…because I'm his little sister…? Is that the answer?

But he also called mom…or the woman I had called my mom a child abductor. I was kidnapped? But why would she…?

I suddenly felt very sick. My heart was beating so hard that I was getting a little dizzy. I staggered back a little more and Gojo moved closer, reaching out to grab me.

"Yukine—" he began but I shook my head.

"I-I don't understand what's going on, I…!" I nervously blurted out, but then something caught my attention from the direction behind my teacher and I, which immediately pulled my focus away from the mystery that was slowly unraveling in front of me.

I turned around and snapped my eyes towards the houses beyond us… towards mine and mom's…her house.

It was a nasty, awful feeling niggling at the back of my throat. The same feeling that I got whenever I sensed a curse nearby, except this time it was ten times as intense. Something's very wrong here!

Mom's… Sato Kiku is in danger!

"Hima—Yukine-chan!" I heard Teacher call after me as I felt fingers brush against mine before I sprinted away from the two, rushing home to investigate while barely paying attention to what she had called me.

Right now, solving the mystery of my identity and whether my name was Himawari or Yukine wasn't important! Right now, I need to rescue the one who raised me warmly, as if I was her very own baby! It doesn't matter what her true intentions were, I know that the love I felt from her was real!

Minutes later, I was finally back at the house I shared with my mother figure ever since I regained my awareness a year ago, and what I returned to was a horrifying sight.

Recently, in the last few weeks the curses had started coming closer to our house, true, but they'd never breached the 100-metre point. This morning, I was sure I didn't see a single curse within that radius, but all of a sudden…!

The windows were smashed, mom's plant pots were destroyed with the soil trailed all over the ground in front of the house. The front door was open, the hinges clearly damaged. And I could sense a foul miasma seeping out from within the house.

And within that miasma… was the person I call mom, practically helpless with a high fever with no way to defend herself from who knows how many curses, which I could sense held terrible intentions.

"Yukine…!" I heard in the distance and I knew that Teacher and Gojo were following after me.

Pushing away all my anxiety and hesitance, I steeled myself and rushed inside the house. The second I crossed the threshold and arrived in the genkan entranceway, an unpleasant odor rolled over me and brought a chill down my spine. The foul scent caught at the back of my throat and stung my eyes.

But there was another smell present, and I had an awful feeling that I knew exactly what it must be.

The smell of blood, and a lot of it.

As I advanced further inside the house, my assumption was proved correct. In the kitchen which connected to the living room, on the walls, and trailing along the floor into mom's room… was blood. Way too much to be a safe amount to lose.

I gulped, tears welling up in my eyes as a cold sweat began to form.

I knew what I was going to find at the end of the blood trail… wouldn't be pretty. Did I even want to see it at all…?

I got the sense that I was being watched by several somethings all of a sudden, pulling me away from the blood. I spun around, arcing my head up to see multiple curses crawling out through the walls and ceiling, on all fours with long, knotted hair, long faces and huge teeth and I backed up in shock, watching in horror as they began speaking in broken, creaking voices, as if they were being strangled as they spoke.

"Geggeegeh…"

"Mmmy…. My bay… bee…"

"Keeeee…p …you… saa… fffe…"

"Saaaa…ffee… from… that worrr…ld…"

What… were they even saying…? It's the first time they've spoken words I could understand but even so I was left confused. 'But I can't let this get to me…if I freeze up like this it'll be my end, right?!'

I sucked in a breath, focusing myself and glared at them, raising my hands to direct my cursed technique. There were multiple, large curses to deal with and this would be a lot more draining than just one or two of them, but I literally had no choice unless Gojo stepped in.

And I don't want him to step in. I've gotta take these things that probably hurt her badly down on my own…!

"You're not gonna get away with this you monsters!" I yelled, as one began to rush towards me along the ceiling. I grabbed the front leg closest to me and pushed it farther away, while grabbing it's hind leg that revealed itself to me and pulling that close, "Grrrahhh!" I cried, ripping it apart with some effort.

It screeched as it was pulled in two, "Myyyy…baab…yy…" it shakily cried as it began breaking apart.

"Keeeee..p you saaa…ffe…" Another of the two curses leapt towards me, followed by a second soon after which echoed its words.

I caught both of them at the same time with Push, by pushing the first curse into the second and sent them back into the wall, pinning them there on top of each other and they writhed in place as I kept them there.

Panting, I glared at the two, and Pushed harder, pressing them into the wall so hard it started to dent.

The fourth curse took advantage of my focus on the other two and dashed towards me with its maw open and tongue waving. Removing some of the pressure on the other two, I took one hand and Pushed it back, sending it over the kitchen counter.

Hearing the clatter of the things that curse knocked over when it was Pushed back there, I turned my full attention back to the other two curses, which were starting to be able to push back against me. I refocused my attention on the one on top of the second curse, having to let the other one go free for the time being as I focused on Twisting the one I kept hold of.

This time, I went for the top of the torso and its lower half separately, and moved my hands to wring it, as if I were wringing the water out of a wet dish cloth. With a crack and a splatter, I managed to separate the two halves and let out a shaky breath, rubbing something wet beneath my nose away.

I moved my eyes to find the curse I just let go and zeroed in on it on my right-hand side, climbing along the walls. I noticed it when it caused a framed picture to fall from the wall and turned to face it, which may have been a bad idea.

After all, I'd turned my back on the curse in the kitchen.

I'd need to finish this one quickly. It was the smallest of the four, and it erratically shook its head back and forth as it stalked its way closer to me.

"Kee….p….saaa…fe…! Myyy…. Baaa….bby…"

I grunted, frustrated, and raised my hand, "I'm not your baby… and if this is what you… call keeping me safe you're an idiot…! Now go away!" I panted, and grabbed its right arm and then it's left leg and finished it off.

My legs were getting weak now, I could feel it as my knees wobbled.

"Thaaaat…. Woooor….lld…. not saaa…ffe…!"

I widened my eyes at hearing the last one behind me and spun around to face it, but the sudden movement increased my dizziness and my legs gave out on me. No… not now…!

The final curse slowly lumbered towards me for a few steps, before readying itself to charge towards me and I flinched. But then, I saw a shadowy figure advancing from the front door quickly towards us and before I could even react to it, the final curse was torn apart right in front of my very eyes.

Hovering over me was Gojo Satoru, who'd caught up to me. My vision was going dark around the edges and I felt myself getting weaker as Gojo came closer to me quickly.

'I must've…overdone it with my cursed energy… that's the most I've taken on in one day… aahh… dizzy…'

"You did well, Yukine. I've got you," Was all I heard as I felt myself fall forward into a warm chest, arms circling around my back. Immediately after I made contact, everything went dark and I passed out cold.

onigiriri: Hope those of you who guessed Nanamin aren't disappointed! Don't worry, she will meet him, because I love him too. :)

I hope that you liked this chapter! More will be explained about her true identity as Gojo Yukine in the following chapters, so I hope you will stay tuned for that! Please leave some reviews if you've got the time and tell me what you thought of this!

Thanks! xxx