"Wait here," Gojo instructs. He closes the door before Kagome can get her reply out. The last thing he needs is to explain to Yaga who Kagome is or why he brought an outsider to the school.

Or worse, he thinks. What if she dispels Master Tengen's barrier? It's not a gamble he's willing to risk.

He bangs on Yuji's door and then barges in when Yuji takes a second too long.

"Eh! Gojo-sensei? What's wrong?" Yuji sets the poster of Jennifer Lawrence on the bed. The creases under his eyes open slightly.

Gojo wonders if Sukuna can sense fingers, and if so, then it may make their job of gathering them up easier.

"I've got something for you."

"A souvenir?"

"The best kind there is!" Gojo pulls the finger from his jacket pocket and drops it into Yuji's palm. The creases under Yuji's eyelids open fully. In his opinion, the redness of Sukuna's irises clashes with Yuji's bubbly pink hair. "Try this one!"

Yuji looks down at the pale finger and then back at Gojo's earnest face. "Uh, are you sure that I should have another one today?" He dangles the finger in front of his face. "It doesn't look like the other two." A bead of sweat slides down Yuji's face, disappearing into one of the creases.

"It went through a rebirth," Gojo quips.

"Well, if you think it'll be okay…"

"Kind of on a time crunch Yuji-kun, I'm taking you and Megumi out for breakfast." Gojo pulls out a chair and flops down. He kicks one leg up and over the other. They really do need to get going. The last thing he needs is for Kagome to get impatient and try to find him.

Yuji grimaces as he swallows the finger. Instantly, he claws at his throat as his body hunches over. Words try to escape his lips as his lips turn blue, and the irises of Sukuna's turn white. The little cursed energy Yuji possess fluctuates, dropping dangerously low- almost close to zero, before stabilizing.

"I-I don't think I should go past more than one finger a day." Yuji coughs. His hands tremble, still wrapped around his throat.

"What did you do?" Sukuna's low voice fills the room.

Gojo uncrosses his legs and stands up. Sukuna's eyes are no longer white, but the red is diluted as if something has messed with his chemical makeup.

"Yuji-kun, let's go." He doesn't wait to see if Yuji will follow or not, nor is there any point in responding to Sukuna. He bangs on Megumi's door, which is conveniently right next door to Yuji's. He's just about to kick the door in when it opens.

"Megumi-kun!" he coos, "you're looking slightly less dead on this fine morning."

"Get to the point."

"We're going to breakfast. You should change those bandages. The last thing we need is for the server thinking you've got some concussion."

"I'm not-"

"Fushiguro!" Yuji waves. "Are you ready to go? Oh! Your room is so neat." Yuji gives Megumi a thumbs up.

If looks could kill, Gojo figures he would at the very least have a scratch from the glare Megumi is giving him.

"Come on. Honestly, we're on a time crunch."

"Since when do you care about being on time?" Megumi's tone drips with sarcasm.

"Keep it up and I'll make you pay for everyone."

"Never said I wanted to go. Besides, shouldn't we be having class?"

"We're going on a field trip tomorrow to pick up our third student." Gojo motions for them to follow him. "And it's not like you're up for any studying today with that concussion."

"I don't have a- "

"Whaaaaa? Fushiguro, you have a concussion?"

Gojo laughs to himself, careful to keep the volume down so he can listen to the two boys bicker back and forth. To be honest, he wasn't sure how Yuji or Sukuna would react to the purified finger, and going solely based on Yuji's earlier reaction to the non-purified cursed finger; it seemed to have had some adverse effect on the curse king.

He wonders if it's possible for her to actually destroy cursed objects. Shaking his head as he takes two steps at a time, he concludes that no matter how different her powers are from his, there's no way that she could succeed in destroying a cursed object and he can't.

He is the strongest after all.

"One of you sit up front in the passenger's side, alright." Gojo ignores the questions they want to throw at him, and taps on the driver's window. "Oi, can you take us to Sunsai?"

He rushes over and climbs into the back seat before Yuji gets the chance. It's cramped, but at least it gives him an excuse to scoot closer to Kagome. Fushiguro looks backs at them while Yuji keeps poking his head around his shoulders, trying to get a better look at Kagome.

"Is she another-?"

"Nope," Gojo interjects, "Kagome-chan, the spiky hair one is Megumi and this pink hair boy is Yuji. Boys, this is Kagome-chan. You have her to thank for breakfast."

Yuji sticks his arm out only to be blocked by Gojo. If Gojo notices Kagome's frown, he doesn't comment.

"Are you Gojo-sensei's girlfriend?" Yuji questions.

"No-"

"Yes!" Gojo turns his body around, blocking Kagome's reaction from Yuji. He leans back on her, muffling her protests. "Gome-chan is just shy."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Megumi quips from the passenger seat.

"Is Satoru really your teacher?" Kagome pushes against his back; he almost topples onto Yuji from the force.

"Unfortunately," Megumi responds and then sighs. "Is he really your boyfriend?"

"Unfortunately."

"That's my girl!" Gojo twists back around and wraps his arms around Kagome's shoulders, and nuzzles his face against her cheek. He marvels at how soft her skin is; it reminds him of the silk sheets. Megumi rolls his eyes in disgust and spends the rest of the ride, scrolling on his phone. Yuji alternates between sneaking glances at him and Kagome and trying to pull Megumi into some conversation about why Jennifer Lawrence is underrated.

Gojo hands the driver a large stack of bills and sends him on his way. The boys went ahead of him and Kagome to get seats. He wishes that Kagome would have gone ahead with the boys; the death stares she giving him sends shivers down his spine.

"Satoru," she calls, her voice is calm, but Gojo knows there's danger lurking. "Was that necessary?"

"Did you have a better plan?" He grabs her hand and leads her towards the restaurant. "At least this way, no one will question why we're always together."

"I suppose, but you could have easily just said that we're friends. Now there's going to be expectations."

"Like boyfriend privileges." Gojo nods his head as he ushers Kagome through the doors. Between Yuji's bright hair and Megumi's spikes, it doesn't take them long to find them in the sea of people.

"Order anything and everything you want, Satoru's paying." Kagome smiles.

"Really!" Yuji exclaims and then starts reciting a long list of sweets he's always wanted to try.

"Wait," Gojo starts, but his words fall on deaf ears as the boys overload the server. He looks at Megumi, there's a spark of glee in his eyes that only makes Gojo want to curl up. "Let's not-a"

"He'll have a decaf to drink, thank you." Kagome gathers their menus and hands it to the server.

"Gome-chan, how could you?" He scoots his chair closer to hers and rests his chin on her shoulder. Mentally, he gives her props for not reacting – though it is just a tad bit frustrating how she can brush him off.

"How can you put up with him?" Megumi crosses his arms.

"I'm not that bad." Gojo frowns when Megumi doesn't agree with him.

Traitor.

"He's not so bad at home. And lots and lots of patience." She slaps his hand away when he tries to switch their respective coffees.

The server wisely doesn't say anything as he places their food and drinks in front of them. Gojo prefers it that way.

"You guys live together?" Yuji asks immediately after stuffing his face with eggs.

"You really are a saint."

"Keep it up, Megumi-kun and you'll paying for your own meal."

"How are classes going?" Kagome interjects.

"Chaotic."

"I haven't had class yet."

"Yuji-kun just transferred and Megumi-kun is being dramatic as usual." Gojo lifts his head and takes a sip of the decaf black coffee. His face twists up in a grimace. "Fucking disgusting."

"Language."

"Easy for you to say, your coffee tastes fine."

"We're taking a field trip tomorrow, right sensei?" Yuji cuts in. He looks like a hamster with the amount of food he's stuffing into his face.

"Yep! I've got one more student to add to the roster. It'll be fun." He laughs as he steals some fluffy pancakes from Kagome's plate. As if he was going to go this whole breakfast without something sweet. The boys – well Megumi- take to Kagome faster than he was anticipating. Yuji would probably befriend a rock if he could, but having Megumi on his side would make things a lot easier.

He's not naïve enough to believe that he'll be able to keep Kagome hidden forever.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out his phone to text Ijichi. There are still a couple more places he and Kagome need to go before tomorrow. For starters, she needs a phone and it would a trip to the grocery store would be the humane thing to do.

"Alright, Ijichi should be here any moment to pick you two up." Gojo stands and places some bills down on the table. "Gome-chan and I have some more errands to run, but I'll be by later the school later." They follow him out to where Ijichi is waiting for him.

It's so hard to believe that he's older than the driver with how sunken in Ijichi's face is.

"It was nice to meet you!" Yuji exclaims as he wraps his arms around Kagome. There's a spike in her powers the moment Yuji touches her. Megumi lowers his phone and looks at Gojo.

Should he step in?

"Oh! Yuji you shocked me!" Kagome laughs as she breaks free from his hug. Yuji looks down at his singed palms. "Don't we have somewhere to be, Satoru?" She moves closer to Gojo, tucking herself into his side.

"We sure do! I'll see you, boys, later, Ijichi try not to kill them on the way to school." Gojo leads him and Kagome in the opposite direction. He turns his head back, meeting Megumi's stare, and shrugs in response.

"Satoru, what the hell was that?"

"I'm not the one that singed Yuji-kun," he quips.

"No, I mean what the hell is inside of him?"

"I'm starting to think you don't listen, Gome-chan." He pouts. "That's the vessel, and it looks like you and Sukuna don't get along. Think you can refrain from abusing my student?"

"It was an accident. That being inside of him was reaching out, and my powers reacted."

"We should stop at a bakery on the way home, my brain is nowhere near stimulated enough to deal with this," he whines.

"You stole my coffee; I don't think you need any more sugar today."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Oh! Would you look at the time?" He looks at his bare wrist. "We should really hurry up with these errands, so I can get back to school at a decent time."

"I don't even know what we're doing," she mumbles.

"Getting you some more basic things like a phone and food for when I can't always make it back home." He opens the door for her. The inside is so overtly bright, he's happy that he's wearing his blindfold, it helps to dim effects.

"Can you bring me back a textbook?" Kagome asks while deciding between two different smartphones.

"A textbook? Why?"

"Because I need to know what I'm dealing with here." She holds up the phone to his face. " I want this one."

He waves the seller down. "You know, I could personally tutor you."

Kagome pinches the bridge of her nose.

"I'm serious." He pays enters his information into the tablet and swipes his card along the card reader. "It's beneficial to both of us."

"How? Don't you have enough on your plate with your students?" She takes the phone back and puts it in her pocket.

"You need to learn more about this world and I need to learn more about what you can do. It's a win, win."

"Fine. But I still want some textbooks to go over for when you aren't around."

Gojo's reply gets cut short from the vibration of his phone. Tch. It's always Yaga.

"Hellooooo! Gojo the greatest speaking," he chimes into the phone. He sticks his tongue out at Kagome's exasperated expression. "Oh, I'm kind of busy right now. Yeah, yeah, but is it that important? Exactly! I'll stop by later." He hits the end button.

"Just the principal calling, no big deal." He flags down another taxi for them.

"Wouldn't it be faster to just take the train?" She asks, climbing into the backseat.

"The taxi was closer. And would you look at that, now we can go grocery shopping without having to carry everything."

Kagome doesn't stop sighing until they make it back home, and he's on his way out again.

By the time he makes it back to school, the sun is already setting.

"Yo! I hope you weren't waiting long," Gojo calls out to Yaga. Seriously though, did he have to wait at the top of the stairs?

"Running around with your girlfriend is not important, Satoru. Now come." Gojo rolls his eyes from behind his blindfold. If it were anyone else, he'd just turn the other direction and slack off somewhere.

"Building relationships outside of work is essential for work-life balance."

"There is no such thing as work-life balance in our line of work." Yaga leads them to his office. The numerous stuffed animals that litter the floor and desk gives Gojo the creeps.

"Well, what is it?"

"There's been an influx of energy since yesterday. I'm not quite sure what to call it nor do the elders have any idea as to what it can be." Yaga sits down in the chair, his glasses fall slightly. "I need you to investigate it. We don't know if this thing means to cause us harm or not. But with the revival of Sukuna, we can't afford to just let this slide."

Gojo crosses his arms and leans back against the wall, careful to not lean against any of the dolls. "And what exactly am I supposed to do if I find the source?"

"The elders want it dead." Yaga leans back. The chair creaks from the strain. "But you already knew that."

"Alright. So, find the source and just kill it. Got it." Gojo kicks off the wall and heads to the door.

"Wait. I'm not done." Yaga stands up and places his hands on top of the desk. "It's your girlfriend, right."

"Are you accusing me of holding on to something potentially dangerous and masquerading it as my girlfriend?" Gojo turns around and gives Yaga a smile. "Is it really that hard to believe that I would have a girlfriend?"

"Keep her under wraps. Sukuna's revival has everyone on edge."

Gojo tilts his head, assessing the older man. With a big smile, he gives him a thumbs up. "Thanks, Yaga!" He teleports back home to his room and sits on the bed. What he needs is a game plan; her spikes of energy were more powerful than he initially thought. With a sigh, he falls back.

He'll figure it out in the morning.


A/N: Thank you all for the kind reviews and for reading! Sorry, this chapter is coming out late.