Yuji blinks, rubs his eyes with a bloody fist. He blinks again, not believing what is right in front of him. He could have sworn that he was in the middle of being trained by Todo. But the third-year Kyoto student was no longer in front of him, criticizing the way he used divergent fists. Yuji steps forward, his arm outreached. "Gramps?" It couldn't be him… he for sure laid his Gramps to rest, and yet no matter how many times he blinks, it's still his grandpa, dressed in that same hospital gown, frowning back at him and not Todo's larger-than-life aura.

"Why are you here?" Gramps questions, crossing his arms and turning his nose up. "Haven't you done enough?"

"Gramps, what are you talking about? I'm doing what you told me to do." Yuji steps forward with slow, measured steps as though his grandpa is going to lash out like a cornered animal. He sniffs. The smell of ash and medicine intertwines with the crisp smell of the trees surrounding them. "I'm saving people. Just like you told me to."

Gramps narrows his eyes, his glare cuts through Yuji, and rips his heart out in a way that makes him want to fall over and repent for what he isn't sure of. He's doing what he asked, so why is his gramps looking at him as though he's a monster? Gramps turns his back and walks away. Yuji runs after him. For one so old, how the heck is he not catching up to him?

"Gramps! Wait!" Yuji stretches his arm out, trying to catch ahold of the older man's white hospital gown. The sky above darkens and turns red. Yuji knows that if he wasn't so concerned with Gramps' sudden appearance, then he would take the time to question how the sky could turn such a deep red. Gramps stops and opens his arms. Yuji sighs with relief as he welcomes the embrace. Perhaps Gramps just wanted to give him a hard time? His body trembles and his breath catches as the feel of metal pricks the back of his neck. "Gramps?" A bead of sweat slides past his brow and lands in his eye. The sting shakes him up, and Yuji unwraps his arms from his grandpa. "Gramps?" he says again with uncertainty.

"You are no grandson of mine," Gramps responds, digging the knife deeper. His eyes darken to a near pitch black. Yuji pushes him away, stumbles back as he rubs the back of his neck. "Not my grandson," Gramps says, over and over. He rushes at Yuji with the knife raised and poised.

Yuji grits his teeth. He doesn't want to hurt his grandpa, but he can't exactly let the man kill him. "Gramps, knock it off!" He grabs a hold of Gramps's hands, applying pressure to force him to let the knife go. Gramps only growls in response. The vibration causes Yuji's stomach to drop to the ground. There's no getting through to him. Crap, he thinks, as Gramps kicks his legs, causing Yuji to fall over. He was so concerned with not hurting his grandpa that he forgot about not creating any openings.

"Monster," Gramps says, as he jumps on top of Yuji's stomach and wraps his hands around Yuji's neck. "You shouldn't be here."

"Gramps," Yuji says, his lips wobbling as he strikes his grandpa in the side. The startled gasp is as sharp as glass. But it's the sound of his fist connecting with the older man's flesh that causes his eyes to water. Yuji coughs as he stands, towering over the fallen man. "Gramps, I'm so–" Huh? He looks down at the claws digging into his leg.

"You don't have the guts."

Yuji jerks back. He sniffs back the tears and despair. He doesn't have the guts. He crouches down, ignoring the pain, and closes his eyes. This must be his punishment for awakening Sukuna. "Okay," he says, taking a deep breath. He waits for the pain to blossom, for a strike that doesn't come. He opens his eyes, stares back at the hollowed gaze.

The sound of a slap echoes amongst the trees. It takes way too long for him to realize that the slap was delivered to him. He cups his cheek and blinks at the grass. Where did Gramps go? Yuji looks up. "Todo?"

"An illusion," Todo says, arms crossed, "they almost got me too."

An illusion, huh? Yuji stands, his fist-shaking. "How do you know?"

"Takada-chan would never agree to be with me. No one is worthy of her love," Todo says, pounding his bare chest with a fist.

"You get rejected in your own illusion?"

"This is the work of a special grade. We need to find the others."

Yuji takes off after Todo. His mind swims with questions that he knows will go unanswered. And yet, he wonders if his grandpa was still alive. Would he think less of Yuji for eating that cursed finger? Is staying alive the right thing to do? "So, was this an incomplete domain expansion?"

"No…" Todo pauses. "Whatever cast this spell can most likely cast a complete expansion."

Yuji latches onto the hesitance in Todo's voice, that he doesn't believe or want to believe that a curse could do such damage. Wait…. he thinks back to when Kagome introduced him and Gojo-sensei to Yakeru, and how easy the fox could create an illusion for himself.

Fighting a demon can't be that different from fighting anything else, right?


Megumi spits out the pooled blood, prepares himself to attack Noritoshi Kamo. He skids to a stop as vines break out of the concrete. He knows that isn't a technique that a Kamo can use, they specialize in manipulating blood, not plants. Kamo's bloodshot eyes widen as his head shakes no.

Shit. Megumi jumps back as the vines lash out, creating holes in the ground. The sound of running reaches his ears as he looks up to see Inumaki running from a curse. It looks down at them, though he isn't sure how the curse can see with branches coming out of its eye sockets. There are black lines that look as though they have been tattooed on and it's wearing black hakama pants. A curse that is dressed for battle.

"Run!"

The command snaps Megumi into gear and he and Noritoshi take off. They don't get very far as Inumaki jumps down and runs alongside them. The curse is faster and uses its vines to prevent them from going any further.

"Salmon," Inumaki says, pretending to answer a phone.

"Right," Megumi agrees, reaching into his pocket and calling Gojo. It rings twice. The curse appears suddenly before them and knocks the phone away. It reaches an arm out to strike. Buyo Jr jumps out from his shadow and bites down on the arm. Megumi jumps back, putting some distance.

The curse shakes its arm, trying to pry the oversized cat off it. Flames erupt from Buyo's paws as he growls.

"You hid that?" Noritoshi asks, throwing a blood bag at the curse. Though it doesn't seem to faze it as the blood explodes.

This is bad, Megumi thinks. Even with the three of them, there's no way that they can take on this curse. Buyo Jr isn't even doing much damage to it. "Buyo, come back!" Megumi screams as a vine whacks Buyo in the back. The nekomata lets out a cry as it tries to evade the onslaught.

"We need to run."

"I'm not leaving Buyo behind," Megumi retorts, even with everything in him screaming that he turn tail and run. He is not leaving Buyo behind. Inumaki grips his shoulder, halting his movements.

"Blast away!" Inumaki commands, immediately coughing up blood and hunching over. The command knocks the curse back into the building. Buyo Jr runs over to their side and urges them to climb on. The curse comes after them, riding its vines.

They need to find Gojo-sensei. There is absolutely no way that they can hope to defeat this curse. Even with the crappy drawings, Megumi can make out that this is one of the unregistered curses that Gojo-sensei encountered.

Buyo winces. His speed slows down as Megumi fears that the weight of three nearly grown boys is too much weight to carry. An attack lands and sends them all crashing down. Buyo takes the brute of the fall, as the force causes the water from the river to rise and fall down onto them. The pseudo rain renewals the despair in Megumi's chest.

"There is nowhere you can run," the curse speaks, outstretching its arm before caressing its covered shoulder. It takes a step forward and blocks the attack from Maki with ease.

"Weapon, now!" Maki shouts.

Megumi shakes his head and reaches into his shadow and tosses Playful Cloud to Maki. He calls forth his dog. "Aim for his eyes," he commands, whispering into the dog's ear. They land a blow, but it's not enough. The curse grips Maki by the leg and swings her into Noritoshi. It sends out dark red flower buds towards Megumi. They land in the fur of Buyo Jr. The buds split open, revealing a row of sharp teeth. The flames around Buyo grow larger as everyone stops, surprised at the increase of pressure. The buds turn black and fall off.

"A demon then," the curse says, with a hint of joy. It goes after Buyo, knocking back another attack from Maki. The curse doesn't seem to pay them any more attention as it chases after Buyo.

Megumi looks over at Maki and takes Playful Cloud from her. He grits his teeth from touching such a cursed object, but he has no other choice. Gojo-sensei's explanations rush back to him. How curses can get a power boost from demons, and it looks like that's exactly what the curse is trying to do. He lands a hit, the curse stumbles forward and lands into the water. There's a gash on Buyo Jr's leg, it stains his fur red, and Megumi is hit with a truckload full of guilt. The nekomata pants. Even as its legs wobble, there's a pride in Buyo's stance.

"Fushiguro!"

Megumi turns to Yuji, crashing onto the scene. He's with Todo and the addition of the third-year student is a welcome sight. If anyone ever asks, he'll deny being happy to see Todo until the day he dies. Megumi rushes over to Buyo and stands in front of him. Playful Cloud burns in his hands, so he tosses it back to Maki. He can't stand how the cursed weapon affects him.

"We can take care of this," Todo announces, gesturing for everyone else to fall back. The curse chuckles as it stands and motions for them to leave.

It was just toying with them. To be honest, that pisses him off.

"Don't die," Megumi says, as he passes by Yuji. His dog disappears back into his shadow, but Buyo elects to stay out.

"Wouldn't dream of it."

Megumi smiles and walks towards the forest when the ground shakes from under them. His eyes widen as the ground gives away to a… mouth? Shit! He's too weak to move as the mouth swallows him. He calls forth a dagger and strikes it into the slimy overgrown tongue. The saliva is disgusting and singes his clothes. There's blood around where the dagger and the tongue meet, and he can not die like this. The tongue moves and thrashes about as if he were out playing rodeo. The thing–a curse? –works to swallow him, and he knows that if he goes down that esophagus then there's nothing protecting him from being dissolved. But the dagger slips, and it slices through the tongue, which only makes the thing lash out more. Megumi is slipping down, and his feet are dangling near the edge.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

He closes his eyes. He's gonna die in the belly of some curse. Pink light breaks through and he's falling. He hits the ground as guts and blue flesh land on top of his head.

"Megumi-kun!" Kagome shouts, bending near him. Her hand cups his cheek as he takes in the worry that is etched into her face. When did she get here? Does that mean Gojo-sensei is around too? "Buyo, get them out of this barrier!"

"Wait!" Megumi shouts, his arm hand outstretched, trying to grab a hold of something as Buyo lifts him by the collar of his jacket. Kagome doesn't look back at him. Instead, she notches an arrow at the curse, who takes a step back.

It's afraid of her, Megumi thinks as the image of Kagome-san, Yuji, and Todo fades away. The others run alongside Buyo.

Just who was Kagome-san if a special grade is afraid of her?


A/N: Thank you all for the reading and for sharing your thoughts :) I think Geto would win between him and Naraku since most of Naraku's abilities came with having the Shikon. I feel like Megumi and Yuji are going to need therapy after all of this is done. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and are getting plenty of rest :) Next chapter will be from Gojo's pov