Chapter 9
Back at the school.
Yuuji was left in the care of one Satoru Gojo.
He's been waiting for this day for some time. Despite Itadori regaining his mindset, Gojo hasn't been able to help since he's either with Choso and Suiryu. "About damn time I get my turn! Now, Itadori… Do you want to color the dinosaur or the wolf?"
He held up two different coloring books, however Itadori glared at him for doing so. "Umph…" he muttered and sighed.
Gojo smirked. "I'm just messing with you, actually. We're going to head out today, so, let's go!" He picked Itadori off the ground, he was dressed in that odd black outfit Suiryu had him in from a few weeks ago, just after he outgrew all his baby stuff. Yet as he got Itadori outside, he warped.
They traveled across Tokyo to Sendai.
His hometown of all placed, even when they arrived, Itadori was stunned. He peered about all over the place and then began to chirp happily at the notion! He was pointing to all different places, Gojo had NO idea what he was saying and yet, little Yuuji was content in just pointing and trying to explain what he was seeing. "So, I think there's a place where we need to go to first, right?" Gojo asked of him.
Itadori paused but then, he became serious and nodded.
Gojo knew where to go, after all, the last time Itadori came here with Fushiguro and Kawasaki, he followed them to ensure Yuuji was okay. After all, it was just a day after he woke from his fight with Sukuna, his curse energy was going all over the place and yet, it was oddly wrangled.
He didn't warp them to their destination this time about. Gojo walked as he held Yuuji up closer to him. "No one understands how amazing you really are Itadori. The likes the world has never seen… nearly as remarkable as me!" he teased, but then became rather serious. "Or will ever know. Kind of stupid if you think about it, you saved the world… really!" he explained.
Yuuji didn't appear to be happy. He was oddly solemn about this. "Are you worried that you disappointed your grandfather? After all, being like this, you can't really save a lot of people huh?"
"Umph…" came out of him in a disheartened tone.
"And yet, those who have saved are not good enough for you? Please, you are too hard on yourself…" a moment of pause came over him. "You know what's weird? After Yua had struck you with her pendent, it vanished into you. Perhaps it was making a path for the dragon to enter your body, but, at the same time. No one ever saw it get expelled from your body… I checked up on you, just so you know, each and every day to make sure you were okay. I went in the day after your 'execution' and there it was, in the palm of your hand. I knew there was no longer a use for it, so I took it. Good thing too since the higher ups appeared to be interested in Yua's pendent as well… I left it in her urn."
He came to a stop. Before he knew it, they were at the cemetery. Gojo brought Itadori to his family's shrine, he smiled and found it was well kept and maintained. Even Yuuji was stunned.
Gojo gently placed him at the foot of it. Yuuji inspected it from where he could and yet turned to Gojo oddly. "I've taken care of it, after all. Someone… I cared about is here too, aren't they?"
Itadori nodded. He suddenly began to weep!
"Itadori?"
His cries were loud and long, almost like a gentle wailing in a sense, but what upset him so much? "Yuuji, it's okay, it's okay!" he said over and over again. But Itadori wasn't being soothed. "What has you so upset?"
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Yuuji never thought Gojo would take him to see his family shrine. Yet the moment they arrived, he found it was well kept and clean. At the same time, the thought came to mind. 'Wait… ever since this happened… I haven't been able to see grandpa or Yua… I… I lost that soul domain?'
He tried to connect to it then and there, but found nothing. No Yua, no grandfather either. That was when he began to cry. He never got to say goodbye to them again, he never got to thank Yua for the second chance! He couldn't stop himself from wailing out loud to it all. He wanted to give proper thanks to those who helped him, but now, he couldn't.
He jumped a little as Gojo sensei began to rub his back. He felt… oddly at ease as he slowly calmed himself down. "It's okay Itadori… it really is… I… miss her too."
He felt Gojo sensei's heart race for a moment, then, his body quaked oddly. Peering over, he found the blindfold came off and he too was shedding tears. "It still hurts, doesn't it? Despite what we do, we can't save everyone. At the same time, those who you want to save… are out of reach. It… it never really bothered me before."
'Sensei…' Yuuji chirped, but of course, only that cute sound came out of him. But it made him see that despite how cool, calm and collected he was, there was a side to his teacher that he has never seen before. But understood. Gojo sensei is the strongest jujutsu sorcerer, he has to have this tough exterior so no one thinks lightly of him. At the same time, what pressure to put yourself under?
He has started to see things in a different perspective as of late. He may still not fully understand the world of jujutsu sorcerers, what he does know is who he can trust and help those who return that trust to him.
"Sorry you had to see me in such a state, Itadori. You see… despite only really meeting her a few times, there was something about Yua… something different from the other sorcerers, even from me. There was this calm collectiveness she possessed, at the same time, despite the council who considered her insane. She was the most… thought out person I have met since Nanami. Nanami was bitter over being a sorcerer. Yua had that resentment too in a sense, but mainly it was because those who considered her family a threat turned on them. It's why no one helped them when they were attacked."
'Attacked?' Yuuji thought.
Gojo caught his curious look. "You don't know that story do you?" he looked about but found a cherry tree to sit under. From there he placed Yuuji before him. "You never knew Yua's situation. Let me explain it from the start then."
He knew very little about the family until recently. Her book collection that has fallen into his hands and that of Suiryu's has been read over time and time again. He keeps finding something new but that's beside the point. "You see, Yua's family was killed, when she was a young girl. Her parents had just found the possible location of the dragon and were going to leave the next day to Tibet to find it. Yet, someone caught wind and struck that night. What troubles me is this. Who and how did this person know where every Tooru lived? Second, how did they move curse spirits to those locations when they are usually trapped in the area that they are created in, with exceptions to the rule of course."
Yuuji hung off his very word, yes, this all did seem weird, even for him. How could someone do such a thing?
"We had believed it was Sukuna who plotted this. He had been after the Tooru family ever since he became a curse, for some reason he had a grudge against them, and yet there is no record I have that explains how or why they pissed him off!"
'Sukuna did say he wanted to finish what he started with Yua before the execution. He even told me not to trust her…' Yuuji thought to himself. 'Did, he fear them?'
"You're thinking too aren't you? There has to be more to it than this!" Gojo stated. "And you are right,"
Yuuji was all ears once more. 'What else do you know?' he wanted to ask, but since that message wouldn't be translated well, he patted the ground, perhaps displaying he wanted more information.
"We're already sitting down, Itadori" Gojo snickered.
'Guess that didn't work…'
"But I've been thinking about this, a lot actually. Why did the council hate the Tooru family? Why were they treated so poorly? Why did Sukuna have his eyes set on them when he was a curse? These are questions I am trying to get answered, I owe it to her… again… I didn't get to know her for very long, but that energy she possessed… Itadori, it was beautiful how it gathered around her. Like a synergy of dance and how she could manipulate it with ease, it was incredible. Yet, despite her perfect control of it, her calm and collective mind… why was her and her family so disregarded?"
Yuuji didn't know how to answer that, he was confused by all the question.
"Her situation reminded me of yours."
A moment of pause came over Yuuji. "You never asked for this, and I know what you did was to save Megumi, that I will be grateful for. For Yua, she too was possessed, and yet it was reverse. She was dying, and desperate to save the dragon within her. Despite the fact it would mean death, she focused on the notion of keeping it alive over herself, then she heard about you. She contained something in order to save it, you contained Sukuna in order to save us."
He… never thought about it like that before.
They were very similar. "She liked you, I doubt if the situation had changed where she wouldn't die. I still think she would have put the dragon in you, to rid you of Sukuna. You have a good heart, and she knew it too."
Yuuji began to feel teary eyed again; he sniffled and cleared his face. Gojo smirked to him. "It's okay Itadori, I wouldn't say a word about this if you don't," he teased.
