Chapter 2: Rain On Me


"Would you let me lead you even when you're blind, in the darkness, in the middle of the night?"

Mari listened and mouthed her favorite verse, "Do it all in the name of love?" She grinned and flashed the bartender a winsome smile. "Love songs are the best." Then, she sipped her glass of orange juice.

"Kamiya-sama," Rose approached carrying a paper bag. "I've searched through the club's closet and found appropriate clothes for you to change to."

"Great!" Mari cheered and received the bag with both hands.

According to the staff, they found her passed out on the doorstep of the club. She woke up three hours ago and decided to hang out in the club. After all, she's not finished with information gathering yet.

"They are relatively simple and comfortable."

"These are fantastic!" Mari walked out of the bathroom wearing a black lace corset top and a loose skirt. "And the quality is top-notched. Man, Rei really goes all out when he does his themes."

Rose gestured to the top, "Hai, this is from our Victorian-era inspired theme two months ago but the skirt was left by one of our servers as back-up in case of emergencies. I hope you don't mind."

"Oh, no. These are wonderful. I love the whole outfit." Mari twirled around on a two-inch heels provided by Rose. "Thank you."

"It's a pleasure, Kamiya-sama. You certainly wear the clothes well."

A staff neared and began a discussion with Rose.

"It seems I'm taking up your time." Mari waved, "Go on, you're still doing your opening preparations, right? Don't worry about me."

Mari walked up the stairs and to her private room three levels from the dance floor and began to seriously study. Rei was still caught up in whatever business he had. He won't be back in a a few days so it's a complete waste of time waiting for him to hear what he had already prepared for her.

It's boring, dry material. But as they say, no pain, no gain.

"Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College, huh." Mari carefully read the details of the school. Sooner or later, it would be a significant place for any progress between them and her kind to happen.

Speaking of which...

Her phone rang just as the thought flitted in her head.

"Hallo!" Mari greeted Atsushi.

"Mari-neechan, it's me, Hiroki," a soft voice answered on the other end. "Atsushi is driving right now. I borrowed his phone to call you."

"Hirocchi, long time no hear," Mari supported the phone on her shoulder while she continued scrolling on the tab. "I take it the meeting was fruitful for you to call me."

"For the most part, yes, however, he has conditions I'd like to discuss with you in detail."

"Bold of him," Mari remarked, locking the tab and setting it on the table. She crossed her legs and grasped her phone firmly. "Then again, reaching out to them was our own initiative, they must think we are desperate enough to agree to any terms they'll set."

Mari sighed and stood. She paced around. "Let me hear them."

"Well, the first condition was that we surrender our ownership of two pieces of the special grade cursed object also known as Sukuna's fingers."

"Hmm."

"Second, until the higher authorities have given their permission, we are not allowed to operate within Japan. Any such acts would be deemed as an act of aggression and thus, they won't hesitate to call a manhunt against all of us."

At that, Mari scoffed. "As if they're capable." She rolled her eyes. "And this is why old people shouldn't be given too much power, Hirocchi. Jujutsu or not the brain naturally degenerates over time which means less rational decisions and more convenient ones, convenient, like a decade ago. Sheesh."

Hiroki obliged her with a chuckle. "And lastly, they want irrevocable proof of our claims."

"Honestly, if only it didn't manifest in Japan, we wouldn't have bothered with this little oyster of theirs." Mari clicked her tongue while she leaned on the crystal wall and surveyed the shadows filling the levels below her. "Do they think we have no alternative ways of dealing with the menace, hmm?"

"Fuck 'em," Mari growled in crisp English.

Hiroki waited on the line.

"Sukuna's fingers we can give but the other two conditions are almost impossible to deliver. Our response will depend on the severity of the rot. If it can be excised easily, we can do without their aid. We've worked for centuries and they rarely, if ever, detected our signatures. If it is possible to fly under the radar this time, we will do so. But if the problem proved to need extra manpower, then we'll work on that third condition."

"Roger. I'll have the team double their efforts to pinpoint the location."

"Good. Remember, report first and do not engage."

"Yes, Mari-neechan."

The phone call ended.

Mari opened a messaging app and sent a quick report before locking her phone. There were many things running inside her head. For one, it was that they've long been working within Japan, although not in great numbers compared to the sorcerers here but a patrol team, in short. The bulk of her kind were scattered all over the world because curses were prevalent not just in Japan but in all cities. A fact those higher ups in Jujutsu society seemed to ignore.

Jokes on them because the nastiest curses never manifested on Japanese soil. "Until now," she murmured. "And the scale of it was off the charts too. It's like Japan decides, either she'd go for broke or nothing."

In addition, her mind whispered, it pointed to an underlying sickness within the psyche of the population. The country in itself was in a crossroad.

"And we all know it'll gotta be worst first before it gets better."

Mari left her phone beside the tab and walked out of her private room. She grasped her hips, "Welp, no use mulling it over when I can't do anything yet. Gotta do what I do best!"

Mari skipped her way down until she landed on the dance floor. Club Erato just opened, still, it's popularity ensured a steady stream of people and right now there were a lot of bodies grinding in time with the beat.

She entered just in time for a western remix to play.

"Oh, baby, I can feel the rush of adrenaline."

Mari saw the change in the atmosphere and a wicked smile bloomed on her face. She gathered the ball of lust over everyone's head and returned them with a mixture of sweetness.

"Makin' me, makin' me, makin' me give in."

The crowd generated pleasurable tones of pink, yellows, tints of blue as well and from it, Mari tinkered a better composition, transforming the crowd's experience into an orchestra of emotions; the drums of excitement, joyous cry from a flute, a violin's screeching longing, affectionate caress from a piano, and the desperate voice of the unconscious.

How long she composed, she didn't know. She loved to get lost in the chaos of emotions. It was akin to be on a beach in the midst of a storm, the rolling waves crashing, the winds beating the trees, the skies churning. All of it, defined and controlled by her hand.

Let go. Notice. Freedom. Go wild.

Fingers ran up and down Mari's arms. A shadow enclosed her body, setting her apart from the innumerable writhing bodies. Part of her recognized the curious touch, malice completely absent and that's what really mattered. In its absence, she let the explorer sate his curiosity. She was a woman who liked touches and imperfections or not, she was confident with her body. There was nothing to fear. Her mind made up, she let loose her empathic muscles and enjoyed the cycle of emotions with the crowd.

Music was a balm for the people, a source of joy in times of despair. At times, it could be the guidance they need in an event of sorrow or the intimate confession of a love ever lasting. It could also be a scathing reprimand from an enemy or the much needed assurance of family.

Music was emotions given words, interpreted by voices and spread by touched hearts. It was where humans gained the emotional support they craved when none was given.

"What are you?" Mari heard the breathless whisper under her ear. She opened her eyes. She never did take a good look at her partner.

He was wearing a blindfold, was her first thought.

Her second was, take it off.

My god and all that is holy, was her third thought.

He had the eyes of the sky. His silver hair falling on a fringe around the piercing orbs didn't help either because to Mari his tresses looked like clouds.

He had his arms around her waist, a tight lock that cleared any notion of escape, not that she's thinking of it. Mari was heart-drunk, in short, emotion overload because the cycle of give and take she was overseeing stopped. More aptly, she unconsciously changed the direction of the flow. It was supposed to be from the crowd to her and from her then to the crowd.

However, this time, the emotions she received from the crowd flowed to this man behind her and from him to her. And Mari couldn't filter it to the crowd. He was an outsider.

His emotions were totally not in tandem with the mood of the crowd. If Mari let them go it would effectively kill whatever feelings she had fostered.

Everyone having a great time would lose whatever joy they've felt tonight. They would go home thinking tonight was the worst night, ever.

So, Mari couldn't let it go but she couldn't possibly give it back to him.

He had a belly full of negativity and it wasn't Mari's principle to return negativity. No, she took and took and took because there's no other way out unless...

"You," His blue eyes widened and he hastily took a step back. Mari twisted and quickly hugged his torso.

She wasn't wrong. There, a teensy bit of lust glowed. Yes, she could work with that. Lust saddled the boundaries of positivity and negativity, a two-faced emotion, one she could use as base to transform the negativity into something digestible for the crowd.

She can't break the connection between her and the man because to do so would render the emotional feedback loop incomplete. The crowd would all faint from exhaustion and if that happened, it would be one hell of a mess.

Lust, she can control, however, too much was bad too.

We don't want an orgy all of sudden, do we? Her mind procured and Mari let out a chuckle. Of course, the crowd would only taste a smidgeon of the bulk she'd receive directly.

It's unfortunate but the crowd would have to settle for a wild night rather than the best night of their lives.

"This is all your fault," Mari pouted, her eyes turned golden and passion darkened it further. She wet her lips. "I'd like to say, 'take responsibility!', but," She sighed and licked his ear, "it's not your fault."

Mari's hands traveled from his waist up to his neck. Deep into her craft, she did not sense hands squeezing her butt and a body plastered even more closer than before.

The crowd went wild just as she loudly moaned. "Fuck." It was a weak curse.

Mari thought she underestimated something but her mind and body was in overdrive, so much so that that something eluded her.

She didn't remember asking, "Fuck, how much energy do you have?"

And she thought she imagined it when she heard him say, "Limitless."

There were wet kisses on her neck.

"Stop. I mustn't cross what shouldn't be crossed. Stop and let go before your regret fills me tomorrow."

"But I want to fill you now." There was a hint of teasing in his voice.

"You only feel it now because I've done something."

He didn't budge an inch, his fingers already under her skirt. "What have you done?"

"Lust. I gave lust to everyone." She cried when his deft finger rubbed her clit. "It's all because of you." Her left hand grasped the back of his head, her fingernails digging on his skin. "If you hadn't attached your energy to me so stickily, we wouldn't be in this mess."

"Oh," his breath hitched. He liked what she did on his neck. It distracted him so much that Mari was able to dislodge herself from his body.

"Go," she commanded with a flush on her face. She took one last glance of him and ran away, her hands covering her eyes.

That brief glance answered the question of why everything was a mess. Why she lost control.

It was those fucking eyes.

The crescendo approached while she staggered up the stairs. She concentrated even as she blindly sought out her private room.

Within her consciousness, she could see it, the thin end of the loop, the ideal phase of closure. It was the natural end of a high, the sweet spot of satisfaction.

The lust phase delayed it a little but it nears. Its completion would mean she can let go of the circle of connection she established, though what remained inside her would still be there unless she transformed it into another medium like a song or store it in a harvester.

God, she hated how her body screamed for release. How it craved for a warm body and a hard fucking.

There.

Mari moved swiftly, desperately.

Real sound rushed to Mari's ears and she fell a few paces to the door of her private room. She was sweating and huffing and aching, oh, how she ached.

Familiar arms went below her and carried her.

"Persistent." She scolded and she didn't care in the least that she was grabbing his hair.

"You're done."

It should've surprised Mari that he was able to accurately conclude her work's completion but at that moment, she was too busy thinking of something else to bother.

"If you enter that room together with me, I won't be holding back." Mari promised nestled in his arms. "I'd fuck you silly, this is your last warning."

"Funny. You took the words right out of my mouth." His lips turned up. "I'd fuck you silly."

"Hmph. We'll see who'd fuck each other silly."

Indeed, they both saw who fucked each other silly. The unanimous decision before they both passed out from exhaustion was that a round two was required to determine the rank. The first one, you see, was a tie.


From a long ago month in the year 1989.

Lady Catherine gave birth today. The baby is a girl.

Yeah, we felt it too.

It was overwhelming. When I heard her cry, I had tears running down my face.

Could it be due to...

Ssh, we can't say for sure.

- Conversations never to be recalled.


When Gojo Satoru was born, the balance of the world altered. He was the greatest existence of the Jujutsu society. The one on the highest pedestal.

The uncrowned king.

Dethroning him was a fool's errand. And he knew it as deeply as he gazed at humanity in its truest form. But in his twenty-eight years, last night was the first time something gazed back at him.

Perhaps, that was the reason why he had let go, let the barrier fall, and surrendered in total abandon.

It was not his first for he was a man whom all genders flocked to. In truth, he was quite picky because strength piqued his interest as much as strength was his greatest asset.

When the mood struck, he'd pick the type he most fancied at the moment and when he's done, he'd leave.

Romance, kisses, a chase across the room.

He never indulged in such intimate acts. He was a busy man and time was well spent on other ventures than growing a person's affections.

Gojo Satoru's eyes fluttered open.

He was alone.

The woman was gone.

He sprawled on the black and posh sofa, the very sofa who bore the brunt of their intense coupling. Even now, hours later, he could still feel the after effects, how his backside stung from the marks her fingers left behind, and the lingering pain of her teeth on his chest.

Satoru's unsmiling face morphed into the familiar grin. "Man, so vicious."

The blanket the woman probably left behind fell on the floor and he stood in all his naked glory. He swept back his unkempt hair while a hand rested on his hips.

"Hmm. What should I do?"

He was supposed to investigate the cause of the desert phenomenon, though early on it proved to be futile. No shadow of a curse or a curse user was found outside and within the vicinity.

It was as clean as a newborn baby's butt. It was so clean that Satoru was certain there was something at play. That something, however, was still out of his grasp and his six eyes.

It was when he decided to end his investigation that the air became palpable with unknown energy. Energy his senses registered as similar to cursed energy and yet wholly different.

He stayed and waited until his eyes landed on her.

The picture seared itself deep into his memory.

Of her dancing, swaying, glowing in a spotlight of sparkling rainbow dusts.

These eyes of his had shown him hundreds of millions of the shape and color of the universe, what it once was, will be, and is now but they never once showed him of it vividly.

Of life. In motion.

She was someone he could touch, could hear, could see in both realities.

So, he did. Touch her and found her skin pliant and warm. Hear her and found her voice husky and bold. See her in the sea of energy rippling around them.

She was the only solid form he had perceived for the first time in the midst of the chaotic everything granted by the six eyes.

Interesting. She was interesting.

So, he followed her wherever she'd go. Falling to bed with her was just the tasty side effect.

"You're already dressed, huh?"

Gojo Satoru paused mid-button of his pants. He wasn't, in fact, fully dressed. His half-lidded eyes lost in thought raised and settled on the woman beside the open door. His fringe blocked some of his sight but he knew it was her.

"And here I thought Cinderella left without leaving her shoe." His head cocked back, displaying his bare chest. In his experience, this was enough to tempt a woman for another rump.

Her eyes, a noticeable gray compared to the golden ones he recalled, roamed his chest. Her upper teeth bit her lower lip and she took a step forward.

Checkmate.

"Um, are you waiting for compensation, by any chance?"

Or not.

She crossed her arms and tapped her foot. "I'm not familiar with Japan's prostitution laws yet. If you need payment for my damaging your skin, please inform me, I don't skimp on money."

The Gojo Satoru, the strongest, most feared (and also wealthy) sorcerer of the Jujutsu community was, for the very first time, rendered speechless.


:Writer's Notes:

Lemme be honest, I'm not good at writing smut and this is me dipping my toes. I might attempt a more detailed scene in the future.

Also, additional warning, I tagged this as Mature so as seen above, lots of cursing, mature terms and scenes so, yeah, if you don't like it you are free to leave but I kinda feel I'm too vanilla on this. Please do share if I was too conservative or risqué.

Lastly, I am doing my writing on the app so the length of paragraphs were based on the look and feel of it. I presume it's different on desktop so, do share if the formatting is weird on your end (although I'm not sure I can help, lol).

:The Playlist:

1. Rain OnMe - Lady Gaga ft. Arianna Grande

2. In The Name Of Love - Martin Garrix, Bebe Rexha

3. Fallin' (Adrenaline) - Why Don't We

:Translations:

(Jap.) Hai - (Eng.) Yes

thank you for reading!