Chapter 6: ...Ready For It?
There was a tension Ieiri Shoko only noticed once she sat down and tended to the woman, Mari, as Satoru informed her a few hours ago.
She sensed something off when Satoru arrived in a flash, his arms carrying an unconscious Mari, neck painted with blue handprints. His quick movements, the sense of urgency as he informed her in rapid fire detail how the woman came to be in that condition and how long she'd lost consciousness.
For some reason, Shoko thought she heard a tinge of panic from his voice but it was a brief maybe an illusionary idea from Shoko.
When Shoko recalled her previous conclusion, she shook her head. All the more likely it was a fantasy brought by tiredness seeing that currently, Satoru and Mari was visibly putting distance with each other.
"A bandaid should do the trick," Shoko murmured and pasted two bandaids, one for each palm. "Once the bleeding stopped, you can take them off and then put some cream for the itching when they heal."
"Thank you, Shoko-san, was it?"
"Yes, Ieiri Shoko."
Mari smiled and introduced herself. "Jehanne Mari Kamiya."
"Ok," Satoru clapped his hands, "now that the baby is fixed, time to go to bed. We've got a long day tomorrow." He moved to settle Mari on the bed.
"But daddy!" Mari cried childishly.
Shoki flinched in surprise.
"Mari wanna pway." Mari's lips pouted and her eyes got teary-eyed. "And, and, and, Mari hands hurt." She held her palms. "Make pain go away."
"Don't be naughty, Mari-chan," Satoru responded. He clicked a tongue and waved an index finger. "Bad girls are punished you know. If you don want a smack on your cute little butt, you listen."
"I think I better head out," Shoko volunteered and left quickly. The door to the clinic closed with a soft click.
After the clickity-clack of her heels faded, Mari turned to Satoru and gave him her best puppy-dog eyes. "Why are you being so mean, daddy?" She said it in a sickeningly sweet voice.
Satoru pinched Mari's cheeks and cackled, "daddy ain't mean," he started pulling her cheeks, "I'm just so happy I got an annoyingly lovable girl like you."
Mari grasped his arms and forcefully pulled him to the bed. "Daddy," she growled, "how could you hurt this beautiful face?"
They started wrestling.
Mari first got Satoru under her but she didn't know what to do. Satoru took advantage of her hesitation and flipped them. Now, he was on top. Satoru fumbled on the drawer and pulled out a roll of bandages.
Mari began to struggle while her hands was held on top of the bed with Satoru's one hand. Mari raised her head and licked the pulse on his inner wrist.
Satoru shuddered, his hold loosening. Mari whooped in triumph once she freed her hands but she was still stuck underneath him. Worst, he added force by sitting fully on her belly.
God, he was fucking heavy!
"Fuck!"
"Ahahahaha!" Satoru followed his evil laughter by teasing her with the bandages. "Now, be obedient and sleep."
Mari was heaving. "I don't want!"
Satoru tilted his head. "I wasn't joking when I said we got a long day tomorrow, ya know. A lot of people are interested to meet ya."
"Who?" Mari demanded, "I wasn't planning to meet some old geezers in this condition."
"Oh? So you did plan on meeting us?"
"Of course," Mari agreed, giving up struggling. "If you didn't kidnap me, one of these days we would've dropped a visit." She huffed. " And get off me please, I'm not going to escape."
"No way, this view ain't bad."
Mari rolled her eyes. "Have some shame will you? This is a clinic for goodness' sake."
Satoru smirked. "My, my, what are you saying, Mari-chan?"
Mari's lips twitched. She didn't understand why she kept on going with his flow. He was worse than her aunts when they were in their menopausal period, changing his mood according to his whims, it was kinda fun but also kinda tiring.
He kept giving her mixed signals and it frustrated her to no end. He was mad at her earlier, going so far as to say he didn't like her but then right now, he was amused, his hands caressing her inner wrists in a silent invitation of something more.
God, this was why she didn't want to know her one-night stands in daylight.
"Are you done playing? I thought you didn't like me." Mari stretched, raising her arms up lazily. One of her hands went under her head and spread her hair out.
Satoru leaned forward, his left hand running down her sides in soft, featherlight touches. "Does it matter?"
"It doesn't," Mari nodded as her finger touched Satoru's right ear, circled the tip and pulled the bandage off his eyes, "when this is purely physical, right?"
His spikey hair fell down like a waterfall, obscuring Mari's peripheral views. "I wonder," she murmured, "has anyone complimented you for your eyes, Gojo Satoru?"
"You can call me Satoru, you know." Satoru didn't answer as he rubbed his nose on hers.
"I think I'll call you Gojo," Mari whispered, "because you don't let people you dislike call you by your first name."
"Hmph. Whatever."
Mari chuckled and grasped the back of Satoru's neck. "You have enchanting eyes, Gojo." She pulled him down and kissed him.
It was a deep kiss, one so slow and lacked the fervor of a desperate fuck. The kiss was a tasting, a gradual entrance to each other's most intimate part. A persuasion and unknowingly mixed was a smidgeon plea for forgiveness.
Satoru opened his mouth and their tongues tangled. His right hand rested on the side of her head, his left hand on her breast, his thumb rubbing circles on her nipple.
Mari closed her arms around Satoru's neck, both hands grasping his silken silver hair while she locked her legs on his hips. She rubbed herself on his hardening shaft as she sucked his tongue.
Satoru moved to sit, his hand supporting Mari's head as he lifted her to sit on his lap.
Everything after was a slow dance, the first after their wild night in the club. In a way, it was more erotic than that night. Their hands lazily caressing each other's chest, groping and then teasingly taking off bits and pieces of clothes starting from the uniform to the bra, to the underwear, until no barrier stood between them.
Hard breathing, soft moans, a quick gasp and then the sound of wet kissing.
Indecipherable murmurs that turned to crying pleads.
A man's groan.
A woman's chuckle.
And the sound of a creaking hospital bed.
When whatever need was satiated and the clock ticked closer to morning, Mari quietly donned Satoru's high neck coat and left the man sleeping soundly, as she had done that first night.
For some reason, Mari thought it was turning into a routine. She chuckled in spite of herself and buried her cold hands on the front pockets of the coat. It hang on her, a loose dress ending on her thighs paired nicely with the leggings she found stored in one of the cabinets in the clinic.
Mari strolled the walkways of the school, tracing the cobblestones, changing directions randomly, her head was in a mess.
So, that was a second night stand.
Mari facepalmed. She was really weak when it came to his eyes.
She found a stone bench and rested briefly but the cold surface was a shock to her system. Her relaxed muscles tightened, the ache between her legs that was muted before screamed in protest.
It was a good kind of pain.
She sucked in a breath and exhaled slowly.
Mari bit her lower lip and tried real hard not to recall the cause of the pain. Like how he let her ride him or how his hair tickled her tummy while he lapped her--
Jehanne. Mari. Kamiya!
Mari covered her face and laughed. "Oh my god, frolicking with the enemy." She cupped her mouth. "I'll never hear the end of this when they got wind of my shenanigans."
She put her arms behind her and looked up to the sky. The complete darkness spotted with twinkling stars were now diffused and hues of pinks, violets, and oranges peeked out, a sign of the coming sunrise.
Another beautiful day had come.
Mari closed her eyes, smelled the air, felt the tiny shiver from her skin, and heard the chirping of woodland insects.
She hummed and enjoyed the moment. "Is it a habit of yours to sneak around and watch me like a stalker?"
"Do you make it a habit to leave after you've done the deed?"
Mari's eyes fluttered open. "Touché."
Satoru was leaning on a tree. He had a plain black t-shirt on, pants and shoes. No bandages to cover his eyes, only a frown to pull down his lips.
Mari raised her eyes and found the tendrils of oranges overpowering the indigo skies. "When I was a child, I was told the Six Eyes can see through everything except our existence. Oh, correction," she snapped her fingers, "who we are, I mean, the energy that gives us as much power as cursed energy does to yours."
"No notion had ever made me feel so invisible aside from that, like my very existence is a lie, a dream of sorts, or an idea humans cling to stay sane." Mari forced a laugh. "So similar to how positive emotions are perceived, fleeting, unrecognized, one taken for granted."
Mari stretched and stood. "But let me share a secret, the source of our abilities isn't in fact from just positive emotions." She pointed a finger on Satoru's chest. "It is rooted in the understanding of the spectrum of emotions."
"That answers why you can see curses."
"Woah, a response!" Mari teased and clapped her hands. "Achievement unlocked!"
If any friends or colleagues of Satoru could see his face right now, they would think, how the tables have turned and would laugh in good conscience.
"And to answer, yes." Mari resumed her random walk. She didn't turn to check if Satoru followed her but footsteps aside from her own did echo soon after.
"Did the old man from above also shared our origins?" Mari glanced behind her and true enough, he was following.
There was a small smirk on his face. "Why don't you guess?"
To not reveal how much he knew or how little, Satoru was baiting her.
"Not gonna fall for that." Mari replied with an eye-roll. "You should've made me talk right after sex. I'm quite loose-lipped during pillow talks."
"I was planning on it but when I turned you weren't around. I gotta hunt you down here in the cold and then listen to you talk crap. Now, let's get on to the real meat, yeah?"
Mari kept her smile on as she jump-twirled to face Satoru. "You know Gojo, you are so lovable." She raised her index and thumb fingers and showed him a pinching gesture. "So lovable that I'm tempted to pinch you like this tiny little pinch on your arm."
Satoru's playful smirk came back on and his eyes, his bared blue eyes egged her on.
She could feel her stomach dipping in a roller coaster ride, her pulse beating loudly in her ears. There was something infectious about his smirk, the way his eyes crinkled on the corners and his face lit up.
Whatever it was, it made Mari grin.
"Yeah? Pinch me if you can," Satoru dared in a sing-song voice.
"Ooh, confident."
Mari strolled closer and brandished her left arm, her hands wriggling as she cackled evilly.
That was before she met resistance.
Satoru guffawed.
"Eh? Eeeeeh?" Mari's scrunched eyebrows revealed her confusion. She narrowed her eyes and concentrated on the space. "A curse technique, huh? Tch. How weak!"
Satoru stuck his tongue out.
"Hmmm," Mari mumbled as she tried to concoct ways to go through Satoru's technique.
"My infinity technique slows you down the closer you get." Satoru explained. "There is no wall to go through, if that's what you're thinking."
"Like Zeno's paradox?" Mari asked, intrigued. "That which is in locomotion must arrive at the half-way stage before it arrives at the goal. An argument on the existence of motion."
"Ah, the dichotomy paradox," Satoru supplied.
Mari shot him a funny look. "Or do you prefer the Achilles and Tortoise one?"
Satoru shrugged. "Same concept, different scenarios."
"That so." Mari played around Satoru. "This is my first time experiencing a curse technique. Let me see if there's a loophole I can make use of." She murmured to herself.
"I can hear you."
"Ah!" Mari couldn't control her delight as she ran back in front of Satoru. "Gimme your hand but keep your technique on, okay?"
Satoru blinked at Mari's sudden excitement. Surprisingly still, he indulged her.
"Yes, like that," Mari nodded as her eyes switched from gray to gold. "We might wake up the people though." She belatedly realized.
Satoru raised a brow. "What can you do that I can't fix? I'm the strongest here, ya know." He said with such self-assurance and obliviousness that Mari started regretting what she'd planned.
"That's why we'll definitely wake up the people here," she muttered, "but I really wanna see if my theory is correct."
"Ho?"
A childlike smile bloomed on Mari's face. "Are you familiar with additive inverse?"
It took Satoru a few seconds to catch what Mari meant and just in time too.
Their surroundings lit up like it was in the middle of the day. But it was still early morning, the sun barely rising from the horizon.
Floating iridescent bubbles of varying sizes filled the air.
Rainbows everywhere.
Satoru heard doors slid open from the dorm rooms. Shouts and sounds of running.
However, Satoru stayed on his spot, never leaving his eyes off Mari's glowing form. She was bathed in it, her skin painted with golden unreadable tattoos, her whole eyes including the sclera were liquid gold and at the center, a tiny flickering flame could be seen.
She was so bright anyone nearing could only see a floating ball of fire and Satoru in the thick of it.
Satoru felt a touch on his arm, a careful grasp, followed by a firm hold. He wasn't looking though, because he was mesmerized by Mari's sheer otherworldly presence.
He watched her lips smile wide, watched as she threw her head and laughed with utter glee to be proven right.
He recalled that drop of joy he felt when she first demonstrated her abilities to him in CT hotel. How she summoned good memories he treasured deep within him. Right now, her laughter brought a barrage of memories not his own but ones he could still feel nonetheless.
It was a collection of laughter from people of all walks of life. The success of a hard-work, the simple enjoyment of a breakfast, the small talks to school. So many things, so many events, so many reasons to celebrate living.
They grounded him.
Arms circled Satoru's waist, a body hugged him tightly, and nuzzled her head on his chin.
"See? I caught you~"
In mathematics, additive inverse is the opposite number of the original number that when added is equal to zero. By this concept, Mari used an equal but opposite energy against Satoru to cancel the infinity. Simply put, she met Satoru's curse energy threshold with her own energy.
All so she could touch him.
On Satoru's bicep a sharp twinge of pain jolted him.
"Hooray! Successfully pinched Gojo Satoru."
Satoru suppressed his own laughter as his arms went around her.
So. Damn. Cute.
:Writer's Notes:
My golly, chapter 6 was a struggle to write! I rewrote three versions before I was satisfied with the direction I was aiming for. Also, I was second-guessing Gojo's attitude here because he was too quiet, the child Gojo before the rebellious teen always popped into my mind.
This is the last stockpiled chapter I have, currently writing Chapter 7 and rewriting, stopping, rewriting sooo, drop some encouragements pretty please?
:The Playlist:
Ready for it? - Taylor Swift
