For today's Febuwhump prompt "Help Them". Just some more Nanami whump and Yuji being his son because I can't get enough of that.
Priorities
A Jujutsu Kaisen Fanfic
The minute he deflected a blow from the Curse, Nanami knew that they were in for a hell of a time.
He was blown back but managed to keep his feet, skidding along the concrete of this prison courtyard, bringing his blade up in front of him as a figure dashed past, cursed energy blazing around his hands.
"Itadori, wait," Nanami tried to caution, but the teen wasn't listening, instead just jumping toward the curse, only to have it lash out with one of its accumulated barbed wire tendrils and catch Itadori in the shoulder, knocking him off balance and spraying blood across the ground.
The thing gave a cruel, echoing laugh, as it reared up for another attack while Itadori was getting his feet.
"Time for your punishment!" it wailed.
Nanami surged forward and lashed out at one arm as Itadori ducked and went for a leg.
Nanami's blade sliced neatly through the thing's wrist, but it shrieked and leapt away, scuttling up the side of the prison before sitting plastered there on the wall like a cockroach, hissing down at them.
"You'll be punished for that!"
Abandoned prisons made some of the worst Curses. Let alone ones that had been shut down due to unethical living conditions and sadistic staff members. The echoes in this place were those of fury and unspeakable pain and all of it was being channeled into multiple curses that were far stronger than Nanami had suspected.
Itadori caught his breath, standing next to the older man with his fists clenched, eyes glued to the Curse. "This thing's a lot stronger than I thought," he said.
Nanami pressed his lips together but was suddenly distracted by shouts and crashes coming from inside the prison where Nobara and Fushiguro were currently handling another Curse on the property. Nanami's hand clenched around his blade as Itadori's eyes also tracked back toward the main building.
"I hope they're doing okay in—"
"Itadori!"
The Curse sprung off the wall, tendrils of barbed wire flaring out and surging toward the teen as he hurriedly gathered Cursed energy.
Nanami surged forward, swinging his blade and sheering off most of the tendrils, feeling one cut into the back of his leg as he put himself between the thing and Itadori.
"You need to pay attention!" he snapped.
Itadori nodded sharply before they both fended off another attack. Nanami needed to find a way to get inside the thing's reach with the barbed wire and try to cut it down. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to get close to it.
Before they could attack again, however, they were both nearly knocked off their feet as the whole prison shook and a huge growl reverberated around the area. Another resounding crash, and pieces of concrete showered down on them, sending the other curse into a frenzy.
"Punishment!"
"Nanamin!"
Nanami brought up his blade to sheer off more whipping barbed wire before one tore across his side.
Itadori surged forward and rolled under the whipping wire, coming up with a punch at the Curse's leg.
It staggered and howled before attacking with more barbed wire that Nanami fended off before one rope got through his defenses and wrapped around his arm. He angrily sheered it off, but blood was now soaking his sleeve. He gritted his teeth, cursing inwardly.
Another crash inside had him fearing for the other first years, but there was no time to call for backup.
He reached down and grabbed the back of Itadori's coat, hauling him out of the thing's reach for the moment.
"We need to time this, correctly," he said to the teen. "If you distract it, I'll be able to go inside it's defenses and deal it a more solid blow."
Itadori nodded and rushed the Curse again, giving it a shout to pull its attention from Nanami. The older man instantly took the opportunity to slide inside the Curse's reach, dodging the deadly wire, before bringing his blade up.
As Itadori defended with a blast of cursed energy, Nanami slid around behind the Curse and activated his power, focusing in on the thing's legs to make a weak point. With a swipe of his blade, he sheered them at the knees, dodging out of the way as the Curse screamed and fell. Nanami leapt onto its back and aimed at the head, slicing that cleanly off as well.
He jumped back down next to Itadori who was panting, one hand holding his injured shoulder.
"Nice work!" the teen said before another shockwave and horrible scream sounded from inside the prison, leaving concrete walls to crumble slightly, raining down on the ground.
Nanami motioned to Itadori. "We need to go to the others now," he said and the two started rushing toward the prison entrance.
They were almost inside before something snagged around Nanami's ankle, yanking him off his feet and to the ground, barely giving him enough time to instinctively bring his arms up so he didn't smash his face into the concrete.
"Nanamin!"
Nanami rolled onto his back, lashing out with his blade to cut himself free of another strand of barbed wire, seeing the Curse he thought he had exorcised dragging itself along the ground, head held on with remaining barbed wire.
"You'll be punished for that!" it gurgled.
Barbed wire shot out of the ground and wrapped around Nanami pinning him flat.
"Holy crap!" Itadori cried, rushing forward as Nanami wrenched his blade arm free and started cutting the wires.
"Itadori, go help the others!" Nanami snapped at the teen as he sheared off more barbed wire, managing to free himself enough to sit up and reach the strands around his legs.
Itadori's eyes widened. "What? You're gonna take this thing out all by yourself? But Nanamin—"
"That's an order, Itadori-kun," Nanami said quietly. "They need your help in there. Now go."
He lashed the final tendrils away and surged to his feet to meet any more that were coming, facing the Curse as it dragged itself across the ground.
"Go, Itadori!" he reiterated. "Help them!"
"But Nanamin…" Itadori's face wavered but another shaking crash came from inside.
"Itadori, help them," Nanami said firmly before he brandished his blade and leapt forward.
Itadori's mouth wavered before he pressed it into a firm line and nodded. "I'll be back to help you, I promise," he said, already moving backwards, rushing into the prison to help his classmates.
Nanami breathed a brief sigh of relief, knowing that the three first-year students would be fine facing the other Curse on their own, and now he could focus fully on taking this thing out.
It seemed to be of the same mind when it came to him because there wasn't much warning before the thing gave a guttural scream and hauled itself forward as Nanami raised his blade, ready to meet it.
Before he could reach the curse though, the ground underneath of him shook as more barbed wire shot out. He slashed at it, but was distracted enough for a piece of broken concrete to shoot up and slam into the side of his head, knocking him off balance, and cracking his glasses before they skidded off somewhere.
Nanami swore and raised his blade, only to find his wrist caught by that damned barbed wire.
Before he could maneuver out of it, the thing was on him, wrapping him in the wire and squeezing tightly, the sharp barbs tearing through his clothes and digging into his flesh.
A gurgling chuckle escaped the Curse as it began to pull Nanami slowly toward it.
"Punishment," it hissed.
Nanami gasped as the wire tightened, forcing his limbs against his body, making it impossible to use his blade. He tried to use his power to at least pull his arms away from his sides, but it seemed like every time he broke a strand, there were two to take its place. Several wrapped around his middle seemed to be threatening to tear him in half. If he could only reach the thing's haphazardly replaced head…
A blast from inside and the resulting concussion of Cursed energy, told Nanami that Itadori and the others must have exorcised the other Curse. That was good, they were most likely fine.
Nanami on the other hand…
As much as he dug his heels in, the thing finally pulled him within its reach, pushing Nanami flat with a hand to his chest.
"Punishment!"
Yuji raced back toward the prison entrance, Megumi and Nobara on his heels, heart in his throat. He hadn't felt another blast of Cursed energy dispelling so he knew Nanami hadn't exorcised the other Curse yet, which worried him. He really shouldn't have left the older man alone. Of course he knew Nanami was more than capable, but still…
"Where is this thing?" Nobara asked.
"Right out front," Yuji replied as they dashed out the entrance and skidded to a stop to take in their surroundings.
"Nanamin!" Yuji cried as he saw the man covered in barbed wire, his blade arm pinned out from his side as he struggled.
"Dammit," Megumi breathed and called out his demon dog, which instantly rushed in, distracting the curse by latching onto its arm, giving Yuji and Nobara a moment to rush in.
Between the three of them, it was quick work, and Yuji shielded his eyes against the blast of cursed energy before turning them down to Nanami who was lying worryingly still on the ground, clothes torn and stained red.
"Nanamin!" he shouted, crouching instantly to grab onto the man, trying to assess his injuries.
"Stop shouting," Nanami grunted, eyes flickering open.
Yuji gave him a wavering smile. "You look pretty rough."
Nanami groaned and started to push himself up as Yuji helped him.
"Both of the Curses are taken care of now," Megumi said.
"Good job," Nanami replied wearily as he regained his feet. He swayed and Yuji stepped forward and slipped his shoulder under one of Nanami's arms to give him some support.
Nobara picked up his blade that had been left on the ground, a worried look on her face. "Itadori's right, you look pretty bad."
"I'll survive," Nanami said blandly. "Shoko will deal with this once we're back."
"I'll call one of the managers to come pick us up," Megumi supplied.
Yuji could feel Nanami slumping heavier against him and looked around for a place he could rest. There was an old picnic table on one side of the yard and he headed over there.
"Nanamin," he said slowly. "You could have died."
Nanami looked down at him, limping along, a furrow on his brow. "That's part of the job, Itadori-kun."
"Yeah, and if we had been a couple minutes later…"
Nanami sighed as Yuji lowered him onto the bench and sat beside him, bending over his knees, one foot bouncing restlessly with leftover adrenaline from the fight. He was surprised when he felt Nanami's hand land on his back.
"You weren't, so stop thinking about it. It all ended well enough. We got the job done."
"But you're—"
"I'm fine," Nanami said, wincing as he shifted, his other arm wrapping around his middle. "I will be, anyway. It's not your job to worry about me."
Yuji felt pressure build behind his eyes and blinked hard. He didn't know how to explain to Nanami that he couldn't stand to lose anyone else. He knew it was an inevitability in this life, but it was still something he refused to accept completely.
Until he couldn't anymore.
"It's not a bad thing for your first priority to be getting everyone off the field alive, Itadori-kun," Nanami told him, startling Yuji out of his dark thoughts.
"I just…" He clasped his hands in his lap, bruised knuckles feeling tight and swollen.
"I understand, believe me," Nanami said.
Yuji sighed and slumped, exhaustion from the fight starting to trickle in. But Nanami was right, they had finished their job that day, and though it had been close, they hadn't lost anyone. It was by all means a successful mission.
Nobara and Megumi waved them over as the car pulled up to take them back to Jujutsu High. Yuji held his hands out to help Nanami back to his feet and the older man allowed him with a small roll of his eyes, but didn't protest, obviously needing the support.
And he also didn't complain when Yuji fell asleep on his shoulder on the way back.