Chapter 9

She kept a close eye on him for a few days. Yuuji would be laughing it up with friends, training with Gojo and those who were willing to teach him. He was a fast study to say the least, which was rather impressive to her. She happened to be in on one of their spar sessions as Gojo was showing him the ropes once more. The kid watched with great focus and eagerness to learn. He was able to pick up the lesson remarkably quick and turned it into his own power within the hour.

"Mind if I have a go?" she asked of Gojo.

He sarcastically bowed to her. "All yours" he said.

She stood from her chair and approached Yuuji. "Unrefined abilities, natural talent and strength that is not seen in humans these days…" she muttered as she walked around inspecting him.

"Uh, Sensei…" he said nervously, but Gojo already took over Yua's chair, absorbed into a book and not paying attention.

She stopped as she came face to face with him. "Come at me," she announced.

"Huh?"

"You hesitating? You don't strike first, I will!" she warned.

He took his stance. Yuuji went at her as fast as he could. Even with his speed that many find hard to keep up with, Yua easily evaded him! 'Impossible! Not many can avoid that!' His eyes spoke of that to her, she could tell he was confused and yet at the same time startled by her ability.

More and more he went at her, and she never raised a fist back. She could block and evade with ease. But it was time to use 'that'

BLACK FLASH!

Despite how fast he got with it, she still avoided the strike!

He was panting by the end of it, Yua didn't appear to be breaking a sweat, let alone the hood on her head never moved either. "How…" he asked of her breathlessly.

She smiled a little. "My little secret for now. For a demon vessel, you're not half bad. Good potential and room for growth…" she appeared to be deep in thought for a moment. 'He is perfect, but still. I don't have the approval yet…'

"Gojo" she called.

Next thing she knew he was at her side. "Yes?"

"God, wear a bell!" she muttered. "How strong is he without Sukuna?" she asked.

Gojo paused to think about it. "Hmm, I know it's beyond the human level…"

"I threw a shot put 35 feet by whipping it." Yuuji explained.

She paused once more to consider his information. "Has he grown stronger since?"

"Indeed, but that's also the cursed energy he is using too. It took him a few hours to get the hang of it."

"Was it painful for him to use?"

"Why are you asking these sorts of questions?" Yuuji said aloud.

"Ironing out some details in my mind here…"

"Lying bitch!"

The room came to a pause as the mouth appeared on the back of Yuuji's hand. He tried to cover it but Yua was curious. "No, let's hear what he has to say… Sukuna, what's on your mind?" she asked.

The mouth sneered. "Tooru, I thought you were all killed. Last I heard of you was from another cursed spirit a few years ago. They slaughtered your family for me, after I played my role many eons ago…"

"What role!" Yuuji demanded.

Sukuna snickered. "Never you mind boy, it doesn't matter since the deed is done. The last of the bloodline is before me… I can't wait to finish what was started!"

Yua bore a smile of her own. "That's something we can agree upon. I got unfinished business with you too" Yuuji then slapped the mouth closed as he shied away.

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't ever apologize for him," she said in a warning tone. "Our little conversation just confirmed something for me. Gojo, we need to speak about this… alone," she said and glared at Yuuji.

He got the hint and excused himself out of the room.

When the door closed behind him, Gojo's smile vanished as he looked to her with a rather stunned look. "What's with the look?" he asked.

"I think I have approval…" she whispered.

He appeared curious. "Approval? What approval? Look, not even I know everything about you here, let alone what you are hiding."

"It's true, but I may have a way to save that boy." She said. "We need to talk about what is to come, you are the only one I can trust with this and please for the love of God, listen to everything I say and act accordingly!" she demanded of him.

His smile returned, brighter than ever before. He pulled up a chair and somehow gained a notebook and pen. "Fire away!" he said proudly.

"First thing first, the day of his execution…"

#

She told him all she could for the time being, yet not the biggest detail to the plan. Despite how opened minded he can be, this one was a little far fetched even for him to understand let alone believe in. Still, Yua had a plan in mind and was still deciding on what to do next.

She left the room and ventured down the hall, he heard. "Miss Tooru!"

She paused and turned to see the demon vessel boy waiting. "I… I noticed you haven't eaten yet, would you like to join me?" he asked.

It was an odd question, but she agreed. "I just need a smoothie of some sort… I can't eat solid foods anymore." She explained.

He appeared surprised. "Oh, are you sick?"

"Something like that…" she said offhandedly.

He led her to the cafeteria, all the while trying to start small talk with her. "Where did you come from? I heard your family is like… really old, but, seeing Principal Yaga go quite really fast was something!" he said with a laugh.

She didn't smile to that factor. "My family is old since what we did was far older than time would permit for any to remember." She said in a cold tone.

He was stunned silent. "Shit, what did your family do? It sounds really important!"

"Now isn't the time for that," she said defiantly.

They entered the cafeteria; he got himself a nice meal as she went for her smoothie. When she reached the table, her hand drifted into her pocket and took out a vial. He watched on with interest as she added it to her drink, mixed it around and began to sip.

Vile stuff!

She cringed to it and made a sour face. "Terrible medicine huh?"

"I doubt it's anything compared to what you have consumed."

He snickered then shuttered. "All of them have long talon like finger nails…" he cringed and made a disgusted face. "Ugh, makes me glad it's almost over."

She took a few sips before asking. "How can you be like this?"

"Huh?"

"How can you be like this? You appear to be a happy person, you're always smiling despite having an asshole demon residing in you!" she protested. "What the hell do you have to be happy about?"

He took a few mouthfuls of his meal before he stopped to think about the question. "Well… For one, I think it's because of what my grandpa taught me. He raised me you know. He tried to tell me about my parents but… I didn't bother to listen or learn, I mean. Why should I when they didn't bother with me?" he asked. "I made some friends as school, got really good at sports and became a natural. But I wasn't what I wanted to do. When I entered junior high, I became a member of the occult club since they finished by five and I could see my grandfather in the hospital when he got sick suddenly…" he paused for a moment.

"This all happened because of me, my friends at school were nearly killed because of it… then that curse thing came to try and eat the finger… I wonder if I had let it, that it could have been destroyed still… but, why take that risk?"

She listened, and hung off his every word. "You didn't answer my question," she scolded. "Why… be this happy?" she asked once more.

He smiled a little. "I was able to help people. Grandfather told me to help as many people as I can before my own time comes, I never thought it would be this soon. So, while I have seen people get hurt… some killed… I still try and do everything I can. Those I save, although few… are still people I helped. I just hope I made my grandfather proud in doing so." He explained. "As for being happy… why be anything else even if you can't change what has happened to you?"

Profound, even for a child.

She smiled and nodded and took a sip of her drink once more. "Ugh," she cringed once again.

"So, what made you sick?" he asked.

Yua sighed aloud. "A lot of things, some are too trivial to be explained. Other parts of this illness I cannot…" she paused. "Let's say, I did something just as stupid as you did,"

He froze to her words. "I doubt it was as dumb as what I accomplished!"

"Oh, you going to have a klutz off with me?" she said in a challenging tone.

"I'm not a klutz!"

"No, you're an idiot!"

The two stopped, before breaking out into a fit of laughter. "Yua, you aren't so bad! A little cold, but not so bad!"

"Nor are you Demon boy!"

"It's Yuuji!"

"That's to be determined from me," She then saw Gojo at the doorway on the other side of the room, he waved her over. "Well I got to go. Keep training, maybe you'll land a hit on me some day" she said and excused herself.