Chapter 19

"Any word on what they are going to do with him?" asked Fushiguro.

"Nothing, I have tried to get some gossip about it, but no one seems to know either way." Nobara said with a sigh. "You think they couldn't resist telling a pretty girl like me what's going on…"

Fushiguro fell silent. He has wondered what happened that day, he saw it with his own eyes but none of it made sense. Not even to his seniors who were chattier about Yua Tooru than the actual execution itself. "What she did was something never seen before." He over heard Panda explain. "The elders were stating that it was a powerful energy, but not a curse energy…"

"So, what was it then?" asked Mika.

"Salmon." Muttered Toge.

"I think it's strange too Toge…" Panda said but appeared to think it over. "She did say something to the elders about there being two powers, cursed and divine, Yin and Yang…" he said offhandedly. "But there isn't much information on the subject."

"Yin and Yang?" asked Mika.

Since then, Fushiguro has been researching the notion. Yin and Yang is common to consider in what they deal with, but it's not spoken much at the institution. He researched divine energy too but came up rather empty in the process. For an organization that specialized in curse energy, perhaps that is why divine was excluded and not looked into.

But why was she so passionate about it?

She was determined to get the elders to see the potential, in which they claim that she was being delusional to the whole notion. She came from a family of curse users, nothing more or less than themselves, but they appeared to believe in the other aspect of power and ability in the divine.

"What do we know about the Tooru family?" he asked aloud to Nobara.

"She was a bitch,"

"According to you perhaps, but there was something more to her. She kept looking at Yuuji as if he could be someone important. As well, why hide her face most of the time. After what happened, I see how there was a tear that came down the middle of her face… she had a third eye… and her hair was like it was on fire…"

"You saw what?! Why didn't you say anything before!? Her third eye though was creepy as hell, I mean, was it an eye? It looked like a pearl or something…"

"That's exactly it!"

The two jumped as Sensei Gojo appeared.

"Sensei…"

"She did have a third eye… not hers, it was borrowed…"

"Wait, Sensei, you know about her right? Can you tell us now…"

He smiled warmly as he suddenly pulled up a chair. The two were startled now as they were merely talking the hallways and he pulls up a chair. "Tau Tooru came from a strong family of curse users, to hide auras and also to borrow energy of others if you can believe it. It's how she was able to strike Sukuna so efficiently… Apparently someone broke into the weapons archives and an object was disturbed recently. You remember Sensei Nanami?"

They nodded their heads. "But he…"

"Well aware, but we kept his stuff safe… well, sometimes when one uses a weapon as often as they do, some of their own curse ability enters it and lingers within the weapon itself even after death. Yua was able to borrow that for the moment in her attack, striking a weak point Sukuna had at the time. In doing so she made him sick, and it also gave Yuuji time to try and take control…"

"That's how she did it, but it still doesn't explain…"

Sensei's smile only grew. "Have you ever looked at the name of Yua's family? Once you do, it's understandable and even more amazing and terrifying that they are capable of hiding their name sake."

They froze to the news. "Wait…"

"It's why her family was known, feared and hidden. Rumor has it they protected such a creature, but there was no evidence to indicate otherwise. Then, stories began that Sukuna tricked various and powerful shaman to seal way the beast that the family had guarded. Some even say it is where their ability came from. She learned that it was true, but in order to break the seal, the one who did it, would die."

They paused to it all. "It was her?"

He nodded. "Part of the reason why she coughed up blood all the time, the curse was ravaging her body, but kept at bay. She was able to bide time by drinking cursed blood, not for her benefit though. But even now, I don't even know if what I have been told is true. I haven't been able to get to Yuuji to see for myself."

There was silence between the two. "How do we know this is true or any of this happened!" demanded Nobara.

"Well, that's the thing right now. I don't know, not even the elders know. Yua's plan was to put something bigger and stronger into Itadori that would destroy Sukuna. We just don't know if it worked since Yuuji still bares some resemblance to him."

"The arms…" said Fushiguro.

He nodded. "When I came across Yuuji that night raiding the kitchen, he was eating like he had never had a meal before… then again he hadn't eaten all day. But the elders have restricted his food just in case something goes wrong. Keeping him in a weakened state to say the least, but, I believe it will backfire rather splendidly!"

"What do you mean backfire?!" the two demanded.

He laughed aloud. "I think it would bring out the worst in Yuuji if he is not properly taken care of, I mean it's like depriving an animal of food, they will bite back eventually or find a way to obtain it."

"Sensei, if we know all this, and can't do anything, then what do we do next?" asked Fushiguro.

He shrugged his shoulders to it all. "I think it is all going to hinge on Itadori." He said plain and simple. "But perhaps we ought to study him a little more to see if there is any lingering effects to his little bout."

"Sensei… if Yua did manage to succeed… what will happen to Yuuji?" he asked.

There was an odd pause to his teacher, there wasn't a smile to be found but a serious look. "No one knows, it hasn't happened before. According to what I have learned from Yua, when her family took possession of such a creature, they lived for maybe a few years or so, give or take. There was never a right vessel for such a being, humans are frail and cannot contain such power… however… a DEMON vessel… is on a whole different level."

The more he listened, the more he cringed. Did Itadori just sigh up for something worst than to be a vessel for a demon?

#

He snorted awake.

Yuuji woke with a yawn and a stretch in bed but found himself back in his room. "It was a dream… but why do I feel full?" he muttered.

Breakfast was served to his room, through a hole in the door. They slid in his meals and he slid back the tray when he was done, room service without the chitchat.

But he was getting lonely.

Even if the fox was nothing more than a figment of his imagination, he didn't mind to being around. It was company and he swears, each time he sees it, he is starting to understand it a little better. "GAH! I want to go outside!" he protested.

A knock came to the door. "Hello?"

"Are you decent? The elders wish to see you."

He gulped his pride a little.

Looking at himself, Yuuji found he was dressed and decent if needed. Principal Yaga entered with the familiar rope and talismans. He sighed aloud and turned himself around. "Oh, no extra arms?" he asked.

"Huh? Oh… he reached under his robe and took them out of the pockets… huh, perhaps he did that before going to bed so they wouldn't flail about? But as he did, they were bounded up with his dominate arms.

"Have they decided?" he asked of the principal.

"Not quite, but I have noticed a change in you, that curse energy is going down again. You appear to be healing."

"I am?!" he asked with amazement.

"But you still got those features we don't quite care for, the extra eyes and limbs for one…"

He sighed aloud, if he could make them vanish he would in a heartbeat.

Itadori was brought before the elders who began to look at him oddly, but muttered over a few things. "The marks are gone, the energy is fading…"

"Yet he still has it, that's the issue…"

He waited patiently for them to finish their debate, when they were done, their eyes bore into him. "Yuuji Itadori!"

"Yes sir!" he said respectfully.

"You have been confined to your room for the past few days, have you felt any different?"

"No sir," he said. "I have just been hungry, nothing more."

Some rolled their eyes to it all, yet as he thought about it, he was still hungry! He wasn't just a while ago, but now, he began to smell something that enticed his taste buds. "Elders, please… if I may have more to eat? It is all I ask… oh… and a cell phone. I am board in my room." He asked gently.

Glares were given towards him. He felt embarrassed for asking, but he made the effort to.

"I don't see the issue in giving him more to eat, as well as a phone for communication." Principal Yaga announced. "It's not an extravagant request…"

"The fact is we don't know if we are dealing with the boy or the demon!" one protested.

"How can we prove it, whatever test it is, let me prove it's me in control!" Yuuji called.

The whispers began once more, until one of the elders decided that he would like to test this theory. "Give me three days to prepare. Until then, give him more to eat and a phone," he said.

"Thank you elders!" he said graciously. And even bowed to them in gratitude. He was take away shortly after as Principal Yaga snickered.

"You really are the kid, aren't you?"

"Why would a demon ask for a phone?" Yuuji snickered back. "I just want someone to talk to!"

"It's an uphill battle kid, trust me I know. I've been trying to get you back out there with Gojo and your team. The elders are not easily swayed by manners to say the least."

He nodded in agreement.

"They do know… I am just as scared as they are…" he said.

The principal nodded, they were only half way down the hall when he took the rope off his arms! He was stunned to the gesture but there was a smile on his face. "Wanna get something to eat?" he asked.

His eyes lit up. "YEAH!" he cheered.