Chapter 21

They were a lot sneaky then before.

Itadori was looking high and low for anything, but nothing was found. "Damn, am I really not able to do this anymore?" he thought as he scratched his head in confusion. "Oh?" he paused as he caught to glimpse of a familiar fluffy white tail. He followed suit carefully as he peered around the corner and saw it.

The fox!

"Wait, I'm not dreaming…" he said, but pinched himself to be sure. "Ow… nope… so… the fox is real?" He gave chase as it appeared to look back every so often to him. He rounded another corner when he felt like he hit a wall of black! His body passed through it with ease, but he felt his body go numb.

'No… please no… he can't be…' he thought.

Then he heard the bells once more. His body fell back into a relaxed state, his mind a haze to it all.

He heard a gentle coo of a woman come up next to him. "Don't be afraid little one, I am here to help…"

He could barely feel anything, but he was able to speak. "Help me?" he asked, then his mind went fuzzy. Looking about, he was dazed and a little confused. "What… what are you helping me with?" he asked.

Her hands gently went on his shoulder, but he couldn't see her. "Why, I am to help you by special request. I will guide you where you need to be. Now listen to what I say… you are hungry…" she whispered into his ear.

"I'm… hungry…" he muttered back.

"You need energy, don't you? You know what tastes great when hungry… curse energy…" she cooed.

His stomach rumbled, the thought of cursed energy made him nearly drool. "Curse energy…" he muttered.

"But not just any curse energy… you want the beasts that roam here…."

"Curse beasts…"

She giggled. "Good! Now, go hunt your dinner… they are waiting…" she said.

The black void vanished before him, yet he began to pick up on energies near by. His mind in a fog, but he understood what he needed. The smell in the air became inviting. "Curse energy…" he muttered.

He came out from around the corner, there were six curses waiting for him. However he took one look at them, and began licking his lips…

#

The hour passed.

There were three that gathered, but one was missing. "Itadori…" muttered Nobara. "We shouldn't have brought him!"

"I didn't find a thing," said Megumi. "Not even the wolves found anything…"

"Strange, they were all here too, I even saw them, but then… POOF, it's like they vanished…" Gojo said as he paused to think it over. "Whatever could have happened…"

He suddenly then showed up. Yuuji came out from an alleyway. "Hey, sorry!" he called.

"Ah, any luck?" asked Gojo sensei.

Itadori paused, but then a blank look of confusion came over his face. "Was that a full hour? I swear I felt like I just left you guys…"

Worried filled the eyes of his friends. "Itadori… we better get you home…"

"What? Fushiguro, we just got out! Let's look again, maybe we missed them somehow?"

"Nope, they are gone, none are here… zippo" said Gojo sensei. "Strange isn't it?"

"Could the temple have perhaps done a cleanse? Maybe one of them is a jujutsu sorcerer too?" Nobara asked.

"Possible, but at this point we won't know. Well, I think that is all for today."

"Oh…." Moped Yuuji. "I get out for only an hour…"

"Well, we could always wonder about, maybe something else will show up in the mean time…" Gojo suggested, but then paused. "Did your energy just go up?" he asked Yuuji.

"Huh? Did it? I don't even notice it anymore to be honest."

"Perhaps I am just mistaken then… let's wonder about and see if we find anything else."

#

They traveled throughout the night, Yuuji was feeling a lot more relaxed as he enjoyed the outdoors, however he curious to why Gojo sensei kept peering over to him. "Enjoying yourself?" he asked.

"Yes sensei, it feels great to get out of the room!"

"I'm sure it is,"

Yuuji then paused. "Huh…"

"Something wrong?" asked Nobara.

"I thought I… saw something…" when in reality, it was a smell he picked up, a sweet savory smell. "Never mind, but I think I want to get a snack, may I?" he asked.

He got the nod from Gojo as Itadori ran off.

"Sensei, this really isn't a good idea to let him go like this…" Megumi said in a defiant tone. "What if something happens?"

Gojo smiled and sighed aloud. "Okay, do we go follow him then?"

"If that idiot gets himself kill, I'll murder him," Nobara muttered.

#

He rounded the corner quickly, but the scent was gone. He sighed aloud in defeat, yet as he turned to go back down the street, he was in a whole new location! "Huh… Sensei?!" he called. He wondered of sensei Gojo warped him again? But he felt something was off. The place he stood in was a ghost town, not a soul to be seen…

The chime came over his ears once more of a kagura suzu.

Then that sweet scent came into the air. It was intensifying as Yuuji licked his lips, and the blank stare came over him once more. The ground trembled, yet Yuuji didn't move until…

The ground burst under his feet!

He made a leap off to the side just before the creature erupted from the ground. It was massive, and perhaps too much to handle on his own. But there was no sense of fear in him, let alone to be found on his face. Itadori waited for the creature to find him, before he stood ready.

As the beast charged, it got blindsided!

A powerful strike came to the side of its head, it's arms flailed about as the one who attack appeared.

She wore white and red kimono but giggled to her action. "I didn't hit it too hard this time…" she said with a smile. "Come, before it regains consciousness!" she cooed.

Yuuji swayed on his legs towards the beast. He felt power coursing through his dominate arms. He grabbed hold of the beast with a tight grip. He felt his mouth open and his teeth sunk into it. It squealed a loud until it began to get drawn into his jaws. The curse struggled, but never broke free. Itadori swallowed it down in a single bite!

"Wonderful young one, wonderful… you ate well tonight…" she said in a congratulatory tone.

He didn't understand, let alone come to terms that he ate a massive curse all to himself. His eyes began to cut in and out, until he fell forward…