Chapter 47

He's been through this once before.

Yuuji stood down his possessor, but this time, it wasn't a demonic sorcerer. It stood across from him, baring its fangs and refusing to back down. However, Yuuji didn't care what it was at this point, he refuses to allow himself to be used any farther. "We need… to have a talk!" Yuuji said defiantly. "You cannot do that again, let alone threaten all those around me… I don't care who you are, what you are. I won't allow you to use me for your own purposes!" he shouted.

The dragon said nothing, but bared more of its fangs towards him. Yuuji stood at the ready, he never thought in his wildest dreams that he would come face to face with such a creature. But now, it's before him. His arms outstretched, he kept his distance until he decided when would be the time to strike…

SNAP!

It was so fast he barely had time to move out of the way. He felt a sharp pain in his lower left arm… only to find it vanished! The dragon was quick to gulp it down and lick its lips. "You got a taste for me now huh? So be it…" He tried to regrow his limb, but it refused. His jujutsu wasn't working!

"It was just like with Sukuna… he couldn't recover…" he now has to plan everything far more carefully. This dragon will devour him if given the chance.

Yuuji kept himself as calm as he could, there is no backing down, no running away, no one to help him this time. It's between him and the dragon.

There…

Yuuji moved fast as he made his choice to strike, there was a moment there the dragon appeared to have looked weak or perhaps it was fatigued from possessing him, he will use every opportunity he can get to strike back and maintain control of his body!

The dragon peered away, when suddenly, Yuuji landed a solid strike at the side of its head!

BASH!

Despite putting everything he had into that blow, it merely made the dragon flinch, nothing more! "Curse energy… has no effect?!"

He swore he used divergent fist on it, and yet, it merely made it flinch, that was it?

He quickly retreated, yet as he did, he found himself caught! The tail of the dragon coiled around him and lifted Yuuji up off the ground! He tried to resist! He tried to break free but the grip was too strong!

No sooner did he try and struggle, was he lingering over the mouth of the dragon… it merely had to drop him and he would be a goner. "Are you not going to plead me to spare you?"

He paused to the voice, staring down, Yuuji found the dragon merely gazing up at him. "What say you boy? Are you going to beg me for your life?"

A fire grew in his stomach, the will to live was too great in his heart, he found his strength once more and broke free from the dragon's grasp, yet he was quick to catch the tail of it and throw himself back and away from the beast's jaws.

That was too close!

Yet as he tried to figure out his next move, the dragon began to laugh aloud. "Hehehe… HAHAAHAHA!" it roared aloud.

The room shook alone from that, despite there being nothing here. Which was strange in his mind, for it felt a lot like Sukuna's space. "What's so funny?" Yuuji demanded. "You laugh at me because I don't want to die? Or the fact that I refuse to allow you to take command of my body!" he demanded.

The dragon continued to snicker until it suddenly went into a rather relaxed state. "Never, have I had someone resist me like you have." It stated. "Then again, all my other host bodies were willingly offered to me."

"Don't you mean vessel bodies?" Yuuji demanded. "For that matter, how could you have gone through them? Why did you need so many? How many lives have you taken doing this!"

The dragon appeared rather annoyed. "I meant what I said, for I never found a vessel, I merely had hosts and they barely contained me as it was. As for deaths… too many. I have been though thousands of them, and yes, thousands died because of me… but I made certain their sacrifice was not in vain."

Yuuji then realized he would only be another number to this dragon, it has killed thousands just to live? "What do you want from me?" he demanded. "Why did Yua try so hard to save you if she knew what you did…" he began to say.

"She did, her whole family did… it was why they never associated with the Jujutsu sorcerers. For it was her family that offered themselves to host me." The dragon there peered down at him. "How is your arm?"

"My arm? You mean the one YOU ate!" he demanded, yet as he looked, Yuuji froze and found it was slowly forming again. The stump of the limb had an odd glowing yellow light, and it drifted down replacing and healing what was taken away. But the strangest thing was this, the arm didn't possess curse marks after! He froze at the sight until slowly, the marks leeched their way back and returned. "Wait… what was that? I couldn't heal myself before…"

"Divine energy," the dragon stated. "I merely woke it up within you,"

"By eating my arm!" he demanded. But then paused as a moment of confusion came over him. 'Then again, he didn't rip out my heart to prove a point…' he thought.

The dragon snickered to his reaction. "Little fledgling, you do not know what has happened, what has become of you and what WILL become of you. For you are the first of your kind, take pride in that."

"What do you mean first of my kind?"

His guard was slowly lowering, he didn't sense and malice in this dragon as he found himself easing on to the ground and sitting before the great creature. "First, names… Ryujin… My name is Ryujin," the dragon said and lowered its head.

"Yuuji Itadori…" he replied and offered the same respect. "Ryujin… what did you do to me?"

The dragon paused. "I don't know," he said. "I explained before, I have never had a vessel of my own before. Let alone one that contained me… I apologize for my outburst earlier, I thought I was being trapped again by the sorcerers. I was trying to break free from you but was unable to."

"Break free?" Yuuji whispered.

"Sukuna was destroyed, and I fulfilled my obligation to Yua and the Tooru family. It was why they kept me safe and offered themselves to host me. They needed me to rid Sukuna from this world. When finished I was to leave. However…"

"You got trapped…"

He nodded but then peered at Yuuji oddly once more. "Strange isn't it. I was trying to break free, Sukuna was trying to take control and neither one of us could truly do such a thing unless at full power… Curious still, a mere fledgling was able to do it."

Silence befell the two of them. "So… what happens now?" he asked. "If you are done your task, you want to leave but it seems I won't let you go…" his eyes then drifted to the arm he lost. "How did I just use divine energy?"

"Perhaps that is why I can't leave. You have obtained the ability to use it but have no concept to how it works… As well, the two energies cannot combine unless a proper method is made, which none has been as of yet… fledgling Yuuji, listen to me well. Do not use divine energy until properly trained, if you combine that with cursed energy… you will not only destroy yourself, but millions around you."

Yuuji felt his heart freeze in his chest. "I've become a ticking time bomb…"

"No, you are merely adjusting" the dragon scolded. "You have no concept of the divine power, that alone works in your favor so you won't summon it by accident. Right now, Sukuna's power is running through you at a rapid pace and will soon assimilate into you. Your own reserves of curse energy is slowly being replaced and refilled. When that happens, you will learn of divine energy."

"Is it necessary for me to learn?" he asked. "What's so different from cursed energy?"

"Our mock battle taught you nothing…"

He paused to reflect on it, but then his eyes opened. Cursed energy doesn't have an effect on divine? "Wait…" he said and tried to think it through.

The dragon snickered once more. "Divine energy can overpower curse energy when there is more of it than the opposite force. The same can be worked with curse energy against divine. It depends on which one is stronger." Ryujin explained. "This could be a valuable tool for you later on, for your hardships are just beginning fledgling."

Yuuji froze to his warning. But he also knew it too, the moment he wakes up, the elders are going to want him dead, after all, he has just become something completely different than a demon vessel now. He began to look at his hands with worry, but then he summoned his courage, clenching his fists in anger, but also determination. "If it can help more people, I shouldn't refuse." He said.

Ryujin appeared to have smiled for the first time. "We are alike in many ways fledgling, no one truly knew what I did except for the Tooru family. And now, only you do… which may work against you. Yet from what I saw through Yua, I know without a doubt my power is in safe hands."

"Your power?" Yuuji asked.

"Just as Sukuna's leeched into you, mine does as well. But I do not have all of it, let alone much left from the purification of the demonic sorcerer. However, before I agree to offer you more, I have a test for you. Yuuji Itadori."

The dragon reached over, Yuuji snapped to his feet but pause as it offered its talon. Sitting on the tip of it, perfectly balanced an orb no bigger than a pea. Yet within, Yuuji saw a single grain. "What is it?" he asked.

Ryujin snickered. "My test for you," he stated. "I wish to see how pure of a heart you have, as well… I grew curious." Before Yuuji could reach out for the orb, it jumped off the talon and suddenly embedded itself into his chest!

"What the hell!" he demanded.

It sunk in slowly, only to stop half way and remain on his left side of his chest. Ryujin snickered to it all but pulled back his talon. "Now then, one final thing needs to be done, or I will not survive, for that… I need you to remain asleep."

"Huh?"

BADUM

He snapped up in bed, wide-awake and startled to the dream.

It was a dream right?

Yet as he cleared his eyes, Yuuji froze as he looked about the room. "Wait… wait this isn't…" the walls, the bedding even where the furniture was placed, this wasn't his dorm… this was his old bedroom!

"I'm… home?" he muttered.

He slowly got himself out of bed, all the while taking in the room. The clothing on the floor was his, that was certain, the bed was just like the one back at his grandfather's house. But then he saw the mirror. Yuuji rushed towards it and peered in. There was no curse marks, no extra eyes or arms. He appeared… human.

"Was it all just a dream?" he wondered.

Something wasn't sitting well with him, this felt strange and yet at the same time comforting too. He wondered out of the room and walked through the house. Just as he remembered it, it was his grandfather's place. "Hello!?" he called. "Grandfather?"

His voice didn't echo, but he began to listen a little more closely to the world around him.

This wasn't right.

There wasn't a single sound that could be heard. Not a bird singing, no children outside on the street let alone a car in sight! "This isn't right…" he muttered. His right hand skimmed over his chest, when he jumped.

He felt a bump.

Peering down, he opened his shirt and saw the little orb entrusted to him. "This isn't a dream… But if that's the case, where am I?"

#

Midnight.

Gojo has been doing his rounds, but as of late, he was more focused on Yuuji. He knows what he saw and yet at the same time, he couldn't quite believe it. "You kept that in you this whole time huh Yua…" he muttered.

He kept himself on top of the roof of the student dorms, after all, Yua told him of one final step that may or may not occur. It all depends on Yuuji. He read over the notes once more and found what it said. "Depending on how this happens, whether or not Itadori is able to contain the dragon or not, is one of two things. He may explode then and there upon the dragon's take over OR the dragon will be contained in Itadori."

"She wasn't kidding when she said it may save him or kill him in the end, but still… where the hell did she find a dragon?" he muttered.

But then he found one thing, an envelop with his name on it, on the back it merely said. 'For the right time'. Curious, he opened it up and found another blindfold tucked into it. "Huh, guess it's for a reason…" he muttered.

He was about to put it on until he heard movement.

Peering down he saw Yuuji up and about, but he wasn't all there by the looks of it. His hair was on fire, the markings on his body glowed but nothing more. He was about to approach until Kitsune appeared.

She froze at the sight of him but was quick to fall to her knees and prostrating before him. "Master… Master are you… are you okay?" she asked in a trembled voice.

He watched Yuuji lean down, but offer her a hand. "Rise old friend, you bow to no one." a much deeper voice came out of the teenager, but Gojo knew it wasn't his Itadori.

Kitsune slowly rose up again. She cleared away her tears before smiling. "You have waited so long master, is everything okay? Is the boy to your liking?" she asked.

'Weird question to be asking…' Gojo thought.

"The child is very much as I expected to be, and much more… I have never seen such a fearless soul before me, even when those who offered themselves to host me, they were always terrified upon our first meeting. This one… this one has potential!" he said rather proudly. "But first thing is first, I need to see if I can cultivate in this state…"

"Of course, please, allow me!" she insisted.

Kitsune was capable of warping as well, luckily for Gojo, he has been keeping tabs on her as well and figured out where she was going. He has found Kitsune off the school grounds, in a forest not too far from here. There was a small mountainside where she would stand there and marvel out at the world. He warped himself there and found the two of them just where he thought they would be.

He kept close but a respectable distance. "If I cannot cultivate through this body, then it will be some time before we meet again Kitsune… but please, if that happens, guide this fledgling."

She wept but nodded.

Gojo then got the feeling he should put on the other blindfold.

He swapped them out, just as he did he watched Yuuji… or whoever possessed him go into a meditative state.

He must have felt something, his eyes felt a rather odd pressure come across them. Then, they appeared.

The forest lit up in yellow light, and that light was fast approaching them!

He stepped back and watched it all swirl around him, Yuuji's arms went into a formation as if he were holding a ball but the light gathered into his palms. Slowly, it was absorbed into the body, his curse marks became ablaze once more as more of the light soaked into him like a sponge.

"What… is he absorbing…" Gojo wondered.

"Divine energy,"

Peering behind him, he saw Kitsune, but she was clearing tears from her eyes. "He's able to absorb divine energy… thank the gods…" she whispered.

"Kitsune…" Gojo asked. "Who is that? That's not Itadori!" he protested.

She nodded and smiled. "It's my master. Ryujin," she explained. "A great dragon that the Tooru family had protected. Despite being curse users, they were aware of the dragon, for they have always guarded it and offered their own bodies to it when it needed a host. For millennium they have sought a vessel for it, but there was none suitable. They couldn't even find a demon vessel, and yet they still sacrificed themselves to ensure the dragon lived."

"Sacrificed?" he asked.

"None of them were suitable." She explained. "A host would be able to hold on to Ryujin for a max of five years. In that time the human body decays and weakens from the power he possesses. They couldn't contain it, nor the spirit. They would die within five years, none had made it past that. Yua was nearly an exception to the rule…"

"She would have been a demon vessel too…" he muttered.

She nodded. "Yua was the first in her family to have such an ability. She was far stronger than the other members, but I doubt she knew herself that she was able to do such a thing. Had she not taken part of that killing curse, Ryujin would have resided in her rather than Itadori now."

Gojo paused to her words. "What will happen to Itadori?" he asked. "Is he doomed to the same fate as the Tooru family that helped the dragon?"

Her smile suddenly grew. "No," she said. "Look…"

He peered over at Yuuji. He had absorbed all that light into himself, the flames on his body grew brighter and brighter until the light was gone. The flames went out as he suddenly collapsed to the side. "Is… he okay?"

Kitsune smiled and nodded. "He has fed for the first time in a thousand years, he's merely tried from the meal…"

"So, what happens now? The dragon likes Yuuji so what, I doubt it will stay in the passenger seat throughout all of this."

"He tried to escape." Kitsune explained.

Gojo turned to her oddly. "Wait, what?" he asked. "Sukuna was doing everything he could to keep the body… why did the dragon want out?"

"Force of habit." She explained. "When Ryujin finishes what he was tasked to do, he leaves the body he possesses. Granted, no one has lived after that occurred. Itadori on the other hand… his contained the dragon. He panicked since he could escape from him, causing his outburst. But at the moment, it appears he has accepted his container for the time being…"

"That doesn't sound very assuring to me…" Gojo said offhandedly.

"In truth, it has never happened before, and I don't know what will happen next, but if you are worried about your student, he is not going to be harmed."

"I am more concerned for what happens AFTER if this dragon leaves him… will he die?"

She paused to consider the question. "I doubt he would." She said. "He contained Sukuna without his soul getting corrupted and consumed by the demon sorcerer. He's just too strong in that aspect, perhaps that is what is making my master stay too."

He didn't know what to do at this point anymore, but he began to approach the sleeping vessel. Peering down, he saw a small line of drool and Itadori muttering in his sleep. "No… those taste terrible… quite cooking Nobara…"

He smiled, that was HIS Itadori.

He leaned over and hoisted the kid up over his shoulder. He turned to Kitsune and said. "It appears our teaching jobs are not done huh?"

She shook her head. "Itadori must be very careful from this point on, along with the curse energy he will soon be able to learn divine energy. However, if not trained properly on controlling the two, if they combine… he could take out half of Japan."

Gojo paused. "Yeah, I won't be telling the elders that…"

"I would hope you wouldn't." Kitsune then sneered at the notion. "I will be keeping a close eye on them from here on, they will not bother my master… or my young master while I am around!" she decreed.

"Yeah, I like the kid too…" Gojo said with a grin. "Well, better get him to bed, I am curious to see what he is going to be like the moment he wakes up!"