Chapter 4

Yua had just gotten the kids down for a nap.

She needed one desperately herself now.

The twins are draining, Shin is starting to act out and teething at the same time, he's not happy that he's not getting all the attention anymore. But still, she wouldn't trade this for anything in the world.

"Now if only Satoru would help out more…"

Then, the surge happened.

Yua snapped to her feet as she felt that curse energy spread over the domain, oddly enough it merely remained here and didn't go outside of the mountain. "Was that an attack?" she whispered.

Opening the door to her house, Yua paused just as Yuuji and Suiryu were about to knock. "Hey, what was that?" she asked.

The two exchanged looks. "We were going to ask you, that was your family's curse energy."

She froze oddly enough. "My family's… really?" she asked bewilderedly. "But, I didn't do anything…"

"Then what…" Yuuji suddenly caught something from the corner of his eye. Sukuna had stumbled out from one of the pathways to the woods, they all turned and stared at him. But he said nothing and continued on.

"He's acting weird, even for him." Suiryu said offhandedly.

"I know, he was oddly helpful to me yesterday." She told them about him taking her meal and replacing it with one that was hot. Her dinner had gone cold by the time she finished feeding the twins. Then he stayed and helped her clean up after and do the dishes. He has never stayed to help out before, he would merely eat and leave.

"Something is going on, isn't there?" Yua asked. "He has never acted like this before, and I am concerned that the drug is still in his system."

Suiryu then stared on, his eyes altered to that of a dragon as he continued to stare. "Nope, I got nothing here indicating that, I can't smell it in his blood either. He's thinking on his own. Still, this helpfulness cannot be overlooked either. Usually he wants something if that's the case."

"If he WANTS something from me, he isn't getting any!" Yua said in a sharp tone, which promoted the Itadoris to snort a laugh.

They calmed themselves but opted to keep an eye on this.

"I'll do one better, T1, T2, T3" Suiryu said.

They came out of the shadows.

"Big brother?"

"Have you been watching Sukuna?" he asked offhandedly.

But there was an odd exchanging of looks between the three of them. "No, and we're not suppose to," T1 explained. "Mom said that we need to leave him be and not hassle him… but, big brother… we want to get to know Megumi, but he won't let us get close to him."

Yuuji was taken aback. "Fushiguro doesn't want to get to know you?"

They nodded oddly. "I think it's because of dad. Dad has been raising us, we're trained too, we can use any weapon! But… perhaps he's upset since we got to be raised by him and he didn't…"

"I think there is more than that going on here too." Suiryu said. "Yuuji, you help the bros and get Megumi to warm up. I'm going to see what's going on with Sukuna. This ain't right, Toshi also said he hasn't been to the brewery either since he snapped out of this."

Something was off. Yua could feel it too. Question is, what exactly is Sukuna after?

#

Yuuji decided to get to the bottom of it all.

He found Fushiguro not to far from Yua's, but he appeared to be just… lost in his own thoughts. "Hey, Fushiguro!" he called.

He got a reaction, Megumi turned to face him. "Itadori,"

"What's with you?" Yuuji asked. "I mean, I know you are quite and brooding, but this is getting a little out of hand. You are avoiding your siblings on purpose aren't you?"

Fushiguro glared at him.

"Seriously, what's wrong?!" Yuuji demanded.

He sighed with defeat, Megumi looked him dead in the eyes and said. "How did you even do it?"

Yuuji was taken aback. "What do you…"

"Being a vessel to Sukuna, containing him, containing a dragon, BECOMING a dragon, a father… just… How did you do it all without losing your mind?"

This… this was what bothered him? Or…

"You're still not over the notion that Sukuna is alive, and he took over you by force… you're not happy he's here and goes unpunished for it."

Megumi froze. "Stop doing that!"

"Fushiguro… I know how you feel. I don't want him alive or here for that matter, he tried to take over my son!" Yuuji protested. "I know damn well how dangerous he is, at the same time…" he paused and shook his head. "I… I can't bring myself to go against Yua. My instinct… has always been to see her as a second mother. I can't ignore that. At the same time, there has to be reasoning to all of this, granted, I am not the one to say there is! I'm not smart!"

Fushiguro cracked a smile.

"Yeah, you're not. Even for a dragon."

"ANYWAYS!" Yuuji said and snickered. "I know how you feel on many things, but that doesn't mean you shut down in front of other people. Our little brothers are something. You do know that right? They can go in and out of the shadows, but that's about it. I am certain they could learn a lot from you, couldn't they?"

Megumi sighed. "I'm just concerned that dad is going to dump them on me, he never raised me you know."

"Yeah, I am aware. Your brothers are not looking for a father figure… they are looking for a brother."

He sighed once more to the notion. Megumi appeared defeated and said. "Do you know where they are?"

Yuuji smirked. "About that, they are hiding in my shadow. Come out!" he ordered.

T1, 2 and 3 emerged.

They appeared rather humble before Megumi but said. "Can… can you teach us shadow manipulation and stuff? Dad can't."

Yuuji didn't consider that before, despite everything they could learn from Toji, they can't learn their true abilities through him. They need Megumi.

He nodded in agreement. "Do the sisters wish to know it too?"

"We'll show them, at the moment they are too obsessed with their nieces and nephews."

Megumi paused as he turned to Yuuji, who merely nodded. "Suiryu and I keep getting kicked out by them. They want first hand experience in what it takes to raise a baby… Yuko was against the notion until mom insisted. We still help out when needed and asked, but as of late, we kept getting forced out so they can learn better."

"Okay then, let's go train, if you want to learn that is. At the same time… I'm not as powerful as you three, so if you learn something that I can't do. You will be on your own." He warned.

"Fine by us, that or we will just have to teach it to you!" T1 decreed.

"YEAH!" the brothers cheered. "Let's go train!"

Yuuji watched Fushiguro get dragged off by his excited little brothers… literally, they rushed off before he could even prepare himself.

One problem solved, next is the mystery of Sukuna's odd behavior.