Chapter 36

They were curious.

Nanami has seen Itadori's new appearance and was stunned no less. "The poor boy…" he said with a sigh.

"Shit, that kid became a fat ass overnight… more so than usual!" snickered Toji. "And yet, I still can't get the drop on him…"

"What do you mean?"

Toji confessed he likes to sneak up on Itadori. Not to attack him or anything but to see how close he could get before he start to notice him. "It's weird, the bigger he gets, the farther way he can sense me. If I tried to sneak up on him now, he will notice."

"Really? This I ought to see…" came Geto.

Toji smirked as he took off all of his weapons, making as little sound as possible and went as far as removing his shoes. Then, he began to stalk Itadori as he had his back turned. He took only three steps before he turned and glared at Toji.

"Wow… that is impressive," Geto said offhandedly. "So… what happened to that kid?"

"According to Yua, his body just finished absorbing everything from the first feeding. So his body is adjusting and preparing for the second feeding. Supposedly, this is a good thing, it is indicating that Itadori will be a strong dragon." Nanami said offhandedly. "However there are some things that are troubling me. I do hope Itadori is taking proper care of himself."

"Such as?" the two men asked.

"Hygiene for example. How is he getting cleaned up? No doubt he is not able to bathe by conventional means now. Still, it's a trivial matter but I just want to be certain that he is taken care of properly…"

"Then, let's get our information elsewhere…" Geto said with a sickening grin. "Besides, I do have my ways of getting info out of a good source…"

"Gojo?" Nanami asked in an annoyed tone.

"Gojo, but we are not going to ask directly, there is a fine art to this!" Geto's smile only grew which made Nanami all the more uncertain to his motives. However Toji was all ears and grinning at the notion.

"So, you got a way of making his loose lipped… let's hear it"

"First off… who has booze?"

#

"Huh? What's all this?"

Gojo was taken aback as he returned from patrols. They were waiting outside of his estate and at the ready. Geto insisted that he join them for a meal and perhaps a drink or two. "You've been working hard, not just with dragon vessel, but also getting Yua's attention am I wrong?" Geto asked.

Gojo was silent on the matter but smirked. "Well not that you would care or anything…"

"Come on, there has to be SOMETHING we can do to help you with that, so, let's have a meal and some drinks to talk it over!" Toji insisted. "Besides, out of everyone here, you want my advice the most. I was married…" he said in a hinting tone.

"How, I will never know…" muttered Nanami.

His guard lowered, Gojo appear more comfortable as they sat down to a meal. He had a little patio on the side of the house for such a thing. Toji insisted on take out, that way it looks like it was all planned from the start, there's no chance that the food is tampered with and it's more inviting since take out is a treat.

For a former sorcerer killer, he certain thinks things through rather methodically.

So as they night wore on, the four of them sat and drank. Toji managed to sneak a shot to Gojo as he drank without really noticing, but one shot of the sake Toji brought and he was already shitfaced. Toji himself doesn't drink, but had to take a little bit to make sure nothing appeared too… suspicious.

"Oh man… that stuff… is strong!" Gojo said as his cheeks turned a rosy red.

"Damn, and look at Mr. Suit over here, he's taken four shots and is still sober!" laughed Toji.

"I worked in an office building… you think I wouldn't be able to hold my liquor?" Nanami snapped back. "Please, go to an office party of middle management, many of them will out drink you under the table."

Toji snickered before patting Nanami's back rather affectionately. "Man, you're good in my books…" he said and took another shot. "So that Itadori kid, how's he holding up?"

Gojo snickered. "Poor kid, he got bigger again. Yua said that they had to fix his room up, in fact we had to take it all down and rebuild it so he could fit! But he can't fit in the rooms anymore and has to sleep outside. Poor kid… at least he doesn't have to worry about bathing, that's taken care of for him…"

"Huh? Someone is sponge bathing that guy?" Toji asked offhandedly.

"That's a job worst than exorcising curses…" Geto snickered.

"Nah, nah, nah…" Gojo said as he accidentally took another shot. "You see, there's a dragon looking after Itadori… don't know who she is but Choso calls her the great lady or something… she comes here, looks human apparently, but, in reality, she's a dragon!" he said as his face turned even more red. "She comes by once a week, and cleans up Yuuji and Suiryu…"

The three paused. "Wait, what do you mean?" Nanami asked.

"CAT BATH!" he shouted and slammed his cup. "She gives them a good cat bath, cleans them both with her tongue… like kittens… kinda cute if you think about it… even more weird the more I think about it…" Gojo said as he suddenly snickered. "They always fight her on it, last time, Suiryu tried to hide himself from her… she found him of course… I could hear them squealing from across this place…" He snickered before suddenly, passing out then and there on the table, face first into his food.

Toji smirked. "Well, that solves your hygiene question… still… cat bathed?" he asked and shook his head. "Don't know if I should pity those two or laugh at them…"

"Taking into consideration the being looking after them is a dragon… I would go with the latter option." Nanami said. "But I feel like Satoru may have done something he shouldn't have… I sense he broke a vow…"

"What? Someone put a binding vow on him for that?" Geto asked. "Who would do… ah… that woman…"

"Yua, get it right," snapped Nanami, yet a moment of pause came over him. "Suguru… are you jealous of Yua?" he asked offhandedly.

He froze to the question. "Wait, what?! WHY would I be jealous of her? I would be as if were jealous of this monkey…. OOF!" he folded over and hit the ground.

"He still hasn't learned has he?" Nanami asked offhandedly.

"Nice baited question!" Toji said as his hand went up for a high five, but Nanami left him hanging.

Geto slowly recovered and coughed aloud. "Ugh! What the hell!" he protested.

"You used that word out of context, you should know better. But as I asked before, are you envious of Yua? For she is usually by Gojo's side when before… it was you."

"Tch, what makes you think I am jealous of her?" he snapped back. "Besides, she had wasted potential. A Tooru… who would have thought one would be brought back…"

"Well, a little birdy told me that they were suppose to be in an arranged marriage." Said Toji pointing to Gojo as he took a drink of carbonated water. With Gojo passed out, he didn't have to drink the booze anymore.

Geto and Nanami paused. "Really? This is the first I am hearing of it. How did you know?"

Toji smirked. "Please, I got my ways. But that was old news, spread throughout the clans since it was also a power grab by the Gojo clan. They knew of the Toorus and apparently their families had history together. Good history from what I remember. The Zenin family tried to get in on this as well, when I was younger in fact. It's how I met my first Tooru… and mentor. Supposedly it was Yua's aunt who came to see for herself, and well… you know how Zenin treated women…" he said and snickered.

"So, what happened?" Nanami asked.

His smile grew. "She kicked all their asses, and it was glorious." He said and laughed aloud. "I didn't participate, yet the moment everyone was out cold on the ground, I wasn't suppose to see the fight. I did and rushed out before anyone caught me, but she did. I was only eight at the time, but she took me under her wing for a short while until the family caught wind of it. I was torn away from my teacher… then began to continue to train on my own…" he paused for a moment, reflecting on the incident. "Tch, it sucks. A total stranger saw more potential in my than my own clan… fucking bastards…" he muttered before reaching for a bottle of water. "Anyways, back the original conversation. They sought to marry Gojo off to her. But the Tooru clan refused."

Interesting.

Nanami has never heard Gojo mention it before, yet the more he considered it, and the more he understood that perhaps this was merely a power move. But now, since it's no longer dealing with other clans, Gojo may have seriously developed feelings for her.

"Either way, I am not assisting him in getting with Yua. If she is interested in him, then she is. If not, I am not forcing the issue."

"I do admit, it would be funny to see him get his heart broken… maybe he will got on a binge and get fat!" snickered Toji.

"Are you kidding? You've seen the sugar he eats? If it hasn't happened by now, it's not happening." Geto said. "Still… a Tooru huh? I wonder what is so special about them…"