Chapter 39

It was strange.

After mentioning his old mentor, Toji thought about her last night. He remembered the day she came to the clan household, the looks of greed that came over the older men as some were getting rather brash around her. "Oh look, an infamous Tooru woman… I heard they are hard to handle…" said one of his uncles.

"Not just hard to handle… hard to break in too…" chimed a cousin.

He sneered at it all, despite the fact this was normal behavior in the family, and yet, this Tooru woman smirked at them. She turned and said. "You are free to keep talking about that about me, but, if you continue to do so, it will more difficult for you."

There were ten men gathering around her, smirking at her threat. "Oh? Why is that?" asked a second cousin.

"Well…" she said and turned to face him, she began to walk rather seductively before inching her way closer. "How can you speak, when your jaw is broken?" she asked in a sexy tone. "If you manage to speak, I'll then work on cutting off your tongue…" her voice turned venomous, she was quick to reach behind her and take out a dagger, placing it under his chin! One wrong move…

But no one saw how she did it.

Her movements were too fast to be noticed, even by jujutsu sorcerers. Yet Toji swore for a moment, he saw her hand reach behind herself and take out the hidden weapon with ease.

It was remarkable.

"Crazy bitch!" One shouted. "Back off!"

She pulled her dagger away and tucked it back into place. "Needless to say, I don't waste time with little boys. Now, take me to your clan leader. He called for this meeting, and I am here to see what he has to offer."

He couldn't explain why, but he followed this woman around all day, watching her as she stood her ground despite the constant harassment of the men. Not even the family head was speaking to her on equal terms. In fact, he tried to hit on her a few times. "You Tooru women are strong, have you considered an arrange marriage between the two clans? Your family will have a stronger voice in the council…"

His arm slip up over her shoulder, but she was quick to brush it off and away from herself in disgust. "Is this the whole purpose as to why I am here? You want to make an arranged marriage between the two families?" she demanded.

"Let's face it, you Toorus have lost your power among the jujutsu society. Outcasts if you will, however, with our influence, I can promise you a voice."

She snorted to his comment. "I've barely been here for an hour. I've been harassed sexual as some of your legions have tried to grab me from various angle. Second of all, when I speak, only half of the words are reaching your ears. Third, I didn't come here to represent my family and be insulted on the notion that we have no say in the jujutsu society. We do speak, but it's not listened to. That's their fault, not ours." She stated. "So, elder… if there is nothing more to discuss…"

"I want to have a Tooru as an in law!" he demanded. "Be it you or one of your other women, I want one of them to marry into this family to increase our power!"

Despite being only eight, Toji knew how much the men around him valued their pride, and when its been stepped upon they take action. He knows that first hand. When he was born with very little curse energy, his father still made him train each day. He has been fighting curses as of late, but has no means of defending himself against them.

Miss Kira Tooru however snickered to his demand. "Really? Very well then, we shall do a trial of sorts. The victor can dictate what you desire after the battle, however a binding vow will be in place." She stated and stuck out her hand. "What say you?"

"Let me hear your conditions now,"

She smiled. "Okay then, upon my victory, no one of the Zenin clan is to force themselves upon any member of my family. You will refrain from approaching them and demanding arranged marriages."

"Oh? And if I win?" he asked.

"What do you want?"

He began to eye her oddly, licking his lips in greedy fashion. "You become my concubine."

Kira was a young woman, late twenties early thirties if he were to guess. She had short black hair and yet piercing brown eyes. She smirked to him and agreed to the condition. "Bring me your strongest males of the family, ten of them. Then, we will do this trial." She stated.

They shook on it. The vow went into place.

He snickered and walked away.

Toji was about to do the same until he heard her call out. "You've been following me all day, care to explain yourself?"

He froze as he turned and found her staring right at him. Toji turned and lowered his head to her. "I'm sorry!"

His actions took her aback. "Hmm, potential huh?" She leaned down and stared at him. "Not much curse energy if at all… I take it your family has shunned you for this, but I can see the scars on your arms…"

He didn't realize he rolled up the sleeves of his kimono. The scars were clear as day, but he didn't feel ashamed of them. She suddenly approached him and looked over the marks. "Yep, I know those all too well…" she said. An arm sleeve too covered her arms, she took it off the sleeve on her right and revealed the scars she had as well.

They were just like his.

"You trained hard…" he whispered.

"I always train hard. Or else you get soft. My body is like iron, and just a little hint here kid. You don't need curse energy to get rid of a curse, a weapon is good enough, just as long as you got the strength to wield it!" she said an encouraging tone.

"But my family..."

"Fuck them," she said flat out.

He was stunned to her words but she didn't appear to care to swear in front of a child. "If your family encourages you and supports you no matter what. They matter and their opinion matters. Kid, from what I've seen here today. You are better off to think for yourself and screw whatever they say! They don't give a shit about you, why give a shit to what they think?"

He was stunned. At the same time, he felt encouraged.

"Tooru! We're ready!"

She snickered a little before turning back to him. "Come watch, you'll learn a lot more than they ever will…"

#

She was taken to the infamous pit.

Kira stood in the middle of it all with ten of the strongest members of the family, including the head of the house. They were all licking their lips and snickering at her. "Don't take your defeat so badly, I promise to treat you well…" the head said with a sickening grin.

"Keep telling yourself that…" She reached behind herself and took out two kunai daggers. "I won't aim to kill… consider yourselves lucky on that aspect. But do have a healer or doctor ready…"

Toji watched her eyes change. She was cool, calm and collected. But now, they look like they are on the hunt.

"Contestants… BEGIN!"

BANG, BANG, BANG!

He jumped as three were taken out instantly! No one saw her move that fast and yet, the family head paused and appeared rather impressed. "That's a Tooru for you, hiding their energy without revealing how much they are outputting!" he laughed.

She came to a stop as the men regrouped themselves. They began to summon their jujutsu but she was already planning on that. She turned and threw one of her kunai daggers at one of his uncles who carried a sword. It was deflected and yet she came up just as fast and landed a single strike to his stomach!

He dropped like a rock.

The others all appeared to have fallen the same way, unable to keep up with her movements, even with curse energy. But it appears she took everyone but the family head out on purpose.

He was laughing it up.

"Impressive little one, but why save me for last?" he asked curiously.

She smirked. "I want to relish your fearful look." She said blatantly. "Also, when you are defeated, it will be a nice scar on your ego. You were beaten by a woman… but there's more to it. But I'll explain that after."

He stood at the ready.

Suddenly he vanished, and yet as he did, she suddenly did as well as he reappeared and tried to use his curse technique against her, attempting to freeze her in place.

He got her other dagger.

But now, as he looked about, he couldn't see where she had gone, let alone if she was still in the room. "Impossible. I am faster than the human eye!" he protested.

Ooff, Oof… GAH!

He was struck in his sides and then in his stomach, rendered to his knees until she stood before him once more. "Is that all?" she asked in a teasing tone. "If you Zenin men are like this, I doubt you would last long in bed." She kicked him in the face, knocking him out.

Toji was immediately impressed.

The other members sneered at her with discontent. "Well, too bad I won't see his reaction to this. Not only he got beaten up by a woman… but he was defeated by one with no curse energy." She said and grinned.

The family appeared sick with the discovery. Toji was only more impressed by her as she began to leave the pit. "Anyone else looking to throw down? Those were the strongest in your family, correct?" she asked.

They reluctantly parted and allowed her to leave. As she did though, her eyes caught Toji and she nudged her head towards the outside of the house.

It was just the two of them. She turned and said. "I can teach you a few things, but the rest you are going to be on your own for. But that is up to you. What say you?"

He was amazed; Toji nodded his head feverishly in agreement.

He only got a month with her. Yet each day, he would slip out and meet her in a forest, they switched the location every day so they weren't caught. She taught Toji he has to keep pushing his limits, no matter how painful it gets, he has go beyond the pain. "With each day you grow stronger, what little curse energy you have will be extinguished. The day that happens, you will be able to hold your own. Your body will fine tune itself, become stronger than steel and yet still light enough to move faster than a normal person. You will have no need for curse energy, and those who mocked you before… will fear you after."

She taught him some of her routine, exercises and training tips. He already felt himself grow stronger each day, every day he would do these tasks without complains. But then, on their last training session, they were discovered.

The family head sneered at it, but he glared at Toji. "Why are you working on this failure?!" he demanded of her. "He has nothing to offer this family!"

She paused oddly. "Really? Didn't your legions tell you about our battle? What I said after I knocked your sorry ass out?" she questioned.

"You said nothing, they told me you left. Nothing more."

"Man, you must have a fragile ego if that's the case, besides, what I say now, you won't believe since they won't allow you to believe it… oh well…" she said and shrugged.

"I want you gone from here, never come to the Zenin clan again!"

"Figures as much,"

Toji was heartbroken. He turned to her, but didn't want her to go. He had half a mind to leave with her. But she ruffled his hair and said. "This is were we part kid, but rest assured. We will meet again one day, if anything, you would be the only Zenin who could land a hit on a Tooru like me. Keep training."

He never saw her again after that.

It was strange that the memory only returned to him recently. Perhaps it was that talk with Yua from a short while ago that brought it up, that and their drunken party the other day…

But now, there was a problem he had to deal with. Megumi knows the truth now, but, how does he go about explaining himself?