3rd POV
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Megumi jolted in surprise, his head snapping to the newcomer which effectively broke his focus, dispelling the shadows. "Wha— Gojo-sensei?! What are you doing here?"
"Yo!" Gojo waved a hand idly, ignoring the duo who just stood there, watching as the tall white-haired guy who spawned from nowhere rambled about 'higher-ups and sightseeing' while proudly waving a paper bag. He then started snapping pictures of the injured boy who looked like he was on the verge of committing a crime.
The first thing that came to Colith's mind upon seeing Gojo was, 'Brat' though she did not know where the thought came from.
Not letting her thoughts show on her face, she stared blankly before turning to Yuji to comment, "Damn he's tall." effectively brushing her previous thoughts off while leaning on the teenager's shoulders who nodded in agreement.
"Colith-sensei is also—...!" he flinched suddenly.
"you good fluffy?" the woman asked with a frown, noting how the boy seemed uncomfortable all of a sudden. He rubbed his forehead with a scowl.
"Yeah, it's just that guy, keeps screaming his head off to let him out." he said, quickly shaking his head before sighing in relief. "phew! Good thing I can suppress him enough to think! He's really annoying!"
Colith could only stare at him in bemusement, about to speak until—
"So, where's the finger? D'you find it?" Gojo asked all if a sudden.
At that Yuji perked up, raising a hand while sweat dropping. "Sorry. I ate it."
Gojo paused, then slowly turned to the duo, finally acknowledging them. He was speechless. "For real?"
"for real." both Yuji and Megumi said. Though it looked more like a spat in Megumi's case.
"Did it taste good?" Colith butted in, genuinely curious.
Yuji scrunched up his nose, recalling the taste, "Nah, tastes like soap."
"Oh neat." she glanced at her nails, seemingly satisfied by that response.
"Alright pause," Gojo said suddenly, now taking in the woman's presence properly.
Her eyes were what caught his attention first.
Two bright golden orbs that seemed almost unnatural were lazily staring right back at him with a hint of inquisitiveness. He had never seen such eyes belonging to a dark-skinned gaijin like her before, though he couldn't help but find them strangely fitting.
"Who are you miss, and why aren't you alarmed by what's currently happening?" He rose an eyebrow, not that anyone could see.
The lack of reaction to the blindfold was surprising. Most civilians would outright gape or send disturbed glances his way. Yet the woman merely commented on his height, dismissing his odd choice of attire and instead stood there, seemingly entertained. How odd.
"That's what I'm wondering too. This is weird." Megumi mirrored Gojo's sentiment, his frown deepenin as he eyed the woman suspiciously.
She blinked, "Oh that's 'cause it sounds just like something Yuji would do." she replied while Yuji nodded along to confirm her statement. "See?"
"hm..." Gojo held a hand to his chin in wonder as he stared longly at her. He was definitely curious, though he choose to redirect his attention to Yuji, the matter at hand which was by far more important than mere curiosity. "So you really ate it?"
"Yeah." Yuji nodded, then backed away with a yelp when Gojo appeared right in front of him.
"Damn, you two did really combine! That's hilarious!" he chirped lightly while leaning back.
"By the way, You look like Togepi now, with the slits." Colith chuckles, patting his back.
"Eh? Really?!"
Gojo chuckled as he nodded, seeing the resemblance. "So? How does your body feel? Does it hurt?"
"Huh? Not really, no. Why?"
"Can you switch with Sukuna?"
Yuji tilted his head in question, "Sukuna? Who's that?"
"Sounds Italian to me," Colith muttered as she glanced to the side, causing Gojo who heard to stifle a laugh. Who the hell's this woman?
"I like your sense of humor miss!" he laughed before turning to Yuji. "But in short, Sukuna's the name of the curse you ate."
Yuji made an 'Oh' with his mouth in realization, though he briefly glanced at Colith with a little frown of worry before redirecting his attention to Gojo, "Yeah, I think I can do that."
"That so? Then give us ten seconds." the man said as he started stretching.
Yuji's lips pressed in a thin line as he once again looked at Colith who at this point noticed the stare and looked down at him in question.
"What?"
The pink-haired boy didn't say anything and went to whisper something at Gojo's ear who had to bend down a bit to listen.
"hm, hm. I see I see." He nodded then straightened up. "Hum Miss, could you come here a sec?" Gojo beckoned her to approach.
Colith blinked, watching as Yuji jogged to the other side of the roof, far away from them before glancing at Gojo in question. "what's the deal?"
"Oh nothing!" he shook his head. "just stay here and don't run, things are gonna get a little bit messy from here but rest assured, I'm the strongest!" he grinned. "also I want to confirm a little something~"
Megumi scowled, "this isn't the place for a civ—"
"Megumi, hold on to this will ya?" he threw the bag to the boy who frowned at being interrupted.
"The hell is this?" he asked, looking at the bag.
"Kikufuku Mochi." Gojo responded nonchalantly as he made an OK sign.
"oh, they're quite good! Bought some last week! I should probably learn how to make them" Colith said, leaning over Megumi's shoulder to look inside the bag.
"Oh~ you're a cook?" Gojo turned to her in interest, not acknowledging the curse rapidly approaching, about to attack. However, what he didn't account for was the fact that Sukuna would immediately try and claw the woman's head off.
"YOU—"
"Ah ah ah~ your fight's with me, Mister" Gojo sang as he punched Sukuna in the jaw interrupting his sentence. He was sent flying, away from the bewildered duo.
"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY, SORCERER!" He barked the moment he regained his bearings, "THIS IS BETWEEN ME AND THIS WENCH! SO FUCK OFF!" Sukuna roared, attempting once again to close in on her only to be stopped by Gojo.
The woman quickly snapped out of her frozen state. She blinked slowly, turning to Megumi in stupefaction, " 'wench'? Is he-is he referring to me?" she asked, pointing to herself.
Megumi was as bemused as she was.
"OH OH? What's this? Know each other?" Gojo asked, suddenly very much interested as he sent the curse flying once again with a solid hit in the guts before glancing at the woman who shook her head in confusion.
Sukuna gritted his teeth, boiling with anger "I don't have time for this! Out of the way! AND YOU!" He glared specifically at Colith, "ONCE I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, YOU'LL REGRET EVER BEING BORN, BITCH!" He snarled, ballistic.
"HUH?!" a vein popped on Colith's forehead as her eyes narrowed viciously. "WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, FUCKFACE?!" she yelled, rightfully riled up, "WANNA GO?!" Megumi had to grab her leg to stop her from walking to her death.
In response, Sukuna angrily slashed the air causing debris to fly straight for the woman, though Gojo was here to intercept the projectiles before they could put holes through her. The shock created a smoke screen that made Megumi cough and flinch, which was enough to grab Colith's attention, effectively stopping her from jumping into the fight.
"You okay there bud? Here let me help," Colith said, crouching to his level with a frown.
"l-leave it. I think you should be more concerned about the cursed object. He seems hell-bent on killing you," the teen rasped, motioning to Sukuna who was growing aggravated by the seconds as Gojo once again prevented him from getting to his target. Why the hell was he even after her to begin with? "You should get out of here, Gojo-sensei won't let him—" he held his head in pain.
Colith shook her head, "I don't know what the hell's this bastard's problembut I ain't going anywhere. He's lucky to have Yuji's face otherwise I would've messed him up." she narrowed her eyes, grumbling in distaste before sighing. "Now, stop talking and let me heal ya, will you?" she said, eyes softening for some reason.
"heal?" Megumi looked at her as if she had grown two heads. Before the teen could react, she cupped his face, causing him to flinch and blink in question. He wondered what the hell she was up to before freezing when she planted a kiss on his forehead.
His eyes widened, "Wha—"
A warm and fuzzy feeling suddenly swarmed his senses, causing him to involuntarily release a sigh of relief as his shoulders sagged. Shortly after that, all the pain and wounds present on his body faded away, only leaving blood as proof of previous injuries.
"Here, done." she said, getting back up and placing her hands on her hips. "You should feel better now." a warm, almost motherly smile came across her face as she eyed the boy.
Megumi quickly snapped out of it, astonished as he lifted his head to meet her gaze, "What did you—"
" eight~" They both jumped upon hearing Gojo's sing-song voice right next to them. It seemed as though he was done tormenting the curse since the male was now standing there, exuding nonchalance with his hands in his pockets, counting the remaining seconds left while Sukuna was slowly emerging from the wall he had previously been embedded into. Courtesy of Gojo.
Feeling himself fade away, Sukuna's withering glare quickly found the woman's confused one, "You..." he lifted a hand, in a last-ditch effort to reach her, "Co—" however the markings faded just as Gojo announced the ten-second mark, revealing a slightly woozy Yuji who blinked in an attempt to find his bearings.
"Whoa! Was everything okay?" he straight up noticed all the damage done on the roof, "DAMN!" they did all this crap in only 10 seconds?! Well shit! This guy's dangerous!
"How surprising! You can really control it!" Gojo chirped while beckoning Yuji to approach with a huge grin, something the teen hastened to do.
"Sure but he's hella annoying!" Yuji complained before yelping and grabbing his throbbing forehead, "Colith-sensei ?!"
"Shush! This is for eating a nasty finger without any prior research! What if it killed you? That was reckless!" she scolded, causing the teen to lower his head in shame.
"...Sorry"
Meanwhile, Gojo stood there, watching in amusement Colith berate Yuji like a mother hen. He then glanced at Megumi, about to make a silly comment before pausing.
"Hm? What's with that stare, Megumi-chan?"
Megumi blinked, "This woman, she..." he trailed off, still dumbstruck by what he just experienced. It was so...strange.
Gojo quirked a brow at his usually brooding student then resumed his observations. For someone who seemingly just experienced a life or death situation, added to that, vivid death threats coming from an ancient evil who strangely looked hell-bent on repainting the floor with her guts, she sure looked well composed, unconcerned even. Something was telling him that there was more to this woman than meets the eye.
He suddenly recalled something and promptly rummaged through his pockets, searching for a specific item he quickly found. A paper. He brought it to view and blinked. Glancing once, twice then thrice between the woman and the paper before his mouth let out an "Oh." that caught Megumi's attention.
"What?" exasperated, the teen finally said after noticing his teacher's dumb gaping face. "What is it?"
Colith sighed, shaking her head, "just, whatever, come here. You look like you've been through hell and back. That Gojo guy sure didn't hold back." she smirked, "So where're you hurt?"
Yuji blinked, "I think I got a few broken ribs but I ain't so sure." he said as though he was discussing which food to eat, causing the woman to deadpan. "Oh yeah," he lifted his wrist which, he's sure, wasn't supposed to bend that way. "This kinda hurts."
Colith let out a bark of laughter then shook her head in disbelief. "Crazy kid!" She gave him a rough peck on the forehead and then proceeded to give him a noogie while his injuries vanished. He released a squawk from being manhandled.
"Sorry to interrupt but..." Gojo cut in, appearing in front of the puzzled teenager who looked at him in question before collapsing once the white-haired male lightly tapped his forehead. "Here we go!"
Colith didn't so much as blink as she caught the boy in her arms. "What's that for? " she turned to the grinning man.
"Well, Colith-chan is it?" he got a nod from the woman, "As you've seen, we cannot let him roam around with a thousand years old curse in his guts, Sooo, " he tried to take the kid away but the woman held a hand, staring at him blankly.
"And what exactly will happen to my boy?" her eyes narrowed, "Nothing execution related I hope?"
There was a silence. Gojo sighed.
"You're not really a civilian, are you? The one who killed all those curses at Shinjuku that night was you. Right?" he said casually. Megumi's head quickly snapped to the woman in shock, baffled by what he was hearing.
Colith blinked. "Huh, so you finally figured!" she chuckled, not even denying the claims, "by the way, I never said I was one. Y'all always seem to assume that." she shrugged. "how's Atsuya?"
"Heh, he's doing well, if not a bit cranky."
"unbelievable... You mean that she's the cause of the Christmas miracle?"
"The what now?"
"HAHAHA! YOU DON'T LOOK LIKE AN OTAKU! Though you still got that scar! Had me fooled for a second!" He shoved the drawing to her face, causing her to lean back and squint.
" 'lame', 'loser'" she deadpanned, "that's not nice."
"What are you? You don't have cursed energy but you can see curses, that's impossible! And what did you do to me?" Megumi inquired, guards up. Gojo glanced at him in question, causing the teen to huff. "She healed me."
"Healed?" The man parroted, glancing at Colith in wonder. He got wind of those sorcerers' who just 'woke up' right after the ginormous ball of light encased Shinjuku, their life-threatening injuries no longer present. So it really wasn't surprising to him that she had some kind of healing ability, though, he wondered what kind of creature she was, considering she didn't have an ounce of cursed energy in her and therefore couldn't have used a reverse curse technique, not that he's ever seen its use on such a great margin.
"Whatever, that's not important! I'll let you guys go with Yuji but on one condition!" she held a finger, interrupting the male's train of thoughts,"I want him back alive, and that's nonnegotiable." she proceeded to hand the sleeping boy to Gojo and turned around to leave, "I got a class to prepare so see ya."
"I'm afraid I cannot let you go miss," Gojo said, placing a hand on her shoulder which stopped her in her tracks. She glanced at him with a raised brow.
"And why is that?"
"Oh, I dunno. There's no guarantee that you might not turn out to be some kind of existential threat to the world with the way you easily got rid of all those cursed spirits. Who knows? You could be here to kill everyone, safe for me, I'm the strongest, but hey? Just sayin'." the woman just eyed him as though he was a moron, ready to speak but he went on, " Also the fact that you seem well acquainted with Sukuna who was set on having your head for whatever reason. Don't you think that's enough to bring you with us?" he ended in an innocent tone, tilting his head to the side as he watched the woman's eyes gradually widen as he spoke, an indication that he was right.
Despite his apparent casualness, Gojo was ready for a confrontation. He didn't know why, but her lack of cursed energy strangely reminded him of someone he fought in the past. Sure he had walked triumphantly from the fight with a new technique and Shoko's [Reverse cursed technique] now part of his arsenal although at the cost of experiencing a near-death state for the first time in his existence, which in itself had been preposterous at the time, and failing an important mission that clearly put the jujutsu world in jeopardy, because yikes, that was a massive stain on his, once, perfect run.
Yep, he still had some type of dislike for the guy, but it's been what? 12 years since his demise by his hands so there's no point in dwelling about that bastard.
...
Okay, he'll admit that he still loathes that chucklefuck. A bit. But that's not important. What's important is that he might as well be facing an unknown threat for all he knew. In other words, underestimating someone like him wasn't on the schedule. Nope! Whatever this woman was, he wasn't planning on repeating his past mistake.
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As for Colith, she was...puzzled, to say the least. No, scratch that,
'what the fuck?' she thought, eying the two sorcerers in confusion before her gaze fell on Yuji's snoozing form. Sure she knew who Sukuna was, duh, Manga reader. Having that bloodthirsty bastard try to unalive her had been something she expected. Heck, she knew the first thing he'd do was either try to kill everything around or, well, kill everything around. Same thing.
Although, it sure was odd. Why did he look...so mad?
Certainly, the brief look of desperation had been a figment of her imagination.
'Is this his first time seeing a black person?' she pondered then shook her head. 'Whatever, that's not my problem.'
Her eyes returned to Gojo. The guy looked like he was ready for another scuffle despite the way he held himself nonchalantly, she noted. Huh. Too bad she wasn't in the mood, otherwise she wouldn't have hesitated to measure herself against him.
The woman huffed, brushing his hand off her shoulder before placing her hands in her pockets. She jerked her head forward. "let's go."
This statement was met with a confused "Eh?" from the two.
Colith frowned. "What do you mean 'Eh?' you said you were after me too? well come on, chop chop, lead the way. Don't have all night."
Megumi blinked, astonished. "Are you serious?"
The woman's eyes shifted to the teen, her gaze softening. "Uh-huh. The sooner I prove to you guys that I ain't no threat, the better. And to answer your previous questions," she said, eying the gaping Gojo with a blank look. She knew the guy was simply exaggerating his reactions, "no I ain't here to kill people, I've got better things to do. Yes I can see curses and yes I know who and what Sukuna is. Although, this is my first time meeting the guy." she shook her head, " and before you ask, I read about him somewhere and that's that. Never thought my Yuji would one day end up being his vessel but hey, that's how life goes, it seems."
"And where did you read about him if I may ask?" Gojo was intrigued. There is next to no information about Ryomen Sukuna's existence left for the public except for a few long-forgotten legends people didn't really believe in anymore. So for a gaijin, who had no ties to the jujutsu world to know about him was extremely alarming since even some sorcerers weren't aware of the king of curses' existence.
She shrugged, remaining silent.
The male hummed but decided to not press. He's certain that she'll yield him answers soon, "hm, so you're willing to come with us?"
"As long as Yuji's safe." she curtly replied.
"Hm, that's gonna be complicated. If he wakes up and isn't possessed then there's a 50 percent chance that he'll be spared from a quick execution. Hm, what to do what to do?" Gojo held his chin in thought.
"I will personally break your jaw if something happens to the kid."
"Oooh! Scary!" Gojo exclaimed, faking shivers, "So, what should I do, Megumi-chan?" he turned to the teen, the woman following his action which caused Megumi to reel a bit from the sudden attention.
"Huh..." his eyes shifted between Colith and his teacher, unsure of what to do. He didn't know who and what the hell she was and as far as he's concerned, she could reveal to be a threat if he's not careful with his answer. Although he knew Gojo-sensei could easily handle it, he'd rather not cause a confrontation since, one, the woman healed him and he wasn't ungrateful enough to spit on her benevolence as strange as it...was, and two, he freaking didn't know what she was capable of. He knew better than to not question his instincts.
Despite not showing anything, Megumi knows a predator when he sees one. Deep down, something was telling him that she wasn't to be taken lightly even though she seems harmless at the moment.
With that in mind, the boy gulped, "Even if he might become a potential vessel, under jujutsu regulations, he's doomed to be executed." he held the woman's expectant gaze, it seemed like she was waiting for more. "But...I don't want him to die!" he nodded at her, causing her lips to curl up in a smile, satisfied with that answer.
"I see. Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's go! If I'm correct, you guys are either from Kyoto or Tokyo. So where to?"
"...you know about the schools?" Megumi asked, bewildered, "Just, who are you?"
The woman simply grinned while giving them a peace sign, "just your average art teacher. Anyway, y'all look like you're from Tokyo. Also keep your nasty hand to yourself, brat! I won't run away so there's no need for this!" she slapped Gojo's hand away from her forehead.
The male whined, flapping his hand to rid it of the stingy feeling, "Ow! That's mean!"
Colith just rolled her eyes, "Yeah sure, ain't falling for your tricks, stickman." Ignoring the offended noise he made, she walked to what was left of Yuji's hoodie, pursed her lips then narrowed her eyes in contempt. 'Damn bastard,'
As of now, she just wished she could pummel the curse.
'all in due time, sis, all in due time.'
Oh no, she did not hate him, far from it, but the prospect of knocking some senses into the cockroach was truly appealing.
After collecting the ripped fabrics—grumbling all the way—, she turned to her audience who had at this point, just been silently staring at her.
A lopsided smirk bloomed on her lips as an idea popped in her head.
She begins floating in the air, "Welp! I'll be waiting for you at the Asukayama park, don't be late! See ya!" and vanished before any of them could blink.
Megumi dropped the bag.
"...
What the fuck did I just witness?"
"MY KIKUFUKUS!"
For the first time in decades, Gojo cried.
Sooo, hum, turns out my grandma decided to say bye bye to life which is mostly why I disappeared from here.
Yeh
Anyway, I'm back!