I do not own Jujutsu Kaisen or any of the characters.
Working Together
Shinji walked through the sewer in silence, looking around carefully. For the last month, Gojo had had him hunting small fries, but now, he was being sent to assist in helping train Yuji Itadori, alongside a sorcerer Shinji knew all too well, and hated. Kento Nanami. His right arm twitched and flexed its claws at the thought, but he slapped it.
"Stop it," he said, then grumbled, "You asked for it, even if you don't remember."
He stepped into a wide tunnel bearing extensive damage, and with some huge flesh object stretching across the tunnel to impale the wall with a humanoid arm and leg sticking out of it, but at seemingly random places. Just as he arrived, a Curse that looked like a human that had been hacked apart and stitched back together, wearing a black shirt with slits in the shoulder and with long silver hair, shot across the tunnel to the Jujutsu Sorcerer Shinji was supposed to be helping, placing his hand to the sorcerer's abdomen. As the Curse's energy flooded from his hand, spreading across the sorcerer's body, Shinji exploded forward, his right fist exploding into the ground, only for the curse to have avoided the strike. He landed on his feet in the distance, except that his human legs had become that of a deer's hind legs, or another animal with the same type and black hooves under brown hair. The sorcerer gasped in a breath, catching himself before he could collapse, and adjusting his grip on his meat cleaver, which was bound in blood-soaked bandages.
"It's you," the sorcerer said. "I wasn't expecting it to be you when Gojo said I'd know the backup he was sending."
"It's been a long time, Kento Nanami," Shinji said icily, then slapped his hand as it reached for Nanami. "Stop it."
Nanami wore a white suit with a blue undershirt and a yellow tie with black spots like the bandages around his blade, and expensive leather shoes. His short blond hair was neatly combed, and his brown eyes were hidden behind a pair of armless goggle-style sunglasses with green lenses.
"Who's the target?" Shinji asked.
"A Special Grade Cursed Spirit with the ability to alter the shape of someone's soul in order to alter the shape of their body," Nanami said. "That includes his own, allowing him to restore any damage he receives. He has a stockpile of altered humans to weaponize, and he's fast and strong."
"Understood," Shinji nodded, holding his right hand out to the side, the hand forming a katana from Cursed Energy. "I'll take lead."
Nanami nodded. "Make sure me and Gojo giving you that arm was worth it."
Shinji nodded and shot forward, ducking aside from a weaponized human that the Curse transformed into a spike. Just as he cleared it, the Curse fell from above. Shinji picked his feet up as he rolled sideways, his sword's blade flashing around, only to split a rapidly-growing weaponized human before the severed ends crashed into him, smashing him into the ground as the Curse used the human to evade Nanami's blade. It kicked off the wall and exploded toward Nanami, swiping several times before Nanami blocked a blow with his own blade, sailing backward. He flipped, pushing off a railing with his free hand before landing on his feet in a large chamber with pillars along the sides, skidding a ways. The Curse spun back toward Shinji, only to again shift his legs into a faster form to evade Shinji's fist, Shinji having freed himself while the Curse was distracted.
"You're quite fast and strong yourself!" the Curse said cheerfully. "What rank are you?"
"Shut up!" Shinji roared, shoving his hand forward.
The Curse's eyes widened just as a massive, scarlet beam of pure Cursed Energy exploded from his palm. The Curse hurled a small, shriveled husk barely bigger than a chess piece at it and leapt to the side, only just escaping the explosion the beam erupted into when the human expanded into a wall to block the beam, failing at its job. The Curse landed in the same chamber as Nanami, and instantly ducked under his blade, spinning to strike at him, only to leap aside from Shinji, who drove a Cursed Energy spear down into the floor. Just as the Curse landed, Nanami sighed, putting his blade away and tugging his tie off, his Curse Energy increasing rapidly.
"Unfortunately, thanks to you, I'm going to have to go into overtime," Nanami said, wrapping his tie around his right hand and knotting it at his palm.
"And here I was about to give a time limit," Shinji said. "Should I still? I'd wager, what, two minutes?"
"Don't," Nanami said. "We won't need it, at least not yet. For now, stick to fighting him without the time limit."
"Time limit?" the Curse asked. "What are you talking about? The Grade One Sorcerer already gave a time limit of thirty minutes and he failed, what would two more do? Also, why is your Curse Technique just a Curse's arm? Are you even a Jujutsu Sorcerer?"
"No, I'm not," Shinji said. "I'm actually a Curse myself. Lost somewhere between Grade One and Special Grade."
"Really?" the Curse asked. "Then why are you helping the Jujutsu Sorcerer?"
"Because I was ordered to," Shinji said. "Otherwise, this arm of mine would be ripping him apart right now. Or, at least, it would be getting me killed."
"I wouldn't rule that one out just yet," the Curse said. "I've never altered another Curse's shape before. It'll be an interesting experiment."
"My Curse Technique draws a line along the target, and using a ratio of seven to three, then creates a weak point at exactly that location," Nanami explained to the Curse. "I can create this point at more than just along their full height or wingspan, and I can designate it along the head, upper arm, forearm, and so on. This Curse Technique can affect more than just living creatures as well."
The Curse licked his lips, raising his right hand in front of his face. "You're serious, huh?"
"Shall I take lead again?" Shinji asked.
"Yeah," Nanami nodded. "I'm using Collapse."
"Understood," Shinji nodded, forming himself a pair of bladed knuckle guards with blades extending down into a six-inch knife blade like a trench knife. "Let's go!"
He and the Curse both exploded forward, the Curse, flipping over his first slash, only for him to flip, hurling a kick at him. The Curse smirked, catching his leg and grinning, only for four Cursed Energy Spears above him to streak inward at him. He shoved off of Shinji's leg, throwing both him and the leg out of their paths, evading injury just as Nanami reached the wall.
"Ratio Technique, Collapse!" Nanami shouted, drilling his right fist into the wall, which all but exploded.
The debris that was scattered into the air was imbued with Cursed Energy, and the Curse's face split into a grin.
"I guess I should dodge this," the Curse said, only for Shinji's Cursed Energy katana to slice its leg off.
Its eyes went wide as blood sprayed from the wound a second before the debris exploded down on top of it. Shinji formed a long, double-ended spear from his Cursed Energy, only for Nanami to set a hand on his shoulder.
"We're going to withdraw," Nanami said. "It's after six."
Shinji stared at him for a moment before sighing and nodding, the two of them turning and leaving the sewer through a nearby tunnel. They headed to a store nearby where Nanami headed to the bathroom to begin to tend to a gash in his side, Shinji buying several snacks. As he was walking toward the front, however, he was passing a shelf displaying small collectible figurines from an anime called Bleach. Immediately, his right hand snapped out, grabbing two boxes. One of them was a figurine of a white-skinned, demonic-looking character with long horns, long orange hair, and arms identical to Shinji's right. The other figurine was of a character with white skin except for black legs that might have been fur, bat wings, black hair to his shoulders, green lines under his eyes like tear troughs, and a glowing green arrow in his hand.
"Oh, it's them," Shinji sighed, walking to the cash register and setting his haul down.
The cashier rang up the items and Shinji paid, opening one of his snacks as he headed outside, sitting on a bench with his shopping bag. A few minutes later, Ijichi, the staff assistant helping Nanami, arrived, alongside Yuji Itadori.
"Who are you?" Itadori asked, staring at Shinji's arm as Shinji ate the last of his snacks.
"My name's Shinji," Shinji said, his right arm picking up the bag with the figurines in it. "It's good to finally meet you in person, Yuji Itadori, vessel of Sukuna."
Itadori's eyes widened instantly, and he began to panic. He wore the usual Jujutsu Tech uniform, but with a hooded red undershirt below his jacket, pink hair messy on top of his head and shaved on the sides, and a pair of small slits under his eyes, which if Shinji remembered properly, were a second set of eyes when Sukuna was in control.
"I don't know what you're-"
"I work for Gojo," Shinji interrupted Itadori, just as his right arm reached toward him, only for Shinji to slap it. "Stop it."
Itadori raised an eyebrow just as Nanami arrived. The two of them got into the car, and Shinji handed Ijichi a slip of paper with his address, Ijichi dropping him off first, then heading back to Jujutsu High. Shinji headed inside, opening the figurines boxes and allowing his right arm to place the two in their spots of honor at the forefront of its now complete collection. Then, he walked over and sat down on the couch, opening his laptop and typing on the keyboard. A moment later, an episode of Bleach loaded, currently paused about halfway through.
"You have one hour," Shinji said.
Instantly, in a wave starting at the division between his normal arm and the Curse Arm, the rest of his body began to transform. Within seconds, he'd become an exact replica of the demonic figure the Curse Arm had grabbed off of the shelf, its favorite character in Bleach, the anime with which it was obsessed. This was the true nature of Shinji's Curse Technique. He had none. He had no Curse Energy. He simply had a mostly docile Curse fused to his soul. The Curse had willingly fused their souls by giving its arm as a prosthetic, with Nanami lending his blade to speed up the process and make the separations identical and clean, as opposed to the Curse ripping both arms off and trying to patchwork them together. Now, Shinji could use most of the Curse's abilities, but in exchange, he had to do a favor for the Curse. Once a week, it had to be allowed one hour to watch Bleach, its favorite anime. The reason behind its appearance, however, was the main ability that Shinji lacked. It was a shapeshifter Curse, and once it was obsessed with Bleach, specifically with the character it copied, it shapeshifted into him. Shinji didn't mind the time limit requirement or the obsession with Bleach. As long as it wasn't hurting anyone, he was satisfied.
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