I do not own Jujutsu Kaisen or any of the characters.
Zenin
Shinji leaned against the wall, remaining silent. He'd chosen not to go and meet Tengen with the others, because he'd felt Yuma trying to resist entering the seal. Instead, he was in the room where they'd met Maki, who had a little of her hair regrown by Shoko Ieri, the Tokyo school's doctor, by way of the Reversed Curse Technique, and Yuki Tsukumo, the Special Grade Sorcerer with the dragonfly Shikigami who had shown up to help them while he was fighting Uraume. Kasumi had also stayed with him and was sitting off to the side with her new sword, a gift from Maki. It was a katana, and while not a very powerful Cursed Tool, only being ranked as Second Grade, its one ability was that the blade hardened considerably when imbued with a stockpile of Cursed Energy, as Kasumi was down now. How much of the stockpile was used would depend on the strength of impact against the sword, but until the stockpile was emptied, the sword couldn't be broken.
"How long do you think they'll be?" Kasumi asked, sheathing the sword.
"I'm not sure," Shinji said, pushing off the wall and walking over to a couch, dropping heavily onto it. "I miss the simpler times, like that brief stint during the Exchange Event where all we had to worry about was competing to kill more weak Cursed Spirits than each other."
"So do I," Kasumi agreed, sitting beside him. "But we'll get back there eventually."
Shinji snorted. "Even if we bring about peace and kill Kamo, I doubt they'll let me compete again, especially if the higher ups are still alive. You'll be allowed to compete, but if I did, it'd be me, Itadori, and Okkotsu all on the same side against Todo on your side."
"And me," Kasumi said. "Next time there's an Exchange Event, I expect a rematch for last time."
Shinji chuckled, nodding. "Deal. And I'll try not to humiliate you too bad."
Kasumi laughed. "I'll try not to bruise too much of your pride, then."
Shinji smiled as she laughed again, but as her laughter tapered off, his eyes flicked down to her lips for the briefest of moments. He could tell Kasumi was lost in thought about something, and he was pretty sure his method of healing her when she'd saved his life. Finally, he risked leaning forward, and Kasumi did the same. However, just before they met in the middle, the doors into the room opened, and both pulled back hurriedly, looking around at it. Kugisaki stormed in, looking around before rounding on Shinji and Kasumi.
"Where are they!?" Kugisaki demanded.
"Meeting with Tengen," Shinji sighed. "They're trying to find out about Kamo."
"Then why the hell didn't they take me!?" Kugisaki demanded.
"We couldn't look for you without risking letting the higher-ups know that Shinji and Itadori are still alive," Fushiguro said.
"That's not an excuse!" Kugisaki snapped.
"We're sorry, alright?" Fushiguro asked, then sighed heavily. "Anyway, we found out a lot."
"Let's hear it," Shinji said.
"Firstly, Noritoshi Kamo's real name is Kenjaku, and he's as old as Sukuna, and apparently was somehow involved with him a long time ago," Fushiguro said. "Tengen says he plans to forcibly fuse all humans all over the world with Tengen, who's both closer to a Cursed Spirit than a human and is susceptible to Cursed Spirit Manipulation, and who also is somehow connected to the entire world or something like that, so he can be merged with the whole planet. If that happens, Cursed Spirits will appear all over the world. The Culling Game is basically to make it easier to merge Tengen with everyone.
"The second thing we found out is that the Prison Realm has a back door, but in order to open it, we need either the Inverted Spear of Heaven, which Gojo either sealed away or broke, or something called Black Rope, which Gojo destroyed, or someone who's competing in the Culling Game, who has a Cursed Technique that allows her to block other Cursed Techniques. The last thing we found out were the rules for the Culling Game."
"What are they?" Kasumi asked.
Fushiguro listed them. Basically, what it boiled down to was simple. Compete or die. Declare that you'll be competing and where within nineteen days or die. Kill people or die. Gather points for killing people. If you spend enough points, you can add a new rule. If you aren't a Jujutsu Sorcerer and you enter one of the barriers forming the battlefields of the Culling Game, you qualify as a player and are subject to the rules. The plan everyone was currently operating under was to gather enough points to add a rule protecting anyone who refused to participate, as well as Tsumiki Fushiguro.
"Okay," Shinji nodded. "How are we all preparing?"
"Maki is heading for the Zenin clan to gather Cursed Tools, since they cleaned out all of the school storehouses," Fushiguro said. "Okkotsu is going to register early for a game to try and learn everything he can about the games. Choso and Tsukumo both stayed with Tengen to be his bodyguards. Me and Itadori are heading to find one of the Tokyo third-years who was suspended. Okkotsu says he's stronger than he is when he wants to be, but Maki disagrees."
"I see," Shinji nodded. "Can Maki really beat the entire Zenin clan alone?"
"I don't know," Fushiguro said. "She's strong, but the Zenin clan is one of the Big Three families for a reason."
Shinji nodded. "I'm going to lend her a hand, then."
Fushiguro sighed. "The higher-ups are going to instantly know you're alive."
"Not if I look like this," Shinji said, focusing.
Starting from his right arm, his skin darkened slightly, then his hair turned dark green like Maki and Mai's before lengthening and tying itself into a ponytail. His eyes lightened to sky blue, and his face elongated slightly.
"You can shape-shift?" Fushiguro asked.
"Yuma's Innate Technique is Memory Replication," Shinji explained. "It allows us to use our Cursed Energy projections, but it also allows him to shape-shift our body into any form we can remember with detail."
Fushiguro nodded. "Alright, then. Maki should be on her way to the main gate. Is your right arm still..."
"Yes," Shinji nodded. "Yuma's. Just disguised."
Fushiguro nodded, and Shinji and Kasumi passed them, heading up to the gate and meeting Maki just inside it. After a brief explanation of who Shinji was, they led her out of sight of everyone before Shinji and Yuma placed their hands over the back of Maki's head.
"So, what are you about to do?" Maki asked.
"Altar the shape of your soul slightly," Shinji said. "It's not Idle Transfiguration, so it's not as fast, and it's also painful, but it works. It's how I gave Kasumi a boost in her total Cursed Energy and also gave her an Innate Technique."
"I don't want that," Maki said. "I want to stay the way I am to spit in the Zenin clan's eye."
"I know," Shinji said. "I'm not going to alter your Cursed Energy potential any. I'm going to give you a boost on the opposite end. You won't be Toji Fushiguro, or Zenin, or whatever his last name was, but you will be faster and stronger than you are now."
Maki nodded, and Shinji and Yuma began to apply Cursed Energy and Reverse Cursed Energy together. It was a slow process, but through the entire five minutes, Maki didn't flinch or make a sound. Once they were done, she stood, lifting the weapon she had with er, which was entirely bound in bandages, and held out a Japanese broadsword with red wrappings around the grip and a fur tsuba.
"Can't have you using your projections," Maki explained.
Shinji nodded, accepting the weapon, and set the blunt back edge on his shoulder as he and Kasumi followed Maki to the Zenin clan's home.
"I was wondering who that could be," a familiar arrogant voice spoke up from the doorway as they entered, Shinji and Kasumi both recognizing Naoya instantly, though Naoya showed no sign of recognizing Kasumi. "You look better with longer hair, Maki. But I suppose you're just lucky your burns didn't leave wounds. So, what are you doing here?"
"So, you really can tell women apart by their faces," Maki said. "I thought you only looked at their asses."
"I asked what you're doing here," Naoya repeated, his patience and pleasant tone both gone. "Answer me, trash. And also, who the fuck are you two? Wait, the chick with the blue hair looks familiar."
"We're friends of Maki's," Shinji said, stepping forward and partially blocking his view of Kasumi while also getting his attention. "We're here on the Clan Head's orders. We've come to collect a few things."
Maki held up the key to the storeroom on a ring. "Stay out of our way."
Naoya made no move to stop them as they passed through the room, and Maki led them through the Zenin family's home to a passageway in the basement. As they walked along, they passed Maki's mother, who begged her to make her feel proud for once, but Maki ignored her. A few minutes later, they stepped into the storeroom, only to stop, finding Mai lying on the floor of the empty room, an older man sitting in front of her, glaring at Maki. Shinji recognized Maki's father, Ogi Zenin.
"There are no Cursed Tools here, Maki," the man said. "I anticipated your move and disposed of them."
"Why did you come here...you idiot!" Mai rasped from the floor.
"Maki?" Shinji asked.
"Maki, you are to be executed for the crime of plotting to free Satoru Gojo from his seal," the man said, gripping his sword as Cursed Energy condensed around his body.
Maki shed the bandages from around her sword, a thick, single-edged blade with three openings in the back of the blade, a mechanical-looking hilt above the grip, the grip covered by stitched-together, tanned flesh, a short length of ribbon attached to the end of the hilt, and the blade dark, then lighter along the temper line. Shinji nodded, lifting his sword's blade off of his shoulder and readying himself as Kasumi gripped her own sword.
"My fight," Maki said. "You two handle any reinforcements that show up."
Both nodded, turning so they could watch for reinforcements and also watch the progression of the battle.
"Do you know why my older brother was chosen as the head instead of me?" Maki's father asked.
"It's because you're a real piece of shit who doesn't mind killing his own children, right?" Maki asked.
Both struck instantly, but after the first two clashes, Cursed Energy exploded from the holes on the back of the blade, smashing through her father's. Then, when she spun around him and moved to strike, he spun, flames reforming the broken blade before he slashed, splitting her abdomen open.
"The reason I couldn't become head was because you two were nothing but failures," the man said as Maki collapsed.
"Maki!" Shinji said.
"Stay out of this!" Maki's father snarled, holding his sword in Shinji's direction.
"I don't think so," Shinji growled. "Now it's my turn."
Her father narrowed his eyes and Shinji lunged, slashing. Their blades clashed rapidly, but after a few moments, Shinji moved to block Ogi's blade, making him prepare for it, only to then slip under it and spin, slamming a kick into Ogi's gut. He sailed backward, flipping partway down the hallway before landing on his feet in time to block Shinji's broadsword's blade, then leapt backward away from the one Shinji's grabbed off of the ground beside Maki, Dragon-bone. This time, Ogi flipped over the edge of a set of stairs, landing at the bottom, Shinji stepping up to the top, the blades out to his sides. All around the room, in small gaps in the walls, Cursed Spirits began to speak in fragmented phrases as they always did, though they remained hidden.
"You're not bad," Ogi said. "But you've made a single mistake."
"What's that?" Shinji asked.
"You left Maki and Mai to be protected by no one but a half-baked Kyoto child who only knows a Simple Domain and a single New Shadow Style strike," Ogi said. "You're going to lose both your friends, Shinji Ichinose."
"How'd you know," Shinji asked.
"Kasumi being here gave it away," Ogi said.
Shinji nodded, then whistled two short notes as he turned to walk away. Instantly, all of the Curses flooded inward. Ogi swore harshly as Shinji sprinted back through the hallway, finding Kasumi giving Mai chest compressions as Maki stood beside them with a new sword, one which looked nearly identical to the one she'd given Shinji but with a straight blade rather than gently curved like Shinji's. At a glance he could tell that sword was vastly stronger. Shinji held Dragon-Bone out to her, and she accepted it.
"He's being kept busy by weak Cursed Spirits," Shinji said. "It won't last. Finish what you started."
Maki nodded, but as she began to leave, Yuma caught her by the arm, then paced a hand over her wound, healing her. "Thank you."
Shinji nodded, and she continued walking, heading for the room where Shinji had left Ogi.
"I can't help her," Kasumi finally said, tears rolling down her cheeks. "She's gone. Unless...can you or Yuma..."
Shinji shook his head. "She made that sword for Maki, right?"
Kasumi nodded.
Shinji nodded. "She burned her own life as the fuel source for it. There's nothing either of us can do."
Kasumi nodded, wiping her eyes as the thunder of running feet began to reach their ears from down the hallway the opposite direction of Maki and Ogi. "Speaking of healing, I thought you could only heal by kissing, but you healed Maki without."
"I didn't," Shinji said. "That was Yuma. He has a thing for you and her both."
Kasumi rolled her eyes, gripping her sword as Zenin guards rounded the corner at the far end of the passageway. "Here they come."
"Yeah," Shinji said. "Think it's safe for me to use my projections now that we're going to kill them all?"
"I'd avoid it if you can," Kasumi said.
Shinji nodded and both started forward.
"Who are they?" one of the couple dozen guards asked.
"Get out of the way, or we'll be forced to execute you!" the next shouted.
"Maki just killed Ogi Zenin," Shinji said calmly. "She's in the Cursed Spirit pit. Feel free to go after her."
The first handful of guards moved to pass Shinji and Kasumi, only for Shinji's blade to split one across the torso as Kasumi's sword flashed out so violently that it spun her in a circle, splitting two of them at the waist, her spin stopping as Shinji's sword arced back down through the fourth guard's torso in a deep gash. The others retreated a few feet as Shinji rested his sword on his shoulder, Kasumi sheathing her sword.
"What are you doing!?" one of the guards demanded.
"What?" Shinji asked. "All I said was that you're free to go after Maki. Did I say anything about letting you past us without a fight?"
The guards all roared in rage, charging, but as they did, Kasumi and Shinji exploded forward. Kasumi used her Batto Sword Drawing in time with a lung to slash the first she reached before he could react. Then, she began to move rapidly, avoiding strikes and slashing back without needing to block anything. Shinji hummed thoughtfully as he noticed a vast difference in her skills now as opposed to a handful of days ago. He himself was slightly enjoying using the sword in place of his projections. It wasn't his favorite weapon, but when he added his own strength to the sword's size and weight, he was able to slash through the guards' katana. Just as he and Kasumi had finished a little less than half of the guards, however, someone passed them in a blur and shredded the last of the guards with ease. Then, just as she landed on her feet, the ground exploded. Shinji grabbed Kasumi and escaped, barely, but Maki failed to escape the massive stone hands that exploded from the ground and clapped, attempting to crush her between them.
"The Hei is here," Shinji said. "The Zenin clan's elite guards who are all Semi Grade One sorcerers and above."
"We can take them," Kasumi said.
"You misunderstand the situation," Shinji said. "Maki's going to absolutely slaughter them. She's the new Toji Fushiguro."
Kasumi's eyes widened just as Maki exploded free of the hands, completely unscathed. Then, the slaughter fest began. One of the Hei trapped her in a Curse Technique involving his eyes, but by the time one of the strongest in the Zenin clan reached her, she'd broken free, ruining the Technique user's eyes, then killed the stronger one. She killed the one who'd tried to trap her as she passed him, then several more before Naoya appeared. For a moment, he had the advantage, but before Shinji and Kasumi could get worried, Maki had beaten him with a single, solid punch. Shinji and Kasumi walked over to join her, Shinji grabbing Dragon-Bone off of the ground on the way. When they reached her, she accepted the sword with a nod, and they headed back toward Jujutsu High.
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