Chapter 13

Trees. Trees so thick and dense that from the dinky little station that the train had stopped, you could only see the green of leaves clustered together like a flock of children hiding something. I dug out my phone, wincing at the lack of service before shuffling a bit farther down the concrete slab. There had to be service closer to the little overhang area, and cracked stairs leading up into the ticketing area.

Somewhere between my second step and my third, Nanami's fingers snag into the belt at my waist, jerking me to an abrupt and ungraceful stop. His face is all sternness when he tows me back to him, his hold gentle enough to not force the fabric too deep into my hips but firm enough to know that taking it off would be the only alternative.

"Where are you going?" Behind him, I see Gojo flipping the lid of a trashcan absently, his face suspiciously blank. He has to be eavesdropping.

"I need to call the shop." I hold out my phone, hopefully showing him the dismal bar left alive. Those grim brows dip even further, his shoulders rolling a bit as he tugs me close enough that I can feel the skim of his suit jacket press into the fabric of my clothes. My heart gives a silly squeeze, wiggling around inside my chest like a lovesick puppy. I wonder how long it takes to get over a crush like this? "There was supposed to be a delivery today and-"

"And you didn't tell your workers that you would be gone the rest of the day?"

There we go, I think, temper flaring as I yank my phone away from him and to my chest. Crush eliminated. But I can still smell the strange cloying sweetness that seems to cling to him, the smell of crushed coffee beans dulling slightly after the long ride. And my heart still feels half-pressed to pulp.

His head tips to the side as he watches me fume, those fingers at my belt curling to get a better hold. "You won't get service until we get to the main schoolhouse." His eyes ticked over me quickly, calculating something before he decided to poke some more. "Don't trust the people you work with?"

"I do," I force out, teeth gritted. "I just like to check in."

"You like to micro-manage," he observed, his voice softening into a lilting tease.

"You like to nitpick," I shot back. "It's none of your business-"

"Not entirely right," he drawled out, and I felt my blood pressure creep a bit higher at the nonchalance that had entered his voice. "You made it my business-"

"When you decided to stick your nose into something that wasn't any of your concern the first time-"

His eyes flashed a hard ebony. "I was referring to the second time - when you decided to fling yourself inside of a curse-infested abandoned building."

Oh.

Right.

Yes. That had been my fault.

I straightened my shoulders, forcing flippancy into my spine. Like hell, I was going to admit that now. "You could have let me die."

Pure, unrefined fury heated his gaze, that blood vessel in his jaw on full display now as he glared down at me. I could nearly feel it rolling off of him, his whole body vibrating with silent rage. Oh my, he didn't like that one bit.

"I'd sooner cut off my right hand."

It was so quick, so low that I thought for a moment that I had missed it. I blinked up at him, watching him turn away and head to Gojo with me still firmly in tow behind him. I replayed the moment back again, second-guessing myself. I had to have heard it wrong.

"Is Ijichi still coming?"

My eyes burned against the glare of the sun, the station located at the top of the bowl that made up most of the mountainous area. From here, I could make out nothing but a small dirt path that looked dreadful and the overwhelming display of greenery. I couldn't imagine a school being here. My gaze flicked to Nanami. Then again, I couldn't imagine a lot of things before a week ago.

A strange, herbal scent drifted to me, a tang of smoke deepening the smell until I couldn't help but turn my head a bit to try and get a better read on it. Odd. My mother had burned sage and lavender bundles in her tiny apartment up until the moment of her death. Sage to cleanse the house of bad spirits or intentions and lavender to promote peace and happiness in their lives. Now I could smell - just as strong as the days when I had come home and found her in the middle of praying over the area around the front door, her brow knit in concentration.

My head tipped this way and that, trying to determine where it was coming from. "What's that smell?"

Nanami's eyes slid to me, his brow knitting as I took a step forward, the need to find where it was coming from blooming into a push inside of my gut. This mattered, a small voice in the back of my head whispered to me. My eyes scanned the deserted area around the train station - nothing but grass and gravel and trees, trees, trees.

"Minato." There was a sharp warning in Nanami's voice that sent a thrill through my gut. Like he was getting irritated. What would that look like? Not his normal annoyance that he kept at his shoulders like the buzz of a mosquito but the real anger - the real rage that seemed to be just below the surface. The normal deep drawl of his voice when a shade rough, more of a warning seeping in. "Minato, you're doing unnecessary things again."

My boots crunched into the gravel, my knees giving a mutter of displeasure at jumping off of the higher concrete slab. At the deep, exasperated sigh from behind me, a deep sense of satisfaction burst through me.

The scent of burning sage deepened. Here. There was something here.

A low whistle burst out from behind me, Gojo's voice lowered with dull sarcasm. "She's quite a handful." I could almost see the side-long look he was casting the blonde-haired man. "You've never been one who particularly liked to put effort into bothersome things, darling."

Silence, so noxious that I could feel it press against my leg filled the end of that sentence.

I stared hard at the space in front of me. Nothing there. Nothing was there.

So why did it feel like there was?

My fingers crept out, grasping at the air like I was wrinkling up a skirt, pulling the fabric this way and that. More smoke. I coughed, my mouth filling with saliva. It was so thick all around me that my eyes gave a burn of discomfort, watering.

Nothing was there, but something was.

"A wall?" I questioned, feeling the buzz of something other just at my fingertips. I shut my eyes, the feeling heightening instantly.

A wall, the voice inside of me repeated as my hand flattened, pressing along the beating, quiet beast just beneath my skin.

"Well now," Gojo murmured, his voice slippery like wet steel. "Isn't that new."

Tires bit into rocks and dirt, and the quiet of the forest and the distant roar of trains cut through with the very close sound of a car rolling forward. My eyes snapped open, head jerking to the side just in time to see a slim, black car pull forward through the tree line and up the winding path to stop just a few feet from me. A lean man with sunken cheeks and dreary eyes stared at me from within the safety of the car, his square-framed glasses sliding slowly down the straight bridge of his nose as I watched. Thick, black hair parted harshly down the middle of his head, strands coming forward to curve along his temple. He looked like a raincloud-made human.

"Enough experimenting!" Gojo crowed, hopping from the platform with a smug tip to his lips. "There'll be plenty of time to take you all apart and look at your insides later."

I cringed at the mental image, my eyes zipping to Nanami for confirmation or denial. His eyes scanned over me slowly from the tips of my toes all the way to my hair. It felt…different. Like he was logging things away, carefully, painstakingly. There was something in his eyes in that moment that made me pause, Gojo's words flying away. His eyes caught mine and held as he slipped from the platform and made his way to me.

He stopped just in front of me, the tips of his leather shoes meeting mine. He was so encompassing in that moment; my breath held as I watched him lean a bit down so that he wasn't towering over me too much.

"What you did just now?" His voice was low, so low that I knew that the words were only meant for me. His eyes pierced me, all seriousness. "Don't do that again while you're here."

I gulped, uncertainty bubbling up inside of me. "What did I do?"

His eyes bit into me, ticking across my face in a considering sweep before his jaw tightened. Nanami had looked at me like that a lot. Like he was displeased. I didn't entirely think it was with me either. "You just touched the barrier around Jujutsu High."

His eyes cut me to my very core. It didn't sound like that big of a deal. Insignificant. Nanami could wield cursed energy like a yo-yo. He could do so much more than that. Why did touching it matter? I fumbled with my uncertainty, wrestling with the conflicting questions and theories.

Nanami didn't wait for me to come to a conclusion, stepping back so that he could brush past me and to the car.

My fingers whipped out, curling into his sleeve before I could think. Ebony eyes clashed with mine, his lips parting slightly at the unexpected touch. "I-" My fingers clenched, unwilling to let go of him when I had his attention like this. "That can't mean all that much. You knew about it-"

He shook his head, the skin around his eyes creasing. "Exactly. I know. But barriers like this one are meant to go unseen. The barrier around Jujutsu High isn't something that a harmless baker would be able to pick up within the first 5 minutes of being on the grounds. You just did something that makes you very, very interesting." His eyes searched mine, seeing if his words had sunk in. My head was a tidal wave of different thoughts. The truth was that I didn't want to be interesting. Interesting sounded like a long-lasting situation. "You know what that means."

I knew that if I had done that in front of whoever we were going to see, it would mean that my situation was evolving. I'd no longer just be the little human who could miraculously see curses anymore. Now I would be the little human who could see curses and magical barriers that were meant to be hidden.

"It means I shouldn't do that again," I breathed, stilling as he turned fully back to me, his eyes trapping me. He was suddenly too close, his shoulders hunching in a way that made me only able to see him. My thoughts scattered, becoming blurry and distant as his eyes dipped to my lips before slowly moving back up to my eyes. I swallowed again, mouth suddenly dry.

"Not while you here," he repeated and I nodded.

"Not while I'm here." My eyes inadvertently dipped, skimming across the hard line of his nose and down to the full shape of his lips. I wondered how they would taste? If he would let me kiss him? Would he stand there or would he yank me to him?

My breath stuttered out, shock making it hard to breathe as one of his hands came up to gently cup the back of my nape. A shiver jolted down my spine, heat spiking through me furiously. His fingers curled easily around the vulnerable skin there. It was nothing more than flesh against flesh - a reminder of some sort even though I had no clue of what. His dark gaze burned into mine, his thumb dragging along the side of my neck in one slow maddening sweep. "Not while you're here."

He held me for a moment longer, his eyes dipping down once more, gaze going heavy as he stared at the way his hand curved around my throat.

And then he was stepping back, all contact gone in an instant as he walked briskly over to where Gojo was talking with the man who I could only assume was Ijichi that had mentioned before. My head was a swirling mess, skin hot. What the hell had that been? I blinked, dazed, the gravel beneath the rubber heels of my boots blurring into a stream of browns.

I shook myself. Whatever that had been, this wasn't the time or the place. Nanami seemed oddly on edge for someone who spent most of his time here. Brushing a quick hand through my bangs, I strode a bit closer to the car.

"I don't want to sit in the front," Gojo was saying, his head tipped to the side in what could only be described as a targeted attempt to rile Nanami whose face had gone decidedly blank, all of the strange heat from only a few seconds ago gone.

"We've talked about your incessant need for human contact, Gojo," Nanami breathed. They were standing just beside the open back door, Gojo's lean body already curled halfway into getting inside. My brain caught and snagged suddenly on the way that Nanami had said Gojo's name. He had used honorifics.

"You're older," I blurted out, shell-shocked. Three pairs of eyes whipped around to me, Nanam's brows bunching while the white-haired man's went up. His smile slipped a little as he noticed my bewildered expression. Nanami had to be at least mid-thirties. The gangly, goofy man right in front of him couldn't be more than early twenties. I stared at the lines of his face hard, trying to see past the smooth, flawless skin.

A sly, knowing look tilted up Gojo's lips, his teeth flashing as he resituated himself so that he was leaning over the open door, his face coming a bit too close to mine. "How old do you think Nanami is, Minato?"

That seemed like a trap question. A very rude one with no right answer. My eyes bounced to the man in question, anxiety rising at the deceptively blank planes of his face. His arms folded smoothly over his chest, accentuating the broad, muscular splay of his chest. I didn't want to answer that. On my other side, Ijichi coughed, light and pointedly embarrassed on my behalf.

"Older than you," I finally forced out, flinching as Gojo gave a hoot right into my face.

He leaned back, fingers splayed across the top of the door as he rocked back on his heel. My stomach lurched uncomfortably as his dark glasses slid down, revealing the blindingly beautiful blue of his eyes as he giggle. "It's my night routine. Moisturizing is key."

My eyes darted to the dirt, unhappiness rolling around inside of me for a moment, before I blurted out: "Nanami has good skin too." Heat seared my face, the silence overwhelming. Why had I said that? He hadn't needed me to defend him. I needed to speak - to explain - to just fill the air so that they wouldn't be able to think too long on the first bit that I said. "And he's - his - um - He's very handsome." Why did I say that? My eyes widened, unable to look away from the gravel at my boot. "I - I mean -"

Nanami Kento was the most handsome man I had ever been forced into the same space with. I had had a crush on him for months now. In all honesty, I should have been more surprised that all of this hadn't come spilling out before this.

No one was saying anything. I felt the uncomfortable swell of words pressing at my throat. I was about to vomit out more-

"And he's capable. And mature." I flinched, utterly mortified. Stop talking stop talking stop talking. "And he always noticed when I changed anything in his favorite sandwich."

Silence. I shut my eyes, curling my lips in like that would seal away anything else from coming out. I had just… If Nanami had any confusion about how I felt about him, I highly doubted there would be a single misconception after this. I wanted to die. Capable guys like Nanami Kento had girls lining up around the corner. Capable guys like Nanami Kento went to black tie events and talked about investments in cafes like the one we had gone to today. Capable guys like Nanami Kento didn't waste time on normal, unremarkable women like me.

My eyes refused to look away from the dirt. I couldn't feel Nanami's gaze on me, but I couldn't bear to look up. I had just embarrassed myself in front of three virtual strangers.

"Well." I hated the drawl in Gojo's voice, the gleeful edge. "That was enlightening." Feet shuffled in front of me. "I am in fact 28 and the handsome, capable man over there is 27."

I would have punched him straight through the solo plexus if my brain wasn't spinning from the sudden information. My head whipped around, eyes connecting suddenly with Nanami's, a bemused expression darkening his eyes. 28? He was 28? That was only two years older than me. I had assumed that he was at least 10 - I blushed, something about the curl of his lips suddenly sinking in. He was looking at me like he was seeing something that he wanted to take.

My skin felt too hot. I broke eye contact first, running away in no uncertain terms.

"So," I tripped over myself, needing to change the subject. "You just work for him? Even though he's younger?"

All traces of humor left Gojo's face with a quickness that made me wary. The laughter on his lips died, the lazy splay of his body over the door suddenly going rigid. Nanami let out a sharp, quick snort. My stomach dropped at the sound before shimmying up somewhere inside of my ribcage. It was a shock to hear him laugh even that little bit, my eyes jumping to watch as his hand went to his lips, the snort bursting across his knuckles.

I had said something wrong. They were colleagues. Or… Gojo didn't work for him. Not like that. I needed to stop speaking. Hadn't Nanami made me promise not to say anything. And I think my recent embarrassments were a demonstration on why.

Gojo suddenly and blissfully seemed to be at a loss for words, his face frozen in a look of utter loss. He looked like a doll ready for a reboot, those blue eyes dulling with the shock of it all.

"We're running behind," Nanami broke in, fully composed now. He strode forward, pushing Gojo's long body into the back with a shove to his face. That kind of force would have sent me crashing through the other side, but Gojo went like a wilted doll, his gangly angles folding like origami paper.

I went to get into the front, feeling a burst of unease at sitting next to the man who had come to pick us up. Should I say hello, I wondered awkwardly, buckling my seatbelt. It would be rude not to, right. Surely Nanami hadn't meant simply things like this. I glanced at the silent man in the back anyway, Gojo still relatively comatose beside him. With his white hair and pale skin, he looked like a discarded piece of paper.

"Hello." I gave a half-hearted bow in my seat, turning my body to face Ijichi as he started the car, his eyes darting to me in shock. "I'm-"

"Here for today and not coming back," Nanami cut me off, sending me a hard look. Right. He still wasn't a fan of the whole meeting-the-Jujutsu-family plan currently in effect. "You're doing unnecessary things again, Minato."

I sent him a withering glare. "Introducing yourself is a normal part of civilized culture."

I was surprised he didn't roll his eyes; his face was so unabashedly exasperated. "It's a waste of time. Especially when you're not going to ever see him again."

"I'll damn well give him my business card if I want to, Nanami," I hissed right back, fuming. Forget everything good I said about him. He was absolutely infuriating.

His eyes ticked over me slowly, something relaxing in his body as he sat a bit back. Somehow it made the car feel smaller, his head tipping backward and to the side in a way that sent a bolt of heat into my stomach. "You've been particularly bratty today."

I spluttered. No one had called me a brat since I was 10. I hissed out a snarl, my fingers clenching into fists so that I wouldn't reach back and strangle him. He was absolutely infuriating. He made my blood boil. Why did he have to be so hard-headed and rude and just ugh.

He watched my rage with quiet intensity, his eyes flicking here and there as if he were checking off boxes, mesmerizing spreadsheets. It felt like a test. One that I hadn't studied for and was completely unprepared for. It was the same look he had in the station when he said that he would punish me. The same one when he said good girl to me.

I hated feeling like I was in a maze with no clear direction, no plan or understanding of what was around me.

I whipped back around, breaking away from his eyes.

"I can't tell you my name," I bit out, enraged that I was unwilling to break a silent rule that he had made for me. But he knew what was happening. And I had no clue. I would be an idiot to throw away all of his warnings just to spite him. "But it's nice to meet you."

Ijichi's eyes flicked to me briefly, the car rolling through the poorly cleared road, through the dense forest. A blush marred the otherwise gaunt planes of his cheeks. "Hello." His voice cracked, those gloomy eyes darting back to me quickly and then away again. He bobbed his head in a sketch of a bow. "It's nice to meet you as well. My name is Kiyotaka Ijichi."

Awkwardly, I waited for more, smiling stiffly and bowing one more time as I realized that I wouldn't get one.

The road widened, giving way to a dirt path that looked a little smoother. Up ahead, I caught sight of a series of thin buildings all low to the ground and spread out so that trees could grow between like weeds. One massive, multi-story structure rose above the rest, the sun beating off windows that ringed every single floor.

It was still - so still even though the massiveness of it all seemed to suggest that hundreds of people should be milling about. The rank stench of sage hit my nose, the air low enough that it didn't do much more than making me cough.

"I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW-" Gojo suddenly burst, leaping forward in his seat like a toy that had suddenly had fresh batteries shoved into it. I jumped at the sudden action, knees slamming into the console in front of me.

"We're here," Nanami bit out, cutting Gojo off savagely. Another, stronger wave of burning sage hit my nose as he opened the door. "Don't waste time, Gojo."

My door swung open, Nanami's face tense as he glanced around at the empty campus, hand still on my door. I fumbled to undo my seatbelt, scrambling out. The scent was so bad no that I could barely take a breath without my eyes watering, my nostrils stinging. I shrunk lower in my sweater, bringing it up to press against my mouth and nose.

"It's back?" Nanami whispered, shutting my door and tugging one of my hands into the crook of his arm. I nodded, grateful for the grip. His face went even harder. "Remember what I told you. Second skin."

There was no way I was letting go of him now. We made our way quickly to the tallest building, Gojo's legs eating up the space so that he was right at my shoulder.

"I'll have you know," he whispered furiously. "That I am a pillar to this community."

My head throbbed as I dropped my sweater. It would be odd if anyone saw me walking up buried in my clothes. That might lead to questions that I didn't want.

"I have fought countless curses," he continued, and my head gave a throb. Nanami's breath side out of him, his side expanding deeply, skimming intimately along mine before he exhaled. "And rescued countless humans."

He paused. "And sorcerers."

Quiet. So quiet that the whisper of the cicadas sounded like an orchestra warming up, the trees the shuffle of people as they made their way to their seats. Dirt coated the buildings, leaves from the forest around making it feel more like an abandoned town than a working school with some of the most unique people I had ever come across.

"Do you want to see my powers?" Gojo demanded in a whisper. "I can show you my powers-"

"Mr. Pillar of the Community," I snapped, whipping around to glare up at him. "Please be quiet."

His mouth moved for one wordless moment before darting to Nanami. "She's been spending too much time with you already."

Nanami's face didn't so much as twitch. "What a shame." He guided me up to the door, holding it open for me to slip inside before him. "Come on, Minnow."

The room we entered was normal. Pathetically normal. Deceptively normal. It made my senses raise in alarm because it was so normal. No place that harbored people like Nanami should look like this - with two long couch the color of washed-out red, one sitting against a splay of windows, the other only a few feet from a dismal little coffee bar. A sad coffee table broke the space between the couches.

The whole area was old and sad… and looked exactly like any other school that I had ever walked into. It looked just like the gloomy break rooms that she had always seen her professors wallowing in on her way home.

But more than anything else, the most defining thing about this room was that it was empty.

I glanced at Nanami and Gojo, both of them towering over me. Was this another trick? Should I still stay quiet?

Gojo let out a long sigh. "We should have been late."

Nanami didn't answer right away, ushering me to the sofa not against the windows with a gentle hand to the small of my back. "My shift ends at 7," he drawled, his wrist flicking as he took in the face of his watch. "We're leaving then."

Gojo let out a whistle, leaning back against the coffee counter, his spiky hair brushing the cabinets just behind. "Decrepit bastards."

My eyes flicked around once more. Nanami's hulking form took up a decent section of the couch, his thighs grazing mine as he pulled a newspaper off the table and flicked it open.

"I don't understand," I whispered, a shiver of pure serotonin shooting through my veins as his eyes flicked from the paper in his hands. I liked the way Nanami looked at me whenever I spoke. Like he was actually listening. To everything I said, no matter if he knew the answer already or not. "I thought we were meeting with some sort of committee."

Gojo snorted behind us, and I glanced over to take in his lazy smirk. "You're not meeting with a committee, darling. You won't be discussing plans. You won't be negotiating. The committee has already met. They're just coming to tell you what that want."

Nanami's eyes ticked to the clock on the wall almost impatiently. It was 30 minutes to 7. His jaw tightened. "They like to make you wait. It's some pathetic power play that they haven't let go of." A muscle in his jaw jumped. "One that I'm growing tired of."

I really wanted to add the committee meeting but this baby somehow got to 12 pages. So looks like we'll just be doing a real long one next time too. Next chapter will contain smut - just a warning~ If you're not into it, don't read it.