It is a bit of an experience to wake up to someone watching your face like a hawk.

That is an understatement.

It is not quite an experience to wake up and see Uchiha Obito stare at you in the face as it is a phenomenon.

Waking up with bleary eyes and seeing two red haze flickering at you from above, its shape twisting and warping. Red like blood, the kind that's fresh from your wound. Seeping out from beneath torn skin. It's the dangerous kind of red, the kind that promises bloodshed and pain, but it's also terribly beautiful. The kind that's similar to the flowers that'll lead you to the afterlife.

There's something spinning in them, eerie and fascinating all in one breath. Making you want to recoil but also lean closer to observe their pattern and watch them in motion for an eternity and then some.

And then there's Uchiha Obito.

On its face is a smile.

It's not quite like any other Yuuji has seen from the curse. It's not quite the caustic expression that Yuuji is familiar with, nor a smile tinged with nostalgia. But rather it is just that-

A smile.

And that feels wrong, somehow. Just as it feels right in equal measures.

It feels like Yuuji isn't meant to be seeing this. Something about this feels awfully wrong and Yuuji can't put a finger on what and he's not quite sure how to tell Uchiha Obito to stop smiling and he's not quite sure why he wants Uchiha Obito to stop smiling in the first place.

It makes his head ache with something terrible.

"Itadori," Uchiha Obito says for a greeting, it's a familiar cadence. Yuuji can recognize its voice. He remembers it. It fits, it matches his memory but at the same time it does not. There's something there that he can't quite put a finger on no matter how much he pushes and prods his own memory for an answer. It feels wrong and he's not surewhy.

It's the same raspy cadence, the same harsh tonation. But at the same time it's almost light. Under any other circumstances Yuuji would call Uchiha Obito light hearted, perhaps labeling it as being in a good mood.

But that doesn't feel right.

"That's me," Yuuji replies, itching to- to what?- observing Uchiha Obito more than he ever did before. Something telling him tolookand never look away.

"Good morning," Uchiha Obito says, there's a lilt to its words that, if Yuuji didn't know any better and if this wasn't Uchiha Obito he was talking to, Yuuji would label as 'cheerful.' But it's not quite that, either, it's off by half a beat. Something underlying its tone that makes it decidedly more.

It's notnotcheerful. But that's not quite it either and Yuuji's brain still can't wrap around the idea that Uchiha Obito can be cheerful of all things, let alone the revelation that Uchiha Obito may be a morning bird.

Yuuji shrugs casually. His mind still leaden with sleep and his eyes threatening to shut but for some reason his heart is beating faster than it ever has before, his feet readying for flight and his hands are readying themselves to clench together.

Yuuji is torn between both. He's not quite sure what to make of this.

Uchiha Obito's eyes are red and Yuuji isn't sure what to make of it. Perhaps that's what is off about this whole ordeal. It's the fact that it's red and shining bright, like a lighthouse off a stormy coast. A beacon within a dark night, just like now.

It's not something good though, not something that inspires hope, but rather it's more a warning siren. It's the thing where bugs are only bright if they're poisonous, or something like that. Warning you to not touch, to not look, lest you befall under their lethality.

It's that kind of warning, that kind of pressure.

It's the kind of threat that's left implied but is no less lethal for it.

Yuuji hadn't quite seen Uchiha Obito's eyes when they're like this, just conversing. To think of it, Yuuji hadn't quite recalled Uchiha Obito's eyes outside of combat at all.

Uchiha Obito's eyes are usually the solid kind of black, the kind that's lulling and calm, in equal measures. Making you think Uchiha Obito human until you put a hand over its chest and realize it has no heartbeat at all.

(Or does it? Uchiha Obito is the closest thing to a sorcerer turned curse that Yuuji has a chance to interact with outside of battle and he isn't quite sure whether Uchiha Obito is still mimicking the motions of life. Whether its heart is still beating just as it continues to blink, as though its eyes can feel dry.

As though its eyes weren't just another fragment of cursed energy, made in human form.

Yuuji wonders what's worse, whether Uchiha Obito's heart remains still as a grave, or whether it continues to beat, as though reaching for a life that it can never get back.

Will that be me someday? Yuuji can't help but wonder, will he be standing in Uchiha Obito's grave? Will his heart be a painful reminder or an aching pain that he can't wash off?

If he puts his own hand over his heart-

Will it, too, beat?

Yuuji doesn't want to know this. He doesn't want to contemplate this. He doesn't want to confront it at all.

He doesn't even know how he feels about dying before reaching university.

He can't even fathom the reality that he might have to live past a century.)

So Yuuji wonders and wonders but he does not ask.

Asking makes it feel real somehow, makes it cemented. It makes it real that one day Yuuji is either going to die before he has even reached his prime or that he's going to live on as something everyone will despise.

It's a childish notion, he knows. But he can't help himself but wants to cover his own ears and block out his thoughts entirely. Yanking his hands back from wanting to touch upon Uchiha Obito's chest and see whether there's an artificial heart lying beneath.

Confronting it makes it real.

It's like with time or birthdays, it's like when you're suddenly attending your own birthday at sixteen and you're faced with the impending crisis that you're growing older and that there's no stopping the time that's in motion. It's like that. It's that kind of dread, that kind of thing. It's the kind of thing that Yuuji doesn't know how to process, let alone want to confront.

So he tosses it away, to an improbable 'after.' To the execution that'll arrive. He'll confront it then, when he's on death's door. So that there's no chance to process anything then. To think about what it means to die before he can experience even one third of his life.

"You're afraid," Uchiha Obito notes, terribly observant and terribly blunt. Its voice is choppy, in a way. Patchwork word and stitched together syllables. "Not of me."

It's stated like he's a curiosity. With an arched brow that's a bit too high to be Uchiha Obito but somehow just matches.

And it's true, Yuuji is not quite afraid of Uchiha Obito as he is afraid of becoming Uchiha Obito.

It's cruel to think about, let alonespeakaloud. So Yuuji simply doesn't. He simply shrugs in a motion that he hopes is casual enough to fool Uchiha Obito's eyes, but he really doubts it. Uchiha Obito is similar to Gojo-sensei in a way. Both terribly observant in the worst of times. Even when you don't want them to.

"You're lying," Uchiha Obito says, short and clipped, like its usual words to Yuuji. This, too, feels wrong. It's eering on the side of being too blunt. Yuuji doesn't quite know why but he thinks that Uchiha Obito wouldn't comment on Yuuji lying, but he doesn't think that he knows the curse enough to guess its reaction but-

This, too, feels wrong in a way that's out of Yuuji's reach besides just his own instincts.

But is it wrong? Does Yuuji even know enough about Uchiha Obito to take a guess at its reaction?

Probably not. Nobara has always said he has a habit of overthinking.

But is it?

Yuuji's head aches with something terrible. It feels like he's thinking about something he shouldn't be and it's making him want to claw his eyes out.

"I didn't say anything," Yuuji protests. And it's true, he hadn't quite said anything beyond implying something. But it's a feeble attempt at distraction. "Why are your eyes red, anyways?"

There's something about the glint in Uchiha Obito's eyes that's terribly strange. One that Yuuji hadn't quite seen before so he doesn't quite know what to label it as other than just-

Odd.

Uchiha Obito shrugs in turn. It's a terribly familiar motion. Right down to the way that it almost looks held down by sleep, arms moving as though they were held down by a bland t-shirt instead of purple robes. It's awkward in the way that it's almost a fumble to answer a question that you don't quite know how to handle.

For a brief second, Yuuji thinks he sees himself, awkward and fumbling for a distraction, staring back.

And then-

It's gone and his head aches with something terrible.

It passes and Yuuji almost doesn't know what to make of it. But he feels like he shouldn't touch upon it at all.

Uchiha Obito's eyes are red, red, red.

It feels like the pattern in them shifts, sometimes, becoming different and-

And what?

Yuuji feels like he's overthinking.

He is.

Megumi is the overthinker of the three of them. But sometimes Yuuji thinks he can also overthink. Case in point, with, well, Uchiha Obito. Uchiha Obito, who's-

"That's not an answer," Yuuji argues, shaking his head to clear his mind of-

Of what?

Nothing.

"It's the answer you gave me," Uchiha Obito says, as though this were reasonable. A note in its voice as though it's curious- an innocent edge that Yuuji would've mistaken as sarcastic if it didn't sound so genuine.

This feels wrong. But at the same time, does it?

No.

That's right. It's just another Uchiha Obito thing, just like how Uchiha Obito looks at phones as though they're alien technology. It's the way Uchiha Obito just doesn't quite get modern slang, it's that type of thing.

It shouldn't be wrong at all.

So why does it feel-

"Is that not how you do it?" Uchiha Obito asks, something almost lost in its tone. Something like the shattering of a mirror and the ensuing glass pieces scattered about.

It's wrong.

But why?

"It's not that," Yuuji says. "It's just that-"

"Show me again," Uchiha Obito almost demands. An impatient edge to its words. Rushed and almost a barked order. Its voice is clipped. Its words are harsh, it's not quite in Uchiha Obito's voice. It's a mix of tones and pitches. A patchwork of words and stitched together syllables. As though it was in too much of a rush to-

To what?

This is wrong-

But is it?

Yuuji's head aches with something terrible.

"Alright," Yuuji obliges. He feels like he should. He performs another shrug, just as casual but less jerky. Less clumsy. Less leaden down by sleep.

Uchiha Obito's red eyes pin Yuuji down. Like he's a butterfly to be added to a collector's board.

"Ask me again," Uchiha Obito demands. A part of Yuuji wonders why, but another part just adds it as another one of Uchiha Obito oddities.

"Why are your eyes red?" Yuuji asks, his mind both clearer and blurrier than before.

Uchiha Obito shrugs again. It's a casual motion. Less jerky. Less clumsy. Less leaden down by sleep.

Even its expression is identical. Like a mirror.

Identical to who?

There's a resounding laugh in his chest.

It's not from him.

It's from Sukuna.

Why?

It feels like there's a snap in the air but Uchiha Obito hadn't moved and there wasn't a sound in the air at all. But it brings Yuuji back into attention. His spine straight with pressure and his eyes going dry with intensity.

Once more, Uchiha Obito is in front of him. Its face is the same as always, its features the same human that it always is. If anything-

It seems more human. There's a flush to its cheeks indicating blood running through its veins and it almost seems to come alive under the light of the night.

Its eyes are red, red, red. With each moment, each breath it draws, it feels like its getting closer.

But to what?

Its clothes are warping slightly, twisting, almost. It's the flickering of the light. Making Yuuji doubt whether it's the clothes that are changing at all or whether it's him.

It's just Yuuji.

"He was much less cautious than you," Uchiha Obito suddenly says, a shot in the dark. To where? Yuuji doesn't know. But this feels meaningless and meaningful all in one. As though Uchiha Obito is searching for an answer in Yuuji's frame but at the same time couldn't care less about it. "He was much louder. More orange."

Uchiha Obito's eyes are intent. Its skin is more human than before, but it feels like the flesh lurking beneath the vessel has grown more inhumane.

"He wouldn't be afraid." A moment. Then two. "You can never be him."

Like the sound of a bell ringing, it clashes against Yuuji's ear. Almost like a death sentence.

"So why?" Uchiha Obito continues, the same loss, irate tone it has earlier. Genuine and almost-

Childish.

It's wrong.

A wave of the hands, a soft sigh.

"I don't understand," it repeats. Soft and quiet. Like a child, lost. Something reflects in Yuuji's eyes.

Then, the mirror cracks, and once more, Uchiha Obito stares back. Right as can be.

And therefore, wrong as can be.

And yet.

Yuuji can't quite put a finger on it.

On what?

Nothing.

"Understand what?" Yuuji asks, feeling compelled to do so. As though this may right whatever's wrong.

Uchiha Obito's eyes sear right into Yuuji.

It's red, red, red. A blooming flower, a withering corpse.

It feels eerie, it feels like there's a bell toiling in the distance; a harsh siren against his ears; the drop of a long held pin in a quiet room; everything and anything all at once.

There's a flickering of the light, something shifting between one moment and the next, a blond boy stares back at Yuuji, his eyes are blue, blue, blue. It's the color of the sky, of the ocean, of storms and natural disasters and calming lull.

Between that moment and the next, the boy opens his mouth as though to say something before the instance passes and it leaves Uchiha Obito frowning. It's an expression that's intense, frustrated, and has more emotions than Yuuji had ever seen Uchiha Obito express before.

It's wrong.

Yuuji's head aches.

He realizes what he's staring at is-

It was not born to understand.

It was not ordered to understand.

It is born and made to bid to another's will.

It has no purpose, nor goals. No yearnings nor desire. It does not understand worldly matters, for it does not dabble in such.

What happens when you give an object its own will?

The Juubi is that answer. Though it knows not what it means. It knows not of what it entails. All it knows is that it has been given a will and made into a being and now it has everything waiting upon it and an eternity to learn.

Learning through memories, through living another's life.

And yet.

It only has questions upon questions.

The more it grows. The more it learns. The more questions there are. The more it cannot understand.

It does not understand why Uchiha Madara would cling onto his dead brother and then let the same brother go to the ashes and fire. It does not understand why Uchiha Madara lived amongst the Konoha that was built by the same bunch that killed his brother. He does not understand why Uchiha Obito simply does not bring back that girl if he loved her so much. He does not understand why Uchiha Obito would not kill the silver man despite getting a hand through the heart for his troubles.

It does not understand why Uchiha Obito looks at Yuuji and thinks, Naruto.

It does not understand.

It wants to.

It wants to understand it all. It wants to learn. It wants toknow.

And yet it cannot.

To live another's life is one thing.

To understand them, is another matter.

In the end, it understands what they'd 'do.'

But it does not understand the 'why.'

Uchiha Obito is almost animated as it hops away from the wall it was standing atop of, walking with an unfamiliar gait towards Yuuji. Its body is light, almost free, its walk towards Yuuji is almost cheerful.

Its steps are light, its gait is almost sloppy- and- there's another word for it but Yuuji can't quite-

Something in Yuuji tells him to run.

Those blood red eyes-

A siren's call.

A siren's warning.

He's not sure which to listen to.

They're getting closer, some part of Yuuji is moving on autopilot, fists reaching out to-

To what?

There's a hand on his shoulder, it compels him to look up.

There's a siren's call inside his mind. Blaring and hypnotic all in one. Telling him to run to look to run to look to run to-

Look.

"You're afraid," Uchiha Obito says, its voice light- cheerful. A hand brushing over Yuuji's pulse at his neck. Not harsh enough to be a warning, but just casually enough to be a threat.

Wrong.

"That's strange," Uchiha Obito muses, bemused. "I don't remember you being this afraid with me."

There's something about the word 'me' that feels like a mockery. A vicious twist to the word, like an inside joke shared between the curse in front of Yuuji and someone else, a joke that Yuuji isn't privy to but is expected to laugh at.

Yuuji wants to move.

Yuuji wants to laugh.

This, too, is wrong.

"Am I not myself enough?" Uchiha Obito asks, almost whimsical. A light note in its voice as though this question means nothing at all. But its eyes spin and spin, a threat and a warning and a siren.

Yuuji remembers the first time he and Uchiha Obito met. Wherein those red eyes had spun just the same.

But it doesn't quite feel the same. Not like now. It wasn't quite like this.

He's not sure what's wrong, but it'swrong.

But at the same time it feels right and he's not even sure why it's wrong in the first place.

"Don't scream, nobody can hear you," Uchiha Obito says, it's words are familiar, but Yuuji can't quite put his hands on it. But he knows that it's wrong. It's expression iswrong, it doesn't match with that night, it doesn't match with whatever Yuuji is thinking but the tone-

Is identical. The cadence, the way the words flow, the minute pauses-

It feels familiar. Yuuji thinks it's almost identical, word for word, breath for breath-

"I'm not here to hurt you," Uchiha Obito continues. The same cadence, softened, just as it did back then. But it's expression is wrong.

There's a siren call inside his head. A warning and a beckoning.

"Don't scream," Uchiha Obito repeats, again- it's the same. "Nobody can hear you." But now it's expression is-

It's familiar.

"I'm not here to hurt you." Harsh, but softened, its expression, too, is softening. The smile is almost gone by now. Something is shifting.

There's two hands upon both his shoulders, Uchiha Obito's expression is-

It's getting closer.

But to what?

Yuuji doesn't think he wants to know the answer.

"I don't do kidnappings," Uchiha Obito says- recites. "Not anymore."

Two hands upon his shoulders, Uchiha Obito stands in front of him. Its expression is cold, harsh, its body is still, just like always. There's something familiar about this. This whole thing. This.

The words it's saying. It's familiar. Uchiha Obito had said this before, Yuuji thinks. Something about this feels wrong and eerie but-

There's two hands upon his shoulders, drawing him back to the present.

In front of Yuuji stands Uchiha Obito. Its expression is cruel.

"Are you still afraid?" It asks, words having strange pauses, strange shifts in tonations. But it meshes together, somehow. Like being stitched together by some invisible hand. But its expression is perfect. It's how Uchiha Obito would've looked.

It has gotten closer, Yuuji thinks.

Closer to-

To what?

But it's still wrong.

It can't quite hide the glint in its eyes.

Like the cat to the canary.

There's a siren call in Yuuji's ears.

Uchiha Obito's eyes shift and change.

"We'll try this again, another time," Uchiha Obito says, its expression collapsing. Its words having different voices at different intervals, as though those words were spoken by different people altogether.

Yuuji thinks he knows what he's staring at now.

It's a mirror.

Cracked and broken and seven years of bad luck-

It's the cracked pieces of a mirror, each reflecting a different thing.

And they're all staring at Yuuji.

"Itadori," Uchiha Obito says again, a greeting.

This-

This feels right.

Even moreso than before.

What before?

Yuuji's mind aches with something terrible.

Before- before-

Before what?

Yuuji can't quite recall.

He can't quite recall why Uchiha Obito's hands are on his shoulders, either.

Were they even on his shoulders?

A blink- a moment- Yuuji glances at his shoulders and he realizes that Uchiha Obito is standing several paces away, looking quizzically at Yuuji.

Yuuji touches his own shoulders.

There's nothing there.

"Focus, Itadori," Uchiha Obito says, its words are a harsh reminder, yanking Yuuji back to the present.

He feels like he's been awake for a while.

But at the same time the facts show that he's only woken up.

So what-

Sukuna's laugh echoes within his mind.

He feels like this wasn't the first time for tonight.

But why?

"Why are you here?" Yuuji asks, falling into a rhythm.

Uchiha Obito shrugs, languidly. The motion is almost familiar- but where have Yuuji seen that before?

"Making sure you're not dead," Uchiha Obito says, blunt and brash. It's a familiar cadence, a familiar bluntness of a dull knife.

It makes Yuuji want to laugh, just a bit.

It's sort of like his grandfather, in that miserly way of his. Unable to show a fleck of affection in any way that wasn't awkward or terrible because he was so set in his ways.

There's a glint in Uchiha Obito's eyes. Something sharp and almost pleased. But between one moment and the next, it's gone.

Uchiha Obito's eyes are black.

That feels wrong. But why?

It feels like it should be-

Black.

"That's all for today," Uchiha Obito concludes, something almost wry in its words. A twist of something. An inside joke shared between the two of them except for the fact that Yuuji is left clueless.

"Already?" Yuuji finds himself asking. Not sure as to the morality or ethics behind implying that a curse could further stay behind in jujutsu tech. But it's not as though anyone could stop Uchiha Obito, at this point. It has been three visits and three, as far as Yuuji is concerned, means that Uchiha Obito is welcomed.

Or at least, it must not be very dangerous.

Or something.

Maybe Yuuji is grasping at straws, here, but there's not much straws to grasp at for history on vessels.

"It's too early for us to talk," Uchiha Obito answers. Looking out the window.

Yuuji head aches.

He's not sure where that came from. It's not like Uchiha Obito had ever been concerned about the time before.

Though, was it really the time of day it was talking about?

"You never worried about that before," Yuuji half complains.

Uchiha Obito just looks at Yuuji, indescribable and wane. Like a phantom about to disperse.

"When the time is right, we'll meet again," Uchiha Obito promises.

Something in Yuuji's blood curls at that, he's not sure why. But the moment passes soon enough.

Something about Uchiha Obito's statement is wrong, Yuuji is not sure what.

It's probably a curse thing.

Instincts, acting up, Yuuji's sure.

"And when is that?"

Uchiha Obito smiles.

It's wrong.

Then, slowly, meticulously-

It is made right.

But it's still off- it's still-

Still what?

"When it's right."

Before Yuuji could ask- before anything could happen-

Between one moment and the next, it's gone.

It's a terribly dreary day to be out and about.

But that is Gojo Satoru's fate. It is his burden, and his blessing.

At least it's an entertaining morning, Satoru will give it that much. It's leaning on the side of chilly enough to wash away the heat of summer but just not cold enough to be considered freezing. It's that time of the morning where no reasonable person should be awake and about at that job.

It's a good morning to see Yuta's text and left to brew.

It's another mark against Uchiha Obito, another sign that it cares. That it's weakness is clear to see, that it's a curse with human sentiments.

There's a clean line between curse and human, Satoru was sure.

Uchiha Obito had trapeze all over it. Blurring it beneath its feet, almost like a taunt to everything the jujutsu world stands for.

An ancient curse, worn down by time even if it were dormant.

And yet.

It's not quite mad. It's not quite inhumane.

It blinks, it talks, it gulps at intervals. Unnatural as it is, as terrible as it is-

It's undeniably human. Undeniably once a sorcerer.

And now, it has shown some care for the concept of 'family.' Whatever cursed family it was.

Satoru isn't clear on the specifics of the conversation between Uchiha Obito and his student. But he's at least clear that Uchiha Obito could've taken it all to the grave and no one would know or care.

But it had told Yuta.

Because Yuta had cared, if no one else did.

Because it's up to Yuta to make what he will of his legacy.

Because Satoru and Uchiha Obito don't get to decide whether Yuta gets to learn things or not.

Because to Uchiha Obito, for some inconceivable reason-

Yuta is still family. As tangential and weak as that relation is.

There's a clear line between curse and human.

Uchiha Obito tramples all over it and looks over at Satoru, a taunt, a beckoning.

Satoru's not sure what to make of it other than to give chase. To catch Uchiha Obito and to question it until it has nothing left to give. Until he knows everything and anything about Uchiha Obito and leaves the both of them playing a game of words and stories. To crack down the armor and tear down the veil.

To finally-

See Uchiha Obito. The man beneath it all.

Satoru sighs, rowing a hand over his hair.

The Uchiha family curse. Uchiha Obito.

It's all linked, somehow, he's sure of it.

But he's not quite surewhatto make of it.

What Uchiha Obito told Yuta about the family curse must've been vague enough, and what Yuta had told him, even vaguer.

It left quite little information to go around, unless he can talk to Uchiha Obito itself.

Mysteriously enough, its presence had disappeared for a brief moment between a moment and the next. Leaving nothing behind but a small void where it once had stood in Yuta's home.

But now, Satoru had felt it again.

But this-

It's not right.

Uchiha Obito is staring up at Satoru with dull black eyes. There's something about those eyes that feels wrong, instinctively.

It makes Satoru want to recoil and draw closer at the same time.

Uchiha Obito's chest rises at its regular intervals, machine-like and inhumane. Its blinks are also like so, except it feels sloppier today, as though Uchiha Obito couldn't quite remember to blink in time or sometimes blink too fast in order to remind itself. Its cheeks are filled with color, and it almost feels like blood is running through its veins.

It looks-

It looks human.

Satoru can hear the faint sound of a heart beating.

There is a moment, then two-

Uchiha Obito's heart does not beat.

"You're not Uchiha Obito," Satoru says.

The curse looks at Satoru, it looks amused.

He recognizes this cursed energy.

It's not quite Uchiha Obito's, no.

It's Uchiha Obito's but terribly awry. It's the thing that's been under locks and chains-

So how is it that it's out- and what does it mean for Uchiha Obito?

Has the time finally come- has Uchiha Obito finally been consumed?

Satoru doubts it, but-

Then what is this in front of him?

"And you're not him," is all it says.

It looks terribly unphased, as though Satoru's Six Eyes weren't fixated on its figure.

Him?

"What are you?" Satoru asks, his voice a deadly cheer.

It glances up at Satoru, tilting its head.

Then it shrugs. It's a familiar motion, though Satoru can't quite place it in the moment.

"No one gave me a name." It looks at Satoru, it's a childish kind of amusement. The kind that's cruel in the way that only children can be. "Though, I've been told I'm the Juubi."