Hello! I've been enjoying getting back into writing and exploring jjk and the fanfic's plot more. I hope you'll forgive me for this, but I'm hoping this training arc with Sho and Gojo will replace the cursed bridge and finger retrieval the main trio goes on and maybe where Satoru's background is revealed. I however have a personal arc brewing that I hope will take the place of the bull of Star Plasma Vessel arc thats coming up before the dreaded Shibuya. Wish me luck and enjoy reading.
Amongst all the first-years, Shohei was enjoying breakfast alongside Maki the weekend after his first weekend spent training.
Through the week Shohei had asked Itadori to spare some time to train with him, sharing their experiences of reinforcement and knowledge of tracking cursed energy when fighting. Shohei had chosen Itadori because he was the best physical combatant who implemented cursed energy.
The first-year could use the training himself. With no cursed technique there wasn't much Itadori could train beyond his physical combat skills, so Shohei thought it might've been productive to share his own experiences with him and train him up a bit in return. Itadori deserved all the help he could get in Shohei's eyes as he had the world against him purely because of the great dirty curse inhabiting him.
"See you guys later," Shohei bid, pecking Maki. "I'll put what we practiced to good use," Shohei said, giving Yuji an extra nod goodbye.
"Good luck, Sho!" said Itadori, beaming a brilliant smile at him.
Shohei crossed the campus, taking in the brisk but sunny fall day. He entered the training area and readied himself for when Satoru arrived.
Satoru entered, and before even greeting Sho, he cast aside his jacket and approached the center of the room.
"How was your week, Satoru?" Shohei asked, finishing his stretches.
"Busy," Satoru said shortly. "I'm ready to up the ante today. Are you?"
"Absolutely," Shohei grinned, drawing Iguana Talon. "I've kept myself busy," Sho chuckled, hoping to spring his training progress with Yuji on Gojo.
Satoru for the first time took the initiative, smothered his cursed energy into a miniscule shroud, and mimicked Shohei's go to push kick. Shohei used his own off hand to swat the kick, and going with the motion, delivered his own counter kick to Satoru's leg as it landed.
Shohei jabbed a flash with Iguana. Satoru weaved and struck Shohei with his own cross, but all the force rendering it painful was dulled by Gravity Field.
Satoru bolstering an offensive approach mimicked Itadori's fighting patterns to a small degree, and then it struck Shohei. When Itadori was faking his death, he was training with Satoru. All that time, they could have been training in physical combat. If Shohei could "reverse engineer" Satoru's fighting style from what he has come to know from Itadori and his time spent fighting along with and against Satoru, then he could get the jump and maybe land a Black Flash.
Shohei and Satoru had gathered a temporary habit of countering each other's counterattacks for a short stint. Once Satoru struck Shohei hard enough to reach past the Gravity Field, Shohei had enough of the ongoing back and forth. Sho decided to activate what he now called Tunnel Vision.
Shohei had spent the week utilizing his new technique when training with Itadori, learning its ins and outs. Tunnel Vision really just was Shohei's renowned and expansive cursed energy sensing range compacted inward, going from a mile wide in diameter to only ten feet. With all that means of sensing condensed, it was like his Cursed Energy reading of others and himself went from stretched thin across a mile, to hyperaware and a cut above every known sorcerer's reading capabilities in the small circumference. Probably the only other ability Sho knew of to have better simple cursed energy reading was the Six Eyes. This probably was one step closer to mimicking Satoru in their clan's eyes, and personally, Shohei would like to keep this new technique close to his chest.
Tunnel Vision took focus in his eyes, not really what grants the ability for sensing, but was a simple catalyst for the technique. Tunnel vision made Sho's eyes warp space and light a blazing streak as an indicator of the techniques activation. Shohei was glad that restraining Shooting Star was second nature, because it required Sho's concentration to at first activate the technique, but maintaining it came easier due to it giving him an automatic mindset of determination and inner focus, often providing a recentering point for Sho to calm and regain himself in the midst of fighting. Shohei's maximum time maintaining the technique was only five minutes, and after that he had to release it for another ten minutes, otherwise his eyes would "cramp" for a lack of a better term.
The tide of battle shifted in Shohei's favor for the first time that day, and the boy dogged his mentor and his raised guard. Shohei felt his Gravity Field resist every movement he made, but he felt the desire to land a solid blow, the hunger to succeed, the ache to win. Shohei bashed with his fists and hacked with his blade, forcing Satoru to retreat further and further.
The tall man ducked under a broad slash of Iguana Talon and pounded Shohei across the head with a right cross. The punch knocked Shohei's head aside more than it hurt, but immediately, Satoru continued his attack faster than Sho's head could snap back to attention.
However, Shohei didn't need to have his eyes on Satoru to defend. His body automatically threw up his guard after sensing a source of cursed energy coming to strike Shohei's face again. The source was Satoru's fist of course, and Shohei's condensed sensing had overridden his mind and forced Shohei's body on its own accord to defend from the foreign cursed energy.
Shohei had eyes on Satoru again and threw a defensive jab to reestablish the space between him and his cousin. Shohei breathed deep and relied on his extra potent sensing until he had centered in, which was only a split second due to Tunnel Vision. Shohei shut his eyes and tracked every small detail of his cursed energy.
A source of energy attempted to slam into Shohei's stomach as his guard was still raised high, but Shohei back stepped and countered with a long jab. The jab fruitlessly connected to the nothingness around Satoru, but Shohei technically countered perfectly.
Shohei did not let up, once again pummeling his cousin once again with a furious blow of combination. Shohei pressured the man, fully composed but still allowing Tunnel Vision to guide him. A small tension of sorts began to build in Shohei's eyes, reminding Shohei that the use of Tunnel Vision was not unlimited.
Shohei did not let off of Satoru, steeling himself for one big push. Shohei was going to have to relinquish the use of his Tunnel Vision for several minutes after its final use, as Shohei's eyes functioned as the catalyst for Tunnel Vision and required a break. It was rather like holding something heavy above your head for a long time before dropping it, or flexing a muscle for too long before cramping.
Shohei leapt onto Satoru, rounding a massive kick to the man's side. Satoru had "suffered" the kick, hooked his arm around Sho's ankle, and crashed down onto it with a guillotine of an elbow strike to his knee, Gravity Field not so much as even dulling it. Satoru cut Shohei's pursuit short and began his own, leading Shohei to hop back on one leg as he hammered his now throbbing knee. Shohei had to relieve Tunnel Vision before cramping.
Shohei wrenched his leg away and boxed up, defending himself from all he couldn't dodge, and due to the blistering pain in his leg, that might as well have been everything he couldn't duck or slip.
Shohei could only defend and increase his Gravity Field's weight to add more force to defend him, but weigh him down beyond what he could casually move against. The field did numb Satoru's carless strike to a harmless thump, but any strike delivered with any meaning whatsoever rattled Sho.
Shohei expended the extra effort to massage his injured knee with gentler current of Gravity, attempting to soothe it before he made his move.
Shohei endured and the battering against his head and ribs became familiar after a time. Through no less than two whole minutes of getting beaten, Shohei predicted the familiar pattern that Itadori once clobbered him with.
The next strike to hit Shohei following two heavy hooks to his left flank would be an uppercut attempting to reach between his raised elbows. And as if he were a fortune teller, a hand was halted by Sho's elbows before cracking his chin. Next was a sequence of crosses and jabs to his blocking arms. After was a right cross to the shoulder. A hellish uppercut rose into Sho's stomach. The pattern repeated.
Shohei knew he probably couldn't stop their freight train of combinations willy nilly, so he bided his time, simultaneously resting and taking a beating. Satoru no longer bothered concealing his cursed energy as he chipped away at Shohei, his Gravity Field working overtime to cushion the blows. This was Satoru's mistake that only helped Shohei despite his apparent turtle tactics.
"You better make a move Sho," Satoru sighed, slugging the boy in the stomach. "No one likes turtle tactics. I could've busted open your shell ages ago."
"Oh really? It's almost like you're the strongest man on earth and I'm a sixteen year old high schooler," Shohei sarcastically thought to himself, but then realized the comeuppance soon to occur. Shohei would've chuckled, but he thought better. Satoru would purposefully knock the air out of him if he saw the opening.
His window was approaching. Shohei counted the pattern once more as his eyes gathered enough strength. Crosses and jabs flew. A right cross plagued his shoulder. An uppercut made his breakfast churn. And what he waited for arose. Two bricks of left hooks crashed into Shohei's ribs like clockwork. Sho returned to Tunnel vision, eyes alight.
As Shohei looked to the ground, a right hand appeared in slow motion. Shohei lowered his left hand and pinpointed the exact square inch of flesh on Satoru he wanted to obliterate with his whole heart. Shohei slung the left hook into Satoru's ribs faster than Satoru could strike his chin, and the crackle of Black Flash rent the air.
The two stood up straight, looked around and at one another as if to confirm what happened, and then slammed into a hug with one another, cheering.
"Holy shit!" Shohei hollered, crushing Gojo's ribs and dismissing Tunnel Vision.
"I know right!" Satoru whooped, drumbing Sho on the back.
"Well let's get to it," Shohei said, separating.
"Alright alright," Satoru agreed. "Next step is the long awaited one. To cast a Domain."
"Of course," Sho assured. "I found a hand sign that struck a chord."
"Okay. I'm gonna approach this differently than I have with Fushiguro," Satoru said. "He needs to flush out his imagination, but struggles with barrier techniques anyway. You have almost too much imagination and we know you don't struggle with barrier's like Curtains or Simple Domains. You also are functioning at 120% right now, so that should progress us along."
"Well how does a Domain feel any different than a Curtain or Simple?" Sho asked.
"Well, like any big technique or relatively new one, you've got to chalk up your cursed energy before weaving it," Satoru said. "I want you to focus on building the barrier. When we successfully build the outside of the Domain, it might be a smidge bit smaller than others, but that doesn't matter because it'll correct itself as we complete the Domain."
"What do you mean to complete it? Aren't we casting it right now?" Shohei asked.
"We are gonna cast it, but only partially. You're gonna erect the barrier, but nothing inside. No technique or stat boost even," Gojo said.
"I'll try," Shohei shrugged. "I guess it sounds simpler."
"Good. Now as for the visualization and mindset you need," Satoru interrupted Shohei putting together his hands. "Forcing a Domain out is of course requiring you to gather and activate a lot of your cursed energy, but greed is a key element in a sorcerer's life. Casting with a selfish amount of desire to claim the space as your own is a great motivator. More importantly however is how well you know yourself."
"How well do I know myself?" Shohei asked.
"You heard correctly," Satoru said.
"Pretty well I guess," Shohei said, thinking he knew himself better than he knew anyone else or how anyone knew him. "You've raised me with the mentality of doing good for the world, but be selfish all the same. Especially when you let me live my own life rather than making me a clone of you like the Clan wanted. I've made sure to live a life I love with that freedom."
"Good," Satoru complimented, patting Sho's cheek. "A little greed and selfishness goes a long way, but so does being self aware. A Domain is a manifestation or reflection of an individual's Innate Domain, the metaphysical territory that exists in their mind. That's why creating your own blank space in the barrier lets your Innate Domain take shape rather than changing the shape of the existing space around you. Casting a Domain on existing space is infinitely more complex. As the Innate Domain is the user's own mindscape, the more you know yourself, in a way, the more your Domain will be flushed out and refined without training even. Refinement being the key trait in a Domain. Fushigruo is going through similar problems right now since he's bad with barriers and doesn't know himself all that well."
"Oh wow," Shohei sighed, forcing himself to commit that to memory. It almost made him sick in the stomach to remember, but he knew it was important.
"Now, memorize that. You don't have to repeat that when casting it, but it's helpful to know. Now cast the barrier of the Domain without overthinking. You won't have a specific name for your Domain, but still chant. Claim your territory" Satoru said, hurrying Sho along.
Shohei dismissed his thoughts, thinking back on all his Simple Domains and Curtains he has cast in his life. He took inspiration from all those and imagined them at the peak of their spatial effects. He repeated Satoru's one idea of claiming the space as his own territory.
Shohei interlocked the middle knuckles of all his fingers and touched the second knuckles of his thumbs, making the hand sign retsu, the kuji kuri sign for time and space.
Shohei chanted, "Domain Expansion!" and with his accumulation of barrier knowledge and heightened state from Black Flash, a black orb emanated from Shohei, engulfing him and Satoru.
The two men stood in darkness that was simultaneously illuminated to where they could see each other, but nothing in the surrounding space.
"Wow," Shohei awed, taking in the Domain. The space around them was like a starless night with no star or planet ever to exist in the distant expanding galaxies, a blank canvas for Shohei to fill. The air had no fragrance other than Satoru and his own scent. The silence was so loud Shohei could hear his heartbeat and blood rushing in his ears. The air was brisk and clean, a temperature so neutral Shohei couldn't compare it to any naturally occuring season's.
"Good job, Sho," Satoru cheered, clapping Sho between his shoulders. "I'm so glad our training method was as effective as I hoped. The space isn't as small as I suspected. That's a good sign. Should mean you'll be cruising along when we add onto the Domain."
"Sweet!" Shohei exclaimed, proud of his headway.
"For now, think of the Domain expansion as a Kingdom of yours," Satoru said. "You've now erected your borders, but the land is left raw and unexplored. Drop the Domain if you will Sho."
Shohei did as instructed and released the Domain, as if any other technique he was maintaining. The orb dissipated and the space around them returned to normal reality.
"Typically," Satoru resumed like a lecture. "You've got exceptional cursed energy reserves, but a complete Domain Expansion would carve out more than half your max cursed energy from a single use. Seeing as what you just cast was incomplete in more than one way, it probably took no more than a tenth of your reserves."
Shohei examined his own energy reserves, seeing that a sizable portion of it was consumed by summoning the barrier.
"About, yeah," Shohei agreed. "More than Stygian Void does nowadays."
"It will consume plenty more energy as we add on the boost and technique inside," Satoru said. "For now, I want you to cast it as many times as you can with your remaining cursed energy to fully familiarize yourself with the sensation so when you aren't in the Black Flash zone you can use it as normal. After that we can call it a day."
"Can we actually keep sparing after?" Shohei asked with a tone of urgency. "I feel like I've been making some real headway with reading cursed energy. I'm even starting to feel like I can call myself a physical fighter from all our sparring. We're barely past the halfway point of today's training time too."
"Well sure!" Satoru agreed. "I'm happy to see you're not settling for minimal training. Maybe we are making leeway in breaking down your work ethic."
Shohei proceeded to cast the Domain ten other times and studied it all further for another hour, the last one taxing him so much he lost control of Gravity Conductor for a moment. Each casting he focused on the sensations of the space over and over again until the space felt as familiar as the sensation of Gravity Field surrounding him.
Once his cursed energy was fully taxed, Shohei and Satoru took a water break. That time was also spent for Sho to regain his cursed energy.
After the break Shohei's "zone" from Black Flash wore off, but he continued to excel for that day all the same. Satoru slowed down training a bit to flush out techniques and moves he learned from studying and practicing plenty of mixed martial arts.
This slowed and forgiving method of teaching was a nice switch of pace for Shohei after getting pummeled by Satoru. It let him experiment with new moves and get Satoru's valuable input on his own developed fighting style.
"Good job tonight, Sho," Satoru praised, wrapping an arm around Sho's shoulder when leaving the facility.
"Goodnight Satoru," Shohei bid, giving Satoru a full hug. "Thank you for helping me so much."
"Of course you little heathen," Satoru sighed, embracing him back. "Now get off of me. You're sweaty as shit."
"It's not even touching you!"