Chapter 6

Suguru… was rather amazed at this point.

He has been spending time with Yua's children, but has been rather focused on Rook. He has been walking around more and more with his eyes covered like his father, but the thing is, he never stumbled, ran into anything or caused any sort of havoc doing so.

Even now, they are testing out how well he 'sees'

"I need you to unleash just your aura, no curse energy…" Rook explained.

"Aura?" Suguru asked. "I'll try"

"Basically, think of your body unleashing it's natural power, but it's not curse energy. I am going to read it and mimic your movements. You are going to see if I can copy you movement for movement without physically seeing you." He explained.

He was rather dedicated to this, so Suguru agreed.

They were at this for an hour. Suguru opened to do Tai Chi methods of movement, since Rook would probably expect him to do some sort of action movement. Yet, for one hour, Rook mimicked him perfectly.

Every time he moved his foot, the position of his hands, how far they stretched out, even when he flexed his fingers, he figured it out! When they were done, Suguru expressed how well he did. "There wasn't a single misstep in your movement." He explained.

Rook was smiling rather proudly. "Wow… I think I just improved!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, the thing is, everything has an energy. Theirs is elemental, kinetic, chi, mana, earth, electrical… ALL of it!" he explained.

Suguru froze oddly. "Are you telling me, you can sense ALL sorts of energy? When someone unleashes curse energy, you sense it. But for a human…"

"Humans naturally produce energy as well, how else do curses become born? They feed off of that don't they? I can use that energy to see the world around me… it's weird, this must be how dad feels huh?"

Suguru however was considering something else. "Rook, are you aware of other versions of heavenly restrictions?" he asked offhandedly.

"I know of this one where one relinquishes their curse energy in order to obtain strength and what not…"

"Muta is a good example too, if I recall correctly he had a very frail body but a vast pool of curse energy to use from…"

"Yeah but it sucked!"

Suguru paused, as Muta happened to have been walking by.

"Would you explain to Rook about it? I have a theory that he's pushing boundaries… then again I think that's in his blood to do so isn't it?"

Muta smirked. He spoke to Rook about how he didn't have any use for his legs since he had none, and only bore one arm. "My skin was so frail even moonlight would burn it. But in exchange for all that, I had curse energy that could cover a good chunk of Japan. So I lived through my curse corpses at the time… so you think that something is happening to Rook?"

Suguru nodded. "He has blocked off his eyes and yet, he still sees everything around him. He is sensing energy more than anything, and yet, I wonder if this is another version of heavenly restrictions? Cutting off his eye sight in order to improve his other sense?"

"But he hasn't LOST his eyesight right? If that was the case, he would go completely blind." Muta replied.

"Yeah… I am not THAT dedicated to the cause…" Rook said offhandedly. It made Suguru snicker, that's a Gojo reply… he is more like his father than he realizes!

"If anything, keep an eye on this. Make sure you look around with your actual eyes every so often got it!" Muta ordered.

Rook happily agreed to.

When it was the two of them once more, Rook smirked a little. "I think this is my way of having the 'six eyes' ability. Since I can sense and see things before they happen from time to time… I am still working on it, but I know I will master this sooner than later…"

"We will keep practicing in the mean time." Suguru said and he promised he would help him achieve this goal.

Rook's smile subsided slightly. "As grateful as I am for that, I would prefer if you looked after my sister. She's been… self conscious of herself." Rook said gently. "Ever since our sudden aging… sis hasn't taken it well. She's embarrassed and it's awkward for her. I don't know how to help…"

Suguru nodded to him. "I have some experience in that, not a lot, but some." He said confidently. "I'll see what I can do to help her."

"Thanks Pops!"

He froze.

"Pops?" he asked.

Rook's smile returned as he shrugged his shoulders. "Just so you know, even if mom hasn't accepted you yet… we have. Aunt Chusi insisted just as she insisted we called Sukuna, Oji!" he laughed.

Suguru nodded in understanding. "I'll got speak with her now."

"Thanks Pops! I'll go train with the Fushiguros for now."

The boy is more like his father than he realizes… who in their right mind would train with dragons on brute strength!?

#

He found Mochi.

She was sitting alone by the lake just staring out into the water. Suguru approached her carefully before clearing his voice. She was startled but settled the moment her eyes came upon him. "Hi…" she said meekly.

"May I join you?"

She nodded.

Suguru approached and took a seat next to her by the lake, he stared out over the water before peering over at her. She was biting her lip, wanting to say something but couldn't.

"When something changes faster than you can anticipate, it's a lot isn't it?" he asked of her.

She froze and stared at him with wide eyes. "YES!" she said emphatically. "It is, it really is!"

"And sometimes, the change is so fast that you can't understand it, especially when it happens to you."

Her eyes continued to widened as she nodded her head. "I was just… just a little girl… why couldn't I stay a little girl!" she had tears brimming in her eyes. "I didn't… I didn't want to be like this! Not until later…"

"Would you like a hug?"

She nodded and scooted closer to him. He wrapped an arm around her and held her tightly. He could feel her starting to relax a little. "When something changes in a person, it can be hard and very scary. I have gone though that a few times myself, sometimes, I don't learn my lesson." He said bluntly.

She nodded.

"But, at the same time, sometimes the change can be a good thing. I know you wanted to stay a little girl, but not even you would have remained that way for very long. Knowing you, you are your mother's daughter."

Mochi was a little silent on the matter. "Am I more like my mom or dad?"

"Well, you look like your mother, but have your father's hair color. When it comes to your technique, sadly you are your father's daughter… I think… I haven't really seen you use your technique but you are playful with it." He said and smiled.

She giggled to that. "Yeah… somehow I think dad would unleash kittens if he could…"

"There's an expression of shitting kittens as well, but either or I wouldn't put it pass your father to do either one." Suguru said.

She laughed once more. "I'm… I'm just scared. I didn't have a lot of time to work on this power of mine, I know it's strong but… what if I am not ready to use it to its potential?" she asked and stared at her hand.

"Have you spoken to anyone else about this?"

She nodded. "Oji," she said gently. "After we came back from our shopping trip, he took me off to the side to see if I was okay. He didn't say anything, but, he had a concerned look on his face. When I told him I got scared, he nodded to me and said. ' we are going to work on that, and soon, you won't be scared. But, until then, no more kittens!' I… I haven't since, since he said so."

This took Suguru aback a little. Sukuna was keeping an eye on this as well? And he knew she was having trouble shortly after her sudden age adjustment? Interesting… but, at the same time, it was rather pro active of him to do so… why would he have bothered?

But then Suguru remembers… he has Satoru's body and personality… Mochi is Satoru's daughter… could… could Sukuna have viewed her in such a way?

He never did consider that option but after everything else, it was possible!

"Pops… can I call you that?" she asked.

Suguru smiled. "I doubt your brother Rook would stop if I asked him to, go ahead." He said gently.

Mochi smiled. "Pops… thank you…" she said meekly. "Dad… doesn't always take this seriously, I've spoken to my mother about it. She has tried to help me as best as she could but… I… I just feel…"

"You feel robbed," he said bluntly.

Mochi sat up and nodded. "Yes! Yes, I feel robbed!"

"You are not the only one. Remember when you first aged? You were merely a baby, and then, you became a rather proud child, full of energy, ready to take on the world and unleash kittens!" he decreed.

She giggled to that and nodded.

"You still want to be that child, but since you have grown up so much, you can't can you?"

Her smile vanished, she shook her head no to him.

"You're mother and father were robbed just as much as you were… I think it was worst in my perspective."

"What do you mean?"

He smiled to her and explained. "When a mother and father have a child, they are excited when they helped their child achieve milestones. To show how much they have grown in little time. Your mother and father were looking forward to your first word, your first steps, the first time you would feed yourself, having solid food… all those things that they wanted to see happen before their eyes… was taken away when you were suddenly aged to a little girl. They never got to experience it with you and Rook. Even Shin's milestones were taken away, he was just starting to talk when he suddenly grew older."

She appeared to be considering it. She never knew there were milestones parents looked forward to, did she?

"What… what do I do now?" she asked.

"You get stronger," he said gently. "You are going to continue to grow and be a very talented young lady, you are your mother's daughter, don't forget that!"

Mochi smiled to him and nodded. "I'll work hard in the mean time. Oji gave me some exercise to do, Auntie verified they would assist me." She explained.

"Then by all means, but be careful and if you need help, we will help!" he said.

Mochi nodded, she gave him a gentle kiss on his forehead before excusing herself.

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"That brought back a memory…"

Suguru thought of the two girls he adopted. Mimiko and Nanako, the twin sisters he took from the village he destroyed it.

He tried to do right by them, but… in the end, they died because of him. "Had I done things differently… had I not decided to go against the humans and wage war… had I…" he began to fill with regret.

The two little girls who he raised as his own… he failed to protect them.