Sick Of You

by Lapiz Sagana

There hadn't been many instances of Utahime getting annoyed at Shoko. There was that one time when Shoko was so drunk, she vomited on Utahime's skirt. Another one was when they went out shopping and Shoko pointed out in public that she had gained weight. Then there was that instance a year ago, when a guy asked Utahime for her number, and a drunken Shoko said she was already taken, and by a certain Satoru Gojo too.

Now this.

Shoko, Gojo, and Utahime sat around a breakfast table set up in the northern garden this time. The food came and went with the servants for a while, so much so that Utahime scowled at the abundance on the table. The only reason she couldn't speak up was because the servants seemed pleased that Gojo had returned, and even Yoshino had fawned over him like he was everybody's favorite son.

Still, she didn't want to be ungrateful. So, in spite of herself, she ate what was in front of her and paid little attention to what Gojo and Shoko were saying. She let her mind drift to the quiet beauty of Gojo's property, and how there were only servants around. Or maybe his family was here, but their living arrangements were detached from the main house?

"Is the food to your liking?" Gojo cupped his face in his right hand and looked at her. But he wasn't grinning or making a face like she expected him to.

"Yes. It's delicious."

"You can at least sound happy. Yoshino's the best cook in the country."

Shoko poured more tea into her cup. "Don't be upset, Utahime-senpai. I really thought you would have picked up on it sooner."

"Well, I was groggy for most of our stay here."

"Did you even tour the house? My mother put up so many pictures of me. It's like a shrine."

"I said I was groggy!"

Gojo frowned at his food like a scolded child. "Come to think of it, my mother likely isn't the only one obsessed with collecting photos of me. I wouldn't be surprised if there were people out there putting up pictures of me in their houses."

"Yeah, with voodoo dolls to curse you," Utahime said.

"Somebody did try that once." Gojo chewed thoughtfully on a slice of watermelon. "I like it when my enemies are creative. It adds more diversity to my days."

Utahime sighed. There really was no point in being so annoyed at them anymore. Besides, they had a point. Just because they never mentioned it didn't mean they actively tried to hide it. If she missed the signs, then that proved just how badly the poison affected her.

"So, does your family live here?" she asked in an attempt to change the subject.

Gojo leaned back on his chair and put his sunglasses aside. "Thankfully, no. This is just part of my inheritance, and I've been having it renovated on and off for years. My parents do come here sometimes, though, when they have a feud with our relatives."

"The medicinal garden was my idea," Shoko chimed in. "But the Gojo family does cultivate an extensive array of medicinal herbs in their main property. It took a bit of nagging to get him to put this up."

"Shoko is always taking advantage of me."

"What's the use of being so rich if it doesn't benefit others?"

"What do I get in return, huh?"

"I think it's nice that you're helping her out," Utahime said, which ended their bickering. "I wouldn't know what we'd do if Shoko weren't here to patch us up."

Gojo transferred the remaining bacon to his plate. "I can heal myself, so all she's doing is exploiting me and Mei is enabling her. Not that I truly mind. Just like how the strong must help the weak, the rich must help the poor."

Shoko lit a cigarette. "How many times do I have to tell you, just because you're richer than all of us doesn't mean we're poor."

"That's exactly something a poor person would say." He pushed a plate of eel at her. "Eat to your heart's content. I'm not charging for any of these."

"Gee, thanks." Shoko took a huge chunk of eel and chewed it while looking him straight in the eyes.

Gojo smiled one of his annoying smiles at her before resuming his meal.

This was one thing Utahime couldn't criticize him for. Apart from her, only Gojo really knew how much Shoko's work was taking a toll on her. It used to be that Utahime was the one leaving boxed meals in Shoko's office when she was still working in Tokyo. But after getting transferred to Kyoto, Shoko said Gojo had taken it upon himself to leave her food even when she hadn't missed her meal.

Utahime remembered telling Shoko once that if all else failed, maybe she should just marry Gojo since she was the only one who could tolerate him. Shoko had laughed her careless laugh while holding out her cigarette to the window of her apartment.

"Even if I hit my head hard enough to even consider that, I'm afraid that scum's already taken," she said.

Utahime would never admit it, but she did wonder what type of woman Gojo would fall for. Sometimes, when she passed a stunning woman in the streets, she would think to herself that that was her. Gojo would definitely stop to pay attention to her. If a female sorcerer with a powerful CT dropped by Jujutsu High, she'd think that Gojo would be all over that woman in an instant.

She knew she shouldn't, but it was hard not to break this cycle of thought.

Why did she have to gauge her own worth based on whether or not the most powerful sorcerer would stop dead in his tracks to even look at her?

Utahime was so deep in thought that she didn't realize when Shoko left. Now it was just her and Gojo on the breakfast table, with him scrolling on his phone with a pout and her poking at the eel in her bowl.

Gojo cursed under his breath and put his phone away. "Utahime-senpai," he sang. "Wanna take a walk in the garden?"

She glowered at him. "Even honorifics sound insulting when they come from you."

"Can't help it if you're such a huge ball of insecurity." He beckoned for her to get up. "C'mon. I bet you haven't seen even half of it."

He was right. The further they walked along the rows and rows of medicinal plants, most of them bushes that climbed up to her shoulders, she realized the property was larger than she anticipated.

It took effort just to keep up with Gojo's huge strides. With the way he was walking and whistling, Utahime was forced to consider that Gojo might simply be attempting to lose her in this maze.

"Wait up!"

He looked over his shoulder at her. "Ah, I thought I was matching your pace. You're even slower than I imagined."

"I'm recovering from a poison."

"You walk at that pace even when you're in top form." He held out his arm. "Cling to me and weigh me down so I can experience what it feels like to have short legs."

"I'm a tall woman with long legs, thank you very much. You're just abnormally fast." She clung to his arm and leaned most of her weight on him just for the sake of it. "It won't hurt for you to be more considerate to your senpai."

He poked her nose. "You're in my property wearing a silk lace on your hair and a kimono I bought for you. I think that's beyond considerate."

Utahime's face flushed a bright red. She could feel even her ears go hot. "You could have told me much earlier that this is your house. And I brought my own clothes, you know?"

"Would you have come if I told you?"

"No."

"I thought so." He bent the arm she was clinging to so she couldn't possibly withdraw from him. They started walking at a more leisurely pace, but it was obvious how taking smaller steps was a conscious effort on his part.

"It would've been a wasted opportunity seeing as you have to go back to work tomorrow. Your students would worry if you missed a single day at school."

Utahime felt her muscles easing up. There was something comforting about the strength of his grip, and although their skins weren't touching, she could very easily feel his warmth through his yukata.

"That's true. Most of them may be stronger than me, but they are still children. I worry about them a lot."

"That's the price we pay for being instructors in Jujutsu High. Every time I'm sent away, I worry that I'll come back with one less student under my wing."

"How do you cope?"

Gojo shrugged. "I just put my faith in them. It doesn't always turn out so well, but at least Shoko is there to make sure whoever can be saved will be saved."

"Sometimes, I wish I stayed in Tokyo so that I can have that reassurance," she said.

"Why do you think I nag you all the time?"

"To piss me off?"

"Well, besides that, I mean. Every year, there's fewer and fewer of us left, and there's no guarantee that the new generation of sorcerers will last as long as we have," he said.

"You don't have to remind me."

They turned left in the next corner. The medicinal herbs here had a beautiful tinge of blue to the tips of their leaves, and a pair of shears and a basket had been left behind beneath one of the bushes. Perhaps this was where Shoko had been working last night.

"Also, for a crybaby, you are pretty stubborn. Why do I have to be the one to always check if you're still alive?" he asked.

Utahime tightened her hold on him to make him flinch, but her strength was no match to his. He hardly even noticed it. "What's the point of asking if you're alive? A comet can hit Earth and you'll likely survive unscathed along with the cockroaches."

"Good point." Gojo pointed at the sky like he might summon his cursed energy. "But I can probably stop that comet, you know?"

"Technically, yeah. And just so you don't misunderstand, I do worry about you guys in Tokyo, but it's reassuring to know that you're there to protect everyone. Whenever news travels here about some chaotic runs with special-grade curses, I just think that they're no match for you. Everything will be alright."

"True. I'm surrounded by a bunch of weaklings."

"You know, this is why I hate praising you."

Gojo picked out a leaf and held it out for her to smell. "People tend to think that way after they've seen my cursed technique. And moral bullshit aside, I guess that's just the way things should go. What did it say in that Spider-Man movie again? The responsibility thing and power?"

She sniffed it and sneezed. "Why does that smell like pepper? And I think you're referring to 'With great power comes great responsibility'."

Gojo sniffed the leaf and let it fall to the ground. "Yeah, that. I'm not used to people worrying about me."

"Must be nice."

Gojo placed his hand on top of hers, which was resting on the nook of his elbow, as he steered her to the left. "To tell the truth, you were the first one to even care about me getting hurt ever since I entered Jujutsu High."

"Huh?"

"You don't remember? I swear, you're getting senile too early."

Utahime glanced down at his hand on top of hers. "What are you talking about?"

"When I first entered Jujutsu High, Yaga sent you and Mei to assist me on my first solo assignment, remember? I guess you had no idea what my cursed technique was at the time, or you just weren't clever enough to figure out the scope of it, so when you thought the curse was successful in ambushing me, you got in-between us and exorcised it. It got to you a bit, though, but that wasn't on my conscience. That thing would never have been able to touch me anyway."

The garden ended with a statue of a naked mermaid, which was so like Gojo that she wasn't surprised to see it. Behind the statue lay another clear pond that reflected the clouds in the sky. Sparrows flew from one tree to another, and she could hear the buzzing of a bumblebee somewhere.

"Oh, that. You laughed at me while I was bleeding on the floor," she said.

"It was pretty hilarious. And for the record, I carried you straight to Shoko, senpai."

"You have a knack for remembering my most embarrassing moments."

Gojo looked down at her with a grin. "Nah, it wasn't that embarrassing. Actually, when you took that blow for me, I was pretty amazed. No one has really done that for me, and my mind also went like 'whoa, there's a gorgeous older woman willing to risk her life for me. That's pretty hot.' Something along those lines."

Utahime just stared up at him with a slight scowl. He had never complimented her looks. Before graduating, she even heard him saying to Nanami that she was pretty average, so Nanami should probably look for another woman to court. But there was something else to that conversation, which she didn't even mean to eavesdrop on in the first place.

Gojo and Nanami were talking in the awning of the gymnasium on a rainy day, and she was inside napping next to the window directly behind them. Gojo told Nanami to find a girlfriend who would worry about him, as that sounded like a nice thing to go home to after a busy day dealing with curses.

Gojo met her gaze straight on. "What? Why do you look like you wanna kiss me?"

Utahime slapped his arm. "Gojo, you're such a pervert. But seriously, does no one ever check on you?"

"A lot of people do. It makes sense since so many people need something from me. If it's not Jujutsu High, it's my clan."

Utahime grunted. She turned to face him, but he wouldn't let go of her arm, so the movement only brought them closer. She thought he was more daunting this way, what with his towering height and bright blue eyes, but there was no backing down now.

"I'm going to say something, but promise you won't get the wrong idea."

"My mind is full of wrong ideas, so."

"Do you want me to check on you? I mean, I'm pretty sure you're alright, but-"

Gojo raised his eyebrow. "Utahime, you really are into younger men, aren't you?"

"Ugh. This is hopeless."

He laughed aloud, and this time, it felt more sincere. It felt fun. It was also so loud, Utahime could swear Shoko would hear him wherever in the property she was.

"It's enough that you answer my texts and calls. Kinda makes my day when I'm down," he said.

Utahime glimpsed his hand on top of hers again. White lines marred his fingers, and at least three long lines of brown, protruding flesh showed evidence of heavy injury. She wondered how many times he got hurt without anybody knowing, especially when he was much younger and still fine-tuning Infinity.

"I'm probably gonna regret it, but fine. I won't ignore your calls again," she said.

He leaned down so he was closer to her face. "And my texts?"

"Your texts are stupid!" She pulled her head back and looked away. "But fine, I'll answer them too."

"Aw, geez. This is why people think you're in love with me."

"People don't think that!"

"Then why is your nose bleeding?"

She placed her finger under her nose. It was just a trickle, but it told her that she had to lie down and rest soon. "Because I was poisoned, you stupid scum!"

Utahime returned to Jujutsu High on Tuesday. With the help of the bottled medicinal teas Shoko prepared for her, the nosebleeds stopped, and she didn't feel like fainting at the end of the day. By Thursday, she had returned to the abandoned office space and exorcised the remainder of the curses, making sure this time to take the necessary precautions to avoid getting poisoned again.

She was so happy, she made seafood ramen for herself that night and kept the sports channel on until nine-thirty. Then she picked up her phone and answered Gojo's call.

A/N: That's the end of this fic! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Leave a review to let me know what you think and tell me if there are other GojoxUtahime interactions you might want to see. I can probably give some one-shots a go. I'm currently finishing a longer fic called Recruitment that's not exactly GojoxUtahime centric, but I'm planning to give them their moments. My GetoxShoko fic will be up soon, and will be posting a one-shot of MegumixNobara as well.

PS. I was listening to Until I Found You while editing. The idea for this fic came to me when I saw a post about their phone call in JJK S1, where eagle-eyed fans noticed that they had three minutes and forty seconds of conversation but only the forty seconds were shown on screen. Since then, I've wondered how often they actually talked and how their conversations tended to go. :D