Chapter 11

Slowly, he came too.

Gojo was already processing the battle in his mind. Mother Tooru wasn't even trying against Sukuna. And at the moment, his strength is equal to at least three fingers if he were to guess. Yet, there was something about this… something important.

He woke up, trying to figure out what had happened. Sukuna got to his feet and was trudging towards the doorway when he heard voices.

"WHAT!? Why would he do that, mother?"

Gojo paused. 'Ryoto?' he thought.

Sukuna peered out through the thatch made door, he saw Ryoto appearing rather… hurt. "Mother…"

Mother Tooru was no worst for wear, but she appeared worried. "We need to understand, Ryoto. Ryomen is different, he thinks differently and sees differently." She said as gently as she could.

"He doesn't! He's just stubborn!" he protested. "I tried to spar with him, but he refused to do so with me, saying I am too weak. That might be true, but if I spar with him, I know I can get stronger…"

Ryomen didn't move, in his mind he was thinking. 'This family sees me as nothing more than a burden. A monster like all others who see me! An unwanted child…'

"That's right, you don't always have to train with Ryomen you know. But he would be a great one to learn from. Even I have been learning from him, but I don't think he quite understand…"

"Mother… what IS Ryomen anyways?"

Gojo felt his heart grow cold by the question. What IS he…

Mother Tooru smiled. "He is a sorcerer and he is family." She said without missing a beat.

This… confused him. Despite how cold he is to this woman, the family, she still sees him as such? Why would she waste her time in thinking that?

"Ryoto, this will sound strange to you. But you need to listen to me. Despite how he looks, Ryomen is family. He is on the same path we are on, he just isn't aware of it yet. I may not fully understand him, but we will try to. At the same time, this could be just how he is. And if so, why he acts this way… it would be the same as telling a fire not to burn. He could be going against his own nature, and we're forcing a sudden change upon him. Ryomen may not accept it, that's okay. But, I want him to know there is more than one path in life. Power is fine, but it won't bring happiness."

He backed away from the thatch door.

"Telling a fire not to burn…" he muttered. Oddly enough those words stuck with him.

He didn't want to go out there and speak with them, so instead, he turned his attention to the infant in the room. Chusi was lying in a crib made from thatch and fabrics. He kept peering down at her, still wondering how babies are so weak and pathetic when they are born. He sat next to her, yet kept staring.

"Why are they trying to assume I don't know anything?" he asked of her. "I maybe young, but I know I am powerful enough to hold my own. No other sorcerer is like me, not one," he said defiantly. "But you wouldn't understand, you are just a weak baby…" he went as far as pointing at her.

Then, she grabbed his finger.

Ryomen paused… in fact, Gojo felt this as it happened.

A sensation came to the tip of his finger.

He pulled away and yet, the sensation… began to spread. Not just from the one finger either. All twenty of them began to feel… strange. As if a tingling awareness had come upon them. "What is this?" he muttered.

Since his hands were now feeling such an odd sensation.

Gojo tried to make sense of it too, he was within young Sukuna at the moment, and he too notices and felt this odd feeling slowly traveling up Sukuna's arms.

'This isn't a technique… in fact… even though she is a baby and doesn't know her power, Chusi didn't put this energy into him… her touch… woke it up.'

More and more this odd feeling traveled, it startled Sukuna since it began to resonate oddly within him. Gojo felt it in his heart. But, there was an odd reaction he got within two other areas of the body not associated with vital organs…

'What is that? Those two things I just felt…' he wondered.

However, when this energy reached the two strange spots Satoru spoke of. Sukuna's body pulsed. His eyes rolled back and he collapsed then and there to the ground!

At this point. Gojo was on the outside looking in now. He stared down an unconscious Ryomen Sukuna, just as Mother Tooru rushed into the room. "Ryomen?!" she gasped.

Rushing to his side, she turned him over to see Ryomen was out cold. He breathed oddly heavy as he began to sweat. "Mother?" came Ryoto.

"Ryoto, I need cold water and a cloth please, Ryomen is sick…"

He watched them tend to him. For three days, Sukuna was out cold. Even Ryujin came to check on him, and was rather perplexed to this. "He shouldn't be ill, I have checked his vitality… he is immune to illnesses, something like this should not happen…"

"I know, I am aware of that too, perhaps… it's not an illness then." She said gently. "I can almost see what has happened… and yet… this isn't curse energy is it?"

Ryujin, who was in his vessel of a young teenage girl, looking over Sukuna once more. In fact, their hand extended over him and Gojo saw an exchange of energy. "Interesting…" Ryujin whispered. "It's as if he is changing right here and now…"

Mother Tooru froze. "What is changing in him though? I worried that I may have struck him too hard… I used pressure points on him and cut off his energy…"

"That might explain a little of it…"

"What do you mean?"

"The way I see this, Ryomen Sukuna is more like a living catastrophe. The structure of his body is not usual, and yet…" Ryujin paused once more. "I can't quite explain it… but… if it makes you feel better. I do believe he will wake up for the better of himself."

Mother Tooru still appeared worried, but they left him to rest and recover.

#

Gojo blacked out, but as his eyes opened again, he found he was looked upon by Mother Tooru… she never left his side.

"M… Mother Tooru?" he whispered.

"Ryomen!? Are you okay?" slowly she helped ease him up. He took in the room but then he felt strange, like a pit in his stomach formed. "Ryomen?"

"I feel weird." He said gently. "Like… a gnawing in my stomach… But I only get that when I look at you… and thought about what I said…"

Gojo was rather perplexed at this point. 'Is this the first time he is noticing his own emotions?!' he thought. But he is still a child too… isn't he?

Mother Tooru smiled to him. "What do you think that means?" she asked of him.

Sukuna was silent, he shook his head, unable to figure it out. "Take your time to understand what this feeling is, I don't think I should tell you but I know the sensation you feel." She said.

His eyes widened as he stared at her. "You do?!"

She nodded to him. "When I was young… I made my brother cry. Because he was trying to show off and he did something a lot better than I could. So, he felt so proud of himself, I made sure he didn't. When he got upset and sad, I wasn't until my mother spoke to me. She asked 'Why would you make your brother feel like that? You don't like it, do you?' I thought about it, and the more I did, the more I felt a pit in my stomach."

"THAT'S HOW I FEEL!" he said with great amazement. "It's like a pit! How do you make it go away?"

She smiled gently to him once more, her hand brushed through his hair as she explained. "I apologized to my brother, but it doesn't make all the pain go away." Mother Tooru sat a little more comfortably. "When words are spoken, they can never be caught. When a punch is thrown and it strikes, you cannot take it back. When you curse someone… there is no going back for either one of you. I want you to think this over carefully Ryomen, but I also want you to figure out what your feelings are and how to act on them."

"Feelings?" he asked.

"The pit in your stomach, that's a feeling." She explained.

He merely nodded to her. "If you are hungry, we will get you something to eat. If you want to rest some more, you can as well."

Sukuna was silent, but as she was leaving the room, he called out. "Mother Tooru" she paused and turned to him. "I… I am sorry for what I said to you… and how I said it."

"I forgive you Ryomen, but be mindful of your words from now on."