Regaining consciousness feels like shattering into a thousand pieces.
Your eyelids burn like hell, and you're not sure if you are able to move for the next few minutes. Everything hurts, from your ankles to your knees and thighs, up until your shoulders and neck. It feels like you've been thrown into a mixer and shaken until your insides turned mushy.
You force your aching eyes open when you remember that you didn't fall into the portal alone. Satoru. Why did he-
Where is he?
Panic floods your system when you can't feel his presence. The Six Eyes – you're supposed to feel them immediately. Its existence cannot be ignored, and yet…
"-toru. Satoru- "
What if he got separated from you? You don't know where you are, what if the portal is still holding him? What if he…
"I'm here," someone whispers into your ear, and you nearly sob with relief.
His hands are on your hip and under your shoulder blades when he pulls you into his lap, holding you close to his chest as you try not to wail.
"I can't feel you…Why can't I sense your cursed signature?" you breathe and bury your nose in his clothes. The familiar smell calms you, assures you that he is alive and well. That you are not alone.
Even if he suppresses his cursed energy, his Six Eyes are impossible to miss for someone who has been around him for years. It's like a speck of light in your peripheral vision, unnoticeable if you don't pay attention, but there, nonetheless. You are so familiar with his presence that the absence of such a vital part feels wrong.
When he fails to answer, you open your eyes and look up at his face.
Your mouth falls open.
His eyes…they are muted. Flat. Still blue, but darker, like the midnight sky.
"W-what happened to your eyes?" You stare at him in horror. Your hand reaches up to lightly touch his cheek, trying to make sure it's really him.
His arms tighten around you as he stares into the distance. You can feel his muscles tense around you as if he's trying to keep his composure.
"It appears that I'm not in possession of the Six Eyes anymore."
He may as well have said that he lost a limb. You slowly shake your head, disbelieving. "That's not possible. You can't lose your Six Eyes."
"I have a few theories, actually," he says and finally looks at you. Despite his shocking revelation, he has the nerve to smirk. "You've been out for quite some time. I was able to think it through."
His thumb draws slow circles over your hip bone as he speaks.
"My first theory was that the portal somehow deactivated my Six Eyes, but that's out of the question. The Oracle Curse shouldn't be able to do that, and we would have noticed if it harbored that much cursed energy.
"There is another possibility." He hesitates and his tongue darts out to wet his lips. You don't think you have ever seen him so anxious.
His next words knock the breath out of your body.
"As crazy as it sounds, I don't think we're in our universe, or timeline anymore. So, my second theory was that we're in a world where Jujutsu sorcerers and cursed energy don't exist. But I dismissed that when I looked for you," he explains. "You landed further away from me, and as soon as I was within range, I could sense your cursed energy. It was weak, but it was there. I concluded that if the physics of this world allow that to happen, it's universal. Which leads me to my last and most probable hypothesis."
He looks down at you and you involuntarily shiver at the sight of his eyes. The color is unfamiliar, but you still recognize Satoru in them. Your heart aches when you realize how he must feel.
"There can't be two Six Eyes alive in the same time period," he continues, and realization slowly dawns on you.
"You think…you think we got thrown back in time?" You struggle to breathe.
"We're not in the presence any more, that's for sure."
"No, that's impossible. Time travel is…absolutely insane," you whisper and rack your brain for any other possibility.
Even in the Jujutsu World, time travel is something that has been researched extensively, but there is no documented case of success. Tearing the fabric of time and space apart is not something that happens on a whim.
"We need to figure out where we are, or when," he continues, apparently having already made peace with the fact that you are trapped in a different timeline.
Your body is slowly starting to heal as your cursed energy comes back piece by piece. The portal must have drained you dry to function.
A low whimper escapes your lips when you try to stand up. Satoru releases your body and hovers beside you, ready to catch you if you fall.
"God, I hope Yoshio is alright," you gasp lowly when you remember that you left him standing outside of the hospital ward. You would never forgive yourself if anything happened to him after you promised you would bring him back safely.
Standing upright helps you replay the past events as you turn to him. A wave of emotions comes crashing down on you when you realize what he did in order to be stuck here with you. What his absence means for the rest of the world. You ball your fists, unable to ignore the weight in your chest.
"The portal was meant for me," you slowly say, and your hands start shaking uncontrollably. "You shouldn't have jumped in. We could have both died and now Yoshio is in danger."
You watch the way his jaw tightens and his brows furrow together in irritation.
"The whole world needs you," you continue, your voice steadily rising in volume as your anger starts to blind you, "It needs you to preserve the power balance. Your life is infinitely more important than mine. If you're gone, cursed spirits are going to know, and people are going to die because of it!"
"I am trying to care." His eyes are aflame as he stares at you, and you feel something inside of him snap. The look he gives you is almost feral. "I promise you, I tried to give a fuck about what happens to everyone else, but the end of the world pales in comparison to what I would do if you were gone."
You feel the blood rushing from your head as you stare at him in disbelief. "You can't mean that. Stop. Do you realize what you're saying? We're talking about millions of human lives!"
You want to slap some sense into him. You try pushing him, but he wraps his hands around your wrists and holds them between you. A sense of deja-vu floods you, especially when your cheekbones start throbbing as you struggle not to cry.
"You are my limit. You're the last thing I'm willing to truly care about." His voice is close to a growl. "I already lost Suguru. If you die, I'll stop."
"Don't say that." Your voice breaks when you stare at his eyes betraying nothing but the truth. They roam over your face as if trying to memorize every detail.
"I thought you were dead," he says and his lips curl at the memory. "You were laying there, motionless, and before I could sense your cursed energy, I thought you didn't make it. And it would have been my fault."
You let him pull you against his chest, his nose buried in the juncture of your neck and shoulder. You feel the flutter of his lashes against your skin and the heat of his breath on your collarbone. Your emotional outburst leaves you drained, and you press yourself tighter against him with your arms wrapped around his neck.
"Don't say stuff like this so easily," you sniffle into his hair.
For a moment, both of you relish in the fact that you are alive and in one piece. Even though you lashed out at him, you are glad that you're not alone. A part of you still remembers how it felt to fall into the portal, and it's not something you'll forget anytime soon.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you."
You feel his lips quirking up. "That just means you're coming to your senses."
He retreats enough to look at you, still smirking. "I'd be more worried if you'd been all nice and cozy with me."
You snort and roll your eyes at him. Then you start to notice your surroundings.
"Where are we, anyway?" You take a look around but fail to recognize the area.
It's like you were dropped into the middle of nowhere. There's a forest to the left, and you can make out a couple of buildings in the distance, but other than that, it's just a meadow as far as you can see.
"We're close to my childhood home," he says, looking deep in thought. "Which is convenient because that's going to be the next place we're going to visit. My arrival in this world must have been noticed. I imagine that if we don't go there by ourselves, they'll hunt us down."
You nod. "If there is another Six Eyes in this world, they're going to be there. Do you think they'll be hostile?"
"There's only one way to find out, right?" he hums.
You flex your fingers. "My cursed energy is coming back, but let's stay off the main roads for now and avoid other people. That's the first rule of time travel, right? Trying not to interfere with past events."
He nods in agreement. "I'm not entirely useless without my Six Eyes." A half-smile appears on his lips. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but let's avoid confrontations for now."
You gather your stuff, which isn't a lot since you brought nothing to your mission, not even a weapon. Both Satoru and you rely on your technique to finish a fight. Carrying a weapon doesn't make sense for either of you, although you wish you at least had a pocketknife. You don't think you could summon a weapon, let alone wield it; your muscles are still sore and weak, and it's going to take at least an entire day to replenish your cursed energy reserves.
The sun is high in the sky as you make your way through the forest in silence. Ever since you started walking, you are fighting the near compulsive urge to touch him. Perhaps it's because of the situation you're in – everything feels strange and wrong, and he's the only thing that gives you comfort. Or it's the fact that he risked his life to save you, even though he had no idea what would wait on the other side of the portal. You could've been falling into certain death, and he still jumped in without thinking. He did the most selfless thing a person could do, and you aren't quite sure how to deal with this growing feeling in your chest.
He doesn't say a word when you take his hand and carefully interlock your fingers.
"This is it," he announces when you approach a house, or rather, a mansion.
"God, I hate it when I'm reminded how rich you are," you groan.
It's a traditional Japanese house, with an imposing front gate and a large garden, complete with a koi pond and intricate flower beds. You can make out the sheer size of the estate and the bustle of servants just from walking towards it.
Just as you step closer, you feel a weird sensation – like your whole body is being dunked into cold water. You open your mouth to gasp, but then it's gone.
Satoru sees your bewildered expression and speaks up. "We just passed the wards. They must have recognized us, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to go through- "
When he abruptly stops talking, you look at him. His eyebrows are scrunched together, and his eyes look conflicted. Before you can ask him what he's thinking, he's tugging on your hand, urging you to keep walking.
As you approach the front gate, a ball rolls by a few feet in front of you. It looks like a football, and it appears to be brand-new.
It's followed by a small boy who can't be older than five years, with snow-white hair.
You try to keep your voice to a whisper. "You- Is that you as a kid?"
He shakes his head, slowly. "That's not me."
"Are you sure? But he looks just like you-" you say, but the words get stuck in your throat when the child turns around to look at you.
He doesn't have crystal blue eyes – the one visual characteristic of the Six Eyes. Instead, his eyes are the same color as your own.
"I revoke my previous statement. We're not in the past," Satoru says dryly but you barely hear him over the noise in your head.
"We're in the future."