Chapter 35

"That's it?"

"What do you mean that's it?! We have to make Yua laugh to snap her out of this. She's not reacting to much as it is." Gojo had left the hospital a short while after visiting, he went right to Suguru and explained what needed to be done.

He didn't appear to be taking the matter seriously. "It doesn't seem to difficult to make her laugh,"

"We also have to show appreciation," Gojo explained. "It's one thing to laugh, But first we have to show she is still wanted and needed here."

Once more, Suguru nodded to the task before them. "Let's make arrangements then…"

"What about making Yua…"

"That's trivial." He said bluntly. "Let's show her appreciation first, and then, we make her laugh again."

Suguru was oddly… calm about this, Gojo didn't know why but he sighed and let him take it from there. Apparently, everyone was in agreement that he shouldn't do ANYTHING to make Yua laugh or even smile.

"Am I really not that funny?" he asked himself. Unaware a very small curl came to her lip for but a moment.

#

Suguru went out and explained to the others what they are going to do. Much to his surprise everyone was all for it, Nanami even volunteered to go out and gather supplies for this event.

He left the domain and went to the market. As he arrived, the farmers spotted him and waved him down. "Hey, I've been hoping to speak with you. You are friends with Miss Tooru right?" he asked.

Nanami was taken aback. "Yes, she is a friend of mine…"

He looked worried. "We haven't seen her in MONTHS… did… did something happen? We know she was expecting…"

He peered away rather suddenly. Instantly the farmer knew and understood the situation. In fact, others were listening all around them. "It was rather sudden… but, at the moment, she is recovering… her children sadly didn't make it."

They nodded in understanding. Suddenly they began to put together packages. Nanami was bombarded with food, soaps, drinks and just little bits of what they had.

There was more coming.

He had to politely decline to take any more, until monks from the temple saw and offered their assistance on the matter. He couldn't refuse at this point. So, Nanami and ten monks were carrying packages and well wishes towards the domain, Nanami had to stop them a few feet from the entrance, and yet before he could utter a word, they stopped, put the packages down and dismissed themselves!

"That was unusual…" he muttered, but didn't pry into it.

He managed to get some help from others within the domain, Eso and Nanami's 'wife' Inari, quickly took to the food and were already working together on making a menu. In fact, the domain was abuzz right now. They were going to celebrate. One, they are celebrating Yua, second… the birth of Chusi and Sukuna's son.

#

By the evening, there was a celebration.

Satoru had brought Yua to a large table, full of her favorite foods and things to snack on. She appeared to notice the spread and her face changed just slightly. "You don't have to say a word, but, please look Yua. Everyone here, are here for you" Satoru said gently.

"In fact, there's even gifts!" called Sukuna.

"Gifts?" Gojo asked.

There were tokens from the village, wishing Yua a quick recovery and offering their sincere condolences on her loss. There was food, her favorite soaps, drinks and clothing. When that was done, Sukuna came up with a bloodied burlap bag.

"Uh… I don't think this is a good time" Satoru warned.

"It is, the heads are starting to rot, jujutsu only preserves them for so long." He carelessly dumped out the bag.

Everyone stumbled back as they saw some familiar faces among the dead. "Uh… Ryomen…" Chusi asked with concern.

"They are the elders who had direct contact with Kenjaku. These are the ones pulling the strings. They were hard to find since they were given Kenjaku's technique as means of escape. So, every time we attacked, they swapped a body thinking they are one step ahead of us…" he said and then bore a wicked grin. "It's far more satisfying to watch them realize their attempts were in utter vein…" he then rummaged through the heads. "Where is that bastard… ah… There he is!" he held one of the heads and showed it to Yua.

Satoru was taken aback as to why he was looking for that particular head, when Rook paused. "Oji… that's him isn't it?"

Sukuna jokingly looked into the face of the severed head. "Yep, same look he had when I killed him. This here, is the bastard that poisoned you." Sukuna said rather proudly. "Needless to say, he won't be doing so again or to anyone else"

Gojo peered at the heads, there were a lot more than elders that were kept in that bag. "So… whose everyone else?" asked Nanami.

He began to sort through the heads like trading cards! "Let's see, elder… elder… assassin… assassin… assassin… elder…"

"Wait, Oji, did you take out the whole squad that came after mom?" Shin asked.

Sukuna looked him dead in the eyes. "Since when have I let anything let alone anyone who has crossed me go or live for very long?"

No one said anything at first, but Gojo nodded. "He has a point."

"Oji… when did you go out and get them?" asked Rook.

Sukuna merely smiled wickedly. "You don't get to know everything about me yet, boy"

Oddly enough, Rook was satisfied with the answer.

In total, there were twenty heads before them. Satoru knew the true elders where before him, their curse energy said so. The elite assassin he has heard about, rumor was these guys were trained to take HIM out if he went rouge or something. But all of them, were now dead. "Yua… this is just the start" Sukuna said in a rather ominous tone. In fact, he started to look like his old self again. "From this moment on, no more running… no more hiding… no more of them making you fear their word over your power. I know you are thinking of everyone else here, you're a Tooru. You do that. But for the first time in your life… be greedy!" he stated. "From this moment on… they are going to curse your name more than mine, for we are going to be their downfall!"

If there was one thing Sukuna was good at, it was motivational speaking.

He missed his calling on that.

But Satoru peered about, everyone here was nodding to his words, agreeing that the world is about to realize they made a huge mistake in coming after her and the family.

For everyone here IS her family.

"I want to see you stand on your own two feet" Sukuna demanded of her. "I want to see you stand, I want to hear you speak, and I want you to take revenge for what they have done. If anyone knows your pain right now, it's ME!"

This… silenced everyone.

No a soul moved as Sukuna nodded to his words.

"I have had my world taken from me, what I should have had in the past… I will not allow that to happen to you. Or you will become me, so. Will you stand?"

Satoru peered at Yua, he felt her move about a little, but, she couldn't stand up. He shook his head to Sukuna.

"Then we need to make her laugh." He decreed.

"Well, I'm not suppose to so how…" he paused as he felt a tap on his shoulder. Satoru turned around and stared down a sumo Suguru! He looked to Yua and gave a cheezy grin… which made her eyes open… she began to giggle until… laughter… she started to laugh!

"Suguru…"

"Told you it was easy, I know this make her laugh without question." He said in a matter of fact tone. "Noranso, if you please" Noranso smirked as he came behind and placed his hand on Suguru's shoulder. He deflated rather quickly.

Satoru peered back at Yua, she was blinking normally and was trying to get up. He was careful with her, gently taking Yua from her sling and setting her down in a chair that Yuuji set up for her.

It was a slow process, as if she were tying to figure out her body once more. Her fingers were the first to move freely, then her wrists… arms… slowly it all came back to her. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes before looking to the masses before her. "Thank you" she whispered.

"Now is not the time for thanks" Sukuna said rather bluntly. "Before we continue, there is something you need to know and understand Yua. Since I now have permission to speak this. It's something I had always assumed but could never prove. Your family has dragon blood in it."

She paused to this. Chusi froze as well. "What are you saying Ryomen?!"

"Your clan originally descended from dragons. The reason why your techniques are different and the clan has no designated one is because of that. The dragon blood in you… allows you to expand on an idea and experiment until something connects and you make your own technique from the extraction method. I had assumed such but never had the proof… until lady Tiamat told me directly."

"Not directly, I merely answered your questions."

Satoru jumped as she appeared behind him. "Not a bad look for you Satoru… in fact…"

"Don't… even joke!" he warned her.

Lady Tiamat smiled as she approached Yua. Her hand gently came on to her shoulder as a gentle glow came over her body. Her strength returned, as did her voice. "Thank you Lady Tiamat…" she said, but her sights turned to Sukuna. "What you said earlier… about making the council fear me more than you… I'm all for it."

"Yua?!"

"I have had enough of this," she said aloud. "We have done everything right, we haven't targeted the other side… okay sometimes we did but that wasn't me doing it, everyone here has a right to their opinion and actions… for the most part…" she kept referring to Sukuna. "But… if I keep doing everything right, it isn't enough for them to leave us alone. I don't want them coming after my family like this… I refuse to let them come after us like this…"

"Good" Sukuna said with a proud grin. "Lady Tiamat?" he asked as the smile grew.

"They took the bait like a large mouth fish" she explained.

"Bait?" asked Chusi.

Lady Tiamat nodded. "Ryomen approached me on an idea on taking out the jujutsu council once and for all, in fact Nanami and Muta have laid the ground work for this as the council believes they are better suited to take care of the needs of the Japanese people. The government believes otherwise. Thus, a proposition… A battle if you will as to who is better capable of defending Japan from curse spirits… however, the council is hiding the true meaning of this and making it into a culling game."

"What?" demanded Yuuji. "They can't do that!"

"Brat, shut the hell up" Sukuna growled. "Let her finish"

Yuuji was going to protest until his mother gave him 'the look'.

He went silent and listened.

"This works out according to your arrangement, doesn't it?" she asked Sukuna.

"I assume they have their own 'rules' they wish to add. And I can safely assume what rule that is."

Lady Tiamat nodded. "In fact, you pegged two of them. Only those who are or married in the Tooru clan can fight, with the exemption of Satoru Gojo."

"In other words, anyone who is in the Tooru clan can fight, those who are not have to sit out… but with Satoru being married TO Yua…" Suguru said and yet appeared rather confused. "Isn't this just a blunt attack on Yua and her family? It's their way of trying to erase them once and for all!"

"No shit," muttered Suiryu. "We're not agreeing to this."

"I already have," Sukuna said and smiled.

"WHAT! SINCE WHEN!?" roared Suiryu.

"Suiryu…" Lady Tiamat warned.

He fell silent but glared at Sukuna who continued the plan. "I knew that would happen, no one in their right mind would go up against Satoru Gojo in the council, they have NO ONE to match him. At the same time… they are not aware of me. Anyone married in the Tooru clan can fight…" his look turned sinister. "I can't wait… it's like a holiday for me!"

"So the three of us against the council…" Yua said. "But how many is the council sending to fight?"

"I never put a number on it, it doesn't matter" Sukuna explained. "Besides, the more the better, since during this time. We're going to evolve Yua."

Everyone went oddly silent.

"Evolve Yua?" Gojo asked.

"She has potential to be a dragon?" asked Suguru.

"More than potential, she's on the cusp of it. Just like Mother Tooru who was nearing such enlightenment and evolution… but was struck down before it happened. Yet, with the culling games, I know we can get Yua over that threshold." He explained he figured out the reason why Yua's curse marks were turning to scales, for each time she absorbs a technique, her body naturally matches it with other methods she has already gathered. It altered and evolved it until it became a scale on her body. "She nearly has no more room for more techniques, meaning she needs a few more to get her blood to wake up the dragon within her. As such another precaution was taken…"

"How did he do all of this in nearly a week?" Suiryu whispered to Yuuji. Not even he knew, but the way he explained it, the notion, ideas and reasoning… it was all valid and truthful, they couldn't deny that.

"Ryomen had asked me to do something rather… underhanded… I didn't mind doing it the least bit," she said with a proud smile.

"Mom…" Yuuji asked with concern.

"It's for Yua, and those who the council bring in to the fight… will automatically become vessels to sorcerers of the past. Essentially, I looked over the past. Saw who Kenjaku made a binding vow with and will use them once more. We need strong techniques to be exposed to Yua, then she can close the gap on the ones she needs to fill, and then… she will become a dragon."

It was rather silent.

No one knew what to say let alone make of this, however Sukuna appeared to alter the mood rather quickly.

"Now we have that sorted, I have come to ask a favor of lady Tiamat." He said rather boldly. "My favor is simple… bless my son, is what I ask."

"Whoa… never thought he would request that…" muttered Suiryu.

Lady Tiamat smiled, as she appeared to look at Suiryu and Yuuji for a moment. Satoru has since focused on Yua, not really paying attention to the rest of this situation before him…