Kyandi: Welcome back, Kyandiacs!
Inari: So we do this with every chapter?
Kyandi: Yep.
Inari: Why?
Kyandi: Uh...I'm not sure. It's just something I do.
Inari: You confuse me.
Kyandi: Don't worry, I confuse a lot of people.
Inari: That has to say something about your personality.
Kyandi: ….I prefer not to think about it. Anyway, everyone, please enjoy and review.
Inari: Kyandi-sama does not own Jujutsu Kaisen...or sanity.
Kyandi: HEY!
Chapter 7 A Lot Alike
Inari awoke to a world of pain. Everything felt like it hurt, even her hair. Which she didn't think was even possible, but that was how she felt. Her limbs felt like lead. Whens he opened her eyes, she found herself staring up at the ceiling of her dorm room. Trying to shift, she only groaned from pain and soreness.
"Oh, you're finally awake. Good."
Hearing Gojou's voice, Inari turned her head to find the man sitting at her bedside, book in hand. "Gojou-sensei...how long was I asleep?"
"Not long, just over night. How are you feeling?"
Inari heaved a sigh. "I will live. How is everyone else?"
"There were some grave injuries among the students, but nothing fatal. They'll recover."
Relief washed over her then. "That is good."
"That said, we have a problem."
Inari turned her eyes to her teacher. "Problem?"
"The higher ups are in a tizzy because of you."
To her, he sounded almost happy about that, making her raise an eyebrow. "Whatever for?"
"You fully manifested Kyuubi's power out there."
"It was not fully manifested. That was only Phase Three," Inari corrected.
"They don't know that," he pointed out. "They're all bent over backwards about if you lose control of that form and go on a rampage. They're talking about sealing you away."
"Sealing me away?" Inari pushed herself up despite her soreness. "They have never done that to any past Migawari heir." The idea made Inari's insides twist into knots.
"Pas heirs had elders in the clan to guide them on how to handle Kyuubi and the other cursed techniques of the bloodline. You don't."
"So I am doomed?"
Gojou grinned then, leaning forward. "Not quite. Hey, Kit...why don't you enter a Binding Vow with me?"
"A Binding Vow?" Inari had to admit she was confused. "Whatever for?"
"We'll make a vow, whenever you hear a certain code word, you and Kyuubi both will shut down and go to sleep, stopping both you and your cursed techniques."
Inari frowned at the idea. "That could be used against me in so many harmful ways. Especially where Yuuji is concerned."
"True, but I'll be the only one to have the code. I promise you, I'll only tell another person if it's an absolute emergency," Gojou assured her.
He hadn't lied to her yet. Inari considered it for a moment, leaning back against her headboard. When compared to the idea of being sealed away for the rest of her life, only having contact in order to continue her family bloodline...Inari like the vow idea far more, even it if presented its own problems. "Alright. I will trust you on this, Gojou-sensei. Prove my trust misplaced and you will have to sleep with one eye open for the rest of your existence."
"Good!" Gojou clapped his hands together, completely ignoring her threat. "Now, what code should we use..." Gojou tapped his chin while he thought. Finally coming up with something, he smacked one fist into the other palm. "Got it! InaKuGoKi!"
Inari blinked. "Inakugoki?"
"Yep! Ina for Inari, Ku for Kyuubi, Go for Gojou, and Ki because I call you Kit! It's genius, if I do say so myself."
He obviously thought he was awfully clever, but Inari had to admit...it would be harder to guess then anything else they could come up with. "It certainly is...creative. Alright, then."
"Right! That should shut those geezers up for a while," Gojou declared with a wide grin.
Inari sighed. "You are so disrespectful."
"Oh, come on, Kit. You can't say they aren't annoying."
"I cannot, but the difference is that they can meddle in my life. You are virtually untouchable." Gojou couldn't argue with that. "Now, it is time for me to get out of this bed."
Gojou watched as she tossed aside her blanket and swung her legs out with a wince and a long groan. "You sure you wanna get up?"
"If I lay here any longer, I will grow stiffer than I already am." Inari eased herself to her feet. She found she had been changed into the light weight nightgown she wore to bed, various parts of her body bandaged. "Besides, I need to see the other before I can rest easy."
Gojou smiled at her determination. For all she was stoic, the girl already cared for her comrades. Now he just needed her to accept her nickname and he could die happy.
"Ah, Good, you're all here!"
Having been called together, the students of both schools looked up at the sound of Gojou's voice. They found the man coming towards them with a heavily bandaged and limping Inari at his side. Yuuji jumped up upon seeing her and rushed over to her.
"Inari! Are you okay to be walking around?" He circled her, checking her over, even lifting her arms to look at her.
"I am well enough." Inari pulled her arm from his grip. "I can use reversed techniques on myself." She turned towards Fushiguro, Maki and Inumaki then. "Are you three fairing better?"
Inumaki gave her a nod. "Salmon."
"Yeah, good as new," Maki confirmed.
Fushiguro nodded. "You should worry about yourself."
"I am use to the pain by this point. The transformations have never been painless for me and I doubt they ever will be." Inari turned her eyes to Kamo, bandages wrapped around the third year's head. "And you, Kamo-san?"
Kamo was surprised she cared, but he bowed his head in thanks. After all, she had helped him. "I will recover."
Inari nodded, a relieved sigh leaving her. "Good."
"Not that I was worried," Gojou declared, dropping a hand on Inari's head, making her wince. "After all, you lot had a special grade sorcerer with you."
Blank stares fixed in on Inari, fingers pointing to her as if they were silently asking if it was her. Inari gave two curt nods of her head in affirmation, pulling her student ID out of her pocket to show them proof. They absorbed that information in silence for a moment before they all blew up. "You're a special grade!?"
Inari blinked. "I did tell several of you that I outranked you without having to know what your rank was. I already knew none of you were special grade and that was all I needed to know."
"How are you a special grade? You just started at Jujutsu High and couldn't deal with that special grade curse without help," Mai pointed out.
"It is less about me and more about what I am potentially capable of. I am the Migawari heir and am the holder of the special grade vengeful apparition, Nine-Tailed Fox, Kyuubi." That earned Inari a few surprised looks from those who hadn't seen her transformation. "I also have inherited the other innate techniques of my clan and, as such, have access to the full form of the cursed spirit that dwells in me. No Migawari heir in almost nine hundred years has been able to claim the same. That means that I have full access to the over flowing cursed energy of Kyui. On my own, I am a second grade, semi-first grade at best."
"I thought all the Migawari were killed years ago," Miwa remarked.
A heavy sigh left Inari. "So everyone insist on reminding me, yet here I stand."
Kyuubi, in a form the size of a large dog, appeared beside Inari then, red eyes set on Miwa, his lips pulling back to flash his fangs. "Little One, this one harmed your feelings. Should I punish her?"
Miwa flinched back, but Inari simply laid a hand on the fox's head. "No, Kyui. I am sure she had no intention of doing so. Besides, she is a comrade. We do not harm comrades."
"IF that is what you wish," Kyuubi replied, shooting a glare at Miwa one last time before he vanished, Miwa apologizing.
Inari waved off the apology. "All is fine."
Gojou gave Inari's head a few pats, each raising a wince from her each time. "All that aside...so, a lot happened and people even died. Whaddaya guys think? Should we continue the event?"
"Hm..." Yuuji crossed his arms. "When you put it like that..."
"Then, yeah...we should continue." All eyes turned to Todou who had his feet propped up on a coffee table.
"What makes you say that?" Gojou asked.
"First off, mourning is reserved for people intimate with those who have passed away. It's none of our concern. Second, if there were fatalities, what is expected of us is to get stronger! Our circumstances now dictate that we look at the results. To suffer defeat or experience victory – we grow regardless. Results are important because they are unwavering. Third! That unsettled feeling of having unfinished business during their school days wills tick with them until the day they die!"
"How old are you, again?" Gojou asked.
"I don't mind," Fushiguro remarked.
Nobara agreed. "We'll win anyway."
"He sounds ridiculous, but he does have a point," Kamo agreed.
Panda and Inumaki also gave their consent before Inari nodded. "I do not mind. I am ready to go."
"Are you sure? You still look pretty beat up," Nobara remarked.
Inari shrugged her shoulders. "Like my hair grows quickly, my injuries will heal quickly."
"Are the pairing for the individual portion drawn at random?" Maki asked.
"Huh? Gojou made a face that Inari couldn't put a name to. "We're not doing that this year!" With that said, Gojou tossed a box to Yuuji. "I don't like routines. Every year we put format suggestions in this box and open it on opening day."
Gojou gestured for Yuuji to pull a slip out. Yuuji reached in to remove a slip. Inari popped up between Yuuji and the paper, both principals leaning over his shoulder to read what was written there. "Baseball?"
The principals looked at each other before Yaga turned to yell at Gojou, finding the man had already elft. Inari took the slip, her head tilting to one side. "What is baseball?"
All eyes turned to Inari who was still staring at the paper in confusion. Maki shook her head, approaching her to lay a hand on her shoulder. "It doesn't matter. You won't be playing."
Inari looked up at her in questioning. "Why not?"
"For one, you're too injured. For two, it would take too long to explain the game to you," Maki told her.
"Oh..." Inari nodded idly. "That is a reasonable argument."
When Inari deflated, like she was disappointed. Maki heaved a sigh. "Come on, you can help me, Toge and Panda with getting the equipment."
Inari perked up and nodded. "Alright."
Inari trailed after Maki, Panda and Inumaki. The four went to the storage shed to pull out bats, helmets, and mitts. Inari helped as they gathered everything to carry to the field. Maki watched in amusment as Inari turned a helmet in her hands, peering at it curiously.
"You know...you kind of remind me of someone else."
Inari leaned back, looking up at Maki in surprise. "Oh? Who?"
"He's a fellow second year who's currently overseas," Maki replied.
"She kind of does remind you of Yuta, huh," Panda remarked thoughtfully, Inumaki agreeing.
Inari looked between the three. "Yuta?"
"Okkotsu Yuta. He's a special grade sorcerer like you," Maki explained. "He also had a cursed spirit attached to him like you, too. It was his childhood friend that he accidentally cursed when she died."
"He did? What became of the spirit?" Inari asked, curiously.
"He was able to lift the curse on her," Panda replied.
"I see..." Inari trailed off as she thought this over.
"He was super distant when he came here, too, and was a real wet blanket." Inari looked up as Maki talked. "Though his was because he was bullied before he came here. Still, he managed to break out of his shell and become more social."
"That's right!" Inari craned her head back to look up at Panda as he laid a paw on her head. "I'm sure you'll settle in just fine, just like him."
"You believe so?" Inari asked.
"Salmon," Inumaki confirmed.
Inari looked between the three before fixing her eyes on the helmet in her clawed hands. "I am not so sure. I have never had to make friends or get along with other humans. I grew up secluded. I do not know where to start."
"Well," Panda gave her head a pat. "You can start with not speaking so formally. Use some contractions now and then."
"I will try." Inari gave a nod of her head.
"Good, now let's get this equipment to the field." Maki picked up the bats as she spoke.
Inari grabbed an arm full of mitts while Panda and Inumaki picked up helmets and catcher gear. Inari had to hustle to keep up with their longer strides, but she never complained. Yuuji grinned when she saw them coming, chuckling when he saw Inari with her arms full of gloves, one even perched on her head. Inari went racing to his side.
"I have the gloves, Yuuji!" She came to a stop in front of him to offer him a glove. "Find one that will...that'll work."
Yuuji grinned as she paused to use change her words to a contraction. "Thanks, Inari."
As soon as he found a glove that worked for him, Inari moved on to Nobara and Fushiguro. Once everyone on her team had one, she moved to the Kyoto team, begrudgingly dealing with head pats from Todou. Only a warning call from Yuuji saying, "Don't bite him, Inari!", kept her from biting the other teenager. Because of that when Maki hit him with a pitch, Inari cheered along with the others, a little pom-pom in her hands that Gojou gave her.
In the end, Yuuji hit a home run and the Tokyo school won the whole event. Before she left, though, Nishimiya showed Inari a new way to braid her hair so it wasn't constantly trying to escape her hair pins.
All in all, a very successful event for Inari.
END
Kyandi: You're always so adorable.
Inari: I can turn into a venomous, dangerous fox spirit.
Kyandi: Still adorable.
Inari: I will never understand you.
Kyandi: Best not to even try.
Inari: …
Kyandi: While Inari fries her brain trying to comprehend something she cant, we should move on.
Inari: I am not "frying" my brain.
Kyandi: I can see smoke coming out of your ears.
Inari: That is implausible.
Kyandi: Not in my world! Anyway, everyone, please enjoy and review.
Inari: ...We will return as soon as we are able.
Kyandi: Bye-bye!