Author's Note: Just a quick little one shot featuring Megumi Fushiguro. The more I learn about this guy, the more sad I get for him. I just hope he did have a few more people besides Gojo reach out to him and show him kindness in his life. With that thought, the plot bunnies started hopping so I typed up this one shot including two OCs despite one of them being a dead acquaintance. Please enjoy.
Megumi Fushiguro stood in front of the old woman's grave marker staring at her name. Hiroko Nakamura truly had been a generous soul imparting kindness and affection he otherwise would not have received in his life. After pouring water over the gravestone, he lay the single white lily he held in his hand on the rocks surrounding the base. The woman had been dead three years, and he still missed her terribly.
"Thank you for everything, you nosy old hag," he murmured with a smile on his face.
"That's not a very nice thing to say to the dead."
Megumi whirled around to see a woman standing behind him. She carried a white parasol to shield herself from the sun while also wearing overly large round lensed black sunglasses that made her look like a giant bug. Her almost lily white skin made him believe she always took every effort to avoid the sun.
"You're here to pay your respects right?" she asked him, her voice stern but low in volume.
"Yes, ma'am," he replied.
"Then be respectful," she scolded him, pulling her sunglasses off. Her eyes were the most amazing amber color reminding him of a wolf's eyes. "Please don't call me ma'am. I'm only twenty."
Megumi scanned her from head to toe without lingering on any parts in between. Dressed all in white, a sleeveless shirt over a form fitting pencil skirt along with shiny white patent leather pumps, she looked like a business woman to him. He thought she might have gotten lost taking a short cut through the graveyard until he saw the white lily in her hand. Her black hair hung below her shoulders in sleek defined waves like those of a 1940s pinup girl. There is no way this woman is only twenty.
"I'm a model. I was at a photo shoot," she explained.
"You didn't have to explain," he returned.
"I know, but you're curious aren't you?"
"No."
Her eyes widened in surprise. She slid her sunglasses back onto her nose to cover her eyes. Stepping forward, she boldly nudged him out of the way with her shoulder.
Rather than leave, Megumi stayed. He lied. He is curious about this woman. Especially now that she reached for the wooden dipper to pour water on the still wet grave marker of Hiroko Nakamura. Standing behind the rude mystery woman, he quietly observed as she squatted down keeping her knees together to retain her modesty in the knee length skirt.
She reached into her cylindrical purse and produced an incense stick which she jammed into the ground beside the lily. The little purse also held a lighter which she used to light the incense stick before folding her hands in prayer and bowing her head.
To be respectful as she had requested, Megumi bowed his head and offered his own prayer.
When she was done, she rose slowly, elegantly unfolding her body to a standing position. She turned, gasping and jumping back to see him standing so closely behind her.
"Why are you still here?" she demanded.
"Why are you here? Who was she to you?" he inquired boldly.
"She was my grandmother," she answered, tossing back her hair and glowering at him. She haughtily repeated his own question back to him with pointed emphasis. "Who was she to you?"
"She was the busybody, interfering neighbor who took care of everybody when I was a little kid."
The woman opened her mouth to speak. She would unleash another snarky admonition telling him exactly what she thought of his brashness no doubt. Megumi started speaking again before she could berate him some more.
"Your grandmother was no ordinary woman. She was kind and caring and helped take care of a lonely kid. She would patch me up when I'd get into fights at school."
"I'm guessing those fights had a lot to do with your name?"
"Yeah," he admitted, massaging the back of his neck self-consciously. "She was a very nice lady who helped me a lot. She was always there for me when I needed someone. She was like a grandmother to me."
"So the old hag thing?" she pressed, pulling her sunglasses down to the tip of her nose to gaze at him over the massive lenses.
"An inside joke between the two of us."
"Ah...grandmother did have a rather off kilter sense of humor." A smile played at the edges of her lips painted bright red in stark contrast to her porcelain doll skin.
Megumi bowed to her, bidding her good-bye without receiving one in return. Turning his back to her, he walked away. He needed to return to school. His long strides had already put several yards between them when he heard the woman call out to him.
"Hey! Hey, you!"
"What?" he asked without stopping or turning around.
He heard her high heeled shoes crunching on the small gravel of the path. She was moving quickly, running to catch up, so he kept advancing as well to extend the distance separating them.
"Is your name Megumi?" she asked. She was close, only a few feet behind him when she spoke.
He immediately froze. He raised his hands, folding them and whispering the words to summon his black divine dog, in case this woman is a demon in disguise. Considering cemeteries were always rife with cursed energy he would not be surprised. He was in no mood to be caught unawares, and dying today was definitely not in his plans. Slowly he pivoted on the ball of his foot to face her.
"Is your name Megumi?" she repeated while he glared hotly at her, anger and suspicion in his eyes.
He stood with his feet hip width apart, his arms held stiffly at his sides with the fingers curled into fists. He was ready to fight, and she knew it which made her take a cautionary step backwards. She glanced down at his feet then back to his face.
"My name is Megumi Fushiguro," he declared.
"You are him," she said, a smile pushing her lips upward as she pulled her sunglasses off to reveal her eyes to him once more. "I didn't think you were real."
"What are you talking about?" he demanded, his fingers loosening.
"My grandmother told me stories about a little boy named Megumi who visited her. You would bring her wild flowers and sing songs to her. You would hold her hand to help her across the street. You would help her make rice balls." She laughed lightly, then exhaled noisily as if relieved. "I thought she made you up. Or at the very least got extremely confused."
"Why? Because Megumi is a girl's name?" he demanded indignantly.
"No...we feared my grandmother had gone completely crazy from the loneliness after grandpa died. We thought you were nothing more than figment of her imagination to keep her company," she replied, her eyebrows drawing together over her nose. "You hate your name, don't you?"
"I do," he confirmed flatly without giving an explanation.
"You really meant a lot to her. She always looked forward to your visits. Did you know that?"
"No. I didn't know," he replied honestly.
"So where were you? Why didn't you ever come to visit her?" He noted her light skin darkened with an intense pink coloration that had nothing to do with the warmth of the sun she hid from under her parasol.
"I live overseas. My father met and married a foreigner. We moved to the United States. I was only able to come visit my grandmother on very rare occasions before she died. I wish I could have come more often," she added, her eyes lowering to the ground.
She appeared to stare at something for several seconds. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes like liquid diamonds before letting go and streaking down her cheeks when her eyelids raised to reveal her glistening irises to him.
"Why didn't your father move her to America to live with you there?"
She shrugged. "You know how she was...stubborn...set in her ways. She loved her home, her neighbors. She absolutely refused to move. Besides, I think she had found a very important reason to stay here." She grinned happily at him. Suddenly, the smile became sad when the corners of her mouth turned down slightly. "You kept her from being lonely and afraid when she knew she was dying...the boy named Megumi."
"She kept me from being lonely as well," he confessed, looking down at the black divine dog who leaned against his leg.
"Good. I'm glad to hear that," she said, her smile broadening. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Megumi." She bowed to him. "I should be leaving as well before they send out the security team to find me."
"Are you really a model?" He blinked at her.
"Yes."
Why did he keep asking her questions? Why did he care?
"Your Japanese is impeccable. How did you learn to speak it so well?"
"It was important to my father I learn to speak the language fluently so I could hold conversations with my grandmother since we talked on the phone a lot."
"Oh, I see," he murmured.
"Good-bye then. I'll walk away this time." She strode past him, twirling the parasol as she went.
"Good-bye." Megumi realized then he never asked her name. He wanted to know her name just in case...in case of what he had no clue but just in case. "What's your name?"
"Lily," she replied, pausing to look back at him over her shoulder. Her smile relayed sadness. He knew why.
"Lilies were your grandmother's favorite flower," he stated.
She nodded then turned her entire body to face him.
"For what it's worth, which probably isn't much, I think Megumi is a wonderful name. It means blessed. It suits you even though you don't think so. You were a blessing to my grandmother," she said, laughing a little as if that fact made her incredibly happy. "Thank you for that."
Lily's eyes flickered down to his feet as if looking directly at something. Her smile expressed genuine delight this time.
"Nice dog by the way. He's quite handsome...like his owner." She winked and turned away to keep walking.
Megumi cast a glimpse at the obedient shikigami sitting at his feet ready to protect him. The dog looked up at him and whimpered. This woman is no demon, but she is someone extraordinary just like her grandmother. She might have even given him a reason to like his name.