A few days ago: Shibuya
I feel numb. I sit on the ground staring at my hands. They're bloody and torn up. So are my arms, and legs. Those cursed spirits did more damage as they went by than I recall. But I feel nothing. No pain, no regret, not even any sadness. I've shut my emotions off completely. So I feel absolutely nothing.
Itadori is screaming about a lot of things as tears flow down his face. He slams the ground with his hands as he screams about how it should have been him. Choso kneels beside him trying to calm him down. I look slowly to him and then to Choso.
"Take him and run." I say shakily.
"What?" Choso says confused.
Itadori pauses for a second and looks up at me, defeated with tears in his eyes, "Sensei?"
"You need to run Itadori. It's not safe here for you. They'll hunt you to the ends of the earth." I tell him seriously.
"I don't understand." Itadori says sadly.
"The higher ups will blame most of this on you. They'll give us orders to hunt you down. So you need to run. I'd go with you, but I have business to attend to." I say looking away absently.
"What about Fushiguro, about everyone?" Itadori asks.
"I'll take care of them. Don't worry. Just promise me you'll get out of here." I say as I look to Choso, "and you, you promise me to keep him safe."
He nods, "he's my little brother. Of course I'll do anything, even lay down my own life, to keep him safe."
"What about Gojo?" Itadori asks, "I wanna help get him back."
My body goes rigid at the mention of his name, "I will get him out. Just worry about staying alive for now yeah?"
"C'mon Sensei at least let me try to help." He says.
I sigh, "fine. I suppose three sets of eyes and ears are better than one. Find me if you know anything that can help."
"How will I find you?" He asks.
"It won't be hard. The road I have to take won't be pretty, so you'll hear stories. And where those stories are, I won't be far from them." I tell him.
He nods and stands with Choso.
I nod once, "Now go."
They walk away side by side as Choso throws his arm over Itadori's shoulders. Itadori looks back at me one more time before finally disappearing into the rubble of the decimated city.
"I hope he stay's alive." Panda says.
"Yeah." I say.
I stand and take a deep breath, "I have to go check on Megumi." I say.
Panda nods, "yeah good idea."
Everyone follows me back to the tent where Shoko is still healing wounded Sorcerers. We look like shit. Absolutely defeated. Yaga and Shoko look at us in surprise when we walk in.
"Naomi!" Shoko says as she rushes over to me.
She looks me over with Yaga at the wounds i've gained. She tries to heal me but I swat her hand away.
"Sit down." She says trying to pull me to a bed.
I shake my head, "no."
"Naomi," she says but I walk by her and ignore her.
I walk over to Megumi who is now awake and looking rough, but like he'll make a full recovery. He holds Niko in his arms and looks down at him lovingly. I sit on the edge of his bed and watch as Shoko checks everyone else over.
"Naomi?" Megumi says worried.
I sigh and look at him with tired eyes, "I failed." I say.
He sits up and places a hand on my shoulder, "what happened?"
"They took him. And there was nothing I could do." I take a deep shaky breath trying not to let tears fall again. I look down at our son and rub my thumb along his cheek, smirking sadly as I stare into his fathers eyes that he luckily inherited. "There's more." I say looking up to Megumi.
He raises an eyebrow and I sigh again, "Tsumiki is in trouble."
His jaw drops open and he lets out a breath, "what? How? Why her?" He asks.
"I don't know why she was chosen, yet. All I know is she was chosen for this sick game Geto, or whoever is possessing him, is playing. She is awake, and who knows how long she'll survive out there." I say worriedly.
"No..." he says looking away, "I have to find her." He says.
I nod, "I know. I want to go with you but.." I say before looking away with tears pooling up in my eyes. My heart is being ripped apart in all directions. First I lose Satoru, then I have to send Itadori away, now I can't go with Megumi, what's next?
Wait...
"Where's Kugisaki?" I say looking around noticing she isn't here.
Shoko turns around and looks at me solumnly, "Naomi..." she says carefully.
I let a breath out and begin to shake. Megumi's eyes go wide as he realizes what's happened too.
"No.." Megumi says, "No! It isn't true!!" He yells angrily.
The baby begins to cry but I don't move. I can't. I feel like the weight of the world is on my right now preventing me from going anywhere. This can't be happening. It's only then that I look around and notice everyone in the tent. Before I didn't really pay attention. I was too focused on Megumi. But now I see everyone.
The devastation, the injury, the death. It's all too much. Old man Zenin, Maki, Ino, Inumaki, Todo, Kugisaki, and...
"Where's Nanami?" I ask shakily not wanting to know the answer.
Yaga, who had been standing in the corner with his arms crossed quietly sighs and looks down at his feet.
"There uh... Wasn't much left..." he says sadly.
Tears violently fall from my eyes and I sob in my hands, hunching over into my lap.
"No. No no no." I say shaking.
Shoko walks over and takes the baby as he wails. She kneels down next to me and places a hand on my back as I cried.
Not Nanami. He was pure. He could be stubborn most of the time, but he knew his principals. Even if they were a bit backwards from most, he did what was right most of the time. He was a good person, stolen from us just like many others were tonight.
"And for that, I'll kill them all." I say gripping my hands tightly. My brow furrows and I grit my teeth in pure anger in rage. I flip the switch in my mind and it goes blank. Nothing left but the rage. I feel nothing. I don't feel the sadness, the pain in my body, the loss. I feel nothing but rage.
"Naomi?" I hear Shoko say as she rocks Niko.
I look at her slowly as the tears stop flowing. Anger apparent on my face as I take a breath.
"I'm gonna kill them all."
———
My eyes are sunken in and black, bruised looking even. New and old scars litter my body all over mingling with bruises and burns. I take a deep breath and wrap my ribs. Shoko looked me over last night after the warehouse. She said I broke a few ribs and have some pretty deep cuts on my torso, legs, and arms. I have a new one deep across my face where I got cut from the right side of my forehead, through my eyebrow, down my eye and cheek stopping just under my lip.
I told her I don't want any healing. I want these scars and the pain that accompanies them. I want to be reminded why I fight. I want to remind myself that I take this pain for them. That the more damage and pain I incur, the closer I'm getting to my goal.
I walk out of the bathroom when I finish and Shoko's waiting for me in the Kitchen. Niko is sleeping soundly in his room and Shoko has a cup of coffee ready for me.
"So Hakari huh?" She says leaning against the counter.
I nod as I sip the hot drink, "yup. Gonna question him, see what he knows."
"You gonna kill him?" She asks.
I sigh and set the cup down.
"You think I'd do that?" I ask her annoyed.
"I don't know what you'd do anymore." She says solemnly.
I shake my head and scoff at her, "he may be a punk, but he's still my student. I taught that kid, I know him. He wouldn't kill for fun."
She sighs and nods her head, "so you just want answers then?"
I nod, "yeah, Shoko. That's all."
She looks away from me and crosses her arms.
"I've gotta go." I say setting the cup down.
"When will this stop?" She asks.
"What?" I say stopping and turning to her.
"When? I mean look at you. You're torn up, with broken ribs and bruises, god knows if you have internal bleeding. You haven't slept or eaten in days." She says throwing her hand out away from her.
"So what Shoko? So what! Why does it matter?!" I yell.
"Because you matter to him!" She yells back at me pointing to Niko's room.
"And I'm doing this for him! He needs his father not me! I'm no good for him! I'm nothing but a monster Shoko! A good for nothing that could never be as good as Satoru! I couldn't even save them! Any of them!" I yell.
She remains silent but shakes her head, "no, no it isn't true."
"It is! It always will be! So this will never stop! I will never stop doing this until Satoru is free! The world needs him, not me Shoko! Not me!" I yell in anger.
A tear falls from her eye but I ignore it as I turn and walk away.
"I have to go." I say angrily as I walk out the door and slam it and leave down the steps.
———
Hey everyone!
I took a week off because I'm working a lot of overtime. So if I'm absent for a few days, I promise I haven't forgotten this story. Just need to sleep lol.
Naomi is in a dark age in these few chapters, and I'm sorry in advance. It's hard to write her this way but I think it's true to her character and principals. I do plan on diverting from the Manga soon only because I'm still in distress from how the Manga is going lol. Hopefully there's a light at the end of the tunnel for us in the Manga if you know what I mean. But I do have an idea for it that I think would be sick af, so let me know what you think when we get there.
As always, thank you so much for reading this far if you have. It means a lot to me and it motivates me to keep writing. I'm having a lot of fun and don't plan on stopping any time soon.
Happy reading and I hope you like the future chapters. Thanks again!
-The Sentinel.