There are perks to being disembodied.

When Sukuna walked the world as a man, he was a creature of sensation. His entire world was experienced through the tactile sensations of touch, taste, smell, sound, and sight. There was rarely time for him to explore the inner world, and Sukuna realized the one true enemy he had was time itself.

Now, after a millennium of incarnating through the ages, he has had plenty of time to spend in his inner world, in his innate domain. Mastery over this inner world is his secret to true power. Only through an intrinsic understanding of the soul–of Self–can one exude power outward. He is intimately familiar with himself from within to without.

Which is why his encounter with the dark sorceress perplexes him so.

He turns over the encounter in his mind, the limitless space of his domain reflecting it back like a film seen through his own eyes. He hates the brat currently caging him, but he is thankful the body is strong. Youth combined with inexplicable cursed energy. He can work with this for now.

He studies the sorceress' moves. She is fluid, like ink droplets diffusing in water. She's quick, like liquid silver, always making sure she is not where his blows land unless she can turn the tide of the fight. She's well-trained, and experience has likely honed her instincts. But there's also something raw about her, something that he recognizes that can't be taught. She's holding back, same as he, he can tell.

Her cursed energy is also immense. Immense enough for him to take notice. And as he rewatches their bout, she is startlingly precise with how she uses it. He wagers that much like him, she has spent much time within her own soul. But how? Humans are so short-lived, he wonders when she had time to master her domain and its expansion technique.

He remembers the crushing weight, the proud effigy of her glorious face making the sign of silence, and her imperious stare that reminds him so much of himself he cannot help but respect it. He had to use plenty of reserves of his cursed energy to take even a few steps, and judging from her surprise, he knows she overestimated her own ability. Still, it was a close call. She very well could have destroyed him if she tapped her well any deeper. He needs to find the other fragments of himself soon and deal with her before she becomes a problem for him in truth.

Atlas SingularitySukuna thinks to himself. He has never heard of it, but he knows that in very rare instances there are sorcerers born outside the bounds of Japan. The universe strives for balance, and he is innately aware of some of the shifting variables within its process. If a foreign woman was born with that much power it means she is meant to redress some imbalance elsewhere. It means that there are not enough sorcerers in Japan to deal with the threat.

Sukuna grins, sleek and satisfied like a predator with a bloody muzzle. It's him. He knows this as surely as he knows the moon's phases, and the inevitable rise of the sun. He has finally incarnated in human flesh and so the universe sends its strongest to stand against him. This woman, like Gojo Satoru, has been chosen by the universe to ensure he is stopped in whatever way necessary.

Time spent within the soul gives one an appreciative perspective on the nature of time, and Sukuna knows his time is coming. His grin is harsh in the crimson light of his domain. He laughs. His time has finally come and the universe has deemed him worthy to challenge. His impact cannot be denied. It affirms what he has always known–what he has strived for: he is the strongest sorcerer who has ever lived.

He rewinds the fight, pausing it to observe the sorceress. She's frozen in his mind's eye, a glorious portrait of well-honed muscle, sleek ferocity, and gold jewelry. He studies her face: the proud brows, the sculpted nose, the dark eyes, tilted at the corners like a feline's. Her mouth is painted black, her lips the fullest he's ever seen on a woman. He wonders what those lips would look like wrapped around his cock, and laughs at his own imaginings. He studies the tattoos on her torso. The serpent that slithers around her waist like a living sash. He spies the raven's wings under her breasts, and then his brow furrows. He could have sworn the tattoos shimmered with cursed energy during their encounter.

Every time he struck her in those places, he could not touch her. Not truly. It is not infinity, of course, more like armor. Armor, he thinks, comprised of cursed energy.

Are they talismans of some sort? Sukuna wonders, and is suddenly irritated. This woman, beautiful and magnificent as she is, has raised more questions than he has the patience for right now. There are other plans he must attend to, and given her immense strength, and her familiarity with Gojo, he knows he will see her again very soon. He needs to draw her into his domain, or force the brat to give him the reins for more than a minute. He finds he wants to… take his time to learn about this dark sorceress with the face like a queen.


Roxanne rouses late the next morning. She vaguely recalls Nanami waking before her, remembers him heading to the bathroom to shower, and then coming to kiss her forehead and tell her he'll be back later. She remembers listening to him shower, hearing Ichi's excited meows as he moved about in her kitchen. She remembers shutting her eyes and drifting back to sleep, warm and safe and Ichi chasing Nanami to the door, and the soft murmur of his voice as he bids the cat farewell, telling him to keep an eye on her while he's away. After the sun rises fully, she manages to crawl out of bed.

She showers, quick and efficient, doing all the requisite care as she wakes up fully. By the time she shuffles into her kitchen, she smirks. Nanami took it upon himself to fix her breakfast, which he keeps in her food warmer, along with a sticky note on the fridge.

Headed to the school early. Breakfast is in the food warmer. Ichi has been fed regardless of what he tells you. –Nanami

Roxanne laughs. Nanami is not the type to leave cute notes, but that he leaves a note at all is a sign of his affection. As if on cue, Ichi emerges from the living room, waddling and meowing in greeting. She watches him weave in and out of her legs, his tail curling possessively around her leg.

"You ate, I didn't," Roxanne responds to the plaintive meowing. "Can a girl have something? You already took my man!"

Ichi meows as if in protest. Roxanne checks his food bowl, finds it still half full, and then shoots the corpulent feline a knowing side eye. She tosses him a few treats anyway, and sets about eating breakfast. Her phone buzzes, and she sees Gojo's name, answering swiftly.

"Roxy-baby," Gojo says by way of greeting, "are you at home right now?"

"I am," Roxanne says, "but I'm about to head over to the school. Why?"

"I know Nanami got you those daifuku mochi from that bakery by his old job," Gojo says. "Can you save me some on your way here?"

"Absolutely not." Roxanne says firmly. "When are you going to get your own boyfriend, Satoru? Kento is mine."

"But he's my friend too! Why can't we share his food-fetching skills? Isn't there a rule that friends share boyfriend benefits?"

She listens to his pouting excuses about being too busy for a relationship, rolling her eyes as she grabs the artful paper bag filled with baked goods. She wonders how Nanami manages to be so damned efficient during the hours of the morning Roxanne is usually sleeping off whatever was inside her the previous evening.

"Alright, alright!" Roxanne relents, gritting her teeth. "I'll bring the fucking goods. But after this, we putting your Tinder profile back up."

"I love you," Gojo says, all traces of pouting gone, replaced by an almost petulant affection. Roxanne snorts.

"Hanging up," she says, and catches Gojo's whine of 'say it back' before she ends the call, grabs her watch, her headphones, and bag. She observes her outfit in the full length mirror by her door. The frame shimmers with cursed energy, swimming with warding spells. One of the things that surprised her most when she first moved to Japan was the lack or worry jujutsu sorcerers had about mirrors. One of the achievements that propelled her to grade one was her teaching the Locked Mirror spell. It allows the sorcerer to ward the mirror, which can be used as a portal for particularly strong cursed spirits and rarely, very strong cursed users.

Her mirror reflects her back: a tight mesh top over a black triangle bikini top, a pair of mid-rise leggings with mesh paneling along the side, and a pair of black platform boots. She grabs a pair of black cat-eye sunglasses, and ties up her gold and cowrie adorned braids with a black bandanna.

A loud meow interrupts her mirror selfie moment as Ichi steps into the reflection with her. She looks down, frowning.

"Alright, fine," she responds, leaning over to pick him up. She snaps a few mirror selfies, and sends them to her favorite people: Nanami and Gojo, as well as a group chat with a few friends abroad.

"Time to get to work." She says firmly, setting Ichi down, and leaving for the day.

The ride to the school is a good one. Roxanne has her headphones on the entire way there, running through her playlists as the congested city gives way to lush green suburbs. Apartments give way to full houses, and the roads wind into the hills. It's hard to believe that she has divided her time between this place and her birthplace for almost half her life.

It's hard to believe she's survived this long.

She thinks about the bout with Sukuna, of the 'hunch' that came to her last night when she learned how Sukuna incarnated in a human being. She knows her answers will be found in the archives, but documentation from the Heian era is rare and sparse in the details, especially when it concerns jujutsu sorcery.

The other option is to simply ask Sukuna himself, but she doubts he'll be cooperative, not unless he can get something out of it in turn. And nothing she is willing to offer him is worth whatever he would no doubt demand in counter. Still, this Itadori kid is interesting for having accomplished what would kill even a powerful sorcerer.

The car pulls up to the drive, and Roxanne steps out, beginning the long meditative walk up to the school proper. She thinks about her bout with Sukuna, of the immense power being drawn into his domain, and how it had taken a lot for her to absorb his blows. She knows he held back, knows that he's as curious about her as she is about him.

When Roxanne ascends to the school proper, Gojo, Nanami, and Itadori are waiting outside. Itadori waves in greeting, a smile on his face. Roxanne finds it hard to believe he is a vessel for Sukuna. Two souls dwelling in the boy's flesh, she doesn't envy him at all. She hands Gojo the bag of mochi, and he bows profusely until she snaps at him to knock it off.

"Right," Gojo says, "Itadori, you're in their hands now. Think of them as mom and dad!"

"Absolutely none of us are thinking that," Roxanne says.

"It's just a metaphor," Gojo argues plaintively. "In any case, I've some business to attend to, but you're in great hands between Nanami and Abaza." He waves, heading off down the drive munching mochi before Itadori can ask him further questions. Nanami adjusts his glasses.

"So," Yuji says, looking between Nanami and Roxanne, "where are we headed today?"

"Kawasaki City," Nanami says curtly. "There's been an incident at the Kinema Cinema." Roxanne and Yuji listen as a car is brought round and Nanami explains the situation: three bodies have been found in the theater by staff, horribly disfigured. Roxanne doesn't miss the sickened look drifting across Yuji's eyes like oil, but he steels himself. It is one thing to hear about the gruesome things cursed spirits can do, but it is another entirely to experience and witness it firsthand.

Yuji is full of questions during the ride. Roxanne isn't sure how Nanami wants to handle the mentorship, as that idiot Satoru left no clear instructions on what exactly he wants assessed in Yuji's capabilities. Still, she defers to Nanami on this, despite being a grade higher than him.

She's curled over a book in the library when he finds her. She doesn't look up from her reading, although she is slower at reading Japanese than her native-born peers.

"Having trouble?" Nanami asks. Roxanne pinches the bridge of her nose and massages it. She looks up.

"Not really, but the characters start swimming off the page after hours of staring at them." She laughs. Nanami's mouth curls into a small smile. He slides into the seat across from her.

"Maybe you should consider taking a break, I've got a great remedy for reading headaches. What are you reading, anyway?" Roxanne blinks, flips the book to its cover to show him. It's a compendium of treatises and essays regarding the nature of pact-binding. Nanami's brows raise.

"How is it you came into jujutsu?" He asks. Roxanne knows what he wants to know and she sits back in her chair, her face illuminated by the soft glow of the library's lamps.

"I guess the easiest way to explain it is that this ability I have isn't called that where I'm from. Everyone thinks it's magic, or voodoo, or witchcraft. I guess in a sense it is, but I've always been tapped in since I was a kid." She pauses, wondering just how much she should reveal to him.

"But nobody knew what I was seeing, and I didn't know I could do the things I did…or that there was even a name for it all, let alone a whole community. I was just running on instinct." She looks at her hands.

"You were self-taught?" Nanami asks, truly surprised. Roxanne nods.

"Got into a lot of trouble as a result," she explains with a sheepish grin. "In and out of the system, definitely got strapped into a padded room or two, been on all kinds of antipsychotics. It wasn't until an incident at the World of Coca-Cola that I just happened to be spotted by some representatives of this school. They saw me fighting for my life and came to help. One thing led to another and…" She turns out her hands, indicating the school around them. Nanami watches her, his expression seemingly impassive, but there is a softening of his face as he regards her with less apprehension than before.

"I think it's remarkable that you survived so long on your own without guidance," he says at last. "And I hope to see you grow strong now that you have a proper place to train."

"We're here," Nanami's voice draws her out of the memory, and she blinks to see they've arrived. They step out, where the police have already set up crime scene tape and barriers. Roxanne adjusts her sunglasses and peers around. She sees no residuals, not yet at least.

"I'll question the staff, see if any of them saw anything…or anyone," Roxanne offers. "You can take Itadori inside."

Nanami nods, and as he passes her, she feels his hand brush hers in passing, their pinky fingers briefly linked. It is a tiny comfort, a little tradition they started doing years ago when taking missions together. It began as a sort of joke when Roxanne explained the nature of pinky swears to him and how they could act as binding vows in a technical sense. This in turn led to an entire debate between herself, Nanami, and Haibara about pinky swears and their binding validity.

After Haibara's death, it took on a new meaning.

In the jujutsu world, death is almost certain regardless of the mission. If not by a cursed spirit then most certain by a curse user. Survival is the one thing that is never given to them as a guarantee, and Roxanne remembers arguing with Nanami that evening, while Haibara's body was growing colder in the morgue. She remembers tears choking her voice as she considered the real consequences of their bloody, thankless work.

Even in a case as mundane as this one, they never begin without promising to live for one another's sakes, first. Nanami may not believe in it, but he does it for her anyway, and on some deeper level, it brings him comfort too. To know that he does not stand alone in this darkling underworld they are forced to inhabit.

Roxanne sighs, wishing she can smoke a joint right about now, and gets to the business of questioning the staff. One of them is a young woman who was working the ticket counter. This particular cinema doesn't get a lot of foot traffic, and specializes in playing cult classic and older films, and so Roxanne asks about the security system, and isn't surprised to hear there isn't one, save for the weak camera at the front that tracks who comes in and out.

"The only people who came in today were four young boys," the girl says as Roxanne peers at the footage, grainy and in black and white. "Those three, and this young boy here."

Roxanne pauses the footage, tapping the screen. "Did they pay in cash?" The girl nods. Of course they did, they're fucking kids. Roxanne scrubs through the footage, fast forwarding to the moment after the incident. The three high school boys do not come out of the theater of course, but the other young boy does. She watches him run outside, glancing around as if looking for someone.

Her eyes narrow.

She thanks the girl for her cooperation, and meets Nanami and Itadori back inside. Nanami has also done his own thorough investigation though his focus is mainly on administering a lesson to Yuji in tracking curse users and cursed spirits alike.

"But I thought curses only stay in the place where they're born?" Yuji asks as they round a corner where Roxanne is standing. She peers at them both from behind her sunglasses.

"Sometimes if a curse is powerful enough, like the really old ones, they can cover a wide range or area, and even move independently." Roxanne explains. Yuji blinks, and she can practically see the hamster wheel spinning in his head. He points out the wavering outlines of the residual cursed energy, and they follow it upstairs. Roxanne feels a prickle on the back of her neck, and the puzzle in her mind turns again.

"There's also the possibility that we can be dealing with a curse user," Nanami explains on the way up the stairs. At Yuji's puzzled expression he adds, "A curse user is what we call evil sorcerers. The ones who use their abilities to kill for money or otherwise cause mischief and mayhem."

Roxanne snorts. "I wouldn't say all curse users are evil, per se," she feels that prickle in the back of her neck again. "Curse users are what we call the folks who don't wanna play ball with the Elders decree. They're mostly Japan's problem, but I've crossed paths with a few abroad. Most of them turn to curse users because the pay as a government-sanctioned sorcerer is shit."

"It's honest work, at least," Nanami says sternly.

"Yeah, but you know the pay is shit, baby." Roxanne says sweetly, and Yuji notes the slight color in Nanami's cheeks. Anger? Or…oh!

"Wait, are you two dating?" Yuji asks as they open the door and come out onto the roof. Neither of the two sorcerers answer him as Nanami halts them both.

"Alright, Itadori, let's see how you do," Nanami says. "I'll take care of this one."

Roxanne turns out her hands. "And I'll go play on my phone, I guess. Itadori, you got this." She gives him a thumbs up. Yuji is wide eyed.

"Wait! You're not helping?" He demands incredulously. Roxanne is already scrolling on her phone, chewing gum. She looks up to see Nanami demonstrating to Itadori just how a grade one sorcerer is supposed to fight. For a moment, Itadori is spellbound and she can't blame him. Of all the sorcerers Roxanne has fought alongside, Nanami is by far the most precise and clean when it comes to technique. How not, when his entire ability revolved around ratios?

Nanami explains how his technique works, and Roxanne finds herself wondering how sorcerers like them, who do not come from a family line of inherited abilities, develop their powers. She makes a note to ask Shoko sometime.

"Yuji, behind you!" Roxanne calls out, and Yuji turns just in time to get taken off-guard by the other curse. Roxanne feels a prickle in her neck again, and she joins Nanami's side as Yuji channels his cursed energy. She smiles. He's charging faster, now.

"Something isn't right about this," she says to Nanami gently. He does not answer, but she sees a tension in his jaw that indicates he is thinking the same. His grip on his blade is certain, and behind his glasses his eyes are sharp and wary. He is still but not rigid, like a spring condensed to its limit, poised to unleash its potential energy in the next blink.

"Wait…" Nanami says as Yuji dispatches the cursed spirit. "Itadori, don't finish it off just yet."

Nanami takes out his phone, snaps a photo of the dismembered limb of one of the spirits. He shows Roxanne and Yuji both. Roxanne's brows go up in surprise but Yuji is still puzzled.

"These aren't cursed spirits…" She whispers, and sees the sickened look on Yuji's face. She almost pities him, but knows pity is luxury none of them can afford, and him least of all. This line of work is dangerous, and while some walk away–like Nanami once did–Yuji has no choice. He must learn to shoulder these burdens early if he is to survive, and Roxanne cannot afford to be lenient.

"These are humans." Nanami says, giving voice to their horrified thoughts. Yuji's throat bobs in a visible swallow as Roxanne watches Nanami make a call to Shoko.

"Hey," Roxanne says, against her better judgment. "Hey, Itadori, it's fine. There was no way you could have known…and there is nothing any of us could have done."

"What could have done this?" He asks, his voice barely restrained with righteous fury. Roxanne has her guesses, but she has no doubt a cursed spirit is behind it. But she has never encountered anything like this before. Nanami rejoins them.

"These are humans," he confirms again, "but their very souls have been altered beyond recognition. Once that alteration takes place, there is no saving them. The disfigurement of their bodies kills them in the process. What's left is…" He gestures to the remains. Yuji still looks sickened, but he hardens his resolve. It is the first of many times Roxanne will see this steel in him, and she breathes a small sigh of relief. This mission is hard enough, and having Sukuna's vessel be squeamish and prone to freezing is not something any of them can afford.

"I'll kill whatever's done this." Yuji says, determination hardening his voice. Roxanne says nothing, but her brow furrows. He is so fucking young, she wants to reach into his soul and pull Sukuna out herself and send the boy home to live a normal life.

They are going to bury this boy at the end of this and it makes her so angry because it is so unfair. This world robs one of innocence early, without regard for religion, creed, motivation, or…race. No one is spared from the horrors of this path, and though they stand as one against the evils of the human heart, they are alone too. She takes a deep breath, remembering a time when she was his age, already exorcizing curses stronger than she'd ever encountered before she matriculated to Tokyo Jujutsu High. She thought then that having this community would help, and it has, but it is so isolating. The stronger you are, the more alone you feel, because when you are strong, sometimes it is only you who stands between others and fatal disaster. She understands, a little, of why Gojo's gaze always feels distant, even though she has met his eyes countless times, concealed and not.

And this boy already stands alone, as green in his skills as a small child seeing cursed spirits for the first time, and the first of his kind in a thousand years. He is alone because should he survive this, he will be stronger than all of them. And then they will have to do the most horrible, bloody work any sorcerer has ever done in recent memory.

She feels that prickling on the back of her neck, feels herself watched, and for a moment, she thinks the smaller pair of eyes beneath Yuji's wide and guileless gaze are open : narrowed and watchful of her. She blinks, and the eyes are closed, and Yuji gives her a questioning look that she answers with a thin and mirthless smile. Sukuna is either asleep, or he is watching to see just what his headstrong vessel can do. Whatever the case, he's been of little help thus far save keeping Yuji alive for his own reasons.

The first of his kind in a thousand years to be a vessel for the strongest sorcerer to ever walk the earth a thousand years ago. How fortuitous for Sukuna to be in his path. And Satoru, our strongest, is the first born with two of his family's storied techniques in just over half a millennium. He can take Sukuna, if the need comes down to it, but it will take more than that, I think. There's something here…

The mechanism of Roxanne's mind works, turning the puzzle around in her mind's eye. Something is missing, too many pieces to see the whole of it. There is a pattern here she isn't seeing, but the prickle on the back of her neck warns her. There is something gathering, like a storm rolling across the flatlands, or over a tumultuous sea. She has had this feeling before, once and only once: when first she came into her powers.

What is happening here?

The noise of her mind's dissonant whispers go silent all at once, and she blinks, reanimating as Nanami comes to stand next to her.

"We'll have the remains sent to Shoko for further investigation," he says firmly. "In the meanwhile, Abaza and I will continue to track the culprit. Itadori, you and Ijichi track down Yoshino Junpei, the other young man in the theater. We need to confirm whether or not he is a curse user."

Yuji scratches his head. "How will I know?"

Roxanne pinches the bridge of her nose. Nanami says nothing, and both of them wait for the lightbulb to go on over Yuji's head.

"Oh! I see…if he can see cursed spirits it's likely he's a curse user," Yuji says, and Roxanne knows Sukuna has probably invented a new slur just for the boy. She cannot credit him with being the quickest when it comes to certain subjects, but nor can she fault him. No one was ever there to teach her any of this shit for years before she was scouted.

Give him some credit, Sukuna, she finds herself thinking. After all, he's able to suppress you, isn't he?

The back of her neck prickles slightly. She shivers.

"But," Yuji continues, and there's an apprehensive inflection in his voice even as he gives his skull a few thwacks. Sukuna speaking in his head, most likely. "What if he isn't a curse user?"

Nanami reholsters his weapon beneath his jacket. "Then you had better hope whatever or whoever did this does not go to ground."

Roxanne is pensive, eyeing Yuji's expression warily. She doesn't know how she feels about Nanami sending the boy off alone to tail a potential curse user, but she also suspects the other witness isn't the culprit. Instead, however, her mind turns to the business of tracking the residual energy.

She hopes whoever is responsible does not go to ground either. She has questions that need answering.