WHAT LIES BENEATH THE SNOW
Juri was catatonic, which was something Gojo had never seen before and hoped he never had to see again. She wasn't responding to anything at all and just sat silently on the bench with her hands in her lap, making no attempt to clean the blood that she was covered in. Yurei had sat down next to her with one arm on her shoulder and the other over Juri's hands, trying to hide the dark stains of blood.
"How long…has she been like this?" Gojo asked. He sounded unusually calm, but no one in the room had to be a genius to know that there was a dark storm writhing just below the surface of his outer demeanor. He crouched down in front of her and pulled the hair away from her face so he could get a better look at her, but he didn't see any emotions in her gray eyes…just hollowness. "Yurei."
"When he collapsed," Yurei answered quickly. She didn't know if Juri was listening, but just in case, she didn't want to trigger any memories right now. Not with Itadori's cold body just a couple feet away, lying on a table with a white blanket covering him.
"Good grief…" Gojo sighed and sat up. He walked across the room and opened a cupboard, pulling out a container of wet wipes. He went back over to Juri with them and began to clean her hands to get rid of the blood. He saw Yurei's jaw tighten while looking at him. She closed her eyes and gave him an appreciated nod. "It was intentional, wasn't it?" he asked Ijichi, who was standing behind them, looking pale and close to fainting.
Ijichi trembled as he spoke. "What do you mean?" he asked but couldn't even hear his own words against his heavy and loud heartbeat.
"The enemy was a special-grade, and there were five rescue target who weren't even confirmed to be alive. There's no way I'd sent in first years for that. For the second time now, I had to pull some strings to get a stay of execution with Yuji. Those crusty higher-ups used the special-grade to get rid of him in my absence. If the other two had died, that would have been the icing on the cake, right?" Gojo continued without pause or change in his voice.
"But when the mission was planned…there was no indication of a special-grade," Ijichi tried to explain but didn't sound all that convincing.
"It's gonna be a pain to find the culprit. Maybe I should just…kill all the higher-ups," he said so darkly that they could all see a sinister and visible aura resonating off him. Everyone stiffened nervously and could sense the looming threat, but as disturbing as it was, it all vanished in moments when Juri reached out and grabbed his hand. Gojo looked down at her and started right into her stormy eyes.
"Please just stop. I don't…I don't wanna hear anymore," she whispered gently to him. She wasn't crying, but the shakiness in her voice made it sound like she would.
Giving in to her short and innocent pleas, Gojo groaned and decided to keep his threats to himself. He moved his hand to the side of her face and raked his fingers through her hair. Juri closed her eyes tightly and grabbed ahold of his hand for some comfort. "What a mess," he muttered while sitting beside her.
"I haven't seen you this emotional in a long time," Shoko commented while walking into the room. "Not since the time they tried to do this with Juri. I really thought you were going to kill everyone that day."
Gojo grimaced when he recalled what happened a couple years back. "Contrary to popular beliefs, I do try to be a good boyfriend and teacher. Besides, I really had a soft spot for him."
"Don't pick on Ijichi to much. He's caught in the middle between us and the higher-ups."
"I don't care about his hardships," Gojo replied so bluntly that Ijichi physically deflated. "Juri wouldn't be a vegetable right now if he really looked into it. The signs were so obvious that even she noticed them."
Juri spoke up softly. "I'm not a vegetable. I'm just…I was…" She still couldn't bring herself to speak for too long before being overwhelmed by emotions and clamming up.
Without making so much as a sound, Yurei swiftly moved off the bench and in front of her. She took Juri's face into her arms and lifted her head gently. "You don't have to explain yourself. It's alright," she said quietly before pulling her in for an embrace. "Any day now would be great!" she hissed to Shoko.
"I hear you, I hear you," Shoko groaned. She pulled on the white sheet and revealed Itadori's cold, gray body underneath with a large cavity in his chest. "So this is Sukuna's vessel. I can do what I want, right?"
Gojo nodded. "Just make it worth it."
"I'm sorry," Juri suddenly spoke up out of nowhere.
Gojo looked perplexed while turning to her. "What?"
"I'm sorry," she repeated as Yurei pulled away. "You told me…that I would have to look after the kids on times you wouldn't be here…but I couldn't do that," Juri said depressively.
Gojo immediately cringed up with guilt when he suddenly recalled it. He did say that to her, but it was only to boost her confidence and get her out of her shell. He didn't think she would take it to heart, but he should've known better. "You noticed what happened and took action. You tried, but…what happened out there was completely out of your control."
"But…"
"If you still wanna blame yourself then I'll join the club as well. Because as you know…I have a lousy personality-"
Yurei spoke up in a single heartbeat. "You do."
Gojo frowned at her before continuing. "I'm not the teacher type, so why would someone like me be at a place like this. It's because I have a dream. I want to restart this jujutsu world."
Juri blinked as his words cycled through her head, bringing up old memories. It was around the time they first met. "We talked about this before, did we."
"Oh, so you remember. It was on our first date." He explained a little further and saw Juri smiling softly with the memories. "You see, it'll be easy to kill everyone who's in charge. But someone else would just take their place. So nothing would change. And it's not as if people approve of massacres anyway…so that's why I'm turning to education. I need strong and intelligent allies. I need to foster them."
Yurei cocked a suspicious brow. "Is that why you assign them all your missions."
"It's called tough love. Juri would do the emotional support. A lot of the kids have been great already. Especially third-year Hakari and second-year Okkotsu. They'll be as good as me someday," he said as his hands slowly closed into a tight fist. It was hard. He was angry with what happened to Itadori because it was nearly identical to what the higher-ups tried to do to Juri. He would've loved nothing more than to kill them all, but he knew Juri would be upset with him and that killing them wouldn't solve anything.
"Hey, you guys. I'm about to get started," Shoko called out while putting on a surgical mask and white gloves. "You just gonna sit there and watch?" she asked, and just as she said that, Itadori's body suddenly rose up from the table, looking around the room with a sleepy and dazed expression.
"Whoa! Everything's out!" he exclaimed while looking down at himself, realizing that he was as naked as the day he was born.
"Huh…?" Juri blinked once and then a couple more times before rubbing her eyes to try and dispel the illusion. The hallucination wasn't going away though. For a moment, she generally thought she was going insane but stopped when she saw everyone's shocked expression. Even Gojo and Yurei were surprised to see Itadori standing up by himself, alive and breathing like nothing had happened. Even the cavity in his chest was gone and totally healed. "Go…" Juri stuttered out while grabbing onto Gojo's arm. "G-G-G-Gojo-san!" she shrieked out in absolute joy. She was practically hysterical.
Gojo laughed and patted her head. "Juri, you're being loud." He got up as Juri suddenly rushed out of the room. "Yuji! Welcome back." He smiled widely.
Itadori looked confused at first before smiling back. "Yo! I'm back!" he said joyfully and gave Gojo a high five, and a second later, Juri came back into the room with a pair of clothes for him to wear.
Gojo figured that Juri and Ijichi would handle Itadori for the time being, so he decided to leave it alone and head outside with Shoko and Yurei.
"Oh, right. I have to change the report," Shoko suddenly remembered.
"No, leave it as is," Gojo said.
Yurei cocked a brow and floated up close to him. "What are you planning?"
"Before he's targeted again, I'd like to at least have Yuji learn some basic training, and I want you and Juri to stay close to him during that time. Watch over him," he ordered.
"Are you planning on having him go into hiding?"
Gojo shook his head. "Nah. I'll have him ready in time for the event."
"Why?" Shoko asked.
"I refuse to keep this kid from living the best years of his life. Not just him, but Juri too. Everyone," Gojo stated firmly, and for once, Yurei silently agreed with him.
The inside of Yurei's territory was vastly different from Sukuna's. It was a vast ocean landscape that was completely frozen with an inch layer of snow covering the top. It went as far as the eye could see with thick gray clouds overhead. The air was cold too, but Yurei looked utterly at peace as she watched the fractures of sunlight barely creaking above the horizon, shining vibrant colors of orange and red. She sat in the snow and would've loved to continue watching the subtle snowfall, but the sound of crunching footsteps behind her caused her face to twist up into a sneer.
"I see this place hasn't changed at all. Do you still call it your paradise? Your ideal heaven?" Sukuna said while approaching from behind, looking around at the dark gray atmosphere. He sighed and saw his own freezing breath haze up into the air before disappearing.
Yurei groaned under her breath and sat up, floating a couple inches taller than him. "It's ruined now. Thanks to your presence. I can stomach being in your inner territory…but not when you're inside mine."
"Then hurry up and banish me if I disgust you so much," he said with a dark snicker when he suddenly felt the ice rumble below his feet. Sukuna looked curiously at the floor before crouching down over the snow. He wiped the thin layer away to reveal the dark blue waters beneath the snow and ice. He leaned in close but didn't see anything because it was too dark. Yet the deep rumbling didn't stop and only worsened the longer he stared, but as quickly as it happened, it suddenly stopped…and a giant red eye opened and stared back at him.
"Don't!" Yurei hissed at him, quickly covering the hole back with the snow. Once the eye was hidden, there was a sudden jolt upon the ice as a ginormous dark figure underneath quickly scurried away back into the ocean depths. "How many times do I have to tell you…don't disturb the snow when inside my territory," she said with a dark tone of mystery within her frail voice.
Sukuna cackled wickedly. "How terrifying…" he said while standing back up and resting his arms inside the long sleeves of his kimono.
Yurei sighed and dropped her head. "I had a feeling you were still alive inside the child. Your curse energy only lessoned and didn't disappear completely. You obviously wouldn't have brought that kid back without getting something out of him," he said calmly to try and regain her composure. It was hard though. Sukuna wasn't saying anything and just innocently tilted his head to the side, like he enjoyed seeing her struggle. Yurei didn't have time for his games though. She suddenly reached out and grabbed the front of his kimono. "What. Were. The. Conditions," she said, each word searing with anger.
Sukuna's lips curled up into a malicious grin. "If you really want to know…ask the kid."
Yurei roughly shoved him away. "What's the point. He obviously won't remember. You never make a move unless you can get ten steps ahead of everyone else." She scoffed and turned away from him. "You'll never change."
Sukuna shook his head and started circling around her, watching Yurei closely. He studied her expressions and body language that all seemed closed up and resentful, but something else was bothering her that he picked up on. "Which reminds me. Are you really still upset with what happened back then?"
"Clearly. You were always relentless with your pursuits. You never just left me alone."
"That wasn't what I meant. I'm talking about before all that. Between what happened with you and me," he asked and immediately saw Yurei's shoulder tense up. Sukuna scoffed. "Oh. Are you really still sour about it? Isn't it time to let the grudge go? It was so long ago," he said like he couldn't even be bothered. Like the memories that they shared all those years ago meant absolutely nothing.
"What happened…!" Yurei suddenly spun around and grabbed him again, her red eyes blazing with inconsolable rage. "What happened…will forever be the biggest mistake I've made. I never wanted much, Sukuna! I just wanted you to love me!" she screamed so loudly that the snow below them shuddered with these ugly, monstrous sounds coming from underneath the ice. Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she breathed heavily, almost surprised with herself that she would even say those things. "I…will never understand why you left me back then. So suddenly. So unapologetically. I'm not a fool, Sukuna. I…loved you, and I knew you loved me. At some point…a long time ago." she said to him in a soft but broken voice. Like a fractured melody
Sukuna didn't look fazed at all. He was unbothered, awful, and cruel. His face even resembled what it looked like the day he decided to throw their love away and pretend like it wasn't a big part of her life. "Are you done?" he responded emotionlessly.
For years, the coldness had never bothered Yurei. She had loved it, actually. Not this time though. This was far too much for her to handle. "I have been. I've been done with you for a long time now," she said breathlessly as her tears dripped off her face. "You broke my heart once…and that will never happen again. Now...leave me." She made a flickering motion with her hand, and Sukuna's body began to fade away against the frosty winds, leaving her alone in her cold and isolated paradise.