Music: 'Life Goes On' - Aqualina, Biosphere

Readers be warned: this fanfiction is full of heavy spoilers from the tailend of Jujutsu Kaisen's second season (the Shibuya Incident). If you are not yet familiar with what happens in that arc, I would bookmark this series to come back to when you have.

General Warnings: SFW, at least PG-13 due to minor depictions of injury/gore, fluff

{Three Days Later...}

Himawari scrunched her eyes and let out a soft groan, her head pounding worse than it ever had before. As she opened her eyes into slits, she recognized the familiar rafters of her wooden ceiling above her bed, the golden rays of the morning sun filtered into the room from the window above her headboard, and she could hear the soothing sound of her homemade bamboo windchimes from just beyond the thin glass panes.

I'm home...?

On her bedside table were two of her clear glasses, filled with fresh water, two cubes of ice, a handful of cucumber slices and a single sprig of mint, and at the foot of her bed, Zun-Zun was curled up, snoring, and clean as a whistle while Kumo was sleeping stretched out on her lap. Her phone was plugged in and neatly set beside another phone she did not recognize. She didn't need to check under the covers to know that she was still dressed in her Scarecrow costume, her shoes removed.

Nothing, however, caught her attention more than the sight of Nanami leaning back in her wicker reading chair fast asleep. His white collared shirt was unbuttoned down to reveal a hint of his collarbone, his long legs stretched out on the floor in front of him, his toned chest rising and falling with soft, sleeping breaths. Half of his body was clearly still badly-scarred from the burns he'd suffered, though the burns were significantly less intense than they had been when she'd found him, and he bore a makeshift eyepatch of medical tape and gauze over his left eye. She smiled to see Hoshi stretched out, fast asleep on his chest, nose butted up against the bottom of his chin.

Himawari took a sip of the cucumber water, then quickly downed the rest of it after realizing just how thirsty she was. The crispness of the mint blended with the earthy hint of the cucumber was heavenly. Why have I never thought of that...?

"Hah..." Himawari placed the glass back on it's spot on her bedside table. Her muscles were screaming as she attempted to sit upright, forcing her to lean back against the fabric headboard with a wince. Her eyes landed on Zun-Zun, still fast asleep at the foot of her bed. She attempted to remember all of the events of the previous night when she recalled the sight of Mako's severed hand, clasped to the handle of Zun-Zun's old leash, dragging across the corpse-littered floors of the subway. She wanted to scream. She wanted to bury her face in her hands and let out every ounce of grief, anger and fear that she attempted to quell in Shibuya. But all she could do was stare into nothingness. Mako, Suzuha... I'm so sorry...

"Sasaki-san - you're awake," Nanami's voice cut through the silence, startling Himawari out of her reverie. He shifted to sit up straight, earning him a whining trill from Hoshi as she settled down into his lap, her tail flicking in irritation. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Uh... yeah," Himawari mumbled absentmindedly, her eyes glued to his. She regarded the resurrected sorcerer with a soft, albeit empty smile. The moment was bittersweet. On one hand, she was happy to see him alive, but she had been unable to heal him fully, and she was unable to save her two childhood friends. "Don't worry about me, Nanami-san; what about you? Not to put it too bluntly, but you were all but dead yesterday."

Nanami frowned, his expression growing even more grave. As he sat back in the chair, he brought the side of his finger to his lips and let out a sigh before he spoke. "You've been unconscious for three days, Sasaki-san."

"Three Days?!" Himawari exclaimed before wincing after her raised voice sent an ache through her pounding head. "Dammit..."

"If you don't mind my asking," Nanami continued carefully. "Your hair was brown before, wasn't it?"

"My hair...?" Himawari lifted Kumo off her lap and set him on the mattress, swinging her legs around to attempt to hop off the bed.

"Sasaki-san, hang on a minute!" Nanami jolted upward, sending Hoshi leaping away from her comfortable spot with an angry yowl.

"Shit!" Himawari's legs immediately gave out, sending the sensation of pins and needles down her body from her thighs to her feet. Before she hit the ground, Nanami's hands gripped onto her forearms, his tall form kneeling down beside her as he helped her stabilize. "Sorry..."

"You've been bed-ridden for three days!" Nanami scolded, brows furrowed in blatant disapproval. "You need to take it slow."

Himawari nodded and let out a heavy sigh. "I just need to see how bad it is."

"At least ask for help, then," Nanami said with a click of his tongue. "Why not use your phone instead?"

"Oh. That does make more sense..." Himawari said sheepishly, holding onto his strong forearms. As he helped her to stand, she couldn't help but notice him wince. "Are you okay, Nanami-san?"

"Yes, I'm fine." His jaw tightened with resolve, but Himawari then realized she was gripping tightly on his burnt arm. She tried to ease the pressure she was placing on him as he guided her back to sitting upright on the side of the bed. Once he was sure she was stable, he gently let her go and took a seat in the reading chair.

"Okay, here goes..." Himawari took a deep breath and opened her front-facing camera, gasping in shock and turning pale at what she saw. Her once honey brown hair was now almost entirely silver, with only a small smattering of brown left on the sides. She looked down to her arms to see her agespots had migrated up to her shoulders and collarbone. She set her phone facedown on the bedside table with a shudder. "I've never pushed my time reversal that far before..."

"That was incredibly reckless of you." Nanami shook his head and folded his arms. "You pushed yourself to the point of rendering yourself unconscious when you knew something incredibly dangerous could have been lurking around any corner."

"But you were-"

"I made my peace with it."

"I..." Himawari looked away sheepishly and bowed her head. She couldn't imagine what he was going through; she hadn't even stopped think about whether or not he would have wanted to be resurrected in the first place. "I'm so sorry."

"Hm?" Nanami looked at her with a frown, realizing his tone may have been too harsh after all they'd been through. He couldn't help but feel a little guilty, even though he still felt he was correct. "You don't need to apologize. Just don't leave yourself vulnerable like that again in the future. I wouldn't have been able to protect you if something else had found us."

"Your abilities; They're...?"

"Dormant - as far as I can tell. I know my cursed energy is still there, but I can't access it, yet." Nanami curled his fingers into a fist, frustrated to know there was nothing further he could do to help the battle that may still waging in Shibuya; not without his cursed energy. "I'm not sure how long it'll be before I can."

"Nanami-san, I'm so sorry. I've never brought a sorcerer back from such a state before, I had no idea that it would-" Himawari stuttered frantically before Nanami stopped her.

"Stop apologizing." His voice was harsh and firm. He realized he'd snapped at her more out of frustration of the situation than directly at her. "You did what you did because you felt it was the right thing to do. That's all there is to it. It's not that I'm not grateful."

"Your burns..." Himawari couldn't help but glance at the scarred skin of his left forearm and hand. "They still hurt?"

"They're bearable. The first few days were rough, but you seemed to reverse them enough to be manageable," Nanami replied. "I'm sure the remaining discomfort will pass with time."

"And your eye...?"

Nanami paused and hesitated for a moment. He lifted his nimble fingers to the bandage that covered his left eye and removed it, tilting his chin up so Himawari could see.

His eye was still missing, an empty black socket gazing into nothing. It had been cleaned as well as could be expected, but it still looked fairly painful. Nanami's remaining hazel eye avoided looking directly into Himawari's, but his expression was otherwise unreadable.

"Oh..." Himawari shook her head in shame. "I wish I could have stayed conscious long enough to fix that."

"That's unrealistic. All things considered, it should have been impossible to bring me back from the state I was in; even with your abilities. I shudder to think of how many years you've lost putting me back together the way you did." To her surprise, Nanami rested a gentle hand on her shoulder, his expression softening for the first time in her memory of him. His tone was still serious, but there was a sincerity in it that had instantly put Himawari at ease. "It's true, this... complicates things a little. But I'm grateful for what you did, Sasaki-san."

Her resolve breaking at last under Nanami's praise, Himawari hung her head and finally allowed her tears to fall. The realities of what she'd witnessed began to sink in. I never found Mako and Suzuha. I couldn't save them...

As her emotions overcame her, Nanami simply waited in silence, offering an occasional tissue, but to his own surprise, he found an unfamiliar ache in his own chest from seeing her break down.

He didn't remember much about her from their earlier days at Jujutsu High, and she'd left her life as a Jujutsu sorceress in-training well before even he had; but in her hazy, tearful expression he could see a clear and poignant sense of loss and grief. He had no idea what she'd been through since they'd last met, but it had clearly been a great deal.

He was instantly reminded of why he'd left the Jujutsu world in the first place; knowing the future of a sorcerer meant a likely untimely and often times violent demise; and he had become the textbook example of that before Himawari had found his remains.

She's been out of the scope of sorcery for so many years. Now that she's gotten involved again, she's going to be that much more vulnerable. He looked out the bedroom window, deep in thought. I ought to do what I can to prepare her, but for now, I think she needs some breathing room.

"Take some time to feel what you need to feel." Nanami spoke quietly, riding to his feet and picking up their empty glasses. "You need to focus on recovering now. Just let me know what you need - but Sasaki-San?"

Himawari lifted her puffy, red eyes to look at him. "Hm?"

"Be kind to yourself. What happened in Shibuya was entirely out of your hands. I hate that you had to see what you did..." Nanami had been looking out the window as he spoke when he paused and looked at Himawari. "But I'm grateful you found me."

Nanami headed to the kitchen to fix them more drinks, giving Himawari some room to breathe.

~ To Be Continued...

Sketches I need to make after this chapter:

• Nanami cuddling with Kumo while he's passed out in Himawari's reading chair 3