Music: 'A Warm Embrace' - Osaki, Casiio
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
{That evening...}
Nanami neatly tucked the final section of the sheet into the corner of the futon while Himawari waited on the adjacent loveseat, cupping the freshly-brewed cup of herbal tea in her hands.
"I feel bad," she began. "Making you set up your own bed when you're my guest."
"I insisted," Nanami replied plainly. "You may be able to stand again, but I don't want you pushing yourself too far when you should still be recovering."
He lifted the soft knit blanket over the sheet, letting it gently flutter back down onto the surface.
"Will you be warm enough with that?" Himawari eyed the blanket. She only ever used it to sit over her legs while she read or watched television in the living area. "It's a little thin."
"That will be fine, thank you." Nanami nodded, taking a seat on the edge of the futon, resting his elbows on his knees with a yawn. "Would you happen to have a spare pillow?"
"Oh! Of course." Himawari stood from her seat and started walking over to the linen closet. "Wait here."
She moved around the corner and pulled the closet door open. Tilting her chin upward, she realized her spare pillow was on the top shelf that was a little too high, even for her.
Whose bright idea was it to keep anything on the top shelf...? She thought to herself for a moment before snickering under her breath. Oh, right. That was me.
She reached upward and stood on her tiptoes when a zing of pain shot up her body from the strain, causing her to stumble back with a jolt. To her surprise, she felt Nanami's hands press against her shoulders to keep her from falling over, her back gently pressed against his chest. Not thinking, she looked up at him awkwardly from over her shoulder, her breath catching in her throat. His steady one-eyed gaze met hers and instantly made her feel three feet tall. I've never looked at his face this closely before...
"Sasaki-san," he began, the warm breath of his voice brushing across the skin of her face. "Tell me something."
"Y-yes?" She gulped, unable to move.
"What is your aversion to asking for help?" He asked flatly. Keeping on hand on her shoulder, he reached over her head to slide the pillow off the shelf.
Himawari sheepishly sunk down a little, assuming he was genuinely irritated with her when he softly bonked her on the head with the soft pillow before tucking it under his arm. She let out a scoff.
"Hey..." She mockingly rubbed her head with a chuckle. To her surprise, Nanami cracked the slightest hint of a smile that made her heart skip a beat. "Huh. So you can smile."
"I smile plenty." He closed the door of the closet and guided her back to the main room with a gentle hand in the middle of her back. "Just not without reason."
He set the pillow down at the head of the futon before checking his own teacup. "Ah," he clicked his tongue. "I'm going to brew another pot. Would you like me to top you up while I'm at it?"
"I'm alright, thank you," Himawari responded with a bow. "I think I'm actually going to take this opportunity to shower. I haven't had the chance to clean up since..."
As she trailed off, her momentary joviality from her banter with Nanami faded, replaced with the memories she'd been trying to avoid ever since she'd finished sobbing earlier. Nanami's mouth curved into a slight frown.
"Are you sure that's wise?" He asked. "You're still not completely stable. I don't want you to fall."
"I'll take it slow and keep a hand on the wall, don't worry," Himawari replied, shaking her sadness away from her expression as best she could. "What, are you offering to help me shower?"
"What?!" Nanami's jaw dropped, surprised at her brazen remark. "No! I-I just-"
"I'm kidding, Nanami-san," Himawari laughed, shaking her head incredulously. "I'll be careful, okay? Make yourself comfortable; help yourself to whatever you find in the kitchen. I'll be back in a bit."
Not waiting for a response, Himawari walked into the bathroom, leaving Nanami to brew his tea, the unburnt tip of his right ear flushed red with embarrassment.
"Hah..." Himawari let out a breath of relief as she dried her hair with her favourite towel. It feels so good to feel clean again.
She thew her towel into the corner laundry hamper and set her Scarecrow costume in a plastic bag and tied it off, setting it in the garbage can when she re-emerged into the main room of the flat.
Nanami was sitting at one of the stools by the kitchen island, reading one of Himawari's books while Hoshi snuggled up over his right shoulder like a fluffy black scarf. Himawari's giggle caught his attention as she approached him.
"Looks like you've made a friend for life in Hoshi."
"Is that her name?" Nanami rubbed Hoshi under the chin and was met with a soft purr. He let out an amused huff. "I think I know why we get along so well."
"Oh?" Himawari tilted her head curiously.
"Look." Nanami held Hoshi up beside his face and looked at Himawari with a deadpan expression, pointing at her missing eye with his burnt finger. "We match."
Himawari gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth, trying not to laugh; but she and Nanami both broke into laughter when Hoshi batted at his nose with an irritated chirp.
"Alright, alright." He set the perturbed feline gently on the ground by his feet. Hoshi pressed up against his calves with a purr of forgiveness before walking off to the water dish. "Oh, I hope you don't mind - I borrowed one of your books."
"No problem," Himawari shrugged. "Which one?"
"It's your collected works of Edgar Allen Poe," he explained, taking another sip of his tea as Himawari took a seat in the stool beside him, resting her elbows on the surface if the island.
"Oh, that's a great read," she said with a smile. "I didn't know you liked Poe."
"Truthfully, I haven't read much of his work," Nanami crossed an ankle over his knee as he spoke. "I've read The Raven of course, and The Tell-Tale Heart, but that's about it."
"What kind of books do you usually read?" Himawari asked.
"I enjoy historical fiction and mystery - but I'll read almost anything with a decent plot and premise." He pressed a lip to his fingers as he thought about it. "Actually, I was just in the middle of reading F. Scott Fitzgerald's 'The Great Gatsby' before I was called away to Shibuya."
"That's a classic." Himawari smiled. "Have you read it before, or was that your first read through?"
"That was my first. Then again, I have a collection of books I still need to make time for." Nanami hid an involuntary yawn behind his hand. "Pardon."
"No worries - it's getting late. We should probably turn in for the night. Before we do," Himawari began. "Would you mind if I check on your burns?"
"Mm?" Nanami regarded her with surprise and curiosity. "You're not going to try to use your time reversal again, are you? I won't allow it - you've pushed yourself too far as it is."
"Oh, er - no... even if I had the energy, that wouldn't work. Too much time has passed since you first sustained these injuries," Himawari explained. "But there's power and magic in this world that has nothing to do with cursed energy."
"Oh?" Nanami raised an eyebrow. "Like?"
"Medicine." Himawari smiled. Nanami nodded in understanding. "In this case, a gel derived from my aloe vera leaves. It does wonders for burns. I know that they will never fully go away - these burns are far too intense for that - but with proper care, we can speed the healing process along."
"Have you done this before?" Nanami was genuinely curious, but also uncertain, generally preferring to see a doctor or a medical sorcerer when injured.
"On a much smaller scale, yes," Himawari answered honestly. "I've used it on animals a couple times when they've shown up with burns. It always works wonders, though; and it can bring some pain relief in the earlier days."
"If you're sure, I won't turn down the help." Nanami nodded in acceptance. "Is there anything you need from me?"
"Nope. Just go ahead and take a seat on the futon while I go and get the mixture ready," Himawari bowed respectfully and walked off to her patio garden from the sliding wooden slat door to her deck.
Nanami obeyed, settling on the edge of the mattress to wait. A minute later, she returned with several thick, green aloe vera leaves and a clean mixing bowl, setting them down on the counter. He couldn't see what she was doing from where he was, but she seemed to move with the confidence of someone who knew what she was doing.
"Alright; that should do it," Himawari sighed, taking a moment to wash her hands at the kitchen sink. "If we need more later, I can always mix up another batch."
She carried the bowl over to the futon and took a seat beside Nanami when she had a realization.
"Oh, er..." She said shyly.
"What is it?"
"I can't access your burns like this - with your shirt on, I mean." Himawari's cheeks went red with embarrassment as she spoke. "I'm sorry if this is awkward."
"Don't be absurd." Nanami unbuttoned his collared shirt and removed it, setting it neatly on the pillow. Himawari tried to avert her eyes, now feeling overly aware of how close she was to the sorcerer.
"Would you rather I start with your front, or your back?" She cleared her throat and busied her hands with the mixture, preparing to place the first layer.
"The back, I think," he replied, shifting his body to face away from Himawari, resting his knee on the surface of the futon. She slathered a handful of the gel onto her hands, hovering them over his skin and pausing.
"I should warn you; this will sting at first, but the soothing effects shouldn't take long to kick in. Just let me know if you need me stop, alright?" Himawari waited for a response and received a single nod. The moment she placed her hands on his shoulderblades, she felt his muscles tense as he took in a sharp inhale at the jolt of stinging pain shooting across his skin.
"Sorry..." she winced. Nanami simply nodded for her to continue. As she moved the gelatin around the surface of his skin, his tension slowly eased away and he let out a long, deep exhale of relief. "That's a little better, I hope."
Nanami closed his eyes as he allowed Himawari to ease the gel across his back, impressed with how gentle yet firm her touch was. "You're very good at that."
"Well, I'd better be - it's kind of my job, after all," she joked. "I'm a massage therapist and acupuncturist - part-time, anyway."
"Hm." Nanami's response was curt, but he couldn't help but imagine having a proper massage from Himawari and felt his temperature rise a little. He pushed away the thought almost as quickly as it had come. Stop it, you oaf. This woman is going out of her way to help you; this is no time to be thinking of that.
"That was a clever career choice," Nanami stated with a calm smile. "Utilizing the skills you already have in your day-to-day basis - it's very fitting considering your cursed tool."
"I thought so, too. Your back is fully covered." Himawari removed her hands from his skin a few minutes later to Nanami's silent dismay. "Would mind turning around so I can get started on the rest?"
Nanami nodded and shifted around to face her, looking down at her with an unreadable expression before casting his gaze to the sidd. She took more gelatin into her hands and hovered them over the burns on his ribs and stomach.
"Again, this will sting at first..." She placed her hands on him once more and felt his muscles contract, his eyes clenching shut with a low grunt. "Hang in there, Nanami-san. It will pass."
Sure enough, the pain passed as she worked her way up his torso, easing the gelatin across his skin and carefully spreading it with her palms, fanning her fingers out gently then relenting her pressure to reach back into the mixing bowl. She tried to pay no mind to way his well-toned body felt; the way his muscles contracted and relaxed under her touch - but she would be lying if she'd said it didn't have her feeling some sort of way. Just as his strong back had been, the rest of him was just as well-defined.
Stay professional, Hima. She gulped. Just like any other client.
She briefly worked her way up his neck before her hands arrived at his jawline. She gently applied the gelatin to his cheekbones and just by his lips, then up to his forehead just around his eyepatch.
"The skin by the eyes is far more sensitive than the rest of your facial skin," Himawari explained, her hand lingering on his shoulder while the other hovered over the medical tape across his left eye. "I'm going to remove the eyepatch so I can tend to the skin around the wound and disinfect it while I'm at it, alright?"
Nanami nodded and closed his remaining eye as her soft hands slowly removed the medical tape and gauze, setting it to the side. He could still feel the soreness around the socket, but he was certain this was only due to his burns, now.
Huh... Himawari started applying a thin layer to the tender skin as he let out an almost imperceptible wince. Even with half his body covered in scar tissue and an eye missing, he's still so handsome.
His hardened expression was no less intense with his remaining amber eye. His blonde hair fell flat over his furrowed brow, and his jawline was sharp enough to cut paper. He maintained an intimidating and powerful aire through his sheer strength of presence alone, yet Himawari felt completely safe in his company, despite the butterflies in her stomach.
All too soon, she knew had finished her task. As she started to remove her hands from his face, Nanami's long fingers caught hers and brought them back up to his cheek, his eye closed as he took in the feeling of her fingertips on his skin.
He seemed almost as surprised as she was at his reaction, removing his hands from her own immediately with a gulp.
"I'm sorry, Himawari-san..." He cleared his throat and looked away abashedly. "I don't know why I just grabbed your hands like that."
"Hah - no harm done!" Himawari's cheeks were beet red, but she waved the moment off with a laugh to try and break the tension. "I hope I wasn't too rough on you - burns can be a nasty business."
"Not at all. I feel much better, thank you."
Himawari carefully started fashioning a fresh new eyepatch from sterile gauze as Nanami regarded her, deep in thought.
"I want to ask you something," he began. Himawari nodded to signal she was listening as she cleaned off her hands with a damp towel she'd brought with her. "Why did you leave the program all those years ago? Surely you could have been a valuable Jujutsu healer with a few more years of study."
"Oh, er..." Himawari frowned, unpleasant memories flashing behind her eyes, the echoes of long-standing guilt and inadequacy circling within her mind. "I just... wasn't cut out for the life of a Jujutsu sorcerer. I was never able to keep a cool head in combat. I would have been dead weight no matter who they would have paired me with - and I certainly would never have been able to take on a high-level threat solo."
"Perhaps if you were paired with the right team mate, you may have felt differently."
"Like you?" Himawari joked, raising an eyebrow and flashing him a cheeky, bittersweet smile. "Trust me - you don't want to be dealing with a big nasty curse while you're stuck hauling me around because my knees buckled a block and a half ago."
That earned her a huff of either mild amusement or derision. She chose to change the subject.
"Looking at the state of those burns, they appear to be third-degree, though they were probably fourth-degree before my time reversal..." Himawari started sifting through her medical kit. "As you can already tell, the recovery process is... unpleasant, but you should be through the worst of it now."
She unpacked a sterile pack of gauze wrap and signaled for Nanami to extend his arm as she wrapped the gauze around his burned areas.
"Right now, your biggest risk factors are going to be infection and dehydration. The gelatin I used was instilled with a minor antibiotic, but we still need to be careful and keep things as clean as possible while your body works on repairing itself." As Himawari reached her arms around Nanami's back, he shuddered at the sensation of her breath across his neck. "Staying hydrated - that's your main job now. Beyond that, we can leave these bandages alone for a few days and check on your progress when it's time to let your skin breathe."
"Thank you, Sasaki-san," Nanami bowed, meeting her soft smile with one of his own as she tied off the last of the gauze wrap.
Nanami and Himawari lingered on the futon for a moment. Nanami stared down at her soft features, accented by the glow of the golden lighting of the nearby paper lamp. He found his gaze drawn to her long honey-coloured eyelashes, then to the smattering of freckles on her cheeks, and finally to her peach-coloured lips, parted ever so slightly in a way that had him subconsciously leaning forward before he stopped himself.
Himawari seemed to shake off some sort of thought herself, rising to her feet with her back to the sorcerer.
"Well, I've leave you to it then, Nanami-san," she said with a bow. "I hope you sleep well. If you need anything, don't hesitate to wake me, alright?"
Before he could answer, she was skittering back to her room with a cheerful "good night!" before disappearing around the corner.
Nanami let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, lowering back onto the futon in silence, his mind moving at a mile a minute. Meanwhile, Himawari buried her blushing face into her pillow, attempting to shake the feeling of his hands pulling hers back to his face, and the way he had looked at her just a moment ago that had her reeling.
I'm reading way too much into this...
~ To Be Continued...
Sketches I need to make after this chapter:
• Nanami & Hoshi ('Look. We match.')
• Nanami holding Himawari's hands up to his face.