Chapter 23

"Really? He pinned your swords to the mountain?!"

"I was just as shocked as you were!"

Yua was snickering as the children were introduced to their extended family. The Toorus are a lively bunch and want to get to know their new members. At the same time, she found her mother and father speaking with Suguru quite a bit. She wondered over to see what was going on when she heard Suguru say. "I was only deemed fit to stand next to her after my trial of body and soul."

However as she heard that, the whole room heard him. It went silent.

"Trial of body and soul?! YOU SURVIVED THAT?!" her father demanded.

Suguru nodded. "I have done… terrible things in my past, and I died for them once already. At the same time, Kenjaku saw fit to take over my body for his own purposes… needless to say I must have had that coming…"

Her father sighed to this. "We know of your past too, the night of a thousand demons was conducted by you,"

Suguru nodded to this. "Yes, and I have killed others for the sake of my dream of bringing only sorcerers into this world and eliminating humans" he said.

"What changed?" Her mother questioned.

Suguru turned to Yua. "She made me see how stupid it was."

Her father peered at Yua but smirked and nodded. "I have no doubt about it. Which explanation did she use?"

He paused oddly. "Which explanation?"

"The way I see it, it could go many different ways. One, interbreeding with other sorcerers, lack of population and diversity among them causing such acts and also you won't get the strong techniques any more. Second, the fact is curses are made out of curse energy brought on by humans, with no curse energy. There are no curses. No curses means, there are no need for sorcerers. As such, what would have happened is sorcerers would eventually lose their power and be rendered human since there are no curses to exorcise. Lastly, humans would catch on to your plan and they would have sacrificed Japan in a nuclear option in order to keep the peace and ensure that you never saw your plan reach another continent."

There was an odd pause to Suguru, he sighed and said. "The first one," in a low and defeated tone. "I didn't consider…"

"Not a lot do consider the other aspects and consequences for their actions and ideals. I'm proud Yua set you straight!"

She blushed to the comment, at the same time Sukuna just returned with her uncle Hokus. Everyone paused once more as Hokus lowered his head and apologized for his actions earlier. He found Ryoto and sincerely apologized to him for his words as well. Ryoto, smiled it off of course and explained he understood and won't hold it against him.

"I too spoke out of line as well, and I apologize. Also, you will have a hard enough time dealing with my mother and father," Ryoto warned.

Chusi defiantly would want a word with him later as well!

The night continued to wear on, Chusi left early since she was tried, Yua wanted to stay but she too was tried and Suguru needed his rest. Satoru was nowhere in sight, so she doubted he stayed to be lectured and yelled at. But as Yua was leaving she turned and saw Rook, he gave her the thumbs up. He will keep an eye on things as she left for the night.

Suguru yawned aloud but sighed. "Your family… is something else." He said. "I didn't think they would be welcoming me considering…"

"You passed the trial of body and soul, that's serious to them. They all know about it too. It's hardcore as well, it is to show you understand that you have done wrong and you are trying to do right." She explained.

He nodded. "I hope they are just as open to me tomorrow, they just might be in a good mood tonight."

"We'll see…"

#

The next morning.

Yua was the first one up in the house, yet, as she went outside, she found her family already out and about, taking in the domain and asking one another about it. She was rather surprised they were up so soon. "Are you shitting me?"

She jumped a little as Rook came out of nowhere. "What's is it?"

He peered to her and laughed. "I got to tell you what happened." They went back inside as Yua made breakfast. Rook was telling her after she left, her aunt Kira announced that they needed to have some fun.

"Oji asked her what her idea of fun was, and she took out a beer of all things. He sneered at it and said 'you want fun, that's not fun, I'LL SHOW YOU FUN!' he left and came back with four large barrels of sake from the brewery. Mom… they had a drinking contest with Oji!"

She froze to this.

Who in their right might would try to outdrink Sukuna!?

"They drank all night?!" she demanded.

Rook snickered and nodded. "Yeah, they did. The one keeping up with Oji was none other than aunt Kira herself! Uncle Damian is it? He dropped after four shots of sake."

"He was always a lightweight." She muttered.

"Do you drink?"

Yua shook her head. "I don't, it also doesn't help I have drank vile stuff before I passed the first time around. You see, when I got cursed and nearly died, I kept it at bay using cursed blood, it was an old remedy my family had that you use a curse to counter a curse, but it only works for so long. Ever since that, I don't fancy myself as a drinker… as odd as it is for me to say."

"You have never drank, have you?" Rook asked curiously.

"Did you last night?" she snapped back. "Knowing your Oji as I do…"

He bore a cheeky grin. "He let me taste it," Rook paused. "Not really my thing."

"Good, mind yourself!" Yua scolded. She finished up breakfast for Rook before excusing herself to check on her family.

Her father and mother were touring the place, when they saw her approach. Her father smiled to her and nodded with approval. "You have done well for yourself, young lady."

"I have to agree with your father, everything here is well put together… and considering those under the same mountain…" her mother said offhandedly.

"It's been interesting, I know but… I wouldn't change much about it…" she trailed off, merely thinking of what Kenjaku did to her and traumatized her enough to not have the children.

Her father nodded to this. "Your grandfather is making certain he suffers. In fact… he has approached Ryoto of all people to up his game." He explained.

"Grandpa's ability is great already though. I mean he has learned that cartoon violence is in fact part of the technique since it streams from comedic aspects…"

"Indeed, and Kenjaku isn't a man who is easily rattled, at the same time he is starting to figure out the way your grandfather's ability works. One has to engage his shikigami in order for the technique to really take hold. But your grandfather is also one who is very versed in comedy…"

Still of all people to help him, it would be Ryoto…

"So… have you thought about it?" her mother suddenly asked.

Yua paused to the question. "Thought about what?"

Her parents stared at her oddly. "Hon… you don't have to hide anymore." Her father said bluntly. "In fact, the family estate is up and running again. Why not come home?"

Home…

For so long, Yua hasn't quite had a sense of home until now. The domain although used as an escape from the council and the elders, there is no need to hide since her family IS the council and the elders. But… to leave here so suddenly…

"I… haven't really thought about it, this is the first place where I really settled down and started a life…"

"You were here since it was a safe place to be," her mother said gently. "You were alone in this world too, you had to fend for yourself and others for so long, let us take that burden so you can focus on your family!" she insisted.

She considered it, it would be nice to be back in the city of course and among the humans and hustle of the day to day life.

But…

"How can I when we can't fit everyone at the estate, can we? You do realize if I am going with you… Sukuna is coming with me."

Her parents exchanged looks and sighed. "We're aware of that too, after the drinking party we stayed up and talked about it…"

She paused. "Stayed up after a drinking party?!" she demanded. "Do we have dwarf blood in us or something?!"

She heard an amusing chuckle, she turned and saw Sukuna lingering near by. "You didn't know? Toorus can hold their liquor as well as me. Part of the dragon blood in them or something. But what your parents speak is rather truth. I spoke about the notion as well."

Yua peered between her family and Sukuna oddly. "So, the family is… okay with him?" she asked bluntly. "You ALL just learned he came back only yesterday… and after a night of drinking, you accepted it and are now allowing him to live with us?"

"You said so yourself, he is bounded to the name, to the clan. He also married into it, we as a family can't go against our elders. And Chusi is our ancestor…"

"Good to see you understand and value the ideals of those from the past." Sukuna said with a nod. "But we have spoken about this last night, the Tooru clan has a very interesting estate and land. In fact, there's a mountain spring on it is there?"

"Yes, and we are making arrangements as well…"

"Arrangements?" Yua asked.

"We're building a brewery!" Sukuna said proudly.

She sighed, she could care less about that right now. "Okay… let's me just ask… is there going to be enough room for everyone? Not just my family and Sukuna's…"

Father laughed of course. He nodded to her. "Hon, you don't realize, the council had TONS of land that they were squirreling away for something or other. Mainly they were buying up the land around ours in hopes of convincing the government to let it sell. But, since we have such a reputation, they refused. SO, we have more than enough land to bring everyone along with us. We even have a separate estate for you and your family as well. What do you say?"

She didn't know to be honest, the people here have been wonderful. The farmers in particular, they have always looked after her and her loved ones. Even after she was attacked, they gifted what they could to help her and the family.

Yua has put roots in the domain.

"I don't know yet… I have to talk to my family about it too…"

"Of course! And you don't want to shift Suguru around too much right? It's not something you need to worry about right now, just… something to consider for later." Her father insisted.

She smiled to that, her parents, as much as they have ideas for her. They always listen and respect Yua's choices.

"Chusi, Ryoto and I can move whenever" came out of Sukuna.

The three of them paused and stared at him. "What?"

"You're… oddly excited about this aren't you?" Yua asked curiously. "Normally you drag your feet and want nothing to do with anyone…" she paused and stared at him. "Chusi is expecting again right?" she asked.

He nodded seriously to this. "Indeed," he said plainly.

"But the fact is… you need help, don't you? She isn't having a single…"

Sukuna was a little pale to that comment. "Lady Tiamat told me… last night as we were drinking… she teased me saying. 'You always call my sons, brats… you're about to learn what REAL BRATS are…' I didn't sleep that night after the ominous warning…"

"He's in for it" came out of Yua's parents. But they smirked and snickered. "We will still help, family does that," her father decreed. "But that also goes both ways!"

He sighed in defeat. "Name your price"

Her parents froze. "We're not going to ask for anything upfront, all we want you to do is just return the favor. If we help you with your family, help the others with theirs, that's all." Her mother explained.

"I knew there was a catch…"

Yua rolled her eyes. "Never mind him," she decreed. "But mom, dad, I will have a sit down with the family and see what they want to do. As well, we need to make arrangements for the others too, if they want to come along, great, if not, I want to ensure they are tended to."

"Tsk, besides the brats you already have and those having brats of their own, Yua… none of the others here need your permission or guidance for anything, they are old enough to decide what they want!" Sukuna scolded her.

She understood that, at the same time, she also knows that if one person leaves, sometimes what is built, falls apart.

"I still want to value the ideals and opinions of others. It was be as if I left here and didn't invite you or ask if you had an idea as to where you want to go. What if I didn't tell you I was leaving? Would you have wanted that to happen?"

Sukuna looked her in the eyes and said rather bluntly. "Where on earth could you or your family hide from me?"

No one moved, in fact, Yua's parents shuttered a little. "Are you SURE he's right in the head?" her father whispered.

"More so than most, and I am just as shocked as you are for saying that."