"This is like the third time I've been to these woods today," Kagome says with a groan.
"You brought a demon home. I need to know what I'm dealing with." Gojo wags his finger in her face. "I can't have it trying to kill you in your sleep." Kagome playfully nips his finger. His cheeks flush red. Silently, he's happy that his blindfold conceals the widening of his eyes. "Careful. I'll bite back."
Her startled face etches itself into his memory as she hurries her pace towards the fallen tree. Buyo Jr's meows bounce off the stillness of the forest. Was it this quite earlier? He can't remember; too distracted by the display of Kagome's powers to note the comings and goings of the forest.
"I found him down here." She gestures to the tree with a tilt of her head. Buyo Jr nuzzles his face into her chest.
He's never been more jealous of a creature in his life.
"Weird that it just split open like this," he comments, noting how the tree is evenly split in half. Each side resting on the surrounding trees. "Like something struck it." He walks forward.
"Oh… about that. I was training." She shifts Buyo Jr to her shoulder and removes the bow from her quiver, taking a step back to allow Gojo room.
"You did this?" He leans back and then snaps forward to look down at the center of the tree. The split is so clean—perfect even. He blows air into his cheeks, slowly exhaling. "I thought we weren't going to use our powers?"
"I wasn't. Honest, I was just practicing." She pouts.
"Sure," he draws out. Directing his attention to Buyo Jr, he points at the nekomata. "Let's get this over with. What can you do? Assuming that you even understand what, I'm asking."
Buyo Jr hisses in response but jumps down from Kagome's shoulder. He wanders into the middle of the clearing, turning to face them. An eruption of fire breaks out over the nekomata's body, growing larger and dissipating just as quickly as it started. Everything about Buyo Jr is larger, reminiscent of a saber-tooth tiger in Gojo's opinion. Kagome walks over, throwing the bow back into her quiver. Buyo Jr squats down, allowing her to throw one leg over.
"Do you want to ride?" She asks so innocently, that Gojo almost feels ashamed for the thoughts that pass through his mind. Almost.
"Aw, Gome-chan. You don't have to ask me twice." He places a hand over his chest, pretending to swoon as he takes a spot behind her. He wraps his arms around her waist.
Buyo Jr jumps into the air, flames erupt over his paws and tails as he kicks his legs forward. They settle over the trees with an unrestricted view of the sparkling stars overhead.
Gojo tenses, his fingers twitch as the feeling of cursed energy washes over him. He unwraps himself from her waist and hops off. Kagome's cries draw laughter from his throat as he floats next to them.
"Wa- wait, you can fly?"
"Yep. Stay here." He rushes off towards the ground, ignoring Kagome's confused face. She'd be safe up there.
He touches down on the grass and places his hands in his pockets. A loud war cry comes from his side, sidestepping, he gets a clear view of a… volcano head? This is serious, he reminds himself, though a volcano curse is so damn silly.
"Who the fuck are you," he mutters under his breath, annoyed at the interruption. Insects buzz by his ears and then explode. Mr. Volcano head looks pleased with himself. "It's going to take way more than some bugs to kill me," Gojo teases. "And, ugh, what's with all this smoke? It's annoying and terrible for the environment." He waves the smoke away from his face.
"Tch." The curse spits as it twists the cork coming out of where an ear should be. A mini volcano emerges from the tree behind Gojo, shooting out fire. "That should do it. And they said he was strong." The curse rolls his dark eye, black teeth shining under the moonlight.
"You really don't listen, do you?" Gojo groans, coughing as he swats away the smoke. He really didn't have time for this. He could be taking a nice, quiet, nekomata ride with Kagome right now. "You're way too weak to do anything to me." He teleports behind the curse and backhands it, sending it crashing through the forest.
"Bastard!" The curse yells. Its screams muffled from the resulting slaps. Gojo kicks it towards the lake; the crash shoots water high into the air and raining down on Mr. Volcano head.
"Satoru!" Kagome calls out.
"I told her to stay put," he moans to himself as Kagome and Buyo Jr get closer to him. Though her worried expression cools his irritation just a tad. "What happened to staying put, Gome-chan."
"I heard an explosion. Of course, I'm going to check it out." She huffs, fingers gripping Buyo Jr's fur a little too tightly. "Is that another curse?"
"Yeah, an unregistered special grade," he explains, not paying too much attention to the curse that is struggling to get up.
"I'm going to rip her head off and burn the rest of her to a crisp." The curse smiles with purple blood trailing from its black teeth.
"I must have misheard you." Gojo laughs. "Gome, come here." He hands out a hand for her to take, pleased when she doesn't question him. "Buyo… be a dear and step back."
The curse throws its hands together in a sign. "Domain expansion." The lake shakes, solidifying into stone as lava laps at the sides of the stone enclosure around them. The curse smirks. "Not even you can survive this."
Kagome moves closer to his side.
"Don't worry. There are ways to get around this." He moves to lower his blindfold with his free hand. A burst of fire heads their direction. Twisting his finger behind his index, he lays out his own domain. "The trick is to lay out your own more refined one."
The lava and stone enclosures fade away as they get sucked into a white void. Gripping Kagome's waist, he strokes her side as if to put her more at ease.
"Now, then. What was it you said you were going to do?" he questions the curse, gripping the top of its volcano head. "Rip her head off, was it?" His grip tightens, causing the curse's eye to bulge out. "I have some questions, that I'll need you to answer, so I won't kill you just yet." A smile breaks off across his face as he rips its head off and dispels his domain expansion.
Kagome grips his shirt in response to the head lying on the grass. "We were just over the water…"
Gojo places his foot on the curse's head as he puts his blindfold back in place. It tickles him that she's more concerned about how they got back to the forest than how easily he ripped off ahead.
"What's your name?" He rolls the head back and forth.
"Jogo," it spits out. Jogo's eye blinks rapidly.
"Well, Jogo–" His reply gets cut off as the field around them blooms with flowers. "What the…" A haze comes over him, weakening his desire for blood. He quickly slaps himself.
Kagome is already notching her bow and shooting at the emergence of another curse. The arrow hits its side, burning a hole into it. The creature screams as it picks up Jogo's head, taking off into the distance.
"Are you okay?" She lowers the bow and turns to him.
Have her eyes always been that vibrant, he wonders.
"I'm fine." He runs his knuckles down her cheek. "Though curses creating fractions is pretty interesting."
"I feel a headache coming on."
Buyo Jr flies over to them and transforms back into his smaller form. Gojo removes his hand and from Kagome's cheek and claps.
"Well, there's only one way to end this night."
"I'm catching a flight in the morning to the States," Gojo says, dumping a large black blanket and two satin pillows to match on top of the couch.
"So, you want to watch a movie instead of sleeping?" Kagome nuzzles Buyo Jr closer to her chest.
"Isn't this what boyfriends do?" He arranges the pillows to his liking and then directs Kagome to take a seat. "I'm going to be gone for a while."
"We aren't together, but I appreciate the company." She settles into the seat. Buyo Jr curls up on her lap as Gojo pulls the blanket over them.
Gojo hums in response and reaches for the remote on the coffee table. "Let's watch this one. The main character is super annoying, but her death is spectacular."
"Way to spoil the ending."
"We're watching it." He sets the remote back down and throws an arm around her shoulders, pulling her in closer. The scent of her lavender lotion swarms his nostrils, fogging up his senses and making him drunk. "I'll take you next time."
"To America?" She turns to look up at him. "Do you think I'd be able to find any clues on how to get back there?"
He shifts, stretching his legs out. There's something about her desire to leave that pisses him off. Clearing his throat, he smothers those thoughts back down. Of course, she would want to find her way back to her world–no matter how much at home, she's made herself here.
"I think you'll find what you're looking for here, but I'd be a terrible boyfriend if I leave you alone for long stretches at a time."
"If you're worried about those curses, I think I can handle it."
"You're right," he amends, "We've got a flight to catch in the morning."
"What?" She huffs and tries to move away, but he pulls her back. "You're ridiculous."
"Actually, I'm the strongest."
"That makes little sense." She rolls her eyes but settles back down.
She falls asleep before they can get to the ending of the movie. Her body is draped across his. Buyo Jr ditched them halfway through in favor of a quieter sleep space. Gojo shifts and rubs a hand across her back as his eyes close.
He'll write up a report on those unregistered special grades later.
A/N: I think the name, Buyo Jr, is going to stick around. I like the thought of Kagome having something from her world. If you haven't seen the Gojo and Jogo fight, I highly recommend that you watch it. And as always, thank you guys so so much for the reviews. I'm glad that you guys are enjoying the story as much as I am having fun writing it.
