A sliver of sunlight peeks through the window, highlighting small areas of the hotel room and settling on Kagome's form. Gojo basks in the softness of her pressed against him with one hand stewed across his chest. He lies there for a while, not wanting to break the peaceful moment of not having the weight of the world on his shoulders. For all of his playful boasting and mindless chatter, even he needs a moment to just be.

He yawns as he reaches over to grab his phone from the nightstand. His lips tilt down in a frown from the numerous missed calls from Ijichi and Yaga. Scrolling through, there's a call from Shoko and a message from Megumi.

Ugh, he'll deal with it when he gets back.

Kagome shifts, the oversized shirt that he loaned her–insisted on–slips, exposing a shoulder. Clicking the camera icon, he snaps a picture of them. The clicking sounds echo in the otherwise quiet room. Crap, he thinks. He forgot to turn the sound off.

"Did you take a picture?" Kagome asks, voice groggy with sleep. She rolls over to her back and then makes a move to sit up. Mentally, he scolds himself for bemoaning the loss of her warmth against him and for thinking about how beautiful she looks with her dark hair sticking in every which way.

He points the phone at her and snaps another picture, laughing when she tries to snatch the device from him. "I need something to look at when I'm on a mission." He sets it back down the nightstand and then sits up, his body angling towards her.

"You should pay attention if you're on a mission," she mumbles while simultaneously trying to block a yawn, and failing.

"I get bored."

"You get bored?"

"Mhmm." He nods his head. "The curses all just so weak." Kagome gives him a look of disbelief and then one of surprise when he leans over further and kisses her. "You're just too cute, Gome-chan." He pinches her cheek, delighting in how her skin flushes pink.

"What time is check out?" She stretches her arms. He figures he'll allow her to change the subject since he's avoiding the fire that is brewing back at home.

"I think we have to be out of here by 11:30 or something like that." He reaches over and hits the home button on his phone. "We've got enough time to order breakfast and then catch the flight."

"We're going back already? We just got here like yesterday." Her face scrunches up in a frown. "Or was it the other day?"

"That's one disadvantage of being so in demand, ya know? Always on the go. Not everyone is cut out for it, but I suppose this is my pension to pay for being the strongest. And the best sensei and boyfriend." He rubs his hands down his face as if everything is so tiresome.

"I don't even know why I put up with you," she jabs.

"Because I'm the world's best boyfriend."

"You're not actually—"

"Do you know what material that shirt is? Its—"

"Don't say it."

"Boyfriend material." He crackles to himself and doubling over at the pure irritation radiating off of her. "You know, you glow red when you're mad?"

"I glow?"

"Yeah." He moves the covers back and gets out of the bed. "I'm going to go grab some breakfast for us." Rummaging around in his suitcase, he pulls out some jeans and a shirt. "What?" he asks, as he slips the pants on over his boxers.

"N-nothing. I'm gonna take a shower, I'll see you when you get back." She stumbles out of the bed, tripping over the cover. She practically runs to the bathroom. The sound of the door slamming shut resonates in his eardrums.

She really is the cutest thing; he thinks as he slips the shirt over his chest.

Over fourteen hours later, give or take–not that he was counting down. They make it back to the apartment. Neither one bothers to take their suitcases to their rooms, opting instead to leave them by the door. Gojo checks in with Megumi first. He doesn't get a chance to say hello before Megumi's voice frantically relays what happened while he was gone.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Kagome's voice drifts in and out. His heart constricts, blocking off blood flow from the rest of his body. What was she saying? Megumi's words roll around in his mind, repeating over and over again.

"It's Yuji," he starts. His tongue is like sandpaper dunked in a bowl of water. "He died while out on a mission, that should have gone to me." Tremors wrack his body as he struggles to contain his anger at the higher-ups for sending his students on a suicide mission. "Fucking elders." Kagome wraps her arms around his waist and peers up at him, her hands rub small circles on his back.

It's the most comfort he's ever gotten, he realizes with a pang. "I gotta go." He moves to unwrap her from him, but she tightens her hold. Her fingers grip his shirt.

"I'm coming with you."

"There's no need."

"I'm not asking you. I'm coming with."

"So bossy," he jokes, a simple grin stretching across his face at the determined look in her chocolate eyes. He decides they should just have dessert in place of dinner, something with lots and lots of chocolate to distract him. "It'll be faster to just teleport there. I don't want to waste any more time."

The first thing he hears is Ijichi's screams. It's hard to believe sometimes that the man is actually younger than him, with how much stress marks his face. He wonders how long the Ijichi has been waiting for him to get back.

"Be quiet," Gojo complains, ignoring the raised brow from Shoko. The small room is freezing, as is customary of a morgue. Yuji's body lies on the raised metal table. There's dried blood from where his chest must have been ripped out. Gojo clenches his teeth as he walks himself and Kagome over to the bench.

"I-I'm so sorry," Ijichi rushes out, his hands raised as if Gojo is going to attack him in retaliation. "The mission was supposed to just be a rescue mission and to not engage the curse. I didn't know that it was a special grade."

"Give me the report," Gojo orders, his hand out for the folder. He flips through it, skimming the pages. The whole situation reeks of the higher-ups. Bastards. He hands the folder back to Ijichi, who jumps at the force with which he thrusts it into his hands. "Do you know why someone like me became a teacher?"

"N-no," Ijichi responds, his slicked hair unravels a bit from the amount of perspiration.

"To change the jujutsu world. I could kill the higher-ups, but what would that change?" Kagome grabs his balled fist, coaxing him to unclench his fist and interwind his fingers with hers. "I want to create a world that isn't stuck in old ways of doing things."

"It's not like you to show so much emotion," Shoko interjects as she lights a cigarette, taking a long drag. The smoke is bothersome; tainting the sterile atmosphere and casting a cloud on his own fragile moral compass.

"Why would they want to kill Yuji before he's eaten the rest of those fingers?"

Swallowing back the anger that wants to leak out, Gojo responds to Kagome, "Because they're afraid. They fear the unknown and seek to get rid of anything that poses a threat to them." Her fingers twitch in his hand, and he knows he doesn't have to verbalize that the elders would seek to get rid of her as well.

"Well, now that you've seen him, I can get started." Shoko puts out the cigarette and throws it in the ashtray on the counter near a box of gloves. Slipping on a purple latex glove, Shoko only gets one on when Ijichi's stammering draws their attention.

"He's a zombie!" Ijichi points, his hand shakes with each word spoken. Gojo doesn't need his six eyes to see the fear radiating off of Ijichi.

"Quiet," he commands as he lets go of Kagome's hand and walks over to Yuji's now very much alive body. "Welcome back, Yuji-kun."

Yuji slaps his hand with Gojo's. "Oh! Kagome-san, you're here too."

"Ijichi, can you grab some clothes for Yuji?" Shoko asks as she takes her glove off. "I wanted to dissect him," she mutters with a sigh. "Satoru, a word." She tucks her stray strand back behind her ear.

Gojo follows behind Shoko, waving back at Kagome and Yuji as he leaves out of the morgue. "What is it?" He leans against the building, the warmth of sun a stark contrast to artificial lighting in the room they were just in.

"He was dead," she starts. Her dark eyes look even more tired than usual.

"I'm betting Sukuna had something to do with it. Say, could you keep Yuji dead in the report?"

"Sure, for a price."

"And here I thought we were friends." Gojo clasps at his shirt. "You want to know who Kagome is?"

"I've never known you to be linked to anyone. She must be important if you're turning off your infinity for her. Not to mention, she was unfazed by the dead rising."

"She can bypass my infinity." He smirks at her stupefied expression. "But you want to know who she is." He taps his finger against his chin. Despite his insistence, Kagome insists they are not together, and he wouldn't classify her as a friend. Roommate is too basic of a term. "She's my partner."

"Partner… So, your girlfriend or actual partner?"

He shrugs in response.

"Just be careful, alright." Shoko gives him a small smile and walks back into the morgue. Gojo follows her.

"Oi! Yuji," he calls as he steps into the room. "You'll be staying with me for a bit."

"Really? Not in the dorms?"

"We're keeping you dead for a while, yeah. You'll get personalized training with yours truly, and you'll get to enjoy Gome-Chan's cooking."

"You think they'll try to get him killed on the job again?" Kagome questions, her arms crossed.

"Sure, it would be really easy to slip them a mission they aren't qualified for." Gojo looks over at Yuji "What is it?"

"I'm just so happy," Yuji responds, his face broken out in a gigantic smile. And were those hearts in his eyes?

"Ijichi, take Yuji and Kagome home."

"Um, where is home?" Ijichi's voice quivers as he readjusts his round glasses.

"I'll direct him," Kagome speaks up as she rubs a hand on Ijichi's back. "Come on, Yuji-kun, I'm sure you're tired."

"See you two at home." Gojo waves as the trio leave out, just leaving him and Shoko. "I know, I know." He gets out before Shoko can open her mouth. He knows exactly what he needs to do.


A/N: You guys always leave the sweetest reviews :) I do want to point out that I'm moving some things around, time-wise to fit how I want to progress Kagome's and Gojo's relationship.