Naraku opens the door and walks through the brothel like establishment. He nods his head in greeting to the attendant. "Zenin," he says, waiting with expectancy for the attendant to lead him to the private room. To a human's ears, this establishment is soundproof. But to a demon, even a half one like him, the sound of flesh slapping against one another, the cries of pain and pleasure, may as well be broadcasted over the speakers instead of the soft instrumental music.
"Naoya," Naraku greets, motioning for the attendant to leave them be. The Zenin stretches his arms out along the chair as a dark-haired woman pours another cup of tea. "It's been a while." Naraku sits down in the chair off to the side, closest to the door. He rolls his shoulders back and lets out a long-suffering sigh, as though the trek to this location was too great on his body.
"Miroku," Naoya says with a sly smirk on his face. Out of all the Zenins Naraku has delt with over the years, this one has been the easiest to manipulate. "Care for a drink?"
"Something other than tea," Naraku answers, watching as the woman bows her head as she scurries out of the room to fetch his drink. "I'm sure you are aware that Gojo Satoru has been sealed."
"Just in time," Naoya quips. "Bastard was trying to kick us Zenins out of Jujutsu. But you didn't come all this way to talk about him. Though I'm surprised you weren't at the meeting. Not like you to not be there to vouch for the clan."
"No, I came to talk about his fiancé and her connection to the jewel." Naraku reaches in his robe and pulls out the scroll. He ignores Naoya's comment. "I managed to retrieve this from Geto." He places the scroll on the table and leans back. That scroll was a real bitch to open. Unfortunately, its contents were nothing more than what he already knew.
Naoya quirks a brow and scans over the scroll. "This is about that Shikon the elders were talking about." He tosses the scroll down. "Sounds like a load of shit. A jewel that can grant any wish?"
The woman returns with sake in hand. She keeps her eyes lowered as she serves him. Her thin slip of a dress is nearly see-through.
Hm. Naoya must have already given her a tongue lashing regarding her place.
"Get over here," Naoya commands, "entertain me." He crooks his finger and motions for the woman to do his bidding.
Naraku bites back a sigh as he drowns his drink. Why must this human be so stupid? "Kagome Higurashi is a wildcard and must be eliminated. She will no doubt be attempting the unsealing of Gojo Satoru. The others are wary of her as well. She used some kind of power different from cursed energy–"
"She's just a woman," Naoya says with a scoff. "What could she possibly do? I've met her once. Easy on the eyes. Far too mouthy." He shifts, widening his legs as he leans forward. "I don't want to eliminate her. I want to ruin her. And if it's power she has, then that power would be better suited under me, serving me, and popping out stronger heirs."
Naraku narrows his eyes. When did he meet the priestess? "You want to possess her, then? Fine. Break her. But get any information on the jewel out of her." Of course, this mongrel would be more interested in fucking the priestess than getting rid of her. Where did he go wrong? He should have focused his efforts on someone else.
This Zenin is useless.
The only other Zenin worth his time was Toji, but no matter what he did, the man would not break.
"You seem awfully confident she knows anything about this fabled jewel." Naoya stares at him for a beat and then directs his attention to the dancing woman. "Strip and face the wall. I don't want to see your face."
The woman blanches, but strips nonetheless. Her movements are jerky. The chill in the room does not help. If Naraku was more of a man, he'd put a stop to this charade. But he is neither man nor demon, and so he ignores the woman's pleading eyes for help.
She knew what she was getting into when she signed up to work at a place like this.
"Something wrong with her face?" He reaches for his cup and frowns. Empty all too soon. Human sake does nothing to fill the void. Does nothing to drown out the voices in his head. He grabs the bottle and pours himself another glass.
"It's not her face. The hips are a bit too narrow as well, but this is the best this place had to offer." Naoya chuckles. "You're probably too old now to even get it up."
Naraku's eye twitches before settling into a friendly disposition. "Yes, these weak bones of mine aren't getting any younger, which is why I want to see you take your rightful spot as the clan leader."
And then he'll take Naoya's identity and take his rightful place as leader. Though if Naoya insists on keeping Kagome alive, then that could be a problem.
The priestess would see through his act. She's frustrating like that. And always has a knack for interfering right when he has everything set up perfectly. It is as though her sole purpose in life is to steal the little joy he has.
"Didn't ya hear?" Naoya twists his lips into a snarl. "Megumi, dearest is the clan head now. Daddy," he spits the word out, "made a deal with Gojo for Megumi to be clan leader if anything happens to him."
"So? Get rid of him."
No wonder Geto insisted on working with curses like Mahito. At least they would kill without questioning it.
A damn shame he could not absorb Mahito before Geto got to him. He had high hopes for how far that power would take him. He only has himself to blame for not considering that Geto would want Mahito's powers for himself.
In hindsight, he should have absorbed him before the Shibuya incident occurred.
Naoya rolls his eyes and goes back to watching the dancing woman, who sways to her beat, seemingly more relaxed now that she does not have to look at them.
"I can't just get rid of him without just cause. Not a curse user."
"You have cause. He's trying to unseal Gojo Satoru. What kind of clan leader would unseal a traitor to jujutsu society?"
Perhaps it would have been simpler to kill Naoya when he was a child.
"Ya ain't so bad, Miroku. Knew daddy dearest was stupid for doubting you." Naoya reaches over and takes a swig out of the bottle. He slams it down on the table and stands.
"I'm in no mood to watch you fuck," Naraku says with boredom dripping from every word.
Naoya barely glances at him as he shrugs out of his clothes. "Ya know so much about that woman. Bring her to me. Set up a meeting. Whatever. I don't care how ya do it, but I want her."
His head throbs. If he could get the priestess so easily, then he would have done so a long time ago. Does he not realize how protected the priestess is?
He must not because he wouldn't have spoken such ridiculous orders.
"Bait then," Naraku murmurs to himself as he pours another drink, ignoring Naoya's heavy grunts. "Call for Megumi, then. She'll come for him." He rises and curls his lip in disgust. The woman's fake moans remind him of a bunch of squawking imps. His ears may as well be bleeding.
These humans are so barbaric.
He closes the door with a slam and nearly stumbles into a woman with poorly dyed red hair. Her green eyes, fake, but close enough to the color of Yumi's nearly knocks him off his feet. He grabs her by the arm.
"Give me a room now."
"You good?" Megumi asks, stepping to Yuji's side.
Yuji startles and then scratches the back of his head. "Just thinking is all. How Kagome-san can remain so positive after everything that has happened? How Shippo turned us into weasels. Why Nobara is getting a manicure from Jaken?" He motions towards Nobara, who flips him off with her free hand.
"Jaken is a skilled demon. You should show some respect."
Jaken hums, his green bald head shines under the light. "That's right, you silly humans. Nothing is too great for the great Jaken. Why I practically invented manicures. No one else knows how to pay attention to the small details like I do."
Yuji turns to look at Megumi, who instead looks so done with the scene in front of him. He does not blame him. There is something so wrong with seeing the green imp painting Nobara's nails as though his life depends on it.
Yuji squints. Are those paw prints on her nails?
"... I'm going to check on Nanami-san," Megumi announces, face turning an interesting shade of pink.
"I'll come with you." Yuji does not want to stay there and watch Nobara get pampered, nor does he want to run into Shippo. That fox is always up to something. "Though how do you know where to go?"
Megumi points to Buyo Jr. who flicks his two tails up in a universal, screw you pose.
Yuji frowns. What did he even do to Buyo Jr. for him to mistreat him so? It's not like he meant to snag his fur with the comb. And it was just one time.
They reach the room Nanami is staying in. There's no guards outside the door like Kagome-san's room. These demons must care a deal for Kagome-san with how much protection they provide her.
He can't even see her unless Shippo or InuYasha are around. Not that he blames them for being cautious, Sukuna has been seething ever since she put those beads on him, and normally he keeps his thoughts and emotions from leaking out. Now it is as though Sukuna wants him to be as miserable as he is.
Eh... on second thought, Sukuna always wants him to be miserable because he's a dick like that.
"Come in," Nanami says.
They walk in and the room is actually quite small compared to Kagome-san's massive room. It's comparable to a closet in an apartment.
"Glad to see you two are alive," Nanami says, from his place in the bed. His eyes are more tired than usual. "Where are we? This isn't Jujutsu High."
Yuji blinks. Does he not remember?
"Kagome-san saved you. We're at Sesshomaru-sama's estate in the sky. They even have a full staff with a chef and a clinic." Not to mention the training room, the freaking two-headed dragon, and there's probably a lot more he hasn't seen since this place is so dang massive.
Nanami lets out a long sigh, a sigh so deep his shoulders slump. "Estate in the sky? So, we're with the demons now? How did she save me? It was soul manipulation. Not even Shoko-san can do that."
"She uses her reversed curse energy for healing and defensively," Yuji says, thankful that he has the answer for once. His cheek moves and Sukuna's mouth appears.
"That's not it. The bitch is a damn priestess."
Yuji smacks his face. Buyo Jr. hisses and jumps on Megumi's head.
Did the subjugation beads loosen Sukuna's tongue or something? Why is he being so damn mouthy, as if anyone cares what he thinks?
"Nothing surprises me anymore," Nanami says. "But if that's the case, why would demons be working with a priestess?"
A spike of energy from behind them cuts off Yuji's line of thinking. The energy is oppressive. Dark. He feels as though he is being weighed down by at least five cars.
"If you have time to chitchat, you have time to train," InuYasha says, leaning against the door with his arms crossed. His golden eyes burn with fury. His dog ears are flat against his skull.
Yuji doesn't know much about dogs, but he knows any animal with their ears pinned back like that is pissed off about something.
"Meow."
"Don't agree with him," Megumi hisses.
"Meow."
"Ugh, fine," Megumi agrees to whatever Buyo Jr. said.
"Come on, unlike the rest of you, Yuta is at least taking the upcoming games seriously." InuYasha jerks his thumb behind him and waits for them to move out of the room. "Ya'll ain't winning shit with your current skill level."
"What games?" Nanami asks, from behind Yuji. He places a hand on Yuji's shoulder and squeezes.
"Culling games is what they are calling it."
"And what are we culling?"
"Sorcerers. Cursed Energy." Megumi pauses. "They also kidnap Tsumiki, so we have to take part to get her back."
Nanami looks up at the ceiling. "This is shit."
Yuji nods his head. If Gojo-sensei were here, these games would not be happening.
This is shit.
A/N: I asked myself if this chapter offends me and I was like yeah it does, so I think I got Naoya's character down lol. Started on the Accidental dates/meetings story and young Gojo is actually wary of Kagome, I was lowkey shocked. Regarding the old Kagome and Kurama fanfics, the author of Not the only one took their stuff down to self-publish (They made an announcement) and I remember because it was like my favourite story. I also looked into those Gojo cosplayers and went down a rabbit hole. Uhh, that's it for now. Stay safe. Make sure you drink plenty of water! Seriously it is getting colder out and cold season is here, so stay hydrated and take care of yourself!
