The sun was incandescent in this scorching month of July 2018, crushing the Japanese capital with its pallid fire for days. The cicadas themselves seemed to be suffering from the heat, their slightly metallic song lost in the almost palpable mugginess of the stifling air. The countless anonymous inhabitants of the sprawling city tried to follow the normal course of their existence, leaping from puddle to puddle of shadow, from air-conditioning to air-conditioning, swarming like insects...
It made her sick...
How dare they all go on living as if nothing had happened?
How could the world still be spinning on its axis after the tragedy that had taken place a few days earlier?
She... She couldn't, stunned.
It was all her fault... Only her fault...
She knew it...
While she could still see Yuji's gentle face and tender gaze, now dead...
she knew.
While she could still hear Sukuna's powerful baritone voice in her ear, taken with his vessel to the grave...
SHE KNEW IT!
As she reminded herself over and over again of the one and only reason why they had both disappeared: namely, the absence by their side of the most powerful shaman in their area, Satoru Gojo, who, instead of protecting them, had had to chaperone her, she...
It was his fault...
If the bearer of the sixth eye hadn't had to accompany her to the other side of the archipelago, the situation would never have taken such a dramatic turn...
His fault...
If she hadn't wanted to simper and tell the exorcists about the auction, the snowy-haired man would never have taken the decision to leave town, thus protecting Yuji and Sukuna from their doom...
His fault alone...
And if only she hadn't been so selfish as to involve the teenager in the mess of her life in the first place, none of this would have happened...
A new sob echoed through the silent apartment, plunged into almost total darkness, as if echoing against the walls...
From the outside, anyone entering the apartment would have thought it had been abandoned... All the blinds were firmly down, blocking all access to the natural light outside... The air was heavy, stale and full of suffocating negative vibes... The floor was strewn with the debris of broken objects, torn clothes, disemboweled cushions... The sofa had been overturned, the coffee table crushed, the bed mattress torn to pieces... You'd have thought no one lived here anymore...
Yet... she was there... at least in part...
In the darkest corner of the living room, curled up in a ball under a shabby sheet that she scratched with her sharp nails, freed despite herself, Kali struggled with the immeasurable suffering gripping her mind and body, as if racked with pain...
Her entire existence was a fiasco...
The false bids had only shown her how trapped she was, unable to defend herself alone, incompetent to protect herself without having to make others suffer...
She was responsible for Yuji's death, having snatched Gojo's mentorship from him for a botched plan that went nowhere...
She was still more or less doomed in the short term, and, on top of that, she had thrown into the arms of the grim reaper two people she liked to a degree she'd never known before, disgusting her to a dangerous degree...
She had ruined lives... two of them crucial in her eyes... And for nothing...
She was so disgusted with herself!
Another sob escaped her as she rolled over a little more, clasping both hands over her eyes. She wished she could just disappear, that this feeling of abyssal emptiness would finally engulf her, erasing the lightning guilt that was crushing her whole. It was bound to happen sooner or later... If she just lay there, not hunting, her inking circle would eventually break for lack of occult energy... And that would be that.
Not far away, a ringing telephone sounded, unable to rouse the young woman from her dark thoughts. She hadn't answered it since her return to Tokyo. The only contacts she still had were the occasional messages she sent to Prasad to prevent him from sending anyone to get her... She didn't want to be rescued. She didn't want it anymore...
Silence fell briefly in the desolate apartment, before the telephone began to blare again, irritating the edgy hybrid to no end. She grabbed the cloth in her hands, rolling herself into a ball, tears streaming down her slightly emaciated face. Whoever he was, he could go to hell!
Alas, the person trying to contact her obviously had a mind of his own, for the rings went on and on, making Kali's cooled blood run hot with anger. What a world, we couldn't even mope in peace anymore!
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" she shrieked as she straightened up, struggling with the piece of cloth that encircled her, her feline eyes narrowed with rage. Her momentum was halted, however, as a powerful dizziness blurred her vision, almost making her want to vomit. Exactly how long had she been lying on the ground?
But that wasn't the most important thing... As soon as her discomfort subsided, the European dragged herself over to the mobile, which continued to chirp non-stop. It was just a few meters away, plugged into an outlet, but the distance seemed to be multiplied by a hundred. She must have been a sight for sore eyes. When she finally reached the device, she grabbed it violently, yanking it ruthlessly from its charging cable. She scanned the screen with her inhuman gaze, a bucket of ice water instantly running down her back as she discovered the person behind her countless calls.
It was Gojo...
Kali hadn't spoken to the exorcist since he'd left her stranded in Kumamoto after the terrible announcement, using his extraordinary powers to return to the capital in an instant, most certainly hoping that the fateful information was wrong... Alas, this was not the case. The man with infinite eyes had sent him a final, heartbreaking text message, killing all hope the hybrid had tried to keep alive in the meantime.
There's no mistake. I'm sorry, Kali. I'll get back to you later.
Why was he contacting her now? There was nothing more to be done, the mass had been said... Did he want to kill her to punish her for her responsibility in Yuji's death? It would almost have suited him... But the young woman suspected that the wearer of the sixth eye was not a man like that.
Whatever he wanted to tell her, she wasn't interested...
The half-demon turned off her phone, cutting short another call attempt from the shaman, once again plunging the living room into almost total darkness. Tears welled up again in her tarnished golden eyes. She felt so tired...
Yuji was dead.
Sukuna had disappeared with him.
People were out to get him for some unknown reason.
And she no longer had a clue about her orb...
All she wanted was to m...
"KALI! KALI I KNOW YOU'RE THERE, OPEN THE DOOR!"
Gojo's powerful voice startled her as he ruthlessly pounded on her apartment door, nearly giving her a heart attack. But... What was he doing there? What did he care what happened to her?
The exorcist continued to rant and rave at the wooden panel, plunging the hybrid into nameless perplexity. What was she supposed to do? She didn't want to see him, she didn't want to talk to him... She didn't want to be reasoned with, she just wanted to embrace his suffering and despair...
"Kali! Kali, don't make me break down the door, because I'm going to!" continued the exorcist, in a voice that showed palpable concern.
To hell with him! How did he even know where she lived? She'd never told him!
No sooner had she thought this than a furious clawing noise was heard from the other side of the door, along with the high-pitched squeals she knew all too well...
KYU?
Was it Kyu who had gone to fetch the shaman? Was the world ganging up on her to ruin her life? She'd thrown the little flying scourge out a few days earlier, no longer able to stand his incessant cries and the concern she read in his little bloodshot eyes, skinning him a little more every minute. If she hadn't, she could have ended up hurting him, and she'd done more than enough already...
Kali clasped her hands over her ears, resting her forehead against the ground. What a piece of shit!
"Go away..." she whispered against the tiles, surprised to hear her own voice so hoarse. "Go away..." she resumed louder, unconsciously scratching her scalp. "GO AWAY!" she finally shouted with all her remaining strength to the two beings standing on her doorstep, as well as, perhaps, to the entire universe.
This simple gesture left her breathless, her heart pounding in her chest. Silence had fallen again, however, proof that it had been effective.
"Kali..." resumed Gojo, causing the half-demon to grimace sharply. "Kali, open up. Yuji..."
"NO! Shut up, Gojo, I don't want to hear it!" she cut her off fiercely, her voice strangled by ill-contained sobs. "It's all my fault, I don't want to... I don't want... Shut up shut up shut up!"
"Damn it, Kali, he's alive!" blurted the professor a little moodily, instantly statuing his unwieldy interlocutor.
She'd obviously misheard...
"Wha... what? You're... You're lying..." she managed to gabble after a pause, as if struck by lightning. Inside her, her heartbeat began to quicken a little, as if warming her bruised being.
"No, I swear..." replied Gojo in a softer voice, as if relieved. "Open the door for me, Kali, please. I've drawn enough attention as it is..."
Yuji... Alive? Wha... How? Was it even possible? With abominable slowness, taking several tries, the European managed to get back on her feet, as unsteady as a newborn fawn. She had really pushed her body to the limit... Slowly, she crossed the few meters separating her from the front door, suddenly saturated with a mad hope. He had sworn to her...
With trembling hands, Kali removed the latches securing access to her apartment, finally grasping the handle between her slender fingers. Her breathing became shorter and shorter as she operated the mechanism, gently opening the door, her heart in a panic.
She then discovered Satoru standing on the threshold, staring at her, dumbfounded, his infinity eyes simply hidden behind dark sunglasses, a civilian outfit having replaced his black uniform. Kuy was perched on her shoulder, feverish, playing his claws in the thick fabric of the denim verste he wore, uttering little alarmed cries.
"Oh my god, Kali... But what a state you've got yourself into..." murmured the professor in a deeply distressed tone, detailing the catastrophically out-of-shape appearance of his opposite number.
The latter, who had absolutely no idea what she looked like at the moment and couldn't care less, took a few steps to grab hold of the young man's elegant T-shirt with her clawed hand, squeezing it with all her might.
"Gojo... Yuji... He's ..." she whispered, at her wits' end, her eyes filling with tears.
He stared at her, giving her a slightly sad smile before coming to rest a hand on the top of her head, gently ruffling her already battlefield hair.
"He's alive, Kali. He's alive and well..." A deep sob escaped the young hybrid's throat, squeezing her heart. He came to embrace her for a brief, fatherly moment, feeling between his arms how much her body was in pain and her occult energy unstable. It was a good thing Kyu had come to find him... At this rate, she wouldn't have lasted much longer... The interested party slid down her arm to nestle in the hollow of his mistress' neck, pressing his cold little nose against her skin. "Come on, let's go home, I'll explain everything."
The half-demon sniffed a little against him before straightening up, awkwardly wiping her face with the back of her hand.
"Ah... Okay..." she breathed, suddenly embarrassed, fleeing his gaze. "On the other hand, I... I warn you, it's a bit... chaotic in there..."
She turned, preceding him into the almost pitch-dark space of his apartment, heading for the bay-window switch, flipping it to let some light in. The man followed suit, sighing softly and shoving his hands into his pockets, before stopping dead in his tracks, taking in the stricken scene before him. The hybrid, who shielded his pupils with a wave of his hand from the excessive brightness, immediately opened the windows wide, letting in some air that, if not fresh given the heat outside, was at least healthy.
"Nice decor..." dropped Gojo, gazing at the completely ravaged apartment in disbelief. She hadn't used the spoon, the little girl. "You'll give me the name of your decorator..."
Kali slipped him a slightly incensed glance, but the shadow of a smile floated across her lips, reassuring her interlocutor a little. In the light of day, Gojo could see even more clearly the state the woman was in, bringing a pang to his heart. It really hadn't come down to much...
At present, she wore only a partially torn dark tank top and the rest of a matching shorty, her hair a disheveled, untamable mass around her drawn, wizened face. The lines of her pentacle, which he could partly see on her back and part of her body, gave the impression of being raw, with blood even beading in some places. His unstable inking circle was sorely lacking in occult energy and was not far from breaking point, trying to feed directly on the young woman's life force to maintain itself... She had to hunt very quickly or risk suffering serious after-effects, if she hadn't already.
As for her feline eyes, they were heavily rimmed and their usually deep color was tarnished by immense physical and psychological exhaustion.
The shaman would never have believed that the news of Yuji's (temporary) death would have put her in such a state. However, he had forgotten to take into consideration the fact that Kali was only a few months old and that, so far, she had hardly experienced any major setbacks in her short life. Prasad, her protector, had had to see to that no matter what, protecting his princess in one sense, but by no means arming her to face an emotional shock such as this in another. The auction, the teenager's death... All this disappointment and pain had made her lose her footing completely. If it hadn't been for Kyu yelling at her to alert her... There would almost certainly have been a real death to mourn, in the end.
"Gojo... Say, Gojo, are you listening to me?" Kali's voice roused him from his thoughts, bringing him back to the present moment. "Yuji's alive and well, you swear? Where is he? Is he all right?!"
She had moved closer to him and was staring at him with unsettling intensity.
"He's alive, I told you..." he replied, smiling. "And he's safe, because right now, no one must know that he's only made a touch and go in the realm of the dead!"
"But... how? He wasn't really dead after all?" The young woman frowned, puzzled.
"Ah, yes yes. He was well and truly dead!" evaded Gojo before launching into a tirade of explanations. "But Sukuna brought him back to life by regenerating the heart he himself had ripped out of him earlier in an attempt to retain control over his body..."
Kali made round eyes, assimilating the information.
"Sukuna-san... had taken control of Yuji's body in broad daylight?" she questioned, her interlocutor nodding.
"And he... voluntarily ripped out Yuji's heart?..." new nod.
"To keep control of their bodies?" One more.
"And if Yuji died... Is it that he preferred to sacrifice himself rather than make way for Sukuna-san?" Gojo nodded again.
"But in the end, Sukuna-san regenerated Yuji's heart and brought them both back to life?"
"That's a no-brainer, Kali-chan!" the teacher laughed, giving him two thumbs-up.
"And he would have done that ... just so he wouldn't lose the almost ideal receptacle that is Yuji?" questioned the damsel again, tapping right into the shadowy area that worried the shaman a little.
"Now that... I don't believe it for a second, my lovely..." sighed Satoru, taking a few steps into the ravaged space of the apartment. "I'm afraid Sukuna has managed to pass an inviolable oath with Yuji, but there's no way of knowing... He's far too clever to have left things to chance..."
"An... unbreakable oath?" repeated Kali, intrigued.
"Perhaps you don't know..." began the professor, staring at his opposite number, remembering that he knew nothing of her actual knowledge of the occult world. "It's a bargain struck between a plague and another individual, human or demon. Its power comes from the fact that if either party breaks it, they will pay a high price... Surrendering a heart... sounds like the ideal card to negotiate such a pact, even if Yuji would certainly never have agreed to something that openly gave Sukuna an advantage... Anyway! Let's get back to business, Kali-chan! That is, you and your state of deplor..."
"I want to see Yuji." He cut her off in a firm voice, without appeal, coming to plant himself in front of him.
"So..." he resumed in a calm tone, already sensing that the situation was in danger of getting out of hand. "It's not the most urgent thing. He's fine, he's safe. You're not. So we'll deal with that already."
"No." she blurted, crossing her arms under her chest, sniffling weakly. "I want to see Yuji. I'll go hunting afterwards, but I want to see him first."
"Kali darling..." sighed the snow-haired man, coming to rest his hands on either side of her somewhat bony shoulders. "Have you seen yourself lately? You're in no shape to go hunting. You'd be kicked to the curb by the first 3 who came along..."
"Don't exaggerate!" She disengaged herself from his embrace, a touch of bad faith.
She moved away a little, turning her back to him, offering her bloody pentacle to his view. Really, he was only exaggerating. Suddenly, the young woman turned around, her bare feet scrabbling at the countless debris strewn on the ground the few meters separating them, a new gleam shining in her violet-rimmed golden eyes.
"Anyway..." she began, her voice revived and confident. "I need protection too! At least until I get my strength back... Besides, we don't know if the people looking for me aren't already on my Tokyo trail... You wouldn't leave a poor young hybrid whom you yourself say is defenseless at the mercy of malevolent individuals, would you? I demand asylum!"
Gojo stared at her for a moment, a little taken aback, before bursting out laughing, vexing his interlocutor a little.
"So for starters, Kali..." he finally replied, wiping the edge of his eyes. "Asylum is only for churches. Do I look like a priest, frankly? Secondly, I'm really not sure this is a good idea... Yuji needs to practice and stay focused, it's very important! And finally, I don't think the people after you know what you look like, or where you are, as the scale of the trap they've set to try and catch you proves. They would have deployed fewer means if they had more information. So, as long as you keep a low profile, there's no reason for them to learn more about you."
"I could very well decide to use my flames indiscriminately... "grumbled the young hybrid, sulky but determined, challenging him with her eyes.
"You wouldn't..." Satoru watched her intently, doubting his own conviction. What she had in common with Yuji was that she was devilishly stubborn... And the slightly Machiavellian gleam he saw shining in the feline eyes told him nothing good.
"Kali ... You wouldn't do that, would you? You wouldn't knowingly put your safety and potentially your life in danger just for me...I... to... give in... to your whim..." A defiant smile stretched across the young woman's lips, indicating to him just how capable she was of doing just that, quite the opposite...
"Chiche." she merely replied, confirming his fears.
The exorcist immediately let out a deep sigh, rubbing her eyes under her glasses with one hand. And the worst of it was that she'd be perfectly capable of it, he was sure of it... Yuji was currently in an ancient sanctuary, protected by countless seals making his presence undetectable. Theoretically, there was ample room to house several dozen people within these walls, so wedging the little hybrid into a corner wouldn't be too difficult... But was it a good idea to leave Kali and Yuji alone most of the time, as he had his exorcist and teacher duties to attend to to avoid arousing suspicion? Sukuna was always lurking about, ready to seize the slightest opportunity to make his move...
On the other hand... Kali was clearly in a very fragile state, making her an easy target in her current state. If he were to bring her into the sanctuary, he could more easily keep an eye on her and try to find out more about her inking circle, the orb she wore, her true powers...
In any case... Did he really have a choice, after all? He wasn't going to let the European put his life at risk so needlessly... After all, he liked her...
He let out another sigh, placing his hands on his hips in defeat.
"One day I'll have to have a serious talk with your Prasad... He's spoiled you too much, it's obvious..."
"And couuuuup? ..." Kali stared at him intently, a new energy animating her whole, wringing a smile from the man despite himself.
"So... Go and pack your bags, as long as you still have something untouched to bring... I'm taking you in."
"OUIIIIIIII!" the half-demon jumped for joy, throwing herself at the exorcist, metamorphosed. "Thank you, Gojo, thank you! I'll be good as gold! You won't even know I'm here!"
"Yes, well, let me doubt that..." grumbled Satoru, still returning his embrace to his new protégé, amused. "Off you go... And for heaven's sake, go take a shower, you smell like a wet cat!"
Kali then let go of him with a great burst of laughter, spinning amidst the debris of her living room, her despair gone for good.
She was finally going to be reunited with Yuji and Sukuna...
And that filled her heart with joy and anticipation!
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A word from the author :
M: Hi everyone! How are things? Have a good Monday!
Yuji: I don't like Mondays! Gotta get back to school!
Gojo: Me neither! Back to work!
Megumi, doubtful: For what you work for, Sensei ...
Gojo, outraged: You're so cruel!
Sukuna, from his throne of skulls: You bunch of cowards! You all make me laugh, with your stories of weekends and Mondays... I've never had anything like this...
M: Since when did you bring all your stuff here, Sukuna?
Sukuna, turning a deaf ear: Because I didn't know what rest was! Massacring people is a full-time job if you want to do it right and make a name for yourself! To be the king of plagues, you have to earn it! You have to hunt, chop, kill, butcher, terrorize, rape, destroy, burn... And the list goes on! It was a flourishing time when...
Yuji: there he goes again with one of his boomer monologues...
Gojo: Do you get that a lot?
Yuji, sighing: If you only knew...
Gojo: My poor Yuji ... If it makes you feel any better ... As well as being resurrected, I'm going to bring you some roommates!
Yuji, intrigued: Roommates? Who's that, who's that?
Gojo, amused: Mum's the word! You'll see in the next chapter!
Yuji: But naaaaaan, I want to know!
Sukuna, annoyed at not being listened to: ET! Mosquitoes, they listen to me when I talk! And what's that, a roommate?
Megumi: It's a bit like what's going on inside Yuji's body with you... Two people sharing the same space...
Sukuna, shocked: Wait... You want to put another soul in the kid's body? I say NO, it's my receptacle, I found it, I'm keeping it!
Yuji: You didn't find anything, I inadvertently ate you! And no, we're talking about the hideout... Thank you, Gojo-sensei, thank you a thousand times over! Having someone to talk to other than him, whoever he is, is bound to be great!
Sukuna: Hey! I'm great company, you're the one with no taste!
Yuji, turning a deaf ear: So Gojo-sensei... who's who's who's who's who?
Gojo, about to give in before Yuji's pussycat eyes: So it's...
M gags Gojo before he spoil the whole surprise: NOP! You'll have to wait until the next chapter to find out, Yuji-chou! Thanks to everyone for following our adventures, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't hesitate to vote or comment on our story, it always makes us happy! I'll see you soon for the start of the second arc, that of the collocation!
See you soon!