ARC 2: THE CAT AND MOUSE GAME
He was bored... God, was he bored!
Since his resurrection, Yuji had been taken in great secrecy to an ancient shrine in the city of Kamakura, barely an hour from Tokyo. Situated by the sea, the ancient capital of Japan was a veritable tourist magnet, constantly thronged by huge crowds who made every face anonymous. The city abounded in abandoned occult sites, making it the ideal place to hide a young demon receptacle, just snatched from the icy arms of death, from everyone's view...
And yet... He had only just come back to life a few days earlier...
"I'm dying of boredom!" exclaimed Itadori, alone in his deserted refuge, moodily closing the exorcism manual he'd been trying in vain to study for the past hour.
The young man sighed loudly, leaning back against the back of his chair, his brain in turmoil, scanning the ceiling with his hazel eyes. Really, what a bummer! He'd never been much of a student, but now he had to discipline himself, left to his own devices most of the time...
It was all very well for Gojo-sensei to have given him a precise schedule of things to do to perfect his exorcism training... but it was mostly theoretical, much to his chagrin!
Apart from watching films, which was quite distracting, if you omitted the repeated punches from the boxing bear he had to keep by his side, everything else was a terrible strain on him. The pages and pages of intangible knowledge he apparently had to assimilate made his head spin. He had always been a man of the field, of concrete practices... Not inaccessible, boring conceptual ideas!
Before Sukuna... He was a teenager with simple tastes... a sportsman of incredible and innate aptitudes, yet shunning the laurels that this might have brought him, holding on more than anything to his tranquility... A bon vivant seeking to enjoy life with simplicity, and absolutely not a follower of academic competition!
He had never had many close friends, content to get along with everyone superficially, seeking above all peace of mind... However, since ingesting the finger of the King of Plagues, all the foundations of his existence had been turned upside down... Colorful individuals had swooped into his life without warning, standing before the pillars of his strange new universe.
Gojo-sensei, of course, whom he deeply respected in spite of his I-don't-care attitude...
Fushiguro and Nobara, his classmates, as complex and endearing as they were sometimes horrifying, and whom he already missed terribly...
The other psychopath shamelessly skoiting his body, even though he did everything to forget her unpleasant presence and ear-splitting voice at the slightest opportunity, making him want to give her a taste of homemade phalange soup...
Kali-sempai too... Although she had only just entered his life, she was already taking an unlikely place in it, loving his thoughts without him being able to help himself...
At the mere thought of the hybrid, another heart-rending sigh escaped the future exorcist. How was she now? On the same day he had 'died', she was to attend a crucial auction on the other side of the archipelago... Had she got her hands on the rest of his demonic orb? Had she been able to complete her circle of inking, whatever that meant? Had she become... A scourge in her own right? Was she no longer the lovely, elusive young woman who so upset him?
Yuji had asked the snowy-haired man about this more than once, but he'd simply changed the subject, giving him no chance to find out more. Was she even all right? That was all he wanted...
"Yuji! Hey, Yuji! Don't tell me you're sleeping, you're supposed to be studying!"
The voice of the bearer of the sixth eye rang out loudly in the silent space of the improvised refuge, startling the challenged. He had returned! At last! The teenager jumped to his feet without delay, heading for his teacher's voice, all too happy to have company.
"I'm coming, Gojo-sensei!" cried the bearer of the King of Scourges, darting briskly through the deserted corridors, forsaking his most off-putting textbooks with immense pleasure. "And I'm not sleeping, I've been pottering for hours, don't be petty!"
Quickly, he reached the foot of the stairs leading to the entrance of the sanctuary, where he discovered the tall figure of his eldest waiting for him with a smile on his lips, hands nonchalantly thrust into the pockets of his cigarette pants. The man eyed him benevolently, leaning toward him as he approached.
"Yo! How's it going, Yuji? How's the training going?"
"Yes..." began the teenager, a little hesitant about his own difficulties. He continued, however, in a determined tone, inking his gaze full of courage and strength into his opposite number's infinite gaze, deeply delighting the latter. "Yes, some things are more complicated than others, but I'm not giving up, Gojo-sensei! I want to get stronger! And as fast as possible!"
"I don't doubt it for a second, Yuji..." murmured the exorcist, thinking how much this kid meant to him, so incredible was his potential and the strength of his soul... He would have blamed himself for the rest of his life had he really died that day...
The mere mention of those sordid events instantly sent bile up his throat, saturating his mouth with a bitter taste. Those self-righteous bastards, hidden away in the upper echelons of exorcism, never skirting a single battlefield, had taken advantage of his absence to send Sukuna's vessel to its death... What losers... They disgusted him beyond words...
And to think that Kali, the poor little girl, had been so angry at the mere idea of having a responsibility in this tragedy that she had almost let herself literally die of pain, even though she had had nothing to do with it, unaware of the power games in which Itadori was caught up... Had it not been for her bidding, the bloodthirsty pundits would inevitably have devised a stratagem to lure her away from the high-schooler and lead him to certain death, overconfident in the latter's extremely rare abilities...
Fortunately, Yuji and Kali had come out of this debacle alive, and he was the only culprit... He was the adult. He was the most powerful exorcist of their era... He should have known what was going to happen... Alas, he wasn't infallible.
"Gojo-sensei?" questioned the high-schooler, rousing the interested party from his sad thoughts.
"Um ... ? Ah yes, sorry!" resumed the shaman, a perfunctory smile on his lips. "And if not... How are you acclimatizing to your new surroundings?"
A slightly sulky pout broke out on the miner's face, deeply amusing his interlocutor, who suspected all too well what was coming next.
"It's... nice..." Yuji began, unconvinced, fleeing his teacher's incredible blue gaze, unable to lie to him eye-to-eye. "It's ... very quiet... ideal for studying I suppose..."
"You're bored out of your mind, admit it?" blurted Satoru, immediately bringing his protégé's brown prunelids back to him, deep astonishment openly read in them.
"I... Uh... No ... I..." the teenager stammered, a little flushed and uncomfortable, unsure of how to respond to this unlikely question, which put his finger right where it belonged. His protégé's growing dismay gradually widened the shaman's smile, savoring in advance the effect of the surprise he had in store for him.
"Yes, of course I am, Yuji..." asserted the S-grade in an unmistakable tone, turning his pupil's cheekbones a little redder, caught in the act. "And you'd be right! It's quite... dead, as ambiance goes!"
A heavy silence followed his muddy joke, openly referring to the admittedly brief but very recent death of the teenager who stared at him, raising an eyebrow, dubious.
"No kidding, Sensei?" breathed Yuji, a little jaded, as he scrutinized his opposite number heavily.
"Anyway!" eluded Gojo with gusto, mentally overlooking the gulp he'd just made. "I've got the perfect solution to remedy that... Are you ready?"
"What? What's that?" The teenager began, intrigued, suddenly on the lookout, taking a step towards his elder. "You've brought me a surprise? What is it? ... A puppy? It's a puppy, isn't it?"
Satoru's smile widened further as he came to take a mysterious pause, fully savoring his effect.
"Um..." he murmured in a deliberately drawling, pensive voice, putting the high-schooler, who was staring at him intently, to the sword. "No... No, it's definitely not a puppy... More like a kitten..."
"A kitten?" Repeated the millennial demon's host with childlike, adorable gusto, glitter in his eyes, coming to clap his hands. "I love kittens!"
"This one more than any other, surely..." whispered the exorcist softly, as if thinking out loud.
"Huh?" questioned Yuji, tilting his head slightly to one side, before moving on, a resplendent smile lighting up his sweet face, far too obsessed with the idea of being able to cuddle a cute, purring little ball of fur. "Where is it? The kitten? Can I see it? Can I keep him? Is he going to stay here?"
Satoru stared at his interlocutor for a brief moment, a little troubled and touched by the deep sincerity of his innocent joy, inwardly savoring the sweetness it came to lay on the multitude of his inner wounds. Even if the gamble he'd taken with Itadori was risky, he didn't regret the price for a second...
"You want to see it? Really?" He finally resumed, Machiavellian.
"YES!" His protégé exclaimed, wringing a new smile from him.
"Then let's go..." Suddenly, the shaman took on a terribly serious air, surprising the teenager facing him, making him straighten up in an instant. He began to make improbable windmills with his arms, obviously most concentrated, before crying out at the top of his lungs, stretching his hands towards the top of the stairs plunged in darkness.
"ABRACADABRA, KITTEN, SHOW YOURSELF!"
A heavy silence then fell at the bottom of the stairs, gradually enveloping the two men in an almost palpable malaise as the seconds ticked by without anything happening...
"Uh... Gojo-sensei... ?" finally murmured a most embarrassed Yuji, not really sure whether this was another of his mentor's jokes or a real mistake on his part...
The white-haired man remained statuesque for a few seconds before straightening up, pinching the bridge of his nose between two slender fingers. Really, he wasn't much help... He turned slightly to the teenager, shrugging.
"The kitten's a bit tone deaf, obviously...stress, no doubt! ... Second try! "
He exhaled deeply before resuming, a little louder, towards the top floor using his hands placed on either side of his mouth as an amplifier.
"KITTEN AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS, ABRACADABRA, IT'S TIME TO MAKE YOUR ENTRANCE!"
"AH! I'm the kitten?" let out a foreign-sounding voice from the immaterial darkness clasping the top of the stairs, instantly electrifying Yuji in disbelief. "Coming!"
Without further ado, the 'kitten' in question raced down the stairs four at a time, arriving at full speed in the somewhat dim light of the basement, her inhuman golden and amethyst gaze immediately catching that of the teenager who stared at her in shock. Carried along by her own speed, a sunny smile inked on her lips revealing slightly too long canines, the hybrid came to throw herself at the high-schooler's neck, who caught her in a reflex, hugging her as she took his breath away, causing him to take a few steps backwards.
"Yuji!" She whispered in a slightly strangled voice, snuggling up to him forcefully, burying her face against his sternum, catching him off guard. "Yuji... It's, you, it's really you... You're alive ... You're really alive..."
"Ka... Kali... Sempai... ?" the teenager finally managed to articulate as the interpellée tightened her grip on him a little more, clutching the teenager's T-shirt in one hand, unconsciously sliding the other through his short, tousled hair, drinking in his warmth, his aura, his scent, the sound of his heart drumming against his own chest, as if responding to the mad rush of his bewildered heart muscle...
He was there...
It was him, without a doubt...
He wasn't dead...
Kali let out a sob, unable to cope with the terrible flood of emotions engulfing her at that moment, mixing relief, attraction, sorrow, guilt... It was so tiring, all those feelings!
As for Itadori, he was still holding the young woman close, responding to the strength of his desperation-tinged embrace with infinite gentleness, clumsily stroking her autumn hair, the tips of which were now the color of charcoal. She looked... So fragile in his powerful arms, so much more frail than in her memories of the abandoned clinic... What had happened, since they'd last seen each other, to put her in such a state? Could it be that it was the thought of her death alone that had caused her so much pain...? ?
Yuji swallowed, pressing his face against her temple, unsure of what to do, breathing in the scent of her skin. He wished he could have spoken comforting words to her... To know what to do to erase her pain... But he stood there, mute, like an idiot, his throat constricted at the mere idea that the young woman could have suffered so much because of him.
The sight of them was enough to make even the most insensitive heart clench... Gojo stared at them, a little apart, a thin smile floating on his lips. There was a visceral affection emanating from their embrace, the innocence and sincerity of the two young people echoing each other. Kali certainly didn't consciously realize it, but her human side, awfully young and candid, made her terribly like Yuji, drawing her irrevocably to him... If only she wasn't also endowed with a much darker, bloodthirsty, mysterious and ancestral demonic side, arousing Sukuna's interest ... Things would be so much simpler...
"TADA!" Finally dropped the S-class, causing the gazes of his two still embracing interlocutors to turn towards him. "Here comes the kitten!"
The receptacle of the plague remained speechless, slowly assimilating the information in disbelief. He finally turned to the European he was still embracing, inking his tender hazel gaze in hers, feline and bicolored, catching him a little off guard. She was clearly no longer wearing her seals, offering his eyes her 'true' appearance... What he saw in her eyes, mirroring his own, was not so different from what he already knew of her... But certain details were different... Her ears were slightly longer, pointing to the middle of her delicately wavy hair. Her immaculate canines gleamed against her lower lip, while dark, shiny lines, as if raw, ran along her neck, dying on the line of her jaws, shoulders and arms... Her face looked thinned, like the rest of her body, and she seemed terribly exhausted, instantly making his heart clench in his chest.
As he detailed her in spite of himself, a sad gleam crossed the stranger's unlikely, rimmed gaze, and she spoke again in a small, hesitant voice, detaching her hands from him, trying to pull away a little into the crook of his arms.
"Sorry, Yuji... I'm frightening you, surely..."
"No!" The interested party instantly exclaimed, tightening his embrace on her without realizing it, pressing her against his chest with an authority he didn't know he had. "Ab... Absolutely not, Kali-sempai! I... I was just surprised, sorry! You're gorgeous, whatever you look like! "
No sooner were his words uttered than they ignited a blaze in the cheeks of both young people, causing them to grumble incomprehensible words back and forth, terribly amusing the S class who didn't miss a crumb of the scene.
"Ah... I... I mean that... well... you are you... I mean... Whether you have your seals or not... Anyway..." rambled Yuji from his side, staring at the ceiling to regain composure.
"I... idiot... flattery will get you nowhere... I know what I look like... You're lucky I was so scared for you... and so are you... " Kali mumbled at the same time, coming back to hide her face against the teenager's shirt, curling it up against him without realizing it, soaking up her enveloping aura.
"What... what...?" Yuji stammered, having heard part of the half-demon's words, fire rising to his ears.
"Well... Kali, that's enough!" Interjected Gojo, clapping his hands, violently extricating the two entwined kittens from their bubble. "You've seen Yuji, he's fine, now we've got to work out how to feed you occult energy."
"WHAT?" cried the high-schooler, tightening his grip on his willing captive a little more, thinking that his teacher was about to take the hybrid away from him, leaving him alone again between these heavy walls of silence after having dangled the possibility of a most delightfully complex collocation.
"Gojo, you said I could stay with Yuji!" snapped the object of offence, outraged, showing him her prominent fangs without realizing it, ready to lash out if he tried to make her leave the premises.
The professor stared for a moment at his two protégés, clutching each other, terribly immature... Kittens, they were undoubtedly kittens...
Sighing, he put his hands in front of him in a gesture of appeasement.
"Calm down, both of you... We're not going anywhere, Kali's far too weak to go hunting anyway... I'm not even sure you could extract an orb from a flail in your condition..."
The interested party dodged the hazel gaze that instantly turned to her, laden with concern. Yuji stared for a handful of seconds at the young woman he still held against him, scrutinizing her, fully aware of the deeply fragile state she was currently in.
"Kali-sempai... Is it... is it serious?" the teenager asked, moving his eyes back and forth between his two interlocutors, feeling a sharp anguish clench his gut. "What should we do? "
"What to do?" repeated the S-class, crossing his arms against his chest, a little accusingly. "We just need to get the silly, suicidal kitten you're holding so tightly in your arms to absorb enough occult energy to stabilize his pentacle... Am I right, Cha-li? "
"I... I suppose so... " she admitted grudgingly, a grimace crossing her face. "I've never been in such a state before... well ... not while conscious ... "
"Oh? Has it happened before then?" questioned the shaman, puzzled, coming to lean towards the two young people.
"Once..." breathed the hybrid, playing with the fabric of the high school T-shirt with her fingertips, a little embarrassed. "But I was in a coma at the time, it was Prasad who took care of everything to bring me out of it, I don't remember anything ..."
"I see..." sighed Gojo as he straightened up, a folded finger resting thoughtfully on his chin. "And how did he do it, do you know?"
"... Well, not exactly... Well, yes, a little ... " She hesitated, growing increasingly uncomfortable.
"Yes?" the teacher encouraged her, suspecting in spite of everything a little of what she was about to confess to them. "Come on, Kali, whatever it is, we don't really have a choice anyway..."
"When I woke up... I had a... a feeding tube... But it wasn't the normal stuff I'd been given..." The European swallowed as she thought back to that rather unpleasant episode in her short life, which marked the beginning of her frantic quest for the rest of her orb... She remembered that abysmal feeling of exhaustion as she regained consciousness, lying on a medical bed, firmly strapped to the mattress. She still seemed to be able to feel the unpleasant sensation of the thin tube in her throat, running from her nose to the very interior of her stomach, continuously drinking the dark liquid that had kept her alive during her coma... If it hadn't been for Prasad, who had taken the terrible measures necessary for her survival, she would have died that day. She owed him so much...
Satoru stared at the tormented face of his new protégé, as if following his train of thought. Given her complex hybrid nature, he already knew what she needed to soothe her hungry body.
"It was blood, wasn't it?" he finally dropped, sparing Kali the terrible confession that obviously cost her so much to verbalize.
The latter nodded slowly, stubbornly avoiding Yuji's gaze, who was staring at her, a little disconcerted. It was silly, she knew, but she would have preferred to keep the high-schooler away from this part of herself, a little ashamed. He was so... chivalrous, protective... And she, on the other hand, was a strange creature, drinking in blood and hearts rich in occult energy, whatever their origin, human or demonic... The chasm between them had never seemed so deep, even though she had never been so close to him physically, always snuggled up against his powerful body. Now that things had been made clear, she had to disgust him so much...
"Any... Blood?" repeated Sukuna's receptacle in a weak voice, making the European's heart clench. He must have found her monstrous...
"But then ... It's all seen!" he chained in a determined tone, taking her completely by surprise. He broke off their embrace, coming to rest his hands on her shoulders, inking his brilliant gaze into hers, a broad smile on his lips. "Kali-sempai, take mine, blood! As much as you need to get better! I give it to you!"
"Wha... Huh?" only managed to articulate the hybrid, completely in shock. He was... He was offering her his blood, just like that? Without a shadow of hesitation? Without a trace of disgust? My God, did he even realize how deeply he'd touched her? Most certainly not..." Yuji... it's... I... "
"That's very kind of you, Yuji, but it's out of the question."
Gojo's deadpan voice fell heavily between them, making them turn as one body towards him in surprise.
"But why?" protested Itadori sharply, perplexed. "He's all right, my blood!"
"I don't doubt it," ironized the professor, a smile on his lips. "But you're carrying Sukuna inside you, I remind you. And that changes everything."
Sukuna, Sukuna again, always Sukuna... What a pain in the ass the king of junk could be!
"And what does it change, exactly?" retorted the resurrected teenager, coming to cross his arms in front of him moodily. "It should make it even more... nourishing for Kali-sempai, shouldn't it?"
"Theoretically speaking... it's a certainty," admitted the exorcist. "But I refuse to offer her any potential hold over our little hybrid kitten here. And the bonds created by blood are... formidable..."
"Oh!" dropped Yuji, instantly calmed, dropping his arms to his sides. He hadn't thought of that... However, he couldn't agree more with his mentor. Sukuna was undeniably intrigued by the half-demoness, he could feel it in his gut... And he'd promised himself he'd do everything in his power to prevent the filthy pervert from attacking her. So giving him direct access through her blood... That was effectively out of the question!
"I see you've understood..." laughed Satoru, reading his protégé like an open book. "I'll be giving the pitchoune my blood for the time being. Then we'll see if it's enough to get her back on her feet!"
"I see there's a double standard here, exorcist..." the demon's deep baritone voice suddenly rang out, electrifying Kali in the instant she turned to face her wearer, discovering the blood-colored eye and snide mouth adorning the teenager's cheek.
He too was alive and well...
"Rah, here he comes again!" grumbled Yuji as he instantly placed a hand on her cheek, an unfortunately useless strategy as Ryomen instantly materialized on her back, carrying on as if nothing had happened.
"That the shrimp has a blood relationship with me doesn't bother me, but that you do, doesn't it? It's suspicious..."
"Are you saying that because you're jealous, Sukuna?" the interested party whispered playfully, coming to grab hold of the hybrid's wrist and pull him towards him, wrapping his arms around him. "Or is it because you had some plans in mind, and I've just upset them?"
"Peuh..." the thousand-year-old curse dropped disdainfully, glaring at the shaman who had nonetheless well and truly unmasked him. "You divide, exorcist... What would you have me do with a little thing as weak as her?" He shifted his attention to Kali, who was now in Gojo's arms, quickly detailing her with his bloodshot gaze. She wasn't in great shape, the shrimp... It was perfect, it would work in her favor. Even if the S class were to drink his blood, the King of Plagues knew that this solution was not viable in the long term. The kid's inking circle would continue to disintegrate, begging for more and more occult energy. And that was where he would come in... It was only a matter of time...
"You're not going to do anything with it! So shut the hell up!" cried Yuji, annoyed, coming to place his free hand over the demonic mouth which was displaying a calculating pout. "Go back to your hole, you vicious old man!"
The interested party didn't even bother to retort, nonchalantly sitting atop his macabre throne, a Machiavellian gleam animating his glowing eyes.
"Sorry about that..." the high-schooler grumbled at the hybrid. "I wish I could shut that guy up for good!" he said.
"It's nothing..." she murmured, slightly offended by Sukuna's remark... The worst thing was that he was perfectly right, she was in such a state of weakness that she would have been incapable of doing anything...
"After this interruption, let's get back to business... Kali, how do we go about this?" questioned Satoru, who released his hold on her now that the demon had disappeared, grinning broadly, coming to plant his hands on her hips. "Where do you want to bite me? In the neck? On the wrist? How do you usually do it?"
"You're... way too enthusiastic, sensei, it's borderline creepy... "grumbled the hazel-eyed teenager, a little sulky at the idea of not being the one to help the stranger.
"Usually... I... I don't pay too much attention to it, seeing as I kill my victims..." she breathed, a touch blushing, fleeing the gaze of the two men trained on her. "Let's just say I don't mind ripping out half their throats, seeing as they're going to die afterwards..."
"Ah." dropped Gojo, raising his sunglasses to his forehead, slightly taken aback. "We'll avoid it, if you don't mind, eh."
She nodded softly, her cheekbones on fire. "I'm not quite sure how to go about it..."
"Um... let me think..." The tall man began to make his way through the shelter's corridors, the two youngsters following naturally, all three of them pondering their present problem.
They soon arrived in a sort of dilapidated living room, limited to a large TV, a rudimentary coffee table and a wide sofa, where the wearer of the sixth eye sat down, one finger resting on his chin.
"Couldn't you just cut yourself and let a little blood flow into a cup or something, sensei? Wouldn't Se be simpler?" questioned Yuji, a little eager to spare the hybrid from having to come and curl up next to his elder's body in order to feed off him, causing a dull jealousy to rumble in the depths of his soul.
"Se serait pas encore plus... Glauque?" took offense as Kali took her turn to sit down, crossing her arms under her chest.
"Hummmm..." contented Gojo with replying, coming to stare with his infinite gaze at her unbound wrists where he could see the bluish tracery of her veins beneath her diaphanous skin, still deep in thought. "In any case, the wrist artery seems to me to be the best compromise. It's easy to access and I could easily make a compression point to stop the bleeding... Come on, it's decided!"
Without further ado he stretched out his arm towards the European who stared at him, eyes round, feeling icy water run down his back.
"Wait, Gojo...What are you doing to me here?" she said, moving as far away as the sofa seat would allow, a little panicked.
"I'm trying to save your ass, Kali!" evaded the snow-haired shaman, amused, grabbing the hybrid by the waist with one arm to bring her back to him with authority, putting her wrist under his nose. "Come on, let's go! It's time for your medicine! Open your mouth wide and bite!"
"MAIS CA VAIS PAS LA TÊTE?" offended the foreigner as she jiggled like an eel against him, trying to escape him at all costs. "Yuji, help! He's gone mad!"
"Yuji, no, it's for his own good!" the shaman defended himself, almost coming to press his wrist against the struggling young woman's mouth, trying to push him away with all his might, his hands resting on her torso.
"Sensei..." Itadori tried to intervene, approaching the two individuals battling on the sofa like ragpickers, torn between them... "Maybe we could think about another solution a little longer, couldn't we?"
"For the moment, I don't have any others, Yuji!" retorted the professor in a tone without appeal, trying to tame the young woman who was struggling like a beautiful devil under him, pushing his face away with one hand. How she could have so much energy when she was supposed to be almost at death's door was beyond him! "Stop being childish, Kali, and bite me! "
"Nyaaaa!" cried Kali simply in protest, flailing around more, vainly trying to escape the shaman's implacable embrace. What a ball and chain, that Gojo! Wanting to make him drink her blood, like that, in the wild... It wasn't a harmless gesture, for God's sake! Couldn't he understand that it intimidated her a little?
"Kali-sempai... Sensei ..." murmured Yuji, completely lost. The situation was Shakespearean, making his head spin. Help Kali or support his teacher? He was unable to position himself, as if statuesque...
"KYUUUUUUUUUU"
With a sudden burst of speed into the room, the little albino flying scourge swooped down like a bird of prey on Gojo, attacking him with wings and claws, uttering furious high-pitched cries. The man was forced to sit up and shield his face with his arms, startled by the assault.
"Kyu? What the hell are you doing? I thought we were buddies now!" protested the victim of the aerial assault, vainly trying to push him away.
Kali didn't waste a second, seizing the opportunity her companion had just offered her. She folded her legs against her chest before pushing back with all her remaining strength the half-reared S-class whose attention was elsewhere, taking him by surprise. Slightly unbalanced, Satoru landed on his buttocks on the other side of the sofa, giving the hybrid an unexpected opportunity to throw herself out of her reach. She instinctively took refuge behind Yuji, who was standing nearby, panting, clutching her T-shirt in her hands and snuggling up against her back.
As soon as her mistress had fled, Kyu rushed towards her, squealing in her direction. The little demon bat flew over the duo, dropping on them a small, dark, glowing sphere it had been holding between its hind legs. Immediately, the teenager came to grasp the object with great dexterity, feeling a sharp jolt of electricity run up his arm, catching him off guard.
"But... What the..." he murmured, opening his fingers to observe the treasure he had just captured, incredulous. In the hollow of his palm, sparkling with an intricate sheen, the mysterious marble seemed to house a moving, raging water of black and green hues, hypnotizing him a little.
"An orb..." eluded Kali against him, staring covetously at the unexpected gift that had literally just fallen from the sky, giving him an unexpected way out. The young woman delicately grasped the object between her fingers, raising it in the dim light of the ceiling lamp, scrutinizing it with her inhuman gaze. "And not that of a minor plague... it's... class 1, I'd say... Kyû, I don't know how you managed, but you're my savior!"
"kyuuu!" The interested party exclaimed proudly, coming to rest gently on the young woman's shoulder, going to snuggle in the hollow of her neck.
"Wait, Kali... How did he get hold of that?" Questioned Gojo, who had risen to his full height and approached them, gazing, perplexed, at the occult sphere held by his interlocutor. "Without wishing to be derogatory, Kyû absolutely doesn't have the level to beat a class 1 scourge... could it be a trap?"
"A trap... From Kyû?" The half-demon took offense, pressing her treasure against her chest. She gave him an incensed look, paired with the blood-colored gaze of the little flying creature enthroned on her shoulder. "Never in a million years! I don't know how he managed to find it... But I trust him blindly ... "
"Hmmm" dropped Satoru, still doubtful.
"In any case, my dear Gojo... Ceci!" she said, holding up the demonic orb gleaming softly between her fingers, a wide smile on her lips, victorious. "This settles the matter of the occult energy supply I so urgently need! I thank you for your more than generous offer, but I'd rather use Kyû's gift, if you don't mind..."
Without giving him time to question her decision, the half-flail swallowed the orb in one gulp, feeling it slide down her throat and already begin to pour its precious contents into her, warming her exhausted being... She then went to snuggle a little closer to Yuji's back, resting her forehead between his shoulder blades, a delighted smile lighting up her face.
All the emotional roller-coaster of this interminable day had sapped her last strength, wringing a sigh from her that was lost against the teenager's powerful body. And yet, at this very moment, she wouldn't hesitate for a second to relive them a thousand times over if it had been necessary to end up exactly where she was now...
Because the only place she wanted to be with all her soul... was with Yuji and Sukuna... Whatever it took...
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A word from the author :
M: Hi everyone! Does this... does this... Su... Sukuna... a... a problem?
Sukuna, glaring at her, arms folded, obviously in a very bad mood: ...
M: Yes... What else?
Sukuna: A hug?
M: Huh?
Sukuna: We're at the beginning of the second arc, and to celebrate... do I get a hug?
M: Yes... So... uh... Yuji got the hug, by the way... Not you...
Gojo, mocking, adding another layer: And I put him on the sofa!
Sukuna, outraged: NO MORE! This is intolerable! I want my lemon!
M: Yes, so... Calm down and have some vervain! First of all, it's LEMON, not lemon. And I'm not going to botch the story just so you can play doctor with Kali!
Sukuna, perplexed: But I'm not a doctor... I'm talking about SEX!
M, sighing: Yes... I think we all understood... It's coming. Soon. So go and make ricochets with your mountain of skulls in the meantime, but let's relax eh. You're TEN-DU my good man, TEN-DU!
Sukuna, grumbling, arms folded across his chest: That's the problem!
Yuji, smiling broadly: Well, I'm not! I'm on cloud nine!
Sukuna, in an even worse mood: Stupid...
Yuji, waddling, delighted: You're in your jealousy, I'm in my best life!
Gojo, laughing: And toc!
Sukuna, his eyes flashing: Who's laughing last, you beggars! And by the way, I've got my eye on you. Do you think I haven't seen you, for the last two chapters, seizing the slightest opportunity to grope the shrimp?
Gojo, outraged: Absolutely not! I'm sorry I tried to save her life! If I hadn't intervened, she'd have just died... I didn't know you were into necrophilia on top of everything else!
Sukuna, deeply offended by the attack: Eh oh! Don't push it, I'm the king of plagues, I'm not a monster! I prefer them able to fight and scream!
M, septic: I hope you realize that doesn't really speak in your favor? BRIEF! Many thanks to all our readers! Thank you for following the story of Kali, Yuji, Sukuna and the whole team!
A new arc begins, heralding the cohabitation of our three protagonists... it's going to be... spicy. Thank you for helping us make a name for ourselves by voting or commenting, it's always a pleasure! Have a good evening and see you soon for the rest!