Notes: A rift between us.

Chapter 4

12 Years Ago

The weekend passed by quickly. Satoru spent a while practicing his magic. While Blue, the convergence of space infinitely into a single point now came easily to him, he still couldn't get Red, the divergence of infinity and power to repel to properly function. So he took out his frustration by destroying most of the training yard he was using.

Feeling slightly ashamed of himself for the outburst after a Gojo servant entered and eyed the mess with shock and fear, he pulled the white haori he typically wore for jujutsu practice back over his bare chest and tied a belt around it to keep it in place. He should probably bathe before looking for Suguru and Shoko, whom he hadn't seen all day. Replacing his dark spectacles on his nose and turning Infinity on for additional practice, he strode back to his rooms.

Half an hour later, he wished he had saved the bath for later. Suguru and Shoko were in the infirmary, the latter cutting open the corpse of a demon Suguru had brought back from his last excursion with his necromancy powers. Geto Suguru's ability to store a seemingly unlimited army of undead underlings in a pocket dimension after he raised a defeated foe was what gave him the rating of S-rank mage.

Though it was documented that necromancers in the past had been able to raise dead mages and utilize their powers in battle, Suguru had yet to be able to raise any human, let alone a mage. He had been ordered to try many times by the Gojo elders when he reached his teens, but by now even those old geezers had given up on pushing him, assuming it would come naturally to him later on.

Satoru wrinkled his nose at the sight before him. "Gross, how do you stand this, Shoko? I thought women were supposed to be more delicate about these sorts of things." He scrunched up his face and raised his voice an octave. "Oh no, I got blood alllll over my clothes! This creature is soooo disgusting!"

The few other occupants of the room ignored him, going about their own work in the infirmary, well used to his outbursts at this point. Suguru screwed up his face at Satoru's incredibly poor impression.

Shoko shot him a glare. "Have I ever once sounded like that? I get my hands dirtier than you since you have your precious Infinity to protect you. The more I learn about bodies and how they work on the inside, the better I can heal you when you come back from missions injured, you moron."

Satoru relented, holding his arms up, palms facing the irritated woman in front of him. "Ok ok, I surrender. You're different though."

"You only say that because you actually know me. You've never actually bothered to get to know any other women, have you?" Shoko turned back to the humanoid demon she was dissecting, using her healing powers to repair the damage to its corpse before Suguru returned it to his pocket dimension.

"That's not true, I've met a lot of women on my postings and missions. Oh, and I knew Utahime and Mei Mei," Satoru countered, bringing up the two women who had been his and Suguru's seniors by several years in some of Yaga's classes. Their age differences back then had seemed much greater, with him and Suguru being twelve to Utahime's fifteen and Mei Mei's sixteen when last he had seen them. "Utahime got scared easily. But you have a point about Mei Mei. She was more like you, Shoko."

The Iori Clan had loose affiliations with both the Gojo and Kamo Clans but operated mostly on their own as a clan of considerable but moderate power compared to the big three mage clans. Due to these connections, Utahime had spent time on both estates as a child. Mei Mei's situation was more like Suguru's - a mage whose civilian parents sold her off to the Gojo Clan in exchange for coin.

Looking back now that he was older, he wondered if his parents had turned down a marriage request from Utahime's parents for the two of them. It could have been due to their age difference, or perhaps they had hopes of other prospects for him. Or it could have been the disastrous time she had used her innate magic on him; the destruction he had caused may have utterly annihilated the demon the two of them had faced, but the property damage had been more than the cost of the mission.

Having never experienced her boosting magic himself but seen it used on others, he had schemed to make the fight with the A-rank demon appear more difficult than it actually was so she would have no choice but to boost him. She had done it just as he anticipated she would, panicking when he let the demon thrash him around a bit. He even allowed some of its attacks to strike him semi-directly, raising and lowering Infinity at will when the damage would be apparent to his two spectators but not deadly for him.

The blast of Blue he had launched after her use of Solo Forbidden Area on him had ripped through not only the demon but half of the village they were supposed to be saving from it. The civilians had all run earlier when the attack initially occurred, so fortunately there were no casualties. Even the coverup had been relatively easy - the destruction had been the work of the demon of course.

The C-rank Gojo Clan mage sent along to supervise the two of them on their mission had reported back about the incident to the elders and clan head, horrified. Satoru had never been permitted to work with her again. She had left the estate the very next day. The elders and his parents were already struggling to rein him in back then; they likely feared the monster he could have become with Solo Forbidden Area at his disposal along with his own already-near-godly powers.

He had been angry at the time - angry she had been sent away, angry that she had been blamed when all she had wanted to do was help him when she saw him in danger. Despite the fact that he constantly pestered her and pulled pranks on her, she had been genuinely concerned for him during that mission. When he explained that to the elders (one of the few times he admitted fault in any situation in his life), he thought they would relent and allow her back but they had not, and he had not seen her since.

Mei Mei had vanished a few months later with no explanation from the elders and irritation coloring Gojo Satoshi's voice as he made bland excuses for her absence when Satoru asked about her. Shoko had never met either of them, coming to the estate only when she reached the age of fifteen and was being paraded around in hopes of an advantageous marriage contract. Satoru thought Utahime had found a husband in the Kamo Clan but honestly had no idea what Mei Mei had done with her life.

Perhaps Shoko had partially made her point. He didn't have many friends in general, let alone ones of the opposite sex.

Suguru decided to steer the conversation in a different direction, as this one was headed for a cliff's edge. "Satoru, aren't you going to tell me and Sho about your essay? You honestly had us concerned there for a while. It isn't like you to put much effort into any of Yaga-sensei's assignments, let alone one designated for punishment."

Satoru wrinkled his nose and turned his face toward the ceiling. "I told you twenty times already, Suguru, I'm not telling you what it was about." A somewhat malicious grin crossed his face as he angled back to meet his best friend's gaze. "I think Yaga-sensei will have something to say about it tomorrow anyway."

"Come on," Shoko pouted, finishing washing her bloody hands in a basin nearby. "You won't even give us a hint?"

Satoru grinned broadly and spread his hands as a gesture of peace. "Fine, fine. One hint. When Yaga-sensei said it has to be about a previous mage-king and what you admire about him, I initially thought I would recycle my essay from last year like you did, Shoko. But then, inspiration struck!"

Suguru and Shoko waited for him to continue, his pause stretching out in the near-silence of the infirmary.

Satoru shrugged. "I remembered a random tidbit from one of the books Yaga-sensei had me organize last month as punishment for my last marriage meeting sabotage. Don't look so surprised Suguru, it was a really old and beat up book, and I had to open it to look at the subject for sorting anyway. As if I would open it for fun…" The last line was muttered half under his breath.

Shoko scoffed. "Well that explains it. Of course you saw it; there's no way you would have remembered something from one of sensei's lectures. After all, it's called the Six Eyes not the Six Ears."

Suguru chuckled at the banter. Satoru looked slightly insulted but did not comment further. The three friends left the infirmary to find a better place to hang out for their bit of free time before the formal clan dinner that marked the end of the weekend.

xXxXx

As the sun rose, Satoru rose with it. He got to jujutsu class on time, only for there to be a substitute in place of Yaga. Apparently the reasoning behind that was he had a new student to greet and familiarize with the place. Yu and Kento were excited about it - the new student was their age.

"I'm not expecting much. He's probably weak if he was just scouted by my family at this age," Satoru said, blocking Suguru's punch and aiming a kick of his own at his friend's chest.

The necromancer blocked, spinning away and low, trying to sweep Satoru's feet out from under him. "That's a rude thing to say. You haven't even met him. Or her." It was unlikely but possible that the new student would be female.

Satoru jumped to avoid the move, lashing out toward his friend's face with one foot. However, this move was brushed aside, leaving him unbalanced in midair. Suguru jabbed one hand toward his throat but Satoru leaned back, catching himself in his fall with one arm and pushing himself backward, flipping over onto his feet to avoid the blow that would end the match. Both combatants panted; each was using mana reinforcement but no other magic. They were fairly evenly matched that way in hand to hand, though the Six Eyes bearer could easily win when using Infinity to block all incoming blows. Still, for a ranged mage, Suguru's hand-to-hand skills were something to behold. It was more than enough to catch most mages, devils, and other intelligent monsters by surprise.

"Draw," the instructor called, apparently not wanting them to fight any longer. At one end of the training yard, Kento had pinned Yu, and at the other, Shoko was doing pushups. The substitute instructor thought it unsuitable for a woman to practice hand-to-hand combat. The five of them decided it would be best not to let him know that Yaga typically allowed, even encouraged, Shoko to learn self-defense. The Gojo elders would not be pleased if word got back to them, sticks in the mud that they were when it came to 'suitable' work for female mages. Shoko didn't really mind, not being a combat-oriented mage herself anyway. It was more the principle of the matter which had brought a scowl to her face as she was told to do pushups and situps in a corner for her own physical conditioning while the males squared off against each other.

After jujutsu came innate magic practice. Satoru concentrated hard enough that he formed a slight red light on one fingertip before it flickered out, much to his frustration. Next to him, Kento sliced up a training dummy with expert precision using his Ratio magic, while on his other side Suguru was doing inventory on his undead army with Shoko healing any of his collection which had taken damage while mock-fighting each other. If she didn't do it for him, he had to focus his magic on them and expend even more mana in order to fix them himself. He did this himself while his summons fought each other, learning to multitask.

Finally it was time for history lessons, and Yaga stood at the front of the class with the new student. He was a nervous-looking boy, rail-thin, with black hair and dark eyes. "Students, meet your newest peer, Ijichi Kiyotaka. Ijichi, is there anything you want the class to know about yourself?"

Ijichi swallowed nervously. "Hello," he said, bowing formally to them all. "Pleased to make your acquaintance. I specialize in barrier magic."

Yu, to no one's surprise, was the first to rise in greeting, returning the bow with a cheery grin on his face. "Haibara Yu. Pleased to meet you! Welcome!"

Kento stood next. "Nanami Kento. I'm good at slicing things. Nice to meet you."

"Ieiri Shoko, healer," the only female in the room said, standing but not bowing. She had always been the most informal of the group where greetings with her fellow students were concerned - besides Satoru. But he was more just plain rude than informal.

"I'm Geto Suguru, a necromancer." Suguru stood and bowed, smiling kindly at the new student, who looked somewhat alarmed at the announcement of his innate magic ability.

Satoru didn't bother to stand. He propped his feet up on the desk in front of him. "Gojo Satoru. Six Eyes. Limitless. Basically a god."

Shoko and Suguru snorted. Yu looked unsure how to react. Kento and Yaga scowled. Ijichi clearly didn't know what to make of Satoru's statement judging by the stupefied look on his face, and took a seat by Haibara, the friendliest and most welcoming of the group.

Yaga turned toward his desk and took the three identical-length scrolls. "Just for your own reference, Ijichi, these five had an assignment last week to write a composition on a former mage-king and what they admire about him. Yu, Kento, and Shoko all wrote theirs on Sugawara no Michizane, the first mage-king." At this point, he fixed hard stares on each of the three, one at a time.

"I recognized most of your compositions had the same points you made last year on a similar project. Not to mention all of you had similar structure and conclusions. Granted, the fact that he bound the factions of this nation together to seal away Ryomen Sukuna was impressive enough, but he also became the first mage-king of the united country, holding the feuding factions together past their initial war alliance. Kento, you were the only one who pointed out that despite the extensive records on Sugawara himself, very little is known about Sukuna. I appreciate you pointing out that sources from that era disagree on whether he was human, devil, or demon, god or man. So you get slightly higher marks than the other two. But just slightly."

Kento showed no sign of joy at the praise.

Yaga continued, "Suguru, your study on Kamo Masaki was as thorough as ever. Though he is a more recent king, you did not have as many works to draw on as the others due to his relatively short reign. Still, your conclusions on his lowering of taxes on farmers as well as encouragement of young mages as a mentor to them were simply splendid. History definitely remembers him as one of the kinder kings."

Suguru smiled benignly, satisfied with the praise but not exceedingly so. He expected to do good work because he put in the effort and that was that.

"Satoru, I must say I am impressed by the length of your composition. It's not like you to actually put in effort in this class."
Unlike Suguru, Satoru grinned from ear-to-ear. He was more likely to get bopped on the head with his composition by Yaga than have any compliments thrown his way in history class.

"However, your conclusions quite frankly alarm me."

The smile froze in place on Satoru's face.

"You surprised me by choosing such an obscure king, of whom little is known. In fact, I would be willing to bet that only Suguru and possibly Kento remember the name Kashimo Hajime. If the clans had their way, he would have been erased from history entirely. Fortunately for scholars, some records from his reign survived their purge."

Closing Satoru's scroll, Yaga looked out at the class. Sure enough, recognition flared in Suguru's eyes. Kento was looking ahead blankly. It was unclear if he remembered the name or not.

"Since Satoru brought up the subject, I'll give you all a short rundown, which Satoru went further into depth in during his essay. Kashimo was king about four hundred years ago, and just about the only thing he was known for was his love of fighting. The only reason he attained the kingship was due to his strength - he had no wish to rule, only to fight. He was never one to back down from demon or monster threats and often was away from the castle in order to fight on the front lines personally. He would accept any challenger and had a network of spies find him strong opponents from the mages within his own kingdom.

"When he reached his middle years, he grew bored and apathetic with his challengers as none of them could give him a fight he found satisfying. He spent less time fighting mages and more venturing to the far reaches of the kingdom, slaying rare monsters. Eventually, he never returned from one of his hunts.

"When a sufficient amount of time had passed with neither sight nor word from him, the three great clans, none of whom had tasted power for decades at this point since the king before Kashimo had also been a non-clan mage, insisted that his will be read so they could challenge whomever he named his successor and take the throne for themselves. However, when a judge was summoned to do the reading, it was found that he had declared a tournament was to be held to determine his successor. Word spread across this kingdom and into the surrounding regions. Any mage who deemed his or her skill sufficient entered. Yes, Shoko?"

Shoko put her hand, previously waving in the air, down. "Female mages entered too? How come there hasn't been a mage-queen yet?"

"Just because they entered did not mean they won. For reasons unknown to us, female mages are more rare than males, so they were vastly outnumbered in the tournament. I believe Satoru's essay mentions three. But that's getting off topic. Where did I leave off?"

"The tournament!" chimed in Satoru, who was enjoying the limelight of his essay recap.

"Ah yes. Many mages entered, and the fights to get to the finals killed some of the contestants, but in the end, two old men were left, and one of them was none other than Kashimo Hajime himself."

"He faked his own death and entered the tournament just to taste the thrill of fighting one last time!" crowed Satoru, who couldn't hold in his excitement any longer. "Isn't that so inspirational?! He even ended up winning the kingship again! He reigned a few more years before passing away. Oh, and his second death was just as suspicious as the first, although there was at least a body this time. The castle medics declared that he died of old age, but their reports show he was missing the smallest finger on his left hand. There was no sign of a struggle either, and it still remains a mystery to this day! Then the tournament had to be held all over again to determine his actual successor!"

Yu had looked entertained, as had Shoko and even Suguru. Kento was as stone-faced as ever. Ijichi still looked nervous. Did he have any other expressions?

Yaga cleared his throat. "Thank you for that summary, Satoru. What alarms me about your essay and your speech just now is your clear admiration for Kashimo's idea of not only holding a bloody tournament for his successor, but also entering it himself after faking his own death. You also failed to go into any detail about the aftermath of the two events. Many good mages died in the battles which occurred in both tournaments, and since the second one resulted in a tie where both mages in the final round killed each other, a king was not found from it.

"Eventually, the judge who read the will ruled that it had been followed, and the highest placing survivor was crowned king. The Zen'in were happy of course, since the kingship went to them, but the Kamo were infuriated as one of their own mages had placed similarly but was too injured at the time due to the fighting to step right into kingship.

"The Gojo Clan at this time had seen the death of their last duel wielder of the Six Eyes and Limitless a decade before Kashimo's ascent to the throne and were in a weak position, with only a one A-rank mage entered in the tournament. This led to a power struggle between the other two clans which lasted nearly thirty years before a political marriage ended it."

Satoru didn't even have the decency to look chagrined. "It's a pretty interesting story though. Makes me think maybe history isn't as boring as I always thought it was."

Next to him, Suguru smacked his face with his palm. He was surprised there wasn't a permanent indentation on his forehead yet honestly.

"And that, I suppose, is the best I can hope for from you, Satoru." Yaga bopped the Six Eyes bearer on the head with his graded essay before handing it back to him. At least he had the grace to not block the blow with Infinity.

"You also failed to conclude that it was at this point in history that the three clans began paying for or even resorting to kidnapping young mages from their parents in order to prevent mages outside of their influence from gaining the throne. The strategy worked as well. There has not been a mage-king since who did not grow up under the influence of one of the three families, even if some of them did not bear the name Gojo, Kamo, or Zen'in."

Ijichi was looking overwhelmed by this point.

"Don't worry," Yu whispered to him. "History class isn't usually this intense. I think Yaga-sensei is just glad Satoru put in some effort for once."

The nervous boy, for that is what Satoru decided to call him in his head, looked about ten percent less nervous now, according to his Six Eyes. The rest of history class passed by as usual, with Suguru, Kento, and the new kid taking notes studiously, Shoko and Yu scribbling down a few things here and there, and Satoru with his quill held over an open scroll, dripping ink until it dried, not a single note taken.

xXxXx

That evening, Satoru was invited to dine with his mother. He had barely seen her since the disastrous marriage meeting the week before. She probably wanted to check in on him privately before he and Suguru left on their mission away from her husband and the clan elders, and this was her method of choice.

In the past, he might have thought of ignoring the request, but after the way she had acted while the elders spoke to his father, he thought it would be best to check in on her before he left. He also could feel out if she knew anything about what the elders were planning. Perhaps he could confirm his suspicions before relaying them to his best friend.

Promptly as the evening bell tolled, he made his way toward his mother's dining quarters in the complex. He arrived just before she did, dressed in a dark blue kimono with white flowers twining across it. He was dressed in a more casual kimono - a plain, deep indigo.

"Mother," Satoru bowed slightly, which was more effort than he usually put in when greeting her, and she inclined her head in response. The two knelt across from each other and their dinners were brought in.

Silence stretched on for far longer than Satoru was comfortable with normally. He was beginning to wonder why his mother had asked to have dinner with him if she wasn't going to say anything. Finally, she spoke.

"Satoru, how is your training? Still no progression with Red?"

Satoru frowned. "No, mother. But I'm sure it will come soon. I can somewhat concentrate the power but only for a split second before it diverges entirely."

The good thing about having an innate magic ability that was genetic was that it came with an instruction manual of sorts, between the clan elders' knowledge and various historical records. The bad thing was that everyone in the clan knew when someone had not fully mastered all the depths of their magic.

"I see."

It bothered Satoru somewhat that he had yet to master his full skills, but he said, "Don't worry mother, Suguru and I are still the strongest. I'm sure this posting will be a piece of cake, even though it's a far one."

Gojo Saori smiled at her son's remark. "I'm sure you are right. Still, remember to keep up your training. I heard you actually wrote a decent composition for history class."

"Wow, word travels fast," Satoru remarked, smirking. Their conversation continued mundanely along these lines as they finished the latter half of their meal.

"I'm glad you are looking forward to your mission with Geto, but remember that this posting in Karuori village is supposed to be a punishment, not a reward." Saori looked unusually sternly at her son during her next remark. "The elders are losing faith that you will ever take things seriously enough to be a good king."

"They want Suguru to be king, don't they," Satoru stated bluntly, the fathomless blue depths of his Six Eyes peering over the top of his dark glasses to watch his mother's reaction. Though she tried to hide her flinch, he saw it, ever so slightly. "Thought so. But thanks for the confirmation."

His mother's mouth twisted down slightly. "There is still time to change their minds. The fact that they would bypass you and the chance to have a mage with Gojo blood on the throne should concern you."

What was left unsaid was the fact that Suguru was not marrying a Gojo mage to assume her family name either. The clan had not produced any women of any mage ability whatsoever close to his and Suguru's ages, a fact which worried the elders. Female mages were rarer than their male counterparts, sure, but not typically that rare.

"It's not unprecedented," Satoru retorted. "There have been multiple mage-kings who were not blood-related to one of the three clans on the throne. And then there were those who married clanswomen and took their last names for the higher status it granted them. If you include them, the total number is even higher."

Saori looked slightly surprised by his knowledgeable response. Satoru honestly wasn't sure if he should be insulted by that. Probably not. He only had been able to respond in that way because of Yaga's recent speech in history class and his own research over the last week.

"I still think you should be concerned. Your father is very unhappy with you. He-"
"It doesn't matter," Satoru cut in rudely, slamming down his chopsticks and placing his hands on his knees as though he were about to rise and leave. "I know what you're going to say. I should marry to get the elders and Father off my back. Be responsible. I can be responsible when I choose to be. I know the elders just want me married as soon as possible in the hopes that I'll pass on both of my abilities. But why the rush? No one is able to kill me. The Kamo only have one S-rank mage and the Zen'in have none. Plus, only once in the last thousand years has a Six Eyes and Limitless user passed on both abilities. It's highly unlikely. Neither you nor Father had either of the two abilities and you still had me. It's all just hope and speculation."

Saori looked up at her son, unconvinced. "I pray you are right."

While assassins had stopped coming after Satoru around the time he turned six - a menace already able to use Infinity to defend himself at that tender age - that didn't mean she would cease worrying over her son. It was a mother's duty to do so after all, he supposed. But for now it seemed she would stop pressing and just try to enjoy a bit of time with him before he left.

xXxXx

The next day, Satoru and Suguru finally got permission to leave for Karuori village. The latter went about dutifully packing what he needed, while the former practically bounded off the walls as he waited, having packed the day after Yaga had made the announcement of the trip. Shoko joined the two after they left Suguru's rooms, walking arm in arm with her betrothed. Satoru trailed slightly behind them, carrying both his and Suguru's trunks easily by applying his Limitless to them.

As he hoisted them onto the back of the packhorse that would be accompanying his and Suguru's own horses, servants and stablehands rushed around, looking slightly uncomfortable as the clan heir did part of their job for them.

Suguru was thankful that Satoru did so. It gave him time to have a more private farewell with Shoko.

The rest of their little class - Kento, Yu, and even Ijichi - had stopped by to see them off. Maybe by the time he and Satoru returned, Ijichi would feel more at home, Suguru thought idly as he mounted his horse, a roan mare. Satoru, noticing he was finally ready to leave, mounted his own white mare.

The two set off alone, for there was no need for an escort to accompany two accomplished S-rank mages. The trek to the village would take at least a week, being relatively far to the north. Satoru kicked his horse from a trot to a gallop, and Suguru called out for him not to take off and tire the horses so soon. Laughing, the Six Eyes bearer kept the pace up for only a minute before slowing back to a trot.

"Sorry Suguru, I just needed to let loose a bit," he called out as Suguru caught up to him, slowing his own horse back to a trot, the pack horse following his roan's lead.

Suguru rolled his eyes. "Well try to keep it under control now, the pack horse can't run as fast as our horses can."

"Ah, right. Don't worry, control is my family name."

"Riiight." Suguru drew the word out, his doubt evident.

But Satoru stuck to his word, and the two kept a reasonable pace up until nightfall. There was a moderately sized town with an inn just a few kilometers away as the sun was beginning to set, so the two agreed to spend the night there. There would soon be nights spent under the stars once they traveled further from the center of the kingdom, where the largest proportion of the population was centered.

"Two rooms please," Suguru told the innkeeper, sliding some silver crowns out to pay with.

Satoru had dropped off the horses at the inn's stable and slid the stablehand a few coppers for their care in the meantime. After dropping their trunks in their rooms, the two sat in the semi-rowdy main room to get a hot dinner.

"Shame there wasn't any dessert," Satoru said after finishing his meal. "That stew had a bit too much pepper in it, don't you think Suguru?"

"Did it? I hadn't noticed. I think your sweet tooth is going to cause you problems on this trip though. You think a small village like Karuori will have anyone with the spare time to make desserts for a living? It won't be like our previous postings where we were in heavily populated areas. And we won't be able to call for backup if we get in trouble."

Satoru scoffed. "Trouble? Trouble should watch out for us. We're the strongest!" Then he turned thoughtful. "You might have a point about the desserts though."

Suguru sighed. Trust Satoru to pick up on the more unimportant thing he had said. Though he figured his friend was likely right to think that trouble should be more concerned about them than the other way around.

As one of the young women working in the inn cleared their plates, she shot a smile at Satoru, who had been shamelessly flirting with her as she delivered their food earlier. He smiled back, and Suguru watched him follow her toward the kitchens, the two chatting in a flirtatious manner on the way.

Suguru wondered if this was another reason his best friend pulled such stunts to avoid marriage. He had some certainty that Satoru's family knew about his dalliances - odds were at least his father did. They weren't far from the Gojo estate, and each of the three clans were known to have eyes and ears in every city, let alone one so close to their own ancestral lands. Personally, he thought a little more discretion on Satoru's part would go a long way.

He drummed his fingers on the table as he sat idly. He could remain in the main room here and maybe meet some fellow travelers or go back to his own room. As it was right next door to Satoru's, that option was unappealing to him at the moment.

It was more difficult this time around to tamp down on his annoyance with his best friend. His latest prank had gotten both of them punished and delayed his wedding yet again. The elders no doubt thought this scheme up partially to irritate the mage-king as well - having both of their S-rank mages out of the area for months on end - but in the end he knew he was here because he was the only one who could somewhat keep Satoru in line. Their bond, forged through shared strength and growing up essentially as brothers, tied them together. Where one went, the other followed, and vice versa. Together, they were the strongest.

When Satoru had been sent out on missions years ago with other mages, he had a tendency to go his own way, even if they were an A-rank family member. Once, he had left his escort behind after completing a mission and ran around a coastal city for several days before becoming bored and returning to the Gojo estate of his own accord. It was a four day journey and he had only been twelve at the time. Suguru had been on a separate mission with a different mage at the time.

Once they reached thirteen, they began being sent out alone together. Suguru made sure they got there, did the mission, and returned home in a timely manner. Satoru was more or less agreeable with him, not fighting back every step of the way as he did when an older family member was supervising him.

The inn's main room was becoming crowded, more and more travelers coming in or down from their rooms for a bite to eat. Suguru ended up chatting with a couple who joined his table, and time passed more quickly thanks to their company. When an acceptable amount of time had passed, Suguru deemed it safe to return to his room and sleep. They still had a long journey ahead of them, and he needed to rest for the sake of his temper if nothing else.

The two friends' journey to Karuori village continued similarly for the next four days. On the fifth night, there was no inn to stay at. The further they traveled from the capital, the further apart large cities were. The three clans and their mages kept the central areas and port cities safest, and tended to only send out mages to be posted in a few of the further cities from Castle Suga. If there were groups of mages free from clan control, they were to the far north and south of the kingdom where the three families' influence was less strong.

The two mages found a grassy clearing and made camp, tethering the horses with stakes and picket lines. Satoru spread out spare blankets on the ground to serve as their beds while Suguru walked the horses to nearby water before picketing them for the night.

As the two lay down to sleep, silence descended. Suguru rolled onto his side and very nearly started when Satoru's voice broke the silence. "Suguru?"

"What, Satoru?" He tried hard to keep annoyance from his tone, and at least partially succeeded.

"The elders said something in passing when they were discussing my behavior with my father. I developed a theory, and my mother confirmed it when we had dinner a few days back."

"And you're just telling me now? That was a while ago," Suguru's back was to Satoru as he mumbled out a reply.

"It slipped my mind," Satoru answered. "Honestly, it did! I meant to tell you my suspicions even before dinner with my mother, but I just never got around to it. Anyway, it sounds like the elders are going to give you their support in becoming king instead of me."

Suguru held his tongue and did not give an answer. He did not answer for so long that it prompted Satoru to turn over, clothes and blankets rustling in the quiet night air, and speak again. "You don't have anything to say?"

Finally, Suguru turned so he was facing his friend. He sat up, and Satoru mirrored him. "I already knew. The elders called me in before I went on this mission with you to say they would support me over you for king. I didn't want to tell you. I thought it would hurt your feelings, being betrayed by your own family like that."

Satoru didn't appear phased at all though. "I hardly view it as a betrayal. My family doesn't really care about me as a person, just what I can do for them. My father wants me to get married and pass on my powers. Become king so he can be known as the father of a king. The elders want the same, but if they had their way I would take many wives for the increased chance of a child inheriting my powers. I'm a tool to them, a weapon to point at their enemies. And I'm not just talking about demons and monsters. I'm talking about their standoff with the other clans. I'm not even sure they see me as human anymore."

He sighed. "Honestly, it's surprising it took this long for them to realize I wouldn't be a good fit for king. But you would be, Suguru. I'll become head of the Gojo Clan and support you when you want to take the throne. I'll have your back one hundred percent."

Suguru looked at him with an expression of mild shock on his face. He hadn't expected such a well-thought-out and deep confession from the normally unserious Satoru. "Really? You don't want to be king?"

"I don't really want to be the clan head either, but it's kind of a given at this point," Satoru said, resting his chin on his folded knees. He recited a mantra often spoken by his family. "A Gojo with the Six Eyes is a blessing. A Gojo with the Limitless is useless. A Gojo with both is a god."

Suguru rolled his eyes. "Glad to hear your ego isn't dashed to bits. Though it could do with a good stepping on once in a while."

Satoru smirked and rolled onto his back, staring up at the countless stars lightening the sky. It was a new moon, so they shone more prominently than usual. "Why did you accept the elders' offer to support you as king if you were afraid of how I would react?"

Suguru remained sitting upright. "Because," he said softly, "I think I could do a lot of good as king. Think about the mages of this generation. Most are brought into the clans to be used as pawns for power, like me. Even you are subject to this to an extent, though you were at least born into it. If I were king, I could invite young mages from within the clans as well as without the clans to come learn from myself and other top mages at the castle. When they take the reins in the future, there will be more options for them in life and they'll be able to lead the rest of us to a better future, especially if they are able to form bonds outside of their own clans."

"Wow, that was very philosophical of you, Suguru. I should have seen it coming though."

Suguru laughed softly. He was glad the conversation had gone so well. And so was Satoru. The necromancer found his previous irritation with his best friend smoothing over. Perhaps his brother was maturing a bit after all. With both their burdens lifted, they slept soundly through the night.

Notes: Ah yes, a lore-dump chapter.