(A/N: Yep. Another story that will more than likely never get finished. xD I've become completely hooked on Jujutsu Kaisen, and I had to write this down. Granted I'm not that far in the manga. I'm halfway through the Shibuya Incident arc, so I have a lot to catch up on. Having said that there will be spoilers from the manga if you haven't read it. Not certain if my story will be that good, but I definitely had fun writing the first part. :))
"Tell me the story again, Papa!"
Warm brown eyes stared down at the seven-year-old, who didn't seem to be able to sit still in his lap, with amusement. "Pretty sure this is the 50th time I've told ya this story, Danuja. Ain't ya sick of it yet?"
"Nuh uh! I love hearin' how you and mommy met!"
Ruffling the girl's thick red and gray streaked locks, this earning a giggle from the child, Kisho let out his own soft chuckle and began, "It happened on a cold, dark night in the middle of December. The streets were empty, and I was startin' to feel like the only person alive for even the shops around me were dark and deserted. Turned out, there was somethin' with me. Strangest thing was, I couldn't see it. I felt it when this unbearable pain shot through my arm."
Lifting up his left sleeve, Danuja let out a gasp at the three distinct scars that remained there. This wasn't the first time she had seen them, but just knowing something had injured her father to the point its mark would forever remain, always made Danuja feel both horrified and alarmed.
"I was so baffled that I wasn't even registering the pain. I could only stare at the blood pourin' down ma arm. The next thing I knew, I was being sent flyin' straight into one of the shops. Somehow, I knew this invisible monster was only toyin' with me...My body ached all over and I was pretty sure somethin' was broken...It took everything I had in me not to pass out right there. 'Cause I knew that the moment I did, that thing would end me,
"So, I crawled. My palms became scraped as I drug my limp body across the pavement, yet all I could think was I had to live. I needed ta live! There was still a purpose for me in this world just like there is for every one of us. And I still needed to find mine..."
Danuja leaned closer to her father; fuchsia eyes filled with anticipation. This was always one of her favorite parts of the story.
"Continuing to drag my body, I was stopped when my sight was met with a pair of light blue geta sandals. I managed to peer up and was met with the sight of one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen in my then twenty-four years of livin'," A nostalgic smile formed on Kisho's tan face. "She looked like she had just stepped right out of an edo painting. Skin so pale and fair with hair as white as snow...The woman's kimono was even a pure white. What captivated me the most were her eyes. One golden and the other fuchsia...I just couldn't understand why they were so cold. It made me wonder if I was lookin' at the actual Yuki-onna from legends."
Taking a moment to catch his breath, Kisho gave his daughter's nose a little bop. "And do you know what the first thing she said to me was?"
Danuja beamed at this. "Yep! Mommy told ya, "You look like you have one foot in the grave...But since you seem to want to live so badly, I suppose that means I should help you..." And she ended the meanie that had hurt ya with just a flip of her hand!"
"That's right. I was startin' to think this whole night was one big ol' dream. My savior didn't look so heavenly anymore because her clothes were dyed a nasty red. I should have been afraid, but I wasn't. I thanked her for saving me with the most charismatic smile I could muster. She didn't say anything, just stared at me like she was peering into my very soul. The next thing I knew, I was being helped up and she asked me where I lived. I passed out right after that."
"And then ya asked mommy to stay with you!"
"You're gettin' a little ahead there," Kisho laughed out with a shake of his head. "I was out cold for three days but found that all my wounds were gone like the event had never happened. If yer mama hadn't come in bringing me a cup of tea, I might have gone on believing that. My savior confessed that she thought about leaving me, but it had been so long since she had a roof over her head and decent food that she decided to hang around.
"Learning that she didn't have a home and tended to roam from place to place, I told my savior she was welcome to stay with me for as long as she needed. She remained quiet and seemed to be keeping her guard around me, but eventually I got her to open up enough to tell me her name. Leiko..." A blissful expression formed on Kisho's face. Danuja ended up having to poke at the brown-haired male's cheek since he had gone quiet. And his face was turning red. For some reason, this happened a lot whenever he reached this part. "O-oh right. We ended up growing closer, and then you came into our life."
Danuja smiled and leaned her head on her father's chest when he wrapped his arm around her.
"It was the first time I saw Leiko cry. She didn't seem to think someone like her would ever be able to have a child. That was why she was practically attached to ya at the hip. I barely got to hold ya because Leiko wouldn't let ya out of her sight. She said ya meant the world ta her. That both of us did,"
"Does that mean mommy will come back one day?"
"I know she will. She didn't want to leave us in the first place." Kisho affirmed softly, placing a kiss on top of Danuja's head.
He could never bring himself to tell his daughter how his wife seemed to become paranoid the older his daughter got. Leiko would barely allow Danuja to even go outside, even if it was right in their front yard. When he asked his wife about what made her so worried, Leiko ended up breaking down and saying she never wanted to put him in danger; that this relationship never should have happened...Leiko claimed that she couldn't go into detail of what she meant, but that she wasn't the person Kisho believed her to be.
Kisho had tried to assure Leiko that everything was fine. That he didn't care about her past or what she chose to keep secret. They were a family. All they needed was each other. And if something happened in the near future, they'd all face it together.
Now, Kisho often wondered if he had spoken out of turn. For the next day, the first sight that greeted him wasn't his wife, but a letter quickly scrawled with only a few simple words: 'You both will be safer with me gone'.
So cold and precise...like the way Leiko first was. It wasn't like the warm, compassionate, and occasionally playful woman he had come to find his beloved to actually be. Kisho knew he should hate her. That he shouldn't give his sweet, impressionable daughter such false hope...Danuja had been only three when Leiko disappeared on them, after all...
He had seen it written all over his wife's face. That was why he couldn't blame her. Leiko had been scared shitless about something. The lean male only wished he could have understood why. Though he did have an inkling it had something to do with the invisible monster Leiko had slaughtered...
At the sound of his daughter yawning, Kisho shook away his thoughts and stood up with her. "Sounds like it's time for bed, kiddo,"
"Can't I stay up a little longer?"
"Nope. Ya have school tomorrow, and I don't want ya fallin' asleep at yer desk. That hag of a teacher of yours gave me an earful the last time," Kisho grumbled, making a face at the thought of the shrill woman. Placing his giggling daughter in her bed and pulling the covers securely around her, Kisho leaned down to place a kiss in the middle of her forehead. "Now get some sleep."
Danuja gave a half-hearted smile. "Do I have to go to school? The kids don't like me...They say I talk funny, and my hair looks weird..."
"You just inherited your papa's dulcet tone is all. The kids just have to get used to it. And if they don't, yer dear papa will just have to teach those little brats a lesson!" Kisho claimed while cracking his knuckles, a dark grin stretching out across his face.
"Should papa be threatenin' seven-year-olds?"
"Probably not. But yer papa ain't above makin' some kids cry if they give him reason to," Kisho said with a wink. "Not that ma tough girl would ever let childish remarks bring her down. You remember my motto, don'cha?"
"No matter how shitty things might get, tomorrow could always be better. So don't give up hope and keep movin' forward."
"That's right," Kisho acknowledged with a nod, turning on Danuja's night light before making his way to her yellow-colored door. "Just don't ever say that when mama returns. She'll give me one of those scary looks of hers for teachin' ya words like that."
Giving a little nod, Danuja turned on her side and stared at the ominous looking shadows her stuff animals made upon the wall.
Should I have told papa the real reason I don't like school is because of the scary monsters I've seen there Danuja pondered, her eyes starting to feel droopy. Yawning, she snuggled deeper into her comfy blanket. Nah. I shouldn't worry papa...They haven't hurt anyone, and no one else can see them. I bet it's fine...
Eight years later...
"This is annoying. Why do we gotta go huntin' for the cursed object in the middle of the night?" Danuja complained to the relatively tall and slim young male who walked in front of her, leading the way to their destination.
Megumi Fushiguro sighed and turned to look at the female in light exasperation. "Do you really think it's wise to search around the school when people are here? And why'd you tag along if all you planned on doing was whining the entire time?"
"I didn't want to. Stupid sensei forced me into comin'. All I wanted was to stay snuggled up nice and warm in my bed. Yet as Gojo sensei quoted, 'Think of it as a bonding experience. You can help out your fellow classmate, and equally take the blame when you both screw up! Hah hah!'. I can understand me, but guess he doesn't have faith in you either, Fushiguro-san..." Danuja spoke with a small pout, playing with the end of her ponytail that lay on her shoulder.
Megumi glared at the cell he held as if he could see the person on the other line. "Screw up, huh? Why do I get the feeling your just sending us on some wild goose chase to embarrass us now?"
"Now, now! I assure you the special grade curse object is located there. Don't you trust your strong and intelligent sensei?"
"No." Megumi and Danuja uttered out in similar blunt tones.
"Especially when the object we're looking for is located in a thermometer shed of all places," Megumi mumbled. The scowl on his face becoming more prominent when he noticed the lock was unhooked, the dark and spiky haired teen pulled open the doors and shoved his head inside to get a closer look when not spotting anything. Not even a speck of dust.
"That was mean, Sensei! You did lie! The object ain't here at all!" Danuja huffed out when Megumi dropped his phone to search all around the little wooden compartment. She would admit she found it kind of funny when Megumi even looked on top of the shed. Best she didn't laugh, even if she felt like it. Her classmate already seemed more agitated than she was.
"Huh? It's really empty? That's hilarious!" Gojo cackled out. "Maybe it took a nighttime stroll?"
Tilting her head since she was pretty sure this was something they should be more concerned about, Danuja handed Megumi his cell when she noticed the vein pulsing like mad on the side of his head.
"I'll punch you," Megumi threatened.
"Well, no going home until it's recovered, okay?" Gojo sung out, not even fazed by the boy's words.
"I'm seriously going to punch him next time," Megumi muttered after the annoyingly cheerful male hung up on him.
Danuja let out a small hum and placed her arms behind her head. "Guy's way too carefree for his own good. No wonder Utahime-san's always annoyed with him...Guess this means we gotta hang around here till morning, huh?"
"Looks that way. One of the students here must have taken the finger. We need to recover it as quickly as possible." Megumi declared firmly, his eyes slightly narrowing.
Danuja frowned at this and stared up at the nighttime sky. That was true. If the seal on the cursed object was weakening, then curses would be more inclined to show up in this area. And they would no doubt target the one who had the item on their person.
That's one of the reasons I decided to keep up this whole Jujutsu Sorcerer business. I didn't want to see someone else get torn apart by a curse. And papa would have wanted me to help out no matter how useless I might be Danuja thought, gripping at the front of her dark blue dress uniform. But in the end, I'm selfish and that's not the only reason I'm here...And I know it's a reason my family might never forgive me for...
"Oi. Did you zone out again?"
Danuja winced feeling the small flick at her forehead and gave the usually apathetic looking male a confused expression.
"We have a few hours before school starts. You can get some rest until then if you want,"
Danuja blinked a few times before grinning and giving the slightly taller male a friendly pat on his shoulder. "Thanks, Fushiguro-san. You can be pretty thoughtful when you want to be. Just wake me if you want to sleep some yourself, okay."
Shaking her head when Megumi just waved her off, Danuja headed over to the wooden fence that surrounded the shed. Sitting down and leaning against it, Danuja started to feel drowsy the moment she closed her eyes, yet her mind still raced as it often did whenever those creeping concerns began to rise up within her.
Even if people still get hurt in the end...I am on the right course, aren't I, Papa...?
(A/N: Just in case you were curious, Danuja and her father speak in a Kansai dialect. I'm not sure if anyone reading this has ever heard of Ensemble Stars, but there's a character called Mika who talks this way, and I just found his demeanor completely adorable. Of course, you could always think of Denji from Chainsaw Man. Danuja has a rough way of speaking like him, too. xD)