(A/N: I added something a little different to the last passage of my previous chapter. I realized I needed to change something I wrote, but it's not too much of a big deal, so it shouldn't change too much for the random idea I have planned to go forward with in later chapters. Not sure if that idea is good, but we'll see. xD)
Danuja frowned as she stared at the school-like building. She could already sense there was something deeply ominous about it before the assistant director, Kiyotaka Ijichi, began to discuss their objective. One of their first real missions together and Danuja couldn't help but feel uneasy...The gloomy weather wasn't helping with her mood, either.
"Our window verified the curse womb three hours ago," Ijichi explained, peering back at the building himself. "Once 90 percent were successfully evacuated, they made the call to seal off the center. Citizens within a 500-meter radius have been evacuated, as well."
Yuji lifted up his hand similar to a kid in the classroom. "Ijichi-san, question. What's a 'window' here?"
"A window is a member of Jujutsu Tech who can see curses. They aren't sorcerers, though."
"Oh, okay..." Itadori mumbled, still not seeming like he completely understood from that rather short and blunt answer.
Danuja gave a small pat to Itadori's shoulder. "Just think of 'windows' as people who are able to see curses like us, but most of them can't use techniques the way we can or they're just not all that suitable for combat. A lot of the teachers at school, who just teach us basic subjects, choose to help locate curses instead of fight 'em, ya see."
"So that's it!" Itadori exclaimed with a bright smile while bobbing his head in understanding.
Nobara crossed her arms and pursed her lips. "I wonder if we should be concerned Danuja seems to know how to explain on the Itadori level...?"
"We probably should..." Megumi couldn't help but agree.
Ijichi let out a cough while shifting his glasses. "Um, let's continue...Detainee Block 2. At present, five detainees remain there with the curse womb. If this curse womb is the type that metamorphoses, we predict that it will become a special-grade cursed spirit."
So that's where my bad feelin' was comin' from Danuja realized, biting down on her thumbnail. Kugisaki and Fushiguro had grown tense themselves. Itadori, on the other hand, grew baffled once again.
"Hey so...I still don't really understand what 'special grade' means," Yuji spoke, glancing at Megumi, Nobara, and Danuja for clarification.
Smiling faintly when Nobara and Megumi let out exasperated sighs, Danuja mentioned, "You can't blame Itadori-san for not understanding. This is a lotta information to take in so suddenly. Some of it still confuses me, to tell the truth." Danuja's next words caused Fushiguro and Kugisaki to have beads of sweat trail down their heads. "I'm more shocked Ijichi-san already had a blackboard prepared with that info."
Itadori nodded his head in agreement, soon grinning. "Ijichi-san must be one of those guys who always comes prepared, huh? That's pretty cool!"
Almost seeming embarrassed, for a faint blush and even a tiny proud smile had formed on the normally calm and collected older males face, Ijichi cleared his throat and than spoke up, "Allow me to explain in a way an idiot would even understand. First, there's grade 4. A wooden bat is enough for them. Grade three. If you have a handgun, you can rest easy. Grade 2. It'll be a close call with a shotgun. Grade 1. Even a tank may be insufficient. Then there's special grade. Let's say you might be on even footing if you carpet bomb it with cluster bombs."
"That's real bad!" Yuji gawked, now looking worried, too.
You think he'd be more concerned that Ijichi-san just basically insulted his intelligence Danuja pondered, staring at Yuji with sympathy.
"Normally, a jujutsu sorcerer on par with the cursed spirit would take on the mission. On a day like today, that would be Gojo-sensei," Megumi added, his eyes closed while his face was scrunched up in mild annoyance; something Nobara was mimicking.
"I-I see. So where is Gojo-sensei?" Itadori inquired, even peering around as if expecting their teacher to pop out from behind one of the many trees that surrounded the area.
"Away on business," Fushiguru answered blandly. "He's not someone who should be loafing around at the school in the first place."
Danuja sighed and played with the end of her ponytail. "With sensei mentioning souvenirs before he left, makes me think he's just goofing off as usual...And we're stuck dealing with a mess that goes way above our grade level..."
If this is another of the higher ups way of hopin' I'll die, I can understand 'em sending Itadori and me here...But that doesn't make sense for someone like Fushiguro and Kugisaki...Strong sorcerers have almost become a dying race, so why would they be puttin' promising ones at risk...?
"Unfortunately, we're constantly short-handed in this business," Ijichi vocalized with his own troubled expression. It was almost as if he had heard Danuja's concerning thought's. "You'll often have to undertake missions beyond your power. The current case, however, is an abnormal one, and most urgent. Do not fight under any circumstances. If you encounter a special grade, your options are to only run or die."
These unfavorable words caused apprehension to grow on Nobara, Yuji, and Danuja's now paler features. Megumi was the only one who managed to look calm and unfazed.
"Please just listen to your fears. Do not forget that your mission here is strictly the verification and rescue of survivors-"
Ijichi's warning was cut short when a frantic female voice cried out, "Excuse me, where's Tadashi?!"
"Stop! Stay back!" another agent, similar to Ijichi's position shouted; him and two other men stopping the desperate woman who tried to run into the area.
"Is Tadashi...is my son Tadashi all right...?!"
Her son was one of the one's left in the building Danuja thought sadly, placing her hands on her chest. She found herself glancing over at Itadori. The pink haired male almost looked like he was on the verge of tears. It showed just what a compassionate guy he was, something that made Danuja's throat tighten.
"She's a guardian who was here for a visit," Ijichi explained in his own sorrowful tone as the woman continued to plead for answers. "Please step away. There's a possibility that someone has spread poisonous gas throughout the center. We cannot share anymore details at this time."
Tears forming in her eyes, the brown haired woman fell to her knees. "Why? Why is this happening?!"
"Fushiguro, Kugisaki, Ena...We're going to save them!" Itadori declared, his face hardened with resolution as his eyes remained on the grieving mother.
"Of course we are." Kugisaki agreed with her own firm expression.
Megumi just remained silent while Danuja did as well, extending out her hand when the rain seemed to increase-almost as if to match the heavy atmosphere that had formed around them-to let the droplets fall in her palm. Something told her Megumi was thinking the same thought she was.
In a situation like this, there was more than likely no one that could be saved...
"Be careful. I'll put up a veil," Ijichi cautioned when they made it further into the facility. "Emerge from darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure."
"Huh? It's becoming night!" Itadori exclaimed, running over to the edge of the detention center's walkway to get a better look. A dark, almost liquid-like matter had started to drip down from the sky, forming what looked to be a half-sphere around the building.
"It's a veil. There's a residential area nearby, so this barrier conceals us from the outside world," Fushiguro clarified.
"That's incredible!"
"Ignorant," Nobara grumbled out, giving the excitable Yuji an apathetic look.
"He's taking it a lot better than I did. I ended up screaming and hiding the first time I saw a veil. Never have been fond of the dark, so I couldn't help but think it was the end of the world," Danuja admitted with a small giggle.
"I'm starting to wonder if either of you are cut out for this..." Nobara voiced with a heavy sigh.
Giving a small shake of his head, Fushiguro formed a hand sign similar to someone trying to make a shadow dog upon the wall to entertain people with. "Divine dog! He'll let us know if the curse gets close." A pure white wolf had materialized, letting out a howl and even adorably wagging its tail.
"I see," Yuji chirped, going over to pet the wolf, who closed its eyes in content at the attention. "Good boy, good boy! We're counting on you, okay?"
"Let's go," Fushiguro instructed, opening the creaking door while his wolf bounded forward to lead the way. They had only gone a short distance before Megumi was extending out his arm and shouting, "Wait!"
It was understandable why Fushiguro sounded disturbed for the building seemed to have grown much larger on the inside than it had appeared on the outside.
"Wh-what's going on here? This is a two-story dorm, isn't it?" Yuji brought up, gazing upwards at the almost never-ending ceiling that was covered with rusted pipes.
"C-c-calm down! It's a maisonette!" Nobara claimed, though she had taken a few uneasy steps backwards.
"I...don't think that's right. The original domain must have expanded because of the cursed energy," Danuja whispered, gripping at the front of her dress. "I ain't ever seen one this big before...Fushiguro-san. This looks bad...!"
"Where's the door?!" Fushiguro shouted, flipping around to face the direction they had come.
"H-huh?! Th-the doors gone!" Yuji shouted out in a panic as nothing but those dirty pipes remained behind them.
"How?! We just came in through here, didn't we?!" Nobara shrieked out, her eyes growing a little damp.
Danuja tilted her head since the two had started to circle the room in a little dance, while actually singing about what were they going to do now that they seemed to be trapped, in a rather lighthearted fashion. "I can't tell if they're handling this situation badly or not..."
"Either way, it'll be fine. The dog remembers the scent of the entrance," Fushiguro reassured, in his own way, jerking his thumb at his wolf.
"Oh, my!" Nobara and Itadori lilted together, rushing over to pet and hug Fushiguro's shikigami while the pup merely sat there happily panting.
"You are way too calm!" Megumi snapped at the two 'children', twitching as they continued to praise his wolf and offer it jerky.
"You really are dependable, Fushiguro," Itadori addressed cheerfully, taking the dark-haired male by surprise. "Thanks to you, we'll be able to rescue people and save ourselves, too."
Megumi didn't say anything to this, closing his eyes for a moment and then muttering out, "Let's keep moving."
Heading deeper into the detention center, Danuja couldn't help but shiver and wrap her arms around herself. She hated horror movies, and this felt like she had stepped right into one...They had entered into an area, that honestly looked like a huge pool that had been emptied of its water, which only made her feel like one of those unfortunate kids who was about to die. More so when seeing some figures, which Itadori rushed over to get a better look at, leaning against the wall.
"Atrocious..." Nobara whispered, having clasped her hands together at the gruesome sight. Two figures had been rolled up into balls where their organs were now out in the open to see. You couldn't even make out what they had once looked like...The other just had the lower portion of his boy ripped from him.
Danuja only hoped they had died quickly so they didn't have to suffer excruciating pain as well...
"That's...three people, right?" Megumi uttered out quietly.
Pulling back the man's blue correction suit, Itadori's eyes grew large when reading his name. Okazaki Tadashi...This was the man the mother had been asking about...
"Let's take this body back. It's that woman's son,"
"But..." Nobara said softly, understanding where Yuji was coming from, yet that option would be difficult.
"His face isn't too badly mangled. His mother won't accept it if we tell her he's dead, but we don't have a body," Yuji continued to say, gagging when he was yanked roughly backwards by his red hood.
"We have to find and verify two more," Fushiguro said in what most would assume was a cold tone. "Leave that body behind."
"Quit joking around! We turned around, and the way we got here was gone!" Itadori argued back. "We won't be able to come back for it later!"
"I didn't say to come back for it! I said to leave it behind!" Fushiguro yelled back, startling Yuji from his temper. "I have no intention of risking my own life to save someone I had no intention of saving in the first place!"
Flipping around to grip at Megumi's collar, Yuji cried out in disbelief, "No intention of saving him? What do you mean?!"
"This is a juvenile detention center. Jujutsu sorcerers are granted access to all information about the scene beforehand. This Okazaki Tadashi hit a little girl on her way home from school while driving without a license. It was his second offense of driving without a license. I know you're stuck on saving lots of people and guiding them to proper deaths. But what are you going to do when someone you saved kills someone else in the future?"
While the two of them were arguing, Danuja had moved over to Tadashi. Her glove covered hand reached out to grab his name tag, but she found herself pausing at Yuji's sudden emotional declaration.
"Then why did you bother saving me?!"
"Cut it out!" Kugisaki scolded, starting to stomp over toward the two. "Christ, what are you two doing?! You're both idiots! Think about the time and place if you-"
"Kugi...saki?" Itadori slowly got out when the girl's ranting abruptly cut short. Nobara was nowhere to be seen. The only thing that remained was a black hole where she had previously been standing.
Fushiguro's eyes grew big, wondering how his Divine Dog hadn't sensed the curse? He got his answer when seeing that his wolf had been murdered; its now bloody head having been shoved through the wall.
"Itadori! Ena! We're running! We'll search for Kugisaki la-"
Both men froze on the spot when realizing they weren't alone. A tall, almost human-like curse was in the middle of them, displaying its teeth in a creepy grin. Her body shaking, getting a sinister feeling from the four eyed monster similar to how she had with Sukuna at the time, Danuja still made herself react as she swung her chain at the curse, wrapping it around its neck.
"Wh-what are you doing?! Run!" Danuja shouted since it seemed Fushiguro had even forgotten his own words.
You're no where near Maki-san's impressive level of strength...And you could never go toe to toe with that Todo weirdo...But...you're also not fully human! So tap into that part of yourself and at least get that monster away from them before it decides to strike!
Letting out a growl after she had told herself these words, Danuja had managed to pull the curse away from Fushiguro and Itadori, slamming it harshly against the wall as she quickly pulled back her scythe's chain before that thing decided to drag her over toward it. There was no way it was down for the count.
"Th-that was incredible, Ena-chan!" Itadori complimented. The girl was a lot more powerful than she appeared.
"Wh-why are you both still here?! You need to-" Danuja paused when realizing the special grade was right next to her. She didn't even have time to try and escape or defend herself. "Ah...Fu-"
"ENA-CHAN?!" Itadori screamed when the girl was sent flying. The wall she had crashed into crumbled down around her. He would have been relieved to see that she wasn't unconscious...if it wasn't weren't for the chunk in her side that had been destroyed leaving a gaping hole. His eyes dimmed, but he gritted his teeth in anger. "YOU BASTARD!"
Charging at the curse with the sword he had been given, Yuji swung at the special grade, only to have his own arm sliced right off; his severed hand still gripping onto the sword when it landed on the ground.
"Ena...Itadori..." Megumi breathed out in disbelief. The girl was laying on the ground, unleashing pained whimpers while Itadori seemed to be in a state of shock. He was just staring at the nub of his arm where a geyser of blood sputtered out.
Unleashing a yell, Megumi was stunned that Itadori wasn't reacting to the pain, but had instead landed a punch on the curse all while wrapping some cloth around his injury to stop the blood flow. He then hopped back over to Megumi when realizing the curse hadn't budged.
"Oi, Sukuna! I can't escape after it got this close! If I die, you die too, right? If you don't want that, then help me out!"
"I refuse. Even if I die inside of you, I still have 18 more spirit fragments still scattered around," Sukuna spoke rather gleefully as his mouth and eye appeared on the side of Yuji's cheek. "Still, irritatingly enough, I don't have control of this body. If you want to switch, then go ahead and switch. But once you do, I'll kill the brat before the cursed spirit can! Then I'll go for that woman! She's a lively one. I'll have fun with her."
The grin on his face grew. "I think I'll save the little half-breed for last. She heals almost as well as a special grade cursed spirit. Makes me wonder how much pain she can endure before she finally succumbs to endless amounts of torture?"
"I'm not going to let you do that!" Itadori shot back angrily.
"I figured as much. But if you get too distracted with me...your friends might really die!"
Megumi once again felt frozen to the spot when the curse shot something out of its mouth. It was almost like it was taunting them. It hadn't even used a cursed technique. It had just unleashed pure cursed energy. All he could hear was a ringing in his ears, jolting when he realized Itadori had been calling his name over and over.
"Fushiguro! Take Ena and find Kugisaki!" Yuji instructed. "I'll keep this one busy until you three are out. As soon as you're out, give me some kind of signal. Once you do...I'll switch with Sukuna."
"You know you can't do that! Not with only one arm against a special grade!" Fushiguro argued, his hands having balled into tight fists.
Itadori furrowed his brows, watching the curse as it was giggling while it seemed to be hugging its body and swaying from side to side.. "Look closer. It's having fun. It's obviously toying with us. I can at least buy us some time."
"No...don't worry about me..." Danuja coughed out, causing Megumi and Itadori to jerk their heads onto her. She had somehow managed to sit up and was now leaning against the part of the wall that hadn't been damaged. "I'd...just slow Fushiguro-san down...Just focus on finding Kugisaki-san..."
"It isn't safe for you to be in this area!"
"It'll take some time...but I should heal well enough to get away on my own...And even if I can't before Sukuna takes over...I know you can take your body back before he hurts any of us..." Danuja voiced with a weakened smile.
Itadori clenched his teeth at this; sharing a look with Fushiguro before the male was dashing off. The curse had ended up ripping off the already thin piece of clothing it was wearing, showing it was sporting a loincloth of all things underneath.
"Trying to say it's easier to move around in your underwear?" Itadori teased with an amused smirk.
I'm glad he can joke around at a time like this, but Itadori still hasn't learned any cursed techniques...How long can he last against a monster like that when he's still so inexperienced Danuja fretted. She flinched when Itadori was sent flying away; the male not even able to catch his breath when he was blasted into another section of the building. D-dammit! If I could reach the curse and touch it, maybe I could help...But its taking all of my energy just to remain conscious and heal...
Danuja had no idea what was happening in the other room. She could only hope Itadori would be okay until Fushiguro gave the signal...She couldn't help but remain tense up until the moment when she heard the howl of Fushiguro's shikigami.
"The heck is going on over there...?" Danuja wondered out loud. She could hear various loud explosions and crashes. And then suddenly it had grown almost scarily quiet...That was probably why she felt a shiver trail down her spine when hearing unhinged laughter. It was loud enough to echo all the way here.
It wasn't long before a figure was making his way toward her. Their hands were shoved into their pockets, and they were walking with slow, almost deliberate steps. This made Danuja gulp before she hesitantly got out when they came into better view, "Ita...dori?"
"Afraid not. From your tense posture, I can tell you already knew that, little girl," Sukuna mocked with a large grin. "Seems the brat can't switch back. Too bad for you."
Crying out when Sukuna latched onto her throat, Danuja gripped onto his wrist when feeling his long nails poking her skin. If he didn't decide to choke her to death, he could just puncture her skin with those knife-like cuticles of his.
"Don't worry. I'm not going to kill you. Not yet anyways," Sukuna chuckled out, bringing the woman's face closer to his own. "We should go say hello to the other brat first. I'm in a rather good mood right now. So let's talk, shall we?"