Dangerous Game
marshmello_dragon
Summary:
"How many?"
"Two."
"Fuck."
"Language."
"Not sorry."
However many times Gojo Satoru said he was strong, he always knew there was a point in his abilities where he would start to struggle.
But taking care of two kids couldn't possibly be that hard, right?
—-
This is going to be a series of chapters that will be about the early days of Megumi and Tsumiki Fushiguro's lives and how the strongest sorcerer and his pretty 'friend' helped them out along the way.
NOTICE: Many characters might just get mentioned rather than have an experience. But most of them are on the top of the list are bound to have a part. This is a slow burn GojoHime and also about Megumi and Tsumiki. I will do my best to balance them both 😭🔫
Chapter 1
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
"Mei, did you do it?"
Mei Mei looked at him pensively, the sunset's dim light falling into the dark alley didn't do anything but make her expression seem even darker than it actually was. Her eyes almost bore into his soul as if she was solving a puzzle.
But in all true words, Gojo Satoru was indeed a puzzle.
The 18 year old man-child was standing in front of her, looking right back her. She could tell he was serious for now. Not seeing his eyes didn't really help her case but it's not like he was going to remove his glasses just so she could see how serious he was.
Finally she reached out for her sledge bag and removed the set of papers all the while her eyes were still glued on him.
"Here, don't lose these. It was hard to forge them as it is with the Zen'in clan watching my every move."
At that he raised an eyebrow and so she explained further,
"Considering you were the one that defeated Toji, they are keeping a close eye on you and any of your close friends and I, unfortunately, fall into that list Gojo."
He frowned at that apologetically but she knew damn well he didn't mean it. Gojo Satoru didn't care about others like that.
But the situation he was in right now did say otherwise.
Flashback
His face contorted into one that of pain and dissatisfaction as he said,
"That asshole said 'Do as you please.', can you believe that?"
Flashback End
He took the papers from her and read them over only for a second before nodding and putting them in his own small tote bag. It was good that he trusted her enough to know she won't mess it up but that still made it seem like he wasn't taking this seriously enough.
'Hmm, the bag . . . '
It was actually Shoko's now that she got a closer look at it. So he directly came over to her after having that conversation with Shoko huh. It was starting to seem like he was actually serious.
Well anyways, that was the only amount of 'serious' she could have possibly gotten out of the man before he flashed his big grin and said,
"Thanks a lot girl! You're the best!"
She wasn't the one to be this serious about anything. She had her money, she did the job.
But then why did she still find herself to be worried? Surely the great Gojo Satoru can take care of two kids right?
She giggled to herself after a second thought. What was she even thinking? There is no way that man was about to last long. Shoko had seemed a little adamant about it but she'll see.
"Heeyyy what are you laughing about?" That pout was disastrous and she made sure he knew that just from her expression she returned.
He stopped pouting and rolled his eyes,
"Fineeee, anyways, I will get going now, see ya around Mei!"
And with that he was gone and the dark alley fell silent again.
"Gojo."
The boy glanced down to see Utahime stare at him with something akin to curiosity, worry and disappointment.
Well that was confusing.
And was she always this short? He looked down at her feet,
'Ah, she isn't wearing her everyday sandals huh, those add like 3 more inches to her height'
"Gojo," she repeated, "Are you sure about this? Can you really do this?"
He smirked,
"Oh how little faith you have in me Utahime, of course I can! I am the strongest!"
Something in her look changed, first it was curiosity, worry and disappointment. Now it was just worry and disappointment. As if she had gotten her answer.
"They are kids. They need a lot of attention, care, and their families haven't been the best and now they don't even have one. They aren't just toys you can play with Gojo." She wanted him to understand this. She wanted him to know. He is never serious about anything and those kids shouldn't suffer because of this.
He sighed and pouted and she felt her blood boil.
This man was going to be the end of her one day or she was going to end him if he didn't take her words into the deepest parts of his brain.
"I will be fine Hime, seriously. You and Mei worry too much. At least Shoko has a little faith in me."
'Because she is the only one that actually knows me.' Was left unsaid.
She glared at him, taking a step closer so he could hear better, understand better, be intimidated to or at least try to listen better,
"Gojo, you are playing a dangerous game."
She blinked, no fuck that,
"No fuck that, it shouldn't even be a game. This is about not just one but two people's lives."
He waved his palm lightly, sighing once again. Then without another word he walked towards the coat rack and wore his coat. For a second, he stayed there, staring at the cactus he had gifted her last year on her birthday. It was dying.
Then he ran a hand through his hair and picked out his house key from the bowl of keys next to the cactus.
Just the moment before reaching for the door however, he muttered,
"Just have a little faith me, will you."
Utahime's eyes widened a little at that. Was that . . . hurt in his voice? Not his usual whiney fake hurt, but actual hurt?
"Gojo I am-"
"Because I am gonna load those kids with as many sweets as they want! That's all kids need, trust me, it will be fineeee!"
Or not.
The man grinned and gave a small two fingered salute as he opened the door. Before he could walk out he heard the woman call out one last time.
"Listen, if you ever need anything, please just . . . don't hesitate to call okay?"
He stayed there for a second, breaths turning into fog declaring the cold weather just outside the apartment. He looked a little too quite. Plus the staring wasn't helping anyways. Then before she could add anything else he smirked,
"Anything?"
Oh now he had done it.
With a single stroke of her leg, her sandal was in her palm and towards Gojo. It irked her even more when the sandal hit an invisible force before it fell right back down 2 feet away from the man.
"Asshole-"
He pulled down his glasses to wink once before saying,
"Bye pigtails~"
And he was gone.
After standing there at the empty apartment's exit, she stomped back into her room, planning to throw away all her hair bands. Might as well change her hairstyle than listen to his shitty nickname.
"I am back- Jesus Christ didn't I tell you guys to not smoke in my room?"
Kicking off his shoes the white haired teen walked in, rubbing his hands in an attempt to warm them. He pulled off his coat as he glared at the two other occupants in the room even though he didn't mean anything by it.
Shoko rolled her eyes but Suguru stayed silent, not because he was ignoring him but as if he hadn't heard him in the first place. This had been happening a lot hadn't it?
The other two shared a small knowing glance before going back to their previous tasks.
After setting down the candles Shoko had asked for at the table, the strongest sorcerer's eyes twinkled in mischief as he quickly leaped towards them and snatched away both of their cigarettes.
Now this got an offensive 'Hey!' from both of them.
"Hah! If ya'll hadn't heard me the first time, listen now, I said, no cigs in my room." Then he threw the butts out the window, making sure they were lit out with one last peek.
"You don't even live in this room anyways, you have your own apartment." Shoko mumbled and Suguru nodded in complete agreement before adding in his own two cents,
"And you are talking as if you haven't smoked before."
"My dear friend Suguru, unlike you, I at least know when to actually fucking quit."
That should have shut him up but sadly for him, nowadays Suguru had been acting like he had a screw lose up there.
"So what, you quit because you are adopting a bunch of kids?"
He should have felt offended, he knew he should have. Even Shoko who always had that bored look on her face peeped at her friend in slight tension. But Gojo right now, was more worried as to why his friend was acting this way rather than making fun of his decisions.
Maybe calmly explaining would work?
"Nah I cared about my lungs enough to do so. Smoking occasionally is okay but being addicted is not. You should do so Suguru, you look tired nowadays." He tried his best to sound worried instead of his usual sassy self, he actually kind of was.
The dark haired teen let out a audible 'tch' before mumbling,
"Wow I am getting lectured by you, are your fatherly instincts already coming out?"
Oh now he was getting on his nerves.
"No that comes with taking care of a damn man-child."
"Look who's talking-"
"Both of you shut the fuck up."
Ieiri's command worked like magic as both of them just huffed and got back to doing what they had been doing after every fight since the last few days; Ignoring what had just happened and moving on.
After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, Suguru picked up his phone and said,
"Let's just go and eat."
And with that he was already near the door, opening it even, letting in the cold wild. Gojo and Shoko hurried right behind him with their keys and phones. At the very last second, the six eyes user noticed their coats and picked them up, thanking his powers for once for noticing them. He handed Shoko hers before wearing his own and then patting the other member of their team on his back.
"Here."
Suguru looked at the offered coat in his friend's hand before he turned his back again,
"I don't want it."
"You're welcome~ Now let's- wait what? Suguru it's -7 degrees just take it."
He was genuinely confused as to why no one want their coat at a time like this. Suguru had been stubborn in their fights but the arrogance had never lasted this long. Especially after Ieiri stops them, it was considered over after that.
"I said I don't want it." Even though it was spoken calmly it sounded like he was speaking through gritted teeth.
Shoko noticed but apparently Gojo didn't. Maybe because he was in his own bubble where his annoyance was building up. He was entirely focused on not breaking the bubble in an attempt to throw this off as lightly as possible.
This was getting too much.
He smiled tensely, even going as far as jokingly teasing,
"Awww is rough and tough Suguru going to tough it out-"
Then suddenly the coat was on fire.
Gojo threw the coat away in a well practiced and instinctive flick before his widened eyes looked back at his own hand then to Suguru in shock, the man staring back at him in his own frazzled manner.
"Fuck- Why did you do that?"
Suguru quickly scanned the coat as the fire pressed out, probably because Gojo used his technique on it. They wouldn't want the school campus to burn down. Then he looked back at him and stated,
"Because you never listen to me at once that's why."
It didn't sound believable for sure. Shoko looked at Gojo waiting for his response to this, she found herself flinching a little at the completely exasperated look on the guy.
"I haven't-? Are you listening to yourself? I have been trying so hard to understand what's going on with you, everyone has noticed!"
Her eyes widened at that. That's because they weren't supposed to have this conversation now. Both of them had planned to have it with Suguru on New Years celebration, not like this. Definitely not like this.
"Wait Gojo-" Shoko was immediately cut off by Suguru who seemed even more high-strung than before.
"Nothing is wrong!"
The teen reached for his glasses with one hand, rubbing the bridge of his nose with the other, then he raised his arms in complete defiance.
"Are you listening to yourself?! It's been months obviously something is wrong! I just say 'days' instead of 'months' because I don't want to make you think it's a big deal but it is now!"
Scanning the scene, Shoko decided that Gojo was a priority now. That's because Suguru had been losing it for months.
But it won't do anyone better if Gojo Satoru loses it even for a second.
She went to grab his arm, in an attempt to lightly pull him away from the situation,
"Gojo listen-" Her words were left unheard as the boy continued with his infinity up.
He had his infinity up around them. His friends.
"I don't care! Just leave me alone for a while it's not a big deal if I don't wear my coat! Stop being so dramatic about this!"
"Have you lost your fucking mind Suguru? Fuck the coat right now. This is different, I don't know what kind of stick has been up your ass since the last few days but stop it! Can't you see-"
"STOP."
Both of their heads reeled back in shock as Suguru let out a shockwave of cursed energy instinctively. It didn't hurt any of them at all, it wasn't meant to. But this was something he used only when he was going against stronger enemies to establish some sort of intimidating aura. Only for enemies.
Realising what he had done was wrong he tried to reach out just how Shoko had a second ago. Only to come to the same horrific conclusion she had come to.
"Guys-" He started but was quickly cut off.
"No. Just- Fuck this, Shoko I am leaving, tell Chichi obaasan I am sorry."
(Chichi was the cafeteria lady for Tokyo Metropolitan Cursed Technical College)
She glowered at Gojo's figure as he walked away in disdain. She wanted to leave too. This was unfair.
She was disappointed about this situation beyond belief and did not like this Suguru, she did not like the idea of staying by him right now either. Now she was also kinda mad at Gojo for leaving her alone with him in the first place, as if it was her responsibility.
But when her eyes caught the heart broken look on Suguru's face as he watched the other man walk away, she paused. She couldn't do that.
So that made her stay.
She knew it was his fault but she couldn't leave him. Not after seeing him like this. Not after knowing he was already in a shitty mood and how it must be 10x fold now.
The Next Day
The white haired teen groaned as the blaring sound of his alarm- or was someone calling him?- woke him up. Rolling over on his bed, he reached out for his phone on the wooden nightstand.
Suguruuuu(18 Missed Calls)
Shokoooo (9 Missed Calls)
Unknown(5 Missed Calls)
'Huh, unknown?'
His eyes fell on Suguru and Shoko's names again and he winced. Shoko was definitely going to give him an earful for leaving her alone like that yesterday. But he hadn't been seeing straight, one more minute there and he would have lost it. Suguru? He can think about that later.
Today he has plans.
His eyes peeled at the top corner of his phone screen to check the time.
Today he had plans.
Fuck.
He almost sprinted off the bed, running to the closet and pulling out his uniform. He caught a small glimpse of himself in the mirror and grimaced. Trying his best yet a shitty looking attempt to smother down his bed hair, he picked up glasses, watch, wallet and the tote bag before running towards apartment door.
After running outside and reaching the elevator,he did notice he was a bit hungry.
'Ah I skipped dinner yesterday and lunch was so bad it didn't even look edible.' He remembered how bad that curry looked, the lunch lady on the day shift just serves them leftovers whenever she gets the chance too.
'Ugh. At least Chichi obaasan doesn't do that.'
But to eat Chichi obaasan's food he would have to wait until dinner, as if that was going to work. He should eat something but when was the actual question here. Of all days, today may be his busiest so what can he- Suddenly a great idea spawned in his head.
Maybe he can take the kids with him to eat? Some good restaurant maybe? He grinned at the thought, knowing it would also give some sort of bonding time as well.
'Hell yeah! Gojo Satoru for the win again!'
"Hey kid"
He massaged the bridge of his nose again. Today had been a headache in general. He knew that man had been standing there for the past minute, trying to say something to him. Honestly he had no clue who the hell this guy was. He just looked like a normal guy back from work. He had actually been hoping the elevator would come before he finally decided if he wanted to have a conversation with him or not.
'I am in a hurry damnit.'
He turned around nonetheless, giving him nothing but a questioning eyebrow.
"Uhh there was someone in front of your house at 1 AM . . . " The man stuttered a little, for him, talking to this kid was hard for some reason.
Gojo however, swiftly realised what was wrong. Berating himself for not keeping his cursed energy in check even for a second, no wonder the man was nervous.
'And at 1 AM? What the hell is this guy even talking about? Who was it and why didn't they bother to actually knock like a normal person?
"Ah I am not quite sure who you are talking about, can you tell me what they looked like?"
The man looked at his uniform and said,
"Almost had the same uniform as you, shorter though. Had a bun with side bangs and the pant legs of the uniform were a little too wide. Kinda weird looking honestly you know?"
The right arm that had been holding the burning coat yesterday tensed unknowingly.
It was Suguru.
He smiled at the man naturally, not bothering to bow before politely stating,
"Thank you for telling me, don't worry I know the guy so next time you see him, please do bother to help him out if it's something about me."
"Ah I see I see, okay then I will make sure. Have a great day kid!"
The man smiled and waved as he walked back into his house that was right next to his own. At the door his wife greeted him happily. Gojo found his smile faltering.
'Wait no I don't have time for this-'
He walked into the elevator, continuously looking at his watch. It was 12 PM now.
This was going to be a big mess. He was supposed to reach the Orphanage at 9 AM, take the kids, roam around with them a little until 11 AM then reach school at 11:30 AM, have the 30 minute meeting with Yaga and then he had a mission.
Well not only did he miss the appointment with kids, he also missed the meeting. He almost missed the mission too-
'Wait why am I travelling like this? I should just-'
With that he warped into the office all in between when everyone was leaving. All of them stared at him with silent displeasure and utter frustration. It was clear the meeting had just ended.
Well he couldn't care less about the higher ups anyways. Spotting Yaga in the crowed, he walked towards him with a grin, raising his hand for a high-five,
"Yo sensei!"
His high-five wasn't returned neither was his energy. Well damn.
"You are late." That's all the man said as he stared at his student sternly, arms crossed.
"I know I know but you know how I am, I always gotta be fashionably late haha!"
The principal did not look impressed.
"I know what happened with you and Suguru yesterday."
His hand that was up for the high-five went down but his neutral smiled stayed persistent,
"Oh yeah? What about it?"
The man sighed, he couldn't deal with this right now. It didn't look like any of his students were ready to talk about it. He had been waiting for Gojo, hoping he would give some insight but looks like that wasn't about to work either.
"Nothing. We will discuss that later, you have a mission."
Gojo was quick to show his nervous defeat.
"Ahh I wanted to talk about this with you old man, can I actually not today? I had some work-"
And Yaga was quick to shoot down his offer.
"No. This is a serious mission Gojo. You have to be the one to go. No one else can go to this."
"What about Suguru huh? He is as strong as me." That response sounded witty and it was.
Yaga continued anyways,
"Suguru already took the mission you were actually supposed to, saying that's the least he could do. But unfortunately another mission of that caliber showed up."
The teen was more deep in thought about Suguru helping him out rather than the mission he was being given at the moment. He was distracted and had a lot of things on his mind, it was painfully obvious.
"Gojo."
At the stern call the he looked back up and was met with Yaga looking as serious he had looked during the announcement of the Star Plasma Vessel mission.
It didn't take the him too long to figure things out.
"How many special grades?"
"Two."
"Fuck."
"Language."
"Not sorry."
However many times Gojo Satoru said he was strong, he knew there was a point in his abilities where he would start to struggle. Defeating a special grade was hard but two of them? He would have to give it his all. He was sure he would win but he couldn't take any chances of not being serious. This also explained why he was the only one capable of completing this mission.
"Where?"
And with that he was given the location of the curses which were thankfully in a non-populated place, they were at some isolated beach. It was a mission on an island outside of Japan and two more Grade 1 sorcerers would be accompanying him. That did help a lot.
But he knew he had to be more serious about this. He handed Yaga the tote bag and the man looked at it questionably.
"It has something important. Don't lose it kay?"
Gojo Satoru never considered something 'important' and even if he did, it would be something even he should know about because it would always be something in regards to the sorcerer world.
"Something I should know?"
"No."
And with that he disappeared from the room. Probably warped out or he was just that fast.
To say he was tired would be an understatement but hey, at least he could walk?
Grimacing in dissatisfaction, he thought,
'Plus it's these guys in all honesty that are makin' it harder to travel.'
He repositioned one of the two passed out Grade 1 sorcerers on his shoulder again. With the way he was running, if he didn't hold even one of them properly, they were all bound to fall.
Bringing them here wasn't a mistake but in his own humble opinion, they should have had more people at least as a backup so he could travel back without being a damn taxi.
'I could warp back but that would just be tiresome . . . but then again it won't be that big of a deal considering this is the last major task of the day. Rest of em don't even need cursed energy.'
Why hadn't he thought of this 20 minutes before he had started running?
With that decision set in mind, he warped back into Yaga's office directly. He knew he should have stopped by at Shoko's office first according to protocol but that would be asking for a death wish considering he still hadn't solved the thing with Megumi and Tsumiki.
He sighed, putting the two men against one of the wooden benches in the big hall,
'This is such a mess.'
"Gojo! They look injured why didn't you-"
"I looked them over old man it's not even their blood, give me a break." He paused to stare at him, "And I am good too thanks for asking. Just drop them off at Shoko's when I am not here would ya?"
The man was confused. Very much confused. But he kept a straight face and nodded anyways.
"I am guessing you can't go to Shoko yourself or you are just stupid?"
Gojo opened his mouth to answer and Yaga just raised his hand in defeat,
"Wait don't answer that. I don't wanna know."
He rolled his eyes before turning to walk out. Suddenly however, his eyes caught hold of the projectile that was coming his way and he-
Caught it. This was-
"You were about to forget this. And your reflexes are too guarded up right now, put your glasses back on. You are dismissed."
And indeed when he reached for his face he realised he didn't have his glasses on. Placing the now acquired tote bag on his shoulder and putting on his glasses, he sprinted out. He still had work to do.
Pulling out his phone again, he dialed that unknown number. Now that he was fully awake unlike this morning, he was pretty sure where that number was from now.
It was a while before someone picked up but when they did, they picked it up in a jittery way before rapidly speaking,
'Hello, Murata Shiki from Serenity Orphanage speaking, what can I do for you today?'
"Hello! Um I am Gojo Satoru. So ahaha the thing is, I had a meet up regarding two kids: Megumi Fushiguro and Tsumiki Fushiguro, I am running a little late. Are they-"
"Wait, are you that Gojo Satoru who came in a few days ago for those two? The one who had his appointment today morning?"
He forced himself to not make a face at the tone she used when she said 'morning' because he couldn't blame her. He was supposed to be there at 9 AM and now it was 2 PM.
"Yeah uh I am sorry about that, is something wrong? Things don't really sound . . . " If he was being honest with himself, he was starting to get worried. Not much although, if there was some sort of trouble with them he wouldn't bother, that wasn't his job.
The woman sounded like she suddenly put her phone down somewhere before yelling at someone in the background,
"Hey! Look we found the guy! This was the correct number it's just that he wasn't picking up!"
Someone else in the background let out a sigh of relief, probably the person the lady was talking to,
"Thank god! Just explain the situation to him, I am heading out to lend a hand too!"
With a sharp "Got it!", the lady picked up the phone again and as calmly as she could, she said,
"Okay listen, we have some sort of a situation here."
Gojo Satoru did not expect it to be this hard.
And it wasn't even his first day of being a guardian yet.
20 Minutes Ago
He walked into the small orphanage, getting some mixed reactions from people cramped in that space. Some were of annoyance, some curiosity, some disappointment and some of astonishment. Walking further into the room, which in his personal opinion was a little too small, he dodged the small group of kids running around before nearing a group of adults, ranging from 5 women and 3 men.
'Is this the infamous Serenity Orphanage? Kids stay in this place?' He asked himself, frowning at the dim cracks in the wall which could have been almost unnoticeable to the naked eye but he was different. For him right now, every little flaw in this place just ruined his opinion on the orphanage.
A lady garb in a knee-long yellow dress approached him, it looked like this was a staff uniform as the other adults here were dressed in the same color. It did contrast pretty well with the pale blue and depressing hospital coloured walls.
"Can I help you young man?"
He was confused, she just saw him a few days ago did she not remember who he was? Oh wait, this wasn't the same lady.
"You aren't the woman I met a few days ago." He conclusively muttered with a hand under his chin.
At first she looked confused before she smiled a little and said,
"Oh you must have met my twin sister, we both run this orphanage. You do have good insight kid, many can't even tell us apart at a second glance."
Again, he did have different eyes.
Deciding to not go too deep into that, he got straight to the point. After shoving his hands inside his pockets, he questioned her,
"Why was I called here in such a hurry and why couldn't you explain the situation to me on the phone?"
At first the lady seemed like she had zero clue as to what he was even talking about then suddenly she seemed to put two and two together and asked,
"Wait are you Gojo Satoru, soon to be Megumi and Tsumiki Fushiguro's guardian?"
He grinned and pointed at himself with a thumbs up,
"Yup, in the flesh!"
The woman was instantly concerned and even the ones who were listening to the conversation from afar looked worried.
Internally he rolled his eyes and thought,
'I couldn't have been possibly that disappointing right?'
"Young man, I would like to see some paperwork. You look nothing like those kids yet you have mentioned you are a distant relative. Sounds a little unbelievable if you ask me. Not only that, you look a little too young as well."
He sighed, waving his palm as if he was trying to say 'Okay whatever'. It was good that they at least followed up-to-date safety protocols. He opened the tote bag, mentally reminding himself that he would have to give it back to Shoko, and pulled out the papers that Mei had forged.
After handing them to her he didn't wait for her to read those papers because now he was more concerned as to why the second he tried sensing Megumi or Tsumiki's energies, he couldn't feel them inside this building at all.
He hadn't really met those two but during his last visit where he had met this lady's twin in the office next to this building, she had mentioned that the two brats lived on the second floor of this building. He had easily tracked them and gotten a hint of their energies without moving an inch from his spot that day itself, both the buildings were only a few meters apart anyways.
So why were the kids not in this building or anywhere in the radius of a 5 Kilometre vicinity?
"Tell me," at his indignant tone, the lady found herself automatically listening, "Where are the kids?"
When for the first 5 seconds he didn't get a response, he knew something was wrong.
He stepped closer to her, bending down to her eye level,
"I think I asked you something, where the hell are the kids?"
One of the guys had enough balls to go against this. How unfortunate.
"He-Hey! You can't talk to her like that! St-"
Gojo removed his glasses. He was done with this shit.
Instantly he felt the area radius go from 5 Kilometres to 10 Kilometres.
Megumi and Tsumiki were still not in his sensing range.
He almost felt his blood boil. Almost. He spared the room a calculative glance and for everyone else in the room, the sight of unusual eyes was really intimidating. So they stayed silent.
He knew he had to keep his cool if he had to successfully find those two brats. It won't be an issue, he was the strongest. Literally.
And so he stormed out of the building.
20 Minutes Later
So why was it he still hadn't found them?
'Okay then, I guess I will have to do this . . . '
Still standing in mid air, he rubbed the bridge of his nose once before joining his hands in concentration. Gradually he gathered more cursed energy around his eyes, forcing them to expand his sensing range even farther than what it comfortably should be be.
He continued this until he started to feel the annoying and painful thrum behind his eyes, the only thought in his head at the moment being,
'I am not gonna get any sleep tonight am I?'
And then suddenly his area of supervision range expanded from the mere 10 kilometre radius to that of 30 kilometre radius.
'The kids have to be in this range, if they aren't here then where the fuck could they be?
But to his horrifying disappointment, the kids were still not in range.
Now this could mean two things:
One, the kids are somewhere out of the city itself.
Two, they are dead or very close to being dead.
Now, he was heavily concerned.
Throwing the thoughts of his aching eyes away, he dashed into action, warping from different points around the border of the city to effectively use the full range of his powers on every nook and cranny of this damn place.
He even tried to look into the deep rooted forests and the empty beaches. He looked everywhere. He still had to look in and around the subway tunnel lines though. He warped at one of the subway gates and when he sensed nothing he got ready for another jump, really hoping the kids were there because this was the last unchecked spot in the whole damn city.
'Where in the world could they-'
And out of nowhere he found himself crashing face first into a trash bag disposal area.
It was so appalling that he stayed there for a second to actually accept that this had happened.
After almost gagging at the disgusting smell, he hastily got up and dusted himself off, scowling at the bigger pieces of trash he had to pluck off one by one as they got stuck to his clothes.
'Now how the actual fuck did this happen?'
He stood there for a solid minute before almost face palming.
Flashback
Shoko Ieiri peered at the hunched over figure of the strongest sorcerer in front of the toilet bowl and sighed. It was 3 AM she didn't want to deal with this. Beside her, Suguru just smiled in sympathy as he placed another cold washcloth on his best friend's neck.
Then he looked back at Shoko and asked,
"This happened last time too didn't it?"
She just nodded in deep thought before she came to a pressing conclusion,
"Gojo just remember, don't use your six eyes too much. Especially after a difficult mission. You won't do anything but make your day worse."
The only response she got was an annoyed "Fuck you" from him.
Flashback End
Oh yeah. He forgot about that.
Marching out of the alley in an irritated stride, he considered his options.
Now, he would have to either fetch more people from the academy for help because it looked like he just wasn't cutting it by trying to find them alone. Shockingly.
OR he would have to look more on his own.
He didn't have a third option, which was leaving the kids behind. He obviously couldn't do that until at least they were confirmed . . . dead.
He balled his fists at the mere thought of it.
'It wasn't the matter of kids.' He told himself. Because he hadn't even known anything about them until a few days ago, he didn't have an emotional attachment to them. It was more about losing this.
'Losing what though Gojo?' Utahime's voice rang in his head.
Yeah, losing what? The kids weren't really that important to him yet so what exactly was he losing here?
'Were you seeing this as a game Gojo? A challenge you had to complete? Those are the things you lose Gojo, not protecting. That's not something you lose. That's just failing.'
Her voice was becoming annoying now.
'I did tell you it wasn't going to be easy, but what did you do?'
He knows damnit. He knows he has to find those kids but-
'Are you sure you wanted them to have a better future or was this just another thing you could strike off of your 'Things Gojo Satoru can do' list huh?'
That's not what he-
'Oh come on, you didn't actually think you were a good person did you? That's just sad.'
Just shut up. Shut the fuck up.
'Now because of you, the kids may be dead somewhere-'
"SHUT UP UTAHIME."
"Okay Jesus Christ I just said hello."
His eyes snapped open and darted up at Utahime who was peering down at him with an apprehensive gaze.
His first thought was,
'Why is she looking down though?'
She could almost hear the gears in his head turn so she sighed and replied,
"You are kneeling down in the middle of the road Gojo."
He looked around and noticed that he indeed was kneeling down in the middle of the road. It didn't take her long to notice the garbage like smell and the grazed up condition of his clothes. The garbage was unexplainable but the clothes just screamed 'Back from a mission!'
She carefully reached out to help him out. She was surprised that he had his infinity down. This was the first time he had done this around her.
Looping an arm around his own, she helped him up, watching him sway for a second before pulling himself together. She quietly stayed there as long as he wanted her to, it was new because he didn't even complain at the mere thought of help.
Thankfully this wasn't the main road so there weren't much of any people walking around. So after a while when she thought it was the right time, she asked,
"What happened?"
She could feel him turn into a bundle of nerves right then and there. Her question didn't do anything to make it better. But if she had to help out, she would have to ask this.
"Come on Gojo, I can't do anything if I don't even know what's going on."
It felt like talking to a child. Which in all sense, he was. He was a man-child.
She jumped a little when he suddenly pulled his arm out of her grasp. Then he took out his glasses, wearing them gently. She could see how he instantly relaxed after that. So it had something to do with his eyes huh?
"I am not the important matter here. It's . . . the kids."
He almost sounded ashamed but considering what he had just said, she imagined he should sound ashamed. Walking closer to him again she looked right into his eyes in all seriousness.
"Where are they and why aren't they with you now?"
Utahime wanted to punch a wall. She even almost did, the one right behind Gojo. The guy stayed without moving an inch. Was it fear or was it that he was strong enough to not get hurt by her measly punch? She didn't know.
"And you are saying even you couldn't find them with your six eyes and everything?"
He sulked immaturely and said,
"I love the amount of faith you have in me Hime but no, unfortunately I did not."
She was so glad that this time her slipper hit him right on his face. An advantage of him having his infinity down.
Which in turn raised another question,
"Why the hell are you roaming around with your infinity down?"
He raised a finger for an enthusiastic reply and that was the exact second she knew she wouldn't like it.
"I was on a mission, which you already know. But this one took a lot out of me so now it's getting kinda difficult using my techniques. Don't worry though when I say difficult it's not that bad just a little stressful."
Wow this guy is good at lying.
She knew damn well that Gojo would never admit to having difficulty with something. So the fact that he did admit having even a little of it, probably meant he should be taken to Shoko's as soon as possible cause he was about to pass out.
This was such a mess.
She weighed her options. She did come back from a mission herself, albeit hers wasn't as difficult, and she also had dinner to make. Well one day without food wasn't going to hurt anyways.
She looked at her bag. She had some opioids on her, the medic on her team was injured too so she had left some stuff with her. She had to give this back to the medical department but she could do it tomorrow. Gojo needed a time out and a quick one at that. This was more important.
"Okay, I will look for them more. You should go home and change. I will find them and-"
"No."
She felt a headache bloom. This wasn't going to be easy was it?
"Gojo," He fidgeted but stood his ground, "Go home and change, I will bring you the kids."
He had a valid argument for his disagreement apparently.
"I kind of want to be the first one they meet ya know? Like you can meet them too but I don't want to be like the second person they trust . . . " Pausing for a deep breath he continued, "You can make fun of me for this or whatever but I am doing this."
He looked nervous telling her this. She knew this was something unusual for him, talking about his feelings. How did she know? Because she felt that the situation of hearing it was unusual itself.
Until today even she thought this wasn't even possible. There was a point when she thought that Gojo Satoru didn't have emotions and feelings like that. That he was just too powerful to care about things like that.
But did she ever try to get to know him? She just went along and got annoyed with his sassy attitude. She never tried to be his friend. It must have been the first time someone has been that nervous while telling her something. Even more surprising when she was supposed to be a friend.
This felt . . . sad. Somehow she felt disappointed in herself.
"Okay."
His eyes that had been staring at some random tree nearby because god forbid he looked nervous if he stared at his own feet, flew back to the girl in front of him.
She had said that so casually. No laughing, no joking around, no being overly-serious. She just said it as it was.
This was new.
"But you still need to change. Go home and change, I will send you my location- or not. You can find me without it anyways. After you are done, find me. We will continue to look together after that. You do have the orphanage's number right?"
He dumbly nodded.
"Okay good. Send me that number. I will stay in contact with them too just in case they find the kids instead. We don't know why the kids never returned to the orphanage after school so we can't really blame them and they can only file a missing persons after 48 hours. They are looking for them too so let them help out."
He nodded again.
She took away his tote bag that was barely hanging off his shoulder now and gave him a small amused look,
"I will take this. You should just worry about your clothes right now, don't want the kids to have a bad first impression right?"
Till now he had gained some of his senses back, he smirked with a hand under his chin,
"Obviously they won't judge a handsome guy like me regardless of my clothes~"
She gave him the 'I am not impressed' look as she walked away,
"Go home and come back as soon as possible idiot."
"Aye aye captain!"
His breath had caught up at those words.
"Gojo, I found him."
"I-I am on my way."
He put his phone back in his pockets as he ran out of his apartment a second time that day.
"Fushiguro Megumi-kun right?"
The boy turned around and Gojo found his face revolting against his control.
'This brat completely looks like his shitty father.'
"Or rather, who are you?"
In his opinion the kid no where near sounded like a kid. Sure his voice was squeaky, sure he looked like a 6 year old, sure he carried a backpack and wore kiddish plain clothes. But what was up with the way he talked?
"What's with the face?" The kid almost sounded irritated. He was looking at him as if he was some sort of plague, he couldn't blame the kid. He looked too much like his father.
"Just thinkin' you look similar. That's all."
" . . . What do you want?"
'Straight to the point huh?'
"Your dad is actually from the reputable Zen'in sorcerer family. Even I think he's a big loser, he left the family and had you."
The kid stayed silent and he crouched down to his eye level.
"You have powers and you can see them right? I bet you have already manifested your cursed technique too."
The kid still stayed persistently silent, staring right into his eyes, or glasses.
Oh his glasses, he couldn't really see his eyes now because of those could he? He made sure to tilt his head a little so the kid could actually see him instead of talking to a wall of sass. He knew he was annoying.
"The Zen'in family loves sorcerers blessed with quality cursed power! A cursed technique typically manifests between the ages of 4 to 6, ripe to sell!"
He tried to give this kid as much information as he could to at least make sure the kid knew that he knew what he as talking about.
"You're something your dad kept from the Zen'in family. His trump card."
He paused for a second before looking at the kid with a smile,
"Sucks doesn't it? Your dad . . . I ki-"
"So what?"
His eyes widened as the 6 year old continued,
"I don't care where he is or what he's doing. I haven't seen him in years. I don't even remember what he looks like. But I got the gist of what you are talking about."
Hovering his eyes over Tsumiki who was standing at their old apartment's balcony he proceeded,
"Tsumiki's mom hasn't returned in a while either as you may already know at this point we are both orphans. So that means our parents are done taking care of us and are living happily together."
Gojo stared at him with a empty expression for a moment before smiling,
"Are you really a first grader?"
He got back up, deciding this was enough for base work and it was time for the real problem.
"Well if you ever get curious about your dad, just ask. I think you might find it interesting. Now then, let's get down to business. What do you want to do? Do you want to go to the Zen'in family?"
Even though he did have the adoption papers on him he still had to give the kid a choice. He wasn't going to force a kid into something he didn't want, however much he wanted him to not join the Zen'in clan.
"What will happen to Tsumiki? If we go there, will Tsumiki be happy? My answer depends on that."
The kid was one self-sacrificing bastard Gojo had to give him that.
At his question although, millions of memories of clan meetings, classes, assassination attempts, rituals and down right disgusting 'lessons' went through his mind.
"No. There is absolutely no way. I guarantee that."
The kid bit his lip as he puffed up his chubby cheeks and scowled up at him. He looked like was about to punch the living daylights outta him. He was pretty sure even the kid knew he was strong.
Yet here he was, ready to fight.
Gojo found himself chuckling cheekily,
"Heh heh . . . "
Then he ruffled the boy's head which only annoyed the kid further but hey, at least he didn't look as mad as he did a second ago,
"Gotcha! I'll take care of things!"
Megumi felt something warm bubble in his chest at that. As if some sort of weight was being taken of his shoulders. Someone was finally taking some responsibility off of him.
As the older boy walked towards the house from which Tsumiki was looking down at both of them curiously, he muttered a little sternly,
"But you're gonna have to work extra hard. I am countin' on ya."
He put his hands in his pocket as he added one last line,
"You better get strong. Don't get left behind."
The boy nodded heftily, determined.
Gojo closed his eyes in something akin to fondness.
Behind a wall, Utahime did the same.
Notes:
Extra:
"How did you even find those kids I looked everywhere for them."
Utahime smirked,
"I just used my head."
Gojo just continued looking at her with a straight face, a little disappointed even at the bad insult. He kept waiting for an answer in silence until she folded sighed,
"You will never let me tease you back will you?"
"Nope. Now, how did find them?"
"They were just at their old house, the one in which they lived before they got into the orphanage. I looked around the house and apparently the house has cursed energy cancellation seals all over, probably Toji or his wife put them up when they were living there. The kids possibly couldn't have known that."
That . . . made a lot of sense.
—
Did I just take my main summary's dialogue completely out of context just because it looked cool in the summary? Yes. Yes I did.
ALSO, you might have noticed that Gojo in this fic is weaker, this is because he is.
Manga Gojo (in his past arc) was around 17-18 years old and that was when he was obviously weaker than his adult self. He did learn a lot while fighting Toji but still weaker indeed.
And also this does have some inconsistencies in the timeline of Suguru's deflection that is because I myself MADE it like that, everything in the name of plot 😭
Chapter 2
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
"Okay y'all ready to go?"
Tsumiki nodded enthusiastically but Megumi had a weird look in his eyes as he did not even bother to respond.
'That kid isn't ready to trust anyone easily huh?'
Well he did kinda freak the kid out with what he did before. At least Tsumiki was a little confident unlike this brat. Well he couldn't really blame the kids. With the kind of childhood they had, he is surprised they are actually doing okay.
Flashback
Gojo felt someone tug at his arm sleeves and he turned around to find Tsumiki looking at him regretfully- or was she thinking she was going to regret what she was going to say?
"Gojo-sama-"
He raised his finger, stopping it right in front of her face,
"Wait wait wait let me stop you right there, please don't call me sama. Just Gojo san or even just Gojo is fine. Heck even Satoru is okay. Don't sama me Tsumiki chan."
Tsumiki looked at his fake whine and chuckled to herself lightly before she realised she had forgotten she had something to say and shook her head determinedly.
"Gojo-san, can we talk about something?"
He was about to say 'Sure' but she bit her lip anxiously and mouthed 'Not here'.
'Ah, alright let's see what this is about'
"Megumi kun, I am gonna help out Tsumiki in the kitchen to pack some more stuff. Continue here kay?"
(They were still at the old apartment packing stuff. The apartment only has a kitchen, a bathroom and a bedroom which is also the hall. Basically a small three part home)
Megumi's eyes slid down to Tsumiki's hand that was still holding onto Gojo's sleeve. Then he looked back up and nodded anyways.
'The kid sure isn't stupid. And he's like what, six?'
In the kitchen he looked down at Tsumiki who was now nervously fiddling with her fingers. Sighing, he bent down to her eye level,
"What is it Tsumiki chan?"
She gulped, deciding it was now or never.
"Ho-How can we be sure that you uhh you really are a far off relative of ours?"
Translation: Can we really trust you to not harm us?
Flashback
"Gojo nii, people have been acting strange around me . . . should I be worried?"
Gojo reached out for his head and gave it a pat, smiling.
Flashback end
He smiled, setting down a hand on Tsumiki's head in reassurance,
"Do you want to see the papers I gave to the Serenity orphanage?"
She tilted her head in confusion, seemingly not bothered by the hand on her head,
"Papers?"
'Ah these are little brats, they won't know what those are.'
"Yes papers Tsumiki chan! They are official government documents about my relationship with your family, even though distant. I mean I don't really look anything like y'all do I?"
She nodded at that, laughing a little. So he continued.
"The orphanage asks for those papers to make sure they are real and does some checking before they put you guys under my care. They won't give you guys to any rando who walks in so don't worry! But to make sure, we are going to the orphanage first to get those papers back! When we are there, you can look at them. Sound good?"
She nodded, this time more confidently and he ruffled her hair and got up,
"I am sure Megumi kun is done with work in the hallway, wanna clean up the stuff here?"
She faltered a little before replying,
"Umm we don't really have anything in the kitchen because we were living in the orphanage anyways."
He looked around and sure enough there was nothing here, not even inside the cabinets. He kinda forgot ask why the kids were here instead of the orphanage in the first place. He could do that later though. Well- Oh wait there was something in here.
He pointed at an old cabinet to their right,
"What about that box Tsumiki chan? It looks like it has papers of some sorts. If it's not important we can leave it."
She was confused for a second before her eyes widened and she ran over to that cabinet that was like 3 feet above her height and pointed at it,
"Yes! Thank you Gojo sama-"
"San."
"Gojo san, these are mine and Megumi's birthday cards! I never thought much about them but they seemed to have stamps on them so I kept them. Now that I know what 'Papers' actually mean, they must be important right?"
Now, Gojo wasn't stupid. He knew the orphanage had another set of birth certificates. He was pretty sure when the orphanage must have asked them for their birth certificates these brats must have said no because to them these were 'Birthday cards' not certificates.
He couldn't find the heart to tell these kids that the orphanage had issued another 'Birthday' for them which was basically the day they were put into the system.
So he grinned, walking over to the cabinet and opening it to pull out the small cardboard box of documents,
"Definitely Tsumiki chan, that was a smart move!"
He couldn't help but smile more as the girl's eyes brightened and she happily skipped out the kitchen to tell Megumi about this.
He was also glad she didn't ask why he could see through the cabinet without even having to open it and being 4 feet away.
Flashback End
'Well this went pretty smoothly.'
Now all he has to do is go to the orphanage, get these kids and himself dinner and then make them comfortable around his apartment. On dinner's specifications? To him Chichi obaasan's dinner sounds good. That would also mean he could introduce the kids to Nanami, Utahime, Shoko and Sugu-
Well. That was going to be awkward.
'Okay then not Chichi obaasan for today. I'll just get takeout or make something myself. Better than meeting Suguru anyways.'
He looked down at Megumi and Tsumiki who seemed to be discussing something. He was pretty curious what they were talking about so soon on their way, so he tried to listen in.
He couldn't.
'What the . . . '
He tried to listen in again.
Again he couldn't.
Huh, he should be able to hear them. Even if they were whispering, he had senses that were a 100 times better than an average human. So why-
And suddenly his body reminded him that he had just returned from a hard mission, hadn't had any sort of food for almost a day and he had just overworked himself while trying to find these kids.
His hand that was holding onto the box loosened and he felt his knees buckle enough to make his walk falter. Just a second later his vision blurred dramatically. Oh he was not about to pass out right in front of the kids who were just now starting to trust him. He couldn't afford that. He has to do something.
'What can I-'
"Oh if it isn't Gojo!" He felt slender arms slide under his own and around his waist, strong enough to hold him up with ease. So this wasn't a normal person.
"Man, what a small world we live in, where have you been? We need to talk sometime you know?"
"Ah my bad hehe" Might as well go along with it. Plus he could already smell the lily perfume on this person. That annoyingly strong lily perfume.
This was Utahime wasn't it?
"Oh you are with some kids? Aww they are so cute I just wanna squish their cheeks!"
He was pretty sure she was dying inside from talking this way. He was too. This Utahime was not it.
"You kids okay if I borrow him for a minute? I will be right in that alleyway, I need to ask him something."
His vision was a bit clear now and he could see Megumi not giving a fuck. Wow this kid- But Tsumiki was looking at him in worry.
'Well at least someone cares.'
"It's okay, it will only be for 5 minutes!"
He had tried to sound as best as he could and by the looks of it, it was enough to fool them. Megumi just nodded and Tsumiki gave a lively thumbs up and said "Okay!".
He was pulled into the alleyway as Utahime fake laughed all the way there- god she was a terrible actor.
"I saved your ass in the last damn minute Gojo." She whispered all the while slowly setting him down on the ground.
Deciding not to say anything for a second, he closed his eyes, pushing up his glasses so they covered them better. Well that wasn't doing much good. He then proceeded to just wrap his fingers around his eyes.
'Ah that's better.'
"You are a terrible actor Hime."
Her eyes twitched at the pure audacity of this man. She literally saved him from passing out in front of the kids he had just taken in. That's the thanks she was getting? She even helped him find them today!
"Just sit the hell down for a few minutes and it would also help a lot if you told me what you need."
When it looked like he wasn't replying she decided her next best bet was to call Shoko. She took out her phone and dialed. Before she could click on 'CALL' however, the man decided to finally say something.
"Don't."
"Do you need a mirror to take a look at yourself? Gojo you can't possibly-"
He groaned at that, clearly annoyed. He was fully aware that calling Shoko would be a good idea. But there was no way that could be done after she had left him 9 missed calls and he hadn't called her back once. Besides it's not like she had a solution for this.
Utahime alternatively, stared at him in worry. He looked like he was in actual pain. This wasn't good. This looked like a very bad migraine.
This time making sure to whisper instead of talk like she normally does, she asked,
"Okay then, what else can you do right now? I would have thought of something myself but I have absolute zero clue as to what's wrong with your eyes."
Well he was glad she had at least figured out to talk slowly. He wasn't much too enthusiastic about her figuring out there was something wrong with his eyes though.
"Shoko's going to give you nothing. She doesn't have a solution for this. All I can do is take a couple of painkillers and hope it goes the fuck away."
She wondered about that for a bit. A couple of painkillers would take around 20 minutes to actually take effect. They didn't have that kind of time. Maybe . . .
"Gojo, maybe it's better to tell the kids what's happening-"
"No."
She sighed and reprimanded herself for being so mindless. She should have seen it coming. But what other option did they have?
"I know you want to help them out but you can't do that while you are in this condition-"
"Please just, don't. Please."
She was left speechless as her eyes fell back on the man. He still had the same expression, he was still sitting the same way but she could see make out the tenseness in his shoulders. He knew what he had just done and it had most probably hurt his pride but he was still determined about it.
She still couldn't believe it. Gojo Satoru had literally almost begged.
"I- Gojo it's okay, I won't. It's okay just, stay here. I will think of something else okay?"
He simply nodded, turning to look into the darker side of the alleyway. Well now she was sure it definitely had something to do with his eyes. Maybe he needs rest but he has some work to do. For now he should take some sort of pain reliever but normal painkillers take 20 minutes . . . it was as if she was back to square one.
'Well isn't this a mess.' Her eyes roamed around the alleyway when she spotted her bag beside Gojo.
"I should pick it up it will get dirty" She muttered, eyes still on the bag.
"Oh so you lay me on the floor but you are worried about your bags?"
Clenching her fists she got up and took hold of her bag. Even in this condition the bastard was annoying her. If he was good enough to tease her maybe he should just continue like that.
On her way to put her phone back into her bag she noticed the plastic case the medic had handed her after the mission.
Okay so maybe she did have something that could help. Quickly opening her case, she removed the seal tag on one of the containers. It was the opioids the medic had left with her. These work the fastest and the best.
She frowned though,
'Well it could lead to some drowsiness or other side effects but if I gave him just one pill it would be fine. He isn't a normal human anyways. To completely get rid of the pain it looks like I would have to give him two but that would lead to the side effects. So giving one was the best option for a quick pain relief. It won't make the pain go away completely but would be much better than what he's going through now.'
"What are you thinkin' about?"
Now having been brought out of her thinking phase, she explain the plan to him and he absolutely agreed with it.
"What were you guys doing?"
It was a simple question honestly. But did they have a single clue as to how to answer it? No.
Thankfully, Tsumiki came to their rescue.
"Oh don't ask things like that Megumi! Let them be!" Then Tsumiki turned to look at them and smiled a little too widely.
Well technically not a good attempt at rescuing.
Megumi looked at the scene once then rolled his eyes and started walking again. His sister followed suit and so did the older ones.
"I feel like this has lead to a big . . . misunderstanding."
Utahime glared at Gojo and muttered,
"Yeah gee no wonder. We were in there for like what, 10 minutes?"
In the response to that he just massaged the bridge of his nose and kept walking so she just rolled her eyes. Well she didn't expect him to be at 100% anyways. One of the other reasons she was going with him. Honestly it was surprising that the kids still hadn't asked why she was coming along.
Utahime stopped in front of the grocery store as the other three kept walking. Tsumiki was talking to Gojo about the adoption thing and he had been very surprisingly patient with everything. He even looked like he was actively listening in. Geez if only he had been like that with her from the start then maybe she could have tolerated him everyday.
About her other dilemma though, she was sure Gojo would need some groceries. He most probably lived off take out and sweets. This was going to be hard.
'Hmm unless he decides to eat on campus today.'
"Hime?"
She looked at him and pointed at the grocery store,
"Aren't you going to need groceries? Or are you eating at Chichi obaasan's as usual? Everyone would be happy to meet the kids you know."
He grimaced at that. The thought of seeing his friends right now was revolting. He wasn't even mad anymore he just knew he was going to get a long ass lecture from Shoko and many apologies from Suguru. He needed some peace.
But to the other two, this looked completely different. Megumi took a note of the expression on his face and the hand that was holding Tsumiki's hand tightened. Gojo looked like he didn't want them to be wherever this Chichi place was. They were already troubling the guy and it wasn't even the first day.
"Ano, Gojo san, it's okay if we don't eat today . . . " He completely agreed with Tsumiki, adding in his own words too, "Yeah you can go, we'll be fine."
Gojo on the other hand gawked at them with his mouth half open, too surprised to say anything. Utahime wasn't fairing any better.
Megumi continued,
"We have some ramen, we can make it-"
"I had a fight with Suguru yesterday."
Megumi's head reeled back at the suddenness of the bold statement. He didn't even know who Suguru was and Gojo just admitted to having fought someone. Was he a rebel? What did that even mean? Who knows- Well apparently someone did.
(Megumi and Tsumiki have a very simple understanding of the word fight. When he said fight, they just thought it meant physical fighting)
Utahime was taken-back by this. Weren't they best friends? Walking closer to the trio she asked him,
"What? Why? And how bad was it?"
"Damn slow down-"
At her unimpressed look he just rolled his eyes and continued,
"Enough. It was bad enough. That's why I don't want to go to Chichi obaasan's. He and Shoko," He looked down at the kids, "who are my best friends, would be there. It would just get really awkward."
Tsumiki made a 'o' with her mouth and Megumi nodded as well, understanding the situation too. He guessed they had been overthinking about this a little.
"Besides, I wanna spend some time with them."
Stunned at the open statement, both of them looked up to see the teen smiling at them.
"Which Ice cream do you like? I personally like strawberry! I know likes Butter Pecan-"
"How did you know-"
"Moving on, What flavours do you guys like?"
Tsumiki thought about it for a moment before shyly saying,
"Is it okay for both of us to have one each? Shouldn't we share one?"
It was easy enough to say Utahime and Gojo felt their hearts break at that.
The older woman bent down as she lightly pulled on Tsumiki's cheeks, snickering a little. She hadn't been kidding earlier when she had been acting. The kids really were cute.
"No, it's totally fine for each of you to have one! Now Tsumiki chan, Megumi kun, what flavours do you guys want? You both can actually ask two each for today as a celebration! Gojo san here is pretty loaded, he doesn't care about money like that."
"Hey!"
She breezily continued,
"So which ones do you like?"
Suddenly there was a quite whisper,
"I like vanilla."
Utahime beamed at that, turning to look at Tsumiki who just replied with,
"Chocolate, if that's okay."
"Completely fine!" She looked at her friend, "Wanna do the honours Gojo? I can help you with groceries too if you want."
He put a hand over his chest in a fake painful motion while saying,
"Oh you hurt me! You don't think I would have groceries at my place?!"
She raised an unimpressed eyebrow,
"Well, do you?"
He paused in between his antics, genuinely confused.
"Did you think I was an animal or something? Why wouldn't I have groceries?"
"Well I just thought you would be the kind of guy to have take out everyday."
"Everyday- What the hell do you take me for? I may be rich but damn ain't that a little too much?"
"So you have a chef-"
"Woman! What kind of a person do you think I am to have a chef when I am basically living alone?"
"Then how do you eat-"
He walked over to her, resting his arm over her shoulders, his breathing a little too close to her face. She could almost feel his heartbeats and the smell of- god was that trash?
Well she did tell him to just change but not bath because they were in a hurry at that time. But still, the second she wanted to flick his arm off, he started talking. It was interesting enough that she forgot about his arm.
"Hime Hime Hime, it's a secret technique not many know. Wanna know what it is?"
Now she was genuinely curious. The kids were in earshot too so they leaned in to hear him as well, eyes full of eagerness.
He paused for the dramatics before whispering,
"I cook it myself."
Her eyes twitched for a second before she threw his arm off, clenching her fists as the guy laughed his ass off in the middle of the street. She then removed her sandal and threw it at him, finding it even more provoking when the sandal didn't touch him. She heard some loud giggling and looked at the kids and noticed Tsumiki was laughing too, heck even Megumi looked like he was holding back on snickering. Megumi, the kid who looked like he will never have wrinkles because he never smiles. That Megumi was laughing at her.
'I am not getting laughed at by some kids-'
"Oh my," The white haired teen exclaimed loudly as he wiped off his tears, "That was too funny! You really didn't think I was capable of making food did ya?"
"Sh-Shut up! It's just surprising that's all!"
Smirking teasingly, he put his hands in his pockets,
"Uh huh, what else? Did ya think I was a godly being who didn't even interact with lowly humans?"
This was getting too much. He was about to be punched by her in the middle of a busy street if he didn't stop. But then again, he couldn't get hurt by her. Plus the kids were here too. Relaxing her clenched fists, she decided that getting angry was going to be pointless.
Suddenly something blocked her vision and she moved her head back a little to see it was her sandal. Ah he was giving it to her.
"Humph, thanks."
"Come onnn, say it a little more nicely~"
"No. Let's go in, we are buying groceries too. You might have enough for one person but you have two more people now."
"Haha, aye aye captain!"
"Home sweet home everyone!" He yelled into the seemingly dark apartment.
Sighing she said,
"Gojo, the lights."
"Oh yeah sorry my bad-"
She wondered how low the light bill must be to a six eyes user. You just know where everything is, why do you even need any light?
And all of a sudden the lights were on and all of them could see clearly. It didn't take much long for any of them to adjust to the lights, which was unlike her expectations.
'No scratch that, everything here is soooo . . . '
"Not much huh? Well I didn't really put a lot thought over decorating since I live alone. Plus I don't really have any visitors . . . or any at all. You guys must be the third time people have visited! First ones being Suguru and Shoko those couple of times. Other than that, no one else. Just me here, welcome!"
Utahime walked in and couldn't help but feel kind of prideful at the fact that she was the third person to walk into his apartment. Well obviously there were Megumi and Tsumiki but yeah.
"Do you guys want me to show you around or will you do it yourselves? You would have Utahime with you of course!"
'I have never seen his house too- this idiot.'
He continued anyways, he probably realised his mistake but why would he care?
"Imma just set up the groceries in cabinets you know?"
Both Megumi and Tsumiki nodded hastily. Well that didn't really answer Gojo's original question but she couldn't blame them. Their eyes were already roaming around the house. They sure were exited to see it.
She was also curious know as to why would a guy like him not have a single visitor. Not even someone from his own family? One thing she knows about Gojo Satoru is that he never exaggerates. Ever.
Like when he says he's the strongest? It's true. He just is. So when he said he doesn't have any visitors, he wasn't jinxing it.
The apartment in itself was the most shocking part. It was so . . . bland. Not bland bland. It was something she liked. It seemed like a good apartment but it just looked nothing like something Gojo would have. It was so un-Gojo-like, if that made sense. Sure it was big, bigger than hers but it was a rather normal looking apartment. When she had walked in she had expected bright lights, too bright for eyes but they were just normal.
The house had a green couch right in front of the entrance lead up, it was facing the left side where there was a normal TV.
Then when they walked even more so on the left and turned left, there was the dining room with the kitchen built around it. The kitchen was big enough that it didn't look cramped up but also didn't look too spacey. The dining itself had a single chair and a table big enough for two.
Well that was just sad.
The three of them walked out of the kitchen and right in front of them there was a door, probably the bathroom. Turning left again and further down the long hallway there were three bedrooms. Why did Gojo have three bedrooms? That was a question to which she would never have an answer for. At least it helped with the situation.
Gojo then popped his head from behind the right wall (point of views guys) back at the start of the hallway, probably returning from the kitchen,
"Had a good tour? Should I show you guys around more? I mean this is pretty much it though."
She turned around and remarked,
"I think this much will be fine. We should probably make some food for the kids first you know."
He shifted his attention back to the kids and asked,
"You guys, do you wanna eat first or settle down your stuff and then eat?"
"Uhhhh I don't know . . . " Tsumiki sighed reassured Megumi by patting his head,
"We'll settle down first Gojo san, you should too! Then we can help you out-"
"Oh no no no, you get to eat the great and inhumane Gojo Satoru's food today, you guys can help out tomorrow if you want kay? Some people really think I am not a human being," Utahime felt her eyes twitch for the third time that day, "So I will have to just prove this person wrong you know?"
Tsumiki giggled and nodded and Megumi quivered a little from holding back his laugh too, managing to nod at the end.
Utahime on the other hand just accepted her defeat at this point.
"Okayyy! So the room straightaway to the front of this hallway as you can see, is mine. Then there's obviously the ones next to mine, the one on the right wall and the one on the left wall. Megumi and Tsumiki, you can choose any of them. Both are the same anyways!" He didn't realise it but he looked like an air hostess giving the routine emergency instruction demo before a flight. God she wished she had realised it sooner and had recorded it.
The two kids agreed with the teen, unaware as to why Utahime was laughing by herself. But before entering their respective rooms, they hesitated.
Noticing this he asked,
"What is it? Is there something wrong?"
Tsumiki fidgeted with her fingers again. Gojo took note of how this was a habit of hers whenever she was nervous. Megumi? Well the boy hasn't even said or done much to the point he could have a readable habit like that.
"Umm, can we live in a single room? Just for some time?"
Gojo almost closed his eyes at the familiarity of this scene.
Flashback
"Nii san, can I sleep with you for today?"
Flashback End
Utahime wondered how he would react to this. This, at least according to her, was the first time one of them had asked something this vulnerable.
Gojo's eyes slightly peeked at Megumi's face that was a little flushed in embarrassment, his fists tight. Ah so even Megumi did have a nervous tick. Then he looked at Utahime who just pointed at the kids with her eyes as if screaming 'Say something!'
Looking back at them, he took note of how they were gazing at him expectantly but also as if they were afraid of the answer. His eyes softened as he gave a tender smile and said,
"Of course! Just tell me how you guys wanna set up the stuff then I can manage to bring the desk from the other room into this one, kay?"
Tsumiki and Megumi's shoulders visibly relaxed and they beamed at him. Gojo realised this was the first time Megumi had given him an actual smile, he couldn't have been more happier with the outcome. If this was how it's going to be, he would make sure the kids stayed happy till the day he died.
He ruffled both of their heads and decided to help them out with their stuff. They all went into the room on the right.
Utahime just stood there however.
'That was . . . different.'
She had never seen Gojo smile like that. It was so real and soft, unlike all the other times he had actually smiled. It made the other times seem so damn . . . fake. Did he ever really smile like that around her? Or was he always just teasing her and joking around for no absolute reason. Because the man she saw just now didn't look like the type to pull pranks.
"Himeeee, what are you thinkin' about?"
She whipped her head around, not realising she had been so deep in thought and he just jumped back a little.
"Okayy geez my bad I didn't think you were that gone. You alright?"
She stepped closer to him and he inquisitively waited for an answer. Which he didn't get.
She stepped even more closer, almost looking at him like he was some sort of puzzle. He could almost feel her breaths on his face. He realised that this surely was uncomfortable when someone else did it to him. Was this her form of revenge for him having done it to her for so many years?
"What is-"
"Shut up."
And so he did. He stood there for what felt like a decade. No one spoke a word.
Tsumiki opened the door and said,
"Ah Gojo san how do we open the win . . . dow . . . Yeah I can come back later-"
This got a consecutive "NO!" from both of them as they called her back into the hallway. Feeling their faces redden a little as she laughed at them. Gojo was looking at Utahime with the 'This is your fault!' look. She couldn't care less.
"I was just looking into something Tsumiki chan. Anyways don't misunderstand this, I hate his guts."
"Ouch? I am right here?"
She rolled her eyes and walked away and he sighed. He peered down at the kid and asked,
"So what did you-"
"I managed to open it Tsumiki!" Came the shrill yell from inside the room.
Tsumiki in question turned around and peeked into the bedroom,
"Oh you did! Good job Megumi! Ah, sorry Gojo san we just couldn't figure out how to open the window, don't worry though looks like Megumi figured it out. Sorry to trouble you, you can go back to uhh whatever you guys were doing!"
"We weren't-"
"Byeee!"
And the door was closed on his face. Isn't this how teenagers were supposed to be like, not toddlers? Albeit the context and the reasoning behind closing doors was totally different in both scenarios.
Well he was really about to disappoint Tsumiki because there possibly couldn't be anything he could do with Utahime, at least in the way she was imagining. The only thing he could manage to get out of her would be a fight or a temper tantrum.
Striding out the hallway, he took notice of Utahime inspecting the wall near the couch closely. Considering what kind of an opinion she had about him, maybe she thought there was a secret door behind a wall or something?
"There aren't any secret doors in my house Hime. My house itself is a secret for the most part."
She just deadpanned at him before going back to looking at the wall. She was humming some sort of a song. He listened in.
Wait that was-
"Dayglow!?" She was too dumbfounded at the suddenness of the enthusiasm, "You listen to Dayglow too!? Why didn't you tell me?"
"Why was that a relevant thing to-"
"That one was 'Can I call you tonight?' right? That's my favourite!"
That was her favourite too. She wasn't going to admit that thought.
"Yeah that one is pretty nice, but this had just been in my head since I heard it somewhere."
He deflated pretty quickly at that. His hand that had been over his pocket most probably on its way to pull out his phone to show her something, fell back down against his side.
Now that did make her feel kinda bad. Why did she lie anyways? What was so wrong about having a common interest?
Maybe because she and Gojo were two completely different people living two completely different lives. The scene back there when he had smiled at the kids so tenderly, made him seem more relatable. It made him appear like someone she could actually be close friends with.
Maybe it was her own conscience telling her it wasn't okay. And honestly that was what she had been thinking when she was been scanning this wall since a minute ago.
"Well that's unfortunate." Then he quickly jumped back to his trippy mood,
"Anyways! I will go change. And you, are staying for dinner. I gotta prove it to you that I can cook."
Well it didn't look like she had a way out of this. So she just sighed and he took it as a yes.
But before he could leave she mumbled,
"Oh and by the way, good choice on the wall colour."
He looked at the wall once as he commented, "Thanks! The colour is Eater lily if you wanna know!" and then he grinned and walked away.
She casually remembered the same lily perfume she had been wearing since the last 10 years.
Notes:
Idk in my personal opinion this chapter was kind of cringe but then again it's my fault for writing it until 5 AM 💀
I am sorry I am also working on my other fic's chapter so it's a juggle at this point 😭
Chapter 3: Chapter 3
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
It was a weirdly peaceful sight.
After the hassle both of them had gone through the whole day, finally sitting there and watching him chop some vegetables was peaceful. No complexities, no turn backs, no 'oh now we have to do this' or excuses. Just cooking in silence. At least for Gojo that is. He didn't even allow her to help out.
The sound of the vegetables getting chopped was somehow therapeutic. It had been a while since someone had cooked for her. It was even more satisfying to know it was Gojo who was cooking. She was finally making this guy do something for her.
She pulled out her phone, glancing at the top right corner of the screen. It was 9 PM. She frowned. It would be time to go back home at some point.
"Gojo," the guy just hummed in response, too absorbed into cooking for turning around.
"I have to go back soon. When are you going to be done?"
He stopped chopping for a second and tilted his head back to look at her. He was contemplating something. What though? She did not understand- Then he pouted.
Her eyebrows twitched.
She huffed and set down her phone on the table. Then she put her arms on it, leaning on her palms in disdain,
"I am serious Gojo. I have to clean up my place and go to bed and all. I came back from a mission too you know."
He got a strange look on his face before asking,
"What was your mission?"
Why was he interested?
"Had to get rid of this second grade curse. Today, almost everyone had missions for some reason."
He looked down on the floor with a hand under his chin, this time seriously contemplating something. That made her think if something was wrong. Is there something about this that she missed? Should she be worried?
"Is there-"
He then shrugged smoothly, turning back to the boiling pot on the stove,
"Oh well, the old farts probably did something sneaky if they sent all the sorcerers away at once."
That was . . . a different way to look at it. She looked down in slight wonder . . . and maybe also while feeling a little stupid. It was as if for the first time, she had thought about it this way. But surprisingly enough no, it was not the first time.
The higher ups, even if she didn't hate them as much as Gojo did; she still got worried about what they were doing from time to time. Well what can they do about it anyways? In the end they are called the higher ups for a reason.
"Don't worry though. I will look into it and probably fix whatever they were doing while I am at it."
Her eyes snapped back up over his back. He was still casually whistling and continuing his tasks as if he hadn't just said he was going to go against the higher ups. But . . .
"Why though?"
His hand that had been stirring the pot paused for a second before it continued on what it was doing,
"Hmmm, because most probably no one else will?"
And she winced at that.
But could she really say anything against it? It was true. She herself had never thought about going against them. It wasn't her responsibility.
But why was it Gojo's?
"But it's not even your responsibility."
He spinned the ladle around his finger while smugly commenting,
"Oh dear Hime, I am doing it because I want to and because no one else will. I don't really blame anyone else though. I was gifted with these powers so might as well do somethin' with them right?"
It wasn't really a question. He knew the answer to it. What he didn't expect her to say was-
"No."
The ladle stopped spinning.
"Huh-"
"Just because you have the power to do something for others doesn't really mean you do it. It depends on you. That's like saying, 'I am very skilled at making bricks so I will make a house for everyone.' Sure if you want to then go ahead. But you know, at the end of the day you will get taken advantage of."
"Dude, I am powerful enough to go against them you know? Hah like it really won't be an issue."
She crossed her arms in defiance,
"Again, still doesn't make it your responsibility."
He rolled his eyes in a practiced motion, turning back at the pot and saying,
"Okay a simpler explanation would be; It's not like building a house with bricks but kinda like, making a lemonade ya know? Anyways that reminds me, do you want some juice? I think I had some left over from last night!"
He didn't want her to take this any further. He hoped she would just leave this topic be. It would do both of them better.
Well unfortunately for him, the only other person who could give him a run for his money in terms of stubbornness, was none other that Utahime Iori.
"But, nobody told you to make the lemonade. Unless you are doing it for yourself, then it's fine. Making a lemonade for the rest of the world though, when it actually isn't your responsibility, and when you don't seem to have the heart to do it too, seems hard you know. You do have the power to do it. But just because you have the power to do it doesn't mean you are happy to do it."
He couldn't find the right words for a response to that. He really didn't. It wasn't alot of times that he got himself into a situation where he didn't know what to do. So he had no choice but to just quietly listen as she continued.
"So tell me Gojo Satoru, are you doing this because you want to or because the rest of the world put it on your shoulders unknowingly?"
He stared into the pot of curry as her words rang inside his head. Her words were now clashing with theirs.
"You have been gifted with this. You will use it regardless of your are an 1 in a million scenario. Do better."
"Gojo?"
"Again! You messed up the positioning of the attack. Do it again."
"Gojo Satoru!"
"Fix your posture, that is no way to sit while eating! If you can't even do this, how will you do any good in this world?"
"Gojo Satoru! You will never talk back again!"
"You are the one at fault for what happened with Kou. Take responsibility for your actions!"
"Gojo!"
His eyes snapped open and he discovered himself to be staring right back into Utahime's slender eyes. She was looking at him in concern. He didn't like that.
Sliding off her arm that had been grabbing his- also when did he put his infinity down again? He very easily let out a laugh, mumbling,
"Hahaha sorry I spaced out! My bad, I must have freaked you out huh?"
She didn't take the bait. That was weird.
"Aww does Hime care about me-"
"I had been calling you since the last 3 minutes."
Oh.
"Like I said, I space out a lot! Don't worry-"
"Gojo! That wasn't-"
Suddenly there was a loud thud and it was followed by a shrill cry. It came from Megumi and Tsumiki's bedroom.
Both of them exchanged a hurried look of alarm before dashing into action. Being Jujutsu Sorcerers, they were prepared for the worst.
Gojo's infinity slammed the door open but before they could attack speak or do anything they were both jumped on by two balls of something. Well whatever it was, they weren't having it.
Utahime filled up the tips of her fingers with cursed energy and she felt him do the same beside her. However before both of them could proceed with the attack Megumi yelled,
"Don't! Stop!"
That's when they fully registered what actually was over them. They were two puppies, not normal ones either. They were made out of cursed energy. They had a red symbol on their head and were . . . unnatural looking in some way. One was black the other was white.
Utahime's eyes widened in recognition,
"Wait this is-"
"The Ten Shadows Technique." He completed with a grim expression.
Megumi was crying, his finger was bleeding and it looked like he didn't have a clue as to what was going on. Tsumiki didn't know what to do either but she seemed more distracted than Megumi.
'Huh that isn't it . . . ' When Utahime looked more closely at the scene, she realised something.
Tsumiki couldn't even see the dogs. She had no cursed energy or ability to see curses. Sighing she lightly pushed the white dog off of her, getting slightly annoyed at it's constant licking.
"Why couldn't you sense what was happening in there?"
She didn't want to sound annoyed because she knew Gojo had turned most of his powers off because of his exhaustion. But she didn't know it was completely off. That wasn't even possible for him to do.
He scratched his head, nervously laughing a little as he said,
"You know when I zone out like I did back there-"
"That wasn't just zoning out and we are going to talk about that later."
"Zone out like I did back there, also mainly when I am exhausted, I usually filter out these senses automatically. It's like I know what's going on but my brain just perceives it as unimportant. Like how our eyes ignore our noses even though they are in our line of vision ya know?"
He didn't want to tell her that the best example of this was when Toji had stabbed him. Twice.
Well she just scowled and didn't seem to pry so he rolled his eyes and slid the black puppy off him to walk towards Megumi. He knelt down in front of the boy and looked at the finger. Tsumiki ran towards her bag to look for a bandaid.
"Can I see it?"
The boy hiccuped through his tears but his eyes squinted open to see Gojo. He thought about it for a second before nodding and slowly and hesitantly handed the sorcerer his small hand.
Gojo's big hands took hold of Megumi's infinitely smaller ones and he almost wanted to laugh at how small they were. Kids really were different.
Tsumiki walked up to Utahime, almost looking heartbroken,
"Utahime san, I couldn't find any band aids . . . "
In return she just smiled and patted the girl's head,
"Don't worry we have everything covered. You should see what he's doing too."
'Well technically you can't.' She mentally added.
"Well now, let me just say before I start that I am not as good at it as someone I know," an image of Shoko came to his mind, "but for a cut this small, I can easily do it. Stay still okay?"
The boy's mind ran through many possibilities of what the older teen could possibly be trying but when his mind didn't come up with a single solution, he panicked. Seeing the starting signs of fear in his eyes, Gojo was quick to explain things to him.
"No no no wait, listen. Umm so what I am going to do is use reversed cursed energy technique. Did that help?"
When he heard a hiccup he realised what he had done. That had just made it worse hadn't it?
Tears started welling up in his eyes again as he started to pull back his hand. 'Cursed energy' just sounded bad without context.
"Wait-"
Utahime groaned loudly in annoyance, cutting Gojo off and saying,
"What he actually means, is that he's going to heal your wound Megumi kun."
She knelt down beside Gojo and with a swift slash made a very small cut on her own finger. It didn't even bleed as much as Megumi's.
"Utahime what the fu-"
"Gojo, will now demonstrate how he will heal my cut. If he does it on me first, you would be more comfortable right?"
The little boy considered his options and then hastily nodded, taking his hand away from Gojo but this time not in fear. Why was the kid not affected by Utahime literally slashing her finger in front of him but almost had a panic attack when he used the word 'cursed'? He will never know.
Then he felt his friend tap him on his shoulders and he looked over. She was staring at him expectantly. Oh yeah, he had to heal her wound.
His eyes fell back to her hands that were sitting on her lap, lingering there for a moment.
"Well are you going to do the the honours or not?"
"Huh?"
Annoyed, she moved her palms forward,
"Heal it Gojo. Don't tell me you can't do it and I just slashed my fingers for nothing."
He continued staring at her hands, unsure of what to do. Should he- Was she okay with him touching them?
"What are you waiting for idiot?"
"Umm is it okay for me to touch your hands-?"
She closed her eyes and sighed, mumbling 'I can't do this anymore' under her breath before saying,
"Of course you can. We aren't in 1st grade you know."
"Mmhmm. Okay. Yup."
Oh this guy was getting on her nerves. She opened her eyes and was about to throw her usual insults but her words got caught up as she caught sight of the blushing mess in front of here. His face was completely flushed and he was looking anywhere but at her. She felt her own face heat up at that.
"Don-Don't make it weird like that what the hell?!" Hitting him on his shoulder once, she frustratedly continued,
"I am pretty sure you have touched many hands before!"
Oh how wrong she was.
She continued,
"Mine won't be any different! And don't get the wrong idea, all you have to do is fuc-"
He slapped his hand over her mouth and for a second she sighed in relief. She had almost said the word. Thank god he had stopped her.
But then she realised he had slapped his hand over her mouth.
Grabbing his shirt she pulled him forward, a punch already ready in hand. He didn't even have his infinity up. He looked terrified for the first time in 10 years of their friendship.
Good.
Megumi stared at his completely healed hand in awe, eyes sparkling with fascination. Beside him Tsumiki was doing the same, even though she didn't see the process the results were obvious. They were surprised that Gojo wasn't kidding when he had told them he was basically going to reverse it.
The guy himself? He was now holding onto his jaw in pain. Muttering curses to himself.
Utahime can punch.
Today would be the day he realised why she is a grade one sorcerer. The one day he had his infinity down he got hit by the person he enjoyed annoying the most.
He had scorned at her for the most part but . . . his eyes sneakily glided over her again.
She was looking so happy.
For the past 20 minutes he had found himself noticing little details about her. How her nose scrunched a little when she smiled. How her scar got a little darker when her face flushed. How she had the habit of covering her mouth with her long sleeves when she was about to laugh a little too loud.
He found himself looking at her again and again, her eyes bright and her posture not strung up like it usually is. Her voice rang around the room as she laughed with the kids, their voices high pitched in comparison to hers. They were most probably making fun of him. The way she was more open now and how everything seemed more alluring when she smiled was relaxing.
He also found his own lips turning up a little. Maybe getting insulted wasn't so bad.
And maybe, just maybe, he could trust someone again.
"Uhm Gojo sama-"
"San Tsumiki chan. It's Gojo san. Just Gojo is fine too. You can be like Megumi too, he doesn't even call me anything. Heck call me dude or bro I am okay with it-"
"I smell something burning."
Oh fuck.
He poked at his burger with his straw, not bothered by the liquid that was dropping over the bread from it. Why should he? This was-
The straw was smacked out of his hand. He grumbled and rolled his neck over on the sofa to look at Utahime on the other side of his couch. She was drinking sprite with her eyes closed in irritation. The hand that had slapped away his straw was still in midair.
He looked at her fingers. The cut had faded into nothingness. Good. He wouldn't bear it if pretty her hands ended up having a scar-
He paused his train of though right then and there because what the actual fuck was that?
"Are you not going to eat Gojo san?"
Bless Tsumiki's kind soul for distracting him.
"Yeah well, I wanted to have food at home today. This is all Utahime's fault."
He could almost feel her get mad even though she hadn't said a single word. And beside Utahime, Megumi sighed. Was this kid even a kid?
"She distracted me while cooking and then she started arguing with me." He smirked like the child he was for the dramatic flair of it, "She even told me I was a bad cook."
He felt the smack on the back of his head coming from miles away but he let it happen anyways.
"Ow!"
"Eat your goddamned food! It was your fault that the food burned!"
"Bro at least we are eating something homely now-"
"McDonalds home delivery? What in the world is 'homely' about this?"
"Because it's McDodonalds home delivery."
She and Megumi weren't impressed but he just giggled along with Tsumiki and fist bumped her.
"Just eat Gojo."
He knew this time she was serious. Well in all honesty he hadn't eaten for two days now. If he was looking at the time correctly then everyone else would be at Chichi obaasan's cafeteria right now. So it was dinner time.
Maybe one last try?
"But I am not hungryyyyy-"
"Eat or I will shove it down your throat Gojo Satoru."
He silently and diligently picked up the burger and started eating.
"Did he pick up?"
Suguru shook his head and rubbed his face as he placed the phone back down on the cafeteria table. In front of him, Shoko blew out another puff of smoke.
"Well we can't do anything about it now can we? You know he would most probably be busy with the kids. Plus he doesn't really like it when we show up at his place unannounced. At all. Remember what happened last time? Anyways so that's not an option either."
He knew that. But knowing that didn't make him feel any better.
As if she was reading his mind, she added,
"I am not telling you this to make you feel better. I am mad at him too but that doesn't make what you did good. It still is your fault."
He tightened his fists at the bitter but true words. He couldn't do anything about that too.
"Am I forgetting anything?"
He closed his eyes and scanned the whole house. He didn't find anything noticeable.
"Nope, all good."
"Alright. Thanks for letting me tell the kids goodnight. God forbid you tried to tuck them in on their first day."
He ignored the jab at his skills and raised an eyebrow,
"No thanks for the dinner?"
She groaned and pressed the elevator button, glaring at him as he nonchalantly stood at the doorway,
"It was fucking McDonalds."
He shrugged with a cheeky smile,
"Dinner is dinner."
"Well at least I know your cooking skills are trash."
"Hey that was circumstantial!"
"Ooo big words."
He pouted and crossed his arms, mumbling 'As if you can cook any better.' to himself.
Then suddenly elevator doors opened up with a ding and the lights inside it brightened up the hallway a little.
"Gojo,"
He focused his attention back on her, ogling a little when she shyly looked away so as to not meet his eyes.
"Today was nice. Take better care of yourself okay? You have more than just one life to take care of now. You cannot risk your own recklessly anymore. Call me if you need any help. Ugh but don't call to annoy me."
Then with a small polite smile she walked into the elevator and the doors closed.
Well that was the most polite way to say 'I had fun today, you are surprisingly more tolerable. Also, get your shit together and be more responsible. Please call me if you mess up but don't fucking annoy me.'
Notes:
Guys please tell me if this pacing is okay or not, I feel like I rushed a little in this chapter but I can't even tell. I don't have a beta too 😭
I appreciate any kind of constructive criticism or advice, thanks!
Chapter 4
Chapter Text
Something was poking his cheek. He did not like it. Not at all. Actually it was quite irritating. He wanted to smack it away. He really wanted to smack it away.
What if he did? What if-
"Stop!"
Gojo shot up on his bed. His eyes darted around the room in urgency, adjusting to the fresh sunlight falling in through the white curtains, which were absolutely useless now that he thought about it, he needed darker curtains. Then his vision stopped on little Megumi who was standing near the door frame, using a metal plate as a shield and looking ready for war. How cute. But when the said cute child started talking, he sighed.
"Are you finally awake or do you need 5 more hours of beauty sleep?"
This kid could beat Yaga in terms of showing disappointment with just his voice. Even the high pitched kiddy voice made him feel that way. Was it the kid's emotionless face? Or was he just that disappointing that toddlers were roasting him now?
Sliding the bedsheet off of him, he got up and stretched. After picking up his pitch glasses from the desk beside the bed, he walked towards his closet to take out a towel and his clothes for today. He was aware of the kid's eyes that were still lingering on his back.
Why was he still here again?
Well his question was answered soon enough.
"It's 7:50 AM."
"Mhmm I see."
Then he focused back on his closet, he still hadn't found his- wait what.
"I am sorry what time did you-"
"7:50 AM."
He grabbed the kid in his arm and ran out. On his search to find Tsumiki, he caught sight of her in the kitchen. He noticed two used plates already in the sink. Tsumiki was setting up a plate of eggs for him as well. She had even made a smiley on the corner of his plate with ketchup.
Oh god this angel of a child.
"Tsumiki chan!"
She looked up but before she could say anything she was grabbed as well and the man started running. She peeked at Megumi under Gojo's other arm with a questioning glance and he just shrugged. Then soon they felt the force of the wind as Gojo increased his velocity and dashed out of the house at an unnatural speed.
Tsumiki had always been amazed by things like these. Megumi on the other hand had figured out that Gojo had some sort of relation to this whole 'cursed energy' fiasco so he never really questioned things but he had to admit he had been very curious.
On their way out Megumi groaned as Gojo started his daily whining,
"Megumi chan!" The boy felt his eyes twitch at the nickname,
"When you start a conversation about being late, you need to start with telling me what time it is rather than 'Do you need more beauty sleep?' kinda stuff! You can roast me later you know!"
"I did say-" They took a swift turn on the road and bystanders yelled some unpleasant things as Gojo kept running. When they were back on a straight road Megumi continued,
"I did say the time. Plus it wasn't that important."
They took their final turn towards their destination and Gojo exasperatedly asked,
"How is going to school not the first thing on your mind!?"
"Because . . . " They all stopped in front of the closed school gates,
". . . it's Sunday."
Gojo almost felt like letting his mind slip into insanity. Almost.
"Plus when you grabbed us, we didn't even have our bags."
Maybe slipping into insanity wasn't so bad.
He heard Tsumiki nudge the boy slightly and whisper,
"Not the time Megumi!"
But oh no. Little Megumi wasn't like that. He loved watching him suffer.
"And you didn't even take your apartment keys."
God was there something else?
"You came out in pajamas. And maybe you didn't notice it but we weren't wearing uniforms. We are wearing pajamas too."
He wanted to dig a hole and never crawl back out. This was the 4th Sunday this had happened.
And it had been a month since the kids had started living with him.
"Gojo."
Now what- He paused. His eyes fell on Suguru who was standing on the opposite side of the empty road under a tree. He was in his casual clothes. Why not in uniform? He slid his eyes up towards his friend's face and grimaced. Beside him, Megumi and Tsumiki gripped onto his sweatpants.
Well today was going to be a long day.
"Show me your phone."
He grumbled something incoherent, leaning back on the coffee shop's wooden chair even more. Suguru wasn't having it.
"What was that? Speak clearly for heaven's sake."
"Iforgotmyphonetoo."
Tsumiki snorted while Megumi snickered and Gojo felt his face redden in embarrassment, stubbornly staring out the glass wall at nothing.
"Gojo"
The kids couldn't help but immediately stop laughing. Gojo too, suddenly turned serious and got a good look at Getou.
He looked mad.
The darker haired boy pulled out his phone and then suddenly pushed it onto Gojo's face. He had been expecting it to almost touch the other's face but was surprised when it stopped 10 inches away from it.
He had his infinity up.
For a second Megumi and Tsumiki had wondered why the man wasn't bringing the phone closer so Gojo could actually see what he was trying to show. But when they got a single look at their guardian's face they realised something.
Gojo wasn't even interested in what he was being shown.
He reached out for his hot chocolate, eyes till bearing holes into Suguru. He wasn't ready for this conversation neither did he want to have this conversation.
One good look at Suguru however said that it was not going to go how he wants it to go.
The siblings on the other hand just buried themselves more into their chairs. This was the first time they had seen Gojo like this. At home he was always laughing, making fun out of everything, messing around and being irresponsible. Right now? It was as if they were looking at a completely different person. They had to admit it was kind of scary.
His cold eyes were still on Getou's darker ones; Who now didn't look mad, he looked guilty. As he should have been in the first place.
"I was just going to show you the 107 missed calls I had left you but I guess that's not important huh?"
He was met with silence.
"Gojo you have been avoiding me and Shoko at school for a month. Don't you think I deserve a chance to explain or at least apologise? And what about Shoko? She didn't even do anything wrong."
Again, he wasn't given an answer. It was just an extended stretch of time in which they glared at each other. This was getting annoying.
"Um Gojo san?"
"No kid, let him talk on his own-"
This time the older teen was quick to speak, cutting him off quickly and stating,
"You let them talk whenever they want to."
It was clear he really meant it.
So did these brats really become that important to him in such a short period of time? They must be something.
He glanced over at them and for the first time got a proper look of how they actually appeared like.
Oh boy.
"That! What is that face you are making?" Megumi's little arms then pointed at Gojo and he continued,
"I swear to god he made the same face when he first saw me!"
Getou couldn't help but smile a little at that as he said,
"Just thinking you look familiar that's all."
"This guy said the same thing too!"
Tsumiki chuckled nervously as she placed a calming hand over Megumi's shoulder. The people in the coffee shop were staring at them. Well Getou had an idea as to how he could fix that, he knew how to reassure kids.
Or at least that's what he had thought.
"Now wait Megumi kun, it doesn't have to be a bad thing right? You could be looking like a very good person you know."
He tried his best to not be surprised when the said kid glared at him sharply,
"Do you think I am dumb?"
"What-"
"I know that I look like my father and you guys most definitely see him when you look at me. What I wanna know is why you make such a disgusting face."
He stammered. What was he even supposed to say to that? Had Gojo even told him who his father was? Had he even told him that he had been the one to kill him? What kind of kid said things like that?
He glimpsed at Gojo as a call for help and the guy in question just smirked. Did that mean he wasn't going to help?
Thankfully not. The culprit himself came to his rescue.
After smoothly putting one hand on the table and leaning his head on it, Gojo raised his own question,
"Ne ne Megumi chan, didn't ya say you didn't want to know the hows and whats of what had happened? Are you going back on your word?"
That sneaky bastard. He definitely knew what he was doing. If his smirk didn't give it away Getou didn't know what did.
Well by the looks of it, it worked. Megumi puffed his cheeks and crossed his arms in defiance. Tsumiki just giggled. Since when was Gojo good with kids?
"I do forgive you."
Getou found himself ogling back at him at the plain statement. However, the other teen was scratching his head with a tired look on his face. For some reason the forgiveness lost its value when it was said with an expression like that.
"I forgave you on like the 4th day bro." He pressed his lips tightly, his foot continuously tapping the floor.
Having been friends for years it was easy for Getou to tell he had something more to say. He was nervous. The only solution to this while dealing with someone like Gojo was to stay silent. He always needed a few more seconds to gather himself.
Finally he sighed, stopped the foot tapping and affirmed,
"It's just, I am still worried about you."
He closed his eyes as he felt another headache bloom. Not because he was mad no. But because at this point he was just disappointed in himself. How could he have strayed that far away that someone as uncaring and nonchalant as Gojo was this worried about him.
"I am sorry."
Suddenly pain shot up on his forehead.
"Ow! What the-"
His friend pulled his finger back with a lour and commented,
"Don't apologise for this shi- stuff Suguru. All that matters is that you let people help you out."
He rubbed his forehead, scowling at him. But he really had to agree with what he had said too. He really had been distancing himself hadn't he? The wake up call was needed.
"Thanks. I will do my best."
Both of them lightly smiled at each other, not noticing Tsumiki who looked glad about it too. Megumi looked as neutral as ever but it was easy to tell he felt pleasant about it too.
They had no idea what was going on but the one thing they knew for certain was that this person was Gojo's best friend.
Best friends should always together.
"Excuse me sirs"
All of them looked up at the lady who in turn felt herself blush a little.
'It's most probably Gojo/me.' Was on all of theirs and Gojo's minds.
She was looking at Gojo with an all too familiar smile and he almost rolled his eyes. He knew his friend didn't like it when people did that but there was no denying it either. He was a pretty boy. It was bound to happen.
Gojo gave her a well practiced smile and asked,
"Is there something you wanted?"
She shook her head a little, probably to get out of her stupor. At least she knew she had a job to do.
"Which one of you will be paying? Or do I need to split it?"
"We'll split-"
"He'll pay."
Suguru raised a confused eyebrow at his friend's direction while the man just whistled and looked away.
But they always split the bill. He doesn't have an issue with paying but Gojo used to fight over paying or splitting the bill usually because he didn't want anyone besides him to paying.
Suddenly he heard Megumi snort and when he looked over, Tsumiki quickly tried to shush the boy who was now shaking from holding in his laugher. He took note of what the kids were wearing and their shriveled up hair and then he peeked back at Gojo and realised something which he hadn't earlier. All of them were wearing pajamas.
Oh.
"Yeah I'll pay."
The lady smiled politely and handed him the receipt.
"And this has happened for what, the 4th time this month? Doesn't that technically mean it happened every weekend Gojo?"
Gojo in return just groaned and pushed his hand further into his face, clearly asking for his phone.
Suguru sighed and handed his friend the phone who took it hastily and dialed for lock services. He would have to get his house opened up. But that would take an hour or so. Wasn't there a quicker way?
'Huh but couldn't he just . . . '
"Wait can't you just warp ins-"
Gojo was quick to cut him off and firmly whisper,
"No." and then suddenly someone on the other side of the phone answered.
"Ah hello! I wanted to know . . . " and he drifted off.
Oh so the kids didn't know.
While Gojo was busy, he peered at the kids. There was a toy shop beside the coffee shop they had just walked out of, both of them were staring at one of the dolls inside and talking about something.
He crouched beside Megumi whose face instantly turned sour when he realised he was there. Damn what did the brat have against him? He should be the one mad at the kid instead considering who his father was.
Anyways, the kid had gone back to looking at that one doll again. This toy store wasn't even that big of a store. It was just run by this old guy who had been living here for 2 decades or so. The doll couldn't have been anything too special. Which one were they looking at anyways? There were too many to look at.
He was genuinely curious so he asked,
"What are you guys looking at?"
Megumi didn't look like he was in a mood to answer so Tsumiki did. Enthusiastically even.
"You see that doll over there?" She pointed at one of the dolls that was dressed in traditional white and red temple maiden robes,
"It looks so much like Hime san! The pretty lady!"
"Hime san- princess? And pretty lady? Who are you guys talking about?"
"The pretty lady that was at Gojo san's house the first day." The kid paused to glare at him,
"The day you were fighting Gojo san."
This brat really did look like his father. And fight? Did he mean the argument? Why do they even know this?
Wait that wasn't the important train of thought- There was someone at Gojo's place?
"Alright guys! The guy will be here in an hour so we gotta wait, do you guys wanna go to the nearby park or something?"
"Was there someone at your place?"
Gojo raised a confused eyebrow at the sudden question before handing Suguru his phone back and asking,
"Dude you wanna go to the park with us or not?"
"No- I have a mission. But the kids told me someone was at your ho-"
"Okay if you aren't going then I will take them myself! Byeeee!"
And with that Gojo grabbed both kids and almost strided off in a weird run. If he wasn't laughing then Suguru would have thought he was trying to avoid the situation. But then again, this was Gojo. No one knows what he is thinking most of the time.
He kicked a small stone into the sand pit, shaking his head a little as little Megumi annoyingly threw it back at him. Tsumiki was standing right behind him, awkwardly trying to make him stop.
This was nice.
He slowly rested his head back on the park bench, the tree above him providing enough shade to shield his face from the sunlight, his glasses helping as well. The morning breeze was still fresh and cold.
He closed his eyes, remembering he hadn't gotten enough sleep anyways.
Few meters away, Tsumiki smiled at the peaceful scene. She peeked at Megumi and whispered,
"We gotta stay quite for some time okay?"
First the boy wondered since when his older sister had started using words like 'gotta'. Then he pouted and looked over at Gojo. For a few seconds he glared at the older teen but after taking note of his peaceful figure, he sighed and nodded. Going back to making squares with sand. His sister proudly patted his head, giggling a little when she took note of the small blush on his face.
"Gojo?"
Both of their eyes urgently fell on the approaching figure. They couldn't really see their face, the big beach hat didn't help. It didn't look like the person had ill intent of any sorts but this was the first time they had seen Gojo be so relaxed in a while so this was bad.
It looked like the person was about to touch his shoulder to wake him up.
Megumi threw the smallest rock he could find near the person's feet. They got a little startled but as if a switch had been flipped, the person recognised the two of them immediately.
Both of them felt their faces light up as Utahime removed her hat and started walking towards them.
Tsumiki however beat her to it as she ran towards the woman, hugging her leg while loudly whispering,
"How are you Iori san! Why haven't you visited us again? Gojo san won't even tell us whyyy"
The said woman chuckled a little, crouching down and squeezing her and Megumi's, who had approached her rather slowly, cheeks lightly. She looked back at Gojo who still seemed knocked out and then back at the kids, her slight curiosity winning over.
"That day I was there just so I could help him out on his first day. I am sorry though, I will surely visit again if I can okay? And why are you guys whispering though?"
"Gojo san is sleeping, that's why apparently." Megumi sounded unsure of his own words.
Utahime on the other hand felt her eyes twitch,
"Does that prick really leave you guys out here alone like this and just go to sleep-"
Tsumiki quickly shook her hands in front of the woman's face, concerningly mumbling,
"No no no no, you've got it all wrong! This is the first time he has done this. He really must have been tired so we just let him. Yesterday he returned late from his job so he was given a holiday today!"
"Huh?"
She glanced back the the guy's sleeping silhouette and sighed.
"Okay, you guys play while I will be on the lookout okay? And how about later on I take you guys out for a treat?"
Tsumiki's eyes sparkled with joy as she bowed and gave a genuine "Thank you!" while Megumi just muttered 'We don't need people looking out for us' under his breath. Soon enough he was pulled back into the sand pit by his sister, continuing on their task.
Utahime was just glad that the kids weren't so shy in accepting treats now, unlike their first day. She guessed Gojo had been working hard. Good.
Getting back up, she dusted off her jeans. She peeked up at the sun, instantly squeezing her eyes shut again and putting her hat back on. It was a hot day today.
And so she found herself looking at her outfit for the 3rd time that day. Her top was fine, it was just a plain white t-shirt. But her jeans . . . she cussed to herself tiredly.
'Maybe shouldn't have wore loose jeans, they are always unnecessarily thicker. It's so pesky.'
Welp what was done, was done and couldn't be undone.
She walked towards the park bench, sighing once again and sitting down beside her persistently annoying colleague.
'Ah the wind's colder here. This is nice. No wonder Gojo fell asleep.'
She rested her head back similar to how he had, staring at the leaves of the tree above. Slowly, she turned her head towards him, not bothering to raise it.
She took note of his attire. A navy blue sweatshirt and grey sweatpants. How was he still alive in warm clothes like these? She had no clue. Today the air was practically boiling. Then her eyes lingered on his pitch glasses that were almost resting on the tip of his nose. She made a face thinking,
'That possibly cannot be comfortable.'
Raising her head back up, she got closer to his face, reaching out towards his nose. Again, finding herself to be startled by his infinity being down.
She rolled her eyes and dispiritingly murmured,
"How are you the strongest sorcerer yet you are roaming around with your infinity down?"
Obviously she didn't get an answer so she shook her head in disappointment and observed his face for a few seconds as the wind fumbled their hair. He really did look relaxed.
Reaching out further for his face with a finger, she pushed his glasses up towards the bridge of his nose and then went back to her previous position on the bench.
This place really did have a balanced temperature and it was too comfortable. Like a perfect nap spot.
'Maybe a small nap wouldn't hurt . . . ' And so she closed her eyes, steadily drifting off.
Sometime later, beside her, Gojo turned his head to his right in an attempt to face her. Then he slowly whispered,
"Because I knew it was you dumbass."
Chapter 5
Notes:
WARNING: Contains drinking and smoking, this is encouraging no one to pursue these activities.
NOTE: I didn't re-read this chapter, it's late so I will do it after a few hours of posting when I am free. So I am sorry for any mistakes, they will be gone by tomorrow I promise 😭
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Her pillow was surprisingly very . . . okay. It was unusual. Most of the time it was at an moderately hot temperature, one of the things she disliked about it. This change was appreciated.
But also weird.
So slowly, she fluttered her eyes open, visibly cringing at the bright light that soon attacked her irises.
Well that is fucking painful. Did she forget to close her blinds before sleeping yesterday?
Suddenly the light somehow disappeared, as if someone had raised some shades. Quickly she forced herself to open her eyes despite not wanting to, noticing a familiar pair of hands in front of her face.
"What the fuc-"
"Shssssh bro!"
Her eyes turned upwards at Gojo who was now looking at her in alarm. And was he wearing her summer hat?
And why was she looking upwards again?
As if he was reading her mind, he tilted his head to point at something that was outside her field of vision. Raising her neck a little, she saw Tsumiki holding onto Megumi's small frame, both of them laying down on her own legs. That was the least worrisome part. She herself was laying her head on the bastard's lap.
"Damn you are a heavy sleeper pigtails."
As if he wasn't. He probably slept like a rock too considering no one can really bother him. He is the one that bothers people.
Regardless, this situation was embarrassing.
"I want to get up."
"Oh really now? I couldn't even guess with that expression of yours."
She groaned lightly. This was just getting worse.
"Jesus, how and why did you even let the kids sleep on me? That too in the middle of a park at 3 PM?"
"I did tell them not to. But honestly you looked a little too comfy to wake up so I didn't try that hard. Plus, again, you are a heavy sleeper." He rolled his eyes cheekily, "You didn't even know the kids were on you until I told you did you?"
She bit the inside of her cheek,
"Gojo just- help me out here."
He smirked, reaching out and flicking off a few strands of hair off her eyes,
"Did I hear the magic words or not?"
This bitch.
"Please, help me out."
He looked a little surprised at that, mumbling 'Well that was quicker than I had expected' before nodding to himself and crossing his arms. Now she couldn't see his face. Meaning now she couldn't guess what he was thinking. That was bad.
Pushing her neck up and raising her head at an awkward angle, she looked at him with something akin to worry and asked,
"What are you thinking Gojo?"
He whistled,
"Nothing~"
Yeah that was very reassuring.
"Just-"
"You both are not quite at all you do realise that right?"
Both of them snapped their heads towards Megumi who squiggled his way out of Tsumiki's hug. He jumped down from the bench and dusted himself off.
"And good afternoon to you too Megumi chan!"
It was obvious Megumi didn't like that nickname and she couldn't blame him. She herself was appointed with the glorified nickname 'Pigtails'. She was sure Gojo wasn't going to stop using it anytime soon.
She felt Tsumiki move on her legs as well. Looking down, she saw the girl yawn and rub her eyes once before scooting off her legs too. Then she politely yet still sleepily bowed and said,
"I am sorry for sleeping there but Gojo san insisted it was alright."
Her eyes twitched and she turned to glare at the man in question who just looked away and whistled.
"So you lied?"
"Hey now, I never said that after refusing once, I told them no again."
"That's not how it-"
"Are you planning on continuing to sleep on my lap? I mean honestly I don't mind but you were pretty against it befo-"
She jolted up instantly, face red in embarrassment as she picked her hat off his head while he pouted at the shade being taken away from him.
"Let's go, I am giving the kids a treat today."
"Aww not me-"
"Just come."
"Yes ma'am."
"I'll take-"
"Butter pecan."
She scrunched her nose a little in annoyance, trying to remind herself this wasn't a place to where she could slip out her sandals and throw it at him. This was a ice cream shop for god's sake.
So she settled with muttering, "I still don't know why you know that." while reaching out for her purse.
Gojo shrugged,
"This one time when all of us were out for lunch, you and Shoko were ordering desserts for yourselves. Me, Mei and Suguru had tapped out."
She raised an eyebrow at that, wondering how that answered her question. Noticing, he sighed and continued,
"Well I have good hearing Utahime. Even though I was 20 meters away I could still hear you guys you know."
Well that did explain a lot. It was still weird.
"Why do you even rem-"
She was cut off by the cashier who seemed a little wrung out. It soon became obvious why,
"Ma'am, sir, I am so sorry but everyone else behind you is waiting in line for their evening snacks. It would be appreciated if you hurry a little."
Both of them flinched a little when the person behind them tapped their foot loudly, maybe perhaps for the 100th time because it seemed like even their own tapping was annoying them. So smiling a little awkwardly, both of them turned towards the cashier again.
"I'll have strawberry then." The teen looked up at Megumi settled on his shoulders, who embarrassingly pushed his head even further into his own mess of a hair, "What about you Megumi chan?"
"vaneluh"
"Huh? What was that? I couldn't hear you-"
"God I said vanilla!"
"Heh heh heh-Ow! What was that for?" Gojo complained, holding onto his arm in 'pain'. Utahime wasn't having it.
"Anyways," She looked down at Tsumiki who was holding onto her hand and staring at the menu board in visible confusion, "Do you want some help with this Tsumiki chan?"
Tsumiki bit her lip but shook her head anyways, probably wanting to decide on her own. Which was completely fine.
After a few more seconds of contemplating she gave up and said,
"I will have what Gojo san is having."
"Strawberry . . . Are you sure?"
Gojo let out an offended 'Hey!' before saying,
"What is that supposed to mean?"
She turned towards him and got closer to his face. He had thought she had some genuine reason. He really had.
But then she just mumbled,
"Absolutely nothing."
"Oh damn you-"
"Okay! So that's our order!"
The cashier just sighed and nodded, ringing it up.
"So what missions have you been going to recently?"
Pausing just before he let the spoon reached his mouth, Gojo raised an eyebrow at the question. It definitely had come out of nowhere.
"Why are you suddenly curious about my missions?"
Utahime shrugged, staring at her bowl of ice cream as she moved around one of the roasted pecans with her spoon,
"I dunno, I just wanted to know."
He set his spoon down against the rim of the bowl and leaned back onto his seat, crossing his arms,
"Are you trying to make small talk with me?"
He knew he was right when he saw her scrunch her nose in embarrassment. She definitely did have a tell. It was even kinda cute.
"Awwww Hime, I appreciate the effort-"
"You son of a-"
"-but you don't need to do that."
The spoon accidentally slipped from her hands and fell completely into the bowl, splattering some of the melted ice cream on the table. Both of them hurried to clean up the mess as Utahime pulled the spoon out and Gojo grabbed a couple of tissues.
Quickly and somehow with practiced precision, he started wiping the table in a hurry,
"Fuck, sorry about that."
She stopped looking at the spoon to glance at him, he looked a little too worried about this small mess that she had made. It wasn't even his fault to begin with.
Reaching out, she placed a calming palm on his own, instantly making him stop wiping the table. He looked up at her as she calmly said,
"It's okay, it's my fault. Let me do this alright?"
Flashback
A small hand reached out for his own barely larger ones,
"It's okay nii san, I can take the blame for this mess!"
He was smiling when he said that. The smile didn't seem to reach his eyes.
Flashback End
"But-"
"It's okay, I will do it Gojo."
His eyes moved from their hands on the table to her own reassuring eyes a few times before he nodded and gave in. She grabbed a few more tissues, cleaning off the mess effortlessly and then throwing the tissues into the bin near their booth.
"There, that's done."
He felt like she was going to ask something. He definitely did act a little weird just now. He was aware. He wouldn't blame her if she did ask something-
"Let's eat now, I don't want to eat my ice cream as a milkshake. Contrary to your popular belief, I only like butter pecan if it's a ice cream."
"Huh-?"
Before he could ask anything, Tsumiki popped up at the end of the table, little Megumi holding onto her hand and looking down.
Tsumiki shyly scratched her head and said,
"Sorry for being late, we couldn't find the washroom right away."
Utahime smiled as she patted at the seat beside her,
"It's okay Tsumiki chan, Megumi kun! Now come, sit. You don't wanna eat melted ice cream now do you?"
Both of them nodded as they jumped over to their seats with some effort, eyes glowing when they spotted their ice creams on the table.
"I still can't believe you liked strawberry ice cream that much Tsumiki chan."
It was said sweetly but Gojo could see her eyes twitch. This was entertaining.
Tsumiki as clueless as ever, enthusiastically nodded,
"It was the best ice cream flavour ever! If in the future I do eat ice cream again, I will definitely go for strawberry!"
"Heh heh"
Utahime clenched her fist as Gojo kept snickering at each comment. It wasn't her fault that Tsumiki didn't like butter pecan when she tried it. Just how it wasn't her fault that she liked strawberry more.
"Looks like someone has bad taste~"
"Gojo Satoru, if you don't shut up right now."
"Or what?"
He saw the smack coming as always.
But he let it happen anyways.
"OW! What was that for?!"
"Stop annoying me!"
He held onto his head in 'pain' but Utahime kept walking forward. Oh well, that had been useless. He peeped around when he heard some whispers. People were obviously going to judge if they acted like that in the middle of the street, especially at 8 PM. He didn't really blame them.
"You,"
He looked down at Megumi who was looking at him in disappointment. Well that was the usual.
"You knew the attack was coming, didn't you?"
And that was unusual.
Megumi must have realised it was true when he didn't get a reply in the first few seconds. So he rolled his eyes and said,
"I would ask why but I am not going to bother. I feel like I know why."
With that, the kid kept walking. Striding a little faster to reach Tsumiki and hold on to her hand. Both of them then started running to catch up to Utahime.
And he was left there alone, trying to contemplate the situation.
He also knew it wasn't about to last long.
"Satoru."
He internally flinched when she used his first name instead of his last. They were close enough for first name basis but she only used it if she was serious. This must be bad.
He slowly turned around, forcing a smile,
"Shoko! It's been so long-"
"Don't play any fucking games with me."
He sincerely shut up. He took in her state, she seemed tired. No, winded out. As if she had ran over here. Well he did notice her approaching all of them at an intense speed.
He figured it was finally time he stopped running away.
"We need to talk."
Yes they needed to. He knew that. But . . .
"It's okay. I'll take the kids with me."
At that he turned around as Utahime grabbed Megumi and Tsumiki's hands and continued,
"Just go. You can find me easily."
He trusted Utahime so he nodded at the suggestion,
"I'll be back as soon as I can. Just don't kill the kids when I am not around-"
"Just go."
"Yes ma'am."
"So, Utahime huh?"
He took the cigg out of her fingers, looking at her with a scolding gaze and asking,
"What about her?"
Shoko pouted but sighed, knowing arguing about smoking was going to get her nowhere. She leaned against the railing of the bridge to look at the light pole behind them and said,
"Never thought about you and her like that. It doesn't sound bad honestly so I am surprised I didn't think about it. Considering I even once thought about you and Suguru that way-"
"Wait are you saying what I think you are saying?"
"Depends. I mean, the Suguru thing started with a kiss so that's understandable from my sid-"
He groaned, thinking 'fuck it' and taking a puff of smoke from the cigarette he had snatched,
"God please don't remind me of that time."
"Oh come on, it was your first kiss, it was cute-"
"It was a dare! "
"With Suguru~"
"Shoko-"
"I want you to apologise."
He fell still as his eyes peered down at the water below. It was running fast, just like the wind was today. There was most probably a storm coming. He took another puff of the cigarette before he threw it into the raging water below with a flick of his finger.
"I am sorry."
Shoko turned to look at him, the light pole no longer that entertaining as he continued,
"I really am sorry. I also talked to Suguru today. It's all sorted out. The whole thing was a big mess doncha think?"
She continued staring at him for a few more seconds before she lightly tapped his back,
"I know. I talked to him. I also kinda knew you didn't really mean what you did but it doesn't make it right you know?"
He took in a deep breath, letting his head slip back,
"I know."
Both of them stood there in silence for a few minutes, just giving each other company as the wind blew over, ruffling their hair. It was a cold night. There definitely was a storm brewing.
"It's . . . tomorrow isn't it?"
He stared straight into the water, letting his arm hang against the railing,
"Yeah, his memorial day."
"How old would he have been today?"
"16."
"Mhmm I see."
He was quite for a minute before he asked,
"Do you have another cig?"
"You think I don't?"
The door opened with a familiar screech.
"Gojo?"
He didn't have any words. He could feel his mind running through various answers but his mouth never opened to say them. He just stared into endlessness.
And Utahime knew something was wrong the second she had opened that door.
She peeked behind her and took note of the kids sleeping peacefully on the couch, huddled in blankets. She guessed a break wouldn't hurt.
"I'll put the kids to bed in my room and put an inward silencing seal on it. While I do that, grab two beers from the fridge."
"You have a knack for messing up my schedule don't you?"
Gojo was sure he had heard that from the kitchen. Looking closely from his comfortable position on the couch, he spotted her snooping around there. He didn't really have a good view of it from the living room, unlike his own home.
Still, her house was so comfortable and homey.
It had a lot of plants and so many pillows and blankets. Then there was also the classical music that was playing on her small speaker, currently playing 'On the nature of daylight'. Max Richter really knew how to music. Unlike what he had thought before the first time he had visited her, her house was vibrant.
The walls were yellow, the couch green (just like his own) and the lights were yellow and dim white as well. Many pillow covers around were hand sewed by the looks of it. Most probably by her if the unprofessionalism wasn't too obvious. But good enough. The floors were wooden, also like his own flat.
He heard her walk over so he mumbled,
"Your house is nice."
Setting down the two bottles of beer next to the two he had already set down on the small wooden table she said,
"Really now? The first time you came over you were complaining about it being too small."
"I am sorry."
She paused and stared at him for a few seconds before she bent down and opened 2 of the 4 bottles,
"You really are out of it aren't you?"
He didn't say anything, wordlessly taking the bottle she was offering. Both of them stayed in silence, basking in the light sounds of drizzly rain tapping against the windows, the music in a way drowning it out.
He had no idea why he was even doing this.
Utahime wasn't as close to him as Suguru or Shoko were. Talking to her or actually trying to get something off his chest through her was one of the last things he would consider.
However rude it might sound, he had never considered Utahime a friend. Sure she was his colleague and sure he annoyed her a lot and their group went out as a 'friend' group, but he never saw her as one.
Until now that is.
Since the day she had helped him out during Megumi and Tsumiki's adoption, he was never forced into . . . anything. Which had been unexpected. The only other two people to be like that had been Shoko and Suguru.
Utahime never asked him questions he would be uncomfortable answering. She never forced herself into his life again unless it was needed. She never asked for any favours back. She never judged him, at least on subjects that were sensitive. Sure she still definitely found him annoying and would get mad at him all the time but it wasn't like before. As if she had realised something.
As if she was the only one that had realised, even though it is contrary to popular belief because he acts so extroverted and energetic, he actually appreciates personal space.
So maybe he isn't doing this because he is comfortable doing it around her. It was unfair to some degree how understanding she seemed. Maybe, just maybe, he thought she deserved to know something.
It was around the time both of them finished their first beer that he finally spoke,
"I am sorry if I smell like cigs. I was with Shoko . . . plus I did smoke a little myself."
She leaned her head back on one of the big pillows that she had put up against the armrest so that she could face him,
"I figured that part out when I was in the kitchen."
When he didn't seem to understand she continued,
"You may have extremely sharp senses but it doesn't mean I don't have good ones too Gojo."
That explained it.
His eyes slid over to the two more bottles of beer. Which raised another question.
"I already brought the beer when you had told me to, why did you bring two more?"
"I figured you would need one more if you have something to say today and I would need one more to listen to it."
For the first time after returning, he found himself grinning.
"Look who's hyped for drinking on a work day hah!"
She propped up one of her legs so that it's on its way towards the floor to help her get up,
"Okay I am taking the drinks back-"
He caught her foot and lightly threw it down on the pillow on his lap and rolled his eyes,
"Ugh fine, you don't need to get annoyed at everything." he then used infinity to pluck off the bottle caps off the remaining two bottles and passed one to her,
"There, drink this and I'll drink mine too."
The tip of the bottle was almost at her lips but that's when she heard him finally talk. Finally say whatever he had been trying to say.
"Tomorrow-" he looked at the peach coloured wall clock above the kitchen wall and then corrected himself, "Today, is someone's Memorial Day."
She didn't reply for a few seconds, he understood why though. It needed some thinking and time to get the information in.
"Was this person . . . important to you?"
"Yeah I guess so."
She lifted her leg off the pillow that was on him and the weight on the sofa shifted up. So he closed his eyes and sighed. He should have expected this. Anyone would not want to hear stuff like this out of nowhere.
Suddenly however, he felt something cold touch the back of his palm. Opening his eyes, he saw her hand holding onto his, then using her fingers she made him unclamp his fist and interlock her palm with his own.
"I am . . . so sorry for your loss. I really mean it Gojo."
He turned to look at her and noticed how close she was and how attentively she was looking at him. He could see her black eyes shine for the first time because of the moonlight falling in through the big window behind them.
"You have tall lashes Hime."
She rolled her eyes and said,
"Yeah but yours are taller. Seriously, do tell me your eye routine sometime."
"Uhh I don't have one?"
Pouting, she whispered 'Lucky boys' and rested her cheek on her other palm.
She was quite for a few more moments before she looked back at him and asked,
"Do you want to talk more about it?"
He really didn't want to. He knew he could and he actually felt like he should. He knew she deserved some sort of an answer or explanation. He had thrown this at her out of nowhere.
"I actually . . . don't know."
"Mhmm that's fine. You know you don't owe me any sort of answer right?"
How in the world did she nail that question?
"Judging by your silence I will take it that's what you were thinking." She tightened their hand interlock and continued, "The one thing my morals go by is, however different a person may seem like from outside, I never let it carry on. If I see a change, there's a change."
So she had him all figured out? Is that what she was trying to say? Well isn't someone overconfident.
"Again, I am not saying you are easy to read. Honestly, you are pretty darn hard to understand."
Okay was she seriously reading his mind or something?
"And no I don't have any mine reading techniques on me."
"Ugh what the hell Utahime-"
"I just know how you think because . . . I am you. In some way or to some degree, when I see you sometimes I think you're like me. Trust me, it surprises me too."
There was alot to unpack in that sentence.
Seeing his absolutely flabbergastered expression she just heftily got up, swaying ever so slightly,
"We really don't have to talk about this if you don't want to. How about we chug this beer and make some food? I am starving."
He couldn't muster any other logical thoughts. He guessed she was so open with him because she was slightly drunk. Even he was so willing to talk because he was slightly drunk. She was right when she said they would need the beers.
So wordlessly he stood up as well, picking up his bottle and pointing it towards her,
"Bottoms up?"
"Bottoms up."
"Utahimeeee"
"Mhmmm?"
"Are you, I don't know, sure we are doing this right?"
Utahime had laid her arms over the table 5 minutes ago, almost asleep. The tall chair she was sitting on wobbled for a second before it stood still. She was kind of regretting buying bar height tables and chairs.
She moved her chin to look at Gojo and asked, "What were we making again?" only to snort when she saw him hold the ladle and stand there with a blank look on his face. The funny part? The stove wasn't even on.
He pouted as he walked over to her, slowly pushing the other 6 bottles of beer aside and laying his arms over the tall table the same way she had, the difference being she was facing him and he was facing her,
"Why are you laughingggh?"
That somehow made her laugh even more. All it took was a weird snort from her and then he started chuckling too. Slowly and gradually the controlled laughs turned into uncontrolled cackle.
And soon enough, tears were brimming their eyes, their faces were completely red and their stomachs were hurting.
"God now why the fuck are you laughing?" She wheezed out while wiping some tears off her face.
"I don't know, your laugh is just so weirddd-" he shook his head a little, giggling and saying, "If I don't stop laughing I am gonna throw up."
"Whyyy are you laughing while saying something thattt?" It had sounded like a whine but the bright smile on her face was saying otherwise.
"I don't know broo"
Suddenly the microwave dinged, surprising both of them out of their stupor. Both of them gave each other a confused look and with slow heavy steps they walked over to it. Utahime pushed the door open and Gojo coughed as the smoke almost burned his eyes. As it cleared, they saw a pot of pesto pasta- or at least that burning mess what used to be pesto pasta in there.
Then what in the world had they put in the pot on the stove?
Plodding over there, Gojo opened the steel pots' cover only to discover there was . . . an unopened pack of noodles in there.
He picked it up and held it up, Utahime on the other hand used some oven gloves to take out the pasta pot too. Both of them stared at each other for a few seconds before their checks puffed up and they burst of laughing.
"HAHAAOH MY GOD," she squatted down as the laughing made her sway. Setting the pot on the ground, she removed her gloves and threw them at Gojo, "What the actual fuck are we doing?"
The said teen picked the gloves up and wiped his eyes with them, chuckling and saying, "HAH I have NO fucking clue, I don't even know!"
Still giggling, she laid down right there on the kitchen floor,
"I am gonna sleep here heh."
"Awww how thoughtful, is this so I can sleep on the couch?"
While he was walking towards the kitchen's exit, she got hold of his hand and pulled him down on the floor too. At first he was surprised but soon enough he realised he was too tired to move so he just gave up. And so, he laid there beside her, both of them staring at the ceiling in silence.
He reached out for her hand and interlocked their fingers again, asking,
"Will you come with me to his graveyard tomorrow- uh today?"
She reassuringly tightened their hold, mumbling,
"Sure you dumb idiot."
Notes:
NOTE: Do tell me how the pacing is cause again I am lost if this is good enough or not 😭
Chapter 6
Notes:
WARNING: Mention of self harm! Description of self harm! Highly emotional content!
WANRING 2: The characters are gonna go a little (maybe a little more than a little) OOC, which if you don't know, it means Out Of Character. Hence a little unlike canon. Like this is obviously AU so it is bound to change so hence, I tried my best to make the characters change in character to not make the AU seem forced (no pun intended) even in an AU!
NOTICE: Hahahahahaha SO, the time has finally come when I put in an angsty chapter after a lot of fluff. Why you ask? Just because I can- JK I JUST NEEDED SOME DEPTH OKAY? 😭🏃 ️
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
"Utahime,"
Her attention shifted back down at him, the lush green trees under rain no longer that mesmerising. He somehow crouched even further onto the cemented tiles, the grave just a meter ahead of him. Then he rubbed the back of his neck once, which she had figured by now was a nervous tell.
Suddenly she noticed she hadn't been holding the umbrella properly, some water was dripping on his head. Heck it was even dripping down the tips of his spikey hair and over his t-shirt.
"Oh shit- Sorry, let me just-" But before she could reach out for her bag to fetch some tissues, his next words made her motionless.
"Utahime, if I ever die, it will most probably be by my own hands."
The rain started pouring down even harder, making it harder to hear anything besides the heavy downfall.
Maybe it was a good thing.
"Did this guy just leave us alone again?"
They had looked around the entire house, there was no sign of either Utahime or Gojo. The house must have been more comfortable than they had previously thought, the thought of being alone in there didn't irk that much. So after some more looking around they had found themselves lazing on the couch, just staring at the ceiling in silence.
This won't do.
"Not to mention, at a stranger's house at that? Can you believe that guy? Tch that manchild-" His sentence was cut off as Tsumiki lightly bumped him on the top of his head.
"Megumi, don't talk about Gojo san like that okay?"
He turned around in an attempt to argue but one look at Tsumiki told him that she was a little serious this time. It was rare but sometimes she would stare at him with slight sternness. He knew when he should rightfully shut up.
However after noticing his uncomfortable expression, Tsumiki sighed and took hold of his hand to continue,
"Sorry, what I was trying to say is that this house isn't a stranger's house. This is Utahime san's house and," She paused, turning to look at the drizzling rain outside the window, "you already know there is . . . something . . . today, don't you?"
Oh so she had noticed too.
Since the start of this month, after waking up everyday and right before making breakfast for everyone, Gojo would stare at a particular date on the calendar over the kitchen counter for a few seconds.
But those few seconds were more than enough to tell them something had been off.
And just at the start of this week, he had circled that date and had marked a time slot on it with a surprisingly neat handwriting. Too neat. He also always had a weird and old fashioned way of holding his pen, or maybe it was a little too much on the practical side. But whatever it was, it was another thing to think about later.
The time slot was marked from 8 AM to 10 AM. Megumi turned to look at the clock above the kitchen wall, frowning when he took note of the time. Tsumiki who had been looking at the clock too, having gotten the same idea, grimaced as well.
It was 11:15 AM.
Suddenly a shrill tone of a phone rang through the house, snapping both of them out of their serene mood. Following the sound, soon enough they found a pink dial telephone on top of the tall bar sized table in the kitchen. Tsumiki climbed over the chair as Megumi held onto it so it doesn't stumble.
Picking up the phone she hesitantly muttered,
"Hello?"
"Ah Tsumiki chan, Good morning!"
Somehow Utahime's voice was calming, she drew the phone closer to herself and said,
"Good morning Utahime san, where are you guys? Is Gojo san with you?"
She couldn't help but get straight to the point. Technically she wasn't worried about herself or Megumi but more about Gojo considering they had no clue what today's date was supposed to mean to the guy. He always looked so . . . underwhelmed when he stared at that date.
There was some shuffling in the background before Utahime replied again,
"Oh yes, both of us are at the grocery store. We'll be back in a few minutes though, don't worry! I needed some supplies back at my place so I asked him to come along with me. Did you guys get the note?"
The grocery store thing seemed like a lie. How can something like that take over an hour when the store, if her memory was serving her right, was right below this building? But maybe she hadn't seen it correctly considering they had walked over to this place for the first time yesterday?
And what note?
"I am sorry I don't know what you are talking about-" suddenly her eyes fell on a note on the counter right beside the phone cables, the handwriting seemed to be Gojo's.
"Nevermind, found it! It was on top of the table so we didn't see it, sorry."
"God this man will be the death of me- GOJO! Didn't I tell you to put the note on the table near the sofa not the kitchen? That thing is more than 4 feet tall! How are the kids supposed to see it?!"
"Huh- wait wait wait, you are blaming me?! How was I supposed to guess what table you meant when you just said 'table'?"
"It's common sense idiot!"
"Oh come on-" And the line cut off.
Oh well, at least both of them were okay.
But she was still worried. However normal that interaction may have sounded, their tones were still weird. As if they were forcing them. And they had lied about the grocery store visit too. What could it be that they couldn't tell her or Megumi? Was it something serious? Should they be preparing for something?
Slowly but gradually, she could feel the anxiety build up in her chest. She was responsible for herself and Megumi. Even Gojo sometimes. Is it something she should already be prepared for or-
"Tsumiki?"
Her eyes shot down at Megumi who was pointing at the note in her hand with indifferent curiosity,
"What does that say?"
She glanced at the note, it was the size of a page from a small notepad. The handwriting was clearly Gojo's considering how neat and practiced it was. And . . . was that a drawing of Utahime at the bottom? It looked vaguely like her. It was safe to say he was worse at drawing than Megumi, a literal toddler.
The note read,
'Don't worry you guys, I might get a little late but I surely would be back soon. I will tell you guys what's going on over some ice cream! It's not that important anyways lol
Oh and also, Utahime wanted me to write that there's some Onigiri in the fridge! Enjoy!
(insert the worse drawing of angry Utahime that ever existed)
Byee~'
A smile of relief slipped into her face.
20 minutes ago
"Gojo, get up."
He didn't question her, he just silently did as he was told. She raised the umbrella a little so it suited his height. Then he turned around, the ground being way more interesting than anything else at the moment.
"Look at me."
How could he? How could he possibly do that after what he had said?
"Look at me," Her voice broke a little, "please."
His head moved on its own, his eyes shifting over to hers. He flinched at the desperation in them.
Flashback
"Please let me go instead, Gojo nii-san."
It was said with a smile and there wasn't a single tear shed yet the desperation in his eyes said otherwise.
Flashback End
He was handed the umbrella and she opened up the palm of his other hand which then she made him keep upright. In that open palm, she laid down her forearm.
He still hadn't looked down, being too busy gazing at her scar. He wondered where she got it from. Did he ever ask her?
However before he could think about it any further, he felt his entire body stiffen when she made him clasp his palm around her forearm using her other hand. Her grip was too strong, also making him realise how indifferent he had been to keeping his infinity down around her recently. But the most surprising part was . . .
Her eyes were filled with determination now, instead of desperation.
But why?
"Don't you feel it?"
"Feel wha-" and he did.
Small bumps, lines to be precise, all over at any point his hand was able to clasp around her forearm.
His head shot down, umbrella now long forgotten on the ground as his shakey hands almost ripped the long sleeve off her arms while attempting to push it back.
He could feel his breaths fog his pitch glasses, the cold rain making his back shiver. He could feel her hands tremble under his own too. Was it the rain for her as well, or was it because of what she had just showed him?
While his hands were still holding onto her forearm, with her other hand she softly touched one of his long sleeves. He tensed under her touch for a second, she waited. He let out a slow breath when she continued and gently pushed his sleeve back too.
She studied his own forearm, fingers dancing around the old and washed lines,
"I did say I was like you."
Flashback
"I just know how you think because . . . I am you. In some way or to some degree, when I see you sometimes I think you're like me. Trust me, it surprises me too."
Flashback End
He remembered that.
He felt her delicately pull his sleeve back down and then hold his face, making him look back up at her. Maybe for the first time, he noticed how breathtakingly beautiful she was.
Slowly she sighed in her everyday manner, tilting her head a little to get the wet wisps of hair off her face,
"Let's go home, Gojo."
Notes:
Yet again, tell me if I rushed it (I feel like this time I most definitely did 💀)
NOTE: I am aware that this chapter is very short compared to the ones before but as you can see, this is angst. The parts further were going to be less (or not at all) angsty so they were lowkey (highkey) not looking good mushed in a single chapter 😭
Also I was lowkey trying a different writing style so idk if it's working out or not 💀
Chapter 7
Notes:
TRIGGER WARNING: Mention of self harm! Description of self harm! Highly emotional content!
WANRING 2: The characters are gonna go a little (maybe a little more than a little) OOC, which if you don't know, it means Out Of Character. Hence a little unlike canon. Like this is obviously AU so it is bound to change so hence, I tried my best to make the characters change in character to not make the AU seem forced (no pun intended) even in an AU!
WARNING 3: I forgot to add this note at first but yes I know Gojo got six eyes at birth but in my story I am going in a different direction as if like, he had it but it manifested it a lil later yk? SPOILER OF THIS FIC: I did this so that Kou fits into the story and I can put up some sort of story line for how the Gojo clan worked because rn we know nothing about it 😭
Thanks for Charity in the comments for reminding me!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
-In the future-
Nobara slapped her compact mirror close with a quick flick and scowled at Megumi,
"Why can't we try to surprise Gojo sensei? Just a cake is fine too! I don't understand why you are so against it."
Itadori frowned and turned too look at his friend as well, curious for an answer.
Megumi on the other hand, rested his head back on the park bench and stared at the sky, missing the tree that had been here until last year but got taken down. It had been a good nap spot. He remembered when he, Tsumiki, Gojo and Utahime had napped here.
"Dude say something, we aren't here to nap you know."
He glanced at Itadori and Nobara who were standing in front of him stubbornly and sighed.
"Well there was this one time long ago, where we forgot-"
"We?"
A bit annoyed, he continued a little louder,
"Yes, we-"
"But who's we?"
Letting out an exasperated sigh he continued even louder,
"Me, Tsumiki and Utahime san-"
"Utahime- you mean Utahime Iori? Where did she come-"
"Will you let me continue?!"
Both of them stood up straight and respectfully shut up. He didn't say anything for a few seconds to make sure they were done.
"Okay, good. Anyways, we didn't remember his birthday until the very end and tried preparing for it a little too late."
Itadori scratched his head, wondering how that was stopping them from giving a surprise themselves years after whatever accident Megumi was talking about.
Thankfully Nobara voiced the question,
"But how is that stopping us?"
This was going to take a while.
"Well how about you guys sit down for this one? And don't tell Gojo sensei I told you this . . . "
-In the VERY past-
('He' and 'She' in this passage are at two different locations at two different times.)
He picked the incense stick off the small shrine and walked into the dark room.
She slowly slid the lighter out of her father's pocket and walked out of the room and into her own smaller one.
It took him a while but he got the candle he had to light up.
She lit up the candle she had placed on the small wooden table and placed the lighter aside.
He gently placed the candle over one of the leftover Namagashi pieces he had.
Cursing a little when the hot wax burned her, she placed the candle over a muffin she had snuck in.
For a second, he stared at the candle with empty eyes.
She felt tears prick at the end of her lashes but harshly wiped them away.
"Happy Birthday-"
"-to me."
-In the past (the normal timeline the fic is going on in)-
"Wow it's December 6th already?"
Gojo stopped staring out the window and reached under his pitch glasses to rub his eyes, the sun was bright today. Then he leaned over the bar height table, again wondering why Utahime bought these, to peek at what she was cooking.
Scrambled eggs apparently. Boring.
"Gojo?"
He raised an eyebrow at her,
"Umm yes?"
"I asked you something-"
"I heard you the first time. The 'yes' was a response to the question."
She rolled her eyes and waved the spatula in front of his face,
"Ugh not what I meant dumbass. I meant that the year is almost ending."
"Years always end Utahime-"
"Will you shut up already? I am sure you know what she meant."
Gojo pouted and whispered 'No fun' at Megumi who picked up his plate and then stared at him in annoyance.
"What?"
"I can't get down."
The older teen calculated the height of the chair and he noticed that indeed, little Megumi can't get down from Uthaime's bar height chair.
Maybe the table wasn't all that bad.
His eyes fell back down to the toddler's feet which were now twitching in anticipation of getting down. By the looks of it, Megumi didn't know he was doing that.
He really didn't mean to, but somehow he still ended up snorting.
Megumi's face grew red as he looked down at his feet, contemplating if just jumping down was a better option at this point. Anything was better than getting laughed at by Gojo.
"Just-" He found himself to be at a loss of words when Utahime threw the spatula she had been using, right at Gojo's head without hesitation.
"Ow what the fu-"
"I really don't like how you have been coming here for breakfast since the last week Gojo. The kids are fine," she said as she walked over and picked Megumi up, "but you always make trouble for everyone else."
"Huh? But didn't you tell me to bring them? If they come doesn't that mean I do too?"
"It's true Gojo san."
Gojo looked down at Tsumiki who was now clad in her school uniform and holding a hairbrush in her hand,
"You do sometimes make it a little harder to have peace."
That was . . . weird.
Tsumiki usually never complained, so was he really pushing it too hard?
"So umm am I too loud or something Tsumiki chan?"
"Well if you say it like that-"
"No you're just annoying."
Gojo waited for a second to hear Tsumiki give Megumi her usual snarky reprimanding. She never really tolerated Megumi being too mean to him.
He felt weirdly hollow when she didn't deny it but just sighed in disappointment.
"Oh do you want me to do your hair Tsumiki chan?"
At Utahime's question, her eyes brightened up, unlike they were a second ago,
"Thanks Utahime san!"
His phone started ringing in his pocket, probably Yaga was calling him. After noticing that, Megumi walked past him whilst rolling his eyes.
"Aww it's okay Tsumiki, I did promise to style your hair just like mine for today didn't I? Just give me a second I need to finish making these eggs."
When did that happen? Was he not there when these two had this conversation?
"Yup! Also, I made Onigiri like you taught me, Megumi helped too!"
"I see I see, good job you two. I am sure you'll be better cooks than me after a while."
When did the cooking lessons happen?
"Are you going to pick that up?"
Well he had been a little busy but Utahime and him usually were out at the same time. So that didn't make sense. Did the kids only talk to her on purpose?
"Gojo! Pick it up!"
Oh yeah his phone.
Swiftly taking out the phone he picked up the call. With a smile and a cheerful tone he started,
"Sup sensei!"
"Gojo Satoru!"
Damnit.
"Where have you been?!"
"Aww come on sensei, I am only like an hour late-"
"You also missed the meeting with the higher ups!"
"Oh you know, I couldn't care less about them anyways-"
"Well what do you care about?"
Wait what?
"Everything's always so easy for you isn't it? You have never been put through anything. It's getting intolerable at this point."
"Huh"
"Just," Yaga sighed at the other end of the call, "nevermind. No need to come in today."
"But-"
*beep beep beep*
That was a reaction.
He stared at his phone for some time and then looked down at Utahime who just focused back on doing Tsumiki's hair and said,
"He was bound to get mad one day. You know that. Maybe you pushed his strings a little too much."
He couldn't really think clearly, Yaga's words still ringing in his head.
Apparently everything was easy for him and he was living lavishly? Well it was true now. Yaga didn't really lie but . . . did he know anything about the Gojo clan?
'Maybe everyone goes through this or maybe I am just overreacting. I am sure people have had it worse.'
He chose to simply settle on a,
"I see."
His phone started ringing again, this time the number was unknown.
That was according to the phone that is. He was very well aware about the number's ID.
He walked over to the couch so that he was farther away from the kids. But,
'Pretty sure Utahime would be able to hear me though. Well, she won't care about something like this.'
"Hello?"
"Today at 5 PM. The hallway next to the shrine."
He removed his glasses, checking them for dust specks before setting them on the table,
"What if I say no?"
"We know with who and where you are right now."
He wanted to laugh.
"Do you think silly tricks like that would work on me?"
"We are warning you-"
He ran a hand through his hair, almost chuckling,
"Oh god, you really did believe that even though I am alive and breathing, you could even touch the people close to me."
" . . . "
"I'll take that as a 'We didn't think this through' so now, I would like to say goodbye-"
"Master Tengen has passed."
Oh.
What.
"Are you serious?"
"Yes. He died of natural causes at exactly 12:01 AM."
He slightly raised his forearm, wrist facing up, to stare at it for a second. It was easy to see what he was looking for as his eyes phased through his long sleeves as if they were nothing.
Next, his vision drifted over the city skyline outside the window.
Suddenly everything felt a little surreal.
He didn't know how to react honestly.
"And here I thought you guys had some decency. Why should I care about that old hag anyways? He's not even family."
Was what he decided to say at the end.
" . . . as you wish. We will be ready for your arrival regardless."
These fuckers.
"Goodbye, have a nice day."
*beep beep beep*
He turned around and Utahime was giving him the 'I don't even want to ask' look yet somehow at the same time her expression said 'You better not get anyone in trouble'.
He couldn't be that big of a disappointment now could he?
Behind her, Tsumiki skipped in joy with her new hairstyle and behind her, Megumi carried both his and his sister's bags towards the door. Right at the door frame, he turned towards Gojo and mouthed 'Come on'. The older teen just accepted with a smile.
It looked a little strained and Utahime noticed that.
She walked over to the window, opening them to let in some fresh air. Then she mumbled,
"I got a call too, I don't need to go to work today."
He would have been happy about that if it wasn't for . . .
Noticing that he was about to say something, she just interrupted him and said,
"It's okay, you can go. I didn't have any plans for today anyways."
He pouted, throwing a hand over her shoulders,
"But Himeeeee, the reason we did this whole breakfast thing was because we wanted to give the kids and ourselves a break. We were about to have a movie night-"
With a strong one sided shrug, she threw his arm off and glared into his eyes,
"Well then you better be back before 10 PM."
"Okay."
She swiftly turned around, a little surprised at the casual response. Usually he would have retorted right back with something witty.
Before she could ask however, he was already at the door, both Tsumiki and Megumi's bags in one hand and his glasses in other.
Was it that phone call? Well she could only hear Gojo's side of that conversation.
Did something happen?
She couldn't even tell if it was good or bad.
"Have a fun day at school! Also don't forget to-"
"Yeah yeah we got it. Bye."
He waited for Tsumiki to retort against Megumi, but later on he felt stupid. Because just like this morning, she did nothing to stop her brother's rude remark.
That hollow feeling came back again.
But regardless, he waved and smiled at them as they walked into the school. He would rather himself have a bad day than make the kids feel guilty. He had nothing else to do anyways. No work, no school, not even time with Suguru or Shoko considering they would be busy with work.
After a while of standing there in the sun for no reason, he took note of the teacher standing at the building's entrance, watching the kids walk in. He picked up on how she was looking at him in a funny way, as if she was questioning something.
'Hmm, could be because I don't really look like their dad-'
Oh.
He had forgotten to remind himself of that since the last month or so.
He wasn't their father.
With a quick turn, he started walking down the road and teleported after he was out of sight.
He reached for some more blades of grass but his palm only grabbed onto air. With a small scowl he looked down at the ground and took note of the flat surface that had been created where his hand had been for the past hour.
"Do you miss him Kou?" He seemingly asked the grave.
He didn't stop when he didn't get a reply, he just continued,
"By him I mean Master Tengen, do you miss him?"
But after thinking about it for a second he chuckled,
"But right now he must be with you, no point in missing him huh."
His eyes slid up to the blue sky,
"Those days were weird weren't they?"
-In the VERY past-
The room stayed quite even after the 50th whip resounded through it. The traditional paper walls acting like amplifiers.
"Try again! Your incompetency won't be tolerated!"
Dull blue eyes roamed around the room even though they already knew there won't be a single ounce of emotion on even one of those 20 faces.
But maybe it was the childish curiosity of the owner of those eyes that made them roam aimlessly . . . or maybe hope.
Foolish hope.
The 51st whip resounded through the room,
"Eyes on me brat!"
The eyes did as told.
The middle aged man ran a hand through his already tidied up black hair and steadied the metal ruler in his hand once again.
"Tell me, what is the answer to this?"
The child looked down on the paper and almost sighed. The problem was simple. Well to him at least. The problem was a 12th grader's worst nightmare and to a 10 year old like him? It shouldn't even be mentioned but here he was.
Anyways, the answer was 1. He had solved it at the second try.
But he wanted to see, just how far the new sensei hired by his pare- guardians, could go.
Till now he was doing good, the ones before had only lasted up to 30 whips. 51 was a good feat. The others had actually mostly given up at around 20. The one who had reached 30 had thrown up after.
"Stop being in your own world! You'll never have time for that after you grow up!"
He closed his eyes gently as he felt another whip coming.
But what surprised him the most was when his mother of all people, interrupted the sensei,
"Enough. I would say we should continue but a scar that deep can't be healed by our healers. He also has a habit of trying to reject the healer's techniques."
Scar? Oh yeah.
The sensei, with a quick flick of his hand, got all the blood off the ruler and set it down on the wooden table. He glanced over at the scar he had made on the child's leg.
The eyes held no remorse.
"You gave up rather quick on our first lesson, ."
Well it's not like he was feeling any pain either. The leg had gone numb at the 40th hit so he wouldn't have minded if it had went on for more time.
But what surprised him the most was his own mother's comment. She cared about him scarring? That was new. Maybe-
"Yes, I apologise for stopping the lesson Master Tengen. However, we wouldn't want scratches on important goods now would we?"
Oh.
How unfortunate for them.
Small hands probed at the new set of fresh bandages that had been wrapped around his leg.
'Yeah it's extra again. I could use it.'
Carefully, to make sure the blood dripping onto his clothes didn't drip on the floor, he removed the extra amount of bandages. Afterward, he gently tied the rest shut and started wrapping the extra over his forearms that were now dancing with bright red lines.
'No scars huh?' A small smile crept onto his face, 'Sorry mother. That's something that won't happen.'
However, he felt his heart drop down to his stomach when the door slid open with a slow screech out of no where.
But he had made sure to memorize everyone's schedule and had confirmed that no one had about anything to do around his room at this hour.
So who was-
"Ah sorry, I don't know where Gojo Satoru's room is . . . " The vaguely familiar kid's words drifted off into nothingness as his eyes dropped down from his face to the bleeding arm and bandages.
Everything else happened quickly.
The door was shut without a single decibel and the kid who had just entered the room was now held against the door with a piece of glass to his throat.
"Don't make a sound."
The older child had expected tears and confusion. But whatever it was, he hadn't expected the kid to glance at him for a second before smiling and nodding.
They had stayed in that position for a minute or so, until he was sure the kid wasn't a threat and he wasn't going to make any noise. After that, he's slowly let him go.
"Ah," The newcomer whispered apologetically, "I must have startled you right? My bad. I just wanted to meet you ya know?"
The kid talked weird for sure. At least he was smart enough to know he had to whisper.
And was the kid just going to ignore what he saw when he had entered the room? The blood, the cuts and the bandages? Well he wasn't trying to complain but anyone would expect at least a few questions.
"Oh yeah I didn't introduce myself-"
"I don't need your introduction kid."
With that, the older one turned around and walked towards the other side of the room to work on wrapping his bandages again. He wouldn't want any blood to spill on the ground. That would be asking for a death wish.
The kid on he other hand, raised an eyebrow thinking,
'Aren't you a kid too?'
But shaking his head to throw away the confusion, he continued with some more determination and enthusiasm,
"You already know my name? Hah man, should have expected that from-"
He was interrupted once again, this time not so politely,
"No, I don't need to know your name because I am not interested. Not because I already know it."
After that, he really had expected the kid to walk away.
Maybe it would have been better if he had walked away that day.
"You don't wanna get to know your own, well not full but hey come on, at least half-brother?"
The bandages fell to the ground.
His head whipped around, his mind chanting 'How could I have been so blind!?' repeatedly. How did he even think the kid just looked 'familiar'?
All too familiar blue eyes ogled back at him brightly from under flame red bangs,
"I'll introduce myself anyways! Heya Gojo nii san, I am Gojo Kou! The second candidate suspected to have the six eyes!"
His world broke even further apart then and there.
"Wh-What did you just say?"
"I am Gojo Kou-"
"After that!"
Kou was startled a little by the loud tone. However, one look at his older brother told him to comply. The genuine worry in his brother's eyes was so out of place for someone who had just met him a minute ago (while also trying to attack him), that Kou himself wanted it to stop.
"Second candidate suspected to have the six eyes? I mean right now none of us have the six eyes that's why we are the potential candidates."
The glass shard that he had been clutching in the other hand fell on the carpeted floor as well.
"I mean it could be any one of us. I don't know how they have been training you up until now to find out if you would develop them or not. But whatever it was, I am going to go through the same training from tomorrow. That's why they wanted me to meet you and discuss . . . "
Satoru felt rest of his solicited brother's words blur away along with his surroundings. This was soon to be followed by all the energy suddenly draining from his body. But before his knees could hit the ground, Kou luckily had noticed his distress and had taken a quick step forward to reach out for his brother with his arms.
"Nii san!"
But suddenly, he flinched and yelped in pain when his hands hit some sort of invisible force,
"What in the worl-"
His older brother's eyes that were just a dull blue a few seconds ago, were looking up at him with an eerie luminous glow.
It was the six eyes.
"Why . . . Why did you have to show up and ruin everything ?"
Notes:
IF YOU DIDN'T READ IT AT THE START:
WARNING 3: I forgot to add this note at first but yes I know Gojo got six eyes at birth but in my story I am going in a different direction as if like, he had it but it manifested it a lil later yk? SPOILER OF THIS FIC: I did this so that Kou fits into the story and I can put up some sort of story line for how the Gojo clan worked because rn we know nothing about it 😭
Thanks for Charity in the comments for reminding me!
Chapter 8: Chapter 8
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
"We're back!"
Utahime looked up from her comfortable position on the couch and smiled. She got up slowly with a strech and walked towards the door, opening it to let the kids in.
-Gojo's Flashback-
"What would you do after they figure it out nii-san?"
Gojo dropped his hands into the pond again, watching the fish nib away at his palm,
"I just simply, won't let that happen."
Kou glanced at his brother's eyes that were now almost sparkling under the sun. He had turned on his six eyes,
"You told me you had six eyes from birth, they just took a while to manifest properly. I am pretty sure they'll find out soon enough-"
"I told you, they won't find out. Just trust me on this. I know what I am doing."
The redhead knew his older brother had no idea in regards to what he was doing.
"Okay, I trust you."
But he won't let him find that out. He'll trust him till his death.
-Present-
"And then all my friends were like 'Can you teach me how to do my hair like that?' and I wanted to teach them so bad but how was I supposed to tell them it wasn't me who made it!" Tsumiki whined as Utahime just smiled and continued untying her hair.
"I'll teach you next time you co-"
"Utahime san."
The atmosphere suddenly went gloom as Megumi walked back into the hall where Tsumiki and Utahime were looking at him with something akin to worry.
In a quiet whisper he asked,
"Where's he?"
The woman paused, her hands going limp against the girl's head,
"For a change, I actually don't know."
Seeing his expression turn sour immediately, she added,
"But he said he would be back before 10 PM. Don't worry about it okay?"
Silence stretched across the room as the rain continued to thrum against the window. The winds were also getting faster, signalling a thunderstorm.
It was clear the boy wasn't satisfied with the answer. What was she supposed to say? Neither was she. Judging by Tsumiki's silence it was obvious she knew something was up too.
"Was it . . . something we said this morning? Will he never come back because we made him upset?"
But whatever direction she had expected this conversation to go to, it wasn't this.
"What- No." She undid the last braid on Tsumiki's head and then turned her shoulders around to make her look her in the eye, "No, of course he's coming back. Why would you think he won't?"
The girl hesitated, biting her lip and looking down at her knees,
"We said some pretty rude stuff this morning. Especially Megumi and me . . . Plus today our teacher asked us about the man who drops us off at school. We told her that he was our guardian and she said that this morning he avoided coming inside the campus. Usually from what I've heard, he comes in to talk to all the teachers, even managing to annoy them sometimes."
She hestitantly looked up at her,
"But this time he didn't. She said he walked away looking pretty out of it."
Utahime held the little girl's chin up and with a frown she gently explained,
"Yes Tsumiki chan but he's an adult. He's supposed to not get affected by this stuff. He should know you don't mean it. This morning he probably left early because he had stuff to do okay?"
Tsumiki shook her head to shake off Utahime's hand and said,
"So what if he's an adult? You still shouldn't be mean to anyone for no reason. What if he's upset with us? Shouldn't we check on him? Just because he can handle it doesn't mean he's always supposed to handle it-"
Suddenly her own words rang in her head, the words she had conveyed to him pretty passionately on her first day at his house,
"You do have the power to do it. But just because you have the power to do it doesn't mean you are happy to do it."
"It's raining pretty hard too, should we go look for him Utahime san?"
When he didn't get a response to that question, Megumi took a step closer to the woman; who in question was staring out the window with empty eyes. It was a eerie sight.
Inside Utahime's head however, there no peace.
-Utahime's Flashback-
The little girl felt the wind get knocked out of her as she was thrown out the door, pretty sure she even heard a crack from her shoulder.
"DON'T EVER COME BACK IN YOU BITCH!"
Suddenly she was very aware of her surroundings. The rain around her, the muddy water in her slippers, the way her hair was trampled into matted lumps. Her vision wasn't clear in any way but she was aware of the loud thrumming the rain was making against their wonky metal roof.
"Wait please let her in, she won't do it again-"
"YOU NEED TO SHUT UP. THIS IS ALL BECAUSE OF YOU, YOU GO TOO EASY ON HER!"
She tried to set her vision straight, trying to make the blurriness go away. This wasn't a time to relax.
But she was so tired.
"She's just a kid! Why don't you-"
A slap resonated through the empty alley.
Her eyes snapped open and she took in the scene.
Her mother was lying on the floor, her hand on her cheek as tears streamed down her face. Her dark black hair was making it hard to look at her clearly but she could still make out the red markings. Then there was her father, his arm still raised above his head. He looked like he did not regret that a single bit.
Not for a single second did he think he did the wrong thing.
And then she didn't even realise why she tried to do what she did next.
Slowly her fingers had rose up to her chest, and crossed,
"Ryoiki Ten-"
And suddenly her mother was onto her, hugging her tight,
"No no no it's okay Utahime. It's okay. You don't have to do that. I am fine."
No she wasn't fine. In no way was she fine.
As if she could hear the gears turning in her head, she continued,
"I promise I am fine. It's just-"
"Did she really try to do what I think she did?"
Her mother froze.
Utahime could make out the silhouette of her father backing away into the house after saying those words. His feet trembling.
"No- She doesn't know what she's saying. She probably doesn't even know how to-"
"No! I heard it! She tried to use her domain expansion on me! If it's anything like yours then-"
"No she didn't do it! She doesn't know how to do it! Stop-"
And the door slammed shut.
And that was the start of their secondary suffering.
They went without food for days at once. And water for even longer. Sometimes rain water had to do the trick. It was even harder when the sun came scalding down on them with all its might.
It was a rural village, no one was ready to help out either. They were all too busy surviving themselves and keeping their families alive and healthy.
And especially after hearing what had happened, Utahime Iori was even considered a taboo.
Her mother was berated for trying to support her through these times. Sometimes the people who ended up giving them some food, tried to advice the woman to leave her.
To leave her daughter on the streets and go back to that sad excuse of a man.
"No. I will never do that."
Was what she always answered with meaningless determination in her eyes.
It was easy to say that Iori disagreed with that.
And one day she'd had enough.
"Mom." At the call, her mother looked down at her with a gentle smile, "What is it?"
"I hate you."
The smile dropped. The person she was talking to looked down at her in anguish but she didn't care. She had established the truth.
She hated her mom for making herself go through this. She could have just dumped her somewhere and gone back to living on her own. Away from that guy. She could have lived a successful life. She was strong, beautiful and had an admirable personality.
She hated her for choosing to stay.
However it felt a bit weird when her mom said nothing. It felt empty when she quietly bid the person she was talking to goodbye. It felt empty when she just gently took her hand again and started walking towards their makeshift shed.
It felt empty when she said nothing to her after that. Ever.
-Present-
"Utahime san!"
The woman snapped out of her daze and looked at Megumi who had his hands on her thigh, pulling at her loose jeans. By the looks of it he had been shaking her for a good while now. At a closer glance she could have sworn she saw bits of tears in his eyes and her heart almost broke.
"Oh my god I am so sorry I was just out of it for a second-"
"Don't worry about him! Are you okay though?" As she said that, Tsumiki was hurrying back into the room with a glass of water, almost tripping over the carpet but managing to hold herself up.
"Guys- God I am so sorry. Here, get up Megumi," With that, she pulled Megumi up in a side hug, resting him on her waist.
"I am fine." And then took the glass of water from Tsumiki and set it on the coffee table, "I am so sorry for making you guys worried. I was just thinking about something very . . . deeply."
Then the older woman sighed as she walked towards the window and muttered,
"It is raining pretty hard out there isn't it?"
She realised she really needed to get hold of herself right now. She doesn't have the luxury to get lost in the past. For the kids, she's all they have at this moment. The only adult they can go to is her.
Gojo's image popped up in her head, cold and shivering in rain. She really did begin to wonder if he was okay. If he wasn't overthinking. If he wasn't out there running around with his infinity down.
But she trusted him.
She knew he won't just not come back. She knew he was more sensible. She knew that he had realised that the kids didn't mean what they said.
She knew he was nothing like her mother.
"He'll come back."
In her arms, Megumi looked into her eyes to see if there was any lie behind them. Any hesitation.
He felt his breaths slow down when he took note of the complete unwavering trust in them.
"So you're not going to help him? Are you going to leave him be?"
Megumi awkwardly turned around in Utahime's arms to get a glimpse of Tsumiki. The girl was holding onto the ends of her school uniform, obviously anxious to even speak up. She wasn't exactly subtle with her distrust in Utahime's remark.
"No. I will never do that."
The little girl felt her shoulders relax.
"God, where is he?"
Geto, not knowing how to answer that question, nervously fixed his collar for what felt like the 100th time that day.
Yaga slammed the poor bundle of papers against his wooden desk. Gojo had been late in the past but not this late. And that too after a pre-warning this morning. Usually if Yaga is very serious about it, the guy makes sure to show up on time.
But he was an hour late today.
"Sensei, I can just go instead of him-"
"No!" Geto shut his eyes as Yaga got up with a loud thud against the chair, "I knew he was up to something that day. I mean, adopting kids?! That too Zen'in kids out of no where! He's 19 for god's sake, how is he supposed to take care of them when he can't even manage a single schedule?!"
In an attempt to defend his friend he added,
"You know what the real ordeal was sensei. It was either that or he let the kids wander off into wrong hands."
"Someone else could have done it, right? Why was it that out of all the people, it had to be him?!"
This made something snap.
"Oh yeah? Then who else do you think was about to do it? Me? You? Shoko? It obviously can't be the Zen'in clan now can it? Tell me sensei, if not him, who was going to step up and do it?"
Yaga noticed that he had struck a chord that wasn't supposed to be struck. But at that moment, he didn't know what else he could possibly say that'll explain his point better. He was pretty sure someone else would have adopted those kids, he just didn't have anyone at the top of his head.
He groaned and sat down on his chair,
"All I am saying is, it should have been anyone but Gojo. He's spoilt and immature."
This made Geto look at Yaga with the most dumbfounded look he could have mustered up.
"I am sorry but Gojo and spoilt? Are you serious? I mean sure he's cocky and gets ahead of himself a lot of times, but spoilt? And immature?"
Yaga raised an eyebrow at his students tone, leaning back on his chair,
"Yes he is. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. I hope you do know something about your friend's clan Get-"
"No no no, do you know anything about the Gojo clan?"
"What do you mean-" Yaga was cut off as his phone started ringing with the loudest possible ringtone.
Geto cringed until his teacher picked it up,
"Hello, Yaga speaking."
"Yaga sensei,"
"Ah Utahime, what do you need? From what I know you're not scheduled for anything today."
"No it's not about me it's just, um have you seen Gojo?"
Suddenly his mood went sour again,
"Why do you ask?"
The woman on the other end could obviously tell something was up. Geto on the other hand was wondering why Utahime of all people wanted to know what was up with Gojo.
"Can you please just tell me if you've seen him or not?"
Yaga sighed, "Look, I would love to know that too but I have zero clue. Nobody knows where he is." A small pinch of worry ran through him, "I was wondering if he was still slacking off at home but by the sounds of it, he's not."
"So where is he-"
The door to the office slammed open and in came Mei Mei. She looked like she had been running. Her hair was a mess and her dark gown was wet, as if she hadn't even bothered with an umbrella. However much she tried to hide it, it was obvious this was an urgent matter.
"Gojo's been called back to the clan tonight. It's because-" Before she could even finish her sentence, Geto was out the door.
"And he's gone too." Yaga got up again and started walking around the room in frustrated circles, "At this point I'll have to go do the mission myself."
"Wait sensei, ask Mei why it's a big deal that Gojo's been called back."
The old man wrinkled his nose but asked anyways,
"Pretty sure you head her question, now answer it will you."
Mei Mei pushed her braid back, giving him a 'are you serious?' look,
"Why are you even asking? Gojo going back to the clan itself is bad news. Because it's either: A) There's going to be a big fight or B) Someone died. None of those options sound good. At least that's what Shoko and Geto told me. That's also why that guy went running off."
Yaga scoffed, "If it's a fight, Gojo's winning. If someone died, I doubt that brat cares about anyone in the clan." He annoyingly threw his attention back to his phone, "And that was that. Anything else?"
He sighed yet again when he heard the beeps of the phone, signalling she had already long before cut the call. Impatient kids.
"Now who's going to-"
Mei instantly lodged her axe on the wooden wall of the entrance and said,
"One more complaint from you and this wall will be your head. Just tell me what the mission is, I'll do it."
"Did you ask old man Yaga?"
Snorting once at Megumi's nickname for the man, she turned around to look down at him,
"Yes I did. He said Gojo's been called to his cl- uh sorry, family for the day. He's going to be busy for the day."
The kid looked exited for a second but hid it away quickly,
"You mean, his mom and dad? Like he'll meet his parents?"
Well she was going to assume that's what this was. Mostly people knew next to nothing about Gojo clan unless a member of the clan itself said something. Going by assumptions, she was guessing it wasn't even allowed.
"He probably is or it's just some family business. His family runs this eye uh medical business I think? They're eye doctors."
Megumi rose a skeptical eyebrow,
"So what you're saying is, Gojo san is a doctor?"
Yeah that did sound stupid.
"Well no because he's just 19. He's taking a gap year. After that he'll go to college."
She couldn't believe she was scraping out such a believable story out of nothing.
"Oh!" Tsumiki finally exclaimed out loud, "Did he take the gap year because of us?"
This was going unbelievably smoothly.
"Yup, and when you guys are accommodated he'll enroll into a medical college nearby and continue his education along with taking care of you guys."
Megumi put a hand under his chin and mumbled,
"There is a medical college right next to his current school, however weird that school is."
"It's nice of him to take a gap year for us, although I would have preferred if he didn't have to go through that hassle."
Knowing Gojo, if this story was any true, he still wouldn't have bothered with a gap year. He would have tried to manage his job, college and kids all together. It's a good thing the kids didn't know him that well.
Tsumiki shook her head, correcting Megumi,
"Actually, knowing him I think he would have tried to do everything together. It's weird that he was thinking this smartly."
Well darn. Smart ass kids.
"Okay guys how about we just wait for him? He'll show up on time. If he doesn't, I'll see what happens to him."
The kids didn't know if this was a threat or a genuine word of worry.
They didn't want to know.
"Shoko."
The said woman sighed as she set down the bloodied scalpel on the med tray and pulled the latex gloves off her hands. She looked at the disfigured body one last time before annoyingly putting the plastic cover over it.
She glanced back at her friend, her glare piercing,
"This better be good if you snuck into my office unannounced."
"It's Gojo. His clan to be specific."
Any loath she might've had in her eyes instantly turned into worry. She peeped at the clock above the door Geto was standing at. It was 4 PM.
"Fill me in quickly as we go, I'll get the car."
"What?! There's no way Gojo agreed to go back. Is it confirmed?"
Geto held on to his seat a little more tightly as Shoko took a sharp turn,
"Jesus can you calm down a little? And on that topic, we actually don't know if he really went there or not. They call him back many times but he doesn't really go does he? The main issue right now is that he's gone. Literally. We don't know where he is."
The car screeched to a pause in the middle of the road and Shoko stared at her best friend incredulously,
"Gojo is literally missing and this was something you thought of mentioning at the very end?"
Geto groaned at the people honking behind their car and the infuriating sound of the rain slamming against the car shields. It was making it hard to talk without yelling. He wondered for a second if nobody there knew what 'patience' meant? He focused back on Shoko and answered,
"No, what I am trying to say is that he's probably at his place and we need to look for him before making any hasty decisions!"
"Geto he's literally missing-"
"He's not! For the love of god just-"
There was sudden slamming against the window on Shoko's side. A middle aged man was mumbling incoherent curses at them and it looked like more people were about to get out of their cars.
Quickly turning to Shoko, Geto whispered,
"Let's check his place out first. Just drive."
She grit her teeth but responded with a "Fine" anyways.
Walking out the elevator, Shoko announced,
"Okay we're here."
"Gee I couldn't tell."
"What's up your ass all of a sudden?"
"Shut up will you? Let's just find him."
She rolled her eyes at her oh so positive friend who was telling her to calm down like a minute ago. The run in the rain caught up to him, she guessed. Geto never really liked rain.
She looked down at her soaked coat and sighed. She tried scrunching some of her hair in an attempt to take out any sort of water. It really wasn't helping, both of them were fully drenched.
Might as well have jumped into a river and walked up here. Nevertheless, she continued with scrunching her lab coat next.
"It's no use doing that you know."
She glanced at Suguru,
"At least I don't have two soggy duffle bags for my pants."
The man in question sighed and looked down at his pants. They did look like soggy duffel bags.
They both stayed silent for a few more seconds.
"You do know that if Gojo was home he would have opened the door by now right?"
Of course Geto knew that. But he wasn't going to let that bring them down.
"Well whatever, how are we going to get in? It's not like he'll just open the door if he's in there."
"You know damn well how his six eyes work-"
"Hey there!"
Both of them looked at their right immediately. From what they remembered from the last time they came here, this whole floor was empty. The other two apartments had no one in. Gojo had specifically chosen a floor with no one. He said that it's temporary and someone was bound to move in sooner or later. Probably a very normal neighbour if the threat Gojo gave to the owner of this building did anything.
On that topic, the guy was a short man, probably in his 40s. He had curly dark black hair that was a mess, as if he had just woken up.
He also seemed to be looking at them with concern.
Oh.
"I am so sorry if we woke you up-"
Immediately he raised his hands, waving them in front of his chest frantically,
"Oh no no no no, it's totally okay! It's so late anyways, it's like 2 PM I should have woken up hours ago!"
Both of them shared a glance at that explanation, still feeling a bit awkward. It was more about how they could even tell this man it wasn't 2 PM but rather 4:30 PM.
The older man just sighed and then pulled out something that was jingling from his pants. Something similar to-
"Keys!" Geto exclaimed, stepping towards the man and taking a closer look at the keys. If this key really was the right one then it would have-
'There it is!'
A small frog keychain. It was glossy and made out of clay, it was hard to miss.
"Yup, definitely Gojo's." Shoko chimed in, smiling at the memory of her gifting him that keychain on his last birthday.
Huh, thinking of birthdays-
"The last time you were here and I told Gojo san about it, he told me to help you out the next time you show up. That's why I am handing it to you guys. You seem like you're his close friends."
Stopping her train of thought because of that explanation, Shoko lightly bowed and agreed,
"Yeah he's a close friend of ours. He didn't show up to work so we're worried if he's in any sort of trouble, as if he's been kidn-" A pause, "-sick. Whenever he gets sick he doesn't tell anyone."
The man smiled kindly,
"You guys must be very good friends. Tell me if he's okay later will you? Now you must be in a hurry, I won't hold you."
With that, he was about to turn when Geto, who had been quite all this time asked him,
"Wait- Can we get your name?"
The man paused for a moment, thinking it through.
But what was there to think through?
"Shinji Nakamura. You can just call me Shinji."
(No need to remember this guy's name. Sure he might show up more cause he's the neighbour, but that's just it. He's a cameo from my other fanfic under this same account)
Both of them nodded and answered in return;
"Shoko Ieiri. Nice to meet you." "Geto Suguru. Good to know you."
The older man sighed as if something heavy was lifted off his chest and with a polite bow, walked back into his house.
It was quiet for a moment before Geto mumbled,
"Well that was . . . unexpected."
"What about that simple interaction was unexpected?"
"You know damn well what I am talking about."
Of course she knew. It didn't hurt to pull his leg a little.
"Yeah yeah whatever, let's go in."
-Gojo's Flashback-
"Nii san?"
Gojo looked up from his notebook at the quite and timid whisper, Kou never sounded like that.
"What are they going to do now?"
Oh he didn't know. He had forgotten Kou didn't know how the lessons usually went.
"You just need to stand your grou-"
"Silence!"
Both the clan kids straightened their backs and looked straight ahead at the teacher. The atmosphere suddenly becoming tense as the seated clan members started whispering amongst themselves.
"No whispering in this class."
It was meant for the two of them, but the clan leaders found their own words getting stuck at the back of their throats in an instant.
As for them, they didn't respond with anything but their answer was obvious.
The old man's eyes shifted to the red head,
"You. You're new here aren't you?"
Kou shared a small glance with his brother before nodding,
"Yes. I am Gojo Kou-"
"I did not ask you to speak. Just nod for a yes or no."
This time, he just nodded.
"At least you learn fast. Unlike your . . . brother here."
Uncanny dark blue eyes met hardcore dark brown ones, some sort of glare passing in between the two even though there wasn't a single sign of expression on their faces.
"Did you revise everything I gave you last time?"
Gojo nodded and the old man shifted his gaze to Kou,
"I will need to test your knowledge today."
The older brother found himself closing his eyes as soon as those words left the man's mouth. He turned to focus on the rice paper doors. The only spot in that entire room without a set of eyes.
Kou on the other hand, thought this was very weird. His brother was weird all the time, but he usually never looked away. Regardless if the topic of discussion was him or someone else.
"Solve this equation on the board."
Realising that this was being told to him, he decided he could ask Gojo what was up later. For now, he would have to prove his smart-
/{1/(1 sin x) }dx
What.
"I said, solve this equation right now."
Helplessly, he turned to his brother again only to see him squeezing his eyes shut, as if he was afraid of what was about to come next.
But how were they expecting him to solve this when he didn't even know what any of this meant? The only two numbers there were 1 and 1. What did sin even mean? Crime? Bad deed? Was this a psychological question?
"I said, SOLVE!"
"Bu-But-"
Gojo squeezed his eyes shut even tighter as his nails dug into his palms.
-Present-
"Ah shit"
The man grimaced at the sight of blood dripping into the grass blades from his palms.
He sighed, mumbling,
"Sorry for ruining your grave Kou. I'll clean it up next weekend. I'll get some supplies."
Hearing no response was normal. He would be surprised if he did get a response.
"It's alright."
His eyes widened as he looked at the grave. What in the world-
"Behind you. Stupid child."
He groaned as he recognised that voice. He didn't even need to look behind to know who that was. Nobody besides one other person called him that.
Sighing once again, he turned his head slightly to the left,
"Hello to you too, mother."
"Okay guys, come on out. We're here."
Megumi and Tsumiki nodded as they scooched over and opened the door to the car. Tsumiki getting down first so that she could help her brother get down; who as always, looked hesitant to ask for help.
"Stay behind me," Utahime slowly announced as she started walking towards the basement entrance, "I don't know why the sensor lights in his complex's parking lot never work."
She thought about it for a moment,
"Well he probably never even realised it, he doesn't need the lights."
She thought about it again,
"Or a car."
"And we still don't know why that is."
Utahime noticed the bitter tone immediately. Megumi and Tsumiki had this thing going on for a while. I guess she should have seen it coming, Gojo isn't really all that great at hiding his powers.
She held their hands and whispered,
"Let's keep walking."
Her mind however, was still running a diagnostics about it. The kids had figured out something was up with both of them for a while; Her and Gojo that is.
The kids found it weird that Gojo had odd job hours and whenever he or even she would get a call, they would both go running as if their life depended on it (technically, not theirs but human lives if they don't get rid of the curses on time). The kids also found it hard to believe that whenever she returned home with injuries, it would just be from 'moving boxes around' or 'falling down the stairs'.
It wasn't just that. It was the weird secret conversations she and Gojo had, their unordinary strength, the way they behaved, this weird air of confidence and most of all, the instincts.
"Don't step there, there's a puddle."
"How do you know? There's no light here?"
And she did it again. She did it without realising. She was the guardian here, why was she so on edge?
"Come on Tsumiki chan, you know it's not that dark. Plus it is raining outside so I kind of guessed."
Even though that didn't get a retort, she knew it was just because they were too worried about Gojo to care.
It also kind of made her scared of the conversation they would need to have after all this is over.
Gojo stared at the older woman, hid posture completely relaxed but his eyes bright blue.
A clear threat.
She rolled her eyes, "Oh no need for all that." She walked a few steps closer, ignoring the wind that started blowing harder and the sky that went grey as soon as she did.
"I am just here to talk."
"And I am supposed to believe you?"
"Most kids believe their mothers."
"And most mothers don't torture their kids and yet here we are."
She furrowed her brows in an attempt to scowl but then smiled, as if she had realised something.
"You're at his grave."
He stood up, taking a step towards the grave,
"And? What about it?"
It wasn't hard to notice that he had put himself between her and the grave. The grave for which he had destroyed half the clan for just because they refused to write "Gojo" as Kou's last name. Nobody in the clan besides him thought that boy deserved that last name.
"Oh please. He's dead anyways, I can't do anymore than that."
The scar in his palm that had just started healing, started bleeding again as he dug his nails even deeper. The wind around them also started blowing even faster.
"What do you want? It can't possibly be because of that dead old hag."
"Actually, it is about him."
He raised an eyebrow.
"It's about him because I was thinking how bad of a teacher he was."
This was even more confusing.
"Just get to the point will ya?"
"Satoru," He grit his teeth at that. He still hated that she used his first name to talk to him, "How do you think I found you here?"
He looked around the graveyard annoyingly,
"It wont be that hard to figure out I would be at my dead brother's grave. The brother that looser killed."
"Of course. But why would I come at this exact time?"
That was . . . true. How did she know he was here right now? At this very moment?
"Think Satoru."
"Just fucking tell me-"
Oh.
Oh no.
She smiled. That gross polite looking smile that was anything but not sinister,
"You've realised. Haven't you?"
He tried to bring his infinity up only to come to a horrifying conclusion.
He couldn't.
"The only possible answer to that question would be, I was here before today. Wasn't I?"
Fuck.
"You really should always keep your infinity up whenever you're out of your house. I thought your teacher taught you better than that."
He gave up on trying to bring up his infinity. He needed to figure out how to get out of this situation now.
The visible signs of strange markings around the graveyard were now visible. If he was any good at reading seals and spells, this one was definitely from the Gojo clan. Which meant it definitely had the power to continue holding him back.
"What do you want?"
Wind that was roaring before, gently blew off the chunk of hair that was covering her right eye. The dark brown scar that went through her eye seemed to be roaring at him,
"Revenge."
"So, he's not home."
"Nope."
Geto and Shoko stood in the living room in utter silence. The gravity of the situation finally starting to weigh down on them as the rain continued to tapper away at the sofa.
Wait, sofa?
Why did he leave the window open?
"Do you think maybe someone broke insi-"
"Before you continue any further, let me remind you we're talking about Gojo, Suguru."
Yeah that made sense. He probably forgot that he needed to close the window.
Another moment of silence passed between them as they delved into what can be done.
"Suguru," He peeked at her, not really having any energy to say anything. Which was surprising considering they were so worried about him a minute ago. "Do you think he'll be alright?"
And honestly, if he thought about it, Gojo should be fine and alive regardless of the trouble he is in. Geto trusted his best friend completely. He knew Gojo was strong enough to protect himself from any possible situation. He was dumb but in no way was he stupid. That was for sure.
But those scenarios didn't apply when it came to the Gojo clan.
"What can we do? Any action we take from this point on will be illegal considering the clans don't fall under the council's jurisdiction. Especially Gojo clan. I mean, technically they do, but they have independent rights. Those rights definitely include what they can do with their own heir-"
"Please shut up."
He looked at her, slightly offended,
"What do you mean-"
She turned towards him, chest heaving and eyes wide,
"What I mean is that I didn't ask you what the problems are!"
He flinched a little as she took out her wet coat and threw it on the floor, flicking her hair back,
"I asked you how we can solve them! I don't fucking care if the whole council considers us as traitors. If not with you, I'll go and get Gojo myself."
"Wait-"
But just when he was about to argue, he heard a quiet jingle. Meek enough to ignore but loud enough to know it was meek on purpose.
Within a second, he turned around and found himself holding someone in a chokehold against the wall. His reflexes acting too quickly considering the situation. There was no way someone normal could have slipped under his radar so easily. This was-
"GETO!"
Shoko's yell bought him back to reality as he noticed Utahime's pissed off face right under his hands. He felt her earrings, the source of the jingle, brush against his palm.
"Oh fuck-" He let go of her as quickly as he had gotten hold, "I am sorry, I just thought you were-"
"An intruder? A kidnapper? Who could potentially get to Gojo? Yeah right!"
He sighed, knowing nothing he can say will make her less mad anyways.
"Maybe try to look at the person before choking them!"
Utahime had every right to be upset. He was potentially way stronger than her, one wrong move and she could have been a goner.
She took a deep breath, attempting to calm herself down. 'He just took me by surprise, that's all.' she told herself. She walked over to the couch and sat down for a second, setting her phone down on the coffee table.
"Listen Iori san, I am sorry-"
"Wait."
And that's when she noticed the yellow piece of paper.
The paper Gojo usually used to leave notes.
"How did you guys not see this?" She mumbled as she picked it up and read it out loud.
'Sorry Utahime, I'll be at the graveyard! If you're wondering where I am. Honestly I made this note not knowing if someone would actually care to see it, I might just have to throw it back after I come back home haha'
She blinked once. Twice. The air was very humid today.
On the other hand, at least she knew he was coming back home. He had planned to.
She continued reading the rest of it,
'I should be back home by 4 PM if anything. I thought about the clan thing and decided I am just gonna skip that. The sun sets at 7 PM and the kids get cranky around that time cause it starts to get dull. I made some curry and rice and kept it in the fridge and the movies are in the TV drawer. See you guys tonight!'
Then towards the end of the note, which was written in the most gorgeous handwriting possible, she saw the worst possible drawing of herself hitting the TV remove against the clock.
Utahime scanned the living room with her eyes and noted the adamant silence and tension.
"So he's not here? And it's 6 PM right now."
Getting two consistent head shakes she realised that the situation really was that bad.
"Utahime san?"
She snapped her head back towards the door while also rushing to fix her hair which got ruined during the choke,
"Yeah?"
However, her heart broke at the sight.
Tsumiki and Megumi had tears rolling down their eyes as they held onto each other. Megumi being the one taking control as Tsumiki didn't seem like she was in a state to even speak. It was obvious both of them had heard everything.
He quietly asked,
"Can you please find him. We will do anything you want. Literally anything. Just find him for us."
Geto and Shoko felt their hearts somber for the kids too for the first time. Being taken aback by their dedication to this man who in some way, forcibly adopted them.
No kid should need to believe or even have to consider saying something like that just to get some help.
Considering that, Utahime walked over to them in a small stagger, eyes aghast as she pulled both of them into a tight hug.
"You don't need to do anything. I'll find him. I promise."
Notes:
God that took a fucking while 💀😭
Chapter 9: Chapter 9
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
"Mom, I know I am not supposed to ask this but . . . " She was whispering, her gaze fixed at the dull yellow hallway leading to the living room, making sure the TV was loud enough, "but why is everyone so scared of your domain expansion?"
Akari Iori stopped chopping the vegetables, her hands going still against the wet cutting board. Her eyes peeked at the hallway too before they gently landed at her daughter who was dwindling with the old worn down rubix cube.
She set the knife down and fully turned towards her daughter,
"You know that all Iori daughters get the same domain expansion passed down to them right?"
Utahime looked up and slowly nodded, understanding the heavy implications. Her mother continued,
"Well I can't tell you now but you'll know soon enough. It's a power with a lot of . . . responsibility. You can never be too careful with it."
"How many times have you used it ma?"
"Zero."
"Utahime! Where are you going?"
Utahime almost slammed open Gojo's wardrobe, pulling out the nearest warm piece of clothing she could make out in the un-illuminated room,
"To the Gojo clan."
Shoko ran a hand through her hair and groaned in frustration as she watched the woman put on Gojo's black chesterfield coat and tie her hair up with a claw clip. Everything going way too fast.
"Wait, let's make a plan first. Geto will be back in just a second!"
It didn't look like the woman was listening to her. The dark grey clouds outside the windows matched her aura.
The calm before the storm.
And as if right on cue, Geto walked into the room,
"The neighbours agreed to take care of the kids for the night- wait what's happening here?"
Shoko turned to him, a look saying 'talk to her before she does something stupid'.
And so Geto took a good look at her.
Of course he saw her getting ready, changing out her day-wear shoes with the extra pair of her 'work' shoes that were just lying around in Gojo's room.
But he also saw her hands shaking.
Her cheeks were slightly flushed, her eyes were wandering around the room constantly to see if she missed something and her feet were tapping irregularly on the wooden floor.
His first thought was that she was scared. So scared. But then he saw the look in her eyes.
She was angry. Furious even.
Was there anything he could do to stop this?
"Fine. We'll all go together. Just tell us what your plan is on the way."
The doctor had to reel her head back at that, obviously not so on board with the sudden attack they were planning on one of the most- no, the strongest clan.
But she had no choice. She wanted this too.
Utahime walked up to the large window, finally ready as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Glancing back at the other two occupants, she very steadily announced,
"The plan is to walk in there, no matter what."
Behind her, a cloud rumbled.
"You know that you possibly can't hold me here for too long right?"
The older woman chuckled, lightly swatting down dust from her kimono before sitting down,
"Why is that?"
Gojo raised an unimpressed eyebrow at her,
"Literally everyone knows I am here. I doubt Jujutsu Tech would be too happy about the strongest weapon being held hostage."
"We're not holding you hostage son."
"Am I free to go?"
" . . . no." She paused and added, "Also there's hundreds of trained clan guards outside, I am sure your little friends are going to have fun."
He groaned, eyes wandering around the same old dull room. There was a single candle in the middle of the room, lighting it up. It wasn't much but he didn't need any light. He had already scanned every inch of this room with his eyes in the past. He remembered the paper walls all too well.
He remembered everything.
"How did that old man die? I am assuming a heart attack or something."
"Well yes, he did die of natural causes."
Oh yeah they definitely killed him alright. There is no way his mom would agree with something he said or give him any sort of information.
"Why, if I may ask."
It was an indirect question, she would answer that.
"He had been acting up recently, screaming about how he was about to 'expose' what we did to our clan heirs. I doubt he would've, he was senile. It was pretty upsetting that he died, although it is good in some way because he couldn't really spread lies about our clan."
Sure.
"Why am I here again?"
"Did you get a letter?"
Damnit.
"I am going to assume you did from your silence. Your old sensei sent out an letter to you and I think it said that if you publicly agree with whatever information he was going to spread, the Gojo clan could be banished. It would have been an undeniable offence."
"I mean, he died didn't he? Before he could even release that information? Besides, I hate his guts so it's not like I would have done anything he said. So why am I here again?"
"I am waiting for it to be midnight."
"And why is that?"
The woman clapped her hands twice and a kid was pushed into the room by the guards. He had the signature white hair of a Gojo clan member but his eyes were wrapped in brown bandages.
"Meet . . . what is your name boy?"
The kid, probably like 8 years old, grabbed at his haori before stammering out,
"K-Kou."
There is no way they did that. No fucking way.
"Meet Kou. We named him in honour of your little brother, rest his soul."
He could feel the arm restrains creaking with the way he was pulling at them. His mother saw but continued regardless,
"He was born blind. He is also a perfect DNA match to carry the six eyes but you already have them in this generation so he obviously didn't inherit them."
A perfect DNA match? Does that mean-
"Yes, your father slept with another woman. Again."
She said it as if it didn't bother her. As if it was bound to happen. As if loyalty wasn't a necessity.
"What the fuck are you planning to do?"
She grinned,
"Oh it's bothering you now, is it?"
"Just say it!"
She got up and stomped her foot on the ground, her voice high and loud as she declared,
"Tonight at midnight, your eyes will be handed to this young boy right here." The kid shook as he could feel the point even though he was blind, "You will be officially removed from the Gojo clan! Perhaps this world too if I can help it!"
He needed to get out of here.
"I know we all kind of agreed to just wing it but-" Geto winced a little as Shoko took a very sharp turn on the main road of all places, "But what is our plan? At least like a skeleton of the plan?"
Utahime was sitting on the passenger seat, constantly tapping her foot on the ground. It was somehow synchronised with the wiper that was washing away the rain.
Shoko glanced at the rear view mirror to look at Suguru, shaking her head as it telling him to ask a different question.
To change the topic.
Before he could come up with some sad excuse of a topic change, Utahime did it herself.
"Where exactly did you drop off the kids?"
He smiled. The one thing that went well today was that.
"You guys are going to have to stay with the neighbour for now, okay?"
Tsumiki grabbed Megumi's hand, pulling him closer to herself,
"Can you please tell me if Gojo san is okay?"
Geto bit his lip as he stared into their innocent eyes. Way too young.
They were all way too young.
Crouching down, he grabbed their backs to whisper, "I'll be honest with you guys, he for sure is alive and well but we just don't know if he's going to stay that way." Under his touch, Megumi shivered, "But me, Shoko and Utahime are going to definitely save him. 100%. We just need some time, that's all. You guys alright with that?"
After getting two hesitant nods from them he quickly reached out for the doorbell but retracted his hands,
"Can you guys do me a favour?"
"Anything."
Megumi looked like he was ready to fight. Not necessary but it sure was cute.
Laughing a bit, Geto shook his head and pointed at the door,
"Nothing too hard. Just pretend that I am dropping you guys off here so that Satoru can come to work with me. As if we couldn't find a baby sitter on time. Sound good?"
He got two determined nods and so he rung the neighbour, Shinji Nakamura's, doorbell.
"Oh good, they're far away from here."
That was a very weird thing to note but alright.
The car fell into tense silence, the honking from the traffic and the intense rainfall against the windows making it a bit easier to get by.
"So, the weather's nice today eh?"
Shoko felt the kick aimed at the back of her seat even though Geto held back from actually doing it.
"I hate the rain."
"Ah I see."
Talking to Utahime was surprisingly very hard today, she had to admit. Usually they both got along quite well. If in some scenarios Gojo and Geto were 'the pair', in others it would be her and Uta. She knew things about Utahime that no one else did but for some reason, she doubted that she knew more than Gojo does now.
She peeked at Utahime's arm that was being used as an armrest for her chin against the window and then she noticed the other arm that was clutching the coat she was wearing around her chest.
Gojo's coat.
"What do you guys . . . " She suddenly spoke into the silent car, catching her own and Suguru's attention, "know about the Iori clan?"
That was a sensitive topic.
Tapping her finger against the steaming wheel once, Shoko sighed and muttered,
"If I am being honest, I know that information is held back from everyone legally. So in short, nothing."
Geto nodded in agreement.
The raven haired sorcerer finally turned to them,
"I have a request- It's not even a request actually, you guys have to stay at least 60 meters away from me when I am saving Gojo."
Geto shifted in between the two, clearly in objection,
"Wait wait wait, why in the world would we leave you alone-"
The breaks were applied and he almost fell into the dashboard. Almost.
"Shoko-"
"I'm sorry but we're here."
The car powered down and they all inspected the now heavily guarded traditional gates of the Gojo clan.
"I heard you adopted two kids."
Whatever plan he might've been stewing up in his brain was washed down the drain. He could see his mother smirk in some sick way, making sure to stare right into his eyes. She could always read him.
"And?" He mumbled out, realising he hadn't answered the question.
There would be no point in lying to this woman. He was sure she already knew. He had tried his best to at least not show their faces to anyone with connections in the Gojo clan. Even his own sensei.
If she saw them, she'd probably get their pictures stuck somewhere on her wall and no, not in a nice grandmother-ly way.
"What are you planning to do with them? I am guessing it's a competition to show me you can raise them bette-"
"No. It's not."
His mind flashed through memories of a fellow coworker who had drilled 'Its not a game!' into his head.
"They're kids, not some prize to win."
She raised her eyebrows in surprise,
"Oh are you sure little Megumi and little Tsumiki completely agree with that?"
His eyes shot up at her, wide and wild. If in that moment he had his powers, he just knew that this room would have been completely obliterated. The restrains not only stopped his six eyes, but all of his physical strength and cursed energy if it had ill intent.
She could still see the absolute disgust he had for her on his face though.
"Oh don't be like that. Can't even bear me wanting to know my own family?"
"I would rip off your head with my own two hands before I let you do that."
She smiled and it felt like the devil himself was doing so.
Fuck.
As soon as the thought passed his head, the handcuffs he had been put into tightened around his wrists, digging into his skin to the point they drew blood. He couldn't even use reversed cursed energy to heal himself.
But that wasn't the problem here.
It was the unimaginable amount of electricity that was pushed into it that made him scream his lungs out.
The light burned into his skin, dancing the most around his back as he kneeled forward. The dull room was now the brightest, even edging towards complete whiteness.
The kid who had been almost shitting his pants just by being inside the room, ran out. The guards probably caught him though. At least he was out.
Good.
"Look at you, still trying to absorb the electricity for the child to have a getaway. Foolish behaviour really. That kind of emotional mindset is what led to your demise in the first place!"
The initial shock dimmed a little and he had some time to think more clearly. Was there no way for him to get rid of this stupid binding spell?
Taking in deep breaths when the electric shocks completely stopped, he moved his head slightly, grinding it against the carpeted floor to glare at the woman with whatever little energy he had in his system as she walked towards him. She bent down to look at his forearms that were still tied behind his back,
"Look at all those lines ruining perfectly good skin. If there was one good thing Kou ever did, it was to make you stop doing that."
Was there no way for him to break this spell so he can kill this woman once and for all?
"You really need to stop thinking about ways to break this spell. It's built to restrain six eye users if they lose their minds or act unorthodox. It's perfect for you."
He didn't want to bow down to her, even if it was unwillingly. He needed time to think before she shocked him again. He honestly didn't know if he would stay conscious if another one of those happened.
While he was struggling to push himself up to stand up straight, his mother strolled back and sat down on her floor pillow at the end of the room.
He knew it wasn't over but why did she stop? Pity?
No.
Probably something else-
"And what about that woman?"
His shoulders froze as she threw a couple of pictures of Utahime hanging out with the kids onto the floor, the delicate photos landing right at his feet,
"And why that woman? She doesn't seem to meet any standards or qualifications!"
He opened his mouth to speak up, wanting to defend Utahime if with not his power then with his voice; Only to cough as his tongue tasted a very familiar rustic liquid.
She snarled and continued,
"I don't know what you see in her but honestly I beg to differ-"
"Then beg."
Commanded an all too familiar voice behind him.