Just a bet
Series: Jujutsu Kaisen
Pairing: Kagome x Satoru
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or series.
No one, absolutely no one, would blame her if Kagome were to choose to prioritize herself and just leave.
The last year of her life had been a challenge to get through as she battled with two sets of differing memories that almost made her doubt her own sanity. In fact, if not because the reiki she'd learned to handle still had physical effects, the priestess would've scoffed at the idea that falling down a well could send her 500 years back to the past. A past filled to the brim with beings that belonged to the myths and legends her grandfather loved to tell, one where she'd experienced violence and witnessed death over and over...where she'd met some of the most important people in her life, those she'd come to love as family. For three years, Kagome fought against demons and monsters, just for everything to disappear at the end, leaving her stranded in a world that was just like hers, and yet no.
The Higurashi Kagome that existed in the second set of memories inside her head was a different person; a naive, carefree student who never worried about anything other than keeping her grades up and wanting to catch the eye of an upperclassman. This version of Kagome was just an average girl who had no experience with anything that could be called supernatural. Someone with no scars and who'd never shot an arrow or fought for her life. Someone unable to see the accumulations of negative energy that now hung around people and places, having a real and dangerous effect on those who were near.
Perhaps she should've just pretended she couldn't see anything odd and grabbed the chance at having a boring life that was presented to her now that her journey was over. That would've been the wisest decision to make. But she'd never been able to stand by and watch when there was something she could do to help. So instead, the priestess took frequent walks out, carrying a handful of ofudas. Not because they worked, her grandfather had no more spiritual talent in this version of her life than he'd had in the other, but the charms provided her with something she could charge her energy and hide on her person easily. Going on walks to clean these negative beings was a nice way to clear her head from the surges of pain that threatened to split her head open whenever the girl attempted to connect the two sets of memories. Plus, it allowed her to help others with little effort. Most of the time, these beings would vanish with just a brush of her reiki.
When she felt the flicker of negative energy inside the mall, Kagome hadn't thought twice about entering. Yes, this thing was more than likely far stronger than any of the small clumps she'd gotten rid of, but that was precisely why she felt compelled to enter. What she failed to expect, was the wave of energy that plunged the entire building into what looked like one of Souta's horror games. Experiences gained from memories of events that never happened allowed her to remain calm and lead a small group into a room she converted into a safe haven after they'd realized there was a barrier stopping people from leaving.
Everyone but her.
Whatever made it possible for her to go through barriers during the feudal era worked just as well in this world. If she wanted, it wouldn't be hard for Kagome to just leave the mall and the monsters behind. A part of her urged her to go and forget about falling through time and everyone she met there so she could live the life of an ordinary fifteen-year-old girl. However, this version of her, the one who remembered the years spent recovering the Shikon fragments, was far too aware of the weight a human life held. So here she was, with a handful of ofudas inside her pocket and a broken piece of metal in her hand to use as a makeshift weapon she could channel her energy through. In hindsight, maybe she should've insisted on having Sango or Miroku teach her how to fight close combat; surely, they could've managed to make some time, even only a single hour every so often, after setting up camp. This was far from ideal, but she had a feeling that unless she got rid of the main demon...monster, whatever this thing was, the others would remain stuck here.
A flicker of negative energy made her tense, grip tightening around her improvised weapon.
Good in close combat or not, as long as she managed to make first contact, she could get by. Even the stronger monsters prowling around couldn't withstand more than a couple of flows.
She could do this.
She had to.
Kagome raced through the hall. Her arms felt heavy. With a thrust, the metal cut through the air, hitting the necrotic black flesh that appeared in her field of vision. And she sensed it. The same sort of negative energy. Only far stronger.
Letting momentum send her to the ground, her right hand rushed to the floor, closing around a piece of broken debris. It wouldn't be enough to destroy anything, but it could give her time to prepare. Pink light enveloped the improvised projectile as it arched through the air...and hit an open hand...a ver human-looking hand, attached to a silver-haired man who wore a black blindfold.
"This...actually hit..."
"You're human..."
"That I am." The man was the first to get out of the stupor the two of them seemed to have been caught in. "So, what are you?"
"I'm also a human, thank you very much. Geez, what's up with overpowered jerks jumping to that question." Kagome stood up, trying to understand what was going on.
"Aww, so I'm not the first one?"
"Sorry, but you're a bit late in that one." Was he a threat? A potential ally? A neutral party? "So, who are you?"
Silence covered the hall for a couple of seconds. Azure eyes went over the unknown human male who'd calmly stood by and watched that thing get close to him from the other side of the hall. His stance was relaxed, with one hand on his hip, and from what she could see, he wasn't carrying a weapon. Lifting part of the blindfold with his right hand; a bright opalescent, blue eye peeked at her, probably attempting to assess her. He wasn't jumping to attack her, but that didn't mean he was an ally.
"Gojo Satoru." There was a slight pause as if he was expecting some sort of reaction. "Strongest jujutsu sorcerer, best curse user in the world...not like you use curses at all, it seems."
Crap, so she should have recognized his name.
"Nope, haven't tried to use curses even once. I call it reiki, like spiritual energy and all that." She'd play indifferent then.
"Hmm, haven't heard about it." There was a Cheshire-like grin on his face. "So, anything interesting over there?"
"If by interesting you're talking about the thing that created the barrier around this place, then not a thing." Her words died on her tongue, a push of negative energy crashed against the edge of her senses. Something was trying to get into the safe room. "You're trying to get rid of that thing, right?"
"That's the goal." He was playing along, at least.
"I can lead you to it." Making a choice, the girl sprinted back to where she came from. "Just follow me for a bit!"
"In the direction you just said had nothing interested in?" The man was keeping up with her with no effort. And she knew why he was hearing her out.
"Look, you clearly have questions you want answered, and I obviously know almost nothing about this, so let's make a deal." There was no way for her to know how trustworthy this person was, but this wasn't a situation she had the privilege to choose. "My family has no clue I can do any of this. Keep them out of this and help me destroy this thing, and I'll tell you all I can."
"Not gonna ask for protection for yourself?" The man's curiosity was definitely peaked now.
"I have a knack for surviving impossible situations."
"You got a deal then."
Giving the male a nod, the girl sped up, jumping over a couple of broken tables; her hand found one of the ofudas in her pocket. She could already see the back of the monsters looming around the door to the restaurant's kitchen, the place where a dozen innocent survivors were hiding.
With a swing of her arm, the protective charm flew to the middle of the group of monsters. Bright pink light exploded from it, blinding the beings. Behind her, she could feel the sorcerer keeping up but making no effort to jump into action. He wasn't going to move first. Of course, not. The guy probably wanted to see her use her power...yup, definitely an overpowered jerk. Fine, she could handle this alone.
Her grip tightened on her improvised weapon, sacred energy enveloping the piece of metal.
The charm was simply a distraction, a way to bring the creatures away from her shimmering barrier and towards them. Caught off guard; the hit connected with one of them, its flesh turning into ash. Claws missed her arm by an inch. Turning, she cursed as she lost her balance when the beast vanished. Pain exploded when her shoulder hit the floor, making Kagome bit back a scream.
She'd been in worse fights before.
Ignoring the pain, the girl pushed herself up, swinging wildly around her, looking only for the briefest contact. Behind her, a growl reached her ears. Too close, way too close. Turning around from a kneeling position was not going to happen. Biting her tongue, Kagome prepared for the beast to reach out. This wasn't the first time she'd gotten hit, it probably wouldn't be her last, and she could heal herself with far more ease than she could heal others. This body may not have a single scar, but her mind remembered how much it hurt to get hit. She could take it.
"Huh...so you can get rid of these guys quite easily..." The man's voice sounded playful, as if he hadn't just killed the monster in a blink. "But you're kinda bad at it."
Frustration welled up inside her. For the past hour and a half, she'd been making the rounds, trying to find more survivors and having to deal with panicked, inexperienced people. Kagome was tired; she was in pain from the injuries she'd gotten trying to guide these people to safety. And, of course, she knew that her attacks looked nothing like the graceful and elegant slashes from Sesshoumaru, or Inuyasha's raw and powerful swings. And really, since this was a different version of her own body, any experience learned from the feudal era would've been useless. Even if her mind remembered how to move, she simply didn't have the condition to follow through.
"I'm an archer, alright?!" Her anger finally burst out. "Had I known this demon or curse or whatever was going to entrap us in this hell-like dimension, I would've found a way to get in with my bow and arrows!"
"You're saying you'd have come to this hell even if you'd known what it was from the start?"
"Of course I would," Kagome scoffed at his incredulous tone. "Other than me, no one else would've been able to deal with these monsters. Not until now, at least."
"Wait, you can't mean..."
"Give me a sec; I need to get in first to disable my barrier. I'm honestly not sure how it would react to your...curse energy." The term felt weird on her tongue.
Giving him no time to react, the girl entered the storage room, and her gaze quickly found the pair of men who'd fearfully placed themselves in front of the rest of the group. She made sure to offer a reassuring smile, and she could see the tension leave as they realized it was her who entered the room.
"Sorry about that, but I dealt with them." The small group of survivors let out a sigh. "Found someone else who seems to know more about this mess too, so just give me a bit."
Refusing to let them panic, Kagome pulled off the couple of charms that protected the room and opened the door. A frown found its way to her face as she looked at the silver-haired man, who was standing right in front of the metal door, one finger only a few centimeters away. "Were you about to poke my barrier?"
"I was curious."
"Just get in here, quick." With a huff, the priestess grabbed the offending hand and pulled him in.
And Kagome wanted to curse once more when she noticed the slight tension in his form when her skin touched his. Shit, was this something else she shouldn't have done or something? Well hopefully, this would only add to his curiosity and lead him to honor the deal they'd made a few seconds ago instead of placing her family in danger.
Shaking her head, the girl hurried to place the ofudas back in the door, reciting prayers under her breath to help her focus on pushing her spiritual energy into the charm. The words themselves held no actual significance, and not once had she tried to worship a specific kami, but Miroku had clarified that the act of repeating those words was more a way to help her concentration remain stable than anything else. It had taken far more time than she would've liked, but after a year, she'd finally learned the trick behind it. Thankfully, though physical talents didn't translate into this version of the world, her spiritual abilities remained.
"There are...survivors..." He sounded...amazed, marveled, even.
"Some of them were close to me when shit hit the fan. Some others I found while I went out." Kagome offered as an explanation.
"Kagome-san?" One of the women hesitantly interrupted their softly spoken conversation. "My brother...he's getting worse."
One glance was all she needed to feel urgency build up inside her.
The young man had gotten hurt protecting his older sister, but it hadn't been anything serious, and the bleeding wasn't too bad, so the priestess prioritized some of the others whose lives had been in danger. Looking at the boy now, his skin was beyond sickly pale, and his breathing was ragged. With a "pass me the first aid kit!" Kagome rushed to kneel beside the teen, Gojo-san close behind her.
Azure eyes zeroed on the bandage on the young teen's arm. Swift fingers peeled off the blood-soaked fabric, and she had to bite back a curse. The blood flowing out of the wound was sluggish, the flesh around it necrotic, his veins had gained a black taint...shit. This had been a foolish mistake on her part. Just because she could withstand miasma, it didn't mean others could as well. As it was, the poison had expanded from the entry point and was steadily going up his limb. Considering how long it had been since he got injured, she had to heal this now, or else the boy wouldn't survive another hour.
"W-what is this...?" The woman behind her gasped in horror.
"Poison, he'll die." Gojo-san's voice was ice cold, giving no sympathy. "That's an extremely painful way to go; it would be kinder to end it now."
"N-no!" Scared hands grabbed the priestess's arm in panic. "No, you can't!"
"He won't die." Kagome's gaze flickered to the sorcerer to glare at him for an instant before looking back at the scared woman. "There's no need at all. I can heal him."
"The poison is already running through his system. Even if we were to cut off his arm, his blood is already contaminated. This isn't a wound that can be healed." He wasn't being cruel, just stating a fact, just like Sesshoumaru would back in the day.
"It can't be healed with your methods, perhaps." Gojo-san may not be acting cruel, but it wasn't helping her here. "But I don't use cursed energy, remember?"
That seemed to shut him up as she turned around, muttering prayers under her breath once more. While none of the people here could see the glow of her reiki as it began to flow from and to the wounds, fighting back against the poison, Gojo-san could probably see it. She was really painting herself as a target here, but this wasn't something that could be helped; as long as her family wasn't involved in this potential disaster, it would be fine in her mind.
It wasn't that she thought the sorcerer would decide to go behind her and hold her mother hostage, but the way he introduced himself had made it clear to her that while she hadn't seen them before, there was a part of society that dealt with the supernatural. And really, if there was something she'd learned from her constant journeys in the past, it was that humans tended to be afraid of things and beings they couldn't understand, and when they got scared, their first response was often destructive. That was why so many half-demons ended up driven out of their towns. It wouldn't surprise her in the slightest if some of the people in control decided to classify her as an unknown threat. Not that she was planning to just lie down and accept their judgment, but considering she knew nothing about these sorcerers.
"...so..." the silver-haired male whispered behind her. Probably looking at the unmarred skin. "You did heal him..."
"I told you, didn't I? We are definitely not using the same kind of energy."
"Alright...what do you say about a new deal?" Gojo-san grinned, offering her an open hand. "After we go and vaporize this curse, I will personally guarantee your safety as well; in exchange, you'll become my assistant once I start as a teacher next month."
"What...?"
What the hell was he talking about now?
"I forced the guys in charge to let me teach the next generation, and the old farts would definitely despise you. Which means, you'd be perfect to be my teaching assistant." He waved what had to be the important details with a careless hand gesture before offering it to her once more. "We still need to work on your close-range combat because you suck at it right now, but this stupid determination of yours, the reason you came here and committed to protecting a bunch of strangers, that, is what the brats will need to learn. You'd have good pay too. So, do we have a deal?"
This was a gamble, one she would be making with a complete stranger who Kagome was sure could back the egoistic claims about being the strongest sorcerer. She'd be placing all her bets on a single person...then again, the girl was already trusting him with her family's safety.
This would completely extinguish any hope of having an easy and normal life from now on, and the part of her who remembered blindly jumping through time felt relieved for the first time since she opened her eyes the second time she turned fifteen.
"Alright," Rough fingers closed around her hand. "I'll be your assistant."