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“I thought you made the reservation, Utahime”
“Utahime-senpai! And I did! And I already went to complain but this is the only room they could give us in such a short time!”
Gojo groans “You see, this is why I don´t want back-up for mission! Things get unnecessary complicated”
Utahime rubs her head, vexed at Gojo’s pouty face “Believe me Gojo, I wish I wasn’t your backup but orders are orders”
Gojo stuck out his tongue in a rude way and Utahime was reluctant to imitate him because she wasn’t a spoiled brat. She knew Gojo hated any form of mention of the higher-ups-the orders in this case-, who had sent them on that mission together to Okinawa. They knew Gojo’s past records with that place and his strange but understandable resistance to do missions there. So their best solution to get Gojo Satoru to Okinawa was to stick a certain semi-grade one to his side and send them off.
Like that’s going to keep the bad memories away.
Originally, Gojo’s plan was to teleport there, deal with the curse and return as soon as possible to Tokyo. But adding Utahime to the mission in the last minute meant telling her in the last minute. Notify Kyoto Tech in the last minute. Cancel classes’ in the last minute (hooray for the students). Last minute packing- “No, I won’t take a swimsuit Gojo, get the hell out of my room!”-and a last minute reservation in a hostel near the beach.
Gojo suspected that the old geezers had stuck him with Utahime for some reason aside his past in Okinawa, but he didn’t complain. If fact, once he got past the small moment of rage of being ordered around, he liked the idea of traveling alongside his favorite person in the world. Just to show off, he carried her like a princess after she got her luggage ready and teleported them to that same beach form ten years ago.
As soon as he saw the scenery of the waves and the sand, memories invaded his mind and he almost dropped Utahime. Thankfully, she was clinging to his neck, having experienced his teleportation technique for the first time. Her faint tremble snaps him out of his trance and laughs at her, asking if she was going to vomit. Utahime, regaining her composure, slaps his arm in anger-she should know by now that that’s not going to work- and demands that he release her. Gojo laughs again but obeys, trying his best to ignore the vision of Amanai Riko playing in the ocean alongside Suguru, and follows Utahime to where they were going to spend the night.
The mission report briefs them that at least five tourists had disappeared in the past month.
“But not in the ocean like some cheap-horror movie” Gojo says as they walk. Utahime frowns at his tacky comment but he ignores it and continues- “They disappeared in the sand, their footprints stopping midway towards the ocean.”
The cases had been well documented as the victims had left their hostels by their own foot in the middle of the night when they were resting.
Speaking of resting.
Utahime gives him a sharp glare “What are you doing, you idiot?”
Gojo was already slumped in the futon, his head resting in his palm “What?”
“We have work to do! The victims disappeared in the middle of the night so get your lazy-butt up”
Gojo scratches his leg “Nah.”
“Nah?!”
“I mean, if that cursed spirit is smart, he won’t show up tonight. So we should rest”
Utahime eyed him suspiciously “How do you know it won’t appear tonight?”
Gojo smiles mockingly “Well, Utahime, that’s what happens when you’re this strong! You wouldn’t know it because you’re weak-“
Gojo catches the table decoration Utahime threw at him with one hand, not bothering to raise his barrier.
"Careful! If you break it, you pay for it! "
“Shut up, you blindfolded dumbass!”
Huh.
She was getting better with her insults. Gojo smirked at her vexed face and made himself comfortable, ignoring the small wall of pillows Utahime put in the middle of the futon to divide it in half.
“If you cross that, I’ll fucking kill you”
“What a mouth. Maybe this is why you don’t have a boyfriend”
“My private life doesn’t concern you!” screamed Utahime as she entered the bathroom, locking it behind her. Gojo whistles. He tiptoes to the door and begins to talk loudly “This is our first mission together in a long time Utahime! Lighten up!”
“LEAVE ME ALONE!”
“I can’t! Gotta make sure you don’t feel scared-“
Gojo jumped in his place when something collided at the door with force making it shake. ‘What a temper’ he thought as he laid down again in the futon. He tries to close his eyes and as soon as he does it, he remembers the stories he told Riko with to scare her in the slumber party they had had in their hostel. He remembers Suguru’s annoyance when he began to be overly explicit with the gory details.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, stop, stop it. Stop remembering that.
He hears the door of the bathroom unlock and Utahime comes out surrounded by steam. She had showered, her face a slight pinkish, and was wearing lose clothes. She turns to look at him as she dries her hair with a towel and raises an eyebrow. “You aren’t going to change?”
Gojo was still in his uniform. He never packed more than the essentials, and his essentials where his wallet and phone. After all, his missions out of Tokyo barely lasted more than a few hours, and he usually fooled around on purpose to stick it to the higher-ups. But with Utahime around, he almost feels strangely comfortable. Makes him forget for a moment the memories he had of this cursed place.
Gojo puts his hands behind his head and smiles “Careful, senpai, you wouldn’t want to fall in love with my beautiful body”
Utahime can’t help to laugh at his face as she lies on her side of the futon.
“Gojo, I think it’s easier to hate you than to love you”
Gojo's smile immediately disappears from his face and is replaced by an expression of surprise.
“Why would you say that?”
The hurt in his voice is almost palpable.
Utahime scoffs and turns around “Figure it out yourself. You’re strongest so it means that you’re the smartest, isn’t that right?”
Gojo keeps quiet, which is a goddamn miracle in Utahime’s life.
“Do you hate me?” he asks.
Utahime glaces back at him. Gojo has ditched his blindfold and his eyes shine with an azure glow in the darkness of the room. She frowns.
“How could I not? You’re a dick to me 24/7 ever since I can remember”
Not the best pep talk they should be having before a mission but sharing a bed almost makes him feel that they should be sincere with each other.
“Do you hate me, Gojo? I bet you do considering how you treat me” she asks.
He keeps quiet at this. His feelings for her where far from hate, but not ready to be shared in that moment, not in that place. Anywhere, but here. So he turns arounds, tucking the duvet over his head and leaving her with nothing.
Gojo hears Utahime huffed in annoyance but doesn’t wrestle for the duvet. Later in the night, Gojo covers her carefully when she’s sound asleep, and watches as she relaxes her face since she had been shivering from the cold.
*...*
“Get up Gojo! This isn’t a vacation!”
Gojo groaned and put the duvet over his head.
“Five more minutes....”
Utahime moves him with her foot “Now means now Gojo!”
The man groans louder, annoyed.
“Why, did someone died?”
“No”
“Then let me rest”
The woman rips the sheets out of his body “Get up now!”
“Ugh, yes ma’am....”
“Don’t call me that, have some respect!” Before Utahime slammed the door, Gojo noticed that she had already changed. He groaned staring at the ceiling.
He was tired.
He hadn’t slept a wink mostly because when he did, Utahime wasn’t the one lying down by his side. It was Amanai Riko with the bullet wound on her head oozing blood. She smiled at him as she spoke.
“I also think it’s easier to hate you. After all, you left me to die”
Gojo slams his hands on both sides of his face. The pain it’s enough to snap him out of the trance and he stands up to finish this once and for all.
“Utahime, wait up!”
*...*
Both adults groan in misery when the weather starts being a little too hot for their uniform. Gojo begs Utahime to stop at one of the many shops to buy beach clothing. He takes his sweet time browsing through the swim trunks, while Utahime stares at him impatient. She already had picked her clothes, not wasting time with the color or pattern of the swimsuits.
“Hurry up”
“No way! You’re a woman Utahime, you should know that shopping takes time”
“We don’t have time for this!”
“Yeah we do” Gojo shoves a two-piece swimsuit in her hands “I’ll buy that one for you because you’re sweating like crazy!”
It’s true, Utahime looked like she was about to collapse from dehydration.
“Also, you have terrible taste”
Utahime’s face turns red in embarrassment and she throws the swimsuit at his face.
*...*
“A woman?” says Utahime.
“Yes” the man, an owner of an ice-cream parlor, is making them two kakigori with strawberry syrup -courtesy of Gojo, of course-as he talks “I remember quite clearly because she looked really sick. And she was wearing strange clothes”
He handed Utahime a kakigori, who in turn gave it to Gojo before he could complain. The tall man smiled widely as he ate it. Utahime handed him a napkin and resumes her questioning.
“What kind of clothes?”
The man makes an irritated face.
“Like one of those cosplays youngster do these days. A maid I think” he handed her the kakigori as Utahime thanked him for the information.
They eat their sugary treat walking by the seashore, where the waves sometimes tickle their feet as they break against the sand.
Gojo is the first to break the peaceful silence.
“So what do you think? It’s pretty obvious that the curse is making them walk out of their hostels. There are remains of the cursed energy in the sand”
Utahime looks around and nods “It’s that woman’s curse. I think she committed suicide”
“So we just exorcise the curse and done!”
Utahime gives him an irritated glare “Have some respect. A curse born from suicide is no easy thing.” Utahime looks at the ocean, and her gaze softens for a moment “That woman must have been in a lot of pain”
Gojo rolls his eyes. “Aren’t we all?”
Utahime snarls “Well, are you ever in pain, you brat?”
“Nope!” Gojo leans into her, knocking of her balance “Not when I’m with my favorite person in the world!”
“Ugh, fuck you!”
Gojo slides a hand down her back, while giving her a cocky grin “When and where?”
Utahime’s face blushes profusely and pushes his body as hard as she can “GET OFF ME, YOU DISGUSTING PERVERT!” and hurries off without him.
Gojo laughs amused and runs behind her.
*...*
The curse had refused to come out even when he had taunted him to do it. Utahime questioned if that had actually worked before, to which he happily said no.
She didn’t find it funny.
Gojo offered to do the first watch, even though he didn’t see it useful. As soon as that curse manifested, both of them would feel it and he could exorcist it in the blink of an eye. She didn’t comment on that, knowing full-well it’s was truth. Utahime lies down in the futon and closes her eyes.
When she finally falls asleep, Gojo carefully puts a hand around her waist as he moves closer, enjoying the contact of their bodies once they fit together. He smiles relieved. The feeling of her warmth pushes the bad memories so deep in his mind he can almost replace them with the ones he lived today with her.
Utahime walking in the sand can replace Suguru. Utahime attempting to play in the ocean with him can replace him and Riko looking at that gross sea cucumber. Utahime slight smile while he choked on the food at the restaurant can replace the meal they had had where he purposely poured soy sauce in Riko’s rice.
She helps him forget the fact that he failed to Riko and Suguru.
But he would not fail her.
Hours later, Gojo groans as he feels Utahime shift beside him. The woman removes the arm that was holding her and gets out of the futon. Gojo assumes that she’s going to the bathroom-or scream at him for having broken the agreement of not crossing the futon, whichever comes first- when he hears the sound of the door room open.
His eyes snap open. It’s the middle of the night.
“Utahime?” he calls but the woman doesn’t answer back. Instead, she goes down the stairs. Gojo is quick to put on his sandals before chasing after her.
“Utahime! Snap out of it!”
Utahime-how the hell did she walk so fast?!- was already leaving by the door of the hostel, ignoring him. Of course the curse would target her. Being so weak, she was an easy prey. Gojo groans and decides that running after her is not worth it. The curse was going to wait for them at the beach anyways; he would just use Red and rescue Utahime before anything else happened.
Gojo can’t help but to grin when he imagines the face Utahime would make once she realized that he, the great Gojo Satoru, had saved her ass once more as he held her like a princess. He could even add a taunting “Are you crying?” before nuzzling her cheek.
As expected, Utahime stops midway towards the ocean, her feet sinking in the sand. Gojo stops a few steps behind her and looks around before speaking.
“Well, are you done? Because I’m getting tired already! Come out so we can finish this once and for all”
The waves of the ocean crash loudly in the shore as the wind blows with force and messes up Utahime’s braid.
Braid?
Gojo’s blood freezes when the woman in front turns to look at him.
It’s not Utahime.
It’s Amanai Riko, oozing blood from her head. She smiles sweetly at him.
“You didn’t protect the one thing that was precious for me”
Amanai Riko’s body grotesquely changes in front of him to a person he had almost forgotten in the ten years after that fateful mission. The reason why Suguru and him had had to go to Okinawa in the first place.
The look of the curse that used to be Misato Kuroi is filled with hatred and grief.
“So I will take something precious from you too”
He can’t help but to shudder as a word escaped his lips.
“Don’t”
Don’t hurt Utahime.
The curse loomed over the form of someone-whom? Riko or Utahime?-and it stretches their hand towards it. That gesture is enough for him to raise his finger, panic invading his soul, as thoughts race in his mind: If I used Purple I’ll hit Utahime, I can’t use Red or Blue, I’ll hurt her as well! I need to retrieve her! Gojo is slammed to the side before he can run up to her, breaking off his concentration.
Utahime pants as she stands protectively before him, her eyes are filled with worry and anger
“Stupid Gojo! Why did you go out the room?! Can’t you tell between a curse and me?!”
Gojo blinks confused lying on the sand. He had gone out of the room? But she had- Gojo turns his head to where he thought he had seen Utahime. In the place where he had been standing where three perfect marks of slashes that would have easily sliced a normal person to ribbons.
His eyes tell him that the person standing before him is Utahime.
Why hadn’t he realized that sooner?
“Get up!” Utahime tries to get him on his feet when the curse’s neck creaks as it turns to see her. A voice in pain croaks an order.
“MOVE”
Utahime ignores the warning as she takes out a cursed tool. “Get up Gojo! Amanai Riko’s death it’s not your fault!”
But it is his fault. He failed that day.
Utahime had said those same words to him ten years ago when they met again after that mission.
She had tried to ease his pain.
She had hugged him saying those same words.
The mention of Riko’s name makes the form of the curse snap in various places as it roars.
“MOVE!” and attacks them.
Utahime opens her mouth and sings. The air instantly becomes warmer. The curse’s claws stop a mere inch of her hair as it emits a painful sob. Utahime takes the opportunity and slices its arm clean off, never stopping her singing. The curse wails and makes itself smaller. Between sobs, it lets out a name.
“Riko-sama....”
Gojo places his finger in position next to Utahime as they look at the pitiful form of the curse of Misato Kuroi.
“Riko-sama....”
Gojo clenches his teeth and uses Red.
*...*
The best thing about his relationship with Utahime is that they don’t talk about unnecessary things. They didn’t hold to much grudge between them because they knew it was unless and unwise in their line of work. Something, anything, could happened at any moment that could change their lives for the worst, so they always silently forget what the other has say and done to hurt the other, and continue to be coworkers.
Even he knows that’s not healthy but, what is healthy is this kind of life?
Gojo drops Utahime in her apartment, but doesn’t leave. And Utahime lets him stay. She cooks them both dinner and offers him the couch with blankets. But Gojo doesn’t take it and goes straight to her bed, losing his blindfold in the sheets.
Utahime tries to get him out once and doesn’t try a second time; she lies next to him. His eyes are hidden by his hair as he curls up right next to her.
“Utahime, can I do something and can we never speak about it for the rest of our lives? Just keep it between us?”
She nods.
“Can I hug you while we sleep?”
There’s a pause before she nods again. Gojo accommodates himself against her, wrapping his arms around her waist. Utahime shifts to find a more comfortable position in his hold. Gojo buries his face against her hair that still smells of the ocean. It makes his stomach twist.
“....I don’t hate you” he murmurs quietly
“What?”
“That time, you asked if I hated you. I don’t. I just like to tease you” He caresses her arm “Do you hate me?”
Utahime ponders for a moment “I hate you most of the time.”
“Not all the time”
“Exactly”
“I’m glad” Gojo closes his eyes and focuses on Utahime heartbeat in order to drown out the rest of the noises.
“Gojo”
“Um?”
“Don’t blame yourself to much, ok?”
Gojo doesn’t answer. Instead, he buries his head on the crook of her neck, where he can smell the perfume she uses and it’s far better than the smell of salt. Utahime holds him in place as she sings him softly to sleep.