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"Please?" Yuuji pleaded, pouting at Fushiguro. Kugisaki and Junpei-kun joined him, with puppy dog eyes in tow.
Fushiguro seemed to waver, before sighing, and weaving his hands together, then pointing them to the ground. "Domain Expansion: Chimera Shadow Garden." He whispered.
Yuuji watched in awe as the shadows grew around him and the other first years, stretching and growing up and up, encasing them all in a cave.
"This is so cool!" He whispered, looking around, watching Divine Dog slink out of the shadows and come towards him. The rabbits started to circle Kugisaki, and Nue fluttered around Junpei-kun. He completely missed Fushiguro flushing brightly.
Kugisaki and Junpei-kun did not.
"Yeah, it is pretty cool. Didn't you develop this during a life-or-death situation, Fushiguro?" Kugisaki teased, petting the rabbits lightly.
"You're no better! You used Black Flash for the first time against those two brother curses, not knowing if it would work!" Fushiguro retorted, scowling lightly.
"It was pretty risky." Junpei-kun agreed, petting Nue's feathers lightly.
"And you! That was the first time you summoned Sun Burst! You need to be more careful!" Fushiguro continued to scold.
Yuuji tilted his head, watching in wonder as another Fushiguro slinked out of the shadows near him. "Curse brothers?"
Kugisaki nodded. "They were pretty strong. If they hadn't decided the fight wasn't worth it and hopped onto a truck, then I don't know how it would've gone."
Yuuji frowned. "Huh. I didn't know there were curses that could be brothers. That almost sounds like Onii-chan and me."
Yuuji had taken to calling Chōsō "Onii-chan." For one, he had done it when he needed a hug and Chōsō gave the best hugs from family members. The second reason? Chōsō's face always lit up and softened whenever he heard Yuuji call him that. And Yuuji couldn't deny his brother the small amount of happiness he could get.
Yuuji startled when arms, colder than what he was used to, wrapped around his waist. And head rested against his shoulder blade. He looked down and behind. It seemed Shadow-Fushiguro deemed him a pillow to use as for a nap.
The real Fushiguro choked, and cut off power to the domain. "Okay! That's enough of that!"
Yuuji pouted as the shadows left and they were in the dusk again. He stopped when he saw how winded Fushiguro was. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." Fushiguro said, panting slightly. "It's just that a Domain Expansion is a last ditch effort to end a fight. Because it uses a lot of cursed energy. You should've seen Gojo-sensei when I told him I completed one. Albeit, it wasn't complete."
"It got the job done though!" Junpei-kun said brightly, patting Fushiguro on the back lightly. "You saved both our skins! Otherwise that curse would've chewed us up like Texas Chainsaw!"
Yuuji shivered. Junpei-kun was a closet horror fanatic before he was introduced to a curse named Mahito. Junpei-kun didn't talk about Mahito a lot, only that "he was a manipulative bastard who also tried to hurt Nanami-san." Junpei-kun and Nanami-san had struck the final blows to Mahito at. . . At Shibuya.
Yuuji's scars throbbed, and barely held back a grimace. Somewhere in his mind, something eerily similar to Kenjaku cackled. Yuuji hadn't told anyone about the dreams yet. Or were they memories? Yuuji wasn't sure.
"I think I'll turn in for the night!" He managed to get out, before power walking to the building and hiding in his room.
"Shut up, shut up, shut up." He hissed, gripping his head, his scars.
A dream? Memory? blossomed through, despite his trying to hold it back.
Yuuji was held down on a surgery table, trembling as he tried to fight the drugs in his system, tried to fight against the bindings on his wrists, across his shoulders, across his waist, on his ankles.
The man in monk robes smiled above him, upside down to Yuuji's perspective. "It's alright Yuuji. It's okay son." He cooed, only making Yuuji panic more.
"It'll all be over with before you know it. Just let me in and let me take control."
Yuuji bolted upright with a gasp, clutching his head, the scars, and let out a loud wail.
There was a pop, a snap of matter being forced to make room for someone to push through and bend space-time rules to teleport to Yuuji's side.
"Yuuji-kun!"
Yuuji's arms (they were free, he was free, he wasn't strapped down-) were gripped, his hands pulled away from his face. "Yuuji-kun, I need you to focus on me."
Yuuji tried to focus his eyes on the shock of white hair, the contrast between it and the black uniform Gojo-sensei always wore.
The eyes being bared to the world were new though.
Gojo-sensei must not have had enough time to grab something to cover them. Yuuji thought blearily, his breaths slowing as he followed Gojo-sensei's instructions.
They were too pretty to be called blue though. Too unique. They would redefine blue if Yuuji we're to call Sensei's eyes blue. Arctic Ocean, maybe? The white and blues swirling and dancing and refusing to stay still were hypnotic, like the sea.
Gojo-sensei barked out a laugh. "That's a new one, but thank you, Yuuji-kun. But let's focus on you for the moment, okay?"
Oh, Yuuji had been talking out loud. That's embarrassing.
"Oh Yuuji-kun." Sensei sighed, gathering Red cursed energy and swiping it across Yuuji's forehead. "Please don't hurt yourself."
Yuuji blinked. Hurt himself?
Sensei brought Yuuji's hands into his view, and oh, that was blood and skin under his fingernails.
"C'mon." Sensei grunted, scooping Yuuji up. "Let's get to Shoko. She's probably still living in the infirmary."
"Ah! No! I'm fine!" Yuuji tried to protest, tried to struggle out of Sensei's grip. It was no use though, Sensei's grip was like a steel trap.
"I can only do patch jobs, Shoko is better. But don't tell her I said that." Sensei said conspiratorially.
"I won't." Yuuji sighed, and gave up, leaning against Sensei's shoulder.
"So what brought this on, Yuuji-kun? It's not like you to hurt yourself out of nowhere, much less not even notice you were doing it." Sensei asked the dreaded question, and Yuuji floundered for a answer that didn't give away his nightmares. It didn't help that Yuuji was stuck with Sensei as he walked to the infirmary, probably to ask this question in the first place.
The distraction came in the form of his older brother.
"Yuuji!" Chōsō called, skidding to a stop in front of them. "What happened?"
"I'm okay! Gojo-sensei is just worried!" Yuuji piped up quickly, hoping Sensei wouldn't say anything.
"Your head is covered in blood, Otōto." Chōsō refuted.
"I think Yuuji-kun slipped and hit his head is all." Sensei inserted himself smoothly into the conversation. "I was just bringing him to the good doctor to get it checked out. Would you like to take him?"
Yuuji felt his heart sink at Sensei's lie.
He won't let this go. Once we're alone again, Sensei will pry it out of me.
Chōsō nodded, and reached for Yuuji, who squawked at being carried again. "I can walk!"
Chōsō shushed him. "Head injuries are dangerous, Otōto. Let me carry you to be sure."
Yuuji grumbled, and glared at Gojo-sensei out of the corner of his eye. Gojo-sensei, who was now taking pictures.
"Gojo-sensei!"
"See you later Yuuji-kun! We'll talk about this later, okay~?"
Yuuji felt his heart sink as he mumbled some form of agreement as Chōsō carried him away from his nosy sensei.
~~~~~~~~~~
Satoru tapped his foot before he started pacing again. Yuuji-kun was having night terrors, and that just wouldn't do.
Unfortunately, the only therapist that was within reach of Jujutsu Tech had recently died in a completely normal accident.
If only Satoru could believe that.
Satoru would love to believe that someone who could help Yuuji-kun would have died normally.
He wanted to believe it so badly.
If only that damn brain hadn't somehow escaped.
Satoru didn't know how Kenjaku did it. Satoru felt too tight in his own skin, his cursed energy begging to billow out and spiral and attack something, anything. Preferably Kenjaku and whatever subordinates that fucking brain had left.
There hadn't been any breach in the Curtain, so Satoru didn't know how the brain fucking managed an escape plan. Hell, Satoru didn't know how the brain managed to plan and coordinate anything, since he didn't have anyone to talk to anyone.
A mystery for another time. Satoru decided as Nanami walked into the room, followed by Yaga and Shoko.
"Nothing. All we could find was some frost." Yaga sighed, taking his glasses off and rubbing at his eyes. He looked exhausted, even with Satoru working as hard as he could to lighten his ex-sensei's workload, Yaga was still called onto the battlefield at times.
He hated it, he hated how the elders who were so old and rarely saw battle could decide someone's fate in a heartbeat, just because that life was inconvenient for them.
He was working to rectify it, but it was slow going. Now though, with the elders' measures failing, Satoru may have a breakthrough on his hands.
"We'll find it." Nanami promised, his recently sharpened cleaver in hand. He looked ready for war. "We also need to search for the missing fingers. Who knows what the maniac will try to pull with them?"
Shoko snorted. "He'd have to one, find a new body. Two, make a full attack on Jujutsu Tech. And three, get past Satoru, you, and Chōsō before he could even touch Yuuji-kun. Not to mention his classmates and upper classmen, who happen to be rather protective." She told Nanami, and Satoru relaxed at her faith in them.
"If Megumi wasn't above it, I'm positive he'd hide Yuuji-kun in the Shadow Realm until they were gone." Satoru chuckled.
Everyone relaxed a little more at that, and started leaving one by one, until only Satoru and Nanami were left.
"It won't be so easy."
"I know. I'm planning."
"Plotting, you mean." Nanami scoffed and tossed his head, and something broke in Satoru's chest, making him laugh genuinely.
"So little faith in me and my plots, Nanamin!"
"You can call me Kento."
Satoru's heart froze at the permission. No one was allowed to call him Kento. Not since. . . .
Nana- Kento's smile was soft, and slightly sad. "Yuuji-kun has been talking to me. Helping me. Realizing past scars I didn't even know were there in the first place."
Satoru swallowed, because goddamn, Kento looked beautiful with the rising moonlight falling on his features like spun silver and the soft smile accentuated his kind, strong jawline, and-
Oh.
Oh no.
"Good night then, Kento." Satoru said after swallowing, and disappeared with a pop.
He reappeared in his room. "Damnit. DAMNIT!" He hissed, kicking his bed.
Not now. Why? The last person I liked, I lo-
Satoru cut himself off, strangling that thought before it finished.
No. Never again. He had promised that, after Suguru. And he had broken that.
Because loving Suguru was like looking at fire. Beautifully destructive, strong, encompassing.
But loving Nanami? Loving Kento? It was as easy as breathing, as easy as walking, as easy as using Six-Eyes, that Satoru hadn't even realized he had fallen.
Which is why Satoru can't let this lo- this fondness grow. Look at how that went with Suguru. Satoru couldn't let the curse on his love touch Kento. He couldn't. He had already almost lost Kento at Shibuya.
He couldn't lose him again.
The brain escaping could wait. So could his feelings. In fact, he'd shove his feelings into Infinite Void to make them suffocate if he could.
For now? Sleep. And then trying to find another therapist for the younger generation. Then protection for everyone.
Everything else could be secondary. Even his own feelings. Especially his own feelings.
It's not like they ever took precedence anyways. That notion had been thrown out the window from the time they realized he had both Infinity and Six-Eyes.
He could live like this. He had since he was a child.
For now, sleep, and plotting to keep everyone safe. A sound plan.
He ignored the small voice, the voice that lingered in the soft part of his heart, that screamed that he could accept love and protect everyone.
He ignored it, and slept.
He dreamed of a world where there was no war, no Shibuya, just him teaching his students, and living a happy life with Kento.
He woke up crying.