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yuesya · 1 year ago

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Hello! I've been browsing your blog and then I saw this under the first ask of Toji ver. Bastard AU:

I saw the Shiki angst and jumped to the opportunity. Here's the sketch of their first meeting:

Did Toji buy her or did he sneak in to steal her? Who knows(it's probably 2)

Also: Does pre-MEoDP Shiki in this AU has green eyes or brown?

It’s been a long time since Toji had last stepped foot in this place.

… Back then, he’d only just left the Zenin Clan behind. Doing a job for the rival Gojo Clan had sounded like a great idea at the time, in his petty, vindictive mind. There had been no real reason for him to refuse such an easy job that paid well.

Similarly to the Zenins, the Gojos meticulously warded everything on clan grounds with seals and barriers… but tended to overlook the little things that sorcerers never paid attention to. Really, what good was warding a house against eavesdroppers relying on hiding seals? For someone with sharp hearing like Toji, they could easily just lean back a considerable distance away and listen clearly through the walls.

… think he’ll come? Only a bastard child…

He’s the father, isn’t he? … Besides, if he doesn’t want her, then we could always…

… to the Kamo Clan, right? Weren’t they looking for a bride for that unworthy heir… at least she’ll fetch a good price, useless thing…

Toji silently listens to the dull conversation droning on and on behind closed doors.

His own childhood in the Zenin Clan hadn’t been a happy one, not by any stretch of the word. As someone with zero cursed energy, in a clan that exalted sorcerers –there was no kind fate that awaited a child like him. And, if he was hearing things correctly… then, for ‘Gojo Shiki’ as well.

He’s not entirely sure how to explain it, this sudden urge to come back to the Gojo Clan that he’d left behind him and see the girl with his own two eyes. His daughter, a child whom Toji feels absolutely no attachment to and only ever registered in a distant corner of his mind like some abstract concept. Nothing more, nothing less.

And yet, here he was.

Toji stands in front of a set of sliding doors to an unobtrusive, out-of-the-way room. The one where the disgrace was kept, according to the information that he’d gleaned during his eavesdropping just now.

It’s not in his nature to hesitate. Toji raises a large hand to push open the doors, and sees his daughter for the first time.

Small, is his first thought. The kid looks small and scrawny –is the Gojo Clan even feeding her? No, wait, that’s a stupid question. The clothes that she’s wearing are servants’ clothing, too-large and hanging loosely over bony wrists.

Her hair is white, the stark whiteness that the Gojo Clan so liked to take pride in. But the dark eyes that steadily gaze back at him from that pale face are all Toji.

… She looks more like Hina than she does Toji, though. Probably a good thing, for a girl.

For a long moment, the two stare at each other in complete silence.

Toji… doesn’t really know what he’s doing. It had been a decision made on the spur of the moment, to sneak back into the Gojo Clan after they contacted him with some drivel about ‘buying his daughter.’ Cheap, for a kid from a sorcery clan –but it made sense, if she didn’t have a cursed technique. In a sorcery clan, if you didn’t have a cursed technique, then you were useless. Utterly worthless.

There’s no room in Toji’s black, shriveled heart for things like compassion and sympathy. As far as he’s concerned, any child of his can claw their way out of the dark pit of sorcery clans on their own, just like he did.

But this girl… aside from her eyes, she doesn’t resemble Toji at all. She’s shockingly small and scrawny, where Toji had always been filled out and physically gifted, thanks to his Heavenly Restriction. It’s also thanks to his Heavenly Restriction that his eyes can pick out details like the clusters needle-pricks on her wrists and fingers, no doubt accompanied by even greater numbers of such marks tucked away beneath her clothes.

Painful injuries that were discreet, and would leave no marks under the average eye. Meant to torture, rather than teach.

“… Are you the one buying me?”

Toji scowls. “No.”

The white-haired girl blinks, and nods curtly. “If you’re not buying, then you shouldn’t be here.”

Somehow, even though Toji doesn’t care one jot about the child, something about her words makes his scowl deepen.

That toneless voice, wholly uncaring. Frigid like ice, even as she holds herself carefully still. But her act of unaffected boredom does not fool Toji.

“I’m not handing over a single yen of my hard-earned money to the Gojo Clan,” he tells her. Then, in a move that surprises them both, Toji steps over the threshold of the room and scoops the girl up with a single arm.

She’s… light. As light as a feather, which makes Toji want to kill something, weirdly enough.

“… I might be worthless to them, but the Gojo Clan will still want compensation for me,” the girl says.

Toji rolls his eyes. “This is a kidnapping. If the Gojo Clan wants you back, then they’re the ones who’ll have to pay me a ransom, got it?”

A rapid blink. “They won’t. Are you going to sell me off, then?”

Toji tightens his grip on the girl. “Only if you don’t stay on your best behavior for me, 'cuz I don't know how to deal with kids.”

#QA #zenith of stars au #bastard au #bastard au v1 #Writing #!!!#ohhh my gosh the art looks /amazing/#like a manga panel too!#thank you so much @zitrus #lovely artwork #Fanart

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canisbeanz · 1 year ago

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