#yuuta x oc

[dark-mnjiro]

[mary] on a cross :: prologue

author’s note: hello! welcome to the prologue of my new multipart jjk fic. I hope you guys enjoy it. I know this has been teased for a while and I think I’m ready to finally get it going. a reminder that I will post the general warning on each part (and also they are listed on the masterlist) but I will also include any part specific warnings on each part as well.

content warning: dark content, nsfw/18+, explicit sexual content, explicit language, neglect, abuse, royalty au, fantasy themes, afab!reader, she/her pronouns/nicknames, reverse harem, kidnapping/disappearances, slavery, yandere themes, enemies to lovers, violence, war themes, specific tags/warnings will be placed on each part (or added to general warnings).

prologue

This had to be a nightmare.

One night you had fallen asleep in your bed after binging all the endings of this silly, little dating simulator game on easy mode before staying up into the wee hours of the morning trying to defeat hard mode. Upon waking up, you realized you were suddenly trapped in that very simulator and not just as any character, but the villain, hard mode: Hana Aruna.

Over the last few weeks, you had thankfully navigated your duties as the Duke’s daughter and managed to raise favorability among your family and other servants after being stuck in the negatives for so long. At least with them, death would no longer be an option.

“Miss Aruna?”

Your eyes fluttered open as a sigh fell from your lips before turning toward your door and spying on your servant, Kaede, stepping into the room. “Yes, Kaede?” you asked, resting your chin in your hand as you leaned against the arm of the couch you were resting on.

Bowing respectfully, Kaede turned to shut the door. “I’ve come to help you get ready for tonight’s party.”

For a moment, your eyes widened before quickly regaining your icy demeanor. It wasn’t that the idea of the party was of-putting, but what this party meant in the storyline of the game. You would be meeting the three bachelors of the game.

Standing up, you nodded at your servant. “Of course, Kaede. Please go pick out my dress choices,” you instructed before stepping in front of the full-body mirror set up in the corner of your bedroom.

The future events played over and over in your head as you recalled the several attempts of progressing through this upcoming party. While two of the bachelors: Gojo Satoru and Okkotsu Yuuta, were the most stable choices for escaping this hell…

You still ran the risk of accidentally triggering the most difficult route: The Crowned Prince, Ryomen Sukuna.

A shiver moved down your spine as you recalled just how many times his route had ended in him slaughtering you just for simply existing. But that was before you managed to unlock the free speech option. “It’s probably best if I just avoid him,” you tell yourself. “At all costs.”

“Miss Aruna?”

Your eyes flicker up to catch Kaede’s gaze in the mirror as she sets up three dress options for you. It was obvious which dress she favored as her eyes kept darting to the emerald green gown with black accents. It was clear your servant was trying to pair the gown with your striking, red hair. This gown would certainly make a statement and would bring out your most attractive features.

“Kaede?”

“Yes?”

“Is the green gown your favorite?”

Her cheeks flushed before nodding. “I’m sorry miss… I know I’m not supposed to push your decisions, but the green would make your hair stand out at the party tonight…”

A gentle smile curled over your lips. “The green gown, it is.”

“Oh perfect!” Kaede exclaimed before motioning you toward the vanity so she could prepare you for the party.

You tried to hide your sour expression as your thoughts drifted toward the party. The dread growing in the pit of your stomach bubbling more as time clicked closer to your departure. The best course of action was to avoid the crowned prince at all costs, that way his route wouldn’t unlock, and the risk of death would be cut in half.

If your memory served you well from your hours attempting the hard mode of this game before… The crowned prince’s route was seemingly the most difficult. He had murdered Aruna the most out of all the attempts you had made.

He was positively vile.

“Miss Aruna?”

Blinking, you looked up at yourself in the mirror and realized just how much time had passed. Your eyes scanned over the delicate makeup Kaede had painted over your features and the lovely curls molded into your hair along with the lovely, emerald gown she had purposely picked out for you to wear. She was right. You were sure to turn heads in this ensemble.

“They’re waiting for you Miss Aruna,” she said before bowing. “Your father and brothers.”

“Of course,” you sighed before taking your leave.

“Aruna?”

You practically jumped at your father’s voice behind you as you turned to meet his gaze. Despite being in the world this long, it was still difficult to respond to a name that was not yours. A sigh left your lips as you looked at the two men who stood beside your father.

Good, you thought as you recognized the marquis, Gojo Satoru, and the young knight-in-training, Okkotsu Yuuta. While you knew of their history and backstory thanks to the play through a from east mode, you forced yourself to remain interested in what the two men were saying as they introduced themselves to you.

Your eyes fell on Yuuta. The former slave turned knight in training. From this party, your father would employ him as a bodyguard of sorts for you. He would be blindly loyal to you no matter how awful you were to him until the return of Miyu, where his sword would be driven right through your very chest for harming her. It was such a strange turn of events in east mode - just how quickly Yuuta fell under Miyu’s spell…

Route unlocked: Okkotsu Yuuta.

You shuddered at the thought before hearing the marquis now speaking. His words were elegant and kind at the surface, but you knew what he truly was. He would be the man who would find Miyu wandering the countryside while on one of his “expeditions” and reunite her with her family. You weren’t sure you were able to trust him quite yet, despite his kind demeanor.

Route unlocked: Gojo Satoru.

“Ah,” Gojo said, turning toward the entrance to the banquet hall. “It seems the queen has arrived with the second-born Prince…”

Your attention immediately went to the precession of the royals as this party was meant for the second-born Prince. The queen’s beauty seemingly was unmatched by any woman in the empire and her son was just as handsome…

The door immediately swung open again, causing the onlookers including yourself to step back in surprise. Your eyes widened as you took in the man who dared to crash the second prince’s party. Blood soiled the bottoms of his shoes and the white suit he wore.

It wasn’t until you noticed just how decorated his suit jacket was and how distinct the design of the sword on his waist was. He had an air about him that screamed importance and that’s when you caught a glimpse of his eyes. The color of rubies…

You couldn’t deny he was handsome. He walked with purpose, with confidence, and that only added to his good looks. But his eyes… His eyes were captivating. While they seemed cold and ruthless, the crimson also seemed to sparkle once the light hit his eyes. Truly, he was a royal. Everyone has to know.

He playfully bowed in front of the second prince and the queen before a smirk curled over his expression. “Forgive the intrusion,” he said. “But it seems I was delayed to my own little brother’s birthday party by assassins, how strange.”

It was the crowned prince, Ryomen Sukuna.

The barbarian of the Royal family.

“Don’t worry,” he continued. “I have their dead bodies stacked outside the place for you to see.” His eyes honed in on the queen, his stepmother. “Would you like to see it? It’s a sight to behold.”

This was as good of a time as any to take your leave outside and distance yourself as far as humanly possible from the bloodthirsty crowned prince. Once you had made your way to the back garden, you allowed your body to relax. A sigh fell from your lips as you looked at the beautiful flowers that decorated the grounds.

“How beautiful,” you whispered as your fingers gently moved over the roses that covered the well-groomed walls of shrubbery. “I wonder if anyone would notice if I just picked one rose…”

“I suggest you don’t move,” a stern voice said from behind you. “Or this blade will slice through that pretty neck of yours…”

A cold blade pressed against your neck as your body tensed, recognizing the voice from behind you. Why…? How could he possibly be here?!

“Turn slowly and face me.”

You did as he asked before coming face to face with a pair of ruby-red eyes. It was the crowned prince.

He took a step toward you and you could swear your noses were touching, but the blade remained stationary against your neck. “Now tell me,” he said. “What are you doing out in the garden at this hour? Spying, perhaps?”

“…w-what no!”

“You’re lying…”

Curse him, you thought to yourself as you began wracking your brain for any type of explanation that would somehow pacify this monster. Perhaps… playing to his ego…?

“I just…” you stammered, trying to find confidence in your words and your lie. “I just wanted to catch a glimpse of your Majesty!”

His eyes narrowed. “…why? To order a kill?”

“N-no. Never!”

“Then why…?”

Would he believe this lie? Well, it was now or never.

“Because I find Your Majesty very handsome,” you continued. “And wished to see you in person to confess my feelings for you!”

Sukuna’s eyes narrowed for a split second before taking a step back. He lowered the sword before sliding it into its sheath on his belt.

Your eyes glanced up to the number over his head which indicated his favorability toward you. It now reads three percent - oh no.

“Perhaps we can continue this conversation later,” he commented as he began to walk away. “I will write to you soon. I have a party I must continue to ruin…”

Route unlocked: Ryomen Sukuna.

[ogoatsuyuuta]

pov you follow setsuna hiyori on instagram

⬇️ reference picture

[honney-pies]

Ma Cherie ❤︎

Family Bonding

Pairing: Inumaki Toge/F! oc/ Okkotsu Yuuta

Length: 2.3k

Summary: Kanae has some bonding moments with Satoru and there's totally no angst

Content warning: this chapter contains major spoilers for jjk season two, elements of temporary character death, stabbing, excessive bleeding, and toji

A/N: guys i actually remembered to post! as always there is a self insert version on my blog and you can also find me on ao3.

Teaser -- Chapter One

  ─── ⋆⋅ November 2016 ⋅⋆ ─── 

Yuuta and Kanae had just finished a job with Inumaki and were currently waiting for him outside of a convenience store while he got his throat medicine. Since the two had their conversation a couple weeks ago, they have been getting closer and more open with each other. Toge noticed and thought it was quite cute, Kanae also noticed how the pair had also been getting closer since their last mission. She also thought it was cute. 

She saw Yuuta fidgeting and knew that he was going to ask something that he felt was an invasion of privacy, though it hardly was.

“Um Kamo-”

“Kanae, ‘kkotsu,” she interrupted. 

 “Kanae-san, how do you know Gojo-sensei outside of school?” She looked at him as she tilted her head to the side.

“What do you mean?”

“I know you’ve told me a little bit about how he was the one who raised you, but how did that happen? Why did it happen?” Kanae finds it amusing how quickly he became comfortable enough to ask personal questions without stuttering. She smiled at him and hummed.

“Well technically we first met when I was one, but I don’t remember that for obvious reasons. He said it was boring since I couldn’t talk yet. Our parents made a deal that I would basically be his puppet if the time ever came he would need support or something like that. I don’t know the details of it and I don’t care all that much since I know he wouldn’t put me in that position without asking me.”

  ─── ⋆⋅ March 2001 ⋅⋆ ─── 

“Satoru-kun, why don’t you spend some time with Kamo-kun while we grownups talk?” Satoru knew that he shouldn’t say anything and just go along with it, but that didn’t stop him from making a rude remark to his mom; being the chosen one had its perks.

“So, you’re how old?” No response. Just the baby babble and the smashing of toys.

“What’s your name?” Again, no response.

“Do you know how to do anything?” At that the child stood up and took a couple shaky steps before falling and laughing, she was clearly proud of herself.

“You’re not interesting.” The young girl huffed and went back to her blocks and all Satoru could do was stare at her. Semi entertained.

 ─── ⋆⋅ November 2016 ⋅⋆ ─── 

“So you’ve known him almost your whole life?”

“Yeah pretty much!” The pair saw Inumaki exit the store and he quickly met the two out front and began the walk back to the school since it wasn’t that far away.

“Any more questions?” Yuuta looked lost in thought and then looked back at her.

“Kanae-san, what was it like growing up with Sensei?” Kanae laughed a little at that.

“He’s one of the loudest people I know, he was there for all my school stuff, he got banned from my school at one point because he and my brother were caught threatening a kid for making fun of me. They would walk me to and from school and Sho-nee was the only one allowed to get me from school if Yaga-san wasn’t available. It was annoying but a lot of fun too.”

─── ⋆⋅ April 2006 ⋅⋆ ─── 

 As the young girl walked through the barrier of the school she wanted to go straight to her room and not come out. Unfortunately Suguru knew something was wrong the whole walk home. 

“Kanae, would you like to talk about how her school day was,” he asked. She shook her head. Her frown practically a permanent feature on her face. He grabbed her hand a little tighter.

“How about we make cookies?” He laughed at how bright her eyes became and Kanae practically sprinted to the kitchen. He called Satoru and told him to head to the kitchen once he’s done with his meeting with the elders. It’s comical how quickly he showed up after that. 

“Kanae, how was school?” Satoru really needed to learn how to read the room a little better. Kanae frowned and then her eyes got watery.

“Today was bring your mom to school day.” The other two looked at each other with wide eyes, holding a conversation with no words and only glances. 

“How was it?” 

“Awkward. Some of the mom’s asked questions, but they were pretty nice to me after I told them she died,” she said, “But a couple of the kids made fun of me and the moms looked at me weird, I didn’t like it at all and it made me feel sad. One boy said that I can’t have a family and when I tried to tell him I did he just yelled over me!” Satoru and Suguru could tell she wasn’t going to feel better soon, but they would do all they could until she did. 

“We’ll walk you to school tomorrow, okay?” She nodded her head as she watched the cookies bake in the oven. They took silly pictures and watched a silly movie.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day the three of them made sure to leave a little early to talk with the school and with the boy. The boys went to deal with the insolent child. 

“Kanae, who’s the boy who made you feel bad?” She pointed to a boy with the ugliest fucking haircut and they stalked up to him and started bareting him. 

“Who do you think you are talking to her like that?”

“How dare you say she doesn’t have a family?”

“Do I need to talk to your mother?”

“You ever do it again, we'll take your cat!”

“Satoru, too far,” Suguru whispered before saying, “we’ll burn your house to the ground instead. After making sure your cat isn’t inside.”

“U-Uh I don’ have a cat.”

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

“What, do you like dogs more?” The boy shakily nodded his head.

“What are you, a psycho? We should take your dog!”

“Suguru, too far,” Satoru whispered before telling the boy if he ever pulled a stunt like that again he would track him down and eat his bed.

“Satoru, what is with you and eating things?” 

“Don’t ques-”

“Gojo-san, Geto-san, what are you doing to that poor boy?” 

In the end Shoko had to come to the school and bail them both out of trouble, but not before it was stated that they could never step foot on the school grounds again. 

Kanae was so embarrassed, but happy when she found out. Satoru bought her a phone so she could call them if something happened again, Suguru bought her charms for it and they spent the afternoon bedazzling it while sitting in the corner of Shoko’s room while she got ready for her “hangout” with Utahime. 

─── ⋆⋅ November 2016 ⋅⋆ ── 

“Your brother?” Kanae looked straight ahead and she felt Inumaki nudging her arm with his shoulder.

“Did I ask something I shouldn’t have?”

“No, you didn’t. It’s just a sore subject, maybe not the best one for right now.” Yuuta looked at her and saw the sad smile on her face. 

As they entered the school grounds, Yuuta noticed how Kanae avoided walking across a couple cracks in the ground. Upon closer inspection he also saw that the concrete was slightly uneven and had splotches of discoloration surrounding it. They were only slightly darker than the rest of the ground, small weeds growing through. 

Just when he was about to ask about why it wasn’t as pristine as the rest of the school, Inumaki bumped shoulders with him and shook his head. 

‘Not a good time, maybe later,’ the boy signed. 

─── ⋆⋅August 2006⋅⋆ ── 

Kanae had been hanging out with Yaga learning more about how cursed energy flows when she got a text from Satoru letting her know that they just left the airport and would be home soon. Of course she had been planning on meeting everyone at the barrier, but Yaga had wanted to finish more of the lesson before she went to go goof off with her “bestest-not-brother-brothers” for the rest of the day. Yaga had a sneaking suspicion that Kanae saw Satoru more as a father and Satoru saw her as his daughter no matter how much he tried to deny it. Especially after what happened with her mother. It had been a while since the two of them had been away from each other for that long, even though it had only been two days, and called each other regularly and texted frequently. After Yaga decided that she had done enough of the lesson he let her go run off.

Kanae was extremely excited to see her brothers after the two days apart, nearly three! There was also a very pretty girl who she spoke to on the phone named Amanai. She was also excited to meet her. Though from what her brothers had told her they could only meet for a minute or two since she was supposed to meet and ‘assimilate with Tegen-sama’ whoever and whatever that was. 

When Kanae arrived at the entrance of the school she hadn’t been prepared for what she saw. Her doting brother was lying in a pool of his blood as a dark haired man stood over him. The man began to walk away, towards her. Well towards Tegen-sama and the Plasma Star Vessel - Amanai -  but she didn’t know that at the time. What she did know was that she was scared. Kanae was scared that she was going to die and this time no one would be able to save her from death like they had from her mother. 

Before she knew what was happening, a blade made its way just under her collarbone and a scream ripped its way from her throat. She didn’t remember seeing the man move, let alone that quickly, but she did remember his face. A scar across his bottom lip, bright green eyes.All Kanae could think is how much the man looked like her mother as he threw her towards her future guardian, her protector. 

She could feel the blood leaving her body and that terrified her, but that’s not what scared her the most. What scared her was that she couldn’t feel Satoru. She had never been able to describe it all that well, mainly because she didn’t fully understand what ‘it’ was, but she always knew if he was close. She could hear his heartbeat and feel his blood move. But now she couldn’t feel either. She felt nothing from him and she couldn’t help but sob. She sobbed for what felt like forever to the poor girl as she wished all the blood would go away, that all the blood would return to where it was supposed to be.

“Toru-nii please! Please wake up!” Kanae repeated this over and over as she clung to him like a lifeline, ignoring the pain wracking her small body, like he would come back to her. Her throat had become raw and her voice became hoarse, but she didn’t stop. She couldn’t stop until he came back to her. Kanae could feel her consciousness starting to drift away. Her body was tired from crying, loss of blood, and loss of energy.  As she began to lose hope for Satoru to wake up, she voiced two final sentences. 

“Dad please don’t leave me, you promised! You promised to stay with me!” Her blood mixed with his until there was no separating them and she began to feel her cries be answered. She could feel Satoru again. Kanae could feel one of the most important people in her life had begun to wake up. She felt his arms move to hold her and she felt as if everything would be okay again. Her tears had stained their clothes and she could feel the snot from her nose move its way into her mouth and it bothered her immensely, but she would rather deal with it than to let go of Satoru. 

“I’m here, Kanae. Toru-nii’s here… your dad’s here,” Satoru said these words in a mantra until the young girl began to loosen her hold on him enough for him to look at her. He saw blood coating the left part of her chest and in the back of his mind he could tell that it wasn’t his blood. That thought alone was more than enough to send him into a panic. He saw the stab wound and placed his hand over it and pulled her closer to his chest, pressing a soft kiss on to her temple. 

“I’m sorry for scaring you like that. I won’t do it again. Big Bro-dads shouldn’t go back on their promises.” Kanae looked him in the eyes and furrowed her brow. 

“Wha’s a bro-dad?” Satoru laughed a small, quiet laugh at the tired girl. Nothing like his usual one. 

“Me of course! I’m your bestest big brother and I’m going to be your legal parent when I’m legally allowed, so you can’t go away now, at least not when we’re so close to finally saving each other!” Kanae smiled at him and rested her head against him. 

“You’re the best bro-dad ever, Toru-nii.” And all Satoru could do was pull his little girl as close as he possibly could without hurting her and promise to himself that he would try his damn hardest not to scare her like that again. 

─── ⋆⋅ November 2016 ⋅⋆ ── 

Once they reach the main training grounds, they see Gojo helping to train the other first years when he got a phone call. 

“Hello? Ah yes, this is his guardian… another one? Yes, I'll be there shortly.” Kanae let out a small snort and pulled out her phone, sending a quick text. 

“Do you want me to go get him, Gojo,” she asked. He looked at her through his bandages and smiled. 

“I’m sure Megumi-chan would love that!” She smiled and looked over at Yuuta.

“Would you like to come with me?” The boy in question tilted his head to the side.

“Where are we going?”

“To go get a little crotch goblin,” she replied. 

“... Huh?”

____________________________________________________________

a/n: thank you so much for reading!! the next chepter, 'what once was,' is heavily revolved around suguru and kanae's dynamic along with satosugu, so yeah lol. it will contain spoilers for jjk season two and jjk 0, i'm also going to refrence spoilers for the shibuya arc as well, so be aware please.

[bunnwich]

History of Magic 📖

"A ride that lets you experience a story? Pass. You go on it if you want, but I prefer to take my time reading stories in books."

(Leona a bookworm confirmed. You can't convince me the King of Beasts is not his special interest.)

[sonotpattismith]

My Lost, Fearless Leader. (yuta okkotsu x reader)

As the men masqueraded, I hoped you’d return with your feet on the ground, tell me all that you’d learned, because love’s never lost once perspective is earned.

word count: 9k warnings: angst, me never making it easy for poor Yuta a/n: inspired by Peter by Taylor Swift. Lowkey a self-insert as I too am a therapist, tee hee. I hope y’all enjoy it, I absolutely love writing for Yuta even though I make him suffer every time 🥹🫶🏻

masterlist.

Dear Okkotsu,

I know you only landed last week, but you left me with so many questions when you said goodbye. At the risk of sounding too forward, I thought for a moment that you would kiss me before you left. You had a look in your eye, one I’d never seen before, and I even thought I saw you square your shoulders like you were about to charge into battle.

Inumaki offered to give me your number when I asked about you, but I feared too quick of a response if I were to text you. After all, I love to torture myself. Somehow a letter felt safer, more disconnected. Still, I hope you have the time to write back to me while you’re out there growing as you so desperately wanted to.

You still have me in your corner here in Tokyo.

With kind regards,

L/N.

Dear L/N,

I hope this letter gets to you soon, though I know it has some way to go— I don’t want to leave you waiting again. I wondered if I should just text you, but you’re right, maybe this is best for wimps like me who were too scared to kiss the girl they like before traveling oceans away. There’s more courage in me hiding behind a pen than I ever had standing in front of you.

No matter how badly I wanted to show you how I felt, I didn’t feel worthy enough when I looked at that scar on your face— one I should have been able to prevent. There’s so much for me to learn about this world, and Gojo-Sensei says Kenya is where I need to be. I trust him implicitly, and I only hope here I’ll be able to grow into someone worthy of coming back to all of you at Jujutsu High. Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, but I hope to become someone worthy enough to indulge myself in you as well.

I hope you can find it in you to wait for me all the way in your corner of Tokyo.

Respectfully,

Okkotsu.

Dear Okkotsu,

You were right, your letter did travel far, and after two weeks, I feared I may not ever hear back from you.

What happened with Geto Suguru wasn’t your fault, and, if I remember correctly, you were the one that saved all of us that night. It breaks my heart that you feel you don’t have a place here with us. I never thought you needed to prove yourself, and if that’s the only reason you went thousands of miles away— then you should board the next flight back over.

If I had known it was the scar on my face that stopped you, I would have covered it just for you. No one else around here is willing to take the blame for me when I break one of Maki’s spears— that alone should earn you a spot right beside me over here. Speaking of, I hope the bump on your forehead has gone down.

Luckily for the both of us, patience is my best virtue, but I do hope you don’t make me wait terribly long. You don’t have to be the strongest.

Holding my breath,

Y/N.

Dear L/N,

Maybe eventually I’ll work up the courage to call you, but our weeks of waiting in between will just have to do for now.

I think you’re beautiful— regardless of your scar, and I hope I didn’t send the wrong message when I said it’s what stopped me. I only meant that it reminded me of the kind of guy that deserves your attention, one that has brought about more good than he has bad in his life.

I’ve hurt so many people, and it wouldn’t be right of me not to try to make up for the wrongs I’ve caused. It’s only been a month, but Miguel has taught me so much, and I’ve seen so many wonderful things. I’m not sure if you’re interested, but I’m sending you some pictures of all my favorite parts.

I hope Maki has been merciful to you, and, yes, my bump is gone. Still, the little scar there reminds me of you each time I see it. So, I suppose I should thank her.

We’ve been talking so much about me, but I want to hear how you’re doing back in your corner of the world. How have your classes been going? I almost miss hearing everyone arguing with Gojo-Sensei every morning.

I don’t want to be the strongest, but I want to be strong enough to be worthy of you. The last thing I want is to keep you waiting too long, but however long it takes for me to be able to make a mark on those who have shown such faith in me.

Thinking of you,

Okkotsu.

Dear Yuta,

Surely that’s not you in that picture beside the giraffe? It’s only been two months— what are they feeding you over there? I had to do a triple take. You look well, Okkotsu.

I’m starting to wonder if it’s really you behind that ink. You were never so bold when you were here. Do you have a ghostwriter? I have my doubts, but I still hope all those thoughtful words really are coming from you.

I can see how hard you’ve been working, and I hope you’re beginning to find in yourself the pride I and all us here at home have always had in you. I don’t think anyone blames you for the unfairness that’s clung to you thus far, and no one expects you to make up for any of it— at least I know I don’t. If you really insist on doing so though, maybe you can start by giving me a call every once and a while? I’m sure you're busy, but I’d love to hear your voice again.

Classes have been going well. We’re almost going into our second year now, and everyone still talks so fondly of you. We wish you were here to start the year with us. I certainly miss having someone who was equally as clueless when it came to this world— it felt like you were the last shred of normalcy I was hanging onto. It’s okay though, I suppose I have some growing to do too.

Also, you don’t need to be so formal with me, I think you’ve earned the first name basis. Unless of course, you need to build up the courage for that, too.

I only felt it was fair to send some pictures of all of us here as well— though they’re nowhere near as badass as your safari photos. Please keep sending them— I’ll cherish the ones I have here for now though.

Still waiting for you,

Y/N.

Three months following Yuta’s departure from Tokyo, you first received an actual call from him. You had just turned in for the night, muscles aching from the mission you and Maki had just returned from only an hour or two prior. Truthfully, you were having a difficult time with the added responsibility that was accompanying your new year at Jujutsu High.

Last year, at the very least, you had Yuta there who seemed on a fairly level playing field with you. Still, he held more of a determination to move forward in his life as a sorcerer than you did. After your encounter with Geto Suguru that had left you partially blinded in your right eye, it was difficult for you to find that gusto you had when you first arrived.

The deep lulls of slumber had just begun to penetrate your exhausted mind, and you could swear a more pleasant dream was just beyond your reach. When your phone began vibrating underneath your still cool pillow, your brows furrowed at the intrusion. The sound caused an electric-like jolt in your body that had you shooting up as if someone had just pulled the fire alarm. Calming your racing heart, you reached down to snatch the device up. Your eyes squinted to adjust to the blue light emitting from the screen, and you saw a number you didn’t recognize. Under the caller location though, it indicated that it was coming from Kenya.

Sitting up with a gasp, you gaped down at the device, uncertain excitement bubbling in your stomach and up your chest. Without a second thought, you swiped to answer the call. Amidst your anticipation of who you thought might be on the other line, you forgot to greet the caller.

“Um… uh- hello?”

A smile spread across your cheeks at the sound of his timid voice.

“A call from Kenya,” You began teasingly, your voice still hoarse from sleep. “I wonder who it could be.”

There was an abrupt shuffling on the other line, and you could already picture him pacing around whatever space he was currently occupying.

“You got me!” Yuta quipped nervously, quickly checking the time on his phone upon hearing the sleepy tone that laced your voice. It wasn’t too late over in Tokyo, and he figured if he didn’t call you now while he still had the nerve to do it, he never would. Okkotsu had determined during his time in Kenya that his confidence somehow peaked right after a successful mission. Naturally, this was when he calculated it would be the best time to call you with the lowest possibility of making a stuttering fool of himself. “Di-Did I wake you? I can call back another-”

“After you took three months to gather all that courage up?” You joked with a fond smile, reaching down to toy with the corner of your pillow. Despite the fact that he couldn’t see you, you shook your head. “I think I can stay up for a few minutes.”

He was grateful, so eternally grateful that you couldn’t see the way the blood rushed up his neck and into his face. Pressing a cool hand against his cheek as if it would make the heat die down, he forced himself to sit on the edge of his bed, bottom lip caught between his teeth. It had been too long already since he last spoke, and the silence on the call was becoming overbearing as he thought of anything to say.

“You there, Yuta?”

“Yeah! Yeah, I’m, uh-- still here.” The boy chuckled pathetically, pounding his balled up fist against his thigh, willing himself to quit being such a loser. Shooting up to begin his short trek around his room once again, he took a deep breath. “I-I wanted to thank you. You know, for writing to me the past few months. I think they’ve been kind of motivating me, actually.”

“Yeah?” You smiled, lying back down on your pillow to stare stupidly up at the ceiling of your dorm. In hearing that shy voice that you had been missing for so long, you had forgotten about the aching, abused muscles that had been assaulting you just minutes prior. In its place was the rushing endorphins of your child-like crush on the boy on the other line. “So, when you come back strong enough to beat Sensei’s ass, I can take partial credit, right?”

His soft laugh filled your once silent room, inciting the overwhelming butterflies in your stomach to erupt in a fluttering haze.

“It’ll all be you.” Yuta joked halfheartedly, rubbing the back of his neck in relief that he’d gotten past the awkward silence unscathed. He flopped back down onto his bed and looked out the window at the slowly setting sun. “Uh… speaking of Sensei, how is everything over there? The exchange event is coming up soon, right?”

This made your smile slowly wane.

“Yeah, it’s next month. There was some drama with the first years, but everyone else seems to be pretty excited.”

“Everyone else? It sounds like you’re not including yourself in there.”

You sighed gently. Yuta was always so determined about growing as a sorcerer, so these types of events were always right up his alley. Not to mention the manner in which he absolutely wiped out the sister school at last year’s event. It actually caused a bit of second-hand embarrassment to watch the whole ordeal play out— no matter how quickly it concluded. After the atrocities of the past few months though, you couldn’t find it within yourself to be excited for the goodwill event.

It wasn’t that long ago that you watched all your friends meet near death at the hands of Suguru Geto, and you weren’t too far behind. They had all seemingly moved on from it all so fast— all of them except for Yuta Okkotsu. It seemed that all it had done was given him more ammunition to spark his journey of self discovery. You wished it had had the same effect on you. In truth though, all it sparked was a fear that your life, along with your friends, was constantly at the mercy of a crueler fate than most your age would be subjected to.

It felt wrong. Yuta shouldn’t have felt the need to bear the weight of you and your friends’ injuries all on his own. He shouldn’t have needed to go off to search for some unknown answer to all the insecurities his grueling life had thrust upon him. Still, it was so important to him. You could see the way it gave him purpose, a will to keep going despite all that he’d been through. It wasn’t his fault, but you always wished you could have found that same purpose within slaying curses and putting your life on the line.

A soft call of your name on the other line pulled you from your self-depricating thoughts. Shaking your head, you attempted to lighten the mood.

“Last name again? So formal. I thought we were past that, Okkotsu.”

“Oh-- right, sorry.” He stammered out before trying your first name out on his lips. It was delicate in the way it rolled off his tongue, sending warmth straight through your chest. Recalling your sudden silence once his nerves subsided, his lips pulled pensively into a thin line. “Um, have you been doing okay? You know, since…”

Brows rising just a hair, you were shocked at how easily he read through your sudden change in tone. Your lip quivered into a slight frown. A deep breath was suddenly pushing down that biting urge you had to tear up.

“Yeah, I’ve been okay. Just… wish you were still here is all.” You confessed into the dark, lonely dorm room. “I think you were the only one who understood how overwhelming this all was.”

Yuta felt his chest constrict at your earnest confession. Part of him felt guilty for not being there, but he knew deep down that he was doing the right thing by building himself up before he allowed himself to come back— especially to you. Still, the boy knew where you were coming from. It wasn’t easy being the newcomer in a world where your peers had a fifteen year head start on.

The two of you understood each other—empathized with one another. You both strived to make sure the other was doing okay; whether that be sneaking out late at night to practice with one another in hopes you both wouldn’t make fools of yourselves in training the next day, or just being someone that the other could glance knowingly at when one of your classmates mentioned something it seemed that everyone else was privy to, except you two.

“I’m getting stronger everyday.” Yuta offered earnestly, a soft, empathetic smile playing on his lips— the kind you could just hear through his gentle tone. “And I know you are too. We’re gonna kick some major butt one day, y’know?”

The boy was relieved when your glittering laugh filled his speakers, and he found himself laughing along with you. A comfortable silence blanketed over you two, and for a moment it felt as though you were laying right beside him, your gentle breaths lighting a fire within his soul. The courage that he thought he had lost upon hearing your voice for the first time in months was slowly flooding back to him, and he began pensively rolling his bottom lip between his fingers.

“Hey,” Okkotsu called out feebly, resting his hand down on his chest and feeling his heart pounding against his fingers. Reaching down to your discarded letter beside him, he picked up the picture you’d sent along with it. It was of all the second years, and he wondered with a smile if you had Gojo-Sensei take it for you all, and, if so, how much he complained about not being included.

You stood in the middle of Inumaki and Maki, Panda standing proudly and towering behind you. His thumb reached out to graze softly over your face. In the photo, one of your hands was teasingly covering your right eye, and he blushed as he remembered your earlier conversation about that scar. You hummed in acknowledgment on the other line. “Did you mean it? You know… when you said you’d wait for me?”

“Did you mean it when you said you were gonna come back for me?” You countered quickly.

Yuta exhaled nervously, the churning in his chest making him feel as though he might pass out. Staring back at your smiling face in the photo, he nodded breathlessly.

“Of course, I meant it. I meant every word.”

“Then so did I.”

Yuta Okkotsu’s reassuring promise helped ground you in your studies of jujutsu for a while longer, but you could still feel the aching insistence in the back of your mind that told you this wasn’t where you were meant to be. Your friendship with the sorcerer continued to grow even over the thousands of miles that separated you.

He’d call you whenever he had the chance to, and you’d text him about updates on what all his friends had been up to without him. Although both Inumaki and Maki kept up with him regularly, he allowed you to retell stories he’d more often than not already heard from them.

He could tell that you were struggling to find and hold your place as a sorcerer. You always listened enthusiastically when he’d tell you about the new techniques he was learning or the missions he’d been sent on, nodding along on the other line and hanging onto every word he said. Still, when he’d await to hear the progress of your training or how your latest mission had gone, you didn’t have the same enthusiasm in your tone.

It had been almost a year since he’d been gone. The two of you had never implicitly discussed the nature of your relationship, but your lingering promise to each other seemed to be enough to keep your hearts locked safely away for the other’s return. As the months dragged on though, you couldn’t help but wonder if it was worth staying in the world of jujutsu that seemed to so expertly traumatize you and your peers.

You insisted on video calling him for once, eager to once again put a face to the voice that had been filling your every night for the past few months. Maybe, you thought to yourself, if you saw those warm, inviting eyes again paired with that timid smile, you’d find it in you to hold out just a bit longer.

“Ca-Can you see me?” Yuta’s ever anxious voice filled your quiet room once again. The palm of his hand briefly covered the camera before it was moved away, and it appeared as though he had propped you up on a dresser of some sort. He stepped back, hunching over so his face was still in the frame, staring hesitantly into the screen.

A brief exhale of disbelief left you at the sight of him. He had changed so much over the past year; from the inches he’d sprouted up, to the new broadness of his lean shoulders, right down to his more maturely parted hair as it swayed in his face.

His features appeared sharper than when you’d last seen him, a testament to how much he’d grown physically as well as mentally. The dark circles you remember being everpresent under his long, midnight-blue eyes seemed even more pronounced now, and you wondered just how hard this Miguel character had been working him. Despite his apparent lack of sleep though, he grinned cheerfully upon seeing your face.

Forgoing your previous concern, an ecstatic smile of your own lit up your face as you took him in. You had always thought he had a sort of innocent, gentle cuteness to him, but time and knowledge seemed to have morphed those characteristics into the sharp, hauntingly striking ghost of the boy you once knew presented before you. For the first time since knowing him, you thought you felt more nervous than he did at the moment.

“Wow! You look--” He paused, a slight flush filling his face, and suddenly he was that timid boy again, staring down at you with the false promise of a kiss. Your heart melted at the sight. Yuta was still looking nervously back at you, mouth hanging open as if his mind was running faster than his tongue could process. You raised your brows expectantly at him, hiding your amused smile. “Uh—pretty! You— you look really pretty.”

A soft blush fell across your cheeks.

“Thanks, Yuta.” You laughed softly, eyes fluttering across his face admiringly. “You look like you’ve… grown.”

“Oh, me?” He laughed skittishly, hand coming up to rustle through his jet black locks. His brows were furrowed slightly as he looked down at his own appearance as if he was only just now noticing the growth spurt he’d had in the past year. “Yeah! I guess—”

“Is that blood on your shirt?” You suddenly noticed, leaning forward so your squinting eyes could get a better look at the dark matter that clung to his white top. His eyes shot up to meet yours, and in an instant, his fumbling hands were working to unbutton his uniform shirt. It was no use though, the white t-shirt underneath was also stained through.

“Sorry, I just got back from a mission.” He admitted dejectedly, grabbing the phone and sitting on the floor, resting his back against the bed behind him. “I would’ve showered, but I didn’t want to keep you up too late.”

You sat back against your headboard tentatively. It was incredible to you how he was never phased by the violence and bloodshed that shrouded this lifestyle. There were so many nights that you lay awake, eyes unblinking as you tried to forget the horrors you’d witnessed just long enough to get some sleep.

“How do you do it, Yu?” You asked timidly.

Yuta took in the way your wide eyes glimmered with the threat of unspilled tears. There it was again— that underlying fear in your tone and demeanor that told him that something wasn’t quite right, and it hadn’t been right since you came so close to death.

“What do you mean, love?” He wasn’t sure where that term of endearment came from, maybe from the concern that had been pooling in him for months and had now suddenly burst upon seeing that broken look in your eyes. Either way, it was too late to take it back now.

“Act like everything’s normal when you come home covered in blood and guts and watch people die— watch your friends—”

“I’m doing this for my friends.” His response had a defensive edge to it, but his wide eyes were gentle, taking in your vulnerable state carefully. “And for the people I’ve had to watch die. Bad things will happen whether I’m a part of them or not. How can I sit back and do nothing when that’s all I’ve done my entire life?”

You suddenly felt small in your corner of the world. He was selfless, fearless, purposeful in his mission as a sorcerer, and you couldn’t fault him for it. Moreso, you faulted yourself for lacking that same drive.

“I just– sometimes I feel like this isn’t for me. I’m not like you, Yuta. I don’t think I’m strong enough for this. I’m not strong enough for this.”

Yuta continued to insist upon believing in your growth, just as you had believed in his. His persistence in your strength of character only served to break your heart more. You knew the deeper his faith in you ran, the more crushing his disappointment would be when you inevitably let him down.

In the weeks following your dismayed conversation with him, you weren’t answering his calls as often, afraid he would be on the other line hoping to hear of your growth and the things you’d overcome— but you had none to show for. You usually texted him with false excuses that you were on a mission, or that you were simply too tired to talk that night. No matter how hard you tried to pride yourself in your little victories, your faith in your abilities as a sorcerer was waning quickly before your eyes.

He had always said that he was the one undeserving of his place in this world— of his place beside you. The stronger he grew though, the more you only noticed the opposite.

It was a month after your phone call that you received a small package from Kenya, recognizing the stamp immediately as one of the various animal themed ones Yuta seemed to keep stockpiled just for you. Chewing at your bottom lip, a sense of guilt washed over you, knowing you hadn’t been keeping up with him as much as you once did. Despite this, he continued to try, desperate to get through to you somehow before you slipped from between his fingers all together.

Ripping open the orange, padded envelope, you overturned the contents onto your bed. The wooden beads of a bracelet clacked softly against one another as they fell upon the comforter, a letter landing gently atop it. You ran your fingers along the thin bracelet, thinking maybe if you concentrated long enough, you’d be able to feel the warmth of his fingers lingering from when he’d carefully placed it into the envelope for you. You picked up the accompanying letter.

Dear Y/N,

It seems like they’ve been keeping you really busy over there in your corner of the world! I had so much I wanted to tell you, but I thought maybe it’d be best to put it all into a letter so you could read it at a time that’s best for you.

Gojo-Sensei says that I’ll probably be coming back soon, maybe in the next couple of months even. If all goes well, I hope to be joining everyone for our final year. It’d be nice to all be together again. It’d be nice to actually see you again.

You don’t have to tell me everything, but I know you’ve been going through a hard time recently, and I’m sorry I’m not there to help you. You were wrong the other night on the phone— you are stronger than you think. This life isn’t easy, and I don’t want you to feel like you’re not fit for it just because it hurts you right now.

When I felt I had no strength left in me to keep going, it was you who lent me some of yours until I could stand again. I’m sending it back to you now, so please use it to keep moving forward until I can lend you some of mine. Please, keep waiting for me.

The beads on the bracelet I sent you represent all the things I wish for you. The red represent bravery and strength, the kind I know you have in you still. Until you find them though, let these be a reminder. The yellow are for growth, and until you can see it coming your way, let these motivate you.

I got one just like it for myself, so I can be reminded everyday of the things I love about you. I’ll keep it on me always, and I hope as you’re waiting that you’ll do the same.

Still yours,

Yuta.

Tears were streaming freely down your cheeks and staining the precious letter before you. With wobbling lips, you bit back a quiet sob as you carefully slipped the thin bracelet onto your wrist. Strength. Bravery. Growth. They were all pillars that seemed so far away from you, but Yuta was convinced you held them just within your grasp. If anything, the beads would serve as a reminder that someone important was counting on you, and you’d rather suffer the uphill battle than disappoint him.

The next morning, you woke early to speak with Gojo. He was lounging lazily in his large, plush chair, laptop sat carelessly on his lap when you came in. As if expecting you all along, he looked up from his bored typing to offer a sly smile— the type that told you he was always steps ahead of you.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” Gojo greeted, closing his laptop and setting it haphazardly on his desk. Leaning back, he laced his fingers casually in his lap, jutting his chin toward the seat in front of him.

Hesitantly, you sat down. Your posture was rigid as you stared back at his half-covered face. Although your sensei had never given you a reason to fear him, you couldn’t help but feel anxious at the thought of how he might react to your request.

“I… I don’t know how to say this.”

He stayed silent, allowing you to collect your thoughts. The small smile tugging at his lips said he already knew what was plaguing your mind. Fiddling with the bracelet on your wrist, you were reminded of the importance that you stand your ground here.

“I’m not sure I’m cut out for being a sorcerer.” It was out there, and it hung heavily in the air around you. Looking down at your twiddling fingers, you felt that familiar lump building in your throat. Your sensei was silent before you. Glancing up at him through tear soaked eyes, you shrugged your shoulders in defeat. “I’m not like the others. I can’t bounce back like they do. It scares me; the death, the fighting, the loss— it terrifies me, Gojo. I can’t do it anymore. I-I just—”

“You’ve been struggling for a while now, haven’t you?” It was more of a statement than a question— an observation he’d been holding onto for some time. The older man wasn’t oblivious, he could see when his students were beginning to slip away; physically and mentally.

“How did you know?” You briefly wondered if Yuta had mentioned something to him during their regular check in calls, but you doubted it.

Standing abruptly from his chair, he strolled leisurely around the room, his hands shoved deep in his pockets.

“You remind me of someone, is all.” Gojo’s cryptic message left more questions than answers. Though you had grown used to his dodgy answers and coded messages, now was really not the time. Before you could express your annoyance, he continued. “You’re not stuck, you know.”

Your mouth hung open as you stared at him in disbelief. Standing up to face him as he stared out the window, your mind was racing at the possibilities.

“You mean— I could leave? Just like that?”

“Just like that. I’d talk to the higher ups today for you if that’s really what you want.” Still, the edge in his tone indicated that he wasn’t about to let you off that easily. As if sensing your apprehension, he tilted his head playfully toward you, a fond smile on his face. “I’ve seen what this gig can do to people. I don’t need to see you fall victim to it too.”

“I mean— I…” You were stumbling over your words. For the past few years, you were sure that your future was set for you— one you were apprehensive about living, but one that was secure nonetheless. Where would you go from here?

Gojo hummed pensively— invitingly. God, how you wished he would just spit out what he clearly wanted so desperately to say. Of course, he always wanted his students to come to their own conclusions, set their own fates.

“The Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.” The sensei announced dramatically, taking another lap around the room. You shivered at the mention of that night. He leaned toward you with a raised brow. “That’s when this all started, am I right? You almost died, if I remember correctly.”

“I would have if it hadn’t been for—”

“Yuta Okkotsu.” He cut you off, a knowing smirk tugging at his lips, and for a moment you thought you saw his head tilt down as if to look at the bracelet you were currently rolling between your fingers. Nodding softly, he continued. “Still, you cut it pretty close. Must have been traumatizing. Partially lost your sight, almost lost your friends, your life.”

You nodded silently, unsure of where he was going with this long winded rant. Of course, him giving you a simple out was just too easy for Gojo-Sensei’s ‘everything is a life lesson’ style of teaching.

“Tell you what, why don’t I set up a meeting for you to meet with a counselor? Someone who specializes in all our creepy-crawly problems?”

“Like… like therapy?” You questioned with furrowed brows. A therapist for sorcerers? You didn’t even know such a thing existed. Still, the prospect sparked a certain hope in your chest, one that the six eyes saw instantly. He didn’t bother to conceal his victorious smile.

“Yup. Nice, comfy couch and everything.” He advertised as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. His long fingers began typing purposefully against the screen before he looked up at you again. “Of course, she’s kind of running a one-man show, so her schedule is pretty tight. I can pull a few strings for you though.” His words rang in your mind with a faint echo. That suggestive, underlying tone in his voice, it was beginning to seep through, and your gut was telling you his suggestion was a lot more calculated than you would ever give him credit for. “That kind of work is in high demand, you know— what with all the new curses popping up since Itadori came along.”

Gojo was continuing to drop hints, but you had already heard him loud and clear. This was something he thought you could do— somewhere he knew you would fit within this hectic world. As a teacher, it was his job to train the up and coming sorcerers for the perils that lay ahead of them. In the same prospect though, he had also become incredibly adept at discovering their potential and nudging them toward it— even if it wasn’t as gently as he thought.

The following week you met with the therapist Gojo had supposedly pulled so many strings to get you in to see. She had a small office just minutes away from the school, and you wondered why she wasn’t on campus. She hadn’t suggested it to you first, though she was well aware of what Gojo was trying to do when he set up this meeting.

So, amidst your explanation of everything you had been experiencing since that night, you dropped in questions. How did she know this was the right path for her— how closely did she work with Jujutsu High— how did she get where she was?

By the gentle and encouraging manner in which she answered all of your questions, you had a gut feeling once again that Gojo had already been three steps ahead of you. You were set to transfer out of Jujutsu High the following week.

Your sensei funded your education through an outside university, who’s higher ups had connections with the school. Kaori, the god-sent sorcerer counselor who’d seemingly fallen from the heavens right when you needed her, was more than happy to take you under her wing as well. In truth, she was relieved to have some help around the office given the influx of referrals she’d been receiving recently.

Everything had been falling into place, yet there was still one last loose end you had yet to tie up from your life as a sorcerer. You looked down at the box of letters you’d kept over the past year or so from Yuta.

Following his last letter, and how determined he seemed to be that you would make it as a sorcerer— you couldn’t bring yourself to tell him that you had given up. After everything he’d done to grow himself into the man he was now, a fearless and loyal sword to his friends and the innocent— and you had given up. In the end, despite his insistence that it was him not worthy enough to stick around, you realized it had been you all along.

You weren’t worthy of Yuta Okkotsu.

Your trembling finger hovered over his contact, but you couldn’t do it. Clicking your phone off, you stared up at the ceiling of your now empty dorm room and allowed the hot tears to burn your cheeks, dripping down your neck and into the hem of your shirt. He was still finishing up his training, growing into a man he could be proud of, experiencing the things that made him feel alive. It would be selfish of you to drop this on him now.

Setting down the box on your desk, you pulled out a spare sheet of paper and sat down to draft your last prose to Yuta Okkotsu.

Dear Yuta,

By the time you’re reading this, I’m sure you will have already heard about my departure from Jujutsu High. I wanted to call you and tell you everything that’s been on my mind, to give you a proper goodbye, but I didn’t want to interrupt your progress overseas.

I wanted to thank you for the kindness you’ve shown me over the years. I’ll cherish each bit of it as long as I live. You kept me holding on through my lowest points, even if it wasn’t the life of sorcery that I was holding onto.

I know I’m cowardly, but I just couldn’t look you in the eyes and tell you that I had given up. You’ve worked so hard and sacrificed so much to hold your place here, and I suppose a part of me feels foolish for giving mine up so easily.

Your passion for undoing the wrongs in this world is so beautiful, and although I couldn’t share it with you, it only ever made me love you more. Please never take it for granted. Continue to fight to hold your place here, because you hold more power than you could ever come to know. I can feel it, even when you’re not here.

I’m sorry that I couldn’t wait for you.

Forever yours,

Y/N

When Yuta Okkotsu arrived back at Jujutsu High three months later, he had already been sitting on the news of your departure for two weeks. His friends thought it best to at least prepare him for when he returned, but he figured so much when you stopped responding to his calls and messages. No amount of preparation could have stopped the hole from opening up in his chest upon reading the letter you’d left in his dorm room. It sat neatly on his untouched pillow— a ghost that haunted him the second he stepped in.

He tried with fervor to be excited for his return, smiling along half heartedly when his friends shoved a party hat on his head and insisted upon celebrating all the birthdays they’d missed. Those haunting blue eyes only stared lifelessly at the cake before him, his soul still sat on the edge of his bed where he’d read your letter.

Forever yours.

Yuta wondered if those simple two words meant the door was open for him to swing in and come find you as he so ardently promised he would. Gojo-Sensei said you were happy though— working toward your place in the world. It was one he no longer felt he had a place in— not when his life consisted so wholly of the very things you were running from.

Months passed, and the both of you tried so desperately to move on. Despite being content in the roots your lives had sprouted, there was always a missing piece that stopped the both of you from blossoming. You always held your breath in hopes he’d come back to you like he said he would, and he always hoped you were still waiting for him despite his insistence that you were happier without him. The both of you were only kids when you’d carelessly thrown out such a vow, after all.

Gojo felt whole-heartedly confident in his whim to have Kaori train you. There was a spark in you, one that wanted to heal those that this world had so carelessly wounded, even if that meant you having to heal yourself first. In the end, it was the right decision, and he prided himself in the fact that there was a happy medium to keep your talents within the jujutsu world still while also fulfilling your purpose. There was a missing piece of the puzzle that lingered ever present though, and that was the infuriating case of you and Yuta Okkotsu.

It was getting depressing— watching the boy mope around pretending to not have the very obvious chip on his shoulder all the damn time. Your old sensei still kept up with you and your progress often, seeing as the school worked closely with Kaori to refer in need sorcerers on a regular basis.

Each time he’d pop in for a visit or called unexpectedly, you’d always ask how everyone back at the school was doing. Sure, you really did hope your old friends were doing okay, but you were really holding your breath for when he’d mention Yuta. Gojo always spoke of him so highly, and you couldn’t help but smile fondly each time, thinking of how proud you were at how much he’d accomplished— just as he said he would. Still, the six eyes never missed that morose glimmer in your eye as you’d nod along to his stories.

“Have you ever tried sleeping at night, or are those dark circles just a part of you now?”

Yuta was snapped from his stupor when his sensei dropped unceremoniously beside him as he looked on at his friends ahead of him. As if having just been reminded of his perpetual exhaustion, he reached up subconsciously to rub at those aforementioned dark eyes.

“Oh, haha,” Yuta’s halfhearted attempt at a laugh only served to drive Gojo’s purpose right home. “Yeah, guess my sleep schedule never really adjusted back to normal, huh?”

“You aren’t performing like you should be, Okkotsu.”

He gaped exasperatedly at his sensei, blinking a few times as if maybe he just hadn’t heard him correctly. Frankly, he had been kicking ass lately, and everyone around him knew it too. Still, if Gojo-Sensei was telling him he was falling behind, it was seemingly the only opinion that mattered. Even if it wore him down till only his skeleton remained, he would keep getting better until he could prove himself to the man who took a chance on him.

Already picking up on the look of determination on the boy’s face, Gojo put out a solemn ‘slow your roll’ hand in front of him. Sighing in amusement, the sensei thought the boy would crush a semi-truck between his hands if it’d make him grow— meant he could prove himself.

“Your mind isn’t here. Hasn’t been since you got back. I can tell, you know.”

Okkotsu’s shoulders slumped dejectedly. No matter how much he worked to train physically, to learn to control his cursed energy and techniques, there was always that one lingering barrier that seemed to keep him from reaching his potential. Of course, he knew he had been more distracted since your departure, but he figured— hoped— it would pass eventually. He thought maybe if he ignored it long enough, pushed down that frenzy to rip his hair out by the roots and bellow out every frustration he’d held in for allowing you to slip away, each day as the urge melted away into dreams of you at night that woke him with a crater in his chest— maybe eventually it would fade just as you did.

“Try to get some rest, clear your mind. Do what you gotta do.” Gojo emphasized, leaning down to tower over his apprehensive prodigy with a knowing smile. His covered eyes flicked down to where Yuta’s fingers were rolling the beads of his colorful bracelet pensively. He hummed in amusement. “You know, I know someone who has that same bracelet.”

His student perked up ever so subtly upon hearing this. The prying man quickly moved to grasp his wrist and inspect the bracelet closer. It made Yuta feel exposed, wanting to crawl under his covers and not come out again if it meant no one else would lay their eyes on the one connection he still had to you. Gulping thickly, he snatched his wrist back, covering the wooden jewelry protectively under his other hand.

“Oh, you know her, don’t you?” Satoru feigned remembrance, snapping his fingers dramatically. “She used to go here.”

The stunned boy stammered out your name in question. It still felt so natural, so effortless rolling off of his tongue despite the prolonged period that had passed since he’d uttered those syllables.

“Yeah! Saw it on her just last week.”

All the blood seemed to drain from Yuta Okkotsu’s face. His wide, haunting eyes suddenly transfixed hazily on the smiling man before him in a manner that would have been terrifying had it been directed at a stranger. You still wore the bracelet he got you? The prospect had his mind spinning, and his stomach churning anxiously. The poor guy looked as though he would short circuit at any moment; brows twitching into a deep furrow, the corners of his lips fluttering in uncertainty. He blinked a few times before looking up at his sensei with a new sense of determination clouding his eyes.

“Where did you say she went?”

Bingo!

The clock’s ticking mocked you menacing as you raced to finish your assessment notes within the hour. Kaori was always merciful with you, understanding that you were still learning and would likely take more time with things, but you couldn’t help but urge yourself to do better.

It had been almost a year that you had been studying while working alongside the counselor, and you had blossomed in a way you never thought would have been possible. Granted, you weren’t able to do any of what you had lovingly labeled as ‘the fun stuff’ yet, you had adjusted surprisingly well to the countless intake assessments and documentation your mentor had entrusted you with. Of course, it wasn’t the same as having a second counselor there with her, but anything helped ease the weight of her overwhelming caseload. She knew it was good experience for you too.

Despite her hectic schedule, Kaori still found time to meet with you often to check in regarding the struggles that brought you to her in the first place, insisting it would be a crucial step in your training as well. Slowly but surely, you were beginning to rebuild that confidence in yourself and your own purpose in this monstrous world. It felt cathartic, being a part of the process of healing for those torn down by the very things that hurt you so long ago as well. It was meaningful— fulfilling.

You wondered if this was how Yuta felt when he was out there, helping people as well, just in his own way. A sharp pang struck you each time your mind wandered too far though, and you were always quick to reel it back in.

Your bottom lip was caught ruthlessly between your teeth, and it seemed the clacking of your keyboard was fighting against the ticking of the clock for dominance. A small spark of defeat struck you as you heard the door of the office creak open. Looking up at the time, your brows furrowed in confusion. You were sure that you had already completed the last intake Kaori had scheduled for you today. Scrambling into the drawer beside you to pull out a new form, you hoped you would at least look somewhat prepared whenever the unexpected patient came to your desk.

“Hi, there!” You called out from your tucked away cubicle, fumbling to save the document you were working on. “I’m back here, you can come on in.”

Slow footsteps approached closer and closer before pausing in front of your desk. Pushing the hair from your eyes, you looked up with a warm, inviting smile.

Oh.

The smile on your face slowly faded as Yuta Okkotsu towered over your desk. It wasn’t the version of him you once knew; this one was taller, more refined, more calculated with the manner in which he held himself. His wide, midnight-blue eyes regarded you carefully, but his face revealed nothing. Your mouth opened and closed pathetically, your mind desperately trying to catch up with the way your day had suddenly progressed. Stepping forward, he calmly sank down into the chair in front of you, hands gripping the arms casually.

“Yu—”

“I heard you offer counseling for sorcerers, right?” He was suddenly smiling sweetly at you, but there was a controlled glint in his eyes— holding him back. Not allowing you to respond, he continued. “Well, I have some things to get off my chest, so it’s lucky I found you, huh?”

You sank back into your chair, allowing the papers in your hands to slip from your fingers and swoosh softly onto the desk. Nodding gently, you urged him to go on, anxiety balling up in the pit of your stomach. He launched off on a long-winded story, one you already knew like the back of your hand— you lived it, after all. Your already knowing the climax didn’t stop the furious blush that overtook you as he recalled the letter he’d found in his dorm upon his arrival back to Tokyo.

“She always had this sweet way of signing off all her letters to me.” Yuta recounted with a soft smile, eyes glimmering as they looked back at you. Yours, on the other hand, were holding back the dam of tears that had been building up for countless months. As the first tear slipped down your cheek, you saw his resolve start to crumble, gaze chasing the drop as it raced down your skin. His bottom lip trembled. “She signed that last one— she signed it off ‘forever yours’, but I never saw her again.”

“Yuta—”

“Why didn’t you just tell me you weren’t happy?” He finally snapped, his own tears swimming in his eyes. Bracing his hands on the desk, he leaned forward desperately. “I would’ve understood, I would’ve—”

“I tried! I tried to tell you, but you were so sure that I was going to get through it. How was I supposed to look you in the eyes after you gave up so much of your life to train to be better? How was I supposed to tell you I was giving up?”

“You promised me!” His cry rang out in the quiet office, shoving his chair back to stand over you once again. You heard Kaori’s office door open abruptly, likely startled by the perceived altercation. Despite his dominating presence and lingering stance, you couldn’t find it in you to be intimidated by him. You shook your head softly toward your mentor, letting her know you were fine. As the door hesitantly shut once again, Yuta was sinking closer to you despairingly. “I would’ve come back for you— I wouldn’t have cared where I had to look, okay? I wouldn’t have cared that you left everything— but you weren’t supposed to leave me.”

His wounded tone finally caught up to you, and you let your head fall down onto your crumpled hands as you cried. Yuta sighed softly, almost regretting his stinging confession. Quickly looping around the desk, he settled down on his knees in front of you and turned you to face him.

“I’m sorry, Yuta.” You cried, falling into him as he wrapped his arms around you and pulled you from your chair. He was stronger than you last remembered him being, but his touch was just as delicate. “I’m so sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. Hey, it’s okay. We’re here now, right?” He assured gently, pulling you away from his chest so he could look at you with a smile, tears still clinging to his lashes. His cool hand ran down from your shoulder to your wrist, and he traced the bracelet that hadn’t come off your wrist since you received it. A soft flush covered his cheeks. “You kept it, huh?”

“You kept yours, too.” You laughed breathlessly, wiping at your cheeks with one hand and grasping his bracelet with the other.

“I told you, I always meant everything I said to you. I still do.” His words almost made you break down again, but you worried if you started boo-hoo crying again that Kaori might just burst through the door with more determination than she had last time.

So instead, you took a moment to glance over his matured face, shaking your head in amusement upon seeing those familiar dark circles still hanging under his eyes. Your heart clenched as your eyes ran across the small scar that Maki left on his forehead. When you met his gaze once again, it gave you pause. Yuta had that look in his eyes— the same one he had all those years ago before he left for Kenya. The rapid patter of your heart could be felt in your throat.

Despite your nerves, your lips twitched up into a knowing smile. You reached up tentatively to place a hand over your right eye, covering the scar that had stopped him all those years ago. He pursed his lips at this action and shook his head. In an instant, his long fingers were wrapping around your wrist to pull your hand away from your face.

“Don’t.” Yuta said simply before leaning down to capture your lips in his, more assuredly than his sixteen year old self ever could have dared to, but just as sweetly as the boy who promised to come back to you would have.

masterlist | requests | talk to me ❤︎

I love hearing everyone's thoughts! ◝⠀(ᵔᵕᵔ)⠀◜

[kankuroplease]

Multisaku Saku/OC Silliness pt 1

[the-orion-inexpirience]

Tsum tsum event board game club.....

+yuuta tsum tsum cause the world needs him. 😤💕

[comingyourlugubriousness]

Ramshackle Gang: Please take care of us!

CROWLEY: Yes, the Ramshackle Prefects will be joining the group as attendants. GRIM: Hehe~! We'll be taggin' along and takin' care of you guys. GRIM: Which means partying down, gettin' fawned over, and eatin' everything in sight! Nyaha~! AZUL: I see. You used the prefects as a pretext to get Grim off your back. JAMIL: Some headmage we have. IDIA: I don't see the problem! Now we got fuzzy companionship AND valuable emotional support! Bring on the floof!

One of my fav moments from the event, heres my silly lil interpretation with me and @bunnwich canon story.

I have other arts in the works so please look forward to more nerd content! Hopefully, before Halloween starts!

[mik0is0bored]

THIS IS THE CUTEST PICREW TO ME RN😭🫶

[amndees]

doodles for my tdlosk oc :)

+ full version of the drawing i posted w their lore previously ^^

[highlightmelon]

here a commission i made for @yuutx ! i had a blast making his one and i think it turned out nicely

i do free commissions! pls ask me, or you can message me both here and on instagram at highlartmelon!

[clackclackboom]

Subject: Urgent Help Needed – Your Support Can Make a Difference

Hello, my friend. I hope this message finds you well. 🙏

I am writing to you with a heavy heart and an urgent request for your help. My family is in a perilous situation due to the ongoing war and the famine we have endured for more than ten months. We are facing immense challenges, So please read my story as if I were a member of your family, if my family is your family.🥺

I'm Ola, a graduate student from the Faculty of Science at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, Palestine. I'm dedicated and passionate about becoming a good researcher and teacher.

Unexpectedly, after October 7th, my life took a drastic turn with the commencement of the cruel war on Gaza, transforming me from a passionate student into a person struggling for survival. 🥺

I have created a campaign to help my family rebuild their lives and meet our basic needs for food, drink, and other essentials in these harsh conditions. This will also help me continue my education. At this critical moment, I implore you to share my story with your network, both offline and on social media platforms. Your advocacy is vital to our success.

All I am asking for is your support. You can assist us by sharing the pinned post on my page or writing a post about my campaign. This would greatly help us reach more potential supporters, and I would be very grateful if you could share the campaign link with your friends and family via email or other social media platforms. ❤️

I sincerely hope you can empathize with our dire situation and consider supporting us. Please be assured that any help brings us closer to our goal, and no matter how small your donation might be, it will make a significant difference in my family's lives.

I would appreciate it if you could follow me to stay updated, as I will always need your help. 💔

This is my GFM link:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/empower-olas-pursuit-of-education-amid-crisis?qid=30ec4c502382b9962b96d698a687d9a8

My campaign has been verified by @ 90-ghost, @ northgazaupdates, @ el-shab-Hussien, and @ nabulsi's vetted list (line 205).

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1yYkNp5U3ANwILl2MknJi9G7ArY4uVTEEQ1CVfzR8Ioo/htmlview#gid=0

Thank you in advance for your kindness and support. I am waiting for your response. ❤️

Please donate and/or share with others. 🥺🙏🇵🇸

Sincerely,

Ola

!!

[honney-pies]

Ma Cherie ❤︎

What Once Was

Pairing: Inuokku/f!oc

Length: 9.3k

Summary: Sometimes reminiscing the past can hurt, but sometimes it’s for the better.

A/n: omg hey guys, sorry for taking so long. I had a lot to deal with these past two week, so I’m a little behind. This chapter focuses heavily on kanae and the relationships she has with those around her. This isn’t totally proofread and my desk top has been glitching a lot lately, so please let me know and I will fix it!

Ma Cherie master list

─── ⋆⋅ December 2017 ⋅⋆ ── 

Kanae’s standing outside the classrooms, watching as her breath fills the air. She hadn't noticed that everyone had already started to leave until Inumaki tapped her on the shoulder. She snaps out of it and sees that Yuuta was also waiting for her. Kanae smiled at the two, noticing how their hands brushed against each other. The three of them had been toeing the line between friends and lovers for some time now, so it was quite adorable watching Yuuta start to figure out that the couple liked him quite a bit. As all the first years were walking away from class, goofing around and acting like kids, Yuuta stops and looks at the sky. Everyone else stops and looks at him, asking him what's wrong.

“Uh, well… I just had a bad premonition,” he responded.

“You’re imagining things.”

“Yep, imagining things.”

“Okaka.”  Kanae laughs softly at everyone’s comment. She looks at Yuuta and grabs his wrist before hurrying up to catch the others. 

“Huh? Guys wait!” She feels a nudge from Inumaki and she looks over at her boyfriend who tilts his head  and smiles at her, she smiles back.

“Well, your ability to sense curse energy sucks, you know,” Panda starts. 

“Figures it be dulled, with a curse like Rika constantly around you,” Maki finishes. As they all continued to joke around and make their way off campus Kanae could see a little white blob in the sky. A bird, she realizes. A really big bird. Kanae felt her phone buzz and pulled it out.

‘Incoming call from weezer🧿🧿’ 

“That's unusual.” Kanae looks up from her phone to see what Panda was talking about to see that the bird has landed in front of them. 

“Yuuta’s intuition was correct.” Kanae quickly answers the phone call to alert her brother that there was a bird heading for them, even though she knew chances are he already sensed it. As the bird landed, another figure fell to the side. Kanae could make out formal clothing, a Gojo-kesa, and a lot of black hair, but that’s not what made her freeze. That bloodflow, she thought, I know it. 

“You’re… not staff,” Maki observed as she pulled out her spear. She sees a person she hasn’t seen in a very long time, her beloved brother. 

“Sugu-nii,” she whispers into her phone, already forgotten in her hand. Suguru looks around for a second before staring right at her and smiling.

“Yo, Kanae-chan! It’s been a long time.” Tears started to form in her eyes, she didn’t know what to do. Her chest began to tighten as a wave of emotions came over her, she feels overwhelmed and she just wants to go to sleep.

“Sugu-nii, what are you doing here,” she asks. Although she didn’t know if she wanted to know the reason why. 

“You’ve grown a lot, well I guess that’s to be expected. How are your studies going?” He eyes the phone in her hand and frowns slightly. She felt the blood rushing to her ears and couldn’t move. Suguru appears in front of Yuuta in an instant and she can’t help but feel slightly jealous of how quickly he moved his attention to someone that wasn’t her. Someone with more power, she thinks.

“Nice to meet you, Okkotsu-kun. I’m Geto Suguru.”

“O-oh hi, nice to meet you,” Yuuta replied.

“You possess a truly wonderful power, I see. I believe that great power ought to be used towards great ends.” Kanae felt her frustration bubble beneath her skin, like a wildfire with no one around to stop it. The Suguru she knew believed that the strong must protect the weak, that shamans exist to protect non-shaman. 

“Have you ever questioned the current state of the world? This world where jujutsu shamans act in secret in order to protect the order of commonplace society. You see, there’s this established paradox,” he started as he let go of Yuuta’s hands and began to move more freely, “saying that the strong must protect the weak,” he continued.

Kanae could feel her blood begin to flood through her ears, slowly drowning out the utter bullshit he was spewing. She saw Suguru wrap his arm around Yuuta, but at this point she didn’t care to listen. She was so unbelievably tired. Tired of listening to his tangent that is so different to the lectures he used to give her growing up.

“-we would like you to help us kill all non-shamans and create a world with only jujutsu shamans.” And in a split second, the pedestal she held her dear brother crumbled underneath his very feet. The others saw how upset she was getting and were also starting to get riled up. You see, Kanae has known that Suguru was not the same, but it’s different seeing and hearing it. She has heard for years about how he was a traitor, murderer, cult leader, but she could always deny it in her mind. How could someone who taught her right and wrong end up being so very… wrong? She poured hours of her life into reading the files the school has made of him. Spent hours outside his temple hoping to get the courage to see him, to ask why. She’s spent years trying to prove to herself that her brother never changed, but she’s finally seeing what everyone has been saying. She’s seeing all the things she’s ignored and she has this revelation that maybe, maybe she didn’t know her brother as well as she thought she had.

Above all else, she’s infuriated at how someone who hurt not only hundreds of innocent people, but her family, herself, her dad, waltz back into her home as if he never left it in the first place. As if he never left her. 

“Could you stop preaching your crazy beliefs to my students?” With the voice of her brother, the one that stayed in her life, she felt her anger bury itself further under the surface, where she could manage it better. Suguru’s mouth pressed into a thin line before turning itself into a smile, but not the one he used to give Satoru, a fake up filled with nothing. 

“Satoru! Long time no see!” 

“First of all, get away from those kids, Suguru.” She looked at Satoru and saw how tense his face was. She could only imagine the amount of heartbreak he must be feeling. The man still had a hard time eating fried chicken after all this time, let alone even speaking of KFC. 

‘Guess we’re going to eat a bunch of sweets tonight’.

“I had heard this year’s first-years were all outstanding students. Now I understand. It was all your doing. A special-grade cursed human, a cursed corpse mutation, the descendant of the cursed speech users, our beloved sister, and the zen’in clan failure.” Kanae clenched her jaw and moved herself to be more in Suguru’s eyesight blocking Maki, her best friend. She could feel Maki pull her behind her as she juts her spear forward towards Suguru. The look on his face makes her want to vomit, he looks absolutely appalled by Maki.

“Watch what you do, because I don’t need any monkey like you in my world,” his eyes slid over to Kanae, “how unfortunate that you’ve chosen their side, Kanae-chan.”

“Monkey,” he called her, he called Maki a monkey. Tears that had been welling up in her eyes were finally threatening to fall, not from sadness, but from the unabated anger making its way to her heart. Yuuta made eye contact with her before pushing Suguru’s arm off.

“I’m sorry. I don’t really understand what you’re talking about, but… I can’t help anyone who insults my friends!” Suguru lets out a sigh before he begins to speak once more.

“My apologies. It wasn’t my intention to upset you.” She felt a hand on her shoulder shortly before she appeared in between Yuuta and Suguru. ‘Toru-nii’.

“Then what exactly did you come for?” Even with the bandages covering Satoru’s eyes, she knew that the soulmates were making perfect eye contact. 

“To declare war,” he responded. Kanae felt her jaw tense and she gently nudged Satoru after feeling his hand tighten against her. Suguru turned away from Satoru and looked at the others.

“Everyone gathered here, open your ears and listen closely! On the coming December 24th, when the sun sets, we shall conduct the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons. It will take place in the crucible of curses, Shinjuku, Tokyo, and the holy land of jujutsu, Kyoto,” He announces. 

“We will unleash a thousand curses upon each place, and of course their command will be to ‘massacre’. If you wish to avoid a scene straight out of hell, come and stop it with all your might. Let us freely curse each other!”

The smile on Suguru’s face unnerves Kanae slightly and she has the sudden realization that maybe, just maybe, she genuinely doesn’t know him anymore. The blonde girl behind Suguru lets out a screech that quickly wipes his malice laced smile into a softer one.

“Geto-sama! The store’s gonna close!” Her whining was giving Kanae a huge headache. 

“It’s already that late? I’m sorry, Satoru, Kanae-chan. My girls just insist on going to get crepes from Takeshita street,” he began, “so I’ll be taking my leave.”

My girls, so he really did replace me. 

When she looked up, Suguru set a hand on her head, though there was a slight delay. Satoru had activated his Infinity on her when he had grabbed her, only releasing it when knowing Suguru wouldn’t hurt her.  

“See you soon, imōto.” He removes his hand and all she can think is how much she’s missed him. The two of them watch for a second time as he leaves and this time it stings just that little bit more. She looks at the group and then at Satoru, and takes a deep breath. 

“Maki,” she says, “can we make some cookies?” Maki, who knew the other girl like the back of her hand, simply nodded, knowing she needed the distraction while their teacher and the rest of her family would undoubtedly be busy with meetings. 

“Gojo-san, we need to go.” Satoru looked down at the girl, his little girl, and gave her shoulder one more reassuring squeeze before letting go. 

“I’ll swing by later tonight, okay,” he whispers before taking his leave and giving the others a nod and going back to campus. 

As they walked back she could feel everyone's eyes on her, it made her skin crawl. It was as if it was on fire and it made her so incredibly uncomfortable, but she told them that she would talk about her feelings when she was ready. And they respected her wishes just like she’s done to them many times before.

─── ⋆⋅ August 2017 ⋅⋆ ── 

It was the first time in a while since Kanae had been sent to live at the Technical College. After Satoru graduated, he officially adopted Kanae. It was a day filled with happy tears, hugs, and an obscene amount of sweets. They had moved into an apartment and her family quickly grew from there.

Nine years later she’s back at the school and moving into a dorm with the promise of learning and finally earning money. It was about two weeks before classes were supposed to start, but she wanted to get back into the swing of things, help Inumaki move into his dorm and maybe make another friend. There was one person she had yet to meet and she wanted to at least be acquaintances with the other girl before classes started. One perk of your ‘bro-dad’ being your teacher, you find out about stuff before you’re meant to. 

Kanae had already met and was friends with two of her classmates, Panda and Inumaki. Although the latter is her boyfriend and future spouse, so she supposed it didn’t really count. She had heard that the other girl was from the Zen’in clan and was unable to see curses. She hoped the two would be friends since they came from similar filial situations. 

As she was moving that last of her things into her new room, or rather Satoru’s old room, she spotted someone moving into a room not too far down. She finished setting her things down and made her way over to the room before noticing the door was ajar. She knocked and smiled when the girl turned around. 

“Hi, I’m Kanae! I’m your classmate, I believe.” The other girl did a once over before walking a little closer. 

“Maki, you are.” Kanae looked up at Maki and smiled another bright smile. 

“I like your hair! Do you need any help setting things up? I’m nearly finished, so I can lend a hand if you would like.” Maki looked down at the girl and noticed a couple scars on her body, a deep, jagged one on her collarbone. 

“I can manage,” she replied. Kanae nodded her head before saying her goodbye’s before heading back to her room.

“Oh, I almost forgot! Let me know if you would like to explore the campus later.” Maki turned back around and nodded.

“You’ve already taken a look around?” She smiled and nodded.

“Something like that.”

————————————————————————————————————

Maki did in fact take her up on that offer and the two spent the next couple of weeks getting to know one another and becoming friends. They made a couple references to their families and although Kanae already knew of her ties, she would never want to pressure someone into opening up before they were ready. 

The four first years quickly became friends and it felt as if they had known each other for years. Well for three of them that was the case. Maki would later learn that Kanae and Inumaki were in an arranged marriage, and were quite happy about it, along with Panda and Kanae knowing each other from their childhood. They were the only children around each other on campus and a friendship blossomed from there. 

Maki and Kanae would later become best friends and share about their pasts. The day Maki found out about Kanae’s last name, she knew she could trust her with her’s. The pair became two peas in a pod and spent quite a large amount of time together, forming a sister-like bond. After one job together the two got matching beads to make bracelets with.

“They’re kind of like my favorite thing ever. Although if you don’t wear jewelry we can find a different way to match!” 

A little over a month after meeting, Kanae had confessed that she wasn’t that skilled when it came to using weapons to fight without using her cursed technique. She was taught hand-to-hand, but had refused to learn how to handle a blade herself after some instances in her early childhood. Maki had been the one to teach her, and quite frankly who else would you want? 

In the late nights beneath the blanket of stars, it was difficult for Kanae to ignore her trauma and all the emotions that consumed her mind. She kept up her more carefree, level headed  demeanor during the day with ease, but when there was nothing else to occupy her it became overwhelming. Due to this the four would spend many nights together under the gentle glow of the moon, just talking and messing around. Just acting their age. 

Later in the year Yuuta would show up and Kanae would be forced to see her brother take his last breath, but that’s for later. This is now. 

─── ⋆⋅ December 2017 ⋅⋆ ── 

When they finally made it back to the dorm everyone agreed that they needed to take a five minute break before they started moving again. 

Kanae went to the showers alone since Maki was going to set her spear back in its case. As she walked she imagined all the time Suguru had walked these halls, had placed his feet in the same places as hers. After he defected she had spent a lot of nights with Shoko due to Satoru being a complete wreck, he would cry and he never liked crying infront of her. 

“I’m supposed to be the one comforting you when you cry, not the other way around.”

He had been so depressed after, albeit he still is, but when the memories were still at the front of his mind, when the wounds hadn’t yet faded to scars, he would lay in Suguru’s bed and let his body be wracked with sobs. It was a heartbreaking thing to hear and most nights, or early mornings rather, she would sneak into Suguru’s room and curl against her brother. He would squeeze her tight and not let her leave until the last second. As if he was scared she would leave too. 

While her mind was distracted, her feet had carried her back to Suguru’s room. She hesitated to open the door, but when she did it was covered in a thick layer of dust. No one has been here for years. Well, maybe Satoru since he could use his infinity, but she couldn't be sure

“Only for a minute, Kanae, you still have things you need to do, a shower to take, and acne to scrub away.” Unfortunately it was not a minute, not even five, when she looked at her phone she noticed it had been closer to two hours. When she rose from his bed her body hurt and there was an outline of her body on the sheets. Her head ached from the tears she shed, yet her eyes still burn with the anticipation for those to come. 

She eventually made her way to the showers and could see how red her eyes were and how swollen her face was. She thought she looked similar to a weird looking squirrel. 

________

After her shower she set her things down back in her room and made her way to the kitchen where her friends were there waiting. They made no comments about her eyes and no comments about her face. Set on top of the counter were all the ingredients for baking cookies.

─── ⋆⋅ October 2017 ⋅⋆ ── 

It was the day of the exchange event and Yuuta was looking a little nervous. More like queasy if anything. 

“ ‘Kkotsu, you feeling okay?”

“Kamo-san! How are we supposed to fight other students?” 

“Kanae, ‘kkotsu!”

“Sorry, sorry! Kanae-san, a-are you not nervous?” Kanae patted him on the back and smiled. 

“You’ll do great, ‘kkotsu! I mean you have a target on your back, but it’s nothing to worry about. Maki and I ‘ll make sure you don’t die! Right, Maki?”

“Don’t drag me into this, Kanae.”

“I’m going to die!” She sighed and shook her head.

“Ah, sorry, wrong choice of words. You’re not going to die, however you might get a little injured. Although everyone does.” 

“I’ve accepted death.” 

“My god, you’re dramatic.” She quickly glanced down at Yuuta to see if he heard her, he had and looked… well pathetic. 

But like a good pathetic. No, Kanae, don’t think that. That’s gross.

Kanae looked over at Maki and motioned for her to come over. Maki saw this and turned around, so she didn’t see them. Kanae’s eye began to twitch ever so slightly.

“Maki!” The girl groaned, but turned around and made her way over and looked at him.

“You’re not going to die, stop exaggerating. You’ll be fine. Now get up and don’t embarrass us.” Yuuta looked up at the girl and shrunk back.

“I’d get up and listen, Maki doesn’t like repeating things,” Kanae whispered before grabbing his arm and hauling him up before Maki got too frustrated. The two girls were wearing their matching bracelets today, although they weren’t the most neatly made things, it showed that they were a pair. Maki had hers underneath the sleeves of her uniform while Kanae had 

hers, and the many others she’s made/collected, where everyone can see. 

Maki didn’t like wearing jewelry since it made a lot of noise and could get in the way while she fought, but for Kanae she’d wear one. Kanae looked over and saw the Kyoto school began to show up, so she brushed off any dirt on Yuuta and smiled at him.

“You’re going to be just fine. Toge, tell him he’ll be fine.” Inumaki rested his hand on Yuuta’s shoulder and gave him a thumbs up. Panda watched this interaction and had a slight blush on his cheeks. He made his way over to Kanae and bent down to talk to her.

“Kanae, are you seeing this?”

“Seeing what?”

“Are you okay?”

“Panda, is everything alright?”

“Inumaki is flirting!”

“Huh?”

“He’s flirting with Yuuta!” She looked at the two and shook her head.

“He’s not flirting, but it’s fine Panda!” Panda looked down at the girl before feeling her head to see if she was being delusional due to being sick. Kanae let him be, but not before sending him a questioning glance.

“Panda… you know I wouldn’t mind if he was flirting, right?” Panda placed another hand (paw?) on Kanae’s head. She sighed and gently moved his hands away.

“Panda, I don’t mind if Toge likes ‘kkotsu. I think he’s kind of cute actually.” Panda looked at the girl, confusion written all over his face. After a couple seconds she could practically see the gears turning in his head.

“Oh… so you both like him?” She shook her head.

“I don’t like like him right now. If anything it’s a small crush, but I think Toge does. Though who could blame him, he’s really adorable.” Panda watched as the couple both looked at Yuuta and noticed how they both had a light blush on their faces. 

‘Humans are… weird.’

“It’s not weird, Panda.” The said corpse looks at her in astonishment.

“You can read minds?” She laughed and shook her head.

“No, I can’t, just a guess.” Panda hummed and nodded his head rapidly. 

“Kanae, Panda let’s go!” The two made eye contact and giggled. 

“I’ll tell you about it later,” she whispered before making their way over.

“Coming my lovelies!” Maki raised a brow and had a small smile on her face.

“You’re hyper today,” she noted. Kanae smiled at her.

“I’m always hyper.” Inumaki looked at her and bumped shoulders with her and grabbed her hand. When they finally reached the meeting place, she saw Noritoshi and some of her happiness began to subside. In its place came many variations of emotions. When it comes to siblings there’s typically a sense of  attachment, however she hasn’t spent time with her brother in quite a while. Yet there’s still that underlying feeling where she knows that he may not be able to think for himself just yet, he’d still protect her if need be.

“Akane-san, nice to see you.” Kanae’s hand clenched around Inumaki’s as she plastered on a smile. And there he went, bringing up a past and its memories along with it. A past that had no business being brought up. However she couldn’t blame him the same way she might her father.

“Kanae, Nori. I guess in our time apart you’ve forgotten.” His mouth set into a thin line before trying to speak once again, but Maki beat him to the punch.

“Play nice for now and remind him up close and personal later.” The girl let out a small laugh into her free hand and looked over at her brother.

“Only if you have my back.”

“I always do.” The girls made eye contact and smiled. Kanae’s big and bright while Maki’s was more subtle. Platonic soulmates are always the best kind of friendships to have. 

As she looked at her older brother she remembered meeting one day in the middle of the brutal summer heat and smiled to herself. 

‘He’s so different, yet so similar all the same.’

─── ⋆⋅ June 2005 ⋅⋆ ── 

The sun was burning her skin, but she didn’t mind. As long as she didn’t have to see her family. Satoru and Akane were at a meeting for all the shaman clans and he had told her that she should come too. 

Now you see, Kanae is a well respected shaman-in-training when she’s older, loved by many, but when Akane was not. Akane was a nuisance and forgotten by most.

A burden

A useless child.

A waste of male, Kamo blood and inherited cursed technique. 

Shortly before Satoru began school, the young girl had begun to show signs of a cursed technique, over time it became aware that it was an inherited one. In the Kamo clan women used to be worshiped. Women were seen as gods, as holy entities that were meant to lead rather than be leashed. Unfortunately foreign ideology slowly began to seep its way into the everyday lives of the people and enforced their ideals upon them. 

For many in the shaman world, or any world for that matter, women are treated as second class citizens if they’re lucky enough to be seen as human at all.  In the shaman world women are meant to breed more shaman children, and then their children will breed more, and the cycle continues. Kanae was blessed with a powerful cursed technique, blood manipulation. It garnered a lot of attention. Many believed that it should have gone to a male member of the family, someone who would become an heir. Though she didn’t know why anyone was complaining, Noritoshi was born powerful and most ‘importantly’ a male. 

Akane didn’t like attending these meetings, but Satoru told her that she had more than earned her place to be here and she was willing to follow him anywhere.

“You’re Akane, correct?” The small girl turned and saw another young boy, a little older than herself. Her eyes widened at him, he’s gotta be the heir for Father.

“Hi. You’re Noshitori,” she asked. His borrows furrowed and a slight frown tugged at his lips.

“Noritoshi.” 

“Oh, sorry.” He huffed and moved his head to face her more.The young girl thought his eyes were closed.

“How old are you?”

“ ‘m four!” She showed him a bright smile and he didn’t need to open his eyes any more than they already are to know that there might be a few teeth missing from it.

“Why are you here? Father couldn’t have asked you to come.” She shook her head before remembering he couldn’t see her.

“Oh no, he didn’t. ‘Ru asked me to come.” His brows furrowed again and tilted his head to the side.

“Who,” he asked.

“‘Ru!” The boy looked even more confused.

“Gojo Sa‘ru!” His eyebrows raised and Akane thought they might fly off his forehead. 

“Gojo Satoru?” He clearly didn’t believe her, but with the way she kept on nodding her head it was difficult not to. The two stood next to each other and had a one sided conversation because even though she was four and it was sometimes difficult to understand her, she never stopped talking. She went on about some kids in her class and how she was learning her letters and numbers, but she couldn’t read quite yet. She made it a point to describe everything was seeing, so Noritoshi could ‘see’ it too. He didn’t have the heart to tell her that he can actually see and that his eyes just look closed. While he was looking at her as she talked, he noticed the similarities in their features such as their eyes and nose, along with their hair. Her eyes were gray, albeit a darker shade, and her hair was black like his. 

Once the meeting was over and everyone began walking out, Satoru quickly made his way to the children and ruffled the girls hair.

“Akane! You’re so lucky you don’t have to go to these things, they’re so boring. Maybe if you went inside with me next time it would be more fun!”

“‘ ‘Ru! My hair!” He laughed in return and turned his head to look at the boy.

“Who’re you?” 

“Kamo No-”

“He’s m’ brother Nori,” Akane interrupted. She stood up from where she sat on the ground and said her goodbyes to the boy, wanting to leave before the rest of her family showed up.

“See you later, Nori! It was nice meeting you!” He nodded and a small smile threatened to make an appearance, but before it could his father spoke and called him away, back to the estate where his mother no longer was. 

─── ⋆⋅ October 2017 ⋅⋆ ─── 

When the exchange event came to its conclusion, Kanae hadn’t been as amazing as she had hoped. She didn’t make it to the final round of the one-on-one fights, and she made many mistakes in the group battle. She wished she could have done more, fought more. 

She got too ahead of herself and nearly passed out from blood loss. Yuuta had to carry her around for that last part of the group battle, which she was still incredibly embarrassed about. However he assured her many times he didn’t mind it. She had gotten an earful from Yaga and Satoru, Maki had smacked her in the back of the head, Shoko had looked at her endlessly, but kept her thoughts to herself (not before staring at her in a way that made her feel even more embarrassed than she already was), and somehow Nanami even found out and sent her a wall of text telling her not to act that recklessly again. Inumaki had signed so fast she could barely keep up, and she felt awful for making him worry that much. He had sat next to her until Shoko allowed her to leave.

“Try not to pull a stunt like that again, Kanae. Too much paperwork.” Kanae smiled softly, knowing that she was trying to show her concern without outrightly stating it. 

“I’ll try not to, Sho-nee.” Shoko nodded and shooed her away the second she got a text from Utahime. 

When they went outside, Kanae felt her phone buzz in her pocket

‘Incoming call from shadow wannabe’

“Oh, ‘gumi wh-”

“What did you do?” Kanae paused for a moment. What did I do?

“... huh?” she heard a long sigh on the other end

“Gojo sent me a text saying you wouldn’t be able to get me from school and you’ve never been late, let alone not there.”

“Aw, are you worried about me?” She smiled.

“Nee-san.” She laughed at the huff he let out.

“Ah, well I needed to see Shoko. During the event, I pushed myself pretty hard and so I had to stay in the office for a while. But I’m better now!” She looked at Inumaki and tapped her wrist. He then showed her the time. 

‘Thanks,’ she mouthed. 

“It’s pretty late, please tell me you didn’t just get home?”

“...No.” Kanae let out a sigh.

“Were you bullying kids again?”

“It’s not bullying if they start it, plus you’re the one who told me that bullying works.” She rolled her eyes.

“I said that ‘cause you’d pour ranch, ranch, all over your fries and then wipe your fingers on your shirt. It was gross, and now you don’t use your shirt as a napkin. Bullying is effective in some cases, like when it comes to siblings. I don’t think you need to get nearly expelled from another school. ” Inumaki was laughing quietly next to her as the two continued walking to their respective dorms. Megumi mumbled something under his breath that Kanae didn’t catch, though she could take a wild guess at what it was.

“Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine, ‘gumi. Nothing I haven’t done before. You had a test today right? How was it?”

“It was fine, I guess. Boring, Nakamura-san tried to cheat off me again. If she wasn’t obnoxious I would’ve let her be, but she’s never returned my mechanical pencil and she even uses it right in front of me! So of course I tell the teacher after the test. She tried to get her little brother to beat me up. Her little brother.” Kanae laughed softly, voicing her frustrations and agreeing that maybe harassing children was okay in the instance. She had been watching Inumaki fiddle with her fingers as they waited outside the dorms for the call to be done. After a while, she looked around and noticed that Noritoshi was waiting for her on a bench just outside the dorms. 

“Hey, ‘gumi, I gotta go, but I’ll call you back later okay?” He stopped his tangent about how he couldn’t wait to be done with middle school.

“Can you facetime me later so I can see the ‘hottie’ you’ve been talking about lately?”

“Which one?” 

“Black hair guy.”

“Oh, Okkotsu. No, he’s asleep in the infirmary right now, but we’ll call you back okay? We’ll introduce you to him soon.” 

“Hi, Inumaki-san. Bye, Inumaki-san.” Kanae chuckled before hanging up. 

“Toge, you head back first. I’ll be there in a sec.” He nodded, but not before giving her hand a squeeze. Kanae made her way over to her brother and sat down next to him.

“What you did today was reckless.” She groaned.

“Not you too, I literally just sat down!” He looked over at her, the tiniest traces of a smile on his lips. 

“Yes, me too.” Kanae sighed and leaned against the back of the bench.

“It’s nothing either of us haven’t done before. I don’t know why everyone is acting as if there won’t be days where I’ll be put in a worse situation.” He sighed and looked at her.

“We all know that being a shaman comes with its occupational hazards, but that doesn’t change how -how idiotic you were acting. You were actively drawing blood out of your body and trying to control it with no medium to ease that burden. That’s dangerous! I know that we all will have to put our lives on the line a million times over for this job, but that doesn’t mean one should seek out death. There is a difference between risking death to win and being willing to die.” She peeked over at him and saw the furrowed brows, his worry lines creased.

“You sound like my dad.” 

“Well Gojo-san is right.” She looks at him with wide eyes before bursting at the seams, letting out a loud laugh. 

“I wasn’t talking about Toru-nii, to be specific, I meant in general.” He glanced towards her and frowned.

“He adopted you, did he not?”

“He did.” He nodded his head before looking back over.

“Is he- is he nice?” Kanae looked at him before smiling.

“He’s the best dad I could’ve asked for.” Noritoshi looked down at the ground, a smile fully formed on his lips.

“That’s good.” She glanced at him a couple times before she began to fidget, picking at her nail beds.

“I… I’m sorry for making you worry. I’ll be more careful in the future.” She moved her body to face his. She hesitantly wrapped her arms around him. He froze for a second before wrapping his arms around her.

“I’m sorry for not being there for you, for not being a better older brother, Kanae.” She felt her emotions bubble their way to the surface.

“I forgive you, it’s not like I was the best sister either. Thank you for being here for me now.” They sat like that for a while, not moving. 

That night they opened their hearts for the other. After years of competing against each other, it was weird, but it was for the better. The two would still get into arguments about their… family, but now they were no longer alone in the Kamo clan. In the future they would slowly grow a bond and finally become the siblings they have longed to be for one another. But that’s the future. Tonight was the first step into becoming a family, towards healing.

─── ⋆⋅ December 2017 ⋅⋆ ─── 

The sound of laughter filled the air as everyone was somewhere in the kitchen baking. It was a mess, but they would deal with it when the time came. Satoru was watching in the doorway, watching as children got to be children. He had planned on consoling Kanae throughout the night, but can see that she’s distracted for now, so he went home to bother Megumi. He’ll cancel classes tomorrow and spoil everyone, like an amazing teacher would. 

“Kanae-san, where did you learn how to make cookies?” She was sitting on the counter as Inumaki was putting the cookies into the oven for a couple minutes longer. Maki and Panda were trying to stealthy eat the leftover batter even though she said not to since there were raw eggs in it, and Yuuta was standing to the side of her, very close.

“Su-” she took a deep breath before continuing, “ My brothers taught me how to make them. Any time I had a bad day, we would spend hours in here making cookies, brownies, cake. Anything sweet really, Toru loves sweets.” He kept on twisting the ring on his finger, his connection with Rika. He then looked at her and moved closer so that his stomach was touching her knee.

“Do you mean Geto?” She hums and nods. He was watching every little twitch she made, making sure she was okay and that he wasn't overstepping. The two continued to talk about everything, anything, and nothing as they waited for the cookies to be done. Inumaki eventually made his way over and stood shoulder to shoulder, well more like shoulder to arm, with Yuuta, effectively corralling Kanae. She has a soft blush on her cheeks the more and more they move closer. She went to look around the room to see if the other two could save her from embarrassing herself, but they weren’t there.

How convenient.

“You know… since I call you by your first name, you should start calling me by mine.” There was a light blush on his cheeks as he said this.

“Yuuta… are you flirting with me?” That blush traveled to his ears. A slight nod of his head. Kanae leans in just a touch closer, though the blush she sported alo grew. She felt her blood rush to her head as Inumaki draw shapes on her thighs. 

“We’ll always be here for you. We will try our hardest to make sure Geto doesn’t hurt you.” She looks him dead in the eye and her face goes slack.

“Yuuta, Sugu-nii hurt me a long time ago. I- I appreciate the thought I really do, but I’d rather he hurt me than hurt anyone else. Actually, I’ve never told you about him, have I?” Yuuta shook his head. They all sank against the wall and onto the floor.

“Well, I first met him when I was four.”

─── ⋆⋅ September 2005 ⋅⋆ ─── 

It was a couple weeks since school started and the three first years had yet to actually become the friends they will be to one another in the future. Suguru and Satoru weren’t best friends quite yet, and Shoko hadn’t scammed her way to a medical degree either. They had yet to go through the horrific tragedy that was Riko Amanai’s and Haibara Yu’s death, Suguru had yet to adapt the ideology of wiping out all non-shamans. The future has yet to happen, but unfortunately it is inevitable.  

Satoru had been extra hyper that day, ready to get school over with faster than normal. He was getting on everyone’s nerves and Yaga had given up correcting him earlier within the day. When classes finally finished Yaga had pulled Satoru to the side and told him he needed to talk to him before Satoru could leave. 

Suguru had been on his way to his dorm room to finish his homework when he saw a small girl walking up the steps with a small bag wearing a formal, and quite beautiful, kimono. Suguru walked over to the girl and squatted down in front of her.

“Hi, I’m Geto. What’s your name?”

“Hi, I’m Akane.” The young girl did a deep bow and nearly fell over. She quickly raised herself, blushing from embarrassment. 

“Are you a firs’ year?” He raised a brow, wondering who this girl was, but nodded his head regardless.

“Do you need help? Did you get lost?” She shook her head, but Suguru still took her bag, holding it for her. She thanked him before asking if he knew where ‘Ru’ was. He was confused, seeing as he didn’t know a ‘Ru’, but told her he’d help her find him. It wasn’t long before it became apparent the girl knew more about the campus than he did. As they were turning the corner she heard a frantic ‘Akane’.

“ ‘Ru!” Akane smiled widely before taking off in the opposite direction. Suguru followed after her, however only needing to walk to keep up with her. When he saw Satoru making his way over to the girl, it finally clicked who ‘ru’ was. Satoru. He felt a little foolish for not catching on sooner, but watched as Akane launched herself into his arms, gripping for dear life. 

“Akane, I've told you not to wander off like that when I’m s’posed to meet you somewhere.” She tilted her head down and mumbled a small sorry. Satoru sighed before saying he’s sorry for taking so long. 

“Ah, sorry Gojo, it's my fault she wasn’t at the front. I was helping her look for you.” Satoru finally looked up from the girl, directing his eyes to his fellow classmate. 

“How annoying,” was all he said before getting up, while still holding the girl, and walking off. Suguru quickly followed when he remembered he still had the child’s bag. As he followed he saw Akane making silly faces at him and giggling. Suguru found it quite amusing, even more so when Satoru saw the exchanges the two were having. Satoru scoffed when he saw the young girl smile at his classmate.

“Are you jealous that she’s giving me attention, Gojo?” Satoru turned around with a disgusted look on his face. 

“Who would ever be jealous of you? You have weird bangs and an awful hairline.” Suguru pulled a face as if he’s sucked on a lemon and kicked his shin. 

“My hairline is not awful and my bangs are fine. You shouldn’t even be saying anything about my hair when your hair looks the way it does!” Satoru and Suguru were invading each other's personal space, faces an inch or two apart. 

“What about my hair, Geto?” Akane watched from her place in Satoru’s arms and laughed loudly. Both of them backed up and looked at the girl.

“You like each other!”

“... Huh?”

“Sensei says that if a boy picks on you it means he likes you. You pick on each other, so you like each other.” Oh how observant and blunt children can be. Both boys complained and made comments about how ‘wrong’ she was, but we as the readers (and those with common sense) know they’re just stupid. 

“Wait… Gojo, how do you know Akane? Is she from your clan?” Satoru looked him dead in the eye and with no hesitation responded.

“She’s my sister, you idiot. Ya know for someone who claims to be as smart as you are, you’re pretty stupid. How’d you think I knew her? Did you think I had a kid at eleven, that I kidnapped her and she has Stockholm syndrome?” Suguru looked to the side, letting out a nervous laugh.

“Oh my god you did, didn’t you?” Satoru shoved him before walking off with the girl, failing to remember her bag again.However, that may have been on purpose so a certain boy would be in his dorm later that night.

 When they finally got far enough Akane reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“You called me your sister! Does this make you m’ brother?” Satoru looked at the girl, a laugh falling through his lips.

“I’ve always been your brother, since the day I met you.”

That day Kanae gained a brother and discovered she had one all along. That day Kanae opened her heart to another person without meaning to. In the future he will walk off with a part of not only hers, but her brother’s as well. When that day arrives, her brother will be there to comfort her, to remind her that he’ll always be there. When that day arrives, Kanae will learn that sometimes ‘soulmates’ doesn’t mean forever. 

─── ⋆⋅ December 2017 ⋅⋆ ─── 

Kanae felt the tears make their way down her cheeks, she felt Yuuta hold her in his arms as Inumaki got up to take the cookies out of the oven. She felt safe, loved, and appreciated. When Inumaki came back, he brought a plate of cookies with him.

‘Do you want to go to your room, or one of ours?’

“ Mine, please.” Her voice was soft, almost like she was whispering. The three of them picked up their things and made their way to Kanae’s room. Yuuta had only seen her room in passing, never actually stepping inside. It felt taboo in a way, he’d never been in a girls room before. Though the way the couple held his hands, guiding him in, there is no way in hell he would walk away. 

Stepping into the room, he saw that her room was cluttered, not messy, but covered with items. He saw that there was barely any actual room to be seen. There was something covering nearly every inch. What caught his eye were the polaroids taking up a good chunk of her wall. Some were faded, discolored at the edges, while others were more recent. There were so many different people in the photos, but some were consistent. In an older one, he saw two boys holding Kanae at the beach. The boys held hands and one of them was giving the older one a kiss. He could see how bright everyone's smiles were. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the boys looked familiar. Yuuta’s eyes widened as he turned around.

“Kanae, is that sensei?” She looked over and nodded her head. 

“The boy next to him is Sugu-nii. They used to take me on trips with them all the time.” He saw the dates on the bottom of the pictures span across years. Small sticky notes to the side stuck close to the photos. Unlike the photos, he could tell that these weren’t old, they were relatively new. 

‘7/9/07 - last family trip to the beach’

‘4/12/07 - yu and ken-nii took me to the movies’

‘6/21/05 - first playdate with Nori’

‘5/17/05 - first playdate with Toge’

‘10/6/05 - last day with mother’

Yuuta watched silently as Kanae stood next to him, a vacant expression on her face, while she stared at them.

“What do you see when you look at these, Yuuta?” He looked confused at first before taking a closer look. What caught his eye was the way Geto seemed to go from a smiling, happy person to a cold, husk of a human. He also saw Gojo go from a carefree person to someone who bore a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. He saw Shoko’s eyebags grow darker, he saw Nanami grow more distant, he saw Kanae having a harder time smiling. He could see how much it pains her to stare at the people that are no longer in her life. 

“You… you’re hurting all the time, aren’t you?” She looks at him, her eyes dulled just slightly. 

“I’ve seen the more brilliant shamans come in and out of these dorms. I’ve seen them pursue successful careers, I’ve seen them die while attending here. I’ve seen so many people who feel the same as Suguru, I’ve felt the same as him. After he left I still held hope that he wouldn’t stay gone. That he would come back. I would leave voicemail after voicemail, asking him when he’d be home, that we’d welcome him with open arms. I think Toru-nii still would, to be honest. He could never move on after he left. I keep these photos as a reminder, to remember the people I have lost, to remember those who didn't get a chance to grow old like I have.” He sees Inumaki reach out and hold her. He holds her against his chest, trying to offer any comfort he can. Yuuta looks at Inumaki, silently asking him if it truly was okay for him to be seeing this, for him to comfort her. 

Inumaki reaches his hand out, an invitation for him, Yuuta hesitantly grabs his hand. Inumaki pulls him towards them and this time Yuuta doesn’t hesitate. He wraps his arms around the people he cares deeply about. He holds them for the rest of the night, taking his place in their hearts and solidifying his place in their lives. 

─── ⋆⋅ September 2007 ⋅⋆ ── 

The day started fairly bland if anything. The sun was slightly hidden by the clouds, it wasn’t too hot or too cold, Kanae hadn’t slept in and she made sure to carefully make her way from her brothers tangled limbs and tiptoed out of Suguru’s room before leaving. 

She went to school and no one said anything mean, she got a good score on her spelling test and she wasn’t late home. Suguru had told her before Kanae left for school that he would take her out for ice cream if she had done a good job. He had said that he would be there waiting for Kanae at the school gates. 

He wasn’t.

The six year old had thought that maybe he was busy, or that he lost track of time, although three missed calls later she decided to go home. Satoru had gotten her a phone after what happened the year before with the older kids bullying her so she could get help if she needed it. 

Throughout the walk back to the school, she had hoped that he would be there to greet her.

He wasn’t. 

She had sat in the kitchen, waiting for him to pop up and fulfill his promise of ice cream.

He hadn’t. 

She had sat on his bed doing her homework, hoping he was busy with a mission or out with Satoru.

He wasn’t. 

She had been wandering the halls, looking for him, when she heard her older brother yelling. It was then she thought that maybe he had died. That he wouldn’t be coming back. 

He hadn’t died. 

She watched as Satoru screamed and screamed, hoping for an explanation. 

She wouldn't get one for a long time.

She saw her brother a couple days later sitting on the steps of the school, eyes red, face swollen, as he explained to her simply. 

“Sugu-nii won’t be coming home, Kanae.”

“Did he die?”

“...no, not physically.” 

She had waited for Suguru anyway, waiting for him to come back and make Satoru feel better. 

He never came.

One day after school she walked and walked to see if she could find Suguru herself. 

She did.

“Sugu-nii? Is that you?”  she watched as he turned around, surprised to see her there. He had been talking to an older man with a faint mustache on his upper lip and spiky hair. 

“Kanae, what are you doing all the way over here? It’s not safe. Where’s Satoru?” She looked at him. She saw that his eye bags were gone, that the slump in his shoulders was no longer there, that he was gaining weight again. She also noticed that his hair was no longer in the tight bun he usually wore. 

“ ‘re you feeling better?” His eyes widened a small fraction and smiled.

“ I am. Where is Satoru?”  She looked to the side quickly for looking back at him.

“He’s not here. I don’t think he’d notice right now.” He frowned slightly before kneeling down in front of the girl. 

“I’m sure he will, Kanae. He’s just moping about. Satoru will be back to normal soon.” She shook her head.

“ It’s like you died, Sugu-nii. I don’t like it at all. Are you coming home soon?” He looked at the girl, thinking of what to say next. 

“Kanae, I’m not coming back.” Kanae’s brows furrowed before looking back at Suguru.

“What d'ya mean you’re not coming back? You have to, so we can be a family again!” He let out a heavy sigh. How do you tell the person who you view as a little sister, who you know if you stayed with you’d view her as your daughter, that you’re leaving and have no intentions of coming back? Suguru didn’t want to hurt her anymore than he already has or will, but he knew he couldn’t let her continue to hope that one day things will go back to normal. Even if he did, he would be executed for his actions. He reached for his wrist, taking off his bracelet, and handed it to the girl.

“Here, Kanae, so you can remember me. Satoru has a matching one, you’ll be his only family now, so you need to take care of him. Okay?” She looked at him confused.

“But you’re family too.” He opened his mouth then quickly closed it again. Suguru looked at the sky before looking back at her.

“I hope you’ll forgive me one day, or at least try to, but I’ve found a new family. One who understands me, who won’t judge me.” The small girl looked confused. All this time she had thought that they were a family, a happy family. Kanae thought that the love they had for one another would be invincible. Tears welled up in her eyes that she tried to fight back. 

“But I love you, isn’t that enough?” Suguru was at a loss for words. He had been the one to preach to the girl that love can save people, that respect can save people. How could he face her after everything he’s said?  

“I will always love you, you and Satoru, but I can’t stay in that place anymore. I was in pain and now I’m not,” he rose from where he was and pulled the girl into one more hug, “when you’re older, you can come find me, but for now you need to stay with your family.” 

Kanae hadn’t understood it at the time, but she did get older. As she grew up, she poured over the files of her brother, trying to understand why he did what he did. She sat at the steps of the cult for hours at a time, trying to get a glimpse of him. She even tried to go in, but Kanae could never open the door. 

As she grew older, she began to understand where Suguru was coming from, but that didn’t mean she agreed with it. She continued to deny her brother's actions, still clinging onto the hope he would be there when she woke up. 

He wasn’t. 

_______

-omg guys I’m so funny!!1! I was not originally planning on making this have so much angst, but i changed my mind later lol. The next chapter, ‘bona fide’ will be the final fight in jjk0 and bringing us to season one of jjk, which should be released 9/23. The next chapter after that, ‘purple lilac blooms’ will be a 5+1 fic which should be released 9/30. Thank you so much for reading and I hope you liked it!

[bunnwich]

🤍⛓️‍💥 📢 SHip CHain 🤍⛓️‍💥 📢 Post your oc + a canon and let your followers make up headcanons about them

I haven't got around to posting much of them on this new account, but if you've been with me for a bit you know. 🙄FGHJKL So drop an ask with ya Leouta HCs if you wanna.

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[virydia]

C U T E…

An old skeb of my jjk oc Mayu with best baby boy yuuta (๑>◡<๑)

[kankuroplease]

Got anything hanabi x yuuta? :)

I have this little mess 🖤