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He opened his eyes to a gray white ceiling and the sound of a heart monitor beeping steadily.
The boy lifted his head and almost threw up. An agonizing pain crashed inside his skull. He laid back down and waited for the ache to recede. His head turned and turned, and he tried to keep awake only to fall asleep.
The next time he opened his eyes it was to see a brown-haired woman in a surgical mask and doctor’s coat stooping over him.
“You’re awake.” She said. The teen could see black bags under her eyes from countless late-night shifts. There was a beauty mark under her right eye. “You had us worried.”
She pressed the button on his bed to shift the position of his head higher in order to check his vitals.
“Can you sit up?”
He did, with only a little bit of trouble. Then he had to sit still as the doctor checked his blood pressure, flashed a light in his eyes to check his pupils, and pressed a stethoscope against this chest.
“How are you feeling, Yuuji?” She asked as she listened close. “Any pain, nausea, or diminished vision?”
The teen stared at her with a vacant expression.
“Who’s Yuuji?”
The doctor froze in place as she regarded the boy.
The next time the door opened it was not to admit Shoko-san. But instead, two tall men walked in, and immediately Yuuji (He had to remember that that was his name: Yuuji Itadori) was struck by their looks.
The first male was tall, with a shock of white hair and piercing blue eyes unlike any Yuuji had ever seen (Or had he?). The male, while dressed in all black, was covered in scars of thin white lines as though razor blades had been run all over his body. But despite his injuries, the male looked pleased and happy; he looked like the kind of person to always be cheerful, regardless of whatever might be happening around him.
The other male was also tall, and only an inch or two shorter than his companion. He had carefully coifed blond hair, and wore an expensively tailored suit. And just like his companion, the man seemed to have his fair share of scars. The male wore an eye patch over his left eye, and the left side of his face and neck were covered in burn scars. He looked to be the opposite of his companion in disposition. He seemed serious, more mature, and more collected.
The teen searched his memories for any hints to their identities but came up with nothing.
“Hiya Yuuji!” The first man greeted. “Shoko told us you were awake and we rushed right away to see you. Glad to see you’re awake, kid!”
The blond neared his bed and carefully studied the boy in search for any injuries.
“How do you feel, Yuuji-kun?” He asked softly.
From the way they knew his name and the way they spoke familiarly to him, Yuuji gathered that he must know them and they knew him.
“I feel fine.” He said as studied the two men closely in hopes of something of his memory coming back. “Just a bit tired.”
“Shoko says that's normal for what you've been through. Luckily, you’re not injured severely and just need rest.”
The teen frowned and tried to think.
“I don't remember anything.” He spoke. He turned to look at the blond male. “I don't know who you are, or the reason for my memory loss.”
The two older men exchanged glances over the teen’s head.
The white-haired male straightened up.
“Well, I guess we can take this opportunity to reintroduce ourselves.” He said. “I’m Gojo Satoru; instructor at Jujutsu High, and the most awesome teacher in all of Japan!” Gojo spoke. Then with a mischievous look. “Also, you owe me 20 dollars.”
“Satoru.” The other male warned.
Gojo chuckled.
“Just kidding.” He said. “He is Nanami Kento; your mentor, ex-salary man, and my husband.”
The teen stared at both men without much recognition.
“Well, I guess it's nice to meet you...again.” The boy made a small bow from his bed.
“We are happy to see you again too, Yuuji-kun.” Nanami responded sincerely. “As to what happened to you, the best we can say for the moment is that you’ve had a very difficult experience that cost you your memories. Shoko-san called it Retrograde Amnesia. She said that there is a good possibility that your mind is trying to protect itself, and you will get your memories back in due time. The important thing is that you don't strain yourself trying to remember, and to take the opportunity to rest.”
“Shoko wants you to stay here in the infirmary for the night for observation,” Gojo added. “But tomorrow we can take you home.”
So apparently, he lived with these two guys?
Yuuji stared at the lived-in bedroom that obviously belonged to a male teen. He studied the bed, the posters, the books on the shelves, the clothes in the closet, and the knick knacks on the study desk...but nothing.
Nothing came to mind. He did not recognize anything here.
He turned and asked them.
“Are you my dads? Are we related?”
Gojo smiled.
“Not really. By the time we met you, you already were old enough to take care of yourself.” Then with more enthusiasm. “But you can me dad if you want! And Nanami will be Mom .”
The blond rolled his eye.
“Prior to your accident, you had moved in with us and had been staying here for several months.” Nanami continued.
Yuuji moved to his bed and sat down.
The mattress was comfy, and the comforter thick and warm.
“If you’re not my parents, then where is my family?”
Gojo and Nanami stared at one another before coming forward. Gojo grabbed the chair from the desk and straddled it backwards facing Yuuji while Nanami sat next to the teen on the bed.
“Ok, so before we met, you’d been living with your grandpa who was taking care of you after your parents’ deaths. When he passed away, me and Megumi ran into you and...well...a lot of things happened that I can’t go into right now on account of it being really complicated and not wanting to force your memories while they’re busted.”
Yuuji stared at the male and wondered at what the other might be hiding.
He did not remember having a grandfather or having parents.
“Who is Megumi?”
Nanami answered.
“That would be Gojo’s ward. You’ll meet him tomorrow.”
After they left him alone to rest and get re-settled, Yuuji thought about the new information.
Nothing seemed familiar, but he guessed if he were to get stuck with someone while suffering from memory loss, he could do a lot worse that Nanami-san and Gojo-san.
“He just got out of the hospital. We are not getting take out or delivery. Yuuji-kun needs healthy food to recover and regain his strength.”
Gojo whined like a petulant child and glared at Yuuji.
“This is all your fault.” He joked.
Yuuji’s sober eyes widened.
“How can it be my fault, I just got here!”
Gojo smirked.
“I’m kidding, Yuuji. Kento is actually an amazing cook. We love everything he makes!” The tall man said boisterously.
And Gojo turned out to be correct. Nanami’s cooking was great and the moment he finished his plate, the blond immediately refilled the teen’s plate with a second and then a third helping.
“You’re gonna make him fat at this rate.” Gojo joked as he himself reached for a third helping.
“He needs the extra protein and vitamins. Yuuji-kun is still in the process of growing.”
Once done, Yuuji offered to help wash the dishes but Nanami sent the boy off to the living room while he made Gojo help him clean up.
“I appreciate the offer, but you are still recuperating.” Nanami had said. “Why don't you go and put on a movie and we’ll join you momentarily?”
So, here the teen was, checking out the streaming services when suddenly the front door opened and a teenager with dark spiky hair walked in.
When the other boy saw Yuuji, he stopped and stared.
For a moment the boy was silent but then unfroze.
“Hey.”
“Hi.”
The two stared at one another.
“So, I guess you’re Megumi?”
The other boy nodded.
He stood there looking at Yuuji curiously. Likewise, Yuuji was studying Megumi as well. He had scars on his face, just like Yuuji, Nanami and Gojo.
It appeared that battle scars were a family trait.
“You really don’t remember anything?” Megumi asked.
Yuuji rubbed the back of his head.
Megumi’s tone had not been accusatory, but somehow Yuuji felt a sense of unease about something.
“Oh, Megumi!” Gojo called as he exited the kitchen. “You’re home early!”
Megumi turned out to be alright.
The other boy was a bit reserved and prone to long silences but he was easy to get along with.
“Hey, Megumi, can I ask you a question?” Yuuji began. “Your scars...are they from the same accident that cost me my memory?”
“Yes, but it’s not your fault. So, don’t blame yourself.”
Well, Yuuji hadn’t been blaming himself. He hadn’t even considered that Megumi’s scars might be his doing, but now he was!!!
As if sensing his thoughts, Megumi rolled his eyes.
“It wasn’t. You were more of a victim than I was. I sort of...brought this upon myself.” He said. “Try not to think about it too much, Yuuji. Shoko-san said that you should let the memories come back on their own. If you try to force them, you’ll make it worse.”
And that was the end of that.
Life moved on and soon a month had passed by with Yuuji still not remembering a single thing. The male could not recall any events prior to waking up in the infirmary, but that didn’t seem to worry his caretakers. The boy just spent his days eating, resting, playing video games with Gojo, watching movies, and hanging out with the other males in the house.
Overall, it was a peaceful existence.
“You should let him go back to school.”
Yuuji looked up with a mouthful of pasta to stare at Megumi. The four males had been sitting down and having their dinner when Megumi made the suggestion.
Gojo and Nanami stared at the teen in silence, an uneasy look in their eyes.
But Megumi continued.
“You can’t keep him locked up away at home forever, you know.” Megumi sighed.
Nanami set down his fork.
“He’s not locked up . He’s still recovering.” He replied. “We’re just...”
“Protecting him.” Gojo continued. “He doesn’t have his memories back yet and the Jujutsu World hasn’t settled down still after the events of the war. There might be others out there who might hold a grudge against Yuuji-kun or mean him harm. And in his amnesiac state he would be vulnerable. It might not be safe.”
Safe? War?
Yuuji’s face scrunched up in confusion.
What were they talking about?!
“Jujutsu High is the safest place in Tokyo. You’d be there.” The ten told his guardian. “And he needs to go out and resume his life. You can’t keep sheltering him.”
The older men exchanged glances and a silent communication seemed to happen between them. They still seemed unconvinced.
“Do you mean the sorcerer school?” Yuuji asked drawing the attention of the other males towards him. Yuuji had been updated about the supernatural world. And he had to say, that for someone who had a blank slate where his memories should be, he had received the information very well and assimilated it quickly. “I’d actually like to go.”
Gojo and Nanami stared at the boy before turning to one another. Nanami sighed.
“Megumi-kun is right. It might serve better for Yuuji to be in a familiar environment. It might jolt his memories.” He said. “And Satoru is an instructor there, although part-time now.”
“I can look out for him.” Megumi added. “So would Nobara.”
Yuuji blinked.
“Who’s Nobara?”
Nobara turned out to be a girl with a hammer, a confident in-your-face attitude, and missing one eye.
Well, it seems that everyone was sporting scars around here.
Was it in fashion?
Is that what was happening here?
“So, you lost your memories, huh? Like the guy from Moon Knight?” Nobara asked. Then she smirked mischievously. “I didn’t want to say anything, but you owe me 20$.”
Megumi sighed.
“Nobara.”
She laughed.
“Alright, just kidding.”
If Megumi and his caretakers had been hoping a return to Jujutsu High would return Yuuji his past, they had been wrong. Another month passed and the teen was still the same.
They had even tried to take him to places they claimed he used to frequent or places where important events took place.
“Do you remember this?”
The trio of students stood outside an old abandoned building that looked run down and semi-destroyed.
Yuuji stared at the place for a long time, waiting for a spark or a flashback...but nothing. He shook his head.
“This was where we had our first mission.” Nobara said. “We rescued a kid from a curse. Ring any bells?”
But no, Yuuji couldn’t remember.
“What about this place? It’s an abandoned detention center.” Megumi walked them around the walled-in structure, but refused to go in. An uneasy look clouded his face.
“No.” Yuuji replied after a few minutes of studying he building. “What happened here?”
The dark-haired boy looked down at the broken pavement under their feet.
“You died.”
They visited a school.
“Junpei? Mahito?”
Yuuji shook his head.
They took a walk in the woods surrounding Tokyo Tech.
“Sister Event? Hanami? Todo?”
Still nothing.
They went to a cafe, a hospital, and later Gojo took the boy to Shibuya despite Nanami’s protests.
“We want him to regain his memories, not trigger a second traumatic event.”
“You don’t give our kid enough credit. Yuuji’s strong. He can handle it.” Gojo replied, but despite the confidence the man claimed to have in him, Yuuji still detected concern and apprehension flashing briefly in those blue eyes.
Yuuji stared at semi-destroyed sector where construction had been underway for a while to rebuild.
Was this where the war the others spoke off took place?
Shibuya certainly looked like it had seen a battle.
The teen stared around the charred remains of this portion of the city. The fire that had ravaged the place must have been extraordinary because even after many weeks of rain, soot and ash still covered the place.
Yuuji looked at the warped metal beams and destroyed buildings, but nothing came to mind.
“I’m sorry. But I really don’t remember being here before.”
He saw Nanami’s shoulder’s go lax with relief before the male placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder and began to gently lead him back to the car and away from the ruins; Gojo followed closely behind.
“It’s alright, Yuuji-kun. Do not concern yourself.”
Later, they made more visits to Sendai, Sakurajima, Lake Gosho and other places.
But no matter how many places they visited and how detailed the explanation of the events that had taken place, Yuuji could remember nothing.
But the world does not stop for any man. Life goes on, and Yuuji was soon going back on missions with Nobara and Megumi. His reintroduction to the job of exorcism was weird, but Yuuji never felt scared fighting the warped monstrosities of the unseen world. He had Kugisaki and her hammer on one side, Megumi and his shikigami on the other, and a phone where he gets called by either Gojo or Nanami constantly to check on the boy whenever he was on mission or out of the house.
For a couple of sorcerers who were semi-retired and claimed not to be his adopted fathers they sure were sticklers for enforcing a curfew.
Yuuji blushed.
It was...nice to have someone worry about him, if a bit overbearing at times.
“Megumi doesn’t have a curfew.” He had complained to Gojo one night after being caught sneaking out of the house. The teen dangled from where Gojo had him by the hoodie; like a kitten carried by the scruff of its neck and taken home by its mother, he was marched back semi-flustered.
“Megumi rarely goes out at night. Also, Megumi doesn’t have a head injury and he has shikigami to protect him. You have amnesia and possibly a lot of enemies out for your blood. Now quit whining, and stop with those puppy dog eyes, those won’t work on Nanami; trust me, I know.”
Maybe Yuuji should have taken Gojo’s warning about enemies more seriously because a few weeks later, Yuuji found himself staring at an ambush sprung by some sorcerers while he had been out on a solitary walk outside Tokyo Tech. The group had claimed that Yuuji was the devil, that he was a taint on the world and needed to be cleansed from the face of the earth.
He had been surrounded and ambushed. They used their numbers to overwhelm him before knocking him unconscious.
When Yuuji had woken up, it was to find himself wrapped in curse enhanced chains and locked in a warded room.
That was a bit embarrassing.
Try as he could, the teen could not break the chains around his arms.
He had still been trying to break free when the leader of his kidnappers had appeared and explained what they had previously meant by cleansing his taint.
“You will be tortured to death.” The insane sorcerer had said. “Only the purity of sublime pain could clean your soul.”
Well, shit.
The psychopath had still been talking when there came the sound of an explosion and the place rocked on its foundations. Screams were heard and quickly silenced.
The door to Yuuji’s cell burst open and before the psychopath and his cronies could turn around, two were cleaved in a 7:3 ratio while the others were pulverized by a hollow purple.
“YUUJI!”
Nanami and Gojo appeared in the room. The two men stepped over the corpses of the kidnappers and quickly ran to the teen.
“Yuuji, are you alright?” “Did they hurt you?” They asked as they quickly set to remove the chains.
The boy - grateful and a tad embarrassed at needing to be rescued - shook his head. The moment the last of the chains fell, he found himself surrounded in a tight hug by the two men.
Face flushed and heart pounding, Yuuji hugged them back.
From then on, the teen was a bit more cautious about his surroundings when he went out, and a bit more appreciative of his guardians’ care.
Another month passed. Autumn left and winter snows came in their place.
The thing about head injuries is that they are almost nothing like bodily injuries. You could look at physical damage and take a decent guess on their severity and how long they would need to heal. But with mental damage, recovery is all guess work.
And it can come unexpectedly and without warning.
It was a calm Thursday evening.
Yuuji had just finished a mission with Nobara and Megumi and returned home to shower and eat when an agonizing pain shredded his psyche. The boy grabbed at his head as his vision swam. The world turned and turned, and he had to grab hold of the sink of his bathroom as he almost lost his balance and fought down nausea.
Images flashed inside his head in rapid pace. Battles, blood, fingers, people and curses.
Memories flashed in his head with such intensity that for a moment he could not make sense of them. The teen’s grip in the ceramic lip of the sink almost shattered it. He stood there sweating and panting.
But then slowly awareness came about.
Sukuna looked up at the mirror in shock.
“ What the hell had happened?!!! ”
FLASHBACK
With his own version of Dismantle , Yuuji exorcised Sukuna from Megumi’s body. The curse shrieked with anger and tried to grab hold of its vessel, but revitalized with a new will to live, Fushiguro shunned the curse and the fell away to land on a lower level of the battle field.
The curse’s form began to fade and dissolve till only a small portion of itself remained.
Sukuna felt his soul untether.
He was dying.
A shadow fell on his dissipating form.
The King of Curses looked up.
“What are you going to do, Sukuna?”
Yuuji’s voice was calm; The voice of peace and tranquility, understanding and kindness.
“Sukuna...”
He kneeled and gently cupped the remains of the curse that had plagued him and his friends for months.
The King of Curses.
The one whom all feared and hated.
“You are me.” The boy’s hands were warm and careful.
Unknowingly burdened with a curse from birth, what kind of monster one becomes depends on luck.
“Sukuna...Let’s try again. Not to curse someone, but to live with someone.
“Even if no one accepts you...I alone can live with you.”
Sukuna’s consciousness was almost gone, but he still had his pride.
That pride, anger, and hate that had sustained him and powered him for centuries.
It was all he knew and all that he understood.
That was how he lived and that’s how he would die.
Damn this brat!!
“Don’t look down at me!” Sukuna gasped. “I am a curse.”
The last thing Sukuna remembered as darkness creeped over him, was Yuuji bringing him up to consume his remains.
END OF FLASHBACK
Sukuna gripped the sink beneath his hands with devastating force.
All this time.
All this time, he had forgotten what he had been. He had lived as a human.
Unknowing and unknown.
Thinking that he had been his own vessel, he had lived as Yuuji Itadori under the care of the same people who had wanted to kill him. So intertwined was Sukuna with his vessel that on waking up he had accepted the granted fact that he was the brat.
But where was the brat?! And how come Sukuna had lost his memories?
Was he dead?
Sukuna reached deep inside his soul and searched.
No, Yuuji Itadori was not dead.
In the corner of his soul, the curse detected a sleeping entity.
The boy’s face was calm and peaceful in slumber; lying in perfect status.
Sukuna should kill him.
He should take this opportunity to destroy the one thing that could hold him prisoner and take this body for his own once and for all.
Instead, he lightly kicked the prone figure in the side.
“Wake up, brat.”
For a moment, Yuuji did not respond and Sukuna really thought that Yuuji was dead. But a second kick – this one harder – got him results.
Yuuji gasped and sat up. He looked up to see Sukuna standing over him. And instead of screaming, yelling, and fighting, the boy rubbed sleepily at his eyes before yawning.
“What is it?”
Sukuna scoffed.
Unbelievable.
“You sleep for months, and wake up to see me possessing your body, and you care for nothing of the deaths that I might wreak?”
Yuuji continued to rub at his eyes.
“Did you?” He asked.
“Did I what?”
“Did you kill someone?”
“I just regained my memory this hour. How was I supposed to kill anyone without knowing who I was?”
Yuuji gave him a confused look.
“And now?”
“Maybe I will.” Sukuna replied. “Maybe I will finally take this body for my own and kill all your friends.”
Yuuji stared up at Sukuna for a moment. His face lax and calm.
Then he smiled and stood up.
“I don’t believe you.”
The curse frowned in irritation.
“You don't believe me.” He repeated.
Yuuji continued to smile.
“If you really were set on doing what you said you wanted to do, you wouldn’t have woken me up.” The teen replied confidently. “It’s like you said. You have had this body for - what did you say? - months? You found me asleep. You could have left me like that and lived out the rest of my life in this body. But you didn’t.”
Yuuji’s bright smile widened.
“You woke me up instead.” He seemed pleased. “So?”
“So? What?”
“You said that you lived for months as a human. As me! How was life like?”
Sukuna turned his back on him.
“Tch. It was boring. A most meaningless existence.”
Yuuji tilted his head in curiosity.
“Really?” He asked. “Ah well, in that case you need to go on just a little further.”
And before Sukuna could decipher what the hell the brat meant, he found himself tossed out of his mind and back into Itadori’s body.
The curse stared at himself in the mirror.
“Yuuji! Are you alright in there?” Gojo knocked on the kid’s bathroom door. “You better not have fallen and bashed your head on the sink. Cleaning that up would be a bitch.”
Suddenly the door swung open and Gojo saw the teen standing in the doorway looking at him with an indecipherable look on his face.
“Good, you’re alive! Now come on, dinner’s ready!”
‘Yuuji’ sat the table and ate the food placed in front of him. The food was good. He would loathe to say as good as Uraume’s cooking had been, but it was certainly close.
He ate it all.
When he was done, he stood up and left for his room.
Sukuna lay in the brat’s bed and thought.
Now what?
It appeared that Yuuji was in no hurry to reclaim his body.
He wanted Sukuna out in the world. But to what purpose?
There was a knock at his door.
“Yuuji-kun?” It was the Ratio sorcerer. “May I come in?”
Shit.
What would the brat do?
“You may enter.”
The door opened to reveal Nanami in the doorway. The man stared at ‘Yuuji’ with concern.
“Yuuji, are feeling alright?” the blond male asked. “Is something wrong?”
‘Yuuji’ was silent for a moment.
“Why would you say that?”
“You were not acting like yourself at dinner.”
Technically Sukuna hasn’t been behaving like himself since he woke up, but he thought better than to communicate the truth to the sorcerer.
He needed to obfuscate.
“I haven’t been feeling well.”
The sorcerer looked concerned.
“Are you ill?” He asked as he raised his hand to check the boy for fever.
It took everything of Sukuna’s discipline not to flinch or strike out. The brat would not do something like that. Holding still, he allowed the male to place his hand on his forehead to check his temperature.
The feel of the man’s palm on his skin felt...nice...pleasant.
When was the last time someone touched Sukuna with no intention of harm or to fight?
Not since his mother.
“You don’t seem to have a fever.” Nanami said before removing his hand away.
Sukuna was horrified to find that he missed the contact.
“I’ll make you some tea. If you’re still feeling ill, Gojo will take you to see Shoko-san.”
With that the sorcerer left.
Sukuna resumed thinking.
‘Why? Why did the brat let me live?’
‘I want you to have a chance to see the world differently.’
Sukuna stilled.
‘You’re back, are you?’ He asked acidly.
‘I never really left, did I?’
“What the hell did you mean by see the world differently?” He asked out loud.
‘Sukuna, you always said that the being the strongest gave you justification for living in hate. Since might meant right , that’s all you’ve ever known. But that’s not how the world is.
‘ Everyone is born with a curse inside them, and what kind of monster people turn out to be all comes down to luck.
‘But it was never that way for me. I always had my grandpa.
‘And now you can have friends and family.’
Sukuna scoffed.
‘I don’t need such drivel. Nor do I believe in it.’
‘Then why are you still here?’
Sukuna was quiet.
‘Why did you wake me up? Why haven't you killed anyone yet?’
Sukuna remained silent. He could practically see the brat smirking.
‘I’m right, aren’t I? You like it! You liked having someone care for you. You liked how Nanamin just took care of you. And you liked how Gojo-san used to buy you snacks. And you liked hanging out with Megumi and Nobara.’
Sukuna opened his mouth and was about to reply when Yuuji interrupted him.
‘The tea should be done by now. Go and grab it from Nanamin.’ He said. ‘He was nice enough to make you one, go and get it from him, don’t make him bring it to you.’
The curse frowned.
“Don’t presume to order me around, brat.” But Sukuna still got up and left the bedroom and made his way to the kitchen. And just as the brat had said, Nanami had a mug of tea in his hand and he had just been about to take it to Yuuji when the teen entered.
Sukuna took the mug and smelled the herbal brew.
‘Say ‘thank you’,’ Yuuji instructed gleefully.
Gritting his teeth, Sukuna looked up.
“Thank you.”
Nanami tilted his head.
“Are you sure you are alright?”
Sukuna gave a shallow nod and looked away.
“Perfectly.” And he made his way back to his room.
Sitting on the bed and sipping from his mug, the curse had to admit that the tea tasted nice.
He could practically sense Yuuji’s satisfaction.
‘ You’re doing so well, Sukuna! ’ The teen spoke. ‘ Isn’t this better? ’
Sukuna scoffed but didn’t reply.
THE END