Chapter Text
Somewhere in Sendai, April 6th, 2018
Satoru sighed as he stared at the scene in front of him, having tugged down the blindfold covering his eyes. Overturned tables, destroyed chairs, splinters of wood all littering the ramen house that is now devoid of life. He could still see the purple ichor staining the walls despite the bodies they surely came from already having disintegrated. Even the cashier was destroyed and some of the bills are scattered all over the floor.
Months.
It took months to get a new lead about that cursed finger, months for the higher ups to actually provide the information to them.
His eyes rolled to the side to watch his student, standing next to him. He's trying to look as apathetic as possible but Satoru knew better. He could tell from the tension of his shoulders and the clenching and unclenching of his hands, his student is not as unaffected as he's trying to show he is.
“Um… we've identified the former residents of the house upstairs,” he heard Ijichi begin as he approached them. “Itadori Wasuke and his grandson, Itadori Yuuji,” he read from a file he was holding. “Apparently Itadori Wasuke passed away last night in Sugisawa Hospital.”
Well, fuck. “And the grandson?” he asked, despite knowing he's not gonna like the answer as he looked at the destroyed scene in front of them.
“Missing.”
Not one bit.
They returned to Jujutsu Tech in silence after the cleaners arrived at the scene, Satoru sitting in the backseat with his student as Ijichi drove them back. His student is currently looking outside the window and Satoru could still the tension on his shoulder, which hadn't eased one bit since they heard about the missing boy. It was understandable, really. He had learned from the Windows that he and Itadori Yuuji had had an interaction before the boy's disappearance. Apparently the boy was running the ramen house while his grandfather who was the actual owner was getting treatment in the hospital after his illness got worse a couple months ago.
“Megumi,” he called. The boy didn't look at him but he knows he has his attention. “No matter what your head is telling you, it isn't your fault.”
There wasn't any reply. Not that he expected any. For all intents and purposes, this entire mission is a massive failure. Not only they didn't manage to retrieve Ryoumen Sukuna's finger, but there's also a likely chance that the King of Curses had been incarnated. That sole news would definitely plunge Jujutsu Society, and by extension the world, into utter chaos.
Which means they would need to find Itadori Yuuji as soon as possible.
He let his student go back to the dorms as soon as they arrived back at the school, heading towards the Principal's office for debriefing. There wasn't any more reason to have the boy recount how the mission assigned to him was a total failure. Yaga would understand.
“Yohoo, Yaga-sensei!” Satoru greeted as soon as he stepped inside the office. As expected, the man is working another one of his hideous cursed plushies. Seriously, this man has no concept of what is cute or not.
The man paused with his stitching and looked up. “Satoru,” he said tiredly, his usual form of greeting when dealing with him. Which, rude, but fair. “How bad was it?”
Well, at least I didn't have to tell him the mission had gone nuts, he thought.
Satoru sighed as he plopped himself on the couch next to the water dispenser. “We lost the finger,” he told the man as he dropped his feet on the coffee table. “We have reason to suspect the boy who went missing has it.”
The principal cursed under his breath. “So that could mean…”
“Yep,” he cut in, popping the "p". “Ryoumen Sukuna has either already incarnated or he will be. It’s just a matter of time.”
Yaga let out another curse as he set down the ugly plush on his desk. “This missing boy, were they able to identify him?”
Satoru nodded, lifting up a finger to his blindfold, lifting up one side. “Yeah, name's Itadori Yuuji. Last known relative died of sickness the night he disappeared. No parents.”
“Itadori you say…” the principal murmured, drawing Satoru's attention to him.
“You know something?”
For other people, it would've been hard to see any changes to Yaga's facial expressions given his obsession with wearing shades like a mobster all the time. But for Satoru who has been working with the man for some time now and has studied under him for three years, he could tell just when the principal's face slowly morphed into a shocked realization. The man stood up abruptly.
“Fucking hell!” he cursed loudly as he practically ran out of the room.
Confused about the entire situation, Satoru sighed and pulled himself off the couch to follow his former teacher. His confusion only grew as they arrived at the school's library. Yaga immediately went towards one of the shelves, looking for something. He let out a soft "aha" as he pulled out an old book before returning to where Satoru was watching him. He looked down at the book in the principal's hands.
Golden Age of Jujutsu , it read.
“Yaga-sensei… what is this?” he couldn't help but ask.
Yaga looked at him like he had lost all hope for him. Which, in his honest opinion, he should've had already like ten years ago. “If you have done any of the school work I've assigned you, you would've recognized the name 'Itadori'.”
Okay, fair .
He opened the book to show a folded page which he then unfolded before showing to his former student. Satoru took the book as he read the writing on the page. “The treacherous clan… the Itadori Clan was believed to be responsible for the creation of the King of Curses, Ryoumen Sukuna…” he read aloud, dread settling heavily in his gut. “Thus the other Jujutsu Clans had allied with each other to wipe them out.”
What the fuck?
“... it was then revealed that someone from the Itadori Clan survived and took it upon himself to seal the King of Curses, dividing his essence into his twenty fingers,” the passage continued as Satoru tried to push down the bile rising in his throat. “The surviving Itadori sorcerer then disappeared, leaving no trace.” He looked up to his former teacher, eyes wide behind his blindfold. “You think that the missing Itadori boy might be…”
“... a descendant of the missing Itadori sorcerer,” Yaga finished, face looking grim. “It might not be a coincidence that Sukuna's finger ended up with him.”
That… that's not good . “So… someone planted the finger in his house,” Satoru concluded as he looked back down at the book in his hands. “Someone, or something, that may have known the connection between Itadori and Sukuna.”
But what was their end goal? is the question in his mind as he closed the book. His hand carded through his snow-white hair, feeling frustrated at the lack of answer for the myriad of questions they currently have. What do they want from Ryoumen Sukuna? What do they want from Itadori Yuuji?
“We need to find Itadori Yuuji,” he said aloud.
Whether it is Itadori Yuuji they would find or the King of Curses, himself, is the question. Satoru certainly hoped it wouldn't be the latter.
Somewhere in Tokyo, July 18th, 2018
Yuuji sighed as he sat down on one of the overturned empty crates in the breakroom. It's been a few months already since he had left Sendai, a few months since his grandpa passed away. It was tricky, getting the paperworks done to have him cremated then claiming the ashes, all the while trying his hardest to convince the staff to not tell anyone that he had been there. They'd told him there had been some people who had asked about him a few days prior and he practically begged them not to call those people on him.
He knew there were bags under his eyes, he had seen them when he had looked at himself in the mirror before he went to work. Ever since that night, he hadn't been able to sleep well. Visions of the carnage he had seen, the grotesque looking monsters trying to get to him, trying to kill him, devour him. He hadn't had a pleasant night since then.
To make matters worse, his body no longer belongs to him alone.
“Brat,” a voice from his head called. Yuuji sighed again as he listened. If it wasn't a do or die situation that fateful night, he wouldn't have listened to whoever managed to get inside his head and swallow the finger. But still, it was thanks to that that he had been allowed to live another day. Sometimes, Yuuji thought about how it would've been okay to follow his grandpa, thinking maybe at least he would be able to see him and his parents again. “A sorcerer just entered the shop,” the voice continued, cutting into Yuuji's thoughts.
Yuuji froze in his seat, eyes widening as he turned to the break room door. Now that it had been said, he could feel the familiar thrum of cursed energy from somewhere within the shop. Panicked thoughts began to run through his head. Had they found him? There's no way! He said he had been masking my presence! It's not possible, is it?
Hesitantly, Yuuji stepped out of the break room to see Yuno-san at the counter, talking to a blond man wearing some weird looking glasses that honestly looked more like goggles.
“Relax, brat,” the voice said, which is totally not hopeful at the moment. “I don't think he has sensed your presence yet.”
“Are you sure?” he questioned, still contemplating whether to risk today's salary and book it out of there or not.
“Who do you think you're talking to, brat?” came the reply, and Yuuji had to resist physically rolling his eyes.
“My apologies, O' Great and Mighty, Ryoumen Sukuna-sama,” he replied instead, resisting the urge to get into the narcissistic piece of shit's innate domain and strangle him when he felt the smugness permeating from the back of his mind.
Not that he could, anyway.
His attention was brought back to the front of the shop as he heard the bell hanging on the door rang, finding himself able to properly breathe as he watched the man step out of the shop before disappearing in the sea of people flowing through the street outside. Ever since leaving Sendai, he had been making sure to keep himself out of the Jujutsu Sorcerer's radar. It was something Sukuna had told him he should do, if he wanted to survive long enough to reach adult years. Until they figure out who had planted the cursed finger inside his grandpa's ramen house, he shouldn't get involved with Jujutsu Sorcerer's and Jujutsu Society as a whole. Especially since they might just execute him on sight.
In exchange for protection, he had agreed to keep looking for the rest of Sukuna's fingers. So far, he had found three apart from the first one. He doesn't know how many times he had gotten close to biting it looking for them but fortunately Sukuna would always come forward whenever he's in danger, and would always heal him when he got hurt. It was… nice.
So despite losing everything, Yuuji didn't really feel like he was truly alone.
It was already dark outside when Yuuji finally clocked out. He was on closing duty today so he was left alone after the customers stopped coming. He flipped the sign hanging on the glass door and rolled down the screens for the windows. Once he's well and truly alone, he looks around the now mostly empty shop, thinking over which task to tackle first. With another sighed, he went to the supply room to get the cleaning supplies and began to mop the floor. Thankfully, for ones on closing duty, cleaning up the kitchen is not part of their tasks. So his only task before he could leave for the night is to clean up the dining area and wipe the tables and the counter. It's easy enough to do, having had more than enough experience with his grandpa's ramen house. Especially when the old man had to stay at the hospital.
He could still feel a dull ache in his chest as he thought about his grandpa. He wished he had been there when he took his final breath. To at least hear his final words. He sometimes wonders what the old man would've said if he had been there. Would he scold Yuuji for always making him clean up after his mess? Would he be angry at Yuuji?
Would he tell Yuuji how much he loved him?
His breath caught as tiny droplets hit the floor with a quiet splash. Oh. He furiously wiped at his eyes, taking a deep breath to calm himself. He wishes he's at home, in his tiny apartment, lying with his head on Sukuna's chest, his big arms wrapped around him to keep him warm, holding him tight and keeping him safe. Just like when they first met after Yuuji swallowed that cursed finger, protecting him from the monsters trying to devour him.
After finishing his tasks, he finally walked out of the shop and locked the door, letting out a tired groan as he remembered that he's also gonna be on opening duty tomorrow. He just hopes his alarm would annoy Sukuna enough to wake him up himself. He walked down the now less busy street, pulling out his phone to check the time and winced. 1:36AM, it read. Looks like the clean up took way longer than expected today.
It didn't take long for him to reach his apartment. It was tiny, only able to house a single occupant with only one room and a bathroom. It was the only one he could afford to save up enough for him to feed himself for a few days while looking for a new job. Despite running a ramen shop back in Sendai, he didn't really manage to save as much as he could while paying for his grandpa's hospital bills on top of everyday necessities.
He set his bag on the floor next to the door and pulled off his jacket before hanging it on the hanger behind the door. He pulled off his shoes next, leaving them on the small genkan before padding further into the room to slip into the futon he had left out in the morning so he wouldn't have to pull it out again later which was a good decision as it now shows. Taking a breath, he closed his eyes, letting a name leave his lips.
“Sukuna…”
Almost immediately, he felt his presence behind him as arms slid from under and over him. He let himself be pulled against him, broad chest against his back, as warmth seeped into his body. He let out a long sigh as tiredness fully settled down on him, letting the day finally end as he fell out of consciousness.
“Sleep, brat,” he heard as he felt warm puffs of air against his ears. “I'll keep you safe.”
Yuuji couldn't help but believe him fully.
Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College, July 20th, 2018
Satoru sighed as he leaned back on the couch in the faculty room, listening to the report from Ijichi. It's been months since the Itadori boy and Sukuna's finger disappeared and they're only now learning that the boy had reappeared six days after the incident to claim his grandfather's ashes. Apparently, due to the boy's good relationship with the staff taking care of his grandpa, he managed to convince them to not report to the windows they had ordered to keep in touch with them.
If it wasn't any indication that the boy and Sukuna had already merged with one another, then Satoru doesn't know what else. But the entire situation is still very strange as he thought about it. Because there shouldn't be any reason for the newly awakened King of Curses to even claim the ashes of the dead grandfather of his new host. And from the report of the janitor they had managed to bribe with enough money to speak, apart from asking the staff to not report his reappearance, Itadori Yuuji acted the same way as he had before the incident.
‘He's still the sweet and energetic young man who greeted all the staff he came across with,’ the janitor had said according to Ijichi.
Was it an act from Ryoumen Sukuna? he thought and couldn't stop the snort he let out at the thought of a thousand year old King of Curses acting all sweet and sunny to claim the ashes of someone who should be of no significance to him. Could it be… he immediately dismissed the thought just as soon as it formed in his head.
Because there's no way, in hell or heaven, there should be no way that Itadori Yuuji would be able to retain the control of his body after consuming such a powerful special grade cursed object like Ryoumen Sukuna's finger. Especially the powerful special grade cursed object that is Ryoumen Sukuna's finger.
Right?
In the future, Satoru would find himself questioning whether it was a good thing or a bad thing that he was so utterly wrong.