-Chapter Two: King of Curses-

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     "Yeah, he just stared at me and then disappeared! I didn't sense any cursed energy, but he was really fast. I don't know, I just found it suspicious," Y/N exclaims to Gojo. "What if he's some bounty hunter out to kill me! All bounty hunters start their missions by stalking y'know."

     "Do you have to think of the most negative possibility for every situation?" he replies with a groan, stroking her hair as she rests her head on his lap.

    "What can I say? I'm a natural pessimist."

They sit in silence for a moment, and Y/N hums as she texts Yuji about their mission later. Gojo admires her, resisting the urge to penetrate her insides.

     "Do you have to stare so intensely?" she says, grinning as she looks up at him then back at her phone.

     "Don't move so much," he says with a blush.

     "Look!" she says, pointing to her phone. "An unknown number is calling! What if it's the bounty hunter?"

    "Oh no!" he replies, sharing her dramatic tone. "Put it on speaker."

She does as told and answers the phone.

     "Y/N, it's Nanami. Tell me why you aren't answering my calls? The fact you answered this one means it was deliberate. I know we had an argument, but I find that you're handing this immaturely."

     "Did you really get a new number? I find it unlike you to put so much effort into something as worthless as some petty argument, but since it's bothering you so much, I'll forgive you."

     "I wasn't asking for forgiveness. I meant every word I said to you. I don't think you're worthy of being a sorcerer at all. You're weak and in constant need of protection, the only thing worthy being your cursed energy and ability to take more from ingesting blood from dead sorcerers. I still haven't figured out how that's possible."

She sits up and looks at Gojo, squeezing her phone in anger. He takes it from her and gently rubs her back.

     "Look Nanami, Y/N isn't the strongest, but Yaga accepted her into this school just like all of us and she trains just as hard too. With time, she'll get stronger. We can only support her as she evolves rather than oppose the effort," Gojo exclaims.

     "She's a third year. She may train just as hard as the us, but she's progressing much slower. The only advice that will benefit her is to give up."

     "Fuck you," Y/N says, taking her phone back. "Why can't you just believe in me? I never found something like that difficult. I do it to everybody, even if their chances of success are low."

     "What I'm hearing is that you give false hope, project your delusion onto others." He scoffs. "I know you may think anything can be achieved with hard work, but it's different when it comes to sorcery. You have to rely on more than just your ability to put in effort."

     "I don't get it Nanami. I had your full support until I was nearly fatally wounded by that curse a couple weeks ago. Now you're hell bent on giving me shit for taking this up. Do you think your harsh words will push me to give up? Do you think me giving up will separate me from the harm that I once derived? Because nobody here became a jujutsu sorcerer due to the lack of risk. We're prepared for what comes to us, me included!"

The line goes silent and Gojo continues to stroke her back to calm her down. She'd be lying to say it didn't work.

     "I'm right, aren't I? You don't care if I hate you as long as I'm safe. Well I don't. I don't hate you and I won't be quitting either. Now please, stop. Stop letting your nature to protect drive me to do anything but try harder to achieve the strength I'm aiming for. Because I have a nature to protect as well, and I can't save innocent lives if I'm being saved too."

She hangs up and looks to her lap, taking a large sigh before raising it once again.

     "Time for my mission!"

~~~

Yuji and Y/N cling to eachother as they explore a massacred village. It's dark and eerie, one of those missions that have you completely on edge.

     "If I see one more cockroach, I'm taking myself out," Y/N says, squealing as another runs past her foot. "Where are the curses? There had to be a lot to demolish a whole village."

     "Or just one really strong one. Look at all the corpses. It seems they've all been killed the same way, slashed and bled out. Could this be the doing of a curse user? The problem is I don't sense any cursed energy at all."

Y/N pauses, her eyes widening when she comes to a realization.

     "Bounty hunter!" before she elaborate, a sword is driven through her stomach and Yuji is kicked away. Toji pulls the weapon out and she falls to the ground, coughing blood and gripping the wound.

She looks up to make eye contact with him, and he steps far back. How is she affecting me the same amount from this distance? What the hell is she doing?

     "So you were a bounty hunter after all!" she yells before choking on more blood.

Don't die.

Die.

Die.

Don't die.

JUST FUCKING DIE.

As Y/N begins to lose consciousness, she can see the bounty hunter and Yuji engaging in a heated battle. She can only pray that Yuji wins before the anemia hits and she falls to the ground.

     "Sukuna, remember our deal? Protect her at all costs."

~~~

Y/N opens her eyes slowly, taking a minute to process the king of curses healing her wound. When she does, she quickly attempts to back away before being grabbed and pulled right back.

     "I'm not finished," he says, placing his hand over her stomach once again. "Sit still for me."

     "Where's the bounty hunter?" she asks in a panicked tone, looking around in a hurried manner only to be faced with many trees and a faint glow from the moon. "Are we in the forest? Why are you here? What happened while I was out? Well?"

     "Ask another question why don't you?" he says with a groan, finally opening his eyes to look into hers. His glare instantly shuts her up, and the fear slowly creeps in as she's able to assimilate his evil aura.

He finishes up and pulls her shirt back in place, standing and holding his hand out to feel the raindrops beginning to fall.

When he looks back down on her, his heart drops and anger consumes him as she keeps her gaze on the floor, staring in utter terror and too afraid to even move.

He bends down to meet her gaze, and her breath hitches for a moment.

     "I just went through so much trouble to save you. Why do you look as if I'll kill you at any moment?" he says, tilting his head and slightly wondering why he finds such a task impossible.

     "You're unpredictable, and evil as hell. I'm more afraid of the fact you haven't ended my life." She finally raises her head, and he grins in response. "Why do you want me alive? If you're planning on using me as a vessel instead of Itadori, I'll warn you and say the monthly bleeding isn't worth it."

He chuckles and stands once again.

     "I have no such intentions, and I will not be informing you what they actually are. Now, the bounty hunter made a smart escape once he realized his disadvantage in our fight. I didn't chase him because I had a priority of saving you. He'll be back in time so be on guard."

     "Oh come on Sukuna. Remember our first encounter, when you swore to kill me? You called me an annoying disobedient bitch who you could easily end with no effort at all. What's changed? Have you fallen for my charm?" She smiles at her joke, but it immediately falls when he shoots her the most terrifying look she's even seen. "Strike a nerve with that one? Right, because the king of curses could never care for someone as lowly as me."

You're so fucking right. So why does this heart pound so hard when you're around?

I love it.

I hate it.

I want to rip out her organs.

I want to rearrange them.

I made a deal with Yuji Itadori. In return for protecting Y/N when it's needed...

I get to touch her, see her, speak to her. Best of all, I get to save her pathetic fucking life.

I can't seem to figure out why I want that so badly, why nothing I've ever strived for compares to the longing I have to control her.

To own her.

To bring her to her knees and make her say that she needs me.

To twist her insides so good that I twist her idea of pleasure.

I can't figure any of it out, but I'm done fighting what I yearn for. The next time I'm awakened, I won't waste a second. She is my priority.

She'll come to the realization soon enough, that the king of curses is the only one worthy of those eyes. Those perfectly desperate eyes. And that she is the only one worthy of mine.

When I'm placed in my new vessel, in full control... I can't help but chuckle as many thoughts fill my mind.

     "I'll be back," he whispers, feeling Yuji fighting for control. When he succeeds, he kneels down and hugs Y/N like they're reuniting after being years apart. Every second he's not with her feels like it.

     "I'm so glad you're okay."

~~~

October 28th

     "Kind of sucks we don't get Halloween off," Y/N says, looking at Nobara with a frown. "I would've rocked a Hello Kitty costume."

     "Hell yeah you would," she says with approval. "Hey Yuji, you could go as a potato."

     "Ha ha," he replies, rolling his eyes and resting his head on Y/N's shoulder. Megumi joins the group and gives Y/N a dark glare before taking a seat across from her.

     "What the hell was that?" she says, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.

     "It's nothing," he mumbles, secretly upset by the fact she hasn't texted him for a few days despite their inability to see eachother.

     "Whatever. Have you guys seen Yaga lately? I went to consult with him about a mission I have in a couple days, but it seems he's MIA." She calls him once more only for it to go straight to voicemail. "UGH, I really don't want to have to go with Mei Mei. She creeps me out!"

     "Understandable," Nobara says, texting Yuji in secret.

Nobara
U hear smth abt Yaga? Think Gojo scared him into retirement? xx

He checks his phone and shrugs.

Yuji
Yaga comes off as stubborn probably planning smth in secret xx

Nobara
How r u so calm abt that! Gojo will 🔪 us if Y/N finds out abt the murders!!

Y/N catches on to the glances they keep shooting eachother and peeks over Yuji's shoulder.

Yuji
Idk, I don't think he'd tell after Gojos threat

     "Why are you guys keeping secrets?" she says in annoyance. "Whatever. Megumi, get up. We're gonna go train."

He attempts to hide his eagerness as he's dragged out of the room.

     "You know anything about the Yaga and Gojo thing?" she asks. He's caught off guard by the question. "I don't know if it's anything serious, but I know you'd never lie to me. So be honest like you've always been and tell me what exactly went down between them."

She stops and looks at him, noticing his breathing intensifying just slightly. Noticing his gaze shoot to every one of her features but her eyes. Noticing a slight twitch in his thumb and pointer finger. Noticing a strange and suspicious amount of anxiousness from one simple question.

"More serious than I thought then?"

He finally caves as she takes his hand in both of hers and looks to him, adjuring for the truth.

"The day you were sliced open by that curse, you needed blood. An amount that the nearest blood bank couldn't supply. Without it, you'd die. So Gojo killed ten people in hopes one of them had your blood type to get enough for the transfusion and threatened to kill more if Yaga told you abou-" he freezes when he sees a tall figure at the end of the hallway

Satoru Gojo, eyes widened and a look of death itself.

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[Masaru Activated]
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2200 words