SUMMARY: Born into a clan with a cursed technique you were never meant to have, you are marked for the same cruel fate as the rest of your family. Nearly a decade after its discovery, you enroll at Jujutsu High in Tokyo—where you meet people who refuse to see you as a defect, and slowly learn how to shape your fate into something of your own.
WARNINGS: violence (including accidental death), childhood trauma, abuse/emotional manipulation, angst/depression, injury and cursed technique-related harm, death of minor characters.
PAIRING: Toge Inumaki X Fem!Reader
AUTHOR’S NOTE: part three is finally here! I’m so sorry for how long that took me, tennis and school is not for the weak. I hope my professors know they have a genius on their hands..
TAGLIST OPEN | PART ONE | PART TWO | MASTERLIST
₊⊹𝜗ৎ♡⋆˚꩜｡⋆.୨୧⋆˚꩜ ₊⊹𝜗ৎ♡⋆˚꩜｡⋆.୨୧⋆˚꩜ ₊⊹𝜗ৎ♡⋆˚꩜｡⋆.
Everyone is sitting in class, waiting for Gojo’s arrival. Panda is throwing paper balls at Yuta, and Maki is yelling at him. Inumaki is sitting next to you as you ramble about your morning.
“And then for the third time this week Maki accused me of stealing her socks! Why would I steal her socks?” you whine, smacking your head down on your desk. “Ow.”
Inumaki chuckles a little and starts writing on a piece of paper that was tucked in his pocket.
“Are you ready for your grade assignment?”
Great. The one thing you don’t want a reminder of.
Gojo was creating the grade assignments today, meaning you would all have to showcase your skills. You are originally assessed by the higher-ups when you enroll, but Gojo thought it’d be fun for himself to put you in a category. Inumaki was secured to be at least a partial first grade, but you would be lucky to even be a fourth grade.
Inumaki can tell you’re tense and takes the piece of paper back, scribbling out what he wrote. Gojo walks into the classroom twenty minutes late and tells everyone to get out to the training field.
You notice him carrying something with him, a case of sorts, but you don’t question it and follow behind him with your classmates.
“Okiedokie! We will begin with combat, then move onto your cursed techniques,” Gojo explains. “Yuta and Maki, you’re up first!”
As Yuta gets pushed around by Maki, you can’t help but look at the case again. It looks oddly familiar, yet you can’t put your finger on it.
Your ears begin to ring and your heart rate rises when you realize what Gojo is planning to do. The case. That’s your—
Your thoughts are cut off as Inumaki bumps your shoulder. You turn to look at him and notice Gojo pointing at you and Panda.
You wince a little, knowing this is about to be painful. As Panda takes a defensive stance, you get into the offensive position that you’ve been taught.
You attempt to charge at Panda, but he swiftly dodges and puts his foot out to trip you.
You catch onto his trick and jump over his foot, getting ready to spin around and kick him, but you get stopped when he grabs your leg and whips you around.
Panda throws you to the ground, and you hurriedly try to get up, but he stops you by putting his foot on your back, keeping you down.
“And that’s how you take someone down!” Panda proudly exclaims, crossing his arms.
You roll over, landing on your back, and just stare up into the sky.
Why. Why can’t I do anything correctly?
Memories of the concert begin to flood your mind. Failing to do a simple violin solo. You overestimate yourself, then only moments later underestimate yourself. You were the embodiment of contradictions.
Inumaki rushes out to the field and helps you up.
“Thanks, Toge.” You take his hand and gently rise to your feet. “I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong.”
Inumaki grabs his phone to text you something, but Gojo cuts his actions off.
“Woah! Good spin out there. Am I sensing improvement with combat?” he smiles, obviously lying to encourage you.
You laugh and roll your eyes.
“Yeah… you’re definitely sensing something.”
You look back to see his reaction, but suddenly his expression shifts into something more serious.
“I think it’s time you try using your cursed technique once more.”
What? Did he forget you can’t? Is he trying to joke around? Because if so, it’s not funny.
He brings the case out in front of him and you finally recognize what it is. Your old violin case. He’s going to make you play it again for the first time in years.
“And I think the only way you can control your technique for now is by using an instrument,” he states while slowly taking the violin out.
You begin to forget how to breathe. Suddenly the air can’t get to your lungs, and all you can hear is ringing. You turn your head to see Inumaki trying to talk to you, his scarf pulled down. You look away from him and see Gojo holding the violin out to you.
Suddenly everything goes blurry and you fall to your knees.
You stare down at the grass, trying to calm down, but all you can see is the same light that was blaring down at you during the concert. Suddenly it’s like you’re there again.
You’re in the body of your younger self, staring out into the audience. Looking over the faces of people that you will unknowingly hurt soon. Seeing your mother’s face in the crowd, not noticing the fear in her eyes. Glancing at the head of your clan while he sits still, already looking bored. Before you even start to play, your fate is sealed.
You finally snap out of it as Inumaki shakes you awake.
“Tuna mayo!” he shouts at you.
You look at him for the first time. Really look at him. You notice the little freckle he has on his left cheek, just below his eye, and the way his eyes have a hue of light purple.
The ringing stops and all you can see is Inumaki.
“I’m fine! I’m fine!” you reply, standing up again and trying to de-escalate the situation. You look at all of your classmates and realize the scene you made of yourself. Embarrassment quickly floods your system and you immediately try to act like nothing happened.
“That was crazy—I don’t even know what came over me.”
“Are you sure? You look pale,” Maki cuts in, showing worry on her face.
“Aw, you going soft on me, Maki?” you tease.
“Shut up! You’re the one that fainted at the sight of a violin.” She lightly hits you on the head.
You smile at her attempt to seem strong again.
Gojo walks in front of you and examines your state.
“We can try the violin out another day. You should rest.” He looks around at your classmates. “Uh—Inumaki, you take her to her room.”
Inumaki nods and grabs your hand. For some reason it feels different when he touches you. Your ears go slightly red as Inumaki guides you off the field.
“Ugh, I’m exhausted,” you groan, shuffling your feet.
Inumaki turns to you and stops walking. He lets go of your hand, and you immediately notice.
“What’s wrong?” you ask worriedly.
Inumaki gestures to his back.
“No way! I’m not letting you give me a piggyback ride back to my room!”
Moments later, you arrive at your dorm.
Hopping off Inumaki’s back, you stand in front of your door.
“Thank you again, you really didn’t have to,” you say.
“Salmon,” Inumaki shrugs.
You know it doesn’t mean anything to him, but for you it means the world.
As Inumaki turns around, ready to walk away, you run out and grab his arm.
“Will you promise for us to stay like this?”
“Rice?” Inumaki’s eyes widen, clearly confused at your request.
“I—I mean…” you begin to stammer over your words. “Our friendship. Can you promise to always be here like this?”
Inumaki stares at you for a moment, and suddenly making eye contact is the hardest thing to do.
“Yeah, I promise,” Inumaki says, not using his ingredients.
You whip your head to look at him and smile the brightest you ever have. In your mind, you thank fate for leading you here.
You’ve skipped the last few days of practice just to get settled down again. Inumaki has been visiting you, bringing little treats here and there. Maki doesn’t try to pour water on you in the morning to wake you up, and Panda has calmed down on his jokes. The only person still treating you the same is Yuta. Weirdly, you appreciate that. It’s nice not to have people treat you like you’re as fragile as glass just because you had a mini breakdown. Well, maybe mini isn’t the best descriptor.
You’re sitting in class with Inumaki next to you, waiting for Gojo to walk in.
Recently, Inumaki has been more protective of you. Like something—or someone—is going to come take you from him. You don’t mind it, though. At least it feels like someone cares about you enough to label you as theirs.
Gojo walks in and begins class.
“First things first, curse assignments,” he starts. “Alright, now we have a first-grade curse wandering in an abandoned building, so I was thinking Inumaki could take that on.”
Gojo points to Inumaki, giving him a thumbs-up.
“And though I know my wonderful student could handle it himself, I want you to bring Yuta with you—”
Before Gojo finishes, Yuta cuts him off.
But Gojo just keeps talking.
“—And I want you to bring…” Gojo moves his finger over to you.
“Tuna!” Inumaki stands up.
“It’ll be fine! I’m sure she is ready for this, right?” Gojo turns to face you.
“Yeah—I’ll be fine,” you reply, a sudden burst of confidence rising in your chest.
“Perfect! Then it’s all good.”
Gojo moves on to a different topic, but you can tell Inumaki is not pleased.
You try to ignore his demeanor for the rest of class, but it is consuming.
After class, while walking over to the vending machines with Inumaki, you ask about it.
“What’s up with you? You look like someone told you your pet hamster died,” you try to joke.
He doesn’t look at you and just pauses.
“Sorry. I didn’t consider that you might have had a pet hamster… and it died.”
Inumaki finally faces you and holds out his phone.
“I don’t think you’re ready.”
“Oh, come on! I’ve been training for months now! Plus you and Yuta are going to be there. I don’t see the issue,” you argue.
“I don’t want you to get hurt. You shouldn’t be straining yourself at all.”
“I’m not a piece of glass, you know?” you shout. “I’m able to handle myself. Just because I had a mishap a couple days ago doesn’t mean I’m broken or something.”
“But what if it happens again? While facing the curse? What if you make another scene?”
“Scene? I didn’t make a scene! And it won’t happen. I don’t understand why you won’t just believe in me.”
Tears start welling up in your eyes, but you push them away and try to appear tough.
Inumaki scoffs and types on his phone again, probably getting ready to say more bullshit.
“You know what? I’ll tell Gojo-sensei to assign me my own curse, by myself,” you cut in. “Then you can see how well I can handle myself.”
Inumaki drops his phone and looks at you like you threatened him.
Suddenly your body freezes and you can’t move.
“Toge! Why can’t I move?” you shout, stuck in place.
Inumaki quickly regains control of himself and realizes what he did.
“Salmon!” he shouts before running away.
Only seconds later the effect wears off and you’re able to move again.
You sprint off toward the direction he went, but you crash into someone.
“Sorry! I didn’t see you,” Yuta’s voice cracks.
“It’s fine. Have you seen Toge?” you ask hurriedly.
“Uh—no. I thought he was with you,” Yuta says, confused.
“Never mind. I’m just going to go back to my dorm. I’ll see you tomorrow,” you reply with a tight smile and head in the direction of your dorm.
As you lie in bed, staring at the ceiling, you think about your potential.
There’s so much more to you than your past.
That’s when you know you need to let go of the past in order to reach the best possible future.
₊⊹𝜗ৎ♡⋆˚꩜｡⋆.୨୧⋆˚꩜ ₊⊹𝜗ৎ♡⋆˚꩜｡⋆.୨୧⋆˚꩜ ₊⊹𝜗ৎ♡⋆˚꩜｡⋆.
TAGLIST: @savagequirksummoner @alebrasil0101 @chir4ki @meiisamotherbitch
titsay
stormborns
kaledo-art
gummygunk
blakekathryn
jacobvanloon
snowghoul
janainaart
origamiaround
baratheonpilled