#jjk reader insert

Now you had no choice but to face the consequences. You were sitting on the floor, arms laced around quivering knees, shoulders hunched, eyes watery, shaky breathing blowing small puffs of white mist against the glass of your exopack mask. You knew you should move, find someone else, anyone else really with a little bit of knowledge on how to fly a helicopter and get the hell out of here. A commandant. A colonel. Anyone. However, that was likely too late for that. The RDA was crumbling. Sending almost all its generals to demonstrate its power against the Omaticaya hadn’t been the smartest choice either. Now the sky was raining with burning war planes, flaming pieces of helicopter rotors, scorching broken rifles. The distinct smell of blood, death and metal had slowly crawled its way inside the lab.  

The war cries grew outside. The screams, too. You guessed the Na’vi would make no distinction between humans, armed or not, innocent or not, guilty or not. It was fair. You probably would have done the same, in their place. You were incapable of moving anyway.

That was when you heard it. Quiet footsteps, gliding effortlessly over the metallic floor.

You looked up and saw what you were sure to be your future executioner. A Na’vi, peeking at you from the door. Wide blue eyes. Surprising snowy hair. Soft white stripes. A face shining with such curiosity he looked almost innocent.

Almost.

You bristled at the sight of his bow, curled comfortably around his shoulder and his quiver, adorned with pearls and feathers, missing many arrows. The glass of your breathing mask fogged up, your shaky breathing turning into panicked pants. Your limbs were frozen, your eyes locked on the curious face staring at you at the other end of the devastated lab.

He smiled.

Your poor breathing hitched. The Na’vi tilted his head at the sight, ears perking up at the sound of your terrified wheezes. The mask beeped softly, sending the first warning about oxygen level going down abnormally fast, but you didn’t hear it.

The Na’vi slid into the room, letting his lean body effortlessly into the lab with long blue limbs clinging around furniture too small, tail brushing against broken equipment. You realized, with a shiver, just how tall he was when he started crawling toward you, with his head slightly bowed, shoulders hunched, the tip of his bow easily brushing the low ceiling. The lab seemed too tight, flooded with white and blue, the space suddenly compressed by this new suffocating presence.

Even though you were racking your brain, trying to remember the various tribes the military team had briefed the staff about, you couldn’t pinpoint any details that would give away the one this Na’vi belonged to. He wore little to no war paint, something you had seldom seen on warriors. A hunter, maybe?

Your thoughts were cut short when he stopped just in front of you. A smell of wood and smoke and wind, filtered by your mask, flooded your nostrils. His tail lashed once, twice as he leaned in just inches from your face. Your gaze, frantic, met his own, curious, almost playful. It was unsettling, this childlike wonder you saw etched on every feature of his face; you would have much preferred something recognizable, like hate, anger, or simply coldness. Something that made sense, that aligned with the enraged war cries you had heard earlier.

Instead you got nothing but silence and a small, amused smile.

You waited for a blow. Violent or clean, messy or calculated. You waited for the bite of his remaining arrows in your flesh, of claws sinking in your throat, lacerating through skin.

Nothing came.

Instead the Na’vi stared at you for a few seconds, blue irises roaming all over your face. Then they settled on the panic in your eyes and he scoffed, smile curling into a smirk, obviously amused. You frowned, almost offended. Usually Na’vi warriors had the decency to eliminate their prey quickly; the one in front of you had apparently decided otherwise. He raised a hand slowly and let his fingers trail over the glass very gently, testing the solidity in a movement so careful you could describe it only as loving. You watched him drag his claws against the mask, confused beyond words before he suddenly leaned in again, so close this time that his nose bumped against the glass. You gasped, terrified, and he chuckled, tail lashing again. Your face hardened at the realization he was playing with you. His eyes sparkled mischievously upon seeing the angry scowl forming on your face.

A sudden boom suddenly startled you, rattling the metallic structure. Shelves shook, lightbulbs fell.

The white-haired Na’vi immediately straightened as best as he could in the cramped space, ears perked, eyes wide with alert, one hand flying to his bow. You watched the movement, certain now that the next arrow would be for you. He listened carefully, ears angling to sounds too subtle for you to catch on. He looked back at you, tail flicking from side to side. His expression was calm, searching yours, as if pondering something.

Then he took you in his arms and fled.

You couldn’t even move, too stunned to truly register what was happening. The walls flew in a blur of gray and white. Then the sunlight suddenly hit your eyes, brutal, harsh. You squinted at the invasion of yellowish light flooding your exopack mask, making your eyes water, but the Na’vi didn’t stop, not wavering for a second as he ran with an effortless grace, praised by scientists, despised by military, between clumps of burning ferns and chunks of scorched tanks. You tried to turn, to look around, to get your bearings outside of the base, when you saw it.

“No,” you hissed, squirming desperately at the sight of the ikran crouched low in the grass, waiting patiently. “No! No, wait!”

The white-haired Na’vi simply glanced at you, an infuriating amused smirk pulling at his lips. His grip didn’t falter either when he jumped gracefully next to his ikran. The beast immediately straightened, chirping happily, already stretching his colorful wings wide for his rider. The Na’vi whispered a few words to the cooing beast but you didn’t hear them, too busy twisting your body to escape the iron-clad grip of those blue hands. You barely had time to protest as you were shoved unceremoniously on the leather saddle. The Na’vi hopped on behind you, and the ikran took off.

To say that you screamed would be an understatement. The high-pitched, strangled noise of terror that left your lungs at the sudden howl of the wind around you left your voice breathless and your throat hoarse. You sunk your nails without even thinking in the saddle to the point of paint, flattening yourself, crushing your body as much as you could against the ikran’s twisting, coiling form dancing in the wind. The beast kept brutally lurching there and there, frenetically flapping its winds, avoiding trees and rocks, gaining altitude above the cliffs and the hills you had spent so much time studying and dreaming about. You pressed your head against its lean neck, closing your eyes, feeling nausea creep in your mouth at the shifting sight of whirling trees and sparkling rivers.

Then a blue hand came resting against yours on the saddle, calm, perfectly assured. You glanced up, surprised, to see the white-haired Na’vi lean over you, body poised to merge with the wind and follow the ikran’s movements, eyes locked ahead, the other hand resting against your ribs to steady you. You briefly forgot your fear, awe settling in at the sight of such flawless harmony between the two bodies as they carved their way in the sky together. You had heard about it, of course, and obviously studied it, but to see it in person was definitely another thing than just watching the stolen, recorded movements of warriors and their ikrans plastered on a screen during a safety briefing.

Then the ikran lurched and you screamed again.

There was a slight rumble of laughter above you in the Na’vi’s chest.

“Crybaby,” he huffed.

That was the very first time you had heard him speak, and this was to mock you?

You whirled around to glare at him with all the fury you could muster despite your fear.

“Excuse me?” you hissed, furious, before the wind immediately took your words.

The Na’vi met your eyes, still with that nonchalant, mischievous gaze you were seriously starting to hate. He leaned in, cramming you against the saddle and repeated again, slowly, as if talking to a child:

“Crybaby.”

You opened your mouth to respond. You didn’t have time. The ikran’s body suddenly arched, its head shooting up upward while it executed a flawless looping. For a few seconds all you could see was a sky of lush forests and tall trees and flowing waterfalls. You let out another shrieking sound of absolute terror, barely human when you felt the wind play with wild strands of your hair hanging upside-down. The Na’vi laughed, a pure, crystalline laughter which held such childish joy that you almost forgot it came from a warrior who had kidnapped you in the first place.

You breathed shakily, hands seemingly melted within the saddle, as the ikran settled into a normal flying position. The sky took back its place. The forests and the trees and the waterfalls all came back to the ground. The Na’vi shot you a playful smirk, tail flicking victoriously. You rolled your eyes but didn’t bother to speak. You didn’t trust yourself not to throw up if you opened your mouth.

Your mask beeped, signaling again that your oxygen level was starting to go low, but you didn’t care right now. The Na’vi leaned in at the sound, studying curiously the piece of metal strapped around your head, nose brushing against your temples, to which you responded with a sharp nudge. He hissed softly, surprised and slightly upset, but didn’t press on.

The ikran kept flying. The base was long, long forgotten behind you. You had absolutely no sense of direction left. You tried to picture the 3D maps, the valleys full of strange but beautiful rising hills between sharp cliffs, Hometrees, wide clearings full of ancient trees, but nothing came. You couldn’t pinpoint a single landmark on the landscape below you. The white-haired Na’vi was silent, focused on the flight, and you quietly thanked whatever god had freed you of his previous teasing, but worry still wormed its way inside your belly. You didn’t dare to ask where he was taking you, or why. Where was he taking you, and why had he done so in the first place? Was he going back to his tribe?

Your worry turned into full-blown panic when the ground suddenly faded below shreds of puffy clouds. The ikran gained even more altitude. You suddenly froze when a field of floating islands came into a view, like a string of rocks strewn across the sky.

“Wow…”

The white-haired Na’vi huffed smugly at your breathless awe. The ikran swerved between the sharp rocky edges poking out of the clouds, avoiding the vines creeping up the sharp cliffs like a tapestry of greenery. You shivered when droplets fell on your shoulders, dripping on your mask while it flew below a waterfall which frayed like a ribbon of water falling in misty smoke in the empty sky.

A chorus of offended shrieks greeted you and you looked up to see a bunch of ikrans nestled atop the islands, some scurrying over edges, screeching at this blatant intrusion of their territory. You tensed but the white-haired Na’vi didn’t even look up. His ikran simply kept going, and soon the scandalized squawks faded behind you. That was when the ikran started descending, gently, and you caught sight of a gaping hole in one side of a floating island. It was small, barely visible, its entrance all covered by drooping vines, but definitely there. The Na’vi whispered something to the beast and the ikran crossed the vines without difficulty, landing effortlessly in the cave. You shivered slightly at the sudden, cold air gushing out of the darkness.

What you had thought at first to be an empty cave carved in the rock was in reality a hidden den for flourishing, bioluminescent plants of all kinds. Soft rippling grass welcomed your worn shoes. Your eyes travelled with absolute delight and wonder over the many specimens of plants you had only seen on some occasional outings but mostly hidden in electronic files, plastered on some screen in a study room: sun lilies, spiny whips, healing roses, geodes, binary sunshines, ovumshrooms… You gladly took in the gentle blue and soothing purple pulsing in a network of colorful veins running all along the walls of the cave. Your breathing mask filtered numerous smells, bitter and sweet and fragrant and sour melting together in your nose, mingling with your breath. You let your mind wander over the drooping palms, the thin roots, the spongy moss, the curling ferns heaving together in a shared life of peacefulness.

That was, until you remembered you were not alone.

You whirled around, heart beating wildly, fully expecting to be met with an arrow directly aimed at your head.

Instead the white-haired Na’vi watched you just as curiously as he had done when he had peeked at you through the door, back at the base, tail flicking idly behind him. You stared at him, waiting for him to move, and he stared back, unflinching, patient. A million questions burst in your head but not a single one crossed your lips. Then, finally, the one you were most worried about finally slipped out of your mouth:

“Are you… going to kill me?”

Your own mastery of Na’vi, quite advanced compared to most of your colleagues, was reduced to a blubber of messy sounds when the Na’vi chuckled, a gentle, harmonious sound that curled among the soft humming of the plants.

“No,” he answered, that glimmer of amusement back in his eyes. “No, I’m not going to kill you.”

“But… why not?” Not that you wanted to die, of course, but the images of dead Na’vi bodies crushed under gigantic bulldozers didn’t match his friendly attitude. “Aren’t you angry? Mad? I’m a human. Shouldn’t you, I don’t know… hate me?”

The white-haired warrior scoffed, his tail curling in a way that could only be described as patronizing.

“I don’t hate you.”

In three strides he was in front of you, looking down at you smugly while you craned your neck to meet his gaze. He leaned in and you shrank away, the tip of his white braids brushing against your mask. You shrieked when those two blue arms suddenly shoved you to the ground, your head colliding with the grass-covered rock, and the Na’vi straddled your hips, resting his weight on you. That was it, you were going to die.

“I’ve never seen a human so close before,” he explained casually, manhandling your pathetic, squirmy body without problems, ignoring your squeals of protest as he poked and prodded. “Besides, you’re cute.”

You kept twisting between his blue palms as he stretched your arms, opened your fingers, squeezed your shoulder in absolute wonder, his hands turning you flat on your belly. His tail flicked excitedly behind him while he lifted your shirt, testing the strength of the fabric with a rough tug.

“Cute?” you gasped, arching when he reached a sensitive spot.

“Mhm. Yes, cute. And so fragile,” he whispered in awe, trailing his fingers over your own ribs.

You froze when you felt the smooth pads rest on the bare skin of your exposed back before crawling dangerously upwards, toward your bra clasp. Fortunately, the shriek of panic you let out made him pause briefly. You managed to turn enough, head squished against the grass, to shoot him a deadly glare. He smirked, amused.

“I’m Sa’toru, by the way,” he added, as if the presentation of his name would somehow make the situation acceptable for you.

“Y/N,” you grumbled.

He chuckled and leaned in, ready to continue his thorough inspection again, when the stark beeping of your mask cut through.

“What’s that?” Sa’toru asked, lying curiously over you to check the yellow light flickering on the screen.

“It’s my oxygen level. It means I’m going to die soon,” you muttered, wondering if death wouldn’t be more of a release than a curse at this point.

Sa’toru poked the glass, not at all alarmed by this new fact.

“Really? I thought humans only had one.”

“Nope. Too easy.”

The white-haired Na’vi hummed, and you felt his tail brush against your legs as it slowly swished.

“You’re really weak.”

You didn’t even bother replying. He stayed like this one minute, two, pondering. Then his weight suddenly lifted off your body and you took a deep breath. Sa’toru was already hopping on the saddle of his ikran, settling over the chirping beast.

“Hey, wait!” you shouted, scrambling to get up. “Where are you going? You can’t to leave me here!”

“Of course not,” he happily shouted back. “Can’t let my pet suffocate, can I?”

And with that, he was gone.

You stood, flabbergasted, listening to the distant flaps of the ikran’s wings and the insistent beeping of your mask.

Wait, did he say pet?

________________________________________________________________

“Here it is!”

You stared at the pile of exopack masks Sa’toru dropped on the floor, beaming with pride. Your life expectancy had just turned from a day, maybe two, from weeks. Perhaps a month or two.

“It’s the right stuff?” he asked, his ikran poking one of the devices with its snout.

“Yes, it is,” you answered, feeling slightly awkward at the way he had carried and gathered for you the object defining the entire shape of your life on this oxygen-deprived planet.

_______________________________________________________________

You learned a lot of things about Sa’toru.

Once, you realized very quickly that he liked pretty things. You noticed it on the carefully placed pearls, swinging harmoniously along his snowy braids and the necklaces adorning his slender neck, flowing along his slender but toned chest. You also noticed it on his ikran, which, once completely bare save the colorful swirls of colors painting its back the day he took you, came back full of various trinkets: braids woven along his kuru, feathers sewn into a new saddle, seashells lining its sides. Sometimes it was pearls, sometimes dried flowers. Anything the Na’vi could collect, he would; and according to him, you were the prettiest thing he had come across yet.

That fact continued to stun you over the days you spent in that strange cavern. You were a human. The small size and fragile pink skin of your species, so often criticized and openly disgusted by many tribes according to many reports the military teams always came back with, seemed on the contrary the most pleasing things for Sa’toru to see. Often he would sit behind you, stroking your hair with utmost care, feeling the strands between his fingers, letting it flow in his hands, whispering various praises about its softness or its length. Sometimes he would just lean until his face bumped gently into the mask, his wide eyes staring at you with such ravenous wonder that you couldn’t help but squirm in embarrassment. That was one of the things you knew Sa’toru didn’t like; the glass stopped him from touching your face. Instead he followed the outlines of your human features with his long fingers. You felt his frustration each time he tried to brush a strand of hair behind your ear or when you had to pull off the whole device to eat in quick bites. You had yet to know which tribe he was from, for he never talked about it. You even came to think that he was a loner at some point, an estranged warrior, but his constantly cheerful personality didn’t seem to hide any loneliness a tribeless Na’vi might have been feeling.

Second, you learned that he could be as cruel as he could be kind.

You weren’t afraid of Sa’toru. Sure, you dreaded his overly playful teasing, which could be clumsy given your size difference, but he had never acted outright hostile toward you. He might be strange and you still didn’t really get while he would bother to keep a human just because they were “pretty,” but he had never acted as your enemy. The cave he had put you in felt more like a temporary inconvenience than a real prison. You had enough trust in yourself to eventually talk the Na’vi out of his weird whim, even though you had very little hope about finding an operational base left intact after the battle. However, you soon discovered that it wouldn’t be very likely to happen.

_______________________________________________________________

“What do you mean, out?”

You were sitting in the cave, critically examining one light green curling vine to determine its species when Sa’toru had announced you would get to go out today.

He smiled, puffing out his chest proudly.

“In the forest. You’ll get to see how I hunt.”

“I hope it’s not one of those disgusting insects you brought me last time.”

Sa’toru rolled his eyes, a gesture so commonly shared by humans and Na’vi alike that it earned a little smile from you.

“It’s not my fault if you’re picky. Now come on. We must go while it’s still daylight.”

You stood up and followed him, stopping hesitantly in front of the ikran. The beast’s six eyes locked on you and you took a small step back, remembering the unpleasant howling of the wind hissing against your mask during your last flight. Sa’toru noticed your uneasiness and his expression softened.

“Come on. I promise it’ll be nice.”

You mounted the ikran, hands clutching uneasily at its scales, then at the saddle. The ikran remained perfectly unperturbed, having long been used to your presence. Then Sa’toru mounted behind you, one hand on the saddle, the other caging your hip, and the ikran took off.

Thanks to Sa’toru’s quiet orders passing through tsaheylu, the flight was peaceful, even gentle. The ikran took care not to swerve, its wings cutting with precision into the gusts and breezes, slicing through the clouds, until the forest came into view.

It was going well, at first. The forest was as beautiful as ever, oversized leaves swaying gently above your head, Sa’toru’s ikran scrambling after some fish in a clear, singing stream. The ferns brushed against your shirt, the bushes rustled with hidden life. You felt wonder flowing over your entire self, the exact same wonder which had come each time you had been allowed on the field to study the massive trunks and take samples of the secrets running in their roots. However, this time, there were no grim-looking soldiers posted all around you, ready to shoot whatever insect flew too close. Here there was only nature, Pandora, Sa’toru and you.

The white-haired Na’vi was the definition of stealth as he moved effortlessly through the Pandora undergrowth. You had a hard time keeping track of his white-dotted skin and his blue tail disappearing among ferns but you followed nonetheless, trudging much less gracefully after him. He turned once, only once, to give you one order:

“Don’t wander off.”

You nodded. Seemed simple enough. You kept up the pace, wondering once again which tribe Sa’toru could possibly be a part of. There was a calm confidence, an assured, proud claiming of the space in the way he moved, quiet but efficient, weaving between ferns, that you hadn’t seen in the videos of Omaticaya hunting warriors. His posture, though slightly hunched, spoke of a fearlessness of predators, a silent challenge to any other creature that might be competition in the patch of jungle he had selected as his own hunting ground. You followed him carefully when he crouched, tail stilling, ears flicking, with the tip of his bow brushing over the moss.

You watched him shoot the first arrow in an unsuspecting direhorse drinking in the river. The kill was flawless and quick as the creature fell with a strangled moan to the ground, slumping its heavy body in the clear, small rapids. Sa’toru bounded lightly over to the dying beast, tail lashing out triumphantly, before turning over to you. You recognized his expression, cheerful but definitely expectant of your praise.

“Nice shot,” you said, joining him with more difficulty.

The Na’vi’s chest puffed out, obviously preening at the complement. You smiled, still amused at the way such a tall warrior, twice your size, could act just as desperate for attention as a human teenager.

The rest of the hunt should have gone just as well as Sa’toru’s first kill. You didn’t really notice it at first. You were too busy admiring Sa’toru’s hunting techniques, the blue feathers woven in his bow, the Na’vi names carved in the curve of the wood. Then it hit you when Sa’toru slaughtered approximately his seventh prey. His pleased smile had turned into a toothy, feral grin, with lips pulled back over sharp canines as his eyes locked onto another prey. He moved silently but ruthlessly, as swiftly as his own arrows, crawling under the cover of ferns, tail lashing wildly. What had started as a simple hunt turned into a growing bloodlust, fueled by the thud of fallen prey hitting the earth. Each corpse gave him an opportunity to be rewarded by one of your smiles, no matter how uneasy or awkward. Each agonizing animal was a chance to show off his incredible, deadly hunting skills. The childish pride he had shown you his first kill with had soured into pure arrogance. Sa’toru left behind you another corpse, leaving its exposed flesh to rot in the sun. You followed more uncertainly as time went by, wondering again and again if you should speak out, but the excited gleam in Sa’toru’s dilated pupils told you otherwise.

“Sa’toru…” you finally managed to say after gathering your courage.

“Hmm?”

“Maybe we could go back now… You’re a great hunter, but isn’t this enough?” you asked, hoping throwing a praise in would appease his murderous urges.

“Enough?”

Sa’toru flashed you a grin full of eager teeth.

“We haven’t even started, Y/N. Come on, keep going.”

Fear twisted in your gut at the sight of those canines cutting over his lip. That was a side of the Na’vi you had never even supposed could exist. Na’vi had a profound respect for nature, and yet each prey left behind, though an offence to Eywa, didn’t seem to bother Sa’toru in the slightest. Who knew what else he was capable of? You kept musing over this while the sun moved slowly in the sky. The forest had grown quieter around you. Sa’toru didn’t notice, too busy inspecting a trail of huge prints left in the mud. That was when you decided it was time to escape. Yes, wandering alone in a forest too eager to swallow humans would probably mean death. Yes, RDA structures had probably been almost all destroyed at that point, but you couldn’t get the sight of those peeking canines out of your head. The illusion of safety you had deluded yourself into had finally dissolved, torn apart by those white fangs and the pile of corpses Sa’toru left in his wake. You understood with a shudder that you had simply been lucky up until now. The truth was that you had been kidnapped by an apparently unstable warrior, with no mention of a tribe.

________________________________________________________________

You thought you had managed to make it far, you honestly did. That was your first mistake. Time and distance were all blurred to you, lost in a world too big for your small human feet. You dipped and ducked under leaves full of dew. You tripped over gnarled roots, splashed in muddy puddles. You crouched under oversized mushrooms and leapt over rotting stumps. You marveled at fan lizards and listened to the bright, singing shrieks of faraway ikrans. You stopped and listened for thanators. You climbed over boulders and cut yourself over stony shards. Then you realized you were lost.

It wasn’t surprising, really. It was bound to happen at some point. However, you hadn’t expected him to catch up so quickly to you. The blow in your ribs sent you wheezing in pain to the mossy ground, arms flying to protect your already bruising side. Tears welled up in your eyes as the pain spread in your lungs, hot and sharp, and you rolled on your back, muddy water seeping into your clothes. A luxurious canopy of intricate leaves and an angry snarl of fangs greeted your sight. Sa’toru loomed over you, bristling with restrained fury.

“Didn’t I tell you not to wander off?!” he hissed in your face.

Your breathing quickened in panic and the glass fogged up, blurring Sa’toru’s angry scowl. You didn’t even try to speak. You couldn’t anyway. Then you saw it. The realization dawning in the Na’vi’s eyes. Your escape, not accidental, but entirely made of your own choice. A conscious decision to leave him. A spark of something flashed very quickly across his face. Then his features hardened, anger draining away only to leave a cold, calculated disdain.

You shrieked when his hand closed over the glass. You screamed when he ripped it off your face. The straps were torn under the pressure. The glass cracked. Sa’toru held it high above you, watching as your face was left completely exposed and undefended from the toxic air swirling all around you. Pandora air rushed in your nostrils, ran down your esophagus, and finally reached your unprepared human lungs. Each whiff of air was like swallowing a bunch of knives scraping and tumbling down your writhing body, easily tearing through your burning lungs. Your throat quickly became sore, flesh irritated by a violent, repeated cough. Your voice turned hoarse under strangled shrieks of terror. You choked, back arching, organs begging for some natural, good old-fashioned Earthly oxygen. Spit trickled down your chin and you watched it stain the muddy earth next to the Na’vi.

And to top it all, Sa’toru watched.

He had leaned over you and was now staring at you, fingers curled tightly around the mask. You tried to speak, to articulate some form of apology. Only garbled syllables came out. Sa’toru’s tail twitched. Then his face slowly changed. The thin line of his lips curled up into the playful smirk you had come to know, except this time it was tainted with cruelty. His ears angled toward your broken, wheezing plea for help. His eyes sparkled with mischief as he brought the mask to your face and pulled it back when you weakly tried to reach for it. There was a quiet thinking behind his eyes, an understanding you failed to grasp while you fought uselessly for your life against an air filling you with death. Finally, the tall white-haired Na’vi leaned over you, gently, slowly, his big hands splayed on either side of your face, until blue and white filled your entire vision. His braids brushed softly, snowy locks melting within your own, caked stains. He teasingly brushed his flat nose against yours in a barely existent caress, letting his white locks tingle the skin of your forehead. Then his lips closed over your mouth, stealing what little breath you had left. You gasped in surprise and his tongue slipped eagerly between your parted lips, forcing a kiss on your choking body. You didn’t have the strength to push him over. You didn’t even think about it. It was simply another layer of sensation among the pulsing pain cutting through your weakening lungs. Your hand crawled in the mud, reaching for the abandoned mask, but he pushed it away with a simple shove, cupping your face to redirect your attention. His lips moved against yours, loving and calm, but firm. His tongue filled your mouth, exploring it curiously, licking at your teeth, your gums, curling around yours. You twitched, brought your hand to his face to push. He stayed. You understood, through the firm bite he gave your cracked lips, the quiet but unmistakable claim he was setting over you.

His. His human. His pet. He had always seen you as this, something you had failed to comprehend from the start, something he was now trying to communicate to you in a language he supposed humans understood better. Humans always seemed to understand actions over words. Sa’toru had been a witness to that during the battle. Wounds over negotiation, death over peace. It was as if words could never get past that barrier Sky People had locked themselves in. You were a small, fragile thing. One of their scientists, curled up, left to die in a crumbling base. Sa’toru had thought you were different, but he guessed it must be a part of human nature so he used that physical language, imposing his body on yours, his world on yours, highlighting your weakness and his strength. Whatever control you had in that tiny, sealed up metallic world of yours, safely locked away from the forest, the dangers, Pandoran life, was gone. You needed to understand that.

 You were close to passing out when Sa’toru’s lips finally left yours. The mask came back on your face, its comforting weight secured around your head, ensuring your survival. Oxygen was pumped in you with a hiss and you took greedy gulps of it, again and again, savoring the taste of safety. You heaved once, twice, the scratching of knives dulling down in your body, fading away to a soothing nothingness. You looked up, vision still slightly blurry from the previous lack of oxygen. Sa’toru was smiling at you, benevolent, satisfaction glinting in his eyes. He bent, slinging his arms under your exhausted form and lifted you up, cradling you against his chest. He looked up and uttered a single, wordless cry. Soon after you heard a rustle in the branches above and six eyes met your own, still filled with dried tears.

Sa’toru looked back at you and pressed a kiss to your head.

“Come on. We’re going home.”

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A/N: So next part will have little to not plot and a lot, if not only, smut. I had to it, I just had to! I'll make other fics based of zuunari's art of Mangkwan!Sukuna and Recombinant!Toji

Thanks for reading!

So next part will have little to not plot and a lot, if not only, smut. I had to do it, I just had to! I'll make other fics based of zuunari's art of Mangkwan!Sukuna and Recombinant!Toji!

august 2007 

“here we go!” shoko dragged out, lining up her eraser for the target, satoru gojo. 

suguru threw his pencil, and you were sat with your back against the tree, sipping some electrolyte drink to replenish after this morning. 

you’d been sent to finish the job of an incomplete mission abandoned by a third year, expecting the curse to be close to death.

what you didn’t think that meant was that you’d have to do everything yourself. it had been happening a lot more often– being sent on missions alone ever since satoru officially became the strongest. 

you looked back up, seeing the objects miss him completely and his hands casually come up to grab them. you were shocked, but your muscles were still aching too much for your body to have a physical reaction.

“yeah,” he said calmly. “that worked well.” 

shoko’s eyes widened. “uh, what the heck was that?”

“auto selection of targets for jujutsu technique?” suguru chimed in.

“yeah! though to be more precise, i’m the target for the auto technique. i’ve automated what i used to do manually. so now it can discern an object’s danger level based on the strength of its cursed energy, its mass, its velocity, and its shape.” 

you yawned, stretching out your limbs and sinking down to lay completely on the floor. “are you working on becoming poison resistant too?” 

you’d meant it as a joke, but you weren’t exactly surprised when he let out a smug chuckle. “i’d like to get it to discern poisons too, but that’s proving to be a little difficult.”

“this will allow me to keep my limitless technique active almost perpetually with minimal resources.”

that made you sit up, your eyebrows furrowed in confusion as shoko verbalized your thoughts for you. 

“having it perpetually active will fry your brain.” she said, her voice soft with concern.

“but i can also keep running the reverse curse technique with the energy i generate on my own. so i’m constantly giving it a fresh brain to work with.” satoru explained, spinning the pencil quickly in between his fingers.

“i’ve already nailed shortening my hand seals. so red, and blue, can be activated simultaneously during multiple situations. the only remaining hurdles are domain expansion and teleportation over long distances. i’ll be able to get that down if we set up some courses without any obstacles in jujutsu high. shoko, could you lend me some lab rats?” 

“uhh…” she hesitated, trying to avoid the conversation by switching over to look at you. “you’ve been oddly quiet, did everything go okay?” 

“mhm.” you nodded, taking another sip of your drink as you continued to melt into the shaded concrete. “just tired.” 

“oh yeah?” satoru asked, walking over to sit beside you, his skin beginning to burn from the intense sunlight. “that fourth year didn’t do a good job?” 

you scoffed, sitting up and bending your knees up to rest your arms on them. “i don’t think i could say she even did her job at all. when i got there, that curse barely had a scratch on it. aren’t they meant to be better than us?”

they all hummed in agreement, satoru’s hand coming up to pat your shoulder as you looked up at suguru. 

“what about you?” you mumbled, noticing how equally quiet he’d been. 

“yeah, suguru, have you lost weight?” satoru questioned, his voice carrying a playful edge. “you okay?” 

suguru nodded, but you couldn’t help but notice how heavy his eyebags had gotten since amanai’s death a little over a year ago. between the three of you, it definitely affected him the most. 

according to satoru, he’d gotten over it that same day as a result of his awakening. you’d done the same, though the memory seemed a little more bleary with each passing day. whether it was you trying to forget or avoid it, you weren’t sure.

“i’m just fatigued from the heat. i’ll be fine.” suguru answered steadily.

“did you eat too many somen noodles?” satoru teased, earning a smack on the head from you as you scolded him. 

before anyone else could say anything, suguru’s phone pinged, a heavy sigh escaping his mouth. you knew the look– hell, you’re pretty sure that’s what you looked like too whenever you got the news. 

“another mission?” you asked sympathetically, seeing the way his body physically displayed his exhaustion. 

suguru nodded, quickly saying his goodbyes and walking off in search of yaga for more details before he officially departed.

before you could stop yourself, you shot up, saying a quick goodbye to your friends as you followed after suguru, hearing the heavy sigh he let out as he ran his hands down his face. 

you caught up quickly, placing your hand on his shoulder and forcing him to turn around. he looked at you curiously, his face looking even more tired up close. 

“is everything alright?” you asked softly.

his words stuttered, debating on whether he’d let it out or not. after a second, he smiled calmly. “yes, i just don’t think i slept very well last night.” 

you studied his face, seeing those dark crescents beneath his eyes that somehow looked darker up close. “you’re lying.”

his breath hitched, eyes averting your gaze and staring down the path. his lips parted as he turned back to you. 

“actually,” he began, his voice quiet, almost careful. “there’s been something i’ve–” 

“suguru!” yaga’s voice cut in, “let’s go, this mission can’t wait long!”

without looking away, your jaw tightened as you raised a hand in yaga’s direction, signaling for him to hang on one second longer. “he can wait.” 

the taller man inhaled sharply, the tension between the two of you surging rapidly. he forced out a breathy laugh, bringing his hand up to rub the back of his neck while clenching his jaw.

“nevermind. it’s nothing like that. i was… just going to ask if you wanted a souvenir. the mission’s in shibuya. i remember the last time we were up there together, you mentioned wanting to go back under better circumstances.”

the lie landed between you like broken glass, the both of you knew you knew he was full of shit. you stared at him, blankly and deeply observant to see if he’d break. but he didn’t. he never did.

“suguru–” 

“i’ve gotta go,” he said quickly, placing his hands on either sides of your arms, squeezing as his eyes softened for a split second. “i’ll see you later, okay?” 

he didn’t even give you the chance to respond before he rushed off, leaving you standing there with his touch lingering on your biceps. you watched as he walked away with yaga, his posture slouched, shoulders tight, like something heavy was pressing down on him from the inside out.

“oh, sugu...” you sighed to yourself, walking down the opposite path to your dorm room.

𓆩༺✧༻𓆪

suguru didn’t return until a few days later, his body aching and bruised from his mission. 

you’d wanted to catch him on his first day back, but you’d gotten tangled up with a quick mission of your own. nothing crazy, so you were back the following day. 

you hummed to yourself as you tightened your handwraps, walking down the halls of one of the lecture buildings, turning the corner to see suguru sitting by the window.

you frowned at his state– hair down yet somehow still nice, his back slumped, and his body seeming to fill less of his summer uniform than it did last year.

“hey.” you called out softly, his eyes glancing up to you. 

he responded with a soft greeting of your name, his tired eyes following you as you walked over slowly to sit perpendicularly to him, leaning against the wall. you noticed a small box in his hand, but you decided not to point it out immediately. 

“back so soon?” you asked, keeping your tone gentle. 

suguru sighed a laugh. “it wasn’t too difficult of a curse. only took me an hour.” 

he tossed you the box, your hands coming up with a quick instinct to catch it before it fell on your body. you held it up in the air in front of your face, examining it for a second before he spoke again, already knowing what your question was going to be.

“i got it for you.” he mumbled.

you sat up straight, hair falling all over the place. you threw a confused glance at him, looking down at the box, flipping it open. instantly, your lips parted, seeing the gleaming metal of the necklace shine back up at you. 

“oh my– thank you.” you whispered. “it’s beautiful, suguru.”

the charm was simple, a ward-like talisman that matched the metal of the chain. it wasn’t flashy by any means, it was an intentional choice– definitely picked out by suguru geto. you moved it in between your fingers, admiring each and every angle. 

“it’s a ward.” suguru spoke gently. “nothing complicated, but the old lady who sold it to me said it was meant to protect whoever wears it.”

you blinked up at him, your eyes growing a little glassy, forcing your throat to tighten. “you got this for me?”

“i figured it would give you some peace of mind. especially since you’ve been getting sent out alone lately.”

after a few more moments of you gushing and thanking him profusely, you stopped, lifting the necklace in his direction with a hopeful look. 

“put it on me?”

suguru chuckled, taking it from your hands gently and unclasping it. you moved beside him, turning away as he moved your hair out of the way, looping the chain around your neck swiftly, his breath soft on your neck as he clasped it, letting the talisman rest on your chest.

“how’s it look?” you asked happily, turning back to face him.

you weren’t sure when the last time you’d seen him smile was, so when you were met with a soft one, you couldn’t help but smile wider. he stared at the necklace, then back up at you, giving you a simple nod of agreement. 

with a soft sigh, you brought your hand up to his shoulder, feeling the tension soaring in his body. the moment turned soft as he melted into it, like you’d solved a temporary issue for his mind. you couldn’t help but furrow your eyebrows, pursing your lips to the side as you watched him. 

“are we finally gonna talk about it?” you mumbled, his shoulders tensing again. 

“do–” suguru started, interrupted by a call of his name. 

you wanted to be annoyed at the fact you’d been interrupted again, but it washed away as you noticed haibara at the corner that you’d turned just moments ago. you smiled as suguru offered him a drink, letting the younger boy sit to his other side. 

haibara cracked open his cola as you raised your legs over suguru’s, his hand instantly coming up to rest on your shin. 

“i’m going pretty far away for my mission tomorrow.” haibara said gladly. 

surugu’s eyebrows furrowed as he kept his gaze down. “i thought you had a break this week?” 

“i did, but she let me take her mission.” the boy chuckled, pointing up at you. “it took me forever to convince her.” 

you smiled kindly. “i only said yes because it’s a grade two curse and you wouldn’t quit nagging me about it.” 

the three of you shared a laugh, softening the tension that had subtly built. 

“is that so? bring back a souvenir.” suguru added. 

“you bet! do you prefer sweet stuff, or are you more of a salty guy?” 

“satoru might want some too, so sweet i guess.” 

“you got it!” 

the conversation dulled, the air settling comfortably before suguru spoke again.

“haibara.. do you like being a jujutsu sorcerer? it’s not too hard?”  

well that’s one way to kill the mood. haibara blinked, surprised yet unfazed. 

“hm, let’s see.” he pondered, leaning forward on his knees. “i’ve never really been the kinda guy who thinks too deeply about things, you know? i like doing stuff not everybody else can do! and i like working hard!” 

“i see. i guess that’s good.” he turned to look at you. “what about you?” 

“uhm,” you hesitated, thinking of all the ups and downs you’d had in the past year. your blood that had permanently stained the stone of the tomb, amanai’s limp body, the feeling of being sliced and carved open and being forced to reassemble yourself.

if you were to tell him the truth, you would’ve said even though you hated it and wished you’d been born a normal person, you wouldn’t choose to be anything else. but judging by the glow in his eye when haibara said yes, you knew being honest wouldn’t do him any good.

“yeah, i think so.” you faltered, saying nothing else in fear of being caught in your lie. 

before suguru could call you on it, your ears twitched at the approaching footsteps. you looked at the tall woman who stood in front of the three of you, 

“you with the hair. are you geto?” she asked, standing confidently. “i was wondering what type of women you go for?” 

you nearly choked on your spit at the question, suguru’s hand tightening slightly on your leg as his posture shifted, subtle and defensive.

“who are you?” he asked plainly, the answer cut off before haibara chirped up, his energy almost contagious. 

“i like the type of girls who eat a lot! 

“oh?” 

“haibara…” suguru muttered, his words matching your stale face perfectly.

“don’t worry about her, geto, she’s not a bad person. i can tell, i’m a great judge of character!” 

suguru tensed. “you say that, yet you’re sitting next to me.” 

“hm? yeah!” 

the woman laughed. “hey, he was being sarcastic, you know.” 

“how about we let them chat?” you felt awkward from where you sat. so, you swung your legs off of suguru and pulled haibara up gently. you walked back down the hall, letting go of haibara’s arm as he turned around and waved goodbye. 

you turned the corner as well, seeing haibara walk out of the building all the way, waving to you as well. the right thing to do would be to follow behind him, let suguru and the woman have a conversation alone.

but for whatever reason, you lingered, pinning your back to the wall as they continued. 

“your underclassmen?” she asked, voice echoing on the walls. “he’s cute, i like how candid he is.” 

“as a sorcerer,” he replied, “i think he should be more wary of people.” 

“and the girl?” she continued. ”what about her, is she your girlfriend?” 

you heard suguru sigh. “no, she’s just a good friend.” 

“good. in that case, do you plan on answering my original question?” “not until you answer my question first. so who are you?” 

“special grade sorcerer, yuki tsukumo. does that name ring any bells?” 

your stomach dropped, the name landing heavier than you’d expected. the memories of your meeting with the higherups flashed in your mind– mission reports reassigned, curses underestimated, injuries you’d told yourself were just part of the job. 

her leftovers.

even though you were strong enough to fight special grade curses, your hereditary technique wasn’t special grade material. sure, it was powerful on paper– but it didn’t have the capabilities to destroy an entire city. therefore, you had already prepared yourself to be stuck at grade one for the rest of your life, just like most sorcerers.

“wait, so you’re her?” 

“ooh i like the sound of that! what have you heard?” 

suguru didn’t hesitate to be blunt. “that you’re a special grade that never accepts any missions, and those usually end up falling onto my friend who was just here. a good for nothing that’s been wasting her time abroad.” 

“man,” yuki groaned dramatically, “i really hate jujutsu high school!” 

was she… pouting?

“i’m joking. though it’s true i don’t get along with jujutsu high school’s policies. all they’re interested in is treating the symptoms of a problem. and i want to do something to treat the cause.”

“you wanna treat the cause?” 

“rather than hunting cursed spirits, i wanna create a world where they don’t get born in the first place.” yuki answered, her voice steady and serious.

it took everything in you to keep quiet at her words. was she insane? your mind was stuck on that one sentence, that you barely heard the rest of her explanation. your fingers dug into your palms as you bit your lip, trying your best not to turn the corner and interject before she could go too far.

“to put it in the most general terms, if all of mankind were jujutsu sorcerers, curses wouldn’t be born.” 

“or, you could solve the problem by killing all non-sorcerers.” 

suguru? 

you couldn’t bear to hear the rest of the conversation, sprinting out of the building only to be met with the sudden rain, though you couldn’t bring yourself to care. you sat down quickly in the corner of the doorframe, feeling your breathing pick up into quick, short gasps.  

surely, he didn’t mean that. surely, he wasn’t crazy enough to believe that was possible. right? no. it was suguru. rational, level-headed, suguru. there’s no way he could actually believe something like that was possible. 

right? 

you’d sat there longer than you’d meant to, your knees pulled into your chest and your arms wrapped loosely around them. the initial rush of panic dulled into something heavier, a fog that pressed down on your thoughts. he didn’t say it like a joke, that was the part you couldn't shake. 

suguru was the furthest thing from impulsive. he didn’t speak without thinking, didn’t act without thinking of the consequences, always chose the words carefully enough to leave room for interpretation and empathy. 

there’d been no room in that sentence. 

maybe he’d been testing her, testing her reaction. maybe–

the doors creaked open, still visible from where you were sitting. they didn’t notice you immediately, suguru seeing her off before turning around, his breath hitching as he met your teary eyes. 

he mumbled your name in surprise, “you’re still here?”

“did you mean that?” your voice quieter than you’d intended. 

suguru blinked, clearly caught off guard. he stepped closer instinctively, but stopped himself because he wasn’t sure if he was allowed to.

“mean what?” he asked, the tension in his shoulders building again.

“what you said,” you swallowed, voice wavering despite your efforts. “about killing non-sorcerers.”

saying it out loud, the words made your chest tighten all over again. his expression was undecipherable as he stared at you, his lips parting as he compiled his thoughts. 

“i was speaking hypothetically.” he finally answered. 

you searched his face, hoping for something, anything that would let you believe him fully. 

“but you've thought about,” you said instead, hating the way you noticed his jaw tightening. “haven’t you?”

another string of silence. 

suguru exhaled slowly, eyes flicking away from you as if the ground suddenly held something more interesting, your chest aching when you noticed. something unreadable flashed behind his eyes when they met yours again.

“i don’t want to.” 

you let out a shaky scoff, staring down at your shoes. “you didn’t say she was wrong.”

“i didn’t say she was right either.”

his words should’ve helped, you knew that. but they didn’t. 

regardless, you nodded because you didn’t know what else to do. you could tell he wasn’t okay, and pushing further felt like stepping on thin ice– one wrong step and something beneath you would crack beyond repair.

“okay.” you mumbled, even though nothing felt okay at all.

suguru hesitated, then finally stepped and crouched in front of you, keeping the distance close enough to be present, but not far enough to corner you. “i’m not going to hurt anyone. not like that.” 

you looked up at him, eyes glossy as they searched his face. 

“promise?” 

the word lingered in the air, feeling a bit childish. he didn’t answer immediately, but when he did, his voice was steady. 

“i promise.” 

𓆩༺✧༻𓆪

this place had been under a guardian once– whatever stood before you now was only what remained after it broke. 

you whistled at the scene, seeing the splattered blood on the ground, the collapsed buildings, and the curse. you hadn’t been told any details about the mission, just that you’d be accompanying satoru. 

“who died here?” you joked, seeing the amount of blood left behind in one particular spot. satoru tensed, avoiding your gaze as you looked up at him, your eyes widening. “wait, did someone actually die here?!” 

“it’s a grade one curse, formally registered as a weaker grade two.” he dodged your question, trying to joke around. “what should we do, pupil?” 

you scoffed in his face. “look, i get you’re ‘the strongest’ or whatever, but don’t treat me like i’m your student.” 

“yes ma’am,” satoru shook his head, watching as you still analyzed the scene despite your stubbornness. “you lead the way.”

the curse waved its tentacles around, wrecking buildings and threatening civilian’s safety. you glanced up at satoru, who was already looking down at you, his expression soft as he traced your face. 

you could feel your cheeks flush, but you coughed awkwardly as you turned back to the scene. 

“alright. it doesn't look too strong for a grade one, so i’ll exorcise it while you take care of the people?” you proposed, hearing him chuckle beside you.

“sounds good.” he agreed, your legs instantly moving as you split up quickly. “i’ll put up the veil!”

you nodded, watching as the sky darkened momentarily, darting straight for the curse. it could hear your footsteps, turning around and swinging a tentacle at you– its singular eye following your body as you jumped over it, landing on the ground gracefully. 

it swung at you again, going under your legs while you jumped again, letting the tentacle swing into a building. you turned around, seeing the rubble crumble to the ground, satoru’s figure flashing by before it could hit anyone. 

“wow, you’re kinda dramatic, don’t you think?” you asked, untying your handwraps all the way and tying them around your waist. 

the curse growled, nothing coherent despite being a grade one, but you could see it was frustrated at the fact that it missed you. it swung yet again, but this time you hopped onto its arm, running up the length of it and punching it straight in its eye. you giggled as it cried out, hitting it again before letting yourself slide down its backside. 

when your feet touched the broken concrete again, you flexed your fingers– feeling a lack of cursed energy in your body. you groaned at the realization, remembering how you had barely any stored up from your past mission. 

this was the downside to your technique. to use it effectively, you had to take some hits. 

you braced yourself as the curse ran towards you, letting it hit you with its slimy arm, sending you crashing into a nearby wall. a pained noise escaped your mouth, your body quickly processing the injury and converting it.

your leg pushed you off, sending you back towards the curse. you wrapped your arms around the girthy tentacle, twisting your body quickly to use the momentum, pulling its arm off and hearing it scream as purple blood spewed out into the air. 

throwing the arm aside, your eyes fell to where something had fallen out, plopping into the pool of blood. you squinted, trying to make out what it was from the distance. 

was that… a lower half of a body?

the curse swung, but you ducked under it while you ran towards the severed body, sliding your knees on the concrete– the fabric of your pants ripping and causing your knees to scrape, leaving a trail of blood behind you. 

a white card had fallen out of the legs’ pocket, letting you pick it up as you ran away, avoiding another attempted hit. 

you could feel your heart twist and your eyes water immediately as you read the id card. 

tokyo prefectural jujutsu high school. second grade. 

yu haibara.

this was your mission.

the ground behind you shook, the curse growing antsy at the fact it hadn’t killed you yet. your fingers trembled around the plastic card, the edges biting into your palm as if it would blur, or disappear, or turn into someone else’s. your breathing hitched, sharp and uneven like your body couldn’t know if it was supposed to fight or fold. 

“no…” you whispered to yourself, the word slipping before you realized you’d spoken at all. 

the curse screeched, absolutely enraged by now. its movements grew sloppy yet they remained violent as it barreled toward you. behind you, its presence was thick and suffocating– but all you could care about was the card in your hand. 

if he hadn’t begged you for it, if he hadn’t wanted to impress suguru… would he be alive right now?

the curse slammed into you from the side, sending you flying into another nearby building. however, your technique didn’t settle quietly this time. the blow had blood sputtering out of your mouth, your ribs aching and stuck as the pressure locked itself into place under your skin. 

your body had absorbed the impact as usual, but it didn’t stop at converting it. the compression kept building, coiling tighter and tighter– your cursed energy soaring. 

another hit as it dashed forward and punched you in the gut. another hit as it peeled you off the building and sent you back in the direction you had come from. 

you staggered, vision blurring as you barely stood on your feet, every step feeling like you were moving through water. your wraps slipped off your hips, leaving them to pool on the ground around your ankles. you were taking on too much, too fast. 

yet somehow, the pain of it all hadn’t overwhelmed you like it had back when you fought toji zen’in. 

“bastard,” you breathed, turning slowly to face the curse. your voice shook– not with fear, but with something hotter. “you think you get to kill me now, too?” 

it lashed out again, but this time you didn’t dodge. the impact drove you into the ground, the world ringing violently as your technique swallowed it whole, cursed energy flooding every inch of you. 

simultaneously, you felt something inside you give out. not your muscles, but your limit. 

cursed energy spelled outward in a rush, uncontained and frantic, slamming into the ground beneath you. the concrete split, fractures racing outward from where your hands pressed into it. you gasped sharply as your eyes blew open, the pressure leaving you and spreading around you.

oh.

your body was never the limit to your technique. it was your mind.

you pushed yourself upright, your body tensing slightly as you watched your cursed energy thread through the street in which you’d walked, the buildings you’d been slammed into– the air thick with residue. 

the curse hesitated, eye widening as your energy brushed against its own, not stopping at the surface. your energy surged through your newly discovered connection, the pressure forcing itself into its cursed circulation, your technique disrupting it violently. 

It shrieked as its body convulsed, its movements jerky and uncoordinated while its own energy turned against it, tearing at its insides. your cursed energy was strong, but instead of making it stronger, it made it worse. too much at once. 

you stood there shaking in confusion, watching the scene unravel in front of you. instinctively, your fingers curled inward a bit, causing the building beside the curse to groan. slowly, the structure collapsed, falling onto the curse. one tentacle had gotten caught, forcing it to rip away from it, another splatter of purple staining the scene. 

its scream was cut off as you clenched your hand into a fist, the curse exploding into pieces, vanishing into the air with a final, distorted pulse.

silence followed as your legs gave out, forcing you to fall to your knees as you trembled. sobs ripped out of you, your hands hitting the ground as they shook uncontrollably. 

your technique had evolved, but you couldn’t bring yourself to focus on anything else other than the fact that your friend– who you’d seen just yesterday– was gone. 

the id card slipped from your numb fingers, plastic clattering onto the concrete. warmth surrounded you instantly as satoru knelt beside you, close enough that you could feel his chest on your back. 

“it was my mission!” you cried, tears staining the concrete. “haibara, he–” 

“i know.” satoru interrupted, his palm resting on your shoulder as you sat up. “he and nanami–”

“nanami, too?!” 

satoru shook his head quickly. “no, no, nanami’s back at jujutsu high. it was only haibara.” 

“you knew?” you laughed weakly, looking up at satoru with glossy eyes. you both stood up, his mouth opening to speak but the words died on his tongue as you shoved at his chest. “you knew and you didn’t tell me?!” 

your hands were fisted in his jacket, your knuckles white as you shoved him once more– this time with less force. 

“you stood there,” you choked, blinded by your own tears. “and you let me joke. you let me walk in here thinking it was just another mission.” 

satoru didn’t step back, he just stood there and took it. his face had grown into one of regret and sympathy, hating the way you were reacting as a result of his actions. his jaw tightened as your anger seemed to melt away instantly, your body being drawn to him as you rested your face into his chest, sobbing into him. 

“if i’d told you,” he said carefully. “you wouldn’t have been able to fight. not like that.” 

his arms wrapped around you, holding you tightly as your tears stained his clothes. you stayed there for a while, surrounded by wreckage and silence as the brief argument faded because neither of you had anything left to give it.

you turned your head to the side, wiping your face as you looked at the scene in front of you. your body trembled, turning your neck back into him. for now, it was enough to let him hold you, and leave the rest of the world waiting. 

𓆩༺✧༻𓆪

september 2007

investigations confirmed that all 112 were killed by a cursed spirit, which the residuals revealed to be the work of suguru geto’s curse manipulation. 

you stared at yaga with blank eyes, lips parted in shock as you processed what he said. 

he promised.

“huh?” satoru finally let out.

“don’t make me repeat myself.” yaga sighed. “suguru killed everyone in the village. 

“i heard you the first time. that’s why i said ‘huh’ to what you said.”

“suguru’s old home was already an empty husk as well. though from the blood stains and residuals, he most likely killed his parents–”

“like hell he did!” satoru yelled, clearly in disbelief himself. 

words seemed impossible, your head blank as you replayed that conversation with suguru. you walked away, leaving the men standing in the hall alone. you exited the building, your breath shaky as you stepped onto a bus, not knowing where it was taking you. 

you’d ended up in shinjuku as the bus reached its last stop. the doors hissed open, spilling you out into the street with everyone else. sunlight bled into the early evening, voices overlapping, life moving forward like the world hadn’t just shifted on its axis. 

your chest felt tight as you sat down on a park bench, your hands curling into the sleeves of your jacket while tears fell slowly from your eyes. the city felt too loud, too alive when all you could hear was yaga’s voice echoing in your head. 

suguru killed everyone in the village.

he’d said goodbye to you before that mission. 

your hand came up to mess with your necklace, toying with the talisman between the length of your fingers as you swallowed hard– shaking your head as if that might change the truth. 

“hey, mind if i sit?” 

you flinched at the voice, looking up at it with glossy eyes. suguru stood in front of you, his hands in his pockets as if it was another casual day– as if he didn’t have blood on his hands.

you nodded hesitantly, eyes following him as he took a seat beside you, facing forward despite your piercing stare. 

the two of you sat in silence for a bit before he finally turned to look at you with a sigh. 

“i’m–” 

“no.” you cut him off, tears falling slowly. “i’m sorry. i knew something was wrong with you after you talked to yuki, and i let it be. i knew you were lying in my face and i didn’t say anything because i never would’ve imagined you’d follow through with this.”

suguru inhaled slowly, like your words had hurt him. “this isn’t your fault. if the world had more people like you, then this idea would seem a lot more ridiculous to me.” 

you sniffled. “what do you mean?”

“those monkeys bring no value to the world other than keeping jujutsu sorcerers busy. these curses are born because they don’t know how to control their cursed energy. you carry an immense amount of cursed energy constantly because of your technique, you know how to control it so you don’t create any curses.”

you stared at him like he’d spoken a language you didn’t recognize. his expression stayed the same, like he truly believed everything he was saying. 

“even though you’re a sorcerer, you’re proof it's possible.” suguru continued evenly. “you exist with enough cursed energy to build an entire new arsenal for me if you lost control– and yet you don’t. not once have you let it spill over into something mindless.”

your breaths were wet and short, trying your best to keep yourself together as best you could. 

“so that’s it?” you asked shakily. “you look at me and decide i’m the exception?”

suguru shook his head calmly. “you’re not an exception, you’re the standard. everyone else refuses to meet it.” 

“they’re people, suguru.” you snapped, nails biting into your palms. “they don’t know how to meet that standard because they don’t understand jujutsu!” 

“exactly. that’s what makes them inferior.” he replied, turning his body to fully face you. “then jujutsu sorcerers are forced to clean up their messes even if it costs them their lives.” 

you shook your head softly with a short laugh, wiping a single tear with your fingers. “you can’t protect yourself from something you don’t even know exists.”

“thinking that way is why good people like haibara end up dead.” he said, his hand reaching out to rest on your thigh. “i won’t force you to believe me or help– but this is a lot more possible with the help of your technique. i heard you evolved it.” 

“yeah, i did.” tears streamed freely now as you laughed weakly. “but i’m not insane enough to help you out.” 

“you’re okay with being treated as nothing more than an object?” he asked gently. 

“if it means i get to save those who can’t save themselves,” you shrugged your shoulders. “then yes.”

suguru nodded, letting another wave of silence fall over. you scooted over, leaning into his side as if you could keep him here and stop his crazy ideals before they went further. but really, you were just doing it to feel close to him one last time. 

he leaned his head down to rest on yours, staring at the setting sun that somehow made the city livelier. 

“so this is it.” you mumbled, pulling away from him and standing. he followed, taking your hand in his. 

“i guess it is.” 

you smiled at him, a genuine one you didn’t need to force despite the ache in your heart. he said your name quietly, squeezing your fingers. 

“i love you, sugu.” you said, voice raw as tears streamed calmly down your cheeks. 

“i love you, too.” suguru smiled, pulling you close and placing a kiss on your forehead. “that’s exactly why i’m doing this.”

𓆩༺✧༻𓆪

ever since that day, you’d kept yourself distant from satoru and shoko for a while. you couldn’t shake the curiosity that had taken over your mind– wondering what suguru had been up to. 

you tried to refrain, but you found yourself walking into the undergrounds of the former building of the star religious group. you couldn’t quite remember where you’d heard it, but you knew suguru would be here tonight. 

the voices of two men echoed in the rusty space, causing you to press your back against the wall– trying your best to remain unseen. 

you watched as the unfamiliar man walked away, making a call on his phone while walking right past you, more focused on lighting his cigarette than he was on even getting the chance to notice you. 

“test, test.” suguru said into the microphone. “can you hear me?” 

taking one glance behind you to make sure the man was gone, you stepped forward towards the steps suguru had gone up.

two small gasps made you wince, your head turning towards the two small girls standing to the side, watching you with wide eyes. 

you did your best to ignore them as suguru carried on. 

“sorry for the wait everyone, but i’ll keep this brief. from this moment onward, this organization belongs to me. i’ll be changing the name too, so i expect everyone to follow along with me.” he spoke, being met with objections from the members. 

“do you know mr. geto?” one of the girls chirped in. 

“you’re very pretty.” the other said.

you smiled at them, leaving suguru’s voice in the background as you kept your voice quiet. “thank you. are you in danger?” 

the one with lighter hair giggled, the sound of someone walking towards the stage growing louder behind you. 

“no, mr. geto rescued us from the mean people!” 

just then, you heard blood splatter, turning back to the stage, the portion of the walls covered in blood.

“now then, once again.” suguru wiped some off his face, tossing the microphone on the ground while feedback echoed in the space. “i hate monkeys.” 

you could see him turning back to walk off stage, making you panic since you didn’t want him to see you. you did a double take at the girls, trusting that suguru really did save them, not noticing the way your wraps had fallen out of your pocket as you ran out the building. 

the girl with the darker hair walked over to the pile of fallen objects, picking it up just as suguru reunited with them again– you being long gone. 

“mimiko?” suguru asked. “what are you doing?” 

she lifted the wraps into her hands, running over to raise them to suguru. his eyes widened as he looked around the dark space, sensing the residue of your cursed energy. 

“your friend stopped by, mr. geto!” nanako chirped from behind him. “should we give these back to her?” 

suguru took the wraps out of mimiko’s hands, running his fingers across them before looking down at his daughters. he pocketed the wraps before rubbing their hair, smiling innocently. 

“it’s okay,” he spoke softly. “we’ll find her again one day.”

note: arc one is complete! so so excited where the story has been going and i'm so happy you guys have been enjoying! there's nothing more that i love than reading your comments :)

and don’t worry, there will be a lot more satoru in the next few, this ep was just incredibly suguru focused, so this chapter is meant to be a zoom in as to the relationship between reader and suguru (this is important later trust)

that being said, get ready for the next chapter, which will be some filler + the plot of jjk 0!

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